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 'W..
 
 Celebration of the Two Hundredth 
 Anniversary of the Incorporation of the 
 Town of Newton, Massachusetts, December 
 27, 1888. 
 
 Published by order of the City Council. 
 
 UNDER DIRECTION OF THE CITY CLERK. 
 
 Boston, Printed by 
 
 &berg I*. -Eantr, eighteen 
 
 hundred and ninety-one
 
 7f 
 
 Nsb Nfi> 
 
 CITY OF NEWTON. 
 
 (11030) Mayor's Office, City Hall, 
 
 West Newton, Mass., Oct. 12, 1S88. 
 To the City Council: 
 
 Gentlemen, — Newton was incorporated as a town in the year 1688. 
 This being the two hundredth anniversary of that important event, I 
 recommend that a committee be appointed to make arrangements for 
 an appropriate celebration, and that a reasonable appropriation be made 
 to defray necessary expenses therefor. 
 
 J. Wesley Kimball, Mayor. 
 
 CITY OF NEWTON. 
 
 ( 1 1048) 
 
 In the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Nov. 12, 18S8. 
 
 Ordered, That a Committee, to consist of His Honor the Mayor, three 
 Aldermen, and such members as the Common Council may join, be and 
 is hereby appointed to arrange for the celebration of the two hundredth 
 anniversary of the incorporation of Newton as a town, and that the sum 
 of $250, to be charged to Miscellaneous Expenses, be and is hereby 
 appropriated to meet the expenses of such celebration, to be expended 
 by the Committee herein appointed. 
 
 Adopted. Aldermen George Pettee, Edwin O. Childs, and John 
 Ward appointed, on the part of the Board of Aldermen. 
 
 Isaac F. Kingsbury, Clerk. 
 
 Adopted in concurrence by the Common Council. Councilmen Pres- 
 ident Heman M. Burr, Frank J. Hale, Ephraim S. Hamblen, and Law- 
 rence Bond appointed. 
 
 John C. Brimblecom, Clerk. 
 
 Approved Nov. 14, 1888. 
 
 J. Wesley Kimball, Mayor. 
 
 CITY OF NEWTON. 
 
 (11163) 
 
 In the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Dec. 31, 1888. 
 
 Ordered, That the City Clerk be and is hereby requested to prepare a 
 memorial volume of the celebration, Dec. 27, 188S, of the two hundredth 
 anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Newton, and that five 
 hundred copies of the same be printed for the use of the City Council 
 and for distribution as follows, — one copy each to the Smithsonian Insti-
 
 tute, Washington, D.C., the State Library, the Newton Free Library, 
 and the clerk of the towns of Brookline, Watertown, Weston, Wellesley, 
 and Needham, and the clerk of each city of the Commonwealth, — the cost 
 of same not to exceed $150, to be charged to the appropriation for Mis- 
 cellaneous Expenses. 
 Adopted. Isaac F. Kingsbury, Clerk. 
 
 Adopted in concurrence by the Common Council. 
 
 John C. Brimblecom, Clerk. 
 
 Approved Jan. 7, 1889. 
 
 J. Wesley Kimball, Mayor. 
 
 CITY OF NEWTON. 
 
 (12151) 
 
 City Hall, West Newton, Mass., Dec. 30, 1889. 
 
 To the City Council: 
 
 By an order (11 163) approved Jan. 7, 1889, the City Clerk was author- 
 ized to prepare a memorial volume of the two hundredth anniversary of 
 the incorporation of the town of Newton, and the sum of $150 was 
 appropriated for printing five hundred copies of same for use of the 
 City Council and other distribution. The copy for printing could not be 
 obtained till late in the year, and it appears that the amount appropriated 
 is not sufficient to publish the volume in suitable or acceptable form. 
 
 A fair estimate of the additional amount needed is $125. 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 Isaac F. Kingsbury, City Clerk- 
 
 CITY OF NEWTON. 
 (12162) 
 
 In the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Dec. 30, 1S89. 
 Ordered, That the sum of $125 be and is hereby appropriated in addi- 
 tion to the sum of $150 already appropriated for the publication, by the 
 City Clerk, of the memorial volume of the two hundredth anniversary of 
 the incorporation of the town of Newton, said amount to be charged 
 to the appropriation for Miscellaneous Expenses. 
 Adopted. Isaac F. Kingsbury, Clerk. 
 
 Adopted in concurrence by the Common Council. 
 
 John C. Brimblecom, Clerk. 
 
 Approved Dec. 31, 1889. 
 
 Heman M. Burr, Mayor.
 
 THE celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the 
 incorporation of the town of Newton, covering so long 
 a period, filled to repletion with historical interest and 
 crowned with abundant prosperity, suggested difficulties as to the 
 the character the celebration should assume. The season of the 
 year precluded any out-of-door demonstration; and it was finally 
 determined to confine the observance to a public meeting in the 
 City Hall on the afternoon of December 27, to be followed by 
 a banquet at Woodland Park Hotel. 
 
 The Committee, in the performance of the most agreeable duty 
 assigned them, met with ready response from those invited to take 
 part in the exercises, and the people gathered with devout grati- 
 tude to the Giver of all good for the mercies of the past and 
 present, filled with hope and joyful expectation of blessings yet to 
 come. Participating in the sentiments of the day, greetings are 
 hereby recorded to those of the far-off future who shall " dwell in 
 the land," successors to our homes and firesides, when another 
 period of two hundred years, with all its wonderful changes, shall 
 have passed. 
 
 At the public meeting in the afternoon, the City Hall at West 
 Newton was filled with an audience of the citizens of Newton, 
 together with many invited guests ; and the exercises were con- 
 ducted substantially in accordance with the annexed programme. 
 
 The Germania Orchestra, under the lead of Emil Mollenhauer, 
 and composed of the following members : — 
 
 First Violins, E. Mollenhauer, Carl Eichler: Second Violin, Percy C. 
 Hayden ; Viola, Julius Eichler; ''Cello, Alex. Heindl ; Basso, A. Stein;
 
 6 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 Flute, Paul Fox: Clarinets, E. Strasser, P. Metzger; Cornets, Dr. R. 
 Shuebruk, Benj. Bowron : French Horns, E. Lippoldt, E. Schormann. 
 
 rendered the following selections : — 
 
 i. Overture, "Mignon," Thomas 
 
 2. Concert Waltz, " Promotioncn," Strauss 
 
 3. Romanza, " Awakening of Spring," Ch. Bach 
 
 4. " Loin du Bal," String Orchestra, Gillet 
 
 5. Grand selection from " Tannhauser," Wagner 
 
 Hon. Alexander H. Rice, a native of Newton and ex-Governor 
 of the Commonwealth, was among those invited to be present ; and 
 the regret which he expressed in being compelled to decline was 
 equally shared by those who had been privileged to listen to his 
 public addresses. 
 
 For the Committee, 
 
 ISAAC F. KINGSBURY, City Clerk.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PACE . 
 
 Introduction, 5 
 
 Order of Exercises, 9 
 
 Invocation, Rev. Daniel L. Furber, D.D., Pastor Emeritus of 
 
 the First Church, 13 
 
 Introductory Address. Hon. J. Wesley Kimball, Mayor of the 
 
 City of Newton, 15 
 
 Address, His Excellency, Oliver Ames, Governor of the Common- 
 wealth of Massachusetts, 18 
 
 Historical Address, Hon. James F. C. Hyde, First Mayor of 
 
 the City of Newton, 20 
 
 Address, Leverett Saltonstall, Esq., Collector of U. S. Customs at 
 
 the Port of Boston, 42 
 
 Original Poem, Rev. Samuel F. Smith. D.D., 46 
 
 Address, John S. Farlow, Esq., 49 
 
 Address, Hon. William B. Fowle, Third Mayor of the City of 
 
 Newton, 52 
 
 Address, Otis Pettee, Esq., 58 
 
 Address, Julius L. Clarke, Esq., First Clerk of the City of Newton, 63 
 Benediction, Rev. George W. Shinn, D.D., Rector of Grace 
 
 Church, 68 
 
 Banquet, Woodland Park Hotel, 69
 
 Y E Two Hundredth Anniversary 
 
 Of ye 
 
 INCORPORATION OF Y E 
 
 TOWNE OF NEWTON 
 
 CITY OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 CITY HALL, WEST NEWTON, 
 Thursday, December 27, 1888.
 
 EXERCISES IN THE AFTERNOON, 
 
 [MENCING at Half-past 2 O'clock, 
 His Honor, the Mayor, presiding. 
 
 Music. Germania Band. 
 
 Invocation. Rev. Daniel L. Furber, D.D. 
 Music. 
 Introductory Address. Hon. J. Wesley Kimball, Mayor. 
 
 Address. His Excellency the Governor, Oliver Ames. 
 Music. 
 Address. Hon. James F. C. Hyde. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Address. Leverett Saltonstall. 
 Poem. Rev. Samuel F. Smith, D.D.
 
 Music 
 
 Address. John S. Farlow. 
 
 Address. IIox. William B. Fowle, 
 
 Address. Hon. John C. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Address. Otis Pettee. 
 
 Address. Julius L. Clarke. 
 
 Audience will unite in singing America. 
 
 My country, 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet land of liberty, — 
 
 Of thee I sing: 
 Land where my fathers died, 
 Land of the pilgrims' pride, 
 From every mountain side 
 
 Let freedom ring ! 
 
 My native country, thee,— 
 Land of the noble free, — 
 
 Thy name I love : 
 I love thy rocks and rills, 
 Thy woods and templed hills ; 
 My heart with rapture thrills 
 
 Like that above. 
 
 Our fathers' God ! to thee, 
 Author of liberty, — 
 
 To thee we sing : 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With freedom's holy light: 
 Protect us by thy might, 
 
 Great God, our King ! 
 
 Benediction. Rev. George W. Shinn, D.D.
 
 TOWNE GOVERNMENT, 1688. 
 
 Selectmen. 
 
 LIEUTENANT JOHN SPRING. JOHN PRENTICE. 
 THOMAS PRENTICE, 2d. DEA. EDWARD JACKSON. 
 
 JOHN FULLER. ABRAHAM JACKSON. 
 
 THOMAS GREENWOOD. 
 
 CITY GOVERNMENT, 1888. 
 
 Mayor. 
 }. WESLEY KIMBALL. 
 
 Board of A Idermen . 
 
 President, GEORGE PETTEE. 
 
 Ward 1. Edwix O. Childs. Ward 5. George Pettee. 
 
 Ward 2. N. Henry Chadwick. Ward 6. John Ward. 
 
 Ward 3. James H. Nickerson. Ward 7. James W. French. 
 
 Ward 4. Frederick Johnson. Clerk, Isaac F. Kingsbury. 
 
 Cotnmon Council. 
 President, HE MAN M. BURR 
 Ward 5 
 
 Ward 1. Herbert H. Powell. 
 
 Albert W. Rice. 
 Ward 2. John A. Fenno. 
 
 Edmund T. Wiswall. 
 Ward 3. Lawrence Bond. 
 
 Henry H. Hunt. 
 Ward 4. Frederick J. Ranlett. 
 
 Everett E. Moody. 
 
 E. H. Greenwood. 
 
 Frank J. Hale. 
 Ward 6. Heman M. Burr. 
 
 Henry H. Read. 
 Ward 7. J. Charles Kennedy. 
 
 Ephraim S. Hamblen. 
 
 Clerk, John C. Brimblecom.
 
 PRAYER OF REV. DANIEL L FURBER, D.D. 
 
 [Dr. Furber on rising for prayer remarked : " It was the custom of our fathers 
 to stand during public prayer. If it shall seem good to you to do so at the 
 present time, you will be honoring an ancient and venerable usage." The audi- 
 ence then arose, and prayer was offered as follows:—] 
 
 O Thou who art from everlasting to everlasting, our God 
 and our fathers' God, we bow and worship thee. One gen- 
 eration goeth and another cometh, one century is gone and 
 another has followed it, but thou art the same and thy good- 
 ness is the same to thy dependent creatures. 
 
 We have consecrated the hours of this day to the memory 
 of thy distinguishing goodness to us as inhabitants of this 
 favored city. How greatly hast thou blessed us ! Surely 
 the lines have fallen to us in pleasant places, and we have a 
 goodly heritage. As we recount the blessings which fill our 
 cup and cause it to overflow, blessings of religion and of 
 education, of temperance and morality, of liberty and law, 
 and all the institutions of beneficence and charity, we cannot 
 forget that we have entered into the labors of other men 
 whose character moulded our institutions, whose principles 
 drawn from thy holy word are the foundation of the Chris- 
 tian society which we enjoy, and whose spirit lives in the 
 air we breathe. We give thanks for their virtues formed 
 amid hardship and privation, and for the strength of purpose 
 and faith in thee which carried them triumphantly through 
 the conflicts of their time ; for the undaunted heroism with 
 which they encountered and overcame a lurking savage foe, 
 and for the patience, fortitude, and courage with which they 
 endured the long struggle for independence. We give 
 thanks for the patriotism of our own times, in which many 
 of our neighbors and friends so freely offered themselves for
 
 IA TWO IICXDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 liberty and union. We give thanks for the men who at dif- 
 ferent times and in various branches of public service have 
 lived lives of eminent usefulness, and who have been an 
 ornament to our history, — for that apostolic missionary who 
 brought the knowledge of salvation to the wigwams of the 
 forest, and for all the faithful men who have ever stood in 
 the pulpits of our town to proclaim the gospel of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, or who have gone forth to labor as ministers 
 or missionaries elsewhere. 
 
 And now we ask that whatsoever in the past is praiseworthy 
 may be equally characteristic of the present and the future ; 
 that true religion may flourish, that we may have faithful 
 ministers of the gospel, untrammelled instruction in our 
 public schools, wise counsel in our city government. May 
 our people keep in mind the virtues of their fathers, and in 
 times of prosperity may they be kept from luxury and extrav- 
 agance. Teach us the blessedness of Christian self-denial in 
 doing good ; and may the men of the future whose homes 
 shall adorn these hills and slopes, our children and our chil- 
 dren's children, to the latest generation, find in their own 
 blessed experience that happy is that people whose God is 
 the Lord. 
 
