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USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Saugus, Massachusetts > Part 1
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RY
NOT TO CIRCULATE
History of Saugus
MASSACHUSETTS
Prepared by
HORACE H. ATHERTON, JR.
for the
Centenary Celebration
July 3-4-5
1915
974.4
Published by the Citizens Committee of the Saugus Board of Trade 1916
Ref 97445
C3
NEWCOMB & GAUSS, Printers Salem, Mass.
10
To the Memory of my daughter
EDITH RUTLEDGE ATHERTON
This Volume is Affectionately Dedicated by the Author.
CONTENTS
Foreword, Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge. 9
History 11
The Iron Works 18
Appleton's Pulpit 26
Parish Church and Parson Roby
27
Why Saugus and Lynn Separated
33
Saugus in the Revolution 35
An Historic Road
37 40
Newburyport Turnpike
43
Saugus Branch
45
Street Cars
46
Ancestral Homes
48
Cliftondale
52
Revolutionary men of Sweetser's Corner
59
East Saugus
62
The Old Mill Site 65
Old Rock School House 68 71
Schools
Saugus as a Separate Town 80
Looking Backward 85
Citizen Soldiery 94
Conclusion 95
THE CENTENNIAL PAGEANT
Episode I The Bridal of Pennacook 98
II The Pirates of Pirate Glen 99
III Major Appleton and the first
speech for Liberty 100
IV The Crowning of King Pompey 101
V The Lexington Alarm 102
VI The Parting of the Ways 103
VII An Exhibition of the Saugus Fe- male Seminary 104
VIII The Return of Company A 104
IX The Coming of the Races 105
X The Community Spirit Summons the Makers of Saugus 106
Saugus Center
ILLUSTRATIONS
Site of the Iron Works 19
Dexter Caveat 21
Dexter Deed 23
Third Parish Church 31
Samuel Boardman House 47
Bennett-Boardman House
49
Hitchings-Draper-Hawkes House
50
Bennett-Boardman House, rear 51
Old Rock School House 68
Saugus Seminary 73
Father Taylor 79
Gustavus Vasa Fox 88
U. S. S. Saugus 90
Samuel Hawkes 92
John Burrill House 97
FOREWORD
To all who live within the borders of the ancient township of Lynn, the history of each part of that township has an abiding interest. The little settle- ment at Saugus, which later became an independent town, is one of the oldest in Massachusetts. As the scene of the first attempt to develop an iron industry in the United States, as the home of many families which have given distinguished men both to the State and the Nation, Saugus has a peculiar claim upon our attention. There is much to be learned from the his- tory of the town as there is from the history of all the early towns of New England.
These New England towns with their methods of government and the pure democracy of the town meet- ing have had an influence upon the history of the United States which it is hard to overestimate, for the children of these towns, scattered through the length and breadth of the land, have carried with them the traditions, liberal education, and conduct of life which are so strong in these early little settlements which be- gan on our New England coast nearly three hundred years ago.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
Such a sketch as that of Mr. Atherton has much more than a local interest and cannot fail to be of value not only to those who come from the old town- ship but to all those interested in the growth and de- velopment of American institutions.
HENRY CABOT LODGE.
Washington, D. C.,
January 27, 1916.
HISTORY OF SAUGUS
B ACON, in his Advancement of Learning, tells us that "Industrious persons, by an exact and scru- pulous diligence and observation, out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books that concern not story, and the like, do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time."
Hence we, of Saugus, especially interested, as we are, at this time, on the occasion of this our Centennial cele- bration, must needs be careful of what we incorporate in a history of the town, for histories and historical references, sometimes may be like statues, monu- ments, tablets and markers, which, our own Senator Lodge has so well said, "can justify their existence on only two grounds-the nature of the subject they commemorate or as works of art." He opined that "we should permit none of them to be erected to deeds or to men who do not deserve them and who will not them- selves be monumental in history and before the eyes of posterity, saying that when the subject is unworthy,
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
then the monument or tablet, as was said of Sir John Vanburgh's palaces, is simply a heavy load to the patient earth and an offense to the eyes of succeeding generations."
For equally potent reasons, histories should be equally discriminating, and, in a work of this kind, the pressing interrogation is what to exclude rather than what to include in it. The subject, as worthy and fascinating as it is, can be approached only too inadequately, and thus we realize how necessarily im- perfect, incomplete, and inaccurate it must be, under all the existing circumstances.
