Newton City (part 1 of 8)

Newton City

diaiis, in Swauzey, William Hammond was killed, aud Corporal Belcher had his horse shot under him, and was himself wounded. On the 1st of July they had another encounter, on a plain near Eehoboth, with the Indians, four or five of whom were slain. Among them was Thebe, a sachem of Mount Hope ; another was one of Philip's chiefs. In this affair John Druce, son of Vincent (one of the first settlers of the Tillage), was mortally wounded. He was brought home, aud died at his owu house the next day.

On the 10th of December five companies of infantry and Captain Prentice's troop of horse marched from Massachusetts and from Plymouth Colony to Narragansett. On the 16th Captain Prentice received information that the Indians had burned Jeremiah Ball's house, and killed eighteen men, women, and children. He marched inmiediately in pursuit, killed ten of the Indians, captured fifty-five, and burned a hundred and fifty wigwams. " This exploit," says the historian of tlie day, " was performed by Captain Prentice, of the Horse."

On the 21st of January, 1676, Captain Prentice's troops, being in advance of the infantry, met with a party of Indians, captured two, and killed nine of them. On the 18th of April ^ following, the Indians made a vigorous attack on Sudbury. Captains Wadswortli and Brockelbank fought bravely in defence, but were overpowered, and eighteen of their men took refuge in a mill. When notice of this attack reached Captain Prentice, he started immediately for Sudbury, with but few of his company, and entered that town with but six besides himself. The remnant of Captain Wadsworth's men defended the mill bravely until night, when they were relieved, and the Indians put to flight. All accounts agree that Captain Prentice rendered most invaluable service throughout the war. He was constantly an the alert, and by his bold and rapid marches he put the enemy to the sword or to flight, and made his name a terror to all the hostile Indians. After Philip was slain in July, 1676, terms of peace were offered to all Indians who would surrender. A Nipmuck sachem, called John, vAi\\ a number of his men, embraced the offer, and by order of the General Court were given in charge to Captain Prentice, who kept them at his house in Cambridge Village.

War broke out, and was then fifty-five years old. He was hardy, athletic, and robust, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He continued to ride on horseback till the end of his long life, and his death was occasioned by a fall from his horse.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Indian converts maintained unshaken their fidelity to the English, such was the prejudice against them and fear of them, that the General Court, on the breaking out of Philip's War, ordered them to be removed to Deer Island, in Boston Harbor, and Captain Prentice, with his troopers, was charged with the execution of t!ie order. Their number, including men, women, and cliildren, was about two hundred.

Although Captain Prentice was a terrible enemy to the hostile Indians, and greatly feared by them, he was a warm friend and counsellor, and had the full confidence of the friendly tribes. General Gookin was for many years, by appointment of the General Court, the magistrate for managing, advising, and watching over the friendly Indians. After Gookin's death several of the bands united, in 1691, in a petition that Cajrtain Prentice might be appointed their ruler.

Captain Prentice was appointed one of a committee to proceed to Quinsigamond (Worcester), with the view of forming a settlement there. He was one of the owners of the first fifty-eight houses built there, and had a grant of fifty acres of land for his public services. He was a representative to the General Court in 1672, 1673, and 1674-. In 1679 he was ajipointed chairman of a committee for rebuilding the town of Lancaster, which was destroyed by the Indians during Philip's War.

Captain Prentice and his wife, Grace, had four sons and four daughters. Two of his sons died in childhood ; the other two were married. Thomas, the eldest, had three sons, and died in 1685, and the old captain had the bringing up of the three grandsons, to whom he gave a good education and all his estate. Thomas, the eldest grandson, was a leading man in Newton, a captain of infantry, and died in 1730. The second grandson, John, married a daughter of Edward Jackson, and died without children, aged thirty-five. The third grandson, Samuel, married Esther, daughter of Nathaniel Hammond, and settled in Stouington, Conn. Prom this marriage have proceeded numerous descendants. Captain Prentice's wife, Grace, died October 9, 1692. He died July 6, 1710, aged eighty-nine, and was buried under arms. He settled his own estate by deeds of gift to his grandchildren. He was one of the most substantial men of his age, and enjoyed the miliniited confidence of his associates in the settlement of New Cambridge. Edward Jackson, in his will, made in 1681, inserts this clause, which is a contemjoorary testimony to his merits: "I bequeath to my honored friend, Capt. Thomas Prentice, one diamond rhig."

John Parker was one of the earliest settlers of Hingham, Mass. He probably came over in the ship James, of London, in 1635, and had land granted him there in 1636 and 1640. He was a carpenter by trade, removed from Hingham, and bought a tract of land in the easterly part of Cambridge Village in March, 1650, adjoining the lands of Jolm Ward and Vincent Druce. By his wife Joamia he had five sons and five daughters, and died in 1686, aged seventy-one. His estate passed, soon after his death, into the hands of Hon. Ebenezer Stone, and is the same long owned and occupied by Mr. John Kingsbury.

The Parkers in Newton have descended from two distinct families, namely, John and Joanna of Hingliam, and Samuel and Sarah of Dedham. Nathaniel Parker was a prominent man in Newton; he was the son of Samuel and Sarah, born in Dedham, March ^6, 1670. He owned the land on which the third meeting-house was erected, - the site still occupied by the First Parish Church. He sold this land, containing one and a half acres and twenty rods, for £ 15, and conveyed it to the selectmen of Newton by deed, in August, 1716.

Thomas Hammond was one of the earliest settlers of Hingham ; he took the freeman^s oath there March 9, 1637, and had land granted to him there in 1636 and in 1637. His children were born in Hingham. lie sold his lands in that town in 165:J, and his dwelling-house in 1656. In 1650 he and Vincent Druce bought of Nicliolas Hodgden land in Cambridge Village, and in 1658 they bought of Thomas Prattle and others six hundred acres, partly in Cambridge Village and ])artly in Muddy River (Brooklinc). They held this 'land in common until 1661', wiicn a division was made between them. The dividing line \\:is our hundred rods in length, running over tin- triv:il iiill. The pond was in llaMiinond's and lias U.tu called 1,V Ills li;illir ever since. Ilr ;dsn iHni-lil m 1656 n'r i;sllirrS,Mrli;,wk t linr I, nndlvd iind thirl v acres. l!v Ins wile, i:il/,ilielli, he 1i;m1 Iwo s.,11s ;iii,I Iwa

Vincent Druce was one of the earliest settlers of Hingham, being there in 1636, and had land granted to him there in 1636 and in 1637. His son John was baptized in Hingham, in April, 1641. In 1650 Nicholas Hodgden, of that part of Boston now Brookline, conveyed to Thomas Hammond and Vincent Druce, of Cambridge, a tract of land in the easterly part of Cambridge Village, adjoining Jolm Parker's land, which land \\as originally granted by the town of Cambridge to Robert Bradish. The highway from Cambridge Village to Muddy River (Brookline) was laid out through these lands in 1658. John Ward conveyed to Druce one hundred and thirty acres of land, bounded east by the Roxbury line and north by Muddy River line. His dwelling-house was near the spot afterwards occupied by the school-house in the east part of the town, not far from the mansion of the late F. ^I. Johnson, Esq. Of his two sons, Vincent and John, the latter was a soldier in Captain Prentice's troop of horse, and was killed in the war with King Philip at Mount Hope in 1675, aged thirty-four, and was probably the iirst victim who fell in that war from Cambridge Village. The former, Vincent, died in January, 1678.

