History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 11

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John Felton.

Ilanna Sutill. Ha na Felten.

David Fester.

Hanna Southwick. Hanna Foster.

Alwel Gardiner.

Mary Tompkins. Abigail French.

John Gardiner.

Elizabeth Tompkins. Elizabeth Gyles.

Samuel Goldthwait.

Elizabeth Verry. Elizabeth Goldthwait. William King.

Jemima Verry. Hanna Goldthwait.

Richard Waters.

Sarah Waters. Irbesah Gool.

Robert Pease."

Elizabeth Waters. Elizabeth King.

Susanna Daniel.

Samuel Gardiner.

The request for dismissal was granted, and the fol- lowing letter of dismissal was issued :

" At a Church meeting at the Teacher's house, June 25th. The Church having received a petition from our brethren and sisters living in the District, wherein they desire a dismission from us for themselves and their children, in order to be a church of themselves. The Church giveth in answer as foll .weth: That although we cannot pruise or justify our brethren's proceeding so far as they have done in order to be a church of themselves without advising with or naing means to eb-

1003

PEABODY.

tain the consent of the Church they belonged to ; yet at the request of our brethren and sister«, a d for peace sake, we permit them and their children to become a church of themselves ; provided they have the ap- probation and consent of the Elders and messengers of some other churches in communion with us, that shall assist at their church gather- ing and ordaining them a pastor. And until they have so done, they continue members of this church. And so we commit them to the grace of Gud in Christ Jesns, praying that they may have divine direc- tion and assistance in the great work they are upon, and that they may become an holy and orderly and peace able church, and that the Lord would add to them of such as are within their own limits, many such as shall be saved. The above answer was twice distinctly read to the breth- ren of the Church before it was voted, and then consented to by the vote of the Church, nemine contradicente."

Rev. Benjamin Prescott was accordingly ordained, September 23, 1713, and the separation of the parishes was at last complete. In all the history of the sepa- ration of towns and precincts, of which our legisla- tive and municipal history furnishes many note- worthy instances down to the present time, there has rarely been a division more earnestly pursued or more stubbornly resisted than that which resulted in the formation of the Middle Precinct of Salem.

CHAPTER LXIX.

PEABODY-(Continued.)

The Separation from Salem-The District and Town of Danvers.

FROM this time forward the interests of the inhabit- ants of the middle precinct continued to be centred about their parish meetings. They were still subject to taxation for the general expenses of the town of Salem, and for educational purposes ; but they very soon demanded and received separate schools under the'r own supervision. In 1714 the town granted money towards the support of a "Reading, writing and cyphering school" in the new precinct, and a committee was appointed to receive it "and distrib- ute it to the Inhabitants according to their discre- tion."

The schools of that time were not entirely free, but those who were able to pay for the teaching of their children did so, and the town undertook to pay only for those whose parents could not afford to pay for their instruction. The education of children, while not compulsory, was universal, and the selectmen saw to it that children whose parents neglected their educa- tion and training in some useful calling were put out to service. It was not till about 1768 that schools were supported in this commonwealth wholly by taxation, and were free to all. This explains what was meant by the distribution of the school money.

As time went on there was a growing desire for in- dependence in all municipal affairs. There had al- ways existed a strong feeling of sympathy between the middle and the village parishes. A difficulty at one time arose by reason of an attempt, in 1743, by some

of the inhabitants of the village to encroach upon the rights of the middle precinct by including within the village hounds some of those who belonged in the southerly parish. On August 16th, at a special meeting, it was voted to choose a committee of three men to appear at the General Court and answer to the petition of Captain Samuel Endicott, John Porter, Benjamin Porter and John Endicott, and also the pe- tition of James Prince, agent for the Village Parish. Daniel Epes, Daniel Gardner and John Procter were chosen, and they were successful in resisting the encroachment.

