History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 128

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 128

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was the great-great-grandmother of the present owner. The only son of Colonel Enoch, Jethro, mar- ried a daughter of the distinguished Dr. Holten, and of his family the representatives of his son Philemon still live here. As Jethro went to live on the Holten place it is probable that about that time the old homestead went out of the Putnam family. Some fifty years it was owned by Nathaniel Smith and wife, and was sold with sixty-five acres of land to William A. Lander, April 9, 1841. By subsequent purchases Mr. Lander became owner of nearly as much more adjoining land. The old house was al- lowed to stand two or three years after the present residence was built. It stood on the level field where now is the pear orchard and not far from the old well and the large elm which was dug and planted by slave labor. Mr. Lander lived on the place which his own taste has made so beautiful until 1875, when he removed to Salem, and the place then passed to its present owners, the family of the late Colonel Ed- mund Johnson, of Boston, who died in 1877. Mr. Whittier is a relative of the family, and has spent most of his time at Oak Knoll, a name which he him- self gave the estate.

But another and later Putnam homestead, just this side of Oak Knoll, remained in the family much longer than the original homestead. It was probably built by James Putnam, an uncle of Colonel Enoch, and passed down through Archelaus to his son, Doc- tor Archelaus, then to his son, James A., whose heirs sold it to Mr. Lander ..

John A. Putnam, of Danvers, is one of the children of James A. Hon. James Putnam, of whom Chief Justice Parsons said, "he was the best lawyer in North America," an uncle of Dr. Archelaus, was nn- doubtedly born in this old house. He practised in Worcester, and among his students was John Adams, the second President; he succeeded Edmund Trow- bridge as Attorney-General of the province, was raised to the bench and held other high positions. But he threw the weight of his powerful influence and char- acter in favor of the Royalists and was proscribed as a Tory.

Two (Jonathan and James) of the sons of Lieuten- ant John have been thus mentioned. The next (Ele- azer) went over to the site afterwards occupied by Phin- ehas Putnam, of the branch of Nathaniel, and now owned by Charles P. Preston, Eleazer being of the third generation and Phinehas of the fifth. One of the sons of Eleazer, Henry went to Medford, and it will be read elsewhere how he followed his sons to Lexington and was killed. Samuel, another son, es- tablished his home where the late Sylvanus B. Swan died, which was long the home of Samnel's son, Eleazer, "Squire Ely," pronouncing it with the "E " long and the "ly " short, widely known and trusted as magistrate, surveyor and conveyancer. Of the 'Squire's three sons, Rev. Israel Warburton Putnam, D.D., born in 1786, was a very distinguished clergy-

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man, who was settled twenty years at Portsmouth, N. H., and thirty years at Middleboro', Mass. ; Arche- laus, a physician, practised in Windham, N. H. ; and Samuel was for many years a distinguished teacher of Brooklyn, N. Y.

Reference has been made to the fact that Henry, son of Eleazer, son of Lieutenant John, was killed at Lexington. One of his sons, also Henry, was wounded in the same engagement. Allen Putnam, a young son of this Henry, is said to have been the first to leap ashore of the colonists who went out to found Ohio. The Danvers home of Allen's grandfather seems to have been the old Amos Wilde house, on Locust Street, opposite Chestnut Street.

It was John, another son of Lieutenant John Put- nam, who, in connection with his father, is supposed to have built the "old Clark house," still standing, not far north of Oak Knoll. Among his descendants the name of Caleb often occurs; none are known in Danvers.

At a gathering of the descendants of Deacon Benja- min Putnam, held a few years ago, one of our oldest citizens, as orator, recalled how, in his childhood he. sat in the old brick meeting house when the familiar faces of the Putnams were in every part of the church, their titles, positions and scriptural names all objects of veneration. There were, he said,-

" Benjamin and Joseph, Timothy and Eleazer, Philemon and Hiram, James and Ebenezer, Amos and Stephen, Seth and Sitneon, Israel and David, Peter and Gideon, Phinehas and Matthew, Ezra and Nathaniel, Moses and Samuel, Jesse and Daniel."

No genealogy of the family has been published, though Dr. A. P. Putnam has collected a rich store of material, of which, doubtless, he will some day gave the public the benefit. For what is here given the writer is indebted to certain members of the family and others in Danvers, and to Dr. Putnam for a num- ber of interesting notes which have been mainly in- corporated in the manuscript.