Ensign John Ward was born in England, in 1636. He was the eldest son of William Ward, who, with his second wife, Elizabeth, and other children, came from Yorkshire or Derbyshire, and settled in Sudbury, where he had lands assigned to him in 1640. John Ward married Hannah, the daughter of Edward Jackson, in 1650 ; was selectman nine years, from 1679, and a representative eight years, being the first representative sent from Cambridge Village. The first year, 1689, he served fifty-four days, and the Village voted " Is. &(L per day for his serving." His dwelling-house was constructed for a garrison-house about 1661, and used as such during King Philip's War. This ancient building stood on the ground occupied at ])resent by the house of the heirs of Ephraini Ward, a descendant of John, and was demolished in ] 8:2 1 . This house and forty-five acres of land were conveyed to John and Hannah by his father-in-law, Fidward Jackson, by deed dated March 10, 1661. lie owned about five hundred acres of land, which he distrihiited among his .'Jons by deeiU of gift in 17111. He was by trade a turner. He liiul eight Mills Mild live ilauirhtcrs, and died ,lulv 1, 1708, aged eighty-two. His wife, Hannah, died April S^, 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, jDurchased of Thomas Danforth four hundred acres of land Iti 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 southwesterly, beyond the house now occupied by heirs of Marshall S. Rice, Esq. James and Thomas, Jr., or 2d, were probably brothers, and doubtless came into Cambridge Village the same year with Captain Thomas Prentice. The ancient Prentice house was demolished in 1800. It stood a few rods southeast of the house now occupied by the heirs of Joshua Loring, on Centre Street, opposite Mill Street.

James Prentice married Susanna, the daughter of Captain Edward Johnson, of Woburn, and had one son, James, and five daughters. Captain Johnson, by his will, dated 1672, gave his grandson, James Prentice, £15, and also made a small bequest to Susanna and Hannah Prentice, daughters of his son-ill-law, James Prentice. He was selectman in 1691, and died Marcli 7, 1710, aged eighty-one. His son James, who was his administrator, sold out his share in his father's estate for £60, in 1711, to his five sisters, "all single women," and probably left the town.

Thomas Prentice, 2d, with James, just mentioned, purchased four hundred acres of land in Cambridge, in March, 1650, and one hundred acres in 1657. Both parcels were conveyed to Jaines 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, Sr., by his first wife, who was born 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 this family. Edward Jackson by his will gave him one hundred acres of land, called " Bald-Pate Meadow," near Oak Hill, and several other tracts of land, and to his wife, Rebecca, a gold ring, with 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 he 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 1711 he conveyed land to his sons Thomas and John, in which conveyance he named his son Edward. There 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 Village." Supposing him to be twenty-one years old then, his birth would have been in the year 1632. He lived to a great age, but the date of his death is not known.

Thomas Wiswnll was a prominent man among the first settlers of Dorchester. He came to this country about 1637. He was selectman in Dorchester in 1611 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. In 1657 he and his wife conveyed to his son Enoch, of Dorchester, 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 his name. His house was on the east bank, the site of the dwelling of the heirs of the late Deacon Luther Paul. He had four sons and three daughters, and more than thirty grandchildren. His last \vife was Isabella Parmer, a widow, from Ausley in England. He died December 6, 1683, aged eighty. He left no will and had no monument. His son Noah married Theodosia, 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 minister of Duxbury.

1640. He owned a wharf on tlie easterly side of the town-dock, Boston, afterwards called Tyng's Wharf, which he sold in 1652. He purchased two hundred and fifty acres of hind in tlie southerly part of Camhridge Village in 1658. His house was near the bridge across Charles Eiver, which has been called Kenrick's Bridge from that day to this. His first wife, Anna, died November, 1656. He died August 29, 1686, aged eighty-two. His second wife, Judith, died at Eoxbury, August 23, 1687. He had two sons, John and Elijah, and one daughter, Hannah, who married Jonathan Metcalf of Dedhara. John had nine daughters and two sons, and Elijah three daugliters and three sons.

Captain Isaac Williams was the second son of Robert Williams of Eoxbury, who came from Norwich, in England, the common ancestor of many distinguished men who have honored the country of tlieir birth. Isaac was born in Eoxbury, September 1, 1638. He married Martha, daughter of Deacon William Park, of Eoxbury, about 1661, and settled in the west part of the village. His second wife was Juditii 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 iiis three sous; Isaac received two hundred and fifty acres, Eleazer one hundred acres, and Ephraim one hundred and fifty acres and the mansion-house. This land was granted by the town of Cambridge to Samuel Shepard in 164.0. In 1652 Eobert Barrington, Esq., obtained judgment against the estate of Samuel Shepard, and this tract was appraised at £150 to satisfy the execution. Deacon William Park of Eoxbury, 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 11, 1707, aged sixty-nine. He had twelve children and upwards of fifty grandchildren. His son William gradviated at Harvard University, in 1683, and became minister of Hatfield. His son Epliraim married Elizabetli, daughter of Abraham Jackson. Ephraim, the son of this last marriage, was the founder of Williams College.

Abraham Williams was not related to Captain Isaac Williams. He came from Watertown, where he took the freeman's oatli in 1652. He purchased a dwelling-house and twelve acres of land of John Callon in August, 1654. In 1662 he purchased of William Clemens a dwelloig-house and six acres of land in what was in later times Newton Corner, very near the Watertown line. He married Joanna, sister of John Ward, about 1660, by whom he had two sons and two daughters, and perhaps others, of whom two were born in Cambridge Village. He sold his place to Gregory Cooke, 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 the name of the Williams Tavern, where he died December 29, 1712, aged eightyfour. His widow, Joanna, died December 8, 1718, aged ninety.

James Trowbridge was born in Dorchester, and baptized there in 1638. His 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 for their 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 returned from New Haven to Dorchester about 1656, where he married Margaret, daughter of Major Humphrey Atherton, December 30, 1659, and had three children 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 1664. 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 Dauforth eighty-five acres of land, with a dwrllinghousc, which stood on the lot long occupied by the house of Mr. Nathan Trowbridge in later times, and outbuildings thereon, w Inch he had occupied for some years, - bounded by the highways west and south, the narroAV lane north, his own land east, the dividing lino being straight through the swani]). He was a lieutenant, clerk of the writs in 1691 and 1693, and representative in the Gen- eral Court in 1700 and 1703. He had five sons and nine daughters, and upwards of eighty grandchildren. His iirst ^yife died June 17, 1672 ; second vdie, ilargaret, daughter of Deacon John Jackson, died September 16, 1727, aged seventy-eight. He died ^lay 22, 1717, aged eiglity-one.

