USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > City Officers and the Annual Reports to the City Council of Newburyport 1884 > Part 13
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Mother.
Born in the United States
186
66 Ireland
66
72
British Provinces and Canada
27
41
England.
18
14
Other foreign countries
13
12
355
325
Of 72 children born, both parents were natives of Newburyport ; of 124 the fathers were natives of Newburyport ; of 106 the mothers were natives of Newburyport.
MARRIAGES.
The number of intentions of marriage recorded and issued during the year 1884 was 147, eight less than the preceding year. Of the 147 issued, 138 have been returned for record, the marriages having been solemnized here or elsewhere. Of the nine which have not been heard from, probably a considerable portion failed being solemnized, and there is no evidence in this office that any of the missing nine were duly married, yet it is possible and the evidence may yet be obtained.
The number of marriages recorded in the books of the city during the year,152, twenty-one less than the preceding year,and five more than the whole number of certificates issued.
The number of marriages solemnized in the city during the year 130, eighteen less than last year, twenty-two being solemnized elsewhere and returned for record, one or both parties claiming a residence in this city.
Marriages in each month and quarter as follows :
First Quarter. 'Second Quarter. [Third Quarter. Fourth Quarter January. ... 9 April .... 20 July ........ 6 October .... 12
February. . . 12 May. 8 August . ..
. 8
November. . 28
March ... . 6 June. .16 September ... 12 December .. 15 - 27 44
26 55-152
Marriages were solemnized by the following named officials :
Congregational : S. J. Spalding 1 L Charles P. Mills 7
Daniel T. Fiske
6 Henry E. Mott 2 Palmer S. Hulbert. 2
283
REPORT OF CITY CLERK.
Presbyterian : Charles C. Wallace. 10
Melville Smith. 3
Randolph Campbell 1
Methodist: John Peterson. 11
William H. Cook 1
Alfred Noon. 11
Roman Catholic: A. J. Teeling.
M. E. Twomey
8
Unitarian : D. W. Morehouse
S
Baptist : E. E. Thomas ..
5
Justices of the Peace : Horace I. Bartlett.
2
John T. Brown 1
Non-resident officials. 21-152
Of the marriages recorded, it was the first marriage of 131 grooms, the second of 20 and the third of 1. Of the brides it was the first marriage of 138, the second of 13 and the third of 1. Eleven brides were under eighteen years of age, one being 15 years, five being 16 years and five being 17 years of age. Eight grooms were under 21 years of age ; one being 17 years, one being 18 years, two being 19 years, and four being 20 years of age.
The oldest couple married : the groom was 63 years and the bride 51 years of age, the same being the second marriage of the groom and the third of the bride. The youngest couples : the grooms were 20 and 21 years of age, the brides 15 and 16 years. The av- Erage age of grooms 27.77 years ; brides 23.91.
DEATHS.
Deaths occurring in the City of Newburyport for the year 1884 was 269, not including ten still-births, twenty-seven less than the preceding year. The number recorded in the books of the city for the same period 344; sixty-five occurring in other places and brought to this city for interment. Interments in this city exceeded the number of deaths by fifteen, the number brought to this city exceeding the number conveyed to other places for interment. Of the fifty removed for interment, twenty-two were interred in Newbury.
The following table shows the number of interments in the vari- ous cemeteries of this city for 1884 :
0
Christian : Daniel P. Pike
William A. Ryan 19
17
284
REPORT OF CITY CLERK.
Catholic cemetery
97
Oak Hill
.69
Belleville 66 28
New Hill burial ground 94
Old Hill
6
The following table shows the place of interment of those brought to this city from other places :
Oak Hill cemetery
22
Catholic 66
12
Belleville
66
6
New Hill burial grounds
19
Old Hill 66
2
Newbury, (Oldtown).
4
Deaths by months and quarters, including still-births :
First Quarter. Second Quarter. Third Quarter. Fourth Quarter.
January . . .. 23 April. . . . 21 July ...... 35
October .... 20
February . .. 24 May. . . . . 20 August ... 19 November .. 19
March ..... 28 June .. .22 September. 35 December .. 25
-
-
75 63
77
64
Deaths from all causes under ten years of age, not including still-births, 81 ; thirteen less than last year ; and from all causes, of sixty years old and upwards, 87 ; thirteen less than last year.
The united ages of the deceased in this city for the year was 10,289 years, which makes the average for this city 38.25, the av- erage for the preceding year being 38.87.
For further information in relation to ages and classification ( diseases, reference may be had to tabular statement prepared and and published in annual report of the Board of Health.
Respectfully submitted,
GEORGE H. STEVENS, City Clerk.
