USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Danvers > Danvers, Massachusetts : a resume of her past history and progress, together with a condensed summary of her industrial advantages and development : biographies of prominent Danvers men, 1899 > Part 1
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M. L.
Gc 974.402 D236m 1281075
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01105 8499
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DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS.
A RESUME OF HER PAST HISTORY AND PROGRESS TOGETHER WITH A CONDENSED SUMMARY OF HER INDUSTRIAL ADVANTAGES AND DEVEL- OPMENT. & BIOGRAPHIES OF PROMINENT DANVERS MEN AND A SERIES OF COMPREHENSIVE SKETCHES OF HER REPRESENTATIVE MANUFACTURING AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE TOWN BY THE DANVERS MIRROR 1599.
Copyrighted 1899 by F. E. Moynahan. -
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1281075
TOWN HALL AND HIGH SCHOOL.
INTRODUCTION.
HIS volume, in addition to giving a complete and authentic, although condensed history of Danvers, is also devoted to an account of the present condition and development of the chief manufacturing and commercial enterprises located here, and to the advantages and attractions the town has to offer those looking for a favor= able location for the establishment of new enterprises, or as a place of residence. Much space has been devoted to the various public departments and officials, Churches, schools and, in fact, almost every subject that could lend an added interest to the work.
To numerous friends for substantial encour= agement, liberal support and highly valued as- sistance, we return the most cordial assurance of appreciation, and especially would we ac- knowledge our indebtedness to our esteemed townsman, Rev. A. P. Putnam, D. D., president of the Danvers Historical Society, who is the author of the historical portion of this work. Fortunate indeed is the town to have a man so able and indefatigable in its interests as Dr. Putnam, to preserve for posterity data of earlier days, which must always be of inestimable value to succeeding students of local history.
We believe that our labors will prove not al= together ineffectual in conducing to the general welfare of the community.
FRANK E. MOYNAHAN,
Publisher.
ALBERT A. BATES, Chairman GEORGE W. BAKER, Clerk. DAKIH. P. POPR.
Office of THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN, TOWN OF DANVERS, MASS.
Jan. 2, 1899. 189
Frank E. Moynahan, Proprietor Danvers Mirror,-
Dear sir :--
We desire to say concerning your historical and descriptive work on Danvers that we believe such a volume; carefully edited and authentic in its information, will be of inestimable benefit to the town, not only as a means of attracting the attention of manufacturers and capitalists to the advantages which Danvers offers as a location for the establishment of manufactories, but as a reliable work of reference on the history of the town and its industries and commerce.
In endorsing your enterprise we desire to express our appreciation of your public-spiritedness in preparing a volume of such magnitude and completeness of detail, and we wish you complete success in your laudable undertaking.
Albert A Bates Selectman Gro W Baker Daniel P.Pape D'anvers
* GEO. W. BAKER, Selectman.
DANIEL P. POPE, Selectman.
WALTER T. CREESE, Selectman.
JULIUS PEALE, Town Clerk.
*Died June 21, 1899.
Contents of Historical Sketch.
The Danvers of To day I
Material for the Town's History 2
Natural Features and Prehistoric Records 3
First Settlements at Cape Ann and Naumkeag
4
Governor Endicott and his " Orchard Farm "
5 6
Original Danvers Land Grants
" Salem Village " and the First Parish 7
Indian Wars and the old Training Field 8
The Witchcraft Delusion of 1692 9
" Middle Precinct " and the Second Parish IO
Danvers as District and Town. Its Name II
Origin and Growth of New Mills or Danversport
· II
Soldiers in the French and Indian Wars
I 2
Gen. Gage at Danvers. Col. Leslie at Salem
I3
Danvers in the Battle of April 19, 1775 I4
At Bunker Hill and in the Revolution I5
In the Suppression of Shay's Rebellion
I6
Emigrations to Marietta, O., and other Places
Shoe Manufacturing and other Industries
Sentiment and Action in relation to the War of 1812 19
Slavery, the Abolitionists and Political Parties 20
The War with Mexico condemned by the Citizens . 2I
Temperance Societies and Reformers 2I
Old Roads and Turnpikes
Cemeteries with Graves of Noted Persons
23
Newspapers and Editors
24
Fire Department and Memorable Conflagrations
. 24 25
Separation of South Danvers, now Peabody
25 26
Patriotic Spirit of Danvers and her many Heroes
28
Additional Events of Local Annals 29
Historic Houses and Landmarks 30 ·
Character of the People 32
I7 17
Early Schools and later Educational Institutions 22 23
Railroad Lines and Companies
The Fall of Sumter and the War for the Union
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DANVERS.
