USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Centennial anniversary of the town of Saugus : 1815-1915 > Part 2
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The building stood on its original site for many years, being altered and repaired from time to time, until 1858, when it was moved three rods north and became Joseph Whitehead's grocery store, which many of the present generation remember. It is now W. P. Tilden's store.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
Rev. Joseph Roby was invited by the parish committee in December, 1748, to become its minister. On March 1, 1749, a committee was selected to "inform Mr. Joseph Roby that he was chosen to settle in the ministry by the church and parish."
He was to have a suitable house and barn, sixty pounds of lawful money. and also the "loose col- lection," as well as "pasturing and sufficient winter meat for two cows and one horse, and to put the hay, or winter meat into the barn-the improvement of two acres of land suitable to plant, and to be kept well fenced.".
There was apparently a controversy over the stipend he was to receive, and, as a result, it was sub- sequently increased, after some correspondence and debate. Under date of July 25, 1750, he formally accepted the call of the parish and "writ" a letter to that effect. He continued to be our spiritual leader
THIRD PARISH CHURCH
until July, 1802, when he was stricken while preaching. Ile lingered until the following January, when he died, much beloved and respected.
Some of Parson Roby's successors were Rev. William Frothingham, who served thirteen years; Rev. Joseph Emerson, for whom the Emerson School on Lincoln Avenue, between East Saugus and Clif- tondale, is named: and Rev. Hervey Wilbur. Emerson and Wilbur werc principals in the Saugus Sem- inary, of which we shall hear more later.
In 1826 religious differences appeared and were quite prolonged in the parish. The participants in them became quite animated and very bitter. The Universalists prevailed, and got control of the parish church, whereupon the Orthodox retired and built a church of their own. It was of stone and is now John E. Stocker's store. This stone church was built in 1835, and in it they worshipped until 1851, when they built the present Congregational Church. In 1871 it was raised and a vestry constructed underneath.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
Religious differences have reverberated down the corridors of time and brought about many an historical event. The Pilgrims left England in the earlier days on a religious issue. Lynn and Saugus dissolved municipal partnership for a similar reason.
WHY SAUGUS AND LYNN SEPARATED
Saugus became a town in 1815 because, as Hawkes writes, "the people of the low lands of Lynn would not go up to this hill country of Saugus to listen to the Preaching of the Gospel according to "Puritanism," which brings us to Choose Hill.
Hawkes continues: "The name is a reminder of a controversy which was the beginning of the end of the Town of Lynn-the first step which led up in later years to the creation, first of the Town of Lynn- field, and second of the Town of Saugus. For seventy ycars all the people had worshipped as one parish. The hardship of the long miles from Lynnfield bore upon the outdwellers. A committee representing the three sections which we know as Lynn, Saugus and Lynnfield attempted to CHOOSE a site for the meetinghouse which should be reasonably convenient for all. They selceted this now wooded hill as about equally distant from each locality. Lynn objected. Lynnfield was set off as a parish or district, Nov 17, 1712, and its inhabitants were to be freed front parish taxes as soon as a meetinghouse should be built and a minister settled. This was accomplished in 1715, and the Second Parish of Lynn was duly organized. Saugus later, in 1738, became the Third or West Parish."
"The natural result was that later the two parishes became towns-Lynnfield in 1814. and Saugus in 1815."
But to return to Parson Roby and the original West Parish Church.
Rev. Ephraim Randall, a Unitarian, was installed in that ycar (1826), but remained only one year. The church was remodelled and repaired in 1835-36. The old high-backed lattice pews were removed, and the ancient pulpit and its sounding board were relegated to the unused accessories. The deacons' seats and galleries on the east and south sides were taken down, and only a small gallery on the west side was left for "ye singers." The broad south porch was torn down and its doors closed.
Rev. John Nichols was the first preacher in the renovated church. Benjamin F. Newhall, James M. Ushier and other citizens frequently supplied the pulpit front 1838 to 1848, and other ministers during quite an extended period were Rev. Josiah Marvin, Rev. Henry Eaton, Sylvanus Cobb, D. D., Rev. J. W. Talbot and Rev. J. H. Campbell, bringing us up to 1858, when there was a movement for a new church. The old church was sold for $242, the site for $570. In 1860; the new church became a reality, and was erccted at the corner of Main and Summer Streets, at the Centre. where it now stands, although it has since been raised and a vestry constructed underneath it.