With this exception, the two outlying parishes were united in their desire for separation from the town of Salem. In 1689, very shortly after the estab- lishment of the village parish, there had been an at- tempt to establish a new township to include the vil- lage. The witchcraft excitement and the formation of the middle precinct delayed the plan, but it was re- vived from time to time. The inconvenience of at- tending town meetings from the outlying parts of the town, the gathering of local interests about the parish meetings and the desire to have separate schools under their own control, led the village and middle parishes to discuss the project from time to time. In 1732 the village precinct sent in a petition to the town of Salem, praying to be set off from Salem with some enlargement of boundaries ; and in 1740 an at- tempt was made to unite the two outlying parishes in an effort for separation.

In the Middle Precinct, July, 1740, " It Being put to vote whither ye Inhabitants of this parish will come off ye town of Salem and Joyn with the Inhab- itants of Salem Village, Provided that they See cause to take this Middle Parrish (the whole of itt) as itt is now Bounded, To Joyn Together both Parishes, and make a Township our selves, separate from ye Town of Sałem," a committee was chosen to manage the whole affair, and lay the proceedings before the next meeting. The people of Salem raised a committee to treat with the " ffarmers," and after consultation they reported that the village people might be pacified if the town would raise a sufficient amount of money " to maintain two schools within the bridges, and one at the Middle Precinct, that should draw their proportion of the school money, raise their own committees, and control their own affairs." The report was accepted, and the town raised £250, province bills. But the relief was only temporary. The farmers continued to renew their request ; they desired to manage their own affairs, and as time went on the reasons for sepa- ration were increased rather than diminished. In April, 1742, at a meeting specially called, the middle precinct voted to choose a committee of the village "concerning comeing off from ye town of Salem," and report their proceedings.

On May 9, 1751, it was again voted to join with the village parish in an attempt to separate from Salem. It was desired to form a new township, and not

1004

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

merely a district, and the records show that such was the plan of the farmers. The committees from the two parishes consulted together, and prepared a memorandum of agreement for the separation, in July, 1751.

" Whereas ye Village Parish and ye Middle Parish in Salem have agreed to come of from ye town as a seperate Town by themselves, as appears by ye votes of their respective Meetings, and whereas we ye sub- scribers being appointed and Impowered for and in behalf of Each parish to Confer together, and make Report att ye meeting of sd parishes Re- spectively, relating to said Affair, have meet together and after dne Con- sideration maks Report as follows : (viz.) That ye Town meetings shall be one year in one parish and ye next year in the other parish succes- sively. That ye major part of ye selectmen and assessors shall be chosen one year in one Parish, and ye next year in ye other Parish successively. That each Parish shall share Equally in all profits and Benefits that shall happen or acrne.

July ye 2d, 1751.

Daniel Epes, Jr for the Samuel Flint Cornelius Tarball (for the

Malichi Felton - Middle

John Proctor ) Parish

James Prince § Village."

This report was accepted, and on the 9th of Sep- tember, 1751, the same committee was authorized to join with the committee from the village, and prefer a petition to the town of Salem relating to the separ- ation. The authors of the report were also instructed to " labour " with the people of Salem ; for although, as Hanson states, the feeling in Salem was more favorable for separation than it has been, there was still a considerable opposition to the movement.

On the 25th of October, 1751, a town meeting was held in Salem to consider the petition, and it was voted " That the Prayer of said Petition be so far granted ás that with the leave of the Great and Gen- eral Assembly the Inhabitants and Estates of said Parishes be set off as a separate Township agreeable to the present boundaries of said Parishes; and that in view of the claim of the annual incomes of the Town they be allowed thirteen pounds six shillings and eight pence to be paid ont of the Town Treasury when legally set off as a distinct Town beside their proportion of the sums due to them for the Ineour- agement of the schools by virtue of former votes." The new town was to eare for its own poor. It was also voted to carry out the provisions of a previous vote, in 1747, by apportioning one hundred pounds in bills of the last emission to the inhabitants of the whole of the old town of Salem.

