Notes
Note N1046
Index
Inscription: IN MEMORY OF MR. THOMAS LORD BORN 1585. ONE OF YE ORIGINAL PRORIETORS OF HARTFORD Burial: Ancient Burying Ground Hartford Hartford County Connecticut, USA
Notes
Note N1047
Index
Sent eldest son, Richard, to America, p ossibly to find a place to settle before the remainder of the family traveled there.
Notes
Note N1048
Index
Hartford Division of Lands - he's on the list.
Notes
Note N1049
Index
He and his family arrived on the "Elizabeth and Ann." They first lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They arrived with 7 children: Thomas, Ann, William, John, Robert, Amy, and Dorothy.
He came to Hartford from Cambridge, Massachusetts with his entire family. He joined the party of Rev. Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone & 100 men, women and children. It was over 100 miles through wilderness. No cover or lodging while driving cattle.
Notes
Note N1050
Index
Founding Father of Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Wen to America on religious grounds to practice the Puritan Faith without persecution. The Leader was Rev Thos Hooker.
Thomas and Dorothy were part of the 100 mile trek with 100 women and childrent to begin the new colony of Hartford in 1635/6. Left England aboard the "Elizabeth and Anne" in 1635. Captain was Robert Cooper.
Buried in the First Church, Hartford.
=============
Notes
Note N1051
Index
Capt. Richard Lord - was born on 15 Nov 1611 in Towcester, North Hampton, England and died on 17 May 1662 in New London, Hartford, Ct . He was the son of Dr. Thomas Lord and Dorothy Bird.
Capt. Richard married Sarah Graves. Sarah was born in 1615.
Capt. Richard - was a citizen of Cambridge, MA in 1632, and Hartford, CT in 1636. Deputy (Hartford) to Conn. Leg., Feb. 1657 - May 1661. Captain, Conn. Col. Troop, March 1658. Patentee - Royal Charter of Connecticut from Charles II of England, 1662. One of the twelve appointed Assistants of said Company established in the Royal Charter from Charles II in 1662.
Sources
Lord genealogy Taylor H. Conrad Web: http://home.nycap.rr.com/sconard/Lord.html
Ancestors of Kenneth D. Jenson Jennifer W. Jensen www.gencircles.com/users.jengen
==========
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pavone&id=I0 8540
GENEALOGISTS ARE FOREBEARING
Contact: Elaine Pavone
--------------
WINTHROP SOCIETY
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Names of such as took the Oath of Freemen
Freemen made at the General Court, March 4th, 1634/1635.
John Hopkins
Richard Lord
WINTHROP SOCIETY
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Names of such as took the Oath of Freemen
Freemen made at the General Court, May 6th, 1635.
Nathaniel Ely
George Stockin
Connecticut Colony Charter of 1662
---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- -- ------
CHARLES THE SECOND, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the Faith, &c.; To all to whome the is presents shall come Greetinge:
WHEREAS, by the severall Navigacons, discoveryes and susccessfull Plantacons of diverse of our loving Subjects of this our Realme of England, Severall Lands, Islands,Places, Colonies and Plantacons have byn obtayned and setled in that parte of the Continent of America called New England, and thereby the Trade and Comerce there hath byn of late yeares much increased,
AND WHEREAS, wee have byn informed by the humble Peticon of our Trusty and welbeloved John Winthrop, John Mason, Samuell Willis, Henry Clerke, Mathew Allen, John Tappen, Nathan Gold, Richard Treate, Richard Lord, Henry Woolicott, John Talcott, Daniell Clerke, John Ogden, Thomas Wells, Obedias Brewen, John Clerke, Anthony Haukins, John Deming and Mathew Camfeild, being Persons Principally interested in our Colony or Plantacon of Connecticut in New England, that the same Colony or the greatest parte thereof was purchased and obteyned for greate and valuable Consideracons, And some other part thereof gained by Conquest and with much difficulty, and att the onely endeavours, expence and Charge of them and their Associates, and those vnder whome they Clayme, Subdued and improved, and thereby become a considerable enlargement and addicon of our Dominions and interest there.
====================
Hartford Co., Connecticut, Early Militia, 1658 - 1884
The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884
J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D., Editor
Vol 1, p 174-180
In 1658 Major John MASON, then the highest military officer in the colony, secured the organization of a "troop" of horse for Hartford County. It contained thirty-seven members. Below is the roster of this first bo dy of calvary in Connecticut. .