BY REV. A. P. PUTNAM, D.D.
T HE town of Danvers, situated within the southerly part of Essex County, Mass., and having a territory that comprises 7,394 acres, and that extends nearly five miles from north to south, and also nearly five from east to west, is bounded north by Topsfield, east by Wenham and Beverly, south by Peabody, and west by Ipswich River and Middle- ton. With a personal and real estate
is the Plains, where the shops, stores and houses are most numerous, and where most of the public buildings or prominent institutions are located ; the Town House, on whose second floor is the Holten High School, the old Berry Tavern, the First National Bank and the Savings Bank, the Peabody Library and four of the nine churches of almost as many different de- nominations, the Universalist, the Maple
IEST
DANVERS PLAINS. MAPLE STREET AND OLD BERRY TAVERN.
valuation of $4,976,575, it has a pop- ulation of about 8,300 inhabitants, a great proportion of whom are farmers, but a majority of whom are engaged in manu- facturing and various other pursuits, chiefly in three of the five villages of the town, the Plains, Danversport and Tap- leyville ; the other two being in what is called the Centre, lying a little further at the west, and in Putnamville, more dis- tant at the north. The largest of these
Street Congregational, the Calvary Epis- copal and the Unitarian, or Unity Chapel, with the worshiping place of the Seventh Day Adventist Church; while the First Church is at the Centre, the Baptist and the Roman Catholic or Annunciation Church are at the Port, and the Methodist Episcopal Church is at Tapleyville.
Danvers, moreover, is well supplied with railroad accommodations, lines of the Eastern and Western Divisions of the
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DANVERS.
Boston & Maine system, with frequent trains, intersecting each other at right angles, in the main village, whence, also, electric cars, at short intervals, radiate in- to various sections of the town, some of them running to Salem, Peabody and Beverly, and there continuing their course or connecting with others for more distant places. There are not less than nine lo- cal railroad stations, and as many as five post-offices ; and there are electric street lights, excellent water works, an effi- cient fire department, scores of literary, benevolent, patriotic and trade organ- izations or societies, handsome grammar school buildings, in the several most con- vement and appropriate localities, and a well graded system of instruction in the town as a whole, with ancient landmarks, and monuments in honor of departed worthies that are rich with historic interest and full of impressive lessons for all.
It is intended here to present only an outline of the history of this enterprising and prosperous old town. Yet we can but remark that it is quite time that a more extended and complete history of it than has yet appeared should be written. Abundant material for such a work exists and is easily accessible. It may be found in the archives of the State and of Salem, and, of course, the town itself ; and in such publications as J. B. Felt's " An- nals of Salem," 1842, 1845 ; Rev. J. W. Hanson's " History of Danvers," 1847 ; " Danvers Centennial Celebration," em- bracing an Historical address by John W. Proctor, Esq., and an Ode by Dr. Andrew Nichols, 1852 ; one or more subsequent books relating to George Peabody and the two Institutes which he established in Pea- body and Danvers; Hon. Charles W. Upham's " History of Witchcraft and Salem Village," 1867; Rev. Dr. C. B. Rice's " History of the First Parish," 1874; Hon. A. P. White's " Danvers," as included in the " History of Essex County," 1888 ; with pamphlets like Dr. George Osgood's " Danvers Plains," 1855 ; Judge A. A. Putnam's "Putnam Guards," 1887 ; Mr. Ezra D. Hines' " Historic Danvers" (illustrated), 1894, and his "Browne's Hill," 1897; and the " Mili-
tary and Naval Annals" or "Soldiers' Record " of Danvers, prepared by Mr. Eben Putnam and others for the town, 1895 ; together with numerous printed commemorative or occasional discourses, biographical sketches of distinguished men, and genealogies of old families, all of local interest or belongings ; annual town and school committee reports, and articles by Dea. Samuel P. Fowler and many others in the " Essex Institute Col- lections," and in the Danvers, Peabody and Salem papers, whose files are replete with kindred matter of great value.
