History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 114

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 114

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).

On the second of June, 1863, Mr. Morgan was united in marriage with Miss Emeline B. Nichols, of Providence, and has two children, William F. (now a student in Trinity College, Hartford, Class of 1888), and Alice L.

Mr. Morgan has not been much in public office, though he has served in the Council. His peculiar fitness for other public service, however, could not re- main unrecognized. In charitable enterprises he has always been an active and efficient laborer. He is president of the Board of Associated Charities and a member of the Board of Hospital Managers. He is likewise a trustee of the Five Cents Savings Bank.

In financial matters his skill and forecast have been conspicuous. He was one of the founders of the Na- tional Security Bank of Lynn, and has held the posi- tion of director ever since its organization.

In 1879 he erected the beautiful residence in Nahant Street, corner of West Baltimore, where he still re- sides.

Few men ever in Lynn have furnished an example more worthy of imitation than Mr. Morgan. His in- dustrious habits, upright dealing, respect for religion, liberal aid in the promotion of worthy objects, and courtesy of manners, have made him one of excep- tionally high esteem. And no well-wisher of the community can envy the prosperity of one who has thus risen to rank as one of the foremost citizens.

CHARLES O. BEEDE.

Charles O. Beede,1 the subject of this sketch, was born in Lynn in 1840. He received his early educa- tion in the public schools of that city and of Sand- wich, N. H., and added to his store of knowledge by

close study for a season at the New Hampton Insti- tute.

Being thus equipped theoretically for a business career, he returned to Lynn and entered one of the large shoe manufactories of that city, that he might gain by practical experience the knowledge necessary for business success.

In 1865 he began business for himself, and by untir- ing industry and honesty of purpose he soon began to climb the rounds of fortune's ladder. His pro- gress was rapid, but he was soon admonished that close application and earnest attention to the cares and responsibilities of an ever-increasing trade de- manded in his case a penalty, and in 1872 he was obliged to retire from active business and seek rest and recreation amid the rugged hills and sunny dales of his old New Hampshire home, and for a year rested from his labors.

At the end of that period, being recuperated and thirsting again for the bustle and stir of a busy life, he returned to Lynn, and at once entered the lists, setting the mark for his prize in the establishment of a business that should be favorably known through- out the country.

With a persistency that could not be abated and a zeal that knew no tire, he pushed on until the firm of C. O. Beede was known as the leading firm in New England for the manufacture of boot and shoe sup- plies, and his name recognized as the name of one who carved his fortune out of the rough stone of op- portunity.

Mr. Beede is one of those happy men who study and understand the needs of their employees and cultivates the most friendly relations with them.

He gives his entire force an outing once a year, and joins with them in their annual games and din- ner, and when the great feast day of the year comes, the day of Thanksgiving, the table of every man in his employ bespeaks the liberality and thoughtfulness of the man they labor for.

Outside of his regular business he pays attention to real estate matters, and shows the same good judg- ment there, ranking as among the most prominent and successful dealers in the city.

Mr. Beede, like all progressive men, takes a health- ful interest in politics, and believes that that system or party is the most right that does the most toward advancing the material, the social and the moral inter- ests of the people.

Being of a social nature it is not to be wondered at that he should make friends, and in answer to their call he has repeatedly looked after the city's interest by serving on the aldermanic board, and he always carried into his public duties the same qualifications that has made of him in his private life a man of mark.

Honest, always earnest in every cause which he knows to be right, a clear thinker and a progressive man, with a mind broad and comprehensive enough

1 By Benjamin Pitman.

376

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

to take in the possibilities of great enterprises, and yet conservative enough to prevent any undue enthu- siasm to control his judgment.

Mr. Beede stands in the community in which he lives thoroughly equipped for every publie and pri- vate duty.

PATRICK LENNOX.1

Lynn has been fortunate in numbering, from time to time, among her adopted citizens, those who by their enterprise and other valuable traits, have added to her prosperity and the extension of her good name. And some of these have come from other and distant lands. Such individuals she has always welcomed, and in their fidelity to her interests has secured am- ple reward. Of this class, few now with us are more worthy of honorable mention than the individual to whom this sketch refers.