Lieutenant John Spring was born in England in 1630. He was the son of John and Eleanor, and but four years old when he arrived in this country. His father settled in Watertown. John, Jr., married Hannah, daughter of William and Anable Barshane, 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 selectman eight years, and representative three years. He had 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 Village. On his gravestone he is styled Lieutenant. Li 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.

John Eliot, Jr., son of the apostle Eliot, was born in Roxbury in 1635, and graduated at Harvard L^niversity in 1656, being in the same class witli President Licrease Mather. He was ordained first pastor of tlie church in Cambridge Village July 20, 1661, - 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 accomplished person, of comely proportion, ruddy complexion, cheerful countenance and quick apprehension, a good classical scholar, and possessed of considerable scientific knowledge for one of his age and period." A tender and inviolable affection subsisted between him and his people. Under the direction of his father 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, Sarah Willett, daughter of Thomas Willett, Esq., first mayor of New York, he had a daughter, Sarah, born in 1662, who married John Bowles, Esq., of Eoxbury, in 1687. By his second wife, Ehzabeth, daughter of Daniel Gookin, Esq., he had one son, John, born in 1667, who was educated at Harvard College, by his grandfather Gookin, and married

Mary, daughter of John Walcott, and settled in Windsor, Connecticut. He died October 13, 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 iiomestead, of twenty acres, was situated on the westerly side of Centre Street, about sixty rods north of the burialplace. 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 raise money to carry Eliot^s grandson, John Eliot of Windsor, 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 assenibled for their town-meetings. But the spirit of independence soon prompted them to seek separation from Cambridge, and the organization of an independent town. Efl'orts in this direction began to take form as early as 1651-, when the inhabitants residhig on the south side of Charles River petitioned to be relieved from paying taxes for the sujjport of the ministry m Cambridge ; and they never rested till they had accomplished their purpose. They found it too burdensome 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 Lord's Day. The fact 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 tlie Village, undoubtedly tended to nourish the plan of separation on which the people had set their hearts.

Li 1656 John Jackson and Thomas Wiswall, in behalf of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village, petitioned the 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, although inhabitants, yet not by the approbation of the town, having no riglit 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 tiieir desire of any such change - tlie most of them do live within four miles of our meeting-house, except two or tliree farms that lie above the Falls on Cliarles Eiver, near Dedham, and hardly ever go to meeting, and some of them are not much above two 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 division, 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 - Eichard Russell of Charlestown, Eleazur Lusher of Dedham, and Ephraim Child of Watertown - reported against this petition. Tlie 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 mhiister." And so the petitioners had leave to witlidraw.

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 whicli 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 mth 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 Tiiomas Wiswall, in behalf 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 Ilawtliorne 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 belialf of the town of Cambridge, op|Mutunily to make their desires known, and Major ilnwllKinu' to appoint the time and place for the liearing of what all parties can say, so it be sometime before the next Court of elections ; and on tlie hearing tliereof to issue fully and absolutely conclude and determine, what they shall judge necessary and just to be done, as to the deteniiiniiig 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 from Cambridge and made an independent town. In answer to this petition, "the court in 1673 doth, judge meet to grant to tlie inhabitants of said Village 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 Town rates so far as refers to the grammar school and bridge over Charles River, and also their proportion of the charges of the deputies."

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

" Corner near the widow John Jackson's orchard and a chestnut-tree in Mr. Edward Jackson's pasture, and to continue until it comes to the River ; 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 tliis petition; tliirteen of the inhabitants did not sign it. Six of the first settlers had deceased, viz. .lohn Jackson, Sr., Richard Park, Sr., Thomas Hnnnnond, Sr., Rev. Jolm Eliot, John Jackson, Jr., and Vincent Druee, Sr.

" TJie humble petition of us, the inhabitants of Cambridge on the south side of Charles Eiver, showeth, that the late war, as it hath been a great charge 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 building 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 us in a little time, and now in great mercy hath raised up another in the place, who hath a house in building for him, which requires assistance, - as also we are now by the great mercy of God so many families that a school is required for the education of our children according to law, besides our public charge in the place, - yet notwithstanding this, last year the townsmen of Cambridge have imposed a tax upon us, amounting to the sum of three country rates, our knowledge or consent, - which we humbly conceive is a very harsh proceeding, for any townsmen, of their own will and power, to impose upon the inhabitants what taxes they please, and to what end, without even calling the inhabitants to consider about such charge ; - yet nevertheless, for peace sake, the inhabitants of our place did meet together and jointly consent to give the town of Cambridge the sum of £100, and to pay it in three 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, which some of us had before Cambridge had any site there, which tender of ours they havuig rejected, as also to grant to us our freedom from- them, -

" We do most humbly commend our distressed condition to the justice and mercy of this Honored Court, that you will please to grant to us our freedom from Cambridge, and that we may be a township of ourselves, without 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 ; aud 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 rest, your humble petitioners."

first session, 1678, and committed, 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 j^etition, dated October 28, 1678, signed by their selectmen, - a voluminous document extending to fifteen pages. Portions of this remonstrance were very severe, aud 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 should be duly notified to meet on the 27th day of August, 1679, and choose three selectmen aud a constable from among themselves to manage the mmiicipal afl'airs of the Village, as other towns, according to law.

The freeholders were duly notified, and the first town-meeting was held on that 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 were elected there. 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 aud pleasure of a majority of the freeholders.

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

The name of New Cambridge was not given by the General Court, but was assumed by the inhabitants of the Village, and generally acquiesced in by the public, and recognized by the General Court, as the records show. But the inhabitants 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. 15, 1691. In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village, lying on the south side of Charles Piiver, being granted to be a township, praying tliat a name may be given unto the said town, - - it is ordered that it be iienceforth called New Town/' Thus the name originally given to the town across the river - which was the 7iew tow)L because Boston was the old town, and which was lost when, 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 syllables. But all the town-clerks followed the order of the court in spelling it until 1776, when Judge Fuller was elected town-clerk, and held the office twenty-six. years. He always spelt it on the records Newton. Tiicre was no vote on the subject. Usage in this and other towns had prepared the way for hnn to assume the responsibility of makhig the contraction by dropping the w from the last syllable.

Soon after the removal of the tyraimical governor, Sir Edmund Andros, the inhabitants of IN'ew Cambridge met on the 20th May, 1689, and passed the following resolutions : -

"That it is our desire, 1. That tlie Honorable Governor and Deputy Governor and Assistants, cliosen and sworn in the year 1GS6, and the Deputies then chosen by tlie freemen lor that year, do now resume the government of the Colony according to Charter privileges.

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

" 4. That the Court tiuis settled do not admit of any change or alteration of government among us, until it is first signified to the several towns for their approbation."

On the same day (KiSD) tlie inhabitants made choice of Ensign John \\ ard as tlieir representative or deputy, in the present session of the General Court, tlie iirst representative ever sent from Cambridge Village, and w!io contiimed to represent the town for eight years.