THE PORTERS .- Among the records of old deeds at Salem is an agreement made the 10th day of the Third Month, 1643, between Samuel Sharpe, of Sa- lem, and John Porter, of Hingham :

" The sd Samuel doth hereby sell unto ye said Jno. his fearme lying North ef Mr. Skelton's furme Deceased with ye meadow ground thereto annexed & all appartenances thereto belonging for ye summe of one hundred & ten pounds to be paid in money Cattle & corne nt such rates as 2 or more indifferent men shall apprize them te be paid at 3 several payments that is to say fifty pounds the 20th of this present month be. ing 3rd month 1643 and thirty pounds of ye 3d mo 1614 & other thirty pounds on the first day of ye 3rd mo in 1645 In witness whereof the parties ubove sd have hereunto set their hands the day nnd year above written

" SAMUEL SHANTE

" JOHN POnTEn "

The deed, acknowledged before Governor Endicott, conveyed all the land now covered by the central village of Danvers, "the Plains." The purchaser, John Porter, came from England and settled at Hingham, where he was in 1635. He was sent from

Hingham as a deputy to the General Court in 1644, and that same year moved his family and his goods, probably by water, to make a new home at Salem Farms. According to the family tradition, he lived in the old house which was standing in the field near the present location of the Unitarian Church within the memory of living persons. He was a tanner by trade, and some remains of his tan-yard were discoy- ered many years ago near the old house. An ancient well is still to be seen close by. John Porter was a man of energy and influence; he was well known throughout the colony, held many official positions, -selectman, deputy to General Court, etc.,-and he became probably the largest individual land-owner in what is now the town of Danvers. He and John Putnam stand together as prominent figures in our earliest history. Both were the ancestors of a very numerous and honorable line of descendants. If the Porters at first owned the most acres, certainly the Putnams came next, and the two families together held fully two-thirds of the present town and ex- tended beyond its limits. Their farms were adjacent, inter-marriages, of course, occurred, and many now living here and elsewhere trace back their ancestry, often in more ways than one, through Porter-Putnam unions to the two Johns.

John Porter's oldest son, John, was a distinguished exception to the " honorable line" above referred to ; he was a reprobate. He abused his parents till they appealed to the law. He was punished condignly, and were it not for his mother's forbearance would probably have been hung. Later his case became very conspicuous, because upon his appeal for redress made to the four commissioners of Charles II., sent over in 1664 to curb the liberties of the colonists, occurred a memorable struggle, in which the General Court had every advantage of position, and used it, to the final rout of the royal emissaries. The elder John refers in his will to his "sonne John Porter, who, by his Rebellious & wicked practices, hath been a great grief to his parents, & greatly wasted my es- tate." The man left no descendants to be ashamed of such an ancestor. Three other sons, like the three sous of John Putnam, became the heads of great families,-Samuel, Joseph and Israel.

Samuel, "mariner," settled in Wenham, on the easterly shore of the lake, and a part of his original farm is still occupied by his descendants. His only son, Johu, did much to wipe out the dishonor with which his uncle had stained his grandfather's name. This John was of high respectability, representative to the General Court and moderator of town meetings during the first quarter of the last century, and he married into another eminent family, the Herricks, of Alford's-now Cherry Hill. From the single thread of an only son the line now branched out in the families of five sons, they being of a family of eleven children, whose ages at death aggregated nine hundred and fifty-five years. Of these five sons,

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Samuel, the oldest, lived on the lake-side homestead, and he, too, married well, his wife being a grand- daughter of Governor Simon Bradstreet. Samuel's grandson Isaac was the father of Colonel Paul Porter, commander of the Ipswich regiment of militia in the war of 1812, and a very prominent citizen of Wenham, through whose children to the third and fourth generation the name is preserved in that town. One of the younger of the five sons just mentioned was Jonathan, an inn-holder of Wenham, who was also sent to the General Court. His oldest son was Benjamin, and with him the name returns to Danvers, and adds to our list of military heroes one of the most distinguished. On the pleasant southern slope of the first hill which one meets in driving from Danvers Plains to Topsfield is a well-preserved gable-roofed house, once one of the Rea homes. In a portion of this old house Zerubbabel Rea lived, a hundred and twenty-five years ago, more or less. Through his marriage with Sarah, widow of Barthol- omew Brown, and daughter of Zerubbabel Rea, the place thenceforth became the home of Benjamin Por- ter, who had four sons. Of these, Moses was the oldest, -General Moses Porter, of whom a sketch ap- pears in what is written concerning the Revolution. He was never married. The homestead passed to the third son, Zerubbabel. He, too, was a tanner, and certain stone door-steps in the vicinity are relics of his bark-mill, which stood in the rear of Augustns Fowler's residence, itself a well-preserved relic of two centuries ago. Zerubbabel Porter was also the very first shoe manufacturer of Danvers, the pioneer of that industry for which the town soon become noted. Until within a few years ago the little square shop was sitting in the angle between the highway and the drive to the Rea-Porter house, hugging close to the hill, which was the cradle of our shoe business. Of the men who were there employed, and of the growth of the business from the beginning, a few words will be found elsewhere. Zerubbabel Porter was one of the early Universalists, " was of rare in- telligence, a ready speaker at town-meetings, wrote mnch and well for the newspapers, especially upon political subjects." The writer happened to come across this letter in the files of old papers at the Town- House :

