History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 187

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 187

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"But upon farther experience wee, uppou the 23 of the first month, 1656, presented our desires to be a church of ourselves, and after some agitation about it, wherein our teacher stood for us, it was put to voat and yielded unto, none appeering opposite, we protesting there was no disunion in judgment or af- fection intended but brotherly communion.

"Our desire being consented unto, wee proceeded to build a meeting-house on Bass River Side, and we called unto us successively to dispense the word of life unto us, Mr. Joshua Hubbard, Mr. Jeremiah Hubbard and Mr. John Hailes; and after almost three yeares experience of Mr. John Hailes, our mo- tion was "again renewed the 23d of 4th mo., 1667." The petition follows of Mr. Roger Conant and some eighty others, to be set off from the First Church in Salem to form the First Church of Beverly.

Rev. John Hale was ordained 1667, with John Higginson, pastor of the First Church, Salem, Thomas Cobbett, of the Church of Ipswich and Antipas New- man, of the Church in Wenham, officiating.

The first fast day, or day of humiliation, entered on the parish records is in 1667, 8th day of Tenth month. On the 26th day of First month, 1668, "The Councill of Magistrates apoynt a General Fast, to mourne for prophainess, superstition & herisie, in ceasing to pray for the encouragement of religion, disapoynting of its Enemys, yt the great motions of ye world bee overruled by God's glory. That He would bless & direct ve King, Counsell & Parlament, bless ye peace with Hollend, & sanctifie ye late war, pestilence & burning of ye city of London, & contin- ue to New England peace, liberty & ye gospel, & pre- vent in ye ensuing yeare blasting mildew & caterpil- lars, & convert the rising Generation."

1669, 17th day, Ninth month, was a day set apart for Public Thanksgiving, "to bless ye Lord for stay- ing ye immoderate raines wch thretened to destroy ye harvests of corne & fresh hay, & for ye harvests the Lord has given."

Let us now turn to the first records of the growing settlement, still to be found in the custody of the town clerk, and in excellent preservation :

1665 .- 1et month .- " A booke of such publicke con- cernements as appertaine to the people of Bass river or Cape An side, relating bothe to theire civill & min- isteriall affairs, from the first of the first month, 1665. " 3d mo. '65 .- Whereas, we doe, with one consent,

invite Mr. John Hayle to come amongst us, in order to sctling with us in the worke of the ministry ; for his due encouragement in the work of the Lord, amongst us, according to 2 Chron. 31, 4; & that he may attend upon the worke of the ministrie without distraction, we doe promise & engage to pay unto him £70 per annum, & his fierwood raised amongst us by a rate in equall portions, according to our former custome; & for the manner and time of payment, that he may not have to doe with particular men's portions of allowance, the bill shall not be delivered unto him, nor shall he be troubled with gathering of it in ; but 2 men shall be chosen yeere by yeere, to take the care of bringing it into his house, and to make up the account at the time appointed. Also, whereas we have built a house for the ministric, wherein it is defective to be finished by us. And there are 2 akers of home lot (to be fenced in by us) & as much meadow land belonging to it as commonly bears about fower load of hay ; we doe agree that he shall have the use of that so long as he continues in the worke of the ministrie with us; yet, because we do acknowledge it his duty to provide for wife and children, that he may leave behind him, and our duty to have a care of him in that respect, we doe therefore promise and engage that in case he die in the ministrie with us, that either the house and two aker house lot forementioned shall be his, or that which is equivalent, to he paid (according to his last will and testament) within the compass of one yeare after his decease, and for the repaire of the house and fenced home lot, to be done by him living thereon for the time being.

" Also, it is agreed that Mr. Hayle shall have the use and benefit of a pasturing, the time he lives with us.

"[William] Dodge & Humphrey Woodbury be chosen to gather the rates for the ministrie.

"May 15th .- There was chosen at a publick meet- ing, for to make the rate for Mr. Hails maintenance for this yeere ('65), as followeth : Captain Lathrop, Mr. Thorndick, Roger Conant, Samuel Corning, Jo- seph Rootes.

"Mr. John Haile his year begiueth with us for his allowance of £70 and his fierwood."

From this date on, through a long period, the his- tory of the church is that of the community.

