Full text of "History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men"

HISTOEY

3IIDDLESEX COUNTY.

MASSACHUSETTS,

WTTU

BIOI.HAPHICAL SKETCHES

UF MANY OF IT.-i

Pioneers and Prominent Men.

1 OMl'tl.ED INDKR TItK SLFF.KVISIOX (JF

1 ! \ \[ I [ . [< >S I L t i; I )

VOL. III.

I Hj LTJ S T I^ J^ T E 3D -

PHILADELPHIA:
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CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

CITIES AND TOAVNS.

CHAPTER [.

CHAPTER XIII.

Xewtox

1 i Ari.in-gtox

173

CHAPTER n.

CHAPTER XIV.

Newton — {Cimtinued) . . .

Tlip First C'hurcii in Xuwlciii.

CHAPTER III

Xkwtos" — {Con(iiuieil)

£(lnc;tlinnnl.

CHAPTER IV

N'ewt(jS — iContiniieih ■

Npwt'.n Tliroloeical tustituri-in.

CHAPTER V.

Newton' — it'onlinufd'

Til- Lilirarie-

CHAPTER VI.

N nv.Ti )>• — ( t 'oniiii ueil >

Itaiikini: Tiitero^ls.

CHAPTER VII.

Newton — (Continued) ■ ■ ■
Iiiilu:jtries anil Mnniiraclures.

CHAPTER VIII.

Newtos — (Continued)

(.'luba. S4»«'i«»ti.'3. i-xr.

CHAPTER IX.

.Vewton — i Conliiniedi

Jlilimry Hi-'torv .if NVMtoli.

CHAPTER X.

Newton — t Continued) .

.^(f*•UcAl History.

4(1 .VRLiNfiTON— (Confinued) 198

Mnrltet Gardening in Arilogton and Beltnont.

CHAPTER XV.

49 Mei,ro.se

CHAPTER XVI.

■ .Melrose — (Contmued)

Kccl4»iii8tlc;il iiiiU Educacioual Hiatorj.

CHAPTER XVII.
Melrose — (Continued)

.^lilitiiry History — Societies. AssociatiODB, Clubs, etc

CHAPTER XVIII.

.Melrose— {Continuet/) .

lliliUo^i-HpItT and Mlscelianeous.

CHAPTER XIX.

Pepperell

P-lrocbiivl nod Eccle^iasticHl.

205

209

212

214

22U

110

125

l.-.o

CHAPTER XX.

Peppebell — (Contimud) 227

Muiiicipal and Slititant.

CHAPTER XXI.
Peppebell— ( Continued) .... 236

CHAPTER XXII.

Pkpperell — ( Continued)

lodnstriiil Piir^nitfl.

Hudson-

chapter XX m.

chapter XXIV.

Teavksburv .

chapter XI.

^EWTOS— [Continued) H'

Huni'ioiMtliy.

chapter XII. chapter XXV

yEWToy— [Continued) loU | Tewk.<dubv— (Condnued)

Ocili'L'V of N-evvt.iii. I Tlie ('Imrch.

241

250

281

287

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXVI.

Tewksbury — (Conlinued) 203 Belmont

The French and Indian War — The Revolution.

CHAPTER XXVII.
Tewksbury — ( Continued)

CHAPTER XI, IV

CHAPTER XLV.

302

The Poor— Slavery— Natural History.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
Tewksbury — (Continued) . . . .

The Civil War— Civil and Biographical.

CHAPTER XXIX.

! Wa

70.0

CHAPTER XLVI.

I W.vLTi[.\M — (Continued)

304 I Mililary Hiatorv

CHAPTER XLVII.

Watertown .

\Valtha:m — ' Continued)

CHAPTER XXX.

Watertown — (Continued) . . . . 325

Ecclefliaatical History.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Watertown — (Continued) . . . :M4

Early People — Land Grants — Tlie Proprietors' Bouk— Town
GoverDmeot— Schools— The Wears — The South riide.

CHAPTER XXXII

Watertown — ^Continued) . 377

Military History — Indian Ware — Revolutionary PrrioiJ — Tlio
Civil War.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Watertown — (Cimtinverl ' ... 3'J'J

Budiiiei^s Intereats — Banks.

CHAPTER XXXIV

Watertown (Continued) ...

Mainiractuhug and Mechanical Intlustries

CHAPTER XXXV.

Watertow.s — (Continued)

Societies. Pbysicians, etc.

CHAPTER XLVI II.

Waltham - ■ Continuedi

CducatioHHl H!.ituiy — Banks.

CHAPTER XLiX.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

HOLLISTON .

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Malden .

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Malden — (Continued)

The Gccleilutlcal History of Maiden.

397

414

^3l

456

477

Waltha.m — ( Continued)

>chnoU and N'l-vvHpnpers-

CHAPTER L.

Waltha.m — Conlinueil)

The Aiiienriui U'.ililium Wiittli (Vmipauy,

CHAPTER LI.

\VALTllA.M^(Con(/nu«/i

Pul'lic Lihrrtrr.

CHAPTER LI I.

vValth.im — (Continued)

Mftinifuctories.

72G

730

734

750

CHAPTER LI II

>O.MERVILLK

■5f|

CHAPTER LIV.

HOPKINTON 7.SII

CH.\PTER LV.

Medford

SOT

CHAPTER XXXIX.
Malden — (Continued) 527

Societies.

CHAPTER XL.
ASHI^MD .53,5

CHAPTER XLI.

Everett 576

CHAPTER LVr.

CHAPTER XLII.

Framinoham

607

CHAPTER XLIII.
Framingham— (Oantmued)

. 653

Marlbohough .

Original Grant — Indian Grant— First .Meelln^ ''f PropritTors
— tjwners of House Lota in Ifi&i — First Settler.*— Kine
Philip's War— French and Indian War.

CHAPTER LVII.

>I xRLBoKOL'GH — ' Conlimied). . . . ...

".Var of the Revolution -The Lexin^tun AIaidi— The Minure-
Mcn — List of Soldiers — Vote.-, etc. — Horn;, Uaruea, the
Royalist.

CHAPTER LVril.
Marlborough — iContinuea) .

Ecclesiastical Hidtor>'— Union Congregstional Chtirch — The
:recoud Pariah. Unitarian. Methodiut Epiecopai- First Bap-
tist — Church of the Holy Trinity— Univerwilist — Immacu-
late Conception, Roman i^athulic — .St. Mary's, French Cath-
olic— French Kvaugelical Church.

siy

821

8l>.'^

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER LIX.

Marlborough — {Continued)

Educational— The Press— First National Bank— Public Li-
brary—Water Works — Fire Department — Steam Railway.
— Marlborough Savings Bank

CHAPTER LX.

832

>[arlboroi:gh- -(Con<tnu€(i)

Manufacturing Interests.

CHAPTER LXT.

yiARhBOROVGn—t Continued)

Masonic.

837

840

CHAPTER LXII.

Mari.bukough — {Continued) ... 844

Civil History-Incorporation— First Selectmen — Selectmen
from lOlil to 1890— Town Clerks from 1660 to 1890— Treas-
urers— Representatives — State Senators — County Commis-
sioners — Delegates to Provincial Congress — Delegates to
Constitntlonal Convention- Assistant Treasnrer of United
."States — Popolation — Valuation.

CHAPTER LXiri.
Marlborouoh — (Continued) 846

Odd Fellowship— Celebration of Two Hundredth AnniveF^
sary of Incorpoistiou of Tovro — War of BebelUon — Socie-
ties, etc.

CHAPTER LXrV.

WiLMINOTON 859

CITIES AND TOWN'S.

CHAPTER I.

NEWTON.

BY REV. S. F. SMITH.

The history of Newton is rooted in the history of
Boston, the metropolis of New England. The settle-
menf of Boston was commenced September 17, 1630,
by the removal thither of Mr. Wjlliam Blaxton, whose
name is perpetuated in Blackstone Street, at the
north part of the city, and Blackstone Square, on
Washington Street, at the south end. Mr. Blaxton
was attracted to Boston by the existence of a spring
of pure water, such as he failed to find in Charles-
town, his former residence. Boston was at first but a
diminutive place in territory. In the northern part
it was but three streets wide from east to west, the
three streets being Fox Street, Middle Street and
Back Street; the first being now North Street, the
second the north part of Hanover Street, and the
third the south part of Salem Street. The northern
portion of Boston, originally "the court end," was
separated from the southern by a creek called Mill
Creek, reaching from water to water, and occupying
the space of the present Blackstone Street. The
southern portion of Boston was joined to the conti-
nent by "the neck," so-called, being the upper part
of Washington Street, towards Roxbury. The neck
was so narrow that farmers bringing their produce to
market in Boston in the morning, used to hasten back
at evening in the periods of high tides, lest the rise
of the water should cut off their return. Long Wharf,
at the foot of State Street, commenced at India Street.
Large vessels were moored close to Liberty Square.
Harrison Avenue was washed by the tide. The
Public Garden and most of Charles Street, and Tre-
mont Street, south of Pleasant Street, was under water.

The territory of Boston was small, but the inhabit-
ants of the little peninsula thought it necessary to
have a fortified place to flee to in ease of invasion by
the neighboring tribes of savage Indians. Other
towns, already commenced — Charlestown, Watertown,
Roxbury and Dorchester — shared in this spirit of
wise precaution, and felt equally the need of a sure
place of defence. At first they fixed upon the neck,
between Boston and Roxbury, which was, on some
1-ui

accounts, a strategic point, shatting off the possibility
of assault by Indians of the continent. But this plan
was abandoned on account of the lack in that vicinity
of springs of running water. It was finally decided to
build the place of defence on the north side of Charles
River, laying the foundations of a new town near
where Harvard College now stands. Here they began
to build in the spring of 1631. They laid out a town
in squares, with streets intersecting each other at
right angles, and surrounded the place with a stock-
ade, and excavated a fosse inclosing more than a
thousand acres; and, as a historian of 1683 remarks,
" with one general fence, which was about one and a
half miles in length. It is one of the neatest and
best compacted towns in New England, having many
fair structures, with many handsome contrived streets.
The inhabitants, most of them, are very rich. Half
a mile westward of the town is a great pond (Fresh
Pond), which is divided between Newtowne and Wa-
tertown on the south side of Charles River."

In 1632 the General Court levied a rate of £60 upon
the several plantations towards building the palisade
around Newton. The tax levied was thus distributed :
Watertown, £8; Newton, £3; Charlton, £7; Medford,
£3 ; Saugus and Marblehead Harbor, £6 ; Salem, £4
lOa.; Boston, £8; Roxbury, £7; Dorchester, £7; Wes-
sagusrus, £5; Winethomet, £1 30«. The fence passed
near the northwest corner of Gore Hall, in the col-
lege yard, eastwardly to the line between Cambridge
and Somerville, and southwardly from GSore Hall to
a point near the junction of Holyoke Place with
Mount Auburn Street. This £60 levy for building
the stockade was probably the first State tax. Wa-
tertown objected to the assessment as unjust, and a
committee of two from each town was appointed to
advise with the Court about raising public moneys,
" so as what they agree upon shall bind all." " This,"
says Mr. Winthrop, " led to the Representative body
having the full powers of all the freemen, except that
of elections."

Boston, as was natural, came to be regarded as the
old town, and this new and fortified place beyond the
river acquired the title of the new town, or Newtown.
When Harvard University was founded, in 1638, the
General Court ordained "that Newtowne should
thenceforward be called Cambridge," in compliment
to the place where so many of the civil and ecclesiaa-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

deal fathers of the town had received their education.
The large territory on the south side of Charles River,
beyond the stockade and Cambridge, and comprising
most of what is now Brighton and Newton, was at first
called the "south side of Charles River,'' and some-
times "Nonantum," the Indian name. After relig-
ious services came to be held regularly on the south
side of the river, about 1654, the outlying territory
was called "Cambridge Village," or, "New Cam-
bridge," until 1679. The General Court decreed that
after December, 1691, it should be called " Newtown."
The change of the name from "Newtown" to "New-
ton" seems to have come about spontaneously with-
out any formal authorization. The change is first
noticed in the records of town-meetings by Judge
Fuller in 1766 and ever afterwards. The question of
spelling the name of the town was never put to vote;
but it is deemed that Judge Fuller was fully justified
in assuming such a responsibility.

Before leaving London the company forming the
first plantations in New England received the follow-
ing instructions : " If any of the salvages pretend
right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands
granted in our pattent, wee pray you endeavor to pur-
chase their tytle, that wee may avoyde the least scru-
ple of intrusion." Accordingly, at the session of the
General Court, March 1.3, 1638-39, Mr. Gibbons was
desired to agree with the Indians for the land within
the bounds of Watertown, Cambridge and Boston.
" The deed of conveyance is missing, but there is
sufficient evidence," says Mr. Paige, " that the pur-
chase was made of the Squaw-sachem, and that the
price was duly paid. The General Court ordered.
May 20, 1640, ' that the £13 8«. ed. layd out by Capt.
Gibons shall be paid him, viz., £13 Ss. 6rf. by Water-
town, and £10 by Cambridge, and also Cambridge is
to give Squaw-sachem a coate every winter while she
liveth.' This sale or conveyance to Cambridge is
recognized in a deed executed Jan. 13, 1639, by the
Squaw-sachem of Misticke and her husband, Web-
cowits, whereby they conveyed to Jonathan Gibbons
' the reversion of all that parcel of land which lies
against the ponds of Misticke aforesaid, together with
the said ponds, all which we reserved from Charles-
town and Cambridge, late called Newtowne, and all
hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belong-
ing, after the death of me, the said Squaw-sachem.' "

This Squaw-sachem is supposed to have died in
about the year 1662. Twenty years previous to her
death she, with four other Indian rulers, put herself
under the government and jurisdiction of the Massa-
chusetts, to be governed and protected by them, and
promised to be true and faithful to the said govern-
ment. The inhabitants of Cambridge lived on terms
of amity with the Indians.

The early history of Newton is involved with the
history of Cambridge. Indeed, Newton was required
to pay taxes for the support of the church in Cam-
bridge till 1661. In 1656 the inhabitants of Cam-

bridge Village organized a distinct congregation for
public worship, and petitioned the General Court to
be released from paying rates for the support of the
ministry of the church in Cambridge. The commit-
tee reported adversely to the petition, and the peti-
tioners had leave to withdraw. Dr. Holmes, however,
says that in 1656, when the inhabitants of the vil-
lage had become so numerous as to form a distinct
congregation for public worship, " an abatement was
made of one-half of their proportion of the ministry's
allowance during the time they were provided with
an able minister according to law." In 1661 they
renewed their petition, and the Court granted them
'' freedom from all church rates for the support of the
ministry in Cambridge, and for all lands and estates
which were more than four miles from Cambridge
Meeting-house, the measure to be in the usual paths
that may be ordinarily passed."

The petitioners were not satisfied with this line,
and in 1662 petitioned the Court for a new one. A
committee was appointed in October, 1662, to give
the petitioners and kheir opponents a hearing. This
new committee settled the bound, as far as ministerial
taxes were concerned, and " ran the line which is
substantially the line which now divides Newton from
Brighton."

In 1672 the inhabitants of Cambridge Village pre-
sented to the Court another petition, praying to be
set ofl' from Cambridge and made an independent town.

The following year the Court granted the petition-
ers the right to elect annually one constable and three
selectmen dwelling among themselves, " but requiring
them to continue to be a part of Cambridge so far as
related to the paying of certain taxes." The action
of the committee did not satisfy the petitioners, and
they declined to accept it or to act under it. In 1677
another attempt was made to determine a satisfactory
dividing line, through a committee of referees, two to
be chosen by Cambridge, two by Cambridge Village
and the fifth by the four others jointly. The line pro-
posed by these referees did not differ materially from
the line run in 1662.

Again, in 1678, fifty-two out of sixty-five of the
freemen of Cambridge Village petitioned the General
Court to be set off from the town of Cambridge and
to be made a town by itself Cambridge, by its select-
men, presented a remonstrance. The Court, however,
30 far granted the petition as to order " that the free-
holders should meet on the 27th August, 1679, and
elect selectmen and other town officers to manage the
municipal affairs of the village." This was an im-
portant concession on the part of the Court, though it
did not fully meet the desires of the petitioners ; and
nearly ten years more passed away before they fully
obtained the object of their requests.

Until August 27, 1679, all the town-meetings were
held iu Cambridge, and all town officers were elected
there. After this date town-meetings were held in
Cambridge Village (Newton) by the freemen of the

NEWTON.

village only, and they transacted their town business
free from all dictation or interference of Cambridge.
On that day they took into their own hands the man-
agement of the prudential affairs of the village as
completely as any other town, and conducted them
according to the will of the majority of the freeholders
until Newton became a city. For town purposes they
were independent, but for a number of years they
were still taxed with Cambridge for State and county
purposes, to wit, the repairs of the Great Bridge be-
tween Cambridge and Brighton. Nor were they per-
mitted to send a deputy to the General Court till 1688,
when the separation was fully consummated, and
Newton became a free and independent corporation.
Dea. John Jackson, the first settler of Cambridge
Village, and nine others were dead when the town of
Newton became wholly independent.

After an extended and careful investigation by dif-
ferent historians, " there seems," says Mr. Paige, in his
" History of Cambridge," " no reasonable doubt that
the village was released from ecclesiastical depend-
ence on Cambridge and obligation to share in the ex-
penses of religious worship in 11561 ; became a pre-
cinct in 1673; received the name of Newton in De-
cember, 1691 ; and was declared to be a distinct vil-
lage and place of itself, or, in other words, was incor-
porated as u separate aud distinct town by the order
passed January 11, 1687-88, old style, or January 11,
1688, according to the present style of reckoning.

" While by her separation from Cambridge, Newton
lost iu territory, she found, in due time, more than she
lost. By the limitation of her boundaries she cut
herself off from ' JIaster Corlet's faire grammar
schoole,' though she retained iis much right in the
University as belonged to any and every town in the
Commonwealth. She was deprived of the prestige of
the great men whose dignity and learning brought
fame to the Colony ; but she has since been the
mother of governors and statesmen, of ministers and
missionaries, of patriots and saints. .\.nd in the progress
of years she added to her reputation as the scene of
that great enterprise, the translation of the Bible into
the language uf her aborigines, and the first Protes-
tant missionary efforts on this Continent. Subse-
quently she had the first normal school for young
ladies (continued from Lexington) ; several^ of the
earlier and the best academies and private schools,
and finally the theological institution, whose profess-
ors have been and are known and respected in all
lands, and whose alumni have carried the gifts of
learning and the gospel to every part of the earth.
She left the rustic i^hurch near the College, by the in-
convenience of attending which she wa.s so sorely
tried ; but she has attained to more than thirty
churches within her own borders."

The first appearance of the name of the town in
the form of Newton appears in the following town-
meeting record :
" Newton, 3Iay 18, 1^94. The Selectmen then did tneet, and leaTy a

rate npon the town of twelve pound six shilling. Eight pound ia to pay
the debety for bia serrice at the General Court in 1693, and the other
fore pound six shilling is to pay for Killing of wolve* and other nesea-
serey charges of the Town."

This record is signed by Edward Jackson, town
clerk.

The organization of the First Church in July, 1664,
and the ordination of Mr. John Eliot, Jr., aa pastor,
had in the meantime consummated the ecclesiastical,
though not the civil separation of Cambridge Village
(Newton) from Cambridge. The first meeting-house
in Cambridge Village was erected in 1660.

Six years after Charlestown was settled, the whole
State of Massachusetts consisted of only twelve or
thirteen towns, of which Newton paid the largest
tax. In the records of a court held at Newtown, Sep-
tember 3, 1634, is this item: " It is further ordered that
the sum of £600 shall be levied out of the several plan-
tations for publique uses, the one-half to be paid
forthwith, the other half before the settingof the next
Court, viz., Dorchester, 80 ; Roxbury, 70 ; Newtowne,
80 ; Watertown, 60 ; Saugus, 50 ; Boston, 80 ; Ipswich,
50; Salem, 45; Charlestown, 45; Meadford, 26 ; Wes-
sagasset (Weymouth), 10 ; Barecove (Hingham), 4."

It is evident from this record that Newton possess-
ed at that time as much wealth as any plantation,
and, excepting Dorchester and Boston, more than any
other in the Colony. In 1636 Newton had so prosper-
ed that she stood in wealth at the head of all the
towns, and numbered eighty-three householders.
This year the rates levied upon the several towns
stood as follows: Newton, £26 5«. ; Dorchester, £26
5». ; Boston, £25 10».; Watertown, £19 10». ; Rox-
bury, £19 5s. ; Salem, £16 ; Charlestown, £15 ; Ips-
wich, £14; Saugus, £11 ; Medford, £9 15*. ; New-
bury, £7 10?.; Hingham, £6; Weymouth. £4.

The question of the boundaries of the new towns
in the wilderness was not readily nor easily settled. It
was necessary thatagriculture, in its various branches,
should be an important factor in the occupations of
the early settlers. Hence they felt the need of much
land for cultivation, and for their flocks and herds.
At the outset, after the extinction of the Indian titles,
generous grants were made by the General Court to
towns and individuals. The people of the various
towns, however, began, at an early period, to demand
more land. The farmers specially craved meadow
land, free from wood, and suitable for mowing fields
without the labor of clearing, of which they could
avail themselves at once for the support of their
stock. A committee was appointed in 1636 to inves-
tigate the Shawshine country, now including the
town of Andover, and to report whether it was suit-
able for a plantation ; and 1641 this order wag passed :
" Shawshine is granted to Cambridge, provided they
make it a village, to have ten families there settled
within three years ; otherwise, the Ckmrt to dispose
of it."

The report of the committoe to examine the grant

HISTOKY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

was rendered in 1642, and being unfavorable, the
Court enlarged their grant, and gave the petitioners
further time to effect a settlement. This new grant
read as follows : " All the land lying upon the Shaw-
shine River, aud between that and Concord River,
and between that and the Merrimack River, not for-
merly granted by this Court, are granted to Cam-
bridge, so as they erect a village there within five
years, and so as it shall not extend to prejudice
Charlestown village or the village of Cochitawist, nor
farmes formerly granted to the now Governor of 1200
acres, and to Thomas Dudley, Esq., loOO acres, and
3000 acres to Mrs. Winthrop ; and Mr. Flint and Mr.
Stephen Winthrop are to set out their heade line
toward Concord."

No settlement having been made within the period
designated, this grant was modified by the Ibllowing
order, passed by the (xeneral Court : " Shaw.shine i.*-
granted to Cambridge without any condition of mak-
ing a village there ; and the land between them and
Concord is granted all, all save what is formerly
granted to the military company, provided the church
present continue at Cambridge."

"The limits of this grant of Shawshiue, as of most
of the grants of that period, are very indefinite, and it
is not possible to define with precision what i.i in-
cluded. But it is generally admitted that the Shaw-
shine grant extended to the Merrimack River. We
know it included all the town of Billerica, the greater
portion of Bedford, and all that portion of Lexington
north of the eight-mile line. Billerica was incor-
porated in 1655 into a town by the consent of Cam-
bridge. It was at that time a large territory, bounded
on Cambridge Farms (Lexington), Chelmsford, Wo-
burn and Concord." And thus Newton, from being
territorially the smallest township in the Colony, be-
came, at least for a season, the largest.

The small portion of Watertown, on the south side
of Charles River, according to the settlement in 1635,
included about seventy-five acres. The settlement ol
1675 increased the extent to about eighty-eight acres
— enough to protect their fishing privilege — and after-
wards called "Ihe Wear (weir) lands." " In the year
1679, when the town lines were established between
Cambridge and New Cambridge, or Cambridge Vil-
lage, it was expressly stipulated that this Watertowo
reservation on the south side of Charles River — 200 by
60 rods — should be maintained and held by Water-
town for the protection of her fish-weirs. They did
not wish to enter into co-operation with this new Col-
ony iu the carrying on of the fish business, and were
very strenuous to have their rights protected. Indeed,
they became dissatisfied and grasping, and in 1705
called for a commission to readjust the line for the
better protection of their fishing interests. John
Spring, Edward Jackson and Ebenezer Stone, on the
part of Newton, with Jonas Bond and Joseph Sher-
man, of Watertown, composed that committee. They
agreed upon a settlement which shortened the easterly

line a few rod^, and lengthened the southerly and
westerly lines a few rods each from the original grant.
Since this time there have been further re-adjust-
ments of these boundaries, and it is evident in each
of these that Watertown has lost nothing. The total
acreage now held to Watertown, on the Newton side
of the river, is nearly 150 acres, or a gain, above what
was originally intended for her fish protection, of
nearly seventy-five acres."

We have this record under date of March 3, 1636 :
" [t is agreed that Newton bounds shall run eight
miles into the country from their meeting-house, and
Watertown S, Roxbury 8, Charlestown 8."

" In the year 1708, as appears from an article by
Dr. Homer, in the ' Massach usetts Historical Collec-
tions ' for that year, the extent of Newton from north
to south, measuring ti-om Watertown line to Dedham
line, Wiis six miles and thirty-six rods, the measure
being made along the county road, from east to west,
measuring from the bridge at Newton Lower Falls to
Cambridge, which at that date included Brighton or
Little Cambridge, four miles, three-quarters & fifty-one
rods. The whole town, including the -reveral ponds,
was, at that time, by careful estimate, reckoned to
embrace 12,!'40 acres. At the same time Charles
River, with its various windings, washed the edges of
the town for about sixteen miles.

•'In 1838, 1800 acres of the extreme southerly part
of Newton were set off to Roxbury. In 1847 about
1)40 acres at the extreme northwesterly part were stt
otJ" to Waltham. After the construction of Chestnut
Hill Reservoir by the city of Boston, a slight change
was made in the eastern boundary of Newton by an
exchange of land, so that these beautiful sheets of
water might be entirely within the limits of Boston,
and under its jurisdiction. Brighton having been an-
nexed to Boston, the two cities — Newton and Boston
— lor a considerable distance near this point, border
on each other."

The first settlers in Newton did not come in a body,
but family after family. Of those who came into the
town between 1639 and 1664, the date of the organ-
ization of the first church — twenty in number — the
ages of the majority were between twenty-one and
thirty-five. Only five had reached the age of forty;
two only were more than fifty. Notwithstanding the
hardships of frontier life to which they were subjected,
fourteen out of thirty, whose date of death is recorded,
died more than eighty years of .ige, only eight under
seventy, and only two under fifty.

One of the earliest settlers — Samuel Holly — was in
Cambridge in 1636, and owned a house and eighteen
acres of land adjoining John Jackson in 1639. He
sold six acres of this estate to Edward Jackson in
1643 for five pounds, and died the same year. The
following are the names of the first twenty male set-
tlers of Newton, extending to 1664, which was the
date of the organization of ihe first church, and the
ordination of John Eliot as the first pastor :

NEWTON.

» o

1639
1640
1643
1644
1617
1617
1649
163(1
1650
1650
1650
1650
leM
1654
1658
1661
1662
1664

lant

1664

w- 1 " ' Inventory,

39 Dea. John Jackson. . .
30 Dea. Samuel Hyde. . .
42 Edtrard Jackson . . .

3.1 John Fuller

21 Jonathan Hyde ....

Richard Park

29 Capt. Thonias Prentice
35 John Parker

Thomas Hammond . .

Vincent Druce . . . .

27 John Ward

21 ijames Prentice . . ,

. Thomas Prentice (2d)
Thomas Wiawall . . .

40 John Kenrick , . . .
23 Isaac Williams . . . .
34 '.\braham Williams . .

28 James Trowbridge . .

34 .John Spring

i!8 John Ellot, Jr

London

England

London

Cambridge 1665

England . ITIO

Wingham iwr,
1675
1078
1708
1710

1674-5 75 £1230
1689 79

1681 79Vi 2477 19
1698 87 534 i
1711 85 '

Sudbury .
England .

Dorchest'r 1683

Boston . . 1686

Ro.xbury . 1708

Watert'wn 1712

Dorchester 1717

Waterfwn 1717

Roxbury . 1668

89
71

972

412 2

1139 16 2

271 19

88 16 10

286 14

.340

33 457 2

At the time of Mr. Eliot's ordinatioD (1664), there
were twelve youDg men in Newton of the second gen-
eration, nearly all unmarried.

From the year 166-1 to 1700 history presents a list
of fifty additional names of settlers within the limits
of Newton :

1666

1667

1669

1670

•j7

1672

1673

1674

1675

1678

1679

1680

168U

1681

1682

1686

■-■.i

1686

1687

1688

1689

1692

169 J

1692

169:1

l«M

169S

1095

1695

1696

1697

1698

1700

170.1

1700

Names.

3 _^

Where from, o a

Gregory Cook 1691

1720
1..91
hM
16',i5
1702
1712
1G97

Humphrey osland

Daniel Bacou Hridgewiiter

Thomas Gretn\vo.id

Samuel True»lale Boston. . .

Jusepli Biirtlett Cuinbridge ,

\ehemiab Hobard Ililizliam

Jose'ph .Miller (_'liarlesloivn

Henry Seger

John Wimdivard \V*ileito\vu

.lohn ^lason "

Isaac Beach "

Stephen Cook '*

Daniel Ray Charleatown

\. McDaniel (.'^.otch) .... Ilosbury . .

John Alexander

David Mead Waltbani . .

John Parker (South)

Simon tjng Watertown lti78

P. Stanchett or Hanchelt . . Ro.xbury

William Robinson

5il
19

1732
17:iil
1736
17:i»
1710
16'.i4
16(P6

16:i

1 i;'.l5
17I1C.
17:i;i
1751

Satliuniel Wilson Ro.vbury. .

Diiuicl .Macoy "

1<»lin i.'lark Brookline .

-[t.hn >Iirick (;:harIestowu

.lohn Koapp Watertou-n

Ebenezer Stone "

Nathaniel Crane

William Thonias 1697 . . .

John Staples 1740 82

Nathaniel Healy Callihridge . 1734 76

Thomas Chaml^erlain .... '*

Joseph Bush 1723 . . .

Ephniim Wheeler

.\braham Chamberlain . . . Rrooklioe

Nathaniel Parker Dedham

William Tucker Boston

John Foot

Andrew Hall 175" . . .

William Brown

Jonathan (.^reun .Maiden . . I73G . . .

^ehrean (Juster

.lohn Smith i.'anibiiJge

Ebenezer Littlelield Dedhau . 1723 . . .

John Holland Watertown

Jacob (^chamberlain 1771 . . .

John Grimes

Samuel Paris

.lonathan Coolidt<e Watertown

Nathaniel Longley 1732 56

The descendants of some of these are still living.
Deacon Jackson had a numerous progeny, — five sons
and ten daughters, and .about fifty grandchildren.
The name has been familiar in Church and State from
the beginning until now. Deacon Samuel Hyde and
Jonathan Hyde still live in name in the history of
horticulture and in the beautiful Common of Newton
Centre. The Fullers were equally renowned for relig-
ious and civil influence. The Wards have held a place
of honor in every generation. The name of Williams is
perpetuated in the whole world through their labors
of love and through Williams College, at Williams-
town, Mass., which had its origin in the bequest of
one of them, and which is itself the mother of all the
missionary organizations in the United States; for
there the seed was planted which has brought forth
fruit in many lands. John Eliot, Jr., died young,
but through his work he seems to be living still. The
Kenricks have ever held a distinguished place. Ho-
bart and Stone and Parker have left their names em-
balmed in their history. Woodward and Clark were
worthy of their posterity, who flourished more than
200 years after them, the .sons worthy of such sires.
John Staples, the schoolmaster, taught well the boys
of his period. His broad acres, still distinctly marked,
and his comely caligraphy in the town records, — for
he was town clerk twenty-one yeara, — and the church
of which he was long a deacon, are his enduring
monuments. .\.nd not these alone. The plantation
was founded in faith and prayer, by sturdy sons of
the soil and independent thinkers, — men not to be
turned aside from the right, and cherishing from the
beginning the spirit and the principles which entitled
them, as soon as the Colonial government was abol-
ished, to all the privileges and prerogatives of freemen.

A considerable accession of settlers came to the
original plantation of Cambridge as early as August,
1632. The Braintree Company, so-called, number-
ing forty-seven, headed by the Rev. Ifr. Hooker, be-
gan a settlement at Mount Wollaston, but were com-
pelled by the Court, for what reason is not stated, to
remove to Newt<m. Dr. Holmes says : " It is highly
probable that this company came from Braintree, in
Esses County, in England, and from its vicinity.
Chelmsford, where -Mr. Hooker was settled, is but
eleven miles from Braintree, and Mr. Hooker was so
esteemed as a preacher, that not only his own people,
but others from all parts of the County of Essex,
flocked to hear him." "The same year" (1632), says
Mr. Prince, " they built the first house of worship at
Newtowne (Cambridge) with a bell upon it;" which
indicates that the early settlers were not summoned
to worship by heat of drum, like Mr. Eliot's Indian
congregation later. No record shows when a bell
was first used on the first charch in New Cambridge
(Newton). Mr. Hooker's company arrived in Boston,
September 4, Ki-S.*?. Mr. Hooker was installed pastor
and Mr. Stone teacher of the church October 11th,
following, with fasting and prayer.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Two of this company, Simon Bradstreet and John
Hayne3, attained to the ofiSce of Colonial Governors
of Massachusetts. Mr. Bradstreet owned the estate
now held by ex-Grovernor Claflin. Mr. Haynes re-
ceived the earliest and largest grant of land in New-
ton, in 1634 ; was chosen Governor in 1635 ; removed
to Connecticut with Hooker's company in 1636, and
was Grovernor of Connecticut in 1639. He died in
1654, and this tract of land passed to his heirs.

The addition of the Braintree company to the pop-
ulation made the settlers feel that their territory was
insufficient for their needs, and in May, 1634, they
petitioned the General Court, either for enlargement
or the privilege of removal. Messengers were sent by
Mr. Hooker to explore Ipswich, and the Merrimack
and Connecticut Rivers, and lands adjacent. The ex-
plorers of the Connecticut Valley brought a favorable
report, which led to a petition to the Court, in Sep-
tember, 1634, for leave to move thither. The ques-
tion was a very exciting one, and was debated by the
Court many days. On taking the vote, it appeared
that the Assistants were opposed to the removal and
the Deputies were in favor of it. " Upon this grew a
great difference between the Governor and Assistants,
and the Deputies. So when they could proceed no
further, the whole Court agreed to keep a day of hu-
miliation in all the congregations. Mr. Cotton, by
desire of the Court, preached a sermon that had great
influence in settling the question."

After various and unsuccessful efforts to come to an
agreement, finally, the donations of land, which had
been made provisionally, reverted to their original
owners, and Mr. Hooker and his company obtained
from the Court leave to remove wherever they
pleased, only " on condition that they should con-
tinue under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts." They
took their departure the following year, and settled in
what is now Hartford, Conn. Therefore Connecticut
and its capital city must be ever regarded as the
daughter of Newtou. Mr. Trumbull thus describes
their journey :

"About the beginning of June Mr. Hooker, Mr.
Stone and about one hundred men, women and chil-
dren took their departure from Cambridge and trav-
eled more than a hundred miles through a hideous
and trackless wilderness to Hartford. They had no
guide but their compass, and made their way over
mountains, through swamps, thickets and rivers with
great difficulty. They had no cover but the heavens,
nor any lodgings but those that simple natiue af-
forded them. They drove with them 160 head of
cattle, and by the way subsisted on the milk of their
cows. Mrs. Hooker was borne through the wilder-
ness on a litter. The people carried their packs,
arms and some utensils. They were nearly a fort-
night on their journey. This adventure was the
more remarkable aa many of the company were per-
sons of high standing, who had lived in England in

honor, affluence and delicacy, and were entire strang-
ers to fatigue and danger."

Among the most interesting relics of antiquity are
the records of early times. The quaint forms in
which their doings were expressed, the acts of legisla-
tion made necessary by the emergencies of a new
country, and the minute affairs c.irefully written
down by those conscientious people, the announce-
ment of which in our own times would hardly be
deemed worth the breath which told them or the ink
which recorded them, form an integral part of his-
tory. They reproduce the men and the times in
vivid pictures. They are valuable and instructive,
as showing the elements and beginnings of the civil-
ization, the culture, the security and the elegance
which we now enjoy. The records of the Colony, of
Cambridge, of New Cambridge, and of Newton after
its separation from Cambridge, and t he Registry of
Deeds of Middlesex County all give copious speci-
mens, on which the historian deligiits to linger.

The following have reference to various matters
pertaining to the iutei^sts of the town, taken, under
the respective dates, from the records of Cambridge
before the separation of Newton :

"At the Court held in Xewtowue, Sept. 3, 1634, it
was ordered that no person ^liall take tobacco pub-
liquely under the penalty of eleven shillings, nor
privately, in his own house, or in the house of an-
other, before strangers ; and that two or more shall
not take it anywhere under the aforesaid penalty for
each offence."

"At a Court held at Newtou on the 2nd day of the
yth month, 1637, it was ordered that no person shall
be allowed to sell cakes and bunns except at funerals
and weddings."

1647. April 12. "The Town bargained with Waban,
the Indian chief (Eliot's first convert to Christian-
ity), who lived in a large wigwam on Xonantam Hill,
to keep six score head of dry cattle on the south side
of Charles river, and he is to have the full sum of
£8, to be paid as follows: viz., 30«. to James Cutler,
and the rest in Indian corn, at 3;!., after Michaeltide
next. He is to take care of them from the 2l3t day
of this present month, and to keep them until three
weeks after Michaelmas ; and if any be lost or ill, he
is to send word unto the town ; and if any be lost
through his carelessness, he is to pay, according to
the value of the beast, for his defect."

It is said that Waban became an excellent pen-
man, though this record was signed by his mark.
Two deeds at least are in existence in which he wrote
his name, Waban, with Thomas — the name given
him by the English — above it.

1648. Joseph Cooke, Mr. Edward Jackson and Ed-
ward Goffe were chosen commissioners, or referees, to
end small causes, under forty shillings, — and for
many years succeeding.

1649. " It is ordained by the townsmen that all

NEWTON.

persons provide that their dogs may do no harm in
cornfields or gardens by scraping up the fish, under
penalty of three pence for every dog that shall be
taken damage feasant, with all other just damages."

A large body of lands at Shawshine (now Billerica)
was granted by the General Court to the proprietors
of Cambridge, in 1652. Seven Newton men shared
in this distribution. Edwin Jackson obtained 400
acres, which he gave, by will, to Harvard University ;
Thomas Prentice, 150 acres ; Samuel Hyde, 80 ;
John Jackson, 50; Jonathan Hyde, 20; John Parker,
20 ; Vincent Druce, 15. In 1662 267 acres of the
common lands in Cambridge Village were divided
among ninety proprietors. In 1664 a further distri-
bution was made of remaining lauds in Cambridge
Village, and 2675i acres were divided by lot among
133 proprietors. In this distribution Edward Jack-
son received 30 acres ; John Jackson 20, and Thomas
Prentice, 9.

In 1668, Elder Wiswall, Edward Jackson and
John .Jackson were appointed to catechise the chil-
dren at the new church at the village. Tnis was four
years after the settlement of Mr. Eliot as pastor, and
the year of his death. In 1660 it was ordered that
none shall be freemen (voters) but such as are in full
communion with the church of Christ. In 1674 ii
was ordered '" that Cambridge Village should be a
distinct military company of themselves, and so to be
exercised according to law,'' and James Trowbridge
was appointed lieutenant.

The doctrine of religious toleration was one of slow
growth among these sturdy Puritans. The following
records stand in striking contrast with the Christian
charity and harmony of modern times :

" 1678. Forasmuch as it hath too often happened
that through differences of opinion in several towns,
and on other pretences, there have been attempts by
some persons to erect new meeting-houses, — although
on pretence of the public worship of God on the
Lord's day — yet thereby laying foundations, if not for
schism, and seduction io errors and heresies, — for per-
petuating divisions and weakening such places where
they dwell, in comfortable support of the ministry or-
derly settled among them. — for prevention thereof, it
is ordered that no person whatever, without the consent
of the freemen of the town where they live, firstorderly
had and obtained at a public meeting assembled for
that end, etc., and every person or persons trans-
gressing this law, every such house or houses where
such persons shall so meet more than three times,
with the land whereon such houses stand, and all
private ways leading thereto, shall be forfeited to the
use of the country, or demolished, as the Court shall
order."

" 1680. A society of Baptists were censured by the
Governor in open Court, and prohibited meeting as a
society in the public place they have built, or any
other public house, except such as have been allowed
by lawful authority." In political matters, however,

intellectual advancement led very early to greater
freedom. In 1689 the deputy elected to the General
Court from New Cambridge, John Ward, was "in-
structed to advocate an enlargement of freemen, —
that all freeholders that are of an honest conversa-
tion and competent estate may have their vote in all
civil elections." This John Ward served as deputy,
or representative, fifty-four days, and was paid one
shilling and six pence per day. He was elected eight
years in succession by his fellow-citizens, and, as the
first of a long series, did efficient service.

The first person who died in Newton after it was in-
corporated was Nathaniel Hammond, son of Thomas
Hammond, Sr., May 29. 1691, aged forty-eight. The first

couple married were Josiah Bush and Hannah ,

December 25, 1691, Christmas day. They were mar-
ried by James Trowbridge, the first town clerk, and
had three children. The first meeting-house stood
in the centre of the old cemetery ou the east side of
Centre Street ; it was built in 1660. The second was
erected on the opposite side of the street, nearly on
the site of the house of the late Gardner Colby. The
vote to build it was passed in 1696 ; the work was
begun in the spring of 1697, and finished early in
1698. The site was given to the town by John Spring.
In 1717 the first meeting-house was still standing,
though for what purpose it was or had been used is
unknown. Mr. Ripley says, in his " History of Wal-
tham," that a committee appointed by that town
was authorized to purchase the second meeting-
house of Newton for a sum not exceeding £80, and
that it was so purchased, and taken down and remov-
ed to Waltbam in October, 1731, and there it remain-
ed till 1776. The house in Newton being finished, a
vote was passed " that the Building Committee should
seat the meeting-house, and that age and gifts (towards
the building) should be the rule the Committee should
go by." This absurd custom of " seating the meet-
ing-house," or " dignifying the the pews," created
much ill feeling. It was finally abolished in March,
1800. Before the erection of the first meeting-house,
it is conjectured, in the absence of records, that
meetings were held in a hall in the house of Edward
Jackson. Mr. Jackson's house was near the dividing
line between Newton and Brighton, and the meetings
were probably held here four or five years.

In 1699 it was voted to build a school-house before
the last of November, sixteen feet by fourteen, and
the next year " John Staples was hired to keep the
town-school at five shillings per day."

The citizens were not forgetful of the claims of
charity. In March, 1711, it was voted "that once in
the year, upon the Thanksgiving Day that falls in
the year, there shall be a contrybution for the poor,
and that it shal be put into the town treasury, and to
be ordered to the poor by the Selectmen, as they see
need." The deacons were formally set apart to their
office. A price was set ou the heads of wolves, black
birds, jays and gray-headed woodpeckers. Proviaion

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

waa made in 1733 for a work-house, or almshouse, and
the school-house waa set apart, in the recess of the
school, as a place of labor for idle and disorderly per-
sons. Sheep and swine, under proper restrictions,
were permitted to run at large, the latter being " care-
fully yoked and ringed." Deer were protected in the
town by law; and a commission was appointed with
reference to the free passage of fish up and down
Charles Kiver. By vote of the town in 1796 the
deacons were allowed to " have liberty to sit out of
the deacons' seats in the meeting-house, if they
choose." As late as 1707 the selectmen were appoint-
ed "Aaeasores, to ases the contrey rates." In 1796
the town voted to have a stove to warm the meeting-
house. Thia waa one hundred and thirty-six years
after the building of the first meeting-house; and
during all that period, the strong and the weak, the
old and young had gone to the house of God in
company, and sat shivering in winter during the two
services of the Sabbath day, forenoon and afternoon,
knowing only the comfort of an hour'd heat in their
" noon houses," in the recess of worship, when the
women might also refill their little foot-stoves for the
second session.

In 1647 the selectmen of Cambridge, including, at
that time. New Cambridge, made a careful estimate
of the estates in the town at that date, from which it
appears that there were in the whole town 135 ratable
persons ; 90 houses ; 208 cows, valued at £9 each; 131
oxen, valued at £6 each ; 229 young cattle ; 20 horses,
valued at £7 each ; 37 sheep, at £1 10«. ; 62 swine, at
£1 ; 58 goats, at 8».

The vote of the town of Newton in 1699 to build a
school-house is the first record looking to the educa-
tion of the children of Newton, — sixty-eight years
after the first settlement in Cambridge, or Newtowne;
sixty years after the first record of the sale of land in
Newton by Samuel Holly to John Jackson, and
twenty years after the first town-raeeting, when the
first selectmen and town officers of Newton were chos-
en ; eleven years after Newton became an independent
town. Cambridge, however, had a " a fair grammai'
school under Master Corlet," in which New Cambridge
had a right until its separation wa^ consummated. As
the early settlers were well-to-do, very likely they
availed themselves of this right for their elder chil-
dren. And, as they were generally intelligent people,
the younger were undoubtedly taught the elements of
learning at home.

The act of the town passed in 1717 to prevent the
destruction of deer, implied that at this date deer
still roamed in the forests of Newton. The late Rev.
James Freeman Clarke said that among his recollec-
tions of the house of Gen. William Hull, his mater-
nal grandfather (now ex-Gov. Claflin's), was a pair of
deer's horns suspended in the hall, belonging to a
victim which was shot by the general from his front-
door.

The " uoon houses," above referred to, where the

people could eat their frugal lunch and warm their
freezing limbs on the Sabbath between the services,
were three or four in number. One of them was
erected very near the church ; a sec^ond stood on land
which is now at the junction of Centre and Lyman
Streets, under a great oak tree which formerly stood
there. A chimney was built in the middle of the
floor, resting on four pillars, so that the largest pos-
sible number could sit around the common hearth.
The First Baptist Society, one year earlier than their
neighbors, in January, 1795, passed a vote "to pro-
cure a stove to warm the meeting-house." But it was
not till November, 1805, eleven years later, that the
Federal Street Church in Boston, Rev. Dr. Chan-
ning's, by their committee, " voted that a stove be
permitted to be placed in the Federal Street Church
without expense to the society, to be erected under the
direction of the church committee, — its use to be dis-
continued at any time when the committee shall di-
rect." Thus Newton showed itself in this provision
for the comfort of the worshippers in the house of
God eleven years in advance of one of the wealthiest
churches in Boston.

The first actual settler in Newton was John Jack-
son. He " bought of Miles Ives, of Watertown, a
dwelling-house and eighteen acres of land, very near
the present dividing line between Newton and
Brighton, 24 rods on Charles river, and extending
southerly 120 rods. The same year Samuel Holly
owned a like lot and dwelling-house adjoining Jack-
son's estate, iind Randolph Bush owned a like lot and
house adjoining Samuel Holly's estate, and William
Redson or Redsyn owned four acres and a dwelling-
house adjoining Bush's estate, and William Clements
owned six acres and a dwelliug-house, adjoining John
Jackson's west, and Thomas Mayhew owned a dwell-
ing-house next the spot where Gen. Michael Jackson's
house stood. These six dwelling-houses were in the
Village in 1639, and perhaps earlier. Samuel Holly
died in 1643, and left no descendants in the town.
We cannot tell who occupied the houses of Mayhew,
Clements, Bush and Redson ; they were transient
dwellers, and were soon gone. Edward Jackson
bought all these houses and the lands appurtenant be-
fore 1648, and all except Mayhew's were in what is
now Brighton." Twenty-two landholders established
their residence in New Cambridge between 1639, the
date of the coming of John Juckson, and 1664, the
date of the formation of the First Church. Some
historians add two or three others, as William Healy,
Gregory Cook and a third family bearing thenameof
Prentice. John Jackson, the first on the list, and
one of the first deacons of the church, brought with
him tjrom England a good estate, and gave an acre of
ground for the first church and cemetery. Thia acre
now constitutes the old part of the cemetery on the
east side of Centre Street. He was prominent in the
efforts for the incorporation o/ Newton as an inde-
pendent town, but died eighteen years before it was

NEWTON.

accomplished. A son of his, Edward Jackson, was
killed by the Indians at Medfield, when they attacked
and burned that town, February 21, 1676. The cellar
of his house is still visible at the northeastern part of
the town on the Smallwood estate, and the pear trees
still standing there are supposed to have been planted
by him.

The First Settlers of Newton. — Samuel Holly
is supposed to hare been in New Cambridge in 1636.
In 1643, the year of his death, he sold six acres of
hia land to Edward Jackson for £5.

Samuel Hyde, the second settler, came from London
in 1639, and settled here in 1640. He and his brother
Jonathan bought of Thomas Danforth forty acres of
land in 1647, and 200 of the executors of Nathaniel
Sparhawk, which they held in common until 1662,
when it was divided. He was a deacon of the church.
His descendants to the seventh generation have con-
tinued to own and occupy a part of the same land.
He died in 1685, and his wife the same year.

Edward Jackson, brother of John Jackson, was
born in London about 1602. His youngeat son by his
first marriage, Sebas Jackson, according to tradition,
was bom on the passage to this country. He took
the freeman's oath in 1645, and purchased a farm of
500 acres in Cambridge Village of Governor Brad-
gtreet for £140. Bradstreet bought the same farm in
1638 of Thomas May hew for six cows. This farm ex-
tended westward from what is now the line between
Newton and Brighton, and included what is now
Newtonville. The house of Michael Jackson, built
near the centre of this farm, was probably the first
house erected in Newton; it was built before 1638.
Edward Jackson's bouse was built with a spacious
hall, where probably the first religious meetings were
held. He was representative to the General Court
seventeen years in succession, and was constantly
present at Rev. John Eliot's meetings with the In-
dians. In his will he left 400 acres to Harvard Uni-
versity. He divided his land among his children in
his life-time. From the inventory of his estate it ap-
pears that he owned two slaves, valued at £5 each.
Probably he was the first slaveholder in Newton. He
had nineteen children, and more than .sixty grand-
children. Forty-four of his descendants were in the
army of the Revolution.

Joseph Fuller, who settled in New Cambridge
in 1644, bought 750 acres next west of Edward Jack-
son for £160. His farm was bounded north and west
by Charles River, south by Thomas Park. By sub-
sequent purchases he increased his lands to 1000
acres, intersected by Cheesecake Brook. He had
eight children, and twenty-two of his descendants
were in the Revolutionary Army. Edward Jackson
and John Fuller had a larger number of descendants
than any other of the early settlers.

Jonathan Hyde, brother of Deacon Samuel Hyde,
came into New Cambridge in 1647, and bought, in
common with Samuel, 240 acres, which they held to-

gether fourteen years. In 1656 he bought eighty
acres, which was one-eighth of the tract recovered by
Cambridge from Oedham in a lawsuit ; and settling
upon it, he increased it by later purchases to several
hundred acres. He seemed to have had a taste for
buying and selling land. His house stood on Centre
Street, not far from the residence of Honorable Alden
Speare. His home lot ran 160 rods on Centre Street
and 1 00 rods deep, and included the site of the present
Congregational and Baptist Churches in Newton
Centre. Wiswall's Pond was its southern boundary.
He was twice married, and had twenty-three children.
Some years before his death he divided 400 acres of
his land, with several dwelling-houses standing
thereon, among twelve of his children, and in 1705
gave half an acre to the town for a school- house, at
the junction of Homer and Grafton Streets. This was
six years after the vote of 1699 to build a school-
house. The Common in Newton Centre, or a large
part of it, is supposed to have been his gift ; there is
no record of the gift. He deeded to his children, " for
a cartway forever," the land which is now the high-
way known as Grafton Street.

Richard Park owned land in New Cambridge in
1636, and in Lexington, three Cambridge farms in
1642. His house probably stood within a few feet of
the site of the present Eliot Church, and was pulled
down in 1800. His farm was bounded west by the
Fuller farm, north by Charles River, east and south
by Edward Jackson, and contained about 600 acres.
He bequeathed his land to his only son, Thomas.
This son built a corn- mill on the river, where the
Bemis factory was afterwards erected (now called
Nonantum). His inventory showed that the property
standing in his name at the date of his death
amounted to £872. The Cambridge Church owned a
farm and other property in Billerica, and in 1648
ordained that " every person that from time to time
hereafter removed from the church, did thereby resign
their interest in the remaining part of the church
property.'' During the contest for the separation of
Cambridge Village from Cambridge in 1661, Richard
Park petitioned the Court that, in case of a division,
he be permitted to retain his connection with the
Cambridge Church. Possibly this vote might have
influenced him to present such a petition.

Captain Thomas Prentice, born in England in
1621, was in New Cambridge in 1649; for the record
shows that in November of that year he became the
father of twins, Thomas and Elizabeth. He was a
man of military tastes, and chosen lieutenant of cav-
alry in 1656 and captain in 1662. In 1663 he bought
of Elder Frost eighty-five acres of land, in the east
part of Newton, adjoining land of John Ward, and
occupied the place as his homestead fifty years, con-
veying it by deed of gift in 1765 to his grandson,
Captain Thomas Prentice. His house stood on the
site of the old Harbach house, at the comer of Wav-
erly Avenue and Ward Street. He was very prom-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY", MASSACHUSETTS.

inent in the Indian wars, and distinguished for his
bravery. He waa hardy and athletic, and continued
to ride on horseback till the end. His death waa
caoaed by a fall from his horse at the age of eighty-
nine. He was Representative to the General Court
three years, 1672-74. He had eight children, two of
whom died in childhood.

John Ward married a daughter of Edward Jackson.
His father came from England afier the birth of
John, and settled in Sudbury. He was the first rep-
resentative of Cambridge Village in the General
Court, and continued to be a representative for eight
years. He was also selectman nine years, from 1679.
His house stood on the site of the residence of the late
Ephraim Ward, near the Newton reservoir, and was at
first constructed for a garrison-house in 1661, and used
as such during King Philip's War. It was demolished
in 1821, having stood 170 years — the home of seven
generations. He had eight sons and five daughters,
and died in 1708, aged eighty-two.

Thomas Hammond sold his land in Hingham,
where he had been one of the earliest settlers, in 1652,
and his house in 1656. In 1650, in coDuection with
Vincent Druce, he bought land in Cambridge Village,
and in 1658 600 acres more, partly in Cambridge Vil-
lage and partly in Brookline, embracing what is now
Chestnut Hill. They held this land in commoD until
1664. When a division was made the pond fell
within Hammond's part, and hence bears his name.

John Parker was also one of the earliest settlers
of Hingham. He bought land adjoining John Ward
and Vincent Druce in 1650. He had five sons and
five daughters. After his death his property passed
into the hands of Hon. Ebenezer Stone, and after-
wards became the John Kingsbury estate. The
Parkers of Newton are from two progenitors, — John
Parker, of Hingham, and Samuel Parker, of Dedham.
Nathaniel Parker, a son of the latter, was born in
Dedham in 1670. The third meeting-house in New-
ton Centre waa built on land purchased of him and
conveyed to the selectmen of Newton, measuring one
and a half acres and twenty rods, and valued at £15.
The sale occurred in August, 1716. On this spot of land
the First Congregational Church baa stood ever since.

Vincent Druce came from Hingham, where his
name is found in 1636. The highway from Cam-
bridge to Brookline waa laid out through the land of
Druce and Hammond. The old Crafts house on the
Denny place waa built by Druce in the end of the
seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century,
and must be now nearly two hundred years old.
John Druce, the third of that name, graduated at
Harvard University in 1738, and became a physician
in Wrentham. The first John Druce was a member
of Captain Prentice's troop of horse. He was mor-
tally wounded in a fight with the Indians at Swanzey
in 1675, and brought home and died in his own
house. He was probably the first vicrim from Cam-
bridge Village who fell in the Indian waia.

James Prentice, Sr., and Thomas Prentice, Jr.,
bought of Thomas Danforth four hundred acres in
March, 1650, in Cambridge Village, and in 1657 one
hundred acres more. A part of this purchase is now
included in the old cemetery on Centre Street, from
which it extended southerly beyond the estate of the
late Marshall Rice. The house was taken down in
1800. It stood a few rods southeast of the Joshua
Loring house, on the east side of Centre Street.

Thomas Prentice (2d) married Rebecca, daughter
of Edward Jackson, Sr. This Edward Jackson gave
him, by will, 100 acres of land called Bald Pate
Meadow, near Bald Pate Hill, and to his daughter
several other parcels of land. Prentice lived to a
great age, and conveyed land to his two sons and two
grandsons. It is recorded that in 1753 " he held one
end of a chain to lay out a highway over Weedy Hili
in New Cambridge."

Elder Thomas Wiswall came to this country from
England about 1637, and was prominent among the
first settlers of Dorchester. He removed to Cam-
bridge Village in 1654, and was ordained " ruling
elder" of the church at the same time with the ordi-
nation of Rev. John Eliot, Jr., as pastor. His home-
stead of 300 acres included the pond at Newton Cen-
tre, called after him, " Wiswall's Pond," afterwards
"Baptist Pond" and "Crystal Lake." His house
for many years continued in the Wiswall family.
Later, it was occupied by Deacon Luther Paul and
his heirs, and removed in 1889 to the west side of
Paul Street. He had seven children and more than
thirty grandchildren. Hia sou Noah was killed in
1690 in an engagement with French and Indians at
Wheeler's Pond, afterwards Lee, N. H. He had
also a son Ichabod, who was minister in Duxbury.

John Kenrick in 1658 bought 250 acres in the
southerly part of Cambridge Village. Kenrick's
Bridge over Charles River is near his house, and per-
petuates his name. In bis will he left to his pastor.
Rev. Nehemiah Hobart, four acres of meadow land
or ten pounds, at the option of his son John, who was
his executor.

Captain Isaac Williams was the son of Robert Wil-
liams, who came from Norwich, England. He was
bom in Roxbury in 1688 and twice married. He
owned 500 acres adjoining John Fuller. Thomas
Park, John Fuller and Isaac Williams were the first,
and probably for a season the only, settlers in West
Newton. He was a weaver by trade, selectman three
years, and representative to the General Court six
years. His house was about thirty rods northeast of
the West Parish meeting-house. He died in 1707, and,
being a military man, was honored with a military
funeral. He had twelve children and more than fifty
grandchildren. The youngest son, Ephraim, was
father of Colonel Ephraim Williams, Jr., the founder
of Williams College. William, a son of Isaac, grad-
uated at Harvard University in 1683, being one of a
class of only three members. Through the thought-

NEWTON.

fulness and enterprise of Colonel Ephraim, Jr., the
First Church in Newton became the mother of all the
foreign missionary efforts of the Christian church o'
all denominations iu the United States. For the first
foreign missionary organization in this country origin-
ated in the zeal and piety of a few students in Wil-
liams College in the year 1808.

Gregory Cook was a constable in Cambridge Vil-
lage in 1667. He removed afterwards to Mendon
and Watertown. In 1668 he bought sixteen acres of
Samuel Hyde, bounded on what is now Centre Street,
and south on Samuel Hyde. In 1665 he bought the
mansion house and six acres, the house being near
the Watertown line. In 1672 Jeremiah Duramer, of
Boston, conveyed to him 112 acres, with house and
barn, lying partly in Cambridge and partly in Water-
town, and reaching to Charles River. The house,
having stood about 150 years, was pulled down in
1823. He was twice married, the second time three
months after the decease of his first wife. He was a
shoemaker by trade.

Abraham Williams bought twelve acres, with a
house, near Mr. Cook, in 1654. After living in Newton
eight years he removed to Marlborough, in 1688. He
was colonel of militia, and representative to the Gen-
eral Court. He kept a public-house in Marlborough
many years, and died 1712, aged eighty-four.

Deacon James Trowbridge, son of Thomas, was
born in Dorchester in 1636. His father was a mer-
chant in the Barbadoes trade, and came from Taun-
ton, England, where his father founded a generous
charity for poor widows, which still is in existence.
Thomas, the father, went home to England in 16-14,
leaving his three sons in charge of Thomas Jetfries.
who also came from the same vicinity in England.
In 1637 or 1638 Jeffries removed to New Haven, and
afterwards to England, leaving all his estates and
goods in charge of Henry Gibbons, his steward. The
sons of Thomas obtained possession of their father's
property by a suit at law. The wife of James was
one of the constituent members of the First Church
in Newton. James also became deacon after the
death of John Jackson. He was selectman of Cam-
bridge Village nine years, and one of the first board
elected. He bought of Giovemor Danforth eighty-
five acres, with a dwelling-house, bounded by the
highways west and south. He was clerk of the writs,
lieutenant, and two years representative to the Gen-
eral Court.

Lieutenant John Spring was born in England in
1630, and brought to this country in 1634 by his par-
ents, who settled in Watertown. The son John re-
moved to Cambridge Village about the time of the
ordination of Rev. John Eliot, Jr., in 1664. His
house stood on the west side of Centre Street, oppo-
site the cemetery. He built the first grist-mill in
Newton, on Smelt Brook, afterwards Bulloughs' Mill,
on Mill Street, near the centre of the town. It is
supposed that he gave the land for the second meet-

ing-house, near his own house. On its removal to
Waltham, and the adoption of the present site by the
First Church, the town re-conveyed the land to his
son John. He died in 1717, aged eighty-seven. He
had ten children, of whom the first nine were daugh-
ters. He was selectman eight years, and representa-
tive three years, and served in various other offices,
one of which was sweeper of the meeting-house.

Daniel Bacon removed with his family to Cam-
bridge Village from Bridgewater about 1699, and
bought land in Newton and Watertown, portions of
which were afterwards conveyed to General William
Hull, Oakes Angler and others. The Nonantum
House at Newton stands on one of these estates.
From Oakes Angler this part of the town was at one
period called Angier's Corner.

Captain John Sherman was an early settler of New-
ton, coming from Watertown. His grandson, Wil-
liam, a shoemaker, was the father of Roger Sherman,
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence,
who was born here, and was also, like his father, a
shoemaker. The family residence, where Roger Sher-
man was born, was on Waverly Avenue, near the es-
tate formerly of Dr. James Freeman, and later of
Francis Skinner, Esq.

Rev. John Eliot, Jr., worthy to close these sketches
of the early settlers of Cambridge Village, was the
son of Rev. John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians of
Nonantum, and ordained first pastor of the First
Church in Newton, July 20, 1664. He was born in
Roxbury, where his father was pastor, in 1636, grad-
uated at Harvard University in 1656, and began to
preach in 1658, in his twenty-second year. He ac-
quired proficiency in the Indian language, and aided
his father in his missionary work until his ordination,
and afterwards preached once in two weeks to the In-
dians of Stoughton, and occasionally to the Indians
in Natick, whither the Nonantum Indians subse-
quently removed, and' where the first Indian Church
was organized ; for the converts were never gathered
into church estate in Newton. He died at the early
age of thirty-three, four years and three months after
his ordination. He is said to have been " an accom-
plished person, of a ruddy complexion, comely pro-
portions, cheerful countenance, and quick apprehen-
sion, a good classical scholar, and having considerable
scientific knowledge for one of his age and period."
He lived on the west side of Centre Street, about
sixty rods north of the old cemetery. The estate was
sold, after the death of his son John, to Henry Glbbs,
and by Gibbe to Rev. John Cotton, Eliot's successor
as pastor, and by heirs of John Cotton to Charles
Pelham, in 1765.

"The number of freemen within the limits of Cam-
bridge Village in 1688 — the date of its complete sep-
aration from Cambridge — was about sixty-five. In
forty years — from 1639 to 1679 — forty-two freemen be-
came permanent settlers, some from England, others
from the neighboring towns. During the same period

HISTORY OF xMIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

thirty of their sons had reached their majority, mak-
ing in all seventy-two. But five had died and two
had removed, leaving the sum total sixty-five. There
were six dwelling-houses in Cambridge Village in
1639, all being situated near the present dividing line
between Newton and Brighton (Boston), and all on
farms adjoining one another.

The early inhabitants of Newton, as of New Eng-
land generally, had little idea of the future growth of
the sapling which they had planted. A committee
appointed to lay out a road westward from Boston,
having fulfilled their task, reported to the body which
appointed them, that they had laid out a road twelve
miles, as far as Weston, and in their opinion that was
as far westward as a road would ever be needed.

The Indians. — The relations of the settlers of
Newton and the Indian population among them, or
on their borders, were never otherwise than friendly.
Besides the original bargain with the Squaw-sachem,
the labors of Mr. Eliot for their religious improve-
ment had a happy influence in winning their good-
will. Nevertheless the brave men of Newton sympa-
thized with the persecuted colonists in other towns,
and readily took up arms in their defence. In King
Philip's War, which broke out in 1675, Captain
Thomas Prentice was a distinguished figure. On the
26th of June in that year he marched for Mount
Hope, with Captain Henchman, of Boston, and a
company which included twenty men from Cambridge
Village and twenty-one from Dedham. In the first
engagement with the foe, William Hammond, ol
Newton, was killed, and a few days later John Druce
was fatally wounded. In December following, with
five companies of infantry and his troop of horse, he
marched to Narragansett, and performed remarkable
exploits in destroying or scattering the enemy and
protecting the white settlers. In April, 1676, he
rushed to the aid of the colonists and of the troops at
Sudbury, whom the Indians had overpowered, reach-
ing the town in his headlong haste with only six of
his company, and after a brave conflict the Indians
were put to flight. Four men of Cambridge Village —
Hanchett, Woods, Hides and Bush, — also served in the
war against Philip ; so also did Edward Jackson.
When the Indians in 1690 committed depredations
upon the white settlements in New Hampshire and
Maine, Newton soldiers volunteered at once for their
defence. Captain Noah Wiswall, Gershom Flagg
and Edward Walker defended Portland. Two sons of
Henry Seger were among the military forces at Gro-
ton, of whom one was killed and the other taken
prisoner. A son of Nathaniel Healey also perished,
and on petition of his father to be remunerated for the
gun which was lost by the young hero, the General
Court ordered that twenty shillings should be paid
him out of the public treasury for the lost gun. John
Gibson was slain by the Indians at Portland in 1711.
Epbraim Davenport, another of Newton's citizens,
was stationed some time at Bethel, Maine, to protect

the inhabitants, and afterwards received a pension.
Benjamin Clark, son of Norman Clark, was taken
prisoner with Nathaniel Seger. Ebenezer Bartiett, of
Newton, had six sons, all of whom went to the de-
fence of Bethel. In the war with the French and In-
dians, in 1755, several citizens of Newton took part,
prominent among whom were Samuel Jenks, Lieuten-
ant Timothy Jackson, whose wife carried on the farm
while her husband was gone to the war ; Colonel
Ephraim Jackson and Colonel Ephraim Williams,
the founder of Williams College, who was shot
through the head in a battle with the French and In-
dians near Lake George, in September, 1755.

Eliot and the Nonantum Indians. — One of the
most interesting portions of the history of Newton is
that which relates to the labors of Rev. John Eliot, in
behalf of the Nonantum Indians. The interest arises
from the fact that this was the first Protestant mis-
sionary undertaking on the continent of America ;
the first converts from heathenism in modern times
were among the aborigines of Newton, and the first
translation of the Bible into a heathen language was
here consummated. And thus the town of Newton,
by a double right, has gained the honor of being
the mother of all the Protestant missionary efforts
from America in modern times — first, through the
labors of Mr. Eliot, and secondly through the found-
ing, by one of her sons, of AVilliams College. The
Indians of Newton congregated on the slope of
Nonantum Hill, where the ground descends to the
village of Newton and the limits of Brighton. Here
Waban, their chief, had his house, and here Eliot
preached his first sermon to the Indians, October 28,
1646, near the spot where a monument has been be-
gun to his memon,-. Mr. Eliot was born at Naseby,
England, in 1604, and died in Roxbury, where his
remains rest, in the cemetery at the corner of Eustis
and Washington Streets, May 20, 1690. When he be-
gan his labors for the Indians he was forty-two years of
age, his age, by a singular coincidence, being the same
as the age of Waban. The companions of Mr. Eliot
at this first service for the Indians were Major Gookin,
Rev. John Wilson, of Boston, Elder Heath, of Rox-
bury, and Rev. Thomas Shepard, of Cambridge. The
Indians, by intercourse with the white people, had
gained some ideas of their religion, and were anxious
to know more. The service was opened by prayer in
English. Mr. Eliot's text was Ezek. 37 : 9 — " Prophesy
unto the wind," &c. The Indian word for wind was
Waban, which, doubtless, prompted Mr. Eliot to
choose this text ; and it must have been most impres-
sive to the Indian chief to find that his own name was
thus distinctly recognized in Holy Writ, and a
Divine message thus sent, as it were, personally to him.
The discourse lasted an hour and a quarter, and the
whole service three hours.

After the sermon the Indians affirmed that they
had understood all, and, when liberty was given them
to ask questions, they proposed these six : 1. How

NEWTON.

they could learn to know Jeaus Christ ? 2. Did God
understand Indian prayers? 3. Were the English
ever so ignorant as ths Indians at that time? 4.
What is the image of God, which it is forbidden in
the second commandment to worship? 5. If all the
world had once been drowned, how was it now so full
of people? 6. If a father be bad and the child good,
will God be offended with the child for the father's
sake ? Being asked at the close if they were weary,
an Indian replied, " No," and " they wished to hear
more.'' A few apples were given to the children,
some tobacco to the men, and another meeting ap-
pointed a fortnight later. At the second meeting more
Indians were present, and deep interest manifested.
The next day one of the Indians visited Mr. Eliot,
at his house in Rosbury, and reported how all night at
Waban's the Indians could not sleep, partly from trou-
ble of mind and partly from wonder at all the things
they had heard.

A work of grace, similar to modern revivals o<
religion, followed the services. Many of the English
people came together from neighboring towns to
witness the marvelous effects of the Gospel. Many
Indians from Concord and other towns removed to
Nonantum, that they might be more fully instructed
in the truths of religion. Soon after the third meet-
ing three men and four children begged Mr. Eliot to
establish Christian schools among their people. No
suitable arrangement could be made, and they were
sent back to their native forests. But it is an inter-
esting fact that the first call for a mission school came
from the heathen themselves.

Au effort was made at Nonantum to bind the peo-
ple together under a civil government. Many Eng-
lish customs were adopted by the Indians. Their
clothing became more seemly, and they gave them-
selves more to the cultivation of the soil as their
dependence for ths means of subsistence. There were
doubtless many true converts among them, but never
an Indian church in Newton. It was after their
removal to Natick that a church was first formed, and
the institutioaa of religion and a civilized life first
took root.

The success of missionary effort among the Indians
created a strong sensation in England. The British
Parliament passed an act, July 27, 1649, ordering a
collection to be taken up in all the churches of Eng-
land for the advancement of the work. The Society
for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge was formed
in 1698, and the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel among the Indians and Others in North
America in 1701, and the Scottish Society for the
Propagation of Christian Knowledge in 1709 — all of
which grew out of Mr. Eliot's efforts in behalf of the
Indians. " Most of the Indians," says Mr. Shepard,
" set up family prayer and grace before meat, and
seemed in earnest in their devotions."

The new Indian town in Natick, to which they
removed, was commenced in 1651, with a day of fast-

ing and prayer, and the preparations for forming the
church by another day of prayer and confession,
October 13, 1652. Under the superintendence of Mr.
Eliot the Indiana built afoot-bridge in Natick, across
Charles River, securing to them communication with
other Indians as far south as Pegan HUl, in Dover,
near which many traces of dwellings remain, and
many traces of their civilization have survived in the
rose-bushes and fruits growing around their homes.
A fire-proof building, for a free library, now stands
in South Natick, on the site of this central point of
Indian civilization and church life. A single head-
stone remains here, the memorial of the Indian pas-
tor, Daniel Takawambait, who died September 17,
1716. In 1670 there were two teachers and between
40 and 50 communicants. In 1763 there were only
37 Indiana; in 1797 not more than 20; and in 1843
but a single individual known to be living in whose
veins flowed Indian blood.

In 1687 Cotton Mather wrote, " There are six regular
churches of baptized Indians in New England and
IS assemblies of catechumens, professing the name of
Christ. Of the Indiana there are twenty-four preach-
ers of the word. There are also four English preach-
ers who preach the gospel in the Indian tongue." In
the year 1671 Mr. Eliot recognized missionary sta-
tions in places now known as Natick, Stoughton, Graf-
ton (between Natick and Grafton), Marlboro', Littleton ,
Tewksbury and Pawtucket Falls, near Lowell. Sev-
eral of them had regular worahip and anative preacher.
At Natick the meetinga were asaembled by beat of
drum.

Mr. Eliot's evangelistic efforts bore fruit on the
other side of the globe. Dr. Leusden wrote to Cotton
Mather that the example of New England had awak-
ened the Dutch to attempt the evangelization of the
heathen in Ceylon and their other Indian possessions,
and that multitudes there had been converted to Chris-
tianity. This is another star in Newton's crown.

The most remarkable service performed by Mr.
Eliot for the Indians was the translation of the whole
Bible into their tongue. To prepare himself for this
work, as well as for preaching to the people, he took
into hia family an Indian who could speak both lan-
guages. Mr. Eliot's early training fitted him specially
for the work. He was proficient in linguistic studies,
as well as in Hebrew and Greek. He is said to have
written out the entire translation with one pen. The
New Testament was printed at Cambridge in 1661,
and the whole Bible, with the Psalms in metre, in
1663. It was the first Bible printed in America. A
thousand dollars in gold haa been refuaed, of late, for
a copy. An Indian who had been taught the art of
printing was employed in the work. A second edi-
tion was printed in 1685. There were 2000 copies of
each edition.

During Philip's War the Indian converts mani-
fested unshaken fidelity to the English, and often
served as guides and otherwise. The English, how-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ever, were so sensitive, and so suspicious of every red
man, that the General Court, on the breaking out of
the war, ordered them to be removed, 200 in number,
to Deer Island, in Boston harbor.

It is not difScult to trace the way in which the ter-
ritory of Newton was distributed among its early in-
habitants. A map drawn in 1700 marks the bounda-
ries of the first settlers. Charles River at first
bounded three sides of Newton, except the small por-
tion denominated the " Watertown weirs," and deter-
mined mainly the location of its several villages.
Wherever the falls or the river indicated a water-
power, and thepossibility of a profitable manufactory,
there a village sprang into existence. Such was the
origin of Newton, long called .Angler's Corner and
Newton Corner, being at the northeast corner of the
town, and adjacent to the Watertown fisheries, New-
ton Upper and Lower Falls, and Bern is' Factories,
since called North Newton and Nonantum. In later
times, the stations of the Boston and Albany Rail-
road, and the New York and New England, now all
included in the Newton Circuit Railroad, determined
tbe villages of Newtonvilie, West Newton, Auburn-
dale and Riverside, and Chestnut Hill, Newton Cen-
tre, Highlands, and the younger stations, Waban,
Eliot and Woodland. The cession of a small terri-
tory to Waltham sacrificed a part ot this water limit.
The first settlers of Newton were in the northeast
comer of the town, John aud Edward Jackson, Holly,
Bush and Radson, reached to the river. William
Clement name next to Edward Jackson, and the lat-
ter owned all the remainder to Centre Street. Cross-
ing Centre Street, westwardly, came Gregory Cook ;
next him the large estate of tiOO acres of Richard
Park ; then John Fuller, extending west, to the river.
South of Fuller was Capt. Isaac Williams. South of
Gregory Cook, on the west side of Centre Street, was
the great farm of Thomas Mayhew, of .500 acres, sold
to Gov. Bradstreet in 1638, aud by the latter, in 1646,
to Edward Jackson, including much of Newtonvilie.
Returning to Centre Street, on the east side were
some smaller estates, and south of them Deacon Sam-
uel Hyde, on both sides of the street, still bearing his
name. South of this, on the west side. Rev. .John
Eliot, Jr., afterwards Rev. John Cotton, John Spring,
and then the large holdings of Jonathan Hyde, reach-
ing to the Baptist Pond. South of Samuel Hyde, on
the east side of Centre Street, were Col. Ward, Rob-
ert Prentice and Henry Gibbs (the Rice estate), and
a little farther south, Wiswall, John Clark and the
great estate of Governor Haynes. East of Gibbs was
Joseph Bartlett, and east of Bartlett, Thomas Ham-
mond, including Hammond's Pond and reaching I
nearly to the limit of Newton in that direction. John
Parker and Ebenezer Stone were west and southwest i
of Thomas Hammond. Thomas Prentice was on
Waverly Avenue, and .south of him the Wards and
Clark. The larger farms soon began to be divided
among many proprietors. John and Elijah Kenrick

settled near tbe river at the south part of the town,
and John Kenrick on Waverly Avenue. As the
northeast corner of Newton was the first to be set-
tled, the southeast, in later times, seems nearly the
last. Vincent Druce was there at first, whose name
was spelled six difierent ways. Could Erosamon
Drew, whose saw-ruill hummed there on a little brook,
be a kinsman of Druce, under this kindred name ? This
large tract of land, lying, till lately, in a nearly wild
state, was in early times in the hands of Tories, who,
it is said, hid in the thick woods some of King
George's cannon, intending to use them, when cir-
cumstances should favor, in behalf of the Royal cause.
The Tories, however, were forced to flee to the British
Provinces, and their property was confiscated and
sold, and divided among many proprietors. Erosa-
mon Drew'.s house was called " the Huckleberry
Tavern," because the tenant then occupying it was
remarkably successful in making a kind of wine from
the huckleberries of the neighboring pastures, which
the scattered residents of the neighboring portions
of Newton and Brookline were fond of r|uaffing when
they viaited the locality on election days aud other
festive occasions.

In West Newton beyond the meetiug-house was
Miller, Bartlett, the Segers and .lohn Barbour, who
set out the great elm-tree by 'the Tavern House,"
and, in the progress of years and in the transitional
period from the old to the new, was Seth Davis, who
first taught geography and astronomy in his private
academy, and ^vaa blamed for it, and who set out
most of the trees on the older public streets of West
Newton ; the (Treenoughs, Stones and Fullers, and
Samuel Hastings, with his tan-yard near the meet-
ing-house. In what is now .\uburndale, the estate of
John Pigeon, the stiirdy patriot whose donation of
two field-pieces to the town sounded the alarm of the
Revolutionary War; Thomas Greenwood, Alexander
Shepard, Daniel Jackson and William Robinson ; on
the road to the Lower Falls, the Mnrdock and Dix
estates ; still farther south, John Staples, the first
school-master, also deacon and town clerk, who gave
to the town '' seventeen acres of woodland for the
.-upport of the ministerial fire from year to year
annually ; " the Collins families. At the Lower
Falls we find the names of Jonathan Willard, the
iron-worker, Wales, Curtis, Crehore, Hagar and
Rice, the latter extensive paper manufacturers, — one
of them, Thomas, selectman eighteen years, repre-
sentative three years, twice elected to the Senate and
two years member of the Executive Council, at whose
mill the paper was manufactured (or the Boston Daily
Transcript forty years, and who, in the days of the
War of the Rebellion, was to Newton what .John A.
Andrew, the war Governor, was to Massachusetta ;
and his younger brother, Alexander K., mayor ot
Boston in 18.56-.57, and Governor of Massachusetts in
1875-76, and member of Congress eight years. Still
farther south and southeast were the estates of Gap-

NEWTON.

tains Clark, Hyde and Woodward, in whose house,
still standing, family worship has been maintained
for nine generations ; at the Upper Falls, Cheney,
Gibbs, Bixby, Elliott and Pettee, a man of infinite
ingenuity and perseverance, whose machine-shops and
factories built up the village, and who. more than any
other, secured the building of the first railroad from
Needham, through Newton Centre to Boston ; on the
southern extension of Centre Street, Mitchell's
tavern, the Winchieaters ; at Oak Hill, the Richard-
sons, Stones, Wiswalls, Deacon King, Hall, Richards,
Wilson, Rand, Kingsbury and Goody Mary Davis,
the widow, who died aged 116 years, and cultivated
her garden with her own hands in her old age, and
whose portrait hangs on the walls of the Massachu-
setts Historical Society in Boston.

Historical Items. — In the early periods of New
England history the parish and the town were co-
extensive. The laws of Massachusetts did not recog-
nize the church as distinguished from the parish;
hence parish business was town business and eccles-
iastical legislation was only town legislation. The
town called and settled the minister, and provided
for his support. The town also paid the funeral ex-
penses of the pastors when they were dead. When
Mr. Meriam, the fourth pastor, died, in August, 1780,
the town appointed a committee to make provision
for the funeral. Colonel Benjamin Hammond lent
£195 towards these expenses, " which included £60 to
Deacon Bowles, for making a coffin," and £31 paid
to Joshua Murdoch " for half barrel of beer and half
a cord of wood for the funeral." The town also regu-
lated the exercises of worship. About 1770 a peti-
tion was offered for a committee " to consider respect-
ing the introduction of the version of the Psalms by
Tate and Brady, with the Hymns annexed.' The
report was favorable, and adopted. About the same
time it was voted in town-meeting " that trees be set
out to shade the meeting-house, if any persons will
be so generously-minded as to do it."

The first five ministers of the town were called and
settled under this system. The first church was prop-
erly a colony of the First Church in Cambridge.
The records of the church were burned with the
house of Mr. Meriam, the fourth pastor, March 18,
1770. King Philip^ War broke out soon after the set-
tlement of the second pastor, Mr. Hobart. Had the
Nonantum Indians remained unchristianized and un-
civilized, and joined with the other Indian tribes to
exterminate the English .settlers, humanly speaking
the latter would have been forced to leave the coun-
try. But, remaining faithful to their friends, they
saved the situation, and New England was preserved
from destruction, almost in its inception, through the
induence of Christian missions to the heathen.

In 1779 six new pews were built in the First Parish
meeting-house, slips or long benches being removed
to make room for them. These pews were leased at
auction annually at the March meeting, "the rent to be

paid in Indian corn, not less than half a peck to be
accepted as a bid, and delivered to the Treasurer."
The first year twenty-two bushels were received, and
at the next annual meeting " sold in lots to suit pur-
chasers." After eight years the custom was discon-
tinued, and pew rents were ever afterwards paid in
money.

Near the ancient meeting-house were erected the
stocks, for the punishment of those who misbehaved
at church or in town-meeting. We do not know pre-
cisely where they stood, or at what date they were
erected. But in the Town Records of 1773 it is
stated that " a committee was chosen to examine the
church stocks." The office of constable of Newton,
we may infer, was not eagerly sought after. One part
of his duty was to collect the annual taxes. In 1728
Mr. Joseph Jackson was elected constable, but declin-
ed the office, and " did immediately pay his fine, as
the law required." The amount was £5. The pay of
the Representative to the General Court in 1729 was
£4') 6«. A new pound for the confinement of stray
cattle was built of stone near the site of the Unitarian
Church, Newton Centre in 1755, where it remained
about 110 years. Cypress Street, on which it stood,
was hence called Pound Lane until a recent period.
In 1755 it was voted to provide a cotton velvet pall
for use at funerals, and in 1763 to " let the velvet pall
to other towns," when not in use in Newton, " the
persons hiring it to pay half a dollar every time it is
hired." In 1799 it was voted to buy two hearses for
the use of the town, when the money could be spared
out of the treasury. Also in 1760, " that persons
(vorking out their highway taxes on the road should
be>paid three pence per hour, and each team that is
able to carry a ton weight, the same sum."

Newton Upper Falls. — The beginning of New-
ton Upper Falls was a saw-mill erected by John
Clark about 1688, on Charles River, where the water
falls twenty feet perpendicularly, and then descends
about thirty-five feet in half a mile. There was an
eel-weir above the falls which John Clark bought of
the Indians, together with all the water power, for £3
lawful money. The river was called by the Indians
Quinobequin, and the Indian who signed the deed of
conveyance of the water privilege was William
Nehoiden or Nahaton. The eel-weir was a dam built
by the Indians near the upper bridge, and the yard of
the present cotton-mill. Its foundation atones can
atill be seen in the bed of the river. Greneral Elliott
erected snuff-mills at that point later, on the Newton
•hore. In 1720 this busy spot included a saw-mUl,
fulling-mill, grist-mill and eel-weir, and Noah Parker
became the sole owner. The property afterwards fell
to Thomas Parker, and was sold later on to Simon
Elliott, a tobacconist from Boston, a man of much
enterprise. In the first decade of the nineteenth
century he was the owner of one of the only three
" family carriages " in Newton. ,

The first dwelling-house in the village of the

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Upper Falls was erected about 1800 and still stands.
Some of the timber used in building the cotton factory
on the Needham side was taken from a prize at sea,
daring the War of 1812, and carried into Boston and
sold at auction. About 1829 a hotel was built at the
Falls, and kept as a house of entertainment twenty
years. It became afterwards a private dwelling. A
stage-coach for Boston, until near 1850, left New-
ton Upper Falls every morning at 9 o'clock, going
through Newton Centre and Brighton, and left Boston
on its return at 3 p.m. ; fare, fifty cents. It was through
the energy of a Mr. Whiting, of Dover, Massachusetts,
who for ten years courted fortune in the gold-mines
of Mexico, that cotton manufacturing was first intro-
duced into Tepic, a city near the western coast of that
republic. The cotton machinery was built by Mr.
Prttee at the Upper Falls, and sent to Mexico in 1837,
in charge of workmen employed for three years to go
thither and set up the machinery and instruct the
native workmen, till they could manage the business
themselves. Other factories followed, and were estab-
lished with satisfactory results in Durango, Tunai,
Colima, Santiago, Cura^oa, Mazatlan and other
places.

The Worcester Turnpike (Boylston Street) was
chartered March 7, 1806, and the road constructed
through Newton in 1808. Of the 600 shares of stock,
valued at $250 each, sixteen were held by citizens of
Newton. The road paid but few dividends, and
finally the stockholders lost their entire capital. In
1833 the county commissioners laid out the portion
in Newton as a public highway, and in 18-11 the pro-
prietors surrendered their charter.

The village of Newton Upper Falls lies outside of
the Newton Circuit Railroad, on the line of the
Woonsocket Branch of the New York and New Eng-
land Railroad. It has the appearance of an old vil-
lage, built more for utility than beauty, although
the natural scenery is not equaled by that of any
part of Newton. The river Charles here cuts its way
between the hills, and in some places, as in the rear
of the Baptist meeting-house, the landscape has strik-
ing charms. The first owner, Nahaton, a sagamore of
the Punkapoag tribe, sold a part of it to John Man-
gus for a gun. It was bought of him by the English
colonists. In 1700 the rest of it was sold to Robert
Cooke, of Dorchester, for £12.

The large " stone bam," so-called, on Oak St., a con-
spicuous feature of the Upper Falls, was built by Mr.
Otis Pettee, Sr., in the period of the silk excitement
in Eastern Massachusetts, when Mr. John Keurick,
nurseryman, living on Waverly Street, had for sale
many thousands of Jlorus Mullicaulis trees, deeming
that the raising of silk-worms and the manufacture of
silk was likely to become an important industry
of Newton. It was generally conjectured among the
villagers that the " stone bam " was designed for a
nursery of silk worms and a depot for the manufac-
ture of silk. But Mr. Pettee would never reveal to

I any one his purpose in rearing the structure. It stood
I unused for years, and then part of it was utilized for
a common stable. It is a singular fact that, after
i more than half a century, the silk manufacture is
j actually established at last as a feature of the industry
I of Newton Upper Falls. The weather-beaten brick
! mills, once a cotton factory, employ 130 operatives,
I engaged in spinning silks, silk yarns, filoselles, em-
broidery-silk and other goods of like character, the
I raw material in the original packages being brought
from France, Italy, China and Japan.

In 1639 certain parties in Dedham dug a canal de-
signed to divert the waters of Charles River into East
Brook, a tributary of the Neponset, and actually se-
cured to themselves one-third of the water of the
Charles. In 1777 a petition to the Governor and
Council, and another in 1807, by General Elliott,
invoking the aid of the town of Newton in behalf
of its own citizens, saved the remainder of the
water to its rightful proprietors. The settlement
caused much litigation.

It is said that salmon, shad and alewives used to
find their way, before dams were built, as far as this
point.

At the northeast corner of Boylston and Chestnut
Streets, Upper Falls, is a large, wooden house, which,
from 1808 to 1850, bore the name of the " Manufac-
turers' Hotel," a place of considerable business, where
merchants from Boston and the manufacturers of the
village held frequent sessions to discuss their mutual
interests.

The Lower Falls on Charles Rivee are two
miles below the Upper Falls. In 1703 John Lever-
ett, of Boston, conveyed to John Hubbard, also of
Boston, four acres of land at the Lower Falls, bound-
ed on one side by a forty-acre lot, then belonging to
Harvard University. This land has since been the
site of all the mills on the Newton side of the river.
In 1705 John Hubbard conveyed to his son, Nathan-
iel, one-half of this lot, with half the iron works
thereon, and half the dam, flume, stream and run-
ning-gear belonging to the forge. Jonathan Willard
erected here, in 1704, iron works, forge and trip-ham-
mer, which was the beginning of business at tha
Lower Falls. In 1722 Mr. Willard became sole
owner of the entire plant, and ^as the principal
man of the iron works and of the village for
nearly half a century. He was the first Baptist
in Newton, and a member of the First Baptist
Church in Boston ; and for many years he and
his daughter were the only professors of that faith.
Many kinds of business requiring water-power have
been carried on here, as iron works, saw, grist, snuff,
leather and paper-mills, calico-printing, machine-
shops, etc. But for the last half-century the manu-
facture of paper has been the leading industry.
Eight or ten paper-miils, in constant operation, have
supplied the traders and newspaper presses of Boston
and other cities and towns. The names of ex-Gov-

NEWTON.

ernor Rice and Hoq. Thomas Rice, an influential and
patriotic citizen, are prominent in tills manufacture.
The first paper-mill was erected by Jlr. John Ware,
son of Professor Ware, Sr., of Harvard College, in
1790, and father of Mrs. Eb nezer Starr, whose hus-
band was the physician of the Lower Falls. The
business was afterward enlarged under the manage-
ment of the Curtises, Crehores and Rices. The work
was at first done by hand ; but after the invention of
the Fourdrinier press, in England, the capacity of
manufacture was greatly enhanced. The first ma-
chine of this kind in use in the United States was
placed in a mill at the Lower Falls.

In 1800 there were only thirteen houses in the vil-
lage. The only post-office in Newton, previous to
1820, was at the Lower Falls. A stagecoach ran
from the Lower Falls to Boston three times a week.
The old Cataract Engine Company, at the Lower
Falls, is the oldest tire organization in Newton.
Their first tub was of wood, afterwards replaced by
copper. Stringent rules were adopted to prevent the
members from using spirituous liquors to an immod-
erate extent. The members paid an admission fee of
§5.00. The organization lasted from 1S13 to 184(>.

Paper-making has bsen carried on here for much
more than a century. The Crehore Mill, still in op-
eration, as well as others, has proved a benefit to the
whole country. Silk and hosiery manufactories and
machine-shops have also been among the industries
of the village. Mr. Isaac Hagar, of the Lower Falls,
wa.1 a member of the School Committee thirty years.
West Newton. — Early in the present century
West Newton became a kind of centre of several
lines of stage-coaches ; at one period as many as
thirty made it a regular stopping-place daily. The
private academy of Master Seth Davis, and his pub-
lic spirit, enterprise and taste, probably did more than
anything else in the first ijuarter of this century to
bring the village into prominence. The fixing of a
station of the Boston and Albany Railroad here was
among the important elements of its prosperity in
modern times. The Normal School removed hither
from Lexington, and the presence of those rare edu-
cators, Rev. Cyrus Pierce and Mr. Eben Stearns, the
head masters of it, and the influence of Horace Mann,
the first secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Edu-
cation, who lived in his estate on Chestnut Street
while he held that office, and the academy of the Al-
iens afterwards, and the educating influences of the
town-meetings held there, at one period, alternating
with sessions at Newton Centre, completed the circle
of elements which gave the village fame and distinc- j
tion. As early as IGGl Thomas Parker. John Fuller
and Isaac Williams were probably the only settlers in
this part of Newton. Thi- house of Isaac Williams
stood about thirty rods northeast of the site of the
present meeting-house. The old Shepard house was
near by, and, not far away, Peter Durell. The names
of Fuller, Park, Craft, Jackson and Captain Isaac
2-iii

I and Col. Ephraim Williams were among the most
I prominent. The Robinson farm, of 200 acres, cov-
ered what is now Auburndale, reaching to the river.
Here also was the Bourne house, Nathaniel Whitte-
more's tavern, in 1724, and John Pigeon, that sterling
patriot of the Revolution. Capt. Isaac Williams was
the ancestor of all of that name whom Newton delights
to honor, who shone in the pulpit and the field, as
scholars, statesmen nnd soldiers. Here also lived,
till 1739, Col. Ephraim Williams, whose will, estab-
lishing Williams College, has perpetuated his name
and fame. Two or three roads were laid out through
the Williams land, which are still among the most
important highways of the town. Dr.Samuel Wheat,
the village physician, in and after 1733, bought fifty-
five acres of this farm. In 1767, a hundred and three
years after the formation of the First Church in
Newton, Jonathan Williams and others petitioned
the town that money might be granted from the town
treasury to support preaching in the meeting-house
in the west part of the town in winter. The petition
was not granied ; but in 1778, eleven years later, by
order of the General Court, in October, a line was
drawn establishing and defining the West Parish.
This implies that the people had already quietly built
a church for their accommodation, in faith that their
reasonable request would at some future time be
granted. The action of the Court gave the inhabit-
ants liberty to elect to which parish they would be-
long. For the erection of this new parish was not
without opposition. The parish covered a wide ter-
ritory, and numbered not more than thirty-five or
forty families, and from fifty to sixty dwellings. The
first church built here, of very modest dimensions,
and afterwards enlarged, was, after a time, removed,
and became first the Town Hall, and when Newton
grew into a city, was again variously enlarged and
improved, and is now the City Hall. The three elm-
trees in front of what was the Greenough estate were
planted by fond parishioners. John Barbour kept
the hotel and set out the great elm before it. The
salary of Parson Greenough, the first minister in
West Newton, was £80 and fifteen cords of wood an-
nually. All the ministers of his day on public occa-
sions wore powdered wigs. Rev. Mr. Greenough
held on to the last to small clothes, knee-buckles and
shoe-buckles, and to the cocked hat, until the boys
followed him when he walked in the streets of
Boston.

As the settlement of Newton (Newton Corner)
was the beginning of Cambridge Village (Newton),
its growth in population and wealth has wonderfully
extended. The earliest station of the Boston and
Albany Railroad at this point, and until 1845-50,
was a small room partitioned oflf from the westerly
end of a harness-maker's shop. The village naturally
extended southerly towards Newton Centre, where the
meeting-house has stood since 1721, and onwards
toward Newton Highlands and Oak Hill, and later in

HISTORY UF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

every other direction. Farlow Park was the generous
gift of a citizen, Mr. J. P. Fariow,given on condition
that the-ground should be graded and adorced by the
city authorities. The first important streets in Cam-
bridge Village were made in this part of Newton, —
the road from Brighton westward (Washington
Street) and the Dedham Road (Centre Street). Non-
antum Hill, overlooking the village, was the home of
Waban, and here, among the wigwams, near the Eliot
monument, the apostle to the Indians first preached
to them the Gospel. Farther south, on Waverly
Avenue, was the home of Mr. John Kenrick, Jr.,
the first to embark in the nursery business in
the vicinity of Boston, and the Hydes, in the same
business on Centre Street, both descendants of the
first settlers. Mr. Kenrick was a man of substance,
the first president of the first Anti-Slavery Society in
the United States, and a liberal contributor to its
funds; also, an efficient helper of the temperance
reformation, and a friend of the poor and unfortu-
nate in his native town. He left a fund, still exist-
ing, to be loaned to enterprising young mechanics
just starting in business. In his vicinity lived Dr.
James Freeman, grandfather of Dr. James Freeman
Clarke. He was once pastor of King's Chapel, Boston,
and under his lead that ancient church passed from
the Episcopal faith to the Unitarian. Indian Lane
(Sargent Street) was probably a path olten trodden
by the aborigines, and hence its name. Cotton
Street, on the south side of the first cemetery, was
one of the great streets of the town, accommodating
all who came from " the east part,'' either to church
on the Sabbath or to Lieut. John Spring's mill, on
Mill Street.

Newtonville was chiefly known, in early times, as
the Fuller farm, the residence of Judge Fuller (whose
house occupied the same site now owned by ex-Gover-
nor Claflin}, and afterwards of his son-in-law, Gen.
William Hull. This land was part of the farm pur-
chased in 1638 of Thomas Mayhew, by Governor
Simon Bradstreet. Newtonville in 1842 was only a
flag-station of the Boston and Albany Railroad. A store-
house for the Miller Bullough's grain stood near the
track on Walnut Street, and an occasional traveler,
wishing the cars to stop for him, was obliged to raise
the flag. The establishment of the mixed high
school here, and, later, the high school for the whole
town, have given it importance.

Newton Highlands was chiefly known as the site
of Mitchell's Tavern, kept in later times by Nancy
Thornton, at the corner of Centre and Boylston
Streets, and Bacon's Tavern, afterwards the estate of
Dea. Asa Cook, wheelwright and undertaker, at the
junction of Boylston and Elliott Streets. These two
hotels caught the patronage of an extensive travel
before the days of railroading, and were also the
scene of convivial gatherings. A stone shop, for
the blacksmith's craft, at the corner of Woodward
Street, completed the conveniences of village life.

The railroad depot, of pink granite, was built by the
Boston and Albany Railroad Corporation in 18S6.
The station has been fated to wear various names.
The first was Oak Hill, though there was never a
more level plain, and the heights of Oak Hill were
far to the southeast ; then it became Newton Dale
and finally Newton Highlands ; but the high land is
a considerable distance away, to the southeast, south-
west and west. In this vicinity reside the twin
brothers Cobb, Darius and Cyrus, artists; they were
born in Maiden, where their father, Rev. Sylvauus
Cobb, was settled as a Universalist minister, and first
saw the light of this world in the same house and
the same chamber with the celebrated missionary to
Burmah, the Rev. Adoniram Judson.

AuBURXDALE anciently was beat known as the home
of the fervent patriot of the Revolution, John Pigeon.
His house afterwards became, for several years, the
Newton Almshouse. In 1800, within the present
limits of Auburndale, extending to the Weston Bridge,
there were only seven hoiisfs. The old Whiltemore
tavern stood near the bridge, at Woodland Avenue,
and was known as a house of entertainment in 1724.
The starting of the village is due to a casual conver-
sation in Newton Centre between Rev. Messrs. Gilbert,
of West Newton, and Rev. Chas. du Marisque Pigeon,
a scion o: the John Pigeon household, in reference
to Hull's Crossing, .is the possible site of a future
village, and a good place for the profitable investment
of funds. Lasell Seminary has been one of the chief
elements of its prosperity. The Rev. Mr. Pigeon and
Rev. Messrs. Woodbridge and Partridge, his neigh-
bors, in this ao-called "Saints' Rest," alter protracted
consultation, agreed, in memory of the liue,

" Sweet .\uburD, loveliest vitluge of the pluio,"

on the name Auburndale, which it has ever since en-
joyed.

The three new stations on the Newton Circuit Rail-
road, lying between Newton Highlands and River-
side, are just becoming the nucleus nf new villages in
Newton.

Eliot, near Elliott Street, and near the old toll-
house, still standing, on the former Worcester Turn-
pike, seems, from its spelling, to be designed as a
memorial of Rev. John Eliot, the apostle to the
Indians. Very near it is the house of the renowned
General Cheney, and the home of the Ellis family, the
birthplace of two distinguished Unitarian clergymen
of Boston, Rev. Messrs. Gtorge E. and Rulus Ellis.
The plain north of Eliot is said by geologists to have
once been an extensive lake, whose dark ooze is turned
up twenty or thirty feet below the surface. Singular
hollows exist, of funnel shape, at various points, at the
bottom of which large trees are growing.

Chestnut Hill, now a lovely and cultivated swell
of land, adorned with tasteful dwellings and evergreen
shrubbery, was for many years a dry and breezy ex-
panse of pasture. On Beacon Street, on the northern

NEWTON.

side of the hill, still stands the old Hammond house,
built in 1730, an ancient unpainted structure with its
rear facing the street, and the roof descending almost
to the ground. The ancient Kingsbury house was
the home of John Parker, who came from Hingham
in 1650. Its huge chimney and broad, uncomely
barns near the house, and mighty overhanging elm,
proclaim its age. In 1700 part of the estate passed
into the hands of Hon. Ebenezer Stone. The Dr.
Slade house, corner of Beacon and Hammond Streets,
was honored by the reception of Dom Pedro, Emperor
of Brazil, when he visited the United States in 1876.
The house of Judge Lowell was built by one of the
Hammonds in 1773, and remained in the family over
eighty years. It came to the Lowells after 1850.
Hammond's Pond covers about twenty acres. Thomas,
after whom it was named, was one of the three richest
colonists of Newton, the other two being John and
Edward Jackson. Another settler in this vicinity
was Vincent Druce, who built the house on the Denny
place, about 1695. Before the war of King Philip
Thomas Greenwood, the weaver and town clerk, lived
in this vicinity. Up to 1850 all Chestnut Hill, except
the forests and pasture lands, was occupied as market
gardens by Messrs. Kingsbury, Woodward and the
Stones.

Up to that time the streets were grassy lanes,
bordered by weeds and brush. In about 1850 an arti-
ficial channel was dug from Hammond's Pond, by
which the overflow w.is to be conducted into Smelt
Brook, thus increasing the power of the mill on Mill
Street, formerly Lieutenant John Spring's. The
grounds near the railroad station were laid out by
Frederick Law Olmstead. and the station itself is a
gem of architecture by the late H. H. Richardson, of
Brookline. The more recent inhabitants have been
sometimes called "the Essex Colony," because its
chief families originated in Essex County, Mass.; the
Saltonstalls and Lees being from Salem, and the
Lowells from Newbury.

Waban is said to have been a favorite hunting-
ground of Waban, the chief of the Nonantum Indians,
where he encamped spring and fall with parties of
his people, to hunt and tish along the banks of the
Quinobequin (Charles River). He was Eliot's first
convert, and it is fitting that these two villages, side
by side, should be a memorial of their relations, as
Gospel teacher and catechumen. The region now
constituting Waban was the farm of John Staples,
the first schoolmaster of Newton. The farm has
passed through several hands since his time, as Moses
Craft, 1729; Joseph Craft, 1753; William Wiswall,
1788; David Kinmouth, merchant of Boston, and
William C. Strong, whose extensive nurseries are
everywhere celebrated. Moffatt Hill, on this estate,
was so called after the name of a resident on it for a
brief period. When the new streets of Waban were
built to its summit, the name was changed to Beacon
Hill, because for several years the beacon of the

United States Coast Survey and of the State Survey
of Massachusetts was its most striking feature.

WooDLAjfD Station is chiefly interesting, thus
far. as the seat of the Woodland Park Hotel and the
Newton Cottage Hospital. Near the former is the
site of the old Stimson place, so called, well known
by residents of a hundred or more years ago. It owes
its importance to the station built here on the Newton
Circuit Railroad. Being continuous with Auburn-
dale, of which it is really only a suburb, the pleasant
scenery and palatial homes of that village are justly
claimed as belonging to both villages alike.

Riverside. — This station, the seat of Miss Smith's
Home and Day School, is the point between Wood-
land and Auburndaie, where the Charles River, just
below the tracks of the railroad, furnishes a delight-
ful naval station. Here the Boston and Albany Rail-
road sends off a branch from the main road to the
Lower Falls, and on the opposite side the circuit road
comes in from Newton Centre. The club-house of
the Newton Boat Club, and the romantic boat-build-
ers' shop on the river below, are the main features.
The club was organized in 1875, having now about
200 members. The boating-ground is about five miles
long, from Waliham to the rapids, near County Rock.
An annual gala day festival is held in the autumn,
when sometimes four hundred boats are in line.

The North Village, or Nonantum, was on both
sides of Charles River, and for many years known as
Bemis' Factory. All the land on the Newton side of
the river, from near the Watertown line to the north
end of Fox Island, for a century or more from the
first settlement belonged to Richard Park and John
Fuller and their heirs. This tract now belongs, by
cession of Newton, to Waltham. John Fuller had
seven sons. With some or all of them he went out
once upon a time to explore the surrounding wilder-
ness. At noon-day, hungry and weary, they sat down
to refresh themselves on- the banks of a brook with
cheese and cake ; and the stream hence acquired the
name of Cheesecake Brook. Previous to 1764 David
Bemis bought sixty-four acres of land on the Water-
town side, embracing all the land now covered by the
village on that side of the river. In 1778, in connec-
tion with Dr. Enos Sumner, who owned the land on
the Newton side, he built the original dam across the
river. A paper-mill was erected in 1779, and the
Bemises, father and son, carried on this business,
alone or in association with others, till 1821, when the
water-power was sold to Seth Bemis. Captain Luke
Bemis is regarded as the first successful paper manu-
facturer in Massachusetts. He had to overcome great
difficulties, and to import many of his workmen and
most of his machinery from Europe. But so important
was the manufacture to the interests of the country,
that when bis works were destroyed by fire, the Leg-
islature of Massachusetts voted a special grant to en-
able him to rebuild his mill.

While David Bemis and his son Luke were mann-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUXTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

facturing paper on the Newton side of the river, the
former built a grist-mill and snuff-mill on the Water-
town side, which was inherited^ by his sons Luke and
Seth. The latter carried on successfully the manu-
facture of chocolate, dye-woods and medicinal roots
till 1803, and then turned his attention to cotton ma-
chinery. The profits derived from his cotton-warp
were said to be almost fabulous. With the aid of
foreign weavers, in 1808 or 1809, Mr. Berais began the
manufacture of sheeting, shirting, bed-ticking, satinet
and cotton-duck, Mr. Bemis being the first manu-
facturer of the latter article in the United States. In
1812 Mr. Bemis built a gas-house in connection with
his works. This is said to have been the first attempt
in the United States to manufacture coal-gas. Thus
carburetted hydrogen for illuminating purposes
gleamed out over the water of Charles River from the
windows of the Bemis factory and irradiated the in-
tervales of Newton two years before it was in use in
England.

For the first eighteen or twenty years the em-
ployees in this busy village were summoned to their
work by the blast of a horn. This led to the ludi-
crous name of " Tin Horn," long afterwards applied to
the village. From the original purchase in 1753 this
property was in the Bemis family a full century and
a quarter on the Watertown side, and nearly a cen-
tury on the Newton side. A bridge, which was pri-
vate property, was built across the river by the Be-
mises between 1790 and 1796. For ten or twelve
yards it was without railing. In 1807 the Watertown
end was carried away by a freshet, and only a foot-
bridge took its place for -two or three years. Anew
bridge was built for teams, but in 1818 the same end
was again carried away. The road leading across the
bridge was laid out as a public highway in 1816, and
in later times received the name of California Street.

Cemeteries. — The first cemetery in Newton was
that on the east side of Centre Street, opposite the
estate of the late Gardner Colby. An acre of land
was given by Deacon John Jackson " for a meeting-
house and for a burying-place." The firstchurch wasin
the centre of the cemetery. The place was afterwards
enlarged by another acre, given by his son, Abraham
Jackson; but no deed of this acre being recorded, and
a later heir setting up a claim to it, the town, in 1765,
relinquished the piece on the southwest corner,
bounded on Cotton and Centre Streets, and voted " to
settle the bounds and fence the burying-place, meas-
uring one acre and three-quarters and twenty rods."
An addition on the east side was purchased in 1834,
making the whole area nearly three acres. The
twenty-acre lot east of the cemetery was anciently
called Chestnut Hill. The first tenant of the ceme-
tery was the wife of John Eliot, Jr., the young pas-
tor. She was the daughter of Thomas Willett, the
first mayor of New York City, and died April 13,
1665. It is a singular coincidence that the wife of the
apostle Eliot, father of this John, is said to have been

the firil tenant of the Eustis Street Cemetery in Ro.^-
bury, where the Indian apostle also is buried. The
second is supposed to have been the young pastor
himself. On a mound not far from the entrance of
the cemetery, the two later pastors. Homer and Graf-
ton, who labored together side by side, the one a pas-
tor more than half a century and the other not much
less, .sleep under fitting monuments. Near the grave
of General William Hull is a spreading willow, raised
from a slip of a willow which grew on the resting-
place of Napoleon on the island of St. Helena. From
the time when the ceremony of Decoration day began
to be kept, Mr. Seth Davis, of West Newton, then a
nonagenarian, took pains, annually and alone, to
travel two miles from his home to lay his tribute on
the grave of General Hull. He was a friend of the
general, and thought he had been treated unjustly.
In 1823 the town erected a monument to the memory
of John Eliot, Jr., with a suitable inscription. The
descendants of the families of the first settlers erected
a conspicuous but modest monument in the centre
of this ancient cemetery in the year 1852, designed
to perpetuate ths memory of their early ancestors.
It is a piain obelisk or pillar, having recorded on it
the names of the first twenty settlers of Newton, with
the dates of their settlement and death, and ages at
the time of their death. The inscriptions on the other
three sides of the monument are as follows : Thomas
Wiswall, ordained Ruling Elder July 20, 1664. His
son, Enoch, of Dorchester, died November 28, 17C6,
aged seventy-three. Rev. Ichabod, minister of Du.x-
bury thirty years, agent of Plymouth Colony in Eng-
l.'.nd, 1690. Died July 23, 170(i, aged sixty-three.
Captain Noah,of Newton, an officer in the expedition
against Canada, killed in battle with the French and
Indians, July 6, 1690, aged fifty, leaving a son
Thomas. Ebenezer, of Newton, died June 21, 1691,
aged forty-five.

Rev. John Eliot, Jr., first pastor of the First
Church, ordained July 20, 1664. His widow married
Edmund Quincy, of Brainlree, and died in 1700.
His only daughter married John Bowles, Esq., of
Rosbury, and died ilay 23, 1687. His only son,
John, settled in Windsor, Connecticut, where he died
in 1733, leaving a son John, a student in Yale Col-
lege.

