History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 120

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 120

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Mr. Clark received a strict business education, which served him well in later years. As he en- tered life the tanning business was being prosecuted to some extent at Rocky Hill, and he learned this branch of trade. In 1823, in company with his three brothers, the firm commenced business on Elm Street, where the Colchester Mill now is, and erected an extensive tanning establishment. The senior member of the firm was practically its business man- ager, buying the raw hides and selling the mannfac- tured leather in the markets of Salem and Boston. At stated seasons he drove his own team of two horses, loaded with leather, into Boston, completed his sales and returned on the following day.

The business of the firm prospered and its tannery was enlarged. After thirty years of active labor, Mr. Clark withdrew from the firm and turned his atten- tion to real estate investments. He was able to fore- cast the future, saw the prospective rise in values, and became the largest owner of real estate in the towns of Salisbury and Amesbury, as well as the most wealthy citizen. In matters affecting questions of trade and investment his opinion was sought and cheerfully given. He was conservative to a fault, and thoroughly believed in the pay-as-you-go principle.

Mr. Clark served as president and director of the Powow River National Bank for many years, and was one of the trustees of the Provident Institution for Savings from the date of its incorporation, in 1828. He also served the town in several offices of trust and responsibility.

In habits of thought and action he represented the Puritan element of character. In all business transactions he expected and exacted the same punc- tuality and methods in others that governed his own conduct. In social life he was kind and considerate. He married a granddaughter of the Rev. Dr. Web- ster, one of the first ministers of the Rocky IIill

Church. His only son, Seth, has been engaged in the manufacture of carriages about twenty-five years, and is one of thirty firms doing business in Salisbury Mills.

September 23, 1887, the subject of this notice died, at his residence on Market Street, at the age of eighty-six years and six months. As a mark of esteem for his long and useful life and business ca- reer, work was suspended in the community on the afternoon of his burial, and his funeral services were largely attended by all the influential and prominent men, mechanics and manufacturers.

His death closes the immediate family history. In the eighty-six years of his life he had seen the little village of a few hundred inhabitants grow in wealth and prosperity from a valuation of two hundred thousand dollars to that of two millions, and his own name published as the largest among its many tax-payers.

THOMAS J. CLARK.

Thomas J. Clark, more than any other man of his day, was identified with the interests of Salisbury and vicinity, and was well known throughont the country. In early life he was a tanner, and retired from that for more public duties ; was nineteen years a selectman of the town, for more than fifteen years moderator at the town-meetings, twenty years treas- nrer of the "Provident Institution for Savings in Salisbury and Amesbury," and at the time of his death was president of the Powow River National Bank, of which he was a director from 1836 to 1870, a director of the Amesbury and Salisbury Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and of the Amesbury and Salisbury Gas Company. He was also a trustee in the Essex Agricultural Society. More than forty years ago he was a member of the Massachusetts Senate, contemporaneously with the late Hon. Henry Wilson, and up to the time of Mr. Wilson's death the friendship formed so many years before was con- tinned. For four years from 1849 he was naval of- ficer at the Custom-House at Newburyport. In every sense he was a man of the public. He was never at rest, and was always at the beck and call of his fel- low-citizens. He has administered more estates and been the guardian of more children, and the trustee of more property than any other man in this section. He has also been unremitting in his attentions to the sick, and has superintended more funcrals than even the town clergy. Always fresh and vivacious, vigor- ous in manner and in the conduct of his business, he did not show his years. His disease was congestion of the brain, accompanied by general debility, which so rapidly developed that his body became debilitated in sympathy with his mind, and his death, which oc- curred August 12, 1877, was in some respects a sud- den one. He is greatly missed in the community in which he was so long known, and of which he was one of the wealthiest and worthiest citizens.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Ilis funeral took place Wednesday, August 15, 1877. and was by far the largest ever known in this section. The village was in mourning. The Powow River National and Savings Banks, the American Houve and several stores were heavily draped in mourning, and every store and manufactory in town was closed.

