History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

after a pastorate of twenty years. The church, in
January, 17^0-21, had a membership of two hun-
dred and thirty-six- persons, belonging in the ter-
ritory now embraced in the towns of Melrose,
Stonehaui, Wilmington, North Heading, Lynn-
field, Reading, and Wakefield. Three churches,
Lynnfield, North Reading, and Stonehara, were
formed during the pastorate of ^Ir. Brown, which
reduced the number in his cliurch to one hundred
and eighty-four. The North Precinct was set off
as a distinct parish in 1713. Its iirst meeting
was held November 27, Sergeant George Flint
serving as moderator, and John Harnden as clerk.
The town voted, in 1714, to give them £30;
" one half when they finish their meeting-liouse,
and the other half when they build a ministerial
house." The town voted tiiis year " to procure a
new Bell, not to cost over £50."
John Browne, captain, selectman, justice of the
peace, and representative, " witty, yet wise, grave,
good, among tiie best," as his tombstone says, died
in 1717, aged eighty-three.
Rev. Daniel Putnam, from Danvers, a graduate
of Harvard College in 1717, was ordained pastor
of the second churcii in Reading (North Reading)
in 1720, which then had thirty-nine members.
Six families were here in 1680 ; eight other families
in 1681; five more before 1687 ; eight more
before 1690. There were fifty-three tax-payers in
this precinct in 1720.
In 1723 the town voted to petition the General
Court concerning a free course for the fisli to come
to Reading.
The church records in the North Precinct men-
tion "a terrible earthquake October 29, 1727,
whicii lasted at times three months." In 1728
tiie town voted to accept their jjrojjortion of the
bills of credit issued by the General Court.
The town voted, in 1729, to try to get rid of
mending Mystic Bridge in future. Tlie town met
at Landlord Wesson's, to hear the Indian deed of
the township read. The north part of Maiden,
now Greenwood, of ten families, was annexed to
Reading.
The meeting-house, in 1730, was "seated" by a
committee under instruction that "real estate and
age are the two first and chiefest rules to go by in
seating the meeting-house."
The town refused, by a vote of fifty to forty-five to
set off Wood End to be a parish by themselves, but
allowed them £17 a year for support of preaching
among tliemselves during the winter. The North
READWG. 275
Precinct, desiring that a part of Reading, Lynn,
and Andover be set off to tiiem to help support
the gospel, a committee was chosen to go to the
General Court to defend the parish from any
" breaking in " from the North Precinct or else-
where.
The expenses of the town for 1730 amounted to
£77, of which £ 36 were paid for schooling. The
receipts were £99, leaving to "ye town's credit"
£22.
Rev. Richard Brown died in October, 1732.
In the bill of funeral expenses Andrew Tyler, of
Boston, is credited with six gold rings, £10 18«.
Mrs. Martha Brown for wine furnished, £ 5
"Rhom" (Rum), 18*., etc. Rev. Mr. Hobby was
ordained pastor of the First Church in 1733, with
£200 as a settlement gift, an annual salary of
£120, and thirty cords of wood, with the use of
the parsonage. One item in the bill of expenses
for the ordination is " 1 bbl. of wine," costing
£13 8.$.
In 1736-37 the throat distemper was preva-
lent, and thirty children in tliis town died of it in
the course of six mouths. John Swain lost his
wife and six children by the disease in the course
of two months.
In 1737 Ensign Nathaniel Parker died, and was
the first person buried in the present cemetery in
Reading. Important action was taken by tiie
town in laying out highways, etc., throughout the
town.
In 1741 Rev. George Whitetield preached on
Reading, now Wakefield, Common. A vote de-
scribhig and defining common lands was passed,
requiring them to remain unfenced. Action re-
specting the burying-grounds in Wood End and in
tiie First Parish was also taken. The town fur-
nished its quota of men for the expedition to
Nova Scotia in 174.5, and for the war tliat was
waged for several years after against the French
and Indians. It appears that nearly two hundred
men of tliis town were in service in those years.^
The French Neutrals, who were removed by
order of government from Nova Scotia in 1755,
were distributed among the American colonies.
About two hundred fannlies were allotted to this
state. One family, consisting of Battes Tibbedo
(Baptiste Thibodeaux ?) , his wife, and eight children,
was sent to Reading. The town provided
for them and the colony paid their expenses. In
1 Lists of soldiers in these wars are given iu Eatou's Ristory
of Readlut/.
;