History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 169

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 169

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Dr. Kittredge married Susanna Osgood, a sister of Samnel Osgood, a most sensible and large-hearted woman. They had two sons ; Joseph and John, and three daughters, - Martha, who married Dr. Lemuel Le Baron, and Catherine and Maria who married Judge David Cummins.

It has been deemed proper to give this conspicuous and influential citizen a place in the civil history of the town he loved and adorned.

The two sons of Dr. Thomas Kittredge were dis- tinguished physicians also. Joseph, who was born in 1753, was graduated at Dartmonth in' 1806, com- menced practice with his father in 1809, and was the leading physician of the town and the surrounding country until his death, in 1847. He inherited the medical skill of the family and adopted modes of practice by intuition, which was proclaimed and adopted by scientific investigators long after they had become familiar to him. When the European schools advised the use of wine and opium in typhoid fever as a new discovery, they entered on a treatment which he had pursued for years with great success. He was not only a good physician, but he was a public-spirited and influential citizen. He was a sound adviser in town-meetings; he represented the town in General Court, and was a candidate for Con- gress in many hotly-contested elections. Hle invest- ed largely in the manufactures of the place, and managed a large farm in an economical and exemplary manner. Ile was a sincere friend, a courteous gentle- man, a warm-hearted husband and father and an honest man.

Dr. Kittredge married Miss Hannah Hodges, of Salem, daughter of Capt. George Hodges, in 1819 (December 19th). Mrs. Kittredge was distinguished for those sterling qualities which characterize the town in which she was born. She had a strong and well-balanced mind, a kind and charitable disposi-

tion and great personal dignity. 3 ller influence was felt throughout the town, and she contributed largely to the worth and culture of the society in which she moved. She died in 1877, thirty years after her husband, leaving three sons-George Hodges, Joseph, and John-and four daughters.

Of the sons, Joseph, a graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege and the Harvard Medical School, succeeded to his father's practice in North Andover, and secured by his skill and judgment the entire confidence of the town. He died in 1878, leaving two sons,-Thomas, a successful physician and a valuable citizen in Salem, and Joseph, a prosperous and skillful physician in Marblehead.

John, the other of the sons, has long been attach- ed to the Lunatic Asylum at Taunton, an efficient and useful officer.

The daughters of Joseph and Hannah (Hodges), Kittredge are Mary Hodges, Susan, Sarah and Hannah Armstrong. Susan married Dr. George C. S. Choate. The others occupy the fine old estate in North Andover.

After the death of Dr. Thomas Kittredge the town was represented for many years by Stephen Barker William Johnson, Samuel Merrill and others of Fed- eral faith, until about 1830, when the fortunes of po- litical contests varied. The best known of the repre- sentatives from that time to 1850 were George Hodges, Joseph Kittredge, Nathaniel Stevens and William Stevens.

Commencing in 1831, and ending June 10, 1833, one of the most interesting and memorable political contests which have taken place in Massachusetts oc- curred in what at that time was known as the Essex North Congressional District. In this contest North Andover had a peculiar interest, one of her foremost citizens, Gayton P. Osgood, being the candidate of the Democratic or Jackson party during the twelve successive trials which resulted in his election and the defeat of Caleb Cushing, the candidate of the Whig party of that day. The contest was long and bitter, and was characterized by unusual animosity and personal detraction. The opponents of Mr. Cushing were nnsparing in their attacks and criti- cisms; and the opponents of Mr. Osgood were nn- wearied in their efforts to defeat him by adopting candidates who they hoped would demoralize and divide his party. North Andover, though divided at times in her allegiance between Mr. Osgood and Dr. Kittredge, who was substituted for Mr. Cushing dur- ing the trials, at last declared herself by an emphatic vote for Mr. Osgood as against Mr. Cushing, who was again a candidate; and so went the district.

The two representatives of the old town in 1854, the last year before the division, were William Jen- kins and Daniel Carlton.

At this time, on the petition of Amos Abbott and others, the South Parish of Andover was set off into an independent municipality, and was authorized to

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adopt the name of Andover, not on account of its pri- ority of settlement, but as a matter of convenience to the seminary and schools which had received their charters as within the territory of that name. The commi tee chosen to carry out the sentiment of the town in relation to division were Samuel C. Jackson, William Chickering, Marcus Norton, Jr., Solomon llolt and John Aiken, afl residents of the South Parish, to whom, at an adjourned meeting, were added Benjamin F. Jenkins and Daniel Carleton. A fair divi- sion of property was made. a copy of the town record was lodged with the town clerk of North Andover and the new town was organized by mutual consent.

