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NOTED MEN

HISTORICAL NARRATIONS

Hnctent niMlton,

BOSTON :
PRESS OF DAVID CLAPP & SON.
1900.

STATEMENT.

The contents of this little book have, in part, appeared
in the Milton News and 'elsewhere. They have been
gathered into the present form for the] purpose of compact
ness and permanence.
The reader will come up against numerous dates, pro
bate references and statistics of various forms, which make
hard and dull reading. But these figures and references,
if accurate and reliable, make up the chief value of the
various articles.
It follows that this collection is not for easy and popular
reading, but rather for the use of those of our citizens and
others who delight in, and are seeking after, the venerable
and antiquated men and things of our ancient town.
To all such earnest searchers, everywhere, it is heartily
inscribed.
A. K. Teele.
Milton, Mass., July, 1900.

CONTENTS.

Page.
Names op Milton Schools  7
Belcher School (Governor Jonathan Belcher) 7
Glover School (Worshipful John Glover) . 14
Wadsworth School (Captain Samuel Wadsworth) 19
Thachee School (Rev. Peter Thachee) ... 26
TucKEE School (Robert Tucker) . . . 31
Sumner School (Roger Sumnee) .... 35
Houghton School (Ralph Houghton) ... 39
Indian Graves in Milton  43
Israel Stoughton  49
Gulliver Family  52
Governor William Stoughton .... 52
Dorchester and Milton Church Land ... 61
Boundaries of Church Land  63
Thacher Land  64
Division op Church Land  64
Pine-Treb Brook  67
Sale op Church Land  70
Doechestee Chuech Land  72
Ministerial Houses  77
Robert Vose House  77
Rev. Peter Thachee House  78
Rev. John Taylor House  80
Rev. Nathaniel Robbins House .... 81
Rev. Joseph McKean House  83
Rev. Samuel Cozzens House  84
Rev. Joseph Angier House  85

b CONTENTS.
Rev. John H. Morison House .... 86
Rev. Albert K. Teele House  86
Rev. Calvin G. Hill House  86
Rev. Henry S. Huntington House .... 87
A Centuey's Changes  89
Milton, A.D. 1800  90
Milton, A.D. 1900  93

BEIEF MEMOEIALS OF ANCIENT CITIZENS

PRESENTED AT THE

TOWN HALL BEFORE THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
AND SCHOOLS OF MILTON, OCT. 18, 1895, BY ALBERT K.
TEELE.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the School Committee ;
At your request I have prepared brief statements respect
ing those of our early inhabitants whose names you propose
to affix to our common schools.
The men whom you have selected were in their day,
without exception, representative men. They were men of
stalwart character, strong, wise. God-fearing men ; earnest
in purpose and decided in action, who could be safely trusted
with the aifairs of Church and State.
Such are the individuals whom you have selected, from
the vast number of their compeers, to give names to the
schools of Milton, whose rare qualities of heart and mind,
in many particulars, all our sons and daughters may well
emulate. Never were more truthful words uttered than those of
Governor Stoughton, in his Election Sermon, 1668 : —
" God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain over
into this wilderness." BELCHEE SCHOOL.
It is proposed to name the East School the Belcher School.
Jonathan Belcher was born in Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 8,
1681, and graduated at Harvard College in 1699, in a class
of twelve.

8 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
After leaving college he spent several years abroad, travel
ling over England and various countries of Central and
Northern Europe.
On his return he became partner in business with his father
and acquired an ample fortune. He also became deeply
interested in public affairs. He was a member of the Council,
1722-23 and 1726-27.
In 1728 he was authorized by the General Court of Massa
chusetts to represent the State at London in the settlement
of a matter of important public interest ; and at the same
time he was appointed by the State of Connecticut as counsel
in the famous suit of Winthrop versus Lechmore. He
accepted the trusts and arrived in England early in 1729.
Soon after his arrival Governor Burnet died, and as
Belcher was on the spot and was supported at Court by many
friends, he secured the appointment as Governor Burnet's
successor in the government of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire. During his residence in Europe Belcher formed an intimate
acquaintance with Dr. Isaac Watts, the poet, who commemo
rated the appointment of his friend to this honorable position
by a very beautiful ode, which we copy in fuU from the New
England Weekly Journal oi Aug. 3, 1730: —
To his Excellency Jonathan Belcher, Esq. , in London.
Appointed by his Majesty King George II. to the gov
ernment of New England on his return.
Go, favorite man ; spread to the winds thy sails ;
The Western ocean smiles ; the Eastern gales.
Attend thy hour. Ten thousand vows arise,
T' ensure for thee the waves, for thee the skies,
And waft thee homeward. On thy native strand.
Thy Nation throngs to hail thy Bark to Land.
She sent thee envoy to secure her Laws

narrations op ancient MILTON. 9
And he loved Freedom. Heaven succeed the cause.
And make thee ruler there. Thy name unites
Thy Prince's honors, and thy People's Rights.
Twice has thy zeal heen to thy Sovereign shown
In German Realms, while yet the British Throne,
Sigh'd for the House of Brunswick ; there thy knee
Paid its first tribute to future Majesty,
And owned the Title ere the crown had shed
It's radiant Honors round the Royal Father's head.
Long has thy nation loved thee ; sage in youth.
In manhood nobly bold and firm to truth ;
Shining in arts of Peace ; yet midst a Storm
Skillful t' advise, and vigorous to perform ;
Kind to the Woj'ld and duteous to the skies.
Distress and want to thee direct their eyes ;
Thy life a public good. What heavenly Ray,
What courteous Spirit pointed out the way.
To make New Albion blest, when George the Just
Gave the Joyful Nation to thy Trust ?
Great George rewards thy zeal in happy hour
With a bright Beam of his Imperial Power.
Go, Belcher, Go ! Assume thy glorious sway ;
Faction expires, and Boston longs to obey.
Beneath thy rule may Truth and Virtue spread.
Divine Religion raise aloft her head,
And deal her Blessings round. Let India hear
That Jesus rieigns, and her wild Tribes prepare
For Heavenly Joys. Thy Power shaU rule by Love ;
So reigns our Jesus in his Realms above.
Illustrous pattern ! Let him fix thine Eye
And guide thine Hand. He from the world on high
Came once an Envoy and returned a Bang :
The Sons of Light in throngs their Homage bring,
W'hile Glory, Life and Joy beneath his Sceptre Spring.
I. Watts.
Maecb 31, 1730.
'Governor Belcher was sent home on the man-of-war-frig
ate " Blanford." He arrived at Castle William (now Fort
Independence) Saturday nig'ht, Aug. 8, 1730. He attended

10 NOTED SIEN AND HISTORICAL
divine service at the Castle on the Sabbath and landed Mon
day morning at the end of Long Wharf amid the ringing of
bells, booming of cannon, and general rejoicing.
Governor Belcher purchased the Holman estate situated in
Milton on the southwesterly side of Adams Street, and now
owned and occupied by Mrs. A. H. Payson, between the
years 1728 and 1730. This was his suburban residence dur
ing the term of eleven years in which he was governor of this
province. His advent here at nearly the same time with
Provincial Treasurer Foye, who was nephew of the governor,
and had previously taken up his residence in the vicinity,
changed in no small degree the character of this portion of
the town. He projected large improvements on his lands ;
and in preparing to build his mansion, an avenue fifty feet
in width was graded and finished from the street up the hill,
where the building was to be erected. This work he
required to be executed with so great nicety and precision,
that firiends and visitors on the first entrance upon the
avenue might " see the gleaming of his gold knee-buckles
as he stood on the distant piazza."
The outline of the avenue is now plainly visible as you
pass over Unquity Brook on the way to East Milton. It is
enclosed by a wire fence and extends from, the southwesterly
side of Adams Street up the hill towards the Dustan Man
sion. Near the head of the avenue a barn was built, but the
plan for the mansion was never carried out. This work of
grading was accomplished by the Provincial troops, which
were marched out to his Milton land by regiments on drill
and fatigue duty. A regiment moved from Boston on Mon
day, camped on the grounds for the week, and were relieved
by a second regiment for the subsequent week.

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 11
The necessary retinue of servants and slaves ; the showy
equipage attendant in those days on high official station,
which Governor Belcher accepted to its full extent; the
coming and going of messengers ; the formal and informal
visits of officers and ambassadors which always followed an
important person, even to his retirement, all these gave un
wonted life and importance to the hitherto quiet town.
In his portrait, now extant, the Governor appears with
the colonial wig, velvet coat, and waistcoat decked with
rich gold lace ; lace ruffles at the neck and wrists, with the
attendant small clothes and low shoe adorned with gold knee
and shoe buckles. His person and presence were graceful
and pleasing. He was a man of society and afiuirs, and
spent his money with elegant liberality.
He generally attended church in Milton. A pew in the
Milton church was formally assigned to him by the town,
which was " the first on the easterly side of the southerly
doors to remain to his Excellency Governor Belcher's
Estate on the same footing as the rest of the pews in our
meeting-house." Governor Belcher was doubtless interested in the school
then taught in his immediate neighborhood. Our schools
were established at a very early date in the east end of the
town. In 1669 " Thomas Vose was chosen School-Master for the
East End of the Town to teach children and youth to write ;
he eccepted the same." The school was at the head of
Vose's, now Churchill's, Lane. There is good evidence
that it was kept in the Old Meeting House, doubtless used
for both purposes.
The second school-house was built in 1718, "as near the

12 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
Smith's Shop as convenient," on the present estate of
Charles E. Perkins, Milton Hill.
The third school-house was built in 1768, on land donated
by Isaac Howe, opposite Milton Burying Ground.
The fourth house was built in 1779, as follows : " Voted
to build a school-house in the East End of the Town near
the Liberty Pole, similar to the one burned down opposite
the burying grounds."
The fifth house was built in 1835, on the North side of
Squantum Street, between the Stone Cottage and the house
of George W. Bass. " The sum of $150 was voted by the
town to aid the East District in building a new School-house.'
The sixth house, which is now standing on Adams Street,
was built in 1852, and greatly enlarged in 1877.
The seventh house is the admirable structure erected by
the town in 1894.
Governor Belcher held office for eleven years, 1730-1741,
and was succeeded by Gov. William Shirley, May 16, 1741.
He was a voluminous letter writer. A contemporary has
said, "His reckless pen and ungovernable tongue made
many enemies on both sides of the Atlantic." His servility
with those above him and his severity with those below him,
his fondness for display and his ostentatious piety, were
marked by the men of his day. Governor Hutchinson says
of him, " By freedom in conversation, and an unreserved
censure of persons whose principles and conduct he dis
approved, he made himself many enemies."
Governor Belcher remained in Milton for two years after
his dismission, then went again to England in 1744.
On the death of Governor Morris, July, 1746, he was
made Governor of New Jersey. Here his administration

NARRATIONS OE ANCIENT MILTON. 13
seems to have been successful. He was deeply interested in
the foundation of Princeton College ; secured its charter in
1754, and bequeathed to the college his library of four hun
dred volumes.
He died in Elizabethtown, Aug. 31, 1757, and was
buried the following Sabbath, Sept. 4, when a funeral ser
mon was preached by Aaron Burr, president of the College
of New Jersey. His body was deposited in a tomb in the
old burying grounds of Cambridge, Mass.
Governor Belcher married, Jan. 8, 1705-6, Mary,
daughter of Lieut. -Gov. Wm. Partridge, of New Hampshire,
who died Oct. 6, 1736 ; and as second wife, in Burling
ton, N. J., Sept. 9, 1748, Mrs. Mary Louisa Amelia
Teal. His favorite son, Jonathan, Jr., was born in Boston,
July 23, 1710; graduated at Harvard in 1728, then went
to England and there studied law for five years, and attained
distinction at the English bar. He married, April 8, 1756,
at King's Chapel, Boston, Abigail, daughter of Jeremiah
Allen. Subsequently he went to Nova Scotia and was one
of the first settlers of Chebucto, now Halifax. In 1760 he
was appointed Lieutenant Governor, and in 1761 Chief
Justice of the Province. His seven children were born in
Halifax. Andrew, only representative of the name in the
male line, born July 22, 1763, was a member of the Council
of Nova Scotia. Chief Justice Belcher died in Halifax,
March 29, 1776, where his gravestone may now be seen.
Andrew, the eldest son of Governor Belcher, was born
Nov. 17,1706; graduated at Harvard, 1724. He continued
to reside on the Milton estate after his father's removal.
He represented the town at the General Court from 1759 to
1764. He was Register of Probate for Suffijlk, 1739-

14 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
1754, and was a member of the Council, 1765-7. He
married, April 4, 1754, Elizabeth Teal, daughter of his
father's second wife, and died in Milton, Jan. 24, 1771,
aged sixty-five years, without issue.
Madame Belcher and the widow of Andrew, after the de
cease of their husbands, occupied the Milton house. On
the 27th of January, 1776, the house was burned down.
The two Mrs. Belchers, the only occupants of the house,
passed the winter with their friends, the Misses Murray, in
the Robbins House on Brush Hill.
The work of rebuilding was at once commenced, and the
house now owned and occupied by Mrs. Payson was com
pleted the next summer, which gives it an antiquity of one
hundred and eighteen years.
Madame Belcher soon after died. Elizabeth, widow of
Andrew, conveyed the Milton estate to John Rowe, of
Boston, May 15, 1781 (Suffi)lk Deeds, Lib. 132, Fol. 217) ,
and removed to England.
Thus, for the period of fifty years. Governor Belcher and
his family were intimately associated with the eastern sec
tion of our town. THE GLOVER SCHOOL,
The North School it is proposed to call the Glover School.
John Glover, the eldest son of Thomas and Margery
(Deane) Glover, was born at Rainhill Parish, Prescot, Lan
caster County, England, Aug. 12, 1600, and died in Bos
ton, Dec. 11, 1654.
Before leaving England he had reached the period of
manhood, and married, 1625, Anna, by whom he had three
children, born in Prescot, the last in 1629.

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 15
He inherited large landed estates from his father, and was
in the enjoyment of these estates at the time of Iiis emigra
tion. He seems to have moved in the first ranks of society
in his ancestral home, bearing the prefix of ilfr., a marked
designation of respect and honor in those days.
Being a strict non-conformist and Puritan, he was in
sympathy with the movement of the times, and in 1628, by
the payment of £50, joined the London Company, organized
for the purpose of emigration to New England.
The London Company left England March 20, 1629, and
arrived at Nantasket the 31st of May following.
Mr. Glover may have resided at Charlestown for a short
time, but his name appears on the list of inhabitants at the
incorporation of Dorchester, 1631, and when the church was
reorganized there in 1636, under Richard Mather, pastor,
Mr. Glover and his wife Anna were among the first signers
of the covenant.
He brought over with him a large number of cattle,
and the men and implements needed for carrying on the
business of tanning, in accordance with the regulation of the
London Company requiring each member to establish some
trade on his estate. This business he established in Dor
chester, where the pits may be seen to this day on Park
Street, near Dorchester Avenue. The members of the
London Company were entitled to a share of two hundred
acres of land for every £50 adventured.
Mr. Glover early located his grant of 180 acres at Un
quity, on the south side of Neponset, west of Milton Hill,
where his herds of imported cattle were pastured and left
under the charge of Nicholas Wood, who came over to New
England as the agent of Mr. Glover. Here he built a

16 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
house, with barns and various out-buildings. Mr. Wood
was in charge of the house and farm at the decease of Mr.
Glover, and until the estate was sold by the Glover heirs to
Robert Vose, July 13, 1654.
In the Deed of Conveyance to Robert Vose is the follow
ing description of a part of the estate which enables us to
understand its location : —
" All that Dwelling House and Farm where now Nicholas
Wood dwells with the Barn, Cow House, Out-House, and
Yards, Orchards and Gardens, with what fences and privi
leges to the house there-to belonging, with all appurtenances
belonging and appertaining, with ten Acres of uplend and
Meadow, more or less with the Close lying about the said
House and upon which the house standeth."
This grant, as nearly as can be determined, was bounded
easterly by the westerly base of Milton Hill, perhaps along
Ruggles Lane and School Street ; northerly by the brook ;
westerly it extended to about White's Lane, and southerly
to the parallel line on the central line of the township.
The house was built at the junction of Brook Road and
Canton Avenue. A cart-path connecting it with the road
to Stoughton's Bridge. Canton Avenue, as far as Brook
Road, and on by Jonathan Badcock's house and Peter
Thacher's house to the "Ox-pen," was opened in 1660.
Robert Vose and his descendants occupied this house till
within the present century, and the brook at this point was
called " Aunt Sarah's Brook," from Sarah, widow of Elijah
Vose. The cellar has disappeared within my remembrance,
and also a portion of the wall of the barnyard between the
brook and Vose's Lane, laid two centuries ago.
The "Close" often acres fenced in, including buildings.

