Arlington Town (part 1 of 8)

Preface

It was the aim of the late Dr. Benjamin Cutter to preserve the decaying memorials of his native precinct, and much historical and genealogical matter was accordingly collected by him, and left unpublished at his death. It has been the design of his son to present this to the public in a convenient shape and durable form, with such additions as he has been able to collect. It is trusted that the work will prove valuable as a book of reference, notwithstanding that inaccuracies may occasionally be found.

It is remarkable that the great-grandfather of Dr. Cutter was the first Precinct Clerk, or recording officer - an office which he held for thirty-two consecutive years. ' The paternal grandfather of Dr. Cutter (Ammi. Cutter), and his maternal grandfather (Samuel Locke), were also Precinct Clerks at different periods, the former holding the office five years, and the latter sixteen years.

The authorities which have been consulted in obtaining dates and facts are specified in various portions of the work. The precinct and town records have, of course, been much relied upon, and information from them, as well as from gravestones, is given, as far as practicable, in the phraseology originally 'used. The church records have been found invaluable. Rev. Mr. Cooke, first minister of the Precinct (1739-1783), was an admirable recorder, whose specialty was the church records, and the Precinct births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. The records by Rev. Dr. Fiske cover forty years (1788-1828). Care has been taken to make proper reference in the text to two valuable recent publications - those of Rev. Dr. Paige and

Thoiiiiiti I>. Wymiiii - tVom which important facts have been derived. Reference is also made to these works when further information on the subject may there be obtained. The author is greatly indebted to John B. Russell, Esq., a native of the town, now of New Jersey, for many important and iutercstinustatements and reminiscences. He is also under obligations to Mr. B. D. Locke, the present Town Clerk of Arlington, for favors granted in the examination of Records in his possession.

The genealogical portion of the work is mainly confined to the families who had a residence here in the times of the Precinct, and is as complete and accurate as the greatest labor and care could make it.

The preparation of the List of Soldiers given at the close of the volume was a work of greater labor than at first anticipated ; but the List, as here presented, constitutes a more complete Record of the men furnished by the town for the late war than can be found elsewhere. ,

Particulars relating to the later years of the towns of West Cambridge and Arlington may not be so full, in certain respects, as some readers might wish ; but the comparative unimportance of the events of recent times in the place, and the increased accessibility of modern local records, are ^considered a suflScient explanation for any such apparent neglect.

Soldiers And Sailors In The Last War

The house of the Rev. Samuel Cooke, last owned by his granddaughter, Miss Anna Bradshaw, was raised July 17, 1740, at public expense. It stood on Pleasant Street, and was built on land bought of Jason Russell, and after standing on the original site more than one hundred and thii-ty years, was removed in 1871 to another part of the village, and its exterior very materially altered. The illustration was taken just previous to the removal. Many interesting associations are connected with the house, it having been the scene of various ' important public events, and the abode of eminent individuals.

The House of the Rev. Dr. Thaddeus Fiske was also on Pleasant Street. The land, which formerly belonged to the estate of Rev. Samuel Cooke, was bought of Marshall Spring, of Watertown, Aug. 16, 1791. It was a capacious and imposing structure, and after having stood three quarters of a century was demolished in 1866.

Copies of three of the above illustrations, in process of heliotyping for this work, were destroyed by the disastrous fire in Boston, Dec. 28, 1879. It was fortunately found possible to replace them from copies in the possession of others, to whom we are indebted for the loan of them.

General History

The history of Cambridge has been concisely presented by Rev. Dr. Paige in his invaluable volume. The State Records , preserve the action of the Council on a " Petition of Cambridge Northwest Inhabitants," under date of June 30, 1732, namely a petition of James Cutler and others, a committee for the inhabitants of the Northwest Part of the town of Cambridge, - showing that on their application to said town to be set off a separate precinct, they were pleased to vote that they should be set off by certain bounds in the said vote particularly described, with a reservation of the ministerial lands to the old parish, together with all their gifts and grants made to the church at Cambridge ; and praying that they may be set off a distinct precinct without that reservation, and that the ministry lot lying within their bounds may be assigned to the petitioners, which is not their full proportion of the ministerial estate. The order thereon was, that the petitioners serve the town of Cambridge with a copy of this petition, that they show cause at a time stated why the prayer thereof should not be granted.

On Nov. 3, 1732, the petition of James Cutler and others, in behalf of the inhabitants of the Northwest Part of Cambridge, praying as entered June 30, 1782, being in Council read again, together with the answer of the town of Cambridge, and the petition of William Russell and others, and the same being fully considered, the question was put whether the prayer of the petition be granted, and it passed in the negative and was therefore dismissed.

Paige slates that as early as May 10, 1725, the people on the side of Menotomy River desired better accommodation for public worship, and petitioned the town to consent that they might beconie a separate precinct. The tcgs^n withheld its consent, on the ground that near one-half of said inhabitants had not signed the petition. The request was renewed in 1728.

A second petition of James Cutler and others, a committee for the Northwest inhabitants of Cambridge, praying they be set off a separate and distinct precinct, by such boundaries as are set forth in their petition, was disposed of as follows: order thereon ; petitioners serve town of Cambridge with copy of their petition, that they show cause, if any they have, on Wednesday, the 6th of December following, why the prayer thereof should not be granted.

Ebenezer Burrill, Esq., for the committee of both houses on the petition above, reijorted that said committee, appointed to take under consideration said petition, having repaired to the lauds petitioned for by, and notified the petitioners and the agents for the town of Cambridge,' with other petitioners, and having carefully viewed the place and heard tlie parties, are humbly of opinion that the lands in the Northwest Part of said town petitioned for, be set off a distinct precinct by the following boundaries :

On Menotomy River from Charlestown till it comes to Spy Pond Brook, then on said brook till it comes to a watercourse or ditch in Whiting's meadow, so called ; the ditch to be the boundary till it comes to llaniblet's Brook, following the course of said brook to the Bridge, thence on a straight line to the northwest corner of Mr. Isaac Holden's orchard, and continuing the same course to Watertown line. And that the inhabitants of the said precinct be vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities that other precincts within this Province do, or by law ought to enjoy.

The above report was accepted, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 1732, and the order of the General Court for a new precinct in Cambridge was that the lands above-mentioned be set oflF a distinct precinct accordingly. - 3Iass. Prov. Records, vol. xv.

* Hon. Spencer Phips, Jonathan Remington, Francis Foxcroft, William Brattle, Esqs., and Mr, Andrew Bordman, were chosen the committee of Cambridge, July 24, 1732, for this purpose. See attested copy of vote, belonging to Mr. J. B. llusseU of New Market. N. J.

General History

in Cambridge, together with certain petitioners then inhabitants of the town of Charlestown, were incorporated into a District, generally called Menotomy, since it included all the territory in the two towns on the westerly side of Menotomy River, now Alewife Brook, the stream flowing from the Spy-Pond Brook into the Mystic River.'

On Feb. 27, 1807, an act was passed to divide the town of Cambridge, and to incorporate the Westerly Parish therein as a separate town, by the name of West Cambridge.

Beginning at Charlestown line where the little river intersects the same, and running on a line in the middle of said little river until it strikes Fresh Pond; thence west ten degrees south until it intersects the line of the town of Watertown ; thence on Watertown and Waltham line, till it strikes Lexington line ; thence on Lexington line till it strikes Woburn line ; theijce on Woburn and Charlestown line to the little river first mentioned.

This act contains the proviso that nothing therein shall be so construed as to impair the right or privilege of the Congregational minister of the town of West Cambridge, which he now holds in Harvard College.'

The inhabitants were vested with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties other corporate towns were subject to in this commonwealth. They were to hold a proportion of property owned in common - to pay arrears of taxes, to support their proportion of poor, to support their proportion of the old bridge over Charles River between the First and Third Parishes of Cambridge,* to pay state and county taxes.

- The Mystic River, of which the ancient Menotomy River is a branch, has its source in Mystic Pond, which was shown on Wood's Map of Massachusetts in 1633. It almost has its beginning, continuance and end within the limits of Medford, and hence is often called the Medford River. The names of the Mystic and Menotomy Rivers are apparently aboriginal designations, and like all Indian names probably describe the locality to which they were affixed. Trumbull gives the origin of the name Mystic, anciently written Mistich, as applied to the Medford River, thus : " Tuk in Indian denotes a river whose waters are driven in waves by the tides or winds. With the adjectival missi, ' great,' it forms missi-tuk - now written Mystic - the name of the 'great river' of Boston Bay." The origin of the name Menotomy yet awaits explanation. The spellings of the word have been various.

2 The " teaching elders" of six towns, namely Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbuiy and Dorchester, by act of 1642, were to constitute a part of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College.

The act had force June 1, 1807. A justice was to issue a warrant directed to some freeholder of said town of West Cambridge, notifying and warning the inhabitants thereof to meet at such time and place as appointed in said warrant, for choice of town officers. - Mass. Special Laivs, iv. 88.

Part of Charlestown was annexed to West Cambridge, Feb. 25, 1842. Namely, "all that part of Charlestown which lies northwesterly of the thread of ' little river,' so called."

Part of West Cambridge was annexed to Winchester, April 30, 1850. Namely, the extreme northerly portion of West Cambridge, to a point in the Lexington and West Cambridge boundary line, one hundred and twelve and one half rods southwest from the junction of said line with Woburn, Lexington and West Cambridge lines.

Part of West Cambridge was annexed to Belmont, March 18, 1859. Namely, the extreme southerly portion of the town. For specification of boundary line between the towns of West Cambridge and Belmont, see the act to incorporate the town of Belmont.

Precinct

1635. Paige, lllstonj of Cambridge, 1630-1877, mentions farms granted to inhabitants of Cambridge in 1635, in the territory now embraced in Arlington and Lexington (p. 36). A ''highway to Menotomy" from the "Town" - now Old Cambridge - existed prior to 1636 (pp. 15, 16); and a weir to catch alewives on Menotomy River in the bounds of this town was made in 1636 (p. 38).

In the Proprietors' Records of Cambridge - see Paige, 21-22 - mention is made of the " new lots next Menotomy," as early as 1638. Instance William Cutter, who had one house and garden in the " town," of Mr. Santley ; and had also " in the new lots next Menotomy," three acres planting land ; highway to Menotomy, west. William Patten had also in -' new lots next Menotomy," two acres planting ground at this period.

