USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Wenham > Notes on Wenham history, 1643-1943 > Part 1
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M. L
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01067 1052
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1710
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LPOINTED FS
ALL, LUANG
THREE HALF-MILE STONES FROM OLD BAY ROAD BEARING DATE 1710
In front of wall on estate of Gordon Prince.
Sidewalk in front of Town Hall
Sidewalk in front of the Cemetery. Here the traveler is told he is 7 miles from Ipswich, 20 miles from Boston, and then followed the text from Job 30 : 23.
NOTES
ON
WENHAM HISTORY
1643 - 1943
Compiled by Adeline P. Cole
Edited and Published by the Wenham Historical Association V. I. S. Newcomb & Gauss Co., Printers Salem, Massachusetts
FOREWORD
These notes of Wenham life and its people during the 300 years of its existence as a town, have been collected over a period of several years in the hope that they might become useful to some future historian of Wenham. Since we lack an historian at this time, the material collected, has been assembled in this form, with copious notes as to the source material, for any one desiring to undertake further work in local history.
In this form, we hope the schools will find it useful, in having easily available local material to correlate with their general school program. We hope also that it may be a means of familiarizing Wenham people with the back- ground of the 300 years and changing conditions respon- sible for the Wenham of 1943.
A. P. C.
May 10, 1943.
1976790
$1000 Drews By Shop Jan1 2-1978 PO 8534
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/notesonwenhamhis00cole
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
PAGE
Physical characteristics, Geology, Boulders
5
Indian, their habitations, tools, their claim 7-11
Early settlers, large grants 12-18
Hugh Peters, his influence
19
Wenham, a township 21
Founding of the Church, Pastorate John Fisk, Removal to Chelmsford 23-26
Return of Church to Wenham, Pastorate Joseph Gerrish, Hamlet neighbors granted privilege of Meeting House 27-31
King Philips' War, Land bounty 32-35
Transportation in 17th Century
36
Spiritual and Political disturbance, Witchcraft, Loss of charter 39-40
The Commons
41-44
Social and Domestic Life, Care of the Poor, Dress, Houses, Wages
45-50
Education 51-52
Industries, Blacksmiths, Cottage Industries, Mills, Tann- ing, Peat 53-55
Close of the 17th Century, Letter of Pastor Higginson, describing conditions 56
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
French and Indian Wars, The Acadians, Privateering, Pirates 62-64
Period of the Revolution, Depression, Stamp Act, Spinning Bees, Minute Men, Battle of Lexington, Aftermath 65-73 Story of early burying grounds, Thomas Dodge, Fairfield, Slave 74-77
Schools, Proprietors, District, Select, Public
78-80
Transportation, Turnpikes 82
Agriculture 83
NINETEENTH CENTURY
Period of 1812 War, Volunteers, Essex Junto, Timothy Pickering 84-89
Period of the Civil War, Slaves, Camp Lander, Memorial, Poor travellers 90-95
Social and Civic life, Town hall, Public Health 97-98
Transportation, Rail-road, Horse and Electric Cars 99-101
Sports, Fox-hunting, Polo, Horse-racing 102-103
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Table of Contents
PAGE
Schools, Red brick school house, Neck, Select Schools,
Center School 104-107 Story of Public Library, Parochial, District, Social, Pub- 106-110 lic
Industries, "Ten footers," Shoe-making, Ice business, wheel wrights, 112-116 119
Chebacco boat "Lilly," Bees
Agriculture, Effort for new crops 117-119
Stores, Apothecary Shops
120-122
TWENTIETH CENTURY
World War I, organization in Wenham, Influenza 1918,
Red Cross, Memorial, W. P. A. 123-126
World War II, organization for Civilian Defense, Red Cross 126
Schools, Consolidation, Superintendentry Union, State
Paternalism, Junior High
129-132
Library, Circulation, Funds, Benj. Conant, Neighborhood Service 133-135
Fire Protection 136-137
138
Story Postal Service, List of Postmasters
Church, Separation of Church and Town 1833-1834, Con- gregational, Baptist, So. Hamilton churches
140, 141
Sports, Tennis, Golf 142
Organizations and Social Centers 143
149
Transportation, Limitations
Threshold of a new century, Reduction of taxable acreage, Land values, Population, Highways, New citizens 150-152
ABBREVIATIONS
E.I.H.C .- Essex Institute Historical Collections
R.M.B.C .- Records of Mass. Bay Colony
Mass H. Col .- Mass. Historical Collections
Q.C.R .- Quarterly Court Records
W.T.R .- Wenham Town Records
W.H.C .- Wenham Historical Collections
W.H.C.Ms.C .- Wenham Historical Manuscript Collections
E.R.D .- Essex Registry of Deeds
E.P.R .- Esex Probate Records
WENHAM GEOLOGY
The territory which we call Wenham was fashioned into its present appearance by a great ice sheet which moved slowly and steadily from the north into the sea, aeons ago, if one may think in terms of forty to eighty thousand years.1
The rounded rocks cropping from the hills, covered with scratches and grooves, the bare hills and steep ridges, the boulders here and there, all are mute evidences of the terrific force of that great ice sheet, grinding rocks to sand, picking up giant boulders and carrying them to distant points, wiping fertile soil from the hillsides and depositing it on the lowlands.