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 17
orchards, etc., embraced many of the estates on Canton
Avenue and Brook Road, now owned by our fellow citizens,
and a part of this enclosed tract is still owned and occupied
by the heirs of Gen. Joseph Vose, descendant of Robert
Vose. Mr. John Glover was a man of wonderful capabilities, and
of great and good influence.
Johnson says of him : " Mr. Glover was a man strong for
the truth, a plain, sincere, and godly man of good abilities."
The following lines appear on the work entitled " The
Wonder- Working Providence " :—
" And Godly Glover his rich gifts thou gavest.
Thus thou, by means, thy flock from spoiling saveth."
His life in Dorchester was one of unceasing activity in
the service of the church and colony.
His activity ran in various lines, — civil, political, social,
educational, religious and judicial. All his varied duties
were fulfilled with so much wisdom and integrity as to attain
for him the title of "The Worshipful John Glover."
He has justly been termed one of the founders of New
England. The North School-house stands on or near the original
grant of John Glover.
At an early date a school-house stood on Milton Hill,
called the Milton Hill School, not far from the stable on
Colonel Peabody's estate, on the land donated to the town
by Abel Allien . This house was set on fire by one of the
boys of the school and burned, Nov. 23, 1846. The boy
was arrested and confessed the deed, assigning as a reason
that he wanted a longer vacation. This school had the
benefit of many excellent and distinguished teachers. Col.

18 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL

Jesse Pierce taught here in 1815-16 and 1818. Josiah
Fairbank followed him for several terms. Nathan Metcalf,
known to some of our citizens as " Master Metcalf," taught
here from 1825 for eight years. Miss Ann Bent, a lady of
remarkable abilities and of most excellent character, was one
of the teachers. After the house was burned, Mr. John M.
Forbes, owner of the land abutting the school-house lot, by
exchange of deeds, took this lot and conveyed to the town
of Milton the lot on School Street, the heirs of Abel Allen
joining in the conveyance.
In 1846 the town appropriated $1,600 for building anew
house on the School Street lot. Meantime, the school was
kept at the village in the hall now occupied by the " Milton
News." This school-house, with some internal changes,
met the needs of the district until the present commodious
house was built in 1889.
The descendants of John Glover early took possession of
his Newbury farm, also on the south side of the Neponset,
perhaps in early times embracing a small part of the eastern
section of Milton. Portions of this farm are still owned by
the heirs of Horatio Nelson Glover, in direct line from
John. Nathaniel Glover, of the third generation, who married
Hannah Hinckley, came into possession of a part of the
Newbury Farm in 1674, and removed there with his family
in 1701, where he died, 1723.
Thomas Glover, his son, resided there until his father's
death and then became owner of the estate. Elijah, the
second son of Thomas, was born there July 25, 1725, and
died in Milton, at his residence on Milton Hill, July 1,
1770. His gravestone stands in our cemetery. He mar-

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 19
ried Abigail Kingsley, of Milton, Dec. 21, 1751, and
through her came into possession of the valuable Kingsley
lands on Milton Hill, on the northeast side of Adams Street,
embracing the Forbes, Watson, Kidder and other Milton
Hill estates. This was long known as the Glover Farm.
Dr. Samuel Kingsley Glover, son of Elijah, was a distin
guished physician and surgeon, and a valued citizen of
Milton through a long life. He died here July 1, 1839,
aged eighty-six years.
Theodore Russell Glover, son of Stephen and Rebecca
Payne Gore Glover, in direct line of descent from John
Glover, is at the present time a valued and honored citizen
of Milton, residing on Milton Hill very near the Glover
Farm. Thus for the long period of two and a half centuries the
salutary influence of this family has been living and acting
throughout our borders.THE WADSWORTH SCHOOL.
It is proposed to name the Pleasant Street school the
Wadsworth School.
The name Wadsworth is derived from Waddy, son of
Woden, one of the mythic heroes from whom the kings of
Northumbria deduced their lineage, and Worth, derived in
the Anglo-Saxon from Wyrth, an estate or manor.
In the West Riding of Yorkshire there are two towns,
one Wadsworth, the other Wadworth, the latter some ten
miles from where the original settler in this country, of the
name of Wadsworth, came. The first mention of these towns
is in the Doomsday Book in 1086. The spelling of the
names of the towns appears to have been interchangeable in

20 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
the past, leaving it a matter of doubt whether the family
sprang from one town or the other.
The earliest mention of the name as a patronymic, that
has been found, was in the tenth year of King John, 1209.
From that time to the pricsent eejitury the name constantly
appears in diurch, parish and probate records of Yorkshire
and the adjoining counties.
Oapt. Samuel Wadsworth was the son of Ciwistopher and
Grace Wadsworth, of Duxbury. Christopher was the com
mon ancestor of the Maine and Massachusetts Wadsworths.
It is believed that he came from England in the ship " Lion,"
which arrived at Boston Sept. Id, 1632, and settled in
Duxbtury the same year, near the residence of Miles
Standish. We find Christopher Wads worth's name in the first record
of freemen in the Plymouth Coiony in 1633, and he is
recorded as being taxed the same y^r. His name is ap
pended to a will as witness with William Bradford, the
second governor of Plymouth 'Colony, under date of Sept.
16, 1633. In 1636 he was chosen one of the eight to revise
the ordinances of the colony. He served m-any years as
representative and in other places of trust.
Capt. Samuel Wadsworth was born in Duxbury, and
moved to Milton, then a part of Dorchester, about 1656,.
He took possession of a tract of land on Wadsworth Hill, of
a ihundred acres, extending from Canton Avenue to Brain-
tree line or thereabouts, which was then a wilderness,
without roads^ and a mile from any other inhabitant. The
first road conctructed by Milton in 1669 was from th,e
"Countrie Heighway," or Adams Street, to Mr. Wads-
worth's homestead. "To run through Richard CoUicut's

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 21
land by the outside of his fence in the same cartway as to go
to George Badcock's land,  etc., till it do come to
Samuel Wadsworth's land. And it is agreed and ordered
that the way shall run through Samuel Wadsworth's land
and further as need shall require." This is our Pleasant
Street, which in eome places has not been disturbed since its
construction, two and a quarter centuries ago.
Directly on this street a school-house was built, and a
school was opened in 1853. After a lapse of twenty-five
years, the growth of the district requiring better accommo
dations, the present commodious house was built in 1879.
The first time the name of Samuel Wadsworth appears in
the records of Dorchester is in 1661, when he was appointed
with others to view the fence in the common cornfield. He
took an active part in the formation of the new town of
Milton in 1662 ; he was also active in church and town
affairs, his name appearing oftener on the town records in
the last years of his life than any other, as selectman, and as
attorney for the town in collecting debts, and in defending
the town in suits brought against it before the court. He
represented the town at the General Court in 1668.
We turn with the deepest interest to the end of this
highly honorable life in King Phillip's War.
Captain Wadsworth was captain of a company of infantry
raised in the vicinity of Boston and partly in Milton. His
lieutenant was John Sharp, of Brookline, who married
Martha, daughter of Robert Vose, of Milton. After the
destruction of Marlborough, which occurred on the 20th of
March, 1676, the Indians increased greatly in that vicinity,
endangering the lives of those who escaped the former
onslaught, and making it needful to strengthen the garrison

22 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
there. Captain Wadsworth was ordered to repair to Marl
borough for this purpose. He started with a force of fifty
men, which was probably increased to seventy during the
march. The movement was effected with safety ; he reached
Marlborough with his command on the night of the 20th or
morning of the 21st. On their march through Sudbury the
Indians were lying concealed in large numbers, but failed
to show themselves until Captain Wadsworth's company
had passed beyond. The next morning they commenced
the devastation of the village, burning aU the houses on
the east side of the river. When the news of the attack
reached Marlborough, Captain Wadsworth, though his men
were exhausted by the march from Boston, determined to
hasten back for the relief of Sudbury. Reinforced by Cap
tain Brocklebank, with a portion of his command from the
fort they marched with all possible speed to meet the enemy.
On approaching Sudbury, " on the afternoon of Friday,
the 21st, about three o'clock," according to Sewall's Diary,
a band of Indians appeared in the distance who seemed to
be flying at their approach, and striving to hide themselves.
The English pursued and were drawn on by the retreating
foe into a thickly wooded section, when suddenly five hun
dred savages sprang up on every side, and with their terrible
war-whoops rushed upon the devoted band. The gallant
leader and his heroic command defended themselves as best
they could. Securing a stronghold on a hill near by, for
four hours they repelled the assault of the foe with the loss
of but five men, until ammunition began to fail and night
was closing in upon them. At this juncture the Indians set
fire to the woods, and the wind drove the smoke and flames
in upon the exhausted troops, compellLag them to abandon

NARRATIONS OP ANCIENT MILTON. 23
their position. As a last rosort they determined to force a
passage through the savage horde. In this final struggle
they were beset on every side, with all the fury of fiends,
and literally cut to pieces. Captain Wadsworth and Cap
tain Brocklebank fell with twenty-seven of their charge.
This disaster was deeply felt through the country. It was
a heavy blow to the town of Milton.
Captain Wadsworth, one of her leading men in the prime
of life, eminent for piety, wisdom and courage, a protector
and guardian of the infant town, was taken from his family
and fellow-citizens, and with him, doubtless, others of the
same community.
Captain Wadsworth and twenty-eight of his command
were buried in a common grave near the spot where the
action occurred, about a mile south of the centre of the town
of Sudbury. Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, President of
Harvard College, the fifth son of Captain Wadsworth,
erected a monument at the grave of these heroes about 1730.
At a later period the Commonwealth of Massachusetts united
with the town of Sudbury in erecting the granite monument
now marking the sacred spot.
Captain Wadsworth was father of seven children, six sons
and one daughter : —
Ebenezer, born 1660 ; died Aug. 1, 1717, age fifty-seven
years. He was deacon of the Milton church. He had four
children. George, the youngest grandson of Captain Wads
worth, born 1699, was ensign in Captain Goffe's company
of Colonial troops, at the siege of Havana in 1740.
Christopher, born 1661 ; died 1687.
Timothy, born 1662, was a carpenter and gun-maker.
Recompense, his youngest son, graduated at Harvard
3

24 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
College in 1708, and was Master of the Grammar School
in Boston; died 1713. Timothy removed to Newport,
R. I., and died there.
Hon. Joseph, born 1667 ; died 1750. He was much in
public life. Was treasurer of Boston for many years.
Rev. Benjamin, born 1670 ; graduated at Harvard, 1690.
He was ordained minister of the First Church, Boston, Sept.
8, 1696. Was made President of Harvard College, July 7,
1725, and died March 16, 1734.
Abigail, born 1'372 ; married Andrew Boardman, of
Cambridge. Deacon John, of Milton, born 1674, died 1734. He was
the Milton representative at the General Court, 1717-1725-
1726, and 1732-33. He married Elizabeth Vose and had
twelve children. It is from him that the branch of the fam
ily now occupying the old homestead in Milton is descended.
Deacon John Wadsworth with three other citizens of Mil
ton bought the " Blue Hill Lands," fifteen hundred acres of
which were annexed to Milton in 1712. His eldest son,
Rev. John, born 1703, graduated at Harvard 1723. He
was ordained at Canterbury, Sept. 27, 1728, settled in
Palmer, Mass., and finally moved to New Hampshire. He
died in Milton, June 15, 1766.
Deacon Benjamin Wadsworth, second son of Deacon
John, born in Milton, 1709, married Esther Tucker in
1735, and died Oct. 17, 1771, aged sixty-four years. He
represented the town at the General Court, 1769-1771. He
built a house about the time of his marriage, which was
standing on Wadsworth Hill, Milton, a few years since.
Only two of his sons lived to manhood.
One of these. Rev. Benjamin, was born 1751, and was

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 25
ordained at Danvers, Mass., 1773, where he died in 1826,
in the fifty-fourth year of his ministry, aged seventy-five
years. He was honored with the degree of S. T. D. in
1816. He published a sermon preached at the ordination of
Josiah Badcock, 1783 ; two Thanksgiving sermons, 1795-
96, and a dedication sermon, 1807.
His second daughter married Hon. John Rug-o'les, of
Milton. John, the eldest son of Deacon Benjamin, was born
1739 ; married Katharine Bullard and had five children.
He was one of the minute-men in 1775, and started with
his company for the battle-field at Lexington, but was
unable to proceed, being then in ill-health. He died the
same year, aged thirty-six, leaving a widow apd four small
children, all too young to take part in the war that followed ;
but his patriotic widow sent her team to assist in transport
ing the fascines for the fortification of Dorchester Heights.
Three of John's sons settled in Milton and divided the
old homestead between them. Joseph, the eldest, was a
blacksmith; Benjamin, the second son, was a wheelwright
and plough-maker. Wooden ploughs only were made in
those days. The Wadsworth plough became famous, not
only in Milton, but in all the adjoining towns.
Deacon William, the third son, was a cabinet-maker.
Thomas T. Wadsworth, youngest son of Benjamin, was
a selectman for several years and represented the town in
the Legislature in 1844.
The only representatives of the family left in Milton are
Capt. Edwin D. Wadsworth, of the sixth generation from
Captain Samuel, living on the original AVadsworth estate, and
his son. Dexter Emerson Wadsworth.

26 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL

THE THACHER SCHOOL.
To the Centre School it is proposed to give the name of
the Thacher School, after Rev. Peter Thacher, the first
settled minister of Milton.
Rev. Peter Thacher was born in Salem, Mass., July 18,
1651, and graduated at Harvard College in 1671. "June
15, 1674, he was chosen third fellow of the CoUedg."
Judge Sewall wrote, July 1, 1674 : —
" Sir Thacher Common placed. Justification was his
head. He had a good solid piec. . . . Stood above an
hour and yet brake off before he came to any use. By
reason that there was no warning given none (after ye
undergraduates) were present save Mr. Dan Gookin Sr. the
President and myself."
In 1676 he accompanied his classmates Judge Samuel
Sewall and John Danforth to Europe, where he remained
for a year or more pursuing and perfecting his studies in
preparation for his life work.
After returning to America he preached for nearly a year
at Barnstable, Mass., gaining the confidence and affection of
the people to such a degree that when called to Milton great
opposition to his leaving was experienced.
The Journal of Mr. Thacher contains the following entries
regarding his invitation to Milton and his removal from
Barnstable : —
" June 28, 1680. A Committee of eight persons, among
whom was Thomas Swift, came to request me to settle
among them."
In his reply to the call of the church, dated May 18,
1681, he says : —

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 27
" I was pursuaded so far to comply withall as to remove
myself and my family to this place, yt so I might the more
clearly discern and faithfully follow divine guidance and
direction in any future settlement amongst you, or remove
from you accordingly as God should unite ye heart of ye
Chh. and Congregation unto me and mine, and ours unto
you or otherwise dispose."
A delegation of ten members of the Church went forward
to Barnstable to attend home the coming minister, and a
cavalcade of fifty-seven horsemen escorted him out of Barn
stable and attended him on his way as far as Sandwich, and
so the triumphal march was made into the new field of labor.
. After a residence of nine months the ordination was at
tended on the first day of June, 1681 .
Thacher's Journal says : —
" May 20. This day the ordination beer was brewed."
" May 30. This day the gates were hung. They made
an arbor to entertain the messengers of the Church."
"June 1, 1681. I was ordained (though most unworthy)
Pastor of the Chh. of Milton. My text was 2 Tim. 4, 5.
"Mr. Mather called the votes. Old Mr. Elliot, Mr.
Mather, Mr. Torrey, Mr. Williard laid on hands.
" We sung the twenty-fourth Psalm and I gave the
blessing. They dined at my house in the Arbor."
Thus commenced the interesting life of Milton's first
pastor ; it was continued through forty-six years, leaving a
record of varied service and duties for every day and year of
this long period so wonderful as to be almost incredible.
Rev. Peter Thacher was one of the leading divines of his
time. He acquired a knowledge of the Indian language
and was appointed to preach to the Indians at Ponkapog

28 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
once a month. At the same time he was the only physician
of Milton serving the whole town in this capacity.
His advice was sought not only in matters pertaining to
the churches of the Colony, but also by the magistrates in
the general affairs of the government. He was frequently
summoned to Boston to advise with the clergymen and
magistrates on questions of importance.
Cotton Mather says in that funeral sermon of which the
following is the wonderful title : —
" The Comfortable Chambers open and visited upon the
departure of that aged and faithfid servant of God, Mr.
Peter Thatcher, the never-to-be-forgotten Pastor of Milton,
who made his flight thither Dec. 17, 1727."
" He was thought worthy to be a fellow of Harvard Col
lege, and an owner of the learning wherein we were
instructed there. But what I remember with a most abid
ing impression, is that beside his methods to recommend
unto bis pupils that early piety whereof he had been himself
a notable pattern, we admired his prayers in the Colledge
Hall for the fluent, copious expressive beauties of them and
the heavenly entries we perceived in them."
"I have in my possession a paper arranged in tabular
form, showing the amount paid by each citizen on the salary
of Mr. Thacher, which was $350 per year. Payments one
third money, one third labor, and one third country pro
duce." Rev. Mr. Wiswall, Rev. Mr. Maghill and Rev. Samuel
Man had each resided in Milton as preachers from 1669 to
the time of Mr. Thacher's ordination.
The first meeting-house in use before incorporation stood
near the " Country Heighway," now Adams Street, at the
head of Churchill's Lane.