William Cutter was a wine-cooper and made freeman April 18, 1637, and member of the Artillery Company in 1638. He had estates in Cambridge and Charlestown, and resided at different periods in both places (see Paige, xvi. 487, 521, and Wyman, 260); and by 1653 returned to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in England, where he originated, and whence a letter he wrote to Mr. Henry Dunster, President of Harvard College in Cambridge in New England, in 1654, has,been preserved (see Hist. Cutter Family of K E., p. 368). He was appointed "assisting water-serjeant " at Newcastle, Eng., and sworn June 23, 1657. - Brand's History of Newcastle, ii. p. 24. His mother Elizabeth Cutter, widow, and brother Richard Cutter, cooper, both settled in Cambridge, and his sister Barbara Cutter married Mr. Elijah Corlet, the memorable old school-master in Cambridge. The brother Richard Cutter had many descendants here, but William probably left no posterity. Richard Cutter had four acres land in the Menotomy neighborhood, bounded John Brewer east, William Towne west, Charlestown line north, and Common south, in 1645. Mention is made of the Menotomy Bridge and Menotomy River in the Proprietors' Records, in 1642.

William Patten was an early resident of Cambridge, who agreed to take charge of a part of the town herd of cattle, and resided on the easterly side of North Avenue (in the present Cambridge), opposite the Common. - Paige. Some of his descendants have resided in the Menotomy precinct. - 2*

Paige slates that as early as May 10, 1725, the people on the -westerly side of Mcnotomy River desired better accominodation for public -worship, and petitioned tiie town to consent that they might become a separate precinct. The iQfifn withheld its consent, on the ground that near one-half of said inhabitants had not signed the petition. The request was renewed in 1728.

A second petition of James Cutler and others, a committee for the Northwest inhabitants of Cambridge, praying they be set off a separate and distinct precinct, by such boundaries as are set forth in their petition, was disposed of as follows: order thereon ; petitioners serve town of Cambridge with copy of their petition, that they show cause, if any they have, on Wednesday, the 6th of December following, why the prayer thereof should not be granted.

Ehenezer Burrill, Esq., for the committee of both houses on the petition above, reported that said committee, appointed to take under consideration said petition, having repaired to the lauds petitioned for by. and notified the petitioners and the agents for the town of Cambridge,' with other petitioners, and having carefully viewed the place and heard the parties, are humbly of opinion that the lands in the Northwest Part of said town petitioned for, be set off a distinct precinct by the following boundaries :

On Menotomy River from Charlestown till it comes to Spy Pond Brook, then on said brook till it comes to a watercourse or ditch in "Whiting's meadows so called ; the ditch to be the boundary till it comes to llamblet's Brook, following the course of said brook to the Bridge, thence on a straight line to the northwest corner of JNIr. Isaac Holden's orciiard, and continuing the same course to Watertown line. And that the inhabitants of the said precinct be vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities that other precincts within this Province do, or by law ought to enjoy.

The above report was accepted, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 1732, and the order of the General Court for a new precinct in Cambridge was that the lands above-mentioned be set oif a distinct precinct accordingly. - Mass. Prov. Records, vol. xv.

> Hon. Spencer Phips, Jonathan Remington, Francis Foxcroft, Brattle, Esqs., and Mr, Andrew Bordman, were chosen the coniniittce of Cambridge, July 24, 1732, for this purpose. See attested copy of vote, belonging to Mr. J. B. llusBell of New Market, N. J.

General History. 'S

in Cambridge, together with certain petitioners then inhabitants of the town of Charlestown, were incorporated into a District, generally called Menotomy, since it included all the territory in the two towns on the westerly side of Menotomy River, now Alewife Brook, the stream flowing from the Spy-Pond Brook into the Mystic River.'

On Feb. 27, 1807, an act was passed to divide the town of Cambridge, and to incorporate the Westerly Parish therein as a separate town, by the name of West Cambridge.

Beginning at Charlestown line where the little river intersects the same, and running on a line in the middle of said little river until it strikes Fresh Pond ; thence west ten degrees south until it intersects the line of the town of Watertown ; thence on Watertown and Waltham line, till it strikes Lexington line ; thence on Lexington line till it strikes Woburn line ; theijce on Woburn and Charlestown line to the little river first mentioned.

This act contains the proviso that nothing therein shall be so construed as to impair the right or privilege of the Congregational minister of the town of West Cambridge, which he now holds in Harvard College.*

The inhabitants were vested with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties other corporate towns were subject to in this commonwealth. They were to hold a proportion of property owned in common - to pay arrears of taxes, to support their proportion of poor, to support their proportion of the old bridge over Charles River between the First and Third Parishes of Cambridge,' to pay state and county taxes.

' The Mystic River, of whicli the ancient Menotomy River is a branch, has its source in Mystic Pond, which was shown on Wood's Map of Massachusetts in 1633, It almost has its beginning, continuance and end within the limits of Medford. and hence is often called the Medford River. The names of the Mystic and Menotomy Rivers are apparently aboriginal designations, and like all Indian names probably describe the locality to which they were affixed. Trumbull gives the origin of the name Mystic, anciently written Mistiek, as applied to the Medford River, thus : " Tuk in Indian denotes a river whose waters are driven in loaves by the tides or winds. With the adjectival missi, ' great,' it forms missi-tuk - now written Mystic - the name of the 'great river' of Boston Bay." The origin of the name Menotomy yet awaits explanation. The spellings of the word have been various,

2 The " teaching elders " of six towns, namely Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury and Dorchester, by act of 1642, were to constitute a part of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College.

The act bad force June 1, 1807. A justice was to issue a warrant directed to some freeholder of said town of West Cambridge, notifying and warning the inliabitants thereof to meet at such time and place as appointed in said warrant, for choice of town officers. - Moss. Special Laws, iv. 88.

Part of Charlestown was annexed to West Cambridge, Feb. 25, 1842. Namely, "all that part of Charlestown which lies northwesterly of the thread of ' little river,' so called."

Part of West Cambridge was annexed to Winchester, April 30, 1850. Namely, the extreme northerly portion of West Cambridge, to a point in the Lexington and West Cambridge boundary line, one hundred and twelve and one half rods southwest from the junction of said line with Woburn, Lexington and West Cambridge lines.

Part of West Cambridge was annexed to Belmont, March 18, 1859. Namely, the extreme southerly portion of the town. For specification of boundary line between the towns of West Cambridge and Belmont, see the act to incorporate the town of Belmont.

1635. Paige, tllstonj of Cambridge, 1630-1877, mentions farms granted to inhabitants of Cambridge in 1635, in the territory now embraced in Arlington and Lexington (p. 36). A "highway to Menotomy" from tiie "Town" - now Old Cambridge - existed prior to 1636 (pp. 15, 16) ; and a weir to catch alewives on Menotomy River in the bounds of this town was made in 1636 (p. 38).

In the Proprietors' Records of Cambridge - see Paige, 21-22 - mention is made of the " new lots next Menotomy," as early as 1638. Instance William Cutter, who had one house and garden in the " town," of Mr. Santley ; and had also " in the new lots next Menotomy," three acres planting land ; highway to Menotomy, west. William Patten had also in -' new lots next Menotomy," two acres planting ground at this period.

William Cutter was a wine-cooper and made freeman April 18, 1637, and member of the Artillery Company in 1638. He had estates in Cambridge and Charlestown, and resided at different periods in both places (see Paige, xvi. 487, 521, and Wyman, 260); and by 1653 returned to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in England, where he originated, and whence a letter he wrote to Mr. Henry Dunster, President of Harvard College in Cambridge in New England, in 1654, has<beeu preserved (see Hist. Gutter Family of N. E., p. 368). He was appointed " assisting water-serjeant " at Newcastle, Eng., and sworn June 23, 1657. - Brand's History of Neiocastle, ii. p. 24, His mother Elizabeth Cutter, widow, and brother Richard Cutter, cooper, both settled in Cambridge, and his sister Barbara Cutter married Mr. Elijah Corlet, the memorable old school-master in Cambridge. The brother Richard Cutter had many descendants here, but William probably left no posterity. Richard Cutter had four acres land in the Menotomy neighborhood, bounded John Brewer east, William Towne west, Charlestown line north, and Common south, in 1645. Mention is made of the Menotomy Bridge and Menotomy River in the Proprietors' Records, in 1642.

William Patten was an early resident of Cambridge, who agreed to take charge of a part of the town herd of cattle, and resided on the easterly side of North Avenue (in the present Cambridge), opposite the Common. - Paige. Some of his descendants have resided in the Menotomy precinct. , 2*

This mill, probably erected in 1 637, or the year previous, was the first erected in Menotomy, since Arlington, and the earliest, with the exception of a windmill - see Paige, 20 - in Cambridge. Col. George Cooke, its owner, was slain in Ireland in the wars in 1 G52. His mill is now Fowle's, near Arlington Centre, long known as Cutter's Mill.'

1642. The Proprietors' Records contain the statement that Capt. Cooke, or Mr. George Cooke, had imprimis, one dwellinghouse, with mill and out-houses, with twenty acres of land ; Charlestown line east, Common south, west and north, in 1642. This was outside of the " town " proper. Capt. George Cooke had the grant of a farm of 600 acres from the town, in the vicinity of his mill, 1640 {Paige, 42); and mention is made in a deed of the Squa-Sachem (widow of the Sagamore) and Webecowit (her then husband) to the town of Charlestown, under date of 15 (2) 1639, of the '' little runnet that coraeth from Capt. Cooke's mill." - Midd. Registry, i. 175.

Cooke came to New England in 1635, in the same vessel with Rev, Thomas Shepard, the minister of Cambridge. He was then twentyfive years of age, and he and his brother Joseph Cooke were registered as servants, as a disguise to enable them the more easily to leave England. Immediately on his arrival, he purchased, in connection with his brother, a large number of liouses and lots in Cambridge, of those who were about removing to Connecticut. Mr. George Cooke was Ihosen captain for Newtown (now Cambridge) by order of the General Court in 1637 (Paige, 43). He was Selectman, 1638, 42, 43; Deputy or Representative, 1636, 42-45, and Speaker of the House in 1645. He was one of the earliest members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1638-9, and its captain in 1643; and when a similar company was incorporated in Middlesex County, May 14, 1645, he was its first captain. In 1643 the town jiaid him for the charge he had been at for making a fence to secure the Indians' corn (Paige, 384).* In 1643 Capt. George Cooke was one of the Commissioners - three in number - and Commander-iuTchief of

1 Gov. John Wintlirop and M. Cradock were granted by the General Court the wear at Menotomy, 1633-4. See Wyraan's Charlestown, 246, 1043. This wear or fishing dam was in Mystic River, at outlet of Pond. The early transfers of land in the Charlestown part of Menotomy are particularly mentioned in the late T. B. AVyman's great work entitled the Charlestown Genealogies and Estates, 1G29- 1818" (Boston, 1879).