 Hear Thou our prayer offered in the name of Him who has 
 taught us to pray, saying (the audience all joining), Our 
 Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy 
 kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in 
 heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us 
 our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into 
 temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the king- 
 dom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY HIS HONOR 
 MAYOR J. WESLEY KIMBALL 
 
 We have convened to-day to celebrate an interesting and 
 important event in the history of Newton, — the two hun- 
 dredth anniversary of its incorporation as a town. It is 
 appropriate that we should assemble to review its history 
 and to consider its present condition, and from the past and 
 the present to judge what may be its future. It will be in- 
 teresting and instructive to trace the history and progress 
 of the town for the two centuries ; to observe its growth and 
 development from a sparsely settled town, possessed of only 
 moderate means, to a populous, substantial, and wealthy 
 city ; to note the many difficulties in both public and private 
 affairs that were encountered by our fathers, the hardships 
 endured, the sacrifices made, and the grand successes ulti- 
 mately achieved. 
 
 The successes were won under adverse and discouraging 
 circumstances. They were attained by ceaseless industry, 
 the exercise of sound judgment, undaunted courage, and 
 fidelity to the unalterable principles of equity and justice. 
 
 The fundamental principle of action which guided those 
 who administered and co-operated in public affairs was to 
 secure a government that would not only command obe- 
 dience to law, but would also bestow the greatest good 
 equally on all ; one that would be worthy of the support of 
 an intelligent and liberty-loving people. 
 
 Conforming to this idea, and appreciating the value of 
 order and intelligence, the church was founded, so that re- 
 ligious and moral truths might be disseminated. The public 
 school was established, that the youth of the land might so
 
 t 6 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 be taught that they could skilfully engage in the various 
 pursuits of life and understandingly perform the duties of 
 citizens, that they might attain to the privileges and respon- 
 sibilities and be eligible to the honors which may be con- 
 ferred upon loyal American citizens. 
 
 Time has not changed the principle nor lessened the vigi- 
 lance necessary to insure a permanent and good government 
 and the peace and prosperity of a free people. 
 
 The exercise of constant care, the enactment of wise laws, 
 and a liberal provision for general education are required 
 now as then. 
 
 Let us pay our tribute of respect and regard to those who 
 so long ago laid the foundation of our liberties and pros- 
 perity, who were devoted to the welfare of mankind, and 
 whose lives were ennobled by heroic deeds. 
 
 They have long since passed away : and now in the rest- 
 ing-places of the dead sleep those who so actively and 
 grandly performed the important and trying duties of their 
 time. When we read their names inscribed upon the tab- 
 lets erected to their memory, let us but speak their praises, 
 and be thankful for the blessings they have bequeathed 
 to us. 
 
 Nature, I think, has been partial to Newton in beauty and 
 healthfulness of location. The diversified and charming 
 scenery, the wooded hills, the picturesque valleys, the salu- 
 brious air, and the clear and sparkling waters of its lakes and 
 murmuring brooks give it especial attractiveness to those 
 who admire the beautiful in nature, and appreciate health 
 and the strength and enjoyments derived from it. 
 
 Newton has now become large and prosperous, and holds 
 an honorable place among the cities and towns of the Com- 
 monwealth. A liberal provision is made to supply the best 
 means for the protection and safety of our people, and care 
 is taken to suitably provide for their education, comfort, and 
 convenience. 
 
 The rapid and substantial growth of the city, the increase 
 in population and in the number of buildings, are evidences
 
 ADDRESS-— MAYOR KIM HALL > Y j 
 
 that the policy which has been pursued was wise and bene- 
 ficial, and that it has been generally approved. 
 
 We are surrounded by cities and towns of historic in- 
 terest, having universities and schools of learning, and a 
 great variety of enterprises and industries. We are so near 
 the metropolis of New England, one of the finest cities in 
 the country, and access to it is so easy and rapid, that those 
 whose interests attach them there find it equally convenient 
 and comfortable to have their residences here. 
 
 Judging from the past and present, and taking into con- 
 sideration the natural advantages of location and the enter- 
 prise, wealth, and culture of our citizens, it may safely be 
 predicted that the future of Newton is destined to be one of 
 marked growth and prosperity, and that the many villages 
 which at present are somewhat separated from each other 
 will become united, making a compact, beautiful, and great 
 city.
 
 ADDRESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY, OLIVER AMES, 
 GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH.* 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, — To-day you mark in this public 
 manner the completion of two hundred years of growth as 
 a separate civic organization. It is a pleasant and profitable 
 custom to observe these anniversaries, and no enterprising 
 Massachusetts city or town allows them to pass without 
 fitting notice. Such commemorations as this are great 
 teachers, putting in compact form the history of the past for 
 the better instruction of the future. 
 
 Now that this republic has sixty-five millions of people 
 within its borders, a vast amount of wealth and mighty mate- 
 rial development, it is difficult for us to estimate rightly the 
 sacrifices and sufferings of the days when those who dwelt 
 here formed not even a town, but simply a settlement in the 
 wilderness, cut off from European civilization by the ocean, 
 and confronted by boundless forests and waste places. 
 
 I shall not attempt to review the history of this city, but 
 I cannot omit saying something of its past. We know that 
 it was settled early in the history of this part of our land, 
 although it did not take a corporate name until nearly three- 
 quarters of a century had elapsed from the landing of the 
 Pilgrims. We know that it has ever been ready to meet 
 any demands made upon it for the common good. In the 
 days of our beginning as a nation, it did its part in promot- 
 ing the general cause. In all our subsequent struggles for 
 existence or for integrity as a nation, it has borne its part. 
 
 ' The governor was accompanied by the following members of his staff, in uniform : Major- 
 General Samuel Dalton, Adjutant-General ; Colonel Albert L. Newman, aide-de-camp ; Colonel 
 Augustus N. Sampson, Assistant Inspector-General; Colonel Charles Wiel, Assistant Adjutant- 
 General.
 
 . I DDRESS — GO I r ERN( >A' . IME S l g 
 
 Through the changed conditions that have grown out of 
 the War of the Rebellion, the extension of the railroad sys- 
 tem, and the development of our industries, Newton has 
 grown rapidly, but with a permanent growth. She is one 
 of the most beautiful, as well as one of the most thrivine - 
 of the cities of the Commonwealth. As she has been in 
 the past, she is now a community upon which reliance to do 
 what is right, prudent, and just may be placed. In other 
 words, she is a typical New England community. I but 
 voice the sentiment of all her people in saying that Massa- 
 chusetts is justly proud of the city of Newton. 
 
 This ends my official speech. But I will say a few words 
 more to you, in strict confidence, not to be repeated out of 
 this hall. I have discovered that there is a feeling of jeal- 
 ousy toward Newton all over the Commonwealth. It is not 
 a malicious jealousy, but rather a jealousy of admiration. 
 You have made your city so beautiful, you have constructed 
 such fine roads, you have built such beautiful homes, your 
 citizens are so highly cultured, that Newton has come to be 
 regarded as the model municipality of the Commonwealth. 
 
 This is the testimony of many of the judges of the 
 Supreme and Superior Courts. These justices are appointed, 
 first of all, because they are men of sound judgment, because 
 they are intelligent, because they are cultured, and because 
 they know something of law. Often, after their appoint- 
 ment, as a matter of convenience, they seek new homes. 
 Of course, they want the best. They investigate for them- 
 selves, and almost invariably they select Newton as the place 
 of their new and permanent abode. This has so far become 
 the rule that every new judge, who feels obliged to leave 
 his old home, is expected to settle in Newton. 
 
 So, when a governor is called upon to name a judge, he 
 will say to the friends of the candidate: "Do you desire him 
 to leave your town, your county ? Do you not know that, if 
 I appoint him, he will surely move to Newton ? " My 
 advice to you is, Go on, and make your city as beautiful and 
 as attractive as possible. If you continue to develop it, as 
 you have, — and I have no doubt that you will do so, — I shall 
 almost feel like coming here to live myself.
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. JAMES F. C. HYDE, 
 FIRST MAYOR OF NEWTON. 
 
 It is fair to presume that all present know more or less of 
 the history of their native or adopted town. In the brief 
 time allotted me only a few facts can be touched upon, the 
 suggestion of which may lead some to further study of the 
 history of Newton. Might it not be profitable for the schol- 
 ars in our schools to devote some attention to this history, 
 so that they may become more familiar with the lives and 
 characters of those who laid the foundations upon which we 
 are building, and from whose planting we are reaping such 
 rich fruits? 
 
 It is said by the historian that the settlement of Newtown 
 — Cambridge — began in 1631. Its records commenced 
 1632; proprietors' records, 1635. Cambridge, or Newtown, 
 embraced a very large territory, which was subsequently en- 
 larged by additional grants. In 1635 the General Court 
 granted to Newtown land embracing the territory of what 
 has since been Brookline, Brighton, and Newton, though 
 that portion that is now Brookline was afterwards set off to 
 Boston, where it remained many years, until it again became 
 Brookline. 
 
 In 1636, six years after the settlement of Boston, the Gen- 
 eral Court voted ^400 for a school, or college, and the next 
 year this school or college was located, by order of the same 
 authority, at Newtown, — Cambridge. In 1638 Rev. John 
 Harvard added ^800 to the amount appropriated by the 
 General Court, and his name was given to the college. In 
 1638 it was ordered that Newtown be called Cambridge, " in 
 compliment to the place where so many of the civil and 
 clerical fathers of New England had been educated."
 
 ADDRESS— //OX. JAMES F. C. /IYDE 2 I 
 
 The territory south of Charles River, embracing what was 
 Brighton and Newton, was first called " the south side of 
 Charles River," or the " South Side " ; sometimes Nonan- 
 tum, the Indian name. About 1654 it began to be called 
 "Cambridge Village," and, later, "New Cambridge," and by 
 authority of the General Court, " Newtown," after 1691 ; 
 thus taking, after the lapse of years, the name of the old 
 town of which this territory once formed a rather small part. 
 
 For the first ten years, only seven families had settled on 
 this territory ; and of these seven two were Jacksons (the 
 first settler in 1639 was John Jackson), two were Hydes, one 
 Fuller, a Park, and a Prentice. All these, with one excep- 
 tion, came direct from England. After these followed Par- 
 kers, Hammonds, Wards, Kenricks, Trovvbridges, Bacons, 
 Stones, and others, whose descendants are represented here 
 to-day. 
 
 During the first twenty-five years from the time the first 
 settler found a home south of the river, in what is now called 
 Newton, twenty families had come in and located. In 1664 
 there were twelve young men of the second generation. 
 
 From the first settlement to the date of incorporation, a 
 period of forty-nine years, fifty families had settled on this 
 territory. Dr. Smith says : "The number oi freemen within 
 the limits of the town in 1688 was about sixty-five." Author- 
 ities differ as to the exact area of this part of Newtown. " In 
 1798," according to Homer, "it was reckoned to embrace 
 12,940 acres, including ponds." Another writer says that 
 "in 183 1 the town contained 14,513 acres." 
 
 In 1838 eighteen hundred acres of this were set off to 
 Roxbury, and are now a part of Boston. In 1847 six hun- 
 dred and forty acres were set off to the now city of Walt ham, 
 being that part of Waltham south of the river, and a few 
 years ago a small portion near Chestnut Hill Reservoir was 
 set to Boston, leaving, according to one estimate, 10,50a 
 acres as the present area of Newton ; or, by the other, 12,073 
 acres ; or, if we add the two estimates together as given, and 
 divide by two, — as modern juries do nowadays when they
 
 22 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 want to arrive at a verdict, — we shall find 11,286 acres, 
 which is probably near the fact. 
 
 The inhabitants of Cambridge Village knew what they 
 wanted, and, knowing, sought to carry their point. During 
 the last of the year 1654 or first of 1655, they took the first 
 step toward gaining their independence, at which time 
 they began to hold religious meetings for public worship in 
 Cambridge Village, in the territory now Newton. They 
 asked to be released from paying rates to the church at 
 Cambridge, on the ground that they were to establish the 
 ordinances of Christ among themselves, and distinct from 
 the old town. The selectmen of Cambridge strongly op- 
 posed this division, and declared that there was no sufficient 
 reason for such separation, and also, to quote their own 
 words, "We hope it is not the desire of our brethren so to 
 accommodate themselves by a division as thereby utterly to 
 disenable and undo the Church of Christ with whom they 
 have made so solemn an engagement in the Lord, which is 
 apparent to us will be the effect thereof." 
 
 This was the beginning of a struggle for independence 
 that lasted thirty-three or four years, and ended by the com- 
 plete separation from the mother town. Let us follow this 
 contest, step by step, until its consummation. 
 
 In 1656 the people of Cambridge Village, having been 
 denied their request the year before, appealed to the " Great 
 and General Court to be released from paying rates for the 
 support of the ministry at Cambridge Church." 
 
 Of course the old town remonstrated, and the village 
 people were given leave to withdraw, silenced for the time. 
 They were not the men, however, to submit to what they 
 believed to be an injustice, but quietly bided their time. 
 Five years after, they presented another petition to the Gen- 
 eral Court, asking for the same thing. 
 
 They had been holding meetings for public worship for 
 four or five years in a large room in a private house, and 
 the year before this petition was presented (1660) had built 
 the first meeting-house, which fact no doubt had its influence ;
 
 ADDRESS— HON. JAMES /■'. C. HYDE o-, 
 
 and so in 1661 the Court granted them " freedom from all 
 church rates for the support of the ministry in Cambridge 
 and for all lands and estates which were more than four 
 miles from Cambridge meeting-house — the measure to be 
 in the usual paths that may be ordinarily passed — so long 
 as the south side of the river shall maintain an able minis- 
 try." 
 
