THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY, 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1638-1889. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED SERENO HUDSON. 
 
 There is no pas\so loiQ^s books shall live. — Bulwer. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE TOWN OF SUDBURY. 
 
 1889. 
 

 JU.I 
 
 
 Copyright, 188'J, 
 
 BY 
 
 Alfred s. II i dson. 
 
 PRINTED \:\ R. II. BLODGETT, 
 30 Bromfield St., Jioston. 
 
^4/AacI X ff^uCt 
 
 t^^ 
 

TO MY FAMILY, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 FAMILIES PAST AND PRESENT OF SUDBURY, 
 
 gMs History 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
TO MY FAMILY, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 FAMILIES PAST AND PRESENT OF SUDBURY, 
 
 <s 
 
 i'j 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In submitting this volume to the public, we do not 
 expect to be so fortunate as to have avoided all mistakes. 
 We hope, however, that it contains as few as could be 
 expected in a work relating to so broad a field of facts and 
 so long a period of time. The following statements con- 
 cerning the general plan of the work may assist the reader 
 to a fairer estimate of its merits. 
 
 The primary object of the writer has been to present the 
 annals or general history of Sudbury. The age of the town, 
 its importance and prominence in the past, and the fullness 
 of its records have left no room for complete genealogies, 
 and partial sketches of families or individuals have been 
 given only so far as pertains to the general design of the 
 work. 
 
 The second object has been to make the book readable. 
 If a local history is to be read it must be more than a col- 
 lection of statistics, or quotations from records, or a compila- 
 tion of facts given apart from their relation to each other 
 or to events in the country at large. To accomplish the 
 second object, whenever local events have been connected 
 with general history, we have taken the space for the 
 latter which we considered essential to show this connec- 
 tion, and thus to broaden the view of the reader and add 
 interest to the subject. As, for example, the statement 
 that some French Neutrals were for a time cared for by 
 the inhabitants of Sudbury might be invested with no in- 
 
VI. PREFACE. 
 
 terest to the general reader, and soon be forgotten, unless 
 somewhat of the history of those unfortunates was also 
 given. Secondly, we have intended, while we have not 
 neglected minor tilings, to give greater prominence to events 
 in which the general public is most interested. Thirdly, in 
 some instances when we have quoted records verbatim, we 
 have also taken space to give the same in our own language 
 that, by enlarging upon the events recorded, we might add 
 prominence and interest. 
 
 In gathering historic material we have relied upon orig- 
 inal sources of information, except in such instances as the 
 reputation of an author has warranted us in accepting of 
 his statements. The original sources from which we have 
 drawn are the voluminous mass of town records, the loose, 
 fragmentary papers of the Stearns Collection, the State 
 Archives, the traditions of old inhabitants, and histories 
 whose authors were contemporaneous with the events they 
 recorded. The first source referred to consists of several 
 large record books, the first of which dates from the begin- 
 ning of the settlement, and is followed by a series of well- 
 kept books containing a detailed and unbroken record of the 
 transactions of the old historic town. These books cover a 
 space of two hundred and fifty years, and in instances the 
 paper is worn and the writing illegible. The Stearns Col- 
 lection is made up of manuscripts which were gathered by 
 Dr. Thomas Stearns of Sudbury. Some of these bear an 
 early date, and eonsi>t of deeds, wills, journals or diaries, 
 and fragmentary bits of information. The State Archives 
 contain valuable information not found in the town books. 
 This is especially so as regards the early wars. The town 
 books contain but little about the war with King Philip, and 
 the conflicts that occurred during the last of the seventeenth 
 and the first of the eighteenth century, and also but little 
 about the French and Indian wars. 
 
PREFACE. Vll. 
 
 The old inhabitants referred to are some who are now 
 living and some who have passed away since this work was 
 commenced. Among the former are Mr. John Maynard, 
 Capt. James Moore and Mr. James S. Draper of Wayland. 
 Among the latter are C. G. Cutler, Esq., Mr. Josiah Haynes, 
 Mrs. Samuel Jones, Mrs. J. P. Allen, Mr. Reuben Rice of 
 Concord and Mr. Abel Heard of Wayland, formerly East 
 Sudbury. We have also obtained valuable information from 
 local histories of modern date. 
 
 In our system of arrangement, we have combined the 
 chronological with the topical ; that is, we have, since 1650, 
 considered the history of the town in successive periods of 
 a quarter century each, taking topically, in the main, the 
 events which each contained. We consider the advantage 
 of this system to be that, after a careful perusal of this work, 
 the reader will be able to take a general view of the town 
 in all its relations — civil, social, and religious — at any 
 period of its history. 
 
 In the selection of material we have been guided by the 
 main object of the history, namely, to give a correct and 
 vivid impression of times, characters, and events. 
 
 We have endeavored not to pass lightly by any event that 
 had an especially formative or far-reaching influence ; but, 
 in the history of two hundred and fifty years of a town once 
 the largest in the county, it may be expected that much will 
 be left out which would otherwise be gathered up. 
 
 In making reference to the town books the page has been 
 generally omitted, partly to save space, partly because some 
 of the books are not paged, and partly because the date suf- 
 ficiently indicates the place where the record may be found. 
 
 In seeking information we have been kindly received, 
 and we extend our thanks to all those who have rendered 
 assistance, and to all who, by the confidence they have 
 reposed in us and their interest in the work and apprecia- 
 
Mil. PREFACE. 
 
 tiou of its magnitude, have made the difficult task more 
 pleasant. The author would acknowledge his indebtedness 
 to the members of his own family for substantial aid : and 
 especially to Mrs. 1.. R. Hudson, who lias shared with him 
 in the arduous work, and without whose sympathy, encour- 
 agement, and assistance, this history would have been longer 
 in completion and oi' less value. 
 
 Thanks are also especially due to Mr. Jonas S. Hunt, 
 Sudbury's efficient and courteous town clerk, whose hearty 
 co-operation as well as substantial assistance demand the 
 gratitude o( both the town and the author. 
 
 Thanks are due to Mr. John Ward Dean, Librarian of the 
 New England Historic-Genealogical Society, for kindly giv- 
 ing aeeess to the books of the Society, Mr. flames S. Draper 
 of Wayland, for his assistance in locating and drawing a 
 map of the early homesteads of the settlers, Mr. Asahel 
 Balcom o( Maynard, for facts about the north-west district, 
 Mr. George 11. Barton of the Institute of Technology, Bos- 
 ton, tor preparing a paper on the geology of Sudbury, Miss 
 G. A. Goodnow, for facts concerning the Methodist church, 
 and others who have furnished valuable information. 
 
 We would also acknowledge the valuable assistance re- 
 ceived from Temple's History o( Framingham, Shattuck's 
 History of Concord, Saunderson's History of Charlestown, 
 N. 11., Reed's History o( Rutland, and Drake's History v( 
 Middlesex County. We would also take this occasion to 
 express our thanks to the town o( Sudbury for the liberal 
 appropriation which has enabled us to complete the work. 
 
 Alfred S. Hudson. 
 Avkii, June 1st, L88 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Early Condition of the Country. — Original Boundaries. — Indian 
 Names. — Primitive Forests. — Laws concerning Timber. — Clear- 
 ings. — Game. — Johnson's Description. — Meaning of "Meadow 
 Lands." — " Old Connecticut Path." — Indian Trails, . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Indians of Sudbury Territory. — Relics. — Localities where they 
 Lived: at Nobscot, the Vicinity of the River, Weir Hill, Cochjt- 
 uate. — Names and History of Prominent Indians: Karte, Tan fa- 
 mous, Nataous. — Description of Wigwams. — Food. — Charac- 
 teristics. — Method of Hunting and Fishing. — Tribal Relations. 
 — Nature of their Early Intercourse with the English, . 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Origin of the Sudbury Settlement. — Why it was formed. — Names 
 of Early Settlers : Residents of Watertown, Emigrants from 
 England. — Passenger List of the Ship " Confidence." — Tradition 
 about John Rutter. — Character of the Settlers. — Biographical 
 Sketches, 24 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Method of Acquiring Territory. — Character and Jurisdiction of the 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony.— Colonial Court. — Response to the 
 Petition for a Plantation at Sudbury. — Successive Land Grants. 
 — Purchase of Territory. — Indian Deeds. — Incorporation of the 
 Town. — Name. — Sketch of Sudbury, Eng. — Town Boundaries, 57 
 
X. CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Place and Plan of Settlement. — Data of House-lots. — Description 
 of Map. — Course of First Street. — Sites of Early Homesteads. — 
 Historic Highway. — Time of Settlement. — Dimensions of First 
 Dwelling-house. — Early Expi of the Settlers, . 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Town Meetings. — Their Origin and Character. — Conditions of 
 Citizenship. — Freemen. — Place of Town .Meeting. — Town Offi- 
 cers. — Highways. — Bridges. — " Indian Bridge." — The " Old 
 Town Bridge." — Contracts with Ambrose Leach and Timothy 
 Hawkins. — Causeway. Formation of Church. — Settlement of 
 First Minister. — Erection of First Meeting-House. — Contract 
 with John Kuttcr. — Building of Grist-Mill 83 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Land Divisions. — Origin of the Terms " Common " and " Lot." — 
 Permission of Colonial Court for Land Division. — Principles 
 upon which Land Divisions were Made. — The Meadows a Basis 
 of Division. — Meadow Rights, or Meadow Dividends. — Rules 
 of Division. — Quantity of Meadow Received in Three Early 
 Allotments. — Division of Upland. 1 — Town's Common or Llndi- 
 vided Lands. — Proprietors' Common or Undivided Lands. — 
 Proprietors' Meetings subsequent to 17(10. — Specimens of their 
 Records. — Land Allotments to be Recorded. — Cow Common. — 
 Land for the Support of the Ministry. — Reservations for "Plant- 
 ing Fields." a "Training Field," a Mill, a Pasture for "Working 
 Oxen," Timber Land, 104 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Miscellaneous. — Laws concerning Domestic Animals, birds. Wolves, 
 Ammunition and Fire-arms. — Common Planting Fields. — Fence 
 Viewers and Fences. — Staple Crops. — Meadow Grass; Abun- 
 dance, Time and Price of Cutting, Measures for Improving. — 
 Mode of Travel. — Staking the Causeway. — Climate. — Rain and 
 Snow Fall. — Occasion of Floods. — Breaking Out Roads. — Care 
 of the Poor. — Laws for the Prevention of Povertv Enacted by 
 the Town ; by the Province. — Town Action for the Encourage- 
 ment of Industry. — Education. — Morality. — Instruction in the 
 
CONTENTS. XI. 
 
 Use of Fire-arms. — Tything-men. — Stocks. — Lecture Day.— 
 Fasts. — Baptism of Infants. — Laws Relating to Labor. — Pay- 
 ments Often Made in Produce. — Negroes Bought and Sold.— 
 Copy of Bill of Sale. — Schedule of Inhabitants a Century and a 
 Half Ago. — Respect Shown by the Use of Titles; by Gratula- 
 tion; by Seating in the Meeting-House. — Careful of Dues. — 
 Precaution Against Fire. — Borrowing Canoes. — Board of the 
 Representatives. — Peculiar Names of Places, . . . .128 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Sudbury in the Colonization of Other Towns : Framingham, Marl- 
 boro, Worcester, Grafton, Rutland, 151 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Activity on the West Side of the River. — Early Homesteads.— 
 Laying Out of the " New Grant." — Land Allotments. — Owners 
 and Occupants. — "The Thirty Rod Highway." — Settlement of 
 Marlboro. — The " Hop Brook Mill." — Highway to the New Mill. 
 — "Old Lancaster Road." — New Meeting-House; Contract.— 
 The " Cow Common " Controversy, 177 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1675-1700. 
 
 Philip's War: Sources of Information; Cause and Nature. — Defen- 
 sive Measures by the Town: Garrison-Houses; Militia. —Defen- 
 sive Measures by the Colony. — Services of the Town outside its 
 Limits; List of Men Impressed. - Swamp Fight. — Services of 
 Ephraim Curtis among the Nipnets: As a Messenger with Pro- 
 posals of Peace; As a. Guide in Captain Hutchinson's Expedi- 
 tion.— Signs of Indian Hostilities in and about the Town. — 
 Edmund Brown's Letter. — Night Attack on the Indians, and 
 Death of Netus, 195 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1675-1700. 
 
 Philip's War.— Indian Invasion; Date. — Number of the Enemy. 
 — Philip's Preparation.— Indian Powwow. — Movements of the 
 English. — General Attackon the Town. — Assault on the Haynes 
 
Xll. 
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 Garrison. -Hostilities on the East Side. -Resistance of the Eng- 
 lish. - Arrival of Reinforcements; Concord Company, Watertown 
 
 Company. -The Indians Driven Over the Causeway and Bridge 
 - Atfcmpt to Reinforce Captain Wadsworth. -Description Given 
 in ' The Old Petition,"' . 
 
 211 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 1675-1700. 
 
 Philip's War. -The Sudbury Fight. - Number of Men in Captain 
 Wadsworth's Company: The Arrival at Marlboro; The Return 
 to Sudbury. -The Ambuscade: Place of It. — Philip's Plan of 
 Attack. -Number of Indians. -The Battle. - The Forest Fire 
 -Retreat of the English. - Refuge in Hop Brook Mill. -Num- 
 ber of the English Slain. -Philip's Loss.- Treatment of Cap- 
 tives. — Rescue of the Survivors. - Burial of the Dead -Place 
 of Burial. -Biographical Sketches: Captain Wadsworth, Captain 
 Brocklebank. - Roxbury Men. - Concord Men. - Marlboro Men 
 -The Christian Indians. - Movements of the English after the 
 Battle. — Sudbury's Loss ,,.,,, 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 1675-1700. 
 
 Revival of Prosperity after Philip's War.-Payment for Fortifica- 
 tion of the Meeting-House.- Erection of Saw-Mill at Hop 
 Brook. -Death of Rev. Edmund Browne; Place of Burial- LPs 
 toncal Sketch. -Settlement of Rev. James Sherman.- Purchase 
 of Parsonage.- Building of New Meeting-House.- Political 
 Disturbances. -Change of Charter.- Administration of Sir Ed- 
 mund Andros.— Indian Hostilities. - The Ten Vers War — 
 Distribution of Ammunition.- Petition of Sudbury. — Phipps 
 Expedition. - Sudbury Canada Grant. - Witchcraft. - Samuel 
 Paris; Historical Sketch.- Incorporation of Framingham.- 
 Miscellaneous Matters, . 
 
 . 259 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1700-172.-.. 
 
 Educational Advantages: Why so Small.-School Laws by the 
 Province. -Town Action. -Grammar School; Location — Mixed 
 Schools— Masters—School-Houses—Ecclesiastical Matters - 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll. 
 
 Dismission of Rev. Mr. Sherman. — « Ordination of Rev. Israel 
 Loring. — Division of the Town into Two Precincts; Petitions, 
 Remonstrances, Decision of the Court, Subsequent Action of the 
 Town. — Call of Mr. Loring by the People of the West Precinct; 
 His Acceptance. — Renewal of the Church Covenant by the Peo- 
 ple of the West Side; Subscribers Thereto. — Settlement of Rev. 
 Mr. Cook in the East Parish. — Building of a Meeting-House on 
 the West Side ; Location. — Removal of the East Side Meeting- 
 House ; New Location 277 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1700-1725. 
 
 Queen Anne's War; Attendant Hardships. — Father Ralle's War ; 
 Eastern Expedition, List of Sudbury Soldiers. — Ranger Service; 
 Its Nature. — Death of Samuel Mossman. — Imperiled Condition 
 of Rutland. — Death of Rev. Joseph Willard by the Indians.— 
 Petition for Assistance. — List of Sudbury Soldiers at Rutland. — 
 Captain Wright's Letter. — Lieut. William Brintnall ; His Letter. 
 — Province Loans. — River Meadow. — Causeway. — Roads. — 
 Miscellaneous. .......... 295 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 1725-1750. 
 
 Highways. — Bridges. — Schools. — Movement for a New Town- 
 ship ; Remonstrances. — Petition Relating to the River Meadows. 
 — Sale of Peter Noyes's Donation of the Hop Brook Mill. — 
 Gratuities to the Ministers. — Miscellaneous Matters. . . .305 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1725-1750. 
 
 Third French and Indian War. — Sudbury Soldiers at Cape Breton. 
 — Fort No. 4, N. H. — Capt. Phineas Stevens. — Sketch of His 
 Life. — His Service in Connection with the Building and Defense 
 of the Fort. — Capt. Josiah Brown. — Engagement with French 
 and Indians about the Fort. — Petition of Captain Brown. — Peti- 
 tion of Jonathan Stanhope. — Battle between the Forces of Cap- 
 tain Stevens and General Debeline. — Expedition of Captain 
 Hobbs. — Battle between the Commands of Captain Hobbs and 
 Chief Sackett. — Sketch of Capt. Josiah Brown. — List of Captain 
 Brown's Troopers, 313 
 
XIV. CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 1750-177."). 
 
 The Work-House.- Regulations of it. — Pest- House at Nobscot. — 
 ( .raves of Small-Pox Victims.— Pest-Houses on the East Side.— 
 Graves of Victims.— Inoculation for the Disease. — Statistics 
 Relating to It. — Highway Work. — Lottery for Repairing the 
 Causeway. — Schools.— School-Houses. — Fourth French and In- 
 dian War. — Causes of It. — Lists of Sudbury Soldiers in Various 
 Campaigns. — First and Second Foot Companies. — Alarm List. — 
 Troops of Horse. — Battle at Half- Way Brook.— Death of Cap- 
 tain Dakin. — Sketch of his Life. — Covenant. — Correspondence. 
 
 — French Neutrals. — Death of Rev. William Cook. — Settle- 
 ment of Rev. Josiah Bridge.— Death of Rev. Israel Loring.— 
 Sketch of His Life.— Settlement of Rev. Jacob Bigelow.— Divi- 
 sion of West Part into Wards. — Powder House. — Noon Houses. 
 
 — Pound. — Measures to Suppress Swindling, . . . .327 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 1775-1800. 
 
 War of the Revolution. — Causes of It. — Attitude of the Town 
 Relative to the Stamp Act. — Instructions to the Representative 
 Concerning It. — Report of the Committee Relative to the Impor- 
 tation of Tea. — Patriotic Resolutions of the Town. — Instruc- 
 tions to its Representatives. — An Old Document Descriptive of 
 the Times. — Military Preparations. — Choice of Militia Officers. 
 — Organization of Minute Companies. — Names and Captains of 
 Companies.— Muster Rolls. — Equipments. — Drill. — Call Roll 
 of Captain Nixon's Company. — Military Stores Removed to 
 Sudbury. — The Alarm. — The Mustering and March. — The 
 Arrival at Concord. — The Encounter at the North Bridge.— 
 Retreat of the British. — The Pursuit. — Encounter at Merriam's 
 Corner. — At Hardy's Hill. — incident. — Sudbury's Loss. — 
 Sketch of Deacon Josiah Haynes. — Sketch of Mr. Asahel Read. 358 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 17?:. 1800. 
 
 Revolutionary War. — Sudbury Soldiers at Bunker Hill. — Muster 
 Rolls of Captains Russell, Moore, and Haynes. — Battle of bun- 
 ker Hill. — Position and Service of the Regiments of Colonels 
 
CONTENTS. XV. 
 
 Nixon and Brewer. — Number of Casualties. — The Siege of 
 Boston.— List of Men in Two Months Service. — List of Men in 
 Colonel Whitney's Regiment. — Government Storehouses at Sand 
 Hill. — Service outside the State.— List of Officers in Sudbury 
 Companies in 1776.'— List of Men in Capt. Aaron Haynes's 
 Company. — Men in Captain Wheeler's Company at Ticonderoga; 
 in Colonel Robinson's Regiment, in Colonel Read's Regiment.— 
 Supplementary List. — Soldiers at Ticonderoga in 1770; in Cap- 
 tain Wheeler's Company, Captain Craft's Company, Captain Edg- 
 ell's Company, Captain Aaron Haynes's Company. — Canada 
 Campaign. — New York Campaign. — Men Enlisted for Three 
 Years in 1777. — Guard Roll.— Pay Roll. — List of Two Months 
 Men in 1777.— List of Three Months Men in 1777. — Names of 
 Sudbury Captains and Companies in the Field in 1778. — Captain 
 Maynard's Company. — Captain Wheeler's Company. — Captain 
 Moulton's Company. — Captain Haynes's Company. — Captain 
 Bowker's Company. — Prices Paid for Enlistment in 1780. . 
 
 383 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1775-1800. 
 
 Revolutionary War.— Report of a Committee Appointed by the 
 Town to Estimate the Service of Sudbury Soldiers. — Appoint- 
 ment of a Committee to Make up and Bring in Muster Rolls of 
 the Services of Each Soldier in the War. — Muster Rolls: Cap- 
 tain Rice's, Captain Wheeler's, Captain Maynard's, Captain Cut- 
 ting's. — Whole Number of Men in the War. — Their Valiant 
 Service. — Casualties. — Sketch of Gen. John Nixon. — Town- 
 Meetings. — Encouragements to Enlistment. — Specimen of En- 
 listment Papers. — Various Requisitions Made on the Town, . 402 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 1775-1800. 
 
 Attention the Town Bestowed on its Home Needs during the War. 
 — Specimen Report of a Town-Meeting. — Attitude of the Town 
 towards the Measures of Boston Merchants relative to the Re 
 duction of Prices. — Appointment of Delegate to a Convention 
 Called for the Purpose of Framing a New Constitution. — Com- 
 mittee Appointed to Regulate Prices. — Report of Committee.— 
 Vote on the New Constitution. — Educational Matters. — Division 
 of the Town. — Committee on a Line of Division. — Committee 
 Appointed to Present a Remonstrance to the Court —Instructions 
 
XV1 - CONTENTS. 
 
 to the Committee. — Act of the Court Authorizing a Division. — 
 Committee Appointed to Make a Division of the Money and Real 
 Estate.— Report of the Committee.— Appointment of Other Com- 
 mittees. — Financial Report.— Official Boards for 1780 and 1781. 
 
 Miscellaneous. — Shay's Rebellion.— Erection of Meeting-House. 
 
 — Miscellaneous, air 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 1800-1825. 
 
 Early Families Residing in Sudbury about the Beginning of the 
 Present Century. — Families Who Came into Sudbury during the 
 Interval between the Formation of the Town and about the Mid- 
 dle of the Present Century. — Biographical Sketches, . . .432 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 1800-1825. 
 
 Continuation of Old Customs to the Beginning of the Present Cen- 
 tury. — Inventory in a Will of 1806. — Extracts from an Old 
 Account Book. — Description of Manners and Customs by an Old 
 Inhabitant. — Changes in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury. — Extract from "Fireside Hymns."— Highway Work.— 
 North Sudbury Road.— South Sudbury Road.— Rebuilding Wash 
 Bridge. — Railing the Causeway. — Setting out Willow Trees. — 
 Rebuilding the Canal Bridge. — Miscellaneous. — Educational 
 Matters. — Report of School Committee in 1802. — Removal of 
 Centre School-House to the Common.— Singing Society.— Church 
 .Music. — Military Matters. — Patriotic Attitude Assumed by the 
 Town. — Mone) Pledged to Soldiers as Wages.— As Bounty.— 
 Patriotic Resolutions. — Militia Officers.— How Chosen.— Where. 
 
 — Specimen of Company Order. — Soldiers in 1812. — Wages per 
 Day. — Settlement of Rev. Timothy Hilliard. — Ordaining" Coun- 
 cil. — Dismission. — Bill Allowed for Entertaining the Dismissing 
 Council. — Sketch of Mr. Hilliard. — Appointment of a Day of 
 Fasting and Prayer Relative to the Settlement of a New Minister. 
 
 — Call Extended to Rev. Rufus Hurlbut. — Accepted. — Death of 
 Rev. Jacob Bigelow. — His Annuity. — Money Paid his Widow 
 for Service Rendered by the Clergy as a Gift to her. — Funeral 
 Expenses. — Sketch of Mr. Bigelow. — Addition to the Church 
 during his Ministry. — Enlarging the Burying Ground. — Pur- 
 chase of a Bier and Hearse. — Formation of "Sudbury Minis- 
 terial Land Corporation." — Sale of Ministerial Land. — Report of 
 
 the " Ministerial Fund Corporation," . .454 
 
CONTENTS. • XV11. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 1825-1850. 
 
 History of the Sudbury Methodist Episcopal Church. — Members 
 of a Baptist Society in Sudbury in 1828. — Town Farm. — Town 
 House. — Erection of Tombs. — Ecclesiastical Disturbance. — For- 
 mation of a New Parish. — Building of a Meeting-House. — Ded- 
 ication of it. — Death of Rev. Rufus Hurlbut. — Sketch of his 
 Life. — Settlement of Rev. Josiah Ballard. — The Old Parish. — 
 Settlement of Rev. Linus Shaw. — Sketch of his Life. — Succes- 
 sion of Pastors. — Miscellaneous, 472 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 1850-1875. 
 
 Names Applied to different Sections of the Town. — Division into 
 Districts. — Change in the Districts. — Description of South 
 Sudbury. — Location. — Location of the Railroad Station. — The 
 Boston and Worcester Highway. — Houses Situated along this 
 Highway half a Century Ago. — Changes in Buildings. — The 
 Village Grocery. — Captain Kidder's Shoe Shop. — Sketch of 
 Captain Kidder. — Sketch of Mrs. Kidder. — The Mill. — Wads- 
 worth Monument. — Industries. — Modern Improvements. — For- 
 mer and Present Owners or Occupants of Homesteads. — The 
 George Pitts Farm. — Description of Sudbury Centre. — Loca- 
 tion. — Oldest House. — Location of Old Buildings. — Noon 
 House. — Parsonages. — Old Burying-Ground. — Common. — Gro- 
 cery Stores. — Mills. — Former and Present Owners or Occupants 
 of Homesteads. — North Sudbury. — Location. — Post Office and 
 Postmasters. — Industries. — Iron Ore. — Grocery Stores. — Change 
 in Construction of Houses. — Taverns. — Saw-Mill. . . .484 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 1850-1875. 
 
 Description of School Districts. — Lanham District. — Territorial 
 Limits. — School- House. — Old School Customs. — Order of Ex- 
 ercises. — Examination Day. — Former Dwellings. — Their Own- 
 ers or Occupants. — Clay-Pits. — South-West District. — Origin 
 of the Term Peakham. — School-house. — Name of it. — District 
 Limits. — Location of Railroad Station. — Places of Historic In- 
 terest. — Mills. — Present and Former Owners or Occupants of 
 
XV111. CONTENTS. 
 
 trj Homesteads. — North-West District. — Location of School-House. 
 
 — Assabet Village. — The " Rice Tavern." — The Oldest House. 
 
 — Early Inhabitants . — North-East or Pantry District. — Territo- 
 rial Limits. — Origin of the Name. — Railroad Station. — Pantry 
 School-House. — Poetic Description of it. — Mr. Israel Haynes. — 
 Incident of his Life. — Block House. — Old Loring Parsonage. — 
 The Gravel Pit. — Historic Reminiscences. — Taverns. — School- 
 House. — Indian Grave. — Government Store- Houses. — Training- 
 Field. — Irregularity of Town Boundary Line. — Cause of it. — 
 Caleb Wheeler Farm, 501 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 1850-1S75. 
 
 The Wadsworth Monument. — Petition to the Legislature. — Re- 
 sponse. — Description of the Monument. — The old Slate Stone. — 
 Fac-simile of it. — Dedication of the Monument. — Dismission of 
 Rev. Josiah Ballard. — Sketch of his Life. — Ordination of Rev. 
 Charles V. Spear. — His Dismission. — Installation of Rev. Eras- 
 tus Dickinson. — His Dismission. — Sketch of his Life. — Rev. 
 Webster Patterson. — Settlement of Kev. Philander Thurston. — 
 His Dismission. — Sketch of Rev. George A. Oviatt. — Rev. 
 Calvin Fitts. — Rev. David Goodale. — Rev. Warren Richardson. 
 — Deacons. — Donation of Samuel Dana Hunt. — Bequest of 
 Miss Emily Thompson.- -Gifts from Mrs. Abigail Smith and Miss 
 Ruth Carter. — Wadsworth Academy. — Congregational Chapel. — 
 Changes in School Districts. — In School-Houses. — Numbering 
 the Districts. — The Goodnow Library. — The Building. — The 
 Donor. — Incorporation of Maynard. — The Framingham and 
 Lowell Railroad. — The Massachusetts Central Railroad. — Mis- 
 cellaneous, 514 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 1850-1875. 
 
 The Civil War. — Causes of it. — Warlike Activity at the North. — 
 First War Meeting in Sudbury. — The " Wadsworth Rifle Guards." 
 
 — Acts of the Town Relating to the War. — Soldiers' Aid Society. 
 
 — Enlistments. — Sketch of the Thirteenth Regiment. — The 
 Sixteenth. — The Eighteenth. — The Twentieth. — The Twenty- 
 Sixth.— The Thirty-Fifth.- Hie Forty-Fifth. — The Fifty-Ninth. 
 
 — Enlistments in other Regiments of Infantry. — Sketch of Eirst 
 Massachusetts Cavalry. — Enlistments in other Regiments of 
 Cavalry. — Enlistments in the Artillery Service. — United States 
 
CONTENTS. XIX. 
 
 Sanitary Commission. — List of Conscripts. — Casualties. — Biog- 
 graphical Sketches of Men who Died in the Service. — Of Sol- 
 diers now Living in Sudbury. — Summary of Service. — List of 
 Citizens Subject to a Draft in 1863. — Bicentennial of the Wads- 
 worth Fight. — Laying out of Road to Railroad Station, South 
 Sudbury. — The George Goodnow Bequest, 535 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 CEMETERIES. 
 
 First Burial Place. — Old Burying-Ground at Sudbury Centre. — 
 Mount Wadsworth Cemetery.— Mount Pleasant Cemetery. — New 
 Cemetery. — North Sudbury Cemetery. — Burial Customs, . . 568 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 TAVERNS. 
 
 Early Names. — Character and Importance.— First Tavern. — Oth- 
 ers on the East Side. — Taverns in the South Part of the Town. — 
 Description of the South Sudbury Tavern. — "Howe's Tavern," 
 or the " Wayside Inn." — Mr. Longfellow's Connection with it. — 
 Location and Early History. — Description. — The Last Land- 
 lord. — Traditions Concerning it. — Taverns on the Central Road 
 of the Town. — Taverns at North Sudbury, 588 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 PHYSICIANS. 
 
 Early Mention of Physicians. — Biographical Sketch of Dr. Eben- 
 ezer Roby. — Ebenezer Roby, 2d.— Ebenezer Roby, 3d. — Josiah 
 Langdon. — Moses Taft. — Moses Mossman. — Ashbel Kidder. — 
 Thomas Stearns. — Levi Goodenough. — Otis O. Johnson. — 
 George A. Oviatt, 599 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 Early Customs. — Effects of Cider Drinking in North Sudbury. — 
 Connection of Taverns with the Liquor Traffic. — Drinking Cus- 
 toms in South Sudbury. — Common Use of Malt. — Extract from 
 James Thompson's Account Book. — Dawn of Better Times. — 
 Pioneers in the Temperance Cause. — Reformatory Measures. — 
 Temperance Reform, • 605 
 
xx - CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 COLLEGE GRADUATES AND PROFESSIONAL MEN. 
 
 List of Graduates before 1800.- Biographical Sketches of College 
 Graduates and Professional Men since L800, .... 012 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 NATURAL FEATURES. 
 
 Hills. — Forests.— The Flora.— Ponds. — Brooks.— Sudbury River. 
 -Its Rise and Course.— Its Fish. — Poetical Description of 
 Pickerel Fishing. — Birds about the River. — Poetical Descrip- 
 tion of Duck Hunting. — Fur Bearing Animals about the River. 
 — Slow Current of the River, g21 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 THE RIVER MEADOWS. 
 
 Width of the Meadows. — Former Productiveness. — Litigation and 
 Legislation.— Change in Productiveness.— Causes of it.— Natural 
 Features at the Present Time. — Grass, 633 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 Zoology and Geology, nio 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Public Bequests. — Action of the Town relative to the Publication 
 of the History of Sudbury. — Preparations for the Observance of 
 the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation 
 of the Town, ^-o 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Conclusion, . . .,.- 
 • . . oo7 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Rev. Alfred S. Hudson, Frontispiece. 
 
 View of Hop Brook Valley and Nobscot, .... 13 
 
 Jonas S. Hunt, 47 
 
 Map of House-lots, by Draper, 77 
 
 A Portion of Sudbury Centre, 107 
 
 Map of 1708, by Haynes, 125 
 
 The Goodnow Library, South Sudbury, . . . .149 
 
 Residence of Joseph C. Howe, 183 
 
 The Browne Garrison House, 199 
 
 The Haynes Garrison House, 225 
 
 Map of 1676, by Hudson, 237 
 
 The Wadsworth Grave, South Sudbury, .... 251 
 
 The Walker Garrison House, 271 
 
 The Loring Parsonage, Sudbury Centre, .... 291 
 
 The Woods, or Allen House, 313 
 
 The Summer Residence of Hon. Homer Rogers, . . 333 
 The Common, Unitarian Church, Town House and Meth- 
 odist Church, Sudbury Centre, 365 
 
 Residence of Charles P. Willis, 391 
 
 Residence of Samuel B. Rogers, South Sudbury, . . 413 
 
 Map of 1794, by Mossman, 429 
 
 Residence of Richard R. Horr, South Sudbury, . . 445 
 
 The Bigelow Parsonage, Sudbury Centre, .... 471 
 
 The Hurlbut Parsonage, Sudbury Centre, . . . 481 
 
 Mill Village (South Sudbury), 487 
 
xxn. 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The Residence of Nahum Goodnow, 
 
 Rev. Josiah Ballard, 
 
 The Wadsworth Academy, South Sudkury, 
 The Wadsworth Monument, South Sudbury, 
 
 The Wayside Inn, 
 
 Residence of Nichols B. Hunt, South Sudbury, 
 
 The Residence of Hon. C. F. Gerry, Sudbury Centre, 
 
 Residence of George E. Harrington, .... 
 
 505 
 523 
 527 
 555 
 593 
 605 
 615 
 643 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Early Condition of the Country. — Original Boundaries. — Indian 
 Names. — Primitive Forests. — Laws concerning Timber. — Clear- 
 ings. — Game. — Johnson's Description. ■ — Meaning of " Meadow 
 Lands." — "Old Connecticut Path." — Indian Trails. 
 
 'Tis like a dream when one awakes, — 
 
 This vision of the scenes of old; 
 'Tis like the moon when morning breaks, 
 
 'Tis like a tale round watch-fires told. 
 
 Pierpont. 
 
 The town of Sudbury was settled in 1638, and received its 
 name in 1639. It was the nineteenth town in the Massachu- 
 setts Bay Colony, and the second situated beyond the flow of 
 the tide. Originally it was bounded on the east by that part 
 of Watertown which is now Weston, on the north by Con- 
 cord, and southerly and westerly by the wilderness, or the 
 unclaimed lands of the Colony. Up to the year 1637 there 
 was no white man's trail through the length or breadth of 
 this land tract. The smoke of no settler's cabin curled 
 upward through the tree-tops of its far-stretching forests, 
 and it was only the home of the Indian and the haunt of 
 wild beasts and birds. 
 
 The Indian name of the river and country adjacent on the 
 north was Musketaquid, or Musketahquid, and it is presuma- 
 
 l 
 
2 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ble that the same name was applied to this region. Mus- 
 ketahquid is supposed to be made up of two Indian 
 words, muskeht, meaning "grass," and ahkeit, which signifies 
 "ground," the whole signifying "grassy ground;" and if 
 applied to the river, "grassy brook," or "meadow brook." 
 The name formed by these Avoids, it is stated, as nearly 
 resembles Musketahquid as the Indian dialect will allow. 
 (Shattuck.) As the same stream runs through Concord and 
 Sudbury, and the meadows in these places are equally green 
 and broad, it is not by any means unlikely that the same 
 term was applied to each place and the river as it runs 
 tli rough them both. This is rendered still more probable by 
 the fact that Karte, the Indian owner of the land first granted 
 at Sudbury, was also an owner, with others, of the territory 
 at Concord ; as the Colony records inform us that Karte, with 
 Tahattawan, the sachem of that place, with some others, 
 consented to the sale of territory to the English in 1637. 
 (See Chapter II.) As Karte lived in the territory that is 
 now Sudbury, and his wigwam was not far from the river, it 
 is presumable that lie would call the stream as it flowed near 
 his home by the same name that it was known by as it flowed 
 through his domains a few miles farther north. Moreover, it 
 is not to be supposed that the Sudbury Indians had no name 
 for their river. 
 
 Probably the first Englishman who made a record of this 
 word was William Wood, in a work entitled "New England 
 Prospects." Mr. Wood, it is supposed, came to this country 
 about 1633; that he then visited the Musketahquid region, 
 and was so charmed with its resources and scenery that, by 
 representations of it on his return to England, plans were 
 formed for a settlement at Concord. However this may be, 
 he first made a record of this Indian name of the river and 
 the adjacent country, and that before any town boundaries 
 could have limited its application or made local the name of 
 this old natural landmark. 
 
 The country about Sudbury at the time of its settlement 
 was largely covered with heavy timber. That tar making 
 was, to an extent, an early occupation indicates that these 
 trees were, many of them, pines. But probably not one of 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 6 
 
 them now remains ; the rapid growth and early decay of these 
 trees, and their fitness for building purposes, causing them 
 to disappear long since. A solitary pasture oak, left here 
 and there for a landmark or serviceable shade, is about all 
 that remains of those old monarchs of the wood. 
 
 But, notwithstanding there was formerly so much timber 
 land, we are not to suppose the country was one unbroken 
 forest ; on the contrary, it was interspersed with clearings ; 
 and the fact that in those first years the town was choice of 
 its timber, and passed stringent laws concerning it, indicates 
 that these clearings were considerable. The following are 
 some of the laws. In 1645 Edmund Goodnow was appointed 
 to look after the timber on the common, and liberty was 
 given him to designate what timber should be taken ; and 
 " it was ordered, that, if any one took any without his leave, 
 they were to forfeit nineteen pence a tree." 
 
 In 1646, "Ordered, that no oak timber shall be fallen with- 
 out leave from those that are appointed by the town to give 
 leave to fell timber, that shall hew above eighteen inches at 
 the butt end." 
 
 Also, " That no man that hath timber of his own to supply 
 his want shall have any timber granted upon the common." 
 
 In 1647, "It was ordered that the people should have tim- 
 ber for that year to supply their wants, for every two shill- 
 ings that they paid the ministry, one tree." 
 
 On different occasions persons were permitted to take the 
 town's timber as an encouragement to business, as when a 
 blacksmith was allowed so much as was necessary to build a 
 shop, on condition he would set up his trade in town. 
 
 In 1664 "timber was granted to Elias Reives for his build- 
 ing, and also timber and hoop poles for carrying on his coop- 
 er's trade, in case he would live in Sudbury six years, and 
 honestly and carefully do the town of Sudbury's cooper work 
 the said six years, both for making and trimming casks at 
 such honest rates as they are made and trimmed for at the 
 bay of Boston." 
 
 The cleared spaces were occasioned by both natural and 
 artificial causes. The Indians, by setting fires, cleared places 
 for their planting grounds and sunny spots for their homes. 
 
4 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The natural openings were the broad, beautiful meadows on 
 the river and brooks. 
 
 A remarkable feature of these forests was their freedom 
 from underbrush. The early settlers could traverse large 
 j nut ions of them on horseback and meet with few obstacles, 
 except the streams and swamps. In places the forests were 
 kept clear by means of the annual tires which the Indians 
 set to facilitate transit and the capture of game. These fires 
 were set in the autumn, after the equinoctial storm, that 
 they might burn with less intensity and be more easily con- 
 trolled. Afterwards the Colonial Court enacted laws regard- 
 ing forest fires. It was ordered that " whoever kindles fires 
 in the woods before March 10 or after April 2, or on the last 
 day of the week or Lord's day. shall pay any damages that 
 any person shall lose thereby, and half so much to the com- 
 mon treasury." 
 
 The country afforded fine ranges for wild animals, and was 
 well stocked with game, which made it an attractive hunting 
 ground for the Indians. (See Chapter II.) Deer reeves 
 were annually chosen by the town for years alter the settle- 
 ment, and wolves were considered such a pest that a bounty 
 was set upon them. Prior to 16 16 ten shillings were offered 
 apiece for them; and repeatedly were laws enacted for the 
 destruction of these forest marauders. Bears found favorite 
 resorts among the highlands of Nobscot and Goodman's Hill, 
 and tradition informs us that within about a century one has 
 been killed at Green Hill. Beaver pelts were an article of 
 merchandise through a large part of the Musketahquid 
 country. Wild fowl were abundant. Turkeys strutted with 
 stately tread in the lowlands by the meadow margins, and 
 large Hocks of waterfowl frequented the streams and made 
 their nests on their sedgy borders. Pigeons were plentiful, 
 and grouse enlivened the shrubbery of the uumerous swamps. 
 The supply of fish was ample, including salmon, alcwives, 
 shad and dace. 
 
 The following is a description of the place as given by 
 Johnson, a writer of 1654, in a book entitled " Wonder- 
 Working Providence:" "This town is very well watered, 
 and hath store of plow-land: but by reason of the oaken roots 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 they have little broke up, considering the many Acres the 
 place affords ; but this kinde of land requires great strength to 
 break up, yet brings very good crops, and lasts long without 
 mending. . . . The place is furnished with great plenty of 
 fresh marsh, but, it lying very low, is much indamaged with 
 land floods, insomuch that when the summer proves wet they 
 lose part of their hay ; yet they are so sufficiently provided 
 that they take in cattel of other towns to winter." 
 
 In those early times meadow land had a meaning a little 
 unlike that which it now has. The term, at least in places, 
 was used to designate mowing land of whatever description, 
 after the manner of its significance in England. This distinc- 
 tion may have been made here by the early writer just quoted. 
 The marsh he refers to is doubtless the meadow on the so- 
 called Great River, and the meadows those tracts by the 
 higher banks of the brooks and those found in natural forest 
 openings, or wherever the grass land abounded. 
 
 Before the Plantation of Sudbury was commenced, there 
 passed through the southeasterly corner of its territory a 
 memorable trail. This was a part of the » Old Connecticut 
 Path." This highway extended from the sea-board settle- 
 ments far into the interior. From Watertown it passed 
 through what is now Waltham and Weston to that section 
 of Sudbury now Wayland ; from thence southwesterly to the 
 north side of Cochituate Pond, and on through the wilder- 
 ness towards Connecticut. It is, we believe, the road now 
 traveled from Weston Corner, by the " Five Paths," Way- 
 land, to Framingham. Mention is made of this way in the 
 town records as early as 1643, and again in 1648. Where it 
 passed through the town it was called "the road from Water- 
 town to the Dunster Farm," a tract of six hundred acres granted 
 in 1640 to President Dunster of Harvard College, bounded on 
 the west by Cochituate Pond, and early leased by Edmund 
 Rice of Sudbury. This trail was first made known to the 
 English by some Nipnet Indians, who came to Boston bring- 
 ing°corn at a time when there was a scarcity of it in the col- 
 ony. From this time for years it was the way travelled by 
 the English in their journeyings to the Connecticut valley. 
 In 1633 John Oldham and several others journeyed by it to 
 
6 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the westward, in search of a settlement. In 1635 some 
 inhabitants of Watertown took this way as they travelled to 
 Wethersfield, Conn., where a large part of them settled. A 
 year later the ministers Hooker and Stone, with about a hun- 
 dred others and their families, took this path in their emigra- 
 tion to Hartford. 
 
 Thus through a portion of Sudbury passed an old and 
 historic road, which is interesting because of the things now 
 mentioned. But other associations also may cluster about 
 it. Because of this path, perhaps, the plantation at Sudbury 
 was started. This supposition is favored by various circum- 
 stances. The Watertown people, as they journeyed to Con- 
 necticut, may have been pleased with the country along this 
 part of the way, and as some of them returned to Water- 
 town, at which place a plantation at Sudbury was afterwards 
 planned, favorable reports may have been rendered concern- 
 ing it. 
 
 It was easy to obtain a view of it from the top of Reeves's 
 Hill, along which their path led, and it is not at all improba- 
 ble that more than one traveler ascended that sightly emi- 
 nence, and from it obtained a broad view of the Musket ahquid 
 and its adjacent meadows. The slow-winding stream, as it 
 flashed afar in the sunlight, and the wood-covered hills that 
 extended beyond, together with the proximity of such a 
 desirable spot to their Watertown home and the sea-board 
 towns, may have led to the plan of its early settlement. 
 Favorable to this conjecture is the fact that the Watertown 
 people petitioned for the land soon after the return of the 
 emigrants. But whether or not emigration through the place 
 by this path suggested or originated the settlement, it must 
 have aided it when once begun, and promoted exploration in 
 that locality. 
 
 A trail so near what was to be the first street of Sudbury 
 would be quite helpful in the conveyance of the various com- 
 modities that were essential in starting a settlement. The 
 planters journeying from Watertown could follow this well- 
 worn way almost to the spot assigned for their house-lots 
 where they erected their cabin homes. 
 
 Besides this path from the sea-coast to the Nipnet country, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 7 
 
 other trails doubtless led through the place, which were used 
 by the Indians, and which afterwards may have become trav- 
 eled roads. As the town afforded favorite fishing resorts, 
 there were doubtless paths from various quarters leading to 
 them. There were doubtless such to the fishing weir and 
 fording place in the town's northerly part, and to the rocky 
 falls of the Sudbury River at the south. Karte probably had 
 a path from his hill-top home to the lodge of Tahattawan 
 at Concord. The old pasture path at Nobscot, which still 
 winds along the northern hill-slope by the spring and the 
 Nixon farm, was perhaps the well-known way of Tantamous 
 as he visited the wigwam of Karte at Goodman's hill, or 
 attended the preaching of John Eliot at Natick, or with a 
 pack of candle or light -wood upon his back, went with 
 spear or net to the Musketahquid to fish. Thus the country 
 of Sudbury at the time of its settlement was, perhaps, more 
 than ordinarily broken by paths ; and its timber lands, rich 
 pasturage, and facilities for the capture of game and fish, 
 made it attractive to both the Indians and the English. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Indians of Sudbury Territory. — Relics. — Localities where they Lived: 
 at Nobscot, the Vicinity of the River, Weir Hill, Cochituate — 
 Names and History of Prominent Indians : Karte, Tantamous, 
 Nataous. — Description of Wigwams. — Food. — Characteristics. — 
 Method of Hunting and Fishing. — Tribal Relations. — Nature of 
 their Early Intercourse with the English. 
 
 Chief, sachem, sage, bards, heroes, seers, 
 
 That live in story and in song, 
 Time, for the last two hundred years, 
 
 Has raised, and shown, and swept along. 
 
 Pierpont. 
 
 There is no evidence that man} r Indians lived in Sudbury 
 at the time of its settlement by the English. But few of their 
 names have been found on the town records, and compara- 
 tively little is there mentioned of business transactions be- 
 tween the natives and whites. About the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, a great pestilence prevailed among the 
 Indians in the vicinity of Massachusetts Bay, and it is not 
 improbable that it affected the population of Sudbury. This 
 pestilence or plague was in places severe. It is stated that 
 the New England Indians, before its outbreak, could muster 
 about eighteen thousand warriors, but were reduced by it to 
 about eighteen hundred. Thousands of Indians died in the 
 country along the south shore. The Pilgrim fathers were 
 informed of the sad ravages of this dreadful disease by 
 Squanto, an early visitor among them. It is stated that 
 Obbat inawat, a sachem living at Shawmut, now Boston, 
 treated the English very kindly, and was glad to submit him- 
 self to King James, that he might find protection from his 
 enemies, as his once powerful tribe was reduced by the pes- 
 tilence of 1616. 
 
 8 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 9 
 
 Beside this sickness, there was another that raged a little 
 later. This was the small-pox scourge, which prevailed dur- 
 ing the winter of 1633. Drake says of the fatality of it, 
 that " The Indians died by scores and hundreds ; so fast, 
 indeed, that the services of the white men were called into 
 requisition to give them burial." He says the pestilence was 
 not confined to a single locality, but swept with destructive 
 effect through all the sea-board nations. The Narragansetts 
 were reported to have lost seven hundred men, and the war- 
 like Pequots an unknown number. If such was the fatality 
 of these diseases along the Massachusetts Bay Shores, it is 
 not unlikely that it extended as far inland as Sudbury, and 
 if so, that it thinned out the inhabitants. The supposition 
 that this was the case is strengthened by the absence, in the 
 records, of many Indian names of places. Few of these names 
 suggest that there were few people to speak them, or to pass 
 them along to the race that next possessed the land. There 
 are but few places in Sudbury whose names are suggestive of 
 the murmuring woods or the rippling streams. They are 
 more of English than of Indian origin. The name of Nob- 
 scot is still the reminder of a race that has passed away. 
 Cochituate Lake and the highlands about it, places once near 
 the town's southeasterly limits, have a name unmistakably 
 Indian. Assabet or Assabeth, the name of a stream running 
 through Maynard, a place once a part of the town, savors in 
 sound of the Indian dialect ; yet the origin of this term has 
 been a matter of doubt, as it has been spelled Assabeth, Eliz- 
 beth, Elzebet and Elizebeth. Even the name of Karte, who 
 once owned a large part of the town's territory, has been 
 spelled and pronounced Cato, and the place of his abode 
 called Goodman's Hill, with all its prosaic simplicity. The 
 " Great River," as the town's principal stream was once 
 called, now bears no name suggestive of its natural features ; 
 of meadows green with their grassy covering, outstretching 
 to forest and flowery bank, or winding along its swampy out- 
 skirts, where the vine and berry bush produce their rich, 
 plentiful fruit; but it is now known as plain "Sudbury 
 River." 
 
 But although no distinct tribe is known to have existed in 
 
10 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the territory when it was settled, and the evidence is that the 
 town was not largely occupied by Indians, it is nevertheless 
 probable that at some period they were considerably numer- 
 ous. That this may be so is indicated by various circum- 
 stances. First, the natural features were such as would 
 invite them to it, and induce them to remain. There was 
 the hill, valley and plain, just suited for corn lands or fine 
 ranges for game, while the streams and ponds had supplies 
 of fish. It is doubtful if there is a town about it where more 
 advantages meet to make the Indian life easy than here. 
 The natives depended largely for subsistence upon maize, 
 game and fish ; hence good land, easily worked and in close 
 proximity to places where they could take game and fish, were 
 the conditions of Indian comfort. That these natural advan- 
 tages were once improved by the Indians is evident from the 
 number of relics which have been found in various localities. 
 These consist of arrow and spear heads; stone plummets; 
 chisels and gouges; mortars and pestles, implements for 
 pounding and crushing corn ; stone tomahawks or hatchets; 
 and what may have been the stone kettle. Beside these, 
 there have been unearthed by the plowshare small stones, 
 that show the probable action of heat, and which may have 
 been used for their hearthstones, or to form rude ovens for 
 the purpose of cooking. Where these stones are found under 
 circumstances favorable to the supposition, they indicate the 
 former existence of a wigwam or cluster of wigwams. The 
 favorable circumstances are the neighborhood of a fishing or 
 fording place, or the common conveniences of a life in the 
 woods. These wigwams Avere more or less on dry, sandy 
 spots, such as are in the present wind-swept, and sparsely 
 covered with grass. Such places were probably selected as 
 natural forest openings, where, because of the light, sandy 
 soil, the wood growth would likely be small, and where the 
 rays of the winter sun would more easily penetrate, to give 
 light and heat. When in such places various relics are found, 
 it is highly probable that there may have been situated an 
 Indian dwelling-place. 
 
 In several such spots in Sudbury, various relics have been 
 found, notable among which is one by the river meadow, just 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. H 
 
 east of the Jonathan Wheeler place. It is between the 
 meadow margin and the Water Row road, and has an area 
 of one or two acres. It is a light, sandy upland, in places, 
 almost or quite without sod. Arrow-heads and plummets 
 have been found there in abundance, and of a kind of stone 
 unlike any native to the neighborhood. These relics have 
 not only been unearthed there by the plow or spade, but 
 some have been uncovered by the wind. Another place 
 where relics have been found in abundance is on the Cool- 
 idge estate, by the Lanham Meadows, a little south of the 
 East Sudbury depot. This spot is also of a light, sandy sod, 
 and has a sand pit within it. A little farther north m this 
 district, on the Frank Walker estate, arrow-heads and parts 
 of a mortar or stone kettle were found ; while southerly of 
 Lanham Brook, on the Albert Larkin estate, on an upland 
 some rods west of the house, arrow-heads have been quite 
 
 numerous. 
 
 Another place worthy of mention is at South Sudbury, on 
 the east side of Mill Brook, on what was lately the farm of 
 Israel How Brown. The spot is a little southeasterly of a 
 rock by the brook called » Great Rock," and midway between 
 that and the Goodnow Library. On this place, which is a 
 light, loamy upland, within the space of a few rods have been 
 pfowed up quite a quantity of loose, discolored stones, that 
 look as if they had been subjected to the action of fire, and 
 also coal and charred pieces of wood. The nature of the 
 place at South Sudbury is such as would be favorable to 
 Indian occupation. Before the mill was erected there was 
 probably quite a fall to Hop Brook, and for some distance the 
 shoal, sparkling stream might form a fine fishing place in the 
 season of the alewives or shad. 
 
 In the west part of the town, at a sandy spot between the 
 Solomon Dutton and Otis Parmenter places, Indian relics 
 have also been extensively found. 
 
 At North Sudbury there were likewise indications of the 
 presence of these former inhabitants. Says Mr. John May- 
 nard, " I have found on my land, east of Cedar Swamp, a 
 stone axe, part of a tomahawk, a gouge, chisel, flaying knife, 
 and other strange things ; also about four hundred arrow- 
 
•- HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 heads, one-half of them broken. I have plowed over seven 
 or eight collections of paving stones that were discolored 
 by lire, that 1 suppose were the hearthstones of Indian wig- 
 wams." 
 
 There are some parts of the town which we will especially 
 notice as being places that were perhaps occupied by the 
 Indians in considerable companies. These are the neighbor- 
 hood of Nobscot, the River. Weir Hill, and Coehituate Pond. 
 In the vicinity o( Nobscot there is little doubt but that Indi- 
 ans once made their homes : as tradition, record and relics 
 give evidence of it. As we shall notice further on, a noted 
 Indian by the name of Jethro had a wigwam near there, and 
 it is supposed the Indians had a lookout there. At the base 
 of the hill, along- the plain land, on the estate of Hubbard 
 Brown, by the brook, and also on the land south of the Fra- 
 mingham road, more or less stone relics have been discovered. 
 The old "Indian wash-bowl." so called, is pointed out in a 
 field about east o( the hill. This is an excavation shaped 
 like a wash-bowl, formed in a large rock, and may have been 
 made by nature or art. Probably it was never used as a 
 washing place by the Indians, but. if made or used by them 
 at all, it may have been for grinding corn. 
 
 That tlic Indians largely frequented the neighborhood of 
 the river is quite evident. They probably lived along almost 
 its whole course, as relics of them have been found here and 
 there from one bound of the town to the other. On the east 
 side of the river was an Indian burial place. (See chapter on 
 cemeteries.") An Indian skeleton has been exhumed bv the 
 roadside a: Sand Hill. This was discovered when the road 
 was built, by a person who was passing by. He drew it 
 from the bank, together witli several Indian relies. The 
 "old Indian bridge"' was supposed to be southerly of Sand 
 Hill, over Y\ est Brook, and formed a crossing in the direc- 
 tion of Heard's Pond. The home of Karte was not far from 
 the river. From his wigwam home on the hill, he could 
 easily reach the mooring place of his birch canoe, or look 
 down upon the expanse of broad meadow lands, green with 
 their covering in Summer, or brown with the frosts of Fall. 
 He could watch the early flight of wild water fowl, or per- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 13 
 
 Laps catch a glimpse of the canoe of Tahatawan as it glided 
 up the Musketahquid. 
 
 But the places where it is supposed the Indians were more 
 numerous than at any other point along the river were toward 
 the town's northeast bound. Near this point were fording 
 and fishing places. One of these was at Weir Hill, below 
 Sherman's Bridge. The very locality of this place is favora- 
 ble for Indian occupancy. It is situated at a point of the 
 river where, as we have been informed, at low water the 
 river can be forded. On its opposite bank a hill extends 
 almost to the stream, and on either side the meadow bank is 
 hard, which is a circumstance rare on the river course. At 
 this place tradition says there was an Indian fishing weir, 
 which old inhabitants state was about northeast of Weir 
 Hill ; and from this the hill has derived its name. The fish- 
 ing weir was an important thing for the Indians, as by means 
 of it large quantities of fish could be taken. The principle 
 of construction was the placing across the river of an obstruc- 
 tion, as perhaps some kind of a fence, which, running diag- 
 onally from either bank to the centre of the stream, left a 
 small aperture at the apex, where the fish could be taken in 
 a wicket work or net. Such an apparatus, at a favorable 
 place on the river, would supply fish for a considerable vil- 
 lage. These fish served not only a present purpose, but were 
 dried and preserved for future use. Another inducement for 
 Indians to locate in this part of the town was a good fording 
 place just below Weir Hill, which is at or near a small hill 
 called Mount Headley, and is between the river and the 
 county road. That this locality was improved by the Indians 
 is evident from the quantities of relics that have been found 
 there. Both about here and at Weir Hill more or less of 
 these have been picked up ; and, at the latter place, their 
 hearthstones have been unearthed by the plowshare, with the 
 coals still upon them. 
 
 As has been stated, there are indications that the Indians 
 once dwelt in considerable numbers about Cochituate Pond. 
 The region about there was favorable to Indian occupation, 
 not only on account of the lake itself, but because of its near- 
 ness to the falls of Sudbury River (Saxonville). The name 
 
14 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 of the locality has been spelled Wachittuate, Cochituet, 
 Chochichawicke, Coijchawicke, Catchchauitt, Charchittawick, 
 Katchetuit, Cochichawauke, Cochichowicke. The word as 
 now spelled is found in a record dated 1G44, in connection 
 with laying out the Glover farm. " The southwest bounds 
 are the little river that issueth out of the Great Pond at 
 Cochituate.'''' This record, as well as others, also shows that 
 originally the term was applied, not to the pond, but to the 
 region near the outlet. Temple states that the word signi- 
 fies, " place of the rushing torrent," or, " wild dashing brook." 
 On the westerty side of the pond was an Indian fort, and, 
 near b\ T , a permanent settlement. 
 
 Not very much is known, at most, of the Indians who lived 
 in Sudbury at the time of its settlement; but a few facts are 
 on record concerning some of them. 
 
 Karte was owner of the first land tract which was sold to the 
 Sudbury settlers. His home at one time was at Goodman's 
 Hill, — sometimes called Wigwam Hill, — but where he lived 
 in his last years is unknown. That he was a man of some 
 prominence in and about the town is probable, not only from 
 the amount of his landed possessions there, but from his asso- 
 ciation with certain rulers or sagamores at the sale of a weir 
 and planting grounds at Concord. Of this transaction the 
 following account is found in the Colony Records : — 
 
 "5th, 6mo., 1637. — Wibbacowett; Squaw Sachem ; Natan- 
 quatick, alias Old Man; Carte, alias Goodmand; did express 
 their consent to the sale of the Weirs at Concord, over 
 against the town : and all the planting ground which hath 
 been formerly planted by the Indians, to the inhabitants of 
 Concord; of which there was a writing, with their marks 
 subscribed, given into court expressing the price." 
 
 It is said that he was an attendant upon the ministry of 
 Rev. Edmund Brown, first minister of Sudbury; and that by 
 his preaching he was converted to the Christian religion. 
 
 Another Indian of some notoriety was Tantamous, who 
 was also called Jethro. He had a son called Peter Jethro. 
 On an old surve} r is "Peter Jethro's field," near Nobscot 
 Hill, where Jethro lived. This field was upon a farm once 
 in the possession of Mr. Ezekiel How. According to Drake, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 15 
 
 Tantamous lived at Nobscot Hill at the beginning of King 
 Philip's war, and there were about twelve persons in his 
 family. He was present with Waban of Natick, and some 
 other natives, at the sale of the territory which is now the 
 town of Concord. When about seventy years old, he made 
 a deposition about the transaction, and in connection with 
 that deposition is spoken of as a Christian Indian of Natick. 
 In 1674, Tantamous was appointed missionary to the Indians 
 at Weshakim (Sterling), but remained there for a short time 
 only. Mr. Gookin speaks of him as a "grave and pious 
 Indian," and says he was sent to be a teacher at a place near 
 Lancaster. In 1675, while Tantamous was living at Nobscot 
 with his family, he was ordered by the Colony to Deer 
 Island, Boston Harbor, for security. Resenting the ill usage 
 that was received from those conducting them there, Jethro 
 and his family escaped in the darkness of night. He was 
 betrayed, however, by his son, Peter Jethro, into the hands 
 of the English, by whom, according to Hubbard, he was exe- 
 cuted, Sept. 26, 1676. 
 
 Peter Jethro, or Jethro the Younger, who was perhaps 
 also called Ammatohu (as this term was applied to one of 
 the Jethros), was connected with several real estate matters. 
 He was among the Indians who conveyed to John Haynes 
 and others thirty-two hundred acres of land east of " Quin- 
 sigamoge Pond," in Worcester. In 1684, he was among the 
 Indian grantors of the two-mile tract which was granted to 
 the Sudbury settlers, and laid out on the town's westerly side. 
 In 1683, Peter Jethro lived at Dunstable, with Mr. Jonathan 
 Ting ; and in consideration of this man's kindness, as shown 
 to himself and his uncle, Jethro gave Mr. Ting a tract of 
 land six miles square at Machapoag, north of Wachusett 
 Mountain and west of Groton, which he had obtained from 
 his uncle Jeffy. 
 
 Still another Indian of some prominence was Nataous. He 
 was also called William of Sudbury. "Indian William's 
 Meadow " is mentioned in the Colony Records as early as 
 1658. Rev. Edward Brown was to have " one small parcell 
 of three acres formerly called ' Indian William's Meadow,' 
 lying toward the falls of Cochittuat River." It is stated that 
 
16 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 in 1662, he lived at Nipnax Hill, a place about three miles 
 north of the plantation at Natick, perhaps Reeves' Hill. 
 Hubbard speaks of him as being "very familiar with the 
 whites." Gookin states that he was among the "good men 
 and prudent " who were rulers at Natick. He was desig- 
 nated also as the Nipniuck Captain, and was called, in the 
 Colony Records, Netus; and by this name he was known in 
 some of the sad scenes of his subsequent life. This Indian, 
 whose beginning as a Christian was so bright, and who left 
 on record a religious confession, did sad work in Framingham, 
 by leading, near the outset of Philip's war, a part}' who 
 destroyed the house of Mr. Thomas Eames, a former resident 
 of Sudbury. 
 
 In 1668, Mr. Thomas Eames leased the " Pelham Farm " 
 (in Wayland), and it was ordered, that during his lease of 
 the place he should "pay to the minister fore pound (for) a 
 man and 20sh. to every £20 rate."' Mr. Eames subsequently 
 moved to Framingham, and made his home near Mt. Waite, 
 in the southerly part of that town. When absent on a jour- 
 ney to Boston for a stock of ammunition, a party of Indians, 
 Feb. 1, 1676, burned his dwelling-house and barn, and killed 
 or carried away captive his family. We may not know all 
 the circumstances that led to this act, but it is supposed that 
 some of them were of an aggravating character. 
 
 English distrust had doubtless led to Indian suspicion. 
 The removal of certain parties from their homes to Deer 
 Island might not have been understood. Besides this, it is 
 said these Indians had been to Maguncook, an Indian station 
 near by, and, on finding that corn had been removed from 
 their granaries, they started out, partly for food and partly 
 for revenge, toward the nearest English settlement. Netus, 
 or Nataous, from this time probably joined the hostile tribes, 
 and made common cause with King Philip. We hear of 
 him afterwards near Sudbury, with a war party which was 
 attacked in the night. March 27, 1676, by a party of English 
 from Sudbury and from the garrison at Marlboro. (See 
 chapter on Philip's War.) In that night encounter Netus 
 was slain, with several others of the enemy, while they were 
 asleep about their camp-fire. Thus sad were the closing 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 17 
 
 scenes in the history of Tantamous and Netus, these illustri- 
 ous sons of the forest. 
 
 The following are Indian names that have been preserved 
 in documents concerning real estate transactions in Sud- 
 bury: Jehojakim, Magos, Muskqua, Musquamog, Wenneto, 
 Nepamun. 
 
 That no more Indian names are found in the records is no 
 evidence that other Indians did not inhabit the town at the 
 time of its settlement. Those whose names are recorded 
 were landed proprietors, and so connected with real estate 
 transactions ; but others of humble condition, and possessed 
 of nothing but a few utensils for the wigwam and chase, may 
 have ranged through the valley and over the hills. 
 
 Beside the Indians whose abode was in Sudbury, it is also 
 probable that Indians from neighboring hamlets or clans made 
 use of the town's hunting grounds, and were more or less 
 residents of them. On the north, east, and west were Indian 
 villages of considerable importance. At Natick they were 
 gathered in Christian relations by John Eliot, the aj)ostle of 
 the Indians. At Concord were Tahattawan's subjects, and 
 at Nashoba, now Littleton, there was a praying band of 
 Indians. On the west, at Whipsuffrage, now Marlboro, 
 other Indians were gathered in friendly relations ; while at 
 Magunkaquog, or Maguncook, a place in Ashland, there was 
 also another station which had been established by Mr. 
 Eliot. 
 
 It is hardly supposable that, when so many Indians lived 
 in the surrounding localities, they did not from time to time 
 traverse the town, and resort to it for fishing and hunting, so 
 that, if the native inhabitants were few, the place might yet 
 be considerably occupied. It should furthermore be consid- 
 ered that one Indian householder might have a numerous 
 family. An Indian wigwam, as will be farther observed, 
 sometimes had capacity for several residents. It is said that 
 a dozen Indians lived at Jethro's house at Nobscot. Karte's 
 wigwam, at Goodman's Hill, may not have been the home of 
 a single inhabitant, but a numerous family may have been 
 about him. His wigwam may have sheltered several families. 
 About the hill may have resounded many a merry voice at 
 
18 HISTORY OK SUDBURY. 
 
 the coming of the early green corn, or the gathering in of 
 berries or nuts, or when the alewife or shad returned in the 
 spring; or at the fall migration of birds, when the whistle of 
 the wild water fowl's wing was heard, and the pigeons made 
 their way over the plains. 
 
 Tims merry may have been the places where even a single 
 wigwam stood : and iii those silent, now far-away times, there 
 may have been move of liveliness connected with aboriginal 
 life than we art' wont to suppose. The inmates of wigwams 
 or villages may have had more or less intercourse in a neigh- 
 bor-like way, — Nataous visiting the residence of Karte, and 
 Karte calling on Tantamous. Tahattawan or his people may 
 have often passed through Sudbury from Concord to visit 
 John Eliot at Natick, and more than one may have been the 
 rough wilderness paths they trod on errands of toil or friendly 
 intercourse. So that the town, if not very populous, may 
 have been far from a desolate or lonely place. 
 
 The character and habits of the Indians about Sudbury 
 were naturally in common with those of others in the near 
 vicinity. Probably no authority on this subject is more reli- 
 able than that of Mr. Gookin. lie was associated with Mr. 
 Eliot in his labors, and was conversant with the mission sta- 
 tions in the vicinity of the town. From him we learn the 
 following about the customs, houses and food of the abo- 
 rigines in this part of the country. The houses were called 
 •• wigwams," and were made by placing poles in the ground, 
 and fastening them together at the top by the bark of trees. 
 The best of these structures were covered neatly, and made 
 quite warm by strips of bark placed upon them. The bark 
 used for this purpose was stripped from the trees when the 
 sap was up, and made into great Hakes by the pressure of 
 weighty timbers. By thus securing and using them when 
 green, the flakes when dry retained the form to which they 
 were fitted. The more meanly made wigwams were covered 
 over with mats made of bulrushes. The Indian houses varied 
 considerably in size : some were twenty, some forty feet long. 
 Says Gookin, " I have seen one fifty or a hundred feet long, 
 and thirty feet broad." 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 19 
 
 We «ire informed by Mrs. Rowlandson (see chapter on 
 Philip's War) that, after the Wadsworth fight, the Indians 
 made a wigwam sufficiently large to contain an hundred men 
 as a place in which to celebrate their victory. These wig- 
 wams were kept warm by a fire or fires made within. In 
 the smaller dwelling one fire was made in the centre ; in the 
 larger, two, three or four were sometimes made. A door was 
 formed by a mat hung at the entrance, to be raised as the 
 person entered, and dropped when he was within. Tims 
 there may have been more of warmth and comfort in these 
 rude forest homes than some are wont to suppose. Says 
 Gookin, " I have often lodged in these wigwams, and found 
 them as warm as the best English houses." In the wigwam 
 was a sort of mattress or couch, raised about a foot high. 
 This was covered with boards split from trees, upon which 
 were placed mats or skins of the bear or deer. These 
 couches were large enough for three or four persons to sleep 
 on. They were six or eight feet broad, and could be drawn 
 nearer to or farther from the fire, as one chose. 
 
 The food of the Indian, to an extent, consisted of game, — 
 the streams furnishing an abundance of fish, and the forests a 
 supply of game. Such a diet would be most easily obtained, 
 and the methods of obtaining it most in accord with the Indi- 
 an's wild nature and life. But this food was by no means all. 
 Says Gookin, it consisted chiefly of Indian corn boiled. Some- 
 times they mixed beans with their corn, and frequently they 
 boiled in their pottage fish and flesh of all sorts, either fresh 
 or dry. Bones also were cut in pieces and used ; but, says 
 our authority, "they are so dextrous in separating the bones 
 from the fish when eating that they are never in danger of 
 being choked." They also mixed with their pottage various 
 kinds of roots, ground nuts, pompions (pumpkins), squashes, 
 acorns, walnuts and chestnuts, dried and powdered. Some- 
 times they beat their maize into meal, and sifted it through a 
 basket made for that purpose. With this meal they made 
 bread, which they baked in the ashes, after covering it with 
 leaves. They also made of this maize meal what was called 
 " Nokake," which it was said was sweet, toothsome and 
 
20 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 hearty, — so much so that when the Indian was going on a 
 journey, he would often take with him no food but a bag or 
 basket of this. 
 
 The corn was planted in places perhaps first cleared by 
 fire. It was planted when the oak-leaf was about the size 
 of a mouse's ear, and fertilized by a fish placed in the hill. 
 Gookin states that the Indian was given much to hospitality, 
 and that strangers were given their best lodging and diet. 
 Their religion consisted in the belief in a Good Spirit called 
 Kiton, and a Bad Spirit called Hobbammoc, and in a happy 
 hunting ground beyond the grave. They had their pow- 
 wows and medicine men who served the place of a rude 
 priesthood among them, and they conformed to various cus- 
 toms which corresponded to their wild ways of life. Some 
 of these customs, as well as some of the coarse phases of 
 Indian character, are indicated by the following orders drawn 
 up and agreed upon at Concord, and as set forth by Rev. 
 Thomas Shepherd, an early minister at Cambridge. 
 
 These "conclusions and orders made and agreed upon by 
 divers sachems and other principal men amongst the Indians 
 at Concord in the end of the eleventh month (called Janu- 
 ary), An. 1646." 
 
 "2. That there shall be no more Powwowing amongst the 
 Indians. And if any shall hereafter powwow, both he that 
 shall powwow, and he that shall procure them to powwow, 
 shall pay twenty shillings apiece." 
 
 " 6. That they may be brought to the sight of the sinne 
 of lying." 
 
 " 8. They desire that no Indian hereafter shall have any 
 more but one wife." 
 
 "16. They intend to reform themselves in their former 
 greasing." 
 
 " 20. Whosoever shall play at their former games shall 
 pay ten shillings." 
 
 " 23. They shall not disguise themselves at their mourn- 
 ing as formerly, nor shall they keep a great noyse by howl- 
 ing." (Shattuck's History of Concord.) 
 
 Johnson speaks of them as "being in very great subjection 
 to the Divel," and the powwows as being "more conversant 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 21 
 
 with him than any others." But to the great glory of the 
 religion of Christ, it is said these notions were corrected 
 wherever civilization and Christianity were introduced. The 
 money or medium of exchange was wampumpage. 
 
 In the capture of game the methods were various. Fish 
 was taken both with the hook and spear. In the migrations 
 of the alewife and shad, the birch-bark canoes, torch and 
 spear, were probably effective means in the catch. The 
 canoes were sometimes forty feet long, says Gookin, and 
 would carry twenty men. The larger animals were perhaps 
 sometimes caught by the pitfall, a place dug in the ground, 
 and covered lightly with sticks and leaves, through which 
 the game when passing would fall; sometimes by a forest 
 drive, by which means a portion of country was traversed by 
 a company of men deployed at short distances, who moved 
 towards a given point, where was a partial enclosure, through 
 which the animals were forced to pass ; at the place of exit, 
 hunters were stationed to dispatch the game as it strove to 
 make its way through. 
 
 Part of the Indians living in Sudbury, when its territory 
 was transferred to the English, belonged, as it is supposed, to 
 the Massachusetts Indians who lived about Massachusetts Bay, 
 and the remainder to the Nipmucks or Nipnets, who lived in 
 the interior of the State. Those who belonged to the former 
 were probably of the Mystic Indians, the chief of which 
 tribe was in the early part of the seventeenth century Nana- 
 pashemit. The home of this chieftain was at Medford, situ- 
 ated on a prominent place which overlooked the Mystic River. 
 He was killed by the Tarrentines, a tribe of eastern Indians. 
 After his death, his wife reigned under the name of the squaw 
 sachem. She married Wibbacowett, the chief powwow or 
 priest (Shattuck). She also lived near the Mystic. The 
 subjects of this sachem or squaw probably extended nearly 
 or quite to the Nipmuck country, as it embraced Tahattawan 
 and his tribe at Concord. 
 
 Tribal relations so extended would probably include some 
 of Sudbury's Indians. Such is supposed to be the case. 
 
 It is stated in the Colony Records, that, in 1637, Karte was 
 associated with the squaw sachem at Medford in the sale of 
 
22 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 a fishing weir at Concord, "and all the planting grounds 
 which hath been planted by the Indians there." Nataous, it 
 is supposed, was of Xipnet origin. If these prominent natives 
 of Sudbury had different tribal relations, so may it have been 
 with others less prominent ; but whether they belonged to the 
 Nipnet or Massachusetts Indians, they all alike belonged to 
 the great family of Algonquins. The Algonquin Indians 
 included the class of American aborigines who inhabited 
 that part of the country extending for hundreds of miles 
 between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River. They 
 included Canada on the north, and their southern limits ex- 
 tended as far as North Carolina. Among these Indians were 
 various and powerful tribes, inhabiting various parts of this 
 extended territory. "The New England Indians inhabited 
 the country from Connecticut to the Saco River. The prin- 
 cipal tribes were the Narragansetts in Rhode Island and the 
 western shores of the Narragansett Bay, the Pokanokets and 
 Warapanoags on the eastern shore of the same bay and in a 
 portion of Massachusetts, the Nipmucks in the centre of Mas- 
 sachusetts, the Narragansetts in the vicinity of Boston and 
 the shores southward, and the Patuckets in the northeastern 
 part of Massachusetts, embracing the Pennacooks of New 
 Hampshire." (Lossing.) 
 
 In the early years of the town's history, the Indians in and 
 about the place were on friendly terms with their pale-faced 
 brethren. As has been noticed, on several sides of the town 
 were Indian mission stations, from which wilderness outposts 
 went forth the voice of prayer and praise. Influences so sal- 
 utary not far from the borders of Sudbury might be expected 
 to reach into the town itself, and tend to bring its people 
 to a right way of life. These stations were, to an extent, 
 made up of people gathered from various parts. It was so 
 al Natick. Mr. Eliot gathered the natives from different 
 directions, and fostered with fatherly care those who sought 
 at his hands the truth, until he. fell, as has been stated by 
 another, "like a great tree in the stillness of the woods." 
 Truly it might be expected that such influences, radiating like 
 light through the dark .shadows of the unenlightened land, 
 would bring peace to the people, and that a loving, neighbor- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 23 
 
 like spirit would pervade the life of both the Indian and his 
 white benefactors. Such natural results did prevail prior to 
 Philip's war. But that war and the death of Mr. Eliot were 
 sad blows to the poor aborigines : by the latter they lost a 
 friend, and by the former they were called to turn their backs 
 on the graves of their fathers, knowing not what the end was 
 to be. Allured, perhaps, by designing men of their race to 
 join Philip, and ordered from their homes to another locality, 
 it is not strange if some were demoralized, and that the Indi- 
 ans should become a weak and broken band. It is said that 
 at one time about three hundred Indians gathered at Natick 
 on a training occasion. But, as years passed on, they grew 
 rapidly less, even at this their old mission home. The last 
 family hereabouts has long since disappeared, their name is 
 unspoken, and their very graves are unknown. They have 
 been gathered to their fathers, with little to tell the stranger 
 where once they dwelt. The streams still sparkle, but not 
 for them ; the hills are crowned with our corn ; in the valley 
 our gardens smile ; our grain makes yellow the plain. The 
 town's natural outlook, in a measure, remains unchanged, 
 but a race has vanished, and the customs, language, and life 
 of another race is here. 
 
 " Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, 
 Now green in youth, now withering on the ground ; 
 Another spring another race supplies, 
 These fall successive, and successive rise. 
 So generations in their course decay, 
 So flourish these when those have passed away." 
 
 It is true the Indian is still in the land, but how neglected 
 and lone ! As another has said : — 
 
 " His eye rests on the earth, as if the grave 
 Were his sole hope, his last and only home. 
 
 His pride is dead ; his courage is no more ; 
 His name is but a by-word. All the tribes 
 Who called this mighty continent their own 
 Are homeless, friendless wanderers on earth." 
 
 But while this race is passing, let us cherish what is good 
 
24 HISTORY OF SUDBUKY. 
 
 in their history, and in charity excuse what we reasonably 
 can of their faults. Above all, let us present to them the 
 truths that their great apostle, Mr. Eliot, so long and so suc- 
 cessfully used. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Origin of the Sudbury Settlement. — Why it was formed. — Names of 
 Early Settlers : Residents of Watertown, Emigrants from England. — 
 Passenger List of the Ship " Confidence." — Tradition about John 
 Rutter. — Character of the Settlers. — Biographical Sketches. 
 
 And that pale pilgrim band is gone, 
 
 That on this shore with trembling trod; 
 
 Ready to faint, yet bearing on 
 The ark of freedom and of God. 
 
 PlERPONT. 
 
 In passing from the early condition of the territory of 
 Sudbury, and its aboriginal inhabitants, we will next notice 
 who they were, who became possessed of this territory as 
 settlers, and so changed its condition; whence they came, 
 their names, and their character. 
 
 The town was settled by Englishmen. The plan of set- 
 tlement originated at Watertown, which was settled a few- 
 years previous by Sir Richard Saltonstall and Company, who 
 cam.' t.i America in the ship '"Arbella." Mr. Saltonstall's 
 party landed at Salem, went from there to Charlestown, and 
 thence about four miles up Charles River, where they founded 
 Watertown. Few, if any, colonial places were better pros- 
 pered than this. It rapidly grew in strength and importance, 
 and soon parties went out from it to form new settlements. 
 Some went to the places now Dedham and Concord, and 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 25 
 
 some as far off as Wethersfield, Conn. In fact, emigration 
 from Watertown helped form some of the best towns of the 
 period. 
 
 In 1637, it was proposed that a company proceed westerly, 
 and settle at what is now Sudbury. The reason for starting 
 this settlement was, as the petitioners state in their paper, 
 " straitness of accommodation, and want of more meadow." 
 Going westerly, they could obtain both these objects ; for, 
 bordering on the mother town was a territory through which 
 ran a large stream, with abundance of fresh water marsh. But 
 though the plan of settlement originated in Watertown, not 
 all of those who carried it into effect were inhabitants of that 
 place. To a large extent, the settlers came direct from Eng- 
 land. Bond, the historian of that town, says, " Only a small 
 proportion of the names of the early grantees of Sudbury are on 
 the Watertown records ; and some who went there returned. 
 Some, whose names are on the records of both places, were 
 either' residents of Sudbury but a very short time, or, it may 
 be, never lived there at all." The explanation of this may 
 be, first, that the plantation was not proposed because all the 
 petitioners designed to make it their permanent home, but 
 that it might be an outlet to an over-populous place. Water- 
 town, it was considered, had too many inhabitants. The 
 emigrants of ship after ship, as they arrived at these shores, 
 went to the older places ; and this led to what was called 
 "straitness of accommodation." New land would present 
 oreater allurements to the new comers, and the earlier settlers 
 would thus be left undisturbed in their original estates. 
 Secondly, speculative purposes may have led some to engage 
 in the scheme for the Sudbury settlement. More or less 
 doubtless enlisted in the enterprise designing to transfer their 
 titles to others, as fresh emigrants came to the country. 
 Sharing with the residents of the settlement the expense of 
 the undertaking, they had a right to convey the lands that 
 were allotted them, and receive such compensation therefor 
 as their increased value might bring. Thus, while the plan 
 of the settlement of Sudbury originated at Watertown, and 
 some of the settlers came from there, yet largely, as we have 
 said, it was settled by emigration direct from England. Most 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 or all of the names of the earlier settlers have been preserved, 
 and are repeatedly given in connection with land divisions 
 prior to the close of 1040. 
 
 From the town records we have compiled the following 
 list of the early grantees or settlers, who went to the Sud- 
 bury Plantation about 1638 or 1639: — 
 
 .Mr. William Pelham, 
 Mr. Edmund Browne, 
 Mr. Peter Noyse, 
 Bryan Pendleton, 
 Walter Maine, 
 John Haine, 
 John Blandford, 
 Hugh Griffyn, 
 Edmond Goodnowe, 
 Robert Beast, 
 Thomas Noyse, 
 Thomas Browne. 
 Robert Darnill, 
 William Browne, 
 Thomas Goodnow, 
 .loli n Freeman, 
 Solomon Johnson. 
 William Ward. 
 Richard Newton, 
 John Howe. 
 George Munnings, 
 Anthony Wh\ te, 
 Andrew Belcher. 
 John ( roodnowe, 
 John Reddoek, 
 Thomas Whyte, 
 John Knight, 
 William Barker. 
 
 John Parmenter, Senior, 
 
 Edmond Rice, 
 
 Henry Rice, 
 
 Wyddow Buffumthvte, 
 
 Henry Curtis, 
 
 John Stone, 
 
 John Parmenter, Jun., 
 
 John R utter, 
 
 John Toll, 
 
 Henry Loker, 
 
 John Wood, 
 
 John Loker, 
 
 Widow Wright, 
 
 John Bent, 
 
 Nathaniel Treadaway, 
 
 Robert Hunt, 
 
 Widow Hunt, 
 
 John Maynard, 
 
 Joseph Taintor, 
 
 Robert Fordum, or Fordham, 
 
 Thomas Joslvn, or Jslen, 
 
 Richard Sanger, 
 
 Richard Bildcome. 
 
 Robert Davis, 
 
 Henry Prentiss, 
 
 Win. Kerly. 
 
 Thomas Hoyte. 
 
 Thomas Flvn. 
 
 The following arc names of persons who were at the set- 
 tlement soon after ii began : — 
 
 Thomas Axdell, 
 Thomas Brad, 
 
 John Moore, 
 Thomas Bisbis;, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 27 
 
 Thomas Plympton, John Waterman, 
 
 Hugh Drury, Goodman Witherell, 
 
 Philemon Whale, John George, 
 
 Wm. How, Thomas King, 
 
 John Smith, Peter King, 
 
 Thomas Buckmaster, Jonas or James Pendleton, 
 
 John Grout, John Woodward, 
 
 Thomas Cakebread, Shadrach Hapgood, 
 
 John Redit, Edward Wright. 
 
 Of the Sudbury settlers who once lived in Watertown, we 
 have the following names : Robert Betts (Beast), Thomas 
 Cakebread, Henry Curtis, Robert Daniel (Darnell), John 
 Grout, Solomon Johnson, John Knight, George Munnings, 
 William Parker, Bryan Pendleton, Richard Sanger, Joseph 
 Tainter, Anthony White, Goodman (John) Wetherell, Na- 
 thaniel Treadaway, John Stone. 
 
 Some of these men were prominent and valuable citizens 
 of Watertown. Bryan Pendleton was one of its early Se- 
 lectmen. Nathaniel Treadaway and John Stone were sons-in- 
 law of Elder Edward How. Robert Betts had a share in the 
 Great Dividend Allotment, and the Beaver Brook " plow 
 lands." Of those who came direct from England, we have 
 on a single ship's list of passengers the names of some of the 
 most prominent persons in the Sudbury Plantation, namely: 
 
 " The list of the names of the Passeng rs Intended for New 
 England in the good shipp the Confidence of London of C C. 
 tonnes John Jobson M r And thus by vertue of the Lord 
 Treas rs warr 1 of the xjth of April, 1638. Southampton, 
 24 Q Aprill 1638. 
 
 " Walter Hayne of Sutton Mandifield in the 
 County of Wilts Lennen Weaver 55 
 Eliz : Hayne his wife 
 Thomas Hayne \ their sonnes 
 John Hayne \ under 16 
 Josias Hayne ) yeares of age. 
 Sufferance Hayne i their 
 Mary Hayne ) daughters 
 
28 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 John Blanford \ their 27 
 John Riddett ( 26 
 
 Rich Bildcombe ) servants lii 
 
 Peter Noyce of Penton in the 
 
 County of South" (Southampton) yeoman 47 
 
 Thomas Noyce his sonne 15 
 
 Eliz : Noyce his daughter 
 
 Robert Davis \ his 30 
 
 John Rutter ( 22 
 
 Margarett Davis ) servants 26 
 
 Nicholas Guy] " c ^ / ' [carpenter 50 
 - ( Southampton ) l 
 
 Jane his wife 
 
 Mary Guy his daughter 
 
 Joseph Taynter 
 
 Robert Bayley 
 
 John Bent of Penton in the 
 County of South' 1 Husband- 
 man 35 
 Martha Bent his wife 
 Robert Bent ^ 
 William Bent, their children 
 Peter Bent, y all under y e age 
 John Bent of 12 years 
 Ann Bent J 
 
 John Goodenowe of Semley 
 
 of Welsheir Husbandman 42 
 Jane Goodenowe his wife 
 Lydia Goodenowe J their 
 Jane Goodenowe ( daughters 
 
 Edmund Goodenowe of Dun- 
 head in Wilsheire Husbandman : 
 Ann Goodenowe his w Lfe 
 
 . , „ . } their sonnes 
 
 John ( goodenowe / . . 
 
 .... . > 4 years ami 
 
 I nomas Goodenowe \ - , 
 
 ) under 
 
 Richard Sanger his servant 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 29 
 
 Thomas Goodenowe of Shasbuiy.§ 30 
 Jane Goodenow his wife 
 Thomas Goodenowe his sonne 
 Ursula Goodenowe his sister 
 Edmond Kerley ) of AshmOre 22 
 William Kerley \ Husbandmen " 
 
 It is not certain that the young men mentioned in this 
 ship's list as "servants," or "hired men," ever came in that 
 capacity. John Rutter was by trade a carpenter ; Richard 
 Sanger was a blacksmith ; one had a family when he came ; 
 two others were afterward sons-in-law of the persons in 
 whose employ they ostensibly came ; and all of them took 
 their place among the substantial men of the settlement. 
 
 It was a tradition among the descendants of John Rutter, 
 without their having a knowledge that this ship's list was in 
 existence, that their ancestor came to this country disguised 
 as a servant. 
 
 The state of the times and the strictness of English laws 
 at that period, with regard to ships and emigrants coming to 
 America, might be a reason why some might come in disguise. 
 If this was so in the case of one, it might have been so with 
 regard to the rest. 
 
 In connection with the names of the settlers, it is appropri- 
 ate to state something of their character. In attempting 
 this, perhaps we can do no better than to say that they fitly 
 represented the noble element that came to the New England 
 shores at that period. They were Puritans both in theory 
 and practice; and afar from the conveniences and luxuries 
 of their native land, sought in a new country a home remote 
 from ecclesiastical and political strife. They embarked for 
 America at a time when England was in an unsettled condi- 
 tion, and when ship after ship was bringing to these shores 
 some of her purest and stanchest citizens. As we pass 
 along, we shall see that they were a practical people, and 
 possessed of energy equal to the emergencies incident to 
 pioneer life ; and that they began the settlement as men who 
 could forecast what a substantial and prosperous community 
 would require. The whole trend of their conduct is indica- 
 
30 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 tive oi self-reliance, though recognizing all proper authority. 
 What the common weal required they look hold of with 
 and in their adherence to what they though! suitable, they 
 showed a perseverance truly commendable. Their proceed- 
 ings in town-meeting, and the manner in which the records 
 were kept, indicate that the education of a part of then! at 
 least was good tor the times: and the measures enacted for 
 the common convenience and welfare show common sense 
 and sagacity. 
 
 As a religious people, they in no way lacked what we 
 ascribe to the historic Puritan. Although compelled by cir- 
 cumstances to economize all their resources, and to make the 
 most of time, talents and strength to meet the demands of 
 every day life, yet they found time to serve their Creator, 
 and praise and adore Him in their forest home. Their Chris- 
 tianity manifested itself in their steadfast adherence to the 
 Christian faith, in their reliance on God. and their love for 
 His holy law. 
 
 Industry was a prominent characteristic. From the minis- 
 ter down to the humblest citizen, each had a share in the 
 manual work of the settlement. Though the minister's sal- 
 ary was in part paid in produce, yet he was assigned lands 
 and attended to husbandry. Another characteristic trait of 
 the settlers seems to have been their desire for territorial 
 enlargement and possession, and for the pioneering of new 
 places. To such an extent did this spirit prevail in Sudbury 
 and its neighboring town. Concord, that the following law 
 was passed by the Court in 1645 : — 
 
 " In regard of the great danger that Concord, Sudbury and 
 Dedham will be exposed unto, being inland Townes and but 
 thinly peopled, it is ordered that no man now inhabiting and 
 settled in any of the s'd Townes (whether married or single) 
 shall remove to any other Town without the allowance of 
 the magistrates or the selectmen of the towns, until they 
 shall obtain leave to settle again." 
 
 The settlers o( Sudbury were young men. or in the prime 
 of stirring manhood: they were not patriarchs near the close 
 o( their pilgrimage. Even those with whom, because of their 
 prominence, we most associate dignity and gravity were com- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 31 
 
 paratively young men when the settlement began. By the 
 passenger-list of the "■ Confidence " it will be noticed that 
 only Walter Haine had reached the age of 55, and John Rut- 
 ter was only 22 ; Robert Davis, 30 ; John Blandford, 27 ; 
 John Reddet, 26 ; Peter Noyes, 47 ; John Bent, 35 ; John 
 Goodeno\v,42 ; Edmund Goodenow, 27 ; Thomas Goodenow, 
 30. These ages are doubtless correct, as we have in 1666 a 
 deposition made by one of them, Edmund Goodenow, in 
 which he alleges that lie is about fifty-five years old. Rev. 
 Edmund Browne was in about the prime of life when he 
 came to the plantation; and Edmund Rice was about thirty- 
 four. In fact, we find in an old petition presented at the 
 close of Philip's war in 1676, from a dozen to a score or 
 more of names that may have belonged to the early grantees. 
 Probably from a quarter to a half century passed before there 
 was a generation of old men in Sudbury. Having noticed 
 thus much of the character of the Sudbury settlers collec- 
 tively, we will give a few facts concerning them individu- 
 ally. These facts will serve the purpose not so much of 
 genealogy, as an introduction of these ancient worthies, with 
 whom the history of our town is so closely connected. 
 
 William Pelham came to this country in the fleet with 
 Winthrop, and may have been a brother of Herbert and John 
 Pelham. Savage states that he lost the passage with the 
 " Govenor's son Henry, by going ashore at Cowes from the 
 'Arbella,' and trusting fortune for another ship." It is 
 recorded in the Colonial Records, 1645, that " Mr. William 
 Pelham being recommended to this Court by y e town of 
 Sudbury for the Captaine, and Edmund Goodnow as the 
 Ensign, were both accepted and confirmed in their places by 
 this Court." In 1645-6 he was selectman, and representa- 
 tive in 1647. He returned to England, and was theie in 
 1652. 
 
 Edmund Browne. (See chapter on First Minister, 
 Meeting-House, etc., and period 1675-1700.) 
 
 Peter Noyes came from England in the ship " Confi- 
 dence," 1638. He is called " yeoman " in the ship's passen- 
 ger list, but is repeatedly mentioned in the records of this 
 
32 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 country as "gentleman;" and the term "Mr." is often 
 applied. After a short stay in America, he returned to 
 England, but came back the next year in the ship "Jona- 
 than," with, it is supposed, other children, viz., Nicholas, 
 Dorothy, Abigail and Peter ; also the servants John Water- 
 man, Richard Barnes and William Street. Mr. Noyes was a 
 freeman May 13, 1640, a selectman eighteen years, and rep- 
 resented the town at the General Court in 1640, '41 and '50. 
 He died Sept. 23, 1657. Three years before his death he 
 gave his estate in England to his son Thomas. The day 
 before his death he made a will in which he made his son 
 Thomas his executor, and named the following other chil- 
 dren : Peter, Joseph, Elizabeth (wife of Josiah Haynes), 
 Dorothy (wife of John Haynes), Abigail (wife of Thomas 
 Plympton), his daughter-in-law Mary (wife of his son 
 Thomas), and his kinsman Shadrach Hapgood. The Noyeses 
 have lived in various parts of the town. The mill on the 
 west side was built by them. (See period 1650-75.) Promi- 
 nent members of the family are buried in the Old Burying- 
 g'round, Wayland. 
 
 Bryan (or Brian) PENDLETON came from England in 
 1634, and became a freeman Sept. 3, 1634. He went to 
 Sudbury from Watertown, where he was a grantee of ten lots 
 of land, which he sold when he left the place. lie was one 
 of the prominent petitioners for a plantation at Sudbury, and 
 his name is on the town records as one of the foremost busi- 
 ness men of the place. He was early appointed to lead the 
 "train band/' and was one of the early selectmen. A hill 
 in the centre of the town still bears the name of "Pendleton 
 Hill." (See chapter on Cemeteries.) Mr. Pendleton did not 
 live long in Sudbury, but returned to Watertown. which 
 place he represented in the Colonial Court for several years. 
 About 1642 he moved to Portsmouth, of which he was repre- 
 sentative some years, and from thence went to Saco. At the 
 close of the Indian war of 1676, he returned to Portsmouth, 
 where he died in 1681, leaving a will which was made Aug. 
 '.'. 1677, and probated Aug. 5, 1681. 
 
 Wai.tki: Haynes (Hayne or Haine) came to America 
 from England on the ship "Confidence," in 1638. (See 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 33 
 
 ship's passenger-list;) He was a freeman May 13, 1641. He 
 represented the town in the General Court in the years 1641, 
 '44^ '48 and '51, and was a selectman ten years. Mr. Haynes 
 was probably one of the first grantees to erect a house on the 
 west side of the river, which house was probably the "Haynes 
 Garrison." He died Feb. 14, 1665. In his will, Thomas is 
 mentioned as being away from home, and Sufferance as being 
 the wife of Josiah Treadway, and Mary as the wife of Thomas 
 Noyes. One piece of property disposed of in his will was a 
 tenement in Shaston, Dorsetshire, Eng. The Haynes family 
 has been well known and quite numerous in Sudbury. Mem- 
 bers of it have lived in various parts of the town, and held 
 prominent offices, both civil and military. Capt. Aaron 
 Haynes commanded a Sudbury company that marched to 
 Concord on the memorable 19th of April, 1775, and partici- 
 pated in the stirring events of that day. Dea. Josiah Haynes 
 was slain in that contest at the age of eighty, and Joshua 
 Haynes was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill. (See Revo- 
 lutionary period.) One of the descendants was Capt. Israel 
 Haynes, who represented the town in the Legislature at the 
 session when Charles Sumner was first elected United States 
 Senator. (See chapter on Pantry District.) A descendant 
 now living in town is Hon. C. F. Gerry, who has served both 
 in the House of Represenatives and the Senate of Massachu- 
 setts, and whose wife, a great-granddaughter of Judge Fos- 
 ter, the first representative in Congress from New Hampshire, 
 was a well-known authoress. 
 
 John Haynes, son of Walter, came with his father, in 
 1638, in the "Confidence," at the age of sixteen. We hear 
 of him about 1658, with other Sudbury parties, in possession 
 of lands in the territory of Worcester. (See chapter on 
 Colonists from Sudbury.) 
 
 John Blandford came from England in the ship " Confi- 
 dence," in 1638, at the age of twenty-seven. He came in 
 the employ of Walter Haynes, and, it is supposed, brought 
 with him Mary, his first wife, who died Dec. 4, 1641. He 
 married for his second wife Dorothy Wright. He had at 
 least four children, all born in this country, Sarah, Hannah, 
 John and Steven. He made a will, dated Oct. 21, 1687, pro- 
 
34 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 bated Nov. 23 following- before Sir Edmund Andros. His 
 widow received all of the estate for her life. 
 
 Hugh GREFFIN (or Griffing) was a freeman in 164."). and 
 held the office of t lie first town clerk in Sudbury. The Col- 
 ony Records state that, in 1045, Hugh Griffin was "appointed 
 clerk of the writs in place of Walter Ilavnes." He married 
 Elizabeth Upson, a widow, who had one daughter by a former 
 marriage. He died 1656, and left a will in which are men- 
 tioned as his children, Jonathan, Abigail (born Nov. 16, 
 1640), Sarah (born Nov. 20, 1042), Shemuel (born Jan. 9, 
 1643, O.S.), and also Hannah, daughter of his wife by her 
 former marriage. Among his descendants was Rev. Ed- 
 ward Dorr Griffin, D. D., who was a professor of Sacred 
 Rhetoric at Andover, a pastor of Park-Street Church, Boston, 
 and third president of Williams College. Dr. Griffin was born 
 at East Haddam, Conn., in 1070, and graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege in IT'."). 
 
 Edmund Goodnowe (Goodnow, Goodinow, Goodenow or 
 Goodenough) came in the "Confidence," in 1638. The 
 house-lot assigned to him was on the north street, the third 
 cast of the meeting-house, and adjacent to that of John 
 Haynes. He was an early inhabitant on the west side, and 
 probably built the " Goodnow Garrison." (See chapter on 
 Philip's War.) He was a freeman May 13, 1640. He 
 repeatedly represented the town at the General Court, was 
 appointed to lay out land, and was a captain of the town 
 militia. He died April 6, 1688, aged seventy-seven. His 
 wife, Ann, died March 9, 1675, at the age of sixty-seven. 
 Edmund Goodnow and wife were buried in the Old Burying- 
 ground, Wayland. Mr. Ilavnes brought with him to America 
 his children John and Thomas. Hannah and Sarah were 
 born afterwards. Thomas, it is supposed, died young. Han- 
 nah married James Pendleton, April 29, 1656. Sarah mar- 
 ried John Kettle. The Goodnow family has had a promi- 
 nent position in town from an early date. It has largely 
 dwell on the west side of the river, and to quite an extent 
 in the south part of the town. One of the descendants was 
 John Goodnow, the donor of the Goodnow Library, who was 
 for many years a well-known merchant of Boston; as was 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 35 
 
 also George Good now, who gave a fund for the aid of the 
 poor in Sudbury. Their father, John Goodnow, lived to be 
 over a hundred years old, and was the last survivor in Sud- 
 bury of those who did service in the Revolutionary War. He 
 was born on the Noah Clapp farm, about half way between 
 Sudbury Centre and South Sudbury, from which he went in 
 earhy life to lands in Lanham, formerly owned and occupied 
 by Thomas Read and his descendants. 
 
 Robert Betts (Best or Beast) came from Watertown, 
 where he owned lands. He died at Sudbury in 1655, 
 bequeathing his estate to his brother-in-law, William Hunt, 
 and other relatives. 
 
 Thomas Noyes. (See sketch of Peter Noyes.) 
 
 Thomas Browne was at Concord in 1638, and was per- 
 haps a brother of Rev. Edmund and William Browne. He 
 was a freeman March 14, 1639. His wife's name was Brid- 
 get, who died Jan. 5, 1681, and he had several children. It 
 is supposed he removed to Cambridge. He died Nov. 3, 1688. 
 
 Robert Darnel (Darniel or Darvell) came to Water- 
 town, where he was a grantee of five house-lots. He died 
 in 1655. 
 
 William Brown, Bond says in his history of Watertown, 
 has been thought to be of the lineage of Christopher Brown 
 of Hawkedon, of the Parish of Bury St. Edmunds, County 
 of Suffolk, Eng. ; but no evidence of it has been discovered. 
 Probably William, Thomas and Edmund Brown were rela- 
 tives, if not brothers, and all perhaps arrived at Sudbury at 
 or about the same time. William Brown was assigned a 
 house-lot on the south street of the settlement, the fourth 
 east of the first meeting-house, adjoining that of Edmund 
 Goodnow. He eventually settled near Nobscot, on a tract 
 of land of two hundred acres, which was granted him by the 
 General Court in answer to a petition presented by him in 
 1649. (Colonial Records, Vol. III., p. 155.) He was a 
 freeman June 2, 1641, and became a prominent man at the 
 plantation, and at one time captain of the militia. He was 
 the first deacon of the church at Sudbury, and a representa- 
 tive under the new charter in 1692. About 1643 he "was 
 chosen and sworne surveyor of thearmes of Sudbury." He 
 
36 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 was married Nov. 15, 1641, to Mary, daughter of Thomas 
 Berbeck or Bisby. (See sketch of Thomas Bisby.) He had 
 seven children, Mary, Thomas, William, Edmund, Hopestill, 
 Susanna and Elizabeth. His son Thomas, born May 22, 
 1645, known as Maj. Thomas Brown, was a man of consid- 
 erable prominence, because of his public position and ser- 
 vices. He married, in 1667, Patience Foster, who died 
 August, 1706, aged fifty-two. He married for his second 
 wife Mary Phipps of Cambridge, widow of Solomon Phipps, 
 Jr., and daughter of Dep.-Gov. Thomas Danforth. His 
 daughter Mary married, Jan. 8, 1691, Jonathan Willard of 
 Roxbury. Major Brown was a man much engaged in town 
 business, a representative for successive years, and com- 
 manded a company of horse in the Indian war. In 1701 
 he was allowed by the General Court compensation for a 
 horse lost in pursuit of the Indians in 1697. He died May 
 7, 1709, and the following note is found concerning him in 
 the diary of Judge Sewall: "Maj. Thomas Brown, Esq., of 
 Sudbury, was buried in the Old Burying-place." We con- 
 sider it quite probable that the "Old Brown Garrison'' in 
 Sudbury was built by Major Brown. (See chapter on 
 Philip's War.) Hopestill, another son, married for his first 
 wife Abigail Haynes, and for his second wife Dorothy, the 
 widow of Rev. Samuel Paris of Salem withcraft notoriety. 
 (See period 1675-1700.) The original William Brown 
 homestead at Sudbury was probably at, or not far from, 
 the spot where the house now occupied by Hubbard Brown 
 formerly stood, which was by a large buttonwood tree on 
 the hillside, a short distance to the westward of its present 
 location. A short distance southerly, at or near the edge of 
 the plain, is still visible the site of another building. Either 
 of these may be the spot where William Brown erected the 
 first house on his giant of two hundred acres at Nobscot. 
 The Brown family has been numerous in Sudbury, living for 
 the most part on the west side of the river. Members of the 
 family have never ceased to dwell, and occupy land, in the 
 neighborhood of Nobscot. In the old homestead located 
 there the three brothers. .John, Israel How and Edward, 
 were born ; and on the ancestral estate Everett and Hub- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 87 
 
 bard, two sons of Edward, still live. A third son is Dr. 
 Frank Brown of Reading, a graduate of Amherst College, 
 and surgeon in the Union army in the civil war. 
 
 Thomas Goodnow was a brother of John and Edmund, 
 and became a freeman in 1643. He was twice married, and 
 had seven children by his first wife, Jane. In his will, bear- 
 ing date 1664, he mentions his brother Edmund and John 
 Ruddocke. He was petitioner for the Marlboro Plantation, 
 and moved there at its settlement. In 1661, '62 and '64, he 
 Avas one of its selectmen. At least two of his children were 
 born in Sudbury, Thomas, and Mary, who was born Aug. 25, 
 1640. The house of his son Samuel, who was born in 1646, 
 was one of the Marlboro garrison houses. Mary was killed 
 and scalped by the Indians in 1707. 
 
 John Freeman. We have received but few facts relating 
 to this early grantee of Sudbury. His wife's name was Eliza- 
 beth, and he had one child, Joseph, who was born March 29, 
 1645, and who was a freeman in 1678. 
 
 Solomon Johnson became a freeman in 1651. He was 
 twice married, his first wife, Hannah, dying in 1651. By 
 this marriage he had three children, Joseph or Joshua and 
 Nathaniel, who were twins (born Feb. 3, 1640), and Mary 
 (born Jan. 23, 1644). He married for his second wife- 
 Elinor Crafts, by whom he had four children, Caleb, who 
 died young, Samuel (born March 5, 1654), Hannah (born 
 April 27, 1656), and Caleb, again (born Oct. 1, 1658). 
 He assisted in the formation of the Marlboro Plantatation, 
 and was assigned a house-lot of twenty-three acres there. 
 He was selectman from 1651 to 1666. His son Caleb 
 purchased, with Thomas Brown and Thomas Drury, the 
 Glover farm near Cochituate Pond, of John Appleton, Jr. 
 Upon this land Caleb erected a house near Dudley Pond, 
 Wayland, and died there in 1777. In the inventory of his 
 real estate one piece of land was " Beaver-hole meadow/' 
 
 William Ward came to this country about the time of 
 the settlement of Sudbury, bringing with him, it is supposed, 
 five children, John (born 1626), Joanna (born 1628), Oba- 
 diah (born 1632), Richard (born 1635), and Deborah (born 
 1637). He became a freeman in 1643. By his second wife, 
 
38 HTSTORY. OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Elizabeth, he had eight children born in America, Hannah 
 
 (born 1(380), William (born Jan. 22, 1640), Samuel (born 
 Sept. 24, L641), Elizabeth (born April 14, 1043), Increase 
 (born Feb. 22 1645), Hopestill (born Feb. 24,1646), Elea- 
 zer (born 1649), and Bethia (born 1658). In 1643 Mr. 
 Ward represented the town as deputy to the General Court 
 He was prominent in helping to establish a plantation at 
 Marlboro, and moved there in 1660. He was made deacon 
 of the church at its organization, and was sent as representa- 
 tive of the town in 1666. He died there Aug-. 10, 1687, 
 leaving a will made April 6, 1686. His wife died Dee. 9, 
 17<H), at the age of eighty-six. 
 
 RICH All!) NEWTON came from England, and was a freeman 
 of the colony in 1645. lie was a petitioner for tin- Marlboro 
 Plantation, and settled in that part of the plaee now South- 
 boro. It is supposed he was twice married, and that Han- 
 nah, his last wife, died Dec. 5, 1697. He died Aug. 24, 
 1701, at the age of about one hundred years. He had six 
 children, the first o( whom, John, was born in 1641. The 
 second son was Moses, who, when the Indians attacked 
 Marlboro, in 1070, causing the inhabitants who were at 
 church to suddenly disperse, nobly remained to assist in 
 the escape of an aged woman. He received a ball in 
 his arm, but succeeded in removing the woman to a place 
 of safety. 
 
 John How (or Howe) was a son of John How. whom it 
 is supposed came from Warwickshire, Eng., and was de- 
 scended from John How, the son of John of Hodinhull, who 
 was connected with the family of Sir Charles How of Lan- 
 caster. Kn^. John How was admitted a freeman in 1641, 
 and two years later was one of the town's selectmen. In 
 L655 he was appointed to see that the youth were well 
 behaved on the Sabbath. He was said to be the first white 
 settler on the new grant land. He was petitioner for the 
 Marlboro Plantation in 1057. and moved to that place about 
 the same year, lb' was located east of the Indian "planting 
 field," and was the first tavern-keeper in Marlboro, having 
 kept a public house there as early, at least, as 107<>. At this 
 ordinary his grandson, who afterwards kept the Sudbury 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 39 
 
 " Red Horse Tavern," may have been favorably struck with 
 the occupation of an inuholder, and thus led to establish the 
 business at Sudbury. Mr. How was a man of kindly feeling 
 and uprightness of character, and both Sudbury and Marl- 
 boro were favored with the presence of successive genera- 
 tions of the family. John How died at Marlboro in 1687, at 
 which place and about which time his wife also died. (See 
 chapter on Wayside Inn.) 
 
 George Munnings (or Mullings), aged thirty-seven, 
 came from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, Eng., in the ship 
 " Elizabeth," in 1634. He was accompanied by his wife, 
 Elizabeth, aged forty-one, and two children, Elizabeth and 
 Abigail, aged respectively twelve and seven, and perhaps a 
 daughter Rebecca. He was for a time at Watertown, and 
 became a freeman March 4, 1635. He was an active man, 
 and prominent in public affairs, both of church and state. 
 He was in the Pequot war, and lost an eye in the service. 
 In 1845 lie resided at Boston, at which place he died Aug. 
 24, 1658. By a will, made the day before his death, he gave 
 his estate to his wife. 
 
 Anthony Whyte (or White), aged twentj'-seven, came 
 from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, Eng., in 1634. He came 
 to this country in the " Francis," went to Watertown, and 
 subsequently engaged in the enterprise of a settlement at 
 Sudbury. Afterwards he returned to Watertown. He mar- 
 ried Grace Hall, Sept. 8, 1645, and had three children, all 
 horn in Watertown, Abigail, John and Mary. He died 
 March 8, 1686, leaving a will, of which Rebecca, widow of 
 his son John, was named executrix. 
 
 Andrew Belcher married Elizabeth, daughter of Nicho- 
 las Danforth of Cambridge, Oct. 1, 1639. His occupation at 
 one time was that of taverner. He had six children, Eliza- 
 beth (born Aug. 17, 1640), Jemina (born April 5, 1642), 
 
 Martha (born July 26, 1644), Mary (born ), Andrew 
 
 (born Jan. 1, 1647), and Ann (born Jan. 1, 1649). He 
 died June 26, 1680, leaving a widow. 
 
 John Goodnowe was a brother of Edmund, and came 
 with him in the ship " Confidence," at the age of forty-two. 
 He was a freeman June 2, 1641, and a selectman of Sudbury 
 
40 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 in 1644. ITis daughters Lydia and Jane came with him. 
 He died March 28, 1554. 
 
 JOHN Reddocke (Ruddocke or Reddick) became a free- 
 man of the colony in 1640. He was actively engaged in 
 forming the plantation at Marlboro, and in the assignment 
 of house-lots he received fifty acres of land. His home- 
 stead was northwesterly of the Marlboro meeting-house. He 
 was three times married, his second wife, Jane, being sister 
 of Rev. Mr. Brimsmead, pastor of the Marlboro church. He 
 built one of the first frame houses in Marlboro, was one of 
 its first selectmen, first town clerk, and deacon of the church. 
 
 Thomas White was a freeman May 13, 1640. He was a 
 selectman in 1642, and shared in the first three divisions «>r' 
 land. 
 
 Johst Knight came from Watertown, where he lived in 
 168(3. He was a freeman in 1642, and was by trade a 
 maulster. 
 
 WILLIAM PARKER came from Watertown. lie became a 
 freeman June 2. 1641. The name of his wife was Elizabeth. 
 and he had two children, Ephraim (who died in 1640, aged 
 five months) and Ruhamah (born Sept. 19, 1641). He had 
 land assigned him in the first and second division of meadow 
 lands, which amounted to five and one-half acres. The 
 house-lot assigned him was on Bridle Point Road, adjacent 
 to Peter Noyes. Xone of the Parker family bearing the 
 name now live in Sudbury. 
 
 John PARMENTER, Sr., (Parmeter or Permenter) came 
 from England to Watertown, and from there to Sudbury, 
 and was made a freeman May 13, 1640. He was accom- 
 panied to America by his wife Bridget and his son John, 
 who became a freeman May, 1642. Other children may have 
 come from England with them. His wife died April 6, 1660, 
 after which he removed to Roxbury, Mass., where he mar- 
 ried Aug. 9, 1660, Annie Dane, widow of John Dane. He 
 died May 1, 1671, aged eighty-three. Mr. Parmenter was 
 one of the early selectmen, and second deacon of the 
 church, to which office he was chosen in 1658. Sept. 4, 
 1639, he was appointed one of the commission to lay out 
 the land. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 41 
 
 Edmund Rice was born in 1594, and came to this country 
 from Barkhamstead, Hertfordshire, Eng. He was twice mar- 
 ried. His first wife, Tamazine, died at Sudbury, where she 
 was buried June 18, 1654. His second wife, whom he mar- 
 ried March 1, 1655, was Mercie (Hurd) Brigham, widow of 
 Thomas Brigham of Cambridge. He had twelve children, 
 nine of whom were born in England, and the others in Sud- 
 bury: Henry (born 1616), Edward (born 1618), Edmund, 
 Thomas, Mary, Lydia (born 1627), Matthew (born 1629), 
 Daniel (born 1632), Samuel (born 1634), Joseph (born 
 1637), Benjamin (born 1640), Ruth (born 1659), and 
 Ann (born 1661). Mr. Rice died May 3, 1663, at Marl- 
 boro, aged about sixty-nine, and was buried in Sudbury. 
 His widow married William Hunt of Marlboro. Mr. Rice 
 was a prominent man in the settlement. He early owned 
 lands in and out of the town, some of which came by 
 grant of the General Court. His first dwelling-place 
 at Sudbury was on the old north street. Sept. 1, 1642, 
 he sold this place to John Moore, and Sept. 13 of the 
 same year leased, for six years, the Dunster Farm, which 
 lay just east of Cochituate Pond. He bought of the widow 
 Mary Axdell six acres of land and her dwelling-house, 
 which were in the south part of the town, and some years 
 afterwards he bought of Philemon Whale his house and nine 
 acres of land near "the spring" and adjacent to the Axdell 
 place ; and these taken together, in part at least, formed the 
 old Rice homestead, not far from the " Five Paths " (Way- 
 land). This old homestead remained in the Rice family for 
 venerations. Edmund sold it to Edmund, his son, who 
 passed it to his sons John and Edmund, and afterwards John 
 transferred his share of it to his brother Edmund, by whom 
 it passed to others of the family, who occupied it till within 
 the last half century. On Sept. 26, 1647, Mr. Rice leased 
 the " Glover Farm " for ten years, and April 8, 1657, he pur- 
 chased the " Jennison Farm," which comprised two hundred 
 acres, situated by the town's southerly boundary, and be- 
 tween the " Dunster Farm " and what is now Weston ; and 
 June 24, 1659, the "Dunster Farm" was purchased by Mr. 
 Rice and his son. Mr. Rice was one of the substantial men 
 
42 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 of the Sudbury plantation. He \v;is a freeman May 13, 1640, 
 and was one of the committee appointed by the Colonial 
 Court. Sept. 4, 1639, to apportion land to the inhabitants. 
 He served as selectman from 1639 to 1644, and was deputy 
 to the General Court several successive } r ears. He was promi- 
 nent in the settlement of Marlboro, for which he was a peti- 
 tioner in 1656. The Rice family in Sudbury have been 
 numerous, and the name has been frequently mentioned on 
 the town books. 
 
 Henry Rice was the son of Edmund (see sketch of 
 Edmund Ilice), and was born in England, 1616. He was 
 assigned a house-lot on the south street of the settlement, 
 adjacent to that of John Maynard on the east, and his father, 
 Edmund, on the west. 
 
 Widow Buffumthyte (or Buff urn thrope). We have 
 received no facts concerning this early grantee, except that 
 she received early allotments of land. 
 
 Henry Curtis (or Curtice) had his homestead on the 
 north street of the settlement, probably about where, until 
 within nearly a half century, an old house called the Curtis 
 House stood. His descendants have been conspicuous, not 
 only in town history, but also in that of the county and 
 colony. Ephraim, his son, was a famous Indian scout. (See 
 chapter on Philip's War. ) Major Curtis, whose grave is in 
 the west part of the " Old Burying-ground," Wayland, was 
 a distinguished citizen. (See chapter on Cemeteries.) 
 
 John Stone came to Sudbury from Cambridge, and was 
 son of Dea. Gregory Stone of that place. He was born in 
 England, and accompanied his father to America. He mar- 
 ried Ann, daughter of Elder Edward Howe of Watertown, 
 and had ten children, most of whom were born in Sudbury. 
 He was at one time an elder in the church, and in 1655 was 
 town clerk. He was an early settler on land now in Framing- 
 ham, and at one time owned the land that is now included in 
 Saxonville. It is supposed when the Indian war began he 
 removed to Cambridge. He was representative of that town 
 in 1682-83. He died May 5, 1683, ao-ed sixty-four. 
 
 John Parmenter, Jr., was also an early proprietor, and 
 kept a tavern or ordinal), at which the committee of the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 43 
 
 Colonial Court and Ecclesiastical Council for the settlement 
 of difficulties in Sudbury, in 1655, were entertained. The 
 old ordinary was situated on the south street of the settle- 
 ment (Wayland), on the house-lot assigned at the general 
 allotment of 1639. And until near the beginning of the 
 present century the " Old Parmenter Tavern " was continued 
 at the same spot, a little westerly of the house occupied by 
 the late Dana Parmenter. John Parmenter, Jr., had six 
 children, among whom was one named John. His wife, Amy, 
 died 1681. The Parmenter family has been numerous in 
 Sudbury; they have lived in various parts of the town, and 
 been a people of industry and thrift. 
 
 RUTTER. 
 
 Armes. — Gvles, three Garbs and Chief, a Lion Passant Argent, 
 or Mullet for difference. 
 
 Nicholas Rutter descended from Kinsley Hall in Com. Chester, who 
 came first and lived at Hilcot in Com. Glouc. 
 
 John Rutter came to America in the ship "Confidence," 
 in 1638, at the age of twenty-two. He married Elizabeth 
 Plympton, who came to this country in the ship "Jonathan," 
 in 1639, having as fellow-passengers Peter Noyes, who was 
 
44 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 on his second voyage to America, and also the mother and 
 sister of John Bent, both of whom were named Agnes. 
 (See sketch of John Bent.) John Rutter had a house-lot 
 assigned him on the north street, a little westerly of Clay-pit 
 Hill. He was by trade a carpenter, and engaged with the 
 town to build the first meeting-house. (See chapter on First 
 Meeting-house.) He had three children, Elizabeth, John 
 and Joseph. About the time of the settlement several acres 
 of land were given him by the town, in acknowledgment 
 of some public service. He was selectman in 1675. His 
 descendants for many ye&vs lived on the south street, Way- 
 land ; and the old homestead of Joseph Rutter, which name 
 has been in the family almost from the very first, still stands, 
 being occupied at present by Mr. James A. Draper. At this 
 spot Gen. Micah Maynard Rutter, son of Joseph, was born 
 in 1779. Gen. Rutter was a prominent man in Middlesex 
 County. For years he held the position of sheriff, and re- 
 ceived the commission of General from Gov. Lincoln. He 
 was energetic and public spirited, and interested in all that 
 pertained to the well being of the community. He died in 
 1837. Another descendant was Dr. Joseph Rutter Draper. 
 He was a graduate of Williams College, principal of the high 
 schools in Saxonville and Milford, surgeon in the Union 
 army in the Civil War, and a practising physician in South 
 Boston, where he died in 1885. His mother's name was 
 Eunice, daughter of the last Joseph Rutter. Until her mar- 
 riage with Mr. Ira Draper she lived at the old homestead. 
 Dr. Draper well represented the John Rutter family, which 
 as a race was noted for purity and uprightness of character. 
 He was buried in the Old Burying -ground, in Wayland, 
 where generation after generation of this ancient family 
 were laid. Another grandchild of Joseph Rutter is Mrs. A. 
 S. Hudson (L. R. Draper), formerly principal of Wadsworth 
 Academy, South Sudbury, and of the high schools of Lin- 
 coln, Wayland, and Marlboro. The accompanying fac simile 
 of the Coat of Arms was that of Nicholas Rutter, from whom 
 John Rutter is supposed to have descended. 
 
 John Toll. We have received but little information 
 relative to this early grantee. His wife was named Oath- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 45 
 
 erine, and they had three children, John (born Nov. 20, 
 1641, died Jan. 31, 1643), Mary (born Dec. 31, 1643), and 
 John who died Jan. 8, 1657. As the male issue all died, the 
 family name was not continued in Sudbury. There is still a 
 place by the river meadows, between the old causeway and 
 Sherman's Bridge, called "Toll's Island." 
 
 John Wood (or Woods) was one of the petitioners for 
 the township of Marlboro, and a prominent man of that 
 place, being one of its selectmen in 1663-5, and one of the 
 early members of the church. He had several children ; and 
 his wife, who it is supposed was Mary Parmenter, died Aug. 
 17, 1690, aged eighty years. 
 
 John Loker was assigned a house-lot just west of the 
 meeting-house, where he lived in a house with his mother 
 as late as 1678. The town purchased of him at that date, 
 for a parsonage, the east end of his house, together with an 
 orchard and four acres of land, and the reversion due to him 
 of the western end of the house, which his mother then occu- 
 pied. (See period 1675-1700.) It is said that before 1652 
 he married Mary Draper. Families by the name of Loker 
 have lived within the ancient limits of Sudbury since the 
 days of its settlement, dwelling for the most part in the 
 territory now Wayland, and more especially in the southerly 
 portion. Isaac Loker was captain of a troop of Sudbury 
 men on the memorable 19th of April, members of his com- 
 pany coming from both sides of the river. (See Revolution- 
 ary Period.) 
 
 Henry Loker was perhaps brother of John. 
 
 Widow Wright (or Mrs. Dorothy Wright) early had 
 land at Sudbury. She was assigned a house-lot on the south 
 street, east of the meeting-house, between that of John Toll 
 and John Bent. She married John Blandford, whose wife 
 Mary died December, 1641. She was perhaps the mother of 
 Edward Wright. 
 
 John Bent came to America from Penton, Eng., in the 
 ship " Confidence," in 1638, at the age of thirty-five. He 
 was by occupation a husbandman. He was accompanied by 
 his wife Martha, and by five children, all of whom were 
 under twelve years of age, whose names are as follows: Rob- 
 
46 BISTORT OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ert, William, Peter, John, Ann (or Agnes) who married 
 Edward Rice, Joseph, and Martha who married Samuel How 
 in 1668. The same year of his arrival in this country he 
 returned to England for others of his family, and came back 
 in the ship "Jonathan" the next year. His sister Agnes 
 Blanchard and her infant child died on the voyage; and 
 his mother Agnes also died on the vo} r age or soon after the 
 ship reached our shores. He was a freeman May 13, 164U. 
 He was one of the proprietors of the Marlboro Plantation, 
 but died Sept. 27, 1672, at Sudbury. His wife died May 15, 
 1679. His son Joseph was born at Sudbury, May 16, 1641. 
 The Bent family has from the first been quite numerous in 
 Sudbury. Some of them have long been residents of Cochit- 
 uate, formerly a part of the town. John, Jr., purchased 
 land of Hemy Rice near Cochituate Brook, where he built 
 a house ; and it is said that he was the fourth person to erect 
 a dwelling in the territory of Framingham. The Bents have 
 lived on both sides of the river, and the name is still familiar 
 within the present limits of the town. 
 
 Nathaniel Treadway (Tredway or Treadaway) was a 
 weaver by trade. He married Suffrance, daughter of Elder 
 Edward How, and was brother-in-law of John Stone, eldest 
 son of Dea. Gregory Stone of Cambridge. He had seven 
 children, three of whom were born in Sudbury: Jonathan 
 (born Nov. 11, 1640), Mary (born Aug. 1, 1642), and per- 
 haps James (born about 1644). On the death of his father- 
 in-law he removed to Watertown. There he was appointed 
 selectman. He inherited property from Dea. Stone's estate. 
 His wife died July 22, 1682. 
 
 Robert Hunt came from Charlestown, where he was in 
 1638, and shared in the meadow divisions of Sudbury. 
 
 The Widow Hunt, one of the original proprietors, might 
 have been the mother or the sister-in-law of Robert. She 
 had a house-lot assigned on the south street, between those 
 of John Wood and John Goodnow; but it is supposed she 
 sold this, and took one at "Pine Plain." (See map of house- 
 lots.) The name of Hunt has long been familiar in Sudbury, 
 hut more or Less of this name probabl} r descended from the 
 Concord Hunts. The first of the name in Concord was 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 47 
 
 William, who was there as early as 1640, became a freeman in 
 1641, and died in Marlboro, October, 1667, leaving an estate 
 of X596, and the children Nehemiah, Isaac, William, Eliza- 
 beth, Hannah and Samuel. William Hunt was born in 1605, 
 and married Elizabeth Best, who died in 1661. He after- 
 wards married, while at Marlboro, Mercie [Hurd] Rice, 
 widow of Edmund Rice, in 1664. The descendants of 
 William Hunt have, for more than fifty consecutive years, 
 kept a store at South Sudbury. One of the descendants was 
 Mr. Sewall Hunt, who died in 1888, at which time he was 
 the oldest inhabitant of the town, and the last of a family of 
 ten children. " Mr. Hunt was for more than fifty years a 
 member of the Congregational Church of Sudbury. In polit- 
 ical matters he was always in advance of the times, being an 
 ' Abolitionist ' when to be such required strong convictions 
 and great moral courage. He was the first, and for two 
 years the only, voter in Sudbury of the old ' Liberty party,' 
 and for two years a candidate of the ' Free Soilers ' for rep- 
 resentative to the General Court/' His farm was called 
 the "Hunt place," situated a short distance from "•Hunt's 
 bridge," which crosses Lowance Brook not far from the 
 southerly limit of the town. He had five children, Sereno 
 D., Jonas S., Samuel M., Edwin and Clara J. The eldest, 
 Sereno D., has been principal of the high schools at Con- 
 cord, Brockton and Milton. Edwin, a graduate of Amherst 
 College, was assistant principal of the high school in Utica, 
 N. Y. Jonas S., the second son, has for many years occu- 
 pied official positions in Sudbury, having been representative 
 to the General Court in 1876, one of its selectmen and asses- 
 sors for successive years, and its postmaster and town clerk 
 for more than a quarter of a century, which positions he still 
 holds. Clara, the only daughter, married Rev. John White- 
 hill, a Congregational clergyman. Samuel for a time lived 
 on the old homestead, and died some years since. 
 
 John Maynard was a freeman in 1644. It is supposed 
 he was married when he came to this country, and that he 
 brought with him his son John, who was then about eight 
 years old. Perhaps there were other children. He married 
 for his second wife Mary Axdell, in 1646. He had by this 
 
48 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 marriage Zachery (born June 7, 1047), Elizabeth, Lydia, 
 Hannah, and Mary who married Daniel Hudson. Mr. May- 
 nard was one of the petitioners for Marlboro, and died at Sud- 
 bury, Dec. 10, 1672. The Maynard family has been promi- 
 nent in the town, and honorably connected with its annals. 
 Nathaniel Maynard was captain of a company in the Rev- 
 olutionary War. 
 
 Joseph Tainter (or Tayntor) was born in England in 
 1618. He sailed for America in 1638. He was at Sudbury 
 for a short time, where he married Mary Guy (or Gray) 
 about 1640, and where for a time he was a selectman. He 
 died in 1690, aged eighty-six ; and his wife in 1705, also 
 aged eighty-six. He had nine children, four of whom were 
 sons. 
 
 Robert Fordum (or Fordham) was from Southampton, 
 L. I., and may have come to this country about 1640. He 
 Avas for a short time at Cambridge. His wife's name was 
 Elizabeth, and he had two children. He died September, 
 1674. 
 
 Thomas Joslin (Joslyn or Jslyn) came from London, in 
 1635, on the ship " Increase." He was aged forty-three, and 
 by occupation a husbandman. His wife's name was Rebecca, 
 and her age was forty-three. He had five children, Rebecca, 
 Dorothy, Nathaniel, Elizabeth and Mary. He was for a time 
 at Hingham, and in 1654 at Lancaster. 
 
 Richard Sanger came to America in the " Confidence." 
 He was by occupation a blacksmith. In 1649 he went to 
 Watertown. He married Mary, daughter of Robert Rey- 
 nold of Boston. He was twice married, and had several 
 children. 
 
 Richard Bildcome came in the "Confidence," in 1638. 
 He was sixteen years of age, and, according to the ship's 
 passenger-list, came in the employ of Walter Haynes. 
 
 Robert Davis (or Davies) came to America in the ship 
 "Confidence," with Margaret Davis, who was perhaps his 
 sister. His wife's name was Bridget. He had two daugh- 
 ters, Sarah (born April 10, 1646) and Rebecca. 
 
 Henry Prentice came from Cambridge. He was a free- 
 man in 1650, and died June 9, 1654. His wife Elizabeth 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 49 
 
 died May 13, 1643 ; and by his second wife, Joanna, he had 
 six children. 
 
 William Kerley (Carsley or Carlsly) came in the ship 
 " Confidence," in 1638, and was a freeman in 1666. He 
 was a man of some prominence in the colony, having land 
 assigned him at Pedock's Island, Nantasket, in 1642. He 
 was a proprietor of Marlboro in 1657, and a selectman for 
 years. At one time, also, he was sent as representative. In 
 1667 he was appointed by the General Court to lay out land 
 between Concord, Lancaster, and Groton. His wife's name, 
 as mentioned in his will, was Anna, daughter of Thomas 
 King. He had three children, Mary, Sarah and Hannah. 
 By his will he gave his brother Henry "his sword, belt and 
 other arms; and also his military books." 
 
 Thomas Flyn. This name is found among the early pro- 
 prietors, on the town books, but we conjecture it may have 
 been written by mistake for Thomas Joslyn, or Jslyn. 
 
 Thomas Axtell (or Axdell) came to this country about 
 1642. He was born at Burkhamstead, Eng., in 1619. A 
 brother was Col. Daniel Axtell, a soldier and officer under 
 Oliver Cromwell. He commanded the guard at the trial of 
 Charles I. ; for which he was put to death as a regicide, 
 when Charles II. was restored. Thomas Axtell settled in 
 Sudbury, and died there in 1646, at the age of twenty-seven. 
 His son had land in Marlboro in 1660, married in 1665, and 
 had several children. He was killed by the Indians, April 
 21, 1676. His descendants were early settlers of Grafton. 
 
 Thomas Read (or Reed) was in Sudbury as early as 1654. 
 He was the son of Thomas Reed of Colchester, Essex Co., 
 Eng., a carpenter; a memorandum of whose will, dated 
 July, 1665, and probated 1666, was published in the "New 
 England Historical and Genealogical Register," Vol. XXL, 
 p. 369, August, 1867, by Mr. William S. Appleton of Boston, 
 who copied it in London. By the will of Rev. Edmund 
 Brown, and depositions taken in court, Thomas Read was his 
 nephew; the term cousin being used for nephew (Waters). 
 In the will of Thomas Read of Colchester, his son Thomas in 
 America is mentioned ; also there is mention of his son-in- 
 law, Daniel Bacon, who married his daughter Mary, who 
 
50 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 were also living in America. Other relations are also men- 
 tioned, but not as being in this country. Thomas Read set- 
 tled at Sudbury, in the Lanham district, on laud which he 
 purchased of his uncle, Rev. Edmund Brown, while he (Mr. 
 Read) was in England. This Ideality was probably called Lan- 
 ham by Rev. Edmund Brown, from a little place in England 
 spelled Lavenham, but pronounced Lannam, near Sudbury, 
 or between Sudbury and Bury St. Edmunds, about which 
 locality Mr. Brown and Mr. Read are supposed to have 
 come from, and from which place Mary Goodrich, the wife 
 of Thomas Read, the son of Thomas Read of Lanham, came. 
 Thomas Read, the older in this country, married for his first 
 wife Catherine, and for his second wife Arrabella. He had 
 one son, whose name was Thomas; and in the two following 
 generations there were but two children, both sons, and both 
 also named Thomas, the last being born in 1678. Thomas 
 of this latter date had live children, Nathaniel (born 1702), 
 
 Thomas (born ). Isaac (born 1704). Daniel (born 
 
 1714), and Joseph (born 1722). Nathaniel settled in War- 
 ren ; Thomas and Daniel settled in Rutland. Mass.: Isaac 
 and Joseph remained in Sudbury. Joseph had one son 
 named Joseph (born 177:!)- who married Olive Mossman of 
 Sudbury, who died there March 9, 1877, at the age of ninety- 
 seven, being at the time of her death the oldest person in 
 town. By the death of Joseph Read the last of the descend- 
 ants bearing the family name ceased to be residents of Sud- 
 bury ; but descendants bearing other names have long lived 
 there, among whom were his daughters Sybel, wife of J. P. 
 Allen ; Almira. wife of George Heard ; Sarah, wife of D. L. 
 Willis; and Maria, wife of Martin N. Hudson. Mr. Joseph 
 Read and wife are buried in Wadsworth Cemetery, in the 
 family lot of A. S. Hudson, a grandson. Thomas Read was 
 a prominent citizen of Sudbury. He was early appointed 
 one of the tything-men. and in 1»>77 he was one of the per- 
 sons to whom the town gave leave to build a saw-mill upon 
 Bop Brook. (See period lt>7o-1700.) His place at Lan- 
 ham Avas for many years in the family, and his descendants 
 have been widely scattered and useful citizens. (See chapter 
 on Lanham District.) Says the historian of Rutland of the 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 51 
 
 descendants of the Sudbury Reads, who settled there: "This 
 family of Reads have been useful and industrious inhabitants 
 of Rutland for one hundred and twenty years." Asahel 
 Read was one of the two Sudbury soldiers who were killed 
 at the battle of Concord and Lexington. (See Revolution- 
 ary Period.) For the space of about two centuries the name 
 of Read is connected with the annals of Sudbury. One of 
 the descendants of Nathaniel Read who settled at Warren 
 is Alanson Read, Jr., a well-known citizen of Chicago, and 
 one of the proprietors of Read's "Temple of Music." He 
 has been lately engaged in preparing a history of the Read 
 family. 
 
 John Moore was at Sudbury by 1643, and may have 
 come to America from London in the "Planter," in 1635, at 
 the age of twenty-four, or he may have arrived in 1638. He 
 was twice married, his first wife's name being Elizabeth, and 
 he had several children. His second wife was Ann, daugh- 
 ter of John Smith. Llis daughter Mary married Richard 
 Ward, and Lydia (born June 24, 1643) married, in 1664, 
 Samuel Wright. In 1642 he bought the house-lot of 
 Edmund Rice. In 1645 he bought of John Stone "his 
 house-lot, with all other land belonging to the said John 
 Stone that shall hereafter be due to the said John Stone by 
 virtue of his first right in the beginning of the plantation of 
 Sudbury ; and also all the fences that is now standing about 
 any part of the said land, and also all the board and shelves 
 that are now about the house, whether fast or loose, and now 
 belonging to the said house." (Town Records, Vol.1 ., p. 54.) 
 The Moore family have long been numerous in Sudbury, 
 members of it living on both sides of the river, and at times 
 taking prominent part in the affairs of the town, Ephraim 
 Moore, who lived in the west part, was major of the Second 
 Battalion of Rifles, M. V. M. 
 
 Thomas Bisbig Besbedge (or Bessbeck) came to America 
 in the ship "Hercules, in 1635, with six children and three 
 servants. He embarked at Sandwich, County of Kent. He 
 went to Sudbury, joined the church there, and afterwards 
 went to Duxbury. He subsequently came back to Sudbury, 
 where he died March 9, 1674. He left a will, which was 
 
52 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 dated Nov. 25, 1672, and probated April 1,1674. In this 
 will he directed thai his body be buried "at the east end of 
 the church ;" and he gives to his grandson, Thomas Brown, 
 the eldest son of his daughter Mary, wife of William Brown, 
 all the houses and lands in the parishes of Hedcorn and Frit- 
 tenden, County of Kent, Eng.; and lie mentions his great- 
 grandchildren, Mary, Patience and Thankful, daughters of 
 the said Thomas Brown, also other children of this daughter 
 Mary, of whom there were seven. 
 
 Thomas Plympton (or Plimpton) was at Sudbury by 
 1643. He may have come to America in the ship "Jona- 
 than," which sailed from London, for Boston, April 12, 1639, 
 bringing among its passengers Elizabeth Plympton and Peter 
 Noyes. Sometime before L649 he was in the employ of Mr. 
 Noyes, as is shown by the following record: "Peter Nov.-. 
 Sr., did give unto Thomas Plympton, once his servant, the 
 sum of six acres of meadow, of his third addition of meadow 
 lying on the meadow called Gulf Meadow, with the com- 
 monage unto the same belonging. Sept. 26, 1649. " (Town 
 Records, p. 89.) He married Abigail, daughter of Peter 
 Noyes, and had seven children, Abigail, .Jane, Mary, Eliza- 
 beth, Thomas, Dorothy and Peter. Thomas Plympton and 
 Elizabeth, who married John Putter, were probably brother 
 and sister, as both were legatees of Agnes Bent, a grand- 
 mother of Elizabeth. He was killed by the Indians, April 
 20, 1676, the day before the Wadsworth fight, while he was 
 engaged, tradition says, in endeavoring to bring a Mr. Boone 
 and son to a garrison house. The Plympton family has been 
 numerous, and members of it have been prominent in the an- 
 nals of Sudbury. Thomas Plympton was a tower of strength 
 to the town in the Revolutionary War, being a member of the 
 Provincial Congress, and the one to whom the news of the ap- 
 proach of the British to Concord was first brought. He was 
 at Concord the 19th of April, and had a bullet put through 
 his clothing. (Sec Revolutionary period.) The old Plymp- 
 ton house, a large unpainted structure, was about a mile 
 from Sudbury centre, and was demolished a few years since. 
 HUGH DrURY. was in Sudbury as early as 1641, and was 
 by trade a carpenter, lie married Lydia, daughter of Edmund 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 53 
 
 Rice, for his first wife, who died April 5, 1675 ; and for his 
 second wife, Mary, the widow of Rev. Edward Fletcher. 
 He had two children, John and Hugh. After dwelling in 
 Sudbury for a time, where he bought a house and land of 
 William Swift, he removed to Boston, and died July 6, 1689, 
 and was buried in the Chapel Burying-ground with his wife, 
 Lydia. 
 
 Philemon Whale was in Sudbury in 1646. He was a 
 freeman May 10, 1688, and Nov. 7, 1649, married Sarah, the 
 daughter of Thomas Cakebread. His wife died Dec. 28, 
 1656 ; and Nov. 9, 1657, he married Elizabeth Griffin. He 
 owned land in various parts of the town, but his early home 
 is supposed to have been not far from the head of the mill- 
 pond (Wayland), perhaps by the present Concord road. He 
 afterwards built a house in the neighborhood of the " Rice 
 Spring." A culvert or bridge at the head of the mill-pond 
 is still called Whale's Bridge ; but the name, except as it is 
 thus perpetuated, is now seldom heard within the limits of 
 the town. 
 
 John Smith was at Sudbury in 1647. He may have been 
 John Smith, an early settler of Watertown, or a relative of 
 his. His wife's name was Sarah. He had assigned him lot 
 No. 29 in the second squadron of the two-mile grant. The 
 name Smith has been a common one in town. Capt. Joseph 
 Smith commanded a company from Sudbury on the 19th of 
 April, 1775. The Smiths have lived in various parts of the 
 town, and were early settlers of what is now Maynard, the 
 names of Amos and Thomas Smith being prominent among 
 the pioneers of that part of Sudbury territory . A descend- 
 ant of the Smiths on the east side of the river is Mr. Elbridge 
 Smith, formerly principal of the Norwich Free Academy and 
 present master of the Dorchester High School. 
 
 Thomas Buckmaster (or Buckminster) it is supposed 
 was of the family of John of Peterborough, Northampton- 
 shire, Eng. He was a freeman in 1646, and was at one time 
 at Scituate and afterwards at Boston. His wife's name was 
 Joanna, and he had several children. He died Sept. 28, 
 1656. Descendants of the family early went to Framing- 
 ham, and have been numerous and prominent. One was 
 
;")4 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Col. Jose})!), an officer in the French and Indian War period. 
 Another was Major Lawson, who was in the Revolutionary 
 War. A third, and one well known, was Thomas, a tavern- 
 keeper, deacon and selectman : and another was William, 
 who was publisher and editor of "The Boston Cultivator" 
 in 1839-41, and who established "The Massachusetts Plough- 
 man." 
 
 John Grout came from Watertown to Sudbury about 
 1643, and about the same time came into possession of the 
 Cakebread mill, and was allowed by the town "to pen water 
 for the use of the mill " on land adjacent to the stream above. 
 The name of his fust wife was Mary, and for his second wife 
 he married the widow of Thomas Cakebread. lie had ten 
 children, two of them by his first marriage, John (born Aug. 
 8, 1641) and Mary (born Dec. 11, 1(343). His children by 
 his second marriage were John, Sarah (who married John 
 Loker, Jr.), Joseph, Abigail (who married, in 1078, Joseph 
 Curtis), Jonathan, Elizabeth (who married Samuel Allen), 
 Mary (who married Thomas Knapp), and Susanna (who 
 married John Woodward). 
 
 Thomas CAKEBREAD was from Watertown. and became a 
 freeman May 14, 1(334. In 1637 he married Sarah, daughter 
 of Nicholas Busby. He was for a while at Dedham, and 
 subsequently at Sudbury, where 1 he died .Ian. 4, 1643. He 
 erected the first mill at Sudbury, for which the town granted 
 him hinds. (See chapter on First Church, Meeting-house, 
 Mill, etc.) The Colony Records state that, in 1642, "Ensign 
 Cakebread was to lead the Sudbury company.'* His widow 
 married Capt. John Grout, and his daughter Mary married 
 Philemon Whale, at Sudbury, Nov. 1, 1649. 
 
 John Rediat lived at Sudbury for a time. He became an 
 original proprietor at Marlboro, and at the assignment of 
 house-lots he received twenty-two and one-half acres. He 
 had one child bom in Sudbury, in 1(352. He died April 7. 
 1687. 
 
 John Waterman came to this country in the ship "Jona- 
 than," and landed at Boston, 1639. His passage was paid 
 by Mr. Peter Noyes, and hence it is supposed he was in his 
 employ. No descendants of this name live in Sudbury, and 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 55 
 
 we have found nothing to designate the former dwelling- 
 place of this early inhabitant. 
 
 Goodman Witherell early received land in the town. 
 His name is mentioned in the list of those who received land 
 in one of the divisions of meadow. 
 
 John George. We have found no facts relative to the 
 genealogy of this early grantee, and the name is not familiar 
 in Sudbury. He was in the town as early as 1644. 
 
 Thomas King was at Sudbury near 1650. In 1655 he 
 married Bridget Davis. He owned land in the fourth squad- 
 ron of the two-mile grant, his lot being No. 50, and adjoining 
 the cow-pen in the southwest part of Sudbury. (See chapter 
 on periods 1650-75.) He was one of the petitioners for the 
 plantation of Marlboro, in 1656, and was on the first board 
 of selectmen of that town. 
 
 Peter King was at Sudbury not far from 1650. He was 
 a man of some prominence in the town, being a deacon of 
 the church, and a representative to the Colonial Court in 
 1689-90. He was one of the contracting parties for the 
 erection of the second meeting-house. Peter King's home- 
 stead was probably not far from the town bridge, on the east 
 side of the river, a place on the river not far from this point 
 being still called " King's Pond." The name King was often 
 spoken in earlier times in the town ; but perhaps not in the 
 memory of any now living have any descendants of these 
 early inhabitants, of this name, lived there. 
 
 James Pendleton was a son of Brian, and came from 
 Watertown. His wife, whose name was Mary, died Nov. 7, 
 1655, and he married for a second wife Hannah, daughter of 
 Edmund Goodnow, at Sudbury, April 29, 1656. By his 
 first marriage he had one son, James (born Nov. 1, 1650), 
 and by his second marriage he had Brian, Joseph, Edmund, 
 Ann, Caleb and James. He was one of the founders of the 
 first church at Portsmouth, in 1671. He lived at Stoning- 
 ton in 1674-8, and at Westerly in 1586-1700. He acquired 
 the title of captain, and served in Philip's war. 
 
 John Woodward, at the age of thirteen, came to this 
 country in the ship " Elizabeth," in 1684. He was accom- 
 panied by his father, and was for a time at Watertown. His 
 
56 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 wife's name was Mary, and they had a son, horn March 20, 
 1650, who it is supposed died young. He went to Sudbury, 
 where his wife died July 8, 1654. He afterwards moved to 
 Charlestown, and there married Abigail, daughter of John 
 Benjamin, widow of Joshua Stubbs. He returned to Sud- 
 bury, and by his second marriage he had three children, 
 Rose (born Aug. 18, 1659), John (born Dec. 12, 1661), and 
 Abigail. He was a freeman 1690, and died at Watertown, 
 Feb. 17, 1696. John Woodward received in the division of 
 the two-mile grant lot No. 41, adjoining that of John Moore, 
 in the fourth squadron. The name appeared from time to 
 time in the earlier annals of Sudbury, but has for many years 
 ceased to be as familiar to the town's people as formerly. 
 Daniel Woodward, who died in 1760, built a mill on Hop or 
 Wash Brook in 1740, and about one hundred and fifty years 
 ago he also erected the house occupied by Ca.pt. James Moore, 
 who is one of his descendants. 
 
 Shadrach (or Sydrach) Hapgood, at the age of fourteen. 
 embarked at Gravesend, Eng., for America, May 30, 1656, on 
 the ship "Speedwell," Robert Locke, master. He settled in 
 Sudbury, and married Elizabeth Treadway, Oct. 21, 1664. 
 He was killed in the Nipnet country, near Brookfield, in an 
 expedition against the Indians under the command of Capt. 
 Hutchinson. (See chapter on Philip's War.) He left three 
 or more children, one of whom, Thomas, was born in Sud- 
 bury, Oct. 1, 1669. He settled in the northeast part of 
 Marlboro, at which place he died Oct. 4, 1765, aged ninety- 
 five. He left nine children, ninety-two grandchildren, two 
 hundred and eight great-grandchildren, and four great-great- 
 grandchildren. 
 
 Edward Wright was perhaps a son of the Widow Doro- 
 thy Wright, and may have come to Sudbury with her. He 
 married Hannah Axtell (or Adell), June 18, 165!), who died 
 May 18, 1708. He had eight children, one of whom was 
 Capt. Samuel Wright, one of the prominent settlers of Rut- 
 land, and conspicuous in one of the Indian wars, having 
 charge of a company of rangers, and doing good service on 
 the frontier. Edward Wright died at Sudbury, Aug. 7, 1703. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Method of Acquiring Territory. — Character and Jurisdiction of the 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony. — Colonial Court. — Response to the 
 Petition for a Plantation at Sudbury. — Successive Land Grants. — 
 Purchase of Territory. — Indian Deeds. — Incorporation of the 
 Town. — Name. — Sketch of Sudbury, Eng. — Town Boundaries. 
 
 We have no title-deeds to house or lands ; 
 
 Owners and occupants of earlier dates 
 From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands, 
 
 And hold in mortmain still their old estates. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 Before considering the successive steps in the settlement 
 of the town, we will notice the methods by which the set- 
 tlers became possessed of the territory. There were "two 
 parties with which contracts were to be made, namely, the 
 Colonial Court and the Indian owners of the land. To ignore 
 either would invalidate their claim. From the former it was 
 essential to obtain a permit to make a settlement, to sell out 
 and remove from Watertown, to secure the appointment of a 
 committee to measure and lay out the land ; and from the 
 Indians they Avere to purchase the territory. 
 
 In order to obtain a right knowledge of the matter before 
 us, it is important to consider, first, the authority and nature 
 of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay. King James of 
 England claimed by right of discovery all the continent of 
 North America. In the eighteenth year of his reign, he 
 transferred a portion of this to a company called " The 
 Colony of Plymouth in the County of Devon, for the plant- 
 ing, ruling, ordering and governing of New England in 
 America." " The territory conveyed was all that part of 
 America lying and being in breadth from forty degrees to 
 forty-eight degrees of north latitude, and in length of and 
 
 57 
 
58 HTSTORY OF SUDBUKV. 
 
 within all the breadth aforesaid through the mainland from 
 sea to sea." And a condition upon which the conveyance 
 was made was, that "the grantees should yield and pay 
 therefor the fifth part of the ore of gold and silver which 
 shonld happen to be found in any of the said lands." From 
 this " Council of Plymouth in the County of Devon " a com- 
 pany, in 1628, purchased a tract of territory defined as being 
 "three miles north of any and every part of the Merrimac 
 River," and " three miles north of any and every part of 
 the Charles River," and extending westward to the Pacific 
 Ocean. Some of the chief men of this company were John 
 Humphry, John Endicott, Sir Henry Roswell, Sir George 
 Young, Thomas Southcoote, Simon Whitcomb, John Win- 
 thrope, Thomas Dudley and Sir Richard Saltonstall. 
 
 The proprietors received a charter from the King, March 
 14, 1629, and were incorporated by the name of "the Gov- 
 ernor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- 
 land." The government of this company was vested in a 
 governor, deputy governor and eighteen assistants, who were 
 to lie elected annually by the stockholders of the corporation. 
 A general assembly of the freemen of the colony (see chap- 
 ter on Town-meetings) was to be held once in four years at 
 the least, for purposes of legislation. The king claimed no 
 jurisdiction, since he regarded the affair, not as the founding 
 of a nation or state, but as the incorporation of a trading 
 establishment. But, although the common rights of British 
 subjects were conferred upon these Massachusetts Bay colo- 
 nists, a broader and better basis was soon to be adopted. 
 In September, 1629, the members of the new company, at a 
 meeting in Cambridge, Eng., signed an agreement to trans- 
 fer the charter and government to the colonists. Upon this 
 desirable change, enterprising men set sail for this country, 
 and soon that portion of it now Salem and Boston was 
 smiling with settlements that were founded by persons of 
 marked character and intelligence. In May, 1631, it was 
 decided, at an assembly of the people, that all the officers of 
 the government should thereafter be chosen by the freemen 
 of the colony; and in 1634 the government was changed to 
 a representative government, the second of the kind in 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 59 
 
 America. This government had its court, to which dele- 
 gates were sent by the people, called " The Great and Gen- 
 eral Court of the Massachusetts Colony." 
 
 By the authority of a Court thus established, land grants 
 were allowed the New England colonists. Some of these 
 grants were to companies who designed to establish towns, 
 and some to individuals, for considerations that the court saw 
 fit to recognize. In the former case, certain conditions were 
 imposed, namely, that the place sought should be settled 
 within a specified time, that a certain number of settlers 
 should go there, and that a church should be established and 
 the gospel ministry maintained. These land grants were 
 usually preceded by a petition, stating the object for which 
 the land tract was sought, and perhaps reasons why the 
 court should allow it. The territory of Sudbury was in 
 part granted to the people collectively who formed the plan- 
 tation and established the town, and in part to individuals. 
 The grants to the former were allowed at three different 
 times, and were preceded by three different petitions. The 
 first petition met with a response Nov. 20, 1637, of which 
 the following is a copy : — 
 
 " Whereas a great part of the chief inhabitants of Water- 
 town have petitioned this Court, that in regard to their 
 straitness of accommodation, and want of meadow, they 
 might have leave to remove and settle a plantation upon 
 the river, which runs to Concord, this Court, having respect 
 to their necessity, doth grant their petition, and it is hereby 
 ordered, that Lieut. (Simon) Willard, Mr. (William) Spen- 
 cer, Mr. Joseph Weld and Mr. (Richard) Jackson shall take 
 view of the places upon said river, and shall set out a place 
 for them by marks and bounds sufficient for fifty or sixty 
 families, taking care that it be so set out as it may not hinder 
 the settling of some other plantation upon the same river, if 
 there be meadow, and other accommodations sufficient for 
 the same. And it is ordered, further, that if the said inhabi- 
 tants of Watertown, or any of them, shall not have removed 
 their dwellings to their said new plantation, before one year 
 after the plantation shall be sot out, that then the interest of 
 
60 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 all such persons, not so removed to the said plantation, shall 
 lie void and cease, and it shall be lawful for such as are 
 removed and settled there, or the greater part of them, being 
 freemen, to receive other persons to inhabit in their rooms, 
 in the said plantation ; provided, that if there shall not be 
 thirty families at least there settled before the said time lim- 
 ited, that then this Court, or the Court of Assistants, or two 
 of the Council, shall dispose of the said plantation to any 
 other. And it is further ordered, that after the place of the 
 said plantation shall be set out, the said petitioners, or any 
 such other freemen as shall join them, shall have power to 
 order the situation of their town, and the proportioning of 
 lots, and all other liberties as other towns have under the 
 proviso aforesaid. And it is lastly ordered, that such of the 
 said inhabitants of Watertown, as shall be accommodated in 
 their new plantation, may sell their houses and improved 
 grounds in Watertown ; but all the rest of the land in Water- 
 town, not improved, shall remain freely to the inhabitants, 
 which shall remain behind, and such others as shall come to 
 them. 
 
 "And the said persons appointed to set out the said plan- 
 tation, are directed so to set out the same, as there may be 
 1500 acres of meadow allowed to it, if it be there to be had, 
 with any convenience, for the use of the town." (Colony 
 Records, Vol. I., p. 210.) 
 
 A further record of Court action, dated March 12, 1(337-8, 
 is as follows : — 
 
 "The Court thinketh meet that they (of Watertown) 
 should have liberty to sell their allotments in Watertown, 
 and they are to give their full answer the next Court, 
 whether they will remove to the new plantation and John 
 Oliver put in the room of Richard Jackson, for to lay out 
 the said plantation, which they are to do before the next 
 Court." 
 
 The Court having granted the request for a plantation at 
 Sudbury, allowed the petitioners to go on with their work, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 61 
 
 and appointed a committee to establish the bounds and 
 make an allotment of land, as set forth by the following 
 record : — 
 
 "At Gennall Court held at Boston the 6 th Day of the 
 7 th Month, a 1638 [Sept. 6, 1638]. 
 
 " The petitioners M r Pendleton, M r Noyse, M r Brown, and 
 Comp a , are allowed to go on in their plantation, & such as 
 are associated to them and Lift. Willard, Thomas Bro 
 [Brown] and M r John Oliver are to set out the bounds of 
 the said plantation & they are alowed 4 s a clay, each of them 
 & M r John Oliver 5 sh s a day, to bee borne by the new plan- 
 tation. And the petitioners are to take care that in their 
 alotments of land they have respect as well to men's estates 
 & abilities to improve their lands, as to their number of per- 
 sons ; and if any difference fall out the Court or the counsell 
 shall order it." (Colony Records, Vol. I., p. 238.) 
 
 The land first appropriated was supposed to comprise a 
 tract about five miles square. It had for boundaries Concord 
 on the north, Watertown (now Weston) on the east, and on 
 the south a line running from a point a little east of Nobscot 
 Hill along the present Framingham and Sudbury boundary 
 direct to the Weston town bound, and on the west a line 
 two miles east of the present western boundary. 
 
 The second grant was of an additional mile. This was 
 allowed, to make up a deficiency in the first grant, which defi- 
 ciency was discovered on making a survey a few years after 
 the settlement began, and it was petitioned for May 13, 1640. 
 The petition was for a mile in length on the southeast and 
 southwest sides of the town ; and it was allowed on condition 
 that it would not prevent the formation of another plantation, 
 " or hinder Mrs. Glover's farm of six hundred acres formerly 
 granted." (Colony Records, Vol. I., p. 289.) 
 
 The third tract was granted in 1649. It contained an area 
 two miles wide, extending along the entire length of the west- 
 ern boundary. The Colony Record concerning this grant is: 
 " That Sudberry is granted two miles westward next adjoin- 
 ing to them for their furth r inlargement, provided it [preju- 
 
62 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 dice] not W m Browne in his 200 acres already granted." (Vol. 
 II., p. 273). 
 
 Besides these three grants, there were others made to indi- 
 viduals. One of these was to William Browne, of which the 
 record is as follows: "In answer to the petition of W m Browne 
 ffor two hundred ac rs dew for twenty five pounds putt into 
 the joy net stocke by M rs Ann Harvey his Aunt, from whom 
 he made it appear to the Court he had sufficyent deputacon 
 to require it, his request was grannted ; viz., 200 ac rs of land 
 to be laved out to him w th out the west lyne of Sudbury by 
 Capt. Simon Willard & Seargeant Wheeler." This land was 
 easterly of Nobscot Hill, and about the locality where the 
 Browns have since lived. 
 
 Another grant was the Glover Farm, situated on the town's 
 southerly border. This tract was largely in the territory of 
 Framingham. It consisted of six hundred acres, granted to 
 Elizabeth, the widow of Rev. Josse Glover. Mr. Glover, 
 rector of Sutton, Eng., in the June of 1638 made a contract 
 with Steven Day, a printer, to come over at his expense, 
 designing to set up a printing-press in Cambridge, the seat 
 of the university. Shortly afterward he embarked for this 
 country, but died on the passage, and was buried at sea. 
 Mr. Glover had aided the colonists in various ways, and by 
 his death they lost a valuable friend. This land tract may 
 have been given to his widow in recognition of service 
 received. It lay westerly and northerly of Cochituate Pond, 
 extending to the northeast corner of Dudley Pond, thence to 
 the Sudbury old town bound ; being bounded on the west by 
 the river, and on the south by Cochituate Brook. 
 
 Another grant was that of the "Dunster Farm," some- 
 times called the "Pond Farm." This was a tract of six 
 hundred acres, granted, in 1640, to Henry Dunster, first 
 president of Harvard College, who in 1641 married Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Glover. This farm was situated southeasterly of 
 the " Glover Farm," and had Cochituate Lake for its west- 
 ern boundary. 
 
 Beyond this farm easterly was a tract of two hundred 
 acres, extending towards the Weston town line, and called 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 63 
 
 the " Jennison Farm." This was granted, in 1638, to Capt. 
 William Jennison of Watertown, for service that he rendered 
 in the Pequot war. It was laid out in 1646. 
 
 Another grant was to Mr. Herbert Pelham, Sept. 4, 1639. 
 This land grant was situated in the present territory of 
 Wayland, and was what is called " The Island." For many 
 years it was mostly owned and occupied by the Heards. Mr. 
 Pelham came to America in 1638, and for a time lived at 
 Cambridge. Savage states that he was a gentleman from 
 the county of Lincoln, and when in London, where he may 
 have been a lawyer, was a friend of the colony. Governor 
 Hutchinson says, " He was of that family which attained the 
 highest rank in the peerage, one hundred years ago, as Duke 
 of Newcastle." He was much engaged in public service, 
 and put into the common stock of the colony <£100. He 
 became a freeman in 1645, at which time he was chosen an 
 assistant. He was the first treasurer of Harvard College in 
 1743. In 1645 Herbert Pelham, Thomas Flynt, Lieutenant 
 Willard and Peter Noyes were appointed commissioners of 
 sewers "for bettering and improving of y e ground upon 
 y e river running by Concord and Sudbury " (Colony Rec- 
 ords, Vol. III., p. 13). He returned to England in 1649, 
 and resided at Buers Hamlet, County of Essex. He died 
 in England, and was buried at Bury St. Mary's, in Suffolk 
 County, July 1, 1673. By his will, dated Jan. 1, 1672, he 
 gave his lands in Sudbury to his son Edward. His daughter 
 Penelope married, in 1657, Gov. Josiah Winslow. "Pelham's 
 Island " was sold in 1711 by the Pelhams, who were then 
 in Newport, R. I., to Isaac Hunt and Samuel Stone, Jr., who 
 in November of that year sold a part of it to Jonathan and 
 George Read. 
 
 Land was also granted to Mr. Walgrave, who was father- 
 in-law of Herbert Pelham. The Records state concerning 
 both of these men that "they are granted their lots at Sud- 
 bury absolutely w th condition of dwelling there only Mr. 
 Pelham p mised to build a house there, settle a family there 
 and to be there as much as he could in the summer time." 
 (Colony Records, Vol. I., p. 292). 
 
64 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The Colonial Court as a rule did not interfere with the 
 disposition of the lands granted. It held in reserve the 
 power to adjust any difficulties, and to see that the condi- 
 tions on which a township was allowed were kept. 
 
 As has been already observed, the Court was not the 
 only party with which the settlers had to deal if they would 
 obtain indisputable titles to their estates. While the Eng- 
 lish claimed the country by right of discovery, there were 
 those who held it by right of ancient hereditary posses- 
 sion, and the English were in justice called upon to recog- 
 nize this right, and purchase the territory of the native pro- 
 prietors. 
 
 This was done by the Sudbury settlers. The first tract 
 for the plantation was purchased in 1638 of Karte, the Indian 
 proprietor (see Chapter II.), and it has been supposed that 
 a deed was given; but this is not essential as evidence of the 
 purchase, since in the deed given by Karte for land subse- 
 quently bought he acknowledged the sale of the first tract, 
 in the statement that it was sold to " George Munnin^s and 
 to the rest of the planters of Sudbury." In this first bar- 
 gain of real estate it is supposed that Mr. Munnings acted as 
 agent for the settlers, and that he, together with Brian Pen- 
 dleton, advanced the money for payment. 
 
 The second tract was also purchased of Karte, who gave a 
 deed, of which the following is a true copy : — 
 
 INDIAN DEED. 
 
 Bee it known vnto all men by these presents that I Cato otherwise 
 Goodman for & in consideration of fyve pounds w ch I have received in 
 commodities & wompumpeage of Walter Hayne & Hugh Griffin of Sud- 
 bury in behalf of themselves & the rest of the planters of Sudbury; doe 
 this my write in give & grant bargain & sell vnto the said Walter Hayne 
 — (Haine) — & Hugh Griffin & the said planters of the town of Sudbury 
 so much land southward & so much land westward next adjoining to a 
 tract of land w ch I said Cato formerly souled vnto George Munnings & 
 the rest of the planters of Sudbury as may make the bounds of the said 
 town to be full fyve miles square w th all meadows, brooks, liberties privi- 
 ledges l\: appertenances thereto belonging w th all the said tract of land 
 granted. And I grant vnto them for me & mine heirs & brethren that I 
 & they shall & will at any tyme make any further assurance in writing 
 for the more p'fct assuring of the s'd land & all the premises w th the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 65 
 
 appertenances vnto the s'd Walter Haine & Hugh Griffin & the s d plant- 
 ers & their succssors forever as they shall require. 
 
 In witness whereof I herevnto put my hand & seal the twentieth day 
 of the fourth month one thousand six hundred forty eight. 
 
 Signed sealed and delivered in the presence of 
 
 Emmanuel Downing 
 
 Ephraim Child 
 
 Cutchamckin [mark] ) , ., , ~ . 
 
 L J > brothers of Cato 
 
 Jojenny [mark] ) 
 
 This deed was sealed & acknowledged by the s d Cato (who truly under- 
 stood the contents of it the day & year above written) Before mee. 
 
 John Winthrop, Governor. 
 
 Registry of Deeds 
 
 Suffolk Co. Mass. 
 
 The deed for the land last granted, or the two-mile tract 
 to the westward, is on record at the Middlesex Registry of 
 Deeds, Cambridge, of which the following is a true copy : 
 
 For as much as the Gen 1 Court of the Massachusetts Colony in New 
 England hath formerly granted to the Towne of Sudbury in the County 
 of Middlesex in the same Colony, an addition of land of two miles west- 
 ward of their former grant of five miles, which is also layd out & joyneth 
 to it: and whereas the English occupiers, proprietors and possessors 
 thereof have chosen Capt. Edmond Goodenow, Leif Josiah Haynes, 
 John Goodenow, John Brigham & Joseph Freeman to be a comittee for 
 themselvs & for all the rest of the English proprietors thereof, giving 
 them their full power to treat with & to purchase the same of the Indian 
 proprietors of the s d tract of land & to satisfy & pay them for their 
 native, ancient & hereditary right title & intrest thereunto. 
 
 Know all People by these presents — That wee, Jehojakim, John 
 Magus, John Muskqua & his two daughters Esther & Rachel, Benjamen 
 Bohue, John Speen & Sarah his wife, James Speen, Dorothy Wennetoo, & 
 Humphry Bohue her son, Mary Neppamun, Abigail the daughter of Josiah 
 Harding, Peter Jethro, Peter Muskquamogh, Jo'hn Boman, David Man- 
 noan & Betty who are the ancient native & hereditary Indian proprietors 
 of the afores d two miles of land (for & in consideration of the just & full 
 sum of twelve pounds of current mony of New England to them in hand 
 well & truly paid at or before the ensealing & delivery hereof by the said 
 Cap' Edmond Goodenow, Leift. Josiah Haines, John Goodenow, John 
 Brigham & Joseph Freeman in behalfe of themselvs & of the rest of the 
 English possessors, occupiers, proprietors & fellow-purchasers) the receipt 
 whereof they do hereby acknowledge & therwith to be fully satisfied, 
 contented & paid & thereof and of every part & parcell thereof they do 
 
66 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 hereby for themselvs & their heyrs Executors Administrators &: assigns 
 clearly fully & absolutely release, acquitt exonerate & discharge them & 
 all the English possessors, occupiers, proprietors & fellow-purchasers of 
 the same & all & every one of their heyrs Executors, Administrators, 
 Assigns & successors forever) Have given, granted, bargained, sold, 
 aliened, enseossed, made over & confirmed, & by these presents, do give, 
 grant, bargain, sell, alien, enseosse, make over, confirme & deliver all that 
 their s d tract & parcells of lands of two miles (bee it more or less scitu- 
 ate lying & being) altogether in one entire parcell in the s d Town of Sud- 
 bury in the County of Middlesex afores d & lyeth al along throughout on 
 the westerne side of the old five miles of the s d Towne & adjoyneth 
 thereunto (together with the farme lands of the heyrs of William Browne 
 that lyeth within the same tract, unto the s d Capt. Edmond Goodenow, 
 Leif 1 Josiah Haines, John Goodenow, John Brigham & Joseph Freeman 
 & unto all & every one of the rest of the English possessors, occupiers, 
 proprietors & fellow-purchasers thereof as the same is limited, butted & 
 bounded on the East by the old part of the s d Towne of Sudbury (which 
 was the five miles at first granted to the s d Towne) & is butted & bounded 
 northerly by the line or bounds of the Towne of Concord, Westerly by 
 the line or bounds of the Towne of Stow & is bounded southerly & partly 
 westerly by the lands of M r Thomas Danforth. All the lands within 
 said bounds of hills, vallies planes, intervalls, meadows, swamps, with 
 all the timber, trees, woods, underwoods, grass & herbage, rocks, stones, 
 mines, mineralls, with all rivers, rivoletts brooks, streams, springs, ponds 
 & all manner of watercourses & whatsoever is therein & thereupon, above 
 ground & underground, with all rights members, titles, royaltyes, liber- 
 tyes priviledges, proprietyes, uses, proffitts & commodityes thereof & 
 every part & parcell thereof & that is every way & in any wise thereunto 
 belonging and appertaining. To Have, Hold, use, occupie, pos- 
 sess enjoy to the only absolute propper use benefitt, behoofe and dis- 
 pose of them the s' 1 English possessors, occupiers proprietors & fellow- 
 purchasers of the Towne of Sudbury & their heyrs executors, adminis- 
 trators assigns & successors in a free full & perfect estate of inheritance 
 from the day of the date hereof & so for ever. And the above named 
 indian Grantors do also hereby covenant promise & grant to & with the 
 above named Edmond Goodenow, Josiah Haynes, John Goodnow John 
 Brigham & Joseph Freeman & with all the rest of the English possessors, 
 occupiers, proprietors & fellow-purchasers of the said two miles of land 
 (bee it more or less) as above bounded that at the ensealing & delivery 
 hereof, they are the only & absolute Indian proprietors of the premises 
 & that they (& none else) have just and full power in themselvs the same 
 thus to sell, convey confirme make over & deliver & they do hereby 
 engage & bind themselvs & their heyrs executors administrators & 
 assigns from time to time & at all times hereafter fully & sufficiently to 
 secure save harmless & forever defend the hereby granted & bargained 
 two miles of land (as is above bounded bee it more or less) with all the 
 rights, members & appurtenances there unto belonging, against all man- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 67 
 
 ner & singular other titles troubles charges demands & incumbrances 
 that may be made or raysed by any person or persons (especially Indian 
 or Indians) else whatsoever lawfully having or claiming any right, title or 
 intrest in or to the premises or to any part or parcell thereof to the trou- 
 ble vexation charges interruption or ejection of the above sd English pos- 
 sessors, occupiers, proprietors or fellow-purchasers of the same or any 
 one of them, they or any one of their heyrs executors administrators or 
 assigns in his or their quiet and peaceable possession free & full use 
 enjoyment or dispose thereof or any part or parcell thereof forever. 
 Furthermore wee the above named Indian Grantors do hereby 
 oblige & engage ourselvs all and every one of our heyrs executors 
 Adm rs assigns & successors unto the s d English possessors occupiers & 
 proprietors & fellow-purchasers & to all and every one of their heyrs 
 executors administraters and assigns that wee and every one of us & 
 ours as afores d shall & will from time to time & at all times readily & 
 effectually do (at our own propper costs & charges) or cause to be so 
 done any other or further act or acts thing or things that the law doth 
 or may require for more sure making & full confirming of all & singu- 
 lar the hereby granted premises unto the s d Edmond Goodenow, Josiah 
 Haines, John Goodenow, John Brigham & Joseph Freeman & unto all 
 & every one of the rest of the English possessors, occupiers proprietors 
 and fellow-purchasers of the premises & unto all & every one of their 
 heyrs executors administrators a»nd assigns for ever. In Witness 
 whereof the above named Indian Grantors have hereunto each for them" 
 selvs & altogether sett their hands and seals, dated the 11 th day of July 
 in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred eighty & four. 
 Annoqe Regni Regis Caroli Secundi XXXVI. 
 
