USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Andover, Massachusetts : Proceedings at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, May 20, 1896 > Part 7
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maintain slaves in his own household, slaves whom he doubtless treated mercifully and regarded almost as members of his family, but though human beings, these slaves were, in the eyes of the law, mere chattels that could be bought and sold. This profession and practice of freedom were strangely at variance with each other, but the custom of slave-holding was thoroughly established, and the convenience of the system was beyond question. But the moral law overrides the conveniences of men, and when this noxious germ, gathering strength and insolence out of the fetid soil where it throve, not content with debasing to its service great intellects that had been consecrated to freedom, sought to dictate terms to the national government, and finally denied its authority, then high above the strife sounded the dictates of the moral law, and eighty years of paltering compromise were wiped out by a sacrifice of blood and treasure such as the world had not seen before. It was a puritan triumph, won on puritan prin- ciples.
Never did the flag seem more precious than when the union it symbolized was rent asunder ; never did love of country come laden with a deeper sense of duty ; and nowhere more loyally than in Ando- ver was there a response to every call that the great solemn man in Washington made for troops. At once upon the firing on Fort Sum- ter, a military company was formed, and when, in August, 1862, there was a call for more men, and a draft seemed inevitable, at a special town meeting Dr. Jackson proposed, and the citizens unanimously voted, that the town should furnish volunteers rather than conscripts to fill up its quota, and " would deem it a dishonor and a stain upon its patriotism to send soldiers raised by conscription for the defense of Liberty and the Union." Here is an exalted ideal of citizen duty, the noblest utterance in the records of Andover. And at this town meet- ing the sagacity of Benjamin F. Wardwell, leaping from effect to cause, proposed -and the town with but one dissenting vote ac- cepted - a preamble declaring slavery to be the cause of the existing insurrection, and a resolution calling upon the President to declare without delay its abolition throughout the length and breadth of the land.
These resolutions sufficiently attest the spirit of Andover ; it is a spirit full of the moral virtues of a puritan ancestry ; it is sagacity, courage, fortitude and patriotism, and that nothing might be wanting
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to fit the deed to the word, the action to the spirit, Andover raised and sent forth to the service upwards of six hundred men. What sacrifices they made ; what wounds and privations they bore ; what forms of death ever imminent they gazed at ; what hope and love and reverence for duty sustained them ; what chivalric deeds they wrought for freedom and the Union, you 1, sir, who saw the first blood shed at Baltimore, and were still in the service when Lee surrendered at Appomattox, and you, members of the Grand Army of the Republic, know full well. The orator of 1946 will miss the inspiration of your presence, but he will tell to ears unfamiliar with the story the full detail of your duteous service to your town and country, and will pay to your memory the tribute that a faithful allegiance to a good cause must ever call forth. Let this thought cheer you as you soon go forth to your pathetic floral service in memory of your comrades ; and let it sustain you as, from time to time, involuntarily you draw a little more closely together in your encampment hall, because another companion has gone out to join the ranks beyond. And mothers and fathers and widows of the soldiers of Andover, whose hearts still cry out for your dead, remember that their names on the tablets in Memo- rial Hall, which is also your public library, are moulding, with the gentle discipline of letters, the minds of youth to higher conceptions of duty, and mutely but not less surely are adding to the total of human worth by all the wealth of that costly sacrifice.
Honorable and wholesome as has been the record of Andover, there is no wish to claim for her in civil and military affairs any eminence above her sister towns; they were all of them steadfast supporters of the system to which they gave their allegiance, and it is honor enough ever to have been found with no halting step in that distinguished companionship. But high as is Andover Hill above the general level of the plain, so high above all the early settlements with the exception of Cambridge, is the preeminence that Andover has taken in educational matters. And so it is to the hill,
To yonder hill, in learning's fair demesne, Fair as the shades where trode the wise Hellene,
that we must turn to find the true distinction of Andover.
Samuel Phillips, the third of the name in the direct line of 1 Major William Marland.
