History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 130

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 130

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spicuous was his service among the "Sons of Liberty" that, as will be seen, they were in constant requisi- tion wherever there was work for a mind ready for wise counsel and a heart full of untiring devotion. Let a few words be here written of him, just as his name first appears, though it be partly in anticipation of events which should follow later.

Samuel Holten was born Jnne 9, 1738; he died January 2, 1816, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and is recalled as an old man by a few very old citizens. He was of the third generation from Jo- seph Houlton, an original settler of Salem Village, and one of the honored heads, the line being Joseph, Henry, Samuel, Samuel. Samuel, Jr., studied medi- cine with Dr. Jonathan Prince, whose home was on the southern slope of the Asylum hill. He began practice when quite young in Gloucester, but soon returned here. In his thirtieth year he was chosen representative to the General Court. His services in the convention of 1768 have been alluded to. He was in the Provincial Congress of 1775, an active member of the general Committee of Safety, a member of the Executive Council under the provisional government, and soon his profession and all other interests, save those of his country, were abandoned. He was a delegate in 1778 to the Congress which framed the Articles of Confederation, being forty years old when his sphere of usefulness so broadened, and at some time he presided over the body, thus occupying tem- porarily " the first seat of honor in his country." He was five years in Congress under the confederation, and two under the constitution. Ill-health prevented his longer acceptance of the willing suffrages of his constituents. At home, he was five years in the Sen- ate and twelve years in the Council. Though he seems to have made no special study of law, his rep- utation for probity and good sense was such that he was appointed as early as 1776 a judge of Common Pleas for Essex County, a po-ition which he held about thirty-two years. From 1796 to 1815 he was judge of probate for Essex County. Duties to the State and the country did not, however, alienate him from the small affairs of his own town. His name will appear most conspicuously in the lists of town officers,- selectman, town-clerk, moderator, treasurer for twenty-four years, even hog-reeve. In the church and parish he was equally useful, being often instru- mental as an arbiter in matters of difference and del- icacy to bring them to a happy issue. His home was the somewhat ancient and stately house where the street which hears his name makes, after passing through Tapleyville, a sharp bend to the Village church,-now owned hy Thomas Palmer. A remi- niscence of his early practice as a physician has heen preserved,-

Mr. JEREMIAH PAGE to SAM'L HOLTEN, Jun., Dr. 1763.

£ 8. d. Jan 28 to Feby 3d. To eleven visits & divers preparations of medicines for your first child . 1 17 10

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Feb 16 to March 7. To 15 visits & sundry medicines prepared

and exhibited for your lust child . 2 12 0

4 9 10

28th. By niedicines returned 28. 8d.

March 14. By cash to make change. Errors Excep'd SAM'L HOLTEN Jr

four shillings nnd 13d. gavo in.

The Holten High-School and the Holten Cemetery, wherein he is buried, also bear his name. He was one of the incorporators of the Massachusetts Medi- cal Society in 1781, and of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture in 1792. He is described as majestic in form, yet graceful, of pleasing counte- nance and engaging manners. "He was not a bril- liant man, and perhaps not a great man in ability for any one line of action ; but he was great in capacity for general accomplishment, in balance of mind and in the easy and regular and effective working of all his faculties upon whatever service they might be employed. He was faithful, too, in every trust. All things considered, he was the most remarkable man the town has ever produced." He left two daughters, one of whom married Dr. George Osgood, the other, Jethro, son of Colonel Enoch Putnam, and the de- scendants of Jethro's son, Philemon, are still living near the old homestead. Having in mind the tradi- tional dignity and courtly appearance of the doctor, it occasioned a smile to come upon Gideon Putnam's record of a certain very lively meeting over the Wa- ter's River Bridge, when, "there being a Considerable Noise, the moderator got up on his seat and Called for order and made a Speech to the people." This was the doctor.

