Lucius R. Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a genealogical register

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Chapter 14: civil History.

Shire-Town of Middlesex.

-- half shires. -- Records removed to Charlestown; the General Court orders their return. -- removal and return of the Registry of Deeds. -- Court houses. -- house of Correction and jail. -- Place of execution, or “Gallows lot.” -- Negro woman burned at the stake. -- support of the Poor. -- Almshouses. -- ordinaries, or Taverns; committed to the charge of the most grave and discreet men. -- Blue Anchor. -- Samuel Gibson fined for unlawfully entertaining students. -- innholders and retailers during a century. -- petitions of Edmund Angier and John Stedman. -- Memorial of President Dunster on behalf of Mrs. -- Bradish. -- prices established. -- Market places. -- Market house. -- burial places. -- Common; contest concerning its enclosure. -- Town house. -- Athenaeum, converted into a City Hall. -- Sectional rivalry and jealousy. -- petition for a division of the Town; rejected by the General Court. -- unsuccessful attempt to remove difficulties. -- petition for a City Charter. -- a new petition for division interposed, which, like another presented nine years later, was unsuccessful. -- City Charter granted and accepted

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Although Cambridge was early abandoned as the seat of government, it maintained from the beginning a prominent rank among the towns in the Colony. It was designated, before the establishment of counties, as one of the four towns in which Judicial Courts should be held. Having until that time exercised the whole power of the Colony, both legislative and judicial, the General Court ordered, March 3, 1635-6, “That there shall be four courts kept every quarter; 1. at Ipswich, to which Neweberry shall belong; 2. at Salem, to which Saugus shall belong; 3. at Newe Towne, to which Charlton, Concord, Meadford, and Waterton shall belong; 4th, at Boston, to which Rocksbury, Dorchester, Weymothe, and Hingham shall belong. Every of these Courts shall be kept by such magistrates as shall be dwelling in or near the said towns, and by such other persons of worth as shall from time to time be appointed by the General Court, so as no court shall be kept without one magistrate at the least and that none of the magistrates be excluded, who can and will intend the same.” ¹ And when the Colony was divided into counties, May 10, 1643,² the courts continued to be held in Cambridge, as the shire-town of Middlesex. As “the business of the courts there is much increased,” it was ordered, Oct. 19, 1652, that two additional sessions should be held for that county in each year, both at Charlestown. These courts were continued for many years, and a court house and jail were erected in that town. At a later date, courts were established and similar buildings erected in Concord, and also, at a comparatively recent day, at Lowell. All these places were regarded as “half-shires” ; but the County Records were never removed from Cambridge, as the principal shire, except as follows: During the usurpation of Sir Edmund Andros, he appointed Capt. Laurence Hammond of Charlestown to be Clerk of the Courts and Register of Probate