History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 175

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 175

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Newburyport might find it for their interest, not only to build a horse railway to West Newbury, their neigh- boring town, but also to extend their Amesbury road to Merrimac.

Besides the Congregational and Methodist Church- es, of which mention has been made as organizations in existence at the time of the incorporatiou of the town, there are others which have sprung up since that time, all of which are in that part of the town knowu as South Groveland. In 1855, through the enterprise mainly of Jacob W. Reed, a church was built in that section, which, for a time, was occupied by va- rious denominations. That, however, has disappeared. Since that time tbe St. James Episcopal Church has been built, in which a flourishing society bolds its Sabbath service. The church, complete and ready for occupation, was the gift of E. J. M. Hale, of Haver- hill, the owner of a large manufacturing establish- ment in its neighborhood. The last officiating cler- gymau was Rev. Albert E. George, but at present it is without a pastor. The St. Patrick's Catholic Church has been also built, Mr. Hale contributing the land on which it stands and a liberal sum also towards defraying the cost of its construction. Rev. Edward Murphy, of Georgetown, has the present charge of this church.

On the 8th of March, 1828, Moses Parker, Jeremi- ah Spofford and Benjamin Parker, and their associ- ates, were incorporated as the Bradford Mutual Fire Insurance Company. After the incorporation of the town, on the 29th of April, 1850, the name of the company was changed to the Groveland Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and on the 14th of April, 1855, its charter was renewed for twenty-eight years, from Mareh 8, 1856. Its present officers are Moses Foster president and Nathaniel H. Griffith secretary. The company pays its expenses and losses by assessments on deposit notes, which, on the 3Ist of December, 1886, amounted to $104,852.69, while the amount at risk at that date was $1,615,799.

On the Ist of May, 1869, Nathaniel H. Griffith, Nathaniel Ladd and Edwin T. Curtis, and their asso- ciates, were incorporated as the Groveland Savings Bank, and the officers of the company were Moses Foster president and Nathaniel H. Griffith treasurer. After being in operation sixteen years its affairs were gradually wound up.

The industries of Groveland, though now except in South Groveland well-nigh extinct, have in the past been varied and extensive. At a very early date the advantages of Johnson's Creek were discovered, and in 1670 a grist-mill was built on that stream. In 1684 the town of Bradford received proposals from Richard Thomas, of Rowley, and John Perle, of Marblehead, to set up a eorn-mill on the ereek. Mills were also built there by Edward Carleton,

1704

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Phineas Carleton and Aaron Parker. In 1740 Joseph Kimball and Eliphalet Hardy built mills. In 1760 Thomas Carleton establishei a fulling-mill on the creek, and in 1790 Retier Parker built a tanyard. In the same year William Tenney, Jr., established a chaise-factory, which flourished for thirty years. In 1784 Francis Kimball used the waters of the stream for a saw-mill, and Benjamin Morris for a fulling-mill.

Rev. Gardner B. Perry, of East Bradford (now Groveland), stated, in an historical address delivered in 1820, that up to that time there had been on the creek four saw.mills, five grist-mills, three fulling- mills and two bark-mills.

In 1820 there were in the East l'arish five tan- yards in active operation, the first of which, in point of time, was established by Shubael Walker, who removed his business from the West Parish. In connection with the preparation of leather the manufacture of shoes sprang up, chiefly devoted to the production of a coarse article which found its market in the Southern States and the West Indies, Jesse Atwood carried on a chocolate-factory, Stephen Foster the manufacture of brass and pewter buckles, Jotham Hunt the coopering business, Moses Parker the manufacture of tobacco, and others were engaged in making bricks and straw bonnets. Nor was ship- building neglected. In this industry Bradford shared to a limited extent a business which was car- ried on so extensively in the towns on the Merrimac nearer the sea.

