Weston Town (part 2 of 2)

In 1706 the precinct was presented at the Court of Sessions for not having a settled minister^ February 11, 17Q7, the precinct chose Mr. Nathaniel Gookin to be their minister, but he declined the call, preferring the position of librarian at Harvard College, which he held from 1707 to 1709. The presentment still lay before the court, and they had to make two returns in April and June, 1707. July 16, 1707, they called Mr. Thomas Tufts, of the class of 1701 at Hansard; he declined. January 14, 1708, was observed as a day of fasting and prayer. February 4, 1708, they gave a call to Mr. William Williams (H. C. 1705), who, after the adjustment of preliminaries, accepted, A^igust 23, 1709. A church was gather^ and organized, and Mr. Williams was ordained November 2, 1709, "about eleven years and a half after the Farms had become a distinct precinct/'

"The church consisted at first,^' savs Dr. Samuel Kendal, "of eighteen male members, - nine from other churches, and nine who had not been communicants." He gives their names as follows: "Natlianiel Cooledge, Thomas Flagg, Joseph Lovell^ John Park hurst, John Livermoie,

Francis Fullam, Abel Allen, Ebenezer Allen, Francis Pierce, Josiah Jones, Thomas W^right, Joseph Allen, Josiah Jones, Jr., Joseph Livermore, Joseph Allen, Jr., Siimuel Seavems, Joseph Woolson, and George Bobinson." Josiah Jones and John Parkhurst were chosen the first deacons.

May 7, 1708, the freemen of Watertow^i appointed a committee " to run a line betwe^ the town and the Farmers' Precinct, referring to the ministry." This was done May 28, and the line began at Cliarles River, followed up Stony Brook to Beaver Pond, " and from said pond to a black pine, at the bounds where Cambridge, and Water-; town and Concord meet ; said Farmers' Precinct being on the west side of said brook."

A committee, consisting of Captain Francis Fulham, Lieutenant Josiah Jones, and Daniel Estabrook, presented a petition at tlie town-meeting held May 12, 1712, apd, December 2, following, the town " did by a free vote manifest tlieir willingness that the said fanners should be a township by themselves, according to their former bounds," with the proviso and conditions : 1. That the farmers continue to pay a due share of the expense of maintaining the Great Bridge over Charles River; 2. That they pay full and due sliare of the debts now due by the town ; 3. Tluit they do not in any way infringe tlie rights of proprietors having land^ but not residing among the ^rmer^.

When the Indians began their attacks upon the settlements in 1675, the men of the Farmers' Precinct were readv not onlv to defend their own homes, but to assist in the defence of the colony. In December, 1675, a warrant was issued to the militia of Watertowu to furnish "twenty soldiers, with provisions, arms, ammunition, and good clothing,'' for the defence of the colony. Upon Captain Huglr Mason's return to this warrant apjiear the names of thirty persons (including himself) who appeared in answer to the summons convening the company, the names of seven who did not appear, and a list of twenty names of jjersons " rationly most fitt to goe upon the servis." Mr. C. H. Fiske, in his oration, July 4, 1S76, gives the names of the following seven persons "who lived in the. Farmers' Precinct and who are included in the above list^'

Alt the attack upon Sudbury, April IS, 1676^ Captain Hugh Mason and his band from Watertown^ in which were doubtless included the farmers just namied, " aided by citizens of Sudbury, were the 'first who engaged the assailants, on the east side' of the river; but after a severe contest they were obliged to retreat/' Tradition relates tliat, at the time of this attack, in order to carry out tbeiif threat to bum Watertown as well as the other settlements, the Indians ''penetrated the western part of the town and bunied a barn, standing on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. Nahum Smith, on the back road, leading to Way land, but it is not known that any one was killed/'

At the famous Lovewell's Fight with the Pigwacket tribe of Indians, which took place at Pigwacket (Fryeburg), May 8, 1725, Jacob Fulham, who was a sergeant in Captain Lovewell's company, was killed. '' A sei^ant named Fulham, and an Indian, distinguished by his dress and activity, singled out each the other, and both fell, mutually slain by their antngonist's weapon.'' This Jacob Fulham was the eldest son of Major Francis Fulham, who was justice of the peace of Watertown Farms ; one of the selectmen of Watertown from 1710 to 1711 ; and one of the committee chosen to secure the incorporation of the town of Weston, in which town he afterwards held numerous responsible offices, and was for a long time the most influential man, owning numerous parcels of hind in the southwest part of the town. He lived to an advanced age, and as "Colonel Francis Fulhnm " was moderator of a town-meeting, Marcli £5, 1751. In 1719 the records of Natick were in his keeping, and March 80, 1752, he resigned his agency for collecting rents for the proprietors of that town. He was for fourteen years, between 1713 and 1757, the representative of Weston in the General Court. June 19, 1721, he, with Jonas Bond of Watertown, and Francis Bowman of Lexington, were appointed " to be Commissioners of Sewers," and the immediate object of their appointment was ''the cleansing and removing all such banks and other obstructions " in tlie Sudbury and Conconl river, *' which do occasion the overflowing thereof, and of drowning tlie meadows and otlier low lands adjoining or lying on said river." The extent of the work was ** from the milUpond of Christopher

Osgood, in Belerica bounds, to the cart-bridge in Sudbury." He was a chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County from 17J9 to 1755, when he resigned his place upon the bench.

fiev. William Williams ordained, as already stated, November 2, 1709, remained pastor of the church nearly forty-one years, until October 24, 1750, when he was dismissed by a mutual council, but tlie cause of his dismissal does not appear. He is briefly described by Dr. Kendal as a '^ scholar and a good pr^cher." A printed sermon of his, preached after the death of his wife, is deeply imbued with the spirit of piety and resignation. He was a graduate of Harvard in the ckss of 1705, being a cUssmate of President Edward Ilolyoke. He was twice married, and was the father of eight children. William Williams, his eldest son, bom May 14, 1711, graduated at Harvard College, 1729, was one of the first settlers of Pittsfield, a judge in Berkshire County, and a colonel distinguished in the French and Indian wars. After his dismissal, Mr. Williams continued to reside in the tovn until his death, March 6, 1760, at the ^ of seventy*two years. He was buried in the old burying-ground.

There is a vote of the town, recorded March 3, 1755, excusing '' Mr. William Williams from paving rates to be made so long as he remains in the town of Weston, provided he discharge said town in full of all demands upon said town of any arrears upon the account of deficiency of their grants to him, or getting his fire wood, etc., while said Williams was in the work of the ministry in said town "; and Mr. Williams accepted this settlement of the arrears of his salary overdue nearly five years, and entered his receipt in full upon the town record.

