History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 161

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 161

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Willson, Nath'l Rust, Simon Chapman, Mr. Wm. Norton, Mr. Thomas Andrews, Joseph Quilter.

11. Villages,-The Town Village, with the First Church as a centre, is about one mile from the sea in latitude 42° 41' N. and longitude 70° 50' IV.,-or ex- actly, according to the United States Coast Survey in 1850, the former rnos along and crosses High Street from the front of the Lord Mansion to Mineral Street, and the latter crosses Market Street into Union. It is five and a half miles from the Linebrook Church ; five and a quarter from Castle Neck or Patch's Beach, and three from the Almshouse. It is 27.8 miles from Boston, the State capital; 11.5 from Salem, the county capital; and 9.5 from Newburyport. Other villages, as reported by the United States Census of 1880, were Argilla, Candlewood, Goose, Ipswich, Linebrook, Mill, Peatfield, Turkeyshore and Willowdale.

12. Population .- The population about 1650, ac- cording to Wonder-working Providence, was "about one hundred and forty-families," which, we compute, was about 700 inhabitants. In 1680 there were one hundred and twenty-six voters, which, we presume, represented about 825 people. The growth has been slow, many decades making little increase, a few slightly retrograding. The population in 1830 was 2951; in 1885, 4207, with a proportion of 47 males to 53 females. The growth in fifty-five years has been 42 per centum, making an average per annum of 77-100 of 1 per centum. The growth of the last dec- ade has been 12 per centum. There are at present, by the Manual of the Legislature for 1887, 1,016 voters. The census of 1880 reports 694 dwellings and 861 families, and a population of 3,699, of whom 3,257 are native-born and 442 are foreign-born ; 219 being Irish, 129 English, 54 Canadians, 16 Nova Scotians, 11 Scotch and 6 Germans. There were 25 colored persons of African descent.

SCENERY.

1. Its Character .- Our town has no White Moun- tains, nor Berkshire Hills,-nothing wild, awful, or grand ; but our landscape affords an agreeable variety and a peculiar beauty. The diversity of hill and vale, of meadow and marsh, of woodland and field, of river, and pond, and brook,-enhanced by the va- riety of the seasons; verdure and flower, the cattle upon the hillside and the husbandman in the field, the fruit-setting and the waving grass, the ripening apple and the purpling plum, the yellow corn and the nodding grain, and the enchanting beauty of our frost-painted forests, gratifies the eye, educates the heart and sheds over the mind a soft radiance of perennial joy.

2. Pond .-- In the Linebrook District is a beautiful sheet of water, called successively Baker's, Pritch- ard's, Great and Hood's Pond, by which last name it is now known. Its surface is eighty feet above Town Hill, or one hundred and ninety-two feet above sea- level. It might be made an excellent reservoir for

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fire or other purpose, for the village of Topsfield, or Ipswich, or perhaps both. Rev. Jacob Hood, of Lynnfield, who died, in 1885, at the age of ninety- four years, surveyed it, in his youth, and computed the area, at nearly eighty acres. In the winter of 1861-62, the writer surveyed it, and made, by tra- verse-table, sixty-five and nine-tenths acres. A third of the pond is in Topsfield, and a dozen years ago that town stocked it with perch and black bass, thus availing itself of a State law, which, for that purpose, gave that town exclusive control of the waters for fifteen years. On its bosom blooms the fragrant, white-petaled lily ; and boats for rowing and sailing iuvite to healthful recreation ; and it lends a charm to the surrounding hills. On the west, rising seven- ty feet ;above its surface, is a broad grazing field, where General Israel Putnam, in his boyhood, when in the tutelage of his stepfather, went to find and "fetch" the cows; and on the east is Burnham's Hill, named from James Burnham, who, in 1717, owned the land.

3. Streams .- The principal streams are Winthrop's, Norton's, Howlet's, Mile and Bull Brooks, which used to be good fishing for pickerel aud trout. Other streams are North, or Egypt River (now Bull Brook), and Muddy and Ipswich Rivers, all of which have been serviceable for fishing, for irrigation and for mill-privileges. The Ipswich River rises in "Ma- ple Meadow Brook," in the town of Burlington, and meanders through Wilmington, North Reading, Mid- dleton and Topsfield, entering our town upon the southwest border. Upon its banks, throughout its length, are saw, grist, paper, cotton and woolen- mills, enhancing its picturesqueness by its utility.