 Jehojakim his mark X for himselfe & by order of & for John 
 
 Boman & seale. O 
 John Magos for himselfe & by order of & for Jacob Magos his 
 
 father & seale. O 
 Muskqua John & for his two daughters Rachel & Esther 
 
 & seale. O 
 
 John Speen his marke | & for & by order of Sarah his wife 
 
 & seale. O 
 
 Abigail Daughter of Josiah Harding and his sole heyr ([x her 
 
 marke & seale. O 
 Sarah C her marke who is the widdow of Josiah Harding & 
 
 mother of s d Abigail & her Guardian. 
 Peter Muskquamog -\- his mark & seale. O 
 Benjamen Bohew his R marke & seale. O 
 Dorithy Wenneto her O marke & seale. O 
 Mary Nepamun he Q marke & seale. O 
 
 Betty her ) marke & seale 
 Peter Jethro & a seale 
 John X Boman his marke & seale 
 James Speen & seale 
 
68 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Cambe 15 Octo b 1G84 All the persons that have signed & sealed this 
 instrument appeared before me this day & year above written & freely 
 acknowledged this writing to be their act & deed 
 
 Daniel Gookin Sen r Assist. 
 
 Endorsement — All the Grantors of the instrument within written 
 beginning with Jehojakim & ending with Peter Muskquamog did sign 
 scale & deliver s d instrument in presence of us. 
 
 John Greene — James Bernard — 
 
 Moreover wee underwritten did see Benjamen Bohew Dorothy Wan- 
 neto & Mary & Betty Nepamun signe seale & deliver this instrument 
 the 15 th day of Octo b 1684. Andrew Pittamee ^[ his marke 
 
 James Rumny marke 
 Samuel Goff, James Barnard 
 Daniel Sacowambatt 
 
 Feb r 1, 1684 Memorandum — Wee whose names are underwritten 
 did see Peter Jethro signe & seale & deliver y e within written instrument 
 James Barnard — Stephen m Gates his marke 
 
 Peter Jethro, Indian, appeared before me the fifth day of February — 
 1684 & freely acknowledged this writing within to be his act & deed & 
 ythe put his hand & seale thereunto. Daniel Gookin Sen r Affift 
 
 John Boman did signe seale & deliver the within written deed the 23 : 
 of February in the year our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty & 
 four in presence of us 
 
 John Balcom — -\- Samuel Freeman his marke. 
 
 James Speen & John Bowman appeared before me in court at Natick 
 & acknowledged they have signed & sealed this instrument among others 
 May 13 th 1684. James Gookin Sen r Affist 
 
 Roxbury April 16. 85. 
 
 Charles Josias, Sachem of the Massachusetts, having read & consid- 
 ered the within written deed with the consent of his Guardians & Coun- 
 cellors underwritten doth for himself & his heyrs allow of, ratify & 
 confirm the within written sale to the Inhabitants of Sudbury & their 
 heyrs for ever, the lands therein bargained & sold. To have & to hold 
 to the s'd Inhabitanls of Sudbury their heyrs and assigns for ever & hath 
 hereunto set his hand & seale the day above written. 
 
 Charls a Josias his marke & Seale 
 Allowed by us \ 
 
 J. 
 
 William W. Ahowton 
 
 Recorded 19. 3. 1685 
 
 by Tho. Danforth Recorder. 
 
 A true copy of record Book 9 Pages 344 to 352 inclusive 
 
 Attest Cha 3 B Stevens Ree. 
 
 William Stoughton > Guardians to f 
 
 Joseph Dudley ) y e Sachem \ Robert 8 Montague 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 69 
 
 The above deed was not received until years after the 
 grant was made by the Court, and the lands divided up and 
 apportioned to the inhabitants. The records do not state 
 what occasioned the long delay, but, as was the case else- 
 where, perhaps the papers were not passed until, in process 
 of time, the settlers questioned whether the claim to the ter- 
 ritory was valid until purchased of the Indian proprietors. 
 A similar instance occurred at Groton, where the deed came 
 long after the lands were occupied. The grant was allowed 
 by the Court as early as 1655, but no title was obtained from 
 the natives till about 1683 or 1684. 
 
 From lands thus allowed, the Plantation of Sudbury was 
 formed. It required, however, more than the allowance and 
 laying out of the land and the settlement of it to make it a 
 town. A separate act of incorporation was necessary to com- 
 plete the work. This was done September 4, 1639, when the 
 Court ordered that " the newe Plantation by Concord shall 
 be called Sudbury." (Colony Records, Vol. I., p. 271.) 
 
 By the granting of the name, the act of incorporation is 
 supposed to have been made complete. It was a short process 
 for an act so great, yet such was the manner of the Court. 
 Says Mr. Sewall, in the history of Woburn, of the incorpo- 
 ration of that place, tl The act of Court for this purpose is 
 contained in these five words : ' Charlestown Village is called 
 Wooborne.' ' The Court action in this matter was dated 
 Sept. 4, 1639 ; but it does not follow that this specific day of 
 the month was the exact date of incorporation, as sometimes 
 the date of the beginning of the Court session was given, 
 instead of the date of the particular day when the transac- 
 tion took place. As, for example, we find the permit for a 
 division of land to be of the same date as that on which 
 Sudbury was named. 
 
 The name ordered by the Court is that of an old English 
 town in the county of Suffolk, from which some of the town's 
 settlers are supposed to have come, or with which they may 
 have had an acquaintance. It is situated near the parish of 
 Bury St. Edmunds, at or near which place it is supposed the 
 Browns may have dwelt. (See chap. Biographical Sketches.) 
 It is not improbable that the name was given by Rev. Edmund 
 
70 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Brown, the first minister of Sudbury, who sold lands in the 
 district of Lanham to Thomas Read, his nephew, and it is 
 supposed may have also named that locality from Lavenham, 
 Eng., a place between Sudbury and Bury St. Edmunds. (See 
 sketch of Thomas Read. ) The place, though spelled Laven- 
 ham, is pronounced Lannam in England (Waters). The 
 proximity of Sudbury and Lavenham, Eng., to what was 
 probably the original home of Mr. Brown, together with the 
 fact that he was an early owner of the lands at Lanham, and 
 a prominent man at the settlement, affords at least a strong 
 presumption that Mr. Edmund Brown named both Sudbury 
 and Lanham. It is appropriate, then, to give a sketch of this 
 old English town, and we present the following from Lewis's 
 Topographical Dictionary of England: — 
 
 " Sudbury is a borough and market town, having separate 
 jurisdiction locally in the hundred of Babergh, County of 
 Suffolk, 22 miles (why s) from Ipswich, and 50 (N. E. by N.) 
 from London, containing, according to the last census, 3950 
 inhabitants, which number lias since increased to nearly 5000. 
 This place, which was originally called South Burgh, is of 
 great antiquity, and at the period of the compilation of 
 Domesday-book was of considerable importance, having a 
 market and a mint. A colony of the Flemings, who were 
 introduced into this country by Edward III. for the purpose 
 of establishing the manufacture of woollen cloth, settled 
 here, and that branch of trade continued to flourish for some 
 time, but at length fell to decay. The town is situated on 
 the river Stour, which is crossed by a bridge leading into 
 Essex. For some years after its loss of the woollen trade it 
 possessed tew attractions, the houses belonging principally to 
 decayed manufacturers, and the streets being very dirty ; it 
 has however within the last few years been greatly improved, 
 having been paved and lighted in 1825, under an act obtained 
 for the purpose, and some good houses built. The town hall 
 recently erected by the corporation, in the Grecian style of 
 architecture, is a greal ornament to the town, in which is also 
 a neat theatre. The trade principally consists in the manu- 
 facture of silk crape, and buntings used for ships' flags ; that 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 71 
 
 of silk was introduced by the manufacturers from Spitalfields 
 in consequence of disputes with their workmen, and now 
 affords employment to a great number of persons, about one 
 thousand five hundred being engaged in the silk and four 
 hundred in the crape and the bunting business. The river 
 Stour, navigable hence to the Manning tree, affords a facility 
 for the transmission of coal, chalk, lime and agricultural 
 produce. The statute market is on Saturday, and the corn 
 market on Thursday. Fairs are held on the 12th of March 
 and 10th of July, principally for earthen ware, glass and toys. 
 The first charter of incorporation was granted by Queen 
 Mary in 1554, and confirmed by Elizabeth in 1559. Another 
 was given by Oliver Cromwell, but that under which the cor- 
 poration derives its power was bestowed by Charles II. Sud- 
 bury comprises the parishes of All Saints, St. Gregory, and 
 St. Peter, in the archdeaconry of Sudbury, and diocese of 
 Norwich. The living of All Saints is a discharged vicarage, 
 rated in the king's books at £4.11.5£ endowed, £400 royal 
 bounty, and £1^00 parliamentary grant." 
 
 " Quaint old town of toil and traffic, 
 Quaint old town of art and song, 
 Memories haunt thy pointed gables, 
 Like the rooks that round them throng." 
 
 From this description we learn that it is a stanch old town 
 from which Sudbury probably received its name ; a place 
 busy and of good repute. The word has been variously 
 spelled, as: Sudberry, Soodberie, Sudwrowe, Sudborrough, 
 Sudborow or, as it is called in Doomsday book, Sutburge. 
 
 The boundaries of the town received early attention from 
 the settlers, and at different dates there are records concern- 
 ing it. As already stated, the southern boundary line at the 
 first was from a point a little east of Nobscot, to the northern 
 point of Dudley Pond ; thence, direct to Weston. That 
 part of the line outside the present territory of Wayland has 
 never varied much in its general character. Some slight 
 changes have been made within about fifty years, by which 
 a few acres have been taken from Sudbury and annexed to 
 Framingham ; this was the case along the line by the Brown 
 
72 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 farm and the northerly slope of Nobscot. Before the altera- 
 tion the line was slightly irregular, and the design may have 
 been solely to straighten it. Concerning the boundary in the 
 easterly part of the town's original territory, we have tin- 
 following order of the General Court, dated June 6, 1701: — 
 
 "Ordered that the line between Sudbury and the farms 
 annexed to Frarningham, as set forth in the plat exhibited 
 under the hand of John Core, be and continue the boundary 
 line between the said farms and Sudbury forever, viz.: from 
 the northerly end of Cochittwat pond to the bent of the river. 
 by Daniel Stone's and so as the line goes to Frarningham and 
 Sudbury line." 
 
 Concerning the Sudbury and Watertown boundary, the fol- 
 lowing facts are recorded : ' w In 164!» persons were appointed 
 by the town to search the records for the grant of Water- 
 town, and to see if they can find any means to prevent 
 Watertown from coining so near." The Colony Records 
 state that a year later the Court ordered that the inhabitants 
 of Sudbury should have their bounds recorded, and about 
 the same time the town sent a petition to the General Court 
 for a commission to layout the boundary between the two 
 towns. In 1651 a report was rendered about the boundary, 
 which, with slight abridgment, is as follows: — 
 
 "The committee apppinted to lay out the Watertown 
 and Sudbury boundary report that the line drawn by John 
 Oliver, three years previous, called 'the old line." shall be 
 the line between the two towns, and forever stand. This 
 line, beginning at Concord south bound, ran through a great 
 pine swamp, a small piece of meadow to upland, and 'then 
 to an angle betwixt two hills.' After the line left the afore- 
 said angle on its southerly course, it had 'these remarkable 
 places therein: one rock called Grout's head, and a stake by 
 the cartway leading from Sudbury to Watertown, and so to 
 a pine hill being short of a pond about eighty-eight rods, att 
 w Inch pine hill Sudbury bounds ends.' " (Colony Records, 
 Vol. IV., page 53.) 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 73 
 
 Such was the territory of Sudbury, the manner in which 
 the lands were allowed, and the parties from whom they were 
 bought. From this plantation was formed the town ; and 
 land divisions and allotments were subsequently made, until 
 no portion of it was held by proprietary right, nor as public 
 domain, but all passed into private estates except the high- 
 ways and commons, and here and there a small three-cornered 
 nook. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Place and Plan of Settlement. — Data of House-lots. — Description of 
 Map. — Course of First Street. — Sites of Early Homesteads. — 
 Historic Highway. — Time of Settlement. — Dimensions of First 
 Dwelling-house. — Early Experiences of the Settlers. 
 
 Ay, call it holy ground, 
 
 The spot where first they trod ! 
 They have left unstained what there they found — 
 
 Freedom to worship God. 
 
 Mrs. Hemans. 
 
 The settlement of the town began on the east side of the 
 river. The first road or street, beginning at Watertown 
 (now Weston), extended along a course of about two miles, 
 and by this the house-lots of the settlers were laid out and 
 their humble dwellings stood. The plan of the settlement 
 can, to an extent, be made out by tradition and the data of 
 house-lots which are preserved on the Sudbury records, and 
 
74 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 which we here give in abbreviated form, the figures in paren- 
 theses denoting the acres allowed : — 
 
 DATA OF HOUSE-LOTS. 
 
 Edmond Brown (80), on Timber Neck (east of Mill 
 Brook, Wayland). 
 
 John Blanford (3), north by highway to river, south b}' 
 Joseph Taynter. 
 
 Jos. Taynter (4), between John Blanford and Tho. Whyte. 
 
 Tho. Whyte (4), between Hugh Griffin and Jos. Taynter. 
 
 Hugh Griffin (4), north by Tho. Whyte, south by John 
 Howe. 
 
 John Howe (4), north by Hugh Griffin, south by Edmund 
 Rice; (also one acre parted from his house-lot by highway 
 between Edmund Rice and Hugh Griffin ; also four on Pine 
 Plain, on road from Sudbury to Watertown, west by Mrs. 
 Hunt). 
 
 Edmund Rice (4), between John Howe and Henry Rice. 
 
 Henry Rice (4), between Edmund Rice and John Maynard. 
 
 John Maynard (4), between Henry Rice and highway. 
 
 Robert Daniel (8), northwest by John Maynard and Robert 
 Boardman (or Fordum). 
 
 Robert Boardman (4), between Robert Daniel and Robert 
 Best. 
 
 Robert Best (4), north by Mr. Boardman, south by John 
 Loker. 
 
 John Loker (4), between Robert Best and Tho. Flinn 
 (or Joslyn), [also (one acre) parted from his house-lot by 
 the highway.] 
 
 Tho. Flinn (4), between John Loker and John Havnes. 
 
 John Hay nes (4), north by Tho. Flinn, south by Edmund 
 Goodnow. 
 
 Edmund Goodnow (4), north by John Haynes, west by 
 River Meadows. 
 
 Win. Brown (4), north by Edmund Goodnow, south by 
 John Toll. 
 
 John Toll (4), between Edmund Goodnow and Widow 
 Wright. 
 
 Widow Wright (6), between John Toll and John Bent. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 75 
 
 John Bent (6), between Widow Wright and John Wood. 
 
 John Wood (4), between John Bent and Widow Hunt. 
 
 Widow Hunt (4), between John Wood and John Good- 
 now. 
 
 John Goodnow (5), north by Widow Hunt, south by Henry 
 Loker, east end on highway going to mill, and west by the 
 great River Meadows. 
 
 Henry Loker (4), between John Goodnow and John Par- 
 m enter, Sr. 
 
 John Parmenter, Sr. (4), between Henry Loker and the 
 highway to Bridle Point. 
 
 ON NORTHWEST ROW. 
 
 John Freeman (4), on northwest corner of highway leading 
 to River Meadows. 
 
 Solomon Johnson (6), east by Wm. Ward. 
 
 Wm. Ward (20), on northeast side of Northwest Row. 
 
 Solomon Johnson (7), between Wm. Ward and Wm. 
 Pelham. 
 
 Wm. Pelham (50), northeast part, near Wm. Ward. 
 
 ON THE NORTH STREET OR EAST STREET. 
 
 John Rutter (4), (near clay pits). 
 
 John Ruddick (4). 
 
 Henry Curtis ( — ). 
 
 John Stone (9), between Henry Curtis and Nathl. Tread- 
 way. 
 
 Nathl. Tread way ( — ), on East Street, between John Stone 
 and John Knight. 
 
 John Knight (12). 
 
 ON EAST STREET. 
 
 Bryan Pendleton (5), north by Tho. Noyes south by Pond 
 Brook that runs to the river. 
 
 Tho. Noyes (4), south by Bryan Pendleton, north by Geo. 
 Munning. 
 
 Geo. Munning (4), between Tho. Noyes and Walter Hayne. 
 
 Walter Hayne (6), south by Geo. Munning, north by high- 
 way to Common Swamp. • 
 
It! HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ON BRIDLE POINT HIGHWAY. 
 
 Tho. Brown (4), north by highway leading to Bridle Point, 
 cast by the Common, south end running to Mil] Brook, west 
 by Anthony White. 
 
 Anthony Whyte (4), north by Bridle Point Road, south 
 by Mill Brook. Between Tho. Brown and Wm. Parker. 
 ' Wm. Parker (— ). 
 
 Peter Noyes (8), north by Bridle Point Road, south by 
 Mill Brook. Between Win. Parker and Thomas Goodnow. 
 
 Tho. Goodnow (5), north by Bridle Point Road, south by 
 Mill Brook. Between A. Belcher and P. Noyes. He sold 
 to P. Noyes, making Noyes' lot thirteen acres. 
 
 Andrew Belcher (4), north by Bridle Point Road, south 
 by Mill Brook. Between Tho. Goodnow and Richd. Newton. 
 
 Billiard Newton (4), north by Bridle Point Road, south 
 by Mill Brook. Between A. Belcher and John Parmenter, Jr. 
 
 John Parmenter, Jr. (4). Between Richd. Newton and 
 Henry Prentiss. 
 
 Henry Prentiss (4). Between John Parmenter, Jr., and 
 Herbert Pelham. 
 
 ON MILL ROAD FROM PINE PLAIN. 
 
 William Kerley (4), on southwest side of "Pine Swamp," 
 on highway leading to mill, northwest of Richd. Sanger. 
 Richd. Sanger (4), northwest by Wm. Kerley. 
 
 ON ROAD TO COTCHITUATT. 
 
 Tho. Goodnow [also on Cotchituatt Road]. Probably the 
 present Pousland lot. 
 
 ON PINE PLAIN. 
 
 John Howe. Also four acres on Pine Plain, north side of 
 road from Sudbury to Watertown, west by land of Mrs. Hunt. 
 
 Mrs. Hunt, or Widow Hunt. She probably sold her lot on 
 "The Street,'" and took a lot here. 
 
 John How. Probably sold his lot on "The Street'" to 
 either Griffin or Rice, and took a lot on The Plain. 
 
 I bury Loker (4). Between John Goodnow and J. Par- 
 menter, Sr. 
 
1 
 
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 W 
 
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 > 
 
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 e 
 
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 • tf&fov //":'. 
 
 « 4 
 
 
 
to iv a m p 
 
 Original trail or way from Watertown through Sudbury 
 now discontinued for public travel . 
 
 A 
 
 Rr$T R?AD5 I MstteS i^SudburY 
 
 ace,/, mu<cn e w c/ks eoaroM. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 77 
 
 John Parmenter, Sr. (4). Between Henry Loker and 
 Bridle Point Road. 
 
 John Goodnow (5). North by Widow Hunt and south 
 by Henry Loker. The east end on the mill road, and the 
 west end on the great river meadows. 
 
 Thomas Hoyt. His house-lot containing four acres, having 
 the house-lot of Brian Pendleton on the south side, and the 
 house-lot of George Munnings on the north side. 
 
 The map that accompanies the data of house-lots was 
 made by James Sumner Draper of Wayland, as the result 
 of the united investigation of himself and the writer. Mr. 
 Draper has a life-long familiarity with the locality, is a prac- 
 tical surveyor, and acquainted with the traditions and old 
 roads of this ancient part of Sudbury. It is not absolutely 
 certain that every one to whom a lot was assigned ever 
 became a householder in the settlement; furthermore, it may 
 be that an exchange was, in some cases, made before the 
 settlers began to build. With, however, a suitable allow- 
 ance for possible or probable changes, and making such slight 
 departures in certain cases from the data as was thought war- 
 ranted by the circumstances, the locality, and tradition, we 
 believe this map to be a fair representation of the locations 
 of most, if not all, of the first homesteads in Sudbury. 
 
 We will now consider the plan of the settlement, and trace 
 the course of the street. The settlement lay along three 
 roads, which afterwards became the common highway. The 
 principal one of these roads, called "the North" or "East 
 Street," and also the " Old Watertown Trail," started at 
 what is now " Weston and Wayland Corner," and probably 
 followed the course of the present road over "The Plain" 
 and Clay-pit Hill to a point near the Abel Gleason estate ; 
 from this place it is supposed to have made its way a little 
 northerly of Mr. Gleason's house, and winding southwesterly 
 passed just south of Baldwin's Pond, and thence to the river 
 at the bridge. The road originally called "Northwest ilow" 
 ran from this street to what is still called " Common Swamp," 
 and by the spot designated as the house-lot of Walter Haynes. 
 This spot still bears the traces of having, long years ago, been 
 
78 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the site of a house. The cart-path which ran from it to the 
 meadow is still used. 
 
 • Along this road traces and traditions of homesteads are 
 unmistakable : old building material has been unearthed, 
 and depressions in the ground are still to be seen. Mr. 
 Draper, a little east of his house, by the brook, unearthed 
 the stones of a fire-place, with fragments of coals still upon 
 them. Between this and Clay-pit Bridge (the second bridge 
 or culvert from the mill-pond, or the first above " Whale's 
 Bridge") there are, north of the road, several depressions 
 indicating the sites of old houses. Just beyond Clay-pit 
 Bridge, the writer, with Mr. Draper, went to look for traces 
 of houses on the lots assigned to Bryan Pendleton and 
 Thomas Noyes ; and there, in the exact locality, were dis- 
 tinct depressions, just where they were looked for. The 
 Curtis homestead, until within a very few years, was stand- 
 ing in about the place assigned for the house-lot. Thus 
 strong is the probability that the lots on this street were 
 largely built upon. 
 
 Another of the principal streets was that which, starting 
 from a point on the north street near the town bridge, ran 
 easterly along what is now the common highway, to the 
 head of the mill-pond, and then to the mill. Upon this 
 street was the first meeting-house, at a spot in the old 
 burying-ground (see chapter on First Meeting-house, &c), 
 and the Parmenter Tavern. The house-lots were mainly at 
 the west end of this street, and the road was probably 
 extended northeasterly to give access to the mill. Here, 
 again, tradition confirms the record of house-lots, and shows 
 that the lots were more or less built upon. The John May- 
 nard and John* Loker estates were kept for years in their 
 families, and the Parmenter estate is still retained in the 
 family. In later years the descendants of John Butter built 
 on that street. 
 
 The third road was called the "Bridle Point Road." This 
 started near the Parmenter Tavern, crossed the knoll at the 
 Harry Reeves place, and ran along the ridge of "Braman's 
 Hill *' for about two-thirds of its length, when it turned 
 southerly, and, crossing Mill Brook, ran towards the town's 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 79 
 
 southern limits. While tradition positively locates this road, 
 it points to but one homestead upon it, and that the resi- 
 dence of Rev. Edmund Brown, which it undoubtedly declares 
 was at the spot designated by the house-lot data. Along 
 this street are no visible marks of ancient dwelling-places 
 north of Mill Brook ; but beyond, various depressions in the 
 ground, and remnants of building material, indicate that at 
 one time this street had houses upon it. With the excep- 
 tion of those on the south street, the dwellings were about 
 equally distant from the meeting-house, and all within 
 easy access to the River Meadows and the mill. Proba- 
 bly they settled largely in groups, that they might more 
 easily defend themselves in case of danger. They were in a 
 new country, and as yet had had little experience with the 
 Indians ; hence we should not expect they would scatter 
 very widely. In the early times so essential was it consid- 
 ered by the Colonial Court that the people should not widely 
 scatter, that, three years before Sudbury was settled, it 
 ordered, that, for the greater safety of towns, " hereafter no 
 dwelling-house should be built above half a mile from the 
 meeting-house in any new plantation." (Colony Records, 
 Vol I.) 
 
 It will be noticed that the positions selected for these 
 streets were, to an extent, where the shelter of upland could 
 be obtained for the house. The sandy slope of Bridle Point 
 Hill would afford a protection from the rough winds of 
 winter; so of the uplands just north of South Street. It 
 was also best to settle in groups, to lessen the amount of 
 road-breaking in winter. It will also be noticed that these 
 groups of house-lots were near, not only meadow land, but 
 light upland, which would be easy of cultivation. Various 
 things indicate that the most serviceable spots were selected 
 for homesteads, that roads were constructed to connect them 
 as best they could, and that afterwards the roads were ex- 
 tended to the mill. Probably the people on North Street 
 made the short way to South Street, that now comes out at 
 Mr. Jude Damon's, in order to shorten the way to church. 
 Those midway of that street, for a short cut to the mill, the 
 church and the tavern, would naturally open a path from the 
 
80 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 turn of the road by the clay-pita to the mill. To accommo- 
 date the people on "The Plain," a road was opened to the 
 mill in a southwesterly course, which is in part the present 
 highway, hut has in part been abandoned, — the latter part 
 being that which formerly came out directly east of the 
 mill. 
 
 These several sections of road probably formed what was 
 called the " Highway." A large share of it is in use at the 
 present time, and is very suggestive of historic reminiscences. 
 By it the settlers went to the Cakebread Mill, to the little 
 hillside meeting-house, and to the John Parmenter Ordinary. 
 By these ways came the messenger with fresh news from the 
 seaboard settlements, or with tidings from the tribes of the 
 woods. In short, these formed the one great road of the 
 settlement; the one forest pathway along which everyone 
 more or less trod. 
 
 The erection of dwelling-places along these first streets 
 probably began in 1638 ; but we have no tradition or record 
 of the week or month when the inhabitants arrived at the 
 spot, nor as to how many went at any one time. They may 
 have gone in small companies at different dates ; and the 
 entire removal from Watertown may have occurred in the 
 process of months. It is quite probable, however, that they 
 went mainly together, or in considerable companies, both for 
 the sake of convenience and safety; and that they were 
 largely there by the autumn of 1638. On the arrival of the 
 "Confidence," the emigrants would naturally be eager to 
 settle somewhere at once. They would hardly wait long in 
 Watertown, if their design was to make their homes farther 
 west. The cold winter being just ahead, they would pre- 
 sumably hasten to the proposed place of settlement, to pre- 
 pare things for their comfort before cold weather fairly 
 set in. 
 
 We have found no record of the dimensions of any of the 
 first dwelling-places, but we may judge something of their 
 size by that of the first house of worship, and by the specifi- 
 cations in a lease of a house to be built by Edmund Pice 
 prior to the year 1655. Tliis house was to be very small, — 
 "30 foot long, 10 foot high, 1 foot sill from the ground, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 81 
 
 16 foot wide, with two rooms, both below or one above the 
 other, all the doors, walls and staires with convenient fix- 
 tures, and well planked under foot and boored sufficiently to 
 lay corn in the story above head." But it is doubtful if this 
 small, low structure fitly represents the settlers' first forest 
 home ; very likely that was a still more simple building, that 
 would serve as a mere shelter for a few months or years, till 
 a more serviceable one could be built. Houses of ordinary 
 capacity would hardly be necessary when the settlement 
 commenced. The furniture of the dwelling would for a 
 time, probably, be simple and scant, and consist mainly of a 
 few household utensils, their firearms, and tools. 
 
 The way from Watertown being at first only a forest trail, 
 it was a difficult task to transport many goods, even if they 
 were brought to this country. That carts were made use of 
 the first year for transportation to Watertown is doubtful, 
 although they were used a few years later. In 1641 it was 
 ordered, " That every cart with four sufficient oxen and a 
 man shall have for a day's work five shillings ; " and that 
 " none shall take above six pence a bushel for the bringing 
 up of corn from Watertown to Sudbury and twenty shillings 
 a day for any other goods." (Town Records, p. 17.) The 
 transportation of corn may have been on horseback. 
 
 What the settlers experienced in the rough cabins of 
 logs, the first }^ears, we can only conjecture. The deep 
 snow-fall of winter, as it covered their lonely forest path, 
 presented a strong contrast to the mild climate from which 
 they came. But they had enough to employ their time. 
 There were cattle to care for, and lands to clear and make 
 ready for the coming spring ; and it was no small task to keep 
 the household supplied with wood. The wide-mouthed fire- 
 place, with hearth broadening to almost midway of the cabin 
 itself, with its huge andirons, beyond which was the stout 
 back-log, had the capacity of a dozen stoves ; and to supply 
 this was a matter of work. But the routine of work was 
 broken by experiences both sad and glad. In the first 
 year or two there were the birth, bridal, and burial. On 
 the 1st of October, 1639, "-Andrew Belcher and his wife 
 were married." "On ye first day of ye first month (March 
 
82 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 1), 1640, Edward the servant of Robert Darnill was buried." 
 A year after, Joseph Rice was born. " On the third day of 
 the twelvth month, 1639, Joseph and Nathaniel the sons of 
 Solomon Johnson were born." In November, 1644, John 
 Rutter married Elizabeth Plimpton. The first body buried 
 was probably borne to the northerly side of the old meeting- 
 house hill, where tradition says the Indians had a burying- 
 ground. Here, doubtless, was buried the servant of Robert 
 Darnill, who was the first, or one of the first, in that long- 
 procession which, for nearly two centuries and a half, has 
 been borne to the ancient burying-place upon or about that 
 hill. Beside these experiences, there were others that would 
 tend to break up the monotony of the settlers* experience, 
 such as "log-rollings," when the neighbors collected together 
 and helped clear the land of logs and brush ; " house-rais- 
 ings," where many joined hands to help raise the heavy 
 frames; " road-breaking," when, with ox-teams, they cleared 
 the snow from the path; corn-planting in the common fields. 
 or "huskings," when the corn was gathered, — these, with 
 town -meetings, and an occasional drill of the train -band, 
 when Bryan Pendleton exercised his little host, would serve 
 to break up the monotony and enliven the scene at the set- 
 tlement. Thus, — 
 
 Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing, 
 
 Onward through life he goes ; 
 Each morning sees some task begun, 
 
 Each evening sees it close ; 
 Something attempted, something done, 
 
 Has earned a night's repose. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Town Meetings. — Their Origin and Character. — Conditions of Citizen- 
 ship. — Freemen. — Place of Town Meeting. — Town Officers. — 
 Highways. — Bridges. — " Indian Bridge." — The " Old Town 
 Bridge." — Contracts with Ambrose Leach and Timothy Hawkins. — 
 Causeway. — Formation of Church. — Settlement of First Minister. — 
 Erection of First Meeting- House. — Contract with John Rutter. — 
 Building of Grist-Mill. 
 
 But the good deed, through the ages 
 Living in historic pages, 
 Brighter grows and gleams immortal, 
 Unconsumed by moth or rust. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 The first steps in the settlement of the town having been 
 considered, — namely, the acquisition of the territory, the 
 assignment of house-lots, and laying out of the principal 
 highways, — we will now notice further projects for the gen- 
 eral good. The people acted first in town-meeting ; hence it 
 may here be appropriate to consider the origin and character 
 of these occasions, and the manner in which they were con- 
 ducted. The New England town-meeting is an institution 
 that originated in the exigencies of New England colonial 
 life, and sprang into existence at the call of men who op- 
 posed the concentration of political power, and who would 
 confer it on no person or persons, only as it was conferred 
 on them by the people's choice. Situated far remote from 
 the home government in Europe, too much time was con- 
 sumed in the transmission of laws, and too little acquaint- 
 ance was had by the English government with the needs of 
 American life, to make it practicable to rely on such a source 
 of authority. 
 
 Something was needed to meet an independent and extem- 
 
 83 
 
84 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 porized order of things; and the result was a New England 
 town-meeting, which is unlike any other political assembly. 
 In the principle of its operation it is similar and modelle/i 
 after the New England Congregational Church meeting. 
 The same general freeness and equality to an extent pre- 
 vailed, and by these meetings each town became like a little 
 republic. Whatever offices were needed were made, and 
 the men selected to fill them had a fitness based on personal 
 merit. There were no credentials for position that came 
 from a titled authority, or from ancient hereditary right 
 .based on manorial acquisition or influence. Before planta- 
 tions became incorporated towns, and while undivided lands 
 still remained which were held by proprietary or collective 
 right, there were certain privileges possessed by these pro- 
 prietors or land companies, which related to their real 
 estate,' such as the right to dispose of and improve their 
 lands, or to enjoy exclusive privileges that were based upon 
 them. But when all the lands were divided and sold, the 
 proprietary dissolved, and left the community purely repub- 
 lican, in which each public meeting was an open town- 
 meeting, Avhether it pertained to matters of church or state. 
 Thus the New England town-meeting was original, and its 
 principles of operation were in harmony with the character 
 and purposes of the men who had fled from ecclesiastical and 
 civil restraint. 
 
 As might be expected, the General Court, which was more 
 or less dependent on the action of town-meetings, was in gen- 
 eral harmony with them ; and, in its definition of the power 
 of towns, gave them the elements of democratic government. 
 In 1635 it was "Ordered, that the freemen of any town, or 
 the major part of them, shall only have power to dispose of 
 their own lands and woods, with all the privileges and appur- 
 tenances of said towns, to grant lots and make such orders 
 as may concern the well ordering of their own towns, not 
 repugnant to the orders of the General Court." They were 
 authorized to impose fines, not exceeding twenty shillings, 
 and "to choose their own particular officers, as constables, 
 surveyors for highways and the like." (Colony Records, 
 Vol. I., p. 72.) 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 85 
 
 There were some restrictions that related to citizenship in 
 those days that have since been removed. At one period 
 only ''freemen" could participate in the shaping of public 
 affairs. A "freeman" was a person who, by act of the Gen- 
 eral Court, was admitted to the rights and privileges that 
 correspond to those now pertaining to American citizenship. 
 In early times people did not attain to political privileges, as 
 now, by passing from minority and paying a town tax; but to 
 attain to full citizenship, with eligibility to office, as late as 
 1631, it was necessary to be a member of a church within 
 the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Later, in 
 16(32, the law was so changed that an Englishman, on pre- 
 senting a certificate of good character, and upon giving evi- 
 dence of orthodox belief, together with a certificate from a 
 town selectman that the party was a freeholder and ratable 
 to the county on a single rate to the amount of ten shillings, 
 might apply to the General Court for admission as freeman. 
 If accepted by the Court, it was on condition that the appli- 
 cant take what was termed the "freeman's oath," which is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " I, A. B., being by God's providence an inhabitant and 
 freeman within the jurisdiction of this commonwealth, do 
 freely acknowledge myself to be subject to the government 
 thereof, and therefore do swear, by the great and dreadful 
 name of the everlasting God, that I will be true and faithful 
 to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance and sup- 
 port thereunto with my person and estate, as in equity I am 
 bound, and also truly endeavor to maintain and preserve all 
 the liberties and privileges thereof, submitting myself to the 
 wholesome laws and orders made and established by the 
 same ; and, further, that I will not plot nor practise any 
 evil against it, nor consent to any that shall do so, but will 
 timely discover and reveal the same to lawful authority now 
 here established, for the speedy prevention thereof; more- 
 over, I do solemnly bind myself, in the sight of God, that 
 when I shall be called to give ni} r voice touching any such 
 matter of this state wherein freemen are to deal, I will give 
 my vote and suffrage, as I shall judge in my conscience, may 
 best conduce and tend to the public weal of the bodv, with- 
 
86 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 out respect of persons, or favor of any man. So help me God, 
 in the Lord Jesus Christy 
 
 After being thus qualified by the vote of the Court, and 
 by taking the above oath, the freeman was allowed to vote 
 in the elections in the following manner and under the fol- 
 lowing penalty: "It is ordered by this Court, and by the 
 authority thereof, that for the yearly choosing of assistants, 
 the freemen shall use Indian corn and beans — the Indian 
 corn to manifest election, the beans the contrary; and if any 
 freeman shall put in more than one Indian corn or bean, for 
 the choice or refusal of any public officer, he shall forfeit for 
 every such offence ten pounds ; and that any man that is not 
 a freeman, or hath not liberty of voting, putting in any vote, 
 shall forfeit the like sum of ten pounds/' 
 
 But, though corn and beans were sufficient to elect an 
 assistant, for governor, deputy -governor, major-general, 
 treasurer, secretary, and commissioners of the united colo- 
 nies, it was required that the freemen should make use of 
 written ballots. 
 
 The freemen at first were all required to appear before the 
 General Court to give their votes for assistants ; but it was 
 found inconvenient, and even dangerous, for all of them to 
 assemble in one place, leaving their homes unprotected, and 
 hence it was ordered, " That it shall be free and lawful for 
 all freemen to send their votes for elections by proxy, m the 
 next General Court in May, and so for hereafter, which shall 
 be done in this manner: The deputy which shall be chosen 
 shall cause the freemen of the town to be established, and 
 then take such freemen's votes, as please to send them by 
 proxv. for any magistrate, and seal them up severally, sub- 
 scribing the magistrates name on the back side, and to bring 
 them to the Court, sealed, with an open roll of the names of 
 the freemen that so send them." 
 
 Until as late as the nineteenth century, the town-meetings 
 were held in the meeting-house. After the meeting-house 
 was built sometimes they were held in a private house or at 
 the "ordinary." As for example, Jan. 10, 1685, and again 
 Feb. 18, 168G, there was an adjournment of town-meeting to 
 the house of Mr. Walker. " by reason of the extremity of the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 87 
 
 cold." In 1764 the town adjourned one of its meetings to 
 the house of " William Rice, irmholder." In 1782, " adjourned 
 town-meeting to the house of Mr. Aaron Johnson, innholder 
 in s d town." After the division of the town into the east 
 and west precincts, the town-meetings alternated from the 
 east to the west side. 
 
 In 1682-3 the time of meeting, was changed from February 
 to October, the day of the week to be Monday. The reason 
 of this change may be found in the fact that it was difficult 
 at some seasons to make a journey to the east side meeting- 
 house ; the passage of the causeway was occasionally rough, 
 and town action might be thereby delayed or obstructed. 
 The meeting was for a period warned by the board of select- 
 men. At the date of the change just mentioned, it "was 
 voted and ordered, that henceforth the selectmen every year 
 for the time being shall appoint and seasonably warn the 
 town-meeting; " but afterwards this became the work of the 
 constables. In the warning of town-meetings at one period, 
 the " Old Lancaster Road " was made use of as a partial line 
 of division. A part of the constables were to warn the peo- 
 ple on the north side of the road, and part those who lived 
 south of it. 
 
 The town -meeting was opened by prayer. There is 
 a record of this about 1654, and presumably it was prac- 
 tised from the very first. At an early date voting was 
 sometimes done by "dividing the house," each party with- 
 drawing to different sides of the room. An example of this 
 is as follows: In 1654, at a public town-meeting, after " the 
 pastor by the desire of the town had sought the Lord for 
 his blessing in the actings of the day, this following vote 
 was made, You that judge the act of the selectmen in sizing 
 the Commons to be a righteous act, discover it by drawing 
 yourselves together in the one end of the meeting-house." 
 After that was done, " It was then desired that those who 
 are of a contrary mind would discover it by drawing them- 
 selves together in the other end of the meeting-house." 
 
 In what was done at these meetings, marked respect was 
 usually had for order and law. We find records of protest 
 or dissent when things were done in an irregular way, as for 
 
88 HISTORY OF SUDBUKY. 
 
 instance, in 1676, we have the following record: "We do 
 hereby enter our Decent against the illegal proceeding of the 
 inhabitants of the town : : : for the said proceedings 
 have Ben Directly Contrary to law. First, That the Town 
 Clerk did not Solemnly read the Laws against Intemperance 
 and Immorality as the Laws Require." Mention is also 
 made of other irregularities, and the whole is followed by a 
 list of names of prominent persons. 
 
 The town officers were mostly similar to those elected at 
 the present time. At a meeting of the town in 1682-3, it 
 was ordered that the town-meeting " shall be for the electing 
 of Selectmen, Commissioners, and Town Clerk." Names 
 of officers not mentioned here were "Constables, Invoice 
 Takers, Highway Surveyors, and Town Marshal." About 
 1648 the persons chosen to conduct the affairs of the town 
 were first called selectmen. The number of these officers 
 varied at different times. In 1616 there were seventeen 
 selectmen. 
 
 The service expected of the selectmen, beside being cus- 
 todians at large of the public good, and acting as the 
 town's prudential committee, were, before the appointment 
 of tything-men (which occurred first in Sudbury, Jan. 18, 
 1679), expected to look after the morals of the community.^ 
 This is indicated by the following order: At a meeting of 
 the inhabitants, Jan. 18. 1679, - It is ordered, that the select- 
 men shall visit the families of the town, and speedily inspect 
 the same, but especially to examine children and servants 
 about their improvement in reading and the catechism. 
 Captain Goodnow and Lieutenant Haines to inspect all 
 families at Lanham and Nobscot and all others about there 
 and in their way. . . . and these are to return an account ol 
 that matter at the next meeting of the selectmen, appointed 
 to be on the 30th of this instant January." We infer from 
 certain records that the selectmen's orders were to be audi- 
 bly and deliberately read, that the people might take notice 
 and observe them. 
 
 The officials known as " highway surveyors " had charge 
 of repairs on town roads. This term was early applied, and 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 89 
 
 has continued in use until now. As early in the records as 
 1639, Peter Noyes and John Parmenter are mentioned as 
 surveyors. 
 
 The business of town clerk, or " dark," first held in Sud- 
 bury by Hugh Griffin, is shown by the following extracts 
 from the town book : " He is to take charge of the records 
 and discharge the duties of a faithful scribe." " To attend 
 town-meeting, to write town orders for one year, . . . for 
 which he was to have ten shillings for his labor." In 1643 
 he was " to take record of all births and marriages and 
 [deaths], and return them to the recorder." "It is also 
 agreed that the rate of eight pound 9 shillings [be] levied 
 upon mens estate for the payment of the town debt due at 
 the present, and to buy a constable's staff, to mend the 
 stocks, and to buy a marking iron for the town, and it shall 
 be forthwith gathered by Hugh Griffin, who is appointed 
 by the town to receive rates, and to pay the town's debt," 
 (Town Book, p. 75.) Feb. 19, 1650, Hugh Griffin "was 
 released from the service of the town." The work that he 
 had performed was "to attend town-meetings, to write town 
 orders, to compare town rates, to gather them in, and pay 
 them according to the towns appointment, and to sweep the 
 meeting-house, for which he is to have fifty shillings for his 
 wages." 
 
 Other officers were "commissioners of rates," or "invoice- 
 takers." These corresponded perhaps to "assessors," which 
 term we find used in the town book as early as the beginning 
 of the eighteenth century. The office of marshal was the 
 same as that of constable. There is the statement on page 34 
 " that there shall be a rate gathered of ten pounds for the 
 finishing of the meeting-house, to be raised upon meadows 
 and improved land, and all manner of cattle above a quarter 
 old to be prized as they were formerly prized, the invoice to 
 be taken by the marshall." 
 
 At an early period persons were appointed for the special 
 purpose of hearing "small causes." In 1655 " Lietenant 
 Goodnow, Thomas Noyes, and Sergeant Groute were chosen 
 commissioners to hear, issue, and end small causes in Sud- 
 
90 • HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 bury, according to law, not exceeding forty shillings." In 
 1,; ( s Peter Noyeswas"to see people ioyne in marriage in 
 Sudbury." (Colonial Records, p. 97.) 
 
 In the early times towns could send deputies to the Gen- 
 eral Court according to the number of their inhabitants. 
 These that had ten freemen and under twenty, could send 
 one : those having between twenty and forty, not over two. 
 (Palfrey's History.) 
 
 We infer that if a person was elected to any town office 
 he was expected to serve. It is stated in the records of 1730 
 that David Rice was chosen constable, and -being called up 
 [by] the moderator for to declare his exception, or non- 
 exception, upon which David Rice refused for to serve as 
 constable, and paid down five pounds money to s d town, and 
 so was discharged." 
 
 Having considered the nature of the town-meeting, the 
 place where works of a public nature were discussed and 
 decided upon, we will now notice some of the works them- 
 selves. First, Highways, the Causeway and Bridge. 
 
 HIGHWAYS. 
 In providing means for easy and rapid transit, it was impor- 
 tant for the town to make haste. Indian trails and the paths 
 of wild animals would not long suffice for their practical needs. 
 Hay was to be drawn from the meadows, and for this a road 
 Avas to be made. Another was to be made to Concord, and 
 paths were to be opened to the outlying lands. The first 
 highway work was done on the principal street, which was 
 doubtless at first but a mere wood path or trail. An early 
 rule for this labor, as it is recorded on the Town Records. 
 Feb. 20, 1639, is as follows: "Ordered by the commissioners 
 of the town, that every inhabitant shall come forth to the 
 mending of the highway upon a summons by the surveyors." 
 In case Of failure, live shillings were to be forfeited lor every 
 default. The amount of labor required was as follows : — 
 "1st. The poorest man shall work one day. 
 - 2nd. For every six acres of meadow land a man hath he 
 shall work one day. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 91 
 
 v 
 
 " 3d. Every man who shall neglect to make all fences 
 appertaining to his fields by the 24th of April shall forfeit 
 five shillings (Nov. 19th, 1639)." 
 
 Highways and cart-paths were laid out on both sides of 
 the meadows at an early date. The town records make men- 
 tion of a highway " from below the upland of the meadow 
 from the house-lot of Walter Haynes to the meadow of John 
 Goodnow, which shall be four rods wide where it is not 
 previously bounded already, and from the meadow of John 
 Goodnow to the end of the town bound." Also of a high- 
 way on the west side of the river, " between the upland and 
 the meadow six rods wide from one end of the meadow to 
 the other." These roads, we conjecture, have not entirely 
 disappeared. On either side the meadow margin a hay -road, 
 or " right of way," still exists. It is probable that the town 
 way called " Water Row " may have been a part of those 
 early roads ; also, that by the margin of Sand Hill, as it ex- 
 tends southwesterly towards West Brook, and that by the 
 Baldwin place, that starts north of the bridge. An impor- 
 tant road laid out in 1648 was that from Watertown to 
 the Dunster Farm, or the "Old Connecticut Path." 
 (See Chapter I.) The record states, "Edmund Rice and 
 Edm d Goodenow, John Bent and John Grout, are appointed 
 to lay out a way from Watertown bound to the Dunster 
 Farm." Another important road laid out in the first decade 
 was that which went to Concord. In 1648 " Edmond Goode- 
 now is desired to treat with Concord men, and to agree with 
 them about the laying out of the way between Concord and 
 Sudbury." The term " laying out," as it was employed at 
 that period, might not always imply the opening of a new 
 path, but perhaps the acceptance or formal recognition of an 
 old one, which hitherto had been only a bridle-way or mere 
 forest foot-trail, that had been used as the most available 
 track to a town, hamlet, or homestead. Tradition informs 
 us that at an early date a way from "The Island" to the east 
 side settlement Avas by a fording-place, which was by the 
 present " Bridle-Point Bridge ; " and that there was a road 
 from "The Island" to Lanham, which passed Heard's Pond 
 
92 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 on the north, to the right of the present highway, or between 
 that and the meadow margin. By this way hay could be 
 drawn from the meadow on t lie south of West Brook, and 
 the Lanham settlers could pass by it to the Cakebread Mill 
 and to the home of their minister on Timber Neck. 
 
 BRIDGES. 
 
 In the work of bridge building Sudbury has had fully its 
 share from the first. Its original territory being divided by 
 a wide, circuitous stream, which was subject to spring and 
 fall floods, it was a matter of no small importance to the set- 
 tlers to have a safe crossing. Ford-ways, on a river like this, 
 were uncertain means of transit. Without a bridge the east 
 and west side inhabitants might be separated sometimes for 
 weeks, and travelers to the frontier beyond would be much 
 hindered on their way. All this the people well knew, and 
 they were early astir to the work. Two bridges are men- 
 tioned in the town book as early as 1641. The record of one 
 is as follows: "It was ordered from the beginning of the 
 plantation, that there should be two rods wide left in the 
 meadow from the bridge at M mining's Point to the hard 
 upland at the head of Edmund Rice's meadow." The 
 other record is of the same date, and states that there, 
 was to be a road "between the river meadow and the house- 
 lot from the bridge at John Blandford's to Bridle Point." 
 The bridge referred to in the former of these records may 
 have been the " Old Indian Bridge," which is repeatedly 
 mentioned in the town book. From statements on the 
 records we conclude it crossed the lower part of Lanham 
 Brook — sometimes also called West Brook — at a point 
 between Sand Hill and Heard's Pond. This bridge was 
 probably found there by the settlers, and may have been 
 nothing more than a fallen tree where but one person could 
 pass at a time. It doubtless was of little use to the settlers, 
 and may only have served them as a landmark or to desig- 
 nate a fording-place where at low water a person could pass. 
 The bridge referred to in the latter record was probably the 
 first one built by the English in Sudbury. It was doubtless 
 situated at the locality since occupied by successive bridges, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 93 
 
 each of which was known as the " Old Town Bridge." 
 The present one is called the Russell Bridge, after the name 
 of the builder. The location is in Wayland at the east end 
 of the old causeway, near the house of Mr. William Baldwin. 
 The first bridge at this place was probably a simple contriv- 
 ance for foot-passengers only, and one which would cause 
 little loss if swept away by a flood. The reason why this 
 spot was selected as a crossing, may be indicated by the lay 
 of the land and the course of the river ; at this point the 
 stream winds so near the bank of the hard upland, that a 
 causeway on the eastern side is unnecessary. These natural 
 features doubtless led to the construction of the bridge at 
 that particular spot, and the location of the bridge deter- 
 mined the course of the road. About the time of the erec- 
 tion of the first bridge a ferry is spoken of. In 1642 Thomas 
 Noyes was " appointed to keep a ferry for one year, for 
 which he was to have two pence for every single passenger 
 and if there be more to take two apiece." This ferry may 
 have been used only at times when high water rendered the 
 bridge or meadow impassable. As in the price fixed for 
 transportation only "passengers" are mentioned, we infer 
 that both the bridge and ferry were for foot-passengers 
 alone. But a mere foot-path could not long suffice for the 
 settlement. The west side was too important to remain 
 isolated for want of a cart-bridge. About this time it was 
 ordered by the town, " That Mr. Noyes, Mr. Pendleton, 
 Walter Haynes, John Parmenter, Jr., and Thomas King 
 shall have power to view the river at Thomas King's, and to 
 agree with workmen to build a cart-bridge over the river 
 according as they shall see just occasion." The following 
 contract was soon made with Ambrose Leach : — 
 
 "BRIDGE CONTRACT 1643. 
 
 "It is agreed betweene the inhabitants of the towner of 
 sudbury and Ambrose Leech, That the towne will give unto 
 the said Ambrose 6 acres in M r Pendleton's 2 nd Addition of 
 meadow w ch shall run on the north side of his meadow lyinge 
 on the west side of the river & shall run from the river to 
 the upland. Allsoe foure acres of meadowe more wch shall 
 
94 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 be wth convenient as may be. Allsoe twenty acres of upland 
 lyinge on the west side of the river on the north side of the 
 lande of Walter Haynes if he approve of it else so much 
 upland where it may be convenient. For and in considera- 
 tion whereof the said Ambrose doth propose to build a suffi- 
 cient cart bridge over the river three feet above high water 
 mark twelve foot wyde from the one side of the river to the 
 other provided that the towne doe fell and cross cutt the tim- 
 ber and saw all the plank and carry it all to place and when 
 it is ready framed the towne doth promise to help him raise 
 it so that he and one man be at the charge of the sayd Am- 
 brose and he doth promise to acomplish the work by the last 
 
 day of Aug. next. Allsoe the towne doth admitt of him 
 
 as a townsman wth right to comonage and upland as more 
 shall be laid out and allsoe ten acres of meadowe to be laved 
 out which other meadowe is in first addition of meadowe. 
 "Ambrose Leech Brian Pendleton 
 
 " Walter Haynes." 
 
 This contract is on the original town book without date. 
 On the preceding page is a record dated 1642, and beyond is 
 one dated 1641, which plainly shows either that events were 
 not recorded chronologically, or that the leaves were not 
 placed in their original order when the book Avas rebound in 
 1840. It may then be safe to conjecture that the date of this 
 contract was 1642 or 1643. That Mr. Leach carried out his 
 agreement in good faith, is indicated by the privileges that 
 were afterwards accorded to him. Repeatedly, on the Pro- 
 prietors' book, in the record of their meetings held in after 
 years, are the names of Ambrose Leach and Thomas Cake- 
 bread included in the list of the early grantees, upon whose 
 original rights the Proprietors based their titles to the com- 
 mon lands. No other names are in the list except those of 
 the early or original grantees; and the presumption is, that 
 they were included on account of some service performed for 
 the town : one perhaps for building a bridge, and the other 
 for building a mill. The next contract for building a bridge 
 was with Timothy Hawkins of Watertown. and is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 95 
 
 "The 26th day of November, 16**. 
 
 "Agreed between the Inhabitants of Sudbury on the one 
 part, and Timothy Hawkins of Watertown on the other part 
 that the said Timothy shall build a sufficient cart bridge over 
 the river, beginning at the west side of the river running 
 across the river, five rods long and twelve feet wide, one foot 
 above high water mark, the arches to be . . . foot wide, 
 all but the middle arch which is to be 14 feet wide, the silts 
 — inches square 26 feet long, the posts 16 inches square the 
 
 CU p S and 16, the braces 8 inches square, the bridge 
 
 must have a rail on each side, and the rails must be braced 
 at every post, the plank must be two inches thick sawn, there 
 must be 5 braces for the plank, — the bridge the bearers 12 
 inches square, the bridge is by him to be ready to raise by 
 the last day of May next. For which work the Inhabitants 
 do consent to pay unto the said Timothy for his work so done, 
 the sum of 13 pounds to be paid in corn and cattle, the corn 
 at the general price of the country, and the cattle at the price 
 as two men shall judge them worth. 
 
 " The said Timothy is to fell all the timber and saw it, and 
 then the town is to carry it to the place." 
 
 The town was also to help raise it. The time of this con- 
 tract also is uncertain. The record of the date is so muti- 
 lated that it is uncertain whether it is 1643 or 1653. On the 
 page preceding are the dates 1652 and 1653. If this contract 
 was made in 1643, then that with Ambrose Leach might have 
 been earlier than has been conjectured, and the bridge built 
 by him may have been destroyed by a flood soon after com- 
 pletion, which caused the erection of another so soon. 
 
 In 1645, it was ordered "that X20 should be alowed y e 
 town of Sudbury toward y e building of their bridge and way 
 at y e end of it to be paid y m when they shall have made y e 
 way passable for loaden horses, so it be done w th in a twelve 
 month." (Colony Records, Vol. II., p. 102.) The town 
 was also for this reason at one time favored by an abatement 
 of rates, as we are informed by the following record : — 
 
 "Whereas it appears to us that Concord, Sudbury and Lan- 
 
96 HISTORY OF SUDBUKY. 
 
 caster arc at a greater charge in bridges for the publicque use 
 of the countrye than some other of theire neighbor tbwnes, 
 we conceive it meete that they be abated as followeth ; Con- 
 cord and Lancaster all theire rates, whether payd or to be 
 payd to those two bridges above named, and Sudbury the one 
 half of theire rates to the sayd bridges, and theire abatement 
 to be satisfied to the undertakers of those bridges, or repayed 
 againe to such as have paved as followeth/' (Colony Rec- 
 ords. Vol. IV., p. 307.) 
 
 The bridge built at this spot is said to he the first framed 
 bridge in Middlesex County. The locality is one rich in 
 reminiscences of Sudbury's early History. Over this cross- 
 ing the Indians were forced, on that memorable day when 
 King Philip attacked the town. At the "Bridge foot*' were 
 buried the bodies of the Concord men who were slain on 
 that dismal day. (See period 1676-1700.) It was the 
 bridge o( the old stage period. Just beyond, by the "gravel 
 pit," was the beginning o( the "Old Lancaster road."' Here 
 was the crossing, over which Washington passed when he 
 went through the town. Thus suggestive are the associa- 
 tions that cluster about the spot, and chime in with the nat- 
 ural loveliness that sometimes adorns it. When the mead- 
 ows grow green in the spring-time as the floods are passing 
 away, and the willows, standing in hedgerows like silent 
 sentinels, send forth their fragrant perfume, here surely is a 
 fit place for reflection, a suitable spot in winch to meditate 
 upon things that were long ago. 
 
 CAUSEWAY. 
 
 Westerly beyond the bridge was built a raised road or 
 causeway, which was sometimes called the ••Casey" or 
 "Carsey." This is a memorable piece of highway. Repeat- 
 edly has it been raised to place it above the floods. At one 
 time the work was apportioned by lot : and at another the 
 Legislature allowed the town to issue tickets for a grand 
 lottery, the avails of which were to be expended upon this 
 causeway. 
 
 Stakes were formerly set as safeguards to the traveler, that 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 97 
 
 he might not stray from the way. In 1653, it is recorded 
 that speedy measures were to be taken to repair the cause- 
 way and highways. Just when this causeway was built we 
 have found no record, but we infer that it was begun as early 
 as 1643, since at that time the cart-bridge was made, and 
 about that time the service of Thomas Noyes as ferryman 
 ceased. With the construction of a cart-bridge, the people 
 would naturally construct a cart causeway, since without this 
 a cart-bridge could be of no use for vehicles. The older 
 causeway is that which is a few rods west of the town bridge 
 further east, and takes a southwesterly course at the parting 
 of the ways. 
 
 GRIST-MILL. 
 
 Another necessary convenience to the settlers was a grist- 
 mill, or, as they expressed it, " a mill to grind the town's 
 corn." Such a mill was erected in the spring of 1639 by 
 Thomas Cakebread. The following is the record concerning 
 it: ''Granted to Thomas Cakebread for and in considera- 
 tion of building a mill, 40 a. of upland or thereabout now 
 adjoining to the mill, and a little piece of meadow down- 
 wards, and a piece of meadow upward, and which may be 16 
 or 20 a. or thereabout. Also there is given for his accommo- 
 dation for his estate 30 a. of meadow and 40 a. of upland." 
 (Town Records.) 
 
 Mr. Cakebread did not long live to make use of his mill. 
 His widow married Sargent John Grout, who took charge of 
 the property. "In 1643, the cranberry swamp formerly 
 granted to Antient Ensign Cakebread was confirmed to John 
 Grout, and there was granted to Sargent John Grout a swamp 
 lying by the house of Philemon Whale, to pen Avater for the 
 use of the mill, and of preparing it to remain for the use of 
 the town." 
 
 Probably the house of Philemon Whale was not far from 
 the present Concord road, near Wayland Centre, and pos- 
 sibly stood on the old cellar hole at the right of the road, 
 north of the Dana Parmenter house. The bridge at the 
 head of the mill-pond long bore the name of Whale's Bridge. 
 This mill stood on the spot where the present grist-mill 
 
98 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 stands, near Wayland Centre, and which has been known as 
 Reeves's, Grout's, and, more recently, Wight's mill. Some 
 of the original timber of the Cakebread INI ill is supposed to 
 be in the present structure. The stream by which it is run 
 is now small, but in early times it was probably somewhat 
 larger. The dimensions of the mill are larger than formerly, 
 it having been lengthened toward the west. 
 
 CHURCH. 
 
 The town now being laid out, and the necessary means for 
 securing a livelihood provided, the people turned their atten- 
 tion to ecclesiastical matters. The church was of paramount 
 importance to the early new England inhabitants. For its 
 privileges they had in part embarked for these far-off shores. 
 To preserve its purity they became pilgrims on earth, exiles 
 from friends and their native land. Borne hither with such 
 noble desires, we have evidence that when they arrived they 
 acted in accordance with them. In 1640 a church was orga- 
 nized, which was Congregational in government and Calvin- 
 istic in creed or faith. A copy of its covenant is still pre- 
 served. The church called to its pastorate Rev. Edmund 
 Brown, and elected Mr. William Brown deacon. It is sup- 
 posed that the installation of Rev. Edmund Brown was at 
 the time of the formation of the church. The town in se- 
 lecting Mr. Brown for its minister secured the services of 
 an energetic and devoted man. Edward Johnson says of 
 him, in his "Wonder-Working Providence," "The church 
 in Sudbury called to the office of a pastor the reverend, 
 godly and able minister of the word, Mr. Edmund Brown, 
 whose labors in the doctrine of Christ Jesus hath hitherto 
 abounded, wading through this wilderness work with much 
 cheerfulness of spirit, of whom as followeth : — 
 
 " Both night and day Brown ceaseth not to watch 
 
 Christ's little flock in pastures fresh them feed, 
 The worrying wolves shall not the weak lambs catch; 
 
 Well dost thou mind in wildernesse their breed. 
 Edmund, thy age is not so great but thou 
 
 Maist yet behold the Beast brought to her fall, 
 Earth's tottering Kingdome shew her legs gin bow, 
 
 Thou 'mongst Christ's Saints with prayers maist her mawle. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 99 
 
 " What signes wouldst have faith's courage for to rouse? 
 
 See Christ triumphant hath his armies led, 
 In Wildernesse prepar'd his lovely Spouse, 
 
 Caused Kings and Kingdomes his high hand to dread; 
 Thou seest his churches daily are increasing, 
 
 And though thyself amongst his worthyes warring, 
 Hold up thy hands, the battel's now increasing, 
 
 Christ's Kingdom's ay, it's past all mortall's marring." 
 
 The home of Mr. Brown was in the territory of Wayland, 
 by the south bank of Mill Brook, on what was called " Tim- 
 ber Neck." (See map of house-lots, Chapter V.) The house 
 was called in his will "Brunswick," which means "mansion 
 by the stream," and stood near the junction of Mill Brook 
 with the river, a little southeast of Farm Bridge, and nearly 
 opposite the Richard Heard place. Nothing now visible 
 marks the spot, bat both record and undisputed tradition 
 give its whereabouts. (For further of Mr. Brown see period 
 1675-1700.) Mr. Brown's salary the first year was to be 
 <£40, one-half to be paid in money, the other half in some 
 or all of these commodities : " Wheate, pees, butter, cheese, 
 porke, beefe, hemp and flax, at every quarters end." In the 
 maintenance of the pastor and church the town acted as in 
 secular matters. The church was for the town ; its records 
 were for a time town records. Civil and ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters were connected. If there was no state church, there 
 was a town church, a minister and meeting-house, that was 
 reached by and reached the masses. " Rates " were gath- 
 ered no more surely for the "king's tax " than to maintain 
 the ministry. To show the manner of raising the money for 
 the minister's salary shortly after his settlement, we insert 
 the following: "The first day of the second month, 1643. 
 It is agreed upon by the town that the Pastor shall [have] 
 for this year, beginning the first day of the first month, 
 thirty pound, to be gathered by rate and to be paid unto him 
 at two several payments, the first payment to be made one 
 month after midsummer, the other payment to be made one 
 month after Michaelmas, for the gathering of which the town 
 hath desired Mr. Pendleton and Walter Hayne to undertake 
 it, and also the town hath discharged the pastor from all 
 
100 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 rates, for this year, and the rate to be levied according to the 
 
 rate which was for the meeting-house, the invoice being 
 
 taken by John Freeman." Of the prosperity of this little 
 church, Johnson says, in his -Wonder-Working Providence," 
 "This church hath hitherto, been blessed with blessings of 
 the right hand, even godly peace and unity; they are not 
 above 50 or GO families and about 80 souls in church fellow- 
 ship, their Neat head about 300." 
 
 MEETING-HOUSE. 
 
 A church formed and pastor secured, an early movement 
 was made for a meeting-house. 
 
 "'Mid forests unsubdued 
 
 The Sabbath dome rose fair, 
 And in their rude unsheltered homes 
 Was heard the call — to prayer." 
 
 Simes. 
 
 The spot selected was at what is now the "Old Burying- 
 ground," in Wayland. The building stood in its westerly 
 part, and a few rods northerly of the Sudbury Centre and 
 Wayland highway. The site is marked by a slight embank- 
 ment, and by a row of evergreens set by Mr. J. S. Draper. 
 The house was built by John Rutter, and the contract was 
 
 as follows : — 
 
 " February 17th, 1CA2. 
 
 " It is agreed between the townsmen of this town on the 
 
 one part, and John Rutter on the other part, that the said 
 
 John Rutter for his part, shall fell, saw. hew and frame a 
 
 house for a meeting-house thirty foot long, twenty foot wide, 
 
 eight foot between joint three foot between, stude two cross 
 
 dorments in the house six clear story windows, two with 
 
 four lights apiece, and four with three lights apiece, and to 
 
 ententise between the stude, which frame is to be made 
 
 ready to raise the first week in May next. 
 
 "John Rutter. 
 
 "And the town for their part do covenant to draw all the 
 timber to place, and to help to raise the house being framed 
 and also to pay to the said John Rutter for the said work 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 101 
 
 six pounds, that is to say, three pound to be paid in corn 
 
 at three shillings a bushel, or in money, in and upon this 
 
 twenty seventh day, of this present month, and the other 
 
 three pounds to be paid in money, corn and cattle to be 
 
 prized by two men of the town, one to be chosen by the 
 
 town and the other to be chosen by John Rutter, and to be 
 
 paid at the time that the frame is by the said John Rutter 
 
 finished. 
 
 " Peter Noyse, Walter Haynes, 
 
 "Brian Pendleton, John How, 
 "William Ward, Thomas Whyte." 
 
 (Town Book, p. 27.) 
 
 An act relative to the raising and locating of the building is 
 the following, dated May, 1643: The town "agreed that the 
 meeting-house shall stand upon the hillside, before the house- 
 lot of John Loker, on the other side of the way ; also that 
 every inhabitant that hath a house-lot shall attend [the rais- 
 ing of] the new meeting-house, or send a sufficient man to 
 help raise the meeting-house." The year after the contract 
 was made a rate was ordered for the finishing of the house, 
 to be raised on "meadow and upland and all manner of 
 cattle above a quarter old, to be prized as they were for- 
 merly: Shoates at 6 shillings 8 pence apiece, kids at 4 shil- 
 lings apiece." 
 
 A further record of the meeting-house is as follows : — 
 
 "Nov. 5th, 1645. 
 " It is ordered that all those who are appointed to have 
 seats in the meeting-house that they shall bring in their first 
 payment for their seats to Hugh Griffin or agree with him 
 between this and the 14th day of this month, which is on 
 Friday next week and those that are (deficient) we do 
 hereby give power to the Marshall to distrain both for their 
 payment for their seats and also for the Marshall's own labor 
 according to a former order twelve pence. 
 
 "Walter Hayne, William Warde. 
 
 "Edmund Goodnow, John Reddicke, 
 
 " Hugh Griffin." 
 
102 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Considerable importance was attached in the early times 
 to the seating of people in the meeting-house, and in the 
 records of new houses of worship mention is made of this 
 matter. Respect was had to social condition and circum- 
 stance ; committees were chosen to adjust these matters in 
 the payment of rates, and references are made in the records 
 of town-meeting to the requests of parties about their seats 
 in the meeting-house. A rule that was general was, that 
 the men should sit at one end of the pew and the women at 
 the other. In the third meeting-house erected in Sudbury 
 it was a part of a plan that the pews should be so arranged 
 as to seat seven men on one side and seven women on the 
 other. In this first meeting-house of Sudbury, the people 
 purchasing seats had a right to dispose of their purchase, in 
 case they should leave the settlement ; but the right was 
 reserved by the town of seating the parties who purchased, 
 as is declared by the following record, Jan.- 26, 1645 : It was 
 "ordered, that all those that pay for seats in the meeting- 
 house shall have leave to sell as many seats as they pay for, 
 provided, they leave the seating of the persons to whom they 
 sell, to the church officers, to seat them if they themselves 
 go out of town." About this first meeting-house a burial 
 place was soon started. No land purchase was made for this 
 purpose until subsequent years (see chapter on Cemeteries), 
 but. after the old English custom, graves were gathered about 
 the church. The services held in the first meeting-house 
 were probably like those held in other houses of the period. 
 There were two sermons on Sunday, with a short intermis- 
 sion at noon. The sermon was usually about an hour in 
 length, and the time of preaching was measured by an hour- 
 glass that was placed in the pulpit. Long prayers, if not in 
 favor, were in use ; and the minister prayed for the practical 
 needs of his little flock, detailing in his supplications the 
 wants of the sick, the sorrowful, the sinful, and asking that 
 all things might be sanctified to the soul's spiritual good. 
 Strangers were sometimes asked to exhort or prophesy. 
 Scripture reading, except reading the text, and incidental 
 readings in the course of the sermon, was not known in the 
 early churches. We are informed by Mr. Loring's Diary 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 103 
 
 that the reading o'f the Scriptures, as a part of the Sabbath 
 service, was introduced into the Sudbury church, without 
 opposition, in 1748. When the Scriptures were read, an 
 exposition was expected ; and without this it was called 
 " dumb reading." The church music was of a congrega- 
 tional character, and made use of for worship. There were 
 no useless mummeries of meaningless tunes. Most of the 
 churches for a time after 1640 used "The Bay Psalm Book," 
 which was gotten up by New England ministers, and which 
 was the second hymn book used in British America. It is 
 stated (Palfrey) that, for three-quarters of a century, not 
 more than ten different tunes were used in public worship, 
 among which were "York," "Hackney," "St. Martyns," 
 "Windsor," and "St. Marys." The people were called to 
 meeting by the beating of a drum. In a record, bearing date 
 1652, is a statement as follows: "It shall be agreed with 
 Edmund Goodenow, that his son shall beat the Drum twice 
 every lecture day, and twice every forenoon, and twice every 
 afternoon upon every Lord's day, to give notice what time to 
 come to meeting; for which the town will give him twenty 
 shillings a year — and to pay him in the town rates." This 
 son of Edmund Goodenow was John, as the records state 
 that, in 1654, " John Goodenow was discharged from the 
 town's engagement for beating the drum to call persons to 
 meeting." A sexton was soon appointed, and it is recorded 
 that, in 1644, John Toll was to " make clean the meeting- 
 house for one year, and to have for his labor six shillings, 
 eight pence." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Land Divisions. — Origin of the Terms " Common " and " Lot."— Per- 
 mission of Colonial Court for Land Division. — Principles upon which 
 Land Divisions were Made.— The Meadows a Basis of Division.— 
 Meadow Rights, or Meadow Dividends.— Rules of Division. — Quan- 
 tity of Meadow Received in Three Early Allotments.— Division of 
 Upland.— Town's Common or Undivided Lands.— Proprietors' Com- 
 mon or Undivided Lands. — Proprietors' Meetings subsequent to 
 1700.— Specimens of their Records.— Land Allotments to be Re- 
 corded.— Cow Common.— Land for the Support of the Ministry.— 
 Reservations for "Planting Fields," a "Training Field," a Mill, a 
 Pasture for " Working Oxen," Timber Land. 
 
 These are the records, half effaced, 
 
 Which, with the hand of youth, he traced 
 
 On History's page. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 The settlers had little more than got fairly located at the 
 plantation, when they began dividing their territory, and 
 apportioning it in parcels to the inhabitants. Before these 
 divisions were made there were no private estates, except 
 such house-lots and few acres as were assigned at the outset 
 for the settler's encouragement or help, or such land tracts 
 as were obtained by special grant from the Colonial Court. 
 But divisions soon came. Piece afterpiece was apportioned, 
 and ] Kissed into private possession. Soon but little of the 
 public domain was left, save small patches at the junction of 
 roads, or some reservation for a school-house, meeting-house 
 or pound, or plot for the village-green. 
 
 From common land, which the undivided territory was 
 called, has come the word " common " as applied to a town 
 common, park or public square. And from the division of 
 land by lot, the term " lot" has come into use, as " meadow- 
 lot;' " wood-lot," and " house-lot." The early land divisions 
 
 104 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 105 
 
 were made, on permission of the Colonial Court, by such 
 commissioners as the town or court might appoint. As a 
 specimen of these permits, we give the following : — 
 
 "A Generall Court, holden at Boston the 4 th Day of the 
 7 th month 1639. 
 
 " The order of the Court, vpon the petition of the inhabi- 
 tants of Sudbury, is, that Peter Noyes, Bryan Pendleton, J 
 [John] Parmm A [Parmenter], Edmond B [Brown], Walter 
 Hayne, George Moning, & Edmond Rise have comission to lay 
 out lands to the p'sent inhabitants, according to their estates 
 & persons & that Capt Jeanison, M r Mayhewe, M r Flint, M r 
 Samuel Sheopard, & John Bridge, or any 3 of them, shall, in 
 convenient time, repaire to the said towne, & set out such 
 land and accomodations, both for house-lots & otherwise, 
 both for M r Pelham & M r Walgrave, as they shall think suit- 
 able to their estates, to bee reserved for them if they shall 
 come to inhabite them in convenient time, as the Court shall 
 think [fit]." 
 
 But while these divisions were by the permission of the 
 court, the principles of division were largely left to the peo- 
 ple themselves ; and in the early New England towns various 
 methods were adopted, in accordance with the plan or com- 
 pact on which the plantation was formed. In more or less of 
 the towns, the petitioners for a land tract of which a town 
 was to be composed were a company of proprietors which 
 might correspond to a corporation of to-day. They had a 
 moderator, clerk, record book, and committee. The officials 
 of these proprietaries, before a place was incorporated, per- 
 formed functions to some extent corresponding to those of 
 town officials afterwards. The committees corresponded to 
 the town's selectmen, the clerk to a town clerk, and the pro- 
 prietors' books to town records. The proprietors' books were 
 not only a record of their proceedings, but served also as a 
 registry of deeds, and were the evidence of land sales, bound- 
 aries, etc. 
 
 These companies or proprietors could, by majority vote, 
 divide up and dispose of their land in a way subject only to 
 
106 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the terms of the proprietors- compact, to restrictions of the 
 court and the common law. When the plantation by incor- 
 poration became a town, the proprietors did not lose their 
 original territorial rights, but the principle of ownership and 
 control was the same as before. If, when the place was a 
 plantation or proprietary, a person owned certain shares in 
 the territory by reason of money paid in, or as a reward or 
 recompense for some service performed, when it became a 
 town he retained his right to those shares and the rights that 
 appertained to them ; and when the lands were divided those 
 rights would be allowed. Hence, whether it were plantation 
 or town when the division of land was made, though the act 
 of division was subject to a majority vote, the mode of divis- 
 ion was to have reference to the original right of every 
 
 grantee. 
 
 The town of Sudbury, as a plantation, was formed on 
 what we consider the proprietary principle. The persons 
 that petitioned for the land tract, and those whom they 
 represented, or, in other words, the original grantees, at 
 first possessed the whole territory. In their collective 
 capacity, they had power to divide up their lands or keep 
 them as common property ; but when divisions were made, 
 it must be done in an equitable manner, that is, in proportion 
 as each had paid in, or in proportion to the value of the orig- 
 inal right ; or they were to dispose of them in such a way as 
 was, by general consent, for the common good of the com- 
 pany, as°the selling of land to meet public expenses, or the 
 granting of it as a gratuity to help on the settlement ; or the 
 setting apart of a portion of it for a common pasture. But 
 while the town had a right to do any or all of these things, 
 as a matter of fact it did not at first divide up all of its land, 
 except the meadows. These it divided proportionably, as 
 we have stated, and the meadows being thus divided, became 
 the basis of future allowance and rights ; in other words, it 
 is supposed that the settlers put into the enterprise different 
 amounts of money, and received meadow lands in proportion 
 to what each put in ; and that, on the basis of the amount of 
 meadow received, rates were raised for public purposes, and 
 certain rights were possessed— as the right of commonage, or 
 

 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 107 
 
 to divisions of uplands. So far as we know, no lands were 
 sold at the outset solely and directly to construct public 
 works, or to pay for a foot of the common territory. 
 
 Thus the division of meadow land was an important 
 transaction. It was not only a disposal of common prop- 
 erty of the proprietors, bnt it established a standard of 
 rates, and in a certain sense of valuation. For example, 
 money to pay for land purchased of Karto was to " be gath- 
 ered according to such quantity of meadow as are granted to 
 the inhabitants of the town." In the division of "uplands," 
 the rule of receiving was according as a person was possessed 
 of "meadow." In the pasturage of the extensive cow com- 
 mon, the people were to be limited in the number of cattle 
 put in by their meadows, or their rates as based upon them. 
 
 In the erection of the meeting-house and pay of the minister 
 reference was had to rates paid on the meadows. Perhaps the 
 meadows thus assigned might properly be termed "meadow- 
 rights." As in some places the "acre-right" would procure 
 lands or privileges in proportion to the part paid into the com- 
 mon venture by the proprietor, so in Sudbury the meadow-right 
 might do likewise ; and a person who possessed an original 
 meadow-right might possess a right to subsequent land allot- 
 ments, or the right of his cattle to commonage, so long as the 
 town had undivided territory. Thus it might be said that the 
 proprietors received values on their investment in the enter- 
 prise, not by monied divisions, but by land divisions. Hence, 
 these divisions of land might be called the dividends of those 
 early days, and the money raised by the town on the basis of 
 these early divisions of meadow might be called assessments 
 on the stock made to meet public expenses. We conclude that 
 these meadow-rights or dividends were merchantable, to the 
 extent that a person in selling them might or might not con- 
 vey the right that belonged to them, as related to commonage 
 and other allotments. The lands that were given by gratu- 
 lation, for worthiness or work done for the public, might 
 or might not have the privileges of an original meadow- 
 right or dividend. In raising money to pay Karto for the 
 land which the town last bought of him, it was ordered 
 that " all meadow was to pay at one price, and that all 
 
108 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 meadow given by way of gratulation should have right of 
 commonage." 
 
 That the original grantees, and those subsequently given 
 the privileges of such, as a "gratulation" for services per- 
 formed for the settlers, could transfer the right to subsequent 
 divisions of the common and undivided land, is indicated by 
 the records of the proceedings of the proprietors of these 
 lands many years after the settlement of Sudbury. In the 
 Proprietors' Book of Records, as will be noticed further along, 
 are given repeated lists of the names of the early grantees, 
 even after the most if not all of them had passed away. 
 These lists are referred to as those possessing an original 
 right to the town's undivided land, and may indicate that 
 wherever or whenever one possessed that right as it had been 
 conveyed through the years, in whatever way, that person 
 could claim land when a division was made, or could vote on 
 the disposal of the proprietors' undivided territory. 
 
 With this explanation, or setting forth of the principles of 
 division, we are prepared to notice the divisions themselves, 
 which are of two kinds : first, those made as an encourage- 
 ment and help to the settlement ; second, those made on the 
 principle of meadow dividends or meadow rights. The divis- 
 ions made under the first head were probably two. The 
 first of them was that of house-lots, which, as we have said. 
 comprised only a comparatively small area, perhaps sufficient 
 for a garden or orchard, and a small clearing about the door, 
 and intended as an encouragement to the owner to continue 
 there as a citizen. It is supposed these lots were given in an 
 equable manner, the average being about four or five acres ; 
 and when there is much variation from this, it was doubtless 
 to make up for inequality of situation, soil, or some circum- 
 stance which called for exception. It mattered not whether 
 married or unmarried, each received a like lot. As a rule, it 
 was expected that those receiving lots should build upon 
 them, as the Colony Records state (Vol I., p. 222) that "Mr. 
 Pelham and Walgrave are granted their lots at Sudbury abso- 
 lutely w th out condition of dwelling there only Mr. Pelham 
 p mised to build a house and settle a family there & to be 
 there as much as he could in the summer time.*' 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 109 
 
 It was essential that the plantation should be peopled. The 
 condition of the grant by the Colonial Court was, that there 
 should be settled a certain number of families within a speci- 
 fied time ; and, in case of failure, the lands were forfeited. 
 It was an object, then, to encourage settlement by the gift of 
 a lot for a homestead, and so much land as was essential to 
 give the settler a start. Beside this first allotment for homes, 
 at an early period an allotment was made of meadows, which 
 may have also been for encouragement and help. An early 
 rule for the apportionment of meadow, which we think may 
 have been for this purpose, is this : — 
 
 "It was ordered and agreed that the meadows of the town 
 of Sudbury shall be laid out and given to the present inhab- 
 itants, as much as shall be thought meet according to this 
 rule following:. 
 
 Imprimis. To every Mr of a ffamilie 6 akers. 
 To every wiffe 6A akers. 
 
 To every child 1|- akers. 
 
 To every mare, cow, ox, or any other cattle that may amount 
 to 20 £ or so much money 3 akers." 
 
 We conjecture that lands given by this rule were for 
 encouragement, from the fact that a house-lot of itself would 
 not suffice to give a support, or afford food for the cattle. It- 
 was also essential that some meadow should at first be allowed 
 on other than a property basis, as was the case in other divis- 
 ions. The larger the household and the cattle herd, the more 
 need of much meadow. We have no record to inform us 
 how much meadow was assigned by this rule. By other 
 rules, about a thousand acres, more or less, were divided; and 
 if there were fifteen hundred acres of meadow in the grant 
 which the court allowed, supposing as much was found to 
 exist there, then about five hundred may have been divided 
 in this way. By this rule, the settlers who came on the ship 
 "Confidence " would receive about a hundred acres, allowing 
 a fair amount for their stock. 
 
 We come now to consider the second class of divisions 
 referred to, viz. : those of the meadow lands which were to 
 
HO HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 be as land dividends, or as the basis of assessments for raising 
 money to meet public expenses, or for the allotment of other 
 lands. It is supposed that three such divisions of meadow 
 were made on different occasions, all before the close of the 
 year 1(340. An original record of these divisions has been 
 given on the town books, but it is now so worn that parts of 
 it are entirely gone. It is placed early in the first book, and 
 some one has added to it the date 1638, which is incorrect, 
 since no divisions were made so soon. In another part of 
 the first town book (p. 137) is found another list, signed by 
 John Grout, a subsequent clerk. The list was probably 
 copied by him from the original, before it became so defaced, 
 or the lost part may have been restored by him from his per- 
 sonal knowledge, or from some source not now extant. Still 
 another list is given in the Stearns' Collection, written by 
 Noah Clapp ; and other lists are given in the Proprietors' 
 Book. We give the first list found in the original town book 
 so far as it can be read, together with the preamble, and com- 
 plete the list from the point where the part is wanting by the 
 list of John Grout : — 
 
 "A record of the names of the Inhabitants of Sudbury, 
 with their several quantity of meadow to every one granted 
 according to their estates or granted by gratulation for ser- 
 vices granted by them, which meadow is ratable upon all 
 common charges. 
 
 Imprimis 
 M r William Pelham 
 M r Edmund Brown 
 M T Noyse 
 Bryan Pendleton 
 Walter llaine 
 John Ilayne 
 John Blandford 
 hugh Grifr'vn 
 Edmond Goodnowe 
 Bobert Beast 
 Thomas Noyse 
 Thomas Browne 
 
 The first 
 
 
 
 Gratu- 
 
 division. 
 
 Second. 
 
 Third. 
 
 lation. 
 
 m 
 
 :;- 
 
 25 
 
 
 16i 
 
 33i 
 
 25 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 32 
 
 24 
 
 
 13i 
 
 3<H 
 
 22 
 
 16 
 
 13i 
 
 29i 
 
 ■2-2h 
 
 10 
 
 01 
 
 -2 
 
 5* 
 
 4 
 
 
 H 
 
 4 
 
 2| 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 5i 
 
 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 
 H 
 
 T£ 
 
 bh 
 
 
 -H 
 
 10 
 
 T± 
 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 m 
 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 
 The first 
 division. 
 
 Second. 
 
 Third. 
 
 William Browne 
 
 2* 
 
 3 
 
 93 
 
 ^4 
 
 Robert Darnill 
 
 8 
 
 17 
 
 19i 
 
 2 
 
 Thomas Good now 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 John Freeman 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 Solomon Johnson 
 
 
 
 
 william ward 
 
 4i 
 
 11 
 
 7| 
 
 Richard Newton 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 John Howe 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 George Munnings 
 
 H 
 
 7 
 
 5* 
 
 Anthony whyte 
 
 3 
 
 6i 
 
 4| 
 
 Andrew Belcher 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 6i 
 
 John Goodnowe 
 
 2| 
 
 9 
 
 5| 
 
 John Reddock 
 
 2i 
 
 5 
 
 | 
 
 Thomas Whyte 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 7* 
 
 John Parmenter Senior 
 
 6* 
 
 12 
 
 8| 
 
 Edmoncl Rice 
 
 9i 
 
 19 
 
 14^ 
 
 Henry Rice 
 
 8 
 
 
 4 
 
 wyddow Buffumthwyte 
 
 7 
 
 3i 
 
 o 2 
 
 
 Henry Curtis 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 John Stone 
 
 2 
 
 ^2 
 
 4| 
 
 John Parmenter Jun 
 
 2 
 
 6* 
 
 3| 
 
 John Rutter 
 
 
 
 
 Gratu- 
 lation. 
 
 10 
 
 The following names are from 
 the list of John Grout : — 
 
 John Toll 
 
 5 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 John Wood 
 
 8* 
 
 7 
 
 6* 
 
 
 Henry Loker 
 
 1 
 
 8* 
 
 91 
 
 w 4 
 
 
 John Loker 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 Widow Wright 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 
 John Bent 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 10i 
 
 4 
 
 Nathaniell Treadway 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 n 
 
 
 Widow Hunt 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 John Maynard 
 
 11 
 
 
 4i 
 
 3 
 
 Joseph Taintor 
 
 1* 
 
 5 
 
 3| 
 
 
 Richard Fordom 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 Thomas Cakbread 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 Mr. Herbert Pelham 
 
 
 
 
 
112 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The first Gratu- 
 
 division. Second. Third. lation. 
 
 Mr. Glover 
 
 Richard Bitlcom (Bildcome) 
 
 Robert Davis 
 
 Henry Prentis H 4 2| 3 
 
 W m Kerly 
 
 Beside the list in this tabulated form, we have a record on 
 the town book of the first two divisions of meadow, together 
 with the reason assigned for the record and for the divisions 
 of land, and also, in some cases, the locations of the lands. 
 This record, which is as follows, Ave give in the order that is 
 found in the book : — 
 
 " It is ordered that all the inhabitants of this town shall 
 have | of their total meadows laid out this present year, 
 viz. : the first divided according to discretion, and the sec- 
 ond by lot, and the quantity of every man's particular sum 
 amounts to the sum following. 
 
 " Here followeth a record of the particular quantity of the 
 acres of meadows, which were laid out in the first division 
 unto the inhabitants, as they lie successively upon the great 
 River, with the allowance of such acres which were added 
 to supply for the badness to be a proportionate rule to the 
 inhabitants." 
 
 " The 22 nd day of February 1639. 
 
 41 It is ordered and agreed that whereas now the commis- 
 sioners of Sudbury have a levy to gather some money to pay 
 for the purchase of our plantation, and also other rates for 
 divers occasions, do order that all our rates shall now be gath- 
 ered according to such quantity of meadows as are granted 
 to the inhabitants of the town according to the rate or fixed 
 propotion, as in pages following, which we have annexed for 
 future reference. 
 
 " Impr To Henry Prentise was laid out 1A acres being his 
 just quantity is to be rated for, and lieith on the north side 
 of Bridle Point, so called now, and on the other side of the 
 river, and adjoineth to the brook, the end bounded by marked 
 stakes. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 113 
 
 John Parmenter Junior 
 
 Acres. 
 
 John How 
 
 Acres. 
 
 2* 
 
 Richard Newton 
 Andrew Belcher 
 Peter Noyse 
 William Parker 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 16 
 
 1* 
 
 and an acre for allowance 
 Hugh Griffyn 2 
 
 and 1^ acres for allowance 
 Thomas Whyte 5 
 
 Thomas Browne 
 
 7 
 
 and 3 for allowance 
 
 
 John Parmenter Senior 5* 
 and 2 acres for allowance 
 
 Joseph Tayntor 
 
 1 acre for allowance 
 
 % 
 
 Henry Loker 
 John Goodnow 
 John Wood 
 
 1* 
 
 John Blandford 
 
 £ acre for allowance 
 Bryan Pendleton 
 
 1* 
 12* 
 
 Robert Hunt 
 
 l 
 
 1 acre for allowance 
 
 
 Richard Whyte 
 Thomas Goodnow 
 
 o 
 2 
 
 Edmond Browne 
 1\ for allowance 
 
 16* 
 
 Anthony White 
 John Bent 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 George Munnings 
 3^ for allowance 
 
 3* 
 
 Widow Noyes 
 
 2 
 
 Walter Haynes 
 
 13* 
 
 William Browne 
 
 1 
 
 James Buckmaster 
 
 3 
 
 The Minister's Meadow 
 
 
 John Freeman 
 
 4 
 
 Thomas Joslyn 
 Edmond Goodnow 
 
 1 
 
 ''2 
 
 Goodman Witherill 
 Solomon Johnson 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 Thomas Hayne 
 
 ^2 
 
 John Knight • 
 
 16* 
 
 John Loker 
 Robert Beast 
 
 1 
 
 Nathaniell Treadaway 
 Henry Curtise 
 
 5 
 1 
 
 Robert Darnell 
 
 8* 
 
 John Stone 
 
 2 
 
 Thomas Noyse 
 John Maynard 
 
 1* 
 
 John Reddicke 
 William Pellam 
 
 2* 
 16i 
 
 and one acre for allowance. 
 
 " Here followeth a record of the particular quantity of the 
 acres of meadow which now laid out in the second division 
 of them unto the inhabitants, as they fall to them by lot. 
 
 
 Acres. 
 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Impr. John How 
 
 4 
 
 Goodman Witherill 
 
 4 
 
 Bryan Pendleton 
 
 301 
 
 Hugh Griffin 
 
 5 
 
 The Ministers Meadow 
 
 
 Robert Hunt 
 
 3 
 
 Nathaniel Tread way 
 
 10 
 
 Richard Newton 
 
 4 
 
 James Buckmaster 
 
 7 
 
 Thomas Flyn 
 
 3 
 
114 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 John Parmenter Senior 
 John Ruddicke 
 John Blandford 
 John Wood 
 Thomas Haynes 
 William Brown 
 Richard Whyte 
 Thomas Goodnow 
 Andrew Belcher 
 Widow Noyse 
 William Pellam 
 Thomas Browne 
 John Stone 
 Henry Loker 
 
 Acres. 
 
 12 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 5* 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 33i 
 16 
 
 H 
 
 Robert Darnell 
 Henry Curtys 
 
 Robert Beast 
 John Goodnow 
 Edmond Goodnow 
 8 for allowance 
 George Mannings 
 4 for allowance 
 Anthony Whyte 
 Henry Prentise 
 John Parmenter Junior 
 William Parker 
 Edmund Rice 
 Solomon Johnson 
 
 Acres. 
 
 17 
 3 
 
 114 
 
 6i 
 
 4~ 
 
 "Peter Noyse had the moiety of his second addition of 
 meadows, his 16 acres, laid out below next Concord bounds 
 and he has laid out 6 acres more next adjoining unto 20 
 acres laid out unto Edmond Browne, about and against the 
 Bridle Point. Now in case the said Peter shall be inhibited 
 from the enjoying of the said 16 acres last specified, it shall 
 be lawful for the said Peter to have it laid out upon or in 
 any meadow not laid out to any. 
 
 " Edmond Browne is to have 15 acres for his second addi- 
 tion, in part lying about the timber neck on the south side, 
 if he accepteth it, and 20 acres laid out next over bridle 
 point, which 2 acres if he shall not enjoy, or if Mr. Pellam 
 cometh not up he is then to choose where he will have it 
 laid out and upon any meadow that shall be assigned by and 
 of Mr Herbert Pellam 
 " 20 th 2 m : 
 
 " Edmond Brown, Peter Noyse, 
 "Bryan Pendleton, Walter Haynes, 
 " Edmund Rice, George Munnings." 
 
 Beside the foregoing record of the first two divisions, there 
 is a record, which directly follows, of an -addition" made 
 Nov. 18, 1640, which is this : — 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 115 
 
 " We whose names are under written being chosen by the 
 town of Sudbury, and part in commission for to assign to the 
 inhabitants of such land as by order was given them which 
 was called the third additions, have affixed unto them as 
 followeth, the eighteenth day of November 1640. 
 
 " Granted unto 
 
 Acres. Acres. 
 
 John Knight 55 
 
 Hugh Griffin 20 
 
 These lands lie at gravel pitte. 
 
 Joseph Ta}-ntor 
 
 1 2 
 
 To John Stone 
 
 Nathaniel Treadaway 
 
 Henry Curtys 
 
 John Reddicke 
 
 Edmond Rice 
 
 Edmond Goodenough 7| 
 
 Upon the south side of the land last above written. 
 
 9 
 
 John Wood 
 
 4 
 
 16i 
 
 William Ward 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 John Freeman 
 
 13 
 
 9} 
 
 Solomon Johnson 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 John Knight 
 
 6 
 
 Acres. 
 
 38 
 
 67 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 22 
 18 
 17 
 25 
 
 8 
 18 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 6* 
 
 Widow Hunt 
 John Bent 
 John Maynard 
 Thomas Jslyn 
 Andrew Belcher 
 Thomas Goodnough 
 Mr. Noyse 
 William Brown 
 Thomas Brown 
 Anthony Whyte 
 Thomas Cakbread 
 John Parmenter Sr 
 Henry Loker 
 John Goodnough 
 John Wood 
 Widow Rite 
 John Loker 
 
 Acres. 
 
 A 1 - 
 23 
 
 9 
 
 4 1 
 14 
 
 8* 
 
 53 
 18 
 29 
 
 Brian Pendleton 
 Walter Ha} r nes and John 
 
 Haynes 
 Edmond Goodenough 
 John Goodenough 
 William Kerly 
 Robert Beast 
 Thomas Noyse 
 John Waterman 
 Walter Haynes 
 Bryan Pendleton 
 John Blandford 
 Edmond Rice 
 John Howe 
 Robert Darnill 
 Henry Prentiss 
 John Parmenter Jn 
 Richard Newton 
 
 "Peter Noyse, Bryan Pendleton, Edmond Rice, Walter 
 Haynes, Edmund Goodnough." 
 
 10± 
 
 44 
 
 191 
 
 11| 
 8* 
 
116 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Such are some of the larger land divisions recorded in the 
 earlier days of the town, and before the division of the new 
 grant on the west side. Other divisions took place as the 
 years went by. Not only the meadows but the uplands 
 were parcelled out and apportioned, some for public use, 
 some to the early grantees, and some to individuals in return 
 for value or service. 
 
 In 1642 an addition of upland was made "in acres accord- 
 ing to the 1st and 2ond divisions of meadows granted unto 
 them by the rule of their estate ; and Peter Noyes, Bryan 
 Pendleton, George Munnings, Edmund Rice and Edmund 
 Goodenow were to have power to lay oat the -3d division at 
 their discretion." 
 
 In 1678 John Loker was to have for a house and some 
 land which the town desired of him for the minister, and 
 which was situated just west of the meeting-house, " twenty 
 pounds of money of New England, and also forty acres of 
 land on the west side of the great river of Sudbury, in some 
 place of the common land, that he, the said John Loker, shall 
 choose, near to that called the World's End. Only it is to 
 be on the eastern side of the highway, that there leads from 
 Pantry Bridge to Concord, and lieth also on the north side of 
 the Pantry and Gulf meadows." 
 
 Rev. Mr. Sherman, also, about the same time, was to have 
 "six acres of common upland, being on the back side of the 
 town, at the end of Smith field; and also six acres of meadow 
 ground, some where out of the common meadows of this 
 town." He was also to pasture his cattle on the common 
 lands, and have firewood and timber from them. 
 
 These records show that a variety and abundance of terri- 
 tory was at the disposal of the town as late as towards the 
 last of the seventeenth century; but years after the town 
 had ceased to apportion undivided lands to the inhabitants, 
 and the original grantees were all or nearly all dead, there 
 existed a portion of territory owned and controlled by par- 
 ties who were called in their record book ' k y e Proprietors of 
 y e Common and undivided land in Sudbury."' These pro- 
 prietors based their claim to this property on the transferred 
 ownership and right of the original grantees. These proprie- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 117 
 
 tors met at times far along into the eighteenth century. The}- 
 kept a record of their meetings, transacted business in an 
 orderly way, and determined matters by majority vote. By 
 their records we learn that thej r sold and gave away lands, 
 discontinued and laid out highways, and allowed territory to 
 the town for public purposes. About the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century the persons making up this proprietary, 
 as given in their records, are as follows : — 
 
 Thomas Frink, 
 
 Win. Jennison, 
 
 Peter Jennison, 
 
 David Hay nes, 
 
 Peter Haynes, 
 
 Samuel Wright, 
 
 Widow Blandford, 
 
 Jonas Rice, 
 
 Caleb Jonson, 
 
 Samuel Howe, 
 
 Attorney for Mr. Ed. Pelham, 
 
 Thomas Reed, 
 
 John Smith, 
 
 Thomas Godfrey, 
 
 Joseph Moore, 
 
 Benjamin Moore, 
 
 Jonathan Griffin, 
 
 Thomas Brown, 
 
 John Allen, 
 Jonas Barnard, 
 Joseph Noyes, 
 John Grout, 
 Jonathan Rice, 
 John Adams, 
 John Parmenter, 
 Elisha Rice, 
 Nathaniel Rice, 
 Samuel Graves, 
 Jonathan Grout, 
 Benjamin Parmenter, 
 James Reed, 
 John Long, 
 John Loker, 
 John Haynes, 
 Hopestill Bent, 
 Thomas Brown, Jr. 
 
 The names of the proprietors changed as the years passed 
 by. They held their meetings at a private residence, and 
 one house is designated on their records as the place where 
 they convened for years. Their lands were widely scattered 
 throughout the town, and were divided sometimes by lot. 
 When a difference existed that was hot settled among them- 
 selves, they referred the matter to others. In 1705 a com- 
 mittee, consisting of Edward Goffe, Joseph Noyes and Joseph 
 Sherman, were chosen by the proprietors for the adjustment 
 of matters relating to their division, and the following is the 
 report, Sudbury, March 15, 1705 : — 
 
118 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 "We whose names are underwritten being chosen as a 
 committee by the Proprietors of the Common Land in Sud- 
 bury to adjust and settle the difference between persons 
 drawing their rights in the division of common land either 
 by rate or by meadow we the subscribers do agree that he 
 that hath right in the common land by his meadow and 
 chooses to draw by his rate our opinion is that every person 
 who hath a right in ye common by virtue of his meadow and 
 chooses to draw by his rate made in the year 1655 that two 
 shillings in s d rate shall be equal in proportion with y e right 
 of one acre of meadow provided the rate did arise upon their 
 own proper estate. 
 
 "Edward Noyes, Joseph Notes, Joseph Sherman." 
 
 Thus at an early date was the land tract first assigned by 
 the Colonial Court for the settlement apportioned and set 
 apart for private and public purposes. Little, doubtless, did 
 those early inhabitants conceive of the changed condition 
 that a century would bring forth. Little did they think that 
 their meadow paths would become county roads, and their 
 cow commons the site of thriving villages. 
 
 A few specimens of the proprietors' records may serve to 
 show something of the character and doings of " y e Proprie- 
 tors of y e Common and Undivided lands of Sudbury : " — 
 
 " Sudbury, Janary y e 15 th 1705. 
 
 "Att a meeting of The Proprietors of y e Common and 
 undivided Land In Sudbury Tho Browne was Chosen mod- 
 erator To Cary on y e work of Sd Day By a vote of y e Pro- 
 prietors of The Common and undivided Land in Sudbury 
 Thomas Prink was Chosen and Sworn, at y c above sd meet- 
 ing, To Perform y e office of a Clark for y e proprietor as above 
 sd. By Thomas Brown Justes of y e peace. 
 
 "Att y e above s d meeting, voted y l y e proprietors of y e Com- 
 mon and undivided land In Sudbury will Lay out all or part 
 of Their undivided Lands In Sudbury. Att y e above sd 
 meeting voted y 1 Samuell King ** Graves William Jenison 
 Are Chosen a Commitey to prosecute Those y' have or Shall 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 119 
 
 Traspass In falling of wood or timber on our undivided 
 lands." 
 
 "Sudbury, febuary 18 th 1707-8. 
 
 " Upon the Consideration of the Great Strip and waste of 
 y e wood and timber In the Comon or undivided Land In 
 Sudbury, and in an espesiall manner In the Lands called the 
 Cow Comons, for the prevention hereof we the Commetey 
 hereafter named Doe notefy the Proprietors of said Common 
 or undivided Land, to meet at the House of Susanna Blan- 
 ford on tuesday the 24 th of this Instant, feburary at ten of 
 the Clock on said Day, then and there to take sum speedy 
 Care for the prevention thereof, By Laying out said Lands 
 Either part of it or the whole, Either In said Cow Commons 
 or without the Cow commons : or any other Business said 
 Proprietors shall see cause to act or Doe when meet on said 
 Day." 
 
 "Sudbury October 24 th , 1710 at a meeting of y e Proprie- 
 tors Of y e Common and undivided Land in Sudbury which 
 meeting was by adjournment from Sept 19 1710 Cap John 
 Goodenow Petitioning to y e Proprietors to buy of Them one 
 acre of land in sudbury on y e west side of The River being 
 y e point of Land between y e road y* Leads to Marlborough 
 Northerly: and to Lanham southerly And Esterly of y e Land 
 of Thomas Brintnall without any violation to Her Majes a 
 Highways on every side." 
 
 " Sudbury February 16 17 ]§ At a meeting of y e Proprie- 
 tors Of the Common and undivided Land in Sudbury which 
 meeting was by adjorunment from January 12: 1712-13. 
 Said Proprietors by a vote Granted to John Brooks and his 
 wife During Their Natural Lives having a small Hous on 
 the same And is Fenced in : : Shall be and Remaine for 
 Ever for the use of the poor To be ordered and Disposed of 
 by the selectmen of Sudbury for y e use and Benefit of the 
 poor. Likewise said Proprietors Granted y l There should 
 be so much Land Added to this Land as to make y e same 
 
 seven acres of the Land near or adjoining to y e same 
 
 Likewise y e Proprietors Granted that There should be Two 
 Acres of Land added to the Donation of Ensign Peter Noyes 
 
120 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 to the Town of Sudbury for the use of the poor. The said 
 Two Acres to be Laid out as said David Hayns shall Judge 
 most conveniant Joyiring to said Donation. Likewise said 
 Proprietors Granted that There shall be a further Addition 
 to y e above said Donation of Ensign Noyes and Impowered 
 sarj David Hayns to lay out so much Land as he shall think 
 needful for flowing and in larging the mill pond." 
 
 "Sudbury May 25 th 1713. At a Meeting of y e Proprie- 
 tors of the Common and undivided Land in Sudbury which 
 Meeting was by Adjournment from March The 23: 1713 
 The Proprietors Chosen and Impowered The Comitte here- 
 after Named To view and lay out Two Conveniant Training 
 places or Fields in said Sudbury and on each side y e River 
 where it may Be most Conveniant and the Comitte are to 
 agree with any p r son or p'sons y* owneth y e Land y« is most 
 Convenient for said Training places if Land may not Con- 
 veniently be found for said uses in y e said undivided Land 
 in said Sudbury: the Comitte are Capt Brown C apt Hayns 
 Leiut Frink Leiut Hayns Ens Noyes Ens John Balcom 
 Quart r Brintnal Quart 1 Carter y e Major part of said Comitte 
 are Impowered to act in said affair and to make Return of 
 Their Doings in it to y e Proprietors at their next meeting : 
 Likewise the Proprietors Adjourned their meeting to the 
 14 Day Septemb 1713 to be at y e hous of Mrs Susanah 
 Blanford in said Sudbury at Twelve of y e clock Noon on 
 said Day." 
 
 At a meeting "of y e Proprietors of The Common and undi- 
 vided Land in Sudbury on June y e 14: 1714 = said Pro- 
 prietors by a vote Granted y* the Land Layd out on y e East 
 side of y e River in said Sudbury for a Training Field shall 
 Lye for y e use aforesaid for ever according to y e Plott and 
 return of y e Comitte : : Said Proprietors at said meeting by 
 a vote Adjourned their meeting untill Monday the 28 of this 
 Instant June at Twelve of y e Clock noon of said Day: to be 
 at y e Hous of Mrs Susan ah Blanford in said Sudbury." 
 
 The proprietors, at a meeting on April 5, 171"). granted 
 by a vote to Ens John Noyes a Liberty To fence in the old 
 burying place but yet y e said Noyes his heirs and assigns are 
 for ever prohibited and hindered from breaking up said bury- 
 
HISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 121 
 
 ing Place or seting up any building on the same it being kept 
 and reserved for burying ground. 
 
 " Peter Hayns, Moderator." 
 
 " Sudbury July 1715 : Upon The Desire of John Rice Jun 
 yt he might have a high way from his hous into the Country 
 road To pass to meeting Market & Mill &c: Ave the Sub- 
 scribers being Apointed by the Proprietors &c for The 
 Squadron have Layd out an Open high way of Two rods 
 wide Beginning at the said Rice Land near his Barn on the 
 south Side To y e road that leads To Framingham, and 
 marked Trees runing from where we began The Cow Comon 
 Land To Ensig" Jonathan Rices Lot, so runing through that 
 to The South east Corner of Mathew Gibbs his field, and so 
 along by his fence to the road upon Lanham Plain, and the 
 said Jonathan Rice being present Did Agree, Provided the 
 Proprietors would make him Allowance And he would have 
 his Allowances Upon the Gravel Hill by his hous. 
 
 " Benj min Moor, i 
 -Sam-Wright, ! Comitte '" 
 
 "Sudbury Februaiy 26: 1716: 17: at a meeting of y e Pro- 
 prietors of the Comon and undivided Land in Sudbury by 
 adjournment from December 18: 1716 voted by the Proprie- 
 tors that they will have another Addition as big as their 
 Division first Layd out in the Comon and undivided Land 
 in Sudbury. And that they will draw lots who shall be y e 
 first and so successively till all the Lots are Drawn Pitched 
 and Layd out and if any Proprietor after notice given him 
 by the Surveyor or Chain . . . By y e Comittes order or y e 
 Committe To pitch their Lots Doe neglect or refuse to Doe 
 the same, and not pitch Their Lot or Lots in the space of 
 Twenty four hours after notice given : That then the Comitte 
 shall pitch It and the surveyors shall proceed to the next 
 Lot or Lots every man paying the charge before any Record 
 be made of it." 
 
 " The proprietors voted that there shall be a Burying 
 place Layd out on the west side of The River of one acre 
 and a half in y e most Convenient Place : Cap 1 Hayns M r 
 Peter Hayns Sarj Benj Moors Lt Hayns Corp 1 Nathan el Rice 
 
122 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 are the Comitte Chosen by the Proprietors to Doe this 
 
 work.'' 
 
 "At a meeting of the proprietors held 1717 At the house 
 of Mrs. Susannah Blanford there is the following record of 
 roads granted to be laid out. Highway laid out in the south 
 squadron on y e West Side of The River in Sudbury Aprill 
 1715 by us the Subscribers A highway from y e Country 
 road To Blandford's pond of four rods wide beginning 
 Between Sam 11 wrights and Joseph Goodnows and so by 
 Li Thomas Brintnalls hous and so by Brooks 5 and over 
 green hill and over Pinners wash to y e Said Pond marked 
 as the path now runs and So to be Lye and continue. The 
 said highway to run up to the Thirty rod highway at the 
 new giants This Said highway to be held four rod wide and 
 at Benj wrights land bounded by said Land and by wrights 
 land where it toucheth : : Also a highway out of said High- 
 w ay into Lancaster Road beginning on y e North end of Green 
 hill so running Down to Noah Claps Land on the nor west 
 corner as the path now goes by the Land of Benj Moor as 
 the path goes to Long meadow brook Between y e land of 
 said Moor from thence as the path goes to the lower end of 
 south meadow into Lancaster road holding four rods wide 
 through ; and marked trees all along : Also a highway from 
 Brooks 5 Hous into the mill path and so over Goodmans Hill 
 as the path goes the Said road to be a bridle road through 
 Lt Thorn 5 Brintnells Land by Brooks s for People to pas and 
 repass with horse and team without molestation or interrup- 
 tion with opening and shutting gates after Them: not being 
 allowed to Cutt any wood within said Brintalls Land or 
 fences : and to be an open road then to the end running as 
 the path goes By the Land of Benj Moor unto the Mill Path 
 and to the corner of Thomas Plympton Land and so over 
 Goodmans Hill." 
 
 Such are some of "y e Proprietors' " records that have date 
 after 1700. But a few specimens have been selected from 
 the scores of pages contained in their book. As the pro- 
 prietors held their meetings several times in a year, and met 
 occasionally more than once a month, their records consid- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 123 
 
 erably accumulated as time passed by. In the present, we 
 hear little or nothing of " y e Proprietors' " acts ; tradition is 
 silent concerning them ; but old bridle-ways and cart-paths, 
 that may be marked by fallen or moss-covered walls, were 
 first traced, it may be, by "y e Proprietors'" committee, as 
 they laid out a right-of-way to some ancient meadow lot, or 
 to some wood-land just divided up. Though the farm boy 
 knows little of the lane to the pasture bars, except that the 
 herd pass along it, and the farmer little of the history of his 
 familiar home, yet "y e Proprietors" may have determined 
 the locality of both homestead and lane at a meeting held at 
 Susannah Blanford's, where they were accustomed to meet. 
 The old oak left alone on the hillside, or that midway stands 
 on the plain, may have been " blazed " by strokes of the pro- 
 prietors' axe, and served as a boundary of some new allot- 
 ment. Thus, though no chronicler may trace out their ways, 
 nor map off their ancient domain, various farms in the town 
 contain more or less of the many broad acres of "y e Proprie- 
 tors' Common and undivided lands." 
 
 After the divisions of the town land, care was taken to 
 have them duly recorded. This is indicated by the following 
 record from the Town Book : — 
 
 " In a public town meeting, warned for the examination of 
 the record of land according to the town grant, which thing- 
 was duly performed, all the record both first and last, respect- 
 ing the town grant to the inhabitants, were published read 
 and approved ; and hereupon the town ordered, that any 
 Inhabitant should have liberty to repair to Hugh Griffin our 
 town clerk, who upon their desire, shall within three days 
 space, give them a true copy of the record of such land as 
 they have record of in the town book under his hand which 
 shall be a correct title, they paying the clerk for his service." 
 
 It was not only a privilege to have a record of lands pre- 
 served, but at an early date it was made compulsory. In 
 1641 it was ordered that all who had land laid out should 
 bring in a copy of it, that it might be recorded by the twen- 
 tieth day of September; and, for neglecting to do this, twenty 
 shillings were to be forfeited. 
 
124 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 We do not propose to engage in the work of locating each 
 allotment of Land; this could not be done in many instances, 
 and, if undertaken, would be liable to mistakes, so often 
 did property change hands in those days. Moreover, the 
 boundary marks that were made use of oftentimes were of a 
 transient or changeable character, which, though familiar to 
 the people of that generation, are now wholly obliterated. 
 For example : — 
 
 "Here folio we th the line of the new grants with the mark. 
 1 a black oak 2 a while oak, 3 a black oak 4 a black oak 
 dead 5 a walnut tree. 6 a, white oak near Jethro's field, 7 a 
 lone red oak, [8] in a swamp a dead [red] oak, 9 a white 
 ash tree in a run of water, 10 a naked pine tree on rocky 
 hill, 11 a chestnut, 12 a white oak, 13 a white oak, 14 a 
 white oak, 15 is a dead black oak stands at the westerly 
 corner with a heap of stones at the root of the tree. 
 
 " John Go'ODNOW in the name of the rest who went 
 last on parambulation." 
 
 (Date 1640.) 
 
 While the early land divisions were being made, reserva- 
 tions were also made of lands for pasturage, which it was 
 understood were to remain undivided. These lands were 
 called "Cow Commons,'' and the record of them explains 
 their use. The first was laid out or set apart the 26th of 
 November. 1643, and was on the east side of the river. The 
 record concerning the location is as follows : — 
 
 "It is concluded by the town that all the lands south- 
 ward that lie from the southeast corner of the house-lot 
 of Robert Darnill, unto the common cartbridge going to 
 Edmund Goodnow's meadow, and so upon a strait line to 
 Watertown bound, which lands so granted, for a cow com- 
 mon, shall never be reserved or laid down without the con- 
 sent of every Inhabitant that hath right in commonage. All 
 the land.- we say that are contained within these terms, that 
 Is between the houselot of Robert Darnill and the cartbridge 
 before specified, southward within the five miles bound first 
 granted, down to the great river, and bounded on the side 
 
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 125 
 
 which the extremity of our line bounding Watertown and 
 Sudbury, all our land contained within these terms except all 
 such land as have been granted out in particular, that is to 
 say a neck of upland lying between mill brook and Pine 
 brook, also another neck of land with the flat belonging to 
 it lying between the aforesaid neck and the great river on 
 the other side, also another plat of land that lieth westward 
 from them, containing some 3 or 4 score acres and granted 
 out to particular men. 
 
 " The Inhabitants of the town are to be limited and sized, 
 in the putting in of cattle upon the said common in propor- 
 tion according to the quantity of meadow the said inhabi- 
 tants are stated in upon the division of the meadow, or shall 
 be instated in by purchase hereafter, provided they buy with 
 the meadow the liberty of commonage alloted to such a quan- 
 tity of acres as shall be purchased. 
 
 " Bryan Pendleton, Walter Hayne, 
 "Peter Noyes, William Ward, 
 
 "John Wood, Thomas Jslyn, 
 
 "Edmund Goodnow, Thomas Goodnow, 
 " John Reddicke." 
 
 It is somewhat difficult to define the bounds of this cow 
 common exactly from the description given in the records, 
 but the following may be considered its general outline : 
 From Weston bound direct to Wayland centre, thence west 
 of south to the river, and thence again direct to Weston 
 bound. 
 
 The cow common on the west side was reserved in 1647, 
 and is thus described in the Town Book: — 
 
 "It is ordered by the town that there shall be a cow com- 
 mon laid out on the west side of the river to remain in per- 
 petuity, with all the upland within these bounds, that is to 
 say, all the upland that lies within the bound that goes from 
 Bridle point through Hopp meadow, and so to the west line, 
 in the meadow of Walter Hayne, and all the upland within 
 the gulf and the pantre brook to the uper end of the meadow 
 of Robert Darnill, and from thence to the west line, as it 
 shall be bounded by some men appointed by the town, 
 
126 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 except it be such lands us are due to men already, and 
 shall be laid out according to the time appointed by the 
 town. Walter Hayne and John Gronte are appointed to 
 bound the common, from Goodman Darnill's meadow to the 
 west line." 
 
 The territory which was comprised in this common may 
 be outlined, very nearly, by the Massachusetts Central Rail- 
 road on the south, the Old Colony Railroad on the west, 
 Pantry Brook on the north, and the river on the east. It 
 will be noticed that these two commons included most of the 
 hilly portions of the town, on both sides of the river; and it 
 was doubtless the design of the settlers to reserve for com- 
 mon pasturage these lands, because less adapted to easy cul- 
 tivation. But in process of time they ceased to be held in 
 reserve. More or less controversy subsequently arose about 
 what was known as " sizing the commons," and by the early 
 part of the next century they were all divided up and appor- 
 tioned to the inhabitants ; and now over the broad acres of 
 those ancient public domains are scattered pleasant home- 
 steads and fertile farms, and a large portion of three consid- 
 erable villages, namely, Sudbury, South Sudbury, and Way- 
 land Centre. 
 
 Beside the reservation of territory for common pasturage, 
 lands were laid out "for the use of the ministry." Two 
 such tracts were laid out on each side of the river, consist- 
 ing of both meadow and upland, which were let out to indi- 
 viduals, the income derived therefrom going towards the 
 minister's salary. The lands that were situated on the west 
 side have passed from public to private possession, being 
 sold in 1817 for $3,200.98. 
 
 Various other portions of land were reserved for public 
 use. In 1647 fifty acres of upland about Hop Brook Meadow 
 (South Sudbury), "near the cart-path that goes over the 
 brook,"' was "to be reserved for the use of the town when 
 they shall set a mill upon it." (Sec period 1050-75.) 
 Lands situated in various places were assigned for general 
 planting fields. (See Chapter VIII.) A training field was 
 laid out in 1610, consisting of about nine acres, near the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 127 
 
 present Abel Gleason estate, a portion of it lying southerly 
 of Mr. Gleason's house. And the same year there was 
 reserved in the space enclosed by the first streets, and lyino- 
 in the direction of Mill Brook or the present Concord and 
 Way land highway a common pasture "for working oxen." 
 
 Besides the reservations thus made, there were small tracts 
 set apart for timber lands or other public purposes. In 1642 
 three swamps were reserved ; " one back of the house [lot] 
 of Walter Haynes, and by a fresh pond ; " " another lying 
 under the north side of a hill called Long Hill lying towards 
 Concord ; " and " another swamp that butteth against Con- 
 cord line ; also these swamps are reserved in common for the 
 use of the inhabitants." 
 
 April 5, 1662, it was " ordered that the town of Sudbury 
 will keep the said one hundred and thirty acres of land 
 which the said Thomas Noyes did lay down at Doescine 
 Hill [Doeskin Hill, Nobscot District] to be a peculiar store 
 of timber for the use of the town. Also voted that no 
 inhabitant of Sudbury whatsoever shall fell any tree or trees 
 Avhatsoever growing upon the said one hundred and thirty 
 acres at Doescine Hill upon the forfeiture of 19s. a tree." 
 In 1685 the town ordered that there should be "a piece of 
 ten or a dozen acres of the best timber land at or about 
 Goodman's Hill for a reserve for timber for the town's only 
 use." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Miscellaneous. — Laws Concerning Domestic Animals, Birds, Wolves, 
 Ammunition and Fire-arms. — Common Planting Fields. — Fence 
 Viewers and Fences — Staple Crops. — Meadow Grass; Abundance. 
 Time and Price of Cutting, Measures for Improving. — Mode of 
 Travel. — Staking the Causeway. — Climate.— Rain and Snow Fall. 
 
 — Occasion of Floods.— Breaking Out Roads. — Care of the Poor.— 
 Laws for the Prevention of Poverty Enacted by the Town ; by the 
 Province. — Town Action for the Encouragement of Industry. - 
 Education. — Morality.— Instruction in the Use of Fire-arms.— 
 Tything-men— Stocks -Lecture Day — Fasts. — Baptism of In- 
 fants.— Laws Relating to Labor.- Payments Often Made in Produce. 
 
 — Negroes Bought and Sold. — Copy of Bill of Sale. — Schedule of 
 Inhabitants a Century and a Half Ago -Respect Shown by the Use 
 of Titles: by Gratulation ; by Seating in the Meeting-House. — Care- 
 ful of Dues. — Precaution Against Fire. — Borrowing Canoes. - 
 Board of the Representatives. — Peculiar Names of Places. 
 
 For the structure that we raise, 
 
 Time is with materials filled ; 
 Our to-days and yesterdays 
 
 Are the blocks with which we build. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 In early colonial days, and also later in the provincial 
 period, laws were enacted and customs existed that now 
 look curious and quaint. These laws and customs were the 
 result, not only of the characteristic ways of the people, but 
 also of the condition and circumstances of the country and 
 the times. These changed, new rules and practices came 
 into use ; and, as we become accustomed to them, the old 
 look far distant, as if belonging to another race. It is our 
 purpose in the present chapter to relate some of these cus- 
 toms, usages and laws, and also to give an account of some 
 incidental matters that belong not only to this but to subse- 
 
 128 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 129 
 
 quent periods. To do this by grouping them in a single 
 chapter will make less of a break in the narrative than to 
 mention them in chronological order as we proceed with this 
 work. 
 
 LAWS RELATING TO DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
 
 In 1641 it was ordered that " every one that keeps any 
 hogs more than his own within one fortnight after this day 
 shall rid them out of this town only that for every hog- 
 that shall be taken in to be kept by any won more than his 
 own for every week shall pay five shillings." In 1643 it was 
 ordered " that every inhabitant should drive out his hog 
 every morning into the wood, and when they come home at 
 night to see them shut up safe or else if they be about the 
 street to ring and yoke them." In 1648 it was voted in town 
 meeting, " that every swine that shall be found of any man 
 out of his own properity without a sufficient yoke and ring, 
 after the first of March next, the owner thereof shall forfeit 
 for every swine so taken one shilling, and if the swine be 
 yoked and not ringed or ringed and not yoked, then six 
 pence for any swine so taken, beside all the damage done by 
 any such swine." It was also " agreed that all yokes should 
 be under the throat of the swine, and so long as the swine 
 was high and a rope go up on each side to be fastened above, 
 and that swine should not be accounted sufficiently ringed if 
 they could root." 
 
 In 1643 it was " ordered by the freemen of the town that 
 all the cattle within this town shall this summer not be 
 turned abroad without a keeper, and the keeper shall not 
 keep any of the herd in any of the great river meadows from 
 Bridle Point downwards towards Concord, the intent of the 
 order to preserve the river meadows." In 1655 it was 
 orderd that "all young new weaned calves shall be herded 
 all the summer time." 
 
 It was ordered that "every goat that is taken in any man's 
 garden, orchard or green corn shall be impounded and the 
 owner shall pay for any such goat so taken 3 pence." 
 
 In 1754 it was voted "that a fine of two shillings be laid 
 upon the owner of any dog or dogs that should cause and 
 
130 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 make any disturbance at either of the meeting-houses on the 
 Lord's day, or Sabbath day, one half of the fine was to go to 
 complainant and the other half to the use of the town." 
 
 There is a record of a contract made with William Brown 
 and Edmund Goodnow for making a pound. It was to be 
 six feet or six and a half from the ground to the top of the 
 upper rail, the posts a foot square, with seven rails, the upper 
 rail pinned at each end. In 1G64 Joseph Noyes was to keep 
 the pound, and to have "four pence for every particular 
 man's cattle every time they are impounded." The only 
 pound, so far as we know, that within a few years belonged 
 to the town of Sudbury, was situated at the northeast corner 
 of the Sudbury Centre old burying-ground. 
 
 In 1647 the town mark ordered by "y e General Co'te for 
 Horses to be set upo n one of y e nere y r t rs " was " S^beriy." 
 (Colony Records, Vol. II., p. 225.) 
 
 LAWS CONCERNING BIRDS. 
 
 In 1651 it was ordered by the town "that whoso shall 
 take pains by nets, guns, line or otherwise, to destroy com- 
 mon offensive blackbirds, whether old or young, that for 
 encouragement therein, they shall be paid for every dozen 
 of heads of those birds that are brought to any public town 
 meeting, six pence in the next town rate." The order was 
 to continue five years, and the birds were to be killed in 
 town and by the people of the town. The law for destroy- 
 ing blackbirds as late as 1700 stood thus : " Voted that what 
 Persons of or belonging to Sudbury shall kill any old black- 
 birds from the 29 th March 1700, to the last of May 1700, 
 shall have a penny per hed." In 1654 a person who killed 
 a woodpecker or jay might receive one penny. The same 
 year an inhabitant killing a fox within the town precincts 
 was allowed one shilling six pence. 
 
 LAWS CONCERNING WOLVES. 
 
 That an order was passed relating to wolves we learn from 
 the following notice of its repeal in 1646: "The order for 
 wolves, that was formerly made by the town was ten shil- 
 lings for any wolf killed within this town, is repealed." 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 131 
 
 Whether the bounty was too great, or the wolves had 
 become thinned out, we know not. But, though this 
 order was repealed, an order relating to these animals was 
 passed afterwards. In 1679 "the town granted in addi- 
 tion to the ten shillings which the law gave ten shillings 
 more, upon the presentation of the wolf's head to the town 
 constable." The wolf was to be killed in town, but it was 
 ordered that " all borderers that paid town rates, that killed 
 any wolf upon their own lands tho' not within the town 
 lands, should have the reward." As this order was after 
 King Philip's war, it may be that during its continuance the 
 wolves increased. If some of the more exposed estates were 
 during that period abandoned, the wild animals of the woods 
 might have been left to a freer range than was allowed them 
 for a season before the war. A wolf bounty was granted as 
 late as 1709, when the town allowed "any of y e inhabitants 
 of Sudbury that kills any wolf or wolves above a month old 
 within y e Bound of Sudbury shall have ten shillings allowed 
 him or them." 
 
 LAWS CONCERNING AMMUNITION AND FIRE-ARMS. 
 
 In 1653, "The town appointed Edmund Goodnow and 
 Hugh Griffin to divide the shot and overplus of bullets to 
 the inhabitants, what was wanting in shot to make up out of 
 the overplus of bullets, and the shot and bullets to be divided 
 to each man his due by proportion according to what every 
 man paid so near as they can." 
 
 In 1669, " Edmund Goodnow, John Parmenter, Jr., and 
 John Stone were to see to the barrel of powder, to the trial 
 of it, to the heading it up again, and to take some course for 
 the safe bestowing of it." 
 
 The same year the selectmen not only ordered for the pro- 
 viding of a barrel of powder, but a hundred pounds and a half 
 of musket bullets, and a quarter of a hundred of matches. 
 When the third meeting-house was built, it was ordered that 
 there should be in it " a conveniant place for the storing of 
 the ammunition of the town over the window in the south- 
 west gable." About that time the town's stock of ammuni- 
 tion was divided and intrusted to persons who would " engage 
 
132 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 to respond for the same" in case that it was "not spent in 
 real service in the resistance of the enemy." 
 
 The Colonial Court at an early date ordered that "the 
 town's men in every town shall order that ev'y house, or 
 some two or more houses ioyne together for the breeding 
 of salt peetr i' some out house used for poultry or the like." 
 The duty of looking after this matter for Sudbury was 
 assigned to Ensign Cakebread. The saltpetre thus obtained 
 was°for the manufacture of gunpowder. In 1645, Sudbury 
 was "freed from y e taking further care about salt peeter 
 houses : : : in answer to their petition." 
 
 In 1642 the Court made more stringent the laws previously 
 existing against selling fire-arms to the Indians, exacting a 
 forfeiture of £10 for the sale to them of a gun, and £5 for a 
 pound of powder. 
 
 In 1643 the Court ordered " that the military officers in 
 every town shall appoint what arms shall be brought to the 
 meeting-house on the Lord's days, and other times of meet- 
 ing, and to take orders at farms and houses remote that 
 ammunition bee safely disposed of that an enemy may not 
 possess himself of them." 
 
 COMMON PLANTING FIELDS. 
 
 In the town's earlier years it was the practice to plant fields 
 in common ; and repeatedly in the records are these common 
 fields referred to. These planting places were situated in dif- 
 ferent parts of the town ; between the old North and South 
 street in the neighborhood of the Gleasons, also between Mill 
 Brook and Pine Brook along "the Plain" in the vicinity of 
 the Drapers, and towards the south bound of the town, near 
 the new bridge. In 1642, five general planting fields are 
 spoken of. Various reasons suggest themselves for this 
 planting in common. The "plow lands" that were easily 
 worked were comparatively few as late as 1654, as Johnson 
 states in his " Wonder Working Providence." (See Chap. I.) 
 When there was a large open space of easy cultivation, it 
 was better to make of it one field, that several might share 
 in its benefits. Moreover, these fields required vigilant 
 watching to protect them from marauding beasts and birds ; 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 133 
 
 the several owners of the crops could stand guard by turns, 
 and so many hands make light work ; sometimes, also, it 
 would be necessary to join teams. Besides these general 
 fields, there were also i4 men's particular fields." 
 
 FENCE VIEWERS AND FENCES. 
 
 A good degree of attention was early bestowed by the town 
 on its fences. Several surveyors were appointed each year 
 to look after them ; and although the office of " fence viewer" 
 has now gone into disuse, it was once one of considerable 
 responsibility. As early as 1655, " Surveyors were appointed 
 to judge of the sufficiency of the fences about men's particu- 
 lar properties in cases of damage and difference." We read 
 in the records that John Maynard and John Blanford were, 
 a certain year, to attend to the fences "of the field and the 
 cornfield on the other side of the way from the pond to the 
 training place." " Edmund Rice and Thomas Goodenow for 
 all the fences of cornfields from new bridge southward within 
 the town bound." 
 
 In 1674, " The work of fence viewing on the west side of 
 the river was assigned to Serjeant : : Haynes, Thomas Reed 
 and Edward Wright. These were appointed surveyors of 
 all the field fences on the west side of the great river of the 
 town and Lanham Penobscott new mill." The persons ap- 
 pointed to view the fences, likewise, had power to enforce 
 their orders. In 1641, " It was ordered that those men who 
 were deputed to look after the fences shall have power to 
 distrain for every rod of fence not lawful, half a bushel of 
 corn, the one-half to him that looks to the fence the other 
 half to the town." 
 
 In 1666 the records state that " Persons were appointed 
 surveyors for this year over the fields where Henry Loker 
 dwells, and the field fences, where Solomon Johnson dwell- 
 eth." Field fences are mentioned as being on the south side 
 of Pine Brook, also as being between Mill Brook and Pine 
 Brook ; also, " upon the hill from the little pond by the 
 dwelling house of John Blanford unto Mill brook." Sev- 
 eral kinds of fences were used. One kind was made by 
 ditching. It was ordered, in 1671, "That all the great river 
 
134 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 meadows shall be fenced, that is to say that all the proprie- 
 tors of the great river meadows shall fence the heads or both 
 ends of the meadows, and where it may he necessary, to have 
 a ditch made from the upland to the river at the charge of the 
 squadron that shall lie on both sides of the said ditch accord- 
 in- to their benefit." For the upland, also, this mode of 
 fencing was sometimes used. By the roadside, about half 
 way between Wayland Centre and the Plain, are distinct 
 traces of one of these ancient fences. 
 
 Hedges were sometimes made use of. Mention is made of 
 fences that were to be made up tk of good rails well set three 
 feet and one-half high or otherwise good hedge well staked 
 or such fences as would be an equivelant the fences to be 
 attended to by April 1 st if the frost give leave if not then 
 ten days after." After a certain date all the field fences 
 were to be closed, as is indicated by the following: "It is 
 ordered, that all the fences that are in general fields, in this 
 town of Sudbury, shall be shut up by the 10th May or else 
 to forfeit for every rod unfenced five shillings." 
 
 STAPLE CROPS. 
 Some of the staple crops were Indian corn, — sometimes 
 called by the one word - Indian," — rye, barley, wheat, peas 
 and oats. Hemp and llax were also raised. 
 
 Hay was early a great staple article; this, as we have 
 noticed, the river meadows bountifully produced. To such 
 an extent did this crop abound, that the settlers not only 
 kept their own stock, but they received cattle from abroad. 
 (See Chapter I.) 
 
 The time for cutting the meadow grass is indicated by such 
 statements as these. When Sergant John Rutter hired the 
 Ashen swamp meadow, " he was to cut the grass by the 10 th 
 of July, or else it shall be lawful for any other man to cut 
 the said meadow." He was to pay for it that year Is. and 6 
 pence. Such prices as the following are also mentioned : two 
 bushels of wheat and one bushel of Indian corn for Long 
 Meadow. Strawberry Meadow was let out the same year, 
 1667, for one bushel of wheat: also the minister's meadow 
 in Sedge Meadow was lei out tor eight shillings to be paid in 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 135 
 
 Indian corn ; Ashen Swamp Meadow was let out the same 
 year to Ensign John Grout for three shillings, to be paid 
 one-half in wheat, the other in Indian corn. The meadow 
 on the southeast side of the town was let out to Henry Rice 
 for a peck of wheat. These, we think, were probably com- 
 mon meadows of the town, and let out from year to year. 
 
 Measures were taken from time to time for improving the 
 meadow lands. In 1645, a commission was granted by the 
 colonial authorities (Colony Records, Vol. II., p. 99) "for 
 y e btt r & impvng of y e medowe ground vpon y e ryver running 
 by Concord & Sudberry." Later, also in 1671, a levy of 
 four pence an acre was to be made " upon all the meadow 
 upon the great river for the clearing of the river; that is, 
 from Concord line to the south side, and to Ensign Grout's 
 spring.'' 
 
 MODE OF TRAVEL. 
 
 The travel by vehicle in those early times was, for the 
 most part or wholly, by means of the cart, as we infer from 
 the mention of this term in connection with bridges and 
 ways ; as where the Court orders that Sudbury should 
 make cartways, and as in a contract for a cart-bridge over 
 the river, and a cart-bridge at Lanham. This was probably 
 a clumsy conveyance, and used for farm work and freight, 
 rather than for passenger travel. 
 
 Travelers probably went on horseback or on foot ; in early 
 times the pillion was used, by which two could ride on one 
 beast. To keep people from danger in passing over the 
 causeway, stakes were arranged along the roadside, and we 
 read about 1742 of staking the long causeway for a guide. 
 In 1730, the following article is found in a warrant : " To see 
 if the town will take care and order that the fences on the 
 north side of the Long causeway be taken or struck down so 
 as to prevent the snow from drifting thereon." 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 The following records will serve to indicate the character 
 of the climate at that period compared with the present. It 
 was at one time ordered by the town that the fences should 
 
136 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 be set bv the 1st or the 10th of April. In 1642, "it was 
 ordered that no cattle were to be found on the planting fields 
 and all the fences were to be up by March 1st." 
 
 Tradition says the snow-fall was formerly greater than at 
 present. If this is so, the fact may be due to the removal of 
 a great quantity of timber. The same cause might also lessen 
 the fall of rain. Greater rain-falls and the retention of mois- 
 ture in the vast forest tracts may have enlarged the small 
 streams, and rendered them more efficient for mill -power 
 than they are now. The same cause may have made exten- 
 sive river floods. This may also explain the fact that for- 
 merly there were freshets, notwithstanding the absence of 
 dams along the river course. 
 
 P>nt if the temperature was ordinarily about the same as it 
 is now, there were seasons of unusual severity. 
 
 " In y e year 1667 from y e middle of November until y e mid- 
 dle of March was the tereblest winter for continuance of frost 
 and snow and extremety of cold that ever was remembered 
 by any since it was planted with English ; and was attended 
 with terebell conghs and colds and fever which passed many 
 out of time into eternity, and also through want and scarcity 
 of fother multitudes of sheep and cattle and other creatures 
 died. It is a duty incumbent on all those that call themselves 
 the people of God to consider his great works and the opera- 
 tions of his hands. John Goodnow Clerk." 
 
 " Feb. 7, 1763. There has been no rain this Winter nor 
 sence the snow came, and the springs is low and they grind 
 but two bushels in a day at this mill, the snow is on a leavil 
 3 foot and 3 inches in open land." (Stearns' Collection.) 
 
 With great snow-falls came the necessity of " breaking out 
 the roads." In early times this was done with ox-teams. 
 Most of the farmers had one or more " yokes of oxen " or 
 " steers/' Perhaps a dozen of these were attached to a stout 
 ox-sled, and thus the roads were ploughed through. Often 
 a plow was attached to the sled's side, the more effectually 
 to widen the path. Sometimes strips of road were abandoned 
 entirely for the season where the way was unusually blocked. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 137 
 
 and the fields used instead. A very merry morning it was 
 for the men and boys when all hands were called outfor this 
 work. The train starts out with a single ox-team, but is 
 joined by others as house after house is reached until rein- 
 forcements make a long train. 
 
 CARE OF THE POOR. 
 
 In 1649, it was ordered that certain persons « have power 
 to speak with Mrs. Hunt, about her person, house [or home] 
 and estate, and to take some care for her relief." The fol- 
 lowing V ote was recorded years afterwards : that " Mrs Hunt 
 shall have fifty shillings, out of a rate to be made this present 
 February 1665, this in respect of her poverty." In 1669 
 [or 7] Mrs. Hunt was to have fifty shillings pension paid out 
 of the town rate. In 1673, "because of the poverty of her 
 famely, it was ordered that Mr. Peter Noyes do procure and 
 bring sergeon Avery from Dedham to the Widow Hunt of 
 this town to inspect her condition to advise, and direct, and 
 administer to her relief, and cure of her distemper." Ten 
 pounds were also to be put « into the hands of Peter Noyes 
 with all speed to assist Mrs. Hunt with." 
 
 About 1663, a contract was made with Thomas Rice to 
 keep a person a year, -if he live as long," for which he was 
 to have five pounds sterling; and if the person kept had any, 
 or much sickness during the year, the town was to give Mr. 
 Rice "satisfaction to content, for any physic, attendance or 
 trouble." In 1663, £7 were added to the present rate, " for 
 the use of Thomas Tfling's sickness, and to pay for intend- 
 ance of him." In 1664, John White was "exempted from 
 paying his present rate to the town, and also unto the minis- 
 ter." Dr. Loring, in his diary, gives repeated instances of 
 collections taken for the afflicted in the time of his ministry; 
 as, for example, in 1750: "Lord's day, had a contribution 
 for Thomas Saunders, laboring under a severe and incurable 
 cancer; collected £16-8-0." In 1757 or '59, "had a contri- 
 bution for our brother, Tristam Cheeny. £31 was gathered." 
 About 1762, October 7th, public Thanksgiving: "A contri- 
 bution was made for the wife of Asahel Knight of Worcester. 
 £18 was collected." 
 
lg g HISTOKY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 LAWS FOR THE PREVENTION OF POVERTY. 
 
 But, while the people, as shown by such instances, were 
 generous to the deserving poor, as a town they took stnn- 
 *e„t measures for the prevention of poverty. 11ns ,t did 
 both by discouraging its importation, and by encouraging 
 what tended to thrift. In the records we find the following: 
 "In consideration of the increase of poor people among us, 
 ... as also considering how many poor persons from othei 
 'towns come in to reside, Ordered, That not any one who 
 owned houses or lands in town should either let or lease anj 
 of them unto any strangers that is not at present a town- 
 dweller, without leave or license first had and obtained of 
 the selectmen in a selectmen's meeting or by leave had and 
 obtained in a general town-meeting or othenv.se shall stake- 
 down depositee, and bin d over a sufficient estate unto the 
 seT ctmen of Sudbury, which said estate so bound over unto 
 he said selectmen, that shall be in their the sa.d selectmen s 
 judgment sufficient to have and secure the town of S, dim v 
 llessfion. any charge that may so come by the saul land. 
 s leased, and if any person notwithstanding this order shaU 
 case any houses or lands unto any stranger as above said 
 tlmut Usence and giving good security as above sau Is haU 
 for every week's entertainment of a stranger into Ins houses 
 or lalds forfeit the sum of 19 shillings 6 pence to the town 
 Sudbury; and any person bringing a stranger presummg 
 to come as a truant contrary to order as above said, shall fo. 
 ev ery week's residence forfeit 19 shillings G pence to the 
 
 town of Sudbury." i, f n ,.p 
 
 I» 1688, Mathew Rice was to he warned to come before 
 the town clerk, for admitting to some part of his land 
 Thol Hedley, who brought his wife and child. Thorn 
 Hedley was also to be warned to quit the own. Another 
 — was censured for « taking in and harboring of Chris- 
 Ch Petingal, who is rendered to be a person of a vicious 
 v nrc and evil tongue and behavior, and otherwise discour- 
 se,!"!,." In 1692-3 a law was enacted by the prov- 
 ^by winch towns were allowed to wan. away strangers 
 f he warning was not given within three months, then the 
 
.HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 139 
 
 parties so far became residents, that, if in need, they were to 
 receive assistance from the town. If persons warned did not 
 leave within fourteen days, the constable could remove them 
 by law. The town repeatedly made use of this power. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDUSTRY. 
 
 About 1663 the town voted to grant "Mr. Stearns of 
 Charlestown, ironmonger and blacksmith," certain meadow 
 lands, and " firewood for his family use, and wood for coals 
 for to do the smithy work." He was also to take timber in 
 the commons " to build his house and shop and fence." A 
 little later Joseph Graves was allowed to take timber to 
 build a house, and part of the land formerly given him to 
 erect a smith shop upon. Also there was granted to Rich- 
 ard Sanger " six acres of meadow, on the west side of the 
 river, upon the condition he stay amongst us to do our 
 smith's work for four years, the time to begin the twenty- 
 fourth day of August, 1646." 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 The following records afford some information concerning 
 early educational advantages in Sudbury. In 1664 "the 
 town promised to give answer at the next meeting whether 
 or no they will accommodate Mr. Walker [with] any lands 
 towards his encouragement to keep a free school in Sud- 
 bury." We infer that Mr. Walker was encouraged in his 
 project by the following report on educational matters ren- 
 dered in 1680 : — 
 
 "And as for schools, tho' there be no stated school in this 
 town, for that the inhabitants are so scattered in their dwell- 
 ings that it cannot well be, yet such is the case that, by hav- 
 ing two school dames on each side of the river, that teacheth 
 small children to spell and read, which is so managed by the 
 parents and governors at home, and prosecuted after such 
 sort as that the selectmen who distributed themselves did 
 within three months last past so examine families, children, 
 and youth, both as to good manners, orderly living, chate- 
 chizing, and reading, as that they returned from all parts a 
 comfortable good account of all these matters, and render 
 
|40 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 then, crowing in several families beyond expectation, rarely 
 reprovable anywhere, encouraging in most places, and in 
 others very commendable, so as that the end is accomplished 
 hitherto. And for teaching- to write or cypher, here is Mr. 
 Thomas Walker, and two or three others about tins town. 
 that do teach therein, and are ready to teach all others that 
 need, if people will come or send them." 
 
 From the report rendered the court for the county of Mid- 
 dlesex, in reference to education in morals, we infer that 
 attention was early turned to that matter. In 1655 persons 
 were -appointed for to take pains for to see into the general 
 families in town, to see whether children and servants are 
 employed in work, and educated in the ways of God and in 
 the grounds of religion, according to the order of the General 
 Court " The same year John How was -appointed by the 
 Pastor and Selectmen to see to the restraining from the prof- 
 anation of the Lord's day in time of public exercise. 
 
 The stocks were employed as a means of punishment. In 
 1651, "John Rutter promised to mend the stocks. Ihey 
 
 i , . lofo .o Ipa-st as 1722, when it was voted 
 were used as late, at leabi, as, n^i HUl 
 
 »by y e town to grant five shillings to bye to pad Locks 
 for y< pound and stocks." This old-time appliance was for 
 a period near the meeting-house, as the records state that, in 
 1681, " Samuel How was to build a new pair of stocks, and 
 was - to set them up before the meeting-house." In subse- 
 quent years, tything-mcn were appointed, and duly sworn 
 before the selectmen, as the law directed. All these agencies 
 were made use of to maintain a wholesome morality, lhat 
 they succeeded in accomplishing something, the- following 
 from the foregoing report of 1680 indicates: « And the select- 
 men having also been made acquainted that the court expects 
 their inspection touching persons who live from under family 
 government, or after a dissolute or disorderly manner, to the 
 dishonor of God, or corrupting of youth, the selectmen of 
 the town as above having personally searched and enquired 
 into all families and quarters, in and about this town,do 
 return this answer, that they find none such amongst us 
 
 Not only were the youth in colonial days instructed m 
 intellectual and moral things, but also in the use of arms. 
 
HTSTORY OF SUDBURY. 141 
 
 In 1645, " it was ordered that the youth from ten to sixteen 
 should be instructed upon y e usual dayes in y e exercise of 
 amies, as small guns, halfe pike, bows and arrows, provided 
 the parent did not object." 
 
 It was expected in early times that the children of believ- 
 ing parents would be presented in baptism. These children 
 were usually baptized the Sabbath following their birth, and, 
 if born on Sunday, sometimes on the day of their birth. 
 
 Besides the ordinary Sabbath exercises, religious services 
 were held on some secular day of the week, which was called 
 "Lecture Day." A Friday afternoon meeting was held in 
 the Sudbury Orthodox Church until about the beginning of 
 the last quarter century. In 1652, when a bargain was 
 made with John Goodnow to beat the drum twice every 
 Sabbath, he was also to beat it for service on "Lecture 
 Day." (See Chapter VI.) "Training Days" were sup- 
 posed to be opened and also closed with prayer. Fast days 
 were more frequent than now. In some of the New England 
 towns they were observed at the haying and planting" sea- 
 sons, and at the close of the harvest. Private fasts^were 
 sometimes observed. As late as July 4, 1749, there was a 
 fast observed at the Widow Winch's, "on account of one 
 of her daughters having a cancer. Mr. Mudge prayed and 
 Mr. Stone preached." (Extracts from Loring's Diary.) 
 Special seasons of prayer were also sometimes observed. 
 "Apr. 10th, 1757, Lord's day, the church voted that they 
 would spend a part of the last Thursday of every month in 
 extraordinary Prayer to God, on account of the calamitous 
 war with our enemies the French." 
 
 LAWS RELATING TO LABOR. 
 It was ordered "that one shall take for mowing by the 
 acre fourteen pence for every acre, or one and thirty pence a 
 day." It was " ordered that all Carpenters, Bricklayers and 
 thatchers, shall have one and twenty pence for a day's work, 
 and common laborers eighteen pence a day." It was " ordered 
 that a yearly covenanted servant, the best of them, shall take 
 but five pounds for a year's service, and maid servants, the 
 best, shall take but fifty shillings the year's service." As 
 
142 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 late as 1751, the town voted that "for highway work, eight 
 hours be accounted for a day's work, and two shillings shall 
 be the price of a day's work, one shilling for a yoke of oxen, 
 three pence for a good cart." 
 
 Commercial relations were not always carried on by pay- 
 ments in money, but sometimes wholly or in part in produce. 
 Edmund Rice, in 1654, "for service as deputy," was to have 
 -six pounds to be paid in wheat at John Parmenters senior, 
 and so much more as shall pay seven pence a bushell for the 
 carraige of it, to be paid within one week after next Michel- 
 mas." For work on the meeting-house, about the year 1688, 
 "he was to have country pay, at country price." The country 
 pay was to be "in good sound merchantable Indian corn, or 
 rye, or wheat, or barley, or malt, or peas, or beef, or pork, or 
 work." At a meeting of the selectmen, Oct. 25, 1678, it was 
 ordered that -Mr. Peter Noyes, Peter King.' and Thomas 
 Stevens or any of them are appointed to collect of the Inhab- 
 itants of this town what may be wanted of the sum granted 
 by any person or persons towards the new college at Cam- 
 bridge in building according to an order by the Gen C * : *. 
 This being attended to, the town received its discharge, of 
 which the following is a copy: — 
 
 " Discharge. Received then of several persons of the town 
 of Sudbury several parcels of corn amounting to (with the 
 transportation from S. to Cam.) the full sum of what was 
 there subscribed to contribute to the new building for the 
 
 college. 
 
 » I say received by me, William Manning. 
 
 Sometimes payments were promised either in produce or 
 money, as. in 1696, Benjamin Parmenter was to sweep the 
 meeting-house, from April 1 of that year to April 1 of the 
 next year, " for ten bushells of Indian corn, or twenty shil- 
 lings in money." Whether Mr. Parmenter was to take which 
 he°chose, or the party engaging him was to give which they 
 chose, is not stated. Sometimes the produce was rated, or 
 paid for town rates, in accordance with what the produce 
 was rated or paid for in county rates; as, in 1673, it was 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 143 
 
 ordered that "all corn or grain, paid into the towns rate for 
 this year, shall be paid in at such prices as the county rate is 
 paid in at for the year." We conclude that the town had 
 the liberty to establish the value of produce that was to pay 
 the town rates ; as, for the year 1686, wheat was rated at 
 five shillings per bushel, peas at four shillings, oats at two 
 shillings, Indian corn at two shillings nine pence. 
 
 SERVANTS. 
 
 Jan, 9, 1653, " it was determined that the land last granted 
 to the town by the court shall be divided to the inhabitants, 
 according to their several estates and families, counting the 
 family to be husband, wife, children and servants as men 
 have, that they have either bought or brought up." In Mr. 
 Loring's Diary is the following, dated 1758, March 1: "Died 
 Toby, negro servant of Col. Brown." 
 
 In Vol. LXXIX., p. 217, State Archives, is a petition 
 from Richard Heard, to the effect that he had a negro man 
 in His Majesty's service; that he was in Captain Nixon's 
 company, and was taken sick in Deerfield on his way home, 
 and remained there sick for a long time ; and that he had to 
 take his two horses and go after him. He asks that the 
 court will take his case into consideration ; and the commit- 
 tee reported " twenty-five shillings in full to be paid to Col. 
 John Noyes for the use of the Petitioner." 
 
 ^It is stated (Temple's History of Framingham) that in 
 1733 Thomas Frost of Framingham bought of Jonathan 
 Smith of Sudbury, for sixty pounds current money, a negro 
 man named Gloster, aged about thirty years. Rev. Mr. 
 Swift of Framingham disposed of five slaves by his will, one 
 of whom, named Nero, he gave to his son-in-law, Ebenezer 
 Roby of Sudbury. In 1764, Josiah Richardson of Sudbury 
 sold a negro girl named Phebe to Elizabeth P>alch of Fram- 
 ingham, and the following is the bill of sale : — 
 
 Know All Men by these Presents, that I, Josiah Richardson Jun. of 
 Sudbury in the county of Middlesex, Gentleman, for and in considera- 
 tion of the sum of 1 Pound G shillings and 8 pence, lawful money, to me 
 in hand well and truly paid at the ensealing hereof by Elizabeth Balch 
 of Framingham Widow, the Receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, 
 
144 [UKTOUY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 and for the consideration thereof, Do Sell to the said Elizabeth Balch 
 and to her heirs and assigns forever, A Negro female Child named 
 Phebe, of about two years old, with her wearing apparel she now hath. 
 And I the said Josiah covenants to and with the said Elisabeth Balch 
 and her heirs and assigns that the said Negro Child is my slave For 
 Life, and that I have good right to sell and convey her in manner afore- 
 said'for the term of her natural life ; and that by force and virtue hereof 
 the said Elisabeth Balch shall hold her the said Phebe for a slave for 
 the term of her natural life. In Witness whereof, I the said Josiah 
 Richardson Jun., have hereunto set my hand and seal this 13th day of 
 August 1764. Josiah Richardson, Jun. [Seal.] 
 
 In presence of Samuel Jonv-s. 
 
 Colored people were sometimes held in high esteem by the 
 town's people, as is indicated by an entry made in the diary 
 of Rev. Israel Loring., April 30, 1755, where he speaks thus 
 of Simeon, a negro who was born and bred in his household, 
 and a short time before had arrived at the age of freedom : 
 "April 30th, 1755. This morning Simeon was taken ill of 
 colic, but soon recovered. May 10th, Simeon died aged 21. 
 Altho' he partly recovered he grew worse again. He was 
 greatly beloved by the family and has drowned us in tears. 
 In the evening we committed the remains of Simeon to the 
 grave. A great number of the congregation attended the 
 funeral." Mr. Loring preached a sermon on his death the 
 Sabbath following, from Psa. lxxxix. 48. 
 
 A century and a half ago but few negroes were living in 
 Sudbury, as is shown by the following statement: — 
 
 Number of white people in town, on both 
 
 sides of the river . • • .1,745 
 
 Number of negroes, males . • lo 
 
 Number <>f negroes, females . .12 
 
 Total number of blacks . . • .27 
 
 (Memoirs of Sudbury.) ' 
 
 In early times titles were quite commonly used: and terms 
 designating military positions, such as "corporal," ^cap- 
 tain?' "ensign," "sergeant" or "sargeant," are not infre- 
 quently met with on the town records. The terms "Mr. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 145 
 
 and " Mrs." are seldom found, except when applied to the 
 minister and his wife. The term " esquire " is almost un- 
 known. The term "goodman" was in quite common use. 
 It was employed to designate a person of excellent charac- 
 ter, rather than one of exceptional gentility. The folio wine- 
 is its use in a record of the Town Book dated 1640: "It is 
 ordered by the town that Goodman Hayne shall have the 
 remainder of the meadow which Mr. Brown the Pastor 
 divided up, except one acre that is to be divided between 
 Goodman Knight and Goodman Hayne, if it be there." 
 
 But not alone by the application of titles was there a rec- 
 ognition of merit and respect shown where it was due. In 
 1666, the Town Book states, " We have chosen, constituted 
 and appointed our trusty friends Mr. Joseph Noyes, Sar- 
 geant John Grout and Corporal John Rutter to read, issue 
 and determine all matters of difference ensuing about suffi- 
 ciency of fence." It was customary to "gratulate" some- 
 times for service done for the public. In a single list in the 
 Town Book are the following persons, who were " gratu- 
 latecl " for some service done by them, and the quantity of 
 land o'iven : — 
 
 Brian Pendleton, 
 
 14 acres 
 
 meadow. 
 
 
 George Munning, 
 
 10 » 
 
 tc 
 
 10 of .upland. 
 
 Walter Haynes, 
 
 10 " 
 
 IC 
 
 10 
 
 John Parmenter, Sr., 
 
 10 " 
 
 t( 
 
 
 Edmund Brown, 
 
 15 " 
 
 t( 
 
 20 of upland. 
 
 Peter Noyes, 
 
 
 
 20 " 
 
 John Bent, 
 
 4 acres 
 
 meadow, 
 
 6 
 
 Edmund Goodnow, 
 
 6 " 
 
 a 
 
 
 William Ward, 
 
 12 " 
 
 a 
 
 
 Another way of showing respect was in the appointment 
 of seats in the meeting-house. The following rule was 
 made in 1687-8: "The most considerable rule for seating 
 of persons in the meeting-house (the new one) shall be by 
 what they pay to the building thereof, excepting in respect 
 to some considerable persons as to age and other considera- 
 ble qualifications." 
 
146 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The following records show that the town was not care- 
 less in collecting its dues : » November, 1670, " Ordered that 
 Jon. Stanhope do see that the minister's rate be duly paid, 
 and in case any neglect or refuse to pay their proportions to 
 said rates when due, he is appointed and impowered by the 
 town to summons such persons before a magistrate, there to 
 answer for their neglect," In 1683-4 it was voted, "That 
 whereas certain proprietors and inhabitants of the town have 
 neglected to pay their proportions to the minister's rate, and 
 added to the evil by not paying the proportion due upon the 
 two six months" rates made since, to the dishonor of God, 
 contempt of his worship, unrighteousness to their neighbors, 
 as if they " * ' slyly intended they should pay their rates 
 for them again, and to the disturbance in and damage of this 
 town, after so much patience used, and to the end this town 
 may not longer be baffled ; ; : In his majesties name you 
 are therefore now required forthwith to [collect] by distress 
 upon the monies, neat cattle sheep or other beasts, corn, 
 grain, hay, goods or any other estate movable (not dis- 
 allowed by law) you can find so much of each person herein 
 named so greatly transgressing, the several sum or sums set 
 off against each man's name.' 
 
 In the early times there were people living on the town's 
 border, who were designated -farmers," and their estates 
 were called "farms/' It was probably with reference to 
 these that the following order was passed in 1677-8 : " All 
 persons bordering upon this town and who live and dwell 
 near unto the precinct thereof shall pay (not only to the 
 ministry but also) to all town rates, for that they belong to 
 us. they shall be assessed their due proportions, as all other 
 inhabitants of this town are, and in case of any of them 
 refusing to pay, the same shall be levied by distress." 
 
 PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FIRE. 
 An order was issued whereby every householder was to 
 have a ladder sufficiently lung to reach the top of the house. 
 For non-compliance with this act a person was subject to a 
 fine of ten shillings- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 147 
 
 BORROWING CANOES. 
 
 It was, in 1648, voted by the town " that whosoever : : : 
 shall take away any man's canoe without the leave of the 
 owner shall forfeit for every default so made two shillings." 
 
 BOARD OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 On page 157 of the records it is recorded that " the sum 
 of three pounds shall be added to the town rate for the pay- 
 ment of our deputie's diet at Hugh Drurys at Boston during 
 his attendance at the Genral Court." Years later, in 1679^ 
 Peter Noyes « openly declared at that town-meeting that he 
 freely gave to the town Ins time, charge, diet, in and about 
 his service at the fore said session of the General Court 
 which the town thankfully accepted." 
 
 PAYMENT AND PROTECTION OF PROPERTY. 
 
 While the people were busy in the formation of the new 
 plantation and dividing and improving their lands, they were 
 careful to provide means for the payment and protection of 
 them. The records state, May 26, 1648, " Walter Hayne 
 and Hugh Griffin are appointed to go down to the Governor 
 and Magistrate to confirm the bargain of land now bought 
 of Goodman's, and to take course for the payment of Good- 
 mans, and they shall be paid for their labor." 
 
 Sept. 11, 1648: "It is agreed upon by the town that the 
 five pound that is paid to Goodemans shall be raised only by 
 the meadows as every man is possessed of." 
 
 " It is also agreed that all meadows that are given by way 
 of gratulation shall have; right in commonage as the meadows 
 which are first, second, and third division of meadow, and 
 that for the raising of the rate for the payment of the last 
 purchase of Goodman's all meadows shall pay at one price." 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
 
 In 1661 the town appointed men "to agree with Robert 
 Proctor of Concord, about his trespass of burning up our 
 pine for making tar." They were to sue him if they could 
 
148 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 not agree. In 1(371, James Adams was to have liberty to 
 feed his cattle on Sudbury bounds, and " to take old and dry 
 wood that shall be upon the ground, the said Adams to pre- 
 vent any trespass by Concord herds, or cattle, also in our 
 wood and timber, forth with to give notice to the town." 
 
 PECULIAR NAMES OF PLACES. 
 
 Peculiar names have been attached to many places in Sud- 
 bury, which have been preserved, some by record and some 
 
 by usage. 
 
 One of these is " Lanham." It is mentioned in connection 
 with a deed as early as 1GG6. (See Liber III., pp. 233 and 
 234, Registry of Deeds, Cambridge.) The deed mentioned a 
 piece of land "lying and being on the west side of the Ham- 
 Lett called Lanham." (See Chapter III., sketch of Thomas 
 Read ; also Chapter VI.) 
 
 "Lowance" is the name of a stream which enters Mill 
 Brook between South Sudbury and Lanham bridge. Proba- 
 bly it was first applied to the meadows along its banks. It is 
 found as early as 1666 (Liber III., p. 233, Registry of Deeds, 
 Cambridge). It is doubtless a contraction of "allowance,' 
 which term was used to designate lands that were allowed 
 the settlers in the territorial divisions. Sometimes an allow- 
 ance of land was given in one place to make up for deficiency 
 of quality or quantity in another. 
 
 The term " Pantry;' applied to one of the school districts, 
 is found in connection with a land sale in 1657. (Liber III., 
 p. 7, Middlesex Registry of Deeds.) In the document referred 
 to it is used in connection with both the brook and meadow. 
 This term may have been derived from the words -pine' 
 and " tree ; " and this theory receives favor from the fact 
 that in the Town Book, page 98, it is spelled - Pantree." 
 
 - Piners Wash," or ••Pinners Wash," was a term formerly 
 applied to the brook above South Sudbury, commonly called 
 - Wash Brook." It occurs repeatedly, both on the Town 
 Book and the Proprietors' Book. The following record is 
 , lkt .„ from the former, dated 1779: "To see if the town will 
 discontinue a town road laid out through the enclosures of 
 Ensign Josiah Richardson over the ' Mill Brook ' or ' Piners 
 
THE GOODNOW LIBRARY. SO. SUDBURY 
 See page 28. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 149 
 
 Wash' from being an open way and leave it a bridle way as 
 formerly." This motion "passed in the negative." The road 
 here referred to is that over Hayden's Bridge. We have 
 found nothing definite by which to determine the origin of 
 this name. We conjecture that this brook passed through a 
 pine district, and that by some connection of the brook with 
 the trees, or with those who may have lived or worked among 
 them, who were perhaps called "Piners," the name may have 
 come into use. « Wash Brook " doubtless came from this 
 term. 
 
 " Indian Bridge." This is supposed to have crossed West 
 Brook, as the lower part of Lanham Brook is called, between 
 Sand Hill and Heard's Pond. (See Chapter VI.) The 
 term is repeatedly found in the town records. On" page 52 
 is the statement that Mr. Herbert Pelham was to have " all 
 the land lotts of meadow and upland joining to his farm 
 which lies between the Indian Bridge and the utmost bound 
 of. the great pond joining upon a short line from the Indian 
 Bridge to the extremity of the pond, also twenty acres of 
 upland joining to the Indian Bridge to the land granted to 
 Mr. Herbert Pelham, and going thence downward to the hill 
 on the west side the great pond, and west ward joineth to 
 the land of W m Pelham, and is parted from the west meadow 
 by land reserved for a highway." Jan. 13, 1667, the town 
 appointed a committee "to set a substantial mark where the 
 old Indian Bridge was in West Meadow." 
 
 The word "sponge" was in early use as applied to local- 
 ities. In 1646, "John Rutter was to have a sponge of 
 meadow;" and the following is also a record of early date in 
 which the word is used: "To Brian Pendleton 14 acres of 
 meadow lying in a sponge upon the west side of the greal 
 meadow over against Munning's point." This word was 
 formerly used in connection with real estate in New Eng- 
 land, but long since ceased to be so used. Says Dr. Green, 
 " It was a local word in England, used in Suffolk, and meant 
 an irregular, narrow projecting part of a field, whether planted 
 <>r in grass." 
 
 Hie term "Honey Pot Brook" is found. In 1778, Mr. 
 Jonathan Puffer of Stow was released from rates on condi- 
 
150 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 tion "that he keep the causeway and bridge over Honey Pot 
 brook from Stow line to the eastward of said causeway in 
 good repair for ten years." 
 
 3 The term "Cedar Croft" is spoken of in papers from 1700 
 to 1725 in connection with the homestead of Thomas Bryant 
 (Wayland). (State Archives, Vol. XVII., p. 520.) The 
 same term is found in Liber III., p. 233, date 1666, Middle- 
 sex Registry of Deeds, spelled "Cedar Crought." 
 
 Another term long and frequently used is " Bridle Point,*" 
 spelled " Bridell Poynt" in a deed dated 1666. (Liber III., 
 pp. 232 and 272.) This is a point of land at the southwest 
 end of Braman's Hill, near the wooden bridge on the new 
 road from Wayland to Sudbury. 
 
 The term "Gulf" is used as early as 1647. " Granted to 
 the Pastor to lay down his third division in the Gulf." This 
 term is applied to the meadows that lie along the banks of 
 the easterly part of Pantry Brook. 
 
 " Doeseine Hill " is mentioned in 1661. It probably means 
 Doeskin Hill. Thomas Noyes had one hundred and thirty 
 acres of land, the second lot in the new grant near this hill. 
 
 The term "Goodman's Wigwam Hill" is found in Book II., 
 Town Records; also the term "Wigwam Hill" is found in 
 the first part of Book I. 
 
 Other terms are "Rocky Plain" (Sudbury Centre) ; "Pine 
 Plain " (in the Draper neighborhood, east part of Wayland) ; 
 "World's End" (in the Gulf neighborhood, northeast part 
 of Sudbury); " Haynes' Island" (northeast side of Gulf 
 Brook) ; "Castle Hills " (north part of Wayland) ; " Spruce 
 Swamp" or "Cranberry Swamp" (north of the highway, by 
 Whale's Bridge, Wayland). 
 
 The following names are on the Proprietors' Book, and the 
 places they designate are on the west side: "Lake's End 
 Hill," "Log Slough," "Lake's End Bridge," "Pine Island," 
 "Long Me°adow," "Strawberry Meadow," "Mine Way,'' 
 "Mill Field," "Hop Meadow," "Cedar Swamp Plane," 
 "Ridge Meadow Brook," " Dunsdale," " Haynes' Slough," 
 "Log Hole." 
 
 The following are also on the Proprietors' Book: "Hog 
 House Hill," "Windmill Hill," "Bow Leg Meadow," -Penny 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 151 
 
 Meadow Brook,'' " Swath Meadow," " Porringer Hill," "Com- 
 mon Swamp Bridge," "Prospect Hill," "Long Meadow," 
 " Highway from Lake's End to Log Slough," " Path from 
 Log Slew to Pine Island," "Common Meadow Bridge," 
 "Ashen Swamp," "Widow Rice's Plain, "Lake End" or 
 "Lake's End," "Gulf Neck," "Iron Works Meadow," 
 " Walnut Tree Hill," " Bare Hill." 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Sudbury in the Colonization of Other Towns : Framingham, Marlboro, 
 Worcester, Grafton, Rutland. 
 
 His echoing axe the settler swung 
 
 Amid the sea-like solitude, 
 And, rushing, thundering, down were flung 
 
 The Titans of the wood ; 
 Loud shrieked the eagle, as he dashed 
 From out his mossy nest, which crashed 
 
 With its supporting bough, 
 And the first sunlight, leaping, flashed 
 
 On the wolf's haunt below. 
 
 Alfred B. Street. 
 
 The settlement of Sudbury in its earlist stages having 
 now been noticed, let us, before considering farther what 
 occurred within the town limits, give our attention to the 
 work of its people in the settlement of other towns. The 
 sons of Sudbury wrought nobly, not only within but with- 
 out their own borders. A pioneer spirit very early pre- 
 vailed, and as the town's citizens reached out for new acqui- 
 sitions of land, they helped establish some of the best towns 
 in the State. In this work of colonization were both hard- 
 
152 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ship and hazard. Few but such as were of an adventurous 
 nature would so speedily have removed from newly con- 
 structed homesteads to erect other abodes in the farther 
 forest. But a brave band of frontiersmen pushed boldly for- 
 ward and out into the dark outstretching wood ; and, amid 
 perils of climate, wild beasts, and uncivilized men, they 
 opened new paths and prepared the way for new settle- 
 ments. In narrating the work thus performed, we will to 
 an extent present an outline of facts as they are afforded by 
 the histories of the towns in which the work here mentioned 
 was done. On the south and west of Sudbury, at the time 
 of its settlement, was a wilderness. On the west was what 
 is now Marlboro, on the south what is Framingham and 
 Natick, and beyond this border territory was a far out- 
 stretching forest awaiting the approach of the English to 
 give it the light of civilized life. 
 
 FRAMINGHAM. 
 First there was an occupation of the lands on the south. 
 This territory — so much of it as is now Framingham, and 
 which was called a plantation by 1675, and was incorporated 
 as a town in 1700 — was, at the earliest occupation by the 
 English, unclaimed land of the colony. It never was granted 
 to a company of petitioners, as was the case with Sudbury, 
 but was allowed to individuals at different dates, whose 
 names became associated with the lands granted. The fol- 
 lowing is a list of the prominent grants, and the quantity 
 of land comprised in some of them : The Stone Grants ; the 
 Glover Farm, 600 acres ; the Rice Grants ; the Eames Grant, 
 200 acres; the Corlett Grant, 200 acres; the Gookin and 
 How Purchase ; the Mayhew Farm, 300 acres ; the Danforth 
 Farms; Crowne's Grant, 500 acres; Russell's Grant, 500 
 acres; Wayte's Grant, 300 acres; the Natick Plantation 
 Grants. Several of these tracts were either granted, as- 
 signed or conveyed to, or in part settled by people from Sud- 
 bury. 
 
 The Stone Grants. — Mr. Temple, in his " History ot 
 Framingham," says : " The first man to build upon our soil 
 was John Stone, who removed from Sudbury (now Way- 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 153 
 
 land), and put up a house at Otter Neck, on the west side of 
 Sudbury River, in 1646 or 1647." The lauds owned by Mr. 
 Stone were in several parcels, and granted at different times. 
 In 1643 he had a grant of six acres in " Natick bounds;" 
 and in 1656 he purchased lands of the Indians at the Falls 
 of Sudbury River (Saxonville). This land was situated 
 northwesterly of the falls, and on the southeasterly and east- 
 erly slope of the hill. It was confirmed to Mr. Stone by the 
 Court, May, 1656, with fifty acres in addition. The land 
 last granted was laid out May 26, 1658, by Edmund Rice 
 and Thomas Noyes, and is described as "joining to Sudbury 
 river at the falls of the said river, twenty acres of the said 
 fifty being southward joining to the lands of John Stone, 
 which said lands were purchased of the Indians, and after 
 confirmed by the honoured Court; also the other thirty acres 
 of the said fifty lying northward of the aforesaid purchased 
 land and joining to it." Other land tracts were obtained by 
 Mr. Stone in the territory of Framingham, till he possessed 
 several hundred acres. Two of his sons, Daniel and David, 
 settled near their father in 1667. 
 
 The Glover Farm. — This was the next grant to be 
 occupied by a Sudbury citizen. (For description, see Chap- 
 ter IV.) This farm was leased Sept. 29, 1647, by President 
 Dunster, guardian for the Glover heirs, to Edmund Rice for 
 the term of ten years. By agreement in the lease, he was to 
 erect a house on the place. (For dimensions of this house, 
 see Chapter V.) He was also to build a barn, with dimen- 
 sions as follows: " Fifty long, eleven foote high in the stud, 
 one foote above ground, the sell twenty foote if no leantes 
 or eighteen foote wide with leantes on the one side, and a 
 convenient threshing-floare between the doares." (Barry.) 
 These buildings, it is supposed, were located near Dudley 
 Pond, and on that part of the Glover Farm which, by an 
 adjustment of the town bounds in 1700, came into the town 
 of Wayland. When the Glover estate was settled, the farm 
 became the property of John Glover and Priscilla Appleton, 
 his sister. Subsequently John transferred his part to his 
 sister, and the place became known as the Appleton Farm. 
 In 1697, John Appleton and wife sold the estate, then esti- 
 
154 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 mated at about nine hundred and sixty acres, to three Sud- 
 bury parties,— namely, Thomas Brown, Thomas Drury, and 
 Caleb Johnson, — for four hundred and forty pounds. The 
 land was divided among these purchasers, and with the result 
 that, after some exchange of the property among themselves, 
 "Mr. Brown had as his part of the upland two hundred acres 
 on the northerly side, and situated westerly in Framingham 
 territory; Mr. Drury, two hundred acres on the southerly 
 side, also in Framingham, and one hundred acres in the 
 northeasterly part in Wayland ; and the land possessed by 
 Mr. Johnson was the middle portion, and consisted of two 
 hundred acres of upland, upon which he erected a dwelling, 
 where the Mars house now stands. Thus, not only was the 
 Glover Farm first occupied by a Sudbury citizen, but in its 
 subsequent divisions it became the property of three others. 
 
 The Rice Grants. — Not only did Edmund Rice lease 
 the large land tract just mentioned, but, by petitioning the 
 General Court, he became owner of the several pieces of land 
 that are called the " Rice Grants." In 1652 he was allowed 
 three pieces of meadow, comprising about twenty acres, and 
 rhirty acres of upland, which was situated about a mile from 
 Cochituate Brook, and in a part of Framingham called Rice's 
 End. In 1665 he again petitioned the Court, and received 
 about eighty acres more, which was also in the southeast 
 part of the town. In 1659, Mr. Rice gave a deed of the 
 land at Rice's End to his son Henry, who built upon it, and 
 who, it is supposed, was the second person to build on Fram- 
 ingham soil. 
 
