History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 190

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 190

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During the war, though many months a prisoner and inactive, he captured twenty-eight prizes and six hundred prisoners, making np a record which cannot probably be excelled by any in the naval annals of our own or any other nation.

After the close of the war Captain Nichols was en- gaged in the merchant service from Newburyport, principally with Russian ports, and retired from the sea in the year 1830. A Democrat in politics, he was appointed collector of the port by President Polk in 1845, and, notwithstanding his eminent services in behalf of his country, was succeeded by a Whig on the change of the administration in 1849. He died at his home on Harris Street, February 12, 1863, and beside the imperishable record of his heroism, there were only left of his possessions two swords, a barome- ter, a silver tea service and a few papers to tell the story of his life.

In this record Captain Harry Parsons must not be overlooked. He commanded the letter of marque "Argus," and met with success far inferior to that of Captain Nichols, but yet large and creditable. Be- sides these two, there were few whose cruises were not either failures or only slightly profitable. On the other hand, there were many who were either cap- tured or lost or returned to port with nothing of adventure or gain. On the whole, it is doubtful whether the returns from privateering equaled the outlay. Though the captures by that branch of the American naval service were small, considering the number of vessels along the seaboard employed, its very existence threatened such injury to British com- merce, that the means adopted by Great Britain to prevent it, by either keeping her vessels at home or diverting her ships of war from hostile crui-es to the services of convoying her fleets, as to give it an im- portance and value which no tangible results could estimate or measure.

With peace came congratulations and joy, quali- fied, however, by the burdens of debt and taxation which rested heavily on every member of the com- munity. But before entering upon the third period of our narrative, which opened on the restoration of peace, some further mention must be made of the prominent men during the period which that event terminated. As the town had advanced in popula- tion and education and business, the number of such men had been steadily increasing, and it will, there- fore, be impossible, within the prescribed limits of this sketch, to do justice to all.

The most notorious man of this period, of course, was Timothy Dexter. It is entirely unnecessary to enter into details concerning his character and life.

It is only necessary to say concerning them that his folly was merely the mask of wisdom and that

often, when the object of ridicule, he was disguising sagacious investments and enterprises. He tolerated the popular belief that his shipment of warming-pans to the West Indies was made in ignorance of the climate of that latitude, and indeed encouraged that belief in order that the real purpose of his speculation might not be known, and that he might be alone in the market. He was born in Malden, January 22, 1747, and died at Newburyport October 22, 1806, giv- ing in his will to that town $2000, the income of which was to be given to the poor of the town out- side of the poor-house.

One of the eminent sons of Newburyport, born within the period, but better known in other localities, was (fardiner Spring. He was the son of Rev. Samuel Spring, chaplain in the army under Arnold in the expedition against Quebec. After the death of Rev. Christopher Bridges Marsh, the pastor of the Second Congregational Church (died in 1773), the church was without a minister for four years. An in- vitation was sent to Rev. Samuel Spring to preach as a candidate. His answer was dated Ticonderoga, August 12th, in which he declined the invitation as in- compatible with his engagement as chaplain in the army. At a later date he accepted the invitation, and was finally ordained in Angust, 1777, remaining as the pastor of the church until his death, in 1819. His son Gardiner was born in Newburyport, February 24, 1785. At an early age his parents determined to prepare him for the legal profession, and after receiv- ing a grammar school education, he fitted for college under the direction of Theophilus Parsons, and grad- uated at Yale in 1805. The next three years he spent in teaching sebool in Bermuda and reading law with Judge Daggett, of New Haven, and in 1808 was ad- mitted to the bar. Soon after beginning practice he abandoned law and entered the Theological Seminary at Andover. In 1809 he was licensed to preach, and August 10, 1810, he was settled over the society worshipping in the Brick Church on Beekman Street, in New York. In 1861 the society removed to their new edifice on Murray Hill, and though repeatedly urged to accept professorships in Hamilton and Dart- mouth Colleges, he remained with the society in the faithful performance of his pastoral work until his death, in 1874. During the last twelve years of his ministry the Rev. William G. T. Shedd was his assist- ant. He was the author of many works, among which are "The Attraction of the Cross," 1845; "The Mercy- Seat," 1849; "First Things," 1851; "The Glory of Christ," 1852; "The Power of the Pulpit," 1848; " The Obligations of the World to the Bible," 1844 ; " Memoirs of Rev. S. J. Wells," 1820 ; " Pulpit Min- istrations," 1864 ; and " Personal Reminiscences," 1866.