4. Elevation .- The seeming discrepancy in the area of the pond, above mentioned, and the subsi- dence of Egypt River, serve to illustrate the fact of a general elevation of the territory. Old deeds speak of ponds in the vicinity of the West Meadow, which are unknown to the present generation ; yet there are swamps which answer to the location and size.

5. Hills .- We have two hills more than two hun- dred and fifty feet high, three more than two hun- dred, and nine more than a hundred and fifty. A thoughtful view from either is delightful and in- structive. It was Heartbreak Hill, one hundred and ninety-six feet high, from which an ancient hunter's fair daughter watched in vain for the return of her sailor-lover, and died of a broken heart. Turner's Hill, two hundred and fifty feet high, shows the State Asylum at Danvers, and the nearer and mag- nificent view of forest, and farm, and river. The hill is upon the "Bracket Farm," in Willowdale. It is surmounted by a commanding look-out; the grove upon its slope has been prepared for picnic parties, an artificial pond of an acre's extent, drawing its supply from a generous spring above, is furnished with boat for recreation, and a huckleberry field, 37

from which fifty bushels have been gathered in a day, is near and free to all. Drive-ways, and sta- bles, and pond, and boat, and spring, and field, in- vite . the weary to rest and recuperation, and the grounds which have recently been christened " Mount Turner," are fast becoming a noted public resort for peoples far and near. There is also Bartholomew's Hill, two hundred and four feet high, at whose foot once dwelt William Bartholomew, an early benefac- tor of the town; Turkey, two hundred and forty feet high ; Jewett's, or Muzzy's, two hundred and twelve feet high; Little Turner, one hundred and ninety- seven feet high ; Bush, one hundred and ninety-three feet high ; Scott's, one hundred and eighty feet high ; and Sagamore, one hundred and seventy-two feet high, where, instead of Sagamore in Hamilton, should rest the bones of our Masconnomet. Prospect Hill is two hundred and sixty feet above the sea-level, and shows us the White Mountains, Old Monadnock and Wachusett. Town, or Cemetery Hill, is one hundred and eighty-four feet high, and shows the village and surrounding farms, the Pow-wow Hill of Amesbury and the white church spires of Newburyport. ' Castle Hill, the grand old sentinel of " ye anciente tyme," located on the famous Ipswich Beach, at the mouths of Ipswich and Plum-Island Rivers, rises one hundred and sixty-eight feet, and embraces in her view the winding stretch of the river, the busy mills, the cat- tle-grazed hillsides, the cultivated fields, the bustling village, far lonely Agamenticus, the island-bound coast of Maine, the Isles of Shoals, the white crests of the ocean, the spreading sails of commerce, the headland and silvery beach and rolliug surf of Cape Ann, the villages of Lanesville, Bay View and Annis- quam, and the summer homes of Col. French and Gen. Butler, depicting a panorama of exquisite beauty and rare interest. This is the native hill of Mr. John B. Brown, of Chicago, who, after years of absence and success, having never forgotten the haunts of his boyhood, is now grading and terracing it, planting npon it trees and laying out drive-ways, and other- wise beautifying it and making it as attractive as the view from the summit.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

1. John Winthrop, Jr., the founder of this town, was born in Groton, County Essex, England, Febru- ary 12, 1606. He was a son of Governor John Win- throp of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He grad- uated at Dublin University, at the age of nineteen ; he became a barrister of the Inner Temple; he was a member of the relief expedition to the Huguenots, at Rochelle, in 1627; he came to this country in 1631, and to this town in 1633. He had two houses in town, one on the Essex Road, and one at Castle Hill. Soon after the settlement of the town, his first wife died ; he had a second wife, Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Edmund Reade, of Wickford, County Essex, England. She was the mother of all his chil-

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dren. After her father's death, her mother married the celebrated Hugh Peters. John visited England many times, and while there was serviceable in many ways to the colony. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society, and so wore the honorable title F.R.S. He was the founder of the Connecticut Colony, and several years its Governor. He was efficient in all his enterprises. He belonged to a highly esteemed family. After the dissolution of the monasteries almost the whole of the parish was given to them as their future domain. Why they resigned their wealth and distinction for the wilderness can hardly be con- jectured. Governor Winthrop, the younger, "appears in history without a blemish. Highly educated and accomplished, he was no less upright and generous. In the bloom of life, he left all his brilliant prospects in the old world to follow the fortunes of the new. When his father had made himself poor in nourish- ing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, this noble son gave up voluntarily his own large inheritance to further the good work." He died iu Boston, April 5, 1676.

