History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 203

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 203

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8,276

1,012

Food Products.

$2,888

Canned fruit (sale).

pounds,

Canued fruit (use).

.pounds,

Ice

.tons,

500

2,500

Hay, salt tons,

431/2 401

Hay, not classified

.tons,

Greenhouse Products.

$3,900

Flowers, leaves, and vines, ent ......

...

Plants, flowering and other ..

...

Hothouse and Hotbed Products.

$435

191

Fodder, rye.

tons,

131%

172

Liquors and Beverages.

$854

Cider (sale)

.. gallons,

3,848

40G

Cider (use)

.. gallons,

4,017

448

Nursery Products.

$27

Trees, fruit.

Trees, ornamental

100

Poultry Products.

Eggs, fancy

dozen,

400

Feathers

.pounds,

Manure, hen and bird.

bushels,

1,607

607

Poultry, dressed : chickens. .pounds,

8,841

Poultry, dressed : other than chickens, geese, and tur-

keys.

.pounds, 95

Wood Products.

Ashes (sales).

bushels,

Ashes (use) ..

bushels,

431

209

Firewood (sale).

cords,

214

1,106

Firewood (use) ..

.cords,

325

1,559

Iloop poles (use).

200

Lumber (use) ..

.thousand feet

$ 20,400

388

Dandelions

bushels,

548

418

Axe handles (use).

llops.

.. pounds,

Pease, green

.,bushels,

726

684

Hotbed mats (sale)

Poppers

bushels,

Seeds, garden, field, and flower. .pounds,

Cereals.

$2,046

Barley

bushels,

Wooden Goods.

Ox-yokes (use).

Other Products.

$951

2,143

$2,930

700

3,200

910

934

2,025

487

Hucklaberries quarts,

753

BEVERLY.

PROPERTY.

Cultivated :

Land.

acres,

5,512} $585,991

Hay (used tor) ..

.acres,

1,4051% 199,636

Principal crops (used for).

acres,

4131% 57,189

Waluut ..

Grape vines.

672

938

Nurseries

acres,

150

Orchards.

acres,

16,950

Other cultivated.

.acres,

9636

17, 485

Products.

$206,111

Animal products.

13,076

Clothing, Qcedle-work, etc

7,513

Permanent pasture.

.acres,

1,581

107,093

Other ualmproved.

acres,

4011g 37,444

Uuimprovable.

acres,

531/1

2,700

Mines, quarries, pits, otc ..

acres,

Woodland :

Over thirty years' growth

acres,

308

32,300

Of thirty years or less

.. acres,

927

83,655

Buildings.

#563,866

Dwelling-houses

184

395,850

Barus .

174

124,937

Carriage-houses.

9,085

Granaries.

720

Greenhouses

7,550

Han-houses

126

4,011

Outbuildings

113

3,105

Sheds

6,765

Shops.

4,135

Stables.

5,535

Storehouses

1,885

Other buildings.

Machines, Implements, etc.

$35,479

Carts, wagous, harnesses, etc.

26,190

Cultivators.

104

545

Feed cutters

179

Harrows.

115

1,126

Hay-cutters

267

Hay tedders

304

Horse hoes.

207

Horse powers

220

Horse rakes

868

Implements

...

1,699

Manure spreaders

225

Mowing machines.

1,920

Plow's

208

1,208

Seed sowers

164

Other machines

...

Domestic Animals, etc.

$66,516

Bees (swarms of ).

208

Bulls

505

Calves.

4.45

Dogs

498

Ducks.

111

Guinea fowls

Heifers.

1,936

Heas and chickena.

9,174

7,014

Hogs

131

1,858

Horses.

250

25,595

Milch cows

580

26,230

Oxea.

760

Pigeons.

250

Number paying poll-tax only

1662

Paying property tax.

1833

Polla assessed.

2725

Total value of personal estate $5,269,325

Total value of bank stock

144,375

Total value of buildings, excluding land. 3,856,645

Total value of land, excluding buildings. 5,016,775

Total valuation $14,287,100

The tax on personal estate.