Your historian, however, approaches it with pride and pleasure, and feels as John Webster must have felt, when, in the "Duchess of Malfi," he wrote :
"I do love these ancient ruins, We never tread upon them, but we set Our foot upon some reverend history."
We turn, for our narrative, to the following publica- tions, most of which are on file in our public libraries ; and to the student who wishes to pursue the subject further, and it is well worth it, we recommend a fre- quent and detailed perusal of all these works, or any one of them :
History of Lynn by Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, 1629 to 1890;
The innumerable writings and sketches of the late Benjamin F. Newhall, invaluable and well-nigh inex- haustible ;
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
History of Saugus by his son, Wilbur F. Newhall, in Hurd's History of Essex County, issued in 1888 by J. W. Lewis & Co .;
The late Howard Kendall Sanderson's publication on Lynn in the Revolution, published in 1909 by W. B. Clarke & Co .;
Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County in Three Volumes, covering the period from 1636 to 1667, published by the Essex Institute at Sa- lem, in 1911-12-13;
Various publications from the trenchant and versa- tile pen of Hon. Nathan Mortimer Hawkes, whose Hearths and Homes of Old Lynn, issued in 1907, and whose Semi-Historical Rambles Among the Eighteenth Century Places Along the Saugus River, published in 1889, and an article on the Newburyport Turnpike by the same accomplished author, found in the 1914 Reg- ister of the Lynn Historical Society, are exceedingly interesting and rich in the material required for a paper of this character ;
Saugus Sketches, and a Notice on the Saugus Semi- nary, by the late E. P. Robinson, in 1882, before and after which this same writer penned many articles on Saugus ;
"Historical Address upon the Third Church in Lynn," delivered by Benjamin Newhall Johnson at its 150th anniversary, Oct. 13, 1887.
A fine story on Saugus in the 1906 December number of the New England Magazine by Mrs. Paul E. Wads- worth (Elsie E. Hatch) of Saugus ;
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
Every one of which your historian has resorted to, frequently and at much length.
This is, of course, literary piracy, but there seems to be precedent for piracy in Saugus, and very early precedent, 1658, when Thomas Veal and his associates introduced the custom and basked in the sunlight of Pirates' Glen, of which we shall see and hear more in the Centennial Pageant.
The only difference between the piracy of 1658 and that of 1915 is that the former plucked without credit and the latter gives due credit before starting on his brief career as a wild, sea rover of literary talent. Moreover, the 1915 pirate is deeply conscious of the truth of Emerson, when he wrote:
"It has come to be practically a sort of rule in litera- ture, that a man is entitled to steal from the writings of others at discretion. Thought is the property of him who can entertain it; and of him who can adequately place it. A certain awkwardness marks the use of bor- rowed thoughts; but as soon as we have learned what to do with them, they become our own."
With these apologies and thanks to the following persons, who constitute the historical committee, ap- pointed by the writer, under the authority given him by our executive Centennial Committee, Mrs. Paul E. Wadsworth, Hon. Nathan Mortimer Hawkes, Benjamin Newhall Johnson, Wilbur F. Newhall, Luther At- wood, Dr. Charles J. H. Woodbury, Judge Wil-
15
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
liam E. Ludden, and John T. Brady, the last two named gentlemen having been chosen by the general committee to assist in the preparation of this work, we now approach the task and golden opportunity of saving and recovering somewhat of ancient and legen- dary Saugus from the deluge of time, for, as Gray says, Saugus " is rich with the spoils of time."
Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall tell us that the Indian name of the town was Saugus; and by that name it was known for eight years. The root of the word means great, or extended; and they aver "it was ap- plied to the Long Beach." Wood, in his early map of New England, is said to have placed the word "Sau- gus" on Sagamore Hill. The river on the west was called by the Indians, Abousett-the word Saugus being applied to it by the white men. It was called the river "at Saugus," and the river "of Saugus" and finally the Saugus River.
Salem, in 1629, sent to these parts the first white men. There were included in that coterie, among others, Edmund and Francis Ingalls, Obediah Turner, Zechariah Hart, William Dixey, John and William Wood, Hawkes and the other authorities tell us. They had landed at Salem the year before. In June, 1630, John Winthrop, the Governor, bearing the charter granted by Charles the First, with eleven vessels and over a thousand immigrants, arrived in Salem Harbor. Subsequently, it is written, Winthrop went to what is
16
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
now Boston, and the same year, in 1630, the first politi- cal mention of Saugus is made. On Oct. 19, 1630, John Taylor was admitted "freeman," as it was called, to the General Court, at which time Saugus included what now constitutes Lynn, Swampscott, Lynnfield, Reading, Wakefield and Nahant.
