History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 206

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 206

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JOHN I. BAKER.

John I. Baker was born in Beverly August 16, 1812. He left school at twelve years of age, and af- ter store-keeping in Salem and Beverly for two years, served a fourteen months' apprenticeship at the trade of shoemaking, and worked thereat for several years thereafter, with a large shop's crew, and did more or less manufacturing on his own account. He was af- terwards engaged in rubber manufacturing, and in store trade, and did much as land surveyor, scrivener and in the settlement of estates. His business of late years has been in real estate. He has, during all these years, been much in public life. Chosen town clerk in 1836, he continued in that position for nearly twenty years, serving also nearly half of that time as selectman. He was Representative in 1840, and in seventeen other years between that and 1884; Sena- tor in 1863 and '64; councillor with Governor Banks and Governor Andrew; County Commissioner from 1847 to 1855. He has also held several appointments from different Governors of the commonwealth, serv- ing now as a harbor and land commissioner, to which he was appointed by Governor Butler in 1883, and reappointed in 1886, by Governor Robinson. When, in 1868, the town entered upon the project of build- ing its water works, in connection with Salem, he was again chosen on the Board of Selectmen, and its chairman for seven years continuously, and when, at the abolition of the school district system, it was found necessary to provide new school-house accom- modations throughout the town, he was chosen chair- man of the committee to carry out this purpose, and

was also chosen on the school committee (a service he had repeatedly declined), and has been chairman of that board to this time. In 1884 he was again chosen on the Board of Selectmen, and made its chairman, and co-operated with others in securing the Legisla- tive right to secure an independent water supply, and is chairman of the large committee that has now those works substantially and successfully completed He has also co-operated in carrying forward other of the important public works i town, and has done something himself to demonstrate the capacity of the town for growth and improvement. He is president of Liberty Masonic Association, which built Masonic Block ; was president during its active existence, of Bass River Association, which built Odd Fellows' Block. He is likewise president of the Beverly Gas Light Company, and of Beverly Co-op- erative Store : vice-president of the Beverly Savings Bank, whose charter he obtained in 1867, and which now has deposits amounting to one million dollars. He was an early Abolitionist and tectotaller, and re- ported the platform of the first preliminary Republi- can State Convention in favor of " equal rights" and of "the right and duty of the people to prohibit by law the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage." He was an active worker in the Republican party till 1870, when, dissatisfied with the uncertain course of that party on the liquor question, he united in an Independent Temperance Convention, which nomi- nated a full State ticket, on which he was a candidate for State Treasurer, receiving about eight thousand votes. He again united in conventions in 1875 and '76, which put his name at the head of the ticket for Governor, receiving the first year over nine thousand votes, and the second year over twelve thousand votes. In 1877 Hon. Robert C. Pitman, whom Mr. Baker supported, received over sixteen thousand votes. The election of Governor Talbot that year divided the Temperance forces, and this movement was retarded thereby. Since then Mr. Baker has oc- cupied somewhat of an independent position in poli- tics, but has frequently been elected Representative during that time by very flattering votes.

In the Legislature he has served on some of the most important committees, often as chairman, and has always given faithful attention to the work of the sessions. It has been his fortune for eight different years, as the oldest member who had served there be- fore, to call the House to order, and to preside until an organization was effected. He is connected with the First Baptist Society, and was chairman of the committee that had charge of building the spacious and elegant house of worship of that society, and was also actively instrumental in building the former neat chapel of said society now occupied by the Bev- erly Light Infantry, one of the neatest and best pro- portioned buildings in town. He was many years connected with the Beverly Light Infantry and with the Beverly Fire Department, and has actively co-op-

John 2. Baker

W.w. E. Abbot.

Al ... Pickett

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BEVERLY.

erated with the latter in securing its modern advanced equipment throughout the town, and retains his in- terest in the military, continuing a member of the Veteran Associates. During the war of the rebellion he was not only in active work with Governor An- drew at the State House, but also did much of home work in co-operation with the Union Committee and all other loyal helpers in the service of their country. And he constantly insists upon the public duty of fulfilling the promises then made, " that as those who went into the perilous service of that war were loyal to the country in their service, so would we be faith- ful to them and those dependent upon them for all time to come."

REV. WILLIAM E. ABBOT.