The men of Danvers were warned to meet May 28, 1770, "to see what methods said inhabitants will come into, in regard to the Publick Grievances the Province Labours under at this Day, in Particular, In regard to a Duty on Tea, etc., for the sole purpose of Raising a Revenue out of America, and to Act upon said affair what may be thought most proper." Dr. Holten, Arch. Dale, Captain William Shillaber, Dr. Amos Putnam and Gideon Putnam were instructed to consider and report, and what they reported was thus adopted :

" Voted that this Town Highly Approve of the Spirited Conduct of the Merchants of our Metropolis, and the other Maritime Town in this Prov- ince in an Agreement of Non importation well calculated to Restore our Invaluable Rights and Liberties. Voted that we will not ourselves (to our knowledge) or by any person for or under us, Directly or Indirectly Purchase of such Person or Persons any Goods whatsoover, and, as far as we can effect it, will withdraw our connection from every Person who shall Import Goods from Great Britain Contrary to the agreement of the Merchants aforesaid.

" Voted that we will not Drink any foreign Tea ourselves. and use our best Endeavours to prevent our Families, and those Connected with them, from the uso thereof ; from this Date until the Act imposing n Duty on that Article be repealed, or a genern) Importation shall take place, Cases of sickness Excepted.

" Voted, that the Town Choose a Committee of Twelve men to carry a Copy of these vetes to every llouseholder for him to sign, and in case any Person refuse to sign ; as above said, he shall be Looked upon as nn Enemy to the Liberties of the people, and shall have their Name Regis- ter'd in the Town Book.

" Yoted, that a copy of these votes be printed in the Essex Gazette, that

the Publiek inny know the sentiments of this town. The foregoing re- port being several times rend, voted to accept the roport by a unanimous rote.

" Voted, John Nichols, Arch', Dale, Benjr. Putnam, Dr. Amos Putnam, Capt. Flint, Benja. Russell, Junr., Samuel Gardner, Jonn. Tarbel, Jesper Needham, Win. Shillaber, Joseph Seccomb & Dencon Benje. Sawyer ; Bo n Committee for the purposes mentioned in the foregoing report. Then the Moderator Dissolved the Meeting.

" Attest : SAM'L HOLTEN, JUNR., T. Cler."

In this connection a story is told of the wife of a distinguished patriot who, not quite able to forego the luxury of enjoying with a few callers a sip of the for- bidden beverage, kept within the agreement not to drink a drop within the house, by entertaining them on top of the house. The incident has been charm- ingly told in the verse of Lucy Larcom. The old house is a conspicuous figure on the Plains, and one can easily imagine, within the low railing which still surrounds the easy slope of the upper portion of the gambrel roof, that little party enjoying their innocent rebellion. A story is told, too, of the suspicion of certain husbands of the south parish that a large coffee-pot "several sizes smaller than a common light- house," was surreptitiously used by their wives at quiltings and such gatherings, for tea-drinking, and the practice was effectively broken up by the discov- ery, one night when the grounds were being concealed as usual behind the back-log, of what remained of one of those little creatures which inhabit gardens, hop well and look ugly.

A number of years after, licenses to sell tea were issued, in this form :

"Mrs. Mercy Porter is permitted to sell Boben and other India Teas by Retail for one year to commence from the Day of the Dato hereof. " Danvers, Feb'y 20, 1782.

" SYLVESTER PROCTOR.

" DANIEL PUTNAM.

"STEPHEN NEEDHAM.

Selectmen of J Danvers."

Similar permits were at the same time granted to Major Samuel Epes, John Dodge, Eben'r Sprague, Captain Gideon Foster, Zach. King, David Foster, Nathan Proctor and Captain Samuel Page.