We regret that we are obliged to content ourselves with a mere mention of the eleven other churches now organized within the confines of the town, namcly:
East Saugus Methodist, Cliftondale Methodist, Saugus Centre Methodist. St. John's Episcopal, Cliftondale Congregational, Saugus Centre Congregational, Church of the Blessed Sacrament, North Saugus Union Church, Dorr Memorial at Lynnhurst, Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. and the Church of God.
"Religion's all. Descending from the skies To wretched man, the goddess in her left Holds out this world, and, in her right, the next." -
Cowper.
SAUGUS IN THE REVOLUTION
From the fact that Parson Roby was active in a portion of the Revolutionary period it probably is not a violent assumption to say that he was instrumental in seeing to it that Saugus did her full duty in that period by sending forth such a large representation of men to participate in the stirring times of that historic era.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
Sanderson writes that 247 men had been duly organized in five companies, and were ready for the opening of hostilities. These five companies were from the then town of Lynn. He says: "Each man had furnished his own musket or firearm, and no one reached the dignity of a uniform."
The first company was exclusively from Saugus, the Third Parish, and was commanded by Capt. David Parker. It consisted of sixty-three men, and was the largest in town. It met for drill at the Jacob Newhall Tavern in East Saugus. Later other Saugus men saw service, building the number of our ancestors who fought in the Revolution up to nearly a hundred, whose names Sanderson gives as follows .
Lemuel Allen
William Hitchings
John Batts
Ezekiel Howard
Thomas Berry
Joshua Howard
Aaron Boardman
Nathaniel Hutchinson
Amos Boardman
Thomas Hutchinson
Ivory Boardman
Timothy Hutchinson
John Boardman
Benjamin Jacobs
Samuel Boardman
Ebenezer Leathe
William Boardman
Amos Leeds
Nathaniel Boynton
James Lelax
Samuel Breedeen
Benjamin Mansfield
Benjamin Brown
Samuel Mansfield
Ezra Brown
Thomas Mansfield
Ephraim Brown
James Marble
Jonathan Brown, 2nd Lt.
Josiah Martin
Rufus Brown
David Newman
Israel Burrill
Thomas Newman
John Burrill
Calvin Newhall
Abner Cheever
Jabez Newhall
Abner Cheever, Jr.
Jacob Newhall
Abijah Cheever
Nathan Newhall
John Cheever
David Parker
Stephen Coates
John Pool
Philip Coates
Amos Pratt
William Coates
Ben. Bullard Redden
Joshua Danforth
Samuel Rhodes
Joseph Eaton
Henry Roby
Joseph Edmunds
Rev. Joseph Roby
Joshua Felt
Thomas Roby
Jonathan Felt
Ebenezer Stocker
Joseph Felt
Ebenezer Stocker, Jr.
Charles Florence
Elijah Stocker
Thomas Florence
Enoch Stocker
David Fuller
Ephraim Stocker
Peter Fuller
Thomas Stocker
Benjamin Goldthwaite
John Symmes
Moses Hart
Francis Smith
Adam Hawkes
Francis Smith, Jr.
Elkanah Hawkes
Ebenezer Stacey
Nathan Hawkes
Phineas Sweetser
Thomas Hawkes
Samuel Sweetser
Richard Hill
Amos Porter
Robert Hill
Richard Tuttle
William Hill
Benjamin Twist
Abijah Hitchings
Nathaniel Viall
Daniel Hitchings
Samuel Viall
John Hitchings
Benjamin Wilson
Nathan Hitchings
Samuel Wilson, Jr.
Nathaniel Hitchings
Ezra Waitt
Thomas Hitchings
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
AN HISTORIC ROAD
These men marched from Saugus over the old Boston road, as it was called. In connection with this thoroughfare, Hawkes' recital is valuable. He recalls that in 1639, the General Court allowed Lynn fifty pounds towards defraying the cost of building a bridge over Saugus River.
This was the first bridge built in Lynn over tide water and was on the site of the one which now marks the dividing line between Lynn and Saugus, near the East Saugus Depot. Its construction shortened the distance between Boston and the towns to the east, and soon diverted the travel to the Colonial highway, now known as Boston Street.
"Over this road, from Cambridge to Newburyport, on the 11th of September, 1775, Benedict Arnold led the army which General Washington dispatched for the conquest of Quebec." continues Hawkes. "This expedition, through the unbroken wilds of Maine and Canada, was the most wonderful, chivalric and quixotic event of the Revolutionary War. Had it been a success, what a change would have been made in our history. North America would have been wholly American instead of one-half remaining English, Arnold might have been the pivotal hero of our race, instead of the world's champion traitor.'