Rev. William E. Abbot, seventh child of Rev. Dr. Abiel and Eunice Abbot, was born in Beverly, Mass., May 2, 1810.

He was prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N. H., under Benjamin Abbot, brother of Dr. Abiel Abbot. He entered the sopho- more class of Bowdoin College in 1827, and graduated in 1830. In September of the latter year he entered the Cambridge Theological School, where he gradu- ated in 1833.

Mr. Abbot was settled as pastor over the First Church in Billerica, Mass., in 1837, where he re- mained until 1839, when he resigned and went to Dorchester, Mass.

April 20, 1837, Mr. Abbot united in mariage with Ann S. Wales, daughter of Joseph and Betsey Wales, who still survives.

JOHN PICKETT.

Mr. John Pickett was born on Central Street, in Beverly, November 9, 1807. His father, Thomas, was born in Beverly December 10, 1775, and died at St. Pierre in the West Indies, when master of the brig "Alice" of Beverly, January 4, 1817. He was son of Thomas of Marblehead, born 1720, and lost at sea 1750; and he a son of John, born in Marblehead about 1680, who died in May, 1763, a fisherman and shoreman. The father of John was Nicholas who was of Marblehead, and forty-three years old iu 1692. The mother of the subject of this sketch, was Annis, daughter of Benjamin and Thankful (Larcom) Pres- ton : said Benjamin, a son of Nehemiah and Annis (Bradford) Preston ; said Nehemiah, a son of Nehe- miah and Ahigail (Allen) Preston ; this Nehemiah, a son of William and Priscilla (-) Preston, whose early home was at Preston Place at Beverly Farms, where some of their descendants still live. One son of theirs was Randall Preston, who married a Stone, and was the ancestor of the Rantouls and other honored posterity. Thankful Larcom was daughter of David and Lucy (Downing) Larcom ; he, a son of Cornelins and Abigail (Balch) Larcom ; said Cor-

nelius, a son of Mordecai Larcom, who came from Ipswich with John West, when the latter bought his great farm extending from near the present Pride's crossing into Manchester; a portion of which was bought by said Cornelius, who built a home, where F. Gordon Dexter's summer place now is. Annis Brad- ford was daughter of John and Annis (Lovett) Brad- ford, whose home was by Essex Street, at the present site of the Hardie School-House. He was a son of William and Rachel (Raymond) Bradford, whose home was at North Beverly, where her parents, John and Rachel (Scruggs) Raymond, resided on the origi- nal grant to her father Thomas Scruggs, a leading citizen who had the courage of his theological opin- ions, and was among those disarmed, therefor, in 1637. This last named Annis was daughter of Simon and Agnes (Swetland) Lovett, whose homestead was on Cabot Street, extending northerly from Franklin Place. He was son of John and Bethiah (Rootes) Lovett, whose home was on Cabot Street, next northerly of Simon's, extending to about opposite Milton Street, and a part of the great estate of her father Josiah Rootes, who owned from the sea, on both sides of Cabot Street, nearly down to Bartlett Street. His wife, Susanna, was one of those accused of witchcraft and lodged in Boston gaol in 1692, where as her grandson, John Lovett testifies, he visited her. After some months her innocence was acknowledged by her discharge from prison. She was manifestly a person of independent character, who would not con- form her opinions to those of some of her more illib- eral neighbors, and hence came the false accusations against her ; but her excellent and numerous poster- ity may well honor her memory. Her husband, John Lovett, was son of John and Mary ( -- ) Lovett, whose early home was near where now is General Pierson's farm on Boyles Street, and where their son Joseph succeeded to that homestead, which continued to his posterity for many years. Of other ancestry named it is believed that Abigail Allen was of Man- chester stock; Lucy Downing, of Ipswich ; Abigail Balch, a daughter of Deacon Benjamin, who was son of John Balch, the ancient planter whose home was at the southerly corner of Cabot and Balch Streets. Agnes Swetland may have been of the Swetland family who owned the estate at the corner of Cabot and Hele Streets, now the home of Peter E. Clark.

