History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 95

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 95

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It was in 1638 that the Ancient and Honorable Ar- tillery was organized. Six Lynn men were among the first members, namely, William Ballard, Joseph Hewes, Daniel Howe, Edward Tomlins, Nathaniel Turner, Richard Walker. Daniel Howe was chosen lieutenant. A word in relation to one or two of these early members of that ancient organization may not be inappropriate. In relation to Mr. TOMLINS, it ap- pears pretty certain that he was one in whom great tru-t was reposed in civil matters, as well as military. Yet it is evident that he had decided opinions, which were not always expressed in ways the most wise or gentle. On the 3d of September, 1634, the court ordered that he, "or any other put in his place by the Commissioners of War, with the help of an assistant, shall have power to presse meu and carts, for ordinary wages, to helpe towards makeing of such carriages and wheeles as are wanting for the ordinances." His brother, Timothy Tomlins, was the same year ap- pointed overseer of the "powder and shott and all other amunicon " of the plantation. In 1643, being then a member of the House of Representatives, he

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was " ordred and appoynted, by both Houses of the Courte, to go uppon a messuage to ye Narragansett sachems," and dismissed from the "howse for ye pres- ent to prepare himself for ye jurney." He went in company with the celebrated Indian negotiator, Gen- eral Humphrey Atherton. And it is represented that one of their first acts was to catechise the benighted Narragansetts on the Ten Commandments. It is probable that he had not much of an ear for music other than martial, for, in 1641, he was arraigned for expressing opinions against music in the churches. He, however, retracted, and was discharged.

NATHANIEL TURNER, who also joined the Ancient and Honorables at the time of their organization, has already been spoken of. Thesword which he wielded against the Indians is still preserved by the Histori- cal Society of Hartford, Conn. A picture of it may be seen in Harper's Magazine, volume xvii. page 3. The same weapon also did service, in other hands, in the old French War and in the Revolution.

RICHARD WALKER has also been mentioned as en- sign of the first military company of Lynn, formed in 1630. And the duties of the soldiers of those days, in time of peace even, must have been burdensome, for it was ordered, in 1631, "that every Captaine shall train his companie on saterday in every weeke." In May, 1679, a new troop was formed in Lynn, consist- ing of forty-eight men. They petitioned the General Court that Captain Richard Walker might be ap- pointed commander. Ralph King, who was a son-in- law of the veteran, was made lientenant. If this is the same Richard Walker, he must then have been eighty-six years old, for he was born in 1593. He ap- pears, however, to have been blest with a most vigor- ous constitution, for he lived to the great age of ninety-five years. And he is probably the same hero to whom Johnson, of Woburn, refers in the following lines, touching an encounter with some Indians :

" He fought the Eastern Indians there, Whose poisoned arrows filled the air, And two of which these savage foes Lodg'd safe in Captain Walker's clothes."

But the captain of the new troop may have been his son Richard, who was born in 1611, though he even had attained the age of sixty-eight.

The venerable organization now known as "The Ancient and Honorable Artillery," hut which in its charter is called "The Military Company of the Mas- sachusetts," at its formation, in 1638, was designed for discipline in military tactics. For many years it, no doubt, served an excellent purpose, but of late years it has come to be regarded as rather a holiday institution. Lynn has furnished a fair share of mem- bers, and a list is deserving of space here:

1638. William Ballard.

1638. Joseph Hewes.

1638. Daniel Howe (Lieut).

1638. Edward Tomlins.

1638. Nathaniel Turner.

1638. Richard Walker.

1639. Samuel Bennett.

1640. John Humfrey.

1640. Thomas Marshall.

1641. Robert Bridges.

1641. John Humfrey, Jr.

1641. Adam Otley.

1642. John Wood. 1821. Robert Robinson.

1643. Benjamin Smith. 1822. Daniel N. Breed.

1645. Clement Coldam. 1822. George Jolinson.

1648. John Cole.

1822. Ebenezer Neal.

1652. Samuel Hutchinson.

1851. Roland G. Usher.

1694. Thomas Baker.

1860. Richard S. Fay, Jr.

1717. Benjamin Gray.

Of the first six, those who joined at the time of the organization, enough has perhaps been said. But some of those who subsequently joined are worthy of brief notice.