Mr. Lennox was born in Kildare, one of the east- ern counties of Ireland, a short distance from the city of Dublin, on the first day of August, 1828, and was educated in the national schools. Not much need be said of his boyhood, as it was passed very much like that of other youth about him, with its pranks, its as- pirations and its incipient loves. But his ambition to " rise in the world," as he entered early manhood, asserted itself, and led to such "prospecting " in re- gard to the future, as induced him to turn his eye to America, as the most promising field. He then left his native land without a pang, excepting such as naturally arose from the severance of youthful attach- ments and home associations.

At the age of twenty he found himself in New York, full of youthful ardor and buoyant hope. He landed there in 1848, and without unnecessary delay came to Lynn. Here he immediately entered the employ of Darius Barry, one of our energetic and reputable morocco manufacturers, on Monroe Street. After serving for three years in a modified sort of ap- prenticeship, he was competent to accept employment as a journeyman in the establishment of Smith & Clark. Such was his skill, industry and enterprise, and his ambition, too, it may be added, that within two years he was able to commence business on his own account.

The shoe business was at that time rapidly growing in Lynn, as machinery was beginning to be intro- duced in almost every department. This was a fortu- nate circumstance, and Mr. Lennox had the shrewd- ness to perceive the tendency of trade, and had established such a reputation for good management, and had, withal, accumulated such an amount of capi- tal that he was able to take advantage of the tide of prosperity. He soon became numbered among our principal morocco manufacturers, and was not defi- cient in ample means. ITis business rapidly extended, and he has now about a hundred and twenty-five

workmen busily employed. He has a salesroom in Boston, which was established in 1877; and at his factory, in Market Street, Lynn, large sales are con- stantly being made.

It was in 1871 that he built his fine business build- ing in Market Street, opposite the station of the Nar- row Gauge Railroad. It was one of the best buildings in the city at the time of its erection, and is still an ornament to the street which has now so many hand- some structures. And in noticing this building a cor- respondent of one of the journals of the day remarks as follows :

"Evory traveler on the Beston and Maino Railroad, while passing through Market Street, Lynn, has doubtless observed the substantial and handsome store and factory belonging to Patrick Lennex, who com- menced business as a morocco dresser in early life, and has steadily built up a business and trade, now ranking among the first in the State with substantial tokens of liis stability. Ilis quict, gentlemanly de- meanor and carefully chosen words will not at first view impress one that he is possessed of the vital force and energy of character that has placed him among the first of the business men of the city. llis can- dor, probity and intelligence makes him a marked man in the communi- ty, and his countrymen take especial pride in noting his prosperity in which they are joined by all the citizens. As his name indicates he is a native of Ireland, but so Americanized that none would suspect it from his speech and appearance. Ile is an honor te both his native and adopted country, loyal and true to both, a self-made, successful business man, deserving of his good fortune."

Mr. Lennox has usually avoided appearing much in public life, having no aspirations for official posi- tion. It would, no doubt, have been beneficial to the interests of the eity had he been less chary in this respect, for his good judgment and pacific course would many times have saved from indiscreet ex- penditures, unprofitable discussions and mischievous disagreements. He has, however, held office as di- rector in the National City Bank of Lynn, from Jan- uary, 1882.

Six years after he arrived in Lynn, that is, in 1854, he was united in marriage with Miss Bridget Clark, and they became the parents of eight children-two sons and six daughters.

It will he seen that Mr. Lennox is not by any means an old man, certainly not in business activity and neighborly sympathies. But he has reached the age when it has become experimentally certain that a course like his, of industry, temperance and upright dealing are, under all ordinary circumstances, suffi- cient to ensure wealth and honorable social standing. And herein he furnishes an example worthy of imi- tation by all youths who have the good of the com- munity and themselves truly at heart.

GEORGE HARRISON ALLEN.

Mr. Allen belongs to one of the oldest families in New England. His ancestor, William Allen, though not one of the Plymouth colony, came to New Eng- land not long after the arrival of the Pilgrims, and, after a short residence at Nantasket, now Hull, re- moved to Salem immediately after the arrival of John Endicott at that place, in 1629. At Salem he mar-

1 By James R. Newhall.

Denoy

Ho He Allen

RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH DAVIS, LYNN, MASS.