The name was changed, however, by an act of the Legislature, whose proceeding in the premises was ex- ceedingly brief and to the point, and merely said : "SAUGUST IS CALLED LIN." This act was peti- tioned for on Nov. 15, 1637.
Thus the chrysalis of Saugus history began, that history "which," as Cicero says of other history, "is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of an- tiquity." Histora, testis temporum, lux veritatis vita memoriae, magistra vitae, nuntia vetustatis.
Thomas Dudley, the deputy governor of the colony, on March 28, 1631, wrote a letter regarding the settle- ment, in which he says, in part:
"We were forced to change counsel, and for our present shelter to plant dispersedly-some at Charles- town, which standeth on the north side of the mouth of Charles River; some on the south side thereof, which place we named Boston (as we intended to have done the place we first resolved on) ; some of us upon Mistick, which we named Medford; some of us west- ward on Charles River, four miles from Charlestown, which place we called Watertown; others of us two
17
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
miles from Boston, in a place we named Roxbury ; OTHERS UPON THE RIVER OF SAUGUS, between Salem and Charlestown; and the Western men four miles south from Boston, at a place we named Dor- chester."
William Dixey, previously referred to, one of the first five early settlers, in 1657, at Essex Court, deposed in this wise:
"application was made for a place to set down in; upon which Mr. Endicott (colonial governor) did give me and the rest leave to go where we would; upon which we went to Saugust, now Linne and there we met Sagamore James and som other Indians, who did give me and the rest leave to dwell there or there- abouts; whereupon I and the rest of my master's com- pany did cutt grass for our cattell, and kept them upon Nahant for som space of time; for the Indian, James Sagamore and the rest did give me and the rest in behalf of my master Johnson, what land we would; whereupon we set down in Saugust and had quiet possession of it by the abovesaid Indians, and kept our cattell in Nahant the summer following."
The admission of John Taylor in the First General Court placed Saugus on an equal footing with Boston and Salem in that deliberative body, and the Indian name of Saugus was changed to "Lin," in 1637, in honor of Rev. Samuel Whiting, the pastor who had formerly officiated at St. Margaret's Church in Lynn Regis, England.
18
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
THE IRON WORKS
A BOUT this time, the names of some of the early settlers appear upon the horizon of our narra-
tive. William Ballard was one of the very earliest. He received 60 acres of land by allotment in 1638. This farm constituted the village of East Saugus, and the Ballard School is named for the family. His two sons, John and Nathaniel, divided the property in 1697. Ballard Street, East Saugus, is named in honor of the same family.
Among the other early residents were Dr. Oliver, and Col. Jacob Wendell, for whom, we assume, Wendell Street, East Saugus, is named. Zaccheus Norwood and Edward Baker, who was awarded 40 acres in 1638, were also prominent. Baker's Hill, Cliftondale, bears Baker's name. Samuel Bennett had 20 acres in the westerly portion of the town, and Nicholas Brown boasted 200 acres.
Thomas Dexter had 350 acres, lived at what is now the Centre, and was known as "Farmer Dexter." He was very prominent, perhaps the leading citizen of the period. Tradition relates that he had a fish weir on the river in 1632. Large numbers of alewives and bass found their way thither, and the first year of the catch 150 barrels were cured. He also operated a corn grind- ing mill on the banks of the stream.
Other well-known early settlers were Capt. Richard Walker, born in 1593, dying in 1688; Adam Hawkes,
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20
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
who came to North Saugus in 1634 and owned, in 1638, 100 acres, and in 1672, 550 acres.
In 1634, Nathaniel Turner, Edward Tomlins, and Thomas Willis were representatives from Saugus in the first legislature. At the iron works locality were Richard Leader (general agent until 1651, after which John Gifford was agent), Joseph Jenks, Joseph Jenks, Jr., Henry Leonard, Henry Styche (who was 103 when he died), Arzbell Anderson, Mac Callum More Down- ing, John Turner, John Vinton, and Samuel Appleton, Jr., who became possessed of the works in 1677. Sam- uel and Nathan Hayman, James Taylor and Thomas Mansfield were subsequent owners. John Gifford had a controversy with "ye proprietors" and finally retired from the company, went to North Saugus and con- ducted a separate iron mill in that section, near what is now known as Howlett's Mill.
