History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 244

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 244

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In 1840 he began peddling through the country, selling silverware, spectacles, razors, dress silks, &c., from two tin trunks. He always carried the finest goods to be found in the market, and would also take orders for shawls or anything the buyer wanted, aud bring it with him on his next trip. He also did the engraving on all the silverware which he sold, doing it evenings, denying himself all pleasure until his work was done.

March 5, 1843, he married Lydia, daughter of James and Abi (Duren) Searles, of Nashua, N. H., and set-

tled in Methuen, Mass., continuing his peddling until the fall when, after buying his stock for the fall trade, he was taken with lung fever and his physician for- bade him travelling during the winter. He then put his goods in a small shop quite near his house and hung out his sign. Success attended this venture and his small store soon became the scene of so much activity that the village people gave it the name of the Bee Hive. Here he remained about eighteen, mouths, when, finding his business had outgrown his accommodations, he sought a larger place for it.

In 1846 he started a branch store in the new city of Lawrence, remaining in a store on Amesbury Street two years, when he removed to Essex Street to get more room. In three years he was forced to move into a still larger store, and another three years found his business so much increased as to require still lar- ger accommodations.

He now resolved to buy land and build for himself which he did on his present site. In 1877-78 he en- larged and beautified his store, and the present year he has again remodeled and enlarged his building, which is unquestionably the finest business structure in Essex County. It is thirty feet wide, ninety feet deep, four stories and basement, the whole being oc- cupied by him. The new building has a massive front of brown stone, with heavy plate glass windows. Mr. Stearns is justly proud of this building, which stands as a monument to crown the long years of un- tiring devotion to business.

When a young man Mr. Stearns united with the Orthodox Church in Methuen, Rev. John C. Phillips pastor. On coming to Lawrence he formed one of a new church, called the Central Congregational (now Trinity), and has always been one of its most liberal supporters. He has been chairman of the Board of Assessors for many years, but has never sought public office, being of a retiring nature. He was, however, in the Board of Aldermen in 1861, and has been very generous in donations for public en- terprises.

In 1864 A. S. Wright, the head mechanic of the Atlantic Mills, proposed to Mr. Stearns and A. J. French to become partners in the manufacture of woollen yarns. At Mr. Stearns' suggestion the ma- chinery for yarn was sold, and the mill equipped with machinery for making braid; and a co-partner- ship formed under the firm-name of the Wright Manufacturing Company. At first fifty braiders were used. In 1874 the company was incorporated with A. J. French, president; A. S. Wright, superinten- dent; Mr. Stearns, treasurer and selling agent. The company are now running more than one thousand machines, being one of the largest and most com- plete works of the kind in the United States, a large proportion of their product being goods of high class, heretofore imported. But for Mr. Stearns' pluck and effort this venture would not have heen a success.

Mr. Stearns was chosen one of the directors of the

Van Styre y Co.F. c.on

AM Stearns

Aaron Ordway

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MIDDLETON.

Lawrence National Bank, upon its organization in 1872, and in 1878 he was elected its president, and still holds the position. He is also one of the trus- tees and first vice-president of the Broadway Savings Bank.

He is one of the original stockholders of the Merrimack Valley Horse Railroad, and has been one of its directors since its organization, and is at pres- ent the largest stockholder.

AARON ORDWAY.

Among men who, during a long residence in Law- rence, have exhibited strongly marked individuality and intense activity in business and in general af- fairs, Dr. Aaron Ordway is a prominent veteran. A powerful ally in any cause he espoused, he has been, also, a wily and determined enemy to schemes and plans that he found well-grounded reason to oppose.

He came to the city in 1847, having previously been a trader in general merchandise at Springfield, Mass., and a practicing physician in Rumney, N. H. For twenty years, after coming, he was one of the busiest physicians of the city, and, for a long time, added to professional duties a thriving retail drug business. Faithful care of these interests called for uninterrupted action, and the doctor's temperament and physique fitted him to throw a vast amount of energy into the conduct of his private business, and yet continne active in matters of public concern, as a private citizen and as an alderman during two terms of service. So active was his life that his fellow-citi- zens wondered when he slept and rested, for he was the last man seen on the street or at business at night and the first abroad in the morning. Later in life he became financially interested in timber-lands and in the manufacture of lumher, and was at one time pres- ident of Brown's Lumber Company, of Whitefield, in Northern New Hampshire, and also of the White- field and Jefferson Railroad, iu the same locality.

