Family History 2.33

Bigelow History: post-1630

from Wikipedia

Watertown, Massachusetts

Where John Biglo lived most of his life.

 

The main street of Watertown today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watertown, first known as Saltonstall Plantation, was one of the earliest of the Massachusetts Bay settlements. It was begun early in 1630 by a group of settlers led by Sir Richard Saltonstall and the Rev. George Phillips and officially incorporated that same year.

 

The first buildings were upon land now included within the limits of Cambridge known as Gerry's Landing. For its first quarter century Watertown ranked next to Boston in population and area.

 

Since then its limits have been greatly reduced. Thrice portions have been added to Cambridge, and it has contributed territory to form the new towns of Weston (1712), Waltham (1738), Belmont (1859), and Lincoln (1754).

 

In 1632 the residents of Watertown protested against being compelled to pay a tax for the erection of a stockade fort at Cambridge; this was the first protest in America against taxation without representation and led to the establishment of representative government in the colony.

 

As early as the close of the 17th century Watertown was the chief horse and cattle market in New England and was known for its fertile gardens and fine estates. Here about 1632 was erected the first grist mill in the colony, and in 1662 one of the first woolen mills in America was built here.

The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, after adjournment from Concord, met from April to July 1775 in the First Parish Church, the site of which is marked by a monument.

 

The Massachusetts General Court held its sessions here from 1775 to 1778. Committees met in the nearby Edmund Fowle House.

 

Boston town meetings were held here during the siege of Boston, when many Boston families made their homes in the neighborhood.

 

For several months early in the American Revolution the Committees of Safety and Correspondence made Watertown their headquarters and it was from here that General Joseph Warren set out for Bunker Hill.