By the direction of the scratches and grooves on the ledges, geologists find that the great ice sheet, several thousand feet thick, moving from the Canadian highlands, passed over southeast from the northwest; evidences of all this period crop out at every section of the town and may be seen by a tramp over Rocky Hill, Snake Hill and many other spots where are outcropping rocks.
As an example of the boulders which were thus picked up and carried far from their original ledge is that mark- ing the 250th anniversary of the founding of Wenham. This stone was removed from land bordering Wenham Lake, a short distance, to its present location. It is a boulder worthy of preservation, of which John H. Sears, the author of "The Geology of Essex County," wrote at the time of its selection.2
1 Wenham Pond goes back to the ice-block which formed it. Cedar Pond was a small ice-block hole. Wenham Swamp, an area of some 2000 acres, was an ice-block hole.
2 "This bowlder is a glacial erratic that was removed from the original ledge of which it was a part, probably in West Andover, Mass., or from Pelham, New Hampshire, as there is no similar rock nearer than these places in the line of glaciation which is everywhere in the region apparent by the scratched and striated surfaces of ledges. These scratches are invariably from the Northwest to the South East, and consequently in this North- West course, the only ledges of this rock are in the places
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
The boulder measured 38" x 24" and the contract for its removal was made with Amory Lawrence of Hamilton in February, 1893, for the sum of $60.00 The com- mittee having the matter in charge were Herbert Porter, Wellington Pool, and Benjamin Conant.
The committee further provided for a bronze tablet to be cast by the Newburyport Iron Foundry and Machine Works, for $80.00. This tablet bore the inscription : "This stone marks the site of Peter's Hill, on which about the year 1638, Reverend Hugh Peters, pastor of the church in Salem, preached the first sermon in Wenham, Text from John 3:23, 'In Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there.' Thus early in the history of the town was the gospel proclaimed. Erected by the Town 1893."
named above, the bowlder was without doubt imbedded in the bottom of the glacial ice cap which covered New England dur- ing the glacial period, and which was at least one thousand feet thick over Essex County. This bowlder probably produced some of the scratches and rounded surfaces of outcropping ledges thus giving a guide to trace its course from the parent ledge, to its present resting place on the shore of Wenham Lakes. This bowlder is well worthy of being preserved as a geological specimen, a relic of the work of the great Ice Age; its well rounded surfaces which show deep scratches, fine striae, and even polished areas due to being moved over and across the sur- face of the bed rock in its passage, is a marvel that has been preserved for our inspection and study, and that future genera- tions may see such a remarkable specimen.
There have been numbers of similar bowlders known to the writer in various parts of our County, that have been destroyed by being broken up to form material for stone wall, and thus lost for future study.
The rock by measurements taken shows that it contains approximately 110 cubic feet, and as this form of rock is known to have 12 cubic feet in a ton, the weight of it would be 9 tons.
The composition of the boulder is much Quartz and Feldspar, with Horrneblende and musicovite mica as essential minerals, also accessory minerals, harnett, Biotite, Magnetite and Limon- itie, this last mineral gives the rock its reddish to pink color, the minerals are arranged in bands or layers, giving the bowl- der a distinctly gneissic character, thus the rock is what is popularly known as a foliated muscovite biotite granite."