In religious matters Dr. Ordway has never been committed to any form of doctrine or wording of creeds, becanse of others' declaration, having well-grounded faith and opinion of his own, hut he has liberally assisted many a struggling church and society in time of financial strait. He has also been a persistent and unswerving friend of the City Hos- pital.

In politics Dr. Ordway has been a party man of the intensest kind when he believed his party right, hold- ing that right cannot be too boldly asserted or vigor- ously advocated; nevertheless, he could see a party desert its principles without joining in the stampede. He was a pioneer among early Abolitionists and an active sympathizer with the boldest reformers, wheth- er in the anti-slavery or woman's suffrage cause. Long-continned intensity of action has undermined and broken a strong constitution and hardy physique, and, at the the age of seventy-four, he is an invalid, yet his courage is unabated and his mind unclouded.

In his active days his favor was much courted and his opposition feared by aspirants for political hon- ors. Never on the fence or slow to declare himself, lie was, in politics, as in all else, a determined oppo- nent and a fast friend. It was said by some, that, when he appeared in a political contest as a cavalry- man with a sorrel charger there was terror in the host he opposed.

He was born in Hebron, N. H., May 4, 1814. His father, Stephen Ordway, went from Amesbury, Mass., in childhood, to Dunbarton, N. II. From thence, at nineteen years, he removed to the northern planta- tion of "Cockamouth" (afterwards called Hebron), there founding a home, where he lived to the age of ninety-three years. John Ordway, brother of Ste- phen and uncle of the subject of this sketch, was the clerk and historian of the Lewis and Clark Explor- ing Expedition, an enterprise that opened up hitherto unknown regions of the West in the early years of the century and made the participants therein famons in American History.

Dr. Ordway married, for his first wife, Mary M. Kelley, of New Hampton, N. H., and four children survive her; for his second wife, he married Mary Ann Kelley, of Franklin, N. H., and with her he is enjoying as much of rest and qniet as broken health allows.

CHAPTER LXII. MIDDLETON.

DY DAVID STILES.

FROM THE FIRST GRANT OF LAND BY THE GOVERN- MENT TO RICHARD BELLINGHAM, ESQ., IN NOVEMBER, 1639 TO 1887.

In compiling this work (for I do not claim to he anthor), I have se- lected material according to my best judgment. If no fault is found I shall accomplish that which no other one to my knowledge has ever done before in a town history. Nearly every town in the county has a published history by some qualified autbor, but nothing worthy of such a title has ever been produced of this town, therefore I am left without any help, and your charitable judgment I implore.

In making up chapters some repetitions occur of persons and places, which are unavoidable ; some mistakes in dates no doubt have been made, though not very far away from the truth, In many cases it has been almost impossible to find the exact times and places of even some of the most important evente. - --

THIS town is about five miles long from north to south, and about three miles wide, bounded north by Andover and North Andover, west by North Read- ing, south by Danvers and east by Topsfield and Box- ford. The larger part of the towu is on the left bank of Ipswich River, which runs from sonthwest to north- east. Another principal stream is Beech Brook, named from the original beech trees along its bank. Its rise is in Andover, and its month is near the box- mill of J. B. Thomas, into Ipswich River. Pout

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Pond Brook is an outlet of Swan Pond, in North Reading; its mouth is near the knife-factory build- ings, into Ipswich River ; and there are other small streams of less note.

The largest body of water has always been called Middleton Pond, which now supplies Danvers as well as our village, with the best of water. Pout Pond is on Pout Pond Brook, a sunken hole said to be the centre of the town. There are also other small bod- ies of water.

The most elevated land, Will's Hill, named from the last Indian inhabitant, who lived and died upon its summit, and whose squaw survived till after the town was incorporated,-and Bear Hill, near Tops- field line.

The town is well diversified by hills and valleys, and has many productive farms.

In population the village has largely increased within the last fifty years, while other portions have remained nearly the same, and in some parts gone back.

The wild beasts of the early years have disap- peared. A few of the smaller varieties still remain.

This town was settled sixty-eight years before the act of incorporation. After passing those years, both the civil and ecclesiastical history commence. We then take up the latter and pursue it up to the present time, and then resume the civil history, after which, items of interest.

