History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 170

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 170

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lished between himself and the talented youth who were placed under his care were not those which exist between a teacher and his pupils, but those which bring scholars into a cultivated fraternity, Ilis knowledge of the classics was most accurate, and his faculty for imparting his knowledge was extraordinary. It was his delight to analyze the structure of a sentence, and to solve an idiom, and his rendering of Greek and Latin into English was exact and at the same time graceful and expressive. It has been said that he was harsh-but while he met disobedience with severity and knew no remedy for disorderly con- duct but condign punishment, the encouragement he offered the bright and the obedient was as kindly as the influence of spring upon the face of nature. The tributes paid him by his patrons and pupils were full of kind regard and respect, and were a recognition of the power of great and good qualities to obliterate the memory of petty annoyances and irritations. Over all his life was shed the influence of a stern re- ligious faith to whose requirements he was always obedient. In morals, religion and action, he accus- tomed himself to hew to the line, and he expected those connected with him to follow his example. His books were selected with great care; his horses were swift and spirited ; he rode with precision ; he marshaled boys like a martinet. " If you had been in Bonaparte's army you would have been shot," he said to a clumsy and unfortunate youth, who dropped his books by the way, as he was marching in line from one school building to another.

Among his neighbors and friends, Mr. Putnam met all his obligations with exactness, and discharged his duties liberally and conscientiously. In the social circle his conversation was most attractive-the out- poring of a well-stored and discriminating mind. In his sphere he was an autocrat, and the community in which he lived recognized his power. As a teacher he strengthened many a weak mind and inspired and developed many a strong one. Timothy and Brewster Walker and Cornelius Conway Felton were scholars of whom he was proud ; there were hundreds in whom he took a personal interest through life. He had a keen understanding of the duty of an educator.

In 1827 Mr. Putnam took as an associate teacher the Rev. Cyrus Pierce, who had been a faithful and useful Unitarian clergyman, settled for a long time in North Reading, and subsequently the " father of the normal-school system " of Massachusetts. The sturdy qualities of Mr. Pierce made the association complete.

Mr. Putnam married Abigail S. Fay, of Concord, a sister of Judge . P. P. Fay, a most amiable and in- telligent woman, whose kindly influence was folt wherever she was known. Their children were Rev. Charles S., rector in the Church of the Redeemer, Brooklyn, N. Y., who died in 1860, aged forty-two; Professor John N., of Dartmouth College, a most accomplished Greek scholar and a man of the sweet- est character, who died in 1863, aged forty-one; and

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Samuel P. P. F., a beautiful boy, who died at the age these homes have been taught the rudiments of an of four from an accident.

The other preceptors of the academy were Benjamin Faldy Cotting. 1833; John A. Richardson, 1833-36 ; John White Brown and Charles Allen, 1839-40; John Maynard, 1841-45; Geo. B. Loring, 1841; Hiram Berry, 1845-17. The succeeding teachers were Isaac T. Case and Spencer Wills, of Bowdoin College. The school was given up about 1853, and the old academy building has since been used as a stable to the Brad- street house, the former residence of Mr. Putnam.

Franklin Academy was one of the first schools of this description, in which female scholars were taught and female teachers employed. During its early years a preceptor and a preceptress were engaged, and the academy building was divided into two rooms for their accommodation. The female teachers were some- what distinguished. They were Elizabeth Palmer, to whom allusion has already been made ; Abby Dowse, who was the mother of the Rev. Chandler Robbins and the Rev. Samuel D. Robbins; Susan Bulfinch, Charlotte Verstille, Hannah Bancroft, Joanna Prince, Naney Denney, Adeline and Susan Abbott, daughters of the Rev. Abiel Abbot, of Beverly ; Hannah OFgood, Martha Lincoln, Mary Kendall, Lucy Jane Hamlen.

