History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 173

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 173

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).

Tonge, Henry F. ; 27; -; 3 R. I. ; -- ,'1; 7 Jan., '6 ; tr. Han- cock's corps, 30 Dec., '4.

Towle, Jeuness ; 39 ; D; 48 I .; 24 Sept., '2 ; 3 Sept., '3; en.

Tozer, William H. ; 27 ; K ; 2 I. ; 8 Aug., '2; 28 May, '4 ; en.

Treadwell, Henry S. ; 20; C; 53 I. ; 6 Nov., '2; 2 Sept., '3 ; en.

Treadwell, Marcus M. ; 20 ; D; 12 I .; 26 June, '1 ; 8 July, '4 ; en. Turuer, John ; 29 ; L ; 1 H. A. ; 20 Feb., -;- -.

Tyler, Colman J. ; 18; F ; 2 I. ; 25 May, '1; 28 May, '4; en.

Waite, Charles W. ; 16; -; Navy ; 4 Dec., 12; 15 Jan., '4 ; en.

Waite, Joseph, Jr. ; 19; D; 48 I. ; 24 Sept., '2; 3 Sept., '3 ; d.

Waite, Luther ; 19; A ; 1 H. A .; 5 July, '1; 5 July, '5; en .; tr. navy 9 May, '4.

Waite, Rogers ; 1S; D; 48 I .; 24 Sept., '2; 3 Sept., 3 ; en .; d. 21. April, '79.

Wallis, Henry ; -; D ; 48 1. ; -; ---.

Watts, James W .; 23; A; 1 H. A .; 5 July, '1; 17 Feb., '5; disability ; d. 31 Jan., '71.

Webber, Moses: 32; K; 2 I. ; 8 Aug., '2; 28 May, 4.

West, John ; 44 ; A ; 1 H. A. ; 5 July, '1 ; 8 July, '4; en.

Whedon, Edward M. ; 30; -; 2 H. A. ; 24 Sept., '2 ; 3 Sept., '3 ; en. Whipple, John F .; 20; L; 1 H. A .; 20 Feb., -; 3 July, '5; disa- bility.

White, W. Charles ; -; -; 1 Cav. ; -

Willard, Benjamin D .; 21; I; 26 I .; 7 Sept., '1; 4 Jan., '4; re- enlisted.

Willett, George A. ; 30; B; 5 I. ; 19 Sept., '2; 2 July, '3; en. Winslow, James ; d.

Winslow, William H. ; 35; L; 1 H. A. ; 2 Dec., '1; 31 Jan., '4 ; disa- bility.

Wood, Francis L .; 25 ; E; 32 I. ; 10 July, '2; 2 June, '3 ; en. Worcester, Leigh R ; 27; A ; 1 H. A. ; 5 July, '1 ; 18 Sept., '5 ; en. Worcester, James T .; 20 ; D; 48 I .; 24 Sept., '2 ; 2 Sept., '3 ; en. Worsley, Pandon E. ; 19; L; 1 H. A. ; 26 Nov., '1; 15 Dec., '4; en. Worth, William K. ; 19; I; 23 I .; 28 Sept., '1 ; -; en ; d.

A NOBLE GIFT .- I cannot more fittingly close this chapter than by qnoting from the records, page 367, the town's action of June 15, 1863, which is self-ex- plaining aud as follows :

"WHEREAS, MIr. Augustine Heard of this town, in conjunction with his nephews, Mr. John Heard, Mr. Angustine Heard, Jr., Mr. Alfred F. Heard aud Mr. George F. Heard, have placed in the hands of trustees ten thousand dollars to be applied for the relief of such persons belong- ing to this town as may suffer from sickness or wounds incurred in the service of their country in the present civil war, and for the relief of anch persons as may be deprived of support by the loas of relations en- gaged in the like service ; therefore,

"Resolved, That the thanks of the citizens of Ipswich, assembled this day in town-meeting, be tendered to the above named gentlemen, re- spectively, for their munificent donation to ao noble a cause, together with our best wishes for their continued health and prosperity ; that we receive with lively sensibility this token of their remembrance of the place of their nativity, rejoice in the anticipation of the relief which in foture years will come to many of the suffering poor in Ipswich in con- sequence of their generous gift.