John Pierpont, one of the towu committee in 1812 to protest against the war, was born in Litchfield, Conn., April 6, 1785. In early life he was an assist- ant in the academy of Dr. Backus, at Bethlehem, and

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in 1805 took the position of tutor in the family of Colonel William Alston, in South Carolina, which he retained four years. He afterwards studied law at the Litchfield school, and when admitted to the bar, settled in Newburyport in the praetiee of his pro- fession. After a few years he abandoned law and entered mercantile life in Boston and Baltimore. This, too, he abandoned in 1816, and studied theology preparatory to his ordination as pastor of the Hollis Street Unitarian church, April 14, 1819. During his pastorate his pronounced views on the temperance question, which he did not hesitate to declare, caused dissensions among his people, and in 1845 he asked for his dismission. He was then pastor of the Unitarian Society in Troy, New York, until 1849, when he took a settlement over the Medford Unitarian Society, which he terminated by his resignation April 6, 1856. He was active in the anti-slavery as well as the temperance cause, and was the candidate at one time of the Liberty party of Massachusetts for Gov- ernor, and in 1850 the candidate of the Free Soil party in his district for Congress. At the age of seventy-six he took the position of chaplain of a Massachusetts regiment in the Rebellion, but soon left the field for a position in the Treasury Department at Washington. He published a volume of poetry in 1840, and was the compiler of the American First Class Book, which for a long time held its place in the schools of New England, and though superseded by others, has never been equaled. He was a man more than six feet high, erect in figure, quick and firm in step, with a face exhibiting unusual firmness and strength, with a spirit as bold and undaunted as it was sympathetic and gentle. Many of his poetical pieces were beautiful in the extreme, combining, as did their author, tenderest beauty with fervid fire. Many readers of this sketch will remember the fol- lowing striking passage in the oration delivered at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill monu- ment in 1825 :

" Let it rise till it meet the sun in his coming ; let the carliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its sum- mit.1

Let those who would learn the source from which Mr. Webster received the inspiration for this senti- ment turn to the "Pilgrim Ode," written by Mr. l'ierpont for the celebration of the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, December 22, 1824, in which they will find the following stanza, unsurpassed for its brilliant imagery :

" The Pilgrim fathers are at rest ; When Summer's thr oned on high, And the world's warm breast is in verdure dressed, Go, stund on the hill where they lie. The earliest ray of the golden day On that linllowed spot is cast ; And the evening sun, as he leaves the world, Looks kitully on that spot last."

Mr. Pierpont died in Medford, Massachusetts, August 27, 1866.

Moses Brown was born in 1743, in that part of Newbury which is now the town of West Newbury. Ilis birthplace, as stated by O. B. Merrell in the New- buryport Herald, from the files of which this sketch of Mr. Brown is taken, was the farm known as Brown's Springs. His education was limited to that which the common schools could furnish, and in his neighborhood the school was a movable one, often far away from his home. At an early age he was bound out to serve his time with a chaise-maker, whose shop was on Prospect Street, in what is now Newburyport. Young Brown was faithful, both to himself and his master, and when of age set up a shop on his own account for making and repairing car- riages. He was a hard worker, and as he accumulated a little money, as was the custom in those days, wheu there were no savings banks, nor small stocks to in- vest in, he secured opportunities of sending small ventures to one or more of the foreign ports to which Newburyport vessels might be bound. These ventures consisted of small articles of merchandise, or hats or shoes, or dried cod and pickled fish or any other arti- cles which he thought would sell at a profit. Sometimes a small box of fish costing five shillings would sell for forty shillings, and perhaps oranges taken in pay at two cents a dozen would bring at home five or six times as much. If the venture were a larger onc perhaps a barrel of molasses or a box of sugar would be taken in return, and readily sold in the Newbury- port market. In this way the fortunes of many meu found their foundations soon laid, and Mr. Brown was one of them.