2. Governor Thomas Dudley was born in Northampton, England, in 1576. He settled in this town soon after the settlement, and during or shortly after his first term as Colonial-Governor. He owned land on the north side of the town upon which he built a house, all of which he afterwards sold to Mr. Hubbard. He also owned land near Heartbreak Hill. He disposed of most of his estate in the town about the time of his second inauguration as Governor. He was a resident here some nine or ten years. He was assistant six years, Deputy-Governor thirteen years, and Governor four years. He died July 27, 1653.

3. Governor Simon Bradstreet was born in Holling, Horbling, Lincolnshire, England, March, 1603. He matriculated, July 9, 1618, as a sizer, Emmanuel Col- lege, when he was fourteen years old. In two years he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and, in 1624, the Master's degree. When he was about twenty- five years old, he married Anne Dudley, daughter of Governor Dudley, who became the first New England poetess. He came here in 1630. He was assistant forty-eight years, colonial secretary thirteen years, Deputy-Governor five years, and Governor ten years. He was a resident of this town about twenty years. In March, 1658, he was a resident of Andover. He died in Salem, March 27, 1697, at the great age of ninety-four years.

4. Deputy-Governor Samuel Symonds came from Yieldham, County Essex, England, and settled here in 1637-38. He was made fireman in 1638, was town clerk from 1639 to 1645, was professor of the Gram- mar School, deputy to the General Court from 1638 to 1643, then assistant to 1673, when he was elected Deputy-Governor, an office which he held till his death. He was long time a justice of the Quarter Court. He was one of the committee to draft a body of laws in 1645. He addressed Governor Winthrop,

in 1646, urging more activity in the divine purpose in the settlement of New England-Christianizing the Indians. He was of the committee " to pass the arti- cles of Confederation with the United Colonies," in 1643, and to examine the proceedings of the commis- sioners in May 10, 1648. The Legislature granted him five hundred acres of Pequod land, and in 1651 he was granted three hundred acres of the land beyond the Merrimac. He was one of these several committees: To visit and settle a government at Piscataqua, 1652; to prepare the case of the United Colonies against the Dutch and Indians, 1653; to prepare and present the case of the Colony to Crom- well, 1654; to receive the allegiance of the natives to Colonial authority, July 13, 1658; to consider the matter between the King's Commissioners and the Assembly, in 1665; to revise certain laws annulled by the King, one of which abolished the observance of Christmas, as a relic of Episcopacy, 1667. He held court in York County in 1672; and he often per- formed such service outside the jurisdiction of the Ipswich Court. He was away from home so much on public business, and his house was so remote from neighbors, that two men were appointed to guard it, during the war, in 1675. In December the enemy burned his mills at " Lamperee River."

He died in October, 1678. The Legislature as a token of respect, voted £20 towards his funeral charges. His first wife was daughter of Governor Winthrop, and was living September 30, 1648. His second wife was Rebecca, widow of Daniel Eppes, and died July 21, 1695, aged seventy-eight years. His estate was £2534 9s. His Argilla Farm is a noted district in town at present.

5. Joseph Metcalfe was born about 1605; he died August or September, 1665, aged sixty years. He held various town offices ; he was deputy eight years between 1635 and 1661. He was a committee to col- lect gifts made by friends in England, in 1655, and also one of the Essex committee for trade. He owned an estate in the village, and lands in the Linebrook district, which continued in the family name till 1829, when it was sold to Samuel Dane Dodge.

6. Nehemiah Jewett was son of Jeremiah, who died in 1714. He was town officer in several capacities, was deputy sixteen years, between 1689 and 1709, three of which he was speaker. He was a justice of the Court of Sessions. He was on a committee to compensate for damages in the witchcraft trials. He was esteemed and respected in every walk in life. He died near the beginning of 1720.

7. Robert Paine was born in 1601. He was influ- ential in town affairs. He was professor of the gram- mar school, and contributed very largely of his estate to its permanent establishment. He was a deputy three years. He was one of the Essex Committee for trade, in 1655 ; was county treasurer from 1665 to 1683, inclusive; was ruling elder of the First Church. He was an exemplary man. Wonder-working Provi-

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dence says : " A right godly man, and one whose es- tate hath holpen on well with the work of this little commonwealth."

8. Francis Wainwright lived with Alexander Knight, inn-keeper in Chelmsford, England, and came with him to Ipswich. He was a soldier in the Pe- qnod War, and was greatly applauded for his brave ex- ploits. He became a wealthy merchant. He died suddenly, May 19, 1692.