The first town-meeting held in North Andover after the division was held April 23, 1855.

George N. White was chosen moderator ; Hiram Berry, clerk ; Daniel Carleton, James (. Carleton, and Farnham Spofford, selectmen ; lliram Berry, treasurer ; Farnham Spofford, Daniel Weed, Jr., and ffiram Berry, school committee; James Stevens, Jedediah f. Barker and Isaac Wilson, auditors.

The representatives of the town since the division have been : For Senators, Moses P. Stevens, 1867-68 ; George L. Davis, 1874-75; John A. Wiley, 1880-81; Newton P. Frye, 1885. For the House of Represent- atives, Moses T. Stevens, 1861 ; John A. Wiley, 1867 ; B. P. Fannders, 1870; Hiram Berry, 1872; Andrew Smith, 1875; Newton P. Frye, 1878; Thomas K. Gilman, 1880; Frank W. Frisbie, 1883; Newton P. Frye, 1884; Calvin Read, 1885. In most cases the representatives served a second term.

Among the distinguished citizens of North Andover during the period which ended with the division of the town of Andover was the Hon. Gayton Pickman Osgood. Hle was a son of Isaac Osgood and Rebecca 1. |Pickman) Osgood, and was born in Salem, July 4, 1797. fle was fitted for college in North Andover, and was graduated at Harvard in 1815, with high honors, in a class of which John Gorham Paffrey and Jared Sparks were members. He studied law in Falem, and practiced there a short time, when, his health failing, he took up his residence with his father in North Andover, where he resided the remainder of his life. fle abandoned his profession and, being engaged in no business, he led a life of scholarly and elegant leisure and ease. Hle became, however, deeply inter- este in politics, and was one of the most active leaders in the movement in favor of General Jackson for the Presidency, and one of the ablest advocates of the principles of that great Democratie organization which placed Jackson in power. In 1831 he was Honunaton for Congress by the Democracy of the Last A North Congressional District, and was elected after a bing and wir hous campaign and many elec- Los. Hlavijo Leen defeated tor the succession, he retired to private life, at & declined all further public pesitio

cluse : he was not active in society or in the affairs of the town. Beyond his aged father and mother and their family he had few companions. His time was »pent in his large and carefully selected library. His courteous and dignified presence, always in repose, was one of the features of the town. And yet, recluse as he was, his influence was felt throughout the com- munity. His character gave force to his opinions, and without advocacy from him they were adopted. His advice was sought in all public enterprises, and freely though cautiously given. His impressive bear- ing was so without condescension that all classes respected it. He was recognized as a scholar, and his scholarship was acknowledged by the most practical of his townsmen as an ornament to their vocation. lle was recognized as an accomplished critic, and he was a centre around which the cultivated men of the region gathered for advice and sympathy. The Latin and Greek classics constituted a part of his daily reading. Without imagination or creative faculty of his own, he comprehended the genius of the great English poets. From his solitude he watched with keen scrutiny the eloquent utterances of Everett, the masterly statesmanship of Webster, the fervid work of Bancroft, the productions of American authors in every literary walk, as they came upon the stage; and his judgment of them was wise and discriminating- his judgment of their strength and weakness.

The productions of his pen were few and, notwith- standing the severity of his criticism, somewhat florid, but pure. As a public speaker he was strong and convincing, attractive and eloquent. Governed by his convictions, he knew no fear, and never con- sidered the effect of his declarations on his own per- sonal fortunes. When, as a member of Congress, he spoke, it was for his country, and he was always proud of the compliment paid him by Mr. Van Buren, who introduced him to a group of statesmen as "the fearless representative who spoke for the good of his constituents as he understood it, and not for his own success."

Mr. Osgood secured the confidence and esteem of his friends by his sagacity and integrity, and by the manifest sincerity of his opinions. Those of his im- mediate companions and connections who differed from him, and they were many, had no controversy with him, recognizing as they did the broad and firm foundations of his belief, and the dignified intelli- gence with which he maintained them. He was a product of the social stateliness of the Revolutionary and early constitutional period of our country, and re- presented that class which gave great strength to the rural districts, from whence in those days our guides and leaders came. He died June 26, 1861.

CIVIL WAR.

