History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 227

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 227

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Of the professions, and partially allied thereto, the ministers have been already named. Jeremiah Rus- sell, from New Hampshire, was the first lawyer. He built and occupied what is now the Memorial parson- age. J. P. Jones, who began practice about 1842 or '43, was also from New Hampshire. He married the youngest daughter of Nathaniel Nelson, and resides in the old Nelson home. His eldest son, Boyd B., now of Haverhill, resided in town for some years after his marriage. The office of father and son is in Haver- hill. Benjamin Poole had an office in town some forty years ago. W. A. Butler, son of the late postmaster, who studied at Boston University, also practices here.

Of physicians, besides the Spoffords-father and son-and David Mighill, already named, there have been Stephen Mighill, who had at one time an office

on the second floor of the South Georgetown grocery, afterwards removed to Boston; William Cogswell, now of Haverhill ; George Moody, on Elm Street ; H. N. Couch, on North Street (at one time taught the winter school in South Georgetown); Dr. Grosvenor, on Main Street; Martin Root, iu By- field ; De Wolf, with an office in the Baptist parson- age, who went West; Spalding, now located near Boston, and Drs. R. C. Huse and R. B. Root, the two last-named having been in practice here since 1866. Others in the past were Rogers, Braman and Perley.

The only practitioners of dentistry ever permanent- ly settled iu town were Dr. Reed, about 1856, for a short time, and Thomas Whittle, who removed here from Ipswich several years ago, and is regarded as very successful in his profession. Dr. Howard, how- ever, has for a long time resided in town, but has an office in Haverhill.

Photography was for ten years or more the partial employment of W. H. Harriman, on Central Street, in the rooms of his residence, now occupied by Mrs. Hoyt. About 1872 or '73 S. C. Reed, of Newbury- port, an artist of genius, took the rooms of Mr. Har- riman, and resided here for two or three years. The first daguerreotypes ever taken in town were by a Mr. Atwood, brother of Mrs. David Haskell. This was in the autumn and early winter of 1847, in the house of T. J. Elliott, and in the room at the corner of Central and Main Streets. It is very easy to recall the mystery that most felt at the report of this new discovery, and the peculiar solemnity experienced in sitting for a picture.

If space permitted, some reference to the changes in country life on the farm, and in the country home generally, might be of interest.

It is said that the first cook-stove used in town was in 1815, and in the house of Thomas Nelson, formerly the Perkins house, near Lake Raynor. This was of the old James pattern, and manufactured in New York State. John Wood, who lived in James Gordon's house, near the mills, was the next to buy this help in the farmer's kitchen. Much fear had been felt that the fuel supply would fail, from the great consump- tion of wood in the New England States, as popula- tion increased, and this invention, greatly lessening the quantity needed, was by many at once taken ad- vantage of. The discovery of peat early in the cen- tury, for use as fnel, was much appreciated, and was constantly used in many families.

The first carpet ever brought into the town was of English make ; was bought by Deacon Solomon Nel- son and wife in 1816, they taking a special journey to Boston for the purpose. This carpet is still in use and in good condition. Those journeys by horse and chaise to Boston, and on visits in New Hampshire, were not then considered at all wearisome by those making them. In 1804, the parties just named, accom- panied by friends from Spofford's Hill, journeyed with horse and chaise to the springs at Saratoga, then just

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

becoming known. At many of the stopping-places in New Hampshire and Vermont, they found relatives of their own or other Rowley families, and an ac- quaintance was easily made.

As we are about closing this sketch, we will refer briefly to a few special agricultural features, and nat- nral productions of the town.

Apples and pears were formerly largely grown here. A few of those original fruit-trees still remain. Their vigorous growth marks a century from the seed. The temperance reform of fifty years ago checked the manufacture and use of cider, and the old trees which had borne abundant crops of natural fruit, were levelled to the ground. Every farmer, in former days, stored from twenty to a hundred barrels of cider, and some also manufactured many barrels of perry. One hundred barrels of winter pears have annually been grown on a single farm on Nelson Street. There were not less than a dozen cider-mills in town.

