Danvers, Massachusetts : a resume of her past history and progress, together with a condensed summary of her industrial advantages and development : biographies of prominent Danvers men, 1899, Part 15

Author: Moynahan, Frank E., 1865-1917. 4n
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: [Danvers, Mass.] : Published in the interest of the town by the Danvers Mirror
Number of Pages: 224


USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Danvers > Danvers, Massachusetts : a resume of her past history and progress, together with a condensed summary of her industrial advantages and development : biographies of prominent Danvers men, 1899 > Part 15


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The objects for which it was formed were " the consideration of matters of common interest, general improvement and social enjoyment." Seventy-five


nearly that number. So successful has it proved that its influence has been felt throughout the town, and the women of Danvers have had the privilege of listen- ing to many prominent lecturers of the day. It has also shown a philanthropic spirit and an interest in education in va- rious ways, such as paying for the tuition of a colored ward at Hampton for several years ; by the support of a free kindergar- ten in one of the public schools ; at one time taking children for a "Country Week ;" by offering prizes for the four best English essays written by members of the Holten High School. It gave its


RESIDENCE OF IRA P. POPE.


women were enrolled as members. The meetings were held every fortnight on Tuesday afternoons, at private houses for the first few months, and after November until Jan., 1884, at Grand Army Hall. Then rooms were taken in the Ropes building, when these became crowded, a move was made to the new post office building in 1886. Later, when more room was needed, Essex hall was secured ; the Universalist vestry being hired for the "social teas," when gentlemen guests are invited. The membership has grad- ually increased until it includes two hun- dred names, and there is a waiting list of


support to the Volunteer Aid Associa- tion, by sending supplies for the Hospital Ship. The first president, Mrs. H. L. Wentworth, resigned in 1889, and was made honorary president ; she was suc- ceeded by Mrs. Ellen M. Spofford, and in 1891 by Mrs. Evelyn F. Masury, and in 1896 by Miss Sarah E. Hunt (for three years). The original by-laws have been embodied in a constitution with a few ad- ditions and alterations. About seventeen meetings are held each year. Its motto is "Vivimus et Consideramus ;" the club flower is the violet, and the club color, lavender. The association joined the


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General Federation Women's Clubs in 1891, and the State Federation Women's Clubs in 1893. The present officers are Miss Mary W. Nichols, pres. ; Mrs. Isadora E. Kenney, first vice pres. ; Mrs. Eliza M. Shepard, second vice pres. ; Mrs. Lucy A. Everett, rec. sec. ; Miss Isabel B. Tapley, cor. sec. ; Mrs. Ella J. Porter, treas. ; Mrs. Bessie Putnam, auditor ; directors for one year, Mrs. H. Elizabeth Couch, Mrs. Sarah A. Kimball, Mrs. Nancy A. Perley, Mrs. Henrietta Hyde Rice ; for two years, Mrs. Annie V. D. Adams, Mrs. Mary F. Bragdon, Mrs. Clara T. Spofford, Mrs. Cora B. Stimpson.


Rev. Alfred P. Putnam, D.D.


Alfred Porter Putnam, son of Elias and Eunice (Ross) Putnam, was born near Topsfield in Putnamville, Danvers, Jan. 10, 1827. Some facts pertaining to his an- cestry are indicated in the sketch of his brother, Judge A. A. Putnam, given on another page. He passed his boyhood at the Dea. Edmund Putnam house, two miles further south, whither the family moved in 1832. At the age of sixteen he served as clerk in the Village Bank of Danvers, of which institution his father was president, and at a later period as bookkeeper in the mercantile house of Allen and Minot of Boston. Having ob- tained his preparatory education at pub- lic schools in Danvers and at various New England academies, he entered Dartmouth College in the fall of 1849. After a year at this institution, he left to join the Sophomore class of Brown Uni- versity, being drawn thither by President Wayland's more liberal and elective sys- tem. Among the honors which came to him during his college career was that of being selected to deliver the closing


piece at his Junior Class Spring Exhibi- tion in rhetoric and oratory. In the same year he was graduated, after passing the required examination, thus obtaining his A.B. after three years of college study.