The plan was originally to form a town of the two parishes ; but in 1743 the King had given an instruc- tion to the Governor of the province, forbidding him to give his assent to any act ereating a new town, without a clause inserted suspending the execution of such act until it should receive llis Majesty's ap- probation. This was because it was thought undesir- able by the crown to increase the number of repre- sentatives in the General Assembly. The popular branch was gaining in power, and their inerease had given them the control of all matters which were de- termined by a joint session of the two Houses. Gov- ernor Bernard, in a letter to the board of trade, in 1761, says that the number of representatives had

then increased from eighty-four in 1692, when the eharter was opened, to about one hundred and seventy, while the Council kept the same number, twenty- eight. By the charter the Council was chosen in joint convention, and by usage many other officers were so chosen. It is probable, however, that the spirit of independence had already begun to manifest itself in the colonies, and it was felt in England that the growth of the power of the popular branch of the assembly was too favorable to such independent ideas. It seems that the petitioners yielded to this policy, and that the petition presented by them to the General Court asked only for the establishment of a district ; a district being a town in all respects except the right to choose a representative. When a district was es- tablished, it was allowed to join with the town from which it had been separated in the choice of a repre- sentative. On the 22d of January, 1751-52, a memo- rial of Samuel Flynt, Daniel Epes, Jr., Esq., and others, in behalf of the Village and Middle Precincts, praying to be incorporated into a district, was read in Council, and the petitioners were ordered to serve notice on the town of Salem. This was not concurred in by the House of Representatives, but on January 28th, an act was passed establishing the district of Danvers. This act recited that the causes for the separation were the distance of the inhabitants of the outlying parishes from that part of the first parish in Salem where the public affairs of the town were transacted, the distance from the grammar school in Salem, and also the faet that most of the inhabitants of the First Parish were either merchants, mechanies, or traders, and those of the Village and Middle Parishes chiefly husbandmen, which was the cause of many disputes and difficulties in the management of public affairs. It was provided by the act that the agreements of the town of Salem, which had been made conditional on the parishes being incorporated into a town should be binding, although only a dis- trict had been incorporated.

The name of the parish now became the "Second Parish in the distriet of Danvers," which was soon changed to the "South Parish in Danvers," which continued to be its name for more than a century. The church was called "The Second Congregational Church in Danvers."

About a year after the erection of the district of Danvers, the boundary between it and Salem was run, corresponding generally with the boundary of the Middle Precinct. The line took Trask's grist- mills into Danvers, and ran from the mills " To the Easternmost Elm Tree on sd plain and by the North- erly side of the highway there called Boston Road."

There was at that time a row of elm trees extend- ing along Boston Street in a direction not quite par- allel to the present line of the street, the easternmost tree being the boundary tree, and the tree at the other end being in the vicinity of Humphrey Case's honse, near the residence of the late James F. Caller.

1005

PEABODY.

A stone with the date 1707 stands at the foot of the "big tree;" but as the tree was a boundary in 1712, it must have been more than a young tree at that time, and probably dates back to 1660 or 1670. The intermediate trees in this row were cut down many years ago for fire-wood, during a very severe winter when there was great dearth of fuel in Salem; and within the memory of living men the ridge caused by their stumps was to be seen in the road. The stone marked 1707 may have been the mile-stone men- tioned in the legislative report on the separation of the middle precinct.

On March 30, 1752, it was ordered that fenees be erected across the highway at the town bridge and the bridge by the south mills, and that all persons from Boston or suspected of bringing contagion should be excluded from the town by a guard kept at the barriers.

The first joint election of a Representative from the town of Salem and district of Danvers was named to take place May 18, 1752. At that time the small- pox was raging, both in Boston and Salem; and the meeting voted not to send a Representative to the General Court, which was to be held at Concord on account of the pestilence in Boston. It was declared that no disrespect or designed affront was intended to the honorable house, and that they would submit to whatever fine should be imposed ; but that owing to dissensions between the town and the lately estab- lished district, it was impracticable to choose a Rep- resentative, and not consistent with the peace of the inhabitants ; that small-pox was prevalent in several of the families of the town, and that it might be car- ried to the General Court by a Representative if chosen; and that the expenses attending the sickness had been so heavy in many instances that many per- sons could not bear the charges of sending a Repre- sentative.

