History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 173

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 173

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The church in the East Parish of Bradford was in- corporated June 17, 1726, and formally organized on the 7th of June, 1727. Immediately after the incor- poration a meeting-house was erected near the site of the present one, and the first parish meeting was held July 4, 1726. At first forty-eight males were dis- missed from the parent church and admitted as mem- bers of the new organization. These were :

William Balch.

Caleb Hopkinson.

Samuel Tenney. Richard Bailey.

Sammel Jewett.

William Savory. Samuel Hale.

Francis Walker.

John Hutchins,

Eben Kimball.

Daniel Hardy.

Moses Worster.

Ezra Rolf.

Thomas Stickney.

Thomas Savory.

Benjamin Hardy.

James Bailey.

Thomas Hardy.

Isaac Hardy.

Edward Wood.

Jacob llardy, Jr. Thomas Hardy, Jr. Samuel Hale, Jr.

Joseph Hardy, Jr.

Francis Jewett.

I.vid Tenney.

William Hardy.

Timothy Hardy.

Jonathan llale.

John Pemberton. Jacob Hardy. Joseph Hardy.

Jonathan Tenney.

Joseph Bailey.

Richard Hardy.

Joshua Richardsou.

Thomas Bailey. Eben Burbank.

Samuel Hardy.

Samuel Palmer.

Jonas Platts.

On the 28th of July, 1727, fifty-three females were admitted, and these were,-

Wife ot James Hardy.

Hannah Kimball.

Wife of Thomas Hardy, Jr.

Hannah Har ly.

Wife of Richard Hardy. Ilannah Richardson.

Wife of John Tenney.

Hannah Smith.

Wife of Samuel Hardy.

Eunice Bailey.

Martha Hopkinson.

Ennice Foster.

Martim Hardy.

Dorothy TenBry.

Martha Pemberton.

Abigail Bailey. Abigail Worster.

Sarah Worster.

Mary Wood.

Sarah Hardy. Mary Stickney.

Sarah Burbank,

Mary Hardy.

Sarah Tenuey.

Mary Bailey.

Sarah Jewett. Bethiah Hutchens.

Elizabeth Hutchens.

Reberca Savory.

Elizabeth Worster.

Rebecca Hardy.

Elizabeth Parker.

Mercie Worster.

Elizabeth Palmer.

Deborah Hardy.

Joanna Bailey.

Deborah Wallingford.

Ruth Jowett.

Esther Hardy.

Anna Jewett.

Mehitabel Hardy.

On the 7th of June, 1727, the day of the organiz i- tion of the church, Rev. William Balch was ordained, having preached for the church since the preceding November. The council at the ordination consisted of the churches of Newbury, Byfield, Beverly and Haverhill. Samuel Tenney was the elder of the church, and Richard Bailey deacon. Mr. Balch was to receive one hundred pounds settlement and one hundred pounds salary and the use of the parsonage. At the end of the first year the church membership had increased from 101 to 179, and William Hardy, Jr., was chosen assistant deacon. Mr. Balch was an educated man, a graduate of Harvard, in the class of 1724, fifteen of whose forty members became minis- ters. Through a long pastorate of sixty five years he retained the affection and esteem of his people, and closed his pastorate with his life in 1792. During the last year of his life, in 1791, a new meeting-house was built. On the 17th of November, 1779, Rev. Ebenezer Dutch, of Ipswich, was ordained as col- league, and on the death of Mr. Balch became full pastor, dying in the service of the church, August 4, 1814.

On the 28th of September, 1814, Rev. Gardner Bra- man Perry was installed and continued his pastorate until his death, December 16, 1859. Mr. Perry was a man who early won, and retained until his death, a wide reputation among the clergy of the Orthodox Congregational faith. He was born in Norton, Mass., and graduated at Union College in 1804. Before his settlement at East Bradford he had been a tutor in Union College, and received honorary degrees from his alma mater and Harvard in 1814. On the 4th of September, 1851, Rev. David A. Wasson was settled as his colleague, but only remained one year. Mr. Wasson was a graduate of the Bangor Seminary, and, though his confession of faith was believed to be suf- ficiently evangelical, he soon manifested in his preaching a strong disinclination to advocate the tenets of the church in which he had been ordained. He was, in fact, more Unitarian than Orthodox, and,

Widow Bailey. Widow Hopkinson. Widow Hardy.