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 29
In 1664 Robert Vose conveyed to the inhabitants of Mil
ton, as a gift, a tract of land of eight acres on Vose's Lane
and Centre Street for a meeting-house and other ministerial
purposes. On this land was erected, first, a minister's house,
which stood near the house now standing on the corner of
Vose's Lane and Centre Street, and, second, a meeting
house in 1671. Two years later Vose's Lane was opened
along the west side of the meeting-house, and the Town
Way (now Centre Street) passed it on the south. Refer
ences now extant lead us to conclude that it was a small
building nearly square, with gallery on one side, pulpit on
the other, and entrance on the Town Way (now Centre
Street) .
To the ministerial house Mr. Thacher came on his arrival
in Milton.
"Sept. 10, 1680. We came safe to Milton that night
with our goods, and Quarter-Master Swift got them all into
the house that night."
In this meeting-house he commenced his ministry and
continued until the time of his death. Along and sore con
test regarding the location of the third meeting-house had
ended, harmony was restored, and work on the new house
had commenced when Mr. Thacher died.
Soon after his ordination the town voted to convey to
Mr. Thacher twenty acres of the ministerial land. This
was done Nov. 4, 1681. In addition to this grant Mr.
Thacher bought of Sargent Vose, Jan. 4, 1682, a tract of
land with house and barn standing upon the same, contain
ing twenty- three acres. This new land was near the town
grant and abutted the same, so that he owned forty-three
acres of land comprising nearly what we now call Thacher's

30 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
Plain. On this he erected a house, and on the 11th of
November, 1689, Mr. Thacher removed from the ministerial
house to his own house, where he continued to reside until
his death, Dec. 17, 1727. It then passed into the posses
sion of his eldest son, Oxenbridge, who lived there forty-five
years until his death, Oct. 29, 1772, at the age of ninety-
two years.
This house stood on the westerly side of Thacher Street,
about fifteen rods north of Pine-tree Brook. A large elm
is growing out of the cellar, and two large flat stones which
perhaps were steps lie near by ; while the old well and
cellar drains are distinctly seen. It was destroyed by fire
in 1798. The Thacher land extended from this point to the
" Ox-pen," which was located near the Jewish Home. It is
proposed, if possible, to secure the land embracing the old
cellar, and with proper boundaries and inscriptions pass it
down to posterity as a sacred spot ever to be remembered.
The Centre School was not established in Mr. Thacher's
day. As early as 1734 it was " voted that there should be
a fixed school in the centre of the town between the stone
bridge and the pound."
The pound was then near White Street. There is no
other reference to such a school. In 1768 the school on the
Isaac Howe lot opposite the cemetery may have met the
need. After the division of the town into districts in 1835,
creating a separate district in the centre, a school which was
established in 1832, occupying the building afterwards Jason
Reed's store, and then the vestry of the Unitarian Church,
was made perpetual.
In 1837 the sum of $150 was voted by the town for build
ing a school-house in the Centre District, and a school-house

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 31
Was built on the lot on Canton Avenue. This house was
sold and removed to Clapp Street, where it is now occupied
as a dwelling house. In 1860 a new house was built which
now stands in the lot ; and the third school-house for the
Centre School was erected in 1890 near the High School
building, which was built in 1886.
Mr. Thacher was three times married. His first wife
was Theodora, daughter of Rev. John Oxenbridge, to
whom he was married Nov. 2, 1677. He married a
second time, 1699, Susannah Bailey, widow of Rev. John
Bailey, First Church, Boston, and again, three months
before his death, Elizabeth, widow of Joshua Gee, of Boston.
He had the following children : Theodora ; Bathsheba ;
Oxenbridge, born May 17, 1681, died Oct. 29, 1772;
Elizabeth, born March 6, 1683, died 1716 ; Mary, born
March 15, 1685 ; Peter, born Oct. 1, 1688, died April 22,
1744 ; John ; Thomas, born April 6, 1693, died Dec. 19,
1721 ; John, second son of Peter and Susannah, born
March 23, 1701. TUCKER SCHOOL.
It is proposed to name the Mattapan School the Tucker
School. The Tucker family has been largely represented in the
West District of Milton from the first existence to the town.
They assisted in its incorporation and have taken no small
part in meeting its trusts and bearing its burdens even down
to the present time. The West School, which we have
called the Sumner School, might, with equal propriety, be
styled the Tucker School.
These two families have always lived side by side on con-

32 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
tiguous farms in this section of Milton. Their children have
been educated in the West School and they have been
equally conspicuous in the affairs of the town.
The great increase of inhabitants in the Mattapan section
made it needful to provide school privileges for the children
who were too remote from other schools, and indeed too
numerous to be accommodated. Eighteen years ago the
Mattapan School was established ; since that time it has
greatly increased until now it is one of Milton's largest
schools. The school-house was built in 1877. The upper
story was finished in 1890. Four new rooms were opened
in 1893 and two old rooms were reopened in 1894.
Robert Tucker, the progenitor of this numerous family,
was born probably in Milton-next-Gravesend, County of
Kent, England, June 7, 1604.
He came to Milton in 1662 and died here March 11,
1682. In November, 1663, he purchased of Elder Withington a
tract of land on Brush Hill of sixty acres; in 1673 he
bought in the same locality Mrs. Fenno's lot of forty acres ;
and in 1678 he came into possession of Widow Farnsworth's
lot of thirty-two acres — making in all one hundred and
thirty-two acres on which a house was erected.
In his will, dated March 7, 1681, he speaks of the "new
House." This house stood on the west side of Brush Hill
Road, at the head of Robbins Street. It was built prior to
1681 and is the oldest house in Milton. I am sorry to say
that in order to save this building it has been necessary to
remove it from the old site on which it stood for more than
two centuries. I am sure we owe most hearty thanks to our
fellow-citizen who has secured this ancient relic and removed

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 33
it to his own grounds, where it now stands, one of the few
memorials in Milton of old colonial times.
Robert Tucker occupied an important and highly useful
position in the town and in church during the earliest years
of the settlement, and his numerous descendants have been
among the most active and influential of our citizens through
the whole history of Milton. Members of the family have
graced the pulpit, the army and the representative halls of
the country. The following representatives of the Tucker
name have held the office of Deacon, making almost a con
tinuous line from the formation of the Milton church to the
present day. I name them in the order of appointment : —
Ephraim, Manasseh, Jaazaniah, William, Ebenezer, David,
Isaac, Amariah, Atherton, Jesse, Nathan, Stillman L. and
John A.
Since Ephraim Tucker was ordained deacon in 1699 there
has generally been a Deacon Tucker Senior and a Deacon
Tucker Junior, as at the present time.
Manasseh Tucker was born in Weymouth, 1654. Here-
moved with his father Robert to Milton, and died here April
8, 1743, aged eighty-nine years. Samuel Tucker, son of
Manasseh and Waitatill (Sumner) Tucker, was born in
Milton, March 15, 1686. Samuel, son of Samuel 1st and
Rebecca (Leeds) Tucker, was born in Milton, Sept. 27,
1719. Samuel, son of Samuel 2d and Elizabeth (Hay
wood) Tucker, was born in Milton, July 14, 1750, and
died in Scott's Woods, July 19, 1841, aged ninety-one
years, being the oldest man then in Milton. His great
grandfather Manasseh, who was here when the town was
incorporated, lived until 1743, within seven years of his
birth, and his own life was prolonged to the year 1841.

34 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
Thus the lives of these two persons extended, with a little
break, over the long period of one hundred and eighty
years, embracing all the history of Milton which is not
within the knowledge of the present generation.
Manasseh Tucker was one of the four citizens who pur
chased the Blue Hill lands of 3,000 acres in 1711 ; 1500 of
which were annexed to Milton from Braintree, May 21,
1712. His son Samuel, who was then twenty-five years of
age, married Rebecca Leeds, of Dorchester, March 2, 1711,
and commenced life on the new purchase, which was at that
time a wilderness, without roads and remote from any
inhabitants. His father, Manasseh, built a house for them on or near
the site now occupied by the Charles K. Hunt House.
Thus a part of the Tucker family was transferred from
Brush Hill to Scott's Woods.
A portion of these lands descended in direct line from his
grandfather, through his father, to Samuel Tucker 3d, who
died in the house, or in the near vicinity, 1841.
Capt. Nathaniel Tucker, brother of Samuel 3d, owned
the adjoining estate now belonging to Col. H. S. Russell.
At his decease, Feb. 10, 1858, he left a legacy of $1,000
to the poor of Milton, in trust of the minister and deacons of
the First Evangelical Church. He also gave to the above-
named church a tract of land on Canton Avenue and
White's Lane, on a part of which the meeting-house of
this church now stands.
This wide circle of the Tucker family, for many years
resident in Scott's Woods, have all removed or have passed
from earth. There is but a single representative remaining
there.

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 35
On Brush Hill there are two families of the Tucker name
of the seventh generation still proprietors of lands originally
owned by Robert or his sons. On Canton Avenue five
families represent the name : one in the seventh, three in
the eighth, and one in the ninth generation from Robert,
one of which in on land owned by Manasseh Tucker.
THE SUMNER SCHOOL.
The West School it is proposed to caU the Sumner School.
William Sumner, son of William, was baptized at Bi
cester, England, Jan. 27, 1604-5, being by his deposition
given Dec. 23, 1685, at the time, eighty-one years old.
William Sumner and his wife, Mary West, settled in
Dorchester. He was made freeman in 1637 and was ad
mitted to the Dorchester Church, 1652. He held many
important offices and was a prominent man in Dorchester.
At the incorporation of Milton he came into possession of
land on Brush Hill, by the allotment of Lot No. 11, Sixth
Division, containing sixty acres. His wife died in Milton,
June 7, 1676. His will was proved March 24, 1691-2.
His second son, Roger, was baptized in England, Aug,
8, 1632 ; was admitted to the Dorchester Church, 1656.
He married Rebecca Josselyn, of Hiagham, removed to
Lancaster, Mass., and assisted in forming the Lancaster
Church. He remained in Lancaster until it was destroyed
by the Indians, 1676, when he returned to Dorchester and
took up his residence in Milton, which was then incorpo
rated. He became a most useful and honored citizen. For
many years he was deacon of the Milton Church, and died
here. The stone in Milton cemetery records his death as
May 26, 1698.

36 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
Roger Sumner bought of Robert Badcock, June 27, 1679,
Lot No. 2 of the Sixth Division on Brush Hill, and of
Robert Pease, Lot No. 6 of the Sixth Division. He prob
ably built the Sumner House, now standing on Brush Hill
on land of his father, about 1678. The house has been
enlarged and perhaps entirely rebuilt. In his inventory
taken twenty years later, Mary, his widow, is to have " as
her third the old end of the dwelling house at Milton valued
at £18.188,"
The old West school-house, which was the second or third
school-house built in Milton of which we have record, was
built in 1719, twenty feet long and fourteen feet wide, on
land of Ephraim Tucker, whose son Ephraim was a school
teacher, and probably had charge of the school here located.
This stood on the northerly side of Brush Hill Road just
south of the house of the late William M. Ferry. The
location is easily ascertained by the English elms set around
the school-house by James Smith and still standing there.
May 16, 1768, voted to build a school-house on widow
Vose's land where formerly stood a blacksmith's shop. This
was on a knoll now covered with cedars, on the west side of
Canton Avenue, north of the house of the late John D.
Bradlee. This house served its day, was removed, and is
still standing in Milton. In 1795 the school was taught
three months of the winter in the Brush Hill house, and
three months on Middle Street where the West school-house
now stands. Sarah Glover was teacher of the Middle Street
school for nineteen consecutive summers. She married
George Tucker and was themother of Ebenezer G. Tucker,
for many years on the School Committee of Milton. These
two schools were united in 1812 when the " Old Brick " was

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 37
built. This was removed and the present house built in
1870. Col. Jesse Pierce was teaching in the Brick school-
house in 1815, when the news of peace came.
George Sumner, the third child of William, was baptized
in England, March 1, 1633-4. He married, Nov. 7, 1662,
Mary, daughter of Edward Baker. He lived in Milton on
land of his father, and also on land allotted to him in the
Sixth Division Brush Hill.
He was for many years deacon of the Milton Church.
His house, built about 1662, stood in the field below the
house of the late George Ferry. It was occupied after his
decease, Dec. 11, 1715, by his children, and was burned
down April 10, 1748, with all the wearing apparel of the
family. It was rebuilt and long occupied by Abijah, his
grandchild. A timber from this old house is built into the
house of George Ferry.
Governor Increase Sumner was the grandchild of Edward,
son of George.
But few of the descendants of this family so noted in the
early history of Milton can be noticed in this brief sketch.
William, the son of Roger and Mary, born 1673, died
Dec. 27, 1738, married Esther, daughter of Mathias Puffer,
of Milton, June 2, 1697. Their seventh child was Seth,
born Dec. 15, 1710. He married, first, Hannah Badcock,
Oct. 17, 1734. She died Aug. 13, 1739. He married,
second, Lydia Badcock, in 1742. He died Nov. 11, 1771.
Seth, the son of Seth and Hannah, born July 4, 1735,
married Elizabeth Davis, of Dorchester. His children were
first Elisha, who married Nancy Vose, Aug. 3, 1792 ; he
was the father of Edwin V. Sumner, Major-General in our
Civil War. General Sumner lived during childhood in the

38 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
Kendall house on Canton Avenue, now owned by the Whit
ney heirs. He attended our West School and Milton Aca
demy. The second child of Seth was Davis, who married
Dolly Vose, Nov. 3, 1795, twin sister of Nancy, wife of
Elisha. They were daughters of Gen. Joseph Vose and
sisters of Col. Josiah H. Vose, the father of Mrs. E. V.
Field and Miss Caroline Vose, now living on the old Gen
eral Vose estate in Milton.
Enos, the son of Seth and Lydia, born Sept. 25, 1746.
He was a physician in Milton. He died June 3, 1795.
William, son of Seth and Lydia, born Aug. 6, 1748,
married, first, Elizabeth Minot ; second, Mary Pond ; third,
Sarah Thayer. His eleventh child was Rufus Pond Sumner,
born Jan. 17, 1799; married Susan Kingsbury. He had
ten sons and one daughter. Through his father, William,
son of Seth, he inherited a part of the Roger Sumner estate
on Brush Hill, Milton, which is now occupied by his sons.
His daughter is stiU living. James Sumner, our honored
fellow-citizen and friend who died last August, was his son.
James Sumner for a time taught the West school.
Job Sumner, the son of Seth and Lydia, born April 23,
1754, was graduated at Harvard in 1778. He was major
in the Massachusetts Army of the Revolution. He died
Sept. 16, 1789. His death occurred on a packet-ship on
the passage from Charleston, S. C, to New York. He
was buried in New York by the Masons, with much cere
mony, in St. Paul's churchyard, Broadway, where may be
seen a monument to his memory.
He had a son, Charles Pinckney Sumner, born in Milton,
Jan. 20, 1776 ; he graduated at Harvard, 1796. He was
High Sheriff of Suffolk for many years. He married Relief

