History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 49

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 49

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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aud seventy-three tous, famous as a privateer in the War of 1812; for Z. F. Silsbee and James Devereux, in 1807, the ship " Herald," of two hundred and sev- enty-four tons. The last vessel built by Mr. Becket was the brig " Becket," of one hundred and twenty- eight tons, for John Crowninshield, in 1818.

Ebenezer Mann came to Salem from Pembroke in 1783, and in the same year commenced building ves- sels in a yard near Frye's Mills, on North River, and continued in the business until about the year 1800. Among the vessels built by Mr. Mann was the brig " William," of one hundred and eighty-two tons, in 1784, for William Gray ; the brig "Fanny," of one hundred and fifty-two tons, in 1785, for Benjamin Goodhue ; the bark "Good Intent," of one hundred and seveuty-oue tons, in 1790, for Simon Forrester ; the schooner "Betsey," of one hundred and eight tons, in 1792, for Jerathmael Peirce ; the brig " Hind," of one hundred and fifty-seven tons, in 1795, for Wil- liam Orne ; the ship "Good Hope," of one hundred and eighty-eight tons, in 1795, for Nathaniel West ; the bark " Eliza," of one hundred and eighty-seven tons, in 1796, for Joseph White; and the ship " Pru- dent," of two hundred and fourteen tons, in 1799, for Nathaniel West.

Christopher Turner, who came to Salem from Pem- broke, where he was born in 1767, continued the bus- iness of ship-building at Frye's Mills after Mr. Mann retired. He built, among others, the schooner " Essex," of one hundred and fourteen tons, in 1800, for Wil- liam Fabens, for the West India and Cayenne trade. The ship "Pompey," of one hundred and eighty- eight tons, in 1802, for William Orne. She was after- wards sold to Joshua Ward, made into a brig, and commanded by James Gilchrist. The ship " Hope," of two hundred and eighty-two tons, in 1805, for J. & J. Barr. The ship " Hunter," of two hundred and ninety-six tons, in 1807, for Jerathmael Peirce. The brig " Romp," of two hundred and thirty-two tons, in 1809, for Nathaniel Silsbee. She was commanded by William Lander, and was confiscated at Naples, in 1809, on her first voyage. The ship "Rambler," of two hundred and eighty-six tons, in 1811, for George Nichols. She was captured by the British in 1812, while commanded by Timothy Bryant. Mr. Turner built, at Union Wharf, for George Crowninshield, the sloop " Jefferson," of twenty-two tons, for a pleasure- yacht. She was launched in March, 1801, and is be- lieved to have been the first real yacht built in the United States.

David Magoun built, on the neck, between the gate and Colonel John Hathorne's house, in 1805, the ship " Alfred," two hundred tons, for Joseph White.

Barker & Magoun built, at the same place, the schooner "Enterprise," two hundred tons, in 1812, and the schooner " Gen. Stark," in 1813.

Enos Briggs was one of the most noted ship-builders in Salem. He came here from Pembroke in 1790, and built the ship "Grand Turk," of five hundred and

sixty tons, for Elias Hasket Derby. She was built on the lot of land next east of Isaac P. Foster's store, and was launched May 19, 1791, and replaced the ship "Grand Turk," of three hundred tons, which was sold at the Isle of France in 1788. A Salem paper at the time of the launching calls her "the largest ship ever built in this country."

