Local Action in King Philip's War
(1675-76) - Part 2

Marlborough Plantation in Massachusetts was settled about 1656 by neighboring Sudbury residents needing more land for their families. By the start of the war in 1675, Marlboro Plantation had a population of roughly 225 white people, comprising about thirty homes. The only inhabitant in the part of Marlborough that is modern Northborough was John Brigham. Considered the first settler, he was gifted large tract of land in 1672, extending westward from the present center of Northborough to Ball Hill, in repayment for surveying services rendered to Marlborough. He had a sawmill on “Howard’s Brook” and his house stood on Church street, near the meetinghouse common.


SOURCES:
Allen, Rev. Joseph. History of Northborough, Mass., in Various Publications and Discourses. Worcester: 1880.
Bigelow, Ella A. Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and Prominent Events from 1860 to 1910: Including Brief Allusions to Many Individuals, and an Account of the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town. Marlborough, Mass.: Times Publishing Company, 1910.
Bodge, George Madison. Soldiers in King Philip's War; Being a Critical
Account of That War, With a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677, Official Lists of the Soldiers of Massachusetts Colony Serving in Philip's War, and Sketches of the Principal Officers, Copies of Ancient Documents and Records Relating to the War, Also Lists of the Narragansett Grantees of the United Colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth and Connecticut. Leominster, Mass.: Printed for the Author, 1896.
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.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Worcester County. Deed Records, 1877.
Worcester County Registry of Deeds, Worcester.
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: T.R. Marvin & Son, 1862.
Kent, Josiah Coleman. Northborough History. Newton, Massachusetts: Garden City Press, 1921.
Schultz, Eric B. and Tougias, Michael J. King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict. Woodstock, Vermont: The Countryman Press, 1999.