USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > Centennial memorial of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 2
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
The wife of Henry Wheaton, LL. D., the learned writer on " International Law," was a daughter of Jo- seph Burrill, of Newport, R. I., another descendant of the Lynn settler. Dr. Wheaton did good service for his country both at home and abroad. He was the first diplomatic agent of the United States in Denmark, and from 1837 to 1846 minister plenipotentiary to Prussia.
20
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
To the eighth edition of his " Elements of International Law " were appended the notes of Richard H. Dana, jr., which occasioned so much discussion when the question of Mr. D.'s confirmation as Minister to England came up to be disposed of by the senate, in 1876. It is a work of standard authority in Europe, and indeed in all countries where international law is recognized. He was a pro- found lawyer, and a highly valued member of divers learned bodies both here and abroad. In his children the Burrill blood could not deteriorate. His son Robert, who died in 1851, aged twenty-five, was a writer of some note ; and a memoir of him by his sister appeared soon after.
Another of the early settlers was THOMAS PARKER, who came in 1635. He was strong in the old New England faith, and little dreamed that in two hundred years after he was laid to his final rest a direct descendant of his would enliven, if not startle, the christian world by preaching doctrines that would shock his pious predilec- tions, and be to him a recession from the fundamental ground of man's hope -that descendant, the Rev. Theo- dore Parker.
Still another of the very early settlers was JOHN BAN- CROFT, who died after a residence of about seven years. IIe seems to have been a very worthy man, but, like the great philosopher of old, wedded to a companion unequal to the task of restraining that unruly member which so often kindles fierce fires. The court records indicate her weakness and his trials. But the eminent historian,
21
HISTORICAL SKETCHI.
George Bancroft, could not have existed save through this apparently uncongenial pair. And the father of the historian was a man of note. IIe was born in Read- ing, Mass., in 1755, and early exhibited such a thirst for learning as indicated future eminence ; was a college student at the opening of the Revolution, but appeared as a volunteer at the battles of Lexington and Bunker Ilill. He graduated in 1778, studied divinity, and after a few years of change settled in Worcester in 1786. There he remained till his death, in 1839, acceptably performing pastoral duties for half a century. He was among the first to squarely plant himself on the Unitarian platform, and did much, by preaching and writing, to enforce the doctrines and shape the destinies of that de- nomination. His acquirements in various departments fitted him for useful membership in several learned bodies.
RICHARD HAVEN appeared here as a farmer in 1640, and settled near the Flax pond. He was ancestor, in a direct line, of President Haven of Michigan State Uni- versity ; of Bishop Haven of the Methodist Church, and other eminent individuals. A gathering of his descend- ants, to the number of fifteen hundred, was held at Framingham, in Middlesex county, some years since.
We find JOHN VINTON here, connected with the Iron Works, as early as 1648. The family was of Huguenot origin, and has always held a respectable position. The eminent divines, Alexander and Francis Vinton, were descendants from this settler. Some years since there
22
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
appeared a volume on the genealogy, lineal and collat- eral, of the family, in the notes and appendix of which is to be found much interesting information, especially that developed in the discussion touching the Lynn and Braintree Iron Works.
PHILIP KERTLAND arrived in 1635. He was the first shoemaker here; and for that reason, perhaps, ought to be held in remembrance, though it does not appear that he ever rose above the humble position in which we first find him. His name survives in a street in the western section of the city. The large family of Kertlands, and Kirklands (as the name is sometimes spelled), descended from him. John Thornton Kirkland, President of Har- vard College from 1810 to 1828, biographer of Fisher Ames and author of several other able but brief works, was a lineal descendant; and the father of President Kirkland was Samuel, the distinguished missionary to the Oneida Indians, and founder of Hamilton College.
Then there was SAMUEL HART, who appeared here among the early settlers, being employed at the Iron works, and who became the head of a very respectable family. Edmund Hart, the architect of the famous frigate Constitution, was a descendant of his.