The funeral rites were performed by Rev. Mr. Hartman, of the Baptist Church, where the deceased worshipped. He said that on the sad occasion which had called together the mourning company there as- sembled, it would not be possible to say all that ought to be said of the noble brother whose life had so suddenly been brought to a elose. A life so no- ble, so self-sacrifieing, so profitable to the commu- nity, deserves a better eulogy. The deceased pos- sessed virtues and excelleneies of character such as few men were endowed with. In the line of those virtues and noble traits the speaker, as he had gone from State to State, had never seen his equal. HIis death was an eminent loss to the society and the business of the community. Throughout the entire region round about, all would miss him. They would miss his familiar face, his helping hand, his wise counsel. The poor and the destitute and the friend- less, the widow and the orphan would miss him. Never had his heart or his hand been shut to them. None hesitated to approach him in any extremity. To them his loss would be irreparable. To his friends and relatives, and his sorrowing family cir- cle, he had only the consolation of Christ's love to offer-the consolation given by One who had en- dured every human trial that He might sympathize with poor humanity.

EDMUND MORRILL.

Edmund Morrill was the son of Abraham and Mary (Bagley ) Morrill, and the grandson of Abraham, both of whom were born in Salisbury. It is said by the older members of the family that the first of their line that came to this country were Reuben, Samuel and Ebben, from which Edmund Morrill descended. The children of Abraham and Mary were Eliza, born June 14, 1802 (she married Daniel Merrill); John, born February 5, 1805, and married for first wife Sally Marston, and for second Elmira Morrill; Ed- mund, born May 29, 1807, and married Abigail Leavitt, daughter of Simon Leavitt, of North Hamp- ton, N. Il .; Amos, born August 25, 1809, and mar- ried Merandy Dickson (he went to Texas, where he practiced law and became a judge and was widely known); Mary Ann, born November 25, 1812; Abi- gail, born September 19, 1818, and died in infancy.

The children of Edmund and Abigail Morrill are Mary A. and Abraham L. Mary A. married A. W. Bar beit, and had three children-Mary A., Alice M. and Ialmond M. Abraham married Sarah E. Smith, and has one chill - Lida.

Abrahamu, Sr., the father of Edmund, was a repre- sentative farmer and one of the substantial citizens of Salisbury. He died June 24, 1862, aged eighty six years and three months.

Edmund, his son, whose picture is here shown, lives on the old farm. He, like his father, is a farmer, and extensively engaged in the lumber business, and is one of the solid citizens of Salisbury (now Ames- bury).

CAPTAIN ABRAHAM COLBY.

Captain John Colby was the son of Gee and grand- son of Obediah, and was born in Salisbury, Mass., November 28, 1785. Gee was born December 16, 1761, and died April 21, 1822; he had four children -Abraham, born in 1785; Mary O., born September 13, 1787; John, born March 27, 1790; and Hannah, born in June, 1810.

Captain Abraham Colby married Sarah, daughter of Colonel Jonathan Smith, and had two children, viz., Mary O. and Samuel S.

Captain Colby in early life learned the trade of tallow chandler, and later in life was engaged in the fishing business, sending out vessels for that purpose, and was also employed for a time in the coasting trade. In 1812 he went privateering in the ship "America ;" finally retired from active business and settled down to enjoy the fruits of his labors.

He was president of the Amesbury and Salisbury Savings Bank for several years, and was one of the substantial citizens of the town. He died September 15, 1865.

JOHN ROWELL.

The son of Jacob and Abigail Rowell was born in Amesbury January 28, 1806 (see sketch of Jacob); his father was a farmer, but with John this occupation was not congenial, and he followed various pursuits until about the year 1853, when he engaged in the watchmaking, jewelry and fancy goods business. This he followed with suecess for a number of years. In 1867 he was appointed by Governor Bullock jus- tice of the peace, and in 1855 was appointed deputy- sheriff of the county, which office he held fourteen years. Mr. Rowell was purely a man of the public, honest in all his dealings, quick to act and a good adviser.

His happy, jovial way made him exceedingly pop- ular, and many amusing incidents are related of his experience with the class he was obliged to deal with in performing the duties of deputy-sheriff.

lle was widely known throughout the county, and his happy way and manner were calculated to make friends wherever he went. He was one of the oldest members of the Powow River Lodge, and herewith we append the report of that fraternity after his death,-

"At a meeting of the Powow River Lodge, held

John Powell

Edmund Morrill

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SALISBURY.