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 39
Jacobs and died in 1839, aged sixty-three years. Charles
Pinckney Sumner was the father of the Hon. Charles
Sumner, born at Boston, Jan. 6, 1811, graduated at Har
vard College, 1830, — the distinguished United States
Senator of Massachusetts. THE HOUGHTON SCHOOL.
For the South School is proposed the name of the Hough
ton School, from the Houghton family dwelling in the near
vicinity for nearly two centuries.
Ralph Houghton was born in Lancaster, England, in
1623. It is said that he was the son of Sir Richard Hogh-
ton, of Hoghton Tower, Lancaster, who was created a
baronet by James I. upon the institution of the order,
March 22, 1611.
Ralph Houghton came to America on account of his re
ligious and political opinions. He had fought under Crom
well against Charles I. though he had been knighted by the
King for services to his person. He landed at Charlestown
between 1645 and 1647. Soon after he removed to Lan
caster, Mass., and with twenty-four others founded that
town in 1653. He was chosen the first Town Recorder,
and one of the six prudential managers. He represented
the town at the General Court in 1673 and again ia 1689,
and held various other town offices in connection with
Roger Sumner, of Milton, his cotemporary.
When Lancaster was destroyed by the Indians in 1676,
Mr. Houghton removed to Woburn, Mass., and in 1682 to
Milton. -Three years after he returned to Lancaster and
remained until 1690, when he came back to Milton and
settled " at Scott's Woods nigh unto Brush Hill," building
4

40 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
the homestead occupied by his descendants for seven gener
ations. He died in his house on HiUside Street, April 15, 1705,
aged eighty-two years.
This house, erected about 1690, was within the limits of
Braintree and remained there until April 17, 1754, ninety-
two years after the incorporation of Milton, when, in accord
ance with a petition to the General Court by his grand
children Nathaniel and Ebenezer Houghton and others, a
tract of three hundred and forty acres, embracing the
Houghton house and Houghton's pond, was annexed to
Milton from Braintree. The Houghton house stood two
hundred and five years in good condition, occupied by the
Houghton family until the last fifteen years. In 1895 it
was removed by the Park Commissioners ; like all aged
men and things disappearing to give place to the young and
the new.
Joseph Houghton, son of Ralph and Jane, his wife, was
born at Lancaster, July 6, 1657, and died in the homestead
at Braintree, March 22, 1737. He married, first, Jane
Vose, and second, Margaret Reding.
Ebenezer Houghton, son of Joseph and Jane, was born
at the homestead in Braintree, Aug. 25, 1695. He married
Sarah Evans, Sept. 17, 1722, and died in the homestead,
in Milton, Jan. 24, 1783. In 1722 Joseph Houghton
conveyed to his son, Ebenezer, a tract of one hundred and
fifty acres of land, embracing what is now known as
Houghton's farm.
Ralph Houghton, son of Ebenezer, was born in the
homestead at Braintree, Feb. 20, 1729; married, first,
Ruth Wadsworth, Feb. 15, 1759 ; second, Waitstill GuUi-

NAREATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 41
ver, Feb. 3, 1792. Jason, son of Ralph and Ruth, was
born in the Milton homestead, Aug. 25, 1768. He married
Katy Wild, Dec. 25, 1788, and died in the homestead, Sept.
16, 1843. He was a schoolmaster and was known every
where as "Master Houghton." He taught the Scott's
Woods school twenty-eight years.
In 1785 the town was divided into school wards. The
fourth ward was " from Mr. Reed's to Mr. Seth Crane's
including the farm that Mr. Gay lives on," — that is, from
Reed's Lane to Cantoji line, — embracing the Scott's Woods
school. Oct. 3, 1785, voted, " that Scott's Woods draw an
equal proportion of money according to their taxes, provided
the same is expended in keeping school, and shall be free
from the expense of a grammar school, but may have the
privilege of sending Latin scholars to the west end of the
town and no others." Joel Pierce taught the Scott's Woods
school in 1818 and 1819. Otis Pierce taught the school in
1822. May 9, 1791, voted " that the school-house at Scott's
Woods be repaired." The Scott's Woods school-house stood
at the end of a lane on Hillside Street, nearly opposite Har-
land Street. In 1852, when the present house was buUt, it
was moved and is now the dwelling house of Luther A.
Ford. The old house was built in 1769, dimensions 16 x 20
feet ; afterwards enlarged and repaired.
In this old school-house Master Houghton taught for
twenty-eight years. Later in life he was called Deacon
Houghton. He had fourteen children, all born in the
Houghton House.
Jason Wadsworth Houghton, his son, born June 12,
1793, married Nancy Davenport, ofMilton, Jan. 11, 1821,
and died at the homestead, Dec. 13, 1867. Two of his

42 NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON i
children are living ; Sarah still lives on Hillside Street in
Milton — George in Dorchester.
The Houghtoa family has been a pfominetit fainily in
Milton for nearly two centuries. Members of the family
have always been among the leading men of the town. The
first Ralph was selectman for three years. Deacon Nathaniel
Houghton was selectinan for ten years ; Jos-eph for one
year; Ralph 2d for seven years ; Jason W. for five years.
Ralph Ist was Town Clerk, 1683. Deacon Jason was
collector for eight years ; Deacon Nathaniel was moderator
for four years ; Ralph for four years , Deacon Jason for
eleven years.
Deacon Jason was on the School Cofamittee 1839, repre
sentative to General Court 1815 and 1816, and for a second
term 1834 and 1835 ; and Jason the youngest child of
Jason W. Houghton, was on the board of the School Com
mittee four years.

INDIAN GEAVES IN MILTON.

In excavating for a roadway over the land of John A.
and Arthur H. Tucker on the southerly side of Canton
avenue, opposite Robbins street, the workmen came upon
what appeared to be five graves. It was on a gravelly
knoll eight hundred feet south from Canton avenue.
These graves were partly filled in with loam, making the
soil wholly distinct from the pure gravel of the hill, and
this new soil seemed to indicate, by definite demarcations,
the length, breadth and depth of ordinary graves. The ex
cavation and fiUing in of new soil were perfectly manifest.
All other indications pf interment had disappeared, showing
a long period of time since the burials.
A peculiarity of these excavations was their location.
They were placed side by side ranging east and west. Ac
cording to the natural topography of the land, which is a
low hill sloping northerly towards the street, we should cxt
peot the graves to run north and south. May it not have
been the Indian usage, or religious sentiment, to bury their
dead with the head facing the east, disregarding all other
considerations ?
Now who of our ancient inhabitants were buried in this
little family cemetery ? I know of but two houses standing
on that side of Canton avenue one hundred and sixty years
ago. The house of Ebenezer Sumner was standing in

44 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
1706, and was doubtless the first house built in that section
of the town; besides, the house of Mingo, an Indian, one
of the Ponkapog tribe, was there in 1763, and probably
several years earlier. This stood a short distance west of
the Kendall house, on the southerly side of Canton avenue,
on a ridge of land through which Canton avenue was cut,
leaving the house on the southerly side, but most of the
ridge on the northerly side. This has always been called
" Mingo Hill."
Canton avenue was laid out in 1680, but not built and
made passable until 1723. In cutting through Mingo Hill
it left the house, which may have been standing at the time,
on the south side or end. Mingo was living in this house
in 1763, according to living testimony, all his family hav
ing passed away. He was then a very old man, feeble and
decrepid, and probably lived but a short time after this.
The only other houses in that vicinity in 1760 were the
William Tucker house, now owned by Mr. John Welch ;
the Manasseh Tucker house, now owned by the Murphy
heirs, on Robbins street, and the Ebenezer Tucker house,
now owned by the Whitney estate, all on the northerly
side of Canton avenue. The houses now standing on the
southerly side of the avenue have been built within seventy
years ; that now occupied by Mr. Bronsdon stands on the
site of the old Sumner house of 1706. None of the fam
ilies occupying these houses would have used, naturally,
the location in question for burial purposes ; indeed, mem
bers of all these families lie in Milton cemetery.
The range of supposed graves recently found was not in
the same enclosure as the Mingo house, but was southeast
of the house some distance in the rear. As at the present

NAREATIONS OP ANCIENT MILTON. 45
time, this tract was separated from the Mingo lot by two
walls forming a lane, which was spoken of in 1706 as
"Way to Olde Wolfe Petts "—see Suffolk Deeds— it was
also the road to Harhng's grist mill, at a later date, before
Harland street was built. One of these walls was the
ancient southwest boundary of Israel Stoughton's lot of four
hundred and fifty-six acres. The land on the west side o^
the lane belonged in the days of Mingo, to Manasseh
Tucker or his heirs, and on the east side to Ebenezer Sum
ner or his heirs. The present owners are — westerly, the
Whitney heirs, and easterly the Messrs. Tucker. This,
however, does not invalidate the natural and legitimate
conclusion that the supposed graves are those of Miago
and his family.
The new street now being made is named Mingo street.
It seems highly probable that the central and the western
portions of Milton, near the hills, were favored localities
with the Indians.
In old documents we find the hill comprising Col. Rus
sell's and Mr. Gilbert's estates called " Wigwam Hill."
Tradition makes Thacher's Plain an Indian cornfield.
We think the field in which the supposed graves have
been discovered may be called "Indian Field."
In addition to excavations showing the five graves, there
are other indications that the soil has been disturbed in
many spots. We find in the gravel formations, places
where the gravel has been removed, and different ingre
dients have taken its place, or in some manner have been
gradually formed. These places are from two to three feet
or more in circumference and depth ; a dark and discolored
soil shows plainly that some effect, other than that of na-

46 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
ture,.has caused the change. In some cases the stones and
soil seem to have been subjected to fire ; discolored stones,
and what seem to be bits of charcoal have been found.
Some one has suggested that here the Indians may have
prepared their skins so universally used for mocassins, cov
ering for their persons, and for wigwams. I have learned
that in this process they first stretched and dried the skins,
then subjected them to lye to remove hair, and then digging
a pit and placing in rotten wood to burn slowly and emit
dense smoke, they stretched the skins over the smoke and
fixed a covering over the whole ; this process was continued
for days and even weeks. Without doubt, long-continued,
hard hand work by the women was connected with the pro
cess, whatever it was, and the result was the peculiar ex
cellence of the skins finished by the Indians.
The early inhabitants of these bleak shores had no other
recourse to shield them from the winter's cold. They de
pended wholly upon the products of the chase and the
arrow. And wild animals and game of all kinds were
abundant in those days.
Ebenezer Tucker, who lived just opposite this field, had
a tannery on the west side of Robbins street, south of the
brook. In 1760 he sold to Zeb Gordon two deer skins for
£6 ; in 1762 he sold 5-lb. deer skin to Samuel Wentworth,
and in 1765 he sold two deer skins to Josiah Hadeen.
But in the opinion of a missionary of long standing
among the Indians, who is considered good Indian author
ity, and to whom the facts in this case have been referred,
these smaller excavations may have been " Dry Ovens " for
the cooking and preparing of material for their religious
ceremonies ; or more probably " Steaming Pits " for steam-

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 47
ing themselves to get rid of severe colds or worse diseases.
This was once quite common among the Indians of New
England. All over this field, which may have been an open field in
the days of the Indians, are signs of the disturbance of the
soil in periods long past. Three centuries ago the Indian
was the rightful owner of this soil. His wigwam, with its
sable inhabitants, was pitched along these hills ; his dead
were deposited in these grounds.
Milton, Jan. 25th, 1898.

ISEAEL (AND GOV. WILLIAM) STOUGHTON,
1630.

More than two and a half centuries ago Israel Stough
ton was a land owner in that territory of Dorchester, which
was set off to form the town of Milton. He came to Dor
chester among the very first arrivals from the old country.
The position he occupied, through his whole life, in the
affairs of the Plantation and Colony, points him out as a
man of superior intelligence and of large property. In
April, 1633, he was admitted freeman, and the same year
was chosen ensign of the Dorchester Band, then commanded
by Capt. Mason.
In the division of the town lands he appears with Mr.
Rositer as among the largest adventurers residing on the
Dorchester Plantation.
The earliest land grant to Mr. Stoughton was located on
Milton Hill in 1633. The first lot of 101 acres extending
from the river up over the hill, and the second lot of 61
acres, perhaps located at a later date, which provides for a
common landing place abutting the first lot and running
back, and still farther over the hill, nearly to Centre street.
No attempt is made to trace to the present ownership this
large tract of one hundred and sixty-two acres . This has
been done to some extent in the Milton History. It em
braces, perhaps, the most beautiful section of our town,
and is and has been the home of many of our best citizens.

50 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
On the 3d of November, 1633, the Dorchester Planta
tion granted Israel Stoughton leave to erect a miU at " Ne
ponset Falls," and leave to cut timber on their lands to
build the mill, which the First General Court, convened in
May, 1634, in wbich Mr. Stoughton was deputy for Dor
chester, confirmed, on condition of his supporting a suffi
cient horse bridge over the river, and selling alewives at
five shillings a thousand. In pursuance of this order, he
erected a corn mill, and ground the first corn ever ground
by water power in New England.
At the Furst General Court, May, 1634, Mr. Israel
Stoughton and Mr. Henry Wolcott obtained leave " to look
out farms for themselves." It is highly probable that the
tract of 456 acres, 3 quarters, 12 rods, situated on the
south side of Canton avenue, was selected at this early
period by Mr. Stoughton as his farm ; and when Milton
was incorporated, was, through exchanges or purchases,
made to conform by metes and bounds, with the parallel
line on Canton avenue and with the south boundary of the
town or Braintree line. This exact section of land, extendir
ing from the parallel line to the Braintree line, belonged to
the Stoughton family in the earliest years of Milton.
The south boundary of Milton or Braintree line was
straight, running from the base of " Woodcock Hill," now
" Forbes' Hill," to the top of Great Blue Hill. It met in
its course" Sturdy Oak," now marked by a granite pillar
near the end of Quarry street, then the " Red Gate," oppo^
site estate of George Vose. It crossed Randolph avenue
near the base of Tucker Hill, in the rear of the Jesse
Tucker house, and ran on through the low land crossing
Harland street at the foot of the hill on that street, and

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 51
thence on to the top of the Blue Hills. Canton aveilue
was laid out on a line parallel with this original southern
boundary. In 1661 Samuel Wadsworth located a grant of 100 acres
from the parallel line to the Braintree line, taking in, east
erly, a part or the whole of Highland street, and extending
Westerly to a point on Canton avenue, at or near the east
erly avenue of Col. Russell. Another estate may have
come between the Wadsworth and Stoughton lands, pos
sibly the seventeen acres of John HUl, senior ; but very
near this point the Stoughton lands began and extended
westerly down the hill, with a Canton avenue frontage of
just three-quarte5rs of a mile, to the lane leading to the
"Wolfe Pitts."
Meanwhile Israel Stoughton had passed from the scenes
of active life. In 1643 he went to England to attend to
his private interests. There he became intimate with
Cromwell and the leaders of the revolution, and determined
to devote his life to the Parliamentary cause. He returned
home and prepared for the enterprise. In 1644 he returned
to London in company with Nehemiah Bourne, his Milton
neighbor, and others whom he had persuaded to join him.
He entered the Parliamentary army as Lieutenant-Colonel
in the division of Gen. Rainsboro in Ireland, but his career
of service was short ; after two years he died at Lincoln,
1645. His son Israel died early. John was lost at sea in
1647. William graduated at Harvard in 1650. The de
sign of his education was the ministry, and he often preached
in the Dorchester Church, and was several times solicited
to become the pastor of that church ; but finally entering
into public life, he became eminent as statesman and judge.