SAMUEL BENNETT, who became a member in 1639, was one of the first settlers, and located in what is now the westerly part of Saugus. He owned consid- erable woodland. "Bennett's Swamp," so called to this day, in old Dungeon Pasture, was owned by him. His residence was not far from the ironworks, and in that vicinity he also had lands. He had a good deal of independence of character, not to say wilful- ness. At the Quarterly Court, in 1645, he was pre- sented " for saying, in a scornful manner, he neither cared for the Town nor any order the Town could make." In 1671 he sued John Gifford, former agent of the ironworks, and attached property to the amount of four hundred pounds, for labor performed for the company. On the 27th of June, the following testimony was given : "John Paule, aged about forty- five years, sworne, saith, that living with Mr. Samuel Bennett, upon or about the time that the ironworks were seased by Capt. Savage, in the year 53 as I take it, for I lived ther several years, and my constant imployment was to repaire carts, coale carts, mine carts, and other working materials for his teemes, for he keept 4 or 5 teemes, and sometimes 6 teemes, and he had the most teemes the last yeare of the Iron Works, when they were seased, and my master Ben- nett did yearly yearne a vast sum from the said Iron Works, for he commonly yearned forty or fifty shil- lings a daye for the former time, and the year 53, as aforesaid, for he had five or six teemes goeing gener- ally every faire day." In 1644 he was presented by the grand jury as " a common sleeper in time of ex- ercise," and fined two shillings and sixpence. There was a law forbidding the sale of commodities at too great a profit. And for a breach of this law he ap- pears to have once or twice suffered prosecution. On the colony records, under date of May 15, 1657, may be found this entry : "In answer to the petition of Samuel Bennett, humbly craving the remittment or abatement of a fine imposed on him by the County Court, for selling goods at excessive prizes, the court having perused, and by theire committee ex- amined, the papers in the case presented, together with the allegations and pleas of the peticoner and others, by him produced, understanding by what ap- peared, the peticoner received of George Wallis about forty pounds or upwards meerely for the re- lease of the bargain made betwixt them, . . . see it not meete to graunt the petition in whole or in part." Mr. Wallis had also been fined "fivety pounds " for

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"selling goods at excessive prizes," and petitioned for a remittal, and the same court judged it "meete to remit the fine all to tenn pounds," which remittal was made in consideration of his being necessitated " to be at the losse of about forty ponnds or more to attayne a release of the bargain betwixt him and Samuell Bennett." It seems to have been a mere game of sharps between Bennett and Wallis, but shows the care taken by the conrt to prevent a circumvention of the wholesome law forbidding one to sell at an excessive profit. The maxim so prevalent in the bar- gainings of our day-caveut emptor-seems then to have been unheeded. Not much is to be found re- specting Mr. Bennett in his military capacity.

JOHN HUMFREY has already been spoken of to some extent.

THOMAS MARSHALL, who was a soldier under Cromwell, and without whose assistance, John Dun- ton says, "if we may believe him, Oliver did hardly anything that was considerable," has been spoken of somewhat largely in another connection.

ROBERT BRIDGES, or Captain Bridges, as he was generally called, was a man of substance and marked traits of character. He was admitted a freeman in 1641, and joined the Ancient and Honorables the same year, being then captain of a militia company. He was a good deal in civil authority, was Speaker of the House of Representatives, an assistant, an acting magistrate and a member of the Quarterly Court. In 1645, accompanied by Richard Walker and Thomas Marshall, both already spoken of as Lynn members of the company, he went as commissioner to negotiate between Lord de la Tour and Monsieur d'Aulney, the governors of the French provinces on the north of New England. The embassy did good service and the court appropriately recompensed them.

That Captain Bridges possessed rigidly Puritanical characteristics is abundantly evident. He was one of the five who, in May, 1645, were appointed by the conrt to draft bills for "positive lawes" against lying, Sabbath-breaking, profanity, drunkenness and kin- dred vices. And in 1649 was one of the assistants who, with the Governor, on the 10th of May, signed a protestation against the wearing of long hair, "after the manner of ruffians and barbarious Indians."

It was Captain Bridges who, in July, 1651, granted the magistrate's warrants against Clarke, Crandall and Holmes, the Baptist missionaries from Rhode Island, concerning which affair it is proposed to say something in the sketch of Swampscott.

In the Essex Court files may be found the follow- ing record of Captain Bridges's official action in the case of Thomas Wheeler, who appears to have been a man of character and some estate: "4th mo., 1654. Thomas Wheeler bound over to the Court by the worshipful Captain Bridges, for sinful and offensive speeches made by him in comparing the Rev. Mr. Cobbet to Corah. It being proved by three witnesses, sentence of Court is, that he shall make public ac-

knowledgment upon the Lord's day, sometime within a month after the date hereof, according to this form following, and pay the three witnesses £12 28. 6d. and fees of Court: [I, Thomas Wheeler, having spoken at a town meeting in February last, evil, sinfnl and offensive speeches against the Reverend Teacher, Mr. Cobbet, in comparing him unto Corah, for which I am very sorry, do acknowledge this my evil, to the glory and praise of God and to my own shame, and hope, for time to come, shall be more careful.] The constable of Lynn is to see it performed." Mr. Wheeler removed to Stonington, Ct., in 1664, and became the largest la: dholder in the place, was an honored member of the church, and died there in 1686, at the age of eighty-four.