Although the district was not entitled to send a Representative, it sent a delegate, who was allowed to vote on certain matters. In 1754, when the colo- nies proposed a plan of union for mutual safety and protection, the district voted against it through its delegate, Daniel Epes.

On February 3, 1754-55, it was voted that Daniel Epes, Jr., should carry the renewed request of the district to become a town before the General Assem- bły. This request was continued from time to time, and the last presentation of it was by Daniel Epes, June 8, 1757. The bill was passed and signed on June 9th, but the date of its publication is June 16, 1757.

This aet did not contain any clause suspending its operation until the king should approve it; it was plainly in contravention of the instructions given to the Governor. The feeling of independence on the part of the province was beginning to show itself. At the time there was no Governor or Lieutenant- Governor in the province. Thos. Hutchinson, after-

wards Governor, was then a member of the Council, and he eaused his protest against the act to be entered on the records. He gave for the reasons of his dis- sent, ---

"Ist. Because the professed design of the Bill is to give the Inhabi- tants, who now join with the Town of Salem in the choice of a Repre- sentative a power a chusing by themselves, and the number of which the House of Representatives may at present consist, being full large ; the increasing the number must have a tendency to retard the proceedings of the General Court, and to increase the burden which now lyes upon the People by their long Sessions every Year, and must likewise give that House an undne proportion to the Board in the Legislature where many affairs are determined by a joint Ballot of the two Houses.

"2d. Because there being no Governor or Lieutenant Governor in the Province, it is most agreeable to his Majesty's Commission to the late Governor: to the message of this Board to the House of Representa- tives at the opening the Session ; and is in itself a thing most reasona- ble that all matters of any importance, and not necessary to lie acted upon immediately, which is the case with the present Bill, should be deferred until there be a Governor or Lieutenant-Governor in the Chair.

"3dl. Because the Board by passing this Bill as the Second Branch of the Legislature necessarily bring it immediately after, before themselves for their Assent, or Refusal, as the first Branch, and such Members as Vote for this Bill in one capacity, must give their As-ent in the other directly against the Royal Instruction to the Governor, in a case in no degree necessary for the public Interest, or else their Actions will be inconsistent and Absurd.

"Council Chamber, 9th June, 1757. THOS. HUTCHINSON."

It appears that complaints of "long sessions " were prevalent even then.

The acts of this session were not forwarded to the Privy Council until the next January, owing to the absence of the Governor at the time of their enact- ment. They were received by the Privy Council in May, 1758, and referred to the Board of Trade. The Board of Trade did not act upon the laws of this ses- sion until July, 1759, when they prepared a draught of the acts which ought to be allowed, and made a special report that the act of incorporation of Danvers ought to be disallowed, on the ground that it had been passed in contradiction to the royal instruction. On August 10, 1759, an order was passed in the Privy Couneil, disallowing the aet, and declaring it null and void.

It is believed that for some reason, now unknown, the provincial authorities never received notice of the disallowance of the act. Hutchinson certainly did not know that it had been disallowed, and he sur- mises in his history of Massachusetts, that as the Council kept no correspondence by letters with the King's ministers, this bill, with others, received the royal allowance probably without being observed to be contrary to the instructions. The act of incor- poration was valid till disallowed; the town of Dan- vers was annually represented in the General Court from and after the year 1758, and later legislation expressly recognized Danvers as a town. No official notice of the disallowance being ever received, and the records of the Privy Council not having been searched by any one having the facts in mind, it was not discovered till long after the Revolution had ren- dered the discovery unimportant that the act of in- corporation of Danvers was void after 1759.

