USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Topsfield > An address delivered at Topsfield in Massachusetts, August 28, 1850 : the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town > Part 7
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Mr. Huntington was married in 1791, to Alethea Lord, of Pomfret, Ct. The union was most happy, and was blessed by five children. Of these, Alethea died the year after her father. Hezekiah died in 1828, and Mary Ann in 1836. The survivors are Elisha Huntington, M. D., of Lowell, and Asahel Huntington, Esquire, of Salem-gentlemen well known in Massachusetts, and widely esteemed.
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MRS. ALETHEA HUNTINGTON.
[From an Obituary Notice in the Puritan Recorder.]
" This excellent lady died at the residenee of her son, Dr. Elisha Hunting- ton, of Lowell, Aug. 31, 1850, in the 84th year of her age. Mrs. H. was the daughter of Dr. Elisha Lord, of Pomfret, Ct., a distinguished physician, and a man of uncommon worth. In 1791, she was married to Rev. Asahel Huntington. In 1813, her lamented husband closed his useful life by a peaee- ful death, leaving a name still precious to many hearts. Mrs. H. was after- wards ealled to bury three of her adult children. Thus was her path marked with sorrow. It pleased the Lord, having onee east her into the furnace of affliction, to keep her there during the thirty-seven years of her widowhood. But she never complained. Meekly bowing to the stroke of divine ehastise- ment, she endeavored to bring her spirit into harmony with that of her Heavenly Father. She was, indeed, remarkable for the calmness with which she met the heaviest shocks of adversity.
"Mrs. H. was particularly happy in her relation to the church and people of Topsfield. There was a blending of dignity and gentleness in her person, that prepossessed every one in her favor. Her intereourse with the people was marked by prudence, kindness, and condescension,-by a lively sympathy in their joys and sorrows,-and by many self-denying labors, to do good among them. The writer knows not that she ever had an enemy-he is certain that she had many friends. Through all her earthly pilgrimage it was the aim of this excellent woman to live not unto herself. Her own comforts, and even wants, were often forgotten in self-denying efforts for the good of others. It was her pleasure to nurse the siek and minister to the afflicted, and many living witnesses grat fully reeall her fearless and faithful devotion to them in the hour of suffering and danger.
"In the closing scenes of her life, there were the calmness and peace, if not the triumphs of Christian faith. Hcr remains were deposited in the burying-ground at Topsfield, by the side of that dust, over which she had so many times shed, during her long widowhood, the tears of fond remem- branee.
" Thus has passed away one more of a most interesting cirele of sisters -lovely in life, happy in the experience and the prospect of death. Three are in Heaven ; two yet linger on these mortal shores. How soon will they all be gathered into a happier family than they ever made before ! Many sweet songs of Zion have they sung here; but there they will sing the sweeter song of Moses and the Lamb,"
Lith of P D'Avignon.
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FROM A MINIATURE BY G. FREEMAN
MRS. ALETHEA HUNTINGTON,
APPENDIX.
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After the death of Mr. Huntington, Topsfield remained without a settled minister for more than seven years. The people were divided, and the spirit of party was often warm and high. After several unsuccessful attempts, the church and society, in 1820, united upon the Rev. RODNEY G. DENNIS. Mr. D., a graduate of Bowdoin College and of the Andover School, held his office about eight and a half years, when he was dismissed, at his own request .- The Rev. JAMES F. MCEWEN was installed in 1830. Mr. McE. was born 1793, at East Hartford, Ct., and graduated at Hanover in 1823. He was, for a short time, settled at Bridport, Vt. He is still kindly remembered in Tops- field, as a man of good sense and excellent character, whose faithful labors there were highly prospered. After his dismission, Mr. McE. was settled again in Rye, N. H. He died in Brattleboro', Vt., April 14, 1850 .- The present very acceptable minister, Rev. ANSON McLOUD, is from Hartford, Ct. He gra- duated at Yale College, 1838,-at Andover Theol. Sem., 1841, and was or- dained Dec. 8, in the same year.
For 174 years from its incorporation, the whole town formed one ecclesi- astical society. In consequence, however, of important changes in the law, and of still more important changes in the notions and habits of the people, an alteration became necessary. This was effected in 1824, by an act of In- corporation, creating the Congregational Parish of Topsfield. A Methodist Episcopal Society was organized in 1830. The house erected in 1831 for its use, was removed in 1841 to its present location. The preachers, from 1831 to 1850, have been as follows: Rev. Messrs. R. D. Easterbrooks ; Thomas Stedson ; David Culver ; H. B. Skinner; G. F. Pool; G. W. Bates; Ches- ter Field; L. B. Griffin ; Amos Walton ; Z. B. C. Dunham ; S. J. P. Coll- yer ; M. P. Webster; John Poulson; Wm. R. Stone, and K. Atkinson. About one-fifth of the population are connected with this society.