INDUSTRIES .-- North Andover has always been a prosperous town. Possessed of a good soil, it attracted an industrious and thrifty body of settlers, and it took a foremost rank in agricultural enterprise, when the cultivation of the soil constituted almost the en- tire occupation of the people. The farms have varied in size from ten to three hundred acres, and still re- tain about these proportions. The carly occupants of the land possessed great skill in the selection of good soil, and for many years they were able to raise large crops without expensive fertilizing, or an ex- travagant amount of labor : and the farmers contrib - uted their share of the remarkable crops recorded for Essex County by Colonel Timothy Pickering. The pasturage also was remarkably good. Scattered over the entire territory, from the fertile and well-tilled lands lying cast of the Great Pond to the boundary now drawn between the two towns, was a body of yeomanry who secured an ample subsistence from well managed farms. Their homesteads were in good order and constructed with ample proportions; and they constituted a rural population which, in intelli- vence and resolution, in good order and business sue- .es, could not be surpassed. The history of their farms and Com & is a tale of industry and economy, of commanding inflience and energy which have aftered into every great enterprise in our country. While the fathers bave pursued their quiet avocations at home, the sous have gone forth to broader fields and moore constru u service, having learned the Jessen that the sam qualities which sceure success in a narrow sphere wol avail in a large one. In the recreos of these tarmos has been reared many a she- cestu mer hate ; in the domestic intelligence of

education which has often broadened into the capacity and culture required by influential public service.

Formerly the agriculture of the town consisted in the raising of the ordinary products required for subsistence and the local markets. The orchard, the cornfield, the meadow all contributed their propor- tion, and dairying was esteemed a profitable pursuit. Recently all this enterprise has been diversified, and largely increased by the great local markets which have gathered in the neighborhood, and the growing wealth of the people has converted many of the farms into estates. The North Andover of to-day is not only a good farming town, but presents a most beautiful and attractive landscape, charming enough by nature, but most charming from cultivation.

In the mean time manufactures have increased to a great extent. From the primitive mills of Joseph Parker and Stephen Johnson, who dammed the Cochichewiek in 1671 or thereabouts, the growth of mill property has been enormous. It is unnecessary to recall the long list of mill-sites, of which nothing now remains but a decayed timber or the grassy mounds which once restrained the water. Grist-mills were always encouraged by the colonies, and they multiplied on every stream. Fulling-mills were a necessity also. But the spinning and weaving were performed by members of the family, the flax and wool being raised on the farm-and here and there a weaving-room and spinning-wheel, long gone into disuse, may be found in the ancient houses. The later attempts at the manufacture of paper and pow- der were not entirely successful, and gradually the water power of the town was devoted to turning the wheels of woolen-mills and machine-shops. The early founders of the woolen industry seem to have been attracted by the Cochichewick, and some of the most skillful of those who came from England to pursue this business established themselves here. Arthur, John and James Scholfield were the pioncers, and it was they who gave the first real impetus to that industry which has at last grown to such huge proportions. They bought land in Andover, on the Clochichewick and Shawshin, set up their carding- machines, but ultimately joined Nathaniel Stevens in his more capacious and better organized building on the same stream. On the site of the primitive card- ing-mill has grown up a large manufacturing estab- lishment, and the Stevens Mill has grown into an imposing structure, well-equipped and successfully manazed.

The pioneer in all this enterprise was undoubtedly Nathaniel Stevens. He was born in North Andover, October 18, 1786, a son of Jonathan Stevens ; was edu- cated at Franklin Academy with his brothers Wil- liam, who was graduated at Harvard in 1819, and was for a long time judge of the Municipal Court at Law- rence, and Isaac, who was distinguished as a philanthro-

1685

NORTH ANDOVER.

pist and reformer, He commenced life as a seaman, making a voyage to Leghorn in 1804, and afterwards a trader in his native town from 1810 to 1812. In 1815 he married Miss Harriet Hale, daughter of Moses Hale, of Chelmsford, having, in 1813, through the ad- vice of his father-in-law, embarked in the manufac- turing of flannels. Having engaged James Scholfield to manage his mill, he united with Dr. Joseph Kit- tredge and Josiah Monroe in conducting the business. Captain Stevens (a title which he acquired from com- manding a company of militia in 1815) was the first to introduce American-made flannels into the market. In spite of the discouragements of small capital, nar- row quarters, a market flooded with foreign goods and the adverse counsels of his friends, he persevered and lived long enough to witness a handsome fortune of his own, and a national woolen industry employing profitably millions of dollars of capital and thousands of operatives enjoying the comforts which attend labor in the United States under the fostering care of a protective tariff. As his business increased, his bounty was bestowed on all the worthy objects of the town. He encouraged internal improvements, cared for the poor, cultivated with great success his ances- tral acres, was a model of industry and energy. He never felt fatigue, he said, " until he was fifty years old." He believed in the value of sound learning, and he gave his numerous family the best education to be found. In politics he was an ardent Democrat, a supporter of Jackson, and a most formidable an- tagonist in debate whenever called on to defend the policy of his administration, and when in his old age he found his country iu danger of disruption, his loy- alty was fervid, his hand was ever open to support the flag, and his voice was raised in defense of the princi- ples for which the war was fought. He died in 1865.