In the middle of January, 1773, the worshippers at the North Meeting-House and at the South Meet- ing-House, found posted conspicuously a warrant under the hand of Gideon Putnam, town clerk, calling upon the freeholders and other inhabitants to assem- ble in town-meeting at two o'clock on the afternoon of the following day at the South Meeting-House " to see what method said inhabitants will take in order that our civil Privileges may be Restored and trans- mitted Inviolate to the latest Posterity." At the meeting so called Joseph Southwick was moderator. A motion was carried to choose a committee to take into consideration our civil privileges and to "Draw up something proper for the town to act." It was voted that Francis Symonds, Benjamin Proctor, Gid- eon Putnam, Captain William Shillaber, Doc'r Amos Putnam, Tarrant Putnam, Jun., and Wm. Pool be this committee. In two weeks the committee pre- sented this report :

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DANVERS.

"The Freeholders & other Inhabitants of the Town of Danvers Leg- ally assembled, by adjournment ye Ist Day of February, 1773, Taking into Consideration the Unhappy Situation of our Civil Privileges, -Pro- ceeded to Pass the Following Resolves -- (viz. : )

" I, that we will use our utmost Endeavours that all Constitutional Laws are Strictly adheared to. and Faithfully Executed, believing that Next to our duty to God, Loyalty to our King (in a Constitutional way) is Required in Order to the wellbeing of the Community.

"II, that when Government becomes Tyrannical & Oppresive we hold ourselves bound in Duty to Ourselves, & Posterity, to use every Lawful Method to Check the Same, least it Deprive the Subject of Every Priv- lege that is Valuable.

"IlI, that it is the Opinion of this Town, that the Rights of the Col- loniete in General, & this Province in Particular, have of late been greatly Infringed upon by the Mother Country by unconstitutional Measnrs which have been Adopted by the Ministry, tending wholly to Overthrow our Civil Privileges, Particularly in Assuming the Power of Legislation for the Colonists, in Raising a Revenue in the Colonies without their Consent, in Creating a Number of officers Unknown in the Charter, and investing such Officers with Powers wholly anconsti- tntional, and Distructive to the Liberties we have a right to Enjoy as Engleshmeu ; in Rendering the Governor Independent of the General Assembly for his support, and by Instructions from the Court of Great Brittain the first Brauch of our Legislature has so far forgot hie Duty to the Province, as that he hath Refused his Consent to an Act imposing a Tax for the Necessary support of Government, unless Certain Persone Pointed out by the Ministry were Exempted from Paying their just Proportion of said Taxes, and hath Given up the Chief Fortress of the Trorince (Castle William) into the Hands of Troops, over whoom he Declared he had no Controul ; in Extending the Power of the Courts of Vice Admiralty to such a Degree as Deprives the People of the Collonies (in Great Measure) of their inestimable Rights of Tryals by juries, & in that we have Reason to fear (from Information) the jadges of the Supe- rior Court & &c., are Rendered independent of the People for their Liberties.

"IIII, that an act of Parliament intitled an Act for the better Perser_ vation of his Majesties dockyards & &c. (in consequence of which, Com missioners have been Appointed to inquire after the Persons, Concerned in burning his Majesties Schooner, the Gaspee, att Providence) has Greatly Alarmed us tho we are very far from Pretending to justyfy the Act, yet we Apprehend Such Methods very Extraordinary, as the Con- stitution has Made Provision for the Punishment of Such Offenders- by all which it appears to us, that in Consequence of Some Unguarded Condnet of Particular Persons, the Colonies in General, and thie Prov- ince in Particular are, for our Loyalty, Constantly receiving the Punish- ment due to Rebellion Only.

"V, that we will use all Lawful Endeavoure for Recovering, main- taining & Preserving the invaluable rights & Privileges of this People and Stand Ready (if need be) to Risque our Livee & fortunes in De- fence of those Liberties which our forefathers Purchased at eo Dear a Rate.

