USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > The first century of Dummer Academy. A historical discourse, delivered at Newbury, Byfield Parish, August 12, 1863. With an appendix > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
Gc 974.402 So58c 1563428
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GC
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00084 5435
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/firstcenturyofdu00clea_0
.
-01 Copy
THE
FIRST
CENTURY
OF
DUMMER ACADEMY.
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE,
DELIVERED AT
NEWBURY, BYFIELD PARISH,
AUGUST, 12, 1863.
NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
WITH AN APPENDIX.
BY NEHEMIAH
CLEAVELAND.
BOSTON: NICHOLS & NOYES. 1865.
-
1563428
PREFATORY NOTICE.
This Discourse is published in accordance with a vote of the Alumni of Dummer Academy, passed at their meeting, August 12, 1863. In the hope of imparting to it greater value as a histori- cal and biographical document, I attempted to make a list of those who were members of the school, during, at least, the first three quarters of the century, with such brief notices of the more dis- tinguished, as I might be able to give. This idea, after consid- erable labor and correspondence, I was compelled to relinquish, from the extent of the task, and the trouble which I experienced in getting the needed information. Just then other engagements intervened, and hence the delay in giving this performance to the - press. If anything has been lost by the fading out of that ephemeral interest which springs from the excitements of a great occasion, the deficiencies will, I hope, be more than made up by the increased thoroughness and completeness of what is presented.
Those who were present at the solemnity will find much that was prepared, but omitted for want of time, and may perceive that some portions of what they did hear have been modified and re-arranged, - but will discover, as I trust, no alteration or addi- tion which impairs the real and permanent value of this historical memorial.
To the MEMORY of the GREAT and the GOOD now gone, whose names are associated with the SCHOOL ;- its FOUNDER, its INSTRUC- TORS, OVERSEERS and PUPILS; to the present BOARD OF TRUSTEES and the whole body of living ALUMNI ;- and to all, who, in time to come, shall hold similar relations to DUMMER ACADEMY ; - I here dedicate the first chapter in its history.
TOPSFIELD, January, 1865.
N. C.
PORCART
CONTENTS. .
DISCOURSE.
THE DUMMER FAMILY Page 6
RICHARD DUMMER,. 7
JEREMY DUMMER, . 8
9
AS ACTING GOVERNOR, 10
13
THE WILL OF GOV. DUMMER,
18
THE MOODY FAMILY,.
19
SAMUEL MOODY APPOINTED MASTER,
.20
INCORPORATION OF DUMMER ACADEMY,
22
RESIGNATION AND DEATH OF MASTER MOODY,
23
MOODY AS A TEACHER AND DISCIPLINARIAN, 24
THEOPHILUS PARSONS AND RUFUS KING,. 30
PEARSON, WEBBER, SMITH, PRESCOTT, . 31
32
EDWARD PREBLE,. 33
ISAAC SMITH, PRECEPTOR,. .34
REMINISCENCE OF SMITH,
.37
RESIGNATION OF
39
PARKER CLEAVELAND, JAMES JACKSON, .39
BENJAMIN ALLEN, PRECEPTOR,. 40
DR. ALLEN'S SUCCESS, 41
BENJAMIN APTHORP GOULD, 41
GEORGE BARRELL EMERSON, 42
ABIEL ABBOT, PRECEPTOR, .. 42
PRESIDENT HALE, JUDGE TENNEY,
43
SAMUEL ADAMS, PRECEPTOR,.
43
NEHEMIAH CLEAVELAND, PRECEPTOR,. 45
SOCIETY OF THE SONS OF DUMMER, FOUNDED, 46
PROJECT OF AN AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, 48
RE-ORGANIZATION - ENGLISH DEPARTMENT,. 50
PHINEAS NICHOLS, PRINCIPAL,. 53
FREDERIC A. ADAMS, PRINCIPAL, 53
.54
HENRY DURANT, PRINCIPAL,.