The social and civil current of North Andover ran Ibe ofluence of Mr. Osgood on the town is still , on as usual until the breaking out of the Civil War. wellrem mbered. To a certain extent he was a re- " The obligations which rested upon it in this startling

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event were promptly and liberally fulfilled. At a town-meeting, held May 6, 1861, it was voted to appro- priate five thousand dollars to uniform and equip a company of volunteers, and to provide for their fam- ilies. The men were to receive fifty cents per day while drilling, and ten dollars per month from the date of their muster in to the date of discharge. 1. Osgood Loring, George L. Davis and Moses T. Stevens were appointed a committee to assist the se- lectmen in disbursing the funds. A company was immediately formed.

July 28, 1862, voted to pay a bounty of two hun- dred dollars to each volunteer who should enlist for three years within ten days, and should be credited to the town. August 25th the bounty was increased to two hundred and fifty dollars.

March 8, 1864, voted to raise one hundred and twenty-five dollars for each recruit who shall enlist on or before the 15th of June next to fill out the quota.

July 5, 1864, voted to pay the same bounty to each volunteer who shall enlist as part of the quota of the town prior to March 5, 1865, under any calls of the President.

The town furnished two hundred and fifty men for the war, fifteen more than were called for, of whom thirty-three died, viz. :

Geo. Il. Farnham, April 3, 1862. Thos. Russell, June 4. 1862. Ansell Burnham, Nov. 24, 1862. John Berkeley, Feb. 13, 1863. Otis S. Merrill, Mar. 2, 1863. Chas, W. Cole, Mar. 3, 1863. Andrew J. Fish, Apr. 18, 1863. Nicholas Tuttie, Apr. 25, 1863. Michael IInghes, May 26, 1xG3. Martin Hayward, June, 1863. C. W. Needbam, June 30, 1563. Henry E. Chase, Inly, 1863. John F. Spolford, July 8, 1863. Chas. Lee Foster, Aug. 8, 1863. Ansel Peabody, Ang. 19, 1863. Benj. W. Pingrep, Dec. 14, 1863. Henry W. Stevens, Mar. 11, 1864. Thos. S. Porter, Apr. 16, 1864.

L. G. Phelps, July 22, 1804. G. W. Ray, Sept. 23, 1864. C. W. Bridges, Sept. 24, 1861. Wallace W. Kay, Sept. 25, 1864. J. A. Needham, Dec. 14, 1864. Chas. Angier, Dec. 15, 1804. Abram Hayward, Oct. 1, 1865. Harrison Longley, May 12, 1867. Henry L. Lovejoy, Sept. 1, 1867. Elbridge G. Manning, May 31, 1869.

J. B. Fuller, Mar. 27, 1871. Jos. H. Farnham, Jan. 14, 1873. Danl. L. Plummer, Feb. 4, 1874. W'm. Johnson Damon, July 3, 1875

Chas. K. Hledley, Apr. 30, 1877.

The whole amount of the money raised and spent by the town on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was $40,795.10. The amount of money raised and spent in aid of payment of State aid to families of volunteers during the four years of war, and re- paid by the Commonwealth, $12,936.94.

Among the sons of North Andover who have made themselves distinguished by civil and military ser- vice, and by great qualities in the Civil War, General Isaac 1. Stevens ranks with the foremost. He was a son of Isaac Stevens; was born in 1817; educated at Franklin and Phillips Academics; was appointed a cadet in West Point in 1834 by the Hon. Gayton P. Osgood, at that time member of Congress ; was graduated in 1838, and entered the engineer corps of the army. He was stationed for many years at Newport, R. I., in charge of

Fort Adams; and while there he married Miss Hazard, a lady of talents and accomplishments. In 1853 he was appointed Governor of Washington Ter- ritory by President Pierce, and, in connection with General Frederick W. Lander, surveyed the route now occupied by the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1855 he was returned as a delegate in Congress from that Territory, and distinguished himself by his activ- ity and industry for his constituency in that impor- tant section of the country. He was a Democrat in politics, and took an active part in the campaign of 1860. When the war broke out, in 1861, he entered at once in active military service, and his skill and courage were at once recognized. He was killed at Chantilly, Va., September 1, 1862, while rallying his men.

General Stevens possessed great intellectual pow- ers, which manifested themselves from early boy hood. Ile was in many respects the first scholar of his day at Franklin Academy, and was a favorite of Mr. Simeon Putnam, the most critical of teachers. t)u his entry at West Point he rose to high rank at once, and was graduated with the first honors of his class. In addition to his mathematical genius, which was great, he possessed strong reasoning powers, keenness of perception and the courage of his convictions. His death was sincerely and deeply mourned.