In glancing somewhat hurriedly at the principal events or occurrences of the more than two hundred years of the an- nals of " Salem Village" and Danvers, free use will be made of the authorities above mentioned, and some use, also, if the writer may refer to them, of numerous letters of local history, which he contrib- uted to the Danvers Mirror, largely from 1876 to 1886, and in which, he can but think, there are important matters con- nected with the past of the town, that had been overlooked or slighted by previous chroniclers, though much of it all, he is glad to see, has since passed into books or other public ations of later date. Such are the part which Danvers took in connection with the first colonization of the great North-West at Marietta, O., the service of her soldiers in suppressing Shay's Re- bellion and in other military campaigns, the rise of Universalism and of the shoe manufacturing industry in School District No. 3, the early and remarkable develop- ments of abolitionism at New Mills and at other places in the vicinity, the names of distinguished, but forgotten citizens in the history of the town, not to make men- tion of things beside, which seemed to de- serve more notice or emphasis.
But Danvers has a history which an- tedates the seventeenth century, and concerning which a few words should be said. They relate to the natural features of her territory, her geological formations, her hills and valleys, plains and rivers, rocks and soils, flora and vegetation. Prof. John H. Sears, cu ator of geology and mineralogy in the Peabody Academy of Science, at Salem, has kindly furnished us,
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DANVERS.
by request, a most valuable account of these things, of which only a brief resume, with a few supplementary details, can be given here. Born in Putnamville, June 18, 1843, he has visited, more than any other has ever done, every part of his native town, as well as of the whole coun- ty, and familiarized himself with all the facts and marvels she had in reserve for so patient and earnest a seeker. His many published scientific papers and his beau- tifully colored geological map of Essex County-the work of several or more years of careful study-are a monument of his well-directed labors. As to Danvers, he refers particularly to the more hilly and picturesque region of the central and northern parts of the town, in which three brooks have their sources, flowing through three valleys which form an important fea- ture of the landscape. One of these is Nichols' Brook, which has its rise in or near " Bishop's Meadow," towards the north, meanders in a north-westerly di- rection and empties into the Ipswich River in Topsfield. Another is Mile Brook, which has its rise in " Blindhole Swamp," still farther north, pursues its course at the east towards the south, and as it still continues its way thither through Putnam- ville, takes the name of Frost-fish Brook, and then Porter's River. And yet another,
PORTER'S RIVER.
Beaver Brook, has its origin south of " Bishop's Meadow," runs somewhat par- allel with Frost-fish Brook and west of it, is augmented by a stream that proceeds from the Centre, becomes Crane River, passe; on along the Plains to the Port, and finally mingles its waters with the tide of Porter's River at the extreme south-eastern section of the town, where, nearer the sea, they are soon joined by Endicott or Waters River, which consti-
tutes a part of the boundary line between Danvers and Peabody .. Beaver Brook forms the drainage system of central Danvers, and the three brooks or rivers have, by a many-centuried process of erosion, so cut down their banks as very much to broaden their valleys, while the long-continued subsidence of the land has been such as to allow the tide water to enter the lower depressions and swell the flood. All this has added greatly to the attractiveness and prosperity of the town. Without the subsidence, which, Professor Sears says, " amounts to about 18 inches in one hundred years, and has been going on for 1,200 years, as proven by actual measurements," these " estuaries " or " long reaches of navigable waters" would be only small streams or brooks still wan- dering seaward as from the hills.