ARIEL P. CHUTE, PRINCIPAL, 55
MARSHALL HENSHAW, PRINCIPAL,. 55
JOHN S. PARSONS, PRINCIPAL,. 56
THE THREE FEOFFEES, 57
THE FIFTEEN CHARTER TRUSTEES, 58
TRUSTEES ELECTED BEFORE 1840,. 60
CONCLUSION,
70
15
THE MANSION HOUSE,
14
WILLIAM DUMMER,
CHARACTER OF
KATHARINE DUMMER,
SAMUEL PHILLIPS, SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY,
一
+
APPENDIX.
THE SEWALLS, III.
- THE LONGFELLOWS, .IV. THE MOODYS,. V. SEBASTIAN RALE, VII.
DUMMER'S WILL, VII.
THE DUMMERS, .. IX.
'THE MANSION HOUSE,
.
THE DUDLEY FAMILY,
XI.
MASTER MOODY,. XIII.
A QUESTION OF INCOMPATIBILITY,. XVI.
ARNOLD AT RUGBY -THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE,. XVII.
ISAAC SMITH AS LIBRARIAN OF HARVARD COLLEGE, XVIII.
THE PRECEPTORSHIP, XVIII.
ASSISTANT TEACHERS,. XIX.
TRUSTEES OF THE LAST QUARTER-CENTURY, XXIV.
BYFIELD, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, XXVIII.
THE PARISH AND THE ACADEMY, XXIX.
YOUNG LADIES' SCHOOL, . XXXII.
TOPOGRAPHY OF BYFIELD, XXXII.
SURROUNDINGS OF THE ACADEMY, XXXIV.
OLD PLUMMER, XXV. ENOCH BOYNTON, XXXV.
THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, XXXVI.
CATALOGUES, .
XLI.
CONCLUSION,
XLII.
.
CORRIGENDA.
Page 12. For Ralle read Rale.
13. Burnett " Burnet.
18. 7th line, after "Willards" omit "and" - after "Savages " insert "and others."
34. For "(5)" read "(6)".
35. " "(6)" " "(7)".
39. In heading, for "Benjamin Allen" read "Isaac Smith."
56. 17th line, for "Rutger's " read Rutgers'.
57. 21st "1759" 1769.
58. 21st " be " he.
59. 2d before "1785 " insert In ..
70. 27th omit "the ".
x. 2d for "Popkins'" read Popkin's.
XII. 30th for "Niebuh " read Niebuhr.
.
DISCOURSE.
On the first day of March, 1763, in a modest edifice then just put up on this ground, a small company of men and boys met to inaugurate and open a free grammar school. Its founder had died a year or two before, leav- ing provision for it in his will. A teacher, already dis- tinguished, had been appointed Master, and entered, that day, on his duties, with a goodly number of pupils. Since that memorable March morning, a hundred years have sped their flight. Through all the alternations of heat and frost, of sunshine and of shade, that marked each rolling year ; through all the vicissitudes of individual, social, and national life, which constitute the historic detail, and which fill up the grand outline of a century, -this institution has held on its way. The school which DUMMER found- ed, and which MOODY taught, stands before us to-day a hundred years old,- unimpaired, let us hope, by age, and with a career of usefulness still before it, to stretch on through centuries to come.
It is to signalize the completion of this first great cycle in its history that we meet here, my friends, to-day. It is not possible to mistake the motive and meaning of this great gathering. However we may differ in our pursuits, our opinions, or our feelings, one common, one
- 2
6
THE DUMMER FAMILY.
natural impulse has brought us here, from homes both near and far, and from all the winds of heaven, -to ex- press our grateful admiration of him, who, so long ago, laid this foundation of charity and learning, -to make mention of the wise and good men under whose nurture it has flourished, -to repeat some of the great names which adorn its catalogue,-to trace, here and there, the streams of its beneficent influence, -and, in cases not a few, to renew the friendships and revive the memories of youth, on the very spot where some of its happiest hours were passed.
