Henry Ward, John Pierce, William Billings, 4, 7 mo. 1654. Richard Sutton, April, 1653. Nathaniel Joslin,(t) } 12, 9 mo. 1654. John Rugg, 12, 12 mo. 1654. JOSEPH ROWLANDSON, (u) 12, 12 mo. 1654.And it is agreed by the town, that he shall have 20 acres of upland, and 40 acres of intervale, in the Knight Pasture. John Rigby, 12, 12 mo. 1654. John Roper, (v) 22, 1 mo. 1656. Mordecai McLoad, (x) March 1, 1658. 281 1654. By the following spring, there were twenty families. in the place; and the inhabitants feeling competent to manage their own affairs, presented a petition to the General Court, that NOTES TO THE FOREGOING LIST OF NAMES. (a) The Brecks were probably of Dorchester. The Rev. Robert Breck of Marlborough, a distinguished clergymen, who died Jan. 7, 1731, may have heen of this race. There were Brecks, early in Boston. John Dunton in his "Life and errors" 1686, speaks of Madam Brick (Breck) as the "flower of Boston," for beauty. 2 Mass. Hist. Col. II. 108. (b) William Kerley, senior, was from Sudbury; I find him there,in Nov. 1652. After the death of his wife, Ann, in March, 1658, he married Bridget Rowlandson, the mother, I think, of the Rev. Mr. Rowlandson, in May, 1659. She died in June, 1662. He or his son William, probably the former, married Rebecca Joslin, widow of Thomas Joslin, May, 1664. He died in July, 1670. He was one of the proprietors of Marlboro' in 1660. I find many years after, this name spelt Carley. (c) Thomas and Mary Sawyer, had divers children, viz:-Thomas born July, 1649, and was married to Sarah, bis wife, Oct. 1670.-Mary, their daughter, born Jan. 7, 1672 (N.S.)—Ephraim, born Jan. 7, 1651, (N.S.) killed by the Indians, at Prescotts' garrison, Feb. 1676.-Mary, born Jan. 7, 1653, (N.S.)— Elizabeth, born Jan. 7, 1654, (N.S.)-Joshua, born March, 1655, (N.S.)— James, born March, 1657, (N.S.)-Caleb, born April, 1659, (N.S.)-John, born April, 1661, (N.S.)-Nathaniel, born Nov. 1670, (N.S.) Thomas, I think the father, was again married Nov. 1672. From this stock there are numerous descendants in Lancaster, Sterling, Bolton, &c. (d)Ralph Houghton came to this country not long before the town was incorporated, in company with his cousin, John Houghton,father of John Houghton Esq. usually called Justice Houghton, who will be mentioned more particularly by and by. Ralph, and John, senior, first lived in Watertown; Ralph early moved to Lancaster. John probably came up at the same time. When the town was destroyed, in 1676, they went to Woburn, where they lived till the town was rebuilt. Ralph was clerk or recorder as early as 1656 and for A single leaf of the original many years, and was quite a skillful penman. volume of Records in his hand writing, is in existence. It was found amongst the papers of the late Hezekiah Gates. (e) Died, Sept. 1662. (Linton was of Watertown in 1646. He died, March, 1665. George Bennett, who was killed by the Indians, Aug. 22, 1675, was his grandson. (g)One of the same name is mentioned as one of the proprietors of Marlborough, 1657. (h)John Moore was of Sudbury in 1649. Married John Smith's daughter, Anna, Nov. 1654, and left a son, John, born April, 1662, and other children. (2) Wm. Lewis, was probably of Cambridge, He died, Dec. 1671. (j) One of that name, and I suppose the same person, was a member of Dorchester Church, in April, 1678, and was dismissed with others, to form a church in Milton. This was while Lancaster remained uninhabited, after its 1 Mass. Hist. Col. IX. 194. destruction, by the Indians. (k) An account of Day will be found in a preceding note. (1) Of his children, were James, born 13 May, 1654.-Joshua, 13 May, 1656. His wife's name was Hannah. (m) Henry Kerley must have been the son of William Kerley, senior. He married Elizabeth White, sister to Mrs. Rowlandson, Nov. 1654. His children were, Henry, born Jan. 1658, (N.S.)--William, Jan. 1659, (N.S.) and killed by the Indians at the destruction of the town.-Hannah, July, VOL. II. 35 the power, which was given to the six individuals, the year before, to manage the affairs of the town, might be transferred to the town, and the inhabitants in general; one of the six being dead, another having removed, and some of the remainder being desirous to reNOTES TO PAGE 280. 1663-Mary, Oct. 1666.-Joseph, March, 1669, and killed with William.Martha, Dec. 1672.