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descent, graduated from Harvard in 1771. He had been a diligent student, and, early after his graduation, he turned his thoughts to the establishment at Andover of a school where boys might be instructed in the "great end and real business of living." His enthusiasm in this work secured the co-operation of his father, Samuel Phillips, and of his uncles John and William. Citizen as he was of the North Parish, he naturally sought for a suitable location there ; but failing to buy the high lands near where the Kittredge house since 1785 has reared its stately colonial beauty, he purchased land on Andover Hill that was thenceforth to be dedicated to sound learning and piety. Upon the land thus bought there was a wooden building, one story in height and thirty-five feet long by twenty feet in width; this he con- verted from a carpenter's shop into a schoolhouse, and here was started in 1778 that Free School which became in 1780, by enactment of the general court, Phillips Academy. This school was the first in- corporated academy in the country,1 and the same brain that conceived its existence planned its course of study, without other guide than his own good sense and cultivation. The social position of the Phillips family assured to the school from the first a large and distinguished patronage. Within six years after its incorporation, a larger building was erected with accommodations for one hundred students. This was also built by the Messrs. Phillips; their benefactions to the school were constant, and up to the year 1828 their gifts had reached the very large sum of $61,000.00. Other benefactions of upwards of $400,000.00 have been received, and I am glad to enumerate among them the gift of a dormitory by citizens of the town of Andover, given, I hope, in grateful recognition of the distinction the Academy has conferred upon the town.
Beginning as every early American institution has begun, with prayerful interest and an humble hope for its success, yet conducted in a manner that would make anything else than success impossible, this Academy has expanded from a school of fifty-one pupils to its present large proportions, to proportions that are limited only by lack of proper facilities. In the one hundred and sixteen years of its existence there have been registered over twelve thousand students, and among them are names of men eminent in every department of life. From Eliphalet Pearson to the present incumbent, the principalship has been held by
1 Dummer Academy, Byfield, was established in 1763 but not incorporated until 1782.
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men of high scholarship and character, whose lives have illustrated the excellence of that learning they were set to teach, and who have worthily maintained the high christian standard of profession and practice that Samuel Phillips prescribed. Who that recalls the robust manhood and mental acumen of Dr. Samuel H. Taylor, can doubt what a benedic- tion and inspiration he was to every boy who came under his influence, or can say that the school that provides teachers of his manful stature is not accomplishing a great work for humanity ? and recalling how many students there are each year in this school who, without means or social advantages, work their way to an education, winning high distinction with the faculty and the fond love and respect of their schoolmates, who shall estimate what the school indirectly is teaching of that wholesome democracy that overlooks social distinctions and fixes its gaze on merit alone ?
Fellow citizens, the existence of the Academy among you is today your chief honor and glory. I pass as too obvious for comment its commercial value to many interests in the town, and viewing it only in its human aspect, I will ask you for a moment to reflect what parental loves, what glowing aspirations, what rich memories gather here; consider also to how many a former student the mention of Andover recalls the fading images of his schoolboy days. There, in the dimming vista of the years, is the long street with its ample shade ; the hill with its arching elms ; the broad sweep of land and sky ; the resplendent sunset ; the campus filled with boys in the full flush of youthful exuberance ; and there in the midst of the picture, the radiant centre of it all, is the building ablaze with the setting sun; and perhaps as his thoughts take on a deeper hue, he hears the bell once more summoning him to his round of duties, and his thoughts go forth to some faithful and noble instructor whose words have been a guide to him in his activities, and once more perhaps his heart thrills anew as he recalls the confidence and love with which he went among his friends in the days when there were no concealments, and before the competitions and sinuosities of life had chilled his honest boyhood zest. Life is blessed in proportion as it is filled with tender memories. This is what the Academy means on its human side; and in this aspect Andover, as its home, becomes almost a sacred spot, a place dedicated not merely to letters and the arts, but to the unfolding and strengthening of the highest human amenities.