It was not long before the carriage business was given up, and the purchase made of the wharf at the foot of Green Street, then called Hooper's wharf. Other investments in real estate were not long after made, of which the square, called Brown's Square given by him to the town, was a part. At the close of his carcer he was probably the largest owner of real estate in Newburyport. During the earliest part of his business life he lived in a house which stood on the corner of State and Charter Streets, but in his later days bought and occupied the house on State Street, which had been occupied by Tristram Dalton in his palmy days.

lt affords some indication of the foreign trade car- ried on in Newburyport, to state that Mr. Brown, only one of its many merchants, at one time owned twenty brigs and schooners sailing to ports in the West Indies and Russia. A portion of the molasses re- ceived from the West Indies was used in the distill- ery which, in connection with other branches of business, was carried on by him. During the em- bargo and the War of 1812 Mr. Brown suffered heavy losses, but they were nothing compared with the deprivations of the poor mechanic and laborer, and to those, in the midst of his losses, he was a father and friend. He was one of the merchants who built the " Merrimae " in 1798, and loaned her to the govern-

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NEWBURYPORT.

ment, and all through the troubles which that vessel was built to assist in removing, he was always active and useful in his patriotic etforts to uphold and aid the government.

The Andover Theological Seminary, of which he was one of the associate founders, received from him a gift of $10,000, and the town of Newburyport owes much to his liberality. Besides the gift of Brown's Square to the town, he made a bequest to the town, which the fol- lowing clause in his will will explain :

" I give and bequeath to the inhabitants of the town of Newburyport aforesaid, the sum of six thousand dollars, as a fund for the use and sup- port of a grammar school in said town forever. And I do hereby direct that a special committee shall be annually chosen at the meeting of the said inhabitants hohlen in the month of March annually, for the pur- pose of managing and taking care of the said fund until a Board of Trustees may be established for that purpose.

"And I do expressly direct that the said principal sum of six thousand dollars shall be kept at interest, and that interest and produce thereof shall be applied and added to the said principal sum of six thousand dollars until the sum shall accumulate and amount to the sum of ten thousand dollars before any part of the said interest or produce shall be applied and appropriated towards the support of said school, and when the said principal sum shall amount to the sum of ten thousand dollars then the annual interest and produce of the same shall be applied for and towards the support of a Grammar School in the said town of New- buryport forever."

The will was dated October 2, 1824, but by a codicil dated April 2, 1827, the fund was required to accumulate until it reached fifteen thousand dollars before its income could be used. " And if," says the codicil, "the inhabitants of said town shall discon- tinue or neglect to maintain a grammar school in said town for the space of one full year, at any one time in continuance, then the said bequests shall be- come forfeited thereby."

Mr. Browu died February 9, 1827, leaving a large estate. By the death, in 1880, of his granddaughter, Sarah White Hale, widow of Dr. Ebenezer Hale and daughter of William B. Bannister, a considerable amount of entailed property in Newburyport was re- leased from an entail which was a serious obstacle in the way of public improvements. Mr. Brown was a member of the Board of Selectmen in 1782, '88, 1801.

William Bartlett, descended from one of the earliest settlers of Newbury, was born in Newbury- port, January 31, 1748. He received his education in the common schools and was apprenticed to a trade. At the age of twenty-one he had accumulated a small amount of money, and with this he bought a small piece of a vessel, which made a successful voyage and laid the foundation of his wealth. For more than fifty years he was an active merchant, pass- ing through the storms of the Revolution, the compli- cations with France, the embargo and the War of 1812, without any serious check to his career. He was one of the selectmen in 1784, '85, 1801, and was always relied upon in emergencies by his fellow-citizens for judicious advice. He was one of the associate founders of the Theological Seminary at Andover and gave $30,000 towards its establishment. He subse- quently endowed a professorship and erected a dwell-

ing-house for its incumbent. His total benefactions to this institution are said to have reached $250,000. He died at Newburyport, February 8, 1841.