Until about the time of the incorporation of Grove- land the waters of Johnson's Creek had only been utilized by the smaller mills, to which reference has been made. These, however, gradually disappeared. In 1837, William Perry removed to the East Parish, from Bridgewater, and built a brass foundry, which in 1×43 was converted into a shoe-thread factory, carried on by Perry & Swett. In 1854 it became the property of E. A. Straw of Manchester, N. 11., and Nathaniel Webster, of Amesbury, who converted it into a factory, for the manufacture of seamless bags. In 1859 it was purchased by E. J. M. Hale, of Haverhill, who changed it into a woolen-factory. Mr. Hale soon doubled the size of the old mill, and supplied it with a forty horse-power engine. In 1861 he built a new mill, one hundred and thirty- seven feet by fifty-two, four stories high, and at- tached to it an eighty horse-power engine. In 1875 an addition was made, eighty feet by fifty-four, three stories high. In 1869 Mr. Hale built still another mill below the others, three hundred and sixteen feet by fifty-two, four stories high in the main building, ind - applied it with an engine of one hundred and lilly Horse-power. All the mills contained thirty- six sets of machinery including one hundred and eight cardine-machines, forty-two spinners, and two butndret and thirty-eight looms engaged in the min ture of fanuel. There are also connected with the mills a repair-shop, four picker-houses, a

dye-house, a forging-shop, three store-houses and a large number of tenements for operatives. About four hundred hands are employed in and about the mills, and as the mills were gradually enlarged, the popula- tion of the south section of the town increased until it had become about one half of that of the whole town.

It is unnecessary to make special mention of those citizens who have been prominent in the town since its incorporation, as, with but few exceptions, their names are included in the lists of town officers or Rep- resentatives in the early part of this sketch. There will be found the names of Capt. George Savory, Rev. Gardner B. Perry, Dr. Jeremiah Spofford, Nath- aniel Ladd, and of the recently deceased Daniel B. Hopkinson, all of whom have passed away, leaving honorable records and a fragrant memory.

A few statistics, some of which are given to show the relative growth in population and valuation of Groveland and its parent town, must close this sketch. The population of Bradford in 1850, after the incor- poration of Groveland, was 1328 and that of Grove- land 1286, The valuation of each town at that time was about $400,000. In 1885 the population of Brad- ford was 3106 and that of Groveland 2272. In the same year the valuation of Bradford was $1,423,243 and that of Groveland $874,444. The affairs of the town are managed with intelligence, prudence and economy. The current expenses of the town for the year 1886 amounted to $34,515.48, and the town debt March 1, 1887, to $17,517.73, while the property of the town, including the town farm, school-houses, etc., amounted to $25,098.61. The financial soundness and strength of the town is apparent; and while its growth has been checked by causes which have ceased to operate, it seems certain that, with its good soil, its admirable location, the prosperity ofthe HIalemills and its proximity to the flourishing city of Haverhill, its future increase and prosperity are assured.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

GARDNER B. PERRY, D.D.

Gardner Braman Perry was the fifth child and second son of Nathan and Phoebe (Braman) Perry, of Norton. Mass. He was born August 9, 1783. He was a lineal descendant of Anthony Perry, one of the first settlers and most influential citizens of Rehoboth. His father was a farmer, a man of quiet, methodical and industrious habits, yet energetic and public-spirited when the occasion demanded it. A good evidence of this was afforded by his enlistment after the battle of Bunker Ilill and service in the siege of Boston. His readiness thus to leave his young wife and infant child at a period when the colonists had not yet fully testified their ability to

Gardner B. Perry

1705

GROVELAND.

resist regular troops showed both patriotism and pluek.

If he inherited good principles and quiet decision from his father, he was indebted to his mother for ; not required. that energy, noble ambition and geniality by which he was so enimently characterized. It was the testi- mony of more than one of Mrs. Perry's children that their success in life was mainly attributable to her instructions and example. She was a woman of rare sweetness, sprightliness and tact. She was a sister of the late Isaac Braman, D.D., who, ealled to be pastor of the church in (feorgetown, after more than fifty candidates had been heard, retained the position until his death, sixty-one years later, and ruled his flock in peace. Soon after his death the old quarrel broke out under new pretexts, but between the grandchildren of the former combatants, who were ranged pretty much as their ancestors had been. The disease was probably inveterate, but Dr. Bra- man's rare good sense proved a thorough palliative through two generations.

We can discover many common traits in Gardner Perry and his uncle. Yet there were differenees : while both were emphatically peace-makers, Dr. Braman often avoided difficulties hy strictly confin- ing himself to his parish duties. Dr. Perry, on the contrary, was a zealous reformer, yet free from the asperity and one-sidedness unhappily too common among the champions of new measures. He thus retained the esteem and good will even of those who strongly dissented from his methods and objects.