 The year following the granting of this request, the line 
 was so run and the bounds so settled between Cambridge 
 and Cambridge Village as to settle the matter of ministerial 
 support, and also to establish substantially what afterwards 
 became the line between Brighton and Newton. These 
 people had gained this point, and started a movement that 
 was only to end with their entire emancipation from Cam- 
 bridge. The first meeting-house was built in 1660 or 61, and 
 located on Centre Street, opposite the Colby estate ; and in 
 July, 1664, when there were but twenty-two land-owners in 
 the village, the first church was organized, and the Rev. 
 John Eliot, Jr., son of the apostle to the Indians, ordained 
 as its pastor. And this consummated the ecclesiastical, 
 though not the civil, separation of Cambridge Village from 
 Cambridge. 
 
 The congregation of this church was composed of about 
 thirty families, with about eighty members in the church, 
 forty of each sex. 
 
 Our sturdy ancestors were not yet satisfied ; and so, in 
 1672, they again petitioned the General Court to set them 
 off, and make them a town by themselves. In answer to 
 this request, the Court in 1673 declared "that the Court 
 doth judge meet to grant to the inhabitants of said village 
 annually to elect one constable, and three selectmen, dwell- 
 ing 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, bridge 
 over the Charles River, and their proportion of the charges 
 of the deputies."
 
 24 
 
 TWO HI WPRED TH ANNJVERSAR V— NE WTON 
 
 This action of the Court they refused to accept and act 
 under, by which they would merely have become a precinct, 
 though this was quite a step in advance ; for previous to this 
 time the residents of the village had been permitted to hold 
 few official positions. 
 
 At the session of the General Court commencing May 8, 
 1678, a lengthy petition was drawn up and signed by fifty- 
 two freemen, setting forth many facts and humbly praying 
 that they might be granted their freedom from Cambridge, 
 and that they might receive a name, thus becoming a sepa- 
 rate town. Cambridge remonstrated by their selectmen in 
 quite severe terms. It declared that the petitioners "do not 
 say words of truth." 
 
 "They knew beforehand the distance of their dwellings 
 from Cambridge, yet this did not obstruct them in their 
 settlements there, but before they were well warm in their 
 nests they must divide from the town." 
 
 Alluding to what they had already been granted, and their 
 repeated efforts to get free from the old town, they say : 
 " All this, notwithstanding these long-breathed petitioners 
 finding that they had such good success that they could 
 never cast their lines into the sea but something was 
 catched, they resolved to bait their hook again." They 
 accused the freemen of the village of causing the old town 
 " to dance after their pipes, from time to time, for twenty- 
 four years, as will appear by the Court's record." 
 
 And again, to use their words : " He is a murderer if he 
 takes away that whereby his father or mother lives, and this 
 we apprehend not to be far unlike the case now before this 
 honored Court." They go on to say further : "All parties 
 of this nature are condemned by the light of nature." 
 
 " They who had grants from the heathen idolaters did not 
 account it just that they should be dispossed by others ; and 
 idolatrous Ahab, although he was a king, and a very wicked 
 king also, and wanted not power to effect what he desired, 
 and was so burthened for the want of Naboth's vineyard 
 that he would neither eat nor sleep, and when denied by his
 
 ADDRESS — //OX. JAMES E. C. //YDE 
 
 25 
 
 own subjects, tendered a full price for the same; yet he had 
 so much conscience left that he did not dare seize the same 
 presently, as the petitioners would be, so great a part of our 
 possession as this, were it now in their power." 
 
 They still further say that "those who live in town — 
 Cambridge — are put to hire grass for their cattle to feed 
 upon in the summer time, which costs them at least twelve 
 or fifteen shillings a head, in money, for one cow, the 
 summer feed : and corn land they have not sufficient to find 
 the town with bread." 
 
 " Cambridge is not a town of trade or merchandise as the 
 seaport towns be, but what they do must be in a way of 
 husbandry ; they having no other way of supply." 
 
 "We must be no town nor have no Church of Christ nor 
 ministry among us, in case we be clipped and mangled as 
 the petitioners would have." 
 
 Notwithstanding all this and much more of similar tenor, 
 the General Court granted to Cambridge Village the right to 
 choose selectmen and a constable and to manage the "mu- 
 nicipal affairs of the village," substantially the same privi- 
 leges that had before been granted in 1673, but which the 
 village had never accepted. Dr. Smith says : " This was an 
 important but not full concession on the part of the Court ; 
 but the people had to wait nearly ten years more before they 
 fully attained the object of their desire. The attitude of the 
 settlers in Cambridge Village was one of persistent deter- 
 mination ; and, as if foreshadowing in those early days the 
 spirit of the Revolution which occurred a century later, they 
 stood firm in their resistance of everything which in their 
 judgment savored of oppression." 
 
 Jackson says, " The first entry upon the new town book of 
 Cambridge Village records the doings of the first town meet- 
 ing, held June 27, 1679, by virtue of an order of the General 
 Court," at which meeting three selectmen and one constable 
 were chosen, thus doing what they were authorized to do in 
 1673. There is no record of another town meeting until 
 Jan. 30, 168 1.
 
 26 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 It appears by articles of agreement made as late as Sept. 
 17, 16SS, between the selectmen of Cambridge and the 
 selectmen of the village, in behalf of their respective towns, 
 referring to differences that have arisen as to charges for 
 bridges, schools, the laying of rates, and some other things 
 of a public nature, " that for the end above said the village 
 shall pay to the town of Cambridge the sum of £5 in 
 merchantable corn, 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 
 nth of January, 1688, by the present style of reckoning." 
 
 This brings us near the time when Cambridge Village 
 was incorporated, as claimed by historians who have written 
 later than Jackson. 
 
 We find in the records of the village that in 1686 "a com- 
 mittee was chosen to treat with Cambridge about our free- 
 dom from their town." It is undoubtedly true that Cam- 
 bridge Village, in a large degree, became independent of the 
 mother town in the year 1679, when, Jackson says, the 
 town was incorporated ; for they did from that time control 
 the prudential affairs of the village ; but it is equally true 
 that they were taxed together for several years after, for 
 State and county and for some other purposes. It is cer- 
 tain that they were not allowed to send a deputy to the 
 General Court until 1688, when the separation was fully con- 
 summated. The records of Cambridge — the old town — 
 show that constables were elected for the village after 1679, 
 every year until 1688, but none for the village after the latter 
 date. Paige's recent History of Cambridge seems to entirely 
 clear all doubts as to the true date of the incorporation of 
 Newton. 
 
 He was fortunate enough to find two documents which 
 probably Mr. Jackson never saw. " One is an order of 
 notice preserved in the Massachusetts archives," of which 
 the following is a copy : — 
 
 " To the constables of the town of Cambridge, or either
 
 ADDRESS— I/OX. JAMES F. C. H\ 
 
 2 7 
 
 of them ; you are hereby required to give notice to the inhab- 
 itants of said town that they or some of them, be and appear 
 before his Excellency in Council, on Wednesday, being the 
 nth of this inst. to show cause why Cambridge Village may 
 not be declared a place distinct by itself, and not longer a 
 part of said town as hath been formerly petitioned for and 
 now desired : and thereof to make due return. Dated at 
 Boston the 6th day of January in the third year of his Maj- 
 esty's reign a.d. 1687 By order &c J. West, D. sec'y." 
 
 " What was the result of this process does not appear of 
 record ; for the records of the council, during the administra- 
 tion of Andros, were carried away. Fortunately, however, 
 a certified copy of the order, which is equivalent to an act 
 of incorporation, is on file in the office of the clerk of the 
 Judicial Courts in Middlesex County." 
 
 At a council held in Boston Jan. 11, 1687, present his 
 Excellency, Sir Edmund Andros, and seven councillors, 
 an order was issued a part of which we give: "Upon the 
 reading this day in the Council the petition of the inhabitants 
 of Cambridge Village, being sixty families or upwards, that 
 they may be a place distinct by themselves and freed from 
 the town of Cambridge, to which at the first settlement they 
 were annexed, they being in every respect capable thereof," 
 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 whatso- 
 ever." The order further provided how Cambridge bridge 
 should be supported. 
 
 This order was signed John West, deputy secretary. 
 
 Then followed, "This is a true copy taken out of the 
 original, 4th day of December, 1688 : as attests: Laur. Ham- 
 mond, Clerk." Dr. Paige adds : "There remains no reasona- 
 ble doubt that the village was released from ecclesiastical 
 dependence on Cambridge, and obligation to share in the 
 expenses of religious worship 1661, became a precinct in 
 1673, received the name of Newtown, in December, 1691,
 
 2S TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 and was declared to be a distinct village and place of itself, 
 or, in other words, was incorporated as a separate and dis- 
 tinct town by the order passed Jan. n, 1687-8, old style, 
 or Jan. n, 1688, according to the present style of reck- 
 oning." 
 
 It seems very strange that such an error should occur 
 and be perpetuated for nearly two centuries, the town even 
 adopting it and putting it upon its seal, where it remained 
 for six years. 
 
 After Cambridge Village was set off or incorporated, it 
 was sometimes called New Cambridge, until 1691, when, in 
 answer to a petition to the General Court, it was called 
 Newtown, and the name was variously spelled, New-Town, 
 Newtown, Newtowne, and Newton in the records, until 1766, 
 when Judge Fuller became town clerk, and spelled it in the 
 town records " Newton " ; and Newton it has been ever 
 since. We have devoted much time and space to establish- 
 ing the facts concerning the incorporation of Newton, be- 
 cause Mr. Jackson in his history published, in 1854, gives the 
 date as 1679, which has since been shown to be incorrect, 
 both by Dr. Paige and Dr. Smith. After a careful exami- 
 nation of the facts we are fully satisfied that they have fixed 
 upon the true date. 
 
 At this time ten of the first settlers had passed away. 
 
 Sixty families were dwelling within the limits of the town. 
 We give a few brief items relating to the people living on 
 these broad acres from 1639 onward. 
 
 In 1643 six acres of land were conveyed on payment of 
 
 £S- 
 
 In 1645 "there were in all of Cambridge 135 ratable 
 persons, 90 horses, 208 cows, 131 oxen, 229 young cattle, 20 
 horses, 37 sheep, 62 swine, and 58 goats." 
 
 "In 1647 the town bargained with Waban, the Indian 
 chief and first convert to Christianity, to keep six score 
 head of dry cattle on the south side of Charles River." 
 
 " 1656, persons appointed by the Selectmen to execute 
 order of General Court for the improvement of all families 
 within' the town in spinning and manufacturing clothes."
 
 ADDRESS — I/O A: JAMES F. C. HYDE 2 Q 
 
 In 1650 wild land sold for one dollar and a quarter per 
 acre. 
 
 1676, town meeting called to consider the matter of forti- 
 fying the town against Indians. 
 
 In 169 1 first couple married in Newton after it was incor- 
 porated. 
 
 1693, town paid 20s. for killing three wolves. 
 
 The two following years paid a bounty for killing wolves. 
 
 1699, v oted to build a school-house 14 x 16 feet. 
 
 1700, hired a schoolmaster at five shillings per day. 
 1707, paid twelve pence per dozen for heads of blackbirds. 
 
 Voted to choose two persons to sec that hogs were yoked 
 and ringed according to law. 
 
 171 1, voted to have collections taken up Thanksgiving 
 Days for the poor. 
 
 1717, vote passed to prevent the destruction of deer. 
 Same in 1741. 
 
 1796, voted to have a stove to warm the meeting-house. 
 The same year, voted that the deacons have liberty to sit out 
 of the deacons' seat. 
 
 1800, voted to disannul the ancient mode of seating parish- 
 ioners in the meeting-house. 
 
 In 1646 Rev. John Eliot first attempted to Christianize 
 the Indians at Nonanetum, or Nonantum, where a company 
 of them were located on land that had been bought by the 
 General Court of the white owners and set apart for the use 
 of the Indians. This tract of high land was considerably 
 improved by them by the building of wigwams, walls, and 
 ditches about the same, and the planting later of fruit-trees. 
 
 By advice of Mr. Eliot, tools and implements were sup- 
 plied, as well as money to enable them to develop and im- 
 prove their village. Homer says : — 
 
 "The women of Nonantum soon learned to spin and to col- 
 lect articles for sale at the market through the year. In 
 winter the Indians sold brooms, staves, baskets made from 
 the neighboring woods and swamps, and turkeys raised by 
 themselves ; in the spring, cranberries, strawberries, and fish
 
 30 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 from Charles River; in the summer, whortleberries, grapes, 
 and fish. Several of them worked with the English in the 
 vicinity in hay-time and harvest." 
 
 The author of " Nonantum and Natick " says : "Here at 
 Nonantum Hill was begun the first civilized and Christian 
 settlement of Indians in the English North American colo- 
 nies. This was the seat of the first Protestant mission to 
 the heathen, and here Mr. Eliot preached the first Protes- 
 tant sermon in a pagan tongue." 
 
 This was preached in the large wigwam of Waanton, or 
 Waban, where a considerable number of Indians were as- 
 sembled to hear this first sermon, which occupied over an 
 hour in its delivery. The text was from Ezekiel xxxvii. 
 9, 10. 
 
 This Waban — whose name signified "wind," or "spirit" 
 — was the chief man of this Indian village, and was called a 
 "merchant." He seems to have been the man of business. 
 " Perhaps he went to Boston sometimes to sell venison and 
 other game which he had either taken himself or bought 
 from other Indians." He was the first convert to Christian- 
 ity, and lived a consistent life, dying in 1674, aged seventy 
 years. 
 
 Newton thus enjoys the rare honor of having within its 
 borders the spot made sacred by the labors of the apostle 
 Eliot, whose saintly life and heroic service in the cause of 
 the Master resulted in the civilization and Christianization 
 of many of these sons of the forest. These Nonantum 
 Indians seem to have been pretty bright and keen heathen, 
 judging from some of the questions they put to the white 
 men, a few of which are here given. One woman in- 
 quired "whether she prayed when she only joined with 
 her husband in his prayer to God Almighty." Another 
 inquired " whether her husband's prayer signified anything 
 if he continued to be angry with her and to beat her." 
 Another asked " how the English came to differ so much 
 from the Indians in their knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, 
 since they had all at first but one Father" ; another, "how
 
 ADDRESS —HON. JAMES F. C. HYDE 3I 
 
 it came to pass that sea water was salt and river water 
 fresh." 
 