"Resolced, That we sympathize with the gentlemen in their patriotic devotion to the welfare of the country, and that we hope their generous sacrifices will soon be amply rewarded by the restoration of the Union and the Constitution more complete and vital than ever, with every root

of bitterness removed, with stable peace and enduring prosperity in all our borders, and with the stars and stripes floating with renewed and increased splendor and power over every American citizen by land and by sen, at home and abroad."

CHAPTER XLVI.

IPSWICH-(Continued). LEGAL AND PENAL.

THE COLONIAL PERIOD .- Our legal policy was, in general, based upon the laws of England, but it was moulded by a wise and cautions exercise of au- thority, according to our exigencies and circum- stances. The royal charter of March 4, 1628, which Governor John Winthrop brought out with him, created a corporation styled: "The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England." By this charter the seat of government was trans- ferred to these shores, and the corporators were per- mitted to make their own laws and to choose their own rulers-to make "laws and ordinances not con- trary or repugnant to the laws and statutes of the realm." The charter held the company to be British subjects, and was granted in the hope of increasing the royal domain and of augmenting the national wealth. It, then, conferred only such powers as were necessary to the company's existence, business aud business prosperity, other matters being reserved for adjustment at home.

THE GREAT COURT .- Our fathers, however, inter- preted the instrument in its freest sense; for they early felt an urgent need of a high and wide range of authority, so great was the tide of emigration, and so many and varied were the interests involved. Under it the colonists turned their prow ocean-ward, and spread their sails for a prosperons voyage upon an untried sea. Their polity of church and State was new and peculiar. Although they based their laws upon the English code, they ignored its authority ; in fact, in one instance at least, they denied it-they disfranchised all but members of churches, and the magistrates had power to determine or select what churches. Their laws reached public and private relations, and not only snch crimes as were known to common law, but many recognized in the Hebraic code. They proposed a State dependent upon the church, where the elders and clergy were at the head, the reciprocal of their former relation, where the church was dependent upon the State, and the king the head. The entire administration of the govern- ment was held or controlled by clergymen, who sought to imitate the regal action of the supreme au- thority of Israel. They made no distinction in conrts or court actions-civil or criminal, at law or in equity, lay or ecclesiastical-all were held and determined in one great and General Court.

626

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

This court was at once the great source of law and justice. For the first few years, it consisted of the Governor, Deputy-Governor, eighteen assist- ants and the freemen, but in 1634 the number of freemen so increased, and the inconvenience and danger, from leaving their homes exposed to Indian barbarities, during their absence, were so great, that the town chose deputies to represent them in all matters, but the choice of officers, wherein the free- men sent their votes by proxy. The court was legis- lative, judicial and executive. It held quarterly ses- sions, and enacted the laws. The assistants were chosen by the freemen, and were the magistrates, who with the Governor constituted the Grout Quarter Court. The Governor and assistants, as council, were the executive head. For about ten years the court exercised discretionary powers, hearing and determin- ing all cases, and "seems," says a writer, "to have been more disposed to punish the religious than the civil offender."

IPSWICH'S INFLUENCE .- During the decade, what- ever may have been the methods or results, it cannot be denied that Ipswich was an important factor. Next to the metropolis, she was the seat of wealth and learning, and, therefore, of power. Her voice was potent in every department of the government. There was Winthrop, the son of our Governor, the founder of our municipality, a man of learning and wealth, and a governor in embryo himself; Dudley, who had already been Governor one term ; Bradstreet, a man of vast executive and business ability ; Salton- stall, a gentleman of business enterprise, of wealth and culture, of pure and just sentiment, the first American abolitionist ; Denison, the man of war and continually in the public service; and Ward, a man of polished learning, profound in divinity and law, the compiler of the Colonial Magna Charta. The mere mention of these names was like " the sweet in- fluence of the Pleiades," and the sentiment of Ips- wich citizenship with such leaders worked like des- tiny.