" GENTLEMEN ASSESSORS OF DANVERS :

"I lately received my tax hill for 1839, find addition to my former taxes for many years past about fifty per cent. I think, gentlemen, you must have wrong conceptions of my property and circumstances. I am bordering on eighty years of age and feeble health, . . . as to prop- erty, not five dollars has been added to my estate the year past. . .. Perhaps you think I have stock in the Village bank, by the advice of friends I gave my note on Interest for five shares and have paid the in- terest ever since, you of course will judge the value of such property.

. It has always been my fortune to labor bard, at the age of twen- ty-one it was my fortune to loose one of my hands, of course it made work extremely hard, now I am done, think of these things and doo what is right-if you can consistently with your feelings I think will ahate some of my tax - I am gentlemen myself some acquainted with as- sessing taxes. I very well know it is a difficult office to perform, but

certainly we ought feel for the sick and feeble, for they are not in a capacity to gain property.

"I am Gentlemen, your friend and Servant,

" Z. PORTER."

Zerubbabel Porter died November 11, 1845, in his eighty-seventh year. He left two sons, Warren and Alfred. The former was lieutenant in the War of 1812, and afterwards was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Three males only of the next generation are living in town, Elias Endicott Porter, son of Alfred ; and Dr. Warren Porter and John W. Porter, attorney, sons of Colonel Warren, and upon one little boy, the son of the latter, at present depends the preservation in Danvers of this branch of the family name.

Of the male descendants of pioneer John Porter's next son, Joseph, there are none at all left here. They early scattered. One-Samuel, son of Eleazer, son of Samuel, son of Joseph-graduated at Harvard in 1763, became an eminent lawyer in Salem, was proscribed as a Tory, went to London and died there, after revisiting this country in 1798,-" a gentleman of culture and refinement, who contributed greatly to the enjoyment of the band of refugees at the weekly meetings of the New England Club in London during the war."

One of the purchases which the first John Por- ter made, was that of the Emanuel Downing grant of five hundred acres near the Topsfield line. This farm he gave to Joseph upon his marriage with Anna, daughter of Major William Hathorne, and for many years it remained in the family, probably longer than any other in Danvers. It went down to the fourth consecutive Joseph, who died in 1805, and then passed to Captain Dudley Bradstreet, who married this last Joseph's daughter Polly, from whom it descended to his son, Major John Bradstreet. This is why this old Porter farm is commonly called the "old Bradstreet farm."

To Israel, who established the third and last branch of the Porter family, his father by will bequeathed " my new mansion-house, with all ye housings there- upon, orchards and lands adjoining, so much as was by me purchased of Mr. Sharpe, also I do give him sixty acres of Skelton's necke, i. e. that pt wh I pur- chased of Mr. Skelton's daughters," also "my inter- est in the Saw-mill near Skelton's neck." By pur- chase from his brother Benjamin, who was unmarried, and otherwise, Israel retained all the sonthern portion and, as now settled, by far the richest, of his father's great landed property. One of these deeds from Ben- jamin to Israel, dated Jannary 23, 1700, conveys " a certain parcel of land given unto me by will of my dearest father, and by him purchased part of it of Mr. Gott, part of Jacob Barney, Jeffry Massey, William Watson, John Pickard and Pasco Foot, all which par- cels are commonly called Gott's Corner." This "Gott's Corner " included a part of the beautiful estate which is known as the Burley Farm, now owned by George A. Peabody, Esq., and also the Proctor farm, and

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other lands eastward. It was on or near the site of Mr. Peabody's residence that Israel Porter himself was living in witchcraft times. Israel died in 1706, leaving by will to his oldest sons, John and Israel, all of Sharpe's farm above the Ipswich Road. A deed of partition was made between John and Israel in 1809. John was a " mariner," and probably died in Boston. By virtue of a power in his will his widow Elizabeth, in consideration of twelve hundred and ten pounds, " good bills of credit on the Province," sold to Timo- thy Lyndall, of Boston, gentleman, four tracts em- bracing about two hundred and fifteen acres, July, 1715. The old Lindall house, which stood at the cor- ner of Locust and Poplar Streets, has been referred to in what has been said of the Putnams.