 The people of Newton from the very first took great in- 
 terest in military affairs. The men of Newton took a prom- 
 inent part in all the Indian wars. They were in King 
 Philip's and subsequent wars with the Indians, as well as in 
 the old French and Indian War. Some lives were lost in 
 this service, among them Colonel Ephraim Williams, the 
 founder of Williams College. He was shot in the mem- 
 orable battle fought with the French and Indians near Lake 
 George, in September, 1755. 
 
 Of the part taken in the War of the Revolution by the 
 inhabitants of this town, it has been well said that, "almost 
 to a man, they made the most heroic and vigorous efforts to 
 sustain the common cause of the country from the first hour 
 to the last, through all the trying events which preceded 
 and accompanied the war." 
 
 Our fathers were jealous of their rights; and, while they 
 were willing to stand by the government, they were not the 
 men to submit to any injustice. From time to time they 
 met in town meeting to consider important questions relat- 
 ing to the condition of the country. In December, 1772, a 
 town meeting was held, and a committee appointed to con- 
 sider and report what it may be proper for the town to do 
 relating to the present unhappy situation of the country. 
 
 In 1773 they instructed their representative, Judge Ful- 
 ler, to use his influence against the salaries of the judges of 
 the Superior Court being fixed and paid by the Crown in- 
 stead of by the Great and General Court. They were jealous 
 of their rights, even though remotely assailed. It is prob- 
 able that not a person in the colonies at this time seriously 
 entertained the thought of taking up arms against the mother 
 country, but relied upon constitutional methods only for the 
 redress of their grievances. 
 
 Later, during the same year, a large committee was chosen 
 " to confer with the inhabitants of the town as to the expe- 
 diency of leaving off buying, selling, or using any India tea."
 
 32 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 On Dec. 16, 1773, there was a famous tea-party in Boston, 
 such as never was seen before nor has been since. Newton 
 was represented on that occasion by two or more of its cit- 
 izens. One in particular, who drove a load of wood to 
 market, stayed very late that clay, and was not very anxious 
 the next morning to explain the cause of his detention ; but, 
 as tea was found in his shoes, it is not difficult to under- 
 stand what he had been doing. 
 
 The following year, 1774, the town adopted a series of res- 
 olutions, declaring they would not voluntarily and tamely 
 submit to the levying of any tax for the purpose of raising 
 a revenue, where imposed without their consent or that of 
 their representatives ; and that any and all persons who 
 advised or assisted in such acts were inimical to this coun- 
 try, and thereby incurred their just resentment, and in such 
 lio-ht they regarded all merchants, traders, and others who 
 should import or sell any India tea until the duty, so justly 
 complained of, should be taken off. They further pledged 
 themselves that they would not purchase or use any such tea 
 while the duty remained upon it. 
 
 A committee was appointed to confer with like commit- 
 tees of sister towns as occasion required. During the same 
 year the town voted that the selectmen use their best discre- 
 tion in providing firearms for the poor of the town, where 
 they were unable to provide for themselves. In October of 
 the same year the town sent delegates to the Provincial As- 
 sembly at Concord, and the next year to a meeting of the 
 same at Cambridge. Early in the year 1775, the town voted 
 to raise men to exercise two field-pieces that had been given, 
 and also to raise a company of minute-men, and thus be pre- 
 pared for any emergency. 
 
 This action furnishes the explanation of the fact that 
 Newton had so many men engaged in the battles of Lex- 
 ington and Concord. 
 
 On the 19th of April, 1775, a day ever memorable in the 
 history of our country, when the first battles of independence 
 were fought at Lexington and Concord, Newton had three
 
 ADDRESS— HON. JAMES F. C. HYDE 33 
 
 organized companies of minute-men, all of whom were pres- 
 ent and took part in the battles of that historic day, during 
 which they marched about thirty miles. 
 
 The two hundred and eighteen men composing these three 
 companies were not all that Newton sent to the battle-fields 
 that day; for many went who had passed the military age 
 and so were exempt from duty, but who felt as did Noah 
 Wiswall, the oldest man who went from Newton, and whose 
 son commanded one of the companies, and who had other 
 sons and sons-in-law in the fight. He could not be induced 
 to remain at home, because, as he said, "he wanted to see 
 what the boys were doing," and, when shot through the hand, 
 coolly bound it up with a handkerchief, and brought home 
 the gun of a British soldier who fell in the battle. 
 
 Colonel Joseph Ward, a master of one of the public 
 schools, — a Newton man, — took a very active part. On the 
 19th of April he left Boston for Newton, took horse and gun, 
 rode to Concord, to animate and assist his countrymen. He 
 also greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Bunker's 
 Hill, where he served as aide-de-camp to General Artemas 
 Ward. 
 
 Soon after these earlier battles two companies were raised 
 in Newton. In March following, these companies with 
 others took possession of Dorchester Heights, which proved 
 a short service, as on the 17th of that month the British 
 evacuated Boston, much to the joy of the good people of 
 that town. 
 
 Soon after, one of these companies joined in an expedition 
 to Canada. On the 17th of June, 1776, the first anniversary 
 of a day made memorable in the annals of our country by 
 the heroic struggle on Bunker's Hill, where Newton was 
 well represented, and two weeks before the Declaration of 
 Independence, our forefathers in this busy season of the 
 year left their fields and quiet homes, and gathered in town 
 meeting to discuss and pass upon a matter of vital impor- 
 tance to them, their posterity, and the world. At this town 
 meeting, where Captain John Woodward was moderator, the
 
 34 
 
 TWO HUiXDREDTIl AXXIVERSARY—NE WTON 
 
 second article in the warrant was : "That in case the honor- 
 able Continental Congress should, for the safety of the 
 American colonies, declare them independent of the kingdom 
 of Great Britain, whether the inhabitants of this town will 
 solemnly engage with their lives and fortunes to support 
 them in the measure." After debate, the question was put, 
 and the vote passed unanimously. 
 
 These bold and memorable words meant the sacrifice of 
 comfort, fortune, home, friends, and life, if need be, for the 
 right to govern themselves and enjoy the privileges of free- 
 men. In winter's snows and summer's heats, the men of 
 Newton, old and young, able and disabled, were found filling 
 the ranks of the little American army. They formed a part 
 of nearly every expedition, and were found on nearly every 
 field, from the opening battles of Lexington and Concord to 
 the final surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. 
 
 Newton, then a little country town with only about 1,400 
 inhabitants, entered upon the War of the Revolution with 
 great vigor and spirit. Contributing liberally both men and 
 means, as she always has done and always will do when her 
 country calls, no town in Massachusetts can show a more 
 honorable record. It is said by the historian that nearly 
 every man in Newton served in the army some time during 
 the war. 
 
 The history of the world scarcely affords a parallel to all 
 our fathers did and suffered during the long struggle they 
 endured in the sacred cause of liberty. Let us not forget 
 that Newton enjoys the honor of having been the birthplace 
 of one of the immortal band of men who signed the Decla- 
 ration of Independence, — Roger Sherman, — a name em- 
 balmed in the hearts of his countrymen as well as on the 
 pages of history. 
 
 Of the part Newton took in the War of 181 2 little is 
 known, but it is no doubt true that the sons of such worthy 
 sires were not found wanting when the country was in need. 
 
 Let us briefly consider Newton in the war of the Great 
 Rebellion. From the opening gun fired on Sumter April 12,
 
 ADDRESS — I/OX. JAMES P. C. HYP I: 35 
 
 1 86 1, until the close of the rebellion Newton nobly per- 
 formed her part. 
 
 She furnished at least thirty-six commissioned officers, 
 two generals, and 1,129 soldiers who formed a part of thirty 
 regiments. 
 
 These men gave themselves to their country in the hour 
 of her need, and went forth in her defence. 
 
 Where duty called, they were found, — whether amid the 
 malaria of Southern swamps, on the march, leading a forlorn 
 hope against the enemy, or in vile prison pens, — the men- 
 tion of whose names brings a thrill of horror to all hearts. 
 
 They fell by the way on the long and tedious marches, 
 they died of homesickness or wounds in the hospitals, they 
 went down before the rush of the enemy and were killed or 
 reported missing, and never again heard from. They endured 
 privations and hardships such as we cannot comprehend ; and 
 they did it all without murmur or complaint for the love and 
 respect they had for the heroes of '76, and their regard for 
 the liberty and good name of their country, for their homes 
 and firesides, and the still more tender regard for the dear 
 ones in those homes whose prayers and good wishes never 
 ceased to follow them amid all their sufferings. 
 
 They loved their homes and firesides as we do ours, but 
 loved their country more. 
 
 The spirit that actuated them was well illustrated by one 
 who said, " If my country needs my services, I am willing for 
 her sake to make the sacrifice." This was Charles Ward, 
 a worthy son of one of the first settlers, who cheerfully gave 
 his life at Gettysburg. 
 
 Our ancestors early recognized the importance of educa- 
 tion, and all through the two centuries that have passed 
 since its incorporation Newton has made the most liberal 
 appropriations for its public schools, thus standing in the 
 front ranks among the many cities and towns of the Com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 In addition to all this it has within its borders a Theolog- 
 ical Seminary of world-wide reputation, a seminary for young
 
 36 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 ladies, and an English and classical school, as well as others 
 of lesser note. 
 
 Early in the history of Massachusetts slavery was intro- 
 duced, and it is not surprising that some slaves should have 
 been found in Newton. The records show that at least 
 thirty-six were mentioned in the inventories of deceased per- 
 sons, and there were probably others. Slavery is supposed 
 to have received its death-blow in Massachusetts, about 1783. 
 
 Newton, of course, in its early days was a purely agricult- 
 ural town, and its farmers were prosperous and well-to-do 
 for those times, and built for themselves here and there over 
 its broad area homes that were comparatively comfortable, 
 but which would hardly compare with many of the palatial 
 residences which we see to-day. 
 
 But as early as 1688, the very year of the incorporation of 
 Newton, a mill was built at Upper Falls, where there was 
 a considerable waterfall on Ouinobequin, or, later, Charles 
 River. 
 
 Still later other mills were located along the river, some 
 for the manufacture of lumber, cloths, nails, cotton goods, 
 paper, and other articles, all of which helped to extend the 
 industries of this growing town. 
 
 Fifty years ago, two of these manufacturing villages — 
 Upper Falls and Lower Falls — exerted a controlling influ- 
 ence in town affairs. 
 
 The intelligent citizens of Newton early took a deep inter- 
 est in the cause of temperance, and as early as Dec. 15, 
 1826, "a meeting was held which took active measures on 
 the subject, and by a circular addressed to the inhabitants of 
 the town sought to create a general interest in regard to it." 
 Later, a constitution was adopted and the society received 
 the name of the "Newton Friendly Society." This was prob- 
 ably the first local organization of its kind in New Eng- 
 land, with one exception. This society afterwards estab- 
 lished a library of several hundred volumes ; and it also 
 originated the Institution for Savings in the Town of 
 Newton, now the well-known and prosperous Newton Sav-
 
 ADDRESS— HON. JAMES F. C. HYDE -.y 
 
 ings Bank. The whole movement was conducted by the 
 best and most influential men of the town. 
 
 In 179S a library was formed at West Parish, called the 
 West Parish Social Library ; and it was provided that it 
 should be of the value of $150 at least. The Adelphian 
 Library, formed by the Temperance Society, was the next in 
 order; and both of these were finally merged in the West 
 Newton Athenaeum in 1849, which library is in a prosper- 
 ous condition to-day. In 1848 the Newton Book Club was 
 formed, which later took the name of the Newton Literary 
 Association, and from this small beginning has come the 
 magnificent Free Public Library of Newton, which contains 
 many thousand volumes. Large sums were contributed 
 by individuals to establish this library before it became the 
 property of the city. 
 
 There was a Free Library formed at Newton Centre in 
 1859, and in 1873 all the books were donated to the Newton 
 Free Library. In 1869 a free library was established at 
 Lower Falls, and subsequently one at North Village. 
 
 "In imitation of the churchyards of England, the first 
 cemetery was around the first church." Later burial- 
 grounds were located at West Newton, one near Upper 
 Falls and one at the Lower Falls. Of these resting-places 
 of the fathers, many interesting facts could be given, would 
 time permit. 
 
 The growing town demanded additional provisions for the 
 burial of its dead, and in 1855 the Newton Cemetery Cor- 
 poration was organized, which has resulted in establishing 
 one of the most beautiful rural cemeteries to be found in 
 New England. 
 
 An attempt was made to divide this fair domain. The 
 agitation began about 1830, and continued until about 
 1 84S-49. 
 
 Some of us can well remember the strong feeling that 
 was aroused by the agitation of the subject, so strong as to 
 alienate friends and lead to bitter words. Fortunately, no 
 division was effected ; and we have remained a united, pros- 
 perous, and happy people to this day.
 
 38 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 As early as 1813, this town had a Fire Department, to 
 which many of the prominent citizens belonged. 
 
 In 1842, the engines in use being too small, the town 
 voted twenty-four hundred dollars for the purchase of four 
 engines, provided each of the villages where the engines 
 were to be located would add two hundred dollars more. A 
 year later, a similar appropriation was made for another vil- 
 lage. A steam fire-engine was purchased in 1867, another 
 in 1 87 1, and a third in 1873. This was followed by the in- 
 troduction of the Electric Fire-alarm. 
 
 Fire apparatus of the most modern construction, with all 
 necessary equipment, has made our Fire Department noted 
 for its efficiency. 
 
 Newton, as a town and city, has always provided gen- 
 erously for its poor. In 1824, John Kenrick, a generous cit- 
 izen, created a fund "to aid the needy industrious poor of the 
 town, especially such widows and orphans as had not fallen 
 under the immediate care of the Overseers of the Poor." 
 
 This fund has been faithfully administered from that time 
 to this, and has proved a source of comfort to many. Would 
 time permit, we could speak of the Cottage Hospital, the 
 Pomeroy Home, the Pine Farm School for boys, and other 
 similar charitable institutions that have been established 
 here. 
 
