History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 210

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 210

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Henry Cummings. Albert L. Dame. Amos G. Jones. George Kent.

Frank Sanborn. George Thurlow. James Troy. Henry Turkington.

They were notified of the call late in the afternoon, and immediately reported for duty, and the next morning they all left Lawrence for Washington. On the 19th they made the memorable passage through Baltimore where they met the first resistance to the Federal troops. Thus Methnen has had the honor of seeing her sons foremost in the fight in both of our great wars ; for as Lexington and Concord were the initial events in the Revolutionary War, so was Bal- timore in the Civil War.

The first action taken by the town was immediately afterwards on April 30th, when a town-meeting was

held, and the sum of five thousand dollars voted for the purpose of arming, equipping and furnishing vol- unteers. A committee, consisting of the selectmen, Eben. Sawyer, J. P. Flint, John C. Webster and Daniel Currier was appointed "to dishurse the money." A company was at once formed, all of vol- untcers from Methuen and vicinity, and most of them from Methuen, and they were uniformed, equipped and drilled, so as to be ready for action. This com- pany became Company B, Fourteenth Massachusetts Infantry, and for some time were stationed at Fort Warren, and went to Washington in the latter part of the summer of 1861. In August of that year, the town voted to pay State aid to the families of volun- teers according to law.

In July, 1862, forty-seven men were called for, and the town voted to pay a bounty of one hundred dol- lars to each volunteer when mustered into the United States serviee. On the 2d of August the town held another meeting, in which it was voted to pay two hundred dollars in addition to the sum already voted, making three hundred in all, to volunteers when mustered into the service. Immediately after came an- other from the President for three hundred thousand nine months' men. A meeting was at once called to adopt measures to obtain the number required from Methuen. It was voted to pay one hundred and fifty dollars to each nine months' man when mus- tered in and credited to the town.

The next call for recruits came in November, 1863, and the town voted " to fill its quota under the call for three hundred thousand men." A vote also passed to pay the families of drafted men the same State aid that was paid to families of volunteers.

In May, 1864, the selectmen were authorized to pay one hundred and twenty-five dollars bounty to volunteers in anticipation of a call from the Presi- dent for more men. After this time, however, few re- cruits were mnstered in. The volunteers from Me- thnen were scattered through several different regi- ments, but the largest number was in Company B, First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, which was noted as a remarkably well-drilled and disciplined body of men. When the regiments were detailed for the defence of Washington, the Fourteenth Massa- chusetts Infantry was selected atter a competitive inspection with other regiments, for their excellent discipline, well-regulated camp, good appearance and reliable men.

The name of the regiment was changed from the Fourteenth Massachusetts Infantry to the First Mas- sachusetts Heavy Artillery, and the men remained on duty in the forts in front of Washington, on Arlington Heights, until towards the end of the war, when they were ordered to the front, and performed distin- guíshed service. They were engaged in sixteen to twenty different battles, and at Spottsylvania they oc- cupied an important position in the centre of Grant's army, and held at bay Ewell's force of more than

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four times their number, until reinforcements ar- rived from a distance of five miles, thus preventing Grant's army from being cut in two. For their heroic behavior on that occasion they received the unusual distinction of a special commendation from General Grant. The Methuen men received their heaviest blow in this battle, where fifteen were killed and many more wounded. The news that the company from Methuen had suffered heavily in this battle caused great excitement throughout the town, and a meeting of the citizens was immediately held. Reso- lutions expressive of sympathy and condolence were passed, and it was voted to send an agent to look after the wounded.

It ought to be mentioned also that the Methuen company held an honorable position in this regiment of eighteen hundred men. At the battle of June 16 the regimental color-bearer was twice shot down. Our well-known townsman, Albert L. Dame, was then given this honorable and dangerous place in the reg- iment, and had the honor of carrying the colors to the end of the war, and delivering them up to the State. The number of men lost from Methuen during the war was fifty-two, exclusive of those serving in the navy. According to General Schouler, the town furnished three hundred and twenty-five men for the war, which was a surplus of fifty-one over and above all demands. Fifteen were commissioned offi- cers. The whole amount of money appropriated and expended by the town on account of the war, exchi- sive of State aid, was $38,651-3.