The first congregation assembled in their little thirty-feet-square church, which stood within a few rods of the geographical centre of the town, for about thirteen years, gathering not at the sound of the bell, - "no such music in that earlier time broke the stillness of Sabbath morning," - - but " at the beat of drum," as was becoming the soldiers of Christ. Inside the church there were no pews, only forms or benches, the men ranged on one side, the women on the other, and the boys by themselves, with a tithing-man, or constable, in their midst to keep them in order.

a hare's tail on the other. These were to keep the people awake. If any woman went to sleep, the constable touched her on the forehead vni\i the hare's tail ; but if a small boy nodded, he was rapped with the other end not quite so gently."

The church at Weston, at a meeting held April 27, 1726, voted tliat '' turning y* back towards )-- minister to gaze abroad, and laying doi^Ti y* liead upon y* arms (in a sleepy posture) in y* time of public worsliip (extraordinary cases excepted) are postures, irreverent and indecent, and which ought to be reformed, where any are faulty therein, and carefully avoided.''

In March, 1718, a motion was made in townmeeting to build a new mceting-))oa2»e, but the matter was deferred. October 23, 1721, a vote was passed by the town to build a new meeting-house, and to appropriate their proportion of thie bills of credit issued by the General Court to this object. In the summer of the foltoiiing year the new house was raised. It stood a little to the rear of the first one, and was more commodious, with square pews and ga!lleries, and seats on hinges, to which the name " slam-seats'^ was sometimes given. This house was repaired in 1800, a steeple and two porches erected, and a bell procured. About fifteen years later the pews were altered from the square to the modern long form. It remained iy constant use until 1840, reaching the good old age of one hundred and eighteen years, and every pastor of the society had ministered at its altar, " when it was pulled down, and the present Unitarian house erected still farther back and across the county road, which intersects our common." It is said that when the din and clatter of the *' slam-seats,'^ at the " amen *' of the devotional service, was loud and universal, it was sjKTially pleasing to the ministers of those days, as indicating a full and earnest congregation.

The Eev. Samuel Woodward succeeded l^fr. Williams as pastor of the church. He was ordained September 25, 1751, and held the position until his death, October 5, 1782. AUowini^ eleven days for the cham?e from Old St vie to New St vie between his ordination and death, his jiastornte continued thirtv-one vears lesfj one dav. Dr. Samuel Kendal, his successor and son-in-law, says of him, *' He died greatly beloved and lamented by the people of his charge, by his bnihrcn in oflice, and by an extensive circle of acquaintance. He was a serious, sensible, practical ])reaclier; cheerful and facetious without lessening his dignity as a minister^ or Christian. No man could more happly blend the cheerful with the grave in conversation, men seem to have inspired a profounder respect or a warmer love." He was born February 1, 1727, and graduated at Harvard College in 174$. He was the son of Deacon Ebenezer Woodward, of Newton, who occupied the original homestead near the Upper Falls, grandson of John Woodward, an early settler of that town, and great-great-grandson of Richard Woodward> a freeman, and one of the earliest proprietors of Wa^tertown and a graiitee of one hundr^ and twenty-five acres in the distribution of the " Farme Lands.''

Bev. Samuel Kendal, D. D., was ordained saccesser to Mr. Woodward, November 5, 1783, just thirteisn months after the death of his predecessor. In his century sermon, delivered at Weston, January 1£, 1813 (to which the writer of this sketch is greatly indebted for important material), he says of himself that he had *' not been kept from the house of worship but one 3abbath, either by sickness or inclemency of weather, for thirty yeara ; nor had he left the pulpit without a supply, on his own private business, but two Sabbaths within the term.''

Dr. Kendal was greatly respected and loved, not only in his own parish, but in all the neighboring churches. ''He was,'' says Rev. Edmund H. Sears, 'Vthe friend and associate of the elder Wi^, at a time of unparalleled religious activity in Massachusetts, and when the spirit of sect. was beginning to divide the churches asunder. Dr. Kendal preached the great truths of Christ, free of scholftstic dogmas and the spirit of sect and party, and he enforced them with a power and. fervency which met the deeper wants of the spiritual nature. Jfo schism took place. The pews were filled full, both on the floors and in the galleries, and persons still living speak of the stillness that pervaded them under the fervent appeals of the pulpit. His style of composition was easy and flowing, his person hircc and manly and expressive of the vigor of his mind, and his voice, of unusual compass and power, searched every corner of the house and commanded audience. He lived through times of the hottest political strife, had very decided opinions on questions which agitated the country, and preached them without resen'e. His influence extended much beyond his parish. His century sermon, preached near the close of his life, re-echoes and prolongs the strain of Phillips at Watertown^ near two handred years before/' He graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1 782, and the honorary d^tee of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Yale in 1806. He died February 16, 1814. '. Aftir the death of Dr. Kendal, Isaac Fiske, then chairman of the parish committee, invited Joseph Allen, who had not completed his course of 'Studies at Cambridge under the elder Ware, to -apply their vacant pulpit as a candidate for settlement. Shortly after Mr. Allen's health broke down, and he took a long journey on horseback to the ibedicinal springs at Ballston, New York, retumiiq^late in the summer with health still impaired. Finding, as winter set in, that he could not fulfil his engagement, he requested and obtained a release from it. Accordingly, the committee sent for young Joseph Field, a graduate of, Harvard in 1809, still' pursuing his studies in theology, and after bearing him a few Sundays gave him a call, which he accepted. He was ordained February 1, 1815, Prtoident Eirkbnd, of Harvard College, preaching his ordination sermon. Mr. Allen and other fellow-students rode over from Cambridge, though tiie mercury was eight d^rees below zero, to witness the ceremony and to congratulate him on what they considered, and what proved to be, his good fortune. The same day Professor Henry Ware, Sr., lode from Cambridge to Lunenburg in an open sleigh, setting out, accompanied by his son and eldest daughter, that bitter cold morning before daylight, reaching Lexington before sunrise, driving a distance of some forty miles, and preached the sermon at the ordination of David Damon at Lunenburg, returning to Cambridge the same day. Allen and Damon were college classmates of Edward Everett, all being members of the class of 1811 at Harvard.

