History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 140

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 140

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

The records of the earliest settlers are scant. But we find in them a list purporting to give, in the order of their settlement, the names of the original proprie- tors and settlers. The list is as follows :

Mr. Bradstreet.

Henry Jacques.

Jolin Osgood.

John Aslett.

Joseph Parker.

Richard Blake.

Richard Barker.

William Ballard.

Jolin Stevens.

Juhn Lovejoy.

Nicholas Holt.

Thomas Poor.

Benjamin Woodbridge.

George Abbot.

Jolın Frye.

John Russ.

Edmund Faulkner.

Andrew Allen.

Robert Barnard.

Andrew Foster.

Daniel Poor.

Thomas Chandler.

Nathan Parker.

A goodly number of these family names are familiar to our ears as designating living inhabitants of the town every way worthy of their honorable lineage.

It is to be borne in mind that the original proprie- tors and settlers took up for their personal property but a small portion of the land, holding the large re- mainder in common, and in reserve for succeeding settlers who might join them, or for the common use.

A liberal allotment of land was set off' for the sup- port of the ministry. This was in accordance with the custom in all the new plantations of that period. Such provision of land for the ministry may account for the noticeable fact that the name of John Wood- bridge, leader and minister of the first settlers, does not appear in the preceding list of freeholders. His holding seems to have been that of a tenant at will of the parsonage lands.

CHAPTER CXXVIII.

ANDOVER-(Continued).

DIVISION INTO NORTH AND SOUTH PARISHES-THE INDIANS.

IN the early part of the eighteenth century, the town loving gained largely in population, the meet- ing house became too strait for the people. Per- chaore it may also have become dilapidated or too anciens irarchitecture to suit the taste of the in- vre. «me and prosperous community. Hence it was voted by the town, in 1705, " to build a new meeting- homner ny sufficient and convenient for the wholo town as may be." And in May, 1707, it was voted again to "I'll a meeting-house for ye inhabitants of An- dover . these following dimensions, viz. : of sixty-

foot long, and forty-foot wide and twenty-foot studd, and with a flatt roofe." But a serious difficulty arose at the outset as to the location of the new meeting- house. When, at the meeting held September 9, 1707, the vote came to be taken on this important question, the majority decided that the house should be built in the South Precinet, "on the spot of ground near the wood called Holt's Wood, where the cross-paths meet at the southwest corner of George Abbot's ground."

As was natural, the residents of the North Pre- cinct strenuously resisted this removal of their place of worship. They complained that the spot selected was not central, that the consent of the proprietors had not been obtained, and that it was at such a distance from the residence of the minister as greatly to incom- mode him, it being some two or more miles from the Bradford house, which had become the parsonage. On the other hand, it was urged that a decided ma- jority of the people of the town, as the votes showed, would be better accommodated by the selected loea- tion.

Not being willing to submit quietly to this major- ity vote, forty-five residents and proprietors in the North Precinct petitioned the General Court to inter- fere in their behalf. To frustrate this petition, the town, December 29, 1707, chose a committee "to at- tend the gentlemen of the General Court's Commit- tee, to view the places and reply to allegations of the petitioners."

At a meeting held February 27, 1708, for the pur- pose of choosing commissioners to take the valuation of the plantation, in compliance with an act of the General Court, this matter of the location of the meeting-house was again brought up, and for the third time it was voted to build on the spot first selected. As the people could not agree, the General Court, after two hearings, ordered, November 2, 1708, that the town be " forthwith divided into two distinct pre- eincts," and a committee was appointed to carry this order into effect "within the space of two months next eoming, unless, in the interim, the town agree thereon and make it themselves, and that thereupon the north division take the present meeting-house and repair and add to it as they please."

The action of the town and that of the General Court on this matter of the location of a new meeting- house are very significant. They show a great change of the population in the course of half a century. The farm-lands had become homesteads. The major- ity of the people resided in the South Precinct. The North Precinct was in a decided minority. Power had once for all passed away from the village to the outlying districts. The village sovereigns, as was natural, resisted this transfer of power to the utmost, but numbers prevailed.

It is also noticeable that the organization of a new religious parish and church was of scarcely less mo- ment than the incorporation of a new town. The

1559

ANDOVER.

General Court took the matter in hand. It assigned to the parish its territorial limits, directed with re- gard to its minister and his support, and went into the details as to parsonage and ministerial lands. We find that the General Court, in making a division of the town into two parishes or precincts, ordered :

"That there be forthwith laid out for the minister of the South Precinct fourteen acres of land for a house-lot, and forty acres at a further distance, part of it low-land, to make meadow of the common land in said precinct, which will make them equal to the other division, to be for the use of the ministry for- ever." Also

" That the inhabitants and proprietors of the South Division build a convenient meeting-house for their own use and a ministry house.

