History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 105

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 105

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).

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should like well enough to see him; and when you go up town, call into some of the grog-shops, and when you see him ask him to call." The end of the story is that he actually was found in one of the drinking groceries, and blandly received the mes- sage.

But especially as regards the youth of Lynn : The crews, usually consisting of five or six, in the shoe- maker's little shops thought it necessary to have their forenoon and afternoon drams-in winter to brace up against the cold, in summer to brace up against the heat. It was customary to put boys into the shops at the age of twelve, they having obtained their educa- tion by that time, excepting, perhaps, the little they might acquire by occasionally attending an evening school. They were of just the age when character for life was forming, and it was placing them in a most perilous situation. The youngest boy in the shop was usually the one sent out for liqnor, and he was en- titled, on his return, to the first drink, for the service, if his breath did not betray a sly imbibition by the way.

But it is not true that people were universally blind to the evils of strong drink. From the earliest times there were some wide awake on the subject. The Lynn emigrants to Long Island, soon after getting well established at Southampton, 1655, ordained that no one should sell strong liquors within the town bounds, ex- cepting "our neighbor, John Cooper ; " and he was not to sell to any Indian, nor to any but those who would use them properly. There was Dr. James Gardner, just mentioned, who, before the present century, pointed out the evils of so prevalent indulgence, and often fearlessly warned his patients against habits which were destroying their health, as well as ruining their souls. A memorandum of his, under date May 31, 1796, is in these words: "One person died of chronic illuess, said to have been occasioned by gross intemperance, or a brutal indulgence of the destroyer, rum. . He was able to walk to a considerable distance to procure the poison only six days before death closed the scene at one draught." Mr. Enoch Mudge, from whom many of the name now among us descended, was a rigid abstainer, never allowing spir- its in his house or shop. He was grandfather of Hon. E. R. Mudge, the munificent donor of St. Stephen's Church.

When the general awakening on the subject of in- temperance took place, more than half a century ago, the voice of Lynn was loudly raised against the evil. Sixty years ago, in 1826, a society was formed liere for the promotion of "Industry and Temper- ance." It soon numbered more than four hundred members, and embraced, with few exceptions, the most conspicuous men of the town. The membership in 1836, fifty years since, was five hundred and fifty. Its president then was Thomas Bowler, for sixteen years town clerk. The society was at that time com- posed largely of middle-aged and elderly persons, as

in the meantime two other societies, embracing more of the younger men, had been formed, namely, the Lynn Young Men's Temperance Society, organized in 1833, and the Lynn Union Temperance Society, formed in 1835. This latter was the first organization here that proscribed wine, cider or strong beer, which theretofore had not been popularly reckoned as intoxi- cants. Of this society Josiah Newhall was the first president, and George W. Keene the first secretary.

Lynn soon took rank among the most zealous tem- perance communities. Rev. Edwin Thompson, so well known for the last forty years as a lecturer on temperance and anti-slavery, was living bere, and, though young, by his winning ways and strong argu- ments, did much to advance the cause. Liquors soon began to be banished from the workshops and the la- beled casks from the stores. It was even facetiously said of one or two zealots that they cut down their apple trees, lest the fruit should be made into cider- contrariwise from the unsophisticated old Indian who is said to have told Mrs. Whiting, on smacking his lips after swallowing the mug of cider she had given him, that he thought Adam was rightly damned for eating the apples in Eden, as he should have made them into cider.

When the shoemakers' little shops were displaced by the large factories, more stringent rules were neces- sarily established, and, as a matter of course, the ma- chinery was run without the oil of the still. One of the former traps for the young was thus removed. At the present time few, if any, places in sober New England can boast of a more temperate population than Lynn. It would be useless to attempt to give details respecting the many temperance organizations, male and female, adult and juvenile. Yet the cause here, as elsewhere, requires vigilant and unremitted watchfulness.

There are now some fifteen regular temperance or- ganizations in Lynn, besides a number of other asso- ciations that make temperance a part of their object.