Of forest trees of special size there are several in town worthy of mention. The Pickett Elm on And- over Street, and the Chaplin or Shute Elm on Nelson Street, must have attained some growth at the first settlement of the town. Of the last named, Mrs. Huldah Harriman, whose memory went back to about 1750, frequently said that it was as large in her child- hood, as in the last years of her life. There is a but- tonwood, on Nelson Street, in front of the site of the old Nelson house, which was planted one hundred and thirty-seven years ago by David, the great-grand- father of Sherman Nelson. At Henry E. Perley's there are two immense pasture oaks well worthy of note. There are trees near Humphrey Nelson's said to have been set by Rev. Mr. Chandler, and a very large elm in front of the house of Mrs. Sylvanus Mer- rill, known as the Searl elm.

Some sections of the town, and especially South Georgetown, are rich in botanical treasures. At the last field meeting of the Essex Institute, held in this town, which was at Oak Dell, June 17, 1883, Mrs. C. M. Horner, a resident of this town, and favorably known to students of nature throughout the State as an en- thusiastic botanist, said that more than three hundred species of plants had been collected by her in that locality alone.

A brief mention of several persons who are natives of Georgetown, in addition to those previously named, having more than local celebrity, would not be amiss.

Mrs. A. W. H. Howard is a regular or occasional contributor to the press of Providence, R. I., and Philadelphia, Pa. She and her sister, Miss Sarah E. Horner, have been unwavering advocates for woman suffrage for years, and have invariably voted for school committee at the March meeting, since the suffrage was extended to women.

The Scarl and Merrill families, in the village of " Marlboro'," gave to the Baptist and Congregational ministry, early in the present century, six of their sons-three from each family.

George Peabody Russell, a native of the town, was a favorite nephew of the banker George Peabody. He resides in England, and has, it has been reported, a home in the Isle of Wight. He was bequeathed a large fortune by his uncle, and was appointed one of the trustees of the Southern Educational Fund. This mention of Mr. Peabody recalls the famous public re- ception given to him at the old meeting-house in April, 1867, when, seemingly, the entire population of the town were present with their cordial greetings. Old and young entered heartily into the spirit of the oc- casion, and none more so than Mr. Peabody himself. J. P. Jones, Esq., gave the address of welcome, and Hon. O. B. Tenney was master of ceremonies and in- troduced the people to the honored guest.

Augustus M. Cheney, of Byfield, is connected with a leading publishing honse in the West. He has re- cently visited the old homestead on Jackman Street.

Mrs. Lavinia Spofford Weston, having considerable local fame as a poetess, was born in the last month of the last century. Is actively engaged in composition, equaling in vigor the production of her early years.

Milton P. Braman, D.D., a prominent theologian and a close student of history, the son of Rev. Isaac Braman, was a clergymau in Danvers many years. To alleviate the infirmities of her husband in his loss of sight and declining age, Mrs. Braman, whose maiden-name was Parker, and born, as was her hus- band, ou Andover Street, acquired, after she had reached her seventieth year, sufficient knowledge of the Greek language to read it to him with readiness and appreciatingly.

Lyman G. Elliott is a lawyer in California, who is highly esteemed as a citizen in his adopted State, and has achieved success in his chosen profession.

In recent years several teachers of prominence have gone out from this town. F. E. Merrill, now of Utah, was lately nominated as superintendent of schools for the Territory. B. H. Weston recently had charge of an Indian school in the West, and was at one time prin- cipal of Atkinson Academy. B. C. Noyes has beeu for many years principal of the high school in Dayton, Ohio. N. Marshman Hazen is prominently connected with the publishing-house of the Appletons. As a romantic adventurer, Nathaniel Savory, said to have been born in the lately demolished "Brook house" on Thurlow Street, achieved a fame that but few Ameri- cans ever equaled. His career as an island king, and his projected confederacy of the Pacific Islands make a unique chapter in a sailor's life.

As we have already given the list of the first officers of the town, we will here record the names of those who are at present in office, at the close of its first half-century : Moderator, O. B. Tenney ; Town Clerk, H. N. Harriman; Selectmen and Assessors, J. E. Bailey, James Donavan, C. E. Tyler; Treasurer and Collector, J. E. Bailey ; Overseers of the Poor, John A. Hoyt, James Donavan, A. A. Howe ; School Com- mittee, G. D. Tenney, O. S. Butler, D. D. Marsh ;

ENGRAVER BY IN ARTAIN .: : 24: TRRE TIFL

affectionately your pastor Isaac Braman.

