However, the offer was tempting because for about what they paid yearly in taxes on their 15 acres of land in Essex Co., they could rent 100 acres in Hopkinton. The threat of Indian attack had lessened and their children were almost grown. If the soil was fertile, and they could have the security to worship, as in Beverly, then it could be good. Founding a town must have been new to Philip and Martha, but this was a new land, with new ideas and fresh horizons, time to think big. Some of the neighbors had already left for other parts.
Looking at the geography, Hopkinton lies at the headwaters of both the Sudbury and Charles Rivers and on the Bay Path, so there are two ways to get there. Upriver by canoe from Ipswich or Boston with portages, or overland by oxen or horse. It's easiest to travel overland in winter, because the ground is hard. Weather permitting, afoot or by canoe it's 2 days from Beverly, overland it's 3 to 4 days with oxen, but only 1 hard day on horseback. Why, the Hopkinton militia marched to Boston in a day!
John 2 had married in 1717 and would have been 25 when Philip first leased in Hopkinton. At 20,Joseph 3, was not yet married, but may have been bound by an apprenticeship and therefore not available for travel. Isaac 5, born in 1703/04 was about 17 and likely lived at home. Thomas 6 was 13, a stripling youth, so Isaac would be the one to take along because four eyes are better than two. Martha and Mary would go later if the prospects proved worthwhile. Philip probably first went in the winter of 1719/20 when the farm work was less and travel was easier.
This scouting party would be on foot with packs. Maybe take ship from Salem for Boston. Possibly meet up with others at Harvard, just across the Charles and continue together with guides. Take the Bay Path through Watertown to Framingham and then Hopkinton, where was John Howe's house and mill and the Justice of the Peace, Savil Simpson on his farm. Best guess, round trip, it would take about a week, maybe ten days.
Return to Hopkinton after spring planting, with Martha and John or Thomas to approve the choice and witness the rent payment and lease signing. Since they intended to settle, they may have also planted in Hopkinton and cut timber for buildings over the summer. Wood needs time to cure and none of them could winter over without support, so construction would wait for the next year. John Howe was a carpenter with the skill and tools needed for post and beam construction, he had bought Simpson's sawmill and dam, and got sued when it flooded Simpson's hayfield.
Certainly firearms had a role here, for food and "varmints". Hopkinton was an outlier abutting Framingham and Mendon, on the edge of the Nipmuck country but not in the wilderness. A couple of muskets and cutlasses together with axes and hatchets to chop wood and knives for food, would have sufficed. Later, sythes, kettles, lanterns, andirons and candlesticks would need to be hauled overland. The chest of linens and such would come with Martha. Maybe they sold everything in Beverly and bought new on the way?
Once settled, it seems tensions developed between the Harvard Trustees and the tenants because the rate was changed from 3 pence including taxes to 1 pence per acre and pay your own taxes. Diplomatically, the tenants and freeholders met at the home of John Howe and drew up a request for their landlords to petition the General Court for the power of a town. Among the 40 signers was our Philip!
Lydia correctly mentions Philip's appointment in January 1724 as constable, a King's man, the right arm of the law and a position of responsibility. So isn't it curious that occurred before the first town meeting? De facto, or "acting", the peace was kept and the town succeeded.
