History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 174

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 174

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).

"That considering the said act doth infringe their liberties as free born English subjects of his Majesty, and by interfering with the sta- tute laws of the land, by which it was enacted that no taxes should be levied upon the subjects without the consent of an Assembly chosen by the freemen for assessing the same, they do, therefore, vote they were not willing to choose a commissioner for such an end without such a privilege; and they, moreover, consent not that the selectmen do pro- ceed to levy any such rate until it be appointed by a general assembly, concurring with the Governor and Council."

Immediately and heavily swept the besom of pow- er. Samuel Appleton, sketched in Early Settlers of this town, a member of Andros' Council, was already under a £1000 bond for refusing to concur with the council's action. Rev. John Wise, John Appleton, brother of the above Samuel, John Andrew, Robert Kinsman, William Goodhue and Thomas French, were arrested, cast into prison in Boston and denied the privilege of habeas corpus. They langui-hed twenty-one days in prison after the trial, and were fined from £50 to £15 each, including costs, which the town afterwards, in justice and in honor, paid.

years later the iniquitous Andros went home in dis- grace.

At the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the town, Aug. 16, 1834, Hon. Rufus Choate, the orator, in speaking of this occasion, said :

" The latter and more stormy spectacles and brighter glories and visi- ble results of the age of the Revolution, have elsewhere cast into shade and almost covered with oblivion the actors on that interesting day, and the act itself,-its hazards, its intrepidity, its merits, its singularity and consequences. But you will remember them aud teach them to your children."

THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD .- During the transition period from colony to province, under both the Pres- ident and Council and the Governor and Council, the administration of justice was unstable in method. The charter, creating "The Province of Ma-sachu- setts Bay in New England," was signed October, 1691, and arrived with Sir William Phipps as Gov- ernor in May, 1692. But hardly had the new Gov- ernor entered upon his career, when occurred that strangest of delusions, the Witchcraft tragedy, making the wildest and saddest chapters in our New England history.

WITCHCRAFT .- For years before this date there had been trials for witchcraft in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania ; there were trials in Boston, Charlestown and several before the Ipswich courts, but the records of the latter show no convictions. The Rowley ministers, Rev. John Wise, of Chebacco Parish, and, we may presume, the Ipswich ministers generally, opposed the proceedings. But at this time it seems as if a tidal wave from all the seas at once had rolled in upon our "stern and rock-bound coast." It was a terrible culmination. The prisons in Salem, Cambridge and Boston were crowded. It seems as if "the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness" had conspired to reign. The entire populace was delirious and enthralled; society agonized and struggled to be free. Almost everybody suspected his neighbor, and on the slightest provoca- tion was likely to be accused.

At this time, when the delirium was wildest, Sun- day, May 29, 1692, Ephraim Wildes, constable of Topsfield, came to the home of James Howe, Jr., whose site was, or was near, the nativity of Rev. Nathaniel Howe, the celebrated divine of Hopkinton, and took into custody the wife and mother as a witch.

She was charged with sundry acts of witchcraft, done or committed on the hodies of Mary Walcott and Abigail Williams and others of Salem Village, now Danvers. She was examined the next Tuesday at the honse of Nathaniel Ingersoll, of that place. She plead not guilty, denied all knowledge of the mat- ter, and testified that she had never heard of the girls, Mary and Abigail, till their names were read in the warrant. But in the court they fell down, they cried out, they were pinched and pricked, and they accused Mrs. Howe. She was remanded to prison in Boston

To that memorable town-meeting, Mr. Wise, coun- seling resistance, said : " We have a good God and a good King; we shall do well to stand to our privi- leges." When the patriots were on trial, a member of the tyrannical council exclaimed, " You have no privileges left you, hut not to be sold as slaves." Two to await the action of the jury of inquest. Her case was