Deacon John Jackson gave one acre of land for
this burial-place and First Church, which was erected
upon this spot in 1660. Abraham Jackson, son of
Deacon John, gave one acre, which two acres form
the old part of this cemetery. Edward Jackson gave
twenty acres for the parsonage in 1660, and thirty-one
acres for the ministerial wood-lot in 1681. His widow,
Elizabeth, died September, 1S09, aged ninety-two.

On a green mound, not far from the entrance, stand
two white monuments, similar in form, dedicated to
the Rev. Dr. Homer and Rev. Mr. Grafton, pastors
for about half a century each over the neighboring
Congregational and Baptist Churches. They lived

NEWTON.

and labored side by side, in harmony, as faithful
shepherds, and in death they are not divided. These
monuments were erected by subscriptions of >^1.U0
each, through the energy of Mr. Thomas Edmunds.
A multitude were glad in this way to honor their be-
loved pastors.

Colonel Nathan Fuller gave to the West Parish for
a cemetery an acre and a half of land, in September,
1781, about the time of the settlement of the first pas-
tor. Rev. William Greenough. It lie.s about sixty rods
north of the meeting-house. The first tenant of the
cemetery was a young woman seventeen years of age,
who died of the small-pox. The first man buried
here is John Barbour, who kept the tavern near the
meeting-house, and set out the great elm in front of
icon Washington Street in 17G7. His widow mar-
ried Samuel Jenks, father of Rev. Dr. William Jenks,
of Boston.

The South Burial-ground, near the corner of Cen-
tre and Needham Streets, was laid out in 1802. A
committed of the inhab'.tants of the south part of the
town bought three-quarters of an acre of land of
Captain David Richardson for a cemetery. Part of
the ground was laid out in equal family lots for the
original subscribers. About 1833 Mr. Amasa Win-
chester gave to the town three-quarters of an acre ad-
joining, and the town purchased the cemetery of the
proprietors. This shaded nook was used for many
years for the convenieuce of families living in and
near Oak Hill and the Upper Fall.-'. The residents
of the Upper Falls had no other burying-place.

St. Mary's Parish, Lower Falls, was incorporated
by the General Court in 1813, and about the same
date two acres of land were presented to the corpora-
tion for the church and cemetery by Mr. Samuel
Brown, of Boston. One of the most interesting of
the memorials of the silent sleepers in this cemetery
is that of Zibeon Hooker, a drummer in the Revolu-
tionary War, who died aged eighty. His bass-drum
was perforated by a British bullet in the battle of
Bunker Hill.

The older cemeteries being small and crowded, and
the spirit of the times' demanding an improvement in
the matteroftheburialof the dead, the beautiful ceme-
tery on Walnut Street, near the centre of Newton, was
commenced in 1855. At first, thirty acres of land
were purchased, admirably adapted to such a use,
and later, thirty-five acres additional, extending from
Beacon Street nearly to Homer Street. Dr. Henry
Bigelow was the first president of the Board of Trus-
tees. Mr. Henry Ross was appointed superintendent
in 1861. The cemetery was dedicated by public ex-
ercises June 10, 1857 : prayer by Rev. D. L. Furber ;
address by Prof. F. D. Huntington, of Harvard Col-
lege. The gateway was completed in 1871. The Sol-
diers' Monument, near the entrance, was dedicated by
prayer and eloquent addresses July 23, 1864. The
oration was by Rev. Prof. H. B. Hackett,of the Newton
Theological Institution. It was one of the first

memorials, if not the first, erected in honor of the
patriots who fell in the Civil War. Hon. J. Wiley
Edmands headed the subscriptions for the monument
by a pledge of $1000. Nearly §1200 were raised by
pledges of one dollar each by the citizens of Newton ;
more than 1100 children of the public schools gave
one dime each. The monument and surroundioga
cost $5220.50 ; the land constituting the soldiers' lot
was given by the city. The entablature records the
names of 59 Newton men who sacrificed their lives
for their country. The chapel, built at an expense of
$20,000, was a gift of the city by J. S. Farlow, Esq.
One of the lots in this cemetery, called "the Mission-
ary Lot," belongs to the American Baptist Mission-
ary Union, where veteran missionaries, returning to
this vicinity and dyiug at home, may be buried, unless
their friends direct otherwise. The first to be laid
here was Rev. Benj. C. Thomas, 1869, for twenty
years a missionary in Burmah ; the second, Mrs. Ash-
more, missionary in China.

The Revolution. — Newton has been distinguish-
ed from the beginning by its patriotic and mi'itary
spirit. The Common at Newton Centre was given to
the town for a training-field forever, nearly two-thirds
by Jonathan Hyde and one-third by Elder Wiswall.
No deed of the gift remains, but it is known to have
been in possession of the town since 1711. In 1799 a
powder-house was built on it, on the east side, near
where Lyman Street begins, and stood about fifty
years. A second training-field, measuring 136 rods,
and bounded on all sides by townways, was laid out
at Newtonville in 1735, by Capt. Joseph Fuller, and
given "to the military foot company forever." But
after the Revolutionary War was ended, and the gov-
ernment established, this field was discontinued and
returned to the legal heirs. A large number of New-
tou's citizens bore military titles. In a register ex-
tending to the year 1800 there are two generals, nine
colonels, three majors, forty-oue captains, twenty-one
lieutenants and eight ensigns. In the events preced-
ing and accompanying the Revolution, " the inhab-
itants of Newton, almost to a man," says Mr. Jackson,
" made the most heroic and vigorous efforts to sustain
the common cause of the country, from the first hour
to the last." Oct. 21, 1765, ten days before the Stamp
Act was to go into operation, the town recorded its first
patriotic and revolutionary action in the form of in-
structions to Capt. Abraham Fuller, their representa-
tive to the General Court. The instructions closed
with these heroic words : " Voted that the foregoing
instructions be the instructions to the Representative
of this town, and that he is now enjoined firmly to
adhere to the same; also, that the same be recorded
in the Town Book, that posterity may see and know
the great concern the people of this day had for their
invaluable rights and privileges and liberties."

The General Court passed a series of resolutions
Oct. 29th, atfirmiag their conviction of the injustice of
an attempt to enforce the right of taxation on the col-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

onists, without granting them at the same t'me the i of the passage of this act, they were not allowed to
right of representation. In consequence of the unjust j trade with any foreign country, nor export to Eng-

' land their own merchandise, except on British vts-

and oppressive act passed by the Parliament of Great
Britain, great riots took place in Boston. Governor
Hutchinson's house was sacked, and much property
destroyed. The people of Newton, in town-meeting
assembled, affirmed their abhorrence of this lawless
destruction of property, and instructed their repre-
sentative to use his influence to have the losses made
up out of the public treasury or otherwise, "as shall
seem most just and convenient." But the spirit of
opposition was not quelled. More than two hundred
merchants of New York held a meeting in which

sels. Iron abounded in the Colonies, but not an arti-
cle could be manufactured by the people ; all must
be imported. Wool abounded, but no cloth could be
manufactured except for private use ; and nota pound
of the raw material could be sold from town to town ;
but all must be sent to England, to be ultimately re-
turned as manufactured cloths, burdened with heavy
dulies. Beavers were plenty all along the streams;
but no hatter was permitted to have more than two
apprentices, and not a hat could be sold from one

they "resolved to import no goods from England i Colony to another. These are specimens of that vast

until the Stamp Act be repealed ; to immediately
countermand all orders sent for spring goods, and to
sell no goods from England on commission." The next
year the Stamp Act was repealed, and the gratitude
of the people found utterance in the erection of a
leaden statue of George III. on horseback on Bowling
Green, New York City. A few years afterwards, in a
revulsion of feeling on account of the tax on tea, this
same statue, the horse and his rider, was torn from the
pedestal and run into thousands of bullets by the
wife and daughters of Oliver Walcott, Governor of

network of restrictions upon trade-acd commerce in
which Great Britain encircled the thirteen Colonies.

"This was not alone. The Parliament added hu-
miliation to extortion. Navai officers acting under
the law were insolent towards Colonial vessels.
They compelled them to lower their flags in token of
homage, fired on them on the slightest provocation,
and impressed their seamen whenever they chose.

"The Mutiny Act, as it was called, required the
inhabitants of the Colonies to furnish quarters, and,
to some extent, supplies, for all the soldiers that

Connecticut. These bullets did good service to the i might be sent over from England to oppress them."
American patriots, subsequently, in the invasion of ! .September 22, 1768, a representative meeting was
Connecticut by the British soldiery, — a mine of am- j held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, forming a convention,
munition easily accessible and made ready to their ! to consult and advise such measures as the peace and
hand. j safety of the subjects in the Province may require.

In 1767 it was unanimously voted by the townsmen i Abraham Fuller was chosen unanimously .is a mem-
" strictly to adhere to the late regulation respecting I ber of this convention. The report of their commit-

funerals, and not to use any gloves but what are
manufactured here, nor procure any new garments
upon such occasions but what shall be absolutely
necessary." Also, " that this town will take all pru-
dent and legal measures to encourage the produce and
manufactures of this province, and to lessen the use
of superfluities, and particularly the following enum-
erated articles imported from abroad, viz.: loaf sugar.

tee was accepted at an adjourned meeting of the
convention, and "ordained to be printed in pam-
phlet form, and distributed agreeably to the original
vote."

"Jan. 4, 1772, Edward Durant, Charles Pelham,
Esq., Alexander Shepaid, William Phillips and Noah
Hyde were chosen a Committee to consider and re-
port what it may be proper for the town to do, relat-

cordage, anchors, coaches, chaises, and carriages of [ ing to the present unhappy situation the country is

all sorts, horse furniture, men's and women's hats,
men's and women's apparel ready made, household
furniture, gloves, men's and women's shoes, sole
leather, sheathing, duck, nails, gold and silver and
thread lace of all sorts, gold and silver buttons, wrought
plate of all sorts, diamonds, stone and paste ware,
snuff", mustard, clocks and watches, silversmiths' and
jewellers' ware, broadcloths that cost above ten shil-

reduced to by some late attacks made on our consti-
tutional rights and privileges."

In a brave and earnest report the committee pre-
sented live resolves, expressing the sense of the citi-
zens, which were unanimously adopted. These
resolutions affirmed that no good man can be silent
at such an alarming period, when such arbitrary
measures are taken as tend to the oppression of a free

ings per yard, muffs, furs, tippets and all sorts of j people; that the Colonists had been and were dis-

millinery ware, starch, women's and children's stays,
fire-engines, china ware, silk and cotton velvets,
gauze, pewterers' hollow-ware, linseed oil, glue, lawns,
cambric, silk of all kinds for garments, malt liquors
and cheese."

" This action of the citizens was provoked by the
Navigation Act, so called, of the British Parliament,
which restricted home industry in the Colonies, and
tended to destroy their commerce. In consequence

posed to be loyal to the mother country, so far as may
be consistent with their rights and privileges as Col-
onists; that no civil officer could safely be dependent
on the Crown for support, or on grants made by the
Crown; that all taxation without representation, for
the purpose of raising a revenue, is unconstitutional
and oppressive ; that the extension of the power of a
Court of Admiralty, and the introduction of a mili-
tary force into the Colony in a time of profound

NEWTON.

peace, and other measures of his Majesty's ministers
are a grievance of which we justly complain, and
must continue to do so, till they are redressed. These
resolves were committed to the representative, Abra-
ham Fuller, with instructions enforcing them, and
closing thus :

" We therefore think it proper to instruct yon, our representative in
General Aesemltly, that you unite in such measures as shall place the
j;nlse3of the Superior Court of .lu'licature of this Province upon a con-
stitutional hisis, and make, when that is ilotie, snitj*ble provision for
their support, utleqiiato to their merit and station.

'* We further instruct you that you use your uttnost en<learors that
alt our rights be restored and established 03 heretofore, and that a de-
cent, though manly remonstrance be sent to tlio Kins, assurin;; liis i
Majesty that universal discontent prevails in Aiuerica, and ULithiu;; will !
restore hai-uiony aud insure tbu attachmeut of the people to ttie Crown,
but a full restoratiuD of ull their liberties."

The selectmen of Boston having .»ept to the select-
men of Newton a circular in reference to the state of
public affairs, soliciting advice and co-operation, a
most patriotic answer was returned, applauding the
course taken by the town of Boston, and recommend-
ing as follows :

"We do recommend it 'to the Town, that they order the foregoing
rps*dve3 aud instructions to the rcpre-*entalive, and letter to the town of
Ilustou, to bo recorded iu the Town Book of Records lielouKing to the
Town, that posterity may see and know the great concern the people of
this day had for their invaluable rijhta, piivi'eges and liberties.''

At a town-meeting held December 20, 1773, a
''Committee of Five was appointed to draft such
measures as they shall think best for the town to
come into at this emergency, and report at the next
meeting." Also, " a Committee of Fifteen to cou-fer
with the inhabitants of the town as to the expediency
of buying, selling or using any of the Indian teas."

At an adjourned meeting held .Tanuary 6, 1774, the
committee of five reported the following resolves:

"We do with tirnuicss of mind, on njatui-e deliberation, estLiblish the
followin-.; resolves, viz. :

" I. That an .Vet pa-vsed in the last sessions of Parliament, empower,
ins the Honorable Last Imlia Company to e.tport tea to .Vnierica, subject
to a duty upon its arrival iu .Vmerica, is a fresh att.ack upon our ri.lits,
cniflily planned by a few of our inveterate enemies la the ministry, iu
onler to establisri a tax on us plainly contrary to the constitution of
England itself, and glaringly repugnant to our charier ; which we deem
a tjrievance greatly aggravate*! by the cruel partiality therein shown
against millions of hi> 3lnjcsty'8 loyal and good subjects in .\nierica, iu
favor of . I few, very few, opulent subjects iQ Uritain. This we cannot
brook, and do therefore solemnly bear testimony against it.

'■■i. That in justice to luirselves, our fellow-cilizens anil our posterity,
we cannot, norwtll, voluntarily and tamely submit to this or any bux
laid oQ ua for the express pnriHjso of raising t. revenue, when imposed
without our consent given Uy ourselves or our Representatives.

"3. That ;i3 part of f>e C.ilonies laboring under oppression, we are
determined to join the rest iu ail and e\ery lawful aud just iiiclhud of
obtaining redress, or preventing the oppression, uveu to the risk of our
lives and foiluues.

" 4. That all aud every person or persona, who have been, are, or
shall be advising or assisting iu the aforesaid, or any such acts, or are
active or aiding in the e.xecitlou of them, are, so far, at least, inimical
to this country, and thereby incur our just resentment ; iu which liglit
we shall view all merchants, tr.iileis and others, who shall helicefoith.
presume to import or sell .my India lea, until the diuy we so jnslly
complain <>f be taken olT.

"5. That we. each aud every one of lis, will not. directly or indirect-
ly, by ourselves or any fur or under tis, purchase or use, or sorter to be
used in our respective families any India tea. while such tea is subject
to a duly payalde upon its nrrival iu America; and recommend that a

copy hereof be transmitted to the Committee of Correspondence in Bos-
ton.

" 0. That a Committee of Corrcsponiience be appointed, to confer and
correspond with the Committees of any or all our sister towns in the
Province, as occasion may require."

The committee appointed in accordance with this
resolution were Edward Durant, William Clark, Cap-
tain Jonas Stone, Joshua Hammond and Captain
John Woodward.

The famous tea party in Boston Harbor took place
but a few days before the meeting took place which
reported these resolutions, and undoubtedly contrib-
uted to the unanimity and enthusiasm of the action
of the town. On the 16th December, 1773, a company
of men disguised as Indians, boarded three British
vessels at Liverpool Wharf, Boston, commanded by
Captains Hall, Bruce and Coffin, broke open with
their hatchets 342 chests of tea, and in less than four
hours mingled the whole with the waters of Massa-
chusetts Bay. Newton was represented on that occa-
sion by two or more of its citizens. One, in particu- •
hir, who drove a load of wood to market, stayed very late
on that day, and was not very willing the next morn-
ing to explain ihe cause of his detention. But as tea
was found in his shoes, it is easy to understand what
he had been doing. This was Samuel Hammond, son
of Ephraim, then a young man twenty-five years of
age, and ripe fi;r such an expedition.

A vote was passed by the town enjoining upon the
committee of fifteen " to lay before the inhabitants of
this town a paper or papers, that each of said inhabit-
ants may have opportunity to signify it under their
hands, that they will not buy, sell or use any of the
India teas, until the duties are taken off; and such
.as will not sign, to return their names to the town at
the adjournment.'' It does not appear that any one
refused to sign.

The Reconstruction Acts of 1774 were the crowning
acts of British oppression. The effect of these acts
was to cut otf almost every vestige of freedom which
remained, and to substitute for civil, martial law; to
prohibit town-meeting'', excepting twice a year, at
which the people could do nothing but elect their
town officers. Five thousand regulars were quartered
in B'ston ; the Common was occupied by troops and
the Neck fortified. Troops were sent to Salem to
disperse a meeting of citizens. The time for action
hail come. John Pigeon and Edward Durant were
appointed delegates to join the Provincial Congress
at Concord or wherever the Congress should meet. The
selectmen were requested, by vote of Newton, to use
iheir best discretion to provide firearms for the poor
who were unable to provide for themselves. Two
field- pieces were given to the town by John Pigeon,
and accepted with thanks. January 2, 1775, a com-
mittee was charged with the duty of obtaining eub-
scriptions to mount them. It was also voted to raise
men to exercise them. A committee, consisting of
Captains Fuller and Wiswall and Major Hammond,

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

was chosen to enlist thirty-two minute men, and to
add as many us they think necessary for oiBcers, to
meet once a week during the winter season half a day
for exercise; also, "that each man of the Company of
Minute-men be paid one shilling for half a day exer-
cising, and eight shillings a day for the eight officers,
over and above the one shilling each ; the Minute-
men to train once a week, at the discretion of the com-
manding officer."

April 19, 1775, the day of Lexington and Concord,
there were three companies of infantry in Newton —
the West Company, commanded by Captain Amariah
Fuller, the East Company, commanded by Captain
Jeremiah Wiswall, and a company of minute-men,
raised in 1775, commanded by Captain Pbineas Cook, —
all of which were in the batiles of that day, and
marched twenty-eight miles. The rolls of each com-
pany were returned to the secretary's office, and
sworn to by their commander as follows: West Com-
pany,105; East Company, 7f' ; minute-men, 37 — total,
218. Besides these, many Newton men not attached
to either of these companies were in the action. In
the West Company were thirty-seven volunteers, called
the alarm list, — men who had passed the age for mil-
itary duty. Among the members of the alarm list in
the West Company, Captain Joshua Fuller was seventy-
six years old, and Deacon Joseph Ward, sixty-nine.
Onlyone, Captain Edward Jackson, was under fifty. In
the East Company Noah Wiswall was seventy-sis ; Eb-
enezer Parker, seventy-three. Wiswall'sson Jeremiah,
was captain of the company, and two other sons and
some of his sons-in-law were in the same company.
The old veteran could not be induced to remain at
home, because, as he said, " he wanted to see what the
boys were doing;" and, when he was shot through
the hand by a bullet, he coolly bound up the wounded
member with his handkerchief, and brought home the
gun of a British soldier who fell in the battle. Both
the East and West Companies were in the battle of
Lexington.

The Bravery of Michael Jackson. — He was the
son of Michael Jackson, and about forty years of
age, and had been lieutenant in the French War. At
the opening of the Revolution he was a private in the
volunteer company of minute-men. At the early
dawn of April 19, 1775, a signal announced that the
British troops were on their march to Lexington and
Concord. The signal was a volley from one of John
Pigeon's field guns, kept at the gun-house at Newton
Centre, near the church. So '" the shot heard round
the world," according to Emerson, was fired from the
lips of a Newton cannon and at Newton Centre. The
company of minute-men were early on their parade-
ground ; but none of the commissioned officers were
present. The orderly sergeant had formed the com-
pany and a motion was made to choose a captain for
the day. Michael Jackson was nominated, and chosen
by uplifted hands. He immediately stepped from
the ranks to the head of the company, and, without a

word of thanks for the honor, or the slightest formal-
ity, he ordered the company, — "Shoulder srmsl Pla-
toons to the right, wheel ! Quick time 1 Forward
march ! " These few words of command were uttered
and the company were on the march to join the regi-
ment at Watertown meeting-house. On their arrival
there the commissioned officers of the regiment were
found holding a council in the school-house, and he
was invited to take part in their deliberations. He
listened to their discussions, but soon obtained the
floor, and affirmed that there was a time for all things ;
but that the time for talking had passed, and the time
for fighting had come. '' Not now the wag of the
tongue, but the pull of the trigger.'' This pro tempore
captain accused the officers of wasting time through
fear of meeting the enemy. He told them, if they
meant to oppose the march of the British troops, to
leave the school-house forthwith, and take up their
march for Lexington. He intended that his company
should take the shortest route to get a shot at the
British. And, suiting the action to the word, he left
the council, and took up his march. The blunt
speech broke up the council so that there was no con-
cert of action, and each company was left to act as
they chose. Some followed Captain Jackson ; .some
lingered where they were, and some dispersed. Jack-
son's company came in contact with Lord Percy's re-
serve near Concord village, and were dispersed after
exchanging one or two shots. But they soon rallied,
and formed again in a wood near by, and were joined
by a part of the Watertown company. They hung
upon the tlank and rear of the retreating enemy with
much elTect until they reached Lechmere Point (Etist
Cambridge I, at nightfall, and the British regulars took
boats for Boston. After they had rowed beyond the
reach of musket-shot, this company received the
thanks of General Warren, upon the field, for their
bravery. Soon afterwards. Captain Jackson received
a major's commission in the Continental Army, then
quartered at Cambridge, and was subsequently pro-
moted to the command of the Eighth Regiment in the
Massachusetts Line, than which no regiment was more
distinguished for bravery and good conduct during
the war. William Hull was a major in this regiment.
The sword of Michael Jackson did service at Bunker
Hill and in other conflicts of the Revolution. One of
his relatives presented it to the Newton Public Li-
brary, where it is now preserved.

On the same historic day Col. Joseph Ward, of
Newton, who was master of one of the public schools
in Boston, learning that the British troops were in
motion, left at once for Newton, mounted a horse, and,
gun in hand, rode to Concord " to encourage the
troops, and get a shot at the British.'' He also great-
ly distinguished himself at Bunker Hill, where he
served as aid-de-camp to Gen. Artemas Ward, and
held that office until Gen. Ward resigned in Decem-
ber, 1776. He rode over Charlestown Neck through a
cross-fire of the British floating batteries to execute

NEWTON.

an order from Gen. Ward, at which time a broadside
was fired at him by a Brit'sh man-of-war. He con-
tinued to hold important positions in the army, and
was honored by receiving the thanks of Gen. Wash-
ington in a letter written to him near the close of the
war, as follows :

'* You have my thanks for your constAut atteDtion to the buBiuessof
yoiii' department, the iimnner of its execution, und your ready and faith-
lul complhiuce with nil ruy orders ; and, I cnunot help adding on this
occa&iuu. for the zeal you have discovered at all times and under ail
circumstances to promote the good of the service in general, and tlie
great objects of our aiuse.

" George Washington."

Col. Thomas Gardner, who lived at what is now
AllstoD, had Newton men in his regiment. On the
16th of June, 1775, he received orders to be on Cam-
bridge Common with his regiment at daylight of the
17th. He was there, and ordered to Bunker Hill,
where he was mortally wounded, and his regiment
suti'ered severely, A man known later as " Daddy
Thwing," wlio lived near the Mitchell Tavern at
Newton Highlands, was a private soldier in that bat-
tle, and in his extreme age loved to repeat the inci-
dents of the tight, in which he was proud to have
been a partaker. We have spoken elsewhere of Zib-
eon Hooker, the drummer, whose drum was pierced by
a bullet at Bunker Hill. Major Daniel Jackson, of
Newton, was also in the battles of Bunker Hill, Con-
cord and Dorchester Heights. He is said to have
pointed the cannon which destroyed four British ves-
sels in the North River, for which service he was pro-
moted to the rank of lieutenant. Two new compan-
ies were raised in Newton not long after the battle of
Bunker Hill. Seventy-four of these men joined the
army at Cambridge March 4, 1776, to serve eight
months.

In the terrible struggle of the years which followed,
it is estimated that full 430, out of Newton's popula-
tion of not over 1400, served in the Continental army,
in the militia, and in the duty of guarding the cap-
tured army of General Burgoyne ; 275 enlisted in the
Continental army for a longer or shorter period. In
August, 1775, Captain Jos. Fuller, of Newton, raised
a company of ninety-six men and marched to Ben-
nington and Lake George, to oppose Burgoyne. The
same year sixty-four men enlisted for three years. In
1778 Captain Edward Fuller raised a company of
sixty-eight men. In 17S0 fifty-four men marched to
reinforce the Continental army. Mr. J.ickson says,
" The number of men who served more or less in the
Continental army and in the militia during the war
was about one-third of the entire population." Had
the war continued longer than it did, it seems impos-
sible that Newton should have furnished more men.

With an eye to the supply of gunpowder, March 4,
1776, the citizens of Newton, in town-meeting, ap-
pointed Alexander Shepard, Jr., Capt. Ephraim Jack-
son and John Pigeon a committee to use their influ-
ence to promote the manufacture of saltpetre. July
10, 1775, the whole number of the troops in Cam-

bridge was 8076 ; John Pigeon, of West Newton (Au-
burndale), was commissary-generitl. The East Com-
pany, of Newton (forty-seven men), and the West
Company (fifty-eight men), with a few others, on the
4th of March, 1776, marched, at the request of Gene-
ral Washington, to take possession of Dorchester
Heights, but as the British evacuated Boston March
17th, their service was of short duration. Many of
the citizens who, through enterprise and frugality,
had accumulated a small property, freely loaned it to
the town towards the expenses of the war. The
names of thirty-one citizens are on record in this hon-
orable list. Persons suspected of a lack of loyalty to
the cause of freedom were carefully examined and
two such persons were escorted out of the town.

On the 10th of May, 1776, the General Court pass-
ed the following resolution :

"ResoWeU, as the opinion of this House, that the inhabitants of each
town in the Colony ought, in full meeting, warned for that purpofie, to
advise the person or persons who shall be chosen to represent them in
the next General Court, that if the Houoruble Congress should, for the
safety of these Colonies, declare them independeut of the Kingdom of
Great Britain, they, the said inhabitants will solemnly engage vrith their
lives and fortunes to support them in the measure."

The town-meeting of Newton was held on the 17th
of June, 1776, that great anniversary, and the first of
the battle of Bunker Hill. Capt. John AVoodward
was moderator. The second article of the warrant
summoning the meeting was as follows :

"That in case the Honorable Continental Congress should, for the
safety of the American Colonies, declare them independent of the King-
dom of Great Britain, whether the inhabitants of this town will solemn-
ly engage with their lives uud fortunes to support them in the measure."

After debate the question was put and the vote
passed unanimously in the affirmative.

Newton was then only a little country town of
about 1400 inhabitants. But, as Mr. Jackson says,
'■ Newton men formed a part of every army and ex-
pedition, fought in almost every battle and skirmish
throughout the contest. Scarcely a man in the town,
old or young, able or unable, but volunteered, en-
listed or was drafted, and served in the ranks of the
army from the hardest fought battles down to the
more quiet duty of guarding Burgoyne's surrendered
army, partly by aged men.

The Declaration of Independence, adopted by the
Continental Congress in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776,
was received at once, and the Massachusetts Council
took immediate measures to give publicity to the
document, by ordering that a copy be sent to every
minister of each parish in every denomination with-
in this State ; and that they severally be required to
read the same to their respective congregations as
soon as divine service is ended in the afternoon, on
the first Lord's day after they shall have received it ;
and after such publication thereof, to deliver the said
Declaration to the clerks of their several towns or
districts, who are hereby required to record the same
in their respective town or district books, there to re-
main as a perpetual memorial thereof.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In obedience to the above order, the Declaration
of Independence was copied into the town records by
vote of the town, the citizens thus adopting the action
of the Continental Congress as their own.

Roger Sherman, a native of Newton, was one of the
committee who reported the Declaration to the Con-
gress in Philadelphia.

In March, 1777, a committee was appointed by the
town of Newton to hire soldiers, if need be, to make
up Newton's quota for the next campaign. Among
those of whom the town treasurer borrowed money i
under this vote, thiriy-oue in number, two were
women, and all but three were in the army — by a
double sacrifice, devoting their treasure as well as
their lives co the cause of freedom. The amount bor-
rowed was £2989 13s. Many loaned smaller sums,
whose names are not given. The town paid faithfully
to their soldiers the sums that were promised. Dur-
ing the entire continuance of the war Newton was
not backward in voting supplies of money and provis-
ions as they were needed by the army, in hiring sol-
diers and providing for the wants of the families of
those in the service. In 1779 a vote was passed to
raise more men ; the same again in June, 1780, and
£30,000 were appropriated to defray the expenses ; in
the following December, £100,000, depreciated cur-
rency, were appropriated for the same purpose. In
September, 1781, voted that £400 in silver money be
assessed ; in March, 1782, £800 ; in April, 1783, £1000 ;
in March, 1784, £1500.

Finally, October 19, 1781, the end came, and Lord
Cornwallis surrendered his whole array to Washing-
ton, at Yorktown, Va. Terms were agreed upon, and
the British army, to the number of about 7000 men,
marched out and capitulated as prisoners of war, with
seventy-live brass and ItJO iron cai:non, nearly 8000
stand of arms, l;_wenty-eight regimental colors and a
large quantiiy of munitions of war.
• "These records of the Town," says Mr. Jackson,
"and the facts here grouped together, will serve to
prove how fully, and at what sacrifices, the pledge of
1776 was redeemed. History, we think, will be
searched in vain to find a parallel to the indomitable
and long-contiuued exertion and devotion which, in
common, doubtless, with New England generally, the
inhabitants of this Town exhibited."

In consulting the military records of the Revolu-
tionary period, we find the names of the following
Newton men who bore oflSce among their fellow-sol-
diers: Col. Joseph Ward, aid-de-camp of Major-Gen.
Ward; Michael Jackson, colonel, and William Hull,
lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Massachusetts Regi-
ment; Ephraim Jackson, colonel of the Tenth Mas-
sachusetts Regiment; Nathan Fuller, lieutenant of
the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment ; seven cap-
tains, nine lieutenants and two ensigns. Almost i
every one of the families of the early settlers of New- i
ton had their representatives among the soldiers of I
the Revolution. Forty-four descendants of Edward

Jackson, bearing the name of Jackson, were in the
armies, representing the patriotism and the military
spirit of Newton ; twenty-two bearing the name of
Fuller ; sixteen, the name of Parker ; fifteen, of Hyde ;
eleven, of Stone: nine, of Clark; six, of Seger.
Capt. Henry King, of Newton, was one of the guard
at the execution of Major Andre.

After the close of the war came a period which was
marked by few excitements. "Shays' Insurrection."
as it was called, ran its brief course, but, though so-
licited, Newton did not care to be embroiled in it.
The Baptist Church at Newton Centre was formed in
1780, and its first edifice built, but that was only a
matter of local interest. The most important event of
public concern was the settling of the Constitution of
Massachusetts. A State Convention met in 1778, to
agree upon a form of a Constitution. The plan of the
proposed Constitution was, in due time, reported to
the Convention, and submitted to the people of New-
ton, as to the other towns. It was read publicly and
fully debated, and rejected. The voters present num-
bered eiahty, of whom only five favored its accept-
ance. The ne.'ct year a new form was proposed to
the town and approved, and the people of Newton
held their first town-meeting under it in 1780, for the
election of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and five
Senators from Middlesex County. Hon. John Han-
cock received the whole number (eighty-six) of votes
for Governor. The votes for Lieutenant-Governor
were about equally divided ; Benjamin Lincoln had
twenty-six and Azor Orne, twenty-five. For Sena-
tors, Josiah Stone and Abraham Fuller had forty-one
and forty votes respectively; the other three Senators,
forty, thirty and twenty-three each. At the first
meeting for the choice of Presidential electors, De-
cember 18. 1788, Nathaniel Gorham and Abraham
Fuller had eighteen votes each, and were chosen. At
the same meeting, Nathaniel Gorham was elected
Representative for the District of Middlesex in the
Federal Government. Four times in twenty years
the vote of Newton for Governor was unanimous,
viz.: in 1780, 1782 and 1784, for John Hancock; and
in 1794 for Samuel Adams. From 1789 to 1800 the
citizens were apparently very negligent of the right
of suffrage ; twice in that period the votes cast were
over 100 (118 and 117); seven times, less than fifty;
average for twenty years, about fifty-nine. The
smallest vote was four only, in the year 1785, for John
Hancock, his sixth nomination ; after one year they
returned to him again for six years.

The War of 1812 was unpopular with the people of
Massachusetts, and the people of Newton expressed
very clearly their disapproval of it and remonstrated
against it. Gen. William Hull, of Newton, who was
at that time Governor of the Territory of Michigan,
two or three weeks after the declaration of war, col-
lected an army of upwards of 2000 men, and crossed
the line into Canada, as if he designed to attack Mon-
treal. But, hearing that the Indians had invaded his

NEWTON.

territory, and that the British forces were near at
haad, he retreated, and was besieged by Gen. Brock,
in Fort Detroit. Feeling that he was not adeq^iately
supported by his Government with arms and ammu-
nition to sustain an attack, he surrendered to the
British general. For this act he was tried by a court-
martial and condemned to be shot ; but recommended
to the mercy of the President, on account of his dis-
tinguished services in the Revolutionary War, and
pardoned. Many thought his condemnation unjust.
He afterwards published a defence of his conduct.

If any of the citizens of Newton were in any of the
contiicts of the War of 1812, they must have engaged
in the service as individuals only, and no record of
the facts remains.

For a considerable period following the war there
were few incidents claiming a place in the history of
Newton. It was mainly a season of silent growth,
and preparations for the stirring periods to come.
The most important events were the founding of New-
ton Theological Institution, and the slow unfolding of
the educational !ipirit, which issued in the change
from district to graded schools, from a lower, though
necessary, intellectual training, to the broader meth-
ods of modern times. But thia long period was not
without its excitements. These arose from an agita-
tion, which lasted many years, in reference to a di-
vision of the town. AH the villages were disposed
along the edges of Newton and remote from one
another, generally not less than two miles apart. The
First Church was established at the centre of the town,
and in 1830, " after the separation of the civil and ec-
clesiastical state in the Commonwealth of Massachu-
setts, the proprietors of the First Parish meeting-
house objected to having the town-meetings holden
there." The proprietors judged that the time had
come when the town ought to have a place tor hold-
ing its meetings, which should be provided at the
town's expense, and be under the town's control. The
residents of the four villages, Newton Corner, West
Newton, Newton Upper Falls and Newton Lower
Falls, had no special interest in the Centre of the
town, except that they must travel thither, twice at
least every year, to the town-meeting3; nor any inter-
est in one another; nor had the Centre any interest
in them. Neither business nor social interests, nor
the worship of God on the Sabbath, bound them to-
gether. As early as 1807, the infelicity of the situa-
tion began to press itself upon the attention of the
citizens ; and they endeavored to meet it by distrib-
uting the town into five wards, and ordering that one
selectman and two surveyors should be chosen from
each ward. For several years they lived in peace
under this arrangement. But in 1830 the ^-ituation
became a matter of heated controversy, which lasted,
with varying aspects and with great vigor, full a
quarter of a century. Methods without number were
proposed; to divide the town into two separate, in-
corporated organization', now by one line of division

and now by another ; to hold the town-meetings in
rotation in the meeting-houses of the several villages ;
to build a town-house, now in one village, and now
in another, and now in the forest in the geographical
centre of the town ; and again to build two town-
houses, one at the Centre and one in the village of the
West Parish. The controversy was so earnest that it
parted friends, and embittered the relations of social
life. A serious proposal was made to set off the
Lower Falls to Needham or Weston, but the question
was at once dismissed. April 19, 1841, an historic an-
niversary, a vote was passed to appoint a committee
to consider the division of the town ; December 22d
following, another historic day, the vote was recon-
sidered. If the town were divided, where should the
line of separation be drawn ? And which portion
should retain the old and venerable name, and which
should content itself with a new one, abandoning the
prestige of its honorable history ? The solution of
the question was aided by the cession of the extreme
southern part of the town to Roxbury, in 1838, and
the " Chemical Village," about 600 acres, in the
northwest part, in 1844, to Waltham. The residents
in those remote parts of the town were thus relieved
from the necessity of traveling many miles to the
town-meetings, whether held in West Newton or in
Newton Centre. But the minds of the citizens were
gradually coming together. In 1848-49 a vote was
passed by the towu to hold the town-meetings in
West Newton. And on the 12th of March, 1855, a
resolution was passed " that the inhabitants of New-
ton will oppose any and all measures for the division
of the town, and that they will regard with disfavor
the disturbance of their peace and harmony by the
further agitation of the subject." The motion was
carried by a very large vote. Many who had taken
part in the agitation in its earlier stages belonged to
a former generation, and had long since passed away.
And now, as one great and populous city, one wide,
wealthy and prosperous organization, with its
churches, its schools, its libraries, its Fire Department,
its gas and electric works, its water works, its tele-
graphs and telephones, and all its common interests,
perhaps not a citizen walks in the streets of Newton,
through its whole extent, who is not glad that the
whole is bound together and cemented in one peace-
ful union.

Churches.' — Second Congregational Church, We$i
Nexvton. — During the ministry of Mr. Meriam in the
First Church, as early as 1760, meetings were held
in the west part of Newton, a century after the for-
mation of the First Church, and a Second Parish in
Newton was thus distinctly foreshadowed. At first,
subscriptions were solicited to build a meeting-house,
and a minister was hired to teach school during the
winter season and to preach on the Sabbath. About

I The history of the First Church is given in a separate article, by
ReT. D. L. Fiirl'er. U.D.. ^aslot emeriiui.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTr, MASSACHUSETTS.

eight rods of land for the meeting-hoiiae were sold to
the Building Committee by Phineas Bond, innholder,
for £2 Ss., bounded on his own land and land of
Isaac Williams. The meeting-house was forty-three
by thirty feet. In 1767 Jonathan Williams and
others petitioned the town that a sum of money might
be granted to support preaching in the meeting-house
in the west part of the town in the winter season.
The request was refused. The petitioners renewed
their request in 1770, 1772, 1773 and 1774, trying the
virtue of importunity. In 1775 they petitioned the
General Court for a grant from the town treasury to
support preaching four months, though it is not clear
that that body had any right to assume the manage-
ment of the finances of an incorporated town. In
1778 the General Court granted an act of incorpora-
tion, setting off West Newton as an independent par-
ish. The church was organized October 21, 1781,
with twenty-six members. The First Church granted
to the organization four pewter tankards and one
pewter dish for the communion service ; the Second
Church in Boston gave a pulpit Bible, and Deacon
Thomas Greenough, father of the pastor, Rev. Wil-
liam Greenough, who was elected November S, 1781,
presented a christening basin, two flagons and two
dishes for the communion service. One who was pres-
ent at the ordination service writes ; "A small hou.ae
and a little handful of people." Mr. Greenough's
pastorate continued fifty years and two days. In
1812 the church was enlarged and a gallery, spire and
belfry added. The house, when Dr. Gilbert began
his ministry in West Newton, had fifty windows, above
and below, without blinds, and two^oors. The poet's
"dim, religious light" had no place there. The
church was furnished with square pews, seats hung
on hinges, and no "great waste of paint, outside or
in." The gallery was occupied by children or tran-
sient people, and the seats were never very lull.

The second meeting-house was dedicated March 29,
1848. The parish included that part of Waltham,
south of Charles River, since ceded to Waltham by
Newton, Auburndale, Newtonville and Lower Falls,
a territory which then included only fifty-five or sixty
dwelling-houses. Dr. Lyman Gilbert, then a young
man, was elected colleague pastor and ordained July
2, 1828. The new church was extensively repaired
in 1870. A parsonage was erected in 1866. The
church has had five pastors: Rev. William Green-
ough, 1781-1831; Rev. Lyman Gilbert, 1828-56;
Rev. Joseph P. Drummond, 1856-.57 ; Rev. George
B. Little, 1857-60; Rev. H. J. Patrick, I860—.
The Sabbath-school was first held in a f chool-house,
the pupils numbering from twenty to forty. The
school was held only in summer. The Newton Sab-
bath-school Union, embracing all the Sabbath-schools
in the town, was formed in the church at West Newton.

First Baptist Church, Newton. — The first Baptist
residing in Newton, of whom we have any account,
was Mr. Jonathan Willard, of the Lower Falls. For

some years he and his daughter were alone, being
members of a church in Boston. In 1749 Noah Par-
ker was added, who was also a member in Boston. In
connection with the preaching of George Whilefield
a New Light Church was formed in the southeast
part of Newton about 1740. The majority of the
members, after a time, became Baptists, and the first
Baptist Church, of which they were the nucleus, was
organized July 5, 1780, the public services being held
in the house of Mr. Noah Wiswall, since the estate
of Deacon Luther Paul, opposite the lake in Newton
Centre. Elhanan Winchester was an effective preacher
among them, and many of his name were among the
early members. Mr. Wiswall received forty pounds a
quarter as rent forthe room in which the meetings were
held. Often, iu mild weather, the congregation as-
sembled under the large elms which still overshadow
the yard. Mr. Wiswall gave the land for the build-
ing of the first church, which still stands, altered into
a dwelling-hou.ie, on the west side of Centre Street,
on the border of the pond, and where the congrega-
tion continued to wor.ship till December, 1836. It
was fourteen years from the date of the vote to build
till its completion, the congrejration, in the mean time,
worshiping in the unfinished building. The house
was enlarged in ISOo. In 1795 the society voted " to
procure a stove forthe warming of the meeting-house."
It W.1S also voted " that the singing be carried on in
a general way by reading a line at a time in the fore-
noon and a verse at a time in the afternoon." The
last service held in the old edifice wa.s the funeral of
the aged pa-stor, Mr. Gralton, December, 1836, when
a new church, erected on land given for the purpose
by one of the members, !Mrs. Anna (King) White,
was ready for occupancy. The present stone edifice
was erected in 1888. The following have been the
pastors: Rev. Caleb Blood, 1780-87; Rev. Joseph
Grafton, 1788-1836; Rev. F. A. Willard, 1835-38;
Rev. S. F. Smith, 1842-54; Rev. O. S. Ste.irns,
1855-68; Rev. W. N. Clarke, 1869-80; Rev. Edward
Braislin, 18S1-86 ; Rev. L. C. Barnes, 1887—.

First Relir/ious Soclttij, Newton Upper Falls. — A
religious society was formed in Newton Upper Falls
without a church and without denominational pledges,
— the first in the village, — in consequence of the gift
by the Elliott Manufacturing Company, of land for a
meeting-house, that the people might be supplied with
religious privileges without the necessity of traveling
full two miles away from their homes. The meeting-
house was begun in 1827, and dedicated February' 27,
1828. The pulpit was supplied chiefly by Unitarian
ministers. In 1832 the building was sold for a Method-
ist Church, and the first religious society was dis-
solved.

Universalist Church at Newton Upper Falls. — A
Uoiversalist Church was organized at Newton Upper
Falls in 1841, and a meeting-house erected on High
Street, and dedicated in Jlay, 1812. There were
twenly-two proprietors. Rev. Samuel P. Skinner

NEWTON.

was the only pastor. He served about three years,
after which the pulpit was occupied by various sup-
plies. After a career of six or seven years the
society was dissolved. The church building became
useful as a village hall, denominated Elliott Hall
for several years, and finally was utilized for a private
residence.

The Second Baptist Church of Newton was organiz-
ed at Newton Upper Falls in 1835, with fifty-five
original members, dismissed from the First Baptist
Church, Newton Centre. The meeting-house had
already been built by proprietors, of whom Mr.
Jonathan Bixby was the most prominent, aud was
dedicated March 27, 1833. The pastors have been
Origen Crane, 1836-40; C. W. Dennison, 1842-43;
S. S. Leighton, 1840-17; Amos Webster, 1848-
54 ; William C. Richards, 1865-71.

Methodist Episcopal Church, Newton Zipper Falls. —
The church edifice of the " Religious Society of
Newton Upper Falls" passed into the hands of
the Methodist people in 1832, and the Methodist
Church was 'organized November 11, 1832, with fifty-
three members. The pastors best known have been
Rev. Charles K. True, who was the first minister, and
Rev. Z. A. Mudge, known also as an author. Mar-
shall S. Rice, of Newton Centre, bought the church
edifice of the original proprietors for $2660 on his
personal responsibility. In 1836, enlarged and im-
proved, it was conveyed to the First Jlethodist Epis-
copal Church in Newton. In 18S3 a bell was placed
in the tower, which served twenty-eight years, and,
having been cracked, was replaced by a better one in
1861. The church has been since that date repeatedly
enlarged and altered. Two large rock maple trees in
front of the church were pulled up out of the grass in
New Ipswich, New Hampshire, by Mr. Rice in 1835,
and brought home in his chaise-bos. Three similar
trees in front of his housa at Newton Centre, have a
similar history.

St. Mary's Church, Xeiiiton Upper falls (Catholic). —
The lirst Roman Catholic services in Newton were
held at the Upper Falls from time to time, as early as
1843, and there was a Roman Catholic missionary
here from 1852 to 1864, who purchased an acre of land
for a church site. The Catholic Church was built in
1867, and enlarged in 1875, so as to accommodate
about 1000 hearers. The parish embraces a large
territory, including the Catholic population of Need-
ham, Newton Upper Falls, Newton Lower Falls
and Newton Centre as far as Beacon Street.

St. Mary's Church, yeicton Lower Falls (Episcopal). —
For more than fifty years St. Mary's Episcopal Church
was the only church at Newton Lower Falls, and
people of that persuasion in all Newton, Need-
ham and Weston united in its support. April
7, 1812, an Episcopal parish was organized. Services
were held first in the school-house, and afterwards in
a hall at the corner of Main and Church Streets, con-
ducted by candidates for the ministry. The parish

was incorporated in 1813. Mr. Samuel Brown, of
Boston, gave the parish two acres of land for a church
and cemetery. The corner-stone was laid by the
Society of Free and Accepted Masons, September 29,
1813, and the house dedicated April 29, 1814. Bishop
Griswold preached the dedication sermon. Services
were conducted by various clergymen till November,
1822, when the Rev. Alfred L. Baury was ordained
priest and rector. The number of fi).milie3 in the
parish in 1847, when Mr. Baury preached his quarter-
century auniversary sermon, was over one hundred.
The rectors have been Rev. A. L. Baury, 1822-51 ;
Rev. Henry W. Woods, 1851-.53 ; Rev. Andrew
Crosswell, 1853-56; Rev. Henry Burroughs, 1856-
58 ; Rev. A. F. de Costa, 1859 ; Rev. W. W. Sever,
1860-65; Rev. Joseph Kidder, 1865-68; Rev. R.

F. Putnam, 1868-75; Rev. Henry Mackay, 1876-
82 ; Rev. B. T. Hutchins, 1883-84 ; Rev. William

G. Wells, 1885—.

Methodist Episcopal Church, Newton Lower Falls. —
A separate charge, known as the Methodist Episco-
pal Church of Needham and Newton Lower Falls,
began to hold worship in Wales' Hall, Lower Falls,
in April. 1867, and afterwards in Boyden Hall and
Village Hall. A church edifice wa%erected and dedi-
cated in 1889. The Village Hall was purchased by
the society for its permanent place of worship, pre-
vious to the erection of the church.

The Eliot Church, Nevrton. — Among the most eflS-
cient promoters of the Eliot Church, at Newton, were
Deacon William Jackson and family, descendants of
the founders of the First Church in the town of New-
ton or Cambridge Village, as it was then called,
180 years before. The Eliot Church was organized
in 1845 with thirty-seven members, thirty-one of
whom were dismissed from the First Church to con-
stitute the new body. The comer-stone of the First
Church edifice was laid March 19, 1845, and the
building dedicated, and at the same time the church
re-organized by an ' Ecclesiastical Council, July 1,
1845. The first pastor was ordained December 3,
1845. The congregation increased so much, in con-
nection with the gradual growth of the village, that
better accommodations were demanded. The church
was therefore sold, and removed a few yards farther
north, and changed into a hall, called Eliot Hall,
and afterwards destroyed by fire. A new church was
erected on the site of the former one, very large and
commodious, built of wood, with tall steeple, bell and
clock, and dedicated April 4, 1861. Cost, $42,500.
So far as known, twenty-one young men of this church
and congregation enlisted in the army during the war
for the preservation of the Union. This church was
burned in 1887, and the present edifice of stone took
its place. It was dedicated in 1889. Pastors, Rev.
William S. Leavitt, 1845-53; Rev. Lyman Cutler,
1854-55 ; Rev. J. W. Wellman, 1856-73; Rev. S. M.
Freeland, 1875-78 ; Rev. Wolcott Culkina, 1880—.

Unitarian Church, Newton. — The Unitarian Church

HISTOKY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, iMASSACHUSETTS.

of Newton held its first meetings in Union Hall. The
society was formed in 1851, and the Sabbath-school
in 1852. Dr. Henry Bigelow was tbe first superin-
tendent. The first pastor was Joseph C. Smith. The
first church edifice was erected on the south side of
Washington Street, and after having been occupied
for several years, was changed into an armory for
military drill, and the new and beautiful building of
stone was erected on Farlow Park. During the war
sixteen members of the congregation served in
the army. Pastors : Rev. Joseph C. Smith, supply
for four years ; Rev. Edward J. Young, 1857-69 ;
Rev. Eli Fay, 1870-73; Rev. George W. Hosmer,
1873-79 ; Rev. F. B. Hornbrooke, 1879—.

Newton Baptist Church. — Worship was begun by
this society in Middlesex Hall, April 10,1859; re-
moved'April, 1860, to Union Hall. The church was
publicly recognized July 12, 1860. The first church
building was erected at the corner of Washington and
Hovey Streets, and dedicated March 16, 18G4. When
the cellar was dug, the remains of five Indians were
found in the soil, two feet below the surface, ai.so
several arrow heads and copper coins, one of them
dated 1720 or 1729, indicating that the spot might
have been once afi Indian burying-ground. Pastors :
Rev. Gilbert Robbing, 1860-61; Rev. J. Chaplin,
1862-63; Rev. J. Tucker, Jr., 1865-70; Rev. Thomas
S. Sampson, 1873-80; Rev. H. F. Titus, 1880-88;
Rev. George E. Merrill, 1890 — . Theold church edifice
was sold and the location abandoned, and the new
edifice of stone erected on Church Street, and dedi-
cated in 1888. The plans were drawn by the celebrated
architect, H. H. Richardson, E=q., who was the
architect of Trinity Church, Boston.

Grace Episcopal Church, Newton. — The parish of
Grace Church was organized in the parlor of Mr.
Stephen Perry, corner of Galen and William Streets,
just across the limits of Ntwton, in Watertown. The
services were first held in Union Hall. The corner-
stone of the first church building was laid May 28,
1858, and the church erected on the southeast corner
of AVashington and Hovey Streets. It was Gothic in
style, and suifed to accommodate 225 hearers. Cost,
$4000. The first rector, Rev. John Singleton Copley
Greene, erected a parsonage and gave it to the parish.
The present stone edifice, on Farlow Park, was first
used in December, 1873. The chime of bells was
given by Mrs. Elizabeth T. Eldredge, the first chime
introduced into Newton. Rectors : Rev. J. S. C.
Greene, 1855-64; Rev. P. N. Steenstra, 1864-69; Rev.
Henry Mayn, 1870-72 ; Rev. Joseph H. Jenckes,
1872-74; Rev. George W.Shinn, 1875—.

Methodist Church, Newton. — The Methodist Epis-
copal Church in Newton held its first service in
Union Hall in April, 1864, and the church was recog-
nized in the same place. The church building, on
Centre and Wesley Streets, was dedicated September
26, 1867. The land where it stands was originally
low and wet, but was raised by filling, forming an

eligible lot, as well for the church and parsonage as
for the Methodist Orphans' Home.

The "Church of Our Lady Help of Christians." —
This Roman Catholic Church, standing on the cor-
ner of Washington and Adams Streets, was com-
menced November 1, 1872 ; the corner-stone laid
August, 1873, and the first service held in the base-
ment, November 1, 1874. The conspicuous lot on
which it is erected was a rough gravel bank when the
church was erected. Until August, 1878, the parish
included part of Watertown, Newton Centre and New-
tonville.

The Newton and Watertown Universalist Society was
incorporated in 1827, and built a meeting-house just
across the boundary of Newton, in Watertown,
which was dedicated in 1827. A church was formed
in 1828. Fourteen ministers in succession supplied
the pulpit. The society was dissolved about 1866,
and the building utilized as a school-house. The bell
was sold to the Second Baptist Society, Newton Upper
Falls, and removed thither. The communion service
was " a set of silver plate, formerly the property of
the First Universalist Church of Boston " (corner of
Hanover and Bennett Streets), and " one of the cups
was brought from England by Rev. John Murray,"
who founded the Universalist Church in Gloucester,
Massachusetts, and was the first minister of that faith
in this country. The communion set is now in the
possession of the Universalist Society in Newtonville.

The Evangelical Congregational Church of Auburn-
dale was constituted November 14, 1850, with thirty-
four members, and religious services were held for
several years in the village hall. The church was
dedicated July 1, 1857. During a violent storm,
March 4, 1862, the steeple was blown down and fell
upon the roof, causing much damage to the building.
For two or three years the pulpit was supplied by
resident clergymen, Rev. Sewall Harding, Rev. J. E.
Woodbridge and others. Pastors: Edward W. Clark,
1857-61 ; Augustus H. Carrier, 1864-66; Calvin Cut-
ler, 1867—.

The Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church of Au-
burndale began in weekly meetings, held in the
house of Mr. John Mero, August, I860. Afterwards
the services were held in a school-house. The first
preacher was George W. Mansfield, Noverabep 18,
1860. The church at first numbered twelve mem-
bers. In July, 1865, the hall where they worshipped
was destroyed by fire, and a chapel was soon alter
built on Central Street, and dedicated May 25, 1867.
A new church was dedicated in 1889.

Church of the Messiah of West Newton and Auburn-
dale. — Previous to 1858 worship according to the
Episcopal form was held in a hall at Auburndale.
The hall having been burned, the services, for a
season, were suspended, but resumed in the Village
Hall, West Newton, July 16, 1871, and continued
thereafter in the hall or the Unitarian Church ; and
then, for several months in 1877, in the chapel of

NEWTON.

Lasell Seminary. A church edifice was begun in
1880, on Auburn Street, Auburndale, built of the
brown freestone once used in building the Baptist
Church in Rowe Street, Boston, which had been taken
down and the place of worship transferred to Claren-
don Street, on account of the demand for business
houses in the original locality. Rectors: Rev. N. G.
Allen, Rev. C. S. Lester, 1872-73; Rev. H. W. Fay,
1873-75 ; Rev. F. W. Smith, 1875-77. During a va-
cancy Rev. George W. Shinn officiated in addition to
hia work in Newton. Rev. Henry A. lletcalf is the
present rector. In 1888 a commencement was made
of an English Gothic church of brown stone, the pres-
ent building being utilized as a portion of the new
structure.

7 he NoHh Eranqelicnl Chnrcli, JS'onantum, com-
menced June 2, 1861, with a Sabbath-school in the
railroad depot at Bemis' Crossing, on the Watertown
side of the Charles Rivf r. A chapel was afterwards
erected on Chapel Street, ou land given for the pur-
pose by llr. Thomas Dally, at a cost of about $1200;
this chapel was afterwards enlarged, as the growth of
the society demanded it. The church was organized
July 11, 1866. Rev. Samuel E. Lowry, the first pas-
tor, wa.s ordained October 21, 1867. The chapel was
burned June 2, 1872, and replaced by a stone edifice
on the same site, which was dedicated October 16,
1873 ; the cost, .S18.000, was fully paid before the ded-
ication. Pastors : Rev. Samuel E. Lowry, who died
in office-, and Rev. W. J. Lamb.

St. Bernard's CUUolic Church, West Newton. — The
corner-stone of the church was laid November 12,
1871, and the church dedicated about 1874. Cost,
about S38,000. Rev. Bernard Flood was the first offi-
ciating priest. Rev. JI. T. McManus was pastor from
1876. In 1888 the church was burned, but imme-
diately rebuilt and dedicated in 1889.

yewton Hiijlilands Conriregational Church. — Meetings
were first held in Farnham's Hall in November, 1871,
a church and chapel erected in 1S72, and after nearly a
year the meetings were removed from the hall to the
chapel. The church was dedicated in 1875 ; the land
on which it stands was given by Mr. Moses Crafts.
The church was organized June 13, 1872, with twenty-
seven members, of whom twenty were dismis-^ed for
that purpose from the First Church, Newton Centre.
The church has had but two pastors : Rev. S. H. Dana,
1871-77; Rev. George G. Phipps, 1877 — .

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Xewton Highlands. —
The church building, a modest structure of wood, built
in 1884, stands on Walnut Street. The first rector.
Rev. Carlton P. Milis.'remained in office till the close
of 1889, when he became rector of a church in Kala-
mazoo, Mich. Near the close of his period of service
he was instrumental in the commencementof an Epis-
copal parish at Newton Centre as a mission of St.
Paul's, which, after his transferral, was cared for by
members of the Episcopal Theological Seminary at
Cambridge.

Episcopal Church, Newton Centre. — Worship was
first commenced in 1889, Rev. Carlton P. Mills,
rector of St. Paul's Church, Newton Highlands, offi-
ciating. The services were held in the small hall of
the building of the Newton ImproTement Associa-
tion.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, Newton Centre, be-
gan with a weekly meeting in the old engine-house in
June, 1875. In January, 1876, a Sabbath-school and
preaching services followed. It was regarded at first as
a mifsion station of the Methodist Church at Newton
Upper Falls. In October, 1877, provision was made
for permanent preaching by a stated supply. The
late Marshall S. Rice left by will one thousand dollars
to the society for a church edifice. The church was
organized in 1879. Hon. Alden Speare, ex-mayor
of Newton, purchased the lot of land at the corner of
Centre and Station Streets, and presented it to the
society for a church, which was dedicated July 7,
1880.

The Unitarian Church, Newton Centre, was begun in
I the fall of 1877 by residents of Newton Centre and
I Newton Highlands. The firat service was held in a
I hall in the brick block on Station Street, commencing
; November 11, 1877. The church was dedicated July
I 1, 1880. The only pastors have been Rev. Rufus P.
] Stebbins and Rev. Horace L. Wheeler.

The Central Congregational Church, Newtonville, was
recognized by public services September 8,
1868; original members, thirty-six. The Methodist
Chapel, corner of Washington and Court Streets,
was bought by members of the society, and opened
for regular services April 8, 1868. The building has
been twice enlarged. Pastors : Rev. Joseph B. Clark,
1868-72: Rev. James R. Danforth, 1873-74; Rev. E.
Frank Howe, 1876-82 ; Rev. F. W. Gunsaulus, 1883-
85; Rev. Pleasant W. Hunter, 1886-89; D. Henry
Taylor, 1890—.

The Universalist Society, Newtonville, was the out-
growth, in 1870, of the extinction of the Newton and
Watertown Universalist Church and a society in
Waltham. The first meeting was held in a small hall
in Newtonville Square, and later in Tremont Hall.
The society was legally organized in 1871, and the
church dedicated June 26, 1873. It is built of stone,
in the Elizabethan Gothic style, to accommodate 300
hearers. Cost, about 820,000. Rev. J. Coleman
Adams, the first pastor, was ordained December 19,
1872. In 1880 he removed to Lynn and afterwards to
Chicago. His successors have been Rev. C. E. Nash,
1881-84 ; and Rev. Rufus A. White.

The Methodisl Episcopal Church, Newtonville, began
in a Methodist class formed in 1857. The first public
meeting was held in a piano- forte wareroom March
24, 1860, and the services were afterwards removed to
Tremont Hail. A chapel, since belonging to the
Central Congregational Church, builtby Hon. William
Claflin and Mr. D. Lancey, on the corner of Wash-
ington and Court Streets, was hired, and dedicated ia

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

April, 1860, in which year the church was formed
with twenty-four members. The brick chapel near
the railroad station, begun by another society and
sold by them before it could be fini^ihed, on account
of embarrassment owing to the removal of members,
was purchased by the Methodist Society, completed,
and dedicated in 1863.

The Swedenborgian Society, or New Church, Newton-
vilie, began with services in the dwelling-houses of
Mrs. Davis Howard and Mr. T. H. Carter, soon after
1846, and aftenvards were continupd in the Village
Hall. In eleven and a half years the services were
held in four different halls. In 1868-69 the chapel
now occupied by the society was built on Highland
Avenue, the site having been given for the purpose
by Mr. T. H. Carter, and dedicated April 11, 1869. A
society of twenty-nine members was instituted, and
Rev. John Worcester installed December 26, 1869 — .
In 1886 a handsome structure of stone was erected in
the rear of the chapel for the convenience of social
gatherings and other meetings in the interest of the
church. The society has been a prosperous one,
having more than doubled the number of its original
members.

Chestnut Hill Chapel was dedicated in October,
1861. Rev. W. A. Whitwell (Unitarian) was the first
pastor, followed by Rev. A. B. Muzzey and Rev. John
A. Buckingham. Soon afterwards Unitarian services
were discontinued, the number of worshipers of that
faith having declined.

<S<. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill, under
the charge of Rev. Arthur W. Eaton, commenced
services here after the Unitarian worship was discon-
tinued, and an Episcopal parish is now (1890) about
to be formed, a temporary rector being supplied from
the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge.

Thompsonville Chapel was erected by private sub-
scription by members of the First Baptist Church,
Newton Centre, and dedicated November 9, 1867, as
a locality for a Mission Sabbath-School and other
meetings. At the end of eleven years not a Sabbath
had passed without a public service. In this part
of Newton, in 1750, the New Light excitement began
under Mr. Jonathan Hyde, and after the lapse of a
century religious services were again inaugurated.

TTie First Baptist Church of West 2\'ewton is a con-
tinuation of the organization which began at Newton-
ville October 23, 1853, in Tremont Hall. This was
the first church of any denomination in Newtonville.
The church was organized with sixteen members, and
publicly recognized April 20, 1853. The brick chapel
near the railroad station in Newtonville was com-
menced by this church, but the subscriptions being
insufiicient to meet the expense of building, and the
society being depleted by the removal of members,
the site and structure, as it stood, unfinished, was
sold to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and com-
pleted by them for their church edifice. After a tem-
porary suspension of services, the members voted,

June 5, 1866, to revive their organization and to hold
their meetings thereafter in West Newton, and to take
the name of the Firit Baptist Church in West New-
ton. Meetings were held in the Village Hall till their
church on Lincoln Park was finished and dedicated
August, 1871. Pastors : Rev. B. A. Edwards, 1851 ;
Rev. R. H. Bowles, 1866 ; Rev. R. S. James, 1869-70;
Rev. William Lisle, 1870-75; Rev. T. B. Holland,
1875-78 (died while in office); Rev. O. D. Kimball,.
1883-89 ; Rev. D. W. Faunce, 1890—.

First Unitarian Church, West Xewton. — Meetings
were held in the hall of the brick hotel, Washington
Street, opposite Centre Street, in the summer of 1844,
and again in 1847. In the fall of 1848 Rev. William
Orne White was ordained the first pastor and a church
organized. The services were held in the Village
Hall till 1860. A church edifice was dedicated
November 14, 1860, enlarged in 1867 and again in
1879. Pastors: Rev. William Orne White, 1848-50;
Rev. W. D. Knapp, 1851-53; Rev. Charles E. Hodges,
supply for a year; Rev. Washington Gilbert, Joseph
H. Allen, two years each; Rev. W. H. Savary, Rev.
J. C. Zachos, Rev. Francis Tiifany, Rev. J. C.
Jaynes.

The Myrtle Baptist Church (colored) was organized
September, 1874, with twenty members. The first
pastor was Rev. Edward Kelly. The chapel was dedi-
cated in 1875. The church has often been without a
pastor and its pulpit has been dependent on supplies
mainly from the Newton Theological Institution.

The Church of Yahveh (Second Advent), at Newton
Upper Falls, was organized April IS, 1886.

Slavery. — From the records of Newton it appears
that slavery, in a mild form, existed many years ago
within its borders. The laws of Maajachusetts allowed
the sale into slavery in foreign countries of some In-
dians, supposed to be loyal to the colonists, but who
took part against them in King Philip's War. This
prompted John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, to
send a petition to the Governor and Council in 1675,
protesting against the measure. In 170.^ a duty of
£4 w&s laid on every negro imported into the town of
Boston, and the few persons engaged in such traffic
took their cargoes into the southern Colonies or the
West Indies. The negro trade declined about the
period of the Stamp Act, and in 1788 it was prohib-
ited by law. The abolition of slavery began to be
discussed as early as 1766, and was warmly pursued
for several years in pamphlets, speeches and news-
paper articles. Slaves in the families were generally
treated as kindly as if they were children. During
the period from 1681 to 1802 about thirty-seven slaves
were held by about twenty-five owners ; one person
owned four, two owned three each, five two each,
about seventeen one each. Mrs. Fitch, mother of
Mrs. Rev. Jonas Meriam, owned a slave woman, whom
Mr. Meriam bought of his mother-in-law for SlOO ;
one day, when he saw her treated unkindly, he im-
mediately set her free. The last slave in Newton was

NEWTON.

an iucumbrance on the estate of General William
Hull, Tillo (Othello) by name, who enjoyed much
liberty, apparently working only when he chose to do
so. He steeps in the old cemetery beside his master.
Jonathan Jackson had a slave (Pomp) who was in the
Revolutionary War, and set free in 1776. He settled
afterwards on the banks of " Pomp's Pond," in An-
dover. Others of the Jacksons were slave-holders,
but the wrong has been nobly retrieved by the sturdy
opposition to slavery of Hun. William Jackson, Mr.
Ftancis Jackson, leaders of the Liberty and Free-Soil
parties in Massachusetts ; Hon. Horace Mann, a citi-
zen of Newton ; Mr. John Eenrick, first president of
the American Anti -Slavery Society, and many others.
Temperance. — As the Rev. Mr. Eliot took the
lead in protesting against selling human beings into
slavery, so, also, he took the lead against the sale of
intoxicating drinks. In 1648. about the time of his
first preaching to the Indians, he presented a petition
to the General Court, begging " that there might be
but one ordinary in all Boston who may have liberty
to sell wine, strong drink, or any strong liquors unto
the Indians ; and whoever shall further them in their
vicious drinking, for their own base ends, who keep
no ordinary, may not be suffered in such asinne with-
out due punishment." In 1816 it is stated that Dr.
James Freeman, of Nonantum Hil), " allowed no rum
on his place, but paid his men a dollar a month extra
in commutation therefor." De'iember 15, 1826", a
meeting was held in Newton which took active meas-
ures on the subject of Temperance, and addressed a
circular to all the inhabitants of the town to awaken
general interest in it. A meeting was held at the
school-house in Newton Centre early in January,
1827, to form a temperance society, and twenty -seven
members subscribed their names. This is supposed
to have been the second town organization of the
kind in New England, the first being at Andover.
Notwithstanding some opposition, hundreds were
added to its ranks. Weekly meetings were held in
West Newton, which resulted in the formation of a
library for the intellectual improvement of the mem-
bers. It was denominated " The Adelphian Library,"
and was furnished with several hundred volumes.
Through this association was originated the Newton
Institution for Savings. At the weekly meetings
various subjects were presented and discussed, so that
the temperance society was substantially a literary
society of a high order, and its meetings were numer-
ously attended. At the second anniversary, Dr. Gil-
bert delivered a discourse on temperance, which was
printed and widely distributed. It was one of the
first publications advocating the doctrine of total ab-
stinence. The town from time to time passed resolu-
tions engaging to execute the laws of the State of
Massachusetts, regarding the sale of intoxicating
liquors. In April, 1850, the selectmen were appointed
a committee to prosecute all violators of the liquor
law of the town. In 1853 a vote was passed not to
3-iii

license any to sell intoxicating liquors. In 1862 a
certificate was issued to a single individual, signed
by the whole Board of Selectmen, appointing him
sole agent for the sale of intoxicating liquors in New-
ton, under the laws of the Commonwealth, for the
year ending May 1, 1863. In 1864 the town- assumed
the responsibility of all such sales through its ap-
pointed agent, the stock of liquors being deposited at
the alms-house. In 1870 the town voted " that no
person shall be allowed to sell ale, porter, strong beer
or lager beer, in the town of Newton." This vote
was repealed May, 1871, and from that time the sub-
ject of temperance has been left to the laws of the
State, magistrates being appointed to execute them,
and to the voluntary efforts and influence of the citi-
zens.

The Fire Department. — The Cataract Engine
Company, at the Lower Falls, is the oldest fire organi-
zation in Newton. It was 125 years after the incor-
poration of the town before any public provision was
made for extinguishing fires. Previously, all build-
ings were submitted only to the protection of Provi-
dence, or, in case of fire, to the benevolent exertions
of the public. In 1813 the Legislature of Massachu-
setts granted authority to certain residents of Newton
Lower Falls to form a fire-engine company. The ad-
mission fee of members was five dollars. The com-
pany bought their own engine, fire-buckets and other
machinery.

Though the temperance, movement had not yet
been inaugurated, except in the formation in Boston
of the " Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of
Inteniperance," the engine company made stringent
rules to prevent the members from the immoderate
use of spirituous liquors. Many of the prominent men
of the village and town belonged to the organization.
They held monthly meetings at the village inn, be-
sides the annual " Enginemen's Supper," which was
always regarded as a great occasion. From time to
time, at subsequent dates, the town appropriated money
to purchase engines and ladders for the several vil-
lages, and gradually increased the pay of fireman and
the quantity of apparatus, till, in 1878, the amount of
property of the Fire Department, in buildings, land
and machinery, including the fire-alarm telegraph,
was valued at $148,100. The first fire-warden chosen
was Solomon Curtis, of the Lower Falls, in 1818. In
1823 eight fire-wards were chosen, and in 1824, ten.
In 1823 a vote was passed " empowering the select-
men to bnild engine-houses when and where they may
deem them necessary, provided that the proprietors
of the engine or engines will provide land at their
own expense to build said houses upon." In 1824 a
vote was passed by the town, offering a reward of $300
for the detection of incendiaries guilty of canning the
late fires in the town. In 1825 there were engine* at
the Upper Falls, Lower Falls, Newton Centre, West
Newton and Elliott Factories, and four fire-wards
were chosen to each, which were increased in nnnaber

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in 1826 and 1827. In 1835 $1000 were appropriated
to put the engines in repair or to purchase new ones.
It was part of the duty of the tire-wards to provide
refreshments for the tngiuemen and others who may
come from neighboring towns to aid in extinguishing
fires, and to present the bills to the selectmen for
payment. In 1842-43 $600 were appropriated for
fire purposes to each of the villages of the Upper
Falls, Lower Falls, West Newton, Newton Centre and
Newton Comer. In 1849, by vote of the town, the
firemen were allowed five dollars each and the abate-
ment of their poll-tax, in compensation for their ser-
vices. The Fire Department, however, caused much
anxiety to the wisest of the citizens. It was di£Bcult
to decide how much liberty should be granted to the
several companies, and yet how they should be kept,
so far as waa necessary, under the control of the select-
men of the town. And the question seems not to
have been fully solved until the city government was
established, and the whole matter subjected to muni-
cipal regulation. In 1867 there were six engines. In
May of that year the tirst steam fire-engine was intro-
duced at Newton Corner, and a bell for fire-alarm
purposes at West Newton. An appropriation was
made for a steam fire-engine at West Newton in 1871,
and for Newton Centre in 1872, and shortly after-
wards the fire-alarm began to strike the noon hour in
ever)' part of the city. In 1889 the Fire Department
of Newton consisted of three steamers, five hose com-
panies and one hook-and-ladder company, with ap-
propriate buildings and horses.

Almshouses. — In 1731, more than forty years after
the incorporation of Newton as an independent-town,
the citizens voted to build a work-house ; so they de-
nominated the place of shelter and comfort for the
poor, probably dreading lest the benevolence of the
town might be imposed upon by artful persons, seek-
ing to be supported in idleness. In .1734 the first
Board of Overseers of the Poor was chosen. In 1763
a vote was again passed to build a work-house,
twenty- four feet by twenty-six, and one story high,
" on the town's land near Dr. Xing's, or some other
place," and appropriating fifty pounds for that- pur-
pose. In 1768 a code of regulations for the work-
house was reported to the town by a committee prev-
iously appointed, and accepted. These rules indicate
a spirit of strictness and severity which, in these
days, seems gratuitous, but they may have been justi-
fied by the circumstances of the age. In 1818 the
house and land formerly belonging to John Pigeon,
in Auburndale, were bought for an almshouse, the
price paid being $2500 ; there was also a mortgage on
the farm of $1500. This continued to be the locality of
the almshouse till it was relinquished by the town, and
a lot purchased and the necessary buildings erected
near the residence of Mr. Matthias Collins, and in the
vicinity of what is now the new village of Waban.
It was among the regulations that the poor who were
able should regularly attend church. In this last lo-

cation sittings were provided for them in the Method-
ist Church at Newton Upper Falls. Forty or fifty
years ago, Divine service used to be held in the din-
ing-room of the house, and the ministers of the town
in rotation preached ou Sabbath evenings. When it
was Dr. Homer's turn to preach, it is said he always
used to preach sitting.

Thl Home fok Okphan and Destitute Girls,
first established in Newton Centre, '.vas opened in De-
cember, 1866, in the house which was erected as the
boarding-house of the Newton Female Academy —
Mrs. Rebecca R. Pomeroy, superintendent. The
house having been destroyed by fire, the Home was
removed to the house of Mr. Ephraim Jackson, and
after a short experiment in the new quarters, discon-
tinued. But one or two of the inmates became the
nucleus of another Home of similar character, also
under Mrs. Pomeroy, and which has pursued its be-
nevolent work for many years in a large dwelling-
house on Hovey Street, Newton Corner.

The Pine Farm School for boys, at West Newton,
in charge of the Boston Children's Aid Society, was es-
tablished in 1864. It has continued to be a fountain of
good to many of the poor waifs from the streets of
Boston, where they are educated, and taught to sup-
port themselves by some handicraft, which may ren-
der them blessings to society and honored in the
world. The farm, of twenty acres, is situated one mile
from West Newton. The house is very old, being the
old Murdock place. Alterations were made in it, for
the time, and a new house was built later. The boys
remain at the Home from six months to two years or
more, helping in all departments of the work of the
institution. Out of school-hours they are also em-
ployed in farming, printing, knitting and the use of
tools. The barn was destroyed by fire in 1877, and a
new one built in its place.

The Home for the Children of Missionaries
(Congregational) was established in 1S6S on Hancock
Street, Auburndale, as a private enterprise by Mrs.
Eliza H. Walker, widow of Rev. Augustus Walker,
missionary in Turkey twelve or fourteeu years. The
children of missionaries are boarded here at moder-
ate cost, and have all the privileges of the public
schools, and the advantages of other residents, and all
the influences of a Christian home. The institution
has been very prosperous, and the building greatly
enlarged. The house was built for Mrs. Walker by
her father, Rev. Sewall Harding.

The Wesleyan Home for the Orphan Chil-
dren OF Missionaries and others, connected with
the Methodist Episcopal Church, is on Wesley Street,
Newton. It was commenced in 1884, in a house given
for the purpose by Hon. Alden Speare. The sum of
$20,000 has been given by Hon. Jacob Sleeper, of
Boston, as an endowment.

The Missionary Home at Newton Centre
{Baptist) was established in 1880 by the Woman's
Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, with the un-

NEWTON.

derstanding that missionaries, or their friends, in
their behalf, should pay annually $200 for each
child received, the society standing responsible
for any deficit. Two children of Rev. S. B. Par-
tridge, missionary in China, were the first to enter
the Home. The building which it occupies, at the
junction of Centre and Willow Streets, was erected
at the expense of the society in 1881-S2,and enlarged
in 1889. Mrs. McKinlay, widow of a Scotch clergy-
man, has been the competent and admirable superin-
tendent from the beginning.

A Singing-School for the whole town was taught
in 1780 by a Mr. Billings, well-known as the composer
of many popular tunes. This was at the time when
the " New Light " excitement in Newton began to
have influence, and created a fondness for social sing-
ing. Another singing-school was taught in Newton
Centre in 1805-06, in the old Deacon Ebenezer White
house, which formerly stood on the site of the brick
block, near the corner of Centre and Pelham Streets.
Another was held at West Newton in 1821, and sev-
eral in following years. In 1816 there was a musical
society in the town, called St. David's Musical Soci-
ety, which sometimes held its meetings at Bacon's
Hotel, on Boylston Street, afterwards the home of
Deacon Asa Cook, Newton Highlands. The Newton
Musical Association was formed at Newton Corner in
1861. This society, besides several concerts, sacred
and secular, gave a number of performances of a high
order, with much success — the oratorio of the " Mes-
siah," five times; the" Creation," four times; ''Elijah"
and " Samson," once each, and Mendelssohn's " Hymn
of Praise," twice. At the first National Jubilee
Peace Concert, held in Boston in June, 1869, 221
members from Newton attended, and aided during
the entire performace ; and at the second, in June,
1872, 300 participated.

The Newton Scnday-School Union was organ-
ized December 18, 1838, representing, at the begin-
ning, only sis Sunday-schools, but aftei wards all the
Sunday-schools in Newton. The association held
anniversary exercises for the children of all the
schools on the 4th of July, 1839, with a procession of
children, addresses and a collation, in a grove at
Newton Upper Falls ; in 1840, in a grove at Newton
Centre, when there was a procession of 1300 to 1500
children, and an audience of between two and three
thousand was present at the exercises, followed by
music and a collation. The third anniversary was
celebrated by services in the First Parish Church,
Newton Centre, and a collation in a grove near* the
pond. The fourth anniversary was at the Methodist
Church, Newton Upper Falls. After that date the
children's celebrations of July 4th were dropped.
The twenty-fifthacniversary was held at Eliot Church,
October 16, 1863. The contributions of the Union
have been devoted to the support of .a Sunday-school
missionary in destitute places in the Western States.

The Newton Natural History SoniExy was

formed in October, 1879, for the purpose of awaken-
ing an interest in natural history with special refer-
ence to the locality of Newton, and lo gather speci-
mens in the geology and mineralogy, and in the flora
and fauna of Newton and its vicinity. The society
keeps its collections of minerals, birds and other
curiosities in a room in the Newton Free Library.

The Claflin Guard was organized in September,
1870, by fifty young men of Newton, and was assigned
to the First Regiment Massachusetts Militia, and
designated as Company L. An elegant American
flag was presented to the company by the ladies of
Newton, May 30, 1871. The first captain was Isaac
F. Kingsbury, 1870; the second, John A. Kenrick,
in 1878. The name of the company was adopted in
compliment to the Governor of the State, an honored
resident of Newton.

Water-Works. — .4t a regular town-meeting held
in April, 1871, a committee was appointed to investi-
gate tl^e best method of supplying the town with
water, and to report at a subsequent meeting. The
committee reported November 13, 1871, in favor of
taking water from Charles River, and the same com-
mittee were appointed to petition the Legislature of
Massachusetts for full power to carry the report into
efiect. By an act paosed in 1872 the town of Newton
was authorized to take " from Charles River, at any
convenient point on the same within said town, suffi-
cient water for the use of said town and inhabitants,
not exceeding one and a half million gallons daily,
for the extinguishment of fires, domestic and other
purposes." This act was accepted by vote of the
town May 27, 1872.

The work, however, was delayed. Many d'labted
the expediency of engaging in so expensive an under-
taking. Others doubted as to the best source of sup-
ply, maintaining that the ponds and'streams within
the borders of Newton would be preferable to the
water of Charles River. In accoi dance with the
views of this portion of the citizens, an act was ob-
tiined from the Legislature in 1874, "authorizing the
city to take and hold the water of Hammond's Pond,
Wiswall's Pond, Bullough's Pond and Cold Spring
Brook, all in Newton, for fire and other purpoHes,
together with the waters which flow into the same,
and any water-rights connected therewith." And
this act was accepted by the City Council October 20,
1875.

In 1874 the citizens were called upon to vote by
ballot, " Yes " or " No," on the question, " Shall the
City of Newton be supplied with water for fire and
domestic purposes at an expense not exceeding six
hundred thousand dollars, in accordance with the
special Act of the Legislature of 1872, chapter 304,
authorizing the same? " The vote was taken by bal-
lot December ], 1874, and resulted in "yeas," 928;
" nays," 443.

Three wati-r commissioners were appointed Decem-
ber 9, 1874, — Royal M. Pulsifer, Francis J. Parker

HISTORY OP MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and fi. R. Bishop, — who reported in May, 1875, rec-
ommending as a source a " well at a point on Charles
Eiver, above Pettee's Works at the Upper Falls ; "
advising the use of a reservoir for distribution, and
estimating the cost at not over $850,000.

The order constituting the Board of Water Commis-
sionera was passed June 2, 1875 ; and on the 7th of
Jane the commissioners, the same as above, were
elected by the City Council. Their first formal meet-
ing was held June 16th. The board was organized
by the choice of Royal M. Pulaifer chairman and
Moses Clark, Jr., clerk. On the 12ih of June, 1875,
it was voted to purchase the reservoir site on Waban
Hill. October 25th work on the pump-well was com-
menced, and October 28th the first pipe was laid on
Washington Street, near Woodland Avenue. Janu-
ary 7, 1876, the commissioners voted to request the
City Council to ask of the Legislature authority to
take land in the town of Needham for the water-
works. In compliance with the petition, a law was
enacted by which the city of Newton was authorized
■'to take and hold, by purchase or otherwise, any
lands within the town of Needham, not more than
one thousand yards distant from Charles River, and
lying between Kenrick's Bridge, so called, and the
new bridge near Newton Upper Falls, on Needham
Avenue, and to convey water from the same to and
into said City."

Water was first pumped into the reservoir on
Waban Hill October 30, 1876, and the hydrants sup-
plied with water along forty-eight miles of street
mains. The first service pipes were laid in October,
1876, and the number of water-takers two years later,
in 1878, was about 1600. The coat of the works to
November, 1877, was $766,157.22 ; the amount of the
appropriation was $850,000; leaving an unexpended
balance of $83,842.78. The reservoir on Waban Hill
holds fifteen million gallons. Seven artesian wells
were sunk in 1886, capable of drawing from the sub-
terranean currents three hundred thousand gallons
per day, supplementary to the supply from Charles
River.

CoNDuira OF the Boston Water- Works pass-
ing THKOUGH Newton. — The conduit of the Boston
Water-works from Lake Cochituate passes through
the whole extent of Newton from west to east, from
Charles River, near the Upper Falls, to the Chestnut
Hill Reservoir. The conduit enters Newton a little
below the village of the Upper Falls. The groond
for this aqueduct was broken August 20, 1846, and
water was introduced into the city of Boston with
imposing ceremonies October 25, 1848. The Newton
Tunnel is excavated through porphyritic rock of ex-
treme hardness, 2410 feet in length. Two perpen-
dicular shafls on the Harbach property, between the
estates of the late Messrs. N. Richards Harbach and
John W. Harbach, were sunk to a depth of about
eighty-four feet. Several specimens of copper were
found in this shaft The Chestnut Hill Reservoir, at

the time of its construction, was situated in the towns
of Newton and Brighton ; but by a subsequent ces-
sion of land, it is now within the limits of Boston.
Beacon Street, which formerly ran in a straight line
across the valley, was turned from its course lo allow
the construction of the re-^ervoir. The reservoir is in
two divisions, — the Lawrence Basin and the Bradley
Basin. Together they are two and a half miles in
circumference. The land bought by the city of Bos-
ton for this structure was two hundred and twelve
and a half acres. This land was a portion of the
Lawrence farm, previously Deacon Nathan Pettee's
and owned, before him, by Deacon Thomas Hovey.

The Sddbury River Condcit. — The supply of
water from Lake Cochituate proving inadequate to
meet the necessities of the city of Boston, a supple-
mental source was sought from the Sudbury River,
which involved the construction of a second tunnel
through Newton. The " Sudbury River Conduit,"
bringing the additional supply of water to Boston, is
about fifteen and three-quarters miles long, from Farm
Pond, in Framingham, to the Chestnut Hill Reser-
voir. It enters Newton in the Upper Falls Village,
passes through that village to the north of Newton
Highlands and through Newton Centre to the reser-
voir. The principal features of this work in Newton
are the bridge carrying thegreat conduit of water- works
fifty-one feet above the stream, over Charles River
to the Upper Falls, and the tunnels near the crossing
of Pleasant Street and under Chestnut Hill. The
bridge, generally known as " Echo Bridge," is five hun-
dred feet in length, and consists of seven arches — five
of thirty -seven feet span ; one, over Ellis Street, of
thirty-eight feet, and the large arch over the river.
It is constructed mainly of solid granite, and rests on
foundations of solid rock. The large arch, spanning
the river, is the second in size on this Continent, and
one of the largest stone arches in the world. To one
standing beneath it, the arch has a very slender and
beautiful appearance, being only eighteen feet in
width at the crown. There is a remarkable echo in
this arch, the human voice being rapidly repeated
upwards of fifteen times, and a pistol-shot twenty-five
times. A shout of moderate intensity is reverberated
with so many and so distinct iterations, that all the
neighboring woods seem full of wild Indians rushing
down from the hillsand threatening to annihilate all
traces of modern civilization. This bridge was built
during 1876 and 1877.

Newton Cottage Hospital is near the new
station of Woodland on the Circuit Railroad, and
about one mile from the Lower Falls. It was first
suggested by Rev. Dr. G. W. Shinn, rector of Grace
Church, Newton, and an Act of Incorporation was
obtained in 1881. In 1884 nine acres of the old
Granville Fuller estate on Washington Street were
procured, and the building was erected in 1885-86.
The hospital was furnished by the Ladies' Aid Associ-
ation. Mrs. Elizabeth Eldridge gave $10,000 towards

NEWTON.

the building and support of the hospital ; Mrs. J. R
Leeson, of Newton Centre, gave S7000 ; at least
twenty other persons gave each five hundred dollars
or more. Appropriations have also been added from
the city treasury. One Sabbath in every year is
termed Hospital Sunday, and on that day a collection
is taken up in all the churches in Newton to aid in
the benevolent work of the institution. Pupil nurses
are taught in the hospital, and lectures are given oc-
casionally on important subjects pertaining to
hygiene, by the physicians in charge and others. An
additional building for private patients is about to be
erected.

Woodland Park Hotel, in the immediate vicin-
ity of the hospital, the chief public-house of Newton,
half a mile from Woodland Station, is an imposing
Queen Anne structure, built in 1881-82 by Messrs.
Haskell, Andrews and Pulsifer, connected with the
Boston Herold, and Mr. Frederick Johnson, as a sub-
urban retreat for persons of weak throat and lungs
desiring to escape from the rough winds of the New
England coast. The first, and hitherto the only
landlord is Mr. Joseph Lee, a gentleman from Vir-
ginia, once connected with the purveying department
of the United States Navy.

Many visitors, especially those in delicate iiealth,
from the wealthy portions of Boston and elsewhere,
take refuge here in the spring and summer. Wood-
land Avenue, in front of the hotel, about 1750, and
for many years before and after, was one of the most
important highways of the town. At the time of the
Revolution Burgoyne's captured army were marched
ov^r this road to the quarters where they were to be
held under guard. In the early part of the present
century, and especially after the building of the Wor-
cester turnpike through the Upper Falls, in 1809, it
was almost abandoned. But within ten years past it
has again become famous. From Vista Hill, near by,
sixteen towns can be seen, with Bunker Hill Monu-
ment, the Blue Hills and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Town of Newton becomes a City. — After
making history two hundred and thirty-five years
from the date of the coming of its first settler, and
one hundred and eighty-six years from its incorpora-
tion as a spparate town, Newton became a city with
the beginning of the year 1874. In the warrant is-
sued for the town-meeting, April 7, 1873, wca this
article : " To see if the town will instruct the Select-
men to apply to the General Court for a City Charter,
or for annexation to Boston, or for a division of the
Town, or anything relative thereto."

In reference to this article the following action was
taken : Gen. A. B. Underwood was moderator — J. F.
C. Hyde offered the following, viz., "Voted, that the
Selectmen, with a Committee of seven — to be ap-
pointed by the Chair — be instructed to petition the
General Court, now in session, for a City Charter for
Newton."

The whole subject was fully discussed. Some fa-

vored a city charter for Newton ; some advocated
remaining longer under a town government, and one
or two favored a union with Boston. Finally, the
motion of Mr. Hyde was put and carried ; and the
following were appointed a committee, to be joined
with the selectmen, to petition the General Court for
a city charter : J. F. C. Hyde, C. Robinson, Jr., C.
E. Ranlett, K. M. Pulsifer, E. F. Waters, J. B. Good-
rich and Willard Marcy.

On the 26th September a warrant was issued for a
town-meeting to be held Monday, Oct. 13, 1873, noti-
fying the inhabitants to bring in their votes to the
selectmen, " yes " or " no," on the acceptance of the
act of the Legislature, entitled " An Act to establish
the City of Newton."

The meeting notified was held in the town hall, as
summoned, Oct. 13, 1873. At fifteen minutes past
eight o'clock, A.M., the chairman of the selectmen
called for ballots, "yes" or "no," on the acceptance
of Chapter 326 of the General Laws and Resolves
passed by the last session of the Legislature of Massa-
chusetts, entitled "An Act to establish the City of
Newton."

The ballots were counted by the selectmen, and
declared by their chairman as follows : " no," 391 ;
" yes," 1224. And the meeting was dissolved.

On the 4th of November following, the annual
meeting was held for the State elections (Governor of
the Commonwealth, etc.). After all the returns had
been made out, signed and sealed, and after the vot-
ing lists and votes bad been sealed up in envelopes,
endorsed, and delivered to the town clerk, Mr.
William R. Wardwell moved that this meeting, — the
last town-meeting in the town of Newton, — be dis-
solved, and the motion was carried unanimously.
The following is the closing record of the town clerk :

'*Tbe To70-Me«ting held Nor. 4, 1873, aboTP recurded, wu the last
Town- Meeting held io the Town of Newton. Newton becomee a City
Jacaary 5, 1674.

" Maeshall S. Ricx,' ram Oerk of Uu Town of Sewlom."

Thus Newton was the home of the English colo-
nists as a part of Cambridge, and more or less under
the municipal control of Cambridge about fifty
years ; and a separate town, under an independent
government, like other Masssuihosetts towns, one hun-
dred and eighty-six years. Under the auspices of the
city government, the centennial day of Newton's vote
to sustain the cause of freedom at any expense, at the
beginning of the Revolution, was honored and com-
memorated by an imposing celebration Jnne 17, 1876.
Many historical relics and mottoes were displayed.
Several of the descendants of the old settlers were
dressed in the costumes of a hundred years ago.
Thirteen of the descendants of the original families
of Newton took part in the singing. Thirty-nine
pupils of the High School represented the thirty-nine
States. An historical address was delivered by Hon.
James F. C. Hyde, the first mayor of Newton.

On the two hundredth anciversary of the action of

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the General Court granting to Newton all the rights
and immunities of an independent town, a formal and
enthusiastic ceJebratiou was held in the auditorium
of the City Hall at West Newton. The audience was
entertained by addresses, music and poetry, followed
in the evening by a banquet at the Woodland Park
Hotel.

The following is a list of mayors : Jaraes F. C.
Hyde, 1874^75; Alden Speare, 1876-77; William
B. Fowle, 1878-79 ; Royal M. Pulsifer, 1880-81 ;
William P. Ellison, 1882-83 ; J. Wesley Kimball,
1884-88 ; Heman M. Burr, 1889-90.

MISCELLA^'EOUS ITEMS.

Many items of historical interest belong to such a
sketch as the present which are hardly reducible to
any of the heads treated in the foregoing chapters.
Some of them are appended here as valuable remi-
niscences.

The Worcester Railroad was opened for pas-
sengers from Boston as far as West Newton, April 16,
1834. A locomotive ran from Boston to Newton, and
return, three times a day, having from two to eight
passengers on each trip. The engine used was the
"Meteor,"' built by Mr. Stephenson, in England. The
cars commenced running on the Hartford and Erie
Railroad, then called the Charles River road, — which
extended from Brookline to Needham, — in Novem-
ber, 1852. At first season tickets by the year between
Boston and Newton Centre were sold for §35. Pre-
vious to this time passengers were conveyed from
Newton Upper Falls and Newton Centre to Boston by
a daily stage, which went to Boston at 9 a.m. and left
Boston to return at 3 p.m. Fare from Newion Centre
to Boston, 37 J cents. A stage or omnibus also run be-
tween the Upper Falls and West Newton, and New-
ton Centre and Newton Corner to convey passengers
to and from the Worcester Railroad.

The Newton Journal, i.he first newspaper print-
ed in Newton, a weekly, was issued in September,
1866. The Newton Graphic has been issued since
1872. A paper called the Newton Transcript was pub-
lished and edited by Henry Lemon, Jr., in West
Newton, from 1878 to 1885, when the subscription list
was sold to the Newton Graphic and the publication
suspended.

A Post-office was first established in Newton Lower
Falls in 1816 ; Newton Corner, 1820, Newton Centre,
not till sometime after the foundation of the Theolog-
ical Institution; the students and professors were
obliged to travel two miles, to Newtoc Corner, for their
matl. In 1847 there were five post-olfices in the town,
eight meeting-huuses, and about 5000 inhabitants.

Lafayette in Newton. — The Marquis de Lafay-
ette, during his last visit to this country, in 1825,
p.-issed through Newton and shook hands with a
number of Master Davis' pupils, arranged by the side
of the road to receive him.

The First Contribdtion to the Home for

Little Wanderers in Boston was made at the
Baptist Church, Newton Corner; and the first dollar
was subscribed by a young girl, a member of that
church. In the first fifteen years of its existence that
institution cared for 4877 children, many of wl.ora
became valuable members of society — lawyers, minis-
ters, clerks, farmers, physicians and representatives
of various trades and professions.

Church Bell, West Newton. — The first church
bell in West Newton was raised to its tower in the
Second Congregatiorial Church in 1828. It was
bought of the town of Concord, having been the gift
of an English lady to that town. It was a very small
bell for a meeting-house. On its surface, in raised
letters, was this couplet:

" I to the church the liviog caII,
I to the gTBTe do summon all."

Revolutionary Reminiscences. — Near the
bridge over the Charles River in Watertown village,
on the Watertown side, stood, in Revolutionary times,
the old printing-ofiice of Benjamin Edes, who remov-
ed his type and press hither early in the year 1775,
and who did the printing for the Provincial Congress.
Near the bridge, on tiie Newton side of the river,
stands a large old house on the east side of the road,
called, in the time of the Revolution, the Coolidge
Tavern. From 1764 to 1770 it was kept as a public-
house by Nathaniel Coolidge, and afterwards by " the
widow Coolidge." This house was appointed, in
1775, as the rendezvous for " the Committee of Safe-
ty," in case of an alarm. President Washington
lodged in this house in 1789. An old house opposite,
occupied by John Couk during the Revolution, is one
of hi.itoric interest. It was in a chamber of this
house that Paul Revere engraved his plates, and with
the help of Mr. Cook struck off" the Colony notes, is-
sued by order of the Provincial Congress. Adjoining
this estate were the famous weir lands along the
river.

The Finest Houses in the North and East
Parts of Newton were those of Dr. Morse, on the
west side of the road, on the heights near the river ;
Mrs. Coffin's and John Richardson's (the Nonantum
House) ; Hon. Jonathan Hunnewell's, on the road to
Brighton ; the Haven and Wiggin houses, on Nonan-
tum Hill ; John Peck's, Newton Centre, afterwards
the Theological Institution ; the Sargent place, on
Centre Street, now the Shannon place; John Cabot,
corner of Cabot and Centre Streets, since removed;
a house occupied by Nath. Tucker, afterwards Mr.
Thomas Edmands, opposite his son's, J. Wiley Ed-
mands ; the Col. Joseph Ward place, afterwards
Charles Brackett ; the Dr. Freeman place, afterwards
Francis Skinner, and Gen. Hull's, now ex-Governor
Claflin's. Most [of these are still standing (1890),
though some of them have been removed to another
location.

Buried Treasure. — At the time of the Revolu-

NEWTON.

tioD, three young men of the Prentiss family, living
in the Joshua Loring house, on Centre Street, oppo-
site Mill Street, are said to have buried considerable
property near the brook north of the old cemetery,
and going to the war, they never returned. Parties
are said to have sometimes dug for the treasure, but it
is not known that any has ever been found.

Two Lists of Freeholders — that is, of persons
holding some estate and competent to vote — remain;
the first, dated 1679, contains sixty-seven names; the
second, ia 1798, contains 211 names. The latter list
is a tax-list, taken under an act of the Congress of the
United States, levying upon the country a direct tax
of two millions of dollars. The list embraced the
houses with their valuation, acres with their valua-
tion, and total valuation. Twenty persons are re-
corded as owning each one-half of a house; one, two-
thirds ; sixty-five, one house each ; one, two, and one,
three. We know not on what principle the assessors
determined their estimate of the value of houses in
Newton a century ago. Possibly they designedly set
the value very low, for the purposes of taxation, com-
passionating the slender resources of the townsmen and
their own. But even if they put upon it no more than
a two-thirds valuation, it seems to us that the dwell-
ings of the fathers of the town in the fourth genera-
tion after its incorporation were ridiculously cheap.
According to this list, there were only two houses in
the town valued above S2000 ; only eleven, above
SIOOO ; only thirty-seven above S600 ; more than two-
thirds of the whole, less than S500 ; sixty-eight less
than 8300 ; forty-five less than $200 ; seven less than
SIOO. The ihree ministers were not required to pay
taxes, though each of them owned both house and
land. The largest number of acres owned by any in-
dividual was 249 ; twenty-seven owned between one
and two hundred; 141 less than one hundred; four
le:-3 than twenty ; twenty-two less than ten ; thirty-
four none at all; 531}^ acres stood in the names of
women.

A Large Bocldee in the Middle of Charles
River, called " the County Rock," marks the spot
where the counties of Norfolk and Middlesex and the
towns of Newton, Wellesley and Weston adjoin one
another.

Newton has a Surface FiNELr Diversified
by hills of considerable elevation. The following,
with their respective heights, are worthy of mention :
Bdld Pate Hill, the highest of all, is 318 feet; Waban
Hill, near the Chestnut Hill reservoir, 313 ; Institu-
tion Hill, 301 ; Oak Hill, 296 ; Chestnut Hill, 290 ;
Sylvan Heiihts, 252; Nonantum Hill, 249; Cottage
Rill, 230 ; Moffait Hill, 223 ; Mount Ida, 206.

The Population of Newton, at various periods,
is as follows : In 1820, 1850 ; 1830, 2376 ; 1840, 3351 ;
1850, 5258; 1860, 8382; 1870, 12,825; 1880, 16,995;
1885, 19,759.

Churches and Public Schools in Newton. —
In 1889 Newton had thirty-two churches and twenty

school buildings, including one High School. After
116 years the First Church saw its first shoot; after
148 years there were three; after 226 years, thirty-
two.

The Newton and Watertown Gas-Liqht Co.
was organized March 18, 1854.

A little below Riverside, on the Waltham side of
Charles River, is " the Norumbega Tower," erected by
Prof. Horsford, of Cambridge, and dedicated in 1889.
The tower marks the site, as Prof. Horsford believes,
of the principal settlement of the aboriginal tribe
which once roamed over these forests.

Statistics. — In 1885 there were in Newton ninety-
five farms, valued at $189,886. The woolen-mills, em-
ploying 343 laborers, produced goods valued at $600,-
406; the hosiery-mill employed 46 female operators;
the watch factory, 40 ; the cordage factory, 67. Ma-
chinists, iron-workers and blacksmiths numbered 192.
There were five houses employed in furniture manu-
facturing and thirty, clothing. The aggregate of goods
manufactured was valued at $2,389,018. Deposits in
the two savings banks at the end of 1889, $1,563,750.
At the close of 1888 there were 4018 dwelling-houses
in the town. The valuation by the assessors for the
purpose of taxation was $33,278,642.

Mount Ida. — The story of Mount Ida is interest-
ing. It is the magnificent swell of land which rises
immediately south of the railroad station at Newton,
and is adorned with many fine residences. In the
year 1816 John Fiake bought the entire hill for $3300.
In 1850 thti same was held at $10,000. After the
Civil War it was bought by Langdon Coffin, Esq.,
who named it Mount Ida and laid it out in building
lots. At that date there were only three houses on
the whole estate ; now the real estate of the same
territory is valued at over half a million dollars.
From the summit of Mount Ida admirable views
are obtained of the valley-towns on the north — Cam-
bridge, Watertown and Waltham, the long and shaggy
ridge of Prospect Hill, the blue highlands of Essex,
the spires and towers of Boston, the shining waters of
Massachusetts Bay, the many villages of Newton
and the crests of Wachusett, Monadnock and other
inland mountain peaks.

Block-house on Centre Street. — On Centre
Street, north corner of Cabot Street, the residence of
E. W. Converse, Esq., on the site of the mansion,
once stood a block-house, with a stone base and open-
ings above for defense, to which the neighboring col-
onists planned to retreat in case of hostile invasion
by the Indians, who had shown at Sudbury, Medfield
and Medway how much their attacks were to be
dreaded. The old refuge at last fell to decay, having
never been practically tested. The present house was
erected and the grounds were graded at an expense
of $60,000 by the late Israel Lombard, Esq. The
property passed into the hands of the Converse fam-
ily in 1866. The old garrison -house was occupied in
its latter days as a residence by Enoch Baldwin,

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

whos« SODS were afterwards known among the able
finaociers of Boston.

PAaK3 IN Newtox.— Besides the Common at New-
ton Centre, the city has several pleasant open spaces,
more or less adorned. The most noted is Farlow
Park, at Newton, given to the city by the gentleman
whose name it boars, and adorned at the public ex-
pense, in 1885. Eenrick Park, also at Newton, was
laid out in 1854 by William Eenrick, under the name
of Woodland Vale. Linwood Park, between Walnut
Street, Crafts Street and Linwood Avenue, was
founded by a contribution of $2000 by citizens in the
vicinity, a handsome donation by W. J. Towne, Esq.,
and an appropriation of $1000 from the city treasury.
Washington Park, at Newtonville, was laid out by
Dustin Lancey in 1865. It is one-sixth of a mile
long and sixty feet wide. Lincoln Park is a pretty
open space on Washington Street, West Newton, in
front of the First Baptist Church.

Dickens at Newton Centre. — When Charles
Dickens, the renowned novelist, was in the United
States he, with three companions — George Dolby,
James R. Osgood and James T. Fields — undertook a
walking-match, February 29, 1868, from the begin-
ning of the mill-dam in Boston to Newton Centre
and back, " for two hats a side and the glory of their
respective countries." Dickens and Osgood were the
contestants, the other two companions and spectators.
Dickens, in describing the contest, says that " at their
turning-point, Newton Centre, the only refreshments
they could find were five oranges and a bottle of black-
ing" (which was a fib). Dickens reached the goal
first, but Osgood finally won the match by seven min-
utes ; and they celebrated the contest at night, with
a few friends, by a dinner at Parker's.

Goody Davis, of Oak Hill, who lived to the age of
one hundred and sixteen years, was thrice married, had
9 children, 45 grandchildren, 200 great-grandchildren
and above 800 great-great-grandihildren before her
death. She was oft*n seen, after she was a hundred
years old, at work in the field. She was at last
supported by the town, though she retained her
faculties till she was a hundred and fifteen years old.
Dr. Homer remarks that "She had lived through
the reigns of Charles I., Oliver Cromwell, Charles
II., James II., Wiiliam and Mary, Queen Anne and
George I. and U. She was visited by Governor Dud-
ley and also by Governor Belcher, who procured
the painting of her portrait, now in possession of
the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Newton Cihcuit Railroad.— In 1886 the Boston
and Albany Railroad Corporation bought of the New
York and New England that portion of the road
and franchise lying between Brookline and Newton
Highlands, about five miles and one-tenth, for $415,-
000, to form a part of the Newton Circuit Railroad,
and immediately proceeded to complete its line across
Elliott and Boylston Streets to Riverside; thus opening
three new stationa— Eliot, Waban and Woodland—

and bringing into market a large quantity of desira-
ble land suited to residences and business.

CHAPTER II.

NEWTON— { Continued).

THE first church IN NEWTON.
(At Newton Centre.)

BY REV. DANIEL L. FURBER, D.D.

The first church in Newton was formed in 1664,
and was a colony from the church in Cambridge, of
which Rev. Jonathan Mitchel was at that time pas-
tor. Newton was a part of Cambridge and was called
Cambridge Village. The people of this place, in go-
ing to meeting on the Lord's Day, went through
Watertown as we do now.

In 1664 Charles the Second was on the throne of
England, Sir Isaac Newton was a young man, John
Milton was writing " Paradise Lost," John Bunyan
was in Bedford jail, and Richard Baxter was preach-
ing the gospel " as though his soul was drenched
therein."

Our early ministers used forms of expression which
would sound strange if we should hear thfm now.
One of them says, " We should show thankful resent-
ment to God for his favors to us ;" " Let us resent the
hand of God in the death of so many of his useful ser-
vants ;" " I will now shut up all with an exhortation."
Another says, " Christians should chew over their
former consolations ;" that is, they should call them
to mind and ruminate upon them as an ox chews his
cud, and thus renew their enjoyment of them. The
word "ingenuity" is used for "ingenuousness:"
" Let us with candor and ingenuity confess our
faults."

In 225 years this church has had only nine minis-
ters — John Eliot, Jr., son of the apostle Eliot, Nehe-
miah Hobart, John Cotton, great-grandson of the
famous John Cotton, of Boston, Jonas Meriam, Jon-
athan Homer, James Bates, William Bushnell, Dan-
iel L. Furber and Theodore J. Holmes. Seven of
these nine ministers were ordained here, and the
work of six of them was both begun and ended here.

The original members of thi^ chuch were an intel-
ligent people. Trained as they had be*n in the vicin-
ity of Harvard College, and listening every Lord's
Day to the same preaching to which the professors
and students listened, they bad been under highly
educating influences. No doubt we are in some
measure indebted to this fact for the intelligence
which now characterizes our people, for the character
which is stamped upon a church or town in the begin-
ning of its history is apt to go down to succeeding
generations.

NEWTON.

Sound doctrine has always prevailed here. In the
early part of this century, when ninety-six of the 361
Congregational churches of Massachusetts became
Unitarian, and thirty more were nearly so, when all
the Boston churches but one abandoned the ancient
faith, together with the churches in Roxbury, Dor-
chester, Cambridge, Watertown, Dedham, Brookline,
Brighton and Waltham, the church in Newton and
its first-born child in West Newton stood firm. The
doctrinal belief of our fathers was thoroughly Calvin-
istic. John Cotton, of Boston, said that after study-
ing twelve hours a day, he wanted to sweeten his
mouth with a morsel from John Calvin before he went
to sleep. If our fathers used some liberty, as no doubt
they did, in the interpretation of Calvinism, we prob-
ably use still more, lopping off what Dr. Woods, of
Andover, used to call the " fag ends" of it. Still, we
are Calvinists, and we agree with James Anthony
Froude, when he says, "If Arminianism most com-
mends itself to our feelings, Calvinism is nearer to
the facts, however harsh and forbidding those facts
may seem." But we have the warmest Christian af-
fection for those who differ from us, and join hand
and heart with them in the grand endeavor to give
the Gospel to mankind.

Calvinism, notwithstanding all the prejudice which
there is against it, is a mighty system. It has asserted
human rights and the equality of all men before God
as no other system ever did. David Hume said that
England owed all the liberty she had to the Puritans,
and George Bancroft says that the monarchs of Eu-
rope, with one consent and with instinctive judgment,
feared Calvinism as republicanism. John Fiske says
that "the promulgation of the theology of Calvin
was one of the longest steps that mankind has taken
towards personal freedom." We boast of what New
England did in the War of the Revolution. It fur-
nished more than half of theiroops that were raised.
The descendants of the Puritans did that. The Con-
gregationalists at that time were seven times as
numerous as all other denominations put together,
and they were descendants of the Puritans, and the
Puritans were Calvinists. Let this show what kind
of moral and religious forces achieved our indepen-
dence. Everywhere the influence of this system of
belief has been to establish human freedom, to edu-
cate the masses, to elevate society, and to free the en-
slaved. " Take the Calvinists of New England," said
Henry WardBeecher; "persons rail at them, but they
were men that believed in their doctrines. They put
God first, the commonwealth next, and the citizen
next, and they lived accordingly, and where do you
find prosperity that averages as it does in New Eng-
land, in Scotland and in Switzerland? Men may
rail as much as they please, but these are the facts."
Our church has been blessed with a godly and
faithful ministry.

Rev. John Eliot, Jr., was called one of the best
preachers of his time. Hubbard's "History of New

England " says he was second to none as to all litera-
ture and other gifts, both of nature and grace, which
made him so generally acceptable to all who had the
least acquaintance with him. We have no sermons
from his pen, but there is a record of precious utter-
ances made by him upon his dying bed, which can be
found in the Congregational Quarterly for April, 1865.
It was not known until about that time that the
record was in existence. Cotton Mather had said
nearly two hundred years ago that Mr. Eliot "upon his
death-bed uttered such penetrating things aa could
proceed from none but one upon the borders and con-
fines of eternal glory. It is a pity," said he, "that so
many of them are forgotten." About twenty-five
years ago was found in the attic of an old bouse in
Windsor, Conn., in which lived and died Mr. Eliot's
son, Judge John Eliot, a portion of a manuscript,
yellow with age, in which was a copy of the "dying
speech." While containing language of the deepest
self-abasement it is a speech of triumph. The pros-
pect of being so soon in glory with one whom he
loved with all his soul, filled him with exultation and
rapture. As old John Trapp says: "He went gal-
lantly into heaven with sails and flags up and trum-
pets sounding." This for a young man only thirty-
two years old, with the brightest prospects before him
in this world, loved and admired by all who knew
him, was certainly most remarkable.