 The Eames Grants. — These grants were of lands ob- 
 tained from the General Court and the Indian owners by 
 Thomas Eames, who was a former inhabitant of Sudbury. 
 In 1669, Mr. Eames built a house and barn on the southerly 
 slope of Mi. Wayte, South Framingham. The land was of 
 the Wayte grant, and was owned by Thomas Danforth, who 
 purchased it of Mr. Richard Wayte. On Feb. 1, 1676, the 
 Indians burned the buildings of Mr. Eames, and killed or 
 took captive his family. (See Chapter II. and period 1675- 
 1700.) As a return for the loss of property then incurred, 
 which amounted to about three hundred and thirty pounds, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 155 
 
 the General Court, in 1677, granted him two hundred acres 
 of land; and by consent of the Court he obtained, in 1676-7, 
 a tract of two hundred acres of the Indians, which was situ- 
 ated near where his former dwelling stood. " The Eames 
 Farm " was situated in the southerly part of Framingham, 
 south of Sudbury River, and ran westerly as far as Farm 
 Pond. The grant of two hundred acres allowed by the 
 Court in 1677 was laid out by John Brigham of Sudbury, in 
 1686, and is said to have been "land in the wilderness adjoin- 
 ing to Lancaster line." 
 
 The Corlett Grant. — This land tract was laid out 
 May 28, 1661, to Mr. Elijah Corlett, a schoolmaster of Cam- 
 bridge. It was situated " about a mile distant from the 
 southwest angle of the lands formerly granted to Sudbury ; 
 also having a parcel of meadow granted to Mr. Edmond 
 Browne, teacher to the church in Sudbury, on the south, 
 also being about half a mile distant northerly from the river 
 which runneth to Sudbuiy, also being about a mile and a 
 quarter distant west northwesterly of the now dwelling- 
 house of John Stone." In 1661, Mr. Thomas Dan forth 
 purchased the land of Mr. Corlett, and the same year trans- 
 ferred it to Mr. John Stone. 
 
 The Gookin and How Purchase. — This was a land 
 tract that came into possession of Samuel Gookin of Cam- 
 bridge, a son of Maj.-Gen. Daniel Gookin, who was colonial 
 commissioner to the Indians, and a co-worker with Rev. 
 John Elliot and Samuel How of Sudbury. The tract was 
 obtained of the Indians, who gave a deed of it dated May 
 19, 1682. A specification in the deed was that it contain, 
 "by estimate, two hundred acres more or less." 
 
 The Mayhew Farm. — This was a land tract of three 
 hundred acres granted to Thomas Mayhew, Oct. 17, 1643. 
 It is described as " lying between Marlboro, Magunkook and 
 Framingham," and was assigned by will of Thomas Mayhew, 
 bearing date Sept. 15, 1666, to John Stone and Nathaniel 
 Treadaway, both grantees of Sudbuiy. In 1708 it was laid 
 out to their heirs. 
 
 The Danforth Farm. — These lands consisted of several 
 parcels that came to Thomas Danforth by grant or purchase. 
 
156 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Oho of these was granted in 1GG0, and contained two hun- 
 dred and fifty acres, which were Laid out adjacent to the 
 south boundary of Sudbury, west of the river, and joining 
 the land occupied by John Stone. Another tract was granted 
 in 1GG2, and consisted of two hundred acres adjoining the 
 "same land he hath between Conecticot path and Marl- 
 borough." The Court appointed to lay out this land " Ensign 
 Noyes of Sudbury with old Goodman Rice and John How," 
 and "the act of any two of these was to be valid both for 
 quantity and quality." This tract was adjacent to and 
 west of the two hundred and fifty acres just mentioned, 
 and extended along the south line of the Lanhani District. 
 Other lands were allowed to Mr. Danforth until, by grant or 
 purchase, he owned about two-thirds of the Framinghara 
 Plantation. These Danforth lands were from time to time, 
 more or less of them, leased to individuals, and among those 
 leasing them were Samuel Winch and Thomas Frost, who 
 were formerly inhabitants of Sudbury, and both of whom 
 lived at Lanhani, — the former as early as 1670, when he 
 purchased land there of Samuel How, and the latter about 
 1685. The lease to Messrs. Winch and Frost is dated March 
 25, 1693, and was of land that had been occupied by Mr. 
 Winch on parole lease for several years. The time of the 
 lease was nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and a payment 
 was to be made of four pounds ten shillings per annum. 
 The farm was bounded northerly by "Sudbury line," easterly 
 by the river and Dea. John Stones' land, and southeasterly 
 by "Mr. Danforth's own land," southerly by the " Lynde 
 Farm," westerly by the six hundred acres of reserved land 
 (at Nobscot). The tract comprised three hundred acres, 
 more or less, and contained "all those mesuages and tene- 
 ments wherein they, the said Samuel Winch and Thomas 
 Frost, do now dwell, containing two dwelling-houses, out- 
 houses, and lands adjoining." This estate was situated in 
 the northerly part of Framingham, and with the Stone Farm 
 piohabh comprised largely the midway border territory in 
 the northerly part of that town. 
 
 Another Sudbury settler who was one of the early occu- 
 pants of Framingham territory was John Bent, son of Peter 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 15" 
 
 Bent. In 1662 he purchased of Henry Rice a piece of land 
 westerly of Cochituate Brook, and built a house there " near 
 the fordway over that brook on the west side of the ' Old 
 Connecticut Path.' " (Temple.) 
 
 Other parties from Sudbury connected with the coloniza- 
 tion of Framingham were Josiah Bradish, who it is supposed 
 settled northerly of Nobscot Hill ; John Adams, who bought 
 two hundred acres of Gookin and How at Saxonville, and 
 erected a dwelling not far from the location of the present 
 railroad station ; Thomas Walker, who bought eighty acres 
 of Gookin and How, and built a house at Rice's End ; Sam- 
 uel King, John Loker, Mathew, David and Benjamin Rice. 
 
 Such are some of the facts which set forth the service of 
 Sudbury in the settlement of Framingham. From Nobscot 
 to Cochituate, and from there scattered along southerly into 
 " Natick bounds," the frontier was pioneered by them as 
 they marked out new trails or opened rude forest paths. It 
 is supposed that at the time of Philip's war, the Stones, 
 Rices, Bents, Eameses, and Bradishes were the only English 
 occupants on the Framingham Plantation. John Stone, at 
 the falls of Sudbury River, was one of the nearest neighbors 
 of Thomas Eames at Mt. Wayte ; and at his home in the 
 hollow, near the locality of the present railroad station, was 
 the only English hearthstone from which a light gleamed at 
 night, while about Dudley Pond and Cochituate the Rices 
 had their share of solitude in their lone woodland home. 
 Thus the loneliness of the settlers' life was a notable circum- 
 stance in the colonization experience of these bold Sudbury 
 frontiersmen. The wild rushing of the water in the circui- 
 tous stream at the "falls," the sounds heard in the forest as 
 the tall tree-tops were tossed by the wintry storms, and the 
 wind swept through the dark woody dells, were in strange 
 contrast with the noise of business that now proceeds from 
 that active place. 
 
 The settlers who went from Sudbury to the present terri- 
 tory of Framingham were called "Sudbury Out-dwellers," 
 or " Sudbury Farmers." Their ecclesiastical and social rela- 
 tions were for a time with the town of Sudbury, — that is. 
 they were expected to pay rates' levied for certain objects 
 
158 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the benefit of winch they shared. To such an extent were 
 they identified with Sudbury, that it has been supposed by 
 some they were a part of the town. This claim, it is said, 
 was made, among others, by Dr. Stearns. Some things indi- 
 cate that they were of the town, others that they were not. 
 That they were not of the town is indicated by the following 
 statement made about 1694-5, in a petition to the General 
 Court, k ' Whereas ourselves and sundry more families, to the 
 number of fifty or upwards, are settled upon the waste lands 
 lying between Sudbury, Natic, Marlbury, and Sherborn, and 
 as yet have not been orderly settled, with a township, but 
 are forced to travell to the nearest of the meeting-houses, 
 some to one and some to another." It is also indicated in 
 a petition to the General Court in 1698 for the appointment 
 of a committee to view lands of which it was desired to 
 make the town of Framingham. The petition was sent in 
 by John Bent and Nathaniel Stone, and the farmers about 
 Cochituate, who set forth that they "had been for a long 
 time united to Sudbury in civil and social rights and privi- 
 leges." A further indication of no territorial relationship to 
 Sudbury is the following from the Sudbury Records : Wk Oct. 
 26, 1686. Agreement between the town of Sudbury and 
 certain out -dwellers, viz., Corp. Henry Rice, Corp. John 
 Bent, Mathew Rice, Benjamin Rice, William Brown, Daniel 
 Stone, John Loker, John Adams, Samuel King, and David 
 Rice, who are inhabitants bordering upon, but dwelling 
 without the line or bounds of this town — have engaged to 
 pay all rates for building the meeting-house, and for the 
 maintenance of the ministry of the town, and for defraying 
 town debts and the support of the poor — provided the town 
 do relieve the poor amongst them and free them from repair- 
 ing the highways within the town's bounds." 
 
 Still another thing that may indicate that there was no 
 territorial relation is a report made at a selectmen's meet- 
 ing in Sudbury, in 1682. They represent in this report the 
 acres of land given to those dwelling in the town, a list of 
 lands of persons dwelling up and down the country, and a 
 list of men's lands bordering about or near the town. The 
 amount in the latter list is spoken of as amounting to five 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 159 
 
 thousand one hundred and three acres, in which Mr. Dan- 
 forth's lands (which were in the region now Framingham) 
 and Mr. Gookin's lands are not cast, because the contents 
 were not certain. (See period 1675-1700.) The inference 
 is that considerable land tracts were about Sudbury, largely 
 on the southerly side, on which the town claimed some finan- 
 cial rights, but which were not claimed as territory of the 
 town. 
 
 A reason why some may have supposed that these farmers 
 were a part of the town of Sudbury is found in the following- 
 answer to a petition sent to the General Court, Mar. 8, 1691-2: 
 • w In answer to the petition of the Selectmen of Sudbury, or- 
 dered : That the out-dwellers adjoining unto the said Town, 
 comprehended within the line beginning at Matth. Rice's, 
 from thence to Cornet W m Brown's Corp. Henry Rice's, 
 Thomas Drury's, Tho. Walker, Jr., John How, and Samuel 
 Winch's (not belonging to any other towne), be annexed 
 unto the Town of Sudbury, and continue to bear their part 
 of all duties and partake of all privileges then as formerly 
 until further order." As to how the order was interpreted 
 by those who had petitioned, may be indicated by a petition 
 .sent to the Court July 4, 1700, to which these same farmers 
 attach their signatures : " The said town of Sudbury have for 
 above a year denied your Petitioners the liberty of voting 
 and other town privileges, utterly disclaiming them as not 
 belonging to the said town, though your Petitioners have 
 contributed to the building the meeting-house and mainte- 
 nance of the minister, and have paid several town rates and 
 done many town duties ; wherefore the}- pray to be annexed 
 to the town of Framingham." 
 
 Another statement bearing upon the question is the fol- 
 lowing from a petition sent to the Court, in 1730, by the 
 inhabitants of Framingham living on the east and south of 
 the river. They state " that they are principally consisting 
 of those Farmers taken from Sudbury and Sherborn and 
 those of Sudbury Farmers with others remote from meeting 
 before the Court had taken emm off from Sudbury and 
 annexed them to Framingham were designing to address the 
 General Court to have been made a separate town :::::: 
 
160 BISTORT? OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Ami your petitioners would intimate, that we of Sudbury 
 fanners and Sherborn farmers should never have yielded to 
 be annexed to Framingham had we not expected the meet- 
 ins house had been fixed in the place where it now is." 
 
 MARLBORO. 
 
 About the time that the Sudbury settlers were pioneer- 
 ing on the south of their plantation, their attention was 
 turned in a westerly course also. Marlboro, which formerly 
 included Northboro, Southboro, Westboro, and Hudson, 
 was a wilderness country bordering in that direction. Very 
 naturally, as the people began to feel the need of more ter- 
 ritory, they sought it thitherward as well as towards the 
 south. 
 
 The result was, that, in 1656, the following petition was 
 presented to the General Court: — 
 
 "To the Hon. Governor &c assembled in Boston. The 
 humble petition of several of the inhabitants of Sudbury 
 whose names are here underwritten showeth, that whereas 
 your petitioners have lived divers years in Sudbury and God 
 hath been pleased to increase our children which are now 
 divers of them grown to man's estate and we many of us 
 grown into years so that we should be glad to see them set- 
 tled before the Lord take us away from hence and also God 
 having given us some considerable cattle so that we are so 
 straightened that we cannot so comfortably subsist as could 
 be desired and some of us having taken some pains to view 
 the country we have found a place which lyeth westward 
 about eight miles from Sudbury which we conceive might be 
 comfortable for our subsistance, It is therefore the humble 
 request of your Petitioners to this Hon'd Court that you 
 would bee pleased to grant unto us eight miles square or so 
 much land as may containe to eight miles square for to make 
 a Plantation." 
 
 This petition was signed by the following parties: "Ed- 
 mund Pice. \V m Ward, Thomas King. John Wood, Thomas 
 Goodnow, John Ruddock. Henry Rice. John How. John 
 Bent Sen r , John Maynard, Richard Newton, Peter Pent, 
 Edward Pice."' 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 161 
 
 Answer was given to this petition at a General Court ses- 
 sion held in Boston, May 14, 1656, to the effect that a tract 
 of land six miles square be granted, provided it hinder no 
 prior grant, and that a town be settled thereon with twenty 
 or more families within three 3^ears time, so that an able min- 
 istry might there be sustained. A committee was appointed 
 to lay out the bounds, and make report to the " Court of 
 Election." Unless they did this, the grant would be void. 
 A portion of the territory desired had previously been 
 granted to the Indians, on petition of Rev. John Elliot, but 
 a committee was appointed who amicably adjusted the mat- 
 ter, so that each party had their lands laid out and duly 
 confirmed. The plantation of the Indians was known as 
 Ockoocangansett, and was partly surrounded hj the plan- 
 tation of the English, which for a brief period was called 
 Whipsuppenicke. A plan of the latter was made in 1667, 
 and approved by the authorities the same year. It contained 
 29,419 acres, which, with the 6,000 acres which had been 
 reserved for the Indians, made 35,419 acres. 
 
 The first proprietors' meeting was held Sept. 25, 1656, and 
 the same year William Ward, Thomas King, John Ruddock, 
 and John How were " chosen to put the Affairs of the said 
 new Plantation in an orderly way." A petition for incor- 
 poration was soon sent to the General Court, and, being 
 favorably received, in 1660 the place ceased to be merely a 
 plantation legally connected with Sudbury, but became a 
 town of itself, and was called " Marlborrow." 
 
 The places where some of the Sudbury settlers early had 
 their abodes in Marlboro are still known, and some of them 
 have been designated in the history of the town. Such 
 places furnish food for reflection to the thoughtful mind, and 
 not the least so, perhaps, to the people of the town from 
 whence the early occupants of those dwellings went forth. 
 May the sites of those primitive dwelling-places, on which 
 the roof-tree long since decayed, continue to be pointed out, 
 and suggest the spirit of enterprise that inspired that little 
 company who went forth from Sudbury in search of new 
 lands ! 
 
L62 BISTORT OF SUDBURY. 
 
 WORCESTER. 
 
 Bui Sudbury helped settle towns still farther westward. 
 Beyond Marlboro were the lands of what is now the city of 
 Worcester, then a wilderness across the frontier. To this 
 spot repaired some of the people of Sudbury. Anion-' these 
 was Lieutenant Curtis, the sturdy backwoodsman of wl 
 service in the war with King Philip we are yet to speak. ( S 
 peri. i,l L675-1700.) Ephraim Curtis was a son of Henry Cur- 
 tis, an original grantee o( Sudbury. He was of a sturdy, ad- 
 venturesome nature, a frontiersman, soldier and scout. The 
 customs of the red men, the resort of wild game, the camp-fire 
 and the night ambuscade, were all familiar to him. A short 
 time before the outbreak o\' Kin-- Philip's war Lieut. Ephraim 
 Curtis turned his face towards the west, and made his camp 
 at what is now Worcester. We quote the following con- 
 concerning his subsequent experience in that locality: "It 
 was in the fall oi' 1673, as near as can now he ascertained by 
 tradition and otherwise, that Ephraim Curtis, the first actual 
 white settler, left Sudbury, with a pack on his hack, a ion-'. 
 light Spanish oun on his shoulder, and an axe in in his hand, 
 and set his face towards Worcester; arriving', after two 
 days" travel, on the very spot still owned and occupied by 
 his descendants, on Lincoln Street, to the sixth generation. 
 The principal reason for his selecting this locality to settle 
 upon was the supposition of mineral wealth in the soil, from 
 the report of a valuable lead mine having been discovered in 
 the vicinity by the Indians, who had a sort of rendezvous on 
 Wigwam Hill while on their fishing and hunting excursions. 
 Here Ephraim Curtis was all alone in the wilderness for a 
 year or more, and in subsequent times used to tell how, after 
 working all day. he would sit down and look towards Sud- 
 bury, and shed tears in spite of himself. But he had a will 
 that bore him through. For a time he claimed the whole 
 town o( Worcester, but had to be content with two hundred 
 acres near the upper part of Plantation Street, and another 
 plantation near Grafton Core, granted by the Great and 
 General Court as his share of the territory o( Worcester. 
 Curtis and others (ywho had followed him) stayed in Worees- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 163 
 
 ter until driven from there by the Indians in 1675. He left 
 the spot which he attempted to settle to his descendants, 
 with no other personal memorials, it is said, than his gun 
 and silver-headed cane marked 'E. C In his later life he 
 returned to Sudbury, where he died at the age of ninety- 
 two. He left Worcester plantation to the care of his son 
 John, and in 17o4 lie conveyed two hundred and fifty acres, 
 on the border of Worcester, Auburn, and Millbury, to his son 
 Ephraim Curtis, Jr." (Fall's "Reminiscences of Worces- 
 ter.") 
 
 The violet sprung at Spring's first tinge, 
 
 The rose of Summer spread its glow, 
 The maize hung out its autumn fringe, 
 
 Rude Winter brought his snow; 
 And still the lone one labored there, 
 His shout and whistle broke the air, 
 
 As cheerily he plied 
 His garden spade, or drove his share 
 
 Along the hillock's side. 
 
 Alfred B. Street. 
 
 But the pioneer work done by Sudbury in the settle- 
 ment of Worcester was by no means confined to one 
 man. In 1657 thirty-two hundred acres were granted to 
 Increase Nowell of Charlestown. His right was purchased 
 by Josiah and John Haynes, Thomas Noyes, and Nathaniel 
 Treadaway ; and in 1664 they became proprietors of a large 
 tract east of Quinsigamond Pond. Haynes, Treadaway, and 
 Noyes petitioned the General Court for a committee "to 
 view the country." The death of Mr. Noyes, and the dis- 
 turbed condition of things, prevented the commissioners 
 whom the Court appointed from carrying out the order. 
 Hut, in 1667, the Court again took measures towards a set- 
 tlement of the country, and appointed a committee, who 
 state in their report that " about five thousand acres is laid 
 out to particular persons, and confirmed by this Court, as 
 we are informed, which falls within this tract of land, viz., 
 to Ensign Noyes, deceased, his brother three thousand two 
 hundred acres, unto the church at Maiden one thousand 
 acres, and others five hundred acres bought of Ensign 
 
164 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Noyes ; but all this notwithstanding, we conceive there may 
 be enough meadow for a small plantation or town of about 
 thirty families, and if these farms be annexed to it, it may 
 supply about sixty families." The committee recommended 
 to the Court that it " reserve it for a town;" and, for the 
 settling of it, it advised "that there be a meet proportion of 
 land granted and laid out for a town, in the best form the 
 place will bear, about the contents of eight miles square." 
 (Colonial Records, Vol. IV., p. 587. ) 
 
 Another Sudbury citizen who assisted in the settlement of 
 Worcester was Digory Sargent, So much of interest clusters 
 about the character and experience of this adventurous man. 
 that we will quote entire the account of him as given in Lin- 
 coln's " History of Worcester:* 1 "Among those who attempted 
 the settlement of Worcester, after the first unsuccesful enter- 
 prise, was Digory Sargent, who had built his home on Saga- 
 tabscot Hill, southeastward of the present town. He was a 
 native of Sudbury, and had been a carpenter by occupation 
 before his removal. A will made by him in 1670 is preserved 
 on the Middlesex records. As the list of goods and effects, 
 strangely mingled together, presents an example of the hum- 
 ble personal possessions of pioneer times, and the style affords 
 specimen of quaint peculiarity, it will not be uninteresting. 
 
 "'digory sargent's will. 
 "'March the 17th day 1696. The last Will and Testa- 
 ment of Digory Sargent. I, Digory Sargent, being in ray 
 health and strength and in my perfect memory, blessed be 
 the Lord for it ; these few lines may satisfy whom it may 
 concern, that I, Digory Sargent, do freely give unto my 
 daughter, Martha Sargent, my house and land with all its 
 rights and privileges there unto belonging: this house and 
 four score acre lot of land lieth within the township of 
 Worcester ; I likewise do give unto her all my goods ; one 
 flock bed and boulster, with one rugg, and two blankets and 
 two coverlets; six froes ; one broad ax and one pulling ax 
 and one hand saw; one frying pan ; one shave ; one drawing- 
 knife ; one trunk and a sermon book that is at Mrs. Man- 
 Mason's Widow, at Boston ; with one pewter pint pot ; one 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 165 
 
 washing tub; one cow and calf; one [ — ] ; three iron wedges; 
 two butte rings ; and if in case the Lord should see good to 
 take away the said Digory Serjent by death, then I, the said 
 Digory Serjent, do leave these things above written unto 
 George Parinenter of Sudbury to be disposed of as he shall 
 see good to bring up the said Digory Serjent's child ; and if 
 in case that this child should die likewise, then I do freely 
 give my house and land with all the goods above mentioned 
 unto George Parmenter forever, and to his heirs, to look 
 after these things and to dispose of them as he shall see 
 cause. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
 seal the day and year above named. There is one gun too. 
 
 " ' Digory Serjent. 
 ' k ' Witnessed by John Keyes, John Wetherby.' 
 
 " Having afterwards been married to the sister of Parmen- 
 ter, his family became more numerous, and afforded more 
 victims to be involved in the miseries of death and captivity. 
 Long after the other planters had fled from the perils of the 
 conflict that raged around them, Sargent remained with his 
 children, the solitary occupants of the town, resisting all 
 importunity to seek safety by desertion, and resolving with 
 fearless intrepidity to defend from the savage the fields his 
 industry had redeemed from the waste. During the summer 
 of 1702 his residence was unmolested. As winter approached 
 the committee, alarmed by his situation on the frontier of 
 danger, sent messengers to advise his removal to a place of 
 security. As their admonitions were disregarded, they at 
 length despatched an armed force of twelve men, under Cap- 
 tain Howe, to compel compliance with the order. At the 
 close of day the party arrived at a garrison near the mills. 
 Here they halted for the night, which grew dark with storm 
 and snow, and, kindling their fires, laid down to rest, while 
 one of the band watched the slumbers of his comrades. In 
 the morning they went onwards, and reached the house of 
 Sargent, on Sagatabscot, at the distance of nearly two miles 
 from the post where they had halted. They found the door 
 broken down, the owner stretched in blood on the floor, and 
 the dwelling desolate. The prints of many moccasins lead- 
 
L66 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ins? westward, still visible through the snow, indicated that 
 they had been anticipated by a short time only in the objecl 
 of their mission. It was soon found that the children of 
 Sargent were living in Canada. On the release of the eldest 
 she related the particulars of the fearful catastrophe they had 
 witnessed. When the Indians, headed by Sagamon John, 
 as it is said, surrounded the house, Sargent seized his gun to 
 defend his life, and was fired on. As he retreated to the 
 stairway, a ball took effect and lie fell. The savages rushed 
 in, with their tomahawks completed the work of death, and 
 tore off his scalp from his head as a, token of victory. They 
 seized the mother and her children, John, Daniel. Thomas, 
 Martha, and Mary. and. having discovered the neighborhood 
 of the white men, commenced a rapid retreat westward. 
 The wife of Sargent, fainting with grief and fear, and in 
 feeble circumstances, faltered, and impeded their progress. 
 The apprehension of pursuit induced the Indian to forego 
 
 [ ] torturing his victim. As they ascended the 
 
 hills of Tataesset, a chief stepped out from the file, and. 
 looking around among the leafless forests as if for game, 
 excited no alarm in the exhausted and sinking captive, and 
 awoke no cry nf horror to betray their course. When she 
 had passed by, one merciful blow from the strong arm of the 
 sachem removed the obstruction of their flight. The chil- 
 dren they carried away reached the northern frontier in 
 safety, and were a long time in Canada. Daniel and Mary. 
 preferring the wild freedom of their captors to the restraints 
 of civilized life, adopted the habits and manners of the Indi- 
 ans. They never again resided with their relatives, although 
 they once made them a visit when Miss Williams, taken at 
 Deeriield, was restored. In 1715, Thomas was in Boston. 
 John had been liberated in 1721. Martha was probably 
 redeemed earlier than her brothers, married Daniel Shattuck, 
 and returned to dwell on the spot so fatal to her family."" 
 (Lincoln's ,k History of Worcester." ) 
 
 Another inhabitant of Sudbury who went to Worcester, in 
 the third attempt to settle that town, was Nathaniel Moore. 
 He was one of the most prominent citizens of that place dur- 
 ing: tin' first half century, and was for twelve years one of its 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 1(37 
 
 selectmen. Mr. Moore was one of the first two deacons of the 
 Old South Church, an ancestor of Dr. Moore, and formerly 
 president of Williams and the first president of Amherst 
 College. Still another who went from the town was Capt. 
 Moses Rice. He went to Worcester about 1719, and built a 
 tavern there. Captain Rice was commander of a cavalry 
 company, and fought in several engagements with the Indi- 
 ans. He went to Rutland about 1742, where he was killed 
 by the Indians in 1755, aged sixty. Others who went there 
 were Thomas Brown, Benjamin Crane, John Curtis, Simon 
 Meyling, Jonathan Grout, —all of whom received lands in 
 that vicinity. 
 
 GRAFTON. 
 
 Another place in whose settlement Sudbury citizens had 
 some share was Grafton, a town in Worcester County. Its 
 Indian name was Hassanamesit, which means a place of 
 small stones. The land, which contained seven thousand 
 five hundred acres, was purchased of the native proprietors, 
 upon leases obtained of the General Court, May, 1724. 
 The petition, asking the privilege of making the purchase, 
 was presented by a number of persons, principally from 
 Marlboro, Sudbury, Concord, and Stow; and the petitioners 
 sought leave " to purchase of the Hassanamisco Indians land 
 at that place." In the Indian deed concerning the territory, 
 among other specific declarations is the following: "To 
 Jonathan Rice and Richard Taylor both of Sudbury in the 
 County of Middlesex aforesaid husbandmen each one fortieth 
 part thereof ... to them and their respective heirs and 
 assigns forever." After the purchase of the territory, and 
 the establishment of the plantation' those who composed the 
 company laying claim to the territory held proprietors' meet- 
 ings, more or less of which were at the house of Jonathan 
 Rice in Sudbury. Their records and proceedings show the 
 prominent part taken by Sudbury citizens in the formation 
 of the township. A few specimens of these records are as 
 follows: "At a meeting of the Proprietors of the common 
 and undivided lands in Hassanamisco holden at the house of 
 
168 HISTORY OF SUDBTTBY. 
 
 Jonathan How in Marlboro, April, 1T2S, Mr. Jonathan Rice 
 was chosen clerk for the Proprietors to enter and record all 
 votes and orders from time to time as shall be made and 
 passed in said Proprietors meetings." "July 9, 1T28. The 
 Proprietors held a meeting- at Sudbury, at the house of Jona- 
 than Rice, and chose a committee to take charge of building 
 a meeting house." "Jan. 6, 1780. At the house of Jona- 
 than Rice, voted to lay out 3 acres to each Proprietor 30 
 acres of land for the third division ; voted to raise seven 
 pounds of money on each Proprietor for the finishing of the 
 meeting house and school house." 
 
 In the appointment of committees for important business 
 Sudbury was creditably represented. The committee chosen 
 -to take a survey of the plantation of Hassanamisco, and 
 find out and stake the centre plot of the plantation," were 
 Captain Brigham of Marlboro, John Hunt of Concord, and 
 Richard Taylor of Sudbury. Jan. 16, 1734, it was voted 
 that Col. John Chandler of Concord and Jonathan Rice of 
 Sudbury should be "a committee to make Hassanamisco a 
 town." Thus, at Sudbury and by her citizens, were more or 
 less of the plans laid and business transacted at the begin- 
 ning of this thriving town. 
 
 RUTLAND. 
 Another town, in the settlement of which Sudbury was 
 early and creditably represented, is Rutland. Mass. This 
 town was incorporated by the General Court at a session of 
 1722. The territory, however, which included the portion 
 incorporated at this time, and which was six miles square, 
 was some years before this explored by daring pioneers, and 
 embraced, in its full extent, a tract twelve miles square, 
 and took in a part or the whole of the territory of what is 
 now Hubbardston, Princeton, Holden, Oakham, Paxton, and 
 Barre. The original territory in these latter-named limits 
 was purchased, for twenty-three pounds, of Puagastion oi 
 Pennb'ook, Pompamamay of Natick, Wananapan of Wamas- 
 sick, Sassawannow of Natick, and other natives, on Dec. 22, 
 1686. The name of the whole place was Naquag, and the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 169 
 
 deed of it, signed and acknowledged by the above-named 
 Indians, was received April 14, 1714, and is on record at the 
 Middlesex Registry of Deeds, page 511 of Book XVI. 
 
 The ownership of this twelve-mile land tract was confirmed 
 by the General Court in 1713, on petition of the heirs of 
 Maj. Simon Willard, of Indian war fame, and others whose 
 names were in the associate deed. One condition imposed 
 by the Court in the confirmation of ownership was, that, 
 within seven years, there be sixty families settled there, and 
 a reservation of land for church and school purposes. On 
 Dec. 14, 1715, the proprietors, at a meeting in Boston, 
 decided that a tract of six miles square of the original 
 twelve miles should be surveyed and set apart for the set- 
 tlement of sixty-two families, in order to keep the conditions 
 by which the grant was to be allowed. It decided to grant 
 to Capt. Benjamin Willard, for certain considerations, one of 
 which was that he build a mill, " one-third part of a thirty- 
 third part of said township, or nine hundred and thirty 
 acres." A portion of this large grant to Captain Willard 
 passed into the hands of several prominent Sudbury citizens, 
 who were assignees to Captain Willard. Three of them were 
 Rev. Israel Loring, Capt. Samuel Stone, and Capt. Samuel 
 Wright. The land thus assigned went to the parties as fol- 
 lows : To Mr. Loring, three hundred acres ; to Captain Stone, 
 two hundred and forty acres ; and to Captain Wright, one 
 hundred and twenty acres. 
 
 So much of the land of the twelve miles square as amounted 
 to six miles square having now been confirmed to the claim- 
 ants, and surveyed, and positions assigned for settlement, on 
 petition to the General Court, at a session beginning May 80, 
 1722, an act of incorporation was passed, making of this ter- 
 ritory the town of Rutland. The place thus being in readi- 
 ness for settlement, and quite a portion of it being in the 
 hands of Sudbury citizens, and a leader in the enterprise, 
 Captain Wright, being a Sudbury man who, for years before 
 Rutland was incorporated, was a manager in its affairs, it is 
 no wonder that emigration flowed from the town into this 
 new country. It was as the great West to a place as near 
 the seaboard settlements as Sudbury; and the romance and 
 
170 HISTORY OF SUDBUBY. 
 
 adventure of pioneer life very likely took hold of the inhabi- 
 tants, as the same spirit led their ancestors to seek homes 
 aboul the borders of Sudbury River about a century before. 
 Accordingly, as might be expected, we find an early exodus 
 from the town to the place; and among the names of parties 
 who found homes in Rutland, or in the towns of the original 
 twelve miles square, we find the following, which now 
 are, or have been, familiar in Sudbury: Newton, Moore, 
 Howe. Knight, Ward. Brown, Hunt, Bent, Stevens. Wright, 
 Read, Dakin, Goodenow, Riee. Brintnal, Haynes, Stone, 
 Parmenter, Estabrook, Clapp, Walker. Maynard. 
 
 Other towns about Sudbury that were represented in the 
 settlement of this place were .Marlboro. Concord, and Fra- 
 mingham, besides some from Boston, Lexington, Lancaster, 
 and Brookfield, and some emigrants from Ireland. 
 
 But it is not simply the matter of names and numbers of 
 parties from the town that makes it important and interest- 
 ing to mention the part taken by Sudbury in the settlement 
 of Rutland, but the prominence of several of them. More or 
 less were leaders in the enterprise, and active and influen- 
 tial in shaping the young town's life. As showing their 
 character, we will give a short sketch of some of them. 
 
 Among the most valuable men of the place was Capt. 
 Samuel Wright, who came from the West Parish in Sud- 
 bury, and was proprietor of lot No. 1 in the first apportion- 
 ment of Rutland territory. Captain Wright was the firsl 
 deacon of the church there, justice of the peace, captain of 
 the militia, and for years held various other town offices. 
 He was clerk and one of the proprietors of the twelve-miles- 
 square land tract. It was at a meeting at his house that 
 land divisions of the town were confirmed, June 2o, 1721. 
 He was the fust moderator, town clerk, and selectman 
 chosen after Rutland became incorporated. Captain Wright 
 kept a, tavern for some time opposite tic first meeting-house, 
 at which place much of the business of the town was trans- 
 acted. He was prominent in defending the town against the 
 incursions of the Indians, who assailed it savagely in its early 
 history; and in this defense be was reinforced by soldiers 
 from Sudbury. Captain Wright was the sixth son of 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 171 
 
 Edward Wright, who is supposed to have been a son of 
 one of Sudbury's early inhabitants or grantees. He was born 
 April 9, 1670. He married Mary Stevens, a daughter of 
 Cyprian Stevens, whose wife was Mary Willard, daughter 
 of Major Simon Willard of Lancaster, and of his third wife, 
 Mary Dunster, who was a relative of Mr. Dunster, president 
 of Harvard College. Captain Wright was by this marriage 
 one of the heirs to the large land tract originally assigned as 
 the Rutland territory, which, as we have mentioned, was, in 
 1713, confirmed as to ownership, on petition of the sons and 
 grandsons of Major Simon Willard; and his daughter Mary's 
 name was among the other heirs in the associate deed. He 
 was also by this marriage with Mary made brother-in-law of 
 Deacon Joseph Stevens, another early and prominent citizen 
 of Rutland, who was the father of Capt. Phineas Stevens, 
 the settler of whom we shall next speak in this sketch. Mr. 
 Wright had several children, one of whom married Rev. 
 Thomas Frink, the first settled minister of the place, and of 
 whom mention will be made further on. The Wright family 
 years ago almost or wholly ceased to be inhabitants of Rut- 
 land. 
 
 One of the next in prominence as an historic character in 
 the early history of Rutland, and who lived in Sudbury and 
 had children while there, was Deacon Joseph Stevens. He 
 was a son of Cyprian Stevens, who, as we have seen, married 
 Mary Willard of Lancaster. He went from Sudbury to Fra- 
 mingham, and from there removed to Rutland about 1719. 
 He married Prudence Rice, a daughter of John Rice of Sud- 
 bury, and while at Sudbury his son Phineas, the Indian 
 fighter and famous captain in the French and Indian war, 
 was born. Mr. Stevens was thus by relationship grandson 
 of Major Simon Willard, and by heirship had an interest in 
 the land tract. In the homestead allotment he received lots 
 Nos. 15 and 50. He also had two hundred acres of other 
 land. He filled various offices, military, ecclesiastical, and 
 civil, among which were those of captain of militia and dea- 
 con of the church. He put up a small hut on some meadow 
 land five miles from his dwelling-place, and, there being no 
 road to the place, he went to it daily on rackets or snow- 
 
172 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 shoes to feed his stock. On the 14th of August, 1723, after 
 the daily devotional service with his family, Mr. Stevens 
 started with four young men to gather hay. and while en- 
 gaged in the work he was assailed by the Indians, two of his 
 suns were killed, the eldest and youngest were taken prison- 
 ers, and he alone escaped. The captives were taken to Can- 
 ada; and, being kept there a year, were redeemed at great 
 expense, after the father had taken two trips to Canada. It 
 is said, that, after the capture of these boys, the Indians, 
 thinking that Isaac, the younger, who was but four years 
 old, would be troublesome to them on their way to Canada, 
 were about putting- him to death, when their design was dis- 
 covered by Phineas, who made signs, that, if his brother 
 were spared, he would carry him along on his back. The 
 request being granted, little Isaac was carried by his brother 
 Phineas, then about seventeen, to the Indians' far-off wilder- 
 ness home. Isaac was so young when taken captive that he 
 soon acquired the customs and habits of the Indians. It is 
 stated that the Indian woman who had this young child in 
 charge was so kind in her treatment of him, that he would 
 have remained among the savages. By the redemption of 
 Phineas Stevens from his captivity in Canada, the country 
 received a man whose services were invaluable in after years. 
 This son of Sudbury afterward became an historic character, 
 from his masterly military prowess in and about Fort No. 4, a 
 place on the Connecticut River at Charleston, N.H. Deacon 
 Stevens had three daughters. Mindwell, Mary, and Kather- 
 ine. He died Nov. 15, 1700, and his wife about 177o. 
 
 Capt. Edward Rice and Rachel, his wife, were from Sud- 
 bury, and were some of the most prominent people of Rut- 
 land, lie was proprietor of two lots — Nos. 34 and 60— and 
 their after divisions. One of these lots he sold to Mr. Benja- 
 min Dudley, and settled on the other, which was located at 
 Muschapauge Hill, and contained one hundred and forty- 
 five acres; but, after building upon it. he sold it, and bought 
 a lot south of Pomagussett Meadow, at which place he 
 lived, and where In- died, at the age of sixty-seven, during 
 a remarkable sickness which, in 1756, swept over Rutland, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 173 
 
 destroying during the fall months nearly sixty children. 
 Mrs. Rice, his wife, died of small pox, Jan. 7, 1760. Cap- 
 tain Rice was a useful citizen for his country, town, and 
 church. He entered into the service of his country in 1724, 
 and after his return home held both militia and town offices. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Stone was of Lexington, but previously was 
 a citizen of Sudbury. He was proprietor of lot No. 25 ; but, 
 with his sons, he eventually became owner of about nine 
 hundred acres of land. Samuel Stone, Jr., on Oct. 20, 1732, 
 married a daughter of Deacon Stevens, by whom he had sev- 
 eral children. He was an ardent patriot, and died in the 
 service of his country at the time of the Revolutionary War. 
 His son Isaac died in the French War, Nov. 20, 1756. 
 
 Capt. Phineas Walker and his wife, Beulah Clapp, were 
 from Sudbury, where their first two children were born. 
 Mr. Clapp owned land at the junction of Ware and Long- 
 meadow Brooks, to which place he moved in 1750. He was 
 a valuable inhabitant of Rutland, and filled various important 
 town offices, and was also a captain in the Revolutionary 
 War. Mr. Walker and wife, soon after arriving at Rutland, 
 united with the church, and it is stated of them, that, though 
 living four miles from the meeting-house, " their seats were 
 seldom empty." In the great sickness of 1756, their two 
 sons, Abel and John, were buried in one grave. Two of 
 their other sons were physicians ; one, named Asa, practised 
 in Barre; the other died Nov. 30, 1797. Jonas was a minute- 
 man and officer in the Revolution. 
 
 Col. Daniel Clapp was a Sudbury man, and in 1768 bought 
 land in Rutland, to which place he moved from the town of 
 Princeton. He filled many important offices while at Rut- 
 land, was an officer in the Revolutionary War, and for many 
 years registrar of deeds for Worcester County. 
 
 Lieut. Luke Moore and Lucy, his wife, were other citizens 
 from Sudbury. Mr. Moore was an officer of militia, and a 
 worthy citizen. He subsequently removed from Rutland to 
 New Hampshire. It is stated that Mr. Luke Moore was a 
 brother of all the women of the name of Moore who went 
 from Sudbury to Rutland. 
 
174 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Lieut. Paul Moore, another titled citizen, was from Sud- 
 bury. He was by trade a carpenter. He filled various town 
 «, Hires, as town clerk, selectman, and treasurer. Mr. Moore 
 married, May 3, L733, Hannah Hubbard, a daughter of ('apt. 
 John Hubbard, who moved from Worcester to Rutland about 
 172S; and for his second wife he married Azubah Moore of 
 Sudbury. The wife of Lieutenant Moore was a well-known 
 maker of deer-skin clothes. A grandson of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Mot. re was Rev. John Hubbard Church, formerly of Pelhara, 
 N.H. 
 
 Cornet Daniel Estabrook and Hannah, his wife, were both 
 from Sudbury. It is stated that Mr. Estabrook, in 172". 
 bought land laid out to Samuel Goodnow to his right of lot 
 No. 46, situated on Worcester Hill; and that when he began 
 to fell trees it was perilous going to his work without his 
 gun, not only from exposure to Indians, but also to bears 
 and wolves. 
 
 Another Sudbury citizen who owned land in Rutland, and 
 whose family was represented among its early settlers, was 
 Thomas Read, proprietor of Lot 22, with its divisions. 
 Thomas Read, the son of Thomas, moved from Sudbury to 
 Rutland with Sarah, his wife, and located their homestead 
 on the lot just mentioned. They were some of the first pio- 
 neers, and shared the perils incident to a settler's life. Mr. 
 Read had five children, Jason, Thomas, Mary. Jonathan, and 
 Micah. All Mr. Read's sons married wives from Framing- 
 ham. Mr. Read was of the old Read family in Sudbury, the 
 first of which family in the town was Thomas, who settled at 
 Lanham as early as 1654. It is said, in the k * History of Rut- 
 land," that "this family of Reads have been useful and indus- 
 trious inhabitants of Rutland for one hundred and twenty 
 \ cars." 
 
 Jonathan Stearns, who married Abigail Moore, bought 
 lands adjacent to what is called the East Wing. 
 
 Moses Maynard and his wife, Tabitha Moore, bought 
 land in Rutland adjacent to the East Wing, which was 
 once granted to Jonathan Waldo, and first division of upland 
 to the right of lots Nos. 2G and 27. The descendants of Mr. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 175 
 
 and Mrs. Maynard were numerous, and settled to quite an 
 extent in New Hampshire and Georgia. In 1836 it was said 
 that Mr. Maynard was the largest man that ever lived in 
 Rutland, and that about a year and a half before his death, 
 which occurred in his sixty-eighth year, he weighed four 
 hundred and fifty-oue pounds. 
 
 Mr. Moses Baxter, a carpenter, who married Mary Moore 
 of Sudbury, bought a farm joining the East Wing. 
 
 Mr. Eliphalet Howe was of the old Howe family in Sud- 
 bury, and bought land on Walnut Hill, Rutland. 
 
 Among the settlers in and about Rutland are other and 
 familiar Sudbury names ; but those which have been given 
 show how much the town contributed towards the settle- 
 ment. In the establishment of the church, also, Sudbury 
 was quite prominent. The first deacon was Samuel Wright, 
 at whose house was held a meeting for the signing of the 
 church covenant, July 18, 1727. July 24, 1721, Rev. Joseph 
 Willard was chosen pastor, but was slain by the Indians 
 August 14 of the same year. At a meeting held May 17, 
 1727, at which Capt. Samuel Wright presided, Rev. Thomas 
 Frink was chosen by unanimous vote to be the settled pas- 
 tor. He was a native of Sudbury, and took his degree at 
 Harvard College in 1722. His father came from England, 
 with two brothers. He was settled at Rutland, Nov. 1, 
 1727, and dismissed Sept. 8, 1740. Previous to the installa- 
 tion of Mr. Frink, letters missive were sent to six churches, 
 among which were those of the East and West Parishes, 
 Sudbury. Samuel Wright and Lieut. Simon Davis were 
 chosen to sign these letters for the church. In accordance 
 with the invitation, Revs. Loring and Cook of Sudbury were 
 present. Mr. Frink and Capt. Samuel Wright joined the 
 church by letters brought from the West Precinct Church. 
 Rev. Israel Loring preached the installation sermon, from 
 2 Cor. ii. 16: "And who is sufficient for these things." 
 After laying on of hands by Revs. Loring, Prentice, Par- 
 sons, and Chenery, Mr. Frink "was ordained a, Presbiter 
 of the Church and Pastor of Rutland." Mr. Lorinsr ° - ave 
 the right hand of fellowship. After singing part of the 
 
176 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Eighty -ninth Psalm, the pastor "pronounced the Bless- 
 ing-" 
 
 After Mr. Frink was dismissed from Rutland, he was 
 
 installed pastor of the Third Church, Plymouth, Nov. 7, 
 1743 ; and October, 1753, he was installed pastor at Barre, 
 where he labored until July 17, 1766. He married Isabella, 
 daughter of Capt. Samuel Wright, Feb. 13, 1729, and had a 
 family of ten children. He was a man of considerable ability. 
 and preached the election sermon at Boston in 1758. His 
 son Samuel was also a minister ; and at the time of Mr. 
 Whitefield's visit to the country he was rector of a church 
 in Savannah, Ga. John Frink was a physician, and prac- 
 ticed in Rutland. 
 
 Thus the influence of Sudbury in the settlement of Rut- 
 land was strongly marked ; and it may be gratifying to the 
 town's people to-day that such good and prominent results 
 have accrued from the presence of her citizens abroad. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 1650-1675. 
 
 Activity on the West Side of the River. — Early Homesteads. — Laying 
 Out of the "New Grant." — Land Allotments. — Owners and Occu- 
 pants.— "The Thirty Rod Highway."— Settlement of Marlboro.— 
 The "Hop Brook Mill."— Highway to the New Mill. — "Old Lan- 
 caster Road." — New Meeting-House ; Contract. — The " Cow Com- 
 mon " Controversy. 
 
 The smoke wreaths curling o'er the dell, 
 The low, the bleat, the tinkling bell, 
 
 All made a landscape strange, 
 Which was the living chronicle 
 
 Of deeds that wrought the change. 
 
 A. B. Street. 
 
 Having noticed the leading events in the establishment 
 of the town, we will now consider its history mainly by 
 periods of a quarter of a century each. In doing this we 
 shall consider events somewhat in chronological order, tak- 
 ing liberty, however, to deviate as much as convenience and 
 a proper treatment of the subject may direct. 
 
 Between 1650 and 1675 the west side had rapid develop- 
 ment. Prior to the beginning of this period the pioneer 
 spirit of the settlers had led to a thorough exploration of 
 this part of the town, and they had located by its hills and 
 along its meadows and valleys, as if undaunted by distance 
 from the meeting-house and mill, and indifferent to the perils 
 of the wilderness. But although there was, to an extent, an 
 occupation of the west part of the town from the very begin- 
 ning of the settlement, yet the greater activity was for a 
 time on the east side ; in that part was the centralization of 
 people, and things were more convenient and safe. Indeed, 
 the settlers for a season may have regarded the west side as 
 
 177 
 
178 BISTOBY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 a wilderness country, destined long to remain in an unbroken 
 
 stat.'. The view westward from certain points along the first 
 street was upon woody peaks and rocky hillsides. Beyond 
 the valley of Lanham and Lowance, towered Nobscot; its 
 slope, thickly covered with forest, might look like an inhos- 
 pitable waste; while the nearer eminence of Goodman's Hill, 
 with its rough, rocky projections, may have had a broken 
 and desolate aspect. It is no wonder, then, thai in the ear- 
 lier years of the settlement we read of so many corn-fields on 
 the east side of the river, and find parties desirous of obtain- 
 ing new farms seeking- them in a southerly rather than a 
 westerly direction. But when absolute wants were once 
 met, and things essential to existence were provided ; when 
 the settlers had acquired a better knowledge of the country 
 and of the character of its native inhabitants, and a substan- 
 tial causeway was made, — then began a greater development 
 of the west part of the town. 
 
 The indications are that these things were accomplished 
 about the year 1650. At this time we begin to notice the 
 mention of homesteads on the west side, and the construc- 
 tion of works for public convenience. The lands first occu- 
 pied, probably, were those near Lanham and Pantry, and 
 along the meadows by the river course; while the more 
 central portion, called -Rocky Plain," was not taken till 
 somewhat later. This is indicated, not only by the known 
 locations of early homesteads, but by the locality of the west 
 side cow common. (See Chapter VII.) These sections 
 may have been first taken on account of the abundance of 
 meadow land, and the existence of roads which had been 
 made for the transportation of hay. 
 
 A prominent person who early located there was Walter 
 Haynes. He had a house by the meadow margin, which, in 
 IGTC, was used as a garrison, and which early in town his- 
 tory was called - Mr. Haynes" old house." In Hi 10 he was 
 granted liberty to run a fence -from his meadow, which lies 
 on the west side of the river, across the highway to his 
 fence of his upland at his new dwelling-house, provided that 
 Walter llavne do keep a gate at each side of his meadow for 
 the passing of carts and the herds along the highway that 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 179 
 
 his fence may not be prejudicial to the town." Both rec- 
 ord and tradition indicate that John and Edmund Goodenow 
 early had. lands near the Gravel Pit, and also at or near the 
 present Farr and Coolidge Farms. By 1659, Thomas Noyes 
 and. Thomas Plympton had established houses on the west 
 side, — the former on lands at Hop Brook, and the latter at 
 Strawberry Bank. As early at least as 1654, Thomas Read 
 was at Lanham ; and by 1659 Peter Bent was there also. 
 
 Some public acts which indicate activity on the west side, 
 as set forth by the records, are as follows : In 1654 it was 
 ordered that Walter Hayne and John Stone " shall see to 
 the fences of all the corn-fields on their side the river ; " and 
 in 1659 a committee was appointed to look after the high- 
 ways there. The mention of bridges by 1641, the ferry of 
 Mr. Noyes in 1642, and the contract for a cart-bridge in 
 1643, are all indications of early activity in the west part 
 of the town. But the more important matters of a public 
 nature were in connection with the laying out of new lands, 
 the construction of important roads, and the erection of a mill. 
 
 LAYING OUT OF NEW LANDS. 
 
 These lands consisted of the two-mile grant, allowed in 
 1649. (See Chapter IV.) Its eastern boundary line ex- 
 tended nearly as follows: A little west of North Sudbury, 
 Sudbury Centre, and South Sudbury, or, more specifically, 
 by the Moses Mossman place, across the Poor Farm, by 
 the east bank of Willis's Mill Pond, across or just east of 
 Blandford's Pond, over the Walter Rogers place, and a little 
 west of Hunt's Bridge. From this easterly limit, it extended 
 to the town's western boundary. Oct. 27, 1651, John Sher- 
 man and others were appointed to lay out this land. The 
 following record indicates how the mone}* was raised to meet 
 the expense of this work, and also a rule that was agreed 
 upon for the apportionment of the land : — 
 
 Nov. 27, 1651. " It is agreed in a public town meeting 
 warned for that purpose, that the rate now to be levied for 
 the payment of John Sherman and others for laying out the 
 two miles westward joining to our former bounds which was 
 last granted by the Court for our enlargement shall be paid 
 
180 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 by the inhabitants every man to pay alike, the same in quan- 
 tity and when thai the two miles shall be laved out that 
 every man shall enjoy a like quantity of that land. ' 
 
 About two years later a dispute arose relative to the man- 
 ner in which the two-mile grant was to be divided. "Two 
 ways were proposed, neither of which gave satisfaction ; the 
 first was to divide them equally to every man : the other was 
 to divide by estate or family — to every man four parts — to 
 every wife, child or servant bought or brought up in the 
 family one part." 
 
 On Jan. 4, 1655, at a selectmen's meeting it was -voted 
 to take some means to get the new grants laid out ; " and it 
 was also agreed -to keep a herd of cattle upon the land the 
 next summer." Thus the subject of the new grant was a 
 prominent one, and how to apportion it was an important 
 matter. At length the plan was adopted of dividing it 
 into squadrons, the arrangement of which was as follows: 
 "The south east was to he the first, the north east the 
 second, the north west the third, and the south west the 
 fourth." It was voted there should he a highway extending 
 north and south, "30 rods wide in the new gram joining to 
 the five miles first granted;" also, "Voted that there should 
 be a highway 30 rods wide, from south to north, paralel with 
 the Other said highway in the middle of the remaining tract 
 of land." 
 
 The records further state, that, as there was a pond in the 
 third and second squadrons, "so that the middle highway 
 from south to north cannot pass strait," it was voted to have 
 it "go round the pond." These squadrons were subdivided 
 into parcels of equal size, each containing one hundred and 
 thirty acres, and were apportioned to the people by lot. It 
 was voted that tk the first lot drawn was to begin at the 
 south side of the first squadron running east and west 
 betwixt our highways; the second lot to be in the north 
 side of the first, and so every lot following successively as 
 they are drawn till we come to Concord line and so the first 
 and second squadron." 
 
 Persons who received parts of this land, and the order of 
 receiving it, are thus given in the records: — 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 181 
 
 These twelve lots written, are the 
 first squadron, the first of them 
 joining to the country land on the 
 south, and the last of them join- 
 ing to Lancaster highway on the 
 north, each lot containing one hun- 
 dred and thirty acres, the length 
 being nearest hand east and west, 
 the breadth north and south. 
 
 John Blanford 1 
 
 Thomas Noyes 2 
 
 Walter Hains 3 
 
 William Kerley 4 
 
 Joseph Freeman 5 
 
 Henry Curtis 6 
 
 Mr. Brian Pendleton 7 
 
 Thomas Rice 8 
 
 Edward Rice 9 
 
 Mr. Herbert Pelham 10 
 
 L[ t ] Edmund Goodenow 11 
 
 Robert Davis 12 
 
 The second squadron are : 
 
 William Ward 13 
 
 Josiah Hains 14 
 
 Henry Loker 15 
 
 John How 16 
 
 Edmund Rice 17 
 
 Philemon Whale 18 
 
 John Loker 19 
 
 Mr. Edmund Browne 20 
 
 John Parmenter, Dea 21 
 
 John Maynard 22 
 
 Robert Darn ill 23 
 
 Thomas White 24 
 
 Richard Newton 25 
 John Reddicke, part of his 26 
 
 These thirteen lots and a part afore written are the second squadron 
 the first whereof being William Ward's who joineth to Lancaster high- 
 way on the south, the last being part of Sargent Reddicke's lot which 
 joineth to Concord line on the north all this squadron of lots, with the 
 other aforegoing, being bounded on the east by a highway thirty rods 
 wide, and part of the two miles last granted to Sudbury~each lot contain- 
 ing one hundred and thirty acres ; third squadron are as followeth : — 
 
 John Ward 
 Peter Kin^e 
 John Smith 
 Hugh Griffin 
 Henry Rice 
 Jo!m[--] 
 Robert Beast 
 William Kerley Sen 
 John Wood 
 John Rutter 
 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 30 
 31 
 32 
 33 
 34 
 35 
 36 
 
 Mr Wm Browne his farm of 
 two hundred acres, and his lot of 
 one hundred and thirty acres, be- 
 ing granted to be in the north 
 west angle beyond Asibath river 
 before the lots were laid out. Also 
 the other part of Sargent Red- 
 dicke's lot joining to Mr. William 
 Browne's farm on the north. 
 
Ig2 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Solomon Johnson Sen 37 
 
 John Toll 38 
 
 Widow Goodenow 39 
 
 The thirteen lots last written with Mr. W™ Browne's farm and lot 
 and the part of Sergent Reddicke's lot, are the third squadron. Mr. 
 Browne's farm joineth to Concord line on the north, and the widow 
 lenow's lot joineth the same said Lancaster highway on the south, 
 the said squadron of lots and farm being on the east the middle highway 
 thirty rods wide and the second squadron, and butting on the west upon 
 the wilderness. 
 
 The fourth squadron are as followeth : — 
 
 John Moores 40 
 
 John Woodward 41 
 
 John Grout, I- 
 
 John Bent Sen, 4:'. 
 
 Thomas Goodenow 1 1 
 
 Thomas Plympton, 45 
 
 John Haines, 46 
 
 Mr. Peter Noyes, 47 
 
 Mr William Pelham 18 
 
 John Parmenter Junior. 49 
 
 Thomas Kinge 50 
 The Cowpen land being one 
 
 hundred and thirty acres 51 
 
 These above eleven lots going with the cowpen land, are the fourth 
 and last squadron, the first [one] of [which] being [that of] John Moores, 
 who joineth on the north the same said Lancaster highway, the cowpen 
 being the last, which joineth on the south to the wilderness the said 
 eleven lots and cowpen butting on the east the aforesaid + highway and 
 first squadron and butting on the west the wilderness. Also let it be 
 remembered that the long highway from south to north goeth at the 
 west end of the pond through the lands of John Toll and Solomon John- 
 son, and is twelve rods wide at the narrowest, which way the said John 
 Toll and Johnson have sufficient allowance. 
 
 This land, laid out so regularly, was good property. Some 
 of the mosl substantial homesteads of the town have been, 
 and still are, u\nm it. The names of Howe, Parmenter, 
 Woodward. Moore, Browne, Walker, Noyes. Balcom, and 
 Ri ce> of the older inhabitants, and, later, of Fairbanks, 
 St.- no, Willis. Smith, llayden, Maynard, Perry, Bowker, 
 Vose, Brigham, and others,— all had residences there. The 
 possession of this new -rant territory, and its early appor- 
 
HISTORY Otf SUDBURY. 183 
 
 tionment, would serve naturally to keep the people in town. 
 It opened new resources to the settlers by its timber lands : 
 and the circuitous course of Wash Brook gave meadows and 
 mill privileges which the people were not slow to improve. 
 Probably the earlier settlers of this tract went from the east 
 side of the river as into a new country or wilderness. There 
 they erected garrisons ; and that there were in this territory 
 at least three of these houses indicates the exposed condition 
 of the place at the time of its early occupation by the English. 
 "Willis," the largest pond in town, a part of "Nobscot," the 
 highest hill, and the most extensive timber tracts, are in this 
 new grant. In it have been located no less than five saw or 
 grist mills. From this territory was taken part of the town 
 of Maynard, and in it were located for years two out of five 
 of the old-time district school-houses. The Wayside Inn 
 and the Walker Garrison are still there; and although the 
 stirring scenes of the old stage period, which gave liveliness 
 to the one, and the dismal war days, which gave importance 
 to the other, have passed away, yet there remains a thrift 
 and prosperity about the substantial farms of the ancient 
 new grant lots that make this locality one of importance and 
 interest. 
 
 THE THIRTY-ROD HIGHWAY. 
 
 But, while these new lands proved so beneficial to the 
 town, the " Thirty-Rod Highway " in time caused considera- 
 ble trouble. It was laid out for the accommodation of the 
 owners of lots, and, as the name indicates, was thirty rods 
 wide. The unnecessary width may be accounted for as we 
 account for other wide roads of that day: land was plentiful, 
 and the timber of so large a tract would be serviceable to the 
 town. 
 
 But the width tended to cause disturbance. The land was 
 sought for by various parties, — by abutters on one or both 
 sides, it may be; by those dwelling within the near neigh- 
 borhood; and by such as desired it for an addition to their 
 outlying lands, or a convenient annex to their farms. The 
 result was that to protect it required considerable vigilance. 
 Encroachments were made upon it, wood and timber were 
 
184 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 taken away, and at successive town-meetings what to do 
 with this Thirty-Rod Highway was an important matter 
 
 of business. But at length it largely ceased to be public 
 property. Piece after piece had been disposed of; some of it 
 bad been purchased by private parties, some of it exchanged 
 for lands used for other highways, and some of it may have 
 been gained by right of possession. 
 
 But, though so much of this road has ceased to be used by 
 the public, there are parts si ill retained by the town and 
 open to public use. The Dudley Road, about a quarter of a 
 mile from the William Stone place, and which passes a small 
 pond called the Horse Pond, tradition says is a pari of this 
 way. From near the junction of this with the county road, 
 a part of the Thirty-Hod Way runs south, and is still used as 
 away to Nobscot. On it, tradition also says, is the Small- 
 Pox Burying-Ground at Nobscot. A part of this road, as it 
 runs east and west, is probably the present Boston and Ber- 
 lin Road, or what was the "Old Lancaster Road." Other 
 parts of this way may be old wood-paths that the Sudbury 
 farmers still use and speak of as being a part of this ancient 
 landmark. 
 
 "OLD LANCASTER, ROAD." 
 This road, which was at first called the " Road to Xashu- 
 way," probably followed an ancient trail. In 1053 it was 
 "agreed by the town that Lieutenant Goodenow and Ensign 
 Noyes shail lay out the way with Nashuway men so far as it 
 goes within our town bound." A record of this road is on the 
 Town Book, and just following is this statement:'— 
 
 -This is a true copy of the commissioners appointed by 
 the (own taken from the original and examined by me. 
 
 "Hugh Griffin." 
 This record, which is among those for 1646, by the lapse 
 of time has become so worn that parts are entirely gone. It 
 is supposed, however, that some of the lost parts have been 
 restored or supplied by the late Dr. Stearns. AVc will give 
 the record, so far as it can be obtained from the Town Book, 
 and insert in brackets the words that have been supplied 
 from other sources : — 
 
RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH C. HOWE. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 185 
 
 We whose names are hereunto subscribed appointed by] Sudbury 
 and the town of Lancaster to lay out the high[way over the] river 
 meadow in Sudbury near Lancaster to the [town] bound according to the 
 Court order, have agreed as follows [viz ] That the highway beginning 
 at the great river meadow [at the gravel] pitt shall run from thence [to 
 the northwest side of] Thomas Plympton's house, [and from thence] to 
 timber swa[mp as] marked by us and so on to Hart Pond leaving the 
 [rock] on the north side of the way and from thence to the extreme 
 [Sudbury bounds] as we have now marked it the breadth of the way is 
 to be the gravel pitt to the west end of Thomas Plympton's lot and . . . 
 rods wide all the way to the utmost of Sudbury bound and thence upon 
 the common highway towards Lancaster through Sud[bury] therefore 
 we have hereunto set our hand the 22 nd day of this pres[ent month] 
 
 Edmund Goodenow 
 Date 1653 Thomas Noyes 
 
 William Kerley 
 
 This road has for many years been a landmark in Sud- 
 bury ; but the oldest inhabitant cannot remember when, in 
 its entire length, it was used as a highway. Parts of it were 
 long since discontinued, and were either sold or reverted to 
 the estates of former owners. In 1806, an article was in the 
 warrant " to see if the town would take any measures for 
 opening the road called ' Lancaster Old Road ' at a gate a 
 little north of Curtis Moore's dwelling house thence running 
 southerly till it comes into the road leading from the mills to 
 the meeting house." The road here referred to is probably 
 that which comes out by the present Horatio Hunt place, 
 about midway of the two villages. This record sh«ws the 
 track of the road from its intersection with the present 
 meeting-house road to the point referred to as being "a little 
 north of Curtis Moore's dwelling house ; " and, from that 
 point, it probably continued along the present travelled way 
 to the Berlin road. Its course east of the Hunt place, so far 
 as we can judge from tradition, record, visible traces, and 
 the lay of the land, took the following course : Going east- 
 erly a few rods, it goes southerly, and at a point about a 
 quarter of a mile easterly of the Wadsworth Monument it 
 takes a southeasterly course, and intersects the present 
 Graves Road at the junction of two roads, near the William 
 Jones place. It then, we believe, ran northeasterly over the 
 length of the ridge, by what is still a rude wood-path, and 
 
186 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 came out on the eastern slope of the hill, near the Albert 
 Haynes place, where Mr. Plympton once kept a grocery store. 
 A little east of this, and south of the Elbridge Bent place, 
 there are traces of a road, that for a little distance has a stone- 
 wall on either side, and which comes out a little south of the 
 western end of the northern causeway, or at a point a little 
 south of where the' Water-row Road intersects the road going 
 from Sudbury Centre to Wayland. Some have placed that 
 part of this road which is east of the Graves Road a little 
 further south, — that is, along the south side of the hill, 
 rather than upon it, — but we believe the nature of the 
 meadow at the east, and the absence of all trace of the road 
 in the valley, together with traces of an ancient road through 
 the woods on the hill and also near the Elbridge Bent place, 
 are evidences that it took the course first described. Prob- 
 ably mistakes have been made relative to the course of this 
 road west of Sudbury Centre, from the fact that formerly 
 there were two Lancaster roads. (See map of 1794.) 
 
 The two-mile grant was hardly disposed of, and the Lan- 
 caster Road laid out, before there was a plan for the forma- 
 tion of a new plantation. The result was the settlement oi 
 the town of Marlboro. (See Chapter IX.) But the loss 
 of population did not materially affect the prosperity of the 
 town or delay the progress on the west side. 
 
 THE HOP-BROOK MILL. 
 In IGoi) a mill was put up, where the present Parmen- 
 ter Mill stands in South Sudbury. This mill was erected by 
 Thomas and Peter Noyes. In recognition of the servicea- 
 bleness of their work to the community, the town made them 
 a land grant, and favored them with such privileges as are 
 set forth in the following record : — 
 
 Jan 7 th 10.50. Granted unto Mr Thomas Noyes and to M 1 Peter 
 Noyes for and in consideration of building a mill at Hop brook laying 
 and bein- on the west side of Sudbury great river below the cart way 
 that leads' to Ridge meadow viz: fifty acres of upland and fifteen acres of 
 meadow without commonadge to the said meadow four acres of the said 
 fifteen acres of meadow lying and being within the demised tracts of 
 uplands; Also granted to the above named parties timber of any of Sud- 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 187 
 
 bury's common land, to build and maintain the said mill. Also the said 
 Thomas and Peter Noyes do covenant with the town for the foregoing 
 consideration, to build a sufficient mill to grind the town of Sudbury's 
 corn; the mill to be built below the cart way that now is leading to 
 Ridge meadow, the said Grantees, their heirs and successors are to have 
 nothing to do with the stream above four rods above the aforementioned 
 cartway of said mill to be ready to grind the corn by the first of Decem- 
 ber next ensueing, and if the said grantees, their hejrs or assigns shall 
 damage the highway over the brook, by building the said mill, they are 
 to make the way as good as now it is, from time to time, that is to say, 
 the above specified way, over the Mill brook of said Thomas Noyes and 
 Peter are also to leave a highway six rods wide joining to the brook 
 from the east way that now is to the Widow Loker's meadow. (Town 
 Records, Vol. I.) 
 
 While the new mill whs being built, a way was being 
 made to it from the causeway, as we are informed by the 
 following record, dated Feb. 7, 1659 : — 
 
 We the Selectmen of Sudbury, finding sundry inconveniences, by rea- 
 son of bad and ill highways not being passable to meadow lands and 
 other towns, and finding the law doth commit the stating of the highways 
 to the prudence of the selectmen of towns, we therefore being met the 
 day and year above written, on purpose to view the highways in the west 
 side of Sudbury river, and having taken pains to view them, do we say, 
 conclude and jointly agree that the highway from the Gravel pits shall 
 go through the land newly purchased of Lieut. Goodenow to that end, 
 and from thence down the brow of the hill the now passed highway, 
 unto the place where the new mill is building, that is to say, the way that 
 is now in occupation, we mean the way that goeth to the south and Mr 
 Beisbeich his house, we conclude and jointly agree, that the way to the 
 meadows, as namely, the meadow of John Grout, Widow Goodenow, 
 John Maynard, Lieut. Goodenow, shall go as now it doth, that is to say, 
 in the hollow to the said meadows, the highway to be six rods wide all 
 along by the side of the said meadows. 
 
 The new road here mentioned is, probably, mainly the 
 same as that leading from the old causeway, or Gravel Pit, 
 to South Sudbury to-day. Until within about a century it 
 passed round the southern brow of Green Hill. This road 
 was probably part of a path or trail that had been travelled 
 before. This is indicated both by the circumstances and the 
 language of the record. It is not improbable, that, before 
 the formal recognition or laying out of this road, a part of 
 it was a way from the Gravel Pit, or end of the long cause- 
 
188 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 way, to Lieutenant Goodenow's, southeasterly of the present 
 Coolidge place, and extended from that point to Lanham, and 
 was the road travelled by Thomas Read and others of Lan- 
 ham to the meeting-house. There is still an old lane easterly 
 of the Cooledge Farm, marked by fragments of wall, which 
 may have been a part of the way to the old Goodenow Gar- 
 rison. It is not improbable that this lane extended as a path- 
 way along the margin of Lanham Meadows to Lanham. If 
 this was the case, then the land spoken of as purchased of 
 Lieutenant Goodenow, for the " new mill " road, may have 
 extended, from the point where this lane leaves the present 
 county road, along towards Green Hill ; and the " now passed 
 highway " mentioned may have been the road in South Sud- 
 bury called the " old road," which, it is conjectured, was a 
 part of the path leading from South Sudbury to the old Lan- 
 caster trail. (See period 1675-1700.) Or, in other words, 
 two ways may be referred to in the records as making a part 
 of this new road ; one, a portion of the path leading from the 
 old Lancaster trail to the southwest part of the town, which 
 was probably travelled by those living in the vicinity of Nob- 
 scot, as they passed to the east part of the town ; the other, 
 an early path by the Goodenow Garrison to Lanham. 
 
 NEW MEETING-HOUSE. 
 
 While the town was making improvements on the west 
 side of the river, it was active on the east side also ; and one 
 of the important works there, in this period, was the erection 
 of a new meeting-house. Whether the people had outgrown 
 the old one, or desired a better, is not stated ; but it is a mark 
 of thrift, or of increase, that they proposed to build anew. 
 That more room was wanted, is indicated by this record, in 
 1651: " It was agreed by the town that Edm d Rice Senior, 
 William Browne, John Reddicke and Henry Rice that they 
 four shall desire the Pastor's approbation to build galleries 
 in the old meeting-house, and if the Pastor do consent, then 
 the town doth hereby give full power to the Pastor and these 
 four men to continue the work, and to let it out to work- 
 men." 
 
ffiSTORY OF SUDBURY. 189 
 
 Probably these galleries were never put in, as they soon 
 afterwards commenced building a new meeting-house. Be- 
 fore, however, it was decided to build anew, various plans 
 were suggested relative to the enlargment and improvement 
 of the old one. In 1650 it was ordered that the deacons 
 should "mend the meeting house and make it comfortable." 
 One plan was to enlarge it by the addition of " 13 foote at 
 the end of it," and that the committee should "finish the 
 back side which enlargement is for a watchouse." A plan 
 a little later was that the meeting-house " be enlarged by 
 building 10 foote on the foreside of it all the length of the 
 meeting house to be built with two gable ends in the front ; 
 and Mr. Brown the Pastor doth promise to give twenty shil- 
 lings toward the work ; the former order for enlarging the 
 meeting house at the north west end is hereby repealed. It 
 is also ordered that the back side of the meeting house be 
 made hansom." 
 
 On Dec. 10, 1651, the town succeeded in passing a vote 
 for the erection of a new meeting-house, the vote standing 
 twenty-five for and fourteen against it. But this vote was 
 repealed at a meeting January 23 of the same year (Old 
 Style), together with all orders for the repairing or altera- 
 tion of the old one. The following year it was " agreed that 
 the meeting house shall be made use of for a watch house 
 until some further course be taken by the town." At length 
 it was again decided to build a new meeting-house ; and in 
 1652 a contract was made for the work. 
 
 This contract is on the Town Records, but has become 
 considerably worn and defaced, so that parts are almost 
 or quite unintelligible. There is, however, a copy in the 
 "Stearns Collection," which, with some slight immaterial 
 alterations, is as follows : — 
 
 The town agreed with Thomas Plympton Peter King & Hugh Griffin 
 to build a new meeting house which was to be forty feet long & twenty 
 feet wide measuring from outside to outside, the studds were to be 6' 
 inches by 4 to stand for a four foot clapboard. There were to be 1 tran- 
 som windows five feet wide & 6 feet high, and in each gable end a clear- 
 story window, each window was to be 4 feet wide and 3 feet high. There 
 were to be sufficient dorments across the house for galleries if there 
 
190 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 should afterward he a desire for galleries die beams to be 12 inches by 
 14 and the ground sills were to be of white oak 8 inches square. The 
 posts were to be a foot square, and the 2 middle beams to be smoothed 
 on three sides and the lower corners to be run with a bowkell. They 
 the said Plympton King & Griffin are to find timber to fell, hew, saw, 
 cart, frame, carry to place & they are to level the ground and to find 
 them sufficient help to raise the house, they are to inclose the house 
 with clap boards and to lyne the inside with cedar boards or otherwise 
 with good spruce boards, & to be smoothed & over lapped and to be 
 lyned up the windows, & they are to hang the doors so as to bolt. One 
 of the doors on the inside is to be sett with a lock. They are to lay the 
 sleepers of the doors with white oak or good swamp pine, & to floor the 
 house with plank. They are to finish all the works but the seats, for 
 which the town do covenant to give them * * * * 5 pound 20 to be 
 paid in march next in Indyan [corn] or cattle, 30 more to be paid in Sep' 
 next to be paid in wheat, butter, or money & the rest to be paid as soon 
 as the work is done in Indyan corn or cattle the corn to [be] merchanta- _ 
 ble at the price current. 
 
 Witness Edmd. Goodnow 
 Thomas Noyes 
 
 The new building was to be erected on the site of the obi 
 one. The town ordered - that the carpenters should provide 
 Yi men to help them raise the meeting house," for which 
 they were to be allowed half a, crown a day. The root was to 
 be covered with thatch, and the workmen were to have " the 
 meadow afterwards the minister's to get their thatch upon." 
 In 1654 a, committee was appointed "to agree with some- 
 body to fill the walls of the meeting house with tempered 
 clay provided they do not exceed the sum of 5 pounds 10 
 shillings." The parties who were to build the house were 
 employed " to build seats after the same fashion as in the old 
 meeting house," and they were to have for every seat one 
 shilling eight pence. The seats were to be made of white 
 oak, "both posts and rails and benches." In 1655 the pas- 
 tor and Mr. Noyes were empowered u to appoint a man to 
 remove the pulpit and the deacons' seal out of the old meet- 
 ing house into the new meeting house." Hugh Griffin was 
 appointed for the work, and was ' to have 18 shillings for 
 the work if the work is done this week or next according to 
 the pastor's approbation." 
 
 The records also state that "upon the pastor's request the 
 town hath granted that he shall have liberty for to set up 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 191 
 
 the seat for his wife in the new meeting house under the 
 window by the pulpit." 
 
 Dec. 27, 1655, it was voted that the meeting-house should 
 be seated with new seats, "that the seats now brought into 
 the meeting house shall be carried out again and the select 
 men shall have power to place men in the seats when they 
 are built." 
 
 The new building being brought to completion, the 
 people probably left the little first meeting-house that the 
 deft hands of John Rutter had reared, and went into this 
 with hearts thankful for new comforts and conveniences. 
 It may, however, have been with some reluctance that they 
 left the old meeting-house, as around it doubtless clustered 
 memories both glad and sad ; for it had sheltered them 
 in times of united worship in their earlier experience in 
 Sudbury; when they had special need of divine support 
 as strangers in a wilderness country, there they met, and 
 together found strength for their trials and toils, and grace 
 which brought patience and faith. Surely the old meeting- 
 house was a place only to be exchanged for another, as that 
 other brought new comforts and was better adapted to mee\ 
 their needs. Thus at the beginning of this period the town 
 was in a thrifty condition, and had a fair prospect of speedy 
 development and future prosperity. Civilized life was cast- 
 ing its brightness over the hills and along the valleys, and 
 the scattered corn and wheat fields were oladdenino- the 
 plains, which were being dotted on both sides of the river 
 with pleasant homesteads. The young people who early 
 came to the settlement were now coming into the full 
 strength of sturdy manhood and womanhood; and all had 
 been sufficiently long in the country to know what it re- 
 quired of them and what they might expect from it. No 
 outbreak had as yet occurred between the white man and 
 his copper-colored brother of the woods, and both Nature 
 and her children worked together in harmonious relations to 
 bring plenty and peace. There are various small matters on 
 record which indicate that the town looked well to its 
 minor relations or interests, and exercised a vigilant watch- 
 fulness in making provision for whatever called for its 
 
192 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 care. The following are the records of some of these mat- 
 ters. 
 
 March 6, 1650, it was ordered " that the town rate of I 
 now to be raised for the payment of the town debt shall be 
 paid in corn." The same year it "ordered, a rate for the 
 town pound to the value of 10 pound shall be leved to be 
 paid in wheat 5 bush butter 6 d , and | shall pay as much as a 
 bushel of wheat." 
 
 A controversy was going on about this time with regard 
 to the Sudbury and Watertown bounds, and the town made 
 "provision to prevent the encroachments of Watertown;" 
 and a committee was appointed " to seek for the stopping of 
 Watertown proceedings in coming too near our bound." 
 The same year it was ordered that " a part of the town rate 
 should be appropriated for the drum and halberd," and a 
 rate was assessed "for repairing the Bridge, and Hugh Grif- 
 fin was to have some pine poles for the staying of the same." 
 In March, 1654, the controversy about the territorial bounds 
 between Sudbury and Watertown was ended by the estab- 
 lishment of a boundary line between the two towns, by 
 agents appointed from both places. In 1655, "the line of 
 the New Grant was run by John Ruddock, Thomas Noyes, 
 and John Howe." 
 
 But while the town was growing and increasing in strength, 
 a controversy occurred which was of a somewhat serious char- 
 acter. Questions arose relating to the division of the " two- 
 mile grant," to the title of parties to certain lands, and to 
 rights in the east side cow common. The controversy con- 
 cerning this latter subject was in relation to "sizing" or 
 "stinting" the common. It was specified when this land 
 was reserved, that it " should never be ceded or laid down, 
 without the consent of every inhabitant and townsman that 
 hath right in commonage ; " and the rule for pasturing cat- 
 tle upon it was, " The inhabitants are to be limited in the 
 putting in of cattle upon the said common, according to the 
 quantity of meadow the said inhabitants are rated in upon 
 the division of the meadows." The rule of allowance on 
 this basis was as follows : "For every two acres of meadow 
 one beast, that is either cow, ox, bull or steer, or heifer 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 193 
 
 above a year old, and every horse or mare above a year old 
 to go as one beast and a half, and every six sheep to go for 
 one beast, and that all cattle under a year old shall go with- 
 out sizing." The endeavor to define rights of commonage, 
 or the relation of the individual to this piece of town prop- 
 erty, proved a difficult task. As might be expected among 
 a people of positive natures, strong opinions were enter- 
 tained, and decided attitudes were taken concerning a mat- 
 ter of individual rights. The affair was not wholly confined 
 to the town in its social and civil relations, but the church 
 became connected with it. The result was that a council 
 was called to adjust ecclesiastical matters, and advice was 
 also sought and obtained of the General Court. 
 
 It is not our purpose to give all the details of this once 
 memorable case. We will, however, state a few facts that 
 may suggest something of its general character. The case 
 came before the people by a call in town-meeting for a vote 
 as to whether they considered " the act of the selectmen in 
 sizing the commons a righteous act." The affair not being 
 satisfactorily adjusted in town-meeting, all the issues con- 
 cerning the controversy, whether related to the cow com- 
 mons or other matters in dispute, were laid before a com- 
 mittee of the Colonial Court. In answer to a petition of 
 Edmund Brown, Peter Noyes, Jr., Walter Haynes, and 
 divers others of Sudbury, the Court ordered that Maj. Simon 
 Willard, Ensign Jn° Sherman and Mr. Thomas Danforth 
 should be a committee "to hear and determine the differ- 
 ence between all or any of the inhabitants of Sudbury in 
 reference to what is mentioned in the petition which petition 
 is on file." (Colonial Records, Vol. IV., p. 228, date 1655.) 
 The committee met at the ordinary kept by John Parmen- 
 ter, and the questions which came before them were as fol- 
 lows : first, as to the right or title of certain individuals to 
 certain lands, and specifically as to some held by Rev. Ed- 
 mund Brown and Hugh Griffin; second, as regarding the 
 right of suffrage exercised by some not considered town 
 inhabitants ; third, as regarding the right of sizing or stint- 
 ing the common; fourth, as regarding the act of defacing 
 the town records. The committee appointed by the Court 
 
194 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 to adjust matters rendered this report: "Concerning the title 
 of lands appropriated to several inhabitants . . . we do not 
 find lust cause to make valid their claims ; " and as concerns 
 the land held by Mr. Brown the pastor of the Church there 
 touching a part thereof some objection has been made and 
 clamoring report laid against him, we do not find any just 
 ground for the same." The committee concluded his titles 
 were o- od, and confirmed them. Concerning the stinting of 
 the common within the compass of the five miles, the com- 
 mittee concluded that the rule was « not as clear as desira- 
 ble • " and they made the following recommendations, which 
 are 'given mainly in their own words: That, in the rule for 
 stinting the common, respect should be had for both those 
 whose estates had been weakened and those which had been 
 prospered, that those of the former class should be consid- 
 ered and proportioned according to their several allotments 
 of meadow, which gave them their right in the other part 
 of the common already determined, the rule for winch was 
 in the Town Book, folio 27, and there was no disagree- 
 ment about, and those of the latter class, namely, whose 
 estate had been prospered, should be considered and propor- 
 tioned according to the invoice of their estates given in for 
 the county rate last past, without any respect had to their 
 meadow formerly allotted them. The committee also de- 
 clared that no person should have power to vote about the 
 common » but such as have been allowed as free inhabitants 
 of the town or have come upon the right of some that were 
 so allowed " Since the committee found that the records, 
 folio 58, touching the case, had been -crossed and defaced, 
 they censured the act, and recommended that they be kept 
 by the recorder of the court until there be a loving com- 
 posure and agreement for former differences and a mutual 
 choice of a lit person to keep the same." As some com- 
 plaint had been made in reference to the title of Hugh Grif- 
 fin's land, they stated that they considered his title valid. 
 They finally concluded that every -allowed inhabitant ol the 
 town should have his commonage according to his meadow 
 or invoice of his estate at his pleasure ; " and that no person 
 who is not an allowed inhabitant, or had meadow, m case ot 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 195 
 
 voting should have any claim to commonage. The people 
 of Sudbury expressed full assent to the report of the com- 
 missioners, and returned " hearty thanks unto them for their 
 paines faithfulness and love expressed." The council of 
 churches having also met and considered the case, a for- 
 mal adjustment of matters was made, and again things 
 moved on in their accustomed way. "John Parmenter 
 having expended the sum of 17-5-12 in entertaining both the 
 council and committee appointed to end their differences, the 
 Court orderes the said charges to be borne by all the town." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1675-1700. 
 
 Philip's War : Sources of Information ; Cause and Nature. — Defensive 
 Measures by the Town: Garrison- Houses ; Militia. — Defensive 
 Measures by the Colony. — Services of the Town outside its Limits; 
 List of Men Impressed. —Swamp Fight. — Services of Ephraim 
 Curtis among the Nipnets: As a Messenger with Proposals of Peace; 
 As a Guide in Captain Hutchinson's Expedition. — Signs of Indian 
 Hostilities in and about the Town. — Edmund Brown's Letter. — 
 Night Attack on the Indians, and Death of Netus. 
 
 Over the hillsides the wild knell is tolling, 
 From their far hamlets the yeomanry come; 
 
 As thro' the storm-clouds the thunder-burst rolling 
 Circles the beat of the mustering drum. 
 
 O. W. Holmes. 
 
 The last quarter of the seventeenth century began dark 
 and threatening to the colonists. A memorable Indian war 
 was at hand, and gloomy and portentous was the outlook as 
 the year 1675 set in. Sudbury, on account of its frontier 
 position, was to be badly harassed by the enemy; and per- 
 
196 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 haps no New England town became more prominent than 
 this in the annals of that remarkable period. 
 
 But, notwithstanding the prominence of Sudbury in this 
 remarkable conflict, there is little information pertaining to 
 it in the records of the town. This absence of information, 
 however, is not very remarkable. The town books were for 
 town business, and the military movements of that period 
 largely related to the colony. The sources from which 
 mainly we derive information are papers preserved in the 
 State archives, historians of the period, and a valuable paper 
 recently discovered among the old Court files. The paper 
 last mentioned consists of a petition presented by the inhabi- 
 tants of Sudbury to the General Court assembled Oct, 11, 
 1676. This document settles the date of the Sudbury fight, 
 and gives in detail some of the events connected with Philip's 
 attack on the town. We shall refer to it as " The Old Peti- 
 tion." 
 
 Before commencing the narrative of the war, we will con- 
 sider briefly the cause and nature of it. This war originated 
 with and was conducted by Philip, a Wampanoag chieftain. 
 His aboriginal name was Metacomet, but he was called Philip 
 by Governor Prince, because of his bravery. Philip was a 
 son of Massasoit, a friend of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and 
 lived at Mount Hope, near Bristol, R.I., a place on the west 
 side of Mount Hope Bay. The Indian name of the place was 
 Pokanoket. Metacomet, unlike his father, distrusted the 
 English. He feared the gradual encroachment upon his 
 broad forests betokened no good ; and he sought to check 
 the English advance and increase by a devastating war. To 
 accomplish his object, he sought alliance witli most of the 
 tribes of New England, and so far succeeded that a huge 
 portion of them were engaged in the hostilities that followed. 
 With his combination of tribes, Philip had the material to do 
 great mischief. 
 
 ' Probably of all the foes that New England ever encoun- 
 tered, Philip of Pokanoket was most dreaded ; and this war 
 was the most destructive of any Indian war waged for the 
 same length of time in this country. Villages and hamlets 
 faded before his savage force ; homes became smouldering 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 197 
 
 ash-heaps ; and lands, smiling in the sunlight of civilized life, 
 were left forsaken and desolate, again to be draped in the old 
 forest shade. 
 
 Besides the usual ferocity expected in an Indian combatant, 
 the peculiar characteristics of the time and place aggravated 
 the unhappy situation of the settlers. The wild condition 
 of the country, the isolation of dwellings, the slow commu- 
 nication of place with place, — all these were circumstances 
 suited to arouse feelings of distrust, and to stir the inhabi- 
 tants to a state of alarm. They were subjected to constant 
 expectation of sudden Indian attack. Any sign might fore- 
 bode the approach of the foe, and send the people to the 
 shelter of their friendly garrisons. The strange foot-print of 
 a moccasin on the outskirts of an outlying field, the freshly 
 made trail in the forest, the mysterious smoke rising above 
 the distant woodlands, or the dull sound of a gun in the 
 thicket, were omens mysterious and strange. Besides the 
 arousing of apprehension by signs of a material character, 
 the situation was such that the superstitious nature of the 
 inhabitants was wrought upon to an unusual degree. It was 
 thought there were mysterious prognostications of what was 
 to come. Strange omens were supposed to be seen in the 
 sky, and wild, rushing sounds heard over the tree-tops, 
 which were considered ominous of evil. So marked, indeed,' 
 were these circumstances, that perhaps the impressions made 
 were different from those of any other war in New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Long after its devastations had ceased, the tale of Philip's 
 raids was rehearsed by the farm-house fireside; tradition 
 passed the story of the times to posterity; children received 
 it from the lips of the parent who had heard, while within 
 garrison walls, the wild whoop from the woods, or witnessed 
 the skulk of the savage along forest, bramble, and rock. It 
 was a wild, weird story to tell, and late listeners lingered 
 about the bright hearthstone, and left with reluctance the 
 warm kitchen precinct for the remote chamber beneath the 
 old roof. 
 
 For a better understanding of the particular relation of 
 this war to Sudbury, we divide the subject thus : — 
 
1Q8 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 First, the defensive condition of the town when the con- 
 flict set in. 
 
 Second, The part its citizens took in military operations 
 
 outside the town limits. 
 
 Third, the Indians' near approach, their repulse, and the 
 
 death of Netus. 
 
 Fourth, the attack on the town and the defense of the gar- 
 risons. 
 
 Fifth, the contest at the causeway and old town bridge. 
 
 Sixth, the battle at Green Hill, or the Sudbury fight. 
 
 DEFENSIVE MEASURES. 
 
 The principal means of defense in this war were the 
 garrison-houses. These were not always under colonial 
 authority, but were often private dwelling-places conven- 
 iently located. They were sometimes a rendezvous for the 
 town's militia in times of expected attack, and used occa- 
 sionally to shelter colonial soldiers when sent to a belea- 
 guered place.- Some of these garrison-houses were built 
 strong, for the purpose of defense, while others were built 
 in the ordinary way, and fortified when the danger became 
 imminent. 
 
 Sudbury had several of these places of defense, a knowl- 
 edge of which has come down to us, namely : The Brown 
 Garrison, the Walker Garrison, the Goodenow Garrison, 
 the Haynes Garrison, two others whose names are now 
 unknown, and a block-house. Of these places we give the 
 following information, derived from personal knowledge, rec- 
 ord, and tradition : — 
 
 THE BROWN GARRISON. 
 
 This stood on the present estate of Luther Cutting, about 
 a dozen rods southeasterly of his residence, or a few rods 
 east of the Sudbury and Framingham road, and about a half 
 mile from the town's southern boundary. It had a gable 
 roof, was made of wood, and lined with brick. It was per- 
 haps built by Major Thomas Brown, and was owned and 
 occupied by the descendants of the Brown family till a mod- 
 
THE BROWNE GARRISON HOUSE. 
 
 From an original painting by A. S. Hudson, from descriptions given by persons 
 
 once familiar with it. 
 
HISTORY OE SUDBURY. 199 
 
 ern date. It was demolished about thirty-five years ago, 
 when in the possession of Mr. Conant. 
 
 THE WALKER GARRISON. 
 
 The Walker Garrison-honse is in the west part of the 
 town, a little south of the Massachusetts Central Railroad, 
 on the Willard Walker estate. This building is a curious 
 structure, with massive chimney, large rooms, and heavy 
 frame-work. It is lined within the walls with upright plank 
 fastened with wooden pins. It may have been erected by 
 Thomas Walker, whose name, with others, is subscribed to 
 "The Old Petition." 
 
 THE GOODNOW GARRISON. 
 
 This garrison stood a little southeasterly of the present 
 Coolidge house, or a few rods northeast to east of the East 
 Sudbury railroad station, and perhaps twenty or thirty rods 
 from the South Sudbury and Wayland highway. A lane 
 formerly went from the road to a point near the garrison. 
 This house was standing about three-quarters of a century 
 ago. Tradition states, that an old building a few feet square 
 stood by it, which was called " the old barrack," and was 
 removed to the Farr Farm. An old inhabitant, — C. G. 
 Cutler, — who had been to the house in his early life, 
 informed the writer that there was no mistake about this 
 being the Goodnow Garrison ; for years ago it was generally 
 considered so by the community. 
 
 THE HAYNES GARRISON. 
 
 This garrison stood on the Water-Row Road, by the mar- 
 gin of the river meadow, a little northerly or northeasterly 
 of the Luther Gooclenow house. It was about an eighth 
 of a mile from the Wayland and Sudbury Centre highway, 
 two or three rods from the road, and fronted south. In later 
 years it was painted red. In 1876 it was still standing, but 
 has since been demolished. It is supposed to have been 
 erected by Walter Haynes, and was probably the place 
 which, in the early records of the town, was repeatedly 
 referred to as "Mr. Haynes' old house." 
 
200 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 One of the buildings which common tradition says was a 
 garrison, but whose name is unknown, stood near the Adam 
 How place, about twenty-five rods northwest of the house. 
 It was one story high, and had a room at each end. For a 
 time it was owned and occupied by Abel Parmenter, and 
 was torn down years ago. It is stated by tradition, that, 
 when the Wayside Inn was built, the workmen repaired to 
 this house at night for safety. 
 
 The garrisons previously mentioned were named from their 
 early occupants. Parmenter was the name of the first occu- 
 pant of this house of whom we have any knowledge ; if he 
 was the first, then doubtless this house was formerly known 
 as the Parmenter Garrison. 
 
 The other garrison, the name of which is unknown, was 
 north of the Gulf Meadows, and on or near the present 
 Dwier Farm (Bent place). Tradition concerning this one 
 is less positive than concerning the other. An old inhabi- 
 tant, once pointing towards the old Bent house, said, "There 
 is where the people used to go when the Indians were about." 
 It is quite evident that the Bent house was not a garrison, 
 for that was built about a century ago ; but across the road 
 southwesterly there are indications that some structure once 
 stood, which may have been a garrison. 
 
 THE BLOCK-HOUSE. 
 
 The block-house stood in the north part of the town, on 
 
 the Israel Hayues Farm. It was situated, perhaps, from 
 
 thirty to fifty rods southwest of the house of Leander 
 
 Haynes, on a slight rise of ground. It was small, perhaps 
 
 fifteen feet square, more or less, and so strongly built that it 
 
 was with difficulty taken to pieces. It was demolished about 
 
 three-quarters of a century ago, when owned by Mr. Moses 
 
 Haynes. Mr. Reuben Rice of Concord, a relative of Mr. 
 
 Haynes, when over ninety years of age informed the writer 
 
 that when it was torn down he chanced to be passing by, 
 
 and looked for bullet-marks, and believed he found some. 
 
 He stated there was no mistake about the house being used 
 
 as a garrison. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 201 
 
 There may have been garrisons in town about which tra- 
 dition is silent; and doubtless other dwelling's were put in 
 a defensive attitude when Indian hostilities began. It is 
 stated that " many houses were fortified and garrisoned." 
 On the east side we have heard of no garrisons, but Rev. 
 Edmund Brown fortified his house. In a letter sent to the 
 Governor, Sept. 26, 1675, he states as follows: " I have been 
 at a round charge to fortify my house, and except finishing 
 the two flankers and my gate have finished. Now without 
 four hands I cannot well secure it, and if for want of hands 
 I am beaten out, it will be very advantageous to the enemy, 
 and a thorn to the town." The men asked for were "ranted 
 him ; and his house afforded a place of defense to the inhabi- 
 tants of that locality, who were directed to resort to it in 
 time of peril. After the war began the meeting-house was 
 made a place of security, and fortifications were constructed 
 about it. 
 
 Such were some of the means provided for protection in 
 the coming conflict. These were the strongholds that stout 
 hearts defended. In view of their service, it is unfortunate 
 that these relics have to such an extent been destroyed. But, 
 as we have stated, only one remains. With regard to the 
 others, all that can now be done is carefully to mark the site 
 and preserve the traditions concerning them. 
 
 MILITIA. 
 
 Beside the garrison-houses, the town had a small force of 
 militia. Says "The Old Petition": "The strength of Our 
 towne upon y e Enemy's approaching it, consisted of eighty 
 fighting men." These men were able bodied and strong for 
 the work of war, liable to do duty for either country or 
 town ; while others, younger and less vigorous, could stand 
 guard and do some light service. When the war was fairly 
 begun, the town's force was replenished by outside help. 
 So that, with the people collected in garrisons, and the armed 
 men able to fight in a sheltered place, a stout defense could 
 be maintained against a considerably larger force. 
 
202 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 COLONIAL MEASURES OF DEFENSE. 
 
 Beside the defensive measures adopted by the town, there 
 were also others devised by the colony. The cause was a 
 common one. If the frontier towns were left unprotected, 
 the seaboard settlements would be rendered unsafe. Some 
 of the defensive measures adopted by the colony, in which 
 Sudbury shared, are set forth in the following papers: — 
 
 Cambridge, 28: 1 mo. 1676. 
 In obedience to an order of the Honorable Council, March, 1675-6, 
 appointing us, whose names are underwritten, as a committee to consult 
 the several towns of the county of Middlesex, with reference to the best 
 means of the preservation of our out-towns, remote houses, and farms, 
 for their security from the common enemy, we having sent to the several 
 towns to send us their apprehensions by some one meet person of each 
 town, this day we consulted concerning the same, and have concluded 
 to purpose as followed). 
 
 1. That the towns of Sudbury, Concord and Chelmsford be strength- 
 ened with forty men apiece, which said men are to be improved in scout- 
 ing between town and town, who are to be commanded by men of pru- 
 dence, courage and interest in the said towns, and the parties in each 
 town are to be ordered to keep together in some place commodious in 
 said towns, and not in garrisoned houses; and these men to be upon 
 charge of the country. 
 
 2. That for the security of Billerica there be a garrison of a number 
 competent at Weymessit, who may raise a thousand bushel of corn upon 
 the lands of the Indians in that place, may be improved daily in scouting 
 and ranging the woods between Weymessit and Andover, and on the 
 west of Concord river on the east and north of Chelmsford, which will 
 discover the enemy before he comes to the towns, and will prevent lurk- 
 ing Indians about our towns. Also that they shall be in a readiness to 
 succor any of these towns at anytime when in distress; also shall be 
 ready to join with others to follow the enemy upon a sudden after their 
 appearing. 
 
 :;. That such towns as Lancaster, Groton, and Marlborough, that are 
 forced to remove, and have not some advantage of settlement (peculiar) 
 in the Bay, be ordered to settle at the frontier towns, that remain, for 
 their strengthening; and the people of the said towns to which they are 
 appointed, are to see to their accommodation in the said towns. 
 
 4. That the said towns have their own men returned that are abroad, 
 and their men freed from impressment during their present state. 
 
 5. That there be appointed a select number of persons in each town 
 of Middlesex, who are, upon any information of the distress of any town, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 203 
 
 forthwith to repair to the relief thereof; and that such information may 
 be seasonable, the towns are to dispatch posts, each town to the next, 
 till notice be conveyed over the whole country, if need be. 
 
 Your humble servants, 
 
 Hugh Mason, 
 Jonathan Danforth, 
 Richard Lowdon. 
 
 Another paper, setting forth suggestions for defensive 
 measures, is the following : — 
 
 For the better securing our frontier towns from the incursion of the 
 enemy, it is ordered by this Court, and authority thereof, that in each 
 and every of these towns hereinafter mentioned, respectively, shall be 
 allowed for their defence a sutible numbers of soldiers, well armed and 
 furnished with ammunition fit for service ; the number or proportion in 
 such towns to be as follows, viz. 
 
 Groton, 
 
 Pawtucket, 
 
 Sudbury, 
 
 Braintree, 
 
 Bradford, 
 
 Haverhill, 
 
 Chelmsford, 
 
 Medfield, 
 
 20 men. 
 — men. 
 30 men. 
 15 men. 
 10 men. 
 20 men. 
 20 men. 
 30 men. 
 
 Weymouth, 
 
 Billerica, 
 
 Andover, 
 
 Concord, 
 
 Milton, 
 
 Hingham, 
 
 Dedham, 
 
 15 men. 
 20 men. 
 20 men. 
 20 men. 
 10 men. 
 20 men. 
 20 men. 
 
 And it is further ordered, that each and every of the towns above 
 mentioned, shall well and sufficiently maintain their several proportions 
 of men with suitable provisions, respecting diet, at their own proper cost 
 and charge during the time of their service. 
 
 These garrison soldiers, together with those who are to be in the 
 prosecution of the enemy, are to be raised out of the four counties in 
 which the garrisons are to be settled, and that these soldiers that are 
 raised out of the garrison towns, shall be allowed them in part of the 
 garrison, according as their proportion shall be, and that the settling 
 of these garrisons in the respective towns, as to the place, and also the 
 commander-in-chief, together with direction for the improvements of 
 said garrisons to the best advantage for the security of towns and per- 
 sons, it shall and is hereby left to the committee of militia in the several 
 towns, who are hereby required and impowered to act therein according 
 to this order. And this to be instead of a line of garrisons formerly 
 proposed. 
 
 The deputies have past this with reference to the consent of the 
 honored magistrates hereto. William Torrky, Clerk. 
 
204 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Still another paper, showing the country's alarming condi- 
 tion, and the effort made by the colony to meet it, is the fol- 
 lowing: It was ordered, May 3, that each of the frontier 
 towns be "divided into so many parties as a meete number 
 may each day by turns be sent forth vpon the scout w th 
 whom a party of Indians at the charge of the county shall be 
 joined." (Colonial Records, Vol. V., p. 79.) These were 
 to be managed by suitable commanders appointed by the 
 military committee, and the soldiers who were absent "in 
 service appertaining to sayed townes " were to be returned 
 home and freed from the impress. In connection with said 
 order, Sudbury was mentioned. Six others only were given. 
 It was also ordered, at the same time, that when any town 
 was assailed by the savages the chief commander, if present 
 in any town, shall "send forth with what ayde can be spared 
 with safety at home, for the security of the distressed." It 
 was also ordered, — lest the frontier towns be endangered by 
 persons leaving them in an exposed condition, — that no per- 
 son "who is by law engaged to travne, watch, ward or scont, 
 is to leave the town he is an inhabitant of, without the con- 
 sent of the committee of mellitie, or vpon their denial of the 
 council of the commonwealth." Also, no party capable of 
 doing garrison duty was to absent himself without the leave 
 of the garrison commander. The Court also ordered, that 
 soldiers should be employed daily "in scouting and warding, 
 to prevent the skulking of the enemy about the sayd townes, 
 and to give tymely notice of approaching danger, and also 
 that the brush in highways and other places [judged neces- 
 sary] be cut up;" "such persons, youth, &c." as were not in 
 "traine bands, and exempt by law," were to be under obliga- 
 tions " to attend command for that service." 
 
 Thus the inhabitants of the frontier towns were to remain 
 at their posts, and fight. If they fled to the forest, it was a 
 lurking place for the foe; if they ventured for security to the 
 seaboard settlements, they were liable to seizure and exile. 
 All they could do was to gird themselves for the contest, 
 and, gathered about their cordon of garrisons, await the com- 
 ing foe. 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 205 
 
 SERVICES OF SUDBURY OUTSIDE ITS OWN TERRITORY. 
 
 The people did not have long to wait inactive about their 
 garrisons ; for though at the beginning of the war the town 
 of Sudbury was not attacked, as the Indians chiefly confined 
 hostilities to the county of Plymouth, yet it was soon called 
 upon to send aid to other places. Nov. 22, 1675, a warrant 
 came from Major Willard to John Grout, Josiah Haynes and 
 Edmund Goodnow, who called themselves the " humble ser- 
 vants the militia of Sudbury," requiring the impressment of 
 nine able men to the service of the country. They state to 
 the Governor and Council that they have impressed the fol- 
 lowing men, namely: William Wade, Samuel Bush, John 
 White, Jr., Thomas Rutter, Peter Noyes, Jr., James Smith, 
 Dennis Headly, Mathew Gibbs, Jr., and Daniel Harrington ; 
 but that they wish to have them released. Joseph Graves, 
 master of Harrington, states that his servant had not cloth- 
 ing fit for the service; that he was well clothed when he was 
 impressed before, but that he wore his clothes out in that 
 service, and could not get his wages to buy more. The ser- 
 vice that he was formerly impressed for was the guarding of 
 families in "Natick Bounds." One of those families is sup- 
 posed to be that of Thomas Eames, which was attacked by 
 the Indians near the outbreak of the war. (See Chapter II.) 
 A further reason for their release from this service is found 
 in the following extracts from their petition : " Considering 
 our condition as a frontier town, and several of our men 
 being already in the service, our town being very much scat- 
 tered ; " furthermore, that, several families being sickly, no 
 use could be made of them for " watching, warding, scout- 
 ing or impress, whereby the burden lies very hard on a few 
 persons." 
 
 But, notwithstanding the imperiled condition of the peo- 
 ple, we find that the town was represented a few weeks 
 later in the "swamp fight," which was one of the hard- 
 fought battles of the war. This conflict occurred Dec. 19, 
 1675, in what is now Kingston, R. I. At this place the Nar- 
 ragansett Indians had a stronghold that the English resolved 
 to attack. For this purpose an expedition of one thousand 
 
206 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 men was fitted out from the united colonies of Massachusetts, 
 Plymouth, and Connecticut, under command of Major Josiah 
 Winslow, Governor of the Plymouth Colony. The march 
 of the expedition was in winter, and heavy snows impeded 
 the progress of the troops. The fort, for one built by 
 Indians, was unusually strong. It was situated on a few 
 acres of upland, in a swampy morass. The work was con- 
 structed of pallisades, surmounted by brush work, and the 
 way to it was by fallen trees, which could be protected by 
 firing from a block-house. As the English charged over this 
 bridge, they were swept by the fire of the foe in a murderous 
 manner, and before the fight was over seventy of the English 
 were slain, and one hundred and fifty were wounded, while 
 the Narragansetts, it is supposed, lost about one thousand. 
 Sudbury was represented in Captain Mosely's company, 
 which company, together with Captain Davenport's, it is 
 said, led the van. Among the nine of Captain Mosely*s 
 men who were wounded was Richard Adams of Sudbury. 
 
 Not only did Sudbury furnish its quota- of militia, but it 
 supplied farther aid to the colony by the services of Lieut. 
 Ephraim Curtis, the famous guide and scout. Mr. Curtis 
 was a carpenter by trade, and at this time about thirty-three 
 years of age. He had an intimate acquaintance with the 
 country and its native inhabitants, and could speak their 
 language with fluency. One prominent service that he per- 
 formed was in acting as a messenger of the colonial authori- 
 ties to the Nipnet Indians, who inhabited western and cen- 
 tral Massachusetts. Supposing that an alliance of those 
 Indians with Philip had not already been made, or that, if 
 made, it might be broken, the authorities selected Ephraim 
 Curtis to go among them and make overtures of peace. In 
 giving information to the country of what had been done to 
 avert t lie war, the authorities state as follows: "When our 
 forces were senl nut against Philip, We to satisfy and secure 
 them, (the Nipnets), sent them, by Ephraim Curtis, a dec- 
 laration with the public seal, that we had no design or intent 
 to disturb them or any other Indians, that would remain in the 
 plantation peaceable. Which message and messenger were 
 rudely entertained by many of them there assembled, and the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 207 
 
 messenger much endangered by the younger men, and not 
 with any satisfaction by the sachems, as the event showed." 
 Lieutenant Curtis went on more than one expedition to the 
 Nipnets. June 25, he was sent "to make a perfect discovery 
 of the motions of the Nipmng Indians." In a letter to the 
 colonial authorities, dated July 4, he says that he delivered 
 the letter to the committee at Brookfield, and from there 
 went directly to the Indians, whom he found at the same 
 place where he had met them before. The task undertaken 
 by Curtis in carrying out his embassy was dangerous in the 
 extreme, and his thrilling experiences as set forth in a letter 
 addressed to the Governor and Council, July 16, show a 
 sagacity and daring unsurpassed even in those heroic times. 
 We will give this letter in substance, quoting verbatim as 
 far as space will allow : " Whereas your Honors employed 
 your servant to conduct and also to make a perfect discovery 
 of the motions of the Nipmugs and western Indians, Your 
 Honor may be pleased here to see my return and behaviour." 
 After giving some incidents of the journey before he reached 
 Brookfield, he goes on to say, that, entering the woods, they 
 proceeded westward, till they discovered an Indian trail, 
 which they followed many miles, till they came to "the low 
 river by Springfield old road." He saj^s, " Here we saw new 
 footings of Indians, and so, looking out sharp, in about two 
 miles riding we saw two Indians, which when I saw, I sent 
 the Indians that were with me from Marlborow, to speak with 
 them, but as soon as they had discovered us, they ran away 
 from us, but with fast riding and calling, two of our Indians 
 stopped one of them, the other ran away. We asked this 
 Indian, where the other Indians were. He being surprised 
 with fear, so he only told us that the Indians were but a 
 little way from us. So then I sent the Marlborow Indians 
 before, to tell them that the messenger of the Governor of 
 the Massachusetts was coming with peaceable words, but 
 when he came to them they would not believe him." Mr. 
 Curtis describes their place of encampment as being an 
 island, in area about four acres, encompassed by a broad, 
 miry swamp. Before reaching the river there met them at 
 least forty Indians, some with their guns on their shoulders, 
 
208 rrisroRY of sudburv. 
 
 others with them in their hands ready cocked and primed ; 
 and most of those next to the river presented at them, 
 lie addressed them in the name of the Governor, whom he 
 ealled his master, the Great Sachem of the Massachusetts, 
 and required them to own their fidelity. He informed them 
 that he came not to fight or to hurt them, but as a messenger 
 from the Governor. He states that there was a great uproar 
 among them, and some would have him killed. Says he, 
 " I requested their sachems to come over the river, but they 
 refused, saying that I must come over to them. My com- 
 pany was something unwilling, for they thought themselves 
 in very great danger where they were. I told them we 
 had better never have seen them, than not to speak to the 
 sachems, and if we ran from them in the time of this tumult 
 they would shoot after us, and kill some of us. So with 
 much difficulty we got over the river, and moist meadow, to 
 the island where they stood to face us at our coming out 
 of the mire, many Indians with their guns presented at us 
 ready cocked and primed, so we rushed between them and 
 called for their sachems. Still the uproar continued with 
 such noise that the air rang. I required them to lay down 
 their arms, and they commanded us to put up our arms 
 first and come off our horses, which I refused to do. With 
 much threatening and persuasion at last the uproar [ceased]. 
 Many of them said they would neither believe me nor my 
 master, without he would send them two or three bushels of 
 powder. At length I spoke with their sachems which were 
 iive, and their other grandees, which I think were twelve 
 more. Our Natic Indians seemed to be very industrious, all 
 this time to still the tumult, and so persuade the Indians, 
 and as I came to speak with the sachems we dismounted 
 and put up our arms." Mr. Curtis says their number was 
 about two hundred. (State Archives, Vol. LXVII., p. 215.) 
 Thus important and perilous was the work in which Curtis 
 engaged for the colon}'; and that he was selected for the 
 undertaking indicates the confidence of the authorities in 
 both his courage and sagacity. It may be in connection with 
 work among the Nipnets that the following order came to 
 the constables of Sudbury, July 16, directing them "to im- 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 209 
 
 press two or three valuable horses with men and arms as 
 Ephraim Curtis shall require." These were to be delivered 
 to Curtis, and to accompany him, with two or three " able 
 and confiding Indians which Captain Gookin will provide to 
 go with him on the country's service." The order was to be 
 carried out with all speed. If the carrying out of this order 
 related to work among the Nipnets, then more than one Sud- 
 bury citizen participated in it and encountered its perils. 
 
 Still another service that was rendered by Curtis was in 
 connection with the ill-fated expedition sent out under com- 
 mand of Capt. Edward Hutchinson. July 27, 1675, Captain 
 Hutchinson was ordered to take with him Capt. Thomas 
 Wheeler of Concord, and a score or more of his troop of 
 horse, Ephraim Curtis as a guide, and three Christian Indi- 
 ans as interpreters, and forthwith to repair to the Nipmuck 
 country, to ascertain the movements of the Indians. The 
 company went from Cambridge to Sudbury, July 28, 1675, 
 and August 1 they arrived at Brookfield. They there learned 
 that the Indians were about ten miles away. Messengers 
 were sent to inform them of the approach of the English 
 with friendly intentions. An interview was had with the 
 sachems, who promised to meet the English near Brook- 
 field the next morning. At the appointed time the English 
 repaired to the place agreed upon, but the Indians were not 
 there. It was considered inexpedient to follow them fur- 
 ther; but, urged by the people of Brookfield, they pro- 
 ceeded, contrary to the advice of their guides, several miles, 
 to a place near a swamp, when they found themselves in an 
 ambuscade. The Indians, consisting of two or three hun- 
 dred, suddenly attacked the little company, killing eight and 
 wounding three. Among the killed was Sydrack (or Shad- 
 rack) Hapgood of Sudbury, and among the wounded were 
 Captains Hutchinson and Wheeler. A retreat was at once 
 made to Brookfield ; and, having reached there, the soldiers 
 entered one of the strongest houses and prepared for defense. 
 Ephraim Curtis and Henry Young from Concord were sent 
 to acquaint the Council at Boston of their imperiled condi- 
 tion. The brave emissaries started at once on their venture- 
 some mission ; but the town was so beset with the savages 
 
210 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 that they were forced back to the garrison. Soon afterwards 
 the house was assailed with great fury. Young, looking 
 from the garret window, was shot and mortally wounded. 
 The night that followed was terrible. The shot pelted on 
 the walls like hail, and the Indians attempted to set the 
 building on fire. The situation was critical, the ammunition 
 was growing scant, and unless something was done to bring 
 relief all would inevitably be killed or taken captive. The 
 undertaking was extremely hazardous. To succeed required 
 a man of great courage and endurance, with a sagacity suffi- 
 cient to outmatch the foe. Few were fit for such a service, 
 even if any could be found to serve. But the task was to 
 fall upon some one, and the man selected was Ephraim Cur- 
 tis. Again the bold adventurer set forth from the garrison, 
 a lone soldier, to rely on his prowess and a protecting Provi- 
 dence to shield him on his course. Captain Wheeler in his 
 official report states of the affair as follows: "I spake to 
 Ephraim Curtis to adventure forth again on that service, and 
 to attempt it on foot as the way wherein was the most hope 
 of getting away undiscovered. He readily assented, and 
 accordingly went out; but there were so many Indians every 
 where threatened, that he could not pass, without apparent 
 hazard of life, so he came back again, but towards morning 
 the said Ephraim adventured forth the 3d time, and was fain 
 to creep on his hands and knees for some space of ground 
 that he might not be discovered by the enemy, but through 
 God's mercy he escaped their hands, and got safely to Marl- 
 boro, though very much spent and ready to faint by reason 
 of want of sleep before he went from us, and his sore travel 
 nicrht and day in that hot season till he got thither." On 
 arriving at Marlboro he met Major Simon Willard and Capt. 
 James Parker of Groton, with forty-six men, who were there 
 to scout between Marlboro, Lancaster, and Groton. These, 
 on receiving intelligence of affairs at Brookfield, hastened at 
 once with relief. They arrived August 7, just in season to 
 rescue the survivors. After this narration, it is unnecessary 
 to speak of the bravery of this Sudbury scout, or the value 
 of his services to the country. It was a forlorn hope upon 
 which he went forth, and none better than he knew the haz- 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 211 
 
 ardous nature of his task, or the sad consequences of capture. 
 Many weary miles of travel lay between him and the sea- 
 board settlements, but, tired and faint, he sped on his way 
 till he had faithfully discharged his trust, and sent the res- 
 cuers to his beleaguered comrades. 
 
 But the time was near when Sudbury was to need all her 
 resources for the defense of her own territory. The foe that 
 hitherto largely operated in the county of Plymouth was 
 soon to invade that of Middlesex, and make Sudbury the 
 scene of most important events. The first approach of the 
 Indians to the town and its vicinity with hostile intent was, 
 we judge, in small bands, which ranged the forest in an inde- 
 pendent way, or which acted as detachments to spy out the 
 land. These scouting parties alarmed the inhabitants, who 
 sent messages to the colonial authorities, with a statement of 
 facts and request for relief. The indications are that the 
 colonial authorities did not anticipate that great peril was so 
 near. After the defeat of the Narragansetts in the swamp 
 fight, it was supposed that the Indians were in a crippled 
 condition, and that the devastating effect of that fight would 
 tend to discourage and keep them in check. To so great an 
 extent was a sense of security felt by the authorities, that in 
 some cases soldiers were dismissed from the garrison-houses. 
 Captain Brocklebank, who was stationed at Marlboro, asked 
 to be dismissed from that place, stating that he had little to 
 do. But the weakness of the enemy was evidently overesti- 
 mated ; and it was not long before the frontier towns were 
 made aware that a formidable foe was near. Feb. 23, 1675, 
 Hugh Clark stated to the Council, that he " being the last 
 week upon the scout with Capt. Gibbs, about Lancaster, 
 Concord and Sudbury, found several houses deserted, having 
 corn in them, and cattle about them, belonging to the late 
 inhabitants thereof, who for fear left their habitations." He 
 states that they found at least about sixty bushels of corn in 
 one house. And he assured the Council that "it would be 
 of advantage to the Indians and straighten the English unless 
 something is done to prevent it." 
 
 The Rev. Edmund Brown, who, as we have before noticed, 
 fortified his house, sent information to the authorities by 
 
212 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Ensign Grout aboul the presence of a lurking enemy in Sud- 
 b He savs: •• h is reported that our woods are pestered 
 
 with Indians. One Adams within our bounds was shot at 
 by a lurkincr Indian or more. He was shol through the 
 ,.;, ;it and shirt near to the arm pit. One Smith walking the 
 woods was assailed by 3 or 4 Indians, whom he discovered 
 swooping down a hill toward him, but Smith saved himseU 
 by his legs One Joseph Freeman coming up about 4 mile 
 Brook discovered two Indians, one in the path presenting 
 his gun at him in the way (in a bright moonlight night), but 
 Freeman dismounting shot at him, and mounting rode for it. 
 One Joseph [Shaley] coming home from Marlboro on I hurs- 
 day Last discovered Indians in our bounds, one of which made 
 a shot at him, the bullet passing by him, but being mounted 
 and tiding for it he escaped. One Joseph Curtis, son to 
 Ephraim Curtis on Saturday last heard 3 volleys of shot 
 m ade by Indians between us and Weston. This being to 
 loll „. Ensign Grout can give a full narrative to your Honor 
 ■md Councill. The consideration of all which I hope will 
 excite you : : : to order that these woods may be scoured 
 and that our town of Sudbury a frontier town may be ena- 
 bled to contribute aid therein and defend itself with its 
 quantity of men, I humbly move. And this I shall [present] 
 unto the Honorable Councill that we may not have men 
 pressed out of our small town." Date, -Sudbury 26* 7* mo. 
 In another letter dated -Sudbury 7* of 12* mo. 7o, Mr. 
 Browll refer* to a late order of the authorities dismissing 
 garrison soldiers, and requests that John Gleason, who had 
 been impressed but returned in safety, might be at his dis- 
 posal He also speaks of Zenias Parmenter, whom they 
 "were pleased to free from impress." He objected to 
 havincr his guard dismissed, on any general order tor the 
 dismissal of garrisons, since he maintained it at his own 
 
 expense. . . ., 
 
 Thus, towards the close of 1675, Sudbury and its vicinity 
 felt a sense of insecurity, because of a lurking toe Ihe 
 indications are. that before the Indians made an advance 
 m great force they came in small detachments or bands, 
 doing occasional mischief, and keeping the inhabitants in 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 213 
 
 a state of suspense. No one was safe who went abroad 
 unarmed ; and those living in the more exposed localities 
 had even abandoned their homes. In the instance related 
 by Hugh Clark, the flight was precipitous, the corn being- 
 left in the crib. But it was not long after these evidences 
 of a mere scattered foe before there were indications that the 
 town was to suffer a more general attack by a considerably 
 increased force. In the towns beyond its western border 
 more or less havoc had already been made, and one after 
 another of them had already succumbed. Feb. 10, 1675, 
 Lancaster suffered by the loss of fifty killed or taken cap- 
 tive ; and the same month a requisition was made upon Con- 
 cord and Sudbury requiring them " forthwith to impress 8 
 carts in each town for the bringing down of goods of such 
 persons of Lancaster as being bereaved by the late hand of 
 God are disabled from continuing there." By March 13, 
 Groton was made desolate, and forty dwellings were burned; 
 and Marlboro alone remained between Sudbury and the vast 
 wilderness that sheltered the foe. The first blow that fell 
 on the town, that has been noted by historians of that day, 
 was on the 10th of March, 1676. Says Mather, " Mischief 
 was done, and several lives were cut off by the Indians. An 
 humbling Providence, inasmuch as many churches were this 
 day fasting and praying." This attack on the town was evi- 
 dently sufficient to put the people more on their guard, and 
 the better prepared them to meet the great force which was to 
 assail them in the following month. It was about three days 
 before this attack of March 10 that Rev. Edmund Brown's 
 letter was dated, in which he writes to the authorities, and 
 mentions the " eminent danger yet remaining over our heads 
 which occasions divers of our towns to make address for 
 some grant and with good success." Eleven days after this 
 attack, " at the motion and request of Ensign Grout of Sud- 
 bury, on behalf of Lieut. Ephraim Curtis, it was ordered that 
 the said Curtis, together with any other volunteers which 
 shall join with him, shall march under his command into the 
 woods, and endeavor to surprise, kill, or destroy, any of the 
 Indians our enemies : : : and he may expect such encour- 
 agement as the late order of the General Court directs." 
 
214 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 THE NEAR APPROACH OF THE INDIANS, THEIR REPULSE, 
 AND THE DEATH OF NETUS. 
 
 While the prospect was thus threatening, the design of 
 the Indians for a season was effectually stayed, and a disas- 
 trous invasion prevented, by a hold move made by the inhab- 
 itants of the town. The event referred to occurred March 
 27, 1676. A force of savages, near three hundred in num- 
 ber, were within about a half mile of Sudbury's western 
 boundary. The force was led by Netus, the Nipmuc cap- 
 tain. (See Chapter II.) This band was intent on mischief. 
 It was on the trail for prey. Flushed with the expectation 
 of easy victory, they waited the dawn of day to begin their 
 foul work, and seize such persons and spoil as were found 
 outside the garrisons. On Sabbath night they made their 
 encampment within half a mile of a garrison. Their mis- 
 chievous course through the previous day had been so little 
 opposed that they felt secure as if in a world of peace. But 
 the English were on their track. 
 
 Intelligence of their presence at Marlboro had reached 
 Sudbury, and a movement was made to oppose them. A 
 score of bold citizens set forth for the beleaguered place. 
 On their arrival at Marlboro they were reinforced by twenty 
 soldiers, who were taken from the garrisons, and the two 
 forces went in search of the enemy. Before daybreak they 
 discovered them asleep about their fires. The English, in 
 night's stillness, crept close upon the camp. Wrapped in 
 slumber, and unsuspicious of what was so near, the Indians 
 were suddenly startled by a destructive volley from an unex- 
 pected foe. The English took them by complete surprise. 
 So effectually had they directed their fire that the Indians 
 speedily fled. About thirty of their number were wounded, 
 of whom it is said fourteen afterwards died. Not only were 
 the Indians numerically weakened, but demoralized some- 
 what by such a bold and unlooked-for assault. Probably 
 this act saved Sudbury for a time. Netus was slain, and for 
 near a month there was a cessation of hostilities within and 
 about the town. 
 
 As the importance of this event is considerable, and the 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 215 
 
 evidence is quite clear concerning it, we will present the 
 narrative as given by several authorities. Says Mather: 
 "March 27 th some of the inhabitants of Sudbury being 
 alarmed by what the Indians did yesterday to their neigh- 
 bors in Malbury, apprehending that they might come upon 
 the enemy unawares, in case they should march after them 
 in the night time, they resolved to try what might be done, 
 and that, not altogether without success, for toward the 
 morning whilst it was yet dark, they discovered where the 
 Indians lay by their fires. And such was their boldness, as 
 that about 300 of them lay all night within half a mile of one 
 of the garrison houses, in that town where they had done 
 so much mischief the day before. Albeit the darkness was 
 such as an English man could not be distinguished from 
 an Indian ; yet ours being 40 in number discharged several 
 times upon them, and (as Indians taken at that time do con- 
 fess) God so disposed of the bullets that were shot at that 
 time, that no less than thirty Indians were wounded, of 
 whom there were 14 that died, several of which had been 
 perpetrators in the late bloody tragedies. They fired hard 
 upon the English, but neither killed nor wounded so much 
 as one man in the skirmish." 
 
 Captain Brocklebank, garrison commander at Marlboro, 
 states thus in his report to the colonial authorities : " Sabbath 
 day night there came about 20 men from Sudbury, and we 
 out of the several garrisons drew 20 more, and in the night 
 time they went out to see if they could discover the enemy 
 and give them some check." He states, that " they found 
 them by their fires, and fired on them, and they ran away ; 
 but their number being few, and not knowing the number 
 of the enemy, but apprehending by their noise and firing at 
 them that the force of the enemy was considerable, they 
 returned home without the loss of any men or wounds from 
 the enemy, and only one man had his hand shattered by the 
 breaking of a gun." 
 
 Thus straightforward and plain are these authorities in 
 their description of this nightly encounter. No better evi- 
 dence could be desired than Captain Brocklebank's letter. 
 From these narratives we are informed that the people of 
 
216 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Sudbury formed this bold project ; that a score of her brave 
 citizens went forth to stay the course of the Indian invaders; 
 that they went beyond the limits of Sudbury into a neigh- 
 boring town that had already been attacked by the foe; 
 and that, upon receiving aid from a government official in 
 command of the garrison, they made this successful assault. 
 There is no evidence that when they started they had any 
 assurance that reinforcements would be afforded them. They 
 knew the enemy were in force at Marlboro, and courageously 
 marched to check their advance. Whether the reinforce- 
 ments that they received at Marlboro were citizens of that 
 town, or some of the soldiers who were sent there by the 
 government, we are not informed. We know that Captain 
 Brocklebank was a government commander, and that a part 
 of the Marlboro garrison were government men, some of 
 whom subsequently accompanied Captain Brocklebank to 
 the Sudbury fight. 
 
 That Sudbury people in this affair acted not simply in 
 their own defense is implied in "The Old Petition," in which 
 it is stated that "the Indians in their disastrous invasions 
 were resolved by our mine to revenge y e reliefe which our 
 Sudbury volunteers approached to distressed Marlborough, 
 in slaying many of y e enemy & repelling y e rest." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1675-1700. 
 
 Philip's War. — Indian Invasion; Date. — Number of the Enemy. — 
 Philip's Preparation. — Indian Powwow. — Movements of the Eng- 
 lish. — General Attack on the Town. — Assault on the Haynes Garri- 
 son. — Hostilities on the East Side. — Resistance of the English. — 
 Arrival of Reinforcements ; Concord Company, Watertown Company. 
 — The Indians Driven Over the Causeway and Bridge. — Attempt 
 to Reinforce Captain Wadsworth. — Description Given in " The Old 
 Petition." 
 
 Up the hillside, down the glen, 
 Rouse the sleeping citizen; 
 Summon out the might of. men! 
 It is coming, — it is nigh ! 
 Stand your homes and altars by ; 
 On your own free thresholds die. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 Havtng noticed the course of hostilities in and about 
 Sudbury by scattered detachments and skulking squads of 
 Indians, we will now consider a more prominent event of the 
 war, — namely, the attack upon the town by King Philip-. 
 with one of the most formidable forces that he ever led 
 along the New England frontier. We have found no evi- 
 dence that, up to April, 1676, Philip himself ever visited the 
 place; but in the final assault the great chieftain directed his 
 warriors in person. At the time of the invasion there was 
 nothing west of Sudbury to obstruct his course. The last 
 town was Marlboro, and this was devastated as by a close 
 gleaner in the great field of war. The people had almost 
 wholly abandoned the place ; the dwellings were reduced to 
 ash-heaps, and a few soldiers only were quartered there to 
 guard the road to Brookfield and the Connecticut. Sudbury 
 at this time was the objective point of King Philip. That 
 
 217 
 
218 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 he had a special purpose in assailing the place, other than 
 what led him to conduct the war elsewhere, is implied in 
 " The Old Petition," in the words before quoted, where the 
 object of revenge is mentioned. Certain it is, he had a 
 strong force, and fought hard and long to destroy the place. 
 
 DATE OF PHILIP'S ATTACK ON THE TOWN. 
 
 Before entering, however, on the details of the conflict, we 
 will notice the time at which it occurred. Previous to the dis- 
 covery of "The Old Petition," two dates had been assigned, 
 namely, the 18th and the 21st of April. Various authorities 
 were quoted in support of each. So important was the mat- 
 ter considered, that a committee was appointed to examine 
 evidence on the subject. The committee reported in favor 
 of the 21st. (Report of Kidder and Underwood.) Notwith- 
 standing this decision, opinions still differed ; but the dis- 
 covery of " The Old Petition " has fully settled this matter, 
 and established beyond question that the date of Philip's 
 attack on the town and the garrisons, and the "Sudbury 
 Fight," was the 21st. We can understand how, before the 
 discovery of this paper, opinions might vary; how an histo- 
 rian might mistake as to a date, and a monument might per- 
 petuate° the error. When President Wadsworth erected a 
 slate-stone at the grave of Captain Wadsworth, the date in- 
 scribed might have been taken from the historian Hubbard, 
 who might 1 have received it from an unreliable source. But 
 we can hardly suppose that a mistake could occur in the paper 
 above referred to concerning the date of this event. This 
 paper is a calm, deliberate document, signed by inhabitants 
 of Sudbury, and sent to the Colonial Court less than six 
 months after the invasion by Philip. It gives the date of 
 the invasion in the following words: "An Account of Losse 
 Sustained by Severall Inhabitants of y e towne of Sudbury by 
 y« Indian Enemy 21 st April 1G76." 
 
 NUMBER OF THE ENEMY. 
 
 Philip arrived with his force at Marlboro on or about the 
 18th of April, and soon started for Sudbury. The number 
 of his warriors has been variously estimated. In the " Old 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 219 
 
 Indian Chronicle " it is given as " about a thousand strong." 
 Gookin states, in his history of the Christian Indians, " that 
 upon the 21 st of April about mid-day tidings came by many 
 messengers that a great body of the enemy not less as was 
 judged than fifteen hundred, for the enemy to make their 
 force seem very large there were many women among them 
 whom they had fitted with pieces of wood cut in the forms 
 of guns, which these carried, and were placed in the centre, 
 they had assaulted a place called Sudbury that morning, and 
 set fire of sundry houses and barns of that town . . . oivino- 
 an account that the people of the place were greatly dis- 
 tressed and earnestly desired succor." 
 
 Besides Gookin's statement as to the presence of squaws 
 in the company, we have the authority of Mrs. Rowlandson, 
 who mentions an Indian that went to the Sudbury fight 
 accompanied by his squaw with her pappoose upon her back. 
 Mrs. Rowlandson was the wife of Rev. Mr. Rowlandson of 
 Lancaster, and was made captive in the attack on that town. 
 She went with Philip to Sudbury, and became a witness to 
 some of the sad scenes there, which were published in a book 
 entitled "Mrs. Rowlandson's Removes." 
 
 Other evidence of the size of Philip's force is found in the 
 " Old Petition," which says, " Let ye Most High have ye 
 high praise due unto him, but let not ye unworthy Instru- 
 ments be forgotten. Was there with vs any towne so beset 
 since ye ware begun, with twelve or fourteen hundred fight- 
 ing men, warriors, sagamores, from all Parts with their men 
 of Arms ? " 
 
 THE PREPARATION. 
 
 Before the Indians went to Sudbury they made careful 
 preparation. Says Mrs. Rowlandson, " They got a company 
 together to pow-wow." The manner as she describes it is as 
 follows : — 
 
 There was one that kneeled upon a deer skin with a company round 
 him in a ring, who kneeled striking upon the ground with their hands 
 and with sticks, and muttering or humming with their mouths. Beside 
 him who kneeled in the ring there also stood one with a gun in his hand. 
 Then he on the deer skin made a speech, and all manifest an assent to 
 
220 HISTORY OF SUDBUBT. 
 
 it and so they did many times together. Then they bid him with a gun, 
 ao out of the ring, which he did, but when he was out they called him m 
 a-ain but he seemed to make a stand. Then they called the more ear- 
 nestly till he turned again. Then they all sang. Then they gave him 
 two guns, in each hand one, and so he on the deer skin began aga.n, and 
 at the end of every sentence in his speaking they all assented, and hum- 
 ming or muttering with their mouths, and striking upon the ground with 
 their hands. Then they bid him with the two guns go out of the ring 
 again, which he did a little way. Then they called him again, but he 
 made a stand. So they called. him with greater earnestness But he 
 stood reeling and wavering as if he knew not whether he should stand or 
 fall or which way to go. Then they called him with exceeding great 
 vehemence, all of them, one and another. After a little while he turned 
 in staggering as he went, with his arms stretched out, in each hand a 
 K un "As soon as he came in they all sang, and rejoiced exceeding 
 awhile and then he upon the deer skin made another speech, unto which 
 they all assented in a rejoicing manner, and so they ended their business 
 and forthwith went to Sudbury fight. 
 
 The foregoing statements plainly show that a large force 
 was being led to Sudbury. The great chieftain doubtless fell 
 sure of his prey. Mrs. Rowlandson says. -To my thinking 
 they went without any scruple but that they should prosper 
 and crain the victory.- Philip was not aware of the strong 
 reinforcements which were to be sent to the town's rebel. 
 The tramp of Wadsworth and his company had not as yet 
 reached Ids ears. For aught he knew, the forest resounded 
 with only the tramp of his own stalwart men. 
 
 But while the Indians were preparing for the attach, the 
 English were by uo means idle. Things were fast being put 
 in readiness to meet the worst. The blow received was to 
 be returned, and the spoils of conquest were to be dearly 
 obtained. Notwithstanding the customary cunning of the 
 Indians, and their usual sly way, the attack in this instance 
 was not an entire surprise. Their coming was announced by 
 several acts of hostility on the day previous to the general 
 assault, According to tradition, they began their marauding 
 by burning several houses and killing several inhabitants. 
 Among the slain were a Mr. Boone and son, and Mr. 
 Thomas Plympton, who was endeavoring to conduct them, 
 with some "of their goods, to a place of safety. This skir- 
 mishing on the outskirts put the people on their guard, and 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 221 
 
 warned them to flee for their lives. It showed the hostile 
 intent of the enemy, and the necessity of making haste if 
 they would escape capture or death. Adequately to describe 
 the state of affairs in Sudbury on the eve of this Indian inva- 
 sion would be a difficult task. We may, however, conjec- 
 ture that the scene was a thrilling one, and that it was a 
 time of uncertainty and anxious suspense to the inhabitants. 
 What had come upon others was about to come upon them. 
 The dismal intelligence of disaster to far-off settlements was 
 to be made more vivid by the same dread foe in their midst. 
 It was their dwellings that were soon to be ash-heaps, their 
 herds that were to be spoils of war, their fields that were to 
 suffer invasion. The wild omens were to bring presaged 
 wrath to their doors; and the warm homes once smiling with 
 comfort were to be forsaken and left to the foe. With but 
 a partial realization of what was to come, we may conclude 
 that Sudbury was never before or since so astir. There 
 were men struggling for life ; families hurrying together to 
 the shelter of garrisons, with whatever of household goods 
 they could snatch; loving ones bearing the feeble and sick in 
 their arms, and all rushing to a place of safety. From hither 
 and yon flocked the company. Again and again the latch- 
 string was flung loose from the garrison, as one by one new 
 arrivals came .in. None knew when they abandoned their 
 homes that they would see them again, nor that they them- 
 selves would ever reach a safe place. The Indian invader 
 was hard by their track. He might spring any moment upon 
 them. Each object might be his place of concealment. He 
 lurked by the woody wayside, he crept along the margin of 
 the open lands ; and on the outskirt of the woodland he peered 
 to get a sight at some late refugee whom he might bear away 
 as his prey. 
 
 Within the garrisons the scenes were also, doubtless, of a 
 stirring character. These places were soon to be isolated. 
 Communication with them was to be cut off. They were to 
 be surrounded by a fierce horde of beleaguering savages ; 
 and before help could arrive the doors might be battered by 
 tomahawks, or the torch be applied to the wall. Anxiously 
 might those who had entered these places watch and await 
 
222 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 coming events ; eagerly may the} 7 have looked to catch a 
 glimpse of their belated townsmen who might be coming 
 from the more exposed outskirts, or who, like the brave 
 Thomas Plympton, had gone forth to bring to the garrison 
 the dwellers on lonely homesteads. The sound of firing over 
 the distant woodlands ; the smoke rising in clouds upon the 
 far-off horizon ; occasional now arrivals from different locali- 
 ties, bringing evidence of the near approach of the Indians, — 
 all these would present a scene of a startling character ; and 
 as the night shadows of April 20 crept about the lonely gar- 
 risons, those within had no assurance but that it was as the 
 darkness of the shadow of death. 
 
 But, though the scene was thrilling and one of anxious sus- 
 pense, it was nevertheless one of courage and hope. From 
 what we know of the character of the Sudbury inhabitants, 
 and of their conduct when the attack was begun, we con- 
 elude that in those hours of ingathering there were hearts 
 full of determination, and that plans were laid for a success- 
 ful defense. Doubtless the ammunition was carefully looked 
 to and put in a convenient place, the Hints scraped, the 
 priming-wire used, and every aperture in the garrison walls 
 closed and secured, except such as were left to fire from. 
 
 Beside the regular force of the town's militia who were to 
 assist in defense of the garrisons, it is supposed some militia 
 were present from other places. Some men from the force 
 of Captain Brocklebank, the garrison commander at Marl- 
 boro, are supposed to have been there. Of twelve soldiers 
 who went from Rowley, and did service in Sudbury, seven 
 returned to their homes ; and it is hardly supposable that so 
 many should have escaped if in the Wadsworth fight. We 
 presume, therefore, with the historian of Rowley, that they 
 helped man these garrisons. 
 
 THE ATTACK. 
 
 During the night of the 20th of April, Philip advanced his 
 forces, and took positions for the coming day. The Indians 
 possessed such a knowledge of the country as enabled him 
 to do (his to advantage. Every path through the woodland 
 had been trod by the moccasined foot; everv log crossing or 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 223 
 
 rude bridge, from the Connecticut to the river at Sudbury, 
 were on old and well-worn trails. Among the invaders were 
 some who had lived thereabouts for years, or had ranged the 
 forest for game, or frequented the Musquetahquid (Sudbury 
 River) for fish. From these Philip might obtain information 
 of the country, and thus be enabled to lay his plans. This 
 doubtless was what he did. Probably every homestead, how- 
 ever humble, was noted ; every highway guarded, and every 
 wood-path carefully watched. No lone haystack in secluded 
 meadow nook, no rude shelter for cattle, no rough shed for 
 the sheep, escaped the vigilance of his roving marauders as 
 in night's stillness they ranged through the town. As they 
 reconnoitred about the garrisons, they doubtless noticed each 
 object from which they could direct their fire, and each way 
 of approach and retreat. 
 
 Of the movements of the Indians the English probably 
 knew but little as the night wore on. The soft tread of 
 the moccasin, as the dusky squad stole silently about these 
 strongholds, was too gentle for even the ears of such anxious 
 listeners in the ominous stillness of that solitude. Even the 
 slow-moving bush which may have hidden from view some 
 adventurous savage, as he approached a little nearer to recon- 
 noitre the place and discover its weak or strong points, though 
 it aroused suspicion of a lurking foe, yet revealed nothing of 
 his number or strength, nor of the squad in concealment 
 near by, who awaited the whispered report of their comrade. 
 No night-fires lit the heavens with their lurid glow, disclos- 
 ing the foe's intent. His dark, encampment was doubtless 
 within the dense pines, where he lay on his evergreen couch 
 until called forth by the signal of daybreak. The stillness 
 of nature and of man were both there. It was the calm that 
 foreboded a storm which was to burst upon man and his 
 dwelling, the herd and its stall. 
 
 But the silence soon broke. With the morning the mys- 
 tery cleared. It was early discovered by the inhabitants 
 that during the night-time the Indians had gotten possession 
 of everything in the west part of the town but the garrisons, 
 and that they had become so scattered about in squads, and 
 had so occupied various localities, that at a given signal they 
 
•224 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 could strike a concerted blow. Says the "Old Indian Chron- 
 icle,'' "The houses were built very scatteringly, and the en- 
 emy divided themselves into small parties, which executed 
 their design of firing at once." The smoke of dwellings 
 curled upward on the morning- air, the warwhoop rung out 
 from the forest, and from the town's westerly limit to the 
 Watertown boundary the destructive work was begun. It 
 is said by tradition that the Indians even entered the Water- 
 town territory, and set fire to a barn in what is now Weston. 
 About the time of firing the deserted houses, the Indians 
 made their attack on the garrisons. The detachments for 
 this work were probably as specifically set apart as were 
 those for burning the dwelling-places; and doubtless hours 
 before daybreak the foe lay concealed in their picked places 
 ready to pour their shot on the wall. The attack on the 
 Haynes house was of great severity. The position of the 
 building favored the near and concealed approach of the 
 enemy. The small hill at the north afforded a natural ram- 
 part from which to direct his fire ; behind it he could skulk 
 to close range of the house, and drive his shot with terrible 
 force on the walls. There is a tradition, that, by means of 
 this hill, the Indians tried to set the building on fire. They 
 filled a cart with flax, ignited, and started it down the 
 hill towards the house ; but before it reached its destination 
 it upset, and the building was saved. Tradition also states 
 that near the house was a bam, which the Indians burned ; 
 but that this proved advantageous to the inmates of the gar- 
 rison, as it had afforded a shelter for the Indians to fire from. 
 Probably this barn was burned with the expectation of set- 
 ting fire to the house. 
 
 But it was not long that the Indians were to fight at 
 close range. The bold defenders soon sallied forth, and 
 commenced aggressive warfare. They fell on the foe, 
 forced them back, and drove them from their "skulking 
 approaches." Could Philip have spared reinforcements at 
 this critical time, he doubtless would have readily done so, 
 rather than suffered defeat at this garrison. But Ins main 
 force was lying in wait at Green Hill for Captain Wads- 
 worth, other detachments were plundering on the east side, 
 
THE HAYNES GARRISON HOUSE. 
 From original painting by A. S, Hudson. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 225 
 
 and some were besieging other garrisons. The force needed 
 at different localities prevented a concentration at any one 
 point. Thus the day was won at the Haynes house. In 
 the skirmish the Indians suffered considerably, while the 
 English lost but two, and that through their own indiscre- 
 tion. 
 
 While the conflict was going on, the inmates of the garri- 
 son showed stout hearts and commendable coolness and cour- 
 age ; even the women manifested but little, if any, timidity. 
 Perhaps they served in opening and closing the apertures 
 to the garrison, when the musket was thrust out and with- 
 drawn : they may have swabbed the foul guns, wiped the 
 priming-pan, and scraped the flints; they may have stood, 
 powder-horn in hand, with the powder all poured for the 
 charge, and the tow wadding all torn for the ramrod's ready 
 work. Such was the work at the old Haynes Garrison, — 
 the noble work of a noble company. 
 
 The service at the other garrisons was probably all that 
 was needed. That none of these houses were captured is 
 enough to indicate a stout and manly defense. They were 
 all coveted objects of the enemy, and plans for the capture 
 of each had been carefully laid. That all the garrisons did 
 both defensive and aggressive work is shown by " The Old 
 Petition," which says, "Our Garrison men kept not within 
 their Garrisons, but issued forth to fight y e Enemy within 
 their skulking approaches." Thus manly was the defense of 
 the garrisons during the long morning hours of that eventful 
 day. From the dawning till noon the clouds gathered and 
 broke over those frail, scattered fortresses. All about them 
 was confusion and turmoil ; in various directions the dense 
 smoke-cloud drooped its dismal drapery over smouldering 
 homesteads ; and on the ears of the beleaguered inhabitants 
 frequently broke the wild yell of the foe. But still they 
 fought on, with none near to assist them. No drum-beat 
 announced the approach of reinforcements. They might not 
 have known that relief parties had started. The tramp of 
 Wadsworth and his company, as they passed through to 
 Marlboro the preceding night, might have been mistaken for 
 
226 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the tramp of the foe; and nothing, for aught they knew, 
 awaited the garrisons but to win the victory alone. 
 
 HOSTILITIES ON THE EAST SIDE. 
 
 While the conflict was raging around the garrisons on 
 the west side, there was by no means inactivity on the east 
 side. The condition of things was critical there also ; the 
 circumstances in the two places, however, were different. 
 The east side was so protected by the high water, which at 
 that time covered the meadows, that the savages would nat- 
 urally be more cautious in their mode of attack ; with a 
 crossing only at the town bridge and causeway, it would be 
 unsafe to scatter their forces very much, or to venture far 
 from the place of retreat ; nevertheless they invaded the ter- 
 ritory, and commenced their mischievous work by plunder- 
 ing dwelling-houses. They doubtless intended to take what 
 spoils they could carry away, and then burn the place; 
 but they were effectually checked in their work. The in- 
 habitants fell upon them with fury. They beat them from 
 the very thresholds of their humble homes, and snatched 
 the spoil from their savage clutch; they even forced them 
 to retreat on the run, and seek safety in precipitous flight. ^ 
 
 During the progress of the conflict the women and chil- 
 dren were probably at the stockade of Rev. Edmund Brown, 
 at Timber Neck. This stockade was sufficient to shelter 
 all in that neighborhood. It was admirably situated as a 
 place of defense: being at the junction of Mill Brook 
 and the river, at high water it had but two sides of attack, 
 and the Indians could only reach it by a circuitous course. 
 From these circumstanees it is hardly probable that it would 
 require many soldiers to man this stockade; hence more could 
 be spared to defend their homes. But all that could be spared 
 made a very small company at best. 
 
 The entire defensive force of the town being but about 
 eighty militia men, with a few added who had come from 
 outside, we may conclude that the lighting was largely done 
 by a few. Says "The Old Petition," -The enemy was by 
 few beaten out of houses which they had entered and by a 
 few hands were forced to a running fight which way they 
 
HISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 227 
 
 could, y e spoil taken by them on y e East side of y e river was 
 in great par te recovered." This gives an outline of the facts, 
 which, like the rest of " The Petition," suggest various pos- 
 sible and probable details of the conflict ; and the conjecture 
 is by no means extravagant, that those morning hours on 
 both sides of the river witnessed scenes of daring by those 
 brave little companies unsurpassed in the annals of King 
 Philip's War. 
 
 Before leaving this part of the subject, we will quote from 
 " The Old Petition," which to an extent has furnished the 
 facts from which the foregiven description has been taken : 
 " The Enemy well knowing Our grounds, passes, avenues, 
 and situations, had near surrounded Our town ni v e morning 
 early (Wee not knowing of it) till discovered by fireing sev- 
 erall disserted houses ; the Enemy with greate force & fury 
 assaulted Deacon Haines' house well fortified yet badly scit- 
 uated as advantagous to y e Enemy's approach & dangerous 
 to y e Repellant yet (by y e help of God) y e Garrison not 
 onely defended y e place fro betweene five or six of y e clock 
 in y e Morning, till about One in y e Afternoon but forced 
 y e Enemy with considerable slaughter to draw off. Many 
 Observables worthy of Record hapened in this assault, vizt: 
 that noe man or woman seemed to be possessed with feare ; 
 Our Garrisonmen kept not within their Garrisons, but issued 
 forth to fight y e Enemy in their sculking approaches: We 
 had but two of Our townes men slaine, & y l by indiscretion 
 none wounded." 
 
 ARRIVAL OF REINFORCEMENTS. 
 
 While the town's inhabitants were defending the garri- 
 sons, and at the same time endeavoring to prevent the sav- 
 ages from further plundering their dwellings and making off 
 with the spoils, reinforcements were approaching the town 
 from several directions. Among the principles of action 
 proposed by the authorities at the beginning of the war was, 
 that one town should assist another with what men it could 
 spare, on the giving of a general alarm ; so it was in the 
 case before us. Intelligence of the enemy in the neighbor- 
 hood of Sudbury spread rapidly to surrounding places, and 
 
228 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 men hastened from Concord and Watertown, and were sent 
 by the colonial authorities from the vicinity of Boston. As 
 each of these three reinforcements had a history of its own, 
 we will describe them separately. 
 
 THE CONCORD COMPANY. 
 
 This consisted of "twelve resolute young men," who 
 endeavored to render assistance in the neighborhood of the 
 Haynes Garrison-house. Before they had reached it, how- 
 ever, and formed a junction with the citizens of the town, 
 they met with a melancholy fate in the neighboring meadow. 
 The account of the affair is thus given by Mr. Shattuck in 
 the Concord history, which account, he states, is preserved 
 by tradition: "Arriving near the garrison-house of Walter 
 Haynes, they observed several squaws, who, as they drew 
 near, danced, shouted, powwowed, and used every method 
 to amuse and decoy them. Eleven of the English pursued 
 and attacked them, but found themselves, too late, in an 
 ambuscade, from which a large number of Indians rushed 
 upon and attacked them with great fury. Notwithstanding 
 they made a bold resistance, it was desperate, and ten of 
 them were slain. The other escaped to the garrison, where 
 the neighboring inhabitants had fled for security, which was 
 bravely defended." 
 
 Of those who were killed at this time belonging to Con- 
 cord, Shattuck's history gives the following names: James 
 Hosmer, Samuel Potter, John Barnes, Daniel Corny, and 
 Joseph Buttrick. The Middlesex Probate Records have the 
 following concerning James Hosmer, in connection with the 
 settlement of his estate: "being slayne in the engagement 
 with the Indians at Sudbury on the 21st of the second 
 month [April] in the year 1676." In the Middlesex County 
 Probate Records are also the following names of soldiers 
 slain in Sudbury, April 21 : David Curry and Josiah Wbeeler 
 of Concord, and William Haywood of Sudbury. Says the 
 Old Indian Chronicle: "They were waylaid and eleven of 
 them cut off." Says Hubbard of this affair: "These men at 
 the first hearing of the alarm, who unawares were surprised 
 near a garrison-house, in hope of getting some advantage 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 229 
 
 upon a small party of the enemy that presented themselves 
 in a meadow. A great number of the Indians, who lay un- 
 seen in the bushes, suddenly rose up and intercepting the 
 passage to the garrison-house, killed and took them all." 
 
 The men thus slain on the meadow were left where they 
 fell until the following day, when the bodies were brought 
 in boats to the foot of the old town bridge and buried. Two 
 of the parties who helped perform the work of burial were 
 Warren and Pierce of the Watertown company. The fol- 
 lowing is their description of the scene, as given in a petition 
 to the General Court: " On the next day in the morning, so 
 soon as it was light, we went to look for the Concord men 
 who were slain in the River meadow, and there we went in 
 water up to our knees, where we found five, and we brought 
 them in canoes and buried them there." The spot men- 
 tioned here as the burial place is, we conjecture, on the 
 northerly side of the town bridge, on the eastern bank of 
 the river. This supposition is based on the fact that it was 
 high water on the meadow at that time, and hence this place 
 was probably the only one suitable for burial. A monument 
 to this brave relief company would be very appropriate, and 
 serve to mark a locality which on that clay was full of stirring 
 events. 
 
 THE WATERTOWN COMPANY. 
 
 The reinforcements from Watertown were more fortunate 
 than those from Concord, and were spared to assist in saving 
 the town. This company was under the command of Capt. 
 Hugh Mason, a bold and gallant commander. Captain Mason 
 was of a committee of four appointed March 15 to provide 
 for the defence of the frontier towns of Middlesex county. 
 At the head of forty Watertown men he had marched pre- 
 viously to the relief of Groton. He was now prompt to meet 
 the foe at Sudbury, and, although seventy-five years old, he 
 came in a timely manner. 
 
 These reinforcements probably arrived some time before 
 noon. As the attack began about daybreak, and took the 
 inhabitants of Sudbury somewhat by surprise, it is hardly 
 probable that the news would reach Watertown until the 
 
230 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 morning was Avell advanced. Watertown was the border 
 town on the east. The part now Weston was called the 
 "Farmers' Precinct." At this locality the sound of guns 
 could without doubt lie heard, and the smoke rising over 
 the woods in dark ominous clouds might bespeak what was 
 befalling the neighborhood. Moreover, the intelligence may 
 have reached Watertown by couriers, who carried it to Bos- 
 ton, arriving there about midday. 
 
 When Captain Mason reached Sudbury, about two hun- 
 dred Indians were on the east side the river engaged in mis- 
 chievous work. The little company of town's people who 
 could be spared from the stockade was too small to drive 
 them back over the river. The best they could do was to 
 keep them from too close range of their little stronghold, 
 and save a part of their property and dwellings. But when 
 these reinforcements arrived, the united forces compelled the 
 foe to make a general retreat. Whereas, before the arrival 
 of reinforcements, the Indians, as stated in "The Old Peti- 
 tion," " were by few beaten out of houses which they had 
 entered and were plundering, and by a few hands Avere 
 forced to a running tight," they were now driven beyond 
 the causeway and bridge. 
 
 The contest that preceded this retreat of the savages was 
 doubtless severe. Two hundred Indians were a force suffi- 
 cient to offer stubborn resistance. They were near a large 
 force held in reserve by King Philip on the west side of the 
 river, and might at any time receive reinforcement from 
 him; and if they could hold the causeway and bridge, the 
 day might be won. On the other hand, the English had a 
 vast deal at stake ; if the foe was forced over the stream, the 
 east side would for a time be safe. They could defend the 
 narrow causeway and bridge, while the high water would 
 protect their flanks. Such were the circumstances that 
 would cause each to make a hard fight. But the English 
 prevailed. The foe was forced back, and the bridge and 
 causeway were held, so that they could not repass them. 
 
 But the English did not stop with this victory; though the 
 dav was won here, the contest still waged on the west side. 
 From beyond Green Hill, about two miles westerly, came 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 231 
 
 the sound of combat; and they knew that Captain Wads- 
 worth and his companjr, who passed through Watertown on 
 their way to Marlboro, were engaged in stern conflict. The 
 scent of battle as it came borne on the April breeze, the dull 
 sound of the distant firing, and the outlying detachments sent 
 to keep reinforcements away, indicated that the contest at the 
 hill was hot. But, undaunted, the English pushed forward. 
 Beyond the bridge and the causeway, up the slope of the 
 hill, perhaps by the Old Lancaster Road, they moved on to 
 the work of rescue ; but they failed in the accomplishment 
 of their object. The Indians were too many for that small 
 company. Notwithstanding their courage, they had but lim- 
 ited strength. The Indians endeavored to surround them, 
 and being forced to retreat they sought refuge in the Good- 
 no w Garrison. There they remained until nightfall, when 
 they again sallied forth ; but this time it was not to meet 
 the enemy. The conflict was over. The disastrous day was 
 done. Night covered as with a friendly mantle the terrible 
 scene ; its shadows were unbroken by the flash of guns, and 
 its stillness undisturbed by the rude sounds of war. The 
 foe had retired, their victims lay dead where they fell, and a 
 "few surviving comrades" were all they could bear with 
 them to the east side settlement. 
 
 Thus noble was the work of that company; and the peril 
 attendant upon the undertaking is indicative of the courage 
 with which they entered upon it. Major Gookin, in his 
 "History of the Christian Indians," states concerning this 
 affair as follows: "Upon April 21, about midday, tidings 
 came by many messengers that a great body of the enemy 
 had assaulted a town called Sudbury that morning. Indeed 
 (through God's favor) some small assistance was already 
 sent from Watertown by Capt. Hugh Mason. These with 
 some of the inhabitants joined and with some others that 
 come in to their help, there was vigorous resistance made, 
 and a check given to the enemy, so that those that were got- 
 ten over the river were forced to retreat, and the body of 
 the enemy were repulsed, that they could not pass the 
 bridge, which pass the English kept." 
 
 Says Warren and Pierce, who were of the Watertown 
 
232 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 company: "But we who were with them can more largely 
 inform this Honored Council, that as it is said in the peti- 
 tion that we drove two hundred Indians over the river, we 
 followed the enemy over the river . . . and with some others 
 joined and went to see if we could relieve Capt. Wadsworth 
 upon the hill, and there we had a fight with the Indians, 
 but they being so many of them, and we stayed so long, that 
 we were almost encompassed by them, which caused us to 
 retreat to Capt. Goodnow's Garrison, and there we stayed it 
 being near night till it was dark." 
 
 We have found no list of Watertown soldiers with the 
 express statement that they served at Sudbury, but we give 
 the following names of men who were impressed from that 
 town in November, 1675, for the defense of the colony, and 
 who were returned by Captain Mason as " rationally most 
 fit to goe upon the servis " : kt Daniell Warrin, Sr., John 
 Bigulah, Sr., Nathaniel Hely, Joseph Tayntor, John Whit- 
 ney, Sr., George Harrington, William Hagar, Jr., John Park- 
 hurst, Michael Flagg, Jacob Bullard, Isaac Learned, Joseph 
 Waight, George Dill, William Pierce, Nathaniel Sangar, 
 Moses Whitney, John Windam, Joseph Smith, Nathaniel 
 Barsham, John Barnard." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1675-1700. 
 
 Philip's War. — The Sudbury Fight. — Number of Men in Captain 
 Wadsworth's Company: The Arrival at Marlboro; The Return 
 to Sudbury. — The Ambuscade: Place of It. — Philip's Plan of 
 
 Attack. — Number of Indians. — The Battle. — The Forest Fire. 
 
 Retreat of the English. — Refuge in Hop Brook Mill. — Number 
 of the English Slain. — Philip's Loss. — Treatment of Captives.— 
 Rescue of the Survivors. — Burial of the Dead. — Place of Burial.— 
 Biographical Sketches: Captain Wadsworth, Captain Brocklebank. — 
 Roxbury Men. — Concord Men. — Marlboro Men. — The Christian 
 Indians. — Movements of the English after the Battle. — Sudbury's 
 Loss. 
 
 Fast on the soldier's path 
 
 Darken the waves of wrath ; 
 Long have they gather'd, and loud shall they fall ; 
 
 Red glares the musket's flash, 
 
 Sharp rings the rifle's crash, 
 Blazing and clanging from thicket and wall. 
 
 O. W. Holmes. 
 
 When the intelligence reached Boston that the Indians 
 had invaded Marlboro, the Council sent to its relief a com- 
 pany of soldiers under command of Capt. Samuel Wadsworth 
 of Milton. The number in this company has been variously 
 estimated. Mather sets it at seventy; "The Old Indian 
 Chronicle " says, " Wadsworth being designed of a hundred 
 men, to repair to Marlboro, to strengthen the garrison and 
 remove the goods." Hubbard says, "That resolute, stout 
 hearted soldier, Capt. Wadsworth . . . being sent from 
 Boston with fifty soldiers to relieve Marlboro." It is not 
 remarkable that estimates should differ with regard to the 
 number in this company, since all the men who accompanied 
 Wadsworth from Boston were not in the engagement at 
 
 233 
 
234 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Sudbury. When Captain Wadsworth reached Marlboro lie 
 exchanged a part of his younger men, who were wearied 
 with the march, for some at the garrison, and accompanied 
 by Captain Brocklebank, the garrison commander, started 
 back to Sudbury. Lieutenant Jacobs, who commanded the 
 garrison in the absence of Brocklebank, in reporting to the 
 authorities in regard to the number of men left with him, 
 states as follows: "There is remaining in our company forty- 
 six, several whereof are young soldiers left here by Captain 
 Wadsworth, being unable to march. But though he left a 
 part of his men he took some from the garrison at Marlboro." 
 From what we know of the fate of a large part of this com- 
 pany, and the circumstances attendant upon the expedition, 
 we conclude the number engaged in the Sudbury fight was 
 not much over fifty. If twenty-nine men were found slain 
 after the battle, and fourteen escaped, and about a half dozen 
 were taken captive, the number would not be far from the 
 foregoing estimate. 
 
 Captain Wadsworth arrived at Marlboro some time during 
 the night of the 20th. Upon ascertaining that the Indians 
 had gone in the direction of Sudbury, he did not stop to 
 take needed refreshment, but started upon the enemy's trail. 
 Hubbard says, "Understanding the enemy had gone through 
 the woods towards Sudbury, this unwearied company, before 
 even they had taken any considerable rest, marched immedi- 
 ately back towards Sudbury [East Sudbury], that lies ten 
 miles nearer Boston." Says Gookin (" History of Christian 
 Indians"), "He [Wadsworth] understanding that the enemy 
 had attacked Sudbury, took a ply of his men, about six files, 
 and marched for their relief, with whom Capt. Broklebank. 
 who kept guard at Marlboro went. Taking this opportunity 
 as a o'ood convoy, to speak with the council. Capt. Wads- 
 worth being a valient and active man and being very desir- 
 ous to rescue his friends at Sudbury, marched in the night 
 with all the speed he could." Says Lieutenant Jacobs, in 
 his official letter, of Wadsworth's departure, "Although he 
 had marched all the day and the night before, and his men 
 much wearied, yet he hastened back again, and was accom- 
 panied by Capt, Broklebank, commander of the garrison of 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 235 
 
 Marlboro with the small number he durst spare out of his 
 garrison." (Date April 24, 1676. State Archives, Vol. 
 LXVIIL, p. 227.) 
 
 The English encountered no Indians until they had gone 
 some distance into Sudbury territory, when they came upon a 
 small party, who fled at their approach. Captain Wadsworth 
 with his company pursued until they found themselves in an 
 ambush, where the main body of Philip's force lay concealed. 
 
 THE BATTLE-FIELD. 
 
 Before considering the battle which followed, we will give 
 some description of the place where it occurred. This place 
 was at what is now South Sudbury, a little northeasterly of 
 the village, and on the westerly side of Green Hill. The 
 ambush was probably laid near the foot of the hill, a few 
 rods east of the place where Wadsworth was buried. At 
 this point there was, until within a very few years, an old 
 path through the woods (see map), which we conjecture 
 once led from the Hop Brook Mill to the Old Lancaster 
 Road, and may have been the way travelled to that mill, and 
 to the westward of it, before the construction of the new 
 road that was built in 1659. This road, in our recollection, 
 extended to the edge of the cleared land on the Joseph Rich- 
 ardson farm (present Newton place), but since the clearing 
 up of the woods in that locality it has almost or quite dis- 
 appeared. We conjecture that at or along this path the 
 battle began. This we think is indicated by several circum- 
 stances . 
 
 First, it was very near the spot where the slain soldiers 
 were buried. The burial-place would naturally be not far 
 from the greater number of the slain, or about midway of 
 the battle-field, unless the nature of the ground was such as 
 to make it inexpedient to dig the grave there. From the top 
 of Green Hill to near the spot where the soldiers were buried 
 is hard, rocky ground, while at the place of burial was easy 
 digging; and, moreover, being of sandy soil, it may have been 
 covered with but small, scanty shrubbery, and been a sunny 
 spot in the woods quite suitable for the purpose. It is not 
 therefore unlikely, if the main part or all of the slain were 
 
236 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 scattered from about tlie foot to the summit of the hill, that 
 they were carried to that spot for interment. 
 
 Second, it was not far from the foot of the hill, which the 
 English ascended as the battle advanced. The space fought 
 over could not have been great, since every foot of it was 
 hotly contested, and the engagement lasted but a few hours. 
 The distance from the path at the foot of the hill to the 
 summit, where the English made their stand, was about an 
 eighth of a mile. Therefore we judge the battle began on 
 or near the path. 
 
 But the one thing which more than any other may indi- 
 cate the place of ambush was the probable plan of King 
 Philip. This plan was to intercept Captain Wadsworth 
 before he could reach the east side, or get into the neigh- 
 borhood of the Goodnow or Haynes Garrisons. To do this, 
 he would naturally allow the English to pass on to Marlboro 
 during the night undisturbed, and then conceal his force to 
 intercept him on his return. The wily chieftain knew that 
 his return was only a matter of time, and he hastened to 
 get his ambush in readiness for him. But, to have the plan 
 a success, it was all-important to choose the spot where 
 Wadsworth would be most likely to pass. To the west- 
 ward of Hop Brook it might be hard to determine what way 
 the English would take. But it was probable they would so 
 direct their course as to cross Hop Brook at the bridge, near 
 Noyes' Mill (South Sudbury), since at that season of the 
 year the stream might be swollen so as to make it difficult to 
 pass it at any other place. At some point easterly of the 
 bridge, then, the ambush would naturally be laid. 
 
 But from Hop Brook to the east side, as before noticed, 
 there were two ways : one, a part of the Old Lancaster Road 
 north of Green Hill, connected with Hop Brook Mill by the 
 wood-path before mentioned ; the other, the " new road," 
 which went south of Green Hill. As it was uncertain which 
 of these roads Wadsworth would take, Philip would natu- 
 rally lay his ambuscade upon the path which we have con- 
 jectured connected these two highways (see map) ; so that 
 if Wadsworth went by way of the Lancaster Road he would 
 fall into the ambush, and if he went by the south road Philip 
 
ROCKY PLAIN. (Sudbury Center.) 
 
 NOYES'S MILL (So. Sudbury,) 
 
 WIGWAM HILL (Goodman's Hill.) 
 
 GREEN HILL. 
 
 WADSWORTH BURIAL PLACE. 
 
 HAYNES GARRISON HOUSE. 
 
 EDMUND GOODNOW GARRISON, 
 
 TOWN BRIDGE. 
 
 FIRST MEETING HOUSE. 
 
 ROAD TO HOP BROOK MILL. Constructed 1659 
 
 K OLD LANCASTER ROAD ' ' cted I 
 
 L HOP BROOK. 
 
 M LANHAM BROOK 
 
 N LOWANCE BROOK. 
 
 OLD WOOD ROAD OR CART PATH. 
 
 P CAUSEWAY 
 
 Q GRAVEL PIT 
 
 R MARLBORO' ROAD. 
 
 S SUPPOSED PART OF CART PATH. 
 
•HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 237 
 
 would lead him into the fatal path by decoys. This is what 
 we suppose Philip did. He allowed Wadsworth to pass to 
 Marlboro at night, then selected a place by this path in 
 which to conceal his men. Wadsworth, all unsuspicious of 
 his plan, had probably passed the Hop Brook Bridge, and 
 was passing b} r the south road to East Sudbury, when the 
 Indian decoys turned him from his course, and led him to 
 the place of ambush. 
 
 The following statements from several well-known authori- 
 ties favor the foregoing suppositions. Says " The Old Indian 
 Chronicle," " When they arrived within a mile and a half 
 of Sudbury, the enemy having hid themselves behind the 
 hills, sent forth two or three to cross the march of our forces, 
 and being seen to counterfeit themselves affrighted and fly, 
 whereby to trepan our men into their ambuscade, which mis- 
 chievous plan succeeded according their to wishes." Hub- 
 bard says, "Being come within a mile of the town, we espied 
 a party of Indians not far from them, about a hundred, not 
 more as they conceived. These they might easily deal with, 
 who turning back awhile drew Capt. Wadsworth and his 
 company above a mile into the woods." Says Gookin, " Be- 
 ing spent and weary with travel and want of rest Capt. 
 Wadsworth fell into the enemy's ambushment on the morn- 
 ing, and the enemy being numerous encompassed him round." 
 
 It is noticeable by these statements, that the distance that 
 these men were decoyed is variously estimated at from a mile 
 to a mile and a half. This does not exactly correspond with 
 the distance between the supposed place of ambush and the 
 aforesaid roads. But they may have been allured by a cir- 
 cuitous course, or the distance mentioned by these authors 
 may have been a loose estimate. It would not be strange if 
 authors should be somewhat inexact on a point like this. It 
 was an unfamiliar locality to them. If they received infor- 
 mation from survivors of the fight, the place also was strange 
 to them, and they might think the distance over which they 
 were led by decoy to be greater than it in reality was ; and as 
 in the case of the date of the fight, one historian might trans- 
 mit another's mistake. If our conjectures, then, are correct, 
 we think these soldiers were allured from some point on 
 
238 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the road from Hop Brook to East Sudbury to a spot near 
 the place of their burial. 
 
 THE AMBUSCADE. 
 
 The force that lay in ambush is supposed to have been 
 quite strong. Gookin speaks of " the enemy being numer- 
 ous." " The Old Indian Chronicle " speaks of it as about a 
 thousand. The latter estimate is probably not far from 
 right. If two hundred Indians were engaged about the old 
 town bridge, and if Philip entered Sudbury with towards 
 fifteen hundred, about one thousand may have been in am- 
 bush. As the foe appeared, the English pursued, and fol- 
 lowed hard as they withdrew. That they should do this 
 unsuspicious of peril may be a matter of some surprise. 
 Captain Wadsworth was not inexperienced in Indian war- 
 fare; before this he had been on their trail. When Lan- 
 caster was assailed, he had gone to its relief. It might 
 seem strange, then, that he should be led into ambush, 
 when aware of Indian strategy, and accompanied by Cap- 
 tain Brocklebank, who could advise him of King Philip's 
 strength. 
 
 A little reflection, however, may diminish surprise. If 
 one hundred Indians, as is stated by Hubbard, at once hove 
 in sight, the English may have considered it King Philip's 
 main force. These by their flight may have acted surprised. 
 They were in the vicinity of the place whither, it is said, the 
 Indians had gone. Wadsworth was not far from two of 
 Sudbury's garrisons, and not far from the outskirts of the 
 east side settlement, He may have heard the sound of guns 
 in different directions, and especially the firing at the old 
 town bridge: this, perhaps, led him to suppose Philip's 
 forces much scattered about, and that what he saw was the 
 nucleus of his powerful host, It is not, then, very remark- 
 able if he was thrown off his guard, and that he considered 
 that but little camion was required. 
 
 Bui the pursuit was fatal. The Indians retreated until 
 the place of ambush was reached. Then suddenly the foe 
 opened his lire from a chosen place of concealment, where 
 each man had the opportunity of working to advantage. By 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 289 
 
 these means the trap was sprung. Simultaneous with this 
 sudden onslaught of the ambushed foe an attempt was made 
 to surround the English. Mather says that, " a great body 
 of the Indians surrounded them." Hubbard states, " On a 
 sudden a great body of the enemy appeared. About five 
 hundred as was thought compassed them around." This 
 was shrewd on the part of Philip. The first move of the 
 English would naturally be to regain the main path, and 
 make for the highway so near at hand. A short run to the 
 northerly would lead Wadsworth to the Old Lancaster Road, 
 or a quick retreat southerly would soon bring him to the 
 road from Hop Brook to East Sudbury ; while one of these 
 ways would bring him to the town bridge and the old 
 Haynes Garrison, and the other to the Goodnow Garrison. 
 It might, then, be expected that Philip would cut off the 
 retreat. 
 
 But, though suddenly surrounded and beset on all sides, 
 they maintained a most manly defense. It may be doubtful 
 if there is its equal in the annals of the early Indian wars. 
 From five hundred to one thousand savages, with Philip him- 
 self to direct their manoeuvres, pouring their fire from every 
 direction, and this against about four-score of English, hard 
 marched, in an unfamiliar locality, could do deadly work. 
 Yet there is no evidence of undue confusion among the ranks 
 of the English. 
 
 The sudden onslaught of the savages was attended, as 
 usual, with shoutings and a horrible noise, which but in- 
 creased the threatening aspect, and tended to indicate that 
 things were worse than they were. In spite of all this, 
 the brave company maintained their position, and more than 
 held their own. Says Mather, " They fought like men and 
 more than so." Says "The Old Indian Chronicle," "Not at 
 all dismayed by their numbers, nor dismal shouts and horrid 
 yellings, ours made a most courageous resistance." Not only 
 was the foe kept at bay, and the English force mainly kept 
 compact, but a movement was made to obtain a better posi- 
 tion ; hard by was the summit of Green Hill, and thither- 
 ward, fighting, Wadsworth directed his course. This he 
 reached, and for hours he fought that furious host, with such 
 
240 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 success that, it is said, he lost but five men. Says "The Old 
 Indian Chronicle. "' " Having gained the top of the hill, they 
 from thence gallantly defended themselves, with a loss of 
 five men. near four hours." Hubbard informs us that "the 
 Indians forced them to the top of an hill, where they made 
 very stout resistance considerable while."' Thus successfully 
 was the battle waged by the English, despite circumstances 
 and the strength of the foe. 
 
 THE FOREST FIRE. 
 