Captain, Richard LORD, of Hartford
Lieutenant, Daniel CLARK, of Windsor
Cornet, John ALLYN, of Hartford
Corporal, Nicholas OLMSTEAD, of Hartford
Corporal, Richard TREAT, of Wethersfield
Corporal, Sam. MARSHALL, of Windsor
Quartermaster, Thomas WELLES, Jun., of Hartford
========================================
CAPTAIN RICHARD LORD (from Winthrop Society)
Born x 5 Jan 1611/12
Died 10 May 1662
English Origin Towcester, Nhants
Came to New England 1633
With
Resided in Cambridge || Hartford, CT 1636
Freeman of MBC
Occupation merchant, magistrate
First Spouse Sarah ___ (d 1676)
Children Dorothy?, Richard, Sarah
TAKEN FROM "THE GREAT MIGRATION BEGINS" VOL 2 PP 1198-1201
RICHARD LORD
Origin: Towcester, Northamptonshire
Migration: 1633
First Residence: Cambridge
Removes: Hartford 1636
Occupation: Trader
Church Membership: Admission to Cambridge church prior to 4 March 1634/5 implied by freemanship.
Freeman: 4 March 1634/5 . . .
Offices: [...]
Richar Lord was one of th4 patentees for the royal charter for Connectic ut 23 April 1662.
On 11 March 1657/8 a company of troopers was organized in the three Connecticut river towns (under the command of Major John Mason), which then proceeded to elect Richard Lord as their captain.
ESTATE:
(to be entered)
BIRTH: Baptized Towcester, NOrthamptonshire, 5 January 1611-1612 Son of Thomas and Dorothy (Bird) Lord.
DEATH: Hartford 10 May 16612 (from inventory).
MARRIAGE: By about 1636 Sarah ______; she died at Hartford between 2 August 1676 (date of will) and 7 September 1676 (probate of will).
CHILDREN:
1.Richard, b. about 1636 (d. Hartfore 5 November 1685 being 49 years of age.") m. Springfiedl 25 April 1665 Mary Smith, daughter of Henry Smith.
2.Sarah, b. say 1649; m. by 1669 Joseph Haynes, son of John Haynes.
ASSOCIATIONS: In 1635 Thomas Lord, father of Richard Lord, came to New England on the Elizabeth & Ann, with his wife and seven younger children.
COMMENTS: Savage gives Richard Lord a daughter Dorothy, but no evidence for her is seen, his mother was named Dorothy, and he also had a sister by the name.
On 5 April 1638 Connecticut court "thought meet that the costlets that were in the last service shall bemade good to the Commonwealth and made as serviceable as before, and that Richard Lord shall take such costlets in to his custody as are in the meeting house of Hartford and make them u-, a nd when they be fitted up the said Lord is to bring in his note and the Court to apoint one to view the same, and when they are certified to be in good kilter there must be speedy course taken by the Court for the speedy payment of the said Lord".
In April 1642 Connecticut court ordered that there shall be a restraint for any person withinthis jurisdiction from trading with Indians in Long Island, until this court in September come twelve month, only Tho[mas] Steynton and Richard Lord have liberty to go one voyage, for the putting off the samll commodities they have provded for that end, and to ather in their old debts. On 12 October 1643 "Richard Lord for his miscarriage in drawing his sword and using threatening speeches in contending with Tho[mas] Stanton about yrading for Indian corn, is fined to pay to the Country five pound".
On 5 March 1644/5 "Richard Lord being convented before the Court for altering an execution issued out, his misdemeanor therein is looked up on as an offense of a high nature, but conceiving it, a sudden, inconsiderate act, and finding him much humbled and affected therewith, giving full acknowledgement of his offense, he is adjudged to pay top the Country five marks". On 28 January 146/7 "Richard Lord for trnasgressing the order against selling lead out of this jurisdicition is fined seven pound".
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1946 Kenneth Lord published a comprehensive account of the family of Thomas lord, including information on the English home of the family ["Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Lord, and Original Proprietor and Founder of Hartford, Conn., in 1636.
(New York 1946).