THE DEMANDS OF GROWTH .- But the State grew rapidly in population and business interests, and the jurisdiction of the Court as largely and rapidly ex- panded. The people at length became alarmed at such exercise of courtly power, and cried for a legal code resembling Magna Charta. The deputies feared that " great damage to our State " might accrue, if the magistrates should "proceed according to their dis- cretion." Accordingly, committees were appointed at various times to frame a code. They failed to meet the approbation of the Court ; even the great Cotton Mather, who reported a "copy of Moses his judicials, compiled in an exact method," did not suc- ceed. It remained for the committee, of which Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of Ipswich, was the leading, active and efficient member to perform the work. The work, however, was not published till 1641. The delay was occasioned by a desire to prepare a code

commensurate with the need and adapted to the public temperament and our institutions. It was a herculean task, but Mr. Ward performed a thorough work. His great ability, his broad learning, his legal train- ing and practice and his peculiar cast of mind, made him the fittest, and his work shows it, He embodied one hundred civil and criminal laws. The civil laws were far in advance of English law at the time ; they have been adopted in new codifications from time to time since ; and some are in force at present, after a period of nearly two centuries and a half. In the criminal code he followed Moses in a great measure, but he distanced England in mildness, and for scope was far in advance of his time. He thus embodies personal rights :

"No man's life shall be taken away, no man's honor nor good name shall be stained, no man's person shall be arrested, restrained or dis- membered, nor any ways punished, no man shall be deprived of bis wife or children, no man's goode or estate shall be taken away from him nor any waye endamaged under color of law or countenance of authority, unless it be by virtue or equity of some express law of the country war- rantiog the same, established by a General Court and enfficiently pub- lished, or in case of a defect in a law in any particular case, by the Word of God. And in capital casee, or in cases concerning dismember- mentor banishment, according to that word to be judged by the General Court."

In his "Body of Liberties," it is said, there was "a notable disregard of English law," which had sorely discomforted the Puritan temper, and the work was annotated with chapter and verse in the Bible-their sure palladium of both civil and religious liberty.

OTHER COURTS .- Moreover, as population, busi- ness, personal complications and infelicities increased, the necessity for other tribunals became apparent. Accordingly, the General Court March 3, 1636, re- lieved the Court of Assistants, or "Great Quarter Court," by establishing an Inferior Quarter Court, which held four terms annually-one term in each of these places : Ipswich, Salem, Cambridge and Bos- ton. The judge was such magistrate or assistant as lived in or nearest the town where the Court was held, assisted by "Commissioners," as they were called, who were appointed by the General Court from a list of nominations by the several towns. The judge and four commissioners constituted the full Court, and himself and two commissioners a quorum. The jurisdiction of the Court extended to all matters ecclesiastical, and sometimes to family infelicities- divorces-and the settlements of estates; to civil con- troversies, wherein the damage or debt was less than ten shillings, and to criminal cases not involving life or banishment.

IPSWICH COURT .- The original act establishing this Court was changed June 2, 1641. Four Quarter Courts were held in Ipswich and Salem for this county by all the magistrates of both these places sitting together. This Court exercised the jurisdic- tion before exercised by the Great Quarter Court, ex- cept trials for life, limb or banishment, and cases whose damage exceeded one hundred pounds, wherein the Great Quarter Court had concurrent jurisdiction.

627

IPSWICH.

To this Court was attached, September 9, 1639, a recorder's office, and October 7th of the next year Samuel Symonds, of Ipswich, was appointed for the jurisdiction of the Ipswich Court. Previous to this the records of deeds and the conveyances of real estate were recorded in the records of the town. The office of recorder was, after a while, blended with the office of the clerk of the Court, and Robert Lord, tlien. by virtue of his office as clerk, succeeded Mr. Symonds. By the first act Newbury was placed in the jurisdiction of Ipswich ; by the second, Salisbury and Hampton.