-Henry, the son, married Elizabeth How, in Charlestown, April, 1676, where they probably retreated, after the town was laid waste.The Kerleys did not return after their settlement, it would seem; but went to Marlborough where Capt. Kerley owned land. In the pamphlet entitled "Revolution in New England justified,” printed 1691, he gives his deposition relating to Sir Edmund Andross' passing through that town in 1688, who demanded of Kerley " by what order they garrisoned and fortified their houses." Kerley was then 57 years old. The one mentioned by Rev. Mr. Allen, in his sketch of Northborough, (ante p. 154) was probably Henry, the son.There is a tradition of Capt. Kerley, who married Mrs. Rowlandson's sister; that he had sundry little passages with a damsel, in the way of differences. On one of these occasions, after they were published, he pulled up the post, on which the publishment, as it is called, was placed, and cast it into the river; but, like all true lovers, they soon healed up their quarrels, and were married. (n) The name of Smith was early, so common that I cannot trace individuals of the name. (0) A son, I think, of Wm. Kerley, Senr. He was of Sudbury, in 1652. One of the same name was of Sudbury, in 1672, and of Cambridge, in 1683. (p) John Smith died, July, 1669. (9)Waters was of Watertown, 1635-1638-1646, married Anna, daughter of Richard Linton. His children were, Joseph, Jacob, Rachel and Ephraim. (r)There were some three or four of this name, early in New England. This one probably came from Weymouth. In March, 1658, at a meeting of the town, all the orders of the Selectmen passed, except that of Goodman White, which was rejected" because he feared not to speak in his own cause." (s)Killed by the Indians, August 22, 1675. His grandchildren, Jacob, George, John and Henry, lived in Concord. They sold all their grandfather's land in Lancaster, to their uncle, John Houghton, Esq. Oct. 1697. (t)He had a son Nathaniel, born June, 1658. (u) What is known of Rev. Mr. Rowlandson and family, will be related in the sequel. (v)Roper was killed by the Indians, six weeks after the attack of Feb. 1676, and the very day that the inhabitants withdrew from town. In (w)I find master John Tinker's name in Boston records, in 1652. He was Clerk and Selectman for sometime, and his chirography was very neat. 1659, he moved to "Pequid." (x)He was killed, with his wife, and two children, Aug. 22, 1675, by the Indians. (y) Jonas Fairbanks was killed by the Indians, when they destroyed the the town, in Feb. 1676. His son Joshua, born April, 1661, was killed at the same time. (*)“ 1660, Aug. 26. Roger Sumner was dismissed, that with other christians, at Lancaster, a Church might be begun there." Church records of Dorchester, 1 Mass. Hist. Col. IX. 192. He married a daughter of Thomas Joslin; as I find he is called son-in-law to the widow Rebecca Joslin, who was wife to Thomas. (aa) He spelt his name, "Wyelder :" further accounts of this family, will be found in the sequel. (bb)Killed by the Indians, Feb. 1676. linquish their power.* They further requested, that the Court would appoint some one or more to lay out the bounds of the town. They say, they shall be well satisfied, if the Court will grant seven men out of ten, whose names they mention, to order their municipal concerns; and that afterwards, it shall be lawful to make their own elections, &c. This petition was signed by the townsmen, to whom the General Court on the 10th of May, 1654, returned a favourable answer, granting them the full liberties of a township, and appointed Lieut. Goodnough,† and Thomas Danforth, a committee to lay out the bounds. I cannot find that any survey was made in pursuance of this order, nor, at any time, till 1659, as will be mentioned below. The first town meeting on record, was held, in the summer of 1654, probably soon after the petition, I have just mentioned, was granted. The doings of the Committee were then confirmed and at a subsequent meeting, which is not dated, but must have been early in 1655, it was voted not to take into the town above thirty five families and the names of twenty five individuals are signed, who are to be considered as townsmen. They are as follows, viz. Edward Breck, Master Joseph Rowlandson, John Prescott, William