===============
http://www.geni.com/people/Capt-Richard-Lord/6000000006444727745
Birthdate: circa November 15, 1611
Birthplace: Towcester, Northamptonshire, England
Death: Died May 17, 1662 in New London, (Present New London County), Connecticut Colony
Occupation: Captain of Hartford Company Troop of Horse c 1658, Merchant
Managed by: Rulene Ames Walk
Last Updated: September 5, 2012
Biographical Summary:
Captain Richard Lord, Cambridge, 1632; freeman, Massachusetts, March 4, 1635; came to Hartford in 1636, an original proprietor; his home-lot in 1639 was next west of his father's. He married in about 1635, Sarah ____ . He was one of the most energetic and efficient men in the colony; when the first troop of horse was organized, he was chosen commander, March 11, 1658, and distinguished himself in the Indian wars. He was constable, 1642; townsman, 1645; represented Hartford in the General Court from 1656 until his death. He was the captain relied on, in conjunction with John Pynchon, for securing the persons of the regicides Gofle and Whalley. He died in New London, May 17, 1662, in the 51st year of his age, and his gravestone may still be seen there, with the following epitaph :
"The bright Starre of our Cavallrie lyes here: Unto the State, a Counselour full Deare And to ye Truth a Friend of Sweet Content, To Hartford Towne a silver Ornament. Who can deny to Poore he was Reliefe, And in composing Paroxysmes was Chiefe. To Marchantes as a Patterne he might stand, Adventring Dangers now by Sea and Land."
His inventory taken May 10, 1662; amount, £539. 9. 5. His widow, Sarah, died in 1676.
Children
i. Richard, born 1636; married April 15, 1665, Mary, daughter of Henry and Ann (Pynchon) Smith, of Springfield; deputy, 1669, and often afterward; he was one of the wealthiest merchants of his time, made many trading voyages, and was lost at sea, November 5, 1685, aged 49, leaving a large estate to his widow and his only child; the inventory of his property amounted to £5,786, and was, with one exception the greatest up to that time in Hartford. His widow married (2) about 1686, Dr. Thomas Hooker, of Hartford, son of Rev. Samuel Hooker, of Farmington, died May 17, 1702, age 58. His only child, Richard, born 1669, married Jan. 14, 1692, Abigail, daughter of William Warren and his wife, Elizabeth Crow, afterward Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson. She, too, inherited a large property, and together they were one of the wealthiest couples of that period. Richard Lord was Treasurer of the Colony at the time of his death, Jan. 29, 1712, and the heaviest and costliest monumental table in the old burial ground is his. His widow married (2) Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, pastor of the First Church. Seven of Lord's ten children lived and married into prominent families. Asylum Hill was formerly called Lord's Hill, as a large portion of it was owned by the descendants of Elisha Lord, the oldest surviving son of Richard and Abigail. Their son Richard married Ruth, daughter of Hezekiah Wyllis, Esquire, apparently removed to Wethersfield, and died there about 1740. The youngest sons, Epaphras and Ichabod, removed to Colchester.
iii Sarah, born 1638 (daughter of Capt. Richard, who died 1662); married about 1668, Rev. Joseph Haynes, of Hartford; died November 15, 1705, aged 67.
iv. Dorothy, born 1640.
SOURCE: James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), page 249. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books
Biograpical Summary #2:
In March 1635 he was listed as a Freedman of Cambridge. In 1636 he migrated to Hartford, Connecticut, where his home lot was adjacent to that of his father. In 1642 he served as Constable in Hartford, and in 1645 he was Townsman. Beginning in 1656, he represented Hartford in the Connecticut General Court (the administrative council), continuing until his death.
In March 1658, when the first troop of horses was organized in Connecticut, he was chosen commander. He distinguished himself in the Indian wars and was widely regarded as "one of the most energetic and efficient men in the colony." -------------------- Deputy to the General Court in March 1659.
Epitaph
"The bright Starre of our Cavallrie lyes here; Unto the State, a Counselour full Deare, Ant to the Truth a Friend of Sweet Content, To Hartford Towne a silver ornament. Who can deny to Poore he was Releise. And in composing Paroxymames was Cheife. To Marchantes, as a Patterne he might stand, Adventuring Dangers new by Sea and Land.