630

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

called June 29th and 30th. The jury heard the testi- mony of twenty-three persons-eleven for and twelve against her. Of those against her, one quarreled with Mr. Howe about some boards, and his cows, in consequence, gave less milk; three others gave the history of a child that for several years had had " fits," and in them would call "Goody Howe," and cry out, "There she goes, there she goes, now she goes into the oven, etc; " another would not loan his horse to Mr. Howe, and the horse strangely died; another, several years before, had some rails broken by Goody Howe without her approach to them ; another refused to attend upon her preliminary trial, and his "pig jumped up and fell dead ; " five others opposed her admission to membership in the church, and were concerned in the loss of two mares. Of those for her, Rev. Samuel Phillips and Rev. Edward Payson, gospel ministers of Rowley, had seen the in- sane girl and the families concerned, and entirely dissipated the theory of withcraft. Deborah Hadley had been a neighbor to Mrs. Howe for twenty-four years ; Daniel, John and Sarah Warner about twenty years ; Simon and Mary Chapman, and Joseph and Mary Knowlton about ten years, and they each testi- fied to her neighborly courtesy, to her conscientious dealings, to the faithful observance of her promises, to her Christian-like conversation and character. Her father-in-law, then ninety-four years old, who had known her for thirty years, testified to her daughterly conduct in leading him in his feebleness and blindness, and her loving attention to him, and to her exemplary home character as wife and mother. She was, nevertheless, condemned, and July 19th following executed upon Gallows Hill, Salem. The good Christian woman fell a victim to the prevailing, wild infatuation.

These proceedings, to us who are removed two hundred years, seem at first unaccountable, mortify- ing and persuasive of disowning our fathers, and of forgetting the period of their folly; but the Hon. Joseph Story, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, after surveying the field, considering the circumstances, weighing the conditions and hal- ancing the conclusions, wrote,-" Surely our ances- tors had no special reason for shame in a belief which had the nniversal sanction of their own and all former ages, which counted in its train philosophers as well as enthusiasts, which was graced by the learn- ing of prelates as well as by the countenance of kings, which the law supported by its mandates, and the purest judges felt no compunctions in enforcing."

On September 9, 1710, Mrs. Howe's daughters, Mary and Abigail, the only survivors of the family, petitioned the General Court for indemnity, making the cash expenses of the imprisonment £20, yet "yt ye name may be Repayard, are content if your honors shall allow us twelve pounds." The sum was duly allowed and paid in 1712.

THE FIRST COURT .- The first court provided for

in this period was the Probate, which the Governor, by authority of His "Majesties Royal Charter"- authority more implied than expressed and at the time sharply questioned, but fully confirmed in 1760 -established for the counties June 18, 1692. Their officers he appointed July 21st, following.

There were during this period eight judges, three of whom were Ipswich men: John Appleton, Thomas Berry and John Choate, and eight registrars, of whom four were Ipswich men : Daniel Rogers, Dan- iel Appleton, Samuel Rogers and Daniel Noyes.

Judge Appleton is sketched in Colonial Courts.

THOMAS BERRY was Hon. Thomas Berry, M.D. He was the fourth judge, and officiated from October 5, 1739, to September 14, 1756. He was born in Ipswich in 1695. His father was a graduate of Har- vard College, and came to this town in 1687; his mother was Margaret Rogers, who was second daughter of President Rogers, and after the death of her husband about 1697, when Thomas was ahout three years old, married Hon. John Leverett, F.R.S., President of Harvard College. Thomas was a graduate of Har- vard in the class of 1712. He married his cousin, Martha Rogers, second child and oldest daughter of Rev. John, of Ipswich, who was the eldest son of the present. She died August 25, 1727, and he married Elizabeth Turner, daughter of Major John, of Salem.

He rose to great distinction as medical doctor, and "he was eminently distinguished for his energy and activity in public affairs as well as his own." He was colonel of militia, representative to the General Court, justice of the Court of Common Pleas, judge of Probate, and many years of the Executive Coun- cil. In 1749 he was active in re-establishing the grammar-school. It is said he kept a chariot, with servants in livery, and made other display of wealth and rank. He died August 10, 1756, at the age of sixty-one years. The inscription on his tomb is,-

"Sic transit gloria mundi."

He lived at first near the site of the depot; after- wards at his farm, now the home for the town's poor. He was interred in Ipswich.

HON. JOHN CHOATE was son of Thomas, and born in Chebacco Parish, July, 1697. He was educated at the Grammar School. He married March 3, 1717, Miriam Pool, probably of Gloucester. He lost all his children during the prevalence of throat distem- per in 1735. He was a colonel of militia; a repre- sentative to the General Court for fifteen years be- tween 1730 and 1761, inclusive; justice of the Court of General Sessions from 1746 till his death ; justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and for the last ten years chief justice, successor to Judge Berry ; judge of Probate from September 14, 1756, to February 5, 1766. He was chairman of the committee that built the Choate Bridge, which, because of his enterprise, energy and usefulness to the town, was called by his name. He died February 5, 1766. By his will he

631

IPSWICH.

emancipated two slaves, and gave £12 for a commu- nion service for the South Church, of which he was an honored and worthy member. His estate was valued at quite £3000. He was a man of sound judg- ment, enterprising, firm and energetic, and a faithful public officer.

