History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 66

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 66

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

about sixteen hundred of agricultural and historical works.

The China Library, containing nearly seven hun- dred volumes, an unique collection of publications relating to that country and her people; the Library of the Art Department, numbering upwards of five hundred volumes, together with many periodicals in its varions branches, to which additions are being constantly made, and a small Musical Library.

A large portion of the books are arranged in the new building,-the Historical in the western section of the second floor ; the Literary in the eastern sec- tion and the Essex County books in the central. On the third floor are the Theological, in the western section ; Scientific, in the eastern ; the Directories, Horticultural and Educational Books, in the central.

The national, state and city Documents, those re- lating to Finance and Trade, bound volumes of News- papers and Pamphlets, are retained in Plummer Hall. The large room is furnished with settees and chairs, and is used for lectures, concerts, meetings and exhi- bitions of Art, Horticulture, etc.

Meetings of the Institute .- Regular meetings are held on the first and third Monday evenings of each month ; field meetings, during the summer months, at such times and places as may be appointed by a special committee.

The Institute was organized in the spring of 1848. It at once introduced a system of field meetings, unique and interesting, as well as useful to those who have attended them. These meetings gather from one to three hundred or more persons; four or five of them are held in each season. Railroads, local au- thorities, church committees, educational, scientific and literary organizations, have uniformly united their efforts to make attendance easy and agreeable. The first of these gatherings was held at Danvers, June 12, 1849, and, with the interval of three summers, in 1853-4-5, they have since been uninterrupted. One hundred and thirty-five field meetings have been held in ninety-six different places in thirty-three of the towns and cities of the county of Essex, and twelve meetings in twelve towns or cities beyond the county limits. Members of the Institute and all others are invited on equal terms. A spot is selected for its scientific and historical interest, and with some regard to its facilities for transportation, shelter and refresh- ment. Physicists and antiquarians, especially local students of science, tradition and history, are sought out. The party attending provides itself with a bas- ket luncheon, and is usually transported at half fare. Reaching its destination, it is often welcomed by a local committee, deposits its baskets and extra cloth- ing, and, in self-appointed sections, follows the lead of its specialists in botany, geology, entomology, local history or antiquity, to various points of interest in the neighborhood. Coming together at noon in the village church, the school-house, the town hall, or some inviting grove, a meeting is held, after the bas-

kets are emptied, and the results of the previous rambles are exhibited, compared, analyzed and dis- cussed.

In yet another way has the effort been successful to make science and sociability tributary to each other. For several seasons, beginning May 1, 1866, and for several evenings during each season, meetings were held, which might be described as microscope shows. From twenty-five to fifty instruments of every variety of make, were brought together in Hamilton Hall, where the friends of the Institute, to the number of two hundred, passed most agreeable evenings iu ex- amining the specimens shown, in listening to the comments of experts and specialists, and in general social relaxation. The occasions owed much of their success to the interest and labor of the late well- known microscopist, Edwin Bicknell.

Lectures .- During the past fifteen or twenty years, regular courses of lectures have been delivered annu- ally in the winter months, with perhaps a few excep- tions ; and before this occasionally as opportunities offered. These embrace a wide range of topics in science and literature. In addition to the above, courses of lectures or single lectures have been given by those who were or are now active members of the institute.

Commemorations .- The fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Essex Historical Society was ob- served on the 21st of April, 1871. The address was by A. C. Goodell, Jr., Esq .; an excellent choir, under the direction of General H. K. Oliver, sang an original hymn, written for the occasion by Rev. Jones Very ; after which remarks were made by Rev. George D. Wildes, of New York City ; General H. K. Oliver and J. Wingate Thornton, of Boston ; and Dr. George B. Loring.

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the organization of the Essex Institute, on the 5th of March, 1873, was commemorated by a banquet in the rooms of the Institute, with addresses by the President, His Excel- lency Governor William B. Washburn, Mayor William Cogswell of Salem, Hon. George B. Loring, president of the Massachusetts Senate, Hon. John E. Sanford, speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representa- tives, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, of New England Historico-Genealogical Society, Prof. O. C. Marsh, of Yale, and others.

The centennial of the Destruction of the Tea in Boston Harbor, December 16, 1773, was noticed at a special meeting on that evening by an address from James Kimball, Esq., whose grandfather, William Russell, was one of the actors on that occasion.