" Upon all which Mr. Barnard, the present minis- ter, shall declare his choice of which congregation he will officiate in, and the precinet, north or south, shall fully perform the past contract of the town with him, and the other precinct or division of the town shall call and settle another minister for themselves. And the inhabitants of the respective precinets and divisions are hereby impowered to make choice of some discreet persons among themselves, as committees, to manage and govern their affairs with respect to building a meeting-house and ministry house, the making assessments to defray the charge thereof, and for the support of the ministry, and to appoint col- lectors to gather the same ; and are advised and di- rected to proceed in these several articles with that peace and friendship, one towards another, that they may honor religion and the government and themselves."

The committee thus appointed ran the division line between the parishes, establishing the metes and bounds. A protracted controversy ensued, but dis- puted points were settled " by mntual agreement, No- vember 7, 1711. The line was renewed by a mutual committee of the parishes, October 7, 1754."

The town was slow in complying with the order of the General Court, requiring it to set apart land for the ministry house and the support of the ministry in the South Parish. The embarrassed parish made complaint of this dilatoriness, or refusal, and asked for action compelling a compliance with the order is- sued by the court. On November 7, 1710, a further petition was sent in, asking that Mr. Barnard might be directed to make his choice between the preeinets. These petitions accomplished their purpose. The General Court directed the committee appointed to make the division of the town to set off the land as- signed to the South Precinct, which wasspeedily done. It also requested Mr. Barnard to choose his precinct, and "to do so before the 11th of December, or that the South Precinet provide for themselves." Mr. Bar- nard failing to make any choice, " the South Precinct provided for themselves."

The first legal meeting of the new precinct was

held June 20, 1709, with Henry Holt as moderator, and George Abbot as clerk. The first question to be settled was the location of the meeting-house. "The spot of ground near the wood, called Holt's Wood," for which they had so persistently contended, seems not to have met with favor when the new precinct came to select a place for itself alone. Without much controversy, however, it would appear, a site was fixed upon, and accepted by vote of the precinct October 18, 1709. This site was " at ye Rock on the west side of Roger brook," a few rods north of the present South Church edifice. A building was erect- ed upon this ground, and occupied for worship Janu - ary, 1710. It could not have been a very spacious or a very ornate structure, as only one hundred and eight pounds was levied to defray the expenses of building, and it was occupied for worship with- in three months from the time the location was fixed. Upon "the young men and maids" was con- ferred " the liberty to build seats round in the gal- leries on their own charge."

We have no means of ascertaining the number of inhabitants in the town when this division into North and South Precinets took place. Doubtless the increase in population during the twenty years immediately preceding this divisiou had been more rapid than at any former period in the history of the town. The Indians had ceased to be troublesome and emigration from England had been stimulated by the restoration of Charles II. to the British throne. Andover must have shared fully in this increase of the population of the colony. Some seventeen years previous to the date we are considering, and nearly fifty years after its first settlement, the town ordered a list of tax-payers to be made out, which list has been preserved. It contains one hundred and forty- one names, presumably the names of men who paid a tax on property for civil and religious purposes. The seventeen years which succeeded the making of this list of tax-payers must have added no little to the population and property of the town.

The following is the "rate made for the minister in the year 1692:"

North End of the Towne of Andover.

Abbot, John, junr.

Carlton, John.

Abbot, George, junr.

Carlton, Joseph.

Abbot, Thomas, senr.

Chandler, William.

Andrew, Joseph. Chub, l'asco.

Aslebe, John. Cromwell, Johu.

Austin, Sammuel.

Dane, Nathl.

Barker, Richard, senr.

Eires, Nathan.1

Barker, Left, Johu.

Eimes, Robert.1

Barker, Stephen.

Emery, Joseph.

Barker, Benjamin.

ffarnum, John, seur.

Barker, Richard, junr.

ffarnum, Ralpb, seur.

Burker, William.

ffarnum, John, jonr.

Bodwell, Henry.

ffarnum, Thomas.

Bradstreet, Capt. Dudley.

ffarrington, Edward.

Bridges, Jobu.

ffaulkner, ffrancis.

Bridges, James.

flaulkner, John.

1 I'robably Haverhill or Boxford men.

1560

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

fonater, Epbrann.

Osgood, Timothy.

foster, Abraham.