Wife of Thomas Hardy, Sr.

Wife of Joseph Hardy.

Jane Harriman.

Hannah Tenney.

Hannab Bailey.

Hannah Savory.

Hannah Hardy.

Abraham Parker, Ir.

William Hardy.

Robert Savory.

James llardy.

Joseph Worster.

Edward Hardy.

Thomas Hardy (3d).

Anna Platts.

Martha Leason.

1696

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of course, his ministry was unsatisfactory to his peo- ple. The result was the resignation of Mr. Wasson at the end of a year, and the secession of some who had been leading members of the church, but who were more inclined to follow the teachings of their colleague pastor than those of the older faith. Those who adhered to Mr. Wasson hired the meeting-house of the Methodist Society, then in a languishing con- dition, and formed an Independent Congregational Society with him as their pastor. He was follo ved by Rev. James Richardson, whose service continued one year, after which time the society gradually dis- integrated, finally restoring the meeting-house to the Methodists for their permanent use.

After the resignation of Mr. Wasson, Rev. Daniel Pickard was ordained as colleague, and remained about four years. Thomas Daggett was ordained as colleague March 4, 1857, and in the same year the name of the church was changed by a legislative act from the Second Congregational Church of Bradford to the Congregational Church of Groveland. Mr. Daggett was dismissed April 20, 1864, and Rev. Mar- tin S. Howard was ordained December 29th in the same year. Mr. Howard was dismissed October 5, 1868, and was succeeded by Rev. John C. Paine, who was installed April 20, 1870, and dismissed October 30, 1877. Rev. James McLean supplied the pulpit for a time after the dismissal of Mr. Paine, and was followed by Rev. Augustus C. Swain July 6, 1881, and by the present pastor, Rev. Bernard Copping, in October, 1887.

Besides the Congregational Church, a Methodist Church was organized in East Bradford before its incorporation as Groveland, and must be referred to as one of the preliminary steps leading to a distinct municipality. This church was formed on the 15th of October, 1831, under the direction of Rey. Thomas W. Gile, a Methodist Episcopal local preacher, and Aaron Wait, who was employed by the Christian Union Association. Rev. Charles S. McReading was the first preacher sent by the Conference, and began his pastorate in the spring of 1832. In 1833 the meeting-house now used by the society was built, and March 3, 1535, the " Trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Meeting-House in Bradford " were incor- porated. Mr. MeReading died April 11, 1866. In 1533 R v. Robert D. Easterbrook took charge, and w Morcedel in 181 :od 1835 by Rev. David Cul- vir. Mr. Exterbrook died in November, 1852. Rev. More'y Dwight followed Mr. C'ulver in 1836, and was sheep led by Res. Apollos Hale in 1837-38. Mr. Dulight P Um IS. Rev. William Ramsdell followed in ISE, and Rev. Increase B. Bigelow in 1840. From ISH t. 513. It lusive, Rev. Bryan Morse, a local preacher, sapplied, and fiom about 1853 to 1859 the church was droppol from the Conference, the me ting lomse wine used : part of the time by the .off rents of Bey. Mr. Wasson, who had formed them into an In lependent Congregational So-

ciety. On the 11th of May, 1853, an act of the Leg- islature was passed changing the name of "The Trustces of the First Methodist Episcopal Meeting- llouse in Bradford" to " Trustees of the First Inde- pendent Church in Groveland."

