Newton City (part 3 of 8)

Flint Memorial Hall is a fine building, erected and donated to the town by Mrs. Charles F. Flint. It cost nearly $20,000, and contains a public library of fifteen hundred volumes, towards which Mrs. Flint contributed $1,000. She has also given $3,000 as a permanent fund, the income of wliich is to be devoted to the support of tiie library. The hall was dedicated with appropriate services October 21, 1875. An address was delivered on the occasion by Hon. George B. Loring. On each side of the hall are slabs containing the names of the soldiers and sailors who died in the Civil War.

Among the men of note who were natives of the town was Rev. James Flint, D. D., born in 1779. He graduated at Harvard College in 1802, was pastor in East Bridgewater from 1806 to 1821. In the latter year he removed to Salem, where he was installed pastor of the East Society. He died in 1855. He was a man of varied and extensive culture. lie won distinction as a scholar, preacher, poet, and critic.

Efiv. Timotliy Flint, born 1780, gnuliiated at Harvard in 1800, and wasj)astorin Lunenburg, from 1802 to 1814. " He was well known in America and on tlie other side of tlie Atlantic as the author of various works, tiiat have given him a

It is worthy of mention that a daughter of General Stark, the hero of the battle of Bennington, resided here for about twenty years, and died June 18, 1870, at the age of eighty-eight years. She married Samuel Dickey, of Manchester, New Hampshire, and was tiie mother of eleven children. Her youngest daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Stark Campbell, the youngest grandchild of the general, with whom ilrs. Dickey spent the last twenty years of her life, is still a resident here. She confirms the statement that the name of her grandmother was not " Molly," but Elizabeth. She thinks it quite probable, however, tiiat the general used the expression, "Molly Stark," as claimed in the tradition. It was one of the pet names he often apjjlied to her. In later years he more frequently called her " Deborah."

The census for 1875 gives the whole number of manufacturing establishments in the town as twenty-two ; number of persons employed, one hundred and seventeen; capital invested, $42,225; value of manufactures, $ 145,071. Number of persons employed in agriculture, one hundred and twenty-five; value of agricultural productions, $78,000. The population of the town in that year was nine hundred and seventy-niue.

The people of the town have always taken special interest in educational matters. A private academy, through the influence of Colonel Daniel FHnt, was opened about 1825, and flourished for several years. A high school was established by the town hi 1868, which, notwithstanding the limited population, is still maintained.

The number of scIkidIs in town is six ; the whole number of pupils attending the schools in 1878 was one Imndred and sixty-four; total amount expended for support of schools for tiiat year, $2,124.62. Tliis sum represents very nearly the amount ammally devoted to the support of schools.

Source changes here: from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, by Drake, Samuel Adams, published 1880; 28,098 words in this source stream.

Newton City

iged eq;fatj-two. His wife, Hannah, died April 24, 1704, aged seventy-three. There were twelve of this name among the early settlers of New England. James Prentice and Thomas Prentice, Jr., both of Cambridge, purchased of Thomas Danforth four hundred acres of laud in Cambridge, in March, 1650. In 1657 they purchased one hundred acres of Danforth, ''being the farm that James Prentice dwells on, bounded N. E. by land of John Jackson/' part of which is now the ancient burial-place on Centre Street ; extending southMesterly, beyond the bouse now occupied by heirs of Marshall S. Sice, Esq. James and Thomas,. Jr., or 2d, were probably brothers, and doubtless came into Cambridge Village the same year \rith Captain Tliomas Brentice. The ancient Prentice house was demolished in 18U0. It stood a few rods southeast of the house now occupied by the heirs of Joshua Loring, on Centre Street, opposite j\Iill Street.

James Prentice married Susanna, the daughter of Captain Edward Jolmson, of Woburn, and had ooq son, James, and five daughters. Captain Johnson, by his will, dated 1672, gave his grandson, James Prentice, £15, and also made a small heqnest to Susouna and Hannah Prentice, daugliters of his sou*in-law, James Prentice. He. was seleotman in 1694, and died March 7, 1710, aged eighty-one. His son James, who was his administrator, spld out his share in his father^s estate for £60, ill 1711, to his five sisters, '^all single vomen,^' and probably left the town.

Thomas Prentice, 2d, with James, just mentioned, purcliaaed four hundred acres of land in Cambridge, in March, 165Q, and one hundred acres in 1657. Both parcels were conveyed to James Prentice and Thomas Prentice, Jr., the one hundred acres being described as ''the farm that James Prentice now dwells on.'' He married Rebecca, daughter of Edward Jackson, 8r., by his first Tiife, who was bom in England about 1632, and had six. sons and one daughter. There is no record of the births, marriages, or deaths of the parents or children of thi5 family. . Edward Jackson by his will gave him one' hundred acres of land, <»lled " Bald-Pate Meadow,'' near Oak Hill, and several other tracts of land, and to his wife, Bebeoca, a gold ring, ^rith the motto, '^ Memento morex " (mori ?) .

When he came into the Village he was called Thomas, Jr.; when Captain Thomas Prentice's son Thomas was grown up, he was called Thomas, 2d ; when his own son Thomas was grown' up, he was called Thomas ; while the captain was called and widely known by his military title. Edward Jackson, by his will, made bequests to both these. Prentices in 1681 ; the one lie styles Thomas Prentice, and the other Captain Thomas Prentice. In the latter part of his life, he was called Thomas, Sr.

In 1706 he conveyed land to his grandsons Thomas and Samuel, and in 1714 he conveyed land to his sons Thomas and John, in which cqnvevance he named his son Edward. Tliere is an affidavit of his, signed Thomas Prentice, Sr., and dated 1713, recorded with the deeds, stating that '^ sixty years ago he held one end of a chain to lay out a highway over Weedy Hill in Cambridge Vil- . lage." Supposing him to be twenty-one years old then, his birth would have been in the year 1682. He lived to a great age, but the date of his death is ;iot known.

Thomas Wiswall ^'as a prominent man amopg tlie first settlers of Dorchester. He came to tlijs countrv about 1637. He was selectman in Dor- Chester in 1644* and 1652, and highway surveyor in Cambridge Village in 1656, having removed into the Village in 1654. He was one of the signers of a petition for the support of a free school in Dorchester in 1641, took the freeman's oath in 1654, and was one of the petitioners to the General ^ Court that the inhabitants of Cambridge Village might be released from paying taxes towards the support of the Cambridge church. Li 1657 he and his ^nfe conveyed to his son Enoch, of Dorr Chester, his homestead in Dorchester, which formerly belonged to Mr. Maverick. In 1664 he was ordained ruling elder of the church of Cambridge Village. His homestead in the Village consisted of three hundred acres, including the pond on Centre Street, which still bears Iiis name. Hi^ house was on the east bank, the site of the dwelling of the heirs of the late Deacon Lather Paul. He had four sons and three daughters, and more than thirty grandchildren. His last ^vife was Isabella Farmer, a widow, from Ansley in England. He died December 6, 1683, aged eighty. He left no.:. will and had no monument. His son Noah married Thcodosia, daughter of John Jackson, and had two sons and six daughters. He was killed . on Sunday, July 6, 1690, in an engagement with the French and Indians at Wheeler's Pond, afterwards Lee, N. H. - His son Ichabod became min- ' ister of Duxbury.

1640. He owned a wharf on -the easterly siSte of the town-dock, Boston, afterwards called Tyng's Wharf, which he sold in 1652. He, purchased two hundred and fifty acres 'of bnd in the sontherlv part of Cambridge Village in 1658. His house was near the bridge across Charles Biver, which has been called Kenrick's Bridge from tliat day to this. His first wife, Anna, died November, 1656. He died August 29, 1686, aged eighty-two. His second wife, Judith, died at Boxbury, August 23, 1687. He had two sons, John and Elijah, and one daugliter, Hannah, who married Jonathan Metcalf'of Dedham. John had nine daughters and two sons, and Elijah three daughters and three sons.

Ouptain Isaac Williams \hs the second son of Bobert Williams of Boxbury, who came from liToTwich, in England, the common ancestor of many distinguished men who have honored tlie country of their birth. Isaac was bom in Boxbury, September 1, 1638. He married Martha, daughter of Deacon William Park, of Boxbury, about 1661, and settled in the west part of the village. His second wife was Judith Cooper. He owned five hundred acres of* land adjoining John Fuller's farm on the east. Thomas Park, John Fuller, and Isaac Williams were the first, and probably at that time the only, settlers of West Newton. William's house was about thirty rods northeasterly of the West Parish meeting-house, near the brook, on land afterwards owned by Mrs. Whitwell. He was a weaver by trade^ and represented the town in the General Court six years, and was a selectman three years. His farm was divided among his three sons; Isaac received two hundred and fifty acres, Eleazer one hundred acres, and Ephraim one hundred and fifty acres and the mansion-house. This kind was granted by the town of ' Cambridge to Samuel Shepard in 1640. In 1652 Bobert Harrington, Esq., obtained judgment against the estate of Samuel Shepard, and this tract was appraised at £150 to satisfy the execution. Deacon William Park of Boxbury, the father of Isaac Williams' first wife, paid the execution, and took this tract of land for his son-in-law. Captain Williams died February 1 1 , 1707, aged sixty-nine. He had twelve children and upwards of fifty grandchildren. His son William graduated at Harvard University, in 1683, and became minister of Hatfield. His son Ephraim married EUzabeth, daughter of Abraham Jackson. Ephraim, the son of this last marriage, the founder of Williams College.