Dr. Joseph Field was bom in Boston, December 8, 1788, fitted for college under Dr. Gardner, and pursued his theological studies under Dr. Kirkland. He served as chapbin in the army in 1812, in- the 3d regiment of infantry. He was the first distinctly Unitarian minister in Weston, and remained at this post for fifty years, till 1865, when he resigned as active pastor, but, at the earnest request of his people, continued to be their senior pastor till his death, November 9, 1860. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma Mater in 1840. lie was at one time a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College. He was greatly honored and loved by his people, ''and by a wide circle of friends.

for his genial spirit and amiable social qnalitiei He wrote with ease ; his sermons were terse, dear, and compact; and in the day of his highest intellectual vigor he was regarded in his own vicinitj as among the ^vorite preachers of liis denominatioa. - -- . - fie was not a man to be ever forgotten bj those who knew him in his best days.'^ llie semicentennial of his settlement was celebrate^ with appropriate ceremonies, and the proceedings, including his sermon on the occasioi^ were published.

Bev. Dr. Edmund H. Sears, bom April 6, 1810, graduated at Union College in 1834, and at Quabridge Theological School in 1837, was the successor of Dr. Field. He was settled in. Wayhiml, February 20, 1838, removed to Lancaster, December 23, 1840, and returned to Wayland in 1848. In May, 1865, he was installed as colleague pastor with Dr. Field in Weston, where he remained ontil his death, January 16, 1876. His last nckness b^n with a fall, October 19> 1874, while working in his garden, by which he received, injaries from which he never recovered. He was ''a most fascinating writer,'' and is widely known by his books, of which The Fourth Gospel ike Heart of Christ, is perhaps the most popular. The exquisite poems, beginning, '^ Calm on the listening ear of night,'' and "It came upon the midnight clear" will be held as classics of our language, and are '^ enough to make a poet's reputation/' No stronger eulogy could be pronounced over anr man than is given by Dr. Chandler Bobbins in his commemoration sermon, in which he says he jet speaks "by the memory of his lessons, by the force of his example, by the total impression of his life, by the concentrated influence of his character."

From the settlement of Mr. Williams in 1709, to the death of Dr. Scare, a period of .one hundred and sixty-seven years, there have been only five miuistera settled over this ancient church, all of whom died. here, where they so faithfully toiled and livedo and now lie buried in oar graveyards, almost within a stone's throw of each other.

The first Baptists in Weston began to gather together in a small company about 1776, meeting at each other's houses, mutually encouraging and exhorting each other, when no preacher could be had, under the lead of Deacon Oliver Hastings, who was baptized in Framingham in 1772. 3Iarch 29, 1784, four young men - Justin Harrington, Samuel Train, Jr., James Hiustings, and Jose])h

Seavems - contracted to erect and cover a frame bailding thirty-one feet square. The buildings tliough unfinished, was first used October 1, 1784, and was finished in 1788. July 14, 1789, a church of sixteen members was recognized by an ecclesiastical council. They had no settled minister till January 30, 1811, when they united with the church in Framingliam, and Bev. Charles Train was ordained as pastor of the Baptist Church of Christ in Weston and Framingham. They separated. May 8, 1826, Mr. Train remaining with the Framinghan church, the Weston church numbering at this time about forty members. The present chuich-building was dedicated October 8, 1828. Jane 30, 1830, Bev. Timothy P. Bopes, a graduate of Waterville College in 1827, was ordained as pastor, and remained three years. The parsonage was erected from the material of the old church-building during th^ latter part of his stay. From small beginnings the church has grown to be the largest in the town. Since Mr. Hopes the successive pastors have been : Bev. Josepli Hodges, Jr., a graduate of Waterville College, 1830, settled in 1835, resigned in 1839; Bev. Origen Crane, educated at Newton Theological Seminary, settled in 1840, resigned in 1854; Bev. Calvin H. Topliff, graduated at Brown University, 1846, settled in 1854, resigned in 1866; Bev. Luther G. Barrett, graduated at Har\'ard College, 1862, settled in 1867, resigned in 1870 ; Bev. Alonz6 F. Benson, settled in 1870, died July 15, 1874; and Bev. Amos Harris, the present pastor, settled January 1, 1875.

In 1798 a Methodist meedng-house - simply a boarded enclosure, with a platform for the preacher, and rough board seats - was put up in the north part of the town, "about sixty rods northeast of the present Methodist Churcli, oh the chapel belonged comprised, besides the town of Weston, the towns of Needham, Marlborough, Framingham, and Hopkiuton; the whole at first under the charge of one preacher, Bev. John L. Hill.' The 'number of preachers was afterwards increased to three. The first trustees of the Methodist' Church of Weston were Abraham Bemis, Habakkuk Stearns, Jonas Bemis, John Yiles, and Daniel Stratton. Their pvncnt churclHbuilding was erected m 1828, and dedicated in 1829." By an act of the General Court, approved by Governor Lincoln, February 28, 1829, the trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Society in Weston were incorporated. In 18S8 this church was constituted a station, with a reguhirly appointed preaclier, Waltham and Lincoln being included in the station for a few years. W^altliam became an independent station in 1839, and took away some sixty members of the church> reducing the number of members to about eighty.

A century ago there was thought to be more travel over the ''great road" from Waltham through the middle of Weston, - it being the post-road from Boston to New York, - than on any other, of equal distance from any capital dtj, in the Union. For many years tliis was the great thoroughfare over which passed the supplies and manufactures sent in from the northern and westem sections of New Enghind to Boston. By the old meeting-house passed large droves of cattle on their way to Monday's market at Brighton^ Large teams transported several hundred thousand chairs annually to the city, and thousands of loads, pf all kinds of country produce. The number of inna if an index to the amount of travel through the town, and of these there were four in the group of houses that, straggling along both sides of the rood, constituted the " Boad Town " of early times. It was not until after the opening of the West Boston Bridge to Cambridge, and the Mill-dam Bead« and the establishment of railroads, that this stream of travel was diverted to other diannels, and with the change the business of the taverns ceased to be profitable, and they were closed.

When Washington visited the Eastern States in October, 1789, he lodged and breakfasted at the tavern of .Captain John Flagg, where he was called upon by several prominent citizens. Here Qaptain Fuller's company of horse met him, and escorted him through Waltham and Watertowu to Cambridge.