1639. This town was an unbroken wilderness, save an Indian plantation near the great pond. Richard Bellingham's grant, dated November 5, 1639, says : "in it is a pond 1 and an Indian plantation." This grant contained seven hundred acres. Some years previous to this time it is supposed that there were two other large Indian plantations, one at the east side on the plains, and one east of the house of H. A. Stiles ; at these locations many Indian imple- ments from time to time have been found.

Other grants followed that of Bellingham's; of Major General Daniel Dennison, of Ipswich, east of Bellingham's, running north, followed by Henry Bartholomew, near New Meadows, now Topsfield. These grants from General Court covered the larger portion of the present town.

The very first settler within the present limits of the town was William Nichols, in 1651, near William Peabody's, then New Meadows, from whom came two of our church officers; and all, so far as we know, by that name, many of whom have blessed the world and bear an honor to the name.

This William Nichols bought two hundred acres of Henry Bartholomew, mostly beyond the "six-mile extent " (meaning the circuit or swing-round bounds of Salem, which reached a half-mile south of our present village). William Nichols lived to the age

of one hundred and two, and for many years his posterity were quite numerous in town; all of that name have now left town.

Bray Wilkins came from Wales and was among the first to land in this State. He was a very enterprising man, and of great vigor of constitution, and for many years was licensed as boatman on Naponset River, and to charge a penny a person. He subsequently moved to Lynn, Mass., and was en- gaged in some way in the iron business. Then, in 1659, he entered upon the bold operation (with his brother-in-law, John Gingle), of buying out the claim of Bellingham, amounting to seven hundred acres, paying therefore two hundred and fifty pounds and a ton of bar-iron. But with a strong constitu- tion and six stout sons, with the help of Gingle, a tailor by trade, and two trusty kinsmen, Aaron Way and William Ireland, conveyed to them good farms. Aaron Way's houses were on the site of the old Estys tavern, now standing; subsequently Mr. Wilkins purchased more than he had sold, and yet, in 1676, the mortgage given to Bellingham was dis- charged, and his sons had bought out Gingle, and the work was done, says Upham.

It is curious to note that Bellingham inserted in Wilkins' deed that if minerals were found on this claim he was to pay him, or his heirs, ten pounds per year more.

Bray Wilkins' father was Lord John Wilkins, of Wales, and the family had borne many honorable titles and is traced back to 1090, or nearly eight centuries. Wilkins died 1702, aged ninety-seven.

On Dennison's claim was found iron-ore, and a mill was erected on the site of the knife-factory ; and Thomas Fuller, an Englishman, who came over about 1638, and had resided in Cambridge, was en- gaged by Dennison to run the mill, and subsequently hecame owner in 1663, and erected his dwelling on the site of the house now owned by Charles O. Frost ; and his little blacksmith-shop stood across the brook, called Piercies Brook, near the present tomb-the foundation can be now seen.

This iron-puddling mill remained in the Fuller family, in company with the Cave family, who lived on the farm now owned by Mr. O. L. Carle ton for many years, and was subsequently set on fire, as is supposed, and destroyed by one of the parties to the ownership, then in a quarrel.

The wealth of this Thomas Fuller and his enter- prising spirit and sound judgment gave to his pos- terity good positions in society, which have been sustained wherever they have been scattered over the world.

He had three wives. He died June 3, 1698. He came to this country on a tour of observation, in- tending to return in one year, but was converted under the preaching of Rev. Thomas Shepard, of Cambridge, Mass., on account of which he wrote some verses, the last of which is as follows :

1 This pond was subsequently called Wilkins' Pond, and may now rightfully belong to Bray Wilkins' heirs.

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MIDDLETON.

" Christ cast his garments over me, And all my sins did cover ; More precious to my soul was He Than dearest friend and lover."

Augustus Shepard, of this town, is a descendant of this Rev. Thomas Shepard. This information was obtained in Boston.

The farms of the earlier settlers for some years were but imperfectly fenced and their cattle and flocks were watched by herdsmen, assisted by boys and girls. The court decreed that in every town the chosen men are to take care of such "as are sett to keep cattle that they sett some other employment withall, as spinuing upon the rock, knitting & weaving tape, &c., that boyes and girls be not suffered to convers to- gether."

Thns the watchers had to be watched.