Kerley, senior, Ralph Houghton, Thomas Sawyer, John Whitcomb, and John Whitcomb, Jr. Richard Linton, John Johnson, John Moore, William, and John Lewis, Thomas James, Edmund Parker, James Atherton, Henry Kerley, Richard Smith, William Kerley, Jr. John Smith, Lawrence Waters, John White, John, and Jacob Farrar, John Rugg. Many of these names still abound in Lancaster and the vicinity. The first highway, out of town, was probably laid out in 1653, according to the direction of the General Court, from Lancaster to Sudbury; and for many years this was the principal route to Bos ton. A highway to Concord, was laid out in the spring of 1656. It commenced near Prescotts', in what is now called New Boston, thence by the then parsonage, which was a little N. E. of Rev. Dr. Thayer's, and over the river some 15 or 20 rods above the present bridge, then passing over the south end of the neck, and crossing Penecook river,‡ in the general direction of the travelled road, till *Nathaniel Hadock and Edwin Breck. Hadlock was the one that died. + Goodinow, as Johnson spells it, was of Sudbury. 2. Mass. Hist. Col. VII. 55. For Danforth, see note, post. It crossed at the wading place of the Penecook, to the east of what was afterwards called the Neck bridge. within a few years, and extending over Wataquodoc hill in Bolton. This road, I find afterwards in the proprietor's books as beginning at Wataquodoc bill, passing the Penecook, and North Rivers, by "Master Rowlandson's house, and fenced, marked, and staked up to Goodman Prescotts' rye field; and so between John Moore's lot and across the brook, &c.—and so beyond all the lots into the woods." The present roads on the east and west side of the neck, were probably laid out as early as 1654. The latter extended as far to the N. W. as Quassaponiken. In 1657, the good people of Nashaway, found that they were unable to manage their town affairs satisfactorily to themselves, in public town meetings, "by reason," they say, " of many inconveniences, and incumbrances, which we find that way; nor by select men by reason of the scarcity of freeemen,* being but three in number." It therefore repented them of the former petition, which I have mentioned, and they besought the General Court, to appoint a committee, (to use the language of the request) “to put us into such a way of order, as we are capable of, or any other way which the Honored Court may judge safest and best, &c. till the committee make return that the town is able to manage its own affairs." This request was granted, May 6th, of the same year, and Messrs. Simon Willard, Edward Johnson, and Thomas Danforth were appointed commissioners. * At the first session of the General Court, in the colony of Massachusetts, May, 1631, it was ordered "that no man should be admitted to the freedom of this Commonwealth, but such as are members of some of the churches, within the limits of this jurisdiction." And this was the law till 1664. None but freemen were allowed to hold any office. + Major Willard came to this country from the County of Kent, in 1635, at the same time, I think, with the Rev. Peter Bulkley, a distinguished clergyman of Concord. He was one of the original purchasers from the Indians of Musketaquid, afterwards called Concord. He resided there many years. The town was incorporated, Sept. 1635, and he was the deputy or Representative from the spring following, till 1654, with the omission only of one year. In 1654, he was chosen one of the Court of Assistants, and was annually re-chosen till the time of his death. He died in Charlestown, April 24, (O. S.) 1676. This Court was the upper branch of the General Court, the Court of Probate, a Court for Capital and other trials of importance; and with power to hear petitions, decree divorces, &c. The members, were magistrates throughout the Colony, and held the County Courts, the powers of which extended to all civil causes, and criminal, excepting life, member, banishment and divorces. Johnson was of Woburn, and came from the County of Kent. He was the author of "Wonder working Providence of Zion's Savior, in New England;" a very singular, curious, and enthusiastic work. Danforth lived in Cambridge. He was distinguished in the early history of Massachusetts; some time one of the assistants, and Deputy Governor. |