Nathan l'erry's family was a large one, and Bristol County farms are not over-productive ; but he, and especially his wife, were determined that their chil- dren should be well educated. Gardner was therefore fitted for college in the academy in his native town, and in 1800 entered Brown University. The presi dent of the institution, Dr. Maxey, was a man of unusual magnetism, and accordingly, when, in 1802, he resigned his office to accept the presidency of Union College, at Schenectady, he was followed thither by several of his pupils, young Perry and the late Bishop Brownell, of Connecticut, among the members.

Mr. Perry held high rank as a scholar. He was graduated in 1804, and immediately after took charge of the academy at Ballston, N. Y. A year later he returned to Schenectady and became tutor and in- structor in French. In 1807 he was invited to become principal of the Kingston (N. Y.) Academy, where he remained five years. He was very success- ful and popular as an educator. Indeed, it was the opinion of his younger brother and pupil, the late Dr. William Perry, of Exeter, N. H., that 'he was espe- cially designed for a teacher, and that the class-room rather than the pulpit was his appropriate field. However well founded, or the reverse, this belief may have been, his literary and executive abilities were highly esteemed by his alma mater. When Dr. Nott's resignation of its presidency was expected,

about forty-five years ago, Dr. Perry was prominently mentioned as his successor. Dr. Nott concluded, however, to remain and so Dr. Perry's services were

lle had entered the ministry from thoroughly con- scientious motives. lle was earning a comfortable livelihood and could not hope for as large an income from his pastoral labors. No one was better aware than himself that he lacked those showy qualities which attract crowds and bring apparent, though superficial success. Nevertheless, he felt that he was called to preach the gospel, and in 1812 was licensed by the Presbytery of Albany. Though pastor of a Congregational Church in New England, we believe that he always retained his connection with the body which admitted him to the ministry.

In 1814 he accepted a call from the East Parish in Bradford Mass. (now Groveland), and was formally installed September 28th. The engagement proved a life one. He was sołe pastor until 1851, when a colleague was called. He entered upon his duties with a zeal which was unintermitted until the infirmi- ties of age compelled him to leave to others the more arduous responsibilities of his position. If the field was not a large one, the fact was not allowed to give an exeuse for luxurious ease. It was thoroughly, intelligently and prayerfully cultivated.

Mr. Perry-he received the Doctorate of Divinity from Union College in 1843-was the father, brother and fellow-worker of all his people. In the pulpit, and out of it, he had their wants and their highest good constantly in mind. He pointed them to the world above, but he ever kept in their minds the necessity of making the best use of the world that now is. Hence he instructed them to be frugal, to till their lands, so as to return the largest profits, to provide thorough instruction for their children and to be temperate in all things. No one could be long in his company without receiving some practical suggestion.

His interests were not limited to his parish. Throughout Essex County, and beyond, he was fore- most as an advocate of eduction. The common schools of Eastern Massachusetts owe him much, for he was the predecessor of Horace Mann and furnished that noted educator with many of the facts and statistics which be used so much to his own, as well as the public's advantage. Dr. Perry was an carnest supporter of the temperance canse. He had grown up in an age when excess was far too prevalent among all classes, and he labored for a better state of things with signal success.

Ile was very influential among his ministerial breth- ren. When heated discussions occurred, all sides were anxious to hear Dr. l'erry's opinion, for he never yielded to excitement and his decisions were as im- pressive in form as judicious in their substance. He had a rare grace in saying even unpleasant things. His courtlincss was that of the "old school," minus its

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

pomposity. lle was always the true gentleman, but without mannerism or effort, lle was gracious in expression and action, because he obeyed the impulses of a thoroughly kindly heart. This quality impressed itself upon strangers who never heard him preach and who exchanged few, if any, words with him. llis mere look was full of benignity.

As a preacher he was instructive, but not magnetic. The thoughtful hearer would always find food for reflection in his sermons and would gain new appre- ciation from them by reading after hearing them. Ile was best enjoyed by those who were regular attendants on his ministry, and had accustomed them- selves to look for what was said rather than toward the manner of saying it. A centennial sermon, preached in 1823, contains a real history of the church and parish. As such it is much prized by antiquaries. As copies of the first edition grew scarce, the price increased until the pamphlet was worth almost its weight in gokl. A new edition was printed-an honor conferred on very few pulpit discourses.