After Mr. Eliot's death dissensions arose in the
church, about which we know almost nothing. But
in 1672 Nehemiah Hobart came and healed the divi-
sions and restored harmony. In him a rich blessing
came to the little church, and he is to be reckoned
among the eminent men of his time. President
Stiles, of New Haven, requested an aged clergyman,
Rev. John Barnard, of Marblehead, whom Dr.
Chauncy called " one of our greatest men," to give
him the names of those New England divines of
whom he had conceived the highest opinion for sanc-
tity, usefulness and erudition, and he gave him the
names of eighteen men, among whom wag the name
of Nehemiah Hobart, of Newton. Other names in
the list are Samuel Willard and Ebenezer Pemberton,
of the Old South Church in Boston ; Cotton Mather,
of the Old North Church ; BeuJHinin Colman, of Brat-
tle Street Church, and Increase Mather and Benjamin
Wadsworth, presidents of Harvard College. But if
Mr. Hobart is entitled to rank with such men aa these,
why is he not better known ? The reason mxy be that
he was an extremely modest man. A minister who
knew him intimately said that his modesty was ex-
cessive, and that he had a singular backwardness to
appearing in pnblic.

Mr. Hobart died August 25, 1712. Eight days be-
fore his death he preached morning and afternoon,
and at the close of the day blessed the congregation
in the words prescribed in Numbers 6 : 24-26, which
made an impression upon many. They thought that
he had taken have of them and that they should never

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

hear him again. He had used that form but once be-
fore. He aaid to President Leverett, of Harvard Col-
lege, who made him a vit-ita few days before his death,
that he had been atfortynine commencement", never
having missed one from the very first time that he had
" waited on that solemnity." The President said that
he was a great blessing and ornament to the Corpora-
tion of Harvard College. Judge Sewall states that
the Governor (Dudley) was present at his funeral
with four horses. " A great many people there.
Suppose there were more than forty graduates." The
President was one of the bearers, and the Governor
and Judge Sewall followed next after the mourners.

Mr. Hobart's ministry continued forty years, during
which lime an unshaken harmony subsisted between
him and his people. If there were revivals and large
additions to the church under his ministry, or under
the ministry of Mr. Eliot, we know nothing of them,
for '.he records of our church have been twice burned,
once in 1720 and again in 1770.

Our next minister was Rev. John Cotton, who was
ordained here in 1714. The desire of the people to
secure him for their minister was very strong. Rev.
Edward Holyoke, a'terward President of Harvard
College, had preached here as a candidate, but Mr.
Cotton was preferred. When he came, a youth of
twenty-one, the whole town went in procession to
meet and welcome him. Dr. Colman, of Brattle Street
Church, spoke of him aa a man iu whom the name
and spirit of the famous John Cotton revived and
shone. Twelve of his sermons were published and are
preserved. Fifty persons were added to the church
.soon after the earthquake of 1727, in consequence of
that awful event, and of the use which he made of it
in his preaching. One hundred and four were added
in 1741—42 in a revival which probably began with
the preaching of the celebrated Gilbert Tennent.

As an illustration of the attention which in former
times was bestowed upon the young, there were many
towns in New England about the year 1727 in which
young men set up meetings for religious exercises on
the evenings of the Lord's Day. Such meetings were
held here, and Mr. Cotton delivered fjur sermons on
the text " Run, speak to this young man." In the re-
vival of 1741 scores of children and young people
called upon their minister from week to week for re-
ligious conversation. This interest was greatly deep-
ened by the death of Mr. John Park's three children,
who died within the space of two weeks, after very
brief illness, one of them eighteen years old, another
sixteen, and the other ten. These deaths produced
such an effect upon the young that the scores who had
called upon the minister were increased to hundreds,
and Mr. Cotton states that more than three hundred
had been with him, expressing a serious concern about
the salvatiiin of their souls. This is really a most as-
tonishing instance of deep and wide-spread interest in
religion among the young. We are apt to think that
the young were not cared for in past times as they are

now, but who ever saw anything like this ? Who ever
heard of a place before, uo larger than this, where
three hundred and more of the children and youth
were calling upon their minister to know what they
must do to be saved ? The young came from sur-
rounding towns to attend the meetings here, and in
one instance at least Mr. Cotton made a special ad-
dress to them. Now it is impossible for such a wave
of religious interest to roll over this place without
leaving ineffaceable marks of itself. Accordingly,
when Dr. Homer, forty years after, received his call
to this place, he said, '• I have noticed the diligent and
solemn attention of the people and especially of the
youth of this place to the public services of religion,
in which I have seldom, if ever, found them equaled
elsewhere. This is a circumstance of my call which
I cannot resist, and would prefer to every other possi-
ble consideration.'' There is no doubt that we feel
to this day the effect of the revival among the young
which occurred here one hundred and fifty years ago.

Mr. Cotton died in 1757, in the sixty-fourth year of
his age and in the forty-third year of his ministry.

In 1758 began the ministry of Rev. Jonas Meriam,
which continued twenty-two years. He is remembered
as the minister who bought and gaveliberty to a slave
nearly one hundred years before slavery was abolished
in our country. His second wife was granddaughter
of Dr. Ziibdiel Boylston, of Brookline, the man who
introduced the practice of inoculation for small-pox, in
the face of such outrageous opposition that he did
not dare to go out of his house in the evening,
knowing that men were on the streets with halters in
their hands ready to hang him.

During his ministry Anna Hammond, who lived to
be one hundred and four years old, joined the church.
She married Rev. Joseph Pope, of Spencer, and
spent the remainder of her life in that town, occupy-
ing one sleeping-room eighty-two years. Her longev-
ity was owing in great measure, it is believed, to
her habitual cheerfulness. She believed that she had
had the best husband, the best children and the best
grandchildren that ever a woman had. " Your
grandfather, my child," said she, " was as good a
man as God ever made, and no minister ever had a
better parish, and no old woman ever had better or
kinder care." And so her life was one continued
hallelujah.

The doors of the Spencer parsonage were continu-
ally open wiih hospitality. The leading ministers of
the time, Emmons, Spring, Bellamy, Backus and such
men, were often entertained there, and they made the
long evenings lively with their theological discussions
protracted to late hours of the night around the old
hearth-stoae. During the depreciation of the Conti-
nental currency, when it is said that a whole year's
salary went to buy a block tin tea-pot, the hospitality
was still kept up, though nobody knew how, and the
large-hearted hostess said she never knew what it was
to want. Here was a character of the true New Eng-

NEWTON.

land type, in which were piety and intelligence fed
by God's word, and by the writings of Edwards, Bel-
lamy, Hopkins and men like them.

The allusion to SpriLg and Emmons as her guests
is the more interesting when it is known that both of
them were her suitors. The tradition is, that Dr.
Spring, when a young man, was on his way to New-
ton in search of a wife, when he met Mr. Pope on hia
way to the same house and with the same intent.
The situation was delicate and perplexing. After
some deliberation Dr. Spring said, " Brother Pope,
you have a parish and I have none ; I give way to
you."

When Mrs. Pope was a widow about seventy-five
years old, and Dr. Emmons was a widower of about
eighty-five, he sent her by the hand of a ministerial
bi other, probably his son-in-law, Rev. Dr. Ide, ofMed-
way.aproposalofmarriage. The offer was declined, and
when it was pressed with some urgency, with refer-
ence, probably, to the eminence of the suitor, she re-
plied, "No elevation of character or circumstances
could have a feather's weight toward inducing me to
change ray name- I hope to bear it while I live, and
lie by the side of him who gave it to me when I die."

The mini-try of Dr. Jonathan Homer began in
1782, and continued fifty-seven years. When he ac-
cepted his call to this place he had declined a call to
the new South Church in Boston, the church whose
edifice was on " Church Green," in Summer Street,
near the head of Lincoln Street. It was a noble
triumph of Christian principle for him, for conscience'
sake, and on the ground that the " half-way covenant "
was in use in the new South Church, as, in fact, it
was in most of the churches in Boston, to prefer New-
ton, with a small salary, to Boston, with j. large one,
and with its refined and literary society. He had
a deeply religious spirit, literary taste, a pleasing
style of writing, spoke easily in the pulpit without
notes, and excelled in conversation. Blake's ''Bio-
graphical Dictionary "^ays he waa one of the most be-
loved clergymen in Massachusetts, universally es-
teemed as a man of learning and piety. He read
Greek, Hebrew and Latin, and learned Spanish after
he was sixty years old.

Many of the later years of his life were devoted to
an enthusiastic study of the different English trans-
lations of the Bible, from that of Wycliffe to that of
1611. He intended to write a history of them. The
late Professor B. B. Edwards, of Andover. said he
was better qualified to do it than any other person
in the country. .A. conclusion which Dr. Homer
reached waa that King Jame»'s Bible was IN NO paet
a new tramlation taken directly Jrorm the originals. He
had the most ample facilities for ascertaining the
truth of this statement. His shelves were filled with
rare and choice books bearing upon the subject, many
of them obtained from England with great painstak-
ing and expense, and he performed the almost incred-
ible labor of finding oat by personal exr.mination the

source from which the translation of every verae in
the Bible was taken, and he showed, what he had
previously asserted, but what had been denied by
Biblical scholars, both English and American, that
not a single verse in King James's version was newly
translated, but that the whole of it waa taken from
other versions, and was a compilation. He showed
that thirty-two parts out of thirty-three were taken
from former English versions, chiefly from the Bish-
ops' Bible, and that the remaining thirty-third part
was drawn from foreign versions and comments.
Having announced this result of his investigations,
he quoted the words of the translators themselves, that
they " had never thought from the beginning of the
need of making a new translation."

It has been generally admitted that in the time of
the Unitarian defection Dr. Homer waa considerably
influenced by his many friends who had embraced
the erroneous views, and especially by Dr. John
Pierce, of Brooklice, and Dr. James Freeman, of
King's Chapel, in Boston, whose wife was a sister of
Mrs. Homer. But Dr. John Codman, of Dorchester,
who was an intimate friend of Dr. Homer, aud who
preached his funeral sermon, said that he waa decid-
edly evangelical and orthodox, though liberal and
catholic in his feelings towards other denominations.
"There was no bigotry in him. His heart overflowed
with love to all who love the Lord Jcsua Christ of
every sect and name. He was not a denominational
Christian, but a member of the church universal." His
heart was full of the tenderest sympathy for the suf-
fering. He took orphans and homeless children to
his own house and gave them a home until they could
be provided for. More than thirty were cared for by
him in this way.

A smile is sometimes awakened at the mention of
Dr. Homer's name, because of the many queer and
strange things that have been told of him. He was
a very absent-minded man, and bis wife was constantly
expecting some odd event to occur from his eccentric
ways. Professor Park, of Andover, says that he and
Professor Edwards and others were once invited to
dine at Dr. Homer's. When they were called to
dinner they went into the dining-room and took their
places around the table, their host not being present.
Soon, however, he appeared at the door of the room,
and seeing that the company were waiting for him,
immediately commenced asking the blessing. By the
time he had reached his place at the table be got
through with the blessing and then saluted his
guests. Other stories about Dr. Homer, under the
name of " Parson Carryl," may be found- in "The
Minister's Housekeeper," one of Sam Lawson's " Old-
town Fireside Stories," by Mrs. Harriet Beecber
Stowe. "You may laugh as much aa you will at
brother Homer," said Father Greenough, of the West
Parish ; '' there is no man among us who carries with
him the spirit of the gospel from Monday morning to
Saturday night better than he."

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The year 1827 waa the crowning year of thia long
ministry. Seventy-one persons were received into
the church in tiiat year, as many as had been receiv-
ed in the previous nineteen years. The revival of
that year is remarkable as showing what can be done
by a few earnest laymen when religion is low, and
when the minister ia not the man to be the means of
reviving it. Dr. Homer was growing old ; he waa
absorbed in the study of English versions of the
Bible, and he had not the faculty for conducting a
revival, even if one were in progress. In four years
only four persons had been received into the church
on confession of faith, and one of these was a woman
in the ninety-eighth year of her age. During this
period Hon. William Jackson, a deacon, and a man
ben to be a leader among men, had spoken of the
good state of feeling in the church. Perhaps his
hopeful and enthuniastic spirit made it seem better
than it was. Such a spirit is contasious, and he
found large numbers in the church in full sympathy
with him. " They labored," said he, " and loved to
labor, both men and women, in season, and out of
sea-son, for Christ and the welfare of souls." Speak-
ing of Elijah F. Woodward, Increase S. Davis and
Asa Cook, he said, " We were four brothers indeed !
Together in the Sunday-school, together in the
prayer-meeting, and together in every good work
which our hands and hearts found to do. In these
good works we continued with one heart and with
one soul, until the fall of 1827, when God poured us out
such a blessing that we had hardly room to receive
it, and sure I am that none of us knew what to do
with it, or how to behave under it. It was the hap-
piest year of my life. Notwithstanding I gave my
mind and very much of my time to this work, to an
extent, in fact, which lookers on. Christians even,
would have thought, and probably did pronounce,
ruinous to my business, yet when I came to take an
account of stock the following June, I found that it
had been the most profitable year of my life, that I
had never before laid up more money in one year.
This blessed revival continued with more or less
strength until 1834, when more than two hundred
members had been added to our church. The mem-
bers of the church, young and old, seemed all to love
to pray and to labor, and f >und their chief happiness
in doing their Master's will."

Deacon Jacksou's leadership was felt at every step
of that revival. He said to Dr. Homer, " There is
need of a great deal of work here, and we ought not
to tax you at your time of life ; if you please, I will
call in help from outside." The minister had such
confidence in his deacon, that be allowed him to do
whatever he pleased. Accordinglv, Rev. Jonathan S.
Green came and labored here several months, and
after him, Rev. Isaac R. Barber. Deacon Jackson
went about the parish with them, introducing them
to the families and assis'ing them in conducting
neighborhood meetings. Often he conducted such

meetings himself. Saturday night meetings were held
at his own house. " This carpet will be ruined," said
his wife, " by so many muddy boots." "Nevermind,"
said he, "wait till the roads are dry, and you shall
have the handsomest carpet there is in Boston."
Such was the fervor and intensity of his spirit that
the meetings were full, even if it was known that
he was going to read, as he sometimes did, a printed
sermon. He spent much time in visiting the sick,
and in more specifically spiritual work with individ-
uals. For four or five years this kind of religious
activity went on. Deacon Jackson, Deacon Wood-
ward and others were never weary in well-doing, and
we might almost call the revival of 1827 the deacons'
revival.

Rev. James Bates waa ordained as colleague pastor
with Dr. Homer in November, 1827. He waa a
man whose soul was habitaally penetrated with the
thought of the infinite and amazing interests which
the preaching of the Gospel contemplates. The eter-
nal future of those to whom he ministered was to
depend in great measure upon his fidelity. To be
the means of their salvation was the pission of
his life. Large additions were made to the church
under his ministry. It is true that other agencies
were at work. The revival of 1827 had not spent
itself when he came here. A very successful four
days' meeting was held in 1831, at which Dr.
Lyman Beecher and Dr. B. B. Wisner were among
the preachers, and the period from that time to
1835 was one of those great revival eras in which
the windows of Heaven are open all over the
land to pour down salvation. These considerations,
however, should not detract from the value of the
labors of Mr. Bales, for he was equally successful in
Granby after he had left Newton.

Mr. Bates had for helpers two such deacons aa any
minister might be thankful for — Elijah F. Woodward
and William Jackson. Deacon Woodward came of a
goodly stock. Four generations of his ancestors had
lived and prayed and died in the house in which he was
born. His father and grandfather were deacons. He was
made deacon at the age of twenty-eight, and held the
office as long as he lived. He was twenty-nine years
superintendent of tho Sunday-school. He entered
the choir at the age of eleven, and remained there
forty-eight years, half of which time he was the
leader with voice and viol of thirty or forty singers
and players. He lived two miles from the meeting-
house, and yet no one was more constant or more
punctual than he in attendance upon all the meetings
of the church and of the choir, both in the daytime
and in the evening. Often he took a shovel in his
s'eigh to make a path through snowdrifts. He waa
farmer, teacher, surveyor, town clerk and treasurer,
and yet his duties to the church were never neg-
lected. His horse had heard the Doxology in Old
Hundred sung so many times that he learned to rec-
ognize the singing of it aa the closing exercise of aa

NEWTON.

evening meeting, and when he heard it he backed
out of the shed and wallced up to the chapel door,
where he waited till his master came out. One of Deacon
Woodward's duties as town clerk was to announce in-
tentions of marriage. This he did from his place in
the choir on the Sabbath, just before the benediction-
Few men render the public so much service as he did>
in so quiet and noiseless a way, and with so little
desire to get the glory of it to himself. The appreci-
ation in which he was held was shown by the attend-
ance at his funeral. The meeting-house was full.
People came from every part of the town, and from
surrounding towns, and the procession of those who
walked to bis burial was more than half a mile long.
This was their tribute to the goodness of a man in
whom everybody had confidence.

Deacon Jackson was the champion of every right-
eous and good cause, whether popular or unpopular.
If it was unpopular it had all the more attraction for
him, because it needed him the more. He was the
first mover in the temperance cause in this town, and
delivered the first temperance address. Hia action
upon the subject of license, as selectman of the town,
raised a storm of opposition which caused the subject
of intemperance to be more thoroughly discussed and
better understood than in any other town in the Com-
monwealth. When he began to agitate the question,
he said he knew of but three total abstinence men in
the town — Captain Samuel Hyde, Increase S. Davis
and Seth Davis. This was in 1826, the year that Dr.
Lyman Beecher delivered his famous six lectures on
intemperance. In less than two years from that time
Deacon Jackson was sent to the Legislature as a tem-
perance man. In the Legislature he opened his lips
against Free Masonry and for that was sent to Con-
gress two terms. While in Congress he saw the
usurpations of the slaveholders, and this made him an
anti-slavery man. When the Liberty party was formed
he was its first candidate for Governor. When the
American Missionary Association was formed in
1846 he was its first president, and held the office eight
years. In 1828 he began to advocate the construction
of railroads. For sixteen or eighteen years no
subject engaged so much of his attention or occupied
80 much of his time as this. In 1829 he delivered
lectures and addresses in the principal towns of the
State, and wrote articles for the newspapers of Bos-
ton, Springfield, Xorthampton, Haverhill and Salem.
This was considered by many of his friends to be
evidence of partial derangement In May, 18.31, the
building of the railroad from Boston to Worcester
was commenced, and there is no man to whom the
public is more indebted than to him for the railroad
facilities of the present day.

William Jack.son was a leader among men without
trying to be, and perhaps without knowing that he
was, by the excellence and force of his character, by
his knowledge of men and of atfairs, by hia quickness
and sagacity, by the depth and strength of his con-

victions, by his loyalty to trulh and duty, by hia
capacity for being possessed and controlled by the
conclusions to which his judgment and conscience
conducted him, by the simplicity, earnestness and
public spirit with which he urged his views upon the
attention of others, and by his enthusiastic disregaid
of his own ease and time and money, if public in-
terests might be subserved, and righteousness main-
tained, and the kingdom of heaven brought nearer ;
and when men saw in him these qualities and this de-
votion to the public welfare, they gave him their
confidence, acknowledged his leadership and felt safe
in following him.

The devotion of this remarkable man to public
interests was never allowed to interfere wi'.h his duties
to hia church. He spent a great amount of time and
money in promoting ita welfare. He knew nothing
about the love of money for its own sake, or for
luxury and display. He accumulated that he might
give, and he could not say no to any person or cause
needing aid. He wrote the early history of this
church aa contained in Jackson's " History of New-
ton." Though in early life he was a Uaitarian and an
admirer of Dr. Channing, when he changed his belief
he became one of the stoutest defenders of the
orthodox faith we ever had. He ever maintained the
most cordial social relations with his Uaitarian friends,
and he gave them his hand and his heart as co-
workers with him for temperance and anti-slavery.

The pastoral relation of Mr. Bates and of Dr. Homer
ceased at the same time, in April, 1839.

The seventh pastor of our church was Rev. William
Bushuell, installed in 1842. As a preacher he was
clear, sound, scriptural and instructive. He published
sermons commemorative of Deacons Woodward and
Jackson. His ministry terminated in 1846.

My own ministry began in 1847, and continued
thirty-five years. In 1854 we enlarged the meeting-
house and built a new chapeL In 1869 we again en-
larged both the meeting-house and the chapel, at a cost
of twenty-two thousand dellars. In twenty-six years
our contributions to benevolent objects, including gifts
of individuals and the work of the Ladies' Benevo-
lent Society, amounted to nearly sLxty-three thousand
dollars.

The present pastor, Rev. Theodore J. Holmes, waa
installed in 1883. He has a apecial gift for interesting
children and youth. Their attendance upon the
services of religion has been greatly increased under
hia ministry and additions of young persons to the
church have been numerous.

We have no means of knowing how many persons
were received into our church by ita first four
ministers. It is probable that aeveral hundred names
were lost by the burning of the church records. Dr.
Homer, as sole pastor for forty-five years, received
two hundred and fifty-seven. He and Mr. Bates to-
gether received, in eleven and a half years, one hun-
dred and ninety-four. Mr. Bushnell in his four yean

HISTORY OF MIDDLliSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

received seventeen. In my own ministry five hundred
and thirty-six were received, or two hundred and
fifty-four by profession and two hundred and eighty-
two by letter. Brother Holmes has received in six
years one hundred and fony-one, or sixty-six by pro-
fession and seventy-five by letter.

The men whom this church has sent into the
ministry are Ichabod Wiswail, William Williams,
Thomas Greenwood, John Prentice, Caleb Trowbridge,
Edward Jackson, Joseph Park, Samuel Woodward,
Nathan Ward, Jonas Clark, Ephraim Ward, Calviu
Park, Increase Sumner Davis, James M. Bacon,
Edward P. KiQg>bury, James A. Bates, Gilbert R.
Brackett, Charles A. Kingsbury, Frank D. Sargent,
James A. Towle, Erastus Blakeslee and John Bar-
stow.

An incredible story is told about the strength of
Nathan Ward's voice. He was a disciple of White-
field and was settled in Plymouth, N. H. A family
living more ihan a mile from his meeting-house said
they could remain at home and hear the sermon.
Jonas Clark, of Lexington, illustrates the remark of the
elder President Adams, that "American independence
was mainly due to the clergy." He was ao intimate
friend of Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who
often visited him. Increase Sumner Davis was a man
who could take a walk of twelve or fifteen miles before
breakfast, and call it pleasant exercise. When his
preaching places were distant he went to 'hem on
foot. On one of his walks in Piermont he met a man
who had been drinking, and who came up to him and
challenged him to a trial of strength. Mr. Davis
tried to avoid him, but the man persisted. " Let me
alone," said Mr. Davis, "or you will find that you
have caught a full-gtown man." But the man would
not let him alone, and the result was tbat he was soon
lying on his back in the snow with his head plunged
into a snow-bank, where he was held till he promised
to be peaceable and begged to be released. On
being suffered to get up, he wiped the snow from his
face and muttered : " You are a full-grown man any-
way."

Among the women from this church who have been
wives of ministers was Abigail Williams, ancestor of
President Mark Hopkins, of Hon. Theodore Sedg-
wick, judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts,
and of Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Her first husband
was Bev. John Sergeant, and her second husband
General Joseph Dwight. She was a woman of fine
talents and acquirements, of dignified manners and
of elevated Christian character. While teaching
Indian girls as a missionary, she corresponded ex-
tensively with persons eminent for learning and piety
on both sides of the Atlantic. Miss Eliza Susan
Morton, of New York, who became the wife of Presi-
dent Josiah Quincy, of Harvard College, gives the
following account of her personal appearance:
" When Madame Dwight visited us in 1786 she was
between sixty and seventy years of age, tall, straight.

composed, and rather formal and precise, yet so be-
nevolent and pleasing that everybody loved her. Her
dress was always very handsome, generally dark-
colored silk. She always wore a watch, which in
those days was a distinction. Her head-dress was a
high cap with plaited borders, tied under the cbin.
Everything about her distinguished her as a gentle-
woman, and inspired respect and commanded atten-
tion."

Three mi-ssionaries have lately gone from us —
Harriet N. Childs, to Central Turkey ; Bertha Robert-
son, to Southern Georgia ; and Sarah L. Smith, to
Micronesia.

Several of the ministers of our church have been
nobly connected. Mr. Cotton was great-grandson of
the man for whom Bcston was named. Mr. Hobart
was uncle to Dorothy Hobart, the mother of David
Brainerd, one "of the holiest men that ever lived.
Mr. Eliot's first wife was great-aunt to Mrs. Jonathan
Edwards, and his second wife was an ancestor, by a
second marriage, of Josiah Quincy, president of Har-
vard College. It is enough to say of Mr. Eliot that
he was a son of the apostle Eliot, but his brother
Joseph, of Guilford, had a son Jared, who was a re-
markable man. He was the minister of Killingworth,
Conn., where he never omitted preaching on the
Lord's Day for forty years. He delighted in the
gospel of God's grace to perishing sinners, and yet
i he was a physician, a philosopher, a linguist, a miner-
I alogist, a botanist and a scientific agriculturist. He
I knew so much about diseases and their treatment that
I he was more extensively consulted than any physician
I in New England. Being on the main road from New
York to Boston, he was visited by many gentlemen of
distinction. He was a personal friend and correspond-
ent of Bishop Berkeley. Dr. Franklin always called
upon him when passing through the town. This
man was nephew to Rev. John Eliot, Jr., and he once
preached in this place.

The record of the town of Newton for patriotism in
the French and Indian Wars, and in the War of the
Revolution, is a noble one. The church shares this
honor with the town. The name of Captain Thomas
Prentice was a terror to the hostile Indians. He was
an original member of the church in 1664, and so
were two others, and probably more, who fell in the
Indian Wars. In the army of the Revolution were
four of the deacons of our church — John Woodward,
David Stone, Jonas Stone and Ebenezer Woodward ;
also Col. Joseph Ward, who received the thanks of
Washington for his services. Col. Benjamin Ham-
mond, General William Hull, and that brave and im-
petuous soldier. Col. Michael Jackson, who had with
him in the army five brothers and five sons. Two of
our men were nearly sixty years old when they en-
listed, two were nearly seventy and one was seventy-
three. Fifty-seven names of soldiers of the Revolu-
tion are on our church roll, forty of whom were mem-
bers of the church at the time of the war, and seven-

NEWTON.

teen joined it afterward. More than h.iif the male
member:) of the church performed military duly. Thia
shows how he ivy the draft was that was made upon
the population of the country to fill. the ranks of the
army. The population was small, and every able-
bodied man of suitable age was needed in the struggle
for independence. In the War of the Rebellion the
population was so great that, though the armies were
immense in size, the proportion of eclisted men was
much smaller. Only nine of the members of this
church were in the Union army, and three of these
were not members at the time of the war, but became
such afterward. Their names are Col. I. F. Kings-
bury, Sergeant-Major Charles Wa.'d, Captain George
F. Brackett, Major Ambrose Bancroft, Roger S.
Kingsbury, Edward A. Elli:', John E. Towie, Cap-
tain Joseph E. Cousens and William H. Daly.

Edward P. Kingsbury enlisted and went into camp,
but was compelled by ill health to return home.

William H. Ward, brother of Charles, might prop-
erly be counted among the soldiers from this church,
for here was the home of his boyhood, and this was
the church he first joined.

In July, 1862, Charles Ward, who was almost
ready to enter college, having the ministry in view,
said to his friends : " I believe it is my duty to en-
list.'' They said to him: "If you enliit for three
years you will never come back." His only reply
was : " I do not expect to come back." On the
evening of his enlistment he said : •' We hear the
call of our country summoning us to her defense in
the hour of peril. Is there a life too precious to be
sacrificed in such a cause? I do not feel that mine
is. I rejoice that I am permitted to go and fight in
her defense. I have come here to enroll my name as
a soldier of my country, and I hope I am ready to die
for her if need be." For a time he was detailed as
clerk at division headquarters, but as soon as the call
to arms was heard he dropped his pen for his place
in the rank?, saying, " I cannot sit here writing when
my company are going into battle." This was the
battle of Chancellorsville, in which he fought bravely
with his comrades.

His moral and religious character nobly stood the
test of army life. He was as little affected by its de-
moralizing influences as the three Hebrews were by
the fury of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, when they
came forth from it without the smell of fire upon
them. The whiskey that was furnished to the sol-
diers he would neither drink nor commute for other
rations. He regularly took it and poured it on the
ground. His religious influence was felt in the sol-
diers' prayer-meetings, and in his habitual use of his
Bible. !

His calm and unwavering courage in battle, or in
prospect of a battle, was a tonic to the whole regiment.
Every man in it knew that he had given his life to
the cause of his country, and that he stood ready to
complete the sacrifice whenever his duty as a soldier

[ required it. At Gettysburg, on the very crest of the
wave of that gigantic war, he laid down his life. In a
charge across an open field under a deadly fire, a
bullet pierced his lungs and he fell. He lived several
days after this and was left in a barn with other
wounded soldiers. One of them said, " I am sorry I
ever enlisted.'' Charles overhearing him, said, '' I
do not feel so ; I am glad I came; this is just what I
expected." He sent loving messages home to his
friends, and said to them, " Death has no fears for
me ; my hope is still firm in Jesus."

Such was the death in his twenty-second year of a
Christian soldier, a young man who gave his life first
to God and then to his country. An oflicer of his
regiment said of him, "A pattern of goodness and
7»orth, he became endeared to all, so refined and cul-
tivated even amidst the rough usages of camp life, a
necessity to the regiment." Fitly the Army Post of
this city bears the name of Charles Ward.

Our church has supplied for the service of the
country in wars early and late, seventy men, and it
is believed that in the French and Indian Wars there
were soldiers whose names have been lost.

Twenty two ministers have gone out from us,
seventeen ministers' wives, and one young woman
unmarried, as a missionary. Twenty-five descend-
ants of these ministers and ministers' wives have
been ministers, and twenty-one ministers' wives. No
doubt the number is greater than this, but these have
been counted. Two of the ministers stayed forty
years each in one place, one forty-six years, one forty-
seven, two fifty, one fifty-three, one fifty-five, and
the husband of one of the wives sixty years. We
have then a total of eighty-six persons who have
been engaged in ministerial or missionary service, —
namely, forty-seven ministers, of whom five were
missionaries, thirty-eight wives of ministers, of whom
three ware missionaries, and one missionary unmarried.

A large number of eminent men have either been
members of this church or. descendants of members.
First of all should be mentioned our own deacon,
Isaac William;', ancestor of a long line of distinguish-
ed men. His son William, of Hatfield ; his grandsons,
Solomon, of Lebanon, Conn., Elisha, President of Yale
College, Colonel Ephraim, founder of iWilliams Col-
lege; andhisgreat-grandsons,Eliphalet, of East Hart-
ford, Conn., and William, of Lebanon, Conn., a
member of Congress and a signer of the Declaration
of Independence, are conspicuous representatives of
this notable family. Rev. Dr. Joseph Buckminster ;
his son. Rev. Joseph Stephens Buckminster ; Judge
Theodore Sedgwick ; his daughter, Catharine Maria
Sedgwick ; President Mark Hopkins, Professor Al-
bert Hopkins, and Mrs. E. S. Mead, president of
Mount Holycke Seminary and College, are descend-
ants still further down the line.

Jonas Clark, of Lexington, minister, patriot, states-
man, and his grandson, Henry Ware, Jr., professor
in Harvard Divinity School, were eminent men.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Joseph Park, of Westerly, R. I., had a Sunday-
school in his church thirty years before the time of
Robert Raikes. Thomas Park, LL.D., was professor
in Columbia College, South Carolina. Rev. Calvin
Park, D.D., waa professor in Brown University. His
son, Edwardi A. Park, D.D., LL.D., has been editor
of the Bibliotheca Sacra forty years, professor in
Andover Theological Seminary forty- five years, a
preacher and author sixty years, and la still preparing
works for the press.

From John Eliot, Jr., the first minister of our church,
descended his son, Judge John Eliot, and from him
Henry C. Bowen, Esq. From his widow by a second
marriage was descended Josiah Quincy, LL.D.,
President of Harvard College.

From Mr. Hobart, the second minister of our
church, have descended Rev. Dr. R.S. Storrti, of Brain-
tree ; hia son. Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D., LL.D., of Brook-
lyn, N. Y. ; Dr. Joseph Torrey, president of the Uni-
versity of Vermont, and Judge Robert R. Bishop, of
this place.

From Mr. Cotton, our third minister, were de-
scended Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Thayer and his son by
the same name, patron of Harvard College.

Other descendants of members of this church are
Rev. Dr. James Freeman Clarke, Rev. Dr. William
Hayes Ward and Professor William G. T. Shedd,
D.D., LL.D., of New York, a prolific author and the
greatest master of the Augustiniaif theology in our
land.

William Jackson, pioneer in temperance and anti-
slavery, father of railroads, member of Congress as an
anti-Mason, a pillar in the church, zealous in all good
works, waa a member of this church from 1814 to 1845.

Included in this enumeration are three judges, two
members of Congress, several authors, three college
professors, three professors ia theological seminaries
and five college presidents. What opportunities
for usefulness do such positions as these afford, and
what sense of security we have when the right
men fill them ! Those who are called to instruct
and guide the young in the forming period of iheir
lives are sitting at the very fountains of influence.
They direct the thinking of the time, for they teach
those who are to be the thinkers. If all our colleges
and schools were provided with anch teachers as those
whose names have just been mentioned, we might
almost say that society would be safe in their bands.
John Wesley, when a young man, declined a curacy
that, he might spend ten years at Oxford. If he had
taken a pulpit, he felt that he should purify only one
particular stream : therefore he went to the Uni-
versity, that he might " sweeten the fountain."

It is exceedingly gratifying to us to find in how
many ways the church that we love has been of ser-
vice to the interests of mankind, through ministers
and missionaries and teachers, and gifts of money;
through the lives of men and women who, like Moses
on the mount, had power with God in prayer, and

through the lives of men who, like Joshua, when the
life of the nation was threatened, could go out and
fight against her enemies. It is simply amazing to
see in how many directions the influence of a single
local church may go out, and how its agencies for do-
ing good may extend and multiply in successive gen-
erations, when the children of ministers, their grand-
children, and great-grandchildren, and descendants
still more remote, are found perpetuating the work of
their ancestors and keeping alive the fragrance of
their name. This is a kind of- fruit which it is the
peculiar privilege of an ancient church like ours to
gather up. Is it not also the privilege of a country
church in distinction from a city church? Churches
which are remote from the excitements, the diver-
sions and the frivolities which are incident to city
life furnish by far the larger proportion of the men
who stand in the pulpits of the land, and exert a con-
lolling influence upon society, as well as of those
who carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. Es-
tablish a local church where one is needed, either in
country or city, and you open a fountain of living
waters which may flow on to the end of time. Its
worii goes on quietly, but constantly, like the flowing
of a gentle river, in sermons, and prayer-meetings,
and Sunday-Schools, in pastoral visitation, and in
benevolent contributions, and sometimes we are cast
down in spirit because there are no more visible
results. But God has said, " My word shall not re-
turn to me void; it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it." This is always true, and when we
look through long periods of time we see it. " Every-
thing lives whithersoever the river cometh."

An ancient church is often a mother of churches.
As the banyan tree in the East sends down shoots
from its branches to take root in the earth and be-
come the stems and trunks of new trees, so this church
sent down a shoot into the soil of the West Parish in
1781, and a new tree sprang up there. In 1845 it
sent one down on the spot where E'.iot Church now
stands, and what a banyan tree is there ! Another
was dropped at Newtonville in 1858, and another at
Newton Highlands in 1872, and the trees all flourish,
and their prosperity is our joy. The work of the
scores of ministers who have gone out into the world,
tracing their roots back to this hallowed spot, sends
back its benediction upon us and fills us with thanks-
giving. For "so is the kingdom of God as if a man
should cast seed upon the earth and should sleep and
rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and
grow he knoweth not houo. The earth beareth fruit
of herself" under the smile of God, and so does a lo-
cal church. It is an institution filled with unspeak-
able blessing to all within its reach. Continually, in
one way and another, often in ways that we do not
observe, and in ways that we never shall know in this
world, it is bringing forth fruit unto God.

If this church through its long history has been a
blessing to others, it has been a blessing to this partic-

NEWTON.

ular locality. Sound Joctriae and true religion bring
with them everything that is desirable in human
society. We love the city where we dwell, we enjoy its
good name and its fair fame among the cities and
towns of our Commonwealth. If society among us
is established upon right principles, and if the char-
acter and conduct of the people are such as to adorn
those principles ; if all this is true iu an eminent de-
gree, as we think it is, we are largely indebted for it
to those who have gone before us, and especially to
the early ministers. Their faithful preaching and
godly living were the foundation on which society
was built. They formed the channel which shaped
the direction of the stream that has been flowing ever
since. Their spirit is in the air, and it has been
breathed by every successive generation, and it is in
great measure because of this that the lines have
fallen to us in such pleasant places and that we have
so goodly a heritage.

CHAPTER III.
J\rE WTON-{ Continued).

EDUC.VTIOyAL.
BY MRS. liLECTA N. L. W.VLTON'.

Before Newtox became a. Towxsiiip. — Pre-
vious to the separation of Cambridge Village (New-
ton) from Cambridge her school interests were identi-
cal with those of Cambridge, in which place there
was established, in 103(), "A public school, or col-
ledge," and soon after, by the side of the college, "A
faire Grammar .■^choole for the training up of young
schollars, and fitting them for Academicall learning,
that still as they were judged ripe, they might be re-
ceived into the coUedge." It is not definitely known
when this grammar school was established, but it
must have been previous to 10-13, as the record quoted
above was published in that year.

The inhabitants of both Cambridge and Cambridge
Village were taxed for this school, and Cambridge
Village had an equal right to its advantages, though
how far the people availed themselves of the right ;s
not known. Its distance was certainly too great for
general daily attendance. It was a good school, for
the record further states: "Of this schoole Jlaster
Corlet is the Mr., who has very well approved hira-
selfe for his abilities, dexterity an painfulnesse in
teaching and education of the youth under him."
But the school was poorly attended. As late as 1G80
a report sent to the County Court states of Mr. Corlet,
" his scholars are in number, nine, at present." For
the encouragement of 3Ir. Corlet to continue teach-
ing, various sums were voted by the town from time
to time to be added to the fees received from his
patrons. The following action is of interest to New-
4-iu

ton : In 1648 it was voted to sell land off the Com-
mon to raise ten pounds for Mr. Corlet, "provided it
should not prejudice the Cow-common." For this
purpose, forty acres " on the south side," in or near
what is now Newtonville, were sold to Mr. Edward
Jackson.

Master Corlet taught nearly half a century, till hia
death, Feb. 25, 1687, aged seventy-eight years.

There is no record of any public or private school
for elementary instruction available to the village
before 1698, if we except those named in a report
sent from Cambridge to the County Court in 1680,
which states that " For English, our school dame is
Goodwife Healy, at present but nine scholars," and
" Edward Hail, English Schoolmaster, at present but
three scholars," which schools Cambridge Village
children could hardly have attended. But that an
attempt was made to see that all the children were
instructed in some way is shown by the following ex-
tract taken from the Cambridge records of 1642 :

"According to an order of the last General Court it is ordered that tbe
towDsmeo see to the educating of children, and that the town \m di-
vided into six parts and a person appointed for each division to taka
care of all families it contains."

The order of the General Court referred to, re-
quired of the selectmen of every town to " have a
vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors, to see
first that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism
in any of their families as not to endeavor to teach,
by themselves or others, their children and appren-
tices so much learning as may enable them perfectly
to read the English tongue and [obtain a] knowledge
of the capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings
for each neglect therein." Again, in 1647, a law was
passed requiring every town containing fifty house-
holders to appoint a teacher "to teach all such chil-
dren as shall resort to him to write and read ; " and
every town containing one hundred families or house-
holders was required " to set up a grammar school,
whose master should be able to instruct youth so far
as they may be fitted for the University." The pen-
alty for non-compliance was five pounds per annum.
With such a law and such a penalty there can scarce
be a doubt that some provision was directly made for
the elementary education of the youth of the entire
township of Cambridge, including Newton, even if
no records of the same have been preserved. How
far the early settlers availed themselves of the oppor-
tunities given can never be known ; it would not be
strange if, in their struggles for existence, many set-
tlers should have neglected them altogether.

After the Separation of Newton from Cam-
bridge. — For some years after the separation of New-
i tou from Cambridge no school building was provided,
I but the children, if taught collectively, were accom-
modated in some room furnished by a citizen. The
first movement towards building a school-honae, of
which we have any record, was made in 1696. Kev.
Jonathan Homer, in his historical sketch of Newton
written in 1798, says :

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

" In this year (169r.) the town nprefd fo build a school-boxiEe (since
mulliplied to six) and clioose a ctmniittee to treat with aod persuade
JoljD Staples (afternards a wortliy dearoD of the cliurrb) lo keep the
school To him they gave, agreeably to Iheir day uf sluall things, one
shilling and sixpence per day." '

But it feema that the school-house was not then I
built; indeed, the people had much trouble about its i
erection, and that they were not able to overcome all
the obstacles to their enterprise is shown by the fol-
lowing curious extracts from their town records:

3Iayl,ViaS. — "Then voted that the town shall build a school-house
as soon as they can."

March 6, 1699. — "Voted that the town will build a school-honse the
dimensions sixteen-foot long aud fourteen foot wide, and tbut it shall be
finished by the last of November, 1(199."

Jan. 1, 1700. — ".\t a town-meeting upon dne warning given January
ye 1. 170(1, the seleclnien and Inhabilaols did hiere and agree with John
Staples to continue the keeping uf the eclioul four days iu a week until
^arcb. and to have two shillings per day."

March 4, 1700. — " Voted that the school-house be set in the highway,
neer to Joseph Bartlet's, and that it be finished by the 1 of October,
1700."

[XoTE. — Joseph Bartlet's house was just north of Institution Hill, in
Kewton Centre.]

At a town-meeting November 25, 1700, "the Select-
men and Inhabitants did agree with John Staples to
keep school one month 4 days in a week for one pound
fore shillings, and allso voted that the Selectmen
shall hire a roome or place to keep school in, and
shall agree with John Staples or some other to keep
and continue the school till the town-meeting of
election in March.''

" March 10, 1701, voted that those that send schollers to shool shall
pay 3 pence per week for Ibuse that lern (o read, ;ind 4 pence per week
for those that lern to Sypher and write, and Ihut they maysend scholers
to either school."

" YoUd^ at the same time that Capt. Prentice, Lieut. Spring and John
Hyde be Joined with Ibo selectmen for a committee to build said school-
houses."

There is no record of that date or of any earlier
date concerning "said scbool-huuses," but reference
is probably made to plans given in the following entrv,
dated a month later, the discrepancy in dates being
accounted for on the supposition (borne out by the
appearance of the records) that the town clerk made
his entries some time after the town-meetings occurred,
and in almost any convenient and vacant space in his
book :

"At a town-meeting upon warning given .\pril \^, 1701, the inhabit-
ants generally assenilded, and upon lualuro consideration had, did iinani-
niouely agree to build two school-houses — one to be set at the meeting-
house and the dimensions 17 foot fquare besides chimney roome and the

' It is gratifying to find that the differences concern-
ing sites for the school-houses were thus happily set-
tled. The first "ccntrybution," as recorded for the
purpose, was a gift by Abraham Jackson of one acre
of land adjoining an acre previou^ly given to the town
by bio father. The record under date of May 14,
1701, states that

" .\brabam Jackson added and gave for the eelting of the srhool-liooFe
upon and enlarging of the buo'ing-place and the convenience of the
training place, one acre more, which said two acres of land was then laid
out and bounded."

The town immediately commenced to build at least
one of the school-houses, for we find the following in
the town treasurer's account:

"Pelivered to .Vbraliaui Jackson, .Alay 2S. 1701, ye sum of one pound
thirteen shillings to by bords and nailes for ye scbool-liuuse. "

The gift of Abraham Jackson's was followed the
next February by a similar gift by Jonathan Hyde of
"a half-acre near Oak Hill, for the use and benefit of
the school at the south part of the town." Gilts of
money are also recorded .ts received and various sums
as paid out for the buildings:

" P.iid .lohn Hide, one of the commity for the school-house. September
yc 'i'^, 1702, two pounds, three shillings and fete pence ; "' alsn

*• Paid to .\linih"iu [.lack^oiij. one of the Colnmity fur the ^rlioi'I-liouse,
Scptenjber yo 'Jt^. ITiiJ. unc pouml, >ixteen sliilliugs and eleviMi pence,
being in full of the tweniy-fi\e pounds alowed by the town to ye Ijiiiid-
iiig both scbool-lioii.-es."

[XoTE. — Tbo " meeliug-house '' stood In what is now old cemetery on
Centre Street.]

It is hoped that the site of the Oak Hill school-
house was more happily chosen than the .site giv?n
by Mr. Jackson, at which latter location the child
must haie imbibed very conflicting impressions from
bis daily surroundings reminded on the one hand, by
his vicinity to the raeeling-hoiise, of his obligations
to the Prince of Peace, and taught by the nes.r train-
ing-place, with all the attractions of music and ginger-
bread, the enforcement of that semi-barbarous law,
"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,'' while the
exhilaration of "tag" and "I spy" must have been too
often hindered by the funeral train by dav or tem-
pered by fears of possible hobgoblins at nigbt.

A Change in Schoolmasters. — It is possible
that about this time John Staples began to tire of
school-keeping, for we read, " Voted, allso, Novem-
ber 21. 1701, that Ephraim Wheeler, John Hide, Na-
thaniel Healy, Edward Jacksou be joined with the
other in the southerly part of the town neer Oke Hill, 10 foot B.)uare ^ selectmen to treat with and per.suade Jolin Staples to

keep the school, and if they cannot, to use their best
discretion to agree with and bier some other person."
This committee probably procured the services of
Mr. Edward Godard, foi»a record of the treasurer, un-
der date of March 31, 1702, reads, " Paid to Mr. Ed-
ward Godard, schoolmaster, fourteen shillings." and
there is no record of any money paid later to Mr.

besides chimney roome ; and farther, there shall be one schoolmaster wlioe
shall teach two-thirds of the time at the school ut the Meeting-House,
and one-third of the lime at the school at Oko Hill ; and farther, the
town granted twenty five pounds towards the building of said school-
houses, to be equally divided between both houses, and what is wanting
to be made up by those who will freely conlrybute towards the building
of the same."

This arrangement was carried out and the two
Echool-houses were built; the school-house "at the i Staples for teaching,
meeting-house" being north of Joseph Bartlet's, and j It further appears, by the treasurer's account, that
that "at Oke Hill" being south, thus accommodating j Mr. Godard taught till November, 1705, when he was
the scattered settlers better than before. | succeeded by John 'Wilson, Daniel Baker, Caleb Trow-

NEWTON.

bridge and Mr. Webb, theu by Caleb Trowbridge :t
secoad time, who taught till 1714, after which Joha
Brown became knight of the ferule. The names of
nine other miaters occur up to 1739, making, in
twenty-seven years, fifteen different teachers, enough,
with no regular 'vstera, ta ensure but little progress.

al90 to hear the prnpesiaioD of suadrey persoug, yt if ye gramar schoole
be kept ID but one place, yt tliere should be a consideration granted to
ye remoat parts of ye tou-ne for ?choolio5 anions tbemsetveB. Thu io-
babitaac, being lawfully warned by Mr. Epbiuini WiUiama, constabil, to
meet att ye meeting bouse on said eleventh day of 3Iay, and being a»-
aembled on said day, did first trye a voat for three schoole housies and
was negatived.

2. Did trye a voate for to have ye gramar schoole to be kept but in

Of all these schoolmasters John Staples appears to j one place, and it waa voated to have but one achoole-house to keep

taught the gramar schoole in for the towne.

'^ "a. Voated to grant the reraoat parts of yeTo^vnea consideration for

schooling among themselves.

"4. Voated to choose a Commity to consider whear said one schoole-
house should be erected for to keep the gramer schoole in ; as also to con-
sider who ye remoat parts of ye towne are yt cannot have ye benefit of
but one schoole, and what alowanc they shall have for schooling among
themselves ; and to make theire repoart of what they do agree upon at
ye next publick town raeetiug for confirmation or non-conftrmation.
-\nd then did choose Lieut. Jeremiah Fuller, Mr. Joseph Ward, 3Ir.

have been most acceptable, and to have
greatest length of time. He was a person of note in
the town, of which he was an inhabitant from 1688
till the time of his death, November 4, 1740, at the
age of eighty-two. Besides being a schoolmaster for
some years, he held the office of deacon of the church,
waa selectman from 1701 to 1709 and town clerk from

l/l-ttO i/o4. I yathaniel Langley, Mr. Richard Ward and Insiue Samuel Hide to be

CONDITIOy OF THE SCHOOLS. — Up lo this time and \ ,[,j ,^^^^ commuey,

for years after, the schools were not free in the sense
in which our present schools are free. They were
open to all children, but those who attended paid

tuition, the amount being generally decided upon
by the town, and any deficiency in the master's pay
being made up by drafts upon the treasurer. There
was little system in the management of the schools,
the people from year to year voting in town-meeting
how and where the schools should be taught. The

"Recrded per me, John Staples, ToumClerk."

Then follows a remonstrance of the same date,
signed by twenty-five citizens :

" WHie, whose names are underwritten, do enter our decenta agiost
tbisvoate of having but one schoole-bouse in this towne."

I On December 7, 1720, the " Commity " chosen re-
ported a site for the school-house ; also recommenda-
tion to allow twelve pounds a year to the remote

- o , , ^ ..^ 1 f J . fl,.,, ' parts of the town for schooling, and thirdly, did

duties of School Committees were limited at nrst i ' • l . . r i ,. •.

suppose vt there is about sixty fammilyes yt are two

simply to hiring a schoolmaster, and at times they
shared even that duty with the selectmen. They
were chosen for but one year at a time, and the board
was often entirely changed. But the aim of the peo-
ple was always to secure greater faciliaes for better
teaching; and from these small beginnings, as experi-
ence dictated, has steadily grown a common-school
system of which we are justly proud.

The following record is one of the earliest pre-
served which shows any additional power delegated
to the School Committee :

" ^lay 0, ITl-J, at a public town-meeting, the inhabit.ints of this town
did p:i»s a Vote that the cominilty cho^en at the last town-uleetin;; to
take care of the school, shall agree with a tchoulraaster as to his sallery
fer the present year."

Further School Privileges Demanded. — It
was not long before the school at the north, " by the ' thing for the use of it,—
meeting-house" and that at the south, "near Oke
Hill," proved insufficient for the needs of the people
al the west, who petitioned for further school privi-
leges, and on March 10, 1718, the citizens voted ten
pounds to the northwesterly, west and southwesterly
inhabitants for the promoting of " Larning" among
them " in such plaices as a committy hereafter chosen

miles and a halfe from ye meeting-house, and about
forty fammilyes yt are about three miles from ye
meeting-house," which reports were accepted, and
votes were passed in accordance with the report. But
in three months a different counsel prevailed, and the
inhabitants on March 13, 1721^ —

" ". Did try a voat for ye granting ye remoat parts of ye towne twelve
pounds annualy for schooling among themselves. So longaa ye schools
should be kept in one place, and it was negatived.

" 4. Dill trye a voat y t ye gramer school should be keept att ye school-
house by the meeting-house for ye present year. Negatived.

"j Did try to have it kept at ye school-house at ye south part of y©
town, and it was negatived."

Mr. Samuel Miller, promising before the town in
said meeting, that he would find a room in his own
house to keep school in, and not charge the town any-

"7. The inhabitants did voat yt the school should he kept att ye
house of said Mr. SamL Miller for the present or ensuing year."

ilr. 'Miller lived in the W«st Parish. This arrange-
ment of having but one school — and that at the west
— waa unsatisfactory, and at the next March meeting
they voted that the school should be kept two-thirda
of the time at the meeting-house, and oce-third of

shall appoint ; and to be paid to [such] schoolmaster I i\^q time at the south end of the town.

or schoolmasters as shall teach." About the year j gut apparently the stormiest sessions were in 1723.

1720 there seems to have been some disagreement in ' ^t the March meeting the inhabitants provided for

regard to the location of schools and many exciting j ^ school one-half of the year at the west, and at the

north and south parts one-quarter each; in October
they changed their plan, and changed again in De-
cember, at which lime they voted twelve pounds ten
shillings toward the buildingof a school-house within
fortv rods of the house of Samuel Miller, also that the

sessions were held, —

" May 11, 1720. Xt a towne meeting, appointed by ye selectmen, for
to bear the peiitiou of sundry of ye inhabilanc on the westerly side of yo
towne for to have three schoole-housics iu ye towne, and to have theire
proportion of scooling, as also to hear ye request of sundrey of ye inhab-
itanc to have but one school-bouse to keep ye grauiar schoole in ; as

HISTORY OF iMIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

inhabitants of the town should have the privilege of
sending to either school they chose, or to all three.
This apparently settled the difBculty. In 172(> Mr.
Miller gave four rods of land for the school-house.

Several Masters Hired, And School Taught
Only in the Winter Months. — The next change
in the management of the schools worthy of note
occurred in December, 1751, when winter schools were
provided for all the districts, to be kept at the same
time, thus requiring two more school-masters. This
proved satisfactory, and three winter schools after
this were taught from year to year, continuing till
March.

The Character of the " Grammar School." —
It is difficult, if not impossible, at this late day, to
ascertain if the expression "Grammar School," a.^
used in the records, meant a school in which Latin
and Greek were taught, and students fitted for the
university, or simply a school for English studies. A
record of 1751 stands :

" Dec. 4, 1751. — The <iueHtioi) was put « honther their phonid be two
more scbuul-niabters provided to keep English schools id town, that tliere
may be u stiioul kept at each school House iiutiU the auiversar)' iu
March next, aud it passed iu the attirmative."

A record of 1754 stands:

**rofed, that the committee that w.-is chosen in March last to provide
a GruDimnr School 31aater, should be the coniniittce to provide two mas-
ters more."

If we look back in the records of 1731, we shall
find that a committee was appointed to petition the
General Court for a grant of land to enable the town
to support a grammar school. As common Euglish
schools had been supported by the town ever since
its organization, the inference certainly mu.'-t be that
the people in 17.31 were looking towards the estab-
lishment of a grammar school a.s defined by the
General Ct urt. The record quoted above, as well ;is
the following record, dated March, 1761, certainly
seems to imply the e-xistence of such a school, or an
attempt to make what schools they had answer the
requirements of the law :

" Votett, that fifty pounds of the Town rate shall and hereby ia ap-
propriateil for the (jrummar-acbool.

'* loted, that if the said Fifty pounds shall not be expended for the
support of the Grammar School, the reniuiuder sliall be laid out in other
schooling at the discretion of the Committee that ia to provide the
Grummar School Maater.**

Probably some subterfuge was here used, and but
little of this was expended for the said "Grammar
School," for the next year the town was presented
for not setting up a grammar school, as the laws of
Massachusetts required, and the selectmen were in-
structed to endeavor to defend the town before the
next Court of General Sessions to be held in Cam-
bridge. The selectmen would hardly have attempted
to defend the town if they had not some defense to
Ttiake. After this for some years it was voted to keep
the grammar school at the house of Edward Durant,
and then, in 17C7, "at such school-house as the com-
mittee shall think proper."

Increased Interest in the Schools. — The year

1703 seems to have been a year of increased interest

in school afl^airs, and several changes were made in

the schools and in their administration. First, the

people voted for four schools to be opened at the four

I school-houses " beside the grammar school ;" also

voted that the selectmen should apportion the school

: money and school time according lo the list of polls

. and valuation of estates the preceding year, " except-

; ing this allowance, viz. : that those persons who are

unable to pay their pollx, as large a share as if tliey

I had been able and did pay for the same.'' Under this

j direction the following apportionment of school

I money was made. For the school near the meeling-

I house, £19 9s. ; Northwest, £13 lis.; Oak Hill, £10

10s. ; Southwest, £G 10s. total, £50.
! The apportionment of school time was ; — At the
. Centre, 20 weeks, 2 days ; Northwest, 14 weeks, days ;
I Oak Hill, 10 weeks, 6 days ; Southwest weeks, 5
days — total, •j2 weeks, 1 day.

There had been some trouble in regard to the fur-
nishing of wood tor ihe schools, and after some
debate concerning the method of providing it, it was
i voted that it should be paid for from the town treas-
ury ; at the same time the people showed their thrift
by choosing one person tor each of the five schools to
purchase wood " at as low a rate as they can.'

This year the School Committee was increased from
three to five.

School-houses. — As a sample of the school-houses
of the time, that located in the Southwest District,
near the spot where the railroad station in Newton
Highlands now stands (1^90), is thus described in
Smith's " History of Newton :'"' The building was
brick, 14 by 10 I'eet square, and chimney room.
It was covered with a hip roof coming together at a
point in the centre. A fireplace about six feet wide
and four feet deep, with a large chimney, in which
they burned wood four feet long, occupied one side of
the room. This house became very much dilapidat-
ed, and the roof so leaky in its later years, that it
was not uncommon for the teacher to huddle the
scholars together under an umbrella or two to prevent
their getting wet during the summer showers." The
house was rebuilt in 1811.

An amusing incident may be recorded here to illus-
trate the capacity of chimneys in those days. It is
related of a Master Hovey, who taught in one of the
school-houses last used in 1809, corner of Ward
Street and Waverly Avenue, that a roguish boy once
let down a fish-line and hook from the chimney-top,
which hook an equally roguish boy in the room
fastened to the wig of the venerable master, when,
presto ! the w;g suddenly disappeared up the chimney.
Women E.mployed as Teachers. — At the May
town-meeting in 1766 the people took a new depart-
ure, and, " after some debate, voted: — that sixteen
pounds be assessed in the polls and estates in Newton,
by an addition of said sum to the town rate, and to be

NEWTON.

laid out in paying school mistresses for the instruction
of chiklrea this present year at the discretion of ihe
committee chosen in March last to provide a gram-
mar school-master."

Like appropriations of sixteen pounds a year were
made, and school-mistresses employed " for the in-
struction of young children " till 1774, after which,
till 1S03, only masters were employed. These " wo-
men's schools '' were summer schools, while the mas-
ters' schools, with the exception of the gra.iimar
school, were taught in the winter. In 1773 and for |
Several subsequent years the town voted '' that the \
grammar school be taught in the summer."

Inspection axd Sipekvisiox of Schools. — It '
does not appear that there was much supervision of '■
the schools in those early days, by any one. In the !
year 1761 and after, the committee who provided the |
school-masters were empowered to expend the school '
money at their discretion ; the selectmen were often
employed to perforin other duties which now pertain i
to the office of School Committee, while special com- !
inittees were appointed for many specific purposes —
to locate school buildings, to make repairs, to appor- ]
tion school money and school time, to district the
town, to provide wood, etc., etc.

In the record of December 22, 1772, is found the
first item that looks towards much supervision of any
kind, as follows :

" The 'juestion was put whether the svlocctmen :*hoiiM he eiiji'iiieii to
itl^pert tile several ttcilwold ill the tort'ii uutl. see thill the leveral >ehoi)l-
niiibteis iiQii iiiUti'efified <lu their re?[ifctive iliitie? in keeping mid sebuols,
ui.-l white i>ruliciel)t.-y the schulur^ liialie in tlieir leurilttr^, iiiiU the vote j
puesetl ill tlie U(-.;ittive."

Then

•' Voted th.lt the Pciiool ciiinniittoe. ^o Ciilleil, be onjuiiieil to vi..it the
aevenil tchuols iilnl see thiit tlie sevenil 'cliool-ltuistern iiml scliuol iiiis-
tre-ses ilo flieir l-e^[»ective iiiitiea uliil see what prolieieuey the schular*i
iiiiiUe iu tlieir leurniuir.'

In 1790, also in 1791, in the vote that the School
t'oinmittee should locate the .-chools, etc., it was added
" t/(i; -laid ciuiimiltei: to iuapert /he .-iecerid si-hooU and -tee
l/i xl thfi/ are keyt «•« the law dirat",'' and at a later
meeting the .same year, after voting that the East
School Society might lay out their money as they
thought proper, they added to their vote: j

" Xotwith-itandiui/, the school coiiiini/f-ic to exercise
the S'tme autkoritij as they were directed to when chosen
la March last.''

This year the Lower Falls District wiis set off, and
the money apportioned accordingly.

Ownership of School Buildings.— In the year
1793 measures were taken for the purchase of the sev-
eral school-houses, which were hitherto owned by the
several school districts, and a committee of eleven
was chosen to draw up a plan respecting the school-
houses and schooling and to report al the next meet-
ing. The next year the town voted to reconsider all
former votes respecting school-houses and schooling
and chose a committee of live to draw up a plan,

Colonel Benjamin Hammond being the only person
on this committee that was on the committee of
eleven. The report of this committee seemed to sat-
isfy, and the same committee were directed to pur-
chase, as soon as convenient, as many of the fchool
buildings, with the land, as could be obtained on rea-
sonable terms. The price paid varied from £40 to £100.

Regulation and Government of the Schools.
— Ill the year 1795 the town voted to choose a commit-
tee of six persons to prepare rules and regulations to
be observed by the several schools within the town,
and made choice of Colonel Joaiah Fuller, Major
Timothy Jackson, Captain William Hammond, Lieu-
tenant Caleb Kendrick, Dr. John King and Dr. Eb-
enezer Starr. This committee was directed to give
the several ministers of the Gospel within the town
an invitation to assist them, and to report at the next
May meeting. With a committee thus made up of
men devoted either to the spiritual, physical or bellig-
erent interests of the community, it might be sup-
posed that a fine set of rules would be presented and
adopted. But, alas ! no report appeared ; at least, none
is recorded.

In 1S02 another committee was chosen to join with
the ministers for the same purpose, and the next year
a third committee, but no report was forthcoming.

Yearly Appropriation for Schools to 1800.
— The yearly grant for schooling from the town treas-
ury was, from 17Gl-t)5, £50 ; 17titj-73, £66; 1774. £60;
1775-76, £50; 1777. £40; 177S, £80; 1782-85, £60 ;
1786-89, £80; 1790, £90; 1791-94, £100; 1795, £130 ;
1796-99, SSdO.

The school appropriations of 1778-81 are given in
depreciated currency; thus, 1779, £200; 1780, £2000;
1781, £2000. The other appropriations are in silver
coin.

The Schools from 1800 to 1817.— From 1800
to 1817 little can be gleaned coaceraiug the public
schools of Newton which is of interest to the general
reader. The town owned its several school-houses,
and in 1808 it was divided into seven school wards —
the West, the North, the East, the South, the South-
west, the Lower Falls and the Centre.

From the winter of 1809-10 to that of 1812-13, and
again from 1814-17 Mr. Seth Davis, a well-known
centenarian of Newton, taught in the public schools
in the West and North Wards. It is related of him
that, in 1810, he introduced into his school decla-
mation and geography, with map-drawing. This
created a great sensation, and a special town-meet-
ing was called to consider whether such a dangerous
innovation should be tolerated. After loDg discus-
sion on the demoralizing tendencies of the times, it
was decided by a large majority that map-drawing
might be continued, but declamation must not be
allowed. Mr. Davis' determined will undoubtedly
chafed under such limitations, and in 1817 he estab-
lished a private school, a notice of which school will
be found later in this article.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

From 1817 to 1827— At the March meeting of
1817 anolher attempt was made to secure some plan
for the better rfgulation and government of the
schools, and a committee of the three ministers, with
one person from each school district, Eev. William
Greenougb, chairman, was requtsted to draw up a
plan and report, On the 12th of May following the
report was presented, and, with the exception of the ,
eighth clause, was adopted. The report is given en- ■
tire as an exponent of the prevailing opinions of the j
times : i

"Tour committee, appofDted to dete7mine eonie regulations for the
echools in Newton, have attended to that service and report as follows ;

" 1. For tbe purpcee of tsritine in the minda of the scliolars a rever- j
ence for the Word of God, and of aiding tlieni in reading it with propriety, j
it is recuiiimeuded that a portion of it be publii ly and daily read in the
morning in each sthool hy ihe Preceptor or Preceptrefs, and that tbe
ecbolara shall read the same after bim or her. j

"2. That whereas there has been lon^ and frequent complaint of |
great deficiency of books among tbe scholars in several nf tbe scboold^ :
it ia earnestly recommended that all parents and guardians procure suit-
able books for rat h of the (hildren or youth under ibcir care, and that
the Selectmen be requested by the Conimiitet men of the district to fur-
nish books at the expense of the town for those tcliolars whose parents
or guardians, in his opinion, are unable to purchase them.

*' '.'.. That the New Testament be one of tbe standard resdiuf; books in
all the schools in this town. .\nd your committee <lo, in a special
manner, rcn mmend Cumminge' New Testament, designed for schools,
\\ith maps of Ihe countries and places mentioned in the Scriptures and
explanatory notes.

"4. That Murrey's English Iteader or Lyman's American Reader be
recon. mended for instruction in reeding in the schools of this town.

"5. That whereas, it appears, upon euquii-y, that Walker's Dictionary
has become a growing and general standard for pronunciation iu tbe i
collegt 3 of the State, and in the colleges and academies of the L'nited
States, your Committee recommend Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary as,
in the general tenor of the work, tbe best standard lo be used by in-
structors in the public schools ; and that the scholars of the first class
be prnviaed with tbe small edition of this Dictionary.

*' Your committee, however, in recommending Walker's Dictionary,
would be understood aa having reference principally to the accent, and
Dot as deciding on Ihe propriety or impropriety of his mode of pro-
nouncing virtue, nature, creature, — virtshu, natshure, cretsbure, — and
a few other words.

**6. That the town recommend to every religious teacher of the schools
to open and close Ihtm daily by prayer.

*' That every master be desired to comply with the laws of the Com- I
monwenlth, which requires bim to give moral and religious instruction
to bis pupils.

" 7. -Vs most of your committee have been called frequently to visit the '.
schools in this town, and have been satisfied that tbe number of chil- I
dren in several of them is greater than can be taught or governed to
advantage, they earnestly reconimend, as an essential and important
aid in instructing and governing the public schools, that no children I
shall he admitted into the winter schools until the complete age of seven ',
years.

"9, It is recommended to the town that a fourth part of tbe moneys
annually granted for the support of public schools be devottd to the
support of summer schools. '

" to. That the Town Clerk be requested by the town annually to fur- ,
Dish, at the town's expense, copies of these votes to each school commit-
teemaD-

"11. We recommend renewed attention on the part of the town to a '
former vote of Ihe town, | relative to tbe commilteeuien of the several
schools acting in concert, not separately, in employing instructors."

The adoption of these measures was a great step in i
advance of previous legislation. !

For some years the committee in their united ca- [
pacity provided the several teachers, but this did not ]
satisfy, and in 1821 the committee of each district '
was empowered " to employ such instructors and i

spend their proportion of money in such a way as
they think proper, complying with the law of the
Commonwealth for governing schools under tbe direc-
tion of the inhabit.ints qualified to vote in town
affairs in the district for which he is chosen. But it
shall be the duty of each committeeman to notify
the inhabitants of the district for which he is cho.=en,
qualified as aforesaid, to meet at some convenient
place within said district before he proceeds to hire an
lustruttor to make arrangements for said school." A
similar vote was passed in 1S23. This arrangement
was unsatisfactory, and in 1826 the committee, as a
whole, was again required to provide instructors.

The school law of 182G first made^ it obligatory
upon the towns to elect a School Coaaniittee, and by
the statutes of 1827 every town was required to elect
three, five or seven persons, and towns containing
four ihousanil inhabitants were empowered to chooi-e
an additional number, not exceeding five. Newton
contained less than three thousand inhabitants.

Fro.m 1827 TO THE Abolition of the Dlstrict
Sy.'^tem .4ND THE Establishment of Graded
Schools in 1S5'2-.j3. — In accordance with the law of
1827, the town chose a general School Committee of
three, con?isling of Rev. Alfred J. Barry, Hon. Wil-
liam Jackson and Deacon Elijah F. Woodward ; the
next year Rev. James Bates and Mr. Seth Davis were
atlded to the committee. After this, Superintending
Committees of five were generally chosen. Prudential
Committees were also chosen from year to year, one
for each district, sometimes by the school districts
themselves. The duties of the Prudential Committee
of each district were to keep the school-house of his
district in repair, to furnish it with all things suitable,
to provide fuel, to contract conditionally with tbe
teacher, and to keep the Visiting Committee informed
of the condition of the school. The Visiting Com-
mittee were required to examine all candidates for
teaching, to cenily to their ability, and also to have
a general charge of all school interests. This sub-
division of duties and responsibilities had some few
advantage?, hue they were more than counterbalanced
by its disadvantages, and too often caused much
friction in the working of the school machinery.
Thus, tbe method of securing and examining teachers
was frequently complained of by the Examining
Committee. The Prudential Committees would some-
times secure teachers and send them to the Examin-
ing Committee for approval without any notice, when
it would be absolutely impossible to give a thorough
examination. It often happened, even, that the
teachers commenced their schools before examination,
or were examined and rejected so late as to delay the
commencement of school at the proper time, the Pru-
dential Committee being, meantime, in search of an-
other candidate. If a relative or favoiite of the local
committee chanced to be rejected, hard feelings were
thereby engendered. In the report of 1844 the com-
mittee complained that teachers had been allowed to

NEWTON.

teach through the term and even to draw their pay
either without examiuation or on the approval of a
previous certiticate, though the statute provided that
no teacher should commence without a certificate for
the occasion, while the fact that a person had taught
the year before might furnish the best possible reason
why his application should be rejected.

In their report of 1847-4S the Superintending Com-
mittee cited Stale rules for the guidance of the Pru-
dential Committee, and earnestly and solemnly urged
that no pains should be spared and no reasonable
compensation refused that might secure teachers of
the right stamp. In 1849-50 they urged the advis-
ability of having the teachers chosen and contracted
for by the Examining Committee, and reminded the
citizens that by a law of the State this should be so,
unless a town having an article in the warrant for the
purpose should expressly vote to give that duty to
the Prudential Committee.

Under the double committee system the schools
lacked unity of method and of results, and though stead-
ily linprovinuf, yet made slow progress. The duties
of Prudential Committee were finally merged into
those of the Superintending Committee, and the Pru-
dential Committee was abolished in 1852-53.

Since the first,eslabli=hmeat of the general Visiting
Cciniiuittee, names of respoiijible. painstaking and
able persons are found upon the Newton lists, and
earnest etlorts were constantly made to better the
schools. After the establi-hment of the iliissachu-
setts Board of Education, great assistance was derived
from the annual reports of the secretary of '.he board,
which were sent to the School Committee of each
town, and perhaps quite as much, from the necessity,
imposed upon every town, of reporting in detail the
con Jitiou of every public school within its boundaries.
These reports are on tile at the State-House, and
afford ample evidence of conscientious, painstaking
service.

Rev. Lyman Gilbert and Mr. Ebenezer Woodward
were for many years members of the committee, and
to them may be attributed much of the progress of
education in their day. Jlr. Woodward was a practi-
cal teacher, and kept a very successful private schgol
in Newton Centre from 1SS7 till 1S43 ; Mr. Gilbert
had, for a short time, been usher in Phillips Acad-
emy, Andover. The reports in which their names
appear evince ability, patience, interest and fearless-
ness, and are at once critical and iurpiring. The
following extract from the report of 1838-39 may not
be out of place ;

" Tlie iJea uf having learning enough for coramun business merely,
slioiltj be suuteQceii to perp.>tuiil banialiiiienc. Le.aroine; in aD>* of its
brariclitis can be useless to no one. Tlje acquisition of knowledge ia
moreover a design of life. This considerttioil :iliouI<l be oftener present
to tlie mind, as well as tlie moral obligation all are under to uluke tbe
must and the Ifeat of ttioir faculties, aud to be satisried with no decree of
attainment so lon^ as a lii^ber attainment is vvitbin tlieir reacb."

ST.i.TlsTlC3 OF 1839-40.— In the year ending April,
1840, Newton had eleven public schools ; the whole

number of pupils was, iu summer, 534 ; average at-
tendance, 420; in winter, 632; average attendance,
520. There were ten female teachers in summer; in
the winter nine male and two female teachers. Ave-
rage monthly wages of male teachers, including board,
S34.88 J average board, §10.44; average monthly
wages of female teachers, including board, S14.50 ;
average board per month, $6.55 ; aggregate length of
the winter schools, forty weeks ; of the summer,
forty weeks, fourteen days.

There were two incorporated academies ; aggregate
number of months in session, twenty-two; average
number of pupils, fifty; aggregate paid for tuition,
$800.

Books ix Use. — The books used in the public
schools at this time were :

For Spellinj. — Webster's Spellias-Book and Dictionary ; National
Spelling-Uook.

For lieiiding, — Pierpont's Keadiag-Books, Abbott's Reading-Books,
Worcester's Fourtb Book, Testameut.

For CFfojrnji/iy.— Oloey's Geography.

For Griimmtr. — Parley .t Fox's, -Suiith'a.

For Aritlimetic. — Emerson's, Smith's, Colburn's.

For Atfjebra. — tAjlliurn's, Day'd.

For History. — Worcester's History, Whelpley'a <3ompend, Goodrich's
History of the L'uited States.

Other Books. — Blake's Philosophy and .Astronomy, Watt's On the
Mlud, Book of Commerce.

School Apparatl'S. — At quite an early period
there were those in town whose ideas upon education
were much advanced, and in 1833 they succeeded in
getting into the warrant for town-meeting an article
to see if the town would furnish each school district
with acopy of the Family Encyclopedia, but the article
was dismissed. In 1835 they induced the town to
vote that a terrestrial globe be purchased for each of
the district schools, and instructed the committee in
each district to provide a box for its safe keeping.
But, alas 1 of what use is the best apparatus without
the power or inclination to use it? In 1847-48 the
committee reports " Globes in school, but not in use."
''They had never seen one in any school." On in-
quiry as to their whereabouts, some were found buried
in dust in broken boxes, some were stowed away in
the entries among wood and other rubbish, and some
could not be accounted for, "' perhaps removed with
the old house and regarded as too superannuated to
be introduced intoa modernstructure." . . . "As
if the earth was not round still, and America where it
was a century since and China its antipodal, and as if
these and a thousand otner parts of the earth's sur-
face could be made plain as daylight to the learner
by any other means than the very miniature of the
earth itself."

Not all teachers were thus neglectful, for it rs re-
corded in 1841-42 that one teacher, being unable in
any other way to obtain maps and diagrams, supplied
them himself, and the committee added, " It is to be
hoped that the time is not far distant when the public
will be satisfied that something more than a teacher

HISTOKY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

i3 requisite to promote the best interests of moral
beings."

School-Houses. — In 1846—17 the town commenced
a radical reform in school-house architecture. Two
large double school-houses were built on the most im-
proved plans, and a third was thoroughly repaired
and new seated. This prepared the way for a general
reform through the several districts of the town.
That there was need of this reform is evinced by
the report of 1845, which speaks of sloping floors so
arranged as to make it impossible for pupils to stand
up in their seats, and of ventilation so bad that after
silting an hour the visitor m.irveled that the tcaiher
had succeeded so well, both in instruction and man-
agement, " for to say the least, it was utterly impossi-
ble for anybody either to study or to impart instruc-
tion under such circumstances, vigorously." The ne.xt
year, when undertaking repairs, some regard was paid
to ventilation, and the use of thermometers was re-
commended.

In 1849 the school-houses were much improved;
eight out of eleven were well supplied, and all to
some extent provided with suitable apparatus.

FiKST Yearly School in Neavtox — On the
7th of December, 1848, a union was formed be-
tween School District No. 7, which included West
Newton .and Auburndale, and the State Normal
School, then established in West Newton. The ob-
iect of this union was the formation of a model school
where all the most approved methods of instruction
should be adopted and the best talent be employed to
develop the young, and to show by example what a
true school should be.

By the terms of the agreement, the district was to
furnish school-room, etc., and one permanent male
teacher, approved by both parties, and to allow such
addition to their number by pupils from abroad, on a
small tuition, as circumstances mightjustify.

TheState Normal School was to furnish a portion
of the apparatus and two assistant teachers, each
to observe a week previous to teaching, and to
teach two weeks under constant supervision. This
was the first yearly public school ever taught in New-
ton ; it was kept in the basement of the town hall.
Mr. Nathaniel T. Allen, a graduate of the Bridge-
water State Normal School, was appointed its princi-
pal at a salary of S300, to be paid by the district, and
the remainder to be paid by pupils admitted from
abroad. The whole number of pupils the first year
was 125; the number from abroad was 50 ; the average
age of the pupils, 14 years. Thirty-five of the young
ladies from the Normal School served as assistants.

By an additional agreement, ou May 1, 1850, the
Primary School of West Newton became also con-
nected with the State Normal School ; at firat taught
only by students of the Normal School ; but in 1851
a permanent female teacher was employed, and one
assistant from the Normal School. The number of
teachers furnished to this department in 1S50 was 22;

the whole number of pupils 75 ; their average age, 7
years.

The practice which this arrangement offered to the
students of the Noimal School, of observing and
teaching under the eye of an experienced and pains-
taking critic, was ol unmeasured value to them,
while the quality of the teaching was such as to
attract a large number of visitors continually from
Boston and other places, and applications for ad-
mission increased so much after the first year, that
many applicants were turned away. When the Nor-
mal School was removed from the town in 1853. the
Model School as such was given up, and the school
put upon the same basis and taught in the same man-
ner as the other district schools. The names of a
thousand visitors were enrolled on the register of the
school during the last year of its existence.

HI^"DEA^■CEs to Progress. — Among the hin-
drances to good progress in the schools at this time
may be enumerated frequent absences and tardiness,
the patronage of private schools, and the lack of co-
operation on the part of parents.

.\b.sexces to Tardiness. — These hindrances are
named and deplored in almost every school report of
this period. In that of 1845 the committee state that
in many cases more than half the school time is lost
by absences, and that the habit is universal. They
cite one school in particular, the teacher of which re-
ported that in a term of nineteen weeks there
were 3223 half-day absences, equal to an gggregate of
more thsn five and one-half years. In this school
seven pupils were absent respectively 115, 117, 121,
107, 102, 117 and fifty-five half school-days. The
committee added, " When we take into consideration
these obstacles to progress in our schools, what ought
we to e.Kpect ? Who can complain if the teachers
should not be able to get much knowledge into the
heads of those who rarely put their heads into the
school- house ?" That parents and guardians are re-
sponsible is the burden of the reports. The attend-
ance for some years alter this was fearfully low. In
the list of 311 towns in the State for the years 1847— 18,
Newton stood the 244th in attendance. Of the forty-
eipht towns in Middlesex County, Newton stood the
lowest, with an average attendance of forty-three per
cent. In the year 1848-49 she stood the 246th in the
State, having an average attendance of 57.07 per cent.
I quote from the school report of one of these years ;

"The question is getting to be seriously ai-ked in
high places and in all directions. What shall be done
to remtdy this evil? Shall it be a penal offence to
keep a child from school for any reason short of sick-
ness or what may be thought equally imperative?
Shall the vagrant, schoollcss boy be provided for by
the Stale as one already an offender against the peace
and well-being of society ? . . . People will dift'er
very much as to the propriety or justice of adopting
such extreme measures. The largest liberty is cor4-
ctnded for in this free republic ; the liberty to get

NEWTON.

drunk and abuse our God-given natures, to eschew '
the good that is around us and hug the evil, and the j
liberty to give the hungry and thirsty souls of our |
immortal offspring stones instead of bread, fire in- i
stead of water ; to hand them over to the dominion I
of unbridled passions, uniultivf.ted desires, to let them
grow up an everlasting disgrace to their parentage,
unmitigated pests to society. What will be done is j
not for us to say; 1 ut only will we heartily aflSrm
that when every child of the proper age shall be re-
ceiving that education which can alone fit him to fill
aright his place among men and prepare him to re-
ceive a holier unction for another kingdom, our eyes
shall no longer be pained, as now, with seeing boys '
spending their springtime of life in mental and bodily i
idleness at the corncrj of the streets or in the stable [
rioting in profanity, obscenity and all malignity. ... I
Railroads are a blessing, but not unmixed; their
depots are lounging-pliices for idlers and truant boys
wherein to concoct mischief; . . . drsm-shopa and |
oyster saloons and candy palaces still hold out their '
tempting lures, otfering to the idle a comfortable re-
pose, to the craving stomach a sweet morsel, but to
the gaping mind gall and wormwood. These you
have among you. tfee to it, see to it." :

By persistent efforts of the School Committees i
and teachers, much was finally accomplished by way j
of school attendance, though it took years and the
system of grailed schools to permanently fix the rate ]
of attendance at a hi^h rank.

The percentage of attendance and rank therefore in
the towns of llassachusetts at the close of the five |
decades from 1S4S-49 is as lollowa : I

lS4>:-40 — percentflse of altondauca . 57,
18,i.S-'.0 •• " •• 71,

lSi;S-ii'.) " " " 7';,

l»7S-7n " '• " <4,

li>6-?0 ■' " " ^2.S

rank in the ^tate . 240

" -JCiO

' " ir.9

.. .. ., ,. jo^

The apparent falling away of the percentage for
1888-89 may be accounted for by the increasing pop-
ular sentiment in favor of deferring the admission of
pupils to school till a later age than five ; the parents :
in Xewton now rarely comraeuce sending so early.
The percentage of attendance based on the average
whole membership in the schools for the year 1888- i
89 is 9j!.4 per cent.

Private Schools. — As another hindrance to the i
best success of the public schools the establishment
of private schools in the several villages was fre- '
quently mentioned. They are spoken of in almost •
every report : iu the early years taking away the most
favored pupils, "leaving the a-b-c-darians and other
small scholars to constitute many of the schools."
In 1849 there were eight private schools, in most of
which the languages and many of the higher branches
of a good education were taught, and in 1S51 not less '
thau 249 pupils attended private schools. Many of
these schools were excellent ai;d will be named later.
It is a fact worthy of mention, however, that as the

private schools flourished, a corresponding lack of
interest was evinced for the public schools, and their
attendance and efficiency proportionately decreased.
The cause of the establishment of so many private
schools and the decline of the public may be traced
to the repeal, in 1824, of the law concerning the re-
quirements for teaching the languages in towns of
not less th.an five thousand inhabitants ; not because
the teaching of languages is absolutely necessary to
great culture in other directions, but because the acqui-
sition of know ledge sufficient to teach Latin and Greek,
and to fit for the university, necessarily accompanied
higher attainments in other directions. After 1824
the quality of the teaching declined, as those best fitted
for teaching chose other professions. There was no
revival till the movement began which resulted in
the establishment of the Board of Education and
Normal Schnols, and the influence of these was not
materially felt over the State for years.

Want of Co-operation of Parents. — The
extent of the co-operation of parents never entirely
satisfied any committee. On the first establishment
of a Supervisory Committee they ask if that is the
reason for the indifference of parents; as if parents
thought they thus delegated all responsibility. Some
difficulties occurred in one of those early years which
were greatly increased by the unguarded utter-
ance by parents of expressions derogatory to the
teacher. But the committee were loyal to the schools'
best interests, and, among other good things, said, "Is
it not advisable that the people of the districts con-
sent to sacrifice individual opinion in some degree
and give their co-operation and support to (he teach-
er for the time being, under the supervisory direction
of the committee which they have themselves se-
lected for the purpose? By such a course, defects
which may really exist would be rendered less injur-
ious, and whatever was good in the management of
schools be made more advantageous. Would parents
generally enjoin upon their children regular and
punctual attendance at school, and subordination
and obedience to the teacher; would they notice
their progress and examine them occasionally at
home as to their proficiency, and in this way encour-
age and interest them in their studies, many of the
diffiLulties which teachers have now to encounter
would be removed, and the character of our schools
much advanced."

Corporal Puxishmext. — It is an open question
whether corporal punishment should be spoken of as a
help or a hindrance to good government in our schools.
At the commencement of one school, in 1842, it was
in a very disorderly state, and the teacher, so said the
committee, undertook to restore and maintain order
by " that mistaken course — a resort to the rod —
which many teachers have adopted frequently, and
as often experienced not only failure, but a worse
state of things than before." "But," the committee
continued, ' as a whole, the discipline of the schools

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

has been good thronghout the town, especially during
the winter, and it is believed this has been ihe result
of a less frequent resort to the birch and feruie."

As the years rolled on, the rod seems to have been
less frequently used, and in the report of 1847, the
teachers being those generally of experience, " the rod
was sparingly used," and the subject made a promi-
nent topic in the report, in which it is stated that
" the teacher is in school to represent the parent's kind-
ness, interest and love, as well as the parent's author-
ity," and "the teacher who lakes this attitude in
school, and respects the feelings of his pupils, wins
their affections and gives them enough to do, in a
manner to awaken their interest, will have little
difficulty in the maintenance of order." An interest-
ing case of discipline for that year might be cited.

The case was one of insubordination on the part of
the scholar, who was too large to be reduced to order
without the determined co-operaliou of the parents.
The committee, after repeated efforts to reclaim him
to obedience, and the exercise of all due forbearance,
without success, came to the conclusion to suspend
him from the school for the remainder of the term.
But that they might act deliberately concerning the
case, which was exciting much feeling, and some
threats, they availed themselves of legal counsel,
through which they obtained the opinion of the thief
justice of the Superior Court, and then acted accord-
ingly. The expulsion had the desired effect ; the
pupil returned to the winter school and behaved him-
self with such propriety as fully to redeem his char-
acter.

This circumstance is of especial interest, as show-
ing the extent of the authority vested in the Superin-
tending Committee, and the futility of any attempt
to change an adopted course of action, except through
the School Committee itself. But the question may
be rightly asked : Ought not a State which provides
that a committee may expel a bad boy also provide a
good reformatory where the boy can be sent, even
before he has committed any crime, except that of
wilful disobedience to authority ?

Female Teachers and their Wages. — Inex-
perienced teachers are frequently complained of, es-
pecially the females. Lack of experience is a source,
at all times, of much short-coming in both discipline
and instruction. But it is pleasant to note that while
the committees justly complain of this deficiency,
they have the grace to attribute much of it to one true
cause. In 1842 they say : " Yet the public generally
have established and approved a course directly cal-
culated, not only to continue, but to increase, the evil
so universally condemned. It is certain instances of
this kind will occur while the services of the sexes
are so unequally appreciated. But a (ew females iit
service can be found that are not better rewarded
than many female teachers of youth. To feel satis-
fied with uncomfortable school-rooms and encourage
the employment of such teachers as can be obtained

at the lowest rate, is a practice which has been some-
what prevalent, consequently the wages offered to fe-
male teachers have formerly been of very little induce-
ment for them to make suitable preparations to take
upon themselves the arduous and responsible duties
of a teacher."

In the winter of 1843-44 females were employed in
both the Centre and the South Schoi/ls, and the com-
mittee reports : "The successful instruction and man-
agement of this (the South) and the Centre School by
females, has convinced theco-rimittee that ladies such
as these may be more extensively employed during
the winter with great advantage to the schools, since
the period of instruction may be considerably pro-
longed without additional expense, while the instruc-
tion itself would be equally thorough. The principal
oi)jection would be probably on the ground of govern-
ment. But we feel bound injustice to them to say
that in respect to good order, the schools of these
ladies were not behind any other of the winter
schools." As we look back upon this record through
the viata of nearly half a century, the que-ticjn furces
itself upon us : "Where is tiie justice of cheapening
the salary of either of these women ? Of paying them
less than men teachers would have received for work
no better done?" Under such circumstances what
worldly incentive had the female teacher to prepare
herself especially for her work, or to do her very best
after she had prepared ?

But with all the hindrances incident to the limes,
the schools did decidedly improve, and were taking a
.stronger hold upon the sympathies and affections of
the people generally, who manifested their interest
by more liberal appropriations ibr current expenses
and for schotjl buildings.

Teachers' Meetings. — During the year 1S50-51
a town teachers' association was formed to bring
teachers and committee together bi-weekly fur dis-
cussing topics of teaching and government, thus giv-
ing less experienced teachers the benefit of learn-
ing the methods of those more experienced. The
effect was very beneficial.

From 1852-53 to 1890.— At the March meeting in
1852 measures were taken looking towards a radical
change in the school system. Sis successive articles
in the warrant concerniug schools were referred to a
committee of eighteen citizens to report at an adjourn-
ed meeting. Of this committee. Dr. Barnas .Sears,
then secretary of the State Board of Education, was
the chairman. The committee reported in favor of
abolishing the district-school system, of establishing
the graded system and of authorizing the School Com-
mittee to establish either one school embracing High
School studies for a term of ten months, or a larger
number of schools having such studies for an aggre-
grate period of twelve months.

The town adopted these measures, raised the ap-
propriation for the schools, and voted to build two
new .school-houses, one at Newton Centre and one at

NEWTON.

Newtonville. The houses were soon after erected at
a cost of §9,556.

In the school year 1Sj2-.53 all the schools except
that at Oak Hill came under the graded system. On
account of the small number of pupils, Oak Hill con- i
tinued as an ungraded school, taught by a man in the
winter and by a woman in the summer. The town
was divided into six school districts, each containing
grammar and primary grades, as follows:

No. 1, Xcwton Centre, including Oak Hill ; No. 2,
Upper Falls ; No. 3, Lower Falls; No. 4, West New-
ton, including Auburtdale ; No. 5, Newtonville; No.
C, Newtou Corner. Newton Corner had one interme-
diate grade also.

It was arranged that the school year should con-
tain foity-two wetks, divided into three terms ; the
first terra to begin the third Monday in April.

The list of books was revistd, and measures taken
for High fcfchool instruction.

ESTABLISHMEXT OF THE HlGH ScHOOL DEPART-
MENT. — The following is ihe preamble and vote of
the committee establishing the tirst High School de-
partment in the schools :

** Whf.rea^, in view of the iimguitude and cIrcumstADces of the town
of Xewton, it i9 ubviouj tbut Iliqb :^choul principles ouglit itt no liia-
tiint diiv to be fiirnislitfj tu more p«rt3 u( iho town than one, und wliere
as it i8 desintb'e to meet, iis fur us possible, the wants and relations nf
every part u( the town present and prospective, and whereoa it is expe-
dient tbut Siiate definite Hrrau;^enient in this respect be made without
delay, at least in regard to one -iich school —

" i7e»o(iV/, that a High School department he, and hereby is located by
the School i.'omoiittee at Newton Centre."

The new school building at Newton Centre was ar-
ranged to accommodate the High School department
and was dedicated .Ian. 1, 1S53. The school began
January 3d, with Mr. John W. Hunt, formerly prin-
cipal of the High School at Plymouth, as the master,
selected i;Ut of twelve candidates. This department
was open to pupils of the whole town. Pupils out-
side of the district were admitted on examination by
written questions, being expected to read correctly
and fluently, to spell words in oidinary use, to write
a fair and legible hand, to have a thorough knowledge
of intermediate geography and of arithmetic as far as
evolution. This department was to teach the lan-
guages, the higher English branches >ind to fit for col-
lege. More than sixty pupils were members of this
department before the close of the first term, and
an assistant was required.

The marked enthusiasm of the teachers awakened
enthusiasm on the part of parents and a hundred
visitors were recorded where before scarce a parent
entered. Many were present at the public examina-
tion at the close of the first term of thirteen weeks.
Twenty-two pupils had not been ab>ent during the
term, and the average .attendance of the si.xty-one
pupils w.os fifty-seven. Si.x hundred dollars were sub-
scribed by the citizens for useful apparatus and
books, and the school made fair promise of great use-
fulness.

The next year a High School department was estab-
lished at West Newton, and, soon after, another at
Newton Corner.

Success of the Graded System. — Theoperation
of the graded system generally proved satisfactory,
bearing fruit in increased interest of all classes. Out
of 1015 children between five and fifteen years of age,
924 attended the public schools ; about half of the
remainder attended private schools, and most of the
others were under seven years of age and were kept
at home.

Establishment of the High School. — With
the growth of the town it soon became evident that
the establishment of a school devoted entirely to
high school studies was a necessity. This was urged
id 1857-58 and accomplished in 1859 by a vote of the
town at the March meeting of thai, year. Under the
direction of an efficient architect and building com-
mittee a fine structure was erected in Newtonville,
and the school opened on the 6th of September with
seventy-five pupils, under -Mr. J. N. Beals as princi-
pal, and Miss Amy Breck as assistant. At the close
of the first year Mr. Beals resigned and Mr. T. D.
Adams became principal, with Miss Breck and Miss
Spear as assistants. The school was well supplied
with apparatus, much being loaned from the High
School department at Newton Centre. It possessed
a limited supply of chemicals and some books of ref-
erence, among which was the New American Ency-
clopedia.

In the school report of 1861-62 can be found the
course of study then adopted, the questions tor ad-
mission and other matters of interest.

T.TO things are essential to the successful working
of any advanced school, — a regular and systematic
course of study with definite branches for each year
and an exact distribution of the pupils into yearly
classe.s. The first of these conditions the High
School enjoyed from its commencement, but the sec-
ond was not attained till after the fourth year. From
this time the school advanced with little friction. In
1865-t)6 a valuable addition of standard works was
made to the library, comprising forty-two volumes in
history and the natural sciences, and all necessary
appliances were freely given as required.

At the close of the .summer term, in 1866, a great
loss was experienced, not only to this school, but to all
the city schools, in the death of Dr. Henry Bigelow,
chairman of the School Committee, and the great
central force in the school organization. One day's
examination of the school was omitted that teachers
and pupils might join in the public obsequies and
pay their last tribute of respect to the honored dead.

The first decade of the High School, was completed
in 1869; the condition of the school was most satis-
factory; the school building was enlarged, the force of
teachers doubled, the pupils reached nearly one hun-
dred and fifty in number and the course of study was
greatly amplified. Fifteen pupils graduated on exam-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ination day, making sixty-one graduates since the
commencement.

During the first years of this decade frequent
changes in principals had been made, which were un-
favorable to discipline and progress ; but now, at its
close and at the commencement of the second, there
seemed to be a fair promise of uniform progress under
one competent guiding mind, that of Mr. Francis A.
Waterhouse, from Augusta, Me., who had had charge
of the school .since 1868, and had already attained to
eminent success in its arrangement.

In 1873 the committee adopted a modified plan of
studies, consisting of ihree courses, with a large num-
ber of electives in each course. The minimum of
recitation hours entitling one to a diploma was twelve
hours a week. — one in singing, two in drawing and
nine in studies which were more difficult and de-
manded careful preparation. Provision was also
made for special students. Thi? new arrangement of
courses proved very attractive and a large number of
pupils were in attendance. In 1S75 a business course
was added, making four courses in all — the classical,
general and business courses of four years each, and
a limited three years' conr.-e, which wa.", in effect,
simply the first three years of the general course,
provided for such as could not remain longer.

It would be gratifying to trace the growth of the
school from this time on, but thu limit of this article
forbids details. Moreover, the changes of these later
years have hardly passed into the region of history
and could not well be read with impartial eyes. Suf-
fice it, that in 1880 Mr. Waterhouse resigned to take
charge of the English High School in Boston and was
succeeded by Mr. Edward H. Cutler, from Provi-
dence, R. I., who came with a high reputation as a
classical teacher, which reputation he eminently sus-
tained during his connection with the school. At
the close of the school year in 1888 he was succeeded
by Mr. Edward J. Goodwin, from Nashua, N. H., an
accomplished and faithful teacher and a wise disci-
plinarian, r

With his able corps of assistants, of whom it would
be a pleasure to speak individually, the school holds
a rank of excellence second to no other institution of
its grade in the State. Of some of ita special features
mention will be made in another connection. In 1887
an institute course was added with the des gn of fitting
pupils for instiiutes of technology. From its organ-
ization to the close of the school year in 1889 the
number of pupils graduated from the different courses
was nine hundred and sixty-six.

The following is a list of names of the successive
principals of the school, with their terms of service :
Mr. J. N. Beals, from 1859 to I8G0 ; Mr. T. D. Adams,
from 1860 to 1867; Mr. E. B. Hale, from 1867 to
1868; Mr. F. A. Waterhouse, from 1868 to 1880; Mr.
E. H. Cutler, from 1880 to 1888 ; Mr. E. J. Goodwin
since 1888.

A Newton High School Association was formed in

1861 with the object of continuing t"bs friendships
and acquaintances of school life encouraged by an
annual re-union. This association has since continued
its existence, and is much prized by the alumni. A
High School paper, edited and published by members
of the association, is regularly issued.

The Employment of a Superixtexdext. — The
school report of 1853 contains a minority report of
the member from Newtonville, suggesting to the citi-
zens the wisdom and economy ot creating an ofBce of
superintendent of the public schools, to be filled by a
competent person whose whole energies shall be de-
voted to that object. The report is very able and
offers cogent reasons for the adoption of his plan. In
his earnestness to enforce consideration of the matter
he speaks of Newton as behind many other suburban

I towns in her educational advantages, which is " a
great impediment to the choice of Newton aa a place
of rfsidence for men of wealth who have families of
children,'' and urges the town, as a ine.Tsure of sound-
est policy, to acquire a reputation for her schools- quite
equal, at least, to other towns in the immediate vicin-
ity of Boston, and " such an arrangement as suggest-
ed would accomplish this, which it would be difficult
to accomplish in any other way."

His advice was sound and his pcsition in advance
of his time, whether his estimate of the schools was
right or wrong. But it was noticed that he was not
elected on the School Committee the following year.
The nest year, 1854, the State itself saw the neces-
sity for better supervision of the schools, and a law

] was passed that any town by legal vote might require
the School Committee annually to appoint a superin-
tendent of public schools, "who, under the direction
and control of said comtnittee, should have the care
and supervision of the schools," etc., etc.

The committee, as a body, do not at this time seem

' quite satisfied with their at;empt3 at supervision, and
from year to year try various plans among themselves.
In their report of 1804-55 they say " the more schools

( brought under the supervision of one man, the more

1 accurate and just would be his estimate of their rela-
tive efficiency, and the value of his counsels and en-
couragement to any teacher would increase with the
extent of his observation and experience." " It is
hoped at no remote day the town shall decide to
appoint a superintendent and authorize him to devote

I himself mainly, if not exclusively, to the improve-

I mentof our schools."

] At the March meeting, in 1866, the town voted that
" the School Committee of Newton be authorized and

I required to appoint a superintendent, if, in their

1 judgment, it be deemed advisable." The matter was

' discussed at subsequent committee meetings, and, on
November 22d, it was resolved that " it was expedient
to employ a superintendent of schools." But they

I failed to procure a suitable per=on for the amount ap-

! propriated, ^2500.

In the year 1870-71 the committee again asked for

NEWTON.

an appropriation for a superintendent of scliooli',
" without purposing to use it unless we feel convinced
that we have secured the right man." The town made i
the required appropriation, and ilr. Thomas Emerson,
from Woburn, was elected superintendent at a salary
of S3000. Under his efficient management many
radical changes were made, especially in the grammar
department, which was reduced to six years' lime, not
by crowding more inio each year, but by striking out
really superfluous matter; so that the course was
much improved by omissions made. Thus, in arith-
metic, the subjects of duodecimals, alligation, ex-
change, etc., were omitted ; in geography broad-
er outlines and general facts were given, and unim-
portant details omitted ; less technical grammar was
taught, and more attention to language was given in
all the divisions, aiid time enough saved for the study
of "Hooker's Child's Book of Nature." Many
changes were also introduced into the primary schools,
perhaps the most important that of substituting
writing for printing; and a very detailed course of
study was arranged for all grades, for the purpose of
systematically developing, in their proper order, the
perceptive, conceptive and reasoning powers of the
child. A plan for a course of oral instruction in ob-
ject-lessons was arranged for all but the High School,
and systematic and progressive instruction in morals
and in manners was made a part of the school cur-
riculum. Regulations were adopted for the school
sessions, for the teachers' attendance before school, for
recesses, for detention of pupils, limiting the time to
fifteen minutes after the morning session, and to an
hour alter the close of school in the afternoon.

After serviug two years as superintendent, Mr-
Emerson resigned to accept a more flattering offer i
elsewhere. The following are the names and terms
of service of his successors in office : Mr. H. M.
Willard, 1873 to 187(3 ; Mr. Warren Johnson, 1876 to
1877; Mr. Ephraim Hunt, 1877 to 1881 ; Mr. John E.
Kimball, 1881 to 1885; Mr. Thomas Emerson, 1885
to 1890.

It would bie gratifying to enumerate in detail the
progressive steps in the administration of each of
these gentlemen, who served the schools with ability
and success, and to whose efficient labors, seconded
by an appreciative committee, is largely due the
high rank attributed to Newton's schools. It would
be unjust in this connection to omit the name of Dr.
Henry Bigelow, chairman of the School Committee
for nearly twenty years, until his death in 1866, whose
services, marked ability and direct personal supervis-
ion gave to the schools a service not less efficient than
would be rendered by the most accomplished superin-
tendent. Superintendents can accomplish little with-
out the stimulus and co-operation of the School j
Board. Newtou has generally been fortunate in her [
choice of school officers. That she appreciated the
efficient, untiring, unpaid labors of some of them, at
least, is shown by their long continuance in the ser-

vice, alike creditable to themselves and to the city.
The names of those who have served the longest siace
the introduction of the graded system, with their term
of service, are as follows : Mr. John A. (Jould,
thirty years ; Mr. Isaac Hagar, twenty -two years ;
Rev. George W. Shinn, fourteen years; Mr. George
A. Allen, twelve years; Mr. Noah S. King, twelve
years; Mr. Julius E. Clark, ten years; Mr. Lincoln
R. Stone, ten years; Mr. Elijah J. Wood, nine years;
Rev. William S. Smith, nine years ; Miss A. Amelia
Smead, nine years.

Mr. John A. Gould, whose name heads the above
list, served also for several years as Prudential Com-
mittee.

WoMEK ON THE SCHOOL BOARD. — The first at-
tempt to have women represented on the School
Board was spasmodic and short-lived, three women
being elected in 1873, for one year, and serving only
for that lime. In December, 1879, Miss A. A. Smead,
from Ward Two, was chosen, and served very accep-
tably till her removal from the city. Since 1879,
other women have been elected to the Board, two
holding the office since 1887.

Statistics of 1890. — On the 1st day of May,
1889, the number of children between five and fifteen
years of £ige was 4,202, the number attending the pub-
lic schools was 3359, and 225 were attending private
schools, and seventy-four were at work in mills and
elsewhere. The remaining number of these children
were mostly under seven years of age and kept at
home by their parents; 566 children, over fifteen,
were attending the various schools.

The average daily attendance during the school
year of 1888-89, was 92.4 per cent, an increase of
four-tenths per cent, on the previous year. The whole
number of tardinesses was 3797, a decrease of seventy-
five on the previous year, and less than an average of
one to a pupil.

The number of school-houses was 22; of occupied
rooms, 106; sittings 4712.

The total value of the school-houses, furniture and
land was .^81,600. The value of three of the school
buildings, with land, etc., was less than $10,000 each ;
the value of the remainder varied from §10,000 to
$44,000, except the High School building, which was
worth $113,000.

The number of schools was as follows: One High
School, 48 grammar schools, 38 primary, 1 mixed —
total, 88.

The number of teachers in the High School was 12
— males 5, females 7. Special teachers 3 — males 1,
females 2.

The number of teachers in the grammar schools was
48— males 10, females 38.

The number of teachers in the primary schools
was 38, in the mixed school 1.

Special teachers in sewing, 3 ; in music, 1. Total,
106— male teachers 17, female 89.

Of the teachers in the High School, two have

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

served over ten years — Mr. Ezra W. Sampson, since
1870, and Miss Jennie E. Ireson, since 1879. Of tiie
principals of tiie grammar schools, the following
have taught ten years or more : Mr. Luther E. Leland
since 1858, Mr. Levi F. Warren since 1869, Mr. H.
Chapin Sawin since 1871, Mr. Albert L. Harwood
since 1876, Mr. George E. Edwards since 1879 and
Mr. William A. Spinney since 1879.

Of the other teachers three have served over thirty
years — Miss Eliza E. Simmons since 1860, Miss Sarah
E. Foster since 1863 and Miss Martha L. Perkins
since 1866.

The maximum salary for males is $3000, that of
the High School master ; the maximum salary of the
grammar masters is $1900 ; of the High School assis-
tants : male, S2000 ; female, S1200. The maximum
salary of females in the other schools is $750, the
minimum $500.

The amount expended for schools, exclusive of
school buildings, was $118,706.38. The average cost
per pupil was $33.14, including an average cost of
$1.36 per pupil for books and school supplies.

Comparing the towns and cities with reference to
the average cost per pupil, based on the whole num-
ber belonging, it will be found that Newton holds the
first place in the county and the fourth in the State.
If the comparison is based on the percentage of their
taxable property, Newton stands the fourteenth
among the cities of the State and the thirty-third
among the towns and cilies of Middlesex County.

The number of diplomas awarded in the grammar
schools for the year was 218 ; the number of High
School certificates awarded, 209.

The number of pupils graduated from the High
School was 82. Of these 32 had completed the general
course, 25 the classical, 12 the institute and 13 the
mercantile course.

The number of gradu.ates who took the final ex-
aminations for colleges and the Institute ofTecanology
was 25 ; of these, 17 were admitted without conditions.
The whole number of conditions was 11 ; of honors,
14. Twenty-four took preliminary examinations, 15
were unconditioned. The whole number of conditions
was 12 ; of honors, 6.

Among the features of the Newton school system
which are somewhat different from that of other
cities, and which deserve especial mention, may be
named

The Flexibility of the Entire System, by
means of mid-year promotions. This pian, up to 1890
has been in operation four years, with a success which
has varied according to the conditions that have
attended its execution. It has been especially success-
ful where the teachers have given it the impulse of
their faith and enthusiasm, aud the care and vigilance
it requires. A full explanation of the plan may not
be out of place.

The pupils in the schools are classified in thirteen
grades according to their qualifications ; the first

three grades constitute the primary section ; the
fourth to the ninth the grammar section, and the
tenth to the thirteenth the High School section.
Each grade covers a period of one year. Hence the
time required for the completion of the full course is
thirteen years if the pupil is promoted each year, as is
the case with the mass of pupils.

But by the arrangement described below, individu-
als or sections may be promoted according to their
attainments within the year.

Each primary grade is subdivided into sections of
ten to fifteen pupils each, three being assigned to
each room, thus making thirty the minimum, aud
forty-five the maximum cumber of pupils in each
room. The pupils are assigned to the different sec-
tions according to their attainments, and are advanc-
ed by sections, thus making ihe section rather than
the grade the unit of promotion. Hence a room may
have at any time one section that is just compieiing
the year's work, another that has done one-half of it,
and still another just entering upon it. In some
rooms two sections may be upon the work of one
year, and the third section upon that of another.
This advancement of sections is an advantage to the
individual pupil, as the transition from one section
to another requires but little effort, and makes the
gaining of time an easy accomplishment. The teacher
is led constantly to study the conditions of each in-
dividual, and to adapt her instruction to his needs,
while she feels a personal responsibility for hi^i im-
provement.

The same general plan is pursued in the grammar
grades. "Each room is divided into two sections,
and the pupils are assigned to one or the other
section according to their proficiency. The pupils
in the two sections may belong to the same grade or
they may represent two different grades. The latter
arrangement is the more common and has its advan-
tages. During the first half of the year each grade
passes over all the work prescribed for the year in
language and arithmetic, giving attention chiefly
to the most important principles and their application
in the simplest form of expression and computation.
The last half of the year is given to a more minute
study of the ground already traversed, together with
a more extended application of principles. This
adjustment of work enables the individual pupil to
pass from one grade to the next higher at the close of
the first half-year with no loss of time, with little
friction, and without the omission of a single prin-
ciple that will affect his future progress in these two
branches of study. It is not so necessary that the
work in other branches should be so consecutive. But
work in geography, history, spelling, etc., is so adjust-
ed as to prevent no obstacle to individual promotions,
the general knowledge of a subject acquired in one
grade becoming the basis of a more minute study of
that subject in the next grade.

The condition of individual promotions in every

NEWTON.

case are punctual and constant attendance, high rank,
good conduct, good health and the consent of the
parents. The number of individual promotions since
the adoption of this plan has been from five to seven
per cent, of the total enrollment.

This plan for promotions has many obvious advan-
tages. It substitutes stimulation for repression,
which is a much more powerful and healthful motive
for all, and it gives the pupil larger opportunities for
personal application, and makes him leas of a machine,
while it leads the teacher to study the needs and con-
dition of the individual pupil.

Although there are (in 1890), no mid-year promotions
in the High School, yet the advantages of the plan
are secured by other means in the general and insti-
tute courses, — in the general course by the extension
of the elective .-ystem, the number of electives allow-
ed to each pupil being determined solely by his
ability to do the work; to those in the institute course
by arranging the work of four years in such a man-
ner that pupils may complete it in three years. Of
the eight graduates of this school admitted to the
Institute in 1889, four had completed the work in
three years. This system may be easily adjusted
for the class'ical course, and probably soon will be by
extending the course to live years, and arranging itso
that it can be complete.! iu four.

Regular Grade Promotion's. — These are made
at the beginning of the school year in September, in
which the daily work and conduct of the pupils
during the year and the test examinations are con-
sidered.

Test Exa.minatiox.s. — The test examinations, writ-
ten and oral, begin at the close of the first quarter and
continue through the year. In the primary and
grammar grades not more than one examination is
made in any week, and not less than one in two
weeks. The questions are prepared by the teacher of
the class, the master of the school or the superintend-
ent, and the examination takes the place of the regu-
lar class exercise in the branch of study in which the
pupils are to be tested, and without previous notice,
thus saving any nervous anxiety which might attend
a formal examination. The results of these ex-
aminations are not made known, except in case of
pupils who need .spurring to greater etibrt, when the
parents are notified.