Parker, Joseph. Parker, Stephen.

frye, Benjamin. frye, Samuel. Granger John. Graves, Mark, senr.

Parker, John.

Poor, Daniel. Poor, Widdow.

Post, John.1

Gray, Robert.

Preston, John.

Moult, Nicholas.

Robinson, Joseph.

Hoult, Hannah, widdowe.

Stevens, Cornot Nathan.

Hutchinson, Samuel.

Stevens, Joseph.

Ingalls, Heury.

Stevens, Ephraim, Sergt.

Ingalls, Henry, junr.

Stevens, Benjamin.

Ingalls, Saoil.

Stevens, Nathan, junr.

lugalls, John.

Stevens, Widdow.

Johnson, francis.

Steveus, Joshua.

Lacey, Lawrence.

Stone, Simon.

Lovejoy, Joseph.

Swan, Smumunel.

Marble, Samuel.

Tiler, John.

Marston, John, junr.

Toothaker, Allen.

Marston, Jacob.

Wbite, John.1

Marston, Joseph.

Tiler, Moses, senr.1

Nichols, Nich.

Tiler, Moses, junr.1

Osgood, C'apt. John.

Swan, Robert.1

Ongoud, Jobn, junr.

Swau, Timothy.1

South End of the Towne.

Abbot, Jolın, senr.

Graves, Abraham.

Abbot, George, senr.

Gutterson, Jobu.

Abbot, Nehemiah.

Haggit, Moses.

Abbot, Timothy.

Hoult, Samnel.

Abbot, Benjamin.

Hoult, Heury.

Abbot, William.

Honper, Thomas.

Abbot, TBonus.

Jolinson, Thomas.

Abbot, Nathaniel.

Johnson, William.

Allen, Widdow.

Johnson, James, Left.

Antes, Thomas.

Johnson, John, junr.

Ballard, John.

Lovejoy, Willinm.

Ballard, Joseph, senr.

Lovejoy, Christopher.

Ballard, Willism.

Lovejoy, Nath.

Barnard, Stephen.

Lovejoy, Eben.

Barker, Ebenezer.

Marble, Joseph.

Bixby, Daniel.

More, Abraham.

Blanchard, Jonathan.

Osgood, Christupber.

Blanchard, Samuel.

Osgood, Hooker.

Blunt, Walliams.

Osgoud, Waldow.

Bussell, Samuel.

(Isgood, Thomas.

Chandler, Cupt.

Peters, Andrew.

( bandler, William, senr.

Preston, Samuel.

Chandler, William, janr.

Phelps, Samuel.

Chandler, Joseph.

Phelps, Edward.

l'handler, llenry.

Phelps, Widdow.

Chateller, John.

Russell, Thonms.

Casioller, Thomas.

Russell, Robert.

farmer, Thomas.

Rusa, John.

Dane, Francie.

Stevens, John.

David, bylaruim.

Stone, John.

ther mums, Ralph, juur.

Tyler, Hopretil.

Oster, Amirew.

Wardwell, Saml.'s estate,

Fiye, Dene n.

Wilson, Joseph.

feye, Jutncs.

Wright, Walter,

It appears from this list of tax-payers that the majority of such inhabitants was at the north end of the town in 1692, when the enumeration was ordered. In 1705, when the question as to the location of the new meeting-house was under discussion, the major- Is of the voters was found to be at the south end. Doubtless some of the inhabitants had transferred their no Mener from the north to the south end, and the new cars had more generally located at the

south end of the town. From this date the history of the town will more properly be connected with the South Parish, (or Andover, as it now is,) than with the North Parish, (or North Andover, as it now is), as a separate town.

As has been already stated, the first settlement of the town was at the North Parish. Here was the vil- lage and here the meeting-house, here were the resi- dences of the minister and the principal citizens; and for more than half a century the officers of the town and the church were for the most part dwellers in the village. The North Parish was especially dis- tinguished as being the residence for a time of Mr. Simon Bradstreet, for thirteen years Governor of the province of Massachusetts Bay, and for six months Deputy-Governor, and as the home of his accom- plished wife, Mistress Anne Bradstreet, colonial poet- ess and hospitable matron. The residence of this single family was enough to give the small village prominence, not only in the surrounding county, but throughout the province. And after the removal of the Governor, his family prestige remained, and his son Dudley, occupying the old homestead, himself a liberally educated, capable and worthy gentleman, received marked respect and exercised a large influ- ence in the affairs of the town. In view of these facts, it seems fitting that the details in the early his- tory of the town, including notices of the leading men of those days, should be conceded to the ready pen of the distinguished gentleman who writes for this volume the history of North Andover. IIence only a cursory notice will here be taken of some of the more important matters entering into the life of the town, and this mainly for the purpose of keeping up the continuity in its history and growth from the An- dover of 1643 to the Andover of to-day.