Israel Porter's second son, Israel, one of the clerks of the Village parish, was the father of Ginger, a name now somehow gone out of fashion, who married Elisha Hutchinson and became the mother of an- other Danvers military hero, spoken of later, Colonel Israel Hutchinson.

William, the third son to leave descendants, seems to have lived east of Frost Fish Brook, then Bever- ly, now East Danvers; but, April 19, 1750, he sold his farm of two hundred and forty-six acres to " King " Robert Hooper, and thus another great slice of the Porter lands passed out of the family.

Benjamin, the fourth and last son of Israel to leave descendants, was the father 'of John, an inn-holder, and Benjamin, potter. One of the latter's sons was Israel, who lived during the last half of the last cen- tury, and was the father of Abijah and Benjamin. Abijab lived and died in the old house, on High Street, nearly opposite Aaron Warren's. This his son Isaac inherited, and, in a little cottage close by, the widow of Isaac, Eliza Jocelyn Porter, is living, in her ninetieth year. Abijah's brother, Benjamin, was well known as "Cap'n Ben," who made a fortune in the fishing business at Marblehead, came back to Danvers about 1835, and bought the Nathan Read mansion, near the Iron-Works. His son, Benjamin F. Porter, with his children, now live on the same estate ; and it depends solely upon the young grand- sons of Capt. Ben and the lawyer's little boy, before allnded to, whether the family-name shall be longer preserved where once it was so numerously and powerfully represented. A few other Porters in town are not of this stock.

The Mudges .- Though this family cannot be reck- oned among the early settlers, they have been prom- inent in town for more than a century. Their ances- tor was Thomas Mudge, who was born in England, about 1724, and came to Malden, where he was in 1657. His oldest son was killed at Bloody Brook in 1675, and two others were in Captain Moseley's com- pany. His son John was one of the grantees to whom land was given for services in King Philip's War. John's son was Deacon John, and the deacon was the father of another John, who was a Malden farmer

and died in 1762. This last John had a number of sons, the eldest of whom was killed in his nineteenth year in the French War, under General Amherst; the youngest died from the effects of service in the Revolution ; Simon, the fifth of a family of nine, is of especial interest here.

Simon Mudge was born in Malden, April 8, 1748. He was a carpenter, and he came to Danvers to live two years before the Revolution. The farm which he bought is the one now owned by Amos Pratt, on Cen- tre Street. Subsequently, his widow went to live with her brother, William Whittredge, on the farm at the corner of Dayton and Newbury Streets, where her son Amos continued to live and bring up his family. Simon Mudge also served in the Revolution, and, in July, 1776, marched away with a Danvers company for Ticonderoga. A diary which he kept of his march is preserved in the family and extracts have been printed. Very likely its custodian, who is one of the most zealous of temperance men, fails of being touched by this pitiful complaint :

"August the 6, 1776. Last night Ly ja tentes the town being so full that wo could neither get vituals nor Logeing till this morning there and Rum sells for aino Shillings and fore Peuce a gallon and the most miserable stuff j ever Drank. Drawd for 62 men but uo sauce recd. Or- ders to march to Ticonteroga to-morrow."

He was at Lexington in Captain Flint's company. His wife was Elizabeth Whittredge, of Danvers, who died in 1836, ninety years old; he died in 1799, in his fifty-second year, leaving six children. Of these, two were sons,-Simon and Amos, and but one daugh- ter married,-Nancy, wife of Elijah Hutchinson, of Middleton. Simon was like his father, a farmer and carpenter, and lived and died, 1775-1853, on his father's homestead. His wife was a daughter of Silas Merriam, of Middleton, and the family of Amos Pratt are their only descendants in town ; a son, Wil- liam Whittredge, married a daughter of Jonathan Perry, and moved to Bedford, Mass., in 1856.