COURT OFFICES .- The first court at Salem June 27, 1636 ; the first at Ipswich probably soon after, though no records appear " till from the year 1646," when, March 31, Robert Lord, of Ipswich, was clerk. The judges were appointed May 25, 1636, and those for Ipswich were Messrs. Dndley, Dummer, Brad- street, Saltonstall and Spencer. The sittings of the court at Ipswich were twice a year,-March and September,-till by Quo Warranto, 1684, the colonial government was arrested and the courts suspended, to be resnmed 1689, after the removal of Andros, and in 1692 superseded by authority of the province charter with Sir William Phipps as Governor.

JURISDICTION .- These courts laid out highways, licensed "taverns," guarded the orthodoxy of the church, admitted freemen, probated estates, recorded deeds and adjudicated upon the most important con- cerns in the county. During the period, Ipswich enjoyed an eminence, advantage and influence second to none but the metropolis, where the highest tribu- nals always sat. She was a legal centre, and was the home of lawyers, judges and the colonial law-giver.

COURT-HOUSE .- During this period, it is probable, there was no court-house, and that the meeting- house was used instead. Their civil life was under the patronage of their religion, was subservient to it, and wore a sanctity that gave it a proper place in the house of God. In that honse they counseled together "after lecture," they voted the minister's salary, they elected church-officers, they chose the seven-men, the clerk and the treasurer, they raised moneys, and arranged the municipal concerns, they counseled for war, they stored their munitions, they worshipped in arms, they made it a watch-honse, they meted out justice and exposed the criminal for punishment. The meeting-house to that practical people was serviceable next to their homes; it was the emblem of righteousness, justice and equal rights -God's proper peerage. They wore out their houses, we remodel ours to conform to fashion.

JAIL .- There was but one prison in the colony be- fore 1652. That year, May 22d, the Court ordered one to be built at Ipswich, and September 26th, the seven-men contracted with Henry Pinder and Thomas Rowell to construct it. It was to stand near the watch-house, -- a site near the First Church,-and was to be of the "same hight and wyndes." They

were to make three floors of joist thick set and well bound with partition above and below the sides and ends, stud and stud spaces, and to clap-board the house round and shingle it, and to daub its whole wall, all but the gable ends, and to underpin the honse and make doors and hinges, and hang the doors and fit on locks, which said house shall be finished with all the appurte- nances, drawings, iron-work for the doors and nails by the 15th of May next, at their own proper cost and charges, without allowance for help or diet for their reasing, in consideration of which they shall have for their worth £40 out of country rate by the first of the next March. Theophilus Wilson was keeper in 1656, and received a compensation of £3 a year, 5s. for each prisoner, and further, each prisoner was to pay his board if he was able to do so; if he was not able, he was to be kept on bread and water. The prisoners were required to work, and the seven-men were re- quired by law to furnish hemp and flax for that pur- pose. Another prison, or house of correction, was built about 1684. This was ordered to be built by the Quarterly Court, and the expense was to be borne by those towns that sent juries to Ipswich.

THE CAUSES .- The causes determined in these courts have already been indicated. These may be noticed as illustrative : In 1633 a man was fined ten pounds and to wear a badge marked "Drunkard" during the discretion of the court, for drunkenness and undue familiarity with his neighbor's wife, and she was fined fifteen shillings for drunkenness. In 1637 William Schooler was examined by the magistrates here on a charge of murder. After a year he was convicted and hanged at Boston. In 1639 " lewd at- tempts" were punished by whipping. In 1663 a wo- man was sentenced, for perjury, to stand at the meet- ing-house door on "lecture day," with "for taking a false oath " conspicuous upon her garments. In 1665 a woman was tried for burning Gen. Daniel Denison's house. She was acquitted of arson, but was fined for theft and whipped for lying. In 1667 a man was prosecuted for digging np Masconnomet's bones and sporting with the skull on a pole. In 1677 a highway robber was sentenced to be hranded and fined. In 1684 a hurglar was sentenced to be branded with B, to pay treble damages and receive fifteen lashes. Dur- ing this period there were several arraignments for witchcraft, but no convictions. This glance of the trials presents a picture not so pleasing to contemplate as we might wish, but still it is such as in the nature of things we might expect.

