History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

July 23, 1700, M. 63. Capt. Noah, of Newton, an Officer
in tlie Expedition against Canada, Killed in battle willi
the French and Indians July 6, 1090. M. 50, leaving
a sou Thomas. Ebenezer, of Newton, died June 21,
1691. ^.15 J. B. Jepson, Nenton Corner,
Maker."
The amount subscribed for the erection of this
monument was $325, in sums varying from §-2 to
S25.
In tliis cemetery are found the memorials of a
multitude of the early settlers. A walk among
the graves where
" The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleej),"
reveals many gravestones whose inscriptions are
no longer legible, and others, recalling the names
which filled a large place in the early history of the
town, and belonged to the founders of its institu-
tions and the autiiors of its prosperity. Neglected
though it be, the historical associations by which it
is hallowed can never be transferred to the beautiful
cemetery reared by modern art and refinement in
the centre of the town. It stands, unique in in-
terest, in the midst of the tide of life and business
that bustles beside it.
The AVest Parisli Cemetery is situated on land
conveyed to the parish by Nathan Fuller, by deed
dated September 21, 1781. The South Burying-
Grouud, at the junction of Centre Street and Needham
Avenue, was laid out in 1802, and belonged
to twenty-eight proprietors, who sold it to the
town in 1833. Amasa Winchester, Esq., con-
veyed to the town three quarters of an acre of land
to increase its proportions. In 1813 Samuel
Brown, Esq., a mercliant of Boston, gave two acres
of land at the Lower Falls for the use of the Epis-
copal Church and for a cemetery. The extensive
rural cemetery, near the geographical centre of the
town, was dedicated to its present use June 10,
1857. The prominent feature of the occasion was
an interesting and appropriate address by Rev. ]Mr.
(since Bishop) F. D. Huntington. The soldiers'
monument, near the entrance to the cemetery, was
dedicated with fitting ceremonies July 23, 186-1,
nearly a year before the AYar of the Eebellion was
ended. An address Avas delivered by the Eev. Pro-
fessor H. B. Hackett, and a poem by S. F. Smith,
D. D., which were printed. The original purchase
was about thirty acres, but by subsequent additions
tlie whole area now extends to about eighty-two
acres, the average price of the whole being $145
NEWTON. 223
of 1878 was about 1,800 , average number per
year, 130.
During a period of fifty years thirty-six slaves
are mentioned in wills and inventories, owned by
about twenty-four persons in Newton. The slaves
were probably brought from the West Indies. One
of these slaves was a woman, the property of ]\lrs.
Meriam, wife of the fourth pastor of the church in
Newton. One day, seeing her unkindly treated by
her mistress, Mr. Meriam paid his wife the price
at which she valued the woman, and set her free.
The last slave in Newton was an aged man, a life-
long encumbrance of the estate of Judge Fuller,
afterwards of General Hull, — the estate now
owned and occupied by ex-Governor Claflin.
At the town-meetings in the early periods of the
existence of Newton, much time and attention
were necessarily devoted to the preliminary wants
of the town, especially the laying out of roads, and
the security of all the rights and privileges of the
inhabitants. The first road laid out was from
Newton Corner, through what is now Brighton, to
Roxbury. By this road Joini Eliot came to visit
his Indian charge at Nonantum. Then followed
Dedham Road, now Centre Street, reaching from
Watertown to Dedham ; then the Sherburne Road,
so called, extending from Brookline, through the
southerly and southwesterly parts of Newton, and
opening up the estates as far as Charles River.
Ensign Spring's mill created the thoroughfare
leading from the west side of Centre Street, called
Mill Lane, since, Mill Street. Cotton Street,
south of the burying-grouud, named in honor of
the third pastor of Newton, was tlie principal ave-
nue through which the people in the east part of
the town came to public worship and to the town-
meetings. The Upper and Lofler Falls on Charles
River created an occasion for roads by which these
villages could be reached from other parts of the
town. Boylston Street, formerly the Worcester
Turnpike, was constructed in 1809, and intersected
the town from the border of Brookline to Charles
River. Beacon Street was made in 1847--48.
Tiie second minister of the town was Neliemiah
Hobart, a man of learning, and at one time vice-
president of Harvard University. He was ordained
December 23, 1674. During his ministry the
meeting-house was enlarged and improved. The
custom of " dignifying the pews " was in vogue in
the church in Newton for many years, but at last,
happily, it fell into disuse. A committee was ap-
per acre. The number of interments to the close pointed at stated periods to assign to the families