$69,295.36

Crab-apple

116

The tax on real estate

113,579.52

The tax oo polls

5,450.00

Hickory

159

161

Mulberry.

Peach

459

496

Pear

2,040

6,954

Rate of taxation.

Plum .....

102

262

Quince .....

169

33)

Shellbark

Dairy products.

57,729

Food products

2,888

Greenhouse products ..

3,900

HIothouse and hotbed products.

435

Liquors and beverages

854

Nursery products.

Poultry products

12,291

Wood products.

2,930

Wooden goods

Other products ..

95L

Cereals

2,046

Fruits, berries and nuts .....

6,164

Hay, straw and fodder

33,751

Meats and game.

3,603

Vegetables

57,947

Property.

$1,278,060

Land

585,991

Buildings,

563,886

Machines, implements, etc.

35,479

Domestic animals, etc

66,51G

Fruit trees and vines

26,208

...

POPULATION-VALUATION .- A resume of popula- tion gives,-

In 1776, 2754; 1790, 3290 ; 1800, 3881; 1810, 4608 ; 1820, 4285 ; 1830, 4033 ; 1840, 4689 ; 1850, 5376 ; 1860, 6154 ; 1865, 6942 ; 1870, 6507 ; 1875, 7271 ; 1880, 8456 ; 1885, 9186.

The assessors' valuation of the public property of the town in May, 1887, was as follows :

School-houses.

$145,000

Public library

10,000

Other public buildings.

115,000

Public grounds.

25,000

Cemeteries. 20,000

Other real estate.

4,900

Water-works.

565,451.85

Fire apparatus

25,000

Trust funds

4,300

Sinking fund. 215,947.16

Other assets.

25.000

Turkeys ..

Otber animals

...

806

Fruit Trees and Vines.

$26,208

Apple .....

4,865

16,092

Apricot ...

Butternat

Cherry

136

639

Chestnut

Fig

140

Pigs.

168

507

Total $1,115,599.01

Aggregates for 1887,-

Number of persons assessed. 3495

Total tax

$188,324.88

Market gardens.

acres,

22678 32,365

AGGREGATES.

l'ucultivated :

288

357

754

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ISRAEL THORNDIKE.

Israel Thorndike was born in Beverly, Mass., in 1755. He was fifth in descent from John Thorndike, who came to this country in 1633, and returned in 1668 on a visit to his brother, Herbert Thorndike, in England, where he soon after died, and was buried on November 3d of that year in the Cloisters of West- minster Abbey. The Rev. Herbert Thorndike, above referred to, was prebendary of Westminster and a profound scholar and theologian. He wrote many ecclesiastical works in English and Latin, some of which are still of so much interest that they have been recently republished. He died in 1672 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In his will he left property to his nieces, Martha and Alice, daughters of John, who had accompanied their father on his visit to England, on condition, however, "that they should neither return to New England, their birth- place, nor yet, remaining in England, marry with any who went to mass or to the new Licensed Con- venticles."

These brothers, John and Herbert, were sons of Francis Thorndike, who in 1634 signed the pedigree for the first visitation of Heralds recorded in the family, and were fifth in descent from William Thorndike, who lived at Little Carlton, County of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry VII., and died in 1539. The arms borne by the family were "Argent, six guttees, three, two and one, gnles, on a chief of the last three leopards' faces, gold."

President Quincy, in his "History of Harvard University," speaks of Israel Thorndike as follows : " He had in youth no advantages of education, ex- cept those which the public schools of his native town afforded, but he possessed, in the vigor of his own miud, a never-failing spring of self-advancement. The war of the American Revolution was an event adapted to call into activity his powers and spirit of enterprise. . Embracing with zeal the cause of his conntry, he became part-owner and captain of an armed ship, and the judgment with which he planned his cruises, and the intrepidity aud diligence with which he conducted them, were rewarded with dis- tinguished success. Having entered into partnership with his brother-in-law, the late Moses Brown, he engaged, after the peace of 1783, in an extensive and most profitable commerce with the East Indies and China.1 Sagacity, judgment, industry, strict at- tention to business, and thorough acquaintance with the details of every commercial enterprise in which he engaged, were the chief causes of his success. He was also an early patrou of manufactures, and in-

vested, it was said, a greater amount of capital in them than any other individual in New England.

