History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 197

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 197

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1851 .- Bass River Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, installed at Bell's Hall, February 21st, by M. W. G. Master Usher. A hall built for its use in 1857 was destroyed by fire 1873, but in 1874-75, the fine block now owned by the Order was erected, at a cost of about sixty-five thousand dollars. It is sit- uated opposite the town-hall, is of brick, with trim- mings of granite, and contains, besides the halls used by the lodge, some of the most eligible store-space in town. The post-office occupies the entire rear half of the lower floor, with entrances from Wallis and Thorndike Streets.

The lodge now numbers abont four hundred mem- bers, its receipts during its existence have been large, and its expenditures for benefits and charities on a generous scale.

The auxiliary Friendship Lodge of the Daughters of Rebecca was installed January 10, 1870, and the Summit Encampment September 20, 1870.

1852 .- August 7th, this year, Robert Rantoul, Jr. died, in Washington, a biographical sketch of whom is elsewhere given in this volume. It needs no mention, perhaps; that the greatest in the land brought their tributes here and laid them on Rantoul's grave. In the United States Senate, Charles Sumner sketched his career and pronounced his eulogy :

" Ile was horn August 13th, 1805, at Beverly, the home of Nathan Dane, author of the immortal ordinance by which freedom was made a perpetual heirloom in the broad region of the Northwest. Here, noder happy auspices of family and neighborhood, he commenced life. Here his excellent father, honored for his public services, venerable also with years and flowing silver locks, yet lives to moura his last surviving son.

"The zad fortune of Burke is renewed : he who should have been as posterity is now to this father in the place of ancestor. * * *

"The death of such a mau, so suddenly, in mid-career, is well calcu- lated to arrest attention and to furoish admonition. From the love of family, the attachment of friends and the regard of fellow-citizens he has been removed. Leaving behind the cures of life, the concerns of State and the wretched strifes of party, he has ascended to those man- sioos where there is no strife, or concern, or care. At last he stands face to face in His presence whose service is perfect freedom. Yon and I, sir, and all of us, must follow soon. God grant that we may go with equal consciousness of duty well done."

The offering of Whittier has become a part of the permanent literature of our country, familiar to every reader of his poetry ; yet we must be pardoned if we quote it here entire; for it belongs to us, who dwell,-

Here, "where his breezy bills of home Look out upon his sail-white seas-"

this noble poem ; a joint legacy of the bard of free- dom and its eloquent advocate.

"RANTOUL."

" One day, along the electric wire His manly word for Freedom sped ; We came next moro : that tongue of fire Said only, " He who spake is dead ! "

Dead ! while his voice was living yet, In echoes round the pillared dome ! Dead ! while his blotted page lay wet With themes of state and loves of home !

Dead ! in that crowning grace of time, That triumph of life's zeoith hour ! Dead ! while we watched his manhood's prime Break from the slow bud into flower !

Dead ! he so great, and strong, and wise, While the mean thousands yet drew breath ; How deepened, through the dread surprise, The mystery and the awo of death !

From the high place whereon our votes Hlad borne him, clear, calm, earnest, fell His first words, like the preinde notes Of some great anthem yet to swell.

We seemed to see our flag unfurled, Our champion waiting io his place For the last hattlo of the world,- The Armageddon of the race.

Through him we hoped to speak the word Which wins the freedom of a land ; And lift, for human right, the sword Which dropped from Hampden's dying hand.

For ho had sat at Sidney's feet, And walked with Pym and Vane apart ; And, through the centuries, felt the beat Of Freedour's march in Cromwell's heart.

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BEVERLY.

He knew the paths the worthies held,

Where England's best and wisest trod ;

And, lingering, drank the springs that welled Beneath the touch of Milton's rod.

No wild enthusiast of the right, Self-poised and clear, he showed alway The coolness of his northern uight, The ripe repose of autumn's day.

His steps were slow, yet forward still He pressed where others paused or failed ;

The calm star clomb with constant will,- The restless meteor tlashed and paled !

Skilled in its subtlest wile, he knew And owned the higher ends of Law ;

Still rose majestic on his view The awful Shape the schoolman saw.

Her home the heart of God ; her voice The choral harmonies whereby

The stars, through all their spheres, rejoice, The rhythmic rule of earth and sky !