Abraham Williams was not related to Captain Isaac Williams. He came from Watertown, where he took the freeman's oath In 1652. He purchased a dwelling-house and twelve acres of land of John Callon in August, 1651. In 1662 he purcha^sed of William Clemens a dwellins'-house and six acres of land in what was in later" times Newton Comer, very near the Watertown line. He married Joanna, sister of John Ward, about 1660, by whom he liad two sons and two daughters, and perluips others, of whom two were bom in Cambridge Vilhge. He sold his place to Gregory Cookfi, and removed to Marlborough, near Belcher's Pond, in 1668. He was a colonel in the militia, and representative from Marlborough in the General Court. He kept a public-house in that town, which was long known by tlie name of the Williams Tavern; where he died December 29, 1712, aged dghtyf our. His widow, Joanna, died December 8, 1 7 1 8, aged ninety.

James Trowbridge was bom in Dorchester, and baptized there in 1638. Ilis father, Thomas Trowbridge, was one of the early settlers of Dorchester, a merchant, and engaged in the Barbadoes trade. The latter came from Taunton, England, where his father founded a large charity for poor widows, which is still administered fortheir benefit. Thomas went home to Taunton in 1644, leaving his three sons in charge of Sergeant Jeffries, of Dorchester, who removed with those sons to New Haven about 1648. Thomas, the father, died in Taunton, England, about 1670. James retumed from New Haven to Dorchester about 1656, where he married Margaret, daughter of Major Humphrey Atherton, December 30, 1659, and had three childroi in Dorchester, and removed to Cambridge Village. His wife, Margaret, was dismissed from the church in Dorchester, to form the church in Cambridge Village, in 1 664. After the death of John Jackson, he became a deacon of the church. He was one of the first board of selectmen formed in the village in August, 1679, and continued in that office nine years. In 1675 he purchased of Deputy-Governor Danforth eighty-five acres of land, with a dwellinghouse, which stood on the lot long occupied by the house of Mr. Nathan Trowbridge in later times, and outbuildings thereon, which he had occupied for some years, - bounded by the highways west and south, the narrow lane north, his own land east, the dividing line being straight through the swamp. He was a lieutenant, clerk of the writs in 1691 and 1693, and representative in the Gen- enl Court in 1700 and 1703. He had five sons and niiie daughters, and upwards of eighty grandchildren. His first wife died June 17, 1672 ; second wife, Mai^ret, daughter of Deacon John Jackson, died September 16, 1727, aged seventy-eight. He died May 22, 1717, aged eighty-one.

lieutenant John Spring was bom in Engknd in 1630. He was the son of John and Eleanor, and bat four years old when he arrived in this country. His father settled in Watertown. John, Jr., marlied Hannah, daughter of William and Anable Bushane, of Watertown, in 1656. His house stood opposite the burial-place on Centre Street, and near to that owned and occupied by the late Gardner Colby, Esq. He was a selectmau eight years, and representative three years. He liad one son and eight daughters, and a multitude of grandchildren. His wife died August 18, 1710, aged seventy-three. He died May 18, 1717, aged eighty-seven. He was a very active and useful man among the first settlers of the Yillage. On his gravestone he is styled Lieutenant. In 1688 he^with Edward Jackson, Abraham Jackson, and James Prentice, was a committee on the part of the Village to meet Old Cambridge about the support of the Great Bridge.

Jolm Dliot, Jr., son of the apostle Eliot, was born in Boxbury in 1635, and graduated at Harvard University in 1656, being in the same class with President Increase Mather. He was ordained fintt pastor of the church in Cambridge Village July 20, 1664, - the church. being gathered the same day. He was a young man- of much promise, and began to preach about the twenty-second year of his age. He is said to have been ^'an ac- .complisbed person, of comely proportion, ruddy complexion, cheerful countenance and quick apprehension, a good classical scholar, and possessed of cmisiderablc scientific knowledge for one of his age .and period.'^ A tender and inviolable affection sabsisted between him and his people. Under the direction of his fatlier he obtained considerable proficiency in the Indian language, and acted as his assistant until his settlement at Newton. He - was twice married ; by his first wife, Sarali Willett, daughter of Thomas AVillctt, Esq., first mayor of ' New York, he had a daughter, Sarah, bom in 1662, who married John Bowles, Esq., of Box- ' btiry, in 1687. By his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Gookin, Esq., he had one son, John, bom in 1667, who was educated at Harvard College, by his grandlather Gookin, and married

Mary, daughter of John Walcott, and settled in Windsor, Connecticut. He died October IS, 1668, aged thirty -three. His remains rest near the memorial monument in the cemetery on Centre Street. His widow, Elizabeth, married Colonel Edmund Quincy, of Braintree, December 8,^ 1680, by whom she had two children, Edmund and Mary, and died November 30, 1700. Mr. Eliot's homestead, of twenty acres, was situated on the westerly side of Centre Street, about sixty rods north of the:buriijplace. This homestead continued to be the property of his heirs for sixty-five years after his decease, and was then sold to Henry Gibbs, Esq., to raiae money to carry Eliot's grandson, John Eliot of Wind.sor, Connecticut, then seventeen years old, through college at New Haven.

At first New Cambridge, or Newtown, was an integral part of Cambridge. There was the place of public worship and the only school, and the people assembled for their townrmeetings. But the spirit of independence soon prompted them to seek separation from Cambridge^ and the organization of an independent town. Efforts in tliis direction began to take form as early as 1654, when the inhabitants residing on the south side of Charles Eiver petitioned to be relieved from paying taxes for the support of the ministry in Caoibridge; and they never rested till they had accomplished their purpose. They found it too burdenson^e.to travel from the remote southern portion, of the town to the public worship at Cambridge ; and in those days every family was expected to be found in the house of God every Ijord's Day. The iapt that religious services were already held in a hall in Newton, probably in the house of Mr. Edward Jackson, so that the inhabitants enjoyed the benefits of public worship in the Village, undoubtedly tended to nourish the plan of separation on w)iich the ])eople had set their hearts.

Li 1656 John Jackson and Thomas Wiswall, in behalf of the inhabitants of Cambridge Vilkge, petitioned tlie General Court to be released from paying rates for the support of the ministry at Cambridge church. The town of Cambridge remonstrated against this petition, and stated '' that many persons in whose names the petition is signed, althougli inhabitants, yet not by the approbation of the town,' having no right to town privileges save only the land whereon they dwell, and others of them do live on the farms of those who as yet never manifested their desire of any such change - the most of them do live within four miles of our meetiiig-house^ excqpt two or three hxna that lie abpye ^e Falls on Charles Biver, near Dedham^ and hiurdly ever go to meeting, and some of them are not mnch above twp miles off. If they attain their desire and set their meeting-house at their pleasure, sundry of them will be farther from it than many of them now are from Cambridge church. And upon the same ground when they plead for a divisioUj we have need to have at least four meetinghouses in our town, which now find it difficult to maintain one, as it should.^

The committee of the court- - Bicliard Bussell of Charlestown, Eieazur Lusher of Dedham, and Ephraim Child of Watertown - reported against this petition. The principal reason assigned in their report was that "if the petitioners should withdraw their help from Cambridge church and ministry, it would be over-burdensome to Cambridge to provide for the support of their minister.'' And so the petitioner^ had leave to withdraw.

In 1661 the inhabitants again petitioned the General Court to be released from paying church rates to Cambridge. The erection of a new meeting-house had greatly strengthened their petition, and the court accordingly granted them ** freedom from all church-rates for the support of the ministry in Cambridge, and for all lands and estates which were more than four miles from Cambridge meeting-house, the measure to be in the usual paths that may be ordinarily passed.''

The petitioners were not satisfied with the dividing line, and in 1662 they petitioned the court for a new line. The action of the court upon this petition was as follows : " October, 1662. In answer to the petition of John Jackson and Thomas Wiswall, in belialf of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village, as a full and final issue of all things in controversy between the town of Cambridge and the petitioners, the Court judge it meet to order and appoint, and fully empower. Major William Hawthorne of Salem, Capt. Francis Norton of Charlestown, and Capt. Hugh Mason of Watertown, as a Committee to give the petitioners, or some in their behalf, with some invited in behalf of the town of Cambridge, opportunity to make their desires known, and ^Injor Hawthorne to appoint the time and place for the hearing of what all parties can say, so it be sometime before the next Court of elections ; and on the hearing thereof to issue fully and absolutely conclude and determine, what they shall judge necessary and just to be done, - as to the determining the four mile

This committee ran -the line and settled the bounds between the Village and Cambridge' in 1662, so far as ministerial taxes were' concerned. This, no doubt, is substantially the same line that now divides Newton from Brighton.

Again in 1672 Edward Jackson and John Jackson, in behalf of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village, petitioned the General Court to be set off fmm Cambridge and made an independent town. In answer to this petition, "the court" in 1678 doth judge meet to grant to the inhabitants of said Vil- ' lage annually to elect one constable and three selectmen dwelling among themselves, to order the prudential affairs of the inhabitants there according to law, only continuing a part of Cambridge in paying County and Country rates, as also iTown rates so far as refen to the grammar school and bridge over Charles Biver, and also their proportion of the charges of the deputies."

In 1677 further action was had relative to the dividing line between Cambridge and the Village. The Village chose Captain Thomas Prentice, James Trowbridge, Noah Wiswall, and Jonathan Hyde, a committee to settle the line by reference,^ - twd referees to be chosen by the Village and two from Cambridge, and they four to choose the fifth. The referees thus chosen were Bichard Calicott, William Symes, William Johnson, William Bond, and Bichard Louden. The result of this reference wa^ a line described as follows : -

*^ Corner near the widow John Jackson's orchard and a chestniit-tree in Mr. Edward Jackson's pasturie, and to continue until it comes to the Bive^; then southerly by a heap of stones, four miles from Cambridge meeting-house; thence to continue until it comes to Boston (now Brookline) bounds.