In the brief review which I propose, our respects are first due to the illustrious founder. You are, I suppose, generally aware that the Dummers of Newbury are co- eval with the town. The small parish of Bishopstoke near Southampton was the English home of the pioneers. From that place RICHARD DUMMER came in 1632, and after a sojourn of four years in Roxbury and Boston, joined the founders of this new settlement. His brother, STEPHEN, came from England to Newbury in 1638, but returned, after ten years' trial, taking all his family. Though no American Dummers can trace their origin to Stephen, there is abundant cause to thank him for the child whom he gave in marriage to HENRY SEWALL. This wedded pair, after a few years' stay abroad, returned to Newbury, to become the progenitors of a race unsurpass- ed in this commonwealth. Of what other woman among the Pilgrims can it be said that four of her immediate descendants attained to seats on the highest bench of judicature, and that three of these held the place of chief- justice -not to mention others of the family, who were only less distinguished ? (1) * Nor was this all that JANE DUMMER did for her country and mankind-for in the sixth degree of direct descent from her, we have the renowned and delightful author of Hiawatha and Evangeline.
* The figures in the text refer to corresponding numbers in the Appendix.
7
RICHARD DUMMER.
The elder brother, Richard, was, from the beginning, a man of mark ; by far the largest land-holder here, and, probably, the richest man in the Province. The first mill in the town was built by him on a fall, still turned to use. He was prominent in church affairs, and a magis-
trate of the Colony. In the controversy regarding disci- pline, which so long agitated the First Parish of Newbury, and which the entire civil and ecclesiastical power was unable to quell, he took part against the ministers, Par- ker and Noyes, and was one of the two Ruling Elders elected to manage the affairs of the church. In that greater controversy, when a strong minded woman first appeared on the Massachusetts stage, and shook the young colony to its base, he sided with Harry Vane, and not with John Winthrop. But Winthrop carried the day ;- Dummer was left out of the magistracy, and had gun and sword taken from him under the disarming act. I rejoice to add that he did not wait long for his revenge. A few years later, Winthrop, by the dishonesty of his Eng- lish steward, became poor. An appeal was made to the generosity of the colonists, and in the subscription which followed, Richard Dummer's name 'led all the rest.'*
It is pleasant to know that this is the very ground on which the patriarch lived ; that here he made his first clearing in the woods ; that here was the site of the earliest Dummer home, and that it was his plough-share which first turned up to the sun and air, the virgin soil of our school farm. Conjointly with Saltonstall, Sewall, and others, he was among the first to import cattle, horses and sheep into the new colony, and it is on record that the herds thus introduced were pastured on an ex- tensive tract set apart for the purpose, round the falls
* This was in 1640. Of less than £500 contributed, Dummer gave £100. " His generosity," says Savage, "is above all praise. His contribution is fifty per cent. above the whole tax of his town, and equal to half the benevolence of the whole metropolis ; yet he had been a sufferer under the mistaken views of Winthrop and other sound religionists."
8
JRREMY DUMMER.
1
where the Byfield Factory now stands. From this useful enterprise, and from the fruit trees which he brought over, the young community here must have derived large advan- tage. One delicious apple which he, perhaps, introduced, and which is found only here, still bears the Dummer name. The large black mulberry before the Mansion House, so familiar to you all, may have been planted by him. The oldest apple-trees on the farm undoubtedly date back to his day.