285
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ASSESSORS.
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ASSESSORS.
..
ASSESSORS' OFFICE. CITY HALL, December, 1884. 5
GENTLEMEN :- The Board of Assessors would respectfully pre- sent, as their annual report, a few of the most important facts ob- tained from their official labors of the last year. As matter for reference and perhaps for information to many of our citizens the report may be found useful :
The total value of property assessed in 1884 was. $7,548,521 Of real estate $5,162,750.
Personal including resident bank shares $667,571. 2,385,771 Total $7,548,521
This is a small increase over last year. The total value does not include the personal property in shipping-vessels engaged in the foreign carrying trade and belonging to the ship owners of our city, estimated by the assessors on the first of May last, at $437,156, an exemption allowed by the Commonwealth under certain conditions. This sum added to the property assessed would make a total of $7,985,685. The net yearly profits only of vessels so employed were taxable, amounting to $41,234, a considerable reduction from the preceding year. The tax on this foreign shipping, after deduct- ing the profits returned by the owners, made up by the assessors for the state and credited by its treasurer to this city, amounted to the sum of $6,846.73.
The rate of taxation in 1884 was $18.20 on each thousand dol- lars assessed, the poll tax $2 and the whole number of polls was 3418.
Tax on $7,548,521 at $18.20. .$137,383 08
Tax on polls 6,836 00
Total tax levy $144,219 08
For the following purposes :
Appropriation for city expenses.
$134,000 00
Less this sum, being a part of the estimated credits al-
lowed by the state treasurer 9,000 00
$125,000 00
286
REPORT OF BOARD OF ASSESSORS.
City's proportion of the state tax 9.440 00 66 "' county tax. 9,442 86
Overlay, or surplus of taxes
336 22
$144,219 08
Number of dwelling houses, 2153; horses, 652; cows, 274; oxen, 10.
Assessors' valuation of property exempted from taxation by the law of the Commonwealth :
Religious societies-real estate $223,100 invested funds. 58.400-281,500
Benevolent and charitable institutions-real estate.
9,000
invested funds 163,600-172,600
Literary institutions-real estate
76,900
invested funds.
86,800 -163,700
Respectfully submitted,
C. J. BROCKWAY,
GEO. W. JACKMAN, JR., & ASSESSORS. CHARLES C. DONNELL,
REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS
OF THE
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
1884.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
IN BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Nov. 24, 1884.
ORDERED, That the report of the directors be signed and transmitted to the city council, agreeably to the requirements of Section 5th of the Ordinance concerning the public library.
H. A. TENNEY, Secretary.
291
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY-1885,
THOMAS C. SIMPSON,
ENOCH GERRISH, HENRY Z WHITTIER, THOS. H. BOARDMAN, JOSEPH W. EVANS. WILLIAM R. JOHNSON, BENJ. F. STANLEY.
MAYOR.
ALDERMEN.
DIRECTORS OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
THOMAS C. SIMPSON, MAYOR,
ex-officio.
BENJAMIN G. DAVIS, President of Common Council
EDWARD) S. MOSELEY, Trustee of Building Fund
SAMUEL J. SPALDING,
DANIEL T. FISKE,
66
66
EDWARD P. HURD, JAMES PARTON,
Term of office expires, 1885
66
1886
JOHN J. CURRIER,
1887
WILLIAM H. HUSE,
1888
BENJAMIN HALE,
1889
LAWRENCE B. CUSHING,
..
1890
FRANK W. HALE,
66
66
1891
TRUSTEES OF THE PEABODY FUND.
EDWARD S. MOSELEY,
EBEN F. STONE,
WILLIAM H. SWASEY, DANIEL T. FISKE,
JOHN J. CURRIER.
LIBRARIAN .
HIRAM A. TENNEY.
ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN
EFFIE A. TENNEY.
SUPERINTENDENT OF READING ROOM
MARTHA P. LUNT.
.
ORGANIZATION
OF THE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
FOR 1885.
President, THOMAS C. SIMPSON.
Librarian and Secretary, H. A. TENNEY.
Superintendent of the Reading Room. MARTHA P. LUNT.
Committee on Library,
SAMUEL J. SPALDING, BENJAMIN HALE,
JAMES PARTON.
Committee on Librarian,
EDWARD P. HURD, JOHN J. CURRIER, DANIEL T. FISKE.
Committee on Library Room, EDWARD S. MOSELEY, SAM'L J. SPALDING, THOS. C. SIMPSON
Committee on Reading Room, EDWARD S. MOSELEY, WILLIAM H. HUSE, FRANK W. HALE.