We find JOHN GOWAN settled here at an early period. Among his descendants may be named Col. John E. Gowan, born in Lynn, and widely known as the enter- prising engineer who, after the Crimean war, was em- ployed by the Russian government to raise the ships sunk in the harbor of Sebastopol, and who for his
23
HISTORICAL SKETCII.
services received honorable notice in addition to his pecuniary reward. In 1870, having returned from his successful labors, he presented to the Lynn Light In- fantry a Russian twelve-pound brass field-piece, which was preserved as a remembrancer.
ABRAHAM PIERSON, the first president of Yale college, was born in Lynn, in 1641. He was the son of a clergy- inan of the same name, who, when the cmigrants from Lynn settled on Long Island, went with them, preached to the Indians in their own language, and became the first minister of Southampton. Afterwards we find him among the first settlers of Newark, N. J. The chair in which President Pierson sat is still preserved by the col- lege, and on certain exceptional occasions is called into service.
If it were allowable, examples like the foregoing might be multiplied to an indefinite extent. We should allude to THOMAS NEWHALL, born in 1630-the first white person who opened his infantile eyes upon this troublous world, within our borders. A greater number of his descendants are now to be found in Lynn than of any other settler. And many from time to time have gone forth, with industry and enterprise, to do good service in the nation's progress ; here infusing energy into business callings, there subduing unreclaimed wilds.
But we must content ourselves with introducing a single member- Dr. Horatio Newhall, who was born in Lynn, Ang. 28, 1798, graduated at Harvard with the class of which Caleb Cushing, George Bancroft, and
24
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Dr. Tyng were members, took his medical degree in 1821, and very soon emigrated westward, in just a month after leaving Boston finding himself in the little French village of St. Louis, now one of the proudest cities of the American Union. In 1827 he appeared in the mining region of the Indian territory, and in 1830 at Fort Winnebago, acting surgeon of the United States army. Two years after, he was again at Galena, and there had control of a general hospital, in the Black Hawk war. During the prevalence of the Asiatic chol- era at Rock Island, Gen. Scott wrote beseeching him to come and do what he could to arrest the progress of the pestilence. He went, and his services were commended as of great value. In 1861-'66, he was physician of the United States hospital at Galena. The first newspaper ever published north of the Illinois river-the " Miner's Journal"-appeared under his editorial charge. He died at Galena, Sept. 19, 1870, much lamented, having been an accredited member of the First Presbyterian church there for some thirty-five years.
Next in order of the present numerical representation would come the name of Breed. ALLEN BREED settled here as early as 1630, and a creditable lineage claim him as their common ancestor. The elevation on which the battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought is said to have received its name from him.
The genial WILLIAM WOOD, who was among the carli- est comers, must not be forgotten ; for he may properly be ranked as the first historian of Lynn. He wrote the
25
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
famous " Nevy England's Prospect," printed in London, in 1634-a volume of a hundred pages. Not many things had then happened in the settlements worthy of record ; but his descriptions are lively and interesting. Ile was quite a young man when he came ; and after going back to England and having his book printed, returned with his wife. He represented the town in the General Court, in 1636; but there is some doubt as to how many years he was in Lynn. He was some- what of a rambler: went with the party who settled Sandwich, in 1637; and finally, it has been stated, died in Concord, May 14, 1671, aged eighty-six ; but that would make him far too old at his first coming. There is some mistake in the figures, or the Concord resident was another man. An edition of his work was printed in 1764, and another in 1865.
But it will not be possible to follow on the lines of many of the carly settlers, however enticing the com- pany might prove. And perhaps, as the published His- tory of Lynn contains much information relating to the old families, it is unnecessary here. A passing word, however, may be permitted for a descendant of WILLIAM HEWES, who was among the carly comers. David Hewes. a native of Lynnfield, and a lineal descendant of William, was the individual who had the honor of driving the spike of solid gold which completed, on the 10th of May, 1869, the great Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The spike, however, was withdrawn for one less tempting to pilfer- ing hands, and deposited in the San Francisco museum.
4
26
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Having said something of the early ministers of Lynn, it is meet that the pioneers in the other learned profes- sions should not be passed by in entire silence. Half a century had elapsed before any regularly established physician was found here. The warfare against disease was carried on chiefly by roots and herbs and simple concoctions. Every prudent housewife preserved her odorous bundles, and when the time of need came made ready her ointments and other healing preparations. To this very day, in some of the ancient garrets the con- firmatory scents survive in the permeated rafters. From their Indian neighbors the settlers received much inform- ation regarding the use of the medicinal products of the meadows and woods ; and the preparation of some of the healing draughts and compounds thus derived may now be considered as among the lost arts.