In 1859 the Methodists reoccupied their house and their pulpit was supplied by Rev. Horace Moulton. Mr. Moulton died April 11, 1873. Rev. B. W. Chase had charge in 1860, Rev. Newell S. Spaulding in 1861, and during the next three years the pulpit was supplied by Rev. E. Peaslec. Rev. John Capen had charge in 1866-67 and Rev. S. H. Noon 1868, '69, '70. In 1871-72 Rev. H. S. Booth had charge of the Methodist pulpits in both Georgetown and Grove- land, and in 1873 Rev. Henry Mathews was assigned to Groveland. In 1874-75 Rev. A. II. Dwight had charge; in 1876 Rev. Lewis Fish, who died March 26, 1877 ; in 1877 Rev. R. W. Allen ; and in 1878 the puł- pit was supplied by Rev. H. S. Booth. From 1879 to 1881, inclusive, Rev. A. W. Baird had charge ; in 1882 Rev. J. Alphonso Day; in 1883-84 Rev. Walter Wilkie; and in 1885, to June, 1886, Rev. F. C. Thomp- son. Since that time the pulpit has been supplied by Rev. David Roberts. The Methodist Church is now in a prosperous condition. In January, 1871, the debt of the society was two thousand three hundred dollars, of which one thousand two hundred dollars was paid by Abner Chase, Eliza D. M. Merrill, W. W. Ray and Allen Hardy, by the surrender of notes held by them for money advanced. In 1873 Miss Merrill surrendered a note for one thousand dollars, which, with interest, amounted to one thousand five hundred dollars. In that year the meeting-house was altered and improved at a cost of two thousand six hundred dollars and reopened on the 23d of Decem- ber. Towards defraying the cost of the work on the house, Miss Merrill contributed one thousand six hundred dollars, and in 1881, the semi-centennial year of the society, the last remnant of the debt, amounting to nine hundred and fifty dollars, was canceled.

There are other matters in the history of the town of Bradford which should be treated in a sketch of Groveland, besides those connected with the churches of the East Parish. The educational as well as the religious career of the town deserves a place in this narrative. The first allusion in the records to a school is in the year 1701, when it was voted " that the select- men should provide a school according to their discre- tion and that they should assess the town for the expense of the same." We are, in our day, so accustomed to public schools, and are so apt to look upon them as essential to popular education, that we are inclined to look on the absence or scarcity of these schools in the days of our fathers as indications of their disregard of the cause of education. We must remember that popular free education has grown with the growth of our institutions, and that not until after the Revolution was it established on a solid and permanent founda-

1697

GROVELAND.

tion. Parental education and private schools largely prevailed, and the fact that Harvard College was so early established, for admission to which competent teachers must have been employed, is sufficient evi- dence of the interest felt in early days in the best instruction of youth.

In 1780 the town voted "one month's schooling at the school-house near John Burbank's," in the East Parish.

In 1795 the first School Committee was chosen in Bradford, consisting of Nathaniel Thurston, James Kimball, Nathan Burbank and Seth Jewett. But the old fondness for private schools lingered long after the enlargement and improvement of the public school system. It manifested itself all over New England in the formation of academies, some of which still flourish, but many of which have langnished and finally disappeared. In the establishment of these academies the town of Bradford took a leading and prominent part. At a meeting of a number of its inhab- itants held in the First Parish on the 7th of March, 1803, "it was mutually agreed upon that a building should be erected for an academy, and subscriptions were raised to defray the charges of building said house."