 But a new element was to be introduced. The fight had 
 doubtless been prolonged far beyond what Philip had at first 
 supposed it would be. Desperate in his disappointment that 
 the English had not surrendered, they again resort to strat- 
 egy to accomplish their work. The day was almost done. 
 Philip's force had been decimated by Wadsworth's stubborn 
 defense. Darkness was soon to set in. and under its friendly 
 concealment the English might make their escape. New 
 means were to be employed, or the battle to the Indians 
 was lost, and the fate of Philip's slain warriors would be un- 
 avenged. Wadsworth might form a junction with the sol- 
 diers at the east side of the town, or make his way to the 
 Goodnow Garrison just beyond Green Hill. A crisis was at 
 hand. Philip knew it, and made haste to meet it. The 
 fight began with strategy, and he sought to close it with 
 Strategy. He set tire to the woods, the leaves of which at 
 that season are sometimes exceedingly dry : and the flames, 
 fiercely fanned in the April breeze, drove Wadsworth from 
 his advantageous position. The English were forced to fly 
 before the devouring element. Says " The Old Indian 
 Chronicle."' " The cowardly enemy disheartened by so many 
 of their fellows slain in the first attack, not daring to ven- 
 ture close upon them, yet that we may not think these bar- 
 barians altogether unacquainted with strategem. nor so silly 
 as to neglect any advantages, at last they set the woods on 
 fire to the windward of our men. which by reason of the 
 wind blowing very hard, and the grass being exceedingly 
 dry, burnt with a terrible fierceness, and with the smoke and 
 heat it was like to choke them, so that being no longer able 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 241 
 
 at once to resist the approaching fire, and the cruel enemy, 
 they are forced to quit that advantageous post in disorder." 
 The historian Hubbard says nothing about the fire ; he states, 
 however, " The night drawing on, and some of the English 
 beginning to scatter from the rest, their fellows were forced 
 to follow them so as the enemy taking the chase, pursued 
 them on every side as they made too hasty a retreat." That 
 Hubbard mentioned no fire may naturally occasion surprise; 
 but the silence of one historian concerning an event should 
 not invalidate the affirmation of it by another, especially 
 since by a little reflection it may be a matter of surprise that 
 the English should retreat in such haste without the menace 
 of some new peril, when night's friendly help was so near. 
 The statement then of one author, with no reason to doubt 
 his veracity, but a strong presumption to confirm his words, 
 may remove any doubts that might be suggested by the 
 silence of others. 
 
 THE RETREAT. 
 
 With this new combination of forces pressing hard upon 
 them, nothing was left but retreat. But the results of the 
 retreat were disastrous and exceedingly sad. There is some- 
 thing melancholy indeed attendant on that precipitous flight. 
 For hours, shoulder to shoulder, those men had manfully 
 stood. Inch by inch they had gained the hill-top. The 
 wounded had likely been borne with them, and laid at 
 their protectors' feet; and the brave company awaited night's 
 friendly shades to bear them gently to a place of relief. But 
 they were to leave them now in the hands of a foe less mer- 
 ciful than the flames from which they had been forced to 
 retire. Their defenders had fired their last shot that would 
 keep the foe at bay, and in hot haste were to make a rush 
 for the Hop Brook Mill. It was a race for life ; a gauntlet 
 from which few would escape. 
 
 Historians agree that the rout was complete. Hubbard 
 mentions the too hasty retreat, " by which accident, being 
 so much overpowered by the enemy's numbers, they were 
 most of them lost." Says "The Old Indian Chronicle," 
 " The Indians taking advantage of [the rout] came in upon 
 
242 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 them like so many tigers, and dulling their active swords 
 with excessive numbers obtained the dishonor of a victory. 
 Our two Captains after incomparable proof of their resolu- 
 tion and galantry, being slain upon the place with most of 
 their men." So closed the scene on Green Hill, as the fitful 
 gleam of the forest conflagration lighted the night shadows 
 and revealed the terrible work. 
 
 The flight of the men to the mill was doubtless attended 
 with fearful loss. It was situated at what now is South 
 Sudbury village, on the site of the present Parmenter Mill. 
 The distance from the top of Green Hill is from a quarter to 
 half a mile. This distance was enough to make the slaughter 
 great. A break in the ranks, and the foe could close in, and 
 the tomahawk and war-club could do a terrible work. It 
 is said that a small company broke away from the enemy. 
 Says "The Old Indian Chronicle,'' "But those few that 
 remained escaped to a mill which they defended until 
 night." This statement indicates that the rout began before 
 night, while Hubbard says " the night drawing on." This 
 disparity of statement is slight. Each may mean the same 
 thing, if the rout occurred about night, as it probably did. 
 We would expect Philip's strategy to be employed before 
 the day closed, as he wished to scatter the English before 
 darkness afforded the means of escape. Gookin informs us 
 that " Wadsworth's men were generally cut off, except a few 
 who escaped to a mill which was fortified but the people 
 were fled out of it, and the enemy knew not of their flight." 
 Other authorities give different estimates. Hubbard states, 
 "scarce twenty eseaping in all." 
 
 Thus closed that tragic day. The firing had ceased. Silence 
 settled with the nightfall over that usually peaceful spot; yet 
 night's natural stillness was not undisturbed. The shouts 
 of the captor as he exultingly looked over his fallen foe, the 
 'groans of the wounded white man and savage, the gathering 
 of Philip's scattered forces, each to narrate the deeds of that 
 eventful day, the blaze of the Indian's night-fire, and the 
 strange forms that flitted to and fro, — all together might 
 present a scene that was dismal, weird, and strange. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 243 
 
 LOSS OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 As to the number of English slain, accounts somewhat 
 differ. This is not strange, when men differ as to the num- 
 ber engaged. Mather says "that about fifty of the men 
 were slain that day." Gookin speaks of " thirty-two besides 
 the two captains." Hubbard says, " So as another captain 
 and his fifty perished that time of as brave soldiers as any 
 who were ever employed in the service." Lieut. Richard 
 Jacobs of the garrison at Marlboro, in his letter to the 
 Council, dated April 22, 1676 (Vol. LXVIIL, p. 223, State 
 Archives), says, " This morning about sun two hours high 
 ye enemy alarmed us by firing and shouting toward ye gov- 
 ernment garrison house at Sudbury." He goes on to state 
 that " soon after they gave a shout and came in great num- 
 bers on Indian Hill, and one, as their accustomed manner is 
 after a fight, began to signify to us how many were slain ; 
 they whooped seventy four times which we hope was only to 
 affright us, seeing we have had no intelligence of any such 
 thing, yet we have reason to fear the worst, considering the 
 numbers, which we apprehend to be five hundred at the 
 most, others think a thousand." The Indians informed Mrs. 
 Rowlandson that " they killed two captains and almost an 
 hundred men." She states, "One Englishman they brought 
 alive with them, and he said it was too true, for they had 
 made sad work at Sudbury." 
 
 Thus, according to the various accounts, by far the greater 
 part were slain. There is one tiling which goes to show, 
 however, that Mather may not be far from correct, — that is 
 the evidence of the exhumed remains. When the grave was 
 opened a few years ago, parts of the skeletons of twenty-nine 
 men were found. We can hardly suppose, however, that 
 these were all the slain. Some who were wounded may 
 have crawled away to die. Others, disabled, may have been 
 borne from the spot by the foe; and in various ways the 
 wounded may have been removed, to perish near or remote 
 from the field of battle. 
 
 According to the testimony of Mrs. Rowlandson, the bodies 
 of the slain were plundered. She remarks, that, "after the 
 
244 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 master came home, he came to her and bid her make a shirt 
 for his pappoose of a pillow-bier." She says also, "About 
 that time there came an Indian to me and bid me come to 
 his wigwam that night, and he would give me some pork 
 and ground nuts. I did, and as I was eating, another Indian 
 said to me, he seems to be your good friend, but he killed 
 two Englishmen at Sudbury, and there lie the bloody clothes 
 behind you, I looked behind me, and there I saw the bloody 
 clothes behind me with bullet holes in them." No signs 
 of equipments or attire were found in the grave when the 
 remains were disinterred ; and it is probable that the slain 
 were stripped by the savages, and the garments and equip- 
 ments were carried away. 
 
 LOSS OF PHILIP. 
 
 As to the number of savages slain on that day, we can 
 hardly expect to obtain any accurate knowledge. The 
 Indians would intend to leave no traces of what havoc 
 the English had made. They would likely care for their 
 wounded, and remove or conceal their dead. Tradition 
 states ("History of Framingham"), that one of the sons of 
 Eames of Framingham was present as a captive at the attack 
 on Sudbury, and he is said to have reported that the Indians 
 suffered severely by the fire from the garrison ; and that an 
 aged squaw lost six sons, all of whom were brave and distin- 
 guished warriors. 
 
 From all the circumstances, there is space for fair infer- 
 ence that their loss was large. Wadsworth and Brocklebank 
 were bold ami sagacious men ; their soldiers were doubtless 
 valiant to a great degree. During those hours of defensive 
 work there is little doubt but the ranks of King Philip were 
 greatly thinned. Encompassed as the English were by hun- 
 dreds of combatants eager to rush in and close the contest 
 with hatchet and club, it is safe to infer that only an effective 
 and quickly repeated fire, such as would be deadly to many, 
 would keep such a bust at bay/ The very fact that Philip 
 by daybreak withdrew, after his destructive work at Green 
 Hill, is a presumption that he was in a crippled state. With- 
 out losses so severe as to make it utterly unwise to push on, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 245 
 
 flushed by Wadsworth's defeat, he would naturally move for- 
 ward to destroy the east side settlement, and go with con- 
 quering march toward the sea. But he retraced his steps 
 westward. 
 
 A further evidence that the havoc in Philip's force was 
 great, is the statement of Mrs. Rowlandson, "that they came 
 home without that rejoicing and triumphing over their vic- 
 tory which they were wont to show at other times ; but 
 rather like dogs (as they say) which have lost their ears, 
 yet I could not perceive that it was from their own loss of 
 men. They said they lost not above five or six. And I 
 missed none, except from one wigwam. When they went 
 they acted as if the devil had told them that they should 
 gain a victory, and now they acted as if the devil had told 
 them they should have a fall. Whether it were so or no, I 
 cannot tell, but so it quickly proved, for they quickly began 
 to fall, and so they held on that summer till they came to 
 utter ruin. They came home on a Sabbath day, and the 
 powwow that kneeled upon the deerskin came home, I may 
 say, without any abuse, as black as the devil." She further 
 states that "it was their usual manner to remove when they 
 had done any mischief, lest they should be found out ; and 
 so they did at this time. We went about three or four 
 miles, and there they built a great wigwam, big enough to 
 hold one hundred Indians, which they did in preparation to 
 a great day of dancing. They would now say among them- 
 selves that the governor would be so angry for the loss at 
 Sudbury that he would say no more about the captives." 
 
 Hubbard says, " It was observed by some (at that time 
 their prisoners, since released), that they seemed very pen- 
 sive after they had come to ther quarters, showing no such 
 signs of rejoicing as they were usually wont to do in like 
 cases. Whether from the loss of some of their own com- 
 pany in that day's enterprise (said to be an hundred and 
 twenty) or whether it were the devil in whom they trusted, 
 that deceived them, and to whom they paid their addresses 
 the day before by sundry conjurations of their powwows, or 
 whether it were by any dread that the Almighty sent upon 
 their excreable Blasphemies which 'tis said they used in the 
 
246 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 torturing of some of their poor captives (bidding Jesus come 
 and deliver them out of their hands from death if He could) 
 we leave as uncertain, though some have so reported. Yet 
 sure it is, that after this day they never prospered in any 
 attempt they made against the English, but were continu- 
 ally scattered and broken till they were in a manner all con- 
 sumed." 
 
 As ultimate authority in this, as in other matters, we 
 refer to "The Old Petition," in which it is stated as fol- 
 lows of the Indians slain : " Secondly, y e service pformed at 
 Sudbury by y e help of y e Almighty whereby y e Enemy lost 
 some say 100, some 105, some 120, and by that service much 
 damage prevented from hapning to other places whereby y e 
 Country in Generall was advantaged, reason requires some 
 favorable considerations to y e servants of Sudbury. For if it 
 be considered what it hath cost our Country in sending out 
 some forces some of which p ties have not returned with 
 y e certaine newes of such a number slaine as with us." 
 
 These things indicate that Philip's loss was severe. He was 
 stayed in his course ; he was unable to reinforce his outstand- 
 ing detachments in their attempt to destroy the town, and he 
 quickly made his retreat. Wadsworth did not die in vain. 
 Not only did he help save the east side settlement, but, keep- 
 ing the foe hotly engaged for hours, he crippled their force 
 to such a degree that they abandoned their plans of conquest 
 
 in that vicinity. 
 
 THE CAPTURED. 
 
 But the sad story is not wholly told when we speak of the 
 slain. The tragedy was not complete when the surviving 
 few had left the field and taken refuge in the mill. Some 
 were captured alive. These were subjected to such atrocious 
 treatment as only a savage would be expected to give. Says 
 Hubbard, " It is related by some that afterwards escaped 
 how they cruelly tortured five or six of the English that 
 night." Mather says, " They took five or six of the Eng- 
 lish, and carried them away alive, but that night killed them 
 in such a manner as none but savages would have done, . . . 
 delighting to see the miserable torments of the wretched 
 creatures. Thus are they the perfect children of the devil." 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 247 
 
 THE SURVIVORS. 
 
 The few English who escaped to the mill found it a place 
 of safety. Says tradition, this was a fortified place, but it 
 was then left in a defenceless condition. This latter fact the 
 Indians were ignorant of, hence it was left unassailed. The 
 escaped soldiers were rescued at night by Warren and Pierce, 
 with some others, among whom was Captain Prentis, " who 
 coming in the day hastily though somewhat to late to the 
 relief of Capt. Wadsworth having not six troopers that were 
 able to keep way with him fell into a pound or place near 
 Sudbury town end, where all passages were stopped by the 
 Indians." Captain Co well also gave assistance, and thus 
 these weary, war-worn men, the remnant of the gallant com- 
 pany that fought on that memorable day, were conducted to 
 a place of safety. 
 
 BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 The morning light of the 22d of April broke upon a sad 
 scene in Sudbury. The noise of the battle had ceased, and 
 the fires had faded away with the night-shadows. Philip 
 had betaken himself from the field of his hard-earned and 
 unfortunate victory, and nothing of life was left but the leaf- 
 less woods, and these charred as if passed over by the shadow 
 of death. It was a scene of loneliness and desolation. The 
 dead, scalped and stripped, were left scattered as they fell : 
 while their victors by the sunrising were far on their way 
 back over the track which they had made so desolate. This 
 scene, however, was shortly to change. Warm hearts and 
 stout hands were pushing their way to see what the case 
 might demand, and if possible render relief. 
 
 Before nightfall of the 21st, so far as we have learned, lit- 
 tle, if any intelligence was received by the parties who had 
 rushed to the rescue, of the true state of things about Green 
 Hill. Wadsworth and Brocklebank were encompassed about 
 by the foe, so that no communication could be conveyed to 
 the English, who anxiously awaited tidings of their condi- 
 tion. It was known at the easterly part of the town that 
 hard fighting was in progress at or near Green Hill. The 
 
248 HTSTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 shouting, firing, and smoke betokened that a battle was in 
 progress, but how it would terminate none could tell. After 
 the Sudbury and Watertown men had driven the Indians 
 over the river, they strove hard to reach the force on the 
 hill. Says Warren and Pierce, in their petition : " We who 
 were with them can more largely inform this Honored Coun- 
 cil that as it is said in the petition, that we drove two hun- 
 dred Indians over the river and with some others went to 
 see if we could relieve Capt. Wadsworth upon the hill, and 
 there we had a fight with the Indians, but they being so 
 many of them, and we stayed so long that we were almost 
 encompassed by them, which caused us to retreat to Capt. 
 Goodnow's garrison house, and there we stayed it being near 
 night till it was dark." 
 
 But another force had also striven to reach the town, 
 and join in the work of rescue. This was a company from 
 Charlestown, commanded by Captain Hunting. Of this 
 company, Gookin says (" History of Christian Indians"): 
 ** On the 21 st of April, Capt. Hunting had drawn up and 
 ready furnished his company of forty Indians at Charles- 
 town. These had been ordered by the council to march to 
 the Merrimac river near Chelmsford, and there to settle a 
 garrison near the great fishing places where it was expected 
 the enemy would come to get fish for their necessary food." 
 But, says Gookin, "-Behold God's thoughts are not as ours, 
 nor His ways as ours, for just as these soldiers were ready to 
 march upon the 21 st of April, about midday, tidings came by 
 many messengers that a great body of the enemy . . . had 
 assembled at a town called Sudbury that morning." He 
 says " that just at the beginning of the lecture there, as soon 
 as these tidings came, Major Gooken and Thomas Danforth, 
 two of the magistrates who were there hearing the lecture 
 sermon, being acquainted, he withdrew out of the meeting 
 house, and immediately gave orders for a ply of horses belong- 
 ing to Capt, Prentis's troop under conduct of Corporal Phipps, 
 and the Indian company under Capt. Hunting, forthwith to 
 march away for the relief of Sudbury; which order was ac- 
 cordingly put into execution. Capt. Hunting with his Indian 
 company being on foot, got not into Sudbury until a little 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 249 
 
 within night. The enemy as is before [narrated] were all 
 retreated unto the west side of the river of Sudbury, where 
 also several English inhabited." 
 
 But though the rescuing parties were either repulsed, or 
 too late to render assistance at the fight, they were on hand 
 to bury the dead. Says Warren and Pierce: "After hurry- 
 ing the bodies of the Concord men at the bridge's foot, we 
 joined ourselves to Capt. Hunting and as many others as 
 we could procure, and went over the river to look for Capt. 
 Wadsworth and Capt. Broklebank ; and we gathered them 
 up and burried them." 
 
 The manner in which this burial scene proceeded is nar- 
 rated thus by Mr. Gookin ("History of Christian Indians"): 
 " Upon the 22 nd of April early in the morning over forty In- 
 dians having stripped themselves and painted their faces like 
 to the enemy, they passed over the bridge to the west side 
 of the river without any Englishmen in the company, to 
 make discovery of the enemy (which was generally con- 
 ceded quartered thereabout), but this did not at all discour- 
 age our Christian Indians from marching and discovering, 
 and if they had met with them to beat up their quarters. 
 But God had so ordered that the enemy were all withdrawn 
 and were retreated in the night. Our Indian soldiers having 
 made a thourough discovery and to their great relief (for 
 some of them wept when they saw so many English lie dead 
 on the place among the slain), some they knew, viz, those 
 two worthy and pious Captains, Capt. Broklebank of Rowley 
 and Capt. Wadsworth of Milton, who with about thirty two 
 private soldiers were slain the day before. ... As soon as 
 they had made a full discovery, [they] returned to their 
 Captains and the rest of the English, and gave them an 
 account of their motions. Then it was concluded to march 
 over to the place and bury the dead, and they did so. 
 Shortly after, our Indians marching in two files upon the 
 wings to secure those that went to bury the dead, God so 
 ordered it that they met with no interruption in that work." 
 
 Thus were the slain soldiers buried on that April morning, 
 in the stillness of the forest, far away from their kindred, 
 friends, and homes. Those, who through inability had 
 
250 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 failed to defend them in the day of battle, now tenderly 
 took them to their last long resting-place. A single grave 
 contained them. Though scattered, they were home to one 
 common place of burial, and a rough heap of stones was all 
 that marked that lone forest grave. Such was that soldiers' 
 sepulchre, a mound in the woods, left to grow gray with the 
 clustering moss of years, yet marking in its rustic simplicity 
 one of the noblest and most heroic events known in the 
 annals of King Philip's War. They sleep — 
 
 " While the bells of autumn toll, 
 Or the murmuring song of spring flits by, 
 Till the crackling heavens in thunder roll, 
 To the bugle-blast on high." 
 
 PLACE OF BURIAL. 
 
 The grave was made on the westerly side of Green Hill, 
 near its base, and was in the northeast comer of the South 
 Sudbury cemetery before its recent enlargement. In our 
 recollection, the grave was marked by a rude stone-heap, at 
 the head of which was a plain slate-stone slab. The heap 
 was made of common loose stones such as a man could easily 
 lift, and was probably placed there when the grave was 
 made. It was perhaps three or four feet high, and a dozen 
 feet wide at the base. The slab was erected about 1730 by 
 President Wads worth of Harvard College, son of Captain 
 Wads worth. As we remember the spot, it was barren and 
 briar-grown; loose stones, fallen from the top and sides of 
 the mound, were half concealed in the wild wood grass that 
 grew in tufts about it. It remained in this condition for 
 years, and the villagers from time to time visited it as a place 
 of interest. 
 
 In the year 1851 the town agitated the matter of erecting 
 a monument, and the Legislature was petitioned for aid, 
 which was granted. But the monument does not mark the 
 original grave. The committee who had the matter in charge 
 located it about fifty feet to the north. The old grave was 
 at, or about the turn of the present avenue or path, at the 
 northeast corner of the Adam Smith family lot, in the pres- 
 
THE WADSWORTH GRAVE, 
 
 So. Sudbury 
 
 From an original painting by A. S. Hudson. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 251 
 
 ent Wadsworth Cemetery. After it was decided to erect 
 the monument in its present position, the remains of the 
 soldiers were removed. The grave was opened without 
 ceremony in the presence of a small company of villagers. 
 It was the writer's privilege to be one of the number, and 
 according to our recollection the grave was about six. feet 
 square, in which the bodies were placed in tiers at right 
 angles to each other. Some of the skeletons were large, and 
 all well preserved. 
 
 In connection with the events just described, we will give 
 a few facts concerning some of the men engaged in them. 
 
 CAPT. SAMUEL "WADSWORTH. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Wadsworth was the son of Christopher and 
 Grace Wadsworth of Duxbury. He was supposed to be 
 their oldest child. It is stated that when he died he was 
 forty-six years old, but this is uncertain. He married Abi- 
 gail Lindall of Duxbury, and owned lands at one time in 
 Bridgewater, which were a part of a grant to his father. 
 These lands comprised one sixty-fourth part of Bridgewater 
 when it included most of Hanson and Abington. In 1685 
 Captain Wadsworth's share is entered upon the Bridgewater 
 records under the name of Widow Wadsworth. About 1660 
 Captain Wadsworth bought several hundred acres of land in 
 Milton. A part of this estate was retained in the family to 
 the eighth generation. His. family consisted of six boys and 
 one girl. His wife lived on the homestead many years after 
 his death. Captain Wadsworth was an influential citizen, 
 and took an active part in affairs both political and religious. 
 At the time of Philip's War he was a captain in the militia 
 of Milton. He was considered "a resolute, stout-hearted 
 soldier," and " one worthy to live in our history under the 
 name of a good man." (Genealogy of the Wadsworth 
 Family). 
 
 CAPT. SAMUEL BROCKLEBANK. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Broeklebank was a citizen of Rowley, Mass. 
 He was born in England about 1630. A few years after his 
 arrival in this country, his mother, who was a widow, came 
 
252 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 over, accompanied by two children. Samuel Brocklebank 
 shortly after becoming' of age was chosen a selectman, and 
 continued to hold important town offices until his death. 
 He became a deacon of the church Feb. 18, 1665. In 1673 
 the Council appointed him captain of militia, and after the 
 breaking out of Philip's War he was stationed at a govern- 
 ment garrison at Marlboro, where he had command of some 
 colonial soldiers, and from which place he went with Captain 
 Wadsworth to Sudbury. At the time of his death he was 
 about forty-six years old. He left a widow and six children, 
 Samuel, Hannah, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Joseph. Cap- 
 tain Brocklebank was an estimable citizen, a brave soldier, 
 and a fit associate of Captain Wadsworth in his perilous 
 work. 
 
 Lieutenant Sharp of Brookline and Lieut. Samuel Gardiner 
 of Roxbury were, it is stated, brave and efficient men. And 
 all the soldiers who were slain on that disastrous occasion 
 were, we are informed, as brave soldiers as any who were 
 engaged in the service at that time. 
 
 ROXBURY MEN. 
 
 The following is a list of the Roxbury men who were of 
 Captain Wadsworth's company, and killed at the Sudbury 
 fight : Thomas Baker, Jr., John Roberts, Jr., Nathaniel 
 Seaver [or Leason], Thomas Hawley [or Romley], Sr., 
 William Cleaves, Joseph Pepper, John Sharpe, Thomas 
 Hopkins, Samuel Gardner. 
 
 CONCORD MEN. 
 
 John Barnes lived in Concord in 1661, and married Eliza- 
 beth Hunt in 1664. 
 
 Joseph Buttrick was a son of William Buttrick, who came 
 to New England in 1635, and died in 1698, aged eighty-two. 
 His second wife was Jane Goodnow of Sudbury. 
 
 James Hosmer was the oldest son of James, who came to 
 Concord among the first settlers, and died in 1685. James, 
 the son, married Sarah White in 1658. His widow married 
 Samuel Rice. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 253 
 
 Samuel Potter was son of Luke Potter, one of the first set- 
 tlers at Concord and deacon of the church there. Samuel 
 married Sarah Wright in 1675. 
 
 MARLBORO MEN. 
 
 In Hudson's " History of Marlboro" it is stated that the 
 records of that town give the names of John Howe, Henry 
 Axtel, and Eleazer Ward as being slain by the Indians in 
 Sudbury; but whether in the Sudbury fight with Wads- 
 worth, or not, is not known. 
 
 John How was a son of John How, one of the petitioners 
 for the Marlboro Plantation. He was born in 1640, proba- 
 bly in Sudbury, and married in 1662. 
 
 Henry Axtel was one of the proprierors of Marlboro at 
 the time of its incorporation, and drew his land in the first 
 division. He married in 1665, and was slain by the Indians 
 between Sudbury and Marlboro, April 20, 1676. 
 
 Eleazer Ward was born near 1619, married Hannah Rice, 
 lived in Sudbury, and was killed by the Indians upon the 
 highway between Sudbury and Marlboro, April 20, 1676. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN INDIANS. 
 
 In connection with what has been said of the English who 
 were in this battle, we will give a few facts concerning the 
 Indians who came to the rescue under Captain Hunting. 
 These were a detachment of the Christian Indians who had 
 been placed on Deer Island' by the colonial authorities, after 
 the outbreak of the war. Years before, they had been gath- 
 ered by Rev. John Eliot into several villages, where they 
 lived peaceably among themselves, and on friendly relations 
 with the whites. Their character and conduct was such as 
 showed the civilizing influence of Christianity, and the power 
 of the gospel to uplift and bless their race. But a few acts 
 by a few recreant and unfaithful ones aroused the suspicion 
 of the English against them all, so that, instead of allowing 
 them to be their allies, they exiled them to an island in Bos- 
 ton harbor. But as the war progressed, their assistance was 
 needed; and at the request of Mr. Eliot and General Gookin, 
 the Governor and Council allowed a detachment to be placed 
 
254 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 under the command of Captain Hunting, and sent at once to 
 Sudbury. In this service they showed their bravery and 
 faithful attachment to the English. When they crossed the 
 river, to discover the enemy's movements on the west side, 
 they knew not but what Philip was in ambush for further 
 prey, but they moved forward, and went beyond Green Hill ; 
 and when in the solitude of the forest they beheld those 
 prostrate forms, their stern spirits were melted, and it is said, 
 they wept. 
 
 MOVEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH AFTER THE FIGHT. 
 The dead having been buried, the English repaired, ac- 
 cording to Warren and Pierce, to Nobscot to bring the carta 
 into "Sudbury towne." These carts are probably the same 
 as those mentioned by Gookin, when he says, " At the 
 same time [that is, at the time the survivors of this fight 
 were secreted in Noyes's Mill] Captain Cutler of Charles- 
 town, with a small company," — according to Hubbard, 
 e l eveni — "having the convoy of some carts from Marl- 
 boro that were coming to Sudbury, having secured his car- 
 riage at a garrison house, escaped narrowly being cut off by 
 the enemy." The same author goes on to state, that the 
 enemy u at that time cut off some English soldiers that were 
 coming down under the conduct of one Cowell of Boston, 
 that had been a convoy to some provisions at Quaborg 
 Fort." Other soldiers were soon on the march to the 
 spot, the country having been aroused by this disaster to 
 Wads worth. 
 
 On April 22, 1676, it was ordered by the Council, " that 
 the majors of Suffolk and Middlesex issue out their orders, 
 Maj. Thomas Clark to the Captain of the troop of Suffolk, 
 to raise forty of his troops, well attended, and completely 
 armed with fire arms, and furnished with ammunition, under 
 the conduct of Cornet Eliot, [and] such officers as he shall 
 choose to accompany him, forthwith to visit Dedham, Med- 
 field, and so to Sudbury ; and Major Daniel Gookin to issue 
 out by onhr a like number of troops out of Middlesex troops, 
 under the conduct of Thomas Prentis, or such as he shall 
 choose, to visit Concord, Sudbury, and so to Medfield." 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 255 
 
 The order to Cornet Eliot was, "You are ordered and 
 requested to take forty of the troop, and so many as you 
 can suddenly raise, and march with them into Sudbury, and 
 inquire of their present distressed condition, and of the inter- 
 ring of the dead bodies, as also of the enemy's motion, and 
 place of their rendezvous, and if you have opportunity you 
 are to distress, kill, and destroy the enemy to the uttermost, 
 taking good heed lest, through any neglect, or too much 
 adventurness, you hazard the lives of the men by their sud- 
 den surprisal of you. You are also to visit Medfield, and 
 make report of what you find to the Council, and in so doing 
 this shall be your warrant." 
 
 . Thus, after this disastrous battle, the English were on 
 the move; but the Indians had departed westward. As we 
 have noticed by the letter of Lieutenant Jacobs, they passed 
 through Marlboro on the morning of the 22d, when the 
 sun was about two hours high. This was Philip's westward 
 retreat. He never retraced his footsteps. Sudbury was the 
 last eastward town in his march. As a conqueror he could 
 go no farther. On April 21 his sun had reached its merid- 
 ian; on the 22d it turned towards its setting. His host was 
 broken ; the ranks of his warriors began to thin ; and when 
 he returned to his home at Mount Hope, it was to be hunted 
 and harassed ; and Aug. 12, 1676, he fell by the hand of one 
 of his race. 
 
 sudbury's loss. 
 The war with King Philip left the town in a weakened 
 condition. Even had the people sustained but little direct 
 loss, their prosperity would naturally have been checked by 
 the imperiled state of the community ; but the actual loss to 
 the people in property was considerable, as is indicated by 
 various petitions, in which they set forth their circumstances. 
 In 1677, some inhabitants of Marlboro, Lancaster, and Sud- 
 bury sent a petition to the Court, asking that a certain tract 
 of land lying about Marlboro, called by the Indians Whip- 
 suffrage and Ocogooganset, might be given them. The rea- 
 son of this request was, as they say, "Because many of 
 which Indians in our late war have proved very perfidious 
 
256 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 and combine with the common enemy," and because we hav- 
 ing been "upon ye Country's service, and hazarded our lives 
 against ye common enemy, have suffered much damage by 
 being driven from our habitation, and some of our habita- 
 tions burnt." (State Archives, Vol. XXX., p. 240.) 
 
 But we are not left to general statement of the material 
 loss sustained, for the specific damage to each individual's 
 property is given in "The Old Petition." The first part of 
 the petition, together with a list of the losses, which we give 
 here verbatim, is as follows : — 
 
 To ye HonWe ye Governor Magistrates & Deputies of y e Gen' Court 
 assembled at Boston y e 11* Octob r 107(3. 
 The humble Petition of yor poore, distressed Inhabitants of Sudbury 
 
 Humb'y Showeth. 
 
 That whereas yor impoverished Petition" of Sudbury have received 
 intelligence of a large contribution sent out of Ireland by some pious & 
 well affected p sons for ye reliefe of their brethren in New England by ye 
 hostile intrusions of ye Indian Enemy, and that upon this divers dis- 
 tressed towns have presented a list of their losses sustained by fireing 
 and plundering their estates. Let it not seem presumption in yor poore 
 Petition" to p'sent a list of what Damages are sustained by yor enemies 
 in his attempts; hoping that or lott will be considered among Our breth- 
 ren of ye tribe of Joseph ; being encouraged by an act of Our HonWe 
 Genu Court ; that those who have Sustained considerable damage should 
 make addresses to this prsent session. 
 
 An Accompt of Losse Sustenied by Severall Inhabitants of ye towne 
 of Sudbury by y e Indian Enemy ye 21st Aprill 1676. 
 
 Mary Bacon formerly ye Relict of Ensign Noyes 140 : 00 : 00 
 
 Thomas Plimpton 130 : 00 : 00 
 
 Deacon John Haines 180:00:00 
 
 Segjosiah Haines 190:00:00 
 
 Capt James Pendleton 060 : 00 : 00 
 
 John Goodenow 150:00:00 
 
 William Moores 180:00:00 
 
 Edward Wright 100:00:00 
 
 EliasKeyes 060:00:00 
 
 John Smith 080:00:00 
 
 SamuellHow 140:00:00 
 
 Mr Pelham 050 : 00 : 00 
 
 Mr. Stevens 015 : 00 : 00 
 
 Corporall Henry Rice 180 : 00 : 00 
 
 John Allen 060 : 00 : 00 
 James Roose 
 
 070 : 00 : 00 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 257 
 
 John Grout junr 060 : 00 : 00 
 
 Thomas Rice 100 : 00 : 00 
 
 Widd Whale 024 : 00 : 00 
 
 Henry Curtice 200 : 00 : 00 
 
 John Brewer 120 : 00 : 00 
 
 Jacob Moores 050 : 00 : 00 
 
 Henry Loker 100 : 00 : 00 
 
 Joseph ffreemon 080 : 00 : 00 
 
 Joseph Graves 060 : 00 : 00 
 
 Peter King 040 : 00 : 00 
 
 Widd Habgood 020 : 00 : 00 
 
 Benjamin Crane 020 : 00 : 00 
 
 Jhomas wedge 015 : 00 : 00 
 
 John Blanford 010 : 00 : 00 
 
 Thomas Brewer 010 : 00 : 00 
 
 Richard Burk 010 : 00 : 00 
 
 Thomas Reade 003 : 00 : oo 
 
 Wholl Sum 2707 : 00 : 00 
 
 Beside ye uncovering ye Many houses & Barnes & some hundred of 
 Acres of lands which are unimproved for feare of y e Enemy to Our 
 greate loss & Damage — (Signed) 
 
 Edm Browne Joseph [ ] 
 
 Edm Goodnow Peter Noyes 
 
 John Grout Jonathan Stanhope 
 
 John Haines Edward wright 
 
 Josiah Haines Jabeth Browne 
 
 Thomas Read John Grout jun r 
 
 Peter King Joseph Graves 
 
 John Ruter sen" - Tho Walker 
 
 Joseph Noyes John Blanford 
 
 John Goodnow John Allen 
 
 Mathew Gibs Henry Curtis 
 
 Thomas wedge Jacob Moores 
 
 Benjamin Crane John Brewer 
 Zecriah Maynard James Ross 
 
 Joseph Moore Richard Burk 
 
 John Parminter Thomas Brewer 
 
 Henry Loker Samuell How. 
 
 The contribution to which the petition refers was called 
 "The Irish Charity Donation or Fund.'" The gift was made 
 in 1676, for the people in the Massachusetts, Plymouth and 
 Connecticut colonies who had suffered in King Philip's War. 
 It was " made by divers Christians in Ireland for the relieffe 
 
258 • HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 of such as are Impoverished, Distressed and in Nessesitie by 
 the late Indian wars ; " sent by the " Good ship called the 
 Kathrine of Dublin." Rev. Nathaniel Mather, the brother of 
 Increase, is supposed to have been a means of procuring the 
 fund. The proportion received by Sudbury was for twelve 
 families, forty-eight persons, 7/. 4s. Od. This was to be deliv- 
 ered to the selectmen of the several towns in meal, oat meal, 
 and malt at 18c?. per ball, butter Qd. cheese 4d. per pound. 
 The following is another section of the same petition : — 
 
 Furthermore prmitt yc humUe Peticon rs to present a second motion. 
 And let it be acceptable in y e eyes of this Our Grand Court vizt: 
 
 That whereas by an Act of Our late Gen" Court ten rates are leavied 
 upon Our towne amounting unto 200 lb : as appeareth p warrant from Our 
 Treasurer, which said sum was leavied by Our Invoyce, taken in y e yeare 
 before Our greate damage susteyned. It is y e humble & earnest request 
 of yo r Petition^ to commiserate Our Condition, in granting to us some 
 abatement of y e said sum for ye ensueing consideration, Vist: ffirst Our 
 towne to pay full for theire estates then taken which in greate pte they 
 have now lost by y e enemy's invasion may seem not to savor of pitty no 
 not of equity 
 
 Is it not reason'" that this service soe beneficiall should not be consid- 
 ered with some reward which may not easily be esserted (sic) by issuing 
 forth an Act of ye grace in a suitable abater^ of ye said sum leavied 
 with y e conferring of a Parrell of Powder & suitable shott in regard that 
 yo r Petioners have spent not only their owne stock or others but much 
 of y e Towne stock. 
 
 In response, " the Court judged meet to order that Sud- 
 bury be allowed and abated forty fower pound ten shillings 
 out of ye whole sume of their ten county rates." (Colonial 
 Records, Vol. V., p. 124.) 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1675-1700. 
 
 Revival of Prosperity after Philip's War. — Payment for Fortification of 
 the Meeting-House. — Erection of Saw-Mill at Hop Brook. — Death 
 of Rev. Edmund Browne; Place of Burial; Historical Sketch.— 
 Settlement of Rev. James Sherman.— Purchase of Parsonage.— 
 Building of New Meeting-House. — Political Disturbances. — Change 
 of Charter. — Administration of Sir Edmund Andros.— Indian Hos- 
 tilities. — The Ten Years War. — Distribution of Ammunition.— 
 Petition of Sudbury. — Phipps Expedition. — Sudbury Canada Grant. 
 — Witchcraft. — Samuel Paris ; Historical Sketch. — Incorporation of 
 Framingham. — Miscellaneous Matters. 
 
 The land lies open and warm in the sun, 
 Anvils clamor and mill-wheels run ; 
 Flocks on the hillsides, herds on the plain, 
 The wilderness gladdened with fruit and grain. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 The war with King Philip being ended, the way was 
 opened for renewed prosperity. New buildings went up on 
 the old estates, the garrisons again became quiet homesteads, 
 and the fields smiled with plentiful harvests. An early move- 
 ment was made to meet indebtedness caused by the war. 
 March, 1676-7, it was ordered, " that the rate to be made 
 for the fortification about the meeting house of this town 
 shall be made by the invoice to be taken this spring, leaving 
 out all strangers and sojourners, and that the logs there used 
 be valued at two shillings six pence each, boards five shil- 
 lings six pence per hundred foot, and every man's day's work 
 at 18 d ." A little later, Feb. 26, 1677, it was ordered, "that 
 such persons as have brought in logs for fortification of the 
 meeting house, do bring in their account of logs, and all per- 
 sons an account also for their days' work done thereupon 
 
 259 
 
260 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 unto the town clerk between this and the next town meeting 
 now appointed to be the 11 th of March next, and such as do 
 not, shall lose both their logs and work, for the town will 
 wait upon them no longer." 
 
 ERECTION OF SAW-MILL. 
 
 Another movement that denotes the town's activity and 
 recuperative power was the erection of a saw-mill. A town 
 record, dated March 26, 1677, informs us it was ordered that 
 "Peter King, Thomas Read, Sen., John Goodenow, John 
 Smith and Joseph Freeman have liberty granted them to 
 build a saw mill upon Hop Brook above Mr. Peter Noyes's 
 mill, at the place viewed by the committee of this town 
 chosen the last week, which if they do, they are to have 
 twenty tons of timber of the common lands for the building 
 thereof, and earth for their dam, and also they are to make a 
 small dam or sufficient causage so as to keep the waters out 
 of the swamp lands there, provided also that if Mr. Peter 
 Noyes shall at any time throw up his corn mill they do in 
 room thereof set up a corn mill as sufficient to grind the 
 town's corn and grain as Mr. Noyes's present mill hath done 
 and doth, and see to maintain the same, and whenever they 
 or any of them their heirs, executors, administrators, Assigns, 
 or successors, shall either throw up their said corn mill or 
 fail to grind the towns corn and grain as above said, the 
 towns land hereby granted shall be forfeited and returned to 
 the town's use again, and lastly the said persons are not to 
 pen up the water, or saw at any time between the middle of 
 April and first of September, and they are also to make good 
 all the highway that they shall damage thereby." 
 
 DEATH OF REV. EDMUND BROWNE. 
 
 The town had not moved far on the road to renewed pros- 
 perity before another calamity came. This was the death of 
 its pastor, Rev. Edmund Browne, who died June 22, 1678. 
 The first intimation we have on the town records of Mr. 
 Browne's sickness is the following: "Ordered, that next 
 Lord's day there be a free contribution [asked] and collected 
 by Deacon Haines for and towards carrying and charge of 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 261 
 
 Preacher (upon the sickness of Mr. Edmund Browne, Pas- 
 tor) that the pulpit might be supplied notwithstanding, after 
 the best manner that may be obtained." Captain Goodenow, 
 Deacon Haines, Mr. Joseph Noyes and Peter King were em- 
 powered to be a standing committee during the pastor's sick- 
 ness, and ordered " to take care that this town be supplied 
 with able Preachers whilst the Pastor is not able to offici- 
 ate." "The following named persons offered themselves for 
 the 1 st month to travel with horse and weekly to fetch and 
 return Preachers for the supply of the town, at least every 
 Lord's day. 1 st Peter Noyes, Joseph Parmenter, 2 d Tho. 
 Brown, Joseph Moore, 3 d Jn° Goodenow, Joseph Graves, 
 4 th Samuel How, Thomas Read, Jr." 
 
 We have discovered no record, and are aware of no tradi- 
 tion, relating to Mr. Brown's burial or place of interment. 
 He may have been buried in the old yard in Wayland, and 
 the grave may have been left unmarked, or the stone may 
 have been broken or fallen, and been removed. It has been 
 conjectured that his remains were placed in some tomb in or 
 about the city of Boston. The writer has examined copied 
 inscriptions on the stones of some of the older graveyards 
 of Boston, but has discovered there no name which could 
 be that of the first pastor of Sudbury. In Sewall's Diary 
 is the following entry: "Monday, May 9th, 1709. Major 
 Thomas Brown Esq. of Sudbury was buried in the old Bury- 
 ing place. Bearers, Cook, Sewall, Hutchingson, Townsend, 
 Jas Dummer, Dudley, Scarves and Gloves," "The old Bury- 
 ing place " was that of King's Chapel, Boston. The wife of 
 Major Thomas Brown was buried in the East Side Burying- 
 ground, Sudbury. If Major Brown was not buried witli his 
 wife, but it was considered important that his remains should 
 be taken to Boston for interment, the same may have been 
 the case with Edmund Browne. 
 
 In the death of its first pastor the town met with a great 
 loss. It is true, he was nearly or quite fourscore years old, 
 but judging from his activity in the Indian war, in fortifying 
 his house, and sending messages to the Colonial Court, he 
 was still energetic and robust. Moreover, he had been with 
 the people from the beginning of the settlement ; he had 
 
262 [II STORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 passed with them through the desolations of a terrible war, 
 and had been a sharer of their joys and sorrows for many 
 years. From what Ave know of him, we judge him to have 
 been a warm friend of the truth, and an ardent defender of 
 the Christian faith. It is certainly creditable to him, that, 
 after such a long- pastorate, his people were of -a character 
 to empower their committee to provide " an able Orthodox 
 Preacher," after he was taken ill. 
 
 Mr. Browne came from England in 1637, and, according 
 to Mather, was ordained and in actual service in that coun- 
 try before he came to America. He was a freeman of Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay Colony, May 13, 1640. He married, about 
 1645, Anne, widow of John Loveren of Watertown, but left 
 no children. He was a member of the synod that established 
 "The Cambridge Platform," 1646-8; was on the council 
 that met in 1657 to settle the difficulties in Rev. Mr. Stone's 
 church, Hartford : preached the artillery election sermon in 
 1666; and his name is attached to the testimony of the 
 seventeen ministers against the proceedings of the three 
 elders of the First Church, Boston, about 1669. 
 
 Mr. Browne was quite a land owner, his real estate, as it 
 is supposed, amounting to three hundred acres. His early 
 homestead at Timber Neck had originally belonging to it 
 seventy acres. He received from the General Court a grant 
 of meadow land situated in the present territory of Framing- 
 ham, and from time to time became possessed of various 
 lands both within and without the town. Mr. Brown 
 hunted and fished, and it is said was a good angler. He 
 played on several musical instruments and was a noted 
 musician. In his will he speaks of his " Base Voyal " and 
 musical books and instruments. He was much interested in 
 educating and Christianizing the Indians, and at one time 
 had some of them under his special care. His library was 
 for those times quite valuable, containing about one hundred 
 and eighty volumes. He left fifty pounds to establish a 
 gramma)' school in Sudbury; but by vote of the town, in 
 1724, it was diverted to another purpose. He also left one 
 hundred pounds to Harvard College. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 263 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF REV. JAMES SHERMAN. 
 
 The town was not left long without a pastor. It soon 
 called the Rev. James Sherman, who had preached during 
 the illness of Mr. Browne. May 6, 1678, "it was ordered 
 that the committee engage the service of Mr. James Sherman 
 that hath officiated in the town in that kind to continue in 
 that work till the first of September next, or longer as they 
 shall see cause, or till further order from the town." May 
 20, on a "training day," it was decided that Mr. Peter King 
 was to entertain Mr. Sherman, and to have six shillings per 
 week "for his diet, lodging, attendance, and horse." 
 
 Active measures were immediately taken to provide the 
 minister with a house. The town bought of John Loker the 
 east end of his house, standing before and near the meeting- 
 house, and his orchard, and the whole home lot of about four 
 acres ; it also bought of him the reversion due to him of the 
 western end of the house that his mother then dwelt in. 
 This part of the house was to be the town's property at the 
 marriage or death of the said Widow Mary Loker. For this 
 property the town was to pay John Loker fifty pounds. (See 
 p. 116.) The Widow Loker appeared at town-meeting, and 
 surrendered all her reversion in the western end of the house 
 to the town, reserving the liberty to have twelve months in 
 which " to provide herself otherwise." She also promised in 
 the meantime "to quit all egress and regress through the 
 eastern end of the house and every part thereof." In conse- 
 quence of this the town agreed to pay her annually — that 
 is, till she should marry or die — twenty-five shillings, money 
 of New England. The town also voted to raise twenty-five 
 pounds with which to repair the house. The records inform 
 us, that " the said town doth freely give and grant unto Mr. 
 James Sherman, minister of the word of God, all that house 
 and lands which the said town bought lately of John Loker, 
 and twenty pounds to be paid him in [country] pay towards 
 the repair of the said house, and also twenty pounds more to 
 be paid him in money, for and towards the purchase of the 
 widow Mary Loker's lot that lies adjoining to it, when she 
 
264 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 shall have sold it to the said Mr. James Sherman, and also 
 six acres of common upland lying on the back side of the 
 town at the end of Smith field, and also six acres of meadow 
 ground some where out of the common meadows of this 
 town. These foregoing particular gifts and grants the said 
 town doth engage and promise to the said Mr. James Sher- 
 man minister and his heirs ... in case he shall settle in this 
 town and live and die amongst them their Teaching Elder. 
 But in case the said Mr. Sherman shall not carry out the 
 constant work of preaching in and to this town, during his 
 life, or shall depart and leave this town before his death, 
 then all the premises shall return to the said town's hands 
 again to be a1 their own dispose forever, only they are then 
 to pay to the said Mr. Sherman all the charges he hath been 
 out for the same in the meantime, as [they] shall be judged 
 worth by indifferent men mutually chosen, unless both par- 
 ties shall agree therein among themselves." 
 
 The town also agreed to pay Mr. Sherman eighty pounds 
 salary; twenty pounds of this were to be paid him in "money, 
 twenty pounds in wheat, pork, beef, mutton, veal, butter, or 
 cheese, or such like species at country price, and the remain- 
 ing forty shall be paid him in Indian Corn and Rye, or Bar- 
 ley or Peas, all at country prices." He was to have five 
 pounds added per annum to his salary for the cutting and 
 carting home of firewood. He was also to have the use of 
 the minister's meadow lands, and could pasture his cattle on 
 the common land, and have firewood and timber from the 
 common land of the town. 
 
 The 30th of October, 1678, " the said Mr. James Sherman 
 did then and there freely and fully declare before the town 
 his acceptance of all that which the said town had granted 
 and done in all respects as is before written, in consideration 
 thereof for his part he did promise the said town, that he 
 would live and die in the constant and public discharge of 
 this duty, by preaching the word of the Lord unto them, and 
 in the faithful administration of all the ordinances of Christ 
 amongst them; which the Inhabitants of the said town ac- 
 cepted of; and said Mr. Sherman also declaired there that if 
 the mint house should be put down so that money cannot be 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 265 
 
 had he should neither expect nor desire any part of his sal- 
 ary in money." 
 
 Thus the town secured the services of Mr. Sherman, and 
 provided him with a place of residence ; and within a year 
 after the death of Mr. Browne, the church was again equipped 
 for work. Mr. Sherman was son of Rev. John Sherman 
 of Watertown. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas 
 Walker of Sudbury, and had two sons, John and Thomas. 
 He was ordained in 1678, and was dismissed May 22, 1705. 
 After leaving the pastoral office he remained in town for a 
 time, occasionally preaching abroad. Afterwards, he prac- 
 ticed medicine in Elizabethtown, N. J., and Salem, Mass. 
 He died at Sudbury, March 3, 1718. 
 
 NEW MEETING-HOUSE. 
 
 During the pastorate of Mr. Sherman, the town took meas- 
 ures for the erection of a new house of worship. Oct. 6, 
 1686, "it was determined, ordered, and voted, that a new 
 meeting house be built within this town with all convenient 
 speed, after such manner as shall be resolved upon by the 
 town." "It was ordered that the said new meeting house 
 shall be erected finished and stand upon the present Burying 
 place of this town and on the most convenient part thereof 
 or behind or about the old meeting house that now is." 
 
 The business of building the meeting-house was entrusted 
 to Deacon John Haines, between whom and the town a cov- 
 enant was made at a town-meeting, Jan. 10, 1685. It was 
 to be raised on or before the first day of July, 1688 ; and for 
 the work Mr. Haines was to have two hundred pounds, — 
 one hundred and sixty pounds of it to be paid in " country 
 pay and at country price," and the other forty pounds to be 
 paid in money. The country pay was to be in " good sound 
 merchantable Indian corn, or Rye, or wheat, or barley, or 
 malt, or Peas, or Beef, or Pork, or work, or in such other 
 pay as the said Deacon Haines shall accept of any person." 
 
 The meeting-house was to be " made, framed and set up, 
 and finished upon the land and place appointed by the town 
 on the 6 th of October last past, in all respects for dimentions, 
 strength, shape, . . . and conveniences, as Dedham meeting 
 
266 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 house is, except filling between studs ; but in all things else 
 admitting with all in this work such variations as are particu- 
 larly mentioned in the proposition of Corporal John Brewer 
 and Sam 1 How." The town was to help raise the building, 
 the clapboards were to be of cedar, the inside to be lined 
 with either planed boards or cedar clapboards, and the win- 
 dows were to contain two hundred and forty feet of glass. It 
 was voted, "that Lent. Daniel Pond shall be left to his lib- 
 erty whether he will leave a middle alley in the new meeting 
 house, or shut up the seats as they are in Dedham meeting 
 house, provided always that the seats do comfortably and 
 conveniently hold and contain seven men in one end of the 
 seats and seven women in the other end of the seats." 
 
 At a town-meeting, Feb. 13, 1687-8, "a committee of 
 eleven men were chosen to receive the new meeting house 
 of Deacon John Haines, when it is finished according unto 
 covenant made between him and the town," and also "to 
 appoint persons how and where to sit in the meeting house. 
 It was voted, "that the most considerable rule for seating ot 
 persons in the meeting house shall be by what they pay to 
 the building thereof, excepting in respect to some considera- 
 ble persons or to age and other considerable qualifications. 
 It was voted that there should be "a good, sufficient and 
 strong ladder placed at the meeting house with as much 
 speed as may be, to prevent whatsoever occurrence may hap- 
 pen " "Mary Loker was to have one pound fifteen shillings 
 for 'the year ensuing for sweeping the new meeting house 
 and keeping it clean." It was voted, that " there should be 
 a convenient place for the storing of the ammunition of the 
 town over the window in the south west gable. I he dirt 
 on the north east and south east side of the new meeting 
 house was to be moved and placed at the foreside of it, and 
 the ground was to be raised to within four or five inches of 
 the sill, and to cover it with gravel and make a convenient 
 way in at the door." 
 
 A few years after this meeting-house was built a bell was 
 provided for it. It cost "twenty and five pounds in money.' 
 John Goodenow and Edward Wright paid this, and they 
 bought the bell of Caleb Hubbert of Braintree. It was voted 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 267 
 
 that John Parmenter should sweep the meeting-house from 
 April 1, 1696, to April 1, 1697, for fourteen bushels of Indian 
 or twenty shillings in money. The building being completed, 
 a committee was chosen " to go to Dedham and clear up ac- 
 counts with and obtain a discharge from Lieut. Daniel Pond 
 concerning our new meeting house." 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY DISTURBANCES. 
 
 While the people of Sudbury were endeavoring to repair 
 their misfortunes, they worked at a disadvantage. The 
 country was by no means quiet. Disturbances, both civil 
 and military, embarrassed the land. Kings in rapid succes- 
 sion ascended the British throne. In 1685 came the death 
 of King Charles, who was succeeded by James II., who was 
 followed by William of Holland. Change in England meant 
 change in America, and change in America meant change in 
 the colonial towns. For some time there had been a con- 
 troversy concerning the colony's charter. In 1685 it was 
 declared that this charter was forfeited. The liberties of the 
 people passed into the hands of the King of Great Britain, 
 and the colony was called to submit to such form of govern- 
 ment as Charles II. and James his successor saw fit to allow. 
 But the people yet hoped to resume the old charter. Events, 
 however, proved that these hopes were vain. In 1692 a new 
 charter was brought to Boston by Sir William Phipps, and 
 from a colony Massachusetts passed to a province, which 
 included Nova Scotia, New Hampshire, Plymouth, Massa- 
 chusetts, and Maine. With this change came new relations 
 and laws. The new charter gave the governor extended 
 power. He had the appointment of all the military officers, 
 and, with the consent of the Council, the judicial also. He 
 could call or adjourn the General Court, and no act of gov- 
 ernment was valid without his consent. But before the com- 
 pletion of this list of events, the community was agitated by 
 a usurpation of power unsurpassed in the history of the 
 colony. 
 
 In 1686, Sir Edmund Andros was commissioned by King 
 James to succeed Dudley as colonial governor. Andros 
 proved a pernicious ruler, whose despotism was not long 
 
268 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 to be borne. Among bis arbitrary acts was imprisonment 
 without trial, unjust and oppressive taxation, denial of the 
 right of habeas corpus and the right of the people to hold 
 their town-meetings. But the act which perhaps threatened 
 the greatest embarrassment was that relating to real estate. 
 The people were informed that they had unsound claims to 
 their lands, and that the titles to them were void. Notwith- 
 standing Indian deeds were produced, they were told these 
 were "worth no more than the scratch of a bear's paw." 
 Although King James is said to have commanded, that 
 " the several properties according to the ancient records " 
 should be continued to the people, yet the commission to 
 Andros intimated his intention of assuming the whole "real 
 property " of the country, and that landed rights were to 
 be granted the people on such terms as the king might 
 demand. 
 
 The result was a general embarrassment, and on April 18, 
 1689, there was a revolt and resort to arms. A council 
 of safety was formed, and there met in Boston the 22d of 
 May, the representatives of fifty-four towns. Sudbury sent 
 Peter King as its delegate. He was instructed " to consult 
 with the council sitting," and directed " not to resume the 
 former charter government only that the present council 
 should stand until we receive orders from his Royal High- 
 ness the Prince of Orange, and that the prisoners in durance 
 be safely kept until such time as they may be brought before 
 lawful justice." Forty of the representatives of the fifty- 
 four towns voted in favor of resuming the old charter. 
 This, however, being opposed by Broadstreet, the presi- 
 dent, and also by many of the old magistrates, it was agreed 
 to resume only the government chosen in 1686 under the 
 charter, until further orders were received from England. 
 Forty delegates voted for this measure, and Mr. King of 
 Sudbury was among the number. The dissolution of the 
 old charter was in 1686. On May 26, 1689, a ship brought 
 the news of the proclaiming of King William and Queen 
 Mary ; and the arrival of the charter for' a province was in 
 
 1692. 
 
 Thus, when the country was stirred by civil commotion, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 269 
 
 the town took its appropriate part ; and, despite the bustle 
 and stir in these important matters of state, it pursued its 
 steady way. The persons who served from Sudbury in the 
 General Court from the deposition of Andros, in 1689, were 
 Peter King, Peter Noyes, John Haynes, Joseph Freeman. 
 (Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. XXIV., p. 289.) 
 
 THE TEN YEARS WAR. 
 
 The disturbing elements of this period were not confined 
 to civil relations. The border settlements were exposed to 
 the sudden assaults of the savages, who needed only a pre- 
 text or an opportunity to commence their depredations. An 
 occasion was soon afforded. About 1689 hostilities broke 
 out among the settlements of New Hampshire and Maine, 
 and the county of Middlesex was called upon to send its 
 troops and munitions of war to the ravaged districts between 
 the Penobscot and Merrimac. But a war of greater propor- 
 tions soon threatened the colony, and which was to be of 
 a duration, not of months, but of years. This war, waged 
 between England and France, and known as King William's, 
 or the "Ten Years War," for about a decade of years, 
 menaced the frontier towns of New England. The work of 
 devastation was soon commenced, and revived the associa- 
 tions of by-gone years. The musket was once more to be 
 shouldered and the sword unsheathed in defense of imperiled 
 firesides and the arbitrament of disputed rights. 
 
 French authorities, with the sanction of the a-overnor sen- 
 eral of Canada, sought an alliance with the Indians, and the 
 French and savages combined made the border a perilous 
 place. But the war affected the New England colony in 
 general. Levies were made on the towns for men to man 
 the outposts and to go on expeditions of an aggressive and 
 hazardous nature. During these years of hostility Sudbury 
 was less exposed than in the war with King Philip. Her 
 greatest trial was from sudden incursions, and a liability to 
 large drafts on her weak resources. It is recorded in the 
 town book, that, in 1688, there was a distribution of the 
 stock of ammunition. The following statement is accompa- 
 nied by a list of persons who took the stock in charge : — 
 
270 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The names of those persons as have taken the public stock of am- 
 munition into their hands, and have agreed to respond for the sam.e in 
 case that it be not spent in real service in the resistance of the enemy 
 are as followeth. 
 
 Benjamin Moore 
 
 Samuel How 
 
 Matthew Gibbs 
 
 Mr. Hopestil Brown 
 
 Daniel Stone 
 
 Corp. John Bent 
 
 Corp. Henry Rice 
 
 Mr. William Brown 
 
 Mathew Rice 
 
 John Allen 
 
 Mr. Peter Noyes 
 
 Widow Mary Rice 
 
 John Parmenter 
 Mr. James Sherman 
 Stephen Blandford 
 John Grout, Jun. 
 Thomas Knapp 
 Benjamin Parmenter 
 Sarjeant James Barnard 
 John How. 
 
 Captain Thomas Brown 
 John Goodenow 
 Lieut. John Grout 
 Ensign Jacob Brown 
 Peter King 
 
 Lieut. Edward Wright 
 John Rice 
 
 Mr. Thomas Walker, Sr. 
 Thomas Reade, Sr. 
 Deacon John Haines 
 Lieut. Josiah Haines 
 Sargent Joseph Freeman 
 Corp. John Brewer 
 Joseph Curtis 
 Mr. Joseph Noise 
 Joseph Moore 
 Zachariah Maynard 
 Sargent John Rutter 
 Jonathan Stanhope 
 Corp. Richard Taylor 
 Corp. Joseph Gleason 
 Jonathan Rice 
 Thomas Plympton 
 
 The most of the persons thus named had allowed them 
 a little over four pounds of powder, a little over thirty-three 
 pounds of shot, and thirteen flints. About two years from 
 this date, 1690, an order came to Major Elisha Hutchinson, 
 commander of the forces, to detach » 18 able soldiers well 
 appointed with arms and ammunition out of the several com- 
 panies of his regiment to rendezvous at Sudbury upon Tues- 
 day the 27 th of May with six days provisions a man." 
 
 These things indicate a harassed condition of the country, 
 and perhaps a near approach of the foe to Sudbury. Noth- 
 ing, however, so forcibly sets forth the military service of 
 the town in those times as a paper bearing no date, but found 
 in the State Archives among others belonging to that period. 
 The document, which is in the form of a petition, is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 271 
 
 To the honorable Governor, Deputy Governor, and to all our honored 
 Magistrates and Representatives of the Massachusetts Colony, 
 now sitting in General Court in Boston. 
 The humble petition of us who are some of us for ourselves, others 
 for our children and servants, whose names are after subscribed humbly 
 showeth that being impressed the last winter several of us into dreadful 
 service, where, by reason of cold and hunger and in tedious marches 
 many score of miles in water and snow, and laying on the snow by night, 
 having no provision but what they could carry upon their backs, beside 
 hard arms and ammunition, it cost many of them their lives. Your hum- 
 ble petitioners several of us have been at very great charges to set them 
 out with arms, and ammunition, and clothing, and money to support 
 them, and afterwards by sending supplies to relieve them and to save 
 their lives, notwithstanding many have lost their lives there, others came 
 home, and which were so suffered, if not poisoned, that they died since 
 they came from there, notwithstanding all means used, and charges out 
 for their recovery, others so surfeited that they are thereby disabled 
 from their callings. Likewise your humble petitioners request is that 
 this honored court would grant this favor that our messengers may have 
 liberty to speak in the court to open our cause so as to give the court 
 satisfaction. Your humble petitioners humble request is farther that 
 you would please to mind our present circumstances, and to grant us 
 such favors as seems to be just and rational, that we may have some 
 compensation answerable to our burden, or at least to be freed from far- 
 ther charges by rates, until the rest of our brethren have borne their 
 share with us, and not to be forced to pay others that have been out but 
 little in respect of us, whereas the most of us have received little or noth- 
 ing but have been at very great charges several of us. If it shall please 
 this honorable General Court to grant us our petition we shall look upon 
 ourselves as duty binds us ever pray. 
 
 John Haynes Sen. Thomas Walker 
 
 Joseph Noyes Sen. John Barrer 
 Peter Haynes Sen. [or Noyes] Samuel Glover 
 
 Mathew Rice Joseph Gleason sen 
 
 John Allen Thomas Rutter 
 
 Mathew Gibbs sen Joseph Rutter 
 
 Thomas Rice Benjamin Wight 
 
 James Rice sen Peter Plympton 
 
 Joseph Curtis . Israel Miller 
 
 Josiah Haynes sen. Stephen Cutts 
 
 (State Archives, Vol. XXXVI., p. 59.) 
 
 This petition presents a story of sorrow. The service 
 referred to was, it is supposed, in connection with the ill- 
 fated expedition of Sir William Phipps in 1G90. In this 
 
272 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 expedition Sudbury was represented by a company of men, 
 some of whom were from Framingham. A large force, con- 
 sisting of forty vessels and two thousand men, most of whom 
 were from Massachusetts, was fitted out for the capture of 
 Quebec. The fleet sailed from Boston, and the land forces 
 marched by way of Montreal and the lakes. But the great 
 enterprise failed. Gotten up in haste, it was poorly pre- 
 pared, and its military stores were but scant. Being late in 
 the season, unfavorable weather jirevailed, the small-pox set 
 in, and the expedition came back with its object unachieved. 
 It is said that many more died of fever after the expedition 
 returned to Boston. But this was not all. The money in 
 the treasury was insufficient to pay the soldiers, and for the 
 first time in the history of the country paper money was 
 issued ; but from this the soldiers obtained only from twelve 
 to fourteen shillings to the pound. 
 
 Years after the Phipps expedition, survivors or their heirs 
 petitioned the Court for land grants, and received them. 
 These lands were called Canada grants. In answer to such 
 a petition, Sudbury received land in Maine, which was 
 called the Sudbury Canada grant. This grant now makes 
 the towns of Jay and Canton. (New England Historical 
 Antiquarian Register, Vol. XXX., p. 92.) The names of 
 the petitioners for the foregoing grant have been preserved 
 in a paper which bears date "Oct ye 26 th 1741." The list 
 was given in connection with what was called " A lift tax of 
 fifteen shillings a man." A few of these names are as fol- 
 lows : Ward, Graves, Stone, Rice, Bridges, Newton, Walker, 
 Woodward, Joseph Rutter, Gibbs, Peter Bent, Brewer, Sam- 
 uel Paris. The petitioners were formed into a society, hav- 
 ing Capt. Samuel Stone, treasurer, and Josiah Richardson, 
 clerk, both of Sudbury. 
 
 Thus along from 1688 till the declaration of Peace at 
 Ryswick, Dec. 10, 1697, there was inconvenience and loss. 
 On the 27th of July, 1694, a detachment of the Abenakis, 
 under the Chief Taxous, crossed the Merrimac, and assailed 
 Groton. where the Indians killed twenty-two persons and 
 captured thirteen. In August, 1695, a sudden descent was 
 made on Billerica, in which fifteen persons were killed or 
 
THE WALKER GARRISON HOUSE. 
 See page I 99. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 273 
 
 captured. Lancaster suffered in 1692, also in 1695, and in 
 September, 1697, the Indians again entered the town. Thus 
 near lurked the troublesome foe, and Sudbury doubtless felt 
 its insecurity when it learned of these savage incursions in 
 the neighboring towns. The following record on the Town 
 Book bears testimony to this sense of insecurity: "Also 
 agreed to call the town together for the choice of all town 
 officers next lecture day at twelve of the clock, and it being 
 a troublesome time with the Indians but few appeared." 
 
 WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 Another source of disturbance towards the last of the 
 century was the witchcraft delusion. Supposed cases had 
 occurred before in the Massachusetts Colony, and persons 
 had been executed whom it was said had the power to 
 bewitch men ; but in 1692, it broke out with renewed 
 violence, and strangely disturbed societ}^. We know of no 
 alleged cases in Sudbury; but a person prominently con- 
 nected with Salem witchcraft subsequently went to Sudbury, 
 and dwelt there until his death. This was the Rev. Samuel 
 Paris, the first minister of what was then Salem Village, but 
 now the town of Danvers. In view of this fact, a few words 
 concerning the matter and Mr. Paris' sad history may not be 
 amiss. 
 
 The Salem witchcraft delusion began in Mr. Paris' family. 
 During the winter of 1691-2 a compaiw of young girls were 
 accustomed to meet at his house and practice fortune-telling, 
 necromancy, and magic. It is stated they attained some skill 
 in this matter, and that after a while they ascribed to it 
 supernatural agency. The community became alarmed, and 
 the physician called them bewitched. Two of these girls 
 were of Mr. Paris' household, — one a daughter, the other a 
 niece, neither of them over eleven years of age. The com- 
 plaints made were similar to those made years before by the 
 children of John Goodenow of Boston. An Indian woman 
 named Tituba, who had been brought from New Spain, 
 lived in Mr. Paris' family. Tituba was accused of being 
 the witch, and of bewitching these children. She confessed, 
 and claimed to have confederates. Had the children of Mr. 
 
074 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Paris been unnoticed, or the matter brushed lightly by, per- 
 haps it had stopped light there; but they were pitied, and 
 shown special attention, and new cases soon occurred. The 
 work of accusation and suspicion went forward, and rapidly 
 spread until it reached fearful proportions. Scores were 
 apprehended, tried, and condemned, until men knew not 
 when they were safe. 
 
 The delusion was soon dispelled, and society resumed a 
 more tranquil state ; but as the darkness broke it left bitter 
 regrets ■ for the light shone on a record as sad as any in the 
 ■umals of the Massachusetts Colony. From Mr. Paris' posi- 
 tion as pastor of the Salem Village Church, he may have 
 come in contact with cases in a perfunctory way which gave 
 him unpleasant publicity. In 1695 a council met at Salem 
 Village to confer about the witchcraft matter as related to 
 Mr Paris and his people. Shortly after this he left the 
 church and the place. He became a trader, went to Water- 
 town then Concord; but his stay in each place was short. 
 He then went to Dunstable, where for a few months he 
 preached. He at length went to Sudbury, and died there 
 about 1720. Thus originated the Salem witchcraft, and thus 
 passed away the man who received notoriety by it. 
 1 MoraL — Deal not with familiar spirits. " Resist the devil, 
 an d he will flee from you." Leave necromancy, magic, and 
 all the black arts, and seek more substantial and sensible 
 
 things. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
 
 Mr Paris was the son of Thomas Paris of London. He 
 went to Harvard College, but did not remain to graduate. 
 Before preaching at Salem Village he preached at Stowe 
 He was twice married, his first wife dying in 1696, at about 
 the age of forty-eight, his second wife in 1719. His first 
 wife was buried at Dan vers; her grave is marked by a head- 
 stone upon which is the following verse, after which are the 
 initials of Mr. Paris : — 
 
 Sleep Precious Dust, no stranger now to Rest, 
 Thou hast thy longed wish, within Abraham's Brest, 
 Farewell Best Wife, Choice Mother, Neighbor, Friend, 
 We'll wail thee less, for hopes of thee in the end. 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 275 
 
 Mrs. Paris, it is said, was a good woman. Mr. Paris left 
 several children. His daughter Dorothy, born 1700, became 
 the wife of Hopestill Brown of Sudbury. Another daughter 
 married Peter Bent. His son Noyes Paris, born 1699, took 
 his first degree at Harvard College, 1721. His other son, 
 Samuel, was born 1702. 
 
 After Mr. Paris came to Sudbury, we conclude that for 
 a time he taught school there. The records state, that in 
 1717, Mr. Samuel Paris was to teach school four months of 
 the year at the school-house on the west side of the river, 
 and the rest of the year at his own house. If he was absent 
 part of the time, he was to make it up the next year. In 
 Book III., Sudbury Records, we have the following state- 
 ment, with date May 25, 1722 : " These may certify that 
 ye 28 pounds that ye town of Sudbury agreed to give Mr. 
 Samuel Paris late of Sudbury, for his last yeares keeping 
 school in s d town, is by Mr. John Clapp treasurer for said 
 ■ town by his self and by his order all paid as witness my 
 hand John Rice excuter of ye last will and Testament of ye 
 s d Mr. Paris." 
 
 There are graves of the Paris family in the old burying- 
 ground at Wayland. Towards the southeast side of it stands 
 a stone with the following inscription : " Here lyes }*e Body 
 of Samuel Paris, Who Died July 27 th 1742 in y e 8* year of 
 his age." On another stone is marked: "Here lyes ye Body 
 of Mrs. Abigail Paris who departed this life February ye 
 15 th 1759 in ye 55 th year of her age." 
 
 INCORPORATION OF FRAMINGHAM. 
 
 At the close of the century, Sudbury lost a portion of the 
 inhabitants who dwelt upon its southern border and were 
 identified with the town. This loss was occasioned b}^ the 
 incorporation of Framingham in 1700. A petition was pre- 
 sented to the Court in 1792-3 (State Archives, Vol. CXIII.) 
 by these people and others, who state, that they are "persons 
 dwelling upon sundry farms lying between Sudbury, Con- 
 cord, Marlboro, Natick, and Sherborn, and westerly in the 
 Wilderness." They say they "have dwelt there about forty 
 years, and are about forty families, some having built, and 
 
276 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 some building." They also say they "have endeavored to 
 attend public worship some at one town, some at another;" 
 and they ask to be made a township, and have the privileges 
 usually accorded in such cases. The Court granted the 
 request of the petitioners, and ordered that the farms adja- 
 cent to Franiingham should be annexed to the proposed new 
 town; and the people of Framingham having asked the 
 Court "that the line between s d annexed farms and Sudbury 
 be accepted," the request was granted. Some of the names 
 attached to the petition are still familiar in Sudbury, viz. : 
 Bent, Stone, Rice, Gleason, Walker, and How. 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 The population of the town toward the beginning of this 
 period is indicated by the fact that in 1679 six tything-men 
 were appointed, who were " to inspect from ten to thirteen 
 families each." The following is a report made at a select- 
 men's meeting, in 1682, of improved land in and bordering 
 upon the town: "Lands of persons dwelling in the town, 
 3896 acres. List of lands in town of persons dwelling else- 
 where up and down the country, 2o22 acres. List of men's 
 lands bordering about or near the town, amounted to 5130 
 acres, in which Mr. Danforth's lands and Mr. Gookin's lands 
 were not cast, because the contents were not certain." 
 
 These were sent, together with the list of troopers in and 
 about town, by Deacon Haines, commissioner, to Cambridge. 
 The list of troopers that the town clerk made a rate upon. 
 as mentioned with date 1683, is eighteen; and with date 
 1682 we have the county's money rate mentioned as fol- 
 lows : " The part to be collected on the east side the river, 
 5ibs . 4s . 5d . on the west side the river, 4 lbs : 8 s : d ." 
 
 Some little attention was given to matters of education in 
 this period, as indicated by a selectmen's report dated March 
 30, 1680. On Oct, 2, 1692, John Long was chosen as " a 
 wrighteing school master, to teach children to wright and 
 cast accounts." Mr. Long continued to serve the town as 
 schoolmaster for several years. 
 
 Thus closed the century in which the town of Sudbury 
 had its beginning. It was a diversified history, in which the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 277 
 
 light and shadow alternately played on the scene. But the 
 power of a protecting Providence kept the people safe amid 
 every trial and danger, and brought them forth with a pros- 
 perity and strength which fitted them for the important 
 events of the future. Probably but few, if any, who were of 
 the original grantees in 1638, entered upon the scenes of the 
 eighteenth century; but their children and children's chil- 
 dren were to continue their work, and project their influence 
 into far-off years; and as we continue the narrative, and 
 consider the subsequent events in this history, we may see 
 how the fathers lived in their sons. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1700-1725. 
 
 Educational Advantages; Why so small.— School Laws by the Province. 
 — Town Action. — Grammar School; Location. — Mixed Schools. — 
 Masters. — School-Houses. — Ecclesiastical Matters. — Dismission of 
 Rev. Mr. Sherman. — Ordination of Rev. Israel Loring. — Division 
 of the Town into Two Precincts; Petitions, Remonstrances, Decision 
 of the Court, Subsequent Action of the Town. — Call of Mr. Loring 
 by the People of the West Precinct; His Acceptance. — Renewal of 
 the Church Covenant by the People of the West Side; Subscribers 
 Thereto. — Settlement of Rev. Mr. Cook in the East Parish. — Build- 
 ing of a Meeting-House on the West Side; Location. — Removal of 
 the East Side Meeting-House; New Location. 
 
 The wealth of thought they knew, 
 
 And with a toil-blest hand 
 The path of learning, broad and free, 
 
 Sped through our favored land. 
 
 Miss Simes. 
 
 A prominent feature in Sudbury at the beginning of 
 the eighteenth century was the attention given to schools. 
 Hitherto comparatively little had been done in this matter. 
 As has been stated, means were provided for moral instruc- 
 
278 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 tion, but the opportunities for acquiring more than the rudi- 
 ments of secular knowledge were extremely meagre. The 
 causes of this were various. It was not an educational age, 
 there was but one college in the Massachusetts Bay Prov- 
 ince ; teachers at that day were scarce, and without proper 
 i usi ruction there was but poor encouragement to establish 
 public schools. Moreover, it was an age of economy. Care- 
 ful expenditure was a necessity in that tax-burdened and im- 
 poverished period. Society was bearing the burdens incident 
 to the waste of successive wars. Specie was scarce and com- 
 modities dear. To procure things needful for every-day life 
 payment in country produce was often made. Sometimes 
 town taxes were paid in wares. In 1687 the taxes of Hing- 
 hara were paid in pails. In 1693 those of Woburn were paid 
 in shoes. Various were the expedients that the towns em- 
 ployed to meet necessary calls that were made upon them. 
 No'wonder that in such times schools were neglected. It 
 would not be strange if men were unmindful of every demand 
 but those of stern necessity. 
 
 But in 1692 a law was enacted, that every town in the 
 province having fifty householders, or upwards, should be 
 " constantly provided of a schoolmaster to teach children 
 and youth to read and write; and where any town or towns 
 have the number of one hundred families or householders, 
 there shall also be a grammar school set up in every such 
 town, and some discreet person of good conversation, well 
 instructed in the tongues procured to keep such school." 
 Any town neglecting this requirement one year was liable 
 to be fined ten pounds. In 1701 the Provincial Court passed 
 an additional school act, stating, concerning the former one. 
 that it was "shamefully neglected by divers towns, and the 
 penalty thereof not required tending greatly to the nourish- 
 ment of ignorance and irreligion, whereof grevious complaint 
 is made." For neglecting this second law the penalty was 
 mad.' twenty pounds. This also proved quite insufficient for 
 its purpose, for it was stated "many towns . . . would incur 
 the penalty and pay for the neglect of the law rather than 
 maintain the school required." In 1718 the Court enacted 
 tltat the fine should be thirty pounds in the case of towns 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 279 
 
 that had one hundred and fifty families, forty pounds in 
 the case of towns of two hundred inhabitants. There was 
 certain provision made by the law of the province by which 
 the schoolmaster was to be maintained. He was to have a 
 convenient house and competent salary. It was also pro- 
 vided that the instructor should be an actual schoolmaster ; 
 the town minister was not to act as a substitute. 
 
 Such were some of the school laws at the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century. That they affected town action is prob- 
 able ; and very likely they exerted a powerful influence in 
 procuring better schools in Sudbury. The records inform us 
 that Jan. 1, 1702, the town voted that a rate should be made 
 " to pay the 5 pounds the town was fined for want of a school 
 master." This is the only time we hear of the town's receiv- 
 ing the penalty. On the contrary, there is ample evidence 
 of diligent endeavor to meet the law. Nov. 17, 1701, at a 
 town-meeting, "it was voted to choose Mr. Joseph Noyes as 
 a grammar school master for one year. . . . Also chose Mr 
 W m Brown and Mr. Thomas Plympton to present the said 
 school master unto the Rev. ministers for their approbation 
 of him, which are as folio weth, Mr. James Sherman, Mr. 
 Joseph Esterbrooks, Mr. Swift of Framingham." This Rev- 
 erend Committee duly met, and examined the candidate, and 
 reported as follows, Nov. 21, 1701: "We the subscribers 
 being desired by the town of Sudbury to write what we 
 could testify in concerning the justification of Mr. Joseph 
 Noyes of Sudbury for a legall Grammar School master, hav- 
 ing examined the said Mr. Joseph Noyes, we find that he 
 hath been considerably versed in the Latin and Greek 
 tongue, and do think that upon his dilligent revisal and 
 recollection of what he hath formerly learned, he may be 
 qualified to initiate and instruct the youth in the Latin 
 tongue. Joseph Esterbrooks, John Swift." 
 
 On the strength of this careful approval and guarded rec- 
 ommendation, the successful candidate went forth to his 
 work. He did not, however, long retain his position. For 
 some cause not mentioned, the place soon became vacant ; 
 and February of the same year Mr. Richer became Mr. 
 Noyes's successor. The contract made with Mr. Picher was 
 
280 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 as follows : " It is agreed and concluded that the town will 
 and doth grant to pay unto Mr. Nathaniel Picher six pounds 
 in money in course hee dotli accept of the Towne's choice as 
 to be our Grammar scool master, also for one quarter of a 
 yeare, and to begin ye third of March next ensuing, and to 
 serve in the place the full quarter of a yeare, one half of the 
 time on the east side of the River, and the other half of 
 the time on the west side of the river. This Grammar scool 
 master chosen if he accepts and doth enter upon the work it 
 is expected by the above said Towne, that he should teach 
 all children sent to him to learn English and the Latin 
 tongue, also writing and the art of Arithmatic." In 1703 
 it was voted to pay Mr. Picher for service done that year 
 twenty-eight pounds, "he deducting a months pay . . . for 
 his being absent one month in summer time from keeping <>! 
 scool, which amounth to twelfeth part of time;" "also voted 
 and agreed as a free will, to give unto Mr. Picher two days 
 in eve^ry quarter of his year to visit his friends, if he see 
 cause to take up with it," In 1711, Lieut. Thomas Frink 
 and Quartermaster Brintnall were "to agree with sum per- 
 son who is well instructed in ye tongues to keep a scool." 
 His pay was not to exceed thirty pounds. 
 
 These records show something of the expense of a gram- 
 mar school in the olden times; they also give hints of the 
 character, duty, and pay of the teachers ; and of the manner 
 of selection and examination. We have no means of know- 
 ing the proficiency attained by the pupils in those grammar 
 schools ; but with so much careful painstaking, and so large 
 an expenditure of money, we may presume that something 
 more than the mere rudiments were obtained. 
 
 The place of the school was changed from time to time. 
 In 1702 it was voted " that the scool master should keep y c 
 scool on y e west side of y e river at y e house of Thomas Brint- 
 nell, which is there parte of time belonging to y e west side of 
 y e river." The custom of changing the place of the school 
 was continued for many years; for we find the following rec- 
 ord as Late as M±2: "Voted by the town that y e scool master 
 shall keep scool one half of y e time on y e west side of y e river 
 in Sudbury, voted by y e town, that y e scool master shall keep 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 281 
 
 y e first quarter at y e scool house at y e gravel pitt, voted by 
 y e town that y e second to bee keept on y e east side y e river as 
 Near y e water as may be conveniant, voted by y e town that 
 y e third quarter to be keept at y e house of insign John 
 Moore, voted by y e town that y e fourth quarter to be keept 
 at y e house of Clark Gleason." In the year 1717, Samuel 
 Paris was to keep school four months of the year at the 
 school-house on the west side of the river, and at his own 
 house the rest of the year. If he was away part of the time, 
 he was to make it up the next year. 
 
 But in addition to these means for obtaining advanced 
 instruction, there were schools of a simpler character. About 
 the time that provision was made for a grammar school, we 
 read of "masters who were to teach children to rede and 
 wright and cast accounts." This was done in 1701, at which 
 time the town " voted and chose John Long and John Bal- 
 com " for the purpose just stated, and to pay them for one 
 year thirty shillings apiece. From this time repeated refer- 
 ence is made in the records to schools of a primary or mixed 
 character. 
 
 Among the schoolmasters who served before 1750, are 
 William Brintnal, Joseph Noyes, Nathaniel Picher, Jonathan 
 Hoar, Samuel Paris, Nathaniel Trask, Jonathan Loring, John 
 Long, John Balcom, John Mellen, Samuel Kendall, Ephraim 
 Curtis, and Zachery Hicks. Some of these taught for a suc- 
 cession of terms or years. William Brintnal taught a gram- 
 mar school as late as 1733-4, and receipts are found of Samuel 
 Kendall in 1725 and 1736. 
 
 Prior to 1700, school-house accommodations were scant. 
 There was no school building whatever. In 1702 " the town 
 agreed that the school should be kept at the meeting house 
 half a quarter and the other half quarter at the house of 
 Benjamin Morses." But it is a law of progress that improve- 
 ment in one direction suggests improvement in another ; so 
 with better schools better accommodations were sought for. 
 Jan. 1, 1702, the " town voted and paste into an act, to have 
 a convenient scool hous ; " also voted " that the scool house 
 that shall be built by the town shall be set and erected as 
 near the centre of the town, as may be conveniantly set upon 
 
282 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the town's land;" also "that it be twenty feet in length 
 • • • eighteen feet in breadth, seven feet from the bottom ot 
 the ceU to the top of the plate, a large chimney to be within 
 the house, the house to be a log house, made of pine, only 
 the cells to be of white oak bord and shingles to be covered 
 with Also the chimney to be of stone to the mortling and 
 finished with brick. This was paste into an act and vote 
 Jan 15 th 1701-2." At another meeting it was decided " that 
 there should be two scool houses;" that they should be of 
 the same dimensions; and "that the one on the east side 
 should be set near to Enoch Cleavland's dwelling house. 
 It was afterwards voted that "the scool houses should be 
 builte by a general town acte and that the selectmen should 
 make a rate of money of 20 pounds for their erection." One 
 of the houses was to be placed "by Cleafflands and the other 
 near unto Robert Mans." In 1711 the town voted to have 
 but one school-house, and this school-house was to be built 
 at " v e gravel pitt." " Y e scool house " here mentioned was 
 " to be 20 foot long, 16 foot wide, six foot studd, nine foot 
 and a half sparrl. Ye sills to be white oak ye outside, to be 
 horded and ye bords to be feather edge. Ye inside to be 
 birch and horded with Ruff bords, lower and uper flower to 
 be bord and a brick Chemne, and two glass windows 18 
 Enches square pe' window, and the Ruffe to be horded and 
 shin-led." It was to be ready for a school by the last ot 
 May, 1712. Joseph Parmenter was to make it, and have for 
 pay fourteen pounds. 
 
 The evidence is that the desire for school privileges spread, 
 and that the extremity of the town soon sought for increased 
 advantages. April 17, 1719, the town was called upon "to 
 see if it will grant the North west quarter of the towns peti- 
 tion, they desiring the school master some part of the time 
 
 with them." t 
 
 The above records comprise the most important ones relat- 
 ing to schools during this period. As we leave these educa- 
 tional matters, some reflections arise concerning their relation 
 to the town's future and far-reaching history. They were 
 the beginnings of great and long-lasting influences. Ihose 
 humble houses of the early New England schools were the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. '283 
 
 town's nurseries of useful knowledge. In them minds were 
 disciplined for that active period which, before the century 
 closed, was to shape the country's career, and make of the 
 colonies a great cluster of states. What a work was wrought 
 within them ! What responsibility was upon those who had 
 charge of these far-back beginnings ! We have found noth- 
 ing on the records to indicate what methods were employed 
 in governing or teaching; but there is abundant room for 
 the supposition that those who founded and those who 
 taught these schools feared God ; and that they considered 
 his Word a book suitable to be read and taught in all places 
 of learning. No wonder, that, with such a beginning, our 
 common schools have had such great success ; and that the 
 influences that survived those times, manners, and men 
 should have such large and lasting results. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS. 
 
 As in educational matters, so in those pertaining to the 
 church, we find the period prolific in change. Great and 
 important events transpired relating to the meeting-house, 
 the minister, and the people. The first change was the 
 dismission of the pastor. On May 22, 1705, the pastoral 
 relation between Rev. James Sherman and the people of 
 Sudbury was dissolved. But not long was the church left 
 pastorless. The same year of Mr. Sherman's removal a 
 town-meeting was held, in which it was voted "y* y e town 
 will chose a man to preach ye word of God unto us for a 
 quarter of a year." The Rev. Israel Loring was chosen for 
 the term mentioned. He began to preach in Sudbury, Sept. 
 16, 1705 ; and the result was he was ordained as pastor, Nov. 
 20, 1706. 
 
 After the settlement of Mr. Loring ecclesiastical matters 
 were not long in a quiet state. A new subject soon engrossed 
 public attention. There was an attempt made to divide the 
 town into two parochial precincts. The west side people 
 doubtless loved the little hillside meeting-house, about which 
 were the graves of their friends, and whose history was asso- 
 ciated with so much of their own. Their fondness for it had 
 doubtless increased as the years passed by, and there clus- 
 
284 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 tered about it memories of things the sweetest and the sad- 
 dest that had entered into their checkered experience. Here 
 their children had been offered in baptism ; here had been the 
 bridal and the burial, the weekly greetings and partings, the 
 exchange of intelligence of heart and home. It had been the 
 place for prayer and the preached word; a place of watch 
 and ward, and a place of resort in times of danger. But not- 
 withstanding their fondness for the sacred spot, they were 
 too practical a people to allow sentiment to interfere with 
 their true progress, and what they believed to be their spirit- 
 ual good. With their slow means of transit, and the rough 
 roads of that period when at their best, it was a long and 
 weary way they had to travel every Sabbath day; but when 
 the roads became blocked with the drifting snow, or the river 
 was swollen with floods, then it was sometimes a perilous 
 undertaking to reach the east side meeting-house and return. 
 In that primitive period the people of Sudbury did not desire 
 even a good excuse to keep them from public worship ; they 
 were Puritanic in both precept and practice. They would 
 allow no small obstacle to cheat their soul of its rights ; but 
 if there were hinderances in the way to their spiritual helps, 
 they required their immediate removal. 
 
 Hence, a movement was inaugurated to divide the town, 
 and make of it two precincts, in each of which there should 
 be a church. A primary act for the accomplishment of this 
 purpose was to obtain the consent of the General Court. To 
 do this a petition was presented, which, as it tells its own 
 story, and sets forth the entire case, we will present: — 
 
 Petition of the West Side people of Sudbury to Governor Dudley and 
 the General Assembly. 
 The petition of us who are the subscribers living on ye west side of 
 Sudbury great River Humbly showeth that wereas ye All wise and over 
 Ruling providence of ye great God, Lord of Heaven and Earth who is 
 God blessed forever moore, hath cast our lott to fall on that side of the 
 River by Reason of the flud of watare, which for a very great part of the 
 yeare doth very much incomode us and often by extremity of water and 
 terrible and violent winds, and a great part of the winter by ice, as it is 
 at this present, so that wee are shut up and cannot come forth, and many 
 times when wee doe atempt to git over our flud, we are forced for to seek 
 our spiritual good with the peril of our Lives. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 285 
 
 Beside the extreme Travill that many of us are Exposed unto sum 
 3:4:5:6 miles much more than a Sabbath days Jurney, by Reason of 
 these and many more objections, to many here to enumerate, whereby 
 many of our children and little ones, ancient and weak persons, can very 
 Rarly attend the public worship. The considered premises we truly 
 pray your Excellency and ye Honorable Council and House of Repre- 
 sentatives to consider and compassionate us in our Extreme suffering 
 condition, and if we may obtain so much favor in your Eyes as to grant 
 us [our presents] as to appoint us a Commity to see and consider our 
 circumstances and make report thereof to this honorable Court. And 
 your pore petitioners shall ever pray. 
 
 Sudbury, January 15th 170£ 
 
 John haynes. Jr. 
 
 Robert Man his mark 
 
 Benjamin wright. 
 
 David Haynes. 
 
 Prefer haines. 
 
 Thomas Brintnal. 
 
 Edward Goodnow his mark 
 
 John Goodenovv, jr 
 
 Ephraim Garfield, his mark. 
 
 Thomas Smith, Junior. 
 
 Jonathan Rice. 
 
 John Goodnow. 
 
 John haines 
 
 John Brigham 
 
 William Walker. 
 
 George Parmenter. 
 
 David how. 
 
 George Parmenter, Jr. 
 
 Joseph Parmenter. 
 
 John brigham. 
 
 Samuel vvillis. 
 
 Joseph willis 
 
 Richard Sanger. 
 
 Tho : Smith 
 
 Joseph Hayes [Haynes] 
 
 timothy gibson, Jr 
 
 Joseph F. Jewel (his mark). 
 
 Isaac Mellen 
 
 Melo C. Taylor, (his mark). 
 
 John Balcom. 
 
 Joseph Balcom. 
 
 (State Archives, Vol. II., p. 221.) 
 
 It was ordered that the town of Sudbury be served with a 
 copy of the petition, and notified to attend the next session 
 of the Court, and present objections if they had any. At 
 a town-meeting in Sudbury, Oct. 4, 1707, a committee was 
 chosen to attend the General Court, and give answer to the 
 above petition. The committee whs composed as follows : 
 " M r Joseph Noyes, Lieut. Hop 11 Brown, Ens. Sam" King, 
 Mr. James Barnard, Mr. Noah Clapp, Mr. Thomas Plymp- 
 
286 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ton." This committee duly appeared to present a protest 
 to the west side petition. The following are their words of 
 remonstrance : — 
 
 The committee chosen humbly showeth, 
 
 That whereas a petition hath been presented to this Hon. Court in 
 their late session by a Small number of persons Dwelling on the west- 
 erly side of the river in Sudbury, (though Privately carried on) 
 
 Praying that these may be a precinct by themselves &c. we do Hum- 
 bly offer to your Judicious consideration 
 
 That the number thus Petitioning is but Small and that others Inhab- 
 iting on the westerly side of said River a number near Equal to them, 
 Do oppose the same Looking on such a motion by their neighbors att 
 this Time Especially to be Unseasonable and unreasonable, considering 
 1.) the Great Expense that we have of Late been att: Occasioned by 
 the deposition of our Late, and the Settling of our Present Minister. 
 (2.) The vast Expenses attending the same, calls and may call for, 
 Obliges us to Request that the Division Petitioned for, may be sus- 
 pended, we deem ourselves incapable of affording, 
 
 1st Two Orthodox minister's Gospel maintainance, 2nd we are Ready 
 to afford to our neighbors what help we can in making the Causway. 
 (so much complained of) passible in ordinary floods, by allotting to every 
 man his quota or proposition to raise, which would be much for the Ben- 
 efit of Travellers, as well as ourselves. 
 
 Finally there are also some of those who now petition for division : 
 that did complain, and declare that the Salary granted to our present 
 minister was so Great that the town was not able to perform it, and if 
 they Plead their remoteness from the public worship of God : we humbly 
 offer that if the meeting house be placed in the Centre of the Inhabitants 
 on the westerly side of the river (where we may expect it will be), many 
 of their dwellings will be as Remote from the meeting house as they are 
 now, We might bring many more objections which might be of weight, 
 but shall add no more, but leave these to the Judicious consideration of 
 this Honourable Courte, and follow these our Representatives with our 
 petitions to the High Court of Heaven, that this Honouable Court may 
 be so directed in this and in every affair before them, that Gods Glory 
 and the Prosperity of Religion may be promoted, and we, your most 
 humble and obedient servants, may have ever cause to pray &c. 
 
 Sudbury. October. 29« h : 17U7. 
 
 Joseph Noyes, James Barnard, 
 
 Thomas Plympton, Noah Clapp, 
 
 Samuel King. 
 
 (State Archives, Vol. II., p. 227.) 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 287 
 
 The following names are signed to the original document 
 
 WEST SIDE INHABITANTS. 
 
 Hop 11 Browne 
 Tho': Plymton 
 Sam 11 Wright, 
 Joseph Goodenow 
 John Moore 
 Matt w Gibbs 
 Noah Clapp 
 Joseph Stanhope 
 John Gibbs 
 William Arnold 
 Tho s Read Ju r 
 Josiah Hayden 
 Go s Steenens 
 Tho 3 Cuttler 
 John Rice 
 
 widow Sarah Bowker 
 Benj Moore 
 Nath 11 Rice 
 wid : Arabella Read 
 John Biirk 
 Kphranin Pratt 
 Peter Plymton 
 Tho s Read 
 Joshua Hayns 
 
 A True Coppy 
 
 EAST SIDE INHABITANTS. 
 
 John Rice 
 Joseph Gleason S er 
 Matt w Stone 
 Sam 11 Graves 
 Jo 8 Chamberlim 
 Jo 3 Moore S er 
 Jo 3 Moore 
 Jo s Noyes 
 Jo n Long 
 Benj parmento r 
 Isaac Stanhope 
 John Allin 
 John Parmintor 
 Edmund Rice 
 Matt w Rice 
 her mark James Brewer 
 Nat 11 Moore 
 Tho s Brown 
 Ephaaim Rice 
 Isaac Gleason 
 John Graues 
 John Grout 
 James Ross 
 Tho 3 ffrinke 
 Geron Jennison 
 Ebe r Rice 
 Sam 11 Allin 
 Jon 1 Rice 
 Joseph Gleason J r 
 John abbutt 
 John Adams 
 Sam 11 King 
 Jon' Griffin 
 Ephraim Curtiss 
 John Loker 
 Tho 8 Moore 
 
 After hearing both petition and remonstrance, the Court 
 ordered that a committee should be sent, and report what 
 the case required. This committee was made up of Capt. 
 Samuel Checkley, [Capt.] Thomas Oliver, and Capt. Jonas 
 Bond. These parties " were to join with such as the hon- 
 
288 HTSTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ourable board should nominate, and they were to go upon 
 the parish and hear what was for or against, notifying the 
 town at least a week beforehand." John Phillips and Joseph 
 Lynde, Esq., were named a committee of the board for the 
 office aforesaid, and the petitioners were to pay the charges 
 of the committee. The report of these parties was rendered 
 May 13, 1708. It was in substance, that they considered 
 " the thing was necessary to be done, but their opinion is, 
 that now by reason of the [grievous] times not so conven- 
 i:\nt." 
 
 But the petitioners were not to be baffled by an answer 
 like this. Accordingly, again they presented their case by 
 another petition, dated May 26, 1708-9. This second peti- 
 tion sets forth the case thus : — 
 
 The Humble Petition of Several of the Inhabitants of the town of Sud- 
 bury, on the west side of the River. 
 To Court session assembled May 26* 170| showeth that your Peti- 
 tioners lately by their Petition to the Great and General Assembly, rep- 
 resented the hardships & Difficulties they Labored when by reason of 
 their distance from the meeting house and the difficulty of getting over 
 the water and Some times Impossibility, there being three hundred and 
 sixty five on that side and sometimes in the winter not one of them can 
 possibly go to meeting, the East and West sides are Equal in their pay- 
 ments to the minister and therefore praying they might be made a Pre- 
 cinct and have a meeting house and minister of their side of the River, 
 wherupon the petition was refered to a committee who upon Considera- 
 tion of the premises (as your petitioners are Informed) have made a 
 Report to this Great and General assembly that the thing was necessary 
 to be done, but their opinion is that now by reason of Troublesome 
 Times not so Conveniant. 
 
 Your [Petitioners] thereupon humbly pray that this great and General 
 assembly would please to Grant them the Prayer of their petition, that 
 they may be Empowered to build a meeting house and have a minister 
 settled on their side, in such time as to this Great and General Assem- 
 bly shall seem meet and Yo' Petitioners (and as in duty bound) shall 
 pray, John Brigham, John Balcom. In behalf of ye rest. 
 
 This petition was more successful, and obtained, in part 
 at least, what it sought ; and the following, read in council, 
 the 28th of May, 1708, and read a second time and concurred 
 in, June '24th, the same year, was ordered: — 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 289 
 
 Notwithstanding the present difficulties represented by the commit- 
 tee, If the Inhabitants on West side the River think themselves able to 
 Erect a meeting House and support a minister and shall present a Sub- 
 scription to this Court amounting to fifty pounds per annum for his 
 maintenance during the first seven years, 
 
 That then the Prayer of their Petition be Granted, to bee a Parish or 
 Precinct by themselves. And that they have liberty to erect a meeting 
 house for the Public worship of God, and to invite and procure a Learned 
 Orthodox minister of good conversation to preach to them. 
 
 Always Saving Inviolate, and in no ways Infringing the Contract and 
 agreement of the Town made with Mr. Loring, the present minister, and 
 his maintenance, to be duly paid him accordingly, until the Town in 
 General shall make other Provision or the Court take further Order. 
 
 But, although the petitioners received permission to build 
 a, meeting-house, years elapsed before they availed themselves 
 of the privilege. Meanwhile the subject was more or less 
 agitated. Various measures for the adjustment of matters 
 were proposed, and failed. At one time there was action by 
 the town, at another by the Court. In 1712-13 there was a 
 town-meeting, " to see if the town will do any thing to bring 
 the house into y e center of y e town, or within a quarter of a 
 mile of y e centre, or as near y e centre as may be conveniant, 
 y e town of Sudbury being seven miles long, and y e meeting 
 house as it now standeth but about a mile and half from 
 y e east end of said town." 
 
 In December, 1715, a committee was appointed by the 
 Court, who assigned a place for the meeting-house. Tradi- 
 tion states that a spot about a mile northeasterly of Sudbury 
 Centre, and not far from the Thomas Plympton estate, was 
 once designed for the meeting-house. This may have been 
 the place assigned by the committee of 1715. In 1720 the 
 town voted to remain an entire town ; to have a meeting- 
 house on the west side of the river sufficiently large to 
 accommodate all, and to have it built at or near the Gravel 
 Pit. 
 
 June 9, 1721, it was ordered by the General Court that 
 "a new meeting house be erected, built, and finished upon 
 the place assigned by a committee assigned by y e s d Court, in 
 Dec. 1715, and that y e old meeting house be put into good 
 repair." At a town-meeting, Dec. 26, 1721, held at the house 
 
290 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 of Mr. George Pitts, it was agreed " to grant 24 pounds for 
 preaching for the present on the westerly side of the river." 
 It was also decided at that meeting to choose a committee to 
 present a petition to the General Court, "that y e west side 
 inhabitants may have liberty to place their meeting house on 
 y e rocky plaine ; " which request was granted. 
 
 The preliminary work of forming two parochial precincts 
 was now completed; it only remained to adjust ecclesiastical 
 relations to the new order of things, and provide whatever 
 was essential to its success. The church was to be divided, 
 ministers secured, and a meeeting-house built. All these 
 came about in due time. After the decision, in December, 
 
 1721, "to have the preaching of the word amongst us," and 
 the granting of money to meet the expense, Rev. Mr. Minot 
 waslnvited to preach six Sabbaths in the west precinct. It 
 may be that about this time Mr. Loring preached some on 
 the west side, since on the town debt, as recorded April 9, 
 
 1722, there stands this statement : " To Mr. Israel Loring to 
 y e supporting y e ministry on both [sides] y e river in Sud- 
 bury 80. 0. 0." 
 
 But more permanent arrangements were soon made. On 
 the 6th of June, 1722, they extended a call to Rev. Israel 
 Loring, and offered "£100 for his settlement." July 10, Mr. 
 Loring responded to the invitation in the following words : 
 « To the Inhabitants of the west Precinct in Sudbury : I 
 accept of the kind invitation you have given me to come 
 over and settle and be the minister of the Westerly Pre- 
 cinct." A few days after the above invitation the east side 
 invited him to remain with them, and took measures to pro- 
 vide for "their now settled minister, Mr. Israel Loring." 
 The day after replying to the first invitation, he wrote to 
 the east side people informing them of his decision to leave 
 them and settle in the west precinct. Mr. Loring moved to 
 the west side, July 25, 1723. (Steams' Collection.) He 
 lived about a mile toward the north part of the town, m 
 what was afterwards an old red house, on the William Hunt 
 place that was torn down some years since. He subse- 
 quently lived at the centre, on what is known as the 
 Wheeler Haynes place. 
 
THE LORING PARSONAGE, Sudbury Centre. 
 
HISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 291 
 
 The church records by Mr. Loring state as follows: " Feb. 
 11, 1723. The church met at my house, where, after the 
 brethren on the east side had manifested their desire that 
 the church might be divided into two churches, it was so 
 voted by majority." At the time of the division of the 
 church, the number of communicants on the west side was 
 thirty-two males and forty-two females. (Stearns' Collec- 
 tion.) The Church Records went into the possession of the 
 West Parish. On March 18, 1724-5, the west side people 
 "entered into and renewed" a "holy church covenant," to 
 which were subscribed the following names : — 
 
 Israel Loring David Haynes. 
 
 Hopestill Brown Peter Plympton. 
 
 James Haynes Sen' Noah Clap 
 
 John Clap Sem Ephraim Pratt 
 
 Thomas Read Sen' Joseph Noyes 
 
 Peter Haynes. John Moore. 
 
 Benjaman Wright, Daniel Estabrooke 
 
 Joseph Goodenow Hopestill Brown Jun. 
 
 John Rice, James Craige, 
 
 Samuel Willis. Joseph Brown. 
 
 Thomas Read Jun. Jonah Haynes. 
 
 John Brigham, Micah Stone. 
 
 John Haynes. Ebenezer Dakin. out of town. 
 
 David Parmenter, John Clap Jr. 
 
 Joseph Gibbs, dismissed, Peter Noyes, 
 
 David Maynard. James Haynes. 
 
 While ecclesiastical matters were in process of adjustment 
 on the West side, they were progressing towards a settlement 
 on the East side also. It is stated that the East Precinct 
 was organized June 25, 1722. (Temple.) When the effort 
 to secure the services of Mr. Loring proved futile, a call was 
 extended to Rev. William Cook, a native of Hadley, Mass., 
 and a graduate of Harvard College. The call being accepted, 
 Mr. Cook was ordained March 20, 1723, and continued their 
 pastor until his death, Nov. 12, 1760. (See period 1750- 
 1775.) The town granted eighty pounds to support preach- 
 ing on both sides of the river for half a year. 
 
292 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 NEW MEETING-HOUSES. 
 
 An important matter in connection with the new order of 
 things was the erection of new meeting-houses. This work 
 received prompt attention. "At a town meeting January 
 2' 7 - 172§ the town granted five hundred pounds to build a 
 new meeting house on the west side, and repair the old one 
 on the east side, three hundred and eighty pounds for the 
 new and one hundred and twenty pounds for the repairing 
 the old on the east side." The sum for repairing the old 
 house was at a subsequent meeting made one hundred and 
 fifty pounds. That this grant of the town was followed up 
 by speedy action is indicated by the following receipt, dated 
 Sudbury, May 31, 1725: — 
 
 Received of Deacon Noah Clap treasurer for the town of Sudbury, 
 ten pounds four shillings and four pence, in full of all accounts relating 
 to the building of the new meeting house in the west precinct of said 
 
 SU Thi7'ten pounds, four shillings, and four pence, and former receipts 
 of money, making the sum of four hundred pounds, we say received 
 ° -' ° Abraham Wood, 
 
 by us - Joseph Dakin. 
 
 The meeting-house in the West Precinct was placed on 
 the site of the present Unitarian Church in Sudbury Center. 
 The location was probably selected because central to the 
 inhabitants of the West Precinct. The following town rec- 
 ord is interesting, not only because it relates to the location 
 of the meeting-house, but to other familiar landmarks in the 
 vicinity : — 
 
 Sudbury. June 12: 1725. laid out to the right of Brian t Pendleton, 
 sixteen acres and one hundred and forty rods on and adjoining to the 
 pine Hill, near to and Northwesterly of the meeting house on Rocky 
 Plain in the west precinct in said Sudbury, southerly partly by a h,gh- 
 vav or road leading from Pantry towards Mr. Wood's mills (at South 
 Sudbury), along by said meeting house, partly by land laid out for a 
 buying place and accommodations for and about said meeting house 
 and part v by Lancaster road, westerly by land claimed by the Grouts 
 and northerly bounded by land claimed by James Craig, In part and 
 partly by land claimed by the Maynards, and easterly bounded by said 
 Maynards land. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 293 
 
 There is no evidence that when the West side meeting- 
 house was built there was so much as a humble hamlet at 
 Rocky Plain. The presence there at that time of a single 
 house is all that is indicated by tradition or record. In sev- 
 eral instances the records state something about " y e new 
 house on rocky plain." In May, 1722, there was a town- 
 meeting at the new house on Rocky Plain. Oct. 11, 1722, 
 "a meeting was held at the new house on rocky plain" to 
 attend to matters relating to a new meeting-house. The 
 first town-meeting that was held in the new church edifice 
 was on Aug. 5, 1723. At that time it was voted to have the 
 warnings for town-meetings for the future posted on both 
 sides of the river at the two houses of worship. 
 
 Near the spot selected for the meeting-house was the 
 burying-ground set apart by " y e Proprietors of y e undivided 
 lands " in 1716-17. (See p. 121.) This reservation may 
 have influenced the people in the selection of Rocky Plain 
 for the new meeting-house ; and the erection of the meeting- 
 house there probably determined the location of the central 
 village of the West Precinct, and in later years of the town 
 of Sudbury. Furthermore, if the town at this time had 
 decided to remain one parish, and erected a meeting-house 
 near the Gravel Pit, for the accommodation of all, the prin- 
 cipal village would have been gathered in that locality, and 
 the town might have remained undivided to this day. 
 
 After the setting off of the West parish, it was considered 
 advisable to move the East side meeting-house nearer the 
 centre of the East Precinct. Jan. 29, 1721-2, "the town by 
 a vote showed its willingness and agreed to be at the charge 
 to pull down y e old meeting house and remove it south and 
 set it up again." At the same meeting they chose a com- 
 mittee to petition the General Court for permission. In a 
 paper dated Dec. 28, 1724, and signed by Mr. Jennison, 
 Zechariah Heard, and Phineas Brintnal, it is stated that they 
 were " the committee who pulled down and removed the old 
 meeting house in the East Precinct of Sudbury." About 
 1725 was recorded the following receipt: "Received of Mr. 
 John Clap, late treasurer of the town of Sudbury, the sum 
 of four hundred pounds in full, granted by said town to 
 
294 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 carry on the building of a meeting house in the East Pre- 
 cinct in said town. We say received by us, Joshua Haynes, 
 Ephraira Curtis, John Noyes, Samuel Graves, Jonathan Rice, 
 Committee." This building was located at what is now 
 Wayland Centre, on the corner lot just south of the old 
 Town House. The town instructed the committee "to make 
 it as near as they can like the new house in the West Pre- 
 cinct, except that the steps " are to be hansomer : " it was 
 also to have the same number of pews. There is on record 
 the following description of material used for one of the pul- 
 pits, together with the price : — 
 
 Seaming fringe = 10 = 
 
 4 Tassels. 1 — 4 = 
 
 2 yards very fine Silk Plush 2 = = 0. 
 
 If yds Tickn for the Cush" = 7=7. 
 
 4 lbs. finest feathers, a. § 3 : = 11 = 3. 
 
 Making Cushn Pill & filling = 1 = 6. 
 
 Thus at last both precincts were provided with new meet- 
 ing-houses, and a matter was settled that had occasioned 
 much interest and more or less activity for nearly a quarter 
 of a century. Doubtless participants in the affair at the 
 beginning and during its progress had passed away, and 
 before its settlement worshipped in a temple not made with 
 hands, whose Builder and Maker is God. The intercourse 
 between the two precincts was pleasant, and for a while the 
 ministers exchanged once a month. For years the salaries 
 of the two pastors were equal, and again and again is there a 
 receipt on the town book for eighty pounds for each. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1700-1725. 
 
 Queen Anne's War; Attendant Hardships. — Father Ralle's War; East- 
 ern Expedition, List of Sudbury Soldiers. — Ranger Service; Its 
 Nature.— Death of Samuel Mossman.— Imperilled Condition of Rut- 
 land. — Death of Rev. Joseph Willard by the Indians. — Petition 
 for Assistance. — List of Sudbury Soldiers at Rutland. — Captain 
 Wright's Letter. — Lieut. William Brintnall ; His Letter.— Province 
 Loans. — River Meadow. — Causeway. — Roads. — Miscellaneous. 
 
 Straggling rangers, worn with dangers, 
 Homeward faring, weary strangers 
 
 Pass the farm-gate on their way ; 
 Tidings of the dead and living, 
 Forest march and ambush giving, 
 Till the maidens leave their weaving, 
 
 And the lads forget their play. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 While ecclesiastical matters were in process of adjust- 
 ment in Sudbury, and business was being transacted to fur- 
 ther the blessed gospel of peace, the community was again 
 stirred by the rude sounds of strife. The red hand of war 
 was once more outstretched for destruction, and requisitions 
 for both material and men were again made on the New 
 England towns. The first war of the period was Queen 
 Anne's, so called from Anne of Denmark, who had ascended 
 the throne of Great Britain. It was waged between England 
 and France, and, like that of King William, continued about 
 ten years. The province, to an extent, conducted the war by 
 campaigns. In 1704, Col. Benjamin Church marched to make 
 an attack on Acadia. He commanded a force of about five 
 hundred men, and designed also to attack the Indians of the 
 
 295 
 
296 IirSTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Penobscot and Passamaquody. In 1710 an expedition was 
 formed, commanded by General Nicholson, which recovered 
 Port Royal. In 1711 a campaign was arranged for the cap- 
 ture of Quebec. For these, and other warlike undertakings, 
 the resources of the provincial towns were drawn upon ; and 
 the taxation, deprivation, and loss attendant on these succes- 
 sive drafts became a grievous burden. 
 
 During these years Sudbury had its part to bear. Although, 
 being removed from the border it did not suffer attack, it 
 had "seasons of suspense. In 1706 it was rumored that a 
 large force was coming to New England ; and Chelmsford, 
 Groton, and Sudbury were alarmed. The next year the 
 enemy approached Groton and Marlboro, but still left Sud- 
 bury unmolested. The town is mentioned in a province 
 resolve of May, 1704-5, where it is ordered » that such and 
 so many of the soldiers enlisted in the military companies 
 and troops within the respective towns and districts herein 
 after named, shall each of them at [his] own charge be pro- 
 vided with a pair of good serviceble snow shoes, mogginsons, 
 at or before the tenth of November this present year, which 
 they shall keep in good repair and fit for the service;' 
 (State Archives, Vol. I., p. 247.) 
 
 The testimony of the town concerning the hardship ot 
 the period is given in a protest before quoted, in which the 
 people set forth, as a reason why the parish should not be 
 divided, "the Vast Expenses which the present wars and 
 expeditions attending the same calls and may call for." 
 
 Peace came in 1713, by the treaty made at Utrecht, and 
 for a time the land had rest. 
 
 But the cessation of Indian hostilities that followed Queen 
 Anne's War and the Peace of Utrecht was not long contin- 
 ued. The war-path was soon again to be trod by the savage, 
 and his freshly made trail was to be followed by the white 
 man to bring back the captives or recover the spoil. The 
 cause of the second war of this period was the encroachments 
 of the savage tribes in the east. The Indians in the eastern 
 part of the province (Maine), instigated, as is supposed, by 
 the Governor General of Canada, and by the Jesuits coming 
 among them, sought to prevent English inhabitants from a 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 297 
 
 reoccupation of the former settlements. For this object, 
 the Cape Sable and Penobscot Indians joined with the tribes 
 of the Kennebeck and Saco. 
 
 This savage alliance meant hardship to the frontier whites. 
 Predatory bands of the foe lurked in the dark woodlands, 
 and parts of the province were again kept on the watch. 
 Sudbury was in no instance assailed, but its soldiers did ser- 
 vice in other parts. It had men in the eastern expedition, 
 which was fitted out in 1724, to operate against the Indians 
 on the Kennebeck. Upon this river, at Norridgewock, there 
 was an Abenaki village, which had been to the English a 
 source of trouble, and it was determined to destroy it. 
 When the troops arrived, the place was found in an 
 unguarded condition. Ralle, the Jesuit missionary, who 
 had been the chief instigator of the Indian atrocities, fell 
 dead in the furious affray. The chiefs Mogg and Bomazeen 
 also perished, and the tribe was vanquished. Among the 
 soldiers in the eastern expedition are the following, who 
 were in three different companies : — 
 
 Elijah Willis, Jas. Maynard, 
 
 Isaac Rice, Barth° Stephenson, 
 
 John Gould, Sargent, Joseph Woodward, 
 
 John Barker, Clerk, Nathan Walker. 
 Thomas Gates. 
 
 (State Archives, Vol. XCIII., pp. 131-46) 
 
 RANGER SERVICE. 
 
 Sudbury rendered the country service, not only by its sol- 
 diers in the conspicuous campaign, but also by its rangers 
 in a less ostensible service, made up of such marchings and 
 scoutings as helped to harass and hinder the foe. They 
 ranged the frontier as a faithful border guard, and stood 
 between homestead and savage invaders, who lurked ready 
 to swoop down on the defenseless home, and make captive 
 or kill the inmates. 
 
 In this service one of the Sudbury men lost his life under 
 peculiarly sad and touching circumstances. Says the narra- 
 tor: "At evening one of our men viz: Samuel Mossman of 
 
298 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Sudbury, being about encamping, took hold of his gun that 
 stood among some Bushes, drew it towards him with the 
 muzzle towards him, some Twigg caught' hold of the Cock, 
 the Gun went off and shot him through, he died immedi- 
 ately " (Letter of John White to the authorities. State 
 Archives, Vol. LXXIL, p. 230.) Thus a lone grave in the 
 wilderness was prepared for a soldier of Sudbury. What 
 other instances of accident, hardship, and loss may have been 
 sustained in service like this, there are none now to relate ; 
 but the very nature of this border warfare is suggestive of 
 hardship, of hair-breadth escapes, of exposure to wilderness 
 perils, to rough weather and the tricks of a wary foe. 
 
 One place in which Sudbury soldiers did valuable service 
 at this time was Rutland. This town was frontier territory, 
 and for thirty years had suffered more or less from savage 
 incursions. As has been noticed, it was settled largely by 
 people from Sudbury (see Chap. IX.); and naturally the 
 town would be interested in their kinsmen or former citi- 
 
 zens 
 
 About the time of which we write, several of the inhabi- 
 tants had been killed or captured. Among the former was 
 their minister, Rev. Joseph Willard. The circumstances at- 
 tending this death were peculiarly sad. Mr. Willard had 
 been called to the ministry of the Rutland church, and 
 was to have been ordained in the fall. One day in August. 
 beino- out with his gun hunting, or to collect fodder for his 
 cattfe he was suddenly beset by two Indians. They fired 
 upon him, but without effect. He returned the fire, wound- 
 ing one of them; the other closed in for a hand-to-hand 
 fight when three more Indians came to his assistance, and 
 together they gained the mastery, and killed and scalped 
 
 their victim. 
 
 Such was the exposed condition of the early settlers at 
 Rutland in this gloomy period. February, 1724-5, they sent 
 a petition to Governor Dummer for help, in which they 
 stated that -the summer previous they laboured under great 
 difficulty & hardship by reason of the war with the Indian 
 enemy, and not being able to raise their corn and other pro- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 299 
 
 visions, so that they were obliged to travel near twenty miles 
 for the same, and purchase it at a very dear rate, which ren- 
 der it very difficult to subsist themselves and their families, 
 more especially ye soldiers posted there." They desired that 
 more might be added to the five soldiers already allowed 
 them. 
 
 This indicates the imperilled condition of the place. Pred- 
 atory bands were lurking about it. The woodlands were a 
 covert from which the savage might suddenly, sally, and in 
 whose dark forest retreat he might safely secure his prey. 
 At any time the people might suffer attack. Their harvest, 
 their homes, their households, were alike liable to be devas- 
 tated and swept away. But strong men were sent to defend 
 them, stoat hearts were soon there ; and to a large extent 
 these came from the town of Sudbury. Again and again 
 were detachments sent from the place. Some of the soldiers 
 for this service were under the command of Capt. Samuel 
 Willard. In his journal he speaks of mustering at the town 
 of Lancaster one day, and moving on to Rutland the next; 
 of laying by in foul weather, of marching back and forth 
 through the country, and of seeing and following the signs 
 of Indians. The service spoken of was from July to August, 
 1725. In the course of his narrative he speaks of William 
 Brintnall being sick, and of David How being lame, both 
 of whom he sent home. (State Archives, Vol. XXXVIII., 
 pp. 109, 110.) These two men were soldiers from Sudbury. 
 Another commander under whom the Sudbury soldiers served 
 was Capt. Samuel Wright. (See p. 170.) On a muster-roll 
 of Captain Wright, read in Council, June 17, 1724, are the 
 following names of Sudbury men who had served for several 
 months : — 
 
 Daniel How, Lieut. Hugh Ditson, 
 
 Corp. Joseph Bennet, W«> Thompson, 
 
 John Norcross, Gentl. Jon* Stanhope, 
 
 Isaac Gibbs, Daniel Bowker. 
 
 Amnill Weeks, servant to Samuel Stevens. 
 
 In another muster-roll, consented to in 1724, are the fol- 
 lowing names: Samuel How, Sergt. Joseph Bennet, Corp. 
 
300 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Hugh Ditson, William Thompson, John Ross, son to James 
 Ross, Amnil Weeks, servant to Samuel Stevens. In another 
 muster-roll of Captain Wright, examined in 1725, are the 
 names of Serg. Daniel How, Mark Voice [Vose], Daniel 
 Mackdonald, Richard Burk. Other rolls examined in 1725 
 have the names of Daniel Bowker, Abner Cutler, Charles 
 Adams, Elias Parmenter, and Pegin, a Natic Indian. (State 
 Archives, Vol. XCI.) 
 
 It was in the year 1724 that an occurence took place which 
 shows the perils of the times, and the nature of the service 
 to which our rangers were called. Says Captain Wright in 
 a letter to the Court : — 
 
 These are to inform your Honors that what I feared is come upon us 
 for want [of men] to guard us at our work, this day about 12 o'clock five 
 men and a boy [were] making hay in the middle of the town. 
 
 A number of Indians surrounded them and shot first at the boy which 
 alarmed the men, who ran for their guns, but the Indians shot upon 
 them, and kept them from their guns, and shot down three of the men 
 and wounded another in the arm, who got home, the fifth got home with- 
 out any damage. 
 
 The men that are killed are James Clark, Joseph Wood, Uriah Ward, 
 the boy missing is James Clark. 
 
 (State Archives, Vol. LXXII.) 
 
 This matter-of-fact report of Captain Wright is vividly 
 suggestive of the nature of that period. The border settle- 
 ments knew not when they were safe. There was poor 
 encouragement to sow if a foe might destroy the harvest 
 or keep the husbandman from its safe ingathering. Yet 
 so it was. Spring with its sunshine and showers might 
 warm and mellow the soil, the field be well sown, the mid- 
 summer ripen the crops, and the time of harvest promise 
 gladness and plenty. A noontide stillness rests on the fruit- 
 ful fields. The warm, mellow haze of the early autumnal 
 day enwraps nature about, and the landscape is tranquil in 
 the mild air of a New England Fall. All is quiet, save for 
 the motion of the busy harvesters as, moving about amid the 
 rustling maize, they cut the stalks or gather the corn. But 
 the whole scene may suddenly change ; like the haymakers 
 mentioned by Captain Wright, so these harvesters, all uncon- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 301 
 
 scions of what is near, may be startled by the rushing of sav- 
 age feet, and, before they can make any defense, be slain or 
 carried captive to a far-off place. 
 
 Before the service closed, William Brintnall, whose name 
 has been prominent on the muster-lists, was assigned to the 
 leadership of the little company who was to guard Rutland, 
 going there as lieutenant. The following is a letter written 
 by him to the Governor : — 
 
 Rutland, August 19th 1725. 
 Honored sr. After my duty to you presented, these are to inform 
 your Honors, that by virtue of the Order I received from you to go to 
 Rutland in quest of the Indian Enimies, and Scout about the meadow, 
 with twelve volunteers, I have accordingly obeyed said orders, by having 
 the twelve men, Eight of which are Capt. Willard's men, and Four who 
 I Enlisted and came to Rutland with these on friday Last, and have 
 Ever since scouted and guarded the meadow, for ye people in their get- 
 ting of hay, we have discovered no signs of Indians as yet, but Expect 
 them dayly, for Ensign Stephens is arrived with his son from Canada, 
 and saith that ye [there] was a company designed for New England, 
 when he came from Canada, he intends to be at Boston with your 
 Honor on Monday next, all at present. I remain your Honor's Ever 
 Devoted Lieut. VV" Brintnall. 
 
 The new men who I enlisted are 
 
 Sam"" Goodenow, Paul Brintnall, 
 
 Benj. Dudley, Jonathan Bent. 
 
 Capt. Willard's men are 
 
 William Brintnall, Joshua Parker, 
 
 Danei How, Jacob Moore, 
 
 Cyprian Wright, James Nutting, 
 
 Deliv« Brooks, Thomas Lamb. 
 (State Archives, Vol. LXXIL, p. 258.) 
 
 According to the muster-roll of Sergeant Brintnall, he and 
 his company of volunteers served from Aug. 17, 1725. Their 
 pay was four shillings per day, the time of service ten weeks 
 and two days, and their duty to serve as a guard about Rut- 
 land. William Brintnall taught school in Sudbury shortly 
 before his enlistment in the above service. On the town 
 book is the following record: " Received of the Constable of 
 Sudbury, by order of the town Treasurer, all that was Due 
 to me for keeping the school in the year 1722: 172o: 1724. 
 Signed per William Brintnall Sudbury, Sept. 8, 1~^'>." 
 
302 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ( )ne of the last prominent military acts of this period was 
 the disastrous defeat of John Love well: of D unstable, by the 
 Pigwackets, at the present town of Fryeburg, Me. At about 
 this date the tribes ceased hostilities. For a time the war- 
 path was abandoned, and it was again safe for the defense- 
 less traveller to take the forest trail. 
 
 PROVINCE LOANS. 
 
 Ill order to meet the exigencies of the times, in the year 
 1721 the General Court issued a loan to the amount of fifty 
 thousand pounds. This was to be distributed among- the 
 several provincial towns, in what were called bills of credit. 
 The distribution was according to the taxes paid by the 
 towns, and was to be returned to the public treasury within 
 a certain length of time. That Sudbury took her share of 
 the loan is indicated by several payments which were suc- 
 cessively made and a record of receipts received. Of these 
 the following is a specimen : — 
 
 Boston August 2 : 17-20. 
 Received of the Trustees of the town of Sudbury by Mr. Daniel 
 Haynes, one hundred and one pounds, twelve shillings, being the first 
 fifth part of their proportion to the /,"50,000. Loan. 
 
 Per. Allen, Treasurer. 
 
 From time to time other fifths were paid, and receipts ren- 
 dered therefor, until Aug. 12, 1730, when the last fifth was 
 paid, and a receipt in full was received. The loan of 1721 
 was followed by another a few years later to the amount 
 of sixty thousand pounds. The order authorizing it was en- 
 acted in 1728, and was called "an act for raising and settling 
 public revenues for and defraying the necessary charges <>f 
 the government by an emission of <£60,000 in bills of credit."' 
 (Felt's " Historical Account of Massaehusetts Currency, 
 p. 84.) Sudbury had a share in this loan also. 
 
 While the attention of the people in this period was largely 
 engrossed with educational, ecclesiastical, and military mat- 
 ters, the regular, routine business of the town was not neg- 
 lected. Aug. 11, 1702, "it was voted, that the Towne would 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 303 
 
 send a pettione to the general cort concerning our River 
 meadows, that are much damnified by reason of many stop- 
 pages, that the Generall Cort would ease us of our tax, or 
 choose a committee to see if it may be helpt, the pettione to 
 be sined in the name of the towne." This vote was carried 
 out, and a petition was sent to the Court jointly by Concord 
 and Sudbury. In it they state that they had sustained — 
 
 Grate damage by reason of the water lying on sd meadow whereby 
 tl. zy are much straitened and incapacited to bear Town and county 
 charges, and maintain of their families, and something hath been done 
 in order to the Lowering of the water by Removing Rocks and bars of 
 sand, and formerly there hath been a committe sent up by the general 
 court to view the sd meadow, and they have found the stoppage of water 
 may be cleared, but by reason of different apprehensions it hath Layne 
 ever since, we therefore humbly pray the Hon* Court that it impower a 
 committee to see that the work be done forthwith, that so the present 
 opportunity may not be neglected, and to set us a way that those persons 
 concerned in sd meadow may beare an equal proportion in sd work. 
 The court resolved to appoint a committee of persons in Concord, Sub- 
 bury and Billerica fully empowered to order and determine what may be 
 necessary for clearing sd meadow. 
 
 In 1710 the town voted to petition the General Court to 
 make the long causeway "a county road." Feb. 22, 1714-15, 
 it was requested "to see what method the town will take for 
 mending and raising the causeway from the Town Bridge to 
 Lieut. Daniel Haynes." On June 2, 1720, it was requested 
 "to see if the town will raise the causeway from the Gravel 
 pit as far as Capt. Haynes'es old place, proportionally to the 
 aforesaid Long Causeway when mended." 
 
 Feb. 25, 1714-15, the town ordered that it would choose 
 a committee of three men to join with Concord to view the 
 obstructions and stopages in the great river. 
 
 In 1723-4 a way was laid out from Lanham to the west 
 meeting-house. According to the records, " the latter part 
 of said way, bounded as follows, viz. through the ministerial 
 land, near the southwesterly corner, and so on, something 
 northwesterly. From thence it went, in a straight line, to 
 Nathaniel Rice's, and so northerly, to the highway leading 
 to Lancaster, near the new meeting house." It is now 
 known as the Old Graves Road, so called from a house 
 
304 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 which stood just south of the Old Lancaster Road, at its 
 intersection with this one. 
 
 Dec. 14, 1715, the town voted that "there be a horse 
 bridge built on Assabeth river : : : and that the selectmen 
 do order that ye bridge be erected and built over assabath 
 river between ye land of Timothy Gilson and Thomas Burt's 
 land." In 1717-18 the town voted that it would have " a 
 New bridge built over Sudbury river where the old bridge 
 now stands, at the end of the long Causeway." 
 
 About 1715 a statement is made in relation to three pounds 
 for providing " a burying cloth, for ye towns use." 
 
 In 1722 there is reference to two padlocks, — one for the 
 pound, another for the stocks, — indicating that the unruly 
 were subject to restraint and discipline. 
 
 May 13, 1723, it was voted to choose a committee to pre- 
 sent a petition to the General Court "to prevent y e stopage 
 of y e fish in Concord and Sudbury river." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1725-1750. 
 
 Highways. — Bridges. — Schools. — Movement for a New Township; 
 Remonstrances. — Petition Relating to the River Meadows. — Sale 
 of Peter Noyes's Donation of the Hop Brook Mill. — Gratuities to 
 the Ministers. — -Miscellaneous Matters. 
 
 The years with change advance. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 The period upon which we now enter was an eventful 
 one throughout the whole country. Three governors, Bur- 
 nett, Belcher, and Shirley, bore rule. Burnett died in 1729, 
 Belcher left office in 1740, and Shirley entered upon the 
 office in 1741. During the latter part of this period war 
 again called to the front the provincial forces, and the 
 towns were to hear its stern voice and to feel its rude 
 shock. Before, however, the season of strife set in, there 
 was a brief season of peace. During this respite the town 
 made advancement. The tokens of increasing prosperity 
 were manifest in the construction of highways and bridges, 
 and the attention given to miscellaneous matters. 
 
 HIGHWAYS. 
 
 Of these improvements we will notice, first, those relating 
 to highways. This subject had more prominence than in the 
 preceding period, the reasons for which are obvious ; as time 
 passed on new clearings were made upon which to locate 
 new homes, and new homes perhaps demanded new roads. 
 The last period was one of war ; new facilities may have 
 been postponed till better times. Furthermore, the forma- 
 tion of the west precinct doubtless called for new roads. 
 With a meeting-house at Rocky Plain, and a community 
 beginning to gather, new paths were to be opened to it. 
 
 305 
 
306 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 In 1785-6 a way is mentioned as "beginning at Marl- 
 borough n»;ul, at Mr. Abraham Woods shop until it comes 
 to Lieut. John Haynes." About the same time is the state- 
 ment of a change of highway from Whale's Bridge over 
 Pine Plain (Wayland), a part of which way is spoken of .in 
 connection with Jonathan Grout's land. In 173(5 a new 
 highway is spoken of over Pine Brook at John Grout's. 
 In 1733 the town accepted of a road "laid out by Samuel 
 Dakins to Concord line, and so into the road leading to Stow 
 by Mr. Jonathan Browns in sd town." Also at the same 
 meeting "a way for the upper end of little Gulf at Mr. 
 Samuel Noyes land by David Maynards to Pantry Bridge." 
 In 1734 a way was laid out "from Landham to Sudbury part 
 of the way to go through the land of John Goodnow and 
 part land of Isaac Reed." About 1735-6 a way is spoken of 
 "from Landham to the Clay pits on the east side of Paul 
 Brintnal's barn." During this period " Zackriah Hurd was 
 to make a new way lastly laid out by John Grout's by a 
 Jury," "a substantial, passable County Road." In 1742 a 
 highway was "accepted for the County road by the town 
 bridge to Sedge meadow." The next year Eliab Moore was 
 allowed "to set up gates or bars and fence from the highway 
 leading from the town bridge to Sedge meadow." Towards 
 the end of the period a highway is spoken of " from Honey 
 Pot Brook through Jabez Puffer's land." In 1728 the town 
 accepted of a highway "from the centre road by the house 
 of Joseph Moore by the training field till it come into the 
 Concord road." In 1729-30 it was voted "to accept the 
 way laid out from Thomas Smiths to the west meeting 
 house." This was to go "through Pantry." In 1730 men- 
 tion is made of a way from "Non sidge round hill by Peter 
 Bent's into town." Also a highway is spoken of from 
 Lancaster road -beginning at Mr. Peter Plympton's land 
 leading into Gulf neck, by David Parmenters and Uriah 
 Wheelers, by the training field, and so into same road at 
 Lake end." * A way is also spoken of in 1720, in the east 
 precinct of Sudbury. " from Non Such Round hill to the 
 meeting house in said Precinct." In this period there is 
 mentioned a road "from the New bridge, by Mr. Joseph 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 307 
 
 Stones In sd Towne to the road leading to Framing-ham 
 by Mr. Benjamin Stones In sd town." 
 
 As might be expected, when so much attention was paid 
 to the highwa) r s, the causeways and bridges were not neg- 
 lected. In 1733 two men were to repair the bridge at the 
 east side of the causeway, " so as ye said butments may not 
 be washed down or be carried away by ye floods as in times 
 past." In 1785 new plank was provided "for the Grat bridg 
 at the East End of the Long Causewa." About 1743 a sub- 
 scription was made for a bridge between the land of "John 
 Haynes on the west side the river and John Woodward on 
 the east side the river, and Mr. Edward Sherman and John 
 Woodward, agreed, if the subscribers would erect the bridge, 
 to give a good and conveniant way, two rods wide through 
 their land." In 1747 Jonathan Rice rebuilt Lanham Bridge, 
 and received for the same five pounds. The next year there 
 is a record as follows : " To Matthew Gibbs for Rum & for 
 raising Landham Bridge 12 Shillings." In 1726-7 it was 
 voted to expend on the "long causeway from the town 
 bridge to the gravel pit one hundred pounds." In 1729 the 
 town voted to build a new bridge at the east end of the long 
 causeway. In connection with this record we have the two 
 following of about the same date: that "part of the effects 
 of the old meeting house " was to be paid toward the build- 
 ing of the bridge over Sudbury River. The other is this 
 report of the committee chosen by the town to build a 
 bridge at the eastern end of the long causeway: "To David 
 Baldwin for frame of Bridge, 37 pounds. To twelve men to 
 raise said bridge, who went into ye water 3 pounds." Other 
 items were given, among which is this: "For Drink &c. 
 5 s l d ." (Date, 1729.) On the town records, dated Nov. 28, 
 1730, is the following: " Received of the selectmen of said 
 town [Sudbury] four pounds and ten shillings in full dis- 
 charge for building a bridge for said town over the brook by 
 Mr. Abraham Woods in Sudbury [South Sudbury]. I say 
 received per John Goodnow." 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 During this period educational advantages were on the 
 g-ain. In 1732 a school-house was built on the east side. 
 
308 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 In 1735 the town voted thirty pounds for the support of 
 public schools. The next year the town granted twenty 
 pounds for the out-schooling in said town, three parts for 
 the west and two for the easl side of the river. In 1733 the 
 committee were instructed "not to exceed sixty pounds for 
 the schools ye year ensuing. 1 ' In 1734 it voted thirty pounds 
 for the grammar school in Sudbury; also voted that their 
 representative present a petition to the General Court in 
 behalf of the town for a school-farm in some of the unappro- 
 priated land. In 1734 it "granted 30 pounds to support 
 schools at the school house, and twenty pounds for and 
 towards schools in the out parts or quarters of s d town for 
 that year.' In 1735-6 Amos Smith asked to have the gram- 
 mar school removed into the several out-parts of the town 
 "for the futer;" but the town voted in the negative. In 
 1740 it was ordered that the grammar school should be kept 
 " in the five remote corners of the town, as it hath formerly 
 been from the 8 th day of December until ye end of October 
 next." In 1747 the town voted that the schools should be 
 kept at five places, "at the school house near Nathan Good- 
 now's, at that near Israel Mosses, and at or near the house 
 of Mr. Elijah Haynes, at or near the house of Dea. James 
 Brewer as can conveniantly Bee, and y e school belonging to 
 y e farm near Mr. Smiths." Thus former school privileges 
 were still kept up, while new opportunities were extended to 
 districts more remote. 
 
 MOVEMENT FOR A NEAV TOWNSHIP. 
 
 While the town was thus making perceptible progress, 
 and the tokens of wholesome prosperity were appearing here 
 and there, an occurrence arose which was thought to be por- 
 tentous of undesirable things. This was an attempt, in the 
 year 1739-40, by a portion of the Sudbury inhabitants to 
 colonize and become a new town. The movement was made 
 jointly by parties from Framingham, Sudbury, Marlboro, and 
 Stow. A petition was sent by them to the General Court, 
 March 14, 1739, in which they ask to be made a "separate 
 Township, invested with proper liberties and privileges, and 
 as such proposing our centre at a pine tree with a heap of 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 309 
 
 stones round it." The reasons they gave were that "we 
 have for a long time been greatly incommoded, and labored 
 undere great difficulties as to an attendance on ye means of 
 grace, publicldy dispensed, by reason of ye great distance 
 from ye place of ye public worship in ye towns to which we 
 respectively belong, some of our houses being three, four, 
 five and six miles therefrom, and ye roads very difficult espe- 
 cially at some seasons of ye year." They further state " we 
 apprehend ourselves capable by the blessing of Heaven on 
 our lawful endeavor to support ye charges y l may accrue." 
 This was signed by forty-three persons. The Court received 
 the petition, and by an act of the House of Representatives, 
 March 14, 1739, it was ordered that the petitioners "serve 
 the towns represented by it with a copy of the petition, that 
 they might be present at the next May session, and show 
 cause, if they had such, why it should not be granted." 
 (State Archives, Vol. XII., p. 137.) 
 
 Sudbury was duly represented at the appointed time. 
 The town voted, May, 19, 1740, "that Capt. John Haynes 
 & Mr. John Woodward Be a committee full}' impowered in 
 the town's behalf To go to the Great & General Court or 
 assembly to give our reasons why ye prayer of the Petition 
 of Sundry inhabitants of Sudbury, Framingham and Stow 
 should not be granted as set forth in the petition." When 
 the case was called up by the Court, the delegates in behalf 
 of the town presented the protest. In the document that 
 contains it they set forth several reasons why the petition of 
 David Howe and other inhabitants of Sudbury, Marlboro, 
 Framingham, and Stow, dated March 14, 1739, should not 
 be granted. They state that " there in an uncertainty " 
 about the petition ; that the town does not know what 
 damage it is likely to sustain by loss of population or land ; 
 that to weaken the town would tend to discourage the min- 
 isters, who have several times applied for more salary, which 
 would very readily be granted if the ability of the town would 
 admit of the same. They refer to the — 
 
 Very great charge that the town hath lately been at in building "J 
 meeting houses, 2 school houses, and settling 2 ministers together with 
 several great bridges and sundry long and difficult causeways, which 
 
310 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 with the continual accompanying changes of the said town, make the 
 burthen in a great measure insupportable on many of the inhabitants, 
 and if any should be taken from said town, it would make the burthen 
 still heavier. That the meeting house on the west side of Sudbury river 
 was placed by a committee of this Hon. Court, where the Petitioners 
 desired it, and that they signed to the place where the meeting house 
 now standeth with their own hands, and yet many of the inhabitants on 
 the west side of said River, live at a greater distance, from the west 
 meeting house than any of the Petitioners. The very great difficulties 
 that the town of Sudbury is under by reason of the floods that in the 
 summer season often overflow our meadows, and so damage our hay and 
 grain, that makes many of the inhabitants of said town so weak, that 
 instead of bearing charges in the town apply themselves for relief, all 
 which reasons and considerations lay the town of Sudbury under a 
 necessity of claiming those privileges granted to them by the Royal 
 Charter in the following words, viz. That all and any land, tenements, 
 hereditaments, and all other estate, which any person or persons, or bod- 
 ies, politic or Corporate Towns, do hold or enjoy or ought to hold and 
 enjoy, within the bounds aforesaid, by or under any grant or estate duly 
 made' or granted by any General Court formerly held, or by any other 
 lawful right oAitle whatever shall be by such Towns their Respective 
 Heirs, successors, assigns, forever hereafter held and enjoyed according 
 to the Import and patent of such respective grant. 
 
 We therefore pray this Hon. Court to take the Premises into ye wise 
 consideration and dismiss the before recited Petition, and so resting we 
 Crave leave to subscribe our Selves your Excellency's and Honors most 
 humble servants, who as in duty bound shall ever pray. 
 
 -v Committee 
 John Havnes ( 
 
 JOHN WOODWARD £ ^^ 
 
 A remonstance to the petition was also sent by the town 
 of Framingham, and the request of the petitioners for a new 
 township was not granted. 
 
 RIVER MEADOWS. 
 July 15, 1742, a petition was presented, signed by Israel 
 Loring and about seventy-five others, relating to the river 
 meadows. It was directed to His Excellency, William 
 Shirley, Esq., Captain General and Governor, and was as 
 follows : — 
 
 The petition of us who are the subscribers, who are the major part of 
 owners and propriters of the meadows lying upon the river called Con- 
 cord and Sudburv River, Humbly showeth, that wheras your petitioners 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 311 
 
 have and do often times suffer very great damages both in our hav as 
 well as our grass, by reason of the floods which hath and do very often 
 over flow and stand a long time upon our said meadows, and great cause 
 whereof as we humbly conceive in the many bars and stoppages which 
 are in the river, and sundry of these within the bounds of Concord and 
 Sudbury, whereof our humble request is that your Excellency and 
 Honors would be pleased to appoint for a relief, as in your great wis- 
 dom you shall think best, commissioners of sewers (as the law directs in 
 such causes) with full power to act and do for our relief what may be 
 thought by them in our case needful and necessary for the removal of 
 said bars and stoppages that are in the said river &c, all which is humbly 
 submitted, and your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray. (State 
 Archives, Vol. CV., p. 209.) 
 
 There was a further list of sixty-two names given in an 
 additional part, dated December, 1742, accompanied by a 
 statement that the signers did not have opportunity to sign 
 the first petition. 
 
 SALE OP HOP BROOK MILL. 
 
 In 1699 the town chose a committee to receive a donation 
 given by Mr. Peter Noyes, late of Sudbury, to the poor of 
 the town. This donation consisted of his mill. After the 
 town took possession of this property, it was leased for a 
 term of years to Mr. Abraham Wood. On the town record 
 is the following reason for granting this lease : — 
 
 Wheras the towne taking into consideration the gift that Ensign 
 Peter Noyes hath given to ye poore of our towne namely ye mills, com- 
 monly called by ye name of ye new mills, with ye lands and privilleges 
 belonging to ye same and being sensible that ye letting of it yearly, will 
 be a means to bring ye sd mills and housen to decay and in time utter 
 ruine, in which will be a great wrong to our poore, and that will not 
 answer ye end of ye (Townes) doner, Therefore in respect to both [him] 
 and our own good which is involved in ye same, we therefore by a vote, 
 grant liberty to them that are concerned as to ye disposal of said gift, to 
 dispose of it for years as they shall see cause for ye benefit and in behalf 
 of ye poore of ye towne of Sudbury. 
 
 March ye 19 th , 1700. This was passed into an act by ye towne by a 
 magger vote. 
 
 In 1728-9 it was voted to sell the mills, and give a deed 
 in the name of the town. The heirs of the donor had laid 
 claim to a considerable part of his gift ; a lawsuit had com- 
 
312 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 menced, and the town had voted money to defend the prop- 
 erty ; the town, therefore, voted to sell the same for the 
 sum of seven hundred pounds. The money was to he put 
 on interest for the use of the poor, and to be disposed of by 
 the selectmen and ministers. The property was purchased 
 by Messrs. Abraham Wood, Sen., and Abraham Wood, Jr. 
 The following record was made concerning the sale : " These 
 may certify that the subscribers, selectmen of the town of 
 Sudbury, have received the bonds or security given by Mr 
 Abraham Wood Sen. and Abraham Wood Jim. for seven 
 hundred pounds Province Bills, in full of and at the hands 
 of Noah Clapp, Uriah Wheeler, and John Hayns. Barin 
 date Mar. 13 th 1728 : 9." 
 
 In 1730-1 the town petitioned the General Court "that 
 the Great Bridge over Charles river may not be built, but a 
 ferry erected instead.'* 
 
 The four records following show the kindness the town 
 exercised towards its ministers: In 1733 it voted to give 
 Rev. Mr. Cook twenty pounds in money towards making up 
 for the loss of his barn, which it is said was agreeable to a 
 petition of some inhabitants of Sudbury; it also voted, at 
 the same meeting, to give the ministers a gratuity of forty 
 pounds each for the year ; in 1734 the town voted that Rev. 
 Mr. Minot should have five pounds for preaching three days 
 when Mr. Loring was lame ; in 1735 the ministers were to 
 have so much as to make their salaries, including the wood, 
 a hundred and fifty pounds each of them. 
 
 In 1739 an article was in the warrant " to see if the town 
 will grant money to provide more ammunition to the town s 
 
 stock." 
 
 In 1740 the town "voted to procure another meeting house 
 
 bell as good as the one they had." 
 
 In 1741 the following items were inserted in the town 
 In, ok: "To D r Roby for medicine administered to Frank. 
 ne :n> woman." "Granted ten pounds for cutting and clear- 
 in-' the brush growing or standing around the west meeting 
 house.*' Granted twenty pounds for the relief of the [poor 
 of the] town. "Granted to Joseph Muggins and Joseph 
 
THE WOODS OR ALLEN HOUSE. 
 The oldest house in South Sudbury, and the author's birthplace. 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 313 
 
 Goodnow, to take the care of, and sweep the meeting houses 
 in s d town, and take care of the two school houses in s d town, 
 at forty shillings apiece, old tenor, End the year ensuing." 
 " To Thomas Reed for what he did for Frank, Negro, in 
 y e time of her last sickness." 
 
 In 1746-7 "a committee was chosen to show cause to the 
 General session why the wife and children of Edward Joyn 
 should not be deemed inhabitants of the town." 
 
 In 1747 " an agent or agents were appointed to prosecute 
 such person or persons as have Broken the meeting house 
 Bell Belonging to said Town, now hanging in the School 
 house near the East meeting house, In said town." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1725-1750. 
 
 Third French and Indian War. — Sudbury Soldiers at Cape Breton.— 
 Fort No. 4, N.H. — Capt. Phineas Stevens. — Sketch of His Life. — 
 His Service in Connection with the Building and Defense of the Fort. 
 ■ — Capt. Josiah Brown. — Engagement with French and Indians about 
 the Fort. — Petition of Captain Brown. — Petition of Jonathan Stan- 
 hope. — Battle between the Forces of Captain Stevens and General 
 Debeline. — Expedition of Captain Hobbs. — Battle between the Com- 
 mands of Captain Hobbs and Chief Sackett. — Sketch of Capt. Josiah 
 Brown. — List of Captain Brown's Troopers. 
 
 He cometh unto you with a tale which holdeth children from play, and 
 old men from the chimney-corner. — Sir Philip Sidney. 
 
 Having considered the records of a short interval of peace 
 in this period, we again turn to the annals of war. England 
 and France were again to engage in strife. This war has 
 had various names. It has been called in America " King 
 
314 HTSTOBY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 George's War," but in England " The War of the Austrian 
 Succession." It has also been called -The Cape Breton 
 War," and "The French and Indian War." The latter term 
 is appropriate, but might tend to mislead, since other wars 
 have occurred with these parties. A suitable term for it may- 
 be "The Third French War." 
 
 The Avar was declared in 1744, and continued till the 
 peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. Its principal event was 
 the capture of Louisburg, a French stronghold at Cape Bre- 
 ton, which had been called, because of its strength, the 
 Gibraltar of America. It had been built since the peace 
 treaty of Utrecht, at great expense, but after a forty-nine 
 davs' siege it fell into the hands of the English. The troops 
 for its capture were from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode 
 Island, and New Hampshire. The men suffered much before 
 the place surrendered, but when the work was at length 
 accomplished there was rejoicing throughout the province. 
 Sudbury soldiers assisted at the capture of this place. The 
 following is a list of some of the men : — 
 
 Samuel Osborne, Silas Balcom, John Underwood, Samuel Balcom, 
 John Rice, Reuben Vose, Ruben Moore, John Nixon [at this time of 
 Framingham, afterwards of Sudbury], Lieut Estabrook, Lieut. Augustus 
 Moore, Abijah Walker, Micah Parmenter, Jas. Balcom, Eben Mossman, 
 James Balcom. 
 
 Besides service in connection with this prominent event in 
 the war, there was another service with which Sudbury sol- 
 diers were connected, which, though less prominent than the 
 one just mentioned, was of vast importance to the country. 
 This was the work of a border guard, or manning the fron- 
 tier forts. As in other contests between England and France, 
 when hostilities broke out in America there was a wild border 
 conflict with a mixed savage and civilized foe. Tribes not 
 friendly to the English, nor bound to them by treaty alle- 
 giance, hastened to aid their old allies, the French, in Can- 
 ada, and strewed their pathway thither with sad marks of 
 their mission and of their impatience to begin the strife. 
 
 A confederation thus formed by the Indians and French 
 meant terror to the English frontier. Predatory bands of 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 315 
 
 savages again took the trail. The woodlands again resounded 
 with their rude shouts; and the sunny hillsides and fair inter- 
 vales by the northern New England streams were again trod 
 and retrod by the Indian in his sly search for human prey. 
 
 To protect these defenseless places, and form a rendezvous 
 into which the people could flee, and at the same time fur- 
 nish quarters for such a military guard as might be sent to 
 intercept the foe, was of very great importance. To accom- 
 plish these objects there was erected by the province and the 
 towns a cordon of block-houses and forts. Several of these 
 were situated in the vicinity of the Connecticut River, of 
 which the most northerly was called No. 4, and was at what 
 is now Charlestown, N.H. This fortification was notable for 
 the frequent attack and repulse of the enemy. It was in the 
 direct track of the French and Indians as they swept down 
 from Canada, by way of Lake Champlain and Montreal, on 
 their way to the frontier towns of Massachusetts. To take 
 this fort was considered of great importance by the enemy, 
 who hovered about it as a coveted prize ; and it was of equal 
 importance to the English to retain it. 
 
 In the holding of this wilderness fortress, and in military 
 operations in the vicinity, Sudbury soldiers had a prominent 
 share. The commander of the fort was Phineas Stevens, 
 a native of Sudbury ; he was a noted Indian fighter, and 
 an ambassador to Canada to negotiate for the ransom of 
 prisoners. 
 
 CAPT. PHINEAS STEVENS. 
 
 Mr. Stevens was born Feb. 20, 1706 (see Chap. IX.), and 
 went to Rutland with his father, Dea. Joseph Stevens, about 
 1719. Aug. 14, 1723, he was taken captive by the Indians, 
 and carried to Canada. He was afterwards redeemed, and 
 taken home. In 1734 he married his cousin, Elizabeth 
 Stevens, of Petersham, Mass. He lived for a time at Rut- 
 land, and moved from there to Charlestown, N.H. He was 
 a prominent citizen of that place, in both civil and military 
 matters, in its early history. His name was on the proprie- 
 tors' book about 1743 as a petitioner for a proprietors' meet- 
 ing ; and the same year he was on a committee for providing 
 
316 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 a "learned and orthodox minister to preach the Gospel." 
 The same year he received a commission as lieutenant of 
 militia from Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire. In 
 1744 he was commissioned by Governor Shirley of Massachu- 
 setts as lieutenant of volunteers for the defense of the fron- 
 tier. The next year he was appointed by the same authority 
 as captain for service against the French and Indians. 
 
 Captain Stevens was repeatedly commissioned to go to 
 Canada to negotiate for the deliverance of prisoners. In 
 1752 he negotiated for the deliverance of John Stark of 
 New Hampshire, who was afterwards General Stark who 
 commanded the continental forces at the battle of Benning- 
 ton: The ransom of Stark was an Indian pony, valued at 
 one hundred and three dollars. This amount was paid back 
 by Stark in money, which he earned as a hunter on the 
 Androscoggin, Maine. 
 
 Since to narrate all the services of Captain Stevens at 
 No. 4 and elsewhere in this war would take considerable 
 space, we will only present a few facts which may set forth 
 something of his military history and the arduous nature of 
 his work. A settlement was begun at No. 4 about 1740, and 
 shortly afterwards Mr. Stevens went there and became one 
 of the three proprietors who settled the place. At that time 
 No. 4 was the most advanced post of English civilization in 
 the northwest. It was surrounded by dense forests, and 
 much exposed to the French and Indians in their incursions 
 from the north. The foe to which the people were exposed 
 was exceedingly fierce and cruel. Such a combination of 
 bad qualities as was manifested by the enemy that came 
 from Canada was seldom seen. 
 
 FORT NO. 4. 
 
 About three years after the settlement began, the prospect 
 of war was so great that the proprietors of No. 4 held a meet- 
 ing and decided to erect a fort, and made an assessment to 
 meet the expense. Lieutenant Stevens was one of the asses- 
 sors to apportion the sum of three hundred pounds towards 
 the work. He was also one of a committee appointed to 
 keep the fort in repair, and " to take care that no person 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 317 
 
 come to dwell in any of the houses within the fort but such 
 as they the said committee shall approve." The fort was 
 built under the direction of Col John Stoddard of Northamp- 
 ton, Mass., who had formerly superintended the building of 
 the block-house at Fort Dummer in central Massachusetts. 
 The fort contained about three-quarters of an acre, was built 
 in the form of a square, and had about one hundred and 
 eighty feet on a side. The walls were made of squared 
 timbers, and put together after the manner of a log-house. 
 Inside the enclosure were houses, which were owned by pri- 
 vate parties previously to their enclosure in the fort, but 
 were bought up and afterwards called province houses. 
 One of these belonged to Lieutenant Stevens, for which 
 he received thirty-five pounds. These houses were placed 
 against the walls of the fort, and so arranged that they could 
 at once be put in a state of defense if the enemy got inside 
 the fort. On the north side the fort had a stockade of tim- 
 bers about a foot in diameter, which were placed end-wise in 
 the ground, and were about twelve feet high. 
 
 New Hampshire having but little interest in defending a 
 place so far from their other settlements, and Massachusetts 
 feeling under no obligations to protect them, because out- 
 side her limits, the little company provided its own means of 
 defense. The assistance subsequently rendered by Massa- 
 chusetts was on account of the protection afforded by this 
 fort to her settlements on the south. , 
 
 The fort was scarcely finished when war was declared by 
 England against France and Spain. A few soldiers were 
 stationed to defend the little stronghold, and Capt. Phineas 
 Stevens was placed in command. In the early part of the 
 war the fort was unmolested ; but April 19, 1746, about 
 forty French and Indians came into the vicinity, and did 
 disastrous work. Several men were captured, and a saw 
 and grist mill was burned. May 2d another raid was made, 
 and one man was killed. On May 24th, Capt. Daniel Paine 
 of Dudley, Mass., was sent to assist in defending the place. 
 Shortly after his arrival, some of his men ventured out to see 
 the place where the man had been killed a few days before, 
 when they were suddenly assailed by the savages, who killed 
 
318 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 five of them and captured one. Captain Stevens with a few- 
 men rushed to the rescue. He engaged the savages, and 
 forced them to retire, as it is supposed, with the loss of sev- 
 eral men. At about this time Captain Stevens was rein- 
 forced by a troop of horse from Sudbury, under command of 
 Capt. Josiah Brown. 
 
 SERVICES OF CAPTAIN BROWN'S COMPANY. 
 
 On the 17th of June, shortly after their arrival, this com- 
 pany was called into action, and had a severe engagement 
 with the enemy in a meadow not far from the fort. The 
 following is an account of the affair published July 1, 1746 : 
 
 We hear that on Thursday, the 19 th . ult., at a plantation called No. 4, 
 Capt. Stevens, of the garrison there, and Capt. Brown, of Sudbury, with 
 about fifty men, went out into the woods to look for horses and, coming 
 near a causeway there were obliged to pass, their dogs being on the hunt 
 before them, and barking very much, they suspected some Indians were 
 near; whereupon, keeping a good lookout, they discovered a great num- 
 ber of them, supposed to be a hundred and fifty, lying in ambush, wait- 
 ing for them on the other side; so that if they had passed over, in all 
 probability, most of them might be cut off. 
 
 The Indians on finding themselves discovered, suddenly started up, 
 and a smart engagement immediately ensued, in which, it is supposed, 
 that the English fired first and engaged them so closely and briskly that 
 they soon drew off, and being followed by our men retreated into a 
 large swamp; whereupon the English returned to the garrison, not car- 
 ing to venture, after such numbers, into so hazardous a place. (Farmer 
 & Moore, Vol. III., p. 294.) 
 
 Captain Brown, in a petition to the General Court in 
 behalf of himself and his troops, states as follows concern- 
 ing this battle : — 
 
 That whereas on the 19th day of June 1756 in his Magestie's service, 
 at a place called No. 4, on the western frontier, the said Josiah Brown 
 with his troop had a very warm and dangerous engagement with a num- 
 erous party of the Indian enemy, together with painful travel, and with 
 other hardships and difficulties attending. In which engagement by 
 good evidence and the most certain accounts we can get a considerable 
 number of said enimies were slain and others sore wounded. [The pur- 
 port of the petition was that the Court might afford them such " encour- 
 agement" as it thought best.] 
 
 By order of said troop, at their meeting on the 25 th Dec. 17."",D. 
 
 (State Archives, Vol. LXXIII., p. 733.) Josiah Brown. 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 319 
 
 Captains Stevens and Brown had no men killed outright 
 in this engagement, but Jedediah Winchell was mortally 
 wounded and shortly afterwards died. Jonathan Stanhope, 
 David Parker, and Noah Eaton were wounded. Stanhope 
 was from Sudbury, and Eaton from Framingham. Mr. Stan- 
 hope subsequently presented two petitions to the General 
 Court, one of which is as follows : — 
 
 In the battle with the Indians at No. 4, June 19, when I was a Trooper 
 in his majesty's service, I received a shot which broke my arm all to 
 pieces, and caused me great pain, and cost for the injuries, and has inca- 
 pacitated me from obtaining a subsistance for myself, and I have very 
 little hopes of ever having the use of it again. The account of the time 
 I have lost and expenses which I have been exposed to since I was 
 wounded is as follows : 
 
 To sixteen weeks at said No. 4, when I lay confined with my 
 wound to the first months when I had Province billeting at 
 6-3 per week besides said billeting £1. 5. 
 
 To 12 weeks more when I found myself altogether and had 
 
 no Province pay nor billeting at 12-6 pr wk. . . 7. 10. 
 
 And to my son's attending on me then and finding himself 
 from the 23 d of June to the 17 th of October following, being 
 16 weeks and 3 days : to my son's nursing and attending 
 me the said 16 weeks, at 5 per week 4. 2. 6 
 
 And to 9 weeks board when he had neither Province pay nor 
 
 billeting at 7-6 per week 3. 7. 6 
 
 .£16. 5. 
 
 At the close of military operations, in 1746, Massachusetts 
 withdrew most of her soldiers stationed in the vicinity of the 
 Connecticut River in New Hampshire. The chief, reasons 
 for this were that the place was outside her own limits, and 
 that New Hampshire refused to co-operate in defending it. 
 No. 4 being deprived of troops, it was for a time abandoned. 
 The people in the vicinity were obliged to leave their home- 
 steads, and take refuge in the older settlements. During 
 the winter that followed the evacuation of No, 4, the enemy 
 did not venture far from their quarters in Canada. Mean- 
 while an effort was made to again man the deserted forts. A 
 prominent person in the furtherance of this project, it is sup- 
 posed, was Captain Stevens. He communicated with Gov- 
 ernor Shirley, and stated that a force of one hundred men 
 
320 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 should be sent to several of the frontier posts to " go and 
 waylay the streams the enemy come upon when they issue 
 out from Crown Point." The authorities did not grant the 
 request by allowing all the men that were asked for, but 
 only so many as it was thought would repel an attack made 
 on the forts. The matter of taking measures for such agress- 
 ive work as was proposed by Stevens was deferred. 
 
 ATTACK OF GENERAL DEBELINE. 
 
 In March, 1747, Captain Stevens was ordered to go with 
 thirty men and take possession of No. 4. He arrived there 
 on the 27th. A few days later the place was furiously 
 assailed by the French and Indians, under the leadership 
 of General Debeline. Captain Stevens, in his report made 
 to Governor Shirley, dated April 9, 1747, gives the following- 
 account of the attack : — 
 
 Our dogs being very much disturbed, which gave us reason to think 
 that the enemy were about, occasioned us not to open the gate at the 
 usual time ; but one of our men, being desirous to know the certainty, 
 ventured out privately to set on the dogs, about nine o'clock in the 
 morning; and went about twenty rods from the fort firing off his gun and 
 saying, Choboy to the dogs. Whereupon, the enemy, being within a few 
 rods, immediately arose from behind a log and fired : but through the 
 goodness of God, the man got into the fort with only a slight wound. 
 The enemy being then discovered, immediately arose from their ambush- 
 ments and attacked us on all sides. The wind being very high, and 
 everything exceedingly dry, they set fire to all the old fences, and also to 
 a log-house about forty rods distant from the fort to the windward : so 
 that within a few minutes we were entirely surrounded with fire — all 
 which was performed with the most hideous shouting and firing, from 
 all quarters, which they continued, in a very terrible manner, until the 
 next day at ten o'clock at night, without intermission ; during which time 
 we had no opportunity to eat or sleep. But notwithstanding all their 
 shoutings and threatenings, our men seemed not to be in the least 
 daunted, but fought with great resolution ; which, doubtless, gave the 
 enemy reason to think we had determined to stand it out to the last 
 degree. The enemy had provided themselves with a sort of fortifica- 
 tion, which they had determined to push before them and bring fuel to 
 the side of the fort, in order to burn it down. But instead of performing 
 what they threatened, and seemed to be immediately going to undertake, 
 they called to us and desired a cessation of arms until sunrise the next 
 morning, which was granted: at which time they would come to a par- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 321 
 
 ley. Accordingly the French General Debeline came with about sixty 
 of his men, with a flag of truce, and stuck it down within about twenty 
 rods of the fort in plain sight of the same, and said if we would send 
 three men to him he would send as many to us, to which we complied. 
 The General sent in a French Lieutenant with a French soldier and an 
 Indian. 
 
 Upon our men going to the Monsieur, he made the following pro- 
 posals, viz. — that in case we would immediately resign up the fort, we 
 should all have our lives and liberty to put on all the clothes we had, 
 and also to take a sufficient quantity of provisions to carry us to Mon- 
 trtal, and bind up our provisions and blankets, lay down our arms and 
 march out of the fort. 
 
 Upon, our men returning, he desired that the Captain of the fort 
 would meet him half-way, and give an answer to the above proposal, 
 which I did, and upon meeting the Monsieur, he did not wait for me to 
 give an answer, but went on in the following manner, viz. — that what 
 had been promised he was ready to perform, but upon refusal he would 
 immediately set the fort on fire, and run over the top, for he had seven 
 hundred men with him, and if we made any further resistance, or should 
 happen to kill one Indian, we might expect all to be put to the sword. 
 " The fort," said he, " I am resolved to have or die. Now do what you 
 please, for I am as easy to have you fight as to give up." I told the 
 General, that in case of extremity his proposal would do; but inasmuch 
 as I was sent here by my master, the Captain General, to defend this 
 fort, it would not be consistent with my order to give it up unless I was 
 better satisfied that he was able to perform what he had threatened ; 
 and furthermore I told him that it was poor encouragement to resign 
 into the hands of the enemy, that upon one of their number being killed, 
 they would put all to the sword, when it was probable that we had killed 
 some of them already. "Well," said he, "go into the fort, and see 
 whether your men dare to fight any more or not, and give me an answer 
 quick, for my men want to be fighting." Whereupon I came into the 
 fort and called all the men together, and informed them what the French 
 General said, and then put it to vote which they chose, either to fight on 
 or resign; and they voted to a man to stand it out as long as they had 
 life. Upon this, I returned the answer that we were determined to fight 
 it out. Upon which they gave a shout, and then fired, and so continued 
 fighting and shouting until daylight the next morning. 
 
 About noon they called to us and said " Good morning," and desired 
 a cessation of arms for two hours that they might come to a parley ; 
 which was granted. The General did not come himself, but sent two 
 Indians, who came within about eight rods of the fort and stuck down 
 their flag and desired that I would send out two men to them, which I 
 did, and the Indians made the following proposal, viz. — That in case we 
 would sell them provisions, they would leave and not fight anymore; 
 and desired my answer, which was, that selling them provisions for 
 
322 HISTORY OF STJDBTJBY. 
 
 money was contrary to the laws of nations, but if they would send in a 
 captive for every five bushels of corn, I would supply them. Upon the 
 Indians returning- the General this answer, four or five guns were fired 
 against the fort, and they withdrew, as we supposed, for we heard no 
 more of them. 
 
 In all this time we had scarce opportunity to eat or sleep. The cessa- 
 tion of arms gave us no matter of rest, for we suspected they did it to 
 obtain an advantage against us. I believe men were never known to 
 hold out with better resolution, for they did not seem to sit or lie still 
 for one moment. There were but thirty men in the fort, and although 
 we had some thousands of guns fired at us, there were but two men 
 slightly wounded, viz. John Brown and Joseph Ely. (Saundcrson's 
 ■•History of Charlestown, N.H.") 
 
 In the course of the year 1747 the people living- near the 
 Connecticut River suffered much from the enemy's incur- 
 sions. As they could obtain little or no aid from New 
 Hampshire, they again applied to Massachusetts. In Feb- 
 ruary, 174S. the authorities allowed one hundred men each 
 for Forts Massachusetts and No. 4; and directed that orders 
 be issued to the commanding officers in those garrisons that 
 a suitable number of men should be employed, until the 
 following October, to intercept the French and Indians in 
 their march to the frontier. At the same time a bounty was 
 offered of a hundred pounds for an Indian scalp. Captain 
 Stevens was again appointed to command at No. 4, and Capt. 
 Humphrey Hobbs, another brave officer, was made second in 
 command. 
 
 Shortly after Captain Stevens assumed command of No. 4, 
 on March 15th, a party of Indians attacked some men near 
 the fort who were out to gather wood. Captain Stevens sal- 
 lied forth to the rescue, but no general engagement occurred, 
 as the enemy, which consisted of only a small company, leit 
 the place, after killing, in their first onset, one person and 
 wounding another and taking captive a third. As the spring 
 advanced Captain Stevens ami his men were engaged more 
 or less in marchings and scoutings in the vicinity o( No. 4, 
 and from there to Fort Pummer in the central part of Massa- 
 chusetts. June -I forty men, under command of Captain 
 Hobbs, started on a scouting expedition, designing to march 
 through the wilderness to Fort Shirley, in Heath, Mass. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY 323 
 
 After being out two days, they had an engagement with 
 the Indians, which, it is said, lasted four hours, and in 
 which one of the Sudbury soldiers was wounded. The fol- 
 lowing account of the battle is from Saunderson's "History 
 of Charlestown, N.H." 
 
 BATTLE BETWEEN CAPTAIN HOBBS AND CHIEF SACKETT. 
 
 Capt. Hobbs started out from No. 4, on the 24th of June. During the 
 first two days of his march, he met with no interruptions, except such as 
 were occasioned by the natural difficulties of the way. On the 26th, it 
 being Sunday, after travelling a little distance, he halted at a place about 
 twelve miles north-west of Fort Dummer, in the precincts of what is now 
 the town of Marlborough, to afford his company an opportunity to 
 refresh themselves ; and though he did not dream that he was pursued, 
 or that the enemy was any where near, he still posted a guard on his 
 trail, like a true officer, as carefully and circumspectly as if danger had 
 been apprehended. The party then took possession of a low piece of 
 ground, covered with alders intermingled with large trees, through which 
 fbwed a rivulet, and without any anticipat'on of being disturbed, had 
 begun regaling themselves at their packs. 
 
 But, as was too frequently the case in those times, danger was nigh, 
 though they had no apprehension of it ; for a large body of Indians had 
 discoverd their trail, and made a rapid march for the purpose of cutting 
 them off. Sackett, their chief, (reputed to be a half-blood,) was not only 
 a courageous and resolute fellow, but was distinguished "for a sagacity 
 that rendered him no common antagonist. 
 
 Apparently certain of victory, on account of his numbers, which fore- 
 stalled the necessity of a wily approach, he dashed down upon the trail 
 of Hobbs, driving in the guards which he had posted in his rear, and 
 instantly commenced an attack upon his main force with all the yells 
 and demonstrations of a savage warfare. 
 
 Hobbs, though taken by surprise, was not in the least deprived of his 
 self possession. 
 
 An old Indian fighter as he was, whose men were under a perfect 
 discipline, it took but a moment to form them for action, and but a mo- 
 ment more elapsed before each, by fie advice of his commander, had 
 selected the cover of a large tree, and stood ready to repel any assault 
 of their oncoming foe. Confident of success, on account of the superi- 
 ority of their numbers, which were more than four to one, to the force 
 under Hobbs, the enemy without seeking cover, rushed forward with 
 terrible shouts, as if they had determined at the outset to bear down all 
 resistance ; but being met by a well directed fire, by which several of 
 their number were killed, their impetuosity received such a check as to 
 cause them to retreat for shelter behind the trees and brush. 
 
 The conflict which then followed between the parties, in which the 
 
324 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 sharp-shooters bore a prominent part, was of the most exciting nature. 
 The two commanders had been known to each other in times of peace, 
 and were both distinguished for their intrepidity. 
 
 Sackett, who could speak English, frequently called upon Hobbs, in 
 tones that made the forest ring, to surrender; and with threats in case 
 of refusal that he would annihilate his force with the tomahawk. 
 
 Hobbs, with a voice equally loud and defiant, challenged him to come 
 on and put his menace, if he dared, into execution. The action contin- 
 ued for four hours, Hobbs and his force displaying throughout the most 
 consummate skill and prudence, and neither side withdrawing an inch 
 from its original position. The Indians, during the fight, not unfre- 
 quently approached the line of their adversaries, but were as often driven 
 back to their cover; the fire of the sharp-sighted marksmin opposed to 
 them being more than they could endure. Thus the conflict continued, 
 till, finding that his own men had suffered severely in the struggle, and 
 that the resistance of Hobbs and his men was not likely to be overcome, 
 Sackett retired and left them the masters of a well fought field. 
 