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NOTE IX .- PAGE 46.
Topsfield is now divided into four school districts. The rude, red structures of the last century, have, within a few years, been supplanted by neat and commodious school-houses. In 1828, the Topsfield Academy was established, and for several years was well sustained. In the following list of those who have successively taught this school, will be found several names of well- established reputation. They are Francis Vose ; E. D. Sanborn; Alfred Pike ; Benjamin Greenleaf ; Asa Farwell; William F. Kent; Edmund K. Slafter; B. O. Marble ; O. Quimby ; Joseph E. Noyes; Kinsman Atkinson.
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NOTE X .- PAGE 47.
NEHEMIAH CLEAVELAND was the youngest son of Rev. John Cleaveland, of Ipswich. The latter was born 1722, in Canterbury, Ct. His father's name was Josiah. His grandfather, Josiah, one of the first settlers of Canterbury, was a native of Woburn, Mass. To the place last mentioned came, from Ipswich, England, while yet a youth, his great grandfather, Moses. This pa- triarch of the name in America, left a large family, whose descendants have multiplied and widely spread. The Rev. Mr. Cleaveland was a man of great energy, ardor, and goodness, and a Christian patriot of the highest stamp. Repeatedly, at his country's call, he went as a chaplain in her armies, to scenes of conflict and danger. In 1758, he was in Abercrombie's unsuccessful expedition against Ticonderoga, and in 1759, he accompanied a body of troops that went to take possession of Louisburg. In the great strife, that soon after commenced with England, he took the liveliest interest. While it was yet a war of words, and odious enactments, and unarmed resistance,-with earnest voice and pen he contended manfully for freedom and right. With the first call to arms he again took the field. In 1775, during the siege of Boston-in 1776, on the Connecticut shore, and in 1778, in New-York and New-Jersey, he helped to cheer the soldier's heart, and to nerve his arm by many a fervent prayer, and by exhortations full of courage and hope. This pious and faithful minister retained to the last, the esteem and affections of his little flock, among whom he died on his seventy-seventh birthday, in the year 1799.
His personal labors in the public service were not his only contributions to the cause Three of his sons, John, Parker, and Nehemiah, were in the army. John, after having served for some time as a lieutenant, resigned his commission, studied divinity, and died, 1815, the much-honored minister of North Wrentham, Mass. Parker, after a term of service as army surgeon at Cambridge, returned to the practice of his profession, in Rowley, (Byfield Parish,) where, in 1827, he closed a life of distinguished usefulness. Profes- sor Cleaveland -- a name identified with the fame and with the entire existence of Bowdoin College, in Maine,-and the Rev. Dr. John P. Cleaveland, of Pro- vidence, R. I., are his sons.
The youngest of the above-named brothers first saw something of the world, during the memorable summer, autumn and winter of 1775. He was then a tall stripling of sixteen years,-and during the siege of Boston, he was in attendance upon his father. In 1777 he enlisted in the army, and continued in the service for nearly a twelvemonth. The remaining years of his minority were spent at home, in hard toil upon his father's little farm. When a boy, he had been encouraged to expect a college education, and it was the object of his fond desire. But the hardness of the times forbade. He was no sooner of age, than he proceeded to make up, so far as he could,
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FROM A PORTRAIT BY COLE
NEHEMIAH CLEAVELAND. M.D.
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under private tuition, his literary deficiencies. Having prosecuted for some time the study of medicine, with his brother at Byfield, and with Dr. John Manning, of Ipswich, he entered on the practice at Topsfield in 1783. Here he found immediate employment, though it was neither extensive, nor lucra- tive.
He soon received a commission as Justice of the Peace,-an office of some distinction in those days, and was thus led to engage, to a certain ex- tent, in concerns of a civic character. He became known and highly appre- ciated as a man of good judgment and prompt business habits, and was much employed in the public affairs of town and county. He was a politician, likewise, earnest and ardent. In 1811, he was elected by Federal votes to a seat in the State Senate. The year following, he failed to be chosen through the operation of that famous districting act, known ever since as the Gerryman- der law. But in 1815, the Federalists being again in the ascendant, Dr. C. was re-elected, and continued to hold the seat until 1819, when he declined to be longer a candidate. At that board, around which sat many eminent men, he was not indeed a debater. But his good judgment, and sound sense, and solid worth, were neither unappreciated, nor unacknowledged.