Simon's son Amos, born in 1782, was also a car- penter and farmer, and died April 7, 1853. His wife was Sarah Wilson, and they had six children, four sons and two daughters. Josiah, the oldest son, to whom the double occupation descended, is repre- sented by the families of his son Albert H. Mudge and by those of George H. Peabody and Walter T. Martin. Otis, the next son of Amos, received a good academy education, for several years was a success- ful school teacher, and then began the manufacture of shoes, a business in which he was successfully en- gaged until the close of his life. IIe died in 1862 in his forty-ninth year, on the old bomestead, leav- ing no children. He was in the Legislature of 1851, and helped to elect Sumner; was on the school com- mittee and a selectman.

Edwin and Augustus Mudge sons of Amos, are among the most respected and influential citizens of the town. Both have represented their fellow-citi- zens at the State House, the former in the House, the latter in the Senate. Edwin Mudge's contribution of

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his legislative salary towards the erection of the Soldier's Monument is mentioned in the chapter on the Civil War. Augustus is president of the savings- bank. In 1849 the partnership of E. and A. Mudge, shoe manufacturers, was formed, which, with the addi- tion of Edward Hutchinson, in 1858, has remained since unchanged. Of this business something further appears in the sketch of the shoe industry of the town.

The two daughters of Amos Mudge,-Nancy and Caroline, married, respectively, Zephaniah Pope and James Marsh.

INCORPORATION .- The municipal individuality of Danvers begins January 25, 1752. For a consider- able time previously there had been a growing desire for separation from Salem both at the Village and the Middle Parish. During the preceding summer a spe- cial committee, consisting on the part of the Village, of Samuel Flint, Cornelius Tarball and James Prince, and ou the part of the parish, of Daniel Epes, Jr., Malachi Felton and John Proctor, considered the matter, and in anticipation of securing their end proposed that plan which, for more than a hundred years, was substantially lived up to, namely,-" Ye major part of ye selectmen and assessors shall be Chosen one year in one parish, and ye next year in ye other parish successively." The committee were instructed at once "to labour," both at old Salem and in the General Court,-a mild sort of lobby, per- haps, which was successful in obtaining desired legis- lation. The full text of the act of incorporation is as follows :

" Anno Regni Regis Georgii Secundi &c., Vicessimo Quinto.

" An act for erecting the Village parish and middle Parish so called, in the Town of Salem into a Distinct and separate District by the Name of Dauvers.

" Whereas, the Town of Salem is Very Large and the Inhabitants of the Village and Middle parishes so called within ye same (many of them at Least,) live att a great Distance from that part of Salem where the Publick affairs of the Town are Transacted and also from the Grammer School which is kept in ye sd first Parish.

"And Whereas, most of the Inhabitants of the sd first Parish are Either Merchants, Traders or Mechanicks & those of ye sd Village and Middle parishes are chiefly Husbandmen, by means whereof many Dis- putes & Difficultys have Arrissen and May hereafter arise in the man- ageing their public Affairs Together, &, Especially touching ye Appor- tioning the Public Taxes, For preventing of which Inconveniences for the future.

" Be it Enacted by the Lieut. Governour, Council, and House of Rep- resentatives, That that part of ye s'd Town of Salem which now cousti- tutes the village and middle parishes in sd Town according to their boundaries and the Inhabitants therein, be Erected into a separate and Distinct District by the Name of Daovers, and that said Inhabitants shall do the dutys that are Required and Enjoyned on other Towns, and Enjoy all the Powers, Privileges and Immunities that Towns in this province by Law Enjoy, except that of seperately chuseing and sending one or more Representatives to Represent them att ye Genll Assembly, &c.

" Jany ye 25, 1752."

A " district " differed from a "town " only in the matter of sending representatives to the General Court. A district could not do that ; it sent a " dele- gate." And so jealous was the King of that body 28%

that the Governor was charged to consent to no di- vision of territory which would add to its members. The act was considerably more than half a loaf, and the rest soon came. As to the origin of the name "Danvers," there is yet some doubt. "D'Anvers " is au old English family name, evidently of French origin. In one of the numbers of the London Art Journal an article on ancient street tablets gives a cut of one in Chelsea with this inscription :

This is Danvers Street.

1696.

The conclusion accepted by S. P. Fowler, who has made the subject a study, is that "in some way not yet discovered the name came from Sir Danvers Os- borne, Bart., the unfortunate Governor of New York, in 1753." Mr. Rice has added: "I think it must have been through Lieutenant-Governor Phipps."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 128

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