John Barnard Swett was descended from John Swett, one of the original settlers of Newbury. He was born in Marblehead in 1752 and graduated at Harvard in 1767. He studied medicine in Edinburgh under Dr. William Allen and afterwards attended the hospitals in Paris, returning home in 1778. He joined the army as surgeon and took part in the expeditions to Rhode Island and the Penobscot. After his return he became eminent in his profession and died in 1796 from yellow fever, on its visitation to Newburyport in that year.

Nathaniel Bradstreet was born in Topsfield Oct. 4, 1771. He graduated at Harvard in 1795 and taught school in Plymouth immediately after leaving college. While teaching he was a student in medicine with James Thacher, of Plymouth, and a fellow-student was Benjamin Shurtliff, a graduate of Brown in 1796, and the recipient of an honorary degree from Har- vard in 1802. Both married Plymouth ladies,-Dr. Bradstreet, Anna, daughter of William Crombie, and Dr. Shurtliff, Sally, daughter of Ichabod Shaw. The late Dr. Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtliff, at one time mayor of Boston, was the sou of Dr. Benjamin Shurt- liff and was named after his fellow-student and friend. Dr. Bradstreet was the son of Henry and Abigail (Porter) Bradstreet, of Topsfield, and was the fifth in descent from Gov. Simon Bradstreet, through his sou John, grandson Simon, great-grandson Simon and the last Simon's son Henry. He died in Newburyport October 6, 1828.

Jeremiah Nelson was born in Rowley, Mass., Sep- tember 14, 1769, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1790. He afterwards engaged in mercantile pursuits in Newburyport and became a prominent man there during the troubles with France and the last war with England. He was an active and uncompromising Federalist, and as such was chosen a member of the Ninth Congress and served from December 2, 1805, to March 3, 1807. He was again chosen a member of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Congresses, and served from December 4, 1815, to March 3, 1825, and again a member of the Twenty-Second Congress, serving from December 6, 1832, to March 2, 1833. He was conspicuous in town affairs, having been a member of the Board of Select- men in 1809, '10, '11, and died at Newburyport Octo- ber 2, 1838.

Of Oliver Putnam there is little to record concern- ing his career. He was born of humble origin in 1778 and thrown on his own resources in early life. By good fortune in business he acquired a fortune at an early age and then devoted himself to the culture of his mind and tastes. He died in 1827, leaving a will, with Aaron Baldwin, of Boston, and Edward S. Rand and Caleb Cushing its executors. He be- queathed a sum of money for the support of a free

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

school, which is explained by the following clause in his will : "The residue of my property I give and bequeath for the establishment of a free English school in Newburyport, for the instruction of youth, wherever they may belong, and the exeentors will, if at the final payment of the foregoing legacies it should amount to fifty thousand dollars, pay it over as hereafter provided; but if at that time it should not amount to that sum the executors will retain it to accumulate till it does, and then pay it over to trustees for that purpose, to be elected by the select- men of Newburyport. After the appointment of the first trustees, vacancies in their board to be filled by nomination from them, subject to the approval of said selectmen, who, besides, are al- ways and at all times to have and exercise the right of visitation, for the purpose of looking to the security of the funds, and that the interest or income of them is applied according to the bequest.

" In the selection of trustees no reference is to be had to their places of residence, but only to their qualifica- tions for the trust. The trustees are to invest the principal in good and sufficient securities, bearing interest or producing income to the satisfaction of the said selectmen, to be and remain a permanent fund, the interest or income only of which to be applied to the establishment and support of the school. The youth to be instructed in reading, writing and arithmetic, and particularly in the English language and iu those branches of knowledge necessary to the correct management of the ordinary affairs of life, whether public or private, but not in the dead languages. The monitorial system of instruction to be introduced and used so far as it may be found on experience that it can be done with advantage."

A further allusion to this bequest and the school established under it will be made in the chapter relat- ing to the schools ot the town.