The mere mention of Thomas Dexter and the iron works introduces to our recital a very important epoch in the history of early Saugus. Thomas Dexter's 350 acres, previously alluded to, included the iron works territory. Dexter, therefore, suggests the iron works, and the iron works, Dexter, although Thomas Hudson was the first proprietor of the lands where the iron works stood.
The first record in the Essex County Registry of Deeds, Book 1, Page 1, is a proceeding in connection with the iron works, perhaps our most conspicuous historic landmark of ancient days. These works were
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22
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
the first in America, and while this claim has been fre- quently controverted, it has never been done success- fully.
In 1642 Robert Bridges went to London and formed the Iron Works Company. He was a neighbor of "Farmer" Dexter.
Herewith is reproduced for the first time, a photo- graphic copy of this caveat from Book 1, Page 1, a transcript of which is of undying interest to Saugus and the students of her history. It reads as follows :
"Thomas Dexter of Lyn, yeoman, by his deed dated (22d of Octr) 1639, hath morgaged his fearme in Lyn conteyning about (- -) acres with all his howses, meadows and broken ) grounds thereon for two oxen & 2 bulls upon condition of payment to Sy- mon Broadstreet of Ipswich (- -) 90£ the first day. of August then next following with a reservation upon the sale of the said fearme to give the said Dexter the overplus above the debt and damages of the said 90£."
As Hawkes says, this was not the mortgage itself, but a sort of caveat or notice, to whomever it might concern, that such a claim was in existence. "It was fifty years after Farmer Dexter bought his two oxen and two bulls with Mr. Bradstreet's money upon the security of the land when the Governor finally released his claim upon the iron works farm."
In the same Book 1, Page 2, 1646, we find what is evidently a direct conveyance from Dexter to Richard Leader, the iron works general agent, previously
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DEXTER DEED
24
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
spoken of. A photographic reproduction of this deed is given in the accompanying sketch, and a copy of which follows :
"Thomas Dexter of Lyn in the County of Essex ye (oman) for the sum of 40£ st (erling) hath sowld unto Richard Leder for ye use of the Iron works all that land, wch by reason of (a) damme now agreed to be made, shall overflow and all sufficient ground for a water course from the damme, to the works to be erected, and alsoe all (the) land betweene the an (cient) water course and the new extended flume or water course togeather with five acres and an halfe of land lying in the corn field most convenient for the Iron Works and also tooe convenient cartwayes that is to one on each side of the premises as by a deed indented bearing date the twentie seaventh of January, 1645, more at lardge apth."
It was, as Hawkes says, "At the head of tide water, or about where Scott's Mills in the Centre now stand. Near by is the great bank of scoria (cinder banks) upon which the snows of 250 bleak winters have fallen, which marks the spot where the settlers of Massachu- setts made their first essay in manufacturing-the spot where the die for the 'pine tree shilling' was cast-the spot where Jenks made the first fire engine ever seen in America." Jenks also forged scythes and tools.
This site is now marked by a tablet placed by the Lynn Historical Society.
25
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
Hawkes also informs us, in his "Hearths and Homes of Old Lynn," that in the time of the first Thomas Mansfield this iron works house was the centre of life in the old town, for he had a clothier's shop, a fulling mill, a dye-house, an "archhouse or vault," a grist mill, "and the conveniency of the stream," as well as a cider-mill. Its modern name results from the fact that Sally, daughter of the third Thomas Mansfield, hap- pened to marry Capt. Timothy Davis, from whom its title passed to the late Andrew A. Scott, and in turn, upon his death to his son, Walter Scott. Walter Scott, having deceased, the title passed to George Niven, who has recently sold it to Wallace Nutting of Framing- ham, and it is to be preserved by him for historical purposes.
The village at the foundry was known as "Hammer- smith," the place in England from which many of the workmen came. The company itself consisted of eleven Englishmen who advanced £1000 to establish the works. Dexter and Robert Bridges were among the original promoters and in May, 1645, the General Court passed an order to the effect that "ye iron works is very successful," although there is much doubt as to how long it continued so. There were many lawsuits and ultimately the company was dissolved.