" Mr. Thorndike was at different periods of his life a member of the convention called for the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and a Repre- sentative and Senator in the Legislature of his native State. He was a generous coutributor to all patriotic and charitable objects, and often gave an active agency in their support. In 1806 he subscribed five hundred dollars for the foundation of the Natural History Professorship in the University, and also the same amount in 1818 for the library of the theological school. In the same year, being informed that the library of Professor Ebeling, of Hamburg, was for sale, and that an ageut of the King of Prussia was negotiating for it, Mr. Thorndike ordered it to be purchased at the cost of six thousand five hundred dollars, and presented it to Harvard University, thereby securing to his country one of the most com- plete and valuable collections of works extant on American history."

In 1810 Mr. Thorndike removed to Boston for the greater convenience of carrying on his now immense business in all parts of the world, and until his death resided in Summer Street, in that city. "He was eminently social in his feelings, and none more than he delighted in dispensing a princely hospitality." But he still retained his mansion in Beverly, afterwards the Town Hall, passing a considerable portion of his time there, ever manifesting a warm interest in the welfare of his native town, and the first parish of Beverly received from his estate an addition to its funds of about twenty-six hundred dollars.

Mr. Thorndike died in May, 1832. He retained to the last his great energy and activity, and left a large fortune. Mr. Quincy, in allusion to an obituary no- tice of Mr. Thorndike in the Boston Daily Advertiser in May, 1832, after referring to his remarkable men- tal powers, says that "when their influence is united, as was his, with high moral powers, and exerted during a long life on the side of virtue, and iu pro- moting the best interests of society, it is enduring, and serves to give a character to the age in which they live."

Mr. Thorndike was married three times. His first wife was Mercy, daughter of Osmyn Trask, of Beverly. By her he had one son, who died in infancy, and a daughter, wife of Ebenezer Francis, an eminent mer- chant in Boston. Mr. Thorndike's second wife, the mother of his twelve other children, was Anna, daughter of George Dodge, of Salem. He married thirdly, in 1818, Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Dana, of Newburyport. She survived him, and died in 1845.

The accompanying engraving of the portrait of Mr. Thorndike was made from the oil painting by Gilbert Stnart, taken towards the end of his life.2

1 This partnership began during the War of the Revolution, and ap- parently continued till the close of the century. See also the biography of Moses Brown in this work.

2 For most of the above see " Quincy's History of Harvard University," and "Stone's History of Beverly."

bruce Thorndike

(More) Brown)

755

BEVERLY.

MOSES BROWN.

" I hereby certify that the above Arms and Crest are those of Christopber Browne, of Stamford, Co. Lincoln, and of Tolethorpe, Co. Rutland, and of his descendants.

(Vide c. 23, folio 77, and Grants II., 627.)"

Alfred Scott Gatty RungeDragas

Heraldo College London. 30 july 1886. "ant appointments and trusts more numerous than " were conferred upon any other person." He was descended, in the fifth generation, through the Brownes of Swan Hall, Hawkedon, in Suffolk, Eng- land, from Christopher Browne of Stamford, in Lin- colnshire, and of Tolethorpe, Rutlandshire, who,