REPRESENTATIVE MEN .- Among the representa- tive men of the Colony, upon whom we have more or less claim. we note the following :-

Governors .- Simon Bradstreet and Thomas Dudley. Deputy-Governors .- Simon Bradstreet, Thomas Dud- ley, Samuel Symonds, John Winthrop, Jr. Governor's Council .- Andros' .- Samuel Appleton, ten years be- tween 1681 and 1692. Colonial Secretaries .- Simon Bradstreet and Daniel Denison. Speaker of the

628

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

House .- Daniel Denison. Commissioners of the Unit- ed Colonies .- Thomas Dudley, Simon Bradstreet and Daniel Denison. Assistants .- Samuel Appleton, Si- mon Bradstreet, Daniel Denison, Thomas Dudley, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Samuel Symonds, John Winthrop, Jr. Justices Inferior Quarter Court .- Samuel Apple- ton, Simon Bradstreet, Daniel Denison, Thomas Dud- ley, Sir Richard Saltonstall, John Spencer, Samuel Symonds. Registrar of the Court .- Samuel Symonds. Clerk of the Court .- Robert Lord. Deputies .- John Appleton, fifteen years ; Samuel Appleton, nine years; William Bartholomew, five years; Thomas Bishop, one year; Thomas Boreman, Sr., one year; Hum- phrey Bradstreet, one year; Simon Bradstreet, one year; Thomas Burnham, two years; Daniel Denison, ten years : Daniel Epps, three years; George Gid- dings, twelve years ; John Giddings, one year; John Goodhue, one year; William Goodhue, eight years; Thomas Howlett, one year; William Hubbard, eight years ; Robert Lord, one year ; Richard Lumkin, two years ; Joseph Metcalfe, eight years; John Perkins, one year ; Moses Pingrey, one year; Robert Paine, three years ; Lyman Stace, three years; John Spen- cer, one year ; Samuel Symonds, six years ; Jonathan Wade, two years; John Whipple, twelve years; Sam- uel Whinsley, one year.

BIOGRAPHICAL .- Most of the parties named above are sketched in Early Settlers; Daniel Denison in Martial and Military; Sir Richard Saltonstall in Bus- iness ; here it is proper to speak briefly of Robert Lord, John Appleton, Jr., and Thomas Wade, who were the clerks of the Ipswich Courts for the Colonial period.

No name is oftener met in the Colonial records for this section than MR. ROBERT LORD'S. His life was occupied in the details of the courts, By virtue of his office as clerk, he was also registrar of probate. His clerkship covered a period of forty-seven years- from September, 1636, to August 21, 1683. He was born about 1602 or '3, and appears to have been son of widow Katherine, who came with her sons to Ips- wich as early as 1635. He married, about 1630, Mary Wait, who, with eight children, survived him. He was made freeman March 3, 1635-36, deputy to the General Court March 12, 1636-37, and was on a com- mittee to raise fifteen hundred pounds for the Colony. He fixed the boundaries of towns and private lands, was clerk of court a year in Norfolk before the estab- lishment of that county; was clerk of the Salem Court in June, 1658; in 1649 was town-sealer of weights and measures; March 30, 1652, was empow- ered by the magistrates to "issue all executions in civil and criminal cases;" was "searcher of coins" in 1654; was sheriff of the Ipswich Court till March 27, 1660, when he was superseded by his son, Robert. He was also clerk of writs, whose duty it was to issue at- taclıments, summons, replevin, etc. He made his last entry July 13, 1683, and on or before August 21st closed his mortal record. He was a good penman

and a faithful and correct official. His line has fur- nished two re. istrars in the person of Nathaniel and Nathaniel's son George Robert.