October 25, 1765, the town voted not to give any instructions to its representative to do anything concerning the Stamp Act, but later the people became fully aroused. " At a Mec;tipg of the People of Boston, and the neighboring Towns, at the Old South Meeting-House in Boston, on Tuesday, December 14, 1778, and continued by adjouniment to Thursday, ICth of said Month, occasioned by the perfidious Arts of our restless enemies, to render ineffectual the late Resolutions of the Body of tlie People, Mr. Samuel Phillips Savacre, a Gentleman of the Town of Weston, was chosen Moderator.'' Samuel Hobbs, of Weston, s farmer, and also a tanner and cnrrier-.by trade, while working as a journeyman in the employ of Simeon Piatty of Boxbury, joined the famous party which, in disguise, threw overboard the tea in Boston Harbor.

- Samuel Phillips Savage o%med and occupied at 4hi8 time ** tl)e house standing on the Deacon Bigelow farm, so called, in the north part of Weston, near Daggett's corner/' He was commissioned a judge of ^he Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County, November 2, 177o. He and Josiah Smith represented the town in the Provincial Congress held at Concord, October 2, 1774. He was the president and an active member of the Massaefausetts board of war during the B.evolution. - His father, Arthur Savage, married a daughter of Samuel Phillips, distinguished among bookadlexs in Boston one hundred and eighty years ago. Thomas, the father of Arthur, was bom in 1640, tlie second child of Thomas Savage who emigrated, from England, and his wife. Faith, daughter of William and the famous Ann Hutchinson. . He Biarried Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua Scottow, a merchant of Boston, and the author of two curious tracts in the latter part of the seventeenth century.

The growth of the town in population after its incorporation was very slow, but the fanners increased in wealth and prosperity. It has always beea a farming town, and retains its primitive condition to a more marked degree than any other within the same distance from Boston. A chair manufactory and a machine-shop are the only industrial establishments within its borders. Many of tlie farms, in whole or in part, remain in the possession of the original settlers. The schools haver always been good, and a new high-school house has been erected, within two years, at a cost of 315>000. There has been but one store in the town for a portion of the last century. Two or three blacksmith-shops have been in the Upham family for a hundred years. Excepting the old tavern, bars there has never been a dram-shop in the town, nor an apothecary shop, the physicians carrying their drugs and potions in their saddle-bags.

In September, 1735, Francis Fulham, James Jones, and Josiah Brewer, ''in the names and behalf of the town of Weston,*^ made answer to the petition from John Flint and others, of the north part of the town, for a separate township, and claimed : "1. Tliat the said Town of Weston is but small, Tho' about Seven Miles in Length from North to South, yet scarce Three Miles wide in the Centre k in considerable parts not aboTC hilf so much, & great part of the biid vert poor^ rocky and -barren not capable to be inhabited. That there are but about a hundred bmilies in all, & many of them in Low Circunistances. 2. That the Said Town hath ktely been at great Cost and Charges to build & finish a Decent Meeting house for the publick worshij) of Grod not only of sufficient Dimensions for the whole town, but it is not near fil^ when assembled together and this Meeting-housii stands by the great Road & as Surveyors find by the Piatt within a few Bods of the Centre of the Town. So that the Petitioners hare little more Beason to complain of the Distance or DifiBculty than their Neighbors who live at the South End of the town. That the Petition aforesaid Takes from Weston near Twenty fsunihes (tho' severall of them do not subscribe) & Some of the best livings in the town.'' The remonstrants carried tlieir point at this time, but nineteen years later, by the incorporation of Lincola, April 19, 1754, Weston lost a good slice of its territory.

"A large part of the farm of Mr. Alonxo 8. Fiske, in tlie north part of the town, was conveyed, October 1, 1673, to Lieutenant Natlian Fiske, his direct ancestor, in whose family it has since then remained.^'

'' The house of Mr. Oliver B. Bobbins, in the south part of the town, is supposed to be from one huudr^ and fifty to two hundred years old, and is probably the oldest house in Weston.''

The residence of Mrs. A. H. Fiske was built ia 1753 by Mr. Woodward, the minister, and occupied by him and his family. Two houses near the Weston station of the Fitchburg Bail road have been in the possession of the Hobbs family for many years. Next to one of* these - the house of Mrs. Samuel Hobbs - was the old tan-yard, carried on by members of this family for a century and a quarter. The business was given up, and the tannery removed in 186£.

Abram Hews, in 1765, started a pottery on the site of the house opposite the present blacksmith-shop, and for three generations his descendants carried on the manufacture of earthehware at or near this place. His great-grandson, a few years ago, removed tlie business to Cambridge.

In the southern part of the town is an old house, built probably in 1787, or earlier, standing upon the farm formerly owned by Jiieutenaiit- Governor Moses Gill^ that has belonged sucoes- sively to Joseph Curtis of Eoxbniy^ Ward Nicholas Boylston, and John Quincy Adnras^ and is now owned by some of Mr. Adams's great-grandchildren.

In the southeastern part of the town, near the present residence of Mr. Frederick T. Bush, are still to be seen the remains of the foundation and cellar of one of the first houses built in the town. It was without doubt built bv Samuel Seavems, who was baptized in Watertown, November 28, 1686, and who married, December 20, 1699, Rebecca Strattoiii. His son Samuel, bom July, 1706, used to tell his grandclijldren that wlien he was a boy, and was sent by his father to get the cows at night, he was accustomed to climb the trees and stumps and cautiously watch for Indians, before venturing into the clearing. His great-grandson, Mr. William Seavems, narrates this incident to the writer as he has heard it frequently told by his grandfather, Joseph, sitting in whose old mshbottomed chair the writer pens tliis account. One comer of the residence of Mr. Bush can be traced back more tlian one hundred and fifty years, having been built probably by Samuel Seavems. Dr. Josiah Starr, of Weston, was bom in this house, and married (published October 6, 1762) to Abigail Upham. In 111*6 he was the owner of two slaves. This house was remodelled in 1856 and in the walls was found a copper coin of the reign of Geo^ II.

Samuel Seavems, bom October 30, 1779, was so bitterly opposed to the passage of the Boston and Albany llailroad through his farm, that for nearly forty years after the road was built he could not be persuaded to enter the cars, and as tliey passed througli his farm would turn his head to avoid seeing them. Mr. Hale, superintendent of < the road, once attempted in vaiu to put him aboard a train.

In 1758 one Prince Jonah, a slave of Abraham Bifflow, of Weston^ found in Waltliam a leather pocket-case, with tickets of land lying in Gardner, Canada, east of Northfield, belonging to Joe Williams.; also one dollar, one pistareen, and two co|)- pers, and an empty money-bng. Tliis was so extraordinary an - occurrence tliat it was entered upon the town records, and there stands a witness to the sterling honesty and integrity of the fathers.