Moses Brown, of Beverly, was born in Waltham, formerly a part of Watertown, Massachusetts, April 4, 1748. He was the eldest surviving son of Isaac Brown, a very active business man, who resided on Wal- tham Plain, and who descended in the fifth generation from Ab- raham Browne, one of the original settlers of Watertown. Abraham was admitted freeman of Massachusetts March 6, 1631-2, and soon became promi- nent in the place of his adoption, receiv- ing, as is manifest from the early records of the town, "import-

again, was descended, in the fifth generation, from John Browne, a merchant of Stamford, and Alderman, or chief magistrate, of that town in 1376, the office of Mayor not having been created till 1663. Several mortuary brasses of the family, called by Fuller, in his Worthies, "the ancient family of Brownes of Toll- Thorp," still remain on the walls of the Church of All Saints in Stamford, and on the floor of a chapel of the same " proper to the family ", and also in the church at Little Casterton, near Tolethorpe. The church of All Saints, itself, was in great part rebuilt about the year 1465 at the expense of John Browne, father of Christopher Browne, above named ; and its beautiful steeple was erected by William Browne, uncle of Christopher. This William Browne, under a charter dated 1485, also founded the "Browne Hospital or Bead House " for the support of "twelve poor men," and endowed it liberally by grants of lands. This institution still flourishes in Stamford, and, by the large increase in the value of its land, the scope of its charities has been greatly extended. The Manor of Tolethorpe, near the village of Little Casterton, in Rutlandshire, about three miles from Stamford, was purchased by Christopher Browne, above named, of the Burton family towards the end of the 15th centu- ry, and thenceforth continued to be the seat of the head of the family until into the present century, a period of nearly four hundred years. About thirty years ago it was sold, and the ancient stone manor house is now owned and occupied by Charles Ormston Eaton, Esq., a prominent banker of Stamford, who kindly en- tertained there the writer of this article in the sum- mer of 1886. Mr. Eaton has added wings to the

MANSION OF MOSES BROWN, BEVERLY, MASS.

756

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

original mansion, but has otherwise carefully pre- served this venerable structure, as nearly as possi- ble, in the condition in which he found it. A wood-cut copied from a photograph of the house, before its recent alterations, is inserted; together with wood-cuts from photographs of the church of All Saints, and of the Bead House. The two large windows, at the further end of the latter building, are those of the little chapel in which the "twelve poor men" are required to attend daily services. The rest of the building is occupied by two large halls, the whole structure forming one side of an interior quadrangle on which are the residences of the beneficiaries.

The three mascles, in the coat of arms given at the beginning of this article, were granted, together with the crest and motto, to Christopher Browne, above mentioned, July 20, 1480; but are here combined with a still earlier grant to the family of the three mallets with a slightly different crest, which latter coat and crest are cut in stone on the walls of the Bead House. The original parchment grant to Chris- topher still exists, and is in the possession of Freder- ick Sayres Browne of Norwich, England. It is a curi- ous bit of old French, and is printed in full in the Heraldic Journal, Vol. IV., page 146. The herald, Mr. Alfred Scott Gatty, of the Heralds' College, London, stated to the writer that he knew of but one other instance where two grants of arms had been made to the same family.

Moses Brown, the subject of this memoir, was fitted for Harvard College by his maternal uncle, the Rev. Thomas Balch of Dedham, and graduated in 1768. He taught school for three or four years in Framing- ham, Lexington and Lincoln, and then settled in Beverly as a merchant, in the autumn of 1772. The cause of American Independence was warmly es- poused by him, and a commission, dated August 7, 1775, signed by James Warren, President of the Pro- vincial Congress, appointed him Captain of a com- pany enlisted by him in Beverly, under a commission dated July 11th of the same year. In January 1776 he joined the line of the American army as Captain in the fourteenth regiment, Colonel John Glover, under a commission dated January 1, 1776, and signed by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress This regiment, of which many of the privates were seamen, and which is accordingly called the " Am- phibious Regiment " by Irving in his Life of Wash- ington, did good service at Brooklyn in ferrying over the army to New York when it was obliged to evacu- ate Brooklyn Heights. It also performed similar ser- vice for the army on its crossing the Delaware, pre- liminary to the battle of Trenton, in which it took a prominent part. Captain Brown's Orderly Book 1

1 The following extract from this book, in commendation of Col. Glover's command for its gallant attack upon Sir William Howe Oct. 18, 1776, on his march to New Rochelle, may be of interest, as showing the

beginning in January 1776, kept with his characteris- tic neatness and exactness, is still preserved by his descendants, together with his sword, field-glass and commissions. At the expiration of the term of enlist- meut of his company he returned to Beverly, wherehe resumed his business with his partuer and brother in law, Israel Thorndike, and some of the vessels of " Brown and Thorndike," transformed from their peaceful character as merchantmen into armed ships, continued the patriotic work which Captain Brown had begun in the field, and did good service to his country.