After the death of his father, John Pickett lived with his uncle Richard Pickett, and before he was thirteen years old began his apprenticeship at sail making, in the sail-loft of the old Bartlett-Haskett store, where his grandfather, Thomas, first established the business, and where, at twenty-one years of age, John joined in partnership with his uncle, who be- came also largely interested in the coasting and fish- ing trade, and their partnership ultimately extended so as to include this, as well as the grocery and fuel trade. More or less of anthracite coal was consumed here experimentally, down to 1834, when the first

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cargo brought to Beverly of about forty-eight tons was landed on the Whittredge wharf, and distributed to forty-three different persons, of whom there now survive, only Edward Burley, Augustus N. Clark, William Lord and Calvin Tuck. The price was eight dollars a ton on the wharf, and all of it had to be carted to the public hay-scales, by the old South Church, to be weighed. At the death of his uncle, Capt. Richard Pickett, in 1865, Mr. John Pickett succeeded to the large business of the firm, and while the coasting and fishing trade, in which he has been owner in twenty-eight different vessels, has been re- duced to a pretty small factor, the coal trade has been steadily growing, and the facilities, therefor, have been largely increased. The Whittredge wharf and the old sail-loft wharf have been consolidated into one, and large buildings erected there for the storage of Cumberland coal, the demand for which, for steam, purposes constantly increases. In 1855, the present coal wharf, by the junction of Water, Front and Cabot Streets, was built, and enlarged to its present propor- tions in 1875.

During all these years, the confidence and respect of his business contemporaries and fellow-townsmen, has been manifested in his election as assessor in 1838 and '39, as Representative in 1842 and '44, selectman in 1845 and '46, and in the war period of 1861 and '62, director of Beverly Bank since 1851, and its president since 1872, and vice-president of the Beverly Savings Bank from its start in 1867, to the present time. He has always been interested in mat- ters designed to promote the public welfare, serving as a fireman with Engine No. 2, when eighteen years old, and many years thereafter, and afterwards of the board of firewards. He was early a member of the Beverly Light Infantry, and in its ranks, in its escort service at the independence celebration in 1835, when Edward Everett delivered the oration in the Dane Street Church. He was a member of the Beverly Young Men's Temperance Society in 1835, and always on the side of good morals and good conduct. Early a member of the First Baptist Society, he took an ac- tive interest in its progress, especially in the enlarge- ment of its meeting-house in 1830, and serving upon the committee who purchased the present site of the Catholic Church, and took down the old church, and rebuilding it somewhat enlarged in 1837, and still farther interested in its enlargement. After this, Mr. Pickett connected himself with the Dane Street Society, where he has continued his interest iu good works. His memory of the waning days of the an- cient commerce of Beverly, is quite interesting, and gives glimpses of what was once a great business. Among the historic events of his day, which he recalls with interest, are his presence when Robert Rantoul, Sr., welcomed Lafayette to Beverly on his journey through the town in 1824; and also heing at Bunker Hill when Daniel Webster delivered the oration at the laying of the corner-stone of the monument.

December 13, 1832, he married Martha, daughter of John and Rachel Fornis, who died in 1834, leaving an infant daughter, Martha Preston, who survived her mother only about a month. Mr. Fornis was a builder, whose father was David Fornis, also from Marblehead, who built by himself and his sons a large number of the noted Fornis houses, with their three rooms to a floor, which have made so many of the pleasant homes of Beverly. In 1838 Mr. Pickett married Susan, daughter of Seth Clark, a leading citizen of Salisbury, whose record may be found in that portion of the county history relating to that town. After nearly half a century of happy married life, she passed away in 1882. Mr. Pickett, despite his four-score years, gives his constant attention to his many responsibilities, with the same courtesy, diligence and intelligence which has characterized all of his career.

SETH NORWOOD.