52 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
He was Acting-Governor from the time Sir William Phipps
left the Province, Nov. 1st, 1694, to the time when Lord
Bellomont arrived in Boston, May 26, 1699. Bellomont
returned to New York in 1700, and Stoughton was again
Acting-Governor from July, 1700, to his death, July 7,
1701. It was Governor Stoughton who, in the election sermon
of 1668, gave utterance to those notable words : —
" God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain
over into this wilderness."
It is with William Stoughton that we have to do from
this point, and in all land conveyances. Entire accuracy
in these statements is rendered impossible from the fact
that many sales, in those days, failed of record, leaving the
chain often broken. All conveyances hereinafter men
tioned are confirmed by record unless otherwise manifest.
William Stoughton, before his death, or John Danforth
and Elizabeth his wife, after Mr. Stoughton's death, con
veyed to Anthony Ghilliver fifty-three acres of the eastern
section of this tract of 456 acres, 3 quarters, 4 rods, cov
ering a portion of the Col. Russell estate. Anthony Gul
liver came to Milton in 1646 ; he married Eleanor, daugh
ter of Rev. Stephen Kinsley, and resided near Algerine
Corner until his removal to the Stoughton land. He had
nine children, among whom was Jonathan, born 1659, one
of the leading men of his time. He married Theodora,
daughter of Rev. Peter Thacher.
On this territory the Gulliver family lived for four gen
erations. There were five houses built by the children and
grandchildren of Anthony. One, built by John Gulliver,
is now standing on Canton avenue near the corner of Col.

NARRATIONS OP ANCIENT MILTON, 53
Russell's eastern entrance ; and another, half way up the
avenue, now owned by Col. Russell, in which Deacon Cor
nelius Gulliver lived, and at a later period Widow Babcock.
A short distance east of this, over the boundary wall of
Col. Russell on the Churchill land, is an old cellar and
well, doubtless indicating the home of the ancient Anthony.
Deacon Jonathan Gulliver's house was in the open field,
midway between the John Gulliver and Robbins houses.
Samuel Keys, who married Hannah Gulliver, had a house
west of Col. Russell's main entrance near Canton avenue.
The Fairbank house on the north side of Canton avenue
was built by Lemuel Gulliver, and the Hunt house on the
same side by Dea. Isaac Gulliver ; neither of which were
on the Anthony Gulliver land.
In 1716 John Danforth and Elizabeth, His wife, conveyed
215 acres, their portion in the division of the William
Stoughton estate, to John Daniel, Jr., and George Bab
cock, bounded south by Braintree line, north by parallel
line, east by Capt. Gulliver and Nathaniel Gulliver, and
west by Mr. Morey and land given to the Town of Milton.
— Suf. Lib. 3, Fol. 128. In 1717 John Daniel, Jr., and
George Babcock sold 40 acres, the rear part of the above
lot, to Nathaniel Pitcher.
In 1748 John Gulliver, son of Nathaniel, mortgaged to
Robert Oliver 20 acres of the Gulliver land. In 1751
this came into the ownership of Robert Oliver.
In 1752 Robert Oliver conveyed to Rev. Nathaniel Rob
bins 16 acres, 3 quarters, 24 rods, formerly land of John
Gulliver. On this land Mr. Robbins built the house now
owned by Col. Russell. This passed on successively to
Judge E. H. Robbins, Dudley Walker, Francis Amory,
H. S. Russell.

54 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
In 1772 Nathaniel Robbins conveyed to William Tucker
19| acres, "bounded, west, part on poor man's lot, and
part on way leading to poor man's lot." Mr. Robbins,
evidently, had bought a portion of this tract from Walter
Morey, who was owner of the same in 1716.
On the theory that the original Gulliver lot was bounded
westerly by the present westerly bounds of Col. Russell's
lot, the lot conveyed to William Tucker embraces the tract
between Poor House lane and the Russell land. This
passed from William Tucker to Isaac Davenport, who sold
it Apr. 20th, 1784, with other land, to Benjamia Bronsdon,
without buildings. Bronsdon built the present house. In
this house the Rev. Benjamin Huntoon lived during the
two years of his Milton pastorate, and here his son was
born. Then it came in succession into the hands of the
following owners : E. J. Kendall, John R. Dow, William
H. Davis, W. R. Robeson, Horatio and H. J. Gilbert.
We come next, in tracing down the Stoughton land, to
the Poor House lot. I quote from the Town Records : —
" Feb. 28, 1706-7, God having graciously put it into the heart
of the Hon. Mr. Stoughton, late Governor, to will and bequeath
forty acres of his woodlot in Milton unto said town to be improved
by the select men of said town and their successors for the
use and benefit of the poor of said town forever, Mr. John
Danforth of Dorchester executor together with the selectmen of
said town, and Mr. John Dane, a skillful surveyor, did on 26 of
November enter upon the said land and measured off forty acres
for ye said town out of said wood lot next to Mr. Walter Morey's
land southeasterly, a brook being the bounds for the westerly and
Mr. Danforth granted there should be liberty for said select men,
and their successors and assigns to drive carts and cattle through
the remaining land of said woodlot from the highway and parallel
line in it, by the side of said Morey's land to the nearest corner
of said forty acres: — the gate being shut, or barrs put up after the
men, carts and cattle — the way when fenced to be two rods wide."

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 55
The brook indicated as bounding the western end is that
portion of Pine Tree brook on the western side of Harland
street near the house there standing. This brook was then
called Balster's brook from its source in the Blue Hills to
its outlet into the Neponset river below the Central avenue
bridge. This is the first and largest legacy ever received
by the Town of Milton.
The remainder of the Stoughton wood lot on the west
side of poor farm lane came early into the possession of
Amariah Blake. This descended in part to his two
daughters Lydia and Elizabeth. Elizabeth married John
Dingley ; both John and Elizabeth died leaving a child ten
years old, John Thomas Dingley. In 1814 Lydia Blake
mortgaged to Thomas Dingley, of Marshfield, guardian of
John Thomas Dingley, 31 acres of land with house and
barn standing on the same. This was the house and barn
that stood on the corner of Town Farm lane and Canton
avenue destroyed by fire thirty-four years ago. The next
conveyance was 30 acres sold by Nathaniel Blake to James
Ford, bounded north, TauntOn road ; west. Pine Tree brook ;
south, Poor Man's lot; east, John Dingley and widow's
thirds. These sales covered all the front land as far as the
brook. James Ford in 1825 conveyed the whole of the
above tract to Atherton Tucker and took mortgage from
Atherton Tucker on the same.
The cleared land on Canton avenue nearly opposite Mat
tapan street still bears the name of Ford hill, and the low
land along the brook Ford meadows, while the woods in the
rear is called " Tucker's Pasture."
The tract of 6i acres on the west of Town Farm lane,
¦just north of the Town Farm, was conveyed in 1825 by
5

56 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL.
John T. Dingley to Wm. Pierce, Jr., of Boston, and by
Wm. Pierce to Jacob Todd, and by Jacob Todd, onward
successively to Eliphas Clapp, Josiah Fairbank, Lemuel
Gulliver, James Merriam, H. J. Gilbert.
The lot on the corner of Town Farm lane passed through
various owners into the possession of Benj. S. Rotch, and
is now owned by H. A. Lamb. The back land, known as
"Tucker's Pasture," and the tract called "Ford Hill," are
also owned by Mr. Lamb, and "Ford Meadow" by E.
Blackman. We now come to the section of the Stoughton land lying
between Pine Tree brook and the lane to the Wolfe Pitts,
or the extreme western boundary of the large tract of said
land.

"In 1680 Wm. Stoughton, heir to Israel, sold to John Dike
17 acres, bounded northwest by parallel line highway, southeast
by a little run of water, Mr. Stoughton's land lying on the other
side of said run, northeast by Balsor's brook, and southwest by
the upland of widow Wadsworth." (Suffolk Lib. 12, Fol. 111.)
" In 1698 WiUiam Stoughton for 5£ sold to WiUiam SumnerS
acres, bounded, S. by the brook that runs under Pine Tree bridge,
s. w. by Wm. Stoughton and below the path that goes over the
brook aforesaid a little below a little meadow which lies at the
place known and called ' Wolfe Pitts,' west on land that was for
merly Capt. Samuel Wadsworth's, and n. e. on land of said Wil
liam Sumner which William Stoughton formerly sold to John
Dike, and is part of the same." (Suffolk- Lib. 19, Fol. 27.)

These two conveyances cover the remaining front land.
Here John Dike built a house two centuries ago, where the
house now occupied by Mr. Bronsdon stands, and lived
there many years with his family. The lot of 5.80 acres
on which stands this house, has been owned by Israel and

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 57
William Stoughton, John Dike, William Sumner and other
Sumners, Eliphas Clapp, Lewis J. Clapp, Edwin M. Clapp,
N. F. Safford. The house owners are N. F. Safford and
Geo. Crowd. The lot of 7.85 acres along which on4he
west side Mingo street runs, has had the following owners :
Stoughtons, John Dike, Wm. Sumner, and other Sumners,
Alpheus Carey, Ruby Carey, Hazen Morse, J. I. Kendall,
Henry A. Kendall, C. C. Kendall, Arthur H. Tucker.
The present house owners are Arthur H. Tucker, Wallace
C. Tucker, J. Small, T. Harlow. Portions of the land
between Harland street and the brook on which are three
dwelling houses, one owned by John A. Tucker, and two
by Elbridge Blackman, has passed through the following
proprietors — Stoughtons, Dike, WiUiam and other Sum
ners, Atherton Tucker, John Myers, Asaph Churchill,
Patrick Mulrey, Dennis O'Scannel, Elbridge Blackman, J.
A. Tucker.
The section of rear land adjoining this front consisting
largely of woodland and low meadow, all at first a portion
of the Stoughton grant, have had various owners, among
whom are : Safford, Churchill, Harling, Bronsdon, Ken
nedy, Sumner, Damon, Manasseh and William Tucker,
Governor Belcher.
About half a mile fi'om Canton avenue, directly on Har
land street, was the saw and grist mill of Thomas Harliog.
His house stood nearly opposite the mill. This was before
Harland street was built ; he used as the passage way to his
house and miU the lane called " Wolfe Pitts lane." In the
same vicinity, about 1850, and after, Lewis J. and Edwin
M. Clapp carried on the business of cabinet making until
their building was burned.

58 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
We now subjoin brief extracts from the wills of these
noted men Israel Stoughton and his son Gov. Stoughton.
Israel Stoughton : —
" To Sonne William I give half of my small Library for his en-
couragemt to apply himself to studies, especially to the holy
Scriptures vnto wch they are most helpful.
Unto Harvard College two hundred acres of land out of my
purchased lands on the northeast side of Neponset about Mother
Brooke, and one hundred acres more I give to the same vse, out of
my dues on the Blue HUl side, provided the town will allow it to
be laid out in due apportion to those former two hundred, that
the river only may part them, to remain to the college vse for
ever.'' Governor Stoughton : —
To Harvard College twenty three acres of pasture land and a
parcel of salt meadow in Dorchester, thereby providing that the
clear land and income thereof should be given in the first place to
a scholar in the town of Dorchester, and if there be none such,
one to the town of Milton, and in want of such, then to any well
deserved that shall be most needy. It is understood that this
legacy has not yet matured into a scholarship. " Unto the school
of Dorchester I give £150 for a yearly income, the salary for the
school teacher, if within the ten years next the town of Dorches
ter shall not have settled such a salary of their own as shall make
up £40 a year, the whole income of this gift shall yearly be paid
to Harvard College to be given towards some student from Milton
if any such there be, otherwise to some other that may well de
serve it."
It is supposed that the " Town of Dorchester " met the
prescribed requisition, and out of this legacy arose the name
of the "Stoughton School." This is not verified.
The town of Stoughton, set off from Dorchester Dec. 22,
1726, took its name fi-om Governor Stouffhton.
In addition to and in confirmation of the deed of Kitcha-

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 59
makin to Richard CoUicot the first Milton house owner,
Oct. 8, 1636, conveying all that tract of land beyond the
mill belonging to Dorchester, Josias, son of Josiah, son
of Chickatabut, deeded to William Stoughton, in 1684,
6000 acres, being the then whole Town of Milton. — Suf
folk Lib. 13, Fol. 149.
We have thus, in these statements, traversed amid other
days and other men. The great past often sends back lessons
helpful to the present. Its brightness and its shadows, its
successes and failures attract the attention of thoughtful
men. Milton, Mar. 17, 1898.

DOECHESTEE AND MILTON CHUECH LAND.
1659.

That noble band of men and women comprising the
Doechestee Company,
numbering one hundred and forty individuals, and repre
senting sixty families, embarked on the ship "Mary and
John " at Plymouth, Dorsetshire, England^ March 21st,
and, after a passage of seventy days, arrived at Nantasket,
Massachusetts Bay, May 30, 1630.
After as careful a survey of the adjoining territory as their
circumstances would allow, they pitched upon Dorchester,
then called Mattapan, as the most promising place for set
tlement. Within a short time they began laying out the Town
Plot, and arranging home lots, which, according to the rul
ing of the Court held in London, May 21, 1629, was to
be "very compact," granting one half of an acre for a house
lot. And no dwelling house was allowed to be built over
half a mile from the church. The church was the centre of
all, and received their first attention. They were inspired not
only by the hope of establishing homes, and creating business
enterprises, but by the higher motive of securing political
and religious freedom.
Consequently, as soon as the new country opened widely
before and around them, and land began to attain marketa^

62 noted men and histoeical
ble value, it was set off by land-grants to individuals, accord
ing to position, rank and wealth. The Church and the
religious element was ever prominent.
As might be expected, we find them early in their new
life making careful provision for the maintenance of the
church and the ministry.
The allotment of land for this purpose, according to the
original grant, is as follows : —
" At a meeting of the proprietors of the common land of Dor
chester yt Lyeth between ye divisions that are already Laid out
on ye line that runneth from Dedham to ye tope of ye Blue HUls,
they doe freely give, sequester and set out forever, lower hundred
acres of land, that is, two hundred acres thereof to be improved
from time to time for the use and maintenance of the ministry to
ye inhabitants of Dorchester on ye North West side of ye river
Neponset, and ye other two hundred acres to ye inhabitants of
Dorchester that live on the South East side of the sd river Nepon
set, for to be improved for the use of the ministry there from
time to time ; and the donors do declare that ye above said shall
not be given, or any way made over, alienated or sold directly or
indirectly to any minister or any other persons whatsoever, or to
their heirs, executors or assigns, but shall remain and continue to
be improved for the use above said.
" Voted by the proprietors above sayd ye 16 — 11 mo., 1659."
This entire tract, thus set off for ministerial purposes,
was within the limits of Unquity Quisset, which, about
two years later, on the 7th of May, 1662, was incorporated
as Milton.
It is the design of this paper to consider somewhat min
utely this tract of land ; to fix definitely its location and
boundaries, and to note the changes in ownership that have
occurred in the lapse of more than two centuries, hoping,
in some measure, to make prominent and to perpetuate the

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 63
high purposes of the thoughtful men who left this legacy
to their successors.
The boundaries of the four hundred acres can be quite
definitely fixed, even at this late date.
Beginning at its southeast corner on Canton Avenue, at
the old wall that marks the easterly boundary of the old
Centre School House lot, it runs along the northerly side
of Canton Avenue southwesterly to the old wall east of
Pine Tree Brook, and west of the blacksmith's shop. Can
ton Avenue was not then buUt, but the parallel line, mean
ing the line parallel with the southeast boundary of Milton,
then a straight line, was laid out. March 20, 1723-4,
Canton Avenue was laid out a second time, and built from
Atherton Tavern, the present Codman house, to near Nath
aniel Pitcher's house, the present Milton Convalescent Home,
one and a half rods on each side of the parallel line. At the
south-west corner, just east of Pine Tree Brook, the line of
the church land turns at nearly right angles, and runs straight
to the Neponset River, following the course of the old original
wall, unbroken save by roads, which forms the westerly
line of the Myers and Bradlee estates, and the dividing line
between the Robbins and HoUingsworth estates.
The northerly boimdary of the church land is the Nepon
set River.
The northeasterly boundary of this lot has heretofore
been designated in all charts and maps that I have seen as
a straight line, running at right angles with the parallel
line to the Neponset River.
This line would enclose much more than four hundred
acres of land, and is proved incorrect.
It begins at the southeast corner of the tract on Canton

