4. Years from Shepard through Brattle
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The Second
Harvard Seal, 1650.
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In 1650, the General Court gave the College its first charter, appointing a Corporation,
consisting of the President, five Fellows, and the Treasurer. This board, and
that previously mentioned, now denominated the board of Overseers, constitute
the legislature of Harvard University. (54)
Cambridge appears, at this time, to have bestowed some attention on navigation;
for an early historian mentions “a ship, built and set forth by the inhabitants
of Cambridge,” in 1649, as being “split and cast away.” The same
historian, who composed his history in 1652, says of Cambridge: “This town
in compact closely within itselfe, till of late yeares some few stragling houses
have been built. The liberties of this town have been inlarged of late in length,
reaching from the most northerly part of Charles river, to the most southerly
part of Merrimeck river. (55) It hath well ordered
streets and comly compleated with the faire building of Harvard Colledge. The
people of this Church and Towne have hitherto had the chiefest share in spiritual
blessings, the ministry of the word by more than ordinary instruments: Yet are
they at this day in a thriving condition in outward things, also both corne and
cattell, neate, and sheepe, of which they have a good flocke, which the Lord hath
caused to thrive much in the latter dayes than formerly.”
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The Third
Blue Anchor Tavern, 1737, a popular spot near Harvard Square for almost
100 years.
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Cockfighting
was one of the treats near the Richardson-Bird Tavern in Watertown in
the 1700's
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The first
license for an inn, in Cambridge, appears to have been given in 1652, when “the
townsmen granted liberty to Andrew Belcher, to sell beare and bread, for entertainment
of strangers, and the good of the towne.” (56)
The inhabitants of Cambridge Village had become so numerous, by the year 1656,
as to form a distinct congregation for public worship; and an annual abatement
was made of “the one halfe of their proportion to the ministryes allowance,
dureing the time they were provided of an able minister according to law.”
(57)
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Map of
the Charles River Basin in 1800.
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The same year, the inhabitants
of Cambridge consented to pay each his proportion of a rate to the sum of 200
pounds “towards the building a bridge over Charles River.” (58)
A bridge was erected, about the year 1660, and, for many years, was called “The
Great Bridge.” Not long after its erection, it was ordered that it should
be “layd in oyle and lead.” (59)
About this time, there was built in the town, “a house of correction:”
which, in conjunction with other facts, indicates the early care of our ancestors
to repress idleness and vice, and to encourage industry and economy. In 1656,
certain persons were appointed by the selectmen, to execute the order of the General
Court, for the improvement of all the families within the limitts of this towne,
in spinning and cloathing.” (60) The year following,
James Hubbard had “liberty granted him to sell some small timber on the common,
for the making him a loome.” (61)
Orchards must have been succesfully cultivated, as early as the year 1662; for
Mr. Mitchel was then “granted a tree for a cider press;” and James Hubbard
“timber for fencing his orchard.” (62)
In September, 1665, five Mohawk Indians, “all stout and lusty young men,”
came, in the afternoon, into the house of Mr. John Taylor, in Cambridge. They
were seen to come out of a swamp not far from the house. Each of them had a firelock
gun, a pistol, and a helved hatchet, a long knife hanging about his neck, and
a pack, well furnished with powder, and bullets, and other necessary implements.
The family giving immediate notice to the authority of the town, a constable,
with a party of men, came to the house, and seized them without any resistance,
and, by authority, committed them to prison. The English had heard much of the
Mohawks, but had never seen any of them before. “At their being imprisoned,
and their being loaden with irons, they did not appear daunted or dejected; but,
as the manner of those Indians is, they sang night and day, when they were awake.”
Within a day or two after, they were removed from Cambridge to Boston prison,
and were repeatedly examined by the Court, then in session. They alleged that
they came not with any intention to do the least harm to the English, but to avenge
themselves of the Indians, their enemies. The Court, at length dismissed them,
with a letter to their chief sachem, the purport of which was, to forbid the Mohawks,
for the future, to kill any of the Indians under the protection of the English,
and to come armed into any of the English towns. With this letter, and a convoy
of horse to conduct them into the woods, clear of the Indians, their enemies,
they were dismissed, and were heard of no more. (63)
To the moral and religious education of the children and youth in Cambridge, there
appears to have been a regular and systematic attention. In 1668, some of the
most respectable inhabitants were chosen “for katechiseing the youth of this
towne.” (64)
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The Town
Burial Ground between Christ Church and First Parish in Cambridge
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Mr. Mitchel died in 1668.