Committee on Finance and Accounts, JOHN J. CURRIER, BENJAMIN HALE, LAWRENCE B. CUSHING.
Committee on Bradbury Fund,
JOHN J. CURRIER, LAWRENCE B. CUSHING, BENJ. G. DAVIS.
DIRECTORS' REPORT.
To His Honor the Mayor and the City Council of Newburyport.
GENTLEMEN :- The Directors of the Public Library submit their twenty-ninth annual report.
The Library has continued its useful work through the year with increased success. The experiment of opening it one evening a week was tried last year, and this year it has been opened six evenings a week, with apparently corresponding benefit to the city. The Directors in this, as well as in other matters, have been influenced only by the consideration of of what would be for the interest of the community.
The Library seems to be more and more appre- ciated, and to fill so large a place in the hearts of the people, that we almost wonder how we existed with- out it. The books number about 22,500. Not sc many as are added every year to the libraries of t1 civilized world, but enough to furnish good read'
296
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
to our city. To illustrate even modern thought, and to keep pace with the progress of the age, require many new books every year. The books have generally been used with care and promptly returned. Two only have been lost during the year, and they were but of comparatively small value. The aim is to furnish reading that inculcates a high standard of morality and of literary excellence. The book that suggests new ideas, and makes one think, is generally of the greatest value. Nearly five hundred volumes have been added the present year, and in their selection careful consideration has been used.
Some valuable pictures have been added to our collection. One of them is a fine work of art, repre- senting the intelligent features of one of the Library's most liberal friends, our former fellow citizen, Mr. MICHAEL H. SIMPSON-a present from his wife.
Mr. LAWSON, the well-known artist, has given us a portrait of HON. CALEB CUSHING, who was for many years connected with this, as well as other of our institutions.
To WILLIAM H. BENT, ESQ., the successful pro- fessional and business man, whose connections with our city has awakened an interest in our institutions, we are indebted for a portrait of WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, by Mr. LAWSON. It is highly desirable that our young people should become acquainted with the features of the prominent men of the community,
297
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
that they may study their virtues and emulate their example.
The interest in the Reading Room continues and has increased. Two new magazines have been added to the lists, and one more daily paper. WILLIAM C. TODD, ESQ., the originator and special benefactor of this room, has added to his other gifts a likeness of Mr. EDWARD EVERETT. Messrs. CASTELHUN & HALE have presented a fine picture of the Arctic explorers of the GREELY expedition.
The librarian's report will furnish fuller details of matters of interest.
WILLIAM A. JOHNSON, HENRY Z. WHITTIER, EDWARD S. MOSELEY, SAMUEL J. SPALDING, DANIEL T. FISKE,
OLIVER B. MERRILL, EDWARD P. HURD, JAMES PARTON, JOHN J. CURRIER,
WILLIAM H. HUSE, BENJAMIN HALE, LAWRENCE B. CUSHING,
DIRECTORS
OF THE
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT.
To the Committee on Library :
GENTLEMEN :- In the following statement you will find a detailed and circumstantial account of the con- dition and increase of the Public Library for the year now drawing to a close.
At the examination of 1883, it was found that the library contained 22,109 volumes. The additions for the present year amount to 551 volumes. These additions were obtained by purchases from the several funds and by donations.
There has been removed from the shelves as unfit for further use, owing to their dilapidated condition, sixty-five volumes. The places of a small portion of these have been supplied with new books.
Those that were discarded belonged chiefly to the class of fiction, the remainder were juvenile works of travel and adventure.
The additions were made respectively :
Peabody Fund,
240 volumes.
Sawyer Fund, .
108
Bradbury Fund,
.
·
22 66
300
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
Frothingham Fund,
21 volumes.
Sarah A. Green Fund,
20
66
Todd Fund,
60
Donations,
80
These may be roughly classified as-
History,
113
Biography,
64
Travels, 47
Poetry, Belles Lettres, Magazines and Reviews 60
Philosophy, Morals, and Politics
55
Science, Technology, Statistics, etc.
. 100
Fine Arts
21
Fiction
.
55
Religious ·
36
Making the total number now in the library, after excluding the worn-out books, 22,595.
The annual examination of the Library was made this year in the month of August. A competent person was employed for the purpose and the result showed the library to be, on the whole, in a satisfac- tory condition. Two books only were missing from the shelves, and these constitute the extent of loss for the year.
The usual amount of circulation has been sustained, and this appears to vary but little from year to year.