 The company of Capt. Hobbs was so well protected that only three, 
 Ebenezar Mitchell, Eli Scott, and Samuel Gunn, were killed. The 
 wounded were Daniel McHenney of Wrentham, who had his thigh 
 broken by a ball, by which he was disabled for life ; Samuel Graves, Jr., 
 of Sunderland, a brave lad of seventeen years of age, who was shot 
 through the brain in a horrible manner, yet recovered, but not so as to 
 be afterwards capable of business ; — also slight wounds were received 
 by Nathan Walker of Sudbury, and Ralph Rice. Many of the enemy 
 were seen to fall, especially when they left their cover and advanced. 
 Yet, though their loss was undoubtedly great, so effectually was it con- 
 cealed that its extent was never ascertained. After the retirement and 
 disappearance of the Indians, Captain Hobbs and his men remained 
 concealed till night, apprehending another attack; but, as the darkness 
 fell around them, discovering no signs of the enemy, they gathered up 
 their packs, and took their dead and wounded, and after burying the 
 former under some logs, about half a mile from the scene of action, and 
 conducting the latter to a more conveniant place, about two miles dis- 
 tant, they encamped for the night. They arrived at Fort Dummer the 
 next day, which was the 27th, at four o'clock in the afternoon, whence 
 they sent their wounded to Northfield where they could receive the 
 needed medical aid. 
 
 Nathan Walker recovered and arrived safely home. He 
 afterward petitioned the General Court for assistance. In 
 the petition he states that he was a soldier in the Province 
 service under the command of Capt. Hobbs, and that on 
 June 26th, 1748, in a fight with the Indian and French 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 325 
 
 enemy, he was wounded in the arm. (State Archives, Vol. 
 LXXIII., p. 620.) 
 
 Capt. Josiah Brown, the commander of the troop which 
 went from Sudbury to assist in the defense of Fort No. 4, was 
 a brave soldier and worthy man. The following is a brief 
 sketch of his life, together with two lists of men who be- 
 longed to his troop before the war began and also towards 
 its close. As some of the names are in both lists, perhaps 
 they served through the intervening years, and were present 
 at the defense of No. 4. The troop of 1747-8 was called 
 into service that year, September 23, and served a short time. 
 
 CAPT. JOSIAH BROWN. 
 Mr. Brown was a prominent citizen of Sudbury. He 
 passed through all, or nearly all, the grades of town office ; 
 and his name is also conspicuous in the annals of the church. 
 In 1757, Josiah Brown, Samuel Dakin, and Jabez Puffer 
 were chosen delegates to assist in settling the difficulty be- 
 tween the church in Leominster and their pastor. The first 
 two were brave captains in the war against the French and 
 Indians; the first was prominent at Fort No. 4, the other 
 was killed near Fort Edward in 17c8. (See period 1750- 
 1775.) As a token of his regard for the West Side Church, 
 Mr. Brown gave it a piece of land, the proceeds of which, 
 it is stated, were sufficient for the supply of the elements for 
 communion. He was one of the signers of the church cove- 
 nant in 1724-5. 
 
 Sudbury June 4 th 1739 
 
 A list of the Gen u men of the Horse under the command of Capt. 
 Josiah Brown 
 
 Trum: Jonathan Belcher, Nathaniel Seaver 
 
 Cor. Josiah willas [willis] Cor. Daniel Winch 
 
 Cor. Daniel Gregory, Bezebeal Frost 
 
 Cor. Edward Moore Benja Whitten 
 
 Benony Prat Cornelus Wood 
 
 David How David Stone 
 
 Danil Goodenow Eliph a wheler 
 
 David Maynard Jr. Ebenezer Puffer. 
 
 Elijah Bent Elijah Smith 
 
 Ebenezer Heminway Edmond Parmenter 
 
 Ecobad Heminway Hezekiah Moore 
 
326 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Ephriam Puffer 
 Hopestill Browne 
 John Cheney 
 John Heminway 
 Jabez Mead 
 John Maynard Jr. 
 Nathan Loring 
 Robert Seaver 
 Sam 1 Brigham 
 Timothy Sternes 
 John Bent 
 [Isaac] Reed 
 Thomas Winch Jr. 
 
 James Crage 
 Joseph Parmenter 
 Nathaniel Rice 
 Phinehas Gibbs. 
 Sam 1 Heminway 
 Sam 1 Browne 
 Jabez Puffer 
 Jonathan Maynard 
 Jonathan Puffer 
 Philis Part 
 Sam 1 Stone 
 Solomon Parmenter Jr. 
 
 Muster roll of Brown's company 1747-S. 
 
 Josiah Brown Capt 
 John Noyes C>rnet 
 Dai 1 Stone Clerk 
 Jon a Belcher Trumpeter 
 Nathaniel Seaver 
 Phinehas Gibbs 
 Sam 1 Brown 
 Jonathan Maynard 
 Isaac Reed 
 Joseph Reed 
 W m Brown 
 Dan 1 Stone 
 John Bruce 
 
 Parmenter 
 
 John Gould 
 
 Other names are 
 
 Thomas Winch 
 Dan 1 Gregory 
 James Peterson 
 Thomas Biglo 
 Thomas Winch 
 Samuel Winch 
 Josiah Hoar. 
 
 Micah Gibbs 
 Joseph Brintnall 
 John Brigham 
 W m Hunt 
 Matthew Gibbs 
 Henry Smith 
 David Maynard 
 Samuel Maynard 
 Isaac Brewer 
 Obediah Moore 
 Nathan Walker 
 Joseph Greene 
 Isaac Brintnall 
 Henry Loker 
 
 Sam 1 Giles 
 Beng Eaton 
 Sam 1 Frost 
 Elias Whitney 
 George Whitney 
 Sam 1 Whitney 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1750-1775. 
 
 The Work- House. — Regulations of it. — Pest- House at Nobscot. -- 
 Graves of Small-Pox Victims. — Pest-Houses on the East Side. — 
 Graves of Victims. — Inoculation for the Disease. — Statistics Relat- 
 ing to It. — Highway Work. — Lottery for Repairing the Causeway. — 
 Schools. — School-Houses. — Fourth French and Indian War. — 
 Causes of It. — Lists of Sudbury Soldiers in Various Campaigns. — 
 First and Second Foot Companies. — Alarm List. — Troops of Horse. 
 — Battle at Half- Way Brook. — Death of Captain Dakin. — Sketch 
 of his Life. — Covenant. — Correspondence. — French Neutrals. — 
 Death of Rev. William Cook. — Settlement of Rev. Josiah Bridge. 
 Death of Rev. Israel Loring. — Sketch of His Life. — Settlement of 
 Rev. Jacob Bigelow. — Division of West Part into Wards. — Powder 
 House. — Noon Houses. — Pound. — Measures to Suppress Swindling. 
 
 Over the roofs of the pioneers 
 
 Gathers the moss of a hundred years ; 
 
 On man and his works has passed ihe change 
 
 Which needs must be in a century's" range. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 Between 1750, and 1775, the country was in an unsettled 
 condition. Events of a stirring character transpired, and the 
 times were productive of lasting influences. Peace prevailed 
 when the period began, but was very short-lived. The treaty 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle, made in 1748, was of little avail to hold 
 England and France in friendly relations. After the lapse 
 of about a half-dozen years, war was again declared, and hos- 
 tilities in America broke out anew. The close of the period 
 also was stormy. It was just before the Revolutionary War. 
 The provinces were in process of preparation for that far- 
 famed struggle from which they were to emerge a new 
 nation. Before, however, entering upon military matters, 
 we will notice some of the civil events of the period. 
 
 327 
 
g28 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 THE WORK-HOUSE. 
 
 In 1753, a movement was made to establish a work -house 
 in Sudbury. At the above-named date a vote was taken, 
 when "it passed very fully in the affirmative, that it [the 
 town] would provide a Work House in sd town, that Idle 
 & Disorderly People may be properly Employed." Ephraim 
 Curtis, Joseph Brown, and Ebenezer Roby were a committee 
 in the matter. In process of time the project thus begun 
 was accomplished. March IT, 1762, the town decided "to 
 hire some suitable house for a Work House that the Idle 
 Persons in sd Town might be kept to Labor." Pursuant to 
 vote, a building was rented of Isaac Reed, for which he was 
 to receive two pounds eight shillings. In 1765, the town 
 " voted to give Mr. Reed two pounds eight shillings for his 
 house (and garden spot) & his putting s* house in good 
 Tenantable Repair." In 1763, the town chose "overseers 
 of the poor for sd house," and Mr. Isaac Reed was of this 
 board. 
 
 WORK-HOUSE REGULATIONS. 
 
 At a quarterly meeting of all the Overseers of the Poore in Sudbury 
 at the work house in said Sudbury on the first Tuesday of the month 
 April Anno Domini 1763, in order to inspect the management thereof 
 and for ordering the Affairs of the said House when we the said over- 
 seers were Duely and lawfully meet together at the said work house, and 
 after Due and mature consideration, we Came into the Folowing need- 
 full Rulls and orders for the Regulation of the said house, and those 
 Idle Persons that are by Law or may fall under our Inspection. 
 
 Which Rules & orders are as followeth. l 8, ly That every one of the 
 overseers Shall Punctually meet at the Said work house, at the times set 
 for their monthly or Intermediate Meetings, and in Case of their not 
 attending or unseasonably attending, Shall forfitt and pay to the s over- 
 seers and for their use, the Sum of Two Shillings Lawfull money, and in 
 Case he or they Shall neglect or Refuse to pay the Same or to Shew any 
 Reasonable Excuse for his neglect, the Same Shall be Recovered from 
 him or them by their Clark by Distress and Sale of his or their Goods 
 the Clark observing the Same Rulls that Constables are by law obleged 
 to Do in making Distress for their Rates. 
 
 That when any Parson whome we Shall Judge Doath Fall 
 under our Immediate care and Inspection Shall be by a Summon under 
 the hand of our moderator or Clark Duly Sent to him Setting forth the 
 time for his appearance before us at the said work house, and Shall not 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 329 
 
 Punctually apeare before us the said Overseers, at the said work house, 
 that then and in that Case, a warrant under the hand and Seal of our 
 said Clark Shall Isue out Dyrected to the master of the said work house 
 or to the Constable of the s d Towne of Sudbury forth with Requiring 
 them to apprehend the body of the s d Contemptous Parson and Cause 
 him or her to appear before us, the s d overseers, at the said work house, 
 that he or she may be Proceeded with or Punished for his or her Con- 
 tempt, by being publickly whipped at the whipping post at the work 
 house not Exceeding Ten Stripes or otherways as the Said Overseers 
 Shall then order, and* be Subject to pay to the officer that Shall have 
 served the s d warrant his fees by Law allowed him, the Service of which 
 Summons Shall be found by Giving him or her Summon in form afore- 
 said or Leaving same at his or her Last or usual place of abode, by any 
 Constable of s d Sudbury or any one of the Overseers who Shall make 
 Return of ye s d Summons to the s d Overseers at the time therein ordered. 
 
 As evidence of farther modes of discipline employed in 
 this period, we find that, in 1760, the town allowed payment 
 to Colonel Noyes for making stocks, and also for four staves 
 for the tything-men. In the warrant for a town-meeting in 
 1757, is the following article: "To see what the town will do 
 with regard to Dido a Negro woman who is now upon charge 
 in this town." With regard to this Dido the town ordered 
 the selectmen "to make strict inquiries who brought Dido 
 into town." 
 
 SMALL-POX HOSPITALS. 
 
 Another institution introduced into the town in this period 
 was the pest-house. There is in the Stearns' " Collection " 
 a document, without date, that is presumably a petition to 
 the selectmen, asking that a town-meeting be called — 
 
 As soon as may be by Law, for the Purchase of and Erecting a House 
 or houses for the conveniance of taking the Small Pox by Inoculation, 
 for the better Security of the Good Citizens of s d town, [to] do or act as 
 the Town shall Judge proper when met. 
 
 As in duty Bound 
 
 Jno. Goodenow Jonathan Bent, 
 
 Luther Richardson, Jotham Goodenow, 
 
 Elisha Goodenow, Israel How, 
 
 Elisha Moore, Caleb Wheeler. 
 Silas Goodenow, 
 Joel Goodenow. 
 
330 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Probably the above petition antedates the record given 
 below, dated "Oct. 14, 17G1 : Town Dr. To Mr. Isaac Reed 
 for sledding wood and assisting to repair a House, for those 
 who may have the small pox." Tradition points to several 
 localities, which at that time were within the town limits, 
 where pest-houses were situated. The site of one of these 
 is at Nobscot Hill. On the eastern side of the hill, on land 
 owned by Mr. Hubbard Brown, and a short distance from a 
 small pond, are the graves of the small-pox victims. They 
 are clustered together, beneath a small growth of pines that 
 are now scattered over that briar-grown spot ; and the wind, 
 as it sweeps through the branches of this little pine grove, 
 and the occasional note of the wild-wood bird, alone break 
 the stillness and disturb the loneliness of that forest burial- 
 place. On a stone that marks one grave is the following 
 inscription : — 
 
 IN MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 MR BUCKLEY HOW, 
 
 SON OF 
 
 MR BUCKLEY HOW 
 
 OF 
 
 HUBARDSTON 
 
 WHO DIED OF THE SMALL POX, 
 
 NOV. 14* 1792 
 IN THE 21st YEAR OF HIS AGE. 
 
 MR BUCKLEY HOW. 
 
 Just lmw many graves are about this spot we have no 
 information, but a former owner of the land, Mr. Edward 
 Brown, conjectured, as he mowed the brush thereabouts 
 
 many years ago, that there were at least eight or nine 
 well-defined graves there. This burying-place, as we have 
 said, is on a part of the Thirty-rod Highway. The small- 
 pox hospital at Nobscot, tradition says, was in the "Nixon 
 pasture," which is the large field on the northern slope of 
 the hill; and the same authority asserts that the house in 
 which John Nixon once lived, and which was on his farm. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 331 
 
 was the building used for the hospital. Tradition also says 
 that the Browns, who at that time dwelt at a place just 
 west of the residence of Hubbard Brown, were accustomed 
 to carry milk to a designated spot, and put it in vessels left 
 there to receive it by those in charge at the hospital. 
 
 In the north part of Sudbury there are several graves of 
 persons who died of small-pox. Three of them are on the 
 plain, a mile west of the old Pratt Tavern ; but they were 
 levelled down by a person who came into possession of the 
 place about 1825. Other graves are on the farm south of 
 Mr. Jonathan Rice's Tavern, in the northwest part of the 
 town. There is another at Bridle Point, just east of the 
 bridge near the railroad crossing. 
 
 There were two pest-houses on the east side ; one on "the 
 Island," and the other at the northeasterly part of the pres- 
 ent town of Wayland, not far to the northerly of the Sumner 
 Draper estate. There is a field in that vicinity still called 
 the "pock pasture." On the Draper farm, not far back of 
 the dwelling-house, are the graves of other victims of this 
 dreaded disease. The following inscriptions are taken from 
 stones that mark these graves : — 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 MR. ZEBADIAH ALLEN 
 
 WHO DIED OF THE SMALL POX — 
 
 JUNE 2, 1777 
 
 AGED 75 YEARS. 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 MARY, WIFE OF 
 MR. ZEBADIAH ALLEN 
 
 WHO DIED OF THE SMALL POX 
 
 JUNE 7, 1777 
 AGED 75 YEARS. 
 
 These hospitals were designed especially for persons who 
 desired to be inoculated for the disease with the virus of a 
 small-pox patient. This method of treatment was introduced 
 about 1721. For a time it met with great prejudice, but 
 
332 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 at length it gained ground, and many people incurred the 
 risk involved in having the disease in this way, which, with 
 proper treatment, was said to he very light, rather than the 
 risk of taking it in the ordinary way by contagion. The fol- 
 lowing statistics, taken from Rev. Israel Loring's "Diary." 
 will tend to show with what reason society believed in this 
 method : — 
 
 July 19 th 1764. Persons who have had the small pox in Boston in 
 the year 1704. : : : : . 
 
 In the natural way — 
 
 Whites — 
 Blacks, 
 
 044 
 55 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 099 
 
 Died — 
 
 Whites, 
 Blacks, 
 
 102 
 
 22 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 124 
 
 By inoculation 
 
 Whites, 
 Blacks, 
 
 4090 
 207 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 4897 
 
 Died, 
 
 Whites, 
 Blacks, 
 
 43 
 3 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 40 
 
 Removed into the country 
 
 to avoid the disease, 1537. 
 
 
 This old manner of practice is now among the things that 
 were ; and with it the pest-houses, too, have passed away. 
 
 HIGHWAY WORK. 
 In 1751, it was voted that in highway work " eight hours 
 shall be accounted for a days work," "two shillings shall be 
 a day's wages for a man, or so in proportion to an hour ; 
 also "that one shilling be allowed for a good yoke of oxen 
 
 a day." 
 
 In 1756, a proposition was started to raise money by way 
 of a lottery to repair the long causeway from the town bridge 
 to Lieut/Benjamin Estabrook's. When it came to town- 
 meeting it "passed in the negative." In 1758, the town 
 again proposed to raise and repair the long causeway, and 
 
THE SUMMER RESIDENCE OF HON. HOMER ROGERS. 
 Biographical Sketch, page 619. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 two short ones towards Lieutenant Estabrook's, and to do it 
 by means of a lottery. To this proposition a formal remon- 
 strance was presented, in which it was stated that the raising 
 of the causeway would damage the meadow, by causing the 
 water to flow back ; that there was "a good bridge over the 
 river where people may travel at all seasons of the year, from 
 Boston to Marlboro;" and that there is not "one foot of fall 
 in said river for twenty-five or thirty miles." This remon- 
 strance, however, did not prevent the ultimate accomplish- 
 ment of this project. At a March meeting, 1758, the town 
 voted to petition the General Court for leave to repair and 
 raise the causeway by lottery, and chose the following com- 
 mittee to attend to the work: Col. John Noyes, William 
 Baldwin, and Col. Josiah Brown. The Court gave its assent, 
 and made specifications and conditions as to how the scheme 
 should proceed. One of the conditions was that drawing 
 lotteries was not to continue over fifteen days, exclusive of 
 Sunday. In these lotteries the town took ventures. In 1761 
 " the town voted to take the tickets in Sudbury Lottery third 
 class, that shall remain unsold in the manager's hand, when 
 the drawing 1 st Lottery shall commence, : : : and ordered the 
 tickets that remain unsold aforesaid to be lodged with the 
 Town Treasurer, on the day the Lottery commences draw- 
 ing." The town lost by this venture, as May 11, 1761, it 
 "granted 27 lbs 12 s Lawful money, to defray the loss the town 
 sustained by the tickets which the town voted to take, and 
 ordered the assessors to vote it into a rate forthwith, and 
 each person to have the liberty to work out his rate, pro- 
 vided he or they work it out at or before the time set for 
 working out s d rate, and to be under the regulation of the 
 managers of s cl Lottery." In October of the same year the 
 question came up as to taking tickets in Sudbury lottery 
 fourth class that should remain unsold in the hands of the 
 managers when the drawing began. " The vote passed in 
 the negative." 
 
 In 1653, it was "voted to accept of a highway laid out 
 from Peletiah Deans North east corner, unto ye town way 
 leading from the Training field by Ephraim Curtis, Esq. by 
 Lt. Rice's to Weston." The same date a road was laid out 
 
334 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 from "Mr. Jonathan Griffin's Corner, running southwesterly 
 into the way by Mr. Eliab Moor's North Corner, formerly 
 Mr. John Adams'." In 1769, the town '•-ranted money to 
 improve a road, lately laid out from Rev. Josiah Bridges, to 
 the school house near the East meeting house." The school- 
 house was the old Newell Heard store, and the road referred 
 to, was the present way from the Wellington place by H. B. 
 Braman's into Wayland Centre. In 1773, the town took 
 action to see if it would discontinue the road "leading from 
 Dr. Roby's [now Warren Roby's] to Zecheriah Briant's [now 
 H. B. Braman's] lying between the two county roads." This 
 was a travelled road before the laying out of the one last 
 mentioned. It had its course from near the old Roby house, 
 just west of Mr. Braman's, along the ridge toward Bridle 
 Point. In 1774, the town accepted "a waylaid out from 
 Samuel Goodnow's dwelling house to the Lancaster road." 
 The same date the town accepted a way Wk laid out from 
 Lancaster old road to Lt. Joseph Willis' gate by the widow 
 Brigham's dwelling house." In 1774, the town accepted a 
 road "laid out from Mr. Thomas Walker's land leading to 
 the west meeting house." In 1771, money was granted "to 
 widen the causy at Iron Works meadow." Jabez Puffer, 
 John Balcom, and Joseph Willis were chosen a committee. 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 While the town was advancing in means for the public 
 convenience and safety, educational matters were progressing 
 also. In 1751, the selectmen agreed " with Mr. W m Cook 
 [only son of Rev. Mr. Cook] to keep a grammar school . . . 
 for six months, beginning the school the first day of Novem- 
 ber; and also to teach children & youth to Read English and 
 wright and Instruct them in Rethmetick, and to keep the 
 school in the Town School House as the Selectmen shall 
 from time to time order For the sum of Twelve pounds 
 Exclusive of his Board." It was voted that year that the 
 grammar schools should "be kept in the two town school- 
 houses by each meeting-house. This shows us where two of 
 the town school-houses stood at that time: and this, with 
 other records, show that school matters were at that time 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 335 
 
 conducted by the Board of Selectmen. Another record of 
 1756 shows where two other school-houses stood, inasmuch 
 as the town voted that year that the grammar school should 
 be kept at four places, — " two at the school houses near the 
 meeting house, one at the school house near Joseph Smith's, 
 and the other at that near Nathan Goodnow's." John Mon- 
 roe was to keep the school, and have five pounds thirteen 
 shillings four pence for a quarter, and the town was to pay 
 his board. Other school-houses were also alluded to in the 
 following record made the same year: u The town voted 14 
 pounds for a reading and writing school, and that it should 
 be kept at four places, viz, at the school house near Samuel 
 Puffer's [perhaps the Pantry school], at the one near Deacon 
 Rice's, at the one near Joseph Stanhope's, and the one near 
 the house of Jonas Brewer." 
 
 In 1755, the town " voted for Grammar school 30 pounds, 
 three fifths to be spent on the west side, and two fifths on 
 the east side the river ; for the west side the school was to 
 be kept at the farm." In 1752, it " voted for the support of 
 the Grammar school in sd town the year ensuing 37 pounds 
 6 shillings 8 pence." The school was to be held in five 
 places, — "two on the east side the river and three on the 
 west, in places as followeth. In the school house near the 
 house of Mr. Joseph Smith, and in a convenient place or 
 near the house of Dea Jonas Brewer as may be, or in a con- 
 venient place as near the house of Mr. Edward More as may 
 be, and in a convenient place as near the house of L l Daniel 
 Noyes as may be, and in the school house near to and north- 
 erly from the house of Dea Jonathan Rice all in sd town." 
 The same year the town voted that " the Reading & writing 
 school should be kept In the two Town school houses the 
 year ensuing." During this period several school-houses 
 were built, which stood about half a century. In 1705, it 
 was " voted, that the School house near [the] East meeting 
 house [should] be improved, [and] to build a new school 
 house near said meeting house." This may have been 
 afterwards the Newell Heard store. Besides school-houses 
 repaired and built, an attempt was made to supply them 
 with fuel at the town's expense. It is recorded, that, March 
 
336 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 1, 1774, the town voted " to see if [it] will order thai the 
 several school houses in said town shall he supplied with 
 wood for the future at the charge of the town, agreeable to 
 the petition of Jacob Reed and others."' "■ The article passed 
 in the negative." 
 
 FOURTH FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 
 
 The peace that followed the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was 
 of short duration. But a few brief years elapsed before the 
 thunder tones of a terrible conflict burst on the ears of a 
 startled land, and sent a shudder to hearts and homes. For 
 the fourth time the English and French were to cross their 
 weapons in an inter-colonial war. For years the two nations 
 had been expanding in population and power on the Ameri- 
 can shores, and during this interval they had been fanning 
 the old flame of jealousy which had its origin far back in a 
 feudal age. Each was desirous of supremacy on this side the 
 Atlantic, and to obtain it each was strengthening its lines for 
 aggressive and defensive work. The one power worked on 
 the seaboard, and extended its operations from the Penob- 
 scot a thousand miles south ; the other stretched its lines of 
 defense along the far-distant interior, and dotted the valley 
 of the St. Lawrence River, the margins of the Mississippi 
 and far-distant lakes, even to the borders of the Gulf of 
 Mexico, with its trading-posts, its strongholds, and its papal 
 missions. These powers sought the same common prize. — 
 the conquest of the country. Already the English claimed 
 that part of it south of the latitude of the north shore of 
 Lake Erie, and westward to the far-off Pacific, by right of 
 charter. Already the Frenchman disputed this right, and 
 claimed the interior as it bordered the Mississippi River 
 and its tributaries, by right of exploration and settlement, 
 Which was to he the permanent title was to be settled, not 
 by diplomacy, but by the arbitrament of the musket, toma- 
 hawk, and torch. The French early prepared for this mode 
 of adjusting their claims. More than sixty fortifications had 
 been constructed by them prior to 1750. The English, made 
 suspicious by the erection of garrisons, and knowing the sig- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 337 
 
 nificance of trading-posts in the interior of the country, pre- 
 pared to arrest the course of the foe. 
 
 Before, however, a settlement was effected a long and 
 severe war ensued ; so severe, indeed, was the struggle, that 
 long after the period was past its events were prominent in 
 the annals of New England. Tradition kept them alive as 
 the years rolled by, and the wild scenes set forth by survivors 
 became the subject of ballad and song. Long after the 
 struggle had ceased, tales of those times were recited by the 
 blazing hearth, as, gathered by the fitful fire-light, groups 
 of listeners gave ear to the thrilling rehearsal, while they 
 watched the changeful glow of the coals as they crackled 
 and crumbled on their ashen bed. The snow-shoes, brought 
 down from the garret, where they had long lain amid the 
 dust of that mystic place, were reminders of the cold, rough 
 march, and the noiseless procession of rangers, as they sped 
 over the pathless snow. The bright fire-light, as it flickered 
 up the chimney's broad flue ; the mossy wood, newly cut, in 
 the corner, — all were alike suggestive of forest adventure, 
 of the lone sentinel guard in the dark, deep shade, and of tales 
 told by the light of camp-fires in places far from home. 
 
 The war was to a large extent carried on by expeditions 
 or campaigns, the object of which was to capture the strong- 
 holds of Canada. We will give lists of Sudbury soldiers who 
 were in these campaigns. 
 
 CROWN POINT EXPEDITION. 
 
 In 1755, a regiment was raised, and placed under command 
 of Col. Josiah Brown of Sudbury, for the purpose of prevent- 
 ing the encroachments of the French about Crown Point and 
 upon "Lake Iroquois, commonly called by the French, Lake 
 Champlain." The regiment belonged to the command of 
 William Johnson. The following is a list of the field and 
 staff officers : — 
 
 Josiah Brown, Col. Samuel Brigham, Surgeon. 
 
 John Cummings, Lt. Col. Benjamin Gott, Surgeon's Mate 
 
 Steven Miller, Major David Mason, Commissary 
 
 Samuel Dunbar, Chaplain Joseph Lovering, Adjutant 
 
338 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Sept. 10, 1755, Samuel Dakin received a commission as 
 captain of foot in this regiment. The muster-roll of his com- 
 pany contains forty-eight names, of which the following are 
 supposed to be from Sudbury : — 
 
 Capt. S. Dakin Sam 1 Grout 
 
 Elisha Cutler Jason Gleason 
 
 Silas Clapp Abel Farrar 
 
 Moses Puffer Josiah Barker 
 
 Nath 1 Eveleth Ephriam Woods, Jr. 
 
 Sam 1 Gibbs J r Samuel Estabrook 
 
 Sam 1 Burbank Lt. Joseph Baker 
 
 Joseph Sherman Jon a Barrett 
 
 Sudbury men in a second list of Capt. Samuel Dakin's 
 Company, 1755 : — 
 
 Samuel Grout sergt. Samuel Mead, Jr. 
 
 David Eveleth corp 1 Jason Gleason 
 
 Jonathan Bent Nathaniel Gibbs 
 
 Silas Clapp Samuel Burbank 
 
 Silas Puffer Moses Jones 
 
 Joseph Maynard Charles Wetherbe 
 
 W m Skinner Abijah Brigham 
 
 Simon Maynard Josiah Sherman 
 
 Jedediah Parmenter Josiah Walker. 
 
 Sudbury men in Capt. Jonathan Hoar's company, 1755 : — 
 
 Adam Gilbert Charles Roiley 
 
 Uriah Choochett Jonathan Stanhope. 
 
 Sudbury men in the Crown Point expedition of 1756, in 
 Capt. Ebenezer Newell's company : — 
 
 John Nixon Lieut. [Fram] Micah Grout 
 
 Ensign Joseph Brintnall Leavitt How 
 
 Warren Goodenow Isaac Goodenow 
 Ezra Barker 
 
 Sudbury men in Capt. John Nixon's company, 1756 : — 
 
 Samuel Parmenter Samuel Putnam 
 
 Phinehas Haynes W"> Puffer 
 
 Samuel Burbank Jon?. Maynard 
 Eph. Hayden 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 339 
 
 Sudbury men in a third list of Capt. Samuel Dakin's com- 
 pany : — 
 
 Samuel Grout Joseph Sherman 
 
 David Evelith Jonathan Bent 
 
 Silas Clapp Joseph Maynard 
 
 W m Skinner Silas Puffer 
 
 Jedediah Parmenter Simon Maynard 
 
 Samuel Mead Jr. Jason Gleason 
 
 Nathaniel Gibbs Moses Stone 
 
 Samuel Burbank Abijah Brigham 
 Charles Wetherbe 
 
 Sudbury men in other lists are as follows : Crown Point ex- 
 pedition in Capt. William Jones' company, Colonel Thatch- 
 er's regiment : — 
 
 Jonas Balcom Miles Realy 
 
 Ebenezer Woodis Nathaniel Hayden 
 
 Leavitt How Nathan Maynard 
 
 Oliver Grout Jonas Gibbs 
 
 Benjamin Gleason Solomon How 
 
 Joseph Mungry Nathan Smith 
 Micah Grout 
 
 In Col. John Jones' regiment for the invasion of Canada, 
 under command of General Amherst : — 
 
 Joel Clapp Daniel Parmenter 
 
 Silas HerAenway Isiah Parmenter 
 
 Joseph Green Cole 
 
 Ebenezer Wooddis Samuel Putman 
 Andrew White 
 
 In Capt. Josiah Richardson's company, Col. Joseph Buck- 
 minster's regiment : — 
 
 Jonas Balcom Miles Realy 
 
 Joseph Muzzy Nathaniel Hayden 
 
 Leavet How Nathan Maynard 
 Micah Grout 
 
 In the company of Capt. John Nixon of Sudbury, 1761: — 
 
 Isaiah Parmenter, Serg 1 Uriah Gibbs. 
 
 Ebenezer Woodes, Corp 1 Moses Haynes 
 
340 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Caleb Clark Ephraim Hayden 
 
 Nathaniel Cutter Isaac Lincoln 
 
 Benj a Cutter Jesse Putnam 
 
 Benj a Clark John Putnam 
 
 W m Daniels Daniel Parmenter 
 
 Josiah Everton. David Rice 
 
 Ephraim Goodnow Jun. Elijah Willis. 
 Thomas Green 
 
 In Capt. Moses Maynard's company : — 
 
 Oliver Gould Benjamin Gleason 
 
 Others in the service : — 
 
 John Rutter. Samuel Graves 
 
 Josiah Baldwin. Daniel Wyman. 
 
 Josiah Pratt. 
 
 Lieut. Samuel Curtis and eighteen men joined Capt, 
 Samuel Dakin's company in the expedition to Canada in 
 1758. 
 
 The following lists contain the names of the active militia 
 force of Sudbury, April, 1757. Many whose names are in 
 these lists engaged in one or more of the campaigns as the 
 war progressed, and then returned to exchange the musket 
 or sword for the implements of peaceful pursuits, still hold- 
 ing themselves in readiness at their country's call to place 
 their names again on the muster-roll : — 
 
 A List of The Officers and Soldiers of the First Foot Company in 
 Sudbury under the command of Capt. Moses Maynard, U Joseph Curtis 
 and En. Jason Glezen. 
 
 Sarg John Rice Abraham Jenkens Jun. 
 
 " Israel Rice Ebenezer King 
 
 " Samuell Russell Joseph Trask 
 
 " Isaac Cutting. Thomas Allen Jun 
 
 Corp 1 Jonathan Underwood Elijah Rice 
 
 " Nehemiah Williams John Parmenter Jun 
 
 " Josiah Farrar Grindly Jackson 
 
 " Sam 1 Fisk Caleb Moulton 
 
 Drum. John Combs. Bezaleel Moore 
 
 " W m Russell. Timothy Underwood 
 
 Joseph Smith Phineas Gleyen 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 341 
 
 Shemnel Griffyn 
 Joseph Rutter 
 Samu 11 Abbott 
 Randall Davis Jun 
 W m Moulton 
 John Parmenter 
 Sam 1 Gould Jun. 
 Ephraim Smith 
 Jonathan Graves 
 Jacob Alderick 
 
 Sam 1 Livermore 
 
 Charles Wetheaby 
 
 W m Ravis 
 
 David Bent 
 
 Isaac Damon 
 
 James Davis 
 
 Henery Coggin 
 
 W m Dudly 
 
 Micah Rice 
 
 Isaac Wetheaby 
 
 Jonathan Belcher 
 
 Ephraim Abbott 
 
 John Allen 
 
 Benj a Glezen 
 A true Copy taken Apr. 25, 1757 
 
 Samu 11 Griffyn 
 Micah Maynard 
 W m Grout 
 Edw d Shannon Jun 
 John Walker 
 John Meriam 
 Edmond Rice 
 Jason Glezen 
 Elijah Ross 
 John Morffet 
 Benj a Cory 
 Ebenecer Staples 
 Sam 1 Pool 
 Zebediih Allen Jun 
 Josiah Maynard 
 Jonas Woodward 
 Benj a A. Williams 
 David Patterson 
 David Stone 
 Jason Glezen Jun 
 Thomas Bent Jun 
 Thadeus Russell 
 James Ross 
 W m Sanderson 
 
 Sam 1 - Curtis, Clerk. 
 
 A true list of the 2ond Foot 
 Cap tn Josiah Richardson taken 
 1757. 
 
 Capt. Josiah Richardson 
 Lef nt Abijah Haynes 
 Ens in Jabez Puffer 
 Serg' Joseph Willis 
 Serg 1 Elijah Smith 
 Serg 1 Corneleas Wood 
 Serg 1 David Moore 
 Corp Joseph Stanhope 
 Corp Samuell Eaton 
 Corp Oliver Dackin 
 Corp Josiah Richardson 
 Drum. Jessie Willis 
 
 " W m Rice Jun. 
 John Rice 
 John Reamos 
 Jonas Gibs 
 John Jacob Cibellar 
 
 Company in Sudbury under command of 
 by Ezekiel How Clerk, April y e 25 th 
 
 W ra Skiner 
 W m Gibs 
 W m Hayden 
 Isaac Hunt Jun 
 Jeams Wier 
 Ephriam Rice 
 Ephriam Goodenow 
 Elijah Parmenter 
 Ezekiel Parmenter 
 Ephriam Hayden 
 Jun. Edmond Goodenow 
 
 Eben r Burbank 
 Eben r Woode 
 Geo. Wheller 
 Geo. Mossmon 
 Joseph Maynard Jun 
 Jeames Carter 
 
342 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Leavit How 
 Micah Goodenow 
 Michall Mellong 
 Morris Clarrey 
 Micah Parmenter 
 Micah Grout 
 Miells Rayley 
 Mosies Rice 
 Nathan Moore 
 Nathaniel Gibs Jun. 
 Nathaniel Muzzey 
 Norman Saever 
 Nathaniel Cuter 
 Rowen Boogrill 
 Reubin Willis 
 Richard Ralley 
 Reubin Norse 
 Oliver Mors 
 Peletiah Parmenter 
 Edward Bointon 
 Patrick Roach 
 Simeon Harris 
 Samuiell Parmenter 
 Samuiell Osbon 
 Samuiell Brigham 
 Samuiell Dackin Jun 
 Samuiell Burbank Jun 
 Samuiell Puffer Jun 
 Samuiell Knight Jun 
 Silas Balkom 
 Silas Puffer 
 Silas Smith 
 Samuiell Putnam 
 Thomas Goodenow 
 Thomas Walker Jun 
 Uriah Parmenter Jun 
 W" 1 Parmenter 
 Daniel Noyse Jun 
 
 James Haynes 
 Isaack Linckon 
 Jeames Thompson 
 Jonathan Maynard 
 Josiah Haynes 
 John Mossman 
 Jonas Hallden 
 Jonas Hayden 
 Isrial Haynes 
 Jeams Puffer 
 Jonal Balcom 
 Josiah Rice 
 John Willis 
 John Burbank 
 Josiah Bennit Jun 
 Jonathan Haynes 
 Jonathan Rice Jun 
 John Goodenow 
 John Puffer 
 Jeams Puffer Jun 
 Joseph Muzzey Jun 
 Aron Haynes 
 Abijah Walker 
 Ambrus Tower 
 Asa Smith 
 Asiell Clap 
 Aron Johnson 
 Abel Brown 
 Aron Earns 
 Andrew White 
 Benimin Tower 
 Beniman Berry 
 David Maynard Jun 
 Daniell Clap 
 Daniell Bowken 
 David Clark 
 Daniell Parmenter 
 
 There was also in Sudbury what was called an Alarm List. 
 This included persons between the ages of sixteen and sixty, 
 who were ordinarily exempt from military duty, but were 
 liable to be called upon in emergencies. The following are 
 the names on an Alarm List which is supposed to have been 
 commanded by Capt. Thomas Damon. 
 
HISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 343 
 
 List of those persons who are obliged to appear on an alarm, between 
 
 the ages of 16 and GO in the First foot Company in Sudbury. Apr 25. 
 
 1757 
 
 Samuel Curtis, Clerk. 
 
 Ebenezer Roby, Esq. 
 W m Cook Jun 
 W m Baldwin 
 Ebenezer Roby Jun. 
 Abial Abbott 
 Isaac Baldwin 
 Naham Baldwin 
 John Ross. 
 Zecariah Briant. 
 Benj n Briant 
 Benj n Ball 
 Daniel Wyman 
 James Patterson 
 Thomas Bent 
 Joseph Goodnow 
 Elijah Bent 
 Cor. Thomas Damon 
 James Graves 
 Amos Sanderson 
 Ezra Graves 
 Joseph Livermore 
 Isaac Rice 
 Peter Bent 
 
 Zebediah Allen 
 Paul Brintnal. 
 Hopstill Bent, 
 Joseph Beal. 
 Joseph Sharmon, 
 James Brewer jun. 
 Eliakim Rice. 
 Benjaman Dudley 
 Samuel Parris. 
 Peter Bent Jun 
 Thomas Graves 
 Isaac Woodward 
 Thomas Jenkinson 
 David McDaniels 
 Daniel Moore Jun 
 Amos Brown 
 Jonathan Patterson 
 Elisha Rice Jun. 
 Peter Briant 
 David Sharmon 
 Josiah Haynes 
 Isaac Stone 
 Jonathan Griffin. 
 
 In Auo-ust, 1757, the men on both the Active and Alarm 
 Lists were mustered for service. The year had been one 
 of disaster to the English and American forces ; and, on 
 Auo-ust 3, General Montcalm with about nine thousand 
 French and one thousand Indians besieged Fort William 
 Henry, which he captured after a six days' siege, during 
 which time it was gallantly defended by Colonel Monroe 
 with a force of twenty-three hundred and seventy-two men. 
 The report of the disaster was sad intelligence to New Eng- 
 land and consternation prevailed. The militia were called 
 to arms, and soon a large part of those on both the Active 
 and Alarm Lists were on their way towards Fort William 
 Henry ; but Montcalm not taking advantage of his victory 
 in the way that was expected, in about two weeks the troops 
 returned. 
 
344 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The following are the officers of a troop of horse in 
 Sudbury in 1762 : — 
 
 Capt. John Noyes 
 1st Lieut. Israel Moore 
 2ond Lieut. Richard Heard 
 Cornet, Jonathan Parmenter 
 Quarter Master, Samuel How. 
 
 Officers of the troop of horse in Sudbury in 1771 : — 
 
 FIRST COMPANY. SECOND COMPANY. 
 
 Capt. Joseph Curtis Capt. Aaron Haynes 
 
 1st Lieut. Micah Maynard. 1st Lieut. Daniel Bowker 
 
 2ond Lieut. Ebenezer Staples. Ens. James Puffer. 
 Ens. Samuel Choate 
 
 THIRD COMPANY. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Knight 
 1st Lieut. Moses Stone 
 
 The foregoing lists indicate that the town was well repre- 
 sented in the last French war, and that its militia force was 
 quite strong. Some of the officers whose names are given 
 were prominent citizens. Col. Josiah Brown has been men- 
 tioned in connection with military operations of a preceding 
 period. Capt. John Nixon, who in 1759, is mentioned as a 
 citizen of Sudbury, was, subsequently, General Nixon of 
 Revolutionary fame. Other of her soldiers who became 
 efficient officers in the Revolutionary War received their first 
 lessons in military tactics in this severe school. 
 
 In one of the expeditions of this war, the town sustained 
 the loss of Capt. Dakin and several others of its citizens, who 
 were killed by the Indians at Half- Way Brook, near Fort 
 Edward, July 20, 1758. At the time of this event, Capt. 
 Dakin and his company were connected with the expedition 
 of General Amherst against Crown Point. The following- 
 brief account of the attendant circumstances are stated in a 
 diary kept by Lieut. Samuel Thomson of Woburn : — 
 
 "July 20, Thursday in the morning, 10 men in a scout 
 waylaid by the Indians and shot at and larmed the fort and 
 a number of our men went out to assist them, and the enemy 
 followed our men down to our Fort, and in their retreat, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 345 
 
 Capt. Jones and Lieut. Godfrey were killed, and Capt Law- 
 rence and Capt. Dakin and Lieut. Curtis and Ens" Davis, 
 and two or three non-commissioned officers and privates, to 
 the number of 14 men, who were brought into the Fort, all 
 scalped but Ens n Davis, who was killed within 30 or 40 
 rods from the Fort: and there was one grave dug, and all 
 of them were buried together, the officers bj themselves at 
 one end, and the rest at the other end of the grave; and 
 Mr. Morrill made a prayer at the grave, and it was a solemn 
 funeral ; and Nath 1 Eaton died in the Fort and was buried ; 
 and we kept a very strong guard that night of 100 men. 
 Haggit [and] W m Coggin wounded." 
 
 Then follows a list of the killed, beginning, — 
 
 Capt. Ebenezer Jones of Willmington 
 Capt Dakin of Sudbury 
 
 Lieut Samuell Curtice of Ditto 
 Private Grout of do 
 
 " We have also an account that there are seven of our 
 men carried into Ticonderoga, which make up the number 
 of those that were missing. 
 
 " 21. Friday, in y e forenoon a party of about 150 went 
 out to find more men that were missing, and we found 4 men 
 who were scalped, and we buried them, and so returned : 
 and at prayer this evening we were Laromed by a false out- 
 cry. Nicholas Brown died and was buried ; and Moses 
 Haggit died." 
 
 As Jonathan Patterson and Nathaniel Moulton of Sud- 
 bury are reported missing, they may have been among the 
 number above referred to. 
 
 The following epitaph of Captain Dakin was written hy 
 William Rice, Esq., who was his orderly sergeant. 
 
 Good by, Capt. Dakin Samuell. 
 
 In a battle near Lake George he fell. 
 
 In the death of Captain Dakin, a loss was sustained by 
 the town, the church, and the province. The following 
 sketch contains some facts concerning his life, 
 
346 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 SKETCH OF CAPTAIN DAKIN. 
 
 Samuel Dakin was a son of Deacon Joseph Dakin, whose 
 father, Thomas, settled in Concord prior to 1650. la 1722, 
 he married Mercy Minott, daughter of Colonel Minott who 
 built the fust framed house in Concord. The farm of Cap- 
 tain Dakin was in the northern part of Sudbury, on the road 
 running northerly to Concord, his house being very near 
 town boundary. As early as 174"), he was appointed ensign 
 of the second company of foot in Sudbury, of which Josiah 
 Richardson was captain and Joseph Buckminster was colonel. 
 Sept. 40, 1755, he received the commission of captain in 
 Col. Josiah Brown's regiment. In May, 1758, he received 
 an order from Ebenezer Nichols to be present with his com- 
 pany at Worcester on the 25th, and to furnish his men with 
 kt Bounty for Biliting." From Worcester lie proceeded to 
 Fort Edward, where he probably arrived about the middle 
 of June, and in the vicinity of which he remained till his 
 death, which occurred as before described. Captain Dakin 
 was not only valiant in his country's service but valiant in 
 the army of the Lord as well. His character as a Christian 
 is indicated by the following covenant, copied from the 
 original, which is still in the possession of one of his 
 descendants. 
 
 COVENANT. 
 
 O, Thou Glorious God ! Thou hast promised mercy in 
 Christ Jesus, if I turn to Thee with my whole heart, I 
 therefore upon the call of the Gospel, do come and throwing 
 down my weapons of rebellion, do submit to Thy mercy, as 
 Thou requires! as the condition of my acceptance with Thee, 
 that I put away mine idols and be at defiance with Thine 
 enemies, which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with 
 
 dnst Thee, I do now from my heart renounce them all, 
 firmly covenanting with Thee not to allow myself in any 
 known sin, but constantly to use all means that I know 
 Thou hast prescribed, for the death and destruction of my 
 corruptions, and as my heart has been running after this 
 world and sin and vanity, I do now resign it to Thee that 
 made it. protesting before Thy Glorious Majesty, that it is 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 347 
 
 the firm resolution of my heart and that I do unfeignedly 
 desire grace from Thee, that when Thou shalt call me here- 
 unto, I may practice this my resolution, and by Thine 
 assistance, to forsake that which is dear to me in this world, 
 rather than turn from Thee to the ways of sin, and Thou 
 wilt enable me to work against all temptations, whether in 
 prosperity or in adversity, lest they draw my heart from 
 Thee. O, Glorious God, I would again come before Thee 
 with all possible veneration bowing myself at the feet of 
 Thy Glorious Majesty. I do here take the Lord Jehovah, 
 Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for my portion and chief good, 
 and do give up myself body and soul for service to serve 
 Thee all the days of my life I do here upon the bended 
 knees of my soul, accept of Jesus as the only way by which 
 sinners have access to God. I do this day take the Lord to 
 be my Lord, and Jesus Christ to be my Saviour, resolving 
 to serve Thee in all my affairs. I do renounce my former 
 righteousness, and take Thee to be " The Lord my right- 
 eousness " and am willing to take my lot as it falls, as to the 
 goods of this world, leaving all my concerns with Thee, 
 verily supposing that nothing separate me from the love of 
 Jesus Christ my Lord and dear Redeemer, and from this 
 day I shall be bold to call the Lord Jehovah my Father, and 
 Jesus Christ my Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost my sancti- 
 fier, hoping that my God will suffer no allowed sin to make 
 void this covenant, and this covenant that I have made on 
 earth, may it be ratified in heaven. Amen & Amen. 
 
 July 27th 1753. memorandum. 
 
 This day renew this covenant having often broken it. 
 The Lord accept me again for his great mercy sake in Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Sept. 29th 1750. memorandum. 
 
 This day renew this covenant, having often broken it, 
 although nothing hath failed on God's part and now going 
 on an Expedition against the enemy at Crown point, I have 
 given myself up wholly to God to be at His disposal in life 
 or death, and O that God would accept of me again for Jesus 
 Christ's sake. 
 
348 HISTORY Otf SUDBURY. 
 
 May 23d 1758. memorandum. 
 This day renew this covenant with God, and while going 
 on an expedition against Canada I have left myself wholly 
 in the hands of God, to be at His disposal in life or death. 
 
 Samuel Dakix. 
 
 Captain Dakin's character is also shown by the following 
 extracts from letters to his wife while he was serving in the 
 Canada campaign. In a letter dated Sept. 26, 1755, he 
 says : " I am in good health and my company are so obe- 
 dient to me and so loving one to another that it makes my 
 life exceeding comfortable and pleasant. I have never yet 
 heard one thwarting word in my company, but they seem all 
 to have a brotherly care one for another, and have never 
 heard one profane word among them, and their forwardness 
 to attend religious exercises is delightful to me so that I have 
 many mercies." 
 
 In a letter of June 10, 1758, he speaks of the condition of 
 his company, and says : " they are all well, and I hope I 
 shall be very happy in my company, and they are very ready 
 to attend prayers and singing of Psalms which we have 
 practiced on our journey." 
 
 July 11, 1758, in writing from Lake George he says: 
 "And now my dear wife and children, I desire you would 
 not distress yourselves about me but commit me in your 
 ] »ravers to God to be wholly at his disposal and I hope by 
 his preserving providence I shall after awhile rejoice with 
 you again in my own house ; but if not I hope we shall all 
 rejoice together in heaven which will be spiritually better." 
 Before he closes his letter he asks for their prayers for him- 
 self, his men, and the whole army. 
 
 Such are some extracts from the correspondence of this 
 Christian soldier. They serve, not only to set forth the 
 character of the man, but of an officer in the military service 
 of those times. Surely, if Captain Dakin was a representa- 
 tive of that generation of men, no wonder that the cause for 
 which they fought was at last triumphant. His descendants 
 have been prominent citizens of Sudbury. Levi and Thomas, 
 grandson and great grandson, were deacons in the Congre- 
 gational Church. 
 
history of sudbury. 349 
 
 Not only were the New England towns called upon to 
 furnish men for the war, but their equipment and mainten- 
 ance also when in the field. As the soldiers to an extent 
 enlisted for single campaigns, repeatedly, the expense of 
 fitting out demanded new contributions. This condition 
 of things occasioned heavy taxation and the issuing of bills of 
 credit by the government. Besides the money provided by 
 the public for the prosecution of the war, some means were 
 furnished by the merchants, farmers and others for the 
 encouragement of enlistments. 
 
 FRENCH NEUTRALS. 
 
 Amoiisr other services rendered by the towns was the 
 maintenance of what were termed French Neutrals, the 
 people whom Longfellow has described in his poem, " Evan- 
 geline." As Sudbury had some of these to care for, a few 
 words relative to their general history may be appropriate. 
 Upon the cession of the province of Nova Scotia by France 
 to the British in 1713, a colony of about seven thousand 
 French Roman Catholics became subjects of Great Britain. 
 These colonists were allowed to remain on the land they had 
 occupied, on condition of their taking the oath of allegiance 
 to England. The oath was taken with the qualification 
 that, in case of war against France, they were not to take 
 up arms against their own countrymen. It was thus they 
 acquired the name of French Neutrals. But it was alleged 
 that, during the war which began in 1755, they furnished 
 the French and Indians with substantial aid, thus enabling 
 them the better to harass the English, that three hundred 
 of them were found in arms at the taking of Fort Bcau- 
 Sejour, and that although an offer was made to such as had 
 not resorted to arms to still hold their estate on taking the 
 oath of allegiance without qualification, yet they one and all 
 refused to do so. In view of this attitude, the English 
 believed that the public safety required their removal from 
 the province. If they were taken to Canada they would 
 still be enabled to assist the French. It was, therefore, 
 determined to convey them to different parts of the British 
 Colonies. The plan of removing them was largely intrusted 
 
350 HISTOIIY OF SUDBUliV. 
 
 to the forces of Massachusetts under command of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Winslow. 
 
 At an appointed time, the people were called into the 
 different ports "to hear the King's orders." About four 
 hundred of their best men assembled at the village of Grand 
 Pre. A guard being placed about the church where they 
 were, Colonel Winslow made known his sad errand. 
 
 One thousand of these French Neutrals arrived in the 
 Massachusetts Bay Province and were supported at public 
 expense. Different towns, among which was Sudbury, had 
 their quota to care for. Repeatedly is there a record of 
 supplies furnished them by the town. The following is a 
 general statement of some of these, and also a bill of attend- 
 ance and medicine furnished by Dr. Roby, one of Sudbury's 
 old time physicians. 
 
 An account of what hath been expended by s cl Town of Sudbury on 
 Sundry French Persons sent from Nova Scotia to this province and by 
 s' 1 government to Town of Sudbury. 
 
 The subsisting of Eighteen persons ten days — six persons three 
 weeks, and four persons twenty-three weeks, the whole amounting to 
 one hundred and twenty-seven weeks for one person charged at four 
 shillings week for each person ^25 — <S S 
 
 Ephraim Curtis Ebenezer Roby 
 
 Josiah Brown Josiah Haynes 
 
 John Noyes Samuel Dakin 
 
 Elijah Smith. Selectmen. 
 
 Some of them being sick a great many comers and goers to visit 
 them made the expense the greater even thirteen or fourteen at a time 
 for a week together. 
 
 State Archives, Vol. XXIII., page 98. 
 
 M ISSACHUSETTS PROVINCE. 
 
 For medicine and attendants for the French Neutrals from Nova 
 Scotia. 
 
 L755, Dec. 11 — To Sundry Medicines for French young woman — 
 27 — To Do. for girl 6 d 
 
 L756, Mar. '1:1, — To Sundry Medicines and Journey in the night west 
 side the River — 0-5-8 
 
 To Sundry .Medicines Journey west side 0-4-0 
 
 To Do. T To Journey and Medicines 0-7-0 
 
 To Do. I for tlie old Gentleman when he tell off the House and was 
 greatly bruised and sick of a fever the clavicula being broke. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 851 
 
 May, 1756, To medicine and attendants for the old Gentleman, the 
 whole month of May and his wife greatest part of the time himself when 
 dangerously sick of a fever, violent coughs and are still remaining in a 
 low languishing condition. 
 
 N. B. The above old gentleman and wife have been in a low lan- 
 guishing condition all the spring and have had no more doctoring than 
 what has been of absolute necessity. 
 
 State Archives, Vol. XXIII., page 97. 
 
 Melancholy, indeed, was the fate of those ancient Aca- 
 dians. Although the circumstances were such that the 
 English may have considered their removal a military neces- 
 sity, yet the fact remains that sorrow and hardship attended 
 their exile. Thej^ were strangers in a strange land. Their 
 pleasant homes were abandoned, and with their lands passed 
 into the hands of another race. 
 
 " Waste are those pleasant farms and the farmers forever departed ; 
 Scattered like dust and leaves when the mighty blasts of October 
 Seize them, and whirl them aloft and sprinkle them far o'er the ocean." 
 
 Feb. 10, 1763, a treaty of peace was signed at Paris, and 
 the long, arduous struggle between the two great nations 
 ceased. The announcement brought great joy to New Eng- 
 land. Days of public thanksgiving were observed, and 
 praise was offered unto Him " from whom all blessings flow." 
 No longer was Canada to be a place from which a foe 
 could sally forth to harass the exposed frontier, and to 
 which he could return with his captives and booty. The 
 same flag was to float over New England and beyond the 
 northern border, and the Canadian fortresses were to be 
 manned by English or American soldiers. 
 
 In yet another way did this war bring its benefits to 
 Americans. It gave them a knowledge of the military 
 tactics of Europe, by which they were the better able to 
 cope with the British when, in after years, they met them 
 on the memorable fields of the Revolutionary War. 
 
 About ten years after the close of the war both precincts 
 lost their pastors. The first that died was Mr. Cook, who 
 passed away in 1760. That year the town voted kt sixty-five 
 pounds to each of the Rev d ministers for the year ensuing 
 
352 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 including their salary and fire wood ; in case they or either 
 of them should decease before the expiration of the year, 
 then they or either of them to receive their salary in propor- 
 tion during the time they shall live and no longer." 
 
 This may indicate that their death was anticipated. An- 
 other record indicates that Mr. Cook had been sick some 
 time when this vole was passed, as the town book goes on 
 to state, " The same meeting granted thirty-three pounds, 
 six shillings six pence to pay persons who had supplied the 
 pulpit in Mr. Cook's confinement, and also granted thirty 
 pounds more to supply the pulpit during his sickness, and 
 chose a committee to provide preaching in the meantime." 
 May 11, 1761, the town appropriated seventeen pounds, six 
 shillings, eight pence " out of the money granted for the 
 Rev. Mr. Cook's salary in the year 1760, to defray the Rev. 
 Mr. Cook's funeral expenses." 
 
 Mr. Cook had one son who taught the grammar school for 
 years in Sudbury, and died of a fever in 1758. After the 
 decease of Mr. Cook, another minister was soon sought for 
 on the east side. A little disturbance, and perhaps delay, 
 was occasioned by a petition sent to the General Court 
 relating to the settlement of another minister on the east 
 side the river. But the matter was amicably adjusted by 
 a vote of the town: whereby it decided "not to send an 
 agent to the General Court to show cause or reason why the 
 petition of Deacon Adam Stone and others relating to the 
 settlement of a Gospel minister on the East side the river 
 should not be granted." The town furthermore voted, that 
 the " prayers of the petition now in Court should be granted, 
 Provided the Court would Grant and confirm the like Privi- 
 lege to the West Church and Congregation when there shall 
 be reason. John Noyes Moderator." 
 
 The way cleared of obstructions a new pastor was soon 
 found. Choice was made of Rev. Josiah Bridge. Oct. 14, 
 L761, ('apt. Moses Maynard was allowed twelve shillings 
 "for his travel to Lunenburg to wait on Mr. Bridge ; " and, 
 at the same meeting, it was " voted to grant to Air. Bridge 
 his settlement and salary as he had contracted with the East 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY 353 
 
 Precinct for, and ordered the assessors to assess the inhabi- 
 tants of the town for the same." 
 
 Delegates were duly chosen by the West Side Church, 
 Nov. 3,° 1761, to attend Mr. Bridge's ordination, — Deacon 
 Haynes, John Haynes, Josiah Richardson, and Cornelius 
 Wood. Mr. Bridge was a native of Lexington, and graduate 
 of Harvard College in 1758. He was ordained Nov. 4, 1761, 
 and died June 19, 1801, aged sixty-two, and in the fortieth 
 year of his ministry. A few years after Mr. Cook's decease 
 Rev. Mr. Loring also passed away, his death occurring 
 March 9, 1772. 
 
 The West Church voted, April 7, 1772, "to set apart 
 Thursday next as a day of Fasting and prayer to seek ye 
 direction and blessing of heaven on the endeavor to settle 
 another Gospel Minister among them." Also, " voted that 
 the Rev. Mr. Stone of Sonthboro, Rev. Mr. Bridge of the 
 East Precinct, Rev. Mr. Bridge of Framingham, and Rev. 
 Mr. Swift of Marlboro be requested to give their presence 
 and assistance. Exercises to commence at 10 o'clock." 
 May 6, 1772, the town " granted Eighteen pound Lawful 
 money for to pay the charge of Rev. Mr. Loring's Funeral," 
 also at the same date it was " voted that the remainder of 
 the [money] granted to pay the Rev. Mr. Loring's salary 
 should be applied for supplying the pulpit." 
 
 SKETCH OP MR. LORING. 
 
 The service of Mr. Loring in the church at Sudbury was 
 long and fruitful. He died in the ninetieth year of his age 
 and the sixty-sixth year of his ministry. It was said of him 
 that " as he earnestly desired and prayed that he might be 
 serviceable as long as he should live, so it pleased God to 
 vouchsafe his request, for he continued to preach 'till the 
 last Sabbath but one before his death, and the next day 
 prayed in the town meeting, which was on the 2 nd day of the 
 month. The night following he was taken ill, and on the 
 9 th of March 1772, he expired." Mr. Loring had pious 
 parentage. His father, Mr. John Loring of Hull, came from 
 Eno-land, Dec. 22, 1634. It has been said of him that, like 
 
354 History of sudbury. 
 
 Obadiah, " lie feared the Lord greatly." His mother was 
 also religious, and tk prayed with her family in her husband's 
 absence." Mr. Loring was born at Hull, Mass., April 6, 
 1682. It is supposed he was converted in his youth. He 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1701. He began to preach 
 at Scituate, lower parish, Aug. 1, 1703, and preached first 
 at Sudbury July 29, 1705. In the year 1723, on the 25th of 
 July, he removed to the west side of the river, where he 
 continued in service until flesh and strength failed. He left 
 two sons and four daughters, his son Jonathan having died 
 some years before the death of his father. Elizabeth, born 
 Nov. 16, 1712, married Richard Manson of Sudbury, June 6, 
 1716. Mary, born Sept. 14, 1716, married Elisha Wheeler, 
 and died, Jan. 22, 1801. Nathan, born Nov. 27, 1721, mar- 
 ried Keziah Woodward, Dec. 31, 1747, who died July 28, 
 1754. He married a second time, and died April 25, 1803. 
 " He was a farmer, and lived on the place afterwards owned 
 by Loring Wheeler 1st." On the fidelity of Mr. Loring's 
 ministry we need offer no comments: his works are his 
 memorials. At the time of his installation at Sudbury the 
 church numbered one hundred and twenty, — forty-one 
 males and seventy-nine females. During his ministry four 
 hundred and fifty were added to it ; of these, forty-two 
 males and seventy-two females were added before the divi- 
 sion of the church, and, after the division, there were added 
 to the West Church one hundred and twenty-nine males and 
 two hundred and seven females. The whole number of 
 children baptized by Mr. Loring in Sudbury was fourteen 
 hundred. 
 
 It has been said concerning his service on the West Side, 
 " Thus did this excellent and venerable man thro' a long 
 series of years, burn and shine in eminent Piety, indefati- 
 gable Dilligence, faithfulness, and distinguished usefulness 
 of truly primitive stamp. Heu Pietas ! lieu prisca Fides ! " 
 It is said, further, that he was " honored and revered by all 
 whose regards were worth receiving; and for a great number 
 of years was the head and the glory and delight of the 
 ministry." Beside these substantial testimonials of merit, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 355 
 
 he has left various publications which also set forth his 
 worth. Some of these printed works are as follows : — 
 
 " The nature and necessaty of the New Birth, (a ser- 
 mon.) Printed for and sold by D. Henchman, over against 
 the British meeting house. MDCCXXVII1." 
 
 " Serious thoughts on the miseries of hell. (Preached at 
 Sudbury, Sunday, Feb. 20, 1731-2.)" 
 
 Several other sermons on important religious subjects 
 were published, also au election sermon, of date 1739; a 
 convention sermon, 1742, and others not mentioned here, 
 making in all eleven publications. He also kept a succes- 
 sion of diaries, some of which are still extant. They are 
 closely written and somewhat hard to be read, but contain 
 valuable matter that pertains to the affairs of both province 
 and town. Mr. Loring was a strong Calvinist, an earnest 
 preacher and somewhat noted minister. It is said he did 
 not like the ways of Mr. Whitefield, the evangelist, and the 
 excitement attendant upon his revivals ; and this, together 
 with some other matters, led to some unpleasantness for a 
 time. He was fine looking, tall, slender, and of dark com- 
 plexion. When he lived on the East Side, he occupied the 
 parsonage which the town provided for Mr. Sherman. In 
 1778, the town voted " to give to Mr. Isreal Loring our 
 present minister ye 4 acres of land and ye building now 
 upon it } rt ye bought of John Loker to him and his heirs 
 forever, on y e s d Mr. Isreal Loring relinquishing ye <£50 
 which y e town granted him." (See Chapter XV.) 
 
 Thus lived and died a good and great man; but "though 
 dead he yet speaketh." 
 
 " The precious memory of the just 
 Shall flourish when they sleep in dust." 
 
 After the death of Mr. Loring, the church did not remain 
 long dependent upon a temporary supply. On July 27, 
 1772, it proceeded to select a Gospel minister, and the Rev. 
 Jacob Bigelow was unanimously chosen. He was to have a 
 salary of seventy-four pounds. He was ordained Nov. 11, 
 1772. The following churches were represented on the occa- 
 
356 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 sion of ordination : East Precinct, Josiah Bridge ; Waltham, 
 Jacob Gushing; Weston, Samuel Woodward; Sherburn, 
 Elijah Brown; Framingham, Matthew Bridge; Lexington, 
 Jonas Clark ; Westborough, Ebenezer Parkman. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 For a time preceding the Revolution, the West Side was 
 divided into the North and South Wards. In 1765, Richard 
 Heard offered to collect the taxes on the East Side the river 
 for three pence per pound if they would appoint him col- 
 lector and constable ; and Aaron Haynes offered to collect 
 them for the North Ward, West Side, and Jedediah Par- 
 menter for the South Ward at the same rates. 
 
 In 1705, the town " voted to build a new stone pound 
 between Lieut. Augustus Moors' dwelling house at the 
 gravel pit, on Col. Noyes land which he promised to give 
 the town to set a pound on by Dead.*' The pound was to 
 be " 30 feet square from Enside to Enside 6 ft high with 
 pieces of timber locked together round the top 8 inches 
 square, for six pounds and the old pound/' 
 
 In 1771, the town voted to build a powder-house in which 
 to keep the town's stock of ammunition. It granted for 
 this object " 7 pounds 9 shillings and 4 pence, and agreed 
 with Col. John Noyes to build it, and place it near or on 
 W ra Baldwin's land near Major Curtis'." Another record 
 of the same year states that " the town voted to erect the 
 powder house on the training field near Mr. Elisha Wheel- 
 ers." In 1773, it "voted to remove the powder house to 
 some suitable place on or near the gravel pit hill, and chose 
 a committee to remove the same, if the committee should 
 think the house will be sufficient for the use it was built for, 
 and rough cast and underpin said building." 
 
 In 1772, the town "gave leave to John Balcom, Joseph 
 Willis, Abijah Brigham, and Jonathan Smith, to set up a 
 small House on the town land near the west meeting house 
 for the people to repair to on the Sabbath day." There may 
 have been other similar buildings erected near. They were 
 intended as a convenient resort for the people, during the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 357 
 
 interval between services on Sunday, for the purpose of 
 warming themselves and eating their dinners. 
 
 May IT, 1773, the town chose a committee " to consider 
 and report what is proper to be done in order to suppress 
 that set of men in this town, who make it their business to 
 trade with and cheat strangers." The committee reported 
 as follows : — 
 
 " That for the benefit of the public, the names and char- 
 acter of the persons belonging to and residing in Sudbury 
 hereafter named .... are persons who go about the country 
 and cheat honest men by purchasing their horses, cattle and 
 other effects, by telling fair stories, and promising short pay, 
 should be published in the several newspapers, that the 
 Public may be cautioned against trading with or trusting 
 them on any account." 
 
 The town accepted of the report, and chose a committee 
 to find out the persons who aided and assisted in the work, 
 " by purchasing the horses and cattle &c at a low price 
 which they know are obtained in such a clandestine way 
 and manner, that their names may be exposed in like man- 
 ner. Also voted, that the town Clerk send an attest copy 
 to the several Printers in the town of Boston, to be printed 
 for the benefit of the public." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 1775-1800. 
 
 War of the Revolution. — Causes of It. — Attitude of the Town Relative 
 to the Stamp Act. — Instructions to the Representative Concerning 
 It. — Report of the Committee Relative to the Importation of Tea. — 
 Patriotic Resolutions of the Town. — Instructions to its Represen- 
 tatives. — An Old Document Descriptive of the Times. — Military 
 Preparations. — Choice of Militia Officers. — Organization of Minute 
 Companies. — Names and Captains of Companies. — Muster Rolls. — 
 Equipments. — Drill. — Call Roll of Captain Nixon's Company. — 
 Military Stores Removed to Sudbury. — The Alarm. — The Muster- 
 ing and March. — The Arrival at Concord. — The Encounter at the 
 North Bridge. — Retreat of the British. — The Pursuit. — Encounter 
 at Merriam's Corner. — At Hardy's Hill. — Incident. — Sudbury's 
 Loss. — Sketch of Deacon Josiah Haynes. — Sketch of Mr. Asahel 
 Read. 
 
 Far as the tempest thrills 
 
 Over the darken'd hills, 
 Far as the sunshine streams over the plain, 
 
 Roused by the tyrant band, 
 
 Woke all the mighty land, 
 Girded for battle from mountain to main. 
 
 O. W. Holmes. 
 
 The period from 1775 to 1800, in this country, may truly 
 be termed the period of the Revolution. It witnessed the 
 commencement and close of armed opposition to the British 
 Crown, and the establishment, in America, of a new nation- 
 ality. In the work of overthrowing the old and establishing 
 a new government, the several provincial towns had a 
 common concern ; each supplied its quota and each stood 
 ready to respond to the country's call. Sudbury, on account 
 of its situation and size, bore a prominent part. It was the 
 most populous town in Middlesex County ; its territory was 
 extensive, and for a time in close proximity to the seat of 
 
 358 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 359 
 
 war: for these reasons, much was expected of it, and its 
 patriotism was equal to the demand. Before a consideration 
 in detail of the part taken by the town in this stormy 
 period we will notice in brief the causes of the war. The 
 thirteen original States were, for the most part, settled by 
 English emigrants. They loved the mother country, its 
 institutions and laws, and had no desire to throw off alle- 
 giance so long as England respected their rights. The two 
 countries had stood together on the fields of successive wars, 
 they had things in common to be shared and kept, — one 
 language set forth their traditions, one literature contained 
 their history and laws. It was natural and desirable that 
 they should have but one flag and sustain one general gov- 
 ernment. But causes worked to alienate and bring about 
 a final rupture. The colonies were oppressed with excessive 
 taxation, denied the rights of their ancient charters, refused 
 representation in council and the right of petition at court. 
 Misguided and rash officials were placed in their midst, and 
 they were subject, in various other obnoxious ways, to checks 
 on their peace and prosperity. 
 
 Before hostilities broke out, protests -were repeatedly pre- 
 sented to the Crown against its despotic proceedings; but 
 the colonies had little hope of English concession, hence, 
 great activity prevailed in council, and the people prepared 
 to meet the worst. Resolutions were passed, and such plans 
 laid for aggressive and defensive measures as the exigencies 
 of the province required. In these measures Sudbury had 
 her share. The town was usually present, by delegates, in 
 response to all calls, and her vote was stanch for the conti- 
 nental cause. In 1770, the people manifested their hearty 
 appreciation of the agreement of merchants in Boston " to 
 stop the importation of British goods, and engaged for them- 
 selves and all within their influence, to countenance and 
 encourage the same." At an early day, they chose a com- 
 mittee to prepare and present instructions to Peter Noyes, 
 Representative to the General Court, in regard to the Stamp 
 Act, which set forth their opinions very strongly concerning 
 that petty piece of tyranny. Record after record appears on 
 the Town Book, of resolutions and acts that show how posi- 
 
360 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 tive the people were in their patriotism, and how pronounced 
 they were in declaring it. These are of such a character 
 that to give a few of them will suffice. 
 
 177:?. The Town being met, the committee appointed by the town 
 to take into consideration the affair relating to the Tea sent here by the 
 East India Company, reported as follows, viz." — 
 
 Taking into Consideration the late Conduct of administration, to- 
 gether with an act of Parliament enabling the East India Company to 
 export their Teas unto America Free of all. Duties and Customs, Regu- 
 lations and penalties in America as are provided by the revenue Act; 
 we are justly alarmed at this Detestable Craft and Policy of the Min- 
 istry to deprive us of our American Liberties Transmitted to us by our 
 Worthy Ancestors, at no less expense than that of their Blood and 
 Treasure. That price our Renowned Forefathers freely paid, that they 
 might transmit those Glorious Liberties as a free, full, and fair inher- 
 itance to Posterity, which liberties through the Indulgent. Smiles of 
 Heaven, we have'possessed in peace and Quietness, till within a few 
 years Past (Excepting in the reign of the Detestable Stewarts) but now 
 Behold! the pleasing scene is changed, the British ministry, assisted 
 by the Inveterate Enemies to American Liberty on this as well as on 
 the other side of the Atlantick, Combining together to Rob us of our 
 dear Bought freedom; have Brought us to this sad Dilemma, either to 
 resolve like men in defense of our just Rights and Liberties, or sink 
 under the weight of their Arbitrary and unconstitutional measures into 
 a State of abject Slavery. Therefore as Freeborn Americans Intitled 
 to all the immunities, Liberties and Privileges of Freeborn Englishmen, 
 we look upon ourselves under the Strongest Obligations to use our 
 utmost Exertions in defense of our just Rights in every constitutional 
 method within our Power, Even though the Cost of the Defense should 
 equal that of the purchase. Therefore resolved 
 
 L< That as we are entitled to all the Privileges of British Subjects, 
 we have an undoubted and exclusive Right to Grant our own monies 
 for the support of Government and that no Power on Earth has a right 
 to Tax or make Laws binding us, without our consent. 
 
 2dly That the British Parliament laying a Duty on Tea Payable in 
 America, for the express purpose of Raising a Revenue, is in our 
 opinion an unjust Taxation, and that the specious method of permitting 
 the East India Company to export their Teas into the Colonies, has a 
 direct tendency to rivet the Chain of Slavery upon us. 
 
 3dly. That we will lend all the aid and assistance in our Power in 
 every Rational Method, to hinder the Importations of Teas, so long as 
 it is subject to a duty; and that this Town are well pleased with, and 
 highly approve of that Resolution in particular entered into by the 
 Town of Boston, viz that they will not suffer any Tea to be imported 
 into that Town while subject to an unrighteous Duty; and it is the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 361 
 
 desire and expectation of this Town that said resolution be not relaxed 
 in any Degree; which if it should it would much lesson that confidence 
 (which we hope we may justly say) we have reason to place in that 
 respectable metropolis 
 
 4«iiy That the Persons appointed by the East India Company to 
 receive and vend their Teas (by their obstinate refusal to resign their 
 odious Commission) have shown a ready disposition to become the 
 Tools of our Enemies, to oppress and enslave their Native Country, and 
 have manifested such stupidity and wickedness to prefer private Inter- 
 est to the good of their Country, and therefore can expect no favor or 
 respect from us ; but we leave them to accumulate a load of Infamy, 
 proportionate to their vileness. 
 
 5 a That whoever shall sell, buy, or otherwise use Tea, while sub- 
 ject to and poisened with a Duty, shall be deemed by us Enemies to 
 their Country's welfare ; and shall be treated by us as such. The Town 
 by their Vote Ordered the foregoing resolves to be recorded in the 
 Town Book, and a Copy of the same to be forwarded to the Committee 
 of Correspondence at Boston, with our sincere thanks to that Respect- 
 able Town, for their Manly Opposition to every minsterial measure to 
 enslave America. 
 
 Thomas Plympton, Ezekiel Howe, John Maynard } 
 Sampson Belcher, Phinehas Glezen, Josiah Langdon f 
 
 With like spirit the town expressed itself in the following 
 instructions to Peter Noyes, its Representative to the Court : 
 
 Sir, you being chosen by the inhabitants of this town to represent 
 them in the Great and General Court or Assembly of their Province, 
 we think proper at this critical Day, when our invaluable rights and 
 privileges are so openly invaded to give you the following instructions. 
 
 That you invariably adhere to and steadfastly maintain (so far as you 
 are able) all our Charter Rights and Priveleges and that you do [not] 
 consent to give them or any of them up, on any pretense whatever. 
 That you make use of all your influence, that some effective method be 
 devised and pursued for the restoration of our violated rights and 
 redress of all our grievances. That you use your endeavors that the 
 Governor be prevailed upon to make a grant for the payment of our 
 agent chosen by the Representative body of the Province to present 
 our complaint to the ears of our King 
 
 John Maynard. "| 
 
 Sampson Belcher. I 
 
 John Balcom. ! 
 
 ,,,„ -or c Committee. 
 
 W m Rice, Jr. 
 
 Phineas Gleason. j 
 
 Aaron Merriam. J 
 
362 History of sudbury. 
 
 Nov. 14, 1774, the town voted " their approbation of the 
 several measures of the Provincial Congress so far as has 
 been communicated to them." It also voted, at the same 
 meeting, " to choose a committee to observe the conduct of 
 all persons touching the association agreement entered into 
 by the Continental Congress, whose business it shall be to 
 see the articles contained therein are strictly adhered to by 
 the inhabitants of this town." 
 
 In 1774, the town chose Thomas Plympton, Capt. Richard 
 Heard, and James Mossman to represent it at the proposed 
 Provincial Congress. The records just quoted are a few 
 from many that show the fidelity of Sudbury to the great 
 cause of freedom in those tumultuous times. It was decided 
 as to the true principle of action, and equally prompt and 
 consistent in carrying it out. Enough has been said to show 
 the town's place in that preparatory period that led to the 
 clash of arms ; but we will quote a paper written by a Revo- 
 lutionary soldier of Sudbury, which shows the spirit of the 
 age and gives a synopsis of events and the way in which 
 they were viewed by one living in town at the time of their 
 occurrence ; and although, in presenting this paper, we may 
 anticipate some of the events we are about to narrate, yet 
 we think it proper to do this, rather than make a break in a 
 paper so valuable both to local and general history. 
 
 " The Causes that led the Colonies to Take up armes 
 Against the Mother Country is proper to be Shown To 
 Prove the Necessity the Colonies were under to resist the 
 oppressive Measures which the Colonies were laid under; 
 namely the stamp act; on the Stamp act Being Repaled, an 
 act called the Declaritory act, more oppressive and Hostile 
 to American Rights than any thing that had Preceded it. 
 A Cargo of Tea was consigned To the Friends of the Royal 
 Governor Hutchinson with a duty [of] three pence on a 
 pound, but the inhabitants of Massachusetts [being] Deter- 
 mined nut to pay that Duty, a Party of men. in Disguise 
 Entered on bord the Ships and Destroyed Three Hundred 
 and Forty Two Chests of Tea. After these proceedings 
 were received in England The Excitement was very strong 
 
HISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 363 
 
 against Massachusetts and Particularly against Boston, 
 which was considered The seat of Rebellion. A Bill was 
 then Brought forward that was called the Boston Port Bill ; 
 the Port of Boston was Precluded the Privelege of Landing 
 and Discharging or Loading and Shiping goods. The words 
 Whigs and Tories was introduced about this Time. To the 
 Honor of Sudbury there was Not any of the latter Class to 
 be found within the limits [of] Sudbury. 
 
 " The People were Carfull to Promote men that were 
 Strongly opposed to British Tireny. The Town of Boston 
 Passed a vote to stop all importation from Great Britain and 
 the West Indies. 
 
 " Requesting the other Colonies to fall in with the same 
 Resolve, Many of the inhabitants of . . . signed a Resolve 
 not to buy any imported goods. Most Noted Men in Boston 
 that took the lead . . . were James Otis John Hancock 
 and Samuel Adams ; in September 1774 Ninty of the Rep- 
 resentatives of Massachusetts Met at Salem and formed 
 What was Called the Provincial Congress and adjourned to 
 Concord. Here they chose John Hancock President, and 
 drew up a Plan for the immediate Defense of the Province 
 By appointing officers, also Pased a Resolve to get in 
 Readiness to Compose an Army at the shortest Notis and 
 called Minute men. The minute company in Sudbury was 
 commanded by Capt John Nixon afterwards General, the 
 North Melitia Company was commanded [by] Capt. Aaron 
 Haynes The South By Capt. Moses Stone, the orders were 
 for Every man to be supplied with a Gun and Bagnet 
 Cartrege Box and 36 Rounds, our .Guns to [be] Kept in 
 Good Repair. The men that were freed by E g e from doing 
 Militory Duty formed themselves into a Company Called the 
 Alarm Company Commanded by Capt. Jabez Puffer. Train- 
 ings were as often as once a week the three fall months, in 
 the winter Not so often. The young Men In the Winter 
 months made a Practis of calling on their officers Evenings 
 and going through the Manual Exercise In Barn Flours. I 
 have exercised many a Night With my Mittens on. Such 
 was the Patriotic sperit that Reigned in the Brest of Every 
 True American Never to stain the Glory of our worthy 
 
364 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Ancestors but like them Resolve never to part with our 
 birthright. To be wise in our deliberations and determined 
 in our Exertions for the preservation of our libertys, being 
 Irritated by Repeated Injuries and Striped of our inborn 
 rights and dearest Priveleges; The Present Generation may 
 view those Transactions with surprise ; every Rational mind 
 must feel satisfied of the overruling hand of Providence. 
 To bring about the great event here we must Cast our Eyes 
 on the Father of Mercies with a full belief that He would 
 Make his arm beare For us as he did for our Ancestors 
 that we should be Enabled to Defend and Maintain our 
 Rights Boath of a Civil and Religious Nature. With these 
 impressions Strongly impressed in their Hearts on the morn- 
 ing of [the] Ever Memorable 19 th of April 1775 Husbands 
 left their wifes and Fathers their daughters Sones their 
 Mothers Brothers their Sisters to Meet a Haughty Foe. 
 
 " On this eventful morning an Express From Concord to 
 Tho s Plympton Esq 1 ' who was then a Member of the Pro- 
 vintial Congress [stated] that the British were on their way 
 . to Concord : In 35 Minites between 4 and 5 oclock in the 
 Morning, the Sexton was immadelly Called on, the bell 
 Ringing and the Discharge of Musket which was to give the 
 alarm. By sunrise the greatest part of the inhabitants were 
 Notified. The morning was Remarkable fine and the Inhab- 
 itants of Sudbury Never can make such an important appear- 
 ance Probably again. Every Countenance appeared to 
 Discover the importance of the event. Sudbury Companies 
 were but a short distance From the North Bridg, when the 
 first opposition was made to the Haughty Enemy. The 
 Dye was Cast and the Torch Lit by which means we Have 
 Becom an independent Nation, and may the present gener- 
 ation and those unborn, preserve unimpaired the Libertys. 
 sivel and Religious so long as Time Endures — 
 
 "On the 19 of April, I was Runing across a Lot where 
 there was a bend in [the] Road in order to get a Fair Shot, 
 at the Enemy, in company with a Scotchman who was in 
 Braddock's Defeat 19 year Before, after we had Discharged 
 our Guns I observed to the Sc<> 1 who appeared very Com- 
 
THE COMMON. 
 
 Unitarian Church, Town House and Methodist Church, 
 
 Sudbury Centre. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 365 
 
 posed I wished I felt as Calm as he appeared to be — [He 
 said] its a Tread to be Larnt, 
 
 " Before I served through one Campain I Found the Scots 
 Remark to be a just one — 
 
 " The old soldiers Name is John Weighton He informed 
 me he had been in seven Battles and this Eight." (Stearns 
 Collection.) 
 
 MILITARY PREPARATIONS. 
 
 Nov. 14, 1774, " it was voted, that the town recommend 
 to the several companies of militia to meet for the choice of 
 officers for their respective companies, as recommended by the 
 Provincial Congress. Also voted, that a company of militia 
 on the East side, meet on Thursday next at twelve o'clock at 
 the East meeting house in Sudbury, to choose their officers ; 
 and that the companies on the West side to meet at the West 
 meeting house at the same time and for the same purpose." 
 
 Besides looking after the militia, the town took measures 
 to form companies of minute men. These, as the name 
 implies, were to hold themselves in readiness to act at a 
 minute's warning. The officers received no commissions, 
 but held their positions by vote of the men. Two such 
 companies were formed, one on each side of the river. 
 There was also a troop of horse composed of men from both 
 precincts. Besides these companies of able-bodied men, there 
 was an alarm company composed of men exempt from mili- 
 tary service. The names of the companies were, — 
 
 North Militia Co. West Side, Capt. Aaron Haynes 60 men 
 
 East Militia Co. East Side. Capt. Joseph Smith, 75 men 
 
 South Militia Co. (Lanham District) both Sides. Capt. Moses Stone 92 men. 
 
 Troop of Horse. Both Sides. Capt. Isaac Loker. 21 men. 
 
 Minute Co. West Side. Capt. John Nixon. 58 men 
 
 Minute Co. East Side. Capt. Nathaniel Cudworth. 40 men. 
 
 These make, besides the alarm list of Jabez Puffer, six com- 
 panies — three hundred and forty-eight men — in process of 
 preparation for the coming struggle. 
 
 The muster rolls of these companies, as present at the 
 Concord and Lexington battle, have for the most part been 
 
366 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 preserved, and are here given as found in State and town 
 documents. They may not, in every case, give the names 
 of all who were on the rolls of either militia or minute men 
 in 1774 ; and they may also contain names which were not 
 properly of the companies in whose rolls they stand. But 
 this may be explained by the fact that these rolls represent 
 those who were in the Lexington and Concord fight, and 
 that the alarm company and troop were mingled with other 
 companies of the town on that memorable day. 
 
 A muster Roll of Militia Company and part of an Alarm Company 
 that marched to Cambridge by Concord on the Alarm on the nineteenth 
 of April last under the command of Capt, Aaron Haynes of Sudbury 
 and returning home. 
 
 Aaron Haynes Capt, Thomas Puffer 
 
 Daniel Bowker Lieut, - Rufus Parmenter 
 
 James Puffer Lieut, . James 
 
 Joshua Haynes Sergt, Ebenezer Plympton 
 
 Samuel Dakin " Abel Tower 
 
 Samuel Puffer " Francis Green 
 
 Jonathan Haynes " Jason Haynes 
 
 Benjamin Smith Corp. Joseph Haynes 
 
 Ashael Balcom " Israel Brigham 
 
 Hope Brown " Abel Willis 
 
 Ithamon Rice " Isaac Rice 
 
 Phineas Puffer, Clark John Bemis 
 
 Aaron Haynes Moses Noyes 
 
 Abel Maynard, Private David Moore 
 
 Micah Maynard Abijah Brigham 
 
 John Maynard Israel Haynes 
 
 Jonas Haynes Edmund Parmenter 
 
 Isaac Puffer Henry Smith 
 
 Oliver Dakin Dea Thomas Plympton 
 
 Silas How L'eut Dakin 
 
 Sworn to by Capt. Aaron Haynes, Jan. 20, 177G 
 
 A muster roll of the Company under the Command of Capt. Joseph 
 Smith, in Col. James Barret's Regiment from Sudbury on April 
 19 th 1775, in persuit of the ministerial Troops 
 
 Capt, Joseph Smith Isaac Damon 
 Lieut, Josiah Farrar John Tilton Jr. 
 Lieut, Ephraim Smith John Cutting 
 Ensign Timothy Underwood Samuel Tilton Jr, 
 Sergeant William Bent Amos Addaway 
 Sergeant Samuel Griffin Travis 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 367 
 
 Sergeant Robert Cutting 
 Sergeant John Bruce 
 Corporal Samuel Tilton 
 Corporal Nathaniel Smith 
 Corporal Peter Johnson 
 Corporal John Merriam 
 Drumer Thomas Trask 
 Edmund Sharman 
 Timothy Bent 
 Micah Rice 
 Isaac Gould 
 John Barney- 
 Jacob Gould 
 Benjaman Dudley 
 Zachariah Briant Jr, 
 Ebenezer Johnson 
 Jonathan Bent 
 Simon Belcher 
 Joel Stone 
 
 Roland Bennett 
 Isaac Stone 
 John Stone 
 Isaac Rice Jr, 
 William Dudley 
 John Peter 
 Francis Jones 
 James Sharmon 
 Samuel Sharmon 
 Joseph Goodenow 
 Josiah Allen 
 Elisha Cutting 
 John Dean 
 James Goodenow 
 Ephraim Bowker, 
 Jonathan Cutting 
 James Davis 
 Jason Parmenter 
 
 Middlesex Dec 21 st 1775, The above named Joseph Smith made 
 solemn oath to the truth of the above roll, Before me, Moses Gill> 
 Justice Peace. 
 
 These Certify that the 
 ye 19th f April last to 
 Col° How of Sudbury and 
 
 Moses Stone Cap' 
 Jon a Rice L' 
 Joseph Goodenow 2 
 Joseph Moore Serg' 
 Ephr m Carter Corp 1 
 David How 
 Benj a Berry 
 Jon a Carter 
 Elijah Goodnow 
 David How 
 Ezek 1 How jr. 
 Jonas Wheeler 
 Isaac Lincoln 
 
 The abov 
 Peter Haynes 
 U Elisha Wheeler 
 Aaron Goodnow 
 Thomas Walker 
 Eben r Burbank 
 
 The abov 
 
 mens names hereafter annex'd marched on 
 Head O ra we being under Command of Lt 
 Moses Stone Cap 
 
 Tho* Ames 
 Thomas Burbank 
 Lt. Nath 1 Bryant 
 
 Israel Maynard 
 Tho s Carr jun r 
 Isaac Moore 
 Uriah Moore 
 Abner Walker 
 W m Walker 
 Abel Parmenter 
 Dan 1 Osburn 
 Tho s Derumple 
 
 e named were out four days. 
 
 Tho 8 Derumple 
 
 Nath 1 Brown 
 
 Uriah Hayden 
 
 Israel Willis 
 
 Calven Clark 
 e named were out three days. 
 
868 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Province of the Massachusetts D r to Isaac Locker and the men 
 under me by name in y e Colony for service done in defence of the 
 Country on y c 19 th day of April to y e 21 8t of the same when the alarm at 
 Concord, agreable to the General Courts Order — made up this Acco 1 
 
 Tim Sharmon 
 Dan 1 Moore J r 
 David Curtis 
 
 Isaac Locker 
 U Oliver Noyes 
 O r M r Ja 8 Puffer 
 Corp 1 Ja" Noyes 
 Corp Jesse Gibbs 
 Corp 1 Abel Smith 
 Da 1 Woo d Moore 
 Eph Moore 
 Jonas Wheeler 
 Jesse Mossman 
 Rufus Bent 
 Jason Bent 
 VV Wyman 
 Jo s Rutter 
 W ni Noyes 
 
 Zach h Heard 
 Jacob Jones 
 Nath 1 Knovvlton 
 Jonas Rice 
 Nathan Stearns 
 Micah Greaves 
 Nath' Jenison 
 Steph n Locker 
 Asaph Travis 
 Jonas Locker 
 Simon Newton 
 David Heard 
 
 A List of a Company of Minute Men under the command of Capt. 
 
 John Nixon, in Col Abijah Pierce's Regiment who entered the service 
 
 April 19 th 1775 
 
 David Moore Lieut Abel Holden " 
 
 Ashael Wheeler 2 a Lieut Hopestill Brown Corp. 
 
 Micah Goodnow Sergt Jesse Moore " 
 
 Elijah Willis " Uriah Wheeler 
 
 Jeremiah Robbins " William Moore 
 
 PRIVATES. 
 
 Joseph Balcom 
 Philemon Brown 
 Samuel Brigham 
 Samuel Cutting 
 Asher Cutler 
 William Dun 
 Aaron Ames 
 Robert Ames 
 Eliab Moore 
 Uriah Moore 
 Isaac Moore 
 John Moore 
 Josiah Richardson 
 Nathan Read 
 Charles Rice 
 James Rice 
 Ezra Smith 
 
 Rueben Haynes 
 Joshua Haynes 
 Caleb Wheeler 
 John Weighten 
 Simon Kingman 
 Israel Willis 
 Hopestill Willis 
 Ebenezer Wood 
 Jonas Holden 
 Elisha Wheeler 
 Daniel Loring 
 Thadeus Moore 
 William Maynard 
 Daniel Maynard 
 John Shirley 
 Peter Smith 
 Abraham Thompson 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 369 
 
 Samuel Gleason Daniel Weight 
 
 Thomas Goodenow Nathaniel Rice 
 
 Jesse Goodenow Daniel Putman 
 
 William Goodenow Micah Grant 
 
 Sworn to by Lt. Asahel Wheeler, Feb. 3, 1776. 
 
 A muster Role of the Minute Company under the command of Capt. 
 Nathaniel Cudworth in Col. Abijah Pierce's Regiment. 
 
 Nathaniel Cudworth Capt. Samuel Pollard 
 
 Thadeus Russel, Lieut. Daniel Rice 
 
 Nathaniel Maynard Ensign Samuel Whitney 
 
 Nathaniel Reeves Sergent Benjamin Adams 
 
 Jonathan Hoar " Samuel Curtis 
 
 Caleb Moulton " Richard Heard Jr 
 
 Thomas Rutter " Samuel Bent 
 
 Joseph Willington Corp. Samuel Haynes 
 
 Thadeus Bond " Joseph Nicolls 
 
 David Clough " William Grout 
 
 Joshua Kendall " Samuel Merriam 
 
 John Trask Drummer David Underwood 
 
 Phineas Gleason Private Naum Dudley 
 
 Ebenezer Dudley James Phillips 
 
 John Noyes Jr Edmund Rice Jr. 
 
 Timothy Underwood Nathaniel Parmenter 
 
 Peter Britnell David Damon 
 
 Zebediah Farrar David Rice 
 
 Jonathan Parmenter Jr Edward How 
 
 Jonathan Wesson Timothy Shannon 
 
 Sworn to by Nathaniel Cudworth, Feb. 21, 1776. 
 
 In 1776, the town " voted to pay each of the minute men 
 one shilling and sixpence for training one half day in a week, 
 4 hours to be esteemed a half day, after they were enlisted 
 and until called into actual service or dismissed ; and the 
 Captains 3 shilling and Lieutenants 2 shillings and six pence 
 and the ensign 2 shillings." 
 
 The foregoing muster rolls represent about one-fifth of 
 the entire population. The number in actual service at the 
 Concord and Lexington tight three hundred and two. The 
 following report shows to what extent these companies were 
 equipt. 
 
370 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 " Sudbury March y e 27 th 1775 : 
 
 " The Return of the Severall Companys of Militia and 
 Minute in s d Town viz. 
 
 tk Capt. Moses Stone's Company — 92 men of them, 18 no 
 guns, at Least one third part y e forelocks unfit for Sarvis 
 others wais un a quipt. 
 
 " Capt. Aaron Hayns Company — 60 men weel provided 
 With Arms the most of them Provided with Bayonets or 
 hatchets a boute one quarter Part with Catrige Boxes. 
 
 " Capt. Joseph Smith's Company consisting of 
 
 75 able Bodied men forty well a quipt twenty Promis to 
 find and a quip themselves Emedetly fifteen no guns and 
 other wais un a quipt 
 
 " The Troop Capt. Isaac Locer (Loker) — 21 Besides 
 what are on the minit Role well a quipt. 
 
 « Returned by Ezekiel How. Left" Con 1 " (Steams 
 Collection.) 
 
 It is not strange that, at the time this report was given, 
 the troops had not been fully equipped. It was not easy to 
 provide for so many at once, but the following record may 
 indicate that the town had been endeavoring to supply the 
 deficiency since the preceding fall, Oct. 3, 1774. 
 
 To Capt. Ezekiel How for 20 guns and Bayonets 27— 0— 2 
 600 pounds Lead 8—16— 
 
 300 french Flynts [9 or] 19— —11 
 
 Chest for the arms and carting them 7 — 2 — 2 
 
 Probably before the 19th of April they were fairly 
 equipped for service, as there is among the town papers a 
 bill to one of the minute companies for ammunition that the 
 town had supplied. Each man mentioned had, for the most 
 part, received about a pound of powder and two pounds of 
 balls for which a charge was made of one pound, one shilling. 
 
 In the matter of military drill, the men showed a spirit of 
 perseverance which indicates their expectation of rough 
 work. It was by no dress parade or review on some gala 
 occasion when, with burnished muskets and uniforms gay 
 and bright, they became proficient in the art of defence, but 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 371 
 
 on the cold barn floor in their homespun suits, with the mute 
 cattle their only spectators, that these men were fitting for 
 work, and zeal for their object was the tocsin that mustered 
 the clan. To show the regularity with which the minute 
 men met for drill as the crisis approached, we will present 
 Capt. John Nixon's minute company's call roll, which is still 
 preserved among the old documents of Sudbury. We find 
 in it but six blanks ; showing an average of only one absentee 
 each night. We might expect that, when the call of the 19th 
 of April came, these men would be present and ready for 
 work. 
 
 A Call Roll of Capt Jn° Nixon's Company of Minut Men. They 
 Inlisted March y e 13 th 
 
 March ye March March April 3 April ye Do ye 17th 
 13th 1775 ye 20 ye 27 10th 
 
 Jn° Nixon Capt. 11111 
 
 David Moor Lieut. 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 Asehel Wheeler Do 111 11 
 
 Josiah Langdon Clarke 1111 
 
 Micah Goodenow Serg 4 1 1 1 1 
 
 August 5 Moor D° 111 1 
 
 Elijah Willis D° 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 Jerem h Robbins D° 11111 
 
 Hope 1 Brown Corp 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 Jesse Moor D° 11111 
 
 Uriah Wheeler D° 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 Will m Moor D° 111111 
 
 Diniel Putnam Drum 11111 
 
 Caleb Brown Phiffe 111111 
 
 Joseph Nixon D° 11111 
 
 Joseph Balcum 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 Phil n Brown 111111 
 
 Sam 1 Brigham 111111 
 
 Hosea Brigham 111 
 
 Sam 1 Cutting I 1 1 1 1 
 
 Asher Cutler 111111 
 
 W ra Dun 111111 
 
 Aaron Ernes Jr. 11111 
 
 Robert Ernes 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 Dan 1 Goodenow 1 i 1 1 
 
 Sam 1 Gleason 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 Tho s Goodenow 1111 
 
 Jesse Goodenow 111 
 
 W m Goodenow 111111 
 
372 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 
 March ve 
 18th 1775 
 
 March 
 yc20 
 
 March 
 ye 2" 
 
 April 3 
 
 April ye 
 10th 
 
 Do ye 
 
 Reuben Haynes 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 Joshua Haynes 
 Jonas Holden Jr 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Abel Holden 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 Simeon Ingersol 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Daniel Loring 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Thadeus Moor 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 W m Maynard 
 Daniel Maynard 
 Hezekiah Moor 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 Eliab Moor 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Uriah Moor 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Isaac Moor Jr. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 John Moor 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Josiah Richardson 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Nathaniel Reed 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Charles Rice 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Oliver Rice 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Jonas Rice 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Asahel Reed 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Ezra Smith 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 John Sheirley 
 Peter Smith 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 Abel Thomson 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Daniel Weight 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Caleb Wheeler 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 John Weighton 
 Elisha Wheeler 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 Israel Willis 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Hopestil Willis 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Ebenezer Wood 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 It was becoming more and more evident that a collision 
 with the King's forces was close at hand. A considerable 
 quantity of Continental supplies had been deposited at Con- 
 cord ; there also was a centre of strong patriotic influence ; 
 at that place, therefore, the blow was liable to fall first. 
 March 29, a report came that the British were about to 
 proceed to that place. The Committee of Safety for the 
 Province met at Cambridge, and ordered the removal there- 
 from of stores. The order was carried out and the stores 
 sent in several directions. To Sudbury were sent fifty 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 373 
 
 barrels of beef, one hundred of flour, twenty casks of rice, 
 fifteen hogsheads of molasses, ten hogsheads of rum, and five 
 hundred candles, fifteen thousand canteens, fifteen thousand 
 iron pots ; the spades, pickaxes, bill-hooks, axes, hatchets, 
 crows, wheel-barrows, and several other articles were to be 
 divided, one-third to remain in Concord, one-third to be sent 
 to Sudbury, one-third to Stow, and one thousand iron pots 
 were to be sent to Worcester. (Shattuck.) 
 
 The rumor at this time proved false, yet a little later the 
 event came about. General Gage, who was stationed in 
 Boston as Commander-in-chief of the British troops, took 
 measures to send a detachment to Concord for the destruc- 
 tion of Continental stores. For the accomplishment of this 
 purpose he sent out spies to examine the land. Two of 
 these secret messengers, Captain Brown and Ensign D'Ber- 
 nicre, went to Worcester in February, and to Concord, March 
 20. . They went by way of Weston and Sudbury, stopping 
 in the former town at the Jones Tavern, which still stands 
 on the main street of Weston, and passed through East 
 Sudbury by way of the South bridge. Having received the 
 report of these spies, the British prepared to advance. 
 General Gage detached eight hundred of light infantry, 
 orenadiers and marines from the ten regiments under his 
 command, and, on pretence of instructing them in a new 
 military exercise, took them from regular duty on April 15. 
 His plan was for the troops to cross Charles River by night, 
 and at daybreak be far on their way toward Concord and 
 thus take the place by surprise. But there were those who 
 were watching his wary course, and a sly, swift courier was 
 to precede him on his way. A previous arrangement had 
 been made by which a lantern was to be displayed in the 
 belfry of the old North Church when the British began their 
 march. Paul Revere, at the signal, was to start with the 
 news and proclaim it from place to place. About that 
 messenger, his mission, his midnight ride, it is unnecessary 
 for us to relate. The oft-told tale is very familiar, how Paul 
 Revere went forth and " spread the alarm through every 
 Middlesex village and farm." 
 
374 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 THE MUSTERING AND MARCH. 
 
 The news thus started by Paul Revere readied Sudbury 
 between three and four o'clock in the morning. As the 
 town is eight miles southwestward of Concord, intelligence 
 of the approaching column was received later than at towns 
 on the Boston and Concord highway. But, notwithstanding 
 the distance, the sun was not yet arisen when the summons 
 arrived in town, and then followed a scene of activity un- 
 paralleled in the annals of Sudbury. The course taken by 
 the various companies to reach Concord was, probably, not 
 the same, as they started from different parts of the town. 
 Two companies from the West Side — the minute company 
 and the North Militia — would go by the road through North 
 Sudbury, while the East Side men would, most likely, go by 
 way of Lincoln. Captain Nixon's company started from the 
 West Side meeting-house. The companies of Nixon and 
 Haynes designed to cross the Concord River by way of the 
 old" South bridge, or "Wood's bridge," on the site ^ of 
 the county bridge near the Fitchburg Railroad. From doing 
 this, however, they were deterred by an order which reached 
 them when about half a mile away, and by which they 
 marched on to the North bridge. The appearance of this 
 host of town's people, on an errand like that before them, 
 must have been imposing and sad. The gathering and the 
 start were enough of themselves to stir the idlest spectator, 
 and move the most indifferent soul. The morning was 
 peaceful and lovely. Nature was advanced for the season. 
 The fields were green witli the grass and grain which even 
 waved in the April breeze, and the buds were bursting, 
 prophetic of early spring. But, in strange contrast, the 
 souls of the people were stirred as if swept by a tempest. 
 The appearance of that hurrying pageant as it swept through 
 the town was at once solemn, strange, and sublime. Their 
 haste was too great to admit of a measured or dignified pace. 
 They were impatient to arrive at the front. Daniel Putnam 
 maybe excused if no drum taps are heard save the "long 
 roll" at the very start. Caleb Brown may put by his 
 » Phiffe " until he hears from Luther Blanchard, at the old 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 375 
 
 north bridge, the strains of "The White Cockade." The 
 music of the morning was made by the quickened heart- 
 throbbing in those patriotic breasts, as in double-quick they 
 strode over the old north road to be on hand at the ap- 
 proach of the foe. Along the route, mothers and children 
 appeared, to catch a glimpse of the loved ones, who fast 
 flying were soon lost to view. A kiss lovingly cast into the 
 morning air,' the passing benediction of word or look, and 
 the crowd rushed by. The loved ones were left to sad 
 conjecture as to what the dread issue might be. We have 
 heard a great-granddaughter of Captain Nixon say that she 
 has been told by her grandmother that a messenger came at 
 night to the house and said, " Up, up ! the red-coats are up 
 as far as Concord ! " that Mr. Nixon at once started off on 
 horseback, and that sometime during the day Mrs. Nixon 
 went out of the house, which was on Nobscot hillside, and 
 putting her ear to the ground could hear the sound of distant 
 guns. 
 
 The north militia and minute company, as we have stated, 
 designed to reach Concord village by way of the old south 
 bridge, but when about half a mile from it were ordered to 
 proceed to the north bridge by Col. James Barrett, the 
 commander of the minute regiment, whose son Stephen had 
 been sent to convey the message to the approaching com- 
 panies. By obeying this order, the Sudbury companies 
 would join a force already assembled on the north side of 
 the village, and also avoid speedy contact with the British 
 guard that already held the south bridge. 
 
 When the British arrived at Concord by way of the 
 Lexington road, which leads from the easterly into the town, 
 Colonel Smith, the commander, made a threefold division 
 of his force of eight hundred men. The light infantry were 
 sent in two detachments to guard the bridges and destroy 
 the stores on the village outskirts, while the grenadiers and 
 marines he detained with himself and Major Pitcairn at the 
 centre. In the execution of this plan, Capt. Lawrence 
 Parsons took possession of the north bridge, Capt. Mundy 
 Pole did the same at the south bridge, and each sent 
 detachments from their force to destroy Continental stores. 
 
376 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The Americans, meanwhile, were powerless to prevent this 
 occurrence. As yet, but comparatively few Continental 
 troops had arrived. It was only about seven or eight o'clock 
 in the morning, and but a few hours since the general alarm. 
 They knew not positively about the work at Lexington 
 Common, nor that the British had come with a deadly intent, 
 They wanted to know just what was right, and waited for 
 strength to enforce the right; while thus waiting, they with- 
 drew over the river beyond the north bridge. To this 
 vicinity were the Sudbury men sent. But there was, at 
 least on the part of one of the company, a reluctance 
 to turn from their more direct course. They were in the 
 country's highway, and this one person, perhaps, felt like 
 Captain Davis of Acton, who before leaving that town said, 
 kt I have a right to go to Concord on the King's highway, 
 and I intend to go if I have to meet all the British troops in 
 P.oston." The person referred to as reluctant to turn from 
 his course was Deacon Josiah Haynes, who was eighty years 
 old. It is stated that he was " urgent to attack the British 
 at the south bridge, dislodge them, and march into the 
 village by that route." Had his opinion prevailed, the 
 battle might have been then and there, and the old south 
 rather than the old north bridge have been the place of note 
 forever. But the south bridge was avoided. In accordance 
 with Colonel Barrett's command, Captains Nixon and Haynes 
 with Lieut, Col. Ezekiel How started, as we have stated, for 
 the old north bridge. 
 
 When at the South bridge they were on the westerly side 
 of Concord village, while the North bridge was a little to the 
 north of east, Their way, therefore, was by something of a 
 circuitous course ; and, to reach the point to which they 
 were ordered, they were to pass the house of Colonel Barrett, 
 a mile and a half north-west of the village, where Captain 
 Parsons with three British companies were destroying Con- 
 tinental stores. When the Sudbury soldiers came within 
 sight of Colonel Barrett's house they came to a halt. Before 
 them were the British engaged in their mischievous work. 
 Gun carriages had been collected and piled together to be 
 burned, the torch already had been applied, and the resi- 
 
HISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 377 
 
 dence of their Colonel had been ransacked. They halted, 
 and Colonel How exclaimed, " If any blood has been shed 
 not one of the rascals shall escape ! " and, disguising him- 
 self, he rode on to ascertain the truth. It was, probably, 
 not far from nine o'clock when this event took place. This 
 indicates the celerity with which the Sudbury troops had 
 moved. From the morning alarm, by which the minute 
 men met at the West Side meeting-house, until the fore- 
 going transaction but about five hours had passed, and, 
 meanwhile, the mustering, the march, the arrival. While 
 the Regulars were engaged in their destructive work at 
 Colonel Barrett's, the Provincials were concentrating their 
 forces in preparation for what was to come. Their place of 
 gathering was at Punkatasset Hill, about a mile north of the 
 Concord meeting-house. While here, they increased their 
 forces by repeated arrival of troops. Says Drake, " Mean- 
 while," that is while the British were engaged at Colonel 
 Barrett's, " the Provincials on Punkatasset were being con- 
 stantly reinforced by the militia of Westford, Littleton, 
 Acton, Sudbury, and other neighboring towns, until the 
 whole body numbered about four hundred and fifty men, 
 who betrayed feverish impatience at playing the part of idle 
 lookers on while the town was being ransacked ; but, when 
 flames were seen issuing in different directions, they could 
 no longer be restrained. A hurried consultation took place, 
 at the end of which it was determined to march into the 
 town at all hazards, and if resisted to " treat their assailants 
 as enemies." Colonel Barrett told the troops to advance. 
 From Punkatasset they moved to Major Buttricks, but a 
 short distance above the North bridge, and from Major 
 Buttricks they marched to the bridge where the Americans 
 and English met face to face. The circumstances at the 
 bridge are too familiar to need any narration by us. The 
 British attempted to remove the planks, a remonstrance was 
 made and the work ceased. The Provincials advanced with 
 rapid steps ; when a few rods away a single shot was fired 
 by the foe, which was at once followed by a volley. The 
 first shot wounded two of the Americans, and the volley 
 killed two — Davis and Ilosmer of Acton. The order then 
 
378 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 came for the Provincials to tire. It was obeyed, and three 
 British soldiers were slain, besides several officers and four 
 soldiers wounded. Then came the retreat and pursuit. 
 Whether or not the companies of Nixon and Ilaynes had 
 joined the Provincials at Punkatasset when the command to 
 move forward came, we leave the reader to judge for him- 
 self. Drake implies that they had ; some circumstances may 
 also favor this theory, for, after leaving Colonel Barrett's, 
 they would likely hasten to join the main force, which was 
 not far distant. But other things would lead us to conclude 
 that they had not caught up with the column when it 
 reached the bridge. 
 
 Shattuek says, "Two companies from Sudbury under 
 How, Nixon and Ilaynes came to Concord, and having 
 received orders from a person stationed at the entrance of 
 the town, for the purpose of a guide, to proceed to the North 
 instead of the South Bridge, arrived near Col. Barrett's just 
 before the British soldiers retreated." The same author, 
 after speaking of what we have just narrated of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel How, states, " Before proceeding far, the firing 
 began at the Bridge, and the Sudbury companies pursued 
 the retreating British."' From these statements and facts, 
 we may infer this, — that these companies passed the British 
 at Colonel Barrett's and pushed on to meet the force at the 
 bridge, that before they joined it the foe made his attack 
 and that they joined in the hot pursuit. This theory accords 
 with the statement that we have quoted before, as made by 
 a survivor of the fight, which is that "Sudbury Companies 
 were but a short distance from the North Bridge when the 
 first Opposition was made to the Haughty Enemy." 
 
 Thus, to an extent, have we traced the course of two 
 Sudbury companies during a part of that eventful day. As 
 to the others, it is supposed they attacked the British at 
 different points along the line of the retreat. The men who 
 came from East Sudbury would, as we have hitherto said, 
 be likely to march through Lincoln to Concord. If so, they 
 would be likely to strike the British retreat; there it is that 
 we hear of them. Two encounters, at least, are mentioned 
 in which East Sudbury soldiers were engaged. To rightly 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 379 
 
 understand how and where these engagements took place, 
 let us notice the movements of the British after the events 
 that transpired at the old North bridge. Having fired on 
 the Americans as they approached the bridge from the oppo- 
 site bank, by which fire two Acton minute men fell, and 
 having received the Provincial fire in return, by which three 
 of the English were slain, Lieutenant Gould of the regulars 
 withdrew his shattered guard to the village. Three signal 
 guns having been fired by the British just before their 
 troops fired at the bridge, all the distant detachments came 
 in. Captain Parsons hurried his companies from Colonel 
 Barrett's to the old North bridge ; and, seeing the havoc that 
 had been made with Gould's guard and their dead comrades 
 upon the bank, " they were seized with a panic and ran with 
 great speed to join the main force." Captain Pole with- 
 drew his companies from the old South bridge, and then 
 Colonel Smith began to retreat towards Boston. But it was 
 not only a retreat but a rout. The battle at the bridge 
 was but the beginning of aggressive work. The foe were 
 followed and hard pushed from point to point. At the 
 cross-roads they met fresh arrivals of Provincial troops. 
 The stone walls and stumps were coverts from which they 
 directed their fire. In addition to an almost continuous 
 engagement, occasional encounters occurred which were 
 exceptionally sharp and severe. In two of these severe 
 encounters the soldiers from East Sudbury were engaged, — 
 one at Merriam's Corner, the other at Hardy's Hill. 
 
 The action at Merriam's Corner occurred at about half- 
 past twelve. Three circumstances concurred to bring about 
 and make severe this conflict. First, there was a junction 
 of roads, the one from Bedford meeting that leading to 
 Lexington along which the English marched. By this road 
 had come reinforcements from Pveading, Chelmsford, Bed- 
 ford and Billerica. To this point, also, had come some 
 Provincials across the great fields in the direction of the 
 old North bridge. Another circumstance that made the 
 fight sharp was that here the British massed their forces 
 because of the lay of the land. In their march from Con- 
 cord, which was about a mile thus far, the British threw out 
 
380 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 a part of their infantry to serve as a guard to their flanks 
 and to protect the main body as it marched on the road. 
 These flankers moved along the dry upland on the right of 
 the road, as it curves gently from Concord village, until 
 they reached Merriam's Corner where they joined the troop- 
 in the road, in order to avoid the moist land by the way- 
 side, and pass the dry causeway to the highway beyond. 
 As this flank guard thus joined the main force it gave the 
 Provincials, who as wo have indicated were there gathered in 
 force, an opportunity which they were not slow to make use 
 of. They poured upon the regulars a destructive fire. 
 " Now and here began," says Drake, " that long and ter- 
 rible conflict unexampled in the Revolution for its duration 
 and ferocity, which for fifteen miles tracked the march of the 
 regular troops with their blood." A company from East 
 Sudbury were in time for this second conflict. This, doubt- 
 less, was the one commanded by Joseph Smith. Rev. Mr. 
 Foster, an historian of 1775, says of this conflict : " Before 
 we came to Merriam's Hill we discovered the enemy's flank 
 guard of about eighty or a hundred men, who on the retreat 
 from Concord kept the height of the land, the main body 
 being in the road. The British troops and the Americans 
 at that time were equally distant from Merriam's Corner. 
 About twenty rods short of that place the Americans made 
 a halt. The British marched down the hill with a very 
 slow but steady step without a word being spoken that could 
 be heard. Silence reigned on both sides. As soon as the 
 British gained the main road and passed a small bridge near 
 the common, they faced about suddenly, and fired a volley 
 of musketry upon us. They overshot and no one to my 
 knowledge was injured by the fire. The fire was immedi- 
 ately returned by the Americans, and two British soldiers 
 fell dead at a little distance from each other in the road near 
 the brook. Several of the officers were wounded, including 
 Ensign Lester." The other engagement in which the Sud- 
 bury soldiers are especially noticed was at Hardy's Hill, a 
 short distance beyond. One narrator has spoken of it as 
 a spirited affair, where one of the Sudbury companies, 
 Captain Cudworth, came up and vigorously attacked the 
 enemy. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 381 
 
 It is interesting that we can thus trace our soldiers and 
 know so much of their whereabouts and what they did on 
 that memorable day. An incident of the fight was related 
 to the writer by the late Mr. Josiah Haynes when eighty- 
 five years old. He said that his grandfather, Josiah Haynes, 
 one of the militia of Sudbury at the Concord fight, captured 
 a o-un from a British sergeant. The Briton was with a 
 squad of soldiers a little removed from the main body, prob- 
 ably a part of the flank guard before mentioned. Mr. 
 Haynes lay concealed behind a stone Avail with some com- 
 rades who soon left him alone. As the squad approached, 
 he thought they were coming directly upon him, but, as the 
 main body followed a curve in the road, the squad turned 
 also. With this movement, Mr. Haynes placed his gun on 
 the wall, and on firing the sergeant fell. Mr. Haynes 
 sprang and seized the sergeant's gun and tried to tear off 
 his belt and cartridge box, but these last he did not secure. 
 The squad, but a few rods away, turned and fired. The 
 balls whistled about him, but he escaped unhurt. It would 
 be interesting to know more of the incidents and adventures 
 of our soldiers on that April day, but time has made havoc 
 with tradition and the records are scant. Years ago the 
 last survivor of the Revolution died, and years before, they 
 were scattered, many of them into other towns and other 
 States. But the fragments of tradition that have floated 
 down from that far-off period are all the more valuable 
 because they are few. 
 
 THE LOSS. 
 
 During the day Sudbury sustained the loss of two men, 
 Deacon Josiah Haynes and Asahel Reed. Joshua Haynes 
 was wounded. Deacon Haynes was eighty years old. He 
 was killed by a musket bullet at Lexington. He belonged 
 to the old Haynes family of Sudbury, where his descend- 
 ants still live. He was one of the original signers of the 
 West Precinct Church Covenant, and was made deacon May 
 24, 1733. He was buried in the Old Burying Ground, 
 Sudbury Centre. The grave is marked by a simple slate 
 stone. Mr. Asahel Reed was of Captain Nixon's minute 
 
382 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 men. His name is found on that company's call roll to 
 which we have before referred ; it is left out after the battle, 
 probably because after his death the name was stricken from 
 the list. He belonged to the old Reed family of Sudbury, 
 whose progenitor, Joseph Reed, settled at Lanham about 
 1656. Probably he was also buried in the old ground at 
 Sudbury Centre. Mrs. Joseph Reed, a member of the same 
 family and grandmother of the writer, said many years ago 
 that the body of Mr. Reed was brought to Sudbury. So, 
 although no stone has been found which marks the grave, 
 he doubtless rests somewhere in the old burying-ground at 
 the centre, which was the only one at that time in the West 
 Precinct. Joshua Ilaynes, who was wounded, may have 
 been one of Captain Nixon's minute men or one of the 
 militia of Captain Ilaynes. The same name is on each 
 company's muster roll; but the one in the latter was ser- 
 geant while the one wounded is mentioned without any title. 
 Lieut. Elisha Wheeler, whose horse was shot under him, 
 and Thomas Plympton, Esq., who had a bullet put through 
 the fold of his coat, were both volunteers on horseback. 
 
 After the fight the soldiers showed no undue haste to 
 return, but some of them lingered from three days to a 
 month to repel attack or serve their country in whatever 
 way it might require ; and, when at length they returned to 
 their homes, it was only, in the case of some of them, to bid 
 the loved ones good-by and then go away again to engage 
 the foe. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 1775-1800. 
 
 Revolutionary War. — Sudbury Soldiers at Bunker Hill. — Muster Rolls 
 of Captains Russell, Moore and Haynes. — Battle of Bunker Hill. — 
 Position and Service of the Regiments of Colonels Nixon and Brewer. 
 
 — Number of Casualties. — The Siege of Boston. — List of Men in 
 Two Months Service. — List of Men in Colonel Whitney's Regiment. 
 
 — Government Storehouses at Sand Hill. — Service outside the 
 State. — List of Officers in Sudbury Companies in 1776. — List of 
 Men in Capt. Aaron Haynes's Company.— Men in Captain Wheeler's 
 Company at Ticonderoga ; in Colonel Robinson's Regiment, in Colonel 
 Read's Regiment. — Supplementary List. — Soldiers at Ticonderoga 
 in 177G; in Captain Wheeler's Company, Captain Craft's Company, 
 Cap'ain EdgelPs Company, Captain Aaron Haynes's Company. — 
 Canada Campaign. — New York Campaign. — Men Enlisted for 
 Three Years in 1777. — Guard Roll. — Pay Roll. — List of Two 
 Months Men in 1777. — List of Three Months Men in 1777. — 
 Names of Sudbury Captains and Companies in the Field in 1778. — 
 Captain Maynard's Company. — Captain Wheeler's Company. — 
 Captain Moulton's Company. — Captain Haynes's Company. — Cap- 
 tain Bowker's Company. — Prices Paid for Enlistment in 1780. 
 
 Few were the numbers she could boast ; 
 ' But every freeman was a host, 
 And felt as though himself were he 
 On whose sole arm hung victory. 
 
 Montgomery. 
 
 Sudbury was represented by three companies at the battle 
 of Bunker Hill. These were commanded by Sudbury cap- 
 tains and made up mainly of Sudbury citizens. The town 
 also furnished three regimental officers, — Col. John Nixon, 
 Major Nathaniel Cudworth and Adj. Abel Holden, Jr. 
 Capt. John Nixon of the minute men was promoted to the 
 rank of colonel, and was authorized, April 27, to receive 
 nine sets of beating papers. Capt. Nathaniel Cudworth was 
 
 383 
 
884 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 made major in the regiment of Col. Jonathan Brewer, who 
 received enlistment papers April 24, and Abel Ilolden, Jr., 
 was made Colonel Nixon's adjutant. The Sudbury men who 
 served in these companies are as follows : — 
 
 A list of Captain Russell's company in Colonel Brewer's 
 regiment. 
 
 Thaddeus Russel Capt. 
 Nathan Tuckerman Lieut. 
 Nathan Reeves Ens. 
 Sergt Josiah Wellington 
 
 " Thomas Rutter 
 
 " Thad Bond 
 
 Ephraim Allen 
 Longley Bartlett 
 Rolon Bennet 
 Peter Brintnall 
 Timothy Bent 
 Samuel Curtis 
 Edward Sorce [Vorce] 
 Jacob Speen 
 Ephram Sherman 
 Samuel Tilton 
 Asa Travis 
 David Underwood 
 Jonathan Wesson 
 Lemuel Whitney 
 Samuel Sherman 
 Nahum Dudley 
 Oliver Damon 
 
 Corp. Joshua Kendall 
 " David Rice 
 " David Damon 
 Drumer Thomas Trash 
 Fifer Nathan Bent 
 " David Smith 
 
 PRIVATES. 
 
 William English 
 Ambros Furgison 
 William Grout 
 Elisha Harrington 
 Richard Heard 
 William Mallet 
 Samuel Merriam 
 Cuff Nimra 
 Benjamin Pierce 
 Nath el Parmenter 
 James Phillips 
 Samuel Pollard 
 Rufus Parmenter 
 Edward Rice 
 Martin Rourke 
 Denis Ryan 
 Amos Silleway 
 
 A return of Captain Moor's company in the fifth regiment, 
 commanded by Col. John Nixon, Sept. 30, 1775. 
 
 David Moore, Capt 
 
 Micah Goodenow 1st Lieut 
 
 Jona Hill, 2ond Lieut Framingham 
 
 SARGENTS. 
 
 Elijah Willis Daniel Loring 
 
 Hopestill Brown Daniel Wait 
 
 Jesse Moore Uriah Wheeler 
 
 CORPORALS. 
 
 James Rice Joseph Balcom 
 
 Oliver Rice Aaron Eames Jun. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 385 
 
 DRUMMER AND FIFER. 
 
 Ebenezer Boutwell ) Framingham 
 Thomas Nixon ) 
 
 PRIVATES. 
 
 Nathaniel Bryant 
 Aaron Ernes 
 Benj 1 Bennet 
 Samuel Cutting 
 Micah Goodenow 
 Ephraim Goodenow 
 Lemuel Goodenow 
 Asahel Gibbs 
 Uriah Hunt 
 Isaac Moore 
 Eliab Moore 
 
 Total in the Co. 48. From Sudbury 33. 
 
 Thadeus Moore 
 
 Jesse Mostman [Mossman] 
 
 Israel Maynard 
 
 William Maynard 
 
 Nathan Rice 
 
 Israel Willis 
 
 Ephraim Whitney 
 
 Abel Thompson 
 
 Ezra Smith 
 
 Charles Rice 
 
 A list of names of the officers and soldiers in Captain 
 Haynes's company in Colonel Brewer's regiment- 
 
 Aaron Haynes Capt 
 Mathias Mossman 2ond Lieut 
 Sergt Josiah Moore 
 Cop John Weighting 
 
 Cop Daniel Putnam 
 Drummer Aaron Haynes 
 Fifer Naham Haynes 
 
 John Bemis 
 Nathan Cutter 
 Porter Cuddy 
 James Durumple 
 Joseph Dakin 
 Joseph Green 
 Francis Green 
 
 Total in 
 
 PRIVATES. 
 
 Abel Parmenter 
 Asa Putnam 
 Ephraim Puffer 
 John Brewer 
 Isaac Rice 
 Aaron Mossman 
 Joshua Haynes 
 
 Prospect Hill, Oct. 6, 1775 
 
 Aaron Haynes, Capt 
 
 the Co. 47. From Sudbury 21. 
 
 The following names found in the Stearns Collection, as 
 being in the eight months service, we give in connection 
 with the foregoing lists. 
 
 Jonas Haynes 
 John Stone 
 Caleb Wheeler 
 Hezekiah Moore 
 
 Jeremiah Robins 
 Benj Berry [or Barry] 
 John Shirley 
 Wm Dun 
 
386 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Total number in these three muster rolls is one hundred 
 and fifty-two. Of these, one hundred and four were from 
 Sudbury, and only the latter have been here given except 
 when designated. Lieut. Nathaniel Russell re-enlisted a part 
 of the East Sudbury company and reported for duty April 
 24. Capt. Aaron Haynes went into service with his com- 
 pany May 3. These companies were in the regiments of 
 Colonels Nixon and Brewer, which did valuable service in 
 the engagement of June 17. A consideration of the plan of 
 that battle and something of its history will show where 
 these regiments were, what they did, and the conduct of the 
 Sudbury soldiers. 
 
 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 
 
 On the 16th of June, the Americans, under command of 
 Colonel Prescott, to the number of about one thousand men 
 repaired at night to what was then called Breed's Hill, to 
 fortify the place by earthworks. Their object was to pre- 
 vent the occupation of Charlestown by General Gage, who 
 had been reinforced by about ten thousand men. Through 
 the still hours of the night they plied the pickaxe and spade, 
 and at daybreak General Gage, from his quarters in Boston, 
 surveyed the newly-made works with surprise. British 
 batteries soon opened their fire from ship and shore, yet 
 steadily the provincials worked on. Gage summoned his 
 officers in council, and it was determined to take the place 
 by storm. Immediately, columns were formed and set in 
 motion, boats were procured to carry troops to the Charles- 
 town shore, and a scene of general activity set in. Mean- 
 while, the Americans were also astir forming plans to resist 
 the assault. Reinforcements were ordered to the Charles- 
 town peninsula, and long lines of troops filed from the 
 neighboring encampment to join their comrades at the hill. 
 The march was attended with hazard, for British batteries 
 swept the way, and ranks broke into detachments and 
 squads, rather than pass the ordeal in closely formed lines. 
 Among those who marched over this perilous way were the 
 regiments of Brewer and Nixon, and they arrived on the 
 field in season to form for the fiqht. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 387 
 
 When the regiments had all arrived on the Charlestown 
 peninsula, an almost unbroken line stretched along from the 
 Charles River on the south to the Mystic River on the 
 north. The places of the respective regiments were as fol- 
 lows : Prescott held the redoubt near the summit with about 
 one hundred and sixty-three men ; a breastwork to the 
 northerly, near this, was occupied by men of Prescott, 
 Bridge and Frye ; on the left, to the northwesterly or 
 north, were the regiments of Brewer, Nixon, Knowlton and 
 Stark ; while on the right, to the southeasterly or south, 
 were the regiments of Wyman and Robinson with about 
 three hundred men. Sudbury soldiers were thus placed on 
 the left of the line to the northerly of the Bunker Hill sum- 
 mit. Between the breastwork and redoubt, and the Mystic 
 River or left flank on the northerly, there was, for a time, an 
 unfilled space. By this way, the foe had only to advance, 
 attack the American works in the rear, and the place was 
 captured and retreat cut off. General Putnam discovered 
 this gap in time, and ordered troops to man it at once. 
 Stark, Knowlton and Reed took their stand on the north by 
 the Mystic, Brewer and Nixon on the south of them. Thus 
 was filled the hitherto unprotected gap, which, if neglected, 
 had invited the foe, and caused speedy and most disastrous 
 defeat. 
 
 The British, knowing the importance of the position thus 
 held, brought against it a formidable force. This was led 
 by Sir William Howe in person. Some of the troops had 
 been recently at the Concord and Lexington fight. They 
 were likely eager to recover their prestige or avenge the fate 
 of their fallen friends. Furthermore, the protection of the 
 Provincials at this point was weak ; no entrenchments were 
 there to protect them from the foe. The most favored had 
 but a few rude improvised works, hastily constructed after 
 they arrived on the ground, but the position of the regiment 
 in which the Sudbury men served was the mo^t exposed of 
 any in that poorly protected column. A part of the line had 
 not the slightest protection whatever. The only attempt 
 that was made to construct a breastwork was by the gather- 
 ing of some newly-mown hay that was scattered about the 
 
388 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 place But they were prevented from the completion of 
 even such a slight breastwork as this. The foe advanced 
 and they were compelled to desist. But no exposure to the 
 fire of well-disciplined, veteran troops, and no lack of breast- 
 work protection led those brave Middlesex colonels and com- 
 panies to turn from or abandon this important position. It 
 was enough to know that there was an unguarded gap. The 
 practised eye of Col. John Nixon, who had so often seen 
 service in the old French wars, doubtless saw at a glance 
 what the case required, and knowing the need took measures 
 to meet it. Says Drake, » Brewer and Nixon immedi- 
 ately directed their march for the undefended opening so 
 often referred to between the rail fence and earthwork. 
 They also began the construction of a hay breastwork, but 
 when they had extended it to within thirty rods of Prescott's 
 line the enemy advanced to the assault. The greater part 
 of these two battalions stood and fought here without cover 
 throughout the action, both officers and men displaying 
 the utmost coolness and intrepidity under fire." The same 
 author also says of Gardiner, Nixon and Brewer, " Braver 
 officers did not unsheathe a sword on this day ; their battal- 
 ions were weak in numbers, but under the eye and example 
 of such leaders invincible." He states that, « with about 
 four hundred and fifty men, they stood in the gap with 
 Warren and Pomeroy at their head." Just before the 
 attack, Putnam gave the order not to fire until they could 
 see the whites of the enemy's eyes. When the foe was 
 fairly in range the Provincials opened fire. The lines blazed 
 with a hot discharge ; whole ranks were swept down before 
 it, men dropped on the right hand and left ; no mortal could 
 withstand that withering storm ; it was an unerring, death- 
 dealing discharge. Howe's attendants were struck down at 
 his very side, and for a time he stood almost alone. He gave 
 the word for retreat, and his shattered remnant withdrew from 
 the field. He had failed to break the ranks of these left line 
 regiments, and hence the redoubt was still safe from an 
 ' attack in the rear. But these soldiers were again to be put 
 to the test. For about an hour there was a cessation of strife, 
 then the column advanced to a second assault. Steadily the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 389 
 
 veterans moved forward and bravely did their opponents 
 await them. When the signal was given the engagement 
 began. The same tactics were employed as before, and with 
 like results : whole ranks melted away before the Provincial 
 fire, battalions were reduced to mere companies, Howe's 
 best officers were dying or dead, the way was mown by 
 Provincial bullets, and again the redoubt and breastwork 
 were safe. But the British, persisting with the tenacity 
 that belongs to the race, reformed for still another assault, 
 and this time they were more successful, for the ammu- 
 nition of the Provincials was exhausted and there remained 
 nothing but retreat or a hand-to-hand fight. The order was 
 given and the Provincials withdrew, but before leaving, there 
 was a terrible encounter. Prescott, who so bravely held the 
 redoubt while the left line regiments held the British from 
 an attack on the rear, now rallied his men to fight in an 
 improvised way. With clubbed guns, and with bayonets 
 wrenched from the foe they still fought the unequal fight, 
 until, steadily pressed, they were compelled to give up the 
 redoubt. This captured and the breastwork abandoned, the 
 men in the gap were between 'two fires and the only resort 
 was to retreat. They stood while there was any hope of 
 success, and did not abandon the gap until General Warren, 
 who, it is said, stood at the head of the rail fence breastwork 
 between the regiments of Brewer and Nixon, considered it 
 expedient. In fact, Colonel Nixon's regiment was one of 
 the last to leave the battle-ground. Both Nixon and 
 Brewer were wounded, the former so severely that he was 
 borne from the field, and their brave leader, General Warren, 
 was slain. Thus nobly was the defence maintained. The 
 losses sustained by the regiments of Brewer and Nixon were 
 as follows : — 
 
 Brewer's regiment : Killed 7 Wounded 11 
 Nixon's regiment: Killed 3 Wounded 10 
 
 Total 10 21 
 
 Of the killed, two were of Captain Haynes's company, 
 namely: Comming Forbush, Framingham ; Joshua Haynes, 
 Sudbury. One was of Captain Russell's company, namely : 
 
300 HISTORY OF SUDBUKY. 
 
 Lebbaus Jenness of Deerfiekl. Thus ended that day of des- 
 tinies. Dismal indeed was the scene as night settled upon 
 it. The beloved of both armies had fallen. Major Pitcairn, 
 prominent in Concord fight, was among the English slain, 
 while General Warren, a man of promise and much admired 
 by the Americans, had also perished. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 
 
 After the engagement at Bunker Hill the Provincials 
 began the siege of Boston. The British bivouacked the night 
 of the seventeenth on the battle-field, but the Americans soon 
 environed them from Roxbury to Medford. On the 3d of 
 July, George Washington took formal command of the Con- 
 tinental Army, and then commenced, under his generalship, 
 that series of military movements which resulted in the evac- 
 uation of Boston by the British, March 17, 1776. 
 
 The soldiers of Sudbury in the battle of Bunker Hill, all 
 or nearby all having enlisted for eight months, were engaged 
 in this siege. During the summer, Colonel Brewer's regi- 
 ment was stationed at Prospect Hill, and General Nixon had 
 quarters at Winter Hill. 
 
 Before closing the account of Sudbury's service in the year 
 1775, we will insert the names of some Sudbury men who 
 were in the two months service with Captain Wheeler in 
 1775, and also of a small number who were in the regiment 
 of Colonel Whiting and did service at Hull, and after leav- 
 ing there were stationed at Fort Independence. 
 
 IX THE TWO MONTHS WINTER 1775. 
 
 Capt Asahel Wheeler Daniel Maynard 
 
 Ithamer Rice Gideon Maynard 
 
 John Maynard Jr. Silas Mosman 
 John Balcom Jr. 
 
 col reed's regiment. 
 Peter Smith Abel Tower 
 
 Ebenezer Plympton Joel Brigham 
 
 Jonathan Bent James Haynes 
 
 Ruben Haynes Daniel Frazer 
 
 Simeon Ingersol Thomas Smith 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 391 
 
 IN COLONEL WHITING'S REGIMENT. 
 
 Micah Balcom John Brown 
 
 Thomas Goodenow Lt. Abel Brigham 
 
 Jas Balcom Jacob Reed 
 
 Luther Moor Thos. Dal [rymple] 
 
 Thad Harrington Elijah Howe 
 
 Israel Tr Moore 
 
 GOVERNMENT STOREHOUSES. 
 
 Besides other responsibilities the town had charge of some 
 government storehouses containing munitions of war, which 
 the Sudbury teamsters, from time to time, conveyed to the 
 front. Various receipts are still preserved which were 
 received by these teamsters. These buildings were situated 
 on the northerly part of Sand Hill, east of the county road. 
 There were several of them, and some were remaining within 
 the memory of an aged citizen who conversed with the writer 
 concerning them. One or more of them were moved to 
 Wayland, and one was moved to the Captain Rice place 
 where it was used as a cider mill. Recently it was moved 
 to another spot on the same farm and made over for a stable ; 
 the old timbers of the original structure were retained. 
 Before its alteration the writer examined it and took meas- 
 urements. It was a very low building, perhaps forty by thirty 
 feet, with a broad sloping roof. It was without partitions, 
 and formerly had a very wide barn-like door in front. At 
 one time Mr. William Rice, the father of Captain William, 
 had charge of these houses and military stores. Several 
 squads of soldiers were employed to guard them, and at one 
 time Captain Isaac Wood was commander of the guard. In 
 1777, the following soldiers did guard duty : " Corporal 
 Robert Eames, Silas Goodenow Jr, Philemon Brown, Elisha 
 Harrington, Jon a Clark." A guard of the same number 
 was there in 1778 and 79, but all the men were not the same. 
 The field in or near which these buildings stood was used as 
 a training field in former years, and at one time a militia 
 muster was held there. But now all trace even of the site 
 has become obliterated, and for years it has been a quiet 
 feeding place for cattle, and all is as peaceful there as if the 
 
392 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 slow pacing of the old Continental guard had never been 
 heard at Sand Hill. 
 
 SERVICE OUTSIDE OF THE STATE. 
 
 While Sudbury was so well represented in the field during 
 the eventful year of 1775, when the seat of war was in its 
 own neighborhood, when its farms were liable to become the 
 front and its very door-yards the field of battle, it was also 
 fitly represented when the war passed to other localities. 
 We will now present the names of some of the soldiers 
 who served in the subsequent scenes of the war in places 
 remote from the town. A few that have become illegible 
 will be omitted and doubtful ones will be enclosed in 
 
 brackets. 
 
 After the British left Boston the American Army went to 
 New York, and a part of the Sudbury soldiers, including 
 three captains, went with it. These captains were Abel 
 Holden, Caleb Clapp and Aaron Haynes. Gen. John Nixon, 
 it is supposed, accompanied it in the brigade of General 
 Sullivan. On the 9th of August, John Nixon was promoted 
 to the rank of brigadier-general, and his brother, Thomas, 
 became colonel of his regiment. This regiment and another 
 with a body of artillery, all under command of General 
 Nixon, were stationed for a time at Governor's Island, New 
 Yoik Harbor, and after the retreat of General Washington 
 from Brooklyn, August 27, the brigade passed up the North 
 River with the army. 
 
 The following is a list of offieers and some of the privates in 
 the Sudbury companies in 177G, Gen. John Nixon's brigade. 
 
 COL. THOMAS NIXON'S REGIMENT. 
 
 Capt. Abel Holden Ruben Haynes 
 
 Lieut Levi Holden Colven Eames 
 
 Lieut Oliver Rice Thadeus Moore 
 
 Capt Caleb Clap Luther Eames 
 
 Lieut Joshua Clap John Stone 
 
 Serg't Joseph Balcom Joshua Maynard 
 
 Joseph Nixon Roland Bennet 
 
 Luther Moore Hezekiah Moore 
 
 The company of Capt. Aaron Haynes was in Colonel 
 
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES P. WILLIS. (David Lincoln Place 
 Historical Sketch of Willis Family. Page 453. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 393 
 
 Whitcomb's regiment, having been transferred from Colonel 
 Brewer's while stationed at Prospect Hill. The following 
 list contains part of the names : — 
 
 Capt Aaron Haynes. 
 Aaron Haynes Jr. 
 John Rusk 
 
 Joseph Maynard 
 Jonas Haynes 
 Ephriam Goodenovv 
 
 Capt. Aaron Haynes was in command of a company at 
 Peekskill, N. Y., in the spring of 1777. 
 
 Besides the soldiers who went with the army to New York 
 in 1776, there was quite a force that went in an expedition 
 against Canada. A large part of the soldiers who served in 
 these campaigns were under the command of Capt. Asahel 
 Wheeler, and in one at least of the campaigns were in the 
 regiment of Col. John Robinson. Of the Sudbury soldiers 
 who served under these officers in the Canada Expedition or 
 Ticonderoga Campaign, we give the following : — 
 
 John Merriam 
 
 Benj 
 
 Joseph Smith 
 Ephraim Smith 
 Zebediah Farrar 
 Daniel Lawrence 
 Job Brooks. 
 Rhuben Hains. 
 Roger Bigelow 
 Oliver Curtis 
 Samuel Jones 
 John Tozer 
 Abijah Mead 
 Samson Wheeler. 
 John Lough 
 Oliver Conant 
 Jonah Gilbert 
 Joseph Mason 
 A Buttrick 
 John Weston 
 Samuel Adams 
 Joel Adams 
 Daniel Hosmer 
 Phinehas Hager 
 Jacob Jones 
 
 Phinehas Glezen 
 David How jr. 
 Francis Jones 
 Timothy Underwood 
 Jonathan Davis 
 Daniel Benjaman 
 Ithamer Rice. 
 John Peter 
 Nathaniel Park 
 
 Converse Big 
 
 Abraham Parmenter 
 Steven Taylor 
 Jonas Brown 
 Andrew Green 
 John Cobb 
 James Stedman 
 Francis Chaffin 
 Amos Nutting 
 
 G Ames 
 
 Amos Stow 
 William Thorney 
 John Hives 
 Nathaniel Bemis 
 Thomas Corey 
 John Farrar 
 
394 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBttRY. 
 
 Besides those who served in the Canada Expedition in 
 Captain Wheeler's company, Colonel Robinson's regiment, 
 we give the following who served in his company when in 
 the regiment of Colonel Read. A large share of the names 
 in this and other lists were once familiar in Sudbury. Those 
 which were not may have been of substitutes who made 
 up the quota. 
 
 COLONEL READ'S REGIMENT, GENERAL BRECKET'S BRIGADE, GENERAL 
 GATES' DIVISION. 
 
 Capt. Asahel Wheeler 
 
 Sergent Uriah Wheeler 
 
 Lieut. Hopstill Willis 
 
 Corp. Daniel Osborn 
 
 Aaron Eames 
 
 Thomas Eames 
 
 Josiah Richardson 
 
 Jesse Goodnovv 
 
 Uriah Hunt 
 
 Thomas Burbank 
 
 Benj. Berry, 
 
 Nathaniel Rice 
 
 Deliverance Parmenter 
 
 Isaac Moore 
 
 Daniel Noyes 
 
 John Sheperd 
 
 W m Walker 
 
 Daniel W. Moore 
 
 Jonas Clark 
 
 W m Dun 
 Nathaniel Bryant 
 Aaron Maynard 
 Jonathan Burbank 
 Richard Wetherbee 
 Phinehas Gleason 
 Phinehas Gleason Jr 
 John Barney 
 John Adams 
 John [Thonning] 
 W m [Thorning] 
 Ebenezer Park 
 Edward Whitman 
 Thomas Ernes 
 David Underwood 
 Rice 
 
 John Taylor 
 
 Hezekiah Hapgood 
 
 [Moris Clary] 
 
 Nathaniel Browne 
 
 Ebenezer Plympton 
 
 Gideon Maynard 
 
 Isaac Rice 
 
 Timothy Rice 
 
 Francis Green 
 
 Abel Willis 
 
 John Frazer 
 
 Jacob Kibley 
 
 Jason Haines 
 
 Samuel Merriam 
 
 Jonas [Chase] 
 
 Abel Willis 
 
 Aaron Eames Jr. 
 
 Josiah Hosmcr 
 
 Benj. Tower 
 Solomon Taylor 
 
 Judah Wetherbee 
 W m Graves 
 F/ekiel Smith 
 James Willis 
 Edward [Cheney] 
 Thomas Harrington 
 Jacob Stevens 
 Phineas Stevens 
 Nathan Gates 
 Daniel Noyes 
 Benj. [Hale] 
 Nathaniel Rice 
 W" 1 Hosmer Jr. 
 
 Amos 
 
 Samuel Brown 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 395 
 
 Joseph Rutter 
 Charles Brown 
 John Parmenter 
 Francis Hemenway 
 
 Isaac Rice 
 Silas Conant 
 Blanchard 
 
 Several names belonging in the above list have become 
 illegible in the records. 
 
 The following were also in the Ticonderoga Campaign, 
 1776, in the company of Captain Wheeler: — 
 
 James Wright 
 Abel Tower 
 Isaac Bartlett 
 Mica Graves 
 Thomas Bloget 
 Ezra Parmenter 
 Abel Goodenow 
 Theodore Harrington 
 Jonathan Bent 
 Isaac Bartlett 
 Abel Tower 
 Aaron Mosmon 
 Ebenezer Nixon 
 Jonas Emery 
 Paul Colidge 
 Josiah Tomson 
 Elias Bigelow 
 Joseph Abbot 
 Gregory Stone 
 Nath 1 Knowlton 
 Nath el Browne 
 John Park 
 Samuel Bond 
 William Hosmer 
 Peter Brintnal 
 Nathan Maynard 
 Aaron Maynard 
 Abel Child 
 
 Jacob 
 
 John Cartei- 
 Joseph Rutter 
 Nathaniel Knowlton 
 
 Elijah 
 
 Jacob Jones 
 Uriah Wheeler 
 W m Grout 
 Joseph Goodenow 
 
 John Hoar 
 Ebenezer Heald 
 Christian Wagner 
 Abel Goodenow 
 [Samuel Dakin] 
 Ebenezer Heard 
 Solomon Whitney 
 William Thomas 
 
 Samuel 
 
 Josiah Farrar 
 Caleb Wheeler 
 Jason Belcher 
 Samuel Emery 
 Jonas Billings 
 Samuel Hoar 
 Samuel Osborn 
 Jesse Mosmon 
 Capt. David Moore 
 Francis Green 
 Joshua Haynes Lieut 
 Daniel Maynard 
 John Parmenter 
 Micah Graves 
 Charles Rice 
 Samuel Curtis 
 John Adams 
 Eleezer Parks 
 Jonas Bond 
 Samuel Poland 
 Abel Willis 
 John Parks 
 Isaac Moore 
 Micah Bowker 
 John Bennet 
 John Warren 
 John Lands 
 
396 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The following Sudbury men served in the Ticonderoga 
 Campaign, 1776, in the compan}' of Captain Craft, Colonel 
 Graton's regiment : — 
 
 Peter Smith Abel Maynard 
 
 Isaac Wise Jesse Mosman 
 
 Aaron Mosman Simeon Ingersol 
 
 Abel Tower Charles Eames 
 
 The following served in the Ticonderoga Campaign, 
 1776, in the company of Captain Edgell, Colonel Brewer's 
 regiment : — 
 
 Lieut. Jonathan Rice Serg't Augustus Moore 
 
 William Maynard Nathan Hayward. 
 
 Joel Brigham. 
 
 Capt. Aaron Haynes had a company at Ticonderoga in 
 1776 in Col. Asa Whitcomb's regiment. His minute roll 
 bears date, December, 1776, and the following names are 
 upon it : — 
 
 Aaron Haynes Capt Joseph Willis Ensigne 
 
 Aaron Holden 1 st Lieut, Aaron Haynes Drummer. 
 
 The soldiers included in the lists now given were of the 
 armies which were endeavoring to gain Canada for the Con- 
 tinental cause, and force the British from the State of New 
 York. The expedition or campaign against Canada was 
 planned in the }^ear 1775 by a committee of Congress which 
 met at Cambridge in August of that year. The capture of 
 the fortresses Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake Cham- 
 plain in May, 1775, by Connecticut and Vermont militia, 
 had opened the way to the St. Lawrence, and the expedition 
 was designed to aid in getting possession of that part of 
 Canada. Two forces were engaged in the work. One of 
 these was composed of New York and New England troops 
 and was placed under the command of Generals Schuyler 
 and Montgomery and ordered to go by way of Lake Cham- 
 plain to Montreal and Quebec. The other expedition left 
 Cambridge, September, 1775, and was under the leadership 
 of Col. Benedict Arnold. In the Canada Expedition, 1776, 
 the following casualties occurred: Benjamin Berry lost an 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 397 
 
 arm, and at Ticonderoga the same year the following per- 
 sons died : — 
 
 Ensign Timothy Underwood Phinehas Gleason 
 
 Solomon Rice Timothy Rice 
 
 Sergeant Samuel Maynard died of small pox at Quebec with Arnold. 
 
 The service rendered by the Sudbury men who left Massa- 
 chusetts with the army under Washington was largely per- 
 formed in New York and vicinity. Washington arriving at 
 New York about the middle of April, at once set about 
 fortifying the vicinity and securing the passes of the High- 
 lands on the Hudson River. In the operations about this 
 part of the country hard fighting and toilsome marches were 
 experienced. We hear of Sudbury soldiers at Saratoga, 
 Stillwater, Fort Edward, and other places connected with 
 the activity of the Continental forces in New York. At 
 Saratoga Serg. Thadeus Moore was slain and Lieut. Joshua 
 Clapp was wounded. 
 
 Names of Sudbury men enlisted in 1777 for three years or 
 during the war. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 Gen. John Nixon 
 Capt. Abel Holden 
 Leuit. Levi Holden 
 Leuit. Oliver Rice 
 Capt. Caleb Clap 
 Leuit. Joshua Clap 
 Capt. Aaron Haynes 
 
 Nathaniel Cutter 
 Charles Gouell 
 Ruben Moore Jr. 
 Oliver Sanderson 
 Uriah Moore 
 Hezekiah Moore 
 William Dun 
 Joseph Nixon 
 Joel Puffer 
 Ephraim Goodenow 
 Francis Green 
 Luther Eames 
 Luther Moore 
 Joel Brigham 
 
 privates. 
 
 Sergeant Ruben Haynes 
 Sergeant Aaron Haynes 
 Sergeant Joseph Balcom 
 Sergeant Uriah Eaton 
 Sergent Thadeus Moore 
 Sergeant Jonas Haynes, 
 
 John Buck 
 Joshua Maynard 
 Joseph Maynard 
 Jonathan Robbinson 
 Zak. Robbenson 
 Oliver Robbenson 
 Joseph Cutter 
 Calvin Eames 
 Josiah Cutter 
 Joseph Willis 
 Donal Lincoln 
 Ruben Moore 
 Joseph Meller 
 
398 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 In connection with the foregoing we give the following 
 list of men who enlisted for the same length of time but 
 perhaps in another year. The}- were from " the 4 th Regi- 
 ment of Foot, commanded by Col. Ezekiel How." Only 
 five of the names given in the two lists are alike. 
 
 Capt. Abel Holden 
 Benjamin Tower 
 Luther Eames 
 Charles Eames 
 Corneleus Wood 
 Joel Brigham 
 Joseph Nixon 
 Levi Holden 
 Luther Moore 
 Uriah Moore 
 
 GUARD ROLL. 
 
 3 years Micah Grant '.) years 
 
 " Jesse Goodenow " 
 
 " Thomas Burbank " 
 
 " Ephraim Goodenow ,; 
 
 " Jonathan Bevens " 
 
 " Jonas Welch " 
 
 " Joseph Bent " 
 
 " Abel Thompson " 
 
 " Thomas Gibbs during the war 
 it 
 
 PAY ROLL. 
 
 Sudbury June the 27 th , 1778. We the Subscribers have received of 
 Capt. Asahel Wheeler Nine Pounds for oure wages in full oure pay for 
 October & Part November 1777 both for contannatel and State and 
 mileage we say Received by ous — 
 
 Moses Stone 
 Nathaniel Rice 
 Abel Smith 
 William Brown 
 Jonathan Haynes 
 W m Moore 
 Timothy Moore 
 Abel Brigham 
 Mathias Mosman 
 Samuel Puffer 
 Gidon Maynard 
 Silas Tower 
 James Moore 
 Hezekiah Johnson 
 
 his 
 Silas X Parmenter 
 mark 
 
 Samuel Knight in behalf [of] 
 
 Silas Knight 
 
 Daniel Maynard 
 
 Caleb Stacy 
 
 Timothy Ernes 
 
 Ephraim Moore 
 
 Asher Cutler Jr 
 
 Hopestill Willis 
 
 Jason Haynes 
 
 Daniel osborn 
 
 Phineas Puffer 
 
 John Parris 
 
 Samuel Cutting 
 
 Isaac Goodenow 
 
 Beside men who enlisted for a long term of service in 
 1777, we have two lists of those whose enlistment was for a 
 very short period. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 300 
 
 FIRST LIST. 
 Jan. 1777 
 To New York — Two months 
 Capt. Nathaniel Hayward's Company, Col. Thatcher's Regiment. 
 Cornelius Wood Thomas Dalremple 
 
 Daniel Loring Thomas Dalremple Jr 
 
 Ser 1 Maj r W m Goodenow Thomas Moore 
 
 Serg 1 Uriah Wheeler Daniel Hamynes 
 
 W m Brown Theodore Harrington 
 
 Abel Parmenter 
 
 The last four of these men are spoken of as having been 
 taken prisoners and never heard of afterwards. 
 
 SECOND LIST. 
 July 1777. 
 To Saratoga — Three months. 
 Col. Brown's Regiment. General Gates, Commander. 
 Capt. Jonathan Rice John Brown 
 
 Serg' Abel Maynard Ebenezer Burbank 
 
 Ezekiel How Nathaniel Brown 
 
 Caleb Wheeler Nathaniel Bryant 
 
 Isaac Wier David How 
 
 Abel Willis 
 
 As the war progressed Sudbury was still active in filling 
 its quota. In 1778, several companies were still in the field. 
 Four of these had three hundred and twenty-seven men and 
 were commanded as follows : West Side men, Capt. Jona- 
 than Rice and Capt. Asahel Wheeler; East Side men, Capt. 
 Nathaniel Maynard and Capt. Isaac Cutting. In the Stearns 
 Collection we have the following lists of men in two of these 
 companies. 
 
 FOR CAP. MAYNARD'S COMPANY, SUDBURY 
 
 Lieut. Joseph Wellington, during the war. 
 
 Robert Bennet " 
 
 Farkins Hosmer " 
 
 Oliver Sanderson " 
 
 Simon Newton " 1 
 
 Ephraim Barker " 
 
 Jonathan Barker " 
 
 James Gibbs u 
 
400 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Pathrick Flinti during the war. 
 
 James Welch " 
 
 Timothy Ahgen " 
 
 John Carrol " 
 
 Morris Griffin " 
 
 Daniel Hickey " 
 
 Samuel Whitney " 
 
 Joseph Foster " 
 
 Christopher Capen " 
 
 Ephraim Carry " 
 Ambros Fergerson for 3 years 
 
 Timothy Bent " 
 
 Samuel Whitney " 
 
 Phinehas Butler " 
 
 W m Cook Gleason " 
 
 Thomas Jones " 
 
 Abraham Parmenter (i 
 
 Noah Bogle " 
 
 John Stover transient " 
 
 FOR CAPT. WHEELER'S COMPANY. 
 
 Joseph Balcom 3 years Joseph Mossman 3 years 
 
 Ruben Haynes " Joel Brigham " 
 
 Capt. Jonathan Maynard had a company in the two months 
 
 service in 1782 in the Seventh Regiment, Lieut. Col. John 
 Brooks. lie also had a company in the twelve months 
 service in the same regiment. 
 
 FOR CAPT. MOULTON'S CO. 
 
 Joseph Smith 3 years Richard Morris 3 years 
 
 John Burk " James Scroday " 
 
 Joseph Maynard " W m Bevens " 
 
 Joshua Maynard " Uriah Eaton <: 
 
 Isaac Rice " Francis Green " 
 
 Nathaniel Cutler " Patherick Flin during the war 
 
 Joseph Cutler " John Carrol 
 
 Thadeus Moore " Morris Griffin " 
 
 Oliver Sanderson il 
 
 Other enlistments were, — 
 
 Capt Aaron Haynes during the war Eleazer Lawrence 3 years 
 Aaron Haynes Jr 3 years James Beamis " 
 
 The following is a list of Sudbury men in Capt. Daniel 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 401 
 
 Bowker's company, together with the time when they joined 
 Colonel Webb's regiment : — 
 
 SUDBURY. 
 
 Daniel Bowker Capt. 
 Oliver Parmenter 
 Ezra Mossman 
 Edward Moore 
 Silas Ames 
 Ashbel Moore 
 
 Isaac Cary 
 Asa Holden 
 Oliver Travis 
 
 Steven Puffer, died Oct. 3d. 
 Silas Puffer 
 John Brigham 
 Samuel Willis 
 Corp. Ezra Willis 
 
 SUDBURY EAST. 
 
 Isaac Cory Jr 
 Ruben Graves 
 
 The men from Sudbury joined Sept. 9th except Capt. Bowker who 
 entered Sept. loth. Those from East Sudbury entered Oct. 6 th 
 
 Highlands, Nov 20, 1785 
 
 The following paper shows the sums paid for enlistments 
 
 in 1780: — 
 
 Sudbury June 22 d 1780 
 We the subscribers do hereby acknowledge that we have severally 
 received of the Committee appointed by the town of Sudbury to agree 
 with and hire the said Town's Quota of soldiers agreeable to an act of 
 the Gen. Court of the fifth of June instant the several sums annexed to 
 our names — 
 
 his 
 Benjamin X Seaver 
 
 mark 
 Joshua Hemenway 
 Jonas Haynes 
 Abel Brigham 
 Abel Cutler 
 Ezra Willis 
 Naham Haynes 
 Asa Holden 
 
 ^600 
 
 " 750 
 "600 
 "600 
 "600 
 "900 
 "750 
 "600 
 
 his 
 Joseph X Cutter .£900 
 
 mark 
 
 Peter " 900 
 
 Ebenezer Parmenter " 600 
 
 his 
 Peletiah X Parmenter "600 
 
 mark 
 Luther Moor " 700 
 
 Luther Ernes " 900 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1775-1800. 
 
 Revolutionary War. — Report of a Committee Appointed by the Town 
 to Estimate the Service of Sudbury Soldiers. — Appointment of a 
 Committee to Make up and Bring in Muster Rolls of the Services of 
 Each Soldier in the War. — Muster Rolls: Captain Rice's, Captain 
 Wheeler's, Captain Maynard's, Captain Cutting's. — Whole Number 
 of Men in the War. — Their Valiant Service. — Casualties. — Sketch 
 of Gen. John Nixon. — Town-Meetings. — Encouragements to Enlist- 
 ment. — Specimen of Enlistment Papers. — Various Requisitions 
 Made on the Town. 
 
 Their death shot shook the feudal tower. 
 And shattered slavery's chain as well : 
 On the sky's dome, as on a bell, 
 
 Its echo struck the world's great hour. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 Having how presented the names of the soldiers obtained 
 from various other sources, we will give a, list found on the 
 Town Records, which purports to contain the names of all 
 soldiers of the town who served in the Revolutionary War 
 up to the fall of 1778, tog-ether with extracts from the 
 records which led to this enrollment of names. 
 
 June 25, 1778, " The town by their vote ordered their 
 Com. appointed to estimate the services of each particular 
 person in Sudbury in the present war, to report at the next 
 Town meeting." 
 
 At a town-meeting held October 1\\ the committee above 
 mentioned reported as follows: — (The fractional parts of 
 pounds we have omitted.) 
 
 That the minute men be allowed each £3 
 
 That the Eight Months be allowed each 20 
 
 Six weeks men to Roxbury allowed each 4 
 
 402 
 
H1ST0EY OF SUDBURY. 403 
 
 Two months men to Cambridge allowed each £6 
 
 The years men to York and the Northward allowed each 75 
 
 Six months men to the Castle allowed each 9 
 
 Five months men to Ticonderoga allowed each 50 
 
 Three months men to Dorchester with Cap 4 Moulton allowed each 7 
 
 Two months men to York allowed each 25 
 
 Three months men to York and the Jerseys allowed each 48 
 
 Two months men to Providence allowed each 12 
 
 Three months men to Ticonderoga allowed each 52 
 
 Thirty days men to Saratoga allowed each 20 
 
 Three months men to Providence allowed each 30 
 
 Three months men to guard at Cambridge allowed each 18 
 
 Six weeks men to Rhode Island allowed each 20 
 
 Four months men to guard the troops and stores allowed each 20 
 
 Three months men to Boston allowed each 20 
 
 That those persons who have hired men to perform any of the above 
 services at a time when there was an actual Levy for men, be allowed 
 for Said Service as if performed in person. That those that paid fines 
 or advanced money for the good of the service, be allowed in the same 
 proportion as their money would procure men to perform the Services 
 which at that time they Neglected to do in person. That no persons 
 shall be intitled to Receive pay for any of the above Services Unless he 
 Shall be first taxed towards the payment thereof. Also that Each per- 
 son shall Receive pay only for the time he was in actual Service 
 
 Sudbury Octo r 19 th 1778 Ezekiel How J 
 
 Phineas Glezen 
 
 J° na Rice I Committee 
 
 Asahel Wheeler 
 
 Isaac Loker | 
 
 Tho Walker J 
 
 The town voted to accept the above report, and appointed 
 men to make up and bring to the town complete muster rolls 
 of the services of each person in Sudbury in the then present 
 war with Great Britain. This meeting was adjourned to 
 October 26, at which date the following record was made, 
 namely : — 
 
 Oct. 26 th 1778. Capt Rice's musteroll was read, and the town voted 
 to Grant to Each person Expressed by name in said musteroll the Sum 
 Set to their Respective name, as may appear by said musteroll, which 
 was as follows viz' 
 
 To Hopestill Willis £"?> Silas Parmenter ,£17 
 
 Ens" Josiah Richardson 75 Elisha Harrington 12 
 
 John Moore 53 Nathan Read 25 
 
404 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Uriah Moore Ju r 
 
 £58 
 
 L' Micah Goodenow 
 
 £116 
 
 Asher Cutler Ju r 
 
 71 
 
 Eben r Wood 
 
 51 
 
 Will 1 " Goodenow 
 
 51 
 
 Jesse Moore adm r 
 
 21 
 
 L r Thomas Goodenow 
 
 30 
 
 Hopestill Browne ad r 
 
 6 
 
 Israel Willis adm r 
 
 51 
 
 Cap' Sam 1 Knight 
 
 44 
 
 Sam 1 Cutting 
 
 41 
 
 Asher Cutler 
 
 9 
 
 Nath al Rice Ju r 
 
 35 
 
 Cor 1 Sam 1 How 
 
 46 
 
 Joseph Green 
 
 10 
 
 Aaron Johnson 
 
 77 
 
 Abel Parmenter 
 
 17 
 
 William Parmenter 
 
 9 
 
 Isaac Hunt Ju r 
 
 02 
 
 Reuben Vorce 
 
 12 
 
 Nath 11 Bryant 
 
 35 
 
 Sam 11 Hunt 
 
 12 
 
 Uriah Hayden 
 
 95 
 
 Cap' Israel Moore 
 
 102 
 
 Abel Goodenow 
 
 31 
 
 L' Elisha Wheeler 
 
 73 
 
 David How 
 
 126 
 
 Aaron Goodenow Ju r 
 
 52 
 
 Philemon Brown 
 
 35 
 
 Tho. Ernes 
 
 26 
 
 L' Jacob Read 
 
 76 
 
 Nath 11 Brown 
 
 11 
 
 James Wyse 
 
 75 
 
 Edward Bayanton 
 
 26 
 
 John Goodenow 
 
 50 
 
 John Browne 
 
 52 
 
 L' Jon a Carter 
 
 102 
 
 Wid° Sarah Brigham 
 
 52 
 
 Dan 11 W Moore 
 
 50 
 
 Israel Parmenter 
 
 52 
 
 W m Walker 
 
 50 
 
 Cap' Moses Stone 
 
 50 
 
 Deliverance Parmenter 
 
 50 
 
 Silas Goodenow 
 
 40 
 
 Jotham Goodenow 
 
 50 
 
 Tho 9 Carr Ju r 
 
 48 
 
 Col. Ezekiel How 
 
 70 
 
 Uriah Gibbs 
 
 30 
 
 Dan 11 Osborn 
 
 70 
 
 Micah Parmenter 
 
 30 
 
 Elijah Rice 
 
 50 
 
 James Thomson 
 
 41 
 
 Peter Haynes 
 
 50 
 
 Ens" Jonas Holdin 
 
 53 
 
 Jon" Carter Ju r 
 
 70 
 
 W m Hayden 
 
 53 
 
 Nath 11 Rice 
 
 50 
 
 Eliab Moore 
 
 39 
 
 Cap' Jon" Rice 
 
 95 
 
 Jonas Wheler 
 
 18 
 
 Isaac Read 
 
 33 
 
 Tho' Dalrimple 
 
 27 
 
 Elijah Moore 
 
 10 
 
 Sam 11 Geason 
 
 26 
 
 Cap 1 Cornelius Wood 
 
 9 
 
 Abel Thomson 
 
 75 
 
 L' Rowand Bogle 
 
 63 
 
 Will'" Hunt 
 
 33 
 
 Robert Ernes 
 
 26 
 
 D r Josiah Langdon 
 
 12 
 
 Eph 1 " Carter 
 
 25 
 
 Sam 11 Bent 
 
 3 
 
 John Brigham 
 
 35 
 
 Elisha Wheeler Ju 
 
 51 
 
 John Parry 
 
 45 
 
 Eph m Goodenow Ju r 
 
 20 
 
 Uriah Parmenter 
 
 55 
 
 David How Ju r 
 
 3 
 
 Jos h Parmenter 
 
 45 
 
 Moses Goodenow 
 
 3 
 
 Oliver Mors 
 
 28 
 
 John Willis 
 
 32 
 
 Eph" 1 Moore 
 
 45 
 
 Sam 11 Brown 
 
 32 
 
 Joseph Moore 
 
 35 
 
 Joseph Grout 
 
 32 
 
 Hopestill Brown 
 
 90 
 
 Cap' Abel Holdin 
 
 96 
 
 W" Brown 
 
 68 
 
 Luther Moore 
 
 29 
 
 Isaac Lincoln Ju r 
 
 •IS 
 
 Aaron Ernes 
 
 21 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 405 
 
 Jesse Gibbs ,£48 
 
 Nahum Hayden 48 
 
 W m Parmenter 4S 
 
 Reuben Willis 48 
 
 Tho 8 Walker 48 
 
 V Joseph Read 27 
 
 U Joseph Goodenow 19 
 
 Timothy Ernes 27 
 
 M r Asahel Goodenow ,£12 
 
 Elijah Willis Exe r 10 
 
 Aaron Goodenow 17 
 
 Augustus Walker 17 
 
 Charles Ernes 20 
 
 Ezekiel How Ju r 52 
 
 Ens n Levi Holdin 75 
 
 Capt Asahel Wheeler's Musteroll was read, and the town voted to 
 allow to each person expressed by name therein the Sum Set to his 
 name in said musteroll, which was as follows viz 4 
 
 To Cap* Asahel Wheler ,£83 
 
 L l Joshua Haynes 78 
 
 D Abijah Brigham 41 
 
 Augustus Moore 46 
 
 Isaac Maynard 198 
 
 Asahel Balcom 72 
 
 Will m Moore 71 
 
 Uriah Wheler 51 
 
 Jason Haynes 70 
 
 Peter Smith 82 
 
 John Maynard Ju r 16 
 
 Dan 11 Maynard 59 
 
 Jason Bent 66 
 
 Jon a Bent 17 
 
 Joseph Balcom 30 
 
 John Balcom 49 
 
 Jonas Balcom 52 
 
 Sam 11 Brigham 18 
 
 Hope Brown 55 
 
 John Clark 29 
 
 James Carter 21 
 
 Joseph Dakin 38 
 
 Dea n Sam 11 Dakin 25 
 
 Dan 11 Goodenow 32 
 
 Moses Haynes 32 
 
 Israel Haynes 113 
 
 James Haynes 129 
 
 Jon a Haynes 45 
 
 Charles Haynes 73 
 
 Cap 1 Aaron Haynes 190 
 
 Macah Haywood 49 
 
 Moses Maynard 25 
 
 Nathan Maynard 35 
 
 John Maynard 150 
 
 Phinehas Puffer £QS 
 
 Tho' Puffer 52 
 
 Isaac Puffer 32 
 
 James Parmenter Ju r 30 
 
 Edmund Parmenter 50 
 
 Tho 3 Plympton Esq r 86 
 
 Dan 11 Puffer 32 
 
 Charles Rice 21 
 
 W m Rice 3d 70 
 
 Ithamor Rice 54 
 
 Abel Smith 44 
 
 John Shirly 21 
 
 Sam 11 Puffer 65 
 
 L* Oliver Noyse 81 
 
 Nathan Loring 32 
 
 Cap 4 Elijah Smith 52 
 
 Henry Smith 96 
 
 Benj n Smith 52 
 
 Jotham Brown 26 
 
 John Shepard 30 
 
 Ambrose Tower 132 
 
 Israel Wheler 50 
 
 John Weighton 34 
 
 Abel Willis 50 
 
 Cop 1 Dan 11 Bowker 70 
 
 L l James Puffer 52 
 
 James Puffer Ju r 45 
 
 Dan 11 Loring 76 
 
 Jere h Robbins 21 
 
 W m Hunt Ju r 62 
 
 John Mosmon 50 
 
 L l Mathias Mosman 35 
 
 Francis Green 20 
 
 Jesse Willis 32 
 
40G 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Aaron Maynard ,£50 
 
 Timo* Moore 24 
 
 Zec h Maynard 70 
 
 Jesse Mosman 95 
 
 Joseph Maynard Guar 75 
 
 Dan 11 Noyse Jun 55 
 
 Moses Noyse 77 
 
 Silas Tower £4: 
 
 Capt David Moore Ex r 20 
 
 Thad 8 Moore Ex r 95 
 
 Simeon Ingersal Ex r 79 
 
 Nath a Cutter Ex r 24 
 
 Jonas Rice Ex r 20 
 
 Jon a Smith 49 
 
 Then Cap 1 Nath 11 Maynard's Musteroll was read and the town voted 
 to allow to each person expressed by name therein the Sum Set to his 
 name in said Musteroll which was as followeth viz' 
 
 To John Adams 
 Benj n Adams 
 Josiah Allen 
 Ephe m Abbot 
 Amos Abbot 
 W'» Baldwin Esq'' 
 U W m Barker 
 Rolan Bennet 
 John Dean 
 James Davis 
 L l Josiah Farrar 
 Abraham Jenkinson 
 Sam 11 Griffin 
 Micah Graves 
 Phinehas Glezen 
 Isaac Gould 
 Reuben Gould 
 Jacob Gould 
 Cap 1 Josiah Hoar 
 L l Jon a Hoar 
 Cap 1 Nath 11 Maynard 
 Daniel Maynard 
 Dan 11 Moore 
 Israel Moore 
 John Noyes Esq 1 ' 
 James Noyes 
 Jason Parmenter 
 Jon r Parmenter Ju r 
 D r Eben r Roby 
 Joseph Rutter Ju r 
 Tho 9 Rutter 
 Jonas Sherman 
 Edward Sherman 
 Timoy Sherman 
 
 ^50 
 23 
 50 
 30 
 20 
 50 
 32 
 12 
 45 
 52 
 13 
 52 
 80 
 57 
 63 
 
 4 
 25 
 25 
 
 5 
 40 
 68 
 50 
 34 
 12 
 50 
 52 
 18 
 15 
 50 
 50 
 20 
 •J.-> 
 50 
 
 \-2 
 
 U Eben r Staples j£18 
 
 Tho 8 Trask 12 
 
 Isaac Woodward 7 
 
 L l John Noyes 73, 
 
 Samuel Sherman 20 
 
 Eph m Allen ad" 1 95 
 
 James Philips 95 
 
 Lemuel Whiting 95 
 
 L* Josiah Wilinton 95 
 
 John Brewer 40 
 
 Elijah Bent 95 
 
 Zech 11 Bent 6 
 
 Zech 11 Bryant Ju r 70 
 
 John Bruce 50 
 
 Maj r Jo s Curtis 5 
 
 David Curtis 32 
 
 U Sam 11 Choat 25 
 
 Thad 3 Bond 40 
 
 Cap 1 Joseph Payson 32 
 
 W m Wyman 30 
 
 Isaac Brintnal 20 
 
 Peter Brintnal 20 
 
 Joshua Kendal 20 
 
 Cap 1 Richard Heard 13.! 
 