Seth Norwood was born in Rockport, Mass., June 23, 1815, a son of Major Francis Norwood, a deacon of the Congregational Church, and a man of good standing in the community, and of his wife Lucy (daughter of Caleb Pool), whose services in the cause of religion and morality entitle her to remembrance as a " Mother in Israel." She was a descendant of John Pool, a carpenter, who, before 1690, worked near Corning Street at Beverly Cove, with Richard Woodbury, who died that year in returning from the Canada military expedition, and whose widow, Sarah (Haskell) Woodbury married said Pool, and emigrated to Sandy Bay (now Rockport). Major Francis, hus- band of said Lucy, was descended in part from Ed- mund Grover, whose early home was in Beverly, near the junction of Cabot and Beckford Streets. When Seth Norwood was five years old, his father died, and two years later he went to live with the family of J. O. Drown, a shoe manufacturer at Rockport, learn- ing of him a shoemaker's trade, and attending school at intervals. At the age of twenty, having mastered the trade, he opened a shoe-shop at Rockport on his own account and seenred a moderate success. Here he continued till 1839, when he sold out his interest there, and removed to the wider field of Beverly, where he obtained employment as a journeyman shoemaker, and continued therein for about five years. About 1844, with the small capital thus far acquired, he began the manufacture of American Isinglass, at Warner's Mills, in Ipswich, which business he carried on there until 1855, when he sold it out to the Rock- port Isinglass Company. In 1856 he bought out the factory and business of Friend & Lord, shoe manu- facturers in Beverly, at the corner of Rantoul Street and Railroad Avenue, where the Norwood family now have their large factory ; and here he continued the shoe business, taking in as partner, in 1857, Joshua W. Carrier, who retired from the firm after about two years connection therewith, and Mr. Norwood con-

lan S.yck & Co. Boston.

Seth Norwoody

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METHUEN.

tiuned the business in his own name until 1865, when his eldest son Francis became a partner, and the firm name became Seth Norwood & Co. This name is still retained by his sons, who have continued and much increased the business, the factory having been quadrupled in size to supply the necessary room for their trade. A portion of the factory was burned in 1873, but soon restored and enlarged.

Soon after he came to Beverly, Mr. Norwood be- came interested in real estate, and many marked im- provements grew out of his operations therein. He became a prominent citizen of Beverly; was on the board of selectmen for three years when the water- works were built and other important public improve- ments were made. He was also a director in Beverly National Bank, a trustee of Beverly Savings Bank, a leading member of the Dane Street Congregational Society, and interested in other good works. Having just about completed sixty years of an honored and useful life, he died of consumption, June 20, 1875, at his home on Cabot Street in Beverly, the former his- toric homestead of Hon. George Cabot; a mansion hallowed by the belief that George Washington had there sought and obtained rest and refreshment from his trusted friend, Mr. Cabot.

CHAPTER XLIX.

METHUEN.

BY JOSEPH S. HOWE.

THE town of Methuen is situated in the westerly part of Essex County, bordering on New Hampshire, and contains within its limits about twenty-two square miles.

Before the incorporation of the City of Lawrence, it was a section of land on the north bank of the Merrimack River, about nine miles long and three miles wide, following the curves of the river. The north part of the City of Lawrence was taken out of Methuen, on the side next the river, near the middle of the town, thus leaving the two ends three miles wide, and the middle of the town little more than a mile at its narrowest part.

The towns surrounding Methuen are the City of Lawrence and the town of Andover on the South, Dracut and Salem, N. H., on the West, Salem, N. H., and Haverhill, on the North and Haverhill and Bradford on the East. The Spicket River, a narrow and crooked stream, flows from Island Pond, in Derry, N. H., through Methuen, into Lawrence, and empties into the Merrimack in the lower part of the City. The village of Methuen is situated upon both sides of the Spicket, between Lawrence and the New Hampshire line, thus dividing the farming portions

of the town into two not unequal sections. The sur- face of the town is uneven, somewhat hilly and pic- turesque, though not ledgy and abrupt. The soil in the main is strong, and good for ordinary agricul- ture, but like most New England land, more or less rocky, requiring much labor to insure agricultural success, but capable of producing excellent crops un- der judicious management.

There is a strip of intervale land of varying width on the bank of the Merrimack, free from stone, easy to cultivate and excellent for farming purposes. Leaving this level intervale, the land rises into ridges and hills, much of it covered with a growth of wood. There are extensive peat meadows in both sections of the town, which not only contain large quantities of alleged fuel, but when drained and cultivated, prove to be the most valuable lands for the production of many crops.

The hill formerly known as "Bare Hill," near the house of Joel Foster, is the highest elevation in the east part of the town, and affords a magnificent view of the country in every direction for miles around. As many as fifteen towns and cities may be seen from its summit. It overlooks Lawrence on the South, with the two Andovers beyond, and the spires of Haverhill and Bradford may be seen on the East. Far off to the North can be seen the Nottingham Hills, and in the West the Uncanoonucks, the Peter- boro' Hills, Monadnock and Wachuset, " Like giant emeralds in the Western sky." The view, besides being extensive, is one of the most beautiful to be found. In the west part of the town, the highest land is the hill on which is the residence of Stephen W. Williams, Esq.