We saw his great powers misapplied To poor ambitions ; yet, through all,

We saw him take the weaker side And right the wronged, and free the thrall.

Now, looking o'er the frozen North For one like him in word and act,

To call her old, free spirit forth, And give her faith the life of fact,-

To break her party honds of shame, And labor with the zeal of him To make the Democratic name Of Liberty the synonyme,-

We sweep the land from hill to strand, We seek the strong, the wise, the brave,

And, sad of heart, return to stand In silence by a new-made grave !

There, where his breezy hills of home Look out upon his sail-white seas,

The sounds of winds and waters come, And shape themselves to words like these :

" Why, murmuring, monrn that he, whose power Was lent to Party over-long,

Heard the still whisper at the hour He set his foot on Party wrong ?

" The human life that closed so well No lapse of folly now can stain ; The lips whence Freedom's protest fell No meaner thonght can now profane.

" Mightier than living voice his grave That lofty protest ntters o'er ;

Through roaring wind and smiting wave It speaks his bate of wrong once more.

"Men of the North ! your weak regret Is wasted here ; arise and pay

To freedom and to him your debt By following where he led the way !"

1853 .- The Beverly Insurance Company was incor- porated, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. Frederick W. Choate was president for many years. About 1880 the stock was sold at par to gentlemen of Boston, and the name changed to the Merchants' In- surance Company, with Chas. H. Fuller, president, and Elisha Whitney, secretary, doing business in Boston till 1886.

THE LAST SURVIVOR OF THE REVOLUTION .- In the year 1854 expired the last (as diligent inquiry,

and thorough examination of the records and muster- rolls inform us) of Beverly's Revolutionary heroes.

Mark Morse, who died March 18, 1854, at the great age of ninety-six, was a private in Capt. John Low's Company, in Col. Hutchinson's Regiment, August 1, 1775, according to the muster-roll of that date, which is still preserved at the State House in Boston. Mr. Morse was a respected resident of that part of Beverly known as the Cove, and lived in the house (still standing) on Ober Street, just west of its junc- tion with Woodbury Street. It is within a short dis- tance of the spot on which Humphrey Woodbury (about 1630) built one of the first houses in Beverly ; a section rich in reminiscence, and the home of many of the hardy fishermen that once materially contri- buted to the wealth of Beverly.

It is, the historian is well aware, contrary to the popular opinion that any survivor of the Revolution abode with us beyond 1850. On the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Lexington, in 1850, but two survivors of that fight are mentioned as among the living : Jonathan Harrington, of Lex- ington, aged ninety-two, and Amos Baker, of Lincoln, aged ninety-four. These honored men sat on the platform, the chief guests of the occasion, and were feelingly alluded to by the speakers.

In the town records, between 1820-30, are many al- lusions to the demise of Revolutionary veterans, be- coming less and less frequent beyond the thirties and forties, and ceasing entirely within forty years of the present time. In 1822 (to cite a few illustrious names) Col. John Francis died, aged sixty-eight; he was wounded in the war and received a small pension. Aaron Francis, his brother, died 1825, aged seventy- four, an officer in the Revolution. The year follow- ing died Peter Glover, aged eighty-five. In 1821 Asa Herrick, aged seventy-nine. Capt. Hngh Hill, onr famous privateer, deceased 1829, at the ripe old age of eighty-eight. The same year, Jeffrey Thissell, at seventy-four.

In 1833, at the age of ninety-one, departed Saralı Wyer, a sister of the brothers Francis. Sergt. William Taylor Manning, a Virginian by birth, but long a resident of Beverly, died in 1838, aged eighty-one. Sergt. Manning served throughout the war, and at the close received an honorable discharge signed by Washington, bespeaking his worth and merit. In 1842, the year Stone's "History of Beverly " was pub- lished, casual mention is made of a Revolutionary soldier, Ebenezer Rea. According to the muster-roll of November, 1776, he was then enlisted. He died November 11, 1843, aged eighty-three. Upon his tomb-stone, to be seen in the second cemetery, is in- scribed : " He was beloved and honoured all his life and lamented in death as the true friend, the upright and patriotic citizen, the enlightened and devoted Christian ; " but no mention is made of his war record. He lived in the old house at the Cove, on Hale Street, still known as the Rea-house, the oldest

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in that neighborhood, perhaps in the town, built by one of the first Thorndikes, and a fine example of the colonial architecture. Ebenezer Rea's father was Capt. Joseph Rea, who was one of the Revolu- tionary committee of correspondence, and commanded the company enlisted in Beverly and Lynn which went to the aid of Washington in New Jersey. Capt. Ebenezer was fifteen years old at the time of the hat- tle of Lexington, and, it is said, used to relate many anecdotes of events that transpired in town during the war.