The South Parish, the Andover of to-day, was at first but an outlying section of the township. A small portion of the land was allotted to the original proprietors who had their residences in the village. The larger portion was held in common and used for pasturage or left in woodland. The taken-up farms, being from three to five miles distant from the homes of their owners, were cultivated under adverse cir- cumstances. Rough roads at first and Indian incur- sions later on, made work on distant and isolated lands both difficult and dangerous. But in time, as the roads became more numerous and better trodden and Indian incursions less frequent, the farming por- tion of the villagers removed to their outlying lands and built upon them. Thus the first settlers of the South Parish were exclusively tillers of the soil. Yeomanry they were called in the forcible dialect of the day. They were a hardy, industrious, self-deny - ing, devout body of men and women. As a class they were sincerely religious, but not fanatical or demon- strative. For the most part they were unlettered, but yet not undisciplined in mind. They know how to think and reason correctly, though they might not be

Maraton, John, sunr.

Singletary, Benjamin.1

Martin, Eusign Samuel.

1561

ANDOVER.

able to read with fluency or write with accuracy. Their manners may have been uncouth, but their principles were like polished silver. They were men who feared God, loved liberty, respected the rights of their fellow-men, and held opinions for the main- tenance of which they were ready to sacrifice ease and worldly interests. They were of the class of people to put at the foundation of a free common- wealth. Such were the first settlers of Andover as it now is.

The early history of many New England villages is darkened by Indian midnight and stealthy attacks, burnings and massacres. Andover suffered in these regards less than some of her sister towns, and the South Parish less than the North. In fact, the peo ple here endured more from the fear and horror grow- ing out of such ravages of the Indians as those at Haverhill and Deerfield, tban from any direct injury at their hands. There was but one attack attended by loss of life made by them upon the South Parish during all the Indian and French and Indian Wars. This was on April 18, 1676, by a small band of the allies of King Philip. Their purpose, fortunately to a large degree frustrated, seems to have been, by a stealthy march upon the place, to seize the garrison- house while the men were at work in their fields, and then to burn, capture and slay as they were able. But, as they were crossing the Merrimack River, they were discovered by a scout named Ephraim Stevens, who, mounting a swift horse, gave seasonable notice to the imperiled inhabitants. Thus warned, nearly all who were exposed were able to take timely refuge in the garrison-house.

This house, occupied as a residence by Mr. George Abbot, was situated some few rods south of the pres- ent South Church meeting-house, and not far from the residence of the late Mr. John E. Abbot. It so happened that two sons of Mr. George Abbot were at work in a field at some little distance from the house, and did not receive the warning in sea- son to reach the place of safety. The Indians, baffled in their purpose of capturing the garrison-house by a stealthy attack, finding these two young men alone in the open field, fell upon them in overpowering numbers. They made a brave resistance, but were soon overpowered, the eldest, Joseph by name, being słain, but not till he had laid low one or more of his assailants. This young man, then twenty-four years of age, had been, the winter previous, engaged in the campaign against the Narragansetts, where he gained the reputation of being of eminently robust build and resolnte spirit. The younger of the two brothers, Timothy, was a lad of thirteen. Him the savages seized and carried as a captive to their en- campment. He was retained in captivity for four months only, when he was brought back to his par- ents by a friendly squaw. The youth received no harm whatever at the hands of his savage captors except a noticeable loss of flesh, owing to the mea- 983

gre diet of an Indian wigwam. The hunger of these few months, however, left an ineffaceable impression upon the mind of the lad. Tradition tells the story that, many years after, when the lad had become the father of a numerous family, he would never permit a child of his to say that he was hungry, protesting that the child did not know the meaning of the word hunger.

It is highly probable that some few men from the South Precinct lost their lives while in the employ of the Commonwealth, engaged in the military ser- vice against the Indians. But aside from this, and the terror awakened among the inhabitants, espec- ially among the women and children, by the known cruelties practised by these ferocious and stealthy men of the forest, the South Parish suffered little at their hands.

Our custom has been to call these natives of the soil savages; they have been pictured to us as by nature cruel, blood-thirsty, as delighting in the tor- ture of women and babes, as destitute of honor or humanity. That they were in time of war, or when they felt themselves to have been grossly wronged, cruel in the extreme and relentlessly savage, killing and burning without mercy, there can be no question. But we must remember thatthe Indian had never been trained in the teaching of Christ, had never learned His doctrine of forbearance and forgiveness. We should further bear in mind that at tirst he re- ceived the white man with kindness and treated him with respect and generosity. Without the friendship of the Indians, the infant colony of Massachusetts Bay would have perished in its swaddling bands.