64 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
Avenue and runs by the present old wall straight to Pine
Tree Brook, but no further in that direction. From the
point where it strikes this stream the brook becomes the
northwest bounds of the Milton section as far west as the
ice-houses. All the land lying on the brook, on its northwesterly side,
belonged at this date to Robert Vose, as will appear by the
following recorded deeds : —
"July 5, 1654, Ann Glover, one of the Executors of John Glo
ver, sold to Robert Vose all the Glover estate on and along Milton
Hill, ' and also about a mile from the Glover house, in a plain
called ' Providence Plain,' one hundred acres of land.' Suffolk
Lib. 2, Fol. 60.
Jan. 8, 1682, Robert Vose sold Thomas Vose one hundred acres
of land lying at a place called ' Providence Plain,' and twenty
acres of meadow-land adjoining, together with two dwelling houses
and a barn standing on said land, butted and bounded — N., Nepon
set R. ; E., Ezra Clap ; S., Balster's Brook ; W., Dorcester Church
land. Suffolk Lib. 12, Fol. 318.
June 20, 1684, Thomas Vose sold to Peter Thacher twenty-
three acres bounded — S., Brook, 120 rods ; N., Thomas Vose, 120
rods; E., Ezra Clap, 261-2 rods; W., Thomas Vose, 261-2
rods, right to pass by Ezra Clap's house. Suffolk Lib. 13, Fol.
253. April 19, 1717, Henry Vose sold to Susanna Thacher (wife of
Peter) 87 acres of land, bounded — S., on Peter Thacher's land
120 rods, beginning at Mr. Thacher's N. E. corner and running
W. 34 degs. S. ; then at Mr. Thacher's N. W. corner, turning
and running 26 1-2 rods S., 36 degrees E., unto a brook called
' Church Land Brook ' ; then westerly and northerly by a very
crooked line to the road leading to Brush Hill. Also a swamp
bounded — N., by Thomas Vose and partly by Milton Church
land ; W., by Milton Church land. Suffolk Lib. 31, Fol. 167.
This same lot, with same description, was conveyed by Oxen
bridge Thacher to E. Hutchinson and nine others, Dec. 1, 1733.
Suffolk Lib. 48, Fol. 187."
Thus Peter Thacher became the owner of one hundred

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 65
and forty acres, all bought from Thomas Vose or his heirs
except the Church donation; and the Plain two hundred
years ago called "Providence Plain" is now known as
" Thacher's Plain."
Oxenbridge Thacher, the eldest son of Peter, after his
father's death returned to the home of his childhood, about
1728, and remained a citizen of Milton till his death, Oct.
29, 1772. At his decease his homestead contained one hun
dred and forty acres, being the estate of his father. Of this
he devised to his grandson, Rev. Peter Thacher, fifteen
acres of upland and three acres of meadow ; and to his
grandchildren, Thomas, Nathaniel and Judith, the rest of
his land in Milton. Suffolk Probate Records.
Sept. 26, 1785, Rev. Thomas Thacher of Dedham sold
his share to J. Smith Bois. Two days later Judith sold
her share to said Bois. Three days later, Oct. 1, 1785,
Rev. Peter Thacher sold fifteen acres of upland and three
acres of meadow devised to him by his grandfather, to J.
Smith Bois.
This is the last of the Thachers in Milton. J. Smith
Bois conveyed most of this tract to Enoch Fenno, a potter;
thence it returned again to J. Smith Bois, and thence to
Walter Cornell, Oct. 17, 1855. Norfolk Lib. 108, Fol.
239 ; and after this to various owners. It was never
Church land.
After the incorporation of Milton steps were at once
taken to divide the land between the two towns.
" Whereas, the Town of Dorchester did appoint and empower
Captain Roger Clap and Ensign John Capen, together with
some others from the town of Milton, to divide the 400 acres of
land formerly laid out for the maintenance of the ministry in both
Towns, together with the common swamp near to Mr. Huchen-

66 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
son's farme. We, the above said Roger Clap and John Capen,
do hereby make our return of what was done in and about the
same, viz. : That some time on the 8th or 9th month, 1663, we,
the above said, together with Robert Vose and Robert Badcock,
of the town of Milton, met together upon the land aforesaid, hav
ing Lieut. Fisher of Dedham to do the work. And first we took
a platt of the meadow of Robert Vose, being within the compass
of these 400 acres, and found it to be 19 or 20 acres of meadow ;
afterwards it was debated wliich way the land should be divided ;
at length it was concluded by us all that there should be a parti
tion line drawn across the 400 acres ; that is to say, from Good
man Vose's fenced field, and from thence towards the Blue HiUs ;
and afterwards we should cast lotts which part should lye to
each town. But when the line was drawn (which line began 20
rods northwards from the corner post of Robert Vose's field) the
night drew on that we could no longer stay about it, but left it to
consideration for drawing of lotts till another time, if the towns
did not otherwise agree. The town of Milton desiring that part
towards Braintry as being nearest their own town, and for the
common swamp, the surveyor being to return home that night,
we were forced to leave that till another convenient time.
Witness our hands.
Roger Clap — John Capen."
" This return as above specified, being made by the persons
deputed upon the 7th of the tenth mo., 1663, at the general town
meeting, it was then and there put to vote whether the town of
Dorchester would accept of that part of the 400 acres next to
Neponsett River, and whether the town of Milton should have
that part next towards Braintry as being nearest and most desired
of them. The vote was affirmative.
Entered and examined by me. William Pole, Recorder."
This united action and decision of the two towns fixes
the two hundred acres of the church land belonging to Mil
ton as the southeasterly portion of the tract, Canton Avenue
being the southeasterly boundary. On the southeast side
the line runs from the corner near Thacher street to Pine
Tree Brook. On the west side it runs from the corner near

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 67
Pine Tree bridge in a straight line to " Little Pasture," near
Blue Hill Avenue. The northwest line in all cases, except
the northwest corner, is the brook.
Pine Tree Brook has been a noted little stream through
the whole history of the town. Running from its source in
the hills across the town northerly and northeasterly to the
river, it has received in its several sections the names of
Balster's brook. Pine Tree Brook, Aunt Sarah's brook, and
Robert Badcock river. In 1680 the road from the pine
trees to the meeting house was laid out, and a bridge built,
as appears from our records : —
"At a public town meeting in Milton, March 10, 1680. If it
be your minds to chuse Joseph Tucker, Samuel Pitcher, John
ffeno, Henry Glover, and Ephraim Newton, to be surveyors for
the making of a new way and a cart bridge over the brooke in the
PaliU line at the pine trees, some time this summer, who shall by
their vote have power to warn every man and his team in the
town and every male boy that is in the town above sixteen years
of age who are not exempt by law to attend that work being
legally warned : and if any do not attend tha shall be liable to
pay the fine, according to the order made by the select men con
cerning delinkquents upon highways : it is also to be understood
that the Sirvayers shall warn every man and hand liable to work
once over, before they warn one twise. This was voted in the
affirmative the day above said."
In completing the Metropolitan Parkway the State Com
missioners found it necessary to enlarge the bridge over Pine-
tree brook. It is an interesting fact, that in the needful
excavations they found, deeply embedded in the soil con
tiguous to the old bridge, several sections of white pine
trees, one of which was two feet in diameter and twenty-two
feet long, and in almost a perfect state of preservation.
The concentric circles indicating the annual growth of this

68 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
log gave it an age of ninety years. If this was buried in
1680, when the only bridge over the brook of which we have
any account, was built, it began its growth more than three
hundred years ago.
In the progress of time many changes of ownership have
occurred in the Milton Church land. The first was the
donation by the town of twenty acres to Rev. Peter Thacher.
It was laid out Nov. 4, 1681. It is thus described in the
Town Records, page 77 : —
" Lying next to the land of Ezra Clapp, being bounded on the
north by the brook and so running on the east by the land of
Ezra Clapp about 100 rods till it comes to the highway leading
to the town ; the breadth of the land from the wall being about
forty rods, and on the west side in length being seventy rods tUl
it come to the point to the highway."
Up to the present time it has been impossible to fix the
location of this Thacher land with any degree of satisfac
tion, as in all descriptions the southeast boundary is the
public highway, and in 1681 we knew of no public high
way to form the southeasterly boundary of the Church land,
but only the unseen parallel line.
By the help and kindness of one of our citizens, who
takes great delight in following the track of olden times
and ferreting out hidden things, we have been able to settle
the exact location of this town gift.
In 1674 a foot-path, possibly suggested by an Indian
trail, was made from Brush Hill to the meeting house ; this
was converted into, or widened out into, a cart path. It
ran in an easterly direction, crossing the Sumner land and a
section of the Church land, meeting Pine Tree Brook a lit
tle north of the present ice-houses, where the foot travel

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 69
passed on " the log " and teams forded the brook ; thence
it ran, still easterly, over Mattapan Street, across Mr.
Lamb's territory, near his stable, and on through the woods
in the rear of the Fairbank house, and across the land
of Mr. Hunt and Mr. Sias, touching the corner of the old
Centre School House lot and meeting the passageway in
in the rear of the horse sheds of the First Parish ; thence
its course was over the present Church lands, perhaps to
Centre Street and on to the church at Vose's Lane.
Another road, built in 1764, starting from near Pine
Tree bridge, ranged around " Wigwam Hill " over the land
of Mr. Lamb, and joined the above described road some
where beyond his stable. This united road was the public
highway of the town for more than ninety years, until Can
ton Avenue was made passable. Canton Avenue, then
called " The Old Taunton road," was laid out in 1723, "one
and a half rods on each side of the parallel line," but it
was not a travelled highway when the road around Wig
wam Hill was built in 1764. The demarkation of this
ancient passageway is still in sight. Even citizens of Mil
ton now living remember in their early years of walking
along this pathway and over the "log" to church. In
tracing its course westerly from the rear of the horse sheds
through its entire length to Mr. Lamb's stable, we find it
mostly over virgin soil, seemingly undisturbed since its first
use, and though somewhat effaced still easily discernible.
Alongside of this road, especially through the woods and
over the undisturbed sod, is seen a worn track, in places
deeply worn, which is suggestive of an Indian trail, trod
out by their single file marches from Unquety to Ponka
pog, or perhaps long before the Ponkapog Reservation was

70 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
thought of. This is the public highway that formed the
southeasterly boundary of the twenty acres given by the
town to " Parson Thacher." In further confirmation of this
we have in the description of the road around " Wigwam
Hill " the following :—
" Thence in a straight line till it comes through a rocky piece
of ground on the west side of said hill, thence to the south corner
of Oxenbridge Thacher's land on the west side of the old road."
There was still left between this road and the parallel
line a narrow strip belonging to the church land. The east
end of this was leased by the church to the town, on which
was built the Centre schoolhouse. The balance of this
strip, comprising three and a half acres, was sold to Joseph
Sias, May 5, 1852. Norfolk Lib. 333, Fol. 97.
It is therefore manifest that the tract of land forty rods
wide, extending from Canton Avenue to the brook, now
belonging to the estate of Joseph Sias, with the exception
of the narrow strip on Canton Avenue above referred to,
represents the twenty acres given to Mr. Thacher.
The next change on this land was the erection of a par
sonage for Rev. Dr. McKean in 1798. In 1807 Rev. Dr.
Gile took possession of this parsonage, and Sept. 3, 1833,
purchased it from the parish, with 34.30 acres of adjoining
land. At his decease, Oct. 16, 1836, it went to his heirs,
and was later sold by them to Col. B. S. Rotch, in whose
family it still remains. Only the cellar is left to mark the
residence of two Milton pastors.
The Fairbank house was erected by Lemuel Gulliver on
land leased by the church, Oct. 8, 1798, for ninety-nine
years. Within a few years it has been placed in the per-

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 71
manent possession of the Fairbank family by a quit-claim
deed from the parish.
The Hunt house was built by Deacon Isaac Gulliver on
land leased May 12, 1810, for ninety-nine years, at the
annual rentage of " six Spanish milled dollars." The parish
also leased to him. May 1, 1826, 21 a. 1 qr. 12 rods,
called the " Pound Pasture," for ninety-nine years, both of
which tracts were conveyed to the Gulliver family by the
parish, Jan. 24, 1833.
The pound was built by the town in 1774.
The parish leased to James Breck one and three-fourths
acres, bounded east by S. Gilc ; west and north by parish
land. Norfolk Lib. Ill, Fol. 180.
The First Parish of Milton secured from the Legisla
ture, Feb. 20, 1832, the passage of an act enabling them
to sell the ministerial land.
First Congregational Parish conveyed to William H.
Davis, April 2, 1846, 3 a. 3 qr. 38 rods, including land
leased to James Breck.
Feb. 20, 1852, the First Congregational Parish sold to
E. J. Hendee and George Simmons sixty and three-fourths
acres, embracing the whole of the remaining Church land,
from the W. H. Davis lot to Mattapan street.
Hendee and Simmons conveyed to William H. Davis
eleven acres and one hundred and fifty-eight square feet,
Nov. 6, 1853.
Hendee and Simmons conveyed to Albert K. Teele 46,488
square feet, Aug. 1, 1853, and one acre and 3,506 square
feet, June 17, 1854.
Hendee and Simmons conveyed to Benjamin S. Rotch
forty-six acres, Jan. 12, 1856.
6

72 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
May 7, 1854, First Congregational Parish sold to John
Myers thirty-seven acres, bounded north by land sold this
day to Taylor & HoUis, Asa Thompson and S. Adams.
Norfolk Lib. 229, Fol. 55.
May 7, 1854, First Congregational Parish sold to Tay
lor & HoUis eleven and three-fourths acres, bounded south
by John Myers six hundred and eighty-two feet to a stake
at an angle of a ditch dividing from Asa Thompson five
hundred and eighty feet to land of Dorchester Parish;
north by Dorchester Parish, nine hundred and thirty-four
feet ; west by Sumner, seven hundred and eighty-eight feet.
Norfolk Lib. 233, Fol. 244.
This completes the sale of the entire section of church
land belonging to Milton. The gift of 1659 is still doing
its good work. It is converted into other capital more
easily managed and yielding better returns.
Dorchester Church Land.
The two hundred acres set off to Dorchester for church
purposes remained under the custody and management of
the First Church from July 10, 1663, to Jan. 1, 1825.
The First Church was the only church of the munici
pality, and in all its movements represented and comprised
the town. It had the legal power to retain permanently
for its sole use the whole of the church land ; but in the
growth of nearly two centuries the town had spread out
into a Second and a Third church. Then, with a magnani
mous spirit, the First Church made the first move for a
division of the Church land among the three churches, and
carried it out to a happy issue.
In this division the First Church received less than one-

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 73
half of the Dorchester Church land, as follows : — " Great
Wood Lot" in Milton, 60a. Iqr. 24r. ; "Little Pasture"
in Milton, 46a. 2qr. 23r. ; " Gravel Hole " in Milton, la.
Iqr. 37r.
The Second Church received more than one-fourth, as
follows : — " Great Pasture " in Milton, 40a. 3qr. 24r. ;
part of " West Wood Lot " in Milton, 20a.
The Third Church received more than one-fourth, as
follows :—" Trott's Pasture" in Milton, 36a. 2qr. 23r;
part of "West Wood Lot" in Milton, 25a. 2qr. 23r.
These various sub-divisions of the Dorchester land it is
quite impossible to delineate accurately, did the object of
this paper require it. They comprise the whole tract of
the Dorchester Church land, stretching from the Capt.
Thomas Vose land westerly to the boundary wall and
northerly to the river. Some of the designated sections
are well known. " Trott's Pasture," set off to the Third
Church, lies north of Brush Hill Road, on the river, and
now forms the beautiful grounds of our townsman. Amor
L. HoUingsworth. But a few years ago John Trott's cel
lar was discernible in front of the HoUingsworth mansion,
and his well can now be seen.
The " Great Wood Lot " Ues between Blue HUl Avenue
and Mattapan Street ; a large section of it was sold to the
Blue HUl Terrace Co.
The " West Wood Lot " lies between Brush HiU Road
and Blue HUl Avenue.
The " Great Pasture " is the westerly portion of the land
lying between Brush Hill Road and Blue HUl Avenue.
The " Little Pasture " lies southeast of the " Great Pas
ture," being the portion cut off from " Great Pasture " by
Blue Hill Avenue.