 Before Newton became a city it had taken action looking 
 to the introduction of pure water, and the town was author- 
 ized to take water from Charles River. This act was ac- 
 cepted in 1872. Subsequent acts enlarged the powers of the 
 city, and it was decided to put in a system of water-works. 
 These were completed in 1876, at large expense; and New- 
 ton has enjoyed from that time the luxury of pure water in 
 abundance. 
 
 Among the many advantages enjoyed by Newton are the 
 railroads within its limits. As early as May, 1834, the Bos- 
 ton & Worcester Railroad was opened to Newton, nearly a 
 year before it was completed to Worcester. 
 
 This was the first passenger railroad in this part of the
 
 ADDRESS— HON. 29 
 
 country. The trains were few, and the accom modal i 
 every way limited. 
 
 A speed of ten to twelve miles an hour then, inste; 
 forty-five to fifty now. This road was laid out through 
 Angier's Corner, — now Newton, — Hull's Crossing, — now 
 Newtonville, — and Squash End, — now West Newton. 
 
 These villages were very small, and the only ones on that 
 side of the town except Lower Falls to which a branch rail- 
 road was built some years later. Auburndale came into 
 existence after the main line was built. In the year 1852 
 the Charles River Branch Railroad was opened from Brook- 
 line to Newton Upper Falls, having stations at Chestnut 
 Hill, Newton Centre, Oak Hill, — now Newton Highlands. 
 This road under another name was extended to Woonsocket, 
 R.I. 
 
 The construction and running of these roads gave an im- 
 petus to building, and several of the stations have become 
 centres of large and flourishing villages. Though the two 
 railroads already in existence well accommodated all passing 
 to and from Boston, there was no easy communication from 
 one side of the city of Newton to the other, and the idea 
 was conceived of building a railroad connecting the two 
 railroads together, forming the Newton Circuit from Newton 
 Highlands to Riverside. This work was accomplished 
 largely through the efforts of the writer, and the road was 
 opened May 15, 1886, thus connecting by rail nearly all the 
 villages of Newton, and forming a belt line such as is found 
 in few other towns or cities on the continent. 
 
 Along this connecting link Eliot, YVaban, and Woodland 
 stations are located. Newton cannot fail to enjoy in the 
 future even greater prosperity than in the past, and a large 
 increase in her population and wealth. 
 
 The good people of the town were not unmindful of the 
 advantages of public parks, and among the latest acts of the 
 town before it became a city was to appoint a committee to 
 take into consideration the subject of parks and play-grounds 
 for the town. This action led to the establishing of Farlow 
 Park, to be followed, we trust, by others.
 
 40 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 The town having outgrown its old form of government 
 and having a population sufficient to entitle it to become a 
 city, a town meeting was held April 7, 1873, and by a large 
 vote it was decided, after a lengthy debate, to petition the 
 General Court, then in session, for a city charter, which was 
 granted. In October following, the voters accepted "An 
 Act to establish the City of Newton." Under this new 
 form of government we have enjoyed increased prosperity. 
 Let us in imagination go back to 1639, when all this terri- 
 tory was a primeval forest ; when over these hills and along 
 these valleys roamed the wolf and the deer ; when the river 
 and lakes swarmed with fish, and on their unvexed surface 
 the wild fowl rested securely ; when the smoke still ascended 
 from the wigwam of the Indian on Nonantum Hill, and the 
 sons of the forest as well as the pale-faced settler found their 
 way from point to point along blazed paths, which were later 
 to become bridle-ways and still later town-ways and high- 
 ways, and finally, as we see them to-day, magnificent and 
 well-kept avenues, lined on cither side with beautiful trees, 
 some of which have sheltered the red hunter of the forest, 
 while along these streets are reared the homes of a prosper- 
 ous and happy people. 
 
 The years went slowly by, and life with our ancestors on 
 these broad acres was one of severe toil and hardship. The 
 land must be subdued amid many dangers and brought under 
 cultivation to supply the wants of the growing families of the 
 first settlers and those that were added to their number from 
 time to time. 
 
 It is not easy for those reared amid the comforts and lux- 
 uries of life to realize what our ancestors endured in their 
 efforts to lay broad and deep the foundations for future 
 towns and cities. 
 
 Amid hopes and fears life went on, and in 1688 the growth 
 and progress had been such as to justify the incorporation 
 of a town whose fame was to go sounding down through the 
 centuries. 
 
 Our fathers builded better than they knew. Two hundred
 
 ADDRESS — HON. JAMES F. C. HYDE 
 
 41 
 
 years have passed since the legal incorporation of Newton, 
 then a small town with a very sparse population, now a city 
 of more than twenty-one thousand inhabitants. Then with 
 a single church, and that a very poor and inexpensive one : 
 now twenty-six or more churches, some of them costing be- 
 tween one and two hundred thousand dollars. Then here 
 and there a lane or town-way : now more than one hundred 
 and thirty miles of well-kept streets. Then no school-house 
 on this territory : now those of magnificent proportions, 
 with schools of all grades, with a large and excellent corps 
 of teachers, besides private academies and higher institu- 
 tions of learning. Then only here and there a farm with 
 its low farm-house : now beautiful villages, costly business 
 blocks, palatial residences, well-kept villas and cosey cot- 
 tages, all showing enterprise, culture, and taste. How great 
 the change from the scattered town in the wilderness, two 
 hundred years ago, to the rich and flourishing city of to-day ! 
 
 Standing on the heights of these closing years of this 
 nineteenth century, and looking back over the long roll of 
 years since Newton began its existence in the "forest pri- 
 meval," we cannot fail to realize the remarkable progress of 
 the two centuries that have passed. Our hearts swell with 
 emotion as we call to mind the grand characters and heroic 
 deeds of the noble band of men and women who here laid 
 broad and deep the foundations upon which we are building, 
 and who helped to secure for us the rich blessings of civil 
 and religious liberty. 
 
 As we contemplate the past and appreciate the present, 
 may it stimulate us all to higher aspirations and greater use- 
 fulness, that we may prove worthy sons of such noble sires !
 
 ADDRESS OF LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, ESQ., 
 
 COLLECTOR OF U. S. CUSTOMS, 
 
 PORT OF BOSTON. 
 
 I am not a native of Newton, and have had small oppor- 
 tunity to prepare a fitting address for this occasion, but 
 should be hardly true to the town where I have passed the 
 most important and larger half of my life, were I to refuse 
 the earnest request of our mayor to address you, if only in a 
 few brief words. 
 
 No one can have lived in this beautiful place for over 
 thirty years without being impressed by its numerous at- 
 tractions, favored as it is in every way by nature, and ren- 
 dered more desirable as a place of residence by all that its 
 worthy citizens can devise for the promotion of health, com- 
 fort, education, and intelligence. 
 
 There is, I believe, no town or city in the neighborhood of 
 Boston which can compare with Newton. Her commanding 
 hills, each offering an extensive panorama peculiar to itself, 
 all exquisite, but none alike ; her lovely meadows and valleys ; 
 her beautiful river, gracefully and gently winding around her 
 borders, furnishing her people with purest water ; her sweet, 
 invigorating air, bringing health, especially to those whose 
 good fortune it is to live on her higher plains and hillsides ; 
 her roads of such unrivalled excellence ; her admirable 
 schools and numerous churches ; her pretty cottages and 
 handsome villas, resting in their well-kept lawns and gardens; 
 her intelligent and thrifty population, — all constitute Newton 
 the gem in the coronet of beautiful towns and cities which 
 environ the metropolis. 
 
 Let us ever be proud of her, and be grateful, too, that our
 
 ADDRESS — LEVERETT SAL ., 
 
 lines are cast in such pleasant places. May we ever be 
 ready to speak for her, to work for her, and by our individual 
 and united effort to defend her against every open or covert 
 foe, that her homes may be free from vice and intemper- 
 ance, her schools true to their well-earned reputation, her 
 officers above suspicion, and her church bells never be 
 silent ! 
 
 So shall we hand down to posterity the rich legacy 
 received from the fathers, for which they labored and toiled 
 as never before nor since have men labored and toiled. 
 
 The early history of Newton has always seemed to me to 
 be in one way especially interesting, and quite above the 
 story of the dull, dreary routine of toil and drudgery which 
 fell to the lot of most of the other towns ; for was it not here 
 that John Eliot, that true apostle, labored to teach the poor 
 Indian the great truths of Christianity ? 
 
 I know no more touching tale in our early history than the 
 account handed down to us of these poor sons of the forest 
 seated around Eliot, — who had after years of careful study 
 mastered their language, — eagerly drinking in his words, and 
 tearfully questioning him. 
 
 " Did God understand Indian prayers ? " 
 
 " Were the English ever so ignorant as the poor Indians ?" 
 
 The confession of Waban, too, the first Christian convert, 
 before he died, might well bring tears to the eyes of any one 
 reading it, in view of the sad fate of these native tribes. 
 
 What a shame to our race that the work of this noble 
 apostle should have been allowed to perish with him, and 
 that the original owners of the soil should have been aban- 
 doned to the contamination of vice and disease, to be fol- 
 lowed by annihilation ! 
 
 I hold in my hand a sermon which I accidentally found 
 among some old papers, printed in 1723, entitled " Question, 
 whether God is not angry with this country for doing so little 
 toward the conversion of the Indians." "Discourse by the 
 Reverend and Learned Mr. Solomon Stoddard of North 
 Hampton," in which the good man exclaims: "The profes-
 
 44 
 
 TWO III T NDRED TH ANNIVERSAR \ '— NE WTON 
 
 sion of those that adventured into this country was that it 
 was their principal design to bring the Indians to the knowl- 
 edge of the true God and Saviour of mankind, and to the 
 Christian faith, and it would have been the honor of the 
 country if they had answered that profession." "And, if a 
 spirit of love toward Jesus Christ had flourished in us, it 
 would be the joy of our hearts to see congregations of Ind- 
 ians waiting on God in His house, joining in prayer, hear- 
 ing the Gospel, and celebrating the memory of the death of 
 Christ." "And it is matter of shame," the good man goes 
 on to say, " that, when others are carrying the Gospel many 
 thousands of miles from their own country, we suffer them 
 that dwell among us and that are borderers to us to lie in 
 darkness, and afford them very little help for their deliver- 
 ance." 
 
 And as the reverend gentleman preached one hundred and 
 sixty-five years ago, so we say to-day. All the more then 
 beams out the bright and shining light of brave John Eliot, 
 gifted with "tongues," the inspired teacher, like Paul at 
 Athens, declaring the "unknown God" to Waban and his 
 tribe. 
 
 Though my fathers were not among the early settlers of 
 Newton, yet must they have trodden her soil and have been 
 familiar with her streams, her hills and meadows. For, 
 when Governor Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall, after 
 landing at Salem in 1630, left with their friends and follow- 
 ers to seek settlements, Winthrop stopped at Shawmut; but 
 Saltonstall, with that excellent man, the Reverend George 
 Phillips, journeyed on through the wilderness, untrodden by 
 the feet of white men, till he came to a " spot well watered " 
 on the Charles, where he rested and commenced a planta- 
 tion, calling it Watertown. This was sixteen years before 
 Eliot preached to the Indians at Nonantum, and fifty-eight 
 before the incorporation of Newton. 
 
 Then, again, I see that in 1640 this town "granted to 
 Samuel Shepard a farm of 400 acres of upland, adjoining 
 unto the meadows which were sometime in the occupation
 
 ADDRESS— LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, . 45 
 
 of brother Greene for Richard Saltonstall." So that there 
 can be traced a strong probable link of friendship between 
 the sons of Sir Richard and the first settlers of Cambridge 
 Village, as it then was, — ancestors of some of my esteemed 
 friends and townsmen. 
 
 All important events in the history of our country, from 
 its earliest infancy, are so carefully preserved and handed 
 down from generation to generation that they can be re- 
 called at stated intervals ; and so we can, fortunately, on the 
 recurrence of anniversaries and centennials of these events 
 revive our interest in them, bring them vividly before each 
 generation, and thereby heighten our veneration for the 
 brave, the true-hearted, pious founders of our beloved Com- 
 monwealth. But, above all, should gratitude to Him who 
 supported our fathers through all their trials and sufferings 
 fill our hearts and animate us with zealous ardor to live as 
 worthy sons of such a parentage. 
 
 I know of no celebrations half so interesting as these cen- 
 tennials. The pictures of the past are held before us and 
 our children, to be by them handed down in undying colors 
 to posterity. 
 
 Here, then, is the sheet-anchor of the great Republic ; and 
 so long as our children and our children's children shall cher- 
 ish this precious history of the fathers, and shall earnestly 
 recur to it for inspiration, so long will our institutions be 
 secure, so long will Church and State rest each on its stable 
 foundation. The waves of fanaticism, of infidelity, of blind 
 and senseless sectarianism, aye, even of anarchism, will beat 
 against them in vain. "The rock shall fly from its firm 
 base" sooner than they shall perish. 
 
 The landings of the Pilgrims and of the Puritans of the 
 Massachusetts Colony, the settlements of the towns, of the 
 churches, of the colleges, the events leading up to the con- 
 test for independence, the Revolution, with all its heart-stir- 
 ring incidents, have been celebrated in anniversaries and 
 centennials ; and may God grant the time may never come 
 when they shall cease to be observed !
 
 NEWTON'S TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 POEM. 
 
 BY S. F. SMITH, D.D. 
 
 With filial love and reverent thoughts, we scan 
 The glimmering clawn in which the town began: 
 How, one by one, with spirits brave and true, 
 The founders left the old and sought the new, 
 Pitched their frail tents upon the virgin sod, — 
 Indians their neighbors, and their helper, God; 
 Taught the wild savage from rude strife to cease, 
 And learn the nobler arts of love and peace. 
 
 Good men and wise, — men of both brawn and brain, — 
 
 From tangled woods they wrought this fair domain ; 
 
 Planted an acorn from a foreign oak, 
 
 Where wild winds whistled and the tempests broke ; 
 
 Watched it and watered, as it upward grew, — 
 
 Child of the sun and storm, the frost and dew. 
 
 'Twas wreathed around with clouds, blue, white, and red. 
 
 And a whole heaven of starlight overhead. 
 