In 1678 most of the freemen of the Village signed a petition to the General Court, praying to be Set off from Cambridge and to be made a town by itself.^ Fifty-two names were appended to this petition; thirteen of the inliabitants did not sign it. Six of the first settlers had deceased, viz. John Jackson, Sr., Bichard Park, Sr., Tliomas Hammond, Sr., Bev. John Eliot, John Jackson, Jr., and Vincent Druce, Sr.

, The following is a copj of this petition : - "To the honored Governor, Deputy-Governor, together with the Hon. Magistrates, now sitting in

"The humble petition of us, the inhabitants of Cambridge on the south side of Cliarles Biver, shoveth, that the kte war, as it liath been a great ehaige to the whole colony, and to us in particular both in our estates and persons, by loss of life to some^ and others wounded and disabled for their livelihood, besides all our other great charges in bmlding our meeting-house and of late enlargement, to it, and also our charge to the minister's house, and as you know the Lord took the worthy person from OS in a little time, and now in great mercy hath raised up another in the place, who hatli a house in building for him, which requires assistance,^ - as also we are now by the great mercy of God 80 many families that a school is required for the.edacation of our children according to law, besides our public charge in the place, - yet notwithstandiug this, last year the townsmen of Cambridge hive imposed a tax upon us, amounting to the sum of three country rates, \iithout our knowledge or consent, -^ which we humbly conceive is a very harsh proceeding, for any townsmen, of their own vill and power, to impose upon the ijihabitants vliat taxes they please, and to what end, without even calling the inhabitants to consider about such charge; - yet nevertheless, for j)eace sake, the inhabitants of our pbce did meet together and jointly consent to give the to\ni of Cambridge the sum of £100^ and to py it in tliree years, without desiring any profit or benefit from them of wood, timber,, or common lands, but only for our freedom, being content with our own proprietary, wliich some of us had, before Cambridge had any site there, .which tender of ours they having rejected, as also to grant to us our freedom from them, -

" We do most humbly commend our distressed condition to tlie justice and mercy of this Honored Court, that yo« will please to grant to us our freedom from Cambridge, and tliat we may be a township of ourselves, ^^thout any more dependence upon Cambridge, which hath been a great cliarge and burden to us, and also that you would please to give the place a name ; and if there should be any objection against us, that the Honored Court will admit our reply and defence. So, hoping the Almighty will assist you in all your concerns, we lest, your humble petitioners/' The petition was presented to the court at the first session^ 1678, and conunitted, and a hearing of the parties was ordered on the first Tuesday of October, 1678 (second session), and all parties to have timely notice. Cambridge presented a remonstrance to the petition, dated October 23, 1678, signed by their selectmen, - a voluminous docu-^ ment extending to fifteen pages. Portions of this remonstrance were very severe, and the remonstrants undoubtedly felt that they had made out a very strong case. Nevertheless, the court granted the petition so far as to order that the freeholders of the Village sliQuld be duly notified to meet on the 27th day of August, 1679, and choose three selectmen and a constable from among themselves to manage the municipal affairs of the Village, as other towns, according to law. .

The freeholders were duly notified, and the first towurmeeting was held on thai day. Captain Thomas Prentice, John Ward, and James Trowbridge were chosen selectmen^ and Thomas Greenwood, constable. A book of records was also begun.

Previous to this time the town-meetings were all held at Cambridge, and the town officers w^re elected tliere. On and after this date, the freemen of the Village held their town-meetings at the meeting-house in New Cambridge, and conducted their municipal affairs according to the will aiid pleasure of a majority of the freeholders.

During their long and sevei^ struggle to obtain the privileges of an independent town, the inhabitants of the Village had shown a most determined perseverance and love of freedom. They had petitioned the General Court time after time for twenty-three years. The parties had met each other repeatedly, by ^committees and othenn'se, and Cambridge liad made several ofl*ers to the Village by way of compromise. But the inhabitanls of the Village were determined to accept nothing short of an independent town.

The name of I^ew Cambridge was not given by the General Court, but was assumed bv the inhabitants of the Village, and generally acquiesced in by the public, and recognized by the General Court, as the records show. But the iiihabitants of New Cambridge, later, became dissatisfied with this name, and petitioned the General Court more than once to give the place a name; whereupon the court passed the following order : -» -

" Dec. 13, 1691. In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village, lying oii the south side of Charles Biver, being granted to be ii townabip, pmjring that a name may be given unto the jaid town, - it is ordered that it be henceforth called New Town.'' Thus the name originally given to the town across the river - -which wasthe Hew town because Boston was the old fowu, and which was lost wlien, after the establishment of the College, the territory received the name of Cambridge - was now restored, and given to the portion of the town on the south side of the river.

The name stands in the court records in two words, of one syllable each, as it was originally written when first used, in 1631. This form of writing it was gradually changed into one word of two syUables. But all the town-clerks followed the order of the court in spelling it uutil 1776, when Judge Fuller was elected town*clerk, and held the office twenty-six years. He always spelt it on the TecoTda> Newiou. There was no vote on thie subject Usage in this and other towns had prepared the way for him to assume the responsibility of making the contraction by dropping the w from the last syllable.

Sooa after the removal of the tyrannical governor. Sir Edmund Andros, the inhabitants of New Cambridge met on the 20th May, 1689, and passed the following resolutions : -

^Tbat it is oar desire, 1. That the Honorable Governor and Deputy Governor and Assistants, cbosen and sworn ixk\ the jear 1686, and the Deputies then chosen by the freemen for that year, do now resume the government of the Cobny acconiUog to Charter privileges.

" 8. That there may be an enlargement of freemen, that is to say, that tliose persons who are of honest conversation and a competent estate may have their votes in all civil elections.

**i. That the Court thus settled do not admit of any change or alteration of government among us, until it is first «fig«ifif^ to the several totms for their approbation."

On the same day (1689) the inhabitanls made choice of Ensign John Ward as their representative or deputy, in the present session of the General Court, the first representative ever sent from Cambridge Village, and who continued to represent the town for eight years.

The ecclesiastical division preceded the political, and Newton had a church and a pastor more than twenty years before it was incorporated as an independent town ; for Cambridge released its hold upon Newton by degrees, and painfully. The date^ August 27, 1679, when the General Court ordered that the Village should have the right to choose selectmen and a oonataUe from among themselves, was for many years held to be the date' of the incorporation of the town of Newton, and it is so recorded by Mr. Jackson in his IlUtorg, and was engraved in 1874 on the city sealr The action of the court, however, seems to have foreshadowed the independent organization rather tlian confirmed it; for more careful investigations of the facts and testimonies have established the conclusion beyond reasonable doubt that the true date' of tlie event b January 11, 1687, aiul that the name was given to the town three years later, December 8, 1691.

The following statements, taken from Mr. Hyde's- Centennial Address> present the case with sufficient distinctness r ** In 1678 they again pietitioned to be set ofi*, and continued to do so till 1687, when, on January 11, Caurbridge was summoned to appear before his Excellency in council, ' to show cause why Cambridge Village may not be declared a place distinct by itself, and not longer be a part of said town, as hath been formerly petitioned for and now desired/

'' At a Council held at Boston on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 1687, it was ordered, 'That the said ViU lage from henceforth be, and is hereby declared a distinct village and place of itself, wholly freed and separated from the town of Cambridge, and from all future rates, payments, or duties to them whatsoever ; and that, for the time to come, the ' charge of keeping, amending, and repairing the said Bridge, called Cambridge Bridge, shall be defrayed and borne as foUowedi : tliat is to say, two sixths parts thereof by the town of Cambridge, one sixth part by the said vilbge, and three sixths parts at the public charge of the county of Middlesex.

" This order,'' says Mr. Hyde, " shows conclusively that the town was not wholly independent until 1687, although the town records commdice in 1679, when the inhabitants of the Village seem to have first availed themselves of the privileges granted them in 1673, by choosing three selectmen and one constable, - all the officers they wtere authorized to choose, - to manage their ^ pnidential afiairs.'

tied to aQ the privil^es of aB incoiporated town pre?ioii8 ^to 1687^ is the fiM^t that 'they never assumed tO; Mod a deputy to the General Court distinct from Cambridge, but did not miss representation a jingle year for half a century after.' People so tenacious of their rights as tlie inhabitanU of the Village manifestly were, both before and after incorporation, would not be likely to let the newly acciuired right of representation lie dormant lor aeveii years at a period of intense political excitement.

''The records of Cambridge diow that constables were elected bjf that Unonfor the Village after 1679, as follows: James Prentiss, 1680; Sebeas Jackson, 1681; Edward Jackson, 1682; Abraham Jackson, 1683; John Prentice, 1684<; Thomas hrker, Sr., 1685 ; Ebenezer Wiswall, 1686; Joseph Wilson, 1687. After 1688 none are distiuctlj described as for the Village.

"'In 1686 a committee was chosen by the inliabitants to make the rate for the minister for the ensuing year and a rate for the town. For the Village chose Noah Wiswall, to join with tlie selectmen to make a rate for the Village.'

"In addition are 'the Articles of Agreement, made September 17, 1688, between the selectmen of Oambridge and the selectmen of the Village, in beklf of their respective towns.'

"'That whereas Gimbridge Village, by order of the General Court, in the late Government, was enjoined to bear their proportion of tlie charges in the upholding and maintaining of the Great Bridge and school, with some other things of a public nature, in the town of Cambridge, - also, there having been some difference between the selectmen of said towns concerning the laying of rates for the end abovesaid, - tliat the Village shall ^Kiy to the town of Cambridge the sum of five pounds in merchantable com at the former prices, at or before the first day of May next ensuing tlie date above, in full satisfaction of all dues and demands by the said town from the said ViUagc, on the account above said, from.the beginning of the world to the 11th January, 1687. Provided always, and it is to be hereby understood tliat the town of Cambridge, in consideration of £4, in current county pay, already in hand, payed to the VilLnge above said, shall have free use of the highway laid out from the Village meeting-house to the Falls forever, without any let, molestation, or denial ; also that the constable of the Village shall pay to the town of Cambridge all that is in their hands unpaid of their former rates due to the town of Cambridge above said. In witness whereof the selectmen above said hereunto set their hands the day and year first above written/ Signed^ by six selectmen of Cambridge, and John Spring, Edward Jackson, and James Prentice, selectmen of New Cambridge.