The first centennial of the meeting in Salem, Octo- ber 5, 1774, of that memorable body which formally and finally resolved itself into a Provincial Congress and established in Massachusetts "a gov- ernment of the people, by the people & for the peo-

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ple," was commemorated by an address from A. C. Goodell, Jr., Esq .; a fine double quartette, under the direction of Mr. M. Fenollosa, sang some patriotic pieces.

The directors of the institute, in compliance with several official circulars and personal letters from the chief of the Historical Department of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, made an exhibit of spec- imens illustrative of the History of Essex County. Portraits of Governors Endicott, Leverett and Brad- street, of Sir Richard Saltonstall, Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler and Colonel Timothy Pickering and about one hundred articles of historical interest, also an album containing one hundred and twenty photographs il- lustrating our city, were contributed. These remained during the exhibition.

The commemoration of the two hundred and fif- tieth anniversary of the landing of John Endicott at Salem, September 6, 1628, was conducted by the Es- sex Institute, September 18, 1878. The forenoon ex- ercises, in Mechanic's Hall, consisted of an organ vol- untary by Mr. B. J. Lang, reading of Scripture and prayer by Rev. R. C. Mills, hymn by Rev. Jones Very, poem by Rev. C. T. Brooks, ode by Rev. S. P. Hill, oration by Hon. W. C. Endicott; Mrs. Hemans' hymn, "The Breaking Waves Dashed High," sung by Mrs. J. H. West; poem, by W. W. Story, read by Prof. J. W. Churchill; the one hundredth Psalm sung by a chorus.

The guests then proceeded to Hamilton Hall, where an elegant lunch was served by Cassell. The divine blessing was invoked by Rev. R. C. Mills, D.D. The president opened the afternoon speaking, and was followed by Rev. E. C. Bolles, toast master, Governor A. H. Rice, Mayor H. K. Oliver, Hon. R. C. Win- throp, President of Massachusetts Historical Society, Hon. M. P. Wilder, President of the New England Historico-Genealogical Society, Dean Stauley, of Westminster Abbey, Hon. W. C. Endicott, Hon. L. Saltonstall, Prof. B. Peirce, Hon. G. B. Loring, Rev. F. Israel, Joseph H. Choate, Esq., of New York, B. H. Silsbee, Esq., President East India Marine Society, and Rev. E. S. Atwood.

The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of John Winthrop at Salem, with the charter and records of the Massachusetts Bay Company, oc- curring on the 22d of June, 1880, the first field meet- ing of the season was held on that day, at the Pavil- jon on Salem Neck, and the occasion was devoted to a commemoration of this important event. At 1 P.M. lunch was served in the dining hall; at 2.30 o'clock the afternoon session was held in the great hall below.

The president introduced Robert S. Rantoul, Esq., who then delivered an historical and eloquent ad- dress. Rev. De Witt S. Clarke, read a poem written for the occasion by Miss Lucy Larcom, who was present, and was followed by Colonel Thomas Went- worth Higginson, of the Governor's staff, a lineal de-

scendant of Rev. Francis Higginson. Hon. George Washington Warren, president of Bunker Hill Mou- ument Association ; Hon. George B. Loring, M.C., Mayor H. K. Oliver, and Seth Low, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y .; selections from the correspondence were read by Rev. E. S. Atwood, and a communication from E. Stanley Waters, Esq., by Rev. George H. Hosmer, giving a reminiscence of his predecessor in the pulpit of the East Church, Rev. William Bentley, D.D., whose birthday this gathering also commemorated, he having been born in Boston June 22, 1759. The proceedings at these commemorations were fully re- ported and are in print.

The Publications of the Institute .- " Proceedings and Communications," 6 vols., 8vo., 1848-68. These vol- umes contain a large number of descriptions aud fig- ures of new species, especially of corals, insects and polyzoa, and many valuable papers in natural history. The first three volumes also contain many important historical papers. In addition to the papers on spe- cial subjects, the volumes contain the proceedings of the meetings of the institute, the records of the addi- tions to the library and the museum, and many im- portant verbal communications made at the meetings, etc.