 They loved and guarded it by day and night, 
 
 Beneath its shade sat with profound delight, 
 
 And taught their sons the reverent love to share 
 
 Of those who nursed the tender sapling there. 
 
 Brave oak ! see how its honored head it rears, 
 Stands peerless in its majesty of years, 
 Laughs at the echo of the centuries' tread, 
 And bids the living emulate the dead. 
 
 Whence came the founders of this rising State, — 
 The fair, the fond, the beautiful, the great? 
 Some, with strong muscle, skilled to build or plan, 
 Came from the workshop of the artisan ; 
 Some from the polished town, the school, the mart, 
 Some from the farm : while some, with loving heart,
 
 POEM—S. P. SMITH, D.D. 47 
 
 Linked to some noble soul, in youthful bloom, 
 Dared to the forest to transplant the home ; 
 By the sweet grace of woman to refine, 
 To shed around her path a light Divine, 
 The faint adventurer's courage to sustain, 
 To raise the fallen to life and hope again, 
 And help the sire to bear the weary load, 
 Strengthened and stayed by woman's faith in God. 
 
 Such were the fathers of the little flock, 
 And such the mothers, brave to bear the shock 
 Of hopes deferred, till — the fair model made — 
 The deep foundations of the town were laid. 
 
 I see, as backward now I turn my eye, 
 The quaint but grand procession filing by : 
 Jackson and Fuller, Prentice, Hyde, and Park, 
 Bacon and Hammond, Kenrick, Ward, and Clarke, 
 Wiswell and Eliot, Trowbridge, Spring, and Stone, 
 Parker and Williams, Hobart, Bartlett, — known 
 As men of substance, brave, and wise, and good — 
 Their light still shines, — an honored brotherhood. 
 All, all have passed : their noble deeds remain, 
 As the sweet summer sun and dew and rain 
 Pass from our sight and sense, but re-appear 
 In golden harvests, — crown of all the year. 
 
 What found they here ? those souls so brave and true, — 
 
 Risking the well-known old for the unknown new. 
 
 A forest home, lands rough and unsubdued, 
 
 Absence of early friends, a solitude ; 
 
 No civil state, no patent of the free, 
 
 But taxed by Cambridge for the right to be ; 
 
 The savage war-whoop struck their souls with dread, 
 
 The Indian arrows round their dwellings sped, 
 
 And many a timid heart, with bodings drear, 
 
 Kept Lent of hope and Carnival of fear. 
 
 What have they brought us ? See ! these fair domains,— 
 
 The fruit of patient toil and wearying pains ; 
 
 The fame of wise men, destined still to grow, 
 
 The fame of progress, real, if often slow ; 
 
 The hum of study in our learned halls ; 
 
 The grace and beauty of our pictured walls ;
 
 48 
 
 TWO HUNDRED Til ANNIl 'ERS* I R ) — ATE IVTON 
 
 Our noble cliurches of enduring stone; 
 
 Our public gardens with their sweet flowers strewn : 
 
 The fame of men who firm in battle stood, 
 
 And bought the rights of freemen with their blood, 
 
 And in the nation's struggle won the field, 
 
 Too wise to compromise, too brave to yield, 
 
 And walked unshrinking through the deadly fires, — 
 
 The patriot sons, alike, and patriot sires. 
 
 These are our jewels, these our joy and boast, 
 Worthy the toils they brought, the wealth they cost, — 
 A rich return for efforts, zeal, and fears, 
 Blest harvests of these great two hundred years.
 
 ADDRESS OF JOHN S. FARLOW, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. Mayor and Ladies and Gentlemen, — When I came 
 here this afternoon, I found — much to my surprise — on 
 the printed order of exercises that my name was there for 
 an address. 
 
 Now, sir, a formal address is to me something appalling. 
 I never made one in my life; and I cannot possibly entertain 
 the idea of making one at this time, to such an assemblage as 
 this, and I shall not attempt it. I should, however, be want- 
 ing in duty to this my adopted city, and to the ladies and 
 gentlemen here assembled, if, on an occasion like this, I 
 failed to respond to the invitation so kindly tendered me by 
 his Honor, the Mayor, and say something, however feeble, 
 that might possibly add interest to the event we are now 
 celebrating. 
 
 If, sir, I had been present at the laying of the corner- 
 stone of Newton, as our friend Otis Pettee was, or even, if 
 like our friend J. F. C. Hyde, I had had a hundred and odd 
 years' experience as the presiding genius of Newton's town 
 meetings, I might, like them, be able to discourse eloquently 
 of those ancient days, and tell of the valiant deeds of the 
 then inhabitants of the town in repelling the assaults of 
 ruthless savages, and to speak in glowing terms of the sa- 
 lubrious climate, undulating hills, and pleasant valleys of the 
 town ; of its lovely Charles River, pursuing its tortuous 
 course to the sea; the delightful scenery bordering the head- 
 waters of the classic Cheesecake Brook ; and the excellence 
 of its churches and public schools. I might also be able 
 to tell of the raisings, the huskings, and quiltings, and of 
 the nut-cracking, apple-eating, and cider-drinking with which
 
 50 
 
 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEH 
 
 those patriarchs were wont to regale themselves at their 
 winter firesides. Some of these we still enjoy. We have 
 the same salubrious climate, the same undulating hills and 
 pleasant valleys, the same lovely, tortuous Charles River, 
 and the same classic Cheesecake Brook. We have also 
 churches in greater number and variety, with creeds and 
 without. We have also the very best of public schools, 
 ample in number for our increased population, divested, I 
 hope, of all sectarian influences, whether Protestant or Cath- 
 olic, Gentile or Jew. I sincerely trust they will ever remain 
 so ; for on the character and excellence of our public schools 
 more than on anything else depends the perpetuity of our 
 free republican institutions. These, as I said before, we now 
 enjoy as they did in the days long past ; but in all else 
 how changed ! Instead of their wells and well-sweeps, we 
 now have an excellent system of city water-works, that dis- 
 tributes — at small cost to each — pure water to every house 
 in town. For their tallow dips, we of to-day's Newton have 
 substituted kerosene oil, electric lights, and illuminating gas. 
 Gas of the other sort they probably had as well as we. 
 
 We have also well-appointed fire and police departments, 
 which they neither had nor needed. For their happy fire- 
 side feasts we can only offer in comparison those we now 
 enjoy at our Woodland Park Hotel, where our friend Lee 
 (that prince of caterers) dispenses choice morsels of canvass- 
 back duck, terrapin, soft-shell crabs, and other appetizing 
 delicacies, not so wholesome perhaps as what they had, but 
 more grateful to the vitiated taste of these modern times. 
 The Newton of to-day has but few poor people, and still 
 fewer of those who nowadays would be called rich ; but we 
 have instead a well-to-do, middling class of active, industri- 
 ous, enterprising men, who are not only independent finan- 
 cially, but also in all matters of religious and political 
 thought and action, — men who know and esteem each other 
 for what they are, as men. Newton is a quiet, peaceable, 
 well-governed town, and has been ever since I have resided 
 in it.
 
 ADDRESS— JOHN S. FARLOW, ESQ. z >l 
 
 From close personal observation for the past thirty years, I 
 say, unhesitatingly, that there is no better governed town or 
 city in this country or any other. If, Mr. Mayor, we can be 
 assured of as good an administration of government as you 
 and those who have preceded you have given us, we shall be 
 fortunate indeed. Colonel Saltonstall has just told us that 
 he came to Newton to reside more than thirty years ago. 
 He and I, therefore, can claim a timely fellowship as citizens 
 of Newton ; for it is now thirty-one years since I pitched my 
 tent on Nonantum hillside. Thirty-one years, sir, is a long 
 period for one to dwell in one place ; and few there are that 
 do it. 
 
 For me, those thirty-one years have been thirty-one years 
 of constant, pleasurable enjoyment. My children and my 
 grandchildren have grown up around me to man's and 
 woman's estate, under the benign influence of Newton's 
 public schools and other institutions and associations; and I 
 know that they, too, have and will ever hold in grateful 
 remembrance all that Newton has done for them and me. 
 I indulge the hope, sir, that I am to have further years of 
 enjoyment, and am consoled with the assurance that, when 
 my clays are ended, my body shall be laid at rest under six 
 feet of good Newton soil.
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. WILLIAM B. FOWLE, THIRD 
 MAYOR OF NEWTON. 
 
 On occasions like this, it is well to recall the past, and 
 once again, while renewing our own memories of great 
 events, place upon record our appreciation of those events. 
 The time allotted to me, within the limits of which I am to 
 speak to you of the public spirit of Newton, in peace and in 
 war, is but short, and only admits that I touch briefly upon 
 salient points. 
 
 Whenever in the past great emergencies have called for 
 action, or public good has demanded expenditure, or the un- 
 fortunate have needed assistance, Newton has responded 
 with no doubtful tone. Her exertions, her sacrifices, her 
 wealth, her lives, have ever been freely offered and given, 
 when required for the general welfare. 
 
 The public spirit contained within a community is all em- 
 braced within three forms of its expressions : — 
 
 First. In its corporate capacity, the willingness of all to 
 submit to assessment pro rata to wealth, for the advantage 
 of all. 
 
 Second. The action of individuals in rendering service or 
 in voluntarily contributing wealth towards the promotion of 
 the general welfare. But few can enjoy this latter pleasure, 
 
 — those only to whom has been intrusted the wealth essen- 
 tial to its indulgence. 
 
 Third. That abnegation of self, under which hardships 
 are voluntarily encountered, and property, comfort, home, life, 
 
 — in fact, all that we hold dear on earth, — are risked to pro- 
 tect or preserve the existence of the community. 
 
 In each and all of these several types of public spirit,
 
 ADDRESS — HON. WILL 'LE 53 
 
 Newton has ever shown herself worthy. The pride in her 
 cherished by her citizens is fully justified. 
 
 To-day we see around us manifold evidences of Newton's 
 care for the comfort, improvement, enjoyment, and safety of 
 its inhabitants. Its school-houses and liberal expenditures 
 for education far exceed the requirements of law. We see 
 it in the beauty and solidity of the public structures, in the 
 water supply, the fire department, the Public Library, the 
 almshouse, the military, police, and roads. All of these bear 
 witness to the fact that its government in the past has re- 
 garded the general good, and liberally passed the measures 
 essential to that good. Nor has it failed to exhibit its appre- 
 ciation of public spirit, as fully shown by the memorial mon- 
 ument to its dead soldiers. 
 
 The liberality of its individual citizens is equally evident. 
 Throughout a long life, J. Wiley Edmands in many ways 
 proved his love for Newton, and, as the crowning proof, left 
 to it the beautiful Public Library Building. 
 
 In the same spirit, a citizen yet among us gave the taste- 
 ful chapel at the cemetery. 
 
 The same spirit is exhibited in those charitable institu- 
 tions which are entirely supported by voluntary contribu- 
 tions, the Girls' Home, the Boys' Home, and the Cott 
 Hospital, all of them performing loving service for the relief 
 of the needy and suffering. 
 
 Still the same spirit caused those legacies, — the Kenrick 
 Fund and the Reed Fund. 
 
 None but those whose duty it has at times been to dis- 
 tribute the income from the Kenrick Fund can appreciate 
 the amount of good effected by it. A small sum, its annual 
 income but some two hundred dollars, yet that small sum, 
 bestowed in accordance with the donor's wish, "to deserv- 
 ing persons, pressed by circumstances, but not recipients of 
 public alms," has lightened many a heavy burden. It was a 
 thoughtful and delicate bequest. 
 
 The Reed Fund is similar in its objects. This tender 
 charity, as yet but of short existence, has already yielded
 
 54 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 health and enjoyment to a class whose opportunities for 
 enjoyment are few indeed. 
 
 To great necessities occasioned by calamities occurring 
 beyond her own limits, the citizens of Newton have ever 
 promptly and liberally contributed. The extent of such 
 contributions is rarely known, because such offerings are 
 usually made through Boston, in which city mostly lie the 
 business interests of our citizens. From want of time, 
 many other deserving cases of service rendered to our com- 
 munity must remain unnoted here. 
 
 But the evidences of public spirit thus far claimed and 
 noted, beautiful as they are, do not reach to the highest type 
 of this quality. They involve only the parting, to a greater 
 or less extent, with this world's goods. Beyond and above 
 them should be placed a yet nobler test of public spirit, that 
 which involves the risk of all that man holds dear on earth, — 
 property, comfort, home, life. 
 
 Such public spirit as this has permeated the entire past 
 of this grand old town. Hardships to be borne, fortune to 
 be parted with, life to be yielded up, — such calls Newton 
 has ever promptly met and nobly answered. 
 
 Two hundred years ago Newton contained but some sixty 
 families, an intelligent, manly, honest nucleus for the great 
 nation that has since grown from them and such as they. 
 The only settlement was in or near to what we now call 
 Newton Centre. The remainder of the town's area was still 
 primeval forest, the hunting-grounds of the Indians. 
 
 The great danger of those times arose from the hostility 
 of the Indians to the settlers. From this danger Newton, 
 although she feared them and took precautions against them, 
 proved to be happily exempt. This exemption was princi- 
 pally due to the labors of the apostle Eliot, who gained great 
 influence over Waban, the chief of the tribe then resident 
 here, and through him induced a friendliness towards the 
 white men, which enabled the two races to live in peace 
 together. This fact undoubtedly aided in preserving the 
 white men of Newton from the attacks of hostile tribes of
 
 ADDRESS— HO. V. WILLTAM B. FO 
 
 55 
 
 Indians, which swarmed about them, at no great distance 
 and in all directions. 
 
 Had our settlers lacked public spirit, they might have 
 quietly remained in comparative security, and have left their 
 neighbors, less happily located, unaided by them to contend 
 against the attacks and massacres to which they were often 
 subjected. Not such the temper of Newton's men ! His- 
 tory tells us that these true hearts were constantly leaving 
 their homes, intrusting their dearest to the care of the great 
 Father, and aiding in the protection of other settlements 
 needing such aid. Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, 
 and Rhode Island, all, at various times, bore witness to the 
 public spirit of these, Newton's earliest inhabitants. 
 