The ecclesiastical division preceded the political, and Newton had a cliureii and a pastor more than twenty years before it was incorporated as an independent town ; for Cambridge released its ludd upon Newton by degrees, and paiiiliilh. The date, August 27,' 1679, when llir (Iciieral Coiirl ordcivd IJmt the Villatre should have tin- n-lil to choose selectmen and a constable 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 History, -linA. was engraved in 1874 on the city seal. The action of the court, however, seems to have foreshadowed the independent organization rather than confirmed it; for more careful investigations of the facts and testimonies have estabhshed the conclusion beyond reasonable doubt that the true date of the event is January 11, 1687, and 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 : " In 1678 they again petitioned to be set off, and continued to do so tOl 1687, wdien, on January 11, Cambridge 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 Village 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 followeth : that is to say, two sixths parts thereof by the town of Cambridge, one sixth part by the said village, and three sixths parts at the public charge of the county of Middlesex.

"Tiiis order," says Mr. Hyde, " sluiws conclusively that the town was not wholly independent until 1687, although the town records commence in 1679, when the inhabitants of (he Village seem to have first availed themselves of (he privileges granted them in 1673, by choositig three selectmen and one constable, - all the ollicers (hey were authorized (o choose, - to maiiai^c their 'prudential allairs.'

tied to all the privileges of an incorporated town previous to 1687, is the fact that 'they never assumed to send a dejiuty to the General Court distinct from Cambridge, but did not miss representation a single year for half a century after.' People so tenacious of their rights as the inhabitants of the Village manifestly were, both before and after incorporation, would not be likely to let the newly acquired right of representation lie dormant for seven years at a period of intense political excitement.

"The records of Cambridge show that constables were elected by t-hat tmonfor the TiUatje after 1679, as follows: James Prentiss, 1680; Sebeas Jackson, 1681; Edward Jackson, 1682; Abraham Jackson, 1683; John Prentice, 1684; Thomas Parker, Sr., 1685; Ebenezer Wiswall, 1686; Joseph Wilson, 1687. After 1688 none are distinctly described as for the Village.

"'In 1686 a committee was chosen by the inhabitants 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 the selectmen to make a rate for the Yilhige.'

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

" ' That whereas Cambridge Village, by order of the General Court in the late Government, was enjoined to bear their proportion of the 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 diiference between the selectmen of said towns concerning the laying of rates for the end abovesaid, - that the Village shall pay to the town of Cambridge the sum of five pounds in merchantable corn at the former prices, at or before the first day of May next ensuing the date above, in full satisfaction of all dues and demands by the said town from the said Village, 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 that the town of Cambridge, in consideration of £4, in current county pay, already in hand, payed to the Village 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 R. Paige, the historian of Cambridge, says : " Hence, it appears reasonably certain that the Village, which obtained ecclesiastical privileges in 16G1, 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 tlie eleventh day of January, 1687."

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

The river Charles encircles a large part of Newton. The centre of its channel forms the northerly, westerly, and southerly boundaries of the town, being a continuous curving line of upwards of fifteen miles in length. This boundary 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 town, where in 1847 six hundred and forty acres were ceded to Waltham.

The average town tax during the first nine years was about £20 annually; the next twenty-five years (1700-1725), £90 ; and the succeeding forty-five years, £166. The first representative to the General Court was Ensign John Ward, wiio served from 1689, eight years, and the second. Captain Isaac Williams, who served from 1692, six years. One representative, Captain Abraham Fuller, served the town in this capacity eighteen years, and another. Major Timothy Jackson, fifteen years, 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 cemetery on the east side of Centre Street, and the road on the south side of that cemetery, now called Cotton Street in honor of the third pastor of the church, was one of the important thoroughfares of the town. Tlie fli'st mecting-liousc was enlarged ill 1678. Subsequently a new church edifice was built on the opjiosite side of the street, nearly on the site of the house of the late Gardner Colby, Esq. After a time this meeting-house was taken down and removed to Waltham, where it was used for rehgious worship from 1721 to 1776. The last sermon was preached in it in Newton, October 29, 1721. The town, after mucli discussion, mutual differences, and measuring of distanrcs, ])nrchased land of Nathaniel Parker, and civrtcd their new meeting-house (the third) on the present site of the First Congregational Church, and dedicated it November 5, 1721, - three years from the time the vote was taken aullioriziiiL;- its civclidii. Andcdicated November 21, 1 81).'), during the ministry of Dr. Tlomcr. Tiie present edillri'. in its original form, was dedicated March 21, IS! I 7.

l!ev. John Eliot, of Roxbury, had already made Newton famous by liis labors in behalf of the Indians. ^Ir, Eliot' was born at Naseby, England, in 1601, and died in Roxbury, Mass., j\Iay 20, 1690. He came to Boston in 1631, and was settled as teacher of the church in Roxbury in 1632. He fancied that the Indians were descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel, and early in his ministry in Roxbury began to take a deep interest in their welfare. He acquired their language 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, 1616. At the date of this first missionary efl'ort, both Mr. Eliot and Waban were of the same age, forty-two years. Tiic chief met Jlr. Eliot at s(ime distance from the spot since marked by the Eliot monument, erected in 1S79, and welcomed him to the place of the assembly. The text chosen by IMr. Eliot for bis first sermon was Ezekiel xxxvii. 9, - "Come from the four wmds, 0 breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live." By a singular coincidence, doubtless observed bv :\rr. Eliot, the word Ijmitli, in this text, was, in the Nonantum dialect, the same with the name of the Indian chief ; and Waban was the first convert under Eliot's ministry among this people. The service on the occasion extended to three hours, yet the Indians affirmed that they were not weary. After the sermon one of the Indians asked whether

God could understand prayers in the Indian language as well as in English. Another asked how the Indians could be so different from the English, if they all had one father. A third asked how the world could be so full of people, if they were once all drowned by the flood ; and a fourth, a very aged man, inquired whether it was too late for so old a man as he to repent and be saved. Some of the sachems and conjurers were enemies to Mr. Eliot's work, and threatened him with violence if he did not desist. But he bravely replied : " I am about the work of the great God, and he is with me, so that I neither fear you, nor all the sachems in the country. I will go on, and do you touch me if you dare."

At the second and third meetings, Eliot was accompanied by some of the magistrates and ministers of the colony, adding dignity to the work and the occasion. He began by questioning the Indians on the truths already learned, and answering the questions wliich their curiosity dictated.

\ all the Indians in the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts, and once preached the gospel to the celebrated King Philip, who, it is said, rejected it with disdain. He induced many of the Indians to relinquish their wandering habits of life, and lived to see no fewer than twenty-four of them become preachers to their own people. In his labors for the Indians he endured great hardships and exposures. In one of his 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 night, pull off my boots and wring my stockings and on with them again, and so continue ; but God steps in and helps."