His son Francis was born August 25, 1664; he graduated at Harvard, 1686. His first wife, Sarah Whipple, married March 12, 1686, died March 16, 1709, aged thirty-eight years. He made an engage- ment with Mrs. Elizabeth Hirst, of Salem, but died before married. He was engaged in commerce and as merchant. He bequeathed five pounds to the First Church. His estate was valued at nineteen hundred and fourteen pounds. He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company; was colonel, town clerk, representative, feoffee, general sessions, justice, commissioner and collector of excise for Essex. He died in the strength of ripe manhood, August 3, 1711.

9. Among the early settlers was that Spartan com- pany who met at the Appleton Mansion, the 23d of August, 1687, and settled the question for themselves, that Andros, the King appointed Governor, had no right to tax the people without the consent of an assembly, and who dared " render a reason." That miniature Provincial Congress, who counseled for righteousness, principle and honest government, were Rev. John Wise, John Andrew, John Appleton, Robert Kinsman, William Goodhue, Samuel Apple- ton and Thomas French. The first two were of Che- bacco, the rest doubtless of Ipswich. Goodhue had a house-lot in town in 1635, was afterwards large land owner, was commoner, was a Denison subscriber, was selectman, representative and a deacon. He was a man of rank and influence. He died in 1700, at the age of eighty-five. John Appleton was -born about 1622, and came here with his father, Samuel, from Waldringfield, England, in 1635. His parental home in this town was a grant of six hundred acres of land, bounded by the river and Mile Brook, a part of which is still retained in the family name. He mar- ried 1651, Priscilla, daughter of Rev. Jesse Glover. She died February 18, 1697 ; he, November 4, 1699. He had been selectman, militia captain, marine cap- tain, county treasurer, representative to the General Conrt sixteen years. Samuel Appleton, brother of the above John, was born about 1626. He married, first, Hannah, daughter of William Payne, and had Samuel, born 1644; second, Mary, daughter of John Oliver, of Newbury, December 2, 1656, and had ten children. She was born June 7, 1640, and died Feb- rnary 15, 1697. He was selectman, lieutenant-major, colonel, and with his regiment achieved distinction in the war against King Philip, in 1676. He was as- sistant six years, and was a member of the first coun-

cil under the charter of William and Mary, 1692. He died May 15, 1696. Of his sisters, Sarah mar- ried Rev. Samuel Phillips, of Rowley, and Judith, Samuel Rogers, son of Rev. Samuel, April 8, 1657.

CHAPTER XLIII. IPSWICH-(Continued).

ECCLESIASTICAL.

THE FIRST CHURCH.

1. Origin and Methods .- The church at this time was the object and end of government; and there can be no doubt that the organization of the government here and an organization for religious instruction and worship were practically simultaneous. Governor Winthrop recorded in his journal, November 26, 1633, that "Mr. Wilson (by leave of the congregation of Boston, whereof he is pastor), went to Agawam to teach the people of that plantation, because they have yet no minister." Again, he wrote, April 3, 1634, that himself " went on foot to Agawam, and because the people wanted a minister, spent the Sabbath with them, and exercised by way of prophecy, and returned home on the 10th." There was, therefore, no church organized at that time, but there must have been shortly thereafter ; for Mr. Parker came the next month and Mr. Ward the second month. According to James Cudsworth, 1634, " a plantation was made up this year, Mr. Ward P[astor] and Mr. Parker T[eacher]." This was the ninth church in the colony and the third in the county.

The teacher appears to have been an assistant who might or might not be ordained. His service was merged into the duty of the pastor about 1745, though the idea still obtains in many parishes where the minister is installed as pastor and teacher. The Sabbath service ran thus : The pastor began it with prayer; the teacher then read and expounded a chap- ter ; the ruling elders announced a Psalm, which was sung; the pastor read a sermon, and sometimes fol- loved it with an extemporaneons address, consuming frequently an hour or more; singing followed ; then a prayer and the benediction. In the afternoon ser- vice, just before the benediction, the congregation re- cited : " Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it." The singing was peculiar. One of the ruling elders read a single line of the Psalm, then such of the congregation as could sing, rose in dif- ferent parts of the house and sang it ; then other lines were successively read and sung till the conclusion of the Psalm. When elders were not chosen the dea- cons performed their duty, which gave rise to the phrase, "Deaconing the hymn." About 1790 the whole stanza was read at once, and about three years