After serving in the army, he sailed for the West Indies, in the " Resource," with Capt. Richard Ober, when he was taken prisoner by the British and car- ried into Jamaica. He was not confined closely, but was transferred with other sailors to the "Pelican," a British man-of-war which foundered at sea, four of the crew being lost. He obtained his liberty in 1782, and arrived safely home, to dwell with his neighbors dnring sixty years of comparative peace.

Rev. Elisha S. Williams, at one time pastor of the Baptist Church, and who died in Beverly in 1845, aged eighty-seven years, four months, was a soldier under Washington. The last of these patriots, prob- ably, next to Mark Morse, was Josiah Foster, who died, at the age of eighty-nine, in 1849. Mr. Foster was one of the captured crew of the snow " Diana," imprisoned in Mill Prison, England, in 1781. By no means complete, this scattering record of "Revolu- tioners" is given merely, to indicate the probable survivors, at different periods, of that most important epoch of our history.

1858 .- October 24th, Robert Rantoul, deceased, in his eightieth year.

To the faithful portraiture following, from the skilled and loving hand of Rev. Dr. A. P. Peabody, who knew so intimately the departed, little may be added.

" Robert Rantoul was the son of Robert Rantonl (a native of Scotland, who early hecame an American citizen, was a shipmaster, and was lost at sea in 1783), and of Mary, daughter of Andrew and Mary (Lam- bert) Preston, of Salem. The subject of this sketch was born in Salem, November 23, 1778. The eldest child of a family left with a scanty competence, it was the ambition of his boyhood to relieve his mother's burdens, and to minister to her support and comfort, and after a short but thorough apprenticeship, at the age of cighteen, he invested his small patrimony in the establishment of a druggist's shop in Beverly. Hle understood his business, was diligent, frugal and enterprising, obtained the respect and confidence of his townsmen, and remained in his original calling for more than twenty years, till forced to abandon it by the pressure of various public trusts and duties which demanded and filled his whole time, till, in a late old age, he yielded to disabling infirmity. Mean- while he had acquired not wealth, but property amply sufficient for his comfortable living, and his never stinted charities.

In 1801 he married Joanna, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Herrick) Lovett, of Beverly, whose pre- eminently lovely character gave grace and happiness to his home for nearly half a century, and whose pre- cious memory has an enduring place in the hearts of all that knew her.

Shortly after his marriage he bnilt, on a beautiful site near the seashore, the house in which he lived for more than fifty years, and which is still in the posses- sion and occupancy of his only surviving daughter.

Of Mr. Rantonl's public life the following synopsis is an authentic, and probably a full record. It wonld hardly permit of being fuller : He was an overseer of the poor of Beverly from 1804 to 1854, when he resigned, having written fifty consecutive annnal reports; a justice of the peace and acting trial justice for the town from 1808 until his death in 1858, as well as parish clerk of the First Parish for the same period, and deacon of the First Church, for forty-six years before his death ; an original and life-long member of the Massachusetts Temperance Society from its incep- tion in 1812; was, from 1830 to 1851 inclusive, an original trustee, on the part of the State, of the Insti- tution for the Education of the Blind; represented the town in the General Court for the years from 1809 to 1819, from 1823 to 1827 and from 1828 to 1833 inclusive, having been chosen a Senator from Essex County for the years 1820, '21 and '22,-a total legis- lative term of twenty-five years; was captain of the Light Infantry Company of Beverly from 1805 to 1809; and first lientenant of the Coast-guard Artillery Company in 1814-15; was for some years one of the county commissioners of highways, and presented, at the invitation of the town, August 31, 1824, an address to Lafayette on his tour through Beverly ; was a meni- ber of the school committee for forty years ; a member of two State Conventions which have been held (1820 and 1853) for amending the Constitution of Massachusetts, and called the latter to order; and, after reaching his majority in 1799, attended every annual town meeting but one, and nearly every town meeting held in Beverly, until 1854, a period of fifty- five years.