74 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
The "Gravel Hole" is a narrow strip of land lying
between Brush HiU Road and Brook Road, now owned by
Boston. Brush HUl Road was built in 1676, before the 400 aCre
lot was located.
Blue HUl Turnpike, now Blue HiU Avenue, was located
and built in 1805-9, running from north .to south through
the Dorchester Church land.
Mattapan Street was laid out and buUt 1840-41, through
MUton Church land, by land of Enoch Fenno, Jr., and the
rest of the way on both sides through land of Asaph Churchill
Sr. The sole remnants of the four hundred acres set apart by
the fathers for church purposes and still remaining in the
hands of the original possessors are in the Dorchester sec
tion, the " Gravel Hole," now owned by the city of Boston,
and in the MUton section " The Pound," now owned by the
town of Milton.
The only public building ever placed on our Church
land was the Powder House, buUt by the town in 1811,
at an expense of $100. It was ordered "to be built of
brick, eight feet square on the ground and six and a half
feet high, with an arch turned over the top, with a wooden
roof." It still stands where it was buUt, on land of Hora
tio J. Gilbert, who has kindly preserved it as a public relic.
Here the Selectmen met every year to make cartridges
for the annual muster up to the time of the disbanding of
the state mUitia.
Some of our citizens who, as boys in 1840 and 1850,
were accustomed to visit the Powder House when unlocked,
retain a vivid remembrance of its formidable appearance,

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 75
with muskets standing in the corners and the sides lined
with knapsacks.
It would naturally be supposed by those unacquainted with
this section that a tract of land so near a great metropoUs,
in the course of two hundred and thirty-nine years, would
not only have changed owners many times but would now
be covered by residences, and present aU the aspects of busy
life. This is by no means the case with the MUton land.
There are but twelve dwelling houses on the whole tract.
In the rear of the dwelling houses large spaces are unim
proved, except for pasturage or woodland. The woodman's
axe seldom breaks the "silence of these solitudes. The soU
in many places has never been upturned by the plough. It
is the quiet home of MUton birds, rabbits and squirrels,
and the delightful retreat of those who love to form acquain
tance with the birds and to meet nature in its unspeakable
beauty. It may be possible within the limits of the Milton Church
land to carry along with us from generation to generation
some idea of the bounds and limits and purposes of the
legacy thus bequeathed; but in the more densely settled
parts of the town, where the Dorchester Church land lies,
with the passing away of men and the changes wrought by
time, every remembrance and trace of this gift of our fath
ers will be effaced unless memory is aided by some helpful
way-marks. In the whirl of modem life it is well to pause and take
our bearings, while ancient headlands are in sight.
Milton, Oct. 15, 1898.

MINISTEEIAL HOUSES.

Only two houses that could come under the denomina
tion of " Parsonage " have been built by the Town of MUton
since its settlement. These are the house built by eighteen
citizens on land given by Thomas Vose in 1663, and the
house buUt on the " Church Land," Canton Avenue, for
Dr. McKean in 1798.
The religious element seems to have been uppermost in
the minds of the first settlers, dominating their life, and
securing their first thoughts and earliest action.
Before the incorporation of Milton, Robert Vose, the
first of that excellent family, stUl represented in the town,
conveyed to the expectant town by deed of gift, Jan. 13,
1662, eight acres of land lying on "Vose's Lane" and
Centre Street, "for a meeting house and other ministerial
purposes." After incorporation the deed was executed and
delivered May 18, 1664. In the mean time a parsonage
had been erected on said tract by eighteen of the leading
men, probably the only free holders of the new town.
This house is often referred to in the records : Feb. 16,
1669, Rev. Mr. WiswaU was offered " £60 per year and use
of house and land, with liberty to cut wood for his own
use." Rev. Mr. Mighill occupied the ministerial house,
the rent of which, with wood, formed a part of his salary.
Rev. Samuel Man was its occupant, 1678-80. Rev. Peter

78 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
Thacher took possession of the ministerial house when he
came to MUton, Sept. 10, 1680, and occupied it until a
house buUt by himself was completed Nov. 11, 1689. The
old parsonage stood where the house now stands on the
southeast corner of Vose's Lane and Centre Street. In
1690 "the ministerial house and land lying to it," having
seemingly completed its special mission, by vote of the
town was sold to Edward Vose for £60. It afterwards
became the property of Vose Crane. After the decease
of Polly Crane, January, 1860, Charles Breck purchased
the estate for his brother, and thoroughly repaired the house,
putting in new sills and making the old structure over anew.
It is possible therefore that portions of the frame work of
the old structure built in 1663, remain in the present house,
and are now two hundred and thirty-six years old.
SECOND MINISTERIAL HOUSE.
Soon after the ordination of Rev. Peter Thacher the
town voted to convey to him twenty acres of the " Church
Land," Nov. 4, 1681. This land "lying next the land
of Ezra Clapp" [about the line of the present Thacher
Street], bounded "north by the brook," and south by the
"highway leading to the town," according to the records,
embraced most of the tract now owned by the heirs of
Joseph Sias. In addition to this grant of the town, Mr.
Thacher purchased for £100, from Sargeant Thomas Vose,
Jan. 4, 1682, a tract of land, with house and barn on the
same, of twenty-three acres. This was on the northerly
side of the brook, abutting his other land, and on this tract
he built his house about thirty rods from the brook. The
house was on the land now called " Milton Park " recently

NAREATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 79
laid out in house-lots, a short distance west from Thacher
Street. The cellar, drain, and well, are still discernable.
A large elm tree has grown up in the cellar, and marks the
spot. Mr. Thacher took possession of this house Nov. 11,
1689, and here he died Dec. 17, 1727.
"Nov 11 1689. Myself wife children and family removed
from Milton Ministerial house to our own house, and God made
me very earnest in prayer, that the guilt and filth of our old sins
might not follow us to that new habitation, but that God would
pardon what we had done amiss, and keep our house with us, and
dwell in our habitation." [Thacher's Journal.]
At a later date Mrs. Thacher bought of Thomas Vose
a large tract of land on the northerly side of the brook,
bounded southerly by the brook and extending westerly
nearly to Mattapan Street. Thus Mr. Thacher, or his
family, became the owners of one hundred and twenty
acres of land, and the plain lying between Thacher and
Mattapan Streets, two hundred years ago, called "Provi
dence Plaine," is now known as " Thacher's Plain."
Oxenbridge, the eldest son of Peter, removed from Bos
ton and took possession of his father's estate, where he
remained a citizen of MUton, till his death Oct. 29, 1772,
aged ninety-one years. Here also lived in his early life
Oxenbridge, the son of Oxenbridge, senior, the eminent
lawyer and defender of civil liberty in the days of the Revo
lution — of whom, Mr. Adams said: "They hated him
worse than they did Otis or Samuel Adams, and they feared
him more."
After the decease of Oxenbridge Thacher, the estate was
purchased by Enoch Fenno, who lived in the house until
it was destroyed by fire in 1798.

80 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
THIRD minister's HOUSE.
Rev. John Taylor, the second pastor of the town of Mil
ton, ordained Nov. 13, 1728, lived in his own house, built
by himself on the site now occupied by our Town Hall.
Oct. 27, 1729, John Trott conveyed to John Taylor
twenty-six acres of land : " bounded south on the road
leading from the old meeting house to the great blew hiU
West on land of Nathaniel Pitcher and Nehemiah Clapp
North on the brook and land of the late Ralph Shephard
and East on a lane leading from the great road to Brush
Hill and upon Ralph and Nathaniel Shephard's land, to
gether with the dwelling house and all buildings thereon."
Suffolk Lib. 45, Fol. 5. — Deliverance Trott, his mother,
joined in the deed.
Mr. Taylor may have lived, for a time, in the old Trott
house on the land thus purchased, but early in his ministry
he built the Taylor house. This passed on from one to
another, and remained in the Taylor family until it was
burned on the night of Sept. 22, 1864. Capt. John Tay
lor was the last occupant. After the fire he removed to
East Milton where he remained for the rest of his life.
The house occupied a conspicuous position between the
Churches, and was an old land-mark well remembered by
many citizens.
After the decease of Rev. Mr. Taylor, his widow, Doro
thy, who had married Peter Oilman, and his chUdren,
Nathaniel, WUliam, Ann, wife of Nicholas Oilman, Nov.
11, 1751, joined in the conveyance of the twenty-six acres
with dwelling house and buildings, to William Taylor,
brother of Rev. John, for £516-13-4. Suffolk Lib. 80,
Fol. 125. Thomas White sold to WUliam Taylor, Aug.

NARRATIONS OP ANCIENT MILTON. 81
23, 1756, eleven acres, bounded south and west by land
formerly of Rev. John Taylor with buildings thereon— Suf
folk Lib. 84, Fol. 42. The house of Thomas White stood a
short distance west of White Street on land now covered
by the extension of Central Avenue. White's Lane, and
then White Street, took their names from Thomas White,
who was an enterprising and honored citizen.
FOURTH MINISTEE'S HOUSE.
Rev. Nathaniel Robbins, who succeeded Mr. Taylor as
minister of the town, June 20, 1752, purchased his home
place of sixteen acres on Canton Avenue, from Robert Oliver
of Dorchester, who, as mortagee, had come into possession
of this tract of land, with buildings thereon, from John
Gulliver. To show the quaintness of the Ancient Deed, and to
furnish desired information respecting Mr. Robbins' estate,
the conveyance is here inserted in full : June 20*'^ 1752
"To all People to whom these presents shall come Robert
Oliver of Dorchester in the County of Suffolk & Province of
Mass. Bay in New England Esquire Sendeth Greeting. Know
ye that I the said Robert for and in Consideration of the sum of
One hundred and Eighty six pounds thirteen shillings and four
pence lawful money of the Said Province to me in hand well and
truly paid by Nathaniel Robbins of Milton in the County and Prov
ince aforesaid Clark the Receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge
and myself therewith fully satisfied have given granted bargained
sold aliened conveyed and confirmed and by these presents do give
grant bargain sell aliene convey and confirm unto him the said
Nathaniel his heirs and assigns forever a Messuage and Tract of
Land situate in Milton aforesaid formerly in the possession of John
Gulliver late of said Milton Gentleman and the same contains
sixteen acres three quarters and twenty one rods be the same more
or less and is butted and bounded as followeth viz. beginning at

82 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
a stake in the Corner of the Orchard near the Country Road thence
running Easterly upon Land of Anthony Gulliver as it is now
staked out then turning and running Southerly upon the Land of
said Anthony as the fence now stands then turning and running
Easterly upon the said A's Land as it is now staked till it comes
to the corner of land of Samuel Miller Esq. then running South
erly on Land of said Samuel as the fence now stands then turn
ing and bounded Westerly on the Widow Hannah Gulliver's Land
partly fenced off and partly staked off, then turning and bounded
Northerly upon a small strip of Land belonging to Hepzibah
Gulliver then turning and bounded Westerly on the said H's
Land till it comes to the Country Road then bounded Northerly
on the Country Road till comes to the first mentioned stakes with
all the Buildings and Fences thereon together with all the privi-
ledges and appurces to the same belonging or in any wise appertain
ing To Have and To Hold to him the said N. his heirs and assigns
forever." Suffolk Lib. 81, Fol. 24.
Mr. Robbins may have temporarily occupied the old Gul
liver house, reconstructed, or may, at once, have built the
large, red house, near the street, now owned by Col. H.
S. Russell. This was his residence during the long term
of his ministry, and here he died May 19, 1795, after a
pastorate of forty-five years.
At a later period he purchased six tracts of land abutting
and surrounding his home lot, from members of the Gul
liver family and others, untU his land extended westerly as
far as " Poor House Lane."
Mr. Robbins left two sons : Nathaniel J. Robbins and
Edward H. Robbins. Nathaniel J. died May 7, 1799,
and Edward H. administered on his estate. The Hon.
Edward H. Robbins lived in Milton through a long life
of active service in the town and Commonwealth and died
Dec. 29, 1829. He represented the Town of Milton at
the General Court for fourteen years, for nine of which he
held the position of Speaker. He was Lieutenant Gov-

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 83
ernor of the Commonwealth for five years, 1802-1807, and
after this he held the office of Judge of Probate for Norfolk
County for eighteen years up to the time of his decease.
John Gulliver sold to Mary, Elizabeth and Mindwell
Sumner, May 21, 1804, for $700, half an acre of land
with small dwelling house thereon, now standing on Can
ton Avenue directly opposite the Fairbank estate.
E. II. Robbins administrator of Rev. Nathaniel Robbins
sold, at public auction, to David Pierce, his father's home
stead, comprising forty-two and one-ninth acres, extending
from John Gulliver's yard on Canton Avenue westerly,
fourteen chains and seven links, to Ben Bronsdon's land
for $4,732, Oct. 21, 1800.
Isaac Winslow administrator of David Pierce sold to
Dudley Walker the same estate Feb. 7, 1810. And Dud
ley Walker conveyed it to Francis Amory, Feb. 4, 1813,
for $5,000. THE FIFTH MINISTER'S HOUSE.
Second Parsonage.
Rev. Joseph McKean the successor of Mr. Robbins was
ordained Nov. 1, 1797.
In 1798 a parsonage was buUt by the town of Milton on
the Church land, the north side of Canton Avenue, directly
opposite the Robbins house. Every vestage of this house
has disappeared, except the well. It was taken down in
1868 and portions of the frame and timbers were built into
a dwelling house now standing on Brush Hill Road, Matta
pan. In the summer of 1899 a flourishing field of potatoes
covered the whole tract of cellar and out- buildings.

84 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
Dr. McKean, by reason of feeble health, held his Milton
parish but a few years. He was dismissed Sept. 30, 1804.
He became professor of oratory in Harvard College, and
received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Princeton
CoUege and of D.D. from Alleghany College. His brief
career was bright and glorious. He died in Havana, 1815,
at the early age of forty-two years.
Rev. Samuel Gile foUowed Dr. McKean as minister of
the town, and was ordained Feb. 18, 1807. He took pos
session of the McKean parsonage and purchased the same
from the town, March 8, 1833. " Jesse Tucker was author
ized to sell to S. Gile, agreeably to an act of the Legisla
ture, thirty acres of land with house &c. thereon for fifty
[50] dollars per acre." Norfolk Registry Lib. 99, Fol.
326, Dr. Gile died on Sunday, Oct. 16, 1836. After
joining in the morning service he was stricken with apoplexy
and died before the afternoon service.
His widow, Mary H, Gile, continued to occupy the estate
until her death, June 25, 1862. It then passed into the
possession of the heirs of Mary P. Tucker the daughter
of Dr. Gile, who had married Mr. Lewis Tucker of MU
ton, and was sold by them to Col, Benjamin S. Rotch,
April 1, 1864, See Norfolk Deeds Lib, 322, Fol. 220.
One of the heirs of Mr, Rotch still owns the estate,
SIXTH minister's HOUSE.
Rev. Samuel Cozzens was installed pastor of the new
church May 24, 1837- He buUt the house east of the
church building and occupied it during the ten years of
his ministry. It is now owned by the heirs of Mr, G, S.
Gushing, AprU 29, 1834, Nathaniel Tucker, of Milton,

narrations of ancient MILTON, 85
sold or gave to the trustees of the First Evangelical Con
gregational Church of Milton three-fourths of an acre of
land on which to erect a church building. Norfolk Lib.
Ill, Fol, 340. July 4, 1834, Nathaniel Tucker conveyed
to the six trustees of the First Evangelical Congregational
Church of Milton, " for the support of the ministry of the
Church for whose use the new Meeting House is now build-
ing " the land lying between the meeting house lot. White's
Lane and Walnut Street. Norfolk Lib. 119, Fol, 339.
In 1837, the Church sold to Rev, Mr, Cozzens a tract
of its land for his house. At the termination of his minis
try, March 28, 1848, Mr. Cozzens conveyed his house and
lot to Mr. Edward Baldwin, and April 1, 1848, the trus
tees sold to Mr. Baldwin the balance of their land in the
rear, donated by Nathaniel Tucker, Norfolk Lib, 179,
Fol. 128. SEVENTH minister's HOUSE.
Rev. Joseph Angier was installed pastor of the First
Congregational Church and Parish Sept. 13, 1837, His
connection with the Parish was dissolved at his own request,
and against the wishes of the people, June 22, 1845,
Mrs, Ehzabeth Rotch Angler, wife of Rev, Joseph An
gier, bought of William Rotch, Nov, 1, 1843, a tract
of land on Milton Hill of three and one-eighth acres with
house and^ barn thereon, bounded northwest by John M,
Forbes, north by Charles Taylor, southeast by Nathaniel
Thomas and southwest by Old Plymouth Road and J. M,
Forbes, Norfolk Lib. 183, Fol. 171. The old house was
removed by Mrs. Angier, and the present mansion erected.
For a part of his ministry Mr, Angier occupied this house.
It is now owned and occupied by Miss Joanna Rotch.