Dr. Lucius B. Paige, the historian of Cambridge, says : " Hence, it appears reasonably certain that the Village, which obtained ecclesiastical privileges in 1661, became a precinct in 1673, and received the name of Newtown in 1691, was separated from the town of Cambridge, and incorporated as a separate and distinct town, on the eleventh day of Januarv, 1687.''

The history thus far shows that the territory now constituting the city, formerly the town, of Newton, had, in connection with other territoiy, and separately, been called, New Town, Cambridge, Nonantum, South Side, Cambridge Village, The Village, New Cambridge, Newtown, and ^astly^ when reduced in extent, Newton.

The river Charles encircles a large part of Newton. The centre of its cliannel forms the northerly, westerly, and southerly boundaries of the town, being a continuous curving line of upwards of fif« teen miles in length. This bouiidary is interrupted at only two points, - the first near Watertown Bridge, where, by the agreements of 1635 and 1705, Watertown gained possession of eighty-eight acres, and the second at the extreme northerly part of the' iowiiy where in 1847 six hundred and forty acres were ceded to Waltham.

The average town fax during the first nine years was about £20 annually; the next twenty-five years (1700-1726), £90 ; and the succeeding iforty.five years, £166. Tlie first representative to the Grcneral Court was Ensign John Ward, who served from 1689, eight years, and the second, Cap^' tain Isaac AYilliams, who served from 1692, six years. One representative. Captain Abraham Fuller, served the town in this capacity eighteen years, and another, l^Iajor Timothy Jackson, fifteen years, 1 and two others, thirteen and ten years respectively.

The first meeting-house in Newton (First Parish Church) was erected near the middle of the old cemeterv on the east side of Centre Street, and the road on the south side of that cemeten\ now called Cotton Street in honor of the third pastor of the church, was one of the important thoroughfares of the town. The first meeting-kotiu vas enlai^^ in 1678. SubsequenUr a new church edifice was bailt on the opposite side of tlie street, nearly on the «te of the honse of the late Gardner Colby, Esq.- After a time this meeting-house was taken donn ind removed to Wnltham, where it was used for leUgtous worship from 1721 to 1776. The last Bcimon was preached in it in \cwton, October £9, 1721. The town, after muc]i discussion, mutual differences; and measuring of distances, purchased knd of Natlianiel Parker, and erected their new njeeting-hoase (the third) on the present site of the First Congr^ationnl Church, and dedicated it November 5, 1721, - three years- from the time the vote was taken authorizing its erection. Another bouse was erected on the same ground, and dedicated November 21, 1805, during the ministry of Dr. Homer. Tlie present edifice, in its original form, was dedicated March 24-, 1847.

iii 1604, and died in BOTbuiy> Mass., May 20, 1690. He came to Boston in 1631, and was settled as teacher of the chnrch' in Bosbury in 16-S3. He fancied that the Indians were descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel, and early in his ministry in lUixbury began to take a deep interest in their welfare. He acquired theirlaoguage through Job Nesutan, - an intelligent Indian servant in his family, who had learned English.

The first religious service among the Indians was held in the wigwam of Waban, their chief, October 28, 1640. At the date of this first mis. sioiiary effort, both Mr. Eliot and Waban weie of the same age, forty-two years. The chief met Mr. Eliot at some distance from the spot since marked by the Eliot monument, ei«cted in 1879, and welcomed him to the place of the assembly. The text chosen by Mr. Eliot for his first sermon was Ezekiel xxxvii. 9, - " Come from the four wtnda, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live." By a singular coincidence, doubtless observed by Mr. Eliot, the word hreaikj in this text, was, r,itld understand prayers in the Indian lan- ^1$ veil as in English. Anotlier asked how Vum could be so difTcrent from the English, iill had one father. A third asked how the ihc second and third meetings, Eliot vcns -Diiicd by some of the magistrates and minuf the colony, adding dignity to tiic work occasion. He bepin by questioning the .- on the truths already learned, and ansnet- all the Indians in the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts, and once preached the gospel to the celebrated King Fliilip, wlio, it is said, rejected it with disdain. He induced many of the Indiatu to relinquish their wandering habits of life, and lived to see no fewer than twenty-four of them become preachers to tlieir own people. In his I labors for tlie Indians he eudt}red great hardships and exposures. In one of bia letters he says : " I have not been dry, night or day, from the third day of the week to the sixth, but so travelled ; and at niglit, pull off my boots and wring my stoclciggs and on witli them again, and so continue ; bat God steps in and helps."

Tlie report of the success of these eariy efforts in behalf of the aborigines of ^ilassachosetts excited a strong sensation in England, llie British Parliament, tlien under the Protectorate, passed an act, July 27, 1G40, for the advancement of the work. The preamble of the act runs as follows : " Whereas the Commons of England, assembled in Parlbment, have received certain intelligence from divers godly ministers and others in XewEngl«id> that divers of tlie Heathen natives, through the pious care of some godly Englisli, who preach the gospel to tlicm in their own Indian language, not only of barbarous have become civil, but many of them, forsaking their accustomed cliarm's and sorceries and other Satanical delusions, do now call upon the name of the Lord and give great testimony to the power of God, drawing them from death and darkness to the life and light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, which appeareth by their lamenting with tears their misspent lives, teaching tlteir children what tiiey are instructed themselves, being careful to place them in godly ^milies and EngHsh schools, betaking themselvea to one wife, putting away the rest, and by their constiint prayers to Almighty God morning and evening in tlieir families, - prayers expressed, in all appcamnco, with much devotion and zeal of heart, - All which considered, we cannot but, in bcliatf of the nation we represent, rejoice and give glory to God for the beginning of so glorious a ]iro[>.igalion of the gospel among those poor heathen, which cannot be projccutcd with that ex* )iedition as is desired, unless tit instruments be encouraged and maintained to pursue it, schools and clothing be provided, and many other necessaries, &c." The act of whicli this preamble seta forth the reasons, then proceeds to establish a.corporation of sixteen persons, to superintend the di»- bilirseinent of moneys which should be civen to aid in instructing, clothing, civilizing, atia Christianising the Indians. A general collection was ordered to be made for these purposes through all the churches of England and Wales. The ministers were required to read tliis act in the churches, and to exhort the people to a cheerful contribution to so pious a work. Circular letters were published at the same time by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, recommending the same object. A fund which in the time of Cliarles the Second produced six hundred pounds sterling per annam was thus provided, the benefits of which lasted till the period of the separation of the colonies from the mother country.' Oliver Cromwell interested himself in missions to the heathen, and formed a gigantic scheme of uniting all the Protestant churches in the world into one great missionary society. Tlie Society for Promoting Christian S^wledge, founded in 1698, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, founded in 1701, and the Scottish Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge^ founded in 1709^ with all their benign fruits^ had their roots m the work of John Eliot among the Indians in Newton.

An Indian church was never oi^nized at Newton; but very soon after Eliot's work began at Nonantum, a settlement of ''praying Indians'' was formed, which was removed in 1651 to Natick, by the advice of Eliot and the magistrates and ministers. Here the Indians built a bridge across the river, and erected for themselves a meeting-house which would have done honor to an English housewright. A civil government was established among them on the model of the Hebrew theocracy, and a chutch organized with fasting and prayer. Mr. Eliot translated the whole Bible into the Indian tongue, besides The Poor MatCs Practiee of Piet^ and other works, and had the satisfaction to see the Indians well advanced in their civil and ecclesiastical estate.

At the age of eiglity Mr. Eliot offered to relinquish his salary from the church in Boxbury, and desired to be released from his labors as their teacher. And when, from increasing infirmities, he could no longer visit the Indians, he persuaded several families to send their colored servants to him every week, tliat he might instruct them in the Word of God. So thorough-going was his missionary spirit and his self-denial, that, it is said, he gave most of his salary to* the Indians^ living simply, and allowing himsetf little ^kep, that he might have the more time and strength for his missionary work. Besides his Indian Bible, printed in Cambridge in 1661 -68, which was the only Bible printed in AmcTrica till a much later period, he made a version of the Psalms in metre in the same dialect, and prepared a Harmony of the Gospels in EnglUh, a work on the Christian Commonwealth, which the magistrates pronounced seditious, and compelled him openly to retract its sentiments ; and various letters describing his work among the Indians. Wlien he departed, all New England bewailed his death as a general calamity. Cotton Mather says, '' We had a tradition that the country could never perish as long as Eliot* was alive."

