History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

may serve to show you to what sort of discussion
tlie company hstened. Here were men and women
side by side, equally attentive to the recital of
party hopes and fears, equally warming up — with
only the mild stimulants before described — to
laugh and to stamp on the floor at good party hits.
It is but fair to say that tliey listened also with
courteous attention to some remarks from an Eng-
lishman who was present, on matters further afield,
and that an able criticism in the next speech on
English prospects was very well received. The
HISTUnV OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
SHERBORN
HERBORN is one of the older
towns in the county, and
forms a portion of its southern
border, being separated by
Charles River from Dover and
Medfield in the county of
Norfolk on the east ; on the
south is Medway, in the same
county. HoUiston and Ash-
land bound it on the west, Framingham on the
north, and Natick on the north and northeast.
Tlie township now contains about 10,000 acres,
and its extreme length from north to south is
something more than six miles, and from east to
west about four and one half miles. Originally the
territory was very much larger, but it was reduced
by the formation of new towns. The population
is about 1,000. It is situated some twenty miles
W. S. W. of Boston, witii whicii it has easy communication
by the Mansfield and Framinglianr
Railroad, whicli passes thnui-li the lowii fmni
south to north, ami connects with the I'xislou and
Albany Railroad at South F ranini-li;nn.
The name of the town \v:is aiicicnily wrillcn
Sherborne, and sometimes Shrailmi'ii, Shcrbnru,
and Sherburne. The latter \\;is the must acecpt-
able, and finally became its piTuiauciit dcsignalion
for many years; and the action of a jjortion of the
inhabitants in presenting a petition to the General
Court in 1852, to change the name to Sherborn,
people had thoughts for much more than party
politics, but it is as politicians that their gather-
ing togctlier thus quietly, with wife and children,
is tlie most remarkable. What can be a better
sign for free institutions than the levelling upwards
which brings laborers and mechanics, small traders
and wealthy merchants, to the same assemblage of
intelligent, self-respecting citizens? Whilst so
much of the country is true and sound, there will
be strength in the Americans to stifle Tammany
and to regenerate a dozen Utahs.
tLANCUAKD, M.D.
has since been much regretted. The chief ground
of this action was a supposition that Sherborn, in
Dorsetshire, England, was the original home of
some of the first settlers. It was a town anciently
distinguished as the site of a monastery, and as a
place of burial for some of the Saxon kings ; and
at a later day as" the spot where the prime nobility
met William, Prince of Orange, and welcomed him
to the throne of England. But the best author-
ities spell the name of this Dorsetshire town "Sherborne";
and in the usual confirmation, by the
General Court, of the grant of land for a township,
" it is ordered tliat the name of the towne be Slier-
borne." And wherever the town is mentioned in
the rerords of the General Court of the colony it
is called Sill rborne. It would, therefore, have
been more s;iiisfactory, if an alteration must be
made at all, to have had the new name wholly
correct.
Grants of land by the General Court to indi-
viduals were commenced as early as 1643, and
were Clint iniied at intervals for thirty years; but
al\va\s suhjcci to the rights of the Indians (Nip-
mnck-i. wlin ivccived payment and gave deeds for
all the land included in the township. Few if any
of these grantees occupied their land. The first
transfer to actual settlers of land "lying in the
woods on the west side of Charles River, three
miles from Natick," was made May 3, Ifloii, 0. S.
Immediately after, Nicholas Wood and Thomas