 Tho 9 Heard 53 
 
 Richard Heard J u r 20 
 
 Trobridge Taylor 18 
 
 Darius Hudson 52 
 
 Joseph Emerson ~r2 
 
 Nath 1 Knolton 20 
 
 Sam" Haynes 3 
 
 Wid" Ann Noyes 30 
 
 Isaac Moore 20 
 
 Simon Newton 70 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 407 
 
 Then Capt Cutting's Musteroll was read and the town voted to allow 
 to each person expressed by name therein, the Sum Set to his name in 
 said Musteroll, which was as follows, viz' 
 
 To L' W in Bond 
 
 £-2-2 
 
 L' Joseph Smith 
 
 ^95 
 
 Thoin s Brintnal 
 
 5 
 
 Cap' Caleb Moulton 
 
 34 
 
 Joseph Beal 
 
 32 
 
 Micah Maynard ad r 
 
 50 
 
 Isaac Cutting 
 
 32 
 
 Amos Ordeway 
 
 4 
 
 John Cutting 
 
 50 
 
 D 11 Sam 11 Parris 
 
 32 
 
 Elisha Cutting 
 
 58 
 
 L' Isaac Rice 
 
 54 
 
 Jon a Cutting 
 
 20 
 
 Isaac Rice 
 
 25 
 
 Sam 11 Curtis 
 
 20 
 
 Dan 11 Rice 
 
 17 
 
 Tho 8 Damon Ju r 
 
 57 
 
 Israel Rice Ju r 
 
 26 
 
 W m Damon 
 
 25 
 
 Jonas Rice 
 
 9 
 
 Isaac Damon 
 
 12 
 
 Edmund Rice 
 
 42 
 
 Benj" Dudley Ju r 
 
 
 
 L 4 Sam 11 Russell 
 
 32 
 
 Cor 1 Joseph Dudley 
 
 50 
 
 Capt. Thad s Russell 
 
 20 
 
 Eben r Dudley 
 
 29 
 
 Capt Robert Cutting- 
 
 55 
 
 W m Dudley 
 
 50 
 
 Jacob Reeves 
 
 40 
 
 Eben r Johnson 
 
 50 
 
 V Nath a Reeves 
 
 20 
 
 Peter Johnson 
 
 21 
 
 Joseph Smith Capt. 
 
 76 
 
 John Loker 
 
 45 
 
 L* Ephraim Smith 
 
 22 
 
 Jonas Loker ad r 
 
 5 
 
 Isaac Stone 
 
 50 
 
 Cap' Isaac Loker 
 
 70 
 
 David Stone 
 
 50 
 
 John Meriam 
 
 20 
 
 Joel Stone 
 
 16 
 
 Capt. Caleb Moulton 
 
 34 
 
 John Tilton 
 
 32 
 
 Capt Micah Maynard ad 1 ' 
 
 50 
 
 John Tilton Ju r 
 
 60 
 
 Amos Ordeway 
 
 4 
 
 Timo y Underwood ad 1 ' 
 
 55 
 
 D r Sam" Peris 
 
 32 
 
 Timo y Underwood 
 
 21 
 
 Lt Isaac Rice 
 
 54 
 
 Jon a Westson 
 
 20 
 
 Isaac Rice 
 
 25 
 
 Isarc Williams 
 
 20 
 
 Dan 11 Rice 
 
 17 
 
 L l John Whitney 
 
 88 
 
 Israel Rice Ju r 
 
 20 
 
 Eben r Eaton 
 
 52 
 
 Micah Rice 
 
 4 
 
 Will" 1 Grout 
 
 35 
 
 Isaac Smith 
 
 50 
 
 Francis Jones 
 
 64 
 
 Cap' Tho s Damon 
 
 20 
 
 Cap 1 Jesse Ernes 
 
 5 
 
 John Barney 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 The foregoing lists indicate a patriotic zeal highly com- 
 mendable to the citizens of Sudbury. The town had a 
 population of twenty-one hundred and sixty with about five 
 hundred ratable polls ; and it is supposed that, during the 
 war, from four to five hundred men had some service either 
 in camp or field. Of these soldiers, one was brigadier- 
 
408 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 general, three were colonels, two were majors, two were adju- 
 tants, two were surgeons, twenty-four were captains and 
 twenty-nine were lieutenants. We hear of Sudbury men 
 from Concord to Bunker Hill, and from there to the High- 
 lands of the Hudson. Where Washington went they fol- 
 lowed. They stood near Stark in that post of danger by the 
 bank of the Mystic. They were ordered to strike the front 
 of Burgoyne at the north, and they endured the rigors of a 
 Canadian winter in the attempt to gain Canada for the Con- 
 tinental cause. It matters not where they were found, they 
 were true to their commander and loyal to every trust. The 
 officers were the friends of the great leaders of the American 
 army, and the record of the achievements of the sons ot 
 Sudbury, in the old French and Indian AVar period, was not 
 broken when they met in open field the discipline and expe- 
 rience of the veteran troops of the British throne. Wherever 
 :l n English front was deployed, Sudbury soldiers, if ordered, 
 never flinched from meeting it. They went into the field to 
 stay, or, it" they returned, to rally if again called to the 
 conflict. The summons to town-meeting at home was but 
 as the long roll of the civilian which called him to devise 
 means for filing and equipping the quota of troops or 
 to assist the families of men at the front. Ticonderoga, 
 Saratoga, Stillwater and White Plains were familiar names 
 in old Sudbury. The battle-fields of the Revolution were 
 not alone heard of by the children in the little red school- 
 houses on the town's common land, but they heard them 
 talked of in the household by those who had been upon them 
 in the measured march or counter-march, the advance, 
 retreat, or pursuit, until they were as well known as the 
 broad acres on their own peaceful farms. The old king's or 
 queen's arm in the corner had its history. The bullet-pouch 
 had been emptied time after time into the ranks of the foe, 
 and the cocked hat that long hung by the fireside was be- 
 dimed, not by the smoke from the hearth, but by the dust 
 and smoke of battle. That the soldiers were in places of 
 peril is indicated by the following record of casualties, 
 though probably but a part of them are here recorded. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 409 
 
 CASUALTIES TO SUDBURY SOLDIERS. 
 KILLED. 
 
 Deacon Josiah Haynes, Aged 80, April 19 th 1775 
 
 Asahel Read April 19 th 1775 
 
 Joshua Haynes Jr, of Capt Aaron Haynes' Company, June th 1775, at 
 
 Bunker Hill. 
 Sergeant Thadeus Moore, 1777, at Saratoga 
 Benjamin Whitney, — By accident — 
 
 WOUNDED. 
 
 Gen, John Nixon at Bunker Hill Cornelius Wood 
 
 Nathan Maynard : : Nahum Haynes 
 
 Capt, David Moore Lieut, Joshua Clapp, wounded at 
 
 Joshua Haynes Saratoga 
 
 Benjamin Barry, lost an arm in Canada Expedition, 1776 
 
 DIED OF SICKNESS. 
 
 Sergeant Major Jesse Moore Sergeant Samuel Maynard, of the 
 
 Sergeant Hopestill Brown small pox, at Ouebeck with 
 
 Sergeant Elijah Willis Arnold, 1776 
 
 AT TICONDEROGA. 
 
 Ensign Timothy Underwood Oliver Sanderson 
 
 Daniel Underwood James Puffer 
 
 Phinehas Gleason Stephen Puffer, of Capt Daniel 
 
 Solomon Rice Bowker's Co., Col Webb's Reg' 
 
 Timothy Rice died Oct 3 d 
 
 Josiah Cutter 
 
 TAKEN PRISONER AND NEVER HEARD OF. 
 
 Thadeus Harrington Thomas Dalrimple 
 
 Thomas Moore Daniel Haynes. 
 
 LOST PRIVATEERING. 
 
 Isaac Moore Silas Goodenow 
 
 Lemuel Goodenow Peletiah Parmenter 
 
 PERSONS WHO MET WITH CASUALTIES THE NATURE OF WHICH IS NOT 
 
 SPECIFIED. 
 
 John Brewer James Demander 
 
 John Bemis Timothy Mossman. 
 
 " Green be the graves where her martyrs are lying ; 
 Shroudless and tombless they sank to their rest; 
 While o'er their ashes the starry fold flying 
 
 Wraps the proud eagle they roused from his nest." 
 
 Iii closing this account of Sudbury's military service we 
 . will give some facts in the life of General Nixon. 
 
410 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 SKETCH OF GENERAL NIXON. 
 
 Gen. John Nixon was a son of Christopher Nixon who 
 went to Fraraingham about 1724, where seven children were 
 born of whom John was the oldest. At an early age, being 
 but a mere boy, he entered the army, and at the instigation 
 of older persons he left unlawfully, but clemency was shown 
 him and he was allowed to return to the ranks. His subse- 
 quent career proved him to be a true soldier. 
 
 In 1745, when he was but twenty years old, he was in the 
 Pepperell Expedition to Louisburg, and lieutenant in Cap- 
 tain Newell's company at Crown Point in 1755. Later in 
 the war he served as captain. At one time, when operating 
 against the French forces, he was led into an ambuscade and 
 only forced his way out with the loss of most of his men. 
 As before noticed, at the beginning of the Revolutionary 
 War he served as captain of a company of minute men. 
 April 24, 1775, he received the commission of colonel. He 
 fought and was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill. He 
 went with the army under Washington to New York, and 
 was promoted, August 9, to brigadier-general. His promo- 
 tion to the rank of general of brigade was on recommenda- 
 tion of Washington, who stated to Congress that Nixon's 
 military talents and bravery entitled him to promotion. In 
 his new position he had, for a time, command of two regi- 
 ments and a force of artillery at Governor's Island, New 
 York Harbor. August 27, he left there, and subsequently 
 operated with the army in the northern campaign in New 
 York State against Burgoyne. When it was decided to 
 advance against the latter, General Gates ordered Nixon and 
 two other commanders to make the attack. A cannon ball 
 passed so near his head that the sight and hearing on one 
 side were impaired. After the surrender of Burgoyne, 
 General Nixon and some others were detailed to escort the 
 prisoners to Cambridge. About that time he had a furlough 
 of several months, in which time he married his second wife. 
 General Nixon was on the court-martial — with Generals 
 Clinton, Wayne and Muhlenburg, and of which Gen. Ben- 
 jamin Lincoln was president — for the trial of General 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 411 
 
 Schuyler for the neglect of duty in the campaign of 1777, by 
 which Ticonderoga was surrendered. The trial was at the 
 request of General Schuyler, and by it he was fully acquitted 
 with the highest honors. In 1777, General Nixon's brigade 
 had head-quarters for a time at Peekskill, N. Y., and for a 
 time in 1777, at Albany. On Sept. 12, 1780, he closed his 
 military career by resigning his commission as general, and 
 retired to private life. He married for his first wife Thank- 
 ful Berry, Feb. 7, 1754 ; and for his second, Hannah Gleason 
 in 1778,"the widow of Capt. Micajah Gleason who was killed 
 at the battle of White Plains, N. Y., in 1776. He had nine 
 children, of whom five were daughters. One of them, 
 Sarah, married Abel Cutler, the father of the late C. G. 
 Cutler, Esq., of Sudbury. 
 
 About 1806, he went to Middlebury, Vt. At the time of 
 the battle of Lake Champlain he was living with a daughter 
 at Burlington ; and, on hearing the sound of the cannon on 
 the lake, he wanted a horse brought .that he might go and 
 witness the fight. General Nixon died at Middlebury, 1815, 
 at the advanced age of ninety. When he was thirty years 
 old he bought a tract of thirty-two acres of land of Josiah 
 Browne on the northern side of Nobscot Hill, where he was 
 living at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. After 
 he retired from the army, he lived for a time at Framingham 
 and kept tavern at Rice's End. He afterwards returned to 
 Sudbury, and was admitted to the church there May 22, 1803. 
 Although Mr. Nixon was pre-eminently a military man 
 by nature and experience, and had known much of the hard 
 fare and the rough companionship of the army, yet he was 
 a man of affable address and quiet demeanor. He was of 
 light complexion, medium size and cheerful disposition. He 
 was a decided man and a great lover of children. One of 
 his grandsons informed the writer that the old man used to 
 take his grandchildren on his knee and sing war songs to 
 them ; one that he remembered was as follows : — 
 
 « Oh, why, soldiers, why, should we be melancholy, boys ? whose busi- 
 ness 'tis to die. 
 Through cold, hot and dry we are always bound to follow, boys, and 
 scorn to fly." 
 
412 History of sudbury. 
 
 C. G. Cutler, the grandson referred to, was about ninety 
 years old when he repeated the verse. None of General 
 Nixon's family, who bear the name, are now living in Sud- 
 bury. The site of his dwelling-place is still pointed out not 
 far from the run or spring land on the northerly slope of 
 Nobscot, but even the last faint trace of his former dwelling- 
 place time is fast wearing away, and soon nothing but the 
 record will tell of this illustrious citizen and soldier of 
 Sudbury. 
 
 In considering the military service of the town in the 
 Revolutionary War, w r e have only considered a part of her 
 history. During that time important civil transactions were 
 taking place also. There were deprivations to be endured 
 by those at home : the country was burdened with debt, the 
 currency was in a very uncertain state, and, because of its 
 depreciated condition, there was more or less confusion in 
 commercial affairs. There was as much need of sagacity on 
 the part of the civilian in council, as of military men in the 
 field, to direct the affairs of State and town. The town- 
 meetings of those days were very important occasions, and, 
 unless the people met emergencies there in a prompt and 
 efficient manner, the fighting element in the field could 
 accomplish but little. In this respect the people of Sudbury 
 were not deficient. We have heard of no instance where a 
 Tory spirit was manifest nor where a patriotic purpose was 
 wanting. During the war, a large share of the town war- 
 rants set forth the needs of the county or town which were 
 caused by the war ; and the town-meeting that* folio wed was 
 about sure to result in a generous response to the demand. 
 As the history of the war period will not be complete with- 
 out presenting some of these acts wc will give a few of them 
 here. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO ENLISTMENT. 
 
 We may well presume from the spirit manifested by the 
 minute companies, more or less of whose members enlisted 
 for a longer or shorter term, that patriotism was a prominent 
 motive for entering the service. But the war was protracted, 
 and a large share of the soldiers had families dependent upon 
 them, and, hence, for the late enlistments extra inducements 
 
RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL B. ROGERS, So. Sudbury 
 Sketch of Family History Page 450. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 413 
 
 were to be expected. To narrate all that was done at each 
 successive town-meeting would be needless ; we will, there- 
 fore, give only a few specimens which will serve to show the 
 spirit of the people. 
 
 In 1777, twenty pounds were voted to each man who 
 would enlist ; also the town chose a committee to provide for 
 soldiers' families. 
 
 In 1778, voted some three hundred and seventy pounds 
 for clothing for the soldiers ; also the town committee were 
 instructed to hire men for the army for seventy-four pounds 
 each "if they could if not, to give more." The same year 
 " voted to give 50 pounds to each man who would enlist as 
 a part of the town quota for 9 months." 
 
 The same year a committee was appointed " to hire 12 
 men to go to the North River for 8 months or such time as 
 they will agree for." 
 
 The same year " 14 men were hired for the service of 
 Providence." 
 
 On May 17, 1779, voted to " hire the men to be detatched 
 from the militia of this town to inarch to Tiverton, R. I., 
 and granted 1300 pounds to hire the men with and 200 
 pounds to provide things for their families." 
 
 In 1779, a committee was chosen " to hire men for the 
 public service in behalf of the town whenever there may be 
 a call on the militia for service." 
 
 At the same date, four hundred and twenty pounds were 
 granted " to hire five soldiers with for service of Tiverton 
 R. I." 
 
 The same date, thirty-nine hundred pounds were granted 
 to hire thirteen soldiers for nine months' service. 
 
 In 1781, voted that the committee should attend to " hiring 
 the town quota for three years without loss of time and if the 
 men cannot be obtained in town then they are to apply else- 
 where," fifteen pounds in specie was granted for the purpose. 
 
 As an inducement to enlistment the town sometimes 
 offered live stock. The following is a specimen : — 
 
 " We being a Committee appointed by the Town of Sud- 
 bury to hire the Town Quota of men for three years or 
 
414 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 During the war agreable to a Resolve of Court Dec 2, 1780 
 do agree with John Ruck, Naynam Haynes, Zechrus Robi- 
 son and Oliver Robison who has enlisted themselves into the 
 Sarvis agreable to Law, Resolve to give each of them 
 Eighteen this Spring Calves, Said Calves to be kept for and 
 Delivered to the above Parsons when they are Regularly 
 Discharged from the Said Sarvis, also Three Thousing Dol- 
 lars old Currency to be paid Each when they are properly 
 
 mustered. 
 
 " Asahel Wheeler \ 
 
 " Aaron Haynes > Committee." 
 
 " Jon a Rice ) 
 
 We give below a copy of a soldier's Enlistment Paper. 
 
 We the subscribers do hereby severally inlist Ourselves into the 
 Service of the United Colonies of America to serve until the first day 
 of April next, if the service shall require it; and each of us do engage 
 to furnish and carry with us into the Service a good effective Firearm 
 and Blanket also a good Bayonet and Cartridge Pouch if possible. And 
 we severally consent to be formed by such Persons as the General 
 Court shall appoint into a Company of Ninety men including one 
 Captain Two Lieutenants one Ensign four Sergeants, four Corporals 
 one Drummer and one Fifer, to be elected by the Companies, and when 
 formed we engage to march to Headquarters of the American Army 
 with the utmost Expedition and to be under the command of such Field 
 Officer or Officers as the Gen. Court shall appoint. And we farther 
 agree during the Time aforesaid to be subject to such Generals as are 
 or shall be appointed ; and to be under such Regulations in every 
 Respect as are provided for the Army aforesaid. Dated this Day of 
 
 A. D. 1776. 
 
 Jesse Jones Zebediah Farrar. 
 
 John Peter Richard Heard 
 
 Sarson Belcher Joseph Smith 
 
 Timothy Underwood John Merriam. 
 
 Josia Farrar Abraham Parmenter 
 
 Ephraim Smith Benjamin Dudley 
 
 Phinehas Glezen Israel Jones 
 Uriah Moore. 
 
 Besides the furnishing of men and equipments various 
 other services were from time to time required of the town. 
 At one time the towns were assessed for hay for the army at 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 415 
 
 Cambridge, and Sudbury was required to furnish nine tons; 
 only three other towns were required to furnish as much. 
 At another time they were called on to provide men and 
 teams to convey gunpowder to Springfield. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 1775-1800. 
 
 Attention the Town Bestowed on its Home Needs during the War. — 
 Specimen Report of a Town-Meeting. — Attitude of the Town 
 towards the Measures of Boston Merchants relative to the Reduc- 
 tion of Prices. — Appointment of Delegate to a Convention Called 
 for the Purpose of Framing a New Constitution. — Committee 
 Appointed to Regulate Prices. — Report of Committee. — Vote on 
 the New Constitution. — Educational Matters. — Division of the 
 Town. — Committee on a Line of Division. — Committee Appointed 
 to Present a Remonstrance to the Court — Instructions to the Com- 
 mittee. — Act of the Court Authorizing a Division.— Committee 
 Appointed to Make a Division of the Money and Real Estate.— 
 Report of the Committee. — Appointment of Other Committees.— 
 Financial Report.— Official Boards for 1780 and 1781.— Miscellaneous. 
 — Shay's Rebellion. — Erection of Meeting-House. — Miscellaneous. 
 
 The roll of drums and the bugle's wailing 
 
 Vex the air of our vales no more ; 
 The spear is beaten to hooks of pruning, 
 
 The share is the sword the soldiers wore. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 The following specimen of work done at a fall town- 
 meeting in the very midst of the war shows that home needs 
 were not neglected while military matters were absorbing so 
 much attention. Nov. 8, 1779, the town granted money as 
 follows, namely : — 
 
 To pay the several town Debts /1457 : : 
 
 To pay the Rev d Ministers their Salary 148 : : 
 
416 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Gratuity to the Rev d Ministers .£2000 : : 
 
 for the Grammar School 1000 : : 
 
 for a Reading and Writing School 2000 : : 
 
 for the support of the Poor 2000 : : 
 
 to pay the Assessors 200 : : 
 
 to pay the town Treasrer 40 : : 
 
 to the Towns Com ttee for money paid to the Last Six 
 
 months men to the State of New York 500 : : 
 
 to the Selectmen the money paid to s d men by order of 
 
 the General Court 500 : : 
 
 to pay the money that has been paid to the six months 
 
 men to Rhode Island 180 : : 
 
 to provide for the Continental families 800 : : 
 
 At the same town meeting adjourned to Dec. G th 1779 the town 
 granted six hundred pounds to enable a committee chosen at said 
 meeting to oppose a Division of the town and to carry on said affair. 
 
 James Thompson, Town Clerk, 
 
 At a town meeting held July 12, 1779, it was 
 
 Voted that this town highly approves of the measures taken by the 
 merchants and other the inhabitants of the town of Boston in order to 
 reduce the exorbitant prices of the necessaries of life. Consequently 
 to appreciate our Currency that the town will adopt such reasonable 
 measures as may be agreed upon by the joint Committees from the 
 several towns in this state. It also voted to send Major Joseph Curtis 
 to represent them in the convention to meet in Cambridge for the 
 purpose of framing a new constitution or form of government, and 
 instructed him to cause a printed copy of the form of a constitution 
 that might be agreed upon to be transmitted to the Select Men of the 
 town. 
 
 Aug 9th. The town voted to appoint seven persons to state the 
 prices of Innholders' labour, Theaming, manufactures and all other 
 articles not taken up by the convention at Concord. 
 
 Aug. lGth. The town having met according to adjournment, the 
 Committee appointed to state the prices of all such articles as were not 
 taken up by the Convention at Concord reported as follows 
 
 West India Rum by the gallon £Q. 9 
 
 New England Rum by the gallon 4.15 
 
 Coffe by the pound 4.15 
 
 Sugar by the pound from 11 to 14. Chocolate by the pound 24. 
 Bohe Tea by the pound 5 : 1G. Cotton wool by the pound 37 : G. 
 German Steel 30 D» Salt best quality by the Bushel £\0 : 10 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 417 
 
 Country Produce — Indian Corn by the Bushel 80, Rye by the 
 Bushel, £5 : 10 Wheat by the Bushel £8 : 10 Beaf by the pound 5 
 Muton, Lamb and Veal by the pound 3 : 6 Foreign Beaf and Pork as 
 sett by the convention. Butter by the pound 11 Chese D° 6 Milk by 
 the quart 16 English Hay q r hundred 30 
 
 Men's shoes 6 lbs , women's shoes 4 lbs , cotton cloth 4 : 0, 
 Labor. — teaming under 30 miles 18, carpenter work by the day 60, 
 Mason per day 60, Maids wages per week 5 Dollars. Oxen per day 
 24, Horse Hire 3 per mile. Inn Holder a good dinner 20, common 
 dinner 12. Best supper and Breakfast 15, each common Do. 12, 
 Lodgings 4. Horse keeping 24 hours on hay 15, on grass 10, a yoke of 
 oxen a night 15. 
 
 The grade of prices thus established was made in accord- 
 ance with a resolve of a convention that met at Concord, 
 and the list of prices made was in depreciated currency that 
 was in ratio of about twenty shillings paper to one shilling 
 in silver. " If any one should persist in refusing to accept 
 these prices, their names should be published in the public 
 News Paper and the good people of the town should with- 
 hold all trade and intercourse from them." 
 
 On May 17, 1779, a vote was taken to see how many 
 favored the formation of a new constitution or form of 
 government. Fifty -nine voted in the affirmative and ten 
 in the negative. The representative was instructed to 
 vote for calling a State convention to form the new con- 
 stitution. 
 
 At a meeting held May 22, 1780, " The Constitution 
 being read, the town voted that they think it reasonable 
 that each town in the State should pay their own proper 
 representatives both their travel to and attendance at the 
 General Court, and desire that clause providing for their 
 pay for travel out of the public treasury should be altred, 
 41 voting for this alteration and 8 against it. They desire 
 that the word Protestant may be inserted in the room of, or 
 added to the word Christian Religion, in qualifications of the 
 Govenor and all other officers both civil and military, 30 for 
 and 19 against it. 
 
 " They also desire that the time for revising the Constitu- 
 tion may not exceed seven years, 55 voting for this altera- 
 tion, one against it." 
 
418 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL MATTERS. 
 
 Prominent among the records relating' to educational 
 matters in the early part of the period was the following: 
 1773. " To Daniel Bowker for building N. W. School House 
 18 pounds, to the same for building Lanham School House 
 23-6-8. To Ambrose Tower for building school house near 
 west meeting house 17-7-4. To W m Dudley to building 
 the Farm end school house 26-13-4." In 1774, a vote was 
 taken to see " if the town will order that the several school 
 houses in said town shall be supplied with wood for the 
 future at the charge of the town." It " passed in the nega- 
 tive." It may be that it had been customary for the citizens 
 of each district to contribute wood for the school-houses 
 and that this was an early movement made to have it sup- 
 plied by the town. That the school-houses were warmed in 
 those times is evident. The following year the town granted 
 eight pounds for supplying the several school-houses with 
 wood for the year, and repeatedly after this were sums 
 granted for this purpose. That the school-houses at that 
 time were warmed by means of a fire-place is indicated by 
 the following record of 1782: " To Jacob Reed for mending 
 hearth at Lanham school house." In 1778, the town voted 
 to build a new school-house near Mr. Phineas Puffers. In 
 1770, it was voted to build a new school-house in the north- 
 west, corner of the town, appropriating the two old school- 
 houses for the building of the new. 
 
 DIVISION OF THE TOWN. 
 
 A prominent event of this period was the division of the 
 town. The proposition came before the town by petition 
 of .John Tilton and others June 25, 1778, in the East 
 meeting-house. tk The question was put whether it was the 
 minds of the Town, that the Town of Sudbury should be 
 divided into two towns, and it was passed in the affirmative. 
 And appointed the following gentlemen to agree on a Divi- 
 sion Line and Report at the Adjournment of this meeting 
 viz Col Ezekiel How Cap' Richard Heard M r Nathan Loring 
 M r Phinehas Glezen M r John Maynard and M r John 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 419 
 
 Meriam." The committee reported that they were not 
 agreed as to the line of division. 
 
 At a meeting held Jan. 1, 1779, the town appointed 
 Major Joseph Curtis, Thomas Plympton, Esq., Mr. John 
 Balcom, Capt. Richard Heard and Capt. Jonathan Rice to 
 agree on a line of division. At the same meeting measures 
 were taken to petition the General Court. Strong opposi- 
 tion at once manifested itself, and the town was warned to 
 meet at the West meeting-house December 6, — 
 
 " 1 st To choose a moderator 
 
 " 2 d To see if the town will choose a Committee to act in 
 behalf of this Town at the Great and General Court of this 
 State to Oppose a Division of s d Town and give the Com tee So 
 chosen Such Instruction Relating to said affair as the Town 
 may think proper and grant a Sum of Mone}^ to Enable said 
 Com tee to Carry on Said Business " 
 
 The meeting resulted as follows : — 
 
 " 1 st Chose Asahel Wheeler moderator 
 
 " 2 d Chose Col Ezekiel Howe M r W m Rice Ju r and Thomas 
 Plympton Esq a committee for the Purpose contained in this 
 article and granted the sum of three hundred Pounds to 
 Enable their Com tee to Carry on said affair then adjourned 
 this meeting to tomorrow at three oclock at the same place. 
 
 " Tuesday Decern 1 " 7th The Town met according to 
 adjournment proceeded and gave their Com tee Chosen to 
 oppose a division of this Town &c the following Instruc- 
 tions viz. 
 
 " To Col° Ezekiel Howe, Tho s Plympton Esq and M r Rice 
 Ju r you being chosen a Com ,ee by the Town of Sudbury to 
 oppose a division of s d Town as Lately Reported by a 
 Com tee of the Hon ,e General Court of this State 
 
 " You are hereby authorized and Instructed to preferr a 
 Petition or memorial to the General Court in behalf of Said 
 Town. Praying that the Bill for Dividing S d Town May be 
 set a fire or altred setting forth the Great Disadvantages the 
 Westerly part of the Town will Labour under by a Division 
 of said Town as reported by s d Com tee viz : as said report 
 deprives them of all the gravel and obliges them to maintain 
 
420 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the one half of the Great Causeways on the Easterly part 
 of said Town notwithstanding the necessary repairs of the 
 Highways on the westerly part of said Town are nearly 
 double to that on the East. 
 
 " Said Report also deprives them of the Pound, it also 
 deprives them of a Training field though Given by the Pro- 
 prietors of Said Town to the Westerly side for a Training 
 field for Ever 
 
 " And further as there is no provision made in said report 
 for the Support of the Poor in Said Town which will be a 
 verry heavy burthen to the West side of the Town as the 
 report now stands. Also at said adjournment the Town 
 Granted the sum of three Hundred pounds, in addition to 
 the other Grant of three hundred Pounds to Enable their 
 Com tee to carry on said Petition 
 
 " Then the town by their vote dissolved this meeting " 
 
 But, notwithstanding the vigorous protest made by promi- 
 nent citizens, their arguments did not prevail with the 
 Court, and an article was passed, April 10, 1780, which 
 authorized a division of the town. A committee was ap- 
 pointed by the town to consider a plan for the division of 
 property and an equitable adjustment of the obligations 
 of the East and West parts of the town. At an adjourned 
 meeting, held March 14, the committee rendered the follow- 
 ing report which was accepted and agreed upon. 
 
 " We the Subscribers being appointed a committee to Join 
 a Com tee from East Sudbury to make a Division of the 
 Money and Estate belonging to the Town of Sudbury and 
 East Sudbury agreeable to an Act of the General Court 
 Passed the 10 th of April 1780, for Dividing the Town of 
 Sudbury, proceded and agreed as followeth viz : that all the 
 Money Due on the Bonds and Notes being the Donation of 
 Mary Doan to the East Side of the River be Disposed of to 
 East Sudbury according to the will of the Donor. And 
 the money Due on Bonds and Notes given by Mr. Peter 
 Noyes and Capt Joshua Ilayncs for the Benefit of the Poor 
 and Schooling be Equally Divided between Each of the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 421 
 
 S d Towns, which Sum is 423 : 3 : 4 That all the Money 
 Due on Bonds and Notes for the New Grant Lands, or 
 Money Now in the Treasury or in Constables' hands be 
 Equally Divided between Each of Said Towns which Sums 
 are as follows viz :. 
 
 "Due on New Grant Bonds and Notes 133 : 14 : 7 
 "Due from Constable 3110 : 10 : 7 
 
 " Due from the Town Treasurer 348 : 6:5 
 
 " And that all Land that belonged to the Town of Sud- 
 bury or for the benefit of the Poor shall be Divided agree- 
 able to the Act of the General Court for Dividing Said 
 Town. And that the Pound and Old Bell and the Town 
 Standard of Weights and Measures which belonged to the 
 Town of Sudbury be Sold at publick vandue and the pro- 
 ceeds to be Equally divided between the towns of Sudbury 
 and East Sudbury. 
 
 "Also that the Town Stock of Arms and Amanition be 
 Divided as set forth in the Act of the General Court for 
 Dividing the Town of Sudbury. And if any thing shall be 
 made to appear to be Estate or property that Should belong 
 to the town of Sudbury before the Division of the above 
 articles it Shall be Equally Divided between the Town of 
 Sudbury and the Town of East Sudbury. And that the 
 Town of East Sudbury shall Support and Maintain as their 
 Poor During their Life the Widow Vickry and Abigail 
 Isgate, And all Such Persons as have Gained a Residence in 
 the Town of Sudbury before the division of S d Town and 
 shall hereafter be brought to the Town of Sudbury or the 
 Town of East Sudbury as their Poor Shall be Supported by 
 that Town in which they Gained their Inhabitance. Also 
 that the Debts Due from Said Town of Sudbury Shall be 
 paid the one half by the Town of Sudbury and the other 
 half by the Town of East Sudbury which Sum is 2977 : 7 : 1 
 
 " Asher Cutler Asahel Wheeler \ 
 
 " Tho s Walker Isaac Maynard [ Committee " 
 
 " James Thomson ) 
 
 Other committees concerning the matter of division were 
 appointed the same year. The assessors were to make a 
 
1487. 
 
 9. 
 
 in 
 
 1661 . 
 
 19. 
 
 ") 
 
 142 lbs 
 
 
 394 lbs 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1183, 
 
 10. 
 
 
 
 391 
 
 .15. 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 . 0. 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 . 8. 
 
 
 
 422 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 division with East Sudbury of the men required of Sudbury 
 and East Sudbury for three years ; also to make division of 
 clothing, beef, etc., required of said town. A committee, 
 April 2o, 1781, made the following financial exhibit: — 
 
 Due to Sudbury in the Constable's and Treasurer's hands ,£1487 
 
 That the town had to pay the sum of 
 
 Sudbury's part of the Powder 
 
 Their part of the Lead 
 
 their part of the Guns on hand 
 
 The old Bell, Pound and Town Standard of Weights and 
 Measures sold for 
 
 Sudbury's part of the above sum is 
 
 Received of money 
 
 The charge of sale 
 
 The remainder to be paid by the treasurer of E. Sudbury. 
 
 Money due to the town in M r Cutler's hands taken out of 
 the State Treasury for what was advanced by the 
 Town of Sudbury for the support of Soldiers' families 
 who are in the Continental Army 1200 .2.0 
 
 In the division Sherman's Bridge was left partly in each 
 town, and the river formed about half the town's eastern 
 boundary. At a place on Sand Hill the town lino was made 
 irregular in order to admit the training-field and the Caleb 
 Wheeler farm, which was a triangular piece of about forty- 
 three acres. The definition of the town boundary line and 
 the clause which retained the training-field and the Wheeler 
 farm in the town is as follows : — 
 
 " Beginning with the river between Concord and Lincoln, 
 thence running with the river till it comes to the mouth of a 
 ditch on the west side of said river between the lands of 
 W m Baldwin Esq, and Eliakim Rice; — thence on said ditch 
 to the County road leading to Stow, crossing said road; 
 connected (or continuing) on the South side thereof till it 
 comes to the line between land of Nath 1 Rice and Jona. 
 Carter; — thence southerly with the line between said Rice 
 & Carter to land of Elisha Wheelor ; then running Easterly 
 with the line between said Carter and Wheelor to the 
 County roading leading to Marlboro'; — thence running up 
 and bounded on the Westerly side of said road till it comes 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 423 
 
 opposite to the line between the heirs of Lieut. Dan 1 Good- 
 now and land in possession of Robert Ernes at "Sandy 
 Hill"; — thence crossing said road to the corner aforesaid; 
 — thence running to a White Oak the head of Capt. Moses 
 Maynard's meadow; — thence on a straight line; — thence 
 on a straight line to a swamp-White-Oak on the bank of the 
 River — eastwardly from the dwelling house of Capt. Moses 
 Stone; thence up the river to Framingham line." 
 
 " And it is also enacted that the House and lands of 
 Caleb Wheelor — together with the Training-field adjoining 
 thereto, shall remain to the Town of Sudbury." 
 
 In the division provision was made for the maintenance, 
 by Sudbury, of the Canal Bridge and that portion of the 
 old causeway which extends from the bridge westerly to the 
 upland. As the support of the Canal Bridge came upon 
 Sudbury and mention is made of it in various places in the 
 Town Records, it may be of interest here to state something 
 of its history. This bridge is so named because it crossed 
 that portion of the river which it is supposed ran through an 
 artificial channel. No bridge in that immediate vicinity but 
 the " Town bridge " is mentioned in the earlier records, and 
 the stream, as before stated (see page 93), originally passed 
 near the eastern upland. The earliest record we have any 
 knowledge of, which contains reference to this bridge, is in 
 1768, which is a bill for the repairing of the " new bridge 
 near Dea. Stone's, Lanham, Sherman's, the Town bridge and 
 the Canal bridge." This shows its existence at that time, 
 but gives no intimation as to when it was made ; neither is 
 there any record so far as we know as to when the canal was 
 constructed. An artificial opening might not have been 
 made there until years after the bridge was made. The first 
 water-way may have been a natural one which only required 
 a small crossing, and may subsequently have been enlarged 
 by the current. In other words, when the causeway was 
 built a small outlet may have been left in it at this point for 
 the purpose of allowing the water to pass off the meadow 
 more readily in time of Hood. This passage way at first may 
 have been but an open fordway. In the process of time, as 
 
424 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the causeway was gradually raised and the channel or 
 aperture naturally increased in size, a more substantial 
 bridge may have been required. Another theory is that the 
 making of the canal and the bridge was the result of raising 
 the causeway at one time or another. If the town succeeded 
 in raising the money when it tried to do so by means of a 
 lottery in 1758, the Canal Bridge may have been built at 
 that time. As there was opposition to raising the causeway, 
 because it was supposed that it would set back the water, 
 the statement being made that there was " not one foot of 
 fall in the river for 25 or 30 miles," an aperture might have 
 been left in the raised road or causeway or a canal cut to 
 obviate the difficulty, and the canal would require a bridge. 
 Still another theory is that the canal was built by private 
 enterprise. Mr. Abel Gleason, now one of the oldest inhabi- 
 tants of Wayland, states that when he was a boy, ten or 
 twelve years old, he helped make hay on both sides of the 
 canal for Colonel Baldwin, the owner of the land; and that 
 the colonel told him that " the water always made its way 
 over the ' oxbow ' more or less ; but at one time a Mr. 
 Goodnow and another man, whose name he could not re- 
 member, dug out a straight channel for the water to run in." 
 A channel once dug would naturally increase until suffi- 
 ciently large to allow all the water to pass through it. The 
 short causeway from Sudbury to the Canal Bridge w T as laid 
 out by the county commissioners in 1832, and the same year 
 was made under the supervision of a committee from East 
 Sudbury. 
 
 The following officers were chosen, just before the divi- 
 sion, at a town-meeting held in the East and West meeting- 
 houses, March 6, 1780 : " Selectmen — Capt. Asahel Wheeler. 
 W m Baldwin Esq. Mr. Thomas Walker, Capt. Caleb Moul- 
 ton, Mr. Isaac Maynard. Capt. Thadeus Russel, Mr. Benja- 
 min Smith. Town Clerk and Treasurer James Thompson. 
 Other officers chosen were 3 Assessors, 4 Constables, A 
 ' committee of correspondence,' consisting of five persons. 4 
 ' wardins.' 2 surveyors of shingles, 2 sealers of leather, 3 
 fence viewers. 2 deer reeves, 4 tythingmen, 4 hog reeves, 
 2 field drivers, 8 surveyors of highway, 2 fish reeves, and 2 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 425 
 
 clerks of the market. Total on the official board fifty-five 
 persons." 
 
 After the division the town went on with its usual 
 activity. At a town-meeting held March 5, 1781, the fol- 
 lowing officers were chosen : " Moderator — Capt. Jonathan 
 Rice. Selectmen — Mr. W m Rice, Capt. Moses Stone, Lieut. 
 Jacob Reed, Lieut. Abijah Brigham, Capt. Samuel Knight. 
 Clerk and Treasurer, W m Rice." The records state that the 
 town-meetings were frequently held at the house of Mr. 
 Johnson. Probably this was the house of Aaron Johnson, 
 Innholder. Some of the early town records and acts after 
 its division are the following : Oct. 8, 1781, granted " Rev. 
 Mr. Bigelow for salary the ensuing year seventy-four pounds 
 in specie, also granted for a grammar school for a year, 12 
 pounds and ordered that said school be kept at the school 
 house near the meeting house, also granted for support of a 
 reading and writing school 48 pounds and ordered the same 
 to be kept in the other four school houses in the same pro- 
 portion. Also granted 60 pounds to furnish their quota of 
 beef for the supply of the army. Also allowed 16 shillings 
 for the taking care of the meeting house, and chose John 
 Green to take care of the meeting house and dig graves as 
 occasion required for the ensuing year." At the same meet- 
 ing money was granted for the supply of the soldiers for the 
 Continental army. 
 
 In the warrant of a meeting dated Jan. 15, 1781, was an 
 article " to see if the town would choose a committee and 
 empower them to bring an action against or proceed other- 
 wise in a suit of law with the town of Boston for their 
 bringing Mary Piper and her children into Sudbury, she and 
 her children not being able to support themselves and not 
 belonging to Sudbury." At a subsequent meeting the com- 
 mittee was chosen to proceed against Boston as suggested. 
 
 In 1782, it was " voted to pay Rev. Mr. Bigelow's salary 
 in specie 111 pounds, of which Roland Bogle's part to 
 collect as constable was £52 — 11 s — 9 d and Mr. Joshua 
 Haynes part as constable to collect was £58 — 8 s — 3 d ." In 
 1782, the town ordered their committee to build a suitable 
 place at the school-house ki near the meeting house for 
 
426 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 hanging their bell on instead of repairing the place where 
 it now stands." In 1785, the number of selectmen chosen 
 was reduced to three. In 1787, it was voted to rebuild the 
 canal bridge. The same year Isaac Lincoln was chosen to 
 take care of the meeting-house and ring the bell, for which 
 he was to have eighteen shillings, which was the lowest 
 price bid. 
 
 shay's rebellion. 
 
 In 1786, occurred an event called Shay's Rebellion or In- 
 surrection. The cause of it was the unsettled condition of 
 the country, its depreciated currency, and a lack of business 
 prosperity in general. A small portion of the community 
 sought to adjust matters by resorting to arms. An effort 
 was made by some of the insurgents to prevent the holding 
 of the county courts, and, on several occasions, the presence 
 of troops was required to preserve the peace. Concord, 
 being a county town, was one of the imperiled places, and 
 there were indications that on Sept. 12, 1768, an outbreak 
 might occur there, as on that day a company of about one 
 hundred men assembled there under command of Job Shat- 
 tuck of Groton, and Nathan and Sylvanus Smith of Shirley. 
 Matters, however, were adjusted without any open out- 
 break. From the proximity of Concord to Sudbury, nat- 
 urally the town would be expected to render military service 
 at that place if it was needed, and also to furnish aid, in 
 common with the other towns, for the suppression of the 
 rebellion. The following papers are supposed to refer to 
 such service. 
 
 " Sudbury 10 th September 1786 
 " Sir you will fully comply with the orders you received 
 from me this Day, Excepting your Marching by the shotest 
 Rout to Concord, you will instead of Marching to Concord 
 March with your Company Imbodied to Sudbury Meeting 
 House at Eight oclock in the Morning in order to join the 
 Reg 1 
 
 " Capt Benj Sawin yours &c Jon a Rice Lt. C. Comd " 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 427 
 
 " Commonwealth of Massachusetts D r 
 " To the Selectmen of Sudbury for furnishing the men 
 that was called out to Supres the Late Rebellion agreeably 
 to the Militia Law to three different times to seven Days 
 each at four Shillings P r Day." 
 
 Nov. 24, 1788, it was voted to hear the report of a com- 
 mittee who had, at a previous meeting, been appointed to 
 present a report of the depreciation of Mr. Bigelow's salary. 
 They " reported that the sum of .£155 — 18 s — 9 d was due to 
 Mr. Bigelow on the deficiency of his salaries for the years 
 1776, 1777, 1778 and half of 1779," and it was voted to pay 
 X120 to make up the deficiency. 
 
 In 1789, the town " empowered a committee to purchase 
 the land of Mr. Doane for the purpose of enlarging the 
 burying ground and voted that the committee provide and 
 build the wall around the yard." When the town were 
 assembled in October, 1789, and the committee reported 
 relative to the land for enlarging the burying-ground, it was 
 voted " that the inhabitants of the town now present go 
 out and inspect the land proposed, when the inhabitants 
 returned, and a vote was taken, but passed in the negative ; 
 this question came up if they would accept of the land if 
 they could have it free of expense and they voted in the 
 affirmative." 
 
 In 1792, the town voted to sell the training field in the 
 southeast part of the town, and " the Committee formerly 
 employed to sell the Work house " were appointed to attend 
 to the work. The same year measures were taken for the 
 prevention of the small-pox. The article concerning it in 
 the warrant was " To see if the town would admit the Small 
 Pox into sd town by Inoculation." " It passed in the nega- 
 tive." The following year the selectmen were ( instructed 
 " to take measures to prevent the spreading of the small 
 pox, and to prosecute the persons who transgressed the laws 
 respecting the disease." Instructions were also given " to 
 make diligent search to see if there were any persons who 
 had been inoculated for small pox contrary to law." 
 
428 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Iii accordance with a vote of the General Court in 1794, 
 a map was made of the town. This map, a copy of which 
 is in the State Archives (Vol. II., page 7), was made by 
 Mathias Mosmon, and bears date April 17, 1795. A copy 
 of it is here given together with the following statement and 
 description by the author of the map : — 
 
 "The above Plan of the Town of Sudbury in the County 
 of Middlesex, Common Wealth of Massachusetts was taken 
 by the Direction of a Committee Chosen by the Inhabitants 
 of S d Sudbury in obedience to an order of the General Court 
 dated June 26 th — 1794. on the above plan Air inserted 
 and described Each Town line that meets or joins with 
 Sudbury. the Rivers are also accurately surveyed and 
 planned, the breadth of which are as followeth. the River 
 Elsabeth is from 4 to 5 rods wide, but [there is] no public 
 bridge over the river where it joins Sudbury, the other river 
 called Sudbury or Concord River is from 7 to 8 or 9 rods 
 wide, and [there is] one bridge over sd river where it joins 
 Sudbury called Sharman's Bridge, 100 feet long, one-half 
 belonging to Sudbury, and 25 rod of Causeway. Sudbury 
 also [is to] build and keep in repair the Canal Bridge in 
 East Sudbury Long causeway and 52 rods of s a causeway. 
 the County roads are also surveyed and planned, in Sud- 
 bury is but one house for public worship which is noted, 
 the center of the town is about one mile northwestwardly 
 from the meetinghouse, the distance from S d Sudbury to 
 Cambridge the shire-town of the county is 17 miles, and 
 from s d Sudbury to Boston the Metropolis of the Common- 
 wealth of Massachusetts through Watertown and Roxbury 
 is 22 miles, and through & over West Boston Bridge is 20 
 miles, in Sudbury is but 3 ponds of any considerable mag- 
 nitude which has been Surveyed and planned as above, 
 here is no falls of Water worthy of note, in S d Sudbury is 
 not a hill whose summit is lofty, in the Southwardly part 
 of s d town is part of a hill called Penobscott which will be 
 described in the plan of Framingham. No manufactories are 
 erected in Sudbury, in s d [town] are three grist mills, two 
 saw mills, and one fulling mill as above described, on a 
 

 I 
 
 KnivM y rfrinl Mill 
 
 
 c , StONES 
 
 
 EAST SUDBURY 
 
T O W 
 
 ■ line l?ti? 
 
 r jsdjtsrrwn r kl-i^ liJZ Jirz— — 
 
 A- nw-' 
 
 d* 
 
 >8«» lr Qj. 
 
 Ts^ysi- 
 
 ofll* 
 
 M 
 
 '•■^TAKE ft STONES 
 / ACTON a CONCORD con 
 
 6£O.M.WAL>.&>CCo.. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 429 
 
 Stream known by several different names as above, the 
 width of which where it leaves Marlborough and enters 
 Sudbury is not much more than a yard wide and where it 
 enters East Sudbury is about 5 yards wide, in the North- 
 wardly part of s d Sudbury a mine has been discovered and 
 
 worked upon, the depth of the hole is about feet in 
 
 a Ledge of rocks supposed to be a copper mine but has not 
 been worked in since the beginning of the Revolution, here 
 is not Iron Works or furnaces, said plan is laid down by a 
 scale of 200 rods to an inch Surveyed by 
 
 " Mathias Mosmon 
 " Dated at Sudbury April 17 = 1795." 
 
 THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE. 
 
 In the latter part of the period the town took measures to 
 erect a new meeting-house. In 1789, " chose a committee 
 to look out a place suitable for a new meeting house, for 
 drafting a plan, and receiving proposals from individuals in 
 relation to building the same." They subsequently decided 
 upon the shape and dimensions, but, different opinions pre- 
 vailing relative to the location, the construction of the build- 
 ing was deferred for some years. 
 
 Oct. 5, 1795, the town again voted " to build a new Meet- 
 ing House, that it should be erected on the common land 
 near to the present meeting house, and that the south and 
 west cells of sd house should occupy the ground on which 
 the south and west cells of the present meeting house now 
 stand upon, and that the enlargement of the meetinghouse 
 should extend North and East. Voted to accept a plan 
 drawn by Capt Thomson which plan is 60 feet by 52 with 
 a porch at one end with a steeple or spear on the top of sd 
 porch. Voted that the Commitee for building the house 
 should consist of nine persons, and that they should receive 
 nothing for their services." In 1796, it was voted that a 
 bell should be purchased for the meeting-house. October, 
 1798, the building committee presented to the town the sum- 
 mary of receipts and expenditures which was six thousand 
 twenty-five dollars and ninety-three cents. The town 
 granted three hundred dollars for the purpose of grading 
 
430 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the ground around the new meeting-house. Those who 
 desired it were granted the privilege of working out their 
 proportionate share of the expense ; the price of labor being 
 nine pence per hour for a man and nine pence per hour for 
 a good yoke of oxen and cart. November, 179(3, it was 
 tk voted to request the Rev. M r Bigelow to preach a sermon 
 at the dedication of the meeting house." At the same meet- 
 ing it was " voted that the Pew Holders in the body of the 
 Meeting House as soon as Divine Service is over fling their 
 pew Doors wide open so as not to obstruct the passage of 
 the people in the allies — that the Speaker pass out first, 
 then the pew holders to pass on after as fast as Conveniently 
 may be out at the front Door, then those who sit in the 
 seats next — also voted that as soon as they are out they 
 move off from the door steps so as to let the people have 
 liberty to come out without Crowding — also voted that the 
 pew holders in the galleries fling their pew doors wide open 
 that they empty their pews, together with the fore seats 
 first, the 2 d and 3 d seats to follow in course — also voted 
 that those who come down the West pair of stairs pass out 
 at the West Door those who come down the East stairs pass 
 out at the East Door, and to move from the door steps so 
 as to give Liberty to empty the house as soon as conven- 
 iently may be. It was then voted to Choose a Committee 
 for the purpose of Regulating the Assembling of the people 
 at the Dedication of the Meeting House, to keep good order 
 on said day and prevent damage being done to said House. 
 Said Committee to consist of 12." At the same meeting 
 " voted to appropriate to the use of the Singing Society in 
 Said Town the front gallery and so much of the side galleries 
 next the front as shall be necessary for their accommodation." 
 
 May, 1799, the town-meeting adjourned to allow its com- 
 mittee on building stables to go out and view the land ; on 
 their return they reported that they had "set up a stake 
 and stone at the south east corner of Lt Willis stables to the 
 North east corner of the meeting house. Sd line being about 
 :',;» ft back of sd meeting house." " Report was accepted." 
 
 In 179G, the town-meetings were held at the house of Col. 
 Benjamin Sawin, innholder. This was during the building 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 431 
 
 of the new meeting-house. The same year the town 
 appointed Col. Sawin's new barn and yard adjoining the 
 same for a pound for a year. 
 
 October, 1797, " The Committee previously appointed to 
 select a suitable place whereon to erect a pound reported 
 that said pound be erected upon the East end of the Burying 
 yard, the south side to be erected about ten feet north of 
 L l Reuben Rices Stone wall, the wall of sd pound to be 
 5-^ ft in Height with a Hewn stick of chestnut, or white pine 
 Timber 10 inches in Height upon the top thereof, the Bury- 
 ing yard wall to form one side. Sd pound to be thirty feet 
 square within the walls." The report was accepted, and 
 twenty dollars was granted for the purpose. The committee 
 appointed for letting out the building of the pound were to 
 " have the privilege of all the stones on the common round 
 the meeting house, excepting so many as shall be necessary 
 for horse blocks." At the same meeting forty dollars was 
 granted for rebuilding Lanham Bridge. 
 
 April, 1797, voted " to provide a carriage for the town's 
 use Suitable for the conveyance of Corps to the Burying 
 yard." October, 1797, granted thirty dollars for the pur- 
 pose of teaching a singing school for one month. In 1798, 
 " Chose a Committee to let out the building of a school 
 house in the north east district in place of the one which was 
 burnt." Also appropriated two hundred dollars for the 
 building. At the same meeting appropriated two hundred 
 and fifty-five dollars for building a school-house in the centre 
 district. Also at the same meeting, granted " for a harness 
 for the town carriage to carry corps upon 15 : 75 " In 1799, 
 voted " that the Committee that was appointed to build a 
 shelter for the funeral carriage, if they think it can conven- 
 iently be done, to build a place in it for storing of the towns 
 stock of ammunition." 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 1800-1825. 
 
 Early Families Residing in Sudbury about the Beginning of the Present 
 Century. — Families Who Came into Sudbury during the Interval 
 between the Formation oE the Town and about the Middle of the 
 Present Century. — Biographical Sketches. 
 
 Happy he whom neither wealth nor fashion, 
 Nor the march of the encroaching city, 
 
 Drives an exile 
 From the hearth of his ancestral homestead. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 In entering upon the history of the nineteenth century, 
 we may, with propriety, pause in our narrative to notice the 
 condition of the community at the beginning of this new 
 period, and compare it with the condition of things in for- 
 mer and distant years. We have arrived at a point when 
 this can he done to advantage. We have chronicled the 
 events of more than a century and a half, and considered 
 the character, customs and conduct of the earlier inhabitants, 
 and the town when in its formative state. We have seen 
 influences gather and grow from sources small and remote, 
 and men come in, act their part, and go out. Before pro- 
 ceeding to consider new facts, let us notice the results of 
 those already set forth and their relations to what is to come. 
 Let us notice to what extent early names and families were 
 familiar at the beginning of the nineteenth century, what 
 new inhabitants had come into town, and how far there had 
 been a transmission of customs, traits and manners of living 
 and doing in the home, the church and the town. 
 
 Down to about the year 1800, quite a share of the old 
 families remained, and, to an extent, kept their former 
 prestige. Such were the Goodnows, Bents, Parmenters, 
 
 432 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 433 
 
 Maynards and Reeds, the Hunts, Browns and Hows, also 
 the Haynes family, the Rices and Plymptons. In East 
 Sudbury there were the Ratters, Curtises and Lokers, the 
 Johnsons, Noyeses, Grouts and Wards. But, while so many 
 of the old families remained, they no longer, as at the town's 
 beginning, bore all the responsibility of its management, nor 
 were their names alone prominent upon the records. Some 
 of these families had begun to decline. Their ranks were 
 decimated, their power was on the wane. So it was with 
 the Hows, the Plymptons, the Maynards, the Rices, the 
 Reeds; and in East Sudbury with the Curtises, Noyeses and 
 Grouts. Indeed, the decline of some of these families, 
 which began before the century set in, has to such an extent 
 gone on that some of them have not a member in Sudbury 
 who bears the family name : when it is called, no one is left 
 to respond. Their history is but a tradition for others to 
 tell, or found in fragmentary records on the town book, or 
 inscribed on the tombstones of Sudbury's old-time burying 
 grounds. But the decadence of old families is not the only 
 reason why, at the beginning of the present century, town 
 business was not wholly clone by the descendants of the 
 early grantees. There had been, in the process of years, the 
 introduction of new families into Sudbury, many of which 
 took a prominent part in its affairs. Among those of this 
 class who came before or about the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century, there are the following names of per- 
 sons on the west side of the river : Balcom, Bogle, Bowker, 
 Brigham, Brintnal, Bush, Clapp, Cutler, Cutter, Dakin, 
 Gibbs, Hayden, Jones, Mossman, Perry, Puffer, Richardson, 
 Stanhope, Stevens, Taylor, Thompson, Tower, Walker, 
 Wedge, Wheeler, Willis; on the east side, Abbott, Allen, 
 Baldwin, Brewer, Bryant, Cutting, Damon, Drury, Frink, 
 Gleason, Graves, Heard, Jennison, Long, Paris, Reeves, 
 Roby, Ross, Sherman and Wellington. The following are 
 names of families who settled in the present territory of 
 Sudbury between about the years 1800 and 1850 : Adams, 
 Allen, Arnold, Bacon, Barton, Burr, Carr, Clark, Conant, 
 Dwyer, Eames, Eaton, Fairbanks, Garfield, Gerry, Harring- 
 ton, Horr, Hudson, Hurlbut, Lyon, O'Neil, Powers, Pratt, 
 
434 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Robinson, Rogers and Shaw. We will give a few facts con- 
 cerning such of these families as have a member still living 
 in town who bears the family name, or is in some way still 
 identified with the place. The object of these sketches is 
 not to give anything like a complete genealogy, but, as in 
 the case of the early grantees (Chapter III.), only to give a 
 brief outline of family history, mainly as it has been con- 
 nected with the town. 
 
 Adams. — At an early date the name of Adams is upon 
 the town records, and the indications are that one of the 
 name was living near the Sudbury and Concord boundary 
 not long after the settlement began. In 1671, James Adams 
 was to have liberty to feed his cattle on Sudbury bounds, 
 and " to take old and dry wood that shall be upon the 
 ground, the said Adams to prevent any trespass by Concord 
 herds or cattle also in our wood and timber, forthwith to 
 give notice to the town." (Sudbury Records.) This James 
 Adams is probably the one referred to in the genealogy of 
 Concord inhabitants (Concord History) as belonging to a 
 family said to have been banished from Scotland by Oliver 
 Cromwell, and who married Priscilla Ramsden of Concord 
 in 1G62, and died Dec. 2, 1707. James had seven children, 
 — Priscilla, Elizabeth, James, Hannah, John, Nathaniel and 
 Dorcas. Descendants of these have lived in Acton and 
 Carlisle, which places were formerly in Concord. A John 
 Adams of Sudbury was wounded at the Swamp Fight, R. I., 
 in 1675. (See period 1675-1700.) The Adams family of 
 Sudbury descended from the Acton branch. John Adams 
 was born at Acton, Sept. 27, 1746, and had six children, — 
 Lydia, Paul, John, Josiah H., Mercy, Mary. Josiah H. was 
 born Aug. 4, 1780, and lived about twenty years on the 
 place now occupied by the American Powder Company ; he 
 then moved about a mile south to the present John Adams 
 place. He had five children, — two of them sons, Joseph B. 
 and John. John Adams, the present superintendent of the 
 Fitchburg Railroad, was born at and now owns the place 
 formerly occupied by his father in Sudbury. 
 
 Allen or Alltn. — The Allen family was early in Sud- 
 bury. The name of John Allen is on the " Old Petition " 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 435 
 
 of 1676 ; on another, of 1690 are the names of John and 
 Thomas, Jr., and Zebediah, Jr., and on a paper of 1707, sub- 
 scribed to by the East Side inhabitants protesting against a 
 parochial precinct on the West Side, are the names of John 
 and Samuel Allen. The first Allen of the present century 
 in Sudbury was John Plympton, who moved from Wayland 
 to South Sudbury, where he carried on the blacksmith's 
 trade for nearly fifty years. He married Sibel Read who 
 was born in Sudbury in 1800. He had four children, — 
 Francis, Franklin S., Margaret M., Abby A. Margaret M. 
 Allen is at present a resident of South Sudbury. 
 
 Arnold. — The name of William Arnold is on an old 
 petition among a list of inhabitants on the west side the 
 river in 1707 ; but for an interval of years there were none 
 by the name in town. Edwin, first Sudbury resident of the 
 name in the present century, is grandson of Winslow and 
 Abigail (Hagar) Arnold, who were born, married and lived 
 in Marlboro. His father was Joel who married Ruth, 
 daughter of Israel and Susanna (Stone) Parmenter of Sud- 
 bury, April 25, 1843. Edwin married Abby Hunt, daughter 
 of Abel and Sally Smith of Sudbury. They have had one 
 child, Frances A. Edwin Arnold resides at South Sudbury. 
 
 Bacon. — The Sudbury ancestor of the Bacon family, 
 which in the present century has resided in town, was 
 Jonathan who came from Natick in 1835. His father, whose 
 name was Jonathan, was born in Natick in 1756, married 
 Zipporah (Goulding) Mann and had two children, Jonathan 
 and Ebenezer. Jonathan, Jr., married Lydia Hammond of 
 Natick, born Oct. 11, 1778, and had six children, — Zippo- 
 rah, Asa, Samuel, Edward and Lydia, all born in Natick, 
 and Adoniram born in Sudbury. He lived on the South 
 Sudbury and Marlboro road in a house built and once occu- 
 pied by Joel Jones, and at present occupied by Adoniram. 
 Jonathan died several years ago, but his widow, Lydia 
 Bacon, is still living at the age of one hundred and one. 
 
 Balcom. — The Sudbury Balcoms are descended from 
 Henry Balcom of Charlestown, Mass., a blacksmith. He 
 married Elizabeth Haynes of Sudbury, August 12, 1666, and 
 died April 29, 1683. Soon after his death, the family moved 
 
436 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 to Sudbury and settled in the northwesterly part in what is 
 now Maynard, where his descendants still live. Among the 
 children of Henry was Joseph, who was born Dec. 17, 1674, 
 and died Sept. 17, 1745, at Sudbury. He married Tabitha 
 Mossman. Among their children was John who was born 
 March 13, 1713 (or 1715), and married Susanna Haynes, 
 August 23, 1737. Among the children of John and Susanna 
 was Asahel, horn June 5, 1741, who married Jcrusha Wil- 
 lis. Their children were Asa who married Adah Balcom, 
 Jernsha who married Adam Howe, Rebecca who married 
 Daniel Puffer. Asa was the father of Ilollis and Asahel, 
 two well-known citizens of the present century living in that 
 part of Sudbury now Maynard. 
 
 Barton. — George Barton was born in Concord, and came 
 into town April 1, 1851. He married for his first wife Mary 
 Susan, youngest daughter of Israel Hunt of Sudbury, and 
 occupies the Israel Hunt farm in the Pantry district. His 
 children are George H., born 1852; Frank P., 1857 and 
 Alice M., 1859. 
 
 Bogle. — Thomas was the first of the Bogle family who 
 lived in Sudbury. He came from Scotland to Boston, and, 
 after remaining there a short time, went to Sudbury, where 
 he purchased the farm now occupied by Deacon Francis 
 Walker. He had seven children, one of whom was Rowand 
 who married Elizabeth Goodenow and occupied the old 
 homestead. Rowand and Elizabeth had five children,— 
 Hannah, Francis, Elizabeth, Submit and Polly. Francis 
 married Patty Hemenway of Framingham, and had four 
 children, — Miranda, Sarah H., Lucy and Nancy E. Mi- 
 randa married Azariah Walker of Framingham, who pur- 
 chased the Bogle farm in 1826, which he occupied till his 
 death. Lucy and Nancy Bogle reside at South Sudbury. 
 
 Bowker. — The Bowker family was in town as early as 
 1707 ; the name Widow Sarah Bowker being upon a paper 
 of that date. A prominent member of the family was Capt. 
 Daniel Bowker, who served in the Revolutionary War, and 
 died early in the Nineteenth Century. He went with his 
 wife from Ilopkinton before 1756, and settled on what has 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 437 
 
 since been known as the Bowker place in North Sudbury. 
 He had ten children, two of whom were sons named Daniel 
 and Joseph. He died Jan. 31, 1822, aged ninety-two, and 
 his wife died June 28, 1813, aged seventy-nine. Daniel Jr., 
 born Sept. 13, 1772, married Ruth Brown of Hubbardston 
 and had fourteen children. He died Oct. 18, 1853, aged 
 eighty-one, and his wife died Jan. 15, 1846, aged sixty- 
 eight. Two sons of Daniel Jr. were Daniel and Samuel N. 
 Daniel died May 19, 1880, leaving no children. Samuel N. 
 was born June 16, 1799, and died Oct. 9, 1872. He married 
 Mary Earle of Berwick, Me., and had seven children, one of 
 whom is Frank M., born in 1850. Frank M. married for his 
 first wife Anna Hunt of Morenci, Mich., and for his second 
 Carrie Conley of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has had five chil- 
 dren. He lives on the old homestead, and his children are 
 the fifth generation who have lived there. 
 
 Brigham. — The ancestor of this family in New England 
 was Thomas, who embarked from London for America in 
 1635, and settled in Watertown. He had several sons, the 
 eldest of whom, named Thomas, lived in Marlboro, and mar- 
 ried the granddaughter of Edmund Rice, one of Sudbury's 
 original grantees. It is conjectured that the Sudbury Brig- 
 ham's are descended from this branch of the family. The 
 name of John Brigham is in the Indian Deed of the Two 
 Mile Grant, and also (page 65) on the petition to Governor 
 Dudley by the West Side people for a new precinct in 
 1706-7. One of the same name early settled in the territory 
 of Maynard. The name of Samuel is found on the roll of 
 the 2nd Foot Company in 1757. A prominent member of 
 the family in the present century was Capt. William Brig- 
 ham. His farm was that now occupied by Elisha Goodenow. 
 Rufus, a son of William, resides at Sudbury Centre. The 
 Brigham family have lived mostly in the north and north- 
 west parts of the town. 
 
 Burr. — Hiram Burr, son of Daniel, came from Derby, 
 Vt., in 1845, when a young man. His first wife was Ellen, 
 daughter of Deacon Gardner Hunt. His second wife was 
 Nancy J., daughter of Deacon Thomas Dakin. He owns 
 
438 niSTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 and lives on the Gardner Hunt farm, South Sudbury. He 
 has had four children, — Frank G., Arthur H., Clifford B., 
 Howard C, Nellie May. 
 
 Butterfield. — Luther Butterfield was born at Antrim, 
 N. H. He came to Sudbury in 1841, and settled in the 
 Lanham district on the road from Sudbury to Saxonville. 
 He has six children, — Ebenezer S., James B., George F., 
 Sarah, Jerome, Edward C. 
 
 Carr. — The Sudbury ancestor of the Carr family now 
 living in town was Ezra, who went to Sudbury in 1810 and 
 resided on the old Carr homestead, then occupied by his 
 brother John and since owned by his son Crosby. Abiathar, 
 another son, was born in Wilmington, Vt. He married 
 Rebecca, daughter of Israel and Rebecca (Rice) Wheeler, 
 and had six children, four of whom are living, — Lucinda J., 
 Charlotte M., Frederick E. and Merrick. Lucinda and 
 Merrick are residents of Sudbury. The old homestead passed 
 out of the family about 1850. 
 
 Conant. — Silas Conant was born in Stow, May 31, 1747. 
 He moved to North Sudbury in 1782, and lived until his 
 death, Sept. 20, 1836, on the farm since owned and occu- 
 pied, until his death in 1859, by Emory, his grandson. The 
 father of Emory was Amos, who had four sons, — Emory, 
 Dexter, Silas and Amos. John M., son of Amos, Jr., and 
 present resident of Sudbury, is of the tenth generation from 
 Roger, who came from England to Plymouth, New England, 
 about 1G23. John M. has served as selectman and assessor 
 for several years, lie married Lucretia A. Richards of 
 Concord, Vt., and has had four children, — Clara J., Lillian, 
 Edwin A. and Louisa. 
 
 Clark. — Isaac Clark was born April 18, 1806, in Wind- 
 ham, N. Y., and moved to Hopkinton in 1816. He married 
 Almira Osborn of Sudbury, Sept. 26, 1833. In April, 1837, 
 he purchased and sidled upon the Osborn place where he 
 now resides. He has had six children, — Everett O., Eliza 
 S., Almira A., Ellen O., Frederic P. and Franklin P. 
 
 Cutler. — The name of Thomas Cutler is found on a 
 petition of 1707, and that of Elisha on a muster-roll of 1755. 
 The family have resided mostly at the south part of the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 439 
 
 town. Asher, grandfather of the late C. G. Cutler, Esq., 
 once owned the mill at South Sudbury, which he left jointly 
 to his sons Asher and Abel. In the early part of the 
 century, Abel, the father of Christopher, kept a tavern 
 near the Gravel Pit. C. G. Cutler, a well-known citizen, 
 died at his residence in South Sudbury a few years since at 
 the advanced age of ninety. He had four children, — Jo- 
 seph, Mary, Emeline and Caroline. 
 
 Cutter. — An early resident of this name was Nathanael, 
 who was a soldier in Captain Nixon's Company in 1761. (See 
 period 1750-1775.) Joseph Cutter was born in 1761, and 
 married Prudence, daughter of James Thompson of Sudbury. 
 He was a drum major in the Revolutionary War, and died in 
 Sudbury in 1807. He left several children. A daughter 
 married William Stone, who formerly kept tavern about a 
 mile west of South Sudbury on the Boston and Worcester 
 road (William Stone place). A son, Joseph, Jr., lived on 
 the present Hiram Goodnow farm until his death. Joseph, 
 Jr., married Lucy, daughter of Gideon Richardson. They 
 had five children, — Dana, Augustus, Dexter, Caroline and 
 Lucy Ann. Augustus married Abby A., daughter of John 
 and Sibel (Read) Allen, and has four children, — Harry C, 
 Howard A., Joseph, Mary Sibel. Lucy A. married Hiram 
 Goodenough. 
 
 Dakin. — The first Sudbury ancestor of this family was 
 Captain Samuel who was killed in the last French and 
 Indian War. (See period 1750-1775.) Thomas, the father 
 of Deacon Joseph the father of Samuel, went to Concord 
 prior to 1650. The family lived in North Sudbury near the 
 northern boundary. Three of them have been deacons, — 
 Samuel, June 30, 1775 ; Levi, March 24, 1817 ; and Thomas 
 L., son of Levi, in 1838. 
 
 Dwyer. — Richard Dwyer emigrated to America in 1845. 
 He purchased the place in North Sudbury on which he still 
 resides. He has seven children, — John, Richard, Thomas, 
 Maria, Kate, Mary and Lizzie. 
 
 Eaton. — The Eaton family descended from Jonas who 
 was in Reading in 1642. He had eight children, among 
 whom was Jonas, whose son John had eleven children, 
 
440 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 among whom was Jonas, born May 18, 1680. Jonas was a 
 carpenter and bricklayer, and settled in Framingham in 
 1705-6, where he bought eighty acres of land and erected a 
 house on the present John M. Harrington place, near the 
 Sudbury and Framingham boundary. He had ten children, 
 among whom was Noah, born July 22, 1708. Noah was 
 known as Cornet Eaton. He had eight children, among 
 whom was John, born July 30, 1740. John lived on the old 
 homestead. He married Olive Conant and had twelve chil- 
 dren, among whom were Reuben and Sally. Reuben, born 
 May 14, 1769, married Betsy Hunt, and Sally, born Nov. 8, 
 1770, married Elisha Hunt of Sudbury. Reuben went to 
 Sudbury in 1790. He lived on the Loring Eaton place 
 (near Heard's Pond). Among his children were Loring and 
 John. Loring lived until his death on the old homestead, 
 and had five children. John lived on the present John 
 Eaton place at Lanham. He had three children, — Edward, 
 John, Sarah. The sons live on the old farm. 
 
 Eames. — This family is descended from Thomas Eames, 
 whose house, in what is now Framingham, was destroyed by 
 the Indians, Feb. 1, 1675-76. He came to America by 1634, 
 served in the Pequot war in 1637, lived for a time in Cam- 
 bridge, and moved to Sudbury where he leased " the Pelham 
 Farm" (Heard's Island, Wayland), and lived until he leased 
 land, in 1669, at Mt. Wayte, Framingham. (See page 154.) 
 He was twice married: the second wife, whom he married 
 in 1662 and who was killed by the Indians, was Mary, a 
 daughter of John Blandford of Sudbury. It is supposed he 
 had twelve children, three of whom were born in Sudbury. 
 John, one of the children of Thomas, born Oct. 6, 1642, 
 built a house in Framingham, and had ten children, among 
 whom was Henry, born April 28, 1698. Henry married 
 Ruth Newton of Marlboro in 1722, and had eleven children, 
 among whom was Timothy. Timothy was twice married ; 
 his fust wife was Sarah Stone, who died April 25, 1763, at 
 the age of twenty-three ; his second wife, Hannah, widow of 
 Dr. Hills, died in 1795. He lived on the Sewall Hunt place, 
 south of Lowance Brook. He had six children, among whom 
 was Pbinehas, born May 14, 1766, who married in 1788 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 441 
 
 Jane, daughter of Col. Ezekiel How, and had eight children, 
 among whom was Fisher, who married Laura H., daughter 
 of Benjamin Dudley. In 1835, Fisher settled at Lanham on 
 the place now occupied by his son, Addison E. 
 
 Fairbank. — This family descended from early inhabi- 
 tants of Framingham, Holliston and Sherborn, who it is 
 supposed were descendants of Jonathan Fairbank of the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and settled in Dedham 
 previous to 1641. The first who came to Sudbury was 
 Jonathan, who came from Holliston or Sherborn prior to 
 1783. He was twice married, his first wife being Hannah 
 Morse of Northboro, who died leaving two children, and his 
 second wife, Bridget Parmenter, who had ten children. He 
 settled in the south-west part of the town on what is known 
 as the Abijah Walker place. Among Jonathan's children 
 was Drury, who was born July 17, 1793, and married, 
 Oct. 26, 1817, Mary Spring of Hubbardston. He lived in 
 the west part of Sudbury on the farm now occupied by 
 Charles Whitney, on the road from Sudbury to Hudson. 
 He was colonel of militia, justice of the peace, and held 
 various town offices. He had six children, — Nelson, Nancy, 
 Winthrop, J. Parker, Hannah, Mary S., all of whom were 
 born in Sudbury except Nelson who was born in Boston. 
 Nelson is at present a town resident and has held various 
 town offices. He married Susan, daughter of Aaron and 
 Lois Hunt of Sudbury, Dec. 24, 1844, and has had four 
 children, — Albert G., Hattie S., Sarah A. and Mary L. 
 The latter was born Dec. 12, 1858, and married William H. 
 Goodnow of Sudbury, Oct. 17, 1888. J. Parker married 
 Emily, daughter of Loring Wheeler of Sudbury. His son, 
 Winthrop H., lives on the Tilly Smith farm and has held the 
 office of selectman. 
 
 Fisher. — The Sudbury ancestor of the Fisher family was 
 Edward, who moved into town from Newton in the early 
 part of the century. His wife was Mary Norcross, and they 
 had nine children, — Emily, Mary, Edward, Fanny, Caroline, 
 Joseph, Charles, Martha and Lyman. Six of these children 
 were born in Newton. Charles married Harriet Brown of 
 Sudbury, and had one child, Julia, wife of Hubbard H. Brown. 
 
442 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 Martha married John Goodwin, an ex-speaker of the Massa- 
 chusetts House of Representatives and editor of a Lowell 
 newspaper. Lyman married Dolly Conant, and his son Fred, 
 who resides in Sudbury, married Emma H., daughter of 
 Everett and Mary (Dakin) Brown. Edward Fisher, Sen., 
 was a wheelwright, and carried on business at the old shop, 
 South Sudbury, where his son Charles also followed the 
 same trade until his death. 
 
 Garfield. — A near ancestor of the Garfield families in 
 Sudbury was Enoch. He was born in New Hampshire and 
 his wife was from Lincoln. His sons, Francis and John, 
 were born in Lincoln, and went to Sudbury from Concord, 
 the former in 1860 and the latter about 1854. Francis 
 married Sarah, daughter of Thomas B. Battles, and has four 
 children, — Emma F., Thomas F., Henry C. and William E. 
 John has been twice married ; his first wife was Louisa Rice 
 of Marlboro, married in 1853; and his second is Harriett M. 
 Flagg of Lincoln, married in 1858. He has two children, 
 Mary L. and John W. Francis is a farmer and John is in 
 the grocery business, and both reside at Sudbury Centre. 
 
 Gerry. — According to sketches of Stoneham, by Silas 
 Dean, Thomas Gerry came to America as boatswain on a 
 war vessel sometime in the seventeenth century and settled 
 at Stoneham ; and, after remaining there several years, he 
 entered the service of his country and was killed in battle. 
 The same authority speaks of him as a man of great courage, 
 and narrates the following incident : One day, when on his 
 way home about dusk, he came in contact with a number of 
 wolves. Armed with an axe, he braced himself against a 
 tree and pitched battle with his antagonists. The next 
 morning, on returning to the spot, he found he had killed 
 four wolves and wounded a fifth. Elbridge Gerry, formerly 
 governor of this State and vice-president under Mr. Madi- 
 son's administration, is said to have been a member of this 
 family. Thomas, another descendant, was born in Stone- 
 ham, March 15, 1732. He married for his first wife Jane 
 Wilder, and for his second, Prised la Jewett. He struck the 
 first blow towards settling the town of Royalston by building 
 a log-house for another party, being guided to the spot des- 
 ignated by marked trees. David Jewett, fourth child of 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 443 
 
 Thomas and Priscilla, was born in Stirling, Feb. 23, 1770, 
 and came to Sudbury about the year 1817, where he died, 
 Oct. 27, 1849, aged seventy-nine. He married Lucy Thomp- 
 son of Stirling. Their children were Thomas, Eliza, and 
 Charles. He kept the Old Pratt Tavern about five years, 
 and subsequently engaged in roof building, then a separate 
 trade, and bridge building. With his son Charles, he built 
 the first span bridge across the Nashua River at Dunstable, 
 now Nashua. Charles was born in Fitzwilliam, Feb. 3, 1802, 
 and went to Sudbury when about fifteen years of age. He 
 was one of the selectmen in Sudbury several years, and 
 master builder of the Acton Powder Mills. For many years 
 he lived on the present Farr farm. His children are Charles 
 F., Martha A., Eliza L., Edwin A., Israel H., Laura J., 
 Sarah A., David J., Helen F., Clara J., Henry E., Frank E., 
 Herbert L. and two who died in infanc}^. Charles F. is the 
 only son now living in Sudbury. 
 
 Harrington. — The name of Daniel Harrington is on a 
 list of nine soldiers who were impressed into the service by 
 a requisition made on the town by the Colony in 1675. The 
 family, however, has not been numerous in Sudbury. Edwin 
 Harrington, born in Lexington, Feb. 21, 1821, went to Sud- 
 bury in 1843, where he married Eunice E., daughter of 
 Reuben Moore, Nov. 27, 1845. He carried on the wheel- 
 wright's business for some years at Sudbury Centre in the 
 shop once used by the Evangelical Union Society for religious 
 services. (See period 1825-1850.) He built the dwelling- 
 house adjoining, and subsequently erected the house lately 
 moved from the site of the present residence of George E. 
 He was town treasurer in 1861-1863. He had one child, 
 George E., who was born in Sudbury, Oct. 27, 1846, mar- 
 ried, June 13, 1878, Alice E. Brown of Sudbury, who died, 
 Nov. 19, 1879, and Dec. 31, 1881, married M. Edna Newton 
 of South Framingham. He has three children, — Beth Mar- 
 garet, Ruth Elinor and Alice Erline. 
 
 Hudson. — Martin Newton Hudson was born in Fram- 
 ingham Sept. 22, 1812. He went to Sudbury, and, Jan. 8, 
 1837, married Maria, youngest daughter of Joseph and Olive 
 (Mossman) Read, who died Jan. 17, 1857. He lived at 
 South Sudbury, and had three children, — John Plympton^ 
 
444 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Alfred Sereno and Ellen R. He died at South Sudbury, 
 Oct. 7, 1861, at the age of forty-nine. The Hudson family 
 in Sudbury is descended from Nathaniel Hudson of Lancas- 
 ter, born May 15, 1671, and whose father was probably Dan- 
 iel of that town. Nathaniel married Rebekah Rugg and set- 
 tled in Lancaster where his two older children were killed 
 by the Indians. From 1709-1719 he lived in Billerica where 
 he held town office. He afterward removed to Framingham. 
 Nathaniel had eight children besides those killed by the Indi- 
 ans, — Nathaniel, Abigail, Sarah, Samuel, John, William and 
 Johanna. William lived at Framingham, married, March 8, 
 1747, Dorcas Walkup, and had three children, — Nathan, 
 Thomas and William, all of whom were baptized in Fram- 
 ingham. William, baptized May 11, 1755, married Tabitha 
 Kibbey and had three children, among whom was Nathan, 
 born Dec. 15, 1786. Nathan was twice married. His first 
 wife was Annie, daughter of Andrew Newton, married July 
 3, 1808, by which marriage he had four children, among 
 whom was Martin Newton of Sudbury. 
 
 Hayden. — The Hayden family was in Sudbury as early 
 as 1701, and settled near the west boundary of the town. 
 The name of Josiah Hayden is on the list of west side 
 remonstrants to the division of the town into two parishes 
 in 1707, and it is repeatedly on the muster-rolls a century 
 and a half later. Within the last fifty years the family has 
 gradually died out ; the last one being Dana, who lived until 
 his death on the old farm. 
 
 Horr. — The first of this family in Sudbury was Richard 
 R., who came in 1850 from Castleton, Vt. His mother was 
 of the old Smith family of East Sudbury (Wayland). He 
 married for his first wife Julia N. Brown of Sudbury, in 
 1853, who died, 1877. His second wife is Annie Lee, a 
 native of England. By his first marriage he had two chil- 
 dren, — Jervis E. and Roger II., by the second he had 
 Howard A. He has held the office of selectman three years 
 and trustee of the Goodnow Library fifteen years. 
 
 HuBLBUT. — Rev. Rufus Hurlbut was the first Sudbury 
 ancestor of the famiiy now living in town. He had six 
 children, — Thomas P., Mary S., William R., Steven H., 
 
RESIDENCE OF RICHARD R. HORR, 
 So. Sudbury. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 445 
 
 John L. and James D. Thomas Prentiss married a daughter 
 of Curtis Moore of Sudbury and had three children, — Rufus, 
 Elisabeth and Helen. He was a prominent citizen and held 
 various town offices. Between 1864 and 1872 he was chair- 
 man of the board of selectmen. He was a member of the 
 Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1870 and 1873, 
 and of the Senate in 1874. He was chairman of the town 
 committee for the arrangement of terms at the incorporation 
 of Maynard. For years he was deacon of the Evangelical 
 Union Church, which position he held at the time of his 
 death. Rufus, son of Thomas P., married Catherine, daughter 
 of Jonas Tower of Sudbury, and has four children, — Arthur 
 S., Marion B., Grace P. and Anza P. He was a member of 
 the House of Representatives in 1884. He lives at South 
 Sudbury and is one of the firm of Hurlbut & Rogers, ma- 
 chinists. 
 
 Jones. — An early inhabitant of this name was John, who 
 lived at Lanham, and was a soldier in the expedition to 
 Canada in 1690. Early in 1700 he moved to Framingham. 
 He had two sons, both named John, one of whom died young, 
 the other, born July 15, 1709, lived on his father's place in 
 Framingham, was twice married, and had six children, one 
 of whom was Samuel, born Nov. 18, 1746. Samuel settled 
 in Framingham, and went to Dublin, N. H., about 1779, 
 where he died in 1820. The Joneses now in Sudbury are 
 descendants of the Jones family in Holliston, whose ancestor 
 was, probably, Colonel John of Boston, who in 1715 removed 
 to what is now Ashland, then Framingham. Samuel, son of 
 Samuel of Holliston, went to Sudbury where he married 
 Rachel Haynes, Feb. 12, 1778. He had eight children,— 
 Joshua, Samuel, Joel, Asa, John, Lydia, Rachel and Eliza. 
 Joshua's children were William and Cyrus. William mar- 
 ried Sarah Bogle of Sudbury and had three children, — 
 William, John and Marshall. John, son of William and 
 Sarah, resides at South Sudbury. Samuel had five children, 
 one of whom was William, who married Catherine, daughter 
 of Israel Howe Brown, and lives at South Sudbury. Asa had 
 three children, among whom was Smith, who lives at Sud- 
 bury Centre (Hurlbut place). John, the youngest son of 
 
446 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Samuel and Rachel, had seven children, among whom was 
 Maynard and Dexter. Dexter has been twice married ; his 
 
 first wife was Emily Richardson and his second Elizabeth 
 Hurlbut, both of Sudbury. He lives on the road between 
 South Sudbury and the Centre. He has held various town 
 offices and was Representative to the Legislature in 1861. 
 
 Lyon. — Patrick Lyon emigrated to America in 1844. 
 He purchased a place in North Sudbury where he has resided 
 for about thirty-five years. He has five children, — John, 
 Frank, Thomas, Mary, and Margaret. 
 
 O'Neil. — John O'Neil attended St. Jarlath's College, 
 Suam, Ireland, and was a member of the government sur- 
 veying party that surveyed England, Ireland and Scotland 
 in 1845. He emigrated to America in 1840, and settled at 
 Concord. He married Julia, daughter of Thomas McManus 
 of Assabet. In 1863, he moved to the Samuel Puffer farm. 
 North Sudbury, where he still resides. He has four sons, — 
 Thomas F., John L., Charles E. and Joseph Ms Thomas F. 
 was sent as Representative to the Legislature in 1887. 
 
 OsBORN. — An earl}' inhabitant by this name was Samuel. 
 His father's name was Andrew, who, with his wife, came to 
 this country from Annapolis, Ireland. Samuel was born on 
 the water. He married Lydia Griffith of East Sudbury 
 (Wayland), Nov. 1, 1732, and had five children, two of 
 whom were Samuel and Daniel. Daniel married Sarah Perry 
 of Sudbury, Nov. 16, 1769. He lived south of Hart Pond, 
 his house being but a short distance from the County road. 
 The Osborn place in the south part of the town was the farm 
 since owned by Isaac Clark. 
 
 Perry. — The Perry family is descended from Ebenezer 
 Perry, who came from Dedham, probably not far from the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century. He married Mercy 
 Brigham, and lived on the farm now occupied by Obadiah 
 and Levi Perry in the west part of the town. He died in 
 L731. He had a son Obadiah, whose son John was the 
 father of Obadiah, who was the father of Obadiah and 
 Levi E. Obadiah, the father of Obadiah and Levi E., was 
 born March 25, 1770. He had eight children, — Betsy, 
 Jesse, Lyman, John, Charles, Lucy, Obadiah and Levi E. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 447 
 
 Obadiah was born Oct. 9, 1817 ; Levi E. was born March 
 18, 1820, and has two children, — Ellen Maria, born July 2, 
 1847, and Sylvester Dwighjb" born Jan. 4. 1851. 
 
 Powers. — Abijah Powers, first of the name in Sudbury, 
 was a native of Maine. He went from Stirling to Sudbury 
 in 1841, and purchased a place at the Centre where he still 
 lives and carries on the blacksmith's business. In 1838, he 
 married Delia Maynard of North Sudbury and has had four 
 children, — Emily R., Edwin A. (died in 1846), Clara A. 
 and Edwin A. Edwin A. married Emma F., daughter of 
 Francis and Sarah Garfield, in 1869, and has one son, — 
 Willard M. 
 
 Pratt. — An early Sudbury resident of the name was 
 Ep.hraim, who, with others, in 1729 signed a petition asking 
 that the subscribers, who claimed to be owners of the New 
 Grant lots, might hold a legal meeting " to be at the house 
 of Jonathan Rice (North West District) in said Sudbury, 
 Innholder." The farm occupied by Ephraim Pratt was 
 known as the Wedge-Pratt farm, which was sold in 1743 to 
 Jabez Puffer of Braintree, and is now included in the town 
 of Maynard. Mr. Pratt moved to Shutesbury, where he 
 died in 1804 at the age of one hundred and sixteen years. 
 He was born in Sudbury in 1687. Dr. D wight, having 
 visited him a short time before his death, in his " Travels " 
 gives the following facts concerning him: " He was of 
 middle stature ; firmly built ; plump, but not encumbered 
 with flesh; less withered than multitudes at seventy; pos- 
 sessed of considerable strength, . . . and without any marks 
 of extreme age." But a short time before, his sight and 
 hearing had become impaired. " His memory was still vig- 
 orous ; his understanding sound and his mind sprightly and 
 vigorous. He had been a laborious man all his life ; and had 
 mown grass one hundred and one years successively. The 
 preceding summer he had been unable to perform this labor ; 
 but in 1802 he walked without inconvenience two miles and 
 mowed a small quantity of grass. . . . Throughout his life he 
 had been uniformly temperate. ... In the vigorous periods 
 of his life he had accustomed himself to eat flesh, but more 
 abstemiously than most other people in this country. Milk, 
 
448 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 which had always been a great part, was now the whole of 
 his diet." He was never sick but once, and then with fever 
 and ague. Nathan Pratt, one of the founders of the Amer- 
 ican Powder Company, was a native of Fitchburg, came to 
 Sudbury from Charlestown about 1833, moved to Arlington 
 about 1855, and left the powder business in 1865. He had 
 no children. Nathan, a nephew of Nathan and present resi- 
 dent of the town, was a son of Capt. Levi Pratt. He was 
 born in Fitchburg in 1829, and .came to Sudbury Jan. 1, 
 1849. He was for twenty-one years in the employ of the 
 American Powder Company, and from 1800 to 1870 super- 
 intendent of the Powder Mills. In 1870, he bought and took 
 possession of the property previously known as "Moore's 
 Mills " in the west part of the town, which consists of a saw, 
 grist and planing mill. Mr. Pratt is a Director in the 
 American Powder Company and the Hudson National Bank 
 and Trustee of the Hudson Savings Bank. He has also held 
 various town offices and was chairman of the board of select- 
 men for four years. In 1855, he married Harriet, daughter 
 of Aaron Hunt of Sudbury, and has three children, — Sarah 
 E., Harriet M. and Nathan R. Sarah E. has for the past 
 nine years been a teacher in the State Normal School, Fram- 
 ingham. 
 
 Puffer. — This family first appeared in Boston in 1640, 
 and was granted land at Mount Wollaston, now Quincy. 
 George, who sometimes was called Poffer, had three chil- 
 dren. James the oldest married at Braintree, 1656, Mary 
 Ludden. He had six children, — James, born 1663, and 
 Jabez, 1072; both removed to Sudbury in 1712. James 
 married Mary Ellis of Dedham in 1600, and had six children 
 born in Braintree; he died in 1740. Captain Jabez married 
 Mary Glazier in 1702 and had seven children, all but the 
 last two born in Braintree ; he died in 1746. Jabez 2d 
 married Thankful Haynes in 1731, Samuel married Dorothy 
 Ilaynes in 1732. They were sons of Jabez 1st and married 
 sisters. Reuben, son of Jabez 2d, graduated at Harvard 
 College in 1778, and was settled at Berlin. He died in 1829. 
 He was distinguished in his profession, and received the 
 decree of D. D. from Harvard College in 1810. A. D. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 449 
 
 Puffer — a great-grandson of Jabez 2d, who resides in Med- 
 ford and is an extensive manufacturer of soda fountains — 
 was born in Sudbury in 1819. Daniel, grandson of Jabez 
 2d, was an extensive land owner. The Puffer family have 
 lived mostly in the north-west and north-east parts of the 
 town. Deacon Samuel Puffer lived in the latter district in 
 the early part of the present centuiy. One branch of the 
 Puffer family, in which the name Daniel has been prominent, 
 was so noted for skill in catching wild pigeons as to give 
 rise to the term, familiar in Sudbury, of Pigeon Catcher 
 Puffer. Luther, a son of Samuel, Jr., graduated at Bowdoin 
 College in 1853. Alpheus, another son, is a resident of 
 South Sudbury. James, a son of Josiah, resides at Sudbury 
 Centre. 
 
 Richardson. — Major Josiah was the first of the Richard- 
 son family in Sudbury. He was born in Woburn Jan. 12, 
 1701-2, and married Experience, daughter of Benjamin 
 Wright of Sudbury. They had four children, — Gideon, 
 Josiah, Experience and Luther. Gideon went into the 
 ministry and settled at Wells, Me., but soon afterwards died. 
 The Richardsons of the present day are descendants of 
 Josiah, Jr., who was the only son living when his father 
 made his will in 1758. Major Josiah Richardson lived on 
 the Israel Howe Brown place, which once included what are 
 now the Newton and Hiram Goodenow farms, — the first of 
 which formerly belonged to Gideon, son of Josiah, Jr., and 
 the latter to Joseph Cutter, who married Lucy, one of 
 Gideon's daughters. Major Richardson has already been 
 mentioned in connection with the Sudbury militia. In 1765, 
 Josiah was appointed coroner of Middlesex County. The 
 family have lived mostly at South Sudbury. Abel Richard- 
 son, son of Gideon, for years owned the saw and grist mill 
 there, and his brother Josiah was a well-known musician. 
 Benjamin, a son of Benjamin, who was brother of Josiah and 
 Abel, represented Sudbury in the Legislature in 1858, and 
 is a justice of the peace. He has had eight children, — 
 Anna M., Merrick L., Clifford W., Waldo F., Emily C, 
 Leonard F., Ralf L., Nellie M. 
 
 Robinson. — A member of this family early in town lived 
 
450 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 in a house which stood on or near the Smith Jones place 
 (Hurlbut place). He had several children, among whom 
 were Paul, Oliver and .Silas. He went from Stow to Sud- 
 bury, where he died. Paul was born in Stow, went to 
 Sudbury, and had several children, among whom was Dexter, 
 who still lives at South Sudbury. Dexter had two children, 
 Fitz A. and Martha A. Fitz married Louisa Tower of Sud- 
 bury Centre and resides in Weston. Martha married Elias 
 King. 
 
 Rogers. — The Rogers family has been in town more 
 than three-quarters of a century. The first was Walter, 
 born in Marshfield Aug. 6, 1767; he came from Braintree 
 in 1805. His wife was Betsey Barstow of Hanover, born 
 Aug. 1, 1772. He purchased of Mr. Waite a part of the 
 Jonas Holden place, of which the C. G. Cutler farm is also 
 a part, and both of which belonged to the George Pitts 
 place in the early part of the eighteenth century. He 
 erected a house on the farm and died in Sudbury at an 
 advanced age. He was a person of considerable mechanical 
 ability, having made a hand fire engine for his own use. He 
 had nine children, — Betsey, Lydia, Lucy, Abigail, Mary, 
 Jane, Walter, Nancy, Samuel B. Betsey, widow of Deacon 
 Gardner Hunt, is still living at the age of about ninety. 
 Walter married for his first wife Emily M. Hayden, Dec. 1, 
 1831, and for his second wife Emeline S., daughter of Wil- 
 liam Stone of Sudbury, July 10, 1855. He owns and occu- 
 pies the old homestead, and has had five children, — Bradley, 
 Edwin, Albert, Homer and Elizabeth. Samuel B. has been 
 a prominent business man in South Sudbury. He married 
 Eliza, daughter of Noah Parmenter, and has had four chil- 
 dren, — Alfred S., Bradley S., Melvina A., Atherton W. 
 Atherton resides at South Sudbury and is chairman of the 
 present board of selectmen. 
 
 Taylor. — The name of Mello C. Taylor is recorded in 
 connection with a petition to Governor Dudley by the West 
 Side inhabitants in 1706-7 ; and among the inhabitants of 
 the north-west district, early in the century, was Richard 
 Taylor, who was one of the Proprietors of and prominently 
 connected with the settlement of Grafton. (See page 167.) 
 
HISTORY Ofl SUDBURY. 451 
 
 Hezekiah and John were early settlers of what is now May- 
 nard. The immediate ancestor of the present Taylor family 
 in Sudbury was John, who went to Sudbury from Stow 
 about 1800. He married for his first wife Mary Conant of 
 Framingham, and for his second wife Elizabeth Hews of 
 Weston. By his second marriage he had six children, — 
 Mary, Eliza, Cyrus, Sarah, Rebecca and Susan. Sarah mar- 
 ried Thomas B. Battles of Sudbury. Cyrus, born 1796, 
 married Mary Barker of Sudbury and had nine children, — 
 John, Sewall, Mary, George, Henry, Susan, Lewis, Andrew 
 and Martha. John married Caroline, daughter of Samuel 
 Jones of Sudbury, and has one child, Carrie, who married 
 W. H. Bent, formerly of Sudbury. Sewall married Mrs. 
 Susan (Moore) Moulton. George married Susan Spring of 
 Weston, and has one son, Edward. 
 
 Thompson. — Tradition says that the first Thompson in 
 Sudbury was born on the passage from England to America. 
 While living in Sudbury, but absent from home, his house 
 was at one time attacked by the Indians. His wife, with an 
 infant child, escaped to the woods. In her flight she 
 received a musket-ball in the leg from which she suffered 
 greatly, being obliged to stay in the woods all night. A son, 
 James, was town clerk in the latter part of the eighteenth 
 century. Jedediah, son of James, was born and died in 
 Sudbury. Nahum, son of Jedediah, was a prominent citizen. 
 In the early part of his life he was town clerk, and later 
 town treasurer. He had seven children, three of whom 
 are sons, of whom Alfred is a Sudbury resident. The old 
 Thompson house at South Sudbury stood just west of the 
 track of the Massachusetts Central Railroad at its junction 
 with the county highway. A part of it was moved to the 
 Thadeus Moore place west of Hayden's Bridge. 
 
 Walker. — Thomas Walker is mentioned as teacher of a 
 free school in Sudbury in 1664. (See page 139.) He is also 
 mentioned as an Innholder in 1672. Thomas, probably the 
 same one, had eight children, among whom were Mary and 
 Thomas. Mary married Rev. James Sherman ; and Thomas, 
 born May 22, 1664, bought sixty acres of land, April 10, 
 1688, of Gookin and How, in the territory now Framingham, 
 
452 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 and built a house near Rice's End. He married Martha, 
 daughter of Samuel How, Dec. 7, 1G87, and had ten chil- 
 dren, among whom was Samuel, born Sept. 24, 1689, who 
 married, Nov. 3, 1715, Hannah Jennings. Samuel and 
 Hannah had five children, among whom was Azariah, born 
 June 24, 1722, who married Abigail Seaver. The youngest 
 son of Azariah was Mathias, who married, in 1792, Jane 
 Moulton of East Sudbury, and one of whose sons, Azariah, 
 born Nov. 1, 1798, married Miranda Bogle and moved to 
 Sudbury. His son Francis married Ellen, daughter of Ed- 
 ward Brown of Sudbury, and lives on the old homestead. 
 Their children are Eugene, Prentiss, Elinor, Shirley and 
 Carlton. Thomas has been a common family name. It is 
 found on the " Old Petition " in 1676, in a list of those who 
 shared the town's stock of ammunition in 1688, and in the 
 muster-roll of the 2nd Foot Company in 1757. From 
 William, son of Thomas 1st, has descended the Walker 
 family that long lived in the west part of the town. He had 
 a son Thomas who was deacon of the Sudbury Church and 
 father of Paul, who was sent as a representative to the 
 Legislature. Willard Walker, son of Paul, lives on the old 
 farm. He has been twice married and has three children, — 
 Roselbie, Caroline and Georgiana. 
 
 Wheeler. — It is quite probable that this family came 
 from Concord, where the name appears from the settlement 
 of the town. It is stated (History of Concord) that the 
 family came from Wales, and that the descendants have been 
 so numerous and so many have borne the same Christian 
 name that their genealogy is traced with great difficulty. 
 The name of George Wheller is on a muster-roll of the 2nd 
 Foot Company in 1757 ; and the name of Caleb Wheeler is 
 attached to a petition to the selectmen asking that a town- 
 meeting be called to consider the matter of purchasing a 
 house for small-pox patients. A prominent member of the 
 family in the present century was Loring, whose father, 
 Abel, was born in Sudbury July 21, 1776. Loring married, 
 April 10, 1827, Polly Cutter of Temple, N. II., and had 
 seven children. He lived until his death, Oct. 15, 1855, on 
 the place formerly occupied by his father in the east part of 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 453 
 
 the town. He had five children, — Emily, Adaline, Loring, 
 Henrietta and Abel. Emily married J. Parker Fairbanks ; 
 Adaline, John Goodenow ; and Henrietta, James Puffer, all 
 of Sudbury. Loring, Sen., was for years on the board of 
 selectmen. 
 
 Willis. — The names of Samuel and Joseph Willis appear 
 on a petition of 1706-7; and on a list of the 2nd Foot 
 Company of 1757 are the names of Serg't Joseph, Jesse, 
 Reuben and John. The family have, for the most part, 
 lived in the westerly or north-westerly part of the town, and 
 Willis Pond and Willis Hill are familiar landmarks. Among 
 well-known citizens of the present century, descendants of 
 whom still live in town, were Smith and James Prescott, 
 brothers ; Daniel Lyman and George W., brothers ; and Eli. 
 The former two were sons of Silas. Smith had two daugh- 
 ters, Adaliza and Iantha. James P. married Adaline R. 
 Haynes, lived near Sudbury Centre and had five children, — 
 James L., Albert, Adaline, Edward and Charles P. James 
 L. married for his first wife Emily R., daughter of Abijah 
 Powers, June 17, 1866 ; for his second wife, Ella S. Simpson, 
 July 7, 1870. Charles P. married Cora E. Willard. Both 
 are residents of Sudbury. Daniel Lyman married Sarah, 
 daughter of Joseph Reed, and had eleven children, — Jerusha, 
 George, Charles A., Nancy, Mary, Abi, George L., Joseph H., 
 Samuel A., Charles A. and John F. Joseph H. married 
 Caroline Hunt and had one child named Samuel. George W. 
 married Adaline Haynes and had six children, — Edward, 
 Cyrus L., Harriet E., Mary, Adaline and Ella. Eli married 
 a daughter of Israel Haynes of Sudbury and had several 
 children, one of whom, Eli, married Sarah Butterfield and 
 lives at Lanham. 
 
 By this brief review of family history, we are reminded 
 that the years have brought changes in the homesteads and 
 among the households of Sudbury. There has been a going 
 out and coming in of inhabitants, and not only highways, 
 occupations, churches and schools have changed, but whole 
 families have vanished, leaving no one to perpetuate their 
 names. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 1800-1825. 
 
 Continuation of Old Customs to the Beginning of the Present Century. 
 
 — Inventory in a Will of 1806. — Extracts from an Old Account 
 Book. — Description of Manners and Customs by an Old Inhabitant. 
 
 — Changes in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century. — Extract 
 from " Fireside Hymns." — Highway Work. — North Sudbury Road. 
 South Sudbury Road. — Rebuilding Wash Bridge. — Railing the 
 Causeway. — Setting out Willow Trees. — Rebuilding the Canal 
 Bridge. — Miscellaneous. — Educational Matters. — Report of School 
 Committee in 1802. — Removal of Centre School-House to the Com- 
 mon. — Singing Society. — Church Music. — Military Matters. — Pa- 
 triotic Attitude Assumed by the Town. — Money Pledged to Soldiers 
 as Wages. — As Bounty. — Patriotic Resolutions. — Militia Officers. 
 
 — How Chosen. — Where. — Specimen of Company Order. — Sol- 
 diers in 1812. — Wages per Day. — Settlement of Rev. Timothy 
 Hilliard. — Ordaining Council. — Dismission. — Bill Allowed for En- 
 tertaining the Dismissing Council. — Sketch of Mr. Hilliard. — Ap- 
 pointment of a Day of Fasting and Prayer Relative to the Settlement 
 of a New Minister. — Call Extended to Rev. Rufus Hurlbut. — 
 Accepted. — Death of Rev. Jacob Bigelow. — His Annuity. — Money 
 Paid his Widow for Service Rendered by the Clergy as a Gift to 
 her. — Funeral Expenses. — Sketch of Mr. Bigelow. — Addition to 
 the Church during his Ministry. — Enlarging the Burying Ground. 
 
 — Purchase of a Bier and Hearse. — Formation of "Sudbury Min- 
 isterial Land Corporation." — Sale of Ministerial Land. — Report of 
 the " Ministerial Fund Corporation." 
 
 By the fireside there are old men seated 
 Seeing ruined cities in the ashes, 
 
 Asking sadly 
 Of the Past what it can ne'er restore them. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 'I'm; interest of the community in ecclesiastical matters in 
 the beginning of the nineteenth century was similar to that 
 of the century that preceded it. The town was the parish 
 and the church was still at the front. The people regarded 
 
 454 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 455 
 
 the minister as the exponent of a system of truth that 
 they revered and of a faith that they cherished and taxed 
 themselves to support. Marked respect was shown him 
 by both old and young ; the former not being too busy to 
 leave the workshop or field when he called, and the latter, 
 not having so far outgrown that civility which is becoming 
 to youth, as to pass unnoticed one whose calling was held in 
 such esteem by their elders. The Sabbath was observed by 
 a general attendance at church, and a large share of the 
 town officials were either church members or regular church 
 attendants. Special church occasions, such as ordinations, 
 installations and dedications, were gala days to the com- 
 munity, and days of fasting and thanksgiving were relig- 
 iously observed. The outward form of religion was not 
 then divorced from the town-meeting, the school or the 
 home. 
 
 Politically and socially, at the beginning of the present 
 century, affairs were conducted largely as in the century 
 preceding. Officials were elected mainly on the basis of 
 merit. Military honors were still recognized. The same 
 strict economy was practised and the same carefnl consid- 
 eration of need before the smallest expenditure. If it was 
 only to decide upon the location of a horse-shed, the town 
 deemed the matter of sufficient importance to adjourn its 
 town-meeting to take a look at the premises, and, if thought 
 desirable to erect a "noon-house," it might be essential to 
 bring the subject before the town. 
 
 The custom and manner of living had not yet undergone 
 any radical change, and all " new fangled " things were still 
 looked upon with suspicion. The fireplace was the same as 
 when the family group sat about it at evening and listened 
 to the tales of Indian warfare. The people still wore the 
 coarse cloth their own hands spun and wove. The hired 
 man and the housemaid might be children of some of the 
 most well-to-do families in town. Travel was largely on 
 horseback or on foot. The horseblock by the meeting-house 
 was still in use. Malt was a common commodity. New 
 England rum was considered essential in hay-time. The 
 wooden plow was in use, and the hay-fork and other farming 
 
456 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 tools were still made by the village smith. As late as 1806 
 the following articles are mentioned in the will of Hopestill 
 Willis of Sudbury, which is, perhaps, a fair specimen of the 
 inventory of a householder about the beginning of this 
 century : " One calaca gown. A small Spinning Wheel. 
 Wooden Ware. Meal sieve. Old Chist. Pewter Ware. 
 Warming pan. Flax comb. Candle sticks and shears. 
 Tongs, Trowels, meat tub. Cyder barrel." 
 
 In order to show the articles manufactured and used in 
 town about the beginning of the present century, the price 
 of work and of some common commodities, we quote a few 
 extracts from the account book of James Thompson of South 
 Sudbury. 
 
 Jeduthan Moore D r 
 
 To making a slead 
 
 to two Bushil of Malt 
 
 to two pecks of Ground Malt 
 
 to mending a Spinning Wheele 
 
 to a pair of temples. 
 
 Hezekiah Moore D r Old Tenor 
 
 1770 to making a Bedstead 
 to making a flax Breake 
 
 1771. to one Days Reaping of Abel 
 
 Ashur Cutler D r Old Tenor. 
 
 1772 to two days Labour at the Mill 
 
 1773 to Ashur's Trundle Bedstead 
 to a kneeding Trough 
 
 1774 Making the Sawmill whele and work in the mill 
 Making a foot to a Little whele 
 
 Credt to Mr Ashur Cutler Old Tenor 
 
 1771 by one Bushil of Rie 
 one Bushil of Indian Corn 
 and one Bushil of Malt 
 
 Capt John Nixon D r Old tenor 
 Jan y e 10 th 1774 to making a Slay and finding nails 
 May y c 20, 1774 to mending a Spinning Wheele 
 July at the Begining to making a cart and Ladders 
 
 and finding boards 
 and making an ox yoke 
 Jany 1775. to one Bushil of Malt 
 April 17. 1775 to a Chist 
 
 0- 4-0 
 
 0: 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 0: 
 
 2 
 
 !) 
 
 0: 
 
 
 
 f» 
 
 0: 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s d 
 
 2- 
 
 0-0 
 
 1- 
 
 2-0 
 
 0- 
 
 15-0 
 
 1- 
 
 10-0 
 
 0- 
 
 18-0 
 
 0- 
 
 9-0 
 
 5- 
 
 10-0 
 
 0- 
 
 3-0 
 
 1- 
 
 7-0 
 
 1- 
 
 2-0 
 
 1- 
 
 5-0 
 
 3- 
 
 0-0 
 
 0- 
 
 5-0 
 
 3- 
 
 7-0 
 
 0- 
 
 7-0 
 
 1- 
 
 5-0 
 
 2- 
 
 8- 
 
 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 457 
 
 1 : 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 7- 
 
 • 0- 
 
 -0 
 
 3- 
 
 - 0- 
 
 -0 
 
 2: 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 1- 
 
 - 7- 
 
 -0 
 
 1- 
 
 - 7- 
 
 -0 
 
 11- 
 
 -16- 
 
 -0 
 
 Col n John Nixon D r old Tenor 
 1776. to Kneeding trough 
 to four Bushils of Barley Malt 
 Dec. 27 th 1776 to Coffin for his wife 
 July 1783. Rec d of Gen 11 Nixon 
 
 1781, Isaac Hunt. Debtor in Lawful money, 
 to making a cart body 
 To a Coffin for his Father 
 To making a Slead 
 
 Jonas Holden Ju r Debtor to James Thompson 
 
 1790 to 2 Days framing 
 
 and half a Day Covering the Mill 
 
 1791. to two Bushils of Malt 
 
 to four Days on the Gates 
 
 To Aaron Johnson Dr Old Tenour 
 to making two Margent window frames 
 to making three plain frames 
 to making 203 Squares of Sashes at ^ 
 
 Confirmatory of the truth of our conjecture that, up to 
 the time of which we write, no great changes had taken place 
 in the customs and ways of society, we quote the following 
 description of manners and customs by Mrs. Israel Haynes, 
 a resident of Sudbury, written about the year 1864, at the 
 age of eighty. 
 
 STATEMENT OP MRS. ISRAEL HAYNES. 
 
 " # * I still remember seventy-five years back more cor- 
 rect than what has been transacted within a week. * * I 
 think people enjoyed their simple way of living as well as 
 they do now. I recollect when the old meeting [house] was 
 standing. A plain Building Ceiled with Boards and a few 
 pews. There are several Barns now in town Finished much 
 handsomer than that was. * * There was no bell on the 
 house. But a small school house stood near by on the 
 common finished of as poorly as the meeting house, there was 
 a little entry-way where there was a little Bell Hung all 
 that belonged to the town to ring for meetings or funerals 
 or what not. There was Body seats below for the oldest 
 people And seats in the gallery for other people. The most 
 popular took the front seats and had Pegs put up to hang 
 
458 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 their Cockt Hats on. [they] made quite a show. * * The 
 Deacons used to read the hymns two lines or a verse and 
 then they sung it. They had a pitch pipe to pitch the tune. 
 After awhile there was a bass viol Introduced and brought 
 into town and did not suit the old People, one Old Gentle- 
 man got up took his hat of the peg and march'd off, said 
 they had begun fidling there would be dancing next. The 
 children occupied the stairs when the seats were full, and I 
 believe they enjoyed [it]. They chose tithing men to keep 
 them regulated but still there was some confusion. I would 
 describe their dress as near as I can remember, it Consisted 
 of one Dress one of their Mother's old Dresses she had when 
 she was married or a Cheap Calico Coarser than A strainer 
 I ever used. I recollect the first one I had — it was thirty 
 three cents a yd as we recon now and I thought it as Beau- 
 tiful as they think of A Nice silk. As to bonnets I dont 
 seem to remember as far back as I went first to meeting. 
 But Children went to meeting in such clothes as they had — 
 now if they have not such clothes as they like they stay at 
 home. They want a gold watch a breast pin and rings on 
 the finger. In my young days we did not know what such 
 things were. There was a minister in each adjoining town 
 I Believe all of one Denomination, old People called it the 
 old standing Order * * I have not described the men's 
 Attire, it Consisted of A Cotton and linen shirt a pair of 
 trowsers they were then called an under jacket one coat or 
 Frock no padding or lining * * I have heard an old lady 
 say she could make a coat in a day with her Baby in her lap. 
 It would have been thought extravigant for A young man 
 to have had boots before they were twenty one they wore 
 cowhide shoes and liggins I never saw any under clothes 
 they stood the cold weather better than they do now. I 
 must say a word about our schools. The scholars were 
 under as good regulations as they are now, there was no 
 books in school except the Bible Dillingsworth spelling Book 
 the primmer and Psalter and only one of a kind in A Family. 
 The teacher set all the Coppies made all the pens. Those 
 that studied Arithmetic the Master wrote down the Rules 
 and sums in their Books and then they had Birch Bark split 
 
History of sudbijry. 459 
 
 to do their sums on instead of slates. The school house was 
 a little rough Building like a shed only it had a Door, there 
 was A large Fire Place large enough to hold several logs 
 and four feet wood and a stone hearth and chimney and 
 Cross leg'd Benches for writers. The Boys wore leather 
 aprons and breeches And for dinner they used to fetch a 
 sausage or slice of Pork and a Crust of Bread sharpen a 
 stick and broil it over the coals and [there were] plenty of 
 grease spots. The girls wore short loose Gowns and skirts 
 and thick leather shoes and woolen stockings. They wore a 
 blanket over their heads or their Mother's old Cloak. In 
 the summer they wore [shaped] gown and skirt and cape 
 bonnet colour'd otter with bare feet. You might as soon 
 look for a white Bear as to see shoes on Children in summer 
 time. The Dwelling houses for the most part had two 
 rooms and a fire place almost as large as they build their 
 little Kitchens now and an oven right over the fire place 
 and a large stone hearth. They mostly Built one room first 
 and when they got able set up another room and if they had 
 A son Many generally settled down at home. There was 
 two families in almost every house that had two rooms. * * 
 The People were farmers, most of them went on Pretty 
 much the same way every year. Each one tried to raise 
 enough for their family, they did not make much improve- 
 ment nor speculate. They kept Oxen and Cows and hogs 
 for their own use and raised Corn and Rye Potatoes and 
 Beans and other vegitables, some kept A Horse, they had 
 no Carriages except a cart and sled. They used to ride 
 horseback to meeting have a saddle and Pilion the man ride 
 forward the woman behind. Sometimes go to visit their 
 friends forty Miles and carry two Children, they went to 
 Market horseback had a wallet made of two Cloths, left open 
 in the middle on a pair [of] paniards made of Basket stuff. 
 The women went as often as the men, they swung the wallet 
 over the horse's back put in their boxes each side so as to 
 balance, then the Paniards [were] fixed on behind filled with 
 pigeons or something else. I remember when there was but 
 one old chaise in town and I dont remember of there beinsr 
 
 o 
 
 any thing that could be called A Carriage seventy years ago. 
 
460 History of suDbury. 
 
 seventy years ago I dont think there was a Carpet in town 
 scarce a painted floor Our diet was simple not as many 
 luxuries as they have now. at thanksgiving we had flower 
 a good Chicken Pie and Mince pies and apple and Pumpkin 
 and Plum pudding. I think a pound answered, sometimes 
 a part was used in the Best mince pies * * if our Flower 
 fell short we used Rye flower we had good rye. the best 
 Farmers did not buy by the Barrel, 7 or 8 lbs used to answer 
 the purpose, we had no Factories spun and wove and made 
 our own Clothing * * I recollect when they began to go 
 with two and four horses tackled in a wagon it looked 
 as strange as these new inventions the cars or steamboats 
 * * Neighbors used to visit and seemed to enjoy them- 
 selves. For supper they generally had Fresh meat or 
 sausage or a short rye Cake made into a toast, Pye and that 
 was good enough for a king, the women were Neighborly 
 and Industrious willing to assist each other, one would get 
 in a bedquilt and the others drop in and help get it out * * 
 People began to improve in dress and living sixty years ago. 
 I earnt money enough to buy a silk Dress when I was Mar- 
 ried and A white Bonnet, if you could see it you would say 
 the shape resembled a scale that store keepers use. we had 
 to be prudent to lay by enough to purchase a silk Dress 
 they was as high as they are now and wages only four 
 shillings a week for house work, but we did not have so 
 much Cloth in a dress as they do now and no needless trim- 
 mings. I have had Calico Dresses made out of six yards 
 and a half. It was customary in winter to make a party 
 for the middle aged, invite all the nearest neighbors and the 
 school master, get a meat supper and the company and table 
 set in the same room, for the most part there was a Bed and 
 trap door in the room — twas a considerable undertaking 
 but they enjoyed it better than to call one or two at a time." 
 
 Thus much did the beginning of the nineteenth century 
 partake of the spirit and ways of the past, but as the }*ears 
 advanced there came a wonderful change, and before the 
 first period had passed, modern improvements began to creep 
 into society, the church and the home took on an altered 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 461 
 
 appearance ; and the second generation of the period became 
 as accustomed to new manners, methods and implements, as 
 if the former ones had belonged to some remote age. The 
 change has continued to go on with accelerated speed, until 
 now the very architecture, compared with that of the past, 
 is strange ; even the products of our fields are different, and 
 men and women and children at church, at home and at 
 school do that and say that which to the fathers of 1800 
 would be as unfamiliar as to those of the century that went 
 before. The years of the present century have taken away 
 the things of the olden time. 
 
 Though we search for them long and with diligent care, 
 
 There were joys in the past now exceedingly rare. 
 
 The fireplace no longer burns bright as of yore 
 
 Sending out its bright beams on the old kitchen floor, 
 
 With its back-log all glowing as snugly it lay 
 
 Against the huge chimney, 'mid warm ashes gray; 
 
 The ancient brick oven is closed from our gaze, 
 
 Where were baked the brown loaves of the rich, golden maize, 
 
 And the beans and "pan dowdy " and nice pumpkin pie 
 
 That so suited our taste, and delighted our eye ; 
 
 The " beaufet " that once so smilingly stood 
 
 With its three-cornered shelves of unpainted wood ; 
 
 The quaint pewter platters, substantial and bright; 
 
 The candle of tallow, so smooth and so white ; 
 
 The hard, oaken floor that was scoured with such care ; 
 
 The garret, a store-house of relics most rare ; 
 
 The old-fashioned clock with its bell-note so clear, 
 
 And whose pendulum-tick we could easily hear ; 
 
 The plain, simple dress and the old-fashioned ways, 
 
 The " raisings," the " huskings " of those early days, 
 
 The " apple-bees," " training-days," breaking out roads, 
 
 The turnpikes, the toll-gates, the stages, the loads 
 
 Of rich country produce that was carried to town 
 
 By the farmer, whose custom it was to "go down ; " 
 
 The old-fashioned winter, the mild early spring, 
 
 With snow-drifts and sunbeams which these used to bring; 
 
 The old district school with its three months a year, 
 
 The little red school-house with benches so queer, 
 
 Where to cipher, to read, to parse, and to write 
 
 Were deemed wholly sufficient to educate quite ; 
 
 The singing-school also has passed out of date, 
 
 And the fugue-tune and fiddle have shared the same fate, 
 
462 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 As these were made use of in country church choir, 
 Or on special occasions by the sitting-room fire. 
 Thus have the years in their flight left behind 
 The old-fashioned things that are now hard to find; 
 We may search for them long and with diligent care, 
 And if we find them at all, 'tis exceedingly rare. 
 
 We now pass from a consideration of general changes that 
 occurred about 1800, to events that took place in the first 
 period of the present century. First, as they are related to 
 highways, bridges and causeways. Early in the century an 
 effort was made to secure the construction of a highway 
 through North Sudbury. As early as 1800, complaint was 
 made against the town for not making a road there, and the 
 town appointed an agent to defend its cause. 
 
 In 1801, a committee was appointed to see about " an 
 alteration in the road from Rev. Mr. Bigelow's to near Mr. 
 Tower's by W m Rice's Esq as far as Mr. Vose's." The 
 indications are that an alteration had been made in the road, 
 that a shorter way was proposed, and that the court had 
 been applied to for a discontinuance of the alteration formerly 
 made. In 1806, an article was in the warrant to see if the 
 town would take any measures " for the purpose of dis- 
 charging an execution against said town it being in conse- 
 quence of not complying with the requisition of the order 
 of the Court of Sessions for the making of the road through 
 the northerly part of said town." The town also appointed 
 an agent to oppose the acceptance of the road ; but, not- 
 withstanding the opposition, the North road was built. 
 About the same time the south part was interested in a 
 proposition to make some alteration in the South road, 
 known as the Boston and Worcester. In 1805, a committee 
 \v;is appointed to act with one appointed by the Court of 
 Sessions for this purpose. The design was to straighten 
 portions of the road from Green Hill to the brick kilns or 
 (Jibbs farm. In 1805, the sum of $1800 was appropriated 
 for highway work, and the same year $1000 was granted for 
 the purpose of repairing " Lancaster and Worcester Road so 
 called." The following year the records make mention of a 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 463 
 
 road laid out from Jonathan Fairbank's to John Perry's. 
 In 1807, it was voted " to sell and discontinue part of the 
 road from Ezekiel Loring's to Framingham line." 
 
 In 1801, Lieut. David How rebuilt Wash Bridge for forty- 
 five dollars and twenty-five cents. That year, also, a com- 
 mittee of five was appointed " for the purpose of railing this 
 town's proportion of the Long Causeway, and setting out a 
 sufficient number of willow trees to answer the purpose for 
 Guides in the time of flood." In 1804, sixty-four dollars 
 were granted for making a wall each side of Sherman's 
 Bridge. In 1806, the town voted to let out the rebuilding 
 of the Canal Bridge. In 1815, the town voted twenty 
 dollars and thirty-three cents for the Canal Bridge. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 
 
 In 1804, the town voted two hundred and twelve dollars 
 for repairing and painting the meeting-house. In 1805, a 
 settlement was made of a prolonged lawsuit between the 
 town and Peter Smith " who brought forward a pauper." 
 The suit was decided in favor of the town to the amount of 
 ten hundred and sixty dollars and twenty-five cents. But 
 "it remitted to Smith $544.31 out of said execution it being 
 the balance which appeared to be due him." In 1806, the 
 town granted thirty dollars for the purpose of enabling their 
 selectmen to settle with Captain Barrett, the gaol keeper of 
 Concord, " for Boarding of certain Poor persons that were 
 confined in gaol and belonged to the town." As, formerly, 
 the law allowed imprisonment of poor debtors, these persons 
 probably belonged to that class. In 1816, voted that the 
 constables see that the porch of the meeting-house, both 
 above and below, be cleared of those people who were 
 inclined " to occupy the avenues to the meeting house at 
 the commencement of the exercises of each day of public 
 worship." Also, to see that people at the close of worship 
 went out properly. In 1817, the town engaged in lawsuits 
 with East Sudbury, Lincoln and Stow about the support of 
 the poor. It was successful in the first suit, but failed in the 
 last two. 
 
464 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL MATTERS. 
 
 No marked changes took place during this period in edu- 
 cational methods. The money granted for schools was 
 equally divided between the five districts. In the year 
 1800, money was granted for building three school-houses, — 
 in the south-east district, two hundred and eighteen dollars ; 
 in the north-west, one hundred and fifty-seven dollars and 
 fifty cents ; and in the south-west, two hundred dollars. 
 The committee that year were William Rice, Esq., centre 
 district ; Gen. Benjamin Sawin, south-east ; Deacon Thomas 
 Walker, south-west; Lieut. Hopestill Willis, north-west; 
 and Samuel Puffer, north-east. The old building in the 
 south-west was sold for twenty-four dollars. 
 
 The following is, in substance, part of a report of the 
 school committee in 1802. That they had been empowered 
 to hire all the teachers of the public schools in town for the 
 year ensuing, and that they had been instructed, after con- 
 sultation with the minister and the teachers employed, to 
 decide what books should be used, only that the same ones 
 should be used in all the schools of the same grade. That, 
 if any scholar should fail to provide himself or herself with 
 the books required, six days after notice of the deficiency 
 had been given to the parent or guardian, the scholar should 
 not receive instruction in the branch of study to which said 
 book or books were assigned until supplied. Provided, 
 nevertheless, that if any scholars were unable by reason of 
 poverty to provide their own books they should be supplied 
 by the committee. In 1825, leave was granted to the centre 
 district to move its school-house to some convenient place on 
 the Common. Besides the attention bestowed by the town 
 on the common or day schools, encouragement was given to 
 instruction in music. 
 
 Along the first of the present century there existed what 
 was termed a "Singing Society," and the town, from time 
 to time, made appropriations for its benefit. This " Society " 
 constituted the church choir. A half century ago, the long 
 rows of singers along the length of the gallery was quite a 
 part of the audience ; and, doubtless, it was for the purpose 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 465 
 
 of benefiting the church music that the town granted aid to 
 the " Singing Society." In 1801, a committee was appointed 
 by the town " to get a singing master and for regulating the 
 Singing Society." The same year liberty was given the 
 society to occupy the several school-houses, indicating that 
 the sessions were held in different districts. Ten dollars 
 was granted that year to pay the master. In 1802, the town 
 voted " to have Dr. Belknap's Psalms and Hymns introduced 
 and made use of in the Singing Society," In 1821, twenty 
 dollars were allowed for the society, and in 1822 thirty 
 dollars. Early in the century quite an orchestra assisted in 
 the old church. Mr. Josiah Richardson, familiarly known 
 as " Uncle Siah," played the violin, Mr. Emory Hunt the 
 clarionet, Mr. George Hunt the base viol, and Deacon Mar- 
 tin Brown the bassoon. At the same time, Esquire Lyman 
 How, the last landlord of the Wayside Inn of the name of 
 How, was among the singers. He also led the choir after- 
 wards at the Orthodox Church. 
 
 MILITARY MATTERS. 
 
 Before the war of 1812 and 15 set in, the town of Sud- 
 bury, as did others, took action as to the state of affairs then 
 existing between the United States and England; it also 
 made provision by which it could supply its quota of men 
 in case they were called for ; and passed resolutions relative 
 to the conduct of public affairs that evinced a patriotic spirit 
 and a steadfast purpose to stand by the government. In 
 1807, when the American frigate, Chesapeake, had been 
 attacked by the English frigate, the Leopard, activity in 
 military matters commenced in the New England towns. 
 Sudbury voted to give to " each soldier that was called upon 
 to stand at a minute's notice $12 per man per month includ- 
 ing what government has made provision for, during the 
 time they are in actual service, and six dollars to each 
 soldier as advance pay, that shall equip himself for said 
 service, the aforesaid six dollars to be paid previous to his 
 marching if called upon and to be subject to deduction from 
 his wages." In 1808, the town "voted $36 as a bounty to 
 this town's proportion of soldiers that are called upon to 
 
466 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 hold themselves in readiness at the shortest time, being 
 eighteen in number." Also, " directed the commanding 
 officer of each respective company, to make out a return of 
 the name of each soldier that held himself in readiness." A 
 meeting was called Feb. 4, 1809, " to see if the town will 
 express their opinion in such manner as will show to the 
 world that we are willing to support the laws of our general 
 government, in consequence of certain resolutions denounc- 
 ing all good citizens who shall give their aid and support in 
 the execution of the laws of said government." A com- 
 mittee was chosen at that meeting to draw up a preamble 
 and resolutions to present to the town, relative to what was 
 mentioned in the above article. The Preamble and Resolu- 
 tions that were reported were passed in the affirmative and 
 were in substance as follows: The inhabitants of Sudbury 
 see with concern a party in the State exciting jealousies 
 against the government and recommending resistance to its 
 laws. Therefore, resolved, 
 
 1. That we have the highest confidence in the wisdom and 
 integrity of the government. 
 
 2. That we believe the embargo laws are good and 
 necessar}'. 
 
 3. That we have seen with regret certain resolutions 
 denouncing all good citizens who give their support in the 
 execution of those laws, and that such resolutions produce 
 on our minds a determination, when called upon, to give 
 1 1 lose laws prompt and undivided support. 
 
 4. That, as the management of our foreign relations is 
 delegated to the councils of the nation, it is inexpedient for 
 (lie State legislature to interfere. 
 
 In 1812, the number of soldiers reported to be in readiness 
 was eighteen. " Voted to give them $1.25 per day while in 
 service and doing actual duty." The following persons 
 from Sudbury were in service a short time during the war: 
 Anion Hunt, Jonas Tower, James 13. Puffer, Josiah Puffer, 
 John Carr, Cyrus AVillis, George Barker, Leonard Dutton, 
 Otis Puffer, Jesse Puffer, John Sawyer. Warren Moore was 
 in the naval service on a privateer, was taken prisoner and 
 spent some time in Dartmoor prison. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 467 
 
 In the militia the officers were chosen by the men and 
 received their commission from the Governor of the State, as 
 in later times. In 1806, Caleb Strong gave a commission to 
 Jesse Goodnow as captain of a company in the 4th Regiment 
 Infantry, 2d Brigade, 3d Division Militia. To an extent, it 
 was customary to hold the meetings for the election of militia 
 officers at the taverns. The following is a specimen of the 
 " Company Order " of the times. 
 
 COMPANY ORDER. 
 
 " To Reuben Gleason Corp 1 
 
 " You are hereby ordered and directed to warn and notify 
 all the men, Commissioned Officers and soldiers whose names 
 are hereafter mentioned belonging to the company under my 
 command, to appear at Mr. John Stone's Tavern in Sud- 
 bury, on Friday, the 18th day of March Inst, at 1 o'clock 
 P. M., for the purpose of electing a Captain, and filling such 
 other vacancies as may then happen. 
 
 " By Order of Ephraim Plympton Lieut. Col. Dated at 
 Sudbury, March 14, 1814." 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL EVENTS. 
 
 In 1814, the town settled a new pastor, Rev. Jacob Bige- 
 low having become infirm. In 1810, Rev. Timothy Hilliard 
 had been invited to preach as a candidate, and June 1, 1814, 
 he became colleague rjastor at a salary of six hundred and 
 fifty dollars and five hundred dollars to begin with. The 
 ministers, with their churches, who comprised the ordaining 
 council were Rev. Messrs. Kellogg of Framingham, Newell 
 of Stow, Adams of Acton, Ripley of Concord, Stearns of 
 Lincoln, Lovering of Andover, and Dr. Kirkland of Harvard 
 College who preached the sermon. The next year Mr. 
 Hilliard " resigned his office as clergyman of the religious 
 Society of Sudbury." His resignation was accepted, and ho 
 was recommended to the churches on a vote of thirty-eight 
 to eight. A council was held for the purpose of ratifying 
 the doings of the church and town " in dissolving the Cove- 
 nant with Rev. Mr. Hilliard." He was dismissed Sept. 26, 
 
468 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 1815. The following is the bill allowed to Mr. Asahel 
 Wheeler for the entertainment of the council: — 
 
 To eleven dinners and Suppers with wine Hi " 
 
 To Horse keeping 2 " 
 
 To Liquors 2 " 
 
 10 " 
 Also allowed Mr Daniel Osborn for Notifying the 
 
 Council and for attendance $3 " 
 
 After leaving Sudbury, Mr. Hilliard practised medicine in 
 his native town, Kensington, N. H., and also engaged some 
 in teaching. He was a scholarly man and a graduate of 
 Harvard College in 1809. He also studied divinity at Cam- 
 bridge. During his short ministry forty-three united with 
 the church, nineteen males and twenty-four females. Soon 
 after the pastorate became vacant, the town took measures to 
 secure another minister. May, 181G, it was " voted, at the 
 request of Dea. Puffer, to set apart a day for fasting humil- 
 iation and prayer to the Supreme Governor of the Universe 
 for his direction and guidance in those measures that shall 
 be most conducive to the harmonizing us in the reestablish- 
 ment of a gospel minister amongst us." The day appointed 
 was November 8. It was voted to invite some minister to 
 preach on that day, and also to invite the attendance of 
 other ministers. Soon after this the town " voted to hear 
 Mr. Hurlbut and two others on Probation," At a town- 
 meeting Dec. 16, 181G, " it was moved to see if the town 
 would request the church in this place to give Mr. Rufus 
 Hurlbut a call to settle with them in the gospel ministry, 
 and being put to vote, it passed in the affirmative by 58 for 
 and 9 against it." The church having voted to extend the 
 call, on December 28 the town expressed its concurrence by 
 a vote of thirty-four for and six against. k ' It was then 
 voted that Mr. Hurlbut's creed be read before the town, 
 which was produced and read agreeable to said vote." A 
 committee was chosen by the town to confer with the 
 church ; and they recommended a salary of seven hundred 
 dollars while he was in active service without the improve- 
 ment of the ministerial land, " which their late minister 
 
history of sudbury. 469 
 
 Rev. Mr. Bigelow had the improvement of during his life." 
 Mr. Hurlbut declined to accept of the sum specified, if he 
 was only to be allowed it while in actual service ; giving as 
 a reason for his refusal, that, in case of inability to preach 
 at any time, by a reduction or withholding of his salary he 
 would be left without a means of support. The matter was, 
 therefore, reconsidered, and an offer made of six hundred 
 and fifty a year so long as he should continue to be their 
 pastor. This offer was accepted. A committee or agent 
 was appointed to receive a quit-claim of Mr. Hurlbut of all 
 the ministerial land. 
 
 Soon after the settlement of a new minister, Rev. Jacob 
 Bigelow passed away. He died Sept. 12, 1816, at the age 
 of seventy-five, having filled the Sudbury pastorate for over 
 forty years. He was beloved by his people, and in his last 
 years was granted an annuity. In 1816, two hundred and 
 forty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents was granted " for 
 Mr. Bigelow's salary." This vote, at a later meeting of the 
 town, was reconsidered, probably on account of his death. 
 The town also gave to his widow thirty dollars for the ser- 
 vice that was rendered by the reverend clergy, as a gift to 
 her, by their supply of the pulpit after her husband's death. 
 The funeral expenses were defrayed by the town and the 
 following bills are on record : — 
 
 "To Mr. Jonathan Fairbanks Jr. for making the coffin for 
 Rev. Mr. Bigelow, $10.00. 
 
 "To Lewis Moore for digging the grave and attending the 
 funeral of Rev. Mr. Bigelow $2.00. 
 
 " To Capt. Jesse Moore for beef he provided at the funeral 
 of the Rev. Mr. Bigelow 1—13 
 
 " To Mr Ruben Moore for 7 lbs old cheese he found at the 
 funeral of Rev Mr Bigelow. 
 
 " To Doctor Ashbel Kidder for dining the clergy & com- 
 mitteee of arrangements &c at the funeral of Rev. Mr. 
 Bigelow $16.20 
 
 " To Mr Daniel Goodenow for spirit an sugar &c provided 
 at the funeral of the Rev. Mr. Bigelow, $15.40." 
 
470 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBUIIY. 
 
 Mr. Bigelow was a native of Waltham. He was twice 
 married. His first wife was a sister of Dr. Heard of Con- 
 cord. By this marriage lie had a daughter. He married for 
 his second wife Mrs. Wells, and had two sons. One of 
 these was Dr. Jacob Bigelow of Boston, a noted physician, 
 and at one time Professor of Materia Medica in Harvard 
 Medical School. lie died at the age of ninety. An old 
 inhabitant of Sudbury (C. G. Cutler) described Rev. Mr. 
 Bigelow to the writer as being " a large man with a large 
 face, very pleasant and full of jokes." He was said to be 
 affable and social. He built the house now known as the 
 George Goodenow place, about a quarter of a mile from 
 Sudbury Centre, and there he lived and died. He was 
 ordained Nov. 11, 1772. During his ministry one hundred 
 and forty-two were added to the church, fifty-five males and 
 eighty-seven females. 
 
 The year of Mr. Bigelow's death the following records 
 were made relating to the enlargement of the Burying 
 Ground : " Bought of Walter Ilaynes in 181G about a half 
 acre of land on the whole south side the grave yard for 
 enlarging it." The price paid was one hundred dollars. 
 Among the town debts : "To Walter Haynes for building 
 the burying yard wall and a small gate, $19.50." There are 
 other records relating to placing posts near the yard. The 
 indications are that the yard, at that time, was nearly full, 
 and, probably, the death of the minister called the town's 
 attention to the fact. As Mr. Bigelow's grave is on the 
 southerly side of the yard, it may have been made in the 
 portion that was bought at that time. Besides the addition 
 on the south, in 1800 the town bought a " piece of land for 
 three dollars of Asher Goodenow on the east end of the 
 burying ground." Another matter in this period, pertaining 
 (o the burial of the dead, was an order, in 1806, "for a bier 
 for the Burying yard," and in 1818 for building a hearse. 
 ' About the time of Rev. Jacob Bigelow's death a move- 
 ment was made to dispose of the land which had been set 
 apart for the support of the ministry, for cash or notes at 
 interest. As has been observed, a committee was appointed 
 at the settlement of Rev. Mr. Ilurlbut to obtain of him a 
 
THE BIGELOW PARSONAGE, Sudbury Centre. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 471 
 
 quit-claim to these lands, which act was, doubtless, in antici- 
 pation of the movement in 1818. In 1816, a committee was 
 appointed to apply to the Legislature for leave to dispose of 
 the ministerial land, and it was granted. The following 
 year there was constituted what was called " the Sudbury 
 Ministerial Land Corporation." In March, 1818, the trus- 
 tees of this corporation reported that, in accordance with an 
 act of the Legislature, June 14, 1817, they had sold the land 
 lying near Mr. Elisha Jones', containing by plan seventeen 
 acres and fifty-three rods, on July 24, 1817, in two lots : 
 No. 1 to Capt. Silas Puffer for $67 per acre, No. 2 to the 
 same party for $43 per acre. The first lot contained a little 
 over ten acres, the other a little over six acres. The whole 
 amount received was $996.56. Other lots were as follows : 
 Ministerial river meadow near Mr. Israel Wheeler's was sold 
 July, 1817, in two lots. No. 1 to Lewis Moore for 1146.69, 
 - No. 2 to Israel Wheeler for $154.40. " The ministerial land 
 laying near the meeting house " was sold August, 1817. It 
 contained about thirty-eight acres, and was disposed of in 
 lots as follows : No. 1 to Walter Haynes and Thadeus 
 Tower for $462, No. 2 to William Moore for $406.87, No 3 
 
 to Capt. William Rice for , No. 4 to Joshua Jones for 
 
 $372.15, No. 5 to Israel Moore for $336.81, No. 6 to Joshua 
 Jones for $10. " The total sum arising from the sale of the 
 ministerial lands in said town amounts to $3200.96. At the 
 close of this period, March, 1825, the following report was 
 rendered to the town by the Ministerial Fund Corporation : — 
 
 Capt Silas Puffer Note the sum of 
 
 M r Lewis Moore " " " " 
 
 Mr. Israel Wheeler " " " " 
 
 " Walter Haynes " " " " 
 
 William Moore " " " " 
 
 Thadeous Towers " " " 
 
 Haman Hunt " " " " 
 
 Josua Jones " " " " 
 
 Joel Moore " " " " 
 
 $3200 " 9(5 
 
 The interest on this amount was paid to the Rev. Rufns 
 Ilurlbut, agreeable to the act of incorporation. 
 
 996 
 
 " 56 
 
 146 
 
 " 69 
 
 154 
 
 " 40 
 
 200 
 
 " 31 
 
 406 
 
 " 87 
 
 200 
 
 " 31 
 
 370 
 
 " 86 
 
 382 
 
 " 15 
 
 336 
 
 " 81 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 1825-1850. 
 
 History of the Sudbury Methodist Episcopal Church. — Members of a 
 Baptist Society in Sudbury in 1828. — Town Farm. — Town House. 
 — Erection of Tombs. — Ecclesiastical Disturbance.— Formation of 
 a New Parish. — Building of a Meeting-House. — Dedication of it. — 
 Death of Rev. Rufus Ilurlbut. — Sketch of his Life. — Settlement of 
 Rev. Josiah Ballard. — The Old Parish. — Settlement of Rev. Linus 
 Shaw. — Sketch of his Life.— Succession of Pastors.— Miscellaneous. 
 
 Our theme shall be of yesterday, 
 Which to oblivion sweeps away 
 Like days of old. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 Between 1825 and 1850, important ecclesiastical events 
 transpired in Sudbury. Measures that resulted in the forma- 
 tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church were taken in the 
 last part of the preceding period, but, as this church became 
 established or largely developed in this period, the history 
 of it properly comes here. 
 
 THE METHODIST CHURCH. 
 
 In 1823, a class was formed by Rev. Erastus Otis, in 
 connection with the "Old Brick Church " at Marlboro, 
 which consisted of the following members: Varnum Bal- 
 com, leader, Webster Cutting, Buckley Willis, Emerson 
 Brown, Abel Noyes, Samuel Dudley, Miss Abigail Dudley, 
 Mrs. Noah Smith, Mrs. Edwin Cutting, Mrs. A. Noyes, 
 Mrs. Varnum Balcom, and some others. Previous to the 
 formation of this class there were but two members of the 
 Methodist church in Sudbury. In the early stages of the en- 
 terprise, meetings were occasionally held in the school -house 
 of the north-west district; but, in 1835, the town voted not 
 
HIST OK Y OF SUDBURY. 473 
 
 to allow the school-houses to be used for religious meetings. 
 After this, preaching services were sometimes held in a hall 
 at the house of Mr. Walter Haynes ; but not long was the 
 little company to be without a church home. A paper was 
 soon started by Emerson Brown, soliciting aid for the 
 erection of a meeting-house. A part of the names are lost : 
 the following are. some of the subscribers and their gifts, — 
 Emerson Brown, $500 ; Edwin Cutting, $500 ; Isaac Par- 
 menter, $500 ; Marshall S. Rice, $200 ; Martin Brown, $200 ; 
 
 Solomon Weeks, $100 ; Amos Hagar, $50 ; Noah Smith . 
 
 A piece of land for a meeting-house, consisting of sixty 
 rods, was purchased of Luther Goodnow for the sum of one 
 hundred and twenty-five dollars. It was conveyed by deed 
 to Isaac Parmenter, yeoman, and Emerson Brown and Edwin 
 Cutting, shoemakers ; and bears date Sept. 19, 1835. The 
 meeting-house was soon erected, and in 1836 was dedicated. 
 Rev. Abel Stevens, LL.D., preached the dedication sermon. 
 In 1811, a bell was purchased at a cost of three hundred and 
 three dollars and twenty-five cents, Edwin Cutting giving 
 one hundred dollars. The new church was in what was 
 then called the " Needham Circuit." After the erection of 
 the meeting-house, meetings were held five days and thirty- 
 one evenings in succession ; at which time it is supposed 
 about fifty persons were converted. In the early years of 
 the church, E. O. Haven afterwards Bishop Haven, then a 
 young man, taught school in the vestry. The fact that the 
 career of that widely-known and useful man was connected 
 in its early beginning with this quiet spot adds to it a special 
 interest and pleasantness. In that little meeting-house, hard 
 by the margin of the town's common land and one of its old- 
 time burial places, was the spot where at least two of Sud- 
 bury's college graduates now living pursued their early 
 studies. (See College Graduates.) Here, too, at least one 
 worshiper, who afterwards entered the ministry, took the 
 first step that led to that service (Rev. L. P. Frost). Rev. 
 Charles Rogers, who for several years has been Presiding 
 Elder, was one of the later preachers, and at the same time 
 a teacher in the Wadsworth Academy. The very surround- 
 ings of the place are suited to stir to reflection ; and when 
 
474 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 nature, in spring-time, clothes with green the shrubbery 
 about it or there rests on it the stillness of the soft summer 
 day, then the scene accords with the associations of the 
 meeting-house, the wayside burial place, and the memories 
 that cluster around the village green. From the time the 
 meeting-house was completed the new church has moved 
 steadily on. At its quarterly meeting, February, 1837, the 
 Presiding Elder present was D. Kilburn. The same year the 
 Conference sent as first pastor, Rev. Elias C. Scott. He 
 taught school for which he received eighty-four dollars, and 
 this, with what he received from other sources, made his 
 salary three hundred and twenty-three dollars and fifty-five 
 cents. Succeeding Mr. Scott are the following pastors of the 
 church with their dates of service : — 
 
 Luman Boyden 
 
 1837-S 
 
 Porter M. Vinton 
 
 1863-04 
 
 George W. Bates 
 
 1839-40 
 
 George Sutherland 
 
 1804-05 
 
 J. S. Ellis 
 
 1840-41 
 
 Philo P. Gorton 
 
 1805-00 
 
 P. R. Sawyer 
 
 1841-42 
 
 J. W. P. Jordan 
 
 1SGG-07 
 
 W. Tucker 
 
 1642-43 
 
 George E. Chapman 
 
 1807-09 
 
 G. W. Weeks 
 
 1843 
 
 Miles R. Barney 
 
 1809-71 
 
 Benjamin King 
 
 1845-40 
 
 Walter Wilkins 
 
 1871-74 
 
 Luther Caldwell 
 
 1840-47 
 
 John S. Day 
 
 1874-75 
 
 W. F. Lacount 
 
 1847-48 
 
 A. M. Sherman 
 
 1875-70 
 
 Horace Moulton 
 
 1848-49 
 
 Nathaniel Bemis 
 
 1877-79 
 
 George Frost 
 
 
 J. Richardson 
 
 1879-80 
 
 
 
 L. P. Frost 
 John W. Lee 
 
 
 J. A. Ames 1880-S1 
 F. O. Holman and M. D. Sill L881-83 
 
 1852-53 
 
 J. H. Gaylord 
 
 1853-55 
 
 A. R. Archibald 
 
 1883-84 
 
 M. Leffingwell 
 
 1855-57 
 
 J. Marcy 
 
 1884-87 
 
 Wm. A. Clapp 
 
 1857-59 
 
 Geo. H. Bolster 
 
 1887-88 
 
 Charles S. Rogers 
 
 1859-01 
 
 H. E. Wilcox 
 
 1888-89 
 
 Joseph Scott 
 
 18GL-G3 
 
 
 
 Nearly a half century ago the little congregation was gath- 
 ered from various parts of the town; the Butterfields came 
 from Lanham, the Parmenters and Noyeses from Peakham, 
 the Battleses from the Gravel Pit district, the Bents and 
 llayneses from Pantry. Years ago, some of these early 
 worshipers passed from this place of prayer to the temple 
 above. In 1875, Amos Haynes the old sexton died. For 
 thirty-two years he had faithfully stood at his post and rung 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 475 
 
 the bell at the hour of prayer. The familiar form of Thomas 
 B. Battles about the same time was missed from the choir. 
 Then the tall, slender form of George Goodnow, who had 
 been a tower of strength, was also called to his reward ; and 
 thus, one by one, they have passed away, till now only two 
 remain whose names were on the church records forty years 
 ago. Amid its many vicissitudes the church has never been 
 closed more than one Sabbath at a time. The highest salary 
 ever paid its minister was seven hundred dollars. The 
 ladies have been associated in a society which has aided in 
 all the church enterprises ; and a prominent member among 
 them has been Mrs. George Goodnow who has faithfully 
 planned and labored for the maintenance of the church 
 through many years of its history. 
 
 BAPTIST SOCIETY. 
 
 In 1828, the following persons were members of a Baptist 
 society in Sudbury : — 
 
 Leander G. Wiley, Obadiah Osborn. 
 
 Joseph G. Hunt, Azariah Walker. 
 
 James Moore, John W. Haynes. 
 
 Abijah Walker, Amos Haynes. 
 
 Ruth Walker, W™ Stone Jr., 
 
 Cyrus W. Jones, Thadeus Tower, 
 
 David Lincoln, Hollis Gibbs. 
 
 Marden Moore, Joel Dakin, Clerk. 
 
 TOWN FARM. 
 
 March 5, 1832, the town voted to purchase a Town Farm. 
 The place selected was the property of Asa Noyes, situated 
 in the north part of the town, and the same now used for 
 the town's poor. In 1843, the town voted to build a house 
 on the farm, and in 1845 it granted one thousand and 
 seventy-six dollars and sixty-seven cents to pay for it. Some 
 years ago the barn was burned and another was erected 
 soon after. 
 
 TOWN HOUSE. 
 
 In 1845, the town voted to build a Town House. A 
 committee was chosen consisting of five persons, one from 
 
476 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 each school district, to select a spot, bring in a plan, and 
 estimate the cost. April 20, 1846, the town granted one 
 thousand dollars for the building, and appointed a committee 
 to confer with the First Parish about the terms on which 
 the town could have a spot on the common to set a building 
 upon. At a legal meeting of the First Parish held in April, 
 1846, it was " voted that sd Parish give to the town of 
 Sudbury liberty to set a town house on the meeting house 
 common, nearly or partly on that part now occupied by 
 the Center school house sufficient for the occupation of sd 
 Town House, and ten feet passage around it. Provided, 
 sd gift to sd town shall not be construed in any way to 
 injure the title of sd Parish to the remainder of sd common." 
 The town "voted to place the Town House where the school 
 house now stands, provided, said Parish adheres to their 
 agreement." A few years ago an iron safe was procured, 
 in which to keep the town records, and placed in the Town 
 House ; and recently, a fire-proof depository of brick-work. 
 The west part of the Town House was formerly used as an 
 armory of the " Wadsworth Rifle Guards ; " and rows of 
 rifles and military accoutrements were ranged on the side of 
 the long, narrow room. A part of this room is now used as 
 a selectmen's office. 
 
 ERECTION OF TOMBS. 
 
 A petition having been presented to the town by William 
 Hunt and others, for leave to erect a number of tombs on 
 the northerly part of the meeting-house plot, nearly opposite 
 the burying-ground, April 3, 1826, the town granted per- 
 mission, and appointed a committee of five to locate the 
 ground where they should be built, and to confer with the 
 petitioners as to the plan, so as to have them uniform. In 
 November, the committee reported a place, and recommended 
 that leave be given the petitioners to fix upon some uniform 
 plan of building to suit themselves. The report was accepted. 
 April 3, 1830, Luther Goodnow, Asher Goodnow, Tilly Smith 
 and Levi Smith received permission to erect tombs on the 
 east side of the powder house. 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 477 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL DISTURBANCE. 
 
 A prominent ecclesiastical event in this period was the 
 formation of a new parish. The causes which brought 
 this about had been at work for some years previously, and 
 were, mainly, the same as those which wrought similar 
 results in other New England towns about that time. In 
 the early part of the century a controversy took place con- 
 cerning certain theological questions, principal among which 
 were the nature and mission of Christ, the measure or extent 
 of human depravity, and man's need of regeneration by a 
 personal Holy Spirit ; or, in other words, the Divinity of 
 Christ, the Atonement, Total Depravity, Regeneration and 
 the Personality of the Holy Spirit. The advocates of the 
 liberal movement — among whom were Ware, Buckminster, 
 Norton and Channing — sought to extend the principles of 
 Unitarianism. On the other side, prominent theologians, 
 among whom were Prof. Moses Stuart of Andover and 
 Rev. Lyman Beecher, stoutly set themselves to oppose it. 
 The controversy spread through society. In this part of the 
 country the age became one of theological discussion, and, in 
 the course of a few years, many old churches and parishes 
 were divided into two organizations, one of which took the 
 name of Unitarian Church, and the other of Orthodox Con- 
 gregational or Trinitarian Church. The influence of this 
 wide-spread discussion did not produce any marked result in 
 the Sudbury church till about 1839. There were in the 
 town records, some years before that time, various state- 
 ments which indicate that dissatisfaction prevailed respecting 
 the minister's theological views. The desire was expressed 
 that Mr. Hurlbut would exchange more with the neighboring 
 clergymen, " as formerly ; " and there was querying as to 
 why he did not. Notwithstanding, however, the existence 
 of dissatisfaction there was no outbreak until Mr. Hurlbut, 
 whose health had become feeble, procured the services of 
 another minister to supply the pulpit for a Sabbath. The 
 attitude of the congregation then became clearly defined. 
 On the Sabbath morning two new clergymen appeared on 
 the scene, one provided by Mr. Hurlbut, the other by the 
 
478 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 parish committee. When Mr. Hurlbut and his minister 
 arrived at the steps of the church, he found the door had 
 been fastened, and that the minister whom the parish had 
 provided was within. Says one, who was standing by and 
 witnessed the affair and heard the conversation, " Mr. Hurl- 
 but informed the committee that he would like to introduce 
 his minister. The request being granted, they passed in, 
 and Mr. Hurlbut, after making a few remarks to the people, 
 left the meeting-house. A large share of the congregation 
 left also, and, with their minister, went over and worshiped 
 that morning with the Methodists." Soon after, they hired 
 a hall, which stood on the site of Mr. Sewall Taylor's wheel- 
 wright's shop. It had two stories and a gallery on three sides 
 of the audience room. It was subsequently used as a wheel- 
 wright's shop by Edwin Harrington and was destroyed by 
 fire about thirty years ago. 
 
 FORMATION OF A NEW PARISH. 
 
 Shortly after the events just narrated a new religious 
 society was organized. March, 1839, a warrant was issued 
 by Christopher G. Cutler to Israel How Brown, an applicant 
 for the same, requiring the said Brown to notify all the 
 legal voters " who have congregated the year last past for 
 public worship in a building owned by W m Brigham in said 
 Sudbury to meet at said building" March 25, at one o'clock 
 in the afternoon, for the purpose of " organizing according to 
 law a religious society for the public worship of God." The 
 petitioners for the warrant were Enoch Kidder, A. B. Rich- 
 ardson, Israel II. Brown, Abel Dakin, Joseph Cutter, Roland 
 Cutler and Gardner Hunt. The meeting was held pursuant 
 to warrant, and, in the absence of C. G. Cutler, Esq., and at 
 his request, Lyman How, Esq., presided. Samuel Puffer 
 was chosen clerk and William Brigham moderator. Nahum 
 Goodenow, William Brigham and I. H. Brown were chosen 
 assessors, and William Rice collector and treasurer. The 
 assessors were also chosen as the prudential committee, and 
 the same persons were also appointed to report a name for 
 the new society. It was voted at the same meeting to grant 
 eight hundred dollars for preaching the ensuing year. The 
 
SISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 479 
 
 committee presented the name of The Sudbury Evangelical 
 Union Society, which was accepted and adopted. The 
 word Sudbufy was afterwards struck off, leaving the name 
 of the society as it stands to-day. A second meeting was 
 held, April 8, 1839, at which Lyman How, Esq., was chosen 
 moderator. The society at that meeting voted to build a 
 meeting-house " on the plan of the Orthodox Society of 
 Marlboro." A committee chosen at the previous meeting 
 for selecting a suitable building spot reported " that it is 
 expedient to set the house on the ground near the Black- 
 smith's shop owned by Jonas Tower." A building com- 
 mittee was chosen of which Mr. Gardner Hunt was chairman. 
 This committee was instructed to borrow money for building 
 the house on the credit of the society ; and, after the com- 
 pletion of the building, to sell the pews to defray the 
 expense of construction. A contract was concluded May 27, 
 1839, between Gardner Hunt, William Brigham and Jonas 
 Tower, building committee, and Mr. Jeremiah Flint. Mr. 
 Flint, by the terms of the contract, was to have for the work 
 fifty-seven hundred dollars. The society was to provide the 
 foundation and the steps, and the work was to be completed 
 by the following November. At a meeting Dec. 25, 1839, 
 it was voted to direct the building committee to sell the 
 pews on the appraisal that had been reported, reserving 
 the right to tax to an amount not exceeding five per cent, 
 per annum on the appraised value. Also voted to direct the 
 committee to sell the pews on the day after the dedication 
 of the house, and give deeds of the same. In the sale of the 
 pews, No. 1 was to be reserved for the minister, and the 
 four under the gallery were to be reserved for free seats. 
 The valuation of the pews varied from forty dollars to one 
 hundred and five dollars, and the total amount was forty- 
 seven hundred and five dollars. At a meeting of the society, 
 held Feb. 10, 1840, it was voted to direct the parish and 
 assessors to " circulate a petition for to obtain money to 
 procure a bell." The money was raised and a bell was 
 purchased at Medway. Jan. 1, 1840, the meeting-house was 
 dedicated ; Rev. Mr. Horsford of Saxonville preached the 
 
480 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 sermon. April, 1840, it was voted to sell rights to build 
 sheds on the society's lands. 
 
 While the new meeting-house was in process of comple- 
 tion, Rev. Rufus Hurlbut passed away. He died May 11, 
 1839, having been pastor of the church twenty-two years. 
 He was a son of Steven Hurlbut, and was born in South- 
 hampton April 21, 1787, graduated at Philips Academy in 
 1808, and at Harvard College 1813. He studied theology 
 with Rev. Thomas Prentiss, D.D., of Medfield, whose 
 daughter Mary he married Dec. 17, 1817. His wife was the 
 granddaughter of Dr. John Scollay, who was for over forty 
 years town clerk of Boston. Mr. Hurlbut was tall and thin, 
 of dignified demeanor, agreeable and gentlemanly in his 
 ways. He lived at the present Smith Jones house. He was 
 buried in the old burying-ground where a slate stone marks 
 his grave. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF FIRST PASTOR. 
 
 Feb. 15, 1841, Rev. Josiah Ballard was called at a salary of 
 six hundred dollars, and accepted the call. His installation 
 took place March 2, 1841. The council was composed of the 
 following ministers with their churches : Rev. Messrs. Brig- 
 ham of Framingham, Harding of East Midway, Corner of 
 Berlin, Hyde of Wayland, Horsford of Saxonville, Dyer of 
 Stow, of Medfield, Woodbridge of Acton, Means of Con- 
 curd, Day of Marlboro. Rev. Mr. Buckingham of Milbury 
 preached the sermon. For a time the tax for preaching was 
 levied upon each person on the basis of the town valuation, 
 but later, the money was raised by subscription, and recently 
 the envelope system has been employed. 
 
 THE OLD PARISH. 
 
 After the division took place, the old parish disclaimed 
 any formal or legal relationship to Rev. Rufus Hurlbut. 
 March, 1830, it declared by vote that it no longer considered 
 him their minister as he had withdrawn from them. The 
 records state that after " a portion of the church and con- 
 gregation had withdrawn and formed a new Society called 
 
THE HURLBUT PARSONAGE, Sudbury Centre. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 481 
 
 Orthodox the old Society enjoyed the outward services of the 
 Gospel irregularly," and that the church was reduced to a 
 small number. We have not ascertained from record what 
 membership was left ; but Deacon Thomas P. Hurlbut was 
 accustomed to state that "but one member remained with 
 the old Parish." All the property was retained by the old 
 society ; but the indications are that a portion, at least, of 
 that which was portable was transferred to it by those who 
 no longer worshipped at the old meeting-house, since one 
 of the records of the Evangelical Union Church, dated 
 February, 1839, is as follows : " To choose a committee to 
 settle with Levi Dakin, the present Treasurer of the Church, 
 and take the papers and money now in his hands, and keep 
 them until claimed by the church, which may be formed in 
 the first Parish." A few years afterwards the First Society 
 had an increase of membership, and the church was reor- 
 ganized as the records of the old parish state. (Page 38.) 
 "In the Fall of 1844 the Church was reorganized, and a 
 number of persons came forward and united in the Lord's 
 Supper, with the few who were members before, and were 
 acknowledged members of the First Church. The number 
 then uniting was twelve." 
 
 For a time the old society had different preachers to 
 supply the pulpit. From March 30 to September 22, accord- 
 ing to a record book of Capt. Israel Haynes, no less than 
 twelve different ministers preached there. In the summer 
 of 1841, Rev. Linus Shaw was invited to preach, which he 
 did till fall. Soon after, the meeting-house was remodelled, 
 and in 1844, he was invited to preach there again ; he did so, 
 and the result was his settlement as pastor. He was installed 
 June 5, 1845, and continued in the pastorate till his death. 
 
 REV. LINUS H. SHAW. 
 
 Linus H. Shaw was born in Raynham Nov. 29, 1804, where 
 he fitted for college with Rev. Enoch Sanford, pastor of 
 the Trinitarian Conq - re«'ational Church. He entered Brown 
 University, which he left at the close of two years in 1827, 
 to engage in teaching. He was for a time second principal 
 of the Bristol County Academy at Taunton, and in 1830, he 
 
482 History or sudbury. 
 
 entered the Divinity School, Cambridge, where he remained 
 three years. In 1834, he was ordained at Athol. He mar- 
 ried Lonisa Alden Jones, and had five children, — Louisa, 
 Henry, Joseph, Maria and Helen. In 1850, he built a house 
 on Plympton Hill, a little north-east of Sudbury Centre, 
 where he lived until his death, Jan. 5, 1866. Mr. Shaw 
 was an estimable man, a valuable citizen, and much respected 
 by the community. lie was small in stature, dignified and 
 gentlemanly in demeanor, quiet and unassuming in his ways. 
 Nov. 24, 1864, he preached a sermon at a union service, held 
 by the several churches of Sudbury, on the subject, " The 
 Black man and the War ; " which, at the people's request, 
 was printed. Since the death of Rev. Linus Shaw, the fol- 
 lowing ministers have acted as pastors for the First Parish : 
 Revs. Bond, Dawes, Webber, Knowles, Willard, Sherman, 
 E. J. Young and Oilman. For several years the church has 
 had preaching but a small portion of each year. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 In 1825, " the building Lanham Bridge was let out to 
 E. Fairbank and David How for the sum of eighty eight 
 dollars." 
 
 In 1826, the town granted thirty dollars " to furnish din- 
 ners and powder for soldiers muster day." 
 
 In 1828, voted to exchange the old bell for a new one. 
 
 April 7, 1828, a road was accepted "from W m Hunt's 
 land, over land of Elisha Hunt to Lanham." 
 
 Nov. 14, 1831, " the town gave leave to have stoves placed 
 in the porch of the meeting house, the funnel passing into the 
 house up through the roof." Rev. Rufus Hurlbut offered to 
 pay fifty dollars towards the expense of the stoves, provided 
 others would raise the remaining amount. A subscription 
 paper was started to which thirty-five names were sub- 
 scribed. The sums pledged varied from fift} r cents to six 
 dollars, making in all one hundred dollars. Only three of 
 the thirty-five are now living, — Walter Rogers, Hopestill 
 Brown and Willard Walker. 
 
 In 1832, a road was accepted by the town " from the Berlin 
 road to Ephraim Moore's." "Voted that the Poor be left 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 483 
 
 to the Overseers of the Poor to let them out to one or more 
 contractors for one year as they shall think best." 
 
 In 1833, the town chose a committee to petition the Post- 
 master-General for a post office at the Centre, and also " to 
 have the North and South offices discontinued. At the same 
 meeting " voted to take the map [of the town] of Mr Wood 
 at sixty-eight dollars." Also "-voted that each individual in 
 town shall have a map of the town for twenty-eight cents." 
 Also " voted to authorize some person to give a warranty 
 deed of the John Green farm." 
 
 In 1835, the town gave liberty to Thomas Plympton to 
 enclose with a fence " the graves of his father and mother 
 and family connections now buried in the grave yard." 
 
 In 1848 and 9, much excitement was caused in Sudbury, in 
 common with other places, by the discovery of gold in Cali- 
 fornia. The discoverer was James W. Marshall, who first 
 saw it near the saw-mill of Capt. John A. Sutter, Feb. 2, 
 1846. The " gold fever " became quite general, and a 
 number of persons started out in the hope of making their 
 fortune, among whom were Humphre}' Sawyer, Hiram Burr, 
 Haman Hunt, Nichols Brown, Samuel and Edward Bacon, 
 Thomas Stearns, Samuel Carr, Eli H. Willis, Samuel Gar- 
 field, Elbridge Haynes and Levi Dow. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 1850-1875. 
 
 Names Applied to different Sections of the Town. — Division into 
 Districts. — Change in the Districts. — Description of South Sud- 
 bury. — Location. — Location of the Railroad Station. — The Boston 
 and Worcester Highway. — Houses Situated along this Highway 
 half a Century Ago. — Changes in Buildings. — The Village Grocery. 
 — Captain Kidder's Shoe Shop. — Sketch of Captain Kidder. — 
 Sketch of Mrs. Kidder. — The Mill. — Wadsworth Monument. — 
 Industries. — Modern Improvements. — Former and Present Owners 
 or Occupants of Homesteads. — The George Pitts Farm. — Descrip- 
 tion of Sudbury Centre. — Location. — Oldest House. — Location of 
 Old Buildings. — Noon House. — Parsonages. — Old Burying-Ground. 
 Common. — Grocery Stores. — Mills. — Former and Present Owners 
 or Occupants of Homesteads. — North Sudbury. — Location. — Post 
 Office and Postmasters. — Industries. — Iron Ore. — Grocery Stores. 
 Change in Construction of Houses. — Taverns. — Saw-Mill. 
 
 We may build more splendid habitations, 
 
 Fill our rooms with paintings and with sculptures, 
 
 But we cannot 
 Buy with gold the old associations. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 As we enter upon the history of the last half of the 
 present century, it may be appropriate and interesting to 
 pause in the narrative and notice some changes that have 
 taken place in the various villages and districts as these 
 relate to the occupants of homesteads, to industries, and the 
 location of dwelling-houses, stores and shops. In doing this, 
 it is desirable and essential to describe things as they are in 
 the present period, not only that by the contrast we may 
 better note the change which the passing years have brought, 
 but that a knowledge of the present may thus be imparted 
 to those who are to come after us, to whom the present will 
 
 484 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 485 
 
 be the past. Different terms have been used to designate 
 the different parts of the town in different stages of its 
 history. In early times, it was the " East and West Side of 
 y e great River;" later, it was the "East and West Pre- 
 cinct," or the "East Side" and "Rocky Plain." After a 
 time, the West Side was divided into wards for the purpose 
 of notification of town meetings, road repairing, and militia 
 organizations. At one time the territorial limit of certain 
 official duties was the old Lancaster road. This ancient 
 highway, probably, divided the town more equally than any 
 other landmark of that time. Still later, the town was 
 divided into districts for school purposes. The locality gave 
 its name to the school, and the school gave its name to the 
 district. But soon after the middle of the century the 
 school districts underwent a change. The Pantry school- 
 house at the road corners was removed, and a new building 
 was erected by the " Great Road " for the North part or 
 North Village. Another school-house was erected about a 
 quarter of a mile south of Pantry bridge, and two schools 
 were established at the Centre. A year later a school-house 
 was built at South Sudbury. These events somewhat 
 changed the designation of different parts of the town by 
 districts ; yet, notwithstanding this, the history of the town 
 is so associated with the five old and familiar school districts, 
 that it is expedient to follow this division in describing dif- 
 ferent parts of the town outside the villages. Before de- 
 scribing the various school districts, however, we will give 
 a description of the villages. The town has three distinct 
 villages, — South Sudbury, Sudbury Centre and North Sud- 
 bury. These all lie in a line, north and south, about midway 
 of the town. 
 
 SOUTH SUDBURY. 
 
 The village of South Sudbury is about a mile south of the 
 Centre, on the Boston and Worcester highway and the Mas- 
 sachusetts Central and northern branch of the Old Colony 
 Railroad. Until recently it was known as "Mill Village." 
 It has a store, post office, machine shop, blacksmith's shop, 
 school-house, chapel, grist-mill, a junction depot, the Good- 
 
486 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 now Library, and about fifty dwelling-houses. The depot is 
 a little westerly of the village, in the locality known to the 
 old inhabitants as "Dana Hunt's swamp," formerly part 
 wood and part pasture, which belonged to the old Thompson 
 estate. The place was once resorted to by the villagers for 
 bilberries, and children picked young checker-bush there. 
 The swamp, though not large, contained a variety of shrub- 
 bery, mixed with pines, oaks and birches. In winter it was 
 quite a resort for partridges, affording both feeding-ground 
 and shelter for them. An old hunter informed me that he 
 had passed through there in the morning and shot birds, and 
 returning at night had taken others, which had flown in 
 during the day from the neighboring woods. 
 
 The oldest house in the village is the " John Allen house,' 
 first east of the store on the north side of the road. It 
 probably dates as far back, at least, as 1700, and may have 
 been built by Abraham Woods, who near that time leased 
 the mill, or by the Noyeses who built it. The house for- 
 merly had a long sloping roof on the back, was painted red, 
 and had a door on the east side. Tradition tells of a small 
 house that stood near the site of the blacksmith's shop by 
 the mill. It also says that, one day, the Indians appeared 
 on the rising ground just over Mill Brook (Leavett's Hill), 
 and a woman at the house made them think men were about 
 by calling out, "Be quick, boys, the Indians are coming!" 
 whereupon the Indians fled. 
 
 South Sudbury has undergone various changes. The 
 Boston and Worcester highway formerly went south of 
 Green Hill, then followed "the old road" to the village, 
 and beyond the bridge it turned southerly and left the Cutler 
 and Walter Rogers houses on the north, and came out by the 
 W heeler house near the clay-pits that were formerly on the 
 old Gibbs farm. This highway in former times was much 
 travelled. Loaded teams came from as far as Vermont, and 
 sometimes two or three stages daily passed over it. One 
 day a three-horse team from Brookfleld was coming up Green 
 Hill when a flash of lightning killed every horse. Along this 
 road the village was built. The only buildings on the south 
 side of it fifty years ago, between Abel Smith's at Green Hill 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 487 
 
 and the bridge, were Capt. Enoch Kidder's house (John B. 
 Goodnow's), built in 1813 or 14, the mill buildings, the 
 blacksmith's shop (J. P. Allen's), built in 1826 and lately 
 demolished, and an old barn nearly opposite the Allen house. 
 In this old barn, tradition says, a noted character, commonly 
 called Tom Cook, sometimes stopped for the night. This 
 man was a notorious tramp or itinerant thief, well known for 
 his eccentric ways. A little later the Kidder shoe shop was 
 built, just east of the Kidder house. On the north side of 
 the road were about a dozen buildings between Green Hill 
 and the bridge. The first by the brook was a blacksmith's 
 shop, where the Browns made billhooks, cleavers, hatchets 
 and knives ; next to this was the Thompson malt house, to 
 which the town's people brought barley for malt ; beyond 
 this was the William Brown place, a low, one-story house; 
 and further on at the west corner of the Boston and Worces- 
 ter and meeting-house roads was the " tavern stand ; " 
 beyond the tavern, on the opposite corner, was the store 
 kept by Gardener and Luther Hunt, a small building with an 
 L running north ; next in order came a dwelling-house since 
 burned, Fisher's wheelwright's shop, the Woods or Allen 
 house, the Fisher house, and a few rods up the hill the house 
 occupied by Josiah Richardson, which is still standing. Be- 
 tween this house and Green Hill was only the Cutter place 
 (Hiram Goodnow's) and the Gideon Richardson place (now 
 Newton place). Up to 1825, there was no house on the 
 " meeting-house road " to the Israel How Brown place. Such 
 was South Sudbury half a century ago. The changes that 
 have come over it have been gradual ; no sudden or single 
 stroke has swept the landmarks away, but one by one they 
 have gone. The old store was burned Feb. 14, 1841, and the 
 one built in its place shared a like fate in 1887. A new mill 
 was erected in 1853, which in 1886 was burned, and the same 
 year another was built on its site. The blacksmith's shop and 
 malt house, after years of disuse, were torn down, one about 
 thirty, the other about forty years ago. About 1864, the 
 tavern buildings were demolished. In 1861 and 62, the 
 Goodnow Library was put up by John Harriman. In 1857, 
 Wadsworth Academy was built, and in 1879 it was burned, 
 
488 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 and the Congregational Chapel erected in its place in 1880. 
 Thus change has been active with its busy hand. The 
 history of some of these buildings that have thus passed 
 away is of considerable interest. The old store was the only 
 village grocery for scores of years, as was also its successor. 
 Tradition says it was established by Capt. Levi Holden, who 
 commanded the "south militia company." Subsequent to 
 Captain Holden's possession, it was owned by Asher Cutler, 
 and kept by Abel Cutler and Jesse Goodnow, and was pur- 
 chased by Messrs. Gardener and Luther Hunt near the 
 beginning of the present century. Much spirituous liquor 
 was sold at this grocery to the people in all the country 
 round, till the starting of the temperance cause, when the 
 traffic in rum there ceased. G. and L. Hunt were succeeded 
 by Charles and Emory Hunt. The present proprietor is 
 George, son of Emory. Formerly, this store was the centre 
 of an extensive trade. About the year 1850, there was a 
 large barter in straw braid. Women and children braided 
 straw in their homes from the material cut green in the rye 
 field, then dried, whitened and split, and turned straw upon 
 straw in " seven strand," which brought from a half cent to 
 two cents a yard. Teams from the neighboring towns 
 brought this work, which was exchanged for a variety of 
 wares, and the hitching-posts of the entire store front were 
 sometimes all in use at one time. An old store sign was 
 "Furniture, Feathers & Crockery Ware Rooms," and this 
 included stoves, carpets, and sundry commodities not always 
 found in a country store. In process of time the braid trade 
 ceased, the old mill that " brought custom " ceased for a time 
 "to grind the towns corn," the old "firm" was dissolved, 
 and a part of the store became a private dwelling-place ; 
 since then the other part has been an ordinary store for the 
 sale of English and West India goods. Besides Hunt's 
 store another place of some interest was the " Kidder shoe 
 shop." This has lately been remodelled and made into a 
 private residence, but for years the upper part was a shoe 
 shop and the lower used as a grocery. In the earlier life of 
 the well-known proprietor, business at this shop was very 
 brisk. In addition to the local patronage, marketers were 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 489 
 
 accustomed to leave orders as they came from the towns 
 beyond. This was, perhaps, one of the last places where the 
 old " tongue " boot was made. The Kidder shop was quite 
 a resort for the villagers on a wet day or winter's evening. 
 There they gathered and gossiped and smoked as the night's 
 early hours went by. It was a quaint old place. Pictures 
 of a jDatriotic and political character — " The Battle of 
 Bunker Hill," "The Storming of a Mexican Fort," like- 
 nesses of Webster, Benton, Calhoun and Clay — were upon 
 the walls, and near the ceiling hung two flint-lock muskets 
 left over when the militia broke up. Captain Kidder was 
 bent in form and looked old when those now middle-aged 
 were young. He was a Whig and held various town offices. 
 His wife was the village florist, and various and wonderful 
 to our eyes were the plants and flowers that grew in Mrs. 
 Kidder's " front yard." Besides these, there were in the 
 side yard beds and boxes of plants. In this collection was a 
 fig-tree which she had cultivated from the seed and which at 
 one time bore one or two hundred figs. On the place were 
 high cherry-trees, heavy in their season with luscious fruit, 
 and apple-trees that were choice and in those days rare. 
 Mrs. Kidder was a good-hearted, benevolent woman, of large 
 hospitality, and, like her husband, was much esteemed. As 
 the Kidders were so well and so widely known, a short 
 sketch of the household may properly be considered a part 
 of the historic sketch of South Sudbury. 
 