In three months the building was completed and the academy opened for pupils. Samuel Walker, of Haverhill, was the first principal and Hannah Swan the preceptress. It was incorporated February 10, 1804, and the preamble of the act of incorporation states that Rev. Jonathan Allen, Benjamin Carlton, Daniel Carlton, Joseph Chadwick, Jonathan Chad- wick, Asa Gage, Uriah Gage, Jeremiah Gage, Peter Gage, John Griffin, John Haseltine, Moses Kimball, James Kimball, Edmund Kimball, Edward Kimball, John Smiley, Nathaniel Thurston, Ezra Trask, Ben- jamin Walker and Samuel Webster had built a good and convenient house for the purpose of an academy, for the education of youth of both sexes in the West Parish of Bradford, and had given the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, the interest of which was to be applied to the support of the academy. Among the successors of Samuel Walker, the first principal, there were many distinguished men. Samuel Greeley, a native of Wilton, N. H., took charge of the academy in 1804; Rev. Dr. James Flint, in 1805; Rev. Abra- ham Durnham, D.D., of Dunbarton, N. H., in 1806; Isaac Morrell, of Needham, Mass., in 1807 ; Samuel Peabody, of Boxford, in 1808 ; Rev. Daniel Hardy, of Bradford, in 1809-10 ; Rev. Luther Bailey, of Canton, Mass., in 1811; Ilon. Samuel Adams, of Rowley, cation within its walls, there seeking a higher educa- Richard Kimball, of Bradford, and Rev. Eben Peck Sperry, of New Haven, Conn., in 1812; Hon. Na- thaniel Dike, of Beverly, in 1813; Daniel Noyes, in 1814; and Benjamin Greenleaf, from 1814 to 1836, who was the last male principal. Since 1836 the academy has been devoted exclusively to the educa- tion of girls, and has been under the principal charge of Miss Abigail C. Haseltine (who had been precep-

tress from 1815 to 1836), Miss Abby Haseltine John- son, Miss Annie E. Johnson and others with short terms of service.

Rev. James Flint, one of the principals, was born in Reading, Mass., Dec. 10, 1779, and graduated at Harvard in 1802. He was the pastor of the East Church in Salem trom September 19, 1825, to December 17, 1851, and died March 4, 1855. Isaac Morrell graduated at Harvard in 1805. Benjamin Greenleaf was born in Haverhill, Septem- ber 25, 1786, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1813. His name is well known by teachers and pupils of the two last generations as that of the author of a series of mathematical text-books used in the schools. He died in Bradford, October 29, 1864.

But the East Parish was not far behind the West in the cause of academic education. It was far enough behind, however, to see the public schools established on a solid foundation, and affording adequate in- struction before its movement was made towards the establishment of an academy. The eighteen years which had elapsed since the organization of the Brad- ford Academy, during which the public school system had not thoroughly won popular favor and support, enabled that institution to gain a reputation so wide- spread and so great that the impetus it received has not even now perceptibly diminished. The academy in the East Parish, coming at so late a day, found it difficult to compete with the privileges of the schools, and finally succumbed under the burden it was attempting to carry. It was organized in 1821, and incorporated February 7, 1822. The first sec- tion of the act of incorporation provides that " Rev. Gardner B. Perry, Benjamin Parker, M.D., Moses Parker, William Greenongh, Jeremiah Spofford, M. M. S. Ebenezer Rollins, Capt. George Savery, Capt. Samuel Tenney and Phineas Parker are nominated and appointed trustees of the said Academy, and they are hereby incorporated into a body politic by the name of the Trustees of Merrimac Academy in the County of Essex." The act provided that it was established " for the education of youth of both sexes in such languages, and such of the liberal arts and sciences as the trustees may direct." The academy building was raised July 4, 1821, and cost about nine hundred dollars. In its most flourishing days its pupils numbered from fifty to seventy-five. More than one thousand of the inhabitants of Groveland and vicinity received the greater part of their edu- tion in Greek and Latin and mathematics than the common schools afforded, and eagerly taking advant- age of its privileges. The academy was sustained partly by tuition fees, and partly by contributions from its friends. Its early preceptors were Stephen Morse, David L. Nichols, John Tenney, Alonzo Chapin, Sylvanus Morse, Rufus C. Hardy and A. J. Saun- ders. In later years its teachers have been females,

107

1698

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

among whom have been Miss Hattie Paine and Miss Martha and Miss Jenny Thompson.