At a General Court held at Hartford, in 1643 "Richard Lord, for his miscariedge in draweing his word and using threatening speeches in contending with Tho. Stanton about tradeing for incean corne, is fyned to pay the County five pound."
CBW Notes
==========
http://www.living-in-the-past.com/Icrannogwebpage4.html
The 1630s became a decade of transition for the Lord Family; leaving England
after generations if not centuries to begin again in the New World.
lthough we know almost nothing of the ocean passage of the Lord family from Towcester to New England in the 1630s, we know when they departed, on what ship they sailed, and when they arrived at Newtowne (now Cambridge), near Boston. And this is known from the 19th century compilation titled THE ORIGINAL LISTS OF PERSONS OF QUALITY; EMIGRANTS; RELIGIOUS EXILES; POLITICAL REBELS; SERVING MEN SOLD FOR A TERM OF YEARS; APPRENTICES; CHILDREN STOLEN; MAIDENS PRESSED; AND OTHERS WHO WENT FROM GREAT BRITAIN TO THE AMERICAN PLANTATIONS - 1600-1700. WITH THEIR AGES, THE LOCALITIES WHERE THEY FORMERLY LIVED IN THE MOTHER COUNTRY, THE NAMES OF THE SHIPS IN WHICH THEY EMBARKED AND OTHER INTERESTING PARTICULARS. From the record shown below, we know the family, all nine of them, left London near the end of April, 1635 aboard the ship Elizabeth & Ann, and although it is not found in the colonial records of Massachusetts, they are assumed to have reached Boston Harbor around mid-July of that year.
Register of the names of all ye Passinger which Passed from ye Port of London for one yeare Endinge at Xpmas 1635.
29 April, 1635.
THEIS underwritten names are to be transported to New England, imbarqued in the ELIZABETH and ANN, ROGER COOPR. Mr., the pties brought certificates from the Minister of the parish and Justices of the Peace, of their conformation to the orders and discipline of the Church of England, and that they are no subsidy men.
Ricr: Goard 17 Tho: Pount * 21
A Smith Tho: Lord 50 Robert Lord 9
vxor Dorothy 46 Aymie Lord 6
Thomas Lord 16 Dorothy Lord 4
Ann. Lord 14
Wm Lord 12 Josias Cobbet 21
John Lord 10 Jo: Holloway 21
James Cobbett 23 Jane Bennet 16
Joseph Faberr 26 Wm Reeves 22
Missing from this list is the name of the eldest son, Richard, named for his grandfather whose 1610 Will we have been studying. This junior Richard Lord was born in Towcester, baptised on January 5th, 1611(12), and would have been 23 years old when the Eizabeth & Ann sailed from London. But he had already gone ahead to New England, perhaps sent in advance of the rest of the family to prepare for their emigration. It had previously been thought that he probably sailed from London in 1632 or 33, soon after his 21st birthday, as he is listed as one of the settlers at Newtowne in 1633. The motive of escaping religious conformity in England was suspected as possibly behind the Lord emmigration, and in 1636 the family joined with Thomas Hooker's congregation in a further migration into the Connecticut wilderness and the founding of the town of Hartford. So it seemed possible that Richard had come to Newtowne with the "Braintree Company", Thomas Hooker's company, in the "summer of 1632."
But the records of the settlement on March 29th, 1632, which provided for the repair of the "paling" (stockade fence) around the town by allocating to each settler a section for which he was responsible, list "Richard Lord 3 rods". Accounts for arrivals in Massachusetts in the 1630s indicate a "Great Migration" from England in 1630, with arrivals beginning in June of that year, and also suggest very few arrivals until 1633, when a new wave of immigration occurred. If Richard was already living in Newtowne in late March of 1632, it would seem almost certain that he arrived in 1631, and perhaps even in the "Great Migration" of 1630. And the records of Newtowne, as re-evaluated by 19th century historians, suggest that those listed in any year probably arrived the year prior. If Richard left England in 1631, at the latest, he would have been just 19 years of age. By the time the rest of the large Lord family arrived from England, in mid-summer 1635, Richard was well established in Newtowne, as will be shown below.
In 1630, a fleet of 11 ships carrying 700 passengers, set sail from England, bound for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This dedicated band of Puritans hoped to build their community around a purer, more Biblical church.