377

LYNNFIELD.

ried, in 1629, Elizabeth Bradley, and had a son Samuel, who married Sarah Luck. Samuel had a son Jona- than, who married Mary Pierce, and Jonathan a son Jacob, who married Sarah Lee. Jacob had a son Isaac, who married Rebekah Tewksbury, and Isaac a son Jacob, who married Lucy Gallop, and was the father of Jacob Alva Allen, the father of the subject of this sketch. Jacob Alva Allen was born in Bev- erly, March 5, 1810, and married Prudence, daughter of Shubel Hire, who came from Ireland and settled in Middlebury, Vermont, where his daughter Prudence was born, November 5, 1807. He afterwards removed from Beverly to Manchester, Massachusetts, and there George Harrison Allen was born, Juue 21, 1840. In 1847 he removed from Manchester to Methuen, and in 1849 to Lawrence, and in the common schools of the last two towns his son received his education.

At the age of seventeen George Harrison Allen left school to learn the trade of boxmaking, planing and mill-work on lumber, sawing logs and fitting lumber for building. He began at the first rung in the ladder, and learned the trade thoroughly from shoveling shavings into the fire-room to the clerk's chair in the counting-room. In 1865 he removed from Lawrence to Lynn, and entered into partnership with Joseph A. Boyden, for the manufacture of paper and wood packing-boxes. At the end of two years, Joseph having died, he formed a new partnership with William C. Boyden, of Beverly, under the firm- name of Allen & Boy den, and has since carried on the same business, manufacturing both at Lynn and Bev- erly a product valued at about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum. Mr. Allen has always devoted himself with energy and industry to his chosen work, and, though he has shared with others business losses and disasters by fire, he has by the dis- play of a determined spirit overcome obstacles in his way and won his full measure of success.

Mr. Allen, though often importuned and at times strongly tempted, has always refused to accept or seek public office. He has believed that the demands of his business were entitled to all his time, and that an entrance into the political arena and a participa- tion in its contests would necessarily distract his mind and divert his attention from the management of his legitimate pursuits.

Mr. Allen has been placed in offices of responsibil- ity and trust in various Masonic bodies, having been at the head of the Golden Fleece Lodge, Sutton Chapter, and Olivet Commandery. In the Grand Commandery of Knights Templars, and appendant order of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, he has passed the chairs of Grand Captain General, Grand General and Deputy Grand Commander, which office he now holds. He has also passed the chairs of the Palestine Encampment of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having been its Chief Patriarch.

He married, December 26, 1864, Sarah Luella, daughter of Eben and Temperance McIntire, of Lan-

caster, N. H., and resides in Lynn, where his business headquarters are located at 188 Broad Street. He is in the prime of life, and with health and strength his continued prosperity and success are assured.

CHAPTER XXIII.

LYNNFIELD.

BY JAMES R. NEWHALL.

Early Grant-First Settlers-Natural Attractions-Ponds and Streams- Flora-Fauna.

LYNNFIELD was for more than a century and a half a territorial outpost of Lynn. It was on the 13th of March, 1638-39, that "Linn was granted 6 miles into the countrey," and a committee appointed to make a territorial survey for the purpose of ascertaining the character of the land beyond, and determining whether it "bee fit for another plantation or no." The court, while making the grant, seem to have had some doubt as to the extent of colonial rights and the security of titles, as they soon after enacted that the Governor and assistants shall "take care that the Indians have satisfaction for their right at Lynn."

The granted territory was long called Lynn End, and occupied chiefly by farmers. It was set off as a parish November 17, 1712, and the inhabitants were to be relieved from taxes in the old parish as soon as they built a meeting-house and settled a minister ; this they accomplished in about eight years, the house being built in 1715 and the minister settled in 1720. In 1782 the parish became a separate district, and in 1814 the district was incorporated as a separate town. The precise time when the first settlers arrived or just where they located is not certainly known. It is pre- sumed, however, that they came from Lynn, some of them, perhaps, before the grant was made. It is manifest by the names found on the church records- Aborn, Bancroft, Gowing, Mansfield, Newhall, Well- man-that at least the principal ones were from Lynn.

The Mansfields and Newhalls settled in the southeastern part, the Bancrofts and Wellmans in the northwestern and the Gowings somewhere between the two.