"VI, that the Inhabitants of this Town do hereby Instruct their Rep_ resentative, that he use liis Influence, in the Great & General Court, or Assembly of this Province, & in a Constitutional way Earnestly Con_ tend for the just Rights & Privileges of the People that they may be handed down inviolate to the Late t Posterity, and as this depende in a Great Measure on the Steady, firm and United Endeavours of all the Provinces on the Continent, we further Instruct him to use his influ- ence that a Strict Union & Correspondence be Cultivated & Preserved between the Same, and that they Unitedly Petition his Majesty & Parli- ment for the Redress of all our Pablick grievancies ; we farther In- struct him, by no Means to Consent to give up any of our Privilegee, whether Derived from Nature or Charter which we has as just a Right to Enjoy as any of the Inhabitants of Great Brittain ; also that he use bis Endeavonrs that ample and Honerable Sallaries he Granted to his Excellency, the Governor, and to the Honerable judges of the Superior Court & &c., adequate to their Respective Dignities.

"The foregoing was Put to vote Paragraph by Paragraph and they all past in the affirmative.

"Voted, that a Committee of three men be appointed to Correspond with the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Boston and Other Towns in this Province as Ocation shall or may Require.

"Voted, Doctor Samuel Holten be one of Said Committee.

"Voted, Tarrant Putnam, Jur., be one of Said Committee.

"Voted, Capt. William Shillaber he one of Said Committee.

"Toted, that the above Committee be Desired to Send an attested Copy

of the Resolves of this Town to the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Boston."

"Toted, that this meeting be Desolved & the moderator Desolved it accordingly.

" Attest, GIDEON PUTNAM, T. Clerk."

Early in June, 1774, the Royal Governor, General Thomas Gage, finding Boston too hot to be comfort- able, came out into the country and made his resi- dence in Danvers. The place thus distinguished, not far from the present division line of Danvers and Pea- body, called the "Collins House," the residence of Francis Peabody, has been kept in repair and pre- served with fine taste in colonial style, and with its approach bordered by lines of ancient over-hanging trees, is one of the finest old mansions to be seen anywhere. It was built by Robert Hooper, a mag- nate of literal " codfish aristocracy." He was the son of a poor man but rose to great wealth, and for a time nearly monopolized the fishing business of Mar- blehead. Partly from the grandeur of his mode of life and equipages, bnt more especially because of his personal honor and integrity he was commonly called "King Hooper." It is a tradition among the fishermen that he, rare exception to men similarly engaged, never cheated them or took advantage of their ignorance. He built this house in Danvers about 1770. While Governor Gage resided here he was attended by a strong detachment of the Sixty- Fourth Royal Infantry, who were encamped on the opposite plain. The presence of these soldiers was to the growing hostility of the people, what the color of their uniforms is to the animal typically representing English character. They were under good discipline and generally behaved themselves well. The grand- mother of Deacon Fowler, a danghter of Archelaus Putnam, remembers that one day two officers sur- prised her in Colonel Hutchinson's, her stepfather's, orchard at New Mills. To one who commenced to climb the fence, the other said, " Wait till the girl goes away ; do not frighten her." Mrs. Fowler used to relate of Governor Gage that he often conversed with Colonel Hutchinson, was affable and courteous, and once, while sitting on a log before the door, he said, "We shall soon quell these feelings and govern all this," sweeping out his arm with an expressive ge-ture. The camp was watchful against surprise, re- alizing how unwelcome was its presence, and of what a lively spirit of rebellion they were in the midst. "Part of the Sixty-Fourth Regiment encamped near the Governor's, we hear, were under arms all last Friday," reads a contemporaneous newspaper item. Some pranks were played on the troops; at the drum- call to arms, a man so well disguised as to make his identity uncertain, but said to have been Aaron Cheever, dashed in on horseback shouting "Hurry to Boston ! the Devil is to pay !" Early in September the regiment departed. There was a large oak on the plain which had been used for a whipping-post in the camp. The timber of this tree was afterwards used in

448

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

building the frigate Essex at Salem. The iron-staple to which the British soldiers were strung up for the lash was found imbedded in the wood, which, by a singular turn, became the stern-post of the frigate.