In response to the alarm, '^The British are com* ing ! " sounded from town to town and from house to house, on the moming of April . 19, 1775, '' Capt. Samuel Lamson hastily forms his company from ^hose w1k> offer themselves for this emergency, among whom is Mr. Woodward, who shows by this act that lie means to put his preaching into practice.'' Tliey started for Concord and joined in pursuing the retreating regulars as far as West Cambridge. Tiie muster-roll of tliis company is given in LexiHgiofh Alarms, Vol. XII. p. 170, headed by Samuel Lamson as captain, Jonathan Fiske md Matthew Hobbs, lieutenants,' four sergeantS| two corporals, a dmmmer,and ninety-three privates,-^ a total of one hundred and three, nearly one half of the number of polls in the town. Tlie majority ser\'ed at this time for three days, some for two, and a few joined their comrades for one day.

Captain Lamson became major of the Middlesex regiment, under the command of Colonel Eleazer Brooks, of Lincoln. The Weston company was attached to tiiis regiment, with Jonathan Fiske promoted to the captaincy, and was in the service at Dorchester Heights, White Pbins, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and other places, and '^ was probably in the service till the close of the war.^' Matthew Hobbs was captain for a while, with two livermores as lieutenants. Tlie muster-roll shows that Captain Fiske and fifty men served five days in the public service " at y* Heights of Dorchester.'*

General Bui^oyne and his army, while on their way to Cambridge as prisoners of war after theit surrender, are said to have encamped one night along the old stage road in Weston. Tliese' Convention troops, five thousand strong on the day of their surrender at Saratoga, October 17, 1777, worn out by their long march, shoeless, footsore, and decimated by desertions along the route, ikiust have been a motley array when they reached theilr destination.

That the town had no sympathy for those of its citizens who were of Boyalist proclivities, is shoim by tlieir vote of October 15, 1778, instructing Mr. Joseph Boberts, their representative^ to use his best endeavors in the Great and Generel Court to have such laws made as may " prevent y* return of any of those persons into this Town or State who have sought and received protection from the British army/' tht fUCoesmTe names of Independent Weston Company and Weston Independent Light Infantry^ con* tinned till May 13> 1S31, a period of almost half a oeiitaiy^ when it was disbanded. It was attached to no regiment^ reporting only to the commander of the brigade/' Its successive captains were Abraham Biglow^ Artemas Ward, Jr., William Hobbs, Alplieus Bigelow, Natlian Fiske, Josiah Hastings, Isaac Hobbs, Tliomas Bigclow, Nathan Upham, Isaac Childs, Isaac Train, Charles Stratton, Henry Hobbs, Luther Herrington, lilarshall Jon^s, Sewall Fiske, and Elmore Bussell. The company attended the reception given to General La&yette at Concord, September 2, 182*1, and was especially noticed by him.

In the Constitutional ('onvention of 1788 the votes of a majorityof the delegates from Middlesex County were given against the adoption of the Federal Constitution, seventeen delegates voting in &Vor of the adoption and twenty-five against. Tbe delates from Weston were anu>ng those. looting in the affirmative. ' In the War of 1812 Weston was equally as nady as in the Revolution, and furnished her proportion of men and means for the national defence. Cooper Gaffield, one of her soldiers in this war, lived to be over one hundred years old, and died the last day of the year 1875, in the poor-house, where he had spent the last thirty-six years of his life in old age and infirmity.

With a popuktiou of but 1,243 in 1860, the town furnished for the War of the Eebellion one hundred and thirty-one men, a little above ten per cent of the whole population, which was a surplus of fifteen over and above all demands. Six were commissioned officers. The total amount of money appropriated and expended by the town on account of the war, exclusive of state aid, was § 12,528.90. In addition to this the citizens raised by subscription for encouraging recruiting and the payment of bounties, §5,104.95. The amount of state aid to soldiers' families, raised and expended in the town and repaid by the state, was 82,358.66, making a total of §19,992.51, nearly twenty per cent of the valuation of the town in 1860.

Twelve men died in the service, and the bodies of those who could be found were brought home/ and buried at the exfiense of tlie toun. A memorial tablet, bearing their names, has been placed in the public library of the town.

Weston lies abovt thirteen miles west of Boston, upon the eastern side of the range of hills that slope towards the Charles Biver and form its*basin. The affluents of the Charles drew the first. settlers along its fertile maigin and up through its valleys, and the same love of '' pleasant springs running like rivers through its body '* drew them to Westoo, along the meadows of Cherry Brook, and the gentle slopes that rise from the two brooks that flow each side of the vilhge and main street, and form the swell along which they built their early dwellings.

Ihe present size of the town is 10,967 acres, including 80 acres in roads and 155 acres ia ponds, leaving 10,732 acres of land by actual survey. It measures about five miles in length, north and south, by four east and west. It is in general an uneven, and in some parts a broken tract of land, and high ledges of rock are found within its limits. A considerable portion of the territory rises above the level of the surrounding country, and from White's Hill, in the southwesterly part, an extensive view may be.' had. The soil in the elevated and rocky parts ol the town is in general a deep red, strong loam, very favorable to the growth of fruit trees. TTiere are some small tracts of level land, but of no considerable extent. The hills are full of springs, and are very little subject. to frost or drought. There are no stagnant waters, but several tracts of meadow that abound with excellent peat* Notwitlistanding its rocky appearance, it contains a hirge amount of good land.

To this day foxes are often seen in the town ; raccoons have been killed within two miles of Charles Biver; mink still inhabit the brooks, and the whipi)Oorwill whistles his shrill note within sound of the city bells.

Statistics show Weston '^ to be as healthy a spot as any in the known worid. - Periiaps- no place in New England could present fairer proof of the salubrity of its air and situation,^' said Dr. Kendal, a generation ago. Tlie proportion of inhabitants reaching fourscore, and even ninety to one hundred years of age, is unusually brge. The peaceful quiet of life within its bordera conduces to longevity.

Nonesuch Pond, on the line between Weston and Natick, is one of the most beautiful {X)nds in the county, aud, according to tradition^ was named by Governor Winthrop. The scenery around it is very picturesque. Opiwsite the Stouy Brook depot is a hill called Snake Uock> from the rattlesnakes nrhich used to abouud at the foot of its precipitous western side. In the 'face of this high rock is a liorizoutal cave^ some twenty feet in depths called the Devil's Den. In tJiis cave negro slaves concealed themselves in the summer of 1780^ to avoid the draft.