Mr. Lord's successor was JOHN APPLETON, JR., who received the appointment August 21, 1683. The appointment was confirmed September 25th, and held till April 18, 1698. Mr. Appleton was horn in Ips- wich October 17, 1652. He married, November 23, 1681, Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of Rev. John, fifth president of Harvard College. He was lieutenant of a company of foot-soldiers, and rose to colonel, and was feoffee of the grammar school and clerk of writs. He was clerk of the new court established by Presi- dent Joseph Dudley, 1686, was town clerk, Represen- tative to the General Court, member of the Governor's Council from 1698 to 1722 inclusive, county treasurer many years, Judge of Probate thirty-seven years from October 23, 1702, and chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1702 to 1732. He wrote a bold, legible hand, remarkably modern, and was a superior clerk. He did much to reduce the former practice to the modern and exact form, and was the first to use printed blanks. He died September 11, 1739, wealthy, respected, honored.

His successor as registrar was THOMAS WADE, who served from April 18, 1689, to June 18, 1692. Mr. Wade was born in Ipswich in 1650 to Jonathan Wade, one of the wealthiest men in the Colouy. He mar- ried Elizabeth Cogswell February 22, 1670, who, with nine children, survived him. He was town clerk some nine years, was chosen clerk of writs July 29, 1684. After the Andros revolution, he was chosen, March 25, 1690, " clerk of probate," was made mili- tary captain in 1689, and in 1692 was a retailer of liquor-a polite office at that time. He was a justice iu the Court of General Sessions of the Peace. His last military service was to lead the Essex Middle Regiment against the Indians in April, 1696. He died October 4, 1696, at the age of forty-six. He was an excellent penman, and a worthy man. " When he fell," says Felt, "death had 'a shining mark.'" Colonel Nathaniel Wade, of Revolutionary fame, is supposed to be a descendant of his.

RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY .- The Colonial period would be very incomplete without a notice of those noble patriots who "knew their rights and dared maintain them," against the tyrannical measures of Andros. Ipswich at that time was the foremost town in the county ; she was wealthy and influential. She could not brook the abolition of the people's govern- ment and the usurpations of regal power. She was outspoken and determined, and, therefore, incurred the particular enmity of the regal vassal. Andros and his subservient council ordered that the towns choose " commissioners" who should aid the select- men in laying a tax of " a penny on the pound-four and a sixth dollars on the thousand. This order sapped the vital principle of the Colonial Government, and was, therefore, extremely obnoxious to the colonists.

629

IPSWICH.

They had hitherto paid no taxes but those ordered by their own deputies; but now the House of Depu- ties, or the General Court, was abolished, and men of adverse tendencies ruled. Ipswich recognized the violation of principle, and sounded the clarion note of resistance. It was not the amount of the tax nor the purpose, in this case, to which it was to be ap- plied-little or much the tax, wise or unwise the pur- pose, it was all the same; the principle was wrong, and must not ohtain. Where there is no representa- tion, there can be no just taxation."

A town-meeting was called for August 23, 1687, and the evening before, a few leading men assembled at the house of John Appleton, located on a site near the depot, to counsel what was best to be done in the trying emergency. Among them was Rev. John Wise, patriotic, pious, learned and very able, who used to assert " Democracy is Christ's government in Church and State." That little Colonial Congress, a prototype of the Provincial a hundred years later, perceived the gravity of the situation; they felt its boding, but duty pressed them more. The ancestral lamp, whose light illumined their hearts and minds, burned brightly, their sacrifice in the Indian struggle, their love of home and freedom and the hope of re_ alizing the former in the sunlight of the latter, nerved them to action, strengthened their purpose and armed them with power. They planted; the fruit was gathered in the Revolution, aud we are partakers of it. They counseled resistance to the unrighteous demand, and Mr. Wise prepared the sentiment to be presented to the town-meeting the next day. The town voted as follows:

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 173

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