 Enoch Kidder was born in 1777 and died in 1865. He 
 was a brother of Dr. Kidder, a physician of Sudbury. (See 
 Chapter on Physicians.) In early life he learned the tan- 
 ner's trade. On moving to Sudbury he commenced the 
 manufacture of boots and shoes. For a time he occujued 
 the Josiah Richardson house. After building the Kidder 
 house, for a time he used the east part of it for a shop or a 
 lodging-place for his apprentices. His trade was largely 
 with the old shoe firm of Faxon and Company of Boston, 
 and his reputation was known far and near as a manufacturer 
 of reliable work. At one time he was captain of the militia, 
 and was sent as representative to the Legislature. His wife, 
 Hannah Newton of Marlboro, born in 1781, was, before her 
 
490 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 marriage, a school teacher, and was a personage as con- 
 spicuous as was the shrubbery that adorned her home. Her 
 loud, cheerful voice was a familiar sound in the village, as, 
 on a bright morning in June, she bustled about the premises 
 as busy as the bees among her bright flowers. A green 
 turban sat on her head which broadened her genial face, and 
 when she went out for a neighborly call she wore a " calash " 
 of the same color. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Kidder, the house- 
 hold consisted of a daughter Nancy, born in 1807, who was 
 the only child living, and Miss Almira Cutter, the house- 
 keeper. Nancy was the pet of the home and a general 
 favorite ; she was of delicate health and died in 1856. 
 " Mira " Cutter, as the housekeeper was familiarly called, 
 belonged to the Cutter family of Sudbury. She went to 
 Mrs. Kidder's to spend the day and remained forty years, 
 having the main charge of the household and outliving the 
 whole family. She died a few years ago and was buried in 
 the Kidder tomb in Wadsworth Cemetery. 
 
 Another object of interest is the mill. At one time it was 
 owned by Asher Cutler. We were informed by his grandson, 
 the late C. G. Cutler, that he was very rigid, and would shut 
 down the mill at sundown Saturday night. Asher Cutler 
 left the mill jointly to his sons, Asher and Abel, the former 
 of whom lived in the " Woods house." The fact that the 
 house and the mill were both owned by the same parties at 
 different periods leads to the conjecture that the two pieces 
 of property, for a time at least, went together, and possibly 
 the " Woods House " was built by the Noyeses who put up 
 "the mill." Later owners have been General Sawin, a 
 militia officer, who also owned the old tavern stand, Jesse 
 Brigham, and Mr. Knight who sold it to Abel Richardson. 
 This mill has not only ground the town's corn, but some also 
 for the region around. For years it was a grist and saw-mill 
 combined : the former was run by a large breast- wheel and 
 had two run of stones, the latter, by a wheel of itself which 
 ran an upright saw. The "Mill Lane," which led from the 
 county road, used to be well filled with "saw logs," mostly 
 white pine and oak. A few years ago, the old upper dam, 
 which was a few rods north of the bridge, was in use. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 491 
 
 Three gates that could be raised with an iron bar controlled 
 the waters that for acres above, at certain seasons, set it 
 back nearly to Hayden's bridge. The present dam by the 
 bridge is of recent construction, and was built by Charles O. 
 Parmenter, the present owner. The old mill was demolished 
 about 1853, and another was put in its place, which, about 
 1866, was leased to Samuel Rogers and Company for manu- 
 facturing purposes. After being used for making hats and 
 leather board it again became a grist-mill, and so continued 
 until, a few years ago, it was destroyed by fire. A new mill 
 has been erected on the site of the old one, and still the 
 farmers of Sudbury bring their grists to the same old spot 
 where their grain has been ground for about two hundred 
 years. Another building of interest was the Wadsworth 
 Academy. (See Period 1850-1875.) The old tavern stand 
 was another familiar spot. (See Chapter on Taverns.) 
 
 The principal object of interest in this village is the 
 Wadsworth Monument. From the hill slope (Green Hill), 
 just east of the monument, is a magnificent prospect, as the 
 countiy outstretches for miles to the westward without a hill 
 to obstruct the view. On this hill-top was Wadsworth's 
 last battle-ground. (See Period 1675-1700.) A part of 
 South Sudbury village is situated in a quiet vale, with a spur 
 of Green Hill on the north and Leavitt Hill on the south ; 
 the former takes its name from the evergreens that once 
 grew upon it, and the latter from Leavitt How whose home 
 was on the south side of it ; an old cellar hole still marks 
 the spot. 
 
 INDUSTRIES. 
 
 The industries of South Sudbury have been various. In 
 1794, besides the saw and grist-mill run by Cutler and 
 Holden, there was a fulling-mill run by Mr. Reed. About 
 three-quarters of a century ago, bricks were made at the 
 Gibbs place and also at the Farr farm. Clay-pits at both 
 places are yet to be seen unless recently filled. As has been 
 noticed, malt was made at the malt house (Thompson's), 
 people coming from all parts of the town for this product. 
 Leather was tanned by William Wheeler at a place just 
 
492 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 beyond the bridge, near the old " upper dam." There were 
 also tanning vats on the "Island" (land between the ma- 
 chine shop and the mill). On the "meeting house road" 
 was a bakery. It was moved from the spot just east of the 
 Willard Wheeler house, and is now owned by John Jones. 
 About 1850, William Jones and Theodore Brown had a shoe 
 manufactory at what is now the Bowen place. Since 1850, 
 shoe tacks and nails were made at the mill by Calvin How, 
 and hats and leather board by Rogers and Moore. The main 
 business in and about South Sudbury has been farming. Of 
 late years, early gardening has received much attention and 
 greenhouses have been used by some. The first greenhouse 
 in Sudbury was erected in 1879 by Hubbard H. Brown for 
 raising cucumbers. He has since erected three more, all of 
 which cover six thousand feet of ground. Since 1882, thirty 
 greenhouses have been built. There is now used for raising 
 vegetables and flowers nearly one hundred thousand square 
 feet of land covered with glass. Fifteen farmers and gar- 
 deners are engaged in the work. It is estimated that seven 
 hundred tons of coal are consumed yearly, and about fifty 
 thousand dollars are invested in the business. The buildings 
 are all heated by hot water except in one instance where 
 steam is used. Most of these are used for raising vegetables, 
 such as cucumbers, lettuce, rhubarb, tomatoes, etc. One 
 house has twenty-eight thousand lettuce plants, another has 
 twelve thousand carnation pinks. In 1881, the manufacture 
 of machinery was begun at South Sudbury by Rufus H. 
 Ilurlbut. The business is now carried on by the firm of 
 Ilurlbut & Rogers. The machine shop is near the Parmen- 
 ter mill and the Massachusetts Central Railroad. 
 
 MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 The first carriage in town was owned by John Brown. 
 A wagon was owned by Christopher Cutler nearly fifty or 
 seventy-five years ago which cost eleven dollars. The first 
 kerosene lamp \v;is used by Miss L. R. Draper (Mrs. A. S. 
 Hudson) at the Willard Wheeler house. The first mowing 
 machine was owned by John AVhitman Rice, and used on 
 the Farr farm. The first sewing machine was, perhaps, the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 493 
 
 one used by Kichard Horr at the Kidder shop for stitching 
 " shoe uppers." It was operated by a crank turned by hand. 
 Hard coal was, perhaps, first used at Hunt's store. 
 
 The former owners of most of the farms in and about 
 South Sudbury have been given in connection with other 
 parts of its history ; we will, therefore, only mention the few 
 that remain. The Thadeus Moore place was the Ashbel 
 Hayden place ; the main house was the Thompson house, 
 moved from just beyond the bridge at South Sudbury village. 
 The Nathan Haynes place, just beyond Lowance Brook or 
 Hunt's Bridge, was the Jonas Hunt place. The small red 
 house with gable roof, on the South Sudbury and Fram- 
 ingham highway, just beyond the Old Colony Railroad, was 
 moved to its present position, many years ago, from the 
 Bryant place just beyond the William Stone house. Walter 
 Rogers' farm was formerly part of the Cutler place and was 
 owned by Major Holden, and before that by Mr. Seger, a sea 
 captain. The C. G. Cutler place was the old George Pitts 
 place. A building formerly stood south of the present one, 
 near which the old road passed. It was once used for a 
 tavern, and was probably kept by George Pitts, at whose 
 house one of the early meetings was held to consider the 
 matter of having preaching on the West Side. (See Period 
 1700-1725.) The George Pitts farm once contained a large 
 land tract which was granted to him in 1715. The record 
 of this grant is as follows : In 1715, at a meeting of the 
 proprietors of the common and undivided land in Sudbury, 
 " Said Proprietors by unanimous vote without any Contra- 
 diction did give and grant to George Pitts of Sudbury and 
 his heirs and assigns forever all the common land as the 
 committee hath viewed it and returned and bounded it that 
 is to say, all y e common Land Lying between the new Mills 
 in Sudbury and so from there as the road goeth to Marl- 
 borough to the gate y 1 Leads to Capt Brown's y* is, all the 
 Land on the South Side of the road as it is bounded and the 
 meadows called Lowance meadows Lying east south and 
 west of the land, all which land the Proprietors have granted 
 to George Pitts, only the Proprietors reserve for our con- 
 venient Drift ways to the above said Lowance Meadows, 
 
494 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 and gravell to mend the Mill Dam and the highways as there 
 shall be occasion. This vote passed into an act as attest. 
 
 " Peter Haynes Moderator 
 " This said land is on the west side of Sudbury river." 
 (Proprietor's First Book of Records, page 175.) 
 
 SUDBURY CENTRE. 
 
 The " Centre," or, as it was formerly called, the " Middle 
 of the Town," is situated on the northern branch of the Old 
 Colony Railroad, and nearly midway of the town. It has 
 three churches, a school-house, town-house, blacksmith's 
 shop, wheelwright's shop, grocery store, depot and three or 
 four dozen dwelling-houses. The place was anciently called 
 " Rocky Plain," afterwards " The West Precinct," and dates 
 its beginning as a village about 1725. The oldest house in 
 the village is, probably, the " Tower house," now owned by 
 Frank E. Bent, and situated next south of the Orthodox 
 Church. Its date is unknown, but it looked old in the youth 
 of the oldest inhabitant, as did also the Lewis Moore house, 
 the next but two further south, where Mr. Moore, the village 
 cooper, in an L running northerly, once plied his trade. 
 The Tower house, prior to its possession by Mr. Jonas 
 Tower, was occupied by a man named Noyes. This house 
 may have been the first one erected on " Rocky Plain," and 
 the one referred to in the Town Records as " the new 
 house." This village has undergone much change within 
 the past seventy-five years. Early in this century there was 
 a blacksmith's shop at what is now the corner of the railroad 
 and highway, and northerly of the house of Horace Par- 
 menter. The shop was kept by Josiah Haynes; nearly op- 
 posite, north of the road, was a house since demolished 
 occupied by Asa Haynes ; and a little beyond this on the 
 bank, was the George Barker house, a low building with its 
 four-sided roof, which stood until a few years ago. Dr. Taft, 
 a physician, once lived there. Subsequently a store was 
 kept at the place by Reuben Moore. Where Garfield and 
 Parmenter's grocery stands, there was formerly a store kept 
 by Ephraim Stone and Asahel Dakin, which was burnt about 
 forty years ago, together with a tavern house which stood 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 495 
 
 on the corner nearly north of it. Nearly opposite the grocery 
 site the Powers house once stood, at which time it was 
 painted red. At the Joel Moore place, since the residence 
 of Lemuel Brown, the first house west of the Unitarian 
 Church, a store was kept by Capt. Asahel Wheeler. This 
 country store-keeper, we are informed by an old inhabitant, 
 "was large, smart, and lived to be very old." For a long 
 time he led the singing in the old church choir. Nearly 
 opposite Captain Wheeler's store was a low, unpainted house 
 which looked old seventy-five years ago. The school-house 
 was near the bank by the town-house. It was a small, red 
 structure, built towards the close of the last century. Its 
 successor stood on the common at its south-east corner, and 
 was moved to its present position only a few years ago. On 
 the common, nearly front of the old parish meeting-house 
 and under the large buttonwood-tree, was the horse-block 
 where the people mounted and dismounted when they went 
 on horseback to church. Near the site of the Orthodox 
 Church once stood the blacksmith's shop of Abijah Powers. 
 It was moved to its present location about 1839, and was an 
 old building then. Before its possession by the present 
 owner it was occupied by Myron Wright, and still earlier 
 by John Wallace. A "noon house" stood near the horse- 
 sheds ; perhaps there were more than one. These buildings 
 were erected by private parties and furnished with fireplaces 
 for the benefit of people between services on the Sabbath. 
 Beyond the Common to the easterly,, in what was then the 
 first house towards Boston (Loring parsonage), a tavern was 
 kept by Walter Haynes. Beyond this, at the George Good- 
 now house, Parson Bigelow lived. On the road to South 
 Sudbury, at what is now the Smith Jones place, Rev. Rufas 
 Hurlbut lived. 
 
 The house now occupied by Luman Willis w T as the old 
 Ashur Goodnow store. There a grocery was kept for years, 
 and many a townsman still remembers the bent form of the 
 aged proprietor as he dealt out his wares. The second 
 building westerly of the Unitarian Church was erected by 
 Dr. Thomas Stearns, about a half century since, and used 
 for his residence till his decease : and after the " old Corner 
 
496 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Tavern " was burnt it was used for a public house by 
 Webster Moore. The present store building was moved to 
 its present location since 1848. The lower story was for- 
 merly the old Centre school-house. Various traders have 
 sold at its counters, prominent among whom were Stone and 
 Dakin, Jonas Hunt and Smith Jones. The house occupied 
 by Horace Parmenter was formerly owned by Capt. William 
 Brio-ham, and was moved to its present location from a spot 
 to the north-easterly, to give place to the railroad. The 
 wheelwright's shop of Sewall Taylor is on the site of the 
 building once used for religious services by the Evangelical 
 Union Church. It was built in 1853, and was moved from 
 South Sudbury, where it was originally Haynes's carpenter's 
 shop, and later, Jones and Brown's shoe shop. In 1851, a 
 saw and grist mill was built near Wash Bridge by Asahel 
 Ilaynes. It is now owned by the Prescott Willis heirs. A 
 small saw-mill once stood southerly of the Asa Jones place, 
 which was built by Mr. Jones in 1842. It was moved about 
 five years afterwards and demolished in 1851. Beyond the 
 Willis mill is the Wash Brook bridge. About seventy-five 
 years ago, the father of the late Reuben Rice of Concord was 
 killed crossing this bridge ; he was engaged hauling lumber 
 for the meeting-house when the load fell on him. Before 
 leaving this part of the town, it may be of interest to men- 
 tion the outlying estates as they were known to the older 
 inhabitants. For the sake of brevity, we will place in two 
 columns the present or recent and former names of the 
 places, owners or occupants. 
 
 PRESENT. FORMER. 
 
 Charles Haynes. Curtis Moore. 
 
 The Prescott Willis heirs. David Lincoln. 
 
 Elisha Goodnow. Capt. William Brigham. 
 
 Widow Asahel Dakin. Asa Jones. 
 
 Francis Haynes. Samuel Jones, prior to him Maynard. 
 
 John Quinn. Lyman Willis. 
 
 Elisha E. Smith. William Maynard. 
 
 George Moore. Newell Bent. 
 
 Calvin J. Morse. Martin Moore. 
 
 Theodore Morse. Jason Bent. 
 
 Asahel F. Hunt. William Hunt. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 497 
 
 W. H. Fairbank. Tilly Smith. 
 
 Luke McCann. Henry Goodnow. 
 
 Charles Haynes. Reuben Moore. 
 
 John W. Rice (House recently Capt. William Rice. 
 
 burned). 
 
 Horatio Hunt. Thomas Hurlbut. 
 
 Lucius Bent. Reuben Moore, Jr. 
 
 Isaac Clark. Osborn. 
 
 Aaron Hunt. Thomas Plympton (House demol- 
 
 in 1886). 
 
 Among the objects of interest about the village of Sudbury 
 Centre is the old Burying-Ground. The Common, also, is a 
 place of interest. Thither the minute-men repaired at the 
 bell strokes on the morning of April 19, 1775. The train- 
 bands of Sudbury afterwards made it their place of parade 
 and spread their tents upon it on " old Election " or the 
 Fourth of July. Generations of church-goers from the West 
 Precinct's very beginning have strolled over it, or sat on its 
 grassy covering during the intermission of Sabbath services ; 
 and all that is mortal of many a former inhabitant has been 
 borne over its quiet roadway to the church-yard beyond. 
 The school children from the old red school-house made it 
 their play-ground for many years. There the people talked 
 politics on town-meeting day when the meeting-house was 
 their voting-place, and about it clustered the first homesteads 
 that made a village of Sudbury Centre. 
 
 NORTH SUDBURY. 
 
 The village of North Sudbury is in the northerly part of 
 the old Pantry school district, which it was once a part of, 
 and borders on Concord. It contains about thirty dwelling- 
 houses, which is about the same number as were there both 
 fifty and one hundred years ago. Whatever of village this 
 locality has is mainly made up of scantily scattered farm- 
 houses along the Boston and Fitchburg highway, which was 
 built about 1800. It has a post office, kept by Edwin 
 Conant. The school-house is by the " Great Road ; " it was 
 built during the late Avar and cost three thousand dollars. 
 Before its erection the pupils went to "the Pantry school." 
 
498 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The post office was established about 1880, on petition of 
 Willard Maynard and others. The following postmasters 
 served up to 1839 : Josiah Adams, Joseph Wheelock, Wil- 
 liam Hunt, 3d. For a time, the postmaster at Lincoln took 
 charge of the North Sudbury mail ; but, on petition of three- 
 fourths of the town voters for the removal of the South office 
 to the Centre, the South postmaster, wishing to retain his 
 office, suggested to the people of the north part to petition 
 for the re-establishment of a post office there, which they 
 did with success. The petition for an office at the Centre 
 was refused on the ground that it was nearer the South office 
 than the department rules would allow. The new office at 
 the North was kept by John Sawyer. Various small indus- 
 tries have engaged the attention of the people of this neigh- 
 borhood in the past. In 1770, a Mr. Brown had a harness 
 and whip shop near the south side of the Tavern Plain. In 
 1780, Samuel Dakin and Deacon Dakin had cooper's shops, 
 and there was another near J. H. Adams's in 1825. A shoe- 
 maker's shop was at J. Puffer's tavern in 1800, and N. 
 Barrett had a shoe shop one-half mile east of Pratt's tavern. 
 Daniel Bowker had a blacksmith's and axe shop between 1790 
 and 1820, and John Haynes had a blacksmith's shop from 
 1820 to 1840 and a wheelwright's shop from 1835 to 1845. 
 Abijah Brigham had a blacksmith's shop one mile west of 
 Pratt's tavern from 1770 to 1800. The site is now in May- 
 nard. Thus the ring of the anvil and hammer have been 
 heard in the past where now not a shop exists. In 1827, 
 iron ore was taken from the edges of bog meadows and from 
 different farms to the amount of over one hundred tons, 
 which was carted to Concord River at Lee's Bridge and 
 taken in boats to Chelmsford. 
 
 About 1815, a grocery store was kept a few years by Asa 
 Puffer, one-half mile west of Pratt's Tavern, and at the same 
 place groceries and dry goods were kept by Josiah H. Adams 
 from 1822 to 1830. In 1820, William Hunt, 3d, and William 
 Wheeler kept a grocery and dry goods store, a half mile east 
 of Pratt's tavern, and at the same place from 1825 to 1851 
 Nahum Thompson kept a stock of the same articles. Gro- 
 ceries were also kept by John Sawyer, three-quarters of a 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 499 
 
 mile west of Pratt's tavern, from 1830 to 1840. In this part 
 of the town the most noted tavern was perhaps the old Pratt 
 Tavern, burned in 1887. This was built previous to 1820 
 by Nathan Wheeler, adopted heir of Isaac Puffer, who many 
 years kept a tavern in a house now owned by Mrs. McNulty. 
 Since the first proprietorship the following persons have 
 kept this inn : David Gerry, 1822 ; Earl Stratton, Willard 
 Wiley, 1826 ; Lucius Dickinson, one year ; Joseph Wheelock, 
 William Hunt 3d, Lyman Haynes, Solomom E. Pratt, about 
 ten years ; Jesse Gibbs, Robert Burrington, Leonard Carter, 
 1863. The farm and buildings were purchased of the Bur- 
 rington heirs about 1864, by Capt. Abel B. Jones, who 
 annexed the land to his farm and discontinued the tavern. 
 Four stages daily, Sundays excepted, stopped at this inn for 
 passengers and a relay of horses. The stage route belonged 
 to Chedorlaomer Marshal, commonly called Kidder Marshal, 
 of Fitchburg, who was mail contractor. 
 
 This stage route continued after Mr. Pratt kept the tavern 
 until the completion of the Fitchburg Railroad. Jonas Puffer, 
 brother of Isaac, kept a tavern a half mile from his brother's 
 during the last quarter of the last century, on the old Con- 
 cord and Marlboro road, then much travelled, now almost 
 deserted. The road through North Sudbury is called by the 
 people of the place the " Great Road," and by those of the 
 centre and South Sudbury the " North Road." The true 
 name is the Boston & Fitchburg Road. 
 
 But few homesteads in North Sudbury are possessed by 
 the posterity of original proprietors. It is supposed that the 
 ancestors of Frank M. Bowker, Jonathan C. Dakin and 
 Frederic Haynes were probably the first settlers on the farms 
 that their descendants now occupy, but other places have 
 largely changed hands. There are in the district but few old 
 houses. Most of those built from 1700 to 1725, which had 
 two stories in front and one in the rear, and nearly all of 
 which faced southward, whatever direction the road, were 
 nearly all pulled down between 1820 and 1840, and were 
 succeeded by houses of two stories, only one room in width 
 with a projecting kitchen called an " L." It is said this 
 style continued about twenty years and was followed by the 
 
500 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 modern house of various shape. A saw-mill once stood near 
 the place now owned by George Barton, which was built by 
 Joseph Noyse about 1775. The water power was insufficient, 
 and the mill was finally sold, taken down and carried to 
 Maynard. 
 
 It is said that the saw, as it dragged down through the log 
 and then went up, sounded as if saying, " Shall I go or shall 
 I not.' 1 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 1850-1875. 
 
 Description of School Districts. — Lanham District. — Territorial Limits. 
 
 — School-House. — Old School Customs. — Order of Exercises. — 
 Examination Day. — Former Dwellings. — Their Owners or Occu- 
 pants. — Clay- Pits. — South -West District. — Origin of the Term 
 Peakham. — School-house. — ■ Name of it. — District Limits. — Location 
 of Railroad Station. — Places of Historic Interest. — Mills. — Present 
 and Former Owners or Occupants of Homesteads. — North-West 
 District. — Location of School-House. — Assabet Village. — The 
 "Rice Tavern." — The Oldest House. — Early Inhabitants. — North- 
 East or Pantry District. — Territorial Limits. — Origin of the Name. 
 
 — Railroad Station. — Pantry School-House. — Poetic Description of 
 it. — Mr. Israel Haynes. — Incident of his Life. — Block House. — 
 Old Loring Parsonage. — The Gravel Pit. — Historic Reminiscences. 
 
 — Taverns. — School-House. — Indian Grave. — Government Store- 
 Houses. — Training-Field. — Irregularity of Town Boundary Line. — 
 Cause of it. — Caleb Wheeler Farm. 
 
 Each man's chimney is his golden mile-stone, 
 Is the central point, from which he measures 
 
 Every distance 
 Through the gate-ways of the world around him. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 LANHAM DISTKICT. 
 
 This word has been spelled Lanham, Landham and Lan- 
 num or Lanum. (For origin, see page 70.) As a school 
 district, it formerly extended a half mile westerly of Mill 
 Village (South Sudbury) and southerly to just beyond Hunt's 
 Bridge. Lanham proper extends from the South Sudbury 
 and Wayland highway to Framingham line, and from Heard's 
 Pond to Lowance'Brook. Various changes have taken place 
 in this district, noticeable among which is the removal of the 
 school-house to its present location. It formerly stood on 
 
 501 
 
f>02 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the town's common land, near the Coolidge place, between 
 the three roads, and was removed but a few years since. Its 
 predecessor was an old red structure built, probably, about 
 a century ago. We remember it as a nearly or quite square 
 building with a roof sloping four ways and a small L for an 
 entry on the south. The windows were high, and on the 
 rude benches and desks were the signs of misspent hours, 
 where the idler with his jackknife had made his mark. As 
 the customs of district school life here were, probably, the 
 same in the other districts, we will allude briefly to some of 
 them. There were two terms in the year, called the " winter 
 school " and the " summer school." The former began the 
 first Monday in December and closed about the first of March. 
 The beginning and the ending were both great events. The 
 first was attended by early rising and repairing to the school- 
 house to get a " good seat." While propriety gave the back 
 scats to the elder scholars, the principle acted on was " first 
 come, first served/' Weeks beforehand, books were put in 
 the desks as a kind of half claim, but the day the school was 
 opened the room was occupied long before daybreak. At 
 nine o'clock the schoolmaster appeared, sometimes attended 
 by the local " committee man." He at once became the 
 object of common and curious scrutiny, his sagacity, stature 
 and strength being then and there duly considered. The 
 names and ages of the scholars were then taken, and the 
 questions to each, "What have you studied?" " How far 
 have you been ? " " What studies do you expect to take ? " 
 were quickly put and answered, and the classes were formed. 
 The order of exercises in the morning was as follows : roll- 
 call, reading of the Scriptures, each scholar rising and read- 
 ing a verse in (urn, prayer at the option of the master, and 
 classes in reading, arithmetic and writing, interrupted by a 
 short recess at half-past ten. In the afternoon the order was, 
 usually, reading, beginning with the first class, geography, 
 grammar, history and spelling. The recess was at half-past 
 two. The "nooning" was from twelve to one. This was 
 usually employed by the boys, in good weather, at ball, 
 "round ball" being the favorite. The Massachusetts Cen- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 508 
 
 tral Railroad now runs over the old ball-ground, which lay 
 east and west of the bridge. 
 
 Such was the usual routine as the weeks passed by. Now 
 and then some little episode would break in, as when the 
 " committee came in " or the school had a sleigh-ride some 
 bright winter's day, or a half holiday for some reason was 
 given. At the close of the term was examination day, 
 familiarly called the "last day." This was the great event 
 of the term, when the committee, and friends, and visitors 
 from other districts came in. The day before was always 
 devoted to washing and trimming the school-room. The 
 floor was scoured till it was almost white. The woods were 
 searched for evergreens, and wreaths and festoons were 
 made to decorate the nicely cleaned walls. When all was 
 completed, the weary workers sat down to a feast, made up 
 of pie and cake brought by the girls, and confectionery pur- 
 chased by the boys with a collection of small change. After 
 the recitations of examination day were over the committee 
 "made remarks," the clergyman offered prayer, and the 
 visitors retired. The master lingered for a time to make 
 some parting remarks, or perhaps to present a card or book 
 or bestow a reward for good conduct, and then " school was 
 done." The summer school was always taught by a woman, 
 and lasted two or three months. The older boys and girls 
 were kept at home this term to assist in the household and 
 on the farm. 
 
 Besides changes connected with the school, many others 
 have occurred in Lanham in the last hundred years. A 
 stone bridge has taken the place of the wooden one. On 
 the site of the Nahuni Goodnow house, built in 1886, the 
 old house of John Goodnow the centenarian once stood. 
 The latter, built by Mr. Gooodnow when a young man, is 
 still standing a few rods to the north. At or near its present 
 site was a small building where Mr. Goodnow lived when 
 he first came to his Lanham estate. The lane, running 
 westerly by Lanham meadows towards Lowance to William 
 Goodnow's, is old. On the north side of it various dwell- 
 ings once stood, a man named Gibbs living in one of them. 
 Near where the Brooks house now stands was the old Elisha 
 
504 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Hunt homestead. Several generations of Hunts have lived 
 in this house, which was probably built at least one hundred 
 and fifty years ago. It is now moved easterly, to the north 
 side of the road, and is used as the farmhouse of the Brooks 
 estate. The first house on the place, tradition informs us, 
 was built of planks, and was half frame and half log house ; 
 it stood at or near the original site of the farmhouse. By 
 the roadside, at the corner a few rods west, was a small, low, 
 unpainted building consisting of two rooms, once used for a 
 school-house. At one time Isaac Moore, a Revolutionary 
 soldier, lived there. His son, Warren, was in the privateer 
 service of 1812, and was made prisoner and taken to Dart- 
 moor Prison, England. In this district was the old Good- 
 now Garrison. (See page 199.) In this district are several 
 clay-pits ; some are near Heard's Pond, and some are men- 
 tioned in the records as being near the town line. Lanham 
 brook is the lower part of Hop brook. Robinson brook, 
 near Green Hill, has its name from the Robinson family, 
 which lived south of the road on the east bank of the brook. 
 The Massachusetts Central Railroad station in this district 
 is called East Sudbury. 
 
 SOUTH-WEST DISTRICT. 
 
 This district has also been called Peakham. It is stated 
 that a man by the name of Peakham once owned a little land 
 in that part of Sudbury, and that the land was called after 
 the name of its owner ; from which circumstance the whole 
 locality thereabouts came to be called Peakham. The area 
 embraced in tlte original limits of this district is large, but 
 it contains neither post office, village, nor even any consider- 
 able hamlet. The school-house is situated a little northerly 
 of the South Sudbury and Marlboro road, and was built 
 towards forty years ago. A school-house has stood on the 
 spot at least a hundred years. Latterly, the school was called 
 the "Wayside Inn School," but for several years it has been 
 discontinued, and the scholars being few are carried to South 
 Sudbury. 
 
 Formerly, children attended the Peakham school from as 
 far south and east as the Brown farms near the Framing- 
 
RESIDENCE OF NAHUM GOODNOW. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 505 
 
 ham line, and from as far north as the Perry and Moore 
 places. This district lies along a large share of the town's 
 western border, but is perhaps at no point more thickly in- 
 habited than within a half mile of the school-house. The 
 Massachusetts Central Railroad runs through it, and has a 
 station called the " Wayside Inn Station." The situation of 
 this depot is exceptionally secluded, no other building being 
 in sight on account of the woods by which it is nearly sur- 
 rounded. The district has several places of considerable 
 historical interest, and has been the birthplace and home of 
 some of Sudbury's most prominent men. Here is " Howe's 
 Tavern " or the " Wayside Inn." (See chapter on Taverns). 
 Here is the old Walker Garrison House, and the sites of the 
 Parmenter and old Brown garrisons. (See Chapter XI.) 
 Here, at Nobscot, was the house of John Nixon, and here 
 was the small-pox hospital. For years there were three 
 mills in this district, —Howe's, Dutton's and Moore's. The 
 first, early in the century, was owned by Buckley Howe, 
 and still earlier by Joseph Howe. It was for years a grist- 
 mill only, but subsequently it was made use of by J. C. 
 Howe as a manufactory of shoe nails. It stands on Hop 
 Brook a short distance above the Wayside Inn, and was the 
 most westerly mill on this stream in town. 
 
 Dutton's mill was built by Joel and Samuel Knights about 
 1780. They also owned and used it. About the same time 
 they established a West India goods store on the " Dutton 
 farm." Moore's or Pratt's mill was erected about 1740, by 
 Daniel Woodward, its first owner, who died in 1760. In 
 1794, it was called Perry's saw-mill. Mr. Woodward also, 
 about one hundred and fifty years ago, built the house occu- 
 pied by Capt. James Moore, whose grandfather married Mr. 
 Woodward's daughter. At first this mill was only a saw- 
 mill, but in 1830 a shingle mill was started there, and in 1837 
 a grist and bolting mill were put in by Ephraim and James 
 Moore, who divided the property in 1848. Colonel Ephraim 
 Moore used the mill until about twenty-five years ago, since 
 which time it has been owned by S. B. Rogers, and latterly 
 owned and used by Nathan Pratt. 
 
 Heavy timber once grew on the Peakham district. (See 
 
50G HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Chapter I.) These lands, though some of them sandy and 
 light, have yet been fairly productive by the diligence and 
 thrift of its inhabitants. In the hundred years last past, 
 great changes have taken place in the occupants of old home- 
 steads. 
 
 The following are some of these changes, as given by Capt. 
 James Moore when over eighty years of age. In the left 
 column are present or late owners or occupants, and opposite, 
 in the right column, are the earlier owners or occupants of 
 the same places. 
 
 Newton and Spencer Brown. Samuel Brown. 
 
 Hubbard Brown. John Brown. 
 
 , Luther Cutting. William Brown, brother of John. 
 
 John Dakin. Caleb Brown, later Abel Dakin. 
 
 The above farms were probably one estate originally, and 
 belonged to William Brown, an early grantee. (See Chap- 
 ter III.) 
 
 Nahum Goodnow. Isaac Gibbs. 
 
 George Stone. Wm. Stone, Innholder. (See chapter on Taverns.) 
 
 Above the Stone place, on the left of the road that goes to 
 the north, was the Jeduthan Moore farm. Two old, unpainted 
 buildings stood there until within thirty or forty years. 
 
 Jonathan Bacon. Rily, later, Joel Jones. 
 
 Near the junction of the South Sudbury and Marlboro 
 road with the road to the school-house, was a house owned 
 by a man named Dalyrimple. 
 
 Abel Willis. Ezekiel Loring. 
 
 Beyond the Willis place was the Dutton house now re- 
 moved. Next to the Dutton house, on the corner, and now 
 removed, was a house formerly occupied by Peter Willard, 
 carpenter. 
 
 Abel Parmenter. Peletiah Parmenter. 
 
 This was an old Garrison House. (See Chapter XI.) 
 
 Addison Parmenter. Jedediah Parmenter, brother of Peletiah. 
 
HISTORY OF StTDBURY. 507 
 
 The next building is the Wayside Inn. 
 
 Calvin Howe. David Howe. 
 
 West of Nobscot Hill there was a house destroyed by fire 
 which was formerly occupied by David Howe. 
 
 Otis Parmenter. Israel Parmenter (original owner). 
 
 In a lane near the Dutton place was a farm once owned 
 by Caleb Clark, but now a part of the Dutton place. 
 
 Solomon Dutton. Samuel Knight of Charlestown (original owner), 
 
 Abiathar Carr. Plympton (original owner). 
 
 Willard Walker. Deacon Thomas Walker (Garrison). 
 
 Above the Willard Walker place was the Abner Walker 
 place, buildings now gone. 
 
 Madison Parmenter. Micah Parmenter (original owner). 
 
 Abijah Walker. Oliver Morse. 
 
 Hayden farm. William Hayden. 
 
 Back of Hayden's farm lived John Moore, grandfather 
 of Deputy Sheriff John B. Moore of Concord. (Building 
 now gone.) 
 
 Joseph Noyes. Eliab Hayden. 
 
 Dudley place. Benjamin Dudley. 
 
 Perry place. Ebenezer Perry (original owner). 
 
 Woodward Moore. Daniel Woodward Moore. 
 
 Capt. James Moore. Daniel Woodward. 
 
 This house is in point of age perhaps second or third in 
 Sudbury. Cider-mills once stood in this district at the 
 houses of Buckle}^ Howe, David Howe at Nobscot, Micah 
 Parmenter, Paul Walker, Capt. James Moore, John Brown, 
 and at the Wayside Inn. A prominent person who lives in 
 this district, and one of the oldest citizens of the town, is 
 Capt. James Moore. He is a descendant on his mother's 
 side of Daniel Woodward, before mentioned as the builder of 
 Moore's Mill. For years Captain Moore was one of the 
 town's selectmen and moderator of its meetings. 
 
508 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 THE NORTH-WEST DISTRICT. 
 
 This district formerly bordered on Concord and Stow, but 
 when Maynard was set off, about two thousand acres of it 
 became a part of that town. This locality was a school dis- 
 trict for probably at least a hundred and fifty years. The 
 school-house stood in about the centre of the district, by the 
 county roadside, not far from the Balcom estate. As only a 
 part of the original district comes within the present town 
 limits, only a few facts about it will here be stated. The 
 village of Assabet, now Maynard, was for years the com- 
 mercial centre. A paper-mill was built there about seventy 
 years ago, it is supposed, by William May, and a grocery 
 store was kept by J. Sawyer. Near Jewell's mills, over the 
 river, a saw-mill once stood, and there was also on a brook 
 near the Daniel Puffer house another mill, which was con- 
 nected with the farm. It had but little head of water, and 
 because it ran slowly the people used to start it and then go 
 to their work. A tavern was kept nearly ninety years ago 
 at what has since been the Levi Smith place. But the old- 
 time tavern best known in the district was kept by Jonathan 
 Rice. It was an inn for about a hundred years. Says an old 
 resident, " The last quarter of the last century on the very 
 old Concord and Marlboro road then much travelled, now 
 almost deserted, in the west part of Sudbury, was the noted 
 Rice tavern, kept by the same family as early or earlier than 
 1750. Col. Jonathan Rice was the last proprietor, and closed 
 it about 1815.*' The building stands just north of the 
 present town bounds. 
 
 The oldest house in the district is supposed to be the 
 Daniel or Jabez Puffer house. It is not known when or by 
 whom it was built, but it is surmised to have been built by a 
 Pratt, Puffer or Wedge. Some of the earlier occupants of 
 this .list i'ut were Jonathan Rice, Jabez Puffer and Peter 
 Smith ; other early occupants were Amos, Asahel and Heze- 
 kiah Smith, Richard Taylor, Mathias Rice, Jonas Balcom, 
 
 Wedge, Ephraim Pratt, William Rice; and still later, 
 
 but yet early, Benjamin Smith, Henry Vose, Ithamer Rice, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 509 
 
 Abijah Brigham, Joel, Micah and Asa Balcom, Loring 
 Wheeler, Daniel and Reuben Puffer and Abel Willis. 
 
 THE NORTH-EAST OR PANTRY DISTRICT. 
 
 Another district in Sudbury is that which has been famil- 
 iarly called the " Pantry School District." This is in the 
 north-easterly part of the town, and takes in the region about 
 the head of " Gulf Meadow" and of a small stream called 
 "Pantry Brook." The district may have been named after 
 the aforesaid brook, but whence the name of the brook, 
 probably no one knows. It may be from a shortening of the 
 term Pine-tree. 
 
 A natural feature of the district is the extensive " Gulf 
 Meadows," which at high water are overflowed in places, 
 nearly up to the county road. This district is sparsely 
 peopled, if we exclude the village of North Sudbury, which 
 is now hardly within its limits. It has neither store, shop, 
 nor mill, but scattered about it are well-kept homesteads and 
 farms, where live a thrifty and industrious people. A saw- 
 mill stood by the brook many years ago. The northern 
 branch of the Old Colony Railroad passes through the 
 locality, and has a station which is called North Sudbury. 
 About a half mile southerly of the station is a school-house, 
 and about an equal distance north-easterly is the North Sud- 
 bury cemetery. One of the marked changes of this district 
 in the past quarter century is the removal of the " Old 
 Pantry School-House," a place once dear to many an inhabi- 
 tant now middle aged or already grown old. This school- 
 house formerly stood at the road corners near the Pantry 
 bridge, and was latterly like others of the town, a one-story, 
 white building, with two doors towards the south. There for 
 years the youth of the "North part " went to school. From 
 the east and north they came, from nearly as far as the town 
 line, and from the south and west from half to three-quarters 
 this distance. But the children of this district go to school 
 at that spot no more. 
 
 A few years since, the old school-house was moved and 
 became the depot of the Old Colony Railroad, and has since 
 
510 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 been destroyed by fire. lis former site remains unmolested 
 as the town's common land; and the place once merry with 
 the shouts of glad school children is now voiceless, save as 
 the words of the transient traveller break the silence of the 
 play-ground of this old-time school. The routine of school 
 life here was doubtless like that of the other school districts, 
 and such as is described in our sketch of " Lanham." It 
 may not however be inappropriate to introduce here a poetic 
 description by Hon. C. F. Gerry, an old pupil of "Pantry." 
 
 PANTRY SCHOOL. 
 
 I'm thinking of the school-house, Ned, 
 
 Where, sitting side by side, 
 We studied Webster's spelling-book, 
 
 And laughed o'er Gilpin's ride ; 
 And traded jackknives now and then, 
 
 When not engaged in play, 
 And got our jackets nicely warmed, 
 
 How often I'll not say. 
 
 I'm thinking of the roadside green, 
 
 Of every tree and nook, 
 And how, in sultry hours of noon, 
 
 We swam in Pantry Brook ; 
 And, when upon the casement came 
 
 The ruler's tattoo loud, 
 How each of us in passing in 
 
 Took off his hat and bowed. 
 
 I'm thinking of the benches rude, 
 
 And desks so broad and steep, 
 On which we left our autographs, 
 
 In letters wide and deep ; 
 And of my first new writing-book, 
 
 Without a stain or spot, 
 So soon adorned, on every page, 
 
 With many an off-hand blot. 
 
 I'm thinking of the " Old Slough," Ned, 
 
 Whose waters dark and cool 
 So often laved our sunburnt feet, 
 
 While on the way to school ; 
 On whose warm rim the tadpoles lay, 
 
 In spring-time, many a score, 
 While golden lilies richly bloomed 
 
 In summer, near the shore. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 511 
 
 I'm thinking of the forest hoar 
 
 Where fir-trees densely grew, 
 And tired feet in mosses sank, 
 
 While hunting gum to chew ; 
 And of the pleasant meadows, where, 
 
 On many a scattered tree, 
 The red-winged blackbird sang in spring, 
 
 His love song, " Quonk-a-ree." 
 
 I'm thinking of the hour-glass, Ned, 
 
 With sands so white and fine, 
 On which our teacher smiling gazed, 
 
 As neared the hour to dine ; 
 But feel my sands are wasting, Ned, 
 
 For oft the children say, 
 While fondling them upon my knee, 
 
 " Papa, you're growing gray." 
 
 A short distance from the North Sudbury Depot is the old 
 residence of the late Israel Haynes, who, it is said, cast the 
 decisive vote that elected Charles Sumner to the United 
 States Senate. 
 
 Mr. Haynes was an old -line Democrat, and that year 
 represented Sudbury at the General Court. When the vote 
 was taken for Senator there was for a time no choice ; but 
 Mr. Haynes liked the young man Sumner, and he changed 
 the equipoised balance by a break from the party vote. By 
 this ballot Sumner went to the United States Senate, where 
 he championed liberty's cause and stirred up those elements 
 that burst forth into civil war, which made our whole land 
 free. What an influence thus went out from this quiet 
 place, and how changed our nation's history by this silent 
 act ! Mr. Haynes belonged to the old Haynes family 
 of Sudbury and had a numerous progeny, some of whom 
 still live on the old estate. On the Haynes farm, and south 
 of the homestead, perhaps forty or fifty rods distant, once 
 stood a block house. It was a small structure, heavily built, 
 and demolished nearly a century ago. This doubtless was 
 the stronghold for the neighborhood in the Indian war. (See 
 page 200.) South-westerly of the depot a half mile or more 
 is the Town Farm, or the " Poor Establishment," as it is 
 sometimes called. In the southerly part of the district, on 
 
512 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the estate of the late William Hunt, stood the old residence 
 of Rev. Israel Loring. The building was latterly an old red 
 structure with along slope roof at the back, and was used 
 for years by Mr. Hunt as a lodging place for some of the 
 town's poor, under the system of boarding paupers at the 
 lowest price bid. Such are some of the features of " Pantry," 
 as it is and was, in the not far distant past. Like other 
 districts, it is dear to many who remember the days of the 
 old district schools, but the reminiscences that are rich about 
 it are passing or are passed away with the generations to 
 which they belonged. 
 
 THE GRAVEL PIT. 
 
 Another locality of interest, though not called a district, 
 is the vicinity of the .old causeway or gravel pit. The place 
 is partly in Wayland, the town line running nearly midway 
 of it. It takes its name from the gravelly bank by the road- 
 side, from which the town has taken gravel for public pur- 
 poses from the time of its settlement. Repeatedly on the 
 records, as the years passed by, has the term Gravel Pit been 
 inscribed ; and one objection of the East Side people to the 
 division of the town was that by such an event they would 
 lose the gravel pit. The locality had early occupation, and 
 is often referred to, but outside the records little is left to 
 indicate what it has been. The natural objects remain, but 
 persons and their dwelling-places have passed away. There, 
 was probably the west side of the ferry, before the build- 
 ing of the causeway. Peter Noyes's boat may have been 
 moored to those meadow banks, when it furnished the main 
 means of transit to the town's early grantees as they went 
 to the West Side. Before the town was divided into two 
 parochial precincts, an effort was made to have a meeting- 
 house built there. (See page 289.) There was the begin- 
 ning ol* the old Lancaster road which went to " Nashuway " 
 (Lancaster). There the road started that went to Noyes's 
 mill at Hop Brook; and, from that point, a meadow path 
 was laid out north and south over which the people hauled 
 their hay. Several taverns have been kept there. During 
 the Revolution a man named Wheeler kept a tavern there. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 513 
 
 The house stood on the Thomas Battles place, which was 
 formerly owned by John Taylor, and since, by the Wheeler 
 Haynes heirs. It was burned down years ago. Later, a 
 tavern was kept by Abel Cutler, and at another time by a 
 Mr. Carter. A school-house was once located there, and 
 a blacksmith's shop used by Mr. William Brown, and 
 Thomas Plympton kept a store there. Near the gravel pit 
 is a place once called " Judge's Point." There, by the hill- 
 side, Micah Goodnow, a fisherman, lived, whom they called 
 " Judge," which circumstance probably gave a name to the 
 place. On the upland, not far from the training-field and 
 northerly or north-easterly of it, is a spot where, tradition 
 says, an Indian is buried. It is said he was shot from the 
 east side of the river as he was exploring thereabout in a 
 time of hostility, and that the gun is now in possession of 
 John Morse, son of Noyes Morse of Wayland. It is a long, 
 heavy piece, a rare specimen of firearm, and has been in the 
 Noyes family for successive generations. 
 
 The vicinity of this section is memorable in connection 
 with the Revolutionary period. South-westerly on the hill, 
 about a quarter of a mile away, were the government store- 
 houses. (See period 1775-1800.) The land about the place 
 was called Training-field Hill, the town owning about an acre 
 there for training purposes. At one time a muster was held 
 there. At the beginning of the present century there was 
 an old, low building standing on or very near the spot where 
 the George Taylor house stands ; in this house some of the 
 government guard were boarded. The town's eastern 
 boundary, as it runs through this locality, turns abruptly 
 towards Wayland, takes in a small space, and then goes on 
 in its regular course. The occasion of this was as follows : 
 when the town was divided, a remonstrance was made by 
 the inhabitants of the West Side, because, among other rea- 
 sons, they would lose their training-field. Remonstrance 
 was also made to the division by Caleb Wheeler, who stren- 
 uously opposed having his farm of forty-three acres included 
 within the limits of East Sudbury. It is supposed that, to 
 compromise matters and so adjust things as to secure a 
 division, the whole farm and the training-field were allowed 
 
514 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 to remain in Sudbury. At various times, propositions have 
 been made for straightening the line, but all efforts to accom- 
 plish it have thus far failed. The piece of land is triangular 
 shaped, situated on Sand Hill, and the South Sudbury and 
 Way land highway passes through it. It belongs to the Farr 
 farm, and is still called the " Wheeler place." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 1850-1875. 
 
 The Wadsworth Monument. — Petition to the Legislature. — Response. — 
 Description ol the Monument. — The old Slate Stone. — Fac-simile 
 of it. — Dedication of the Monument. — Dismission of Rev. Josiah 
 Ballard. — Sketch of his Life. — Ordination of Rev. Charles V. Spear. 
 
 — His Dismission. — Installation of Rev. Erastus Dickinson. — His 
 Dismission. — Sketch of his Life. — Rev. Webster Patterson. — Set- 
 tlement of Rev. Philander Thurston. — His Dismission. — Sketch of 
 Rev. George A. Oviatt. — Rev. Calvin Fitts. — Rev. David Goodale. 
 
 — Rev. Warren Richardson. — Deacons. — Donation of Samuel Dana 
 Hunt. — Bequest of Miss Emily Thompson. — Gifts from Mrs. Abigail 
 Smith and Miss Ruth Carter. — Wadsworth Academy. — Congrega- 
 tional Chapel. — Changes in School Districts. — In School-Houses. — 
 Numbering the Districts. — The Goodnow Library. — The Building. 
 
 — The Donor. — Incorporation of Maynard. — The Framingham and 
 Lowell Railroad. — The Massachusetts Central Railroad. — Miscella- 
 neous. 
 
 Look, how they come, — a mingled crowd 
 
 Of bright and dark, but rapid days ; 
 Beneath them, like a summer cloud, 
 
 The wide world changes as I gaze. 
 
 Bryant. 
 
 The period between 18f)0 and 1875 was an eventful one 
 to the country. In it occurred the great and calamitous 
 Civil War; and Sudbury, in common with other towns, bore 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 515 
 
 a share in the toil and the sorrow that were incident to it. 
 Before, however, entering upon this subject we will give the 
 annals of the town exclusive of those relating to the war. 
 In presenting these, we shall, in some instances, make our 
 narrative more consecutive by mentioning events that oc- 
 curred outside the period. 
 
 THE WADSWORTH MONUMENT. 
 
 An important event that occurred early in the last half of 
 the present century was the erection of the Wadsworth 
 Monument. February, 1852, a petition was presented to the 
 Legislature of this Commonwealth, in which, after a brief 
 rehearsal of the events in connection with the Wadsworth 
 fight, the petitioners say " that a small, temporary monu- 
 ment was erected many years ago by the Rev. Benjamin 
 Wadsworth, President of Harvard College, over the grave 
 of his father, Captain Wadsworth, and his associates in arms. 
 Said monument being in a dilapidated condition, it is desir- 
 able that it be rebuilt in a more durable form. Wherefore, 
 at a legal town-meeting held for that purpose, your peti- 
 tioners were chosen for a committee and instructed to 
 petition your Honorable body for aid in erecting a suitable 
 monument to the memory of said officers and men." 
 Signed, " Drury Fairbank and thirteen others." 
 The committee on military affairs, to which was referred 
 this petition, in closing their report say : " The petitioners 
 further state that said monument, which still bears the 
 names of those brave officers, is now in a dilapidated condi- 
 tion, and must soon go to destruction unless some immediate 
 measures are taken to rebuild it ; and that the inhabitants 
 of Sudbury, being actuated by a strong desire to preserve it, 
 are willing to defray a portion of the expense attending its 
 rebuilding, if the State will aid them in so doing ; although, 
 independent of the fact of its being located within the limits 
 of their town, they feel no greater interest in its preserva- 
 tion than should be felt by every patriotic citizen of the 
 Commonwealth. Your committee concur with the petitioners 
 on this point. True, the monument is intimately connected 
 with the early history of Sudbury ; but is it not also quite 
 
516 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 as intimately connected with the history of the State ? And 
 should not every son of Massachusetts venerate and hold 
 sacred these ancient landmarks, so to speak, wherever upon 
 her soil they are found, which serve so forcibly to remind 
 him of the struggles, the trials, and the valor of his fore- 
 fathers ? . . . They do not ask the State to erect a new 
 monument over the remains of those who survived a san- 
 guinary strife, and died among their own kindred and friends 
 after a long enjoyment of that for which they contended ; 
 nor do they ask to have such a monument erected away 
 from the scene of that strife; bat they ask that the State 
 will aid them in the discharge of a duty which they feel 
 belongs to every patriotic citizen of the Commonwealth, — 
 that of endeavoring to preserve from destruction a simple 
 and not expensive monument, built by their forefathers 
 nearly a century and a quarter ago, over the single grave of 
 the twenty-nine gallant men whose memory it was designed 
 to perpetuate, and upon the very spot where their lives were 
 sacrificed in the service of their country, and which is fast 
 o-oino- to decay. Your committee are of the opinion that this 
 case . . . has no precedent and can establish none. And, 
 even if it should establish a precedent, it is a good one, and 
 one which should be followed in all similar cases, if any such 
 should be hereafter presented, for it would be an indelible 
 stain upon the escutcheon of Massachusetts and a source of 
 the deepest mortification to her sons, if a single spark of 
 patriotic feeling remained in their bosoms, if these sacred 
 memorials of her past history were permitted to go to 
 destruction, merely because their preservation would involve 
 the expenditure of a few paltry dollars from the public 
 treasury." Accompanying this report is the resolve, "That 
 a sum, not exceeding five hundred dollars in all, be and the 
 same is hereby appropriated towards defraying the expense 
 of repairing or rebuilding, in a substantial manner, the mon- 
 ument in the town of Sudbury, erected by President Wads- 
 worth of Harvard College, about the year 1730, to the 
 memory of Capt. Samuel Wadsworth and a large number of 
 other officers and soldiers and others in the service of the 
 colony, who were slain upon the spot marked by the monu- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 517 
 
 merit, ... in the defence of that town against the Indians, 
 — the said sum to be expended under the direction of His 
 Excellency the Governor, in connection with a committee of 
 said town of Sudbury." 
 
 Agreeable to the foregoing resolve, at a legal town-meeting 
 held June 14, 1852, it was voted that Nahum Thompson, 
 Drury Fairbank, Ephraim Moore, Enoch Kidder and J. R. 
 Vose be a committee to superintend the building of the 
 Wadsworth Monument. It was then voted to appropriate 
 a sum of money, sufficient to complete said monument and 
 finish about the same, out of any unappropriated money in 
 the Treasury, said sum not to exceed five hundred dollars. 
 His Excellency George S. Boutwell, then Governor of this 
 Commonwealth, in connection with the committee of the 
 town, "procured a handsome monument, consisting of three 
 large square blocks of granite, one and one-half, two, and 
 three feet thick, raised one above the other ; from the upper 
 one of which rises a granite shaft, tapering towards the top ; 
 the whole being twenty-one and one-half feet in height. On 
 the front of the centre block appears the following inscription : 
 
 This monument is erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
 and the town of Sudbury, in grateful remembrance of the services and 
 suffering of the founders of the State, and especially in honor of 
 
 Capt. Samuel Wadsworth, of Milton ; 
 
 Capt. Brocklebank, of Rowley ; 
 
 Lieut. Sharp, of Brookline ; 
 
 and twenty six others, men of their command, who fell near this spot, on 
 the 18th of April, 1670, while defending the frontier settlements against 
 the allied Indian forces of Philip of Pokanoket. 
 
 1852. 
 
 (The date of the fight as above given is incorrect : see 
 page 218.) 
 
 In front of the monument is the slate stone which stood at 
 the head of the old grave. " There is, in the rooms of a 
 Boston Society, a broken slab, which is an exact facsimile of 
 the lower part of this stone, and is claimed by some to be the 
 original erected by President Wadsworth over the remains 
 of his dead father and the men who fell with him. But 
 
518 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 there are no records or traditions to identify it, and the only 
 mode of accounting for its existence is by supposing that a 
 slab, first made, was accidentally broken in the stone-yard 
 in Boston, and that the broken piece found its way into the 
 collection, while another was made and sent to Sudbury 
 where it has ever since remained." This monument is firmly 
 set upon a foundation of split stone, six feet thick, five feet 
 of which are covered with earth. At the foot of the monu- 
 ment, in front, was an aperture through which the remains 
 of the ancient martyrs, which had been disinterred, were 
 deposited in the tomb, after which it was hermetically sealed. 
 The monument is surrounded by a handsome iron railing 
 twenty feet square, durably and strongly set. The whole 
 cost of monument, fence, and grading was one thousand and 
 fifty dollars. The foregoing quotations concerning the mon- 
 ument, and the following account of the dedication, are taken 
 from a Report, published by the town in 1853 : — 
 
 " This new tribute to the memory of our fathers was dedi- 
 cated on the 23d of November, A.D., 1852. There would, 
 probably, have been a very full attendance had it not been 
 for a steady, continued snow-storm through the day. 
 
 " A number of military companies had been expected, and 
 had the day been pleasant the ceremony would have been 
 imposing. As it was, the affair went off well. 
 
 " At a little after ten o'clock a procession was formed at 
 the Town Hall, under the marshalship of Col. Drury Fair- 
 bank, in the following order: — 
 
 "Sudbury Brass Band, Marshall Eaton, leader ; Sudbury 
 Wadsworth Rifle Guards, in grey uniform and full numbers, 
 commanded by Capt. Ephraim Moore ; this corps marched and 
 looked well, and the band attached performed excellently, 
 although it has been formed scarcely a year; carriages con- 
 taining His Excellency George S. Boutwell, Governor of this 
 Commonwealth, and the invited guests; citizens on foot. 
 The procession moved over the road to Saxonville, south- 
 ward, and within a mile of the Town Hall, turned to the 
 left, where, in the rear of a newly located burying-ground, 
 appeared a neat granite column. It was in this vicinity that 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 519 
 
 the event which the ceremonies of the day commemorated 
 took place ; the scalped and mangled bodies of Captain 
 Wadsworth and his command having been found scattered 
 over a small space of ground in the brushwood. After 
 marching around the monument, the procession moved back 
 to the Town Hall, the upper floor of which was soon thronged 
 with many hundred guests, nearly one-half of whom were 
 ladies. The remains of the ancient dead were then brought 
 in, and the six boxes containing them deposited in the hall 
 near the door. These remains are in a remarkable state of 
 preservation, many teeth being perfect, and the skulls and 
 other bones of several bear the marks of the Indian bullet 
 and the Indian tomahawk, the evidence of blows that fell 
 one hundred and seventy-four years ago. 
 
 " The medical gentlemen who have had the care of these 
 bones since their disinterment are Dr. O. O. Johnson of Mill 
 Village, Sudbury, and Dr. Goodnough ; they find twenty- 
 seven pairs of thigh bones and fragments of two pairs more, 
 corresponding to the number of men that are mentioned by 
 history as having been slain. In one skull there is a hole 
 half an inch wide and several inches long, directly over the 
 temple in the left side of the top of the head, answering 
 exactly to the size of a tomahawk blade ; in another, the 
 lower jaw shows a similar aperture below the teeth where 
 the weapon has crushed in sideways. But the most remark- 
 able thing is the completeness of the teeth ; and in the left 
 side of the lower jaw of one skull two of the teeth are worn 
 down, as if by the constant use of a pipe, making a semi- 
 circular cavity, the surface of which is perfectly smooth. 
 The jaw indicated an aged man. One of the skulls was, 
 evidently, that of a young man, the wisdom teeth not having 
 been cut, but the majority were all of middle age, and the 
 size of the bones of all gave evidence that, if they were not 
 picked men, the trials of a colonist's life and the rough 
 training of the early settlers was calculated to develop the 
 physical nature of our ancestors in high perfection. 
 
 " As soon as the Chief Marshal had arranged the audi- 
 ence and obtained silence, Nahum Thompson, the President 
 of the Day, arose and said ; Fellow Citizens, — we have 
 
520 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 assembled upon this interesting occasion to recall to our 
 minds the services and sufferings of our forefathers, those 
 devoted men, who sacrificed their lives that they might be- 
 come, as it were, stepping-stones to the attainment of those 
 innumerable and inestimable blessings and privileges, both 
 civil and religious, which we their descendants are permitted 
 to enjoy, and to dedicate to their memory yonder monument, 
 that Granite Pillar, durable as the names of Wadsworth, 
 Brocklebank and Sharp are imperishable; in doing this, it 
 becometh us to acknowledge Him whose superintending 
 providence has continually been over us ; I would therefore 
 introduce to ou the Rev. Linus H. Shaw, who will address 
 the Throne of Grace that God's mercy still rest upon us. 
 The reverend gentleman made a very appropriate prayer ; a 
 hymn was then read by Rev. C. V. Spear and sung by all 
 present to the tune of ' Old Hundred.' 
 
 " His Excellency George S. Boutwell was then introduced, 
 and made an address." 
 
 The proceedings which followed the address are thus de- 
 scribed in the published account of the exercises : — 
 
 " The company then adjourned to the lower room of the 
 Hall, where dinner had been prepared by Mr. Wright, at 
 which a blessing was invoked by the Rev. Mr. Spear and 
 thanks returned by Rev. Mr. Lee. The entertainment was 
 good, though the guests were not numerous and no speeches 
 were made. It had been originally intended to have the 
 dinner near the monument in Mr. Wright's tent, which had 
 been erected ; but early in the morning, after everything had 
 been prepared for the reception of fifteen hundred guests, 
 the irons which fastened the upper part of the canvas to the 
 masts suddenly unbent, in consequence of the immense 
 weight of snow which had covered the tent, and the awning, 
 with its superincumbent weight of snow, fell upon and cov- 
 ered the tables. No damage will accrue, except the breaking 
 of a small quantity of crockery and glass ware. 
 
 "The dinner being over, all present reascended to the 
 upper hall, where the bones were exhibited to the multitude, 
 after which the boxes were removed, and the regular toasts of 
 
ftlSTORY OF SUDBURY. 52i 
 
 the day were read by Nahum Thompson, Esq., and responded 
 to by the band, so that all present were entertained with a 
 succession of military pieces, well played, for the space of 
 orer an hour. At half-past four o'clock the Governor with- 
 drew and returned to Boston. After the regular toasts had 
 been read and volunteer sentiments had been called for, Col. 
 Wmthrop E. Faulkner of Acton, having stated some facts 
 respecting the action that resulted in the death of Captain 
 Wadsworth and his company, gave the following sentiment : 
 
 "'The sons of Sudbury. — May they be as marked for 
 martial courage, for prompt and vigorous action and true 
 republican principles, as were those whose remains have just 
 been removed to their last resting-place.' 
 
 "To this, Colonel Fairbanks, the Marshal of the day, 
 responded. 
 
 " The clergyman of the Orthodox Society in town, Rev. 
 Mr. Spear, then — having alluded to the unique character and 
 great interest of the occasion, as the dedication of a monu- 
 ment commemorating an event, the earliest in our history 
 thus commemorated, and having referrred to the interesting 
 character of Governor Boutwell's Address — gave the fol- 
 lowing : ' The Orator of the day. — He deserves our warmest 
 thanks for his lucid and deeply interesting sketches of the 
 times and the scenes passed through, the causes of alienation 
 which operated, and the characters developed and exhibited, 
 during the progress of King Philip's War.' 
 
 " Mr. S. D. Hunt of Concord then, by a well-timed classic 
 allusion, complimenting the band which had contributed so 
 much to the interest of the occasion, gave, as the closing 
 sentiment, the following: — 
 
 " • The Sudbury Brass Band. — May their shadow never 
 be less.' 
 
 " The occasion went off well, under the care of the follow- 
 ing gentlemen : — 
 
 "Committee of Arrangements. — Asahel Balcom, Lyman 
 Howe, Abel B. Jones, Ephraim Stone, John P. Allen, in 
 addition to the Building Committee : Nahum Thompson, 
 Drury Fairbanks, Enoch Kidder, Ephraim Moore and Jona- 
 than R. Vose. 
 
522 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 "Pall Bearers. — Tilly Smith, William Brigham, Israel 
 Haynes, David Lincoln, Charles Gerry, Asa Jones, Jonas 
 Tower, Jonathan Fairbanks. 
 
 " After the closing sentiment, the audience, which through- 
 out the exercises had given the most fixed attention, quietly 
 dispersed." 
 
 " The entire lot left by the proprietors for the Wadsworth 
 monument consists of a parallelogram ten rods by four." An 
 old deed mentions " the monument," meaning the old mound, 
 as being " marked out in an oblong or square just about the 
 centre of the farm." This was the Israel How Brown farm. 
 When the committee decided not to erect the monument on 
 the site of the old mound, but a little to one side (see page 
 250), they procured a piece of land of Mr. Brown, a portion 
 of which was taken for the enclosure that contains the monu- 
 ment. The avenue leading to it was opened about the same 
 time, and was a part of the same farm. In 1855, the select- 
 men were instructed " to plant trees around the monument 
 and on the avenue leading to it, the trees to be set at a dis- 
 tance of not more than thirty feet apart." A few years ago 
 a large white pine-tree stood within the enclosure easterly of 
 the monument, but it was struck by lightning and afterwards 
 cut down. The town expended over nine hundred and fifty 
 dollars, besides what was received from the State, in erecting 
 the monument and enclosing it with an iron fence. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL EVENTS. 
 
 During the third period of the century several changes 
 took place in the Evangelical Union Church. March 15, 
 1852, the society voted to concur with Mr. Ballard in calling 
 a council for his dismission, and his pastorate in Sudbury 
 soon after ceased. During the latter part of his ministry 
 here he lived at the present George Parmenter place, which 
 was then owned by several persons and leased for a par- 
 sonage. The following is a brief sketch of his life : — 
 
 REV. JOSIAH BALLARD. 
 
 Josiah Ballard was born at Peterboro, N. II., April 14, 
 1806. He learned the mason's trade, and worked at it for 
 
;i\*<-\ 
 
 i'-^ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 tf^-Z^Ctsz.'Z. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 523 
 
 some years. He fitted for college, completing his studies at 
 Munson Academy, and graduated at Yale in 1833. He 
 studied theology two years with Dr. Whiton of Antrim, N.H., 
 and was licensed to preach in 1835. The same year he 
 married Elizabeth D., daughter of Rev. John Whiton, D.D. 
 He was settled at Chesterfield, N. H., then at Nelson, N. H. 
 He was installed at Sudbury, March 3, 1841, and dismissed 
 April, 1852. He was afterwards settled at New Ipswich, 
 N. H., and at Carlisle, Mass., at which latter place he died, 
 Dec. 12, 1863, aged fifty-seven. He had two children, — 
 Edward O. and Catherine E., both born at Nelson, N. H. 
 Mr. Ballard and his wife were buried at Carlisle, but were 
 afterwards removed, and laid, in accordance with their desire, 
 in the New Maplewood Cemetery at South Antrim, N. H., 
 occupying one of the five family lots joining each other. Mr. 
 Ballard was much esteemed in Sudbury. His influence was 
 widely felt, and the remembrance of him was fondly 
 cherished for many years after he left town. He was a re- 
 served, dignified man, rather grave in manner and a hard 
 worker. 
 
 July 26, 1852, the society voted to extend a call to Rev. 
 Charles V. Spear, at a salary of $650 ; and October 27 of 
 the same year he was ordained and installed. The minis- 
 ters who composed the council were as follows : Revs. John 
 Todd, D.D., of Pittsfield, E. Russell of East Randolph, J. 
 C. Bodwell of Framingham, Henry Allen of Wayland, W. 
 C. Jackson of Lincoln, L. H. Angier of Concord, J. 
 Ballard of New Ipswich, N. H., J. C. Woodbridge of 
 Auburndale, and B. G. Northrup of Saxonville. The sermon 
 was by Dr. Todd. Sept. 18, 1855, Mr. Spear was dismissed 
 on account of ill health ; and May 14, 1856, Rev. Erastus 
 Dickinson was called as his successor at a salary of $800. 
 The council of installation was as follows : Revs. R. S. 
 Storrs, D.D., of Braintree, Henry Allen of Wayland, Marcus 
 Ames of Westminster, Levi A. Fields of Marlboro, and C. 
 V. Spear of Pittsfield. The sermon was by Dr. Storrs. Mr. 
 Dickinson remained in the pastorate of the church till June 
 30, 1868, when he was dismissed. He was born at Plainfield, 
 Mass., and graduated at Amherst College in 1832. He 
 
524 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 studied theology at Auburn Theological Seminary, and was 
 ordained at Canton, where he preached a year. Subse- 
 quently he was settled at Chaplin and at Colchester, Ct., and 
 Sudbury. While at the latter place he was sent as Repre- 
 sentative to the Legislature. On leaving Sudbury, his health 
 being somewhat impaired, he went to Lakewood, N. J., 
 where he was postmaster fifteen years. He died Sept. 4, 
 1888, at the age of eighty-two. 
 
 From the time of Mr. Dickinson's dismission the pulpit 
 was most of the time supplied by Rev. Webster Patterson, 
 until the settlement of Rev. Philander Thurston, Feb. 1, 
 1870. The salary of Mr. Thurston was 11200. The install- 
 ing council was composed of the Revs. T. D. P. Stone of 
 Assabet, M. J. Savage of Framingham, C. H. Williams of 
 Concord, A. S. Hudson of Burlington, E. R. Drake of Way- 
 land, G. G. Phipps of Wellesley, and H. J. Richardson of 
 Lincoln. The sermon was by Dr. J. M. Manning of Boston. 
 Rev. Mr. Thurston was dismissed Sept. 22, 1874. Shortly 
 after the close of this pastorate, Rev. George A. Oviatt 
 became acting pastor of the church, and continued to serve 
 in that capacity for a period of eight years. As a pastor he 
 was kind and sympathetic, and one of those men who never 
 grow old. Jan. 1, 1883, being enfeebled by sickness, he 
 asked to be released from his charge, and the request was 
 reluctantly granted. He had been a preacher for half a cen- 
 tury, and had held five pastorates, — at Belchertown and 
 Chicopee, Somers and Talcottville, Conn., and Sudbury. He 
 was one year Secretary of the American Sunday-School 
 Union, and three years engaged in mission work in Boston. 
 The Shawmut Church, Boston, was organized as the result 
 of his labors. In the War of the Rebellion he went to 
 Louisiana in the division of General Banks, as chaplain of 
 the 25th Connecticut Regiment. In that service he lost his 
 health and it was never fully regained. He died at Sudbury, 
 June 1, 1883, aged seventy-six, and was buried at Mount 
 Auburn. 
 
 Rev. Calvin Fitts preached for a few months after Mr. 
 Oviatt resigned, and died at Sudbury in the fall of 1883. 
 Rev. David W. Goodale commenced preaching in June, 1884, 
 
HISTORY OP STTDBTTRY. 525 
 
 and remained about three years. Rev. Warren Richardson, 
 the present acting pastor, commenced his term of service in 
 the fall of 1887. 
 
 The following persons have served as deacons in the Con- 
 gregational Church: Gardner Hunt, Thomas L. Dakin, 
 Thomas P. Hurlbut, Emory Hunt, Benjamin H. Richardson, 
 Francis F. Walker. The last two are in service at the pres- 
 ent time. 
 
 Aug. 10, 1874, the society voted to accept of one thousand 
 dollars donated by Samuel Dana Hunt, for " the preaching 
 of the Gospel essentially in its present doctrine or belief." 
 If the church was ever removed to South Sudbury, or a new 
 name given it, the gift was to remain. 
 
 In 1881, the society voted to accept of a bequest by Miss 
 Emily Thompson. A gift was also received of Mrs. Abigail 
 Smith of Sudbury, and one hundred dollars of Miss Ruth 
 Carter. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL MATTERS. 
 
 Considerable change occurred in educational matters dur- 
 ing this period. One important event was the establishment 
 of Wadsworth Academy. 
 
 WADSWORTH ACADEMY. 
 In 1856, measures were taken to establish an academy at 
 South Sudbury. A corporation was formed, the object of 
 which was to hold property, consisting of a building, land, 
 and suitable fixtures for educational and religious purposes. 
 The design of the projectors of the enterprise was to erect a 
 building, the upper part of which could be used for a school, 
 and the lower part for social and religious services. There 
 had been no hall at « Mill Villiage," as South Sudbury was 
 then called, except one over the "old wheelwright's shop," 
 where sometimes a meeting was held on Sabbath evenings, 
 and occasionally a private school, was kept, where the tuition 
 was ninepence a week. This hall was low and dilapidated, 
 and reached by a flight of stairs on the outside, and wholly 
 unfit for public use. Besides the need of a hall was the need 
 of a higher school than was provided by the town. To meet 
 
526 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 these needs a corporation was formed, the capital stock of 
 which was three thousand dollars. The parties who com- 
 posed it, and the number of shares taken by each were as 
 follows: Samuel D. Hunt, three shares; Dexter C. Jones, 
 three; Gardner Hunt, one and one-half; Samuel Puffer, 
 three; A. B. Richardson, three; Charles Hunt, three; 
 Joseph Richardson, three ; Walter Rogers, six ; Samuel 
 Rogers, three; Emory Hunt, three; George Parmenter, 
 three ; Levi Goodenough, three ; Roland Cutler, six; Eliza- 
 beth Hunt, one and one-half ; Nancy J. Moore, three ; J. D. 
 and C. A. Cutter, three ; Abigail B. Brown, three ; Arthur 
 Bowen, three. 
 
 The first meeting was held March 11, 1857, and the fol- 
 lowing officers were elected : President, Dr. Levi Good- 
 enough ; Directors, Roland Cutler, Samuel Puffer; Treas- 
 urer, Samual D. Hunt. The land was purchased of 
 Nichols B. Hunt, and the building was erected by Arthur 
 Bowen of South Sudbury. It was two stories high, had a 
 colonade in front and faced the west. It was named in 
 honor of Captain Wadsworth. Among the studies pursued 
 in the school were the higher mathematics, the classics, 
 French, drawing and painting. The tuition varied with the 
 studies taken. The first teacher was Erastus N. Fay, 
 formerly teacher of the Wayland High School, and graduate 
 of Dartmouth College. Then followed Mr. James Russell, 
 a graduate of Amherst College, Miss Lydia R. Draper 
 (Mrs. A. S. Hudson), a graduate of New Hampton Sem- 
 inary, Miss S. Jennie Holden (Mrs. E. P. Tenney), Miss 
 Gibbs, Mr. Charles Rogers, a graduate of Middleton Uni- 
 versity, Conn., Mr. Edwin Hunt, a graduate of Amherst 
 College, and Miss Sarah Russell. After a time the school 
 ceased to exist as an academy. It had done its work of 
 affording advanced educational privileges to a class of young 
 men and women, some of whom had entered higher institu- 
 tions of learning, others had become school teachers, and 
 others still had entered upon the practical duties of life in 
 the household, or on the farm, or in some branch of business 
 or trade. The need of an academy having been met, the 
 demand for its continuance ceased, and the rooms were used 
 
THE WADSWORTH ACADEMY, 
 
 South Sudbury, 
 
 From an original sketch by A. S, Hudson 
 
history of sudbtjry. 527 
 
 for one of the town's common schools. A few years later the 
 building was destroyed by fire, and on its site was erected a 
 Congregational chapel in 1880 ; but, though the old academy 
 has passed away, there are some who trace their success and 
 many of life's pleasant relations to their beginnings in that 
 peaceful spot. 
 
 Important changes took place during this period in con- 
 nection with the common schools. Old districts were di- 
 vided, and new ones were formed ; old school-houses were 
 moved and new ones built. A large share of the territory of 
 the north-west district was taken from Sudbury by the 
 incorporation of Maynard ; but in the districts that remained 
 the schools and school-houses increased. The centre school- 
 house, that had stood on the common, was moved to its 
 present location south of the Methodist meeting-house, and 
 after its removal was fitted up for the use of two schools, — 
 a primary and grammar. In 1868, the Lanham school-house 
 was moved from the road corners by the Coolidge place to its 
 present location, north of the Boston and Worcester highway, 
 on land that once belonged to the Goodnow farm. In 1869, 
 eight hundred dollars was granted for repairs on the south- 
 west school-house. In 1870, the town voted to build a new 
 school-house in the north-east district, to be located at or 
 near the junction of Puffer Lane and the north road. The 
 building was erected at a cost of $2884.82. The same year 
 measures were taken for the removal of the old Pantry 
 school-house, and the result was that a new school-house was 
 built in the southerly portion of the north-east district, and 
 the Pantry school-house was moved and became the depot of 
 the Framingham & Lowell Railroad. The new school-house 
 was located near the house of Alfred Thompson, and cost 
 $3825.23. About the same time the town voted to build a 
 school-house in the west part of the town in a locality where, 
 hitherto, there had been none. It was erected on the Bos- 
 ton and Berlin road, near the house of John Coughlin, at a 
 cost of $2508.77. The building committee rendered their 
 report to the town March 4, 1872, and at the same meeting 
 the committee appointed to number the school districts 
 reported that plates had been procured, lettered and num- 
 
528 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 bered at a cost of $7.50, and that commencing with the 
 centre district, which they designated as number one, the 
 committee next proceeded to the house in the south-west 
 district, which they numbered two. Thence, passing to the 
 right of the centre of the town, the remaining houses were 
 numbered in their regular order, closing with the new house 
 near the residence of John Coughlin, which was numbered 
 six. The town opened a new school at South Sudbury, 
 and March 1, 1875, ."voted to allow the proprietors of 
 Wadsworth Hall $100 for rent of said hall for school 
 
 purposes." 
 
 In 1881, a school-house was built in the Wadsworth 
 district by C. O. Parmenter, at a cost of $2560.61. It was 
 placed on a lot containing a half acre of land, which was pur- 
 chased of Walter Rogers, and situated on the south side of 
 the Sudbury and Marlboro road, about midway between 
 the Massachusetts Central and Old Colony Railroads. 
 
 THE GOODNOW LIBRARY. 
 
 In 1862, the town received the means of establishing a 
 Public Library through the generosity of John Goodnow of 
 Boston. The gift came in the form of a bequest, which was 
 set forth in his will as follows : — 
 
 " First: I give, devise, and bequeath unto my native 
 Town of Sudbury, in the County of Middlesex, the sum of 
 Twenty Thousand Dollars, to be appropriated for the pur- 
 pose of purchasing and keeping in order a Public Library, 
 for the benefit of the inhabitants of that Town." 
 
 " Second : I also give, devise and bequeath to the said 
 Town of Sudbury, three acres of land on the northerly part- 
 of the Sudbury Tavern Estate, adjoining the land of Howe 
 Brown, beginning at the Meeting-house road, and running 
 with equal width with Brown's line to the brook, for the 
 purpose of erecting thereon a suitable building for a Library ; 
 and the further sum of Twenty-five Hundred Dollars for the 
 erection of such building ; and whatever portion of said land 
 shall not be needed for the purposes of said Library building, 
 the said Town of Sudbury shall have full power and 
 
HISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 529 
 
 authority to apply to any other Town purposes, but without 
 any power of alienation." 
 
 " At a legal meeting held at Sudbury, on the seventh day 
 of April, 1862, the Town voted to accept the bequest con- 
 tained in the first and second clauses of the last Will and 
 Testament of John Goodnow, late of Boston ; and Messrs. 
 James Moore, John H. Dakin, and George Parmenter, 
 Selectmen of the Town, were appointed and authorized to 
 receive and receipt for the said bequests." At the same 
 meeting it was voted to adopt the following resolution: 
 "Resolved by the Inhabitants of Sudbury, in Town meet- 
 ing assembled, That we accept with thankfulness the noble 
 bequests given to the town by the late John Goodnow of 
 Boston ; and that, as an evidence of our gratitude, we pledge 
 ourselves to endeavor to the utmost of our ability, Honestly 
 and Honorably to carry out the benevolent intentions of the 
 Donor." 
 
 July 14, the town instructed the committee to erect a 
 building for the library given by John Goodnow, according 
 to plan reported to them, the sum not to exceed $2500. 
 April 4, 1864, the committee reported the cost of the build- 
 ing, including 132.43 for setting out shade trees, to be 
 $2691.35. The building was enlarged several years ago 
 by an addition on the west ; and at present there is little, 
 if any, unoccupied space. Four catalogues have been is- 
 sued ; the first, at the opening of the Library, when it con- 
 tained less than 2300 volumes; the second in 1867; the 
 third in 1874, when it contained nearly 5000 volumes; and 
 the fourth in 1887, when it contained over 9700. The 
 grounds about the Library are ample, and tastefully laid out, 
 consisting of a level lawn adorned with shade trees. The 
 building is reached by a circular driveway extending from 
 the county highway. In the rear the land extends to Hop 
 brook. 
 
 John Goodnow, the donor of this library fund, was a son 
 of John and Persis Goodnow, who lived at Lanham. He 
 was born at Sudbury, Sept. 6, 1791, and died in Boston, 
 Dec. 24, 1861. His remains were placed in his tomb at Sud- 
 bury Centre, 
 
530 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF MAYNARD. 
 
 In 1871, an area of about 1900 acres of land was set off 
 from Sudbury, which, with about 1300 acres taken from 
 Stow, formed the town of Maynard. The new town was 
 incorporated April 19, 1871, and took its name from Amory 
 Maynard, formerly of Marlboro. The town of Sudbury 
 opposed the separation and, Jan. 23, 1871, appointed a com- 
 mittee of three to nominate a committee of three to oppose 
 any petition to the General Court to set off any part of the 
 territory of Sudbury. Deacon Thomas Hurlbut, Charles 
 Thompson, Esq., and James Moore, Esq., were nominated. 
 The town accepted the nomination and authorized the com- 
 mittee to use all honorable meaus to prevent the formation 
 of a new town, including any part of the territory of the 
 town of Sudbury. 
 
 The committee chosen Jan. 23, 1871, to oppose the incor- 
 poration of any portion of the territory of Sudbury into a 
 new town, reported April 1, 1872, that previous to any hear- 
 ing before the committee of the Legislature on the petition 
 of Henry Fowler and others for an act incorporating the 
 town of Maynard, certain propositions were made by the 
 petitioners as terms of separation and settlement between 
 the town of Sudbury and the proposed new town. These 
 propositions having been laid before the town of Sudbury, 
 Feb. 20, 1871, the committee were given discretionary 
 power, provided they accept of no terms less advantageous 
 to the town of Sudbury than those contained in the agree- 
 ment. By mutual consent a bill was agreed upon and passed 
 by the Legislature, by which the town of Maynard was 
 incorporated. Subsequently the committee were authorized 
 to settle with the authorities of the town of Maynard, 
 according to the provisions of their charter. They reported 
 that they had attended to that duty, also that the proportion 
 of the town debt, together with the money to be paid by the 
 town of Maynard to the town of Sudbury, or Maynafd's 
 share of the stock in the Framingham & Lowell Railroad 
 Corporation owned by the town of Sudbury, with interest on 
 the same, amounted to 120,883.28 ; which sum was paid by 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 531 
 
 them to the treasurer of the town of Sudbury, Oct. 6, 1871. 
 They say they have also attended to establishing the line 
 between the said towns, and erected a stone monument at 
 the angle in said line near the iron-works causeway, which 
 will also answer as a guide-board, and will be kept in repair 
 by the town of Sudbury ; that they have also erected a stone 
 monument marked S. and M., at such places as said line 
 crosses the highway. 
 
 May, 1871, it was " voted that the committee chosen by 
 the town, January 23, consisting of Messrs. Thomas P. Hurl- 
 but, Charles Thompson and James Moore, Esq., shall be a 
 committee to act for and in behalf of the town of Sudbury 
 with the authorities of the town of Maynard, in all matters 
 pertaining to said town, according to the provisions of the 
 charter incorporating said town of Maynard." 
 
 RAILROADS. 
 
 No railroad passed through the present limits of the town 
 until about the beginning of the last period of the present 
 century. A branch of the Fitchburg Road went through 
 Assabet village, but, after that place became Maynard, it left 
 Sudbury without a railroad. The only public conveyance 
 for years was by the stage-coach which went from South 
 Sudbury, and passed through the centre of Sudbury, Way- 
 land and Weston, carrying for each of those places one mail 
 daily. It started about seven o'clock, and arrived at the 
 Stony Brook station of the Fitchburg Railroad in Weston 
 about nine; and starting from there about five P.M. arrived 
 at its destination about seven. It was an old-time stage 
 drawn by four horses, with the driver on the " box," under 
 which were kept the mails. The trunks were strapped 
 on a rack behind. Prior to the starting of this coach, South 
 Sudbury was accommodated by a stage that passed through 
 the town to' Marlboro. About 1870, the Framingham & 
 Lowell Railroad was begun, and in the fall of 1871, the cars 
 began passing through the town. A station was built at 
 North and South Sudbury and at the centre. The one at 
 South Sudbury was built a little northerly of the junction of 
 
532 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the Sudbury and Marlboro and Framingham highways, and 
 has since been moved. 
 
 July 22, 1870, it was voted " That the Town Treasurer be 
 authorized and instructed to subscribe for, take and hold 
 Capital Stock in the Framingham and Lowell Railroad 
 Company to the amount of Thirty thousand dollars. . . 
 Provided said Railroad shall not be located in any place more 
 than half a mile from the hist survey in the Town of 
 Sudbury." 
 
 The first station master at the South Sudbury depot was 
 B. H. Richardson, who served in that capacity ten years. 
 Since the railroad started, trains have regularly been over it, 
 but the indirectness of the route to Boston, and the high 
 passenger rates, made the road of little practical value to the 
 town. The old coach continued to run its regular course, 
 and more or less of the business to the eastward was done by 
 this and private conveyance. The road has recently been 
 leased to the " Old Colony " company, and is now known as 
 the "Northern Branch of the Old Colony Road." In 1887, 
 every station of this road within the limits of Sudbury was 
 burned. Recently, new and more commodious ones have 
 been built on or near the sites of the former ones. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS CENTRAL RAILROAD. 
 
 In October, 1880, the first rails were laid at South Sudbury 
 on the track of the Massachusetts Central Railroad, begin- 
 ning at its junction with the Framingham & Lowell road. 
 During the following winter the road was continued towards 
 Hudson on the west and Boston on the east ; and July 22, 
 1881, nine car loads of rails passed over the Central road, 
 entering upon it at Waverly and going to Hudson. April 
 20, 1881, a train of cars passed over the road from Boston to 
 Hudson ; and October 1, the same year, regular trains began 
 to run. May 16, 1883, the cars stopped running, and com- 
 menced again Sept. 28, 1885, under the management of the 
 Boston & Lowell Railroad. Recently the road was leased to 
 the Boston & Maine Railroad corporation. The Junction 
 Station is a fine one, and the town is now provided with 
 excellent railroad facilities. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 533 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Iii 1854, the committee were instructed to finish the 
 Wadsworth monument by building a road to said monument 
 and fencing the land. They were also instructed to print 
 the proceedings at the dedication of the monument. The 
 same year the town appropriated thirteen hundred dollars to 
 build a road and bridge at Assabet village. 
 
 In 1855, it was voted to instruct the school committee to 
 place the dictionaries presented by Mr. Plympton in the 
 several schools, also that the school-houses be free for 
 Lyceums and singing schools for the year. 
 
 In 1857, it was voted " that the four libraries now in 
 existence be so divided as to make five ; and that these be 
 distributed among the five school districts." The same 
 year it was voted " to allow the town of Way land to copy 
 such of the records as they wished at the home of the clerk, 
 or to employ any person in town to do the same." The 
 same year it was voted to build a stone bridge at the canal 
 bridge. The bridge was let out to Charles Haynes and 
 Thomas E. Bent for five hundred dollars. 
 
 February, 1859, the selectmen were instructed " to petition 
 the Legislature to remove or cause to be removed the Mid- 
 dlesex Canal Dam, erected across the Concord River at 
 Billerica, or such part thereof as the Legislature shall deem 
 expedient or just for reclaiming the meadow lands bordering 
 upon Sudbury and Concord river." 
 
 In 1859, it was voted to choose a committee to let out the 
 raising of the Causeway from Sudbury to Way land, as 
 ordered by the county commissioners. The same year it was 
 voted " to establish the Town Poor house as a work house, 
 as the law provides." 
 
 In 1861, the selectmen were instructed to procure gravel 
 pits in the several wards where they are needed. The same 
 year the selectmen were instructed to build a suitable wall 
 around the new burying ground wherever needed. 
 
 Dec. 17, 1862, the town authorized " the selectmen to give 
 a deed of a lot in the new cemetery to the executors of the 
 will of the late John Goodnow of Boston for the purpose of 
 
534 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 building thereon a tomb." The same year the town voted 
 to choose two agents to remonstrate against the petition of 
 C. P. and T. Talbot for the repeal of an act in relation to a 
 flowage of the Sudbury and Concord River meadows. 
 
 In 18G4, the town granted the use of the Town Hall for a 
 year to the " Comprehensive Temperance Society." 
 
 In 1866, the town granted the use of the Town Hall for a 
 year to the " Musical Union " and for " Musical Instruction." 
 
 In 1867, a vote was passed to straighten the road over 
 Meeting-house hill. 
 
 March 11, 1867, the town voted that the management of 
 the Goodnow Library should be entrusted to a Committee 
 of three persons, one member to be chosen each year, for 
 the term of three years. 
 
 Nov. 3, 1868, it was " voted that the regulations of the 
 New Burying ground should be so changed that one-third 
 of said ground at the north end be reserved for free lots, 
 instead of one-third part of the westerly end, and that per- 
 sons taking said free lots shall have the same control of them 
 as other persons have of lots taken in other parts of the 
 yard." 
 
 April 6, 1869, the town voted to instruct the selectmen to 
 build a receiving tomb. March 7, 1870, the selectmen 
 reported the work completed at a cost of $488.86 ; they also 
 reported that they had procured a cooler for the use of the 
 inhabitants in preparing bodies for burial at a cost of thirty- 
 seven dollars. 
 
 In 1871, the town granted fifty dollars to aid the Grand 
 Army of the Republic on Decoration Day, the amount to be 
 payable to the commander of the Post of the G. A. R., 
 located in Assabet village. May, 1871, " The town, by a 
 vote of fifty-seven yeas to thirty nays, voted to prohibit the 
 sale of Ale, Porter, Strong Beer or Lager Beer, in said 
 town." 
 
 April 2, 1875, the town voted to send to the Centennial 
 Celebration at Concord, of the 19th April, 1775, thirty-two 
 of the oldest citizens as delegates, and provide a carriage for 
 them at the town's expense, also to provide a fife and drum 
 if necessary, also to provide a marshal. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 1850-1875. 
 
 The Civil War. — Causes of it. — Warlike Activity at the North. — First 
 War Meeting in Sudbury. — The " Wadsworth Rifle Guards." — Acts 
 of the Town Relating to the War. — Soldiers' Aid Society. — Enlist- 
 ments. — Sketch of the Thirteenth Regiment. — The Sixteenth.— 
 The Eighteenth. — The Twentieth. — The Twenty-Sixth. — The 
 Thirty-Fifth. — The Forty-Fifth. — The Fifty-Ninth. — Enlistments 
 in other Regiments of Infantry. — Sketch of First Massachusetts 
 Cavalry.— Enlistments in other Regiments of Cavalry. — Enlistments 
 in the Artillery Service. — United States Sanitary Commission. — List 
 of Conscripts. — Casualties.— Biographical Sketches of Men who 
 Died in the Service. — Of Soldiers now Living in Sudbury. — Sum- 
 mary of Service. — List of Citizens Subject to a Draft in 1863. — Bi- 
 centennial of the Wadsworth Fight. — Laying out of Road to Railroad 
 Station, South Sudbury. — The George Goodnow Bequest. 
 
 The sturdy patriots went forth 
 
 From city, village, hamlet, farm ; 
 Unsparing was the sacrifice 
 To shield our native land from harm. 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 The events of the Civil War are so familiar to many now 
 living, that it may be thought unnecessary to give even an 
 outline of its cause or nature. But there is a generation 
 who were not living while that war was in progress. To 
 these it is a matter of history only, and the tales of it come to 
 them as the tradition of the wars that preceded it. A few 
 words, then, of introduction may be important. The war 
 began in 1861. For many years previous there had been a 
 disagreement between the North and the South on the sub- 
 ject of slavery. At the North there had been a growing 
 sentiment that the system was wrong, and, as time passed on, 
 
 535 
 
536 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 opinions grew more and more positive and outspoken. The 
 South looked upon this growing sentiment with suspicion, 
 and when the strength of it was made manifest by the 
 election of Abraham Lincoln, and he had been inaugura- 
 ted President of the United States, it broke out into open 
 revolt. State after State passed the "Act of Secession," 
 and measures were taken to defend their position by 
 force of arms. On April 12, an attempt was made to cap- 
 ture Fort Sumpter, Charleston Harbor, by bombardment; 
 on the 18th it surrendered, after bravely sustaining an at- 
 tack from the rebel batteries for thirty-three hours. This 
 attempt to capture United States property aroused the 
 North to a condition of intense activity. The news sped 
 from city to town, and from the town to the most remote 
 hamlet and farm. The North was resolved to save the 
 Union at all hazards, and men came forward and offered 
 themselves and their money for the safety of their country. 
 April 15, 1861, President Lincoln called for seventy-five 
 thousand soldiers to serve for three months. At this time 
 military activity began, which did not cease for the space of 
 four years. From 1861 to 1865, there was the establishment 
 of camps, the occasional filling of quotas, and war meetings 
 were held in the towns throughout the Northern States to 
 raise money and men to carry on the war. These meetings 
 were sometimes held at evening. It was no remarkable 
 occurrence in those times to see the people at the close of a 
 hard day's work on the farm, or in the busy workshop, wend- 
 ing their way to the town-house to provide means to furnish 
 their quota of troops, and to do or act as some emergency 
 called for. Never was the free spirit of the Republic more 
 manifest, nor its readiness to respond to what its institutions 
 required, than in those stirring days. Sudbury was fully 
 abreast of the average New England town in its promptness 
 and zeal. The first war meeting was a citizens' mass meeting 
 held in the Town Hall. The people did not wait for the 
 slow call of a warrant, They assembled spontaneously to 
 consult as to what was required of them, with full confidence 
 that in a town meeting to be subsequently called their acts 
 would be ratified and made legal. This meeting was charac- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 537 
 
 terized by unanimity and enthusiasm. The spirit of the 
 heroes of '75, when they were assembled on Sudbury 
 Common, with arms in their hands as militia and minute 
 men, to start on their march to Concord, was evinced on this 
 April evening nearly a century later, when the citizens of 
 Sudbury were again met to defend their homes and native 
 land. 
 
 The principal business of this meeting related to the 
 fitting out of the " Wadsworth Rifle Guards." This was a 
 company of State militia which belonged to Sudbury, and 
 was attached to the Second Battalion of Rifles, and was 
 commanded by Major Ephraim Moore of Sudbury until his 
 death, which occurred some years previous. The following 
 record of a legal town meeting held April 29, 1861, sets 
 forth the business that was transacted at the mass meeting, 
 and its ratification by the town. 
 
 " The town voted to furnish new uniforms for the mem- 
 bers of the Wadsworth Rifle Guards, Company B, Second 
 Battalion of Rifles, M. V. M., forthwith, also to furnish each 
 member of said company with a revolver, in case said com- 
 pany is called into the service of the country, the revolvers 
 to be returned to the selectmen of the town when the 
 holders of them shall return home and be discharged from 
 the service ; also the uniforms to be returned to the town if 
 the members of the company are not held in service more 
 than three months. Voted also to pay to each member of 
 said company, in case they are called into service, a sum of 
 money in addition to their pay received from the govern- 
 ment, which shall make the whole amount of their pay 
 twenty dollars per month while they are in such service, 
 and that ten dollars of the above sum be paid to each mem- 
 ber whenever he shall enter such service. Voted also that 
 the families of those who may leave shall be furnished with 
 all necessary assistance at the expense of the town, and the 
 business of those who may leave it shall be properly cared 
 for by the town and not allowed to suffer by their absence." 
 " Voted, also, that each commissioned officer of the company 
 belonging in town be presented with a suitable sword at the 
 expense of the town, and that the other commissioned 
 
538 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 officers not belonging in town be furnished with the same, if 
 they are not otherwise provided for." " Voted to grant the 
 sum of one thousand dollars," for the purposes above men- 
 tioned. 
 
 The amount of money actually expended in fitting out this 
 company was nine hundred and eighty-seven dollars. About 
 the time of the holding of the first war meeting there were 
 enlistments into the Sudbury company, with the expectation 
 of soon being called into the service for three months, and 
 the company for a time continued to drill. No call, however, 
 came for this term of service. The emergency had been 
 met, Washington for the time was safe, and it was at length 
 discovered that the company as such would not be received 
 into any existing regiment, for the term of three months. 
 The next demand was for soldiers to serve for three years or 
 the war, and the " Wadsworth Rifle Guards" were soon or- 
 dered to Fort Independence that they might enlist in the 
 Thirteenth Regiment for this length of time. Twenty-five 
 of them enlisted, and July 30, the regiment left the State. 
 This was the largest number of Sudbury men who enlisted 
 at any one time, and they have the honor of being the first 
 Sudbury soldiers who enlisted from the town. The history 
 of the regiment will be given further on. 
 
 From the time of the first enlistments there were repeated 
 calls for troops. " Three hundred thousand more " became a 
 familiar term, and at each new call the town took measures 
 to fill its quota. July 4, 1862, the President issued a call 
 for volunteers for three years, and July 28, the town " voted 
 to pay a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to 
 each volunteer who has enlisted or may enlist into the ser- 
 vice of the U. S. * * to the number of fourteen." Also, 
 " Voted to instruct the selectmen to look after and provide 
 for any sick or wounded volunteer belonging to the Town of 
 Sudbury." In August of the same year, a call came for 
 soldiers for nine months' service ; and Aug. 19, 1862, the 
 town " voted to pay the sum of one hundred dollars to each 
 person who voluntarily enlists into the service of the United 
 States for the term of nine months, on or before the first day 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 539 
 
 of September next, to a number not exceeding the quota of 
 their town." 
 
 Dec. 17, 1862, the town voted to fill up their quota by pay- 
 ing one hundred and forty dollars bounty. December 22, the 
 committee reported at a town meeting held in the evening, 
 " that they had procured sixteen men to fill up the town's 
 quota for the military service of the U. S., that said men had 
 been accepted and sworn into the said service, and had been 
 properly accredited to the town of Sudbury, and that said 
 committee paid the sum of one hundred and thirty dollars 
 for each man." 
 
 Oct. 17, 1863, the President issued another call for three 
 hundred thousand men, and December 7, the town " voted 
 to authorize the selectmen to use all proper and legal meas- 
 ures to fill up the town's quota of volunteers, agreeable to 
 the call of the President of the United States for three hun- 
 dred thousand volunteers, dated Oct. 17, 1863." 
 
 March 14, 1864, the President issued a call for two hun- 
 dred thousand men, and March 22 the town appointed a 
 committee " to take all proper and legal measures to fill the 
 quota of the town " under this call. June 9, the town voted 
 to " raise money sufficient to pay one hundred and twenty- 
 five dollars to each volunteer who shall enlist into the ser- 
 vice of the U. S., and be duly accredited as a part of the 
 quota of the Town of Sudbury in anticipation of a call from 
 the President to recruit the armies now in the field, and that 
 the selectmen be required to use all proper measures to pro- 
 cure said volunteers." It was voted also "that the select- 
 men be authorized to procure not less than seventeen men." 
 At the same meeting " the committee appointed by the town 
 at a meeting held March 22, 1864, to take all proper and 
 legal measures to fill the quota of the town under the call of 
 the President of the U. S. for two hundred thousand men, 
 dated March 14, 1864, reported that the town's quota was 
 ten men ; that there had been seven men accredited to the 
 town by volunteer enlistment at an expense of nine hundred 
 and ten dollars, and that the remaining three were drafted 
 and accepted." 
 
540 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Nov. 8, 1864, it was " voted to grant the free use of the 
 Town Hall for the Soldiers' Aid Society." This was an or- 
 ganization formed in the war period for the purpose of assist- 
 ing the soldiers. May 20, 1865, it was " voted to refund all 
 money contributed by individuals to fill the quotas of the 
 town of Sudbury in the year 1864." 
 
 ENLISTMENTS OF SOLDIERS. 
 
 In meeting the requisitions made upon the town, enlist- 
 ments were made at various times and in various regiments. 
 Where there was a considerable number of enlistments in any 
 one regiment, we will give not only the names of the soldiers, 
 but a very brief sketch of the regiment in which they served. 
 
 THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Twenty-three men enlisted in this regiment for three years, 
 July 16, 1861, and two others a little later. 
 
 Thomas C. Richardson, Band Leader, age 26, enlisted July 20, 1861 ; 
 expiration of service, Aug. 31, 1862. 
 
 James F. Fish, age 27, enlisted July 24, 1801 ; dropped, Sept. 1, 1802, de- 
 tailed on gunboat service. 
 
 William H. Green, age 20, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1801. 
 
 Mortimer Johnson, age 19, expiration of service, Feb. 1!), 1804, to re- 
 enlist ; transferred, July 13, 1864, to Thirty-ninth Infantry. 
 
 Corp. Aimer H. Gay, age 28, expiration of service, May 20, 1862, 
 disability. 
 
 Corp. Spencer Smith, age 20. expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1804. 
 
 Corp. George L. Willis, age 18, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864. 
 
 Henry S. Battles, age 24. 
 
 Francis H. Brown, age VJ, expiration of service, Jan. 16, 1863, disability. 
 
 George S. Dickey, age 35, died at Williamsport, Md., March 4, 1862. 
 
 Samuel H. Garfield, age 18, expiration of service, Dec. 22, 1862, 
 disability. 
 
 Charles E. Haynes, age 24, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1801. 
 
 George W. Jones, age 22, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864. 
 
 John H. Moore, age 21, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864. 
 
 Proctor Pingree, wagoner, age 35, expiration of service, May 10, 1862, 
 disability. 
 
 Cyrus E. Barker, age 23, expiration of service, Jan. 30, 1863, disability. 
 
 Edward Blake, age 33, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864. 
 
 Lyman W. Brown, age 18, expiration of service April 15, 1863, disability. 
 
 Albert Conant, age 22. 
 
HISTORY OE SUDBURY. 541 
 
 Charles E. Duley, age 18, expiration of service, Dec. 15, 1862, disability. 
 Dana F. Dutton, age 29, transferred, July 14, 1864, to Thirty-ninth 
 
 Infantry. 
 Leander A. Haynes, age 27, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864. 
 Henry F. Moore, age 22, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864. 
 George W. Woodbury, age 18, expiration of service, Feb. 11, 1863, 
 
 disability. 
 Eugene L. Fairbanks, age 21, expiration of service, Feb. 11, 1863, 
 
 disability. 
 
 George T. Smith at the age of twenty-two re-enlisted 
 from Sudbury in this regiment, and was transferred to the 
 Thirty-ninth Infantry, July 19, 1864. The Thirteenth Regi- 
 ment was commanded by Col. Samuel H. Leonard of 
 Boston, and saw hard fighting. It was in the battles of 
 Antietam, Fredericksburg and the second Bull Run in 1862, 
 and at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg in 1863. Jan. 1, 
 1864, it was in camp at Mitchell's Station, Va., near the 
 Rapidan River, on the extreme front of the army, where it 
 had a camp of log huts, and did important service picketing 
 the river. In the spring following it moved south, and 
 from May 4 to June 6 it is stated that the regiment was 
 under fire night and day. June 16, it marched to the James 
 River, crossed in transports and moved towards Petersburg. 
 July 15, the regiment left City Point, Va., for Washington, 
 and arrived at Boston July 21, 1864. 
 
 THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Five men were members of the Sixteenth Regiment, all of 
 whom were mustered in July, 1861. Their names are: 
 Gardner H. Darling, John Forsyth, Henry H. Parmenter, 
 Horace Sanderson, Warren B. Witherell; John Forsyth 
 and Horace Sanderson were killed ; Warren B. Witherell 
 was wounded in the leg and discharged for disability July 
 28, 1868 ; Gardner H. Darling was wounded and taken 
 prisoner at the battle of Fair Oaks, and exchanged. He was 
 mustered out July 27, 1864. Henry H. Parmenter was dis- 
 charged at the expiration of his term of service, June 29, 1864. 
 
 The Sixteenth was one of the earliest regiments of three 
 years men that was organized in Massachusetts. It was 
 
542 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 commanded by Col. Powell T. Wyman of Boston. Before 
 its close of service one of its lieutenant-colonels was Daniel 
 S. Lamson of Weston. The regiment left the State Aug. 17, 
 1861. It was in the battles of Fair Oaks, Glendale, Mal- 
 vern Hill, Kettle Run, Chantilly and Fredericksburg in 1862, 
 and at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Locust Grove in 
 1863. It was engaged in the campaign under the leader- 
 ship of General Grant, which resulted in the capture of 
 Petersburg ; and during the year 1864, was engaged in some 
 of its hardest fighting. In May it started southward, and for 
 days it had marchings and fightings. Says one in writing 
 the history of this regiment : " May 4th, at 11 A.M., crossed 
 the Rapidan. At 3 P.M., encamped on the same grounds 
 where one year previous we fought the battle of Chancellors- 
 ville. * * The bones of our fallen companions, whitened 
 by the frosts of winter, were scattered over the field and 
 through the woods, about which were blooming in innocent 
 beauty the violet and other spring flowers. 
 
 "May 6th [battle of the Wilderness]. * * At 6 A.M. 
 the entire line was advanced about one mile, the battle raging 
 fiercely until 11 A.M., when the heavy reinforcements of 
 the enemy were thrown in masses upon our lines. At this 
 time the Sixteenth showed its real pluck, and held the 
 ground until the entire line both to the right and left had 
 fallen back. At 5 P.M. General Longstreet's corps made its 
 famous charge upon our line. The advance line of battle 
 fought the masses of the enemy until their ammunition was 
 expended, when they were obliged to evacuate the works 
 and seek shelter in our rear. While so doing the enemy 
 occupied the advance line. In a moment, as if by magic, 
 the Sixteenth leaped the works and charged the enemy, 
 forcing him back, ami captured a large number of prisoners. 
 * * The tlag of the Sixteenth first waved over them 
 after the recapture. * * May 12. * * [The battle of 
 Spottsylvania]. At 12 M., the Sixteenth was ordered 
 along the crest of a hill where the enemy had regained a 
 few rods of the works lost in the morning. * * Our 
 object was that the enemy should capture no more of the 
 works. * * The musketry fire was terrific. It was at 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 543 
 
 this point a tree, some fourteen inches in diameter, was 
 actually fallen — being cut down by bullets — it being be- 
 tween the fire of the contending parties. Regiment after 
 regiment was thrown into this deadly position, and were cut 
 down before the terrific fire like grass. Indeed, the blood 
 flowing from so many killed and wounded, mixing with the 
 rain then falling, gave the running water the appearance of 
 streams of blood. The men fired upwards of three hundred 
 rounds of ammunition, after which they were relieved to 
 clean their pieces. In this action our loss was heavy. The 
 Regiment arrived in Massachusetts July 22, 1864, and was 
 mustered out the 27th." 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Five men enlisted for three years in this regiment, 
 namely : — 
 
 Edwin S. Parmenter, age 20, mustered, Aug. 22, 1863, died, June 9, 1864. 
 Leander Haynes, age 27, mustered, July 16, 1861, expiration of service, 
 
 Aug. 1, 1864. 
 Henry Moore, age 22, mustered, July 16, 1861, expiration of service, 
 
 Aug. 1, 1864. 
 Eugene L. Fairbanks, age 21, mustered, July 16, 1861, expiration of 
 
 service, Feb. 11, 1863, disability. 
 George W. Woodbury, age 18, mustered, July 16, 1861, expiration of 
 
 service, Feb. 11, 1863, disability. 
 
 The Eighteenth Regiment was commanded by James 
 Barnes of Springfield. Eight of its companies were mus- 
 tered into the United States service Aug. 27, 1861, and left 
 the State the next day. The other two companies joined the 
 regiment in the fall of the same year. The regiment was at 
 the battle of Gaines' Mill, Second Bull Run, Shepardston 
 and Fredericksburg in 1862, and at Chancellorsville, Gettys- 
 burg, Rappahannock Station and Mine Creek in 1863. May 
 1, 1863, it crossed the Rappahannock. Shortly after, it was 
 under command of Col. Joseph Hayes and formed a part of 
 the Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Corps, and until the 
 20th of July, when it was ordered to Washington, because 
 near the expiration of its term of service, it was repeatedly 
 
544 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 engaged with the enemy. Lieutenant-Colonel White, in 
 giving a report of the regiment from Dec. 3, 1863, to June 
 19, says: "lam pleased to say that both the officers and 
 men of my command, during the series of operations to this 
 date, have behaved in a manner which has entirely satisfied 
 me. All have acted so well, there is little reason to particu- 
 larize." A battalion, made up of men whose term of service 
 would not expire with the regiment, was detached, and 
 remained a part of the Third Brigade ; it was engaged with 
 the enemy about Petersburg, and at one time captured fifty 
 prisoners and a battle-Hag belonging to the Twenty-seventh 
 South Carolina Regiment. After the expiration of its term 
 of service, the battalion was consolidated with the Thirty- 
 second Massachusetts Regiment. 
 
 THE TWENTIETH REGIMENT. 
 
 Besides the foregoing enlistments, which were largely 
 made up of Sudbury citizens, there is among the town 
 papers the following list of men, who in December, 1862, 
 were furnished by the town for the three years service. All, 
 except the first, were in the Twentieth Massachusetts Regi- 
 ment and mustered in December 19. 
 
 AGE. 
 
 23 Patrick Wilson, 
 
 22 John Stewart, 
 
 35 Thomas Faver, 
 
 22 William Johnson, 
 
 27 John McCluskey, 
 
 22 David Henry, 
 
 22 James Maloney, 
 
 21 Joseph Powell, 
 
 21 William J. Robinson, 
 
 21 John White, 
 
 22 John Wiley, 
 
 26 Charles Rogers, 
 
 •J.". John Morgan, 
 
 •J'.l Janus Walsh, 
 
 39 Henry Price, 
 
 22 Charles Daniels, 
 
 OCCUPATION. 
 
 Laborer, 
 
 REGIMENT. 
 
 First, 
 
 MUSTERED. 
 
 Dec. 18, 1862. 
 
 Carpenter, 
 
 Twentieth, 
 
 
 19, 
 
 cc 
 
 Barber, 
 
 (i 
 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 Cigar-maker, 
 
 (i 
 
 
 cc 
 
 " 
 
 Boatman, 
 Seaman, 
 
 cc 
 
 
 cc 
 cc 
 
 It 
 cc 
 
 Cooper, 
 Pressman, 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 
 (C 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 Steward, 
 Seaman,' 
 
 u 
 cc 
 
 
 CC 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 Stone-cutter, 
 
 (1 
 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 Laborer, 
 
 CC 
 
 
 (( 
 
 cc 
 
 Seaman, 
 
 (( 
 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 cc 
 
 <t 
 
 11 
 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 Harness-maker, 
 
 l< 
 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 The Twentieth Regiment was commanded by Col. Wil- 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 545 
 
 liam Raymond Lee of Roxbury, and left Massachusetts Sept. 
 4, 1861. It was in the battle of Balls Bluff in 1861, and 
 in the battles before Richmond, Antietam and Fredericks- 
 burg in 1862, and at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Bris- 
 tow's Station and Mine Run in 1863. May" 3, 1864, the 
 regiment left winter quarters, crossed the Rapidan, and on 
 the 5th marched to the Wilderness and there engaged the 
 enemy. It fought bravely and suffered severely. In one 
 engagement of three hours it had one major killed, a colonel, 
 three captains and two lieutenants wounded. In its march 
 southward from the Wilderness to the front of Petersburg, 
 it had hard fighting and lost many men. 
 
 THE TWENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Sixteen men were enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Regiment, 
 namely : — 
 
 Elias E. Haynes, 2nd Lieut., age 28, mustered, Nov. 12, 1862, expiration 
 
 of service, April 21, 1865, resigned. 
 John M. Haynes, Corp., age 18, mustered, Sept. 20, 1861, Dec. 31, 1863, 
 
 re-enlisted. 
 John M. Haynes, Sergt., age 20, mustered, Jan. 1, 1864, expiration of 
 
 service, Aug. 26, 1865. 
 Albert L. Weeks, Sergt., age 22, mustered, Jan. 1, 1864, expiration of 
 
 service, Aug. 26, 1865. 
 William Barr, age 37, mustered, Jan. 1, 1864, expiration of service, 
 
 Aug. 26, 1865. 
 James Dooner, age 20, mustered, Jan.' 1, 1864, expiration of service, 
 
 Aug. 26, 1865. 
 James W. Fisk, age 28, mustered, Jan. 1, 1864, expiration of service, 
 
 Aug. 26, 1865. 
 William T. Sawyer, age 19, mustered, Sept. 6, 1861, expiration of service, 
 
 Nov. 21, 1865. 
 Silas Willis, age 22, mustered, Sept. 4, 1861. expiration of service, Nov. 
 
 22, 1862, to enlist in United States Army. 
 Michael Dooner, Oct. 18, 1861, expiration of service, Aug. 26, 1865. 
 George Flood, mustered, Oct. 18, 1861, expiration of service, Aug. 26 
 
 1865. 
 John A. Haynes, mustered, Oct., 1861, expiration of service, Aug. 26 
 
 1865. 
 James Hefferman, mustered, Oct. 18, 1861, expiration of service, Aug. 
 
 20, 1SG5. 
 John Kelly, mustered, Oct. 18, 1861, expiration of service, Aug. 26, 1865. 
 
546 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 John O'Donnell, mustered, Oct. 18, 1861, expiration of service, Aug. 26, 
 
 1865. 
 
 Marcus M. Puffer, mustered, Oct. IS, 18(31, expiration of service, Aug. 
 
 26, 1865. 
 
 This regiment left the State Nov. 21, 1861. It was 
 commanded by Col. Edward F. Jones of Pepperell, and was 
 an offshoot of his old regiment, the Massachusetts Sixth, 
 which was attacked when passing through Baltimore, April 
 19, 1861. The regiment previous to January, 1864, was for 
 a time in Louisiania. July, 1864, it went to Bermuda Hun- 
 dred, Va., and was for a time in the army of the Shenan- 
 doah with General Sheridan. It was in the battle of Cedar 
 Creek and lost several men. 
 
 THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Eight men were mustered into the Thirty-fifth Regiment, 
 Aug. 16, 1862, for the term of three years, namely : — 
 
 Sergt. Rufus H. Hurlbut, age 20, expiration of service, June 9, 1805. 
 Corp. William F. Bowcn, age 20, expiration of service, June 9, 1865. 
 Corp. George F. Moore, age 20, expiration of service, June 9, 1865. 
 William B. Bailey, age 25, expiration of service, June 9, 1865. 
 Francis Garfield, age 32, transferred, March 15, 1864, to V. R. C. 
 George H. Hall, age 22, expiration of service, June 9, 1865. 
 Albert H. Moore, age 20, expiration of service, June 9, 1805. 
 Eli 11. Willis, age 21, expiration of service, June 9, 1805: 
 
 This regiment was recruited in July, 1862, and left the 
 State the 22d of August under command of Col. Edward A. 
 Wilde of Brookline. September 6, it started from Arlington 
 Heights for Maryland, and began active service while the 
 soldiers were yet but an undisciplined collection of enlisted 
 citizens, or raw recruits having had but one battalion drill. Its 
 first battle was at South Mountain, in which Colonel Wilde 
 lost an arm, which obliged him to leave the regiment, and 
 Lieut.-Col. Sumner Carruth of Chelsea was promoted colonel. 
 The regiment was in the battles of Antietam ami Fredericks- 
 burg in 1862. After this, the regiment was assigned to 
 General Burnside's corps, and sent into Kentucky to hunt 
 o-uerillas, where it continued until June 1, 1863, when it was 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 547 
 
 sent to Washington to reinforce General Grant. After the 
 surrender of Vickburg, July 4, 1863, it was sent to Jackson, 
 Miss., in pursuit of General Johnston, where it had several 
 days' fighting, which resulted in the retreat of Johnston. 
 The Thirty-fifth was the first regiment to enter the city, and 
 it secured the rebel flag from the State House. The cam- 
 paign was a severe one because of the extreme heat and 
 scarcity of water. The regiment then returned to Kentucky, 
 and Sept. 30, 1863, started for Knoxville, Tenn., and re- 
 mained there during the siege of that place. While at 
 Knoxville the regiment endured severe hardship and depri- 
 vation. The rations were short and the clothing scant. At 
 times during the winter, when the ground was covered with 
 snow, some of the Sudbury soldiers had no shoes. One of 
 them cut off the tail of his coat and sewed it on his feet. 
 Some of them sewed on pieces of green hide with the hair 
 left on the inside. Throughout the winter the soldiers were 
 on half rations ; and during the siege, which lasted nineteen 
 days, they were allowed some days only one pint of unbolted 
 corn-meal ; one day they had only one ear of corn apiece, 
 and other days they had nothing. During this time they 
 were on picket duty more than half the time, and were 
 obliged to be awake every alternate twenty-four hours, and 
 sometimes forty-eight hours at a time. This occurred after 
 the retreat from and battle with General Longstreet, which 
 kept them fighting and marching without rest for three nights 
 and two days. 
 
 In the spring of 1864, the regiment was sent back to the 
 Army of the Potomac, and was engaged in the battles of the 
 Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and all the hard 
 fighting to the James River. It remained in front of Peters- 
 burg till the close of the war. 
 
 THE FORTY-FIFTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Thirteen men were mustered into the Forty-fifth Regi- 
 ment, Sept. 26, 1862, for the term of nine months, namely : — 
 
 Marshall L. Eaton, 1st Sergt, age 30, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 Homer Rogers, Sergt., age 22, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 
548 HISTOBY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Arthur Dakin, Corp., age 22, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 Bradley Hemenway, Corp., age 20, expiration of service, July 7, 18G3. 
 Frank H. Hunt, Musician, age 18, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 Albert B. Richardson, Musician, age 19, expiration of service, July 7, ls<;.'!. 
 Asa B. Bacon, age 41, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 James B. Butlerfield, age 22, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 John H. Eaton, age 24, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 Theodoric A. Jones, age 18, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 Alpheus Puffer, age 22, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 William Scott, age 19, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 Charles C. Spaulding, age 24, expiration of service, July 7, 1863. 
 
 This regiment was organized in the summer of 1862, and 
 the companies composing it came from different towns. It 
 left the State, Nov. 5, 1862, and July 21, 1863, it returned 
 to Boston and was recruited. The regiment took part in 
 the battle of Kingston, N. C, Dec. 14, 1862, and in the 
 battle of Goldsboro. It was also engaged in the movements 
 about Newbern. Its losses in battle were twenty killed and 
 seventy-one wounded, exceeding that of all the other nine 
 months regiments taken together. The loss from sickness 
 and disease was also very heavy. The march to Goldsboro, 
 under a sultry sun, is spoken of as a long and weary one to 
 men unaccustomed to such hardships, but they stood it like 
 true soldiers, and held on their way till it was ended. One 
 of the younger ones in his company was Theodoric Jones ; 
 though his feet were badly blistered by his coarse army 
 shoes he never flinched nor lagged behind ; and when, for 
 once having climbed a fence by the roadside for a momentary 
 rest, he heard it intimated that he was giving out, he in- 
 stantly sprang to the ground, and with some vigorous 
 remarks resumed his journey with apparent ease. When lie 
 arrived in camp his shoes were a curiosity, — it is said they 
 were so completely run down that the heels were nearly 
 bottom side up, and the owner's feet were in such a condi- 
 tion that, for a number of days, he was entirely disabled. 
 
 ( )f the Sudbury men in this regiment, perhaps William 
 Scott did as much as any towards breaking up the monoton} r 
 of the weary march and the tedious camp life. " Billy," as 
 the bo} r s called him, was short and stout, a good soldier and 
 full of fun. Sometimes he would act as barber, and get his 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 549 
 
 pay in the sport he made of his patrons. On the march of 
 the regiment from Goldsboro to Newbern, Billy captured 
 a small mule about the size of a heifer ; and, having loaded 
 the beast with such articles as had been picked up by the 
 way and his gun and accoutrements, he mounted it and the 
 journey was resumed towards camp. A lieutenant, having 
 his attention called to the animal, required him to give it 
 up, but Billy clung to the bridle without saying a word ; the 
 officer threatened, but Billy rode on, and when at length he 
 arrived at Newbern he presented a comical spectacle. He 
 had, besides the blankets, muskets, haversacks, etc., two 
 geese, some hens, and a large number of canteens, so that 
 the little mule was well nigh covered. Billy was smiling, 
 as usual, and the boys smiled too. The mule was unloaded 
 and given up, and Billy, so far as known, received no repri- 
 mand but what he had at the start. 
 
 THE FIFTY-NINTH REGIMENT. 
 
 The following men enlisted in the Fifty-ninth for three 
 
 years : — 
 
 Cyrus E. Barker, age 25, mustered, Jan. 14, 1864, died April 9, 1865. 
 Curtis Smith, age 21, mustered, Jan. 14, 1864, died Oct. 19, 1864. 
 Benjamin Ryde, age 35, mustered, Feb. 9, 1864, transferred, June 1, 1S65, 
 
 to Fifty-seventh Infantry. 
 Alfred Moore, age 21, mustered, April 2, 1864, transferred June 7, 1865, 
 
 to V. R. C. 
 
 This regiment was raised and commanded by Jacob P. 
 Gould of Stoneham, who was formerly Major of the Thir- 
 teenth. It left the State for Washington, April 26, 1864. 
 Ten days after, it was engaged in its first fight; and in 1864 
 it took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, 
 North Anna, Coal Harbor, the battles before Petersburg, and 
 the battle of Weldon Railroad. 
 
 With the exception of the instances now mentioned, the 
 soldiers who went from Sudbury, for the most part, enlisted 
 in different regiments, and their names are scattered along 
 in the various rolls of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, 
 and bear date from the first to the last year of the war. The 
 
550 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 following are the names of these soldiers as given in the 
 State Adjutant General's Report or the Sudbury Soldiers' 
 Record Book, from which we have also taken the foregoing 
 
 lists. 
 
 ENLISTMENTS IN OTHER REGIMENTS OE INFANTRY. 
 
 NINE MONTHS MEN IN THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Samuel G. Brown, Corp., age 27, mustered, Aug. 31, 18G2, expiration of 
 
 service, June 3, 1863. 
 Solomon Davis, age 36, mustered, Aug. 31, 1862, expiration of service, 
 
 June 3, 1863. 
 Francis Button, age 26, mustered, Aug. 31, 1862, expiration of service, 
 
 June 3, ISC,:?. 
 Augustus Newton, mustered, Aug. 31, 1862, expiration of service, June 
 
 3, 1863. 
 Matthew Smith, age 19, mustered, Aug. 31, 1862, expiration of service, 
 
 June 3, 1863. 
 
 ONE HUNDRED DAYS MEN IN THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Rockwood Puffer, age IS, mustered, Aug 18, 1864, expiration of service, 
 Oct. 27, 1864. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE NINTH REGIMENT INFANTRY. 
 
 Walter Lee, age 38, mustered, March 28, 1864, transferred, June 10, 1S64, 
 
 to Thirty-second Infantry, expiration of service, June 29, 1864. 
 Michael Muller, age 29, mustered, Aug. 21, 1863. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE NINETEENTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Cornelius Buckley, age 38, mustered, March 26, 1864, expiration of 
 
 service, June 30, 1865. 
 Thomas Smith, age 28, mustered, March 26, 1864, died, Jan. 26, 1865. 
 Josiah Garfield, mustered, July 26, 1861, expiration of service, June 30, 
 
 L865. 
 
 MEN IN THE TWENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Michael Malone, age 32, mustered, March 26, 1864. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Michael Fitzgerald, Corp., age 22, mustered, Jan. 20, 186."), expiration of 
 service, June 30, 1865. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE THIRTIETH REGIMENT. 
 
 Stillman Willis, mustered, Jan. t, 1862, expiration of service, . 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT. 
 
 John Herschel Moore, mustered, July 2, 1862, discharged for disability. 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 551 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT. 
 
 John Rothe, mustered, Oct. 5, 1861, expiration of service, Oct. 20, 1864. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT. 
 
 John Roth, age 40, mustered, Aug. 5, 1862, expiration of service, Jan. 
 
 11, 1865. 
 Robert Arnold, mustered, Aug. 13, 1862, regiment mustered out, . 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE THIRTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Marcus T. Baker, age 21, mustered, Jan. 21, 1865, transferred, June 22, 
 
 1865, to Twenty-sixth Infantry. 
 George A. Jones, age 18, August 21, 1862, expiration of service, June 
 
 30, 1865. 
 
 MEN IN THE THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT. 
 
 James M. Sawyer, age 19, mustered, Aug. 18, 1862, expiration of service, 
 July 18, 1865. 
 
 NINE MONTHS MEN IN THE FORTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT. 
 
 Silas H. Blake, age 38, mustered, November, 1862, expiration of service, 
 Sept. 1, 1863. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE FIFTY-SIXTH REGIMENT. 
 
 William F. Coombs, age 37, mustered, Feb. 25, 1864, expiration of 
 service, Aug. 1, 1865, order War Department. 
 
 MEN IN THE SIXTY-FIRST REGIMENT. 
 
 Edward A. Farnsworth, age 24, mustered, Jan. 10, 1865, expiration of 
 
 service, July 16, 1865. 
 Peter McDougal, age 38, mastered, Jan. 16, 1865, expiration of service, 
 
 May 27, 1865, order War Department. 
 
 SUDBURY SOLDIERS IN THE CAVALRY SERVICE. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE FIRST CAVALRY. 
 
 Averill F. Willis, mustered, September, 1861, expiration of service, June 
 
 26, 1865. 
 George F. Butterfield, mustered, September, 1861, expiration of service, 
 
 June 26, 1865. 
 
 This regiment was commanded by Col. Robert Williams 
 of Virginia, and left the State by battalions ; the First on 
 the 25th, the Second on the 27th, and the Third on the 29th 
 of December, 18(31. It was stationed in the Department of 
 the South until August 19, 1862, when eight of its compa- 
 nies joined the Army of the Potomac. The two men from 
 Sudbury served in Company L, Capt. William Gibbs of 
 
552 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Waltham. It is stated that, while in South Carolina, "they 
 suffered from hanger, storm, wind and heat, and were at the 
 terrible battles of James Island, Fort Wagner, and Morris 
 Island." After leaving South Carolina, they were in Vir- 
 ginia with the Tenth Army Corps, commanded by Major- 
 General Gilmore, and served in front of Petersburg until its 
 surrender. In 1864, a part of the battalion of cavalry, 
 known as the Independent Battalion Massachusetts Cavalry, 
 that served in the Department of the South and was formerly 
 of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, constituted, with the 
 First Battalion Veteran Cavalry, the Fourth Massachusetts 
 Cavalry. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE SECOND REGIMENT CAVALRY. 
 
 Hartson D. Sinclair, age 21, mustered, Feb. 14, 1865, died, May 26, 1865. 
 
 John F. Casey, age 19, mustered, Aug. 9, 1864, expiration of service, 
 June 17, 1865. 
 
 Richard H. Graham, age 19, mustered, Aug. 9, 1864, expiration of ser- 
 vice, June 17, 1865. 
 
 John O'Brien, age 20, mustered, Aug. 9, 1864, expiration of service, June 
 17, 1865. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE FOURTH REGIMENT CAVALRY. 
 
 John Lee, 2nd Lieut., mustered, July 13, 1865, expiration of service, 
 
 Nov. 14, 1865. 
 George F. Butterfield, Corp., age 20, mustered, Sept. 23, 1661, expiration 
 
 of service, Sept. 24, 1864. 
 Frank F. Willis, Bugler, age 19, mustered, Sept. 23, 1861, expiration of 
 
 service, Sept, 24, 1861. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE FIFTH REGIMENT CAVALRY. 
 
 Daniel Robinson, age 21, mustered, Aug 25, 1864, expiration of service, 
 
 May 23, 1865. 
 Lyman Taylor, age 21, mustered, Aug. 25, 1864, expiration oF service, 
 
 May 23, 1865. ' 
 
 SUDBURY SOLDIERS IN THE ARTILLERY SERVICE. 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN SEVENTH BATTERY OF LIGHT ARTILLERY. 
 
 John P. Hudson, age 23, mustered, May 21, 1862, died, March 7, 1864. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN FIRST REGIMENT, HEAVY ARTILLERY. 
 
 Edward R. Cutler, Asst. Surg., age 22, mustered, Sept. 25, 1863, Surg. 
 Dec. 19, 1864. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 553 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN THE FIRST BATTALION, HEAVY ARTILLERY. 
 
 George A. Dean, age 18, mustered, Feb. 11, I860, expiration of service, 
 Oct. 20, 1865. 
 
 THREE YEARS MEN IN SECOND REGIMENT, HEAVY ARTILLERY. 
 
 Thomas Corcoran, age 21, mustered, Aug. 18, 1864, died, April 11, 1865. 
 
 ONE YEAR MEN IN THE FOURTH REGIMENT, HEAVY ARTILLERY. 
 
 Sidney Smith, age 21, mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, expiration of service, 
 June 17, 1865. 
 
 Alexander Black, age 42, mustered, Aug. 25, 1864, expiration of service, 
 June 17, 1865. 
 
 Joseph Clear, age 19, mustered, Aug. 23, 1864, expiration of service, June 
 17, 1865. 
 
 Jonathan G. Leavett, age 34, mustered, Aug. 25, 1864, expiration of ser- 
 vice, June 17, 1865. 
 
 James F. Rundell, age 19, mustered, Aug. 17, 1864, expiration of service, 
 June 17, 1865. 
 
 Charles R. Taylor, age 22, mustered, Aug. 23, 1864, expiration of ser- 
 vice, June 17, 1865. 
 
 ONE YEAR MEN IN THE TWENTY-NINTH UNAT. CO., HEAVY ARTILLERY. 
 
 Cornelius Fitzpatrick, age 23, mustered, Sept. 1, 1864, expiration of 
 service, June 16, 1865. 
 
 Matthew Heaphey, age 21, mustered, Aug. 25, 1864, expiration of ser- 
 vice, June 16, 1865. 
 
 Michael Shea, age 21, mustered, Sept. 1, 1864, expiration of service, 
 June 16, 1865. 
 
 UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION. 
 
 Two Sudbury men, Edwin Hunt and Alfred S. Hudson, 
 were with the army in the service of the Sanitary Commis- 
 sion. The first remained until obliged to return on account 
 of ill health ; the other entered the service July, 1864, and 
 was stationed at City Point, Va., at the junction of the 
 Appomatox and James Rivers, near Petersburg, at the time 
 of the siege. 
 
 Notwithstanding the promptness of the town in taking 
 means to fill its quotas by voluntary enlistments at home, 
 and by offering bounties for enlistments from abroad, before 
 the war closed it was subjected to a draft. July 17, 1863, 
 the names of the town's citizens included in the First Class 
 List were deposited at Concord, and the following names 
 were drawn therefrom. 
 
554 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 LIST OF CONSCRIPTS 
 
 M. W. Evans, 
 Albert T. Parmenter, 
 William Gormin, 
 Francis H. Moore, 
 Francis H. Brown, 
 Michael Newell, 
 Jonas Goodnow, 
 Samuel Bent, 
 T. M. Brenn, 
 George H. Murphy, 
 E. S. Butterfield, 
 Luther S. Cutting, 
 E. R. Chase, 
 Dana W. Hayden, 
 William E. Eager, 
 
 IN THE TOWN OF SUDBURY, DRAWN AT CONCORD, 
 
 JULY 17, 1863. 
 
 exempt. William L. Stone, 
 substituted. Frank Webster 
 
 paid. G. H Murphy, 
 
 exempt. Edwin Rogers, 
 
 « Hubbard H. Brown, 
 
 « Joel F. Parmenter, 
 
 " Luther G. Hunt, 
 Winsor Pratt, 
 
 « Lorenzo Parmenter, 
 
 enlisted, Joseph B. Adams, 
 
 exempt. C. W. Floyd, 
 
 paid. Henry H. Cheney, 
 
 " James J. Purler, 
 
 exempt. N. C. Haynes, 
 
 « Francis F. Walker, 
 
 exempt. 
 
 paid. 
 
 u 
 
 substituted, 
 exempt. 
 
 paid, 
 exempt. 
 
 In the foregoing lists are the names of some of Sudbury's 
 most valuable citizens. Voluntarily they came forward, and 
 offered themselves at their country's call. Young men left 
 the farm, the store, and the work-shop, and in the best of 
 their years and their strength engaged in the work of war. 
 The death rate among them, according to the records, is very 
 small. Yet the history of the regiments in which most of 
 these soldiers served shows that they sometimes occupied 
 positions of extreme peril. Some, who passed through the 
 severest engagements, escaped unharmed; while others were 
 wounded repeatedly, and recovered and again entered the 
 ranks. Some of the strongest were the first to succumb to 
 the power of disease ; while others, slender of stature and 
 unaccustomed to out-door toil, came back at the end of their 
 term of service robust and strong. Such are the fortunes 
 of war. 
 
 LIST OF CASUALTIES. 
 The fatal casualties that occurred to persons who were 
 accredited to or natives of Sudbury, as we have found them 
 recorded in the Town Book or the Adjutant Generals 
 Printed Report, are as follows : — 
 
 KILLED OR MORTALLY WOUNDED IN BATTLE. 
 
 Horace Sanderson. John Forsyth. Edwin S. Parmenter. 
 
THE WADSWORTH MONUMENT 
 South Sudbury. See page 555. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 555 
 
 DIED IN THE SERVICE OF DISEASE OR HARDSHIP INCIDENT TO 
 ARMY LIFE. 
 
 John P. Hudson. Thomas Corcoran. 
 
 Curtis Smith. Hartson D. Sinclair. 
 
 George T. Dickey. Thomas Smith. 
 
 Abel H. Dakin. Cyrus E. Barker. 
 
 The following is a sketch of the above-named soldiers so 
 far as we have information concerning them. 
 
 HORACE SANDERSON. 
 
 Horace Sanderson, born at Waltham in 1837, was a mem- 
 ber of Company K, Sixteenth Regiment, M. V. M. He 
 enlisted for three years and was mustered in July, 1861. 
 He was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863. 
 
 JOHN FORSYTH. 
 John Forsyth, son of John and Hannah Forsyth, was born 
 in Waltham, Feb. 12, 1835. He enlisted at Newton in 
 Company H, Sixteenth Regiment, for three years, and held 
 the position of sergeant. He was mustered into the service 
 in July, 1861. By trade he was a carpenter, and his former 
 home was in the east part of the town. He was killed at 
 the battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. 
 
 EDWIN S. PARMENTER. 
 
 Edwin S. Parmenter, son of Charles and Fanny Parmenter, 
 was born in Sudbury, August 19, 1844. He was by occu- 
 pation a farmer, and lived at his father's home in the north- 
 easterly part of the town. When the draft came, July 17, 
 1863, his brother, Albert T., was among the Sudbury con- 
 scripts, and Edwin went as his substitute ; making the 
 second son in the family to go in the defence of his country. 
 He belonged to Company H, Eighteenth Massachusetts 
 Regiment, and was mustered in August 22, 1863. He was 
 mortally wounded at the battle of Bottom Bridge, Va., and 
 died, June 8, 1864. 
 
 JOHN P. HUDSON. 
 John Plympton Hudson was mustered into the United 
 States service, May 21, 1862, and was a member of the 
 
556 HISTORY OF SUDBTJRY. 
 
 Seventh Massachusetts Light Battery. He was with it in 
 its first engagement, which was with the artillery of Gen. 
 Roger Pryor, at the "Deserted House," near Suffolk, Va. 
 This action was noted for the effective work of the battery. 
 Said the "New York Tribune," in the news of Feb. 3, 1863, 
 "The Seventh Battery achieved great honor in sustaining 
 a furious cannonading and in more than matching it [Pryor's 
 Battery] in this its first engagement." In describing the 
 action, it states, "Follett's Battery [that is the Seventh 
 Massachusetts] was then wheeled into position, and at twenty 
 minutes to four o'clock, the action commenced in earnest, 
 Then ensued an exhibition of artillery practice, such as has 
 rarely been seen in this war. For three hours and eleven 
 minutes this artillery duel continued, and the service of the 
 guns on both sides, it is said, was not surpassable. During 
 this time the enemy was slowly giving way before the su- 
 periority of our cannonading. Their pieces were all ^ si- 
 lenced by seven o'clock, and they had been driven two miles 
 from the Deserted House." In his own description of the 
 action in a letter to his brother, dated Suffolk, Va., Jan. 31, 
 1863, Mr. Hudson said, "I was in a battle yesterday and a 
 desperate one too, but I am safe and uninjured. ... I was 
 in the hottest of the fight, all of it, and got a hole torn in 
 my overcoat by a shell. It was a regular artillery duel for 
 three hours. Our company had two men killed and ten 
 wounded." In another, description of the battle, he states 
 that the ground was plowed with the shot and shell, and 
 that the trees above the battery looked as if seared by the 
 frost or by a fire. In one instance his clothing was sprinkled 
 with the earth that was thrown up by the shot. During the 
 same year the battery was engaged at South Quay, Som- 
 erton, Providence Church Road and Holland's House. It 
 was afterwards ordered to New York to prevent a riot in the 
 enforcement of a draft. While there, Mr. Hudson became 
 unfitted for duty through disease, contracted while in the 
 service in Virginia, and entered the hospital. After rejoin- 
 ing the battery, while yet in an enfeebled condition, he 
 obtained a furlough to go North. He arrived at Sudbury in 
 November, 1863, where his illness increased until his death, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 557 
 
 which occurred at the Luther Goodnow house, near the old 
 Haynes Garrison, March 7, 1864. John P. Hudson was born 
 at Wayland, " Wayland and Weston Corner," Oct. 5, 1838. 
 He was the son of Martin Newton and Maria (Reed) Hudson, 
 and early went with his parents to Sudbury, where the most 
 of his life was spent. He was held in high esteem by his asso- 
 ciates, and had the confidence of the community in every 
 position that he occupied from his early youth to the time 
 of his going forth a young man in his country's service. As 
 a soldier, he was true to ever}' trust, and faithfully stood at 
 his post until health gave way in camp life about the swamps 
 of Suffolk, Va. In a letter sent by a comrade in the battery, 
 Dr. William H. Ruddick of South Boston, it was said, " He 
 had not an enemy in the company, always did his duty 
 faithfully like a good soldier, his conduct and bearing was 
 an example for the rest to follow, he was loved by all." He 
 died at the age of twenty-five, and was buried at Wadsworth 
 Cemetery in the family lot. His grave is marked by a 
 marble stone, which is inscribed as follows : — 
 
 volunteer's grave. 
 JOHN P. H UDSON 
 
 A MEMBER OF 
 
 THE 7TH MASS. LIGHT BATTERY 
 
 DIED 
 
 In the U. S. Service March 7th 1864 
 Aged 25. 
 
 " How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, 
 With all their country's wishes blest. 
 
 By fairy hands their knell is rung; 
 By forms unseen their dirge is sung; 
 There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
 To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; 
 And Freedom shall awhile repair, 
 To dwell a weeping hermit there." 
 
 CURTIS SMITH. 
 
 Curtis Smith, son of Joseph and Olive (Moore) Smith, 
 was born at Sudbury, Dec. 22, 1842. He enlisted, January, 
 1864, for three years in the Fifty-ninth Regiment, and was 
 
558 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 a member of Company E. He was a farmer, and the second 
 son of the family to enter the service of his country. May 6, 
 ten days after leaving the State, his regiment was engaged 
 in its first fight, and between that time and the middle of 
 June it was in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, 
 North Anna and Cold Harbor. Between June 3 and 17, by 
 which time the regiment was before Petersburg, fifteen of its 
 men had been taken prisoners, among whom was Mr. Smith. 
 He was taken to Andersonville June 10, and died there 
 October 19. The town of Sudbury had one son offered as 
 a sacrifice to her country in that terrible prison pen. The 
 story is sufficiently told by the Town Record Book, which 
 says, " Died, Oct. 19, 1864, of starvation in prison at Ander- 
 sonville, Ga." 
 
 GEORGE T. DICKEY. 
 
 George T. Dickey was a son of Ira S. and Eliza Dickey. 
 He was born in Weston, and afterwards lived in the west- 
 erly part of Wayland, but the proximity of his house to Sud- 
 bury and his family connection with it allied him socially to 
 that town. He was by occupation a farmer, and, perhaps, 
 few soldiers were better equipped physically for the endurance 
 of army life than he ; and his cheerful disposition was well 
 suited to brighten the rough experience of the camp and the 
 march ; but, like some others who were exceptionally robust, 
 he was stricken down by the hand of disease, and after but 
 about a half year's service as a soldier, he died in the hospi- 
 tal at Williamsport, Md., March 4, 1862. 
 
 ABEL H. DAKIN. 
 
 Abel Henry Dakin enlisted from Natick in Company I, 
 Thirty-ninth Regiment, M. V. M. He entered the army as 
 a drummer, but afterwards held the position of bugler. He 
 died of consumption near Kelly's Ford, Va., Dec. 20, 1863. 
 In the Wadsworth Cemetery is a stone bearing the following 
 
 inscription : — 
 
 ABEL H. DAKIN, 
 
 Member of Co. I, 39th Reg't Mass. Vols. 
 
 Aet. 31 Years. 
 
 " Rest, Soldier, Rest." 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 559 
 
 Mr. Dakin was a son of Abel and Emeline (Stone) Dakin, 
 and was born at Sudbury, Dec. 28, 1832. His life was 
 mostly spent in his native town at the home of his uncle, 
 John H. Dakin, at the present Carpenter place. He was a 
 young man of excellent character, and, while in his country's 
 service, he faithfully performed his part. One of his com- 
 pany, in a letter to his sister, Mrs. Mary S. Brown, after his 
 death, stated, that "he did his duty cheerfully, was never 
 heard to complain," and that " they could feel that he was 
 a true and faithful soldier." At the time of his enlistment 
 he resided in Natick. He was married April 17, 1858, and 
 has left one daughter, Garrie O. Dakin. He gave his life 
 for his country, and was one of the great army of martyrs 
 that marched to the South to be offered as a sacrifice in the 
 sacred cause of freedom. 
 
 Thomas Corcoran, died, April 11, 1865, at Kingston, N. C. 
 Hartson D. Sinclair, died, May 26, 1865, at Cumberland, Md. 
 Thomas Smith, died, Jan. 26, 1865. 
 Cyrus E. Barker, died at Annapolis, Md. 
 
 " On Fame's eternal camping ground 
 Their silent tents are spread ; 
 While glory guards with solemn round 
 The bivouac of the dead." 
 
 SKETCHES OF RESIDENT SOLDIERS. 
 
 We will now give a sketch of the Sudbury soldiers who are 
 living in town, so far as our information of them extends. 
 The task will be an easy one, for time has made more havoc 
 than the bayonets or bullets of the foe. The ranks of the 
 veterans have been thinned, year by year, through death and 
 removal. Fewer and fewer have become the survivors, till 
 but about a half score are left to decorate the graves of 
 their comrades as the spring-time returns ; and when a few 
 more years have passed the last veteran will be gone. The 
 Sudbury soldiers who are non-residents of the town are 
 somewhat widely scattered ; but, as in the case of residents, 
 more or less of them are at the head of households, occupy 
 honorable positions, and are useful and substantial citizens. 
 
560 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 They laid down the weapons of war and took the imple- 
 ments of peaceful pursuits, glad of the repose that comes 
 after victory. 
 
 Welcome with shouts of joy and pride 
 Your veterans from the war-path's track ; 
 
 You gave your boys untrained, untried, 
 You bring them men and heroes back. 
 
 Alice Cary. 
 
 JAMES B. BUTTERFIELD. 
 
 James B. Butterfield, son of Luther and Mary Butterfield, 
 was horn in Way land, July 22, 1840. He was the second 
 member of the family to serve in the war, his brother George 
 having enlisted Aug. 18, 1861, in the First Massachusetts 
 Cavalry. His early home was at Lanham, at which place he 
 has recently resided. 
 
 WILLIAM B. BAILEY. 
 
 William B. Bailey, son of Mathew and Roxanna Bailey, 
 was horn at Palmer in 1837. He was a resident of Sudbury 
 at the time of enlistment, and by occupation a shoemaker. 
 He married Alvina Darling of Sudbury, and since his dis- 
 charge from the army has lived at the place in South Sud- 
 bury formerly owned by his father-in-law, Trobridge Darling. 
 He belonged to Company D, Thirty-fifth Regiment. 
 
 JOHN H. EATON. 
 
 John Henry Eaton, son of John and Ruth Eaton, was 
 horn in Sudbury, Nov. 17, 1838. His home was in the 
 Lanham district and his occupation that of a farmer. He 
 belonged to Company F, Forty-fifth Regiment. Since his 
 discharge from the army he has lived at his former home. 
 
 JOSIAH GLEASON. 
 
 Josiah Gleason, horn in Sudbury Aug. 8, 1826, was son 
 
 of Reuben and Jerusha Gleason. He was by occupation a 
 farmer, and since the war has resided in town. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 561 
 
 FRANCIS GARFIELD. 
 
 Francis Garfield, son of Enoch and Priscilla Garfield, was 
 born in Lincoln, October 1830. He was by occupation a 
 shoemaker, and became a citizen of Sudbury several years 
 before entering the army. He married Sarah, daughter of 
 Thomas B. Battles, and resides at Sudbury Centre. 
 
 CHARLES E. HAYNES. 
 
 Charles E. Haynes, son of David and Rachel Haynes, was 
 born at Sudbury June 12, 1837. He enlisted for three years 
 in the 13th Reg't., M. V. M., Co. F, and was mustered into 
 service July 16, 1861. At the time of enlistment he was a 
 farmer by occupation and a member of the " Wads worth 
 Rifle Guards." After he was mustered out of the United 
 States service, Aug. 1, 1864, he returned to Sudbury where 
 he now resides. He married Abi, daughter of Daniel L. and 
 Sarah Willis, and has one son, Charles Ernest. He was 
 several times wounded. His first wound was caused by a 
 fragment of shell which struck him on the head at the 
 second battle of Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862. In the same 
 battle he was also taken prisoner, but escaped. He was 
 wounded next at the battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, by 
 a musket ball, which passed through both legs. The third 
 wound was received May 8, 1864, at the battle of Spottsyl- 
 vania, where he was shot through the hand and at the same 
 time was struck by some missile in the side which knocked 
 him down. 
 
 RUFUS H. HURLBUT. 
 
 Rufus H. Hurlbut, only son of Thomas P» and Mary 
 (Moore) Hurlbut, was born at Sudbury, July 16, 1842. He 
 enlisted at the age of twenty, in the Thirty-fifth Regiment, 
 and was promoted to sergeant, May 8, 1865. While his 
 regiment was before Petersburg, Sept. 30, 1864, he was 
 wounded in the head. During his march through the Wil- 
 derness he was taken sick, and for a time he was in danger 
 of being left behind ; a comrade, John Morse, then of Way- 
 
562 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 land, nobly offered to remain with him. At Fredericksburg, 
 as he went up the perilous heights, he was obliged to pass 
 through a gap in a fence, the position of which was so ex- 
 posed that he was forced to tread upon a heap of bodies 
 which had just been slain, but he escaped unhurt. He con- 
 tinued with the army till the expiration of his term of 
 service, June 9, 1865, when he returned to South Sudbury, 
 where he still resides. 
 
 JOHN H. MOORE. 
 
 John Herschell Moore was born in the west part of Sud- 
 bury, June 30, 1841, and was the youngest son of James and 
 Sally (Thompson) Moore. He enlisted for three years when 
 a student, and was a member of Company G, Thirty-second 
 Regiment. This regiment was engaged in the battles before 
 Richmond, at Antietam and Fredericksburg in 1862, and at 
 Chancellorsville, Spottsylvania and Rappahannock Station in 
 1863. 
 
 ALPHEUS PUFFER. 
 
 Alpheus Puffer was born at Sudbury in 1840. He was 
 the son of Samuel and Laura Puffer, and his early home was 
 in the north-east part of the town. At the time of enlist- 
 ment he was a resident of South Sudbury and by occupation 
 a carpenter. He was a member of Company F, Forty-fifth 
 Regiment. He is at present a resident of South Sudbury, 
 and engaged in the business of a machinist. 
 
 ELI H. WILLIS. 
 
 Eli H. Willis, son of Eli and Mary Willis, was born in 
 Sudbury in 1841. He was by occupation a farmer. He 
 married Sarah, only daughter of Luther and Mary Butter- 
 field, and resides in the Lanham district. He was a member 
 of Company E, Thirty-fifth Regiment, and was the second 
 member of his father's family to go to the war ; a brother, 
 Averill, having enlisted August, 1861, in the First Massa- 
 chusetts Cavalry. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 563 
 
 SUMMARY OF SERVICE. 
 
 According to Schouler in his " History of Massachusetts 
 in the Civil War," Sudbury furnished one hundred and 
 sixty-eight men, which was eleven over and above all de- 
 mands. He states that " four were commissioned officers. 
 The whole amount of money appropriated and expended by 
 the town on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was 
 seventeen thousand five hundred and sevent} T -five dollars. 
 The amount of money raised and expended by the town dur- 
 ing the war for State aid to soldiers' families, and repaid by 
 the Commonwealth, was $6,199.18." 
 
 " The population of Sudbury in 1860 was 1,691 ; the 
 valuation, $1,043,091. The population in 1865 was 1,703 ; 
 the valuation, $1,052,778. The selectmen in 1861 and 1862 
 were James Moore, John H. Dakin, George Parmenter; in 
 1863, A. B. Jones, George Goodnow, H. H. Goodnough ; in 
 1864 and 1865, Thomas P. Hurlbut, Charles Hunt, Walter 
 Rogers. The town clerk during all the years of the war 
 was J. S. Hunt. The town treasurer during the years 1861, 
 1862 and 1863 was Edwin Harrington ; in 1864 and 1865, 
 S. A. Jones." 
 
 Shortly after the war, Sudbury's rank among the towns 
 of the county in population was the thirty-ninth. In 1776, 
 it was the only town in Middlesex County having a popula- 
 tion of two thousand. 
 
 It may be of interest, as well as important as a matter of 
 history, to give the names of Sudbury citizens who were in- 
 cluded in the first and second classes of those subject to a 
 draft in November, 1863. 
 
 Provost Marshal's Office, 
 Headquarters Seventh District, Massachusetts. 
 
 Concord, November 24, 1863. 
 
 By order of the Provost Marshal General of the United 
 States, the following list of the names of all persons enrolled 
 in the Sub-District of Sudbury, is published for the informa- 
 tion of whom it may concern. 
 
 Any person enrolled as below may appear before the 
 
564 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Board of Enrolment on Monday, December 14th, 1863, and 
 claim to have his name stricken from the list, if he can show 
 to the satisfaction of the Board that he is not liable to mili- 
 tary duty on account of, 1st, Alienage ; 2d, Non-Residence ; 
 3d, Unsuitableness of Age ; 4th, Manifest Permanent Phy- 
 sical Disability. 
 
 As all disabilities must be manifest and permanent, cer- 
 tificates of physicians cannot be examined or considered. 
 
 All persons who were exempted from the recent draft on 
 account of having furnished a Substitute, or paid Commuta- 
 tion Money, need not appear. 
 
 FIRST 
 
 Adams, Joseph B., 33, farmer. 
 Butterfield, S. Ebenezer, 21, shoe- 
 maker. 
 Bones, Patrick, 33, laborer. 
 Brown, Francis H., 21, farmer. 
 Bacon, Adoniram J., 24, " 
 Bent, William H., 24, 
 Bent, Cyrus A., 23, 
 Bent, Lucius P., 31, " 
 
 Bent, Samuel, Jr., 30, " 
 Brinn, Thomas M., 32, tailor. 
 
 Brown, Spencer W., 37, farmer. 
 
 Brown, Hubbard H., 24, " 
 
 Brown, Edward E., 3'5, " 
 
 Brown, Newton E., 24, " 
 
 Conant, E. Luman, 23, " 
 
 Conant, Edwin A., 33, 
 
 Conant, John M., 24, " 
 
 Carr, Erwin S., 25, " 
 
 Carter, Leonard, 33, hotel keeper. 
 
 Cutting, George F., 27, trader. 
 
 Cutting, Luther S., 30, farmer. 
 
 Chase, Eli R., 25, clerk. 
 
 Cheney, Henry H., 21, carpenter. 
 
 Conant, Albert, 25, laborer. 
 
 Dadman, Orin, 43, farmer. 
 
 Evans, Moses W., 22, laborer. 
 
 Eaton, Edward N., 20, farmer. 
 
 Eager, William E., 31, laborer. 
 
 Floyd, Charles W., 2*, laborer. 
 
 Goodnow, John B., 33, farmer. 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 Hunt, Samuel M., 33, farmer. 
 Horr, Richard R., 30, shoemaker. 
 Hunt, Horatio, 34, carpenter. 
 Haynes, Nathan C, 28, farmer. 
 Haynes, George F., 28, " 
 Jones, John C, 31, laborer. 
 Jones, Levi S., 38, farmer. 
 Linehan, John, 28, laborer. 
 Lamson, Frederick A., 21, laborer. 
 Moore, Francis U., 29, carpenter. 
 McCann, Owens, .'51, farmer. 
 Maynard, Moses W., 43, farmer. 
 Moore, William H., 33, miller. 
 Moore, Benjamin, 20, miller. 
 Murphy, George H., 31, laborer. 
 Nilligan, Morris, 28 " 
 
 Newell, Michael, 24, " 
 
 Parmenter, Lorenzo, 31, farmer. 
 Parmenter, Alfred N., 23, " 
 Parmenter, Alfred T.. 23, « 
 Parmenter, John W., 27, carpenter. 
 Phillips, John H., 25, laborer. 
 Puffer, Dexter R., 32, clerk. 
 Priest, Abraham, 27, farmer. 
 Puffer, James F., 23, farmer. 
 Prouty, Augustus, 34, clerk. 
 Puffer, James J., 34, carpenter. 
 Parmenter, Joel F., 33, trader. 
 Pratt, Nathan L., 33, powder-maker. 
 Pratt, Windsor, 31, cooper. 
 Pratt, Francis, 24, farmer. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 565 
 
 Garfield, John W., 30, shoemaker. 
 Goodnow, Nahum, 20, laborer. 
 Gleason, Josiah, 37, laborer. 
 Goodnow, Elisha, 24, farmer. 
 Gormain, William, 30, overseer. 
 Gay, Aimer H., 27, shoemaker. 
 Garfield Samuel H., 20, laborer. 
 Goodnow Jonas, 42, laborer. 
 Goodnow, John, 3d, 24, trader. 
 Heffiman, James, 20, paper- maker. 
 Hayden, Dana W., 28, farmer. 
 Hunt, Luther G., 27, 
 Haynes, Andrew, 25, " 
 Haynes, Marshal, 22, 
 Hemenway, Adoniram J., 21, clerk. 
 Hudson, S. Alfred, 23, student. 
 Haynes, James, 25, laborer. 
 Haynes, Sylvester, 27, laborer. 
 Hunt, Edward, 34, farmer. 
 
 Pratt, Levi L., 37, farmer. 
 Parmenter, Tisdale W., 26, farmer. 
 Rogers, Edwin, 27, butcher. 
 Richardson, Thos. C., 28, musician. 
 Richardson, Lyman B., 22, miller. 
 Stone, William L., 21, farmer. 
 Stone, George W., Jr., 25, farmer. 
 Smith Curtis, 20, 
 Smith, Elisha E., 34, " 
 
 Sherman, Theo. S., 30, shoemaker. 
 Thompson, Alfred N., 31, farmer. 
 Thompson, Charles, 36, " 
 
 Tilton, John F., 35, 
 Vinton, Porter M., 29, clergyman. 
 Willis, James L., 25, farmer. 
 Walker, Francis F., 26, farmer. 
 Webster, Franklin, 28, machinist. 
 White, Calvin, 30, laborer. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 Agnew, James, 36, spinner. 
 Brigham, Rufus, 44, farmer. 
 Burr, Hiram G., 36, trader. 
 Casey, Martin, 36, farmer. 
 Cutter, Joseph D., 42, farmer. 
 Cutter, Charles A., 37, butcher. 
 Dakin, Asahel, 41, farmer. 
 Doyle, Edward, 35, " 
 Dittling, Felix, 36, " 
 Dakin, John H., 43, " 
 Dakin, Jonathan C, 43, farmer. 
 Fairbank, Nelson, 43, " 
 
 Fairbank, Jona P., 37, 
 Goodnough, Hiram H., 37, farmer. 
 Goodnough, John, 2d., 38, " 
 
 Goodnow, George, 43, " 
 
 Gough, William J., 36, carder. 
 Hunt, Jonas S., 36, trader. 
 Haynes, Reuben, 41, farmer. 
 Haynes, Hiram, 39 " 
 
 Harrington, Edwin, 43, " 
 Hunt, Aaron, Jr.. 43, " 
 Haynes, Warren H., 41, farmer. 
 Hurburt, Thomas P., 43, " 
 Hunt, Nicholas B., 42, " 
 
 Haynes, Francis, 39, " 
 
 James, Charles A., 43, machinist. 
 Jones, William P., 43, shoemaker. 
 Jones, William F., 35, laborer. 
 Joice, John, 40, laborer. 
 Ladd, Thomas, 41, laborer. 
 Moore, Curtis B., 35, farmer. 
 Milleman, Elisha, 35, " 
 Moore, George, 35, " 
 Murphy, James, 36, laborer. 
 Noyes, Joseph, 38, farmer. 
 Puffer, Napoleon B., 42, overseer. 
 Parmenter, Madison, 36, farmer. 
 Parmenter, Samuel O., 43, " 
 Puffer, Otis, 38, mariner. 
 Parmenter, Addison, 36, farmer. 
 Pierce, Luke, 40, farmer. 
 Perry, Levi E., 42, farmer. 
 Rice, Isaac, 43, laborer. 
 Rice, John W., 41, farmer. 
 Rice, Oliver R., 37, farmer. 
 Richardson, Benj. H., 42, carpenter. 
 Seymore, Charles, 43, farmer. 
 Smith, Farwell, 39, farmer. 
 Sawyer, Theodore W., 44, farmer. 
 Taylor, Sewall B., 43, machinist. 
 Taylor, John, 44, carpenter. . 
 
566 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Howe, Joseph C, 44, manufacturer. Taylor, George, 41, farmer. 
 
 Harriman, John K., 38, carpenter. Tilton, Edward F., 37, powder-maker. 
 
 Heard, Augustus, 44, farmer. Tilton, George W., 38, 
 
 Jones, Dexter C, 42, farmer. Willis, George W., 42, carpenter." 
 
 But few events of especial prominence, not already men- 
 tioned, have transpired in Sudbury thus far during the closing 
 period of the century ; and no record of its commonplace 
 annals will be given. After mentioning the Bicentennial 
 of the Wadsworth Fight, the laying out of an important 
 highway, the George Goodnow Bequest, and the organization 
 of societies, we shall consider in the subsequent chapters 
 several subjects that stand related to each period of the 
 history of Sudbury. 
 
 BICENTENNIAL. 
 
 April 18, 1876, the town celebrated what was supposed to 
 be the two hundredth anniversary of Wadsworth's Fight at 
 Green Hill (For true date see page 218.) At early dawn 
 a salute was fired, and a procession of " Antiques and Hor- 
 ribles " paraded, making a trip to South Sudbury. Later in 
 the day a procession of the citizens, including the school 
 children, was formed and marched to Wadsworth Monument, 
 which was decorated with the national colors. The following 
 sentiment was offered by Jonas S. Hunt, Esq., and was 
 responded to by Hon. T. B. Hurlbut : "Wadsworth Monu- 
 men t, — The joint tribute of the State of Massachusetts and 
 the town of Sudbury." 
 
 Services were held at the Unitarian Church, which con- 
 sisted of prayer by Rev. George A. Oviatt, an oration by 
 Prof. Edward A. Young of Harvard College, and remarks by 
 Rev. George A. Oviatt, Luther H. Sherman, who spoke for 
 Wayland, John H. Hillis, who spoke for Maynard, and 
 Capt. E. D. Wadsworth of Milton, a descendant of Capt. 
 Samuel Wadsworth. J. P. Fairbanks was president of the 
 day. Jonas S. Hunt, Esq., was toast-master, and Homer 
 Rogers chief marshal. Music was furnished by the Sudbury 
 Cornet Band, Alfred M. Moore of Maiden, leader. The 
 exercises closed by the singing of America. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 567 
 
 Nov. 7, 1882, a committee appointed to consider the laying 
 out of a road between the Horatio Hunt place and the rail- 
 road junction, reported favorably, and the road was com- 
 pleted. 
 
 THE GEORGE GOODNOW BEQUEST. 
 
 In November, 1884, it was voted to " accept of a donation 
 of Ten Thousand Dollars offered the Town of Sudbury, by 
 George Goodnow of Boston, for the purpose of establishing 
 a fund, the income of which he desires to be used by the 
 selectmen of said Town for the time being, to assist such 
 citizens of the Town who are not, at the time of receiving 
 the assistance, paupers, but who may for any cause be in 
 need of temporary or private assistance." By motion of 
 Rev. George A. Oviatt, the town voted that, "we do now as 
 a town by vote express our hearty thanks to the donor of 
 this generous Fund, assuring him of our appreciation of his 
 love of his native town, and equally of his noble desire to 
 render aid to the needy therein. And may his sunset of life 
 be bright to the last, and terminate in the day of endless 
 light and blessedness." 
 
 Dec. 24, 1884, Goodman Council, No. 868, of the Royal 
 Arcanum was organized. 
 
 March 5, 1885, the Sudbury Grange, No. 21, was organized. 
 
 In 1889, an unsuccessful effort was made by the Society 
 of the Orthodox Congregational Church to hold their regular 
 Sabbath Day services at South Sudbury. The same year the 
 town took measures for securing a suitable spot for the erec- 
 tion of a High School Building at Sudbury Centre. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 CEMETERIES. 
 
 First Burial Place. — Old Burying-Ground at Sudbury Centre. — Mount 
 Wadsworth Cemetery. — Mount Pleasant Cemetery. — New Cem- 
 etery. — North Sudbury Cemetery. — Burial Customs. 
 
 Our vales are sweet with fern and rose, 
 
 Our hills are maple-crowned ; 
 But not from them our fathers chose 
 
 The village burying-ground. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 There are few, if any, places in our New England towns 
 more suggestive of the past than its ancient burial places. It 
 is there that we find names now but rarely spoken in the 
 places that knew them once, and the old headstones give a 
 record of births, ages and deaths, which perhaps could be 
 found nowhere else. Sudbury has at present five cemeteries 
 within its limits : one at South Sudbury, one at North Sud- 
 bury, and three at the Centre ; but the first burial place of 
 the town was in East Sudbury, now Wayland. 
 
 sudbury's first burying-ground. 
 
 This ancient burial place is in Wayland, on the north side 
 of the road leading to Sudbury Centre, and about a half 
 mile from the railroad station. It has the general appear- 
 ance of an old-time graveyard. The wild grass covers the 
 toughened and irregular sod, and the uneven surface of the 
 ground indicates that it was long, long ago broken by the 
 sexton's spade. These indications of the existence of old 
 graves are correct. It was the burying-ground of the set- 
 tlers, and here — 
 
 " Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, 
 Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 
 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 
 668 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 569 
 
 The older part of this cemetery lies near or beside the 
 county highway, and may be the half acre bought of John 
 Loker for a burial place. Tradition says that prior to the 
 selection of this spot a few interments were made just over 
 the hill to the north, where tradition also states that there 
 was an Indian graveyard. These traditions have perhaps 
 some confirmation in the fact that on the northern hillside 
 remains of human skeletons have been exhumed. An old 
 citizen, Mr. Sumner Draper, states that in his boyhood, when 
 men were at work in the gravel pit in what was known as 
 the "old Indian graveyard," he saw bones which they dug 
 up, that he thought belonged to several human skeletons, 
 and that he had himself in later years dug up a human skull. 
 He also stated that there were two or three flat stones on 
 some graves, which he believed were without any inscrip- 
 tion, and that he thought some such stones were removed 
 from the spot long ago. 
 
 The town owned thereabouts two or three acres of land, 
 which was generally known as the " old Indian graveyard." 
 But if this land was reserved by the settlers for a burial 
 place, it was not long made use of; for the southerly slope 
 was soon set apart for this purpose, and has continued to be 
 used for more than two centuries and a half. Additions 
 have repeatedly been made to this latter portion, as the 
 generations have passed away, and new graves have been 
 opened to receive them ; and thus has the slow, solemn 
 march of that silent company been moving over that midway 
 space, until the two portions are almost joined. Besides the 
 age of the yard, there are other things' that make it an inter- 
 esting spot to the inhabitants of Sudbury. Within its enclos- 
 ure stood the first meeting-house. (See page 100.) Here lie 
 buried the bodies of those who bore the name of Goodnow, 
 Curtis, Grout, Rutter, Parmenter, Rice, Bent, and others of 
 the early grantees, besides still others of Sudbury's most 
 prominent citizens before the division of the town. Because 
 of the interest that thus attaches to the place, although it is 
 not now within the limits of the town, we will give the in- 
 scriptions on some of the older gravestones which lie along 
 the common highway. 
 
570 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Memento Mori. 
 Here lyethe remains of Ephraim Curtis ESO r who departed this lyfe 
 Nov r the 17 th A D 17.")!) in the 80 th Year of his age. He was a Loving 
 Husband and a Tender Parent a faithful Friend, as a Justice of the 
 Peace he Hon' d his Commission by adhering steadily to the Rules of 
 Justice, he was Major of a Regiment, in which Office he conducted in 
 such a manner as gave General Satisfaction. He was many years Rep- 
 resentative in the General Court, a lover of True Piety, belov'd by all 
 that knew him and Equally Lamented at his Death. 
 
 " Here lea r n 
 
 the end of man 
 
 Know that thy life 
 
 is but a span." 
 
 On this gravestone is a skull and crossbones. 
 
 In memory of Capt. Joseph Smith Who died March 9 th 1803, aged 
 87 years. 
 
 Farewell my dear and loving wife 
 Farewell my children and my friends 
 Until the resurrection day. 
 
 Probably the captain of the east side militia. (See period 
 1775-1800.) 
 
 Here lyest y e Body of M rs Abagail Paris wife to M r Samuel Paris, 
 who departed this life Feb rj7 y c 15 th 1759 in y 55 th Year of her age. 
 
 Probably the wife of the son of Samuel Paris of Witch- 
 craft fame. (See period 1675-1700.) 
 
 Here Lyes y e Body of Mrs Patience Browne wife to Majr Thomas 
 Browne Aged 59 years. Died Aug st y e 15, 1706. 
 
 Major Thomas Browne was a very prominent Sudbury citi- 
 zen. (See page 36.) 
 
 In memory of Mr. Joseph Rutter, who died Dec. 19 th 1781 in 
 y 8 7gth y ear f his age. 
 
 Down to the dead, all must descend, 
 The saints of God must die. 
 While Angels guard their souls to rest, 
 In dust their Bodies lie. 
 
 Erected in memory of Mrs Mary Rutter wife of Mr. Joseph Rutter 
 who died Sept 2 ond A E 82 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. v 571 
 
 Joseph Rutter was a descendant and probably grandson of 
 John Rutter, builder of the first meeting-house, which stood 
 just beside where the remains of Joseph Rutter now lie. 
 (See page 43.) 
 
 Memento Mori. 
 
 In memory of 
 
 Mr. Thomas Bent who died Mrs. Mary Bent wife of Mr. 
 
 Wednesday morning July the Thomas Bent who died Wednes- 
 
 26 th 1775. day morning July y e 26 th 1775 
 
 iEtatis 69. iEtatis 57. 
 
 Our term of time is seventy years Yet then our boasted strength de- 
 
 An age that few survive cays, 
 
 But if with more than common To sorrow turns and pain 
 
 strength So soon the slender thread is cut 
 
 To eighty we arrive And we no more remain 
 
 Two notable stones are those that mark the graves of 
 Capt. Edmund Goodnow and wife. They are in a horizontal 
 position, and just east of the old meeting-house site. The 
 inscription is rudely cut, and in the language of other years. 
 It is as follows : — 
 
 YE- DUST- 
 
 HEARE-LYETH- PRETIOUS- 
 
 NT- 
 OF - THAT - EMEN ANT - SARVA 
 
 OF- 
 
 GOD - CAP - EDMOND - GOODENOW - 
 
 YEARE- 
 WHO-DIED-YE-77- OF-HIS- 
 
 AYGE - APRIL - YE - 6 - 1688. 
 
