History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

210 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUXTY.
settled his own estate by deeds of gift to his grandchildren.
He was one of the most substantial men
of his age, and enjoyed the miliniited confidence of
his associates in the settlement of New Cambridge.
Edward Jackson, in his will, made in 1681, inserts
this clause, which is a contemjoorary testimony to
his merits: "I bequeath to my honored friend,
Capt. Thomas Prentice, one diamond rhig."
John Parker was one of the earliest settlers of
Hingham, Mass. He probably came over in the
ship James, of London, in 1635, and had land
granted him there in 1636 and 1640. He was a
carpenter by trade, removed from Hingham, and
bought a tract of land in the easterly part of Cam-
bridge Village in March, 1650, adjoining the lands
of Jolm Ward and Vincent Druce. By his wife
Joamia he had five sons and five daughters, and
died in 1686, aged seventy-one. His estate
passed, soon after his death, into the hands of
Hon. Ebenezer Stone, and is the same long owned
and occupied by Mr. John Kingsbury.
The Parkers in Newton have descended from
two distinct families, namely, John and Joanna of
Hingliam, and Samuel and Sarah of Dedham.
Nathaniel Parker was a prominent man in Newton;
he was the son of Samuel and Sarah, born in Dedham,
March ^6, 1670. He owned the land on
which the third meeting-house was erected, — the
site still occupied by the First Parish Church. He
sold this land, containing one and a half acres and
twenty rods, for £ 15, and conveyed it to the selectmen
of Newton by deed, in August, 1716.
Thomas Hammond was one of the earliest set-
tlers of Hingham ; he took the freeman^s oath
there March 9, 1637, and had land granted to him
there in 1636 and in 1637. His children were
born in Hingham. lie sold his lands in that town
in 165:J, and his dwelling-house in 1656. In 1650
he and Vincent Druce bought of Nicliolas Hodg-
den land in Cambridge Village, and in 1658 they
bought of Thomas Prattle and others six hundred
acres, partly in Cambridge Village and ])artly in
Muddy River (Brooklinc). They held this 'land
in common until 1661', wiicn a division was made
between them. The dividing line \\:is our hundred
rods in length, running over tin- triv:il iiill. The
pond was in llaMiinond's ,,;„(, and lias U.tu called
1,V Ills li;illir ever since. Ilr ;dsn iHni-lil m 1656
n'r i;sllirrS,Mrli;,wk t linr I, nndlvd iind thirl v acres.
l!v Ins wile, i:il/,ilielli, he 1i;m1 Iwo s.,11s ;iii,I Iwa
dan-Ill ers. 11,
a will writleii I siunie.l.
which he calls himself aged. His lands were di-
vided among his children. He had upwards of
twenty grandchildren.
Vincent Druce was one of the earliest settlers
of Hingham, being there in 1636, and had land
granted to him there in 1636 and in 1637. His
son John was baptized in Hingham, in April, 1641.
In 1650 Nicholas Hodgden, of that part of Boston
now Brookline, conveyed to Thomas Hammond and
Vincent Druce, of Cambridge, a tract of land in the
easterly part of Cambridge Village, adjoining Jolm
Parker's land, which land \\as originally granted by
the town of Cambridge to Robert Bradish. The
highway from Cambridge Village to Muddy River
(Brookline) was laid out through these lands in
1658. John Ward conveyed to Druce one hun-
dred and thirty acres of land, bounded east by the
Roxbury line and north by Muddy River line.
His dwelling-house was near the spot afterwards
occupied by the school-house in the east part of the
town, not far from the mansion of the late F. ^I.
Johnson, Esq. Of his two sons, Vincent and John,
the latter was a soldier in Captain Prentice's troop
of horse, and was killed in the war with King
Philip at Mount Hope in 1675, aged thirty-four,
and was probably the iirst victim who fell in that
war from Cambridge Village. The former, Vin-
cent, died in January, 1678.
Ensign John Ward was born in England, in
1636. He was the eldest son of William Ward,
who, with his second wife, Elizabeth, and other
children, came from Yorkshire or Derbyshire, and
settled in Sudbury, where he had lands assigned to
him in 1640. John Ward married Hannah, the
daughter of Edward Jackson, in 1650 ; was selectman
nine years, from 1679, and a representative
eight years, being the first representative sent from
Cambridge Village. The first year, 1689, he served
fifty-four days, and the Village voted " Is. &(L per
day for his serving." His dwelling-house was con-
structed for a garrison-house about 1661, and used
as such during King Philip's War. This ancient
building stood on the ground occupied at ])resent
by the house of the heirs of Ephraini Ward, a
descendant of John, and was demolished in ] 8:2 1
This house and forty-five acres of land were con-
veyed to John and Hannah by his father-in-law,
Fidward Jackson, by deed dated March 10, 1661.
lie owned about five hundred acres of land, which
he distrihiited among his .'Jons by deeiU of gift in
17111. He was by trade a turner. He liiul eight
Mills Mild live ilauirhtcrs, and died ,lulv 1, 1708,
.