The newcomers settled several villages around Massachusetts Bay, but could not agree on a capital. Seeking a protected site, John Winthrop and his assistants chose a small hill on the north bank of the Charles River, at the entrance to a small creek, 5 miles upstream from Boston. The Charles was deep enough to accommodate the era's large ships, yet the passage was treacherous for those unfamiliar with the narrow channel. Later, a "pallysadoe," a series of stockade fences and a trench, was built around the town.
Newtowne, as Cambridge was known until 1638, was laid out in an orderly grid of streets, bounded today by Eliot Square and Linden Street, Massachusetts Avenue and the River. Each family owned a house lot in the village, planting fields outside, and a share in the common land. Boston was eight long miles away: a ferry at the foot of JFK Street carried passengers over the river to a path -- now North Harvard Street -- that led through Brookline and Roxbury, eventually traversing the spit of land that is now Washington Street. Until the Great Bridge was built in 1660-62, this was the only way to Boston, except via the ferry from Charlestown.
Soon, Newtowne had a meetinghouse, a school, and a marketplace (Winthrop Square). Harvard College, one of the first colleges in America, was founded in 1636, to train young men for the ministry and for positions of leadership within the godly community.
It seems certain that the nine newly arrived Lords were met at the dock in Boston by their eldest son, and taken westward the few miles to the Newtowne settlement. And as they spent the coming winter there, one would expect that they all lived in Richard's house. The town lot he owned, in 1635, is described below and indicated on the map (below, left) which was recreated in the 19th century from the detailed property descriptions recorded in 1635. He also had four other lots of land, including a quarter acre on "Cowyard Row", perhaps as pasture; three acres on "Small Lot Hill", which was an area of 46 acres subdividied into 18 lots of about 2 1/2 acres each; a quarter acre on "Ox Marsh" roughly across the street from his house; and 3 acres on the "Great Marsh" to the east (off the map shown below, but visible on the map shown above), which may have been used to harvest salt hay for livestock, an important crop in that period in Massachusetts coastal areas.
Since Richard Lord of Newtowne has no other buildings attached to him, and yet has considerable properties in the town, it may be assumed that his residence was also in his "shopp"; particularly as the description includes "with garden plott...". The histories indicate that "The town grid contained sixty-four house lots ranging from 1/8 to 3/4 of an acre, but even the smallest was large enough for a house and small barn." At "one roode" or a quarter acre, Richard's lot was of average size. It is curious his structure is called a "shopp". What sort of shop remains unknown. A clue may be found in the ship's list for the departure of the Elizabeth & Ann in 1635 from London, where Richard's father, Thomas Lord, is listed as a "Smith". And in 1638, after the family removed to Hartford, Richard was assigned the duty of seeing that two old sets of armor were "fitted upp" after use in the Pequot War in Connecticut. Certainly a blacksmith would have been very much in demand in the first couple years of establishment at Newtowne, as numerous houses had to be raised and farm impliments made and repaired. But a more complete picture of his house remains elusive. The image of the entire ten-member family crowded into that structure during the fall and winter of 1635-36 makes one suspect it was not a tiny house, but one of at least modest proportions.
Contrary to the image one often has of early colonial settlements being rough and rude affairs, with rustic cabins scattered here and there at the edge of the forest, Newtowne seems to have been a very carefuly designed and well regulated community. As can be read in this exract from the town records of 1632 (new date 1633), vacant lots were to be built on before new buildings erected outside the pales (palisade); that they must have fire-proof (not thatch) roofs, and that their position relative to each other and the street was to be uniform and precise. Richard had already been in the settlement for at least a year, and one might think his house was not designed to meet these later standards. But the concern that thatch roofs be discouraged is noted as early as 1631, after news of a devastating house fire in the Massachusetts Bay Colony reached Newtowne. And no better source for confirming this orderly and controlled establishment here can be found than William Woods "New England's Prospect", published in London in 1634. For in this book he describes the Newtown settlement as it appeared in 1633, the very year these regulations were written (see extract below).
In this artist's recreation of what Newtowne looked like c. 1660, we can see the regular streets and occupied house lots, Richard Lord's "shopp"
being indicated in the red box. It will be noted he selected property near the boat landing and ferry, perhaps a good commercial location for
whatever his shop was selling. Later, in Hartford, Richard engages in substantial and extensive ship-borne commerce and trade, suggesting his affinity
for riverside properties. A major difference from 1635 in this1660 scene is the existence of Harvard College, in the foreground.