For more than a quarter of a century this feeble colony dwelt in safety and prospered, protected by the ægis of the red man's favor. Not till he felt himself wronged, oppressed, humiliated, cheated, in- sulted, did this hospitable red man wing the deadly arrow or raise the fatal tomahawk against his white neighbor, intruder though he was. Treacherous oftentimes the Indian doubtless was. But was he alone in this? Captain Pasco Chubb, a citizen of Andover, while in command at Pemaquid Fort, at a conference held with representatives from the Penobscot Indians, for the purpose of effecting an exchange of prisoners, deliberately ordered the mas- sacre of these representatives, in which massacre two chiefs were slain. The Indians are accused of being brutal in their treatment of women and children. The accusation is unquestionably true. But are the white people innocent of like brutality ? A brief historical record of nnquestioned veracity will afford some light on this question.

In the year 1675, a company of one thousand men levied by the United Colonies of New England, and led by "the brave Josiah Winslow, a native of New England," invaded the territory of the Narra- gansetts in midwinter, when the snow was at great depth, and the weather bitterly cold. They came

1562

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS

unawares upon a little cluster of wigwams, where the tribe had collected their winter stores, their women and children. Suddenly an attack was made, the feeble palisades were overpassed and the torch hurled into the group of inflammable straw-thatched cabins, amidst carnage and slaughter. "Thus." says Bancroft, "were swept away the humble glories of the Narragansetts, the winter's stores of the tribe, their curiously wrought baskets, full of corn, their famons strings of wampum, their wig- wams nicely lined with mats, -- all the little comforts of savage life were consumed. And more-their old men, their women, their babes, perished by hundreds in the fire. Then, indeed, was the cup of misery full for these red men. Without shelter and with- out food, they hid themselves in a cedar swamp, with no defense against the cold but boughs of ever- green trees. They prowled the forests and pawed up the snow, to gather nuts and acorns" for food. They ate remnants of hors(-flesh to keep from starvation. " Winter and famine and disease consequent on vile diet " destroyed the remnant that had escaped fire and sword of this once proud and numerous tribe of red men-a tribe that for years had been friendly to the white strangers.

Is there anything in the record of the Indian cruelties and barbarities to surpass this story in hor- ror? In the massacre at Deerfield, ever memorable in the carly New England annals, was there anything to compare with this burning of a village, in which hundreds of women and children were roasted alive ?

So far as Andover is concerned, as between her cit- izens and the Indians, in the balancing of the good and evil received each from the other, it would be difficult to find the score against the red man.

CHAPTER CXXIX. ANDOVER-(Continued).

ANDOVER IN THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION.

strange-speaking and acting young women. Fervent prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Barnard, assistant pastor of the church. The young women were ex- horted by him to tell the truth about the sick ness of Mrs. Ballard. Thus solemnly introduced and exhorted in the presence of this large assembly of excited people, they proceeded to mention by name certain persons belonging to the town, charging them with being agents of the devil and causing the sickness of Mrs. Ballard. On this accusation by these two stranger girls, without further evidence or inquiry, and with- out hesitation or delay, a warrant was issued against the persons thus accused, and they were hurried off to Salem Jail. Here they were placed in close con- finement, as if guilty of the most heinous crimes. This was the beginning, so far as Andover was con- corned, of that terrible tragedy, in which, before its close, forty-one of its citizens, including some of the most prominent and worthy in the town, were accused of being in covenant league with Satan, with having signed his book with blood, and with having received baptism at his hand- Many of these accused per- sons, some of them delicate women, were imprisoned for months under severe restraints and persecutions. Eight were condemned to death on account of the injuries inflicted upon others by their alleged con- nection with Satan, of whom one died in prison, one was reprieved and afterwards released, and three were hanged, and their dead bodies ignominiously cast into a common grave. The venerable minister of the town, Rev. Mr. Dane, fell under serious suspicion, while his amiable daughters and granddaughters were accused and imprisoned, and one daughter and granddaughter condemned. Other ladies of the high- est rank and culture in the town suffered the same in- dignity. The fanatical accusers, made bold by their surprising success, struck at the highest personages in the place. Suspicion was cast upon Mr. Dudley Bradstreet, son of Governor Bradstreet, and he was obliged to flee the place to save himself from impris- onment and possible death.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 140

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