Glacial history, he adds, may be read in all parts of the town, as in the scratched, grooved and polished surfaces of all the out-cropping ledges. Putnam's, Dale's, Lindall's, Hathorne's, Whipple's, and Browne's Hill are debris left by the work of the ice age. The sand and gravel of what we call ridges, when cut into, show that they were laid down by running water in the last ages of the glacial per- iod. Here and there are large numbers of boulders and pebbles which were de- posited by the ice when it became thin and which bear the marks of their grind- ing against ledges as they were incorpor- ated into it ages before. The sand plains and clay beds were deposited in compara- tively still water, as the ice receded to the north. Icebergs of vast size became stranded in hollows and were covered over with sand and gravel, so that when they finally melted large lakes were formed which have since been filled with ingrow- ing vegetation and are now known as peat swamps, as in the case of " Blind- hole Swamp" and "Bishop's Meadow." The out-cropping ledges (or bed rock re- ferred to) are Cambrian slate and lime- stone, seen for instance in excavating a cellar or well in Tapleyville or Danvers Centre. Diorite and hornblende granite are very abundant. The former (a heavy blue rock) occurs, as elsewhere, in Put- namville and on the hill of the Endicott
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DANVERS.
" Orchard Farm," and the latter on the South banks of Frost-fish Brook and in East Danvers. Granite gneiss may be found in Danvers Centre, near the house of Mr. Daniel P. Pope.
Among the minerals of the town are pyrites, often seen in the diorite ledges. Limonite, or bog iron, occurs in most of the meadows or streams ; calcite, or lime- stone, in crystals and cleavage pieces ; and small quartz and vein quartz crystals, in, or in contact with, other forms or sub- stances. The flora of the town is much the same as in Essex County generally. There are several varieties found in Dan- vers that are not known to the surround- ing region. (See Botanical lists by S. P. Fowler and Dr. George Osgood in Han- son's History, pp. 10-12.)
Such, for the most part, was the territory once roamed from immemorial time by the untutored Indian, until two or three hundred years ago, but which then be- came the heritage of the white man. There was no settlement by the latter on the shores of what is properly regarded as Massachusetts Bay, previous to that of Roger Conant and his associates, at Cape Ann, in 1624, or shortly after. His fish- ing and trading plantation, which was under the general direction or patronage of Rev. John White and certain merchants and others in the west of England, was unsuccessful, and accordingly with some of his party he removed, in the autumn of 1626, to Naumkeag, or Salem, as a more promising place. These were after- wards known as the " Old Planters," and Conant was still their Governor, while such men as John Woodbury, John Balch, and Peter Palfrey, were of their number. Soon a company of London gentlemen became interested in their plans, proposed to " erect a new Colony upon the old foundation," raised a large fund for the purpose, and on the 19th of March, 1628, obtained from the " Council for New Eng- land," a grant of land, extending in · breadth from a line running three miles north of the Merrimac to a line three miles south of the Charles, and in length from the Atlantic to the " South Sea," or Western Ocean. The company appoint- ed, as Governor of the "New Colony,"
John Endicott, who was one of the pat- entees, and who was "a worthy gentle- man " and " well known to divers persons of note." Sailing from Weymouth, June 20, 1628, in the ship Abigail, with his wife, and with Richard Brackenbury, Rich- ard Davenport, Charles Gott, William Trask and other emigrants, he reached his destination at Naumkeag, Sept. 6, 1628. The " Old Planters" very naturally disputed at first the claims of the new comers, but the controversy was speedily adjusted, with Endicott as the acknowl- edged Governor instead of Conant ; and in token of the general harmony that thus pre- vailed, the place was given its present name, Salem, the Hebrew word for peace, or peaceful. The Colony now numbered some fifty or sixty persons, and on the 4th of March, 1629, the above grant of territory was confirmed to them by a royal Charter, making them a body corporate and politic, under the name of the " Gov- ernor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England ;" and the principles and provisions contained in this Charter were destined vitally to mould the fu- ture Constitution, and influence the long- continued rule and legislation of the Com- monwealth. Other ships arrived during the year and brought fresh and welcome accessions to the plantation, as harbingers of the greater immigrations that were soon to be. It was a Colony of Puritans or "Non- conformists," in contradistinction to that of the Pilgrim " Separatists" at Plymouth. The former were, nominally at least, ad- herents to the Church of England, but were stoutly opposed to its corruptions and superstitions, and refused to observe its prescribed forms of worship. The latter cut loose entirely from the Establish- ment, disowning all allegiance to it, and renouncing its practices as well as its au- thority. Hence their name. But both were still essentially one in faith or creed, and both, driven from their native land by the iron hand of oppression and cruelty, were inspired by the same strong and passionate love of civil and religious lib- erty. Once beyond the reach of perse- cution, Non-conformists in most cases quickly became Separatists, and Emi- gration was made to mean more thorough
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DANVERS.