While it is assumed that the other 9 members of the Lord family lived in this house with Richard during that winter, there is evidence in the Cambridge land records that "some of the new-comers did not erect upon their lots houses worthy of being so named. Thus they passed the 'winter of their discontent'." But given the early date of his arrival, now estimated to have been within the first year of settlement here, and the substantial holdings he had by the time the family arrived in 1635, it is safe to assume that Richard had a comfortable house large enough for everyone to at least squeeze in for the winter. However, the "culture shock" this large family endured that winter, with children of every age from 16 down to just 4 and very far from their comfortable home in Towcester, England, is something most of us cannot even imagne. Add to this the unkown element of the future, for it was clear as 1635 came to a close that the bulk of this settlement was decided to remove from Newtowne to the wilderness of the Connecticut River valley to the west. Some exploratory expeditions had already gone out the year before, with Richard possibly being among them, and some records suggest some Newtowne settlers had already departed late in 1635 for the new settlement location.( see below) This question will be looked at further on the Hartford page.
1635
“Monday October 5, we came (being sent for by friends at Newtown) to them, to my brother Mr. Stones house. And the congregation being upon their removal to Hartford, Connecticut, myself and those that came with me, found many houses empty, and many persons willing to sell, and hence our company bought off their houses to dwell in.”
Whatever details of the migration remain unresolved, it is clear that on May 31st, 1636, Rev.Thomas Hooker and one hundred of his congregation, including the ten members of the Thomas Lord family, left Newtowne, never to return. They trekked overland to the banks of the Little River, near where it empties into the great Connecticut River in the western wilderness, leaving behind memories... for Richard of several years of hopeful economic development, and for the others, perhaps of a winter ordeal that may have tested their resolve to remain in the New World.
From the best sources available, we may assume the street they walked away from appeared much as that seen on the left. And as much as this settlement may have struck the recently arrived Lords as primitive, by Towcester standards, it would probably appear civilized in comparison to the undeveloped lands that awaited them at what was to be named "Hartford".
While it is pure speculation what Richard Lord's house in Newtowne looked like, it is a reasonable guess that it probably resembled this 17th century New England house not far from there. And it is also a reasonable assumption that the ten members of the Thomas Lord family spent the winter of 1635-36 in rooms much like those shown below, although perhaps more cluttered with the beds and belongings that came with them from England.
TODAY?
Because the street plan first established here in 1631 has remained essentially unchanged through time, we can easily locate the lot on which Richard's house stood in the modern city of Cambridge. That property, now within the Harvard Square National Historic Register District, is part of Harvard University and occupied by an administration building that was built in 1929-1930 for the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity in the Georgian Revival style and later became the Harvard Department of Athletics building before its present use as Harvard offices today..
Refer: map of Cambridge, Massachusetts - newtownebigmapnew.jpg
In 1630, a fleet of 11 ships carrying 700 passengers, set sail from England, bound for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This dedicated band of Puritans hoped to build their community around a purer, more Biblical church.
The newcomers settled several villages around Massachusetts Bay, but could not agree on a capital. Seeking a protected site, John Winthrop and his assistants chose a small hill on the north bank of the Charles River, at the entrance to a small creek, 5 miles upstream from Boston. The Charles was deep enough to accommodate the era's large ships, yet the passage was treacherous for those unfamiliar with the narrow channel. Later, a "pallysadoe," a series of stockade fences and a trench, was built around the town.
Newtowne, as Cambridge was known until 1638, was laid out in an orderly grid of streets, bounded today by Eliot Square and Linden Street, Massachusetts Avenue and the River. Each family owned a house lot in the village, planting fields outside, and a share in the common land. Boston was eight long miles away: a ferry at the foot of JFK Street carried passengers over the river to a path -- now North Harvard Street -- that led through Brookline and Roxbury, eventually traversing the spit of land that is now Washington Street. Until the Great Bridge was built in 1660-62, this was the only way to Boston, except via the ferry from Charlestown.
Soon, Newtowne had a meetinghouse, a school, and a marketplace (Winthrop Square). Harvard College, one of the first colleges in America, was founded in 1636, to train young men for the ministry and for positions of leadership within the godly community.