The view from its top is nearly as extensive, and quite as beautiful, as that from Bare Hill, and it is a favorite resort for lovers of fine scenery.

The ponds in Methuen are few in number.

Harris Pond, in the extreme west part of the town, contains about fifty acres, and drains through "Lon- don Meadow" into Spicket River. Mystic Pond, a little west of Methuen village, drains into Spicket River. Worlds End Pond, a mile or more north of Methuen village, lies mostly in Salem, N. H., although a very small part of it is within the limits of Methuen, and drains into the Spicket.

There is also a small pond in Strong Water Mead- ow, known as "Strong Water Pond," which is un- doubtedly a small remnant of what was once a large body of water. Bloody Brook runs from Strong Wa- ter Meadow southerly into Lawrence, and empties into the Spicket. Hawkes Brook is in the extreme northerly part of the town, rising near Ayers village, in Haverhill, and emptying into the Merrimack, where Methuen and Haverhill join. Bartlett Brook, in the west part of Methuen, runs from Mud Pond in Dracut, into Methuen, and empties into the Merri- mack.

There are no stone quarries or ledges that are

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

worked in the town. A bed of secondary rock for the most part underlies the town a short distance be- low the surface, and crops out in a few places, par- ticularly in the neighborhood of the village, but the quality of the stone is not such as to make it specially valuable for building purposes. The rocks found in the soil, and on the surface of the land, are mainly boulders, many of them primary rock, and nearly all of a different kind of stone from the underlying ledge, indicating that the mass of gravel and stones, resting upon the ledge, has been brought there from a dis- tance by glacial action.

There are in Methuen some very marked examples of glacial action in the ridges known to geologists as " Kames," and to the unscientific as "Hogbacks." One of these ridges extends from Tower Hill, in Law- rence, through the west part of Methuen village into New Hampshire, and is a continuation of the series of " Kames " running through Andover and Reading, and known in Andover as " Indian Ridge." There is also another line of "Kames," extending from the easterly part of the City of Lawrence through "Ger- mantown " northward. In the early times these ridges were thought by many to be the remains of ancient fortifications, but the investigations of ge- ologists have determined, beyond question, that they were deposits formed in the great ice age, from ac- cumulations of gravel in the melting ice. Methuen contains few natural objects of special interest, Spick- et Falls being perhaps the most prominent. The Nevins Memorial, and grounds of Henry C. Nevins, near by, and the extensive grounds of Chas. H. Ten- ney, are beautifully laid out and kept, contain many rare and costly trees and shrubs, and are all places which would attract attention anywhere.

It is not now known who the first white man was who settled within the limits of what is now Methuen, nor exactly when or where he settled. We have no historic record of what occurred here previous to that time. Undoubtedly the land was inhabited for cen- turies by the red men, who were as familiar with all its natural aspects, and as strongly attached to their favorite haunts, as the native children of the town are now.

When the country first became known to the white race, the hills and uplands were mainly covered by a heavy growth of timber. The meadows were mostly cleared and covered with a thick, heavy growth of grass, which the Indians were accustomed to burn in the autumn. These meadows were favorite haunts of deer, who came there to feed on the young grass in the spring, and could easily be killed by the Indians from their hiding-places on the wooded bushy edges. It is said that some of the hills were bare, and others had only a growth of small wood. This would natur- ally result from the fires set by the Indians in dry! weather, which might spread from the meadows to the upland, and kill the standing wood and timber. It would also appear that the Indians cultivated corn

to some extent, and for that purpose selected the lands free from stones, easily worked, on the river intervales or sandy plains. We can easily imagine the appearance of this town as the earliest settlers saw it :

The meadows on Hawke's Brook, in the east part of the town, Bare meadow, Strong-water meadow, Mystic meadows, London meadows, and the meadows on the banks of the Spicket, mostly bare, and producing a heavy crop of grass; the intervale land on the Mer- rimack, more or less cleared, and a few spots of plain land here and there, bare of trees and grass, and bear- ing marks of the rude Indian agriculture, the rest of the lands covered with wood and timber. The only paths traversing this wilderness were Indian trails, of whose location we have now no knowledge, though it is not unlikely that some of our oldest roads were developed from an Indian path.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 206

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