“At a public meeting of the Church and Town,” in 1669, “to consider
of supply for the ministry, it was agreed, That there should be a house bought
or built, to entertain a minister.” (65) For
this purpose, the parish, the same year, sold “the church’s farm,”
of six hundred acres, in Shawshin, (Billerica) for 230 pounds sterling. Four acres
of land were, soon after, purchased; on which, in 1670, a house was erected thirty-six
feet long, and thirty feet wide, “this house to remaine the church’s,
and to be the dwelling place of such a minister and officer, as the Lord shall
be pleased to supply us withall, during the time he shall supply that place amongst
us. (66)
Harvard Note in 2001
Urian Oakes (ca. 1631-1681)
Terms of office: Acting President, 1675-1680;
President, 1680-1681 (died in office on Aug. 4)
Education: Harvard College (A.B. 1649; A.M. 1652).
Professional background: Ecclesiastical posts in England, grammar-school
headmaster, orator.
Immediate past position: Minister in Cambridge, Mass. |
The church and Society now
invited Mr. William Stoughton (67) to become their
minister; “but they were denied. After some time of seeking God by prayer,
the Lord was pleased to guide the church to make their application to Mr. Urian
Oakes in Old England.” Mr.
William Manning was sent as a messenger
with a letter from the church, and with another
letter “sent by several
Magistrates and Ministers,
to invite him to
come over and be an officer
amongst them.” (68) Mr. Oakes accepted the
invitation, came to America, and was inducted into the office in 1671. In 1675,
he was invited to the presidency of Harvard College, and was inducted into that
office the same year. The charge of his flock, however, he did not entirely relinquish
till his death.
In 1675, the selectmen appointed certain persons “to have inspection into
familyes, that theare be noe by drinking or any misdemenor wheareby fine is committed,
and persons from theare houses unseasonably.” (69)
At a town meeting, in 1676, called “to consider about fortifieing of the
towne against the Indians, “ it was judged necessary, “that something
bee done for the fencing in the towne with a stockade, or sume thing equivalent.”
Materials were, accordingly prepared: but king Philip’s war being soon after
terminated, the town ordered that the selectmen should “improve the timber,
that was brought for the fortification, for the repairing of the Great Bridge.”
(70) This bridge was rebuilt in 1690, at the expense
of Cambridge and Newton, with some aid from the public treasury.
The extent of the town, and the provident and pious attention of its inhabitants
to the support of the ministry, appear by a vote of January 8, 1682: “That
500 acres of the remote lands, lying between Woburn, Concord and our head line,
shall be laid out for the use and benefit of the ministry of this town and place,
and to remain for the use forever.” (71)
Mr. Oakes died in 1681. Mr. Nathaniel Gookin, who had been employed by the society
as his assistant, during the latter part of his ministry, was now chosen his successor.
He was ordained in 1682. He died in 1692.
Harvard Note in 2001
Increase Mather (1639-1723)
Terms of office: Acting President, 1685-1686;
Rector (a unique title), 1686-1692;
President, 1692-1701.
Education: Harvard College (A.B. 1656);
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (A.M. 1658).
Professional background: Pastor of North (Second) Church, Boston, Mass.
Immediate past position: As above (Mather continued his Boston pastorate
during his 16-year Harvard executive term). |
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Dr. Increase
Mather
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Not long after his death,
the church and society unanimously invited the celebrated Dr. Increase Mather
to succeed him, in the ministry: but the reluctance of his people, (among whom
he had then ministered 36 years) with other obstacles, prevented his acceptance
of the invitation.
The Reverend William
Brattle was, at length, chosen to this office; and was ordained in 1696. During
his ministry, a formal and public relation of religious experiences, as a qualification
for church fellowship, was, by a vote of the church, declared unnecessary; the
business of examination was referred to the pastor and elders; and the consent
of the church to the admission of a member was signified by silence, instead of
a manual vote.
In 1700, the proprietors of the common and undivided lands in Cambridge gave the
high way on the south side of Charles river, from the river to the road now leading
to Roxbury, “for the use of the ministry in this town and place.” (72)
This highway lay to the eastward of the present one, on the south side of the
river. Before the erection of the first bridge over Charles river, there was a
ferry, from the wharf at Water Street, in Cambridge, to this highway.
In 1706, the third church was erected in Cambridge, a little in front of the spot
where the present church stands; and the first divine service was performed in
it on the 13th of October.
On the petition of the farmers, “that they might be dismissed from the town,
and be a township by themselves;” leave was given them, on certain conditions;
and Cambridge Farms were incorporated, by the name of Lexington, in 1712. (73)
Mr. Brattle died in 1717.
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