1667 .- The first meeting-house was erected in 1656, just easterly of the present building; but the first church was organized in 1667, September 20, and the Rev. John Hale ordained as pastor. The names of original members are here given : John Hale, Rich- ard Dodge, William Woodbury, Richard Bracken- bury, John Stone, John Dodge, Roger Conant, Wil- liam Dodge, Humphrey Woodbury, Nicholas Patch, John Hill, Thomas Lothrop, Samuel Corning, Robert Morgan, John Black, Lot Conant, Ralph Ellingwood, William Dixey, Henry Herrick, Peter Woolfe, Josiah Rootes, Exercise Conant, Edward Bishop, Elizabeth

686

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Dodge, Mary Lovett, Elizabeth Haskell, Mary Wood- bury, Sarah Leech, Freegrace Black, Eliz. Corning, Eliz. Woodbury, Ellen Brackenbury, Hannah Wood- bury, Eliz. Patch, Hanuah Sallows, Bethiah Lothrop, Anna Dixey, Anna Woodbury, Eliz. Woodbury, Martha Woolfe, Hannah Baker, Mary Herrick, Bridget Luff, Mary Dodge, Anna Woodbury, Ede. Herrick, Mary Dodge, Jr., Abigail Hill, Lydia Her- rick. Mrs. Rebekah Hall was subsequently admitted by letter from the Church at Salisbury, and a month later Humphrey Woodbury's wife, Sarah, Humphrey Jr., John Clark, Jr., Remember Stone and Sarah Conant, were received into full communion. The first sacra- ment was observed September 29th, and the first infant baptized was Abigail, daughter of John and Hannah Sallows.

1667 .- " At a generell meeting of the inhabytants of Cape An side, the 11th of the 9th month, there is chosen to make the rate for Mr. Hale for the year Mr. [I.] Thorndike, Thomas Lowthropp, Robert Mor- gan, Richard Brackenbury, Ensigne Corninge, Wil- liam Ramond & John Dodge Sen., to see it brought in."

Four men were appointed for the year, to see that the eutting and hauling of wood were attended to, viz .: "(1) Goodman West, from his house to Cedar Stan (from West Beach to Sallow's Bridge); (2) Humphrey Woodbury, from his house to the ferry (probably from Humphrey Woodbury's point to bridge), and soe to the meeting-house (and from the ferry via Cabot street to the Old South); (3) Ensigne Corning, from his house to Mr. Conant's bridge (or from the Old South to Tan-yard brook); (4) Mr. Co- nant is for all the rest " (probably all north of Tau- yard brook to the Wenham line).

"Cart wayes. It is agreed that the wayes to the meeting-house & mill be laide out where it is most couvenient, & those that are damnified thereby shall be satisfied by those that make use of the same."

The first mill was at the head of Bass River, near Baleh Street.

THE TOWN INCORPORATED .- The Bass River peo- ple were allowed by General Court to exercise some of the powers of a town in 1665, a step preliminary to final separation from the mother-settlement. They were still subordinate to Salem until 1668, November 23d.

" WHEREAS, wee the inhabitants of Baese River and Cape Ann side, after many agitations in publique meetinge what might be for onr com- fortable settleing, made choise of some amongst ne to draw npp a writ- ing specifying our desiree and deputing messengers to the General Court held att Boston the 20th of Aprill 1668, by petition to our Governor & magistrates to invest them with power to choose yearly a fitt number of persons, who might have power within themselves as Selectmen have in other placce, and so to act in the behalfe of the place by imploying others, officers or persons, as the affaire of the place may occasion.

" Att the next General Court att Boston the 14th of October 1668, Weo received this answer ; that they judged meete that henceforth wee should be a towneshipp of ourselves, nomanating itt Beverly."

The County (Essex) was incorporated in 1643. The eight original towns were Naumkeag, 1626 ; Salem, set-

tled 1628; Lynn, 1629; Ipswich, 1633-34; Cochiehew- ic (Andover), 1634; Enon (Wenham), 1639; Row- lev, 1639 ; Newbury (offshoot of Ipswich), 1635; Glou- eester (Cape Ann, 1624). 1642; chronologieally, the settlements were: Cape Ann, 1624-25; Naumkeag, 1626; Salem, 1628; Lynn, 1629; Cape Ann Side (Beverly), 1630 ; Ipswich, 1634, etc.

"It was not long," says Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia Christi Americana, "before the Massachu- setts eolony was become like an hive, overstocked with bees; and many of the new inhabitants enter- tained thoughts of swarming into plautations extended further into the country."