FREE PUBLIC FOREST .- A voluntary association was formed in 1881, the object being, in brief, the preservation of as large a portion as may be of the extensive range of forest land yet remaining upon our northern border, to be forever devoted to the free use of the public as a woodland park. Thus far about one hundred and ten acres have been secured, chiefly by the gift of those who owned the lands. Twice a year individuals most deeply interested, with invited guests, assemble in some romantic spot, on hill-top or in glen, which, with ceremonies reminding of the old mythological days, they proceed to consecrate. Sometimes it is in memory of a revered departed one, and sometimes of a marked event. An "altar," in the shape, perhaps, of a mossy boulder, is made to bear the ceremonial fire, replenished by woodland gatherings and the oil of incense. The participants, enwreathed in sylvan spoils, gather around with songs, readings and inspiring pageantry. The occa-

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sion usually calls out some poem or address well worthy of preservation. For instance, there were written for the meeting on the 30th of May, 1886, four little poems, which, though untoward circum- stances prevented their being sung, were published in connection with the account of the proceedings. One of the interesting features on this particular day was the release of a "Messenger Dove." Let us quote a stanza or two from each of the little poems, as, besides their appropriateness to the occasion, they afford a taste of the qualities of some of our local ver- sifiers :

By RUTHIE TURNER :

"Once more we meet at spring's reture, And lay aside each weight and care, While o'er ns bend the leafy trees, And round us breathes the balmy air."

By BESSIE BLAND :

" Te Ged'e first temple we repair, In forest aisle to rest ;

Lo! from the sacred altar there, The flame uplifts its crest !

A symbol of the life so fair, That glows on nature's breast."

By SAMUEL W. Foss :

" Fly to the fields, thou white-winged deve, Tell all their leafy bowers That summer comes on wings of love To storm the land with flowers.

" Tell te the hearts bowed down with grief That joy returns again ; That summer comes with flower and leaf, And hope renews her reign."

By DARIUS BARRY :

" The trees and rocks my brothers are, There's freedom in the air, The violet and the messy stone Send up a silent prayer."

Whatever may be thought of the ceremonies of the " camp days " the object of the associates is assured- ly praiseworthy. And though the work undertaken is of great and yet undefined proportions, and such as in no probability can be fully accomplished during the lifetime of the present participants, future gener- ations will doubtless honor the effort. But setting aside all other considerations, these spring and au- tumn woodland gatherings are highly enjoyable, re- solving themselves at suitable hours into picnic en- tertainments, inspiring social intercourse of a refining and educating character.

CHAPTER XXII.

LYNN - (Continued).

SHORT NOTES, CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED,

" Minute historical facts are to history as the nerves and sinews, the veins and arteries, are to the animated bodies ; they may not separately exhibit much of use, elegant or just proportion, but taken collectively, they furnish strength, spirit and existence itself. An historian who hath neglected to study them knows but the half of his profession, and like one who is ignorant of anatomy, sinks into a mere manual operator."-LODGE.

IN an historical sketch of circumscribed limits there are, of course, many topics on which it is impossible to dwell at large, but which should not be passed over in entire silence, and in some instances brief re- capitulations seem necessary. In the hope, therefore, of supplying deficiencies the following summary is introduced :

1004. Various accounts, derived chiefly from an- cient Scandinavian manuscripts, have led to the belief that certain adventurous navigators visited this coast and made lodgments much earlier than any perma- nent occupation was effected. For instance, Thor- wald, the Northman, a son of Eric the Red, is claimed to have been upon the New England coast in the year 1004, and to have landed at one or two places. At one landing-place he was so charmed by the prospect that he exclaimed,-" Here it is beautiful ! and here I should like to fix my dwelling!" And there, indeed, was the bluff old hero's everlasting dwelling fixed, for in a hostile encounter with a swarm of savages, that presently ensued, he received an arrow wound that speedily proved fatal. As life was fast closing he said to his people,-" I now ad- vise you to prepare for your departure as soon as possible ; hut me ye shall bring to the promontory where I thought it good to dwell. It may be that it was a prophetic word which fell from my mouth, about my abiding there for a season. There ye shall bury me, and plant a cross at my head and also at my feet, and call the place Krossanes (the Cape of the Cross) in all time coming." He died, the record adds, and they did as he had ordered. This was quite sentimental for a rough sea rover, but indicates warmth of heart and imagination. But what makes the incident interesting to the people of Lynn is the supposition long since put forth that "Krossanes " was Nahant, so long a part of our own territory. Possibly the supposition is correct, but those loose Scandinavian records are hardly to be taken as con- clusive evidence, especially as they fail to fix geo- graphical lines with any certainty.