Of his five sons, Jeremiah became a silver-smith, and settled in Boston-a man of substance and respectability in his day, but chiefly to be remembered as the father of Jeremy and William. The name of JEREMY DUMMER, as the able and faithful agent of Massachusetts in Eng- land, is familiar to every reader of our colonial annals. But it is not so generally known that he was one of the most remarkable men New England had then produced ;- that, after graduating at Harvard, with a reputation for scholarship unequaled there, he won similar distinction at . the great University of Leyden in Holland; - that, re- linquishing the sacred profession for which he had been trained under Mather and Witsius, with the highest pros- pects of eminence and usefulness, he devoted himself with equal success to the study of jurisprudence and of poli- tics ; - that, for many years, he shone as a publicist, cour- tier, wit, and mingled on terms of intimacy with that brilliant circle of scholars, authors, and Mæcenases, who gave to the reign of Queen Anne its highest distinction, as England's Augustan age. As the confidential agent of his native province,-her ambassador plenipotentiary near the Court of St. James,-as the efficient defender of her chartered rights at a time when those rights were in dan- ger,-as an enlightened, steady, consistent friend of his own country, at all times and everywhere,-the name of Jeremy Dummer must ever hold an exalted place on the roll of Massachusetts worthies.
.
9
WILLIAM DUMMER.
You will pardon me, surely, for having dwelt a mo- ment on the memory of this illustrious man. He was own brother to the founder of this Academy, and to this old ancestral spot, the future companion of Swift, Addi- son, and Pope, of Marlborough, Craggs, and St. John, doubtless made many a visit in his school and college days.
WILLIAM DUMMER was born in Boston in the year 1677. Of his early life and education, no particulars are on record, so far as I am aware. Whatever advantages were afforded by the Boston Grammar School, (and those were by no means inconsiderable), he undoubtedly enjoyed. The first mention made of him represents him as living at Plymouth, England, and acting as Commissioner for his native colony. While thus occupied, he received from Government the appointment of Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. This honor he owed, we are told, to the kind influence of the excellent Sir William Ashurst. How long he had been resident in England does not appear. On the receipt of his commission he came home. This was in 1716. The time of his return, to take an active part in the politics and government of his native province, was one of high excitement. His father-in-law GOVERNOR JOSEPH DUDLEY, had just retired from office, after an un- easy administration of fourteen years. That spirit of
party which sprang up in Massachusetts with the advent of the new charter, had been getting more and more irascible and jealous. Contemporaneously with the return of Dummer, came out SAMUEL SHUTE as the successor of Dudley. Born of dissenting parents, and nominally, at least, a puritan in his religious views, Gov. Shute was not unwelcome in the Colony. But he was also a mili- tary man-having learned under the great Duke of Marl- borough, that the first duty of a soldier is to obey or- ders. His instructions from the Crown required that he should insist upon a fixed annual salary. To this the sturdy colonists objected. It would make the Governor
٠
10
WILLIAM DUMMER.
quite too independent. There were other causes of dis- agreement springing mainly from financial questions and legislation on the currency. The Governor was firm - the House was obstinate. After battling it for seven years, during which he had not gained an inch of ground, the discomfited Colonel stepped, one day, on board a small vessel and sailed away for England, without so much as saying good-bye to any body. He thought, probably, that
his personal representations to the Government at home, would lead, at once, to more stringent measures; that the recusants would be brought to terms, and the way opened for his own triumphant return. Those expectations -if such he had-were doomed to disappointment. Colonel SHUTE, though nominally Governor for six years longer, never came back.
Such were the circumstances under which William Dummer was called to act as Chief Magistrate of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. It is needless to say that it was a difficult and delicate position, to which he thus succeeded. His alliance with the powerful but unpopular Dudleys-his friendly intimacy with Gov. Shute-and his acknowledged sentiments of loyalty to the throne-were not likely, as matters then stood in the colony, to create a pre-possession in his favor. On the other hand, he had the advantage of being a New England man, of tried ability and of the purest character. That he succeeded where his immediate predecessors had so signally failed,- securing the almost universal approval and esteem of a people keenly jealous in regard to their rights and liber- ties, yet without forfeiting the favor of the Crown, -is proof enough that his talents were of a high order, and that he lacked neither judgment nor prudence. If, how- ever, he got on without quarrelling, it was not always for want of provocation. The House still kept tight hold of the Provincial purse strings-but, fortunately, the Governor had a purse of his own. He negatived, as contrary to his instructions, an act of the General Court, for issuing
-
11
WILLIAM DUMMER.