Dr. Perry's long and useful life closed on the 16th of December, 1859, when he had reached the age of seventy-six years. Until shortly before his death he had been able to enjoy the attentions which all his relations and friends were anxious to bestow upon him. If his strength declined, his appreciation of the universal esteem-reverence would be the better word-in which every one held him must have in- creased. Yet his gennine modesty ever forbade him to take much credit to himself. He had tried to do his duty ; that was all. Time is, however, a great test of character. Nearly thirty years have passed since Gardner B. Perry was borne to the grave, and his name and virtuos are still warmly cherished in Grove- " land and throughout Essex County. He is remen- bered by all his contemporaries as a truly good and useful man, clear-headed and sound-hearted, and they have imparted their estimate to their children and grandchildren.

Dr. Perry was thrice married,-first to Maria P. Chamberlain, of Exeter, N. H .; second to Eunice Tuttle, of Acton, Mass. ; and third to Sarah Brown, of Grafton. His surviving children are Mrs. Charles Robinson and Mrs. Peter Parker, of Grove- fand; Mr. Gardner B. Perry, of Buenos Ayres ; and Mr. Charles F. Perry, of Boston.

CHAPTER CXLI

NEWBURY.

BY WILLIAM T. DAVIS.

THE river Kennet rises in the county of Berks, England, and dows into the Thames at Reading. On its northern bank a settlement was made by the Ro-

mans, remnants of which continued until the time of the Norman Conquest, when a new settlement was made on the south side of the river, which was called the "New Bourg" or " New Town." The termination Bourg, from the Latin Burgus, had originally signi- fied a fortress, but became gradually changed to the meaning now attached to it. The spelling of the word has experienced various transformations, none of which, however, have changed its application to a town, or district, or borough. These changes are illustrated in the names of towns familiar to us, such as Newbury, Newburg, Newberg, Attleboro', Middle- borough and Newberry.

In the English town of " New-Bourg," or "New- burg " as it has been long called, on the south side of the Kennet, there lived in the early half of the seventeenth century a man to whom a reference would be appropriate at this point in our narrative. This man was the Rev. Thomas Parker, who, for some time previous to 1634, taught the free school of the town. He was the only son of Rev. Robert Parker, who was said by Cotton Mather to have been " one of the greatest scholars in the English nation." Ile was admitted to Magdalen College, Oxford, but his father having been exiled for non-conformity, he removed to Dublin, where he studied under Dr. Isher, and afterwards to Holland, where he continued his studies with Dr. Ames. About the year 1617, when he was twenty-two years of age, he published a treatise on repentance, entitled " De traductione peccatores ad ritam," which won for him a high reputation, and afterwards a treatise on the book of Daniel. It was after his return from Holland that he became the teacher of the free school in Newburg.

In May, 1634, Mr. Parker arrived in New England, one of a company of about one hundred, who went first to Ipswich, then called Agawam, to settle. After passing the winter at Ipswich it was found, as Hub- bard says, in his " History of New England," "so filled with inhabitants that some of them presently swarmed out into another place a little farther eastward. Mr. l'arker was at first called to Ipswich to join with Mr. Ward, but he choosing rather to accompany some of his countrymen (who came out of Wiltshire in Eng- land) to that new place, than to be engaged with such as he had not been acquainted withal before, removed with them and settled at Newbury, which recess of theirs made room for others that soon atter supplied their places."

There has been a division of opinion as to the pre- cise time of the settlement of Newbury by Mr. Parker and his companions. But upon examination this division will be found to have originated in the confused expressions of writers concerning dates under the okl and new style. It may be stated now with a considerable degree of positiveness that the settlement took place at some time during the carly , part of 1635, if we reckon the year as beginning on the Ist day of January, or during the latter part of

1707

NEWBURY.

1634, if we reckon it as beginning according to the old style on the 25th of March. That it could not have occurred before the 29th of December, 1634, is demonstrated by the following extract from the records of Ipswich :

" December 29, 1634. It is consented unto that John Perkins, junior, shall build a ware upon the river of Quasyeung (l'arker River) and enjoy the profitts of it, but in case a plantation shall there settle, then he is to submit himself unto such conditions as shall by them be imposed."

