History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 192

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 192

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Stephen Hooper as guardian to Thomas W. Hooper, New-

bury .. 5

Joseph Swnzey, Newburyport. 1

True Kimball, Newbury 2

Sam, Gerrish, Newbury 2

Jacob Brown

S. L. Tyler. 20

Total. 200 "

After the subscription for the necessary number of shares, a petition was sent to the General Court, and on the 13th of June, 1791, notice was served on the town of Newbury. On the 4th of November that town voted to oppose the building of the bridge, and on the 30th of November reconsidered the vote. Finally, on the 15th of December, the reconsideration was reconsidered, and the representative from Newbury was instructed to oppose it. On the 9th of January, 1792, a strong remonstrance, numerously signed, was sent to the General Court, but the charter was granted, and on the 26th of November, 1792, the completed bridge was opened. It was built in seven months under the direction of Timothy Palmer, of Newbury- port, a native of Boxford. On the 4th of July, 1793, the Essex Journal says that "Timothy Dexter deliv- ered an oration on the bridge, which for elegance of style, propriety of speech and force of argument, was truly Ciceronian."

Until 1868 these two bridges were toll bridges. On the 5th of June, in that year, an act was passed by the legislature directing the county commissioners, within sixty days, to lay out as highways the several bridges over the Merrimae River, known as Andover Bridge and Lawrence Bridge, in the City of Law- rence ; Haverhill Bridge, between llaverhill and Bradford ; Rock Bridge, between West Newbury and Ilaverhill; Essex Merrimae Bridge, between Salis- bury and Newburyport ; Newburyport Bridge, between Salisbury and Newburyport; and the Essex Bridge, over North River between Beverly and Salem ; and to determine what proportion of the amount of damages shall be paid by the county of Essex, and by the several cities and towns benefited by the lay- ing out.

Under this act the County Commissioners gave notice of the laying out of these bridges on the 4th of August, 1868. The charter of the Newburyport Bridge, having expired no damage was awarded to its proprietors, and it was decreeed "that so much of said bridge as lies sontherly of a line drawn three quarters of the whole distance from the southern end of said bridge, being three-fourths of said bridge next adjoining to said Newburyport, shall be maintained, kept in repair and supported, and the expense thereof and of raising the draw iu said bridge, shall be paid

Thomas White

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

by said city of Newburyport ; and that the remainder of said bridge, being one-fourth part thereof lying next to Salisbury, aforesaid, shall be maintained, kept in repair and supported, and the expense thereof shall be paid by said town of Salisbury."

With regard to the Essex Merrimac Bridge, the commissioners decreed that the damages sustained hy its proprietors amounted to thirty thousand dollars, of which the county should pay ten thousand, the city of Newburyport ten thousand, the town of Salis- bury five thousand, and the town of Amesbury five thousand dollars. They also decreed, " that so much of said Essex Merrimac Bridge as lies within the city of Newburyport, shall be maintained, kept in re- pair and supported, and the expense thereof shall be paid by said city of Newburyport ; and that so much of said bridge as lies within the town of Salisbury, shall be maintained, kept in repair and supported by said town of Salisbury ; but the expense thereof and of raising the draw in said bridge, shall be paid in equal moieties by said town of Salisbury and said town of Amesbury ; and said town of Amesbury shall re- imburse to said town of Salisbury, one-half the ex- pense thereof."

In 1824, as has been already incidentally stated, Lafayette visited Newburyport. He came to the United States as the guest of the nation, and was wel- comed with the most gratifying testimonials of respect wherever he went. A town-meeting was called at which the selectmen with ten other gentlemen were appointed a committee to make necessary arrange- ments for his reception. The 3Ist of August was the day arranged for the visit, and it was expected he would reach the town early enough in the day to en- able the programme, which included a procession in the afternoon, and bonfires and fireworks in the even- ing, to be fully carried out. A long detention, how- ever, at Salem, where he was honored by a public dinner at which Judge Joseph Story presided, and later detentions at Beverly, where he was addressed by Robert Rantoul, at Ipswich, where Nathaniel Lord addressed him, with halts at Ilamilton and Rowley, delayed his arrival until after ten o'clock in the night. During a heavy rain he was escorted into the town and conducted to the mansion of James Prince, now the Public Library Building, where, as stated in the earlier part of this narrative, he occupied the room, and bed in which Washington had slept during his visit in 1789. Prince Stetson, the landlord of the " Wolf tavern," supplied his table and Charles Stetson his son, afterwards one of the proprietors of the Astor House in New York, was detailed for special attendance to his wants. The next day was too inclement to permit the parade of school-children which had been intend- ed, and Lafayette went on his way to Portsmouth, where he was entertained by a ball, and from whence he returned to Boston, passing though Newburyport in the early morning without ceremony or even the knowledge of the inhabitants.

We are brought now to what was the darkest period in the history of Newburyport. To all other causes which had operated to depress its commerce, the Nav- igation Laws of 1820 had been added, serving still more to discourage capitalists and trade. From 1810 to 1820, the population had fallen from 7634 to 6852, and in 1830 it had fallen still further down to 6741. The tonnage of the town had been also reduced from 35,296 tons in 1810 to 16,577 in 1830, a reduction of more than one-half. The tide was at its lowest ebb. The market, which in earlier days had been filled with country teams, was almost deserted; the East and West Indies and Mediterranean commerce had well- nigh disappeared, and masters of vessels, once active on the sea, were spending their time in the Reading Room and Insurance office, hoping against hope, for a revival of the good old times. An intelligent anti- quary in a series of articles written for the Herald of Newburyport, says "that everything grew old and rusty and dead ; nobody thought of painting a build- ing and there were so many of them empty, that rent was nothing, and the purchase price of anything was less than that. If an old fence blew down, there it lay unless it was picked up to burn, and when a pump- handle broke no more water came from that well."