Tuesday, July 2, 1872, the death of our late brother was reported with appropriate remarks, and a desire was expressed to extend our sympathies to the family of the deceased at this time of their deep affliction. All that human power and skill of man could do has been done to arrest the progress of disease, but in the providence of God all was in vain. Death came and has removed from us an affectionate husband, a kind father, and a true and faithful brother. We mourn his loss, and shall long cherish the memory of his many excellent qualities. To especially the widow of the deceased do we offer this tribute of con- dolence, and if during the remaining years of life she should need our aid, council or advice, be assured we will not be found wanting in the discharge of the ob- ligations of the Order, of which Mr. Rowell was for so many years an honored member."

Mr. Rowell married Sarah, daughter of Alexander Stuart (she died November 20, 1879). They had two children-J. Stuart and Sarah A. J. Stuart married May Cary, of Watertown, Mass., and had one child, who died in infancy, and the father and mother are also deceased.

Sarah A. married Stephen C. Patten, son of Charles B., a merchant of Amesbury.

CHARLES B. PATTEN.

Charles B. Patten, the son of Willis Patten, was born in West Amesbury, September 18, 1794. His father was a blacksmith in West Amesbury for many years.

Charles learned the trade of blacksmithing of his father, and in 1819 or '20 moved the shop on the ice to Salisbury, which was considered quite a feat in those days. The carriage business was then in its infancy, one man making the wheels (by hand), another the bodics and so on. Charles B. was the only blacksmith in these parts and made all the iron-work and springs for wagons and chaise. After a time there was as many shops making wagon-parts as there were parts to a wagon, and so year after year it kept increasing. It might be said that Mr. Patten was a pioneer in this particular department of the carriage business. His shop was located on Market Street, a stone's throw from where Stephen Patten now lives. Mr. Patten, in later life, was in delicate health, had a stroke of paralysis, which prevented him from active work in the shop, and after a time was obliged to give up his work to his son George, who succeeded him after his death, which occurred March 23, 1846. Mr. Patten was a man highly respected and widely known. He was a member of St. Peter's Lodge, Newbury- port, and was lieutenant in the old Amesbury and Salisbury military company. Mr. Patten married Mary, daughter of Jacob and Rachel Clement ; they had eight children, viz. : Mary Elizabeth, Caroline, George H., Sarah L., Emeline, Chas. W., Susan II. and Stephen C.

Elizabeth died in 1861 ; Caroline married Cyrus A. Brewer ; Geo. H. died in 1872; Sarah L. died in 1871; Emeline married Jonathan W. Keniston ; Chas. W. married Elizabeth O. Sargent; Stephen C. married Sarah Ann Rowell, daughter of John Rowell.

Stephen C. worked with his brother, blacksmithing, until twenty-six years of age, when he started in the furniture business, in which he is now engaged, cov- ering a period of twenty-six years.

JOHN MORRILL.

Abraham Morrill (first generation) settled in Salis- bury in 1641. Jacob (second generation) was his second son. Then in line comes Aaron (third genera- tion), fourth son of Jacob ; Elijah (fourth generation),. first son of Aaron ; Ezra (fifth generation), first son of Elijah. Elijah had nine children, viz .: Ezra, born in 1742; Anna, born 1744; Elijah, born 1745; May, born 1749; Betsey, died in infancy; Robert, born 1753 ; Betsey, born 1755; Eliza, born 1757 ; Benja- min, born 1759. Ezra married, first wife, Elizabeth Greeley, and had three children,-Anna, Elizabeth and Hannah. Mrs. Elizabeth G. Morrill died July 10, 1777, in her thirty-third year.

Mr. Morrill married, for second wife, Sarah Morrill, November 5, 1780. Their children were John, born October 5, 1784; Ezra, born April 3, 1787; and Wil- liam, born Novemher 6, 1789. Mrs. Sarah Morrill died November 5, 1750, and her husband Ezra died December 23, 1797, aged fifty-six years.

John married, January 2, 1811, Abigail Currier. She was born January 6, 1791, and was the daughter of Benjamin Currier. They had six children,-Sarah, born July 13, 1811 ; William E., born July 13, 1813; Elizabeth, born January 19, 1816; Abigail, born March 19, 1820; Ezra C., born September 4, 1822 ; Mary J., born February 6, 1826. Sarah married Ben- jamin Osgood ; she died childless in 1874, aged sixty- three years .. William E. married Mary F. Merrill, and had three children, viz .: John W., Mary A. and Sarah F. Mrs. William E. Morrill died April 7, 1881, aged sixty-six years. Elizabeth married Paul Bickford, and had three children,-Sarah M., John and Frank. Abigail married Aaron Morrill; have four children,-Anna, Mary, Alice and John. Ezra C. married Hannah Swett, daughter of Timothy Swett, and have had three children,-Edward W., Charles E. and William F. Mary J. married Thomas Eaton, and have had two children. Edward W. married Mary Pender, and have had two chil- dren,-William E. and Fred. William F. married Eliza Lane.