As one passes the old Collins honse it is common to hear of a bullet-hole which has been preserved in the door, and there are various stories as to where the bullet came from. Hon. Daniel P. King stood sponsor to one of which this is the substance: On the gate-posts were large balls, ornamented with lead. A party of patriots going to join the army helped themselves to this precious material. The owner came to the door and remonstrated with such abusive epithets that a man hinted that his presence could be dispensed with by firing pretty near where he stood. "King Hooper " was supposed to be tainted with toryism. At a town-meeting in May, 1775, "a letter was read from Mr. Hooper, voted not satisfac- tory to the inhabitants." Later he made, in Marble- head, a more public recantation, and was received again in public favor, but he died, in 1790, insolvent. The house passed to the hands of Judge Benajah Collins, whose name it commonly bears. At one time it was in the Tapley family, and again owned and occupied by Rev. P. S. Ten-Broeck, who kept a girls' boarding-school there. It is said there were but two native born Danvers tories,-Rev. William Clark, son of Rev. Peter Clark, who, in 1768, was an Episcopal minister in Quincy, and was afterwards confined in a prison-ship in Boston harbor ; the other, James Putnam, went to Halifax, became one of the council and a judge of the Supreme Conrt, and died at St. Johns in 1789.

In the winter of 1774-75 the clouds grew very black, the mutterings more unmistakable. On the 21st of November the town turned its back to England by voting to adhere strictly to all the resolves and recom- mendations of the Provincial Congress. Early in Jan- uary each man was supplied with " an effective fire-arm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack, thirty rounds of cartridges and ball," and discipline was required three times a week, and oftener as opportunity may offer. Before long something happened.

One of the characters of New Mills was Richard Skidmore, a drummer at the siege of Louisburg, a soldier and privateersman in the Revolution, and, as will be noticed, a member of the alarm list of 1814. At the head of the latter company, an old man, he vigorously beat the same drum which he had used at Louisburg. A barrel of rum once fell to his share of a prize; as long as it lasted, he said, he heard " How do you do, Mr. Skidmore ?" but as soon as the rum was gone, it was "How are you, old Skid ?" again. Skidmore was a wheelwright, and had made several vehicles of a pattern not commonly seen in village shops, gun-carriages. The guns themselves were concealed somewhere, it is supposed, at the North Fields. Information of their existence reached Bos- ton, and Colonel Leslie's regiment was sent to effect

their capture. Of the bloodless repulse at North Bridge, the persistent yet prudent conduct of Colonel Leslie, the valiant resistance of the men who blocked the march, the story belongs to Salem, and will there be found. Danvers men flew to the spot as the alarm spread swiftly over the country. Had one shot been fired, right there would have begun the war. This was the 26th of February, 1775.

Some seven weeks later a similar search party stealthily moved out from Charlestown to seize stores reported concealed at Concord. Paul Revere was out that night. Then followed Lexington, and Liberty entered upon her baptism of blood.

It was between five and six o'clock on the morn- ing of April 19, that the engagement took place on Lexington common. The British moved on and arrived at Concord, some six or seven miles beyond, about nine o'clock. By that time the rapid alarm had reached Danvers, sixteen miles away. It met with instant response. Two companies of minute men and three companies of militia, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men, hurried to the scene of ac- tion. Learning of the retreat from Concord, the ob- jective point was to reach Cambridge soon enough to cut off the British from effecting a return. To do this they went on a rnn, and in a few hours they were in the midst of action. Few well men could be found in Danvers that day ; at New Mills not one.

The women who were left alone at New Mills gathered at the house of Col. Hutchinson to watch and wait together. To their anxious vigil news of the fight came on the evening of the nineteenth. Were the men safe? Most of them. Were any hurt? Some. Were any --? Yes, young bride of a few weeks, your husband, Jotham Webb, was one of the first martyrs to Liberty. Six others, only one more than twenty-five years old, lost their lives, of the men who went out from Danvers,-Henry Jacobs, Samuel Cook, Ebenezer Goldthwaite, George Southwick, Benjamin Daland, Jr. and Perley Putnam. Nathan Putnam and Dennison Wallace were wounded; Jos. Bell, missing.