It is customary with those having charge of the selection of books, to exercise a critical care in making those selections, and the library is thus constantly adding to its shelves works of the freshest and best interest in all departments of knowlege; and the same are sought for with continued avidity by all classes in the community, agreeably to the varying taste of the borrowers. In providing works of fiction it should be understood that it is the intention of those in
301
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
charge to supply only those which bear the highest stamp of usefulness, so that a profitable, as well as a pleasant employment, may thus be offered to the reader. It furthermore should be understood that it will be the aim in the future, as it has been in the past, to maintain a high standard of excellence in every department of the library.
The advantages accruing from the Peabody Fund, in supplying a class of books of such practical and permanent value, as through its more abundant means is constantly being received from that source, cannot be overestimated.
The reference department of the library is also doing its appropriate share in disseminating useful information in the community. Many calls are daily made from our citizens, and strangers are not ex- cluded from the same privilege, for information rela- tive to facts, occurrences, or statistical data, which it is the especial province of this department to supply.
The experiment of opening the library in the evening, to accommodate those who were supposed to be unable to obtain their books in the day time, has been in force during the greater part of the year.
In many of the past years the library has been so successful in the acquisition of kind friends, who have manifested their interest in tokens of such sub- stantial value, that, in preparing the yearly record of its progress and growth, it has seemed almost like an established duty to announce therein the receipt of numerous and valuable donations. Established origi- mally by a private benefaction, the library has also been obliged to depend upon similar sources for the
302
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
means to meet the requirements of its expansion and growth.
Hence the directors have from time to time made known its growing wants, and appealed for aid to those whose ample store would enable them to render such assistance as the exigencies of the library required.
How nobly their appeals have been met, and with what generosity they have been responded to, is shown in the various reports of the library-in the records of the several funds-in the commodious library building, with its elegant annex, and reading- room, and finally in the notable success of the library itself. For these gifts and to the noble-hearted donors, the profoundest gratitude of this community is justly due.
As there is no report to be made this year of the receipt of pecuniary gifts, it is gratifying to be able to state that in lieu thereof the library has received several works of art of more than ordinary excellence, Three of them are portraits in oil, which are to be more highly prized, as they bear the lineaments of men of note from our own midst.
First to be named is the portrait of Mr. MICHAEL H. SIMPSON, a successful merchant of Boston, and native of our city. The work is finely executed by PARKER of Boston, and the likeness is excellent. It commemorates the interest that Mr. Simpson has taken in the library, in supplying almost the entire amount of the requisite funds for providing the beautiful annex which takes his name, as well as his generous contribution towards the original purchase
303
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
of the main building. The portrait is the gift of his wife, Mrs. M. H. SIMPSON.
WILLIAM H. BENT, ESQ., of Lowell, Mass., a former resident of our city, and during the time a constant frequenter of the library, has procured on generous terms, from the easel of Mr. T. B. LAWSON, the well known artist, a large and life-like portrait of WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, also a native of our city, and presented it to the library as a memento of his regard for his former home.
And Mr. LAWSON has produced also an exceed- ingly accurate likeness of our late fellow citizen, Hon. CALEB CUSHING, and presented it to the library, where, in company with the portraits of WEBSTER, (a previous gift of Mr. LAWSON's), and GARRISON, it now graces the library walls-the three forming a representative trio in their respective paths of emi- nence which in the annals of the present age may nowhere be surpassed.
A large sized photograph of the GREELY Arctic Exploration Party, mounted in a neatly decorated oak frame, has been received, a gift from Messrs. CASTELHUN & HALE, which is placed in the reading room in honor of the brave commander of the party who ever cherishes the most grateful remembrance of the assistance which the library afforded him in his early years.
It may not be out of place here to note retrospec- tively the fact that thirty years have now elapsed since the. library was founded by Hon. JOSIAH LITTLE in 1854. This term of its existence may indeed be deemed insufficient to entitle it to be vener-
304
PUBLIC LIBRARY BEPORTS.
ated as a time-honored institution, yet in view of its continued prosperity and growth during the period, it may be justly assumed that its advantages have become so well understood and appreciated by the people of this community, that they will continue to cherish it as a precious legacy and trust, to be trans- mitted from one generation to another as the years pass away.
A list of the donations will be appended to this report, and a supplemental catalogue of the additions for the year is being prepared for publication.
An addition of four hundred and fifty new names has been made to the list of borrowers during the year.
Respectfully submitted,
H. A. TENNEY, Librarian.
PUBLIC LIBRARY, Nov. 24, 1884.
305
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
The Peabody Fund.