Georgetown Mass. Jan 11+ 1852.

.El unet June 7th ,27.

859

GEORGETOWN.

Constables, D. M. Bridges, A. B. Hull, Leon S. Gif- ford, Frank Riley, C. W. Nelson, S. S. Hardy.

The half-centennial of this town and the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of John Spofford with the Rowley emigrants, can each with propriety be celebrated next year by the Spofford family at their proposed gathering, so prominent as the family have been in the early history of the town, and the fore- going historical sketch, written just at this time, seems to be appropriate and in harmony with this event.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

REV. ISAAC BRAMAN.I

Rev. Isaac Braman was born of God-fearing par- ents iu Norton, Bristol County, Mass., July 5, 1770. His father died when he was twelve years of age. He always dwelt with peculiar satisfaction upon the fact that his mother continued family worship as long as her children remained with her, and he often ex- pressed gratitude to that Providence that, upon their separation after her second marriage, cast his lot in a family where the voice of daily prayer was heard.

The date of his birth, being but five years before the beginning of the Revolutionary War, his memory was full of the struggles and hardships preceding and following this contest, of which he gave many interesting anecdotes in his jubilee sermon. He had a great desire, in early life, for a collegiate education, but, his guardian refusing, the matter was deferred. At length he says, "I was determined to break through all obstacles, and accomplish my object. I commenced my studies near the close of my eigh- teenth year, entered Harvard University in the year 1790, graduated in 1794, being, of course, twenty-four years old." Mr. Braman's modesty prevented any allusion to his scholarship and social standing which were so remarkable that the senior class considered it an honor to associate with him while he was still a junior.

" Having, with prayerful consideration," continued Mr. Braman, in his jubilee discourse, "chosen the Gospel ministry for my profession, though sensible of great unworthiness, I did not long neglect to seek a place where I might study to prepare myself for the work. It is doubtless known to most of my hearers that there were no theological institutions, at that day, in which young men might be educated for the ministry. Those who sought the employment were necessitated to put themselves under the tuition of some individual minister for the purpose. There were several clergymen in the vicinity of my residence, who were in the habit of taking pupils. But there was no small difficulty in making a choice. Some

were called Hopkinsians, some Calvinists, some mod- erate Calvinists and some Arminians. Between the last two of these, moderate Calvinists and Arminians, there was no essential difference. They both held that men were to be saved by their virtuous deeds without any radical change except what they could effect in their own strength. The other two sects- Hopkinsians and real Calvinists-held to what are called the doctrines of grace, though there were some shades of difference in their manner of explaining them. But against Hopkinsianism there was a strong prejudice .... I freely confess that I partook of the prejudices of the time and place in which I lived, though I am now convinced that the more intelligent part of the Hopkinsian order understood the doc- trines of the Gospel as well as did the most who op- posed them."

These are noble words of strength and liberality. "In memory's sunset air," the points over which there had been such angry contention, seemed to the good old man only the " prejudices of the time and place " in which he lived. " I did not," Mr. Braman continued, " study with a Hopkinsian, but with sev- eral distinguished men who did not harmonize in all things with that denomination."

Mr. Braman was ordained and married the same year, in Georgetown, June 7, 1797, in a new meeting- house, which had the honor, before it was finished, of a dedication sermon by the great Whitefield, from the text, " The glory of the Lord hath filled the house of the Lord." 1 Kings 8 : 11. It was delivered less than a month before his death at Newburyport. It was probably one of his latest efforts, and singularly enough it was preached the very year the future pas- tor was born. The church was organized in 1732 without a creed, but with a beautiful covenant of du- ties Godward and manward. This identical covenant is still in use at the present day. The church had but one pastor, Rev. James Chandler, before Mr. Braman's settlement. But in the six years' interval, between Mr. Chandler's death and that event there were sixty-four candidates, Mr. Braman being the last and the final choice of the majority of a divided people.

