History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 172

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 172

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others who died during these years. These speeches were elaborately prepared, and were denominated in certain quarters " Legislative Orations."

Dr. Loring's Senatorial service ended in 1876, and he entered at once on a campaign for Congress in the Sixth Massachusetts District. The district was in the hands of the Democratic party, which was ably rep- resented by the Hon. Charles P. Thompson, of Glou- cester. The contest was conducted with great vigor by Dr. Loring, who presented his argument in favor of the Republican candidate for the Presidency and the platform of the party so forcibly that he was elected by a majority of twelve hundred votes. Ile took his seat in the Forty-fifth Congress and was re-elected to the Forty-sixth. During his Congression- al service his speeches commanded the attention of the House. His argument on the currency question in favor of resumption, in November, 1877, was pro- nounced at the time to be one of the most compre- hensive and powerful arguments made on that sub- jeet. There is space ouly for a single excerpt, touching our commercial relations with other countries :

"But we are warned, Mr. Speaker, that the time has now arrived when the United States can establish an independent financial basis, and subdning all commercial nations to her own system, cun sit in triumph over a universal monetary empire of their own creating. Now, sir, if this were necessary even, it is impossible. When our bomls were first placed nyon the European markets during the war, they were obliged to meet the great discrepancy which then existed between our paper currency and coin. The existence of war was an impediment, it is true, to favor- able negotiation. The disturbed condition of the country had injured our credit. But the fact that we were using as legal-tender a currency vastly depreciated at home, which might at any moment be forced npon the holders of our securities, was the foremost obstacle to our financiul success. We were then running a system of our own, and were obliged to pay the price for that luxury. Can we expect to change this painral law of financial intercourse by legislative enactments and bend all poli - cies to our own ? No, gentlemen, the attempt to set aside the commercinl laws of the world is a reflection nowon the commercial wisdom of those nations with whom we are compelled to deal, and is sure to cast discredit upon ourselves. The best commercial relations are established by a monetary system as nearly uniform as possible between those nations which are engaged in commercial transactions. Our trade is becoming more and more intimately connected with the great markets of the world. Can auy man suppose that this trade can be advantageonsly vondneted by placing ourselves in discredit, while we are offering bills of exchange drawn on us in the conduet of our internal affairs ? I think not. My anticipations with regard to the future of this country will not allow me to entertain a thought of such folly, even through a mistaken policy. The time, I doubt nut, is rapidly approaching when the im- mense resources of our land will so far euter into the commerce of the world that the controlling financial forces will be turned into our hands. It is not unreasonable to suppose that our supply to foreign markets will for the future far exceed our demail upon them. The growth of our great inland States, with all the arcuumlation of productions which increns- ing skill and untiring energy can create, must necessarily stimulate a commercial activity which for power and extent has hardly yet been equaled. The unrivaled channels of communication which make this continent a commercial highway most of necessity be occupied, Det only by our local traffic, but by that tide of trade which has for so many ages srt from east to west, and only now requires mercantile enterprise and mercantile solvency to be turned in the opposite direction. When- ever we honestly and firmly place ourselves in accord with the great commercial nations of the earth, and inito with them in supporting 4 standard of value on which they can all rely, the time will have ar- rived which will ultimately give na the controlling financial power of the world."

His speech in favor of an appropriation to rebuild William and Mary College was most enthusiastically

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

received by the entire House, and won for its author a high reputation as a scholar, and the warm respect of educated men in every State in the Union, as well as the deep gratitude of the sons of Virginia every- where. His eulogy on Judge Collamer, on the pres- entation of his statue by the State of Vermont, was a just and eloquent tribute to that distinguished states- man. His defense of Massachusetts made a great impression on the House, and refuted completely the charges of disfranchisement and disloyalty which had been made against her. And his support of all measures conducive to the development of agriculture always met with a warm and favorable response on the part of the House.