Some of the prominent citizens of the town deserve more thaa a passing notice, from positions held by tbem^ from individual peculiarities^ and for other reasons.

Captain Josiah Jones, admitted a freeman April 18, 1690, was one of the original members and one of the first deacons of Weston church. He died October 9, 1714. . From his commanding the Farmers' company, the Farms received the name of " tlie precinct of Lieatenant Jones's Company."

His son Josiah, also a captain, was elected deacon, February 13, 1714- 15, as successor to his father, but he refused to accept. Abigail, the only daughter of this son, became the second wife of Colonel Ephraira Williams, of Newton (father by his first wife of Ephraim Williams, the founder of AVilliams College), to whom she bore five children. Her daughter Abigail married as her second husband General Joseph D\right, of Great Barrington, by whom she had two children, tlie elder,^ Mary, marrying Hon. Theodore Sedgwick, and becoming tlie mother of Theodore, Henry, and Charles Sedgwick, all dii^tinguished lawyers, and of Catherine M. Sedgwick, the eminently distinguished authoress.

. Isaac Jones, son of Captain James Jones, bom September 29, 1 72S, kept a tavern and store, but was such a loyalist as to bring down upon himself the following denunciation from the Whig Con\tntion of Worcester Countv, held in 1775 : -

**Jiewleed, That it be earnestly recom mended to all the iahabitants of this couutv, not to' have any commercial transactions wilb Isaac Jones, but to shun iiis house and erson, and to treat him with the contempt he desenrcs."

He died in 1813. His tavern Mas probably the one called the Golden Ball, mentioned by Charles H. ?iske, Esq., in his oration delivered in Weston, J»ly 4,' 1870.V

^ One o([ the best rrntennial mldiTMct drlivcred on that memombic day. The in-itrr acknowledges bis deep indebtedness to it in preparing this slteteb, and returns tbauks to Mr. Fiskc for is courtesy in allowing its tnt asc medicine, and became a physician. He joined the British army at Boston soon after the battle of }je\iugtQjXf and was sent by General Gage to Nova Scotia for supplies for the troops. He was^ <^ptured on the pa3sage, and committed by the Provincial Congress to jail at Concord. After a few months he was seleased. He again joined tlie British, and was appointed to a jx^^ition. in the cotumissary department. In 1782 be settled at Sissibo, Nova Scotia, as a lawyer. He obtained half-pay from the British government. He was first judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Annapolis County for several years. He died at Annapolis in 18:i5. He was a man of education and ability. His property in Massachusetts was confiscated.

It will be acknowledged that Rev. Dr. Samuel KendaPs estimate of the people of the town mttat be a correct one ; he says : " Tlie inhabitauts of the town are mostly industrious farmers, a class of men which, in a country like ours, merits the high consideration and esteem of everv other class. The character of its inhabitants would not suffer by a comparison with those of almost any other town in the commonwealth, of no greater advantages.'' They have had some of the ablest men in New England as pastors of their chnrches, and the following list of college graduates, natives or residents of the town, unfortunatelv ahnost exdusively limited, by the means of information at hand, to those from Har\'ard College only, includes many names of which the commonwealth is justly proud.

Colonel William Williams, one of the first settlers of Pittsfield, was the eldest son of Bcv. William Williams, bom in Weston, May 14; 1711, graduated at Harvard College . in 1729. " He was a jovial military man, and was very much distinguished in the French and Indian wars. He held tlie office of colonel in 1 758, and was in the memorable attack on Ticonderoga/' on the 5th of July of that year, of which he gave a thrilling account in a letter to Dr. Thomas William3 of Deerfield, dated July 11, 1758. He was an eminent man, much beloved, and was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Berkshire County. In 1771 he was a member of the General Court, among those friendly to the king, "who,^ says Hutchinsou, ''in common times would have had great weight on the other ride ; but now^ the great -aperioritj in number against them caused them to despair of success from their exertions^ and in roost cases they were inactive/^ He was afterwards a captain tn the military service of the crown. He was chosen chairman of the delegates from Pitts* Held to the Constitutional Convention of 1779. He was the earliest recorded preserver of the old elm of PittsfielJ Commbn^ saving it when a ** staddie'' from the axe of one of his laborers when his workmen were clearing his land.

Hp wasr married three times; fitst to Miss Miriam l^yler, second to Miss Wells, and third to Hannah Dickinsoii. He died April 5^ 1784^ aged eighty-three yean, and a monument to his memory stands in the new cemetery of Pittsfield.

Nathaii Fiske, bom September 9, 17SS, graduated at Harvard College in 1754^ in the same class with John Hancock. He received the honorary degree of D. D. in 1792. He was settled as the pastor of the Third Church in Brookfield, May 28, 1758. He died November 24, 1799. His death was very sudden. He preached on the Sabbath from Proverbs iv. 18, "The path of the righteons is as the shining light,'' and died that uight in his bed. ''He was a critical and learned acholarj though not a popular preacher.'^ He wrote a number of papers for the Mtu^achuMetU Spy, Mauaehu9etU Maffazine, and TAe Philan* ikropUt. He' published in 1775 a sermon on the SeUlement and Growth of BrookJieU ; in 1781, an oration oA the capture of Comwallis ; a volume of sermons in 1794; a Dudleian lecture in 1796; and the Moral Monitor appeared in 1801 as a posthumous work.

Daniel Jones, bom July 25, 1740, fifth son of Colonel Elisha Jones, graduated at Harvard College in 1759. He was a lawyer and judge of the Court of Common Pleas at Hinsdale, New Hampshire, where he died February 14, 1786. From his obitnikry in the Columbian Sentinel we leani that the attendants at his '^ funeral-solemnity '' were '* entertained with those consolations which the best religion affords, in a pathetick prayer by the Bev. Mr. Hubbard of Northfield, and an ingenious as well as affectionate discourse by the Rev. Mr.. Gay of Hinsdale, from these words : ' 0 Daniel, a man greatly beloved.' He was liberally educated, and to the profession of the law, in which he practised many years with fidelity, humanity, and reputation. He afterwards presided, with honor to himself and the county of Cheshire, in the Court of Common

Phineas Whitney, bom April 2S, 1740, was graduated at Harvard College in 1759, was ordained June 23, 1762, the, first settled minister at Shirley, and continued in office more than fifty years. His miuistry was peaceful, harmonious, and prosperous. His only controversy with his people was on the question of salary, which at his ordination was Jl66 13«. 4i/. Owing to the de- , preciation of currency after the Revolutionary War began, this sum in paper currency was insufficient for his support. His request for more was an« swered by temporary additional grants, ''and a. method of equalizing the salary by the price of grain." He managed his scanty income so carefully, tliat he was able to give his children a good education and leave them some property. For the last eight or nine years of his life he was troubled with paralysis, and unable to fulfil the duties of his office. He died, December IS, 1819, in his eightieth year. He was a -trustee of Groton Academy from its foundation till his death.. He was highly esteemed by the clergymen of his time, and, like most of them, was liberal in his views.