Having built the "Grand Turk," Mr. Briggs re- turned to Pembroke for his family. They arrived at Salem July 4, 1791, and the sloop in which they came brought, also, the frame of a dwelling-house, which he erected on Harbor Street, and which, for many years after his decease, was occupied by the family of his daughter, Mrs. Nathan Cook. Mr. Briggs was born in Pembroke July 29, 1746, and died in Salem Octo- ber 10, 1819. His ship-yard in Salem was located be- tween Peabody and Harbor Streets, west of the Naumkeag Cotton-Mills. Here he built for Elias Has- ket Derby, in 1792, the ship " Benjamin," of one hundred and sixty-one tons, which was afterwards commanded by Nathaniel Silsbee ; in 1794, the ketch "Eliza," of one hundred and eighty-four tons, which, under command of Stephen Phillips, made some of the early voyages to Calcutta and the Isle of France; in 1795 the ketch " John," of two hundred and fifty- eight tons, and the ketch " Brothers," of one hundred and forty-eight tons ; and, in 1796, the ship " Martha," of three hundred and forty tons. For George Crow- ninshield & Sons he built, in 1794, the ship " Belisa- rius," of 261 tons. For Peirce & Wait, in 1797, the ship " Friendship," of 342 tons, afterwards command- ed by Israel Williams. For Joseph Peabody, in 1798, the schooner "Sally," 104 tons; in 1798, the brig "Neptune," 160 tons; in 1801, the brig " Catherine," 158 tons; in 1803, the ship "Mount Vernon," 254 tons; in 1804, the ship " Janus," 277 tons; in 1805, the ship " Augustus," 246 tons; in 1807, the ship "Francis," 297 tons ; in 1811, the ship "Glide," 306 tons ; in 1812, the brig "Levant," 265 tons; and in 1816, the ship " China," of 370 tons.

For Nathaniel West, 1794, the schooner "Patty," 111 tons, which, under command of Edward West, made one of the earliest voyages from Salem to Batavia; and in 1801, the ship "Commerce," 239 tons. For Benjamin Pick- man, in 1803, the ship "Derby," of 300 tons. For Simon Forrester, in 1805, the ship "Messenger," 277 tons. For William Gray, in 1806, the ship " Pac- tolus," 288 tons. Mr. Briggs built, while in Salem, fifty-one vessels of 11,500 tons, among them the fa- mous frigate "Essex," of 850 tons, built in 1799.

Elijah Briggs, on the death of his cousin Enos, con- tinued the business of ship-building at the yard in South Salem. He built for Pickering Dodge, in 1819, the ship "Gov. Endicott," 279 tons; in 1828, the ship " Lotos," 296 tons ; in 1828, the ship " Mandarin," 295 tons; and in 1829, the ship "Rome," 344 tons. For Jonathan Neal, in 1820, the brig " Java," 225 tons. For John Forrester, in 1823, the ship "Emerald," 271 tons. For Joseph Peabody, in 1824, the brig

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" Mexican," 227 tons, and the brig " Amazon," 202 tons. For Gideon Tucker, in 1825, the brig " Olinda," 182 tons. Mr. Briggs was born in Scituate July 17, 1762, and died in Salem May 29, 1847.

Elias Jenks and Ichabod R. Hoyt continued the business of ship-building in South Salem down to 1843, and built their vessels a little to the westward of the spot occupied by Enos Briggs. They built for Joseph Peabody, in 1827, the ship "Sumatra," 287 tons ; in 1831, the ship "Eclipse," 326 tons ; in 1833, the ship " Naples," 309 tons; and in 1837, the ship "Carthage," 426 tons. For Nathaniel L. Rogers & Brothers, in 1828 the ship " Crusoe," 350 tons. For the Messrs. Silsbee, in 1831, the ship " Borneo," 297 tons ; and in 1840, the ship "Sooloo," 400 tons. For Thorn- dike Deland, in 1836, the schooner " William Penn," 125 tons. For David Pingree, in 1843, the bark " Three Brothers," 350 tons.

In 1834, there had been built in Salem for the for- eign trade since 1789, sixty-one ships, four barks, fifty-three brigs, three ketches, and sixteen schooners, measuring 30,557 tons.

On the 1st of December, 1825, there was launched from the ship-yard of Mr. Cottle, in North Salem, near Orne's Point, a schooner of 40 tons, built for the use of the American missionaries at the Sandwich Islands. She was called the "Missionary Packet," and sailed from Boston January 17, 1826, for the Sand- wich Islands.

Samuel Lewis built, in 1849, the bark " Argentine," for Robert Upton, and in 1850 the brig " M. Shepard," 160 tons, for John Bertram.