The report of the success of these early efforts in behalf of the aborigines of Massachusetts excited a strong sensation in England. The British Parliament, then under the Protectorate, passed an act, July 27, 1649, for the advancement of the work. The preamble of the act runs as follows : " Whereas the Commons of England, assembled in Parliament, have received certain intelligence from divers godly ministers and others in New England, that divers of the Heathen natives, through the pious care of some godly English, who preach the gospel to them in their own Indian language, not only of barbarous have become civil, but many of them, forsaking their accustomed charms 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 their children what they are instructed themselves, being careful to place them in godly families and English schools, betaking themselves to one wife, putting away the rest, and by their constant prayers to Almighty God morning and evening in their families, - prayers expressed, in all appearance, with much devotion and zeal of heart, - All which considered, we cannot but, in behalf of the nation we represent, rejoice and give glory to God for the beginning of so glorious a propagation of the gospel among those poor heathen, which cannot- be prosecuted with that expedition as is desired, unless fit instruments be encouraged and maintained to pursue it, schools and clothing be provided, and many other necessaries, kc." The act of which this preamble sets forth the reasons, then proceeds to establish a corporation of sixteen persons, to superintend the dis- bursement of moneys which should be given to aid in instructing, clothing, civilizing, and Christianizing the Indians. A general collection was ordered to be made for these purposes through all the churches of England and \Yales. The ministers were required to read this 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 Charles the Second produced six hundred pounds sterling per annum 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. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, founded in 1698, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, founded in 1701, and the Scottish Society for Propagathig Christian Knowledge, founded in 1709, with all their benign fruits, had their roots in the work of John Eliot among the Indians in Newton.

An Indian church was never organized 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 church organized with fasting and prayer. Mr. Eliot translated the whole Bible into the Indian tongue, besides T/ie Poor Mmi's Practice of Pieli) 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 oll'ered to relinquish his salary from the church in Roxbury, and desired to be released from his labors as their teacher. And when, from increasing infirmities, he could no longer visit the Indians, lie ]i(M'su;ided several families to send tiieir colored scivaiils lo iiim every week, that he might iustruci ihrni 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 allo\^ing himself little sleep, that he might have the more time and strength for liis missionary work. Besides his Indian Bible, printed in Cambridge in 1661 - 63, which was the only Bible printed in America till a much later period, he made a version of the Psalms in metre in the same dialect, and prepared a Harmon// of the Gospels in English, a work on the Christian Common\Aealth, which the magistrates pronounced seditious, and comjielled him openly to retract its sentiments ; and various letters describing his work among the Indians. When 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 Phibp in 1675, a wide-spread prejudice sprang up against the Indian race, as was very natural, and from this prejudice the Nonantums, who had been the peculiar charge of the apostle Eliot, were not exempt. He remained faithful to them to the last; but they 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. Tiiey never regained their manhood. But although they had their civil and church state at Natick, and acquired a certain degree of civilization, nevertheless through emigration, death, or intermarriage, they gradually disappeared before the ad\ancing tide of the white population. In about two hundred years from the commencement of Eliot's 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 Avork, 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 liouses of some of the Indians on the slope of Began Hill in Dover, the name and record of tiiesc pcojjle liave titterly vanished. Tlie Indian Bible and the Poor Mail's Practice ofPieti/, with a few historical reports and letters, are the only existing records of the work of faitli of the Indian apostle. It is said that with tlie materials thus supplied, the wife of Rev. Dr. Robinson, the author of the Biblical 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. Tlie churcli was organized the same day, and Thomas Wiswall, formerly 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 his father in his missionary work among the Indians, taking part iu the preaching of the gospel to them iu Stoughton, Natick, and elsewhere, 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 corner of Cabot Street, and the well from whicli he drank still yields refreshing water on 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 tlie earlier inhabitants bore military titles. In a genealogical register of the town reaching down to the beginning of the present century, - the period of a meagre population and a very slow growtli, - we find two generals, nine colonels, three majors, forty-one captains, twenty-one lieutenants, and eight ensigns. From 1799 till \vithin 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 bravery 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 War in 1675. Captain Prentice did much to check the progress of King Philip's troops, and by his bold and rapid marclies 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 readv to accompany him into the tliickest of the fight. He died at the age of eighty-nine years, and was buried under arms by his old comrades. He had been an officer in the company of troopers 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. Edward Jackson, son of Deacon John Jackson, was killed in an attack by Indians on the town of Medfield, February 21, 1676.

Through the influences 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 they dreaded the attacks of other and hostile tribes which roamed around them. Hence tliey 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, that with these and with scalding water, to be poured upon the heads of the savages, the inmates shut up ui these places of defence might protect themselves against their barbarous foes. One of these garrison-houses was on land of E. C. Converse, Esq., late Israel Lombard's, opposite the estate long known as Hyde's Nursery on Centre Street; and another on Ward Street, near the Newton reservoir, nearly on tlie site of the residence of heirs of Ephraim Ward.

Newton men aided their brethren, the early settlers of New England, in various quarters against the Indians, now at Casco (Portland), afterwards at Bethel, Me., to which some of the people of Newton had removed; now in New Hampshire, where the oldest Captain Noah Wiswall was kiUed in 1690, and now in Massachusetts, where two of the colonists were massacred at Groton, July 21, 1706, and now in Ehode Island in the woods around Mount 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 1758 and 1760, the father of the late Eev. Dr. William Jenks, who was born in West Newton. Another of these brave men in the Indian conflicts was Lieutenant Timothy Jackson, whose wife carried on the farm and worked on the land witli her own liands while her husband

Colonel Ephraim Williams, bom in Newton, February 24, 1715, was captain of a military company in the war. In a memorable battle fought with the French and Indians near Lake George, he was shot through the head. The name of this Colonel Williams is honorably connected with the cause of education in Massachusetts. In early life he removed to the town of Stockbridge, and was killed September 8, 1755, aged forty years. He was never married. About seven weeks previous to liis 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, when incorporated, shall be called Williamstown." The fund gradually hicreased, and a free school was erected in 1788, which in 1793 became Williams College, - a living fountain of good to the cause 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 tiie original town of Newton, from which Hooker and his company proceeded in 16.36 to found the new colony in Connecticut, so Williams College, where the great work of missions to the heatlien from the American churches was nursed into life, points to the same hills and vales in acknowledjgment of its origin. Newton has 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 that the example of New England in Cliristianizing the Nonantum 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 tlie First Churcli, on the east side of Centre Street. An acre of land was given to the town for tlie meetinghouse and burial-place by Deacon Joiiii Jackson, and afterwards enlarged by a gift from liis son, Abraham Jackson. The requisite legal conveyance of this latter gift was never recorded, and tile right of the town In its nwuerslii]) was contested by Mr. Jackson's luirs. The land being in a low situation, and the town having never used any ])art of it as a place of burial, it was subsequently relin- (luished to tlie heirs of the orii,nnal owner. This is tlie rectangle of land bounded on the north and east by the cemetery, south by Cotton Street, and west by Centre Street. Tiie first tenants of the cemetery, so far as is known, were the Eev. John Eliot, Jr., the first pastor, and his first wife, - the latter buried in June, 1665, the former in October, 1668. The marble tablet erected on the spot where Mr. Eliot was buried took the place of the original memorial. The cemetery was enlarged by subsequent purchases in 1802 and 1804. Near the spot where the meeting-house of the First Church originally stood, a marble pillar was erected September 1, 1852, at the expense of forty-two persons, descendants of the first settlers, with appropriate inscriptions on the four faces, commemorating the first inhabitants of the town, and recording their names. On the four sides of this monument are the following inscriptions : -

" Dea. John Jaclisou gave one acre of land for this Burial Place and First church which was erected upon this spot in 1660. - Abraham Jackson, son of Dea. John, gave one acre, which two acres form tlie old part of this Cemetery. Died June 29, 1740. M. 75. - Edward Jackson gave twenty acres for the Parsonage iu 1660, and 31 acres for the Ministerial Wood Lot in 1681. His widow Elizabeth died, September, 1709, M. 93."