In 1680, we find Dr. PHILIP REED established here. But little is to be found by which to judge of his skill as a physician or of his standing as a man. He, how- ever, appears not to have been exempt from some of the superstitions and prejudices of his time; for we find him, during the same year (1680), complaining to the court in Salem against Mrs. Margaret Gifford, a very respectable woman, for practising witchcraft; deposing that " he verily believed that she was a witch, for there were some things which could not be accounted for by natural causes." He might, of course, have been a good doctor while a believer in witchcraft; for such was the common belief of the period. His complaint
27
HISTORICAL SKETCHI.
against Mrs. Gifford, however, resulted in no serious injury to her.
Dr. JOHN HENRY BURCHSTEAD settled here in 1685, being then a young man. He was a native of Silesia. In 1690 he married widow Mary Kertland, and by her had two sons, also physicians, one of whom became a surgeon in the British navy. The doctor lived on the south side of Essex street, between High and Pearl streets, on the site afterward occupied by his son, Dr. Henry Burchstead, and more recently by Dr. Hazeltine. It was the latter, Dr. Henry, who, when the whale seventy- five feet in length was landed on King's beach, Dec. 9, 1755, rode with his horse and chair into his mouth, and subsequently had two of the bones set up as gate-posts at his residence, where they remained more than fifty years. Dr. John Henry continued in practice here some thirty-six years, and died Sept. 20, 1721, aged sixty- four years. His grave, in the Old Burying Ground, is marked by a substantial stone bearing this inscription :
Silesia to New England sent this man, To do their all that any healer can ; But he who conquered all diseases must Find one who throws him down into the dust. A chemist near to an adeptist come, Leaves here, thrown by, his caput mortuum. Reader, physicians die as others do ; Prepare, for thou to this art hastening too.
Near the close of the seventeenth century, Dr. Joux CASPAR RICHTER VON CROWNINSCHELDT settled in the beautiful region of the Mineral spring, on our north-
28
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
eastern border. It does not, however, appear that he came to practice as a physician. IIe is stated to have been educated at the University of Leipsic, and to have fled from Germany on account of a duel. The noted Crowninshield family descended from him. Some of the apple-trees which he planted are said to be still standing.
From the time of these pioneers in the healing art, Lynn has never been without skillful practitioners, and many of her sons have gone forth to do good service in the alleviation of human suffering. But we are admon- ished that space cannot be allowed for multiplied notices of individuals, however meritorious.
And now a word in relation to legal practitioners. The first lawyer who settled in Lynn was BENJAMIN MERRILL, who came in 1808, and opened an office in the southwesterly chamber of the house still standing on the corner of North Common and Park streets. He was a young man of fine talents and education, and, what is of the first importance in a lawyer, of excellent character and good habits. He remained here, however, but a short time ; for a deputation of worthy citizens called on him, with the modest request that he would quit the town. They stated that theretofore they had jogged along in a reasonably peaceful way, but apprehended that as a lawyer he would be likely to stir up strife. and do more harm than good. ITis ready reply was that he certainly should not remain where a vacancy was
29
HISTORICAL SKETCHI.
more desirable than his company, and immediately pack- ing up his legal chattels, departed for Salem. And Lynn thus lost one who, without doubt, would have done much to elevate her name and add to her prosperity. He be- came eminent in his profession ; continuing in practice, at Salem, till the time of his death, July 30, 1847, at the age of sixty-three, having received the degree of LL. D. at Cambridge in 1845. He himself related his experience in Lynn to the writer, and added that, not- withstanding the uncivil nature of the invitation to leave, the humor of the thing forbade his taking offence. He likewise added that the Lynn people, so far from exhibit- ing any personal ill-feeling, for many years intrusted him with much of their best business, which he endeav- ored to dispose of faithfully and to their satisfaction.