John Carter built, in 1854, under the superintend- ence of A. H. Gardner, on the eastern side of Phillips Wharf, for Edward D. Kimball, the bark " Witch," 417 tons; and subsequently, at the same place, for other parties, the ship "Europa," 846 tons.

Edward F. Miller, whose ship-yard was at the point of land in South Salem opposite the end of Derby Wharf, built for R. W. Ropes & Co., in 1855, the brig " Mary Wilkins," 266 tons; and in 1859, the bark " La Plata," 496 tons. For Benjamin A. West, in 1857, the bark " Arabia," 380 tons. She was lost at the Cape of Good Hope on her first voyage. For John Bertram, in 1856, the bark "Guide ; " in 1861, the bark "Glide," 493 tons; in 1869, the bark " Jer- sey," 599 tons, which was lost at Madagascar on her first voyage; and, in 1870, the bark "Taria Topan," 631 tons. For John C. Osgood and others, in 1862, the brig "Star," 250 tons.

Joshua Brown built, near Miller's ship-yard, the schooner "Prairie Flower," 106 tons. This vessel was launched on the 27th of April, 1858. She sailed from Salem Tuesday, June 8, 1858, for Boston, to obtain a part of her fishing outfit. A large party of young men were on board, invited by the owners to make the trip to Boston. About 2 P.M., when in the Broad Sound and entering Boston harbor, the schooner was struck by a sudden gust of wind and capsized. The

water rushed into the cabin, filling it, and of those there at the time, seven were drowned. They were all under thirty years of age, and all of Salem. Orgood Sanborn was 28; Daniel R. Fitz, 24; George C. Clarke, 24; Francis Donaldson, 21; William H. Rus- sell, 20; William H. Newcomb, 20; and Lewis B. Smith, 14. The remainder of the party were rescued by vessels that chanced to be near the scene of the accident. No such calamity had occurred in Salem since the 17th of June, 1773, when the King's boat, belonging to the custom-house, was capsized in Salem harbor during a squall, and three men and seven women, all of Salem, were drowned. Mr. Brown built a number of other vessels, among them the schooner " David B. Newcomb," 92 tons, in 1860, and the brig " Albert," 325 tons, in 1862.

SALEM MERCHANTS .- This chapter should not be closed without some notice of the men whose enter- prise and daring made for Salem her brilliant com- mercial record.

Among the earliest of the merchants was Captain George Curwin, who was born in England in 1610. He settled in Salem about 1638, and was extensively engaged in commerce. His books of account show that he had embarked in the London trade previous to 1658. He died on the 3d of January, 1685, leaving a large estate, comprising four ware-houses and two wharves in Salem, and a ware-house and wharf in Boston, and the ketches "George," "Swallow,' "John " and " William," valued at £1050.

Captain Walter Price, who died in 1674, and Cap- tain John Price, who died in 1691; John Turner, who died in 1680; William Bowditch. who died in 1681; Joseph Grafton, Sr., who died in 1682; William Brown and John Brown, who died about 1687, '88; Henry Bartholomew, who died in 1691; Richard Hollingworth and his son, William Hollingworth, were all engaged in commerce in Salem.

Philip English came to Salem before 1670, and in 1675 married the daughter of another Salem mer- chant, Mr. William Hollingworth. In 1676 he is at the Isle of Jersey, commanding the ketch "Speed- well." He had so flourished in 1683 that he put up a stylish mansion on the eastern corner of Essex and English streets. It was one of those ancient mansion houses, for which Salem was once noted-a venerable many gabled, solid structure, with projecting stories and porches. Down to 1753 it was known as Eng- lish's great house. It stood until 1833, long tenant- less and deserted, and when torn down a secret room was found in the garret, supposed to have been built after the witchcraft furor, as a place of temporary security in case of a second outcry.