J. H. Sears June 17, 1905.
THIS STONE MARKS THE SITE OF PETERS HILL. ON WHICH ABOUT THE YEAR 1638 REVEREND HUCH PETERS PASTOR OF THE CHURCH IN SALEM PREACHED THE FIRST SERMON IN WENHAM. TEXT TROM JOHN III 23 SCHON NEAR TO SALIN BECAUSE THERE WAS MUCH WATER THERL THUS EARLY IN THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN WAS THE GOSPEL PROCLAIMED ERECTED BY THE TOWN 1908
BOULDER COMMEMORATING THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF WENHAM Marks the site of Hugh Peters' sermon
THE INDIANS
The Indian Claim. The territory embraced in the town of Wenham was well favored by the Algonquin tribe of Indians, which was scattered through Essex County. Their paths through the woods their encampments on the hillsides, are well known. The trail of arrow heads, the stone hatchets, mortars, gouges, which have been found are mute evidences of the daily life.
Each year these evidences are growing less and less, partly from lack of interest, partly as the result of genera- tions of collecting these fragments of the past. Some are scattered through museums and private collections as a part of the Indian relics of Essex County. Other cherished collections of former generations were too often delegated to the attic and there met the fate of house cleaning time. Fortuately, however, there is a small but very representa- tive collection of these stone implements, which have been gathered in Wenham and are preserved by the Historical Association.1
The Algonquin tribe was not nomadic. They were an agricultural people; they knew how to grow their corn and store it. There still may be seen the faint evidences2 of the little hillocks which they fertilized with two or three alewives, easily obtained from the brook as the fish made their way to spawn in the Great Pond nearby.
Owing to a wide spread epidemic, possibly smallpox, which had been fatal to hundreds of the race along the New England coast in 1616, there were only scattered families in the vicinity during the early seventeenth cen- tury. Since these were friendly, the Indian native was no menace to the early settlers in the Wenham territory.
It is fruitless to enter into a discussion of that debatable question as to whether the peaceful Algonquins had an in herent right to the territory we occupy. While still in England, in 1629, John Winthrop expressed the opinion,
1 Illustration of part of collection.
2 Site of the Wenham Golf Course.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
"that whch lies common, and hath never been replenished or subdued is free to any that possess or improve it-as for the natives in N. E. they enclose noe land, neither have any setled habytation, nor any tame cattle to improve the land, and soe have noe other but a natural right to these countries. Soe as if we leave them sufficient for their use, wee may lawfully take the rest, there being more than enough for them and us."3
On this supposition the courts thereafter decided that the Indians had only the right of occupancy, and had held no title to the land. Of course, in this particular case, they quite overlooked the fact that the Algonquin race of the North American Indian were a more gentle people, less warlike, and largely agricultural, remaining year after year in the same locality, and re-planting and harvesting their fields with the return of each season.
The Colonial Government, however, repeatedly showed their desire to protect any possible Indian rights.4 As early as 1629, in the first general directions to the Gover- nor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he was counselled that if any of the savages claim the land by right of inherit- ance, that the Company should endeavor to purchase their rights "that we may avoyde the least scruple o Intrusion."5
Indian Deed. No claim was made for any rights in Wenham until the year 1700 when three Indians, heirs of Masconomet, Sagamore of Agawam, claimed territory embraced in the towns of Beverly, Manchester, Gloucester, Boxford, Rowley, Topsfield, Bradford and Wenham. The
3 Life and Letters of John Winthrop-V 1: 311, 312.
4 Colonists have always found it easy to reason themselves into the rightness of their conquest over the native in whatever the land. An old time anecdote of this type of reasoning was related to Robert Rantoul, Sr., over a hundred years ago, 1832, of some early settlers in Connecticut who had found, in the soil of a settlement occupied by the Indians, a place they thought desirable, but they had some scruples about taking it; so they called a church meeting and after much discussion, took some solemn votes to determine what was right. They voted "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." This passed; it was then voted "the earth is given to the saints." This was passed without a dissenting voice. They then voted, "we are the saints." This made a good title, and the Indians lost their settlement-Essex Inst. H. C., 19 : 126.
5 R. M. B. C., 1853, 1: 394.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
idea was apparently conceived by two English attorneys, Joseph Foster, of Bellerica, and Moses Parker, of Chelms- ford, who acted as their representatives. The towns, ap- parently feeling it was best to come to some agreement, appointed town meetings and committees to treat with the Indians. The Town of Wenham assembled in a special town meeting, Dec. 18, 1700, and appointed a committee, and later a rate was made to cover the "cost of the land £4-16s-laid out in purchasing the Indian title of the land within our township." Constable John Brown was to collect 2 .- 18 and Constable Samuel Kilham 2-9-5, each being allowed one shilling and threepence for collecting.6
Loss of the deed. This deed of the three heirs of the Sagamore of Agawam has apparently been lost. In pos- session of the town for over one hundred years, it dis- appeared from the town possessions after 1825. The last time it was seen was when introduced as evidence in the suit of Amos Brown et al. vs. Town of Wenham, to obtain possession of a small piece of land.