It may well be inferred from this list that his was a pre-eminently busy life, especially as it was his uni- form habit to do thoroughly to the full measure of his ability whatever he undertook to do. For many years, as justice of the peace, he had probably nine- tenths of the business of Beverly and the smaller adjacent towns, and his office became a well-known and frequented court-room. At the same time, his intimate knowledge of the laws actually in force made him a safe and wise counsellor, and he was constantly called upon for his opinion and advice, which was always given gratuitously, and always with the pur- pose of settling disputes and superseding litigation. During the greater part of his service in the Legisla- ture he was chairman of the Committee on Accounts, and in that capacity it was his wont to andit the

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BEVERLY.

entire accounts of the State, and to report against every charge that was not reasonably fair, fully author- ized and legally due. In his care of the poor he kept the almshouses under constant supervisiou, while the merits, claims and needs of outside pensioners were made the subject of careful enquiry. He took great interest in the public schools, and the teachers and pupils found in him a judge of their work equally dis- criminating and kind. These various offices he bore, not because he sought them. but because they sought him. His public life lay chiefly within the period when fitness was deemed the prime qualification for a public charge. He would not have lifted his finger to obtain the highest place in the government of the State or the nation, and had he been elected to the humblest post of civic duty, he would have accepted it, and have put into it the best work that could be done for and in it. He belonged (as long as it existed) to the Federalist party, and had the singleness and tenacity of aim and purpose which constituted the enduring praise of its leader, yet undoubtedly led to its inevitable defeat and disorganization. In the lat- ter years of his life he voted with the Democratic, then with the Free Soil party, but took no active part in the measures of either. In addition to his public and official dnties, Mr. Rantoul had a large and benefi- cent life-work. Private trusts seemed to gravitate spontaneously in his direction, and no man can have had them in greater number or diversity than he, if we except those who make the management of them a profession. As executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, he had in his hands a large proportion of the estates in Beverly, especially when such a charge was a charity. If there was a small or heavily-encum- bered estate from which there was a possibility of saving a pittance for a widow or children, he was almost always solicited to assume its management, and there were many instances in which a family that, bnt for him, would have been left in utter penury, had their slender means secured, invested and hus- banded by him, without cost, and without ever being reminded of their indebtedness to him. His widowed sister and her children were hardly less under his assiduous and generous charge than if they had lived under his own roof. Of the two orphan children of a brother-in-law, he adopted one as his own daughter, and so managed the patrimony of both as to surrender it on their majority with an incredibly large increase. The late Rev. Dr. Anderson and his two brothers were the step-sons of his sister-in-law, and the sons of a clergyman who left them a very scanty inherit- ance, which Mr. Rantoul, as their guardian, so admin- istered as to make it suffice, so far as they were informed, for their college and professional education. Two of the brothers died young, but the venerable survivor never ceased to speak with the warmest gratitude and affection of his early care-taker and benefactor.

Mr. Rantonl was among the pioneer reformers of 463

his time. When, as a military officer, several years before the existence of the earliest temperance society in the world, he received the company under his command at his own house, he omitted the usual supply of intoxicating liquors, taking care to add to the entertainment more than a full equivalent for their cost. From that time-how long before we do not know-he never tasted such liquors, or had them in his house, and for a long time he found himself, at public tables and on festive occasions, the only water- drinker.

He was the first person in Massachusetts to stir the question of capital punishment, which he kept con- stantly hefore the Legislature, and toward the discus- sion of which he contributed largely by legislative reports and through the public press.

Always opposed to slavery, yet equally opposed to philanthropy of the denunciatory type, he was in full sympathy with the advanced opinions of wise and patriotic men in favor of emancipation.