Jacob Little was a native of Newburyport, and born in 1797. At the age of twenty years he went to New York to seek his fortune. He there secured a clerkship in the counting-room of Jacob Barker, one of the earliest of the large merchants of that city. Hle remained with Mr. Barker about five years, when he began business on his own account as an exchange and specie broker. It was his habit to attend closely to his office business during the day and to visit the retail houses in the evening for the purelase of un- current money. In 1834 he was well known in Wall Street as an energetic, industrious, honest business man. He gave his whole time to his business until his annual income amounted to one hundred thou- sand dollars. On the introduction of railroads he identified himself with their construction and thus added to his accumulations until his wealth was measured by millions. But disasters finally fell upon him. After his first failure he paid finally his debts in full, and had a large fortune left. Ile con- tinued in business with varying fortunes until his

death, March 28, 1865. He was a bachelor until 1844, when he married Miss Augusta McCarty, sister of Madame de Dion, and at his death left one son.

Robert Treat Paine, though not a native of Newburyport, was a resident during a part of this period and may, therefore, properly be mentioned. He was a son of Robert Treat Paine, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was born in Taun- ton, Mass., December 9, 1773. He graduated at Har- vard in 1792, and entered soon after upon a mercantile life. Finding this uncongenial to his tastes, he turned to literature and politics, and established a paper called the Federal Orrery. In 1795 he published a poem entitled "Invention of Letters," which at- tracted widespread notice, and soon after another, entitled " Ruling Passion " which added to his repu- tation. In 1798 he wrote the national song of "Adams and Liberty," and in 1799 delivered an oration on the first anniversary of the dissolution of the French alliance. At this time, inclining to the study of law, he entered the office of Theophilus Parsons and was admitted to the bar in 1802. Ile remained in New- buryport several years, gaining, however, more reputation as an orator and poet than as a lawyer. While there he delivered a eulogy on Washington, in January, 1800, and in 1801, by permission of the Legis- lature, changed his baptismal name of Thomas to that by which he has since been known. He gave as a justification for the change his reluctance to be confounded with the author of the " Age of Reason," and his consequent desire to bear a " Christian" uame.

Nor must John Andrews be omitted, who, though a native of another town, was long a resident in New- buryport, and an example before its people of the highest virtues of a Christian life. He was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, in March, 1764, and gradu- ated at Harvard in 1786, receiving a degree of Doctor of Theology from his alma mater in 1824. Two years afterwards, on the 10th of December, 1788, when only twenty-four years of age, he went to Newburyport, aud was settled as colleague pastor with Rev. Thomas Cary over the First Church in that town. Mr. Cary died November 24, 1808, and from that time until his resignation, May 1, 1830, Dr. Andrews remained the sole pastor of the parish. He was succeeded in the ministry by Rev. Thomas B. Fox, and the Chris- tian Register in a notice of his death said : " One trial which Dr. Andrews was called upon to meet, which none but his brethren in the ministry, and perhaps only the elders among them, can fully understand, was the voluntary dissolution of his connection with the society of which he had been so long the pastor-a trial which he met withont jealousy or repining, giving with a truly Christian spirit a kind welcome to his successor, becoming his friend, extending to him an affection almost parental and thus showing that as he had been a faithful minister, so he could see another occupy the pulpit in which he had himself stood for years, and he was one of the most charitable

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of hearers and one of the best of parishioners." He died in Newburyport, August 17, 1845, at the age of eighty-one years.

Edward Sprague Rand was the oldest son of Ed- ward Rand, and Ruth Sprague, daughter of Dr. John Sprague. Edward Rand, the father, was the brother of Dr. Isaac Rand, of Boston, and both were sons of Dr. Isaac Rand, who, before the battle of Bunker Hill, lived in Charlestown, and afterwards in Cam- bridge. Edward, the father, removed in early life to Newburyport, and was largely engaged in business as an importer of English goods and hardware. Ed- ward Sprague Rand, the son. was born in Newbury- port, June 23, 1782, and at the age of seven years be- came a pupil at Dummer Academy, under Master Moody. After leaving the academy he entered his father's store, and remained there until he was eighteen years of age, when he was sent to Enrope as supercargo. After two or three voyages, in 1801, before he was twenty-one years of age, he established himself as a commission merchant in Amsterdam, and continued in business there several years. After his return home he made a voyage to Russia, and on his passage home, in 1810, was wrecked on the coast of Norway, and finding no opportunity of leaving, was obliged to remain in Norway during the winter, thus causing the belief among his friends that he had been lost at sea.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 190

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