Ephraim Woolson, bom in Lexington, April 11, 1740, was graduated at Harvard College in 1760; he became a physician, and after a siv^cessful practice of forty years in Hanover, New Hampshire, died in January, 1802.

Samuel Savage, son of Samuel Phillips Savage, bom in Boston, August 22, 1748, was graduated at Harvard College in 1766, received the degree of Master of Arts in 1777, that of Doctor of Medicine in 1808, and was a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He died at Barnstable, June 28, 1831.

Stephen Jones, bom March 5, 1754, graduated at Harvard College, 1775, was a half-pay British officer in the King's American Dragoons. He went to Nova Scotia at tlie close of the war, and at his decease was the oldest magistrate of the countj of Annapolis. He died at Weymouth, Nova Scotia, in 1830, aged seventy-six, and was the last survivor of fourteen sons. His youngest brotlier, Charles, entered Harvard College during the Bevo^ lationary War, but did not gradoate. His father. Colonel Elisha Jones, was for many years a magistrate, colonel of a regiment of militia, and member of the General Assembly. He died in Boston, February 18, 1775, aged sixty-rix. "In the many departments in which be acted, he eminently showed the man of principle, virtue, etc."

He was the grandson of Deacon Josiah Jones, and occupied the old homestead of his fatlier and grandfather. He married, January t^^ 1783-34, Mary Allen, by whom he had fifteen children, -rfourteen sons and one daughter. He was representative in 1754, 175e-1758, 176(r-1763, 1773, 1774. He was a Royalist, and several of his descendants imbibed his principles.

Samuel Woodward, eldest son of the Bev. Samuel Woodward, second pastor of the church in Weston as already stated, bom July 11, 1756, graduated at Harvard College in 1776 ; was a surgeon in the army in the Revolutionary War; afterwards settled at Xewbui^h,New Y^ork, as a physician ; ' married in February, 1784; died March 29, 1785, leaving an only son who died in infancy.

Abraham Biglow, brother of Isaac (H. C. 1769), was bom September 18, 1762; graduated at Harvard College in 1782, in the same class with Rev. Samuel Kendal ; married. May 22, 1785, Hepzibah Jones, and settled in Cambridge, living in the house occupied, until recently, by Mr. John Owen. He was the clerk of the court of ]iliddlesex Comity. During the Revolutionary War he let his servants live as usual, but pinched himself and family as closely as possible, avoiding tlie use of all luxuries of the table.

Hon. Artemas Ward, bom at Shrewsbury, January 9, 1762, son of Major-General Artemas Ward, the first major-general in the army of the Revolution, grjiduated* at Harvard College in 1783, settled at Weston in the practice of the law, where he mai^ied Catharine Maria Dexter, December 18, 1788. lie represented the town in the General Court from 1797 to 1801. lie removed to Charlestown^ and subsequently to Boston, where he practised law, and was several years a member of the executive council and of the legislature. He was elected and re-«lected to Congress. From 1820 to 1839 he was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas tliroughout the state. He received, in 1842, the honorary degree of LL. D. from his Alma Mater, of which he was one of the overseers thirty-four years. He was eminent as a lawyer, distinguished for his learning and courtesy, respected on the bench, and esteemed in domestic and social life. He died at Boston, October 7, 1847, in his eighty-sixth year.

lliaddeus Fiske, second spn of Jonathan and Abigail Fiske, was bom June 22, 1762; was ^tted for college by Rev. Samuel M^oodward ; graduated at Harvard College in 1785, in the same cl^ with Henry Ware, Sr. He taught school for a short time in . Lexington, retumed to Cambridge, and studied theology under Dr.« Wigglesworth, , t^n professor of divinity in the college. .He was ordained pastor of the church in West Cambridgj^ April 23, 1788, which position he held for forty years, resigning April 23, 1828. His ordinatiou sermon was preached by his uncle. Rev. Dr. Nathan Fiske, of Bcookfield. In 1821 he received the honorary degree of D. D. from Columbia CoU^, New York. He lived to see five successors ordained over the society which he faithfully served for so many, years, three of whom died before him. He reached the ripe age of ninety-three, spending the last few mouths of his life in Charlestown, where he died, November 14, 1855. He was, at the time of his death, the oldest clergyman in. Massachusetts. He occupied a seat on the board of overseers of Harvard College for a period equal in length to tliat of his ministry. He married Lucy Cbrk, daughter of Rev. Jonas Clark, of Lexington, and lived like other country ministera till his son died, in 1 829, and left him a fortune. He published a Thanksgiving discourse in 1795 ; a discourse on, the twenty-first anniversary of liis settlement, 1809; and his sermon at the close of his ministry, 1828.

Ebenezer Starr, bom August 24, 1 7C8, graduated at Harvard College in 1789, in the same class with- President John Thornton Kirkland ; received tlie degree of M. D. in 1825 ; settled in Newton Lower Falls in 1790, as a physician, where he died Ai|r gust 24, 1S30. He was a member of the legiskturc from 1815 to 1817, and a justice of the pe^ce. His father, Dr.JosiahStarr,born November 3, 1740j at Dedhapa, was educated for the medical prqfessiou, and settled in Weston; occupied the hous^ and place now belonging to Frederick T. Bush, ]£sq., ii^ the southeast part of the town, and known as. "lirookside Farm." He married Abigail Upham, November 25, 1762; died in 1782.

for teveral years. He was ordained pastor of a chtirdi at Jackson, Waldo Co., Maine, September 16, 1812, but owing to dissatisfaction with Iiis views on the part of a portion of his i)eup]^, he being a liberal of tlie old school, his instoral- relation continned only abont ten years. He continued to reriJe in-the town teaching and fanning, while a strong ooDstitation prolonged his dnys and a cheerful temperament ** sustained him under the privations of straitened cireurastances.^' He died January 7, 1856, aged eighty-eiglit.