Thus had "Cape Ann Side " and " Bass River" grown from its small beginnings until strong enough to set up a hive of its own, and, in turn, send out the avant couriers of conquest and colonization. And re- garding the name selected, "As there are few of our towns but what have their namesakes in England, so the reason why most of our towns are ealled what they are, is because the chief of the first inhabitants would thus bear up the names of the particular places there from whenee they came." This may not have been the case with Beverly, though the inhabi- tants of Cape Ann Side were exceedingly fortunate in the euphonious appellation bestowed by General Conrt. The name may have been suggested by Beverley in Eng- land, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, celebrated for its beautiful minster and as the home of John de Beverley, Archbishop of York, a thousand years ago. The name also, may have been derived from " Beaver Lea" or beaver meadow, as we have " Beaver Pond ;" and remains of beaver dams have been found here. Notwithstanding the beauty of the name and its asso- ciations, some of the settlers were dissatisfied, as ap- pears in 1671 (May 28), in

"The umble petition of Roger Conant, of Bass river, aline Beverly who have bin a planter in Now England fortie-eight yeere and vpwards, being one of the first, if not the very first, that resolved and made good my settlement, vnder God, in matter of plantation with my family, in this collony of the Massachusett Bay, and haue bin instrumentall, both for the founding and carrying on of the same ; and when in the infancy thereof, it was in great bassard of being deserted, I was u monns, through grace assisting me, to stop the flight of those few that then were heere with me, and that my vtter deniall to goe away with them, who would bane gon either for England or mostly for Virginia, but therevpon stayed to the hassard of our lines.

" Now my vanble enit and request is vnto this honorable Conrt, onlie that the name of our town or plantation may be altred or changed from Benerly and he called Budleigh. I haue two reasons that hane moved me vnto this request. The first is the great dielike and discontent for this name of Beverly, because, (wee being but a small place) it hath caused on vs a constant nickname of beggarly, being in tho months of many, and no order was giuen or consent by the people heere to their agent for any name vntill they were shure of being a town granted in the first place.

"Secondly, I being the first that had house in Salem (and nener had any hand in naming either that or any other towne) and myself with those that wero then with me, being all from the western part of Eng- land, desire this western name of Budleigh, a market town in Deuon- shier and neere vato the sca as wee aro heere in this place, and where myself was borne.

"Now in regard to our firstnesse and antiquity in thie soe famons a colony, wo should umblie request this littell prinelidg with your fauore and consent, to gino this name abonesaid vnto our town.

687

BEVERLY.

"I nener yet made sute or request vnto the Generall Court for the least matter, tho' I thinke I might as well have done, as many others hane, who have obtained much withont hassard of life or preferring the publick good before theire own interest, which, I praise God, I hane done. If this my sute may find acceptation with your worships, I shall rest vmbly thankfull and my praires shall not ceaso vnto the throne of grace for God's guidance and his blessing to he on all your mightie pro- ceedings and that justice and righteousness may be eurie wbero adminis_ tered, and sound doctrine, truth, and holiness eurie where taught and practised throughont the wilderness, to all posterity, which God grant. Amen.

" Your worships vmble petitioner and servant, " ROOER CONANT."1

His petition was not granted, fortunately, though the General Court gave him, iu recognition of his services, two hundred acres of land, near Dunstable.

This petition is inserted, at length, owing to its great value in authenticating several facts in Beverly's early history.

1668 .- November 23 .- " Att a generall meeting of the Inhabitants of Beverly, this 23d Nov., 1668, se- lectmen were nominated, & by vote 5 chosen, to or- der the affaires & consernments of the town for this yeare following, viz. : Capt. Thomas Lothropp, Wm. Dixey, Wm. Dodge, sen., John West, Paule Thorn- dike. .

" It is ordered, that the selectmen shall call in all old accompts & see them rectified.

"It is also agreed at this present meeting, that Capt. Lothropp, Wm. Dodge, sen., John Rayment, Edw'd Byshopp & Wm. Rayment, shall meet with our neighbours of Salem, to divide the grounds between us . . . in tyme convenient."

A little previous to this time, in 1660, Salem had applied to the Legislature for a grant of the islands lying off her harbor, though nearer the Beverly shore, Baker's Island and the Miserys.

" Whereas there are certayne Ilands neare our towne commonly known by the names of the Miserys and Baker's Iland, fit for fishing employments, etc." In 1662-63 Thomas Tyler, then of Martha's Vine- yard, son of Masconomo, the Ipswich sagamore, sold his claim on these islands to Bartholomew Gale; bnt it was disallowed by Salem.

They were then covered with primitive forest.

The "Misery" was so called from a disastrons shipwreck happening there.

Baker's Island was so-called after one Robert Baker, a ship-carpenter, ancestor of the present families of the name in North Beverly and the Cove, who was accidentally killed while felling timber there.