 HERE - LYETH - YE - BODY - OF - ANNE - YE - 
 WIFE - OF - CAP - EDMOND - GOODENOW - 
 WHO - DYED - YE : 9 : OF : MARCH 1676 : AGED ■ 
 67 -YEARS. 
 
 HERE - LYETH - YE - BODY - OF - JOSEPH - 
 GOODENOW - WHO - DYED - YE - 30 - OF - MAY 
 1676 : AGED - 31 - YEARS. FEBRY - 18 - 1691. 
 
572 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Here lies Buried The Body of y e worthy Joshua Haynes Esq De- 
 ceased March y c 29 1757 in the 88 year of His Age. He was a Hearty 
 Promoter of the Public weal Whose . . Humanity Integrity and Laud- 
 able Munificence Embalm His name. He was charitable to the Poor 
 and at his Death gave many Gifts to Particular . . Besides 2 Thousand 
 Pounds Old Tenor to a Publick School and y e Poor of y e Town of 
 Sudbury. 
 
 Joshua Haynes was the donor of the fund called, in the list 
 of bequests to Sudbury, the "Ancient Donation Fund." 
 
 HERE - LYES - YE - BODY - OF - MR - JONATHAN - 
 SIMPSON - LATE - OF - BOSTON - WHO - DE- 
 PARTED - THIS - LIFE - NO VR- 1 st - 1773 - IN - THE - 
 54 th YEAR -OF -HIS -AGE. 
 
 Charlestown doth claim his birth, 
 
 Boston his habitation ; 
 Sudbury hath his grave, 
 
 Where was his expiration. 
 
 THE OLD BURYING -GROUND AT SUDBURY CENTRE. 
 
 A winding wall of mossy stone, 
 
 Frost-flung and broken, lines 
 A lonesome acre thinly grown 
 
 With grass and wandering vines. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 The oldest graveyard within the present limits of Sudbury 
 is at the Centre. It is situated in the north-easterly part of 
 the village, along the Concord road east of the Methodist 
 Church. An early record of this burying-place is found in 
 the proprietor's book, and bears date Feb. 26, 1716-17. 
 (See pages 121 and 122.) Another record referring to it is 
 dated June 12, 1725. (See page 292.) 
 
 In this old graveyard, for a century and a half or upwards, 
 what was mortal of many of the west side inhabitants was laid. 
 The names of Haynes, Hunt, Parmenter, Goodnow, Brown, 
 Moore and Howe, Bent, Rice, Richardson, Willis, Wheeler, 
 Jones, Puffer, Hayden, Walker, and a host of others, long 
 familiar in Sudbury, are to be found on the stones. Un- 
 like the older part of the first yard, at what was East Sud- 
 bury, the gravestones are here quite numerous ; but, though 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 573 
 
 many, they do not mark all the graves, which nearly cover 
 the entire space of that " thickly peopled ground." The 
 enclosure is encompassed by a substantial stone wall, which 
 within a few years has been well repaired. The place has 
 but little shrubbery and few trees. Just beyond the road 
 was the pound, near by or on the site of which the hearse 
 house now stands. Within the past few years this yard has 
 been but little used. Now and then the ground has been 
 broken as the fragment of some ancient family has found its 
 resting place among a group of old graves ; but these in- 
 stances are fewer and farther between as time passes by, and 
 it will probably soon cease to be used for new burials, but 
 remain with unbroken turf until the morning of the resurec- 
 tion. It is a place of sacred association, and as such has 
 been regarded by the town's people ; especially was it much 
 visited by them during the intermission between the Sabbath 
 services, when two sermons were preached in one day. Then 
 they visited this quiet spot, read epitaphs, talked of the past, 
 and derived, it may be, such lessons from the suggestive 
 scenes as were a moral and spiritual help. Along the north- 
 erly side of the yard is the Sudbury and Concord highway ; 
 and ranged beside this are family tombs. One of these is 
 that of Mr. John Goodnow, the donor of the Goodnow 
 Library. Upon others are names of old Sudbury families. 
 Within the yard is only one tomb and that is underground 
 and about westerly of the Plympton monument, and sur- 
 mounted with a small brick work upon which lies a slate 
 stone, with these words : — 
 
 HOPESTILL BROWN, ESQ., TOMBE. 
 1731. 
 
 This tomb contains the remains of descendants of Dea. 
 William Brown, an early grantee, who once resided near 
 Nobscot. The tomb was years ago nearly full, the last burial 
 being about 1852. This burying-ground contains several 
 marble monuments of some considerable size. The first one 
 was erected in 1835, and is commemorative of the Plympton 
 family. The graves of two, at least, of Sudbury's old min- 
 
574 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 isters are there, — Reverends Bigelow and Hurlbut; the in- 
 scriptions on the headstones are as follows : — 
 
 Sacred to the memory of Rev. Rufus Hurlbut late minister of the 
 church and society in Sudbury. He was born in Southampton, April 
 21, 1787, and died May 11, 1839. Aged 52. 
 
 " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Jesus 
 said " I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me though 
 he were dead yet shall he live." 
 
 In memory of Rev. Jacob Bigelow, Pastor of the Church and Con- 
 gregation at Sudbury. Born Mar. 2, 1743. Graduated at Harvard 
 College 17GC. Ordained in the Gospel Ministry 1772. After a happy 
 and harmonious connexion with the People of his charge 44 years he 
 died Sept 12, 1818. JEt 75 years. Habitual in piety and exemplary in 
 his life & conduct, Cheerful and active in health, patient and resigned 
 in sickness : beloved and respected while living, he was followed to the 
 tomb with grateful remambrance by his relatives and the flock of his 
 charge. 
 
 This yard is the burial place of more or less of those 
 who participated in the Concord fight, and subsequent bat- 
 tles and scenes of the Revolutionary period. Notable among 
 these is the grave of Deacon Haynes, upon whose gravestone 
 is this epitaph : — 
 
 In memory of Deacon Josiah Haynes who died in Freedom's Cause 
 y e 19th of April 1775 : in the 79th year of his Age. 
 Come listen all unto this call 
 
 Which God doth make to day 
 For you must die as well as I 
 And pass from hence away. 
 
 (For more concerning Deacon Haynes see Chapter XX.) 
 Other stones at the graves of prominent men of those 
 times are inscribed as follows : — 
 
 In memory of Capt. Asahel Wheeler an officer in the Revolution, 
 Died Oct. 28 1822 aged 81 years. 
 
 In the northerly part is the grave of Capt. Jabes Puffer, 
 marked with a slate stone slab. 
 
 Sacred to the memory of Col. Ezekial How who died Oct. 15, 1796. 
 /Etatis 77. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 575 
 
 Sacred in memory of W m Rice. Esq. who died Dec. 5, 1819. JEt. 82. 
 Whose true character will be better known at the resurrection. 
 
 Erected in memory of Mr. John Goodnow who died Oct. 13, 1863. 
 ^Et. 101 yrs. 8 mos. 14 ds " The Lord is my Shepherd." 
 
 The grave of a servant of Rev. Israel Loring has a stone 
 there thus inscribed : — 
 
 Here Lies y e Body of Simeon y e Once Faithful & Beloved Servant of 
 ye Rv d M Isra 11 Loring, who Died May y e 10, 1755.' In y e 22 Year of 
 His Age. 
 
 On the stone of Capt. David Haynes, who died 1775, in 
 his eighty-fifth year, is this inscription : — 
 
 Reader 
 Death is a debt to Nature Due 
 As I have paid it so must You. 
 
 On that of Mrs. Mary Willis the inscription is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Mary Willis who died Oct. 9, 1805. 
 Aged 84 years. 
 
 Sickness sore long time I bore 
 
 Physicians was in vain 
 Till GOD did please to give me ease 
 And free me from my pain. 
 
 Some of the oldest have the following inscriptions : — 
 
 Here lyes y e Body of M r Joseph Brintnal Died June y e 28 : 1731 in 
 y e 49 th year of his age. 
 
 Here lies Buried y e Body of Deac n James Haynes who Departed this 
 life Octob r > e 15 th A. D. 1732 In y e 72 d year of his age. 
 
 Here lies buried y e body of M r Abraham Woods J unr who departed 
 this life July y e 11 th A. D. 1742. Age 58 years, 2 M. & 25 D. 
 
 The oldest graves are near the centre of the yard. Proba- 
 bly for the first few years after the lot was laid out, burials 
 were less numerous than a little later, as the associations 
 connected with the more ancient churchyard in the east part 
 of the town would naturally lead to its somewhat continued 
 use by the west side inhabitants. 
 
576 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 MOUNT WADS WORTH CEMETERY. 
 
 It lies upon a sunlit slope, 
 
 Where, lingering late, the sunset rays 
 
 Aslant their golden radiance cast, 
 And lovingly day longest stays. 
 
 This cemetery is at South Sudbury, and formerly belonged 
 to the Israel Howe Browne estate. It was originally quite 
 small, having been enlarged several times. Formerly the 
 last lot to the eastward was that of Asahel Haynes, and the 
 northern boundary was just north of the tombs or about mid- 
 way of the present width of the cemetery. The entrance 
 was formerly south of Dr. Levi Goodenough's house and 
 joined his grounds, but it was changed about the time the 
 Wadsworth monument was erected, and now leads from the 
 avenue that goes to the monument. In presenting the vari- 
 ous changes that have been made in this cemetery, we quote 
 from a paper prepared by A. J. Goodenough in 1881, and read 
 before an audience in Sudbury Town Hall: "The cemetery 
 was first enlarged in 1842. Miss Jerusha Howe, who died 
 Feb. 21, 1842, had provided in her will a sum of money for a 
 monument, which at that time seemed an extravagant outlay. 
 Her brother, Lyman Howe, Esq., wishing to obtain a suit- 
 able site for so costly a structure, and no satisfactory place 
 within the old grounds being found, he selected the emi- 
 nence north of the grounds — then a stony pasture — as 
 being more sightly and appropriate. Mr. Browne was un- 
 willing at first to have him occupy this place, as it involved 
 the enlargement of the grounds, and among other difficulties 
 did not wish to see land further north [used] for burial pur- 
 poses without the consent of Dr. Goodenough, as it might 
 injure his well of water. After considerable consultation on 
 the subject, Mr. Browne yielded, Dr. Goodenough giving his 
 consent, provided no lots should be sold any nearer his land 
 than Miss Howe's. This increased the size of the cemetery 
 to about double the original extent. But many years did 
 not pass before the new ground was almost wholly occupied; 
 Miss Howe's monument attracting much attention, and being 
 probably the principal cause of many selecting their lots 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 577 
 
 here. By some means, however, four lots were sold between 
 Miss Howe's and Dr. Goodenough's land, and three of them 
 were occupied. This proved a difficulty, as they not only 
 interfered with the entrance to Miss Howe's lot, but Dr. 
 Goodenough became anxious lest the water in his well 
 should be injured by this encroachment. Accordingly he 
 bought the three lots that had been occupied, paying the 
 owners for new lots, as well as the expense of removing the 
 remains, and Esquire Howe buying out the unoccupied lot. 
 Thus they hoped to secure for the future open grounds, 
 which might be either a grassy lawn, or be beautified with 
 flowers, and thus render those living near free from danger 
 in their wells of water, Mr. Brown assuring the doctor that 
 the ground should not be used for burial purposes during his 
 lifetime. One of these lots came so close to Miss Howe's 
 that access could scarcely be had to it, no space being left 
 for a walk between. This probably was the reason why Mr. 
 Howe united in purchasing the lots. It is presumable that 
 this was the occasion of a general agreement between the 
 owners of lots, to make walks between their lots, for no pro- 
 vision was made for walks when the cemetery was first laid 
 out." 
 
 Since the paper from which we have quoted was written, 
 the cemetery has been still further enlarged until it now ex- 
 tends nearly back to the hill. A few years ago, there was a 
 small growth of trees along the avenues and about more or 
 less of the lots, but they were recently removed lest they 
 should deface the stones. The arch at present over the east 
 entrance to the cemetery was erected in 1879, by Mr. Israel 
 H. Browne over the west entrance. It was completed July, 
 1879. There are those who remember the old man as he 
 stood and surveyed it, leaning on his staff, his eyes filled 
 with tears. "This will stand," he said, " when I am gone. 
 The rest will live to see it, but I shall not be here long." 
 He died within a few weeks. 
 
 The following is from a newspaper notice of his death: 
 " Mr. I. H. Browne, who recently caused the arch to be 
 erected over the entrance to Mt. Wadsworth, was suddenly 
 stricken with paralysis Aug. 10 [1879]. He rallied for a 
 
578 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 few days, then swiftly sank away, and in two weeks passed 
 from earth, dying Aug. 25, proving his own words prophetic, 
 that he might be the first from town borne beneath the arch 
 for burial." The erection of this arch permanently affixed the 
 name Mount Wadsworth to the grounds. After the ceme- 
 tery came under the control of the cemetery corporation the 
 arch was removed to its present position. 
 
 The first monument erected in this yard was that of 
 Jerusha Howe, and placed in the first enlargement of the 
 grounds. The next was a plain marble shaft put up by Dr. 
 Goodenough, which was the first in the old ground. Ac- 
 cording to an estimate made about the year 1881, the 
 number buried in the old part of the cemetery was about 
 one hundred and thirty-three, and in the new parts one hun- 
 dred and thirty-nine. This estimate does not include those in 
 the tombs, nor several graves nearly or quite levelled down. 
 The plan of making this a common burial place, it is sup- 
 posed, was first conceived of by Mrs. Lucy Hinckly, a 
 daughter of Mr. I. H. Browne, whose brother had recently 
 died and been interred in the family tomb at the Centre. 
 About that time there also died at South Sudbury Mrs. 
 John Browne, Sen., and Mr. Gideon Richardson and wife, 
 who were likewise buried at Sudbury Centre. The desire to 
 have the bodies of these friends nearer by, the fact that the 
 old burial-ground was so full, and that the spot was suitable, 
 and made appropriate by the grave of Captain Wadsworth 
 and his men, all contributed to the setting apart of this 
 ground as a cemetery. The first interments were of remains 
 removed from the old burying yard, and were made June 20, 
 1835. It is supposed the bodies then removed were those 
 of Elbridge, Melissa, and John Calvin Richardson and Edwin 
 H. Browne ; that the latter was one of them is indicated by 
 the following from a letter of Mrs. L. Fairbanks, daughter of 
 I. H. Browne : ki I have just been to the new cemetery, where 
 dear little Edwin now rests. He was removed with some 
 others some time ago from the old brick tomb where our 
 ancestors were all buried, and now they are only a little dis- 
 tance from our home. Lucy was the first to suggest to have 
 Father plan this new burial place." 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 579 
 
 Mr. John Browne, Sr., the brothers Gardner, Luther, and 
 Sewall Hunt formed a plan to build jointly three tombs. 
 Mr. Luther Hunt, dying April 17, 1836, did not see the 
 work completed which he had helped to plan. The tomb of 
 Mr. John Browne, Sr., has inscribed on it J. and E. Browne. 
 These tombs were erected in 1836. The stone was quarried 
 at the foot of Nobscot hill, on the north-east side, and cut, 
 hewn and fitted at the cemetery by Messrs. Damon and Pen- 
 niman, who were the principal workmen. The granite, it is 
 supposed, was from a hugh boulder, rather than from a ledge 
 native to the hill. The next tomb was erected by C. G. Cut- 
 ler, in 1839, and later, followed those of Roland Cutler and 
 A. and E. Kidder; the latter of which has been somewhat 
 altered within the last few years. In this tomb were de- 
 posited for a little time the remains of Captain Wadsworth's 
 men, after they were taken up for removal to the present 
 enclosure. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE MOUNT WADSWORTH CEMETERY 
 CORPORATION. 
 
 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSCHUSETTS. 
 MIDDLESEX ss. Sudbury, Jan. 12, 1887. 
 
 To the proprietors of " Mount Wadsworth Cemetery " in Sudbury, in 
 said County. 
 A majority in interest of the proprietors of Mount Wadsworth Ceme- 
 tery, having petitioned to Jonas S. Hunt, a justice of the peace in said 
 county, that they desire to organize a corporation under the public 
 statutes, the said justice of the peace has issued his warrant directed to 
 the undersigned, and the substance of said warrant is : That a meeting 
 of said proprietors will be held at the chapel in South Sudbury on 
 Monday, the 31st day of January, A. D. 1887, at 2 o'clock P. M., for the 
 purpose of organizing a corporation of the proprietors of Mount Wads- 
 worth Cemetery, to elect all necessary officers of such Corporation and 
 to transact such other business as may properly come before the 
 meeting. Hubbard H. Brown, 
 
 One of said Proprietors. 
 
 Certificate of Organization. 
 
 We, Rufus H. Hurlbut, President, Hubbard H. Brown, Treasurer, 
 and Joseph C. Howe, John B. Goodnow and Nahum Goodnow, being a 
 majority of the Board of Directors of the Mount Wadsworth Cemetery 
 Association, in compliance with the requirements of the Public Statutes, 
 
580 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 do hereby certify that the following is a true copy of the agreement of 
 association to constitute said corporation, with the names of the sub- 
 scribers thereto : 
 
 " We whose names are hereto subscribed do, by this agreement, 
 associate ourselves with the intention to constitute a corporation accord- 
 ing to the provisions of the eighty-second chapter of the Public Statutes 
 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the acts in amendment 
 thereof and in addition thereto. 
 
 " The name by which this corporation shall be known is ' Mount 
 Wadsworth Cemetery.' 
 
 " The purpose for which the corporation is constituted is to hold 
 land and tombs for a place of sepulture, and such buildings as may be 
 necessary for such purpose, with the right to sell burial lots, erect 
 tombs, and with all privileges such corporations are entitled to under 
 the Statutes of Massachusetts. 
 
 " The place within which the corporation is established or located is 
 the town of Sudbury, within said Commonwealth. 
 
 " In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this twelfth 
 day of January, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven." 
 
 Samuel B. Rogers, Jonas S. Hunt, 
 
 John B. Goodnow, Edward E. Brown, 
 
 Nahum Goodnow, Hiram G. Burr, 
 
 Hubbard H. Brown, James P. Carpenter, 
 
 RUFUS H. HURLBUT, WlLLIAM L. STONE, 
 
 Atherton W. Rogers, Edward N. Eaton, 
 
 Luther S. Cutting, W. A. Ames, 
 
 Joseph C. Howe, Stephen Moore, 
 
 Walter Rogers, Homer Rogers, 
 
 Charles L. Goodnow, Geo. A. Oviatt, 
 
 Fred. C. Fisher, Mrs. John A. Goodwin, 
 
 George W. Hunt, Mrs. J. D. Goodenough. 
 
 " That the first meeting of the subscribers to said agreement was 
 held on the thirty-first day of January, in the year eighteen hundred and 
 eighty-seven, and by adjournment on the fourteenth day of February, in 
 said year. 
 
 " In witness whereof, we have hereunto signed our names this four- 
 teenth day of February, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven." 
 
 Rufus H. Hurlbut, 
 Hubbard H. Brown, 
 John B. Goodnow, 
 Joseph C. Howe, 
 Nahum Goodnow. 
 
 commonwealth of massachusetts. 
 Middlesex ss. Feb. 14, 1887. 
 
 Then personally appeared the above-named Rufus H. Hurlbut, Hub- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 581 
 
 bard H. Brown, John B. Goodnow, Joseph C. Howe and Nahum Good- 
 now, and severally made oath that the foregoing certificate, by them 
 subscribed, is true to the best of their knowledge and belief. 
 
 Before me, 
 
 Jonas S. Hunt, 
 
 Justice of the Peace. 
 
 Town Clerk's Office, Sudbury, March 1, 1887. 
 The above certificate received and recorded with " Sudbury Records 
 of Organization of Corporations." 
 
 Attest : Jonas S. Hunt, 
 
 Town Clerk. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF FIRST MEETING. 
 
 Jan. 31, 1887. 
 
 Pursuant to a warrant issued by Jonas S. Hunt, justice of the peace, 
 dated Jan. 12, 1887, on petition of Samuel B. Rogers and others inter- 
 ested in the Mount Wadsworth Cemetery, so called, a meeting was held 
 in the chapel at South Sudbury, for the purpose of organizing a corpora- 
 tion under the Public Statutes of Massachusetts. 
 
 Said meeting was called to order and the warrant read by Hubbard 
 H. Brown, to whom said warrant was directed, and the several articles 
 were acted upon as follows : 
 
 Article 1. Chose Rufus H. Hurlbut moderator. 
 
 Art. 2. Chose Jonas S. Hunt clerk. 
 
 Art. 3. Voted to proceed to organize a corporation to be called the 
 Mount Wadsworth Cemetery. 
 
 Art. 4. Voted to choose necessary officers for said corporation by 
 ballot ; said officers to consist of the following, viz. : a President, Clerk, 
 Treasurer, three Trustees and five Directors, and the following were 
 chosen : Rufus H. Hurlbut, President : Jonas S. Hunt, Clerk ; Hubbard 
 H. Brown, Treasurer ; John B. Goodnow, Nahum Goodnow and Joseph 
 C. Howe, Trustees; Rufus H. Hurlbut, John B. Goodnow, Nahum 
 Goodnow, Joseph C. Howe and Hiram G. Burr, Directors. 
 
 Soon after the death of Mr. Israel H. Browne, the former 
 owner of the cemetery grounds, his heirs sold their interest 
 in the property to five persons, who conveyed it to the 
 Mount Wadsworth Corporation soon after its organization. 
 On the southerly side of the cemetery is the grave of Hon. 
 John Goodwin, once Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives. In the north-easteiTy corner, as it was about 1850, 
 was the original Wadsworth grave. Because of the former 
 existence of that grave and the present Wadsworth monu- 
 ment, this cemetery is of more than ordinary importance, 
 
582 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 and will long be visited by those interested in the history of 
 Captain Wads worth and his men. 
 
 MOUNT PLEASANT CEMETERY. 
 
 "In that village on the hill 
 Never is sound of smithy or mill ; 
 The houses are thatched with grass and flowers, 
 Never a clock to tell the hours ; 
 
 All the village lie asleep; 
 Never again to sow or reap ; 
 Never in dreams to moan or sigh, 
 Silent and idle and low they lie." 
 
 The third cemetery laid out in Sudbury is at the Centre 
 and is called Mount Pleasant. As its name suggests, it is 
 pleasantly situated on a lull and is just north of the common. 
 The original name was " Pine Hill," and later, it took the 
 name of "Pendleton Hill." In the second book of Town 
 Records is the following, referring to land near it, " laid out 
 to the right of Briant Pendleton sixteen acres and one hun- 
 dred and forty rods on and adjoining to the Pine Hill near 
 to and north-westerly of the meeting house on Rocky Plane 
 (Sudbury Centre) in the West Precinct in said Sudbury." 
 (See page 292.) This cemetery contains about four acres, 
 which were bought of Mrs. Reuben Rice, afterwards Mrs. 
 Thomas Bent, by a company of proprietors, the original 
 members of which were Aaron Hunt, Cyrus Hunt, Charles 
 Gerry, William Maynard, Abel B. Jones, Thomas Stearns, 
 Samuel Jones, Asa Jones. The land cost one hundred 
 dollars, and the proprietors paid twelve dollars and a half 
 apiece. After the original purchase, a small three-cornered 
 strip was bought of William Maynard for a passage-way to 
 the town graveyard. It was set apart for burial purposes 
 soon after 1840. The first proprietor's meeting was held 
 May 24, 1845, and the following officers were elected: Abel 
 B. Jones, Moderator ; Charles Stearns, Clerk ; Aaron Hunt, 
 Treasurer; Aaron Hunt, Abel B. Jones, Charles Stearns, 
 Directors. The first body buried there was that of Capt. 
 Samuel Jones, and about the same time that of Dr. Thomas 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 583 
 
 Stearns. There is a fine view from the hill to the north- 
 ward, and, though the place is so near a much travelled 
 highway, it is so situated as to be quite secluded. 
 
 THE NEW CEMETERY. 
 
 Near Mount Pleasant is a new cemetery that is owned by 
 the town. It was purchased a few years ago, and has an 
 entrance on the south to the county road, near the tomb of 
 John Goodnow. 
 
 NORTH SUDBURY CEMETERY. 
 
 It knew the glow of eventide, 
 
 The sunrise and the noon, 
 And glorified and sanctified 
 
 It slept beneath the moon. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 The North Sudbury Cemetery is situated upon a sunny 
 knoll and consists of one and six-tenths acres of land, for- 
 merly owned by Reuben Haynes, and purchased by a com- 
 pany for a cemetery in 1843. It is about one-eighth of a 
 mile from North Sudbury village on the county road lead- 
 ing from Framingham to Concord. It is quite regularly 
 laid out in paths, with a carriage-way extending about it. 
 The lots are in area twenty-four by thirty feet ; there are 
 about two hundred and eleven persons buried in the yard 
 and tombs. The first person buried there was Sumner 
 Haynes, son of Josiah, Jr., and Mary Haynes, who died 
 Aug. 6, 1843. 
 
 Soon after, the bodies of the following persons were re- 
 moved from the old cemetery at Sudbury Centre and interred 
 here. 
 
 LYDIA, 
 
 Wife of Josiah Haynes, 
 
 Died Mar. 3, 1843. 
 
 Aged 66. 
 
 Gone from earth to bloom in heaven. 
 
 HARRIET AMELIA, 
 
 Daughter of Leander and Harriet Haynes, 
 
 Died Nov. 28, 1839. 
 
584 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 SUSAN HUNT, 
 
 Daughter ok Israel and Ruth Hunt. 
 
 Died Jan. 2, 1817. 
 
 In this van! lie buried Capt. Israel Haynes, Nahum 
 Thompson,* Esq., and Deacon Levi Dakin. Among the 
 aged people are Join, Hunt, born Aug. 16, 1777, died April 
 1 1873 ; Willard Mavnard, died June 29, 1870, aged ninety- 
 two, and Josiah Haynes, died Sept. 6, 1807, aged eighty-nine 
 years, five months. Two soldiers who died during the Civil 
 War are buried here. 
 
 OLIVER M. RICHARDS, 
 
 member of co. g. 
 
 47th Reg't Mass. Vols. 
 
 Died Sept. 5, ISO:!. 
 
 Aet. 36 yrs. 5 m. 
 
 The o-rave has claimed our cherished one. 
 Father, teach us to say, " Thy will be done." 
 On those bright plains, that ever blessed shore, 
 We hope to meet thee there, to part no more. 
 
 HENRY L. HAYNES, 
 
 KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF 
 
 Berryville Va. 
 
 Sept. 19, 1804. Aet. 36 yrs. 
 
 A Member of Company C, 14 Reg. N. H. Vols. 
 
 Here are two tombs, severally inscribed : — 
 
 ISRAEL HUNT'S TOMB 
 1845. 
 
 ELISHA MOORE 
 1861. 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 585 
 
 BURIAL CUSTOMS. 
 
 For thus our fathers testified — 
 
 That he might read who ran 
 The emptiness of human pride, 
 
 The nothingness of man. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 The piety of our ancestors left little room for customs that 
 were senseless or uninstructive. If they were severely sol- 
 emn, they were devoutly so ; and, if they employed some 
 curious devices, it was for the promotion of good. The 
 position of their gravestones shows that the dead were laid 
 with the feet toward the east, or, as it was termed, " facing 
 the east." Whence and wiry this custom, we know not. It 
 might have had reference to the star of the east that an- 
 nounced the birthplace of Christ ; but, whatever the cause, 
 it doubtless was suggested by some religious idea. To us 
 it is a strong reminder of the words of John Bunyan : " The 
 pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber whose window 
 opened towards the sun rising, the name of the chamber was 
 Peace, where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke 
 and sang." 
 
 The character of the gravestones was another peculiarity 
 of those primitive times. It would seem the object was to 
 impart to these mementos of the departed the most sombre 
 aspect imaginable. As no flowers but those that were strewn 
 by God's pitying hand were ever suffered to intrude their 
 gay, sweet presence within the solemn enclosure, so the 
 nearest approach to anything like sympathetic embellishment 
 on those dark slabs was the weeping willow, which drooped 
 its long branches over a funeral urn. But the more common 
 ornament was the "skull and cross-bones," under which 
 were uncouth markings and strange inscriptions. Sometimes 
 the stones were placed in groups, sometimes in irregular 
 rows. Some were placed upright and others horizontal on 
 the ground ; but, as the latter are few and of very early date, 
 we infer that this mode was exceptional or that it soon passed 
 out of use. Perhaps it was a wise precaution in those far-off 
 times to protect the grave from the wild beasts which were 
 
586 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 prowling about through the adjacent forests in search of prey. 
 Another peculiarity is the fewness of the stones in our old 
 graveyards. A casual glance might lead one to think they 
 were full of slate-stone slabs, but actual count gives only a 
 few hundred for all who died in the first century and a half. 
 Indeed, in the older portion of the East Sudbury grave 
 yard there are only two or three scores of stones, yet the 
 yard contains the remains of a large portion of the town's 
 early inhabitants. Indeed, a new grave can hardly be dug 
 without intruding upon an old one. This seems to show 
 that the practice of marking graves in old times was the 
 exception and not the rule. Still another characteristic 
 feature of these ancient grounds was their barren and neg- 
 lected aspect. The graves were gradually levelled by the 
 touch of time, the ground became uneven and rough and 
 covered over with briars and wild grass. Yet we may be- 
 lieve these spots were not in reality neglected nor forsaken, 
 for, though the floral and decorative offering was a thing 
 unknown, many an irregular, beaten path testified that the 
 place of their dead was an oft frequented spot. 
 
 In early times the dead were carried to the place of burial 
 by the hands of friends. No hearse was used till about 
 1800, when one was purchased at a cost of fifty dollars. In 
 process of time a bier was used, and, as late as the beginning 
 of this century, the body was carried on the shoulders of the 
 bearers. In 1715, the town granted "three pounds for pro- 
 viding a burying cloth for ye town's use.'" In 1792, it voted 
 to provide two burying cloths; these were to throw over the 
 remains in their transit to the grave. This is indicated by 
 the following record : — 
 
 " Lieut. Thomas Ruttcr is chosen to dig graves, to carry 
 the bier and the cloth to the place where the deceased person 
 hath need of the use thereof, and shall be paid two shillings 
 and six pence in money for every individual person." 
 
 In early times, gloves were provided for funeral occasions. 
 We are informed of this repeatedly by the records of the 
 town. About 17To, " To James Brown, for 6 pairs of gloves 
 for Isaac Allen's child's funeral — 11 — " 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 587 
 
 " To Col. Noyes for 7 pairs gloves for Isaac Allen's burial 
 — 13 — " 
 
 " To Cornelius Wood for 3 pairs gloves for John Goode- 
 now's funeral." This was about 1673. 
 
 Almost down to the present time the good old custom pre- 
 vailed of ringing the bell on the occasion of a death. How 
 it used to break into the monotony of our daily toil to have 
 the silence suddenly broken by the slow tolling bell, that 
 said plainer than words that another soul had dropped into 
 eternity. Now a pause — listen ! three times three — a man, 
 or, three times two — a woman. Another pause, and then 
 strokes corresponding in number to the years of the deceased. 
 On the morning of the funeral the bell tolled again, and also 
 when the procession moved to the grave. 
 
 As late as 1860, it was common to have a note read, "put 
 up " the phrase was, in church on the Sabbath following 
 a death, in which the nearest relatives asked " the prayers 
 of the church that the death be sanctified to them for their 
 spiritual good." 
 
 The grounds early used for burial were owned by the town 
 and set apart for its common use. No private parties 
 possessed " God's acre " then. Proprietary lots were un- 
 known in Sudbury one hundred years ago. Every citizen 
 had a right to a spot for burial wherever in the town's bury- 
 ing-ground the friends might choose to take it. The rich 
 and poor were alike borne to this common spot ; caste was 
 laid aside, and nothing save the slab at the grave's head 
 might indicate the former position of the silent occupant 
 of the old-time burial place. The graves of households 
 were often in groups, reminding one of our present family 
 lots, but this was by common consent, and not by any titled 
 right to the spot. 
 
 The expense of funerals in those early days was much less 
 than at present. The coffin was made by the village carpen- 
 ter of common pine boards, and was usually colored red. 
 The following are bills for coffins about a hundred years ago : 
 
 " Aug. 21st, 1781, Isaac Hunt D r to James Thompson ' to 
 a coffin for his Father, : 10 : 0.' " 
 
 ** 1800, 'For making a coffin for a woman, 1.67.' ' 
 
588 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 " 1806, ' To Peter Willard for a coffin for Elizabeth Good- 
 now, 1.30.' " 
 
 " The coffin of Rev. Jacob Bryelow cost 110.00, and dig- 
 ging the grave and attending his funeral was $2.00." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 TAVERNS. 
 
 Early Names. — Character and Importance. — First Tavern. — Others 
 on the East Side.— Taverns in the South Part of the Town. — De- 
 scription of the South Sudbury Tavern. — " Howe's Tavern," or the 
 "Wayside Inn." — Mr. Longfellow's Connection with it. — Location 
 and Early History. — Description. — The Last Landlord. — Tradi- 
 tions Concerning it. — Taverns on the Central Road of the Town.— 
 Taverns at North Sudbury. 
 
 Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round, 
 Where'er his stages may have been, 
 
 May sigh to think that he has found 
 His warmest welcome at an inn. 
 
 Shenstone. 
 
 The Public House was from an early date considered in 
 Sudbury an important place. In 1653 or 1654 we find it on 
 record that " John Parmenter, senior, shall keep a house of 
 common entertainment, and that the court shall be moved on 
 his behalf to grant a license to him." (Town Records, page 
 115.) From this early period for the space of more than 
 two centuries public houses were kept here and there. At 
 first they were called " Ordinaries," at other times Public 
 Houses, but generally the term Tavern was used. In one 
 prominent instance has the term Inn been applied, and that 
 in connection with Howe's Tavern, which Mr. Longfellow 
 called the " Wayside Inn." 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 589 
 
 The business of these places was to provide travelers with 
 lodging and food, or to furnish " entertainment for man and 
 beast." They were to an extent under the control of the 
 town, as is indicated in a record of Oct. 4, 1684, when it 
 was ordered that upon the " uncomfortable representations 
 and reports concerning the miscarriage of things at the 
 Ordinary ::::::::: 
 three or four of the selectmen, in the name of the rest, do 
 particularly inquire into all matters relating thereto." In 
 all of these taverns strong drink was probably sold. Licenses 
 were granted by the Provincial or Colonial Court, and the 
 landlords were usually men of some prominence. Taverns 
 were considered useful places in the early times, and laws 
 existed relating to the rights of both landlord and guest. In 
 the period of the Revolutionary War, when a price-list was 
 determined at Sudbury for various common commodities, the 
 following was established for taverns : — 
 
 1779_ Mugg West India Phlip 15 
 
 New England Do 12 
 
 Toddy in proportion 
 
 A Good Dinner 20 
 
 Common Do 12 
 
 Best Supper & Breakfast 15 Each. 
 
 Common Do 12, Lodging 4. 
 
 The " Parmenter Tavern " was the first one kept in town, 
 and was in what is now Wayland, on the late Dana Par- 
 menter estate, a little westerly of the present Parmenter 
 house. The building was standing about eighty years since, 
 and was looking old then. It was a large square house, and 
 in the bar-room was a high bar. There the council was en- 
 tertained which the court appointed to settle the famous 
 " cow common controversy." Subsequently, taverns at East 
 Sudbury were kept as follows : one a little easterly of Wil- 
 liam Baldwin's, one at the Centre, now called the " Pequod 
 House," one west of Reeves' hill, at the Reeves' place, one 
 at the Corner, and one at the end of the old causeway, near 
 the gravel pit. The tavern at the East Sudbury Centre was 
 kept nearly a hundred years ago by John Stone, father of 
 William who afterwards kept one at Sudbury. 
 
590 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The taverns that were on the west side the river, or 
 within the present town limits, were on the three principal 
 highways that passed easterly and westerly through the 
 town. At the south part they were on the Boston and 
 Worcester road. The first beyond that by the gravel pit, 
 was on the John Taylor place, and kept by Mr. Wheeler at 
 the time of the Revolutionary War. The next was that at 
 South Sudbury. This house was of medium size, had two 
 stories and a small porch in front. It stood at the corner of 
 the Sudbury Centre and Boston and Worcester roads, and at 
 a point south or south-east of the Goodnow Library. To 
 the right and left of it were large barns and driveways, with 
 numerous stalls, and between them and the house was a line 
 of sheds, one of which had feeding troughs for horses. It 
 could probably put up from twenty-five to fifty horses, and 
 in the old days of staging and teaming it was a lively place. 
 At the beginning of this century the tavern looked old, and 
 was at about that time occupied by a Mr. Sawin. Subse- 
 quently, it had several landlords. One of the last whose sign 
 swung there was S. G. Fessenden, who occupied the place 
 about forty years ago. There was formerly a bowling alley 
 and ball-room attached to the place. A stable was kept 
 there, and it was the terminus of the stage route from Stony 
 Brook to Sudbury. This place was formerly a landmark in 
 the village of South Sudbury, and when removed made a 
 great change in the old-time look of the place. It was in 
 : ppearance a typical tavern. Facing southward, it looked 
 smilingly upon the approaching traveler, with its little roofed 
 porch around which the clustering woodbine clung, while 
 just in front and beyond the short circular drive which 
 gently curved from the country road, was the " sign post " 
 and " martin box " to which the martins annually came. 
 Besides these, was the old ash-tree that still stands, and all 
 taken together made pleasant surroundings that were quite 
 appropriate to a country inn. A tavern was kept for a while 
 at the Stone place, about a mile west of Mill Village. Mr. 
 William Stone was its only proprietor, and it years ago ceased 
 to be used as a public house. Beyond the bridge a tavern 
 was early kept on the George Pitts place. (See page 493.) 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 59l 
 
 THE "WAYSIDE INN. 
 
 The scroll reads by the name of Howe. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 The fifth tavern on the Boston road through Sudbury, 
 or the last toward Marlboro, is the old "Howe Tavern," or 
 the famous " Wayside Inn " of Longfellow. This well- 
 known hostelry scarcely needs any description by us. 
 Pictures of it by pencil and pen have been many times 
 made, and have variously portrayed its quaint characteris- 
 tics. But a few facts here will be proper ; and, first, as 
 to the poet Longfellow's connection with it. It is supposed 
 that he never visited the spot more than twice, and t l iat 
 then his visits were short. Once, in his youth, it is believed 
 that he stopped there while on his way to New York, to 
 take passage for Europe, and once, years later, at which 
 time the writer saw him at South Sudbury with his friend 
 J. T. Fields, as they stopped at the house of a relative of the 
 Howe family to inquire about the Howe coat-of-arms. Thus 
 limited was Mr. Longfellow's personal knowledge of the 
 place, and even when on the premises it is said that he re- 
 ceived legends and traditions from a source somewhat ques- 
 tionable. The truth is, the place was early brought into 
 notoriety by summer boarders, who came from the suburban 
 towns, prominent among whom were Dr. Parsons and Prof. 
 Treadwell of Cambridge. The former of these first men- 
 tioned " Howe's Tavern " in verse, and from his writings, 
 and from information obtained from others, Mr. Longfellow 
 doubtless derived much of his material ; and about these 
 facts he arranged such a setting of romance and legendary 
 lore as his ready mind knew how to employ. 
 
 But stripped of every feature of romance which may prop- 
 erly have been given it by the great poet's pen, the Wayside 
 Inn is a grand old landmark. It was built about the begin- 
 ning of the eighteenth century by David Howe, who in 1702 
 received of his father, Samuel Howe, a son of John one of 
 the town's early grantees, a tract of one hundred and thirty 
 acres of land in the "New Grant" territory. (See Chapter 
 X.) The land upon which this ancient ordinary was built 
 
592 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 is situated in what was called the fourth squadron of the 
 New Grants, and was probably either lot No. 48, which was 
 assigned in the land apportionment in 1651 to Mr. William 
 Pelham, or lot No. 49, which was just south of Mr. Pel- 
 ham's, and was assigned at the same time to Mr. John Par- 
 menter, Jr. Beyond these two lots, southerly, was that 
 assigned to Thomas King, and adjacent to this, on the south, 
 was the " Cowpen Land," which, like the others, was a one 
 hundred and thirty acre lot, and joined the then " wilderness 
 lands," or the territory of what is now Framingham. These 
 lots abutted easterly, on the thirty-rod highway which ran 
 north and south through the town, and westerly, on what is 
 now Marlboro. The lot of land upon which the tavern was 
 built was not the lot formerly assigned to John Howe, the 
 grandfather of David, in the apportionment of 1651. That 
 tract was lot No. 16, and situated in the second squadron, 
 which was the north-easterly one of the " New Grants." But 
 Mr. John Howe may have exchanged that lot for another, or, 
 if it passed by inheritance to Samuel, his son, it might by 
 him have been exchanged or sold, and No. 48 of the fourth 
 squadron bought, or it may be that David, the grandson, 
 made the change. As the " New Grant," though allowed in 
 1649, and laid out and apportioned by lot in 1651. was not 
 purchased of the Indians until 1684, great changes doubt- 
 less took place in the ownership. But, however the change 
 in this case came about, David selected this spot for his home, 
 and at about the time of the gift began to build. During the 
 ' process of constructing the house, tradition says, the work- 
 men resorted for safety at night to the Parmenter garrison, a 
 place about a half-mile away. (See Chapter XI.) The 
 safety sought was probably from the raids of Indians, who, 
 long after Philip's War closed, made occasional incursions 
 upon the borders of the frontier towns. At or about the 
 time of its erection, it was opened as a public house, and, m 
 1746, Col. Ezekiel Howe, of Revolutionary fame, put up the 
 sign of the " Red Horse," which gave it the name that it 
 went by for years, namely, the "Red Horse Tavern." In 
 1796, Col. Ezekiel Howe died, and his son Adam took the 
 place and kept the tavern for forty years. At the death 
 
THE WAYSIDE INN. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 593 
 
 of Adam it went into the hands of Lyman, who continued it 
 as an inn until near 1866, about which time it passed out of 
 the hands of an owner by the name of Howe. Thus, for 
 more than a century and a half, and by representatives of 
 four generations of the Howe family, was this place kept as 
 an inn. In the earlier times this house was of considerable 
 consequence to travelers. It was quite capacious for either 
 the colonial or the provincial period, and was within about 
 an easy day's journey to Massachusetts Bay. The road by 
 it was a grand thoroughfare westward. Sudbury, in those 
 years, was one of the foremost towns of Middlesex County 
 in population, influence and wealth, while the Howe family 
 took rank among the first families of the country about. 
 The seclusion of this quiet spot to-day is not indicative of 
 what it was in the days of the old stage period, and when 
 places since made prominent by the passage of a railroad 
 through them were almost wholly or quite unknown. In 
 the times of the wars against the Indians and French it was 
 a common halting place for troops, as they marched to the 
 front or returned to their homes in the Bay. towns. It was 
 largely patronized by the up-country marketers, who, by 
 their frequent coming and going, with their large canvas- 
 topped wagons, made the highway past this ordinary look 
 like the outlet of a busy mart. Stages also enlivened the 
 scene. The sound of the post-horn, as it announced the near 
 approach of the coach, was the signal for the hostler and 
 housemaid to prepare refreshment for man and beast. In 
 short, few country taverns were better situated than this to 
 gain patronage in the days when few towns of the province 
 were better known than old Sudbury. This place, noted, 
 capacious and thickly mantled with years, is thus fitly de- 
 scribed by Mr. Longfellow : — 
 
 As ancient is this hostelry 
 
 As any in the land may be, 
 
 Built in the old Colonial day, 
 
 When men lived in a grander way 
 
 With ampler hospitality; 
 
 A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall, 
 
 Now somewhat fallen to decay, 
 
594 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 With weather-stains upon the wall, 
 And stairways worn, and crazy doors, 
 And creaking and uneven floors, 
 And chimneys huge and tiled and tall. 
 
 The region about this old ordinary corresponds to the 
 building itself, reminding one of the Sleepy Hollow among 
 the highlands of the Hudson described by Washington Irv- 
 ing. It is on the edge of the plain lands of the Peakham 
 district, just at the foot of the northernmost spur of Nobscot 
 Hill. To the westward, a few rods, is the upper branch of 
 Hop Brook, with its faint fringe of meadow lands, over 
 which the county road gently curves. In the near neigh- 
 borhood are patches of old forest growth, whose tall trees 
 tower upward like sentinels in the view of passers along the 
 county road. Indeed, so aptly does Mr. Longfellow describe 
 the place where the house is situated that we quote further 
 from his beautiful verse. 
 
 A region of repose it seems, 
 
 A place of slumber and of dreams, 
 
 Remote among the wooded hills ! 
 
 For there no noisy railroad speeds 
 
 Its torch-race, scattering smoke and gleeds. 
 
 Along the highway to the eastward in the direction of 
 South Sudbury, which from this place is about two miles 
 distant, are still standing several ancient oaks. These trees 
 were, doubtless, standing and had considerable growth when 
 lot number forty-eight was of the town's common land, and 
 owned by Tantamous and others who signed the Indian 
 deed in 1684, by which the new grant lands were conveyed. 
 Beneath them Washington and his retinue passed, and per- 
 haps Wadsworth and Broeklebank when they sped in their 
 haste to save Sudbury from Philip, and a long procession 
 of travelers, since the opening of the way to Marlboro from 
 the Hop Brook mill, has passed under their venerable shade. 
 Soldiers to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the various 
 expeditions to the west and north in the Revolutionary and 
 French and Indian Wars have halted in their inarch as they 
 approached this picket line of ancient oaks that were de- 
 ployed at the approach to the Inn. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 595 
 
 Ancient Druid never worshipped 
 
 Beneath grander oaks than these ; 
 Never shadows richer, deeper, 
 
 Than have cast these s;iant trees. 
 
 Monuments of earthly grandeur — 
 
 Shrines at which the people bow, 
 Yielding homage as to nobles 
 
 Of the honored name of Howe. 
 
 Like an old baronial castle 
 
 This weird structure holds its place, 
 Through whose portals has departed 
 
 Every remnant of the race. 
 
 Lucinda (Brown) Fairbanks. 
 
 There is now about the place an aspect of vacancy, as if 
 something mighty were gone, and very appropriate are still 
 further words of the poet Longfellow. 
 
 Round this old-fashioned, quaint abode 
 Deep silence reigned, save when a gust 
 Went rushing down the country road, 
 And skeletons of leaves and dust, 
 A moment quickened by its breath, 
 Shuddered, and danced their dance of death, 
 And, through the ancient oaks o'erhead, 
 Mysterious voices moaned and fled. 
 
 We will now briefly state something concerning the house, 
 and the family in later years. The structure of the building 
 is quaint. It has a gable roof which rests on low-posted 
 walls, while L's extend from the main body toward the east 
 and west. It stands by the roadside, facing the south, while 
 here and there, not far from it, are the huge trunks of decay- 
 ing trees, with branches growing more and more scant as the 
 years pass by. It is said that in the house are eighty-one 
 windows. There is upon one of the window panes, cut with 
 a diamond, this sentence : — 
 
 What do you think 
 
 Here is good drink 
 
 Perhaps you may not know it, 
 
 If not in haste, do stop and taste 
 
 You merry folks will show it. 
 
 William Molineux, Jr., Boston, June 24, 177G. 
 
596 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 The house was furnished with a hall, the typical kitchen 
 of a country inn, the bar-room with its high counter, while 
 outside and beyond the road and nearly in front was swung 
 the red-horse sign. 
 
 Squire Lyman Howe, the last landlord of the inn and the 
 one of Mr. Longfellow's poem, was a man rather imposing 
 in appearance, somewhat dignified and grave. He was at 
 one time a prominent singer in the Congregational choir, a 
 school committee man, and justice of the peace. Years ago, 
 he was a familiar object to the villagers of South Sudbury, 
 riding in his chaise with the top tipped back, as he went to 
 the post-office or to visit the district schools ; and he fitly 
 represented, in his younger and more prosperous years, the 
 family of Howe. He lived a bachelor and was the last link 
 of an illustrious lineage. As a tavern-keeper, he did less 
 and less business as his years increased, and finally the 
 landlord died at the inn, the last of the name of Howe who 
 lived, at that famous house. Since his death, the place has 
 been a resort for pleasure-seekers and people of antiquarian 
 tastes. It has been visited from far and near, and so it will 
 continue to be as time passes by. Traditions concerning it 
 may gather and grow, and treasures of colonial art may be 
 traced to it, till, like the alleged articles of the " Mayflow- 
 er's " illustrious cargo, the original place of deposit could 
 not have contained them all. Indeed, marvellous stories 
 have already been told of the auction that followed the death 
 of Squire Lyman Howe, but these stories are extravagant. 
 A few articles that were rare and relic-like may have been 
 sold, but, for the most part, it was only a commonplace sale 
 at the inn when the landlord died. Probably the house was 
 largely depleted of what it once contained ; the family never 
 was one of great wealth, and the circumstances attending 
 the life of the last landlord would naturally scatter many 
 of the furnishings of the old-time inn. The piano that was 
 sold was the first one ever brought into the town. Strange 
 stories have also 'been told as to occasional guests at this 
 ancient "ordinary." It has been said that Captain Wads- 
 worth here rested and refreshed his men on his way to the 
 Wadsworth fight ; that here Washington stopped and Lafay- 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 597 
 
 ette lodged. That some of the traditions are true is prob- 
 able, that some are not true is also probable ; as to its con- 
 nection with Captain Wads worth and his company, it is 
 sufficient to refer to the date of the house and the date of 
 the fight. That General Washington stopped there is quite 
 probable, since he went from Marlboro to Boston and dined 
 at Weston with Colonel Lamson who commanded the Fifth 
 Middlesex Regiment in the Revolutionary War. As the 
 Howe Tavern would be on his direct route it would be nat- 
 ural for him to stop there and, at least, take a lunch with 
 Mr. Howe, another of the colonels of the Revolution. But, 
 though a part of the traditions of the place are improbable, 
 there yet remains enough of reality to make this a favorite 
 place, and it needs no embellishment of fancy to give to it 
 a sufficient charm or make it rich in rare reminiscences. 
 The old stage road that winds its way by it; the double 
 eaves of its gable roof; the old oaks hollowed by the hand 
 of time ; the name and history of the family of Howe, — 
 these, with the notoriety of Mr. Longfellow's poem, all con- 
 spire to give the place a fame akin to that of the village of 
 Grand Pre' of Evangeline. What though the tales of the 
 Wayside Inn were never uttered at Howe's Tavern at all 
 under such circumstance, as the poet describes ; other tales 
 as touching, as thrilling, and grand, may often have been 
 uttered within it. Groups, characteristic of colonial and 
 provincial times, often sat by its fireside ; the inhabitants of 
 Nobscot and Peakham gathered there from hamlet and farm, 
 to sit and talk of a long fall night ; the stage-driver and his 
 passengers stopped there for lodging or lunch, the marketer 
 halted as he was "going down " with his load, the teamster 
 with his ox-wagon and yokes of slow steers, the transient 
 traveler also, and the occasional errandless tramp. Such at 
 times were guests at this house, and found refreshment and 
 shelter within its time-worn walls. Surely, many scenes of a 
 quaint character transpired there in the years of the town's 
 early history, and though they have all passed by, the old 
 house is suggestive of them, and stands a souvenir of other 
 and busier days on an old stage road of the town. It recalls 
 to mind an old family of Sudbury and familiar events in con- 
 
598 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 nection with it, and is a memorial of the typical tavern in 
 those old-time days. 
 
 The taverns on the central road of the town were on the 
 present Berlin and Boston highway, and from the " Gravel 
 Pit " to the middle of the town. The first, passing westerly, 
 was on the Captain Rice place, about half a mile from the 
 Centre. Here, at an early date, was an inn which was kept 
 during the Revolutionary period by William Rice. The 
 house was a square, two-story building of medium size, with 
 a laro-e chimney in the middle. It stood a few rods north of 
 the road and faced the south. It is many years since it was 
 used as an inn. For a long time it was the homestead of 
 Capt. William Rice, and was last occupied by his descend- 
 ants. A short time ago it was burnt. Tradition says that 
 formerly the road ran through the door-yard, and came oat 
 by Daniel Smith's at Water Row. 
 
 The next tavern west was the Wheeler-Haynes House, 
 formerly the parsonage of Rev. Israel Loring. Walter 
 Haynes kept a public house there in the early part of this 
 century, but it has long since ceased to be used for that pur- 
 pose. The third tavern was at the Centre, at the road- 
 corner just north of the store, or at the angle made by the 
 Berlin and Boston highway, with that leading from South 
 Sudbury to Concord on the left side going north. This 
 tavern was kept; years ago by a Mr. Rice, who was killed at 
 Wash bridge. Subsequently, in the early part of this cen- 
 tury, it was kept by Dr. Kidder. About fifty years ago, it 
 was kept by Joel Jones, and later, by Miranda Page, at which 
 time it was burnt. A fourth tavern was at the Dr. Stearns 
 place, the second house west of the Unitarian Church. It 
 was not built for an inn, but was the residence of Thomas 
 Stearns, a physician. After Dr. Stearns' death it was occu- 
 pied by Webster Moore, who kept a public house there for 
 some years. A tavern was kept at North Sudbury, well 
 known as the "Pratt Tavern." Another was the "Puffer 
 Tavern ; " and one quite old was kept at the north-west part 
 by Jonathan Rice, a prominent man in town. 
 
 Such are some of Sudbury's old-time taverns. They had 
 their day and disappeared, because the means of their main- 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 599 
 
 tenance failed. One means, on which all these ancient hos- 
 telries depended perhaps to a greater or less degree, was the 
 sale of intoxicating drinks. Some received patronage from 
 the old stage routes, and all of them from the passing trav- 
 eler and his team. But now the great growth of the tem- 
 perance movement, and the introduction of new modes of 
 conveyance, have so changed the condition of things that 
 the old tavern is needed no more. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 PHYSICIANS. 
 
 Early Mention of Physicians. — Biographical Sketch of Dr. Ebenezer 
 Roby. — Ebenezer Roby, 2d. — Ebenezer Roby, 3d. — Josiah Lang- 
 don. — Moses Taft. — Moses Mossman. — Ashbel Kidder. — Thomas 
 Stearns. — Levi Goodenough. — Otis O. Johnson. — George A. Oviatt. 
 
 . . . Doubtless, after us, some purer scheme 
 Will be shaped out by wiser men than we, 
 Made wiser by the steady growth of truth. 
 
 Lowell. 
 
 An early mention of a doctor in Sudbury is on page 155 
 of the first book of Town Records, where it is stated that 
 " Alrake, Physician, was to have five bushels of wheat in 
 consideration of his care of the Widdow Hunt." Another 
 record on page 185 of the same book states that, at a select- 
 men's meeting, " it was agreed with Dr. Chattock and payed 
 him for his paynes and phisick hee gave to Debrah Wedge 
 and agreed with him for a month to keep her for 2 shillings 
 a week which month was out Sept the 5 th 1702." We con- 
 
600 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 elude there was no surgeon in town up to the year 1673, as 
 it was then ordered that " Mr. Peter Noyes do procure and 
 bring Surgeon Avery from Dedham to the Widdow Hunt of 
 this town to inspect her condition and to advise and direct 
 and administer to her relief and cure of her distemper." 
 
 EBENEZER ROBY, M. D. 
 
 One of the most noted physicians of Sudbury was Dr. 
 Ebenezer Roby who lived on the East Side. He was born 
 in Boston in 1701, and graduated at Harvard College in 
 1719. He settled in Sudbury about 1725, and in 1730, mar- 
 ried Sarah, daughter of Rev. John Swift of Framingham. 
 He lived in the old Roby house which was recently destroyed 
 by fire. He was prominently connected with town matters 
 in Sudbury, where he lived and practiced his profession till 
 his death. He was buried in the old graveyard at East Sud- 
 bury, and the following is his epitaph : — 
 
 In memory of Ebenezer Roby Esq, a Native of Boston New England. 
 
 He fixed his residence in Sudbury in the character of a Physician 
 where he was long distinguished for his ability and success in the 
 healing art. 
 
 Born Sept 20 th 1701 
 Died Sept 4 th 1772 aged 71. 
 
 For a specimen of the charges of Dr. Roby see page 350. 
 His son, Dr. Ebenezer Roby, Jr., born in 1732, also prac- 
 ticed medicine in Sudbury, and died July 16, 1786, aged 
 fifty-four. Dr. Joseph Roby, son of Ebenezer, Jr., was a 
 practicing physician in East Sudbury till 1801. 
 
 JOSIAH LANGDON, M. D. 
 
 The name of Josiah Langdon is in the town records of 
 Revolutionary soldiers with the title of doctor attached, 
 which indicates that he was a practicing physician in town 
 at that time. As he died soon after the making of the 
 record, at the early age of thirty-two, his professional career 
 was very brief. His death occurred in 1779, and he was 
 buried in the Old Burying Ground, which indicates that his 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 601 
 
 home was in the West Precinct. The following inscription 
 is on the stone that marks his grave : — 
 
 In memory of Doctor Josiah Langdon who died Feb. y e 24 th 1779 
 
 JEt32 
 Mortuus Vivit. 
 
 MOSES TAPT, M. D. 
 
 Dr. Moses Taft practiced medicine in Sudbury towards the 
 close of the last century. He lived at the " Centre," in 
 what has been known subsequently as the " Barker house," 
 and where a grocery store was once kept. (See period 
 1850-75.) He was buried in the western part of the Old 
 Burying Ground. His grave is marked by a slate stone, 
 inscribed, — 
 
 Doct. Moses Taft, Died July 22 nd 1799 
 Aged 45. 
 " Let living friends his virtues trace 
 Then they 11 in glory see his face." 
 
 MOSES MOSSMAN, M. D. 
 
 Dr. Moses Mossman was one of the old-time physicians of 
 Sudbury. He practiced medicine there towards the close of 
 the last and the early part of the present century. His 
 professional work extended over quite a portion of the 
 neighboring country, reaching to Stow, Acton, Concord and 
 Marlboro. The following is a specimen of his bills, which 
 shows the expense of medical calls and medicine in those 
 times : — 
 
 " To Doctor Mossman for doctoring Asahel Knight in his 
 late sickness, 3 visits and medicine 2.75." 
 
 His home was in the northerly part of Sudbury at the 
 Mossman place ; and it is said that, about the locality of his 
 garden plot, the herbs still grow which the doctor used to 
 cultivate. He was much beloved and respected as a citizen, 
 and it was said that he was very religious. In one of his 
 journals he states that on one occasion, as he was riding in 
 a very dark night, while in communion with God, a light 
 
602 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 shone about the team to guide him. He died, Aug. 15, 1817, 
 aged seventy-five, and was buried in the western part of the 
 Old Burying Ground. At the grave is a slate stone with 
 this inscription : — 
 
 In memory of Doctor Moses Mossman and Mrs. Mary Mossman his wife. 
 
 Doctor Moses Mossman died Aug. 15, 1817, 
 
 Mt75. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Mossman died Aug. 17, 1817, 
 
 JEt GG. 
 
 They lived mutually active, and highly respected, and died much 
 
 lamented. 
 
 " Our lives are closed and o'er, 
 
 Our Saviour's praises now we sing, 
 
 He saves us by redeeming power 
 
 And takes us to our Heavenly King." 
 
 ASHBEL KIDDER, M. D. 
 
 Dr. Ashbel Kidder practiced medicine in Sudbury for 
 about twenty-five years in the early part of the present 
 century. He was born at Sutton in 1770, and studied medi- 
 cine at Harvard College. Before and after the commence- 
 ment of his medical studies he taught school. He married 
 a daughter of Ezra Taylor of Southboro. He was lame 
 and his health was not robust. He was a Free Mason 
 and Master of Middlesex Lodge in Framingham. He was 
 also justice of the peace, as is indicated by a record in his 
 note-book of marriage ceremonies performed by him from 
 1815 to 1819. His practice extended over a considerable 
 district and he was well known in the neighboring towns. 
 As indicative of medical charges at that time we give the 
 following found among his bills: — 
 
 " To Ashbel Kidder for doctoring Ephraim How of Ac- 
 worth, while sick at Sudbury in 1812, to 30 visits 2 miles 
 and medicine left each time o0.25." 
 
 He lived at Sudbury Centre in a house at the corner of 
 the roads, which was used for many years as a tavern and was 
 burned near half a century ago. (Sec chapter on Taverns.) 
 He died in 1823, and left four children, — Almira, Francis, 
 Dana, Caroline, and Ezra Taylor. A daughter of Francis D. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 603 
 
 is Mrs. Frances (Kidder) Adams, wife of Dr. Z. B. Adams 
 of Framingham. Dr. Kidder and wife were buried in the 
 Old Burying Ground, and afterwards removed to the Kidder 
 tomb, Wadsworth Cemetery. 
 
 THOMAS STEARNS, M. D. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Stearns practiced medicine in Sudbury for 
 some years previous to 1840, about which time he died. He 
 lived at the Centre, in the second house west of the Unita- 
 rian meeting-house, on the north side of the road, and since 
 used as a tavern. He was an active citizen, of a positive 
 nature, and energetic in the prosecution of his plans. He 
 was interested in what pertained to the history of Sudbury, 
 and gathered quite a collection of old documents, which, 
 since his death, have been purchased by the town and are 
 known as the " Stearns' Collection." He was buried in 
 Mount Pleasant Cemetery. 
 
 LEVI GOODENOUGH, M. D. 
 
 Dr. Levi Goodenough was born in Derby, Vt., Oct. 30, 
 1803. He received his diploma from the Medical School of 
 the University of Vermont, Sept. 16, 1828, and settled in 
 Sudbury Feb. 12, 1830, where he remained till his death. 
 He was a typical country physician. Having had the advan- 
 tage of studying with a physician who kept a drug store, he 
 acquired some skill in compounding medicines, and was 
 accustomed largely to prepare and furnish the medicines he 
 prescribed. In extracting teeth he made use of the " turn- 
 key," which he never failed to adjust with due deliberation 
 and care. As a citizen, Dr. Goodenough was public spirited, 
 and a stanch advocate of reform ; in temperance, his name 
 stands among the pioneers. He was a professing Christian 
 from early youth. On going to Sudbury, there being no 
 church in it of his persuasion, he joined the Baptist Church 
 in Weston, where he occasionally joined in worship. He 
 also aided in the support of the Methodist Church, Sudbury, 
 but he identified his interests with the Congregational Church 
 of that place, all the meetings of which he took delight in 
 attending whenever circumstances would permit. His in- 
 
604 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 terest in missions was very great and he gave freely in their 
 behalf. He had two children by his first marriage, and 
 named them Ann Haseltine and Adoniram Judson, after the 
 well-known missionary to Burmah and his wife, Dr. and 
 Mrs. Judson. His early educational advantages were lim- 
 ited, but he was a lover of learning, and in after years 
 became somewhat proficient in Latin and the sciences, while 
 he practiced the most rigid economy that he might give a 
 liberal education to his own children and lend a helping 
 hand to others who were striving to the same end. In his 
 declining years he became deeply interested in geology and 
 mineralogy, and was enthusiastic in the collection of speci- 
 mens and in calling attention to their marvellous structure. 
 At about the age of fifteen he was thrown from a horse, 
 thereby incurring injuries which rendered his after life one 
 long struggle with disease and weakness ; yet he practiced 
 medicine for over fifty-six years in Sudbury. He died, April 
 3, 1886, at the age of eighty-two, and was buried in Mount 
 Wadsworth Cemetery. He married for his first wife Cynthia 
 Rice of East Sudbury (Wayland), Feb. 11, 1830, and for his 
 second wife Jerusha Dakin of Sudbury, Nov. 8, 1837. He 
 adopted two children, Carrie and Grace ; the former died 
 young. 
 
 OTIS O. JOHNSON, M. D. 
 
 Dr. Otis O. Johnson practiced medicine in Sudbury for 
 some years about the middle of the present century. He 
 was son of John and Polly (Hemenway) Johnson, and born 
 at Southboro, April 17, 1817. He studied medicine with 
 Dr. John B. Kittridge of Framingham, and went from that 
 place to Sudbury where he practiced homoeopathy. He lived 
 at the Centre and South Sudbury. He afterwards returned 
 to Framingham where he died, Jan. 8, 1882. He married 
 Mary, daughter of Dexter Stone of Framingham, and had 
 two children. 
 
 GEORGE A. OVIATT, M. D. 
 
 Dr. George A. Oviatt was born in Boston, March 30, 1849. 
 He was the son of Rev. George A. and Isabella G. Oviatt. 
 His paternal ancestor came from Wales and settled in Mil- 
 
illl lis 
 
 RESIDENCE OF NICHOLS B. HUNT, 
 South Sudbury, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 605 
 
 ford, Conn. His great-grandmother on his mother's side was 
 Polly, daughter of Captain Minot of Concord. She was 
 present at the Concord fight, and was sent with the small 
 children of the town, who were entrusted to her care, to a 
 place of safety till the danger was past. Dr. Oviatt fitted 
 for College at Hartford Latin School, and graduated at Yale 
 in 1872. He received his medical diploma at the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons, New York, March, 1875. April 
 of the same year he commenced the practice of medicine in 
 Sudbury, where he still resides. Jan. 20, 1878, he married 
 Ella A., daughter of Nichols B. and Angeline (Brown) Hunt 
 of Sudbury, and has one child, George Parker. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 Early Customs. — Effects of Cider Drinking in North Sudbury. — Con- 
 nection of Taverns with the Liquor Traffic — Drinking Customs in 
 South Sudbury. — Common Use of Malt. — Extract from James 
 Thompson's Account Book. — Dawn of Better Times. — Pioneers in 
 the Temperance Cause. — Reformatory Measures.— Temperance Re- 
 form. 
 
 An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 This town, now prohibitory as it relates to the liquor 
 traffic, was formerly, we judge, very much like the average 
 towns in the State in this matter. There is evidence that 
 intemperance has, from an early period, made havoc and had 
 its victims here. The following record is found upon the 
 town book: "Upon the uncomfortable representations and 
 reports concerning the [condition] of things at the Ordinary 
 
606 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 of this town, it is ordered this 4 th of October 1684, that three 
 or four of the selectmen in the name of the rest do particu- 
 larly enquire into all matters relating thereto, and if upon 
 examination they find matters there as they are reported 
 that they advise with Mr. Walker and his wife, and labor by 
 persuasion with them with all conveniant speed to take down 
 their sign, and to lay down and relinquish their selling of 
 any drink." 
 
 In 1807, a vote was passed "that the town would use its 
 endeavor to assist the selectmen in carrying into effect the 
 law respecting Retailers and Taverns in said town [as they 
 were related to certain persons] viz : those persons who mis- 
 spend, waste and lessen their estates whereby they are likely 
 to become chargeable to said town." 
 
 It was the habit of the people for two centuries to use 
 spirituous liquors and special occasions had their special 
 quantities. The farmer wanted his extra cider for his 
 hoeing or threshing and his extra rum for haying ; and in 
 the latter work he hardly thought it possible to get along 
 without it. The carpenter wanted a good allowance for 
 " raising," and on afflictive, and social, and gala occasions it 
 was thought liquor was indispensable. In 1729, there is a 
 record of payment " To David Baldwin for frame of Bridge 
 37 pounds ; to twelve men to raise said bridge who went into 
 y e water 3 pounds, for drink &c 5s — Id " In 1759, there 
 is a record of payment " To Caleb Moulton for material for 
 new bridge and 5 quarts Rum 2 — 11 — 3." In 1747, Jona- 
 than Rice rebuilt Lanham Bridge, and the next year there 
 was a record in the town book of payment "To Mathew 
 Gibbs for rum and for raising Lanham bridge 12 shillings." 
 As late as 1816, on the occasion of Rev. Jacob Bigelow's 
 funeral, we find the following in the record of the town's 
 indebtedness for articles furnished : " To Daniel Goodenow 
 for spirit and sugar &c $15.40." 
 
 In 1779, prices were established for the common commodi- 
 ties, and among them for spirituous liquors as follows: 
 " West India Phlip 15 New England Do 12 Toddy in pro- 
 portion." Malted liquor was also early made use of. Malt 
 was one of the articles granted the town after Philip's War 
 
HISTOKY OF SUDBURY. 607 
 
 from the so-called " Irish Charity Fund," and valued at 
 18d. per ball. Malt liquors were extensively used, and malt 
 was long considered quite a useful commodity. About 1688, 
 when Deacon John Haines made a contract for building a new 
 meeting-house, he was to receive for the work in " country 
 pay at country price, merchantable Indian corn, Peas, Beef, 
 Pork and Malt." There was an old malt house at South 
 Sudbury owned by James Thompson. When it was demol- 
 ished, which was about the middle of the century, it was 
 much dilapidated, as if it had not been used for many years. 
 This indicates the disuse of malt liquor in Sudbury from 
 early in the century. But a drink largely made use of, be- 
 cause cheap and easily manufactured, was cider. The cider 
 mills were in various parts of the town. The effect of cider 
 drinking in North Sudbury has been so forcibly set forth by 
 Mr. John Maynard that we quote his words : — 
 
 "In 1830, in that half of the town north of the road from 
 Wayland to Hudson, there were 12 cider mills owned by 
 farmers who ground their own apples and allowed their 
 neighbors the use of the mills for 8 cents per barrel of 32 
 galls. The amount of cider made there was much less than 
 50 years previously. Old orchards had decayed and new 
 ones bore grafted fruit for the market. The price was very 
 low because the use of cider as a daily drink had been super- 
 seded largely by that of cheap New England rum — a change 
 for the better somewhat, as temperate people limited them- 
 selves to 3 glasses or less per day instead of the unlimited 
 use of cider . . . Within the territory above named are now 
 only two mills making together only about 100 barrels yearly 
 and that for vinegar. Orchards now produce grafted fruit, 
 and the windfall, bruised and refuse apples are sold to large 
 mills at Sherborn, Maynard and S. Acton, for about 25 cents 
 per barrel of c l\ bushels. The product is not so strong as 
 that made formerly from sound ripe natural fruit. New 
 England families, one hundred years ago, larger than at 
 present, would use both in city and country 200, 400, and 
 sometimes more gallons of cider yearly. The mug was inva- 
 riably on the table at meal times, always on the sideboard, 
 
608 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 and too often those who went to the cellar for a supply 
 ' drank at the tap.' Old people of intelligence who lived to 
 see the dawn of total abstinence have expressed the opinion 
 that much of the rheumatism, inveterate sores, and other 
 complaints of former days was chargeable to the cider mug. 
 Every one who called, from the minister to the tramp, was 
 offered the common drink with the apology if it was very 
 sour as it sometimes was in the spring ' it is pretty hard,' to 
 which custom required the response, 'it is harder where 
 there is none,' an assertion that often had more of politeness 
 than truth. Many men and some women kept more or less 
 'boozy' week after week, and it is a question whether the 
 larger percentage of stupid and stammering children born 
 then, compared with those of the present time was not due 
 to the excessive use of cider by parents." 
 
 That the custom of drinking any kind of spirituous liquor 
 was exceedingly pernicious, notwithstanding what some have 
 said of the quality of it in those days, is very evident. The 
 testimony is that the tavern bars were a nuisance. Says the 
 writer just quoted concerning them, — 
 
 " One of the incidental benefits of railroads has been the 
 discontinuance of the old country and village taverns. They 
 were a public necessity, were licensed for the ' public good,' 
 kept by respectable people, afforded good accommodations 
 for man and beast at moderate rates, but the profits came 
 from the sale of liquors at the bar which was open seven days 
 in the week day and night, and few landlords were willing to 
 admit that a man unless he was furiously or beastly drunk 
 had taken too much, until he had no money to pay for more. 
 The taverns were nuisances to the neighborhoods where they 
 were located, and like the modern saloons, nurseries of 
 drunkenness and pauperism. The taverns of Sudbury were 
 as good as the average elsewhere and probably no better." 
 
 Such is the strong language of one of Sudbury's promi- 
 nent citizens, with regard to the former use of both fer- 
 mented and spirituous liquors. The estimate as here given 
 we believe facts will generally confirm. There were drunk- 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 609 
 
 ards in those days, and sad havoc was made in the town, in 
 the church, and in many families by intemperance. Not 
 only was the practice of moderate drinking well nigh uni- 
 versal, but it was considered respectable. What every- 
 body did was supposed to be right, and that almost every- 
 body used intoxicants is indicated by a statement made to 
 the writer by an inhabitant of Sudbury nearly seventy years 
 old. He said that when he was a boy he did not know of 
 a person in the place (South Sudbury) but what used it ; and 
 that there were three places in that small village where they 
 could get it. He said it was not considered a disgrace to 
 drink, but it was considered a great disgrace to get drunk, 
 and that any one who got so was held up as a warning to 
 others. He also said it was considered no disgrace on a holi- 
 day to get a little lively. That it was not considered disgrace- 
 ful to use liquor as a beverage is evident from the open and 
 commonplace manner of the sales. It was not by any means 
 confined to the taverns, but was a commodity that passed 
 over the counter of the grocery as well. On a Saturday 
 night the staid villager would go to the store to get the sup- 
 ply of new rum as naturally as of molasses or salt. As indi- 
 cating the commonplace way in which malt was bought and 
 sold, we give the following from a credit page in an account 
 book of James Thomson, a carpenter and wheelwright, who 
 kept the malt house in South Sudbury : — 
 
 Credit to Jonas Holden Ju r 
 by one pint of Rum 
 Sept r 12 th 1789 by one Mugg of Flip 
 Sept r 1789 to two half Muggs of Flip 
 Oct r to one half Mugg of Flip to Flag 
 Nov r to one Pint of West India Rum 
 June. 8. 1780 by one quart W : Rum 
 Oct' 5. 1790 by 71 £ of Beef at 2 d 
 Nov r 1790 by half pound of Butter 
 Jany 1791 by 17 lb of Cheese at 12 
 Jany 13 th 1791 by one Bushil of Indian corn 
 July 1791 by fustian for the foreparts of a Jacket 
 Dec. 8 to his house to Concord - 1-4 
 
 Not only did each householder provide liquor for himself 
 and family, but custom required that callers, not excepting 
 
 0- 
 
 0- 
 
 • 4. 
 
 0- 
 
 0- 
 
 ■ 8. 
 
 0- 
 
 0- 
 
 ■ 8. 
 
 0- 
 
 0- 
 
 4. 
 
 0- 
 
 0- 
 
 ■ 7. 
 
 0- 
 
 0- 
 
 7 
 
 0- 
 
 11- 
 
 10. 
 
 0- 
 
 0- 
 
 5. 
 
 0- 
 
 2- 
 
 10. 
 
 0- 
 
 2- 
 
 8. 
 
610 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 the doctor and the minister even, be furnished with flip, and 
 the more distinguished the guest, the more indispensable the 
 article. Traders, under certain circumstances, were expected 
 to extend the same courtesy. 
 
 Captain Kidder told the writer the story that a customer 
 once came to his shop, and he mixed a mug of flip, supposing 
 he had prepared enough for them both, and passed it to him ; 
 he took it, and, placing it to his lips, drank the entire con- 
 tents without stopping. When the captain took the mug 
 from his hand and saw it was empty, he said, " Won't you 
 have a little more?" "Oh, no," said the man, "I never 
 drink to excess." 
 
 But better times at length dawned on the town. With the 
 early agitation of the subject of temperance in the land, Sud- 
 bury began to make progress. Here and there, an enter- 
 prising person thought work could be done without the use 
 of intoxicants. One of the first to believe this in the early 
 part of the present century was Deacon Levi Dakin, who 
 had a barn raised without furnishing rum on the occasion. 
 Another early advocate of the temperance reform was Dr. 
 Levi Goodenough, who would not provide any intoxicating 
 liquor to those whom he employed. Other pioneer advo- 
 cates were Deacon Martin Brown, Nahum Thompson, Esq., 
 Edward and Howe Brown, Abel and Joseph Richardson and 
 Deacon Gardner Hunt. Rev. Rufus Hurlbut was one of the 
 early reformers in his profession, and Charles Gerry was the 
 first selectman in Sudbury to refuse a liquor license. Before 
 the reform set in it was the custom at " Kidder's shop," at a 
 given time each day, for an apprentice to go to the grocery 
 opposite and get some rum for "black strap," — a concoc- 
 tion of New England rum and molasses. One of the ap- 
 prentices, Ira B. Draper of Wayland, then quite young, con- 
 cluded that it was a poor practice for him to indulge in ; he 
 therefore refused to go for the liquor. The example was 
 followed by others, and soon a large share of his fellow 
 workmen found they could get along without their daily 
 potation of " black strap." 
 
 About 1835-40, when there was an agitation of this sub- 
 ject in the country, temperance meetings were held at 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 611 
 
 the centre of the town on Sunday evenings, probably in 
 the porch of the Old Parish Meeting-house, where evening 
 meetings were sometimes held. Besides these meetings, an 
 occasional' lecture was given on the subject. Soon temper- 
 ance societies began to be formed ; one of which was the 
 "Cold Water Army," an organization for the children 
 formed about 1841. This society adopted a pledge, and at 
 times formed processions and marched with banners. Very 
 soon liquor ceased to be sold at the South Sudbury grocery 
 store, and it was left for the old tavern stand to be the sole 
 place for the retail of the stronger stimulants for that part of 
 the town. With the lessening of places for the sale, and the 
 growth of a better sentiment, the community became more 
 abstemious, the example of one person was followed by 
 another, until by about the middle of the present century 
 the entire drinking customs of society thereabouts were 
 changed. But even after that time liquor was sold at the 
 taverns. At South Sudbury the bar-room was still open to 
 the traveler and the occasional call of a villager ; but one 
 by one the taverns were closed, and drunkenness grew less 
 and less, until at the present time this may be considered a 
 strong prohibitory town. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 COLLEGE GRADUATES AND PROFESSIONAL MEN. 
 
 List of Graduates before 1800. — Biographical Sketches of College 
 Graduates and Professional Men since 1800. 
 
 " Not many lives, but only one have we ; 
 One, only one. 
 How sacred should that one life ever be, — 
 Day after day filled up with blessed toil, 
 Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil." 
 
 The following is a list of college graduates prior to 1800. 
 The names of those who graduated before 1776, are taken 
 from a sketch of Sudbury supposed to have been written by 
 Dr. Israel Loring. 
 
 HARVARD COLLEGE GRADUATES BEFORE 1800. 
 
 Samuel Jennison 
 
 1720 
 
 Gideon Richardson 
 
 1749 
 
 Noyes Parris 
 
 1721 
 
 Samuel Baldwin 
 
 1752 
 
 William Brintnall 
 
 1721 
 
 Jude Damon 
 
 1770 
 
 Thomas Frink 
 
 1722 
 
 Aaron Smith 
 
 1777 
 
 John Loring 
 
 1729 
 
 Ephraim Smith 
 
 1777 
 
 Jonathan Loring 
 
 1738 
 
 Reuben Puffer 
 
 1778 
 
 William Cooke 
 
 1748 
 
 Jacob Bigelow 
 
 
 William Baldwin 
 
 1748 
 
 
 
 The following are biographical sketches of college gradu- 
 ates and professional men since 1800, so far as we have 
 information. 
 
 GEORGE H. BARTON. 
 
 George II. Barton, son of George W. and Mary S. (Hunt) 
 Barton, was born at Sudbury, July 8, 1852. At the age of 
 seventeen he attended the academy at Chester, Vt., after- 
 wards, S. P. Frost's private school, Maynard, and the high 
 
 612 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 613 
 
 school of the same town. After a somewhat rough experi- 
 ence carpentering, blacksmithing, etc., he entered the Warren 
 Scientific Academy in Woburn, and, at the age of twenty- 
 four, entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
 and graduated with the class of '80. In 1881, he taught in 
 the Drawing Department of the Institute. He was offered 
 and declined a position on Charnay's Expedition to Yucatan 
 and Central America. He soon after accepted an offer from 
 the Hawaiian Government survey, and left Boston for Hono- 
 lulu Aug. 9, 1881. After remaining in this survey about 
 two years, he received an appointment in the Geological 
 Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
 which he accepted and still retains. 
 
 FRANCIS F. BROWN, M. D. 
 
 Francis Frederick Brown, son of Edward and Abigail 
 (Rogers) Brown, was born in Sudbury, Aug. 12, 1834. He 
 studied at Warren Academy, Woburn, and in 1851 entered 
 Amherst College, where he graduated in 1855. He studied 
 medicine at the Harvard and Berkshire Medical Schools, 
 graduating at the latter in 1862. Subsequently he served as 
 assistant surgeon of the Forty-eighth Regiment M. V. M., 
 until it was mustered out Sept. 3, 1863. He settled in 
 Reading in 1864, where he still resides and follows his pro- 
 fession. June 7, 1865, he married Emma Mary Clapp of 
 Dorchester, and has had six children. 
 
 E. R. CUTLER, M. D. 
 
 Edward Roland Cutler, son of Roland Cutler, was born in 
 Boston Jan. 15, 1841. In his early life his parents removed 
 to Sudbury. He attended Wadsworth Academy at South 
 Sudbury and entered Williams College in 1858. He gradu- 
 ated at the Harvard Medical School in 1863, having spent 
 a year at Rainsford Island Hospital, Boston Harbor. He 
 entered the United States service as assistant surgeon of the 
 First Heavy Artillery, formerly the Fourteenth Infantry. In 
 1864, he became surgeon of the regiment, and served in that 
 capacity till the close of the war. He practiced medicine 
 
614 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 for a time at Hartford, Conn. ; spent three years in medical 
 study abroad, mostly in Vienna ; and, Jan. 1, 1870, settled in 
 Waltham, where he now resides. He married Melvina A., 
 daughter of Samuel B. Rogers of Sudbury, and has had 
 seven children. 
 
 JOSEPH CUTLER, ESQ. 
 
 Joseph Cutler, son of Christopher G. Cutler and great- 
 grandson of Gen. John Nixon, was born at South Sudbury, 
 Dec. 9, 1815. He entered Amherst College at the age of 
 nineteen, from which he graduated in 1840. He studied at 
 the Harvard Law School and began the practice of his pro- 
 fession in Boston. As a lawyer, he was especially able in 
 matters of real estate. He acted for many years as counsel 
 for the Cambridge Savings Bank. He was the author of the 
 celebrated compendium entitled, "The Insolvent Laws of 
 Massachusetts," three editions of which were published prior 
 to the United States Bankrupt Law, and the fourth edition 
 of which was revised and enlarged by him after its repeal. 
 Said the "Boston Advertiser," "his memory will be fondly 
 cherished as of an excellent lawyer and an honest man, as 
 approximating closely to the highest standard in every de- 
 partment of life and duty, and as, if not one of the world's 
 most famous, one of its worthiest and best." 
 
 HON. CHARLES F. GERRY. 
 
 Charles Frederick Gerry, son of Charles and Orisa Gerry, 
 was born at Sudbury, June 3, 1823. He graduated at the 
 Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., and soon after be- 
 came a teacher in the Boston Mercantile Academy, and later, 
 in the Fort Hill School, Boston. Subsequently, he engaged 
 in the insurance business, and for a time lived at Hyde Park, 
 being its first representative to the Legislature in 1877, and 
 for some years President of its Savings Bank. In the midst 
 of a busy life, he has been a frequent contributor to peri- 
 odical literature, and some of his productions have been 
 selected for school text-books, and some set to music of dis- 
 tinguished composers. In 1888, Lee & Shepard published 
 his book of poems, entitled "Meadow Melodies." From 
 
RESIDENCE OF HON. C. F. GERRY, 
 Sudbury Centre. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 615 
 
 Hyde Park Tie removed to Sudbury, from which place he 
 went to the Legislature, serving one term in the House and 
 two terms in the Senate, being chairman during the second 
 term of the joint committees on Education, the State Library 
 and Parishes and Religious Societies. He married Martha 
 A. Clough of Canterbury, N. H., who was a literary lady of 
 wide reputation and for some years had charge of the edi- 
 torial columns of the " Boston Olive Branch." Mr. Gerry 
 has four children, — Charles C, Eleanor M., Frank F. and 
 Gilbert H. 
 
 ADONIRAM J. GOODENOUGH. 
 
 Adoniram Judson Goodenough, son of Dr. Levi and Cyn- 
 thia (Rice) Goodenough, was born at Sudbury Aug. 6, 
 1833. He finished his academic studies at Warren Academy, 
 Woburn. He entered Amherst College where he graduated 
 in 1854. He began the study of medicine, but weakness of 
 the eyes compelled him to abandon it. He spent several 
 years in the South engaged in business, and returned North 
 in 1863. His later life has been spent at Providence, R. L, 
 where he still resides. 
 
 GEORGE M. HOWE, M. D. 
 
 George M. Howe, son of Buckley and Sally Howe, was 
 born in Sudbury, July 2, 1824. After attending the Fram- 
 ingham, Leicester and East Hampton Academies, he entered 
 Union College, but was prevented by ill health from com- 
 pleting his collegiate course. He pursued his professional 
 studies at the Harvard Medical School, and settled as a 
 physician in the town of Harvard where he practiced about 
 ten years ; he then went to Framingham, where he continued 
 in his profession till his death which occurred Sept. 16, 1882. 
 He was married at Harvard, Jan. 17, 1855, to Harriet M., 
 daughter of Rev. James Howe of Peppcrell, and had live 
 children. Dr. Howe was a skillful physician, courteous and 
 gentle in disposition and much esteemed by the community. 
 In the words of an obituary notice of him, "he was laid 
 away for his final rest on a bright, warm, autumnal day 
 amid the smiles of nature and the tears of his friends. 
 
616 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ALFRED S. HUDSON. 
 
 Alfred Sereno Hudson, son of Martin N. and Maria (Read) 
 Hudson, was born at South Sudbury, Nov. 20, 1839. He 
 studied at Wadsworth Academy, and entered Williams Col- 
 lege in 1860, at which institution lie graduated in 1864. 
 The same year he entered the service of the United States 
 Sanitary Commission, and was stationed for a time near 
 Petersburg, Va., during its siege. Upon his return he en- 
 tered the Theological Seminary at Andover, at which he 
 graduated with the class of '(37. Sept. 26, 1867, he married 
 Miss L. R. Draper of Wayland. He was ordained and in- 
 stalled pastor of the Congregational Church, Burlington, 
 Dec. 19, 1867, where he remained six years. Subsequently 
 he was acting pastor of the Congregational Church at Eas- 
 ton. In 1876 he went to Maiden where he remained six 
 years ; there he had charge of the Congregational Churches 
 in Maplevvood and Linden, both of which erected meeting- 
 houses during his pastorate. Nov. 1, 1883, he became acting 
 pastor of the First Congregational Church at Ayer, which 
 position he still occupies. 
 
 EDWARD B. HUNT. 
 
 Edward Brown Hunt, son of Emory and Alice How 
 (Brown) Hunt, was born in South Sudbury, Feb. 19, 1855. 
 He fitted for college at the Boston Latin School, entered 
 Harvard College in 1874 and graduated in 1878. He taught 
 school at Ncwburyport three years, and has been in the 
 Boston Public Library since 1883. 
 
 EDWIN HUNT. 
 
 Edwin Hunt, son of Sewall and Sophia (Puffer) Hunt, 
 was born at Sudbury in 1837. At the age of fifteen he 
 entered the High School, Concord, where lie fitted for col- 
 lege. Two years later he entered Amherst College and 
 graduated in 1858. He chose teaching as his profession, and 
 taught a select school in Enfield, Haydenville, and Sherborn, 
 and Wadsworth Academy. He served in the United States 
 Sanitary Commission until obliged to leave on account of ill 
 
HISTORY Otf SUDBURY. 617 
 
 health. Resuming his profession, he became assistant pre- 
 ceptor at North Bridgewater, after which he accepted the 
 position of instructor of natural science in the Free Academy 
 at Utica, N. Y. He was especially interested in the depart- 
 ment of botany, the study of which he had pursued through 
 a large part of his professional life. He was a successful 
 collector of specimens and possessed an extensive herbarium. 
 For researches in natural science he received the degree of 
 Ph.D. He was re-elected to his position in the Academy 
 till failing health obliged him to withdraw. He died May 24, 
 1880, beloved by his pupils, trusted in his profession, and 
 respected by all. He married Mary A., daughter of Edward 
 Brown of Sudbury, and left several children. 
 
 OTIS E. HUNT, M. D. 
 
 Otis Eugene Hunt, son of Joseph Goodnow Hunt and 
 Lucy Howe Hunt, was born in South Sudbury, July 7, 1822. 
 He fitted for college at the Holliston Academy, Wayland 
 High School and Wilbraham Academy. He entered the 
 Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in 1844, but ill 
 health compelled him to leave at the expiration of nine 
 months. He afterwards studied medicine with Dr. Levi 
 Goodenough of Sudbury, and in the Boylston Medical 
 School, Boston, and graduated at the Berkshire Medical 
 College in 1848. He began the practice of medicine and 
 surgery in Weston, where he remained sixteen years. He 
 then moved to Waltham and afterwards to Newtonville, 
 where he now resides. He has been one of the leading phy- 
 sicians in Middlesex County, and was the first to administer 
 sulphuric ether as an anesthetic in the towns of Sudbury, 
 Wayland and Weston. He married Aroline E., daughter of 
 Nahum and Abigail Thompson of Sudbury, Oct. 9, 1849, and 
 has two children, Nina Maria and William O. 
 
 SERENO D. HUNT. 
 
 Sereno D. Hunt, son of Sewall and Sophia (Puffer) Hunt, 
 is a native of Sudbury. He early attended a select school 
 at Sudbury Centre, taught by Dr. E. O. Haven. He after- 
 
618 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 wards attended the academies at Framingham and Deny, 
 N. H. He was the first principal of the high school in 
 Concord, Mass., and for ten years taught a select school at 
 North Bridgewater. In 1865, he became the preceptor of 
 the Norfolk County Academy, Milton, Mass., and subse- 
 quently principal of the high school hi the same town, which 
 position he held till 1877. 
 
 HERBERT S. JONES, M. D. 
 
 Herbert Samuel Jones, son of William P. and Catherine 
 A. (Brown) Jones, was born at South Sudbury, Nov. 5, 
 1851. He entered Williston Seminary, Easthampton, 1873, 
 and Yale College in 1875. In 1885, he entered the New 
 York Homoeopathic Medical College, and graduated in 1888. 
 The same year he entered upon the practice of medicine in 
 Elizabethport, N. J., where he now lives. He married 
 Evelyn Wilson of Roselle, N. J., in 1887. 
 
 JOHN L. O'NEIL, ESQ. 
 
 John L. O'Neil is son of John and Julia O'Neil, who 
 went to Sudbury in I860. He studied law for a time in the 
 office of Hon. William P. Courtney of Lowell, after which he 
 graduated at the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to 
 the bar in 1882. In 1884, he began the practice of his pro- 
 fession in Chelsea, where he still resides. 
 
 HARRIET M. BR ATT. 
 
 Harriet M. Pratt, a daughter of Nathan L. and Harriet 
 Hunt Pratt, was born in Sudbury. After a course of study 
 at the Framingham High School, she entered Smith College, 
 Northampton, from which she graduated in 1881. 
 
 LUTHER BUFFER. 
 
 Luther Puffer, son of Samuel, was born in North Sudbury, 
 Sept. 11, 1833. In 1850, at the age of seventeen, he en- 
 tered the sophomore class at Bowdoin College, and graduated 
 in 1853, delivering the salutatory oration. He began the 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 619 
 
 study of law in Andover, N. H., and died Oct. 27, 1854. He 
 was a person of fine ability and excellent character, and his 
 early death ended a career which gave promise of great use- 
 fulness. 
 
 HOMER ROGERS. 
 
 Homer Rogers, son of Walter and Emily Rogers, was born 
 at South Sudbury, Oct. 11, 1840. He studied at Wads- 
 worth Academy, entered Williams College in 1858, and 
 graduated in 1862. Soon after leaving college he enlisted in 
 Company F, Forty-fifth Regiment, M. V. M. At the ex- 
 piration of his term of service he taught school one year in 
 Douse Academy, Sherborn, and from 1864-6 in Natick 
 High School, since which time he has been engaged in 
 business. Jan. 15, 1868, he married Ellen E. Perry of South 
 Natick, and has seven children. His present residence is 
 Boston. In 1888 and 1889 he was elected alderman and is 
 at present chairman of the Board. 
 
 HENRY SHAW, M. D. 
 
 Henry Shaw, son of Rev. Linus H. and Louisa A. Shaw, 
 was born at Raynham, Sept. 12, 1829. In 1851, he began 
 the study of medicine and graduated at Harvard Medical 
 School in 1854. For a time he practiced his profession in 
 Upton and Leominster, and in 1861-2 he went from the 
 former town as a representative to the' Legislature. He was 
 subsequently sent by Governor Andrew to Newbern, N. C, 
 on a service connected with the care of the Massachusetts 
 troops in that vicinity. July, 1862, he received a com- 
 mission as acting assistant surgeon in the navy, and served 
 in all the blockading squadrons from Mobile to Wilmington. 
 In 1865, he was promoted to the next higher rank in the 
 medical corps. Leaving the United States service in 1866, he 
 practiced medicine for a time in Bedford. In 1872, he be- 
 came a visitor in connection with the State Board of Chari- 
 ties. He married, in Sudbury, Jane M. Taft of Upton, 
 October, 1855, and has five children. He resides in Charles- 
 town. 
 
620 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 JOSEPH A. SHAW. 
 
 Joseph Alden Shaw, son of Rev. Linns Hall and Louisa 
 Alden (Jones) Shaw, was born in Athol, Jan. 4, 1836. He 
 went to Sudbury in 1845, and in 1853 attended Phillips 
 Academy at Exeter, N. H., and graduated July, 1855, in the 
 advanced class. The same year he entered the sophomore 
 class at Harvard College and graduated in 1858. While at 
 college he received a Dexter prize from the Hopkins fund, 
 " for remarkable diligence in his studies." In 1858, he be- 
 came principal of the New Salem Academy, which position 
 he held six years. For sixteen years he has been a teacher 
 in the Highland Military Academy, Worcester, Mass., of 
 which he is at present the head master. He is a member of 
 the American Philological Association, and a contributor to 
 the periodicals of the day on the subject of philology. In 
 
 1863, he married Eliza Antoinette Thompson of New Salem. 
 He has two children. 
 
 CHARLES THOMPSON, ESQ. 
 
 Charles Thompson, born at North Sudbury, March 6, 
 1827, is the eldest son of Nahum Thompson. He fitted for 
 college at Concord, and the Pinkerton Academy at Deny, 
 N. H. In 1845, he entered Yale College, but was soon 
 obliged to abandon his studies on account of a severe sick- 
 ness, which left his eyes in a weak condition. After some 
 years he studied law, and was admitted to the bar Jan. 20, 
 
 1864. Jan. 15, 1864, he married Emily A., daughter of 
 George M. Barrett of Concord. In 1872, he removed to 
 Concord, where he now resides and follows his profession. 
 He has been special justice of the District Court of Central 
 Middlesex since its establishment, and from 1876 to 1885 
 was chairman of the Concord Board of Selectmen. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 NATUEAL FEATURES. 
 
 Hills. — Forests. — The Flora. — Ponds. — Brooks.— Sudbury River. — 
 Its Rise and Course.— Its Fish. — Poetical Description of Pickerel 
 Fishing.— Birds about the River. — Poetical Description of Duck 
 Hunting. — Fur Bearing Animals about the River. — Slow Current 
 of the River. 
 
 And sweet homes nestle in these dales, 
 
 And perch along these wooded swells ; 
 And, blest beyond Arcadian vales, 
 
 They hear the sound of Sabbath bells. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 In its natural features the town of Sudbury is highly 
 favored. There is a good variety of hills, valleys, and plains, 
 and these, together with the villages, hamlets, thrifty farms 
 and smiling homesteads, give a pleasant variety to the land- 
 scape. 
 
 HILLS. 
 
 Those hills my native village that embay 
 In waves of dreamier purple roll away. 
 
 Lowell. 
 
 There are several hills in Sudbury of considerable promi- 
 nence for a town so near the sea. 
 
 Nobscot Hill. — The most notable of the Sudbury hills 
 is Nobscot. This is partly in Sudbury and partly in Fram- 
 ingiftm, the larger part being in the latter town. It is about 
 five hundred and twenty-five feet above the sea level. The 
 summit and sides in great part are covered with woods, but 
 the northerly slope has long been an open pasture, greatly 
 resorted to for the whortleberries that abound there. This 
 slope has generally been known as the " old Nixon pasture," 
 
 621 
 
622 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 because it contains the site of Gen. John Nixon's house and 
 was a part of his farm. The name of this hill is of Indian 
 origin, and may be a contraction of the word Penobscot, 
 which is found in the earlier records of Sudbury. In 1074, 
 " Surveyors were appointed of all the field fences on the 
 west side of the great river of the town and Landham, 
 Penobscot new mill." Temple says, in the history of Fram- 
 ingham, that the meaning of this word is " at the fall of the 
 rocks." On the summit are heaps of stones, which perhaps 
 were taken there by the Indians for the purpose of building 
 a "look out" from which to survey the surrounding country. 
 The view on a clear day is charming, reaching from the State 
 House on the' east to the far-off hills of New Hampshire. 
 
 Goodman's Hill. — This is another considerable hill, and 
 perhaps next in prominence to Nobscot. It is a little south- 
 east of Sudbury Centre, and about a half mile from it. The 
 westerly side is mostly covered with forests, consisting 
 largely of chestnut and oak. This hill was the home of 
 Karto or Goodman, from whom it derived its name. (See 
 Chapter II.) 
 
 Green Hill. — This is a spur of Goodman's Hill, extend- 
 ing south-westerly, and is made historic by Wadsworth's 
 fight witli King Philip. On its western slope, for hours the 
 English held the Indians at buy, and from its summit they 
 were driven at night-fall by the forest fires set by their 
 savage foes. (See chapter on Philip's War.) The slope of 
 Green Hill or a spur of it extends to Hop Brook meadows. 
 Along its western side, on a small plateau, is Mount Wads- 
 worth Cemetery. (See chapter on Cemeteries.) The hill 
 takes its name from the growth of evergreen trees with 
 which it was formerly covered. 
 
 Sand Hill. — This hill is in the easterly part of the town 
 adjoining Wayland. In the Revolutionary War, government 
 store-houses were built there, and, subsequently, a portion 
 of it was used for a training-field and owned by the town. 
 
 Round Hill. — This is a conspicuous, well-defined hill in 
 the town's easterly part, and cultivated to its top. It lies 
 not far from the river meadows, in the vicinity of Sherman's 
 Bridge. Near Round Hill, and just by the junction of Gulf 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 623 
 
 brook and Sudbury River, is Weir Hill, so called from its 
 proximity to the place of a fishing weir used by the Indians. 
 (See Chapter II.) 
 
 Willis Hill. — This is in the north-westerly part of Sud- 
 bury, and takes its name from the Willis family long living 
 in that vicinity. It is quite a prominent landmark. A hill 
 at the north part, on which a flag-staff was erected during 
 the Civil War, has been called for a half century Jones' Hill, 
 but in old deeds was called Cedar Swamp Hill. 
 
 FORESTS. 
 
 The soil of Sudbury has, from its settlement, been abun- 
 dantly productive in its timber lands, of which it has always 
 possessed many acres. The principal trees are the oak, 
 pine, chestnut, walnut, maple, white birch and spruce with 
 here and there a poplar, elm and hemlock. The first three 
 are the most abundant, and, until recently, many acres were 
 covered with them. It was so in the west part of the town 
 on the farm of the late Paul Walker, near the line of the 
 Massachusetts Central Railroad, and on the farm of the late 
 Curtis Moore on the line of the Old Colony Railroad, and 
 these are but specimens of what was on many farms in the 
 town within the last half century. Large quantities of cord- 
 wood, mostly pine, were, about forty years ago, carried by 
 ox-team to the railroad and factories at Saxonville, and the 
 lanes and yards of the Sudbury saw-mills were piled with 
 hundreds of large logs to be sawn into boards. Since the 
 more general use of coal, less wood has been cut, and prob- 
 ably more land is being abandoned to forest now than thirty 
 years ago. To our personal knowledge, tracts of country 
 that were formerly used for tillage and pasturage are now 
 growing up to wood. In some places the growth is rapid, 
 about twenty years only being required to obtain a fair 
 growth. Chestnut-trees have been abundant on and about 
 Goodman's Hill, Nobscot, and some parts of Peakham Plain 
 and lands in the central parts of the town. Walnut-trees 
 grow abundantly about Nobscot, and to an extent in other 
 localities. Black birch is found and other kinds of wood 
 
624 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 besides these now mentioned, but in far less quantities. 
 With wild berries the town is well supplied. Besides grow- 
 ing in the open pasture, very frequently when the land 
 is cleared of forests the whortleberry and blueberry-bush 
 spring up. More or less of the swamps abound with high 
 blueberries or bilberries, notable among which are Hayden's 
 swamp and the one about Willis Pond. Blackberries grow 
 on the plain lands, and the barberry on the rough, stony soil 
 of the hills. Strawberries are scattered here and there. A 
 place years ago where they were especially plentiful was 
 east of the old Lancaster road, between Goodman's Hill and 
 Green Hill. 
 
 THE FLORA. 
 
 The following are some of the flowers found in Sudbury. 
 The small cow-lily (N-uphar kabnianum), Vitus riparia, trum- 
 pet weed (Eupatorium rotundifolium) , mountain rice (_Org- 
 zopsis canadensis'), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), trailing 
 arbutus (Epigccra repens), the pitcher plant {Sarracenia 
 purpurea), meadow beauty (lihexia virginica), buckbean 
 {Menyanthes trifoliata), the two orchids, the Pogonia ophio- 
 glossoides and the Arethusa bullosa, and Clintonia borealis. In 
 some of Sudbury's meadows are found the fringed gentian 
 of Bryant {Gtentiana crinita) and the painted cup (Castilleja 
 eoccinea). It is also stated on good authority that the flow- 
 ering dogwood (Comus fiorida) grows within the town limits. 
 
 PONDS. 
 
 The ponds of Sudbury are small. 
 
 Willis Pond. — This is the largest and lies at the north- 
 west part of the town. It is nearly surrounded by forests, 
 and is a little lake in the woods. It has an outlet to Hop 
 Brook called Run Brook. 
 
 Blandford's Pond. — This is another which is sur- 
 rounded by forests. It is situated just west of Hop Brook, 
 about midway between South Sudbury and the Willis mill. 
 It has an artificial outlet at high water to Hop Brook. 
 
 Bottomless Pond. — This is a small pond near the 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 625 
 
 Marlboro line and has no outlet. (For area of ponds see 
 map of 1794.) 
 
 BROOKS. 
 
 Mill Brook. — This stream is next in importance and 
 size to the river. It rises in Marlboro, and enters the town 
 at its south-westerly part a very small stream, and by a very 
 circuitous course emptiqp into the river near Bridle Point 
 Bridge (Wayland). Upon its banks are the mills of Howe, 
 Pratt, Willis and Parmenter. It is crossed by at least eight 
 highway bridges within the town limits, the first being near 
 the Wayside Inn. It was early known as Hop Brook, upon 
 which stood the Noyes mills, the second built in Sudbury. 
 Later, it has had several names, being called at its lower end 
 West Brook ; farther up, Lanham Brook ; at South Sudbury, 
 Mill Brook ; about the Willis mill, Wasli Brook ; also Piners' 
 Brook and Piners' Wash. The lower meadows upon ijhis 
 brook were formerly of considerable value, but below Lan- 
 ham Bridge they have, of late, largely k been in a condition 
 similar to that of the river meadows. The current of this 
 stream is naturally rapid away from the various mill-dams, 
 and perhaps for this reason it received its early name " Hop 
 Brook," as, when clear of obstructions, it may have skipped 
 over the stones, especially along the locality of South Sud- 
 bury where the fall was considerable. This is the only 
 brook in town that affords mill privileges, and in this respect 
 it has proved very valuable, having furnished power for both 
 saw and grist mills. 
 
 Pantry Brook. — This stream is in the north part of 
 Sudbury, and its name may have been a contraction of the 
 word pine-tree. It rises in the north-west part of the town 
 and empties into the river near Weir Hill. Near its mouth 
 it receives as a tributary a small stream called Cold Brook. 
 Along this stream are the Gulf meadows, which, before they 
 in part shared the fate of the river meadows, produced con- 
 siderable hay. Other and smaller brooks are Dudley or 
 Trull Brook, which, running from the west part of the town, 
 empties into Hop Brook near Blandford's Pond ; and Low- 
 ance Brook, whose name is probably a contraction of U A1- 
 
626 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 lowance," and which, running- from the southerly part of 
 the town, empties into Mill Brook between South Sudbury 
 and Lanham Bridge. Both of these brooks have been more 
 or less fished in for trout. The latter has some considerable 
 meadow land, and is crossed by Hunt's Bridge. All these 
 streams and ponds abound in fish, mostly of the kind found 
 in the river. Besides those mentioned further along are the 
 shiner {Stilbe chrysolencas), cheven (JLeuciscus chephalus), 
 black sucker ( Catostomus) and the chub sucker, a fish of like 
 genus, and also a few trout (Salmo fontinalis). We have 
 seen a specimen of the latter that was taken in Mill Brook a 
 short distance below South Sudbury mills that weighed nearly 
 five pounds. This fish was caught by Mr. Nichols Brown, 
 once a famous fisherman and hunter in Sudbury. This is 
 the only trout we ever knew of, large or small, taken in Mill 
 Brook. 
 
 SUDBURY RIVER. 
 
 All round upon the river's slippery edge, 
 Witching to deeper calm the drowsy tide, 
 Whispers and leans the breeze-entangling sedge ; 
 Through emerald glooms the lingering waters slide. 
 
 Lowell. 
 
 The Indian name of this stream was " Musketahquid," 
 meaning grassy meadows or grassy brook. It was also called 
 the "Great River." It takes its rise in Hopkinton and 
 Westboro, the branch from the latter town having its source 
 in a large cedar swamp. Passing through Framingham, it 
 enters Sudbury on the south-east, and forms the boundary 
 line between it and Wayland. After leaving the town, it 
 runs through Concord and borders on Lincoln, Carlisle and 
 Bedford and empties into the Merrimac River at Lowell. It 
 is made use of for mill purposes at Framingham and Billeriea. 
 This river receives but two tributaries of any account from 
 the town. One of these is West Brook that empties in at 
 Bridle Point Bridge, the other Pantry Brook that flows 
 through the Gulf meadows. 
 
 In former times boats passed from Boston through the 
 Middlesex Canal to the Concord River, and so to Sudbury. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 627 
 
 (Shattuck's History of Concord.) Within the present cen- 
 tury iron ore dug in town was laden in boats at the Old Town 
 Bridge and taken to Chelmsford. Near the bridge on the 
 east bank, until recently, pieces of the ore could be found. 
 
 The width of this river where it enters Sudbury is about 
 fifty feet, where it leaves the town it is about two hundred 
 feet ; at the latter place it is one hundred and fourteen feet 
 above low water mark at Boston. (History of Concord.) 
 Its course is very crooked, seldom running far in one direc- 
 tion, but having many sharp curves. The banks are quite 
 bare of shrubbery, except the occasional bunches of water 
 brush that here and there assist in tracing its course. Fish 
 abound in this river, of which the more useful and com- 
 monly sought are the pickerel {Esox reticulatus), perch 
 (Perca flavescens), bream or sunfish (Pomotis vulgaris), 
 horned pout (Pime loduscatus), and common eel (Anguilla 
 tenuirostris). The kind most sought for the sport in taking 
 is the pickerel. Indeed Sudbury River has become some- 
 what noted for the pastime it affords in pickerel fishing. 
 Specimens weighing a half dozen pounds are sometimes 
 caught. A good description of this sport has been given in 
 verse by one of Sudbury's poets, Hon. C. F. Gerry, in a 
 poem entitled, " A day on the Sudbury Meadows." 
 
 The clouds drift slowly o'er the sky, 
 But dense and black to westward lie, 
 Assuring with the east wind's chill, 
 A splendid day for pickerel. 
 
 The river gained, we launch our boat 
 And slowly down its current float, 
 
 Till, roused, we fish on either shore, 
 
 Still moving with a silent oar, — 
 
 Now trolling with the greatest heed 
 
 Through lily pads and pickerel weed, 
 
 Until a whirlpool near is seen 
 
 Beside a floating mass of green ; 
 
 The bait moves off with race-horse speed, 
 
 And, down beside a quivering reed, 
 
 Is swallowed with a gourmand's greed. 
 
 A twitch sends through my frame a thrill,- 
 
628 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The hook is fast in the red-fringed gill 
 Of a steel and gold-hued pickerel, 
 And drawn aboard with hearty will. 
 And, as we view him o'er and o'er, 
 About his weight we speculate, 
 And set him at a pound or more, 
 And vainly try to catch his mate ! 
 
 " Meadow Melodies." 
 
 The horned-pout may be caught almost at the rate of a 
 peck in an evening, when the water and season are right. 
 The fisherman simply ties his boat to a stake in a suitable 
 place, perhaps some quiet, snug nook where the waters are 
 still, and on a warm night in late spring or summer, between 
 the mosquitoes and pouts, his time will be fulby occupied. 
 
 In early times the river abounded in fish now unknown in 
 its waters. Of these were the ale wives, salmon and shad. 
 The obstructions caused by the dam at Billerica long ago 
 prevented these valuable fishes from ascending the stream, 
 and petitions were early presented to the General Court to 
 have the obstruction removed, on account of the fisheries. 
 Shattuck informs us that at certain seasons fish officers of 
 Concord went to the dam at Billerica, to see that the sluice- 
 ways were properly opened to permit the fish to pass, and he 
 states that the exclusive right to the fisheries was often sold 
 by the town ; the purchasing party having a right by his 
 purchase to erect what was called a weir across the river, to 
 assist in fish-taking. Probably not far from "Weir Hill," in 
 the north-easterly part of Sudbury, near the mouth of Gulf 
 Brook, the Indians caught the fish in this way. 
 
 In the time of migration, various kinds of ducks visit the 
 place, and often tarry till the cold weather sends them south- 
 ward. The first to come are the blue and green winged 
 teal (Anas discors and Anas carolinen&is.') These come about 
 the middle of May and September. A little later the dusky 
 or black duck (Anas obscura) arrives. This latter bird is the 
 most numerous of the ducks that stop about the river in the 
 migratory season, and sometimes comes in flocks of one or 
 two scores. Besides the kinds mentioned there are others, 
 such as commonly inhabit the river courses of New England 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 629 
 
 in the spring and fall. Notable among these are the dipper 
 (BucepJiala albeola), and the sheldrake (Mergus americanus) . 
 The dipper is generally seen by itself, or in pairs or in flocks 
 of but three or four ; but the sheldrake comes in large 
 flocks. In the spring, when the floods are high, flocks of 
 these birds may sometimes be seen floating majestically at a 
 safe distance from the shore, their white plumage flashing in 
 the sunlight. Besides the ducks that come in the migratory 
 season, there are some that breed on and about the meadows. 
 These are mostly the black duck and wood duck (Anas 
 sponsa). The latter birds make their nest in some tree in 
 the woods and bring their young in their beaks to the water. 
 They are seldom found in flocks of more than three or four. 
 A few years ago duck hunting was quite a sport on and 
 along the Sudbury River. The wet meadows afforded here 
 and there a pool or lagoon, where the turf had been torn up 
 by the ice and borne away from the spot. To follow a flock 
 to these meadow pools, or to watch for their coining from a 
 bow house previously made near the place, was a matter of 
 pleasurable excitement. The birds are usually more active 
 at night-fall or just before an approaching storm. 
 
 The following description of duck hunting on these 
 meadows is given by the author in " Fireside Hymns," pub- 
 lished in 1888. 
 
 DUCK HUNTING ON SUDBURY MEADOWS. 
 
 When the broad meadows soft, reposing lie 
 
 Beneath the haze of Autumn's mellow sky, 
 
 And the crisp frost of chill, October morn, 
 
 Sparkles in crystals on the ripening corn, 
 
 Then the wild water fowl begin to come 
 
 To streams and ponds, from far-off northern home. 
 
 Along the river that through Sudbury town 
 
 Ranges its course through meadows broad and brown, 
 
 They sometimes tarry for awhile to feed, 
 
 Ere on their southern journey they proceed. 
 
 By day, in flocks, they wing their dusky flight 
 
 High in the air, but at approach of night 
 
 They seek some shallow pool or sheltered bay, 
 
 Where they may rest secure till break of day. 
 
630 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 But not unnoticed do they always pass 
 
 To snug retreat, amid the meadow grass. 
 
 Traced is their course sometimes by sportman's eye, 
 
 Who knows the reedy cove to which they fly. 
 
 His trusty gun he takes from off the hook, 
 
 And starts at once for the secluded nook. 
 
 His boat is launched from off the shelving shore, 
 
 And glides along with quiet, dipping oar. 
 
 Close to the margin of the stream he clings, 
 
 Where, mid the water brush, the blackbird sings. 
 
 Now the shy muskrat starts with sudden bound 
 
 From off the bank, with harsh and splashing sound, 
 
 That makes the anxious sportsman start with fear, 
 
 Lest upward start the ducks ere he draws near. 
 
 He rows more gently, as he now detects 
 
 Through the tall grass-tops, slowly gliding specks, 
 
 That tell him there the dusky squadron lie, 
 
 All snugly sheltered in the pool hard by. 
 
 And as he listens, lo ! the Quack, Quack, Quack, 
 
 A noise so welcome to his ear, comes back. 
 
 In river bend his little craft he steers, 
 
 As place abreast the pool he slowly nears. 
 
 Then with one long and calculating peep 
 
 Upon the flock, he takes his gun to creep 
 
 A little closer, but ere this he do, 
 
 His fowling-piece he takes to prime anew. 
 
 When all is ready, and the distance right 
 
 To make the shot effective, then keen sight 
 
 He takes along both barrels. Lo, a flash ! 
 
 And fast the deadly missiles hurrying dash. 
 
 At once the startled flock, with sudden fright, 
 
 Rise from the pool to make a hasty flight. 
 
 But stop ! behold again another flash ! 
 
 And yet once more the deadly missiles dash 
 
 Amid the flock, and lo ! the feathers fly, 
 
 And round about the dead and wounded lie. 
 
 Quickly the sportsman springs to seize his prize, 
 
 That flutters there before his eager eyes. 
 
 The wounded first are seized, then all secured, 
 
 He quickly goes to where his boat is moored. 
 
 This he draws up beside the reedy bank, 
 
 Where it is left concealed mid grasses rank, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 63l 
 
 Then he goes back and waits for further flight 
 
 Of birds, to come there ere he leaves it quite. 
 
 Round him the twilight deepens into gray, 
 
 And fast fade out the beams of ebbing day. 
 
 The wet dews, foggy, heavy, damp and chill. 
 
 The night with moisture now begin to fill. 
 
 But soon he starts ! a sound comes through the air. 
 
 'Tis whistle of the wood-duck's wing that's there. 
 
 Quick to his eye his fowling piece is raised, 
 
 The trigger pulled, once more the piece has blazed. 
 
 And still again, from off the meadow land, 
 
 The fluttering bird is seized with eager hand. 
 
 Reloading, he again with listening ear, 
 
 Is all intent, still other birds to hear. 
 
 But hark ! that rushing, whistling, nearing sound 
 
 Shows that a large sized flock flies near the ground. 
 
 Low lies the hunter, nearer comes the flock, 
 
 Upward he springs, and click, click goes the lock. 
 
 Whang! Bang! the charges of both barrels go, 
 
 As swoop the flock in circle small and low. 
 
 The feathers fly, and scattered here and there 
 
 A dusky form is falling through the air, 
 
 While quick with sudden start and wheel and curve, 
 
 The unhurt fowls to other quarters move. 
 
 With loaded hand, but step and heart that's light, 
 
 The sportsman does not wait for further flight, 
 
 But starts at once to launch his waiting boat, 
 
 And soon again he finds himself afloat. 
 
 Stoutly he plies the bending, splashing oar, 
 
 That swiftly bears him towards the sought-for shore. 
 
 Around the curve of river bend he speeds, 
 
 Now dark with bush or overhanging reeds. 
 
 Afar he sees the gleam of distant lamp 
 
 Beyond the meadow's mist, so dark and damp, 
 
 And on the still air now and then is heard 
 
 The whistling wing or night-call of a bird. 
 
 Soon nearer comes the sounds he gladly hears, 
 
 That show him that the causeway road he nears, — 
 
 A sound of travel and of rattling team, 
 
 Which rolls along the bridge that spans the stream. 
 
 Soon he has nearly reached the wished-for shore, 
 
 And slacks his speed and lays aside his oar, 
 
632 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 Takes carefully his game and gun in either hand, 
 Safe moors his boat, and nimbly springs to land. 
 With brisk walk, quickly to his home he goes 
 To tell his story, as the game he shows. 
 
 Beside the natalores or swimmers there also are found the 
 gralatores or waders. Among these the great blue heron or 
 crane (Ardea herodias) is quite common, and the green heron 
 or " Fly up the Creek " (Butorides virescens) is also seen. 
 But the most abundant is the night heron or " Qua Bird " 
 (Ardea nyctieorax). A few years ago a colony of these in- 
 habited the woods just south of West Brook, and not far 
 from Heard's Pond. They built their nests on trees of a 
 young growth, and would leave them at night-fall to visit the 
 neighboring ponds. In the early evening it was quite com- 
 mon to hear the peculiar note, "qua," "qua," "qua," from 
 the birds far out of sight overhead, and in the early morning 
 they would return to their nesting places, where they would 
 generally remain through the day. After a time the colony 
 removed a mile or two westward and located in the vicinity 
 of the Lowance Meadows. 
 
 Of the bitterns, the stake driver (Ardea minor') is the most 
 numerous. The note of this bird so resembles the words 
 " plum pudding" that it is called by that name. The least 
 bittern (Ardetta exilis) is found sometimes, a fine specimen of 
 which we possess, which was shot on the meadow. 
 
 There are also found in their season the snipe, yellow legs, 
 plover, sandpiper, rail, and various smaller birds such as fre- 
 quent similar localities in this section of the State. Wild 
 o-eese sometimes stop for a brief period, but are seldom 
 taken. 
 
 The fur-bearing animals about the river are, mainly, the 
 muskrat or musquash (Mus zibethieux) and an occasional 
 otter. The muskrats are quite plentiful ; as many as a 
 dozen or more are sometimes taken in a day, when the high 
 water drives them from their cone-shaped houses to the 
 causeway. Not an otter has been taken on the river for 
 years, although they have sometimes been seen. And no 
 beaver has been seen in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 633 
 
 although formerly they probably lived there to a considera- 
 ble extent. 
 
 A chief characteristic of this river is its slow moving cur- 
 rent, which in places is scarcely perceptible at a casual 
 glance. This slow current is supposed to be occasioned by 
 various causes, any one of which may perhaps be sufficient, 
 but all of which at present doubtless contribute something to 
 it. The chief reason is its very small fall, which may be 
 occasioned by both natural and artificial causes. It is said 
 to have but two inches to the mile for twenty-two miles. 
 This slow current tends to keep the river from straightening 
 its course, and to increase the water weeds that grow in the 
 channel. To speak of the river in its general historic con- 
 nection is here unnecessary, as in the course of this work 
 mention has frequently been made of historic objects and 
 events that have existed or transpired in its vicinity. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIL 
 
 THE RIVER MEADOWS. 
 
 Width of the Meadows. — Former Productiveness. — Litigation and 
 Legislation. — Change in Productiveness. — Causes of it. — Natural 
 Features at the Present Time. — Grass. 
 
 Where merry mowers, hale and strong, 
 Swept scythe on scythe, their swaths along. 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 These meadows have been notable from an early period. 
 They extend, with varying width, the entire length of the 
 river course. In some places they may narrow to only a few 
 rods, while in others they extend from half a mile to a mile, 
 where they are commonly called the Broad Meadows. They 
 
634 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 arc widest below the long causeway and Sherman's Bridge. 
 Comparatively little shrubbery is seen on these meadows, but 
 they stretch out as grassy plains, uninterrupted for acres by 
 scarcely a bush. At an early date these meadows yielded 
 large crops of grass (see Chapter I.), and subsequent years 
 did not diminish the quantity or quality, until a compara- 
 tively modern date. From testimony given in 1859 before 
 a Legislative Committee, it appeared that, until within about 
 twenty-five years of that time, the meadows produced from 
 a ton to a ton and a half of good hay to the acre, a fine 
 crop of cranberries, admitted of "fall feeding," and were 
 sometimes worth about one hundred dollars per acre. The 
 hay was seldom "-poled" to the upland, but made on the 
 meadows, from which it was drawn by oxen or horses. Tes- 
 timony on these matters was given before a joint committee 
 of the Legislature, March 1, 1861, by prominent citizens of 
 Sudbury, Wayland, Concord and Bedford. Their opinions 
 were concurrent with regard to the condition of things both 
 past and present. The following are testimonies by some of 
 the witnesses from Sudbury. 
 
 John Hunt, eighty-two years (p. 105 Printed Report). — 
 " I have owned meadows on the Gulf Brook, one or two 
 hundred rods from the river. I had care of the " Ministerial 
 Lot " on the river ; and the nine years I was out of town, I 
 had care of twenty lots below for some years, from 1803 to 
 1807. I sold the grass on the former for $10 an acre, stand- 
 ing. A great change has since taken place ; I suppose it 
 would scarcely pay taxes for some years past. They have 
 mortgaged the ' Ministerial Lot ' to pay for it, not getting 
 enough to pay taxes. . . . Loring's ' bank meadow,' which, 
 when I was a boy, was worth $100 an acre, is not now worth 
 $10. A horse could then be taken to the river shore, you 
 could not now get near the river for the water. Where I 
 have in the low meadows fished standing dry, it is now over 
 my head. There are fifteen or twenty acres in this meadow. 
 When I was fifteen, it produced the best of meadow grass — 
 a kind of red-top, resembling, though not the same as the 
 upland red-top — there is none of that, and not much except 
 coarse grass, and poor — some of what we call sedge. There 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 635 
 
 was not much poling then ; then they took the horses to 
 the river. They now pole it as far as I know. . . . The 
 other lands in the same neighborhood suffer ; cattle were 
 turned in there for fall feed, as long ago as I can remember. 
 It was quite an item to farms adjoining ; nobody now sends 
 them for fall feed. Cattle could then go on the shore ; for 
 years these floods have entirely destroyed the cranberries. 
 My land on the Gulf Brook, has been torn up by freezing 
 and breaking up." 
 
 William Stone, seventy-two years (p. 108). — "I bought, 
 forty-three years ago, a meadow on the Sudbury River, close 
 to the meadow mentioned by Mr. Hunt. When I bought it 
 I used to get the hay almost every year. There were two 
 acres of shore, and the rest, where the water came on, was 
 such a meadow as I never saw, producing pipe and lute grass. 
 I used to get a ton and a half per acre. I used to drive 
 across the meadow to water my team. I mowed it about 
 twenty years ; I began then to find the water came over. I 
 built a causeway across, but the water seemed to stay. I 
 tried to pole the hay out, but it cost too much. I sold it for 
 $110 for eleven acres. At first it was worth to me $80 per 
 acre. The water seemed to go away only by evaporation. 
 ... I have seen cattle getting fall feed on the meadows ; not 
 even a man could now go there without miring." 
 
 William Rice, seventy-seven years (p. 109). — "I have 
 always lived in sight of the meadows — I had seven acres, 
 and the same in another place, separated by the road. I 
 inherited the land. Blue grass and pipes grew there — 
 there were other kinds of hay, good for meadow hay. We 
 considered the river meadow hay, the best meadow hay — 
 the quality is now affected. Sedge and water grass, of little 
 value, now grows, which is used for cattle bedding. The 
 lots have grown softer ; we could go on with a team gener- 
 ally. I have known times when we did not pole a cock of 
 hay. I have rode a horse over the meadow. I don't know 
 when they could go on without rackets of late years. Rack- 
 ets were not in fashion in the olden times. They used to 
 drive the cattle on for fall feed, but have not for twenty or 
 thirty years. They have not been fed there much for forty 
 
636 HISTORY OF STJDBURY. 
 
 years. I do not own the meadow now, I gave it away two 
 or three years ago. The meadows have been growing softer, 
 as a general thing, for thirty years." 
 
 J. P. Fairbanks, thirty-three years (p. 131). — "I own 
 meadow land ; none runs clear to the river, but is on the 
 4 Gulf and 'Broad Meadows' . . . The 'Broad Meadows' 
 are entirely worthless since I have owned them. From 
 1500 to 2000 acres in the ' Broad Meadow ' are of about the 
 same level. Not much, if any, of the grass on the ' Broad 
 Meadows ' has been cut of late years. The best of my cran- 
 berry vines are on the ' Broad Meadow ; ' but for the water, 
 a bushel of cranberries to the rod could be obtained ; ... if 
 the water should be off we could get good crops ; they are 
 now worth 811 or $12 a barrel. ... In high flood we get 6 or 
 7 feet of water all over the 'Broad Meadows.' The water 
 is on them most of the year." 
 
 From such evidence it appears that a great and gradual 
 change in the condition of the meadows came after the year 
 1825. The main cause alleged for this changed condition 
 was the raising of the dam at Billerica. This dam, it is said, 
 was built in 1711 by one Christopher Osgood, under a grant 
 for the town of Billerica, and made to him on condition that 
 he should maintain a corn-mill, and defend the town from 
 any trouble that might come from damages done by the mill- 
 dam to the land of the towns above. In 1793 the charter 
 was granted to the Middlesex Canal, and in 1794 the canal 
 company bought the Osgood mill privilege of one Richard- 
 son, and in 1798 built a new dam, which remained till the 
 stone dam was built in 1828. As indicating that the dam 
 has from time to time been raised, we give the testimony 
 quoted from the argument of Hon. Henry F. French, before 
 the Legislative Committee, March 1, 1861. 
 
 Jonathan Manning. — " In 1798 I helped build the dam. 
 There was a dam previously there, — what some call a zig- 
 zag dam, — leaky and not very high. The dam I helped 
 build was higher than the former one. They made rafts to 
 bring timber from the Merrimac, and there was not water 
 enough to fill the canal " (p. 77). " I should think, from the 
 difference in the height of the water, that after we made the 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 637 
 
 new dam, the dam must have been raised from nine to twelve 
 inches. I think it made the water about a foot higher in the 
 canal" (p. 80). 
 
 Herman Bay. — " New flash-boards were on the dam in 
 1817" (p. 168). 
 
 Theophilus Manning. — " After the dam of 1798 was built, 
 they were obliged to put something upon it to fill the canal. 
 A foot and a half was put on. They call it a figure four. 
 In 1800 the flash-boards were on " (p. 169). 
 
 Daniel Wilson. — " In 1820 or 1821 they put timber and 
 flash-boards on the dam of 1798, thirty inches high" (p. 266). 
 It would be difficult and take too much space to give a 
 full and extensive account of the litigation and legislation 
 that has taken place in the past near two centuries and a 
 half, in relation to this subject. It began at Concord as 
 early as Sept. 8, 1636, when a petition was presented to the 
 court, which was followed by this act : " Whereas the in- 
 habitants of Concord are purposed to abate the Falls in the 
 river upon which their towne standeth, whereby such townes 
 as shall hereafter be planted above them upon the said River 
 shall receive benefit by reason of their charge and labor. It 
 is therefore ordered that such towns or farms as shall be 
 planted above them shall contribute to the inhabitants of 
 Concord, proportional both to their charge and advantage." 
 (Shattuck's History of Concord, page 15.) In 1644, Nov. 
 13, the following persons were appointed commissioners: 
 Herbet Pelham, Esq., of Cambridge, Mr. Thomas Flint and 
 Lieut. Simon Willard of Concord, and Mr. Peter Noyes of 
 Sudbury. These commissioners were appointed "to set 
 some order which may conduce to the better surveying, im- 
 proving and draining of the meadows, and saving and pre- 
 serving of the hay there gotten, either by draining the same, 
 or otherwise, and to proportion the charges layed out about 
 it as equably and justly, only upon them that own land, as 
 they in their wisdom shall see meete." From this early date 
 along at intervals in the history of both Concord and Sud- 
 bury, the question of meadow betterment was agitated. 
 At one time it was proposed to cut a canal across to Water- 
 town and Cambridge, which it was thought could be done 
 
638 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 " at a hundred pounds charge." Says Johnson, " The rocky 
 falls causeth their meadows to be much covered with water, 
 the which these people, together with their neighbor towne 
 (Sudbury) have several times essayed to cut through but 
 cannot, }^et it may be turned another way with an hundred 
 pound charge." In 1645, a commission was appointed by the 
 colonial authorities (Col. Rec. Vol. II. page 99) " for ye btt r 
 and imp'ving of ye meadowe ground upon ye ryvr running 
 by Concord and Sudbury." In 1671, a levy of four pence an 
 acre was to be made upon all the meadow upon the great 
 river, " for reclaiming of the river that is from the Concord 
 line to the south side, and to Ensign Grout's spring." Later, 
 a petition was sent by the people of Sudbury, headed by 
 Rev. Israel Loring, for an act in behalf of the meadow 
 owners. But legislation and litigation perhaps reached its 
 height about 1859, when most of the towns along the river 
 petitioned for relief from the flowage. The petition of Sud- 
 bury was headed by Henry Vose and signed by one hundred 
 and seventy-six others; and that of Wayland by Richard 
 Heard and one hundred and sixteen others. On April 6, 
 1859, a joint commission was appointed, to whom the petition 
 was referred. The committee met, and ordered publication 
 of notice for the hearing in five different newspapers in Bos- 
 ton and Lowell. As data of evidence in the case, a careful 
 survey was made of the premises along the river, the water 
 gauge accurately taken by competent engineers, and a com- 
 plete report rendered thereon. 
 
 After thirty days devoted by the committee to investiga- 
 tion, on the 27th of January, 1860, the report of five hundred 
 pages was submitted to a second joint committee appointed 
 by the Legislature of 1860. This committee reported that 
 the findings of the committee of the year before are sustained 
 by the evidence, and that it appears that the dam at Billerica 
 "is an efficient cause of the flowage of nearly 10,000 acres 
 of the most valuable meadow land in the eastern section of 
 the State," and that " this immense injury to those lands 
 has been gradually accomplished by the canal corporation 
 under their charter, without the payment of a single cent 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 639 
 
 of damages to any land owner for the injury." (See Ho. 
 Doc. No. 221, argument of Mr. French.) 
 
 A bill was reported for the removal of the dam, and passed 
 by the Legislature. It was entitled " An Act in Relation to 
 the Flowage of the Meadows on Concord and Sudbury 
 Rivers." It provided that the governor, with the advice of 
 the council, might appoint three commissioners with author- 
 ity to remove thirty- three inches of the dam across the Con- 
 cord River, at North Billerica, at any time after the first day 
 of September 1860, and that when the same was so removed 
 it should not be again rebuilt. 
 
 Time was considered necessary for the mill owners to put 
 in steam, and the act was changed so as to leave six feet, 
 two inches of their dam. An injunction was obtained from 
 the Supreme Court, but the Legislative enactment was sus- 
 tained. An effort was made in 1861 to have the act repealed. 
 Thus strenuous have been the efforts to have the dam at 
 Billerica lowered. In the contest able counsel has been em- 
 ployed on both sides, among whom are Judge Abbott and 
 Benjamin F. Butler, Esq. ; skillful engineer service has also 
 been made use of. 
 
 For any one to attempt with great positiveness to clear up 
 a subject which has perplexed legislators and lawyers, might 
 be considered presumptuous. It is safe, however, to say that 
 while there is evidence showing that the meadows were 
 sometimes wet in the summer at an early period, they were 
 not generally so ; it was the exception and not the rule. It 
 was a sufficient cause of complaint if the settlers had their 
 fertile lands damaged even at distant intervals, since they so 
 largely depended upon them ; but the fact that they did de- 
 pend on them, and even took cattle from abroad to winter, 
 indicates that the meadows were generally to be relied upon. 
 Certain it is that, were they formerly as they have been for 
 nearly the last half century, they would have been almost 
 worthless. Since the testimony taken in the case before 
 cited, these lands have been even worse, it may be, than be- 
 fore. To our personal knowledge, parts of them have been 
 like a stagnant pool, over which we have pushed a boat, and 
 where a scythe has not been swung for years. Dry seasons 
 
640 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 have occasionally come in which things were different. 
 Such occurred in 1883, when almost all the meadows were 
 mown, and even a machine could in places cut the grass. 
 But this was such an exception that it was thought quite re- 
 markable. For the past quarter century people have placed 
 little reliance upon the meadows ; and if any hay was ob- 
 tained it was almost unexpected. This condition of things 
 in the near past, so unlike that in times remote, together 
 with the fact of some complaint by the setlers, and an occa- 
 sional resort by them to the General Court for relief, indi- 
 cates that formerly freshets sometimes came, but cleared 
 away without permanent damage to the meadows. At times 
 the water may have risen even as high as at present. It is 
 supposed that at an early period the rainfall was greater than 
 now, and that because of extensive forests the evaporation 
 was less. The little stream that may now appear too small 
 to afford adequate power to move saw and grist-mill ma- 
 chinery, may once have been amply sufficient to grind the 
 corn for a town. But the flood probably fell rapidly, and the 
 strong current that the pressure produced might have left 
 the channel more free from obstructions than before the flood 
 came. Now, when the meadow lands are once flooded they 
 remain so, till a large share of the water passes off by the 
 slow process of evaporation. The indications are that some- 
 thing has of late years obstructed its course. As to whether 
 the dam is the main and primal cause of the obstruction, the 
 reader may judge for himself. Before closing this subject, 
 we give other quotations from the argument of Mr. French. 
 
 avery's soundings on bars in 
 
 On line "A. B." near dam, 
 
 On line " C. D." Fordway, one mile from 
 dam, 
 
 At Barrett's Bar, one half mile below Con- 
 cord N. Bridge, eleven miles from dam, 
 
 At Junction of Assabet and Concord, 
 
 Bar below Sherman's Bridge, fifteen miles 
 from dam, 
 
 Bar at Canal Bridge, Wayland, twenty-one 
 miles from dam, 
 
 ST CONCORD 
 
 RIVER. 
 
 
 Depth of Water 
 on Bars. 
 
 Depth of Bar below 
 Bolt & 1 'am. 
 
 3.92 feet 
 
 :j.ll feet. 
 
 3.26 " 
 
 2.29 
 
 « 
 
 1.91 " 
 
 1.22 
 
 it 
 
 2.05 " 
 
 1.56 
 
 « 
 
 2.4.5 " 
 
 1.00 
 
 u 
 
 
 .39 
 
 (( 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 641 
 
 Commenting upon the data of the report, the counsel goes 
 on to state as follows : " Add to these depths of the bars be- 
 low the bolt, which is the top of the dam, the depth of water 
 on the dam, and you have the least possible depth on these 
 bars, when the dam is full. But we must in fact add much 
 more to those depths, because water requires some fall to 
 give it motion. The more crooked the stream the more ob- 
 structed by weeds and bushes and logs, and the more rough 
 the channel the greater is the fall required to move the water. 
 Mr. Avery's surveys show how the water deepens as he goes 
 up the river, till he finds a fall in all of forty-five inches in the 
 distance. The dam prevents ang improvement. Being higher 
 than anything else in the river for twenty-one miles, if every 
 bar was cut out, and the channel made into a canal, the 
 water must remain higher than any of the bars. The land 
 owners expect and desire to improve the channel, which is 
 rapidly filling up with weeds and deposits of sand and mud. 
 Formerly they could do this to some extent. Of late years 
 the greater height of water has prevented, and unless the 
 dam is reduced their case will grow worse and worse. With 
 the great increase of water and the obstructed channel, and 
 this dam higher than any other object in the whole river, 
 their condition is hopeless. Reduce the dam thirty-three 
 inches, the water will fall proportionably on all these bars, 
 which may be then cut out, and the river may be brought and 
 kept within its banks in the growing season. ***** 
 I will only add that if any man is bold enough to assert that 
 the bars in this river prevent the water from flowing off the 
 meadows, and that the dam, which is by actual level higher 
 than any of these bars, has no such effect, he is welcome to 
 all the votes he can obtain from sane legislators for the re- 
 peal of this act." 
 
 We will now turn our attention to a few things regarding 
 the natural features that the later condition of the meadows 
 have brought about. It is said to be an ill wind that blows 
 nobody any good, and it may be that some new attractions 
 have been afforded these lands that were not possessed of 
 old. Sometimes when the flood is up, the large expanse of 
 water with its irregular margin flashing in the sunlight, adds 
 
G42 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 great beauty to the landscape. The meadow at certain 
 seasons, when in this condition, furnishes excellent fishing 
 ground for such as take fish with the spear in the night-time. 
 On mild spring nights the fish resort to the warm, shoal 
 waters near the uplands, where, all unsuspicious, they are 
 found by the wary fisherman, as with light dipping oar his 
 boat glides over the flood. The outfit for such fishing is a 
 small boat capable of carrying two persons, with an iron 
 frame-work or "jack " set on an upright rod at the bows to 
 hold the fuel or torch which is usually made of old pine 
 stumps, and a six-pronged spear with an eight-foot handle. 
 With this apparatus on a still night the fisherman sets out. 
 The margin of the upland is followed, and at one time the 
 boat glides by open fields or pasture lands, at another darts 
 beneath the deep shades of an overhanging wood. Every 
 now and then, at a signal from the spearsman at the bow T s, 
 the boat is " slowed up," the spear poised in the air for an 
 instant, then a clash, and up comes the fish. The frequent 
 flowage of the meadows, it is supposed, has caused the 
 "punk holes," so called, to which wild water fowl resort, 
 while the clogged channel with its sluggish stream may have 
 made the place a favorite haunt for the pickerel. Thus 
 beauty and utility in some ways have resulted from the 
 present condition of the meadows. 
 
 GRASS. 
 
 Various kinds of grass grow on the meadows, which are 
 known among the farmers by the following names : " pipes," 
 "lute-grass," "blue-joint," "sedge," "water-grass," and a 
 kind of meadow " red-top." Within a few years wild rice 
 has in places crept along the river banks, having been 
 brought here perhaps by the water fowl, which may have 
 plucked it on the margin of the distant lakes. 
 

 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 ZOOLOGY AND GEOLOGY. 
 
 To him who in the love of Nature holds 
 Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
 A various language. 
 
 Bryant. 
 
 FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 
 
 Chief among these, except those mentioned in connection 
 with the river meadows, are the fox, rabbit, squirrel, wood- 
 chuck, skunk and weasel. 
 
 RARE BIRDS. 
 
 Besides the smaller birds most common in the vicinity, 
 and those mentioned in connection with the meadows, are 
 the rose-breasted grosbeak QG-uiraca ludoviciana), indigo bird 
 (Cyanospiza cyanea), scarlet tanager {Pyranga rubra) and 
 red start (/Setophaga ruticilla). Of late, the purple finch 
 (Carpodacus purpureus) has become quite common. A few 
 years ago, in a hard winter, a flock of pine grosbeaks (Pini- 
 cola canadensis) visited the town. Sparrows, vireos, flycatch- 
 ers, thrushes and warblers abound. Of the larger kinds, not 
 considered game-birds though considerably hunted, are found 
 the grackles (Quiscalinae), pigeon woodpecker (Calaptes 
 auratus) and meadow-lark (Jftumella magna) ; hawks, crows 
 and jays are frequent, and the latter have been so destruc- 
 tive that, at different times, a bounty has been paid for them 
 by the town. 
 
 GAME-BIRDS. 
 
 The most common of these and the most sought after is 
 the partridge or ruffed grouse (JBonasa umbellus), the quail 
 (Ortyx virginianus) and the woodcock (Philohela minor). 
 
 643 
 
644 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 The grouse and quail vary in numbers with the nature of 
 the season ; the former being favorably affected by a dry 
 summer and the latter by a warm winter. Quail a quarter 
 of a century ago were quite scarce, but of late years they 
 have been more numerous. To shoot a half dozen partridges 
 in the best of the season is now considered but a fair day's 
 work for a good hunter, and so it has been for the past 
 fifty years, such being about the average day's work of Sud- 
 bury's old hunter, the late Nichols Brown. Woodcock have 
 become quite scarce, very few being found except in the 
 migratory season. Formerly they nested in town, but this 
 is now unfrequently done. Fifty years ago the wild pigeon 
 (Eetopistes migratoria) was abundant in Sudbury, a favorite 
 locality being Peakham Plain. Considerable numbers were 
 caught in nets ; grain was scattered upon a small space of 
 ground, over which, when the birds had alighted to feed, a 
 net was sprung by a sapling which was artfully adjusted for 
 the purpose. Dozens were taken in this way, but the bird 
 is now scarcely seen in the town. (For fish, see chapter on 
 Natural Features.) 
 
 GEOLOGY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 BY GEORGE H. BARTON, S. B. 
 
 In the history of a town as well as of a country, it is fitting 
 that a few words at least should be devoted to its geology. 
 For geology is in itself a series of records enabling us to 
 trace the history of our globe back into the past far beyond 
 any human records. So far, indeed, does it carry our knowl- 
 edge backward, that the very earliest traces of human history 
 are only as the deeds of yesterday as compared with the 
 ages that elapsed before man made his appearance on the 
 earth. 
 
 In order to understand the geology of an isolated political 
 division of the country, such as forms a town, it is necessary 
 to have a general understanding of the geology of the country 
 of which it forms a part. The United States is a fair repre- 
 sentative of the world, furnishing within its area a more or 
 less complete record from the earliest known ages to the 
 present time. Here, in geological development, as it is in 
 
RESIDENCE OF GEO. E. HARRINGTON. 
 

 History of stjdbury. 645 
 
 human, time is naturally divided into certain grand divisions 
 or eras, each marked by its own peculiar characteristics. 
 The natural divisions coincide with the development of life 
 from the lowest and most humble forms in the beginning to 
 the high and varied ones of to-day which have finally culmi- 
 nated in man. Thus, as in human history, we have the An- 
 cient, Mediaeval, and Modern Periods, in geology we have the 
 Eozoic, Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Genozoic eras. 
 
 In the records belonging to the first of these, the Eozoic, 
 which means the dawn of life, we catch faint, glimmering 
 traces of the condition of the world at that time. We see, 
 indistinctly, a globe covered with an almost universal ocean, 
 with here and there occasional islands rising above the 
 general waste of waters grouped in such a way as to fore- 
 shadow the continent which was to take their place. As 
 time went on during this era land continually arose from 
 below the surface of the waters till before its close the 
 embryo continent was formed. 
 
 As the name implies, the first beginnings of life are here 
 found, but they are nothing definite, they are only strong 
 indications. With our present knowledge we know of no 
 method by which large beds of iron ore, or large beds of 
 graphite, can be formed except by the agencies of organic 
 life. As such beds are abundant in the Eozoic they furnish 
 grounds for the belief that life existed then in some little 
 abundance. 
 
 Then limestones, which are largely made up of the accum- 
 ulations of the remains of animal life, are abundant in this 
 series of rocks. In connection with these latter rocks occurs 
 a peculiar structure which has been thought by some high 
 authorities to be the remains of a low order of animal life 
 and to which the name of Eozoon, or dawn animal, has been 
 applied. 
 
 However the question of life in the Eozoic era may finally 
 be settled, we find the next era, the Palaeozoic, a term mean- 
 ing ancient life, beginning with an abundance of the lower 
 forms of life in the waters, though we find no evidence of its 
 existence upon the land. Some of these forms were quite 
 highly organized, one being about the same as the horse-shoe 
 
646 
 
 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 crab of to-day, and this would cause us to believe that life 
 must have existed for ages before to have arrived at this 
 stage of development. 
 
 From the beginning of Palaeozoic time to the present there 
 is estimated to have elapsed about thirty-five millions of 
 years. The Eozoic is supposed to have comprised at least 
 as many years. 
 
 The Palaeozoic has three main sub-divisions, which may 
 be known as the Age of Invertebrates, during which life 
 consisted entirely of marine forms of animals and plants 
 of the lower orders, except toward its close when fishes and 
 a few land plants appeared ; the Age of Fishes, when these 
 first vertebrates predominated and sharks ruled the seas, 
 when the continents first became covered with forests such 
 as we find in the tropics to-day, and insects appeared as the 
 first land-animals ; and finally the great Coal Age, when the 
 continent was covered with the dense growths of tropical 
 forests which after ages of accumulations have given the coal 
 beds of to-day, which have furnished such an important factor 
 in the progress of our national life. 
 
 During all this time the continent had been steadily 
 growing in a westerly and southerly direction, till the shore 
 line, which at the beginning did not extend in either direc- 
 tion further than the limits of the State of New York, had 
 reached on the south into Mississippi and west into Missouri 
 and Kansas, with large islands in the area now occupied by 
 the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 In the third of the grand divisions of time, the Mesozoic, 
 middle life, there is found a great change from the preceding 
 ages. Huge reptiles of unwieldy form and bulk predomi- 
 nated over the life both in the sea and on land. Birds inter- 
 mediate in form between the reptiles and birds of the present 
 day also appeared, and toward its close the first faint fore- 
 shadowings of the trees of our present forests. The climate, 
 which at the beginning of this era had been tropical through- 
 out the world, had at its close become much like our present 
 climate, being only a few degrees warmer. 
 
 From the beginning of the Mesozoic to the present time 
 from fourteen to seventeen millions of years have elapsed, 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 647 
 
 and of these eight or nine millions at least were comprised 
 in the Mesozoic. 
 
 In the Cenozoic, recent life, which began at the close of 
 the Mesozoic and still continues, we have mammals the pre- 
 dominating form of life, and somewhere in very recent 
 geological time the introduction of the human race. 
 
 Then Cenozoic has two main sub-divisions, the Tertiary 
 and the Quaternary. The latter is again divided into three 
 divisions : the Glacial, Champlain and Terrace. These three 
 it is necessary to notice somewhat more fully. The Glacial 
 Epoch is due to certain conditions that caused the entire 
 northern portion of our continent to be covered with a sheet 
 of ice which over New England reached a thickness of more 
 than six thousand feet, sufficient to cover our highest peak, 
 Mt. Washington. It reached so far south as to entirely 
 cover New England, and its southern termination can be 
 marked by an irregular line drawn through New Jersey, 
 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, etc. 
 
 This ice sheet had a constant tendency to move south- 
 ward, and in doing so transported with it all the loose mate- 
 rial which had previously covered the surface of the country 
 in the shape of decomposed rock, soil, boulders, etc. At the 
 same time it ground down, smoothed and polished the sur- 
 face of the rocks over which it passed, leaving it in many 
 cases with a high polish, but almost invariably accompanied 
 by scratches or grooves on the polished surface which are 
 nearly always parallel to each other and have a nearly con- 
 stant direction of S-30-E. 
 
 A large portion of the loose material, the earth or drift as 
 it is usually termed, was eventually deposited below the ice, 
 which passed over it and thus compacted and hardened it 
 till it became nearly as hard and as tough as the rocks them- 
 selves. This consists largely of tough, tenacious blue clay, 
 somewhat filled with more or less rounded boulders, bearing 
 upon their smoothed sides the same striations we find upon 
 the smoothed ledges. This portion is known as the lower 
 drift. 
 
 The remaining portion of the loose material was borne 
 upon the surface of the ice or incorporated in its mass, and 
 
648 HISTOEY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 when the ice sheet melted and disappeared was left as a thin 
 covering - over the surface of the lower drift and is known as 
 the upper drift. The boulders found in connection with this 
 are angular and show little or no signs of wear. 
 
 A prominent feature of the lower drift are the hills known 
 as drumlins which are very numerous in some sections, very- 
 rare in others. They are round, oval, or lenticular in shape, 
 are largely made of blue clay, and contain no ledges, except 
 in some cases just at their bases. The upper drift covers 
 them with a thin mantle similar to the other surface. 
 
 The melting of the ice sheet gave rise to a large amount 
 of water, which caused large rivers, lakes, and floods, both 
 upon the surface of the ice and the country. This worked 
 over the materials of the upper and lower drift, exerted a 
 sorting action upon them and deposited them anew in the 
 three separate forms of gravel, sand and clay. The old river 
 channels were filled with floods, and large masses of the 
 gravel and sand accumulated in them, while the clays were 
 carried away by the rushing water. Upon the surface of the 
 ice rivers wore channels in which accumulated pebbles usu- 
 ally from an inch to a foot in diameter. As the ice melted 
 these were left upon the surface of the country as long and 
 very narrow ridges, often known locally as Indian ridges, to 
 which the term Kame has been applied. 
 
 As the waters of the Champlain Epoch subsided the 
 streams cut down into the beds of gravel and sand they had 
 previously deposited in their broad valleys, and thenceforth 
 ran in narrower channels leaving marked terraces on one or 
 both banks, hence giving the name of the Terrace Epoch, 
 which still continues to the present day. 
 
 Before considering the special geology of our town it will 
 be well to speak briefly of that of our State as a whole, that 
 we may better understand the general relations of our town. 
 Nearly the whole of Massachusetts is composed of rocks 
 formed during the Eozoic era, but not belonging to its oldest 
 divisions. Nearly the oldest of the Palaeozoic, in the Age of 
 Invertebrates, is represented by the area known as the Bos- 
 ton Basin, extending from Medford, Maiden, etc., on the 
 north, to Brain tree, Quincy, etc., on the south, and from the 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 649 
 
 ocean on the east to Waltham on the west. The Age of 
 Fishes is not represented. The Coal Age is represented by 
 an area extending into the State from Rhode Island, in Attle- 
 boro, Mansfield, etc. The Mesozoic era is represented by 
 the red sandstones of the Connecticut Valley, in which have 
 been found numerous evidences of the reptilian life of that 
 time, and by the trap ridges which form Mts. Tom, Holy- 
 oke, etc. 
 
 Then in the Cenozoic we have the entire State covered 
 with its mantle of drift, in some places very thin, in others 
 reaching a thickness of three to four hundred feet, as in the 
 southeastern portion of the State. 
 
 Now in regard to the special geology of our town. The 
 formation which underlies it is made up of a series of crystal- 
 line rocks, approaching a dark granite in general appearance, 
 which are included in two divisions, diorite and diabase, 
 but so intimately are these mixed that it is not convenient 
 to separate them, and with these are a series of quartzites 
 and baked slates. The crystalline rocks are of volcanic 
 origin, and in those early ages were probably erupted 
 through and between the layers of quartzite and slate which 
 had been formed by deposition under the waters of the sea. 
 These rocks all belong to a period somewhere near the mid- 
 dle of the Eozoic, and from that time to the glacial epoch we 
 have no records to tell us of the history of the town. We 
 know that long before the latter time the Sudbury River had 
 hollowed its channel out of these hard rocks and was flow- 
 ing nearly in its present position on the eastward of the 
 town. That Nobscot and Green Hills were prominent ob- 
 jects in the topography, but that Plympton's Hill, the hill at 
 the Centre, Cutting's Hill, and those near Alfred Thomp- 
 son's, Parker Fairbank's, and Andrew Haynes' had no exist- 
 ence, as we shall see later. 
 
 As a whole, Sudbury is a somewhat sandy town, but there 
 are certain areas that are quite rocky. In the north of (In: 
 town Captain Jones' small hill, and the high lands north of 
 Cold Brook and west of the railroad arc composed of out- 
 crops of the crystalline rocks previously mentioned. The hill 
 between Patrick Lyons' and Calvin Morse's is also largely 
 
650 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 of rock. In the area hounded generally by the road, from 
 Plympton Hill to the river on the north, the river meadows 
 on the east, the Central Massachusetts Railroad on the south, 
 and the road from South Sudbury to the Centre on the west, 
 is the largest series of continuous outcrops in the town. In 
 the extreme south, Nobscot rises a solid mass of rock to its 
 summit. There are many other places where small ledges 
 outcrop, but not of sufficient importance to mention in this 
 short paper. 
 
 Much of the rock shows stratification, which in some cases 
 is due to its formation in layers under water, in others to 
 successive sheets of lava flowing over each other. Wherever 
 this is shown the prevailing direction is about north-east, 
 south-west. 
 
 The rocks at Newbury, containing the ores mined there 
 some years ago, have the same general trend, and belong to 
 the same series. This has caused some search for ores, but 
 nothing of importance has been found, though just over the 
 line in Concord digging was carried on to some depth, show- 
 iug the presence of some lead and silver, but not enough to 
 be of any economic value. 
 
 A small amount of limestone is found just to the east of 
 the so-called county road on the north bank of Cold Brook. 
 At some time in the past it has been burned for lime, traces 
 of the burned fragments still being found, but beyond the 
 memory of any one now living. In this I have found slight 
 traces of the structure, eozoon. 
 
 So far as my knowledge extends there is no rock in Sud- 
 bury that will ever admit of extensive quarrying for build- 
 ing purposes. 
 
 In turning our attention to the drift we find that to it are 
 due many of the features of our landscape. Over many 
 portions of the town the lower, upper and modified drift 
 forms a considerable thickness, but there are no means of 
 measuring its depth. 
 
 Those interesting features of the lower drift, the drumlins, 
 are well represented. Perhaps the two more typical ones are 
 the ones known as ( 'ut ting's Hill in the northwest portion of 
 the town, and the one a half mile west of Sherman's bridge 
 
HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 651 
 
 on the Sudbury River known as Fairbank's or Round Hill. 
 The former represents the typical lenticular hill, its longer 
 axis running a little north of west, the latter is nearly circu- 
 lar in outline. On the line between Sudbury and Concord 
 is a (somewhat large one, on the top of which is the residence 
 of Andrew Haynes. On the old county road, about a mile 
 and a half north of the centre of the town, is a complex mass 
 made up of two or three drumlins united together. Upon 
 the crest of the lowest is situated the residence of the late 
 Aaron Hunt, while the larger ones rise directly back of A. 
 N. Thompson's. Plympton's Hill and the hill directly back 
 of the Unitarian Church and Town Hall are also well-marked 
 examples. There are also many other small elevations in the 
 town belonging to this type but not worthy of special notice. 
 The southern portion of the town seems to be quite free from 
 them, though I am not familiar with the extreme southwest 
 corner. 
 
 The upper drift does not need particular mention, though 
 some portions of the better soil of the town are furnished by 
 it. Boulders of sufficient size to attract attention are rare, a 
 single prominent one being situated" on the road leading from 
 the Town Farm to the Centre on land belonging to the town. 
 There are a few others scattered in the woods away from the 
 roads. 
 
 The modified drift is an important factor, furnishing the 
 sand-plains which are the most objectionable feature from 
 an economical standpoint. Of these Peakham Plain is the 
 largest, and this is but a portion of the large plain continued 
 west into Marlboro, Hudson and Stow. To this belongs all 
 the area south of the Maynard line, and stretching to the foot 
 of Nobscot, while on the east it is bounded by an irregular 
 line, in some cases reaching nearly to the Old Colony Rail- 
 road. Other smaller but well-marked areas occur scattered 
 over the remainder of the town, one extending along the 
 north road from the Pratt Tavern to the Old Colony Rail- 
 road and about a mile southward, another to the eastward of 
 the residence of the late Andrew Hunt, and a third north- 
 ward from George Taylor's along the river meadows. Id the 
 Peakham area are several small sheets of water such as 
 
652 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 Willis Pond, Bottomless Pond, etc., which probably owe 
 their origin to large masses of ice having been left there, 
 around which the sand was deposited by the currents, and 
 later as these masses of ice melted they left the hollows 
 which now hold the ponds. 
 
 Kames are not well represented in our town, though there 
 is one very typical example crossing the road directly in 
 front of the house of Elbrit Goding, and continuing north- 
 ward immediately to the east of the road till reaching the 
 northern boundary of the town. This same gravel ridge ex- 
 tends northward nearly through the town of Acton. South- 
 ward it does not cross the north road so as to be plainly seen, 
 though there are traces of it nearly as far south as the Way- 
 side Inn. 
 
 In the southern part of the town another kame begins 
 just south of Lanham Brook, and east of Sewell Hunt's, and 
 runs generally parallel to the road toward Framingham till 
 it crosses the boundary of the latter town. 
 
 Now in conclusion, taking a hasty review, we see that our 
 town is situated in that part of America that appeared above 
 the waters of the ocean in the earliest ages, and thus ranks 
 in age with not only nearly the oldest parts of America but 
 also of the world ; that from that time to the present it has 
 remained above the sea, forming a part of the dry land of the 
 continent, and hence, though there are no records of all 
 those vast ages preserved, it has witnessed all the grand 
 panorama of the development of life ; that during the ice age, 
 which was only about ten thousand years ago, its topography 
 was very much changed and nearly all its hills, which till 
 then had no existence, were formed, and that it was at the 
 close of this latter age that so much of its territory was 
 buried beneath the sand that causes several large areas to be 
 scarcely worthy of cultivation. Immediately at the close of 
 the ice age, if not before, primitive man began roving over 
 the country, and then geological is united with human his- 
 tory. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Public Bequests. — Action of the Town relative to the Publication of 
 the History of Sudbury. — Preparations for the Observance of the 
 Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the 
 Town. 
 
 Till at last in books recorded, 
 
 They like hoarded 
 
 Household words, no more depart. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 BEQUESTS. 
 
 The " Goodnow Library Fund," $20,000, donated by John 
 Goodnow. The " Samuel D. Hunt Fund, $1,000 ; the in- 
 come of this fund is to be distributed among the poor, sick, 
 and needy, who are not inmates of the almshouse or other- 
 wise assisted by the town. Accepted, Nov. 3, 1874. The 
 "Elisha Goodnow Fund," $4000; the income of three- 
 quarters of this is to be distributed in substantially the same 
 manner as the " S. D. Hunt Fund ; " and the income of the 
 other fourth is to be used in the purchase of books for poor 
 children attending the public schools. The " Jerusha Howe 
 Fund," $1000 ; the income to be expended in fuel for the 
 industrious poor. The " Ancient Donation Fund," $453.78 ; 
 given to the town by Joshua Haynes, two-thirds of the in- 
 come to be used for the poor, and one-third for schools. A 
 considerable portion of the original fund last named has been 
 lost by bad investment. The " George Goodnow Fund," 
 $10,000 ; the income to be used for the industrious poor not 
 otherwise assisted by the town. Accepted, November, 1884. 
 The " Henry Plympton Fund," $250. The " George Good- 
 now Fund," $400. The "Lois Hunt Fund," $500. The 
 income of the last three are to be used for cemetery purposes 
 or improvements. 
 
 Total amount of bequests, $37,603.78. 
 
 653 
 
654 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 ACTS RELATIVE TO THE PUBLICATION OF THE HISTORY OF 
 
 SUDBURY. 
 
 The subject of publishing a History of Sudbury was first 
 brought before the town at a meeting held Nov. 4, 1862, 
 under the following article : — 
 
 " To see if the town will take any measures to have a his- 
 tory of the town written." 
 
 The result was that a committee, consisting of Dr. Levi 
 Goodenough, Rev. Limus H. Shaw and Charles Thompson, 
 Esq., was appointed " to consider the matter and report at 
 some future meeting what action, if any, may be advisable 
 for the town to take in reference to said subject." This 
 committee made a verbal report April 6, 1863, and were au- 
 thorized to make arrangements with Mr. Andrew Ward of 
 Newton to prepare a history of the town. Mr. Ward com- 
 menced the work, but soon afterwards died. The subject 
 was again brought forward, March 6, 1876. A committee 
 composed of Steven Moore, Jonas S. Hunt, and Richard R. 
 Horr was appointed to consider the matter and report at a 
 subsequent meeting. Their report was submitted to the 
 town and accepted April 3, 1876. The following is a part of 
 this report : — 
 
 " Your committee believe that when this ancient Town 
 has its history compiled it should not be done hastily, but 
 with care and skill, and with such research as may be neces- 
 sary to such a history as will not only be a matter of satis- 
 faction but of pride to the town. As the history of Sudbury 
 is also a history of Wayland to a comparatively recent date, 
 it seems proper that she should be consulted as to the pro- 
 priety of uniting with us in the preparation of the joint his- 
 tory of the two towns, at least to the time of their separation. 
 It is therefore recommended that the town choose a com- 
 mittee whose duty it shall be to ascertain if Wayland will 
 unite with Sudbury in having a joint history of the two 
 towns prepared ; to collect such material as they may be able, 
 and report their doings at November meeting, with estimates 
 of the probable cost of the completed work." This report 
 was accepted by the town, and the committee making it were 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 655 
 
 continued in office and authorized to take such action as they 
 thought proper to carry forward the recommendations con- 
 tained in their report. The chairman of the committee soon 
 after left town and no further action was taken in the mat- 
 ter. March, 1885, a committee consisting of Capt. James 
 Moore, Jonas S. Hunt, Esq., and Horatio Hunt was ap- 
 pointed "to confer with Rev. A. S. Hudson in regard to a 
 publication of the History of Sudbury." April 6, of the 
 same year, the committee reported to the town the result of 
 their interview. This was in part that the work be devoted 
 to the annals of the town, but not any part of it to genealogy 
 as it is usually inserted in books of this kind. 
 
 April 2, 1888, the town " voted to publish not less than 
 750 copies of the History as written and compiled by Rev. 
 A. S. Hudson, and to pay him $1500 for his services in writ- 
 ing and superintending the publication of the work ; and 
 that the Trustees of the Goodnow Library be a committee 
 associated with him to have charge of the publication of the 
 work." The town also voted at the same meeting $1500 for 
 the publication. The names of the library Trustees are as 
 follows: Hubbard H. Brown, Atherton W. Rogers and Edwin 
 A. Powers. 
 
 ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRA- 
 TION. 
 
 At a meeting held November 1888, the town voted to peti- 
 tion the Legislature for permission to grant money to be ex- 
 pended in the observance of the 250th Anniversary of the In- 
 corporation of Sudbury. Permission having been obtained, 
 at a subsequent meeting the sum of three hundred dollars Avas 
 appropriated, and a committee was appointed to make and 
 carry out such arrangements as would be appropriate to the 
 proposed celebration. The committee consisted of Jonas S. 
 Hunt, Rufus H. Hurlbut and Edwin A. Powers, who were 
 to cooperate with a committee from Wayland, and the joint 
 committee were to act for the two towns. 
 
 The joint committee met at Sudbury and organized with 
 J. S. Hunt for chairman, and R. T. Lombard, Esq., of Way- 
 land for secretary. The following outline of a plan was pro- 
 
656 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 posed, and left open subject to change if deemed expedient 
 before the day arrived. 
 
 1. A gathering of the children of the two towns at Way- 
 land on the morning of Sept. 4, when entertainment and a 
 collation would be furnished. 
 
 2. A return by railroad at noon to South Sudbury, when 
 a procession will form and march to Sudbury Centre. 
 
 3. Dinner in the Town Hall. 
 
 4. Speaking from a platform on the Common, if the day is 
 fair, and, if not, in the Unitarian Church. 
 
 5. Fireworks and music in both towns, with ringing of 
 bells morning and night. 
 
 It was voted to extend an invitation to Hon. Homer 
 Rogers of Boston, to act as president of the day ; to Richard 
 T. Lombard, Esq., of Wayland, to serve as chief-marshal ; and 
 to Rev. Alfred S. Hudson of Ayer, to deliver the oration. 
 
 Ample opportunity was to be provided for addresses by 
 speakers from abroad, who are expected to be present and 
 assist at the celebration. 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In concluding a work of such magnitude and importance, 
 we naturally pause and reflect over the long, long stoiy of 
 the past, before we leave its pages and close the history. 
 Many notable events have been considered, and many promi- 
 nent persons have been brought to view, who long since 
 passed away. Successive periods have been presented in 
 order, from the beginning of our existence as a town, until we 
 come to a generation amid which we live and of which we 
 are an actual part. It may be difficult to comprehend the 
 changes that the years have wrought, but a passing glance at 
 the chief of them indicates that the town has had a varied 
 experience. First, we behold a small number of settlers 
 making their homes amid the woodlands of a new country. 
 They clear fields, erect homesteads, and let in the light of 
 civilized life ; but the scene is soon changed ; shadows 
 darken the prospect, the town is invaded by Indians, and 
 all its resources are brought into requisition to preserve its 
 existence. The conflict passes, and there are years of peace. 
 Again the settlement is disturbed by war, and again peace 
 follows. The town makes progress in the succeeding years, 
 and then again, comes a season of strife. Thus alternate 
 sunshine and shadow have played on the scene as the years 
 have advanced, giving to the town a history of mingled pros- 
 perity and adversity. But through all these changes it has 
 maintained a steady growth and developed a more substantial 
 character by these rockings by the storm. As we look back 
 over the scenes of its history there is much for which to bo 
 grateful. 1. That our ancestors were of such sterling worth. 
 Few, if any, New England towns perhaps are more favored 
 
 657 
 
658 HISTORY OP SUDBURY. 
 
 in this respect. The record of their actions is evidence that 
 they did not emigrate to this country as mere aimless or 
 reckless adventurers, but as men with worthy purposes. 
 They evinced a perseverance in subduing the soil and a 
 fortitude in meeting the privations of pioneer life that is 
 commendable in a large degree. Their faith, zeal and stead- 
 fastness in the service of God, and their reverence for things 
 sacred is prominently noticeable in the records ; and upright- 
 ness in their dealings is indicative of like theory and prac- 
 tice. 2. That the town has had such a wholesome and far- 
 reaching influence. Town after town received from Sudbury 
 some of its early settlers, and in this process of colonization, 
 a formative influence was carried forth by her citizens, which 
 has strengthened and widened as the years have rolled by. 
 3. That the town has never shrunk from bearing its part in 
 the burdens of the country at large. In peace and in war, it 
 has stood ready to meet all the demands that have been made 
 upon it. Even when its own borders were imperiled it did 
 not refuse to furnish aid to others if needed ; and the long 
 muster-rolls and the enactments of town meeting are evi- 
 dence of its patriotism. 4. That to so large an extent the 
 traits of the fathers have been transmitted to their posterity. 
 This may be due to the comparative stability of its popula- 
 tion. Generation after generation occupied old homesteads, 
 and, with the lands, the characteristics became as heirlooms 
 in old families. While we have these things for which to be 
 grateful, it is also gratifying to contemplate the historic 
 character of the town. Although, hitherto, it has been con- 
 sidered historic, yet as we have noticed consecutively and in 
 detail its prominent events, we are more and more convinced 
 of the importance of its history. The story of the past is 
 associated with its hills and valleys and plains and streams. 
 Its fields have been fields of battle, its soil contains the bones 
 of the fallen. King Philip once strode over its territory, and 
 there he was stayed in his devastating march towards the 
 sea. The highways of the town were trodden by the militia 
 and minute men on their way to oppose the British at Con- 
 cord. The town's common land was their place of parade, 
 and from its belfry sounded the call to arms. 
 
HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 659 
 
 Thus the God of our fathers has blest us by giving such 
 founders of our town, by bringing us safely forth from the 
 vicissitudes and exposures and perils of two hundred and 
 fifty years, and by the benign influences of the institutions 
 that our ancestors established and maintained. From the 
 faith of our fathers that was God-given, and that clung so 
 closely to his Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, has come the 
 prosperity, the integrity, the worth of our town, and the 
 wholesomeness of its far-reaching influence. ""Praise God 
 from whom all blessings flow," should be our general acclaim ; 
 and together with this devout ascription should be the culti- 
 vation of a cherished purpose to maintain and perpetuate what 
 of good the past has bequeathed. To do this requires the 
 use of the same means which our ancestors employed in pro- 
 curing this good, namely, a reliance on God and His word, a 
 reverence for the Sabbath and love for His church. The 
 Bible to our fathers in the wilderness was literally " the man 
 of their counsel." By it they were led in their daily duties, 
 comforted in the time of calamity, and strengthened in the 
 hope of " a better country, that is, an heavenly." Next to 
 the Author of all good we should bear in grateful remem- 
 brance the privations and hardships endured by our ancestors. 
 Our sunny hillsides and fields were cleared by their toil : let 
 these be objects that quicken to gratitude. Let the places 
 that are designated as historic be suggestive of their depriva- 
 tions. As from the far-reaching and silent past survive the 
 signs of its many changes, may we take knowledge that these 
 are indicative of changes yet to be. It is a law of human 
 destiny that one generation passeth away and another cometh. 
 The old burial places were once new ; and the town's inhab- 
 itants when they set them apart provided as they believed 
 for a far-distant future. That future has come and gone, and 
 they who looked forward to it have joined the silent proces- 
 sion in their march to the city of the dead ; and among the 
 moss-covered stones and monuments, strangers scan the in- 
 scriptions for their names and fragmentary scraps of family 
 history. The new cemeteries will one day be as the old, the 
 resting-place of the generation that set them apart; and in 
 the years that are yet to be, and which to some it may be are 
 
660 HISTORY OF SUDBURY. 
 
 in a distant cloud-land, the stranger will look for and read 
 other epitaphs, even those which tell of our history. 
 
 The paths we travel may be closed and new ones opened, 
 which stranger feet will tread. New dwellings, new man- 
 ners, and new men will be here, and we shall be "only 
 remembered by what we have done." May we then so live 
 that our lives will be associated with as much of good, our 
 memories with as much affection, as those which we have 
 been considering. It is the desire of the author that the 
 record of the past, which is contained in this history, be 
 helpful in this respect to ourselves, to our families, and to 
 those who shall come after us. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 On page 15, read Edmund for Edward. 
 
 On page 22, line 20, read Massachusetts for Narragansetts. 
 
 On page 34, line 30, read Goodnow for Haynes. 
 
 Pages 35 and 36. The farm of William Browne at Nob- 
 scot was not the two hundred acres allowed him by special 
 grant of the General Court and referred to on page 62, that 
 land being situated at the north-west corner of the town. 
 
 On page 58, line 9, read south for north. 
 
 On page 70, line 17, read (W. by S.). 
 
 On page 116, line 16, read twenty-five for twenty. 
 
 .On page 167, lines 2 and 3, read and an ancestor of Dr. 
 Moore formerly president, etc. 
 
 On page 212, line 17, read Watertown for Weston. 
 
 On page 274, line 29, read Stow for Stowe. 
 
 On page 355, line 23, date wrong. 
 
 On page 389, line 37, read Fairbanks for Forbush. 
 
 On page 399, Haynes for Hamynes. 
 
 On page 409, line 5, read June 17th. 
 
 On page 487, line 38, read 1855 for 1857. 
 
 On page 494, line 28, read north-easterly for northerly ; 
 line 31, read Noyes for Haynes. 
 
 On page 609, line 38, read horse for house. 
 
 On page 634, line 1, read between for below. 
 
 List of Illustrations, No. 6, read Brigham for Haynes. 
 
BD &&■* 
 
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 D0B3S BROS. 
 
 LIBRARY BINDING 
 
 SEP 69 
 
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 .^Pl%\ FLA. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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