The examinations by the teachers are given "to fix
the thoughts already awakened in the minds of the
pupils; to cultivate their powers of expression ; and
to ascertain what subjects, if any, need to be re-
viewed."

The examinations by the superintendent are to test
the thinking power of the pupil and to ascertain his
ability to work in the next higher grade.

A wise provision is made that "' pupils who have
been two years in any grade, and who have been
faithful and regular in their work, may, on recom-
mendation of their teachers and superintendent, with

the approval of the committee in charge of the school,
be advanced to the next grade without having reached
the required standing."

Quality of the Teaching. — One advantage
which the Newton schools enjoy above that of many
neighboring towns, is in the fact of the salary being
somewhat in advance, thus attracting to her ranks ex-
perienced teachers of marked ability. Add to this
fact the insight and perseverance of the superintend-
ent who compasses sea and land to find and secure
the right kind of teachers, in one case visiting over
seventy schools before finding just the teacher for a
certain position, and it would be strange if the schools
of Newton did not attain a first-class rank in the
estimation of the community. From one-half to
three-fifths of the teachers are Normal Graduates and
more than one-half of these Framingham Normals,
no better material than which, according to the super-
intendent, can anywhere be found.

Each teacher is allowed to exercise his or her own
individuality in the details of the methods, unless
they are vicious, and provided the re^ults are right.
Special attention, however, is given to methods which
are natural and philosophic, the schools being
supplied with real objects of knowledge, and with
simple illustrative apparatus. Subjects, not books,
are taught.

Teachers' Meetings and Training -Schools. —
It has been conceded for years by the Newton school
otBcials that something more than simple book knowl-
edge on the part of the teacher is needed for a suc-
cessful school, and that there is both a science and
an art of teaching, for the attainment of which
previous preparation of the would-be teacher is
needed. As early as the year 18-10^1 the committee
recommended the employmeut of Normal graduates,
and from time to time the teachers sought to improve
their methods and results by mutual consultation and
comparison of work. Teachers' meetings have been
held with more or less regularity since 1869. At first
the meetings were general, but since the appointment
of a superintendent, grade teachers' meetings have
generally been held. These meetings have been of
great service in unifying the teachers' work, and
giving the superintendent an opportunity of directing
specifically the work of any grade. A training-school
was established in 1873, and at the close of the first
year much was said in its praise, but as a whole the
school proved, in the opinion of many, a measure of
doubtful utility, and it was abolished in the third
year of its existence.

Physical Training.— In the year 1851-52, through
the exertion of the teacher and the generosity of the
citizens, a good gymnasium was arranged for the
model school, and used by boys and girls alternately.
In 1863-64 calisthenics were in use with great ac-
ceptance in District No. 1. These and other interest-
ing exercises secured good order and unusually rapid
progress in the regular studies. The committee by

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

special order established gymnastics in the High
grammar and intermediate schools as one of the re-
quired exercises, but the innovation met with oppo-
sition from without. It was feared that " the exer-
cise might cripple and derange the nervous constitu-
tion of the children;" "the children had exercise
enough already;" "there was no use in it." But
the committee did not yield to the opposition, for
they were aroused to their action by the fact that
of every fortv-three who died in the army at this
time, forty died from disease, showing a great want of
proper physique in the soldiers as well as of better
regulations in the army. Since this time physical
exercises have been encouraged and more or less
practiced in all the schools. In 1877 military drill
for boys was introduced into the High School for two
hours a week, the drill master being a lieutenant of
the regular army on the retired list from disability.
It was claimed that this drill developed and strength-
ened the limbs and chests of the lads in a remarkable
degree, and military drill has become a favorite exer-
cise of the schools under a special drill master. Some
diflerence of opinion in regard to the advisability of
its continuance has been expressed by many of the
citizens, but a majority of the people and of the com-
mittee seem to be in favor of it.

In 1879 a special teacher was provided for teaching
calisthenics and elocution to girls of the High School,
and happily. Miss Jennie Ireson, the teacher, has
continued in charge ever since (to 1890), with marked
benefit and increased enthusiasm on the part of
teacher and pupils.

In March, 1890, the committee established calis-
themics as a regular exercise, in the grammar and
primary schools, under the supervision of a special-
ist.

Vocal Music. — From an early period in the his-
tory of the schools vocal music was used to give a
variety to the school exercises ; some regular instruc-
tion in this branch was given by Mr. Allen in the
Model School as early as 1849, and by Mr. Adams in
the High School in 1SG2. In 1863-64 vocal music
was introduced into the grammar and intermediate
schools as a regular study, with Mr. Trowbridge as
the special director. The innovation met with favor,
some musical entertainments were given, and it was
soon found that the teaching of this branch in all the
schools below the High, at least, was a necessity, and
generally a special music director has since been em-
ployed.

In 1869-70, pianos were furnished for the schoois.
No appropriation has been more faithfully used than
that for these instruments, or has gladdened so many
hearts.

Drawing. — The subject of drawing received early
attention as a school exercise. It was elevated to a
regular study in the grammar department in 1870-71,
a systematic course marked out and a set of Bail's
drawing charts put in every district. The next year

the services of Mr. Bowler, a very successful writing
and drawing master, were obtained. Mr. Bowler con •
tinned in the service till his death, in 1874, devoting
himself principally to teaching penmanship. Mis.
Bowler having charge of the drawing at first, and
alter the death of Mr. Bowler, of both writing and
drawing for most of the time till 1888. To the skill-
ful teaching of Mr. and Mrs. Bowler, XewCon owes
much of her success in these dnpartments.

In 1873 art rooms were fitted up in the High School
building, and furnished at considerable expense with
an imported set of casts, models and flat examples,
pronounced by Mr. Walter Smith, State Supervisor
of Art, to be unsurpassed by any collection iu the
State. A carefully arranged course of study by Mr.
Smith was adopted, and evening schools for industrial
and mechanical drawing established in three of the
villages — Newton proper, and the Upper and Lower
Falls. For some years after, evening drawing schools
continued to be taught, and were often quite I'ully
attended. Drawing continues to be a regular study
in the schools with a special supervisor for the pri-
mary and grammar grades.

INDUSTRIAL Education — Sewing. — In ISSl the
attention of the West Newtou Women's Educational
Club was turned to the needs of youni; girls who were
growing up ignorant of the common rudiments of
sewing. By permission of the School Committee, one
of their number, as an experiment, gratuitously taught
a class in the Franklin School without detriment to
the regular studies and with much benefit to the chil-
dren. From six or eight who commenced with her
the number soon grew to thirty.

The next year the question of making sewing a
regular study was referred to a sub-committee consist-
ing of the two lady members of the School Board
with one gentleman, who reported strongly urging its
adoption. The entire committee favored the plan ;
two ladies were engaged as special teachers, a specific
and graded plan for teaching was adopted and sewing
has since been one of the regular studies of the fourth,
fifth, sixth and seventh grades in the grammar
schools.

Evening Schools for Common Branches. — As
early as 1853-54 an evening school for common
branches was established in West Newton of about
forty scholars, ch'efly children of foreign parents, with
some adults, whose circumstances forbade their at-
tendance on the public schools. This was started and
sustained by a few benevolent individuals, among
whom was Rev. Charles Barnard, of Warren Street
Chapel. They were assisted by senior pupils from
other schools. It was open two evenings in the week
and continued through the winter "with increasing
interest and growing numbers." No pupils in town
with the same amount of instruction profited more.

By a vote of the town, in the winter of 1859-^50, an
evening school was taught in District No. 2, and con-
tinued three months, but without the eminent success

NEWTON.

which attended the private effort in West Newton,
and it was not thought best to make these schools a
permanent institution.

En 1870-71 an evening school was taught in West
Newton with good results; in 1871-72 one was taught
in the North Vill.ige with flattering success, attended
by fifty-eight adults and ninety children; the average
attendance of the former being forty-three and of the
latter fifty-seven. Progress in the studies was good.
Evening schools continued to be taught for some
years in the village, and since then evening schools
have generally been taught in some viliage accessi-
ble to the others. Sometimes they have been taught
for men and boys only, but latterly for both sexes.
They have been most successful when under the
supervision of one of the principals of the grammar
schools.

Private Schools, Academies axd some other
Institutions for Higher Education. — Of many
of the early private schools and institutions for higher
education little is now known ; a brief sketch of some
of them will be attempted. In West Newton may be
named

The Fuller Academy, 1832-34.— In the year 1794, by
the death of Judge Abraham Fuller (who had suc-
cessfully taught a private school previous to 1760),
a legacy of £300 was left for the purpose of laying
the foundation of an academy in Newton. But the
payment of the legacy was delayed and it was not till
1832 that the building was erected. It stood in West
Newton, on the corner of Washington and Highland
Streets. The academy was incorporated in 1833 and
the school opened in the spring of that year, and was
taught for the next two years by Master Perkins.
The town then decided to abandon the enterprise and
the building was sold for $1600.

Mr. StthDavW Private School, 1817-39.— In 1817
Mr. Seth Davis established a private academy on
Waltham Street for boys and girls. The best teachers
are not always the greatest scholars. Mr. Davis never
claimed great scholarship, yet many of his pupils,
who have attained the highest culture, admit he was a
rare teacher, much in advance of his times. He had
knowledge enough to answer all the requirements of
his pupils and the power to impart by happy illustra-
tions, no matter how difficult the subject might be.
The school was small and he gave personal attention
to his pupils with regard to their endowments and
tastes, and endeavored to kindle enthusiasm and de-
velop thought. The school-house was unique as the
teacher, and apparently designed to secure good order
without much trouble. The school-room is thus de-
scribed by Hon. Alexander H. Rice, who was one of
his pupils :

'"The centre of the room was a clear space, and
around the room ran a series of stalls, each separated
from the next by a high partition, after the fashion
seen in some eating-houses now, and in each stall was
a short and narrow seat, so that its occupant could
•"i-iii

see no fellow-pupil except on the opposite side of the
rcom, or at least beyond speaking distance, while each
and every one was visible to the master. I say that
each one was visible to the master, though it is mani-
fest that when seated in his chair in the centre of the
room, the master's back must be towards some of the
stalls on one or more of the four sides of the room.
But while the fact is recognized as a physical neces-
sity, it seemed then of no practical importance, for
any mischievous vibration behind him, though as del-
icate as the step of a velvet-footed mouse, seemed to
. reverberate upon his sensitive and expectant tympan-
um as the summons to an instantaneous and whirling
jump that brought him, chair and all, face to face
with the entrapped ofiender. The rebuke of those
piercing grey eyes, fixed and imperturbable, was
worse than the soundest flogging."

While engaged in teaching, Mr. Davis devoted his
evenings to study and giving scientific lectures in
Newton and adjoining towns. The study of astron-
omy was a strong passion with him, and he con-
structed an orrery designed to illustrate the solar sys-
tem ; this he used in school and in the lecture-room.

The teaching of arithmetic was a problem he could
not solve with the facilities ofiFered him, and he com-
piled an arithmetic which he used in school and
which was adopted by the town some years later.

Many eminent persons were once his pupils;
among them may be named Hon. Alexander H. Rice
and Prof Daniel B. Hagar, who fitted for college un-
der his tuition.

Miss Harriet L. Davis, a daughter of Seth Davis,
was a pupil and an assistant to her father. She was
a gifted woman, studious and helpful to all, ever
Htimulating others to better efforts. Her gentleness
and tact enabled her '..o adjust misunderstandings and
promote harmony when necessary. She had a thor-
ough knowledge of the classics and higher mathe-
matics, and was prepared to teach the necessary studies
to fit for college when she established her school,
after her father retired from his profession, in 1839.

Miss Davis' school was successful. — Her health being
impaired from close application, her father assumed
the responsibilities of her school and added fresh
laurels to his fame as a teacher. Soon after the death
of his daughter ha gave up teaching, but not his in-
terest in education. He was progressive, public-
spirited and far-sighted, and aided in many ways the
improvement of the town. He died June 25, 1888,
at the great age of 100 years, nine months and twenty-
two days.

The State Xormal School, 1844-53.— In 1844 the
Lexington State Normal School, for women, having
outgrown its quarters, it became necessary to seek for
better accommodations. The Fuller Academy build-
ing, in West Newton, offered more ample room, and
was very favorably located on the line of the Boston
and Albany Railroad. It was not in use and coald be
had for $1500.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

But in those days Normal Schools were reg;arcled
by many as merely an experiment at best; the State
was very chary in its appropriations, and the Board
of Education had no means at hand with which to
purchase (he building. In this dilemma, Hon. Hfir-
ace Mann, then secretary of tbe Board, went into the
office of his friend, Hon. Josiah Quiucy, Jr., and in
an emphatic, semi-humorous manner, said : " Quincy,
if you know any man who wants the highest seat in
the kingdom of Heavn, it can be had .^or $1500." An
explanation followed, and Mr. Quincy immediately
gave his check for the amount to Mr. Mann, direct-
ing him to take the deed in his own name, and if the
building was ever sold, to apply the proceeds to any
purpose that he thought would best promote ths in-
terests of popular education.

The citizens of West Newton contributed $G00 to-
wards fitting up the building; $1300 were also given
jointly by Mr. Mann and Rev. Cyrus Peirce, the prin-
cipal of the school, and the building was properly
furnished and ready for occupancy in the summer of
1844. The citizens welcomed the normal pupils to
their homes and the school was opened in the early
fall under very favorable auspices. The seats were
rapidly filled by intelligent and earnest pupils, some
of them residents of the town, and the graduates were
sought for to teach in responsible and lucrative
places. Its proximity to Boston made it easy of ac-
cess to visitors, and it soon became widely and favor-
ably known. Scarce a day passed but distinguished
and interested visitors were seen either seated on the
platform or following the various class exercises.

The leading characteristics of the school were per-
fect sincerity and entire fearlessness in tbe search of
truth, wherever it might lead ; the methods inculcated,
both of research and for teaching, were natural and
objective. All sham of every kind was despised, and
for even their public days there was little of what
might be called " fixing up ;" it was the aim of the
teachers then, as on other days, to bhow things ju.'-t
as they were.

The Normal School and the model department con-
nected with it drew many families from Boston and
its vicinity to make West Newton their home, that
they might avail themselves of the facilities for edu-
cation they oflered, not only to their daughters, but
to their younger children. Among others thus at-
tracted was Hon. Horace Mann, whose presence in
the village proved a great uplift not only to the
school, but to the entire community.

In April, 1849, Mr. Peirce was compelled by failing
health, incident upon overwork and care, to resign the
charge of the school to whose welfare he had devoted
every power of his body and mind for eight years,
three in Lexington and five in Newton. To him
more than to any other of the Normal teachers is due
the continued existence of our present Normal School
system. Hon. Henry Barnard but echoed the senti-
ments of many distinguished educators when he once

said : " Had it not been for him (Mr. Peirce), I con-
sider the cause of Normal Schools would have failed
or have been postponed an indefinite period." In the
next annual report of the Board of Education the
visiting committee of the Board, in alluding to Mr.
Peirce's Normal School work, stated that " Never was
a success more signal ; never was it more clearly pur-
chased by the sacrifice of health and almost of life."

In September, 1S49, Rev. Eben S. Stearns, of New
Bedford, took charge of the school. In the interval
between the administrations of Mr. Peirce and Mr.
Stearns, Miss Electa N. Lincoln, the first assistant,
took charge of the school and carried it on success-
fully. Under the administration of Mr. Stearns it
increa.«ed in popularity till it became overcrowded,
when more rigid examinations were adopted ; but it
.-ioon became evident that s^me further meai-ures must
be taken to accommodate the school, and in 1853 it
w;is removed to a larger building in Framingham
Centre.

On the first establishment of Normal Schools in Mas-
sachusetts, determined opposition was manifested by
many. conservative educators, and efforts were made in
the Legislature of 1S40 not only to abolish the school,
but the Board of Education also. This opposition be-
came gradually le!-s active, but while the school was
located in West Newton, the pent-up bitterness of its
opponents broke out with renewed virulence, and hap-
pily, for the la.st time. The circumstatices of the on-
slaught are of historical value as bearing upon the
progress of education, and will be of interest in this
connection.

In 1844 !\Ir. Matin's celebrated "Seventh Annual
Report' appeared, in which he eulogized the schools
of Germany to the implied disparagement of the
schools in America. This so exasperated the " Thir-
ty-one Boston Schoolmasters " and others, that a whirl-
wind of opposition was raised, not only against
Mr. Mann, but against the measures he advocated.
Old teachers set themselves once more against the
school because it :aught methods which interfered
with their ways of doing things, and was a standing
declaration that there was something in the art of
teaching which experience alone did not give. Re-
ligious fanaticism, at first busy against the school and
only quieted because it had nothing to fight against,
was again roused. " The school was opposed to the
Bible " because it discouraged the U:^e of Solomon's
sovereign remedy; "it was irreligious" because it
did not teach the dogmas of " their " church, or en-
courage exclusive attendance on "their" places of
worship. These and many more charges were mali-
ciously circulated. The attacks finaly culmin-
ated in a disgraceful article which appeared in
the Ijostoii Recorder oi June 3, 1847, maligning the
morality and even decenc)' of the school, and which so
aroused the indignation of the student-*, more than
half of whom were of that religious faith against
which the principal was represented as plying his se-

NEWTON.

ductions, that, without any communication with the
principal, they unanimously adopted and published a
series of resolutions in which the charges were, witli-
out any qualification, forcibly denied. (These may be
seen in the Report of the Board of Education for the
year 1889-90, article " Historical Sketch of the Lex-
ington-Framingham Normal School," and in the Bos-
ton Courier of June 10, 1847.)

The principal himself challenged his enemies to
prove their charges, but no proof appeared, and in
their next report the visitors of the school declared
them to be groundless, and the board added that "the
charges referred to could only be attributed to a cul-
pable ignorance or perversion of facta." Thus ended
one of the stormiest epochs in the history of the new
education.

Private Schools at Newton Centre. — TTie
BoardingSchool of Marshall S. Rice, 1825-47. — This
school was opened in Newton Centre, on the first
Monday of May, 1825, and wag continued until No-
vember, 1847, a period of twenty-two years and a half
The location was selected because it was healthful,
without tavern or grog-shop, and in daily communi-
cation by stage with Boston. The homestead of Mr.
Obadiah Thayer, nearly opposite the Congregational
meeting-house, and often called the "Gibbs Place,"
was first rented for a year and then purchased by Mr.
Rice, as well suited to the needs of such a school as
he wished to establish, the purpose of which, as de-
fined by himself, was to " train up young men and wo-
men to be teachers in common schools, and to fill
important places in business." The school year was
divided into four quarters of twelve weeks each, and
the tuition of day scholars was fi.xed at $5.00 a quarter,
while the boarding scholars were charged §24.00 a
quarter, unless they were children of widows, in
which case the usual charge was diminished one- fourth.
Yet during the last few years of the school $30.00 a
quarter appears to have been the customary price for
boarders. Thirty boarding scholars and ten day
scholars were considered a full school, though more
than forty scholars were often in attendance. The
whole number of pupils from first to last was not less
than a thousand. Some of these, after further study,
entered the Christian ministry, several became pro-
fessors in colleges, the legal profession was chosen by
some, and the medical by others ; but a large part of
the pupils engaged in business, and many of them
with marked success. The names that appear on the
school catalogues are generally household words with
the people of Newton, though many pupils came from
Boston, and some from distant places.

The eminent success of this school was due in great
measure to the energy, decision, promptness and
sterling character of Mr. Rice, seconded by the moth-
erly care of his excellent wife. By their earnest co-
operation it was made one of the best schools in New
England, ilr. Rice had remarkable tact in the man-
agement of boys; his methods of discipline were

various and often original. For example: an offender
was sometimes tried by a court and jury of fellow-
students, and their decision as to his guilt or inno-
cence, and the extent and quality of punishment of
the guilty, was respected by Mr. Rice. The severest
punishment imposed upon the offender by the court
was confinement at meal times and during play hours
for one, two or three days, according to the gravity of
the offence, in " the dungeon," a dark closet under the
front stairs. A jailor was appointed to carry bread
and water to the culprit.

It is said that among the pupils were sometimes
boys who preferred to stay from church on Sunday,
and who would complain of illness as meeting-time
approached. Master Rice always respected their ex-
cuses, kindly put them tombed for the day, and fed
them on gruel. It may be superfluous to say that
this treatment not only cured the disease, but gen-
erally prevented any recurrence.

Mr. Rice was also ingenious in methods of awaken-
ing interest in study, and in testing the self-control
of his pupils. He would occasionally give them a
diflScult example in arithmetic, and while they were
doing it, tell a most interesting story. His un-
swerving integrity and religious life were also sources
of power, and it would be difficult to estimate more
I highly than we ought, their effect on the characters
of the young people under his charge.

Mr. Rice became interested in temperance and
joined the Friendly Society, a temperance organiza-
I tion, about the year 1830, at which time he had in
[ his cellar a quantity of cherry bounce and other
home-made liquors, closely sealed in kegs, and the
question rose : "What shall be done with it?" It
stayed in the cellar two winters, but the following
spring Mr: Rice had made up his mind as to its dis-
position, and, calling his boys together, he directed
I them to take the kegs to an adjacent hill-side, out
I with the bungs, and let it run down the water-courses,
I thus effectually giving them an object lesson on the
I best use of intoxicants.

I He was very successful in interesting his pupils in
gardening, giving each a plot of ground which he
! could plant with vegetables or flowers, and tend at his
I pleasure. If any of his pupils have failed to be good
I citizens or capable men of business, or sincere Chris-
I tians, it is not for want of wise counsel and worthy
1 example on the part of their teachers, Mr. and Mrs.
I Rice.

Mr. Moses Burbank's School. — The next year afler
I Mr. Rice closed his school, Mr. Moses Burbank opened
I a private school for boys in the basement of Ihe old
! Baptist Church, and kept it till 1852.
i The Academy iit Xetc/on Centre, 1831-60. — In Sep-
tember, 1830, several persons who realized the poverty
of the public schools, and desired to furnish for their
girls an opportunity for higher and better education,
met and took measures to establish a female academy
in the village. Mr. Rice's school was mostly for boys,

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and he heartily entered into the project, and sold to
the Building Commiltee land for a site, for the small
sum of fifty dollars. The academy was incorporated
March 5, 1831, under the name of " The Newton Fe-
male Academy." Miss Leach was appointed its precep-
tress March 9th, with a salary of $250 for six months,
or, if she should remain a year, §350 for the year.
Tuition was fixed at §5 per term, the year to contain
four terms. A hoarding-house was erected in 1831,
and provision made the next year for furnishing din-
ner to outside pupils, if they desired, at ten cents a
day.

In 1832 the preceptress was changed, and again
changed in 1833. In 1834 Mr. Elbridge Hosmer took
both the academy and boarding-house; these he
bought in 1836 for 13500^ and sold the same in 1837
to Mr. Ebenezer Woodward, who kepta very successful
school for six and a half years, when he sold to Mr.
Wood, who resold the property in 1848 to Rev. John
B. Hague. Under Mr. Hague the school took high
rank. During the year ending April 9, 1850, it num-
bered fifty pupils, with special teachers in Latin, Ger-
man, French and Italian, also in music and drawing ;
Dr. Alvah Hovey, afterwards president of the Newton
Theological Seminary, instructing in Latin and Ger-
man. Attention was paid to the higher mathematics,
rhetoric and belles-lettres, intellectual and moral
science, the natural sciences and history. The school
year was divided into three terms; price of board and
tuition, fifty dollars a term.

The academy seems to have been very unfortunate
in the frequent changes of teachers. Mr. Hague sold
his interest in 1851 to Mr. E. H. Barstow, who changed
it into a school for boys and young men, receiving
many of Mr. Burbank's pupils (Mr. Burbank having
closed his school about this time). Mr. Barstow taught
about nine years, when his health failed and the
school was abandoned, the building being sold and
changed into a boarding-house.

Othee Private Schools. — Many other private
schools might be named in this and the other vil-
lages, but of which little is known. There was Dr.
Charles Siedhofs fine classical school, kept for some
years in Newton Centre, on the German system ; here
half a dozen boarding pupils and a dozen day pupils
were ably instructed iu ancient and modern lan-
guages ; an excellent boys' school, opened by Mr.
Hunt when " his occupation was gone," on the closing
of the High School department in the Centre Public
School. There was a good girls' school in the same
village, established about 1860, and kept for some
years by a Miss Cornelius, daughter of the Mrs. Cor-
nelius whose cook-books have added much since
their publication to the health of our tables and the
comfort of our homes.

The Preston Cottage and Hillside School, near
Newton proper, and Mr. Weld's school in Auburn-
dale, about 1850, should be named. Undoubtedly,
many more might be numbered and teachers might

be named who labored faithfully and well, but who
cannot now be singled out from the shades of the past.

Young Ladies' Academy, Nexvtoi>.. — But there was
one famous school and one famous teacher in Newton
in the very earliest part of this century, of whom
much can be gleaned — the priv.-ite school for girls
commenced some time previous to 1807, and taught for
about twelve years in the brick part of the Nonantum
House by Mrs. Rawson, who, with her husband and
son, resided in the building. Mrs. Rawson was a
noted woman in her day, brilliant and versatile, "an
authoress, poet and editor." " Charlotte Temple,"
the well-known novel, was from her pen. She wrote
several other novels and some popular songs ; among
them, "America, Commerce and Freedom," and
" When Rising from Ocean." Her father, who had
been retired from the British navy, was a Tory, and
lived in Revolutionary times in Hull, Mass., till be
was banished from thence in 1778, when he went to
England, and there his daughter Susanna married
William Rawson, a trumpeter of the Royal Horse
Guards.

Mr. Rawson was a famous trumpeter, and after
coming to this country he used to play the trumpet
for the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston. It is
said that when his trumpet sounded in the "Messiah,"
at the passage, "The trumpet shall sound and the
dead shall be raised," one could almost see the graves
opening and the dead quickening into life.

While in Newton, caring for her sixty young lady
pupils, whom she instructed in manners and in morals
as well, she publi.'-hed a volume entitled "Miscellan-
eous Poems," by Susanna Rawson, Preceptress of the
Ladies' Academy, Newton, Mass., a volume of 227
pages wiih 245 subscribers, whose names were printed
in the book. She also prepared and published many
other books while teaching. Her adopted daughter.
Miss Frances M. Mills, assisted and succeeded her,
and afterwards became the mother of Mrs. Georgianna
Hall, the authoress, and by a second marriage, of
Richard S. Spofford, the Essex County statesman.

It is said that Mrs Rawson's school was among the
first, female seminaries if it was not the very first in
the United States. The date of its establishment is
put by one author at 1803, by another somewhere after
1804, and by another at 1800, which makes it difficult
to decide which should claim seniority and bear the
palm for being the first female seminary of the United
States, this or the Ipswich Female Academy, founded
in 1803.

Mrs. Rawson numbered among her pupils young
ladies from far and near. Many a beautiful girl from
the West Indies made her home with her, and two
young daughters of Governor Claiborne, of South
Carolina, graced her fireside. The following an-
nouncement of her school appeared in the Columbia
Sentinel, April 15, 1807:

'* Young Ladies' Academt, Newton.
"Mre. Bawson and Mn. Hoawell bog leave to inform tbcir friends

/ / 1 ( -^

>Z--.

NEWTON.

that their spring quarter will commence in April, and that every accom-
modation 19 provided for the comfort of their pupils, and every attention
will be paid to their mADuen, morals und improvemeDt. The drawing
will be taught, the ensuing season, in a new and superior style, Mrs.
Ranson having received instructions lately for the purpose from a pro-
feiised master of the art. Terms as usual. Music by Mr. G. Graupner.
Dancing by Mr. G. Shaffer."

After leaving Newton Mrs. Rawaon established a
similar school in Roxbury.

Private Schools ix Successful Operation ix
1890. — Laseil Seminary for Young Women, Auburn-
dale, established in 1851. — Lasell Seminary was found-
ed by Edward Lasell, Professor of Chemistry in Wil-
liams College, and incorporated in the same year. It
was fortunately placed in Auburndale, a charming
and healthful ward of Newton.

Professor Lasell lived only long enough to see his
plans for a girls' school of high rank successful. For
ten years after his death the work was carried on by
his brother Jos iah, and his brother-in-law, George W.
Briggs.

In 1862 Rev. Charles W. Gushing became principal
and proprietor. In 1873 he sold the seminary and
grounds to ten prominent men of Boston, who became
a body of trustees. They refitted the institution with
bteam heat, gas, new furniture, pianos, etc., and in
1874 made Mr. Charles C. Bragdon principal. He
soon proved to be the right man for the place.
Though young, he had had seven years' experience in
leaching. Graduated by a university at home, he had
entered one abroad, and while continuing his studies
gained much from travel and keen observation. Of
great energy and perseverance and " extraordinarily
independent in mind and character," he takes the
broadest views, yet is patient with the smallest detail.
He put a determined shoulder to the wheel and the
progress, year by year, has been phenomenal.

In 1874 there were twenty pupils; now there are more
than six times as many. The building was doubled
in size in 1881 at a cost of over thirty thousand dol-
lars, yet every year from thirty to forty applicants are
refused for want of room, the persistent policy being
in favor of a small school. And while paying otf
heavy debts the improvements without and within
make the old place almost unrecognizable.

Among these improvements are the pictures that
turn the beautiful studio into an art gallery, adorn
the walls everywhere, and fill the folios and the cabi-
net. There are a goodly number in color, oil and
water, — a fair number originals, — with many photo-
graphs and engravings. In all, the catalogue has
nearly nineteen hundred, and additions are frequent.
Mainly the collection was made by the principal in
Europe, where he takes summer parties of the pupils
and their friends.

The library is the nucleus of a fair one for reference.
The old dining-room has given way to a large and
handsome successor. The old gymnasium is now a
well-fitted laboratory for class and individual work.
The new gymnasium, built in 1883, an uncommonly

fine one, ia in charge of a pupil of Dr. Sargent, of
Cambridge, ia carried on upon the principles of which
he is the chief apostle, and is in some sease still in
his care.

The lower story holds a ten-pin alley and natator-
ium. The water in the ample tank ia heated and
changed often. An accomplished instructor in swim-
ming ia employed.

A resident physician looks after the health, habits
of dress, recreation, etc., of the pupils. With the
care and regular hours many a weak girl gains
strength, and to be " delicate " is no longer in good
taste.

One teacher is devoting herself to the training of
the nerves, having recently studied the subject in
London. The direct object is not health, — though it
must serve it, — but concentration of the facUltiea to
obtain the highest activity by self-control.

In 1877 Lasell took a new departure. Believing the
chief buainess of women to be home-making, and see-
ing that the conflict with the present dire domestic prob-
lems is often greater than they can bear, experts and
specialists were brought to counsel and instruct. Mra.
Helen Campbell treated of domestic acience in gene-
ral ; Mrs. Croly (Jennie June), of dress. Miss Mar-
ion Talbot, of Boston, gives annually a course of lec-
tures upon home sanitation. This, with practical il-
lustrations, visiting buildings to examine the plumb-
ing, etc., is a feature of the school of much importance
—a unique one it is believed.

Miss Parloa began giving demonstrations in cook-
ingj and has had several worthy successors, while vol-
unteers and advanced pupils cook in small classes,
and prizes are given for the best bread. Dreaa-cutting
and making have long proved a succeaa, and one
notable class of juniors at their reception wore dresaea
of their own handiwork, and served the guests with
viands of their own cooking.

Millinery is taught, also photography, ahort-hand
and type-writing. Some pupils have found in these
lines their natural power, and means of pecuniary
profit.

Lasell is a pioneer in another direction. In 1882
Mr. Alfred Hemenway, of Boston, gave a course of
lectures explanatory of the principles of common
law. This has become a yearly course, but now in
1890 he also sends a lady, a practitioner of Boston,
who especially emphasizes the peculiarities of the
law aa applied to women. The girls receive her
simple, untechnical instruction gladly. They begin
to understand that women have suffered bitterly from
ignorance on these pointa.

With all the practical work, the standard of the
school has constantly risen. Algebra is now a study
of the Preparatory year, and the demands for entrance
to the Freshman class are on a scale commensurate
with this level. The work in history, literature,
English and natural sciences is specially ample. Mr.
William J. Rolfe has a class in Shakespeare, and

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

eminent specialists in various departments use all the
time that can be spared in the most valuable lectures,
free to all pupils. The persistent refusal to gratify a
natural ambition for a /ar^re school bears its fruit in
the more careful attention to those who share its
many rich opportunities.

The pupils edit and publish a monthly, the profits
of which form a loan fund to help girls in education.
The pupils are not required to pais regular or fore-
known examinations, nor to recite in pubiic on any
occasion. The whole plan shows intelligent and
fearless consideration of the serious problems of the
education of girls. The overflowing patronage
proves the estimate of thoughtful parents of their
solution at Lasell.

West yewion English and Classical School was estab-
lished 1S54. This school is an outgrowth of the Nor-
mal School system of the State ; the principal and
associate principals having been trained in the Nor-
mal School at Bridgewater.

On the removal of the West Newton State Normal
School to Framingham the building and groutds
which it had hitherto occupied were purchased, and
the school was opened under its present title in 1854,
by Mr. Nathaniel T. Allen, who had successfully
taught the Model School for the six previous years,
and Rev. Cyrns Peirce, former principal of the Nor-
mal School. Among its early patrons and constant
friends were Hon. Horace Mann, Rev. Samuel J.
May (second principal of the Normal School,) Dr.
Samuel G. Howe (superintendent of the Blind
Asylum, Boston ) Hon. Charles Sumner, Hon. George
B.Emerson, Rev. Theodore Parker and Dr. Thomas
Hill, ex-president of Harvard College.

In 1855, an act of incorporation was secured from
the Legislature. The incorporators were Nathaniel
T. Allen, George E. .\llen and James T. Allen. Mr.
George E. Allen died in 1888; the Messrs. Nathaniel
T. and James T. Allen are still (1890) at the head of
the institution. Mr. Peirce taught in the school but
a short time and died in 1860.

Among the former and present teachers of the
school may be named many of a world-wide reputa-
tion. Dr. William A. Alcott's book on " The Laws of
Health" was first delivered in the form of lectures to
this school ; Dr. Die Lewis was connected with the
school for eight years, and here taught his first class
in free gymnastics in Massachusetts; Mr. Joseph
Allen, the successful superintendent of the Westboro'
State Reform School, was for many years an associate
principal in the school ; Rev. T. Prentiss Allen, Mrs.
S. R. Urbino, Rev. Jo.ieph H. Allen, professor at
Harvard University, William F. Allen, professor in
Madison University, and many others might be
named.

The instruction is baaed on the principles of Froebel
and Pestalozzi, and aims symmetrically to develop the
body, mind and heart. Here the first kindergarten
in Massachusetts was established in 1864.

The course of study embraces full English and
classical courses for* a secondary education ; also pre-
paratory studies. The regular academic course occu-
pies five years ; the classical course, four years.
Throughout the latter, written translations and
analyses of the authors studied are required. Pro-
vision is made for pupils who require direct personal
attention, as in the case of exceptionally backward
pupils, or those pursuing an advanced course of study
or of foreigners. Among the teachers are those who
speak French, German, Spanish and Italian.

The library contains five 'hundred volumes. The
mineralogical cabinet is large ; the natural history
collection is good; the apparatus is excellent ; the
drawing-room is well supplied with casts and models.
There is a complete supply of apparatus for heavy
and light gymnastics. Instruction is given, and ex-
ercise is required of all in the gymnasium. A swim-
ming pond at the residence of one of the principals is
an added attraction. Music and dancing are taught.

In addition to the instruction g'iven in school-
hours, the pupils enjoy the privilege of the School
Lyceum and Natural History Society. The weekly
meetings of the Lyceum, conducted by ofl^icers of
their own number, chosen by the members, ailbrd
in many ways opportunity for manly development,
mental discipline and self-reliance, to which graduates
of the school look back in grateful remembrance.
One of the principals is present at all the meetings of
the Lyceum. With this constant supervision the
Lyceum is regarded as among the most valuable
advantages offered by the institution.

From the first this has been a family school for
both sexes. It is believed by the proprietor.'* of the
school that in many ways .association of the sexes in
the family and in the school has great advantages,
aflbrding a better moral development and a more
healthy stimulus than is possible where the sexes are
educated separately. Pupils from out of town are
grouped in families. This secures a careful oversight
of each of the number grouped together and provides
for much of family life and of individual study and
discipline. It is believed that this school, by rigid
discipline, wise training and careful culture of all the
powers with reference to individual peculiarities and
needs, educates its pupils to useful citizenship, to
single-hearted patriotism, and to a noble Christian
manhood and womanhood.

Since its organization, up to 1890, over one thou-
sand pupils havegraduated from the school; more than
one hundred have come from foreign countries, be-
tween three and four hundred from States outside of
Massachusetts, and nine hundred from towns outside
of Newton.

Miss Spear' n English and Classical School. — This
school was established in 1865, on Washington Street,
Newton. Its aim is to furnish a through practical
English and classical education for girls. To this end
the school is divided into three departments, each

NEWTON.

under charge of a special teacher ami all under the
general supervision of the principal. The work of
each department occupies from three to four years.
The average number of pupils ii fifty; their ages
from six to twenty years. There are five regular
teachers and three pupil teachers, also special teach-
ers in French, German, Music and Elocution.

Riverside Uoine and Day School for Girls. — This
school was established in 1882. Its special design is
to prepare girls for Wellesley and other colleges.
The resident pupils are limited to twenty, under the
care of the principal. Miss Delia T. Smith. The
couree of study i.« regular and systematic. Pupils
who satisfactorily complete the college preparatory
course are received at Wellesley College without
furtlier examination. French and German are taught
by resident native teachers of successful experience.
Lectures and concerts at Wellesley Ccllege are open
to pupils of this school.

Mr. E. H. Caller's Preparatory School for Boys and
Girh, Seidon.—ln. September, 1887, Mr. E. H. Cutler
opened a preparatory school for boys. At the close
of the second year seven of the graduates were pre-
pared for college. At the commencement of the third
year, at the solicitation of some citizens of Newton, a
department for girls was established, and up to ^^arch, \
1890, the total number of pupils was: boys, thirty;
girls, four ; total, thirty-four. By limiting the num-
ber of pupils, Mr. Cutler is enabled to give each pupil
his personal attention ; and, having had a long and |
successful experience in preparatory work, is admir-
ably fitted to prepare pupils for college or for techni- '
cal school*. :

The Misses Allen's Day and Boarding-School, Vernon !
Street, Newton, 1888. — Here girls can be prepared for
college with all the advantages of a home life. There
are special teachers in the classic?, modern languages,
music, drawing and painting. Miss Alice Ranlett is i
the acting principal. Although in the second year
only of its existence, the school is pronounced a sue- i
cess. I

[N'oTE. — Since tlic abovo was writtPQ, ihis hi:1iooI, by rca&ou of tlio
death of one of the propriutors, has beeu gh'eu up. J [

CHAPTER IV.

NE rrrOA— ( ConHmied).

N'KWTON THKOr.OtaCAI, IN.STITL'TtON.

RV PROF. ALVAH HOVrV.

This school was opened at Newton Centre on the
2Sth of October, 1825, and was incorporated by an
act of the General Cuurt of Massachusetts, approved
by Governor Levi Lincoln on the 22il of February,
182(). It was the first theological seminary o( a high

grade established by Baptists in the United States,
and it will therefore be suitable to mention a few
things which led more or less directly to its estab-
lishment.

At the annual meeting of the Boston Baptist Asso-
ciation on September 21 and 22, 1814, the letter of
the Second Baptist Church in Boston, written by Dr.
Thomas Baldwin, suggested " the propriety and im-
portance of forming an education society to aflTord aid
to those of our young brethren who are desirous of
engaging in the ministry, in obtaining literary and
theological information." This suggestion was re-
ceived wiih favor, and referred to a committee of three,
— the Rev. Daniel Merrill, the Rev. Luther Rice and
Mr. Ensign Lincoln. The report of this committee
recommended the formation of the society proposed,
"and presented the draft of a constitution, which
was promptly adopted." Thus the Masiachuaetts
Baptist Education Society came into existence. In
the eleventh annual report of this society, written by
Rev. Ebenezer Nelson, and presented in 1825, cccurs
the following paragraph :

'* Besides attending to the ordinary duties the post year, your Com.
niittee have, iu compliance with the recomroendation of a larf^e tueetiug
of niiiiisters and other brethren convened in Boston, May'25, 1825, tukeu
into conbidemtioD the estabtisboient of a Theological Seminary in the
vicinity of Boston. This measure has for many years been in contem-
plation. Your Committee are now convinced that the time has arrived
to buiid this part of tho Lord's house. Although attempts have been
made to establish Theological departments in connection with two of
our colleges, and some success has &ttended them, yet your Committee
are of upiuion that a Theological lostitution established by itself aluno,
where the combined powers of two or three or more men of experience,
and men of God, can be employed in instructing and forming the ruan-
ucrs and habits and character of young men for the work of the minis-
try, is pically to be preferred. They have therefore appointed two sub-
committees — one to draw up a genenil plan for an [nsiitutiun and
inquire concerning a suitable place for its location, and the other to
solicit donations and subscriptions, both which have made some progress.
The Committee are well aware that the step they are about to lake is .-i
very important one. The work before them involves great responsibil-
ities. Whatever is done iu relation to this Institution will have a bear-
ing upon the great Interests of the Redeemer's Kingdom, and especially
upon the denomination with which we stand connected,"

The " two colleges" which had Theological Depart-
ments connected with them were located, one in
Waterville, Me., and the other in Washington, D. C.
— now Colby University and Columbian University.
At the head of the former was Dr. Jeremiah Chaplin,
an able scholar and divine, and in the faculty of the
latter was Dr. Irah Chae, afterwards so influential
in fixing the character of Newton Theological Insti-
tution. But the trustees of Waterville College had.
at length, become satisfied that they could not build
up a good seminary and college together with the
resources at their command, and about the same time
Dr. Chase had reached the conclusion that a satisfac-
tory course of theological instruction could not be main-
tained in Columbian College. The way was therefore
open fortheestablishment of an independentaeminary
wherever it could be most useful, and providentially
there were at that time a number of far-seeing and
liberal Baptists in Eastern Massachusetts who were

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

prepared to commence the important work. But
they did not expect to tinish it in their own day.
For it has been Irulysaid: " The denomination was
not yet strong enough in men of intelligence and
wealth to justify an efTort on a large scale. The be-
ginning must necessarily be small ; but men of faith
and hope felt that the beginning should not longer
be delayed. They would do what they could by lay-
ing a foundation on which their successors might
build, and thus gradually make the school, such as
the growing wants of the churches might demand.
They had no experience in such an enterprise; they
had no precedent as a guide ; but they understood
what was needed, and were disposed to do their best
towards furnishing a supply."

Although the founders of this institution had no
expectation of completing the work which they began
or of making a great school at the start, with large
appliances in the way of teachers, books and build-
ings, they had a very definite grade of instruction in
mind, and purposed that it should not be inferior in
quality or amount to that furnished by the best theo-
logical seminaries of which they had any knowledge.
Those seminaries were Andover, founded in 1807, and
Princeton, founded in 1812, in both of which a full
course occupied three years. It was their purpose to
establish a school of equal excellence with those at
Andover and Princeton, yet differing from them in
the emphasis which should be laid upon biblical
study. The following statement was published by
the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Bap-
tist Education Society, November 9, 1825, less than
two weeks after the seminary was opened by the Rev.
Irah Chase, who had been appointed, for the time
being, Professor of iJiblical Theology :

" The regular course is to occupy three jeare, and embrace the Hebrew
language aod aDtiquities, with the Chaldee and Greek uf tiie sciiptures,
Kccleaiaatical Uistory, Biblical Theology, Pastoral Duties, and, in bliurt,
the Tarloua studies and exercises appropriate to a theulogical institution
dbsigned to assist those who would understand the Bible clearly, and, as
faithful ministers of Christ, inculcate its divine lessons the njoat use-
fully." More particularly :

"To the department of Ecclesiastical HUtory will be referred in-
struction on the evidences of the Chrialiiin religion ; on the formation,
preservation, transmission and canonical authority of the sacred vol-
ume ; on the history, character, influence, and uses of the ancient ver-
sions and manuhcripts of the Old Testameut and of the New ; on mod-
em translations, especially on the history of our common English ver-
sion ; on the principal editions of the original Scriptures ; on the ancient
and the Bubsefjuent history of the Hebrews, and, aa far as may be re-
quisite, of the nationa with whose hirttory that of the Hebrew is con-
nected ; on the history of CUrislianity, and the various opinions and
practices which, under its name, have been supported, with tbe causes
and tbe consequences ; un the attempts of reformation, and on the pres-
ent state aa well aa the origin of the different denominations of pro-
fessed Christiana, and of unbelievers, and the unevangelized throughout
the world.

*' To the sphere of Diblical Theology it will belong to aid the students
in acquiring a knowledge of the s.icred Scriptures in the original lan-
guages, as well aa in the Eng'ish ; t > guide them to correct principles of
interpretation, and habituate them to employ, in seeking to underntancl
the various parte of the Bible, all those heipt which may be derived
from the different branches of biblical literature ; to analy2e, and lead
the students to analyze, in the original, the most important portions of
the Old Testament, and tbe whole, if possible, of Iho New, exhibiting
the scope of the respective paris, and whatever of doctrinal or of prac-

tical import they may contain, and showing hoic they are applicable at
the preseut day, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction ii: righteousness ; and having thus surveyed the rich
field of Scrtpture; and viewed the products as scvtlered profusely on
every ?ide by the bounteous hand of God, the professor is, for the sake
of convenient reference, to clitasify and arrange the particulars, and, for
tbia purpose, to bring the students to the examination of a series of
theological subjects, in such a manner as most to awaken tbe efforts of
tbe genuine disciple of Christ, and lead him to search the Scriptures.

" Under the head of Pastoral Duties, it will be required to give in-
struction in the nature, objects, difficulties, responsibilities and supports
of the pastoral office ; on the greai work of preaching the Gospel ; on the
various ways and occasions of promoting the welfare of a church, and
commending the Gospel to the consciences of luen by private labors aa
well an by public preaching, exhoriation and prayer; on the dangers of
the preacher, and the appropriate guards ; on his visits to persons in
health and in ^iickness, and in other aitliction ; and on ndmiuistering
consolation, or reproof, or instruction, or entreaty, as different individ-
uals may need, and us becomes one who is to watch for souls as they thac
must give account.'*

This prospectus establishes two points; Jirst, that
students for the ministry were believed, by the found-
ers of the seminary, to need a course of instruction
more thorough and extended than could be given by
any pastor; for no one can read it without recogniz-
ing the importance of nearly everv part of the course
proposed, and, at the same time, the vast amount of
investigation which it presupposes ; and, second, that
the range of study thus marked out was pre-eminently
Biblical, comprising the history, the criticism, the in-
terpretation, the analysis, the application, and the in-
fluence of the sacred Scriptures, together with suitable
training for the work of preaching and pastoral duty,
but assigning a very subordinate place to systematic
theology, and avoiding the expression altogether. It
may be added that the prospectus quoted above bears
internal evidence of having proceeded from the mind
and pen of Professor Chase. One of his early pupils,
the Rev. William Hague, D.D., testifies that the par-
agraph describing the work to be done in Biblical
Theology " was of his own framing," and " was the
definition of his own life-work." But that paragraph
was of a piece with all the rest, and must have ema-
nated from the same source. And if, as Dr. Hague
affirms, " it is radiant with the idea that had been the
secret of his strength," an idea " which imparts a liv-
ing freshness and energy to every scholar, teacher or
preacher that apprehends it, and is yet destined to
unfold a hidden power in composing the strifes of
Christendom," it is proper to state the fact that thi.-i
idea of making instruction in theology primarily and
chiefly Biblical, instead of systematic or speculative,
has been adhered to through all the history of the
institution. A committee of which the Rev. Baron
Stow, D.D., was chairman, thus refers to the influence
of Dr. Chase upon tbe character of the seminary :
" He was the central mover in the enterprise of
founding it, and around him the friendly elements
cr_vstallized and coalesced. The plan of the institu-
tion was his ; and scarcely a principal feature in its
organization has been changed. For twenty years
his labors as professor were unwearied and self-deny-
ing, and, through all the subsequent years, he never

NEWTON.

faltered in its support, or in hope of its perpetuity.
So long as Newton Institution shall remain, it will
bear the impress of his formative hand."

As before stated, the work of the institution was
begun October 28, 1825, and the act of incorporation
approved February 22, 1826. Eleven trustees were
named in the act, viz.: Joseph Grafton, Lucius
Bolles, Daniel Sharp, .Jonathan Going, Bela Jacobs,
Ebenezer Nelson, Francis Wayland, Jr. and Henry
Jackson, clergymen ; and Ensign Lincoln, Jonathan
Bacheller, Nathaniel R. Cobb, laymeu. At the first
meeting of the trustees, held in Boston, March 13,
1826, the act of incorporation was accepted, a profes-
borship of Biblical Theology established, and the
Rev. Irah Chase elected professor. At the annual
meeting, in Newton Centre, September 14, 1826, a
professorship of Biblical Literature and Pastoral
Duties was established, and the Rev. Henry J. Rip-
ley elected professor. Six years later, on September
13, 1832, this professorship was divided, and the Rev.
James D. Knowles, of Boston, elected to the chair of
Pastoral Duties, an office which he ably filled till
1836, when he resigned that he might become the ed-
itor of the Chrialian Review. Yet, at the request of
the trustees, he continued his services as professor of
Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Duties until his death,
in May, 1838. The Rev. Barnas Sears was chosen
professor of Ecclesiastical History in 1836, and the
Rev. Horatio B. Hackett pro.^ssor of Biblical Litera-
ture and Interpretation, in 1839. There were now
four professors, and in the adjustment of their work,
Barnas Sears was made president and professor of
Christian Theology, Irah Chase, professor of Ecclesi-
astical History, Henry J. Ripley, professor of Sacred
Rhetoric and Pastoral Duties, and Horatio B. Hack-
ett, professor of Biblical Literature and Interpreta-
tion. By uaceaaingand enthusiastic labor, these men
were able to do a large part of the work contemplated
by the founders of the institution.

But what was done meanwhile for the financial
support and general equipment of the institution.
It has been already stated that the Executive Com-
mittee of the Massachusetts Baptist Education So-
ciety appointed two sub-committees in the summer of
1825, " one to draw up a general plan for the Institu-
tion, and to inquire concerning a suitable place for
its location, and the other to solicit donations and
subscriptions." The site fixed upon was in Newton
Centre, about eight miles from Boston, containing
eighty-five acres, on elevated ground commanding a
delightful prospect." Upon the summit of the hill
was a large dwelling-house, with other buildings,
.adapted to a genteel country residence. It was known
as the " Peck E-itate." " The main edifice was of suffi-
cient capacity for all the immediate purposes of the
institution, and the whole property was purchased
for $4250. The necessary alterations in the so-called
"Macision House," were promptly made at an ex-
pense of $3748 ; so that the whole cost of the prem-

ises, fitted for use, was $7998." This sum was con-
tributed by thirty persons and one missionary society.
The committee which solicited and expended this
money was composed as follows: Levi Farwell, Jon-
athan Bacheller, Nathaniel Ripley Cobb, Heman
Lincoln, Ensign Lincoln.

These names should never be forgotten. The men
who bore them were distinguished in their day
for Christian enterprise and liberality. They .were
pillars in the churches to which they belonged, and
steadfast supporters of the foreign mission work. With
moderate incomes, and connected with a denomina*
lion of little wealth, they yet had faith to begin a
school, which, as they foresaw, would never cease to
call for pecuniary assistance. Each of the first three
contributed S1070.15 to the sum raised for the pur-
chase of the estate and the alterat'ona required in the
" Mansion House," while the Lincolns gave respec-
tively $500 and S250, as much perhaps, when mea-
sured by their ability, as was given by the others.

Levi Farwell, of Cambridge, whose name stands at
the head of this committee, was the first treasurer of
the institution, an office which, as Dr. Baron Stow
testifies, "he filled eighteen consecutive years, until
the time of bis death — a period when the institution
was an experiment, and, in many minds, of doubtful
success; when it had no endowment, and when the
funds for current expenses were often procured with
difficulty. Many a time he stood under heavy bur-
dens, sometimes bending, occasionally well-nigh dis-
heartened, yet giving money with a liberal hand, and
personal service to an extent little known and imper-
fectly appreciated." Mr. Farwell was a dignified and
courteous gentleman, moving with grace in the best
society. For many years he was registrar of Harvard
College. In 1833, when the Constitution of Massa-
chusetts was so amended that, for the first time, " the
support of ministers became wholly voluntary," he
was representative fiom the town ol Cambridge, having
been elected with reference to his vote and influence
in favor of religious equality.

Jonathan Bacheller, of Lynn, was a diligent, clear-
sighted, trustworthy man, a Christian of settled prin-
ciples and definite aims, who spent little on himself
and put much into the treasury of the Lord. He was
in business over fifty years, beginning at the age of
twenty-two, with a capital of $200. "He accumulat-
ed," according to the statement of Mrs. Bacheller, after
his death, " about one hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars, one-third of which he gave away while living,
one-third he lost in business, and the remaining third
he gave away at hia decease." His ample forehead,
clear eye and firm mouth were expressive of charac-
ter, intelligence and efficiency.

Nathaniel R. Cobb was a Boston merchant. He is
said to have been a man of great business capacity,
of " acute penetration, rapid decision and uncon-
querable perseverance." Yet he was less distin-
guished for the rapidity with which he accumulated

HISTORY OP MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS

property than for the method with which he dis-
bursed it. His alms were a steady stream, increasing
as his means increased. Soon after entering into
business for himself he drew up the following docu-
ment : " By the grace of God, I will never be worth
more than $50,000. By the grace of God, I will give
one-fourth of the net profits of my business to chari-
table and religious uses. If I am ever worth 820,000
I will give one-half of my net profits; and if I am
ever worth $30,000 I will give three-fourths ; and the
whole after §50,000. So help me, God, or give to a
more faithful steward, and set me aside. N. R. Cobb.''
Under these resolutions he was enabled, within thir-
teen years to give away more than $40,000.

These three original friends of the institution,
Me.'srs. Farwell, Bacheller and Cobb, gave it, in
about equal sums, during life and at death, the aggre-
gate of $57,150 — a small sum in comparison with the
munificent gifts of millionaires in our day — but a
generous sum for the time in which they lived and
for the property which they possessed. Others gave
less, but with equal love to the institurion.

During the first twenty-eight years of its history,
the institution had no permanent endowment. It lived
from hand to mouth in a constant struggle with want.
i\Iore than once its trustees were on the point of giv-
ing up the enterprise. Less than two years after the
seminary was opened, it became evident that the
Mansion House would not long accommodate the in-
creasing number of students. " In 1827, a committee
was appointed to devise a plan for a new building and
to procure the mepns for defraying the expense."
The work was accomplished, and "in 1829 the treas-
urer reported that such a building had been erected
and paid for by subscriptions collected, amounting
to 810,594.12. Towards this sum, the Hon. Nicholas
Brown, of Providence, gave §4,000.'' But it was found
more difficult to meet the current expenses of the
Institution than to obtain subscriptions for the erec-
tion of a necessarj' building. These expenses were j
constantly increasing. In compliance with a petition
addressed to the trustees in 1827, an English and
Preparatory Department was connected wiih the sem-
inary ; but after a few years it was discontinued. In-
crease iu the number of professors was, however,
indispensable, and every additional professor cost at
least §800 a year. On the 11th of March, 1829, be-
tween $5000 and §6000 were reported due to the
treasurer, and Professor Ripley was requested to act
as agent during his next vacation. In April, 1830,
the Rev. E. Nelson was appointed agent to provide
for the professors' salaries by procuring subscriptions
for the annual payment of fifty dollars a year for five
years, and on the 0th of September sixteen shares,
enough to support one professor, had been obtained.
Soon after it was proposed to raise a sinking fund of
$20,000, to support two professors twenty years. On
the 13th of April, 1832, the trustees were informed
that this sum had been subscribed. But at the same

session they received from Professor Ripley a request
for the appointment of a third profefso''. Thus the
struggle between ihe growing w.iuts of the seminary
and the iniideqiiate resources of the Board went on
from year to year, and from lus'jum to lustrum. Plan
followed plan; expedient succeeded expedient; the
cloth was not enough for the garment. For a short
time the Institution was free from debt, but soon its
property must be mortgnged, or the work cease.

In April, 1848, the Rev. T. F. Caldicott was ap-
pointed financial agent to raise the sum of §30,000,
but his efforts to accomplish this were unsuccessful.
In August, 1849, the treiusurer was authorized to sell
a part of the Institution lands to remove a mort-
gage of 810,000 on the property, and soon after ten
shares of stock in the Western Railroad, to meet the
needs of the treasury. In April, 1851. the Rev. J. W.
Parker, D.D., was invited to raise §-30,000, but his
attempt to do this was attended with only partial suc-
cess, for it was seen that the sum was ni.t large enough
to place the seminary out of danger. Hence the Rev.
Horace T. Love was chosen financial agent on the 23d
of February, 1852, and on the loth of the next month
it was voted to raise a permanent fund of 8100,000,
and the trustees subscribed on the spot 835,000 to-
wards this amount. In due time the whole sum,
§117,228.38, was raised, andof this $100,000 was made
the beginning of an endowment to meet the regular
expenses of the school.

But the joy of the guardians of the Institution soon
gave way to anxiety and fear. For, contrary to the
hopes of many, it soon appeared that the interest of
8100,000 would not support a first-class seminary.
The foe, which it was fondly thought had been van-
quished, was still in the field, and was preparing to
come upon them again, "like an armed man.'' But
they naturally dreaded the encounter, and more than
ten years were passed in feints and skirmishes and
guerilla warfare, before the trustees and friends re-
newed the battle in earnest. It was decided in Decem-
ber. 1867, that " an additioual endowment of $150,000
ought to be raised at an early day," and after two or
three unsuccessful experiments, the Rev. W. H.
Eaton, D.D., was appointed in December, 1869, to
raise money for this endowment. By his well-directed
efforts, supplemented, at, the last, by the powerful ex-
ertions of a few distinguished brethren, especially
Gardner Colby, the president of the Board, and the
Hon. J. Warren Jlerrill, the sum of 8211,404.00 was
raised by subscriptions varying from §1 to §18,000.
This was expected to net, after expenses and possible
losses, at least $200,000. It was felt to be a great and
wise contribution to the cause of sacred learning, and
those who shared in it were certainly entitled to re-
joice.

In 1866 a new building for the library, chapel and
lecture-rooms was completed at a cost of nearly §40.000,
and was dedicated on the 10th of September. It was
named Colby Hall, in honor of the largest con-

NEWTON.

tributor, Mr. Gardner Colby. In 1870-71 Farwell
Hall, the central building, wa3 refitted, provided with
a fourth story, mansard roof, and with apparatus for
heating it with steam, at an expense of $12,000. In
1872-73 Sturtevant Hall was erected at a cost of about
$40,000, more than one-half of which was contributed
by Mr. B. F. Sturtevant, of Jamaica Plain. About
the same time the Mansion House was taken down
and a brick edifice built for a gymnasium.

During the last twelve years the scholarships of the
institution have been increased to the number of
forty-two ($42,000), a Professors-hip of Elocution has
been founded ($50,000), the Library <und has been
raised from $10,000 to $22,400 ; $60,000 have been
added by two bequests to the general endowment, and
a special bequest of $20,000 towards a new library
building will probably be soon paid into the treasury.
It may also be stated, in this connection, that a mem-
ber of the North Orange Baptist Church, N. J., gave
$500 yearfy to five students selected by the Faculty,
during a period of about sixteen years ; that Mr. D.
S. Ford paid for three courses of lectures, delivered to
the students by distinguished scholars, at a cost of
about $300acourse; that the Hon. J. Warren Merrill
provided five courses of eight or ten lectures each, at
a cost of $2700, and that a great number of practical
addresses, at once instructiveand inspiring, have been
made without charge to the students by ministers
and laymen. The following are the names of paid
lecturers from a distance : Dra. George P. -Fisher,
Henry G. Weston, George Dana Boardman, Edwards
A. Park, George Ide Chace, Ebenezer Dodge, John A.
Broadus, John C. Long, William H. Green, G. D. B. j
Pepper, Samuel L. Caldwell, James B. Angell, John 1
Hall, Frederick Gardner, David J. Hill, Selah Mer- \
rill. The full course of lectures by William Henry !
Green, D.D., on "The Hebrew Feasts," was published i
by the .Vppletons, N. Y., 1885, and the course by
President David J. Hill. LL.D., on "The Social
Influence of Christianity,", by Silver, Burditt & Co.,
Boston, 1888. The lectures of Prof. George Ide
Chace, LL.D., on "The Existence of God," were
printed in " A Memorial " after his death, and are
worthy of general circulation.

This reference to lectures and addresses by dis-
tinguished gentlemen not belonging to the Faculty,
during the last twelve years, furnishes a natural
point of transition from the financial history of
the institution to the enlargement of its curriculum
and work. For, in education, buildings and funds are
only means to an end, while occasional lectures and
addresses have an immediate though intermittent
relation to that end. But the character and growth
of a theological seminary depend chiefly on its
teacher-*, that is, on the enlargement and improve-
ment of their work. This may be easily shown in
the present case by tracing the widening range of in-
struction in several depaitments.

At first the Professor of Biblical Literature and In-

terpretation was required to give instruction in
Homiletics also. This continued about seven years.
During the next twelve years the professor was reliev-
ed of his work in the Department of Homiletics, but
still had sole charge of the work in Hebrew and
Greek literature and interpretation. During the next,
twenty-two years he was provided with an assistant
instructor in Hebrew, whose service covered a little
more than half the academic year. During the
eighteen following years two professors were assigned
to the Department of Biblical Literature, one for the
Old Testament and one for the New, while a course
of interpretation in the English Scriptures was given
by otht-r officers to those who could not take
Hebrew and Greek. Since 1886 two professors have
given their whole time, and a third half his time, to
the Biblical department. And the amount of in-
struction in this department has increased pari passu
with the increase of the teaching force. This will
not aurpri.se any one who is familiar with Biblical
inquiries.

Thus, instruction is now given in the Syriac,
Arabic and Assyrian languages, as well aa in the
Greek, Hebrew and Aramiean. In relation to the
New Testament, textual criticism has been raised
during the last fifty years to the dignity of a science,
while in rtlation to the Old Testament it is claiming
more and more attention. Hence textual criticism
has been introduced into the course of studies. Again,
the so-called h'gher criticism, which discusses ail
questions respecting the age, character and author-
ship of the several books, paragraphs or sentences
of Scripture, has become an engrossing study, thrust
I'pon scholars by the advocates of religious evolution.
Meanwhile geographical research- in the lands of the
Bible has been prosecuted with wonderful success,
and the fruits of it have a distinct place assigned
to them in the curriculum. The topographical sur-
veys of Palestine, the exhuming of cities, palaces
and temples in Egypt and Babylonia and the decipher-
ing of inscriptions in stone and brick, have cast a
flood of light on the sacred record. Jewish Antiqui-
ties are revealed, not only by the Bible and Josephus,
but also by uncovered pillars and walls.

Again, no regular provision was made in the early
years of the seminary for instruction in elocution.
Occasionally a small sum of money was contributed
by the students, and duplicated by the trustees, for
the purpose of securing a dozen or twenty lessons in
elocution from some professional teacher ; but the
state of the treasury forbade anything more than this
until, in 1870, the Rev. Alva Woods, D.D., of Provi-
dence, established an elocutionary fund of $3000,
soon increased by him to $5000. By reason of this
fund the senior classes, during the next fourteen
years, had the benefit of vocal training once a week
by such teachers as Stacy Baxter, Lebrun T. Conlee
and L. A. Butterfield. The results were encouraging,
but not perfectly satisfactory. Too little time was

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

given to the culture of the voice; and when, by a
bequest of Samuel C. Davis, of Roxbury, in 1884,
$20,000 was offered to the trustees, provided they
would raise $30,000 in addition to this bequest, and
with the whole sum of 5550,000 establish a Professor-
ship of elocution, the condition was fulfilled by the
friends of the institution, and since 1885 Mr. S. S.
Curry, of Boston, has been Acting Davis Professor of
Elocution, to the great advantage of the students.

Looking back over the history of the institution,
the following gentlemen have contributed for its sup-
port not less than the sums put after their names :
Gardner Colby, $100,000; J. Warren Merrill, S50,000;
Samuel C. Davia, $30,000 ; B. F. Sturtevant, $24,000 ;
J. C. Hartshorne, $22,000 ; Levi Farwell, $19,050 ;
Jonathan Bacheller, $19,050; Nathaniel R. Cobb,
$19,050; Gardner R. Colby, $11,000; Lawrence
Barnes, $10,000 ; George S. Dexter, $13,000; Thomas
Nickerson, $9000; J. H. Walker, $7000, and Michael
Shepherd, Elijah Corey, Nicholas- Brown, H. K. and
H. A. Pevear, H. S. Chase, George Cummings, George
D. Edmunds, Robert O. Fuller, George Lawton, Alva
Woods and Lewis Colby, from S5000 to $8000 each,
while hundreds more have given smaller sums with
no less sacrifice.

It is needless to describe the increase of work in
other departments, but it may be said, with truth,
that in every one an attempt has been made to keep
pace with the progress of sober, theological inquiry,
so that the school may fulfill the purpose of its found-
ers. The amount of work to be done has increased as
rapidly as the number of teachers who are expected
to do it. Neither Dr. Chase nor Dr. Ripley, neither
Dr. Sears nor Dr. Hackett, had more in.struction
upon his hands than any one of the six professors
now engaged in service. Yet for many years there
were but three professors in the seminary. Then and
now the field of investigation was practically unlim-
ited. Acd then, during the first twenty-five years of
the seminary, the professors were men of eminent
worth and ability. Frequent reference has been
made to Dr. Irah Chase, the first professor. It is uot
too much to say of him that he was distinguished for
patient investigation, accurate learning and consist-
ent piety. Though slow of speech, what he said was
always to the point and worthy of confidence, so that
he commanded respect when he did not excite ad-
miration. Many of his writings were controversial,
but they were models of candor and courtesy. " On
all the pages that he has written," said Dr. Hackett
at his funeral, "you will search in vain for one cen-
sorious word." And Dr. Ripley testified on the same
occasion that "religion in him was all pervading and
absorbing." Such a man was the first professor.

And the second, Dr. Henry J. Ripley, was his peer
in Christian devotion and learning. A native of Bos-
ton and a meda! scholar of its Latin School, he was
graduated from Harvard College in 181G, and from
Andover Theological Seminary in 1819. Then he

labored several years as a missionary pastor in the
State of Georgia. In the autumn of 1826 be entered
upon his work in Newton, where he filled a profes-
sor's chair thirty-four years. As a teacher and writer
he was distinguished for exactness of knowledge,
soundness of judgment, clearness of expression and
sweetness of spirit. He was loved and revered by his
pupils, trusted by his brethren and respected by Chris-
tians of every name. Firm without being obstinate,
he was gentle without being weak. In controversy
he united the utmost firmness of mind with a strict
adhesion to truth. His commentaries on the four
Gospels, on the Acts and on the Epistles to the Ro-
mans and the Hebrews, were both scholarly and per-
spicuous, while his volumes on Church Polity and
Sacred Rhetoric were highly useful. The value of
such a teacher's influence is inestimable.

The Rev. James D. Knowles, the third professor,
was graduated from Columbian College, D. C, where
he also took his theological course. For nearly seven
years he was pastor of the Second Baptist Church,
Boston, and tor nearly six years, until his sudden
death (May 9, 1838), Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and
Pastoral Duties in Newton. Dr. Baron Stow speaks
of his character and attainments in these words :
" Hundreds admired him for his superior talent, his
pure taste, his literary culture, and his refinement of
manners, but only those whom he admitted to his
confidence understood the warmth of his heart. With
the appearance of cold reserve and self-satisfaction,
he was really one of the most simple-hearted and
child-like of men. . . . I have never known the man
whom I loved more, or who proved himself, on long
acquaintance, worthy of greater respect." He was
the author of two admirable biographies, one of Roger
Williams, and the other of Mrs. Ann Haseltine Jud-
sou, and he proved himself to be an accomplished
teacher.

The fourth professor appointed was Dr. Barn as
Sears, a graduate of Brown University and of New-
ton Theological Institution. On his return from a
considerable period of study in Germany, he was
chosen Professor of Ecclesiastical History (1836), a
position which he honored with eminent service three
years. At the close of this period (1839) he was
transferred to the chair of Christian Theology, and,
at the same time, made president of the seminary.
Nine years later (1848) he resigned the place which
he had so ably filled, that he might; become secretary
of the Massachusetts Board of Education. This office
he held for seven years and then relinquished it for
the presidency of Brown University (1855). The
presidency of Brown he held about twelve years, and
then (in 1867) became secretary of the famous Pea-
body education fund, retaining this position until his
death, in 1880. As a teacher of Christian Theology
in the seminary, he brought all his varied attain-
ments to bear upon the student's mind with remark-
able skill, and succeeded wonderfully in stimulating

NEWTON.

thought and research. "He made his pupils feel the
greatness and the richness of the treasures to be
sought in the domain of inspired truth. The peculiar
charm of his teaching was due in part to his enthu-
siasm, in part to his confidence in the ability of his
pupils to judge for themselves, and in part to his
habit of pointing out and commending to them the
sources of knowledge. They were made to feel that,
without concealing his own belief, he would give
them, as nearly as possible, 'all sides of every ques-
tion,' and lead them to answers founded on reasons,
rather than on human authority." And it will not be
deemed superfluous if we add a testimony as to his
connection with the Peabody fund. " It is quite
doubtful whether any of Mr. Peabody's princely be-
quests has been administered more judiciously, or
whether ever a great capital devoted to popular edu-
cation has been applied more successfully and more
effectually than Dr. Sears applied the fund of which he
held charge during a most trying and responsible
period of over twenty-three years."

A very larf;e part of the published writings of Dr.
Sears must be found in reports and addresses per-
taining to education, but he published in 1846 " Select
Treatises of Martin Luther in the Original German,"
with valuable notes, and in 1850, " Life of Luther,"
with special reference to its earlier periods and the
opening scenes of the Reformation. Other less im-
portant works need not be specified in this article.
His Influence on the students was powerful and
wholesome.

The fifth professor in theorderof appointment (1839)
was Dr. Horatio B. Hackett, a graduate of Amherst
College andof Andover Theological Seminary. As ad-
junct Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages in
Brown University from 1S34 to 1S39 he achieved dis-
tinction as a classical teacher, and, during thetwenty-
nlne years (1839-1868) of his connection with the
Xewton Theological lustitution he gained a national
reputation for the accuracy and extent of his Biblical
knowledge and for bis skill and enthusiasm In the
work of Instruction. Few men have excelled him in
the class-room. His preparation for it was uniformly
thorough, while the music of his voice, the richness
of his thought and the beauty of his language moved
and charmed those who were under his tuition. He
was a safe and a great teacher. But, in 1868, he re-
signed his place In the faculty for the purpose of giv-
ing his undivided strength to literary work, and the
Department of Biblical Literature was assigned to Dr.
Oakman S. Stearns and Prof. Ezra P. Gould. Yet,
missing the grateful variety and stimulus of contact
with young men, Dr. Hackfitt, after two years, accept-
ed the Professorship of New Testament Interpretation
in the Rochester Theological Seminary, where he re-
mained five years (ISTO-lSTo), until his death. During
his connection with the Newton Theological Institu-
tion he spent about three years abroad, residing first in
Germany (1841—42), and pursuing the studies of his

department, then traveling (1852) in the East, and
especially in Palestine, besides revisiting Germany,
and finally residing in Athens six months (1858-59),
and exploring those parts of Greece mentioned in the
New Testament, under the auspices of the American
Bible Union. He went to Europe aga<n in 1869-70,
and a fifth time shortly before his death, in 1875. Two
or more of these later journeys were occasioned, in
part, if not altogether by the impaired state of his
health. The published writings of Dr. Hackett are
somewhat numerous, and a few of them may properly
be mentioned, e. g. : " Exercises in Hebrew Gram-
mar" (1847) ; " Illustrations of Scripture suggested by
a Tour through the Holy Land" (1855); " Comment-
ary on the Original Text of the Acts of the Apostles"
(1st ed. 1851, 2d ed. 1858, last ed. [edited by A. Hov-
ey] 1882) ; " Notes on the Greek Text of the Epistle
to Philemon " (1860); thirty articles in the first ed. of
Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible " (1863); and "The
Book of Ruth," published in 1876, after his death.
To the American edition of "Smith's Dictionary,"
edited by himself and Dr. Ezra Abbott, he made very
numerous and valuable contributions.

Of the late professors, aud especially of Drs.
Robert M. Pattison, Albert N. Arnold, Arthur S.
Train, Heman Lincoln and Samuel L. Caldwell, who
have all passed away from the seen into the unseen,
it would be interesting to speak more at length than
space will permit. But the life of the institution
cannot be described without a brief reference to each
one of them. Mr. Pattison was called to be the suc-
cessor of Dr. Sears in the chair of Christian Theology.
It was not an easy place to fill, but he held it with
credit to himself and advantage to the school more
than five years, until he was called a second time to
the presidency of Waterville College (now Colby Uni-
! versity). He was one whom it was only necessary to
I know in order to trust. A thoughtful student, a
j sound theologian and an effective preacher, there were
j in his spliit and manner a certain indescribable sin-
j cerity, friendliness and frankness which secured the
love and confidence of his pupils. They found in
I him not only a teacher, but a counselor and a father,
I and they sometimes spoke with admiration of the
episodes in his lessons, when, giving free play to hia
rising emotions, and illustrating his thoughts by inci-
dents drawn from his own experience, he strove to kin-
dle in their hearts a holy ardor for the work of God.
During his lustrum of service, and in pursuance of
his advice, the trustees obtained a modification of
the charter by which their numbers could be doubled
(made forty-eight instead of twenty-four), and the
duty of electing one-half that number could be
assigned to the Northern Baptist Education Society.
Dr. Arnold, a graduate of Brown University and of
Newton Theological Institution, had been several
years a missionary in Greece, but, upon his return to
this country, he was elected Professor of Church
History in his theological Alma Maler (1855), an

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

office which, owing to the straitened finances of
the school, he retained but two years. Yet while he
was here a singular and beautiful union of culture
and principle, of courtesy and firmness, of wit and
learning, made his presence a well-spring of delight
and his friendahip a Christian benediction.

Dr. Train, a graduate of Brown University, which
he then served for a time as tutor, was elected lo the
chair of Sacred Rhetoric and Pa.storal Duties in New-
ton (1859), after ministering to the First Baptist
Church of Haverhill, Massachusetts, twenty-five
years with marked ability and usefulness. Though
to a stranger his bearing may have seemed unduly
self-reliant and almr-st careless of the opinion of
other?, yet upon closer acquaintance he was found to
be gentle as well as manly, sympathetic as well as
resolute, tender-hearted as well as conscientious.
Naturally a superior scholar, he was also distinguished
for good sense and practical sagacity. After seven
years of faithful service in the seminiry, he preferred
to resume his favorite calling in Framingham, Massa-
chusetts.

Dr. Heman Lincoln, a son of Ensign Lincoln,
one of the founders of the school, was a graduate of
Brown University and of Newton Theological Insti-
tution, was elected Professor of Church History in
1868, and served in that department, or in the chair
of Horailetics and Pastoral Duties nineteen years,
until his death, in October, 1887. He was remarkable
for diligence, energy and versatility ; he was a vora-
cious reader, a rapid writer and a fluent speaker. It
was his custom to preach every Sabbath, and rarely
did he fail of doing this during the nineteen years of
his service in the institution. He was also accus-
tomed to write one article at least weekly for the
religious press, and often two; of course, upon cur-
rent topics. Feeling at times a profound solicitude as
to political issues, he resorted to the daily secular
press for the communication of his views to the public,
and some of his articles were exceedingly vigorous
and trenchant. In a word, he was an incessant
toiler, with hand and voice and pen, in garden, study,
public library, class-room and pulpit, in behalf of
learning, virtue and religion. But this rich variety
of service rendered it impossible for him to make
original investigations in church history, or to pro-
duce any standard treatise in that department. He
labored for his pupils and cotemporaries, and he will
live in their characters and memories. But neither
his newspaper correspondence, however brilliant or
timely, nor his more extended essays which found
their place in reviews, are likely to be collected into
volumes.

Dr. Samuel L. Caldwell was a graduate of W.ater-
ville College and of Newton Theological Institution.
Soon after leaving the seminary he was settled as
pastor of the First Baptist Church in Bangor, Maine,
where he labored twelve years, and then as pastor
.of the First Baptist Church in Providence, K. I.,

which he served fifteen years. From 1873 to 1878,
a period of five years, he was a professor in the
Newton Institution. His work was divided between
homiletics and church history. And the amount
of labor which he performed can never be under-
stood by one who has not delved in the same
mines and tried to polish the same kind of gems.
Think of church history : how vast the libraries to be
explored I how diffi<;ult the task of just interpretation I
how numerous and vital the disputed questions! how
rare the discernment that can cast away the error and
preserve the truth ! and how remarkable the power
which can reproduce in a well-ordered narrative the
results of faithful inquiry ! Yet this wide and diUicult
field was ably cultivated by Dr. Caldwell, though
only for a brief period. Of his service in l:onii!etical
instruction it is enough to say that it was faithful and
excellent. All looked up to him as a master of ex-
pression. In the faculty he was courteous and wise,
a helper in council, and loved as well as honored by
his associates. But after a terra of five years he ac-
cepted a call to the presidency of Vas«ar College, an
cttice for which he was thought to be pre-eminently
qualified by character and culture.

Dr. Caldwell was editor of " The Bloudy Tenent of
Persecution," by Roger Williams, and of " The Bloody
Tenent of Persecution yet more Bloody by Jlr. Cot-
ton's endeavor to wash it white in the Blood of the
Lamb," by the same author, in the " Publications of
the Narragansett Club." His editorial work in pre-
faces and notes is scholarly and just, iloreover, iu
connection with Dr. A. J. Gordon, he prepared fur
publication a hymn and tune-book, "The Service of
Song," which is one of the best ever offered to the
churches. The task of selecting and editing the
hymns, a part cff which consisted in restoring their
original text, is understood to have been performed
by Dr. Caldwell. A considerable number of his ser-
mons and addresses were published from time to time
during his life, and a volume of his lectures and es-
says is soon to be issued by a Boston house.

Of the profeisors now living (1890) seven are con-
nected with the seminary and three are teaching in
other schools. Dr. Galusha Anderson, who was Pro-
fessor of Homiletics from 181)0 to 1873, tills the same
chair at present in the Baptist Theological Seminary
at Morgan Park, 111. ; Dr. Ezra P. Gould, who was
Professor of New Testament Interpretation from ISOS
to 1882, is now teaching in the same depfirtment at
the Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia, and Dr. E.
Benjamin Andrews, who filled the chair of Homilet-
ics from 1879 to 1S82, is now president of Brown Uni-
versity. All these were accomplished teachers, mak-
ing a deep impression on the minds of their pupils.
The posii;ions which they now hold are such as none
but able men could fill.

The faculty is at present composed of the following
persons : Alvah Hovey (since 1849 instructor, since
1853 professor — first of Church History and later of

NEWTON.

Christian Theology — and since ISGS president), Oak-
man S. Stearns (Professor of Biblical Literature, Old
Testament, since 1868), John M. English (Professor
of Homiletics and Pastoral Duties since 1S82), Chas.
R. Brown (Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Lan-
guages since 1SS3), Earnest D. Burton (Professor of
Biblical Interpretation, New Testament, since 1883',
and Jes^e B. Thomas (Professor of Church History
since 1888). Jlr. S. S. Curry has been an acting pro-
fessor since 1885, though giving but a part of the
time to this seminary and not being a member of the
faculty. Professor Shailer Mathews, of Colby Uni-
Tersity, has also assisted in New Ttstament interpre-
tation a part of the time during the last year and
the present. It may be remarked, in this connection,
that the members of the faculty are not called upon
to subscribe their names to any particular creed. As
members of regular Baptist Churches they are pre-
sumed to believe in the divine authority of the Scrip-
tures and in the essential truths which they teach, or,
in other words, to be in accord, as to all great princi-
ples and duties, with the founders and trustees of the
school. The trustees have authority to depose them,
should their teaching prove unsatisfactory.
• Br(t the character of a professional school may be
inferred more or less correctly from the work of its
alumni. Indeed, its history would be aa incomplete
if no notice was taken of their work, as the history of
a family would be if nothing were said of the chil-
dren after leaving the parental roof. And the case
will be still clearer if it be remembered that the work
of the ministry embraces several forms of Christian
service, besides the pastorate ; e.g., that of teaching
in some of its higher ranges, that of missionary ser-
vice in all its branches, that of editorial work for the
religious press, that of providing a Christian litera-
ture in book-form for the people, and that of con-
ducting the work of evangelical or reformatory socie-
ties as agents and secretaries.

About eleven hundred candidates for the Christian
ministry have studied in this school, and not far from
three-fourths (725) of them have served the churches
of their native land. Of these very many have been
simply intelligent pastors, able to instruct the people
by truth drawn from the sacred record, and content
to labor for the Master wherever the providence of
God directed their way. Many of them, though little
known to the world, have been earnest and wise
builders of the Lord's house. It is to tiiis class of
ministers that churches located in villages. East and
West, have been indebted for much of their intelli-
geni;e and stability, while it is from these churches that
manv young men of sterling worth find their way to
the academy, the college, the seminary and the pul-
pit. The intiuence of a village pastor in a rural dis-
trict, if he is well-informed, sound in faith, pure in
life and earnest in work, is something which an angel
might covet. Some of these pastors have held on
their way in the same village until their influence be-

came far-reaching and inestimable. Two or three
may be named as specimens of a class : Cornelius .V.
Thomas, D.D. (Brandon, Vermont), Elijah Hutchin-
son, D.D. (Windsor, Vt.), and Daniel W. Phillips,
D.D. (Medfield, Wakefield, Massachusetts; Nashville,
Tennessee), William H. Eaton, D.D. (Sjlem, Nashua,
Massachusetts ; Keene, New Hampshire), and Charles
M. Bowers, D.D. (Lexington, Clinton, Massachu-
setts). Without possessing the gift of eloquence in
such a degree as to draw after them the multitude
hungry for excitement, they have known how to
speak well, commending truth to the minds and hearts
of men, so that their influence was ever growing and
salutary. Still more conspicuous and perhaps useful
have been such city pastors as Drs. William Hague
(Boston, Providence, Albany, New York), Rolliii
H. Neale (Boston), Samuel B. Swain (Worcester);
Joseph W. Parker (Cambridgeport, Boston, Wa«h-
ingtjn, D. C), William Lamson (Gloucester, Ports-
mouth, Brookline), William Howe (Boston), William
H. Shailer (Brookline, Portland), Elias L. Magoon
(Richmond, Cincinnati, New York, Albany, Phila-
delphia), Thomas D. Anderson (Salem, Roibury,
New York, Boston), J. Wheaton Smith (Lowell, Phila-
delphia), George Dana Boardman (Barnwell, Roches-
ter, Philadelphia), James B. Simmons (Providence,
Indianapolis, Philadelphia, New York), George
Bullen (Skowhegan, Wakefield, Pawtucket), Htnry
A. Sawtell, (Limerick, San Francisco, Chelsea, Kala-
mazoo,) Henry M. King, (Roxbury, Albany,) A. J.
Gordon, (Jamaica Plain, Boston,) Henry F. Colby,
(Dayton,) and numbers more (like Drs. D. N. Bur-
ton, J. W. Warder, Edwin T. Winkle, John H.
Luther), whose names command respect wherever
they are spoken. Many of those given above were
selected because their fields of labor were in Eastern
Massachusetts, and they will be remembered by the
citizens of Jliddlesex County.

Next to the graduates whose field of labor has
been their native land must be placed those who
have devoted their lives to service in foreign coun-
tries. For in so far as the religious atmosphere and
instruction of a theological school tend to foster a
missionary spirit, it may be regarded as doing good to
men. And in this respect the institution has made
an honorable record. For not less than one student
for each year of its history has gone to the foreign
field. John Taylor Jones pursued his theological
studies in Andover and Newton. He was a mission-
ary in the East twenty years, eighteen of which were
spent in Siam. During this time he translated the
New Testament into the Siamese language. Francis
Mason, D.D., a classmate of Dr. Jones in the semi-
nary, preceded him about three months in the voyage
to Burmah. His term of service extended over a period
of about forty-four years. He translated the Scrip-
tures into the Sgau Karen and Pwo Karen dialects,
and published two works on Burmah, one entitled
" Terasscrim ; or, Notes on the Fauna, Flora, Min-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

erals and Nations of British Burmah and Pegu," and
the other, " Burmah ; its People and Natural Produc-
tions." He wrote also a memoir of his second wife,
and a "' Life of Ko-thah-byu," and still later, " The
Story of a Working-Man's Life."

He was studious, hopeful, enterprising : " a mathe-
matician, a naturalist, a linguist, and a theologian."
Rev. William G. Crocker finished the full theological
course in 1834, and in July of the next year embarked
for Liberia to preach the Gospel among the Bassas.
Within less than nine years his work was finished,
and he was called to his reward. But his missionary
record was a noble one, for during that short period
he endured extraordinary hardships on the burning
and sickly coast where he was stationed. He was
distinguished for sweetness of temper, simplicity of
manners, large good sense and intense activity.
Josiah Goddard was graduated from Newton in 1838,
and sent out the same year as a missionary to the
Chinese. For that people he labored earnestly and
wisely sixteen years, first in Bankok, next in Shang-
hai, and lastly in Ningpo. Besides his work as a
preacher, he translated the whole New Testament and
the first three books of the Pentateuch into a dialect
understood by the people. He was a man of fine
judgment, scholarship and temper, mastering the
difficulties of the language as few Americans can, and
accomplishing a very important service in a compar-
atively short period. In his place, and worthy of his
name, labors to-day a son. Rev. Josiah R. Goddard, j
also a graduate of the seminary. Rev. Benjamin C.
Thomas, of the class of 1849, sailed for Burma soon
after graduating, and toiled for the Karens twenty
years in Tavoy, Henthada and Bassein, though more
than half of this period was passed in Henthada.
His temperament was ardent and poetic, his piety
deep and fervent; but he was at the same time a man
of sound judgment and practical spirit. His enthu-
siasm was intense, but it was guided by reason, and
he united in himself nearly all the qualities most
useful to a missionary. Rev. Nathan Brown, D.D.,
was graduated in 1831, was a missionary in As:'am
more than twenty years, returned to his native land
in 1859, and then after fifteen years went to Japan,
where he labored fourteen years. He was a man of
vigorous intellect and unbending principle. In addi-
tion to his other work he translated the New Testa-
ment into the Assamese and the Japanese languages.
Rev. Edward O. Stevens, D.D., graduated in 1836,
was a missionary to the Burmese more than fifty years,
serving the cause which he loved with a clear head
and true heart till the day of his death. His son, the
Rev. Edward D. Stevens, class of 1864, has been a
faithful missionary in Prome, Burma, from that time
till 1889, when he was transferred to Maulmain.
Another consecrated man, the Rev. Lyman .lewett,
D.D., class of 1846, whose gentleness of manner and
of spirit is only surpassed by his devotion to the will
of Christ, labored among the Telugus about forty

years, until he was compelled by the impaired health
of Mrs. Jewett to return home. He is a superior
scholar as well as au heroic servant of the Master. The
Rev. Chapin H. Carpenter, of the class of 1862, was
a missionary in Rangoon, Burma, six years, being
most of the time in charge of the Karen Theological
Seminary, located in that city, and twelve years in
Bassein, where he was in charge of a large and im-
portant field. He was a devoted servant of Christ,
a thorough scholar, and an earnest believer in the
wisdom of calling upon the native churches to
support all their pastors and schools, though not
the missionaries sent to them from this country.
His volume entitled "Self-Support, illustrated in the
History of the Bassein Karen Mission from 1840
to 1380," must be reckoned a classic on the subject
which it discusses. Much of the narrative is of thrill-
ing interest, independently of the theme which it is
used to elucidate. The Rev. Josiah N. Gushing, D.D.,
class of 1865, has been since his graduation a mis-
sionary to the Shans of Burma, and has translated the
whole Bible into their language. He is a fine scholar
and teacher, as well as preacher. The Rev. D. A.
W. Smith, D.D., class of 1863, was a missionary in
Rangoon three years, Henthada ten years, and since
1876 presidentof the Karen Theological School, Ran-
goon, Burma. An accurate scholar and teacher, he
is also ('.ike his father, the Rev. Samuel F. Smith,
D.D.), said to be a writer of beautiful Christian
hymns in the Karen language. Besides this work he
has translated or composed a brief commentary on
the whole Bible for the u-e of the Sgau Karens.

This enumeration of faithful missionaries might be
carried much further, embracing other names as emi-
nent as those mentioned ; but enough have been spe-
cified to show that the institution has always been
friendly to the work of heathen evangelization. And
it may, with equal truth, be said that it has been a
source of laborers for the destitute part? of the home
field. Many of the freedmen's schools at the South
have been presided over by graduates of Newton.
The Rev. D. W. Phillips, D.D.. Nashville, Tenn. ;
Charles H. Corey, D.D., Richmond, Va. ; Henry M.
Tupper, D.D., Raleigh, N. C. ; G. M. P. King, D.D.,
Washington, D. C. ; Edward C. Mitchell, D.D.,
Nashville, Tenn., and New Orleans, La. ; Charles
Aver, Jackson, Miss. ; J. L. A. Fish, Live Oak, Fla.,
have been and are at the head of superior schools in
the places named. And whether they be called mis-
sionaries or presidents, uniting as they do these two
forms of Christian service, they are doing a great and
good work in a very satisfactory manner, and are to be
numbered with the choice jewels which adorn the
brow of their alma mater.

The institution has likewise furnished presidents
for a considerable number of colleges and theological
seminaries. Of these may be named : Drs. Eli B.
Smith and James Upham, New Hampton Literary
and Theological Seminary; Barnas Sears, Newton

NEWTON.

Theological Institution and Brown University, Joel
S. Bacon, Columbian College, Washington, D. C. ;
David N. Sheldon, Henry C. R)bins, G. D. B. Pep-
par and Albion W. Small, Cjlby University ; E. G.
Robinson, Rochester Theological Seminary and Brown
University; George W. Samson, Columbian College,
Washington, D. C, and Rutgers College, N. Y.;
Martin B. Anderson, Rochester University ; Henry
G. Weston, Crozier Theological Seminary; Ebenezer
Dodge, Madison University; Kendall Brooks and
Monson A. Willcox, Kalamazoo College ; Basil
Manly, Georgetown College, Ky. ; Samuel L. Cald-
well, Vassar College; Samson Talbot and Alfred
Owen, Denison University, Granville, 0. ; Artemas
W. Sawyer, Acadia College, WolfviUe, N. S. ; D. A.
W. Smith, Karen Theological Seminary, Rangoon,
Burmah; S. W. Tindell, Carson College, Tenn. ; S. B.
Morse, Oakland College, Cal. ; Charles S. Corey,
Richmond Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va. ;
Alvah Hovey, Newton Theological Institution and
probably several others.

A still greater number have served as professors in
colleges or theological seminaries, and of these it may
be proper to mention, in addition to those previously
named, Professors John S. Maginnis, D.D., John L.
Lincoln, LL.D., James L. Reynolds, D.D., James S.
Mims, D.D., Robert A. Fyfe, D.D., Peter C. Edwards,
D.D., Samuel K. Smi'.h, D.D., John B. Foster, LL.D.,
Joseph H. Gilmore, David Weston, Svlvester Burn-
ham, D.D., Fletcher O. Marsh, Richard S. Colwell
and Samuel Brooks, though others have done as good
work as these. It would not be easy to overrate the
service rendered to higher and Christian education
by this body of presidents and professors, or to deter-
mine how much of their influence and usefulness
were increased by their course at Newton.

Moreover, the institution through its Alumni, has
had an influence on public thought by means of the
press. Its sons have contributed much to the relig-
ious literature whioh has moulded the belief and life
of the people, and especially of those connected with
the Christian denomination supporting this school.
But no record of the books written by the sons of
Newton is known to have been kept, and no state-
ment of the number of graduates that have been edi-
tors or sub-editors of quarterly, monthly or weekly
periodicals would be more than conjectural. Yet it is
easy to form a considerable list of names that will
suggest the character of the service which has in this
way been rendered to mankind. Reference has already
been made to the published writings of Barnas Sears,
one of its earliest graduates, and of its most distinguish-
ed professors. It will besufEcient to mention the names
of others, with an accompanying word as to the kind
of literary work performed by each. The abbrevia-
tion, auth., will be used for the writer of anything
published in book form ; ed., for the editor-in-chief
or an assistant editor of any periodical or important
work, and com., for an interpreter of any book of
6-iii

Scripture. The other abbreviations need no explana-
tion. Francis Mason (auth. and transl.), William
Crowell (ed. and anth.), Joseph Barnard (auth.),
David N. Sheldon (auth.), Ezekiel G. Robinson (auth.,
ed. and transl.), Lucius E. Smith (ed. and auth.), Ell-
as L. Magoon (auth.), Martin B. Anderson (ed. and
auth.), Edwin T. Winkler (ed. and com.), Basil Manly
(auth.), Nathan Brown (ed., transl. and poet), Albert
N. Arnold (auth., com.), Ebenezer Dodge (auth.),
George W. Samson (auth.), John L. Lincoln (auth.),
Heman Lincoln (ed.), Franklin Wilson (ed.), Samuel
L. Caldwell (auth.), Alvah Hovey (auth. and com.),
George Dana Boardman (auth.), Oakman S. Stearns
(auth.), Nathaniel M. Williams (auth. and com.), John
H. Luther (ed.), Samuel K. Smith (ed.), Edward 0.
Mitchell (auth.), Chapin H. Carpenter (auth.), H.
Lincoln Wayland (ed. and auth.), David B. Ford
(auth. and com.), Henry A. Sawtelle (auth. and com.),
D. A. W. Smith (com. and auth.), Joseph A. Gilmore
(poet), Theron Brown (poet and ed.), Henry S. Bur-
rage (auth. and ed.), D. W. Faunce (auth.), W. S. Mc-
Kenzie (poet), George E. Horr, Jr. (ed.), George E.
Merrill (auth.), J. B. G. Pidge (com.), W. A. Stevens
(com.), E. P. Gould (com.), E. Benj. Andrews (auth.),
Sylvester Burnham (auth.), A. J. Gordon (auth. and
ed.). More than a hundred volumes worthy of atten-
tion have been given to the people by the persons
named above, to say nothing of the much greater
amount of valuable truth discussed by them in news-
papers and reviews.

CHAPTER V.

NE WTON—( Continued).

THE LIBRARIES.
BY ELIZABETH P. THURSTOX.

West Pakish Social Library. — As early as 1798
a library was organized in the west part of the town
by a society called " The Social Society in the West
Parish in Newton." The constitution provided that
a library be formed of the value of $150 ; that it be
divided into a number of equal rights of the value of
$3.00 each, and that each proprietor pay annually
tweuty-five cents upon each of his rights. The li-
brarian was required " to be possessed, in his own
right, of an estate of at least double the value of all
the books which the library may contain." The
books selected, about 165 in number, were mostly of
a serious nature.

Adelphian Libeaey. — The Adelphian Library
was formed about 1827. Quite a valuable collection
of books was procured by William Jackson throngh
earnest efforts in various ways : many volumes were
gathered through the Newton Temperance Society,
formed in 1826, which believed that " if the people

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

staid at home and saved their money, they would
need books to read.'' One part of the lihrary was
placed in the West Pari-h in the Acadi my of Seth
Davis, ^ho was for a time librarian ; the other part
was under the care of Marshall S. Rice, librarian in
the East Parish.

West Newton Athen^um. — The West Newtou
Aihenseum was the name of an association formed in
1819. District No. 5 had accepted the offer of the
State to donate fifteen dollars to any district which
would raise the same and fiirnisii the District School
Library. Mr. Nathaniel T. .\llen, as suhool- master
in District No. 5, had charge of the District School
Library, which he kept in the school-house, now the
City Hal! Building. Being interested in starting the
AthenjEum, Mr. Allen sent for and obtained posses-
sion of the Adelphian Library of the West Parish,
which, added to the District School Library and the
books of the old library of 1793, forme J the nucleus
of the Athenxum Library. Many volumes were pre-
sented by citizens, Captain Charles T. Savage giving
the largest number, and new books were purchased.
The value of the shares was placed at ten dollars
each. The Athenieum started with William B. Fowle,
Sr., as president ; Rev. Joseph S. Clarke, secretary ;
Captain Charles T. Savage, treasurer ; Nathaniel T.
Alien, librarian. The meetings of the shareholders
were held in the old Town Hall under the school-
rooms, and the library was kept in a small side room
until removed to the room over the market, corner of
Washington and Chestnut Streets. One aim of the
West Newton Athenaeum was to promote libenil cul-
ture iind social improvement, and the details of the
history of the institution will be found in the chapter
on Clubs, Societies, etc.

Newton Book Club. — In January, 1S48, an asso-
ciation was formed at Newton Corner, known as the
"Newton Book Club," to which there were originally
twenty-six-subscribers, and a form of by-laws and reg-
ulations was adopted, placing the club in the care of
a committee of five, who should see that the books
were "treated with care, as they are intended to form
a Permanent Library for the benelit of the village."
The annual assessment for membership to the clnb
was placed at five dollars, and any person approved
by the committee might join. More than 100 vol-
umes were purchased the first year.

Newton Library Association. — In January,
1849, the members of the Book Club, " desirous of
promoting the cause of Intelligence and Literature
in this place," formed themselves into a corporation
under the title of the "Newton Library Association,"
and 117 volumes were given by the Book Club to the
new organization. The records at the close of the
year 1850 showed that the number of volumes had
been increased by gift .nnd purchase to about lOOO,
and that 2000 books had been drawn from the library
during the year, while not one had been lost or ma-

terially injured. It was voted that the library be open
\\'edne:-d!iy afternoon and Friday evening of every
week, and that a copy of the catalogue be sent to
every hou.'e in the vill.nge not occupied by cither a
stockholder or subscriber to the library. At the an-
nual meeting in 1552 :.n anicrdmtnt to the constitu-
tion provided that " the directors shall have authtriiy
to loan books to other persors upon such teims and
under such regulations as they may deem expedient."
Library Land Fund Association.— For a long
time the public-spirited citizens of Newton had had
it m;ich at heart to establish a free library, which
should be open to all, and many efforts were made to
bring the subject to the notice of the citizens. In
June, 1SG6, a subscription paper was circulated to
buy the lot of land, 20,5j0 square feet, uptn which
the present Newton Free Library building stands, on
condition that it be offered to the N( wton Library As-
soc iiitiou, or, if declir.ed by that association, to any other
orgaLization which would agree to erect such a siruc-
ture as the trnstees of the Land Fund should require.
The names of the subscribers to this paper are as fol-
lows : D. R. Emerson, J. C. Chafiin, Albert Bratkett,
Joel H. Hills, Jusejih N. Bacon, Fred Davis, Geo. H.
Jones, Win. 0. Edniands, H. D. Dassett, J. W. Well-
inan, I. T. Burr, F. Skinner, G. D. Gilraan, Louisa S.
Brown, A. B. Underwood, Aaron F. Gay, Jas. French.
j The subscription amounted to $3320.
I On Sept. 20th the subscribers to the Library Land
' Fund met, organized and chose a board of trustees.
I It was voted '' that the trustees are empowered to c(d-
I lect the amounts subscribed to the I'und, to have the
transfer of the pro; erty made to them, to receive the
deeJs of ths same, and to hold the property for the
proprietors for the use and ])urposes of the subscrib-
ers as set forth in the substription-paper.'' It was
also voted " that the trustees take the initiative in any
measures that will promote the interests of a Free
Public Library in thi^^. place, and in the erection of a
suitable building on the land purchased by the sub-
scribers to the fund." On Jan. 6, 1868, the trustees
tendered to the Newton Library Association the lot
of land as a site fir a library building, on the-e con-
ditions : The building to be of brick or stone, two
stories hi^h; the building to be completed on or be-
fore June 28, 1871 ; the building to cost not less ihau
$10,000 ; and received from the association this reply r
" Voted, that while the Association tender to the
Trustees their thanks fur the offer made in the com-
munication presented, the Association is compelled to
decline the gift. Voted, that the Association will
transfer all its books and other property to the Trus-
tees of the Library Land Fund, when any Associa-
tion shall accept the lot of land named in the com-
munication of the Trustee.", and guarantee to erect
such a building as is therein mentioned, to be held in
trust by said Trii-tees until the completion of the said
building, when they ;-hall transfer the same to the
new association, provided it shall be maintained aa a

NEWTON.

free library, and be located in that part of this town
called Newton Corner."

The trustees then called a meeting and reported
that the Hon. J. Wiley Edmands had offered to con-
tribute fifteen thousand dollars, ten thousand towards
a building and five thousand in yearly instalments,
for the purchase of books, on the following condi-
tions : "First, that a like sum, or 815,000, shall be
fully secured by the Trustees previous to the first day
of March next ; second, that a building shall be erect-
ed under the general supervision of the present
Trustees or their successors in office, and in accord-
ance with plans which shall be satisfactory to him ;
third, that when completed it shall be organized
under the name of the Newton Free Library, with a
board of control consisting of eleven managers, three
of whom shall be the present Board of Trustees or
their successors, the remaining number to be elected
from the contributors to the above specified amount ;
fourth, that all contributors of $10 and upwards shall
have a right to vote; fifth, that these conditions shall
be fully entered in the subscription book." By per-
sistent effort, public meetings and private exertions
the subscriptions were obtained and the sum of $36,-
683 was secured.

lu June, 1868, ground was broken for the present
library building, and on Aug. 13th the corner-stone
was laid. In it are deposited copies of the town and
school reports for 1868, the Newton Journal, Boston
papers, the American Almanac, specimens of coins,
bank-notes and currency in use, the "History of the
Newton Free Library," and reports of public meet-
ings, with a copy of the subscription-book engrossed
on parchment, giving the names and amounts sub-
scribed. The material of the building is Newton
stoue wiih granite trimmings from New Hampshire,
The style is English Gothic. The cost was, for land,
83300 ; for grading and finishing the same, 81650.20 ;
for the building and fixtures, $31,745 ; total, 836,695.-
20.

The land and building were conveyed to the
Newton Free Library, and the Newton Library
Association delivered to the same its books, amount-
ing to sixteen hundred and twenty volumes.

Newton Free Library. — The Newton Free
Library was organized September 29, 1869, with a
board of eleven managers, composed of the follow-
ing names: Geo. H. Jones, John C. Chfiffin, Isaac T.
Burr, Hon. J. Wiley Edmands, Geo. W. Bacon, John
S. Farlow, A. B. Underwood, Joel H. Hills, Geo. S.
Bullens, Geo. S. Harwood and Abner I. Benyon.
It was found that the cost of the building, with
all its surroundings and furnishing, had some-
what exceeded the estimate, and it was not deemed
expedient to dedicate the building until the
bills could be paid, and until a sufficient sum
be raised to provide a suitable supply of books,
papers, etc., in order that the institution might be
opened in a proper manner. It was therefore neces-

sary to procure a further subscription, and at this
critical period the managers received a letter from a
gentleman who desired his name withheld, promising
four thousand dollars provided the further sum often
to twelve thousand dollars be obtained. The man-
agers pledged themselves to raise the balance needed,
which was subsequently done, and six thousand
dollars was then appropriated for the purchase of
books under the supervision of the Library Com-
mittee. The building was dedicated June 17, 1870,
and the library was opened with about seven thousand
bonks on the shelves, obtained partly from purchase
and partly from gifts. Geo. W. Bacon was elected
superintendent and Hannah P. James and Cornelia
W. Jackson assistant librarians. In 1871 the Legis-
lature of Massachusetts passed an act to incorporate
the Newton Free Library, granting the corporation
leave to hold real and personal estate to the value of
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In 1873 the
Newton Centre Library Association presented its
valuable collection of between fourteen and fifteen
hundred books to the Newton Free Library.

In his inaugural address in January, 1875, relating
to the Newton Free Library, Mayor Hyde said:
" I venture to express the hope that at no distant
day this library will pass into the hands of the city
and become the city library."

At the annual meeting of the subscribers on
November 3, 1875, it was "Eesolced, that the managers
are empowered to make a transfer of the franchise
and property of the Newton Free Library to the City
of Newton, ou the city's assuming the conditions of
trust of its present organization." The gift was ac-
cepted by the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council
on behalf of the city, and the Legislature of Massa-
chusetts passed an act authorizing the transfer, which
was formally made on the evening of March 16, 1876.
The title deeds of the property and the keys of the
building were tendered ro the city through Mr.
Edmands, president of the Board of Trustees, and the
response was made by Mayor Speare. Addresses were
also made by ex-Mayor Hyde, Messrs. Farlow and
Peirce, and a copy of the remarks intended to have
been made by Mr. Jones, who was unable to be
present, was furnished to the mayor. A code of by-
laws was adopted by the City Council for the govern-
ment of the library, placing it in the hands of seven
trustees to be elected by the City Council, one from the
Board of Aldermen and one from the Common
Council to serve for their elected terms of oflSce, and
five members chosen at large. The first Board of
Trustees consisted of the following men : Hon. J.
Wiley Edmands, John S. Farlow, Bradford K. Peirce,
D.D., Hon. Julius L. Clarke, and Hon. Jas. F. C.
Hyde, as members at large, and Wm. W. Keith from
the Board of Aldermen, with Wm. I. Goodrich from
the Common Council. At its first meeting the
board elected Hon. J. Wiley Edmands, president ;
Frederick Jackson, superintendent; Hannah P.

HISTORY" OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

James, librarian ; and Caroline B. Jackson, assistant
librarian.

In 1877 Hon. Alden Speare, then mayor of Newton,
gave to the library $250. During the following year
he increased the gift to $1000, desiring that the in-
come from the whole amount be Osed for the pur-
chase of works upon manufacturer and the mechanic
arts. The gift was called the "Alden Speare Fund
for the Promotion of Manufactures and the Mechanic
Arts." Thns the library has been enabled to add
many valuable works to the great satisfaction and
advantage of those interested in these branches of
industry. In 1880 the trustees received from the
estate of Mrs. Lydia M. Jewett a legacy of S5000, with
which a fund was established called the "Jewett Art
Fund," and the inccme was to be used for the pur-
chase of works of art, including such books as may
not properly be bought with the regular city appro-
priation. A large copy of Raphael's Transfiguration
had been previously received from the executors of the
will, given in conformity with her late husband's inten-
tion. The library has been able to obtain, through
this fund, a groat number of beautiful books and pic-
tures, including a valuable collection of five or six
hundred photographs of sculpture from the Italian
galleries. It has also added four massive volumes of
photographs of the English cathedrals. These photo-
graphs were collected in England and mounted by
Miss James, and title pages, elegantly illuminated,
were furnished by the artistic skill of Gen. A. Hun
Berry, Miss L. P. Merritt and others. Each cathe-
dral has a title page, with the coat of arras of the See,
the autograph of the Bishop, ground plan of the cathe-
dral, etc., thus producing a work unique in design
and execution.

Through the bequest of Charles A. Read, a citizen
of Newton, the library has received yearly, since
1884, about $400, which income is known as the
" Read Fund," and is used for the addition of books
of a general nature. A fourth fund was given to the
library in 1887, through the liberality of John S. Far-
low, president of the Board of Trustees. He has
contributed $5000, the income of which is to be
spent for books for the Reference Library, and the
fund to be called the " Farlow Reference Department
Fund."

In 1881 the Jersey Stock Club, of Newton, pre-
sented to the library a full-length portrait of Hon. J.
Wiley Edmands, which was hung in Edmands Hall.
The nest year the same club made a second gift of a
full-length portrait of George H. Jones, following it
in 1890 by the presentation of the portrait of John S.
Farlow ; thus the library now has portraits of its three
presidents, who have all proved themselves such
warm friends and liberal benefactors of the institu-
tion.

In 1886 the City Council made an appropriation
for a much-needed enlargement of the library build-
ing, so that its capacity is now more than double

that of the original building. An excellent reference
department is furnished, a spacious, well-lighted book-
room, an admirably designed librarian's room, also a
room specially intended for teachers from our public
schools and their classes, and on the lower story a
commodious room for a magazine and periodical
reading-room, with a room exclusively for public
documents. About $25,000 was required for the
additions. The library was closed for three months
in the spring of 1887 while the work was being
completed, and re-opentd after the exercises of re-
dedication, on the evening of June 17th. With the
re-opecing the library suffered a loss in the with-
drawal of its librarian. Miss James, who had held
her position from the establishment of the institution,
seventeen years previous, and who was thoroughly
identified with it and its progress. She had been a
moving spirit in all the improvements inaugurated,
and largely to her practical judgment is due the
present attractive and convenient building. The
library has always been very fortunate in having
among its officials men ready to devote both money
and time to its service. Its superintendents, George
W. Bacon, Frederick Jackson, Bradford K. Peirce,
D.D., Warren P. Tyler, and John C. Kennedy, have
been deeply interested in its advancement, and spent
many hours and much labor and thought over its
affairs.