1006

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

There has been considerable speculation as to the ori- gin of the name Danvers. Hanson says that the region was called Danvers as early as 1745; but nothing ap- pears on the records to indicate that such was the case, or how the name came to be given. The discussion is one which belongs more appropriately to the history of Danvers than to that of Peabody, but it may be mentioned that two theories of its origin have been suggested. It has been thought by some the solution was found in the fact that Lord Danvers was con- nected with the Osborne family in England, and the names are united in more then one branch of the Osborne family. It has been surmised that the Os- bornes from whom the families of that region in Danvers originated, may have come from one of these branches of the Osborne family in England, and that they suggested the name. This however, is a pure gness, inasmuch as it is not certainly known where the founder of the Osborne family in Danvers was born or lived before coming to this country. Felt, in his Annals. says that Lieut. - Governor Phipps suggested that name out of gratitude to one of his patrons. But the last Lord Danvers died before 1660, and the name afterward appears only in connection with other families, so that we are quite in the dark as to who the patron was. It would seem at least probable that the people of the new town had something to do with selecting a name for it, but the real cause of its selection is still conjectural.

The mill belonging to Trask nearest to Salem town is spoken of in 1715, as the fulling mill; so that it appears some business was done in fulling cloth made in the vininity, probably by individuals on hand looms. It does not appear that the glass mak- ing industry, from which so much had been hoped, had survived till this time. The potteries, for which Danvers afterward became so famous, were not in operation until the latter part of this period, if at all during this time. One of these was located where the business is still carried on, on Central Street. There was at one time another on the south parish, in the vicinity of Ilolten Street. The business of tan- ning is said to have been begun about 1739, by Jos- eph Southwick, a Quaker, who lived in the house opposite the Lexington monument on Main Street, which was standing within twenty-five or thirty years. This house was among the first to adopt the comparatively modern square panes of glass, in the place of the diamond leaded pane, and from this eir- cumstance was called the "glass house." Mr. South- wiek began the infant industry, which now employs thousands of men and occupies acres of space in the town, by using half hogsheads for vats. After a while, as his business increased, he obtained a gon- dola, which he used until after a few years he sank three or four vats. The location of his tanyards, which continued for many years in his family, is still occupied in the same industry.

CHAPTER LXX.

PEABODY-( Continued).

Social Life and Customs in the Middle Precinct.

IN the period from 1710 to 1757 the Middle or South Parish suffered but little change in the charac- ter or occupation of its inhabitants. They were mostly farmers; with the exception of the Trasks, who carried on their mills, there was little or no mechanical employment. According to the best au- thorities, there were, in 1752, about fifteen hundred inhabitants in both the Village and Middle Precincts. As there were eighty or ninety families in the Mid- dle Precinct in 1710, there could not have been any great increase of the population in these forty years. There were some wealthy land-owners, but most of the people nf the South Parish were of limited means. The social relaxations of the time were few. Outside of the religious meetings there were few opportuni- ties for social gatherings, except on the rare occasion of a house rai-ing, or some such friendly meeting. The village singing school, which hegan to be intro- duced into New England during this period, was the beginning of the lecture and entertainment system, which afterward became so important a factor in the social life of New England. The psalm singing of the Puritans of the beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury was by rote; there were no instruments used in the churches, but the hymn was "lined out" by one of the deacons. The first mention of organs in churches is contained in the diary of Rev. Mr. Green, of the Village Parish, in 1711, when he says of a visit to Boston and Cambridge, "I was at Mr. Thomas Brattle's, heard the organs and saw strange things in a microscope." This may have been the organ which Mr. Brattle gave, in 1714, to King's Chapel, in Boston.

The people generally were opposed to the intro- duction of singing by note, fearing that it would lead to the use of instrumental music and other musical frivolities. In 1723 several members of a church in Braintree were excommunicated because they advo- cated the reformed method of singing. A council, however, shortly afterward, reinstated them, and ef- fected a compromise. An equally strong feeling was formed elsewhere in regard to the matter; but the new school prevailed, and the young people had their singing schools, at which they learned hymns of surprising rapidity and complication of movement, in contrast to the severe music of the elders. The choir began to make its appearance, though there is no record of it in the South Parish till 1763, when it was voted "that there be two seats on the easterly side of ye broad ally in the Meeting-house be sett apart for a number of persons to sett in for the better accommodating singing in ye Meeting-house, and that the same be under the regulation of the Parish

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1672

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672