The academy was burned September 1, 1870, and rebuilt in 1871 at the cost of two thousand dollars, with increased accommodations. In 1878 the trustees leased the academy to the town for the term of ninety-nine years, the consideration being an agree- ment to occupy it for educational and public pur- poses, and to assume the debts of the academy, which amounted to $1229.92. Since the town has occupied it, the building has been enlarged, at a cost of eighteen hundred dollars, and now furnishes accommodations for two schools in the lower story, and for a Town Hall in the upper.

The school system of the town at the present time is well supported and well managed. According to the last report of the School Committee, covering the year 1886, there were at that time ten schools,-the High School, with an average membership of twenty-eight, under the charge of R. A. Hutchinson ; the Central Grammar School, with an average membership of twenty-eight, under the charge of Miss Mattie P. Parker ; the South Grammar School, with an average membership of twenty-five, under Miss Hattie E. Boynton ; the Central Intermediate, with a member- ship of forty-one, under Miss Abbie C. Hopkinson ; the South Intermediate, at various times under Mrs. Sarah E. Peabody, Miss Ada R. Mason and Miss M. Newhall ; the East Mixed School, at different times under Miss Clara M. Organ and Miss Amy C. White ; the North Primary, with membership of twenty-one, under Miss Sadie Stickney ; the Central Primary, with a membership of thirty-nine, under Miss Mattie 1. Morse ; the First South Primary, with a member- ship of fifty-one, under Miss Eleanor A. Foster ; and the Second South Primary, with a membership of fifty- four, under Miss Nellie G. Ilill. For the support of these ten schools the town appropriated in 1886 $4200 for teachers' salaries and text-books and school maintenance, $300 for repairs and incidentals, $125 for apparatus for the High School, and received $227.33 from the Massachusetts School Fund, -mak- ing a total of $4852.33. The expenses were $3501 for salaries, $116.27 for text-books and supplies, $256.43 for fuel, $156.58 for repairs and incidentals, $382.79 for philosophical apparatus $118.26,-making a total of $1831.33.

Nor must the Revolutionary career of the town of Bradford, in which the East Parish was prominent, be omitted in this narrative. Its patriotism, its bur- deus and its honors were shared by the people of each perish, anl to the history of each they legitimately brlong. In 1773 Capt. Daniel Thurston was Repre- Mentative of Bradford in the General Court. At that time the special grievances of taxation and the salaries of the judges had created an excitement which was spre ofour like a fire through the province of Massa- chuset Bay. The people of Boston had taken a determ ved stand, and those of various other towns I

were extending to them encouragement and support. On the 17th of January, 1773, a town-meeting was called to see what instructions should be given to their Representative in view of the perils which snr- rounded them. A committee was appointed, eonsist- ing of Dudley Carleton, William Greenough, Benja- min Gage, Jr., Thomas Webster and Amos Mullekin, to draw up instructions, who subsequently reported the following address to Captain Thurston, which was adopted by the meeting :

" Sin,- We, his majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, freeholders and other inhabitants, of the town of Bradford, legally assembled this 7th day of January, 1773, take this opportunity to express our very great uneasiness at the infringements on our natural and constitutional rights by many of the late measures of the British administration, par- ticularly of the taxation of the Colonies and the granting of salaries to the Judges of the Superior Court, -measures adapted, as weapprehend, to lay a foundation in time to render property precarious, and tu introduce a system of despotism which we cannot but view with the utmost aver- sion and to which we cannot submit while possible to be avoided. Ws recommend it to you, as onr Representative in General Assembly, to use your influence to obtain redress of all our grievances, und in par- ticular to inquire whether the support of the Judges of the Superior Court has been adequate to their services, offices and station, and if not, to use your influence in obtaining suitable grants and establishments as may be thought sufficient to remove all pretense that government is not supplied among ourselves.

" We also vote the thanks of this town to the town of Boston for the care und vigilance they have discovered for the rights and privileges of this province as men, as Christiaus and as patriots."