Reformation. Such were the Puritan founders of Salem and Danvers.
Endicott ruled affairs at Salem with rare strength and wisdom, promoted peace and maintained order as often as troubles arose, and held just and friendly relations with the Naumkeags, or the Indian tribe who inhabited the region round about and to whom Danvers and its adjacent towns of today were once familiar ground. Numerous and powerful long before, they had now become greatly reduced by war and disease as the English came; and they were still a dwindling race, appeal- ing to the white man for protection from their fierce enemies, the Tarrantines, far away at the north-east. The settlers bought of them whatever land they wished to own and occupy, and gave them gener- ally a fair compensation for it ; and when, in 1686, King James II proposed to wrest it from its new proprietors, the fast disappearing natives of the soil gave them a deed of it as their last will and testa- ment. Ere long the tribe was extinct.
Until Oct. 20, 1629, the supreme gov- ernment of the colony was vested in the company at London, but at that time it was transferred to Salem; and as it was deemed wise, that, under such circum- stances, new officers should be chosen, John , Winthrop was appointed as Governor ; John Humphrey as Deputy Governor ; and Sir Richard Saltonstall, Thomas Dudley and sixteen others as As- sistants. The Arbella, sailing from Yar- mouth with three other ships and having on board Winthrop and many others, arrived and anchored in Salem harbor, June 12, 1630. "Seven vessels made their voyage three or four weeks later. Seventeen came before winter, bringing about a thousand passengers." The new Governor, who, like Endicott, was for many long years to render illustrious ser- vice to the nascent, rising Commonwealth, entered at once upon his official duties. Yet there was much dissatisfaction with the place, especially among the later im- migrants ; and on account of this and other discouragements it was decided to remove the seat of government to Charles- town, whither a considerable number of settlers had already gone from Salem. The
capital was accordingly established on the banks of the Charles, ten weeks after the arrival of Winthrop from England ..
Endicott and the great body of the col- onists remained behind and were the pledge of the future success and ultimate fame of the earlier seat, even though large numbers of its vigorous and intelligent people should gradually push their way in- to the wilderness about them and there in due time form communities and towns of their own; Wenham, incorporated in 1643; Manchester, 1645 ; Marblehead, 1649 ; Topsfield, 1650; Beverly, 1668; Middleton, 1728 ; and Danvers as a dis- trict, in 1752, and later, as a town. Only portions of Topsfield, Manchester and Middleton, however, were included in the original township of Salem. Lynn, it is said, was never formally incorporated, but a section of her territory, also, belonged to Salem at first.
It is interesting to follow Mr. Upham as he tells us of the pioneers who struck out into the yet inhospitable wilds of Danvers, and as he locates for us the land grants they received from the General Court or the mother town. The first of these, under date of July 3, 1632, was the
ENDICOTT GRANT.