On the evening of the twentieth, several men on horseback drove up to the house where the women waited, escorting a horse-cart which bore a precious burden. On the kitchen floor of that house which is still standing, the dead were unrolled from the bloody sheets, and the next morning were taken away for bnrial. Danvers suffered more than any other town after Lexington. The corner-stone of the monument at the corner of Main and Washington Streets, Pea- body, was erected in commemoration of the dead, April 20, 1835, the sixtieth anniversary of the fight. Gen. Gideon Foster, who led the way to Lexington, took part in the exercises, and a number of survivors of the fight were present.

Of the five Danvers companies which took part in the flight, two, commanded by Captains Samuel Epps and Gideon Foster, were composed mostly of south

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DANVERS.

parish men, and their muster rolls will be found under the history of Peabody. The three other com- panies were composed of the following men, most of them then living within the present limits of Danvers :

HUTCHINSON'S COMPANY .- Captain, Israel Hutchinson ; Lieutenants, Enoch Putaam, Aaron Cheever ; Ensign, Job Whipple ; Privates, Samuel Goodrich, Eliphalet Perley, Nathaniel Cheever, Eben Andrew, James Burley, Samuel Chase, Nathaniel Durton, Heury Dwinnels, John Fran- cis, William Freetoe, Nathan Putnam, James Porter, Tarrant Putnam, Thomas White, Samuel Baker, Samuel Fairfield, Benjamin Porter (3d), Jonathan Sawyer, William Towne, W. Warder, Perley Putnam, Benja- min Shaw, William Batchelder, Jotham Webb. Also twenty-four men from Beverly.

PAGE'S COMPANY .- Captain, Jeremiah Page ; Lieutenants, Joseph Por- ter, Heury Putnam ; Ensign, Richard Skidmore; Prirotes, Samuel Stick- ney, James Putnam, Benjamin Putnam, Sr., Daniel Bootman, David Bootman, John Nichols, Jr., John Brown, Jethro Putnam, Jeremiah Putoam, William Feudo, Joha Ward, Michael Webb, Benjamin Kim- ball, Benjamin Kent, Stephen Putoam, Joseph Smith, Elisha Hutchin- soo, Benjamin Stickey, Mathew Whipple, Enoch Thurston, Phillip. Nurse, Robert Eudicott, David Felton, Daniel Verry, David Verry, Archelaus Rea, Jr., James Goody, Nathan Porter, Samuel Whittemore, Nathan Putnam, Peter Putnam, Samuel Fowler, Samnel Dutch, Eben Jacobs, Jr., Samuel Page.

FLINT'S COMPANY. - Captain, Samuel Flint; Lieutenants, Daniel Pnt- nam, Joseph Putnam ; Ensign, Israel Putoam ; Privates, Asa Uptou, Abel Nichols, Thomas Andrew, Amos Tapley, William Putnam, Joseph Daniels, Joshua Dodge, Jonathan Sheldon, William Goodale, Benjamin Russell, Mathew Potoam, John Hutchinson, Jr., Aaron Tapley, Levi Preston, Peter Putoam, Johu Preston, Daniel Lakeman, Israel Cheever, Eleazer Pope, Jr., Aaron Gilbert, Nathaniel Smith, Jonathan Russell, Daniel Russell, Jethro Russell, John Hutchinson, Stephen Russell, Geo. Small, Jr., Nathaniel Pope, Jr., Joseph Tapley, Simon Mudge, William Whittredge, Josiah Whittredge, Eben Mcintyre, John Kettel, Benjamin Nurse, Eleazer Goodale, Amos Buxtou, Jr., Reuben Barthirk, James Burch, Michael Cross, Israel Smith.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 130

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