"Bulletin," 17 vols., 8vo, issued quarterly ; a con- tinuation of the " Proceedings of the Essex Institute," containing an account of the regular and field meet- ings of the society and papers of scientific value.

" Flora of Essex County," by John Robinson, Svo, pp. 200.

" Historical Collections," 23 vols., 8vo, issued quar- terly, contain extracts from the records of courts, par- ishes, churches and towns in this county ; abstracts of wills, deeds and journals; records of births, baptisms, marriages and deaths, and inscriptions on tombstones ; also papers of historical, genealogical and biograph- ical interest. In these volumes will be found mem- oirs of the following persons : of Daniel A. White, by George W. Briggs; of George A. Ward, Daniel P. King and Francis Peabody, by Hon. Charles W. Up- ham; of Asahel Huntington, by Hon. Otis P. Lord ; of Henry C. Perkins, by Rev. Samuel J. Spalding, of Newburyport ; of James Upton, by Rev. Robert C. Mills ; of Augustus Story, by Rev. Charles T. Brooks, of Newport, R. I .; of Benjamin Peirce, James Kim- ball, Charles Davis and James O. Safford, by Robert S. Rantoul ; of John Bertram, by Rev. E. S. Atwood ; of John Lewis Russell, John C. Lee and Charles T. Brooks, by Rev. E. B. Willson ; of Gen. John Glover, by William P. Upham ; of Jones Very, by William P. Andrews; of Oliver Carlton, by L. Saltonstall ; also genealogies of the families of Gould, Chipman, Browne, Pope, Fiske, Ropes, Hutchinson, Becket, Higginson, Webb, Gedney, Clarke, Silsbee, Fabens, Newhall, Perkins and Townsend.

The institute exchanges publications with fifty soci- ties in Germany, fourteen in France, eight in Switzer- land, five in Belgium, fonr each in Sweden, Russia,

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Italy and Norway, three cach in Austria and Den- mark, two each in Spain, Australia, South America and Java, one each in Portugal, China, Tasmania, Mexico, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, fonr in Canada, sixteen in Great Britain (besides receiving the government surveys of India and the United Kingdom), and with twenty-seven miscellaneous, forty scientific and thirty-three historical societies in the United States of America.

Art Exhibitions -In February, 1875, the proposal of the Misses Mary E. and Abby O. Williams, of Sa- lem, to deposit temporarily their valuable collection of paintings, many of which were copied by them from acknowledged masters during a residence of sev- eral years in Rome, and had earned the praise of Rus- kin, was gratefully accepted.

The collection was received on Thursday, March 4th, and it had been found expedient, with so fine a basis, to arrange an art exhibition, and to solicit other contributions. The exhibition was opened Thursday, March 11th, and continued to Friday evening, March 19th. From the day that notice was given, pictures of all kinds were sent in with the greatest liberality, and some three or four hundred of them were hung upon the walls of the exhibition-room.

The second exhibition opened on Tuesday, Novem- ber 9, 1875, and closed Wednesday, the 17th. The eastern ante-room was occupied with a display of bronzes, porcelain and pottery ; this was the first ce- ramic exhibition in Salem.

Encouraged by this snecess, exhibitions have been held in June, 1879, in April, 1880, and in May, 1881, May, 1882, May, 1883, May, 1884, and June, 1886.

The collections in these exhibitions have been con- fined, with one or two exceptions, to the recent pro- ductions of Essex County artists,

Manuscripts. - The collection of manuscripts is large and valuable, consisting of original charters, commissions, account-books, records and papers of extinct local organizations, such as old stage and in- surance companies, orderly-books in our several wars, court papers, correspondence, journals, almanacs with written notes ; also a large number of log-books con- taining records of voyages made at the period of our city's commercial prominence.

The day books of Dr. E. A. Holyoke contain an ac- curate record of his professional practice; they com- prise one hundred and twenty-three volumes of ninety pages each. The first entry was July 6, 1749, the last February 16th, 1829.

Membership .- The members of the institute number about three hundred and fifty. Resident member- ship is secured by election and the payment of an annual assessment of three dollars, and this entitles the member to admittance to all horticultural, anti- quarian and art shows during the year, to the use of the books of the library to the extent of four vol- !

nmes at a time and to consultation, free of cost, of the books of the Salem Athenaum, whose share- holders enjoy the reciprocal right of consulting free the books of the Essex Institute. Life mem- bership of the institute is obtained by paying at one time the sum of fifty dollars.