In his defense of Massachusetts, January 20, 1881, he said :

" Now, sir, how could a State, animated by this force, fail to make itself felt in all the great crises which have attended the formation and growth of that free republic of which it foris a part ? As a colony, Massachusetts was always heard when the great occasion called for utterance, and always responded to the high and honorable appeal of other. Toru and riven by internal contentions, tossed on a sea of eccle- minstical controversy, this colony of school-houses and meeting-houses presented always a solid front for popular right and privilege. The peo- ple of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay werea valiant as well as a god- ly people They carried the 'sword of the Lord and of Hideon,' as their romruudles and brothers did at Marston Moor and Naseby, and they believed as much in the courage of Miles Standish as they did in the holiness of Elder Brewster. During the two centuries and a half of their existence on this continent they have been ready at any time to gird on the sword. In the early Indian wars they traversed the for- enty with the fatal persistency of the slow hound, from the waters of the bay to the Green Mountains, and from the blazing towns of Bris. tol and Essex to the eastern lakes, upon whose bosoms fall the shad- owa of gamerstiens and Mount Washington. In the last great strug- gle of France to retain her foothold on this continent Massachusetts sul- diera stormed Abraham lirights with Wolfe, and cherished his memory for generations in their households ; the merchants of Massachusetts supple I the outfit for the mege of Louisbourg, and left behind them, as a proud momento for their sons, the tokens of regard for their devo- tion bestowed upon them hy the Colonial Legislature ; and to-day the Senate of Mass husetts, as it assembles in its chamber, phases beneath the Puritan drum which beat the tattoo, and the Puritan musket which Dinard in the line when the power of the mother country was ustal- Ished along the waters of the st. Lawrence and far on toward the

. The history of mankind is radiant with its record

of great derds and insjøring endeavor, but not one can ontshine that wonderful pelure of devotion and valor where a little band of Puritan Lustes detied the military authority of Great Britain and fired that first gon whose echoes roused the colonies and brought New England it. ! New York, New Jersey and Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virgima, Mary and and the Carolinas and Georgia into a sacred association, where m mentes are still fondly cherished And whose bowl is not yet

As pertinent to the vital issues of to-day, it may be w. Um this connection to give one or two illustrations d' Dr. Loring's thoughts on the subject of " American lowastry," the first of which was delivered in the How of Representatives, May 23, 1878:

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that under the protection of good government their skilled labor would meet with an ample reward. That policy to which I have alluded, as declared by the founders of our Government, bonght over from the mills of England and Scotland, in the early days of the Republic, a thrifty, skillful and ingenious race of men, who planted the seeds of our manufactures all along the water-courses of New England. And the sime policy has made the ocean a highway for the laboring classes of Europe as they pass from the narrow lanes of the Old World into the broad avenues to social and civil elevation, which citizenship under a free government offers, We have reason to be grateful to our fathers for the high virtues which they exercised, for their wisdom and for their great accomplishments. But they performed no higher service than when they declared it to be the duty of government to protect its own people in all their industries, and thus to preserve those characteristics which constitute, in every variety, the nations of the earth. . .

It was with them a question of how best to establish, and invigorate an American nationality as distinct from every other nationality ; and as they surveyed with prond gaze the great social and civil system which they had founded, they resolved to surround it with every necessary sup- port, to the end that its grand design might be accomplished ; and so far as France preserves her very life-blood by protecting her own artisans and manufactures against foreign competition, and England protects her cheap labor and great masses of capital against the skilled pro- ducts of more favorable latitudes, so they resolved that the toiling citi- zen, the dearer capital and the better paid laborer of America should at Jeust try the great experiment unmolested."

And this from his speech at the Cooper Institute, New York, November 29, 1881 :

" It is the intimate relation between agriculture and manufactures which makes general farming what it is, and will gradually make American farmning what it should be. The benefit, moreover, which the manufacturer derives from his free and intimate relations with the agrieniture of the country cannot be overlooked. On the one hand, drawing his raw material largely from the immense and various resources of our country-iron, cotton, wool, hides, etc .; and on the other hand, finding a home market in the great agricultural regions, the American manufacturer possesses opportunities and advantages hardly known to any other country on earth, and illustrating most forcibly the self-sup- porting power of our people. So closely are these interests united that what benefits one naturally benefits both. What injures one injures both. The same policy which has been extended over our mills has been extended also over our fields, and the result in both cases will demon- strate its true value. While the American manufacturer has furnished the American farmer with almost all his necessary articles, such as cot- ton goods and fabrics, boots and shoes, axes, forks, spades, shovels, hoes, harrows, plows, rakes, cultivators, rrapers, mowers, wagons, tinware, glassware, etr , cheaper than they can be purchased in the English mar- kot, the American farmer has furnished his products, wool, cotton, provisions, grain, &c., at rates established by our own supply and de- mand, and not in accordance with rates fixed abroad. The traffic is frow and equal, and it is between parties enjoying equal privileges and opportunities ; rates of interest, wages of labor, taxes, social and civil expenses, all being regulated by one system and varying only with different localities."