It is not found that Captain Bridges made much of a mark in a military way, but as a business man he certainly, by his enterprise and prudence, added much to the reputation and prosperity of Lynn. He may almost be called the father of the iron works. It was in 1642 that he took specimens of the bog ore found here to London, and succeeded in forming a company which soon after commenced operations by setting up the bloomery and forge. And although the works proved pecuniarily disastrous, the country at large reaped great ulterior benefit through some of the skilled workmen, the best that England could afford, who removed to other places and engaged in works, which, under better management, grew to great im- portance.

Taking all points of character into view and mak- ing due allowance for the characteristics of the time, it must be conceded that Captain Bridges furnishes a fair specimen of the noble class of men who so faith- fully labored in laying the foundations of the social fabric which has become our inheritance-men hon- est, religious, persevering, hopeful and brave. Yet it must be admitted that he was not of a specially ge- nial disposition ; nor could he have been very popu- lar in some of his relations. He had hard points of character; was arbitrary, exacting, unyielding in the smaller concerns of daily intercourse, and perhaps not sufficiently regardfnl of the minor rights of those about him ; for we all love to have our rights respected, even when they are of little value. In those days of difficulty and doubt, minds were trained to meet the trials of life with a fortitude that amounted to hero- ism. Indeed, it was a favorite idea that the afflictions men were called to endure were disciplinary ; that souls were purified by such means. This, however, was probably qnite as much theoretical as otherwise, for the best of us would prefer to secure by observa- tion, rather than experience, the good that might be derived from pain and suffering.

JOHN WOOD, who joined the company in 1642, was one of the earliest comers. He settled in that part of Lynn since known as Woodend, the local name being derived from him. He is supposed to have been father of William Wood, the author of "New

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England's Prospect," published in London in 1634, a book giving such lively and graphic descriptions of the Bay settlements that it has ever been held in high repute. Little or nothing seems to be known of Mr. Wood's military accomplishments. Perhaps he joined the artillery as a sort of apprentice at martial tactics.

CLEMENT COLDAM, made a member in 1645, ap- peared here as early as 1630. And his recollection of matters pertaining to our very early days seems to have been much relied on in after-years, his testimo- ny having great weight in several important lawsuits. Not much is known of his military achievements. A record says that on April 14, 1691, "Clement Coldam and Joseph Hart were chosen cannoners, to order and look after the great guns." If that means him, he must have been a very old man-about ninety-but he had a son Clement, who was supposed to have re- moved to Gloucester many years before.

THOMAS BAKER had experience in the field during the great King Philip War, 1675, being one of the Lynn company. He was in the great swamp fight at South Kingston, R. I., in which Ephraim Newhall was killed.

This member of the artillery, who is usually called Captain Thomas Baker, appears to have been a grand- son of Edward Baker, who came to Lynn as early as 1630, and from whom " Baker's Hill," in Saugus, re- ceived its name, he having settled near it. From him a line of respectable descendants has reached down to the present . time. Daniel C. Baker, our third mayor, was of the lineage. And in several other places descendants have become conspicuous.

The life of this Captain Thomas Baker was so illus- trative of the vicissitudes to which the people of that period were exposed, and withal so tinged with ro- mance, that space may be allowed for a glimpse or two. He was taken captive by the Indians at Deer- field on the terrible night of February 29, 1704, and carried to Canada. He, however, the next year, suc- ceeded in effecting his escape. In or about the year 1715 he married Madam Le Beau, whose name figures somewhat in the history of that period. She was a daughter of Richard Otis, of Dover, N. H., who, with one son and one danghter, was killed by the In- dians on the night of June 27, 1689, at the time they destroyed the place. She was then an infant of three months, and was, with her mother, carried captive to Canada and sold to the French. The priests took her, baptized her, and gave her the name of Chris- tine. They educated her in the Romish faith, and she passed some time in a nunnery, not, however, taking the veil. At the age of sixteen she was mar- ried to a Frenchman, thus becoming Madam Le Beau, and became the mother of two or three children. Her husband died about 1713. And it was very soon after that her future husband, Captain Baker, appears to have fallen in with her. He was attached to the commission detailed by Governor Dudley, under John Stoddard and John Williams, for the purpose of

negotiating with the Marquis de Vaudreuil for the release of prisoners and to settle certain other mat- ters, and went to Canada. From Stoddard's journal it appears that there was much trouble in procuring her release, and when it was obtained, her children were not allowed to go with her. Her mother was also opposed to her leaving Canada.