1669 .- June 11 .- " At a generall towne meeting, legally warned by the Inhabitants of Beverly, it is agreed upon that Mr. John Hailes shall have hold and enjoy that parcell of land being within the gen- erall fence of the field adjoyning unto his pasture which he bought of Wm. Dodge, sen., for him and his heirs forever, hee maintaining the side fence liing against the Common without the field. (This land probably lies along Essex St., adjoining Prospect

Hill, which was Hale's pasture). It is allso ordered this present tyme by a generall vote that no man shall fall any timber in the Commons without order, except it be for his own use; but he shall pay the value of twenty shillings for each tree, to him or them, that are deputed to receive it for the publique good of the place."

1670 .- 29th April .- Ordered and generally voted, "that there shall not be any of the towne land liing in the Commons disposed of uppon any accoumpt ; but by the consent of the whole, att a Generall towne meeting, legally warmed."

" March 24th. It is ordered that all swyne above 3 month shall be sufficiently ringed and yoaked."

1671 .- It is ordered that the country highway from Cederstand up to the meeting-house, as far as the ferry, be made sufficient for horse and cart.

It is agreed with Jonathan Byles to make a pound for the town. "And the said Jonathan is to have for this pound aforesaid & to make a payre of stocks, both to be brought in and sett up in 'Beverly, 50 shillings,' part of it in trees from the Commons.

17th Aug. "It is ordered that their shall be a rate made to make provision for powder & shott & ammu- nition, according as the law requires, by the select- men.

13th Sept. "It was agreed that a place for buriall should be provided, and an acre of ground to be got- ten,-which was bought of Lieut. Wm. Dixey, lying by the country highway on the one side, bounded on the other side uppon Nathaniel Stone & Josias Rootes." (This land extended from Milton to Wallis streets, between Cabot street and Stephen's hill,) and was not used for burial purposes, but exchanged for land of John Lovett.

1672 .- The town contributed (February 14th), £13 to Harvard College.

The bounds between Beverly and Manchester were defined and settled about as they stand to-day. The land bought for a cemetery was "exchanged with John Lovett, Jun., for one acre of Land, on part whereof the publique meeting-house standeth, begin- ing at the bound tree on the northeast & so to make up the acre compleat towards the house of the said John Lovett." (This latter is the one first used as a cemetery, on a portion of which the preseut Old South chapel stands, and through which Abbott Street now runs.)

1674 .- "It was agreed upon and voted that there shall as soon as conveniently may be, a school-house built that shall likewise be for a watch-honse; and that the said house shall be set upon the town's land by the meeting-house." Its construction was de- layed, and for a time the school continued to be held in the church.

1675 .- " It is agreed at a publick towne meetinge, in the two & twentie day of October, that they should have forthwith a forte builte, about the meeting- house, & one at Bass River, & one at Mackrill Cove

1 Mass. Hist. Collections.

688

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

& another at John Dodge's, senior," near the Wen- ham line.

THE NARRAGANSETT WAR .- These preparations for defense announce that the mutterings of war were be- ginning to disturb the calm of their peaceful occupa- tions. Philip of Pokanoket, the dreaded sachem of the Wampanoags, broke the peace, which had existed between his tribe and the settlers for fifty years, and began the series of massacres that alarmed every resi- dent in the colonies. No section felt safe from at- tack; all the towns joined in sending soldiers to the seat of operations in the Connecticut Valley. And even Beverly, though remote from the field of active warfare, felt the necessity for not only defensive, but aggressive action.

Her favorite son, Captain Lothrop, was appointed to the command of a company of infantry in the Massachusetts forces, and with them hastened to the frontier. The town of Hadley was then the head- quarters of the troops in that region, and at that place Captain Lothrop was soon found, with his choice company of young men, selected from the best fam- ilies in the county, and styled the "Flower of Essex."

The provisions and forage of Hadley ran short, but in the near town of Deerfield was a large amount of grain, estimated at 3000 bushels, stacked in the fields, which had been abandoned by the farmers when driven out by the Indians. To thresh this grain and transport it to Hadley, Captain Lothrop and his com- pany were detached, and set out for Deerfield with a number of teams and drivers.