bills of credit, and it was modified so as to remove the objection. Minor cases of offensive action, involving no great principle or serious consequence, he judiciously left unnoticed. But when the House attempted to usurp ex- ecutive power-to say who should and who should not command the troops and fortresses, and to make its own disposition of forces in the field; - "the lieut. gov." (I quote now from Hutchinson) "by a message let the house "know that the king had appointed him general of the " forces, and that he only had the power to draw them off, " and added that he expected all messages from the house " should be properly addressed to him, otherwise he should "pay no regard to them." The house saw their mistake and sent a request to Mr. Dummer that they might have leave to withdraw the resolve. Happy the governor, whether of men or boys, who knows just when to strike, and when to forbear !
But our Governor had something more to do than merely to soothe or to control those fractious representa- tives. An Indian war, instigated, perhaps, but certainly prolonged and aggravated by French intrigue,-had for a long time distressed the northern colonies. Who has not read, till his heart ached, those tales of savage ambush, onslaught, massacre, burning, and capture, which kept all the border settlements in constant alarm, and which have left their crimson trace on so many pages of our colonial history ! At no period, perhaps, were these outrages more frequent, or more appalling than during the first three years of Dummer's administration. Contemporary writers praise the skill and energy with which this war was car- ried on by the Government. I shall allude to a single instance only. It is just one hundred and thirty nine years ago this very day, since a small force of less than two hundred men, sent by Governor Dummer against the tribe of the Norridgwocks, took, by surprise, their little settlement on the bank of the Kennebeck-at that time deep in the untamed wilderness-now a comparatively old
12
WILLIAM DUMMER.
town, and for more than forty years the peaceful residence of our distinguished friend and alumnus, MR. JUSTICE TEN- NEY. The circumstance which gave to this victory its chief importance at the time, and its enduring interest as a matter of history, was the death of that accomplished scholar, that devoted missionary, that cunning, able Jes- uit, who had so long held those Indians subject to his bidding. His unquestioned virtues and his untimely fate have thrown a romantic charm around his name-yet who can doubt that the fall of Father Ralle was an event highly conducive to humanity and peace ? (2)
In the winter of 1725-6, a treaty of peace was agreed upon in Boston, and in the summer following, that treaty was ratified at Falmouth, in a set conference with the Penobscot Indians. At the same place, a year later, the Norridgwocks and other tribes, lately hostile, went through the same process. Many Indians attended, with their respective sachems and spokesmen. On the other side were Gov. Dummer, Gov. Wentworth of New Hamp- shire, Maj. Mascarene, representing the Governor of Nova Scotia, a majority of his Majesty's Council, and several of the Representatives; the entire proceeding being conducted with a good degree of civic and military ceremony. I have looked through the narative of these two conventions as drawn up and published in pamphlet form at the time, with the minute details of each day's transactions, - and did time allow, I would fain attempt to place before your mental eye, a tableau of the scene-that circle of polished, christian gentlemen, and that group of painted warriors, with all the paraphernalia of citizen and of savage, as they met so long ago in amicable council on the com- paratively wild shore of that beautiful archipelago. Suf- fice it to say-through the entire proceeding, the dignity and moderation, the firmness, kindness and sagacity of the chief actor, are strikingly displayed. The judicious treaty then and there concluded, was the foundation of a peace with the Indian tribes, which remained unbroken more than twenty years.
- --- + 4+ 127
--- ----
.
L
13
WILLIAM DUMMER.