 Such were our ancestors of that generation. They passed 
 to their reward. A new generation, reared in the enjoyment 
 of the peace bequeathed by their fathers, themselves inex- 
 perienced in war, arrived at manhood, when to them came 
 also the crowning test of true citizenship. They also re- 
 sponded as nobly as had their ancestors. 
 
 History has preserved so much of Newton's share in the 
 war of the Revolution that I need but briefly dwell upon it. 
 In 1775 culminated the contest with Great Britain, which, 
 fot ten years had been gradually increasing in bitterness. 
 Newton, in common with the entire country, had been much 
 aggrieved at the unjust and arbitrary measures enforced by 
 Great Britain, and had bravely shown its dissatisfaction by 
 resolutions passed as events called them forth. During this 
 period, peaceful measures only were employed, in the hope 
 that the mother country might be induced peacefully 'to 
 right the wrong. Nevertheless, Newton had prepared for 
 war, — had armed all its men and organized military com- 
 panies. 
 
 That little army from Newton, which on April 19, 1775, 
 left its home to march to Lexington, will ever merit and 
 receive the fullest meed of praise that can be awarded to 
 deserving citizens. They had parted with all whom they 
 held most dear, had imperilled the future of those dear ones,
 
 56 
 
 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 had risked the loss of all that their past labors had enabled 
 them to earn, had taken the first steps towards years of cer- 
 tain hardship and suffering, which could only be shortened 
 or relieved by death or success. They realized, they knew, 
 all this. They knew the overwhelming resources of the power 
 they thus dared. Their hearts must have been lacerated and 
 their utmost fears excited by the peril thus thrown upon 
 their loved ones. As thoughtful men, during that trying 
 march, they must have pondered upon these things ; yet, 
 true to the core, they faltered not. Colonel Michael Jack- 
 son and his two hundred and eighteen men deserved all hon- 
 ors which can be earned by man, and they have them. This 
 little force contained a full half of the men of Newton. 
 They fought at Lexington and at Concord ; and, owing to the 
 prudent preparation in their organization, they fought with 
 signal ability. We cannot now realize the anxieties and 
 hardships suffered and borne by our noble old town through- 
 out the seven years of war which followed, but the public 
 spirit of Newton met all this with the same vitality as of 
 old. 
 
 Peace came at last. The generation which bore the burden 
 of the war of the Revolution, counting its life's work done, 
 bequeathed peace to its successors, and went to its reward. 
 
 Another long term of peace, another generation grown to 
 manhood amid peaceful pursuits, another crisis calling for yet 
 another exhibition of patriotism, another response from old 
 Newton, another uprising equalling all that had gone before. 
 To the army and navy, in the War of the Rebellion, Newton 
 supplied over 1,100 men, fully one-half of the number of its 
 legal voters. That same public spirit was yet alive and 
 active. 
 
 Who of us can fail to remember the doubts which hung 
 over us when first it became certain that we must fight? 
 Our distance from the presumed seat of the coming war, our 
 lack of previous belief that war must come, our hitherto 
 peaceful lives, undisturbed by a thought of war, — all these 
 might have resulted, to say the least, in delay to our response
 
 ADDRESS — BOX. WILLIAM /'. FOWLE 57 
 
 to the call for troops. No such delay occurred. Again New- 
 ton proved herself worthy the renown bequeathed by her 
 Revolutionary sires, again the men of Newton freely risked 
 their all on earth for the nation's benefit, and again deserved 
 and won their portion of the nation's gratitude. 
 
 Have we yet forgotten how great is our debt to these 
 men? I think not; yet I pray our citizens to remember 
 that the same manhood which caused these men to answer, 
 "Ready!" at the time of trouble, may, and I believe does, 
 cause them to maintain silence as to themselves and their 
 own necessities. 
 
 The pride we to-day take in Newton is fully justified. 
 Ever desiring peace, she has, when necessity forced, sought 
 that peace through war. Often tried, never wanting, she 
 has ever been nobly true to herself ; and her citizens have 
 shown themselves deeply imbued with that noblest trait in 
 man, — love for his fellow-man. 
 
 The enforced absence of Hon. John C. Park caused universal regret. 
 Infirmities of age and the inclement season prevented his active partici- 
 pation in the celebration. He had not prepared a written address, but 
 his well-known gifts of oratory would have graced the occasion, had he 
 been able to be present.
 
 ADDRESS OF OTIS PETTEE, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, — After what has al- 
 ready been so ably and eloquently said of our beautiful city, 
 and its early history and progress to the present time, there 
 is but little, if anything, left for me to say. Therefore, I 
 will only put in a few nows and thens, by way of variety, in 
 comparing the pioneer life and customs of a hundred years 
 ago with the life of the present day. 
 
 It is fair to presume that the aspirations of the early set- 
 tlers were to provide homes for their families, a shelter for 
 their live stock and farm productions, and a few implements 
 of husbandry to assistin earning a living ; but the luxuries of 
 life were left by them for generations to follow. 
 
 I think I have heard it remarked by the late and vener- 
 able Seth Davis, Esq., that in the clays of his early childhood 
 there were but three family carriages owned in Newton, one 
 by General Hull, one by Dr. Freeman, and one by General 
 Simon Elliot. Riding upon horseback or in the ordinary 
 farm wagons very likely was the principal mode of con- 
 veyance. My impression is, it would take considerable time 
 to go through the assessors' books to ascertain the number 
 of family carriages owned in Newton to-day. 
 
 The early settlers lived in small and unpretentious dwell- 
 ings.* We particularly call to mind the old Cheney house 
 that stood in the south-west part of the town, near the Upper 
 Falls. This house was built in 1702 by Mr. Joseph Cheney, 
 grandfather of the late General Ebenezer Cheney. The 
 frame of the house was of heavy oak timber, the lower story 
 was wainscoted with thick oaken planks, to resist the force 
 of a stray arrow or bullet. One side of the living room was
 
 ADDRESS— OTIS PETTEE, ESQ. eg 
 
 entirely occupied by a mammoth open fireplace and oven. 
 We remember, too, the old Queen's arms and other military 
 accoutrements hanging upon the walls, together with sundry 
 utensils of husbandry, etc. The old house, having fulfilled 
 its mission, was pulled clown in the spring of 1S57. 
 
 Now we live in large and costly mansions of Queen Anne 
 styles or Mansard type of architecture, which have profuse 
 outside embellishments both of carving and paint. 
 
 Then huge back-logs, with andirons and foresticks, sur- 
 mounted by sticks of wood of lesser proportions, made a fire 
 in winter weather worthy of its name. A fire built in this 
 way would usually last from three to four weeks, by occa- 
 sionally being replenished with a few small sticks. To 
 build such a fire required the assistance of all the neighbors 
 near by. I have heard my father say that, when he was a 
 lad, he went with his father to assist in getting in a back- 
 log that was more than two feet in diameter and six feet 
 long, and green from the forest. After getting it in position, 
 the smaller sticks were placed upon it until the pile was 
 nearly six feet high. The brands and embers from the old 
 fire were placed in front of the pile, and the new fire was 
 kindled. 
 
 Now a boiler in the basement furnishes steam for a sys- 
 tem of radiators in the various compartments of our houses, 
 which gives a comfortable and even temperature throughout 
 the building. 
 
 Then fire would be obtained with a tinder-box, flint, and 
 steel, or with matches the boys would split out in their leis- 
 ure moments and dip in melted brimstone. 
 
 Now a slight scftitch of a lucifer match upon any hard 
 substance will immediately produce a flame. 
 
 Then an evening's light the fire on the hearth would not 
 provide would be supplied by burning pine knots, or tallow 
 dips, or by vidders hung upon a crane. 
 
 Now a hand — it may be miles away — pulls a lever, and 
 the land and our dwellings are, or may be, flooded with a 
 powerful electric light.
 
 6o TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 Then water for domestic use was procured from wells or 
 springs, near by or more remote, by lowering a bucket hung 
 upon a horseshoe attached to the end of a pole, or by the 
 improved method of a well-sweep, which consisted of a long 
 pole balanced upon a crotchet at the top of a post, — the butt 
 end of the pole was weighted with a heavy block of wood or 
 :ie fastened upon it, — and from the opposite end there 
 was suspended a smaller pole with a bucket for lowering into 
 the well. This appliance for drawing water has been im- 
 mortalized by Woodworth in his charming lyric of "The Old 
 Oaken Bucket." 
 
 Now by a turn of a faucet in the lavatory pure water flows 
 in abundance. 
 
 Then a signal to a neighbor, if there should chance to be 
 one living within sight, or to the marketmen or bakers that 
 occasionally made the circuit of the settlements, would be 
 given by hanging a strip of white or colored homespun from 
 an upper window or other conspicuous place. 
 
 Now a turn of a crank, an ear-trumpet, and speaking-tube, 
 with a " hulloa," is all that is required to open a conversation 
 with any parties, however distant. 
 
 Then the wives and daughters carded their wool and spun 
 the yarns with their great spinning-wheels for hand knitting 
 and weaving articles of clothing for their families. 
 
 Now the same work is done by power machinery in our 
 large manufactories, and we go to the emporiums and pur- 
 chase every variety of ready-made goods for domestic uses. 
 
 With all the primitive methods of earning a livelihood, our 
 ancestors were not unmindful of the necessity of bringing up 
 their sons and daughters to become men and women of good 
 sound integrity and moral character, and to give them an 
 education that would enable them to occupy with honor any 
 station in life they might be called upon to fill. 
 
 They were a progressive people, and, although a few slaves 
 were once owned in Newton, the system was looked upon as 
 a curse to any community, and soon stamped out. 
 
 Intemperance in the use of strong drinks was another
 
 ADDRESS— OTIS PETTEE, ESQ. £ )l 
 
 blight which they did not lose sight of, as well as of sundry 
 other moral reforms unnecessary to enumerate at this time. 
 
 Therefore, the measure of indebtedness we owe to genera- 
 tions gone before for our present beautiful homes and the 
 luxuries about them is difficult to compute ; and we may well 
 be proud of the enviable rank we hold in the galaxy of cities 
 around us. 
 
 As a matter of history, I will say that, in crossing the 
 bridge over Charles River between Newton and Watertown 
 a few days since, my attention was arrested by a stone tablet 
 placed upon the bridge at the right-hand side and near the 
 centre of the river, with the following inscription engraved 
 upon it : — 
 
 "This bridge built in 17 19, and was then known as the 
 Great Bridge, and the first one built in the State." 
 
 I find in the town records of Cambridge that an appro- 
 priation of two hundred pounds lawful money, towards build- 
 ing a bridge over Charles River, was made, and that the 
 bridge was built about 1660, and was called and long known 
 as the Great Bridge. 
 
 And in Holmes's History of Cambridge there is re- 
 corded an order of the selectmen that timber bought for the 
 fortifications be used for repairing the Great Bridge, and 
 that the bridge was rebuilt in 1690 at the expense of Cam- 
 bridge and Newton, with some aid from the public treasury. 
 
 Dr. Paige's History of Cambridge gives a detailed ac- 
 count of the conception and building of a bridge across 
 Charles River, and the citizens of Cambridge agreed to con- 
 tribute two hundred pounds towards its construction, and 
 that the bridge was completed before March, 1663. This 
 bridge was larger than any previous bridge built in the col- 
 ony, and was called the Great Bridge. 
 
 In 1734, it was provided that a draw in said bridge, not 
 less than thirty-two feet wide, should be constructed, at an 
 equal distance from each abutment, and that the opening in 
 the middle of said draw should be the dividing line between 
 Cambridge and Brighton at that point.
 
 52 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 This bridge as described by Messrs. Holmes and Paige 
 was built more than fifty years before the Watertown bridge, 
 and is conceded by all authorities to be the bridge across the 
 river near Harvard Square in Cambridge; and I think it is 
 the second bridge below the arsenal bridge between the 
 lower part of Watertown and Brighton Corner.
 
 ADDRESS OF JULIUS L. CLARKE, ESQ., FIRST 
 CLERK OF THE CITY OF NEWTON. 
 
 Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, — There are some 
 people in the world who regard lineal descent or pedigree as 
 of little or no account, unless dating far back into the cen- 
 turies or shrouded in some mysterious antiquity. With all 
 deference to freedom of opinion, and with loyal veneration 
 for ancestral honor and distinction, yet claiming no special 
 prestige as a lineal representative of Newton's earlier set- 
 tlers, it may suffice for me to say that about one generation 
 ago important interests prompted my selection of a home in 
 West Newton, familiarly known in old-time prosaic vocabu- 
 lary as "Squash End." And so, friends, although my New- 
 ton pedigree reaches back only a single generation, I am 
 proud to add even my humble tribute to this memorial ser- 
 vice, and to the city of my home, in connection with some 
 of whose departments of municipal administration you have 
 from the first honored me with responsible trust. 
 
 Without trespass upon history already so well and perti- 
 nently cited, permit me a word in emphasis of the welcome 
 fact that Newton to-day takes her place in the historic and 
 distinguished procession of towns and cities which have pre- 
 ceded her in the observance of their two hundredth anniversa- 
 ries. The occasion therefore furnishes a fitting opportunity for 
 taking account of stock, — in other words, the social, moral, 
 intellectual, and material wealth which has become the 
 crowning glory of Puritan and Pilgrim Newton. I say Puri- 
 tan and Pilgrim with no thought of sectarian or partisan im- 
 plication ; for, irrespective of any and all differences, sup- 
 posed or otherwise, whether in creed, polity, or practice, both
 
 64 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 were brought by lineal descent and by succession into New- 
 ton's common fellowship and interest. Both were consci- 
 entious in their faith and example; yet neither were perfect. 
 Both had their faults, as we have ours ; and so it is that 
 none of us are ever too old to learn, nor ever so wise that 
 we may not become wiser, nor ever so good that we may not 
 become better. But, aside from all this, that Puritan and 
 Pilgrim ancestry richly merit our most grateful and reverent 
 regard. Their spirit and purpose were noble, patriotic, and 
 progressive. Their achievements were grand and far-reach- 
 ing. In all this toilsome yet glorious struggle for the estab- 
 lishment of principle and right, and for the richest fruitage 
 of practical thrift, living faith, and conscientious integrity, 
 their aims were loyally cherished and faithfully exemplified 
 through their own and descendant generations, and often 
 from the executive chair of the Commonwealth, as happily 
 evidenced by its present occupant, from a Pilgrim ancestry, 
 whom we welcome to-day as our guest. 
 