John Morrill, whose picture is here shown, learned the carpenter trade in early life at Newburyport, which occupation he followed through life. He was a prominent man of the town. Served two terms in the Legislature (1836-38), besides holding other minor town offices. He was business-like in his bearing, honest

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in all his dealings, retiring in manner, yet stern, and his word was as good as his bond. He was an active member of the Rocky Hill Church and contributed liberally to its support. Mr. Morrill was respected by all who knew him. He. died February 20, 1856, aged seventy-one years. His two sons are now active business men. William has followed the business of contractor and builder ; Ezra learned the trade of ship-joiner, and is at present engaged in the building of dories. Both William and Ezra Morrill are men of high standing in their town and respected by all.

CHAPTER CXX.

SWAMPSCOTT.

BY JAMES R. NEWHALL.

Introductory Remarks-Natural Situation-Name-Commencement of Settle- ment.

Ilistory touchey all human life, on every side. It instructs the indi- vidual. It gives a new tone to a community. It elevates a nation. It enlivens a generation. It inspires the human race .- John A. Andrew.

As the voyager eastward from Boston skirts along the northern shore of Massachusetts Bay, and passes the dark, wave-worn cliff's of Nahant, there opens upon his left the picturesque inlet called in the old maps Nahant Bay, but more frequently, in popular parlance, Swampscott Bay. In calm sunshine it is a beautiful expanse; but in wind and storm, full of terrors and dangers. One of the most conspicuous objects that meet the eye is Egg Rock, precipitous and lonely, with its little light-house, shedding at night its hospitable rays of silent warning.

Along the whole extent of the shore of the little bay lies the town of Swampscott, with its picturesque fishing flotilla rocking languidly in front, as if keep- ing watch and ward, unless it be an hour when duty has called them off' to "tempt the dangers of the deep." On the rising grounds above the beaches the active body of the town is seen. Upon the rocky heights and among the partially wooded hills in the background and the jutting headlands on cither hand are scattered many residences of the wealthy and romantic, as well as humbler habita- tions of the less ambitious toilers.

Such is the natural situation of Swampscott- healthy, attractive and by no means isolated. It is about a dozen miles from Boston, in a northeasterly direction, with a population of two thousand four hundred and seventy-one, according to the census of Isso, which number is greatly augmented in summer by the influx of temporary sojourners who are at- tracted by the salubrity of its airs and the charms of its scenery.

when it was set off' as a separate town, the first town government being organized on the 5th day of June of that year. The earlier history of the place is so interwoven with that of Lynn that it becomes in a sense awkward to attempt to treat it as separate. Though there was no distinct Swampscott municipal- ity till 1852, it may be claimed that this, as well as any place, is entitled to a recognition of occurrences within its borders, under whatever name or jurisdic- tion it may have existed.

"Swampscot is the original Indian name of the fishing-village at the eastern part of the town," says Mr. Lewis, the historian of Lynn, who always spelled the name with one t ; and there seems to be no reason why another should have been added. The Indian language was unlearned and unwritten, at least by the tribes hereabout, and many of the attempts at etymological tracing are more curious than satis- factory.

The first white man who settled in Swampscott appears to have been FRANCIS INGALLS, a tanner by trade. He came with the little band of five who ar- rived, according to the commonly received opin- ion, on a June day, in 1629-three years after the settlement of Salem by Roger Conant and one year before the settlement of Boston, leaving out of the account the lodgment of Mr. Blackstone. The names of the others composing the little company were Ed- mund Ingalls, a brother of Francis, William Dixey, John Wood and William Wood, the two latter pro- bably father and son. There may have been others with them ; but, if so, the names are lost. They set- tled in the vicinity of each other, as was natural, under the circumstances, though Francis Ingalls seems to have been the only one who pitched his tent over the Swampscott border, as it is now de- fined. But it is by no means certain where the Swampscott line then, and for many years thereafter, ran. If the name means Red Rock, as suggested in Thompson's Sketches, it might apply to a large ex- tent of shore both westward and eastward from the present lines.