^ This was a fence of two sutticient rails in the town line (between Cambridge and Charlestown) about half a mile in length, beginning at the outside of Cooke's laud, and running out northward to meet Capt. Gibbous's fence, and the military force - forty men - comprising the guard to attend them, who were sent on an exj^edition to Rhode Island with authority and order to apprehend Samuel Gorton and his company, and to bring them (to Boston) if they do not give them satisfaction. In the House of Deputies he served on many of its important committees. In 1645 he was elected one of the Reserve Commissioners of the United Colonies. And shortly after his arrival in this country, he built the mill in Menotomy, which we have already mentioned, whose ancient dam stilL remains in the mill-pond of Samuel A. Fowle, and was used till the present century. He returned to England near the end of 1645, was a colonel in Cromwell's army, and sacrificed his life in the service of the Commonwealth - "being reported to be slain in the wars in Ireland in the year 1652." Samuel Shepard, chosen ensign in 1637, when Cooke was chosen captain, returned to England with him, both being excused by the General Court in October, 1645, from further attendance as members, "being to go for England." Shepard was a major iia Cromwell's army, very probably in Colonel Cooke's regiment, and was represented in Mitchell's Church Record, 1658, as then living in Ireland, where he probably died about 1673. In 1652 the inventory of the estate of Colonel George Cooke was accepted, and Mr. Henry Duuster and Mr. Joseph Cooke were empowered as administrators to improve the estate for the good and education of his daughter Mary Cooke. - County Court, Records. The supposition is that she was placed in the custody of John Fownell, of Charlestown, millwright, as guardian or agent, who, in 1655, sold thirteen acres of land, which he recovered by law from the estate of George Cooke, colonel, for the education of his daughter.

Colonel Cooke's inventory, dated 8 mo. 4 da. 1652 - of all the estate found in New England, of Colonel George Cooke, late in Ireland, deceased - names the dwelling-house at the mill, with all barns, outhouses, gardens, orchai'ds and twenty acres of land thereunto adjoining and belonging. And also the mill-house, mill, and all things belonging unto it. Item, a farm in Cambridge, lying by the way to Concord, containing 500 acres. Item, nine acres of broken uplands in Charlestown fields ; and the lot of meadow and pasture by Mystic Pond, containing by estimation about ten acres. Among other items is that of " one Iron crank for the 'Sawmill " ; and " one pair of Rigging and hooks." An item specifying his indebtedness unto John Fownell, of Cambridge, is mentioned. Appraisers : Henry Dunster, Thomas Danforth, Edward Goffe.

enclosed the land on the west of the two great ponds, called Misticke ponds, which the Squa- Sachem reserved for her use during her life from sale of lands to the towns of Charlestown and Cambridge, for the Indians to plant and hunt upon ; extending, in Charlestown limits, from the south side of Mr. Nowell's lot, near the upper end of the ponds, to the brook from Cooke's mill. The reversion of this Indian reservation, together with the said ponds, was conveyed by the Squa- Sachem to Jotham Gibbons. In 1662 it was possessed and improved by Thomas Gleison of Charlestown, and the inhabitants of Charlestown had proceeded to lay claim to it. See Paiff/', 382-84 ; Wyman, 203, 283, 406, 411 ; Midd. ReyiUry, i. 173, 4, 5, 6 ; ii. 1 ; &c.

S . History Of Arlington

In 1655 John Fownell sold to Henry Dunster, thirteen acres of the above laud in Charlestovvn, which he recovered by law, as we have already stated; being a portion of that land, which certain inhabitants of Charlestown, in 164G, gi-anted to Mr. Henry Dunster, President of the College, in Winottamy or Menotomy Field - Cambridge bounds one side, and Mystic Pond and River and Menotomy Brook the other sides. - Midd. Registry, i. 104, 5. This property is now included in the town of Arlington. The present Mystic street' is very near the former Charlestown line, which formed the eastern (or northern) boundary of Cooke's twenty acres, 1G42-1652. See Wyman's Clis. 312.

George and Alice Cooke had in Cambridge, Elizabeth, b. 27 Mar. 1640, died Aug. 1640; Thomas, b. 19 June 1642, died 16 Aug. 1642; Elizabeth, born 21 Aug. 1644, married Rev. John Quick, of St. Giles, London, England; Mary, born 15 Aug. 1646, or after her father returned to England - of the Parish of Martin's-in-the- Fields, London, spinster, in 1669 - married Samuel Annesley, Esq., Westminster, P^ngland - she, Mary Annesley, formerly Mary Cooke, wrote letter to Edward Collins, that she had lately married a younger brother of her mother, Sept. 12, 1681 (court files). - See Paige, 397-98, 513, 623, 653; Wyman, 22, 235.^

Persons cutting down trees in swamp or upland on the side toward the "town," of the Menotomy River - the Great Swamp only excepted - were liable to fine in 1647; and the same for -cutting or taking away wood or timber on any land at Menotomy, on the side toward the " town," of the path which goeth

^ Otherwise the ancient road to Woburn from Cambridge. Capt, Cooke and lOthers were appointed by the General Court to lay out the way from Cambridge to Woburn in 1643. This road leading from Woburn to Cambridge is described lon the Woburn Records, in 1646, as "leading to Cambridge mill and town" the one way, and to " Upstreet and Shawshin," in Woburn, the other way. In Woburn it was called Plain Street, from its going over the plain in the west side of what is now Winchester, where the same road now is. - See Sewall's Hist. Wob., p. 26. The laying out of this road from Woburn, and that also from Watertown, in 1638, show the importance of Cooke's mill to the early settlers of this region.

- The History of the Reed Family, by J. W. Reed, p. 39, states, " There was a Dr. Samuel Read of Stafford in England, who, in 1645 (1635?), furnished one Cook, with funds to build a gristmill in Cambridge, Mass., and took a mortgage of the same. Whether this mill was on Charles River, or on a small stream is in West Cambridge, I have no knowledge ; but it was a great enterprise for those days, and controlled the location of highways in that section."

The mill was certainly that belonging to Colonel George Cooke, and long known as Cutter's, near West Cambridge - now Arlington - Centre. And the stream is the same that flows from the Great Meadows in Lexington, through the present Arlington, into Mystic Pond, near the head of the Mystic River. The privilege is at present owned and occupied in Arlington by Samuel A. Fowlc. We have been unable to substantiate the statement of the historian of the Reed Family, regarding the above mortgage ; but incline to agree with him, that the mill was "a great enterprise for those days," and "controlled the location o£ highways " in this section.

Fence viewers were first elected for Menotomy fields in 1649 (Paige, 56). The Great Swamp lying within the bounds of Cambridge, on the east side of Fresh Pond Meadow and Menotomy Brook, was divided into allotments by vote of the town, in 1658 (Paige, 96). A lawsuit about fishing in Menotomy River, established the right of Cambridge to take fish in that river, in 1681, which privilege has remained unimpaired to the present time (Paige, 97-8).

Edward Randolph, the " arch-enemy of the colony," attempted to obtain possession of seven hundred acres of land near Spy Pond, in 1688 (Paige, 103, &c.).

In 1656 Thomas Ross, a Scotchman, and a servant to Edward Winship, had liberty to mow the grass in the swamp anent the north end of Spy Pond (Paige, 646).

Andrew Beard was chosen hog-reeve for Menotomy, 1692 (Paige, 486). Jonathan Butterfield was field-driver for Menotomy fields, 1693 (Paige, 505). Jacob Chamberlin was chosen hog-reeve for Menotomy, in 1695 (Paige, 506). Ofiices once of greater significance than at present.

A transfer from Holden to Prentice of a large part of the Holden Farm, bounded south on Fresh Pond and east on Alewife Brook, being the former southeasterly corner of Arlington, occurred in 1729 (Paige, 631).

Justinian Holden had bought of Nathaniel Sparhawk's executors 289 acres, bounded S. on Fresh Pond and E. on Alewife River, in 1653 (Paige, 586).

John Adams bought of Mr. Joseph Cooke (brother of Colonel George Cooke) of Stannaway, co. Essex, England, by deed in the seventeenth year of King Charles II., 1664, thirteen acres meadow and upland lying by 'Notomy River, abutting on highway leading from Cambridge to Concord east; west the swampground leading to Fresh Pond Meadow, south Menotomy River, north on said swamp toward Spy Pond. Edward Winship was attorney for Cooke, May 17, 1665. - Proprietors' Records. (See Paige, 513.)

John Adams's farm, 1664, is mentioned in the Proprietors' Records, laid out to a farm of one hundred and seventeen acres, by him purchased of Golden Moore, and is situated on the waste lands in the seventh mile, bounded northeast with Widow Russell's farm purchased of Richard Jackson, east with Alewive meadow, south Joseph Holmes, west with common land, northwest with Mr. Pelham's farm ; with allowance for the great road or highway that leads to Concord. Surveyed by David Fiske, at the appointment of Lieut. Edward Win-

This John Adams, who was styled of "Menotomy Row in the Township of Cambridge," millwright, in 1677, lived in Arlington on the spot where the old house of Deacon John Adams formerly stood, near the present Railway Station at the Centre. His wife Ann is named as a member of the Cambridge church in a record commenced in 1 658, and he himself was admitted a member of the same church May 18, 1666. John and Ann Adams had, born in Cambridge, Mary, 2o Oct. 1652; John, 1 May, 1655; Daniel, 8 Aug. 1657 (died soon); Joseph (baptized with the two first children, Mary and John, at Cambridge) ; Hannah (baptized 17 Jan. 1660), died 25 Feb. 1660; Daniel, born 12 Aug. 1662 (baptized 14 Sept. 1662), died 14 May, 1685. A daughter Rebecca (older than these), bom and baptized in England, married Nathaniel Patten 24 Nov. 1669, and died 18 Dec. 1677 {Paige, ill; Newell's Carnh. Church- Gathering, 62).

In 1697 John Adams, Senior, " millwright," conveyed the homestead and adjoining lots to his son Joseph Adams, husbandman, ''chiefly because he hath been a loving and dutiful son to me, and his mother, and liveth with us, and is the staff of our old age " {Midd. Registry, xii. 544).

This Joseph Adams married Margaret Eames, at Cambridge, 21 Feb. 1687-8, and died here 20 July, 1701. He was presumably the father of Joseph Adams, who died in Menotomy 18 Oct. 1774, aged 86, the ancestor of the Adams Family here. - See Genealogies.