At the period of the War of King Philip in 1675, a wide-spread prejudice sprang up against the Indian race, as was very natural, and frdm this prejudice the Nonantums, who had been the pecuUar charge of the apostle Eliot, were not exempt. He remained faithful to them to the last :' but thev became the object of the suspicions of the whites ; and partly to satisfy those who were hostile to them, and partly as a measure of safety, to preserve their lives, they were unwillingly removed from their homes, and transferred, amid much suffering, to Deer Island in Boston Harbor, and detained there till after the death of King Philip. They never regained their manhood. But although they had their cinl and church state at Natick, and acquired a certain degree of civilization, nevertheless through emigration, death, or intermarriage, they gradually disappeared before the advancing tide of the white population. In about two hundred years from the commencement of Eliofs labors, it is believed the last drop of the Nonantum blood ceased to flow in human veins; and now, except for the histories of Eliot's missionary work, the monuments commemorating his name and labors in South Natick and Newton, the few copies of the Indian Bible known to exist, the gravestone of Daniel Takawambait, the native Indian preacher, at Natick, and the cellar-holes of the houses of some of the Indians on the slope of Pegan Hill in Dover, the name and record of these people have utterlv vanished. The Indian Bible and the Poor Man's Practice of Piety ^ with a few historical reports and letters, are the only existing records of the work of faith of the Indian apostle. It is said that with tlie materials thus supplied, the wife of Bev. Dr. Robinson, the author of the BibUeal Re^

The first pastor of Newton was John Eliot^ Jr., the son of the Indian apostle. He graduated at Harvard University in 1656^ and was ordained at Newton July 20, 1664. So far as can be ascertained there were at that date only about twenty families witliin the limits of Newton. The church was orthe same day, and Thomas Wiswall, forriy of the church in Dorchester, was ordained ruling elder. Mr. Eliot was an earnest and faithful minister until his death, which occurred October 11, 1668, after a brief pastorate of a little more than four years. Besides his proper ministerial duties in his own parish, he aided liis father in -his missionary wprk among the Indians, taking part in ,the preaching of the gospel to them in Stoughton, Natick, and elsewlicre, and thus, like his father, performing the double duties of pastor and missionary. His residence was on the west side of Centre Street, not far from the comer of Cabot Street, and the well from which he drank still yields refreshing water ou the premises lately owned by Hon. Thomas Edmands.

From the beginning, Newton .manifested an honorable patriotic and military spirit, and some of the citizens distinguished themselves by acts of marked bravery. A large number of the earlier inhabitants bore military titles. In a genealogical register of the town reaching down to the beginning of the present centurj', - the period of a meagre, population and a very slow growth, - we find two generals, nine colonels, three majors, fortvrone captains, twenty-one lieutenants, and eight ensigns. From 1799 till within a few years, a powder-house, erected by the town, stood near the site of one of the ancient " noon-houses/' at the junction of Lyman and Centre streets, Newton Centre. Newton men showed much braverv in the early conflicts with the Indians, and some of them were among the martyrs who fell in those fearful struggles. John Druce, son of Vincent Druce, belonged to Captain Prentice's troop of cavalry, which rendered important service in Philip's TVar in 1675. Captain PrtMitire did inucli to check the progress of King Pliilip's troops, and by his bold and rapid marches drove the enemy before him wherever he went. He was a man of great courage. His keen eye detected every movement of the savage foe, and his fearless band of troopers were ever ready to accompny him into the thickest of the fight. ,He died at the age of eightyniin^ years, and was buried under arms by liis old qomrades. He had been an officer in the company of troopera about twenty years at the commencement of King Philip's War, and in 1691 the Indians sent a petition to the General Court that he might be appointed their ruler. His house, at the junction of Waverly Avenue and Ward Street, is said to have been built by Captain John Clark. Edwarcl Jackson, son of Deacon John Jackson, was killed in an attack by Indians on the town of Medfield, February 21, 1676. . ^ .

Through the influence of the gospel as preached by Mr. Eliot, the inhabitants of Newton lived in peace with the Nonantum Indians and were never molested by them. But tliey dreaded the attacks of other and hostile tribes which roamed around them. Hence they erected two garrison-houses, which might serve as a place of defence in case of an attack. In these houses the chamber projected over the lower room, and was supplied with bullets and stones in abundance, tliat with thesQ and with scalding water, to be poured upon the heads of the savages, the inmates shut up in these places of de^ fence might protect themselves against their barbarous foes. One of these garrison-houses was on land of E. C. Converse, Esq., late Israel I^mbard's, opposite the estate long known as Hyde's Nursery on Centre Street; and another on Ward Street, near tlie Newton reservoir, nearly on the site of the residence of heirs of Ephraim Ward.

Newton men aided their brethren, the^earjy settlers of New England, in various quartera against the Indians, now at Casco (Portland), afterwaj:ds at Bethel, Me., to which some of the people of Newton had removed; now in New Hampshire, where the oldest Captain Noah Wiswall was killed in 1690; and now in Massachusetts, where two of the colonists were massacred at Groton, July 21, 1706; and now in Bhode Island in the wqoda around Mounts Hope.

In the war with the French and Indians called the Old French War, some of the citizens of Newton were engaged, and sacrificed their lives. One of the most distinguished of these was Samuel Jenks of West Newton, who served as an officer in the campaigns of 1738 and 1760, the father of the late Eev. Dr. William Jenks, who was bom in West Newton. Another of tliese brave men in the Indian conflicts was Lieutenant Timothy Jackson, whose wife carried on the farm and worked on the land with her own Imuds while Iier husband

Colonel Ephraim Williams^ bom in Newton^ Febroaiy 24, 1715, was captain of a military comr panj in the war/ In a memorable battle fouglit with the French and Indians near Lake George, he was shot through the head. The name of tliis Colonel Williams is honorably connected with the cause of education in Massachusettjt. In early life he removed to the town of Stockbridge, and was killed September 8, 1755, aged forty years. He wa^ never married. About seven weeks previous to his death he made a will, providing for some small bequests to his friends and kindred, and then appropriating the residue of his property to the support of a free school in a township west of Fort Massachusetts, '^ provided that the said township, wlien incorporated, sliall be called Williamstown.'^ The fund gradually increased, and a free school was erected in 1788, whieh in 1793 became Williams College, - a living fountain of good to the Clause of religion and sound learning, and whose influence has reached to every quarter of the globe. As the city of Hartford traces its birth to the or^nal town of Newton, from which Hooker and his company proceeded in 1636 to found the new colony in Connecticut, so Willianis College, where the great work of missions to the heathen firom the American churches was nursed, into life, points to the same hills and vales in acknowledgment of its origin. Newton lias thus been a greater benediction to the world than many even of her most intelligent children know. Cotton Mather received a letter from Dr. Leusden, affirming tliat the example of New England in Christianising tlie Nouantum Indians of Newton, awakened the Dutch to attempt the conversion of the heatlien in Ceylon and their other East-Indian possessions, and that multitudes had in consequence been converted to Cliristianity.

The first cemetery in Newton was around the ^rst Church, on the east side of Centre Street. An acre of land was given to the town for the meetinghouse and burial-place by Deacon John Jackson, and afterwards enlarged bjr. a gift from his son, Abraham Jackson. The requisite legal conveyance of this latter gift was never recorded, and the right of the town to its ownership was contested by Mr. Jackson's heirs. Tlie land being in a low situation, and the town having never used any part of it as a place of burial, it was subsequently relinquished to the heirs of the original owner. This

" Dea. Jobu Jackson gave one acre of land for this Place aud First church which was erected upon th in 1660. - Abraham Jacksou, sou of Dea. Jolm, gi acre, which two acres form the old part of thu Gei Died June 20, 1740. M, 75. - Edward Jacksoi twenty acres for the Parsonage in 161^0, and 31 ac the Ministerial AYood Lot in 16S1. His widow £U died, September, 1709, i£. 92."

" Rev. John Eliot, jr.. First Pastor of the First c ordained July 20, 1664. - His widow married £ QuincY, of Braintrec. Died, 1700. - His only da married John Bowles, Esq., of Roxbury, and died Id 1687. - His only son John settled in Windsor, Co cut, where he died in 1733, leaving a son John, a a in Yale College. .... Erected Septejnber 1, 185$ descendants of the First Settlers."

"Thomas A7iswall, ordained Ruling Elder, Ju 1664. His sons, - Enoch, of Dorchester, died N< 1706, M. 73. - Rev. Ichabod, Minister of DuxVi years. Agent of Plymouth Colony in England, 1690

Newton

JbIj^ 1700, M. 63. Capt. Noab, of Newton, an Officer in the Expedition against Canada. Killed in battle with the Freoch and Indians July C, 1C90. M. 50, leaving t son Thomas. Ebeneser, oC Newton, died June 21, 1691. .fi. 45. ... . . J. B. Jepson, Newton Comer, rereals many gravestones whose inscriptions are no longer l^ble, and others, recalling the names which filled a laige place in the early history of the town, and Belonged to the founders of its institutions and the authors of its prosperity. Neglected though it be, the historical associations by which it is hallowed can never be transferred to the beautiful cemetery reared by modern art and refinement in the centre of the town. It stands, unique in interest, in the midst of the tide of life and business tliat bustles beside it.

The West Parish Cemetery is situated on land conveyed to the parish by Nathan Fuller, by deed dated September 21, 1781. The South Burying- Qround, at the junction of Centre Street and Needliani Avenue, was laid out in 1802, and belonged to twenty-eight proprietors, who sold it to the town in 1838. Amasa AVinchester, Esq., conveyed to the town three quarters of an acre of land to increase its proportions. In 1813 Samuel "Brown, Esq., a merchant of Boston, gave two acres of laud at the Lower Falls for the use of the Epis- - -copal Church and for a cemeter}*. The extensive rural cemetery, near the geographical centre of the town, was dedicated to its present use June 10, 1857. The prominent feature of the occasion was an interesting and appropriate address by Rev. Mr. - (since Bishop) F. D. Huntington. Tlie soldiers' monument, near the entrance to the cemeterv, was dedicated with fitting cenMuonics July 23, 18G4, nearly a year before the "War of the Rebellion was ' ended. An address was delivered bv the Rev. Profeasor H. B. Ilackett, and a poem by S.. F. Smith, D. D., which were printed. The original purchase ik-as about thirty acres, but by subsequent additions the whole area now extends to about eighty-two acres, the average price of the whole being814o per acre. The number of interments to the close

During a period of fifty years thirty-six slaves are mentioned in wills and inventories, owned by about twenty-four persons in Newton. The slaves were probably brought from the "West Indies. One of these slaves was a woman, the property of Mrs. Meriam, wife of the fourth pastor of the church bk Newton. One day, seeing her unkindly treated by her mistress, Mr. Meriam paid his wife the price at which she valued the woman, and set her free. The kst slave in Newton was an aged man, a lifelong encumbrance of tlie estate of Judge Fuller, afterwards of General Hull, - the estate now owned and occupied by ex-Govemor Claflin.