The Town of Wenham introduced evidence "that they had been in possession of the premises from time immemo- rial, for the purpose of obtaining gravel thereupon, for mending the highways, as exigencies of the town required."
The contestants,7 on the other hand, introduced evidence
6 W. T. R., Supplement to Vol. 1, pp. 40, 41, 43, 44.
7 Balch pasture, as it was called, was no doubt a part of the original grant to John Balch, which descended to the widow of his son John This widow married the pioneer William Dodge, and his descendants owned by right of inheritance, Balch pas- ture. It was appraised in 1825 as part of the estate of John Dodge.
Balch pasture is at the top of the hill southwest of the pres- ent Dickinson house-"stretching along the road upon the steep bank of the pond, lies a tract of some twenty acres of pasturage and woodland . . . probably no lot of its size has been more fruitful of litigation."
Robert S. Rantoul on July 27, 1869, describes this famous case, as he gave some reminiscences of Wenham Pond at a field meeting, held on the west shore.
"At the annual town meeting, held on the afternoon of March 1, 1842, the town of Wenham supposing itself the owner of that portion of this tract which lies within its limits, voted to take possession forth with, and to sell the wood standing thereon at nine o'clock the next morning in lots to be removed at once. The sale at auction being accordingly concluded, the purchasers proceeded on March 2, to cut their respective lots,
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
to dispose such ownership, and to prove that John Dodge and their ancestors possessed it before and after his de- cease in 1825.
Neither side could produce a deed; the Town of Wen- ham then produced the Indian deed of 1700 as conclusive evidence. The court ruled that this was not a conveyance but merely the release of any supposed right of the inhab- itants, and presupposed that these lands had been granted by the government to persons, then seized under those grants.
Amos Brown vs. Inhabitants of Wenham 1845.
Metcalf's reports-Mass. Vol. 10 : 496.
Our Debt to the Indian. The Indians were just as much a part of our country as are the hills and the streams. They gave us much, and our debt to them is great. We gave them drink and fire arms, and our debt to them was doubled. We in Wenham were singularly fortunate in harboring only most peacable Indians, so it is easier for us to emphasize the debt we owe them, having no memories of the warlike Indians farther away who became what they were by white man's treachery, or French connivance.
During the early part of the seventeenth century, the
and prepare them for removal. From far and near, by chil- dren returning from school, and from house tops across the pond the operation was witnessed and denounced by indignant Dodges. The work being nearly finished and the afternoon in clement, the hewers of wood suspended their labors early. Mean- time the word had gone forth-the friends of the adverse claim- ants had been summoned, and soon after night fall under cover of the storm, with cattle and sledges. with lanterns and axes, they began to gather on the ground, resolved to a man that no stick of Balch pasture fuel should ever warm the hearthstone of a purchaser from the town of Wenham. The wood was freely offered to those who would take it away from the soil of the disputed territory into the high way, and from the high way to the wood pile the work went briskly on. Now the moon broke through the storm, and heavy clouds rolled away. And there from midnight until dawn in the clear moonlight of that March morning load after load of cut wood disappeared; the trees left standing were felled and disposed of. Next day when the claimants under the town arrived, to their utter amazement and discomfiture, they found their neighbors, after enjoying the fruits of their yesterdays labor, quietly breakfasting to- gether by the road side, while the contested portion of Balch pasture, but the day before a well covered wood lot, was now transferred into pasturage indeed. This state of things elicited merriment on both sides."
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INDIAN STONE TOOLS FROM WENHAM From the collection at the Barn, Wenham Historical Association
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
few Indians who were left in this territory easily began to adopt some of the white man's habits, particularly evil ones. He wanted to replace his bow and arrow with the gun and drink of the white man's liquor. The General Court forbade selling strong drink to an Indian.
The French people on this continent, particularly in that part called Canada, did quite the opposite, putting fire arms into their hands, strong drink into their bodies, hatred of the English into their thoughts.