1602. The celebrated navigator, Bartholomew Gos- nold, is said to have anchored in the waters of Lynn this year. He seems, indeed, to have been the first European certainly known to have visited Essex County. He sailed from Falmouth, England, in

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March, 1602, and reached Massachusetts Bay on the 14th of May. While coasting around it is highly probable that he cast anchor here, and, perhaps, landed for a prospecting tour. But he did not long remain. While Gosnold was in the vicinity he was greatly surprised by au Indian, dressed in English clothes, coming on board and saluting him in fair English. And that Indian is believed to have been Black Will, of Lynn, the Sagamore before alluded to. He was smart, and not over-scrupulous, as his sell- ing Nahant, to which he had no title, to Mr. Dexter, for a suit of clothes, very well proves.

1614. There is little doubt that Captain John Smith, whose life was saved by the interposition of the dusky heroine, Pocahontas-if the tale is not mere romance-was here in 1614, and was struck by the grandeur of the Nahant cliff's, which he compared to the "Pieramides of Egypt." And for the benefit of the curious in such matters it may be remarked that the redoubtable captain lived at one time in Lynn Regis, from which our own Lynn took its name. He served in a counting-house there, but finally left, with ten shillings in his pocket, which he says were contributed by friends who desired to get rid of him. He went to France and served in a military capacity there and in other countries. In 1608 he was in Vir- ginia, and became a master-spirit in its colonization. But his propensity for roving was unconquerable, and we find him, a few years later, drifting about the New England coast. It appears to have been Captain Smith who bestowed the name New England upon our territory, it having previously been known as North Virginia. Yet he was not, apparently, very favorably impressed by the character of the country or the climate, as he remarked that he was not so sim- ple as to think that any other motive than wealth would " ever erect a commonwealth or draw company from their ease and humors at home " to occupy here.

The foregoing visits, however, were of little impor- tance so far as any direct benefit accrued, no surviv- ing settlement being made hereabout if, indeed, any was contemplated ; so let us come to the day of per- manent settlement.

1629. Five families, chief among them Edmund Ingalls and his brother Francis, arrive and commence the settlement.

1630. Thomas Newhall born, being the first person of European parentage born here. He died in March, 1687, aged fifty seven. Wolves killed several swine belonging to the settlers, September 30th. Fifty set- ilers, chiefly farmers, and many of them with families, arrive and locate in different neighborhoods.

1631. Governor Winthrop passed through the set- tlement October 28th, and noted that the crops were plentiful.

1632. First church-fifth in the colony-formed. Stephen Bachiler, minister. The court order that " No person shall take any tobacco publiquely, under

pain of punishment, also that every one shall pay one penny for every time he is convicted of taking tobacco in any place."

1633. A corn-mill, the first in the settlement, built on Strawberry Brook. Says Winthrop, under this date, -- " James Sagamore, of Sagus, died, and most of his folks " (of small-pox).

1634. John Humfrey arrives and settles on Na- hant Street. The settlement sends her first Repre- sentatives to the General Court. William Wood, one of the first comers, publishes " New England's Pros- pect."

1635. Philip Kertland, the first shoemaker, arrives. 1637. Name of the settlement changed from Sau- gus to Lynn. At this time there were thirty-seven plows in the colony, most of them in Lynn. Settle- ment of Sandwich commenced by emigrants from Lynn. The General Court forbade the making of cakes or buns, "except for burials, marriages and such like special occasions." And also ordered that corn should be received as legal tender, at five shil- lings a bushel.

1638. First divison of lands among the inhabitants.

1639. Ferry across Saugus River established. First bridge over Saugus River at Boston Street crossing built.

1643. Iron-works near Saugus River commenced, the first in America.

1644. Hugh Bert and Samuel Bennett, of Lynn, presented to the grand jury as " common sleepers in time of exercise." Both convicted and fined.

1646. Lynn made a market town-Tuesday, the lecture day, being market day.

1656. Robert Bridges, one of the most active and enterprising of the early settlers, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and assistant, died this year. He was a large proprietor in the iron-works.

1658. Dungeon Rock alleged to have been rent by an earthquake, entombing alive Thomas Veal, the pirate, with treasure.

1666. A year of disasters. Several die of small- pox. "Divers are slain by lightning." Grasshoppers and caterpillars do much mischief.

1669. Boniface Burton died, aged one hundred and thirteen years.

1679. Rev. Samuel Whiting, for forty-three years minister of the First Parish, died December 11th, aged eighty-two years.

1680. Dr. Philip Reed, the first physician, com- plained to the court of Mrs. Margaret Gifford as a witch. Joseph Armitage, first keeper of the famous Anchor Tavern, which continued as a public-house for more than a hundred and fifty years, died June 27th, aged eighty. The great Newtonian comet ap- peared in November, occasioning much alarm.