The library shows a steady growth from the begin-
ning in size as well as in usefulness to the commun-
ity. About half the number of volumes circulated
are delivered at the library itself, and the remainder
are distributed through nine agencies in other parts
of the city. As early as 1874, while the institution
was supported by private subscriptions, the practice
was begun of sending the books to the other villages
once a week at first, and oftener as soon as practica-
ble, until now, 1890, seven w.irds receive daily a bas-
ket of books, and two others once and twice a week
respectively. The librarian, in 1 885, feeling how
important is a close connection of the library and
the schools, began extending especial privileges to the
teachers of the public schools. Since that time
teachers have been allowed ten books at a time
for the use of their classes, and have availed them-
selves very generally of the opportunity. Works
on history, geography, natural science and constitu-
tional history have been most in demand, and the
teachers are almost unanimous in affirming that the
books have been of inexpressible value to them.
They are usually sent to the schools by the express-
man who carriea-the books to the agencies. During
the year 1889, 4496 volumes were distributed to the
schools.

The city government makes an annual appropria-
tion for the support cf the library of upward.s of
810,000.00. The Board of -Management for 1890 con-
sists of John S. Farlow, Julius L. Clarke, Wm. Claf-
lin, A. Lawrence Edmands, Edwin B. Haskell, mem-

NEWTON.

ber^i at large ; E. S. Hamblen, from the Board of
Aldermen ; and Edward L. Collins, from the Com-
mon Council; John C. Kennedy, superintendent;
Elizabeth P. Thurston, librarian.

The library now contains 30,700 volumes, and the
circulation during the paat year was 105,230 books.

Newton CE>fTRE Library Association. — The
Newton Centre Library Aswciation was founded in
1S59 by "sundry individuals who subscribed out of
regard for the public good," Hon. James F. C. Hyde
being the chief mover in its establishment. The
value of the shares was ten dollars each. Auy persou,
by paying one dollar and a half per annum or twenty-
five cents per month, wa-i admitted to the use of the li-
brary, which was open one a'ternooneach week. The
officers for 1S60 were J. Wiley Edmands. president;
R. W. Turner, vice-president ; Chas. L. Fowle, secre-
tary ; Jiis. F. C. Hyde, treasurer; David H. Mason,
Leverett Saltonslall, Alvah Hovey, Wm. C.aflin and
Jas. F. C. Hyde, directors. In 1S73 the association, by
vote of the proprietors, merged its library in the
Newton Free Library and presented to it its valuable
collection of books, numbering from fourteen to fif-
teen hundred volumes.

The North Village Library Association. —
The North Village Library Association was instituted
January, 186G, in order " to cultivate belter general
intelligence and aiTord suitable facilities for perusing
valuable books and wisely employing valuable time."
The management was in the hands.of eleven officers.
The shares were fixed at fifty cents each, and members
were lequired to pay a monthly fee of ten cents each.
The library was open two evenings in each week, and
nearly four hundred volumes were gathered.

Newton Lower Falls Free Library. — The
Newton Lower Falls Free Library was established in
1SG9. Rev. R. F. Putnam, rector of St. Mary's
Church, first proposed the formation of a parish li-
brary, but bis suggestion met with so ready a response
that the plan was changed and a village library was
organized. Donations of books from private libraries
were received, supplemented by purchases from funds
contributed for the purpose, and the library was placed
in Mr. Pillsbury's apothecary shop under the charge
of Mr. W. W. Jackson as librarian. Mr. Wm. Wai-
lia acted as treasurer, and the management was vested
in a board of trustees, — Judge George White, and
Samuel G. Thaxter being the members in addition to
the gentlemen already named. It contained a very
good selection of works, and additions were made to
it from time to time, either from donations or pur-
chases from contributions. In IWl there were be-
tween thirteen and fourteen hundred volumes in the
catalogue. The library was largely used by the inhab-
itants of Wellesley, who contributed liberally to its
support. Its usefulness began to decline when the
Newton Free Library was established, and the system
adopted later of a free local delivery seemed to gender

its continuance unnecessary. At the desire of parties
in Wellesley the trustees agreed to its being removed
to that town. On the establishment of the Hunne-
well Library the books that had been contributed by
Newton parties were returned, and are now in the
possession of St. Mary's Pariah. Many of the stand-
ard works are valuable, and will be kept for public
use in the parish library of that society.

Note. — Id coonKtioD with the foregoing excelleut history of tha Libn-
ries of Newton it may Dot be uoprofitable to ouke note of some of the
steps takea by tbo eoterpriaiDg aod beoeTolcDt citizena of Newton from
time to time and which led up to the completion of the present beautiful
I Library Building. Meetings of citizens for mntuaJ improTcment were
held itt Newton Corner, and on October 20, 1859, a definite organization
was formed under the name of the Newton Debating Society. Among
the early members were K. W. Holnun, F. H. Forbea, H. R. Wetherill,
Wm. D. Thayer, Chas. Sturtevant, J. S. Watson, S. Chiam, H. D. Busett,
A. G. Brown, John Warner, Wm. Preston, A. B. Ely, Wm. Guild, David
K. Hitchcock, Rev. E. D. Moore, II. L. Vinton, F. W. Felton, H. M. Ha-
gar and others. The early meetings of the Society were held in Middle-
sex Hall, but when thiit hall was demolished the place of meeting wafl
changed to the private i-esidence of Hon. David K. Hitchcock, where for*
many yeatv the current questions of the day, both State and National,
were ably discussed. At a meeting held February 16, 1865, by a vote of
the Society its name was changed to The Neujton Literary Aaociation.

Dr. Hitchcock, who for eight years had been appointed one of thecom-

mittee on the exuminatton of the library of Harvartl UniTersity, became

much interested in the mutter of a Free Public Library for Newton, aod

frequently at the meetings of the Literary Association urged a consider-

' atiun uf the value of the free system where the public could have the ad*

{ vaniuges to be derived from such a valuable source, and at the meeting

I of March '2, (8ti5, he offered, as appears from the report of the secretary

i of the .\s8ociatioo, tbe following resolution : ** WHeEi£A8 the ancient and

highly favored town of Newton, with all its wealth and enterprise, and

' withitsrapidlyiucreasingpopntationlsnlike remarkable for intelligence,

public spirit and benevolence, and Whekkas the t>est interBSta and

■ claims of the people have in one important particular been overlooked,

'. therefore Uetohed, That the town should be furnished with a Free Pub-

I lie Library." March lu, 1865, a standing committeeon the subject of a

iFree Public Library for Newton was appointed, consisting of Dr. D. K.
Hilcbcock. Dr. Henry Blgelow, Geo. W. Bacon, ,Geo. 0. Lord, H. M.
Hugur and others, whose duty it was from time to time to bring up the
\ subject for considemtlon by the Association and to report progress. As
I by the members of the Association Dr. Hitchcock was considered the
Hither of the agitation of this subject, so also was he the one to take the
I tirst definite step towards its fulfillment as attests the following:

" Boston, March 21, 1865.
" This certifies that Hon. David K. Hitchcock has deposited with me
I the sum of one hundred dollars towards the endowment of a Free Public
Librat-y in Newton. The above sum, which id the Jirtt aubtcription to-
wanU the object named, is subject to call on demand by the treasurer on
completion of such organization as is necessary for the safety and ac-
complishment of the object above named.

" Signed H. D. Bassett, President of the Newton Litermxy Asaocia-
tioD.*'

This money was paid into tbe treasury of the Newton Free Public
Library, August 12, 1868.

The standing committee of the Association, at a meeting held Marrh
22, 1865, decided that the time had come to take steps to Interest the
gener.il public in the matter of a free library, and Dr. Hitchcock, Dr.
Bigelow and G. W. Bacon were chosen aj a committee to secure the co-
operation of certain gentlemen of standing and property, enlisting their
. support and ioflueuce in the enterprise. A public meeting was held
.\pril, 1865, at which Hon. D. K. Hitchcock was elected chairman and
presided, .\ddresses were made by the president, Goremor Bollock,
, Judge Russell and others. Much enthoaiasm prBvailed, and tha
matter of a free library was sotnequently taken in hand by the CiCizena
and carried forward to the desir. d consummation, "Tbe NewtoD Lite-
rary .Association," with its library, being merged in "The NewtOD
i Free Public Library."— EDlTOa.]

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTS'. MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTEE VI.
NEWTON— {Continued).
BANKING INTERESTS.

The Newton National Bank — The institution
which now bears the name of "The Newton National
Bank " or.'ginated as a State Bank, and was known
as the " Newton Bank." It was first projected in the
tall of 1847. At that time there was, with the ex-
ception of the bank at Brighton, no such institution
in this section of the county. The idea ofestabli>h-
ing a bank in Newton seeniB to have been first sug-
gested by Joseph N. Bacon, the president of the
bank to-day. Mr. Bacon was in 1S47 engaged in
erecting a business block at Newton Corner, and it
occurred to him that, in view of the activity in real
estate which was making its^elf evident in the village,
a bank would be found very useful to a large class of
citizens. This notion he communicated to his friend,
Hon. William Jackson, who, after some consideration,
became convinced that the scheme was feasible, and
together they concluded to carry out the project.

It was decided to try to raise a capital of $100,000.
A meeting of prominent landowners and investors
was shortly afterward, January, 1S4S, called at the
residence of Mr. Jackson. At this meeting there
were present, among others, Capt. .Samuel Hyde, Otis
Pettee, Capt. Joseph Bacon, Benjamin Dana, John
H. Richardson, Levi Thaxter, Marshall S. Rice,
Allen C. Curtis, Seth Davis, Amos Tenney, Joseph
N. Bacon and William Jackson. This meeting
adopted the plan suggested by Messrs. Jackson and
Bacon, and $32,000 of stock were subscribed on the
spot. This amount was within a short li-nne increased
to $42,000, but when this last point was reached the
subscription seemed to have come to a standstill. By
dint of personal solicitation, however, Mr. Bacon,
aided by Mr. Jackson, succeeded, after con^-iderable
difficulty, in pushing the tigures up to $87,000, some
of the original subscribers increasing their amounts
against their names now that 'he success of the
enterprise seemed assured.

Meanwhile, the subscribers had been considering
the questions of site, salaries, etc., and it had been
decided that a separate building isolated in a public j
square, if possible, would be most desirable for i
safety — for it must be remembered that this was be- ■
fore the day of time-locks — and the site which the i
bank has ever since occupied was selected as best |
fitted for a bank building. |

The necessary preliminary steps having now been i
taken, the subscribers organized as stockholders on i
June 21, 1848, meeting in the vestry of the Eliot '
Church. The charter was accepted at this meeting, ■
and the following Board of Directors was chosen: j

William Jackson, John H. Richardson, Joseph j
Bacon, Levi Thaxter, Andrew Cole, Allen C. Curtis,

Otis Pettee, Marshall S. Rice, Pliny B. Kingman,
Henry B. Williams and Edward Walcott. This Jjoard
of directors met at the same place on June 26th, and
elected William Jackson to be their president. They
also appointed committees to engage a cashier and to
make arrangements for a banking-house. A week
later they voted to erect a building on the present lo-
cation. The work of erection of the banking-house
was pushed along very rapidly during the summer, so
that October found the building ready for occupancy,
and on October 10, 184S, the bank opened for business,
and in its own house. Daniel Kingsley, formerly of
the Brighton Bank had been chosen cashier, and
arrangements were made for procuring clerical as-
sistance.

The bank proved a success from the start. Its cap-
ital, as has been said, was limited to §100,000, which
was finally subscribed in full and was all paid in by
November 2, 1848. The first report of the condition of
the bank was made at the directors' meeting of March
26, 1849, and showed net earnings of S4472. A divi-
dend of three and a half per cent, was accordingly
declared and $972 carried to the reserve fund.

It was in this year of 1849 that a somewhat singu-
lar incident occurred. Two sheets of bills disappeared
most unaccountably. In those days, as in these, the
bank-bills were signed by the jiresident and cashier,
and it was then not unusual for these officers to per-
form this formality at their homes in the evening.
Now it so happened that one night President Jackson,
after signing a bunch of bills, put ihem under his pil-
low for sale-keeping, but in the morning when he re-
turned the bills to the bank be overlooked two sheets
of them which he had lelt in his bed. The di^ap-
pearance of the bills was a deep mysiery to the bank
otficers until some days after, when, on Mr. Jackson's
inquiry, his servant-girl confessed to finding the bills
and appropriating them. One of the sheets was re-
covered and the other was charged to profit and loss.
The directors soon after this passed a vote that the
bills should at all times thereaiter be signed at the
bankitg-house.

The second dividend was four percent., and S2270
was carried to the reserve, and soon after the stock-
holders voted to petition the Legislature for an
increase of capital. This was in October of 1849,
and in April of the following year, an act of Legisla-
ture having been obtained, the directors voted an in-
crease of capital of $50,000. This amount was all
paid in by June 4, 1850.

Business continued good for many years. Between
1849 and 1859 the deposits gradually rose from
$12,000 to $47,000. The amount of paper discounted
also increased largely— from $193,000 in 1S49, to $284,-
000 in 1859. During these ten years the semi-annual
dividends were uniformly four percent., and the re-
serve was constantly growing.

In ibis period the pjesidency of the bank twice
changed hands. Wiiliam Jackson, who had been the

NEWTON.

first president, awl who had seen the bank attain suc-
cess under his careful management, ditd iu February,
1855, and Hon. Levi Tbaxter was chcisen to fill the
vacancy. Mr. Thaxter's failing health, however, did
not allow him to hold the office long, and in the fall
of 1857 he resigned, and Joseph N. Bacon, one of the
original projectors and founders of the bank, was
elected to the presidency, which position he has ever
since held. Mr. Bacon had been a director since
1850, and during Mr. Thaxter's illness had done a,
large .share of the president's work.

The number of directors had originally been
eleven, but this number was, in 1840, cut down to
nine, in 1852 to seven, in 1855 to six, and in 1857 to
five. But in 18G0 the number was re=tored to seven,
and has since remained there.

The Boston business of the bank had for several
years been done through the Suffolk Bank, which was
the depo.'itory of most of the New England banks.
But in 1S55 the Newton Bank joined in the general
secession of the country banks from the Suffolk, sub-
scribed $5000, and subsequently S2500 more, to the
capital of the new " Bank of Mutual Redemption,"
and in 1855 transferred its deposit to this new insti-
tution.

In this period of the bank's history came the tem-
porary suspension of specie payment, which affected
the whole country in 1857. Money had been tight
for some time and the suspension had been, to a cer-
tain extent, foreseen. On the morning of October
14th, of that year, Mr. Bacon, the prfsident, went to
Boston as usual to make the exchanges, and on ar-
riving there learned that the Boston banks were then
deiberating whether to suspend or not. Within an
hour he learned that su.;pcnsion had been decided
upon. Tills was before the days of the telegraph and
telephone, and the quickest way to get word out to
Newton w;i3 by railroad. There was no train to
Newton for an hour or more, so he took the horse-
car for Watertown, and arrived at the bank ten min-
utes before it cl: sed for the morning, and half an
hour before steam-cars were due. News of the sus-
pension or' s|>ecie payment by the Boston banks had
not yet reached Newton, so that there had been as
yet no unusual demand at the bank, but the news
was certain to arrive with the train from the city and
unless some action was taken before the re-opening
of the bank at two o'clock, it was sure to be stripped
of its specie during the alternoon. This being the
case, it became necessary to call immtdiately a meet-
ing of the directors. This was not an. easy thing to
do at that time of the day, when most business men
would he in the city; but alter some difficulty a
quorum of the Board of Directors was got together in
a special meeting, and just before the bank opened
for business in the afternoon it was voted to 'suspend
specie payment owing to similar action having been
taken by the city banks. Only one deposit had been
withdrawn that morning in anticipation of this sus-

pension, and within a few days, when it was seen
that it would be but temporary and confidence was
partially restored, this deposit w.is returned into the
bank by its owner. Following again the lead of the
Boston banks, the Newton Bank resumed specie pay-
ment December 17th of the f=ame year.

From 1859 until the breaking out of the Rebellion
the bank was still more prosperous. After paying a
semi-annual dividend of four per cent, for ten years,
a dividend of four and one-half per cent, was voted
in March of 1859, and this rate was kept up until
September, 18G1, when it fell off to three per cent, for
a time.

The presence of the Civil War is indicated in the
bank records only by temporarily reduced dividends,
and by the following vote, which was unanimously
passed by the directors on April 18, 1861: "In view
of the present national emergency, this bank tenders
to the Commonwealth a loan of $25,000," — a monu-
ment to the patriotism of the directors and their con-
fidence in the government. During the war, as has
been said, the dividends fell off. Four successive
semi-annual dividends of three per cent, were paid,
but were followed in the fall of 1863 by one of three
and one-half per cent, and in 1864 by dividends of
four per cent.

The National Bank Act of 1863 was not regarded
with very general favor by the stockholders, who voted
seventy to sixty-six, not to become a national bank
under its provisions. The act of 1864, however, met
with general acceptance, and in October of that year
the stockholders voted unanimously — ninety-nine
votes being cast — to authorize the directors to take
the necessary steps to become a national bank under
that act. The directors soon after this voted to organ-
ize as a national institution, the articles of association
as a national bank and the organization certificate
were duly signed, and in January, 1865, the cashier
was instructed to forward to the treasurer of the
United States a sufficient amount in United States
bonds to receive 8100,000 in national currency. The
" Newton Bank " ceased to exist as such at the close
of business March 31, 1865, and commenced business
as the " Newton National Bank" on the following
day.

The bank now entered upon a long period of great
prosperity. Just at the time of its conversion into a
national institution an extra dividend of eight per
cent, was declared, the balance available for division
having been nearly 827,000. This extraordinary div-
idend was followed by successive aemi-annual pay-
ments of five per cent., which continued, with but one
slight interruption, for eleven years, from 1865 to
1876. The only instance in this period when the
semiannual dividend fell below five per cent, was in
March, 1870, the capital having recently been increas-
ed from 8150,000 to $200,000. The dividend that
month dropped to four per cent., but the wisdom of
the increase of capital was soon made apparent by

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

additional business and a speedy return to five per
cent, dividends, on the enlarged capital.

The back was without the services of a regularly
appointed cashier during a part of 1874 and 1875.
Daniel Kingsley, who had faithfully and efficiently
performed the duties of that position during the twen-
ty-six years since the organization of the bank, was,
in 1874, so disabled by continued sickness that be was
obliged to give up work. ' In September of that year,
at the annual meeting, although still without the ser-
vices of a cashier, the directors did not elect any one
to take the position, hoping that Mr. Kingsley might
yet be able to return to work. This state of things
lasted until the spring of 1875, when B. Franklin
Bacon, who as messenger and later as assistant cash-
ier, had been connected with the bank from its be-
ginning was chosen to take the higher post made
vacant by the prolonged illness of Mr. Kingsley.
Mr. Bacon has held the position ever since and has
most acceptably filled the place of his predecessor.

The history of the bank from 1876 to the time of
writing, 1890, may be shortly stated. Owing to the
large increase in the number of banks, and the low
rate of interest obtainable, the dividends fell off, as
has been the case with all banks ; but with a better
rate for loans the earnings and dividends are once
more increasing satisfactorily. The bank has never in
its history "passed" a dividend. The semi-annual
payments have run as low as two per cent, and once as
low as one and one-half per cent., but they are now
three per cent, and the earnings are constantly in-
creasing. The salary expense account has never been
large. On the contrary, in comparison with the
amounts paid the officers of similar institutions in the
county, the salaries in the Newton Bank have been
small. When it began business the amount paid
yearly for salaries was $1500. This has been increased
as the business has grown and now amounts to $5300
per annum, this sum paying for the services of the
cashier, president, bookkeeper and messenger. The
banking building has been twice enlarged to meet the
needsof the bank and of the savings institution which
occupies a wing of the same building. The bank's
Boston correspondent is now the Maverick National
Bank.

The statement of the condition of the bank at the
close of business March 31, 1890, just prior to the
payment of the last semi-annual dividend of three
per cent., shows the deposits to be $237,291.23 ; dis-
counted notes, $376,094.96 ; surplus, $40,000 on capi-
tal of $200,000; circulation, .$45,000 ; dividend No.
50, $6000 ; and undivided profiU, $3164.19.

The Board of Directors is composed as follows :
Joseph N. Bacon, president ; George Hyde, B. Frank-
lin Bacon, Charles E. Billings, Francis Murdock, W.
Henry Brackett, John R. Farnum.

The First National Baxk of West Newton. —
The credit for the establishment of the First National
Bank of West Newton is due Mr. James H. Nicker-

son. For a number of years he had carried on at
West Newton a private bank under the name of " The
Exchange Banking Company." The success of this
private enterprise was so material, and its business
grew so rapidly, that he was led to believe that there
was an opening in Newton for another National Bank.
He broached the project to a number of the leading
residents of Newwn, and it was received with so much
favor, that he immediately took steps to carry out his
plan. The result of his efforts was, that on January
1, 1887, the "FirsD National Bank of We.n Newton"
opened its doors. The capital was $100,000, and Us
place of business was Nickerson Block, Washington
Street, West Newton.

The first Board of Directors w.ismade upas follows :
J. E. Bacon, A. L. Barbour, P. C. Bridgham, E. W.
Gate, F. E. Crockett, A. B. Mitchell, J. H. Nicker-
son, George Pettee, C. A. Potter.

The first president of the bank was Mr. James
H. Nickerson, and Mr. Austin E. Mitchell was the
first vice-president, Mr. M. L. Parker was the first
cashier. The same officers and Board of Directors
have been retained to the present time with two ex-
ceptions. Mr. J. E. Bacon, after a service of some-
thing more than a year, resigned from the Board of
Directors, .and Mr. B. F. Houghton w.as chosen to fill
his place. Mr. M. L. Parker also resigned his posi-
tion after a time, and Mr. E. P. Hatch now holds that
office.

The bank has been in operation for so short a
period of time, that there is little to say of it except
that it has been transacting a profitable and growing
business. The number of depositors has rapidly in-
creased ; the amount of the deposits at the present
time is about $200,000; and the increasing trans-
actions of the institution have fully justified the belief
of its projector, that the city of Newton was not only
large enough to maintain two National Banks, but that
the needsof the community required their existence.
The West Newton Savings Bank.— froon after
the opening of the First National Bank of West New-
ton, it became apparent to the directors of that insti-
tution that the establishment of a Savings Bank
would be of benefit to the community. Steps were
at once taken to secure one, and on ^Nlarch 10. 1887,
Austin R. Mitchell, J. Upham Smith, Fred. E. Crock-
ett, Edward W. Gate and Alfred L. Barbour were
incorporated as the West Newton Savings Bank, with
its place of business at West Newton. The bank
began business May 1, 1887, with the following list
of officers:

President, Austin R. Mitchell; treasurer, James
H. Nickerson; clerk, Alfred L. Barbour; trustees,
Austin R. .Mitchell, Beuj. F. Houghton, Dwight'
Chester, Edward L. Pickard, Prescott C. Bridgham,
Samuel Barnard, Fred. E. Crockett, Alfred L. Bar-
bour, Edward W. Gate, Adams K. Tolman, George
Pettee, Lyman K. Putney.
The officers of the bank still remain the same, ex-

NEWTON.

cepting that Messrs. Pettee and Putney have retired
from the Board of Trustees, and their places have been
filled by the election of Messrs. C. F. Eddy and F. E.
Hunter. The business of the bank has been uniformly
successful, the amount of the deposits has reached ihe
sum of $140,000, and its future growth is no longer
problematical, but is assured.

CHAPTER VII.

NEWTON— ( Continued).

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES.

BY OTIS PETTEE.

Of the early history of the industries and manu-
factures in the town of Newton, Massachusetts, pre-
vious to the War of the Revolution, or in the Colonial
period of the history of our nation, but little is known
beyond a few traditions and an occasional record, or
from recollections handed down from generation to
generation. Nearly every farm-house had its hand-
cards and spinning-wheels, and. foot-power looms for
providing clothing for the families from wool or flax ;
and in the long winter evenings the ordinary duties
of farm life would be laid aside, and a miniature fac-
tory put iu operation by the good housewives and
daughters, before the blazing fires of winter upon the
hearth, to spin and to knit or weave the fabrics for
the next season's wear ; while the sires and the sons
would be engaged at the bench, in their little work-
shops, making and repairing their farming tools for
spring time and summer's work; or very likely some
of them were employed in making boots and shoes or
other articles required to make the household comfort-
able.

The increase in the population of the Colonies
brought with it a corresponding increase iu the labor
of producing supplies to meet the demands. The en-
ergies of the early settlers were of necessity put forth
to provide shelter, food and raiment for themselves,
and a comfortable protection for their cattle and im-
plements of husbandry. While the many were en-
gaged in agricultural pursuits, a few who were
endowed with mechanical ingenuity and inventive
powers turned their attention towards better and more
rapid and convenient facilities for simplifying the
means of production. Power saw-mills were built to
take the place of the old hand-pit saw and hewer's
axe. Grist-mills displaced the mortar and pestle for
grinding corn. Large factory buildings fitted with
power machinery sprang up here and there, for the
spinning and weaving of cotton and woolen fabrics,
thus assigning the spinning-wheel with spindle and
distaff to some quiet nook in the farmer's garret,
nevermore to be disturbed by the nimble and cunning
hands that used them.

In rambling over the town of Newton, and visiting
the old historic spots, we find sufficient evidence to
warrant the assertion that Newton can well and truly
be placed in the front ranks of progress in manufac-
turing industries, although but little was done during
the Colonial period, beyond the erection of a few saw
and grist-mills and forges.

The ruins of an old grist-mill a little to the north
of the territorial centre of Newton, and quite near the
junction of Walnut and Mill Streets (formerly known
aa Mill Lane), indicates very nearly the spot where the
first power-mill stood. This mill was built on Smelt
Brook by Lieutenant John Spring, in 1664, for grind-
ing corn and other grains. Mr. Spring waa an Eng-
lishman by birth, and very early in life came to this
country with his parents, who settled in Watertown,
where he is supposed to have resided until he removed
to Newton about the time he built the mill. He waa
an energetic man of more than ordinary ability. In
addition to his occupation as a miller, he served the
town as selectman, representative in the General Court
a number of years, and sealer of weights and measures ;
and in various other ways made himself a valuable
and honored citizen of the town of his adoption.

The precise length of time that Mr. Spring operated
his mill solely on his own account is uncertain.
There is a record previous to 1690 of the transfer of
the property to John Spring, Jr., John Ward, Jr.,
Thomas Park and Captain Isaac Williams, each a
quarter part. In the settlement of the Thomas Park
estate in 1694, his part was set off to his son Edward.
In the division of Captain Williams' estate in 1708
his son Isaac received his share, who sold it to his
brother Ephraim in 1722. John Ward, Jr., by will
in 1727 gave his portion to his daughter's husband,
Deacon William Trowbridge, who by will in 1744
gave it to his son, Thaddeus Trowbridge. In 1777 the
property passed into the hands of Captain E Iward
Trowbridge. It is impossible to obtain the names of
all parties engaged in the mill. A Mr. Brigham and
his son George ran the mill in the early part of the
present century. Their successors were Mr. John
Bullough, Messrs. White & Bullough, Mr. John Jen-
nings, Mr. Brackett Lord and probably others. This
mill being the largest one in town, and centrally
located, had a large share of the patronage. It con-
tained two sets of mill-stones, a corn-cracker, and
other apparatus for doing a large business.

The scarcity of water in the mill-pond in dry sea-
sons prompted the owners of the mills to negotiate
with the land-owners abutting upon the northerly side
of Wiswall's Pond (now Crystal Lake), a short distance
southerly and upon a higher level than the mill
pond, to open a small canal fr-om that pond to the
mill-pond brook, as a feeder to supply the deficiency.
This incroacbment upon their rights caused the
owners upon the other side of the Wiswall Pond to
rebel, and after a few years the feeder was discontin-
ued and filled up again.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. Bullough had an extensive trade from the
home market. Mr. Lord was an operator in Western
graics, and shipped large quantities to the Eastern
market, to sell in bulk, or to grind for retail trade at
the milL Verv soon after the death of Mr. Lord, in
1872, the mill was closed, and finally destroyed by
fire, July 5, 1886.

In the Reverend Dr. Jonathan Homer's "History of
Newton," published in 1798, we find the following ac-
count of a brewery then in operation in the town ; and
it is the only record of it that can be found. He
says: "A very capacious brick building has lately
been erected by General William Hull, for brewing
ale and strong beer, and ia occupied by an eminent
English brewer. It is one of the most favorable situ-
ations within the State for a brewery, as it is supplied
with the purest spring water proceeding through tubes
from living springs of superior quality, and from its I
situation upon the Charles river, it furnishes an easy
and cheap conveyance of iis manufactures to the
capital." The brewery was partly in the ravine
northeast from the Nonantum House, and near the
Brighton line.

Hammond's Pond, in the easterly part of Newton,
is the most elevated sheet of water in the town. It
h.as an area of about twenty acres, and is one hundred
and sixty fe^t above tide water. Palmer Brook, some- |
times called Pond Brcok, the principal outlet to this
lakelet, flows in a southeasterly direction tiirough a ;
large tract of flat, swampy land localized as Trouble- |
some Swamp. Great Bald-pate Meadow, Little Bald-
pate Meadow and Stake Meadow (which derived its j
name from a stake or wooden post driven there to de- '
fine an angle formed by boundary lines between New-
ton and Brookline.) From thence the brook winds
its way on to the Charles River. In the seasons of '
high water there is an overflow from Hammond's
Pond westward to Smelt Brook, near the grist-mill of
Mr. John Spring. Bald-pate and Oak Hills border |
the mead.)w on the south, and were once covered with |
a heavy growth of timber; in fact, the whole region
thereabouts was a dense forest. The growing demand ;
for manufactured lumber brought this wealth of tim-
ber lands into the market, and in the year 16S3 Mr.
Erosmond Drew, an energetic young man of Irish
parentage, purchased a large tract of land near the
foot of Bald-pate Hill, lying partiy in the town of
Brookline, and partly in Newton, and built a saw- i
mill and water-power just about on the boundary
line between the two towns. His mill pond over- '■
flowed a coasiderable portion of the meadow lands in i
that vicinity. There are no records or traditions that 1
impart any knowledge of the amount of business done ;
by Mr. Drew, but he undoubteJly had a ready mar-
ket for all the lumber that he could furnish. '
In the year 1720 Mr. Drew conveyed his mills to ;
Nathaniel Parker, who continued the business already I
so well established by his predecessor. In addition |
to ihe timber cut upon their own lands, there can be I

no doubt hut that the settlers for milfs .nround carried
their Iol's to this mill for sawing into dimension lum-
ber tor various uses ; and until within the las- rtlty years
the old mill was in a running condition and last oper-
ated by Mr. David Wardwell. There are still sufEcient
ruins remaining to mark the ''pot where the old
Erosmond Drew saw-mill was built.

A little more than a mile distant, across the divide
f.'om Drew's mill in a southwesterly direction, the
ruins of an old dam across South Meadow Brook still
remain. The object for which it was constructed is
somewhat of a mystery. There is a tradition tliat
this (lam was built lor the sole purpose of flowing the
Great Meadows, to kill the alders and other shrubbery
in that low ground ; but it hardly seems possiblf that
such massive retaining walls, with earth-work and
flumes, would iiave been built, unless there was some
object to be accomplished other than the extermi-
nation of the undergrowth of a forest, particularly
when therecould be no appreciable value to the land
when cleared. As early as 172i this tract of land
was ownt-d by Mr. David Richardson, a blacksmith
by trade, and having afo'ge upou his premise*. It is
possible that he built the dam toobtain wator-power
to drive a haminer-mill, or bloomery in connection
with his forge, but history fails to inpart any positive
information in that direction. There is, however,
traditionary evidence of there once being a saw-mill
upon that spot.

A mile ar.d a half farther on our trail brings us to
the Charles River — the Quinobequiii of the Indians
— at the Upper Falls ; and as we stand upon the brink
of the falls, and view the narrow gorge between the
blufls of rugged rocks that tower above us on either
side, between which the river tunnbles and rolls on its
way to the ocean, and contemplate the primitive
grandeur of this, — one of the most charming and
picturesque spots ill Eastern JIassacluisetts, — we can-
not wonder that the Indians selected these blufl's a* a
place of rendezvous. It was here they built an eel-
wier of large stone-t across the channel to entrap the
lish as they came down the stream. It was here, too
they built a stone ho.ise, with thatched roof, for the
double purpose of a shelter, and a place for preparing
their game and fish upou the bare rocks around them.
This place evidently was the ideal of the Indians, for
when they sold their rights in the land to the white
men, they reserved this spot for the sole use of their
race, together with the rock house, and game-drying
grounds, absolute and forever. The natural fall in
the river at Upper Falls is about twenty-six feet, and
is divided into two sections of fifteen and eleven feet
respectively, by dams about a hundred rods apart.

In the year 1688, Mr. John Clark, of Watertown,
purchased a large tract of land bordering upon the
Charles River at the Upper Falls, in Newton. His
purchase included the water-power of the river, and
the right to build mills there; and before the end of
the year he built the upper dam across the river, and

NEWTON.

erected a saw-mill, — thus inaugurating one of the
principal manufacturing industries of the town. He
died in 1(J95, and by will gave his mill, wi'.h eight
acres of land adjoining, to his two sons, John and
William Clark. In May, 1708, John Clark 2d con-
veyed one-quarter part of the saw-mill and water
privilege, with half an acre of land to Mr. Nathaniel
Parker, for twelve pounds sterling. A short time
afterwards Mr. William Clark conveyed a quarter
part of the mill to Nathaniel Longley. These
sales made Messrs. John Clark, William Clark,
Nathaniel Parker and Nathaniel Longley equal
owners in the mill property. The new com-
pany increased their business by enlarging the
mill building, and adding a grist-mill and fulling-
mill. A fulling mill isamechanical device to thicken
or shrink woolen cloths by the use of fuller's earth
and water and by the same operation any oiiy sub-
stances that may be in the wool are extracted. The
goods to be fulled are laid in a trough partially filled
with water, and fuller's earth, and pounded by a
system of pounders or beetles arranged perpendicu-
larly over the trough, whirh are lifted and dropped
alternately by means of a series of revolving cans
placed in a horizontal shaft, in a manner that will
allow the beetles to drop upon the cloth as it lies sub-
merged in the water. Fuller's earth is a variety of
litliomarge, which is a valuable absorbent fore.xtract-
ing oils used in the manufacture of wool. It is com-
posed of aluminum, sile.T, oxide of iron, magnesia
and other chemicals, which impart to it a diversity of
color; and it is rapidly dissolved in water to a very
fine powder.

Between the years 1717 and 1725 the several
owners of the mill property conveyed their entire in-
terest to Mr. Noah Parker, son of Nathaniel Parker.
And in 1725 Mr. Noah Parker sold his fulling-mill,
with one-quarter of an acre of land, for one hundred
and twemy pounds in bills, to Mr. Samuel Stowell, of
Watertown, upon the condition that Mr. Stowell, his
heirs or assigns, were never to build any other than a
fnlling-mill upon this land: and that Jlr. Parker or
his heirs or assigns were never to build a fulling-mill
on the adjoining lot, under a forfeiture of one hun-
dred pounds, for violation of contract.

There is no record of any change being made,
either in the mills or the ownership, until the time of
the death of Mr. Noah Parker, in 1768. Of these gen-
tlemen but very little is known beyond theii business
abilities. The Middlesex Court records inform us
that Mr. Joseph Bartlett sued Mr. John Clark for
pulling down a frame house, and received judgment
against him in the sum of one pound and fourteen
shilling-! sterling. Mr. Nathaniel Parker served the
town as selectman in 1716. Mr. Nathaniel Longley,
perhaps, was more identified with the public weal
than any of the others. He was a member of the
School Committee in 1721. a selectman in 1725 and
also a member of a coramitt<>e appointed by the town

to assign the seats and pews in the meeting-house to
the parishioners, according to their rank or station in
society.

In the year 1768, Mr. Thomas Parker, eldest son of
Noah Parker, was appointed by the Probate Court as
administrator of his father's estate. In 1771, Thomas
Parker conveyed to Jonathan Bixby, a blacksmith by
trade, one-quarter of an acre of land, with water
privilege and right to build a scythe-mill, and operate
a power trip-hammer and bellows for the same. The
same year Mr. Bixby granted to Mr. Parker the free
liberty of erecting fulling-mills upon his own land
adjoining the mill-pond, with a free use of the stream ;
also a right of way past the scythe factory to get to
his mills.

Mr. Thomas Parker was a leading and honored cit-
izen of the town, an influential member of the Board
of Selectmen for three years, and occupied a seat as
Representative in the Great and General Court of the
Commonwealth for six years. He was an active mem-
ber of the Baptist Church, and made himself gener-
ally useful in the society in which he dwelt.

In the autumn of 1778, General Simon Elliot, a
wealthy merchant and tobacconist of Boston, pur-
chased a portion of the factory property belonging to
Mr. Thomas Parker, for 300 pounds, lawful money,
and built a snuff-mill. Four years later, in 1782, Mr.
Elliot bought the balance of the Parker mills prop-
erty, including water privilege and all other rights
thereto belonging, for the sum of 1400 pounds, law-
ful silver money, and enlarged his facilities for man-
ufacturing snufF to four mill buildings, containing
twenty mortars for crushing the tobacco leaf. Mr.
Elliot took up his residence in Newton, and lived in
the Noah Parker house. He purchased large tracts
of land upon both sides of the Charles River, and
built a farm-house, barus, cider-mill and other build-
ings requisite to carry on the farming business. The
snuff-milis gave employment to quite a number of
workmen, under the supervision of Mr. John Clough,
of German nativity, — a professional snuff-maker.

Under the United States excise laws, enacted in
1798, Mr. Elliot was assessed and paid a direct tax to
the government on lands and mill property valued at
§8730. He also held by appointment a major-gener-
al's commission in the State militia. It is said that
in the year 1800 but three family carriages were
owned in Newton, and one of them belonged to Gen-
eral Elliot.

In January, 1809, Mr. Jonathan Bixby, for a con-
sideration of ninety dollars, paid by General Simon
Elliot, conveyed to him three undivided ninth parts of
his privilege to turn one or more grindstones by water-
power at the iron-mill, a few rods below the snnff-
mill property.

The early part of the present century witnessed a.
marked change in the textile manufacturing interests
of the country. The work, already so well commenced
in previous years, was rapidly extended by building

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

larger factories, and filling them with improved ma-
chinery for spinning and weaving cotton and wool
fabrics. The War of 1812 created a temporary reac-
tion in most mechanical pursuits, but at the close of
hostilities, every branch of industry was again pros-
perous.

In November, 1814, General Elliot sold his entire
mill property at the Upper Falls, consisting of four
snuff-mills, one-grist-mill, one wire-mill, a screw-fac-
tory, blacksmith-shop, annealing-house — with all of
his rights in the water-power of the Charles River,
together with fifty-seven acres of land, tenement-
houses and farm buildings, and all privileges thereto
belonging — to Messrs. James & Thomas H. Perkins,
merchants of Boston, for the round sum of twenty
thousand dollars. The object of their purchase was
to build immediately a first-class cotton-factory of six
thousand spindle capacity, for making sheetings.
But before these gentlemen had matured their plan
of operations the United States Congress enacted
tariff laws adverse to the interest of home manufac-
turers, and by so doing opened the market to foreign
competitors, and the overwhelming influx of goods
from abroad brought wi;h ir, a corresponding stagna-
tion of business at home ; and the Messrs. Perkins
postponed their factory enterprise until a better mar-
ket could be secured. At the end of seven years
there was a healthy improvement in the market, and
work was once more resumed upon the manufactory.
For the purpose of increasing their capital and busi-
ness, they obtained an act of incorporation from the
General Court in the spring of 1823, under the cor-
porate name of the Elliot Manufacturing Company —
for the purpose of manufacturing cotton-goods at
Newton, in the county of Middlesex — with a capital
not exceeding three hundred and thirty thousand
dollars. The new company organized by electing
Mr. Thomas H. Perkins, president ; George H. Kuhn,
Esq., of Boston, as treasurer; and Mr. Frederick
Cabot, as resident agent. The directors employed
Mr. Otis Pettee to superintend the mechanical de-
partment of their factory. Mr. Pettee was a native
of the town of Foxboro', Massachusetts, and a son of
Mr. Simon Pettee. Very early in life he exhibited a
remarkable interest in mechanical works, and even in
infancy this development was apparent. His father
— a man of superior judgment and ability, and en-
dowed with great inventive powers — was a blacksmith
by trade, and carried on an extensive bu-iness in Fox-
boro'. During the War of 1812 he was employed by i
the United States Government to manufacture imple- i
ments of warfare. His son Otis, then a youth of six- I
teen or seventeen summers, was particularly inter-
ested in the various designs and mechanisms of the
articles to be made, and rendered valuable assistance |
to his father in the work-shops. His education was
limited to the advantages of the ordinary district :
schools of his town, arithmetic being his favorite
study. While he took a great interest in mechiinical

works generally, he made a special study of textile
machinery and manufactures, and qualified himself
for almost any position in a cotton factory. Mr. Pet-
tee had served several brief engagements elsewhere,
and owned a small thread-factory in his native town
before he engaged with the Elliot Company, in 1823.
The limited facilities for procuring machinery from
shops already established caused considerable delay
in the completion of their factory ; so the company
decided that they would put up a large machine-shop,
and build a portion of the machinery them^selves ;
and with the addition of a brass foundry, they were
enabled to make castings for the more delicate parts.
Early in the season of 1824 the hum of the spindle
and the clashing of the loom testified to the outside
world that they were in full operation, making thirty-
six inch wide sheeting. We copy from a label placed
upon the cloth as it is baled for market : " The whole
process of manufacturing these goods is performed by
water-power machinery, which makes them more
even and uniform than can be done by hand, and
every piece warranted perfect." From twenty to
twenty-five yards of cloth a day per loom was a fair
production, for machinery sixty years ago was not
run upon the high pressure principle of the present
day ; and when we compare the time required for a
day's work then, with the hours of labor now, we can
truly say that the machinery of other days ran at a
very moderate speed.

In order that the reader may make a comparison
between old rules governing a day's work and the
rules laid down at the present time, we will give a
copy of an old poster that occupied a conspicuous
place in each department of a well-regulated manu-
factory, viz.: "Machinery will be put in motion at
five o'clock in the morning, from March twentieth to
September twentieth, and ail workmen or operatives
are required to be in their places ready to commence
work at that hour. A half-hour is allowed (or break-
fast — from half-past six to seven. At twelve o'clock
three-quariers of an hour is allowed for dinner, and
at seven o'clock In the evening the day's labor will
end. From September twentieth, during the winter
months, to March twentieth, breakfast will be taken
before commencing work, and the wheels will be
started at early daylight in a clear morning; cloudy
or dark moruiugs artificial light will be used ; the
dinner hour the s-ame as in the summer ; the afternoon
run will continue until half-past seven in the even-
ing, with the exception that Saturday's work will end
with the daylight." These rules were not limited to
any particular class of industries, but were general
throughout the land.

Lightibg up day in September would be ushered in
with a kind of gloomy, funereal aspect by the work-
men. While, on the other hand, blowing-out time
in March would be greeted with much joy and a deal
of good humor. Frequently the old jacket-lamps
would be seut hurling through the workshops' by

NEWTON.

some over-jubilant workmen, while others might be
seen going out of an open window or under a bench,
and the day's jubilee end with a grand " blow-out"
ball in the old tavern hall or some other convenient
place, and be kept up until the wee sma' hours of the
morn.

After awhile the questiou of reduction of service
was agitated, and workmen asked that twelve hours
be considered as a day's work, and in process of time
the request was granted, only to be followed by agi-
tating the eleven-hour system. At the end of a more
protracted consideration by the employers this request
was granted, with the proviso that there should be no
more agitation of the hours-of-labor qneation. It re-
quired but a comparatively short time, however, to
lose sight of all compromises, and the question came
up anew, and more vigorous than before, demanding
that ten hours must be recognized as the maximum
time for a day's work. The arguments advanced
were that the laboring classes needed more time for
reading and study to improve their minds. At length
the ten-hour rule was adopted, and all was quiel again.
But now the working people are as anxious and earn-
est to bring about an eight-hour system, and even
more so than were the agitators of a twelve-hour sys-
tem fifty years ago. This is simply a matter of his-
tory, and is incorporated here without comment or
criticism.

Previous to 1840 the best mechanics or skilled
workmen would command a dollar and a half per
day, and others a less price, according to their
rank as workmen ; apprentices usually a half-dollar
per day for the first year, seventy-five cents per day
for the second year, and a dollar per day for the
third year; and when we consider the number of
hours required for a day's work then, as compared
with the present time (1890), it will be looked upon
as a very moderate compensation. In many ways
the cost of living was less ; good board and lodging
at regular lodging-houses could be had at two dollars
per week for men, and for boys, at a dollar and a half
per week. The aim of very many of the family men
was to procure a small lot of land and build them-
selves a comfortable little home, and cultivate a small
garden-patch for table use in its season; and in many
other ways a family could save a trifle here and there,
and have a few dollars left from their yearly earnings
to lay aside for support in their old age.

About the year 1824 there was a great demand for
thread. The Elliot Company had completed their Mill
No. 1, and were putting in foundations for Mill
No. 2. The growing pressure for thread induced
them to fill the new factory with thread machinery.
Mr. Pettee had previously made thread in a small
factory of his own at Foxboro', and was thor-
oughly familiar with the details of the business. The
labor of building the requisite machinery was pressed
forward to the utmost to complete the mill, and the
next year the thread factory was doing a thriving

business, the company finding a ready market for all
the thread they could make. Other manufacturing
companies started the thread business simultaneously
with the Elliot Company, and in accordance with
true Yankee enterprise, it took but a very few years
to overstock the market and fill up the shelves and
store-houses with large stacks of thread. Meantime,
the market for sheetings, that had been dull for a con-
siderable time past, rapidly increased and prices ad-
vanced. The Elliot Company were divided as to the
best course to pursue, but at length concluded there
never would be any further demand for thread, and
their success in manufacturing was in the loom, rather
than in the thread-twister. Mr. Pettee was di.^posed
to look farther into the futtire than the stockholders of
the company and advised them not to disturb their
thread-mill, for there surely would be a greater call for
thread in the near future than there had ever been
before. The company, however, were very decided
in their conclusions to discontinue the thread busi-
ness, and gave orders to take out the machinery and
replace it with looms. This change of machinery
consumed nearly a year's time, and when it was just
about half completed there was a loud call for thread
again. Ware-houses were cleared and shelves made
vacant, and thread-makers urged to a greater produc-
tion. It was now that the Elliot Company waked up
to a realization of their mistake in not listening to
the advice of their mechanical men ; but it was too
late, and their only alternative was to complete the
alterations already so far advanced; and by the time
they were ready to weave in Mill No. 2 the market
was dull for sheetings.

After the Elliot Company had completed the ma-
chinery for their own use they were prepared to build
for other parties; in fact, they already had filled a few
small orders from neighboring factories at Dedham,
Waltham and other places. About this time the
Jackson Company were building a large factory in
Nashua, New Hampshire, and entered into negotia-
tions with the Elliot Company for machinery. On
account of the magnitude of the job and the limited
time allowed to complete the work, the directors hesi-
tated in deciding whether to undertake to do it or not.
Mr. Pettee was sanguine as to their ability to fill the
contract in a satisfactory manner and within the speci-
fied time; still the directors hesitated. Meantime Mr.
Pettee canvassed the country for material and work-
men, and found that there would be no delay in that
direction, urged the company still more earnestly to
undertake the work, which they at last reluctantly
decided to do. Unfortunately for the company there
had been a little friction in the management, which
still existed to a moderate extent. There is no doubt
but that this element had many times been a barrier
to more prompt actions in the board ; and when we
consider the contingencies attending such an under-
taking, at a time when the facilities for accomplish-
ing it were anything but reliable, we may not be but-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

prised at the delay ia deciding the beat thin? to be
done. Now that the question was settled, the next
step to be taken was to procure the requisite material
for the job — which was no small task. Previous to
this time a very large percentage of cotton and woolen
manufacture had been done in the State of Rhode Is-
land and in the Massachusetts towns bordering upon
that State. This very naturally made the city of
Providence the mercantile centre of the business, and
the market to be depended upon for that line of goods,
although Boston and Salem sustained a fair market
for manufacturers' supplies.

The slow process of travel and transportation was
another item for consideration. No railroads for
rapid transit, no telegraph to transmit orders, no tele-
phones to communicate with parties at a distance ;
mail-coaches were slow, driving one's horse was
tedious, and heavy cartage by ox-teams with snail-
like pace was exceedingly trying to the patience of
any progressive parties. Nearly three mouths of the
time had already elapsed, with very little apparent
progress in the work, while the real advance was
almost marvelous. Drawings and designs had been
perfected and patterns made ; and in the foundries
for castings at Wulpole, Foxborough and Easton,
lumber, bar-iron and other commodities ordered from
Providence aud elsewhere, and in transitu. Such was
the condition of things when the company became
alarmed at the prospect before them, and called a
special meeting to take council together as to the best
course to pursue. The same element that retarded
action at the commencement was still more decided
that work could not be done, and so a vote was
passed to cancel their obligations with the Jackson
Company. Mr. Pettee laid the whole matter before
them, insisting that the work was really progressing
rapidly, and could be accomplished — but to no avail.
And for the time being, he took the responsibility
upon himself and carried it through to completion,
satisfactorily to the Jackson Company, as the follow-
ing inscription upon a silver service presented to him
by them will testify : " Presented to Otis Pettee by
the Jackson Company, in token of their approbation
of the machinery he built for their mills in the year
1831."

There had been for a long time a growing necessity
among cotton manufacturers fur improvements in
speeders, or roving machinery. Mr. Pettee turned his
whole attention to the end that this long-needed im-
provement should be brought about, and it at length
led him to the discovery of a process of making rov-
ing, or roping, as it is called, upon thoroughly scien-
tific principles, which were based upon mathematical
calculations. This process required a machine in
which any desirable change in the velocity of some
of its parts could be automatically produced without
changing the velocity of other parts of the same
machine. To illustrate : the top rollers of a roving
frame will deliver to the flyer a given number of

yards of roving in a given time, and by a tube in the
bow of the flyer, it is conveyed to an aperture mid-
way between the top and bottom of the same, where
it passes out and is wound upon a spool. The twist
in the roving is regulated by the velocity of the flyer.
So far in the proce3< of making roving, the motions
are arbitrary aud of uniform speed. The spool upon
which the roving is wound traverses up and down
alternately within the bows of the flyers to receive
the roving as it passes our, from the aperture
already mentioned. This traverse motion of a spool
upon a spindle is slow and variable. The rotating
velocity of the spool when empty must be adjusted
so as to wind the roving upon it in precisely the same
time it is delivered to it from the flyer; otherwise it
would stretch or kink, or pull apart, as the c.ise may
be. The traverse motion must always be arranged to
lay the delicate roving side by side. Now, us the
diameter of the spool is increased by the layers of
roving coiled upon it, the velocity of the spool must
be decreased in proportion to the increasing diameter
in order that the surface, whatever the diameter may
be, shall always retain a uniform speed ; while, at the
same time, the speed of the traverse motiou must
correspondingly decrease. To produce all of these
combinations and variations by a gear, cone or
double speeder, with gears in hyperbolic series, was a
mathematical problem that taxed the inventor's brain
to the utmoat for mure than three years to solve ; and
when it was perfected and put into practical use it
proved to be the crowning etibrt of his life, and was
pronounced by one of the most celebrated practical
philosophers and engineers of this country to be
absolutely perfect; and he added that its principles
are eternal, and can never be improved upon so long
as the world stands.

The old method of producing similar results with
treacherous leather belts moving upon conic.'il
drums, was superseded in this invention by inflexible
metallic gear-work, and with the mathematical pre-
cision thus only attainable, all the relative move-
ments, with all the changes in series by variables, de-
pendent upon other changes in series by variables,
necessary to spin aud coil on spools the delicate rov-
ings, of whatever fineness.

The first one of Mr. Pettee's letters patent for his
speeder bore the date of March 15, 1825, as for " a
new and useful improvement for producing any re-
quired change in the velocity of machinery while in
motion, etc." Other improvements were covered by
patents granted a few years later. This improved
double-speeder went into general use by nearly all
cotton manufacturers — in fact, it was about the only
one used for the next twenty-five years following its
invention.

Before the end of the year 1831 3Ir. Pettee left the
employ of the Elliot Company, and started the cotton
machinery business on his own account. He built
extensive works, about a half-mile distant, in a south-

NEWTON.

easterly direction from the Elliot fiictory. Atthesarae
time the Elliot Company discontinued the machine
busintss, and gave their undivided attention to cotton
manufacture, and sold their shop equipment to Mr.
Pettee. The demand for machinery ff< m all parts
of the country kept the new works continually sup-
plied with orders, and this establishment became one
of the foremost in ISew England. An iron foundry
was added to the " piant," and the first cast made on
7th day of August, 1837. While his geared double-
speeder was a specialty of these works, the proprietor
was prepared to lurnisi; any and ali machinery used
in the manufacture of cotton, from the opener to the
loom.

Although the workshops, when built, were ccnsid-
ered ample to accommodate all of the business that
would be likely to come to iheni, time developed a
different result. Large additions hud to be made from
year to year, and within five years after commencing
operations the principal shop building had reached
to the length of 3lJ5 feet; and the greater portion of
it was three stories in height. With the exception of
the foundry buildings and patterns, all the entire
works were destroyed by fire, during a fierce southerly
gale, on the evening of Xovf mber 25, 1S39, entailing
a loss of nearly S10O,000, which was partially covered
by insurance. As soon as the embers had cooled off,
work was commenced on reconstruction, and by the
end of six weeks' time wheels were again in motion,
but not to so great an extent as before the fire.

In the year ISiii the Elliot Company discarded a
large portion of their old machinery and replaced it
with new and improved machinery, and by so doing
were enabled to make sheetings at a less cost per yard
than before. A part of the new machinery was pur-
chased in Paterson, X. J., and the balance of it from
Mr. Pettee.

A long way back in the history of the Colonies
there was an effort made by parties in interest on the
Neponset River to divert a portion of the Charles
River water in that direction, as a feeder to that river.
By what authority or by whose order this was done
there seems to be no record.

About half a mile eastward from Dedham Court-
House a ditch was opened across the meadows towards
East Dedham and Hyde Park. And when parties
were interviewed in relation to it, the ouly reply to it
would be that the draining of the meadows was a
necessity to the land-owners. There is a record, in
1G39, in which it is ordered that a ditch shall be dug
through the upper Charles meadow into East Brook
(now Mother Brook) for a partition fence and also for
a water-course to supply a mill there. Little by little
the ditch became widened and deepened as more fac-
tories were built upon it. Meantime the manufac-
tories along the river in Xewtou and Waltham be- -
came alarmed at the pnspect before them by this i
diversion of the water Irum its natural flow in the
Charles River. Litigation and ill feeling followed '

the line of this encroachment upon their rights, and
not until a lapse of more than two hundred years
a ter the first act was done was the vexed question
settled in the courts, ordering water-gauges to be
placed both in the river and Mother Brook, allowing
the former to receive two-thirds, and the latter the
remaining third, thus legalizing a wrong that should
never have been inflicted upon the legitimate busi-
ness of the river owners. For these reasons, and
from a system of drainage that was gradually going
on, conducted by the farmers, to reclaim their mea-
dow lands and swamps bordering upon the river,
the water-power annually decreased in value, so
that by the year 1836 the Elliot Manufacturing Com-
pany was obliged to put in a powerful steam-engine
for an auxiliary power to bridge over a dry season.

The fluctuations in prices and sales of cotton fab-
rics had a tendency to arouse the diversity of opin-
ions which had so long existed in the management of
the company's business; this variance finally resulted
I in the stockholders voting, in 1839 or '40, to purchase
j no more cotton, but to work up what they had on
j hand, in bale, and in process of manufacture — close
I their books in liquidation, and sell their property.
j The loss of the machine-shops by fire in 1839 and
, the closing of the cotton factory in the spring of 1840
; had a damaging effect upon the village people who
i were dependent upon them for a livelihood. How-
ever, this embarrassment proved to be but temporary,
for Mr. Pettee had already built large workshops to
replace the burnt ones, and in September of 1840 he
purchased the entire cotton factory property, and put
it in operation under the title of " Elliot ilills ; "
and once again, all wheels were in motion and the
community made happy.

At this time the demand for print cloths was sulfi-
[ cient to warrant the changing of machinery from the
broad sheeting loom to the calico width, and at the
same time enlarge the factory buildings and put in
additional machinery sufficient to nearly double the
! productive capacity of the mill, by these changes.
Two hundred and fifty-two new looms were placed in
a single room, and all driven from below instead of
the usual method of belting down to them from lines
of shafting overhead. This system presented a very
neat and attractive appearance to the beholder, and
the room was reputed to be the largest of its kind in
New England ; and when in full operation would
weave 60,000 yards of cloth per week.

About the year 1835 or '36 the Mexican Republic
interested itself in the work of encouraging home
manufactures, by enacting stringent excise laws that
wouidalmost prohibit the importation of foreign goods
that could be made from raw material found within
its borders ; and by the same acts left their ports open
for free admission of the requisite machinery and
other apparatus necessary for establishing the various
industries that might be carried on within their own
limits. This enactment was intended to eacourage

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

home productions, and had its desired effect, more
particularly in the manufacture of cotton and paper.
Mr. Ithamar Whiting, a New Englander by birth,
who had been employed in that country about a dozen
years in gold and silver-mining, at once grasped the
situation, and from the little knowledge he had of the
success of our New England manufacturers, was very
sanguine of similar results in Mexico. He earnestly
advocated the introduction of machinery, and solicit-
ed capital to embark in the manufacturing of cotton
fabrics. At length he succeeded in finding a few cap-
italists who would make the venture ; but when it was
estimated to cost from seventy-five to a hundred thou-
sand dollars for a very small factory, all but one firm
declined to undertake it. Further effortj to procure
funds were unavailing, and finally the remaining
company, Messrs. Barron, Forbes & Co., of Tepic,
concluded to take the entire responsibility upon them-
selves, and arranged with Mr. Whiting to come to the
" States " and procure a compFete outfit for a cotton
factory.

Early in the spring of 1837 Mr. Whiting started
from the city of Tepic near the western coast of Mex-
ico, to fulfill his mission, and after a. two months'
journey he received a cordial welcome from the loved
ones under the roofof theold homestead, in the town
of Dover, Massachusetts, — once more to breathe his
native air, and tread his way over old and familiar
highways and byways, as he was wont to do in the
days of his childhood.

After visiting most of the principal factories in
New England, he left his order for machinery with
Mr. Otis Pettee, of Newton, to execute. The sub-
stance of the contract was embodied in a very few
words, to wit: " We want machinery that will produce
seven hundred and fifty yards of sheeting per day, of
about No. 16 yarn, — including all of the supplies of
whatever kind, to put it in operation, — water-wheels
and shafting, plans for factory buildings, window-
frames, sashes and glass, door frames and doors, etc.
The buildings are to be built of adobe, or mud-bricks,
dried in the open air, as is the custom in hot climates.
The machinery when finished must be taken apart
and securely packed in strong boxes, to be shipped
via Cape Horn and the Pacific coast to Port San Bias ;
and so far as possible the gross weight of each pack-
age not to exceed one hundred and seventy-five
pounds, for convenience in transportation upon mules'
back^ from the port of entry to the factory at Tepic,
a distance of about sixty miles." While the machin-
ery was building, Mr. Whiting spent considerable
time in the workshop in order to familiarize himself
with the details of construction, which he considered
would be of valuable service to him in after life. Upon
his return to Tepic he took with him a number of
men experienced in the art and mystery of manufac-
turing cottou, to have the supervision of the several
departments of the factory, and to instruct the natives
how to spin and weave cotton by power machinery,

as their only knowledge of the business up to that time
was limited to the hand-work done at home.

By this experiment of Messrs. Barron, Forbes & Co.
the early history of cotton manufacture in the Mexi-
can Republic is associated with the industries of New-
ton. About five years later the same company built
another factory for carding and spinning warps to
supply a demand from country towns and farming
communities for hand-weaving.

Mr. Whiting, in a letter to Mr. Pettee, dated Feb-
ruary, 1848, says, "So far we have done very well
with our factory, but I am afraid our harvest is nearly
over. The state of the country is such at this time
as to induce the belief that no business will prosper
much longer. The last two years have been the best
we ever had, — not because our manufactured articles
have sold better, for the price has fallen, — but because
we have got our cotton on better terms, aa well as of
better quality. In 1846 we made $113,419.82, and iu
1847, S180,331.17 ; and since we commenced work we
have cleared $873,077.12 ; and this has nearly all been
made by the first machinery. We did wrong in put-
ting in spinning. We should have followed your ad-
vice, and put in the same kind of machinery as the
first, with more looms, and then we should have made
more money."

The venture of this company was closely watched
and studied by moneyed men throughout the Repub-
lic, and as soon as their success was made known,
other companies were formed and more factories
built. The first one to follow Messrs. Barron, Forbes
& Co. was a German gentleman from Durango. a Mr.
Stahlknecht, who ordered machinery from Newton iu
1839. He afterwards built another factory in Tunal.
The last time he visited Newton, he remarked that he
had given up the cotton manufacturing business, as
he was quite too near the Texan frontier, and goods
were run over into tlieir country. Eighteen cents per
yard was all he could get for his cloth and it cost
him thirteen cents per yard to manufacture it, and
five cents profit on a yard did not pay. What
will our new New England manu&cturers say to
that?

A company was organized in Guadalajara in 1840,
under the corporate title of the Guadalajara Spinning
and Weaving Cjmpany, and they sent their treasurer,
Mr. John M. B. Newbury Boschetti, to Newton to
buy machinery. They also took out machinery for
making paper. Other factories were established at
Santiago, Guymas, Mazatlan, Colima, Curagoa and
elsewhere, and filled with Newton machinery. Al-
though these factories proved to be profitable invest-
ments to their owners, none of them were as remuner-
ative as the Tepic Mills. Orders were received from
the Mexican customers for machinery and supplies
by Mr. Pettee as long as he lived.

In addition to his New England and Mexican
trade, Mr. Pettee frequently received orders from the
South and West; Several large cotton factories in

NEWTON.

Tennessee were filled with machinery from his work-
shops; and consignments were made to Georgia, the
Carolinas, Maryland and elsewhere.

Mr. James Lick, of telescopic fame throughout the
world, and whose name is associated with the astro-
nomical study and research of all nations, was a cus-
tomer of Mr. Pettee's in 1852, for a large invoice of
machinery for his extensive flouring-mills at San
Jose, California.

Mr. Pettee was not only engaged in the business
interests of the town, but was largely interested in its
general welfare and prosperity. He was an earnest
and indefatigable worker to construct the Woonsncket
Division of the New York & New England Railroad
(then the Charles River Branch), through the south-
erly section of the town, to the Upper Falls and
Needham, in 1851 and 1852. By his simple consent
to a proposal of the Boston & Worcester Railroad
Company in 1844, they would have, at their own ex-
pense, extended the Lower Falls Branch of their road
from Riverside to the Upper Falls. But he declined
to accept the proffered branch, because he considered
it would be doing great injustice to the future welfare
of the village, by placing it at least fifteen miles by
rail from Boston, when the same terminus could
easily be reached by a more (firect route within a dis-
tance of less than ten miles.

He actively co-operated with all benevolent and
philanthropic movements and real reforms. A thor-
ough temperance man and worker from his youth up ;
a despiser of the use of tobacco in any form what-
ever; a friend of the slave and down-trodden; an old
time Whig, but one of the foremost to come out and
organize the Abolition party ; and was a delegate to
the National Liberty Convention held in Buffalo, Oc-
tober 7, 1847.

As to the spirit of his business qualities, eminent
Bos'ton merchants with whom he had dealings bear
testimony, not only to his business capacity, but also
to his being the most thoroughly honest man they
ever knew. He was, in short, an upright man of
great inventive genius, solid judgment, extensive en-
terprise and beneficent life. He died on the 12th day
of February. 1853, at the age of fifty-seven years.

The next following June the cotton factory property
and tenement houses belonging with it were sold to a
company of Boston merchants under the corporate
name of Newton Mills, with F. M. Weld, treasurer.
This company continued in the business until August,
1884, and then closed up for an indefinite period.

In the autumn of 1853 the machine-shop property
was sold to Messrs. Otis Pettee, (2d), George Pettee
(sons of the late Otis Pettee) and Henry Billings, who
formed a co-par*nership in the name of Otis Pettee &
Company ; and continued in the business until Janu-
ary 1, 1880, when the partnership was dissolved, and
the property sold to a stock company, who assumed
the name of Pettee Machine Works, and still con-
tinue the business of building cotton machinery.
7-iii

I In the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' As-
sociation report for 1841, No. 998, we find the fol-
lowing, viz. :

j "Otis Pettee, Newton Upper Falla— Cottou Loom: — an attempt to
I improve upon the usual melbod of delivering the warp, and simultA.

neouaty to vvind up the cloth \vliile weaving by power.
I "This operation 18 performed in a manner simildr to other older mm-
I chines by suspending the r«ed-frame at the top, and allowing the bottom
I to yield, although opposed by a spring, as each thread of the filling is
I inserted; the spring in yielding looeens a friction^strap passing round
I the warp-cylinder, thereby allowing the warp to unwind without un-
I necessary strain upon the threads, the spring at the same time operating
j on a ratchet-wheel connected with the cloth^ylinder, causing it to wind
I up the clucb at the same rate it is woven."
I

I Turtle Island divides the Charles Birer about an
I eighth of a mile below the snuff-'mill-dam, and the
[ rapids there afford another good water-power. In
: 1782 Mr. Thomas Parker, who owned the island and
land on tiie Newton side of the river, purchased a
j small lot on the Needham side (now Wellesley) ; he
• built a dam at this point, and started a saw-mill upon
a rocky bluff in Newton just abreast of the head of
j the island. As Mr. Parker was now well advanced
j in life he retained the saw-mill but a very few years,
and then sold all his mill property to his son-in-law,
Mr. Jonathan Bixby, who continued the business
until he sold his entire interest in the estate upon
both sides of the river, including water-power and
other privileges in the river, to the Newton Iron
Works Company, a co-partnership formed principal-
ly of Boston gentlemen, for the purpose of manufac-
turing iron. Mr. Rufus Ellis was appointed general
manager and resident agent, and assumed the duties
and responsibilities of his office in 1799. And by the
beginning of the year 1800 he had built a permanent
dam across the river, and erected a building upon
the island, and put in the required furnaces and ma-
chinery for rolling and slitting iron into a variety of
sizes and shapes.

For the first twenty-five or thirty years after the
mill was started, wood was the only fuel used for
heating the furnaces and ovens. Anthracite coal lay
quietly slumbering in the depths of the mountain
passes and ravines of Eastern Pennsylvania and
other places, and unknown to man as an article
of fuel which so soon came into general use the
world over. It may be true that the hunter
and trapper, Philip Ginther, while in search of
game in the forests of the Lehigh Valley, did ac-
cidentally make the discovery of anthracite coal in
I the year 1791. One day, while hurrying down a steep
j declivity on the side of Sharp Mountain, homeward
1 bound, bis attention was arrested by a pecnliar black
I rock formation, Recently uncovered by the nprootal
I of a large tree in his pathway. He gathered a few
I samples, and sent them to Philadelphia for scientistB
to examine, which resulted in the decision that itwas
a kind of coal of considerable value. With the ex-
, ception of a few trials of the new fuel by country
I blacksmiths, it was thirty years before any really snc-
I ceisful test was made of its combustible merits as a

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

substitute for wood. This experiment was made by
a nail-maker near Philadelphia. A half-day's tinue
was spent by the workmen in trying to make the
black stones burn, as they called it, but of no avail,
and at the noon hour they left the furnace in disgust,
for their dinner, with the determination that upon
their return they would clean out the fire-box, and
fire up in the usual way for the afternoon's work.
But much to their surprise, when they came back the
furnace was seething and roaring with a white heat,
such as they had never seen before: and the year 1817
marks the era in revealing the true secret of burning
anthracite coal, which is to let it alone as much as
possible, and to manipulate the fires from beneath.
As soon as the burning of hard coal ceased to be an
experiment, it was brought into general use, and the
Newton Iron Works Company reconstructed their
furnaces, by putting in a system of coal-burning ap-
paratus.

Nail-making is an industry that occupies a place in
the list of early manufactures. Quite a number of
nail factories were built in this country in the tenth
decade of the last century and the first decade of the
present century — one at Fairmont, near Philadelphia,
— one at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, — and several in
New York State. Massachusetts bad its share of the
pioneers in the business ; a factory at Wareham, one at
Bridgewater, another at Weymouth ; the little town
of Dover boasted of a nail factory, and in several
other places the click, clack of the nail-machine was
heard.

The increasing demand for nails called for better
machinery for making them. It is now (1890) about
a hundred years since the introduction of power ma-
chinery for cutting nails from rolled iron plates.
Previous to that time a greaterproportion of the nails
used were made from rods of iron cut otf the required
length for different sizes of nails, and headed by crude
machinery, or forged by hand on the anvil. Occa-
sionally a blacksmith mada a specialty of forging nails
as a partial supply to the market for builders' use.

From 1790 to 1800 the nail-making business was
greatly enhanced by the valuable improvements on
inventions of earlier dates. The priority of these in-
ventions has been claimed by a number of persons,
notably Benjamin Cochran, in 1790. Ezekiel Reed, of
Bridgewater, Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, and \
Walter HuEt, of New York. The first letters patent
in this country for nail-cutting machinery were i
granted to Josiah G. Pearson, in 1794. And while
Jacob Perkins perfected his invention 111790, he did
not obtain his patent until 1795.

The present century opened with a continuation of
the study for better machinery. Jesse Reed, a son of
Ezekiel Reed, so far advanced the process of nail-
making machinery as to cut off the plate, and head
the nail by a single turn of the machine. Still an-
other device was applied to the same machine by a
Mr. Kipley. His attachment consisted of a pair of

nippers, so adjusted as to grasp the nail as soon aa it
was cut from ihe plate, and then turn it so as to give
it what is termed a flat grip, instead of the edge grip
in use previous to his inventions. Mr. Thomas
Odiorne, of Mllford, Massachusetts, was the inventor
of a very good machine for cutting xmall nails and
brads. His machine was said to be a complicated in-
vention that required a skilled workman to operate it.
Still another nail-machine was patented by Mr. Jon-
athan Ellis, one of the proprietors of the Newton Iron
Works. His machine was rather cumbersome, and
never very much used.

Mr. Seth Boyden, a son of the old town of Foxbor-
ough, Massachusetts, but who removed to Newark,
New Jersey, in early manhood, invented a nail-ma-
chine, and secured his patent in 1815. Mr. Boyden
was one of the greatest inventors of his generation.
The world to-day ia indebted to him for malleable
iron, and '' patent" or enameled leather, and valua-
ble improvements in both stationary and locomotive
steam-engines, and many other inventions of a lesser
magnitude.

In lS09the Newton Iron Works Company builta nail
factory, and at first useil the Odioine machines. These
machines were securely fastened to the top and sides of
heavy, white-oak post, about a foot and a half square
and firmly set in the ground. Whether the " Odi-
orne " was not adapted to their class of nails, or
whether it was too complicated and inconvenient to
operate, or for other reasons, it was soon laid aside,
and the Reed machine, with Mr. Ripley's improve-
ments, was put in its place.

The annual production of manufactured iron from
the rolling and slitting- mills was about iiOOO tons ;
and 1200 tons of nails per annum were shipped from
the nail factory. None but the best quality of Rus-
sian and Swedish irons were used in the mills — im-
ported direct from those countries by the company's
ships. In addition to the home markets large cocsign-
mects of manufactured goods were shipped to the West
India Islands, New Orleans, Savannah, Charleston
and other Southern ports.

In 1814 Mr. Rufus Ellis built a cotton factory of
3000 spindles on the Needham side of the river, for
weaving sheetings, which he ran on his own account
until 1840, when he leased it to Mr. Milton H. San-
ford, of Medway, to manufacture Osnaburgs for the
Southern market. At the close of his lease perma-
nent improvements were made in the cotton-mill
property by putting in new water-wheels and flumes
and other connections ; and in 1844 Mr. Barney L.
White took a lease of it and replaced the sheeting
machinery and continued the business for nearly five
years, and gave it up to Mr. Salmon S. Hewitt; and,
under his direction, it was operated until the factory,
building and machinery were totally destroyed by fire
on May 8, 1850, and never rebuilt. As a whole, this
factory had been a successful and profitable business
enterprise.

NEWTON.

In 1821 Mr. Rufus Ellis purchased the eatire inter-
est of the Newton Iron Works Company, which he
held for two years, and then formed a new company
consisting of seven stoekliolders, under a new corpo-
rate title of Newton Factories, with Mr. Ellis as resi-
dent manager, ihe same as heretofore. After ten or
twelve years of -luccessful business the co-partnership
was dissolved, and Mr. Rufus and David Ellis became
sole owners of the property.

In 1844 Mr. Frederick Barden lea^ed the rolling
and slitting-mill property from the Me3<rs. Ellis and
put the same in thorough repair by building new and
larger furnaces, new and improved trains of rollers
and new water-wheels and gearing; and by the me of
an additional heating furnace he was prepared to
manufacture at least 5000 tons of iron annually, and
gave employment to quite a number of workmen.
After a very successful run of twenty-five years or
more, Mr. Barden fully realized that close application
to business was undermining his health, and retired
from active duties in 1870. The mills remained idle
for a few years, and finally were broken up, thus end-
ing a thriving iron business of nearly three-quarters
of a century.

A short time after the loss of the cotton factory by
fire Mr. Ellis erected a new nail factory building
upon the same site, and removed the machinery from
the old factory into it. At the end of five or six years
the nail business was abandoned and the machinery
sold out — mainly as old iron — which terminated a
thrifty nail-making business that had given steaoy
employment to the nail makers for more than fifty
years. The building was subsequently used for a
grist-mill and planing-mill, and at last licked up by
the flames in IS"!?.

The old nail factory building was leased in Septem-
ber, 1863, to Mr. Benjamin Newell, of Dover, Ma-s*.,
who fitted it up for a paper manufactory, and, after a
profitable business for twenty years, making coarse
paper, he sold his interest in it to Mr. Hudson Keeney,
of the town of Everett, in 1873. The old rolling-
mill, made vacant by removing the machinery, was
leased to Mr. Keeney in 188(1, and filled up with pa-
per machinery, thus doubling his facilities for filling
his orders. Mr. Keeney availed himself of a good
opportunity to sell his property in the mills, in 1882,
to Charles P. Clark, Jr., and William F. Wardwell.
In 1886 they sold to the Superior Wax Paper Com-
pany. They laid out several thousand dollars in pre-
paring to make the paper, but, were financially obliged
to discontinue the business and close up the works
before really getting ready for operation.

In 1888 Mr. Willard Marcy and Mr. Eugene L.
Crandell, of Newton, and Mr. John M. Moore, of
Baldwinsville, Massachusetts, under the title of E. h.
Crandell & Company, purchased the paper-mill prop-
erty belonging to the Superior Wax Pa[)er Company,
and the real estate connected with it, which included
the entire interest in the water-power of the Charles

River and reservoirs and land adjoining, of the David
Ellis heirs, and engaged in making wrapping and
sheathing papers of good quality ; and by adtUtional
machinery and improvements can make about four
tons per day when in full operation.

In 1843 Mr. William E. Clarke built a shop on
Boylston Street, at the Upper Falls, and employed
about fifty men mainly on cotton-spinning machinery
for New England manufacturers. He also furnished
the machinery for a small cotton factory in Rio Janei-
ro, South America. The next year, 1844, Mr. Pliny
Bosworth built a shop ou High Street, on proportions
similar to that of Mr. Clarke, and carried on the
machinery busine-s. His specialty was cotton cord-
ing machines. The value of the machinery sent out
by these two shops while in operation would aggre-
gate about a hundred thousand dollars. At the end
of a term of five years' business they were both
closed up by the owners, and the buildings taken down
or removed ; and before the year 1850 they had become
items of history.

In 1849 Messrs. Jenkins and Inman started a
braided shoe-string factory upon a small scale in a
leased room in oneof the factory buildings al the Up-
per Falls. The enterprise, on their part, was at the
time experimental, but proved to be a succes-s. For
the want of more room to accommodate their rapidly-
growing business they removed, in 1852, to Carver,
Massachusetts. The outcome from their experiment
in Newton has been the establishment of one of the
most extensive snoe-string and lacing factories in the
country.

In 1859 Mr. Norman C. Munson, of Shirley, Massa-
chusetts, a contractor for filling in a large tract of flat
and marshy land in the Back Bay of Boston, part-
ly belonging to the Commonwealth, partly to the
Miil-dam Water-Power Company, and partly to the
city of Boston, came to Newton Upper Falls as a
convenient central station for carrying on the work.
He purchased a range of gravel hills along the line of
the Woonsocket Division of the New York and New
England Railroad, adjacent to the Charles River up-
on the Needham side. A large building upon the
Newton side was leased by him for a machine-shop
and engine-house, with a larffe area outside for storage
and repairs to rolling-stock; two powerful steam ex-
cavators were placed in position by the hill-sidea to
load the trains. New and powerful locomotive en-
gines that would handle forty heavily-laden cars, ag-
gregating one hundred and fifty cubic yards of gravel
to each train, were used for transportation; and by
day and by night for a period of at least ten years a
train was loaded and started off" from the pit at very
nearly regular intervalsof forty-five minutes. Switching
engines were used in the pit in loading and making
up trains, and a similar system was in use at the
dump. This arrangement prevented any loss of time
or delays to the train men. Mr. Munson furnished
employment to about two hundred workmen, and lev-

100

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

eled more than a hundred acres of gravel hills in ful-
filling his contracts. .

In 1872 Mr. Phineas E. Gay, a contractor from
Boston, took several jobs of filling the marshes, and
opened a gravel pit at the Upper Falls in a large sand
blufl^, formerly belonging to the Amasa Winchester
estate, bounding on Needham Street, and ran steam
excavators and gravel trains to Boston most of the
time for two or three years.

After Mr. Munson had finished his Back Bay con-
tracts, he made others for filling a large area of South
Boston flats, and removed his machinery to Readville
for gravel. At the end of Mr. Gay's orders for filling
flats, he went out of the business.

One of the finest and most perfect pieces of stone
masonry in the world is the massive bridge of the
Sudbury River Aqueduct, across the Charles River at
the Upper Falls. The principal arch spans the river
from Needham to Newton, a distance of 132 feet be-
tween abutments. It is segmented in shape, and
nearly seventy feet high, — twenty feet broad at the
base, and eighteen feet at the keystone. Six arches
of leaser proportions are required to complete the
span across the chasm, a distance of five hundred feet
between the headlands. This spot is peculiarly
adapted for a structure of this kind, for the bluffs
upon either side of the river are of solid rock forma-
tion. The trestle frame across the river, to support
the arch while building, was firmly secured upon solid
foundations in the bed of the river, jjnd upon a plat-
form above high water there were placed a large
number of jack screws, upon which the trestle rested.
These jack-screws had a triple mission to fulfill, —
first, to sustain the burden, — second, to raise the
superstructure in case of settling, and third to let down
and loosen the trestle, so that it could be easily re-
moved after the arch was finished. More than a
hundred thousand feet of timber were required to form
the trestle and supporting platform : the arches are
built of Rockport granite, and was all dressed at the
quarries. The contractor, Mr. Phelps, of Springfield,
Mass., an expert bridge builder, had the work in
charge, and proved himself to be thoroughly master of
the situation. 2700 tons of stone had to be held up
by the trestle before the key-stones were placed. It
required nearly two years to complete the job, which
was finished in 1876, at a cost of nearly 8200,000 ;
and, during the whole time, no injury was done to any
of the workmen ; neither was there any breakage of
hoisting machinery or other appliances for doing the
work.

Thousands of people visit this charming spot every
year, not only to .idmire the symmetrical proportions
of the bridge, but to hear the repeating echo that is
produced under the main arch by reverberating tones
from a shout by the visitors. As a piece of mechani-
cal work it is attractive to the eye, an honor to its
designers, and of great credit to the builders.

I have heard it said that more than a hundred years

ago, a Newton man, with a good degree of " push" in
him, and I think he must have been of that type of
I man termed "a live Yankee,'' — who had a desire to
turn an honest penny, so started an industry entirely
upon his own account and resources, by placing a
grindstone in position under a shed, and by means
of a rude water-wheel improvised for the purpose,
applied power to turn the stone, and no doubt but
that he had up his "shingle" with the words plainly
chalked out, giving notice to the passer-by that
" Grinding was done here."

His neighbors could have the use of the stone to do
their own grinding by paying the toll of a fourpence
ha'penny, or a ninepence,or a pistareen, according to
the time wanted ■ — no dimes, half-dimes, or nickels
in those days. Or, if parties preferred, they could
leave their edged tools with him to grind, which he
was always ready to do for a consideration.

Lower Falls — By following the river banks from
below the L'pper Falls for a distance of two miles we
reach the Lower Falls. Here the river makes a leap of
j sixteen feet over a ledge of rocks, and an eighth of a
; mile farther down the stream there is another fall of
six feet, making a total fall of twenty-two feet. Dams
have long since been placed across the river at each
of the Falls, and furnish water-power for many
manufacturers' use.

In the colonial days of two centuries ago, the lands
in this vicinity upon the Newton side were supposed
to be owned in common by the Town of Cambridge in
Middlesex County ; and the land upon the Needham
(now Wellesley) side belonged to Sufliblk County.

A forty acre lot, a little distance easterly from the
Falls had already been assigned to the Harvard Uni-
versity ; and in 1094 Mr. Samuel Green, of Cambridge
conveyed a lot of four acres of land more or less, to
John Leverett, bordering upon the river, including
the Falls, together with all woods, water rights, com-
monage liberties and privileges thereto belonging.
Whether Mr. Green had previously purchased this
land of the Town of Cambridge, or whether he sold it
as a representative of the Town, is uncertain.

In 1704 Mr. Leverett sold his land and water
rights, and all other interest in the same to Mr. John
Hubbard, of Roxbury, a blacksmith by trade, this
land now being the present site of all the paper mills,
and other works on the Newton side of the river.

Mr. Hubbard formed a co-partnership with Mr.
Caleb Church, a bloomer by trade, of Watertown,aud
improved the water power by building a dam at the
head of the rapids, and a forge shop with two fire
hearths and a hammer wheel for manufacturing iron.
Just what kind of machine or piece of apparatus a
hammer wheel is, we will leave for the mechanical ex-
perts of the present time to determine for themselves,
as they peruse these pages.

In 1705 Mr. Hubbard conveyed to his son Nathaniel
Hubbard, one-half of the four acre lot bounded
north by the highway, and south by the river, to-

NEWTON.

101

gether with a half interest in the iron works, with as
much of the stream as may be required to drive the
machinery, including half of the dam, flume, sluice-
ways, utensils and appurtenances thereto belonging.
The new company continued the business until the
death of the senior Mr. Hubbard, in 1717. For the
next four or five years the premises were rented to
Mr. Jonathan Willard, a bloomer who had previously
been in the employ of the company ; and in 1722 Mr.
Willard purchased the Hubbard interest in the works.
In consequence of the death of Mr. Caleb Church
about the same time, his interest was deeded by John
Cooledge of Watertown, administrator of the Church
estate, to his son, Caleb Church, Jr., on April 11th,
1723.

A few years after his purchase of the iron works,
Mr. Willard builta saw-mill, a short distance below
the forge-shop, and did quite a large business in the
manufacture of lumber.

October 27th, 1740, Jlr. Church, then residing in
the town of Westerly, Rhode Island, sold his moiety
of the iron works to Mr. Jonathan Willard and Henry
Pratt, former partners iu the concern. Who Mr.
Pratt was, or when he first bought an interest there,
we find no record.

May 26th, 1739, Mr. Jonathan Trowbridge, of New-
ton, conveys to Henry Pratt, bloomer, three acres of
land adjoining said Pratt's land at the Lower
Falls. To show how accurately lines were defined in
those days, we copy from the deed. " Bounded west-
erly by t^aid Pratt's land, northerly and easterly by
land of John Parker, easterly and southerly by Trow-
bridge's land — northwesterly corner being a stake
and heap of stones ; thence to a stake and stones be-
tween Parker and Trowbridge, thence to a white oak
tree, thence to a black oak tree, thence to a white oak
stUQip with stones on it, thence to two black oak
trees, thence to stake and stones at southwesterly cor-
ner."

By an indenture made on the 10th day of Novem-
ber, 1748, by and between Henry Pratt and Jonathan
Willard, who were equal owners in the iron works
property and land, it was divided, giving to each a
separate and distinct moiety of the same, each giving
to the other certain rights and easements for con-
venience in the transaction of their business. Special
mention is made of the great dam belonging to them,
which is to be maintained and kept in repair jointly
by them and their successors, each to pay half of the
cost; and the said dam shall not be made any higher
than is indicated by a hole in the face of the rock in
the stream. And it is further agreed that when there
is a scarcity of water in the river, it shall be equally
divided between them and their successors in owner-
ship.

Mr. Jonathan Willard continued to carry on the
iron-works, and was closely identified with the man-
ufacturing business for more than fifty years. A
prominent citizen and an ingenious man, he lived to

the ripe old age of ninety-five years, and died May 22,
1772.

Mr. Joseph Davenport, a clothier by occupation,
settled at the Lower Falls about the year 1730 or
1731, and built a dwelling-house a third of a mile
distant from the forges on the Boston Road (now
Woodward Street) ; and opened a shop near the ful-
ling-mills and gave employment to a namber of
workmen in the manufacture of clothing, until his
death, in 1752. As we find no record of other cloth-
iers in Newton at that time, it is fair to presume that
he held a monopoly in the business among the in-
habitants for several miles around.

Mr. Azariah Ware may have been a successor of
Mr. Davenport in the clothing business. His name
is mentioned as a clothier in a deed given by him to
Moses Grant & Son, in 1809. In his description of
the property conveyed to said Grant, he included
clothier's-shop and fulling-mill as one building.

Mention is made of other industries at the Lower
Falls, including a grist-mill, a snutf-mill with four
mortars, and a calico printing-works. But these were
discontinued, and passed into history more than sixty
years ago, so it is diflScult to procure satisfactory in-
formation as to ownership or the amount of business
done by them. Mr. Simon Elliot may have been the
owner of the snuff-mill, and may have run it in con-
nection with his extensive factories at the Upper Falls.
October 20, 1789, Mr. John Ware, of Sherborn,
brother of the Rev. Henry Ware, professor in Har-
vard University, bought of Timothy Ware, of Need-
ham, about fourteen acres of land at the Lower Falls,
including dam, stream, water courses, saw-mills and
forge, also a dwelling-house and barn. The next
spring he built the first paper-mill in the village-
The old hand method of paper-making was in vogue
at that time, and we presume Mr. Ware had his stone
vats for prepared pulp, and rectangular moulds with
wire cloth strainers and deckles to form the sheets of
pulp to be placed in layers, alternating between sheets
of felting cloth for pressing out the water, as well as
to give them a uniform thickness. Two or three
repetitions of re-packing and pressing are usually
sufficient to give the pulpy fibres an affinity to hold
together while hanging in the drying lofts. This
slow process of paper making was superseded in the
early part of the present century by power machin-
I ery for spreading the pulp upon an endless felt car-
I rier, and passes italong to a series of steam-drying cyl-
I inders, and is finally rolled into large coils for the
rotating shears to divide into sheets of uniform dimep-
sions, when it is ready to be bundled into reams for
market. The latest improved paper-making machine
was patented in England or France by Mr. Four-
drinier, and has since been in general use by all fine
paper makers. From the records of the late Benja-
min Neal, Esq., we learn that one of the first Four-
drinier machines imported into this country was placed
in a mill at the Lower Falls.

i02

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX CUUNTi', MASSACHUSETTS.

August 29, 1808, Mr. John Ware sold to Mr. Aza-
riah Ware a small lot of laud, with clothiers' shop
and fuiling-rnill thereon, and on the fourth day of
September of the next year Azariah Ware sold the
same property to Moses Grant & Son, of Boston, re-
serving a perpetual right of way over the land, for
teams and workmen from the county road to Curtis
and Elliot's paper mills and other mills. The Messrs.
Grant built a paper mill upon the land for the manu-
facture of glazed boob-board, and other use, and on
August 9, 1811, Moses Grant, Jr., conveyed his inter-
est in the property to his father, who then became the
sole owner of the same.

Between the years 1812 and 1832 upwards of thirty
sales and transfers of property were made among the
several mill owners that depended upon the water
from the river to operate their machinery ; and so far
as the water-power was concerned, it became a com-
mon interest to them all. These divisions and sub-
divisions of mill property conveyed with them cor-
responding divisions of the water-rights each enjoyed
in the river; questions were continually arising, par-
ticularly in the seasons of low water, relative to this
or that owner's draught from the stream. The grow-
ing complesity of this difference of opinion created a
question of paramount importance to the several pro-
prietors, which terminated in the spring of 1816 by a
new apportionment of the water.

The old adjustment of water-rights by and between
Jonathan Willard and Henry Pratt in 1748 was still
in force, but was not considered sufficient to answer
the present requirements, and July 26th a new appor-
tionment was made and .ngreed to by all parties in
interest, to-wit : — Simon Elliot and Solomon Curtis
owned the two southern papef mills ; Kurd and Bemia
owned one paper-mill and the saw-mill ; Moses Grant
owned one paper-mill, and John Ware one fulling-
mill, all on the Newton side. Simon Elliot and Sol-
omon Curtis owned two-thirds of the paper-mill and
two-thirds of the s-aw-mill, and Hurd and Bemis
owned the remaining one-third of the mills on Need-
ham side. By this agreement all of the paper-mills
and fulling-mills were to lla^e the first right of water,
the aaw-mill on Newton side the second right, the
glazing machines in the several paper-mills to have
the third right, and the saw-mill in Needham to have
the fourth water-right.

This agreement further entailed upon the several
parties in interest an apportionment of the co.st of
keeping the main dam in the best of repair, and to
keep the flumes and water-ways to their respective
mills in good order, and perfectly tight at all times.
This indenture was signed and sealed by Simon Elliot,
Solomon Curtis, Moses Grant, William Hurd,ChRrle3
Bemis and John Ware ; and for a season the vexed
question was amicably adjusted.

In the year 1834 imporiant changes in ownership
were made upon both sides of the river. These changes
may have been brought about by a destructive fire

that swept down the river bank on the morning of
May 19th of this year, totally destroying Messrs. Amos
Lyon & Co.'s paptr-mill, and Mes^srs. Eeuben Witre
and William Clark's machine-shop, all on the Need-
ham side of the river.

In October Mr. Lemuel Crehore, by purchase, be-
came the sole owner of the Moses Grant and William
Hurd mills on the Newton side, which included the
old saw and fulling-mills, and the John Ware paper-
mill. And at the same time Mr. William Hurd pur-
chased Mr. Crehore's rights in a paper-mill upon the
Needham side. More than two years previous to
this transaction, Jlessrs. Allen C. and William Curtis,
sons of Solomon Curtis, had acquired the entire fee in
the Solomon Curtisand Simon Elliott mill. By these
sales of property the varied interests upon the New-
ton side were separated from the Needham property,
and grouped into the hands of two ownerships.

Mr. Lemuel Crehore commenced the paper-making
business in company with Mr. William Hard in 1825,
and at the time of his purchase of the property in
lS34,the partnership heretofore existing was dissolved,
and Mr. Benjamin Neal became a partner with Mr.
Crehore and remained in the business until 1845.
For the next following two years Mr. Crehore was
alone. In 1854 his son, Geoige C. Crehore, was ad-
mitted as a partner under the title of L. Crehore &
Son. The next change made was in 1867 by Mr.
Charles F. Crehore taking the place of Mr. George C.
Crehore, deceased; and tlie next year the senior Mr.
Crehore retired from the business and soon af.er died,
which left the mills in the hands of Mr. C. F. Crehore
until 1SS3, when Mr. Fred. M. Crehore was admitted
to the business, and the company thus formed assumed
the name of C. F. Crehore & Son.

^Messrs. Allen C. and William Curtis built a new
and commodious stone mill, with new machinery and
all modern improvements in 1834, and removed the
old and worn-out buildings and machinery. They
continued the paper manufacturing business until re-
verses in fortune compelled them to make an assign-
ment about the yrar 1860. Their property was sold
by the assignees to Hon. J. Wiley Edmands and
Gardner Colby, Esq., co-partners in the manufacture
of wool.

Instead of improving the mills, ,is at first intended,
! hey sold it to Messrs. William S. and Frank Cord-
ingly in 1864. The new firm made thorough repairs
and built additions to the buildings, and put in
special machinery for the manufacture of wool ex-
tracts, and have done a large and properous business
since their occupancy of the premises.

A difference in opinion as to the ownership of the
fulling-mill water-rights had existed for a long time
between William Hurd, Allen C. Curtis and otheri",
which finally resulted in a lawsuit between them in
1845; and in the April term of the Supreme Judicial
Court it was agreed between the parties to refer the
whole case to three arbitrators — the decision of any

NEWTON.

103

two of them to be binding on the parties, not only as
to the questions in controversy, but in award of dam-
ages to either party, if any may be found; and they
shall further arbitrate and determine finally the future
respective rights of both parties in the use of the
water forever. The result of this arbitration was re«-
ported to the Court, and in the October term of 1847
Chief Justice Shaw decided the said fulling-mill
water-rights belonged to the Messrs. Curtis and others
to be used at their pleasure. New and more accurate
water-gauges were now placed in position along the
water-courses to distribute the water proportionately
to its several owners; and all interested parties upon
either side of the river acquiesced in this adjustment
of ihe difficulties heretofore exi.sting.

The mills upon the Needham side were owned suc-
cessively as follows: The upper mill by Amos Lyon
& Co., Wales & Mills, Tbomas Kice, Jr., and the
Thomas Rice Paper Company. The second mill,
owned by William Hurd, Charles Rice, Jr., and Moses
Garfield, Thomas Rice, Jr. and Thomas Rice Paper
Company. The third or lower mill, on the upper
dam, owned by John Rice and Moses Garfield, Thomas
Rice, Jr., and the Dudley Hosiery Company since
1862.

The machine-shop built by Mr. Reuben Ware and
William Clark in 1832 went into the hands of Mr.
Joseph Stowe in 1840; and in 1850 Messrs. Henry P.
Eaton, Rufus Moulton and Harvey Eaton formed a
co-partnership and bought the shop of Mr. Stowe. In
the autumn of 1853 the present stone-sliop building
was put up to replace the old wooden one, burnt the
preceding June.

Mr. Harvey Eaton died in 1S52. In 1S76 Mr.
.\dam Beck, who had been a partner in the business
since IS.JS, by purchase became the sole owner of the
works, and still continut-s in the business.

The second, or lower dam, at the Lower Fulls, was
probably built by Mr. William Hooga about the year
ISOO. He started the leather tanning business about
ten years before, near the ford across the river, below
Pratt's Bridge (now Washington Street Bridge). Mr.
Hoogs next built a paper-mill, which he ran in con-
nection with his tannery, until he sold out to Mr.
Peter Lyon, June 21, 1809. Mr. Lyou increased his
business by building a grist-mill. In 1809 he con-
veyed the paper-mill to Jlr. Joseph Foster, with one-
half of the water-right, and reserved the other half
for the grist-mill. March 8, 1822, Mr. Allen C. Cur-
tis bought the paper-mill, and in 1823 he re-conveyed
the same to Mr. Foster. On the same day Mr. Foster
conveyed it to Mr. Peter Lyon and William Parker.
Parker and Lyon sold to Amasa Fuller, January 28,
1824; and on September 3, 1830, the paper-mill was
sold to Mr. Joseph H. Foster by the executors of the
estate of .\masa Fuller, deceased. Mr. Foster con-
tinued the paper-making business until his death,
December 7, 1853. His son, Joseph Foster, Jr., then
ran the mill for two or three years, when it was sold

to Thomas Rice, Jr., who rented it to Mr. Charles
Rice for a term of years, and finally sold it to Augus-
tus C. Wiswall & Son, who still continue the paper
manufacture.

On the Needham side of the river there are two or
three mills that depend upon the water from the
lower dam for their power, but the complications in
relation to the division of water have been compara-
tively few and far between.

It would be impossible to ennmerate the different
varietiesor kinds of paper manufactured at the Lower
Falls for the past century. Prominent among the
varieties are wrapping papers, book -binders' board
and cardboard. The Mes«r8. Crehore have always
made the manufacture of Jucquard cards and press
papers a principal business, while the Messrs. Curtis
gave their attention to a fine quality of book paper.
Three or four other mills have been kept busy on
newspaper work. Great quantities of this paper have
been printed by the daily press and popular journals
and magazines of the day, that have been scattered
broadcast all over the civilized world.

While the matiufactiirers have been busily engaged
in the daily routine of their duties, many of them
hav3 found time to serve the State and the town in
public capacities with credit to themselves and with
honor to their constituents. Mr. William Hoogs,
Joseph Foster and Thomas Rice, Jr., have been
placed upon the Board of Selectmen and School Com-
mittees. Mr. Allen C. Curtis, Joseph Foster, Lemuel
Crehore and Thomas Rice, Jr., have been honored
with seats in the popular branch of the General
Court of the Commonwealth. Mr. Rice was twice a
Senator and twice in the Governor's Council.

The manufacture of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol)
was started in Waltham by Mr. Patrick Jackson, in
1819. About the year 1825 the works were removed
across the Charles River, into the town of Newton,
very nearly opposite to the Waltham cotton factories
and were incorporated as the Newton Chemical Com-
pany. The chem-stry buildings covered a large area
of laud upon the rising ground about an eighth of a
mile distant from the river. Under the excellent man-
agement and excutive ability of Horatio Moore, Esq.,
resident agent of the company, the works were en-
larged to a capacity that made it one of the leading
vitriol manufactories of New England.

Mr. Moore was a leading and much respected citi-
zen of the town, and was frequently appointed in
town-meetings upon important committees, and occu-
pied a chair in the Board of Selectmen of Newton.
The business of the chemical company was so com-
pletely identified with the town of Waltham that it
was deemed expedient by them to be set off to that
town, which, by act of the General Court, was done
in April of 1849.

After a continuous and successful industry of more
than half a century, the business was discontinued
and the buildings removed in 1872.

104

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The late Hon. William Jackson, of Xewton, when
at eighteen years of age, was apprenticed by his
father to a Boston firm to learn the soap and candle
business. At the age of twenty-one years he started
a small factory in his own name in that city. As he
depended largely upon the Southern markets for the
sale of his goods, he concluded it would be more
profitable for him to transfer a branch of his business
to the South, and in 1S13 he built a factory in Sa-
vannah, Ga.. and the next year he built another one
in Charleston, S. C. The wars of 1812 made these
factories profitable ; but when peace was restored, in
1816, the profits dwindled away, and they were given
up. In consequence of the death of his parents, Mr.
Jackson sold his Boston manufactory in 1820, and re-
turned to the ola homestead to take care of the farm.
The monotony of farm life was insufficient to satisfy
his active business habits, and in 1823 he built a fac-
tory near his residence, and continued the candle
business until his death in 1855. Mr. Jackson had
already erected a factory building in Brighton,
for doing a portion of his coarser work, and after his
death the whole business was transferred to the
Brighton factory. A very large proportion of his
goods were consigned to the West Indies and most of
the principal Southern ports of this country. Large
importations of tallow were made from Russia and
England to make up the deficiency in home produc-
tions for supplying his works.

Mr. Jackson became a leading and honored citizen
of the town ; he was a true philanthropist and bene-
factor. He occupied a seat in the National House of
Representatives at Washington from 1832 to 1836. He
was a strong Abolitionist, and a friend to the slave ; a
member of the first temperance society organized in
Newton in 1826, and ever after kept the pledge. As
was the custom fifty years ago, Mr. Jackson kept his
grog in the factory for bis employees, and regularly
at half-past ten he dealt oat to each one his ration.
This custom of grog-drinking so antagonized his prin-
ciples that he offered his workmen an advance in
wages if they would give it up ; and it was not very
long until it was his privilege to remove the accursed
thing from his sight.

A few rods to the west from Mr. Jackson's works
there was a small calico printing works, and near by
a large laundry building and small mill-pond. Very
nearly upon the same site Mr. Artemas Murdock had
a chocolate factory a hundred years ago. These build-
ings long since were removed, and the land is now
occupied by the Roman Catholic Church of " Our
Lady, Help of Christians," corner of Washington and
Adams Streets.

Mr. Thomas Smallwood, an Englishman by birth,
and a cabinet-maker by trade, came to this country
with his family and landed in Boston July 4, 1817.
After a few months' residence in Charlestown he re-
moved to Newton, and started the furniture business
in a small building a little way north from the

Nonantum House, and about on the dividing line
between Newton and Watertown. Before the ex-
piration of two years he was obliged to seek more
convenient and commodious quarters for his busi-
ness, and built a new shop on Washington Street,
near the Brighton line. He continued in the manu-
facture of furniture until 1846. Jlr. Smallwood was
one of the leading builders of hair-cloth and plush
parlor furniture in New England, and probably in
the country. He had in his employ about sixty
workmen most of the time. His son, Edwin A.
Smallwood, was his successor. He built another
factory in the valley, on Waverly Avenue, and more
than doubled the production of goods. Still another
factory was built by him on the corner of Waverly
Avenue and Washington Street in 1848, which he
ran for a few years, and then rented to Mr. George
F. and William Whall for about two years. This
building was destroyed by fire September 29, 1857.
Previous to the Rebellion of 1860 Mr. Smallwood
had regular trade customers in every State in the
Union, as well as from Egypt, Australia and else-
where. The march of local improvements made in-
roads upon his premises, and he abandoned the
business in that neighborhood iu ISTo, and the shop
buildings were removed to Brighton.

The north village of NeWton, bounding upon the
Charles River and Watertown — now called Nonan-
tum — is another locality of considerable historic
interest in manufactures. Like the Lower Falls,
this water-power is available upon both sides of the
stream. It was first utilized by Mr. David Bemis,
who owned the adjacent land in Watertown, and
Dr. Enos Sumner, the proprietor on the Newton
side. There seems to be a little uncertainty us to
the exact date when these gentlemen first com-
menced business. Mr. Jackson, in his "History of
Nev.-ton," informs us that the Bemis dam was built
about 1760, aiid at the same time a paper-mill was
built there.

The Waltham Sentinel of April 29, 1864, in an his-
torical article, gives the time of building the dam
as 1778. Which of these dates, if either, is correct,
we have been unable to ascertain. It appears that
Dr. Sumner sold his interest iu the enterprise to
John McDougall, of Boston, Michael Carney, of
Dorchester, Mass., and Nathaniel Patten, of Hart-
ford, Conn., who erected a paper-mill in 1779. A
large proportion of the requisite machinery for paper-
making was imported from Europe.

About two years later Mr. David Bemis acquired
a controlling interest in the business, and, in con-
nection with his son, Captain Luke Bemis, carried
it on until his death, in 1790. By this event the
property passed into the hands of his sous, Luke
and Isaac Bemis.

In the winter of 1792, or the early spring of 1793,
the paper-mill was burnt, entailing a total loss upon
the owners. The rebuilding of the factory was con-

NEWTON.

105

sidered of so great importance by the community at
large that a petition was presented to the General
Court, on June 19, 1793, representing the great suf-
ferings of Luke and Isaac Bemis in the loss of their
paper-mill and stock by tire, and praying lor aid
to rebuild the same ; and, in consideration of the
public advantages to be derived from the encour-
agement of the manufacture of paper within the
Commonwealth, it was, —

'* Resohfd, Thnt there be loaned from the treasury of thia comraon-
weHlIli ttie 9uni of one tboiiBand pounds to the said Luke BeniM and
Isaac Bemis, upon (heir boodd, with guorl and siidicient rollalenil secur-
ity to thiscotiimonueaith fur tlie repayment of the eame sum at the end
of flve years ; and also to be conditiuued tliat tlie said Luke and Isaac
sbull rebuild or cause to be rebuilt, uitliiu two years from the making
of siicb loan, suitable paper'iiiills of at least equal size and extent of the
Diitis lately destroyed by lire, aud by themselves or their assigns shall
prosecute the manufacture of paper therein.'*

Supplementary resolves were passed January 30,
1799, and June 17, 1799, in relation to the detail of
payment of said loan.

The work of rebuilding the mills was hardly com-
pleted before there was another interruption in the
business, caused by the death of Mr. Isaac Bemis, in
1794. After this, Mr. Luke Bemia continued thebusi-
ne.ss, either alone, or in partnership with his brother-
in-law, Mr. Caleb Eddy, of Boston, until 1S21, when
the whole property was purchased by his brother, Mr.
Seth Bemia. Soon after this time the Boston Manu-
facturing Company, who were using the water-power
of the river in the manufacture of cotton cloth in
AV'altham, were co"isiderably annoyed by the water
from the Bemia dam backing up to their water-wheels,
and interrupting their works; and for a relief to their
wheels, they olfered Mr. Seth Bemis a thousand
dollars an inch, for each and every inch be would
reduce the height of his dam. This very tempting
otfer induceil him to takeoff twelve inches, — for which
he received twelve thousand dollars.

Mr. Seth Bemis became interested in the cotton and
woolen manufacture, and built a factory on the Water-
town side. The paper business was abandoned on the
Newton side, and the buildings were used tor the
manufacture of dye-woods and drugs by Mr. Bemis,
until 1S47, when he sold out the logwood business to
Mesars. William Freeman & Company, who continued
in the dye-stufi' business for a number of years. In
1S60 the Messrs. Freeman & Company purchased the
Watertown mills, and soon after sold the whole plant
on both sides of the river to the -Etna Mills Manu-
facturing Company, for the manufacture of woolen
goods.

Before the days of bella and steam whistles in New-
ton, Mr. Bemis used to give a shrill blast upon a huge
tin horn to call his workmen together at the appointed
hours for resuming their labors; hence the name of
" Tiu Horn " by which this section of Newton was
called for several years, but now obsolete.

The small factory near the Watertown line, vacated
by Mr. Smallwood, was occupied by Mr. John and

Ebenezer Bilson, church organ-makers. They built
a very good instrument, and filled a number of orders.
The first organ placed in the New Baptist meeting-
houae at Newton Centre was made by the Messra.
Bilson in ]<S36 : and at that time it was considered to
be one of their best productions, both in volume and
mellowness of tone. This whole business enterprise
went into history between thirty and forty years ago.
Nearly a half-century ago, the manufacture of glue
in Newton employed considerable capital, and in the
season of making it, several workmen were employed
at the factories. The Hon. Edward J. Collins was
one of the first men to start the buainesa. A few
yeara later, his brother, Frederick A. Collins, built a
factory. Mr. Samuel N. Woodward was another of
the prominent manufacturers of glue.

The season for glue-making was limited to the sum-
mer and early autumn months, when it could be dried
in the open air, protected from the rain or night
dampness by a shed covering, while drying.

For a period of from thirty to iorty years the glue-
makers reaped quite a harvest in the business. Of
late years, with improved facilities, glue can be made
in winter as well as in summer, and the old methods
of manufacture have been discontinued.

Since the year 1825 quite a number of small factor-
ies and workshops have started business in Newtou,
some of which are worthy of brief mention.

Dr. Samuel Clark, of Boston, built a small chemis-
try building on Cold Spring Brook, a half-mile above
the John Spring grist-mill ; but beyond a little ex-
perimental work, nothing was done. Perhaps the
most important result of his etfort was to successfully
bleach bees- wax to a pure white. The factory was
[ burnt in 1830, and a few weeks later the doctor died.
I Mr. Rufus Bracket purchased the property, and
j built a morocco factory upon the same site; he made
j a good quality of morocco for a number of years.
; Nothing now remains of the works but the ruins of
I the old (Jam, within the Newton Cemetery grounds.
j Sixty years ago there was a demand for iron ore to
supply blast furnaces in Eastern Massachusetts. Sev-
eral pockets of bog ore, or limonite, were found in the
meadows and swampy lands of Newton ; and consid-
erable quantities were dug in the more southerly dis-
tricts of the town and sent to Walpole or Foxborough
furnaces for smelting.

Mr. Joshua Jennison was a successful manufac-
turer of bar soap of superior quality for a period of
fifty years ; and since his death the business haa con-
tinued in the handa of his son, Edward F. Jennison,
in the northern part of the town, near the Watertown
line.

Mr. A. Hayden Kuapp, an inventor of a lamp for
burning roain oil, started a small laboratory for gen-
erating oils from crude rosin. The project was aban-
doned within two or three years, however, as the in-
troduction of kerosene oil superseded the rosin oil.
A large factory buildigg on Cherry Street, West

106

HISTORY OF JIIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Newtou, was occupied by ^lessrs. James H. Bogle &
Co., for making oil-clotii carpeting. At the end of
five or six years they removed from Newtou, and in
1S61 this building was burnt.

Mr. Bradstreet D. Moody, from Bangor, Elaine,
came to Newton in 1859, .ind built a large hat factory
on Pearl Street, where they employed a large num-
ber of workers on gentlemen's hats.

Mr. Joseph White, of English parentage, had a
small factory on Brookline Street, and employed a
number of weavers and knitters in the manufacture
of gentlemen's underwear and hosiery; this business
he carried on for a period of thirty years or more, and
at the time of his death, about thirty years ago, it was
discontinued.

The Silver Lake Company was chartered for man-
ufacturing solid braided cord and steam packing, and
commenced operations with a paid-up capital of S80,-
000, in 1866. They built a large four-storied brick
factory with buttressed walls and mansard roof, on
Nevada Street, near Newtonville. Charles C. Burr,
Esq., was its firut president, and Mr. Charles Scott,
treasurer. The general management of the factory
was placed in the hands of Mr. William J. Towne.
Financially this company was not a succes?, and
closed up their books in 1869, and the original stock
became worthless. The next ye.ar a new company
was formed, with more capital. They bought the old
factory and machinery, and started businesi upon a
firmer basis; and since that time they have been suc-
cessful, under the management of Henry W. Welling-
ton, Esq., treasurer and selling agent. A large ad-
dition was made to their factory in 1880, which about
doubled its capacity for business. This company has
an extensive trade throughout the United States and
Canada, and a share of the patronage from European
and Australian consumers.