Of Mr. Rantoul's private character it is impossible that any eulogy should exceed the truth. His firm religious faith and principle were made manifest in a rigid conscientiousness which conld not neglect or slight any known duty. His integrity was not only strict and unswerving, but often transcended its own proper measure, so that in what he meant as simple justice he was not unapt to wrong himself, sometimes, indeed, at a very serious loss and sacrifice, assuming responsibilities which no one else would have regarded as in anywise belonging to him. While always ready to meet every legitimate call of charity, he was, in fact, much more generous than he seemed. He obeyed in full the evangelic precept of reticence as to his good deeds, and there were many cases in which funds inadequate for the needs which they were to meet could have been made sufficient only as supplemented by his unostentatious kindness.

In his family, as a neighbor, as a friend, as a citizen, no man could have been more trusted, honored and revered than he was, or more deservedly.

Of church and State he was one of the strong pil- lars, that are never replaced in the public esteem and confidence till the generation that relied on their snp- port has passed away. Mr. Rantoul was never in vigorous health, but seldom ill; his mind retained its nnimpaired vigor till his last illness.1

1859 .- The first local paper, The Citizen, estab- lished on a sure fonndation was started this year, af- ter several previous but unsuccessful attempts. The first paper to bear this name was published by An- drew F. Wales, now deceased, the first number bear- ing date of March 17, 1851, with Rev. Ira Washburn as editor.

The later Citizen was founded by John Batchelder

1 Fu ther details of Mr. Rantoul's life, and his connection with town affairs, may he found in his " Reminisceuces," published in the " His- torical Collections of the Essex Institute."

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Cressy, who, during twenty-three years of ownership, wisely maintained it as a valued depository of local news and history. In 1882 it became the property of Irving W. Allen, under whose management it has been enlarged, but with the main features preserved that conduced to its success.

1860 .- In the presidential election of this year the vote of Beverly is recorded : for Lincoln and Ham- lin, 739; Bell and Everett, 120; Douglas, 72; Jef- ferson Davis, 23; total, 954.

It must he admitted that the people of Beverly were not unanimously in favor of the Anti-Slavery movement, although its principles had won with the majority. The struggles and triumphs of the friends of the cause are a part of yet unwritten history.

One of them, Mr. A. N. Clark, kindly furnishes the fol- lowing data regarding the formation of the Beverly Anti-Slavery Society : Although the plan of coloniz- ing Liberia, as a means of civilizing and Christianiz- ing Africa, as well as helping to rid our own country of the curse of slavery, had been earnestly presented to the people of Beverly, in their churches, and con- tributions sought in aid of that endeavor, it was not till about the year 1832 that immediate emancipation hegan to be advocated and the rights of the slave to his freedom and citizenship upon the soil where he was born.2 Lectures were frequently delivered upon this exciting theme and earnest debates held before the Beverly Lyceum.

The universal sentiment was opposed to the exten- sion of slavery, but very few, then, were in favor of complete emancipation. The temper of the public mind at that time is well known. By some, Garrison and his immediate followers were denounced as dan- gerous to the well-being of the nation ; while they, in turn, accused the northern churches of being in fel- lowship with the South-the "Bulwark of American Slavery "-and declared the Constitution of the United States a "covenant with hell."

There were other advocates who were listened to with more of patience, and who did good service in correcting and moulding public opinion : such men as Pierpont, May, Staunton, Leavitt, Phelps and Phillips.

The church doors, however, had become barred against the Anti-Slavery advocates, and the Old Town Hall became the battle ground; and this only was secured by some of the citizens giving a bond for its security against violence.

As early as 1833 an Anti-Slavery Society was formed in Beverly, not numerous, for it required courage to " stand up and be counted." The object of the society was to educate public sentiment in re- gard to the great evil of American slavery and the safety to both races in its immediate overthrow. A library was established for the circulation of tracts

and other literature on the question of slavery as was then available. This library, as a matter of conve- nience, was located at the drug-store of Augustus N. Clark, on Cabot Street, the proprietor of the store acting as librarian. The library case was made by John Tuck, 2d, and by him presented to the society ; it has been carefully preserved, while the library, made up as it was mostly of pamphlets and unbound books, has disappeared.

Of the original members of the society, Augustus N. Clark, John I. Baker, Charles Moulton and Eben H. Moulton, still survive.

The society continued during six years, when slav- ery becoming (1840) an issue in politics, it ceased to exist; but the impetus of the movement could not be arrested ; the result the world knows.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 197

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