In 1699 John Adams, Senior, and Ann Adams conveyed to William Patten, son of Nathaniel, Senior, ten acres, south by Menotomy River, south and west by John Dickson's meadow and Jonathan Butterfield's, southeast by said Adams, northwest by Adams's swamp, and northeast upon the country road (Midd. Registry, xvi. 438). WUliam Patten was a grandson. - Paige.

John Adams, Senior, died in 1706, aged about 85. His will (dated 1 June, 1706) and inventory were sworn 7 Oct. 1706. In 1714 Ann Adams, relict, widow of John Adams, deceased, formerly of Cambridge, and John Adams, of Sudbury, yeoman, being the sole executors of his honored father, John Adams, aforesaid, deceased, sold four acres in Charlestown - the present Arlington Cemetery lot - southeast on highway leading from Menotomy to Medford, northeast on a range-way, northwest on land of William Cutter, southwest on land of Joseph Adams the purchaser [Midd. Registry, xvii. 59). Joseph Adams, the purchaser, was a grandson of John Adams, Senior, above.

The town of Charlestown granted John Adams four acres, 3^ rods, in Menotomy Field, in 1658. He bought of Jonathan Bunker three acres in Menotomy Field, east Menotomy River, west Field, north Mystic River, 1677 ( Wyman, p. 6).'

' It is probable the senior John Adams resided in Concord or Chelmsford previous to his removal to Cambridge. - See Shattuck Hist, Concord, p. 361, and Midd. Regittry Deeds, i. 192.

The Second Precinct In Cambridge

In 1665 Capt. Cooke's mill-lane is named in a deed of John Brown, of Marlboro', to Robert Wilson, conveying his dwellinghouse and barn with six acres of land, J. Adams east, Charlestown line north, Capt. Cooke's mill-lane west, William Bull south, Oct. 27, 1665. See Paige, 502.

This mill-lane was a portion of the road laid out from Watertown line to Cooke's Mill at Menotomy in 1 638. The " mill-lane " is now Water street in Arlington.

1691. Sarah Hill, relict and administratrix of Jacob Hill, late of Cambridge (who died 12 Dec. 1690), deeds to William Cutter, carpen" ter, April 10, 1691, eight acres in Cambridge; north William Cutter, east the highway that leads from the mill-gate to Concord Road, south with Concord Road, and west with land of Mr. William Manning. The " highway that leads from the mill-gate to Concord Road," is the " mill-lane," once Capt. Cooke's, now known as Water street. William Cutter was the son of Richard Cutter, and the nephew of William Cutter mentioned in the first paragraphs of this chapter. The bargain for the above eight acres was made and possession given " about one year now past " - " the sale being first made by said Jacob , . ^ Hill before his death." It is interesting to state that the original ^/ ^ deed is extant, as one of a parcel of old plans, deeds and will of Wil- ' ,^ liam Cutter, who died here 1 Api'il, 1723, in his 74th year, father of ; j* Richard, John, William, Samuel and Ammi Ruhamah Cutter, and .. S four daughters of adult age. The " mill-lane," and its relation to the " Great Road to Boston," are shown in a plan of William Cutter's lands made about 1725.

1695. The highway to Cooke's mill, by Cutter's, was in litigation - specified as "from Concord Road to Capt. Cooke's Mill, now in possession of William Cutter." - County Court Records.

In the same records mention is made, in 1 689, of Samuel Bull and the land adjoining his house- lot, alleging what great damage he should sustain, if the highway to the mill should be laid by his land, by reason of the great fall of water in winter time, which would hinder all passage to and from his house ; Robert Wilson's heirs' houselot adjoined to said Bull, butting on Concord Road, and three poles at the other end next the mill; the highway to the mill being then laid between this land and Jacob Hill's, and is in breadth seven poles. Robert Wilson died probably about 1685 (Paige, 694). Samuel Bull was a party to the litigation of 1695.*

1 In the plan of 1725 the millstream from the present Fowle's Mills to its outlet in Mystic Pond is shown under the name of " Bull's Creek." Samuel Bull sold twelve acres in Charlestown and Cambridge, lot late of Samuel Bull's bro.- inlaw William Godding, Mrs. Bull's portion, bounded north Mystic Pond, west Mdl Brook, east Robert Wilson, south William Cutter, to Mary Bathrick, alias Boyce, and Samuel Godding, 1724. S. Bull brought up Mary Bdyce - hi»

1724. "Voted that the road leading to Watertown be removed from the northerly to the southerly side of the land reserved for a buryimr-place, IMr. Jason Russell and the neighborhood thereabouts manifesting their desires that it might be so." - Proprietors' Records.

The " Burying Place at Menotomy " is again mentioned in the Proprietors' Records in 1767. When it was first designated for that purpose, we have not discovered, but it is probable there were no interments here before 1732, and very few before 173G, the date of the earliest gravestones.

1 070. Edward Collins, of Medford, attorney of Miss Mary Cooke, of the Parish of Martins-in-the-Fields, to John Rolph (or Rolfe), of Nantucket Island in New England, planter, for £160, sells sundry parcels of land : viz., 600 acres in Cambridge, north by Woburn line, south by Herbert Pelham, Esq., east by land of Widow Russell, and Cambridge Commons westerly ; 20 acres ditto, north by Charlestown line, and common lands of Cambridge elsewhere surrounding, with all the buildings and fencing to the same appertaining; also 2 acres in Charlestown limits - the brook northerly, Cambridge line southerly; these sometime the possession of Colonel George Cooke, the father of said Mary. Sept. 27, 1670. {Midd. Registrrj, iv. 39.)

John Rolfe was originally of Newbury, and married there Mary Scullard (daughter of Samuel), 4 Dec. 1656. Rolfe died suddenly at the house of his brother Benjamin Rolfe, at Newbury, 1 Oct. 1681, where he made a nuncupative will, and said he would, if he could write the next day, write his will, but in the meanwhile deceased before he could finish the same.

1681. "Granted to Widow Rolfe to make a dam above the old mill-pond to keep water in, for to accommodate the mill with water." - Proprietors' Records.

The " old mill-pond " was at the mill established by Colonel Cooke. The above may be the origin of the dam at the privilege of the late Cyrus Cutter.

1683. Mary Rolfe, of Cambridge, widow and administratrix of John Rolfe, deceased, to Richard Gardner, for £20, sells one fifth of a farm of 600 acres at Vine Brook in Cambridge, called Cooke's farm, adopted daughter, per his will, 1723, - she marrying John Bathrick, 1724. A lot, formerl)' of William Bull (see Wyman's C/w. 149), came to S. Bull's poasession in 1704-5. Part of S. Bull's estate came into John Cutter's possession, 1737-38; and Elizabeth Bathrick (John's dau.) sold Simon Holden another portion bounded north on Medford lower pond, 1745. See Wj-man's Ch$.; Paige's Camb. 604 ; and Goddin Family in Genealogies.

The Second Precinct In Cambridge

and other lands ; he, the said Gardner, being a joint purchaser with her husband John Rolfe, " of a farm of 600 acres, formerly Capt. George Cooke's, given him by the town of Cambridge, at a place commonly called Vine Brook." In consideration of the premises being all paid and done to the full satisfaction of her said husband in his lifetime, and the said Richard Gardner having no deed of conveyance of a one-fifth part of said farm, according to covenant while her husband lived, she conveys a portion of the above estate, Oct. 2, 1683. (iWidd. Registry, vtii. 402.)

John Rolfe's nuncui^ative will, Oct. 1, 1681, gives his sou John Rolfe the land that he, the father, now lived upon in Cambridge, with the mill and houses upon it ; excepting one acre of land " which I have given unto my son William Cutter." His farm he gave to his other sons, to be equally divided among them, they paying legacies to their sisters out of the estate (the legacies to the daughters being according to the discretion of his overseers). The overseers he appointed and ordered were Richard Doell [Dole], Benjamin Rolfe, George Little, Francis Moore, John Gardner. Dec. 16, 1681, Sarah " Halle," aged 45, and Apphia Rolfe, aged 40 [wife of Benjamin and sister-in-law of John Rolfe], testified to being "at Benjamin Rolfe's hous in nube.ry that night that John Rolfe deceased," and " heard him declare that he had appointed and did desire his two brothers Ri. Do well and Benj. Rolf, and Geo. Little of nubery, and his cousin John Gardner of Ohorne [Woburn], and his naybor Moore to be his overseers, and take care of his wife and children, and settle his estate as they thought best, giving this reason that he was in such extremity of pain that he was not able to settle things himself."

The inventory of his estate, dated Dec. 19, 1681, mentions the -' homeland and housing and orchard," and three quarters of the cornmill and the meadow belonging to it - the meadow being in Charlestown bounds; also the "farm," containing 500 acres more or less. This was the property he bought in 1670 of Miss Mary Cooke.

1685. John Rolfe, of Cambridge, husbandman, to William Cutter, " in consideration that my honored father John Rolfe, late of Cambridge, deceased, did in his lifetime give unto my loving brother-in-law William Cutter, of the same town, carpenter, one small piece of land at the west corner of his homestead to set a house on, and orchard, and the like ; and the homestead being devised to me John Rolfe, for my portion of my father's estate ; for as much as my said brother had no deed of the same, though put in possession by my father in his life- time ; the overseers of my father's estate, in the division of the same, orilered me to give a deed hereof, unto my said brotlior William Cutter" - grants to said Cutter "one piece of land situate in the township of Cambridge, on the west corner of the aforesaid homestead, containing by estimation four acres; bounded uortiieast and eastwardly by the rest of the land of the homestead, and south and westwardly by Cambridge town common, with the house that he hath built upon it, and part of it within a fence that said Cutter hath set up ; and the rest lyeth unfenced, adjoining to that which is fenced ; with the liberty of making a dam for the convenience of the mill near the said Cutter's house' ; as also a twelfth part of a sawmill uj)on Sergt. Francis Whitmore's land." Dated April 10, 1 085, and signed "John Rolfe and seal" {Midd. lieffisiri/, ix. 366). It is witnessed in part by the mark of Mary Rolfe, Jr.'