Having secured the grain, Lothrop began the re- turn march to Hadley, on the 18th of September, without apprehension of attack from Indians, as none had been seen. But the wily Philip had marked him for his prey. The following account,1 published many years ago, describes the terrible event :

"For the distance of about three miles, after leaving Deerfield mea- dow, Lothrop's march lay through a very level country, closely wooded, where he was every moment exposed to an attack on either flank ; nt the termination of this distance, near the south point of Sugar-loaf bill, the road approximated the Connecticut River, and the left was in some measure unprotected. At the village now called Muddy Brook, in the southerly part of Deerfield, the road crossed a small stream, bordered by n narrow murass, from which the village has its name; though more appropriately it should he denominated Bloody Brook, by which it is sometimes known. Before arriving at the point of intersection with the brook, the road for about half a mile ran parallel with the morass, then, crossing, it continued to the south point of Sugar-loaf hill. On discov- ering Lothrop's march, a body of upwards of seven hundred Indians planted themselves in ambuscade nt the point of crossing, and lay in waiting. Without scouring the woods in front and flank, or suspecting the enare luid for him, Lothrop arrived at the fatal spot, crossed the morass with the principal part of his force, and probably halted to allow his teams to drag through their loads. The critical moment had arrived -the Indiane instantly poured a heavy and destructive fire upon the column, aud rushed furiously to the attack. Confusion and dismay succeeded. The troops broke and scattered, fiercely pursued by the Indians, whose great superiority enabled them to attack at all points Hopeless was the situation of the scattered troops, und they resolved to sell their lives in a vigorous struggle. Covering themselves with trees, the bloody conflict now became a trial of skill in sharpshooting, in which

life was the stake. Difficult would it be to describe the havoc, barbarity und misery that ensued. The dead, the dying, the wounded, strewed the ground in all directions; the devoted force was soon reduced to a small number, and resistance became faint. At length the unequal struggle terminated in the annihilation of nearly the whole of the En- glish, only seven or eight escaping to relate the dismal tale; and the wounded were indiscriminately butchered. Captain Lothrop fell in the early part of the action."

The whole loss, including teamsters, amounted to ninety, and among the slain were included, from Bev- erly, besides the lamented Lothrop, Josiah Dodge, Peter Woodbury and John (Joseph)? Balch, John Bennett, (?) Edward Trask, (?) Samuel Whitteridge. (?) Unsuspicious of danger, it is said, the soldiers had laid aside their arms and were gathering grapes by the roadside when the destructive volleys were poured into their ranks.

! "This catastrophe sent a thrill of terror and dismay through all the New England colonies. Especially did the newe of it come with appall- ing force to this county, from which its choicest flowers, all culled out of its towns, and blooming so lately in manly beauty and strength, had been thus suddenly cut down and withered as by untimely frost. Throughout its length and breadth, scarcely was there a village or hamlet left unscathed by this great calamity. More particularly, and with stunning effect, did the blow fall here, where, besides several that were deeply lamented, the fallen chief was best known, and for that reason most respected, trusted and loved."

In the year 1835 the burial-place of Lothrop and his thirty men was identified, and a monnment erect- ed (1838) in commemoration of the battle of Bloody Brook. At the laying of its corner-stone, Edward Everett delivered a memorable address, saying, in con- clusion, "The ' Flower of Essex' shall bloom in un- dying remembrance, as the lapse of time shall con- tinually develop, in richer abundance, the fruits of what was done and suffered by our fathers." In order that the descendants of such ' fathers ' should remem- ber one of the most valiant of their deeds, we should acquaint them with the story, and locality, of the famons Bloody Brook. The monument erected may be seen to-day, standing in South Deerfield, overshad- owed by the towering mass of sandstone known as the Sugar-loaf, where, beneath a shelving cliff, is shown the hollowed rock known as King Philip's Seat, whence he overlooked the surrounding country and that day noted the movements of Captain Lothrop's command.

The original list of the slain at " Muddy Brook, being ye 18 of Sept.," is in the State-House, Boston : " A List of Men slain in the county of Hamshire, tho' we cannot gett ye names of all, yet as many as wee can gett are here ynserted ; also, the time when and place where they were slain." -- Mass. Military Records, v. 68, p. 33.

" Ah, gallant few ! No generous foe Had met thom by that crimsoned tide ; Vain even despair'a resistless blow,- As brave men do and die, -they died ! Yet not in vain, -a cry that shook The inmost forest's desert glooms, Swelled o'er their graves, until it broke In sturm around the red man's homes !

2 Tbayer'a Memorial.

1 }loyt's " Indiuu Warg."

689

BEVERLY.

" But beating hearts, far, far away, Broke at their story's fearful truth, And maidens sweet, for many a day, Wept o'er the vanished dreams of youth ; By the bine distaut ocean-tide, W'ept yoars, long years, to hear them tell How by the wild wood's lonely side The Flower of Essex fell."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 187

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