" Do you inquire," said Mr. Braman, "what got this people into this divided state and led them to think so differently on the subject of religion? I will mention one thing which tended greatly to pro- duce this unhappy effect. There was in the vicinity a theological controversy between two divines of dis- tinction, the one called a Calvinist, the other a Hop- kinsian. The dispute was somewhat warm, and the people here, as well as in other places, took sides. Some were Hopkinsians, and some were Calvinists. None of the people were willing to be thought de- serving a lower name than one of these ; and, having no minister, each party was determined to obtain one of their own stamp. As for myself, I had not studied divinity systematically, and consequently was not

1 By Apphia Horner Howard.

IIISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

particularly well versed in the issues which prevailed here, nor in any other theological ism of the day. My object was to exhibit the Gospel in its purity without considering whom it might please or displease. The consequence was that they knew not on which side to place me, and some of the more prominent persons of both sexes favored my settlement, and some of both were opposed. Among the latter, as well as the former, were respectable men and women also."

This candid statement gives a hint of the troubles that met the young minister at the beginning of his career. Indeed, he said in his jubilee sermon that he had "waded through a sea of troubles." Yet they were only the troubles incident to human nature. He survived them all, celebrated his jubilee with honor, lived harmoniously with three successive col- leagues, retained his office sixty-one years and died still the senior pastor of the church he loved so well.

There stands in the old cemetery in Georgetown a marble desk, on which rests a Bible open at the words " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." On one side are the dates of Mr. Braman's birth, collegiate course, settlement and death, December 26, 1858, and the statement that the monument is erected by his parishioners and friends. On the other side are words which tell the story of his success in the ministry as follows :

" Rev. Mr. Braman was a man of decided piety, of great amiability and much beloved. He possessed a strong mind, sound judgment, uncommon moral cour- age and remarkable discretion. He was well versed in theological learning, a firm believer in the entire inspiration of the Scriptures, and an able and stren- uous advocate of the primitive orthodox institutions and general principles of the New England churches. In his preaching he presented divine truth with clear- ness and a close application to the consciences of his hearers. In giving counsel, both public and private, he was conspicuous for integrity and wisdom. His love for his people, his friends, his country and the whole church of Christ was strong and sincere."

" In the pangs of his last sickness he was patient and submissive to the divine will, and if not in tri- umph yet in hope he peacefully yielded up his soul to the God who gave it."

I gained an intimate knowledge of Mr. Braman's blameless and consistent life from the fact that I was born and lived twenty-two years in the house next to the home of his later years, in such close neighborhood that the two families could speak across the small sep- arating yards. Punctually at 2 o'clock every Monday afternoon Mr. Braman, in long flowing gown, left the side door of his house, crossed the yards and appeared at the side door of our house for an informal call on my mother. Great was the awe of the young children on these occasions, often repeated though they were, especially when he was asked to offer prayer.

The engraving accompanying this sketch is a strik-

ingly exact likeness of Mr. Braman, who was a per- son of very imposing presence, though his clear blue eye always had a kindly gleam for children and young people.

His reticent manner was the result of a shy and sensitive temperament. Those who knew him well found beneath it a fund of wit, humor, appreciation, and all engaging attributes, while his sarcasm, when he considered it merited, was of a fine and keen qual- ity. It obtained for him in college the name of " Ra- zor."

Mr. Braman's punctuality in a neighborly call, to which I have referred, was the habit of his life in all things. It was developed in a severe school.

For many years after his settlement he was without a time-piece. The rigid economy that he was obliged to practice to meet the demands of an increasing fam- ily and the hospitality expected in his profession, for- bade the possession of such a luxury. Living then as he said, "a large mile" from his church, he was guided by the movements of a neighbor, who was al- ways in season, as to the time of starting, and he was never known to be late at church or on any other oc- casion. His promptness in opening and closing meetings established a precedent that is still followed in the town, while the tradition of his brevity at wed- dings and funerals has descended from parents to children.

Mr. Braman was a true conservative. He walked in the safe and beaten paths of the fathers of the church. He disliked controversy. He did not favor speculation. His answer to questions from those who had projected their imagination beyond the written word was, "The Scriptures are silent upon those points." Their silence was to his reverent nature as impressive as were their affirmations.