86 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
EIGHTH MINISTEE'S HOUSE.
Rev. John H. Morison succeeded Mr. Angier, Jan. 18,
1846, and continued pastor, or senior pastor, until 1886.
~Dr. Morison bought of John M, Forbes, Aug, 14, 1846,
a tract of land of one and a half acres on Milton Hill, on
the north side of Adams Street. On this land he erected
a mansion in which he resided during most of his ministry.
Norfolk Lib, 172, Fol. 245. Subsequently he removed to
Boston, and his Milton estate passed into the possession of
Mr. Merriam, whose heirs stUl hold it.
NINTH MINISTEE'S HOUSE.
Rev. Albert K. Teele was installed over the First Evan
gelical Congregational Church, Dec. 18, 1850, and con
tinued as pastor until Dec. 18, 1875.
After an interim of several years. Rev. Calvin G. Hill
was installed pastor, with Mr. Teele as pastor emeritus.
On the 18th of December of the current year, Mr. Teele's
connection with this Church will fill out half a century.
Early in his Milton residence, he purchased of Hendee &
Simmons of Boston, by two deeds dated Aug. 31, 1853,
and June 17, 1854, two and a third acres of land on the
north side of Canton Avenue, and built the house in which
he now lives, TENTH MINISTEE'S HOUSE,
Rev, Calvin G, Hill was installed as pastor of the First
Evangelical Congregational Church, Feb, 8, 1882, Febru
ary 9, 1882, Mr, HiU bought of George T. Tilden one and
a half acres of land situated on White and Walnut Streets
and built the house in which he now lives, Norfolk Lib,

NAEEATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 87
534, Fol. 636. After a term of years he resigned his posi
tion and entered into evangelistic work in Maiden, but stUl
held his MUton residence.
ELEVENTH MINISTER'S HOUSE.
Rev. Henry S. Huntington was the successor of Mr.
HUl, and still remains in charge of the Church.
February 1, 1894, Mr. Huntington bought of Samuel
A. Shaw the house and land which he now occupies. Nor-
foLs Lib. 707, Fol. 261.
It is presumed that all other ministers of Milton were
wise enough to copy after Saint Paul, who, while in Rome,
"dwelt in his own hired house."
Milton, Jan, 4, 1900,

A CENTUEY'S CHANGES.
MILTON AS IT WAS, AND AS IT IS.

In taking a hasty survey of the eighteenth century, we go
back of the life time of almost all now in being, and gather
our information from the records of other days and other
men. In those days there were great and good men who laid
broad and deep the foundations upon which we are now
building, and the important results of their living are
manifest. Nevertheless, the great advance of the last cen
tury, especially in the practical application of the power of
steam, and in the development of the varied forms of electric
force, is indeed marvellous.
At that period there was no steamboat. Until a quarter
of the nineteenth century had passed there was no railroad.
The time when the first ocean cable was stretched beneath
the waters, from continent to continent, is within the
memory of most of those now living. Still more remem
ber when the telephone began its wonderful work. All
these, with the magic changes wrought thereby in almost
every phase of human life, have reached their present per
fection since the period under consideration.
Thus the general outlook of the marvels wrought within
a century fills the mind with amazement.
" And step by step since time began
I see the steady gain of man."

90 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
We are, however, to narrow our range of vision and see
what changes have occurred in our town of Milton.
Milton, A.D. 1800.
MUton, in 1800, presents a small community of families,
united, contented and happy, made up of a God-fearing,
Sabbath-keeping, church-going people, with moderate desires
and expectations, earnest in the work before them, and
seemingly satisfied if that work was weU done, even though
of little public value.
There was but one church. The building was the same
now occupied by the Unitarian Parish ; in later days,
modernized and changed in position. Thither the people
came with conscientious regularity at morning and afternoon
service. It was the fashion to attend church. Seldom was
a family unrepresented.
The only pastor of the town, at that date, was Dr. Joseph
McKean, a man and a minister, bright, ardent and attrac
tive. The number of inhabitants was eleven hundred and forty-
three. There were two hundred and sixty-two tax-payers.
The taxes assessed for 1800 were one thousand and five
hundred dollars.
There are no statistics from which we can draw the
assessed valuation of the town in 1800. In 1761 there is
an " estimate of the several articles in Milton by which the
tax of the town was regulated." Omitting the designated
articles, the total sum is £2919 6. 0.
The area of the town was larger then than now. Four
hundred acres were surrendered to Hyde Parkin 1868, and

narrations of ancient MILTON. 91
forty acres to Quincy in 1885. The Commonwealth of
Massachusetts has appropriated its beautiful hills with the
interlying valleys.
The scattered inhabitants, almost exclusively farmers,
lived on their wide-spreading farms and gained a scanty
support from the meagre products of these farms. They
were trained from childhood to habits of hard work and
close economy.
The streets and passage-ways were only sufficient for the
possible need of the inhabitants. They were kept in pass
able condition by each family " working out " its tax on the
road nearest at hand. Along these streets were continually
passing and re-passing the old-fashioned baggage teams,
bearing various kinds of produce from the interior towns to
Milton Lower Mills, where the vessels of Daniel Vose
transported them to cities and towns on the seaboard, and
returning laden with the products of other lands for the use
of the rural inhabitants. At frequent intervals on these
roads were taverns or places of public resort, abundantly
furnished, as the times required, with " drink for man and
beasf." One of the great events of the day was the arrival
and departure of the four-horse stage-coach from Boston to
Taunton, and through Milton over the " old Taunton Road."
This was the only public conveyance of the section.
Aside from farming the industries of the times were a
grist-mill, chocolate-miU, powder-mill, paper-mill and other
minor industries. Shipbuilding, now unknown here, com-
memced in Milton at an early date. Enoch Badcock buUt
the ship " Mary & Sarah" in 1693. In 1765 two vessels
were built by Vose & Fenno, one a schooner launched May
8th, the other a brig launched Oct. 29th. Daniel Briggs

92 NOTED MEN AND HISTOEICAL
built the " Kanawah," the " Milton " and the " Jane." " In
1791 a large brig launched at Brigg's." Through the last
half of the eighteenth century the Neponset was an important
stream. Up to 1833 there was increasingly active business.
In that year it reached its climax. Seventy-four vessels, of
an aggregate of six thousand tons, discharged their freight
at the village.
At the time under consideration there were five smaU
school-houses, located in different sections of the town,
affording opportunities for attending school, as to distance,
nearly as good as now enjoyed. The teachers Were mostly
"School Dames." The custom was to have the teachers
" board around " a week or more in a famUy, according to
the number of children, and the salary was provided, in
part, by proportionate assessment on the families.
Town meetings were held on the church green, except in
stormy weather, when they were adjourned to the church.
The first Town Hall was built in 1836.
A " Library Society " was established on Brush HiU,
June 1798, and incorporated by Act of the General Court
April 3, 1800. This was kept up for a few years and then
abandoned. In 1793 the " Fireward Society of Dorchester & MUton "
was formed. The two towns joined in the enterprise.
Individuals on both sides of the river united iu the purchase
of a fire-engine for the benefit of the estates of the share
holders. One share represented a hundredth part of the
engine. It was a small hand-machine filled by leather
buckets ranged along the poles of the engine.
A Post Office was in existence late in the eighteenth
century, located at the " Stanley House," then a public-
house, kept by Mrs. William Badcock.

NAEEATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 93
The first Postmaster was Dr. Samuel R. Glover.
Up to the last of the eighteenth century MUton Cemetery
consisted of about one acre of our old grounds overgrown
with briars, and sadly neglected.
This rapid survey of the olden times seems to carry us
back to the beginning of things. The people were simple,
quiet, contented and happy. The changes wrought by the
flight of a century almost beggar description. The contrast
is as the glimmering of the morning twUight before the full
glories of the perfect day.
Milton, A.D. 1900.
As the thoughts fly over this wide hiatus of time, from
century to century, the mind is bewildered by the condition
of things. The beautiful hills are still here, only changed
by the " Reservation Avenues " invading their once quiet
domain and the " Rotch Observatory " crowning their sum
mit. The general outlines of the scenery are the same. But
innovation and improvement appear everywhere. A few of
the old dwellings stUl remain. Those who occupied them,
who walked these streets and worshipped together in the
sanctuary, have long since departed.
Instead of one church edifice, one church and one pastor
for the whole town, we now have eight church organiza
tions and five buildings within our limits, with faithful and
devoted pastors dispensing the infinite blessings of the Gospel
to all who will receive them. The following query might
be suggested : With aU our church privileges and facUities
and our great increase of inhabitants, is the aggregate of
worshippers in all our churches, on a given Sabbath, as
great as on a single Sabbath with the one church and the

94 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
sparse population of the eighteenth century? At the hour
of worship the tide of travel seems rather to set away from
the sanctuary than thitherward.
Between the hours of three and four p.m. on a Sabbath in
May, when the conditions for pleasure driving were not the
most favorable, eighty-six carriages, mostly containing four
occupants, and ninety-two bicycles passed a given point on
Canton Avenue. A second query more easUy answered,
here arises. Is our Sabbath as carefully observed as in
days of yore ?
The number of inhabitants at our last census was five
thousand five hundred and eighteen. It is now greatly
increased. The number of polls in 1899 was sixteen hundred and
seventy-one. The taxes assessed in the town for 1899 were $232,519.16.
MUton's valuation of personal estate
for 1899 was. . . $11,660,886.00
Valuation of real estate . . 9,026,900.00

Total valuation for 1899 . $20,687,786,00
The avenues and streets are generally as good as can be
found within the Commonwealth, and are sufficient in
number. Abundant water flows beneath their surface, and
electric lights flash out in the night season. The sum of
$39,000 was appropriated in 1899 for the use of the high
way department. Around the Blue Hills, and over the
rolling country, diversified with ever recurring hill and
valley, those in search of health and pleasure are driving,
on every pleasant day ; thus adding life and beauty to the
scenery. Instead of the baggage-wagon and stage-coach

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 95
we have along our streets the constant succession of these
elegant teams. In the east and west sections of the town
the street cars are reaching neighborhoods hitherto isolated.
Within the last year the Metropolitan Park Commis
sioners have laid out and completed a boulevard more than a
mile and a half long and a hundred feet wide, with Macadam
and gravel finish from the entrance to Milton at Mattapan
to Canton Avenue, on its way to the Blue Hills, which,
when extended over the hills and through the woods to
Houghton's Pond, will scarcely be surpassed in picturesque-
ness and beauty.
The industries of the present day, though not so varied as
in early times, are much more extensive in several branches.
Dairy and vegetable farms for the market of the city and
suburbs are numerous. Milton seems rather to have be
come a chosen place for suburban residences of those who
pursue their varied lines of business in the great city.
The schools are among the best of Massachusetts schools.
There are seven large, commodious and healthful general
school buildings ; and a High Schol edifice fit for the palace
of a king, with a full corps of competent, faithful teachers.
The last appropriation for the support of the schools was
$57,000,00. The pupils are transported from distant parts
of the town to the High School at the annual expense of
$2,500. In addition to the public schools, Milton Academy has
become an Important institution for the benefit of citizens of
the town and of the Commonwealth. It is the owner of a
laro^e tract of land on which stand two dormitories, each
o
planned for the comfort and convenience of twenty boarding
pupils, and each fully occupied, so that the '' waiting list "

96 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
calls for a third dormitory, which is now in process of con
struction. The Academy buUdings, for class and recitation
rooms and for the varied uses of the school, are convenient
and ample. The new building on Centre Street is thought
to be the most perfect of its kind in the country. Crowning
all is a most efficient head master and manager, with a full
band of teachers well fitted to their great work.
At the March meeting in 1878 the town voted an appro
priation of $35,000 for the erection of a Town Hall. The
present Town Hall was then built. The structure is a solid
and well planned buUding, designed for and expected to
meet the wants of the town for a century, but alas ! already
too smaU. " The best laid schemes of mice and men
Gang aft a-gley,"
Milton Public Library was opened Feb. 23, 1871, with
thirty-five hundred carefully selected volumes on the shelves.
Additions have been made annually from books old and
new, untU the number of volumes in the library is now
above ten thousand.
In 1877 a reading room was opened in East Milton,
which was supplied with periodicals and books from the
library. In 1899 the Russell Reading Room at Scott's Woods was
adopted by the town and books with periodicals furnished.
In 1900 the Mattapan district was provided with a reading-
room and all the library facilities for that portion of the
town. Literary men and women pursuing special lines of
study, ministers, teachers, as well as the schools, are
awarded special privileges at our library. It is the purpose
of the town and the plan of the trustees to extend its

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 97
usefulness in every feasible way. The last appropriation
for the Public Library was $2,100 and the dog tax.
MUton Cemetery, covering one acre of land in 1800, has
now an area of fifty-six acres, two quarters and twenty
rods. No better location could have been selected within
the limits of the town for burial purposes. It has been
judiciously planned and carefully divided into avenues,
paths and lots by the best landscape artizans. The town
requires its trustees to keep this sacred place in the best con
dition so as to present a peaceful and quiet resting place for
those who go from us, and an inviting locality for their
friends. The annual appropriation for its care is $2,000.
Our Fire department is very perfect and very efficient.
It consists of a steam fire engine, a chemical engine, hook
and ladder co,, supply wagons, hose and hose-men in full
numbers. "Semper Paratus" might be its motto. It is
always on hand and always in time. The fire alarm tele
graph bears the rapid message of danger to these watchful
guardians, who are ready for an Instantaneous response.
In the rear of the town hall dwells the element of safety for
all citizens. Fifteen thousand dollars was the last appro
priation for its support.
Thus have we glanced at Milton as it is. It is a grand
old town, and a hundred years have added greatly to its
magnificence. From this review the natural inference would be that a
town so charming in its scenic attractions, so richly sup
plied with all things needful to contribute to prosperity
and happiness, would be united and harmonious in all its
affairs. That the citizens would be interested in each other
and would act together for the best good of all. Whereas

98 NOTED MEN AND HISTORICAL
the citizens ofMilton bear the reputation of being unsocial,
exclusive and condescending. If this reputation is justly
attributable to them it may be explained by the peculiar
dividing up of its inhabitants.
Far back in the centuries "Balster's Brook" was the
dividing line of the town. The citizens were designated as
those on the east side of the brook and those on the west
side, " Milton Lower Mills " was the location of the chocolate
mill and the head of tide water on the Neponset. This,
with the great attractions ofMilton Hill, ensured a thriving
settlement at an early date. The business of shallop-build
ing at Gulliver's Landing, with the early selection by
Governor Belcher and Secretary Foye of East Milton as
their summer home, was the beginning of East Milton
viUage. The paper mill at "Milton Upper Mills" or
Mattapan, was the nucleus of that village. The balance of
the township was occupied by farmers scattered widely on
large farms. These villages, located in the outskirts of the
town, and remote from each other, were complete in them
selves and found all needful society within their own circle.
The farming population, widely separated from each other
and from the villages, were led to centre their interests, and
seek their enjoyments among themselves. Thus the town
was early divided into independent villages and isolated
farms. At a later date the railroad came to each of these villages.
This contributed largely to their prosperity, but turned the
line of travel wholly outside of Milton. At five different
points it tapped the great fountain of supply to Irrigate and
enrich the land outside. The people never forget that

NARRATIONS OF ANCIENT MILTON. 99
within a half hour they may reach the great city where all
their wants, physical, moral, social, intellectual and religious
may be met and fully satisfied.
To-day we have the two original churches and the public
buildings of the town at the centre of the locality, but the
people are far away.
At Milton Lower Mills, the social wants, the church
privileges and family supplies may all be drawn from Dor
chester more easily than from the home town. Brush Hill
and vicinity find a near and ready supply for every demand
at Hyde Park. The most westerly part of the town
naturally turns toward the railroad outlet at ReadvlUe,
while Scott's Woods and New State are now on the line of
street cars leading in all directions.
Milton has no point of centralization around which its
citizens cluster, and towards which everything converges.
As a consequence, though strange to say, the townspeople
are unacquainted with each other, except in villages and
neighborhoods. Home interests are overlooked, home
churches languish, home trade is paralyzed, and Miltonites
are termed unsocial and exclusive.
If this spirit exists it cannot arise from any settled pur
pose of action, much less from unkindllness of feeling.
There never was a people more considerate of the deserving
poor, or more ready to engage in every good work, in their
own way, or better to live among, as an experience of fifty
years heartily bears witness.
And one can truly say, adopting the words of the poet
regarding his own country : —
Milton, " with all thy faults I love thee still."
A. K. TEELE.
Milton, Mat 19th, 1900.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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* 1

*1*

-- '•\

^,ff

}t

"T