Wiswall arrived in New England on August 16, 1635, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts with his twin brother John, who had arrived in 1633. He was a grantee of land in 1637, subscriber to the school fund in 1641, and served as a selectman in Dorchester from 1644–1652.
Founding of Cambridge Village
Wiswall left Dorchester and resettled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, some time in 1654. In 1654, he sublet a tract of land there from Captain Thomas Prentice. This land had been the property of the recently deceased John Haynes, former and later Governor of the Colony of Connecticut, and Prentice was the lessee and not the owner. Wiswall built a new homestead that year, beside the Dedham Trail, on the south shore of a lake located on that tract of land. This was the first house to be built on the shore of what would be known—for 150 years—as Wiswall's Pond. The lake is now known as Crystal Lake, in Newton, Massachusetts. John Jackson donated an acre of land to be used as a burying place and for a meeting house. Wiswall built this meeting house, where today the East Parish Burying Ground and the First Settlers Monument are currently located. In 1656, Wiswall and John Jackson signed a petition for release from supporting the church at Cambridge. This was the beginning of a movement for the area to become a separate and distinct entity from Cambridge. After a struggle that lasted for 32 years, these efforts were ultimately successful. In 1688, the area became formally known as Cambridge Village. Cambridge Village was renamed Newtown in 1691, and finally Newton in 1766. Wiswall started the Cambridge Village Church, and was installed first ruling elder and assistant pastor on 20 July 1664. He also served as Fence Viewer and surveyor of roads for the area.
Death and burial
Wiswall died in Cambridge Village on 6 December 1683. He is buried in the East Parish Burying Ground in Newton. His second wife, Isabella Farmer, survived him and died in Billerica, Massachusetts, in May 1686.
Notable descendants
Wiswall's son, Ichabod Wiswall was third pastor of the church inDuxbury, Plymouth Colony. Officiating at the burial of Captain Jonathan Alden, he gave the first known funeral sermon in British America.
Noah Wiswall, grandson of Noah Wiswall. In 1776, at 76 years of age, he marched from Newton to Lexington, where he was wounded at the Battle of Lexington.