" Rev. John Eliot, jr.. First Pastor of the First church, ordained July 20, 1664. - His widow married Edmond Quincy, of Braiutree. Died, 1700. - His only daughter married John Bowles, Esq., of Roxbury, and died May 23, 1687. - His only sou John settled in Windsor, Connecticut, where he died in 1733, leaving a sou John, a student

"Thomas Wiswall, ordained Ruling Elder, July 20, 1604. His sons, - Enoch, of Dorchester, died Nov. 28, 1706, M. 73. - Rev. Tchabod, Minister of Dnxbury 30 vcars. Agent of Plymouth Colony iu England, 1690; died of the town. In January, 1772, the inhabitants, in town-meeting assembled, passed a resolve, declaring that "no good man can be silent and inactive in tlie cause of liberty at this alarming period," and also a resolve declaring that " all taxation imposed on the colonists without their consent and without representation in Parliament, for the purpose of raising a revenue, is unconstitutional and oppressive."

As the times grew more threatening, the selectmen were authorized to procure fire-arms for those who were too poor to furnish them. John Pigeon gave the town two field-pieces, which were accepted by the town with thanks, and a vote was passed, January 2, 1775, to raise a company of thirty -two minute-men, who were to meet half a day every week through the winter for drill, and every man was to be paid for his time the sum of eightpence, or, as afterwards stated, one shilling, and the eight ofGcers eight shillings per day " over and above i the shilling each."

At the opening of the war, April 19, 1775, Newton numbered three companies, the east and west companies and the minute-men, - a total of two hundred and eighteen men. Jeremiah Wiswall commanded the east company, Amariah Fuller the , west, and Phineas Cook the minute-men. Besides 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 conflict. Noah Wiswall, a man seventy-six years of age, who, like his ancestors, occu2ned the house at the northeasterly 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 he said, " he wanted to see what the boys were doing." As he was pointing out to his companions three British soldiers on the field of strife, a ball whizzed through his hand, inflicting a painful 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 Lidependence was actually commenced, Newton proved itself among the most patriotic towns in the commonwealth, and all the families of the town were largely represented in the armies and battles of the Revolution. Few records of military ardor exceed in interest the narrative of Captain Michael Jackson on the day of the battle of Lexington. Eoused by the rumor that hostilities had actually commenced, he rushed from his house in the gray of the morning, and the minute-men having gathered on the parade-ground, no commissioned officers being present, he was made captain by acclamation. Arrived at Watertown, he found the authorities assembled in conclave, discussing the situation and deliberating on the course proper to be pursued. His fiery spirit could uot brook delay ; and feeling that the time for debate was 2)ast, and that this was the time for action, lie stepped from the ranks to the head of the company, and issued the sharp aud stirring military order, " Shoulder arms - platoons to the right, wheel - quick time - forward march ! " And in the excitement of the moment he was actually on the way to the front with those who had the bravery to follow him. Of the rest, some lingered where they were, aud some dispersed. Colonel Benjamin Hammond, the captain, followed after his company and joined them before they reached Concord.

Soon after the affairs of Concord and Lexington two companies were raised, both commanded by Newton captains, and embracing seventy-four Newton men. They enlisted for eight months, and joined the army at Cambridge, ^March 4, 1776. The east and west companies, numbering one hundred and thirteen men, by request of General Washington marched to take possession of Dorchester Heights.

In tlie warrant for the town-meeting, Jnne 17, 1776, was tins important article: "That in case the honorable Continental Congress should, for the safety of the American colonies, declare them independent of the kingdom of Great Britain, whether the hihabitants of this town will solennily endeavor with their lives and fortunes to support them in this measure." After the debate the (juestion was put, and the vote passed unanimously in the affirma- tive. John Woodward w^as moderator of this memorable meeting. A centennial celebration of the same was held June 17, 1S76, at which a historical address was deli\ ered by the Hon. James F. C. Hyde, and the proceedings and address were afterwards published in a volume worthy of tiie occasion by the city of Newton.

In August, 1777, a company of ninety-six men was raised by Captain Joseph Fuller, of whom thirty were Newton men. They marched to Skenesborough, Bennington, and Lake George, to oppose the advance of General Bnrgoyne. In ]\Iarch, 1778, a company of sixty-eight men was rnised by Captain Edward Fuller, of whom forty belonged to Newton. In .lanuary, 1777, sixty-fnnr Newton men eidisted for three years, or Ihe war. In 1780 fifty-four Newton men marcjied to reinforce the continental army. So sensitive were the people in their patriotism, and so averse to tlie toleration of tory principles, that a list was made out of ])ersons whose residence was deemed prejudicial to the public safety, and 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 Revolution. Among these were forty-four descendants of Edward Jackson, bearing the name of Jackson. TJiere 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 the execution of Major Andre.

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 1778 a tax of £:i,000 was voted towards the expenses of the war, and the next year a similar sum for the purpose of raising men for the army and other expenses. In March, 1780, £;30,0U0" were voted for a like purpose ; in September, £40,000, and in December, £100,000. Paper money, it is true, had greatly de])recinted in value. But this enormous depreciation, making many poor who had been rich, did not render these valiant patriots penurious. The entire population of tlie town in 1775 has been estimated at less than 1,400. If this be correct, about every third person in the entire population was more or less in the army, and all the families left by them at home must have shared painfully, though uncomplainingly, in the selfdenials and hardships of the times. It is not unworthy of notice that Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Avas a native of Newton, born near the Skinner Place, on Waverley Avenue.

School Iiistoky

It was many years before the education of the young in Newton took the rank, among the measures adopted by the townsmen, which its importance claimed. The earliest settlers of the territory, oiigiually 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 day to day, even if the instruction had been, as it jirobably was not, adapted to their wants. Doubtless, children were taught more or less at home in many families ; but in that forming period of .society, and under the pressure of toil and poverty, it is not surprising that education was at the minimum. Mr. Jackson records that " there does not appear to have been any public or private school in the Village [Xewton] for sixty years after its first settlement. The erection of a school-house was near half a century behind that of the 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 salary of two shillings per day. As early as 1643 the General Court passed an order requiring "the townsmen to see 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 school of sufficiently advanced character to fit boys for admission to college. If any of the children of Newton found their way to Master Corlet's school at Cambridge, for the support of which Newton 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 meeting-house and the other at Oak Hill, - " sixteen feet square besides chimney room." The 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. "Those 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 Xewton, came to New Cambridge about 1688. He was for many years deacon of the church, and town-clerk - the third 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 that department; but his ingenuity in misspelling the most common words implies 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. They had no children.