At the'' town-meetings in the early periods of the existence of Newton, much time and attention were necessarily devoted to the preUminaij wants of the town, especially the laying out of roads, and the security of all the rights and privileges of the inhabitants. The first road laid out was from Newton Comer, through what is now Brighton, to Roxbury. By this road John EUot came to visit his Indian charge at Nonantum. Then followed Dedham Road, now Centre Street, reaching from Watertown to Dedham ; then the Sherburne Road» so called, extending from Brookline, through the southerly and southwesterly parts of Newton, and opening up the estates as far as Charles River. Ensign Spring's mill created the thoroughfare leading from the west side of Centre Street, called Mill Lane, since. Mill Street. Cotton Street, south of the burying-ground, named in honor of the third pastor of Newton, was the principal avenue through which the people in the east part of the town came to public worship and to the town^ meetings. The Upper and Lower Falls on Charles River created an occasion for roads by which these villages could be reached from other parts of the town. Boylston Street, formerly the Worcester Turnpike, was constructed in 1809, and intersected the town from the border of Brookline to Charles River. Beacon Street was made in 1847-48. -

The second minister of the town was Neliemiah Hobart, a man of learning, and at one time vicel)resident of Har\'ard University. He was ordained December 23, 1674. During his ministry the meeting-house was enlarged and improved. The custom of '' dignifying the pews '' was in vogue in the church in Newton for many years, but at last, happily, it fell into disuse. A committee was appointed at stated periods to assign to the families and individuals their places in the house of God iu reference to their dignity^ rank, standing, or merit, but at the same time with the cliarge tliat thej ** were not to degrade any/' Tlie pews were built around the house, adjacent to the walls, and sometimes one or two ranges were permitted in the vacant space, nearest the entrance doors. The body of the house, or " vacant space," was occupied mainly by long seatS; the older persons being nearest the pulpit ; the galleries were devoted on one side of the house to the boys, on the other to the girb. Permission was given to a few persons of note to build pews in " the vacant space " at theif own cost ; but this privilege was held to be very precious, and sometimes, permission, being asked, was refused, in spite of the wealth and standing of the petitioner. The deacons' seat was raised above the floor in front of the pulpit, and on the itiUing in front of it stood the hour-glass, which one of the deacons turned at the beginning of the sermon ; and if it was not necessary to turn it again before the close, the minister was tiiought to be deficient in duty to his congregation.

Hie worshippers in early times attended public worship conscientiously, or, under the pressure of public opinion, with great regularity, though some of them were obliged to travel considerable distances from remote parts of the town. Nevertheless, in winter the comfort of a stove in tbe meeting-house was a thing unknown. It was not till a hundred laud thirty-two years after the formation of the First Church that the imrish voted ^' to have a stove to warm the meeting-house''; an4 when stoves were introduced, it was formally discussed and voted in town-meeting where the stove shotdd stand, and through what window the smokepipe should make its egress ; and in the contract with the sexton it was made a matter of express stipulation that he should take care of the meetinghouse and the itove.

' In the deficiency of other means of warmth, two or three ''noon-houses," so called, were erected near the meeting-house, where, seated around n blazing fire, the worshippers could warm their stiffened limbs in the rest at noon between the services, and enjoy their homely lunch and a mug of cider; for it is said that some of the farmers fomid pleasure in rolling a barrel of cider in the fall into the cellar, to add to the good cheer of the Lord's Day. Here, too, the people replenished their footstoves from the glowing coals on the hearth, to add to the comfort of the women and children when they returned to the house of God. Two of these noon-houses stood on portions of the present meeting-house lot of the First Church at Newton Centre, one west of tlie meeting-house, and anotlier near the junction of Lyman with Centre Street. The powder- house, which replaced this noon-house in the year 1799, was built for the convenience of the troopers on days of military {larade on this ancient training-field, and was demolished not far from the year 1850.

Mr. Hobart died August 25, 1712, aged sixtyfour years, after a service of thirty-eight years. His tombstone in the cemetery at Newton bears an honorable testimony in Latin to liis character and worth. Deacon Edward Jackson in his will left thirty-one acres of woodland to the First Parish. This land was sold for § 1,000 subsequently, for the benefit of the parish.

The third pastor of the First Church was John Cotton, great-grandson of the famous John Cotton of Boston, who had been pastor of Boston in Lincolnshire in England, and in whose honor Boston < in New England received its luime. Young Mr. Cotton graduated at Harvard College in the year 1710, and was ordained in Newton November 3, 1714. He was a young man of such talent, piety, and promise tliat he won the respect and confidence of all ; and when he came into the town to enter upon his work, so great was the reverence of the people for him, that, though he was but a youth of twenty, tliey turned out in procession to welcome liim and escort him to his home. He was a faithful, earnest, and energetic minister, and con- . tinned in office till May 17, 1757, when he died, in the sixty-fourth year of his age and the fortythird of his ministry. His remains rest in the old burial-ground, and ati honorable inscription in Latin marks his resting-place.

The fourth pastor of the church,, and the last settled by the town, was Sev. Jonas Meriam, who was ordained May 22, 1758, and remained pastpr twenty-two years and five months. He died of consumption, August 13, 1780, aged fifty yean. He was twice married. His remains rest in Boston with those of the familv of his last wife. His character was mild and amiable, and he was reputed to be a man of considerable learning.

In the early days of New England, a considerable period often elapsed between the calling, of a minister and the date of his ordination. Mr. Meriam was called to be pastor over the First Church in Newton December 9, 1757;. he was ordained Maj 22, 1758, - after an interval of five months. His predecessor, John Cotton, was elected pastor March 22, 1713; bnt it was not till November 3, 1714, more than a year and a half afterwaid^, that he received ordination. The average period of the ministry of the first fonr {lastors was exactly tweotT-seven years ; or, lesiving out of the accoont Mr. Eliot, who died after onlv four years, the average service of the second, third, and fourth pastors was thirty-four years and two thirds.

The church controlled everything pertaining to the public worship. When the choir, ambitious of exhibiting their musical attainments, had learned a collection of new tunes, the clmrch voted, November 6, 1770, that "a due proportion only of the new ttines should be mingled with the old.^^ It was voted in church meeting, December 11, 1771, to introduce " Tate and Brady's version of ^be Psalms, with Hymns annexed.^' And, by a similar vote, November 7, 1790, this latter book of Psalmody tras exchanged for the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts.

While Mr. Meriam was pastor, there were signs foretokening the rupture of the union of clmrch and state in New England. The independence of the people began to manifest itself in the tendency of some to leave the established worship, and found churches after their own convictions. This separation was promoted as well as evinced by the organization of New Light churches here and there. One of these churches, formed in Newton, held its meetings at the house of Nathan Ward, who became their ordained leader and pastor. Another owed its existedce to one ^Ir. Jonathan Hyde, who lived in the' extreme southeastern part of Newton, nearly on the line of its division from Brookline. He was ordained pastor of this church January 17, 1750, and many from Newton attended his ministry. The cellar hole of his house is still visible. The First Baptist Church, including in its number severail of the members of these New Light organizations, reconstructed and purified, was formed about onfe month before the death of ^Ir. Meriam. An (ETvent very unfortunate for history took place during his ministry; his house took fire on Sabbath evening, March 5, 1 770, while the family were at supper, and was wholly consumed, together with the records of the First Church. Through the memory of Mr. Meriam, the deacons and others, the names of tli6 members, and of those who had been baptized in the sewral families connected with the diurch, .were mainly restored, - a less onerous task at that period than such a work would: be at present. The table around which the family were seated was removed from the house just as it was, and is still preserved in the family of Mn. Kenrick.

During the ministry of Mr. Meriam and pievious to the year 1764, the people in the west part of the town had occasional preaching in their own ; neighborhood, especially in the winter season. As the natural outcome of this arrangement, meetings for deliberation were held, and a building com* mittee chosen who were instructed to solicit subscriptions for the building of a meeting-house^ and to commence the work as soon as there was sufficient encouragement. In July, 1764, Phineas ' Bond, innholder, conveyed to the building committee, in consideration of £ 2 2^. about eight rods of land on which to erect a meeting-house, the land bounding upon the county road, the land of Isaac Williams and other land of Phineas Bond. The work of building wa^ commenced in 1764; but the society was not ripe for the settlement of a pastor till seventeen years later.

Three years after the commencement of tlie church edifice, Jonatlian Williams and others, inhabitants of the west part of Newton, presented a petition to the town, requesting that a reasonable sum of money should be granted by the town to aid in supporting the preaching of the gospel in their new meeting-house ; this request was refused by the town. Persevering in spirit, they repeat^ their petition in the years 1770, 1772, 1778, and 1774. Finding their fellow-townsmen disinclined to grant them help, they in the mean time petitioned the General Court for a grant of money out of the town treasury, for four months' preacliing. ; In 1778 they petitioned the General Court to be set ofi* as a distinct parish. This request was granted, and the act of incorporation was passed in October, 1778, the dividing line being described in the act, and the inhabitants on either side of it being allowed to belong to either parish they might choose, provided they should make their election within six months after the passing of the act.

The society or parish was organized by the choice of officers in November, 1778, and the next, year the proprietors of the meeting-house chose Alexander Shepard, Jr., Joseph Hyde, and Phineas Bond to give a title to the i)ews.

The church was organized October 21, 1781, being composed of twenty-six members, dismissed from the First Church, ^ith the exception of one.