The early history of Lynnfield is, of course, inter- woven with that of Lynn, and their natural features are in a large degree similar. Its woody hills form a part of the extensive range that sweeps up from old Plymouth County, varying in height, but never reach- ing an altitude that entitles them to the name of mountains. They present irregularities of shape, diversities of soil and modifications of geological construction, and follow the line of the coast at dis-

24}

378

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tances varying from half a mile to eight miles from the shore, in many places bearing strong evidence of having once been the boundary of the tide. An- ciently, for the whole extent they were well wooded ; but as population increased, the axe in many places laid them bare, and orchards and arable fields began to appear. At intervals the chain now seems much broken, as most portions likely for the present to re- pay the expense have been reclaimed. Some sections, however, still retain much of their primeval aspect, -a fact eminently true of several of the remoter parts of Lynnfield.

But Lynnfield possesses many attractions for the lover of nature, in her lonely glens and pleasant heights, in her lakelets and busy streams. She has good highways and romantic byways, green: meadows and sunny plains. But she has not the ocean views that so charm, and the ocean breezes that so invigor- ate. Many, however, come hither for temporary homes during the vacation season, and in the quiet enjoyment of rural sights and rural sounds, in the breathing of uncontaminated airs, in the use of fresh and simple food, and in freedom from the re- straints of fashionable life, find a medicine that re- vivifies their jaded energies, and enables them to re- turn to their homes again to enter with zest the ac- customed routine.

There can be nothing more pleasing to the wooer of nature, especially one who contemplates her changes with the eye of a true lover rather than that of a scientist, than to view the glowing pageantry of the woods hereabout in mid-autumn. The splendid col- oring of the foliage takes place at different periods, the swamp maple and white birch often beginning to change in the latter part of August. Some seasons present much greater brilliancy than others, early frosts being quite certain to destroy the effect. Yet there is a strange belief with many that frost actually produces the appearance. Even the poet Whittier sings :

" Autumn's earliest frost had given To the woods below Hues of beauty such as Heaven Lendeth to its bow ; And the soft breezes from the west Scarcely broke their dreamy rest."

Frost comes as a destroyer, not as a beautifier. And it is a little remarkable that one so observant, who had spent his life in the theatre of such chang- ing scenes, should have adopted the old error. But, perhaps, the singer yielded to the poetical idea,

While the foliage is so inviting to the woodland stroller, or sometimes after it has been loosened by the frost and fallen, the Indian summer comes-those few days of delicious languor, when all nature seems to be wrapped in a mantle of haze and lying down to dreamy repose. The natural cause of Indian sum- mer, which, by the way, occasionally fails to appear, does not yet scem to be satisfactorily ascertained. And perhaps, in the absence of anything more

reasonable, the red man's explanation may be adopted-namely, that it is a period when a breath from the hunting-grounds of heaven is permitted to sweep down to earth.

The geology of Lynnfield is not very dissimilar to that of Lynn, excepting that granite to a considerable extent takes the place of porphyry and greenstone. Quarries of the former have been long profitably worked. Some years ago a quarry of serpentine was opened. In various sections, in former years, peat meadows yielded an abundance of fuel, it being in some cases found fifteen feet in depth ; but of late it has not been so much used, partly, no doubt, on ac- count of the increased expense of labor iu the prep- aration, and partly on account of the greater conve- nience of other kinds of fuel better adapted to the modern modes of heating.

PONDS AND STREAMS .- There are several pic- turesque lakelets or ponds in Lynnfield, and two or three streams that not only add charms to the land- scape, but are useful in various ways, though not largely employed as manufacturing agents, Lynnfield Pond, as it is usually called, though sometimes known as "Suntaug Lake" or "Humphrey's Pond," being the same "freshe pond with a little ileland " named in the old grant of 1635 to John Humphrey, is the chief of the still waters. It occupies about two hun- dred and ten acres, and lies partly in Peabody, is a beautiful sheet, with lovely surroundings. A melan- choly accident occurred here on the 15th of August, 1850. A company, connected for the most part with the First Christian Society of Lynn, were holding a picnic on the border. In the course of the afternoon a party of twenty-five, chiefly ladies, rowed out in a large, flat-bottomed boat about a hundred yards from the shore. As some of them shifted from side to side, the boat was made to careen, and several of them, becoming alarmed, threw their weight in a manner to completely capsize it. Before aid could reach them thirteen were drowned. Pilling's Pond is largely ar- tificial and of no great depth. Nell's Pond is remark- able for its elevation, being something like a hundred feet above sea-level.