In 1692 Philip English was at the height of his prosperity. He was trading with Bilboa, Barbadoes, St. Christopher's and Jersey, as well as with several French ports, He owned twenty-one vessels, besides a wharf and warehouse on the neck, and fourteen buildings in the town. It is probable that his wife

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was over-elated by their prosperity, and forgot her humble friends of former days, for she is now called "aristocratic," and the prejudice thus engendered against her doubtless led to her being " cried out" against for withcraft. Both Mr. English and his wife were so accused. From 1694 to 1720 Mr. English sends ketches to Newfoundland, Cape Sable or Aca- dia to catch fish, and sends these fish to Barbadoes or other English West Indies, Surinam and Spain. He also had a number of vessels running between Salem and Virginia and Maryland.

Mr. English was put into Salem jail, so says Felt, in 1725, for refusing, as an Episcopalian, to pay taxes for the support of the East Church. About 1734 he retired from trade, and in 1735 he was put under guardianship as being clouded in mind. He died in 1736, aged about eighty-six years, and was buried in the Episcopal church-yard.

The name of Derby is intimately associated with the commerce of Salem-Roger Derby, born in 1643, emigrated to America in 1671 from Topsham, in the South of England. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and first settled in Ipswich, but having been fined for non-conformity, he removed to Salem where he embarked in trade. At his decease in 1698 it appears by his inventory, that he possessed a house, wharf and warehouse. His son Richard, born in 1679, engaged in maritime affairs, but died in 1715, leaving, among other children. a son Richard, born in 1712, whose son, Elias Hasket Derby, was the most eminent among Salem's merchants. The last- named Richard, in 1736, at the age of twenty-four, was the master of the sloop "Ranger," bound from Salem to Cadiz and Malaga. In 1739 he sails in the "Ranger" to St. Martin's, and in 1742 he is master and part owner of the " Volant," bound for Barbadoes and the French Islands. In 1757 he retired from the sea and became a merchant of Salem, relinquishing his vessels to his sons John and Richard.

The commerce in which Mr. Derby was engaged was pursued in vessels ranging from 50 to 100 tons. His vessels, laden with fish, lumber and provisions, cleared for Dominica or some Windward Isle in the British West Indies, and then ran through the islands for a market. The returns were made in sngar, molasses, cotton, rum and claret, or in rice and naval stores from Carolina. With the returns from these voyages assorted cargoes were made of oil, naval stores, and the produce of the islands for Spain and Madeira, and the proceeds remitted partly in bills on London, and partly in wine, salt, fruit, oil, iron, lead and handkerchiefs to America. The commerce of these days was bold and adventurous. Few vessels exceeded 60 tons burden, and they were exposed not only to the dangers of the seas, but also to the buccaneers and French and English cruisers. During the French War, from 1756 to 1763, Mr. Derby owned several ships as well as brigantines, carrying each eight or ten cannon. He was owner of part of the

cannon which Col. Leslie was sent down from Boston by Gen. Gage to capture, in 1775. His son John car- ried to England the first news of the battle of Lex- ington, and returned to Salem with the first intelli- gence of the effect it produced in London.

Mr. Derby was born in Salem September 16, 1712, and died there November 9, 1783.

The second son of the last named Richard Derby, Elias Hasket, was born in Salem August 16, 1739, and was Salem's most eminent merchant. He was the pioneer, and led the way while others followed. Ilis vessels were the first from New England at India and China, and largely to his courage and sagacity Salem is indebted for the prominent place she held as a commercial port. Until his coming, the trade of Salem was narrow and limited. He opened the ports of the whole globe to the Salem ships, and made the name of Salem familiar wherever trade penetrated or civilization ventured.

At an early age he entered the counting-room of his father, and from 1760 to 1775 he took charge of his father's books, and engaged extensively in trade with the English and French islands. At the com- mencement of the Revolutionary War, he had seven sail of vessels in the trade of the West Indies. Many of the rich men clung to the mother country, but Mr. Derby espoused the cause of the colonists. His trade and that of Salem was ruined by the war. Indignant at the oppressive course of Great Britain, Mr. Derby united with his townsmen, and Salen fitted out at least one hundred and fifty-eight armed vessels during the Revolution.