Window-weight cords, curtain cords and numerous
other varieties of lines and small rope and steam
packing are annually shipped from this establishment,
tc the value of §300,000 or more.

Mr. Thomas Dalby, an Englishman by birth, came,
to this country when a young man, and in 1852 he
started a few hand-looms for knitting or weaving
hosiery in the north village of Newton. He found
ready sale for his goods as fast as he could make them,
and pressing demands caused him to import more
machinery, and build larger work-shops to enable
him to fill his orders. In 1858 he built a large fac-
tory building at a cost of about §12,000, and i)ut in
machinery adapted to making a greater variety of
goods. When the Rebellion broke out, in 1860, he
had a large lot of woolen yarn and manufactured
goods 00 hand, which he sold at a high rate, and
from the profits upon these sales he built a large
brick factory with heavy buttressed walls, in 1862,
and put in carding and spinning machinery for mak-
ing woolen yarn. On February 1, 1S65, he sold all of
his factory property to the»Dalby Mills Company, a

corporation organized with a capital of .■?200,iXi0. The
uew company, unfortunately, was of short duration,
from shrinkage in values and other reverses. After
the Rebellion they were compelled to make an as-
signment to their creditors, and the property wiii sold
in 1867 to Lewis Cclein:in, of Boston. The large
wooden building erected in 1858 was destroyed by
fire on August 5, 1871.

The most extensive manufactory at the north vil-
lage of Newton, and one of the most important, is
that of the Nonantum Worsted Company, a corpora-
tion organized under the State laws, in 1867, with a
capital of half a million of dollars, for the manufac-
ture of worsted yarn. Mr. George S. Hall was its
first president, and Mr. George F. Hall its first and
only treasurer. This company purchased the factory
property vacated by the Dalby Mills Company, and
at once started business by putting in new machinery
and apparatus especially adapted to their class of
worsted goods. The whole process of manufacturing
wool from the sheep's back, to the spinning, twisting
and weaving of the same into the finest and most
delicate fabric, is performed under their roof; and the
almost endless variety of color, and beautiful tint of
soft shades to the yarns are produced by the artisans
of the dyeing and coloring departments connected
with their works. Hence, the name of "Starlight"
Worsteds, by which these goods are known to the
trade.

In 1880 another large factory building was added
to the "plant." The demand for a superior quality
of worsted machinery for their own use, and by the
worsted manufacturers generally, incited this corpo-
ration to take a controlling interest in the Newton
Machine Company, who built a large shop adjacent
to the worsted company's factory in 1886. The de-
sign and quality of their machinery is unsurpassed
bv any in the countrj-. The worsted company give
employment to about six hundred operatives, and are
consigning their goods to all parts of the country as
well as to foreign markets.

The Newton Rubber Company has an establishment
which for completeness of equipment is fully equal to
anv other similar concern of its size in New England.
Their factory issituated upon the banks of the Charles
River at the Upper Falls, a few rods below the won-
derful " Echo Bridge." Their buildings and ma-
chinery are entirely new, having been built in 1888.
The machinery consists of washers, mixing mills, cal-
endar, presses, vulcanizers, etc., all from the latest
and most approved patterns and workmanship. A
" Putnam " steam-engine of one Imndred and twenty-
five horse-power is required to drive the machinery,
and the steam used for power, and for drying and
heating purposes in the rubber manufacture is gener-
ated in a " Hazelton " boiler. This company make a
specialty of manufacturing springs, adapted to all
kinds of machinery. Another branch of the manu-
facture is insulating material in sheet, rod or tube, as

NEWTON.

107

well as boxes or cases for secondary or storage batter-
ies, etc.

Perhaps one of the most important branches of
manufacture at the present time is that of tire and po-
lice system of telegraphy, or cude of electric signals
for Calling out the various departments. The appli-
cation of electricity for transmitting signals or alarms
was tirst mentioned in an article in the Bos/on Daily
Advertiser, in .Tune, 1845, which article very likely
was written by Prof. William Channing, of Boston, a
gentleman who gave the subject considerable study
in its early conception, and in connection with Mr.
Mose-t G. Farmer, of Salem, a practical electrician of
those days, succeeded in making an apparatus of suffi-
cient perfection to te.st the experiment. The Hon.
Josiah Quincy, Jr., then mayor of Boston, recom-
mended its adoption in his inaugural address before
the City Council in January, 1848. Beyond the rec-
ommendation of the mayor, nothing was done until
1851, when the City Council appropriated $10,000 to
test the practicability of the system ; and under the
direction of Mr. Farmer the apparatus was built and
jilaced in position, and the first successful official fire
alarm was tolled upon the bells of Boston in 1852.

About the year 1855 a co-partnership w.is formed
by Mr. John N. Gamewell and others of New York,
for continuing the fire alarm telegraph business, who
purchased all of the patents and interest belonging to
Messrs. Channing and Farmer, and they were success-
ful in the work of placing the system in most of
the principal cities in the couutry. Every improve-
ment which inventive genius and mechanical skill
could develop was secured by the company. Mr. Moses
G. Crane, who had been manufacturing fire-alarm
telegraph apparatus, moved his business from Boston
to Newton Highlands in 1873, having fitted up a fac-
tory for that purpose. His first year of manufactur-
ing in Newton demonstrated that the business would
not be a success under old conditions. Buston work-
men would not stay here wiihout extra wages. Expert
workers being scarce and in great demand, be could
see no way out of the difficulty but to get young men
and train them. He did so and soon found that grad-
uates of the high and grammar schools made rapid
progress, and in a few years he had acorpsof over fifty
as expert and reliable workmen as could be found in
the State.

His manufacturing was done almost exclusively for
John M. Gamewell & Co., of New York, until that
firm was succeeded by the Gamewell Fire Alarm Tel-
egraph Company, a New York corporstion formed in
1877 with a capital of §750,000. Mr. Crane con-
tracted to do all their manufacturing, they to have
free use of his patents duringlhecontract time, which
arrangement continued until 1886, when Mr. Crane
sold to the above company his manufacturing busi-
ness and everything pertaining to it. The company
occupied his factory until 1890, when they moved
into their new and commodious quarters at Upper

Falls, where they employ above a hundred workmen.
It may not be out of place here to state that it is gen-
erally conceded that to Mr. Moses G. Crane is to be
credited a very large share of the great success of tel-
egraphic fire alarms as shown in its practical working
to-day. His inventions, the mechanical construction
and conscientious and perfect manufacture of the in-
struments and machines used therein, have been
greatly admired for their simplicity and for the per-
fect manner in which they perform their functions.

Their systems of fire and police alarm telegraphy
are in use in most of the large cities and towns of this
country, as well as in foreign lands.

Including machinists, linemen and operators, this
company furnishes employment to more than five
hundred men during the working seasons of the year.

The United States Fire Works Company was or-
ganized at Portland, Maine, in February, 1886, with
a capital of 810,000, for the manufacture of pyrotech-
nic.". The next winter it was reorganized withapaid-up
capital of $20,000, and the works removed to Newton
Upper Falls, with its business offices and salesrooms
in Boston. This company manufacture the highest
grade of goods in their line of business; and have
given some of the finest and most elaborate exhibits
ever given in this country. Among the most notable
may be mentioned the displays given at the National
Military Drill at Washington, D. C, in May, 1887>
and witnessed by the vast assemblage gathered at that
festal occasion. These displays gave the company a
national reputation, aud since that time they have
filled orders from all sections of the country — par-
ticularly from the fashionable watering-places in the
vicinity of Boston.

During the busy season the company employ from
fifty to sixty workmen in the manufacture of their
fireworks, and have an annual sale of at least $50,000
worth of goods from their laboratories.

Silk culture and manofacture is an industry that is
already well established in this country, and is one
that is rapidly increasing year by year ; it already oc-
cupies a prominent place in the manufacturing com-
munity.

The first attempt at silk culture on this side of the
Atlantic of which we find any record was made in
Virginia in 1C23. Twenty-five years later it was or-
dered by the colonial authorities that every planter
should raise at least one mulberry tree for each and
every ten acres of land they owned, or pay a fine of
ten pounds of tobacco. A few years later the govern-
ment of Virginia offered a bounty of 5000 poundR of
tobacco to any one who should produce a thousand
pounds of wound silk in a single year.^ This impetus
given to silk culture so increased the production that
the bounty was withdrawn in 1666. This withdrawal
virtually ended the silk culture, for a time at least,
and planters turned their attention to the more profit-
able crops.

Several brief attempts at silk manufacture were

108

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

made during the latter years of the colonial period; i
and one that probably was more successful than many
of the others was made by Major William Molineaux, '■
of Boston, in spinning, dyeing and manulacturingsilk. .
The authorities, in 1770, gave him the free use of a
suitable building in which to carry on his business. i

In 1790 the silk manufacture was commenced in !
the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, but was limited '
to handkerchiefs, ribbons, laces and edgings.

During the early part of the present century quite
a number of small silk manufactories were started in j
Massachusetts. Mr. Jesse Fewkes had a small factory
in Newton about the year 1822, where he manufac- I
tured a superior quality of tine laces, from linen or
silk fabric. A thread as fine aa No. 250 or 300 was
required for his goods, and even a thread of No. 360
would be used on his finest work. 1

Perhaps the factory of Mr. Jonathan H. Cobb, of ,
Dedham, in 1830 or thereabouts, was one of the most
thriving and successful in Eastern New England. His ,
production of sewing silk in 1837 amounted to more
than S10,000, and the entire production of the State j
aggregated at least $150,000 the same year.

Mr. Cobb early interested himself in silk culture, i
and gave considerable attention to growing the
mulberry tree and the feeding of silk-worms. The j
Morus MuUicaulis, or Chinese Mulberry, was the
most proli6c in foliage and furnished a tender leaf ;
which was a favorite of the worm. But our climate |
proved to be too cold to admit of its economical
culture. Still, there was quite an interest manifest in
the agricultural community generally in regard to
the propagation of the mulberry, and the principal
nurserymen of Newton were among the numbers to
enter largely into the growing of the Multicaulis. ,
Several large fields of the Chinese Mulberry were :
cultivated in the years 1838 to 1840, and thousands
of siik-worms were fed. But beyond the reeling of
small quantities of silk from the cocoons, colhing was
done ; and for the next ten or twelve years the silk
culture and manufacture in Newton was an item of
history. But in 1852 Mr. Joseph W. Plimpton built
a large ribbon factory on Margin Street, West New-
ton, and employed a number of skilled workmen in
weaving a great variety of fancy ribbons and dress
trimmings. In the statistics of industries of the Com-
monwealth, in 1855, we find that Mr. Plimpton's pro-
ductions amounted to $38,000, and the silk products
of the State aggregated $750,000.

In 1857 Mr. Plimpton sold his factory to his super-
intendent, Mr. Charles R. Garratt, who continued
the business about two years, when the works were
destroyed by fire in 1859.

Early in the sixties, Mr. Isaac Farwell, Jr., started
a sewing silk factory, at Newton Lower Pal Is, and was
quite successful in his enterprise. About the year
1870 he removed his machinery to Newton Village,
near the Watertowa line, and continued the business
for a few years longer, then removing to Connecticut.

The cotton factory property belonging to the New-
ton Jlills Company at the U|)per Falls, which had
been idle for about tv.-o years, was purchased by
Messra. Waller T. Phipps and Franklin M. Train, co-
partners in business — late in the summer of I'^SB.
The old cotton machinery was taken out, and silk
machinery put in its place, thus establishing one of
the largest and most flourishing silk factories in the
State. The company give employment to about 225
operatives, and require 100,000 pounds of raw mater-
ial annually to supply their mill. The raw material
used is commercially known as " waste silk," and is
imported principally from Japan and China, with
occasional invoices from Italy. The manufactured
goods are, in the main, spun silk warps, used in
plushes, upholstery and dress silk goods — and some
hosiery work. The coloring department furnishes
any variety of shade required by the purchasers.

To follow a pound of raw material through all of
its various stages of manufacture would occupy more
space than this article will allow, but, in brief, an out-
line of the process may be given. The first operation
is to tease up the waste or raw material into a loose
and flaky condition, and then plunge it into large
vats to steam or boil, to eliminate the gum and other
foreign substances adhering to it. Next it is rinsed
and placed upon a system of crates for drying. After
becoming thoroughly dried it is taken to the filling
and dressing machines, where the process of separa-
ting and straightening ihe conglomerate mass of fibre
is commenced. And by repeated operations upon
these machines, the fibres are laid out perfectly
straight. It is next put through a process of gill
machinery, and from thence to the spinning-frames.

The drawing and spinning machinery used for silk
is in many respects similar to worsted machinery,
with the exception of the adjustment of the draught
rollers, which must be made to conform to the dilfer-
ence between the lengths of the staple or fibre.

After the thread is spun to the required fineness
for the web, it is ready for finishing. By examina-
tion with a microscope a soft down or fuzz will be
seen along its surface, which must be removed. This
is done upon what is termed a " gasing " machine,
where the threads are drawn rapidly through a mild
gas dame, so regulated as to remove the fuzz without
in any way injuring the thread. Now the silken
threads receive their final finish, and are grouped into
the required numbers of threads for a warp, or are
reeled icto hanks, aa may be required for weav-
ing.

The demand for this company's goods has at times
been so great, that they were obliged to employ a
duplicate number of operatives, and run their ma-
chinery during the entire night-time, for weeks, and
sometimes for months together, to fill their orders.

In the summer of 1867 Mr. George E. and William
H. Wales, who lived on Greenwood Street, in the Oak
Hill district of Newton, started the fruit preserving

NEWTON.

109

business in a small way, under the firm-name of
AVales Brothers.

From the want of better accomodations, the first
season's work was done vnith an old cooking stove set
up under a large elm tree near their house.

The year's production was about filty dozen tum-
blers of jama and jellies, and the gross amount of
sales realized nearly §600. The next season a small
building with two rooms about ten by twenty feet
each was provided for the business. In 1873 Mr.
George E. Wales purchased his brother's interest,
and since that time he has remained the sole proprie-
tor. The same year he built a new building twenty-
four by forty feet, and two stories high, to accommo-
date his steadily increasing demands for preserves.

In the year 1884 the works were removed to Cedar
Street, Xewton Nen'.re, and a commodious new
factory erected, with about 8500 square feet of floor
space; and last year (1889) the production of pre-
serves reached 2500 dozens of tumblers, a.', a value of
nearly 825,000.

The value of the works in 1867 was about twenty-
five dollars, and at the present time about S7500 are
invested in building and apparatus for carrying on
the business.

At first the sales of the Messrs. Wales' goods was
slow, for they adopted the rule to commence with,
that nothing but good fruits and the best of sugar
should be used in their manufactory, which enhanced
the cost beyond that of other manufacturers. This
standard they have strictly adhered to.

They al-o adopted at the beginning the name of
" Home-made" preserves, a name well earned by the
scrupulous care taken at all times to keep everything
clean, pure and free from adulteration by chemicals
or coloring materials. These merits have given them
the first prizes at several exhibitions in mechanics'
fairs and other places. The goods are largely sold in
Boston and vicinity, although consignments are fre-
quently made to some of the principal Southern and
Western cities. Certain varieties are shipped to Eng-
land, China, and even to Africa and elsewhere.

In the year 1807 Mr. Ziba Bridges removed from
the town of Holliston to Newton, and purchased about
two acres of land with a forge-shop thereon, of Ed-
ward Fisher, at the Lower Falls, where he started
what proved to be a thriving and profitable business.
A few years later he purchased a few acres of land
upon the top of the hill near the Newton factories at the
Upper Falls, and built a brick dwelling-house, and a
frame forge shop upon the premises, thereby extend-
ing his business, in which he continued for about
twenty year?.

Mr. Bridges had two sons, twin brothers, who de-
veloped in childhood a strong mechanical turn of
mind. These lads had for playmates the sons of
Mr. Joseph Davenport, a near neighbor to them, —
and as the Davenport boys were also mechanically

I inclined, it was very natural for them to spend their
I leisure hours in rudely constructing mechanical de-
I vices with jack-knives and hammers. In after-life
I these lads formed a co-partnership in business for
building railway cars.

Mr. Charles Davenport and Albert Bridges located
in Cambridgeport, and Mr. Alvin Davenport and Al-
fred Bridges in Fitchburg, and carried on their works
with a firm-name of Davenport & Bridges.

They made valuable improvements in the railway
car, first by building the long eight-wheeled car, with
end doors and platform such as are now in general
use.

Their second improvement was a peculiar mechan-
ical arrangement to give the body of the car an easy
and gracelul motion while running.

From the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' As-
sociation report for 1837, No. 429, we make the fol-
lowing extract, viz. :

" The improTement here ctuimed by Davenport i Kimball (Mr.
Kinibull uuB fiitlier-ili-liiw of Mr. .\lb«rl Bridges), we uutlemtaud to be
flrst, llie iiiunner uf uttacbio); tbe cars to the engine, ae well an to each
other, by wbicli the eiiddeu sliock in starting or blupping will be avoid-
ed. And secondly, tbe cure are to be cuunected by a platforiu uC the
ends. Uy this means one may pass thioiigb the whole length of tbe
train on tbe inside, as tbe doors are at the euda of Ibe car, and you enter
by Btcppiog upon a platform betweeo them."

In the report of the same association for 184], No.
378, we copy another extract, viz. :

" Most persons who travel by railroad experience a continual repeti-
tion of sudden Jars or shocks, aiisiug frotu the sideway uiovenieuts ot
the flanges of the wheels of tbe car against the rails of ttie track. The
iniprovenieut made by Messrs. Davenport i Blidgesisto obviate tbe above
effects of the litteral motion by springs, suitably arranged. .\ud in order
to accomplish this the body of tlie car is supported on tspriugs by means
of euspeiidiiii; or pendulous ban, which permit a lateral motion of the
running nmcliincry, independent of the body of the carriage, and side-
si)rin;;s are di.-^posed so as to reduce the shock of the wlieels u|)on the
rails. .\ letter written in a car with these improvements, uhile run-
ning at the rate of twenty-rive miles per hour was exhibited, which to
all appearances was as well written as if done m a counting-room."

The inventors of these improvements in passenger
cars received a silver medal from the association.

By the foregoing extracts and descriptions it will be
seen that the valuable improvements in railway car-
riages at that time belonged to Newton's sons. And
very likeiy the early conceptions of them were made
in their native town, before developing them in iheir
workshops in other places.

In ihe extreme northeasterly part of Newton, quite
near to the Brighton line on South Street and upon
the eastern slope of the Norcross, or Waban Hill, was
the residence of Mr. Hiram Tucker, who was a paint-
er by trade, and who followed the business for several
yeais of his early life. He had a desire to improve
the quality of painters' supplies, and gave the subject
special study, which resulted in his compounding a
liquid bronze, for coating metals used in the manu-
facture of chandeliers, lamps, bedsteads and other
metallic household goods. The Penrhyn marble, or

110

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

painted slate, or other stone or iron used for mantels
and fire-frames, is another of his inventions.

About the year 1872 he built a large varnish fac-
tory at a cost often thousand dollars, near his dwell-
ing, and manufactured a superior quality of coach-
varnish, which he was enabled to produce by a pecu-
liar method he had of treating or preparing the oils and
other compounds used in its manufacture. From
eight to ten thousand gallons of varnish was consid-
ered by him to be a fair annual production. He car-
ried on this branch of his busintss in connection with
manufacturing enterprises he had in other localities
outside of Newton, until his de.ith, only a few years
ago, when the works were discontinued, and his
buildings utilized for other purposes.

In my research for historical matter and incidents
I have spent considerable time in looking up old rec-
ords at the Middlesex and Norfolk registries of deeds,
and at other places where information could be found.
The Boston Public Library has been a prolific source
of valuable information — so has the Newton Library;
and the town and city records have been of value in
preparing this article.

I am also indebted to quite a number of the older
inhabitanis of our city fur valuable assi.stance in pro-
curing many facts pertaining to the earlier industries,
both from record and memory, or tradition.

I am specially indebted to Dr. Charles F. Crehore,
of the Lower Falls, for valuable records and docu-
ments connected with the paper manufacture of that
village; and from the citizens generally, whom I
have interviewed, I have received a willing and
hearty response to my interrogatories, for which I
return thanks for their kindness in assisting me in
the work.

CHAPTER VIIL

ATIITO.V— ( Coutinned).

CLUBS, SOCtETlES, ETC.
BY EDWIN B. HASKELL.

Newton is a city of villages, mainly the homes of I
people whose business is in Boston. Eight flouri-h- j
ing villages have grown up on the lines of the two
railroads which run through the city liniiis. These 1
are thoroughly equipped with post-offices, stores,
churches, schools and public halls, making each '
section essentially a distinct community. There are
several others still in embryo about the new stations of
the so-called Circuit Railroad, which forms an ea.sy
means of communication between the different sec-
tions. The number of villages has naturally led to I
the formation of an unusually large number of clubs
and societies in proportion to the population, each '

village having its full quota, while some of more gen-
eral interest have all parts of the city represented in
their membership. Of the latter class the Newton
Horticultural .'society is a good example, and, as it is
one of the oldest and most useful .societies iu the city,
it is proper to give it 'he place of honor.

The Newton Horticultural Society. — This
society was the outgrowth of a series of meetings
held at Newton Centre by the active and enterprising
young men of that place. The first annual meeting
was held in Lyceum Hall, October 16, 1854.

The officers of the permanent organization were:
President, Alfred Morse; Vice-Presidents, John
Ward, Jr., and B. W. Kingsbury; Secretary, C. N.
Brackett ; Treasurer, Henry Paul; Executive Com-
mittee, Geo. K. Ward, B. W. Kingsbury and E. J.
Collins.

The society started under very favorable circum-
stances financially, and its affairs were conducied by
those who were very much interested in its workings,
some of whom are the active members today.

The meetings were at first held at the houses of the
members, where horticultural and agricultural ques-
tions were discussed, but they soon outgrew the limits
of private accommodations.

It Was the custom in the early years of the society
to hold monthly meetings during the winter, at which
refreshments were provided, and the social part was
quite an important feature.

At the annual exhibition of the year 185(5 every
section of the town (now city) was represented.

In 1S02 an exhibition and festival was held at
Newton Corner, the proceeds of which were placed
in the hands of a committee of three to be divided
among the soldiers of the town. Winter meetings
were held that year and they were addressed by ]ier-
scns well known in horticulture. In April, 180(3, a
member made a report in the form of an address,
urging a more systematic effort to destroy the cater-
pillar. The address was printed and distributed
among the residents of Newton. Successful efforis
were being made from time to time to increase the
membership of the society and, by a vote, ladies were
invited to join the society.

In the season of 18GG-(j7 committees were ap-
pointed to study the habits of birds beneficial to
horticulture and to awaken an interest in the citizens
to set shade-lrees by the side of the streets. A series
of prizes were offered for the best and most succesE-
fuUy grown group of shade-trees.

A committee was appointed in April, 1S6S, to culti-
vate and propagate various plants, seeds and vege-
tables to be distributed among the members. Mr.
Henry Ross was chosen chairman of that committee,
and under his supervision a report was made in the
Ibllowing ."pring that there were several thousand
plants and many bushels of improved potatoes await-
ing distribution among the members.

For a number of years past the Agricultural Bureau

NEWTON.

Ill

at Washington has distrihuted seeds to the citizens of
Newton through the society.

In 1875, in an essay read at one of the meetings on
" How to Beautify our City," the removal of fences
from the front of residences was advocated. The
society passed the following vote : "jResulved, That
the members of the Newton Horticultural Society use
their influence toward beautifying the City of Newton
by advocating the removal of fences from fronts of
residences, thus giving the efl"ect of a series of parks
without the outlay of large sums of money."

A committee was appointed to prepare a list of the
best varieties of pears, which list was printed and dis-
tributed among the members and others.

The society has had a continuous existence for
over thirty-five years, and its members claim for it a
fair share of the praise given to Newton for its
beautiful streets, set with fine trees, the taste displayed
in laying out private places, and the absence of
fences'.

The thanks of the residents of the city are due to
the members of the society who were present at its
birth, who have clung to it through its many years
of existence, who have given it energy and theabiliiy
to perform its work and shed an influence over the
whole city. Among those who can be mentioned are
J. F. C. Hyde, Geo. K. Ward, John Ward, C. N.
Brackelt, John Stearns, Geo. F. Stone, Lyman Morse,
H. H. White, Wm. Aiken and Henry Rots. Among
those who joined later we find E. W. Wood, Geo. S.
Harwood, Chas. W. Ross and many others.

The present oflicers are:

President, D. D. Sl.ade ; vice-presidents, A. T. Syl-
vester aud N. W. Farley ; treasurer, E. .V. Wood ;
auditor, W. H. Gould ; executive committee, E. W.
Wood, C. N. Brackett, J. R. Leeson, C. W. Ross,
L. H. Farlow.

The Jersey Stock Club of Newton. — On the
17th of May, IStiG, a meeting was held at the resi.
dence of Hon. Wm. Claflin for the purpose of organ-
izing a club having for its prime object " The breeding
and improvement of Alderney or Jersey Cattle." At
this meeting a committee was appointed to prepare a
constitution and by-laws, and to nominate a list of
officers for the club. The first organization was pre-
sided over by the following list of oflicers, elected
June 11, 18G6 : President, Hon. William Claflin ; vice-
president, Geo. C. Rand; corresponding secretary,
Edwin F. Waters ; recording secretary, James T.
Allen ; treasurer, E. Porter Dyer ; board of directors,
J. J. Walworth. George Frost, Wm. E. Plummer, J. j
F. Edmands, Henry Billings, N. P. Coburn, Thos. j
Rice, Jr. ; herd book committee, Thomas Drew,
George E. Allen, Joseph Walker. i

A constitution and by-laws were adopted June 20, !
1866. The club immediately provided itself with j
pure blood Jersey bulls for the improvement of the
herds owned by members, and yearly exhibitions of
stock were held until the year 1870, when the mem-

bership becoming so large as to make the club too
cumbersome as a social institution, it was dissolved in
January of that year.

Immediately after the first club was dissolved it was
thought best to form another one, limiting the member-
ship to twenty persons, and making it eminently a
social club, holding meetings at the residences of var-
ious members once in two months.

This new organization was formed on March 14,
1870, and the list of oflicers elected at that time was
as follows: President, George H.Jones; secretary and
trea.=urer, J. F. Edmands ; executive committee, George
Frost, John C. Chaffin, John C. Potter, Jr.

-A. constitution and by-laws were adopted at this
meeting and the club named "The Jersey Stock Club
of Newton." The object of the club, as declared; was
to promote the keeping and improve the breeding of
Jersey stock in Newton, and social intercourse among
the members.

The membership of twenty is always full, and is
composed of the most prominent citizens of the city.
The original members were: Isaac T. Burr, John C.
Chaffin, Hon. Wm. Claflin, Nathaniel T. Coburn, E.
W. Converse, Fred'k Davis, Hon. J. Wiley Edmands,
D. R. Emerson, J. F. Edmands, George Frost, Joel
H. Hills, D.ivid B. Jewett, David H. Mason, George
H. Jones, George C. Lord, John C. Potter, Jr., George
C. Rand, Hon. Alden Speare, J. C. Stanton, Jos. H.
Woodford.

The club has done a good work in this section of
the country in the introduction, by selection and im-
portation from the Isle sf Jersey, of a superior class
of cattle, and it is quite probable that the fine taste
for Jersey butter and rich milk has been cultivated
by its influence.

The club occasionally holds exhibitions of stock
owned by members; the last show of this kind was
held on the ample grounds of the late Hon. John S.
Farlow, when forty-one head of the beautiful pure-
blood Jerseys were brought together, and eminent
breeders and prominent gentlemen from other parts of
the country were congregated at that time to pass
judgment on the cattle and their products. Actual
demonstrations like the above are feit far and wide,
and it is pleasant to note the influence as expressed
in all the country fairs, and more particularly at the
late State Fair of the New England Agricultural So-
ciety, where Jersey cattle aud their products were
more prominent than all the other cattle on exhibi-
tion.

The present oflicers of the club are : President, E.

B. Haskell ; Vice-president, John S. Farlow;' Secre-
tary, Jos. H. Woodford ; Treasurer, A. Lawrence Ed-
mands ; Executive Committee, George Frost, John

C. Chaffin, John C. Potter.

Newton Natural History Society. — The New-
ton Natural History Society dates from the autumn

1 DeceRS«i ilRTch, 18S0.

112

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of 1879. The first regular meeting was held October
28th of that year. Its avowed objects were the study
of natural science and the developraeni of interest in
such matters among young people and in the public
schools.

The membership and attendance soon outgrew the
capacity of a private house, and a small room was
rented in Eliot Block, in Newton, and this was after-
ward exchanged for the lower hall in that building.
The interest shown at this time has not always been
maintained, as the membership changed through re-
movals and deaths, but at the present time the soci-
ety has a live membership, and is probably doing
more than ever to justify its existence. Its usual pro-
gramme includes an essay on some scientific subject
by a member of the society or by an invited essayist.
Valuable features of the meetings are the short talks
given by members upon subjects which they have
been investigating. These talks, illustrated by the
blackboard, are especially calculated to assist begin-
ners, and to call attention to the many points of in-
terest in things easily accessible. The society has
made a collection of objects pertaining to natural his-
tory, and by the donation of several valuable private
collections it has formed a nucleus of a useful collec-
tion. Among its recent gifts may be mentioned a
fine collection of plants by the late Gen. A. B. Under-
wood, a collection of minerals from Mr. Edward
Fearing, and another from the late Judge J. C. Park.
Until the society shall have a building of its own, it
will labor under a serious disadvantage. To be of
use, its specimens ought to be accessible, and avail-
able for study and comparison. Since February 26,
1883, the society has been incorporated under the laws
of Massachusetts. With the organization it already
possesses, it is easy to claim a far higher degree of
u^^efulness when suflScient public interest can be
awakened to provide it with proper means for extend-
ing its work. Its meetings are held on the first Mon-
day evening of each month at Eliot Lower Hall,
Newton. The public is invited to attend.

Eliot Memorial As.sociation. — One of the
earliest incidents in the history of Massachusetts is
associated with a portion of Middlesex County, and
the scene lies in what is now the city of Newton.
Nothing but Plymouth Rock antedates, in historic
interest, the Hill Nonaatura, where the Apostle Eliot
began his work among and for the Indians. The
Eliot Memorial Association has secured a plot of
ground on the southern slope of Nonantum Hill,
off Kendrick Street and Waverly Avenue, and
erected a handsome stone terrace with freestone
balustrade, ornamented with allegoric design and
with appropriate inscriptions. On the completion of
ihe memorial by the introduction of a fountain, or
other suitable decoration, the Eliot Jlemorial will
be given over to the city of Newton, and form one
of the most effective wayside monuments within its
borders. The scene is one of the most attractive

possible, overlooking the valley between Nonantum
and Waban Hills, and embellished, towards the
east, by two pleasant lakes and the spires of Brighton
and Boston. Ntwton has for its seal a representa-
tion of Eliot preaching to the Indians, and the
Eliot Memorial fixes upon the landscape the scene
so thoroughly identified with her history. The
principal inscription upon the memorial tersely
puts, with historic accuracy, the events commemo-
rated. It is as follows :

"Here at NoQtintum, Oct. 2S, 1G4''>, in Waban'^ Wigwam,

Neiir this spot. Julin Eliut beizati to picat-h tlie gospel to

The Indians. Heie was fuiirnieil the first Clirisliiia

Community of luUiaus within tlie English Colonies.'*

Carved in the corbels of the balustrade are the
names Waban, Heath, Shepard and Gookiu ; these
are the names of Eliot's companions at that first
service in 1646.

Eliot wrote in a little pamphlet, published in Eng-
land (" Day-breaking of the Gospel ") : " L'pon Octo-
ber '28, 1646, four of us (having sought God) went
unto the Indians inhabiting within our bounds with
desire to make known their peace to them." They
met Waban, " one of iheir principal men," and pro-
ceeded to his wigwam, where the first service was
held, Eliot preaching in the Indian tongue, he hav-
ing, with infinite pains, learned their language, and
he was already engaged upon his translation of the
Bible. The interesting details of this and following
services have been often rehearsed. Eliot now
brought the Indians together in a village, gave them
spades and other tools, encouraged them to plant
apple-trees and build walls and dig ditches. To civ-
ilize and Christianize at the same time was his aim.
" Wee have much cause to be verv thankful to God,
who has moved the hearts of the General Court to
purchase so much land for them to make their towne,
in which the Indians are much taken with." " This
towne the Indians desired to kuow what name it
should have, and it was told them it should be called
' Noonatomen ' (sic), which signifies in English, ' re-
joicing,' because they, hearing the Word and seeking
to know God, the English did rejoice at it, and God
did rejoice at it, which pleased them much." (From
" Day-breaking if not the Sun Uprising of the Gospel
to the Indians.")

Five years later this community, of Indiana was re-
moved to Natick. Nonantum was too near the white
man's fire-water and attendant vices. The westward
march of the Indians then commences and has never
ceased, and now we have come back to the Apostle
Eliot's thought that civilization and Christianity
must go hand-in-hand to benefit the Indian.

In 1676, when the praying Indians were brought
up from Deer Island, after King Philip's AVar, many
of the Indians returned to Nonantum and settled
" near where Mr. Eliot first preached to them." A
school-house was built for them on land of Deacon
Trowbridge, and here Mr. Eliot continued to preach

NEWTON.

113

to them, and Daniel Gookin, a magistrate, held court
every fortnight.

Abraham Hyde, who was born a quarter of a cen-
tury later, remembered well the orchard and walls
and ditches of Nonantum, and spolce of their location
to Jonathan Homer, who wrote of the same in his
slcetch of Xewton, printed in 1793.

Thus history and tradition unite in the site of No-
nantum, the Indian village, and it has been the good
fortune of the Eliot Memorial Association to fix upon
the landscape a memorial, as enduring as history itself,
of the scene where John Eliot began his work for the
Indians.

The Newtox Cottage Hospital. — The need of
the city of Newton for an institution for the care of
the sick was first publicly suggested in the autumn of
1S80. It was seen that the Boston hospitals were
usually full, that the danger from severe accidents
was increased by transportation to them, and that a
better result in all diseases was probable when treated
in the purer air of the suburbs. For these and other
reasons it seemed to some of the citizens desirable
that a hospital should be established in a healthful
location in Newton. A number of gentlemen met on
November 10, 1880, in response to an invitation signed
by the mayor of the city and others, and voted unani-
mously that it was expedient to establish in Newton
a " Cottage Hospital." This name was adopted from
England, where for several years small buildings for
the care of the sick, frequently a cottage-dwelling con-
verted from its original use, had been established,
and with such favorable results in the treatment of
disease, as compared with the large city hospitals, that
their number increased rapidly.

These were called Cottage Hospitals, and even
where moderate-sized buildings were erected, espe-
cially designed for the purpose, the same term was
applied to them. It is an attractive designation for
an institution usually regarded with dread, and there-
fore was selected by the Newton organization. At the
meeting of November 10th a committee of twelve
was appointed to take the matter into consideration
and report a plan of action at a subsequent meeting.
The committee met November 26th and voted to es-
tablish the hospital as a private corporation, and
articles of association and by-laws were considered
and laid over for future action. The committee met
again December ISth and adopted a set of provisional
by-laws as a basis of action. The association, which
was subsequently constituted the Newton Cottage
Hospital Corporation, was formed December 18th by
the committee of twelve and nine other gentlemen.
This association met Jan. 4, 1881, and organized a
corporation by adopting a code of by-laws and elect-
ing a clerk, a treasurer and five trustees. The trus-
tees met January (3, ISSl, and elected apresident and
vice-president. The certificate of incorporation was
granted January 11, 1881. The first annual meeting
of the corporation was held January 17, 1881, when
8-iii

forty-three ladies and gentlemen who were present
were elected members, and twenty-four trustees, twelve
ladies and twelve gentlemen, were chosen, and a clerk
and treasurer elected. At a meeting of the trustees
January 22d, a committee was appointed to investi-
gate the subject of hospital buildings and report upon
the character of such as would be required. At a
meeting of the trustees, March 16th, the president,
Royal M. Pulsifer, announced that he had secured
twelve subscriptions of five hundred dollars each, and
a committee was appointed to decide upon a location
for the hospital and purchase the necessary land.
This committee examined several sites and reported
to the trustees from time to time; but no definite ac-
tion in the matter was taken until June 27, 1884,
when the trustees voted to purchase a lot on Washing-
ton Street, containing about nine acres, at $400 per
acre. This lot is beautifully situated, with a south-
western aspect, and has a frontage of 468 feet on
Washington Street. January 2, 1885, the trustees
examined plans and estimates for buildings, and ap-
pointed a building committee with full powers.

In the summer of 188u the ladies of the city formed
a Ladies' Aid Association, which has always been an
invaluable adjunct to the hospital. At the trustees'
meeting, March 23, 1886, the Executive Committee
submitted a code of rules for the management of the
hospital which were approved. May 11, 1886, the
Executive Committee reported that they had appoint-
ed a Medical Board, and that this Medical Board had
prepared rules for the medical government of the
hospital. The buildings were erected in the winter
of 1885-86, and the hospital was dedicated June 5,
1886. The hospital was furnished by the Ladies'
Aid Association. The land and buildings cost about
$14,000. A peculiarity of the organization of the
hospital is that the two leading schools of medicine
are equally represented in the Medical Board. The
executive ofiicer of the hospital is the matron. A
training-school for nurses has been established, which
performs an important use both to the hospital
and the community. A much-needed addition was
made to the hospital by a new ward, built by one of
the citizens of Newton, Mr. J. R. Leeaon, as a me-
morial to his wife, at a cost of §6240. This new ward,
which is used for women, was dedicated May 4th,
1890.

The hospital is supported by an annual appropria-
tion from the city of Newton, by subscriptions of $300
each for the support of f:ee beds, by donations, by
contributions in the churches on Hospital Sunday,
by income from funds which have been given by
sundry individuals, and by the amount received for
board and care of patients. For the year ending
December 31, 1888, over $8000 was received from
these sources ; the expenses for the year being about
$6000. The total number of patients in the hospital
for three years and five months was 373. There were,
Dec. 1, 1889, accommodations for twenty-nine patients,

114

HISTORY OF .MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and in 1890 a new ward was added which nearly
doubles the accoraodatiou.-'.

Newton Hospital Aid Ai^sociatiox.— In June,
1885, the trustees of the Newton Cottage Hospital
issued a call to the ladies of Newton. In response to
this call, thirty-three ladies, representing all the New-
ton villages, held a meeting at the Eliot Church,
Newton, July 3, 1885. Mrs. Alvah Hovey was chosen
chairmaD. IShe announced that it was the desire of
the trustees that the ladies of Newton form themselves
into an association to furnish the rooms and provide
for the running expenses of the hospital. The fol-
lowing resolution was adopted :

''Resolved, Tliat the Ifldiea of Newton ossociate thenieelvea na a
Ladies' Aid Asaociatiou for the purpotie ol woikiDg tur tlie Ijus|)ital."

A committee were appointed to arrange by-laws.
September 2'!, 1885, an organization meeting was held
at Grace Church, Newton. A board of oflSeers were
elected, and it was voted to adopt the name, " The
Newton Hospital Aid Association. "

The furnishing of the hospital was accomplished
through the association by contributions from in-
dividuals, churches, literary societies and Sunday-
schools.

Two directors are chosen each year to visit the
hospital before each meeting, and consult with the
matron in regard to the needs of patients.

The directors have been responsible for the col-
lection of membership fees in their various districts
and by their earnest etibrts have interested the people
to care for the sick and give of their abundance to
alleviate suffering and pain. There is a membership
of over three hundred ladies.

The Newton Athen.eum. — The Newton Athense-
um was organized at West Newion in 1S4'J under the
general statutes of Massachusetts.

The stock was held in shares of ten dollars. Its
object was to maintain a library for the use of its
shareholders.

Mr. Wm. B. Fowle, Sr., was chosen the first presi-
dent and the Hon. Horace Mann one of its directors.

The library was opened in a small room in the
Town Hall building February 25, 1850. It numbered
640 volumes, many of them gifts from members and
others.

At first the library was open on Mond.ays — after-
noon and evening — and '' on Town Meeting days
during the hours of each meeting."

As some fifty to one hundred citizens of both se.xes
and all ages would be meeting at the library on these
Monday evenings " to exchange books and saluta-
tions," the suggestion was soon made that they should
adjourn to the Town Hall, the use of which they
could have by furnishing fuel, lights and care, and
with the simplest organization devote a half-hour or
more to the discussion of some interesting theme,
usually suggested by the last new book. The ex-
periment proved satisfactory, and the meetings were

kf-pt up from March ISth until late in the autumn,
when they gave place to a course of lectures given
under the auspices of the Athenreum.

From that time on (with a few short lapses) meet-
ings of the same general character have been held
each season, the exercises usually consisting of short
lectures, discussions and music, " home talent "
being mainly depended upon for their support. These
meetings of the "West Newton Lyceum" have be-
come somewhat ncted beyond the town limits as be-
ing almost the sole survival of a class of institutions
once held in high esteem throughout New England.

In May, 1860, the library, containing 2000 volumes,
was moved to better quarters and deliveries made
three times a week.

Until 1867 only the families of shareholders and
persons paying a small annual fee used the library.
In that year the directors were authorized to allow-
any resident of Newton to take out books. For
several years thereafter this was the only free library
in Newton.

In 1875 the library was removed to .still more
spacious (juarters, a reading-room was opened and a
daily delivery established. The directors were led
to this by the action of the town, which in town-
meeting had adopted, upon the petition of the
Atheutcum and upon the recommendation of the
Hoji. J. Wiley Edmands, the policy of appropriating
money in aid of free incorporated libraries. The city
government endorsed and continued this policy until,
in 1876, it assumed the entire support of the Newton
Free Library at Newton (Corner), since which time
it has ceased to do anything for the West Newton
Library. It has, however, for several years paid a
part of the expenses of the reading-room.

The library contains (in 1890) 5.300 volumes, and is
e.'pecially strong in history, biography and travel-".
The annual deliveries range from 8000 to 12,0u0, be-
sides from 4000 to 4500 volumes which are distributed
by the Athenivum as the agent of the Newton Free
Library.

The Newton Club. — Early in April, 1887, a cir-
cular was addressed by Mr. Austin R. Mitchell to
some forty or fifty gentlemen, requesting them to meet
at his residence. Walnut Street, Newtonville, to con-
sider the advisability of forming a social club for
Newton. The project was not a new one, as several
previ(;u3 attempts to form a social club, which should
embrace in its membership gentlemen from all parts
of Newton, had been made, but none with success.

The present, however, seemed ripe for such a pro-
ject. The Newton Circuit Railroad had recently been
completed, rendering communication between the dif-
ferent sections of the city easy and expeditious, and
the "Roberts House," so-called, the historic mansion
formerly occupied by General Hull, had lately changed
hands and become available for club purposes, for
which use its large and numerous rooms and close
proximity to the railroad station made it peculiarly fit.

NEWTON.

115

The greater part of those receiving Mr. Mitchell's
circular attended at his house on the evening of April
12, 1S87, and it was unanimously decided to attempt
the formation of a club. A committee of twenty-two
was appointed to secure an act of incorporation from
the Legislature, and also to take all other necessary
preliminary steps.

The act of incorporation was signed by Governor
Ames May 26, 1887, and the club immediately organ-
ized. The first officers to serve the club were as fol-
lows: President, Royal M. Pulsifer; Vice-Presidents,
William Claflin, Robert R. Bishop, Isaac T. Burr,
Levi C. Wade; Secretary, Edward W. Gate; Treas-
urer, Francis A. Dewson ; E.xecutive Committee,
Henry E. Cobb, Prescott C. Bridgham, William M.
BuUivant, Moses G. Crane, Edward H. Mason, Wil-
liam J. FoUett, J. Edward HoUis, Samuel L. Powers,
John W. Carter, Arthur C. Walworth; Committee on
Elections, Lewis E. Coffin, George F. Churcbhill,
George L. Lovett, Henry C. Churchill, Eben Thomp-
son, Harry W. Mason, Sydney Harwood, Austin R.
Mitchell, Frederick L. Felton, James W. French.

The Roberts House was at once leased, but it was
not until the following October that the neces-sary al-
terations in it and its furnishing were completed.
On the evening of December 19, 18S7, the club-house
was formally opened with a reception, which was at-
tended by some three or four hundred of the most
prominent citizens of Newton. While the member-
s-hip of the club is composed exclusively of gentlemen,
it has always been the policy of its management to
extend its privileges in some degree to ladies. With
this end in view, a number of entertainments have
been given each winter in the club-house parlors,
and a reception has become an annual feature. The
club is now in its third year; its member.-'hip has
steadily increased, and includes many of the best-
known and most influential residents of the city, and
gives promise of being a permanent feature in the
social life of Newton.

Newtox Civil Service Reform AssoriAxiox. —
The Newton Civil Service Reform Association had
its origin in a suggestion made by Rev. Henry Lam-
bert at a meeting of the West Newton Book Club,
held April 1, 1S81. At this meeting Messrs. Henry
Lambert, E. P. Bond and N.T. Allen were appointed
a committee to secure the co-operation of other citi-
zens of the ward in forming a civil service reform
organization. In accordance with a notice published
in the y^est Xewton Transcript, and signed by these
gentlemen and twenty-two others, a meeting wa.s held
at the City Hall, West Newton, April 20, 1881, at
which was adopted a preamble and constitution for
the " West Newton Civil Service Reform Association."
The organization started with nearly eighty members
.".ud the following list of olBcers: President, Rev.
Heury Lambert; vice-presidents, Rev. Increase N.
Tarbox, Henry A. Inmau ; treasurer, John J. Eddy;
secretary, Fisher Ames ; directors, Thomas B. Fitz,

F. F. Raymond {2d), Arthur Carroll, Alfred L. Bar-
bour.

At the annual meeting, April 24, 1882, the name
of the society was changed to the "Newton Civil Ser-
vice Reform Association." Since that time it haa
aimed to make its lists of members and officers repre-
sentative, as near as may be, of the entire city.

The officers elected at the annual meeting April 22,
1889, were: President, Rev. Henry Lambert; vice-
presidents, Leverett Saltoastall, John S. Farlow, Ed-
win B. Haskell, Robert R. Bishop, Wm. P. Ellison,
Edwin P. Seaver, Nathaniel T. Allen; treasurer,
Stephen Thacher; secretary, James P. Tolman; di-
rectors. Thomas B. Fitz, Edward P. Bond, F. F. Ray-
mond (2d), H. E. Bothfeld. The number of members
December, 1889, was 127.

The association, by its executive committee, haa
adopted and published resolutions on many occasions
of moment in the progress of the reform. It has
usually sent several representatives to the meetings
of the National Civil Service Reform League, and
has always sent delegates to the Massachusetts
League ; has each year contributed to the support of
the National League, and has distributed the litera-
ture of the reform very freely among its members and
others.

In 1885 the association published and circulated
a historical sketch of the movement, in the form of a
pamphlet, by President Lambert, entitled "The Prog-
ress of Civil Service Reform in the United States."

In behalf of the association the executive commit-
tee Las frequently addressed letters of inquiry to
public officers and candidates for office. Its corre-
spondence with Hon. John W. Chanler, then Rep-
sentaiive to Congress from the district, led to the
organization of the independent movement which
elected Hon. Theodore Lyman to Congress in the
fall of 1882, and apparently much hastened the pas-
sage of the National Civil Service Act in January,
ISS3.

Pise Farm School.— In the year 1863 a farm
containing about twenty-five acres on Chestnut
Street, corner of Fuller, West Newton, was purchased
and fitted as a home for boys living in such exposed
and neglected circumstances as to be likely to fall
into vicious habits.

In June, 1864, the place was dedicated by appro-
priate exercises to the purposes for which it had been
obtained.

In 1865 an act of incorporation was granted by the
Legislature to the Boston Children's Aid Society, the
members of which had been united in starting and
carrying forward the enterprise. Mr. Rufus R. Cook,
familiarly known as " Uncle Cook," acted as agent,
and sent to the home such boys as he found in the
city morally exposed, and who in his judgment could
be saved if placed under better influences.

The number of boys to be in the school at one time
is limited to thirty, and it is designed to be a home in

116

niSTORY OF JIIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the true&t and highest sense. The boys attend school
every day except Saturday, and on Suaday attend
the Congrfgational Church and Sunday-school. The
day-school is upon the grounds, the teacher residing
on the farm. The boys are given up by the parents
or guardians to the care of the society till eightfen
years of age, being received betv/een the ages of nine
and fifteen years.

After remaining in the school until, in the judg-
ment of the superintendent (usually between one and
two years), they are sufficiently trained to do well,
they are placed in some family, but are still under
the care of the society, a visitor being continually
employed in visiting them to see that they are well
cared for in their new homes. Between twenty and
thirty boys are usually sent out in a year, and the re-
sults show that a very large percentage of these boys,
taken from their parents and placed under better in-
fluences, may be saved from the criminal life almost
certain to follow as the result of their evil surround-
ings. Indolent and injudicious parents, to say nothing
of those who are intemperate and criminal, make
many homes the training-school for lives of lawless-
ness and criminality. During the quarter of a cen-
tury of the existence of Pine Farm School there has
been no death among the boys and but little serious
illness. They soon yield to a kind but firm disci-
pline, and with regular diet and sleep, improve in
bodily health.

Kebecca Po.meroy Xewton Home for Orphan
Girls. — In the year 1872 Mrs. Rebecca R. Pomeroy,
with the aid of friends, assumed the care and support
of four little girls who were made homeless by the
disbanding of the " Girls' School " connected with the
" Boston Children's Aid Society." This was the
nucleus of what has grown to be the " Rebecca Pom-
eroy Newton Home for Orphan Girls." With rare
industry, tact and thrift combined, it has been en-
abled to feed, clothe and educate its twenty inmates
during the pa-st seventeen years, mainly from the
gifts of the women of Newton, although generous aid
has been given by friends, both old and young, in
neighboring cities.

The present location of the home on Hovey Street,
Newton, was purchased by the citizens of Newton as
a memorial to its founder, Mrs. Pomeroy.

There have been connected with the home fifty-two
orphan and destitute girls. The number who have
completed a full course of training, and have gone
out prepared to enter upcn life-work well equipped
to earn a livelihood, is eighteen ; the number re-
turned to friends, able to furnish good homes for
them, ten. Three are married. Nineteen are now
earning a support. Not one has died at the home,
and only two since leaving it.

When thoroughly prepared each girl goes to ser-
vice in a place carefully secured in a good family, a
country home preferred. A bank-book is provided
and all savings above necessary expenses are depos-

ited in the Newton Savings Bank. The treasurer of
the " Home " corporation has now in her care nine
such books with an aggregate of six hundred dollars
invested.

One of the lady directors, in connection with the
superintendent, continues watchful care and over-
sight of these girls after leaving the home, as would
a good mother.

The principle involved- in the management of the
home is unique. From each of the twenty-seven
Protestant churches of the city one or more ladies or
gentlemen are secured. These constitute a Board
of Corporators, who, at an annual meetinc, elect a
Board of Directors, upon whom devolves the imme-
diate management of the home.

It is an unwritten law that each of the Protestant
religious sects in the city shall, if possible, be repre-
sented upon this Board of Directors. It is not true
that sectarianism in any objectionable sense ever has
been or could be justly charged to the home.

The public are cordially invited to visit the home
and witness the spirit which animates the whole
household, and to remember it is only by the gener-
ous gifts of its friends that the home has been en-
abled to seek and save many a friendless orphan girl
and elevate them to virtuous womanhood.

Firemen's Relief Associatiox. — The above as-
sociation was organized August 2, 1S78, and incor-
porated December 4, li^84, with the following list of
names as incorporators: — Henry L. Bixby, F. H.
Humphrey, W. S. Higgins, Bernard Early, H. H.
Easterbrook, George H. Haynes, Charles W. H. Boul-
ton, J. E. Trowbridge, F. D. Graves, T.C. Nickerson,
W. S. Cargill, John Dreary.

The object of this association is set forth in the fol-
lowing preamble :

" WiiEEEAS, the members of tlie Fire Department of the City of N'ew-
ton nre liable, in llie UiM-liiirge of titeir duty, to many casualties to wliiub
citizefib lire generally not exposed, and,

" WiiEttEA?, These cusuallies nre frequently very injurious, and some-
times ruinous to health, couilort and pecuniary circumstances of ihoae
on wliom they fall —

'* It is therefore,

" Itestthvti, by the undersigned, being all members of the Xewton Fire
Department, that we form ourselves into a society for the purpose of
material aid and assistance, under the calamities to which the public
duties of llreiuen may expose tliem, and for the better management and
control thereof we accept the following constitution, by which we mu-
tually agree to be governed."

I The present fund is maintained by annual assess-

I ment of each member, by public contributions, and

1 the small amounts realized from public entertain-

' ments.

I The present amount of this fund ia S2200, depos-

; ited in savings banks.

! The officers for 1889 are Henry L. Bixby, presi-
dent; W. S. Cargill, vice-president ; Willard S. Hig-
gins, secretary and treasurer.

YonxG Men's Christian Association. — Some
time during the summer of 1877, Dr. H. B.Jones was
impressed with the necessity of doing some special

NKWTON.

Ill

work for temperance, and for that purpose invited
about a dozen gentlemen to meet at his house to con-
sider the subject.

While discussing the temperance question it was
brought to the notice of those present that there were
a number of young men in Xewton whom the
church did not reach, and it was considered desirable
to take some united action to supplement the church
work, and at the same time do more for temperance
than was being done. To this end it was suggested
to unite Christian workers from all the evangelical
churches as a Young Men's Christian Association.
A public meeting to consider it was called at Eliot
Lower Hall, October 16th. • Quite a large number of
gentlemen responded to the call and the meeting was
organized with Mr. E. P. Wright as chairman and
Mr. George S. Trowbridge as secretary. Dr. H. B.
Jones eloquently presented the object of the meeting,
and was followed by several others, awakening con-
siderable enthusiasm in the matter. It was voted to
organize an association and a committee was appointed
to prepare a constitution and report in one week, to
which time the meeting adjourned. At the adjourned
meeting the organization was perfected, a constitution
adopted and the following board of officers elected:
President, George S. Harwood ; vice-president, Geo.
S. Trowbridge ; secretary, Geo. C. Dunne ; trea-surer,
F. M. Trowbridge ; directors, Edward B. Earle, Ed-
ward W. Gate, J. M. Kalloway, Dr. H. B. Jones,
Daniel E. Snow.

The association was fairly launched, and has been
an active organization ever since, doing good work
in its chosen field. Its anniversary occasions are
always of special interest, and at its last one, when
Eliot Hall was well filled, the erection of a Y. M.
C. A. building was advocated, which has so awakened
public opinion to its necessity that active etibrts are
being made in that direction with very gratifying
results.

The presidents since its organization have been :
George S. Harwood, one year; G. D- Gilman, three
years; H.J. Woods, three years; D. E. Snow, two
years; R. F. Cummings, two years; and D. Fletcher
Barber, who is now serving his second year.

The Newtox Sunday-School Uxiox. — This
Union of the Sunday-schools of the town of Newton
for the discussion of practical questions, designed to
prepare teachers and officers for better work, was organ-
ized December 18, 1838, with Hon. William Jackson as
its first president. Six schools comprised the Union
at its bifth, and its earliest anniversaries were held in
groves, with procesffions of children, addresses from
prominent citizens, and large gatherings, as their
features. Its regular meetings were then held
monthly, but afterwards made quarterly, changing
from village to village on Sunday evenings, each Sun-
day-school there reporting its condition. Through
its enterprise a colporteur was maintained in 1849 and
subsequently to labor in West Virginia and Ohio.

October 16. 1863, the Union celebrated the twenty-
fifth anniversary of its organization with an address
by Rev. A. L. Stone, D.D., of Park Street (Boston)
Church, in the first Eliot Hall. June 27, 1863, the
lOOlh anniversary of the organization of Sunday-
schools by Robert Raikes was celebrated in the new
Eliot Hall, with an historical address by Rev. Brad-
ford K. Pierce, D.D., and a centennial hymn by Rev.
S. F. Smith. The singing upon this occasion was by
a choir of 350 children from the various schools,
trained and conducted by Mr. George S. Trowbridge.
In I860 the Union represented a Sunday-school mem-
bership of 1405; in 1870, 2870; and in 1880, 3085,
teachers and scholars. Jleetings have been held reg-
ularly all these years. October 19, 1881, a gold medal
was offered as a prize for the best essay on " Sunday-
School Interests." It was subsequently awarded by
the committee to Mr. D. E. Snow, who had served as
secretary of the Union from 1S69 to 1877 and as its
president during the year 1878. Among the promi-
nent citizens of Newton who have served as its presi-
dents may also be mentioned Messrs. Marshall S. Rice,
Deacon Ebenezer F. Woodard, Frederick A. Benson,
George S. Harwood, Joseph A. Newe'.l, General A. B.
Underwood and Hon. J. C. Park.

The Goddard Literary Uniok. — The Goddard
Literary Union was organized October 28, 1874, in the
Universalist Church at Newtocville with forty-four
members and the following officers : Robert P. Gould,
president ; Lewis E. Binney, secretary ; C. B. Fille-
brown, treasurer. Its object was " Religious, Mental
and Social " improvement. Its membership consists
only of those connected with the above church.

Regular meetings are held twice a month, and " Pub-
lic" concerts or plays are given about four times a
year. The vestry, where meetings are held, is finely
i adapted to these pl.^ys, being fitted with stage,
scenery, fuot-lights, etc., and combining this advan-
tage with the fact that plenty of talent is available,
and earnest, working committees can be easily chosen.
Some fine plays as " Once Upon a Time," written by
Mr. H. N. Baker, a member ; " High Life," by Mr.
Monday, another member ; " Longfellow's Dream," a
fine amateur play, and "Among the Breakers," one
of Walter Baker's famous dramas, have been most
successfully rendered to crowded houses. By this
means the Union has been able to make handsome
contributions to the church funds, its yearly subscrip-
tion having been as high as $500.

At present (1889-90 season) the membership baa
grown to about 165, including prominent business
men, and a large percentage is composed of real active,
working members.

The Union is in a flourishing condition and gov-
erned by the following officers : President, Rev. R. A.
White; Vice-President, F.M.Whipple; Secretary, W.
Henry Cotting; Treasurer, Alfred B. Tainter.

The Tuesday Club.— The Tuesday Club was or-
ganized November 1, 1877, for social and literary

118

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

purposes. Xo constitution or by-laws were adopted,
but instead a few simple features were agreed to, such
as that there should be from twenty to twenty-tive
members, that meetings be held fortuightly, and that
the proceedings include essays and discussiocs. The
club has been in existence now for nearly fourteen
years, and the interest of its members appears to be
unabated. Among those who have been on its list,
but who have passed away from this life, are the fol-
lowing gentlemen : The Rev. Dr. G. W. Hosmer,
Lucius H. Buckingham, Ph.D., Mr. Calvin Brooks
Prescott, Hon. William S. Gardner, General Adin B.
Underwood, the Rev. Dr. B. K. Peirce, the Hon.
John C. Park.

The present list of member»is as follows : Mr. Wil-
liam C. Bates, Rev. Dr. Walcott Calkins, Hon. Wil-
liam Claflin, Mr. E. H. Cutler, Rev. J. B. Gould, Mr.
E. B. Haskell, W. S. Hutchinson, Esq., Rev. F. B.
Hornbrooke, Hon. R. C. Pitman, Mr. Edward Saw-
yer, Rev. Dr. George W. Shinn, Rev. Dr. L.E.Smith,
Rev. Henry G. Spaulding, Dr. Lincoln R. Stone,
Hon. Heman M. Burr, Dr. William W. Jacques. The
officers for the current year are : President, E. Sawyer;
Secretary, G. W. Shinn ; Treasurer, L. R. Stone.

Newtosville Woman's Guild. — The Newton-
ville Woman's Guild was founded JIarch 21, 1884, by
a few ladies, who, led by one who had given the sub-
ject much careful thought, had succeeded in matur-
ing a broad and comprehensive plan for a society,
which, it was hoped, would unite the women of New-
tonville from all churches and all neighborhoods, for
the purpose of charitable work, intellectual improve-
ment and social intercourse._

It was thought, in the beginning, that the Newton
Cottage Hospital, which then existed only in the
minds of its projectors, would form a good basis for
the work of the society, and with the hospital the
Guild has always been identified in the minds of
Newton people, a standing committee having its in-
terests in charge.

Aside from this work, however, the Guild has done
far more, through its charitable committee, to relieve
such local need as exists in Newtonville, than is gen-
erally known, and has always responded, to the ex-
tent of its means, to any outside call for aid.

On its social side, it has done a work eminently
worth doing in bringing into agreeable intercourse
many Newtonville women, who might otherwise
never have known of each other's existence.

Meetings are held once a fortnight from October to
May, lor literary instruction and entertainment.

At present, December, 1889, the Guild has an ac-
tive working force of more than 100 members.

Newton Centre Women's Cli^b. — In January,
1887, Post 62, G. A. R., invited from the pulpits of
the churches in Newton Centre all interested in the
relief of disabled soldiers and their families to meet
on the afternoon of January 11th, to devise means for
raising additional funds for that purpose.

At that meeting a board of five ofiicers and a com-
mittee of twenty-one, representing the four churches
of Newton Centre, werecho.sen to co-operate with sim-
ilar organizations in other wards in the city in the
management of a Soldiers' Fair.

At the close of the fair this committee, with its
officers, twenty-six in all, formed a permanent organ-
ization called "The Ladies' Union." A constitution
was adopted and a president, vice-president, secre-
tary and treasurer at the Soldiers' Fair were elected
to the same positions in the new club.

In February, 1888, the membership was doubled,
and in November of the same year a new name was
adopted — " The Newton Centre Women's Club."

It is both a literary and charitable a.ssociation. Ac-
cording to its constitution, "At each regular meeting
there shall be a paper read, by some person engaged
for the purpose, or some entertaiument of a literary or
educational interest."

Its charitable work has been chiefly in connection
with the purchase of "The Children's Play-ground."
The first contribution, twenty-five dollars, received by
the Newton Centre Improvement Association for this
purpose was made by this club in October, 1888, and
by a recent entertainment, "The Festival of Days,"
about $2500 was realized for the same object.

The club now cumbers about fifty. It holds its
meetings the last Friday in each month at the house
of one of its members. Its original and present offi-
cers are : — Mrs. R. R. Bishop, president ; Mrs. Charles
Grout, vice-president ; Miss Anna C. Ellis, secretary ;
Mrs. D. B. Claflin, treasurer.

"The Neighbors." — On the evening of January
13, 1878, at the house of Rev. Alvah Hovey, D.D..
LL.D., in Newton Centre, the following-named gen-
tlemen met and organized a club for the purpose of
literary culture, and for the promotion of social inter-
course smong its members, viz. : Robert R. Bishop,
Edwin F. Waters, AldenSpeare, William E. Webster,
Alvah Hovey and Thomas L. Rogers. The same
evening it was voted that the name of the club be
" The Neighbors." The number of members is lim-
ited to twenty-five.

The meetings are held upon the firstMonday even-
ings of every month from October to May inclusive, at
the houses of the members, in rotation, the host upon
each occasion acting as chairman. The secretary for
eleven years, until his removal from the city, was
Thomas L. Rogers.

An executive committee of four, annually elected,
together with the secretary, attend to the appoint-
ments, presenting new names for membership, and
whatever other business may arise. The members
are expected to present in rotation essays upon sub-
jects selected by themselves and previously announced,
followed by comments by the other members and
guests.

Among the subjects presented to the club are two
at least which have led to lasting and beneficial re-

NEWTOX.

iin

suits in the village. In December, 187S, Rev. A. E.
Lawrence gave an address upon "Village Improve-
ment," which was the immediate cause ol the organi-
zation of the Xewton Centre Improvemeut Associa-
tion, still in the height of its vigor and usefulness.
In April, 1SS8, Hon. Robert R. Bishop read a paper
entitled, " What Cau We Do for Newton Centre?" in
which was first presented the plan of improving the
low land in the centre of our village and laying out
an extended public park and play-ground.

The present members are : Charles C. Barton,
Elisha Bassett, Robert R. Bishop, Dwight Chester,
Judson B. Coit, George E. Gilbert, Albert L. Har-
wood, Alvali Hovey, William E. Huntington, Amos
E. Lawrence, Eiward H. Mason, Theodore Nickerson,
Herbert I. Ordway, William E. Webster, Avery L.
Rand, Thomas L. Rogers, J. Herbert Sawyer, Edwin
P. Seaver, Alden Speare, Oakman S. Stearns, Arthur
C. Walworth.

Formerly members : Samuel F. Smith, Edwin F.
Waters, Charles P. Clark, Albert D. S. Bell, William
C Strong, Samuel L. Caldwell, Emil C. Hammer,
Bradford K. Peirce, Walter Allen.

The Yoon'g Men's Social Union of Newton
T'entre. — In the autumn of 1882 the Rev. Edward
BraisKn co:;ceived the idea of a non-sectarian club
which would unite socially the young men of Newton
( 'entre. To carry out this idea a meeting of young
men was called.

.\. constitution and by-laws were adopted and the
following officers were elected to serve six months :
President, R. W. Waters ; secretary, G. G. Sanborn ;
treasurer, E. S. Lyon.

Executive, membership and missionary committees
were aUo chosen for a term of three months.
Admission to membership was made conditional only
upon the acceptance of the candidate by the member-
ship committee and his signature to the by-Uws. No
membership fees were asked, as it was the wish of the
founders of the Union that no obstacle should be put
in the way of any one who wished to become a mem-
ber of the Union.

The offer of the free use of the Baptist Church
Chapel for meetings was accepted and the monthly
meetings soon interested nearly all of the young men
of the village.

Programmes of literary and musical exercises and
debates were given, and the Union had the cordial sup-
port of the citizens of Newton Centre.

In the year 1884 a course of popular entertainments
was given under the auspices of the Union, but the
main financial support has been the voluntary c<jn-
tributions of its members and friends. In 1885 the
membership was ninety-five, and until its dissolution
in 1S8G it was highly successful in fulfilling the pur-
pose of its organization.

AuiiURXDALE Improvement Society. — The or-
ganization of the Auburndale Village Improvement
Society dates from October 31, 1883. Its objects, as

defined in the first article of the constitution, are the
beautifying and adorning of the streets and public
grounds of the village, especially by planting trees
and shrubs, and caring for and preserving the same ;
to create and encourage in the community a spirit of
improvement that shall stimulate everyone to seek to
make his own surroundingj more attractive ; to
attend to matters affeciiug the public health ; and to
provide such entertainments as the Board of Govern-
ment shall think proper. Soon after the organization
of the society an opportunity offered itself to secure
ft public hall in the village, by obtaining control of
the lately disused Williams School building. The
society promptly raised about $1000, and fitted up a
neat hall, having leased the building from the city
for five years. Another public benefit aided largely
by the society is the tunnel beneath the tracks of
the Boston & Albany Railroad uniting the two sec-
tions of the village. Whenever there has been
opportunity to carry out its purposes the society has
striven to do all it could. It has assisted in clearing
the streets of rubbish ; it has set out and cared for
shade-trees ; it maintains bulletin boards in various
locations. At the present time it Is interesting itself
j in securing access for the public to Charles River
, over ways that have been unlawfully closed up. la
all ways where public interest is aroused, the society
stands ready to push matters through its organization
! and, numbering, as it does, on its roll the names of a
I large number of the most influential citizens, its in-
fluence is capable of accomplishing much by way of
! permanent improvement.

West Newton Women's Educational Club. —
This club was formed in July, 1880. In the autumn
I of that year its membership was largely increased,
and the meetings were held at first monthly and
afterwards fortnightly. The club soon outgrew the
accommodation of private parlors, and was fortunately
1 able to secure the commodious parlor and supper-
room of the Unitarian Society for its regular meet-
ings. Its range of discussion has been broad, includ-
i ing Woman Suffrage, Temperance, Domestic Econ-
i omy. History, Biography and Art. It has made a
special study of municipal affairs, going through, as
an object lesson, all the fonns of an election. One
afternoon in the year is devoted to descriptions of
summer outings ; another is given to short essays of
ten minutes on practical or literary subjects. The
I club has a " gentleman's night " at New Year's, and
an annual supper in May. It interests its members
in the public schools, and was instrumental in intro-
ducing the regular instruction of the girls in sewing.
It supports a scholarship at the Tuskegee Normal
School for Freedmen in Alabama, and every year
sends to it contributions of money and clothing.

Woman Suffrage League. — The Newton Non-
partisan Woman Suffrage League was organized in
West Newton in March, 1885. The objects of this as-
sociation, as stated in its constitution, are " to procure

120

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the right of suffrage for women, to effect such changes
in the laws as shall place women in all respects on an
equal legal footing with men, to combine the woman
suffrage sentiment in Newton, to circulate woman suf-
frage petitions and woman suffrage literature, and to
endeavor to have men of integrity nominated and
elected to the Legislature who favor municipal suffrage
for women."

Hon. William Claflin was chosen president ; Mr. S.
Warren Davis, secretary ; Mrs. James P. Tolman,
treasurer, and Mrs. E. N. L. Walton, chairman of the
Executive Committee.

At the close of the first year Mr. Claflin resigned,
and Hon. Robert C. Pitman was elected and .served
two years. The present officers (1890) are : Mr. Na-
thaniel T. Allen, president; Mrs. Louise A. Chap-
man, secretary; Mrs. James P. Tolman, treasurer;
with three vice-presidents and an Executive Commit-
tee of ten representatives, men and women.

The League has been the means of exciting much
thought on the subject, and of extending a belief in
the value of equal suffrage, to man as well as to wo-
man.

It has held each year one or two public meetings
in the City Hall and elsewhere, and several smaller
parlor meetings in the various villages from Auburn-
dale to Newton.

It has also furnished speakers to the West Newton
Lyceum when the subject of woman's suffrage has been
debated, thus reaching a large class not otherwise ap-
proachable. Among the most interesting speakers at
their various meetings have been Mrs. Lucy Stone,
Mr. H. B. Blackwell, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mrs
Mary A. Livermore, Mrs. E. D. Cheney, Mrs. Laura
Ormiston Chant, of England ; Mrs. S. S. Fessenden,
of the W, C. T- U. ; Hon. J. C. Wyman, of Rhode
Island, and T. W. Higginson. Some meetings have
been held in the interest of school suffrage especially,
and they have done much toward placing and keep-
ing women on the School Board. Mrs. Electa L. N.
Walton and Mrs. Abby E. Davis have been the most
active and influential members of the Executive Com-
mittee of the League.

" The Pla-xers."— This is the name of a dramatic
association, organized March 16, 1887, composed of
active and associate members. The active members
take part in dramatic performances, of which six are
given every season at City Hall, West Newton. The
a8.sociate members are limited to 150, each paying an
annual fee of eight dollars, and receiving two tickets
for every entertainment. The associate membership
has been full from the beginning, with from fifty to
seventy-five names on the waiting list. The first per-
formances were on the evenings of May 13 and 14,
1887, when Byron's comedy, " Our Boys," was given.
Among the other plays produced have been " London
Assurance," "Old Love Letters," "Rough Diamond,"
"A Russian Honeymoon," " Randall's Thumb," and
"Engaged." These plays have been given with dra-

matic skill and ample stage effects. The officers of
the association are as follows: President, George H.
Phelps; vice-president, John A. Conkey ; treasurer,
Edward C. Burrage ; secretary, Pierrepont Wise. The
above named, together with William T. Farley, T.
E. Stutson and Herbert S. Kempton, constitute the
Board of Directors.

The Monday Evenixg Club. — This club was
established at the suggestion of Mr. J. H. Nichols
and Dr. Wm. E. Field. The first meeting was held
November 5, 1880. The number at first was limited
to twenty-five members, but it has since been changed
to thirty.

Meetings are held twice a month for five months of
each year beginning in December.

The club has a constitution and by-laws. The of-
fice of chairman is filled by members, succeeding al-
phabetically each evening from season to season. The
secretary is chosen annually by ballot.

Each member has to subscribe to the constitution
and by-laws.

Four successive absences forfeit membership, unless
excused by vote of the club.

The secretary organizes the meetings at eight
o'clock and selects the chairman. The period from
eight to nine is devoted to regular business and to
five-minute talks by members in turn, at the call of
the chairman. From nine to ten there is an essay by
one of the members and its discussion. After the
essay a collation is served. The meetings are held at
the residences of the members in turn.

Newton Congregational Ch;b. — In the minds
of many members of the Congregational Churches
in Newton there had existed a feeling of the necessity
of some organization which would bring together the
Congregational Churches from the different sections
of the city for the sake of a more intimate acquaint-
ance, and thereby more concerted action in church
work. The great drawback had been the lack of a
ready means of communication between the churches
on the south and north sides of the city.

During the year 1885 a communication written by
James F. C. Hyde, appeared in the ytivlon Journal,
calling attention to this need of the churches, and
expressing the hope that, when the " Circuit Rail-
road," which was then building, was completed, af-
fording the desired communication between the dif-
ferent portions of the city, a Congregational Club
might be organized.

On October 13, 1886, in accordance with this sug-
gestion, an invitation, signed by five pastors and three
deacons, was sent to the pastors, the deacons, the
standing committees, and Sabbath-School superin-
tendents of each of the seven Congregational Churches
in Newton, to meet on Wednesday evening, October
20th, at the parlor of the Second Church, West New-
ton, to consider the expediency of forming such a
club.

Rev. Henry J. Patrick was chosen chairman of this

NEWTON.

121

meeting, and William B. Wood, secretary. It was
voted to form a Congregational Club, and a committee
was appointed to dralt a constitution and by-laws.

An adjourned meeting was held at the same place
the following Wednesday evening (Oct. 27th), and a
constitution and by-laws were adopted. The objects
of the club, as expressed in the constitution, are " to
encourage among the members of the Congregational
Churches of Newton, a more friendly and intimate
acquaintance, to secure concert of action, and to pro-
mote the spiritual life and eflBciency of the churches."
llegular meetings are held on the third Monday of
each month, from October to March inclusive. The
January meeting is the "annual meeting" for the
choice of officers, etc. The membership is limited to
150 ; each church was ent'tled to ten members (this
was afterwards amended so that the largest church,
the Eliot, is entitled to sixteen members, and the
smallest church, the North, is entitled to four mem-
bers), and the balance of the 150 (or eighty members)
is divided pro rata between the different churches,
according to their resident membership. A vote was
passed at this meeting that it is desirable that ladies
attend the regular meetings as guests of the mem-
bers.

Another adjourned meeting was held November 3d,
and the organization completed by the choice of offi-
cers. At the annual meeting, the following January,
the same officers were re-elected fur the year 1887,
viz. : President, Hon. James F. C. Hyde ; vice-presi-
dents. Rev. Henry J. Patrick, Dea. William F. Slo-
cum ; secretary, William B. Wood ; treasurer, Daniel
E. Snow.

The succeeding presidents have been : Granville B.
Putnam, in 1888; Albert L. Harwood, in 1889 ; and
Winfield S. Slocum, Esq., who is now serving for the
year 1890.

The club started with an "original membership"
of forty-six ; its present membership is 112.

In the selection of topics for discussion, the aim
has been to confine them to such as have a special
relation to the interests of the Newton churches, and
the club has been addressed very largely by indi-
viduals selected from its own membership ; although
it has listened to others from abroad also, includ-
ing Rev. Francis E. Clark, of the Christian En-
deavor Societies; Rev. Reuea Thomas, D.D., of
Brookline ; Chas. W. Hill, Esq., of Roxbury ; Rev.
E. B. Webb, D.D., of Wellesley ; Rev. David Gregg,
D.D., and Rev. E. K. Alden, D.D., of Boston ; Rev.
Alexander McKenzie, D.D., of Cambridge; Prof.
J. M. English, D.D., of Newton Centre; Rev. A. E.
Winship, of SomerviUe ; Rev. A. E. Dunning, D.D.,
of Boston ; Rev. Arthur Little, D.D., of Dorchester;
Rev. A. G. Lawson, D.D., of Boston.

The meetings have been held in the parlors and
chapel of the Second Church, West Newton, which
is well adapted, both by location and arrangement,
for the purpose. Assembling at live o'clock, a social

time in the parlors is enjoyed until supper is an-
nounced at six o'clock. This is spread in the chapel,
after which, the tables having been cleared, the
meeting is called to order about seven o'clock and the
exercises for the evening taken up.

The meetings have been most enjoyable and
profitable, a pleasant feature being the presence of a
goodly number of guests to participate with the mem-
bers in the privileges of the club.

The Newton Boat Club. — The Newton Boat
Club was organized September 1, 1875. Its first boat-
house was a cheap structure on the shore of Charles
River, near the foot of Islington Street, Auburndale.
The location was not favorable, especially for mem-
bers living in other villages, but the club remained
there, with varying fortune, holding several regattas,
until it entered into new and much better quarters
and a broader scale of existence, on the completion
of its new club-house at Riverside in the summer of
1886. Here is a handsome and commodious building,
with ample space for boats, bowling alleys, dancing
hall, pool table, etc., inside, and tennis courts in the
spacious grounds outside, all within two minutes'
walk of the Riverside Station on the Boston and
Albany Railroad, from which frequent trains run over
both sides of the "Circuit'' through the Newton
villages to Boston. And so far as the opportunity
for the pastime of boating is concerned, there is
nothing better in the country. From this point to
Waltham, two miles below, and to Newton Lower
Falls, one mile above, the Charles winds through a
succession of charming sylvan views, here and there
varied by glimpses of cultivation and ornamental
architecture. The large dam at Waltham makes the
current very light, and the limpid waters are alive in
the boating season with every variety of light craft,
canoes, propelled by paddles, being the special favor-
ites of the last two or three years. There are several
hundred light and graceful boats owned and in con-
stant use on this lovely stretch of water, and a good
portion of those who propel them are young ladies.

Newton Boat-Club house and grounds, quite a val-
uable property, is owned by a separate corporation,
the stockholders of which are friends and generally
members of the club. The club leases the property,
pays a rent equal to the interest of the money in the
plant, and will gradually invest its surplus income in
the stock until it shall acquire the whole. The club
has an active membership of about 200. The annual
assessment is $15. During the winter months the
club-house is a favorite resort for bowling. The
officers of the club for 1890 are : President, William
S. Eaton, Jr.; Vice-President, Sydney Harwood;
Treasurer, Charles W. Loring ; Secretary, Horatio
Page ; Captain, William A. Hall.

The Wesleyan Home. — The Wesleyan Home was
incorporated in 1S83 and organized in December of
that year. Its first money was the savings of a little girl
in Taunton, Mass., who, in her fatal illness, expressed

122

niSTOllY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

a desire to give all her money to a home for orphans.
This contribution amounted to about twenty dollars.
It has had larger gifts since, including a spacious and
comfortable house on Wesley Street, Newton, from
Hon. Alden Speare, and an endowment fund of
$20,000 from Hon. Jacob Sleeper. The house fur-
nishing was also provided by generous friends — Mrs.
Charles W. Pierce, the family of Hon. Jacob Sleeper,
and others. The institution was originally intended
for orphan and destitute children. Later its scope
was enlarged to embrace the care of children of
Methodist missionaries working in foreign fields.
The building affords accommodations for about twenty
children, it is presided over by a matron, aided and
advised by a board of managers, composed of twelve
ladies who reside in the neighboring villages. Children
are taken at the age of four years or over. They have
home training and care, and attend the pul)lic schools.
These who can afford it pay from SlOO to S150 a year.
Others are taken free. Officers : President, Hon.
Alden Speare; Vice-Presidents, Bishop R. S. Foster,
Rev. J. B. Gould ; Secretary, J. R. Prescott ; Treas-
urer, E. W. Gay ; Matron, Miss A. Thompson.

The Newtox Fanciers' Club. — In view of the fact
that Newton had a large number of breeders of thor-
oughbred poultry, and quite an interest had been devel-
oped throughout the city in regard to the same, some of
the most prominent breeders deemed it advisable to
form an association of those interested, and a meeting
of fanciers was called, which resulted in the formation
of the Newton Fanciers' Club, December 22, 188S.
The object of the club is to aid and encourage the
breeding of thoroughbred poultry by holding exhibi-
tions and furnishing such information as may be
deemed expedient. The first exhibition given by the
club was held in Armory Hall, Ward One, February
5, () and 7, 1S89, and was one of the largest held in
the East outside of Boston. Birds were shown from
several of the New England States and from New
York. Artificial incubation was carried on in the hall
during the exhibition. The attendance was excellent,
among the visitors being some of Newton's most prom-
inent citizens. The following are the officers of the
club elected at the time of organization : President,
W. R. Atherton ; Vice-presidents, John Lowell, Jr.,
F. A. Hondlette, E. T. Rice, C. B. Coffin ; Secretary,
Geo. Linder, .Jr.; Treasurer, W. W. Harrington.

QtJiNOBEQuiN Association'. — This asiociation has
a location at Newton Upper Falls. It was organized
in 1868 and incorporated in 1872, It is a literary as-
sociation, meeting once a month from October to
May, inclusive. It has seventy-five members and a
library of a miscellaneous character, numbering about
500 volumes. Its officers at the present time (1890)
are as follows: President, Frank Fanning; Vice-
president, H. A. Smith; Secretary, W. F. Bird;
Treasurer, John A. Gould, Jr.

Grand Ar.my of the Republic. — Charles Ward
Post, No. 62. — This post of the Grand Army was or-

ganized July 21, 1S68. The ten charter members
were Wm. B. Fowle, A. B. Underwood, Thos. P.
Haviland, J. Gushing Edmand<, Fred. S. Benson, All-
ston W. Whitney, Hosea Hyde, George S. Boyd, I.
F. Kingsburj' and Albert Plummer. Captain Wm. B.
Fowle was the firit commander. The post has been
quite active since its formation. The total number of
members borne on its rolls has been 33i, and those
now enrolled are about 150.

Tbe post was named for Sergeant-major Charles
Ward, of the Thirty-second Regiment Massachusetts
Volunteers, who was wounded at Gettysburg, Pa., July
2, 1863, and died there July 9th, being only twenty-one
years of age at the time of his death. His remains
were brought home and deposited in the Newton
Cemetery.

The amount expended for charity since the organi-
zation of the post lias been $9,592.22. Amount ex-
pended from the post fund, ^12,310.39. Total, S21,-
902.61.

A handsome lot in the beautiful Newton Cemetery
has been provided by the city and consecrated as a
"soldiers' lot.''

The present officers of the post are: Commander,
Samuel S. Whitney ; Senior Vice-commander, Charles
W. Sweetland ; .Junior Vice-commander, Seth A,
Ranlett ; Quartermaster, E. E. Stiles ; O. D., Samuel
A. Langley ; Chaplain, S. E. Morse; Surgeon, J. L.
Sears; O. G., Cbas. A. Twitchell ; Adjutant, E. Gott ;
S. M., Benj. Hopkins; Q. M. S., Joseph Owens; Sen-
tinel, Wm. J. Holmes.

Newtox Centre I.mprovemext Association. —
The people resident in Newton Centre have for
many years shown an active interest in the subject of
village improvement, for .as far back as 1852 there
was formed the Newton Centre Tree Club, having for
its object, as quoted from its constitution : " The orna-
menting of roads, lanes and public places, by plant-
ing trees and shrubs, and preserving those already in
existence, and the encouraging of land-holders to lay
out their roads in manner according with the general
convenience and taste." The main efforts of this
society seemed to have been directed to planting
trees, and in this work much good was accomplished ;
but its life was short, covering only a period of about
two and a half years.

Again in 1869 an executive committee of twenty-
four was appointed in a mass-meeting, who should
have "special charge of the local interests of the
village, particularly in regard to sewerage, gas,
water, police, railroad facilities and the development
of the natural advantages of the village." The
records of this committee's work have been lost and
we are not able to give in detail their labors, but one
most important object was attained at about thi?
time, and presumably largely through their influence
and with money raised by their efforts. When the
Mason School was built the town owned scarcely any
land on the east side, and the lower half of what is

NEWTON.

123

DOW known as the school-house lot was owned by
private parties and covered with a tenement-house,
blacksmith and wheelwright-shop. By private con-
tribution this land was purchased for the town and is
to-day one of the finest school-house lots in Massa-
chusetts.

In the fall of 1870, mainly through the efforts of
Mr. Edwin F. Waters, a public meeting was called
looking towards the organization of a society which
should take in hand those matters which are every-
body's business and therefore nobody's business. The
lirst meeting was held September 10, 1879, though
the final organization was not effected and constitu-
tion adopted till March 22, 1880. The first officers
were: President, Hon. ,Jobn Lowell; Vice-Presidents,
Edwin F. Waters, Wm. C. Strong ; Secretary, Lewis

E. ColHa ; Treasurer, Dvvight Chester; E.xecutive
Committee, including the above officers, E. M. Fowle,
Samuel M. Jackson, Rev. E. P. Gould. Hon. James

F. C. Hyde, E. B. Bowen, Rev. A. E. Lawrence, D.
B. ClaHin. Hon. John Lowell held the office of
president for two years, and in 1882 Rev. Amos E.
Lawrence was elected to the office and re-elected the
following year. In the years 1884, 1885, 1886 and
1887, Mr. William B. Young most etticiently guided
the Association as its leader, and for the two years
1888 and 1889, Mr. Dwight Chester held the highest
official position. At the annual meeting in April,
1890, Mr. J. R. Leeson was elected president for the
ensuing year.

The work of the Association has been much varied.
It has worked in harmony with the city official.^, of-
ten leading in an improvement which would not be
begun by the city, and always aiding in every public
improvement.

Trees have been planted every year, and in variety,
so that there is hardly a street in the village which
has not its one or both sidewalks lined with trees,
all vacant places having been filled by the Association.

The common, extending from the junction of Cy-
press and Centre Streets, nonh to Lyman .Street, cov-
ering three large pieces of ground, has been graded,
grassed and planted with trees and shrubs, and orna-
mented with flower-beds. All triangular pieces of
ground at the junctions of streets have been reclaimed
and are now kept as lawns. In one or two instances
land has even been purchased and improved at street
junctions, and the entire bank of the Sudbury River
Conduit from Centre to SummerStreet has been made
a beautiful grassy slope from a rough and unsightly
bank of earth. The Association was instrumental in
securing and contributed towards the improvement
on the lake front at Lake Avenue.

A feature of its labors has been provision for the
public entertainment during the winter, and it has
been a rallying centre around which all citizens have
gathered without distinction of clique or sect, thus
assisting largely towards that fraternity of spirit char-
acteristic of the village.

The celebration of the -1th of Juiy has for a num-
ber of years been undertaken through a special com-
mittee, funds being raised by subscription for the
purpose. It is not an incorporated body and for its
funds has been dependent on the annual membership
fee of $1 per member and such profits as have been
derived from entertainments under ils care. It has
never been in debt ; it has raised and expended over
S4400 and through its efforts the city haa expended
about the same amount in this ward on public im-
provements, besides much money that has been con-
tributed and spent through its efforts, not passing
through its hands.

The village long needed a public hall, and through
discussion at the annual meeting in 1886 steps were
taken by many of the citizens which resulted in the
purchase of the old Baptist meeting-house by a cor-
poration called the Xewton Centre Associates, who
removed the building to land which they had pur-
chased, refitted it for its present use and established
in the vestry a free public reading-room which is sup-
ported in part by the Associates and by the city.

At the annual meeting in 1881 a committee was ap-
pointed to see what could be done towards furnishing
the boys with a play-ground, for the play-ground
which had been on the Common for years could no
longer be used for that purpose. From time to time
various reports and suggestions were made and tem-
porary grounds provided, and at the annual meeting
in 1888 the following gentlemen were appointed a
committee to provide a permanent play-ground : —
Messr.". Hon. Robert R. Bishop, Alden Speare, Mel-
ien Bray, Edward H. Mason, Daniel B. Claflin, Ar-
thur C. Walworth, J. R. Leeson.

The committee have carried their labors over two
years, devoting, for a good portion of the time, one
evening each week to the purpose, and contributing
of their energy, business foresight, tact and money.
The result is the purchase of a tract of land from
Centre to Pleasant Streets, extending also north to
Homer Street, containing about twenty acre.", bought
from seven individuals, costing over §25,000. The
city of Newton gave SIO.OOO, and the balance, over
.$15,000, was contributed by the residents of Newton
Centre. The Improvement Association gave S1400
from its funds. It is the plan to lay out this land
with ample play ground facilities for boys and girls,
and the remainder for ornamental park purposes,
Hon. J. F. C. Hyde and Mr. J. R. Leeson having offer-
ed to contribute an extensive herbarium.

The re-location of Union Street, just accomplished,
and a new station on the Boston and Albany Rail-
road are results of the efforts of a special committee
appointed by the Association for the purpose.

All these things show what has been and may be
attained as the result of co-operation, and as year by
year passes, the power of the Newton Centre Im-
provement Association for all that tends to the public
welfare increases, and the fact that it endorses any

124

HISTORY OF xMIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

plan gives immediate and powerful impetus to the
movement.

Newton Prohibition League. — The League has
had an informal existence since the summer of 18S7,
but on the evening of February 11, 1888, at a meeting
held in the Police Court-room, West Newton, a con-
stitution aud by-laws was adopted, and the following-
named persons were chosen officers for the ensuing
year : — President, Myron L. Henry ; Secretary, G.
Lyman Snow; Treasurer, David B. Filts ; Execu-
tive Committee, Edwin F. Kimball, Henry A. Inman
and the officers of the League. The mottoes of the
League, adopted at that meeting, were : " Educate,
agitate, legislate." Terms to the Liquor Traffic: —
" Unconditional surrender: we propose to move im-
mediately upon your works."

The following have been some of the most promi-
nent and active members of the League: Hon.
Robert C. Pitman and William H. Partridge, of New- I
ton; Prof. Edwin F. Kimball, Dr. Levy Parker,'
Henry A. Inman and N. C. Pike, of West Newton ; i
James M. Gordon, Rev. W. R. Newhall, Myron L. ]
Henry, Frank F. Davidson, of Auburndale; Rev. W.
H. Cobb, James Cutler and Ruel W. Waters, of
Newton Centre.

The League has been instrumental in largely in-
creasing the interest in prohibition in Newton by
holding numerous public meetings, bringing into tlie
city such speakers as the Hon. John P.St. John, Mrs.
Mary Livermore, Volney B. Cashing, Rev. Thomas
Dixon, Jr., Hon. W. H. Earl, Rev. Dr. Gordon, Rev.
O. P. Gifford and Rev. Dr. Miner. Judge Pitman, of
Newton, has been among the most logical and con-
vincing of the speakers. The increased interest has I
been shown in the enlarged vote from 52, the largest j
vote previously recorded for a Presidential candidate,
to 212 votes cast for Gen. Clinton B. Fiskeatthe la.st
election.

The Every Saturday Club. — The Every Satur-
day Club, of Newtonville, was organized in 1870. Its
officers are a president, vice-president, secretary and
treasurer, and an executive committee. For enter-
tainments a special committee is appointed. Its
membership is strictly limited to forty ladies and
gentlemen. Among the members are clergymen,
lawyers, private and public school teachers, the sec-
retary of the State Board of Education, publishers
and business men. The meetings have been held of
late years every other Saturday night, in private par-
lors, from October to May. Its main object has been
literary work, and every member, both ladies and
gentlemen, is expected to contribute a paper each
season. These papers are read or talked by the
writers, and afterwards discussed. English literature,
from Chaucer down, has been considered ; also, in con-
nection with the special author, the history of the
times. Shakespeare has been studied for several
years. One year Hawthorne and Art alternated.
" Representative Americans " occupied one season ;

''Fireside Travel" another. Last season thirteen
representative novels were reviewed and discussed.
Next year " Medireval History," " Greek Literature "
and "Topics of the Day " will form the programme.
-V large siereopticon is owned by the club, and has
added much to the interest of many meetings.

The social features have been varied aud success-
ful. Club suppers, dinners, Dickens parties, a dis-
trict school, costume parties, the Peak Sisters, and
other social entertainments have been given. To
these many friends of the club have been invited.
Harmony has always prevailed in this organization,
and one might travel far to find a club which has sus-
tained for twenty years as well its work, membership
and individual character.

Masonic. — Balhouiic Lodge. — Chartered June 24,
1861. Its regular meetings are on the second Wed-
nesday of each month, at Masonic Hall, Newtonville.
Annual meeting in June. Officers for 1890 : John
W. Fisher, Master ; George P. Whitmore, Senior War-
den ; Robert Bennett, Junior Warden ; Edwin W. Gay,
Treasurer; E. E. Morgan, Secretary; G. W. Blodgetc,
Chaplain ; Elliott J. Hyde, Marshal ; George A. Glea-
son. Senior Deacon ; C. W.Brown, Junior Deacon; C.
A. Kellogg, Senior .Steward ; A. F. Winslow, Junior
Steward; H. E. Boothby, Inside Sentinel ; George H.
Brown, Organist; Alex. Chisholni, Tyler.

Newton lioyal Arch Chapter. — Chartered June 17,
1870. Regular meetings second Monday of each
month, at Masonic Hall, Newtonville. Officers for
1890: Dr. Wm. O. Hunf, E. H. P.; H. A. Thorn-
dike, E. King; George Breeden, E. Scribe ; G. D. Gil-
man, Chaplain ; D. E. Binney, Treasurer ; S. F. Chase,
Secretary ; A. L. Harvard, P. S. ; G. A. Gleason, R. A.
C. ; Jas. Pickens, M. of 3rd V. ; C. F. Mason, M. of
2nd V. ; John Glover, M. of 1st V. ; G. H. Brown,
Organist; Alex. Chisholni, Tyler.

Gethsemane Commandery, K. T. — Chartered May 20,
1872. Regular meetings third Tuesday in each month,
in Masonic Hall, Newtonville. Officers for 1890 :
Geo. T. Coppins, E. C. ; R. G. Brown, Gen. ; C. A.
Peck, Capt.-Gen. ; J. W. Fisher, Prelate; George
Breeden, S. W. ; A. Nott, J. W. ; F. K. Porter, Stand
Bearer; J. P. Browning, Sword Bearer; K.W.Hobart,
Warden ; Alex. Cliisholm, Armorer; Geo. E. Bridges,
Sentinel ; G. H. Brown, Organist.

Union Masonic Relief Association of Massachisetts. —
This association is located at Newtonville. It has
paid out in benefits since its organization $8.5,848.
Its membership now numbers about 500. Officers for
1890 : President, Luther E. Leiand, Newton Lower
Falls; Vice-President, Jesse H. Walker, Newton-
ville; Clerk, Joseph W. Grigg, Newtonville; Treas-
urer, Robert L. Davis, Watertown.

Independent Order OF Odd Fellows — Waban
Lodge, Xo. 156.— .Instituted April 19, 1871. Meets
every Thursday at Cole's Hall, Newton. Officers for
1890: N. G., Geo. A. Fewker; V. G., M. C. Rich ; R.
Sec'y, R. A. Oldreive ; P. Sec'y, Geo. H. Manley ;

NEWTON.

125

Treasurer, Geo. P. Rice; W., W. S. Rirg ; Cod., L.
Ashley; I. G., J. H. Robblee; O. G., E. Bown ; R.
S. to N. G., A. Nutting; L. S. to N. G., J. K. Rob-
blee; R. S. to V. G., F. Tainter ; L. S. to V. G., R.

Chapman ; R. S. S. ; L. S. 8. ; Chap., ;

P. G., W. Howes.

Home Lodge, No. 162.— Instituted April 3, 1873.
Meets Thursday evenings at Od i Fellows' Hall, New-
ton Highlands. Officers for 1890 : N. G., G. N. B.
Sherman ; V. G., R. Blair ; Sec'y, F. A. Watson ;
Treasurer, J. Wilds; W., J. Temperley : Con., B.
Stronic ; I. G., P. McKenzie ; 0. G.. A. R. Roath ; R.
S. to N. G., W. Bemis ; L. S. to N. G., J. S. Richard-
son ; R. S. to V. G., C. Gould ; L. S. to V. G., W.
Hockridge ; R. S. S., W. Estelie ; L. S. S., W. Skid-
more ; Chap., G. Loomer ; P. G., A. Muldoon.

Xewton Lodge, Xo. 92.— Instituted June 15, 1887.
Meets every Thur.^day at Knights of Honor Hall,
West Newton. Oificers for 1890 : N. G., Wm. E.
Brown; V. G., Wm. B. CoUagan ; Sec'y, Wm. E.
Glover; Treasurer, Geo. H. Baker; W., R. L.Wil-
liams ; Con., F. F. Patterson ; I. G., W. P. Scamman ;
O- G., J. L. Christie; R. S. to N. G., J. Anderson ;
L. S. to N. G., E. W. Bailey ; R. S. to V. G., H. E.
Johnson ; L. S. to V. G., W. B. Davis ; R. S. S., J. D.
Cooper ; L. S. S., C. M. Potter; Chap., C. W. Carter;
P. G., 0. S. W. Bailey ; Organi^^t, Geo. E. Trowbridge.
Garden Cil'j Enca-npment, Xo. 62.— Instituted in
1886. Meets first and third Mondays of each month, at
Cole's Hall, Newton. Officers for 1890 : C. P., C. E. A.
Ross; H. P., Geo. A. Fewker; S. W., M. C. Rich, J.
W., E. A. Dexter; R. S., M. Bunker; F. S., J. L.
Curtis ; Treasurer, Geo. 0. Brock ; G., F. H. Hobart ;
1st W., B. F. Barlow ; 2d W., E. A. Kennedy ; 3d
W., W. A. Prescott ; 4th W., Geo. W. Bush ; I. S., C.
O. Davis ; 0. S., G. S. Noden.

Royal AECA^"L■^t — Charming Council, Xo. 76. — In-
stituted April, 1878. Meets first and third Tuesdays
of each month at Arcanum Hall, Newton.

Triton Council, Xo. 547.— Instituted August, 1883.
Meets second and fourth Mondays of each month at
Knights of Honor Hall, West Newton.

Echo Bridge Council, Xo. 843.— Instituted June,
1884. Meetings first and third Wednesdays in each
month at Quinobequin Hall, Newton Upper Falls.

United Order of the Golden Cross.— Crescent
Commandery, Xo. 86. — Instituted January, 1880.
Meets fin-t and third Mondavs of each month at
Knights of Honor Hall, West Newton.

Order of the Iron- H.\ll — Branch Xo. 39?. — Or-
ganized September 28, 1886. Meets first and third
Tuesdays in each month at Cole's Hall, Newton.

Branch Xo. 395. — Meets first and third Tuesdays of
each month at Kuichtsof Honor Hall, West Newton.
Sisterhood Branch.— '^levts in We^t Newton.
Royal .Society" of Good Fellows — Xeuion As-
sembhj, Xo. 39. — Organized October 27, 1S86. Meetings
held first Wednesday evening of each month in
Knights of Honor Hall, West Newton.

Auburn Assembly, Xo. 142 — Meetings held in Au-
burn Hall, Auburndale.

Knights of Honor — Eliot Lodge, i\'b.638. — Insti-
tuted June 1, 1877. Meets first and third Mondays of
each month, at Masonic Hall, Newtonville.

Garden City Lodge, No. 1901.— Instituted in 1879.
Meets first and third Tuesdays in each month, at
Knights of Honor Hall, West Newton.

Crystal Lake Lodge, No. 2235.— Inttituted 1880.
Meets first and third Mondays in each month, in hall
corner Lincoln and Walnut Streets, Newton High-
lands.

Independent Order Good Templars— Zoya//y
Lodge, No. 154.— Instituted 1888. Meets every Wed-
nesday evening in Good Templars' Hall.

American Legion of Honor. — Newton Council,
No. 859, was instituted in 1882. It meets on the
second and fourth Tuesday evenings of each month,
at Knights of Honor Hall, West Newton.

Ancient Order United Wo^ikmen. — Newton
Lodge, No. 21, was organized May 9, 1884. It meets
on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month
at Cole's Hall, Newton.

Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters.
—St. Bernard Court, No. 44, was instituted in 1882.
It meets on the first and third Mondays of each month,
at Foresters' Hall, West Newton. Annual meeting
in December.

United Ordee of Pilgrim Fathers — Nonantum
Colony, No. 77.— Instituted December 15, 1886. ' Meet-
ings second and fourth Mondays of each month, at
Cole's Hall, Newton.

Wo.men's Christian Temperance Union.— Or-
ganized in September, 1878. Meetings held last Satur-
day of each month, in the Congregational chapel, Au-
burndale. President, Miss E. P. Gordon ; secretary.
Miss E. M. Strong.

Improved Order of Red Men — Nontmbega Tribe,
No. 76. — Meets in Cole's Hall, Newton, first and third
Tuesdays of each moon. Sachem, W. S. Slocum.

CHAPTER IX.
NE WTON—{ Continued).

MILITAKY" HISTORY' OF NEWTON.

(^Subsequent to 1S60).
BY ARTHUR C. WALWORTH.

The military history of a Massachusetts town sub-
sequent to 1860 necessarily has two parts, one relating
to the action of the authorities and people at home,
the other to the experiences and exploits of the vol-
unteers in the field. In the case of Newton we will
first relate the events that took place in the town —
for it was not then a city — at the beginning of the
war and during its prosecution.

126

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, .MASSACHUSETTS.

At the time in question there was no militia company
in Newton, nor had there been any for many years,
owing, perhaps, to the isolation of the separate vil-
lages and the absence of a centre of more dense
population ; but the citizens were no more lacking in
military spirit than those of the cities and towns
around them. Many of them were members of mili-
tary companies in Boston, such as the " Cadets," the
" Lancers," and the "Fusiliers," and it was the train-
ing received in this way that enabled Gen. Edmands
and Gen. Underwood to render such effective service
and obtain such rapid promotion.

The firing on Fort Sumter produced the same ex-
plosion of patriotism here as everywhere throughout
New England, and party ties were forgotten in the
common indignation against the South Carolina
rebellion and the attack upon our iiag.

Moved by the spirit of patriotism, the selectmen
issued their warrant for a town-meeting for the 29ih
of April, 18Gl,to see, as the warrant read, if the town
would appropriate money and make other provision
for the relief of families of volunteers, and if money
should be expended for the purchase of uniforms and
equipments for such companies as might be formed in i
the town.

James F. C. Hyde, aflerwarris first mayor of the
city, was moderator of this meeting, and patriotic
speeches were made by Hon. David H. Mason, ex-
Congressman J. Wiley Edmands, Andrew H. Ward,
Jr., and others, the last-named being a very promi-
nent Democrat, wiiose remarks were significant of the
loyalty of all parties to the old flag. Appropriate
resolutions were passed, ending with the sentiment
"The cause of this Union is our cause, and to its
.support, with a firm reliance on the protection of
Divine Providence, we pledge our lives, our fortunes
and our sacred honor."

And they not only made pledges, but they appro-
priated $20,000 and appointed a committee to obtain
arms, uniforms and underclothes for auch company
or companies as should be formed. A paper was
read, which had been received Irom representative
ladies of the several village?, in which the women of
the town volunteered to make up all the undergar-
ments necessary for the outfit of a military company.
The selectmen were also given authority to pay, if
advisable, S20 per month extra to volunteers in addi-
tion to the government pay.

A company was soon enrolled, organized and drilled, ■
but the Government, accepting Mr. Seward's view
of the short time necessary to crush the Rebellion,
would not accept any more troops, although repeated
efforts were made to have the company mustered in,
and on June 11, 18G1 the selectmen reported to that
effect, and that they bad expended about $12,000,
and asked for instruc ions. The time and money,
however, that was expended on this company was not
misspent, for in it many young men learned their
first lesson in military duty, and afterwards enlisted

in other companies, where they were able to take a
higher rank and be of more service than would have
been the case otherwise. The fact that has been
st.ited, that no military company was maintained in
Xewton before the war, placed the young men under
a disadvantage in respect to military training that
was partially remedied by this drill company. Others
of the young men joined Colonel Salinac's battalion
or the Massachusetts Rifle Club, of Boston, in which
good military instruction could be obtained.

In the record of every town-meeting we find the
patriotism of the citizens exercised in a watchful care
over the volunteers in the field and their families at
home. In 1SG2 the Government began to make calls
lor more troops, and the town fathers were prompt
and active in filling the quotas asked for. Thus on
November 4, 1862, $40,000 was appropriated to pay
bounties and expenses of holding meetings for recruit-
ing, $2000 for burying soldiers who died in the ser-
vice, .$3000 for relieving the extraordinary necessities
of residents of the town serving in the army, $2000 for
the relief of discharged and returned soldiers, $2000
for the recovery and burial of deceased soldiers, and
$1000 for the support of the families of men serving
in the navy.

In 18(52 Newton first realized the horrors of the war
in the death of William R. Benson, of Company I,
First Regiment Miissachu-<ett3 Voiunteers, who was
killed .It Williamsburg, Va., on May oth, ofthat year.
His body was brought from the field of battle and
buried with all the military honors in the Newton
Cemetery. A military escort, headed by a band
playing dirges, marched from Newton Corner to the
cemetery, bearing its sad burden through crowds of
sympathizing people, who, by this object-lesson,
began to learn than patriotism meant something more
than orations and enthusiasm.

Duritig the summer of 1862 two companies were
raised in Newton, one for three years' service — which
became Company K, Thirty-second Regiment — and
one for nine months. Company B, Forty-fourth Regi-
ment. The recruiting of these companies was chiefly
in charge of James F. C. Hyde, Thomas Rice, David
H. ilason and J. Wiley Edmands, they being, per-
haps, the four leading citizens of the town.

Rallies were held in each village, with music and
speeches, and one hundred and one names were soon
placed on the rolls of Company K, which was re-
cruited especially by E.S.Farnsworlh, of Newton ville,
afterwards captain and brevet-major, but then taking
the position of orderly sergeant.

Partly in consideration of the services of hia father,
J. Gushing Edmands was chosen captain, he afterwards
rising to the command of the regiment, and Ambrose
Bancroit and John F. Boyd, lieutenants. Major
Farnsworth's name was the first on the roll, Boyd's
second, John Doherty third, and the fourth recruit
was a Universalist minister. Rev. W. L. Gilman, who
was made a corporal and received his death-wound at

NEWTON.

127

Gettysburg. The recruits reported at the Lynnfield
camp, and went to the front August 20, 18t)2, where
those who were not disabled served through the war
in the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, Grif-
fin's Brigade.

On August 4, 1S62, President Lircoln issued a call
for 300,000 men to serve nine months, 19,000 of whom
were to be furnished by Massachusetts, with authority
to raise them by draft ; but Governor Andrew was con-
fident that they could be raised by voluntary enlist-
ment, and the event proved that he was right.

On the morning of August 5th a number of young
men decided that the time had arrived for them to
enter the military service of their county. Among
them were John M. Griswold and John A. Ksnrick,
who were among the first to enroll their names and
to undertake the recruiting of the company. The
first meeting was held at the town-hall, West Xew-
ton, the second at the hall at Newton Corner, which
was the old church altered over, standing where El-
iot Hall now stands. The full number of men was
soon raised and the recruits began their army life at
Readville, as Company B, Forty-fourth Eegiment,
under John M. Griswold, captain, and Frank H.
Forbes and John A. Kenrick, lieutenants. The reg-
iment left for the front October 23, 18(52, or about two
months after the three-years' compauy of the Thirty-
second.

The next important event in the home history of
the war was the erection and dedication of the sol-
diers' monument. The movement for the construc-
tion of this memorial, the first raised in New Eng-
land, was iuitiated soon after the return of Company
B, of the Forty-fourth, and on August 7, lSC-3, a com-
mittee of nine prominent citizens was chosen at a
public meetins and empowered to erect a .■■uitable
monument. This took the shape of an obelisk of
(■iuincy granite, resting on a die and plinth of the
same material, with an entablature at the base of
the mound surmounied by a cannon and bearing the
namei of fifty-nine heroes of Newton who laid down
their lives on the altar of their country. The monu-
ment was dedicated on July 23, 18(54, with appropri-
ate and solemn ceremonies in the open air, in the
presence of a large audience; the addresses and
poems delivered on this occasion were preserved in a
pamphlet printed by the town.

On these tablets will be preserved the names of
those who gave their lives for their country, but rec-
cords can never show nor history relate the etTorts
and sufferings and bereavement of those at home as
well as those in the army ; the sacrifices and anxietv of
the mothers and the young wives, who scanned the
liat of the killed and wounded after every battle,
thinking that they might read there the uame of
him who was dearest of all on earth to them. One
day, not long after the battle of Gettysburg, in one of
the churches four biers were placed side by side,
bearing the remains of four young soldiers of Newton,

whose shattered forms had been sought out and ten-
derly brought home to be buried by the side of their
kinsfolk. Loving words of eulogy and of consolation
were spoken by their pastors, fervent prayers were ut-
tered and the solemn services impressed thegrtat
audience in a manner that will never be forgotten.
One of these young men was Charles Ward. At a
public meeting at Newton Centre, called to promote
the recruiting of the first Newton three-years' com-
pany, he had come forward and pledged himself to fight
and to die, if such should be his lot, for his beloved
country. The names of five of his family were upon
the rolls of the Revolutionary army, and two of the
name are found in the list of those killed in battle dur-
ing the Rebellion. The picture in the Grand Army
quarters, at Newtonville, shows a handsome, slender
young soldier, with a delicate but bright and intelli-
gent face, for he was just out of school and fitted for
college.

