History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

Inid out and established " to be a cow common
forever." This tract embraced the whole southeasterly
corner of the original township. The
north line ran from Mill Brook, near the present
centre, to Weston ; the west line ran from Mill
Brook, on a south-by-west line, to the south bounds
of the five-miles grant, which it followed to Weston,
" which land so granted for a cow common
shall never be ceded or laid down without the con-
sent of every inhabitant and townsman that hath
right in commonage." " The inhabitants are to be
limited or sized in the putting in of cattle upon the
said common, according to the quantity of meadow
the said inhabitants are stated in upon the division
of the Meadows." This rule of sizing seems to be
a simple and equitable one. But an attempt to
define and enforce it ten years later came near
breaking up the town and the church. These
commons were (not without opposition) lotted out
and distributed to the inhabitants, at three divis-
ions, between the years 1705 and 1710.
Meeti i,r/-Hoiise. — Yi:hv\XAV\ 17, 164:2-43, "It
is agreed between the townsmen on the one part,
and John Rutter on the other part, that the said
John shall fell, saw, hew & frame a house for a
it was " ordered that every man who did not attend
the raising of the meeting house should forfeit
2.S. 6r/. for his default." This contract included
only the frame. The roof was covered with tiiatch,
put on by the thatchers ; the body of the house
was covered with oak cleft-boards or clapboards,
6 feet long, as indicated by the studding. The
cost of the roof and clapboarding was £10. The
floor was not laid till 1045. This house stood in
the old cemetery.
Cemeleri/. — The custom of the times was to
bury the dead close by the meeting-house. But
the site of the meeting-house was not chosen till
four years after the town was built ; and in the
mean time eight of the settlers had died. The tradition
is — and it corresponds with known facts —
that these first dead were interred in the " old In-
dian burying-ground," now connected with the
main part of the cemetery. The existence of grave-
WAYLAND.
463
stones there favors the tradition. The three flat
stones lying near the centre of this old part proba-
bly mark the spot where Thomas King, his wife,
and infant son were laid in the winter of 1642 - 43.
The finding of skeletons at the southeasterly end,
buried but a few feet below the surface, according
to Indian custom, confirms the belief that this place
was used by the natives for sepulture.
The pay of representative is given by the following
extract : "Granted to Edmund Goodnow, for
his service done at the Court as deputy, 6 acres of
upland and 5 acres of meadow." In 1654 Edmund
Rice was paid " £ 6 in wheat, delivered at John Bar-
,
meters, at 5,*. per bushel, for his service and charge
as deputy this past year."
In 1651 a contract was made with Edmund
Goodnow, that his son " should beat the drum
twice every Lecture day, and twice every forenoon
and twice every afternoon upon the Lord's day, to
give notice what time to come to meeting ; for
which the town agree to pay him 20 shillings a
year."
January 26, 1645 - 46, the town granted to
Richard Sanger one half acre of land to set his
shop on; timber to build him a house; "and six
meeting-house, 30 foot long, 20 foot wide, 8 ft. acres of meadow, upon the condition that he stay
between joints, 3 ft. between studs : Two cross amongst us and do our smith's work for four years.
dorments in the house, six clear story windows, In 1654 the town agreed that John Parmenter,
2 with 4 lights apiece and four with 3 lights Jr., "shall keep a house of entertainment." His
apiece, and to intertie between the studs." The
town agreed to draw all the timber to place, and
license was renewed for a series of years.
Indian Owners. — The owner of tiie lands com-
help raise the house, and to pay said John for his prising the main part of the first five-miles grant
work £6. Raising-day was set for May 16, and was Caato, sometimes written, as it was pronounced.
Carlo. His English name was Goodmans. He is
mentioned in the colony records of 1637 ; and is
then associated with the squaw sachem of Medford
in the sale of " the weire at Concord, and all the
planting ground which hath been formerly planted
by the Indians there." This indicates that his
tribal relations were with tlie Misticks rather than
with the Nipnets. In our town records his name is
uniformily written Goodmans. The larger purchase
of lands of him in 1638, and the smaller one in
1648', have already been described. In relation to
the latter the records designate it "the last purchase
of lands of Goodmans."
The subsequent fate of Caato is unknown. His
brother Jojenny was one of the Indians gathered
at Natick by the Apostle Eliot.
Another Indian who lived in the southerly part
of Wayland was Nataous, commonly called Wil-
liam of Sudbury. He was a Nipnet, whose origi-