In addition to this amount seven thousand five hundred dollars were gratuitously given by individu- al citizens to aid soldiers' families and to encourage re- cruiting. The total amount of State aid, which has been paid to soldiers and their families in Methuen, up to January 1, 1887, is $56,747.03. There were about a thousand dollars in money raised by fairs and levees, and the ladies of Methuen devoted a great deal of time to work for the soldiers.

There were two societies, the Sanitary Commission and Christian Commission, which performed a vast amount of work whose valne cannot be measured in dollars and cents. Thus it appears that there must have been paid out in Methuen, directly on account of the war, considerably more than $100,000.

As we look back over the record of Methuen in the Civil War, on the readiness with which her men mustered in the field, and the heartiness with which they were supported by those left at home, we cannot deny that this generation has proved itself worthy its Revolutionary ancestry.

On the 7th of September, 1876, Methuen celebrated the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its in- corporation as a town. The day was fine, and the event was observed with great enthusiasm. The booming of cannon in the early morning aroused the slumberers in the valley of the Spicket, and gave the signal for the festivities of the day to begin.

The Town-House and most private dwellings were tastefully decorated, business was suspended and the busy town took on a holiday appearance quite un- usual. The exercises of the day began with a pro- cession, composed of a cavalcade of horsemen, a military company improvised for the occasion,-part equipped in the old style and part in the new,-the fire department, carriages representing the different trades and business of the town, school children, dis- tinguished visitors and citizens in carriages, making quite an imposing display. Governor Rice, Surgeon Gen. Dale, Hon. Allen W. Dodge and Hon. Carroll D. Wright, were among the visitors. The president of the day was Hon. Jacob Emerson, orator, Hon. John K. Tarbox, chief marshal, Adjutant James Ingalls, chaplain, Rev. Lyman H. Blake.

The procession, with bands of music, passed through the principal streets of the town to the " Barker Lot," near the corner of Lowell and Barker Streets, where a stand had been erected. Here an eloquent oration was delivered before a large audience, by Hon. John K. Tarbox, a son of Methuen. After the oration a banquet was served under a large tent near by, at the conclusion of which speeches were made by the orator of the day, Hon. Allen W. Dodge, treasur- er, of Essex County, Rev. Dr. A. A. Miner, once pas- tor of a church in Methuen, Hon. Carroll D. Wright, Hon. J. C. Blaisdell, of Fall River, Hon. J. K. Jen- ners, mayor of Haverhill, Major George S. Merrill, of Lawrence, Rev. Moses How, of New Bedford and sev- eral others.

Rev. Moses How was a resident of Methuen in his youthful days, and at this time, though eighty-seven years of age, a hale and vigorous man. After giving his audience many interesting reminiscences of old Methuen, he stated that he had preached eight thousand sermons, attended two thousand two hun- dred and sixty-five funerals, married one thousand nine hundred and four couples and had distributed five thousand two hundred and eleven Bibles and fifteen thousand Testaments to seamen. The day closed with social and family reunions at the homes of citizens of the town.

The occasion will be long remembered by those who participated in it, for the good fellowship which characterized the day, and the greetings of the sons and daughters of the old town, who had come back to revisit the old homestead, revive the memories of early days and take once more by the hand the com- panions of their youth.

From the close of the Civil War to the present time, the town has passed through the most prosper- ous period of its history. The population has in- creased from two thousand five hundred and seventy- six in 1865, to four thousand five hundred and seven in 1885, and the wealth of the town has gained in like proportion.

The territorial limits have not been changed, al- though there has been a desire on the part of some

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METHUEN.

to annex Methuen to Lawrence. The gain has been almost entirely in the thickly settled portions and has been due partly to proximity to Lawrence, but prin- cipally to an increase in manufacturing enterprises.