In 1814, he was made a Session Justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas. From 1820 to 1822, he was Associate Justice of the Court of Sessions for Essex County, and in 1823, he was appointed Chief Justice. This station, the duties of which he discharged with ability and firmness, he retained un- til 1828, when he retired from all public business. In this year he received from Harvard University, the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Dr. C. was twice married. His first wife, Lucy, was the eldest daughter of his instructor, Dr. Manning. She died, childless, in 1791, four years after their marriage. He was again united to Experience, eldest daughter of Dr. Elisha Lord, of Pomfret, Ct. Of ninc children by this connexion, five still survive. Their mother, a woman venerated and beloved by all, died in 1845.
Dr. Cleaveland was a well-proportioned man, of large stature and command- ing aspect. His constitution was one of iron strength, and his health, up to his fiftieth year, was unbroken. From that time he was repeatedly visited with sickness, and suffered much from one of the most painful of maladies. His medical practice, however, though sometimes interrupted, was not laid aside, except that he was compelled to decline night-calls. His declining years, though less active, were neither unemployed nor unuseful. In professional visits among the families which had always respected, and which now loved and revered him; in counselling and aiding his neighbors-all of whom, when in doubt or difficulty, sought freely his judicious advice; in efforts to ad- vance the church and the community to which he immediately belonged ; and in contributing to the moral and religious enterprises of the day,-he found suf- ficient, and ever-welcome occupation. The intervals in this honorable toil, were agreeably filled by books, and social converse, and by the duties, com- forts, and affections of home. His setting sun went gently down,-while the
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brightness of a better day seemed to glow in the departing orb, and left its consoling radiance behind.
Dr. Cleaveland died February 26th, 1837, being in his seventy-seventh year.
"DR. JOHN MERRIAM was born in Concord, Mass., studied medicine in Charlton, and was licensed to practise by the Association of Worcester Co. He married Hannah Jones, of Charlton-a helpmeet true ; commenced prac- tice in Topsfield, 1783, and continued it until 1817, when he died, aged 59. He left three children-viz., Royal Augustus, his successor in the practice, and now the only survivor ; Frederick J., and Almira. He built and occupied the house which still stands at the junction of the Ipswich and Haverhill roads. He died of consumption, having been afflicted with disease for more than 20 years. Dr. Merriam was an honest man."
Within the last 25 years, DR. JEREMIAH STONE, and DR. JOSEPH C. BATCH- ELDER, practised medicine in Topsfield, each for about a dozen years. Dr. B. succeeded Dr. S., and has lately yielded his place to DR. CHARLES P. FRENCH.
NOTE XI .- PAGE 48.
CHARLES HOLMES, EsQ., is a son of the late Hon. John Holmes, well known in Maine and Massachusetts as a lawyer and politician, and for many years a prominent member of the U. S. Senatc.
NOTE XII .- PAGE 53.
The following extract from Capt. Gould's journal, has been furnished me by Miss Hannah F. Gould :-
"Soon after this, (the battle of Lexington,) I enlisted as Sergeant in Capt. John Baker's Company, Col. Moses Little's Regiment, and marched to Cam- bridge. On the 17th of June, was ordered on guard at Lechmere's Point. Colonel Asa Whitcomb commanded the guard. After the battle had com- menced some time, the guard was ordered to reinforce the troops on the Hill ; but when we got on the Neck, we met them retreating, yet kept on till we met Gen. Putnam, (with tent on his horse behind him,) who spoke to Col. Whitcomb, and he retreated.
While on the Neck, the enemy fired on us from the ship that was in Charles River, and the floating batteries came up Mystic River, within small gun-shot of us. Col. Whitcomb took me in front of him, a little to the left. He
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placed me in a situation for them to take aim at. The first shot struck the ground a little before me, and rebounded, and as it passed, struck my mus- ket in my hand. The second struck the ground directly against my feet. The third struck in the same hole, and made it deeper. I turned my eyes to the guard, and found them retreating. I was the last man on the Neck. As I returned, I got through a fence on my right, seeing the ground more favora- hle to cover me-the ridge the Charlestown Hotel now stands on,-and when I had gone about a rod, I saw the flash of their guns, and dropped to the ground. The ball passed over my back, and struck a little beyond me. I re- turned to the guard, and found them all safe."