In 1881 Dr. Loring was appointed United States Comnussioner of Agriculture by President Garfield, who gave him his commission and instructions the day before he was mortally wounded. The instruc- tions of the President were strong and carnest for the enlargement and development of the department, and to this work Dr. Loring applied him-elf with great diligence until the close of his official career as commissioner, April, 1885. Under his guidance the department secured the respect and confidence of the American people, and was referred to abroad as a model organization of the kind. In the collection and arrange ment of statistics it advanced to the front rank, and was considered authority on industrial matters that came before it. In the investigation of the annual industry of the country, and into the

George & Davi

1693

NORTH ANDOVER.

nature and danger of animal diseases, it secured con- fidence and collected a large fund of valuable infor- mation. In the examination of the sugar-producing qualities of various plants it secured the reputation of carrying on fair, dispassionate and useful experiments. In all entomologieal and botanical work it obtained the best scientific aid, and' Congress manifested a growing confidence in the department by increasing its appropriations from year to year, often beyond the estimates of the commissioner.

Meanwhile the amount of work which Dr. Loring did outside of the department was very large. In many of the States he delivered addresses on ques- tions relating to agriculture, and joined the boards and associations in their deliberations for the benefit of that industry. He discussed the industries of the South at the exhibition at Atlanta in ISS1; he ad- dressed the Mississippi Valley Sorghum-growers in 1862 ; the Cattle Association at Chicago in 1862; the Dairy Association of Iowa in 1863; the American Forestry Association at Cincinnati in 1862; at St. Paul in 1863, at Montreal in 1864, besides speaking at many State fairs from Wisconsin to South Carolina.

In 1872 Dr. Loring was appointed Centennial Com- missioner for the State of Massachusetts, and was placed on the executive committee of the commission, where he served until the close of the exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.

Dr. Loring was first married in November, 1851, to Mary Toppan Pickman, daughter of Dr. Thoma+ and Sophia (Palmer) Pickman, a most brilliant and accomplished woman, who died December I, 1878, leaving one daughter, Sallie Pickman Loring. In 1880 he married Mrs. Anna Smith Hildreth, of New York, whose rare social gifts and hospitality have made his home a centre of great enjoyment and hap- piness.

Dr. Loring still takes an active part in the public discussions of the day, and a portion of his contribu- tions to the literature of the times may be found in the "History of Literature in Salem," in this volume.

HON. GEORGE L. DAVIS.

The subject of this sketch was a farmer's son, born in Oxford, Mass., in 1816. He descended in a direct line from William Davis, who came from Wales to this country about 1635, and settled in Roxbury, Mass.

Ilis boyhood days were spent upon his father's farm, and to the discipline which farm-labor brought, together with the guidance and moral training given by noble Christian parents, is largely due his physi- eal strength, sterling integrity and large business capacity.

Ile was educated in the common schools of his native town principally, only enjoying for a short time the privilege of a select school. When eighteen years old he taught the village school in the neigh-

boring town of Sutton, Mass .; Fut deciding that a business career was preferable to that of teaching, and that a trade might be " a stepping stone " to busi- ness, he left home, with his parents' consent, in the spring of 1835, for Andover, where he went to work for the then well-known firm of Barnes, Gilbert & Richardson, machinery builders, to learn the machi- nist's trade. In the spring of 1836 his employers re- moved their business to North Andover, to their new shop. In 1841, when the old firm dissolved, Mr. Davis became the junior member of the succeeding firm of Gilbert, Gleason & Davis. In 1851 this firm dissolved, and a new co-partnership was formed with Mr. Davis as senior partner, and one associate, Mr. Charles Furber, under the firm-name of Davis & Furber, continuing the business of building wool machinery, at the same place. The firm of Davis & Furber was successful and continued without interrup- tion until the death of Mr. Furber, in 1857.