1682. Old Tunnel meeting-house built.

1688. Excitement about Edward Randolph's peti- tion for a grant of Nahant.

1689. Sir Edmund Andros passed through Lynn on

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his way to Boston from the east, making a short stay, not deigning, however, to confer with the people as to their wrongs.

1692. Great witchcraft excitement. Six Lynn per- sons were arrested and imprisoned ; some of them were tried, and one condemned to death, but not executed.

1694. A church-fast appointed by Rev. Mr. Shep- ard. July 19th, for the arrest of the " spiritual plague" of Quakerism.

1697. Great alarm on account of the small-pox. This was many years before vaccination was prac- ticed.

1706. Second division of land among the inhabit- ants.

1708. A public fast held on account of the ravages of caterpillars and canker worms.

1719. Northern lights observed for the first time, December 17th. Much alarm occasioned.

1720. Rev. Jeremiah Shepard, minister of the First Parish for forty years, died June 3d, aged seventy-two.

1721. John Burrill, a member of the House of Representatives for twenty years, ten of which he was Speaker, died of small-pox, December 10th, aged sixty-three.

1723. A terrific storm with raging sea, February 24th. First mill on Sangus River, at Boston Street crossing, built.

1726. £13 15s. awarded to Nathaniel Potter for linen manufactured in Lyun.

1745. Rev. Mr. Whitefield preaches on Lynn com- mon, creating much excitement.

1750. John Adam Dagyr, an accomplished shoe- maker, arrives.

1755. Greatest earthquake ever known in New England, November 18th. It commenced a little after four in the morning, and continned about four minutes, being apparently the same convulsion that destroyed Lisbon, sixty thousand persons perishing there in six minutes, the sea rising fifty feet above its usual level.

1759. A bear weighing four hundred pounds killed in Lynn woods.

1761. Rev. Nathaniel Henchman, minister of the First Parish for forty years, died December 23d, aged sixty-one.

1770. Potato rot prevails and canker worms com- mit great ravages.

1775. Battle of Lexington, April . 19th ; five Lynn men killed.

1776. Declaration of Independence promulgated. At this time twenty-six negro slaves were owned in Lynn.

1780. Memorable dark day, May 19th. Houses lighted as at night.

1784. Gen. Lafayette passed -through town, Octo- ber 28th, receiving enthusiastic plaudits.

1788. Gen. Washington passed through town, in

October, and was affectionately greeted by old and young.

1793. Lynn post-office established, and first kept on Boston Street, near Federal. Dr. John Flagg, an es- teemed physician and Revolutionary patriot, member of the Committee of Safety and commissioned as colonel, died May 27th, aged fifty.

1795. Brig "Peggy " wrecked on Long Beach, De- cember 9th, and eleven lives lost.

1796. First fire-engine for public use purchased.

1800. Memory of Washington honored ; procession and eulogy, January 13th. Morocco manufacture in- troduced.

1803. Boston and Salem turnpike opened, and Lynn Hotel built. Miles Shorey and wife both killed by lightning, July 10th ; she had an infant in her arms who was unharmed, and lived to old age.

1804. First celebration of independence in Lynn.

1808. First law-office in Lynn opened by Benja- min Merrill ; it was in a chamber of the dwelling corner of North Common and Park Streets. Great bull fight at Half-Way House; bulls and bull-dogs engaged. Lynn Artillery chartered November 18th, and allowed two brass field-pieces. John Adam Dagyr, the early shoemaker before named, who be- came widely known for his uncommon taste and skill, died in the almshouse.

1812. Lynn Light Infantry chartered June 30th.

1813. Moll Pitcher, the celebrated fortune-teller, died, April 9th, aged seventy-five. Sketch of her on previous page.

1814. Lynnfield set off from Lynn and incorporated as a separate town. First Town House of Lynn built. First Bank established-known as Lynn Mechanics' Bank till its reorganization as the First National Bank, in 1864. Battle between the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon " fought, June 1st. Intense solicitude was manifested by the people of Lynn, many of whom witnessed the contest from heights and roofs. The battle was anticipated, and multitudes came from neighboring places, The greatest amount of travel over the turnpike that ever took place in a single day then occurred. One hundred and twenty crowded stages passed, it is said, and an almost count- less number of all sorts of vehicles, together with equestrians and pedestrians innumerable.