At that meeting he arose in the assemblage and spoke
of his prospects and the hope he had of becoming a
minister of the Gospel of peace. "But," said he, " if
my country needs my services, I am willing, for her
sake, to make the sacrifice." In the battle of Gettys-
burg, Ward, then risen to the position of sergeant-
major of the Thirty-second Regiment, was shot
through the lungs. Colonel Stephenson, of the
Thirty-second, gives the following account of his
last hours : " Juat at night the attendants brought to
the place whete I wa.s lying a young soldier of
ray regiment, and laid him beside me. It was
Charles Ward, of Newton. I remembered him well
as one of the youngest of the regiment, one whose
purity of character and attention to duty had won
the esteem and love of all who knew him. The
attendants placed him in the tent, furnished us with
canteens of water, and left us for the night, for, alas !
there were thousands of wounded men to be cared
for, and but little time could be spared for any oue.
ily young companion had been wounded by a ball
passing through his lungs, and it was with diflSculty
he could breathe while lying down. To relieve him
I laid fiat on my back, putting up my knees, against
which he leaned in a sitting posture. All night long
we remained in this position, and a painful, weary
night it was. At intervals we would catch a few
moments of sleep; then, waking, wet our wounds with
water from the canteens, try to converse, and th«n
again to sleep. 6o we wore away the night, longing
for the light to come.

" No one came near us ; we heard far away the drop-
ping fire of musketry on the picket lines, the occa-
sional booming of the cannon and the groans wrung
from the lips of hundreds of wounded men around
us. My young friend knew that he must die; never
again to hear the familiar voices of home, never to
feel a mother's kiss, away from brothers, sisters and
friends ; yet, as we talked, he told me that he did not
regret for a moment the course he had taken in

128

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

enlisting in the War of the Union, but that he was
ready, willing to die, contented in the thought that
his life was given in the performance of his duty to
his country.

In 1868 a post of the Grand Army of the Republic
was organized in Newton, and adopted the name of
Charles Ward as that of a most distinguished and
heroic soldier of the town. This post has flourished
greatly, and now numbers 150 members, including
many well-known merchants and professional men.
The town was liberal from first to last in the treat-
ment of soldiers and their families. At various times
$113,000 was appropriated for this purpose in town-
meetings and aid was sent to many non-resident
families of soldiers who bad been enlisted in Newton's
quota in Washington and elsewhere. But besides
this, the citizens contributed thousands of dollars
through the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, be-
sides the barrels and boxes containing clothing,
hospital supplies and loving gifts sent by thrse who
remained at home to the boys in the field. On one
summer Sabbath day news was brought of the great
battle fought by Hooker in the Wilderness, and the
urgent need of hospital supplies. Services in the
churches were suspended, people went home to tear
up their old theets for bandages and to pull lint, so
that by nightfall the supply train starting out from
Boston took on at each station in Newton a great pile
of boxes and barrels filled with the desired supplies,
which were hurried to the field hospitals at the front
as fast as steam could carry them.

The whole number of men that Newton was called
upon to furnish under all the calls made by the State
in response to the demands from Washington was
1067, but the town actually furnished 1129, a surplus
of sixty-two, and these were all raised by volunteer-
ing except a few who at one time were drafted un-
necessarily, as it afterwards proved, but who cheerfully
accepted their lot and served faithfully in the Union
Array. Three hundred and twenty-three of the num-
ber above were mustered in for " three years or the
war." The town also furnished forty-three com-
missioned officers, including one brevet brigadier-
general and one brevet major-general.

The latter was Adin B. Underwood, colonel of the
Thirty-third Massachusetts Regiment, who distin-
guished himself especially at Lookout Mountains,
where, at night, with only seven companies, he
charged up an almost inaccessible hill, through
woods and underbrush, and carried the rebel in-
trenchments after two assaults with fixed bayonets,
and drove a brigade of Longstreet's men from the
hill. In this charge Col. Underwood was desper-
ately wounded in the hip, so that his life was des-
paired of and one leg crippled for life. Gen. Hooker,
in his otficial report, recommended him for immedi-
ate promotion to the command of a brigade, and his
advice was followed.
The following table shows the distribution of Newton

I men in the several regiments and batteries, and it will
I be seen tha*; there was hardly a regiment in the State
\ in which the old town w»s not represented. It will

beseen that Newton had a full company in the Thirty-
I second Regiment, one in the Forty-fourth and nearly

enough men for a company in the Fifth Cavalry, al-
\ though in that case they were distributed through the

several companies.

THREE VE\RS' TROOPS.

First Regiment, Ij men ; 2d, 2 men ; Ttli, 2 men ; 0th. 5 men ; lltli,
men ; 12tb, 4 njen ; l:Jth, 5 men ; 15tli, 2 men ; IGth, 17 men ; 17tli,-l
nmo ; 18tli, 2 men ; 2Uth, 5 men; 21ht, 1 miiD ; 22d, 3 men; '.mb, I'l
men; 2;?tb, 1 man ; 2'Jtll, 2 men ; ;iOth, 1 miiu ; 3l8t, ;j men ; o2ii, S utli-
cers, 27 lluti-commissiuned olHcerti and 7S men; ;i3d, 2 men; :;5tli, 2
men ; ;;8th, 2 men ; 54th, I man ; jjth, 1 man ; 07th, 2 men ; .*VJth, I
umu ; <il»t, 12 men ; 02d, 1 man.

t'auutry. — First Regiment, 20 men; 2d, G men ; 3d, 9 men ; 4tli, 7
men ; 0th, S2 men.

Aitillerij.— First Battery, 1 man; 0th, 1 man; IJth, 3 men; Ijtli, I
man ; IGth. 1 rniin.

Fir^t Heavy .Vnillery, 3 men ; 2d, 7 men ; 3d, 3 men.

NINE 3I0NT1IS' TROOPS.

oth Regiment, 1 man ; Gtli, 1 man ; 42d, I man; -i3d, 2 men ; 44Ih,
olllcerctuud lul men ; 40th, 28 men ; 47tll, 3 men ; 4btli, 1 man.

ONE lIl'NDllEn n.vVs' TROOPS.

.'itli Regiment, 3 men ; Gth, 4 men ; 8th, 1 man ; 42d, men ; Gnth, 2
men ; 22d L'liuttached Cunipauy, 2 men.

THREE MONTHS' VOLUNTEERS.

jtb Regiment, 2 men ; Reg. Army, 4iJ men ; Navy, 41 men.

RO!^TER OF NEWTON OFFICERS IN SIASSACIifSETTS REiilMENT.S.

Tlionias B. Uitchcoclf, a&>t. -surgeon, 42d Infantry.

Col. F. L. Lee, Capt. Jolin M. Griswold, Ut Lieut. F, II. Forbes, lat
Lieut. John .\. KeuricI,-, ail of 44th lufaiitry.

F. A. Dewson, quartermaster, Harri-non Gardner, lat lieutenant, and
I. H. Robinson, 2d lieutenant, of 40th Infantry.

Fdwurd W. ^'lark, chaplain, 47tb Ititautry,

Ut Lieut. L'has. D. Slack, 13tb Battery.

Major Andrew Washliurn, 1st Heavy .Vrtillery.

Major Henry T. I.awson, 2d Heavy .\rtiilery.

Major George H. Teague, Ist Cavalry.

2d Lieut. Jeremiah Dyson, 3d Cavall-y.

2d Lieut. George F. Scott, 0th Cavalry.

1st Lieut. Wm. B. Morrill, Uth Infantry.

Lieut. Col. T. iM. Bryan, Jr., .\33t. -surgeon .\. A. Kendall and 1st
Lieut. T. P. Haviland, all of I2th Infantry.

let Lieut. Henry S. Benson, 20th Infantry.

1st Lieuts. H. .\. Royce aud F. S. Benson, 22d Infantry.

.\sst. -Surgeon Cyrus 3. Mann, 31bt Inf.uitry.

32d Regiment Infantry as follows; Col. and Brevet Brig. -Gen. J.
Cusbing Kdmands, Capt. A. Bancroft, Capt. E. S. Farnaworfh, Cap. Geo.
A. Hall, Capt. I. F. Kingahury, 2d Lieuts. J. F. Boyd, Woi. F. Tufts,
Cbaa. E. Madden — to which should be added the lamented Chaa. Ward,
sergeant. major.

Brig -Gen. A. B. Underwood and Capt. Geo. M. Walker, 33d Infantry.

Capt. Jus. E. Cousins, 01th Infantry.

Surgeou Burt G. Wilder, 00th Infantry.

Capt. A. B. Ely, Aaat. Adj. Gen. L'. S. Voluntcera.

IN THE UNITED STATES NAVV.

.Acting Master? F. F. Baury, W. II. Garfield, Alfred Wnslihurn, Act-
ing Ensign Lowell U. Breck, Lieut. -Com. Jos. B. Breck, .Vast. -Surgeon
I. H. Uazelton, Paymaster 11. B. Wetherell, Jr.

In the event of another war, Newton will not be
without a company or without many young men of
military training, for about two years after the war an
excellent miliiia company was organized under the
command of Captain I. F. Kingsbury, who had been
adjutant of the Thirty-second Massachusetts, and

NEWTON.

129

numbering in its ranks other young men who had
been in the service. The company was named the
Clartin Guards, in honor of the then Governor of the
State, and became Company C of the First Regi-
ment il. V. M. At the time of the reorganization
of the militia it passed successfully the ordeal that
threw out so many companies, and became Company
C of the Fifth Infantry M. V. II., where it is keep-
ing up in good shape its own reputation and that of
the city, which has generously provided it with a
handsome armory, made by remodeling the old Uni-
tarian Church ou Washington Street, near Newton
Station.

The Newtox Me-s in the Field.— Up to the
summer of 1862, Newton men had enlisted in many
of the organizations that bad been sent to the front,
but there was no distinctive Newton company. The
drill-club that had been formed by the citizens had
tried in vain to get accepted by the Government, but
no more troops were wanted. It served its purpose,
however, in educating in military tactics many young
men wno aftewards enlisted, or were commissioned in
other commands. In the spring of 1862 the disasters
of the Shenandoah Valley, and the desperate resis-
tance of the rebels aroused the Government to the seri-
ousness of the situation, and ou May 25th news was
received that General Banks had been defeated, that
Stonewall Jackson menaced the Capital, and that af-
fairs at the front were getting desperate. With this
news came a frantic appeal from the War Department
to Goveyior Andrew for aid, giving him ample pow-
ers to raise troops, provide transportation and cut red
tape generally. There was at this time doing garrison
duty at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, an organization
known as the First Battalion of Massachusetts Infan-
try, commanded by Major Francis J. Parker, a New-
ton man. These troops had been on duty there for
six months, and liad become well drilled and thor-
oughly disciplined under the watchful eye of Colonel
T. E. Dimmock, an old army officer, who was the
commandant of the post.

No better troops could have been available for the
emergency, and the Governor, without a moment's
delay, sent for Major Parker, commissioned him lieu-
tenant-colonel and constituted his six companies the
Thirty- second Massachusetts Regiment — a corps that
was to obtain later a fighting record second to none
in the army, and that wai not mustered out until it
had been " in at the death " at Lee's surrender. It
was to tliis regiment that the Newton company that
fought through the war was attached, and the history
of the company and the regiment is one. The bad
news and the call for succor came on Sunday, and on
Monday, May 25, 1862, the regiment, then consisting
of six companies, marched through Boston, stacked
their smooth-bore muskets, received their rifles and
left for the front six hundred strong, the Governor
promising to raise four more companies to fill up the
regiment to the regulation number. The Newton
9-iii

company was the last of these and was not with the
regiment in its Peninsular campaign with McClellan,
during which the battalion of six companies obtained
an excellent record for both discipline and courage.

At this time a company had been enlisted in New-
ton, especially through the eflforts of the authorities
and of Hon. J. Wiley Edmands, whose son, J. Cushing
Edmands, was elected captain, afterwards rising to the
command of the regiment. Ambrose Bancroft was
commissioned as first lieutenant, and John F. Boyd,
second lieutenant, all on July 30, 1862. Both the
lieutenants ro^e to the rank of captain in 1864 and
1865. Ezra S. Farnsworth, who raised the company,
went out as orderly sergeant, and George A. Hall as
sergeant, the former coming home a brevet-major and
the latter a captain. Promotion was somewhat rapid
in this regiment becaiise so many officers were killed
in action. I<aac F. Kingsbury was commissioned
second lieutenant December 15, 1862, and rose to be
captain of the company. William F. Tuft and
Charles E. Madden were also second lieutenants in
1865. It was noticeable that very many of the fam-
ilies who first settled the town and had members in
the Revolutionary Army were also represented in this
company, for we find on the rolls the names of Ward,
Kingsbury, Hyde, Fuller, Jackson and Trowbridge,
some of them having three representatives. This
company, being the last recruited for the regiment,
was the letter "K." Companies H I and K were
assembled at the Lynnfield camp and were sent out
to join the regiment on August 20, 1862, under Cap-
tain Moulton, proceeding to New York by the Ston-
ington line and reaching Washington on the 22d.

At this time the movement to effect a junction be-
tween the armies of McClellan and Pope was in pro-
gress. The Thirty-second was with Pope, and the
battalion set out to find the regiment, marching first
to Alexandria; but as not even the commander-in-
chief knew where Pope jvas, it was no easy matter to
find the regiment. At length Porter's corps was
located, and the battalion joined the other seven com-
panies of the regiment on September 3d. Then
Lieut.-Col. Parker was promoted to be colonel, Capt.
G. L. Prescott to be lieutenant-colonel— he afterwards
was in command and was killed in action at Peters-
burg June 16, 1864"and Capt. L. Stephenson was raised
to the rank of Major. The Newton company was
soon in active service, for on September 12th, the regi-
ment took up its march with McClellan's army for the
Antietam campaign. In that battle the regiment,
contrary to its usual fortune, was not in the thick of
the fight, but at Fredericksburg, not long after. Com-
pany K received its baptism of fire, on December 13,
1862. The Thirty-second was in Griffin's division,
which was sent to the support of Sumner across the
new bridge of boats, through the town and halted in
a hollow, piled knapsacks and blankets and stripped
to fighting trim. Col. Parker describes the actual
fighting as follows :

130

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

"Our regiment rejoined the division, There, one behind the otiier nnd
cloue togetlier in the rHJIro^id cut, were three brigades waiting fur the
order to attack. We recall the terrific acce»eion to the roar of battle
with which the enemy welcomed eacli brigade before us as it left tlie
cover of the cut, and with which, at last, it welcomed us. We remem-
ber the rudh across that open field, where, in ten minutes, evt-ry
tenth man was killed or nounded and how, coming up with llie G2d
Penn. of our brigade, their amnninition exhausted and t'le meu lying
flat on the earth for protection, uur men, proudly disdaining cover,
stood every man erect, and, witli steady file-firing, kept the rebels dcwu
behind the cover of their stone wall, and held this position until night
fall ; and it was a pleasant consequence to this that the men of the gal-
lant 62d, who bud before been almost foes, were ever after our fast
frienda."

That night the regiment passed sleeping, if at all,
in the mud and literally on their arms ; the next
night the brigade was withdrawn into the town and
thence across the river the night after. In this battle
of Fredericksburg the Thirty-second lost thirly-flve
killed and wounded, including one captnin, Charles
A. Dearborn, Jr., but no Newton man was killed, al-
though Lucius F. Trowbridge died sixteen days
afterwards. The next spring the regiment was at
Chancellorsville, but lost only one killed and four
wounded. Soon after came Lee's invasion of Penn-
sylvania, and the Fifth Corps, to which the regiment
belonged, was moved northward on parallel lines to
iutercept him. It was on the afternot n of July 2d
that this corps became actively engaged, but a battle
like that at Gettysburg, or the part that the Xewton
company had in it, can only be well described by a
participant. The late S. C. Spaulding who was ser-
geant in the company, wrote for the Xeivton Journal a
graphic account of the tight as seen and participated
in by the men of Xewton, which we quote at length :

"At 4 A.M., after a hearty breakftist, we marched
again, reaching the vicinity of Gettysburg at 8 A..M.
Halting about two miles east of the town, we formed
in line of battle, our corps being held in reserve until
the arrival of the Si.xth Corps, to which had been as-
signed that place. Immediately on their arrival, we
were relieved at the rear and ordered to the front.
Our brigade advanced to the Ridge at the right of
Little Round Top, where we halted in line of battle.
From that elevated position we had a splendid bird's-
eye view of the rebel army, then massed on Seminary
Ridge. Our halt there was short. As the battle
waxed hot in our front, we were pushed forward to
support our troops engaged. We advanced into, and
nearly through a belt of woods, halting within sup-
porting distance of our single line of battle, which
extended along the edge of the open field in which
the battle raged.

" Our line of battle was formed in the woods, with
the ground descending to the opening in our front.
The enemy occupied the woods on the opposite side
of the field, and within easy musket range, and were
pouring a murderous fire into our troops ahead of us,
who, from their exposed position, were being terribly
cut up. It was evident that they could not long with-
stand the shock and must fall back ; therefore we were
ordered to uusling our knapsacks and prepare for the

worst. Scarcely had we resumed our places in line,
when the remnant of our line engaged fell back
through our ranks to the rear.

"Having now been brought face to face with the
enemy, we were ordered to kneel and fire that we
might be less exposed. We were ordered to load and
fire at will, and as rapidly as possible, and (if I may
judge by the storm of bullets that poured into our
ranks) I should say the enemy were faithfully exe-
cuting the same order.

"Icannot better portray our situation and the danger
to which we were exposed, than by giving a state-
ment of my own experience during the fev moments
we held that position. I was in the front rank, on
the right of our company. No sooner h?d we got
into line and commenced firing, than two comrades
next on my right were hit, — one in the body who w.is
mortally wounded, the other in the head and instant-
ly killed. The first comrade on my left was wounded
in the foot, and went to the rear, as did our first ser-
geant, with a wound in his side, who was hit directly
behind me (whiie standing I presume). A little
bush at my right and within my reach was repeatedly
hit with bullets, which clipped its leaves and twigs.
Twice was I forcibly reminded that somebody was mak-
ing good line shots, by bullets which struck directly in
front of me, and near enough to throw the dirt and
leaves into my face. Notwithstanding the excitement
of the conflict, the unmistakable evidences of the
danger to which I was expo.sed made me tremble, for
I expected every instant to be hit, and doubtless
should, had we remained there a little longer. But
just then we were ordered to change our position, and
as we withdrew I felt that I had a new lease of life.

" I think we could have held our ground against the
enemy in our front, but the removal of troops on our
right left our flank exposed to the enemy in that di-
recti'. n, who instantly took advantage of oursituation
and compelled us to fall back, which we did in good
order, bringing our dead and wounded with us. We
marched by the flank to the lelt a little way, then
forward through the woods to an opening, where
three regiments of our brigade, viz.: Fourth Michi-
gan, Sixty-second Pennsylvania and ours (the Ninth
Massachusetts being on picket), charged across the
field to the woods on the opposite side, where
we haired behind a stone wall, adjusted our line
and commenced firing at the enemy, who occu-
pied the woods in our front in large numbers. We
had fired but a few rounds when we discovered that
we were under fire from flank as well as front. Our
right having again been left exposed by a break in
our line, the enemy had turned our flank, and our
brigade was in danger of being annihilated or cap-
tured. The command was given to fall back, and, not-
withstanding the terrible fire we were subjected to,
our line was not broken, except as our ranks were
thinned by the bullets of the enemy who swarmed
upon our flank and rear, and the sharpest contest we

NEWTOX.

131

ever hail experienced ensued. Our rank?, which had i and of the Confederacy itself ; and it was Lieutenant-
already been fearfully decimated, now became broken | Colonel Cunningham, then in command, who re-
by the shock of the enemy upon our flank, and the j ceived the flag of truce sent by General Lee prepara-

handto-hand encounter of not a few of our number
with the enemy, who had gained our rear." Sergeant
Spaldiug, who wrote the above account, was pensioned
by a special act of Congress for the loss of a limb
caused indirectly by his service in the war.

At Gettysburg the Newton company lost in killed
and wounded just one-half the number that went into
action, while the regiment lost over one-third.

After Gettysburg the Fifth Corps followed the en-
emy southward, crossing the Potomac on July 17th,
to Warrenton, August 8th ; thence to Beverly Ford,
where the Thirty-second encamped five weeks iu a
beautiful forest of young pines, which enabled the
men to decorate their quartern with evergreen arches
at the heads of the company streets; Company K
putting up a Maltese cross (the corps badge) over its
entrance.

The regiment spent the winter of 1863-64 in quar-
ters at Liberty, near Bealton Station, on the Orange
and Alexandria Railroad, where the company was vis-
ited by the Hon. J. F. C. Hyde, who, as chairman of
the selectmen, had been devoting ail his energies for
the past two years to keeping the Xewton quota full,
and watching for opportunities to help the boys in
the field and take care of the families left at home.
During this winter most of the men of the Thirty-
second re-enlisted for a term of three years, in return
for which the regiment was allowed a furlough for
thirty days, and on Sunday, January 17, 1864, they
marched from the Old Colony Staliou to the State-
House, and thence to Faneuil Hall, receiving the
enthusiastic cheers of the great crowd of citizens who
lined the streets.

The next day an enthusiastic reception was given
by the towa of Xewton to Company K.

But the regiment was soon in the field again, and
on ilay 4. 1864, crossed the Rappahannock for the
fifteenth time. On May 5th it was in line of bat-
tle in the " Wilderness," and was under arms for
seventeen succesiive days and nights without respite,
and always in the front line. On June ISth it
charged the enemy in front of Petersburg, and it was
while leading the regiment in this charge that Colonel
Prescott was killed. On July 21st and September 1st
the regiment helped repulse the attack of the enemy
on the U'eldon Railroad. On September 30th Griflin's
brigade checked the enemy at Peeble's Farm as they
were driving in the Ninth Corps; it was in this en-
gagement that Major Edmands was wounded.

The next spring, in February, 1865, the Fifth Corps
was engaged in the final campaign of the war, east
and south of Richmond. On March 29th it was in
the battle of Gravelly Run ; the ne.\t day it was in
the skirmish line. On April 4th it was in the front
line of skirmishers at Five Forks, the day that proved
fatal to the last lingering hopes of Lee and his army.

tory to negotiations for the final surrender.

In the Wilderness Campaign, in May, 1864, the
battle of Laurel Hill, on May 12th, deserves especial
mention, as the loss of the regiment in proportion to
the number engaged was greater than in any other
battle it was ever in. As this battle merits a detailed
description, the following relation is quoted from
Col. Parker's "Story of the Thirty-second."

"That tnorntDK found us whpre we had been for two or three da ye,
io front of Laurel Uilt and distant hardly more than a quarter of a
mile from the woriiB of the enemy. At>out Dine o'clock a.m. we re-
ceived orders to attack the position of the enemy on Laurel Hill, and
tiie brigade, commanded by Col. Prescott, advanced witlj a rush across
the intervening apace. Ae the line of battle surted it overran tba
picket line, dashed down the little depression in their front, over the
next rise of ground, but at the foot of Laurel Hill the men, whose
momentum had carried them thus fur, faltered under the terrible fire and
laid down within a short distance of the enemy's Hue of works. Here Che
ground did not cover the left of the regiment, and while Lieut. -Col.
Stephenson ^in command), \vas trying to draw his left under shelter, be
saw that the regiment on his right bad broken and was falling back in
great disorder, and at once ordered the men to save themselves.

" The advance hod been disastrous, but as usual the retreat was far
more so. In the 32d, five bearers fell before the colors reached the old
position behind our works ; of the 190 men who advanced in the regi-
mental line 103 were killed or wounded, and from the time that they left
the works uutU the remnant bad returned, leas than tfair y minutes had
elapsed. Among the wounded were Lieutenants Lauriat, Hudson and
Furnsworth ; .\djutaDt L F. Kingsbury; Capt. Bancroft (the three
latter being Xewton men), and Captain Hamilton, the latter fatally."

In the final campaign before Richmond, in the
absence of Col. Edmands, disabled by sickness, and
Major Shepard, prisoner of war, the regiment was
under the command of Lieut-Col. Cunningham, (after-
wards Adjutant General of Massachusetts), Capt. Ban-
croft acting as major and Capt. I. F. Kingsbury as
adjutant. At the end of the war Cunningham was
breveted Brigadier-general, and was afterwards Ad-
jutant-General of Massachusetts, while Kingsbury
was appointed assistant adjutant-general with the
rank of lieutenant-colonel.

The Sixteenth Massachusetts Infantry deserves no-
tice as containing, next to the Thirty-second and
Forty-fourth, the largest number of Newton men.
This regiment went to the front August 17, 1861, and
remained there three years. Its flags bear the names
of sixteen battles, and after the battle of Glendale,
Gen. Hooker wrote to Gov. Andrew : "There is no
doubt but at Glendale the Sixteenth Massachusetts
saved the army." The Twenty-fourth regiment, with
fifteen Newton men, had a parallel record, and at the
end of three years the men almost universally re-
enlisted, and fought through the war.

The raising of a nine months' company in the sum-
mer of 1862 has been referred to. This company
joined the Forty-fourth Regiment at Readville, the re-
cruiting camp near Dedham. This regiment was
formed from the old " New England Guards," then
the Fourth Battalion, M. V. M.,as a nucleus, and was
composed of a very intelligent class of men, mainly

132

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

clerks ^nd student?, one company being made up in
part of Harvard College men. The average age of
the regiment was only twenty-two years, seven
months, while the Newton Company, B, was theoldest,
having an average age of twenty-four years, seven
months. This company also had in its ranksagreater
variety of trades and professions than any other com-
pany, and could detail an expert for almost any special
duty. This preliminary encampment, says the sur-
geon of the regiment, was for a time a sort of picnic,
at which daily drill was relieved by moonlight prom-
enades to the strains of the Boston Brass Band. The
severity of commissary diet was tempered by an
abundant overflow from home tables. Nothing was
too good for the "flower of the youth of Boston," and
they fared sumptuously every day. Contractors'
shoddy was rejected for custom-made uniforms, and
boots made to order took the place of army shoes.

On October 22, 1S62, Company B, with the rest of
the regiment, packed its kna|. sacks for the last time
in that camp, and "fell in" to march to the station,
where they were honored with a salute by the "Cadet
Regiment,' the Forty-dfth, drawn up to receive them.
In Boston they had a reception on the Common, then
marched to the wharf, where they embarked on the
steamers "Mississippi" and Merrimac" for North
Carolina. The voyage was a compound of the aver-
age amount of fun and misery usually found on a
transport ship, and on October 2lJih ihey landed at
Beaufort Harbor, N. C, whence they were transported
to New Berne, forty miles away, on platform-cars in a
pouring rain. Here the regiment went into barracks
and was placed in General Thomas G. Stevenson's
brigade, Wessells' division. Eighteenth Army Corps,
Major General J. G. Foster commanding. Foster and
Wessells were West Pointer.-*, while Steveason was a
former commander of the Fourth Battalion, Massa-
chusetts Militia.

Only three days after their arrival the regiment
was put in actual service and embarked on steamers for
Little Washington, N. C, where they remained until
November 2d, when the brigade marched forTarboro'.
Wheu within a few miles of Williamstown the ad-
vance was fired into and the troops were formed for
action. Companies H and C being sent forward as
skirmishers; as these were fording a creek known as
Little Creek, they were fired into by a large force of
the enemy concealed in the woods only a few yards
away, killing one man and wounding seven. The
rest of the brigade was brought up, the woods shelled
and the enemy driven back to Rawle's Mill, about a
mile beyond, where they made another stand. Here
the Forty-fourth lost several more men, but the enemy
finally fell back, burning the bridge as they went. So
this regiment, that left camp at Readville only on
October 22d, was in action in Noith Carolina on No-
vember 2d, eleven days afterwards. The forced
march was continued nearly as far as Tarboro', which
was found to be strongly reinforced; the men were

fatigued, footsore and broken by the continuous
marching, lack of rest and sufficient food. AW that
day, Thursday, after a lively skirmish in '.he morning
the boys marched through mud, rain and snow back
to Hamilton, many falling out through exhaustion ;
on Friday they marched through an inch of snow to
Williamstown. On Sunday they marched twenty two
miles down the river to Plymouth. Here they em-
harked on November lltb, aud in two days more
were back in their old quarters at New Berne.

This two weeks' campaign was a rough initiation
for the Newton boys, accustomed to fine roads and
soft beds, but they suffered less proportionately than
some of the other regiments, the youth of the men
proving more elastic in recovery from the effects of
hardship and privations, and the lung marches at
Readville, which at the time seemed so unnecessary,
had done much to toughen and prepare them for cam-
paigning in the field.

Thus was accomplished the first expedition of actual
service, whose object was to destroy the Rebel ram
" .\lbemarle," then constructing at Tarboro', to save
Plymouth from capture, and if possible to circumvent
the force gathered for that purpose ; and if it was not
entirely succe.-slul it was useful in inuring the men to
hardship and accustoming them to the presence and
fire of the enemy. The regiments who were with the
Forty- fourth on this march were the Fifth Rhode Is-
land, Tenth Connecticut and Twenty-fourth Massa-
chusetls.

After this the regiment was besieged at Little
Washington by overwhelming numbers of the enemy,
but held the post bravely uniil reinforced by an ade-
quate ♦brce; but as the Newton company was at that
time detailed on picket, the story of the i-iege does not
properly come within the scope of this narrative.

The following description of the picket duty of the
Newton company at Batchelder's Creek was written
for the regimental history by Charles C. Soule, the
lieutenant of the company, and gives the pleasant
side of a soldier's life:

" On Monday, March 2, 18G3, Companies B and F,
under the command of Captain Storrow, were taken
three miles up the railroad and relieved two compan-
ies of the Fifty-first Massachusetts on picket. On
the Sixth the battalion marched three milts faither
out and went into camp in the pine woods near Batch-
eldei's Creek. Former occupants of the post bad
nearly finished eight log huts in the thick woods.
These were not utilized as quarters for the battalion,
but around them as a centre smaller huts were con-
structed, roofed in by shelter trees, littered with straw,
warmed by brick fire-places, and rendered homelike
by conveniences and ornaments. These occupied three
sides while the wall tects of the officers filled the
fourth side. In the centre of the camp was erected a.
double-masted flag-pole topped with a weather-vane
and bearing on its cross-trees the legend ' Camp Lee,
March G, 1SG3.'

NEWTON.

133

" The two companies remained in this camp for two
months, enjoying the brightest and pleasantest part
of a soldier's life. There wa« a good deal of uight
work, but not enough to wear the men out. The
open-air life in the pine woods was so invigorating
that there was very little sickness in the detachment.
There was enough of excitement, a sufficient con-
sciousness of the proximity of the enemy to give a
zest to the routine of duty. The se.ison of the year
was a delightful one. As the spring advanced, violets,
anemones, honeysuckle and the fragrant jessamine
blossomed thickly among the lanes and roads. The
woods were full of rabbits, 'possums and 'coons
(which the men were successful in trapping), with
traces now and then of a prowling fox. The creek
was full of fish, — herring, horn-pout, and robin or
red-fin (bream), — for which we angled with hooks
baited with worms or soaked hard-tack. With this
plenitude of game came a disagreeable accompani-
ment in the profusion of snakes, — black snakes, four
or five feet long; moccasins as large as a child's arm,
and 'copperheads, even more venomous than their
namesakes in the North.' The chief duty to be per-
formed was the picketing of the line of Batchelder's
Creek. The details were quite as much as two com-
panies could perform, and brought each man on duty
about every other day.

"Ano'her and favorite duty was the scouting by land
and water. When the companies first occupied the
picket posts there were no boats of any kind to be
found. A vigorous search was instituted along the
banks of the creek, and several canoes and flat-boats
were found concealed in the dense cane-brakes. These
were brought to the Washington Road and repaired,
and every few days a scouting company was sent down
the creek and up the river on a reconnoisance. The
' Reba ' were rarely seen; and th5 principal result of
these expeditions was the collection of a number of
useful articles of camp equipage from the deserted huts
and houses along the creek." .\t the last of April
Company F took part in the " Green Swamp Expedi-
tion," but the Newton company was not in it, and
missed a lot tif terrihiy hard marching and skirmish-
ing in reeking swamps deluged with pouring rains.
On May 2J the two companies were relieved by two
of the Forty-sixth Massachusetts, and were marched
back to the barracks at New Berne. During May and
June the Newton men, with the rest of the regiment,
were engaged in doing provost duty in that city.

As the regiment had arrived in a rain-storm, it left
in another, on June otli, Co. B being the left wing,
under Capt. Storrow, on the steamboat '■ George Pea-
body." On June 'Jth the steamer ran along the
eastern shore of Cipe Cod and just before sunset
<lropped anchor in Boston Harbor. How glad the
Newton boys must have been to see the dome of the
State-House once more — that dome that they could see
from their own homes. That night the steamer
anchored near Fort Independence, waiting for the

other wing of the regiment. The next day the boys
on landing were met by several companies of reserves
and home guards, with Gilmore'a Band, and escorted
to the Common. Then the regiment was furloughed
until the final mustering out at Reedville. The New-
ton company waa the only distinctively local one
in the regiment, and shortly after the muster out the
citizens of the town gave them a rousing reception at
Newton Corner. The stores were closed, schools dis-
missed and the whole town put on a holiday aspect.
Mr. Otis Edmands was chief marshal and Hon. J.
Wiley Edmands (whose son, Thomas S., was a member
of the company) presided. Appropriate speeches of
welcome were made and festivities were concluded
with a banquet in the old Eliot.Hall.

This forty-fourth Regiment waa not called a "fighting
regiment," as fate had not ordered that it should be
plunged into the desperate battles of theArmy of the
Potomac ; but it must be remembered that it was often
compelled to endure hardships equal to any inflicted
on any of the army, and that it lost in killed and
by disease twenty-sis men in nine months, thirty-two
wounded, sixty-five disabled and twenty-five on the
invalid guard, besides three men taken prisoners. It
must also be remembered that 173 men went back into
the army, seventy-nine of them as commissioned otH-
cers, twenty-nine of the number giving their lives to
their country.

In compiling the above record the facts and figures
have been drawn in part from Dr. S. F. Smith's
" History of Newton," in which the muster-rolls are
given in full; from Ccl. Francis J. Parker's "Story
of the 32d," and from the '' Record of the 44lh,'' by
the Regimental Association.

CHAPTER X.

^E WTOX—l Cunlinned).

MEDICAL HISTORY.

BV JESSE P. FRISBIE, .U.D.

Arraxgejiexts were originally made for the prep-
aration of this article with Dr. Henry M. Field.
Failing health finally compelled him to abandon the
task, and the writer accepted the responsibility of
preparing this chapter when only a few weeks were
left before the manuscript must be in the hands of the
printer. Consequently it must (}f necessity be frag-
mentary and imperfect.

Six months would have been none too mach time
for a thorough search and investigation among old
records and of the " oldest inhabitants." Of the
nearly 100 written letters and lists of questions sent
out, there has been no reply to many. Doubtless in-
vestiga ions are being prcsecuted and replies will

134

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

come containing much valuable historical material,
but too late for insertion in this work.

Appended is a list of the names of physicians who,
at some time, have lived in Newton, but of whom
there is no tangible record, as want of time and op-
portunity preclude the necessary investigation into
their past history. What few facts could be obtained
in the limited time are given.

Ebenezer Stake, M.D., son of Dr. Josiab Starr,
of Weston, Mass., was born in Weston, August 24,
1768, and died in Neivton Lower Falls August 24,
1830.

He was educated at Harvard College ; studied med-
icine with Dr. Spring, of Watertown, and graduated
from Harvard Medical College in 1789.

He settled in Newton Lower Falls in the year 1790.
He was a prominent man there and bad an exten-
sive practice. He was honored with a seat in the
House of Reiyesentatives for three years — 1815-16-17.
He served on a committee to prepare rules and regu-
lations for the schools of Newton. September 19,
1808, Dr. Starr, with others, was appointed on a
committee, in town meeting called for the purpose,
to draw up a remonstrance against the embargo
placed on our commerce and proclaimed in the De-
cember preceding.

He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and
was Master of his lodge.

Prior to 1824 Dr. Starr was the principal physician
at the Upper Falls. Like many men, the doctor had
his peculiarities, and would be very apt to make some
remark in the sick-room that would have a tendency
to divert the minds of his patients from themselves
and give them greater hopes of speedy recovery. Up-
on one occasion, when called to see a sick woman, who
was very tall in stature — some six feet two or more
inches— he found her standing, and proceeded with
his usual methods for a diagnosis of the case, until he
desired to see her tongue. Then he remarked, ■' If I
had a ladder I would go up and see it."

This remark turned the scale of the patient's
slight illness at once into recovery, and a second visit
was unnecessary.

Dr. Starr married Miss Lydia Ware, daughter of
John H. Ware, January 22, 1794.

At his decease he left three sons and two daugh-
ters.

Samitel Clarke, M.D., son of Samuel Clarke,
v/aa born in Boston, 1779. He was in the Latin
School, Boston, in 1790, and afterwards in a store
with an importer of British goods. Subsequently he
became a partner in the firm.

In 1810 he went to Hanover, New Hampshire, and
studied medicine with Professor Nathan Smith, of
Dartmouth College; and there his son. Rev. James
Freeman Clarke, D.D., was born. In 1811 he re-
turned to Newtou to practice medicine. In 1816 he
went to Boston and continued to practice there, and
conducted a drug-store at the corner of School and

Washington Streets till the year 1829. Then he re-
turned to Newton and built a chemical factory. He
died of fever in Newton November 30, 1830. He
married Rebecca Parker Hull, daughter of General
William Hull, of Newton. He left at his decease a
widow, five sons and one daughter. His widow died
in Boston May 25, 1865.

Dr. John King was a self-taught physician and
successor of Dr. John Cotton. His parentage is not
known. He died March 20, 1807. He married Miss
Sarah Wiswall, daughter of Captain Noah Wiswall.
After her death -he married Miss Elizabeth Cookson,
April, 1799. He was a modest and unassuming
man, but able, energetic and one that could be de-
pended upon. " For many years he was moder.itor
of town-meetings; selectman; one of the Committee
of Correspondence in 1774, and to prepare instruc-
tions for their Representatives ; on various commit-
tees during the war and after; was a delegate to the
convention (1779) to form a Constitution for Mass. ;
was at the battle of Lexington, and one of the sol-
diers from Newton to guard Burgoyne's army, in the
fall of 1778. He was Representative in 1792, etc."

He was evidently a valuable man for the times, and
was freely called upon by his towns-people to do ser-
vice in their behalf. However much his professional
services were appreciated, his public duties must
have occupied a large share of his time.

Dr. Bowen Parker was born in the town of Pem-
broke, now South Hanson, Mass., in the year ISOO,
and came to Newton to practice medicine in 1824 or
'25, and remained here about two years, and then re-
moved to South Hanson, where he continued to prac-
tice until he died, Nov. 22, 1874. He was a promis-
ing young man when in Newton, and interested
himself in the progressive work of this vicinity. He
was a member of Newton's first temperance society.

Simeon Burt Carpenter, M.D., son of Dr.
William Bullock Carpenter, was born June 5, 1801,
in Freetown, Bristol County, Mass. He died July 24,
1843, in Dedham, Mass., leaving a wife and three
daughters.

He was fitted for college by the Rev. Mr. Andros,
of Berkley, the author of "The Old Jersey Captive."
He graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.
I., September, 1827. " He was old in college because
his father opposed his going till he was o'd enough
to act for himself." He took the degrees of A.B. and
M.D. at Harvard University in 1830. Soon after
the death of Dr. Starr, of Newton Lower Falls, he
was called to fill his place. He set'.led there in the
year 1830. He married Angeline Louisa, youngest
daughter of .^rtemas Murdock, of Newton, on May
17, 1835.

He removed to Dedham and settled there, making
it his home till bis death.

Dr. Carpenter was a busy and useful man, highly
respected and beloved in Newton and Dedham. He
was a public-spirited man and interested himself in

NEWTON.

135

the important questions of the day. ,He was one of,
the first to form a temperance society in Newton, \
which did a good work. He was an anti-slavery man
from the time Garrison was mobbed. He lectured
in Newton and Dedham on medical and other sub-
jects. So able a man was he considered, he was in-
vited to edit an anti-slavery paper; but that he felt
obliged to decline, as he could not spare the time from
his professional work, and Mr. Edmund Quinsy was
selected in his place.

He was interested in education, and served on the
School Committee in Newton for some time. He was
one of the directors of the Savings Bank in Dedham,
and held other offices. He died at the age of forty-
two, as his widow writes, "just as he began to reap."
He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical So-
ciety.

Stephen Hodgman Sp.^lding, son of Joseph
Spalding, was born in Chelms-ford, Mass., August 4^
1787. He died in South Natick, July, 1866. He
commenced his medical studies under the tuition of
a Dr. Wyraan, at that time a practicing physician in
Chelmsford. He attended two courses of lectures in
Boston, and graduated after studying three years at
the Harvard Medical School.

He commenced practice in Littleton, Mass , re-
mained a few years, then removed to Dublin, New
Hampshire, where he secured an excellent and lucra-
tive practice. After a few years he found that the se-
verity of the winters, and the almost impassable state
of the roads — being obliged to travel with snow-
shoes without any regard to boundary lines or fences
— was telling upon his health, and this decided him
to accept an invita'ion to settle in South Natick,
Mass., where .Tgain he succeeded in building up an
extensive practice.

In about 1841 he removed to Newton Upper Falls,
and associated himself with his son-in-law, Dr. Sam-
uel S. Whitney, who had married his only child, Sarah
W. Spalding, in general practice. In 1843 his house
and stable were burned. He then settled in Reading,
Mass., and continued in practice there for several
years. Later in life, after an active practice of thirty
years, he retired, and removing back to South Natick,
made that his home till he died. In his last years he
was a great sufferer from dise.ise. He was a member
of the Unitarian Church and Parish of South Natick,
and the large number at his funeral attested the re-
spect and esteem of his towns-people.

S.\.MtJEL Stillvax Whit.n-f.y, M.D., SOU of George
Whitney, was born at Natick, Mas-"., January 6, 1815.
He died June 30, lSo.5, leaving a wife and several
children, one of whom, Stillman .Spalding Whitney,
born August 11, 1849, became a physican and died at
Allston, Mass., November 7, 1886.

Dr. Whitney fitted for college at Leicester, Mass.,
and entered Harvard College at the age of fourteen.
After remaining a year at Cambridge, he removed to
Amherst, Mass., to complete his collegiate course in

Amherst College. Toward the close of it, however, a
long sickness having intervened to prevent his grad-
uating with his cliiss, he decided not to take a de-
gree.

Soon after he entered the office of Dr. S. H. Spald-
ing, then practicing in Natick, Mass. The next year
he entered the office of Dr. John D. Fisher, of Boston,
and continued his medical studies there. The last six
months of his studentship he passed in the City In-
stitutions at South Boston. He graduated at Harvard
Medical College in 1838. Immediately after the
death of Dr. Alfred Hosmer, at Newton Upper Falls,
he settled in that place, and, from his ene.'gy and su-
perior ability, rapidly won the esteem and confidence
of the community, and a large and widely-extended
practice. Within a year of his settlement there, he
married Misj Sarah W. Spalding, only child of his
first teacher in the study of medicine.

Dr. Whitney remained at Newton Upper Falls six
years, and then removed to Dedham, Mass., in 1844,
having been invited to go there by the citizens of the
town. He was an early and enthusiastic follower of
Laennec, and in the early years of his practice he wrote
a paper on " Auscultation and Percussion," which
was printed in the American Journal of the Medical
Sciences. It was considered of so much value, it was
reprinted in the British Medical Journal.

He was one of the first operators in this country
for strabismus. He successfully attempted staphy-
lorraphy. He performed this operation successfully
many times ; once on a gentleman from Canada, who
had been operated upon unsuccessfully by the cele-
brated Diffenback. He p'erformed a series of opera-
tions for the surgical relief of epilepsy.

Before permanently locating in Dedham he went to
Europe and spent a year in travel and study at the
leading medical centres, especially following Laennec,
Velpeau, Andral and Piorry. On leaving Paris,
Piorry presented him with his own long-used plessi-
metre as a parting gift, of which he was always very
proud, although in general practice he much pre-
ferred his own phalangeal bones. His delicacy,
quickness and acuteness of ear rendered him very ex-
pert in his favorite field of auscultation and per-
cussion.

He was a skillful surgeon, successful in all the
larger operations and especially in arts of modem
surgery for the cure of congenital or accidental de-
formities.

In the autumn of 1818 he was attacked with
diarrhrea — a sub-acute enteritis — from which and its
eU'ects he never fully recovered. He was sometimes
relieved by a sea voyage or a short residence in a
warmer climate. In 1853 he began to feel a numb-
ness in his lower limbs, which increased till paralysis
ensued. A few months later, with a medical attendant,
he sailed for Havana. There, while standing on
the capstan of the vessel, he' was seized with para-
plegia. He returned to New York, was placed on the

136

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Fall River boat in a helpless condition, and, in the
care of a son of Secretary William Seward, was con-
veyed to his home and died, peacefully and resigned
at the age of forty years.

Many interesting anecdotes are related of Dr.
Whitney, illustrating the precocity and wonderful
mental powers that he possessed. It is related that
before he was fifteen years old he taught school, and
in the morning reading in the Bible he would follow
the pupils in Hebrew and correct them when in error.

Samuel Warren, M.D., son of Nathan Warren,
was born in Weston, Mass., April 23, 1802. His
early education was obtained in Framingham, Mass.,
and at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., 1819
-22. He entered Yale College in 1822 and re-
mained there for two years, then went to the Harvard
Medical School and graduated in 1827. He was a
deacon in the West Newton Congregational Church.
He was a biblical student and some of his writings
were published in the Bibllotheca Sacra. '

Dr. Warren was interested in horticulture, and his
botanical studies took a wide range. At one time he
was at the head of an academy in West Newton.
For several years he practiced medicine in West
Newton, where he held valuable real estate.

Dr. Warren was a modest man with a retiring dis-
position, without worldly ambition, but was greatly
respected and beloved by his neighbors and towns-
people. The estimation in which he was held was
shown at his funeral, when the entire church was
filled by those who wished by their presence to testify
their appreciation of him.

He married Miss Ann Catherine Reed, of Charles-
town, Massachusetts, August 25, 1829. He died Oc-
tober 25, 1S67, leaving a widow and one son. Professor
S. E. Warren.

Alfred Hosmer, M.D., son of Jonas Hosmer, was
born in Walpole, New Hampshire, November?, 1802.
He died at Newton Upper Falls, November 27, 1837,
very suddenly, of disease of the heart, the result of
rheumatism in early life. He was a brother of Hirara
Hosmer, the well-known physician of Watertown.
He married Miss Mary Ann Grahame, in December,
1831. At his decease he left a wife, two sons and one
daughter, who died early in life. One of his sons, Dr.
Alfred Hosmer, a prominent physician, is living in
Watertown, Massachusetts.

His early education was obtained in Alstead, New
Hampshire. He graduated at the Harvard Medical
College in 1828. He located first in Marlboro', Mas-
sachusetts. In the autumn of 1829 he went to New-
ton Upper Falls, where he practiced till his death.

Dr. Hosmer seldom rode in a carriage, almost in-
variably on horseback. His horse was saddled and
at the door when he dropped dead. He was a skillful
physician and highly estemed, not only by the citi-
zens of the town, but throughout a wide region.

Edward Warren, M.D., son of Professor John
Wirren, M.D., was born in Boston, December, 1804,

and died in Boston, 1878. He was a brother of the
celebrated Dr. John C. Warren, of Boston.

He graduated at Harvard C^iUfge in 1829. He was
a member of JIassachusetts 3Iedical Society — at one
time a councilor; Boston Society of Natural History,
&c. Twice he visited Europe, and traveled quite ex-
tensively there.

He wrote the life of Dr. John Collins Warren,
which was published in 1859; and the life of Dr.
John Warren, which was published in 1874. He
commenced practice in Boston after his graduation,
but soon removed to Newton, where he resided from
1840 to 1857.

He was eminent as a general practitioner and a
skillful surgeon. As a diagnostician he was not ex-
celled. The most obscure case seemed to open clearly
before his acute investigation. His rapidity in arriv-
ing at a correct diagnosis sometimes seemed like intu-
ition, when, in fact, it was the result of clear insight
and rapid generalizations. He suffered from an im-
pediment of speech, which was aggravated by over-
fatigue from his practice.

He was an excellent physician, and called widely
in consultation. He was greatly interested in horti-
culture and floriculture. He was also a devoted
churchman, liberal in his gifts to the Episcopal
Church at Newton's Lower Falls.

In 1835 he married Caroline Rebecca Ware, daugh-
ter of Professor Henry Ware, of Cambridge, Mas, -
chusetts.

David H. Gregg, M.D., was a prominent physi-
cian in Newton, between 1820 and 1840. He took an
active part in the temperance work of his day. He
delivered an address upon the " Evils of Intemper-
ance," before the Newton Temperance Society, July
4, 1828, in which he said, " To promote virtue and to
prevent vice — to augment human happiness and to
dry up the sources of human wretchedness and want
and woe — are the ultimate ends for which this society
now assembled has been instituted.''

Joel Brown, M.D., son of John Brown, was born
in Bradford, N. H., October 22, 1812. He died in
West Newton, Mass., March 19, 1865, leaving a
widow, who still survives him. His youth was spent
on a farm. He wa.s educated at the academy in
Hopkinton, the Kimball Union .\cademy, located at
Meriden, N. H.; and entered Dartmouth College,
Hanover, N. H., from which he graduated in 1841.
He taught school successfully in several towns and
also in Boston previous to and alter his graduation.

President Lord, of Dartmouth College, in a recom-
mendation of him, said: "He is a — t of unblem-
ished character."

While in college he decided to make the practice
of medicine his profession. He entered the Harvard
Medical School and afterwards graduated from Dart-
mouth Medical College.

While attending lectures at the Harvard Medical
School he ascertained there was another Joel Brown,

NEWTON.

137

and, to save annoyance to either, he interpolated sk
middle-name — Henry — which he ever afterward used.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical So-
ciety. He first settled in Weymouth, Mass., but
removed to West Newton in January, 1848, where he
resided till hia death.

In February, 18 i9, he married Miss Sarah R. P.
Richmond, of Boston, Mass. One daughter ivaa born
to them, who died in her eighth year.

Dr. Brown was a broad and liberal-spirited man —
and a reformer. He was an abolitionist of the Gar-
rison stamp, save that he believed in voting. He
was an earnest peace man on principle, and when, at
college, it was attempted to force him to do military
duty, he refused, saying they could fine bim or put
him in prison, but he would not act the soldier in
preparations for war. He was full of humor and
witty ; exceedingly dry in his jokes and witticisms,
genial, pleasant and loving; true as steel to his
friends, and just to all. In religious matters he was
a liberal Congregationalist, and highly esteemed in
the West Newton Congregational Church, as, in fact,
he was by all who knew him. He was one of the
founders of "The West Newton Athenreum " in 1849.
Truly, to hundred* of families he was " the beloved
physician."

In the Congregationalist, March 24, 1865, the Rev.
Dr. Tarbox pays the following tribute to his memory:
' Jr. Brown was a most coble example of a Christian
physician; eminently skillful in his profession ; most
winning in hia manners; always welcome in his visits
to the sick-room; able and willing to give religious
instruction and consolation. We speak the mind of
the great body of the people in Newton and in the
neighboring towns when we say that hardly a man in
the town could have been called away whose death
would have brought such a sense of personal loss
and bereavement to so many individuals."

In the Newton Cemetery has been erected a monu-
ment to his memory by loving friends.

De. Henry Bigelow, the son of Lewis Bigelow,
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, May 20. 1817.
He was educated in his native town, was fitted in the
public schools for Harvard College, which he entered
at the .age of fifteen years, graduating in the class of
'30. Though his own inclination at that time was to
become a civil engineer, he yielded to the desire of
his father, that he should enter the medical profes-
sion, fcr which after-events showed him to be .so well
fitted. He entered the Harvard Medical School,
graduating from there in 1839. He attended acourse
of lectures ir^"'iiladelphia also, the medical school
there standing very high at that time; he also studied
with Dr. John Greene, of Worcester. He first settled
as a practicing physician in Buxton, Maine, in 1S40.
In the same year. August 2oih, he married Matilda
A. Poole, of Boston, Mass., and one child, a daughter,
was born during their stay in Buxton. He remained
there four years, but he desired a larger field, with

more means of advance, so with his family he moved
to Boston in 1844, but remained there less than twp
years, then moved to Newton early in 1846, where he
passed the remainder of his life. He died January
21, 1866, at the early age of forty-eight years, leaving
a widow, two daughters and one son. In that com-
paratively short life much had been accomplished,
not only in his profession, in which he held a high
position, as the records of the medical society would
show (of which he was a member), as well as the tes-
timony of all to whom he ministered, in whose hearts
he held so high a place as friend as well as physician.
To him Newton owes much of its early prosperity.
A small town when he settled there, its growth was
rapid and vigorous. He had shown his interest in
education by taking a position on the School Board in
Buxtoii, and in Newton he soon received a similar
position, and held it during his life, being chairman
of the School Committee for many years. In religion
, he was a strong and earnest Unitarian, one of the
j founders of the Channing Unitarian Society of New-
I ton, one of the ten whose generosity and devotion
1 enabled the society to build their first church. He
remained on the Standing Committee of that church
till his death, and was also for many years superin-
tendent of the Sunday-school. He never enteied the
arena of political life in an active way, but his inter-
j est was quick and strong in all matters of public im-
portance, — his hand, his purse and his time ever
ready to aid any just cause. In him the poor had a
' wise and helpful friend. Not only were his profes-
sional services often gratuitous, but Hymnathy and
I aid were ever generously bestowed. Many were the
knotty questiims and matters of disagreement which
1 were brought to him for arbitration by those who had
perfect confidence in his wisdom and just discrimina-
[ tion. He was influential in securing and laying out
j one of Newton's most attractive spots, her beautiful
I cemetery, of which he was one of the trustees, aijd
where nineteen years after his death was raised a
' most beautiful tribute to his influence — a memorial
j chapel, testifying the grateful and lasting recollection
! of one who knew and honored him so truly
j He held many minor offices of trust and respoosi-
I bility, from time to time, as he always had the power
j to fill them satisfactorily, nhough the constantly in-
: creasing calls of his profession during the later years
of his life left him less and less time for other duties.
Friexd D. Lord, M.D., son of James Lord, was
born in Limington, Me., March 3, 1322. He died in
Newton Lower Fall.', December 8, 1883. His early
education was obtained in Limington Academy, Me.,
and Wilbraham Academy, Mass. He was a teacher
before and after his graduation.

He graduated from Bowdoin Medical College,
and then studied in the hospitals of New York and
Philadelphia. He settled in Ciisco, Me., West Ded-
ham, Sterling and Newton Lower Falls, Mass. Jan-
uary 29, 1856, he married Harriet H. Hill.

138

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Levi Fahb Warner, M.D., was born October 25,
1822, at Norwich, Chenango County, N. Y. He died
in Boston, October 12, 1889. " He received his early
education at the academy at Mexico, N. Y. He
studied for his profession during 1842-43 at Geneva
Medical College, and subsequently graduated, in 1862,
at Lind University, Chicago. He commenced practice
at Vienna, Oneida County, N. Y., and removed thence
to St. Louis, where, during the war, he was assistant
medical examiner for the First District of Missouri.
He then removed to Boston, Mass., and was admitted
a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

" He was one of the founders of the Gynsecological
Society of Boston, and soon became recognized as
of special skill in diagnosis and treatment of diseases
of women.

"He conducted successfully a large practice until his
death, which was from cerebral hemorrhagic effusion,
the result of an accident." He was a member of
many scientific societies in which he was an able
and active man, and at one time held the office of
vice-president of the American Medical Association.
He was too buay a man to write much for publication,
but one of his articles, a paper, " On the Connection
of the Hepatic Functions with Uterine Hyperremia^,
Fluxions, Congestions and Inflammations," in the
Transactions of the American Medical Association
for 1878, vol. xxix., exerted a distinct influence
towards obtaining in New England a wider respect
by general practitioners for the specialty of gynae-
cology, then still upon its trial, and at the same time
served to curb the somewhat inordinate zeal of a por-
tion of its younger enthusiasts.

He was, for many years, associated with Dr. Horatio
E. Storer in his practice at Hotel Pelham, Boston.
As a physician he was able, skillful and untiring in
his efforts to relieve and cure his patients, readily ob-
taining and continuing to hold their confidence,
respect and friendship. When patients did not pro-
gress as satisfactorily as he desired or expected, he
was not easily discouraged, so wonderful were his re-
sources. In fact, he never seemed at fault.

His father, the Rev. H. Warner, was of Scotch
descent, and the doctor was well grounded in the
Presbyterian doctrines and thoroughly conversant
with the Scriptures. As a friend he was true as steel ;
honorable, upright in his dealings with all and ever
the friend of the poor, whom he preferred for his
patients, for there he found the most gratitude.

A little volume " In meraoriam " was published
after his death, containing the funeral services ; a
memorial tribute to him, read by Dr. H. M. Field, of
Newton, Mass., before the Gynaecological Society of
Boston, followed by loyal and loving words from
other members of the society; and letters from many
persons, including prominent medical men in various
parts of the country, testifying to his worth, his skill,
his noble Christian manhood and his charities — so
freely given to the poor.

. Earely has a physician been called from his life-
work to cross the river to the " Home Beyond the
Tide," leaving so many sorrowing and living friends
to mourn their loss.

Thadeus Pulaski Robinson, M.D., son of Noah
Robinson, was born in Laconia, N. H., Sept. 5, 1825,
and died January 5, 1874, in Newton Centre, MasE.,
leaving a wife and daughter.

He fitted for college at the Lowell (Mass.) High
School and New Hampton (N. H.) Academy, and
entered Dartmouth College with the class which was
graduated in 1848. He left college before graduation
and entered theemploymentof the Essex Manufactur-
ing Company, in Lawrence, Mass., as a civil engineer.
In 1849 he went to California. While there he was
commissioned engineer-in-chief to establish the bound-
ary of the northern part of the State. He returned
to Massachusetts in 1857, and began the study of
medicine at the Harvard Medical School, and gradu-
ated in 1860.

He settled at Newton Centre, Mass., April, 1860.
He was admitted a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society in 1862. He was a Mason, and a
member of Dalhou-fie Lidge, Nswtonville. June 6,
1860, he married Fanny Rebecca Smith.

Dr. Allsto-V Waldo Whitney, son of Simon
and Mary (Walker) Whitney, was born at Framing-
ham, Mass., January 12, 1828. He attended the Frara-
ingham and Leicester Academies until July 1, 1846,
when he entered the United States Military Academy,
West Point. On the 1st of July, 1848, he resigned
and began the study of medicine with his father, a
much-beloved and respected physician, with whom
he continued until he entered the Harvard Medical
School, where he graduated in 1852. Upon receiv-
ing his degree, he settled at South Framingham, and
remained there until the breaking out of the Rebellion.
It was while at this place that he first manifested
those abilities as a physician and surgeon which
afterwards made him so well known.

In July, 1861, he joined the Thirteenth Regiment
Massachusetts Volunteers, at Fore Independence,
Boston Harbor, and was mustered into service as its
surgeon July 16, 1861, continuing as such until his
muster out with the regiment , August 1, 1864. During
his service he was atone time assigned to duty as
medical director of the Second Divieion, First Army
Corps, and as brigade surgeon. He was brevetted
lieutenant-colonel for gallant conduct and great
humanity to the wounded.

August 24, 1SG4, he was married to Miss Sarah
Ellen Bishop, of Boston, and settled in that city at the
corner of Washington and Dedham Streets. In
March, 1865, he removed to West Newton, and there
resided until his death. He was the father of four
children, two of whom, Charles Simon and Mary
Ellen, are now living.

The disease which resulted in his death first showed
itself during the winter of 1880-81, and on the 2d of

NEWTON.

139

February he went to the Massachusetts General Hos-
pital for treatment, remained two or three weeks and
then returned to his home. After several weeks of
rest and good nursing he resumed his professional
duties, apparently iu much better health than for
some months previous. On the evening of Novem-
ber 8th, while preparing a de.scription of the wound
which caused ihe death oJPresident Garfield, which he
was to read and illustrate to the school children of
West Newton, he reached for some object needed,
and, upon resuming his seat, complained of violent
pain in his side. He grew worse rapidly, and at three
o'clock Friday morning, the 11th of November, he
died of angina pectoris.

He was a member of the Jlassschusetts Medical
Society, 'he Masonic Fraternity, the Royal Arcanum,
the Knights of Honor, Military Order of the Loyal
Legion, Post G2, G. A. R., Boston Light Infantry
Association, and the Threottyne Club.

On the 30th of April, 1863, Dr. Whitney was put
in charge of the hospital at the Fitz Hugh House, on
the Rappahanock River, and on the 10th of May the
army moved northward, the wounded being sent to
Washington as fast as they could be removed with
safety. On the loth of June the hospital was cap-
tured by the rebels, and about forty men, all badly
wounded or very sick, and the nurses and guard,
numbering about twenty, were made prisoners. Dr.
Whitney had remained with the wounded men, and
protested against their capture and removal in such
strong terms that he was also made prisoner. All
were taken in freight cars and army wagons to Libby
Prison. During the trip he was unceasing in his
efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded men,
and at Libby Prison he was active in their welfare.
He made (he acquaintance of the officers, and so
gained their good- will by that charm of manner which
was almost irresistible, that he was allowed to visit
his men, and his etlbits hastened their exchange by
many months ; for, until he represented the truth,
the authorities of the prison insisted upon it that they
were Union officers in disguise. He was kept a pris-
oner for about six months, belbre the expiration of
which time almost .ill, his men had been exchanged.

In appearance Dr. Whitney waa a noticeable man,
about five feet six inches in height, quite corpulent,
and very dignified iu hi.s bearing. He had dark hair,
very heavy eyebrows, clear and keen blue eyes, and
wore a gray mou.»tache somewhat extended on either
cheek. His life was one of rare usefulness. His
kind and sympathetic nature made him beloved bv
rich and poor, and his skill in the practice of medi-
cine and surgery was of the highest order and re-
ceived recognition as such by the best men in his pro-
fession. In battle he was calm, undisturbed by the
exci ement and dangers about him, saw clearly his
duties, and steadily pursued them with a coolness,
fearlessness) and persistency that commanded the ad-
miration of all.

"Joseph Huckins Warren, M. D., son of Joseph
and Caroline E. (Huckins) Warren, was born in
Effingham, Carroll County, N. H., October 2, 1831.
His father was the seventh son of James Warren, of
Scarboro', Me., and grandson of John Warren, of
French and Indian war notoriety. This is the historic
war family of Revolutionary fame. His maternal
ancesters were in the line of descent from the Duchess
of Marlboro'. His maternal grandfather, Joseph
Huckina, was a very prominent man ; he was high
sheriff of New Hampshire and grand master of F.
and A. M. in New England, holding the jewels and
archives of the Order wiien the Morgan excitement,
against Masonry was so bitter."

At sixteen years of age he entered West Lebanon
Academy, Me. Hfi commenced the study of medicine
at the medical school, Castleton', Vt., in 1849, and
afterwards attended lectures at the Harvard Medical
School. He graduated from the Medical School, Bow-
doin College, Me., in 1S53. He went to New York and
took a special courseof study with Dr. Valentine Mott,
then returned to Massachusetts, joined the Massachu-
setts Medical Society, and begau the practice of med-
icine in Newton, Ma?s. Htre he practiced three
years, during which time he was a member of the
School Board and held other offices of trust and
honor. From overwork his health broke down, and
he removed to Dorchester, Ma>s.

At the breaking out of the Rebellion, Dr. Warren
was among the first to volunteer, and was in Balti-
more with the Massachusetts troops when the first
volunteers were mobbed in the streets of that city
He was particularly recommended to President Lin-
coln, by Hon. Henry Wilson, as a most loyal and
trustworthy person and skillful surgeon. He was
commissioned, by President Lincoln, medical director
and brigade surgeon in General Casey's division.
He labored zealously to alleviate the sufferings of the
soldiers and partly through his influence barrack hos-
pitals were erected for the sick and wounded. He saw
active service before Yorktown, and being disabled
while bearing special dispatches to Washington, was
obliged to resign.

Dr. Warren has traveled abroad quite extensively
for health and pleasure ; and officially as delegate
from the American Medical Association. He has
read papers before the British Medical Association at
Cambridge, and the Academy of Medicine at Paris.
He published in London " A Practical Treatise on
Hernia." This work was republished in America in
1882. He operated in Guy's Hospital, London, and
ehewhere, to demonstrate his method.

He published "A Plea for the Cure of Rupture,"
and has written many monographs and medical pa-
pers, as well as articles relating to general literature.
He was among the fir.-it, if not the first, to aspirate
the pericardium (.Vpril, IS.'io), and to perform the
operation of paracente.«is thoracis.

While traveling in Florida lor his health, he pub-

140

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

lished "Technics" and established the Southern
San, a newspaper of independent character. " Tech-
nica " and " Modern Life " are now published in Bos-
ton under "Notes Current."

Dr. Warren is a member of the British Medical
Association ; permanent member of the American
Medical Association, and vice-president of the latter
for 1889-90; Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical
Society ; honorary member Vermont State Medical
Society ; Otsego Medical Society of Ne^ York ; past
resident member of Putnam County Medical Society,
and State Medical Society, Florida ; and is a member
of numerous other literary, historical, scientific and
social societies. . He is trustee of the Boston Penny
Savings Bank, &c., &c.

Dr. Warren was, with others, one of the founders
and incorporators of the Massachusetts Home for In-
temperate Women, and has been on the Board of
Managers siuce its incorporation, March 30, 1881.
He was chairman of the building committee and aiso
attending physician.

Dr. Warren was married, September 24, 1854, to
Caroline Elizabeth Everett, of Newton. Two chil-
dren were born to them — a daughter, deceased, and a
son, Charles Everett Warren, M.D., who is associated
with him as attending physician at the Massachusetts
Home for Intemperate Women,

During his residence in Washington he had special
opportunities of seeing President Lincoln. He wa.s,
for that period, the medical attendant of that remark-
able man. Perhaps the most important of his con-
fidential interviews, for its influence on the President,
and, through him, on the country at large, was one in
which he introduced the emiuent author, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, to Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Hawthorne was a
Friend in his aversion to force, and in his visit to
AVashington with Messrs. Tickncr and Field, his
sensitive and peace-loving spirit was overcome by the
horrors of war, and he fell into a state of great dis-
tress. Dr. Warren, in the hope that an interview
with Mr. Lincoln would tend to restore Mr. Haw-
thorne's confidence in the future of his country, took
him to the White House on one of his professional
evening calls. It seemed at first an unfortunate
moment. Mr. Lincoln was greatly agitated by the
discovery of treachery in an unexpected quarter, and
told his vi-itors that he was overcome by difficulties,
not knowing who were friends and who were traitors,
his burden in public life, failing strength aud do-
mestic sorrows beiog beyond his strength.

To this Mr. Hawthorne replied by a few words of
sympathy and encouragement, and, finding these of
little avail, knelt and offered a prayer which might
be called inspired — full of confidence, utterly casting
all care on the Infinite Power — invoking strength in
this crisis, and ending in an ascription of adoration
that seemed to lift his hearers to the visible presence
of the Almighty.

As they rose, Mr. Lincoln said to him, with strong

emotion : "Mr. Hawthorne, God sent you here in my
darkest hour, yow I am strong. He placed me here
and I know that He will sustain me to the end."
From that time all undue anxiety seemed to disap-
pear, and Mr. Lincoln, by his decision, firmness and
undoubting belief in his position as the servant of
the Lord, inspired strength and courage in all who
approached him.

Hexry Bradshaw Bradley, M.D., was born iu
Cheshire, England, October 15, 1848, and died in
Bollin Grove, Builey, England, August 31, 1881. He
was graduated at the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons, London, England, and was professionally asso-
ciated with his uncle, Professor Bradshaw, at Man-
chester, England. Later he practiced a short time
in Trageda, Wales, and left there to accept a position
as ship-surgeon on the Cunard Line of steamships.
In 1877 he settled on California Street, Newton,
Ma^s., where he practiced medicine until his health
failed, a few months before his death, when he re-
turned to England and died.

.Ja.mes Henry McDonnell, M.D., wns born in
Ireland; studied medicine at St. -Mary's College,
Virginia, and graduated from Harvard Medical Col-
lege in 1871. He settled in Wakham, removed to
Newton, thfn to Watertown,and died in Wakham in
188tJorl887.

He married Miss Kate Donahue, of Wakham.

He was a bright, active man, a loyal friend and a
skillful physician.

WiLLARD Everett Smith, M.D., son of F. L.
Smith, of Newton, was born in Newtonville, Novem-
ber 11, 1856; was educated in Newton Grammar and
High Schools, and entered Harvard University in
1875, and graduated in his class in 1879. He entered
Harvard Medical .School in 1S79, aud graduated in
1882.

After a little preliminary practice he went to Bos-
ton and settled there, and immediately attained a
reputation as a successful practitioner in diseases of
the throat and lungs. He was employed by the
Massachusetts Medical Society, of which he was a
member, to prepare and report on the climatology of
Massachusetts. And for two years he prepared and
read papers on this subject in a most acceptable
manner.

He was a brilliant young man, with prospects of
rising to an eminent position in the medical pro-
fession.

He was taken ill and died suddenly, July 13, 1890.

September 15, 18S6, he was married to Miss Alice
L. Newell, of Framiogham, Mai-s. He left a widow
and one daughter.

John P. Mayxard, M.D., son of Elias Maynard,
of Boston, was born in Boston, Mass., in 1816. He
was educated at the Boston Latin School and Phillips
Academy, Andover, Mass. He graduated from the
Medical School, Harvard University, in 1848. He
settled in Newton Lower Falls in 1848, where he

NEWTON.

141

practiced medicine till 1852. He then removed to
Dedhiim, Mass., where he now resides and continues
to practice his profession. He is a prominent man
and widely known as a skillful physician. He was
president of the Norfolk Medical Society in 1876, 77,
78, 79.

In 1850 Dr. Maynard married Miss Caroline E.
Fales, of Boston, Mass.

Alfred C. Smith, M.D., son of James Smith, was
born in Bathurst, New Brunswick. He graduated at
Harvard Medical College. For several years after
his graduation he had charge, under the Dominion
Government, of the Lazaretto, at Tracadie, N. B., for
the care of the leprous community.

He afterwards moved to Newton and settled at No-
nantum, where he remained in practice for a few
years. He afterwards moved to Nev/ Castle, New
Brunswick, where he now resides.

Oris El'gen'e Hunt, M.D., son of Joseph G. and
Lucy H. Hunt, was born in Sudbury, Mass., July 7,
1822. His early life was spent on a farm and his ele-
mentary education was acquired in the district schools
of the town. He fitted for college in the Wayland
Academy and in the academy at Wilbraham, Mass.,
and entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown,
Connecticut, in the class of 1844. After nine months
he left the university in consequence of ill-health.

Read medicine for a time with Levi Goodnough,
M.D., of Sudbury, Mass. Later was a pupil in the
Boylston Medical School in Boston, under the tutor-
age, chieily, of Dr. E. C. Buckingham and Dr. Edward
H. Cl.irk. During his studies here he was present at
the Massachusetts General Hospital when ether was
administered for the first time. And he was the nrst
to administer it in the towns of Sudbury, Wayland
and Weston.

He attended medical lectures at Woodstock, Vt.
and at Pittntield, Mass., and graduated in medicine
at the Berkshire Medical College in 1848, and was ad-
mitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society the same
year. During his course of study he taught school in
Sudbury four consecutive winters.

He settled in Weston, Mass., in 1848, and continued
to practice medicine there till the autumn of 1864,
when he removed to Waltham, Mass., where he con-
tinued active in professional work till 1870. He dis-
continued general practice at that time in conse-
quence of failing health, selling his business and good
will to Dr. E. R. Cutler.

Three years later, after extensive travel in this
country, including a visit to California and the Pacific
slope, and becoming improved in health, he moved to
Newtonvilje, Mass., where he now resides, and recom-
menced the practice of his profession. In 1883 he
retired from practice to a large extent. He is fre-
quently called in consultation by younger and less ex-
perienced men. His son, William O. Hunt, M.D.,
succeeded to his practice.

While residing in Weston he served four years as

secretary of the Middlesex South District Medical
Society, once as its anniversary orator. He was a
member of the School Committee for ten consecutive
years, and three yearsof this time served as chairman.
He also was a member of the School Committee in
Waltham for two years.

He has been president of the medical board con-
nected with the Newton Cottage Hospital and con-
sulting physician since it was f ,unded.

He was married Oct. 8, 1849, to Aroline E. Thomp-
son, of Sudbury, Mass. He has two children — Mrs.
Nina M. Fenno and William 0. Hunt, M.D.

Daniel Desisox Slade, M.D., son of J. Tilton
Slade, was born in Boston, Mass., May 10, 1823.
Graduated from the Boston Latin School, then enter-
ed Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1844.
He studied medicine in the Tremont Medical School,
and received his medical degree at Harvard in 1848.
Passed one year as house surgeon in the Massachu-
setts General Hospital, and three years in the hospi-
tals of Great Britain and on the Continent. Com-
menced practice in Boston in 1852, being visiting
surgeon of the Boston Dispensary for several years ;
was admitted a member of the Ma-^sachusetts Medical
Society in 1848, and became a member of the Boston
Medical Improvement Society and Boston Society of
Observation in 1855. In 1856 he married Misa M.
Louise Hensier.

During his professional career in Boston he deliver-
ed courses of lectures to students on surgical subjects
and received four prizes on medical subjects — two
from the Massachusetts Medical Society : one on
Bronchitis and its consequences, the other on Sper-
matorrhwa; and two from the Rhode Island Medical
Society, being "The Fisk Fund Prizes."

He also has contributed many papers to the various
medical journals. In 1863 he was appointed one of the
inspectors of hospitals in Baltimore, Annapolis and
Philadelphia. He was the author of the report on
the subject of amputations, printed by the committee
of the associate medical members of Sanitary Com-
mission'.

He settled at Chestnut Hill, Newton, in 1863. In
1871 he was appointed Professor of Agriculture and
Zoology in the Bussey Institute, Harvard University,
which chair he held until a severe sickness, in 1882,
compelled him to resign.

In 1884 he was chosen one of the assistants in the
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, and ap-
pointed lecturer on comparative osteology, which
position he still holds.

He has always been interested in horticulture and
agriculture, and has contributed various papers on
these subjects, and received two prizes for essays from
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society ; — one on the
"Construction of Country Roads," the other on the
" Treatment of Small Suburban Places." He also re-
ceived the prize offered by a gentleman of Newton,
on " How to Improve and Beautify Newton." At the

142

HISTOllY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

present time he is president of the Newton Horticul-
tural Society, and has retired from practice.

Tappan Eustis Francis, M.D., son of Nathaniel
Francis, was born in Boston, Mass., August 28, 1823.
He was educated at the Boston Latin School and then
entered Harvard University, from which he graduated
in the year 1844. He at once entered the Harvard
Medical School and graduated in 1847. He settled in
Roxbury, Mass., and during part of the years 1846 to
1847 he was city physician. In 1848 he removed to
Newton Lower Falls and practiced medicine therefor
about three years. Then he settled in Brookline,
Mass., where he now resides and continues the prac-
tice of his profession. He served for several years on
the School Board and as trustee of the Public Library.
For one year he was chairman of the Board of Health.
He is a member of the ilassachusetts Medical Society
and honorary member of the Roxbury Medical Im-
provement Society.

Julius Blodget, M.D., son of Alden Blodget, was
born in Stafford, Conn., September 22, 1825. He re-
ceived his early education at Monson and Wilbrahami
Mass., alternating his school-days by work on a farm.
He studied medicine at and graduated from the Uni-
versity of New York. He practiced medicine in
Stafford Springs from 18.53 to 1857, and in West
Brookfield from 1857 to 1876, and in Newtonville,
Mass., since 1876. He has been a member of the Con-
necticut State Medical Society and United States
Medical Society.

In 1854 he was married to Miss Sarah L. Arnold,
of Warren, Mass., and after her death was married, in
1861, to Mrs. Eliza F. Dunnells, of West Brooktield,
Masi.

John Dudley Lovering, M.D., son of Oilman
Lovering, was born in Raymond, N. H., March 8,
1827. He wjs educated at Darfmomh College. Be-
fore he entered college he was a teacher, and during
his course of studies there he taught a part of the
time. Ill 1861 he settled in Essex, Mass., and con-
tinued to practice medicine there nearly twenty years.

He graduated at the Albany Medical College, N. Y.
He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
He married Mi>8 Sarah H. B. Cogswell, of Essex, Mass.

Charles F. Crehore, M.D., son of Lemuel Cre-
hore, was born June 18, 1828, in Newton Lower Falls.
After studying at the academy in Milton, he gradu-
ated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy,
N. Y., in 1848. He afterwards entered the Harvard
Medical School, and graduated in 1859.

Before studying medicine he was employed, as a
civil engineer, in building United States roads in
Minnesota during the year 1854. In 18G7 he retired
from medical practice, and since that time has devoted
himself to the manufacture of paper.

He went to Europe in May, 1852, and remained
traveling abroad till September, 1853. He settled in
Boston in 1859, and made that his home until 1866.
He now resides in Newton Lower Falls.

Dr. Crehore has an excelientand distinguished war
record, extending from the beginning to the end of
the contlict. May, 1861, he was appointed surgeon on
the armed transport" Cambridge." In December, 1S6I,
he was appointed acting assistant-surgeon to the
Twentieth Regiment ilassachusetts Volunteer Infan-
try. He was promoted and appointed surgeon of the
Thirty-seventh Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer
Infantry, and served with that regiment from August,
1862, till December, 1864. During this time — from
April, 1863, to April, 1864, — he served as medical in-
spector. Sixth Array Corps', and surareon-in-chief First
Division, Sixth Army Corps. At the battle of Win-
chester, Va., in September, 1864, he had charge of the
wounded of the Sixth Corps.

Dr. Crehore is a member of many medical and
other scientific societies, including the Massachusetts
Medical Society, Boston Society for Medical Observa-
tion, Natural History Society, etc., etc.

He has written articles for medical and other jour-
nals, on professional and other topics. He has been
an active member of the Newton Water Board. He
was married, September 29, 1857, to Mary W. Loring,
daughter of Henry Loring, of Boston.

D. Waylaxd Jones, M.D., son of Daniel Jones,
was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, January
14, 1829. His early education was obtained in West-
minster and Winchendon, Massachusetts. He grad-
uated from the University of New York in 1852. He
practiced in Medfield, Massachusetts, from 1854 to
1866, when he removed to Newtonville, Massachusetts,
where he continued in general practice till 1878, and
then settled in Boston. Since that time he has made
diseases of the rectum a specialty and has given up
general practice. In his specialty he has been very
successful and is obtaining a wide reputation.

In 1871-72 he went abroad and traveled extensively
through a large part of Europe, visiting and studying
in the leading hospitals of the principal cities.

He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical So-
ciety, which he joined in 1852. In this society he
has been censor and councilor. He became a member
of the American Medical Association in 1874.

Dr. Jones married Misa Minerva P. Tyler in 1853.
She died in 1858.

In 1860 he married Josephine D. Bullard. She
died in 1871. In 1877 he married Miss E. N. Sfuart.
Henry Martyx Field, M.D., son of Deacon John
Field, was born in Brighton, Massachusetts, October
3, 1837, in what is known as the " Old Worcester
House," which was built about the year 1685.

His mother was Miss Sarah Elliott Worcester, a
lineal descendant from Noah Worcester, LL.D., the

I great lexicographer. She died about two years after

I Henry was born, leaving an infant brother, John

I Worcester Field.

j In early childhood he was a nervous, puny, deli-
cate child, and even when he reached mature man-
hood was never strong and robust, although he has

NEWTON.

143

accompiished a vast amount of professional work.
His early education was obtained in Cliauncy Hall
School, Boston, and Phillips Academy in Andover,
Massachusetts.

He entered Harvard College in 1855, and gradu-
ated with honor in 1859, having the part of orator at
commencement. During his years of study in col-
lege he had a strong predilection for the medical pro-
fession.

After his graduation be went to New York, and
made his home with the eminent and celebrated Dr.
E. R. Peaslee, and commenced the study of medicine.
Dr. Peaslee was at that time Professor of Diseases of
Women in Dartmouth Medical College, Hanover, N.
H. Dr. Field accompanied him to Dartmouth that
autumn, and on his return took a full course of lec-
tures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in
New York City. During his course of study he held
a position of considerable importance in the Dewitt
Dispensary.

He was valedictorian of his class when he gradu-
ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in
the spring of 1862.

He immediately opened an office at No. 77 Lexing-
ton Avenue, in New York City, and entered into
practice. Soon after he was mustered into the United
States Army as assistant surgfon, and was sent to
Hilton Head. There he contracted malaria and was
transferred to the hospital at Beaufort, S. C. He has
never entirely recovered, and at times still suffers se-
verely. Soon after he returned home, and remained
several months till somewhat improved, then went to
W;ishington, D. D., and was stationed at Carver Gen-
eral Hospital, on Fifteenth Streeet, for about one
year. In October, 18G3, he resigned and came to his
father's home in West Cambridge (now Arlington),
Mass.

October 20, 18(3.3, he married Miss Lydia Morgie
Peck, daughter of Abel G. Peck, Esq., of West Cam-
bridge, and sister of the wife of Gov. J. Q. A. Brack-
ett. Soon after his marriage he removed to New
York, and entered into practice with his friend, Dr.
Peaslee.

In the spring of 18C7 he left New York, and settled
in Newton, Mass. Here he had a large and remun-
erative practice till his health, which was never
strong, became so much impaired he was compelled
to abandon it for a time, and seek the climate of
Southern California for the winter of 1887-88. On
his return, the following summer, he was given an
enthusiastic public reception by his numerous friends.
The following year and a half he remained at home,
and attended to a part of his practice, but again I
breaking down, he was compelled to return to Cali-
fornia for the winter of 1889-90. He owns a small
ranch at Passedena, where he made his home during
his stay. He returned to New England the following
summer, still very much broken in health.

In 1S69 he was offered and accepted the chair of

Materia Medicaand Therapeutics in Dartmouth Med-
ical College, which professorship he still holds.

Dr. Field published, in 18S7, a work on " Cathart-
ics and Emetics," which was well received by the
medical profession. Beside that, he has published
numerous addresses and monographs on various sub-
jects, the most noted of which were those on sulpho-
nal, which have attracted much favorable notice in
the medical journals.

He was admitted a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society in 1867. For several years he was
one of the censors in that society. He is a member
of the GynoBcological Society of Boston, — was one of
the original founders — for six years was secretary,
and afterwards was president for one year. On ac-
count of ill health he was obliged to decline a second
term. He is one of the Medical Board connected
with the Newton Cottage Hospital, and also holds the
office of consulting physician in diseases of women.
He was one of the original members cf the Newton
Natural History Society, and has delivered before it
many able and interesting papers on scientific sub-
jects.

Dr. Field has always been a profound student and
he is one of the most scholarly men in the medical
profession in New England.

In practice he was noted for his skill and assiduous
care of his patients, easily winning and holding their
confidence and esteem to a remarkable degree.

Jesse F. Frirbie, M.D., son of Captain Jesse
Frisbie, of Kittery, Me., was born in Rochester, N.
H., July 12, 1838. For a time he was a student at
Phillips Exeter Academy, N. H. He taught Gram-
mar and High Schools in Maine and New Hampshire
for several years, and then commenced his medical
studies with his uncle, Dr. J. H. York, a prominent
and successful physician of Boston, Mass., in 1858,
and graduated Irom the Harvard Medical College in
1861.

A little more than one year he practiced medicine
in Framingham Centre, Mass., and entered the
United States Navy in December, 1862. He served
in the Potomac Flotilla and afterwards in the East
Gulf Blockading Squadron. While in service on the
Potomac he contracted malaria, and in the Gulf of
Mexico he was prostrated with bilious remittent
fever and placed in the hospital at Key West, Fla.
He left the navy in January, 1864, on account of ill
health.

May, 1864, he entered the United States Army and
served in Fairfax Seminary Hospital, near Alexan-
dria, Va.; Carver General Hospital, Washington, D.
C, and for nearly a year was in charge of Wisewell
Barracks Hospital, in Washington, D. C.

He practiced medicine in Woburn and Boston and
settled in Newton, Mass., in October, 1872, where he
now resides.

Dr. Frisbie was a member of the Newton City gov-
ernment in 1883, and a member of the Newton Board

14i

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of Health from 1886 to 1890, when he resigned. He
has served on the staff of the Newton College Hos-
pital from its opening every year.

He early became interested in Natural Science,
and while in the United Slates service made large
collections, especially of Tertiary Fussil?, for the
Smithsonian Institution at Washington. In 1863 he
was placed in charge of a scientific expedition for the
investigation of the Tertiary formation in parts of
Virginia and Maryland. la 1865 he was urged to go
to New Mexico for two years for the purpose of study-
ing the Zani Indians and other tribes, and the Cliff-
dwellings and other evidences of pre-historic races
and habitations, in the interest of the Smithsonian
Institution. Owing to 'ill health he was obliged to
decline what to him was a most attractive field of in-
vestigation. It was the work afterwards accomplished
by Lieutenant Cashing. Through his influence the
Newton Natural History Society was formed and he
was president of it tor the first seven years. He is a
lecturer on Geology and Archa?ology and has pub-
lished many papers and monographs on these sub-
jects.

He was admitted a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society in 186.), American Medical Associa-
tion in 1880, Gynecological Society of Boston in 1880.
He is a member of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, and other medical and sci-
entific societies in the State and elsewhere.

Dr. Frisbie was married, in November, 1866, to
Harriet M. Dunlap, daughter of General Richard T.
Dunlap, of Brunswick, Maine.

He is a member of Charles Ward Post, No. 62,
G. A. R.

Edw.vrd a. Whistox, M.D., son of Francis C.
Whiston, was born at Roxbury (now Boston High-
lands), Massachusetts, October 19, 1838. His early
education was obtained at the Brimmer School, Bos-
ton, and Framingham High School. He graduated
from the Harvard Medical College in 1S61. Dr.
Whiston has a brilliant war record extending over a
period of three years. He was appointed assistant
surgeon of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteer
Infantry, August 1, 1861, and was connected with
that regiment till March 5, 1863, when he was pro-
moted to surgeon and transferred to the First Massa-
chasetta Volunteer Infantry. He left the service May
28, 1864. After the expiration of this term of ser-
vice in the army he was appointed acting surgeon of
Board of Enrollment at Greenfield. Massachusetts,
and United States inspector of camps of Veteran
Reserve Corps.

For two years, during 18C5-66, he was resident
physician to the Boston City Institutions on Deer Is-
land, Boston Harbor, and also port physician.

He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of
the Newton Cottage Hospital since its organization,
January 4, 1881, and secretary of the corporation
since January 16, 1882.

For many years he was a member of the Massachu-
setts .Medical Society. He gave up practice of med-
i icine in 1808 and went into mercantile life. Has been
I for the past ten years business manager of the Massa-
j chusetts New Church Union, Boston ; is treasurer of
the New Church Theological School at Cambridge,
and of the New Church Board of Missions.

He was married, October 13, 1870, to Miss Emily
Pay son Call.

Henry B. Stoddard, M.D., son of William H.
Stoddard, was born in Northampton, M.assachusetts,
September 28, 1840.

He was educated in private schools in Northamp-
ton, Brookfield and Longmeadow, and then entered
Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, from
which he graduated in 1862.

In 1863 he served as volunteer medical cadet at the
military hospital, Newark, New Jersey.

From October, 1866, to May, 1868, he served as
interne in Bellevue Hospital, New York. He grad-
uated from Bellevue Medical College in 1865.

After graduation he settled in Northampton, Mass-
achusetts, and practiced there from May, 1868, to
November 1, 1878, when he removed to Newtonville,
Massachusets, where he has since resided.

He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society in 1868, and is also a member of the Gyneco-
logical Society of Boston. He has served on the staff
of Newton Cottage Hospital.

June 30, 1880, he married Miss Jeannie A. Oakes,
of Newtonville, JIassachusetts.

James H. Bodge, M.D., son of Noah Bodge, was
born in Boston, .M.issachusetts, in 1840. He was edu-
cated in the Boston Latin School, Dartmouth and
Harvard Colleges. He graduated from Harvard Med-
ical College in 1867. He settled in Newton Centre,
Massachusetts, in 1874. He was appointed on ;he
staff of the Newton Cottage Hospital in 1888. He also
had an appointment as coroner for Middlesex County.
He joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1867.

In 1875 he married Miss Florence Brown.

William Hartwell Hildketh, M.D., son of
John C. Hildreth, wns born in New Ipswich, N. H.,
April 19. 1843. He was educated at the New Ipswich
Appleton Academy. In 1864 enlisted in the Fourth
Regiment Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and re-
mained with the regiment till the close of the war in
1865.

He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical College,
Hanover, N. H., in 1869, and then located in Fitch-
burg, Mas?., in 1870. Removed to Newton Upper
Falls in 1874. He served five years in the Massachu-
setts State Militia as assistant surgeon, and surgeon
of the Tenth Regiment of Infantry. He went abroad
in 1888, traveling in England, France, Germany,
Switzerland and Italy. He was married to Miss
Helen Josephene Flagg, of New Ipswich, N. H., in
1869. He became a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society in 1870.

NEWTON.

145

Francis E. Porter, M.D., son of Edward F. Porter,
was born in Scituate, Mass., August 28, 1844. He
was educated at Wesleyan Uuiversity, and studied
medicine in the Harvard Medical School. Hegradu-
ated from the Harvard Medical College, and then
went abroad for a time, traveling through England,
Germany and Italy. On his return he settled at
Auburndale, Mass., in October, 1875, where he now
resides and practices medicine.

From time to time, articlei from his pen have been
published in the Medical Record of New York, and
the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.

He was admitted a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society in 1877. He is on the medical
and surgical staff of the Newton Cottage Hospital.
In 1875 he was married to Miss Christian W. Taylor.

Herman' F. Titus, M.D., son of Moses Titus, was
born in Pepperell, Mass., in 1852. He was educated
at Lawrence Academy and Colgate University. He
first studied theology and was settled as Baptist min-
ister in Ithaca, N. Y., and Newton, .Mass. He gradu-
ated from Harvard Medical College in 1890, and now
practices in Newton. He has fine scientific attain-
ments, and is an expert botanist.

William Otis Hunt, M.D., son of Otis E. Hunt,
M.D., and 0. E. Hunt, was born in Weston, Mass.,
May 28, 1854.

He was educated in the public schools of Weston
and Waltham, one year at Phillips Academy, An-
dover, one year special course at Harvard University
and three years at Harvard ^ledical School. He also
studied medicine one year in Vienna and eight
months in London ; a part of the time he was house-
surgeon in London Hospital.

He graduated from Harvard Medical College in
1878. He practiced medicine one year (1878 to 1879)
in Waltham, Mass., and then went to Europe for two
years, for the purpose of study. In May, 1881, he
settled in Newtonville, where he still is in practice.

He is visiting physician on the staff, and consult-
ing surgeon at the Newton Cottage Hospital. He
became a member of the Massachusetts Medical So-
ciety in 1878. He is a member of the Gyntecoiogical
Society of Boston. January 29, 1879, he married
Miss Mary F. M. Gibbs, of Waltham, Mass. His wife
died August 15, 1887, leaving two children, Harold
O. and Richard F. Hunt.

Edward Bigelow Hitchcock, M.D., D.M.D.,
son of David R. Hitchcock, M.D , was born in New-
ton, Mass., February 5, 1854.

After studying in the Newton High School, he
went to Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and there
graduated in 1873. He graduated from the Harvard
Dental School in 1877, and the Dartmouth Medical
College in 1878.

He settled in Boston in 1877 and removed to New-
ton in 1882. He has never practiced medicine, but is
widely known as a skillful dentist.

He has been president of the Harvard Odontologi-
10-iii

cal Society, president of the Massachusetts Dental
Society, corresponding secretary of the American
Academy of Dental Science. He has written several
valuable papers which have been published in dif-
ferent magazines. He was married in 1885 to Miss
Lillie B. Comstock.

Charles Henry Bure, M.D., son of Henry W.
Burr, was born in Colchester, Conn., July 19, 1855.

He was educated in Boston Public. Schools, Law-
rence Scientific School, Harvard University and Har-
vard Medical School. He received the degree of
S.B. in 1879, and M.D. from Harvard Medical College
in 1882. He was house officer of the Carney Hospital,
South Boston, in 1882-83. He practiced a short time
in South Framingham and then in Roxbury till
1887. Since that time he has attended exclusively to
medical examinations for various insurance asso-
ciations. He was elected supreme medical examiner
of the New England Order of Protection, November
12, 1887, and still holds that position.

He has served two years as assistant surgeon of
the First Battalion Light Artillery, M. V. M.

He was admitted a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society in 1883.

While a student in the Lawrence Scientific School
he published " Plans of the Doric Temple." In 1887
he married Miss Eva Stevens, of South Framingham.
He resides at Newton Highlands.

Robert P. Loring, M.D., son of Joshua Loriug,
was born in Chelsea, Mass., February 18, 1852. He
was educated at Chauncy Hall School, Boston, Mass.;
Brookline High School, Institute Technology, Boston.
He graduated at Harvard Medical College in 1875,
and joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1876.
He settled in Newton Centre, Mass., in 1876. After
practicing medicine there for awhile he went West
and spent three years. While there he received the
appointment of assistant surgeon Chicago, Rock
Island and Pacific Railroad Company, at Kansas
City, Mo., and Professor of Physiology in Kansas City
Medical College. On his return East he again settled
in Newton Centre, where he continues to reside and
practice medicine. He is a member of the medical
board, a member of the medical staff and one of the
consulting surgeons at the Newton Cottage Hospital.
Dr. Loring married Miss Adelaide L. Nason, of Ken-
nebunk, Me.

David E. Baker, M.D., son of Erastus E. Baker,
was born in Franklin, Norfolk County, Mass., March
30, 1857. Educated in the Grammar and High
Schools of Franklin, and in 1878 received the degree
of B S. from the Boston University. In his boyhood
he was a farmer; after hia graduation he was a
teacher for a time.

He entered Harvard Medical School in 1879; Bos-
ton City Hospital as house surgeon in 1882-83. Re-
ceived his degree of M.D. from Harvard University
in 1883.

He settled in Newton Lower Falls in' December,

146

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

1883, succeeding Dr. F. D. Lord. He remained there
in practice till the summer of ISiiO, when he removed
to Newtonville.

In 1886-88 he served on the stf.ff of the Newton
Cottage Hospital.

He was elected a member of the School Board for
the years of 1887, '88, '89 and '90, and was elected
chairman of the board in September, 1890; a director
of Newton Associated Charities, 1889-90 ; member of
the Newtcn Board of Health, 1890. He is a member
of the Newton Natural History Society, Newton
Civil Service Reform Club. Boston City Hospital Club,
Ma.-8achu8ett3 Association of Boards of Health, etc.
He was admitted a member of the Massachusetts
MedicalSociety in 1883.

He went to Europe in 1888, and .spent a year in
travel and study in Berlin iind Vienna. Some of his
papers have been published in the medical journal.^.
Oct. 21, 1885, he married Miss Harriet E. Lord,
daughter of Dr. F. D. Lord, of Newtoa Lower Falls.
Philip Vikcext, M.D., .'on of Philip Vincent,
M.D., was born at Camborne, County of Cornwall,
England, on Feb. 7, 18-08. He is a descendant of a
line of doctors. In early life he spent six years at
the Royal Medical College, Epsom, County Surrey,
England. Alter continuing his studies in the Royal
Medical College and Royal College of Surgeons, Lon-
don, he spent four years in the London University
College and Hospitals, and there took his degree M.
R.C.S. (Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons,
England). The next year, at Edinburgh, Scotland,
he received the degrees, L.R.C.P. and L.M. (Licen-
tiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Licen-
tiate of Midwifery).

He entered into practice in England for a time,
then was appointed surgeon on several steamships of
the Great Western and Cunard Companies' lines.

Retiring from service, on the vessels he came to
America and settled in Boston in 1884. In 1886 he
removed to Newton, where he continued to practice
medicine till July, 1890, when he moved to Waltham.
Dr. Vincent has held the position of ophthalmic
bouse surgeon at University College Hospital under
the celebrated Wharton Jones. He is a member of
the London University College Medical Society. He
has published articles on sea-sickness in the British
medical journals.

William Henry McOwen, M.D., son of Timo-
thy McOwen, was born in Lowell, Mass., March 5,
1860. His early education was obtained at the
Grammar and High School.". He graduated from
Harvard Medical College and settled iu Lowell in
July, 1883. He removed to Newton Upper Falls in
July, 1885, where he now resides and practices medi-
cine. He has been city physician of Lowell and also
on the stafl of Lowell City Free Dispensary. He is
medical examiner for various life insurance com-
panies in the State and elsewhere.
On June 30, 1888, he was married to Miss Ellen

! Theresa Daly, of Newton, Mass. He is a member of
the Ma^.'iacluisetts Medical Society.

Francis M. O'Doxnell, M.D., son of James
O'Donnell, was born in Marlboro', Mass., April 9,
1863. His early education was obtained in theGram-
[ mar and High Schools. He afterwards entered Bos-
I ton College, from which, in 1882, he received the de-
i gree of A.B. and in 1887 the degree of A.M.
j In 1882 he entered the Haivard Medical School,
I and from Harvard Medical College received his ce-
I gree of M.D. He settled in Newton in 1885; became
I a member of the Massachusetts iledical Society in
': 1887. He married Mi;9 Rose A. Harkius, of Newton,
I July 2, 1888.

D. Waldo Stearxs, M.D., son of Daniel Stearns,
j was born in Newton, Mass., November 12, 1864. He
was educated in the Newton Grammar and High
School?, and then entered Harvard College. He eii-
i tered the Harvard Medical School in 1883 and grad-
I uated I'rom Harvard Medical College in 1887. The
I following year he was resident physician at the Lynn
I (Mass.) City Hospital. Then he went to Europe. He
I spent some time studying at Guy's Hospital, London,
i and continued his medical studies in the schools and
t hospitals of Paris. He returned to the United .States
I and settled on Watertown Street, Newton, in 1S89, in
I what has been the family homestead for live geiiera-
I tions. He was elected a memberof theMassachusttts
I Medical Society in 1889. He is a member of the
I Newton Natural Hi.-tory Society.
' Tho.mas Francis Carroll, M.D., son of Owen
I Carroll, was born in Lowell, Mass., July 9, 1864. He
! was educated in the public schools in Lowell and
Boston College, Boston, Mass. He graduated at
Harvard Medical College and settled in Roxbury,
i Mass. He removed to Newton, Mass., in 1889, where
he continues to practice medicine. He is a member
I of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
j Myrox j. Davis, M.D., settled in Newton in 1886.
I Afterwards removed to New York; served in the
j United States Army during the War of the Rebellion ;
j was appointed on the statf of the Newton Cottage
' Hospital as specialist in diseases of the eye.
I Lincoln R. Stone, M.D., graduated at Harvard
'• Medical College in 1854. He joined the Massa'hu-
j setts Medical Society in 1854. He has been presi-
dent of the Middltsex South District Medical Society.
He served in the United States Army in the late War
of the Rebellion. He is now in practice in Newton,
Mass. He served on the Newton School Board ior
many years.

Francis G. Curtiss, M.D. — He joined the Massa-
chusetts Medical Society in 1887. Is now in practice
in Newton Centre, Mass.

James R. Deane, M.D., graduated at Bowdoin
(Me.) Medical College in 1860. He joined the Mas-
sachusetts Medical Society in 1874 ; is now in prac-
tice in Newton Highlands, Mass.

Albest Nott, M.D., graduated at the University

NEWTON.

147

of Vermont Medical Department in 1869. He joined
the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1875. He is
dean of the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
Boston, Mass. Is now in practice in West Newton.
Mass.

Frederick L. Thayer, M.D., graduated at Har-
vard Medical College in 1871. He joined the Massa-
chusetts Medical Society in 1872. Is in practice in
West Newton, Mass. He is a member of the Medi-
cal Board and on the medical staff of the Newton
Cottage Hospital.

Frederick W. Webber, M.D., son of A. C. Web-
ber, M.D., of Cambridge, graduated at the Harvard
Medical College in 1879. He joined the Massachu-
setts Medical Society in 1880. Is in practice in New-
ton, Ma.s3.

Dr. Samuel Wheat, son of Moses Wheat, of
C mcord, Mass., came from Boston to Newton about
1713. He was born in 1703. He died in 1770. At
one time he was selectman. Among his sons was

Dr. Samuel Wheat, Jr., who had a numerous
family, si.xteen in number. One of his daughters
married Dr. Lazarus Beale.

Dr. Johx Cotton', son of Rev. John Cotton. He
was born in 1729 and died in 1758. He married
Mary Clark, July 8, 1750. He graduated at Harvard
College in 1747.

Dr. John Staples Craft, son of Moses Craft,
married Eliz.abeth Parle, M;iy, 1758.

Dr. John Druce, supposed to be the son of John
Druce, M. Graduated at Harvard College in 1738.
Married Margaret Trowbridge, daughter of Deacon
William Trowbridge, in April, 1749.

Dr. Henry Pratt died in 1745. Married Ruth
Learned, Dec, 1709.

Dr. S.4..MUEL Whitewkll, West Newton, born
1754; died 1791. A.'terwards settled in Boston as
he.id of the firm Whitewell, Bond & Co., auctioneers.

Dr. John Allen, son of John Allen, died 1758.
Married Jerusha Cook, of Windham, Ct., in 1745.
He left at his decease one son (7) and five daughters,
one of whom, Jerusha, married Dr. Samuel Wheat,
Jr., in 17G6.

Dr. LAZ.4.RU3 Beale, son of Lazarus Beale, of
Hingham, Muss. Married Lydia Wheat in 1749. She
was probably a daughter of Dr. Samuel Wheat, Jr.

Dr. Edward Durant, son of Edward Durant,
Jr., married Mary Park, daughter of Edward Park,
Nov., 1762. He went privateering during the Revo-
lutionary War and was never heard of afterwards.

Dr. Abrah.am D. Dearbor.v was born in Eseter,
N. H. (?) Bought the practice of Dr. Samuel S.
Whitney and settled at Newton Upper Falls in 1844.
He left Newton in 1854 or 1855. He was well edu-
cated in his profession, particularly courteous in man-
ner and greatly respected.

Dr. James H. Grant was the immediate successor
of Dr. Abraham D. Dearborn at Newton Upper Falls
in 1854 or 1855. He left Newton after a few years

and went to New Hampshire. He was succeeded by
Dr. William H. Hildreth.

Dr. J. F. HiGGlNS settled in Newton Upper Falls
in 1854 or 1855. He practiced medicine five or six
years and died there.

Dr. William Read settled in Newton Upper Falls
in 1836. He practiced medicine there about one year
and then removed to Boston, where he practiced as a
specialist, in diseases of the rectum. He died in Bos-
ton in 1889.

Albert Kendall, M.D., was born in 1828 and
died in 1862. He was admitted a member of the
Massachusetts Medical Society in 1855.

Luther Clark, M.D. -Graduated at Harvard
Medical College in 1836 and settled in Newton.

Henry G. Davis, M.D. — Graduated at Yale Col-
lege Medical Department in 1839; settled in Newton.

W. Sargent, M.D. — Graduated at Department of
Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania in 1847;
settled in Newton, Mass.

Thomas D Smith, M.D. —Graduated at Bowdoin
Medical College, Brunswick, Me., in 1867; settled in
Newton, Mass.

John F. Boothby, M.D. — Graduated at Dartmouth
xMedical College, Hanover, N. H., in 1879. Settled in
Newton Centre, Mass.; afterwards removed to Chelsea,
Mass.

Dr. Ezra Nichols settled in Newton Lower Falls.

Dr. Jones, no record, except name.

Dr. Norman Stevens joined the Massachusetts
Medical Society in 1851. Died in West Newton,
Mass., in 1871.

Dr. Cyrus Sweetser Mann joined the Massachu-
setts Medical Society in 1843. Lived in Newton,
Mass.

Dr. Enos Sumner, recorded as a land-owner in
Newton in 1778.

CHAPTER XL

NEWTON— { Continued).

HOMCEOPATHY.
BY HOWARD P. BELLOWS, M.D.

The history of homoeopathy in Newton begins in
the year 1849, when Dr. Joseph Birnstill, a native of
Germany, removed from Boston to Newton Corner, as
it was then called, and introduced the new system of
practice. For twelve years he remained not only the
pioneer, but the sole representative of this school in
Newton. At the end of that time, in the year 1861,
Dr. Frederick Niles Palmer, a graduate of the HoraoB-
opathic Medical College of Pennsylvania of the year
1853, removed from Gardiner, Me., and settled first
in West Newton, and two years later, in 1863, in
Newton, where Dr. Birnstill was still practicing. In

148

HISTORr OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

this same year and month — April, 1863 — a third rep-
resentative of this school, Dr. Edward P. Scales, a
graduate of Dartmouth '55 and of •he Cleveland
Homoeopathic Hcspital College, of the year 1859,
came to Newton and joined his colleagues in building
up homoeopathy in this city. Dr. Scales had first
practiced for two years following his graduation in
Norwood, Mass. (now South Dedham), and during
the next two years in Winchester, Mass., — removing
from thence to Newton, where he still remains in the
full practice of his profession with unabated vigor,
being not only the senior representative of the homoe-
opathic school, but also the longest resident physi-
cian of any kind in Newton. As such he took a lead-
ing part in the establishment of the Newton Cottage
Hospital, which will be spoken of later as the most
interesting and important event connected with the
history of homoeopathy in Newton.

Of Dr. Scales' two earliest colleagues Dr. Birnstill
died suddenly, of hemorrhage of the lungs, February
16, 1867, aged fifty-?ix years, having practiced in
Newton for eighteen yer.rs. Dr. Palmer continued
to practice in Newton until the autumn of 1869, eight
years in all, when he removed to Boston, introducing
as his successor in Newton Dr. T. S. Keith. After
seventeen years' residence and practice in Boston Dr.
Palmer died. May 10, 1886, aged seventy-two years;
a faithful and skilful physician, punctilious in every
courtfsy, and of such kindly spirit that his genial
presence is still missed at every gathering of his col-
leagues.

Three years after the coming of Drs. Palmer and
Scales, in the year 1866, Dr. W. H. Sanders, a brother
of Dr. 0. S. Sanders, of Boston, also settled in Newton.
After two years of practice here he removed to Wis-
consin in 1868, leaving as his successor Dr. J. H.
Osborne, from New York, who remained, however,
but six months. About this same lime Dr. Charles
W. Taylor, a graduate of the Homceopathic Medical
College of Cleveland in 1853, settled in Newtonvilie.
Dr. Taylor first practiced in Westfield. Masn., then in
Maiden, Mass., whence he removed to Newtonvilie.
Never a strong man, the fatigue and exposure of prac-
tice induced bronchial consumption, and in hopes of
arresting this disease Dr. Taylor, in the fall of 1873,
sold his practice to Dr. Morgan J. Rhees, and removed
to South Carolina. Receiving no benefit from the
change, he returned North and resided in Wilbraham,
Mass., until January 13, 1875. when he died, in his
fifty-fifth year.

It was shortly after the settlement of Dr. Taylor in
Newtonvilie that Dr. Theodore S. Keith came to New-
ton in 1869, and assumed the practice of Dr. Palmer.
Dr. Keith began his professional life during the war,
being appointed medical cadet in the United States
Army May 12, 1862. He served in the hospitals
in Alexandria and Washington until Jan. IG, 1863,
when he entered the naval service as acting assistant
surgeon, and April 6, 1866, was promoted to acting

p.ist-assistant surgeon. He was first ordered to the
U. S. steamer " E. B. Hall," doing duty in the Si.uth
Atlantic Squadron. In 1864 he was ordered to the
U. S. steamer " Peterhoft"' at New York, and after-
wards to the U. S. steamer " Cimarron " lor further
duty in the South Atlantic Squadron. Later he was
ordered to the U. S. steamer " Passaic " and returned
to Philadelphia, and then to the U. S. steamer
" Monoe.acy " at Baltimore. He was finally relieved
at Washington, D. C, and ordered to duty at the
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department,
where he remained until he received his honorable
discharge, July 2nd, 1868. la the same year, 1S68,
he graduated from the Harvard Medical School. His
practice in Newton extended over a period of nearly
nineteen years, from (October 18, 1869, to Sept. 13,
1888, when death removed him from the large circle
of patients and friends which he bad formed around
him.

In the year 1873 Dr. Morgan J. Rhees purchased
the practice of Dr. Taylor and settled in Newtonvilie.
Dr. Rhees was a graduate of the Jetierson Medical
College of Philadelphia, of the year 1841, and came to
Newtonvilie from Hollidaysburgh, Pennsylvania. In
1878 he sold his practice to Dr. George S. Woodman
and removtd to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he
still resides and practices. About the time of Dr.
Rhees' settlement in Newtonvilie, Dr. Levi Pierce
came to Newton Centre, but remained little longer
than one year, when he removed to Everett, Mass.

Up to this time additions to the number of practi-
tioners of the new school were made very slowly, but at
the end of this period the success and popularity of
the new treatment seems to have created a demand
for more physicians, for in the next few years we find
their number increasing steadily and their practices
increasing in the same ratio. First in this group
came Dr. F. E. Crockett, a graduate of the Philadel-
phia University of Medicine and Surgery of the year
1867. Dr. Crockett began the practice of his profes-
sion in Norway, Maine, where he remained until the
year 1874, when he came to this city and settled him-
self at West Newton, where he is still engaged in
practice. In the following year Dr. S. A. Sylvester, a
graduate of the Boston University School of Medi-
cine, of the year 1875, settled himself in Newton Cen-
tre and there still remains in practice. The next
year, 1876, Newton itself received an accession in the
coming of Dr. James Utley, from Taunton, Ma.ssachu-
setts. Dr. Utley received medical degrees from Bow-
doin, in 1874, and from the Hahnemann Medical Col-
lege of Philadelphia in 1875. He practiced in Taun-
ton two years before his settlement in Newton, but
has no reason to desire any further change of residence
or field of practice. He is at present assisted by his
son, Dr. E. R. Utley, a graduate of Amherst and of the
Harvard Medical School. During the term of 1888-89
Dr. James Utley was Lecturer on Minor Surgery in
the Boston University School of Medicine.