HON. DANIEL ROGERS was registrar from October 23, 1702, to January 9, 1723. He was second son of Rev. John Rogers, M.D., fifth President of Harvard College, and was born September 25, 1667, fitted for college under Master Thomas Andrew, of the Gram- mar School, and graduated at Harvard, 1686. He married Sarah Appleton, daughter of Captain John and sister of Hon. John. He was the fourth teacher of the Grammar School, and succeeded Master An- drew. He fitted fifteen young men for Harvard. He was feoffee of the Grammar School, town clerk, judge of the Court of Sessions of the Peace. He per- ished on the marshes, in a snow-storm, returning from Newbury, December 1, 1722.

HON. DANIEL APPLETON was registrar from Janu- ary 9, 1723, to August 26, 1762. He was born in Ips- wich, August 8, 1692, the fourth child of Judge Ap- pleton, and nephew of Daniel Rogers, registrar. He married Elizabeth Berry, daughter of Thomas Berry, of Boston and Ipswich, and sister of Dr. Thomas, who was judge of probate. He was a colonel, a feoffee of the grammar school, was named in the act of its corporation in 1756, was several years Representative to the General Court, and was justice of the Court of Sessions of the Peace. He died August 17, 1762.

HON. SAMUEL ROGERS was the sixth registrar, holding from August 26, 1762, to September 29, 1773. He was born in Ipswich, August 31, 1709, the young- est of ten children of Rev. John. He was nephew of Daniel, the fourth registrar, aud grandson of Presi- dent John, of Harvard. His mother was Martha Whittingham, great great-granddaughter of William, who married Katherine Calvin, sister of John the Reformer, and who was a Puritan refugee and com- piler of the famous Geneva Bible.

He studied in the grammar school, and graduated at Harvard, 1725, when he was sixteen years old. He studied medicine and had a successful practice. He was town clerk, colonel of militia, justice of the Court of Sessions of the Peace, and Representative to the General Court. His death occurred December 21, 1772, at the age of sixty-three. He employed clerks; his office was well kept. His nephew, Hon. Daniel Rogers, who was son of Richard, a captain in the Revolutionary War, and also a justice of the Court of Sessions of the Peace, was acting registrar, during his last sickness and for some time after his death.

DANIEL NOYES, ESQ., was the eighth registrar, and occupied the office from September 29, 1775, to May 29, 1815. He was born in Newbury-Byfield, Janu- ary 29, 1737, to Joseph and Elizabeth (Woodman) Noyes, and was fifth in lineal descent from Nicholas,

a brother of Rev. James, Newbury's first minister. He graduated at Harvard in 1758, and adopted Ips- wich as his home. He was master of the grammar school from 1762 to 1774 inclusive, and again in 1780 and 1781. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1774-75; Representative to the General Court, 1775; was postmaster, 1775, succeeding Dea- con James Foster, and the last under the province and the law of 1711; was on committees of corres- pondence and safety, during the Revolutionary period ; was grantor of permits under the non-importation act; was feoffee of the grammar school; was dele- gate to the convention that ratified the State Consti- tution, with Michael Farley, John Choate and John Cogswell; and was justice of the peace and quorum in 1797. He is said to have been "methodical and accurate," and "the faithfulness and ability with which he discharged his various duties deservedly gained for him high and extensive respect." He died March 21, 1815.

EARLY RECORDS .- The early probate records were kept by the registrar in his private custody, and usually in his dwelling-house, which was his office. After 1722, the office was in the court-house, Ipswich, but the records were kept at the registrar's home. This practice obtained through this period and prac- tically till 1817.

OTHER COURTS .- Other Province Courts were es- tablished by act of November 25, 1692,-High Court of Chancery, which did not receive regal sanction. Superior Court of Judicature, or as it was commonly called "Superior Court," having one chief-justice and fonr associate justices, taking the place of the Court of Assistant-, and exercising appellate jurisdic- tion from Inferior Court, holding two sessions an- nually, one at Salem in November, and the other at Ipswich in May, a court which under the constitu- tion became the Supreme Judicial. Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Essex County, having original jurisdiction in all actions of real title and all civil ac- tions where the debt or damage was forty shillings or more, an appellate jurisdiction from justices of the peace in civil cases, and presided over by four justices, a court which, in 1859, became the Superior; Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace which June 26, 1699, became General Sessions of the Peace, presided over by justices of the peace for the county, "or so many of them as are or shall be limited in commission of the peace," and having original jurisdiction in all cases not given to the Superior Court, and not triable be- fore single justices with appellate jurisdiction from them. This court granted licenses and laid out high- ways, etc. In 1804 its criminal jurisdiction was trans- ferred to the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1827 it hecame the County Commissioners' Court. Commis- sioners of justices of the peace were authorized at the same time.

The Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions were held simultaneously at Ipswich in March, at

632

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Newbury in September, and at Salem in December. Thus Ipswich during this period retained her courtly prestige, as shown by the frequency of court sessions and the supremacy of their jurisdiction, whereby she was a peer among her sister towns and executed a commanding influence.

REPRESENTATIVE MEN .- The representative men of the town for this period were among the ablest men of the times. We append as good a list as we are able to obtain : Justices of the Superior Court : Richard Saltonstall, twenty years from 1736, and Wait Winthrop twenty-five years from 1692, nine of which he was chief justice. Special, Dr. Thomas Berry and Ezekiel Cheever, the famous Ipswich Grammar-school master. Justices of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas : John Appleton, Dr. Thomas Berry, John Choate; Special: John Wainwright, David Appleton and Samuel Rogers. Justices of the General Sessions : Samuel Appleton, Daniel Eppes, Thomas Wade, John Wainwright, Francis Wain- wright, Nehemiah Jewett, John Whipple, John Ap- pleton, Ammi Rnhami Wise, Dr. Thomas Berry, Andrew Burley, Daniel Appleton, John Choate, Samuel Rogers, Joseph Appleton and John Baker. Sheriffs : Major Francis Wainwright, Major Daniel Denison, .John Denison and Richard Saltonstall. Councilors to the Governor : John Appleton, twenty- six from 1698; Dr. Thomas Berry, seventeen years from 1735, and John Choate, five years from 1761. Simon Bradstreet, Richard Saltonstall, Ezekiel Cheever and John Wainwright. Speakers of the House : Nehemiah Jewett, three years, 1693, 1694 and 1701. Clerk of the House: John Wainwright eight years, beginning 1723. Provincial Congressmen : Michael Farley and Daniel Noyes. Representatives: Daniel Appleton, five years ; John Appleton, one ; Dr. Thomas Berry, three; Andrew Burley, two ; John Caleffe, two; John Choate, sixteen ; Stephen Choate, four ; Thomas Choate, four; Francis Cogswell, three; Jonathan Cogswell, one; Benj. Crocker, three; John Crocker, one ; Daniel Eppes, one; Samuel Eppes, one; Michael Farley, fourteen ; Thomas Hart, two ; Dum- mer Jewett, two; Nehemiah Jewett, sixteen ; Nathaniel Knowlton, nine ; Daniel Noyes, one ; Abraham Per- kins, one; Richard Rogers, three; Samuel Rogers, three; Nathaniel Rust, one ; Simon Stacy, one ; Daniel Staniford, three ; William Story, two ; Francis Wainwright, one; John Wainwright, nineteen ; Nicholas Wallis, one; Ammi R. Wise, two; John Whipple, one. Framers of the State Constitution : Daniel Noyes, Dummer Jewett, Stephen Choate, John Crocker and Jonathan Cogswell.

JAIL .- In 1751 the town voted to petition the Court of General Sessions " that the late prison be ef- fectually repaired and established as heretofore as a prison and a house of correction." In 1760 a com- mittee reported that the town petition the same court to have a house of correction built here, and to per- mit the dissolute poor of the town to be put in the

jail till the house of correction shall be completed. In 1771 a new jail was built on the site of the old one.

It is needless to comment upon notable cases. Since the arch fiend lied to Eve, our first parents stole the forbidden fruit, and Cain killed his brother, neither era nor people has been exempt from crime; one age exemplifies another. Our forefathers had a spe- cific mission, a glorious cause, and they were true to their calling. They wrought nobly and well; but to err is human; we embalm their purpose, their deeds, their renown ; we bnry their errors in oblivion.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL PERIOD .- The constitu- tional period opens with the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780. The representatives to 1817 were John Choate, five years; John Crocker, one ; John Heard, one, Joseph Hodgkins, of Revolution- ary fame, seven years; Dummer Jewett, one ; John Manning, ten; John Patch, four; Joseph Swasey, another of Revolutionary fame, eight ; John Tread- well, two; and Nathaniel Wade, our most noted officer in the Revolution, twenty-two. Speakers of the House,-Joseph Story, 1811-12, and Otis P. Lord, 1854. President of the Senate, Samuel Dana, 1811-13. Justice of the Superior Court, Otis P. Lord, 1859-75, and of the Supreme Court, from 1875 till his resigna- tion in 1882.