Capt. Stevens left five sons, all of whom engaged in the business of manufacturing,-Charles A. Stevens, an enterprising manufacturer at Ware, Mass., for some years a member of the Governor's Council; Henry H. Stevens, the founder of an extensive linen- mill in Douglas, Mass. ; Moses T. Stevens, the owner of the largest private woolen establishment in the country, formerly a Senator from Essex County and Representative from North Andover; George Stevens and Horace N. Stevens, both of whom were connected with the business in North Andover and who died in middle life. Ile also left three daughters, Julia Maria, who married the Rev. Sylvan S. Ilunting ; Catharine, who married the Hon. Oliver Stevens ; Ann Eliza, who married John H. D. Smith.

A contemporary of Capt. Stevens was Abraham Marland, who at one time carried on a mill in North Andover.

Next in order on the Cochichewick comes the ma- chine shop established in 1836 on the privilege owned hy Isaac Osgood and occupied by his grist-mill. The founders of the machine shop were Charles Barnes, George H. Gilbert and Parker Richardson. The

property underwent several changes until, in 1851, George L. Davis and Charles Furber bought the en- tire interest. Mr. Furber died in 1857 and his place in the firm was filled by Daniel T. Gage and John A. Wiley, the former of whom withdrew in 1860. In January, 1861, Joseph M. Stone, of Manchester, N. II., became a partner; and in 1867 George G. Davis, Joseph HI, Stone and James H. Davis became men- bers of the firm. Since that time George G. Davis has withdrawn to business in Boston, and in 1886 James II. Davis died

This concern bas been remarkably prosperous and has organized a manufacturing village of large pro- portions and great industry. The partners in the business have all been most exemplary men,-accur- ate and trustworthy in business, useful members of society, and several of them having rendered valu- able service to the State in the Senate and House of Representatives. The founder, the Hon. George L. Davis, still lives to enjoy the ample returns of his business, and the respect and esteem of a community in which he has for a long time been a generous benefactor and a faithful supporter of Christian in- stitutions.

Below this " Machine-Shop Village" stands the North Andover Mill, erected near the site of the old stone mill, which was occupied in 1828 by George Hodges and Edward Pranker. In 1839 the new mill, a large brick structure, was put in operation, and was owned by a company consisting of Eben Sutton, Dr. Joseph Kittredge and George Hodges. This property fell mainly into the hands of Eben Sutton, and together with the Sutton Mill, lower down the stream, consti- tuted a part of the large estate left by Eben Sutton at his death, in November, 1864. The management of this property is now in the hands of General Eben Sutton, a son of General William Sutton, and a nephew of the final founder of the mills.

The three woolen-mills on the Cochichewick em- ploy about three hundred and twenty operatives and manufacture about 1,050,000 pounds of wool.

WITCHCRAFT .- A belief in a personal devil and his agents on carth was a prevailing idea among the Puritans,-an idea which they did not leave behind them when they came to America. Demonology had played a prominent part in every form of faith in the East, from the earliest days. It was worked into Greek philosophy and poetry, and when Christianity dawn- ed, the doctrine of demons was accepted as a nec- cessary element of religions life. The supernatural possessed an indescribable charm, and conjurers and sorcerers and exorcists were considered as important in society as lawyers and the whole order of priest- craft. An epidemic witchcraft broke out in 1374, in France, in which great groups of festive men and women became entranced. For more than two cen- turies all Europe was apparently overrun with sor- cerers and witches, thousands of witches suffering death by fire annually. In the reign of Francis I.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

more than one hundred thousand witches are said to have been put to death. Demoniacal traditions were brought to this country by the early settlers, and the frightful judicial discipline applied in Essex County in 1692, although of comparatively small extent, cot stitutes a painful chapter in our colonial history, mitigated only by the fact that here alone in the world the delusion was suppressed by the popular voice-and suppressed completely -- while it still lingered in many parts of Europe.

The Tragedy of 1692, usually attributed to Salem, was enacted also in North Andover. More than fifty persons were complained of there, and Dudley Brad- street, the magistrate who refused to grant more war- rants, was obliged to fee for his life. A recital of the experiences of persons belonging to North Andover will give a clear and definite idea of the widespread ontrage in which this town was involved.