He shrank from changes. Yet when a uew enter- prise commended itself to his mind as in the order of Gospel progress he welcomed it. Among the changes of this description iu his time was the awakening of interest in foreign missions and the formation of the American Board. The first copy of The Missionary Herald was taken in Georgetown. Women, in their zeal, saved money for the cause of missions hy deny- ing themselves sugar in their tea and coffee, while little children, before they could speak plainly, were taught to save their pennies for the help of heathen babes.

Mr. Braman, on a farm of about forty acres and on a salary of about three hundred and fifty dollars (then reckoned in British currency) and ten cords of wood, kept his carriage, his cow and other domestic ani- mals.

He gave the three survivors of his five children the best education of the period, and they did ample credit to his care.

One son, James Chandler, named by Mr. Braman with a pleasant bit of sentiment for the predecessor whom he never saw, died in his youth. His father

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could never mention his name without emotion. One daughter died in early womanhood. Two sons, Milton P. and Isaac G., became eminent in their respective professions of divinity and medicine. A daughter, the widow of Rev. John Boardman, of East Douglas, returned to her native town, where she became, for many years, an efficient helper in the church, and joined with her step-mother, to whom she was tenderly united by sympathy in the care of her father, whom she sur- vived twenty years. She inherited her mother's beau- tiful voice and her father's discretion. She was noted for fine conversational powers, and was an ornament to every circle in which she moved.

Mr. Braman was very fortunate in his domestic re- lations. The wife of his youth, Hannah Palmer, of his native town of Norton, was a woman of beauty, energy, demonstrative manners and great executive ability. She had a high sense of the importance of the pastoral office and gladly assumed all family bur- dens to allow Mr. Braman time for the preparation of the two sermons a week which were then demanded. Mr. Braman wrote his sermons carefully, and was close- ly confined to his notes in their delivery, which was with rapid but distinct utterance.

Mrs. Braman's domestic generalship enabled her husband to accomplish in the pulpit, the family, the parish and at his hospitable table great results with small means.

She died in 1835, and in tender appreciation of her worth, Mr. Braman placed on her burial stone the tribute Proverbs 31 : 10, 11, from King Solomon's de- scription of "the virtuous woman," in whom the "heart of her husband doth safely trust."

Mr. Braman married, in 1837, Miss Sarah Balch, a lady of wealth, gentle birth and breeding, from the historic old city of Newburyport. She was as well adapted to the emergencies of his declining powers, when the burdens of life began to fall heavily upon him, as was her predecessor for the pioneer period of his ministry. She was many years his junior, and still lives, after a residence in the town of fifty years, during which her course has been so wise, winning and beneficent, that no person was ever known to criticise her. This unprecedented record makes her jubilee of residence in the town as noteworthy as was Mr. Braman's jubilee of service in the sanctuary.

Her face retains much of the comeliness of her prime when she came to the people. It has also the added charm of that beauty which sometimes comes to the aged. It never passes away, for it is the result of a life of sweetness and purity. It reminds one of the heavenly peace which Tœmer has made to rest upon the brow of the " Lady Abbess," in his exquisite pic- ture of "The Last Hours."

CHAPTER LXI.

LAWRENCE.

BY JOHN R. ROLLINS.

IN the autobiography of Hon. Daniel A. White, prepared for bis children in 1836, he writes of his early home as follows :

"The situation is upon a broad plain, nearly equidistant from the Merrimac and Spicket Rivers. My father's farm wne bounded south on the former, and north on the latter river-a noble farm of nearly three hundred acres, abounding in wood and rural scenery, in fruits, such as strawberries, blackberries, etc., with a fine orchard of apples at that time in the great pasture, now wholly gone. The prospect all around ue was far more picturesque and beautiful than since the woode have been cleared away.

"The rural beauty of the farm, especially that part of it lying between the main road and the Merrimack, consisting of almost every variety of meadow and upland, pasture, mowing and woodland, with running brooks, can hardly be imagined by one who sees it now, stripped bare of its grandest folliage, cut up by turnpikes and made a public thorough- fare by the roads passing through it, and the bridge over the Merrimack, which was firet built the year I entered college (1773)."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 227

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