1815. Saugus set off from Lynn and incorporated as a separate town. Terrific southeasterly gale, Sep- tember 23d ; ocean spray driven several miles inland. Joseph Fuller, first president of first Lynn Bank, and first State Senator from Lynn, died, aged forty-two.

1816. Great horse trot on the turnpike, in Lynn, September 1st; said to have heen the first in the country ; Major Stackpole's "Old Blue " trotted three miles in eight minutes and forty-two seconds.

1817. President Monroe visited Lynn; school chil- dren arrayed on the Common.

1819. The wonderful sea-serpent appears off Long Beach; in the sketch of Swampscott a somewhat

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detailed account of this supposed marine monster will appear. Nahant Ilotel built. Almshouse at Tower Hill built.

1824. General Lafayette visits Lynn August 31st, and is enthusiastically welcomed.

1825. First Lynn newspaper-the Weekly Mirror- issued September 3d by Charles F. Lummus. It was published six years.

1826. First savings bank-Lynn Institution for Savings-incorporated.

1827. Micajah Collins, teacher of the Friends' school and minister of the Friends' Society, died Jan- uary 30th, aged sixty-two. Solomon Moulton, a youth- ful writer of much promise, died May 26th, aged nineteen. Broad and brilliant night arch, August 28tb.

1828. Flora, a negro woman, died October 1st, aged one hundred and thirteen. Lynn Mutual Fire In- surance Company organized.

1829. Splendid display of frosted trees, January 10th.

1830. Donald McDonald, a Scotchman, died in Lynn almshouse October 4th, aged one hundred and eight ; he was at Braddock's defeat and at the battle of Quebec, when Wolfe fell.

1831. Maria Augusta Fuller, poetess and prose writer, died January 19th, aged twenty-four. Dr. James Gardner, a physician of high standing, died December 26th, aged sixty-nine.

1832. First Lynn directory published by Charles F. Lummus. Nahant Bank incorporated; failed in 1836.

1833. Extraordinary shower of meteors, November 13th.

1836. Dr. Richard Hazeltine, a learned and suc- cessful physician of the old school, died July 10th, aged sixty-two.

1837. Surplus United States revenue distributed, Lynn receiving fourteen thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine dollars, and applying it to the payment of the town debt.

1838. Charles F. Lummus, first Lynn printer, died April 20th, aged thirty-seven. Eastern Railroad opened for travel from Boston to Salem, August 28th.

1839. Ebenezer Breed-Uncle Eben, as he was called-one of the "nursing fathers" of the shoe business of Lynn-died in the almshouse, December 23d, aged seventy-four.

1841. The first picture by the new art known as daguerreotype, or photography, ever taken in Lynn was a landscape, taken this year by James R. New- hall, by apparatus imported from France.

1842. Amos Blanchard, a musician of the Revolu- tionary army, and for many years a teacher of a dis- trict school, died May 25th, aged seventy-eight. Enoch Curtin, a poet and prose writer, died May 28th, aged forty-seven.

1843. Dr. Charles O. Barker, a reputable physician, died January 8th, aged forty-one; his wife was a daughter of Rembrant Peale, the celebrated painter.

The schooner "Thomas" was wrecked on Long Beach March 17th, five men perishing.

1845. Dr. Edward L. Coffin, physician, scientist and writer, died March 31st, aged fifty.

1846. Amariah Childs, manufacturer of a famous kind of chocolate, died January 21st, aged eighty. Mexican War commenced; Lynn furnished twenty volunteers. Destructive fire on Water Hill Street, August 9th, destroying a large brick silk-printing es- tablishment, spice and coffee-mill, and two or three smaller buildings ; total loss, about seventy-five thou- sand dollars.

1847. President Polk made a short visit to Lynn, July 5th.

1848. George Gray, the Lynn hermit, died Feb- ruary 28th, aged seventy-eight. Carriage-road over harbor side of Long Beach built. Lynu Common fenced.

1849. Lynn Police Court established. Large emi- gration to California. Laighton Bank incorporated ; reorganized as the Central National in 1865.

1850. City form of government adopted. Samuel Brimblecom, an early and enterprising shoe manu- facturer, and colonel of militia during the War of 1812, died April 24th, aged eighty-one. Pine Grove Cemetery consecrated July 24th. Thirteen persons of a picnic party from Lynn drowned in Lynnfield Pond, August 15th. Ten-hour system-that is, ten hours to constitute a day's work-generally adopted. Church bells ordered to be rung at six P.M. Previously there was no limit to work hours.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 105

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538