The settlers do not seem to have purchased any lands, but to have come under the broad permission of the arbitrary Endicott to " goe where they would." The Indian population about here at that time was very small, and there was little to be apprehended from their hostility, even though they might in some instances feel aggrieved. It is not, however, intend- ed to insinuate that the settlers did not honestly pay for their lands when true owners subsequently ap- peared. The lands were of little or no value to the red men, for they were not an agricultural nor a pas- toral people. And no doubt some of the beautiful tracts that now command thousands of dollars were once purchased for a hatchet, a hoe, or half a dozen drams of " fire-water."

William Wood was evidently the most active and Swampscott remained a part of Lynn till 1852, | intelligent of the party, had a more just comprehen-

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SWAMPSCOTT.

sion of the condition and prospects of the immigrants, and soon began by his pen to celebrate and magnify the merits and advantages of the new Canaan. Ile was the author of "New England's Prospect," pub- lished in London in 1634-a work which then did much to direct attention to New England, and which is still held in high repute as faithfully picturing affairs as they then existed. He indeed took a rosy view of most things, but in no essentials led the way to disappointment.

It has been claimed, with possibly too much perti- nacity, that General John Humfrey, who was one of the original Massachusetts patentees and took great interest in the prosperity of the colonists, became an early resident of Swampscott. But it is not per- ceived how that could have been, unless the territory that went by the name extended so far westward as to include Nahant Street in Lynn. The error of locating him at Swampscott probably arose from the inadvertent statement of Mr. Lewis, who, in the " History of Lynn," speaking of his arrival, in 1634, says he " went to reside on his farm at Swampscot." But he had no farm at Swampscott. The land there was not granted to him till 1635, and then only con- ditionally. The words of the court record, May 6, 1635, are: "Further it is ordered that the land be- twixte the Clifte and the Forest Ryver, neere Marble Head shall for the present be improved by John Humphrey, Esq." Nobody seems to doubt that this is the land in question. And it will be noticed that this was the year after his arrival, and that it was for his improvement " for the present." And further- more, the court add that if the people of Marblehead should need the land, or if the people of Salem could show a right to it, Mr. Humfrey should part with it. Now is it at all likely that he, a shrewd lawyer, would build a house on land to which he had no better title than that ? It was not till 1638, only three years be- fore he left the country, that the grant was made abso- lute, it probably then appearing to the court that nei- ther Salem nor Marblehead would make any claim.

red but the year before he left the country. How happened it, if he lived in Swampscott, that his barn and mill were away off on the west of Nahant Street in Lynn ?

That Mr. Humfrey's extensive land grant in ques- tion came to be called his " farm Swampscott " is no doubt true ; but it does not follow that he lived there, any more than that he lived in Lynnfield where he like- wise had an extensive grant. It may have been a mere arbitrarily distinguishing name, after the fash- ion of the old English gentry in designating their outlying farm lands. Lechford speaks of Mr. Humfrey's farm Swampscott, not his farm at or in Swampscott. Winthrop speaks of it as "a farm of Mr. Humfrey ;" and would he have spoken thus if it had also been his residence? And even Mr. Lewis, in speaking of Lady Moody, says, " In 164I she pur- chased Mr. John Humfrey's farm called Swampscott."

It is well to remember that Mr. Humfrey was in the country but a short time. He came in 1634 and left in 1641, and does not appear to have lived in Lynn the whole of even that short period. Mr. Drake, the accurate historian of Boston, says, " He resided a while in Lynn, then at Salem." And Bently speaks of him as residing in Salem. And all seem to agree that he was of the Salem church.

The " Farm House " still standing on the estate so improved and adorned by the late Hon. E. Redington Mudge has been claimed to be the identical house reared and occupied by Mr. Humfrey. But does not the structure itself show that it belongs to a later per- iod of New England architecture ? And, moreover, the late Josiah M. Nichols, who spent much time in patiently examining the old records and tracing out titles, maintained, with much positiveness, that that part of the Mudge estate did not come within any grant to Mr. Humfrey. The writer has some satis faction in the assurance that the "Farm House " was reared by an ancestor of his own, not far from the elose of the seventeenth century-a Burrill, of the old Burrill family of Tower Hill, Lynn.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 120

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