1686. William Cutter to Edward Thomas, of Boston, "agent for Mr. William Metcalfe, of Newberry in Oxfordshire in OkbEngland," sells, or mortgages, the four acres, with house on same, the allowance for a dam, and one twelfth of a sawmill, which were formerly part of the estate of his father-in-law John llolfe, iu Cambridge; also niue-

- Probably the sister of John, who was born 16 Jan. 1660. John Rolfe, Jr., appears to tiave removed, as did the other sons of John Rolle, to Woodbridge, N. J., where "John llolf" - then resident in Massachusetts - received deed of lands in Woodbridge from Richard Dole 27 Apr. 1685. John Rolph and Sarah Moores were married at Woodbridge 18 July, 1688. Theii' daughter Sarah was born 27 Nov. 1689. Sarah, the wife, died 4* Dec. 1689. Their daughter Sarah died 23 Dec. 1689. "John Rolf" Avas "ratemaker" (assessor) in 16S9. "John Rolph's dwelling-house" is named in the laying out of a highway 9 Feb. 1C99. [He was dead in 1705.]

Joseph Rolf was constable, 1695. Joseph Rolph was on " committee" (Avith general powers like board of selectmen) in 1705. In 1701 he was on committee of eleven - named as " the following influential men," to negotiate with Rev. Mr. Shepard for ordination as their minister. [He was millwright, of Woodbridge, 1705.]

"Benjamin R()li)h's lands" are named in a description by boundaries in 1714. Benjamin Rolph and Margaret Ilollon (probably Holland) were married 2 Dec. 1703. Their daughter Rebecca was born 26 Sept, 1704. Their son Benjamin, born 1 Jan. 1706-07.

Henry Rolph, in Sept. 1716, unites with nine others, invitmg Rev. Mr. Vaughan of the Church of England, to hold services "on the Sabbath-days," on account of differences with Rev. Mr. Wade, so that they "cannot joyn with him in the worship of God, as Xtians ought to do." In 1714 Henry Rolle was one of the four trustees of School lands. [Harry Rolfe's lot, in Cambridge, is mentioned in 1712.]

The Second Precinct In Cambridge

teen acres, east division line Cambridge and Charlestown, north Cambridge common land, south partly by Cambridge common land and parti}' by land of Robert Wilson, and west by his own ; together with the dwelling-house, barns, out-houses, fences, orchards, gardens, &c., pertaining to the same; with three quarters of the corn-mill, now standing on said land (the " nineteen acres," &c., comprising the "homestead" devised to John Rolfe, Jr., in 1681); and three quarters of the house, stones, wheels, bills, and all other utensils and appurtenances, thereunto belonging; as also three acres meadow within Charlestown limits, east by Jonathan Dunster, north by the millbrook, south by division line between Charlestown and Cambridge, Dec. 27, 1G86. Mortgage discharged by the said Cutter, June 1, 1696 {Midd. Registry, x. ;3o).

From 1693 to 1698, William Cutter was subjected to lawsuits by the heirs of Colonel George Cooke, in the persons of Mr. John Quick, of London, and Elizabeth his wife, and Samuel Annesley, Esq., of London, and Mary his wife, by John Carthew, of Boston, their attorney, to recover possession of twenty acres of land in Cambridge, including the premises where said Cutter dwelt, a water cornmill on said twenty acres, and three acres meadow-land in Charlestown, being the real estate whereof the said George Cooke died seized. The twenty acres were described as bounded at this period by the land in the tenure of INIatthew Abdee, on the east by Woburn highway, on the north by Charlestown line, and on the west by a lot of land lately purchased by said William Cutter. The premises claimed, occupied by Cutter, consisted of " one messuage house, wherein said Cutter doth now inhabit and dwell, and of one barn, garden and orchard and yard thereunto belonging." The piece of meadow in the bounds of Charlestown had the brook northerly, Cambridge line southerly, and Woburn highway westerl3^ The particulars of the controversy are entered on the County Court Records. In the records of the Superior Court, the suit Quick vs. Cutter appears January and July, 1696, also January, 1697, and January and July, 1698.

" James Convers, aged about fifty-two years, being sworn, doth say. that he very well remembers the mill that stood upon the brook, at a place called Menotomy in Cambridge bounds, which mill, when it was in being, was called Captain Cooke's Mill.

" I, this deponent, also do know very well, that the said mill was demolished a considerable time before John Ralph [Rolfe] bought that place, and so were the other buildings ; except some small ruins thereof were to be seen when said Ralph came there to live ; and the said John Ralph built the mill that is now there standing, and the house and the barn ; and the said Ralph bought the timber for the wheels, the irons for said mill, and the millstones, of this deponent's father and his uncle Josiah Convers ; and that Lieut. Matthew Johnsou, late of Woburn, built the said mill for said Ralph ; that is to say, lie dill tlie millwright work thereof; and this deponent did work at the said mill and dwelling-house, for the aforesaid John Kalph, who paid him honestly for the same; and this mill and house is the same, that is now ill eontroversy between Mr. Cothoo [CarthewJ, attorney to Mr. C^uiek, and William Cutter.

1704. William Cutter having a dam made over a brook, called Landing-Plaee Brook, near said William Cutter's house in Cambridge, otherwise ealled the INIill Urook, to raise a pond for his sawmill; he in that place flowed William Kussell's lands in 1703 and 1704, and suit was brought 1704. - Count n Court Records.

This may be the same liberty of making a dam, conveyed to William Cutter in 1685, and granted to the Widow Rolfe in 1681. The dam was at Cyrus Cutter's privilege.

1718. William Cutter deeds to his son John Cutter, for helping and assisting to build and erect his cornmill and sawmill, standing ou his houselot, one fourth part of both his mills.

1722. William Cutter by his will, dated June I, 1722, divides his mills then standing on his homestead among his sons Richard, John, William and Samuel; confirming to his son John the fourth part which he conveyed to him by a deed, and devising to the other three sons each an equal quarter. Confirmed by deeds of the sons to each other in 1725.

Ammi Kuhamah Cutter, another son of AVilliam, made surveys and plans of his father's lands, about 1725, one showing the location of the "JMill-Pond, Dam and Yard," and the lands adjoining divided among the sons ; also of upland and meadow " lying in the bounds of Charlestown, in a place called Menotomy Fields," abutting on the " Road to Charlestown " and Menotomy River, and divided among the sons.

Richard Cutter sold bis fourth of the cornmill and sawmill to John in 1731, and Samuel sold his fourth of the cornmill and sawmill to William in 1732.

John Cutter, on March 3, 1768, sold to Jonathan Cutter, only heir of the last William, one half of the ancient milldam, yard and pond, containing two and one half acres, shown in plan of the date of about 1725, being John's estate of inheritance in fee simple, and also the old mill-privilege originally belonging to Colonel George Cooke. Jonathan Cutter, on March 25, 1708, sold to Ammi Cutter the same premises, being described as " one certain ancient milldam, pond and yard," containing by estimation two acres and a lialf. These premises Ammi increased by the purchase of one and a half acres of meadow and upland of his father John Cutter, in 1770, immediately below the old milldam and yard, and now included in Fowle's lower pond ; also by the purchase of three and three ([uarters acres more in the same direction below the dam, and extending to the Woburn road, of his cousin Samuel Cutter, in 1778, afterward Ammi's sou's, Ijeiijamiu

Cutter's, of Charlestown, who sold a part to Ephraim Cutter, containing one acre and a half and 22 rods, in 1804, shown in a plan by Peter Tufts, Jr., dated 1803, and makes a part of Fowle's lower millpond, and the lanes formerly leading to Ephraim Cutter's mill. Amrai Cutter left '-one Grist Mill, with a Boll in the same," located on the ancient dam bought by him in 1768. which was assigned on the distribution of his estate, in 1795. as a part of the portion of his sixth son Ephraim Cutter, who built a new dixm and mill below the old one, about 1800. On the distribution of Ephraim Cutter's estate at his death in 1841, the mill and privilege fell to the possession of his sons Benjamin and Samuel L. Cutter. In 1850 Benjamin Cutter, of Woburn, bought of his brother Samuel Locke Cutter, the undivided half of the mill and lands, which they had owned in common. The premises are now the property of Dr. Benjamin Cutter's son-in-law Samuel A. Fowle.

In 1743, John Cutter, above, sold to John Cutter, Jr., land joining on the country road to Lexington, William Russell's land being west, the land extending east on said road sixty rods, and the northeasterly corner of the land being at foot of hill near an old dam. On the distribution of the elder John Cutter's estate, in 1776, the "half of an old sawmill " was set off to the above John Cutter, Jr., eldest son of the said John, deceased. The second John Cutter, in 1790, sold to Stephen Cutter, miller, lands including the home-lot and Hill's lot, bounded south on Concord road, together with house and barn, saw and gristmills, and all other buildings on said land {Midd. Registry, cii. 176). In 1827 Mary Cutter, the widow of Stephen Cutter, granted land to the Baptist Society for the erection thereon of a meeting-house, with the privilege of using so much of the mill-pond as necessary for the ordinance of baptism. The old way to Cyrus Cutter's dam from the main road is mentioned in town records in 1836. Cyrus Cutter bought the premises on Feb. 26, 1836, of Eli Eobbins, who had bought the same of Mrs. Mary Cutter on April 30, 1835, being described in the deed to Cyrus Cutter, as "a certain millsite, mill-privilege and water course," with land, &c.

Another mill-privilege above these on the same stream was that which Thomas Cutter and others, co-heirs of Gershom Cutter, to the same Stephen Cutter, quitclaimed their interest in 1778 ; .described as " a certain gristmill in Cambridge, with all and singular the dam, flooms, mill-pond," &c. Stephen Cutter, miller, sold the above property and other lands to Ichabod Fessendeu, miller, in 1795, specifying a house, barn and gristmill, dams, flooms, &c. {Midd. Registry, cxxv. 27, 28). This property was sold by Ichabod Fessenden to John Perry and Stephen Locke, millers, in 1809, with all buildings, the gristmill and privileges, dams, flooms, mill-ponds, &c. [Midd. Reg. clxxxii. 256, &c.). The privilege is now the property of Charles Schwamb.

Gershom Cutter, who died in 1807, probably erected a mill on the privilege next east of this, and nearly opposite the old upper schoolhouse, for turning and grinding edgetools, where his son Aaron Cutter 2*

In 1805 Abuer Stearns, of Billerica, boiiuht land here of Ephraim Cooke, victualler, which Stearns, in 1808, sold to John Tufts, with a wool-factory thereon and machinery, and established himself on the site since Schouler's. Tufts sold these premises to Ezra Trull, of Boston, in 1817, with a mill thereon, and a raceway through land of heirs of P^dward Blackington. " He also conveyed to Trull, at same time, land occupied as a millpond on Baptist meeting-house lane, being l)art of the laud bounded south on Concord road, and south and west on Baptist meeting-house property and lane, which John Tufts bought of Ephraim Cooke in 18O0. A lane or road led to the mills formerly known as the " Tufts mills." The mills were destroyed by fire about 1831. Ezra Trull sold the premises to Cyrus Cutter, in 1831, with a mill-site thereon, " where the mills formerly known by the name of the Tufts mills stood, previous to the fire which destroyed said mills." Cyrus Cutter granted the above as a lease-hold estate for mill purposes, to "William Welch and Charles Griffiths, both of Boston, sawmakers, and Charles Reeves, of West Cambridge, filecutter, in 1832, with buildings thereon standing, raceway through Blackington's land, &c. The lane by the " saw-factory " was laid out as a town way in 1840.

