Roxbury, Massachusetts

Roxbury, established in 1632, was the sixth town founded by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was three miles south of Boston, and the Roxbury Neck isthmus was the only land route into Boston. Originally named Rocksbury for the outcrops of rocks in the area, it supplied building stone for the Bay area. The rocky soil made farming difficult, but early residents successfully planted apple orchards.

The town center was located at John Eliot Square, where in 1632 the first meetinghouse was built for both church services and civic affairs. Washington, Dudley, Centre, Roxbury, and Warren streets were all laid out in the first years of the settlement.

Painting of John Eliot preaching to the Native Americans of the Massachusetts Bay area under a tree

The first pastor, was the Reverend Thomas Weld and John Eliot was ordained as the first teacher on November 5, 1632.[5] Eliot’s sister, became the second wife of Thomas Wight, the brother of our ancestor, Elizabeth Wight. Eliot, as a Puritan missionary became known by many as "the apostle to the Indians"[8] [9] for learning the Algonquin language (the Native American language spoken in the area at the time). He used this knowledge to translate the ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, and other scriptures into the Algonquin language, to try converting the natives to Puritan Christianity. [10] Although unintentional, Eliot also introduced the concept of written language as the natives did not previously have a phonetic alphabet; they communicated primarily through spoken language with their written language being mainly pictorial images like Egyptian hieroglyphs[9]

In the 1650s the Reverend John Eliot and the "praying Indians" won a lengthy court battle and were awarded the title to the 2,000 acres (8 km²) of land in the town now known as Natick.[1

In August, 1645, the congregation decided to create the "Free Schoole in Roxburie" (now Roxbury Latin School).[6

Johnson Direct Line Ancestors who lived in Roxbury

Places to visit in Roxbury

  • John Eliot Square, the original center of town, where, in 1632, the first meetinghouse was built for both church services and civic affairs.

  • Near the old city center, the Eliot Burial Ground was established in 1632 at the corner of Eustis and Washington streets. (Lewis and Anne Jones daughter, Phoebe, who died of a scald in 1650 when she was four years old, is probably buried here.)

  • Hailing from the earliest days is a parting stone at the junction of Roxbury and Centre Street pointing the way to Dedham and Providence (south, to the left) and Watertown and Cambridge (north, to the right) and a milestone on Centre St, indicating Boston is three miles away.

  • The historic Shirley-Eustis House Museum (the oldest house in Roxbury – look for the Roxbury Russet apple trees growing there.) 

  • The Dillaway Thomas House, (the second oldest house)

  • Roxbury Heritage State Park.

Sources

http://roxburyhistoricalsociety.org/about-roxbury/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxbury,_Boston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Dedham,_Massachusetts,_1635–1792#CITEREFAbbott1903