NEWTOX.

149

The next village in Newton to receive a physician
was the Upper FalU, where Dr. Eben Tliorapson, a
graduate of the Pulte Medical Collepe, of Cincinnati,
began a practice which he still continues. Newton-
viile was selected by the next comer, Dr. George S.
Woodman, who left a practice in Lynn, Ma.ssachu-
setts, in 187S, to purchase that of Dr. M. J. Rhees.
Dr. Woodman received degrees from Amherst College
in 1846 and 1849, and from Harvard University Med-
ical School in 1849. At the beginning of the war, in
1861, he was appointed by Abraham Lincoln surgeon
of the Board of Enrollment for the Second District of
the State of New York, which oflSce he held until the
end of the war. Since 1878 he has continued to re-
side in Newtonville and is still in active practice.
Towards the close of the same year, 1878, Dr. Howard
P. Bellows settled in Auburndale, having previously
practiced in Boston. Dr. Bellows received degrees
from Cornell University in 1875 and 1879, and from
the Boston University School of Medicine in 1877.
With the exception of one year he has been connected
with the faculty of the Boston University School of
Medicine since his graduation, first as Lecturer on
Physiology, and, after further preparation abroad, as
professor in the same chair; and later, after another
course of special study abroad, as Lecturer on Otol-
ogy, afterwards Professor of Otology, which chair he
still occupies. In the spring of 1890, after eleven and
a half years of practice ia Auburndale, during the last
five of which he was also engaged in special practice
in Boston, Dr. Bellows sold his entire general prac-
tice to Dr. Mortimer H. Clarke, confining his own
practice exclusively to his specialty, diseases of the
ear, and changed his residence from Auburndale to
West Newton. After Dr. Bellows the next physiciati
of this school to choose a location in Newton was Dr. E.
N. Kingsbury, a graduate of the Hahnemann Medical
College of Philadelphia, of the year 1880, who came
from Spenser, Massachusetts, to Newton Centre in
1884, but removed two years later to Woonsocket,
Rhode I-hind. The following year Dr. W. E. Rich-
ards, of Boston, removed his residence to Newionville
while continuing his office in Boston, practicing in
both places. After about three years he discontinued
this arrangement and returned to Boston to reside
there as formerly.

Coming to more recent arrivals, we find, within
about three years past, eight new physicians of this
s-chodl settling in the various villages of Newton,
several of whom siill remain. Dr. Virginia F. Bry-
ant, a graduate of the Boston University School of
Medicine of the year 1884, settled at Newton High-
lands in 1887 — having practiced for three years pre-
viously ill Boston. In the latter part of 1889 she re-
moved to Jamaica Plain. In thesumraer of the same
year, 1887, Dr. Clara D. Reed, a graduate of the Bos-
ton University School of Medicioe of the year 1878,
removed from Bellows Falls, Vt., where she had prac-
ticed for nine vears, aud settled at Newton. In the

following year, 1888, Dr. George H. Talbot, a gradu-
ate of the Boston University School of Medicine of the
yea.- 1882, also removed from Bellows Falls, Vt., after
five years of practice there, and settled in Newton-
ville. The same year, 1888, Dr. F. L. Mcintosh, a
graduate of the Hahnemann Medical College of Phil-
adelphia of the year 1881, sealed in Newton. From
1881 to 1886 Dr. Mcintosh practiced in Claremont,
N. H., and thence removed to Melrose, Mass., where
he practiced for two years before coming to Newton.
He came to assume the practice of Dr. T. S. Keith
upon his decease. The third physician to settle in
Newton in the year 1888 was Dr. Mortimer H. Clarke,
son of the late Dr. Henry B. Clarke, of New Bedford,
Mass., who came from the service of the Brooklyn
Homoeopathic Hospital to associate himself in practice
with Dr. Bellows and became his successor eighteen
months later. Dr. Clarke received degrees from
Harvard University '83 and from the Boston Univer-
sity School of Medicine in the year 1888. In 1889
Dr. C. H. Fessenden, a graduate of the Boston Uni-
versity School of Medicine of the year 1886, removed
from Manchester, N. H., where he had practiced for
three years, to Newton Centre. In the same year Dr.
Samuel Lewis Eaton settled at the Newton High-
lands. He is a graduate of Yale College '77 and of
the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago of the
year 1882. For the first year after receiving his med-
ical degree he practiced in the office of Dr. C. W.
Butler, in Montclair, New Jersey, thence removing to
Orange, N. J., where he practiced a little over five
years before coming to Newton. The last physician
of the new school who has settled in Newton is Dr.
Henry P. Perkins, who came in April, 1890, to take
up his residence and begin practice in West Newton.
Dr. Perkins graduated from the Harvard Medical
School in 1881 and practiced first in Lowell, later in
Canandaigua, N. Y., from whence he removed here.
Hesides the foregoing physicians several others have
made Newton their place of residence, or field of
practice, for longer or shorter periods and then gone
elsewhere. In Newton Dr. Harriet A. Loring, a grad-
uate of the Boston University School of Medicine of
the year 1876, practiced for a yeai or two and then
removed to Boston. In West Newton Dr. Samuel
Ayer Kimball, of the Boston University School of
Medicine, class of '83, practiced about six months and
thence removed to Melrose, Mass., and later to Bos-
ton. At Auburndale, during the absences of Dr. Bel-
lows, his practice was conducted by Dr. George R.
Southwick, of Boston, upon two occasions, once for a
full year, and upon another occasion by Dr. S. H.
' Spaulding, now of Hingham, Mass. Also at Auburn-
: dale, at the Lasell Seminary, there have been settled
i two resident physicians — first. Dr. Maude Kent, a
I graduate of the Boston University School of Medi-
: cine, of the year 1886, and at the present time Dr.
i Martha C. Champlin, who graduated from the same
medical school in the vear 1889

150

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Aside from the evidence of the growth and spread
of homoeopathy in Newton as furnished by the in-
creasing number of physicians who settle here and the
size and quality of their practices the chief interest
attaching to the development of the new school in
this city, and of the public sentiment with which it
is regarded, centres about the Newton Cottage Hos-
pital. This institution, which is now in the full ex-
ercise of its usefulness, was fir^t projected in 1880.
The first meeting was held in January of that year at
the house of the Rev. Dr. Shinn, and was attended by
the friends of both systems of medical practice. It
was then determined to enter upon the work for the
good of the community at large, and afford lo all who
came for treatment the same facility for choosing a
physician of either school that they enjoyed at their
own homes. Upon these lines the work went forward.
Money was subscribed by all who felt interest in the
hospital as a hospital, irrespective of the school of
treatment which its inmates might prefer lo employ.
When, in the further development of the plan, it be-
came necessary to provide a staff of physicians and
surgeons, and a supply of medical and surgical appli-
ances, as well as a building and a matnin and nurses,
the executive committee and trustees created a Medi-
cal Board consisting of eight physicians, four from
each school of practice, who received a standing ap
pointmenc with power to nominate annually the mem-
bers of the medical and surgical staff of the hospital
and regulate their terms of service ; to recommend
purchases and renewals of medical and surgical sup-
plies; to recommend any measures or changes which
may increase the usefulness of the hospital so far as
relates to the medical and surgical service; and, in
short, to act between the executive committee and
trustees on the one hand and the medical and surgical
staff on the other in whatever manner seems wisest
for the best usefulness and success of the hospital.

Upon the first meeting of this Medical Board, April
9, 1886, the most perfect harmony was found to ex-
ist between its several members, and it became
evident at once that each member present felt that
the interests of the hospital itself came before every
other interest, and that all questions of school would
be administered with perfect fairness and forbearance
to secure the common end in view. The president of
the board was chosen from one school and the secre-
tary from the other, and all committees were chosen
in the most equitable manner possible. Questions re-
lating to one school alone were referred to a commit-
tee from that school only, and all questions interesting
both alike were treated without the slightest sugges-
tion of any difference in school. Rules and regula-
tions for the working service of the hospital were
arranged and passed to the Executive Committee for
adoption, and these secured the perfect equality of
the two schools — providing that two complete medical
andsurgical staffs should always be in attendance at
the same time, one consisting wholly of members of

the Massachusetts Medical Society and ;he other of
members of the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical
Society; that the patients of the two staffsjhould be
assigned to opposite sides of the wards, v hen practica-
ble, or be otherwise kept distinct; that each patient
upon entrance should choose the school by which he
wished to be treated, and that when no choice was ex-
pressed the matron should assign them in regular altei-
nate order to each school. The result of this provision
has been perfect harmony from the beginning. In
the board there has not from the very first been a sin-
gle jar or discordant element, and upon the staffs no
trouble has ever arisen between the schools in a single
instance. This working harmony in the same hos-
pital, and in the same wards, which has heretolore
been deemed an impossibility as a matter of theory,
has in our Newton Cottage Hospital been shown to be
entirely possible as a matter of practical demonstra-
tion.

The Medical Board of the hospital, as it has stood
unaltered from the first, is as follows :

Otis E. Hunt, M.D., president (R.) ; H. P. Bellows,
M.D., secrttary (Hi; Henry M. Field, M.D. (R) ;
Edw. P. Scales, M.D. (H) ; F. L. Thayer. M.D. (R) ;
F. E. Crockett, M.D. (H) ; R. P. Loring, M.D. (R) ;
S. A. Sylvester, M.D. (H).

The staff upon the homoDopathic side, as originally
appointed in 1SS6, and as it served the first year, was
as follows :

Physicians — Edw. P. Scales, M.D. ; T. S. Keith,
M.D. ; S. A. Sylvester, M.D.; G.S. Woodman, M.D. ;
F. E. Crockett, M.D. ; W. E. Richards, M.D.

ConauUiiiij Physicians — Edw. P. Scales, 31. D. ; F. E.
Crockett, M.D.

Surgeon — James Utley, M.D.

Specialist, Diseases of the Ear — H.P. Bellows, M.D.

For the present year of service there are no changes
save that Dr. Mcintosh takes the place of Dr. Keith,
deceased ; Dr. Talbot takes the place of Dr. Richards,
removed from the city ; and Dr. Clarke has received
appointment aa surgeon.

CHAPTER XII.
SEWTON—( Continued.)

GEOLOGY OF NEWTON.
BY J. F. FRISBIE, M.D.

Newton is bounded on the north, west and south
by the valley of the Charles River, and on the east
by another depressed area. Between the north and
south boundaries rises a range of hills with the
axis running east and west. The outcropping ledges
are slate, slate-breccia, conglomerate (pudding-stone)
and amygdaloids.

The northern side of the city ia underlaid — in

NEWTON.

151

places

ing specimens

verlaid — by slate and slate-breccia, contain- 1 thii knowledge aids largely in giving the formation
finely ripple-marked. On Jewett I to which they belong. On the (vestern side of

Street is an outcrop of slate-breccia of unusual in-
terest. This breccia is formed of angular fragments
of an older slate inbedded in a newer. The ledge
was upfolded, and in after-time that huge planing-
machine, the glacier, slow-moving but ponderous and
irresistible, plowed it.s way across, smoothing its ir-
regularities, leaving long strise to mark where some
sharp, angular fragment of quartz or other hard,
firm rock chiseled a line as it moved along. In
places these parallel lines have been traced sixty
to seventy-five feet. On Homer Street another out-
cropping ledge shows the glacial striae running in the
Slime direction — from north to south.

At Newton Centre and southeastward the conglom-
erate (pudding-stone) crops out in hills and bold
escarpments, very fine and picturesque, as seen near
Hammond's Pond.

When the upfolding took place — when this region
arose from its watery bed — huge fissures and grad-
ing, down to the minutest seams, were formed as
the crust folded and wrinkled, and into these was
forced and ejected the semi-plastic and melted
material from deep down below, and dykes and traps
cut these older rocks in ever\' direction, of varying
width and extent ; and some of these narrow cracks
were filled, in after-time, by a deposit of mineral held
ill solution by the hot, boiling water bubbling up
from the depth of miles below.

A large part of the city is covered with glaciated
materials, either spread out broadly or heaped up
in characteristic forms — sharp ridges of sand, gravel
and water-worn boulders, like those seen at Auburn-
dale and Xewtonville, or gently-rounded elevations
— lenticular hills, known among geologists as ground
moraines, composed of fine clayey material, with
angular fragments of rock interspersed, like Mt.
Ida and Institution Hill. The first were formed on
top of the glacier — the latter beneath it.

River terraces can be traced on both sides of

Hammond's Pond ii a bold ej^arpmsnt of conglom-
erate, the result of a fracture in the crust ages ago,
producing "a fault. A little farther away a huge
fragment of the cliff has been thrown off, through
the action of water and frost, leaving the rock-bor-
dered amphitheatre, where the Newton Natural
History Society often hold their exercises on their
"Field-Day" excursions.

Glacial Moraines. — Every change of level in a
country produces a change of c^|mate. Ascend to the
height of 350 feet and you have reached the sapie
temperature you would have found by going one de-
gree, sixty miles, towards the north. Therefore we
see that an elevation of any part of a country is a
practical northward journey in temperature, and con-
sequently in the Fauna and Flora.

Preceding the glaciers, there had been a long period
of progressive elevation, till so large a part of North
America had been raised above the line of perpetual
snow, that it was covered with snow and ice piled up
4000 or 5000 feet, almost a mile in thickness ; and
then this mass, slowly, almost imperceptibly, but re-
sistiessly, moved on southward to a warmer clime.
As It journeys onward, the m luntain crags and tow-
ering peaks, through the weight of accumulated snow
and the action of cold winds and frosts, come down in
crashing avalanches, forming deck-loads of crumbled
stones and boulders to be carried aud deposited in the
valleys far away.

As these glaciers pressed south, southeast and
southwestward, their eroding and grinding power was
incalculable, and the tops of the hills and lower
mountains, and sides of the higher, were ground away
by these mighty planing-machines, leaving behind
traces of their movements on the solid rock, in long
striated scratches and groovings.

In one place a sharp, projecting angle of stone cuts
its line in the solid ledge; in another, a loose rolling
stone crushed the ledge as it rolled along, leaving

Charles River, clearlv showing the former level of! slight horizontal crackings; and again the solid ledge
the .'iver-bed, and the down-cutting that has re- 1 was gouged to a foot or more in depth as a hard
suited from erosion during the long ages that have [ boulder, securely fixed beneath, and in the enormous
elapsed since the ice-sheet disappeared from our i ma?8 of ice, plowed across the naked rock. Gravel,
midst and our land was with "verdure clad," and sand and earth imbedded in sideorbottomoftheglacier,
bright flowers dotted the hills and the valleys. smoothed and polished the ledge over which it passed.

Dendiitesare found abundantly in the slates; some Following this period of high elevation, accompan-
are very beautiful. An outcrop of slate at the 1 led with Arctic cold, came a subsidence, and these

drive-way entrance to the estate of Hon. R. R.
Bi-hop, Newton Centre, is well worth an examina-
tion. The folding and wrinkling is beautifully
shown ; the laminations can easily be recognized in
the face of the cliff, where it dips sharply to the
north, and the dendrites are readily found. This is
an interesting locality from the fact that the .slate

glaciers slowly melted away as the warmer climate
followed ; and rock, boulder, gravel and sand, consti-
tuting the drift, was left behind. Where the glaciers
had pushed immense quantities of this material, torn
and worn away from the hills and mountains, we now
find the terminal moraines; beneath, where it had
been carried alo«g on top, we find the medial mo-

rests on the conglomerate, and is overlaid by the | raines ; and on either side of these moving rivers of
conglomerate. Points of contact between different I snow and ice, the lateral moraines are left to tell the
rock-strata are eagerly sought for by geologists as ' stor>" of their breadth

152

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Again a part of Ihe land was covered by the ocean,
and.the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain were arms
of the sea. The ocean waves re-arranged and leveled
much of this debris, spreading it out over the shallow
ocean bed.

Time passes on and the everlasting forces acting
below, again change the ever-changing surface, and
a slow upheaval takes place ; and the waters begin
to drain off, and our part of the planet assumes more
nearly its- present limit and form. As the waters
drain off, the river channels are formed and the
river systems are developed, and down through the
drift the waters readily cut their way. "The falling
rain-drops gather on the land and a little rill forms ;
as this moves along it cuts down a little furrow ;
several of these rills combining form a rivulet which
enlarges the furrow into a gully as it goes down the
river-bank ;" and these again combining pour down
in torrents, cutting wider and deeper, as with gather-
ing force the waters sweep down the declivities, ex-
cavating deep ravines and gorges, leaving behind the
higher summits as ridges, cliffs and banks.

We find the Drift in every direction in Xewton and
the adjoining towns, in rounded hills, ridges, spurs
and elevated plateaux composed of sand and gravel
with boulders. Standing on the .belt and ridge
of land south of Cabot Street, you find a peculiar
arrangement of hill and valley spread out on every
side. Cabot Street cuts through an arm of this
ridge, which stretches northward. There, and on the
path through the woods, is exposed a fine picture of
the unmodified Drift, sand, gravel and boulders,
water-worn throughout. This entire ridge is Drift,
and walking southward through Newton Centre the
same formation is seen on ever)' hand. Beyond
there the country slopes to the south, leaving New-
ton Centre, Newton Highlands, and onward to Au-
burndale and Lower Falls, an elevated plateau and
ridge of this Drift material, constituting a divide or
water-shed.

The drift is very distinctly seen where it crops out
on the Watertown shore of Charles River, nearly op-
posite the home of Mr. Henry Claflin.

At Auburndale and Riverside is a high bluff of
Drift on the south side of the railroad, showing
beautifully the enormous accumulations of this
material ; and as we cross to the north side we find
another ridge of the same Drift which has been
separated from the other by the water cutting a
channel between ; and then across the Charles River
in Weston, rising to an equal height, the belt of Drift
can be traced for many miles. Among the boulders
lying scattered on the hills and occasionally in the
plains, we find granite, gneiss, slates, green-stones
and conglomerates. With the exceptions of the
latter, all these boulders, sand and gravel, have been
torn away from other rocks and transported to their
present position through the agency of ice and
water.

Then come back to the point of observation I have
' referred to on the ridge, and at once the conclusion
is reached that this level plateau has, at some distant
' time, extended across the valley where Newtonville
stands, to the plain on which Waltham is built, to a
I corresponding height in Watertown, and that the
i valley of the Charles is the result of the action of
water since the depositions of the Drift, although this
higher plain and ridge have been worn away much be-
low its former height.

Now, descending and advancing towards the river,
we find Newtonville is built on another level plateau,
the same on which stands the lower part of the
villages of Newton, West Newton and Auburndale,
composed of the same materials ;is that we have left,
and as we near Charles River another descent is
made. These latter constitute the river terraces, and
differ in many respects from the first.

Again we will retrace our steps to the ridge south
of Cabot Street, near Newtonville, and endeaver to
read the history of this problem spread out before
us. First the ridge on which we stand is the old
unmodified, unstratified Drift, proved by the mate-
rials composing it. These were brought and deposit-
ed here by the glaciers when the subsidence of this
part of our continent caused a warmer climate, and
the glaciers melting, disappeared. Now, as this im-
mense quantity of water was drained off, accelerated
by the gradual upheaval, wonderful changes took
place; the river valleys were washed out, terraces
formed, and with the exceptions of a slight deepening
of the river channels and the present flood plains,
the dry land was left nearly in its present condition,
only now covered with grass, flowers, shrubs and
forests.

Where glaciers have swept over the country, the
northern slope is long and gentle, and the southern
shorter and often abrupt ; the glaciers ground,
smoothed, polished, as they gradually ascended to the
hill or mountain-top, then passing over they crumb-
led, falling down the other side, leaving no strire or
grooves to mark their tremendou^ power. As the ir-
resistible force behind pushed them over, it exerted
no influence on the falling mass farther than to con-
tinue piling more and more on top of that which had
already fallen ; and conequently its grooving, plan-
ing power was lost till it again had consolidated and
gained a steady headway. Therefore on the north
slope and top of ledges and mountains we find evi-
dences of glacial action, while on '.he south we look
in vain for them. The side of the advance was the
side of wear and greatest erosion.

Some of the rounded hills standing isolated in the
valleys, and nearly all the ridges in this vicinity,
have, as a centre or backbone, an internal foundation
structure, composed of granite, conglomerate or slates,
all worn from pre-existing or primary rocks and consti-
tuting what is termed the secondary or stratified rocks.
Where these ledges crop out we often find they

NEWTON.

153

have been rounded, polished, grooved and scratched
by the ponderous, southward-moving glacier. On
Jewett, just beyond Pearl Street, the ledge bears am-
ple evidence of glacial action. Before it had been
much cut away, I traced grooves more than fifty feet,
rounding up over the ledge to its summit as far as it
was uncovered. Although this stone had been sub-
ject to the well-known agencies following exposure,
still the tracings are at once apparent.

Ws have spread out before us to-day one of the
problems science unraveled and made clear only
after the Glacial Theory had been accepted.

From base to lop of this mass of snow and ice
slowly moving southward, the materials composing
the Drift were carried from the north to warmer cli-
mates. From jagged hill-tops and mountain-crags
the rocks were gathered, which, after rolling and
wearing, were finally deposited as clay, fine sand and
gravel, or coarser stones and boulders over Canada,
New England, and westward beyond the Mississippi.
These boulders seldom exceeded a cubic foot in size,
although sometimes they are found containing 20,000,
30,000, and even 40,000 cubic feet.

The Drift, while covering the lower lands and val-
leys, is found high up the mountains — 2000 feet on
the Green Mountains, .3000 on Monadcock, and 6000 i
on Mt. Washington. On the very summit of Mt.
Washington drift boulders have been found.

Large and small boulders are found on the sum- i
mits of most hills and smaller mountains in New !
England.

The loose, unstratified gravel and boulders over }
New England, New York, and the States west over
the same latitude are called Drift. In some excep- \
tional cases it is in layers; then it is called Modified I
Drift.

This is the result of a working over of the Drift I
material by the streams of water beneath the glacier |
or in subsequent time by the rivers or ocean. I

The Drift is derived from the rocks to the north of '
where it lies, mostly between northeast and north- )
west. The material is coarsest towards the north, j
grading down to finer gravel and sand without stones i
towards the southern limit. Wiih the exception of \
pieces of wood the Drift is nearly bare of fossils, and '
nothing to suggest marine origin. |

Glaciers will move on slopes of one or two degrees, I
and at the present time the requisite slope is found to t
exist in New England and Eastern New York. When ;
the winters come and the mantle of snow covers our
country from the sea-coast lo the far, frigid North,
we have a stationary glacier; but the depth is only
a few feet, instead of 4000 to 5000, and is light,
porous snow, diflfering from the old-time glacier,
which was mostly ice, with, perhaps, a few hundred
feet of snow on the top.

The glacier in this part of North America would of
necessity move southward, for, if for no other reason,
the enormous accumulation of ice and snow to the

northward would effectually present a barrier to its
movement in that direction, while to the South there
would be a limit resulting from the warmer climate.
In the farther North the ice-mantle may have been
many miles in thickness. Therefore the glaciers
would push southward, rounding and polishing off
the hills and lower mountains, scoring the sides and
tops with regular marked striae, produced by the
rocks, boulders and sand rubbing over them as with
gigantic power the glacier moved along. •

The Glacial Epoch and the Drift Epoch were the
same. It was a period of intense cold, following and
accompanying a wide-spread elevation in the cold
latitudes in both the Northern and Southern hemis-
pheres. In the warmer regions there are no traces
of Glacier nor Drift material.

Below the perpetual frost-line a stream of water
always flows, which works over that part of the
glacial dibria of angular and rounded stones and
earth within its reach, transporting it to the valley,
where it is deposited on the banks in a more or less
stratified form.

The glacier has its sides and bottom set with stones
of large or small size, and sand and gravel, and is a
"tool of vast power," scratching, plowing and planing
the rocks over or against which it moves: it even
widens and deepens valleys.

Prof. Hitchcock says, "The Mountain Tarns,
known as ' Lakes of the Clouds,' just below the sum-
mit of Mt. Washington, resulted from the excavating
power of the glacier."

Sometimes the accumulated Drift material formed
immense barriers and dammed up streams and shut
in valleys, giving us to-day beautiful ponds and lakes.

I have referred to the avalanches falling upon the
glaciers and forming deck-loads of debris. This detri-
tus which was precipitated upon the top of the gla-
cier was only a small part of the material gathered
into this snow and ice-masa. From the tops of the
mountains over which it passed; from the sides against
which it crushed its way, and even from the valleys,
it gathered material which became incorporated into,
and distributed throughout the vast sheet of ice; and
these materials eroded, broken, crushed and taken
from one place, were the implements that ground, pul-
verized, polished and produced the striae on other and
perhaps far distant rocks. This debris, taken from
different rock-formations, comprised fragments of all
the rocks exposed, from the granites down to the more
recent formations, and to-day we find it scattered
broad-cast over our hills and valleys.

To produce the Drift there must be the glacier.
To form the glacier there must be elevation above the
line of perpetual frost, and an abundance of moist-
ure in the atmosphere. Were the thermometer never
to rise above freezing point our earth would be a
rainless, snowless sphere. For, to produce rain and
snow, there must be moisture, and this is only the re-
sult of a temperature of above 32° Fahrenheit.

154

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Thus far in speaking of the Drift, I have referred
only to that form of it over which we passed. But
there are two other conditions in which the glaciated
dibrii ia presented for our examination and study,
differing in material and position from that we have
observed to-day.

lu Newton we have a few of those beautiful shaped
hills, characteristic of the Glacial Period, found so I
frequently in the eastern parts of Maine, New Hamp- |
shire and Massachusetts.

These hills are supposed to have been formed
beneath, the ice-sheet by the gradual accumulation
of the material torn and worn away from the rocks
and valleys over which it moved. They are compos-
ed of clay, sand, boulders and fragments of rock in-
discriminately heaped up, without stratification ; very
hard and compact.

The name given them appears to be very charac-
teristic and appropriate — ground moraines— and if the
theory i^i correct that they were formed by the con-
stant addition of new material as the glacier moved
onward, their composition and compactness can
readily be understood. They have been named
by Prof. Hitchcock, " Lenticular hills." They are
elliptical in shape, the long diameter corresponding
very nearly with the strife and glacial groovings
found in the immediate vicinity. Mt. Ida is a typical
specimen of a lenticular hill — elliptical in shape,
steep sidfs, gently rounded top and always a beautiful
picture in the landscape.

Beside Mt. Ida; Brighton Hill, par'ly in Newton
and Brighton; Nonanlum Hill; Prospect Hill, near
the Newton reservoir; Institute Hill at Newton Cen-
tre; Moffit's Hill, lying between Fuller and Beacon
Streets, and Ouk Hill, near Newton Highlands, are
all composed of the same materials and present the
same shape.

The other form remaining to be described is that
of a cover, or sheet of material, consisting partly of
that just described, mingled with sand, gravel and
detritus generally, dropped loosely upon the hills and
valleys when the ice melted beneath it. This form
of the Drift covers nearly all New England to a
depth varying from one to ten, or even twenty feet;
and in connection with this are found the large
boulders so abundant in some localities.

The distinction between these three glacial deposits
is readily apparent.

The first is composed of sand, gravel, pebbles and
boulders (not striated) all, water-worn and rounded ;
more frequently unstratified. This is generally found
in the valleys; but sometimes it occurs on elevated
plateaux. It often overlies the other two forms of
deposit.

The second overlies the " lenticular hills," and
nearly the whole of the elacier-swept region, forming
a thin cover of only a few feet in thickness, com-
posed of the materials found in the lower and upper
deposits.

The lenticular hills, built up of clay, sand, pebble
and angular fragments of rock, hard and compact,
comprise the third or lower division of the Drift.
These two latter are also known by the name of upper
and lower Till.

In Hiasvatha, Longfellow assigns other cause than
glaciers for the boulders found scattered far and wide
over the elevated plateaux of the distant Northwest.
You will remember the terrible conflict between Hi-
awatha and his father, Mud-je-kee-wis, when Hia-
watha,

" With threatpDJng look nnd cesture
Laid his hunii np«jn the lilack rock.
Upon the fulal Warbeek laid it,
With \i\i initteo^, iliu-jek-aii-wnn.
Rent the jtittinc; eras asumler,
Smote and crushed it into frai^inenta.
Hurled tliem nmdly at his father,

But the ruler of the West-Wind

Blew the fragments bacU\v4ird from him,

With the hreathiiiijs uf his nostrils,

With the tempest of his anger;

Blew them back at hib assailant ;

Stitl the hunter sees Its traces
Scattered far o'er hill and valley ;

*♦«****•

Sees the masses of the Warbeek
Lying still in every valley."

Scattered throughout Newton, in every direction,
; especially on the ridges and hills, are found the boul-
ders left by the ice. On the hill-t'ips and slopes they
I are or have been very abundant, in full view, the tiner
j material having been washed away, leaving them
, exposed. The walls built by farmers are composed
I entirely of these rocks, various in form and material,
I but showing unmistakable evidences of water action.
On the top of the ridge I have referred to, lying
! between Newtonville and Bullough's Pond, I found
the fragments of a large boulder, a well-worn traveler
from some distant crag or mountain-top, .-tranded,
like many another castaway, on a gravelly beach.
Also on the southwest slope I found fine specimens
of asbestos where another boulder had landed and
was slowly and surely crumbling back to dust.

This ridge shut off the pond from the plain on
which Newtonville stands, and dammed back its
waters when the pond occupied a much greater area
than now; but, following the elevation of the land,
the water burst through the barrier at the northwest
corner, and the greater part esqaped where the " Old
Mill " now stands. Beyond are beautiful forest-
crowned ridges, water-worn hollows and romantic
dells, rimmed with shrub and tree, dotted with the
trailing vine, the purpling bloom and the flowers
nodding in the gentle breeze; dark and sombre in
the shadows ; lovely places to wander on a summer's
day to study the great problems of life and the changes
and growth of this, our terrestrial home.

,3r¥\Ync\yHrrj

NEWTON.

155

BIOGRAPHICAL.

HON. DAVID H. MASON.

Hon. David Haven Mason, son of John and Mary
(Haven) Miison, was born in Sullivan, N. H., on
March 17, liSlS. Hia career offers a shining example
of the success of a self-made man, in the deepest sig-
nificance of that familiar phrase. By his own unaided
exertion, by rigid economy, without ihe assistance of
wealthy or influential friends, he procured the means
lor .Sis professional eoucation, graduating at Dart-
mouth College in 1841, and entered upon the chosen
field of his labors in Boston, Mass., an entire stranger
to the city and its institutious. After securing a lo-
cation at 20 Court Street (now the site of Young's
Hotel), and by the purchase of the necessary otfice
furniture with a few elementary law-book-', his last
dollar was spent. Thus he entered upon his business
career without a solitary friend in the city from whom
he could claim the privilege of the smallest loan; but
by his untiring energy, industry, sturdy devotion to
his profession and fidelity to his clients he soon com-
manded a respectable and lucrative practice, while by
his many honorable and genial traits of character he
was rapidly gathering about him a large circle of ar-
dent and appreciative friends.

After several years of tireless devction to the tw
he entered the arena of public life and by his admin-
istration of the various otKcial positions entrusted to
him, whose functions he discharged with admirable
judgment, zeal and success, he made his influence felt
as a noble public benefactor in Newton, where he re-
sided, in the neighboring city of Boston and through-
out the whole Commonwealth. Many of the most
useful and important public improvementsof the period
in which he was so conspicuous in active otlicial ser-
vice owe their origin and their successful achieve-
ment, with all their untold utility, to his wisdom in
preparation and his remarkable skill in execution.

.Mr. Mason was a resident of Newton for twenty-
five years, and during this entire perind he was an
honored and cherished leader in the educational and
social improvement of the community, exercising to a
remarkable degree his peculiar faculty of bringing
out the good qualities of those with whom he came in
contact and greatly enriching his townsmen by this
contribution. The precise value of his services to the
town of Newton during the long period that he was
its counsel and the zealous promoter of its interests
can never be estimated and therefore will never re-
ceive a just and proper appreciation.

He early won the confidence of his fellow-citizens,
and was a very active and influential member of the
House of Representatives during the years 1863, '66
and '67. The patriotic Governor John A. Andrew
admitted him to his personal intimacy, and often ex-
p.'essed himself by word and letter as leaning with
implicit confidence upon the sag.icious counsels of his
triecd in many important and diflScult emergencies.

In the struggles of the country during the War of
1861-65 he evinced the most devoted and ardent pa-
triotism, and his tongue and pen were never deficient
in the e.Kigencies of any occasion. He was a friend
to the poor and a helper to the distressed. Mindful
of his own early struggles, he sympathized with young
men and was ever ready with his advice and influence
to encourage and stimulate them in the preparation
for spheres of usefulness and honor. He declined tha
honor of the Republican nomination for the Senator-
ship and the higher position of National Representa-
tive, each of which he was strongly urged to accept,
giving as his reason the claims of his profession. He
also repeatedly declined elevation to the Bench on the
ground that no emolument or judicial distinction
could induce him to surrender the delights or avoid
the tender responsibilities of his home and family, a
sentiment of which the practical interpretation formed
a legacy now most deeply cherished in the hearts of
his children.

The most influential journals of hia lime contained
many sterling articles from his pen, advocating pub-
lic improvements and adapted to guide public opinion
upon points involving the financial or educational in-
terests of hifl town, of the city of Boston, and the
Common,wealth.

In 18-37 Mr. Mason was invited to deliver the ora-
tion at New London, Coun., at the celebration of the
eighty-first anniversary of American Independence.
The papers of that city, without distinction of party,
spoke of the oration "as a sound, able and patriotic
production, beautifully written and very effectively
delivered." On a similar occasion in Boston he was
invited to read the Declaration of Independence and
he performed the service according to the journals of
the day " in a forcible and truthful manner, and the
audience warmly evinced their approbation.''

In 1859 he was the orator of the day, at the cele-
bration of the eighty-third anniversary of indepen-
dence at Newton Centre, and his oration gave great
satisfaction to his hearers. It was a refreshing ex-
ample of originality, bold in expression as well as
conception, and naturally suggested by the time-
hallowed history of the scenes and struggles which
gave birth to the anniversary. " It was marked by
careful research and sound judgment, and replete
with noble sentiments and lofty eloquence.'' On the
14th of July, 1864, Mr. Mason delivered the address
at the centennial anniversary of the town of Lancas-
ter, N. H., a very interesting production now in print.

While he was a member of the House of Repre-
sentatives Mr. Mason attended to the business of the
Commonwealth with great fidelity, and won for him-
self the reputation of being one of the best debaters
of that honorable body. He watched carefully every
measure that came before the Legislature, bringing
the entire weight of his powerful influence in favor
of any worthy project, and by his scrupulous adhesion
to the right he made himself a power among hisasso-

156

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ciates. His speeches before the Legislature and com- ! cornea persistent oppusition, and in its darkest hours
mitteea thereof upon the consolidation of the We-stern j wlien its firmest friends were almost tempted to de-
and the Boston & Worce.-ter Railroad corporations, on ! spair, liis voice was lifted in tones of start lirg elo-
equalizing the bounties of the soldiers, on tlie adop- ' quence, till success crowned his efforts. And the en-
tion of the Fourteenth Amendment to the National j thusiasm with which his name and speech were re-
Constitution, on making the mill-dam free of toll, , ceived showed that this was not the hour of his pride
and his immense contribution to the business facili- i alone but the pride of his friends for him." The
ties and prosperity of Boston by the leveling of Fort I " Mason School " at Newton Centre was named for
Hill, are specimens of the noble efforts by which he ! him as an honorary testimonial by his townsmen of

proved himself preeminently a public benefactor.
In the course of an extended comment upon the last
of these undertakings, one of the daily journals of
Boston remarked: "The credit of engineering the
matter (the Fort Hill improvement) through the T<eg-
islature, and reducing the details to a practical work-

his noble interest in the cause of education.

Allusion has been made to Mr. Mason's patriotic
spirit. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Governor
Andrew chose him from the ranks of the Democrat
party and placed him upon the Military Commission —
the only civilian in that important selection. He was

ing level, is due to D. H. Mason, Esq., whose eiTorts i an ardent War Democrat, threw the full current of
in bringing to an adjustment the long contested | his powerful influence in favor of the re-election of
Brighton Bridge case, and the prominent part he has ' Abraham Lincoln, and during the war he was un-
taken as counsel for railroad corporations before the i wearied in his zeal to preserve the country and its

Legislature, has caused him to be regarded as one of
the most eminent and successful counsel that appears

free institutions unharmed, and to stimulate his fel-
low-citizens to all right and noble etlbrts. A notable

in that body. This enterprise was entrusted to him instance of this occurred in an emergency in the war,
and the many difficulties that stood in the way were, i when a large and enthusiastic meeting of citizens was
by his untiring energy, all removed, and Boston will : held in the town of Newton. The design of the meet-
soon reap the advantage of hiving wide and well- : ing was to lake measures for equipping one or more
graded streets in place of narrow lanes lading to companies of volunteer militia, and to take further
crowded tenement-houses." ' measures for the support and comfort of the families

Of the action of the municipal and State authori- ! of such as should be called into service. Mr. Mason
ties in removing the toll gates from the mill-dam : offered a series of resolutions which he supported
road and making the great thoroughfare free to the ' with eloquent and patriotic remarks. He alluded to
public, the same journal says: " It is but just that it a previous meeting where the patriotic men of the
should be known that the credit of this is due princi- town expressed themselves as willing to sacrifice

pally to the persistent efforts of David H. Mason,
Esq., of Newton, who for several years has given at-
tention to this matter, presenting its importance be-

everything for the cause of their country ; but the
present meeting was one where prudence and calm
judgment should rule the hour. The minds of men

fore successive Legislatures until at last the public should not, in their enthusiasm, be carried beyond
enjoy the great privilege secured." i the proper line of duty ; while they are willing to

In 1860 Mr. Mason was appointed to a position up- give of their substance, judgment and discretion
on the Massachusetts Board of Education, of which should so guide their actions, that, while everything
he was for several years a very efficient member, and '. needed should be given unsparingly, nothing should
discharged the duties of that office with exemplary i be wasted. •' Millions of gold and rivers of blood will
faithfulness. No demands of his business were per- | not compare with the influence of this question ; for,
mitted to interfere with his obligations to the State on its solution hang tlie hopes of civil liberty and

in this department of service. It was to him a labor
of love and he loved even the labor itself. Recog-
nition of his eflbrts in behalf of the State Normal
School at Framingham were showered upon him in a

civilization throughout the world for agts to come.
Let it not be said that we, of this generation, have
been unfaithful to the high and holy trust." The
preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously

thousand different ways and added to the pleasures ' adopted, were as follows :

of success in this undertaking. " Wheeeas, for the first lime in the history of our government, the

Mr. Mason was also deeply interested in sustaining | R<'P"l'li<; >» P'acod in greKt peril by an armed rebelll&n of several of the

the high character of the schools in the town of New-
ton. In an account of the dedicatory exercises of the
High School building at Newtonville, it was written :
" It would not be invidious to the other friends of the
enterprise to say that to Mr. Mason, perhaps more
than to any one else, is the town indebted for the con-
summation of this enterprise. For three years he
has devoted to it his time and energies. Through his
eloquent appeals and forcible arguments he has ovei-

United StuteB, threatening the destruction of our National Archives and
our Xational Capitol, and a sudden resort to an armed resistance lias
become necessary for the preservation of our lives and liberties, and

" Whereas, by Boletnn proclanjation the President of the I'nited States
has called upon the good Commonwealth of Massachusetts for themeaus
of eiTecttial resistance —

" Now, therefore, we, the inhabitants of the Town of Xewton in town-
meeting ;isscmbled, loyal to the constitution and the laws of the land,
do hereby instruct and direct the selectmen of our said town to take
and appropriate from any moneys at any time in the treasury of said
t-.wii, during the current year, a sulficient sum, not exceeding £20,iimii,
to fully tirm and equip in the most approved manner one company or

NEWTON.

157

more of vohmleer militia «-ho have enlisted or may hereafter enlist
f,oni =a,d town, in the sertice of the State or General Ooxc.nn.ent, ..nd
if any such pei^ns are called into actual service, leaving their fn.iiiliee
unprovided for, the selectmen are also directed ic take especial care to
provide for them all the needed and necessary comlorie of life, in sick-
ness and in health, durinp the continuance of said service, and as long
aa the exigency of the case requires. And if any should perish in said
service the town will tenderly care for their remains, and furnish them
a suitable burial.

" lleioked. That the people of this town have the most perfect con-
fidence and trust in our present form of Government, that we have
faith in ihe wisdom and patriotism of its founders, and that without
distinction of party or recognition of party lines, in our heart of
heart^ we revere and love their virtues and their memories. The
cause of this Union is our cause, and to its support, in firm reliance
on the protection of Uivine Proiidence, we pledge our lives and our
sacred honor."

Thfse resolutions, passed unanimoufly amid great
eDthusias-m, are hocorable alike to the lofty intellect
from which they sprang, to ihe pen that drew tbem
and to the loyal citizens of the town who found in
them the elcquent expression of their sentiments.

When the elevated and lucrative office of United
States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts be-
came vacant by the resignation of Hon. George S.
Hillard, a large number of the most famous members
of the Suti'olk Bar volunteered their intiuence in sup-
port of the appointment of Mr. Mason to that honor-
able position. He was nominated by President Grant,
confirmed by the Senate, and appointed upon Decem-
ber 22, 1870, his elevation being regarded as a strong
one for the Government and highly acceptable to the j
people and the bar of Mas.sachusetts. He was at 1
this time a leading member of the Republican Party, j
having joined its ranks at the close of the Civil War. |
Mr. Mason's administration of this, his last public 1
office, evinced to the highest degree the attorney's j
legal knowledge and acumen, and was a fitting close j
of°an active and noble professional career. He wa.s i
counsel for the Government in some very important j
and celebrated cases during his term of office, securing
two of the largest verdicts ever obtained by the Gov-
ernment in this district. His methods were marked
with dignity and principle, without exception, and
won for him the highest public and private commen-
dation.

Mr. Mason, in his domestic and social relations,
displayed even more decisively the charming dignity
and purity of his character. On June IC, 1845, he had
married Sarah Wilson (daughter of John Hazen and
Roxanna) White, of Rutland, Mass., and he loved to
ascribe a greater part of his prosperity and success to
the unwavering sympathy and love of his faithful
wife. In a letter by Gov. Emory Washburn to Mrs.
Mason after her husband's death he says : " I have
again and again heard him, almost reverently, express
how strongly he was sensible of having what, to a
generous-minded man, is the highest element of en-
couragement and success— the counsel and sympathy
of one whose lot was inseparably cast with his.''

Mr. Mason died in Newton on the 29th of May,
1873, after a lingering illness of several months. His

widow, a daughter (Mabel White) and three sons sur-
vive him ; his sons (Edward Haven, Harry White and
Frank Atlee) following the profession of their father.

The lofty moral and intellectual culture that illum-
ined every element of his sterling character eminently
fitted him for intimate association with the distin-
guished men of his time, and through it he enjoyed
the sincere friendship and personal intimacy of such
men as Henry Wilson, Charles Sumner and Governors
Andrew and Washburn.

The eloquent messages of condolence that poured
in after his death, the resolutions passed by the courts
and by the various associations of which he had been
a member, the many distinguished persons high in the
Church and State who paid him the last sad honor at
his burial, and the thousands of every rank of life that
thronged to his final resting-place, bore silent and
touching testimony how widely he was mourned and
how deeply he had been beloved.'

JOHN WILEY EDMAKDS.'

John Wiley Edmands, son of Thomas Edmands,
Esq., and Roxa (Spragne) Edmands, daughter of
William Sprague, of Leicester, Mass., was born in
Boston, Mass., on the 1st of March, 1809. The rec-
ord of tis life is from fiirst to last a chronicle of great
activity and grand achievements; while in enter-
prises, more particularly connected with the manu-
facturing industry of New England, in which the
broad scope of his intellect was most successfully
concentrated, he displayed a comprehensive mastery
of the economical and administrative principles of
business rarely met with.

In his boyhood he was educated in the Boston
Grammar School, and upon his graduation therefrom
he entered the English High School of Boston when
it was founded, in 1821, graduating from this institu-
tution in 1823, having been favored with the honor
of a Franklin medal.
j His tender recollections and rich appreciation of
the educational advantages afforded him by this now
1 famous school were touchingly embodied in an ad-
dress delivered at its semi-centennial in 1871 before
j the assembled graduates and scholars. It was a
I glowing tribute of his love for the institution and for
j the cause of educational culture, and proved one of
1 the most cherished efforts of his life.
! Upon his graduation at the High School he began
his business career in the famous house of Amos &
Abbott Lawrence. In 1830, during his absence in
Europe, he was made a partner in the concern and
soon afterward became its acting manager, conduct-
ing its involved and multifarious business with re-
markable application and success, ^e retired from
the firm in 1843, having acquired at this early age a

I Re-written from Dr. S. F. Smith's " HUtory of Newlon." by Frank
A. Maaon. Esq.

■' By Frank A. ^Imoq.

158

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTr, MASSACHUSETTS.

wide-spread reputation of being a most intelligent,
able and zealoua business manager. As such his ser-
vices were eagerly sought by many of the leading
railroad and manufacturing corporations throughout
New England, but these flattering offers he was for
the present compelled to decline that he might fortify
his already overtasked strength in preparation for the
greater labors to come. During this period he was
interested in one of his most profitable enterprises,
the Maverick Woolen-Mills, in Dedbam, Mass., and
carefully acquired a familiarity with the cloth manu-
facture.

Mr. Edmaads' rare intelligence upon economical
questions enabled him to exert a powerful influence
upon national financial legislation, and upon his elec-
tion to the National House of Representatives in the
fall of 1852 he was at once delegated a distinguished
position upon the financial committees. His term of
service in Congress was brief, for at the next election
in his district he resolutely declined a renomination
for good and sufficient private reasons, and though
afterwards repeatedly urged to accept the nomination,
he could not be persuaded to separate himself from
his more pressing responsibilities. But he main-
tained a searching interest in national and political
questions to the very close of his busy life ajid the
wisdom of his consultation was eaeerlj- sought by the
legislators from his district and the New England
Republican members of Congress. He was chosen
Presidential elector from his district in 1SC8 by the
Republican party and was president of the first great
convention, that at Boston, which nominated General
Grant for the Presidency. Without his request or
knowledge he was honored with the enthusiastic en-
dorsement and support of influential business men
for his appointment to high official position at Wash-
ington, including that of Secretary of the Treasury,
under the .administrations of Presidents Lincoln and
Grant, and subsequently by leading men of the West
for the position of Minister to England.

In 1855 he took one of the most significant business
steps of his life, that of assuming the treasurership of
the Pacific Mills, at Lawrence, a position that he re-
tained to the very end of his business career. He
undertook this tremendous responsibility at the earn-
est solicitation of Mr. Abbott Lawrence ; and the
firm of A. & A. Lawrence, by their support and sacri-
fices, followed the varied vicissitudes of his adminis-
tration with implicit and unwavering confidence in
its success.

Through the financial and manufacturing ability of
Mr. Edmands, this most colossal of the manufacturing
establishments of New England was resuscitated al-
most at the very point of death, and raised from a
state of almost hopeless bankruptcy to one of unpar-
alleled success and prosperity. He successfully eneiu-
eered his company through the financial crisis of
1857. With his acute insight into the demands and
requisitions of the future, he penetrated the cloud-

bank of threatened disaster and calmly put into prac-
tical operation his theory of making the Pacific Mills
one of the greatest individual manufacturing estab-
lishments of the world.

As the orgiinization of the National Association of
Wool Manufacturers, Mr. Edmands at once took an
active and conspicuous part in its afl'air.s, reluctantly
becoming its president in 1871.

At a meeting of tbis association in the city of New
York on the 7th of March, 1877, certain resolutions, of
which the following is an extract, were introduced by
Mr. Bigelow, of Boston, and were uninimously
adopted :

^'Resolved, That the XKtiooal Association of Wool Manufacturers
Bufferij, in Ilie (JispenaHlion of Providence which has removed from his
earthly hihorB its respected and heloved asaociate anil President, Hon.
J. Wiley Ednmnds,— a loss which profoundly affects its interests, and
coiues borne to its luemhera as a private calaniity.

'' lieBoIveil, That this Association recognizes the unreniittini;; devotion
of our departed ataociate diirinj* the whole period of our organizatiou,
his elficienry ad PreMideilt of onr Itody. both iti counsel and action, Ilia
wise and temperate views of political ecoDomy, his ;;reat personal influ-
ence with public men, and the weii;lit of character which Rave dignity
and power to the body over wIulIi he presided.''

In the presence of this eloiiuent testimony, his zeal
in the interests of tbis association needs no further
commentary.

At a meeting of the National Wool-Growers' and
Sbeep-Breeders' Association, held iu Columbus, Ohio,
on February 15, 1877, the following resolution was
unanimously passed :

" Itesohed, That in the death of Hon. J. Wiley EdniaDds, late Presi-
dent oftUe National Associalioa of \V(>ol ^lauufactiirers, we aciinowl-
ed(;e the loss of a most intelli^^ent, able and zealous advocate for the
advancement and protection of the woolen interests of .Vmerica."

Mr. Edmands took up his residence at Newton in
1847, and remained one of its foremost citizens for thirty
years. He at once identified himself with the chari-
table and educational interests of the town of his
adoption, offering freely of his means and generous
in support of every worthy project with what was to
him and them still more valuable — his wise counsel
and precious time. Of the Newton Free Library he
was the principal benefactor, favoring the institution
with pecuniary gifts to the amnunt of nearly 820,000,
and bestowing upon it an untold wealth of valuable
counsel and advice. When chairman of a committee
for the consideration of a petition from the West
Newton Athenaeum for a town appropriation towards
increasing its usefulness, Mr. Edmands made the sage
suggestion that the town lend its assistance to this
and similar institutions by appropriating each year a
sum equal to that secured by private subscription for
the .same objects, thereby making private apprecia-
tion a test for public liberality. Upon the establish-
ment of a humble orphan school in his village, organ-
ized with the holy purpose of guarding the helpless
orphans from the early encroachments of temptation
and vice, Mr. Edmands at once gave his enthusiastic
support to the charitable project, and became one of
the most liberal contributors toward the establish-

NEWTON.

159

ment aud maintenance of the famous " Newton
Home." One of the most tender of his charities was
in the direction of his devotion to the Eye and Ear j
Infirmary in the ciiy of Boston, of which from its
foundation he was the treasurerand business manager.
Under his generous and skillful administration, as-
sisted by the unpaidservicesof its surgeons, this insti-
tution became one of the most admirable of public
charities, relieving as many as 7000 patients in a
year.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, Mr.
Edmands promptly declared himself for the defence
of his country's institutions and the perpetuity of the
Union. He was a constant attendant, and often
presided, at the local meetings called in Newton for
the enlistment of volunteers. With his worldly goods
he strengthened the oedii of the Board of Selectmen
in their generous promises to care for the sick and
■wounded ard to provide for the necessities of the fam-
ilies of such as might perit-h in the impending strug-
gle. In confi<leut anticipation of a vote of the town
sanctioning such expenditure, he advanced a large
sum of money at a critical moment to meet certain
necessary liabilities. Two of his sons — Joseph Gush-
ing Edmands aud Thomas Sprague Edmands — enter-
ed the army and performed honorable service in the
Union cause.

At the close of the war, when it was determined to
erect a permanent monument to the memory of those
who fell in the service of their country, Mr. Edmands
advanced a large sum for this purpose; at the same
time suggesting that a popular subscription be en-
couraged, and amounts, however small, be received
and credited, that young and old might be given an
opportunity, according to their means, to contribute
towards this praiseworthy testimonial. Contributions
of one dime each from more than 1100 pupils of
the public schools, and of one dollar each from nearly
1200 inhabitants of the town assured the success of
the undertaking and resulted in the erection of the
monument.

Mr. Edmands, besides being treasurer and director
of the Pacific Mills, was vice-president of the Provi-
dent Institution for Savings, treasurer of the Eye and
Ear Infirmary, president and trustee of the Newton
Free Library, a director of the Ogdensburgh Rail-
road, of the Suffolk Bank, of the Massachusetts Hos-
pital Life Insurance Company, and president of the
National Association of Wool Manufacturers. He
was also a director of the Arkwright Mutual Fire
Insurance Company, and for a time treasurer of the
Ogdensburgh Railroad.

Mr. Edmands died on the 31st of .lanuary, 1877, at
the age of sixty-seven years and eleven months. His
last days were spent at his beautiful country-seat at
Newton, where he had found such rest and domestic
happiness as his busy life permitted.

Thus closed the natural existence of one of the
leading characters of this period, a man possessed of

the highest qualifications in our power to achieve,
those of personal, intellectual and moral culture; who
quitted the responsibilities of this life with an un-
spotted name and highly honored reputation, an ex-
ample of devotion to business, to public trusts, and to
the most refined of private moral obligations.
Throughout his life he possessed the greatest distaste
for ostentation, and it was his often-expressed desire,
that after he had passed away, his memory might be
spared all manner of extravagant panegyric. Time
has proved his most glowing eulogy to lie in the
eloquent testimony from the mourning hearts of all
who knew him, of all who had felt his noble in-
fluences.

At a meeting of the Newton City Council shortly-
after his death. Mayor Alden Speare thus referred to
him : — " Should I say that Newton has lost the man
who stood highest in the esteem of all her citizens, I
am sure that I should but echo the sentiments of all ;
but a life and mind like that of our late honored
fellow-citizen is not confined in its influence and
benefits to any single community.

" Should I say that Boston, the metropolis of New
England, has lost one of its largest-minded and most
honored merchants ; that the largest manufacturing
establishment, not only in Massachusetts, butofthe
world, had lost its controlling mind, and our nation
had lost one whose counsels for many years have been
sought after in shaping its legislation, the influence of
which made them national, I should then come short
of the measure of the influence of the life and labors
of the Hon. J. Wiley Edmands."

GARDNER COLBY.'

Gardner Colby, son of Josiah C. and Sarah (David-
son) Colby, was born September 3, 1810, in Bowdoin-
ham, Maine. Previous to the War of 1812 his father
had been for several years a successful ship-builder,
but in that war all his property was swept away by
the capture of vessels at sea or by the depreciation of
shipping kept in port by the embargo. From the
discouragement produced by this failure iu business
he never rallied, and the support of the family thence-
forth depended on the mother. But her resolution
and capacity were great, and it has been said that
" she seems to have early impressed upon Gardner
the habits of concentration, energy, courage and
hope, which characterized herself, and which were so
conspicuous in his later life." The subject of this
sketch was the second of four children, and, owing to
the straitened circumstances of the family, was en-
gaged in the service of business firms from the age of
fourteen to twenty-one, with the exception of six
months of eager study in a boarding-school. He was,
therefore, what is commonly meant by a self-educated
man. But the action of his mind was always quick

1 By Eer. .\lnh Hovey, D.D.

160

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and clear, and the lausuage which he used was di-
rect, concise and well-chosen.

Upon reaching hia majority, Mr. Colby rented a
store on the corner of Washington and BromSeld
Streets, Boston, making laces, gloves and hosiery a
specialty. Starting with about S200 capital, he con-
ducted his business with such skill and economy as
to make $4000 the first year and a larger sum the sec-
ond. After five years he had acquired sufficient
means to warrant his undertaking a larger enterprise.
He therefore became an importer of dry goods, on
Kilby Street, a business which he continued during a
period of ten years, when he was able to retire from it
with a handsome competency.

This was in 1847. But in 1850 he went into regu-
lar business again, purchasing cue-half of the Mav-
erick Mills, of Dedham, Mass., and thus becoming as-
sociated with his neighbor, the Hon. J. Wiley Ed-
mands, in the manufacture of woolen goods. He was
himself the selling agent of these goods in Boston,
first on Milk Street, and later on Franklin Street. In
the war a large amount of soldiers' clothing was sold
by this firm. But in 1863 Mr. Colby disposed of his
interest in the mills and once more retired from busi-
ness with increased wealth. He was now fifty-three
years of age, and might have enjoyed an honorable
and useful leisure the rest of his life.

But he was not content to do this. Fond of large
enterprises, he became interested after about six
years, iu the construction of the Wisconsin Central
Railroad. After careful examination, he took hold
of it with vigor and resolved to make it the great
work of his life. For a year everything went on pros-
perously. But in 1872 a change came. The " Ala-
bama " claims excitement in England drove all
American securities from that market ; the fire in
Chicago, the fire in Boston, the money panic iu
England and on the Continent, and the great panic in
New York in 1873, supplemented by hoatiie legis-
lation in the West, and business prostration every-
where, sadly crippled the Wisconsin Central Railroad.
All these things taxed the strength of Mr. Colby
unduly, and it is not surprising that he was not long
able to bear the pressure of anxiety and care that
came upon him. Yet he always had confidence in the
ultimate success of the road. " He bought a large
amount of bonds and stock of this compan}', and
never sold any of either. He received no compensa-
tion for the years of service and labor which he ren-
dered; and, although he at different times indorsed
the company's paper for large amounts, he never
charged anything for the use of hiri name and credit."
But if his health was broken, and his purpose to make
the road an immediate financial success was defeated,
he had the satisfaction of seeing it completed, and in
full operation before his retirement from the presi-
dency in 1876. In the autumn of that year he passed
through a long and dangerous illness, which termi-
nated his business career, though he recovered his

strength so far as to enjoy friendship and travel
during nearly three years, losing, indeed, no part of
his interest in human welfare as affected by religion
and education.

For Mr. Colby ■va.s no less remarkable for the use
which he made of his property than for his energy
in acquiring it. At the age of twenty he made a pub-
lic profession of his faith in Christ, and was always
from that time a generous supporter of Christian in-
stitutions. He began to give when he began to gain;
and in his later years he sometimes expressed a be-
lief that, if he had refused to give in early life, he
would probably have continued to do so to the end.
His beneficence was rarely misdirected. It rested
upon principle, and was applied to the support of
enterprises which commended themselves to his judg-
ment as well as to his heart. His courage and assist-
ance did much to save the Newton Theological Insti-
tution and Waterville College in dark hours; his bene-
factions were liberal to Brown University, from which
two of his sons were graduated ; and his gilts flowed
in a perennial stream to the great missionary socie-
ties of his denomination, especially to the Missionary
Union, as well as to the churches with which he was
successively connected in Boston and Newton Centre.
It has been truly said that " the most noticeable
thing about his service to the cause of Christ was the
fact that he was far broader and wiser than his early
training would lead us to expect. He had but small
school advantages in his youth ; yet he gave his money
and hia influence, and not a little hard work, to schools
of higher learning.'" More than half a million dol-
lars must have been contributed by him to the pro-
motion of learning and religion.

And when to this is added the time which he gave
to the churches, schools and missionary organizations
which he loved, it will be seen that a considerable
part of his life was consecrated to the well-being of
mankind. He was an active member of the Execu-
tive Committee of the American Baptist Missionary
Union several years, and during the last third
or more of his life was a trustee of Brown University
and of Waterville College (now Colby University, in
honor of his name). From the age of thirty-two to
the age of fifty-six — twenty-four years — he was the
wise, courageous, indefatigable and unpaid treasurer
of the Newton Theological Institution. Upon his
resignation of this office he was elected president of
the Board of Trustees, a position which he held with
eminent ability ten years. By these aud other less
conspicuous, but no less laborious and useful services,
Mr. Colby was a benefactor to thousands. His stren-
uous and useful life came to an end on the 2d day of
April, 1879.

LEMUEL CEEHORE.

Born in Dorchester, Mass., March 2, 1791 ; died in
Boston, August 18, 1868.

6f./.6:>cr^^ii^J

NEWTON.

161

The record of the early life and family history of
Mr. Crehore has, properly, no place in a history of
Middlesex County. During a century and a half pre-
ceding his birth five generations of bis ancestors re-
sided in Milton and Dorchester, adjoining towns in
Norfolk county. In the former of these he passed his
childhood and early youth. His first entrance into
the business world was as a clerk to Mr. Robbins,
who had a general store in Roxbury.

Some years later he crossed the Allegheny Aloun-
tains — making the journey on horseback in the com-
pany of Mr. E. V. Sumner, of Milton (late major-
general United States Array), and settled in Cincin-
nati, Ohio, where he remained some years.

In 1S25 he returned to New England, and there first
became a resident of Newton as a co-partner with
William Hiird, Esi|., who had been forsonietime en-
gaged in the business of paper-making at the Lower
Falls.

The firm of Hurd & Crehore dissolved by mutual
consent in 1^34 — Mr. < 'rehore purchasing a portion
of the ;>Iant from Mr. Hurd. He associated with
himself in the business .Mr. Benjamin Neai, then en-
gaged a.-^ a mill-wright in the village. The firm ol
Crehore i*c Neal ceased liy limitation in 1845. From
thi.s date the busiue.ss has been exclusively in the
hands of Mr. Crehore and his descendants. In 1S4(>
he purcliased the remainder of .Mr. Kurd's interest in
the property and the whole was then consolidated in-
to a Mingle mill.

From l.'<''>4 to If^il" .Mr. Creliore's youngest son,
< ieorge ('., was a co-partner with him. In 18t>7 the
elder -on. • 'hailes FrcdiTic. took his brother's place,
Mild since .Mr. i relioiv'.-, ilealh, in KSii8, haMitrried on
the Ijusim-ss, in wliicii latterly his son has had an in-
terest.

.Mr. (.'rt'liore was adviTso to holding oltice, ami,
with the exieptioii of one term in the State Legiala-
tuie and one or two years ;ia selectman, he rendered
no official public service.

He, however, always look an active interest in pub-
lic artairs and contributed freely of his means to aid
any movement for public or social advantage. His
ailvice was fre'iuently sought by those having respon-
sible charge in such matters.

In his private c.ipacity as a neighbor and friend
his native kindliness of disposition won for him gen-
eral regard. None hesitated to go to him in their
trouble, none were ever repiilseil. Of the strictest
moral integrity, his reputation as a citizen, a business
man and a iieighbur was unblemished.

He married, August I, 1S27, Mrs. Mary Ann Dodge,
widow, daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Farmer)
Clark, of Burslem, Staffordshire, England, where she
was born March 12, 1795. She survived her husband j
andiliedat the homestead, then occupied by her elder I
son, .lanuary 1, 187-">. During a large portion of their
married life they resided in Newton, but a few years
previous to Mr. Crehore's death they removed to Bos-

ton, where he died August 18, 1868. Of their two
children, the younger, George Clarendon, born Au-
gust 24, 1832, lived the greater portion of his life in
Newton, being connected with his father in the paper
business from 1854-67. He married, November, 1855,
Lucy Catherine, daughter of Otis and Mary Ann
(Grout) Daniell, of Boston. Five children were born
to them, all of whom, with the mother, are now living,
resident in Boston. In 1867 the family removed to
Boston, where Mr. Crehore died December 23, 1870.

The elder son, Charles Frederic Crehore, born June
18, 1828, after being engaged in the practice of medi-
cine in Boston and serving as military surgeon during
the Civil War, returned to Newton in 1867 and went
into business with his father, as above stated. He
married, September 29, 1857, Mary Wyer, daughter of
Henry and Elizabeth Farris (Tracy) Loriog, of Boston.
The only public office held by him to date is that of
member of the Newton Water Board from 1885-88
inclusive. He has two children, a son and daughter,
both residents of Newton.

The former, Frederic Morton Crehore, born July
16, 1858, as already stated, is a co-partner in the
paper manufactory of C. F. Crehore & Son. At the
date of writing (18t)0) he is a member of the Common
Council of the city of Newtou.

EllWARI) .(ACK.SON f.OLMX.'i.'

The ("Collins family are of English origin and de-
scent ; the progenitors of this particular branch set-
tling in .Marblehead, Mass., where Matthias Collins,
Sr., held the office of high sherifl".

Matthias Collins (2d) married the daughter of
Ebenezer Davis, of Brookline, and moved to New-
ton ill 1778, where he purchased one hundred acres
of land of .losepli Craft, on the Sherburne Road,
adjoining John Woodward. Here he settled and
lived until his death, in 1785. He left an only son
and heir, Matthias Collins (3d), and a widow, who
survived him thirty-four years, having reached the
ri[ie old age of eighty-five.

Matthias Collins (3d) married Hannah, daughter
of Edward Jackson, in 1708.

Tlie family of Hannah Jack.«ou were identified with
Newton from its earliest history. Her father, Edward,
was the son of Col. Ephraira Jackson, a lieutenant
in the old French Warduiing 1755 and 17.56. Twenty
years later he w!is one of the Newton alarm list, and
when Paul Revere called

" For the countrj' folk to l»e up and to urm,"

Lieut. Jackson joined the Revolutionary Army and
was promoted to lieutenant-colonel under Marshall.
He participated in the several battles that preceded
the capture of Burgoyne, and died in camp at Valley
Forge.

' Oy Ertnard h. Collina.

162

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Col. Jackson was the grandson of Sebas Jackson,
who, as tradition has it, was born on the passage from
England to this country; and great-grandson of
Edward Jackson, Sr., a very conspicuous figure in the
early colonial history of this county, a companion
of John Eliot and one of the pioneer settlers of New-
ton.

Matthias (3d) increased his inheritance in many
ways. In his native town he held positions of trust
and honor. He was assessor, selectman, town trea-
surer and representative to the General Court.

Te Matthias and his wife there were born eight
children — Mira, Davis, Amasa, Charles, Abigail,
Edward J. (the subject of this sketch), Ann M., and
Frederick A.

Mira married Rufus Mills, of Needham. Davis
moved to Brandon, Vt., and married the daughter of
Deacon Palmeter. Amasa joined his brother and like-
wise married a Brandon lady, the daughter of Deacon
Blackmer. For many years the firm of "D. & A.
Collins " was engaged in the moat extensive, lucrative
and well-known grocery and wool business in that sec-
tion of the countr}'. Charles, the fourth child, died at
the age of twenty-one. Abigail married John Mills,
of Needham. Ann M. married Amos Lyon, of New
York. Frederick A., the youngest of the children,
and the only survivor of the entire family, has, like
his brother Edward, made Newton his life-long home.

After completing his education at Deacon Wood-
ward's private school, Frederick spent one winter with
his brothers in Vermont. Returning to Newton the
next spring, he began the manufacture of glue, which
he successfully continued for a number of years.

In 1S47 he married Amelia M., the daughter of
George Revere, of Boston, a lineal descendant of him
who stood

" Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every ^liddlesex village and farm.'*

Previous to 1861, Frederick served a number of years
on the Board of Assessors, an ofl5ce he resigned to
fill the position of selectman, a service he rendered
acceptably to the town during the entire war.

After the battle of Gettysburg, together with Thomas
Rice, Jr., Frederick was commissioned to visit that
bloody battle-field and search out and bring home
Newton's dead.

The sad errand was fulfilled, and the bodies of
Hawkes and Cutter were returned to their native town
and sorrowing friends.

Public services were held over the remains and the
day was one of mourning throughout the town.

Frederick was a member of the first board of alder-
men after Newton became a city, and since his retire-
ment from business has resided on the old estate.

Edward Jackson Collins, the third youngest child
of Hannah and Matthias, was born in Newton, on the
old homestead, April 24, 1811.

Like other country boys of that date, hb time was
divided between the farm and the district school. In

the matter of education, however, he enjoyed several
terms under the late venerable Seth Davis, whose
wise precepts and sound principles laid the corner-
stone of that vast practical knowledge developed by
Mr. Collins in later years.

At the age of twenty-one, together with his friend,
Mat. Mills, of Needham, Edward started on a jour-
ney through the neighboring States, but spent most
of his time in Maine, with a view of entering the
glue business. Returning home, he put into active
operation his long-cherished idea. He purcha.sed five
acres of land from his father, erected suitable build-
ings, and began in earnest, but in a small way, an in-
dustry which proved very profitable. At this time
there were but few glue-makers in the country. Fish
and hone glues were unknown ; and where to-day
there are a hundred extensive manufacturers, there
was then but one— Peter Cooper, of New York.

From a small beginning Mr. Collins constantly in-
creased his business until about 1870, when his public
offices made so many demands on his time that he dis-
1 continued.

I At the age of thirty-eight Mr. Collins was elected
' to his first important political office, of town assessor.
j This position he tilled until ix.nt;, when he declined to
I serve, altliouah elected for that year. In 1S51 he was
I also chosen one of the selectmen and served until
! 1855, the last year as chairman of that body.

At a meeting of the Newton National Bank, held
I October 17, ISoO. Mr. Collin.-* was elected a director
I of that institution, only two years after its founda-
I tion. ?iome of his early associates on the Board of
i Directors were William Jackson, John H. Richard-
son, Joseph N. Bacon, Levi Thaxter, Otis Pettee, Al-
len r. Curtis, Edward Walcott, Marshall S. Rice, H.
B. Williams :ind P. E. Kingman.

As treasurer of the Newton Savings Bank, he suc-
ceeded Deacon Paul, when the project was only in
its infancy. The duties of both these offices Mr.
Collins continued to discharge until his death.

On the 3d of August, 1854, 5Ir. Collins was married,
at Bradford, Mass., to the beautiful daughter of Capt.
Nathan S. Lunt, of Newburi-port. Although Miss
Lunt had only just graduated from Bradford Acad-
emy, and was still quite young, notwithstanding the
fact taat Mr. Collins was a number of years her sen-
ior, she shrank from no responsibility, but became the
trusted adviser and able coadjutor of her husband. In
after years Mr. Collins' successes, political and finan-
cial, can be traced to the noble, guiding, sustaining
influence of his wife. Coming to Newton early in life,
her associations were centred here, and her friends
were Newton people. She was imbued with a loyal
devotion to Newton and its welfare, which character-
ized her to the last.

Eight years after their marriage a son and only
child was born.

In 1855 Mr. Collins was elected town treasurer, and
five years later the duties and responsibilities of col-

>
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NEWTON.

163

lector of taxes were added. Both of these offices he
held continuously until his death, and wa.s best
known, perhaps, in that capacity.

In 18oS and the year following, Mr. Collins was
elected to the General Court, and was present when
John A. Andrew made his famous reply to Gushing.
During the war Mr. Collins' devoted attachment
to his native town displayed itself more conspicu-
ously than at any other time ; for when so much
money was needed for the credit of cities and towns,
he came forward to aid Newton, and with his own
personal endorsement on the notes of the town estab-
lished its credit, so that money could be raised with-
out trouble or delay, and consequently her quota was
always ready.

He also went through the lines to Fortress Monroe,
in order that those men who enlisted from Newton in
the navy niiglit be properly accredited to her quota.

After the war ilr. Collins was chosen one of the
county cocimissiouers. a position he hlled with
marlied ability for twelve years. At the expiration
of that time, the duties of treasurer and collector of
taxes had so multiplied and become so complex, that
his whole lime was taken up in the administration of
these offices. With watchful and jealous care he guard-
ed the (inanciiil interests of Newton until the last. He
died in office, at bis beautiful Newton home, .fuly 2."),
l.*7!i.

After Mr. ( '.■llins death, the settlement and man-
aging iif a liirgf '-itiite I'ell upon his wife. Thai ability
and /.eal that liaii -o olti'u aided licr liu.tband, became
tier diMtinu:ui>liiii;;- pi'iniliarity. In the handling of
tbe e.state :iii<i tlu- tducatiipii nt' her .•ion she displayed
:i I'usincs.- aliility .mil foresight possessed by few
women. Her 'inio :imi1 money were given freely to
liirwaid ;iny pulilic iiiiiTpri>e. She was one of the
oiiiriiial trustees of the Newton Cottage Hospital, a
work in uliiih <1r' t'H'k die ileepest interest. The
iintbitunate about lier were n<jt forgnlten, and with
open purse or witli word of Lonnsel or encouragement,
-he assisted many, and many who came lo her with
their trouble. ."^Iie died at her Newton residence,
.Tanuary Jli, l8!Hi— fifty lour years of age. The entire
I'.stale was inherileil by her son, Kdward I^.

Kdward .lacksoii l 'ollins was a man of large stature
and a broad iiiiml. .\bove tbe petty carpings of the
world, be ileall wiili great questiofis or trivial matters
in the >ame broad way.

Vithoiiirli Moi a moniber, he was a regular attend-
ant at Dr. I>aniel L. Fiirbur'a Church, Newton
Centre, where for years the Collins family had wor-
shipped, and between the two there existed an
unostentatious but strong attachment.

Personally, Mr. Collins wa.s rather stern and austere,
but back of it all there was the warmest of hearts.
He was a loving husband, a devoted father. How
many were his acts of kindness to others will only be
known to the hundreds the " old Squire " befriended.

With him ihe sense of duty was uppermost. The

question was, " la it right? " and so strong was his will
that, when once determined, nothing could shake him
from his purpose.

For twenty-five years and more Mr. Collins held
continually important positions of honor, trust and
responsibility, and in them all showed himself effi-
cient, wise and faithful. His integrity was never
questioned — his word never doubted. Whatever po-
sition he held, he seemed to inspire the perfect con-
fidence of all. There seemed to be a combination of
qualities in the man's character that commanded pro-
found admiration and respect, — a man of strict in-
tegrity, a man of great capacity. The personal in-
terest he took in the men who went from Newton to
the front from 18fil to 1865, and in their families, is
the key-note of a quality that won him hosts of

' friends.

i His temperament was kind, his manners courteous,
and his ability and probity were characteristics so

! marked as to place him above the plane of question

1 or criticism.

j Mr. Collins, as we have seen, was a representative
of the good old stock which has made Newton noted
for the honesty, enterprise, morality and sobriety of
its people. He possessed little of that brilliancy that

I exhausts itself iu a few fitful flashes, but his light was

I a steady flatne that proceeds from the warmth of de-
votion to duty. His principles were surely founded,
and the adverse storms of fate might beat upon it at
will — the rock grew more rounded^ but its base was
never shaken.

HON. wrr.LiAM CI.AFI.rN".'

William, son of Hon. I.ee ClaHin and Sarah
(Adams) Claflin, was born in .Milford, Mass., March
i\, 1818, in an old-fashioned story-and-a-half house
situated about two miles north of the centre of the
town. In brief outline the record of his early years is
that of the tj-pical New England bred boy. His child-
hood was passed amid rural scenes where pure brac-
ing air and plain nourishing food supplemented the
affectionate parental influences of this country home.
About a mile from his home was located the district
school where he received his first instructions and
where he remained for five or six years, making such
good progress in that time as to be admitted to the
Milford Academy, where he was prepared for college,
and in 1833 entered Brown University. During his
freshman year he sustained a great loss in the death
of his mother, a very estimable woman who was very
anxious that her son should receive a liberal education,
and who through his early school-days secured such
books as would be helpful to him in the prosecution
of his studies.

Being of slight frame and lacking the raggedness of
physique so necessary to withstand close application
to study, his health failed and he left college to enter

1 CoDtributed.

164

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the boot, shoe and leather manufactory of his father
in Milford, Mass., where he remained for three years,
when, on the advice of the family physician, he
sought by change of scene and travel to regain hi.s
health, in which he was successful. Mr. Claflin as-
sociated with him Messrs. Howe and Allen at St.
Louis in 1841, in the wholesale boot, shoe and leather
business, which concern continued up to 1884. Leaving
St. Louis as a place of residence, he came East, and in
1847 established himself in Hopkinton, Mass.,' where
he lived until 1855, when he removed to his present
lovely home in Newtonville, with its beautiful and ex-
tensive grounds and its historic associations.

For more than a quarter of a century Mr. Claflin
has been the senior partner of the Boston firm of
William Claflin, Coburn & Co., doing a large and
successful business. The members of this firm besides,
Mr. Claflin, are N. P. Coburn, of Newton ; James A.
Woolson, of Cambridge, and William F. Gregory and
Dliver B. Root, of Framingham.

Mr. Claflin h:is always taken a great interest in ed-
ucational matters, and has contributed liberally to-
wards the maintenance of the public schools as well
as of the higher institutions of learning. From the
organization of Wellesley College he has been a
member of its Board of Trustees, and has interested
himself in many ways for its advancement. Upon
the completion of the organization of the Boston
University, ^It. Claflin was chosen a member of its
Board of Trustees, and for several years has been
the president of the Board. While not seeking pub-
lic oflici', Mr. ChiHiii has held many positions of trust
and honor and has shown himself to be possessed of
administrative ability of a high order. In 1848 he
was chosen to represent the town of Hopkinton in
the Legislature, and as a Free-Soiler took an import-
ant part in ihe conduct of aflairs and was re-elected
successively in 184'J, 1850 and 1851, and during these
years was appointed on many of the more important
committees of the House. He was elected to the
ytate Senate in 1859, and in 1861 was chosen presi-
dent of that body. In 1860 he was chosen a delegate
to the Chicago Convention, assisting in the nomina-
tion of Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency of the
United States. He was again chosen a delegate to
the National Convention in 1864, 1S68 and 1872.
In 1868 he was made chairman of the National Com-
mittee, and look an active part in the flrst campaign
for the election of General Grant to the Presidency.
In 186G, '67 and '68 he was Lieutenant-Governor of
Massachusetts. In 1869 he was elected to the highest
ofiice in the gift of the people of the Commonwealth,
and as Governor of the State hia administration was
marked by a dignified and sagacious discharge of the
duties incident to this high office. In 1869 Governor
Claflin received ihe honorary degree of Doctor of
Laws from Harvard University, having also some
time previously received the same degree from Wes-
leyan University.

Governor Claflin early took advanced ground on
the temperance question, and also was widely known
as an anti-slavery man all through that period of agi-
tation when loyal adhesion to, and earnest work for,
the emancipation of the black man was likely to
make him unpopular; nevertheless he was always
true to his convictions, and saw the fruition of his
hopes in the enactment of the Emancipation Act
by Congress. In 1876 Governor Claflin was elected
Representative to Congress, and re-elected in 1878,
at the close of which public service he retired to pri-
vate life, universally respected, and is now giving his
attention to his extensive business interests, as well
as meeting the many social demands naturally inci-
dent upon such prominence.

Governor Claflin has for many years been connect-
ed with various financial institutions. He has been
a director of the National Hide and Leather Bank
since its organization, and for several years its presi-
dent. He has been a director of the New England
Trust Company; also director in the International
Trust Company, the Roston Five Cent Savings Bank
and other financial institutions.

Governor Claflin is an influential and consistent
member of the IMethodist Church, a genial gentle-
man, easily approached by any one, and ever ready
to extend a helping hand to his fellow-man.

HON. THO.VAS RICE.

We may contemplate with great advantage the
personal history (if those men who, by their talents,
their high standard of honor and their unwearied
industry, have contributed to the material pros-
perity of our country in their own time and have
demonstrated to those who came after them
that the true path to success lies in an uudeviating
adherence to the purest and noblest principles of
action. Among the many distinguished sons of New
England whose record is that of a self-educated and
self-made man, who rose to distinction by the practice
of those virtues which in all time must secure the
respect and confidence of all good citizens, was the
subject of this biographical notice.

He was the third son of Thomas and Lydia (Smith)
Rice, and was born in that part of Needham which is
now known as Wellesley Hills, December 20, 1810.
When two months old his father (who was a paper-
raaker) moved his family to Newton Lower Falls and
established them in what has since come to be known
as the " Rice Homestead." Here Thomas, Jr., passed
his childhood days, and in due time attended the
district school, where, for the most part, his school
education was acquired. At the age of twelve years
he left the public schools and attended, for some
time, a private school in West Newton, kept by
" Ma.ster Joseph Jackson."

After leaving this school he went to work in his
father's paper-mill, where he mastered the art of

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NEWTON.

165

paper-making, and where, from 1834 up to the time of |
his death, he was engaged in the paper business and ]
became widely and favorably known as an eminent
paper manufacturer, having large dealings with !
numerous customers, executiug large contracts, ex- |
tending over long periods, in a business-like and satis- ]
factory manner for more than forty years. The Boston
Daily Transcript was printed on paper made in the
establishment of Mr. Rice, and for nearly the whole
of this period he waa the directing and controlling
head. While organizing and carrying on this great |
business enterprise he found time to answer to the i
call of the citizens of the town for him to take part |
in public affairs, and he brought to this work rare j
skill and good judgment. For eighteen years he
was a member of the Board of Selectmen, having
been first elected in 1830. Here he labored diligently
and faithfully for the best interests of the town and
was for ten years chairman of the board. In 1867 he
was elected a. member of the General Court, serving
in the House for three years and in the Senate for
two years (1863 and 1864). In 18t)J-<56 he was
chosen a member of the Goveruor's Council.

During the Civil War he was especially active in
filling the quotas of the town, often working day and
night to accomplish this important work. He was
found almost everywhere in the discharge of these
duties, — now at home arranging to fill up the de-
pleted ranks of the soldiers, now repeatedly at the
front, looking after the necessities of the soldiers,
ministering to their needs, comforting them in
hardship and defeat, looking after the dead and
tenderly conveying their remains to their frieods
at home, giving the sorrowing families tender sym-
pathy and material aid. He was indeed a true patriot
and a lover of his country. His younger brother was
Hon. Alexander H. Rice, who was Governor of the
Commonwealth in 187i)-78. Thomas was thrice mar-
ried, — tirst, to Violet Hibbard in 1833 ; second, to
Jerusha (a sister of his first wife), in 1842 ; the third,
to Rebecca R., a niece of Hon. .Joseph Breck, of
Brighton, September 24, 184-3. She still survives him,
and her children are Edward Thomas, born October
9, 1847, and Frederick William, born January 30,
1850, who died February 17, 188o. The children by
the first wife were Jane Isabella and Edward Everett,
by the second, Mary L. W. Mr. Rice died January
11, 1873, amd was buried in the village cemetery at
Newton Lo^er Falls. Various associations and
public bodies attended his funeral and passed resolu-
tions testifying to his worth and their sorrow. In one
of the newspapers of Newton there appeared shortly
after his death the following notice, which attests his
worth in the public estimation:

" There were some traitt) of character in Mr. Rice which w ere aulfi-
cieDtly remarkable tojiucify calling special attention to ihenj.

" Xo other man of hia years, perhaps, hae ever been honored by the
town, by important olfices during so many yeatd.

" tie had been Chairman of the Board of Selectmen for many con-
secutiTe yeara ; and eo well did he till hia otiice that it ie doubtful

whether, even in Newtun, where there are Bo many able men, bis place
can be made good.

" It has sometimes been said that he waa fond of office ; but it waa
evident it was not altogether for the sake of office. He had
great pride in having the busineae of the town done in the best possible
manner, and was always ready to give time and ^itreugtli to secure
this. Nothing was neglected in any department with wliich he h.td to
do. Whether it waa an office of greater or lesser honor, all its drudgery,
even, was done with a fidelity worthy of the noblest cause.

" Uis familiarity with the business of the town whs such, that when-
I'Ver.any man sat down to convense witli him, he would feel at once that
he waa talking with one who knew his business thoroughly. This waa
• iften npparent when some one wonld come before the Selectmen who
felt that he had been wronged. The patient, clear and uniiiipassioned
way in whicii he would present the case, would almost invariably con-
vince the agi^rieved that he not only had not been wronged, but in many
instances, that be had got even more than he deserved.

" Let the young men who may follow bim remember that this is the
road to success and honor that is fadeless. — Editob."

GEORGE HYDE.

George Hyde is one of the solid men of Newton.
His ancestor, Samuel Hyde, who came from England
in 1639, was the second settler of Newton. This Sam-
uel Hyde bought 250 acres of land in Newton in
1652 for £50, and the subject of our sketch, in the
seventh generation, still occupies a portion of the an-
cestral estate.

His father, Samuel Hyde, married Lucy Hall, she,
as well aa her husband, being born in Newton. They
had six children — Samuel, Fanny, Pr.rtheuia P., Ed-
ward, Mary K. and George, who was born April, 1810,
and has consequently passed his eightieth year. He
married Rebecca D. Child, in 1839. She was born in
Newton, January 18, 1812, and is still living. They
have three children — Fannie A., Charlotte VV. and
Samuel. Mr. Samuel Hyde, the father of George,
was a farmer and nurseryman, being among the first
to engage in the latter business. When advancing
age suggested relaxation from the more active duties
of business, the two sods, Samuel and George, took
the farm and nursery, and carried on a successful
business for many years. The survivor, George Hyde,
continued it several years after the death of his elder
brother Samuel.

Land in that part of the town had been increasing
in value year by year, so that at his decease Samuel,
father of George, lefta valuable property to be divided
among his children, and George moved into the house
formerly occupied by his father, beside which stands
one of the largest elms to be found in Middlesex
County. He enjoyed the successful business iu which
he waa engaged, and, during the many years that he
followed it, contributed much to make his native
town, as well as many other places, more beautiful
l)y the trees, shrubs and plants that were sent out
from his reliable establishment.

He never sought otfice, but his townsmen, knowing
his character for uprightness and honesty, sought
him, and he served for several years as selectman and
assessor, and that too at a time when it was more of
an honor to occupy such official positions than it
seems to be at the present day. He was one of the

166

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

original projectors of what is now the Newton National
Bank, first organized as a State Bank, and has been a
director in the same almost from the start to the pres-
ent time, and his services have contributed very much
to its success. In 1858 he was elected president of
Newton Savings Bank, of which he had been a trus-
tee for several years previously.

Under his administration, assisted by faithful asso-
ciates, this bank has prospered far beyond the expec-
tations of its original corporators, and has on deposit
at the present time nearly $2,000,000.

Though advanced in years, he gives daily attention
to this institution, which has become his pet and pride.
Always careful and conservative, and yet not narrow-
minded, the public have come to have great confidence
in him, and he is universally respected by all who
know him. He has not l)een a great traveler, but has
preferred the quiet of a happy home and the constant
and faithful care of his own business, as well as all
matters entrusted to him. He is one of the old school
of gentlemen, of which so few remain. Nearing the
end, he may with pardonable pride look back upon a
well-rounded life, feeling that he has served his gen-
eration faithfully and well. He will be greatly
missed and sincerely mourned when the time of his
departure shall come.

HON. JAMES F. (,'. HYDE.'

James F. C. Hyde was born in Newton July 26,
1825. His ancestor was Jonathan Hyde, who came
from England and settled in what is now Newton in
1647, being the fourth settler, while his brother
Samuel was the second. They purchased 2-10 acres of
land, which they owned iu common till 1661. Jona-
than, by subsequent additional purchases, became the
owner of several hundred acres. He lived on what
is now Homer Street, about sixty rods north of the
old First Church. He had two wives and "twenty-
three children, all of whom, with one exception, bore
Scripture names."

He gave a large part of the present Common at
Newton Centre for a training-field. He died at the i
age of eighty-five years. His son John married and
had six children, and died aged eighty-two.

Timothy, the son of John, married and had several
children, among whom was Elisha. Elisha's oldest
child was Thaddeus, who married Elizabeth Grimes.
Thaddeus died aged seventy, and Elizabeth lived to
be ninety-eight. They had four children, the oldest
being James, the father of Jamea F. C. Hyde, who,
therefore, is of the seventh generation from the fourth
settler of Newton.

James Hyde, the father, married Clarice Clarke,
daughter of Norman Clarke (1818), and they had nine
children. She died at the age of sixty-seven, and he
lived to be eighty-nine years old.

> CkiDtributed.

John Clarke, the ancestor of Clarice Clarke, was in
Newton as early as 1681, removing from Watertown.

Norman Clarke, the father of Clarice, and grand-
father of James F. C, was selectman for three years,
and held other offices, and was a large land-owner,
leaving to his heirs about 400 .icres that had been in
the family from before 1700. The subject of thi.i
sketch lives on a part of this l.ind, and only across
the street from where he was born. He may well he
classed as a native of Newton. He de.scended from
good stock on both sides, his ancestors being promi-
nent men in their day.

In 1854 Mr. Hyde married Sophia Stone, daughter
of Jonathan Stone, who descended from one of the
early settlers of Newton. She died in 1860, leaving
two children, — Clarice S. Hyde, who married James
M. Estes, and died leaving one child (Frederick .1.
Estes), and Elliott J. Hyde, who lives near his father
and is in business with him.

In 1861 Mr. Hyde married Emily Ward, wlio was
a descendant, in the seventh generatioii. of .Toiiii
Ward, who settled in Newton (then New Cambridge)
iu the year 1650. She was a icraduate of the Normal
School in West Newton, and wa.-- a teachei tor several
years in Manchester, N. H., and Boston. Four chil-
dren have been born to them, t«o nf whom survive,
Mary E. and Frank C, who are now living at home.

Mr. Hyde's father was a farmer and a nurseryman,
being among the first in the State to engage in the lat-
ter business. He brought up his children on the farm,
and when his son, James F. C, was seventeen years
of age, took him in as a partner in the business. This
son did not intend to be a farmer or nurseryman, but
to study law, if he could see his way clear to get an
education, for up to this time he h.id attended only
the district school, with the exception of one year
at the academy of the late Marshall S. Rice; but one
day, as he was about to leave home, his father said to
him : " Francis, your mother and I think it is your
duty to stay at home and take care of us.' Without
a minute's hesitation he decided to do so, saying :
■'All I am I owe to you, and I cannot do too much
for you." It was a great satisfaction to him to be able
to care for them as long as they lived, though it
changed all the plans of his life. Starting in business
for himself at an early age, with limited means, and
perhaps still more limited education, he worked days
and studied nights, often working fourteen hours out
of the twenty-four, and studying three or four, jriving
himself but few hours for sleep. This he followed for
many years, and was able to acquire a large amount
of general information.

When asked by a friend how he had been able to
obtain such an amount of general knowledge, he re-
plied, " By keeping my eyes and ears open to see and
hear, and often opening my mouth to ask questions."

He has in later years been often introduced to aud-
iences as the " walking encyclopaedia."

At the early age of fifteen, in 1840, he took a very

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NEWTON.

167

active interest in politics, and from that time on at-
tended caucuses and political meetings, and was gen-
erally at the polls distributing ballots, even before be
was a voter.

His father was a Whig and he quite naturally fol-
lowed his example. Subsequently, when the old party
was dissolved, he became a member of the great Re-
publican party.

Smith,inhi3"History of Newton, "says, in speaking
of Mr. Hyde : " His energy of character and adminis-
trative taleat brought him early to the notice of the
public." At the age of twenty-nine he was elected
moderator of the town-meeting, and for nineteen suc-
cessive years he was elected to the same position with
only four exceptions, and those when he could not
serve.

He was elected selectman also at the age of twenty-
nine — one of the youngest ever called to that ofBce —
and remained on the board for sixteen consecutive
years. During the War of the Rebellion he was very
active in recruiting to till the large quota of Newton,
and all the State aid for many years was disbursed by
him. He knew the larger part of the men who went
from Newton, and their families. He visited them at
the front to look after their comfort. At thirty-one
years of age he was elected representative to the Mas-
sachusetts General Court and subsequently re-elected.
He was for some years a member of the School Com-
mittee, had charge of a large portion of the highways
and constructed new roads for the town while select-
man.

He has been balloted for by the town and city of
Newton for various positions more than fifty times,
and never was defeated when a candidate.

He served two terms, of three years each, on the
State Board of Agriculture, being appointed by the
Governor as one of the " delegates-at-large," the
other general delegates being Prof. Agassiz and Col.
M. P. Wilder.

For four years he was president of the Massachu-
setts Horticultural Society, and for several years, at
two different times, president ot the Newton Horti-
cultural Society, which held its first meeting at his
house, and which he was active in organizing.

He has been a director in two national banks and
is now a director in the John Hancock Life Insur-
ance Company and one of the Building Committee
appointed to erect their large building on Devonshire
Street, Boston.

For many years he has been a director in the
Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company, trustee
and one of the Investment Committee of Newton
Savings Bank, whose deposits have increased since
he became associated with it, from twenty-seven
thousand to nearly two million dollars.

He was chiefly instrumental in organizing a Con-
gregational Church at Newton Highlands in 1872,
which began with twenty-nine members and has now
nearly two hundred.

In six weeks he procured pledges — including his
own subscription — of over thirteen thousand dollars
with which to erect a church, and was chairman of
the committee to build the same. Since the start he
has been deacon in the church and for many years
was on the Parish Committee looking after the
finances.

He has a large class of men in the Sabbath-school,
and has scarcely ever been absent from his place.

For many years he has been agricultural editor
of The Congregationalist, and has written a great deal
for other papers.

He is the oldest member of the Board of Trustees
of the Newton Cemetery Corporation, a position he
has ably filled for n;any years. He has also been on
the Finance Committee for several years.

He was the foremost in making Newton a city, and
received all but thirteen of the votes cast for the first
mayor and was re-elected by almost as unanimous a
vote. He declined to serve longer, though strongly
pressed to do so.

Smith, in his " History of Newton " says : " As the
first mayor of the city of Newton, he (Mr. Hyde) ad-
ministered the important trust with wisdom and pru-
dence, counseling economy, integrity and faithful-
ness, and illustrating these qualities in his official
conduct."

When twenty-six years of age he was appointed
auctioneer by the selectmen unsolicited, and accepted
the appointment, and has continued that business
until the present time. About the same time he was
appointed justice of the peace, and later served as
trial justice for six years. He also received, unso-
licited, several appointments as insurance agent,
and is now actively engaged as such for sixteen Jifi'er-
ent companies.

Frequently he was called upon to settle estates,
appraise property, act as commissioner to divide real
estate, to testify as expert and in many similar matters,
until it became necessary to decide whether he would
continue his farming and nursery business, or practi-
cally give it up, and devote himself to other affairs.
He choie the latter, and since, for many years, has
carried on a large business in real estate at private
sale and at auction, as well as placing insurance and
mortgages, conveyancing and attending to all matters
connected with the sale and management of real
estate.

In all these years he has kept up an active interest
in agriculture, horticulture and floriculture. It is
said that on the old homestead where he was born
he cultivates about a thousand named plants and
trees.

He has devoted special attention to native plants,
and spends much of his vacation time in tramping
over the country with trowel and basket in hand.
He probably has a larger collection of wild flowers
than can be found outside of a botanical garden. It
is said that everything grows for him. His excellent

168

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

taste for arranging flowers has been shown in the
beautiful bouquets which he has generously furnished
for many years for the church which he attends.
He was president of the Congregational Club of
Boston one year, — as long as the constitution allows
any person to fill that oflice.

He suggested, through the press, the formation of
a similar club for the seven Congregational Churches
of Newton, and took steps to organize the same, and
was its first president.

When the town commemorated the centennial of
an important event in its history, Mr. Hyde was
selected to prepare and deliver the address, and
again, at the two hundredth anniversary of the incor-
poration of the town, he was appointed to render a
similar service. Probably no one is more conversant
with the history of Newton, or has a more ardent
love for his native town than Mr. Hyde.

In his inaugural address the second year that he
was mayor, he advised making the Newton Library,
which had been established and .supported by private
subscription up to that time, a free city library, which
recommendation waa adopted, and the following year
carried into effect.

He saw the nece.ssity of increased railroad accom-
modations — though there were already two railroads
running through the city, one on the north side and
one on the south — and realized the importance of
connecting the two, thus securing a circuit road unit-
ing the many villages of Newtou by iron bands. Al-
most alone, he labored for five years with no expec-
tation of conpensation, to accomplish this desirable
object, and though no one but himself believed he
would succeed, and he was often ridiculed for his
folly in attempting such a thing, he accomplished his
object, and the Circuit Railroad was opened for travel
in 1880, thus giving Newton three uewstations, mak-
ing twelve in all.

It was remarked by one of Newton's distinguished
men, that " no three things that could be done for
Newton would be of so great benefit as the Circuit Rail-
road."

Though a very busy man, as this sketch implies, he
has found time to give many public addre.sses in dif-
ferent parts of the State on a variety of subjects, but
especially on those relating to the cultivation of the
soil and kindred matters.

He has been diligent in business since hia earliest
manhood ; but it has never been his chief aim in life
to " get rich," in the modern acceptation of that term,
but be has been content with acquiring a moderate
competence. He takes delight in hard work and
plenty of business, his chief recreation being found
in his garden, where he seeks to spend a little time
daily during the open season.

No man seems to enjoy nature more than he, and he
does what he can to lead others to follow his excel-
lent example.

He has had remarkable health, not having been

confined to his bed one day by sickness since be can
remember, and he has a remarkable memory.

It often surprises his friend.s, as well as strangers,
to hear him give the scientific name of almost every
plant that grows in this part of the country. Though
sixty-five years old, he is as diligent us ever before in
his life, carrying on his mind a great amnunlofthe
details of business.

Mr. Hyde is a very decided man, always having an
opinion of his own, and generally earnest to have
others see things as he sees them.

He frequently says, with some degree of pride, that
he never uses tobacco in any form or spirituous or in-
toxicating liquors, never goes to the theatre or drives
fast horses or indulges in any other of the modern
vices or follies. He has no time for such things.

It might be well for young men to keep such an
example in view. He is prompt and exait in keep-
ing his word, and is always very much di.-turbed if
others do not.

Mr. Hyde enjoys the respect of bis fellnw-lfiwns-
men to a remarkable degree. He is a self-made man,
if there ever was line. Starting without money, edu-
cation or influential friends, liy brtrd work and force
of character he hn.s placed himself among the most
influential citizens of his native li'.y. Such an ex-
ample is surely worthy of Imitation. The world i^
certainly better for such a life, and may it be con-
tinued :ls long as it can be useful.

NATHAMKL lUfLUF .\I.I.KX.

Nathaniel Toplitf Allen, son of Ellis and Lucy
(Lane) Allen, was born in Medfield, Norfolk County,
-Massachusetts, .September ill, 1823. His native
homestead farm, purchased from the Indians, ba.s
been owned and tilled by seven generations of Aliens,
noted for longevity, sterling common sense and nig-
ged worth ; and there, during bis minority, the sub-
ject of this sketch, followed the pursuits of his ances-
tors, and laid the foundation of a remarkably vigorous
constitution. Portions of three years of his minority
were spent in a Waltham cotton-mill, where was
acquired a knowledge of textile manufacture ; he
received agood common-school education in the public
schools, in a family school of Rev. Joseph Allen, at
Northboro', and at Northfield Academy. After three
successful seasons in charge of schools, and having
chosen to become a teacher, he continued his pro-
fessional studies in the Bridgewater Normal School,
under Nicholas Tillinghast, and in the Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N. Y. After teach-
ing in the common district and singing-schools at
Mansfield, Northboro', Northfield and Shrewsbury,
Mass., until the spring of 1848, he was appointed by
Horace Mann, of the State Board of Education, to
the charge of the model department of the Normal
School at West Newton. This position he tilled with
marked ability for nearly six years, when, in connec-

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NEWTON.

169

tion with Cyrus Pierce, father of American normal
schools, he established the institution of which asso-
ciated with his brother James T. Allen, he is the
principal, — " The West Newton English and Classi-
cal School." Mr. Allen has been one of the most
progressive and successful educators of the last half-
century, always advocating the liberal and thorough
co-education of the sexes, and ready to introduce into
his own school whatever proved to be sound in theory
and useful in practice. This school, with its indus-
trial department, at the homestead in Medfield, which
is under the care of his brother, Joseph A. Allen,
draws students from a wide region, — ^the last enroll-
ment, 1890, showing boys and girls from seventeen
of the United States, from Canada, Cuba, Montevi-
deo (South America), Sweden, Spain and Italy. The
remarkable success attending Mr. Allen's career has
not been achieved through any hap-hazard influences."
The make-up of his character was well provided for
by a sturdy ancestry.

On the paternal side he traces his lineage through
seven generations to the Puritans of 1640, and on the
maternal side to the Pilgrims of Plymouth.

James Allen, an emigrant from England (16-10),
settled in Dedham, where his cousin, John Allen,
was the first minister and a co-laborer with John
Eliot among the Indians.

In 1(549 James made one of seven families who
settled Medfield. He purchased land of the Indians
and built his house on the spot where the present
homestead stands, now owned by the .\lien Brothers,
Nathaniel and Joseph, the latter and his children, of
the eighth generation, are its present occupants.

The longevity of this family is remarkable. De-
veloped through generations of sturdy adherence to
the laws of health, being neither by wealth tempted
to idlene.ss and dissipation, or by poverty debarred
from healthful social enjoyments, they were accustom-
ed to plain living and high thinking.

In the sixth generation, to which Mr. Allen's father
belonged, and in the family of six sons and two
daughters, death did not invade the circle for seven-
ty-eight years, when the Rev. Joseph Allen, D.D., of
Northboro', died ; four of the sons died at eighty-
three ; one, Rev. Wm. W. Allen, became the oldest
living graduate of Harvard, dying at ninety-three
years, while the youngest is living at eighty-three ;
the daughters died — one in infancy, and one at ninety
years.

Mr. Allen's mother died from an accident at nine-
ty-six years, wanting twenty-five days, in full posses-
sion of her faculties, and leaving seventy-eight de-
scendants.

The seventh generation, of which Mr. .\llen is a
member, consisting of five sons and three daughters,
was exempt trom death's visitation for fifty -seven years.

The late Dio Lewis, M.D., pronounced Nathaniel
one of the strongest and most enduring men he had
ever known.

A tine physique, cheery, mirth-enjoying and mirth-
producing spirit, financial independence, high moral,
progressive and reformatory ideas have distinguished
Mr. Allen.

He is distinguished by the above characteristics and
has ever been prominent in moral reforms — theologi-
cal — peace, anti-slavery, temperance, woman suffrage,
civil service and tariff.

The same spirit actuates him which caused his an-
cestors, Puritan and Pilgrim, to contend for an im-
proved condition. It would be diflScult, if not im-
possible, to find another person of Mr. Allen's age
with so many warm personal friends. In every city
throughout the country, from Maine to California and
from Canada to Texas, these are found,

During a busy life in the class-room, he has held
many other positions of responsibility; he has been
president of the board of directors of the Pomroy
Newton Home for Orphan and Destitute Girls
since it was founded, sixteen years ago ; is also the
president of the Newton Woman's Suffrage Associ-
ation and a director in the American Peace Society.
He was trustee of the Boston College of Physicians
and Surgeons, and a member of the committee of ex-
amination in natural science at Harvard.

Mr. Allen was a Garrisonian abolitionist and
an oflScer of the society when in those days it
cost something to be identified with men of their
belief. He was many times mobbed when in their
company, and naturally became an early member of
the Free-Soil party.

In 18*)9, having been appointed an agent of the
Commissioner of Public Education by Hon. Henry
Barnard, Mr. Allen went abroad and spent two years
in studying the school systems of England, Scotland,
Ireland, France, Italy, Austria, and in particular of
what is now included in the German Empire.

The results of his observations of the secondary
schools, Gymnasia, Real- and Volks-Schulen of Prus-
sia, Saxony and Nassau are preserved in a valu-
able report published and distributed by order of the
Secretary of the Interior.

Mr. Allen was married, March 30, 1853, to Caroline
Swift, daughter of James Nye and Rebecca (Free-
man) Bassett, of Nantucket, and of their children,
Fanny Bassett, Sarah Caroline and Lucy Ellis are
living; Nathaniel Topliff, their son, died in 1865.

EDWIN BEADBUBY HASKELL.

Edwin Bradbury Haskell was born in Livermore
(then Oxford, afterwards Kennebec and now Andros-
coggin County), Me., August 24, 1837. His father was
Moses Greenleaf Haskell, who was for the most of his
life a country merchant in that town. His paternal
grandfather, William Haskell, was born in Glouces-
ter, Mass., and emigrated when a young man to the
District of Maine, about the time that the General
Court of Massachusetts gave to the people of Glou-

170

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

cester a township in the then almost wild "district,"
which afterwards became New Gloucester, Me., as a
reward for their great services in the Revolutionary
War. Mr. Haskell's mother was Bosilla Haines,
daughter of Captain Peter Haines, who emigrated
from Gilmanton, N. H., to Maine about 1790, bought
a square mile of land on the Androscoggin River, in
what is now East Livermore, where he brought up a
large family of children, most of whom settled about
him, and left a handsome estate and a highly respected
name. On both sides this was sturdy New England
stock of the earlier English immigrations — 1630 to
1640— and from the enterprising young people of that
stock who conquered the virgin Maine wilderness
came a yeomanry of sound minds in sound bodies
which has since made its mark throughout the coun-
try. Mr. Haskell was educated in the district school
and at Kent's Hill Seminary, where he was fitted for
college at the age of sixteen, having shown a special
aptitude for mathematics. Not having the promise
of pecuniary assistance for a college course, he was
easily induced by his cousin, Zenas T. Haines, after-
wards well known in the journalism of Boston, to
enter the oflBce of the Portland Advertiser and learn
to be a printer. At the end of a year, having learned
what he could of the printer's art in a daily newpaper
office, he went, with a single companion, to New Or-
leans, where printers were much better paid in those
days, and worked as a journeyman in that city and in
Baton Rouge from the autumn of 1855 until the fol-
lowing summer. In August, 1856, he came to Boston
and took a situation as a compositor on the Saturday
Evening Gazette, which was at that time a most re-
spectable paper published by William W. Clapp. In
the spring of 1857 he was employed by the Boston
Journal as printer and reporter, and after the first
year wholly as a reporter. In the spring of 1860 he
received an advantageous offer to become a reporter
on the Boston Herald, then owned by Edwin C. Bai-
ley, and in the following year was made one of the
editorial writers, and practically the head of that de-
partment. In 1861 Mr. Haskell, with his associate,
George M. Tileston, helped to raise the Eleventh
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, and intended to
go to the field with it, but resigned his commission to
another who had had military training. In 1865 Mr.
Bailey proposed to sell the Herald, on account of fail-
ing health, and Mr. Haskell made up what would
have been called at a later period a "syndicate" to
purchase it. Some changes were made in the persons,
Mr. Bailey wishing to put in his brother, who was
foreman in the composing-room, and his cashier, the
late Royal M. Pulsifer, and with these modifications
the trade was promptly carried through, for one-third
interest in the paper; the other two-thirds were pur-
chased four years later. Mr. Haskell's associates were
Royal M. Pulsifer, Justin Andrews, Charles H. An-
drews and George G. Bailey. Mr. Bailey and Justin
Ajidrewa sold out their interests a few years after, re-

tiring wiih competeucies, and the other three partners
continued together until 1887.

Mr. Haskell's chief work in life was editor of the
Boston Herald from 1865 to 1887. With a mind nat-
urally inclined to see the arguments on both sides of
a question, and with strong convictions of the right,
he made the Herald entirely independent of parties,
but always a consistent advocate of certain well-
defined principles in relation to public affairs. Among
these were universal suffrage, local self-government,
honest currency, civil service reform and low tariff,
with free trade as the ultimate goal to be reached.
The Herald was, at the same time, one of the most
enterprising newspapers in the country, and soon
became the leading journal in New England, with a
circulation and influence scarcely second to that of
any other paper in the country.

As an editorial writer Mr. Haskell was, in the words
of one who knew him well, " terse and direct, going
to the core of the theme under discussion, and his
keen sense of humor was a no less noticeable trait of
his professional outfit." He was especially well in-
formed, clear and incisive on economic questions.
Mr. Haskell sold out his interest in the Herald in the
autumn of 1887,owiug to the unfortunate financial
complications of his partner. .Mr. Pulsifer, but re-
sumed his proprietorship the following spring, when
the Boston Herald Company w.is incorporated, and
became a director in the company. His retirement
from the editorship was permanent, and he was suc-
ceeded by his friend and .associate for years, Mr. John
H. Holmes.

Mr. Haskell has made investments in other suc-
cessful newspapers, and is a large owner in the Min-
neapolis Jovrnal and St. Joseph S'ews. He was at one
time the largest stockholder in the Minneapolis Tri-
bune, of which his son, William E. Haskell, was
editor.

Mr. Haskell's fortunate business and professional
career has been happily matched by his social and
domestic life at his elegant and beautiful home,
"Vista Hill," overlooking the Charles River valley,
in Auburndale, Newton.

In 1877 and 1878, accompanied by his family and a
small retinue of friends, he made a tour of Europe,
lasting some thirteen months. Hence the unique de-
scriptive serial sketches published in the Haald of
the " Adventures of the Scribbler Family Abroad."

In 1882 he declined a nomination to Congress,
which would have been equivalent to an election,
preferring his editorial position to what he held to be
a more limited field of usefulness and honor.

Mr. Haskell was married, in August, 1861, to Celia,
daughter of Jonas and Joanna (Hubbard) Hill, of
Fayette, Maine. Of this union there were seven
children, of whom four are living (in 1890). The eld-
est, William Edwin, graduated at Harvard in 1884,
and settled in Minneapolis. He was for a time editor
of the Minneapolis Tribune, and is one of the owners

c^^^

NEWTON".

171

of the Minneapolis Journal. The second, Harry Hill,
is a graduate of Harvard, '90, and is destined for the
medical profession. The youngest children are Mar-
garet, born 1874, and Clarence Greenleaf, born in
1880.

Mr. Haskell baa made some railroad investments
by virtue of which he is vice-president of the South
Florida Railroad Company and a director of the
Plant Investment Company. In local affairs he is
president of the Newton Cemetery Corporation, pres-
ident of the Newton Jersey Stock Club, and President
of the Board of Trustees of the Newton Free Library.

HON. LEVI C. WAI'E.'

Hon. Levi C. Wade, of Newton, who was Speaker
of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in
1879, and has since become even more widely known
as president of the Mexican Central Railway, was
born January Iti, 1848, in Allegheny City, Pennsyl-
vania, but is a member of an old Middlesex County
family. His father, Levi Wade, whose ancestors were
among the early inhabitants and largest land-owners
of Medford, was born in 1812 in Woburn, to which his ! Falls for five years

Levi C. Wade was educated in the public schools
and was fitted for college by private tutors, entering
Yale in 1862 and graduating with the degree of A.B.
in 1866. While in college he took prizes in English
composition, debate and declama