Abuer Stearns's first business was that of wool-carding, to which he added a gristmill, afterward used for grinding yellow ochre for paint. In 1810 or 1811, he erected a large building on the site since Schouler's, in which he had a fulling-mill and a spinning machine of 72 spindles, in 1812. The yarn spun was taken elsewhere and made into broadcloth. The peace of 1815 broke up the business, owing to the excessive importation of British cloths. Stearns left West Cambridge in 1816, and was of Bedford in 1817. Abner Stearns, of Billerica, gentleman, sold to James Schouler, of Lynn, calico-printer.' land in West Cambridge, with dwelling-house, factory and other buildings, with a mill-site and mill-privileges, known by the name of the " Stearns Factory," on March G, 1832.

A mill about to be erected by Ichabod Fessenden in 1816 was that at the privilege now the property of J. C. liobbs. Samuel Lewis, of Dedham, bought of Stephen Robbins land with water-mill and dwelling-house in West Cambridge, 1839.*

^ James Schouler, born in Scotland 13 July, 1786, died Westchester, X. Y., 24 Feb. 1864, aged 77; Maroaret C, wife of same, died 24 July, 1851, aged 63 - gravestones Arlington. Father of Adjutant- General William Schouler and of John Schouler. selectman 1844-46, 1853, 1874-77, representative, 18.36.

2 The mill below the Wear Bridge in the ^lystic lliver on the Menotomy side was embraced in a conveyance by Josejjh Prout to Jonathan Dunster, 1710. Edward Collins sold the same in 1660. Collins bought of Thomas Broughton, 1669. See Wyman's Clis., 136, 312; Brooks's Medford, 393, 506.

or cavalry-man (p. 398); on Nov. 26, 1675, Gershom Cutter (brother of William, and a Menotomy resident) was impressed with others from Cambridge, for service in Philip's or the Nari'agansett War (p. 399); the names of several private soldiers who served in this war, some of whom w^ere probably from ^ilenotomy, are given (Pa/(/e, 399) ; for instance: Matthew Abdy, Thomas Batherick, Sunuiel Buck, Samuel Bull, Jonatlian Dunster, Justinian Holden, Jason Russell, William Russell, Gershom Swan, John Wellington.

A list of taxpayers in Menotomy, from a Cambridge list of persons and estates, taken in the month of August, 1 688, given by Paige, 442-43, &c., furnishes the following names of persons who resided and had estate here at that date, and of some who had estate here, but were not resident. The names of those taxed for person and estate are Matthew Abdee, or Abdy, John Adams, Samuel Buck, Richard Cutter and his sons William, Gershom and Nathaniel Cutter, William Dickson and John Dickson, Jonathan Dunster (persoH and doom), James Hubbard, Israel Mead, Nathaniel Patten, Joseph Russell and his brothers William and Jason Russell, Jonathan Saunders, John Wellington, Edward Winship and Joseph Winsliip (sons of Lieut. Edward \Vinship). Those persons taxed for estate here only, were Thomas Hall, Justinian Holden, and Lieut. Edward Winship.

1693. The town granted Menotomy people a quarter of an acre of land, upon their common, near Jason Russell's house, near the higlnvay, for the acconnnodation of a school-house [Paige, 373).

Some entries from the Proprietors' Records of Cambridge are here inserted, to show a few transactions of interest relating to this jjart of the town.

IGS'J. The names of the inhabitants who are not jiroprietors, who have granted to them lands at Menotomy: Abraham Watson, John Dickson, Samuel Cooke, Philip Cooke, Josei^li Adams, Gershom Cutter, William Cutter, Jonathan Dunster.

Miiiistrg Lot, 1689. Forty acres for the ministry, bounded Concord Road northeast, the small farms northwest, common land yet undivided southwest, last range of lots, &c., southeast.

Jason Russell bought Mr. Pelham's lot of twenty acres in the first Division of the Rocks, and fenced the same for his particular improvement, 1G89.

William Russell having bought a lot laid out to Nathaniel Hancock; also a lot laid out to Owen Warland ; with a lot laid out to his mother, the Widow Hall, he desired to make particular imj^rovement, and apjilied, &c., 168'J ( ?). To the same, liberty to enclose a lot he possessed, laid out to John Sawtelle, was granted, 1694-5. William Russell survived his brother Jason Russell, and died at Menotomy, May 17, 1744, aged 89. - Paige, 647.

Sheds. Edward Winship, William Russell, Jason Russell, William Cutter, Joseph Winship, Samuel Kidder, Nathaniel Patten and John Dickson granted liberty for the erecting of a conveniency (against the college fence, northward of our Meeting-House) for the standing of their horses on Sabbath-days, 1703. This was the meeting-house of the First Parish at Old Cambridge, where the above persons, mostly residents of Menotomy, then worshipped.

Allotments on the north side of Menotomy River and at " Mills Ware," were made to citizens, 1707. Among whom were Mrs. Corlet, AVilliam Patten, Jason Russell, Gershom Cutter, John Dickson, Samuel Bull, R. Cutter, Solomon Pi'entice, Jonathan Dunster, College, Samuel Buck, Philip Cooke, «&;c. Sept. 2, 1715, William Cutter bought of his cousin Mrs. Champney (daughter of Mrs. Corlet), five acres in Cambridge, bounded north on a highway to a place called "Mills Ware" {Midd. Registry, xx. 156). "Mills Weares" are named in the town i-ecords of West Cambridge as late as 1811.

1724. Request of Jason Russell and others, that way may be stated from Thomas Fillebrown's to Spy Pond, and so to way to "Mills Weare." This Jason Russell was grandfather of that Jason Russell who was killed by the British troops on April 19, 1775. The senior Jason Russell died about 1736. - Paige, 647.

A. D. 1825. The Proprietors' Records of Cambridge mention the grant to Inhabitants of West Cambridge, of all the land within that town, which belonged to the Proprietors of Cambridge before the separation of the two towns.

The Second Precinct In Cambridge History 0F The Precinct

1732. Iq 1732 the inhabitants of the nor#westerly part of Cambridge were by an act of the legislature formed into a distinct and separate Precinct. The particulars of this transaction, as far as relate to the proceedings of the State, are already given. The Cambridge Northwest Precinct Book, containing the record of votes and orders, which passed in the said Precinct, since the 28th of Dec. 1732, at which time the same was set off by the Great and General Court, has the record of the first meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the precinct, warned by warrant of William Brattle, Esq., and held Jan. 29, 1732-3, at the school-house within the said precinct. At this meeting John Cutter was chosen moderator, and John Cutter, the same individual, was chosen Precinct clerk, and sworn to the faithful discharge of the duties of that office. Joseph Adams, Henry Dunster, James Cutler, Ephraim Frost, and Jonathan Butterfield, Jr., were chosen a committee to assist in calling meetings.

At a second meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants, on Mar. 5, 1732-3, Henry Dunster, James Cutler, Ephraim Frost, Joseph Adams and Jonathan Butterfield, Jr., were chosen the prudential committee of the Precinct, the ensuing year. Ephraim Frost, Joseph Adams and Jonathan Butterfield, Jr., were chosen assessors. John Winship was chosen collector of the Precinct, and John Fillebrown, treasurer. At this meeting it was put to vote " whether our inhabitants would desire our neighbors in the adjacent part of Charles town to join with us in settling the gospel ministry among us; "and it passed in the affirmative, and arrangements were made accordingly. At a third meeting (April 16, 1733) a committee was chosen to provide for preaching for six months after May 1, and ninety pounds were to be raised for support of preaching for one year. An attempt was connnenced which lasted many years to secure their portion iu the ministerial privileges of the mother town.

Early measures, also, were taken to build a meeting-house (July 10, 1733), and the parcel of land lying between Mr. Jason Russell's pasture and Ebenezer Swan's field, which was reserved out of the commons for a burying-place, was selected as the most convenient*|)lace for the meeting-house to stand, and near the northeasterly corner of the same. The sum of three hundred pounds was raised by vote (Sept. 17, 1733) for defraying the charge of building a meeting-house in this Precinct; the structure to be 46 feet long and 36 feet wide, and 24 feet upon the post between the joists ; also to have a suitable belfry. A building committee of five was chosen, viz., James Cutler, Jolni Cutter, Ephraim Frost, Henry Dunster and Jonatiian Butterfield, Jr. At this date Francis Locke, Jonathan Gates* and Josiah Robbins were chosen a committee to provide for a reading and writing school iu the Precinct.

The following Charlestown inhabitants entered into agreement on Oct. 8, 1733, to assist in building the meeting-house, "near Mr. Joseph Adams's," on land "which hath been left for a burying-place;" and also for settling and supporting preaching in the Precinct; viz., Samuel Cutter, George Cutter, Samuel Godding, Joseph Russell, William Dickson, Philip Carteret and David Dunster.

1733. On April 1, this year, the venerable Rev. John Hancock of Lexington, and grandfather of the celebrated Gov. John Hancock, baptized Thomas Osborn ; "and this was the first child baptized in the congregation at the school-house at Menotomy." This congregation had probably first united to spend a part of the evening j^f the Lord's day in worship in this place (Sermon by Rev. S. Cooke in 1772). The origin of the schoolhouse was probably as follows: At Cambridge, Jan. 16, 1692-3, ^' it was voted whether the town would give to Menotoray people a quarter of an acre of land upon our common, near Jason Russell's house, near the highway, for the accommodation of a school-house ; and it was voted on the affirmative, so long as it was improved for that use, and no longer." - Paige.

The Second Precinct In Caimbridge

1734. The first meeting-house was built. The area of the building was 50 by 40 feet (Rev. Dr. Fiske), and it stood just seventy years. See dimensions given under 1732, The Precinct by vote authorized that there be seventeen pews in the meeting-house besides the ministerial i)ew, which was next the pulpit-stairs, but allowed no more. The holders of pew-lots on Sept. 2, 1734, were Rev. John Whiting, John Cutter, Henry Dunster, Jason Russell, Ephraim Frost, James Cutler, Joseph Adams, Jonathan Butterfield, Joseph Winship, Rev. Nathaniel Appleton, Abraham Hill, John Swan, Joseph Russell, William Dickson, Samuel Cutter, and John Wiuship.