(While reading the above narrative, I scarcely know which most to admire, -- the extraordinary coolness with which this Col. Whitcomb set his sergeant up as a mark for the enemy to shoot at, -- or the coolness, more extraordinary still, with which Sergeant Gould stood and took their fire.)
" In the year 1780, there was a draft of men called for to reinforce the garrison at West Point. Col. Wade, of Ipswich, was ordered to take the com- mand of a regiment, and I was ordered to take command of a company in it. We arrived there about the last of June. Soon after I was ordered to the main-guard, it being a captain's guard. From the orders I received from the Captain whom I relieved, and what I saw on the Point, I thought that all was not right. The two sentinels were to load their guns, and when relieved, to change them with the sentry who relieved them, so that the guard would all have strange pieces, and we should, in case of attack, be thrown into the utmost confusion, our guns being of different bores, and our men having had their cartridges made to suit them. We had a large box of cartridges allow- ed us in case we should be attacked. I knocked it open and found nothing in it but pistol cartridges ; upon which I sent secretly and got a box of good ones at Col. Lamb's quarters. The next day, Capt. Peabody of the same regi- ment, who had lived with me in the same barrack on the Point, and Dr. Dinsmore, of Lancaster, surgeon of the regiment from Worcester county, were appointed in general orders to inspect the forage that was brought on the Point. The Doctor and my father were old acquaintances, having been re- presentatives together in the General Court a number of years. He found me out, and called to see me, and we in confidence opened our minds to each other, respecting our critical situation. The appointment of a Surgeon to such an office did not lessen our suspicions. We could not find a safe opportu- nity to send to Gen. Washington, and he being expected on the Point in a few days, we thought best to wait until he should arrive. No doubt Arnold's spies had watched us. In a few days Arnold sent for me to take tea with him at Col. Lamb's quarters, his head being on this side of the river. He told me that he wanted a building erected for the benefit of the garrison in
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the winter, and wished me to make a draft of one-which I did, so as to put the potatoes in the lower story, and dry vegetables in the upper. He ap- peared much pleased with it. The next morning there was a draft of fatigue- men ordered out under my command, to go down the river several miles to fix the ground for this building. That day while we were at work he (Arnold) went on board a British ship that lay in the river, and Andre was brought on the Point. General Washington arrived also that night. I was ordered, with a number of other officers, to watch with Andre. He appeared much of a gentle- man, and conversed freely with us, but no allusion was made to his particular situation. When we took supper, we thought he did not eat with as good a relish as we did. All the circumstances I have mentioned, and seeing the cannon dismounted, and new carriages making, and men sent out to cut wood and tim- ber, so that we had scarcely enough to man our guards, put me in mind of what my father [said] when Arnold was appointed Colonel to go to Canada, He said : "I'm sorry for it." I asked him, why ? "Because," said he, "he's so avaricious that he would sell his country for money."
" Arnold was in the Commissary's Department in the French war, and my father being a member of the General Court, was concerned in settling his accounts,- when he found him a very avaricious, and, as he thought, unprincipled man. We did not see André executed, our time of service being out before that took place."
NOTE XIII .- PAGE 55.
CAPTAIN GOULD, soon after the restoration of peace, was married to Grizzel Apthorp, daughter of Gershom Flagg, Esq., of Boston. For a few years, he re- sided in Lancaster, Ms., as a country-trader. Here his children were born. In 1805 he returned to Topsfield, and lived there about three years. He then re- moved to Newburyport, and there spent the residue of his life. Three of his children, John Flagg, Grizzel Apthorp, and Gershom F., are no more. Of the survivors, Esther is the wife of Judge Fuller, of Augusta, Me .- Elisabeth, now Mrs. Rapello, lives in New-York .- Benjamin Apthorp, even before his graduation at Harvard College in 1814, was appointed Master of the Public Latin School of Boston. Under his administration, this old and honored institution soon rose to a height of excellence and classic fame, which it had not before equalled, and has not since surpassed. For many years, Mr. Gould has been largely engaged in navigation and mercantile pursuits. One of his sons, Benjamin A., after hay- ing spent several years abroad, at the best Observatories-and under the instruc- tion of great European Astronomers,-is now a resident of Cambridge, Mass., where he conducts the " Astronomical Journal," a work which lias already at- tained to a high reputation.