OFFICERS OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE.

Presidents.

Daniel Appleton White. 1848-61

Asahel Huntington 1861-65

Francis Peabody 1865-67

lIenry Wheatland

1868-

Secretaries.

Henry Wheatland 1848-68

Amos Howe Johnson, 1868-70

John Robinson 1870-71

Amos Howe Johnson

1871-73

John Robinson.

1873-75

George Manton Whipple ..

1875-

The Library .- It began with a few shelves of books, miscellaneous and unselected in a small back room. There are now some five or six thousand volumes. The increase in the size of the library, and the greatly in- creased use of it, have made necessary a migration from room to room, until it has reached its third sta- tion, where it has fair accommodations in the room which is the last added to the suite occupied by the Fraternity.

This library has been gathered by gift wholly. It is the only free public library in Salem. Its large number of readers show an active circulation. The number of books lost is very small comparing favor- ahly with all known similar institutions in this re- spect.

Its Reading-Room is supplied with the Salem papers by the favor of the publishers, and from some of their offices come besides many of their most desirable ex- changes, several daily and weekly newspapers, pictorial weeklies, religious, scientific and literary periodicals.

In 1875 the Fraternity became incorporated under the statutes of Massachusetts, that it might hold and administer larger fonds, and that its permanence and efficiency might be the better assured.

Its Funds. In 1873, Dudley P. Rogers of this city bequeathed the income of fifteen thousand dol- lars to the Fraternity with something more at the death of certain favorite animals. Miss Harriet A. Deland died June 29, 1876, leaving by will five thous- and dollars. Martha G. Wheatland died June, 1885, leaving two thousand to the Fraternity. With the income accruing from these funds and subscriptions from its friends collected annually, and small sums occasionally from other sources, the Fraternity, with the gratuitous assistance of several ladies and gentle- men, is enabled to do some good work in the promo- tion of the objects of its organization.

Officers for the year 1887-88 .- Henry Wheatland

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president ; G. W. Mansfield, secretary ; William Northey, treasurer.

EAST INDIA MARINE SOCIETY .- Soon after the termination of the Revolutionary War, the merchants of Salem directed their attention to the opening of new avenues of trade, especially with the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn with which this country had previously no commercial relations.

Elias Hasket Derby was the pioneer in this direc- tion. His ships were the first to visit any of these ports, and to him, in a great degree, may be attributed the establishment of the East India trade in Salem. Other vessels soon followed, and gradually an exten- sive business was developed, which created great ac- tivity in the various industries of this place, especially those connected with the building, rigging and fitting for sea of vessels of various kinds. The young men of Salem and its vicinity, on leaving the school, the academy, and the college actuated by the prevail- ing spirit of the period, for the most part entered upon a commercial career, and found employment in the counting-room, on shipboard, or with some of the commercial agencies established in these distant ports to facilitate the conducting of their business operations. The influence of these surroundings greatly modified public sentiment, and the outcome was the organization of an institution, having in view, the assisting its unfortunate members or their fami- lies, in improving themselves in the knowledge of navi- gation and of the various trades in which they were engaged, and incidentally in collecting a museum which should represent the peculiarities of the strange people, and strange places visited by its mem- bers in their long and distant voyages.

During the summer and early autumn of 1799, the first suggestion of such an institution was made by a few shipmasters who were standing under the lea of a store on the end of Union Wharf, where they were in the habit of congregating, during the intervals be- tween their voyages. An agreement was drawn up and signed by Jonathan Lambert, Jona. Ingersoll, Jacob Crowninshield, John Gibaut, Nathaniel Silsbee and others to form an association consisting of such ship- masters only, as have had a register from Salem, and who had navigated those seas at or beyond the Cape of Good Hope, to be called the East India Marine Society, or by any other name which may hereafter be determined. And they also further agree that the first meeting to carry into effect the above purposes shall be held at Capt. Webb's tavern, on the 18th of September (Wednesday evening), 1799.

The meeting was held, and a committee was ap- pointed to prepare the articles and to report at the meeting to be held on Monday, October 14, 1799.