History Of Middlesex C0Uxt7

Jo0eph Adams^ Sr., who was dismissed from the ehiirch in Brookline. The members solemnly dedared' their assent to the leading doctrines of the General Assembly's Shorter Catechism^ and passed the following vote : -

** Foied, in order to entitle anj person to either of the ordinances of the Christiau Scriptures, namely, baptism and the Lord's Supper, he shall make a public confession of religion, and dedication of himself to God; and Uiat every person so doing sliall be entitled to both ordinances, and may come to them without making any other profession of his faith and belief."

Mr. William Greenough^ valedictorian of his class at Yale College^ was ordained pastor November 8, 1781, having been elected by unanimous vote. Dr. John Lothrop^ of the Second Church in Boston, preached the sermon; Mr. Gushing, of Waltham, gave the chaise ; and Mr. Jackson, of Brookline, the right hand of fellowship. One who WIS present recorded the remark : '* A small house and a handful of people.^' An early vote of the church was that a portion of the Scriptures should be read in public on each Lord's Day. The Second Church in Boston gave to the new body a pulpit Bible; Thomas Greenough of Boston, the father of the young pastor, a baptismal font, two flagons and two dishes for the communion service ; and the First Church added, in token of brotherly affection, four pewter tankards and one pewter dish. Joseph Ward and Joseph Jackson were elected the first deacons. The first meeting-house, commenced in Jnne, 1764, wras enlarged in 1812, altered and improved in 1831, and again in 1838. Worship was held in that edifice for the last time March 26, 1848. The present meeting-house was dedicated March 29, 1848, and the dedication sermon, preached by the pastor, Bev". Lyman Gilbert, from Acts xxviii. 22, was printed. The former house was removed a few feet westwardlv, and became the Town House, in which at one period town meetings were held alternately with the meetings in the other town hall, erected at Newton Centre. The first pastor, Bev. William Greenough, remained pastor fifty /ears and two days, and died November 10, 1831, aged seventy-five, leaving his colleague, Bev. Lyman Gilbert, sole pastor. Mr. Gilbert served the church, in all, twenty-seven years, till 1855, when he resigned. He was a wise and faithful pastor, and widely known and higlily esteemed. He was an active member of the school committee for twenty years.

Dmmmohd, wlio remained till November 12, 1857, and was followed immediately by Rev. George B. Little, formerly of Bangor, Maine. He became pastor in 1857, and died of consumption in Boxbuiy, July 20, 1860, aged thirty-eight. The next pastor was Bev. Henry Johnson Patrick, formerly of Bedford, Massachusetts, where he was ordained November 16, 1854. He was installed here September 26, 1860, and is still pastor.

In The Revcjlution

It was while Mr. Meriam was pastor of the First Church that the country passed through the earlier scenes of the American Bevolution. Newton was all alive to this great occasion. The records of the town show that the inliabitants were keenlv sensitive in respect to the interests of the country, and tliat 'tiiey were not the men to submit tamely to oppression. They entered with, vigor and spirit into the war, and manifested ah enlightened and unconquerable patriotism, in the vicissitudes which culmhiated in that great struggle. They judged rightly that the welfare of the country demanded tluit it should rely mainly upon its own resources, so that it might not suffer from embarrassments occasioned by foreign wars. Moreover, they deemed it wise not to aid the manufacturing interests of (he mother country, which aimed only to oppress them, nor to promote its commercial prosperity by receiving goods imported in British vessels. Hence in 1765 they recorded their protest against the Stamp Act, and in 1767 they resolved in townmeeting not to use any gloves except of domestic manufacture, and to procure no new garments on funeral occasions, except those which were absolutely necessary. Among the articles included in their protest were also men's and women's hats and api)arcl, lace, diamonds, jewelry, snuff, broadcloth, costing more than ten shillings a yard, fiirs, millinery, stays, silk, cotton, velvet, lawn, and cambric. As the tempest of the Bevolution thickened, the town also voted, '' that we, each and every one of us, will not, directly or indirectly, by ourselves or any person under us, purchase or use or suffer to be used in our respective families any India tea, while such tea is subject to a duty payable upon its arrival in America.'^ At the destruction of the three hundred and forty-two chests of tea from vessels in Boston Harbor, commonly called " the Boston tea-party,'' Newton had its representative in tlie person of Samuel Hammo^d^ of Uie east part at the tovn. In Jasnair, 1772, Die inhabitanta, in tom-meeting assembled, passed o resolve, declarii^ that " no good man can be silent and inactive in tlie cause of liberty at tliis alarming period," aad also a lesolve declaring that " all taxation imposed OD the colonists without tlieir consent and witlioat representAtion in Parliament, for the purpose of nising a revenue, is imconstitutioufti and oppressive."

As the times grew more Uireatening, the selectmen irere aathorized to procure fire-arms for those who were too poor to fnniisli tliem. John Pigeon gave the town two field-pieces, which were accepted by the town with thanks, and a vote was passed, Janoarj 2, 1775, to raise a company of thirty-two minate-men, who were to meet half a day evety week, through the winter for driU, and every man was to be paid for his time the sum of eightpeace, or, as afterwards stated, one shilling, and the eight officers eight shillings per day "over and- above tlie shilling each."

At the opening of the war, April 19, 1775, Newton numbered three companies, the east and vest companies and' the minute-men, - a total of { two hundred and eigliteen men. Jeremiah Wiairall commanded the east company, AmariaU Fuller the west, and Pliiueas Cook tlie miuute-men. Besidies these, many Newton men who had passed the age -for military service, inspired by patriotism, were eager to renew their youth and participate in the excitement and the glory of the confiict. Noah Wiswall, a mac seveuty-six years of age, who, like his ancestors, occupied the house at the northeastf rly side of the pond at Newton Centre, now in possession of the heirs of Deacon Luther Paul, went to Lexington on the 19th of April, 1775, because, as lie said, " be wanted to see what the boys were doing." As he was pointing out to his companions three British soldier* on the field of strife, a ball whizzed through his h.-iii(I, inflicting a ]>ainful wound. Undaunted, he coolly took out his handkerchief and bound up the wounded member, and then picking up the musket of a fallen regular ' bore it home with him as a trophy.

When the War of Independence was actually commenced, Newton proved itself among the most ptriotie towns in the commonwealtli, and all the fsmiliea of the town were largely represented in the amies and battles of the Bcvolution. Few records of military ardor exceed in interest the narrative of Captain Michael Jackson on the day of tbe battle of Xcxington. Boused by the rumor that faostilitiu liad actually commenced, he rpsbed from his honse in tlie gray of the morning, and tlw minute-men having gathered on tlie parade-ground, no commissioned officers being present, he ,wu made captain by acclamation. Arrived at Watertown, he found the authorities assembled in con> clave, discussing the situation and ddiberating m tlie course proper to be pursued. His fiery spirit could not brook delay ; and feeUiig tliat tbe time for debate was past, and that tliis was the time f^r action, lie stepped from the ranks to the head of the company, and issued the sharp and stiiriitg military order, " Shoulder arms - platoons to tbe right, wheel - quick time - forward march I " And in the excitement of the moment he was actually on the way to the frojit ii-ilh those who liad the bravery to follow him. Of the rest, some lingered where they were, and some dispersed. Colonel Benjamin Hammond, the captain, followed after his company and jouied them before t|iey reached Coucord.

Soon after the affairs of Concord and Lexington two companies were raised, botJi commanded by ?iewton captains, and embracing seventy -four Newton men. They enlisted for cigiit months, and joined the anny at Cambridge, March 4, 1776. The east and west companies, numbering one linudred and thirteen men, by reiiuest of Geueial Washington marched to take possession, of Dor^ Chester Heights..

Li the wamnt for the town-meatiiig, June 17, 1776, WM this importftnt article: "Vaat iu oaae the hononble Coutinental Congress should, for the nitty of the American colonies, declare them independent of the kingdom of Great Britain, whether tiie inliabitanta of this town will Solemnly endeavor with their lires aud fortunes to support; them in fliis measore." After the debate tlie question was pat, and the rote passed unanimously in the affirma- tiTe. John Woodward was moderator of this memonble meeting. A centennial celebration of the same was held June 17, 1S76, at which a historical address was delivered by the Hon. James ?. C. Hyde, and the proceedings and address were afterwaids published in a volume worthy of the occasion by the city of Newton.

In August, 1777, a company of ninety-six men Vfs raised by Captain Joseph Fuller, of whom tiurty were Newton men. "they marched to Skenesborough, Bennington, and Lake Geoi^, to oppose the advance of General Burgorae. In March, 177i8, a company of sixty-ciglit men was raised by Captain Edward Fuller, of whom forty belonged to Newton. In January, 1777, sixty-four Newton inen enlisted for three years, or the war. In 17S0 Bfty-foor Newton men marched to reinforce the continental army. So sensitive were the people in their patriotism, and so averse to the toleration of tory principles, that a list was made out of persons whose residence was deemed prejudicial to the public safety, aud arrangements were made for their removal from the town.

About four hundred and thirty men -from Newton served in the continental army during the war of the Bevolution. Amcmg these were forty-four descendants of Edward Jackson, bearing the name of Jackson. There were twenty-two bearing the name of Fuller, sixteen the name of Parker, fifteen of Hyde, eleven of Stone, six of Seger, etc. Captain Henry King, of Newton, was one of the guard at Hie execution of Major Andr^.