SCHOOLS .- The founders of Methuen seem to have provided for the educational interests of the town at an early date. Iu 1729 it was voted to lay out a school lot and a parsonage lot north of World's End Pond. These were undoubtedly tracts of woodland, whose income should be devoted to the purposes for which they were respectively laid out. In 1731 it was voted to keep school one month in Ebenezer Barker's house, one month in Thomas Eaton's house and a month at Joshua Swan's. In 1733 we find that Ebenezer Bar- ker, Zebediah Barker and Thomas Eaton were each paid £2 10s. for keeping school. In 1735 the town voted to build a school-house eighteen by twenty feet near the meeting-house, school to be kept two months at the school-house and one month at Spicket Hill. The school appears to have been kept at the school- honse part of the time, but chiefly at private houses until 1792. Reading and writing and a little arith- metic were the principal branches taught, and the latter study was not required. The schools appear to have been taught by male teachers only until 1749, when it was voted " to choose school-mistresses to in - struct children in their reading." Also voted "to choose James How, Nathaniel Messer, James Ord- way and Ebenezer Hibbard a committee to agree with school-mistresses and appoint convenient places for them to be kept in. . . " In 1775 the town was divided into seven school districts, each of which was to have its proportions of the school money, pro- vided it built a comfortable school-house. It appears from the return made by the committee whose duty it was to build the school-houses, that the building of them was let out at auction to the lowest bidder, and that the houses cost abont £29 each. The town also appropriated in the same year £30 for schools, and continued to appropriate that amount each year until 1792. £60 a year was afterwards appropriated for three years, or until 1795, when the first mention of "dollars " appears in the town records. A pound at that time appears to have been equivalent to $3.33. In 1797, $300 was appropriated, and the amount was increased from time to time, until in 1823 the sum appropriated for schools was $600. From that time to the present the increase in the annual school ap- propriation has more than kept pace with the growth in population until the present year, when the amount appropriated for school purposes was about $11,000.

Up to the year 1775 the selectmen seem to have had usually the sole care of the schools, and from that time to 1798 there was no school committee reg- nlarly chosen. It was considered a part of the min- ister's duty to visit the schools and look after the moral instruction, which in those days formed an im- portant part of the training, as well as to see that the

literary instruction did not fall below the proper standard. But in 1798 the town chose a committee of one from each school district, "to inspect the schools in the town the present year." This way of managing the schools seems to have been followed until 1804, when a committee of three was chosen by the town from each of the nine school districts, mak- ing twenty-seven in all. It was also voted "that each committee with the minister visit their respective schools." There seems to have been about this time an unusual interest taken in school matters, for we find among the records of 1800, a system of School Regulations adopted by the town, which show what the duties of School Committees and teachers were then supposed to be, as follows :

"SECTION I.

" Concerning the duty of the School Committee.

" Art, 1. It shall be the duty of the school committee to visit the several town schoole, in each district twice every year and more if Deo- essary, giving seasonable notice to the Master or Mistress.

" Art. 2. It shall he the duty of the Committee to enquire into the regulations, the mode of government, and the method of instruction practised in the school, and it shall be the duty of the committee to use their best endeavors to correct any deficiency in the mode of govern- ment, the manner of instruction, or the discipline of the schools.

" Art. 3. Should any Master or Mistress appearso essentially deficient in the mode of government, the method of instruction, or the discipline of the school as not to be useful, it shall be the duty of the Committee and Selectmen, a majority of them concurring, to dismiss him or her from the school, and the Committee or the Selectmen, shall provide another who may he more useful.

" Art. 4. It shall be the duty of the Committee to close each visit to the school with addressing themselves to the Scholars upon the duty of order, the necessity, respectability and advantages of good educa- tion."

" SECTION II.

" Concerning the duty of School Masters.

" Art. 1. It shall be the duty of every School Master to open his school in the morning, and close it in the evening with prayer.

" Art. 2. It shall be the duty of the master or mistress to adopt such general regulations as will have a tendency to operate uniformly throughout the whole school, that every one may have an equal chance to pursue and improve in his particular hranch of study and be subject to the same rules of government.

" Art 3. The instructor shall endeavor to govern his respective school by the skilfullness of his hand, and the integrity of his heart, with using as little severity as he shall judge will be for the best good of the school, but when mild measures will not subject the idle to the good or- der and regulations of the school the instructor shall have a right to inflict reasonable and decent corporal punishment."

The system of management above outlined con- tinued until 1822, when the town adopted the plan usually followed throughout the State until the abol- ishment of the School District system, in 1869. This consisted of a superintending school committee of three, chosen by the town, to look after the qualifica- tions of teachers and the management of the schools, and a prudential committee chosen by the district to hire the teachers, furnish supplies and manage the fi- nances.