Mar. 4, 1733-4, the standing committee were authorized to provide preaching. A Mr. Smith was preaching here in 1734; possibly Rev. William Smith, H. U. 1725, who inherited a farm in this vicinity, and who was settled pastor of the First Church in Weymouth, 1734. His estate in this neighborhood was taxed in 1727 and 1736. See Wyman's Qharlestown^ 874-5. He was father-in-law of President John Adams. Rev. John Whiting mentioned in this year, like Dr. Appleton, may have been a proprietor of lands in the Precinct only, and non-resident.^

A gift of fifty pounds from various individuals in 1734 was made toward building the meeting-house. . Capt. Samuel Hend, ley, named on records here in 1733, gave fifteen pounds of this amount; - a forgotten benefactor of the Precinct.^

1735. On the first day of Feb. 1735, the first meeting-house of the Precinct was "opened and consecrated." On April 13, 1735, the Rev. John Hancock records, "I baptized at 'Notomy Mercy Osborn."

As the Rev. Mr. Appleton, minister of Cambridge First Parish, had previously by vote of the inhabitants of this Precinct, been desired " to preach with us on the first Sabbath in Febru-

^ Thomas "Whittemore's intention to fence land belonging to Mr. John Whiting, by Cambridge Rocks, mentioned, 1702-3. - Proprietors' Records. Ilev. John "VVhiting, of Concord, is mentioned in same records, 1767.

ary 1734-5," we may presume he presided over the exercises at the dedication of the first meeting-house of his former parishioners in this Precinct. Wednesday, Oct. 8, 1 735, was set apart "as a day of fasting and prayer to seek the Divine assistance and direction in the important affair of settling an orthodox minister of the gospel in this Precinct," and the Rev. Mr. Hancock, Mr. Appleton, Mr. Storer and Mr. Turell, the neighboring ministers,' were desired to assist in carrying on the public exercises of the day.

1736. Aug. 3, 1736, Mr. Thomas Skinner was chosen minister and provision made for his settlement for life. But some dissent to the choice arising, and his answer containing several articles which were passed in the negative, the matter went no further. Thomas Skinner, H. U. 1732, was afterward minister at Colchester, Conn. His father rented the Ten Hills Farm, now in Somerville, about 1737. See Wyman's Charlestown, 869.

The members for Menotomy of a particular and peculiar committee of Dr. Appleton's church, in 1736, were John Cutter and Ephraim Frost. See Paige, 297, &c.

On Mar. 25, 1737, a meeting was adjourned from the schoolhouse to the meeting-house to hear advice of neighboring ministers with respect to settling a minister here. As the result of this advice Mr. Joseph Gardner was chosen minister on May 27, 1737, but after some extended negotiations which came to nothing, he sent a final and negative answer. Joseph Gardner, H. U. 1732, was afterward settled in the ministry at Newport.^

2 Mr. John Langdon Sibley of Harvard University furnishes the following note: Joseph Gardner of 13ath, H. U. 1732, on May 15, 1740, was settled colleague pastor with Rev. Nathaniel Clap of Newport, R. I., and dismissed June 10, 1743 ; " was justice of the common pleas for Suffolk ; " died at Bath, April 3, 1806, aged 92. Mr. Helyer succeeded Mr. Gardner as colleague with Mr. Clap. See A'. E, Hist. Gen. Reg., vol. xv. pp. 66 and 234. He was "brother- in -law of Rev. Joshua Gee. See also Clai^p Memorial, p. 204.

1738. An attempt having again been made in the latter part of 1737 to ask the advice of the neighboring clergy with respect to settling a minister, on Feb. 21, 1737-8, Mr. Daniel Rogers was chosen minister. The result was unsuccessful.'

Hence early in the following year, Wednesday, Mar, 21, 1738-9, was set apart for a day of fast, and Rev. Messrs. Hancock, Appleton, Storer and Turell were again desired to assist with counsel, advice, &c. Mr. Thomas Prentice was therefore chosen minister (April 23, 1739) by unanimous vote, and his answer desired with convenient speed; but it was a negative one,' and hence on May 21, 1739, the day Mr. Prentice's answer was publicly read, Mr. Cooke was unanimously chosen minister.

1739. The organization of the church was accomplished. The particulars are found in "A Church Book given to the Second Church in Cambridge by Sam'l Cooke, Pastor."

Sept. 9 (being Lord's day). A Church was gathered in this precinct by the Rev. Mr. John Hancock of Lexington, the members of it having first at their request obtained a regular dismission from the several churches to which they belonged and a recommendation to the good work of imbodying in a church state in this place. The following Covenant was solemnly entered into by the several members, being publickly read, and subscribed by the males, the females giving their consent by standing up, as their names were called.

"We, whose names are underwritten, apprehending ourselves to be called of God to gather into a church state, or into a christian society for mutual conMaonion, and for the regular settlement of the ordL

2 The Rev. Thomas Prentice, H. U. 1726, was installed minister at Charles - town, 1739. He was a native of Cambridge, and was first settled at Arundel, now Kennebunk, Maine. He received three invitations for settlement on his retui'n to Cambridge, - from the New North Church, Boston, from Menotomy, and from Charlestown, the last of which he accepted, and the same day declined the other two (Budington, Hist. First Ch, Charlestoion, 234). See Wyman's CAs, 774 ^ Paige's Camb. 632.

nances of Christ amongst us ; Do in a liumMe sense of our un worthiness of such a favour and unfitness for such a service, knowing our liableness to err and our proneness to backslide, and renouncing all confidence in ourselves and resting on the Lord Jesus Chnst the Head of the Church for help and grace, - Covenant befo''e God and with one another in manner following : (viz.)

I. We receive the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as given by inspiration of God, and as the only sui-e and sufl^icient Rule of faith and practice. Declaring and promising that by the help of Divine Grace We Do and Will endeavour at all times to regulate our faith and our conduct of ourselves, both towards God and towards one another, according to what we find taught and revealed therein.

II. We recognize the Covenant of Grace, that we in a publick and solemn manner entered into, humbly imploring the pardoning mercy of God, through the blood of Christ, for all our violations thereof ; and do, renewedly, give up ourselves to God through the mediator, devoting ourselves to his fear and service, depending upon his power and grace for all the assistance we need, and promising by the help of the Divine Spirit, to order our conversation so as will adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

III. We do likewise now give up ourselves to one another in the Lord, resolving by his help to treat each other as fellow members of one body in brotherly love and holy watchfulness, for mutual edification ; and to subject ourselves to all the holy administrations ajipointed by him who is the head of the Church, dispensed according to the rules of the Gospel; and to give our constant attendance on all the public ordinances of Christ, walking orderly as becometh Saints.

IV. We acknowledge our posterity to be included with us in the Gospel Covenant, and blessing God for so rich a favour, Do promise to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and to acknowledge and treat them in their covenant according to the Rules of the Gospel.

V. Furthermore, we promise our utmost care and diligent endeavour to have all such offices and officers as Christ has appointed for the edification of his church settled and continued amongst us ; and that we will do our duty faithfully for their maintenance and encouragement, and carry it towards them with that respect and honour that becometh us.

VI. Finally we acknowledge and promise to preserve communion with the faithful chui'ches of Christ, for giving and receiving mutual counsel and assistance, in all cases that may call for it; Declaring that according to our light and understanding we are of the same principles for substance with the churches of New England ]-especting their doctrines and their government, and that we will endeavour to preserve the faith and the order of the Gospel among us.

Now the good Lord be merciful to us, and as he hath put it into our hearts thus to devote ourselves to him, let him pity and pardon our frailties, humble us out of all carnal confidence, and keep these things forever upon our hearts, to his own glory and our present peace & comfort and our future and eternal happiness, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Subscribed by -

Histoey Of Arlington

1739, Sept. 12. Mr, Samuel Cooke was ordained Pastor of this church and congregation. The first church in Cambridge, this town, and the Churches of Lexington, Medford and Watertown assisted in that solemnity.

Nov. 17. Messrs. John Cutter & John Winship -wqyq unanimously chosen Deacons of this Church and accepted soon after. At the same meeting Messrs. William Russell, Henry Dunster, Ephraim Frost, Jonathan Butterfield, jr., and the Pastor were chosen to wait upon the Rev. Mr. Appleton & the 1st Church in this Town, for their advice & assistance in procuring utensils for our communion table ; and to endeavour an adjustment with them of the utensils supposed to belong in common to the Churches in Cambridge.

Dec. 2. At a meeting of this church. The Brethren understanding that the First Church in this Town had agreed to give us twenty-five pounds (old tenor) out of the Church Stock towards furnishing our communion table, Voted, - That the two Deacons be appointed to wait upon said first Church to receive said money for the purpose abovesaid.

The Second Pkecinct In Cambeidge

Dec. 7tli. Voted by this Church, that their Pastor & Deacons be appointed to give the thanks of this Church to the first Church in Cambridge, for their respect and kindness to us, in giving twenty-five pounds towards procuring utensils for our communion table ; and also to Mrs. Rebecca Whitmore of Medford, who gave six pounds for the same use.'

I began to learn Latin in 1720, but being then the only son I was called off to the farm till a brother, born almost out of season, and growing, allowed me to resume my study in the year 1729. I entered Harvard College in 1731 - had my first degree, 1735 - kept school part of a year at Roxbury - one year and a part was in the College Buttery - Nov. 1737, went to Col. Royall's, Medford, for a year to instruct his son - and in 1738 returned to College. I then preached six months at Marlborough,* and six at Roxbury and IMenotomy. In May, 1739, I received a call to settle in the ministry in this place. In July I gave my answer, and on September 12, 1739, I was ordained the first minister of this Second Precinct in Cambridge.

The Church was gathered the preceding Sabbath by the Rev. John Hancock, of Lexington, and consisted of eighty-three members - eighty of which were from the Cambridge Church, and three had belonged to other churches. I boarded the first year in the family of Mr. Joseph Adams, at 10s. per week - silver being then 26s. per ounce.

The terms of Mr. Cooke's settlement were two hundred and sixty pounds, and one hundred and ninety pounds salary, in the depreciated currency of the time. One hundred and thirty pounds of the settlement money were to be paid six months after his ordination, and the remainder at the end of one year after his ordination. William Russell, John Fillebrown, Henry Punster and John Winship were a committee to wait on Mr. Cooke, and desire his answer. In order to receive it at the meeting-house, an adjournment of four weeks was effected.