"Over this road. President George Washington traveled in his memorable journey from New York to Portsmouth, in 1789; and over this road, Washington's friend, the gallant Frenchman, Lafayette, was escorted beneath floral arches in 1824. By this road, the Essex Minute Men marched at the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, to death and undying fame."
We can only mention the military records of some of these Saugus patriots in the Revolution. Every man had an honorable and commendable career. In those days, they were known as Minute-men. In reality, they were hour-men, day-men, week-nien, year-men, yea century-men, for the patriotism they displayed and the sacrifices they made under depressingly adverse circumstances will never be forgotten by us. Their cause was our cause and we should never tire of singing their praises to our children and our children's children. The pathway they emblazoned by their loyal devotion and unselfish service to liberty and independence has enabled us and all mankind to walk down the highway of self-government, basking in the sunlight of the most successful form of Republican government the world has ever known.
These were Saugus men and the ashes of some of them rest sacredly in our keeping in the old burying ground at Saugus Centre. As the immortal Lincoln said, at the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, of the Union soldiers, let us, on the occasion of our Centennial celebration, within the shadow of the old cemetery at the Centre and on the hallowed ground of our ancestors, made dearer as time goes on, say of our Revolutionary soldiers:
"It is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
At the shrine of the memories of the Saugus men who fought in the Continental army well may we renew our faith in them, their cause, their patriotism, their bravery, and proclaim, as did Scott in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel"-
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said This is my own, my native land."
B. F. Newhall, in his sketches in the Lynn Reporter in 1860, said of the Saugus Company :
Captain Parker mustered his Company at an early hour on the day of the Concord fight and marched them with all speed to the scene of the conflict.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
The death notice of Col. Abner Cheever, aged 82, who died in Lynn, Sept. 13, 1837, and which was published in the Lynn Record, stated that
Colonel Cheever was in the battle of Lexington. in 1775. He was of the Corps of Minutemen of that day, and received the alarm of the British marching to Concord that morning at three o'clock.
"Of all human things nothing is more honorable or more excellent than to deserve well of one's country."-Cicero.
SAUGUS CENTRE
Saugus. like all Gaul, is divided into three principal parts. Saugus Centre. the geographical centre of the town, Cliftondale, and East Saugus. The other and smaller villages are practically subdivisions of these principal communities, although North Saugus and Oaklandvale ought not to be so considered.
In the olden days, Saugus Centre boasted the iron works, the parish church. and a goodly number of "freemen." leading citizens. To-day it has the Town Hall, soldiers' monument, five churches, the two cemeteries. the High and Roby Schools, many of our leading residents, and is, as for 275 years, our center of civic activity, typified by its busy square, and our geographical axis.
At Pranker's Mills, about 1770, Ebenezer Hawkes made a rude dam. and excavated, in part, the present canal, upon the banks of which he built a gristmill and sawmill. In 1794 Benjamin Sweetser bought the property and made chocolate there. The business flourished and his chocolate became famous. Subsequent owners, William Smith, among the number, continued to make this world-renowned commodity, and found a ready sale in New Orleans and for the export trade. Chocolate and its by- products now enjoy an immense sale throughout the world.
About 1822. William Gray. of Boston. otherwise familiarly known as "Billy Gray." manufactured duck-cloth here. coming from Stoneham for that purpose, literally bringing his factory with him, having torn it down at Stoneham. Two years later, Brown & Baldwin bleached and printed calico at this point. True & Brodhead succeeded to this business. and later Brierly & Whitehead assumed it. Then True & Street became the partnership and during their time a large brick factory. 85 by 40, three stories high, was erected. In 1834. Whitwell, Bond & Co. became the owners, and were succeeded, the following year, by Livermore & Kendall.
Edward Pranker came in 1838 and the history of the property since is familiar, it recently having been operated as a branch of the United States Worsted Co., previous to which it was conducted as the Pranker Manufacturing Co .. by the six grandchildren of Edward Pranker. who died in 1865. Its specialties in those days were all-wool shirtings and ladies' dress goods and sackings of all colors and shades. The mills were badly damaged by fires in 1866. The tall, round, and familiar chimney was constructed in 1884.
Scott's Mills began with Joseph Emes about 1810. He had. in turn, a gristmill, a fulling mill. and a morocco factory. In 1847 the factory was burned and Mr. Enies sold out to Francis Scott of Salem. He rebuilt and remodelled. and commenced the manufacture of flannel. His son, Andrew A. Scott, in 1857, became a partner in the business under the style and firm name of Francis Scott & Son. In 1862. Francis Scott was fatally injured by being thrown from a cart, and the business was conducted by Andrew A. Scott up to the time of his death, several years ago. The plant is now occupied by the C. R. G. Manufacturing Co.
Linen and snuff were manufactured at North Saugus about one hundred years ago. Iron works were also maintained by John Gifford at North Saugus. after his quarrel with the original iron works about 1654.
The shoe business at the Centre was once a thriving industry. Among the early manufacturers there were Moses Mansfield, his brother Thomas, and Richard Mansfield. In 1818, Benjamin Hitchings came to town and began the making of shoes, later taking his two sons. John B. and Otis M. into partner- ship. David Newhall and W. W. Boardman manufactured from 1830 to 1850, and Otis M. Hitchings
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
was so engaged from 1846 to 1872. In 1852, we find Walton & Wilson in the same business, which they conducted until 1879, selling out to Charles S. Hitchings. William T. Ash, William F. Hitchings, and Otis M. Burrill were among the last men to be in the shoe manufacturing business at the Centre.
NEWBURYPORT TURNPIKE
There are about four miles of the famous Newburyport Turnpike in Saugus. This road was finished about 1805, and cost nearly $480,000. While it was projected by some of the leading residents of New- buryport, the wisdom of its construction is open to argument. It certainly has never benefited Saugus much and has always been of endless expense.
Undoubtedly many noted men have travelled the Newburyport Turnpike. some on foot. many in automobiles. A large number of them have passed through Saugus. At least one of these notables stopped over night in Saugus. He was Henry Wilson. the Natick cobbler. He was "hoofing it" from Farmington, N. H., to Natick, Mass. When he reached Newburyport. en route. it is related that he bought a pair of slippers for twenty-five cents to protect his feet, which were blistered. Then he walked via the Turnpike from that city to North Saugus, where he remained over night. A strange coinci- dence in connection with Wilson's pilgrimage over the Turnpike is that later, in 1861, the 22nd Massachusetts regiment was formed at Lynnfield. Wilson organized and commanded it. It was known as the Wilson regiment, he being at the time United States Senator from Massachusetts. Upon the war's conclusion. General Grant became President and Wilson Vice-President. the same Wilson who many years before. as a boy. passing through Lynnfield and Saugus. tramped over the hills and through the valleys of the Newburyport Turnpike, resting therefrom at least one night in Saugus.
SAUGUS BRANCH
The much maligned Saugus Branch was started in 1844. Joshua Webster of Malden may well be said to be the father of it. In 1846 he projected a railroad from East Saugus to Malden. connecting with the Boston & Maine. The route was through the center of Saugus, thence down the valley of the Newburyport Turnpike through Maplewood to Malden. a distance of over five miles.
In 1847 a petition was presented to the Legislature for a charter. To oppose this project, the Eastern Railroad brought forward a scheme to build a branch railroad from Breed's Wharf in Lynn through East Saugus to Saugus Centre.
The war for these rival routes first began in Saugus, and was then transferred to the Legislature. The Malden route was victorious. Edward Pranker of Saugus was one of the Titans in the struggle. and George Pearson of Saugus was another of the leaders in the fight. Joshua Webster was chosen president in 1848. In 1849 permission was given to change the location from the turnpike valley route to Cliftondale and Linden to Malden. In 1850 it was extended from East Saugus to Lynn Common. In 1852 Benjamin F. Newhall of Saugus was elected a director.
After the usual vicissitudes of financing a new corporation, the road was built. In February. 1854. an engine and two cars ran upon it. The latter part of the month four trains each way were run from Lynn Common to Edgeworth, in Malden, there connecting with the Boston & Maine. The line later became a leased line of the Eastern Railroad, and still later a part of the Boston & Maine system.
STREET CARS
Our system of street railroads dates back to 1860, when the first horse railroad was built in Saugus over the Salem Turnpike. The cars from Lynn first stopped at the East Saugus bridge. Cars com- menced running there in 1882. Later an extension was made to Ballard Street. and finally to Clifton- dale. to which point the cars ran in 1885. The line up Chestnut and Winter Streets to Saugus Centre began operation in 1886, and other extensions and amplifications of the electric car lines in town are doubtless familiar to all.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
The more modern method of transportation, that of flying through the air, had a brief though pathetic start in Saugus a few years ago at the old race track, but we fear that our people still prefer the dear old Saugus Branch and the car propelled by electricity and gasoline. The aeroplane plant, and its prospectus, which was a fine specimen of the printer's art. figuratively folded their tents, like the Arabs, and silently stole away, leaving a reputation that will probably never equal that of the old iron works as a manufacturing plant.