After her return, Christine married Captain Baker, and they went to reside at Brookfield, where they re- mained till 1733. They had several children, and among their descendants is Hon. John Wentworth, late member of Congress from Illinois. She became a Protestant after marrying Captain Baker, and sub- stituted the name Margaret for Christine, though later in life she seems to have again adopted the lat- ter. In 1727, her former confessor, Father Siguenot, wrote her a gracious letter, expressing a high opinion of her and warning her against swerving from the faith in which she had been educated. He mentions the happy death of a daughter of hers who had mar- ried and lived in Quebec, and also speaks of her mother, then living, and the wife of a Frenchman. This letter was shown to Governor Burnet, and he wrote to her a forcible reply to the arguments it con- tained in favor of Romanism. And there are, or recently were, three copies of the letter and reply in the Boston Atheneum. The mother of Christine had children by her French husband, and Philip, Christine's half-brother, visited her at Brookfield.

All the children of Captain Baker and Christine, seven or eight in number, excepting the first, who was a danghter, bearing her mother's name, were born in Brookfield. There is no reason to doubt that the connection was a happy one. They held a very respectable position, and he was the first representa- tive from Brookfield. He was indeed once tried be- fore the Superior Court, in 1727, for blasphemy, but the jury acquitted him. The offense consisted in his remarking, while discoursing on God's providence in allowing Joseph Jennings, of Brookfield, to be made a justice of the peace, "If I had been with the Al- mighty I would have tanght him better."

In 1733 Captain Baker sold his farm in Brookfield. But this proved an unfortunate step, for the purchas- er failed before making payment, and their circum- stances became greatly reduced. They were a short time at Mendon, and also at Newport, R. I., bnt finally removed to Dover, N. H. Poor Christine, in 1735, petitioned the authorities of New Hampshire for leave to " keep a house of public entertainment" on the "County Rhoade from Dover meeting-house to Cocheco Boome." To this petition she signs her name " Christine baker," and mentions that she made a journey to Canada in hope of getting her children, "but all in vaine." A license was granted, and it seems probable that she kept the house a nnm- ber of years. She died, at a great age, February 23, 1773, and an obituary notice appeared in the Boston Evening Post.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

There seems, at first sight, to be a little confusion of dates in the foregoing, or possibly some mistake in personal identity, if the dates in the following depo- sition are correct. The deposition is in favor of a fellow-soldier, and bears the date June 8, 1730 :

" The deposition of Thomas Baker, of Lyn, in the county of Essex, aged about 77 years, Testifieth and saith. That I, being well acquainted with one Andrew Townsend of Lyn aforesaid for more than 55 years since, and do certainly know and very well Remember that the sd An- drew Townsend was a soldier in the Expedition to the Narragansett un- der ye Command of Capt. Gardner, and that he was in ye od Narragansett fite and in sd fite Rec'd a wound, in or about the year 1675."

The deponent styles himself of Lynn, but it rather appears that he was then of Brookfield. Perhaps, however, he was proud to still call himself of Lynn, or merely meant that he was of Lynn at the time of the "fite." It is evident that he was somewhat of a rover.

The King Philip War, that last great struggle of the red men, commenced in 1675. It was a period when all the energy and all the patriotism were put to the test-a period, as it appeared to many, of life or death. And our people, though not apparently exposed to immediate danger, responded with a promptness worthy of all praise. The then captain of the military company of Lynn was Thomas Mar- shall, who had been a resident here for some forty years, though in the mean time he had been back to England, where he gained, by his bravery in the par- liamentary army, a commission as captain from Oli- ver Cromwell. He was a man of some eccentricities, but yet must have had the confidence of the people. He kept the tavern near Saugus River for many years, and appears to have been in some respects a model landlord. He is spoken of in other connec- tions.

It would not be easy to ascertain the exact number of men furnished nor the amounts raised in response to the public calls in this great struggle; but Lynn did her full share.

Our limits will not allow of much detail regarding the different wars that have, from time to time, spread their alarms through the land-the French and In- dian Wars, the Revolution and the subsequent con- tests down to the great Rebellion. Nor is the little that could be given necessary, as the public records and local histories abundantly supply all needs in that direction ; to say nothing of the numerous war- like events incidentally spoken of in other parts of this sketch, as the participants came under notice. A few facts, however, should be stated.