EDUCATION .- In North Andover the attention of the people was turned early to the work of education. Not only were they directed by the order of the court, providing for this " inland plantation." but their own judgment led them to consider how schools should be established and the children taught. The leading men in the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies were well educated, many of them being graduates of English universities, and they set high value on con- cation as the foundation of a civil organization.

" The Legislature, in 1647, considering the great importance of a gen- eral diffusion of knowledge, made provision for free schools by ordering that every township of fifty families shall provide a school, in which children may be taught to read and write; and that every town of a hundred families shall maintain a grammar school, in which youth may be prepared for college, to which another was added in 1683, providing that every township of more than five hundred families should maintain two grammar schools and two writing-schools, a butthen which, consid- ering the feeble means of the colony, and the dark period when it was assumed, was no doubt vastly greater than any similar barthen that has been borne since ; and, when compared with the present wealth of the State, greater than any ono of its civil expenses. It is a singular fact, too, that no legal regnisitions made since, have, even in name and forms, come up to this noble standard established by our poor and suffering forefathers in the middle of the seventeenth century.

"In 1701 it was voted that n convenient school-house be erected at the parting of the ways, by Joseph Wilson's, to be twenty foot long and sixteen feet wide ; and the selectmen were directed to employ a grammar school master from year to year. Soon after the division of the town, the grammar school was kept alternately in ench parish.

" Schools for small children were maintained by subscription in vari- ous parts of the town, and kept by females."

Mr. Dudley Bradstreet was in 1703 selected by the selectmen of the town, teacher of the school provided for by the building near Joseph Wilson's, and he was undoubtedly the first officially appointed teacher in

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the town at least he is the first on record. In the business of teaching he was succeeded by John Bar- nard 1709, Joseph Dorr, William Cooke, Thomas Paine, and in 1718 by Mr. Withum. In the middle of the eighteenth century provision was made for schools in the outlying districts. From that time the district school system was carefully supported and diligently pursued. In them the great mass of the children were educated. The children and youths of each district, ranging in age from ten to twenty-one years, filled the modest school-houses, often to the number of fifty, and most of them closely connected by family ties. The discipline of these schools was usually enforced by great physical energy ; the teach- ers were often the poor and energetic undergraduates of New England colleges, and the pupils were grad- uated with all their natural faculties unimpaired for the active service of life. Out of this primitive system has grown the grading of schools now in vogue in the country, of which the town of North Andover has "six district schools-two of which are graded-making in all thirteen schools, including the grammar schools."

Teaching during the existence of the district school system was a profession adopted by well-educated men as an honorable and useful and somewhat profit- able occupation. Dr. Berry and Mr. Stevens, natives of North Andover, teachers in Nashville, Tenn., and Mr. Henry Osgood in Danvers, were distinguished in their day for their efficiency as teachers of schools of a high order. Mr. Farnham Spofford, a teacher in the district schools of his native town, North Ando- ver for many years, removed in 1827 to Nantucket, where for fourteen years, till 1841, he had charge of the principal grammar school of the island. Without the training of normal schools and without any special education for their task, the-e men, and many others similarly situated, conducted useful and influ- ential schools, advancing many of them, from the grammar school to the academy ; and from the same sphere in life came a faithful and capable class of female teachers, mindful of their domestic duties and family ties-motherly teachers, to whose hearts chil- dren appealed, and whose minds were strong enough for school purposes, and who gave additional reputa- tion to the Fosters and Peterses, whose names they bore. Over all these schools the minister of the par- h kept a watchful eye and exerted a most useful influence. In 1800 Thomas Kittridge, Deacon Ben- 1: 10 Farnum, Samuel Johnson, Michael Parker, Nathan Barker and Jonathan Ingalls were appointed committ e. in addition to the ministers of the gos. pol and do selection of the town, to visit the schools ebilir in the re ulation thereof, and to to the profe'en obdnet and regularity of the n& d to alvie, assist and direct respecting the more, as they shall judge will best promote a vir- that heions . no Vuseful education.

Fro» the hut The beginning of the fathers, North

Andover has advanced to an annual appropriation of $13,300, and to six hundred and eighty-four pupils in all the classes of her schools.