"The painful smith, with force of fervent heat, The hardest iron soon doth mollifie, That with his heavy sledge he can it beat, And fashion to what he it list apply."
-Spencer.
26
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
APPLETON'S PULPIT
C CONTEMPORANEOUS with the iron works pe- riod, Appleton's pulpit lore presses for recogni- tion, for in September, 1687, we are informed, upon the tablet on the well-known rock in Appleton Street, at the Centre, that "resisting the tyranny of Sir Ed- mond Andros, Major Samuel Appleton, of Ipswich, spoke to the people in behalf of those principles which later were embodied in the Declaration of Indepen- dence," and for the support of which, it may be remarked, in passing, Saugus sent forth the largest of the five companies of Minute Men who went from Lynn to the Lexington green.
Newhall also informs us that "tradition says that in these troublous times (1687) a watch was stationed on the hill (near Appleton's pulpit) to give alarm of any approach of the Crown officers to arrest their man. The watch was to signal their approach by crying, 'Caleb, mount!' and from this cry came the name of the hill." It is known even to this day as Catamount Hill and pasture.
It is at this point that our pageant of 1915 is to be held in conjunction with our pending celebration. The immediate location is Berrett's field, a part of the old Catamount pasture, and at present owned by the Ellen Berrett heirs, who very generously donated the use of it for the pageant. It is certainly a very appropriate and desirable place for so unique a part of our Centen-
27
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
nial exercises, particularly when we remember of its connection with our earliest and well-cherished tra- ditions of the fearless Appleton and his courageous utterances.
PARISH CHURCH AND PARSON ROBY
W E pause, with reverence, before a tombstone in the old cemetery at the Centre. It is the last earthly resting place of Rev. Joseph Roby, for whom the adjacent Roby School is named. For more than half a century he was the minister of the West Parish, as Saugus was then called.
Burke, in his "Reflections on the Revolution In France," said, "We know, and, what is better, we feel inwardly, that religion is the basis of civil society, and the source of all good, and of all comfort."
Joseph Roby was the religious and civil leader of his time in Saugus. He was a native of Boston, having been born there May 12, 1724. We quote from his epitaph :
"Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Joseph Roby, who departed this life January 31st., 1803, in the 80th year of his age and 53d of his ministry in this parish.
"Through life a lover of learning and virtue, a sin- cere friend, a kind and affectionate husband and pa- rent, and a devoted Christian.
28
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
"By a constant practice of the Christian and social virtues, he rendered himself beloved and respected in the various walks of domestic life. Reader, wouldst thou be honored in life and lamented in death, go and do likewise.
"No pain, no grief, no anxious fear Invade thy bounds ; no mortal woes Can reach the peaceful sleeper here While angels watch his soft repose. So Jesus slept; God's dying Son, Passed thro' the grave, and blest the bed ; Then rest, dear saint, till from His throne The morning break and pierce the shade."
During his long pastorate in Saugus it is said he married some 300 couples. He was twice married. Shortly after the battle of Lexington, the people chose a committee of safety. Parson Roby represented Sau- gus. On the next Sunday, Sanderson tells us, by recom- mendation of the Provincial Congress, all men who lived within twenty miles of the seacoast went to church armed. Parson Roby religiously followed these instructions, appearing at meeting with his musket un- der one arm and his sermon under the other. When President Washington journeyed through Lynn, Par- son Roby was one of those presented to him at the Newhall Tavern.
The Old Parish Church, where Parson Roby preached, was organized in 1738, and thus our re- ligious life began, that religion that has at one and the same time been the basis of our civil society, as
29
HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
well as the source of both our good and comfort, so well epitomized by Burke.
Up to 1738, our people worshipped at the Parish Church on Lynn Common. In 1736, the men of Saugus started their "meetinghouse," as it was called. It is said to have been finished in 1737. The "finishing" included merely a pulpit, a floor and some seats. There were "men's seats" on one side of the building, and "women's seats" on the other.
Hawkes says that the "movement to secure a sepa- rate place of worship took definite form when Wil- liam Taylor, on July 1, 1736, conveyed to Thomas Cheever, Jonathan Waite and John Waite a parcel of land 'for divers good causes and considerations, but more especially to encourage the building of a meet- inghouse for the public worship of God,' which in- cludes what is now the public square, whereon stands the Soldiers' Monument, in Saugus Centre, and the old burying ground lying to the west."
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