COUNTY BUILDINGS. - A new court-house was completed in the early part of 1795. It cost $7000 of which the town paid half. In 1794, May 1, a com- mittee was empowered to confer with the county, and sell the old court-house. The new conrt-house served till 1855, when npon the removal of the courts that year, it was sold to the Methodist So- ciety, removed and converted into a chapel. After the erection of their present beautiful and commo- dious church edifice, they sold it in 1862 to Mr. Cur- tis Damon, who removed it to Depot Square, where it now stands, and converted it into a store.

A new stone jail was built here by the county in 1809-10, which was occupied February 21st, of the latter year. It cost $27,000, and was a model for security and convenience. It stood on the premises of the present "County-House " and " Hospital," as they are called, and served its purpose well till 1866, when it was sold to the Eastern Railroad Company, who nsed it to arch a roadway just east of the Merrimac River bridge, at Newburyport. The "County-Honse," or house of correction, was occu- pied in 1828, when the old one, at Norton's Bridge, where Messrs. Stackpole's soap-manufactory stands, was discontinued. The " Hospital," or the receptacle for the chronic insane was erected about 1841 or 1842. Some two or three years ago in connection with the reformatory, a workshop, one hundred by thirty feet, was erected.

The first probate repository, as such, was occupied December 15, 1817. It was built of brick and fire- proof, forty feet long, twenty-eight wide and one

633

IPSWICH.

story high, and cost $3700. During the early part of this period the records were kept in the registrar's private dwelling, while his office was iu the new court-house. From 1795 to 1815 the repository was also in the court-house. At the latter date both the records and the office retired to the dwelling of Na- thaniel Lord, the registrar, to come forth in 1817 to occupy the safe repository till 1852 when by order of the county commissioners they were removed to Sa- lem. The building is now the property of the Odd Fellows, and contains a drug-store, the post-office and the Odd Fellows' Hall in an added story.

Two of the registrars of this period have been Ips- wich men,-Nathaniel Lord, 3d, and liis son George Robert, whose biographical sketches close this chap- ter.

The only court held here now is trial-justice Bell's. The attorneys and counselors-at-law are Hon. Charles A. Sayward, Edward P. Kimball, Esq., John R. Baker, Esq., James Brown Lord, Esq., who are natives here and Hon. George Haskell, is a native of Newburyport.

This decadence is entirely attributable to the country's growth in population, the consequent ex- tension of business and change of business centres.

BIOGRAPHICAL .- NATHANIEL LORD, 3d, was the ninth registrar, and his service covered a period from May 29, 1815, to June 12, 1851. He fitted for college with Daniel Dana, D.D., son of Rev. Joseph, his pastor, and he graduated at Harvard in 1798. His graduation exercise was a poem, and the subject, " Astronomy." In his class were Dr. Chan - ning, Judges Story and Fay, Dr. Tuckerman and Rev. Prof. Emerson, who may be considered the first to devise and put in practice a curriculum of study and discipline especially designed for and adapted to female education and culture.

He married, at Ipswich, Eunice Kimball, daughter of Jeremiah and Lois-Choate Kimball. His children were Nathaniel James, born October 28, 1805 ; Mary, born July 17, 1807, died March 11, 1846 ; Lois Choate, born July 9, 1810 ; Otis Phillips, born July 11, 1812; Isaac, born July 2, 1814, died April 1, 1816 ; George Robert, born December 16, 1817,-three of whom were lawyers, of whom one was an eminent judge. His wife died April 9, 1837, and he married, September 6, 1838, Mary Holt Adams, daughter of John Adams, Esq., of Andover.

Mr. Lord was scholarly ; he never relinquished the study of the classics. He had the habit of a student ; he was mathematically exact, careful in verbal dis- tinctions ; also methodical and accurate ; and when in Judge White's tenure of office it was de- termined to improve the old methods, to multiply new and remodel old forms, Mr. Lord's taste, judg- ment and learning were requisite, and the present practice of the Court attests his good sense and fore- sight.

Politically, Mr. Lord was a Conservative Whig, and when, in the course of human events, the politics

of the appointing power changed, and democracy rules the registrar must be a Democrat.

He had no taste for public life. He delivered a Fourth-of-July oration when a young man ; welcomed General Lafayette to Ipswich in 1824; presided at the town's bi-centennial celebratiou in 1834; he was a justice of the peace and quorum; was one year, 1823, selectinan and several years on the school board.

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 174

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