At the adjourned meeting the articles were read separately and adopted. Officers chosen as follows : Benjamin Hodges, president; Ichabod Nichols, Jona- than Lambert, Benjamin Carpenter, committee of ob-

servation ; Jonathan Hodges, secretary ; Jacob Crown- inshield, treasurer.

Rev. Willian Bentley of the East Parish, many of whose parishioners followed the sea and were inter- ested in or members of the new society writes in his journal :

" Tuesday, October 22, 1799, Captain Carnes from Sumatra showed me various specimeus of shells, a large oyster-shell. a petrified mushroom cup aud stem, two specimens of boxes in gold, with the peu work ex- tremely nice and open flowers, the work is of uncommonly thin plates of gold, by the Malays.

"It is proposed by the new marine society, called the East India Marine Society, to make a cabinet. This society has been lately thought of. Captain Gibaut first mentioned the plan to me this summer, and desired me to give him some plan of articles or a sketch. The first friends of the institution met and chose a committee to compare or di- gest articles from the sketches given to them. Last week I was in- formed that in the preceding week the members met and signed the articles proposed by the committee and had chosen officers. (See

above.)

" Thursday, November 7, 1779, Mr. Carnes has presented his curiosities to the new-formed East India Marine Society and they are providing a museum and cabinet. The above were the first specimens given to the Society.

" November 6, 1799, Rooms were obtained in the Stearns' building on the north east corner of Essex and Court, now Washington, Streets for their meetings and a place for the deposit of books, charts, etc., and in July of the following year glass cases were provided to arrange therein the specimens that had been accumulated."

This may be considered one of the earliest museums in this country, and it has had a world-wide fame. There was at that time a museum in Boston which commenced with an exhibition of a few wax figures at the American Coffee-house, on State Street, Mr. Daniel Bowen the proprietor. In 1795 he moved his collections to a hall in Bromfield Street, when it took the name of the Columbian Museum; it was de- stroyed by fire January 3, 1803. _Other collections were formed but had not a continuous history, nor were any of these earlier museums established for scientific purposes.

The act of Incorporation having passed both branches of the Legislature was approved by the Governor March 3, 1801. The objects are :

1st. To assist the widows and children of deceased members who may need the same from the income of the funds of the society, which were obtained from the fees of admissions and the annual assessments ; also from donations and hequests.

2d. To collect such facts and observations as tend to the improvement and security of navigation. For this purpose every member bound to sea was author- ized to receive a blank journal, in which he is to in- sert all things worthy of notice which occur during his voyage, particularly his observations on the vari- ation of the compass, bearings and distances of capes and headlands, of the latitude and longitude of the ports, islands, rocks and shoals ; and upon his return to deposit the same with the society. These journals are afterwards bound in volumes under the direction of the inspector, with a table of contents or index. Ninety of these journals, prior to 1831, of voyages made to various parts of the world, and in several in-

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stances to places rarely visited, have already been de- posited ; recourse has often been had to them to cor- rect the latitudes and longitudes of our ships, also for historical purposes.

Many of the journals are beautiful examples of neatness and fine penmanship, and are embellished, here and there, with diagrams, maps, drawings of coasts and even with sketches of native craft. The society was in constant communication with the United States Government and the scientific records made by its members have received more than ordi- nary mention by well-known authors of works on me- teorology. The endorsement of the society was ever considered a guarantee of the highest character. Commodore Maury in compiling his "well-known wind charts continually used the society's journals, and Captains Charles M. Endicott and James D. Gillis, members of the society, prepared charts of Sumatra which are spoken of in the report of the cruise of the United States frigate " Potomac," . which vessel was sent out in 1831 for the purpose of performing this in connection with other work, as " more ably performed (by these gentlemen) than it could have been with our limited material." (See Hist. Sketch of Salem, p. 154.)

To the library of which these journals formed the nucleus, were added by purchase and gift "books of history, of voyages & travels and of navigation; among them are several rare valuable editions of the celebrated voyages of Perouse, Cook & Vancouver."

With "the same view the President and committee have authority to purchase books of similar character as they may deem useful to the society." This was more applicable in the palmy days of the India trade in Salem than at the present time; since then other institutions have been organized, whose objects are mainly to take care that this and allied classes of books are accessible to scholars as well as to the gen- eral reader.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 66

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