Nahemiah Abbot was taken to Salem for trial, April 22, 1692, and the following is his examination :

" What say you, are you guilty of witchcraft, of which you are sus- pwcted or not? No, sir. I say before God, before whom I stand, that I know nothing of witchcraft. Who is this man ? Ann Putnam named him. Mary Wolcott said she hudl seen his shape. What do you say to this ? I never did hurt them. Who hurt yon, Ann Putnam? That man. Inever hurt her. Aun Putnam said he is upon the beam, just such a discovery of the persons carried out she confessed; and if you winild find merry of God you must confess. If I sboull confess this 1 must confess what is false. Tell how far yon have gone ; who hurts you? I du not know. } atu absolutely free. As you say, God knows. If you will confess the truth, we desire nothing else, that you may not hide your guilt, if you are guilty, and therefore confess, if so. I sprak before God, that I am clear from this accusation. What, in all respecta ? Yen, in all respects. Doth this man hurt you? Their mouths were stopped. You hear several accuse, though one cannot open her mouth. I um altogether free. Charge him not, unless it be he. This is the man hay some, and > mme say he is very like him. How did you know his mamno ? He did not tell me hinself, but other witches told me ! Ann Putnam said it is the same man, and then she was taken in a fit. Mary Wolcot , is this the man" He is like him, I cannot say it is be Morey Lewis said, it is not the man. They all agreed the man had a bunch in his eyes. Ann Putnam in a fit, said, Be you the man? Ay, do yon say you be the man ? Did you put mist before my eyes? Then he was sent forth till several others were examined. When he was brought in again, by reason of much people and many in the windows so that the ureusers could not have a clear view of Inm, he was udried to be abroad, and the acrusers to go forth to him and view him in the light, which they did, and in the presence of the mingi trute and many others, discoursed quietly with him, one all alla quitting him but yet sand he was like that man, but he lud not th woon they saw in his apparition.

' Nete He was a hilly-faced man, and stood shaded by reason of Il own ho . - thit Uten tine he seemed to some by-standers and Herve t I came ly like the person the afflicted did describe. Mi -00090la 4, in dest ed to take in writing the examination 1 Na m \ 10, Etkins mot aforesaid, and unun hearing the

' Jay Hawch 1: + / Assistants."

A- a Baby somwl to this jury m comes another Examens peber 2, 1692, before the same John Hastgorde and his associates-this time of a most Jepery woun, Mary Ogod. wife of a worthy mas. Com Osrodd, and bearing a name whidebes ber ku wient this day is a synonym of JE fere Aselor and Chris ian virtues.

choly state and condition, she used to walk abroad in her orchard; and upon a certain time she saw the appearance of a cat, at the end of the house, which yet she thought was a real cat. However, at that time, it diverted her from praying to God, and instead thereof she prayed to the devil ; about which time she made a covenant with the devil, who as a black man came to her and presented her a book, upon which she laid her finger, and that left a red spot ; and that upon her signing the devil told her he was her god, and that she should serve and worship him ; aml she believes she consented to it. She says further that about two years agone, she was carried through the air in company with Deacon Frye's wife, Ebenezer Barker's wife, and Goody Tyler, to five-mile pomul, where she was baptized by the devil, who dipt her face in the water and made her renounce her former baptism, and told her she must be his, soul and body, forever, and that she must serve him, which she promised to do. She says the renouncing her first baptism was after her dipping, and that she was transported back again through the air, in company with the forenamed persons in the same manner as she went, and believes they were carried upon a pole. Q. How many persons were upon the pole ? A. As I have said before, viz., four persons and no more, but whom she had named above. She confesses she has afflicted three persons, John Sawdy, Martha Sprague and Rose Foster, and that she did it by pinching her bed-clothes and giving consent the devil should do it in her shape, and that the devil could not do it with- out her consent. She confesses the afflicting persons in the conrt by the glance of her eye. She says as she was coming down to Salem to be ex- amined she and the rest of the company with her slopped at Mr. Phil- lips', to refresh themselves, and the afflicted persons being behind them upin the road, came up just as she was mounting again, and were then afflicted, and cried out upon her, so that she was forced to stay until they were all past, and said she only looked that way towards them. Q. Do yon know the devil can take the shape of an innocent person and afflict ? .1. I believe he cannot. Q. Who taught you this way of witchcraft ? .1. Satan ; and that he promised her abundance of satisfaction and quiet- ness in her future state, but never performed anything ; and that she has lived more miserably and more discontented since than ever before. She confesses further that she herself, in company with Goody Parker, Goody Tyler and Goody Dean, had a meeting at Moses Tyler's house last Monday night, to afflict, and that she and Goody Dean carried the shape of Mr. Dean, the minister, between them, to make persons believe that Mr. Denn afflicted. Q. What hindered you from accomplishing what yon intended ? . 1. The Lord would not suffer it so to be ; that the devil should atlliet in an innocent person's shape. Q. Have you been at any other witch-meetings? A. I know nothing thereof, as I shall answer in the presence of God and his people : but said, that the black man stood before her, and told her that what she had confessed was a liv ; notwithstanding, she said that what she hiu confessed was true, and there to put her hand. Her husband being present was asked, if he judged his wife to be in any way discomposed. He answered, that hav - ing lived with her so long, he doth not judge her to be any way discom- posed, but has to believe what she has said is true. When Mistress Osgood was first called, she afflicted Martha Sprague and Rose Foster by the glaner of her eyes, and recovered them out of their fits by the touch of her hand. Mary Lacey and Betty JJohnston and Hannah Post saw Mistress Osgood afflieting Sprague and Foster. The sand Mary Lacey and Hannah Post and Betty Johnson, jun., and Rose Foster and Mary Richardson were afflicted by Mistress Osgood, in the time of their ex- amination, und recovered by ber touching of their hands.