In 1728, WILLIAM BURNETT was transferred from the chief magistracy of New York and New Jersey to that of Massachusetts. His arrival, in the summer of that year, relieved Mr. Dummer from the cares of office. We may well imagine that during the next twelve months, he · looked with mingled amusement and compassion, on the change which followed :- the ship of state, no longer guided by his clear eye and steady hand, but tossing and rolling in a troubled sea. Here was a great Bishop's son-a pupil of Sir Isaac Newton-a man of deep eru- dition-of many accomplishments-of commanding person -of gentle temper-of winning manners-travelled, wit- ty, and sagacious,-but who with all that did not know how to manage the men of Massachusetts. His sudden death in September, 1729, called Mr. Dummer again to the cu- rule chair. Six months later, by the arrival of Governor Belcher, and by the appointment of another person as Lieut. Governor, he was enabled to retire wholly from public life. He lived thirty nine years longer. But we can follow him no farther. The record of that mild de- cline, with all its peaceful, useful, honored days is 'on high' and only there. For us,
"Enough that goodness filled the space between. Proved by the ends of being to have been."
Scanty as our materials are, there is enough to show that the character of William Dummer was one of un- common symmetry. We discover no shining quality of mind-no prominent, out-cropping virtue. But we do dis- cern abilities equal to every emergency- a judgment always calm and solid-great firmness-strict integrity and warm benevolence. He may, or may not have possessed those military capabilities, which, under favoring circumstances, make a hero-but in civil affairs and governmental ad- ministration, he undoubtedly showed, to a remarkable ex- tent, that rare combination of qualities, which, as exhibit- ed on a broader stage, the world has since learned to admire in George Washington.
W
14
KATHARINE DUMMER.
His provision for the establishment of this school, whether considered in reference to the time or the con- sequences of the act, entitles him to perpetual praise. The fact that other schools of later date, have gone far ahead of it-the fact, even-(alas ! not impossible) that, like the Turnpike which runs by its side-it may here- after fall into comparative disuse and decay-can never obliterate, and ought not to obscure the merits of him who laid, upon this ground, the first foundation of its kind in America.
Gov. Dummer was a man of firm religious faith, and of the most exemplary life. From the strict creed and sound morals in which he was brought up, he never swerved-happier, in this respect, than his renowned and gifted brother, whose principles and practice were sadly warped by his intimacy with the profligate and infidel Bolinbroke. With the second Pemberton, his chaplain at Castle William, and afterwards his neighbor in Boston- with the poetic, witty, odd Mather Byles, his own minis- ter in Hollis Street-with good Moses Parsons, his pastor when in the country-with Foxcroft and Chauncey, whom he made Trustees of this charity-and with Samuel Math- er, the son of Cotton and last of that celebrated family -Mr. Dummer appears to have been on terms of cordial friendship. The funeral discourse of Mather Byles, while it does justice to his high qualities as a magistrate and citi- zen, dwells mainly on his excellence as an humble, benev- olent, christian man. (3)
That Mr. Dummer was happy in his marriage-with a single exception-its want of issue-there is every rea- son to believe. His wife, KATHARINE DUDLEY, was born in England, in the year 1690, and passed her childhood amidst the highest social advantages, and the loveliest scenery of the motherland-her father being a member of Par- liament and Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Wight. When he came back in 1702, as Governor of Massachusetts, his
15
THE MANSION-HOUSE.
daughter undoubtedly accompanied him. There can, how- ever, be very little doubt that she was a visitor in Eng- land *at the time of her marriage with Mr. Dummer, which occurred twelve years later, while he was living at Plym- outh as Commissioner. The portrait here, which was taken probably not a great while afterwards, shows a good-look- ing rather than handsome woman .* The circumstances of her birth and her position in society justify the belief that she lacked no accomplishment, then deemed desirable. That she had a good and well cultivated mind, that she was dignified and graceful in person and in manners, and that her conversation was marked by elegance and ease, is the testimony of one who knew her well. During her whole life, whether in Old or in New England, she moved in an elevated sphere. For a considerable time she oc- cupied in her own country the first place in the first rank of society-and occupied it well. In the scriptural ap- plication of her pastor, "she shed a lustre on her hus- band, when he sat at the head of the elders of the land." And better than all this is the assurance we have, that her most distinguishing traits were benevolence and piety. Mrs. Dummer died in Boston, in 1752.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.