After the close of the war, Mr. Brown continued to be energetically and successfully engaged in com- merce until the year 1800, when he retired from ac- tive business with what was, for those days, an am- ple fortune. His house on the main street of Bev- erly, in which, together with Mr. Thorndike, he resided for several years, and until the latter erected a separate mansion, afterwards the Town Hall, is still standing, is a good specimen of the Colonial resi- dences of the better class. Of this also, a wood-cut, taken from a photograph, is inserted. Here, for many years, Mr. Brown dispensed a generous hospitality, and paid much attention to the cultivation of fruit and flowers in the ample garden belonging to his house. The noble elms, which still adorn the main street of Beverly, were also set out by him. He was largely instrumental in the construction of Essex Bridge, between Beverly and Salem, and also of the Salem and Boston Turnpike, the latter having been constructed under his personal supervision. In both of these enterprises he was among the largest orig- inal proprietors. He was a Federalist of the Wash- ington school, was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, and one of the Presidential Electors in 1808. " His manners were dignified and courteous. He always took an important part in public enterpri- ses." President Quincy, in his History of Harvard University, says of him that "He united integrity with benevolence, was exemplary in all social and domestic

character and usefniness of the Essex troops and the esteem in which they were held.

" Orders for Gen. Lee's Division, Mila Square, Oct. 19, 1776. Gen. Lee " returns his warmest thanks to Col. Glover and the Brigado under his " command, not ouly for their gallant behavior yesterday, but, for their " prudent, cool, orderly and soldierlike conduct in all respects, he as- " sures these brava men that he shall omit no opportunity of shewing his " gratitude. All the wounded to be sent immediately to Valentine's hill "at the second Liberty Pole, where surgeons should repair to dress them. "They are afterwards to be forwarded to Fort Washington." And, two " days later, Washington issued general orders as follows, "Headquar- "ters 21 Oct. 1776. The hurried situation of the General for the last two " days, having prevented him from paying that attention to Col. Glover "and the officers and soldiers who were with him in the skirmish on " Friday last that their merit and good behavior deserved, he flatters "himself that his thanks, tho' delayed, will nevertheless be acceptable " to them, as they are offered with great sincerity and cordiality. At "the same time ho hopes that every other part of the army will do " their duty with equal bravery and zeal whenever called upon ; and " neither dangers, nor difficulties nor hardships will discourage soldiers "engaged in the cause of liberty, and while we are contending for all "that freemen hold dear and valnable."

$1.014

TOLETHORPE.

BROWNE'S BEAD HOUSE.

STAMFORD.

CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, STAMFORD, ENGLAND.

A. S. Deabrily.

757

BEVERLY.

relations, and a generous contributor to public and private charities and associations." In his will he bequeathed two thousand dollars to the Theological School at Cambridge connected with the College, to be applied in any way that "will best promote the cause of Christianity, and the design and utility of this religious establishment." He deceased June 15th, 1820, and his funeral sermon was preached by his friend and pastor, the Rev. Abiel Abbott of Beverly. He married first Oct. 16, 1774, Elizabeth, daughter of Osmyn Trask of Beverly. She died without issue, and he married secondly, May 3d, 1789, Mary, daugh- ter of the Rev. Matthew Bridge of Framingham, Har- vard College 1741, and grand-daughter of the Rev. Daniel Perkins of Bridgewater, Harvard College 1717. His children were first, Charles, born in Beverly, May 24, 1793, who graduated at Harvard College in 1812. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar, but never practised his profession. He soon removed to Boston, where, for some years, he was engaged in busi- ness. During the latter part of his life he was much interested in genealogical pursuits, and was largely instrumental in tracing his ancestors in this country to their origin in England. He returned to the for- mer spelling of the name by resuming the final e. He married Dec. 14, 1825, Elizabeth Isabella Tilden, and died in Boston, July 21, 1856, leaving three children, Harriet Tilden, Francis Perkins and Edward Inger- soll Browne (Harvard College 1855) all now living. The name of the old firm has, of late years, been re- vived by the association of Edward Ingersoll Browne with Charles Thorndike, grandson of Israel, as part- ners in the law business, under the name of Browne and Thorndike of Boston, in which city they have long been established.