* " On this occasion, the First Church in Cambridge voted, that £25 be given, out of tlie Church Stock to the Second Church in Cambridge, to furnish their communion table in a decent manner." - Holmes, quoted by Faige.

granted that you will always make proper allowance if our paper money should continue falling, as it hath done for years past ; also depending iipon the kindness commonly shown to ministers, particularly as to building and firewood.

Aug. 24, 1739, William Russell, John Fillebrown and Jonathan Butterfield were chosen a committee to sign letters to the neighboring churches in order to Mr, Cooke's ordination.

After the settlement of Mr. Cooke, the affairs of the Precinct were very uniform, and little was entered on record for many years besides the choice of officers and the necessary routine business.

" Ministers should Carefully avoid giving Offence in any Thing. - Inculcated in a Sermon Preached at Cambridge, September 12, 1739, when the Reverend Mr. Samuel Cooke was ordained Pastor of a Church of Christ newly gathered in that Part of the Town called Menotomy. - By Ebenezer Turell, A. M., Pastor of the Church in Medford. - 1 Tim. iii. 2. A Bishop must be blameless. 1 Cor. x. 32. Give no offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God. - Boston : Printed by J. Draper, for J. Edwards in CornhiU. MDCCXL." Text, 2 Cor, vi, 3, Pp, 29,

1740. Among some remarks found in Rev, Sam'l Cooke's diary is the following: " 1740, Jan, 27. Preached twice - Heb. 11 : 6=z;cspe/e - conversed with Mr. Ammi R. Cutter."

This was the noted Ammi R. Cutter, youngest brother of Dea. John Cutter, baptized at Cambridge, May 6, 1705, a graduate of Harvard College 1725, first settled minister of North Yarmouth (in Maine) 1730 to 1735, afterward a physician and keeper of a tradinghouse for the Indians, and captain in the Massachusetts forces at Cajje Breton in 1745, where he died in the military service in 1746.

April 20, 1740, Jason Russell was admitted to full communion by this cliurcli. He was one of the earliest members tlius admitted, and was the same Jason Russell who was killed by the British here on April 19, 1775. Mr. Cooke, the minister, in his autobiography, writes : '-On May 12, 1710,1 bought one acre of ground of Mr. Jason Russell for house, which was raised July 17, at the expense of the people; the frame being given, and the cellar and well dug and stoned gratis, and the boards and shingles carted from Sudbury and Billerica free of charge to me."

" Probably about 1740, common snakes were so abundant and annoying, that the farmers met, and appointed a day for a general snake- Imut and extermination." - Letter of Mr. John Brooks Russell}

1741, Jan. 17. Preached twice from Gen. 32: 2G. In the evening to a company of young men at the house of Dea. Cutter from Eccl. 11:1 0 - present : mul tis.

1741, Jan. 20. - Vesp. walked to Cambridge and visited Messrs. Marsh and Mayhew. and Hon. Pres. and Rev. D.D. Wigglesworth, where I supped and slept with Rev. D. Porter. 21st, walked to Boston and heard Rev. D.D. Colman, from James 2:5; dined with Mr. Allen, visited Mr. Jennings, Thayer, Rev. D. Chauncey and D. Eliot, where I stopt. 22d. Dined with Mr. Allen, visited Mr. Taylor, heard D.D. Sewall ex. Act. 17:30 - and slept at INIr. Allen's. 23d, visited Mr. Eliot, llurd, &c., then to Cambridge, and called on Mr. jMarsh and ]Mayhew, D.D. AYigg, and Rev. Mr. Appleton, where I dined. After, I returned home in company at night with Mr. Edv. Elynt. 24, Mr. Flynt preached twice, ex Philip, 2: 12 and 13: and P.M., ex Ps. 19:11.

Jan. 31. - The winter has been hitherto moderate, but little snow, the ground now bare ; provisions in general are j^lenty, except grain, which is scarce and dear. Indian corn has been near 20s. per bushel, rie 29 ; silver at the rate of 29s. per oz. 'Tis now a time of general health. Exiit iit Leo Mensis.

^ Mr. Russell adds : A French Protestant Refugee, who visited Boston and vicinity to investigate the faciUties for settling a French Colony in 1687, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (quoted in ShurtlefTs Boston, ji. 51), in speaking of the soil, climate and natural history of Boston and neighboring towns, says, ""We have plenty of rattlesnakes, but they have not yet come out. There are also a great many small snakes, three inches round, and long in proportion : they are to be seen seven or eight together. They flee from man, and it doth not seem that they harm any body."

Note. - The foregoing, submitted to Mr. J. L. Sibley, Harv. Univ., evolved the following matters of explanation : " Rev. D." implies a latinized abbi'eviation, signifying " Rev. Mr." ; " Rev. D.Dr - " Rev. Dr." Messrs. Mayhew and Marsh are probably - Joseph Mayhew, Tutor H. U. from 1739 to 1755; Thomas Marsh, Tutor H. U. from 1741 to 17G6. Porter - Rev. John Porter grad. 1736, one year after S. C; and Eliot - Andrew Eliot, perhaps, H. U. 1737, ord. Boston, 1742. Flynt - may be the grad. in 1733. Classes not being very large, and all being required to go to prayers, and meeting together, and being naturally thrown together, much because of the difficulty of getting to Boston, and the small number of families in Cambridge for the fetudencs to associate with, there must have been a good deal of familiarity among all undergraduates.

1742. Jan. 3. - P. M., went to Boston, visited Mr. Allen, Phillips, Eliot, Hurd - cui pecun. red. £14; returned by the way of Cambridge; called on Mr. Emerson, Mayhew, Gay, Wheelwright. The sea between Boston and Charlesi.own was as firm for passage as the solid ground.

1743. Out of five deaths recorded in the Northwest Precinct of Cambridge for this year, two were of persons who hanged themselves, viz., "Caesar Cutter, servt. of Dea. - who hanged himself - June 26, 1743, aged 30 yrs.," and "Joseph Bemis - who hanged himself - Aug. 21, 1743."

In 1743 it was votQd to keep the public school in the Precinct near the meeting-house, on that land which was left for a burying-place, after a convenient house is erected for that purpose, and a committee was chosen to decide on a place for setting the school-house.

1744. Under date of June 28, 1744, Mr. Cooke preached a sermon (numbered "296") which he entitled, " Fast day on y*' war." The text was Rev. 2 : 5. The sermon had a second delivery on April 29, 1756.

the principal gates of the City of London ; to King James the First, who soon after he came to the thi'one of England published a book called the Book of Sports, which gave toleration for all common practices on the Lord's day after divine service, which the King obliged all ministers to read on the Sabbath in their churches, and those who refused were summoned before the High Commission Court and suspended from their offices ; to God's vengeance on the people for the shameful profanation of the holy Sabbath, in the dreadful Fire of London. The war referred to was the French war of the period.

In 1745 the Rev. Mr. Cooke, as one of the Association of Ministers of this and the neighboring towns - viz. Hancock of Lexington, Williams of Weston, Cotton of Newton, Appleton of Cambridge, Williams of Waltham, Storer of Watertown, Turell of Medford, Bowes of Bedford, and Cooke of Cambridge - voted it not advisable, " under the present situation of things, that the Rev. Mr. Appleton should invite the Rev. George Whitefield to preach in Cambridge ; and they accordingly declared, each of them for themselves respectively, that they would not invite the said gentleman into their pulpits." See raige, 294, &c.

1746. The town voted that there be paid out of the town treasury thirty pounds, old tenor, to help defray the charge of building a new school-house in the Northwest Precinct.

1747. In the middle of the year 1747 Mr. Cooke in his list of baptisms records : " By reason of sore sickness and distress in my family, not being immediately entered, some omissions, here supposed - suppose 10."

1748. In this year Mr. Cooke preached the ordination sermon of Rev. Cotton Brown, at Brookline, which was published, and a copy of which is preserved in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The title-page is as follows :

" The solemn Charge given to Ministers, to commit the Truths and Doctrines of the Gospel to faithful and able Men. - Considered in a Sermon Preached at the Ordination of the Reverend Mr. Cotton Broavn, in the Pastoral Care of the Church of Christ in Brookline, October 26, 1748. - By Samuel Cooke, A.M., Pastor of the Second Church in Cambridge. - 2 Tim. i. 13. Hold fast the Form of. sound Words, which thou hast heard of me, in Faith and Love. 1 Tim. vi. 3, 4. If any Man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness - He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about Questions, and strifes of Words, whereof cometh Strife, evil Surmisings, perverse Disputings, &c. - Boston, N. E.: Printed by Rogers and Fowle in Queen-street, 1748." Text 2 Tim. ii. 2. Pp. 31.

1749. The number of deaths recorded in the Second Precinct of Cambridge for this year was 26 - the largest mortality in the Precinct of any year from 1739 to 1783, save the year 1775, when the number was 47, besides those who were killed in battle here on April 19, 1775.

In this year it was voted to new prime the windows, doors and weather-boards of the meeting-house, and make other needful repairs in said house. Also at same time, a committee " to inspect the behavior of young persons in our meeting-house on Sabbath days" was chosen, consisting of Moses Harrington, Thomas Hall and Andrew Wilson.

This interesting committee were by vote of the Precinct " desired and directed to take due care of the behavior of young persons on the Sabbath days in our meeting-house, and in case of their misbehavior, after the first admonition, unless they reform, they shall be brought [from the galleries, where young persons sat] into the great alley below, and stand there during the present service." As this committee was .chosen for only one year afterward, they probably succeeded in frightening the young people to obedience.

The following is the title of a printed discourse by Mr. Cooke in this year, preserved in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society: "A Sermon Preached at the Ordination of the Reverend Mr. Naxbanael Robbins, to the Pastoral Care of tlie Church of Christ in Milton, February 13th, 1750, 1 - By Samuel Cooke, A. M., Pastor of the Second Church in Cambridge. - Matth. xxviii. 20. Teaching them to observe all Things, whatsover I have commanded you : And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the End of the World. Amen. - Boston: Printed by S. Kneeland in Queeu-street. MDCCLL" Text, Rev. ii. 1. Pp. 20.

1753. The Artillery Election Sermon, 1753, was by Samuel Cooke, Cambridge. - I Sam. xvii. 38, 39. See Whitman's Hist. An. Co., 2d Ed. p. 299. Probably not printed.

1755. Galleries in the meeting-house, and the custom of "dignifying" the pews mentioned. New seats over the gallery stairs made for the negroes to sit in.

1756. Sept. 26, Mr. Cooke preached a sermon from 2 Ch; on. 34:28, which he delivered at Lexington on April 24, 1757. It contains this passage: