USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Haverhill > First era in the history of Haverhill, Mass.; comprising the period from the settlement of the plantation of Pentuckey (1640) to the conclusion of permanent peace with the Indians > Part 2
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CHAPTER IV.
THE SECOND DECADE.
HAVERHILL had now been settled ten years. The town had largely increased in population and in prop- erty. From this time, the stalwart English yeomen were certain to re- tain the foothold they had secured in the wilds of the New England; and the introduction of European civilization was but a question of time.
About the year 1650, the first or- chards in town were set ont, one by John Clement and one by Stephen Kent. Chase believes that Clem- ent's orchard was situated a little north of the cemetery, and Kent's near the house where the late Samu- el W. Ayer lived.
The town this year chose a com- mittee to run the boundary line be- tween Haverhill and Salisbury. The Haverhill members of the commis-
sion were Thomas Hale, John Clem- ent, and John Davis.
In December, 1650, the town of- fered to John Hoyt, of Amesbury," three-fourths of an acre of land, with some claypits (Hoyt being a brick- maker), if he would settle in Haver- hill. This offer he accepted. If not the first, he certainly was one of the earliest brickmakers in the place. The claypits referred to are located in the West Parish, on the farm of George Corliss.
Henry Palmer, Job Clement, and Thomas Davis were appointed by the General Court to send small causes," and Robert was empow- ered to give the oath of fidelity in the town.
This year, there were forty-three freemen in Haverhill.
About this time, Robert, Thomas, and Peter Ayer settled in the north- Western part of the town, and thus "Ayers' Village" had its beginning. Another brother, John, had previ- ously settled near Plug Pond.
In 1651, the General Court ap- pointed a commission to lay out the bounds between Haverhill and Salis- bury. The committee chosen by the town the previous year practically had accomplished nothing. The report of the above commissioners was approved by the Court, but the result of their labors cannot now be ascertained.
Roads between Haverhill and Rowley and Haverhill and Salisbury were laid out.
Isaac Cousins and others were, in December, granted permission to erect a sawmill on Little River.
*Merrill's Ilistory of Amesbury.
14
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
Cousins was a blacksmith, probably the first in town.
Mill Street was laid out about this time. For years, it was the princi- pal street leading to the village.
June 7, 1652, the second division of land for cultivation was laid out, in the ratio of four acres to one acre of houselot. Forty-one persons re- ceived a share of this division
September 7th of the same year, the town voted to pay Mr. Ward an annual salary of fifty pounds.
Richard Littlehale was relieved of the position of public drummer; and Abraham Tyler was substituted, his instrument for calling to public wor- ship and to town meetings being a horn in place of a drum. His sakury was a peck of corn annually from each family in town. .
The county court this year fined Stephen Kent, of Haverhill. ton pounds for having drunken Indians about his premises.
On July 4, 1653, the town voted to grant six acres of land (formerly granted to Isaac Cousins, but for- feited by him) to John Webster, pro- vided he live in the town, and ply his trade of blacksmith for five you's. For some reason, however, he re- mained in town but four years.
Stephen Webster, a brother of the foregoing, settled in Haverhill dur- ing 1653. He was a tailor, and the first in town.
The second division of meadow was laid out; and, about the same time, the island was divided.
The third division of upland was laid out. It was situated in the West Parish.
Abraham Tyler's horn was re- tired, and the resonant drum rein-
stated in public favor. But it was beaten by Edward Clark instead of Robert Littlehale.
To illustrate social life under the "blue laws," it is well to state that the wife of Joseph Swett was, some- time during the year, fined ten shil- lings for wearing a silk hood. The wife of John Hutchins was "pre- sented" for the same offence, but was discharged because she had been brought up - above the ordi- nary way."
James George was the herdsman of the town, it bring a custom of the settlers to combine their several tlocks into a herd, and hire a man to tend them. George's compensation for such service was twelve shillings and six pence a week, payable in butter or maize.
On Feb. 9, 1654, Stephen Kent, by you of the town, was given permis- sion to place a weir on Little River, for the purpose of catching alewives.
In May, agrecably to a petition of citizens of Haverhill, the General Court appointed a commission to again look over the disputed bound- ary between Salisbury and Haver- hill. The commission reported on the twenty-third of September, rec- ommending a change in the exist- ing line between the towns. This change was assented to by the court, but the dispute was not thereby ended.
Thomas Dow died on May 31st. He was the first adult taken by death after the settlement of the town.
The ox-common was enlarged dur- ing the year, and also enclosed by a fence. This common was situated on the south shore of Kenoza Lake, and was the most extensive ever laid out in the town.
15
THE SECOND DECADE.
In 1655, the meeting-house was repaired, Thomas Davis being voted three pounds by the town "for to ground-pin and dawb it." The "dawb"-ing consisted in plastering it with clay up the beams.
This year, the General Court or- dered Robert Haseltine to keep a ferry over the Merrimack at Haver- hill. Haseltine lived in Bradford.
The next year, a difficulty arose between Minister Ward and a por- tion of his people. The dispute was principally about that gentleman's salary, which, the people declared, was exorbitant. The quarrel was in a manner settled by a church coun- cil convened for the purpose. Mr. Ward, it was decided, should have a yearly salary of fifty pounds, par- tially payable in grain. The Cien- eral Court subsequently levied a rate of 912, 19s, on the town to defray the expense of this council.
Michael Emerson arrived during the year. Shortly after his coming, he was offered a tract of land if he "would go back into the woods." Ile did so, and settled not far from the corner of Primrose and Winter Streets .*
The first arrival of Quakers in the colony took place during 1656, and their persecution immediately be- gun. There is no evidence that any of the seet visited Haverhill; and it is probable that the town escaped the odium of taking part in the infamous warfare, which, till 1661, was waged against Roger Williams and his fol- lowers.
March 6, 1657, Thomas Hutchins was given permission to set a weir in the Merrimack River, "at the lit-
tle island above the town by the falls." A land-grant was also made to him, on condition that he furnish the inhabitants of the towir fish in exchange for produce, or whatever they could best pay.
"Goodman" Simons was appoint- ed ferry keeper sometime during the carly part of 1657.
During the year, the town voted that any person, not a freeholder, moving into town, should be taxed by estimate of the selectmen, or ae- cording to his "visible estate." Pre- vionsly, only frecholders were re- quired to pay taxes.
The third division of meadow was laid out in the spring of 165%.
During the same year, John John- son. a blacksmith, was induced to settle in Haverhill. He came from Charlestown, bringing with him a wife and young child. He was grandfather to the late Washington Johnson, who, for many years, plied the family trade of blacksmithing on Stage Street, his smithy standing on land once the property of the first of his name in town.
Joseph Pearley was this year fined "forty shillings for beating Peter Brown, and twenty shillings for abusing Timothy Swan."
A fourth division of upland was laid out during 1659. It was located beyond the Spiekett (then known as Spiggot ) River, in Salem, N. II.
Nov. 29, 1659, the town voted to permit no person to settle in the town without first obtaining the town's consent.
A committee was this year ap- pointed to enlarge the meeting- house.
On November 27th, Danicl Ladd
*Chase.
16
1
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
and Theophilus Shatswell were giv- en permission to build a sawmill on the Spickett River. The mill privi- lege was reuted to them at five pounds per annum.
Sometime during the year, John Clement sailed for England, and was drowned on the passage. Ilis brother Robert, in September, ap- plied to the General Court for ap- pointment as administrator of John's estate, Probably he was the first in town.
.
Nov. 30, 1660, the land in the rear of the meeting-house was ordered to be reserved for a burial ground. This was the beginning of Pentnek- et Cemetery.
At the same town-meeting. two hundred and ton neres of land were appropriated for a parsonage.
Another os-common (the second) was granted, to be located between Merrie's Creek (since known as (reck Brook) and a brook flowing from West Meadow.
About the same time, the first public school was established in the town. Its teacher was Thomas Wasse, who was paid a salary of ten pounds a year. He likewise taught schools in Newbury and Ipswich.
On Feb. 28, 1661, the town of- dered the laying-out of a fourth di- vision of meadow.
The road near "Huckleberry Hill" was laid out during the year, and also the highway between Newbury and Haverhill.
In 1662, William White was made captain, and Daniel Ladd lieutenant, of the militia company in Haverhill.
The town offered a bounty of forty shillings for every wolf killed within its borders. This was in ad-
dition to bounties previously offered by the colony and the county.
William Simmons, who was the town's ferryman, was more or less skilled in medicine, as appears from a vote of the town this year, grant- ing him "the overplus in the cou- stable's hands, of the county rate, to satisfy him for his enring of Mathias Button."
There was a severe drought dur- ing the summer of this year.
In 1663, it was voted to change the time of holding the annual town- meeting to the first Tuesday in March.
On the 20th of January, a slight earthquake shock was felt in New England. It was much more vio- lout in Canada, where it lasted half an hour.'
On Dec. 25, 1663, Elizabeth, daugh- top of Res. John Ward, married Na- thaniel Saltonstall, of Ipswich, who had removed to Haverhill. Salton- stall was descended from an ancient family of Yorkshire, England. His grandfather, Richard, a nephewt of him of the same name who was Lord Mayor of London in 1597, was one of the six original patentees of Mas- sachusetts. His father -also named Richard-came to America in 1630 with bis parent, being then twenty years of age. This young man re- turned to England, and married, coming back to the New World in 1635, and settled in Ipswich. After holding various public offices in the colony, and voyaging to and fro be- tween England and America several times, he died in the former country April 29, 1694, at the age of eighty- four.
*Dwight.
tSketch of Haverhill, in Mass. Hist. So. collec- tions, vol. Iv., 2d series; 1816.
17
1
THE FIRST SURVEY OF THE TOWN.
CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST SURVEY OF THE TOWN.
THE year 1664 was an uneventful one with the settlers. A large com- et, which appeared on the 17th of November, and remained in sight till the fourth of the next Febru- ary, * seems to have furnished ahnost the only incident of public interest. Another ox-common was laid out, a pound-the first in town-was built near the meeting-house, and John Carleton was chosen town-recorder and clerk of the writs.
The next year, at the annual town- meeting, a road from Holt's Rocks to the county bridge, East Meadow, was ordered to be laid out. Holt's Rocks was located just below the present site of Rocks Bridge.
Nathaniel Saltonstall was chosen captain of the military company, and George Brown ensign.
At the annual meeting in 1666, John Hutchens and others were granted permission to build a gal- lery on the westerly side of the meeting-house.
During the May session of the General Court, a committee was ap- pointed to run the bounds of Haver- hill.
John Barnard and wife were fined for incontinence during 1666. Ile was forced to pay three pounds, and she forty shillings.
This year also marked the first appearmee of the canker-worm in New England.t
The committee appointed by the General Court to run the bounds of Haverhill made their report-which
was approved-in May, 1667. The committee began their survey by running a line eight miles in length, due west from the meeting-house. From the extremity of this line, they ran another south to the Merri- mack River, and north until it in- tersected the northeasterly bound- ary of the town, which was a line running due northwest from Holt's Rocks. Haverhill, it will be seen. thus formed a triangle, the river be- ing the southern boundary. It com- prised, not only its present area, but also the present town of Atkinson. and the greater part of the towns of Methuen, Salem, Hampstead, and Plaistow. This was the first official running of the bounds of Haverhill by authority of the General Court.
More accommodation land Was laid out in July.
I road was ordered to be built "down the valley to Holt's Rocks."
In IGGS, Nathaniel Saltonstall was chosen town-recorder and clerk of the writs. At the next session of the General Court, he was also an- thorized to join peop e in marriage.
At the annual meeting, the town passed another vote for the preset- vation of timber.
The first general fast was observed in 1968.
Ten pounds. to be expended in firewood, were added to Mr. Ward's salary in 1669.
Andrew Greeley was chosen ferry- man the same year.
The highway from Haverhill to Topsfield was laid out in the spring.
A new bridge over Little River was built during the year. It was in the place now occupied by the Winter Street Bridge. Every iu-
* Hutchinson. tDwight.
18
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
habitant of the town was obliged to contribute labor towards its con- struction.
In October, the General Court ordered, that George Brown be made lieutenant, and James Parker ensign, of the militia company at Haverhill.
At the annual town-meeting of 1670, it was voted to ervet a school- house. The town's school had un- til then been kept in some private house; but probably an increased number of scholars imperatively de- manded more room. The building in prospect was to be used as a watch-house, and for other pur- poses, as well as to accommodate the school. William White, Peter Ayer, and Nathaniel Saltonstall were made a committee of coll- struction. The building fund was to be raised by taxation, provided voluntary contributions were insuf- ficient.
The same year, the town passed a resolution, in effect, that no vote taken after sunset should be valid.
A house situated a short distance northeast of the village, belonging to Matthias Button, a "Dutchman," was burned in 1671.
The next year, at the ammal meeting, the town directed the se- leetmen to provide a place in the meeting-house, where, according to law, the town's ammunition should be stored.
Two Indians, Simon and Samuel, were, in 1672, fined tive pounds for horse-stealing. They were of a class styled "converted Indians " This very Simon, who lived in Haverhill and Amesbury, probably as a "hired man" of various settlers, afterward
became a leading spirit among his people during the bloody Indian wars.
John Littlehale, of Haverhill, at a court held in Hampton on the 8th of September, was proscented for liv- ing the life of a bachelor, "contrary to the law of the country, whereby here is subject to much evil." John was given six weeks' time to quit his "solitary life," and become a member of some orderly family. If he failed to obey this command, and refused to submit to the order of the court, he was to be imprisoned at hard labor in the house of correc- tion at Ipswich. It is perhaps need- less to say that the wrath of out- raged law was speedily appeased.
John Littlehale was the son of Richard Littlehale, one of the origi- nal settlers of the town. At the time the above order was promil- gated, he was twenty-two years of age. He remained a bachelor, how- ever, forty-four vears longer, marry- ing at the age of sixty-six, and be- coming the father of two children.
On the 24th of September, a storm of rain and snow occurred. Snow remained on the ground for two days.
Notwithstanding the town was so jealous of its forests, and had, time after time, passed stringent regula- tions regarding the felling of trees, the violation of such restrictions be- came so flagrant that a special town- meeting was called for Jan. 9, 1674. to consider the matter. It was unan- imonsly decided, that no timber should be transported out of town. or even allowed to be brought to the river side, lest, perchance, it might secretly be floated down stream. At
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1
19
PREPARING FOR WAR.
the March meeting of the same year, viewers of boards, &c., were chosen for the first time.
At the same meeting, John Key- zar, of Salem, was offered a grant of land, e., if he would settle in the town, and ply his trade of tanner. Hle accepted the offer.
The seleetmen were paid a yearly stipend of fifty shillings, to be di- vided among them.
The boundary question came up again during the year. It seems that the survey taken in 1667 was left uncompleted. The selvetmen hired Jonathan Danforth, a distin- guished surveyor, to finish the work. This he did in 1674, and presented his report to the General Court the next year.
During 1674, Robert Swan was fined twenty shillings for drunken- ness and swearing; and Michael Emerson was fined five shillings for "excessive beating of his daughter with a flayle-swingel, and kicking of her." This would lead to the infer- ence, that our forefathers consid- ered drunkenness a greater offence than brutality.
CHAPTER VI.
PREPARING FOR WAR.
IN 1675, King Philip's War be- gan. This was but a portent of the storm that was gathering. King Phillip, although chief of the Wam- panoags, belonging mostly in Rhode Island, exerted influence over near- ly all the New England tribes. They sympathized with him; and the feel- ing thus engendered was probably one of the chief causes of the wars and massacres which followed in
succeeding years, and made of New England a "dark and bloody ground," where no man's life was safe for an instant, and where existence was maintained only at the cost of un- ceasing vigilance and desperate war- fare with the red man.
On Feb. 19, 1675, the town held a special meeting on account of the alarming rumors which had reached the place. A fortification had, in previous years, been erected about the meeting-house; but it had been neglected, and had fallen into de- cay. The town now voted that the fortification be put into condition for defence immediately. Port-holes were to be cut in the walls, and Pa tanker erected at the east corner." A committee, consisting of Danie! Ladd, Peter Ayer, and Thomas Whittier, were also chosen, and in- structed to select certain houses to be garrisoned. The "old brush and top-wood" on the common was or- dered to be burit, that it might not afford shelter to the foe in case of attack. The General Court also took measures to protect the frontier set- tlements.
This year it was voted to hold the annual town-meetings on the last Tuesday in February, instead of the first Tuesday in March.
Two daughters of Hannah Bos- worth were fined ten shillings each for wearing silk. These fines were subsequently remitted .*
Sept. 18th, John Littlehale was killed by the Indi ms. t
On the 18th of November, a town- meeting was held. It was called *Mirick.
tChase. Of course this cannot be the John Lit- thehale who was. in 1072, ordered by the court to cease living by himself. I am uncertain of his iden- tity, and even doubt if such tragedy occurred.
20
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
for the purpose of devising means to raise eighteen pounds, Haverhill's portion of a tax of $1,553, 5s., 4d., imposed on the colony by the Gen- eral Court to defray expenses of the Indian war. It was voted to allow the inhabitants to make staves sutli- cient to pay the rates.
Michael Emerson was, at the same meeting, chosen viewer of leather.
The first appearance in the colony of the seet called Baptists is record- ed in 1676.
The next year, on the second day of May, Ephraim Kingsbury was killed by the Indians; and, on the day next succeeding, Thomas Kim- ball, of Bradford, was slain, his wife and tive children being carried into captivity. This ontrage was com- mitted by three Indians, one of whom was Simon, punished in 1672 for horse-stealing.
Philip Eastman, of Haverhill, was killed at the same time."
The selectmen were, during the year, ordered to remove the pound from the graveyard.t
During the winter, peace was con- cluded with the Indians. But it was of short duration.
On the twelfth of the following July, Richard Saltonstall, and others of adjoining towns, petitioned the General Court for better protection from the Indians. And, in August, hostilities again commenced. Prep- arations were made for an attack; but, fortunately, none came.
Daniel Ela was licensed to keep an "ordinary" for one year. Small- pox broke out in his family, where- by he was prevented from transact-
ing business, and his license was extended in consequence.
Hugh Sherratt, having had his property illegally taken from him. was compelled to apply to the town for assistance .*
In the spring of 1678, a formal treaty of peace was concluded with the Indians.
At the annual meeting in 1679, Benjamin Webster and Sammuel Par- ker, shoemakers, were given leave to settle in the town.
March 21, 1680, the wife of Min- ister Ward died. That venerable man, enfeebled by age, was accorded an assistant, a committee to procure the same being chosen the same year.
Peter Pattee was "presented" for "being absent from his wife several years." The next year, he was again "presented," this time for having another wife in Virginia. In 1677, the town had refused to allow him to become a citizen, and furthermore advised the grand jury to look after him; but he seems to have been a man of tenacity of pur- pose, for he continued to live in town through all his troubles. and we subsequently see him chosen constable and made ferryman at "Pattee's Ferry."
During the carly part of the year, Haverhill was again included in Es- sex County, together with the town- of Amesbury and Salisbury.
In March, 1681, the town was "presented" at court for not having a schoolmaster, according to law.
John Haseltine this year gave two acres of land to the "perpetual use of the ministry."
*Mirick.
*Chase. ¡Mirick.
21
PREPARING FOR WAR.
The committee appointed the pre- vious year to secure an assistant to Mr. Ward reported, at a town-meet- ing held June 24th, that they had been unsuccessful. Another com- mittee was chosen in their place. A contract was also made with one Josiah Gage to erect a house for the new minister.
A gallery was ordered to be built at the east end of the meeting-house for the accommodation of the wom- en.
At the same meeting, the ques- tion of building a new meeting-house was brought forward. The recorder says it was "voted down by the ad- ditional and wilful votes of many prohibited by law from voting." This was, perhaps, the beginning of the system of "packing" delibera- tive assemblies, which is now so dear to the heart of the average American politician, .
At a meeting held in June, 1682. ten pounds were raised to procure a new minister.
1
In July, the parsonage farm was leased to Daniel Bradley for twenty- five years.
On September 18th, another meet- ing was held to see about the new minister. Overtures were made to Rev. Jeremiah Cushing, of Hing- ham, but he declined.
At a subsequent meeting. it was voted to purchase the house of Sam- uel Simons, "for the use of the min- istry."
In June, 1683, the question of a new meeting-house was discussed at a special meeting, but no decided action was taken.
Daniel Ela was this year prosecut- ed for beating his wife.
A committee was chosen to re- build West Bridge, Sawmill River, as it had been damaged by freshets.
John Page was licensed .to keep an "ordinary," and William White was licensed to sell cider for three years.
At the regular town-meeting, John Keezar had been warned not to keep his tan-vats open, as cattle had been killed thereby.
On the 27th of October, another committee was chosen to secure a new minister. The committee for- merly chosen seem to have accom- plished nothing.
During the year 1685, a highway was laid ont between Amesbury and Haverhill. This road was "marked ont" in 1612,. but probably was lit- the else than a bridle-path until this year.
The act setting a bounty on wolves was repealed.
James Chadwick was, on the 9th of November, hired to keep a school in town until the next ammal meet- ing, which would be held the fol- lowing February. For this service, the town was to pay three pounds of corn. He was also entitled to whatever the parents of children might agree to give him, not to ex- ceed four pence a week for a "read- er," or six pence for a "writer."
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