The school districts were abolished by statute in 1869. In the winter of that year the High School was organized, and has since been in successful oper- ation. There are eighteen schools in town besides the High School, all kept open nine months in the year.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHURCHES .- The fact that strikes one most forci- bly in reading over the early town records is the prominence given to religious observances. The chief and only reason given for setting off the new town was that the people might more easily attend the pub- lic worship of God. The first business done was to provide themselves a minister and a place of public uyorship. The principal money tax was for the sup- port of these objects. Nothing could show more plainly that the hardy pioneers of Methuen were of genuine Puritan stock. Whatever we may think of Puritan austerity and fanaticism and intolerance, we cannot help admiring the indomitable energy, the iron will and lofty purpose of those men who braved the dangers of hostile Indians and suffered the priva- tions of the wilderness, that they might worship God in their own way.

. The old papers which have been preserved, the town records, and the old traditions all show that the first settlers in Methuen were men of rugged, vigor- ous intellect, accustomed to think for themselves, and not afraid to express their opinions.

The early history of the town was almost identical with the history of the church and society for many years. We have already related some of the inci- dents connected with the building of the meeting-house and settlement of a pastor, and it remains to give some account of the organization and history of the church since.

From the "Church Records," which were kept by Rev. Christopher Sargent during his ministry, we find that " the first church in Methuen was founded by Rev. Samuel Phillips, of Andover, October 29, 1729." On that day a fast, preparatory to the ordination of Mr. Sargent was kept, a sermon was preached, Rev. Mr. Phillips gathered the church, and the covenant was consented to by twenty-four persons, and within a mouth thirty-five others joined.

A week afterwards Rev. Mr. Sargent was ordained pastor, and continued in the pastoral office until 1783, when the town consented to release him from the active duties of the ministry. Mr. Sargent was born in Amesbury, Mass., in 1704 and graduated from Har- vard College iu 1725. Although he must have had a large influence in moulding the religious and intel- lectual character of the people of Methuen, there is now very little to be found to show exactly what manner of mau he was. He was evidently a man of strong common sense, good talents, a moderate man, and one who could unite and harmonize the church. Weshould also infer that he was a more broad-minded man than the average Congregational minister of his day, from the fact that he was several times called upon by some of his hearers to defend his orthodoxy, and that his Calvinism was not extreme enough to suit them. The church prospered under his minis- trations, and during his pastorate five hundred and nine members were received into it. He died March 20, 1790, and was buried in the old grave-yard on

Meeting House Hill, close to the church where he had ministercd so long. One of his sons, born in Methuen, Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent, became a prominent lawyer, and in 1790 was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. The only evidence we find in church or town records of serious trouble in the church during Mr. Sargent's long min- istry of fifty-three years, was in 1766, when the "Second Church in Methuen" was formed. This church was composed of those persons, who, to use their own language, " were dissatisfied with the Rev. Mr. Sargent's doctrine and manner of discipline or church government." The records show that church meetings for business were frequent during these times, the discipline strict, and the members closely looked after. It must be admitted, however, judging from some of the entries, that there was need of vigi- lance, and even then that sin was not always pre- vented.

After the retirement of Mr. Sargent it was nearly five years before another minister was settled.

The next pastor was Simon Finley Williams, of Windham, N. H., who was ordained December 13, 1786. He was dismissed in 1791, under suspicion of misconduct. The next pastor was Humphrey C. Perley, of Boxford, who was ordained December 2, 1795. The church was not prosperous during his ministry, although he was a man of good repute, and continued in the pastoral office uutil May 24, 1815, when he was dismissed at his own request.

Jacob Weed Eastman, of Sandwich, N. H., was the next pastor, was ordained December 13, 1815, and re- mained till July 4, 1828. He was succeeded by Spen- cer F. Beard, of West Brookfield, who was installed January 21, 1829, and dismissed April 29, 1832.

He was followed by Sylvester G. Pierce, of Wil- mington, Vt., who was installed June 27, 1832, and continued in the pastoral office, greatly beloved by his people, until his death, May 8, 1839. John Charles Phillips, of Boston, was installed as the next pastor December 25, 1839.