The first school committee was elected in 1706. Tiie members were Isaac Williams, John Mason, and Abraham 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 17 IS the town voted £10 to the inhabitants in the northwest part of the town, to aid them in employing a schoolmaster. In 1731 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 1732 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 they voted to have four districts and four schools, and all to be provided with 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 and five days. In 1776 there were five school districts, in 1791, six, and in 1808, seven. In 1766 the sum of £16 was appropriated to employ a schoolmistress. This was tlie first " woman's school." .In 1768 £50 were appropriated for men's, and £16 for women's schools.

lu 1796 the citizens voted " to provide five stoves to warm the school-liouses." As late as 1780-85 Rev. Mr. Blood, the first pastor of the First Baptist Church, Newton Centre, pieced out an inadequate salary by keeping the winter school at Oak Hill two seasons.

as a result of the efficient labors of Hon. Horace Mann, its secretary, who was a citizen of West Newton. Tlie schools liad 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 riiiitiiic ciiiilcniplnlcd iiiMiidy nine or ten school-honsrs, chiclly ol' one sloi'v inul con-, taining but a single room, witii a schoolmaster for a certain number of weeks in tlie winter months, and a schoolmistress in tlie summer. At tiie period indicated, about 1854, judicious citizens, deeply interested in the cause of education, of whom the late Dr. Henry Bigelow and the late Hon. D. H. Mason were among tlie foremost, - and it is in their honor that two of the school-houses are named, - began to counsel the citizens in town-meeting to adopt measures looking to a more generous course of training for (lie voung. Tlic (irsi elTurls were merely tentative, because the people in many instances were not prepared to relinquish their ancient customs for new and untried measures. But after warm debate a resolution was passed to establish graded schools throughout 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-iiouses were erected, - one at Newtonville, a few rods north of the railroad station, where three or four ways met ; the other at Newton Centre, uearly on the site of the present Mason Schoolhouse. The school at the Centre was in charge of J. W. Hunt, Esq., formerly of Blymouth, the first master, and proved a success. The building was afterwards removed to a lot on the opposite corner of Station Street, to make room for a much larger and more convenient structure, and Avas finally transferred to a lot near the southeast part of WiswalPs Pond, and became Crane's macliineshop. The new school-building was burned by an incendiary, and tlie present Mason school-building took its place. Tlie school did excellent service as a mixed high and grammar school, until the public interest in education demanded a still further advancement, and the present pure high-school edifice was erected at Newtonville in 1858-59. Tiie appropriations for schools, showing an interesting increase in the progress of years, indicate tiie growing intelligence and liberality of the citizens. From £50, the earliest appropriation, and which remained fixed at that sum for many years, and from $600, tlie appropriation in 1800, the advance has been in an ever-increasing ratio. In 1870 the amount paid for educational purposes was $117,253.98, and the value of school property owned by tlie town was $:?37,600. In 1873 tiie last town grant for schools, before Newton became a city, was $73,000. In 1878 there were in. the city eighteen school-houses, eighty-six teachers, 3,359 pupils; total expenditure for schools in 1878, $83,208.63, or .| 2 1.77 per capita, the expense of every pupil enrolled. The wliolc number who graduated from tlie liigli school from 1861 to 1878 inclusive was 315; males 140, females 175. The first class (1861) numbered four, all females; the last class (1878), tliirly-six ; tlie largest class (1877) uuMibcrcd fiftv-nne". In tlie class of 1878

Various private schools have been tauglit in Newton in diti'erent parts of the town, as well in its earlier as its later history. In 1765 Charles Pelham of Boston opened a private school in the house formerly owned by the Rev. John CJotton, in Newton Centre. Judge Abraham Fuller at a still earlier date had 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. General Hull, whose affairs became embarrassed, and he was unable during his lifetime to pay the bequest. After his decease a piece of land was conveyed by his heirs to tlie 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 tlie 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 ilessrs. Allen.

Mrs. Susannah Rowson opened a female academy and boarding-school at Newton Corner, in the brick portion of tiie building since known 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 tauglit also, either before or afterwards, in Medford, Roxbury, and Boston. Many items of her personal history are preserved in her novel entitled Rebecca, which, under fictitious names, is a record of actual events and occurrences in the days of the American Revolution. She is said to have been a very courtly woman, and paid special attention to the carriage and manners of her pupils.

Mr. Seth Davis was a teacher of high 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 pupils, and his teaching in higher branches was altogether in advance of the teaching of the period. It is said that the

Rev. Mr. Greenough on one occasion expostulated with him for instructing his pupils in astronomy, - a favorite study of the venerable master; but with a natural genius for teaching, great capacity, and keen conscientiousness, he endeavored to give his pupils the highest and best in his power. The influence of Mr. Davis as an enterprising citizen has been highly beneficial to the town. Most of the trees wliich adorn the streets of West Newton were set out by him. The large ehn in front of the old tavern-house, so called, was set out by John Barber, who gave to the town the land improved for the West Parish Burial-Ground, and was the first male tenant of it. A woman who had died of small-pox had preceded him. After Mr. Davis relinquished teaching in West Newton, on account of the pressure of other duties, his daughter, Miss Harriet L. Davis, took up the work, and was a most successful teacher until she was compelled by failing health to dismiss her school. Her father gave instruction to her pupils on certain days of the week in astronomy, geology, etc., and when she was laid~ aside by sickness, lie continued the school for several weeks, hoping for her restoration.

Under the influence of a newly awakened educational zeal, the first normal school for the instruction of female teachers was commenced in Lexington, Massachusetts, and afterwards removed, under the auspices of that great educator and philanthropist, the Hon. Horace Mann, then residing in West Newton, on Walnut Street, to the village of his abode. It was his favorite plan to keep the school under his constant supervision. The school found its home in the building of the Fuller Academy, which was bought for that purpose. The Rev. Cyrus Pierce, called generally Father Pierce, was the first teacher. A model school was established in the immediate vicinity in coiuiection witli the normal school, where the pupils of tiie latter had opportunity by personal teaching to put to practical use the instruction they received. This school, afterwards under the care of Mr. Eben Stearns, continued for a few years to have its seat in West Newton, where it was a most successful enterprise. It was removed afterwards to Framingham.

The late Marshall S. Rice, Esq., for twentyseven years the town-clerk of Newton, and holdmg office when the town obtained incorporation as the city of Newton, came into Newton Centre, in 1824., and established a jirivate school for boys, in which more than a thousand pupils received a portion, either greater or less, of their education. His residence and school were on Centre Street, in the mansion formerly the estate of Henry Gibbs, Esq., from whom Gibbs Street receives its name, nearly opposite the first parish meeting-house. In this ancient house the ordaining council of ministers and delegates met and dined together on the occasion of the ordination of Rev. Dr. Homer, February 14, 178^. The apple-trees in the orchard north of Mr. Rice's house were raised from the seeds planted by his own hands, and the two fine maples in front of the house were brought by him in his chaise-box, when they were sajjlings of a foot in height, from New Ipswich, New Hampshire. Mr. Rice died February 'l^, 1879, aged seventyeight years and eight months, - a man universally resjiccted and lamented.