In this enumeration, one yet remains. To all the lovers of song, the name of HANNAH F. GOULD has long been familiar. For nearly a quarter of a century her
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annual contributions of occasional poetry have been read with pleasure. She has, indeed, attempted no extended or elaborate work. Her muse, as if unambitious of loftier heights, seems content to play about the flowery base and gentler de- clivities of the Aonian mount. In her best productions there are many touches of nature, and graceful beauties enlivened, not seldom, by a genuine humor. Though often playful, her playfulness is never spoilt by levity. No less conspicuous is her tenderness-breathed, not in morbid sighs, but in the tones of a true sympathy or of a genial sadness. The moral and religious spirit which pervades and sanctifies her poetry, is ever gentle, and pure. Her writings have been, from time to time, collected, and now constitute three thin volumes. Some of her smaller, and especially of her earlier pieces, are nearly, if not quite perfect in their way, and have attained, beyond all doubt, to a permanent place in our literature. In "The Scar of Lexington-" The Veteran and the Child"-and, particularly, in "My Lost Father,"-Miss Gould has beautifully embalmed the image and the virtues of that brave and meek old man, whose long decline was cheered by her unceasing care. For many a year she was his solace and his sole companion,-and when her fond solicitude could no longer keep his spirit from the sky, she dropped on the cold clay her "melodious tears," and planted an undying laurel by his grave.
NOTE XIV .- PAGE 58.
FRANCIS PABODY settled first in Ipswich, where he owned, in 1636, " a lot of planting ground, near labor in vain." This fact, not mentioned by Endi- cott, I give on the authority of A. Hammatt, Esq., of Ipswich-so well known as a zealous and accurate archeologist.
NOTE XV .- PAGE 65.
Among the posterity of ELIJAH PORTER, besides the children of Hannah Breck one of whom has been already mentioned, (p. 65,) may also be named the de- scendants of her brother Thomas. This gentleman, who held a military com-, mand in the first years of the revolution, married Ruth Allen, of Salem. The late Dr. Elijah Porter, of Salem and Brooklyn, was their son. Their daugh- ter Mary, born in Topsfield, married Seth Low, Esq., formerly a respected inhabitant of Salem, Mass., and for many years past an influential citizen of Brooklyn, N. Y. Mrs. Ruth Porter died a short time since, aged 90, at the house of her son-in-law. This charming old lady lived to see around her a numerous and prosperous race, and certainly could feel, as she looked upon
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them, that some, at least, of the Porter family, had effectually fought their way out of "Blind Hole,"
NOTE XVI .- PAGE 68.
The southern portion of the house which my father owned and occupied for almost fifty years, was by him regarded as one of the oldest erections in the place. The grounds of this opinion I am unable to state, but I feel sure that he did not adopt it without good reasons. Notwithstanding the numerous alterations and additions which have modified the original structure, portions of the ancient oak frame are yet visible.
The dwelling-house in which Lawyer Wildes was born and died, shows indubitable evidences of antiquity. It was, perhaps, built by the old surveyor, John Wilds. The spot was undoubtedly one of the earliest clearings in New Meadows, being in the immediate vicinity of the first house of worship. In this rude abode, I have no doubt, were entertained those sixteen sons and daughters, who, from homes far and widely distant, all assembled upon one occasion, beneath the old roof-tree. That must have been a joyous thanksgiv- ing-though it is a little puzzling to conceive how they were all accommoda- ted. The house is much dilapidated. I visited and explored the ruinous edi- fice in company with Mr. H. N. Perkins, of Boston-who is descended from a Wildes. It is not to be supposed that a true antiquarian-as he is-could visit such a scene of ancestral interest and modern neglect, without many sighs of filial regret, and some groans of honest indignation. I can bear tes- timony to the pious devotion with which he took a long draught from the old patriarch's well.
NOTE XVII .- PAGE 70.
I devote this note to several matters of a miscellaneous character.
The first publicly educated native of Topsfield, I suppose to have been Ivory Hovey. The Hovey family, no longer found in the place, was un- doubtedly respectable-the name occurring often and honorably in the town records. Ivory, born in 1714, graduated at Cambridge in 1735, and was settled over the second parish of Rochester, Ms. Here, for twenty-five years he preached the gospel, and practised medicine. In 1770, he was installed at Monument Ponds, in Plymouth, where he died in 1803. He left a journal- the daily record of his feelings for sixty-five years, amounting to seven thousand pages in short-hand. But he left also something better, namely, thc memo- ry of a long, pious, and useful lifc.
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