This was a sad loss to Mr. Davis, as in the death of his partner he parted with a true friend, an honest, upright man, a most genial and kind business part- ner, and a good business adviser. After the death of Mr. Furber, still keeping the old firm-name of Davis & Furber, he associated with himself John A. Wiley and D. T. Gage, and continued the business of manu- facturing wool machinery. In 1860 Mr. Gage with- drew, and in 1861 Joseph M. Stone entered the firm, and this last co-partnership continued until 1882, when the corporation of the Davis & Furber Machine Company was formed, with Mr, Wiley as president and Mr. Davis as treasurer. The business of this cor- poration is the manufacture of wool machinery, shaft- ing, pulleys and all kinds of card clothing. Com- mencing business with limited means and a small water privilege, the firm, in its successful growth, has seen the thriving village of North Andover grow up around it, the city of Lawrence spring into existence and develop into a large manufacturing centre, and the entire manufacturing business of the country reach its now extensive proportions, to all of which this firm has very largely contributed. They began with a very few men, but have gradually increased and enlarged, until now in their shops and foundries they employ a large number of men. But Mr. Davis is not only well known in business circles, but has been widely an influential man in other respects. He has always resided in North Andover, and early in life became actively identified in all religious, edu- cational and charitable matters. He has been an active member of the Congregational Church in North Andover for many years, and was deacon of that church from 1857 to 1885. The firm were large contributors when the new church building was erected, in 1865.

Mr. Davis is a large stockholder in the Bay State National Bank, of Lawrence, and for some twenty years has been its president. In politics he has always been a Republican, and his party, honoring

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

him and his ability, have sent him four times to the State Senate ; he was elected and served in the sessions of 1859 and 1860, and also 1875 and 1876. During all four terms he ranked well as a Senator and held im- portant committeeships.

CHAPTER CXL,

GROVELAND.

BY WILLIAM T. DAVIS.

ON the 4th of September, 1639, the town of Rowley,

On the 18th of April, 1670, it was voted by the which had been settled by Rev. Ezekiel Rogers with | townsmen that "Sargent Gage, Robert Haseltine, Benjamin Kimball, Thomas Kimball, John Simmonds, Nicholas Walington, and John Griffing be chosen for the ordering, setting up and furnishing of a Meighting House according to their best discretion for the good of the town."

about sixty families, and which was called for a time Rogers' Plantation, was incorporated. It ineluded the territory now occupied by the towns of Rowley, Georgetown, Groveland, Boxford and Bradford. The name of Rowley was adopted in honor of Mr. Rogers, who had come from Rowley, a parish of East Riding, Yorkshire, England, Among the companions of Mr. Rogers were John and Robert Hazeltine and William Wilde, and in 1649 these three men, desirous of more land, sought the rich meadows and fields along the Merrimac, in the Indian territory of Pentucket, for a permanent settlement. They received grants from the town of Rowley, each of forty acres of upland, the use of the commons for twenty head of cattle for each, and also for each twenty acres of meadows, one thon- sand pipestaves annually, for seven years, from 1649, timber for building a house and for fencing and fire- wood.

As the number of settlers in Rowley village, on the Merrimac, increased, the name of the settlement was changed to Merrimac and finally to Bradford. The first mention of the name " Bradford" in the Massa- chusetts records is under date of October 13, 1675, in the list of rates for expenses of King Philip's War, but the name is mentioned in the town records as early as 1665. It took its name from Bradford in England, the native town of some of the early set- tlers. The incorporation of the town is expressed in the following or ler passed by the General Court May 27. 1668:

" In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Rowley, living over against Haverhill, the Court, having considered the petition, perused en to en ut Rowley's grant to the pe tioners, heard Rowley's Deputy nol ala con writing went from Rowley with what els hath hogyte forthe ve, dos find that there is liberty granted to the petitlong by the town of Rowley to provide themselves of a minister mid land11 for brase them from the township when they are ue as her mel arithere to see not, but tos Court may grant the pomodois to beat woli proved they de gett and the an able od Is mim ni ont une Do maynte che him or els to re-

A meeting of the town is recorded as having been bebl bruary 20, 1665-69, at which Thomas Kimball was chosen constable; John Gage, Robert Haseltine,

Joseph Pike, John Griffing and John Tenney, select- men ; Joseph Pike, clerk of writs ; Samuel Worcester, Benjamin Gage, Benjamin Kimball and David Hasel- tine, overseers.

In 1667 or 1668, Rev. Zachariah Symmes was en- gaged as pastor, with a salary of €40, one-half of which was to be paid in wheat, pork, butter and cheese and the other half in eorn and cattle. During the first two years religious services were held in a pri- vate house, perhaps in the parsonage which was built at onee after the arrival of Mr. Symmies and under his direction. Another parsonage was built opposite the old cemetery in 1708, which is described as being forty-six feet by twenty, with fifteen feet stud and four " chimbleys."

The erection of a meeting-house had been in con- templation several years, as is shown by a vote passed January 5, 1665, the preamble of which is : " Where- as, John Haseltine, sen., of Haverhill, having given ye inhabitants of ye town of Bradford one acre of land to set their meeting-house on, and for a burying place," etc.

Notwithstanding the church had been practically in existence since 1668, and had since that time lis- tened to the preaching of their pastor, Mr. Symmes, it was not until the 27th of December, 1682, that it was formally organized. On the same day Mr. Symmes was ordained. Those subscribing the creed were Zachariah Symmes, Samnel Stickney, John Tennie, John Simmons, Wm. Huchence, Joseph Pal- mer, Thomas West, David IIaseltine, Richard Hall, John Watson, Samuel Haseltine. Robert Haseltine, Joseph Bailey, Abraham Haseltine, Benjamin Kim- ball, Robert Savory, John Hardy and John Boynton. In 1705, Mr. Ilale was engaged as a colleague to Mr. Symmes, who had become somewhat infirm, and on the 221 of March, 1707, Mr. Symmes died. During his pastorate a new meeting-house was built on the hill a few rods east of the old one, which is described as forty-eight feet long, forty wide and twenty feet stud.

Mr. Symmes was the son of Rev. Zechariah Symmes, of Charlestown, who came from England in 1634. The latter was born in Canterbury, England, in 1599, and was the grandson of William Symmes, ordained to the ministry in 1588, and great-grandson of another William, who was a distinguished Protest- ant in the reign of Queen Mary. Mr. Symmes was born in Charlestown, January 9, 1637, and graduated at Harvard in 1657, the first scholar in a class of seven, one of whom was John Cotton, son of Rev. John Cotton, of Boston, and for many years the pas- tor of the First Church in Plymouth. Another

GROVELAND.

1695

member of the class was Rev. John Hale, who was probably the Mr. Ilale selected as the colleague of Mr. Symmes, and whose full name is not given in the records. Mr. Symmes preached in Rehoboth from 1661 to 1666, and married, in the latter year, Susan- nah Graves, of Charlestown. A second wife was Mrs. Mehitabel (Palmner) Dalton, widow of S. Dalton, of Hampton, New Hampshire.

The successor of Mr. Symmes was his son Thomas, who was born February 1, 1667, and graduated at Harvard in 1698. He was settled at Boxford, Decem- ber 30, 1702, and installed at Bradford in December, 1708. He died October 6, 1725, and was succeeded by Joseph Parsons, who was ordained June 8, 1726. At his ordination Rev. Joseph Parsons, of Salisbury, preached the sermon, Rev. John Rogers, of Boxford, gave the charge, and Rev. Moses Hale, of Newbury, the right hand of fellowship.

It is unnecessary to follow the history of this church farther, for in the first year of the pastorate of Mr. Parsons, the church in the East Parish of Bradtord (now Groveland) was organized, and became the nucleus of that community which, more than a hundred years later, obtained the privileges and bene- fits of a separate municipal government.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 172

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