During the French and Indian War, 1754-63, some two thousand French Catholic neutrals were sent to Massachusetts to be quartered in different places. Lynn's share was fourteen. Their provisions were supplied by Thomas Lewis, and among his items of charge were four hundred and thirty-two quarts of milk at six pence a gallon. A company marched from Lyun for Canada, May 23, 1758, and two were killed.

Then we come down to the Revolution. Several Lynn men were at the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, the opening battle of the war, and four were killed,-namely, Abednego Ramsdell, William Flint, Thomas Hadley and Daniel Townsend. On the 23d of April Lynn chose a Committee of Safety, consisting of Rev. John Treadwell, minister of the First Parish, Rev. Joseph Roby, minister of the Third Parish and Deacon Daniel Mansfield; others were afterwards added, among them Dr. John Flagg. An alarm com- pany was formed, and three night watches estab- lished. The memorable battle of Bunker Hill was fought June 17, 1775. The Lynn regiment was un- der command of Colonel John Mansfield.' It mus- tered, but did not reach the ground in time to take part in the conflict. For his "remissness and back- wardness in the execution of duty," the colonel was ordered before a court-martial, consisting of twelve field-officers, presided over by Gen. Greene, found guilty and ordered to be cashiered. The patriotic people of Lynn were greatly mortified at this untoward occur- rence, which, however, had rather the effect to stimu- late their zeal and determination. Lynn furnished for the war two colonels, three captains, five lieuten- ants, five sergeants, six corporals and about a hun- dred and sixty privates, which, considering the then small population, was doing remarkably well. She was poor, and her business prostrated during the war ; nevertheless, in 1776, she voted fifteen pounds each to the company of soldiers furnished for the expedi- tion to Canada, and ten pounds for every enlisting volunteer. She also, in 1780, granted as much money as would purchase two thousand seven hundred silver dollars to pay the soldiers. This was liberal, consid- ering the losses by the depressed condition of the cur- rency. Within two years she had granted for war purposes seventy thousand pounds, old tenor. Mr. Lewis remarks, "A soldier of the Revolution says that, in 1781, he sold one thousand seven hundred and eighty dollars of paper money for thirty dollars in silver." By this, something may be seen of the town's liberality. In the procession at the celebra- tion of the Fourth of July, at Lynn, in 1828, were over forty who had served in various capacities and for various terms in the armies of the Revolution ; among them four pensioners. The government at that day was not so able to grant pensions as it at present is, and hence comparatively few were ou the lists. That was the last procession in which most of them ever appeared-excepting the great procession which knows no counter-march, in which we are all moving on, and from which every one of them soon dropped out.

Concerning several of the more prominent Lynn soldiers who served in the Revolution, it would be agreeable to say something ; but the allotted space is so limited that it is necessary to be chary of its use. So deserving a commander as Colonel Ezra Newhall, however, should not be passed over in entire silence.

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He was a great-great-grandson of Thomas Newhall, the first white person born in Lynn, and was captain of the Lynn Minute Men at the opening of the war ; but, in consequence of the delay of the troops from Salem, was not present at the battle of Lexington. Nor was he present at the battle of Bunker Hill, as he was attached to Colonel Mansfield's regiment, as senior captain, and by the "remissness " of that offi- cer was kept from joining the gathering squadrons. In earlier life Colonel Ezra was an officer in the French War under Colonel Ruggles. Subsequently to the battle of Bunker Hill he was major, then lieu- tenant-colonel in Colonel Putnam's Fifth Massachu- setts Regiment, and so continued to the end of the war. He served in the campaign that sealed the fate of Burgoyne, was at Valley Forge and at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. After the war he was ap- pointed by President Washington collector of inter- nal revenue, and retained the office till his death. on the 5th of April, 1798, at the age of sixty-six years. There is abundant evidence that while in the army he was very popular with his companions-in-arms. While the regiment was encamped at Winter Hill some dissatisfaction was manifested concerning the rank of the captains and other officers, as they stood on the brigade major's books. The captains, there- fore, on the 27th of August, 1775, held a meeting and voted to "settle the rank of officers by lot, and abide thereby," at the same time voting that Captain Ezra Newhall should rank as first captain. Indeed, he seems always to have been spoken of as a brave and prudent officer, and a man much beloved. He lived in the house still standing on Boston Street, at the southwest corner of the recently opened Wyman Street. After the Revolution he removed to Salem, purchased an estate on Essex Street, and there died at the time above stated. The Salem Gazette, in an obituary notice, said : "He served his country in the late war with fidelity and honor ; and in civil and do- mestic life the character of an honest man, faithful friend, tender husband and kind parent was con- spicuous in him. Society suffers a real loss by his death."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 95

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