The citizens freely voted their money as well as gave their services to their country during this great struggle. Many individuals loaned their property in generous sums. Besides this, in 177S a tax of £3,000 was voted towards the expenses of the war, aud the next year a similar sum for the purpose of taisiiig men for the army and other expenses In March, 1780, £30,000 were voted for s like purpose; in September, £40,000, and in December, £100,000. Paper money, it is true, had greatly depreciated in value. But tiiis. enormous depreciation, making many poor who hsd been nch, did not raider these valiant patriots penunoos The entire population of the town in 1775 has been estimated at less than 1,400. If this be correct, about every third person in tlie entire population iras more or less in ttte army, and all the families left by tliem at home must have shared painfully, though uncomplainingly, in the selfdenials and hardships of the - times. ; It is not unworthy of notice tliat Soger Shennan, one of the signers of the DecUration of Independmce, was % native of Newton, bom near the Skinner Place, on Waverley Avenue.

School Htstobt

It was many yean before the education of the young in Newton took the rank, among the measures adopted by the townsmen, which its importance claimed, lie earliest settlers of the territory, originally embracing- what was afterwards denominated Newtown, enjoyed the advantages of the " fair grammar school " at Cambridge, taught by Master Corlet. But only a few would be likely to travel such a distance from d^ to day, even if the instruction had been, as it probably was not, adapted to theit wants. Doubtless, children were taught more or less at home in many families; but in that farming period of sQciety> and under the .pressure of toil and poverty, it is not surprising that education was at the miiiimum. Mr. Jackson records that '' there does not appear to have been any public or private school in the YiUage [Newton] for sixty years after its first settknent. The erection of a school-house was near half a oentniy behind that of t)ie meeting-house/' In May, 1699, - forty-five years after the first movement for their separation from Cambridge, and twenty years after their petition to become an independent town had received the first favorable notice by the General Court, - the town voted to build a school-house, sixteen feet by fourteen, and Deacon John Staples, who occupied the estate now owned and occupied by W. C. Strong, Esq., was hired *'to keep school" four days in the week, at a sakry of two shillings per day. As early as 1642 the General Court passed an order requiring "Ibe townsmen to sec to the educating of their children/' and also enjoining it upon every town having a hundred families to set up '^ a grammar school,'^ which in those days meant a sehool of sufficiently advanced character to fit boys for admissioQ to college. If any of the children of Newton found their way to Master Corlet's school at Cambridge, for the support of which XcTi-ton was taxed until it became an independent town, .they must have been few in number. They had a right to these high privileges; but elementary learning, reading, writing, and arithmetic, were more adapted to. their wants. In 1701 the town voted to build two school-houses, one to be near the meetingrhouse and the other at Oak Hill, - " sixteen feet square besides chinmey room.'' Tlie town voted £25 towards the expense, and the rest was to be made up by private subscription. One master was to teach both schools, - the one near the meeting-house, two thirds of the time, and that near Oak Hill, one third. " Tliose that send children to school shall pay three pence per week for those that learn to read, and four pence for those that learn to read, write, and cypher; and all may send to either school as they choose.''

John Staples, ' the schoolmaster above referred to, and the first public schoolmaster in Newton, came to New Cambridge about 1688. He was for many years deacon of the church, and town-clerk - the tliird in that office - twenty-one years, from 1714 to 1734, and selectman eight years. His chirography in the town records is creditable to his -attainments in tliat dq)artment; but his ingenuity in misspelling the most common words impUes that if he knew how to teach, he had also something to learn. .He left in his will seventeen acres of woodland " for and towards the support of the ministerial fire from year to year annually." He died in 1740, aged eighty-two years. His wife was Mary Craft. Tliey had no children.

The first school committee was elected in 1706. The members were Isaac Williams, John Mason^ and Abraliam Jackson. From this time onward a school committee was chosen annually. The school question seems to have given the people for a long time no little trouble, and was the subject of frequent discussion, planning, experimenting, and voting. This is evident from a mere glance at the entries in the town records. In 1718 the town voted £10 to the inhabitants in the northwest part of the town, to aid them in employing a schoolmaster. In 1721 they voted not to have more than one school ; but Samuel Miller, at the west part of the town, offered a room in his house for a school, and the town accepted it. In 1722 the vote of 1701 was reaffirmed, giving school privileges to the centre of the town two thirds of the time, and to the south part one third. In 1723 the inhabitants voted to have the school kept in three places, one '* half the time at the west part, quarter at the north, and quarter at the south.'' At the same time the town was divided into three school districts. In 1751, and again in 1753, the inhabitants voted to have two more schoolmasters. In 1763 thev voted to have four districts and four schools, and all to be provided \iith wood. The duration of these schools was determined as follows : Centre, twenty weeks and two days ; northwest, fourteen weeks and two days ; Oak Hill, ten weeks and six days ; southwest, six weeks aiid five days. In 1776 there were five school districts; in' 1791, six, and in 1808, seven. In 1766 ihi sum of £16 was appropriated to employ a schoolmistress. This was the first " woman's school.** In 1768 £50 were appropriated for men's, and £16 for women's schools.

History Of Middls8Ejc County

' In 1796 the citizens voted "to provide five ktorea to varm the schoi^Klioiues." As late as 1780-85 JUt. Mr. Blood, the first pastor of the Piist Baptist Cburch, Newton Centre, pieced out u inadequate salary by keeping the winter school it Oak Hill two seasons.

A. new interest was awakened in the cause of education in connection with the action of the Uassachusetts Board of Education, and especially

M a lesolt of the efficient labors of Hon. Horace Uaim, its secretary, who was a citizen of West Newton. Tlie schools had been conducted for many years without much variation from the established routine, except as the growth of population from time to time demanded increased accommodations. .This routine contemplated mainly nine or ten school-houses, chiefly of one story and containing but a single room, with a schoolmaster for a certain number of weeks in the winter months, a schoolmistress in the summer. At tlie period indicated, about 1854, judicious citizens, deeply in* terested in the cause of education, of whom the late Dr. Henry Bigelow and the late Hon. D. H. libsoD were among the foremost, -^and it is in their honor that two of the school-houses are named, - b^n to connsel the citizens in town-meeting to adopt measures looking to a more generous course of training for the young. Hu first efforts were merely tentative, beenise tbe people t'n many instances were not prepared to relinquish their ancient customs for new and untried measures. But after warjn debate a rcsolotion was passed to establish graded schools thronghout the town, except in the Oak Hill district, which was remotely and therefore peculiarly situated, and the citizens of that part of the town were not willing to accede to the new arrangement. Two grammar schools, one at Newton Centre, the other at Newtonville, were to be provided with masters all the year round, competent to prepare young men for college. Two new school-bouses were erected, - one at Newton- Title, a few rods north of the railroad station, where three or four ways met; the other at Kenrlon Centre, nearly on the site of the present Mason Schoolhouse. The school at the Centre was in cliaii^ of 3. W. Hunt, Esq., formerly of Plymouth, the first master, and proved a success. Tlie building was afterwards removed to a lot on tlie opposite comer of Station Street, to make room for a much larger and more convenient structure, and was finally transferred to a lot near the southeast part of Wiswall's Pond, and became Crane's machineshop. The new school-building was burned by an incendiary, and the present Mason schooUbnildtug took its pUce. Tlie school did escellent service as a mixed high and grammar school, until the public interest in education demanded a still farther advancement, and the present pure high-school edifice was erected at Newtonville in 1858-59. The appropriations for schools, showing an interesting increase in the progress of years, indicate the growing intelligence and liberality of the citizens. From £50, the earliest appropriation, and which remained fixed at that sum for many years, and from S600, the appropriation in 1800, the advance has been in an ever-increasing ratio. In 1870 the amount paid for educational purposes was 8117,252.93, and the value of school property owned by the town was 3327,800. lu 1873 the last town grant for schools, before Newton became a city, wns 373,000. In 1878 there were in the city eighteen school-houses, eighty-six teacfaen, 3,359 pupils ; total expenditure for schoob in l878, 383,208.63, or 324-77 per capita, the expense of every pupil enrolled. The whole immber who graduated from the high school from 1861 to 1S78 inclusive was 315; males 140, females 175. Tlie first class (1861) numbered four, all females; tlie list chiss (1878), thirty-six; the largest dasa (1877) numbered fifty-one. Di tbe class of 1878

Yarious private schools have been taught in Newton in different parts of the town^ as well in its earlier as its bter histoiy. In 1765 Charles Pdham of Boston opened a private school in the hpnse formerly owned by the Aev. John Cotton^ in Newton Centre. Judge Abraliam Fuller at a still eariier date Iiad a private grammar school^ and in. his will he left a bequest of £300 to the town of Newton, as the foundation of an academy to be known as the Fuller Academy, to promote higher education. The amount was left to be paid by his executors, and did not come into the possession of the town till after the death of his son-in-law, Genenl Hull, whose affairs became embarrassed, and he was unable during his lifetime to pay the bequest. After his decease a piece of land was by his heirs to the town in settlement of the claim, and the Fuller Academy was erected at West- Newton, on Washington Street. After a few years the building was sold, and became the seat of the first normal school for young ladies in Massachusetts, which had been previously located for a brief period in the town of Lexington. It has since become the classical school of the Messrs. Allen.

Mrs. Susannah Bowson opened a female academy aud boarding-school at Newton Corner, in the brick portion of the building since kno^vn as the Nonantum House, in the early part of the present century. She was the daughter of a British officer, a woman of many accomplishments, and an author of considerable reputation. Her school was attended by young ladies from remote states in the Union and from the West India Islands. She taught also, either before or afterwards, in Medford, Boxbury, aud Boston. Many items of her personal liistory arc preserved in her novel entitled liebeeca, which, under fictitious names, is a record of actual events and occurrences in the davs of the American Bevolutiou. She is said to have been a very courtly woman, and paid special attention tp tlie carriage and manners of her pupils.

Mr. Seth Davis was a teacher of hiuh and deserved reputation in West Newton, where he taught first in the public school, and afterwards in a private academy of his own. Many who subsequently became distinguished men in Newton and elsewhere were among his ])upils, aud his teaching in higher branches. was altogether in advance of the teaching of the period. It is said that the