" I, underwritten, being appointed by anth rity to take this examina- tion, do testify upon oath, taken in court, that this is a true copy of the substance of it, to the best of my knowledge. January 5, 1692-93. The within Mary Osgood was examined before their Majesty's justices of the prace in Salem.

" Attest, JonN IFieGINSON, Just. Pac."

The following recantation made by these unhappy women presents a most humiliating spectacle of the arrogance of one side and the pitiable demoralization of the other, and fills us with indignation and shame alike :

" Wie a host names are underwritten, inhabitants of Andover ; when as that horrible and tremendous judgment, beginning at Salem Village in the year 1692, by some called witchcraft, first breaking forth at Mr. Pais house, several young persons, being seemingly afflicted, did accuse several persons for afflicting them, and many there believing it to be so, we hving informed that if a person was sick, the afflicted person could

Bandy Loving

1687

NORTH ANDOVER.

tell what or wbo was the cause of that sickness ; Joseph Ballard, of Andover, 'his wife being sick at the same time, be either from himself or by the advice of others, fetched two of the persons called the afflicted persons from Salem Village to Audover, which was the beginning of that dreadful calamity that befel us in Andover, believing the said accu- sations to be true, sent for the said persons to come over to the meet-

Ing-house in Andover, the afflicted persons being there. After Mr. Barnard had been at prayer, we were blindfolded, and our hands were laid on the afflicted persons, they being in their fits and falling in their fits at our coming into their presence, as they said; and some led us and laid our hands upon them, and then they said they were well, and that we were guilty of afflicting them Whereupon we were all seized as prisoners, by a warrant from the justice of the peace and forthwith carried to Salem. And, by reason of that sudden surprisal, we knowing ourselves altogether innocent of that crime, we were all exceedingly astonished and amazed, and consternated and affrighted out of our reason ; and our nearest and dearest relations, seeing us in that dreadful condition, and knowing our great danger, apprehended there was no other way of saving our lives, as the case was then circum- stanced, but by our confessing ourselves to be such and such persons as the afflicted represented us to be, they, out of tenderness and pity, persuaded ns to confess what we did confess. And, indeed, that confes- sion that it is said we made was no other than what was suggested to us by some gentlemen, they telling us that we were witches, and they knew it, which made us think that it was so ; and our understandings, our reason, our faculties almost gone, we were not capable of judging of our condition ; as also the hard measures they used with us rendered us incapable of making our defense, but said anything and everything which they desired, and most of what we said, was in effect a consent- ing to what they said. Some time after, when we were better composed, they telling us what we had confessed, we did profess that we were innocent and ignorant of such things; and we hearing that Samnel Wardwell had renounced his confession, and quickly after condemned and executed, some of us were told we were going after Wardwell. Mary Osgood, Deliverance Dane, Sarah Wilson, Mary Tyler, Abigail Barker, Hannah Tyler."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 170

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