As the demand for higher education increased, the endowment of the academy became quite general in the colonies. The branches taught in these institu- tions constituted the foundation of classical culture in the colleges, gave the youthful minds who pursued them great strength, and established a corps of scholars from whom the distinguished students sprung. The course of study was not extensive, but it had nothing in it which was superfluous or confus- ing. A graduate from an academy found himself prepared to enter at once on the currienlum of the college, and adapted to the companionship of the learned men in those days, who made scholarship a profession. For the practical purposes of life the district school furnished all the necessary accomplish- ments ; but those who occupied the pulpit, and inter- preted and applied the laws, and devoted themselves to the health of the community, pursued a higher course of study, and to a certain degree formed a class by themselves. Their minds seemed to be strength - ened by classical culture, and the educational meth- ods adopted by scholars in the academy and students in the college recognized no royal road to learning. The strongest mental powers were called into action, and when the foundation of academic culture was laid, it was laid for a life-time, and formed a part of the character of him who had laid it. Minds thus cultivated were fitted for any walk in life to which vigorous thought could be applied ; and the strength they acquired by concentrated scholarly discipline enabled them to grasp with ease those minor subjects which belong to daily life.

To these institutions, therefore, the leaders of state and society turned for the mental discipline their duty required. The public high school was unknown. The privately-endowed academy grew up out of the social and civil requirements of the earlier days, ax the State-endowed high and normal schools are the natural growth of these later days. Phillips Academy at Exeter, Phillips Academy at Andover, Dummer Academy at Byfield, Franklin Academy at North Andover all belong to those in- stitutions of learning which are classed with Rugby and Eton, and can boast of sons to whom Christian civilization owes an incalculable debt,-clergymen, jurists, physicians, statesmen, authors, scientists, ethical teachers. The scholar in those days was counted of value to society.

As early as 1787 the establishment of an academy in North Andover began to be discussed, and after the lapse of more than ten years, in 1799, land liber- ally offered hy Jonathan Stevens was accepted for the location, and subscriptions were made for the erection of a building. The school was organized for the education of both sexes, and was called the North Parish Free School until 1803, when, by an

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act of the court, it was named Franklin Academy. The history of the school is almost entirely a matter of tradition. It seems to be well known that Mr. Stowe, of Reading, was the first preceptor, and that he was succeeded in 1800-I by the Rev. James Flint, D.D., afterward a distinguished divine and author of many favorite and beautiful hymns. About 180J-4 Nathaniel Peabody managed the male de- partment and Elizabeth Palmer the female, who were afterwards married, and were the parents of Elizabeth P. Peabody, the well-known writer and philanthro- pist, and Sophia Peabody, the wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Mary Peabody, the wife of Horace Mann. The school, under their tuition, was success ful, and they were long remembered with great affec- tion by the people of the town. Samnel L. Knapp, a graduate of Harvard in 1804, a bright writer, an ec- centric thinker, an enthusiastic author of lives of distinguished lawyers and editor of the Boston Ga- zette, had charge of the school in 1805 and 1806. He was followed by Samuel L. Burnside, afterward a prominent lawyer in Worcester, and James C. Mer- rill, who rose to the distinction of judge.

Following these were David Damon, in 1812, who became an able, eloquent and powerful Uni- tarian preacher, and whose capacity and attainments were the admiration of all who knew him; the Rev. Robert Page; John Cleaveland, brother of the dis- tinguished teacher, Nehemiah Cleaveland, of Tops- field, and afterward a successful lawyer in New York in 1825; and Stephen Coburn in 1826, a graduate of Andover Theological Seminary, a teacher and post- master for many years in Ipswich.

The reputation of the school, however, was made by Simeon Putnam, who took charge about 1817 and continued as teacher until shortly before his death, May 19, 1833, with the exception of a little over a year, 1825-27, during which, on account of a dis- agreement with the trustees, he occupied a building his own. During nearly sixteen years, from 1817 to 1833, Mr. Putnam was the great teacher of youth in the town. He was born in Rutland, Mass., was grad- uated at Harvard in 1811, a contestant with Edward Everett for the first scholarship of the class, and having taken his second degree in 1817, commenced his work as a teacher, for which he was thoroughly accomplished. He believed in discipline and en- deavored to enforce it by means not now recognized as a necessary part of school arrangement. He did not quite understand the limitations of a dull mind, and felt that application alone was necessary to solve the hardest problem and to learn the most difficult lesson. The value of time he believed in, and often advised his scholars to " make time " when they com- plained that the hours were too short for their purposes. For a brilliant scholar, however, he had the warmest affection. He was in immediate sympathy with a fine recitation, and the boy who made it was at once close to his heart. The relations he estab-

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 169

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