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Samuel Phillips did not intend that his work should cease with the establishment of the Academy. On a loose leaf in one of the earliest drafts of its constitution, there was found in his own hand- writing a plan by which a course in theological instruction was to be given to the students, and, in accordance with this plan, about twenty candidates were instructed for the ministry before the foundation of the Seminary. There seems to be no doubt, moreover, that Mr. Phillips intended to found a distinct theological school, but his decease at the age of fifty prevented the completion of his plans, and the work was carried out later by his distinguished relict, Phœbe Foxcroft Phillips, and his son John.
In 1806 it became evident that Harvard College had gone over to Unitarianism. This fact filled the Calvinists of New England with dismay, and it became imperative that there should be founded at once some institution to stem the ever rising tide of radicalism. At this same time it happened that there were two distinct schools of Calvinists in New England between whom there were some differences of opinion, but differences of not an essentially vital character. Dr. Spring of Newburyport, as the leader of one school, induced certain wealthy merchants in his own congregation to entertain the design of founding a theological institution at Newbury, The Trustees of Phil- lips Academy who represented the other school, had in 1807 secured an act of legislation by which they might receive and hold donations for the purpose of a theological institution. In view of the alleged de- fection of Harvard College, two seminaries would have weakened the whole movement for an improved system of theological study, and, accordingly, through the happy mediation and untiring activity of Eliphalet Pearson, who resigned his offices of Professor and Fellow at Harvard in 1806, a reconciliation was produced between the two schools, which resulted finally in a compromise creed and the foun- dation of the seminary at Andover. Madame Phillips and her son contributed $20,000 to build Phillips Hall and a steward's house. Mr. Samuel Abbott of Andover founded a professorship, and for that pur- pose donated $ 110,000, while Messrs. William Bartlett and Moses Brown of Newburyport and John Norris of Salem contributed in all $235,000. The Seminary entered upon its work in October, 1808, with thirty-six students. In its eighty-eight years there have been donations amounting to upwards of $1,300,000 ; over three thousand
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two hundred students have been registered, and of these over two hundred have entered the foreign missionary field.
It is not within mortal power to estimate how wide-reaching and how beneficent has been the influence of this school ; it has carried the name of Andover to whatever remote field the missionary endeavor has extended, while throughout the land it has made Andover and sound doctrine, though perhaps not with unvarying unanimity, synonomous terms. It has given to the town the distinguished citizenship of such men as Dr. Porter, Leonard Woods, Professors Stuart and Phelps, while here lived and wrote Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose husband, Calvin E. Stowe, was a professor in the Seminary, and through this school there has been linked in inseparable union with the name of Andover the far shining genius of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward. But while congratulating ourselves on the presence among us today, as well as in the past, of the distinguished professors connected with the Seminary, I am sure I express the uniform sentiment of the citizens in assuring you, sir,1 who, in your eighty-eighth year, dignify this occasion with your presence, how much we respect and love you for the manly and genial qualities you have shown as neighbor, citizen and friend, and how profoundly we admire the broad learning and in- tellectual force that for an half century have made you an eminent teacher and the conspicuous leader of Congregational thought. In your late afternoon of life it is not for us to wish you a length of days beyond the time when life ceases to be gladsome and agreeable, but may your portion be peace and rest, the peace and rest of eventide.
In 1828 discussion arose about the establishment of a private school for girls that should be on the same denominational basis as Phillips Academy. Prominent citizens began to agitate the question, and soon, as had been the case in all other good works in Andover, a person having a residence in the town bequeathed $10,000 toward the endowment of a school and $1000 toward the erection of a building. An act of incorporation was procured in February, 1829, and in May, 1829, Abbot Academy opened with seventy students. The generous friend of the school was Madam Sarah Abbot, widow of Nehemiah Abbot, and though herself without special education, she enjoys the distinction of having founded the first school for girls in this section of the country. This academy has instructed over four thousand
1 Professor Edwards A. Park.
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students, and thanks to the energy of its trustees, its prospects were never better ; with enlarged buildings and beautified grounds it pre- sents in its physical aspects many attractive elements, while as a fitting school for college, or as a finishing school, its rank is high and its management conservative and successful. Benefactions of con- siderable value have been made to the school, and I regret that I may not mention by name here one friend of Abbot, whose donations, the result of economy and thrift, have been numerous and valuable, and to whose well earned leisure, in the decline of life, the care of its property and estate affords agreeable recreation, and a purely unselfish delight.1 Would that friends of similar measure might spring up to all our institutions. But as valuable to Abbot as many legacies, is the memory of Miss Phœbe McKeen, so long associated with her sister in the management of the school, a memory of sweet intel- lectual and spiritual graces that send forth their choice perfume long after the flower that gave them forth has faded away.
One other act of conspicuous benevolence illustrates the educa- tional history of Andover. Born in Salem in 1799, Benjamin Punchard lived there till 1827, when, with strength impaired and with a desire to locate in a healthful community, he selected Andover as his home ; by activity and thrift he had at the age of twenty-cight acquired considerable property ; on his settlement here he entered into a general merchandise business with John Derby, and later marry- ing a daughter of Abraham Marland he became a member of the Marland Manufacturing Co., and his acquisition of considerable wealth was immediate. Dying at the age of fifty-one, he left a bequest of $50,000 dollars to found a free high school in Andover; of this amount $10,000 were immediately available for the erection of a building, and the balance of $40,000 was to be kept for the mainten- ance of the school ; the will further created a reversionary interest in $20,000 more, which was to be paid over on the death of his wife. The school building was dedicated in 1856, and thus through the generosity of one who had adopted the town as his home, Andover was provided with a school for the higher education of her children. Accurate details of the total wealth of Mr. Punchard are not at hand, but his gift to the town may be taken as fully one-third of his estate.
1 Warren F. Draper, the full record of whose gifts to Abbot Academy was announced at the graduating exercises June 28, 1896, after this address had been delivered.
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In 1850 the great fortunes that now make America conspicuous for wealth had not come into being, and this fact throws into brighter light Mr. Punchard's benevolence. His gift easily takes rank as the largest in amount and most useful in scope that the town has ever received. Its obvious results are the general diffusion of a higher intelligence among the citizens, and the presence in the community of a body of graduates and past members of the school, interested in maintaining its dignity and good repute, and cherishing with unvary- ing loyalty its fast growing traditions.
Time fails me to do more than suggest the ceaseless benefactions with which the annals of your churches teem, but next to Mr. Pun- chard's gift must be named as scarcely less inferior in their public utility, that collection of gifts whose object was the foundation at once of a public library and the erection of a perpetual memorial to the soldiers. This idea originated in the broad mind of Mr. John Smith, who generously donated $33,000 to the purpose, while his partners, Messrs. Peter Smith and John Dove, gave $12,000 ; contri- butions from other sources amounting to $17,000 more enabled the trustees to build the building as it now stands and to equip the library.
And here the narration of munificent deeds must close. Their grand total might be computed, and the amount of it would compel admiration ; but who shall estimate the results of this benevolence ? Who shall say how much our human nature has been enriched and ennobled by this unselfish generosity ? And recalling that it was by citizens of Andover that these beneficent enterprises were first under- taken, shall we not say of these citizens that they are the true offspring and successors of those Puritans who in 1636 set up the college at Cambridge, and who in 1647 decreed the existence of schools in the various settlements, in order, as they expressed it, that sound learning might not be buried in the graves of their forefathers ? To com- memorate such works as these gives significance to this glad festival ; and we celebrate today not merely the land or the mill stream whence men for a quarter millenium have drawn an existence, but Andover, the home and choice desire of those who have dignified humanity by their charity, and who shine in bright light the guardians and pro- tectors of the human race.
Other triumphs of peace have kept an even pace with the achieve-
.
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ments of Andover in education. The manufacturing interests began naturally with a saw mill and grist mill; then to these were added a fulling mill and iron mill, industries that the nascent town demanded to satisfy its immediate wants and comforts ; in the time of the Revo- lution Samuel Phillips turned his manifold energies to the manufacture of gunpowder ; and when the war was over, and the spears had been beaten into pruning hooks, the same energy that made material for war was engaged in the production of paper. Later the powers of nature were turned to a broader use, and the names of Marland, Abbott, Bradlee, Smith, Sutton, Saunders, Hodges, Davis and Stevens, became connected with manufacturing enterprises that have added greatly to the wealth and reputation of the town.
In agriculture too Andover has gained a high place. Interjected as the only fertile spot between the sands of the Merrimac and the swamps of the Ipswich, her soil presents high possibilities of reward for agricultural effort intelligently bestowed, and under it the forest that sighed to forest in endless succession, has been cleared away, and, spread out to sun and sky, lie hills and intervale that yield due products to the farmer, or lend themselves with gracious willingness to the adornment of private estates.
Fellow citizens, the Andover we love and cherish today, the Andover whose record we approve, is only the product of the charac- ter of those who have been her citizens; and now on this day, when the town comes to give some account of herself to the world, she bids me to propose for distinguished honor the names of some of those strong men and women who have given lustre and character to every page of her history. Here and there have been mentioned in the course of this address, the names of some whose relation to the facts narrated was so pivotal that their place in local history is secure ; for most of them that mention must suffice. But how under this sum- mons can I fail to name Simon Bradstreet, a member of the Court of Assistants and afterwards Governor of the Province, whose house still stands in North Andover? Anne Bradstreet his wife, the first colonial poetess, the prototype of the New England wife and mother ; honored in their lives, and destined in the lapse of time to get new lustre from Wendell Holmes, Wendell Phillips, Ellery Channing and R. H. Dana, their descendants.
John Osgood, the first representative in the general court, and
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the progenitor of a distinguished race; among whom it will suffice to name Samuel Osgood, the first postmaster general, and Gayton P. Osgood, a scholar and a member of congress, whose houses still are standing in the North Parish, and near which the mansion on Osgood Hill rears its splendid front as if to reflect the lustre of the family name.
John Stevens, a man of great usefulness in the management of town affairs, and the progenitor of a hardy race distinguished as manufacturers, mechanics, and engineers, the type of whom is best represented by Capt. Nathaniel Stevens, so well remembered among the older inhabitants of the town; and among the eminent members of this family must be mentioned Major General Isaac I. Stevens, one time Governor of Washington Territory, who met his death on the field of Chantilly in September, 1862, while bravely leading the charge against the rebel forces.
George Abbott, the ancestor of a numerous progeny of clergymen and of men and women in every vocation of life, who have rendered useful services throughout the whole history of the town.
John Lovejoy, the ancestor of General Nathaniel Lovejoy, a distinguished officer in the Revolution.
Andrew Foster, who in 1685 died at the age of one hundred and six years, and who numbers among his descendants, bankers, judges, and men skilled in the administration of civic affairs.
Colonel Moody Bridges, the ardent patriot of the Revolution, and a delegate to the Provincial Congress.
Samuel Bailey, who lost his life at Bunker Hill, and whose de- scendant, Sarah Loring Bailey, in her careful and judicious "Historical Sketches of Andover," has rendered invaluable service to the town.
John Johnson, among whose descendants may be named the Rev. Samuel Johnson, a writer of hymns of exalted purity, and the author of an exhaustive treatise on "Comparative Religions ;" Dr. Samuel Johnson, who for thirty consecutive years was the conscien- tious town clerk of Andover, and whose services received the gracious recognition of his fellow citizens ; William and James Johnson, honor- able and prosperous merchants ; Theron Johnson, the founder of the Johnson High School ; Osgood Johnson, the fifth principal of Phillips Academy.
Andrew Peters, the founder of a family of the highest respect- ability.
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