<^ Isaao Allen, bom October 31, 1771, was the youngest of his father's family. Two of his brothei8 aenned during the Revolutionary TVnr, and one of them was engaged in tlie battle of Bunker Hill. At the age of thirteen he received an injury from a fall on the ice which crippled him for life. He intended to leant the trade of a carpenter, but finding himself unable to endure bodily fatigue and labor, be turned his attention to studv. He entered Harvard Collie after coming of age, and graduated in the class of 1798, having as classmates Judge 'Story, Bev. Dr. Channing, and Rev. Dr. Tuckennan. He studied theology with Bev. Samuel Kendal. In 1803 he received a unanimous call from the church in Bolton, indorsed by an almost ufianitiious vote of the town, to become minister of th^t town. He accepted, and was ordained March 14, 1804, Mr. Kendal preaching his ordination sermon. H^ remained in this cliarge forty years, being the aole pastor for thirty-nine years ; and during this period he wiis prevented from preaching, on account 6f indisposition, but one Sunday. ' During the last year of his life he had as colleague Bev. Bichard S. Edes. He died March 18, 1844, four days after the fortieth anniversary of his settlement, in his seventy-third year. He never married. Tlifougfaout his ministry he was chairman of the school committee of the town. He was one of the most honest and conscientious of men, naturally a humorist, and ''would have been a favorite of the Spectator.''* Being present on one occasion when a number of clei^ymen were discussing the question how sin came into the world, he tersely remarked, " When I find a herd of cattle in my com, I never stop to find out how they got in, I go to work and drive them out.'' His earlier preaching was in East Sudbury, and he enjoyed telling his experience there as a candidate. ''I came very near being settled there,'' he said, " and there was only one thing that prevented." " Well, what was that, Mr. Allen ? " " Why, the people

Isaac Fiske, bom December 4, 1778, was the youngest brother of Bev. Tliaddeus Fiske, by whom he was fitted for Harvard College, where he gradaated in 1798, in the same class with Judge Faj, who was. his chum and intimate friend, Joseph Story, William Ellery Channing, and Sidney Willard. He studied hiw in the office of Hon. Artemas Ward, then a prominent lawyer of Weston, and was admitted to the bar in 1801. Upon the removal of Mr. Ward to Charl^town he succeeded to his large and lucrative business. In 1817 be was appointed by Grovemor Brooks roister of probate for Middlesex County, which office he successfully filled for thirty-four years, transacting all its varied business with great accuracy and despatch. He was removed from his position in 1851, in coosequence of a political cliange in tite admiuistratioQ of the government of the state. He represented the town in the state legislature in 1808, 181£| 1813, and 1814, and in 1820 was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. He was a justice of the Court of Sessions until that court was superseded by tlie appointment of county commissidneri. He died in Cambridge, March 11, 1861, at the age of eighty-two. His ancestors and brothers were remarkable for their longevity.

Charles Train, bom January 7, 1783, was graduated at Harvard College in 1805. He was the preceptor of Framingham Academy in 1808, and afterwards a trastee. January 30, 1811, be was ordained pastor of the Baptist Church in Weston and Framingham, which office he held until tlie churches separated in 18i6, after which he remained in Framingliam till 1839. He was a representative to the state legislature in 1822, and the seven following years, except 1827, " whofi by waj of rebuke, as he understood it, he was allowed to stay at home, for having preached two sermons on . the subject of Temperance of a more stringeat character than at that time suited the taste of the people.'' He was afterward a state senator. He was the first to move in the plan of forming a I^islative library, as well as in the more important matter of a revision of the laws rebting to common schools. He was active in procuring the charter for Amherst College. In 1833 he was injured by a fall, and for sixteen yeara following, till his decease, was never for a moment without pain. He died September 17, 1849, aged sixty-sii: years.

He was keen, witty, courteous^ and social ; a good guest and a genial host ; easy of speech^ with a good fund of thought and anecdote; on all practical subjects eminently judicious ; and he devoted his life ''to tlie advancement, first of religion, next of learning." His sou, Charles R. Train (Brown University, 1837), has been district attorney for Middlesex County, a member of the governor's council, and attorney-general of the commonwealth.

Benjamin Band, born April 18, 1785, graduated at Harvard College in 1808, in the same class with Richard H. Dana. He was a gentleman of the highest eminence in legal attainment, and one of the nK)st distinguished members of the Suffolk bar. He died in Boston, April 26, 1852, aged sixty-seven. Charles Sumner entered his office as a student, January 8,1834. In- the autumn of the same year Mr. Band visited England,^ where he was well received by lawyers and judges. His partner, Mr. A. H. Fiske, remained in charge of their office. He was " a lawyer having a large practice, but was distinguished rather for his great learning and faithful attention to the business of his clients, than for any attractive forensic qualities.''

Alpheus Bigelow, bom September 28, 1784, graduated at Harvard College in 1810. He fitted for college under Dr. Kendal ; studied Liw with Hon. Isaac Fiske, of AVeston, and Tyler Bigelow, of Watertbwn; was admitted to the bar of the Court of Common Pleas at the December term of 1815, and to that of the Supreme Court at the March term of 1817. He was a member of the House of Bepresentatives in 1827-28, and was for several years chairman of the selectmen of Weston, and held other to\ni offices. He was a thorough musician, and the founder of the Pierian Sodality, of Har\'ard College. Under the rule of the college requiring the music arranged for Commencement to be first submitted to the president for approval, he, on one occasion, handed in several pieces of music, which were duly aj)- proved, with one or two exceptions, and returned to him. The pieces were taken in haste by him from the miscellaneous pile l}*inir on his piano, and tossed back to their place after the approval, while he went on with his preparation of the Commencement music as he had planned it.

Ebenezer Hobbs^ Jr., bom April 17, 1794, graduated at Harvard College in 1814, .having as classmates William H. Prescott, Beujarmin A. Gould, Gamaliel Bradford, James Walker, and other notable alumni. He took the d^ree of M. D. in 18 17, -and immediately settled ia Waltham. He married, in 18 1 9, Mary Derby^ of Westoo. He was the chief agent of the Boston ManuCactur* ing Company for nearly forty years, and au honqred resident of the town. In the latter years of -his life he contributed to the Sentinel and Free Pre99 several interesting papers concerning the local>^jhistory of Waltliam, valuable and reliable by .reason