Along the northern border of Lynnfield flows the main branch of Ipswich River, and the western is partially traversed by the Saugus. Hawkes' Brook meanders leisurely along, and is now charged with the useful duty of adding to Lynn's public water supply.

The spring water of this vicinity is uncommonly pure, for the stone through which it percolates is not soluble; and it forms a good sample of that which William Wood, Lynn's first historian, as early as 1633, thus enthusiastically celebrates : "It is farr different from the waters of England, being not so sharp, but of a fatter substance and of a more jettie color; it is thought there can be no better water in the world, yet dare I not prefer it before good beere, as some have done; but any man will choose it before bad beere, whey or butter milk."

379

LYNNFIELD.

FLORA .- The flora of Lynnfield, as it was observed hy the first settlers, is no doubt well, though not fully, described in the following lines from Wood's "New England's Prospect." And well miglit such a prom- ising region be coveted,-

"Trees both in hills and plaines in plenty be, The long liv'd oake, the mournful cypress tree, Skie-towering pines, and chestnuts coated rough, The lasting cedar, with the walnut tough ; The rosin-dropping firr for masts in use ; The boatmen seeke for oars, light, neat grown sprewse, The brittle ash, the ever-trembling aspes,

The broad-spread elme, whose concave harbours waspes ;

The water-spongie alder, good for naught, Small elderne hy th' Indian fletchers sought, The knottie maple, pallid birtch, hawthornes, The hornbound tree that to be cloven scornes, Which from the tender vine oft takes its spouse, Who twines imbracing armes about his boughes. Within this Indian Orchard fruits be some, The ruddie cherrie and the jetty plumbe, Snake murthering hasell with sweet saxaphrage, Whose spurnes in beer allays hot fever's rage, The diar's shumach, with more trees there bee That are both good to use and rare to see."

Descending to the more lowly products, it may be said that in the woods and ravines, in the swamps and upon the rocky heights, are to he found shrubs and flowers of great beauty, some varieties of which, under the hand of cultivation, have become garden favorites. And many plants of rare medicinal vaine are to he found. But the long and persistent warfare of our learned doctors against the use of "herbs " has resulted in greatly reducing the esteem in which they were once held. The old traffic of the semi- mendicant wanderers, with their pyrola, sassafras, gold-thread, rosemary, catnip, sweet flagroot and countless other varieties of similar curative merchan- dise, has become nearly extinct. And so has gone all that class of irresponsible doctors, friends of the poor, as they called themselves, and sometimes were, who, for the fee of a meal, were ever ready to advise and prescribe. It did not cost so much to be sick in those primitive days as it now does.

FAUNA .- As considerable is said in the sketch of Lynn, of which Lynnfield so long remained a mem- ber, regarding the fauna of the region, no elaboration will be required here. Bears were not uncommon in the woods ; moose, beaver and deer were seen ; foxes and wolves abonnded ; and so did raccoons, weasels and woodchucks. Most of these, excepting the last two, have become nearly extinct-the first three en- tirely so. But no better idea of the animal life here- about can be given than by quoting the concise, though somewhat grotesque, metrical description given by a quaint old writer. His was a style much in vogue in early times, and some of the important facts in our history have been preserved in that now seemingly irregular way. Those rhyming historians had no thought of debanching history through poetic license, but aimed at a straightforward delineation of facts, perhaps using that form to aid the memory. But to the quotation, which is from a more extended

description that appears iu Lynn's Centennial Me- morial,-

"Some of the nobler game erst found, within these forests wide, The moose, the beaver and the deer no longer here abyde ; Nor growling bear, nor catamount, nor wolf do now abound, But raccoons, woodchucks, weasels, skunks, and foxes yet lurke round. And in the broocks and ponds still rove the turtle aud musk ratt, The croaking paddock and leap-frog ; and in the air the batt. Serpents there be, bnt poys'nous, few, save horrid rattlesnakes, And adders of bright rainbow line, that coyl among the brukes. And then of birds we have great store ; the eagle soaring high, The owl, the hawk, the woodpecker, the crow of rasping cry, The partridge, quail and wood-pigeon, the plover and wild-goose, And divers other smaller game aro here for man, his nse. And many more of plumage fair in coo and song are heard ;

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 114

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