Mr. George Peabody, in order to mark his pleasant recollection of Newbury- port, when a resident here in his younger years, and his appreciation of the kindness then shown to him, in the year 1867 placed in the hands of the present treasurer, who with four other persons were to constitute the trustees of the fund, with authority to fill any vacancy in their number, the generous donation of fifteen thousand dollars, the income to be appropriated towards increasing the scope and usefulness of the Public Library, which had, as he states, already accomplished so much good. Liberty was also given to the trustees, if in their judgment desirable, to connect therewith a public read- ing room.
Attached to this gift was the stipulation, that an annual statement should be published of the condition of the fund. In pursuance thereof, the treas- urer now makes known that the principal of the fund remains in the Institu- tion for Savings, where it was originally deposited, from which it can only be withdrawn by the written order of the majority of the trustees of the fund. The income during the present year has been $675, and to this should be added the amount on hand at the close of the last report, viz: $157.69. Of this sum $611.24 has been expended in adding 240 vols. to the library, some of which were quite costly, leaving available $221.45, at the present time, of the annual income.
The generosity of William C. Todd, Esq. has rendered unnecessary any appropriation for the reading room.
It may not be amiss to add that the estimate of the value of Mr. Peabody's gift will be increased, when it is stated that since its receipt, the income of the fund which has been applied to the purchase of books for the library has been over ten thousand dollars.
EDWARD S. MOSELEY, Treasurer.
EDWARD S. MOSELEY, EBEN F. STONE, WILLIAM H. SWASEY, DANIEL T. FISKE, JOHN J. CURRIER.
TRUSTEES.
Newburyport, Nov. 24, 1834.
306
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
The Building Fund.
TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY :
In recognition of the gift to the city of the Public Library building and the grounds adjoining thereto, the city council enacted, that the three trustees to whom was committed the expenditure of the money, for the preparation of the building for the object designed, should be, with their successors, ex-officio, directors of the library.
The terms of the trust by which the excess was conveyed, requires an an- nual report to be made to their associates on the board of directors. The treasurer of the fund, therefore, in behalf of himself and his fellow trustees, accordingly desires to make known, that the original excess of five thousand dollars, which remained unexpended after the purchase and preparation of the building, over and above the amount required for the purpose, was de- posited in the Institution for Savings where it has ever since remained. Notwithstanding the large drafts which have been made upon the fund, re- quired for necessary repairs, or desirable improvements, the principal, viz: five thousand dollars, remains intact, and one hundred and three dollars of the interest accrued during the present year is unexpended.
During the time the principal has been with the Institution for Savings much larger sums in the aggregate than the original deposit have been with- drawn from the accumulated interest from time to time as deemed necessary, wherewith to improve and beautify both the interior and the exterior of the edifice. These expenditures, together with the munificent gift of M. H. Simp- son, Esq., which should ever be kept in mind, renders the Public Library building with its reading room, unsurpassed for beauty and convenience.
EDWARD S. MOSELEY, Treasurer. EDWARD S. MOSELEY, SAMUEL J. SPALDING, DANIEL T. FISKE, } TRUSTEES.
-
307
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
Todd Fund.
RECEIPTS.
Balance from last year,
$296.93
From W. C. Todd -
375.00
Total -
$671.93
EXPENDITURES.
Paid for periodicals and newspapers,
382.43
Rent of P. O. box, -
3.00
Total -
385.45
Balance on hand
286.48
$671.93
The free public reading room continues under the efficient management of Miss Martha P. Lunt, who reports: "that for the last month, more persons, especially men, have come regularly to read than at any time since the exten- sion of the building. The reference room is invaluable, and only one in constant attendance can realize how much the books and maps are used."
This department of the reading room can be greatly enlarged, and such en - largement would be of special advantage to our young people.
S. J. SPALDING, Treasurer.
308
PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORTS.
Recipts and Expenditures.
CREDITS.
City government appropriation. $1,200 00
From Town of Newbury 150 00
Dog licenses
513 60
Librarian for fines 16 30
$1,879 90
EXPENDITURES.
H. A. Tenney, librarian's salary and incidentals. $1,014 94
Effie A. Tenney, salary as assistant librarian
196 63
M. P. Lunt, salary as superintendent of reading room 315 00
George E. Donnells, salary as janitor. 112 50
William H. Huse & Co., printing and advertising.
166 50
M. C. Teel & Sou, 66
16 75
C. H. Potter, binding books
73 30
Robert Burlen, .
21 50
Doane and Greenough, book
15 00
Gillett & Co., expressing.
19 55
Plumer & Fogg, 66
3 45
Lovett's Express, "
80
Newburyport Water Co., use of water
31 00
H. A. Wilson, grass seed.
1 41
E. S. Thurston, for annual examination of library
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