Before the incorporation of this town, which was sixty-eight years after Wilkins bought Belling- ham's claim, several occurrences took place which we shall mention. Wilkins, and those owning under him, were, in 1661, annexed to Salem Village, which gives the long and peculiar shape to the village boun- daries, and there, where the witchcraft delusion began, they attended church and were identified with that people.

The families of Wilkins and Fuller increased rap- idly, and with others who had moved in, it is suppos- ed that in 1692 the population had increased to nearly three hundred. At the above date Francis Elliott lived a little west of the red house near the cemetery, and William Way who, with his wife Percy, united with the church at Salem Village May 12, 1680, lived in a house, the remnant of the cellar of which is seen just opposite the house of the late Addison Tylor. These houses, however, came within the bounds of Rowley Village, now Boxford, but nearly all the set- tlers as far away as William Nichols' farm came under the name of Will's Hill men. The line of Rowley crossed the river forty rods above Indian Bridge on a northwest course, passed in front of William Way's house, thence by Pont Pond to Beech Brook, where two brooks meet below the house of Mr. Ogden.

This little settlement became greatly disturbed by the witchcraft delusion, and one man of no little note was selected as a victim and hung on Gallows Hill, Salem, and here we insert the proceedings from Up- ham's work as a part of our own history :--

TRIAL OF JOHN WILLARD.

"May 10, 1692, a warrant was issued against John Willard, ' husband- man' to be brought to Thomas Beadle's house in Salem. On the 12th John Putnam, Jr., constable, made return that he had been 'to the honse of the usual abode of John Willard and made search for him, and in several other places and houses, but could not find him,' and that his relations and friends said ' that to their best knowledge he was fled.' On the 15th a warrant was issned to the marshal of Essex, and the constable or constables within this their majesty's colony or territory of Massa- chusetts, iu New England, requiring them to apprehend said Willard " if he may be found in your preciocts, who stands charged with sundry acts of wichcraft, by him done or committed on the bodies of Bray Wil- kins and Samnel Wilkins, the son of Henry Wilkins, and others, upon complaint made by Thomas Fuller, Jr., and Benjamin Wilkins, Sr.,

yeoman, who, being found, you are to convey from town to town, from constable to constable, . . . to be prosecuted according to the di- rection of Constable John Putnam, of Salem Village, who goes with the sume.' On the 18th of May Constable Putnam brought in Willard, and delivered him to the magistrates. He was seized in Groton. There is no record of his examination, but we gather from the papers on file the following facts relating to this interesting case : It is said that Willard had been called upon to aid in the arrest, custody and bringing in of persons nceused, in acting as deputy-constable; and from his observation of the deportment of the prisoners, and from all he heard and saw, his sympathies became excited in their behalf, and he expressed in more or less terms his disapprobation of the proceedings. He seems to have con- sidered all hands concerned in the business-accusers, accused, magis- trates aod people-as alike bewitched. One of the witnesses against him deposed that he said in a ' discourse ' at the house of a relative, -' Hang them ; they are all witches.' In consequence of this kind of talk, in which he indulged as early as April, he incurred the ill-will of the par- ties engaged in the prosecutions, and it was whispered about that lie was himself in the diabolical confederacy. He was a grandson of Bray Wil- kins, and the mind of the old man be came prejudiced against him, and most of his family connections and neighbors partook of the feeling. When Willard discovered that such rumors were in circulation against him, he went to his grandfather for counsel and the aid of his prayers. He met with a cold reception, as appeared by the deposition of the old man, as follows : ' When John Willard was first complained of by the afflicted persons for afflicting of them, he came to my house, greatly troubled, desired me, with some other neighbors, to pray for him. I told him I was then going from home and could not stay, but if I could come home before night, I should not be willing. But it was near night before I came home and so I did not answer his desire, but I heard no more of him upon that account. Whether my not answering his desire did not offend him, I cannot tell, hut I was jealous afterwards that it did.' Willard soon after made an engagement to go to Boston on election week with Henry Wilkins, Jr. A son of said Henry Wilkins, named Daniel, a youth of seventeen years of age, who had heard the stories against Willard, and believed them all, remonstrated with his father against going to Boston with Willard, and seemed much distressed at the thought, saying, among other things,-' It were well if the said Willard were hanged.' Old Bray Wilkins must go to election, too, and so started off on horseback-the only mode of travel then practicable, from Will's Hill to Wionesimit Ferry- with his wife on a pillion behind him. He was eighty-two years of age, and she probably not much less ; for she had been the wife of his youth. The old couple undoubtedly had an ac- tive time that week in Boston. It was a great ovation, and the whole couetry flocked iu to partake in the ceremonies and services of the anni- versary. On Election day, with his wife, he rode out to Dorchester to dine at the house of his brother, Lieutenant Richard Way. Deodat Lawson and his new wife, and several more, join them at the table. Before sitting down Henry Wilkins and John Willard also came in. Willard, perhaps, did not feel very agreeably towards his grandfather at the time for having shown an unwillingness to pray with him. The old man saw, or imagined he saw, a very unpleasant expression in Willard's countenance. To my apprehension, he looked after such a sort upon me as I never before discerned in any. The long and hard travel, the fa- tigues and excitements of election week, were too much for the old man, tough and rugged as he was; and a severe attack of a complaint, to which persons of his age are often subject, came on. He experienced great sufferings, and, as he expressed it, ' was like a man on a rack.'