Previous to this time Mr. Putnam had had considerable experience as a school- teacher at Danvers Plains and in Wen- ham, and now, in the summer of 1852, after leaving college, he started a private


school in the latter town, carrying on this work until he was admitted in the follow- ing winter to Harvard Divinity school, from which he was graduated with his class in 1855. Some months before, he had been approbated to preach by the Boston Association of Unitarian Minis- ters and had subsequently occupied vari- ous pulpits. When he left the Divinity school he had received unanimous calls from churches in Watertown, South Bridgewater, Sterling and Roxbury. He accepted the call from Roxbury and was ordained on Dec. 19, 1855, as pastor of the Mount Pleasant (now All Souls) church. On the 10th of the following month he was married to Louise Proctor, daughter of Samuel and Lydia Waters (Proctor) Preston of Danvers.


Mr. Putnam continued his successful and happy pastorate in Roxbury for eight or nine years, and during this time he served several years upon the School Committee, was made a member of the Roxbury Club, was elected president of the Unitarian Sunday School Society, and his church built for itself a chapel for Sunday School and other purposes. He also received calls from churches in Bos- ton, Chicago and Salem. All of these, however, he declined. On the 12th of June, 1860, Mrs. Putnam, who had greatly endeared herself to the people of his church, died, deeply lamented by a wide circle of relatives and friends.


At this period of his life, Mr. Putnam, feeling the need of a complete change of scene, planned for an extended trip abroad, but in view of the uncertainty of national affairs and the intense excite- ment at home, and finally the outbreak of the rebellion, he decided to postpone his journey. For years he had been iden- tified, as a Free Soiler, with the anti- slavery movement. He had been a del- egate from Danvers to the first great Republican Convention at Worcester in 1852 ; had preached anti-slavery from his pulpit and had spoken for it before po- litical assemblies. His intense patriot- ism and love of liberty made him an elo- quent and ardent champion of the cause of the Union and Freedom, and under the circumstances prevailing, he felt that


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he could not leave his native land.


In the spring of 1862, however, when the aspect of things at home seemed much brighter and it was generally be- lieved that the war would soon be over, Mr. Putnam with his classmate, the late Rev. Frederick Frothingham, started on their foreign trip. During his long ab- sence of fifteen or sixteen months, he travelled through England, Scotland and Ireland, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and other European coun- tries, ascended the Nile a thousand miles, crossed the Arabian Desert by caravan, and journeying by way of Mt. Sinai, Petra and Mt. Hor, came into Southern Judea and Jerusalem. Afterwards, cruis- ing among the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, he visited Smyrna and Ephesus and finally Constantinople. Everywhere he sought the principal cities and places of interest, storing his mind with an inexhaustible fund of historical lore which has served to strengthen and enrich all that he has since written on historical and archæological subjects. On the 4th of July, 1862, when in Lon- don, Mr. Putnam attended the American Dinner and responded to the toast of " The Constitution of the United States." At a time when, just after unexpected reverses, the outlook for the cause of the North was very dark and discouragement among its sympathizers was widespread, he, by his eloquence and unswerving faith in the ultimate triumph of the right, aroused his audience to renewed confi- dence and to the highest pitch of en- thusiasm.


In 1864, sometime after his return to America, Mr. Putnam was called to the large and influential First Unitarian Church (The Church of the Saviour), of Brooklyn, N. Y. This call he accepted and was installed as pastor on Sept. 28, of the same year.


Dr. Putnam needed not to be in Brook- lyn long before he became a power in the city as he was in the church. Through- out his long and remarkably successful pastorate in Brooklyn, no good cause ever appealed to him in vain ; no philan- thropic or other beneficent enterprise ever sought aid from him or his generous peo-


ple without receiving their earnest sup- port and co-operation.


Perhaps the most noteworthy of the many benevolent works which Dr. Put- nam wrought when in Brooklyn was the extending of the influence of his church to the poorer classes of the great city and founding in their midst a mission school. The first session of this mission was held over the Wall street ferryhouse and was attended by only six children, but in a comparatively short space of time it came to number over two hundred. By gen- erous subscriptions from Dr. Putnam's parishioners a handsome and commodious chapel was erected, which stands today, in one of Brooklyn's tenement house dis- tricts, a still thriving mission with a min- ister of its own, and a noble monument to the energy and zeal of the founder and his friends. At the suggestion and through the lead of Dr. Putnam a third and now flourishing Unitarian church was estab- lished in Brooklyn, his own parishioners contributing ten thousand dollars for a house of worship ; and during his minis- try a beautiful chapel was also built for the use of his own Sunday School, mainly through the munificence of the late Mr. E. H. R. Lyman.


The Union for Christian Work, a non- sectarian institution, the aim of which is to assist the more needy of all classes, also owes its origin and growth largely to Dr. Putnam. It now has a fine, suitable building of its own, containing a library, and reading and lecture rooms. With these and its labor bureau and schools of industrial art, it still remains one of Brooklyn's foremost charities. Of this institution Mr. Putnam was a director as long as he continued to live in Brooklyn.


At the time of the disastrous fire in the Brooklyn theatre in 1876, which resulted in terrible loss of life and untold distress to hundreds of persons, Dr. Putnam's ser- vices were promptly given. He was chosen to deliver the address at the burial of the numerous unrecognized dead in one common grave at Greenwood Ceme- tery. A relief association was formed by the citizens to care for the surviving suf- ferers, and from this was chosen an exec- utive committee of five. Dr. Putnam


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was appointed a member of this commit- tee to represent the churches and chari- ties of the city, and upon him largely de- volved the duty of distributing, by small checks and for two years, the fifty thous- and dollars which had been raised for the families of those who had perished. That the work was done with remarkable wis- dom and fidelity was attested to by all, and when the final report, which Dr. Put- nam had been selected to write, was handed in and published, all the papers in the city were unanimous in their praise.


In 1880, the one hundredth anniver- sary of the birth of William Ellery Chan- ning, Dr. Putnam conceived the idea of celebrating the occasion in an appropriate manner in the city of Brooklyn. Crowded meetings were held in his church and at the Academy of Music. Among the speakers at the latter place were Henry Ward Beecher and George William Cur- tis, A. A. Low presiding. All denomina- tions were represented largely at the gath- erings and many of their distinguished ministers, orthodox and liberal, made im- pressive and accordant addresses, Dr. Putnam managing the whole affair and afterwards publishing in book form an ac- count of the proceedings, with letters of sympathy and cheer from various parts of the world.


During all the busy years in Brooklyn, in spite of the multifarious duties and cares in his church and outside, he still found time to do much in the line of lec- ture writing, contributions to the papers and magazines, and other literary work. His travels abroad had suggested to him numerous subjects for lectures, which separately or in courses he gave to his own people and some of which he de- livered at the Meadville (Pa.) Theological School and before literary or historical societies, on Egypt, Sinai and Palestine, Hebrew History and the History of the Bible, the History of Sacred Song from earliest Hebrew Times, the Great Ethnic Religions, etc. The course on Sacred Song led to the preparation and publica- tion, in 1874, of his " Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith," a book of about 550 pages, which contains biographical sketches of seventy-two American Unita-


rian hymn-writers, with selections from the best hymns and sacred poems of each and illustrative notes. This work won the highest words of praise from the press and from critics and reviewers of whatever sect. The late and learned Dr. Ezra Abbot, in writing of it, said : “It seems to me in every respect admirably edited. I find unexpected richness every time I open it."


During these years he was for a long time Corresponding Secretary of the Brooklyn New England Society, and a Di- rector of the Long Island Historical So- ciety, being also for three years chairman of the Executive Committee of the latter and writing its annual published reports.


In 1882, Dr. Putnam's strong consti- tution began to show the effects of the great strain to which he had subjected it for so many years, and he found it im- peratively necessary to rest for a while from his arduous labors. His parish, with their usual bountiful generosity, voted him a year's leave of absence, at the same time offering to continue his salary, to supply his pulpit in his absence, and to furnish him with a liberal sum with which to travel abroad.


Removing his family to Concord, Mass., the birthplace of his wife's father and home of her ancestors, he set sail for Liv- erpool on Jan. 10, 1883.


After a delightful winter in the south of France, along the Riviera, he returned to England in May, hoping and believing that all his former buoyancy of spirits and strength of body had been restored and looking forward to years of active service at his old post. While in London, dur- ing the anniversaries, he delivered, before the Unitarian ministers assembled from far and near, an address on the "Aspects of Unitarianism in America," which he had previously been invited to give. On this occasion, as always, Dr. Putnam took a firm stand for positive Christian Unitarianism, as against the radical ten- dencies of the body. This address gave rise to a great deal of criticism and re- mark in the papers, both favorable and adverse, on both sides of the Atlantic, himself joining earnestly in the discussion.


Having visited Scrooby, the last home


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of the Pilgrims in England, the Lake region and Belfast, Ireland, Dr. Putnam returned to America in July and in the fall plunged again into his accustomed labors in Brooklyn, but after several years more, and at the end of a twenty-two years' pastorate, he found he could no longer work as he had once been able to do, and that it remained for him to retire from his post and seek the recovery of his health, now seriously impaired. His society accepted his resignation with ex- pressions of deepest regret, presenting him with a splendid token of their appre- ciation of his faithful service and of their love and admiration for him, while the local and other papers and the various institutions with which he had been con- nected paid fitting tributes to his work and worth as a minister and a citizen. In the fall of 1886 he again removed with his family to Concord, Mass., there to seek complete change and rest. But the mind which for many years had been so active could never really rest ; the will which through a lifetime had been used to organize and control could not remain idle. During these years of comparative quiet, he preached in many pulpits, wrote many lectures on his favorite subjects, Bible history, sacred song and archaeolog- ical discoveries, and delivered courses before the Meadville (Pa.) Theological School and Tufts College, and separate lectures before literary or historical so- cieties.


In 1889, he established in his native town of Danvers a historical society. He was elected to the presidency and has held the position ever since. Through his untiring zeal and labor, with the aid of a faithful band of workers, he has built the society up until it is now large and prosperous, occupying four rooms and having a most instructive and valuable collection of pictures and articles of historical interest, together with a prom- ising library and successful courses of lectures.


Several years ago Dr. Putnam moved to Danvers, where he lived for a brief time, finally settling in Salem, his present home. Since leaving Brooklyn he has


spoken at many patriotic and other meet- ings and has continued his articles of local history in the Danvers Mirror, be- gun some twenty-five years ago and now numbering about one hundred. In 1893 he edited "Old Anti-Slavery Days," an account of the Danvers Historical So- ciety celebration of the Emancipation movement, with the editor's historical in- troduction and biographical sketches. Among his thirty or forty pamphlet pub- lications may be mentioned "Edward Everett," " The Freedom and Largeness of the Christian Faith," " Unitarianism in Brooklyn," historical ; " The Unitarian Denomination, Past and Present," " Broken Pillars," a sermon for the times ; " Christianity, the Law of the Land,' " William Lloyd Garrison," " The


Whole Family of God," Biograph- ical Memorials of Mrs. Josiah O. Low and Mr. Ethelbert M. Low, and also of Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Buttrick, with " A Sketch of Gen. Israel Putnam," orig- inally published in the History of the Putnam Family, " A Noble Life," a memorial discourse on Abiel Abbot Low, " Rebecca Nurse and her Forty Friends," "The Military Descendants of John Porter," and "A Unitarian Oberlin," being a full sketch of the life and labors of Rev. Jasper L. Douthit of Shelbyville, Ill.


Among his biographical sketches in various books are a chapter in Judge Neilson's Memorial volume on Rufus Choate, and more or less extended ac- counts of A. A. Low, Hon. Elias Putnam and Gen. Grenville M. Dodge in the History of Essex County.


Of articles contributed to various mag- azines are " Hosea Ballou," " A Visit to Haworth " (home of Charlotte Bronte), " Origin of Hymns," "Helen Maria Wil- liams " (in three numbers) ; " A Story of some French Liberal Protestants," (in two numbers) ; " Paul a witness to Chris- tianity," and " Wenham Lake " (in three numbers and illustrated).


The subjects of some of Dr. Putnam's lectures before literary and historical so- cieties are " The Land of the Pharaohs," "The Old Anti-Slavery Guard," "Gen-


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eral Moses Porter," " The Battle of Bun- ker Hill," "Scrooby," and " Famous Persons I have heard or seen at home and abroad."


Of the various societies of which he has been a member, besides those already mentioned, are the New England Histor- ical and Genealogical Society of Boston, the American Historical Association, the Brooklyn Art Association, the Massachu- setts Sons of the American Revolution, the Old Salem Chapter of the S. A. R., the Century Club of New York and the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn, and the Vic- toria Institute of London, England. But from several of these he has withdrawn. He is a life member of the American Unitarian Association and of the Long Island Historical Society. He is also an honorary member of the Lexington and Peabody Historical Societies, and of the New England Society of Brooklyn, N. Y.


Dr. Putnam received his degree of D.D. from Brown University in 1871. In politics he was a Republican until the presidential election of 1884, but since that time has preferred to call himself an Independent. In writing of him as a preacher, J. Alexander Patten, in his work, " Lives of the Clergy of New York and Brooklyn," says :


"Dr. Putnam preaches with much effec- tiveness. There is great comprehension in his thought and he is able to give ex- pression to it in terms of rare conciseness and not less of beauty. All that he says has this vigor of meaning and force of application, and much of it is delivered in the most classic and glowing picturings of eloquence. In his argument he ad- dresses himself to an elaborate practical consideration of his subject and you are led along with him, without tediousness, but rather allured by the attractive inter- weavings of a warm and chaste fancy. And herein is it that this gifted preacher excels. Your attention is instantly riveted by the smoothness of his periods and the elegance of sentiment which usher you to profound discussion and lofty imagery. He belongs to the Channing School of Unitarianism. Holding to his particular


tenets with all the strength of his intellect and his love, he stands prominent among their ablest expounders, and in a pure, consistent life seeks their practical illus- tration before his fellow men."


Dr. Putnam married for his second wife, Dec. 27, 1865, Miss Eliza King Buttrick of Cambridge, daughter of Ephraim Buttrick, a native of Concord, Mass., and long a prominent and honored member of the Middlesex Bar. Mrs. Buttrick, her mother, was Mary King, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Green- wood) King, also of Cambridge. Dr. and Mrs. Putnam's five children are all living : Endicott Greenwood, Alfred Whitwell, Helen Langley (Mrs. James Kingsley Blake), Ralph Buttrick and Margaret Ross.


NOTE. A fine portrait of Dr. Putnam may be found on page 78, in connection with the account of the Danvers Historical Society.


Peabody Institute.


At the centennial celebration of the old town of Danvers, June 16, 1852, George Peabody, a wealthy London banker, gave the town $20,000 for the purpose of erecting a building and maintaining a li- brary. In order to extend the privileges arising from this gift more equally to the various parts of the town, Mr. Peabody, in Dec., 1856, established a branch li- brary at the Plains, to which he contrib- uted $10,000. Subsequently he made two donations of books to the library amounting to 2,000 volumes. The first delivery of books occurred Sept. 5, 1857. The library then contained 2,360 volumes. After an absence in England, Mr. Pea- body, in 1866, returned to this country, and was pleased to found another insti- tute in the present town of Danvers-the old town, during his absence, having been divided, and the southern portion in which he was born having taken his name -by an additional appropriation, suffi- cient to support the library, an annual course of lectures and construct an edi- fice adapted to the accomplishment of these objects. Mr. Peabody in a letter from Oakland, Md., under date of Oct.


