Excerpts from Northborough History by Josiah Coleman Kent (Garden City Press,1921)

SOURCES:
Abstract of Middlesex Court Files from 1649 [to 1675]. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department. New England Historic Genealogical Society. Boston.  Handwritten transcription of original records: Vol. 1 1649-1664; Vol 2. 1664-1675.

Allen, Rev. Joseph.  Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Town  of Northborough, with the Early History of Marlborough, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Furnished for the Worcester Magazine. Worcester: W.  Lincoln & C. C. Baldwin, 1826.

Brigham, Emma Elisabeth.  The History of the Brigham Family: Second Volume. Rutland, Vermont: The Tuttle Company, 1927.

Brigham, Willard Irving Tyler. The History of the Brigham Family: a Record of Several Thousand Descendants of Thomas Brigham the Emigrant, 1603-1653. New York: Grafton Press, 1907-1927.

Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts: From its First Settlement in 1657 to 1861 : With a Brief Sketch of the Town of Northborough, a Genealogy of the Families in Marlborough to 1800,  and an Account of the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town. Boston: Press of T.R. Marvin & Son,1862.

Kent, Josiah Coleman.  Northborough History.  Newton, Massachusetts: Garden City Press, 1921.

Schutz, John A.  Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court, 1691-1780: a Biographical Dictionary.  Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997.

Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850: Volume 1. Births.  Boston: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1914.

Vital Records of Sudbury, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. Boston: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1903.

It started quite innocently enough; our local Borders store was closing and the clearance sale sucked me in like a magnet.  I love bookstores anyway, as the smell of newly printed pages brings images of yet undiscovered knowledge. 

And then there's that old saying, "The book finds you."  Sitting on the shelf, the last copy left, was a book written for the everyday man about the colonial everyday man.  The gist of the book is to illuminate what is not usually included in books written about the more exciting events of our young country.  You know, the daily routines and decisions that may be rather unremarkable?  To me, however, to get a clue about what John Brigham's family dealt with on a daily basis was the responsible thing to do.  So I shelled out the $12.

You also have to understand I am also a VERY fickle reader.  As a parent of three children and person in charge of my own family's everyday routines, I have no time or patience to read a book that isn't "good."  And right off the bat, a red flag went up about this book...making me struggle to even read a few more pages:

Inside the cover was an early map of Massachusetts showing the settlements and waterways on which they were built.  The rendering, while not to scale, was fun to look at and find the places I've been writing about.  Watertown, Cambridge, Sudbury, Marlborough...all there and labeled.  What wasn't there was any documentation.  WHEN was this map made?  WHO created it? How can I put any of the history I've learned in to perspective with this thing without that information?  When no documentation is included in a non-fiction publication, I can't really use it responsibly.  Lucky for Mr. Dow, the map he reproduced in his book is also on display in the museum of the Massachusetts State Archives.  Lucky for Mr. Dow, I figured out it was made in 1677 and fit with the settlement patterns I have learned so far.

So I gave the first chapter a go.  The information about the first Atlantic crossings wasn't new, so I went along with it.  Even though his writing style wasn't exactly clear and I found it challenging to grasp what he was trying to point out, I finished Chapter 1 with only a few speed bumps.  On to Chapter 2.

Did I tell you I was fickle?  And a stickler for proper documentation of facts? Well, I never made it past the 3rd page of that chapter.  While Mr. Dow properly identified his source for an event in 1630's Watertown, Massachusetts, he completely booted a quote he included in his book.  On page 16, Mr. Dow writes about an entry in John WInthrop's Journal, which I found in The History of New England from 1630 to 1649, Volume 1 (p. 36) by John Winthrop, Esq.  Mr. Dow quotes, "Fitch of Watertown had his wigwam burnt and all of his goods."  Not bad for making a point about the use of wigwams, their flammability, or the reference to a famous journal. 

BIG problem, however, when my very well-documented and very own 11th great uncle, Daniel FINCH, is discussed, under no circumstances is it proper to call him FITCH.  Yes, it was Daniel Finch's wigwam burned, although there was one settler with the name Fitch.  (To be fair, Winthrop attributed the event to John Finch, but the Great Migration research done by the NEHGS corrected the record to Daniel.) The remainder of the book is probably full of wonderful stories and interesting tidbits about colonial life, but I'm afraid my faith in the author has disappeared.  I'll simply close the book and tuck it away, considering it a loss of dollar equivalent of 3 lattes that I shouldn't have indulged in anyway. (revised section on 4/28)

SOURCES:
Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Vol. 1-3. Boston, MA, USA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.

Dow, George Francis.  Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  New York: Dover Publications, 1988.

Winthrop, John, Esq. The History of New England from 1630 to 1649, Volume 1.  Boston: Phelps and Farnham, 1825. 

JOHN BRIGHAM (1644-1728):  We know who the first settler was, both from tradition and court records, but I want to know more about the circumstances that brought him here and what happened to his family.  One of the Town Proprietors in 1744 was a Brigham and a family relationship should be confirmed or ruled out. (HINT: There's not a direct line between John and Jesse, but they are actually related.)

BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND:    John Brigham's father Thomas came to Watertown from England when he was 34.  He eventually settled in Cambridge, where all his children, including our John, were born.  After Thomas' death, his widow married a Sudbury man who, with his new family, signed on to be one of those first settlers of the Marlborough Plantation.  John grew up as a Marlborough man, had a well-respected career as a multi-tasking pioneer, and became the very first inhabitant on the land that became modern Northborough.  His story is colorful enough that I have been purposely distracted from the Brigham Street to-do list. Truthfully, though, understanding John Brigham's life circumstances will give us insight into what happened to his family and what life was like for his descendants that stayed here.  His daughters may be mothers of children buried at Brigham Street and their stories should be uncovered as well. 

CURRENTLY READING:  Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by George Francis Dow (Dover Publications, New York, 1988)

SOURCE:
Brigham, Willard Irving Tyler. The History of the Brigham Family : a Record of Several Thousand Descendants of Thomas Brigham the Emigrant, 1603-1653. New York: Grafton Press, 1907-1927.