"I told my wife immediately that I was afraid that Willard had done wrong ; my pain continuing, and finding no relief, my jealousy contio- ued. Mr. Lawson and others there were all amazed, and knew not what to do for me. There was a woman accounted skilful came, hoping to help me, and after she had used means, she asked me whether none of those evil persons had done me damage. I said I could not say they had, but I was sore afraid they had. She answered she did fear so, too. As near as I can remember, 'I lay in this case three or four days at Boston, and afterward, with the jeopardy of my life (as I thought), I came home.' On his return he found his grandson, the same Daniel who had warned Henry Wilkins against going to Boston with John Willard, on his death-bed, in great suffering. Another attack of his own malady came on. There was great consteroation in the neighborhood, and throughout the village. The devil and his confederates, it was thought, were making an awful onslaught upon the people at Will's Hill. Parris and others rushed to the scene. Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcot were carried up to tell who it was that was bewitching old Bray, and young Daniel, and others of the Wilkinsee who had caught

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the contagion and were experiencing or imagining all sorts of bodily nils. They were taken to the room where Daniel was approaching his death agonies ; and they both affirmed that they saw the spectres of old Mrs. Buckley and John Willard upon his throat and upon his breast, and pressed him and choked him ; and the cruel operativo, they insisted upon it, continued until the boy died. The girls were carried to the bed- room of the old man, who was in great suffering ; and, when they en- tered, the question was put by the anxious and excited friends in the chamber to Mercy Lewis, whether she saw anything. She said, yes ; ' they are looking for John Willard.' Presently she pretended to have caught sight of his apparition, and exclaimed, ' there he is upon his grandfather's belley.' This was thought wonderful, indeed, for, as the old man says in a deposition he drew np afterwards, 'At that time I was in grevions pain in the small of my belly.' Mrs. Ann Putnam had her story to tell about John Willard. Its substance is seen in a deposition drawn up about the same time, and is in the same vein as her testimony in other cases, presenting a problem to be solved by those who can draw the line between semi-insane hallucination and downright fabrication. " Her deposition is as follows :

" ' The shape of Samuel Fuller and Lydia Wilkins this day told me at my own house by the bedside who appeared in a winding-sheet, that if I did not go and tell Mr. Hathorne that John Willard had murdered them, they would tear! me to pieces. I knew them when they were liv- ing, and it was exactly their resemblance and shape. And, at the same time, the apparition of John Willard told me that he had killed Samuel Fuller, Lydia Wilkins, Goody Shaw and Fuller's second wife, and Aaron Way's child, and Den Fuller's child, and this deponant's child Sarah, six weeks old, and Philip Knight's child, with the help of William HTubbs, and Jonathan Knight's child and two of Ezekiel Cheevers children with the help of William Hobbs ; Anne Eliot and Isaac Nichols with the help of William Hobbs ; and if Mr. Hathorne would not believe them, -that is, Samuel Fuller and Lydia Wilkins, perhaps they would appear to tbo magistrates. Joseph Fuller's apparition the same day also came to me, and told me that Goody Covey bad killed him. The spectre aforesaid told me that vengeance, vengeance, was cried by said Fuller. This re- lation is true. ANN PUTNAM.'

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 244

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