About the time Saugus was set off from Lynn, the town had a number of farms, including those of Elkanah Hawkes, Deacon Pratt, John Dampney, Ivory Boardman, Samuel Boardman, Aaron Boardman, Asa Rhodes, Joseph Rhodes, Ezra Brown, Lemuel Allen. Jacob Eustis, John Stocker, Ellis Boynton. and others which will be referred to more specifically.
SAMUEL BOARDMAN HOUSE, ONE OF THE OLDEST IN ESSEX COUNTY SITUATED OPPOSITE THE FORK OF THE WAKEFIELD AND MELROSE ROADS
The early residents of Saugus were farmers. Then an era of shoemakers, or cordwainers, as they were called, came upon the scene. Later, as time wore on and the population increased, the trades and employments became more diversified, until now we have many and varied skilled artisans in our midst, not a few of whom are employed in the shoe factories and General Electric Plant in Lynn. Many of our people also work in Boston, and other neighboring cities and towns.
ANCESTRAL HOMES
Some of the old houses of Saugus require passing mention. In addition to those already cited are the following, nearly all of them in North Saugus and Oaklandvale.
The Abijah Boardman house, or, as it is being called in these later years, the Bennett-Boardman house, is a familiar onc. It is near the Melrose line, on Howard Street. Hawkes says of it, "that it is by far the best preserved specimen of the projecting upper story, Colonial house yet in existence in the old town," and he states, also, another very interesting fact, that it has been in two counties, Suffolk and Essex, and in at least four towns, Boston, Lynn, Chelsea, and Sangus. After Samuel Bennett's occupancy of it, the house came into the possession of the Boardman family, including William, and his son Aaron, who occupied it during the Revolution. Abijah followed his son Aaron as owner and up to within a very few years (about 1906) it was occupied and owned by Boardman heirs. The Boardmans and Samuel Bennett were very prominent in early Saugus history, the latter during the iron works era.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
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BENNETT-BOARDMAN HOUSE, OAKLANDVALE
The Saunders place at Oaklandvale, now owned and occupied by Selectman Frank P. Bennett, who likewise owns what was formerly the George W. Phillips place, deserves attention. George W. Phillips was a brother of Wendell Phillips, the orator, whose picture in the auditorium of the Town Hall, was the gift of Mrs. George W. Phillips. Selectman Bennett has greatly improved the combined properties and conducts a model dairy farm there, probably the most sanitary in Essex County,
The Hitchings-Draper-Hawkes house is another one. The first Daniel Hitchings was the original owner in the Indian days.
BENNETT-BOARDMAN HOUSE, REAR VIEW
The Draper family owned it from 1827 until it went to Nathan Hawkes in 1848, Deacon Ira Draper lived and died here. His sons, Eben and George, created the town of Hopedale. George Draper was the father of the governor, Eben S. Draper, and of George A. Draper, prominently identified with the large manufacturing plant at Hopedale.
The Nathan Hawkes house (Water Street, North Saugus) was the abiding place of the prominent Hawkes of that name. the one who was the prime mover in the incorporation of Saugus as a separate
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS
HITCHINGS-DRAPER-HAWKES HOUSE
town in 1815, and undoubtedly the leading man of his time in the West Parish of the then Town of Lynn. His birth occurred in 1745. He was born, lived and died in this house, and was also the only Saugus man who served as selectman of Lynn before the separation. He was the ensign in the Saugus company of Minute Men, and his great grandson, Nathan Mortimer Hawkes. has his sword and commission, which bears the signatures of a major part of the Council of Massachusetts Bay in New England, including Jaines Otis, Caleb Cushing and thirteen others.
Nathan Hawkes was parish clerk during a portion of Parson Roby's pastorate, and the friendship between the two was very close. Probably the most important public act of Nathan Hawkes' long and active career was the part he took in having Saugus set off from Lynn in 1815, already mentioned. He really won the legislative fight which gave the divisionists the victory, and his memory should always be honored by Saugus people. He ranks with Joseph Roby, Landlord Newhall and other sturdy oaks in Saugus yeomanry.
"Neither citadel nor ship is of any worth without the men dwelling in them."
CLIFTONDALE
Cliftondale may well be said to be the new part of Saugus, new in the sense that it has developed in the later years. Its growth has been rapid, substantial, and gratifying. In the old days it was known as "Sweetser's Corner," and, in that period, was the location of important activities in the tobacco and allied trades. There were a few, scattered houses there in the Revolutionary period, but Cliftondale did not put on its seven league boots until about 1800.
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