Orchard Farm of Governor Endicott, which consisted of 300 acres and was sit- uated between Duck or Crane river as its northern boundary line, and Cow-house or Waters river as its southern. At once he proceeded to occupy and clear his land, erect buildings and construct roads and bridges, and till the soil and plant trees and vineyards. His own house, whose site is still pointed out, stood on highly elevated ground that commands a fine view of the surrounding country, while at a short distance from it is the famous
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DANVERS.
Pear-Tree which an unbroken tradition of his descendants affirms "was brought over with his dial in 1630," and which may first have been in his garden at Salem until he later transplanted it where it is now, and where it yet bears fruit from year to year. This country home was a
PRESENT ENDICOTT HOUSE.
favorite place with him. Here he often welcomed the great men of the colony and not seldom he thence skimmed with his shallop the rivers close by, as often as he made his visits to Salem and Boston. To the land which he had thus received from the General Court the town added by grant, on its western side, 200 acres more, which were called the " Governor's Plain." The "Orchard Farm," whatever the changes which either part of the whole es- tate may have undergone in the course of subsequent time, is now in the possession of the direct genealogical line, being the property of Mr. William C. Endicott, Jr., whose family residence is with his parents at the charming old Peabody man- sion on Ingersoll street, while with them occasionally sojourn, whenever they come to America, the British Colonial Secretary, the Right Honorable Joseph Chamberlain, and Mrs. Chamberlain, Judge Endicott's daughter.
As the first grantee of land within the present limits of Danvers, Governor Endi- cott has well been called the "father of the town." Of the many grants-several by the General Court and the rest by Salem -made to others during the first twenty- five or thirty years and within the Danvers of the past or today, the following, as indi- cated by name and place, may be enough to show how and by whom most of the land was covered; John Humphrey, partly in South Danvers and partly in Lynnfield, with Humphrey's pond and its
island ; Thomas Read, on whose estate is now the fine residence, in Peabody, of the late Hon. Richard S. Rogers, and of his son, Jacob C. Rogers, Esq .; Emanuel Downing, west of the Read grant ; and the celebrated Hugh Peters, north of the Plains and east of Frost-fish Brook. But Read, Downing and Peters returned to England and came not back. Grants were also made to Rev. Samuel Skelton (worthy associate pastor with Rev. Fran- cis Higginson, of blessed memory, in the First church of Salem), "Skelton's Neck," afterward New Mills, and now Danvers- port, lying between Crane and Porter's rivers ; Francis Weston, a little distance west of the site of the First church of Danvers ; Townsend Bishop, his house still standing west of the Plains and in Tapleyville, and noted as the home of Rebecca Nurse, sainted martyr of the witchcraft persecution ; Richard Water- man, on the Wenham road leading from Putnamville, his habitation occupying the spot where lived the late Joel Wilkins ; and William Alford, Cherry Hill, on the Bev- erly side, sold to Henry Herrick. Weston, Bishop, Waterman, and Alford, however, were driven into exile on account of their obnoxious political and religious opinions. Grants also to Richard Ingersoll, on the east side of Porter's river, opposite Dan- versport ; Robert Cole, south of Felton's hill and including Proctor's corner in Pea- body ; Elias Stileman, north of Townsend Bishop ; Thomas Gardner, in the western part of the town; Daniel Rea, near the northern line of the Plains ; Richard Hutch- inson, Whipple's hill and land around it ; John Putnam and his three sons, Thomas, Nathaniel and John, along or near Beaver Brook, and in another direction from Hathorne hill to the Wenham line; Wil- liam Hathorne, who was greatly distin- guished and who lived on Asylum hill, which his grant included ; Richard Dav- enport, also of great prominence and rep- utation, Davenport hill, now Putnam's hill, in Putnamville ; Samuel Sharpe, at the Plains, later called Porter's Plains from John Porter, who was the next proprietor, though Judge Timothy Lindall early owned the northerly part ; Job Swinnerton, west of Townsend Bishop; Robert Goodell,
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