From 1771 to 1785 the tonnage of Salem declined, and did not revive till the opening of the India trade, when it increased with astonishing rapidity.

On the 15th of June, 1784, the barque "Light Horse" was sent by Mr. Derby to St. Petersburg with a cargo of sugar, and opened the American trade with that place.

In November, 1784, he despatched the ship "Grand Turk," of 300 tons, Captain Jonathan Ingersoll, on the first voyage from Salem to the Cape of Good Hope. Although this voyage was not very suc- cessful, it gave Mr. Derby an insight into the wants and prices of the Indian market, and Nov. 28, 1785, he cleared the same vessel under command of Eben- ezer West, for the Isle of France, with the purpose to visit Canton, went to the Isle of France, Batavia and China, and returned to Salem in June, 1787, with a cargo of teas, silks and nankeens, making the first voyage from New England to the Isle of France, India and China.

In December, 1787, Mr. Derby again despatched his ship " Grand Turk " on a voyage to the Isle of France under the charge of his son, Elias Hasket Derby, Jr. The "Grand Turk " was sold at a great profit, and the son remained at the Isle of France until the arrival, about a year afterwards, of the ship " Atlantic," when he proceeded to Surat, Bombay,

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and Calcutta, and first displayed our ensign at those ports. He bought, at the Isle of France, the ship "Peggy," sent her to Bombay for cotton and then back to Salem, where she arrived June 21, 1789, with the first cargo of Bombay cotton. One of his vessels was the first to display the American flag at Siam and another made the first voyage from America to Mocha.

In February, 1789, Mr. Derby sent, for the first time, the ship " Astrea" on a direct voyage to Can- ton. American ships were now following the lead of the "Grand Turk," and we find fifteen there in 1789, five of them belonging to Salem, and four to Mr.

Derby. In 1790 he imported into Salem 728,871 pounds of tea. In May, 1790, the brig "William and Henry," Captain Benjamin Hodges, owned by Gray & Orne, entered this port with a cargo of tea, which was among the first of such cargoes imported in an American bottom. When Mr. Derby first engaged in the India trade there were no banks, and he rarely purchased or sold on credit. While his large ships were on their voyages to the East he employed his brigs and schooners in making up the assortment for cargoes by sending them to Gottenburg and St. Petersburg for iron, duck and hemp; to France, Spain and Madeira for wine and lead; to the West Indies for spirits ; and to New York, Philadelphia and Rich- mond for flour, provisions, iron and tobacco. In the brief space of fourteen years (from 1785 to 1799), he made one hundred and twenty-five voyages, by at least thirty-seven different vessels, of which voyages forty- five were to the East Indies or China. Among the officers of his ships, who were afterwards distinguished, were the Hon. Nathaniel Silsbee, late United States Senator from Massachusetts and Dr. Nathaniel Bow- ditch.

In 1798 the nation appeared to be on the eve of a war with France, and was withont a navy. John Adams was President, and the administration, in June, 1798, passed an act authorizing the President to accept such vessels as the citizens might build for the na- tional service, and pay for them in a six per cent. stock. Subscriptions were opened in Salem, and Mr. Derby and Mr. William Gray each subscribed ten thousand dollars, and William Orne and John Norris each five thousand dollars, and in a brief period some seventy-four thousand, seven hun- dred dollars were subscribed. Mr. Enos Briggs, who had built many of Mr. Derby's fastest ships, was instructed to build a frigate, to be called the "Essex." The keel was laid April 13, 1799, and September 30th following she was successfully launched. She proved the fastest ship in the navy, and captured property to the amount of two million dollars. Admiral Farragut served on the "Essex " as a midshipman.