 But, returning to our account of stock, we find that ever 
 since that sparsely settled and impoverished hamlet along 
 the south shore of Charles River was divorced from her 
 Cambridge associate, — whether her better or poorer half, the 
 oracle saith not, — and set up for herself as an independent 
 "Newtowne" municipality, her record has been one of al- 
 most continued growth and prosperity, though at first slow, 
 yet ever leading onward to higher and higher education and 
 culture, and to greater enlargement, influence, and wealth. 
 Her twenty original settlers are to-day represented by more 
 than as many thousands ; while in place of their aggregate 
 property valuation of ^8,536, or about $42,000, Newton's 
 real valuation has come to be almost a thousand-fold greater. 
 Why, the poorest man among those twenty settlers was 
 worth as much as ^85, about $425 ; while the richest, Ed- 
 ward Jackson, Deacon John Jackson, and Thomas Ham- 
 mond, the fortunate possessors respectively of $12,000, 
 $6,000, and $5,000, were, so to speak, the " bloated mill- 
 ionaires " of their time, though bearing sorry comparison
 
 ADDRESS— JULIUS L. CLARKE fie 
 
 with millionaires of our day. ' In this financial relation it 
 may be interesting to know that for the first nine years 
 Newton's annual town tax for current expenses averaged 
 about $100; for the next twenty-five years, about $450; 
 and for the next forty-five years, about $830. While the 
 monetary necessities of our now thriving city are con- 
 stantly increasing in volume and forcing compliance with 
 their demand, a comparison of these beggarly figures with 
 present assessments, more than half a million a- year, may 
 at least create a suspicion that the world moves, and espe- 
 cially its " Garden City." 
 
 Of all its public expenditures, whether as town or city, 
 none have yielded more welcome return than those devoted 
 to educational interests, to which I desire especially to refer, 
 though in the few moments assigned me I can do little more 
 than picture in briefest outline the marvellous contrast 
 between now and that. Of the rise and progress of our 
 educational service, let me say, in passing, that here, as else- 
 where, the church and the school have been potent factors 
 in moulding and developing the character of our population, 
 though it is a notable fact that for sixty years after her set- 
 tlement Newton had no public or private school, and that 
 the meeting-house preceded the school-house by nearly half 
 a century, the children meantime having the privilege of 
 attending school in Cambridge, four or five miles away, on 
 the north side of the Charles, and for which Newton, then 
 an integral part of the former, was taxed as early as 1642. 
 It is a singular fact in this connection that, while the church 
 so long preceded the school in Newton, the former was far 
 behind the latter in one very essential improvement, one 
 hundred and thirty-two years having elapsed during which no 
 such thing as a stove was known in a Newton church, while 
 only ninety-seven years passed before her schools were pro- 
 vided with that necessary addition, the town voting in 1796 
 to purchase five stoves for that purpose. 
 
 The erection of the first school-house, 16X 14 feet, in 1699, 
 with Deacon John Staples as master four days in the week
 
 66 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 at two shillings a day, followed two years later with two 
 more, 16X16 feet, one near the First Church at Newton 
 Centre and the other at Oak Hill, the same teacher giving 
 two-thirds of his time to the former and one-third to the 
 latter, proved the beginning of a new era in our school his- 
 tory. Though not till sixty-three years later, in 1766, was a 
 single schoolmistress employed ; and, when that most desir- 
 able innovation did come, the schools were for a considerable 
 period classified as "men's schools" and "women's schools," 
 the distinction being extended even to appropriations for 
 their maintenance. Yet the authorities of that day evidently 
 believed in the value of " book learning " ; for parents were 
 required to pay $d. a week for a child " learning to read, and 
 4.//. a week for learning to read, write, and cipher." 
 
 With kindest respect for our honored predecessors, it may 
 be said that from this little beginning, with its unique regu- 
 lations and its little sixteen-foot sJianty, has come forth the 
 broad, grand educational system now so deservedly the pride 
 of our city, and so many of whose school graduates have 
 been represented in the ministry, in college and seminary 
 professorships, and in every department of public, profes- 
 sional, and honorable business life. That little sixtccu-footcr, 
 costing only $100, has given place to twenty or more spa- 
 cious school buildings, in which more than 4,000 pupils are 
 now enrolled, in nearly ninety schools, under the instruction 
 of more than one hundred teachers; while the annual school 
 expenditure of $50 or $75 in those first years has now 
 reached upwards of $100,000 a year, not including cost of 
 buildings, etc., the present valuation of which aggregates 
 nearly $600,000, — and all this a living example of Newton's 
 noble generosity and progressive spirit. 
 
 In conclusion, we recall in treasured reminiscence and in 
 pleasant association very many of high and deserved reputa- 
 tion, both as citizens and educators. In the very beginning 
 of this notable record, we find two of Newton's town clerks 
 prominently identified with her educational development, 
 Deacon John Staples officiating as her first public school-
 
 ADDRESS— JULIUS L. CLARKE 6y 
 
 teacher, and, later on, Marshall S. Rice as the founder of a 
 private school for boys, in which more than a thousand 
 pupils received their education in greater or less degree. 
 Nor should we forget in this connection the once popular 
 Female Academy and Boarding School, established in the 
 Nonantum House at " Newton Corner," by Mrs. Susannah 
 Rowson, the daughter of a British officer, and a lady whose 
 literary and educational repute attracted a generous patron- 
 age, both home and foreign. Among those of more recent 
 note may be named the late venerable Seth Davis, with 
 whose educational work, commencing in the early days, 
 we are all so familiar, Rev. Cyrus Pierce, Judge Abraham 
 Fuller, Dr. Henry Bigelow, Hon. D. H. Mason, and many 
 others, of whose faithful and efficient services time forbids 
 enumeration. But, closely associated with the extension 
 and development of their work, we remember the first Sec- 
 retary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, Horace 
 Mann, under whose supervision the first State Normal 
 School was established in Lexington, afterwards removed 
 to West Newton, and subsequently to Framingham, its loss 
 to us being fortunately compensated by a popular successor, 
 the West Newton English and Classical School. Impor- 
 tant also in the same connection may be named the New- 
 ton Theological Seminary, opened in 1825, the Lasell 
 Female Seminary, in 185 1, both well and widely known, 
 as have also been various other public and private schools 
 before and since. 
 
 In all this history, as has been so well and truthfully said 
 by one of our own distinguished historians, I am happy to 
 say our " Poet Laureate " on this occasion, " Newton has been 
 a benediction to the world through such instrumentalities 
 and influences." These, with other tributary agencies, in- 
 cluding church and ministry, and last, but not least, various 
 public libraries, two of which were founded about the year 
 1798, a year before the establishment of the first public 
 school, and finally our Free Public Library, so generously 
 endowed by the late J. Wiley Edmands and others, and now
 
 (58 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— NEWTON 
 
 becoming a most useful auxiliary to our public school sys- 
 tem, its circulation aggregating more than ioo.ooo volumes 
 a year, and exceeding the ratio to population of nearly, if not 
 every other city in the Commonwealth, — all these, in con- 
 nection with an efficient school administration, past and 
 present, have been most helpful co-operators in raising our 
 standard of education, culture, and refinement. 
 
 But look back a moment. Two hundred years ! Where, 
 where have they gone ? Quickly indeed have they disap- 
 peared in life's unremitting stream. But not lost. They 
 still live in Newton's history, aye, in the world's history ! 
 The noble men, and the noble women, too, who lived to 
 adorn and beautify the pages of that history with good deeds, 
 loving ministries, and ennobling influences, have left behind 
 a radiant and inspiring example to guide us onward to yet 
 higher attainments and richer rewards. For this grand 
 record of heroism, patience, faith, and sacrifice, we cannot be 
 too grateful ; and may those who shall gather for the observ- 
 ance of coming centennials have reason to rejoice in our 
 memories, as do we in those of our predecessors. Such 
 result will happily exemplify the suggestive truth that in all 
 his ceaseless course, armed with glass and scythe, 
 
 "Time is indeed a precious boon, 
 But with the boon a task is given : 
 The heart must learn its duty well 
 To man on earth and God in heaven." 
 
 The audience united in singing "America," after which 
 Rev. George W. Shinn, D.D., pronounced the benediction, 
 as follows : — 
 
 The Blessing of God Almighty the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost be upon the City of Newton and upon all who dwell therein. 
 
 The Lord be favorable to this place in the time to come, as He has 
 been in the time that is past. 
 
 May its citizens be law-abiding and upright, may its homes be pure 
 and happy, may its institutions of learning and benevolence flourish, and 
 may the principles of the Christian Faith be so truly received and so 
 truly followed here by all the people of this place that the City of New- 
 ton may receive especial favor from the Lord, whose blessing maketh 
 rich and addeth no sorrow.
 
 BANQUET. 
 
 About one hundred gentlemen, at six o'clock, gathered at 
 the Woodland Park Hotel. His Honor the Mayor, J. Wesley 
 Kimball, presided. In the absence of His Excellency the 
 Governor, the Commonwealth was represented by His Honor 
 the Lieutenant Governor, John O. A. Brackett. Other 
 guests of the city were : Hon. Henry N. Fisher, Mayor of 
 Waltham ; Hon. Mark F. Burns, Mayor of Somerville ; Hon. 
 George W. Hart, Mayor of Lynn ; Hon. John J. Whipple, 
 ex-Mayor of Brockton. Of the Newton City Government 
 there were present : Aldermen James H. Nickerson, N. Henry 
 Chadwick, Frederick Johnson, and John Ward ; Councilmen 
 Heman M. Burr, president and Mayor-elect; Albert W. 
 Rice, Henry H. Hunt, Frank J. Hale, Ephraim S. Hamblen, 
 Ebenezer H. Greenwood, and Henry H. Read ; Rev. G. W. 
 Shinn, D.D., of the School Committee ; Winfield S. Slocum, 
 City Solicitor and Representative to the General Court ; 
 Albert F. Noyes, City Engineer ; Albert S. Glover, Water 
 Registrar; Samuel M. Jackson and Howard B. Coffin, As- 
 sessors ; Joseph D. Wellington, City Messenger. Of former 
 members of the City Council there were present : ex-Mayors 
 James F. C. Hyde and William B. Fowle ; ex- Aldermen Otis 
 Pettee, Vernon E. Carpenter, Henry E. Cobb, Noah W. 
 Farley, George M. Fiske, Samuel L. Powers, and Austin R. 
 Mitchell; ex-Councilmen J. Sturgis Potter, Joseph W. Stover, 
 Prescott C. Bridgham, Luther E. Leland, William Peirce, 
 Edward M. Billings, Henry F. Ross, and Lewis E. Coffin ; 
 ex-City Clerk Julius L. Clarke. 
 
 Other citizens were Rev. Daniel L. Furber, D.D., Rev. 
 Theodore J. Holmes, John S. Farlow, Isaac T. Burr, John
 
 70 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY— iXEWTON 
 
 B. Goodrich, William E. Plummer, George B. Wilbur, Ed- 
 ward H. Pierce, Austin T. Sylvester, Samuel Hano, George 
 T. Coppins, Edward F. Barnes, M. J. Duane, O. C. Liver- 
 more, F. W. Turner, Chandler Seaver, Jr., C. E. Sweet, 
 D. F. Parker, C. H. Johnson, W. F. Chapman, R. E. Ashen- 
 den, and William C. Brown. 
 
 After partaking of the very substantial dinner, served in 
 accordance with the menu on page 71, interesting speeches 
 were made by Lieutenant Governor Brackett, ex-Mayor 
 Whipple, William E. Plummer, City Solicitor Slocum, ex- 
 Alderman Powers, and others. The occasion was enlivened 
 by vocal selections from the Temple Quartette, composed of 
 the following-named gentlemen : William R. Bateman, first 
 tenor; Edwin F. Webber, second tenor; Henry A. Cook, 
 baritone ; Albert C. Ryder, bass. 
 
 The selections sung were : — 
 
 " Hurrah for the Field," Schmolzer 
 
 " Three Huntsmen," Kreutzer 
 
 "In Absence" Buck 
 
 " Waltz," Lamothe 
 
 " Hail, Smiling Morn," Spofforth 
 
 Vocal March, " Now forward," Storch 
 
 It is worthy of note that the Woodland Park Hotel has 
 obtained an enviable reputation under the skilful conduct 
 of the proprietor, Joseph Lee, and his estimable wife, who 
 apparently suffer no detriment from the fact of their nativity 
 being of the race so recently emancipated from what was 
 fitly described by the late Senator Sumner as the " Barba- 
 rism of Slavery."
 
 DINNER j w0 Hundredth Anniversary 
 
 Woodland Par^ Motel of the Incorporation of 
 
 Thursday, Dec. 27, 1888. the Town of Newton ' 
 
 BLUEPOINTS ON HALF SHELL. 
 
 MOCK TURTLE. CONSOMME. 
 
 TURBOT A LA TARTARE. 
 
 ROAST BEEF. ROAST TURKEY 
 
 SADDLE OF MUTTON'. 
 
 BOILED PHILADELPHIA CAPON, CELERY SAUCE. 
 
 POTATO CROQUETTES, ESCALLOPED TOMATOES. 
 
 MACARONI AU GRATIN, CELERY. 
 
 CHICKEN CROQUETTES, FRENCH PEAS. 
 
 ROMAN PUNCH. 
 
 MALLARD DUCKS, DRESSED CELERY. 
 CURRANT JELLY. 
 
 LOBSTER SALAD. 
 
 FROZEN PUDDING. HARLEQUIN CREAM. CHARLOTTE i 
 
 ORANGE SHERBET. LEMON SHERBET. 
 
 ROQUEFORT AND NEUCHATEL CHEESE. 
 
 CRACKERS. OLIVES. 
 
 NUTS AND RAISINS. ASSORTED FRUIT. 
 
 COFFEE.
 
 5 
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