DANVERS.


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PEABODY INSTITUTE.


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30, 1866, addressed to the following gen- tlemen : Rev. Milton P. Braman, Joshua Silvester, Francis Peabody, Jr., Samuel P. Fowler, Daniel Richards, Israel W. An- drews, Jacob E. Perry, Charles P. Pres- ton, and Israel H. Putnam, all of Dan- vers, constituted the above nine persons his trustees for life, conveying to them in trust for the town the sum of $40,000 to be added with $10,000 already given, under certain special conditions. After an absence of three years he again vis- ited his native land, when an invitation was extended to him to witness the for- mal opening of the Institute Building in Danvers. The day designated was July 14, 1869, and Mr. Peabody, although in feeble health, was present. Rev. James Fletcher made an appropriate address upon the occasion and Mr. Peabody, in replying, expressed his approbation of the doings of the trustees and consum- mated his benevolence to Danvers by the pledge of $45,000 in addition to $55,000 which had been given by prev- ious donations. A reception by the school children of Danvers was given Mr. Peabody at the Universalist church April 13, 1867. Rev. Dr. Milton P. Braman delivered an address of welcome to Mr. Peabody. On behalf of the medal- scholars, addresses were delivered and Mr. Peabody assured all present that he would make the $200 provided an- nually for medals perpetual. Mr. Pea- body died in London, Nov. 4, 1869. At a meeting of the citizens of Danvers on Nov. 15, 1869, resolutions were passed expressive of their sorrow and profound sense of loss at the death of their cher- ished benefactor, George Peabody. The evening of Feb. 15, 1870 was appointed · for memorial services upon his death in Danvers. The rooms of the institute were appropriately draped and the eulogy was delivered by Rev. James Fletcher. The original building was in the Gothic style of architecture and was destroyed by fire in 1890. The present building is in the old colonial style of architecture and presents a most pleasing and sub- stantial appearance. It was dedicated with appropriate exercises Oct. 19, 1892, and contains a stack room, delivery


room, general reading room, children's room, and a librarian's and trustees' room, all on the first floor. The second floor is devoted to a spacious and elegantly appointed lecture room with a seating capacity of about 900. In the winter season a course of lectures is delivered on popular subjects, the expense being met by a special fund created by Mr. Peabody. The library contains 18,370 volumes and there are 2,410 borrowers. The various rooms are elegantly appointed and are eminently suitable for their sev- eral purposes. The reading room con- tains a well executed full length portrait of Mr. Peabody. Nearly five acres of carefully laid out and well kept grounds surround the Institute, containing many rare plants, shrubs and trees intersected by avenues and paths, making a pleasant promenade for the townspeople. Under the present librarian, Mrs. Emilie K. Patch, the library has been progressive and modern methods have been introduced for the benefit of borrowers. Some of the changes made at her suggestion are the following : Every resident of the town is allowed a card at the age of eight years and every borrower is entitled to a "Special Card " for non-fiction. Books are sent to the schools every two weeks and lists of works upon topics be- ing studied are furnished the teachers, besides much assistance given to pupils at the library. Books are sent to the Dan- vers Hospital every week for attendants and such patients as may be recom- mended by the superintendent. Lists of new books are printed for free distribution every month. All new books and those upon current topics are displayed upon open shelves, from which borrowers may make selection. A children's room, con- taining books and magazines for those under fourteen years of age, has been opened. Borrowers are encouraged to leave at the desk titles of works to be added to the library, which are procured. Exhibitions of pictures have been given and the reference library has been en- larged and placed in the reading room for free consultation. The present trustees are G. Augustus Peabody, Francis Pea- body, Calvin Putnam, Gilbert A. Tapley,




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