That it could not have been later than the 6th of May, 1635, is demonstrated by the following extract from the records of Massachusetts Colony, which includes the only act of incorporation ever passed con- cerning the town of Newbury :

" May 6th, 1635. Quascarunquen is allowed by the court to be a plantation and it is referred to Mr. Humphrey, Mr. Endicott, Captain Turner and Captain Trask or any threa of them to set out the bounds of Ipswich and Quascacungnen, or so much thereof as they can and the name of the said plantation shall be changed and shall hereafter be called Newberry.

" Further, it is ordered that it shall be in the power of the court to take orders that the'said plantation shall receive a sufficient company to make a competent towne."

The Indian name Quiscacnnquen is applied in the records to the whole territory between Agawam (Ipswich) and the Merrimae River. Its Indian appli- cation, however-its meaning being a "waterfall"- was merely to the " falls " on the river Parker, and per- haus also to the immediate vicinity. More properly the whole territory from Nauinkeag River to the Merrimac may be considered as having been a part of Agawam, as these two rivers bounded the jurisdic- tion of Masconomo, the Sagamore of Agawam.

At some time, then, in the spring of 1635, reckon- ing according to the new style, Rev. Thomas Parker, with his little band of immigrants, removed from Ipswich to Newbury. They went by water through Plum Island Sound and thence up the river, to which they gave the name of their honored leader. Their landing-place was on the north side of the river, not far below the bridge which now connects Newbury old town with Rowley. They were about forty in number. and the following are those whose names are known : Thomas Parker, James Noyes and wife, John Wood- bridge, Henry Sewall and servants, James Browne and wife, Francis Plumer and wife, Nicholas Easton and wife, John Easton, Wm. Moody and wife and four sons, Anthony Short, Henry Short and wife, John Spencer, Richard Kent, Sr., and wife, Richard Kent, Jr., Stephen Kent and wife, James Kent, Nicholas Noyes, Thomas Browne, Richard Browne, George Brown, Thomas Coleman, Joseph Phimer and Samuel Plumer.

It is not unlikely that some of these were old resi- dents of the English Newbury. Kent, at least, was a Newbury name, and may'be found in the records of that town at about the period of the settlement of its namesake on this side of the ocean. During the sum- mer of 1635 other settlers came in, and the population gradually extended farther and farther from the river.

Among these new comers were Richard Dummer and John and Richard Pike, and John Emery, and after their arrival, probably in June or July, the first church was formed. Mr. Parker preached his first sermon in the open air, beneath the branches of a primeval oak which stood on the north bank of the river about one hundred yards below the Rowley bridge and near the original landing-place. The precise location of the first meeting-bouse, while it has been fixed by tradition as the lower Green, is rendered somewhat doubtful by evidence, which will be referred to here- after, tending to fix it at Fisherman's Green, adjoining the old burial-ground. The first houses clustered about the meeting-house, in conformity with the orde of the General Court, " that no dwelling-house shall be built above a half a mile from the meeting-house on any new plantation without leave from the Court, except mills and farm-houses of such as have their dwellings in town."

The only record extant concerning the formation of the church is contained in the testimony of John Pike, Jobn Emery and Thomas Browne, given at the court in Ipswich during the church controversies which occurred in 1669, '70, '71, to which reference will be made hereafter. The testimony of Mr. Pike was as follows:

4 I, Jobn Pike do testifie that I was preseuf at the gathering of the church at Newbury, and I did bear our reverend pastor preach a sur mon on the eighteenth of Matthew, seventeenth verse ; 'And if be shall neglect to bear them, tell it unto the church ; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican,' wherein he did hould forth that the power of discipline belonged to the whole church, yt the matter of the church ought to be visiblo saints joyned or gathered together, that the manner of their joyning together onght to be by covenant, yt the end of it is for the exercisinge and enjoyinge of the ordinances of Christ together. He strongly proved his doctrine by many places of the Scripture, both in the old and new testament. The which sermon, together with the Scripture, did much instruct and confirme us in that waye of church discipline which as I understood he then preached for, namely, the Congregational waye, some noates of the said sermon which I then took from his mouth I have here ready to show if you please. The sermon being ended the brethren Joyned together hy express covenant, and being joyned they chose their pastor, Mr. Parker, who accepted the call and joyned with them according to the covenant atoresaid ; and those that afterward joyned to the church consented to the said covenant explicit. The brethren of the church acted in these admissions of ye members express. inge their vonts therein by lifting up the hands, and sor continued together lovingly a considerable number of yeares until other doctrine began to be prearbed amongst us.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 175

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