In the year 1830 an academy was commenced at Newton Centre, under a board of nine trustees. The land occupied by the academy building on Centre Street, nearly opposite Grafton Street, and now occupied as a dwelling-house, was given to the board of trustees for that purpose by Marshall S. Rice, Esq. An addition was made to the estate in 1831, by purchase, for the purpose of erecting a boarding-house. This was a flourishing school for many years. The first preceptor was Mr. Elbridge Hosmer, who w-as followed in succession by Messrs. Ebenezer Woodward, Rev. John B. Hague, Bartholomew Wood, and Rev. E. H. Barstow, who was the last teacher. After this the academy building was sold for a private residence. The boardinghouse, in 1806, became the seat of a home and school for young girls, orphans and others, rescued from the haunts of vice in the neighboring city of Boston. This benevolent institution was, in all its history, under the charge of Mrs. Rebecca B. Pomeroy, an efficient, self-denying, and faithful friend and ministering angel in the military hospitals of Washington during the civil war, and specially in the home of the chief magistrate of the nation, Abraham Lincoln. On a Sabbath afternoon, June 11', 1868, one of the inmates of the house set fire to the building, and it was burned to ashes, and the site has remained unoccupied till the present time. The Home was reorganized in the house formerly owned and occupied by Mr. Ei)hraini Jackson, southeast of the Theological Institution, and continued till 187:2, when it was disbanded. Four little orphan girls, members of this institution, became the nucleus of tiic Orphans' Home, established on Church Street, Newton, in November, 1872, and which afterwards was removed to the Episcopal parsonage, which was purchased for its use.

Professor Charles Siedhof, from a German gymnasium, kept a family school for boys from about 1818 to 1853, in the southernmost of the two houses erected for professors on the Institution land at Newton Centre. Both these houses have since been removed, and now stand, altered and enlarged, on Cypress Street. The school of Professor Siedhof was afterwards removed to the old Clark house on Centre Street, south of Wiswall's Pond, now occupied by Mr. Jepson.

Lasell Female Seminary, in Auburndale, was commenced in the fall of 1851, by Professor Edward Lasell. The large building occupied by the institution was erected in the same year. Professor Lasell died soon after the institution was opened, and it was taken in charge by Josiah Lasell, a brother of the professor, and a brother-in-law, George W. Briggs, Esq., under whom it enjoyed a marked degree of prosperity. In 1864 the projjerty was purchased by Professor C. W. Gushing. In 1873 it was acquired by ten gentlemen of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and reopened under the superintendence of Professor Charles C. Bragdon. About eighteen hundred young ladies have been attendants of the school.

Moses Burbank taught a classical and liigh school for boys from 1848 to 1852 in the basement of the First Baptist ileeting-house at Newton Centre. This was both a boarding and day school. Several other and more recent private schools have existed in different parts of the town, which have held a high rank and done honorable service ; but it is unnecessary, as they belong to the latest times, to speak of them particularly.

The First Baptist Church in Newton was organized July 5, 1780, numbering thirty-eight members. There had been members of the Baptist denomination in the town many years previously. Mr. Jonathan Willard, of Newton Lower Falls, joined the First Baptist Church in Boston, Decemhar 7, 1729. Noah Parker joined the Second Baptist Church in Boston, July 21, 1749. Several others, later, joined the Baptist Church in Leicester. May 14, 1753, Noah Wiswall and others presented a petition to the town that they might be released from paying a niiiiisterial tax for the support of tlie clergymen of the town, they being conscientious Baptists. But the town voted that their petition be not granted. March 15, 1756, John Hammond and others, wiio ^ere Baptists, requested of the town that they might not be rated for the support of the ministry ; but their request was met, after some debate, by a prompt refusal. In 1771- ten persons - John Dana, John Kcnrick, Caleb Whitney, Thomas Parker, Eben ]5artlett, Joseph Hyde, Nathaniel Parker, Thomas Tolman, Widow Abigail Riciiardsou, and Elisha Bartlett - addressed another memorial to the town, certifying that they were Antipjedobaptists, and generally worshipped with people of that persuasion. In June, 1776, tlie town, urged by the importunity of these repeated petitions, at last excused James Richards and Edward Hall from paying the ministerial taxes, and four years later the First Baptist Church was formed.

In the autumn of 171-0 'Rev. George Wliitetield preached in Newton and the vicinity, and a general interest in religion attended his ministry. From his labors sprang a movement which resulted in the formation in several towns of Separate, or New Light churches, so called. A church of this name was organized in Newton. They held their assemblies at the house of one of their members, IMr. Nathan Ward, who became tlieir pastor. Most of the members afterwards adopted the views of the Baptists, and formed the nucleus of the First Baptist Church. They held their meetings at first in dwelling-houses, and afterwards in a school-house, the worshijD being conducted by Deacon Jonathan Richardson and Mr. John Dana, and occasionally by visiting ministers. They continued their worship in this manner nearly twenty years. In the spring of 1780 Mr. Elhanan Winchester, who afterwards embraced and preached the doctrine of universal restoration, visited Newton, he being then a Baptist, and several persons received baptism at his hands, who were embodied into the church July 5, 1780, as before stated, by jjublic ceremonies, probably in a room in the house of Noah Wiswall, since the home of the heirs of Deacon Luther Paul. The first pastor was the Rev. Caleb Blood, who continued to serve the church till January 24, 1788. When he became pastor the number of members was seventy-three ; at his dismission, ninety-two ; number of admissions, nineteen.

were to be forty feet by thirty-two, and the expense about £300 specie, or $1,000. The land was given for the building by Noah Wiswall. Dreading the encumbrance of a debt, the parish was several years in accomplishing the enterprise, and it was not till April, 1795, fourteen years after the commencement, that the edifice stood complete. During tliis period a subscription had been set on foot five times for the purpose of carrying on the work. The frame of the house still stands, transformed into a dwelling-house, on the east side of Wiswall's Pond. A vote was passed March 19, 1782, " that the singing be carried on, in a general way, by reading a line at a time in the forenoon, and a verse at a time in the afternoon." In the first meeting-house no person could have a pew who subscribed less than £10 towards the building. The church contained twenty wall-pews, that is, six on each side and four on each end, and " four pews back of the body seats." In 1802 the house was enlarged by tlie addition of seventeen feet to the west side, which gave space for twenty-four new pews. The salary of Mr. Blood was £60, the loose money contributed on the Lord's days." The contribution-box was carried around on the lower floor every Sabbath, and in the gallery only once a month, until the year 1815. Rev. Joseph Grafton was ordained pastor June 18, 1788, having received a call after he had preached sixteen Sabbaths. The salary promised him was for the first year £55, equal to $183, to be paid quarterly, " and after that to make such additions as his necessities require and our circumstances admit of." After Mr. Grafton became pastor, iu addition to the salary and eight cords of wood, £20 a year were granted "in consideration of the enhanced price of the necessaries of life." Several members of the parish purchased for £75, or §350, " half the place that Mr. Blood used, to own," and gave it to Mr. Grafton as a " settlement," or present, in token of esteem and good-will. This estate was the triangular estate owned and occupied by the late George C. Rand, Esq., and bounded by Centre, Homer, and Grafton streets. The value of the whole estate, therefore, at that period was only $500.