Capt. Daniel Thurston was also a member of the Provincial Congress which convened in Salem, of which John Hancock was president, and also of the Second Congress, over which Dr. Joseph Warren pre- sided. The town laid in a store of ammunition before hostilities began, and appropriated the sum of £30 for its purchase. Minute-men were equipped and drilled, and after the battle of Lexington Capt. Nathaniel Gage marched to Cambridge with forty men, and was engaged in the battle of Bunker IIill. At a meeting of the town, held on the 20th of June, 1776, an address to Dudley Carleton, the Representative of Bradford in the General Assembly, was reported by a committee consisting of Thomas Webster, John Burbank, Nath- aniel Gage, Benjamin Muzzy and Capt. John Savory, and adopted by the town. The address was as follows :

" To Dudley Carleton, Esq., representative from the town of Bradford in the General Assembly, sir .- When we consider the despotie plan of government adopted by the King's Ministers and Parliament of Great Britain to enslavo these American colonies, we consider that instead of redressing onr grievances they have turned a deaf ear to the repeated petitions and remonstrances of all the united colonies, and have also been and still are endeavoring to enforce their arbitrary plaus upon us by spilling our blood, by burning our towns, by seizing our property and by instigating the savages of the wilderness and negroes to taks up the canse against us; when we consider these things it ronses our indignation, that we, who have always been loyal subjects to the King of Great Britain, should be so unconstitutionally and inhumanely treatod. Such tyrannical impositions and abuses uf power we cannot, as men, submit to. Therefore, utterly despairing of u happy reconciliation ever taking place between Great Britain and their colonies, you ars hereby desired as our representative to use your utmost endeavor, that our delegates in Congress be instructed to shake off the tyrannical yoke uf Great Britain and declare these united colonies independent of that venal, corrupt and avaricious court forever, provided no prospects for a happy reconciliation be offered which the honorablo Congress think proper fo necept ; and we hereby engage that we will, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, endeavor to support and dofond their plans."

1699

GROVELAND.

In 1776 also a committee was appointed. consisting of Colonel Daniel Thurston, Deacon Thomas Kim- ball, Benjamin Muzzy, Major Benjamin Gage, Jr., and Jolin Burbank, who reported a vote, which was adopted by the meeting, opposing the adoption of a State Constitution by the Legislature and Council, to be ratified by the people, and proposing the draft of a constitution by the Legislature and its submission to the towns concerned, before its adoption in the As- sembly.

On the 28d of September, 1776, the town voted to appropriate £41 15s. 2d. for gunlocks, lead and flints ; and also voted to pay £14 to cach soldier dratted from the militia. On the 11th of October, 1779, it was voted to appropriate £1995 to hire ten men to join the army of Washington in New York. On the 12th of June, 1780, it was voted to raise sixteen men for six months, and on the 28th of June four men for six months and nineteen for three months, and the sum of £12,527 was raised to meet town charges. On the 12th of October, 1780, the sum of £43,844 108. 6d. was raised for town charges, including the cost of 10,750 pounds of beef, which the town had been called upon to furnish. On the 4th of December, 1780, a call was made on the town for 20,642 pounds of beef, and on the 3d of January, 1781, the sum of £61,926 was raised to defray its cost.

In 1779 the delegate from Bradford in the Conven- tion to form a Constitution was Peter Russell, and the Constitution was promptly adopted by the town. The most prominent men of the town in military affairs, most of whom were at some period of the war in active service, were Capt. Nathaniel Gage, Lieut. Daniel Kimball, Lieut. Thomas Stickney, Lieut. Eliphalet Hardy, Lieut. Moses Harriman, Lieut. Phineas Col-, Adjt. Daniel Hardy, Lieut. Abel Kim- ball, Lieut. Nathaniel Parker, Lieut. Nathaniel Plu- mer, Capt. John Savory, Col. Daniel Thurston, Benja- min Muzzy, Maj. Benjamin Gage, John Burbank, Thomas Webster, Dudley Carleton, William Green- ough and Amos Mulliken.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 173

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