Original English inhabitants and early settlers in Somerville.
By Aaron Sargent.
It was after a lapse of more than two centuries from the time the first white man came hither that the name of Somerville was given to a Massachusetts town. Originally our territory, as is well known, was a part of the then town of Charlestown and, until our incorporation as a separate town, was mentioned in the town records as ‘without the Neck’; but not quite all of what was so-called is within our confines. The line as established when Somerville was set off caused some friction at the time among those living near and on either side of the boundary, and the partition as made was not satisfactory to many of those residing in the vicinity and on both sides of the border; but each side was in a measure happy because the other side was unhappy; and this statement is absolutely true.For convenience at this time, our territory will be designated as Somerville.
The local names within our borders in the early time were the Ten Hills Farm, between what is now Broadway and the Mystic, and from Medford town line to about where Winthrop Avenue connects with Broadway the line extended by a creek to the river; but the larger part of the farm was outside of our limits. The Highfield and Highfield-mead included all the remaining territory between Broadway and the river: but a part of the Highfield was on the Charlestown side of our boundary line. The Stinted Pasture, or Cow Commons, was from Broadway [26] toward Cambridge, and north from the ‘Road to Cambridge,’ now Washington Street, and comprised a large part of Somerville. Gibbons-field, the South-mead and the West End were south of the ‘Road to Cambridge,’ and westerly of what is now the Southern division of the Boston and Maine Railroad. Strawberry Hill was probably the same as our Prospect Hill. Lastly, there can hardly be a doubt that a part of what was called the Line-field of Charlestown was between the Stinted Pasture and the Newtown, or Cambridge, town line; from what is now Cambridgeport to Menotomy River, now Alewife Brook; the Line-field extending, also, into what is now the town of Arlington to, Mystic Pond.
All these local names are now obsolete except that a part of the original Ten Hills Farms within our limits is still known as such. A century or more ago the Highfield became Ploughed Hill, and over two centuries ago the Highfield-mead became Dirty-marsh; but these names are now extinct, and there seems to be no modern names except for Strawberry Hill for the other localities of the olden time. The Cow Commons, as grazing ground, and also other lands in Somerville, were held largely by the inhabitants of the peninsula of Charlestown. The Commons were a feature of the town, almost from its commencement to 1685, or a little later, but in the next century were unknown.
A record in the town book of Charlestown would seem to imply some disposition of the Commons. The language is ambiguous, to say the least, but may be read as a literary curiosity. The record says:—
[28]
There was undoubtedly some meaning to this vote, and perhaps its adoption by the town tended to a discontinuance of the Commons in a short time.
The earliest inhabitants, those who came the first thirty years, did not remain as permanent settlers; and, with perhaps three exceptions, neither left nor have now descendants here.
For the purpose of recording them, however, as resident in Somerville, they may he named in chronological order, by the years of their coming, so far as ascertained.
John Winthrop, the governor, 1630, owned Ten Hills Farm in 1631, and was an inhabitant, but removed soon to Boston. None of his lineage remained here, and after some years the farm was sold out of the family.
Edward Gibbons, about 1630, from whom Gibbons-field derived its name, had a house and land in that locality, but left soon and went to Boston.
Edward Jones, 1630, had a house on the Newtown highway (Road to Cambridge), but removed in a few years, with his family, to Southampton, L. I.
Richard Palgrave, physician, 1630, built ‘without the Neck,’ on the ‘Road to Cambridge.’ Nine of his descendants are here now.
Thomas Goble, 1634, had a house and half an acre of land at the West End. He removed to Concord. Two of his descendants are here now.
John Green, 1634, had a dwelling house and land at the West End in 1638. which he sold to Richard Wilson, of Boston, and Wilson sold to Francis Grissell, or Griswold. John Green removed, with his family, probably to Malden. John Woolrych, 1635, had a dwelling house and six acres of land at Strawberry Hill. He died prior to 1647, and his widow married William Ayer, who sold the premises to Richard Wilson. Neither Woolrych nor Aver left offspring here.
John Sibley, 1635, had a dwelling house and land at Strawberry Hill. A daughter, and probably only child, married twice, but not in Somerville. [29]
Thomas Pierce, 1636. His dwelling house was at the West End. Descendants of the name may not be here now, but posterity is here, as descendants of his daughter Mary, who married Peter Tufts.
William Bachelder, 1636. He had a dwelling house and four acres of land in the Highfield, near what is now the corner of Broadway and Winthrop Avenue. He may have moved into the peninsula; certainly none of his children remained here. His daughter Abigail married Richard Austin, and they were the progenitors of the old Austin family, of Charlestown, well and favorably known there.