Some four years after, that is, in 1812, REUBEN P. WASHBURN commenced practice in Lynn. He, too, was a young man of excellent character, a graduate of Dart- mouth in the ISOS class, and had studied under Judge Jackson, of Boston. His office was in a chamber of the
old Caleb Wiley building, corner of Western avenue and Federal street; and he married a daughter of Rev. Mr. Thacher, of the First Church. He was a personal friend of Judge Story and other eminent men in law and letters. Ilis practice here could not have been large, and in 1817 he removed to Vermont, where he was soon elevated to the judicial bench, and to the end of his useful life main- tained an unsullied reputation. He died in 1860, at the age of seventy-nine. His son, Peter Thacher Washburn,
30
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
born in Lynn, Sept. 7, 1814, died in office, as Governor of Vermont, Feb. 7, 1870.
Governor Washburn graduated at Dartmouth in 1835, studied law at the Cambridge school, and was for eight years reporter of the Vermont Supreme Court decisions. He was likewise the compiler of digests and other useful legal volumes. On the opening of the war of the Rebel- lion he was commander of the Woodstock Light Infantry, and, on the first call of the President for troops, raised a full company and departed for the scene of strife. Soon after his arrival in Virginia he became acting colonel of the regiment of which his company formed a part. He was, however, soon called home to assume the duties of Adjutant and Inspector-General of the State, and con- tinued in the office till the close of the war. In 1869 he was elected Governor; but his health having been much impaired by arduous application to public duties, he bore the gubernatorial honors but a few months before being stricken down by death. He seems to have been a man of pre-eminent integrity and honor, both in his practice as a lawyer and in all his public offices ; and the enco- miums bestowed on him indicate a high appreciation on the part of those whom he so faithfully served. " IIc was," remarks the Vergennes Vermonter, "one of the few living illustrations of Phillips's positive men. They are rarely met with in public or private life. Vermont appreciated him, and he will be mourned as one of the few in public life whose sense of justice was stronger than personal preference or even the dictation of party."
31
HISTORICAL SKETCHI.
The Springfield (Mass.) Republican says: "It was in the office of AAdjutant-General that Gov. Washburn's fitness for public service was first made known to the people. His accuracy of dealing was as certain and as rigid as mathematics. The discharge of a public duty was with him reckoned among the 'exact sciences.' If he had been less honest than he was, he would still have followed honesty from sheer devotion to its straight- forwardness, its absolute correctness. We speak of this characteristic, not to elevate it above his unimpeachable integrity, but because it is what marks him among gov- ernors. Vermont has had honest executives before ; but it has been some time since she had a governor who governed, who picked up the loose ends in her admin- istrative departments and set everything in order. IIe was not only above jobbing and lobbying, railroad or otherwise, but he forbade his private secretary to use so much as a two-cent stamp of the State's property except for public purposes. With the same regard for the fit- ness of things, he introduced almost military formality in his intercourse with subordinates ; not that he was at all ' set up' by his position, but he would have order and system in everything, insisting on every man's knowing his proper place and his responsibilities."
And here we must leave the legal line, regretting the necessity of passing unnamed the numbers who have succeeded those spoken of, some of whom have acquitted themselves right worthily.
32
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
But it may be asked, is it not claiming quite too much for Lynn to assume that the good deeds of descendants of her children, especially those who perhaps never knew their kinship, should be set down to her credit? Such a question, indeed, opens a wide and fertile field for the curious and questioning mind to disport in. Suc- cinetly it may be met by another question -for instance, Had not Thomas Parker and John Bancroft settled in Lynn, in the peaceful condition of farmers, and been surrounded by just such circumstances and influences as they were, would the world ever have known Theo- dore Parker the theologian or George Bancroft the his- torian? The virtues of the soil that nurtures a parent stock may invigorate the issue of the seed that becomes scattered to the four winds. Without our ancestors we should not have existed. Our lives are extensions of theirs, and necessarily affected by transmitted influences.