European methods of farming were not adapted to our lands and conditions. American agriculture begins with the Indians ; they developed the great crops of maize, most adaptable to this region.8 They did not cultivate the fruits because they were so abundant, growing wild. The blackberry, the blueberry, crabapple, dewberry, elderberry, huckleberry, raspberry, strawberry and grape were part of their food, in season. The grape, particularly, made a deep impression upon the colonist; from early letters9 the adventurers envisioned a profitable wine industry and for that reason sent over vine planters.
8 Their great crops were the white potato, wheat, rice and tobacco. Have the whites on this continent developed one single important staple during the three hundred years since they colonized ?
9 "Vines do grow here plentifully, laden with the biggest grapes that I ever saw. Some I have seen four inches around." -Thomas Graves, Young, p. 265.
EARLY SETTLERS
The beginning of Wenham. Wenham's recorded his- tory begins with the settlement in Salem by the Massachu- setts Bay Colony.
From the early seventeenth century, North America be- came of increasing interest to England; more and more ships crossed the ocean to explore and fish, returning with tales of fertile lands and great forests. To colonize this new, rich country, became a settled policy of England.
Settlers came in small groups, to barter and to fish, and though these attempts were mostly unprofitable, they be- came the background of the determined effort to make colonization profitable. Religious dissensions, offered an excellent recruiting ground for the commercial venture, which developed into the permanent settlement.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a stock company made up of able well-to-do families, and a few men of wealth, all looking for opportunity, religious freedom or financial gain or both.
A few miles back from the sea, the inland country of which the present Wenham was a part, was particularly adapted to farming.
Thomas Graves, an engineer and surveyor, sent over with Higginson to lay out towns and investigate resources, writes thus of the country being adapted to farming as it appeared to him, "If it hath not at any time been manured and husbanded, yet it is very beautiful in open lands and mixed with goodly woods, and again open plains, in some places five hundred acres, some places more some less not much troublesome for to clear for a plough to go in; no place barren, but on the tops of hills. The grass and weeds grow up to a man's face in the lowlands, and by fresh rivers abundance of grass and large meadows without any tree or shrub to hinder scythe."1
Early Grants. Grants were made to the new colonists, in all directions from Salem according to the standing and
1 See Young, p. 264.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
ability of these pioneers ; the grants were very definite as to size and direction, but quite indeterminate as to bounds.
In 1637-8 several large grants embraced some of the land now Wenham. Many of the settlements were built upon land formerly cultivated by the Indians. The new land holders had every reason to look forward to abundant crops, remembering the letters from Higginson as he wrote back to England in 1629.2
Of some of the larger grants, there were 200 acres to Francis Felmingham, 200 acres to Samuel Smith, 100 to Richard Rayment, 80 to John Fairfield.
Felmingham grant. Of the larger grants which were made before the founding of the town, one in particular floats like a wraith through the early records, the Fel- minham grant. Francis Felmingham, from Brampton, north part of Suffolk, England, sailed on the Mary Ann in 1637 from Yarmouth; he was thirty-two years of age and was accompanied by his wife and two children,8 their pas- sage money being paid by his father-in-law, Benjamin Cooper.
Aug. 14, 1637. Francis Felmingham received in Salem an an inhabitant.
Sept. 15, 1637, he desired accomodation for a farm.
Jan. 15, 1636-7, he was granted 200 acres about the Great Pond, or out that way.4 This area, called the "Fel- mingham Grant," was more clearly defined in 1680, when bounds were being recorded in Wenham, as occupying the north side of Main Street from the Ipswich line to the Meeting House, and bounded by the Ipswich line to Pleas- ant Pond.5
Felmingham is called an attorney in 1643, and one of his servants, Richard Gill, was sentenced to be severely
2 After telling of the Governor's vineyard and his garden with a lot of green peas, "an abundance of corn was growing. One man had told him that from the setting of thirteen gallons of corn, he had an increase of 52 hogs heads, every hogs head holding seven bushels, and every bushel had been sold to the Indians for an amount of the beaver skins equivalent to eighteen shillings." Thus Mr. Higginson reckoned that a single farmer made in our currency, 1500 a year .- Mass. Col. Records, 1: 388.
3 Mass. H. C., 4 : 6.
4 Salem T. R., 1:59; Perley, 1: 477, 2 : 147.
5 W. T. R., 1: 52.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
whipped for breaking into a house on the Lord's Day and stealing tobacco.6 Apparently the large grant of 200 acres was of little or no interest to him as a farm, and we have no further interest in him.
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