Robert Shorthus, 1636, had a house and land at the West End. He left no issue here, and his departure was not regretted.
Abraham Palmer, 1636, had a house and seven acres of land in the Highfield, which he sold to Katharine Cotimore. Neither of them left issue here.
James Thompson, 1636, had a house and five acres of land in the Highfield. He removed to Woburn.
Robert Leach, 1637, had a house and two acres of land ‘without the Neck,’ but may have lived within the peninsula. His daughter Elizabeth married John Fosket. Their son Thomas had land at Wildridge's Hill in Somerville in 1683, and may have lived there. There are no known descendants of Leach now in this city.
There was no such person as Wildridge known to be in this vicinity, and the word may have been a corruption of Woolrych, after John Woolrych, of Strawberry Hill, and it may be that Wildridge's Hill and Strawberry Hill were identical. A deed given for land on Wildridge's Hill 130 years later says bounded ‘northeast by Three-Pole Lane’ (now Shawmut and Cross Streets), and thus makes the Strawberry Hill of the olden time to be the Prospect Hill of our time.
Richard Miller, 1637 or earlier. His dwelling house and eight acres of land were in Gibbons-field, near Gibbons River, which years later became Miller's River, but is now, happily, no more. Richard Miller removed to Cambridge, and Joseph, one of his two sons, also settled there. James, the younger of the [30] two, settled in Somerville, and of him and his descendants, more anon.
Samuel Hall, 1637, had a dwelling house and four acres of land in the Highfield, probably on the Somerville side of the boundary line, but he left no issue here. Thomas Beecher, 1637. His dwelling house was in the Highfield, but may have been on the Charlestown side of the line. His widow sold the house to George Bunker. Neither Beecher nor Bunker left descendants here, to my knowledge. John Crow, 1638 or earlier, had a dwelling house and nine acres of land in Gibbons-field, which he sold to Matthew Avery, who died in four years, and his only child, a son, went back to London. John Crow went to Yarmouth, on Cape Cod, and he and Yelventon Crow (an ancestor of mine), who owned a Cow Common in Somerville in 1637, were the progenitors of the numerous Crowells, for so the name became in the second generation, on Cape Cod and elsewhere in Massachusetts.
John Brinsmeade, 1638, had a house and two acres of land in the Highfield, perhaps on the Somerville side of the line, but he left no issue here.
Edward Paine, 1638. His house and thirty acres of land were at the West End. He returned to England, and his children did not remain in town.
John Hodges, 1638, had a dwelling house and ten acres of land in Gibbons-field. He left no issue in town.
William Baker, 1638, or earlier, had a dwelling house and land at the West End, but it does not appear that he left descendants here.
John Mousal, 1638, or earlier, had a homestead in the Highfield, but he subsequently removed to Woburn.
Ralph Mousal, 1638, or earlier, brother of John, had a dwelling house and about five acres of land in the Highfield. Probably none of his children remained in Somerville.
Ezekiel Richardson, 1638, and probably earlier, had a homestead and four and one-half acres of land in the Highfield. He left in a few years and became an early settler in Woburn. Twenty-three of his descendants are here now. [31]
Thomas Richardson, 1638, or earlier, brother of Ezekiel, had a homestead in the Highfield. He also removed to Woburn.
William Kilcop, 1646, bought of William Roberts, ‘of wapping in ould England A house and Land,’ ten acres in Gibbonsfield. He had no issue here, and in 1657 sold the estate to Henry Harbard.
Abraham Jaquith, 1649, had a house and land ‘without the Neck,’ but whether on the Somerville or Charlestown side of the line is uncertain; but he left no descendants here.
Francis Grissell, or Griswold, 1649, had a dwelling, house and three-fourths of an acre of land at the West End, which he bought of Richard Wilson. Descendants are here through his daughter Hannah, who married John Kent, and of them, more anon.
Henry Harbour, or Harbard, 1657, had a house and ten acres of land in Gibbons-field, which he bought of William Kilcop. His first wife was the widow of Richard Miller, and, having no issue himself, left a large part of his property to her descendants.
William Bullard, 1658, perhaps lived at the West End, as he married, when about the age of sixty, Mary Griswold, widow of Francis, and after about twenty years removed to Dedham, leaving no issue.
It is not always easy to decide, when a person's dwelling house in the olden time was said to be in the Highfield or on the Road to Cambridge, on which side of the Charlestown and Somerville boundary line he resided; but it is believed that the foregoing is as nearly correct as can now be told.
[To be concluded.]