But for such genealogical inquiries, suggestive as they are, little space can be afforded. It would not be unfit, however, here to name one other individual - William Gray, for so many years popularly known by the inele- gant contraction of " Billy " Gray, a lineal descendant of one of the early settlers, and himself born in Lynn on the 27th of June, 1750. It is believed to have been uni- versally conceded that, for a considerable period during the latter part of the last and the beginning of the present century, Mr. Gray was the most prominent and successful merchant of which New England could boast. His commercial lines extended to every continent ; and
33
HISTORICAL SKETCHI.
he had at one time not less than sixty sail of square- rigged vessels in service. In wealth he probably had no equal cast of New York; and, notwithstanding his great losses under the decrees of Bonaparte and his sufferings from the embargo, remained in undoubted credit, never flinching in his support of the latter, as . a political measure, unpopular as it was in the com- mercial districts of New England. In 1810 he was elected Lieutenant - Governor, and remained in office two years. His dignity of manners and unswerving truthfulness insured him great respect, and his wealth enabled him largely to gratify his naturally generous inclinations. IIe died in Boston, Nov. 4, 1825, having lived there nearly twenty years, and left several sons and a daughter, all maintaining positions of the highest respectability. At present several of his descendants are occupying stations of honor and usefulness.
Having alluded to a few of the worthy men among the settlers of Lynn, and their descendants, it is fitting that at least one or two of the women should not be passed by unnoticed. Mrs. WHITING has been spoken of. Then there was her neighbor, Lady SUSAN HUMFREY, wife of John Humfrey. They came in 1634. She was a daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, and, as Mather remarks, " of the best family of any nobleman then in England." It does not appear, however, that she was a woman of any extraordinarily high endowments, and she seems to have been quite unable to adapt herself, like Mrs. 5
34
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Whiting, to the condition of things here. She became weary, lonely, and homesick ; and with her husband returned to England in 1641, leaving children who in after years had sad cause to lament the loss of a mother's care and training. Mr. Humfrey was a man conspicu- ous in Old as well as New England, and had aspired to a governorship in the West Indies; but being baffled in his expectations there, and losing much of his property, like many others of feverish ambition, he returned to his native land disappointed and dejected. During his short sojourn here he was active in public duties and enter- prises, and acceptably filled high offices of trust- was an Assistant and Major-General of the Colony. But the enduring footprints which his talents, his rank, and his acquirements qualified him to impress on the virgin soil of America are not to be found. The discontents and chafings of his wife, to which writers have alluded as in a large measure accounting for the failures of his life, while not accepted as sufficient, cannot be regarded as without serious influence.
A large portion of Mr. Humfrey's estate was sold to Lady DEBORAH MOODY, who came here in 1640. She belonged to a noble family, was an active and influen- tial spirit, and had given some trouble to the authorities in England, persisting, in opposition to the statutes, in residing from her own home. On the 21st of April, 1639, the Star Chamber ordered that " Dame Deborah Moody, and the others, shall return to their heredita- ments in forty days, in the good example necessary to
35
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
the poorer classes." Lechford, the good old London lawyer who came to Boston in 1638, and unsuccessfully attempted to live by his profession there, says : " Lady Moody lives at Lynn, but is of the Salem church. She is, good lady, almost undone by buying Master Hum- . frey's farm." She soon became obnoxious to the people of Lynn by her opinions touching baptism, maintaining that the baptism of infants was unwarranted and sinful. For this, and certain antinomian views which she was forward to express and maintain, she was excommuni- cated and retired to the Dutch on Long Island. She was a woman of great worth and considerable wealth, and through her means and energy of character would no doubt have proved a most valuable member of this little community, had their religious predilections allowed her to remain unmolested. After settling on Long Island she suffered greatly by the depredations and attacks of the Indians, her house being several times assailed. The Governor of New York was greatly indebted to her in a pecuniary way on various occasions, and readily accorded to her some important privileges, showing in many forms his confidence in her integrity and merits. She was one of the patentees of Gravesend, in King's county, the patent being from Governor Kieft, and written in Dutch and English.
CHAPTER II.
The Settlement receives its Name of Lynn - Ancient and Honor- able Artillery Company, with Notice of Lynn Members - Merrimac and Saugus Rivers - Iron Works - Lynn made a Market Town - Material and Moral Condition of the Settlers - Administration of Andros, with Notice of Randolph's Peti- tion for a Grant of Nahant, and the Town's Action Thereon.
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.