Meanwhile developments continued apace, the Rev. Samuel Barrett Jr., Harvard class of '21, had been called to preach in homes by subscription. At town meeting May 21 1723, it was voted to levy a ministerial tax, to hold services at John Howe's and to tithe. The town meeting then invited him to settle, and offered a contract. Rev. Barrett accepted and was ordained September 2 1724 as Pastor of the Church of Christ in Hopkinton. Incidentally, Rev. Barrett was a slaveowner and his son George witnessed Philip's will. Lydia is right to note that Philip was flush when he left Beverly. He had already sold the Wenham woodlot August 5 1720 for £22, money he could use to finance the Hopkinton farm. Perhaps he was getting firewood from his son John in Wenham. When the Hopkinton farm was ready, he sold his Ipswich salt marsh on April 24 1723 for £34P 10s and got £105 for the Beverly homestead on December 6 1723.|
SECTION VIII
By the evidence above presented we know that Philip, after having
resided at Beverly for some twenty-five years(1), became a resident of
Hopkinton(2) (Massachusetts). In this town he lived many years, probably
twenty-three years and here his life came to a close in 1743(3).Philip at Hopkinton While there is no record indicating the precise date at which Philip became a resident of Hopkinton, we know by a land-record(4) that he acquired land(5) there in May of 1720. By various indications(6) it seems a reasonable conclusion that he did not become a resident there until some two years later. That he was a citizen of Hopkinton some time before 1723 is plainly indicated by a record in the town-book(7) of Hopkinton this record(8) notes his appointment in January, 1724, to the office of “constable(9) for the west part of the town,” and scarcely would he have received such an appointment except he had been a citizen there for at least a year. By records(10) concerning the land acquired by Philip at Hopkinton we learn that it was part of a tract being leased to prospective farmers under terms that within a reasonable time would constitute ownership. That Philip fulfilled these terms we know by his will(11) which bequeathes this land to his family. What a prodigious task Philip had before him in seeking to make a worth-while farm out of this land is evidenced by the archives concerning the tract of which it was a part; for by a reading of these we learn that this land was not only entirely uncultivated, but was for the most part uncleared of its original growth. Accordingly although the amount of money needed to acquire the land was small, a considerable sum was doubtless required for clearing and preparing it for planting, and for the initial stocking of it. For meeting the expense of all this, Philip must have had at hand an appreciable reserve in money; for, as we know by deed-records, he did not sell any of his Beverly holdings until, as may be judged by above quoted record from the Hopkinton town-book, he had been a resident of Hopkinton for at least two years and during this time he was doubtless engaged in forwarding the preliminary work of this farm-making. By certain intimations from the records(l2) it seems a reasonable surmise that Martha did not join Philip at Hopkinton until a year or so after he became a resident there. Doubtless this time had been needed by Philip to make a portion of his land ready for family habitation. That Martha joined him some time in 1724 seems indicated by a record in the Hopkinton town-book(13) which states that on January 4th., 1725, Philip and Martha became members of the church at Hopkinton. Certainly then by this date the family had become well established as residents of Hopkinton. Of the family house-hold coming to this new Hopkinton home besides Philip and Martha, there were doubtless the two younger of the children, Thomas and Mary, then still in their teens(14); and perhaps also Isaac, the next older, who as seems likely by certain indications may have accompanied his father at the first of his residence at Hopkinton. The two older sons, John(15) and Joseph(16) had married, and as the records show did not then come to live at Hopkinton, — 21 —
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In the town-book(18) of Hopkinton there are various records concerning Philip by which we learn that, besides serving as constable for a time, he rendered various other services to this community. There is a record noting his appointment with others to attend to “laying out of new roads” and there is one noting his appointment to see to collecting money “for providing pews for the church.” A record of considerably later date notes his appointment as a kind of custodian of the church building. By such records made in the old town-book of Hopkinton, more than two hundred years ago there is for us his descendants the pleasant evidence that our first American ancestor, Philip of Beverly and of Hopkinton (1698-1743) was a man whom his neighbors and associates regarded as capable and worthy of rendering service for the maintenance of the church and for the welfare and good order of the community. That this ancestor, Philip, made good with his own affairs may well be concluded by a reading of his will which is appended below. This will, written in 1739, was probated early in 1743 at which time, as may by this be judged, his death occurred. He was doubtless buried in the cemetery(19) which adjoined the church, though no marker indicating his grave can now be found. As we searched among the crumbling and weather-worn stones which marked the graves of that time we found some with their records entirely obliterated and we judged that of these there was one which had borne the names of Philip Cody and his wife Martha.
TEXTUAL NOTES TO SECTION VIII
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