The second and only other child of Moses Brown, except one who died in infancy, was George, born Nov. 24, 1799. For several years he was a captain in the merchant service. In 1843 he was appointed Com- missioner to the Sandwich Islands, and, with his eld- est son, was lost at sea on a voyage to China in August, 1846. He married, Dec. 9, 1821, his cousin, Harriet Bridge by whom he had several children, all of whom have deceased, his two sons Samuel and Moses alone leaving issue.1

ANDREW PRESTON PEABODY, D.D., LL.D.

Dr. Peabody is descended from Lieutenant Francis Peabody, who was born in 1614 in St. Albans, Hert- fordshire, England, and came to New England in the ship " Planter " in 1635, settling in Lynn, and later, in 1638, in Hampton, Old Norfolk County, subse-

quently to which time he became an iuhabitaut of Topsfield, where, in 1657, he married Mary Foster, dying February 19, 1697-98. He is the American ancestor of a numerous and honorable posterity in Essex County and elsewhere, among whom the dis- tinguished philanthropist, George Peabody of London, is especially to be named.

Lieutenant 'Francis Peabody's son 2Joseph, born in 1644, who lived in Boxford, was the father of $Zeru- babel, born February 26, 1707, who lived in Middle- ton, married Lydia Fuller February 21, 1733, and was the father of "Andrew, born July 21, 1745, married Ruth Curtis December 13, 1769, lived in Middleton, and died October 14, 1813. His son 5Andrew, born February 29, 1772, married Mary Rantoul, sister of Hon. Robert Rantoul, Sr., of Beverly, at Salem, May 30, 1808, lived in Beverly, where he kept the grammar school and was a teacher of repute, and died December 19, 1813. The subject of this sketch was born in Beverly March 19, 1811. In a reminiscence contributed to a series of autobiographical articles by eminent men (published in the Forum for July, 1887) he has himself unconsciously disclosed the dominant chord in his own character, while describing the Spartan educational methods of the earlier years in this century :-

"] learned to read before I was three years old, and foremost amoug the books that have helped me I must put Webster's 'Spelling-book.' I knew the old lexicographer. He was a good man, hut hard, dry, unsen- timental. I do not suppose that in his earliest reading-lessons for chil- dren he had any ulterior purpose beyond shaping sentences composed of words consisting of three letters and less. But while I believe in the inspiration of prophets and apostles, I agree with the Christian fathers of the Alexandrian school in extending the theory of inspiration far beyond the (so called) canon of Scripture, and I cannot but think that a divine affiatus breathed upon the soul of Noah Webster when he framed, as the first sentence on which the infant mind should concentrate its nascent capacity of combining letters into words, and which thus by long study and endless repetition must needs deposit itself in undying memory, 'No man can put off the law of God.' When I toiled day after day on this sentence, I probably had no idea of its meaning ; but there is nothing better for a child than to learn by rote and to fix in enduring remembrance words which thus sown deep, will blossom into fruitful meaning with growing years. Since I hegan to think and feel on suh- jects within the province of ethics, this maxim has never been out of my mind. I have employed it as a text for my experience and observation. It is a fundamental truth in my theology. It underlies my moral phi- losophy. It has molded my ethical teaching in the pulpit and the class- room, in utterance and print."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 203

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