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EXTRACTS FROM THE HISTORY

OF THE

EARLY SETTLEMENT OF NEWTON,

PRIOR TO 1800,

BY FRANCIS JACKSON (a native of Newton).

1854.

THE settlement of Newton began in 1631. Its town records were commenced in November, 1632; and the proprietors' record, in 1635.

The origin of the name "Newtown," or, rather, its application to the town, grew out of the facts and circumstances attending its first settle

ment.

At the erection of the village into an independent town, in 1679, the number of freemen was about sixty-five.

1699, MAY. Voted, To build a schoolhouse, sixteen feet by fourteen, before the last of November. (See sketch of the old schoolhouse.)

1700, JAN. 1. - The selectmen and inhabitants did hire and agree with John Staples to continue the keeping of the school four days in a week, until March; and he to have two shillings per day. And those that send children to school shall pay threepence per week for those who learn to read, and fourpence for those that learn to write and cipher.

1796. — Voted, That five stoves be provided to warm the schoolhouses.

INDIANS.

THE early settlers [of Newton] found Indians dwelling in wigwams on Nonantum, among whom Wabau was their head man.

It was here that Rev. John Eliot made his first attempt to Christianize them. Having previously learned their language, he went on the 28th of October, 1646, with three others, to address them on the subject of Christianity. Wabau, a wise and grave man, met him at a small distance from their settlement, and welcomed him to a large wigwam on the Hill Nonantum. A considerable number of the Indians assembled to hear the new doctrine. Mr. Eliot delivered a sermon which occupied an hour. He repeated and explained the Ten Commandments. He spoke to them of the person of Jesus Christ. He related the creation and fall of man, the joys of heaven, and the punishments of hell, finally persuading to repentance and a good life. In answer to his inquiry, if he had been understood, the unanimous reply was, "We understand all."

After several visits, it was resolved to set up a school among them. To accomplish this, it was necessary to reduce them from a savage life, and to bring them into a state of civil society. This was conformable to the observation of Mr. Eliot, "that the Indians must be civilized, as well as, if not in order to, their being Christianized.”

A meeting-house was built (upon the estate now owned by the Kenrick family) twenty-five by fifty feet, in a most substantial manner, equal to the work of good English joiners. They planted trees, built houses, and cultivated fields. Some were taught trades. The women learned to

spin.

The first civil laws which were ever established in this country for the regulation of the aboriginals were made for the settlement of Nonantum. They were designed for the promotion of cleanliness, decency, chastity, and industry, and the discouragement of the opposite qualities and vices.

The first entry upon the town records relative to the poor is March 5, 1711: "Voted, That, once a year, there shall be a contribution, on Thanks

giving Day, for the poor, which shall be paid into the town treasury, and given out to the poor by the selectmen as they see need."

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1701. About the time of setting up the first meeting-house (1660), Deacon John Jackson gave one acre of land for the place for the house to stand upon, and for a burying-place; and May 14, 1701, Abraham Jackson (son of Deacon John) gave one acre more for enlarging the burying place, and the convenience of the training-place.

(The old ground is on Centre Street, opposite the residence of Gardner Colby, Esq.)

According to the records and monuments, Rev. John Eliot, jun., and his first wife, Sarah Willett, daughter of Capt. Thomas Willett of Plym. outh Colony, and first mayor of New York, were probably the first persons buried here, one in June, 1665; the other in October, 1668.

A marble monument has been erected on the spot where the first meeting-house stood in 1660: upon one side the names of the earliest settlers of the town; upon the other, inscriptions to the memory of the first minister, first ruling elder, and the donors of the burying-place.

The first meeting-house in Cambridge Village (Newton) was erected in the old burial-place in 1660. John Eliot, jun., took his degree in 1656, began to preach about 1658, and was ordained pastor of the First Church July 20, 1664; and the same day the church was organized. The male members at the commencement may be estimated at about forty, and the females at about the same number, and the number of families about thirty.

The Rev. Nehemiah Hobart was one of the early pastors, who so succeeded in healing the dissensions, and restoring harmony, that he was called" the repairer of breaches." During his pastorate, it was Voted, That seats for the boys be made from the west door to the south-west corner of the house. Voted, That the vacant room on the east and north side of the house, to the pulpit, is granted for the setting-up of pews for women and children; but they shall not be sold to a stranger."

Rev. George Whitefield preached in Newton in November, 1740, to a crowded audience. His religious tenets divided the community: almost every man was an ardent advocate or a decided opponent. Whatever may be thought of his peculiar opinions, certain it is, that his eloquence as a preacher was unrivalled, and his zeal for the cause he taught, of the highest character. The fruits of his ministration were great and striking.

1773. A committee was chosen to examine the church stocks.1

The Common at Newton Centre, an elevated and pleasant spot, contains about three acres of land. Current tradition is, that this Common was given to the town by Jonathan Hyde, sen., and Elder Wiswall, for a training-field. This ground has been used more or less by military. companies, and for other purposes. In 1700, the town voted to build a schoolhouse upon it; and, in 1730, the selectmen staked out a lot there, to build a "noon-house" (a small house for the accommodation of these church goers, where, at noon, they ate their bread and cheese, and drank their cider).

Charles River, to which the Indians gave the name of " Quinobequin," encircles a very large part of Newton: the centre of its channel forms the northerly, westerly, and southerly boundary-line of the town, being a continuous curving line of upwards of fifteen miles. The first mill erected upon its banks in Newton was by John Clark, about 1688, at Upper Falls, the spot now occupied by Otis Pettee, Esq.

1 Some of our readers may mistake the duty of this committee. The church owned no stocks, neither fancy nor foot-ball, such as modern brokers hawk about State Street. Those church stocks did not rise or fall, but were stationary. They rested upon solid earth, about ten rods from the church, and were made of two pieces of white-oak-timber, about eight feet long, clamped together with bar-iron at each end, through which holes were made, of various sizes, to fit human legs, for misbehavior during what was called "divine service." At least, disorderly persons were liable to have their legs made fast between the oak and iron by way of punishment.

We have often eyed that remnant of the Inquisition, when a boy, with a shudder.

These church stocks, like all human contrivances, often needed repairs; and that, no doubt, was the duty of the committee.

For nearly two centuries, Wiswall and Hammond Ponds have been naturally and properly so called, in remembrance of two of the early and prominent settlers of the town. They have become a part and parcel of the historical points of the place, and ought to be forever known by these

names.

The first grist-mill was built upon "Smelt Brook," near the territorial centre of the town (near Mill Street), at a very early period of its settlement, by Lieut. John Spring. The brook received its name from the fact, that, before it was obstructed by dams, smelts, and other fish from the ocean, passed up this stream.

NEWTON, LEXINGTON, AND CONCORD.

APRIL 19, 1775.- At this time, there were three companies of infantry in the town,the west company, Capt. Amariah Fuller, one hundred and five men; the east company, Capt. Wiswall, seventy-six; and a company of minute-men, Capt. Phineas Cook, thirty-seven; two hundred eighteen in all, all of which were in the battles of that day, and marched twentyeight miles. There were many other Newton men, not attached to either of the companies, who were in the action, including thirty-seven volunteers, called the Alarm-list, men who had passed the age for military duty. Among them were:

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