He was a broad-minded and cultured man, of fine talents, and his pastorate was characterized by peace and harmony in the church. On account of failing health he resigned, in July, 1860, and gave up active work in the ministry. Edward H. Greely, of Hop- kinton, N. H., was the next pastor, and was installed over the church in 1861, and dismissed in September, 1866. The next pastor was Thomas G. Grassie, born in Scotland, and installed in Methuen September 10, 1867. He was dismissed August 7, 1873. Lyman H. Blake, of Cornwall, Vt., was settled in Methuen June 25, 1874, and was dismissed September 4, 1877.

Zephaniah S. Holbrook, of Berea, O., was the next pastor. He was installed December 4, 1878, and dis- missed June 29, 1881. He was succeeded by Joseph Henry Selden, of Hadlyme, Conn., who was settled May 10, 1882, and dismissed May 16, 1884. Charles H. Oliphant, of Boston, the present pastor, was set-

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METHUEN.

tled October 29, 1885, having acted as pastor of the church for a year previous to his installation.

The church now numbers about two hundred and fifty members.

In 1796 the old "athadoxt" meeting-house, first built, was torn down, and a new one built on or near the same spot, the congregation worshipping in the meanwhile in the house of the Second Parish. The building of this house seems to have excited much interest through the town, and it is a curious fact, il- lustrating the habits of the time, that it was voted " That the spectators be given a drink of grog apiece at the raising." As the village sprung up around Spicket Falls, "Meeting-House Hill" ceased to be the most central place, and to better accommodate the congregation, it was decided in 1832, to remove the house to the spot now occupied by the stone meeting-house. It stood there until 1855, when the wooden house was torn down and the present stone house erected. In 1880 the parish received generous contributions from the family of Rev. John C. Phil- lips, and also from the family of Mr. David Nevins, for the purpose of erecting a chapel. The stone chap- el now on the grounds was built shortly after. The grounds have since been tastefully laid out and adorned by Henry C. Nevins, Esq., and the church property of the First Parish, Methuen, is now unsur- passed in beauty by any in the County.

In 1766, April 16, a second church was organized, and Rev. Eliphaz Chapman was installed as its pas- tor in November, 1772.

About this time the "Second Parish " was formed by act of the Legislature. Under this arrangement every taxable person in town was taxed for the sup- port of the minister, but he paid to the parish to which he belonged, instead of to the town. The meeting-house of the Second Parish stood on the north side of Pelham Street, a little west of the house formerly occupied by Leonard Wheeler. It was af- terwards removed to the hill, near the house of Ste- phen W. Williams, whence it was removed to Law- rence, and afterwards destroyed by fire. We have found no record of the termination of the ministry of Mr. Chapman, but we find that Rev. J. H. Stevens was ordained May 18, 1791, and was dismissed March 10, 1795. Rev. Josiah Hill was settled April 9, 1832, and retired April 9, 1833. The Second Parish exis- ted for half a century,-until 1816,- when it was united with the First Parish. In 1830 it was again organized, but was again united with the old church and parish. At present there is but one Congrega- tional Church in the town.

The next church in point of age is the Baptist.

early as March 30, 1756. It is also known that Bap- tist sentiments were held by the Messer family in Methuen a century and a half ago, and that Jacob Whittier, of Methuen, was chosen one of the deacons of the Baptist Church in Haverhill May 9, 1765. Sometime during the last century a Baptist Church was coustituted in the west part of Methuen, but no record is in existence of its formation or subsequent proceedings. A meeting-house was built about the year 1778, near the burying-ground west of the Bart- lett Farm, and simply boarded and supplied with a floor. Services were held in it occasionally for some years, but some of the leading families removed from town, and the church ceased to exist, Religions meetings continued to be held occasionally at private houses, and baptisms were administered at different times, until the formation of the Baptist Society in Methuen, March 1, 1815, when a number of the in- habitants met at the house of " Mr. Ebenezer Whit- tier, innholder," aud chose a committee to draft ar- ticles of signature, which were signed by seventy-one members during the first year. The Baptist Church was constituted March 8, 1815, and the recognition services were held in the house of Daniel Frye, now the "Butters Place." During the first year of its or- ganization the church held religious meetings in dif- ferent parts of the town, the church meetings being usually held at the house of Daniel Frye, afterwards chosen deacon. Charles O. Kimball, a licentiate of the Haverhill Church, commenced preaching June 25, 1815, and was ordained pastor of the church and society May 8, 1816.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 210

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