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later the whole hymn was read at once by the pastor. Singing choirs began to form as carly as 1763, when seats were assigned them, but they were not elevated to the gallery till about 1781. A contribution every Sabbath was the rule till some part of 1763. To de- posit theofferings, the magistrates and chief men first walked up to the dencon's seat, then the elders and then the congregation. There was also weekly ser- vice, which was as carefully observed as the service of the Sabbath. It was called "The Lecture," and was attended each week on Thursday, which was known as "Lecture Day." It consumed the best part of the day, beginning at eleven o'clock. It be- came monthly, in 1753, and our weekly prayer-meet- ing is its successor. The old churches had a practice of holding a Fast just before and in reference to call- ing a pastor. The practice has much fallen into dis- use, much to our disadvantage and discredit, for if prayer with fasting means anything, to discontinue it is like cutting the telegraph wires when we need a message of instruction from a friend. It is observable that the various town offices, the status of eligibility to them, the offices in the church, the church services and requirements were a practical, business-like method of securing a punctnal observance of religion and a highly moral and religious community. Cotton Mather said, in 1638, that this " was a renouned church, consisting mostly of such illuminated Chris- tians, that their pastors in the exercise of the ministry might, in the language of Jerome, perceive that they had not disciples so much as judges."

The first to come among this people as pastor or teacher was Rev. Thomas Parker. He came in May, 1634, with a colony of about one hundred, who sub- sequently settled in Newbury. They sojourned here about a year, and Mr. Parker meanwhile exercised the office of teacher. He labored, says Mr. Sewell, " preaching and proving, that the passengers came over on good grounds, and that God would multiply them as he did the children of Israel."

The following will treat the several church socie- ties by pastorates ; for in all the work of the church and society the pastor takes the lead, and as is the pastor so are the people.

2. First Pastorate .- The first pastor of this church was REV. NATHANIEL WARD. He was the son of Rev. John Ward, and was born in Haverhill, Eng- land, about 1570. He was educated at Cambridge; he studied and practiced law, and he traveled on the Continent. On his return to England, he was or- dained a minister of the gospel, at Standou, where, for the expression of his Puritan views, he was sus- pended, till he made a public recantation. He be- came a Puritan exile, and soon after his arrival here, in June, 1634, became pastor of this church. The early church records were destroyed by fire, and we have no account of him as undershepherd. His great learning fitted him for any of the professions; his want of health was the only impediment to a very

high distinction. His legal attainments fitted him pre-eminently for the important civil and legal ser- vice of the colony, wherein he received many appoint- ments, and they served him well in expounding clearly and cogently the immutable law of God, wherein he exercised his gifts of prophecy even after his resigna- tion of his pastorate, which took place February 20, 1637.

3. Church Edificc .- It is probable that during the early part of his ministry the first house of worship was built. The earliest record referring to it is found in the public laws of September 3, 1635, which reads that "Noe dwelling house shallbe builte above halfe a myle from the meeting-house," (except mill-houses and farm-houses of such as have their dwelling houses in town), in Ipswich, Newbury, Hingham and Weymouth. It stood on the rise of ground where the Wonder- Working Providence says it "was a very good prospect to a great part of the town and was beautifully built."

Mr. Ward was appointed March 12, 1638, on a committee to draft a code of public laws. He was the leader and learning of the committee. He handed the result of their labors to the Governor in Septem- ber, 1639.

Abont the middle of 1640 he, with assistance from Newbury, formed a settlement at Haverhill, where his son John became the minister. He was granted six hundred acres of land near Haverhill, May 10, 1643, probably, as Mr. Felt expresses it, "for his public services." He was chosen May 25, 1645, on a committee to codify the laws for the consideration of the next Legislature. The laws were printed in 1648. The justice and foresight which the laws embodied, are conspicuous in our present code. Soon after com- pleting the work, he returned to England, and be- came minister of Shenfield, in county Essex. He once preached before the House of Commons. He published, in New and Old England, several works of a religious character, the most noticeable of which were " The Simple Cobbler of Agawam," and " The Simple Cobbler's Boy." He brought out the former in 1647. It illustrates the length to which good peo- ple could go in vindication of intolerance in days when antinomian and aggressive views were troubling many minds. "It is a sparkling satire," says one, " known and appreciated for its keenness and wit. Its character and style were suited to the times, and it served to encourage opposition to King and Parlia- ment, and to moderate party excess."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 161

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