Mr. Derby made one more brilliant voyage before he closed his career, although he did not live to ascer- tain its results. Hostilities between France and the United States had commenced when Mr. Derby sent

a ship of four hundred tons, called the " Mount Ver- non," equipped with twenty guns, manned by fifty men and loaded with sugar, to the Mediterranean. The cost of the cargo was forty-three thousand two hundred and seventy-five dollars. The vessel was at- tacked by the enemy, but escaped, and arived safely in America with a cargo of silks and wines, and real- ized a net profit of one hundred thousand dollars. Before her arrival Mr. Derby died, September 8, 1799, and left an estate which exceeded a million dollars, and was supposed to be the largest fortune left in this country during the last century.

The mansion in which Mr. Derby lived while ac- quiring his fortune still stands on the corner of Waslı- ington and Lynde Streets, and was, for a long time, occupied by another Salem merchant, Robert Brook- house. Mr. Derby erected an elegant and costly edi- fice on the site now occupied by Derby Square, and laid out walks and gardens from Essex Street to a terrace which overhung the South River. The man- sion was finished, but was occupied by Mr. Derby but a few months before his death. For some twelve years thereafter it was in the possession of his oldest son, but with the embargo and war there came a check to the prosperity of Salem, and no one was willing to incur the expense incident to living in such a palatial structure. The buildings and gardens were closed for years, and finally gave place to the square and market which now bear the name of Derby.

Crowninshield is another family name whose mem- bers contributed to the commercial prosperity of Salem. John Crowninshield was born in 1696, was a Salem captain in the West India trade about 1724 and died in 1761. He was the father of George Crowninshield, who was born in Salem in 1734, and who married a sister of Elias Hasket Derby. George Crowninshield built a mansion-house on Derby Street, which was demolished to make room for the present Custom- House in 1816. After the Revolution, and until the embargo, he was engaged in commerce with his sons, and in the War of 1812 was successful in privateering, the most famous of his vessels being the " America." He died in 1815.

His son George was the owner of the famous pleas- ure yacht, the " Cleopatra's Barge," in which he vis- ited the ports of Europe. It was the first American vessel to cross the ocean solely on a pleasure excur- sion. He returned in October, 1817, and on the 26th of the following November, while the yacht was lying at the port of Salem, he died suddenly in her cabin at the age of fifty-one.

Jacob Crowninshield was a member of Congress, and was appointed Secretary of the Navy in 1805, but declined on account of ill health. Benjamin W. Crowninshield was Secretary of the Navy from 1814 until 1818, and a member of Congress from 1823 until 1831. He built and lived in the house which is now the Home for Aged Women, on Derby Street. He died in 1851.

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The Pickmans were among Salem's successful mer- chants. Col. Benjamin Pickman, who was born in 1706, was largely interested in the West India trade, and as the principal article of export to those islands was the product of the fisheries, he engaged extensive- ly in the prosecution of that industry. His fish-flakes extended from North Street through Federal to Boston Street, and down to the river. He amassed a large for- tune in this business, and, in recognition of the service rendered him by the codfish, he had a carved and gilded effigy of that fish placed on the side of each stair in the principal hall of his house, which he built in 1750, and which still stands on Essex Street, next the East India Marine Building. The front of this honse is now hidden hy a block of stores. Col. Pick- man died in 1773. His sons, Benjamin and William, were merchants of Salem, and his grandson, Dudley L. Pickman, a son of William, who was born in 1779, and died in 1846, was largely engaged in the East India trade, and was an eminently successful mer- chant.

Silsbee is a name prominent in the annals of Salem's commerce, Nathaniel Silsbee, an eminent master mariner and confidential agent of Elias Hasket Derby, was born in Salem November 9, 1748. At a very early age Mr. Silsbee was entrusted with the charge of a vessel and cargo to the West Indies, and subsequently he was owner of several vessels employed in that trade. He commanded the "Grand Turk " on a voy- age to the West Indies and afterwards to Spain. In the course of a few years he embarked in business on his own account, and soon acquired an independent fortune, which unfortunately was lost by reverses in business. He died June 25, 1791, leaving three sons, each of whom were masters and supercargoes of ships while in their teens, and became eminent and success- ful merchants. Nathaniel, born in 1773; William, born in 1779; and Zachariah F., born in 1783.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 49

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