But it is as true of municipalities and of men as of the order of nature, that the darkest time is just be- fore morning. Capital, as closely attracted by the hope of profit as the needle by the magnet, began to feel that there were o.her channels than those of navigation open to it. Lowell had been incorporated in 1826, and the cotton manufacture was everywhere attracting the attention of enterprising men. A new wave of industry and enterprise was sweeping over New England, and Newburyport felt it and rejoiced that the tide had turned. The Essex mill was built in 1833, with a capital of one hundred thousand dol- lars, and though it was neither long-lived nor largely profitable, it served, before it was finally burned on the 8th of March, 1856, to lead the way for others to follow, with surer steps and a better success. Several years after the erection of the Essex mill, as the New- buryport antiquary already referred to states, " a new man appeared among us, a well-formed, noble-looking person, such a man as you do not often meet, full of power, energy and enterprise, who had studied ma- chinery till he was himself one of the most powerful machines ; who had been among steam-engines till he was a perfect steam-engine himself; thinking nothing of what to others seemed mountains of difficulties, and having an influence over the opinions and purses of our staid old capitalists that no other man had posses-ed for a long time. He could wake up some that had been sleeping since the great fire; he could talk his projects into them; he could set them to work and make them do something."

This man was Charles Tillinghast James, of Provi- dence, R. I., then about thirty years of age, and by his skill and energy, aided by the capital of William

1775

NEWBURYPORT.

Bartlett, then eighty-nine years of age, and others, the Bartlett mills were incorporated in 1837 and put in operation in 1838, under the name of the We-sa- cumcon Mills. Two years afterwards, mill No. 2 of this corporation was built, and the name changed to the Bartlett Mills. The capital of the mills was three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and with four hundred and forty-eight looms and twenty-two thousand spindles, their produet was seventy-five thousand yards of fine sheetings and shirtings per week. These mills, situated on Pleasant.Street, were burned on the morning of March 1, 1881, and were not rebuilt.

Through the exertions of Mr. James, another mill was incorporated in 1842 and named after its enter- prising projector, the "James Steam Mills." The original capital was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars-but in 1871 a new company was formed, with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the name changed to the " Masconomet Mills." The property of this mill was sold in 1876 to a new company, now called the "Victoria." It has three hundred and fifty looms, seventeen thonsand two hundred and sixteen spindles, and its product of brown and bleached sheetings and shirtings is forty- eight thousand yards per week.

In 1845 the Globe Steam Mills were incorporated, but reorganized, and changed its name in 1868 to the " Peabody Mills," with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars ;- four hundred looms, nineteen thousand spindles, and a product of ninety thousand yards of print cloths and sheetings per week.

The Ocean Mill was incorporated in 1846, and en- larged in 1868. In 1871 a new company was formed, with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars. In 1886 a new company was organized, and the name of the " Whitefield Mills " adopted. It has five hundred and seventy-three looms, twenty-seven thousand spin- dles, and produces one hundred thousand yards of print cloths and fine sheetings per week.

These three mills give employment to nearly a thousand persons, who represent probably a popula- tion of twenty-five hundred. It is quite doubtful whether they alone do not furnish more labor and disburse more money among the people than the entire commerce of Newburyport in its most pros- perous days. Their effect on the population was immediate. From sixty-seven hundred and forty-one in 1830, it rose to seven thousand one hundred and sixty-one in 1840, and to nine thousand five hundred and thirty-four in 1850.

Nor was this all. In 1840 railroad connection with Boston was completed, and not only infused new spirit into the people, but afforded ready opportunities for its exercise. Inland commerce by rail has taken the place of the commerce by sea and is ten-fold larger. It can only be said that new industries have taken the place of old, and with a full adjustment of the people and business to new conditions, it will be

found that the depression which attended the transi- tion has gone forever. The stage driver mourns over the old days on the box, but he is made station agent or conductor, and settles down to his new vocation, happier and better paid than before. The shipmas- ter groans over the departed glories of the sea, and while he groans, he is remembered by the capitalist whose ship he sailed, and called to better and more satisfying posts. The lumper on the wharves, kicks the cap log with his heels, believing the coun- try is doomed to destruction because his accustomed work has failed, but the factory, the gas-house, the freight station or horse railroad wins him at last into better opportunities of developing himself, of edu- cating his children, of giving him a happier home.

On the 25th of December, 1847, the telegraph between Boston and Newburyport was opened and in the same year a company was raised for the Mexican War to be attached to the regiment of which Caleb Cushing was commissioned colonel. In 1850 the Newburyport Railroad connecting with the Boston and Maine was opened and this brings us to a point in the history of Newburyport when it was soon to throw off' its old municipal garb and assume the dignity of a city. Its people had never been satisfied with the territorial lines drawn at the time of their in- corporation as a town in 1764. In May of that year a petition was presented to the General Court praying that the limits of the town might be enlarged. In 1794 a committee was appointed to prepare a petition to enlarge the bounds of the town. In 1821, 1827 and 1835 the subject was again agitated, and again in 1843 and 1846. At the Annual Meeting in March, 1850, it was voted to build a new Town Hall at a cost not exceeding thirty thousand dollars, and the build- ing now occupied as the City Hall was erected and opened on the 4th of March, 1851. In that year efforts for enlargement, which had been so long ineffectual, were brought to a successful issue and the following Act of Annexation was passed by the General Court :

" In the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty one an act to annex a part of the town of Newbury to the town of Newburyport.

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Conrt assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :-

"Section 1. So much of the town of Newbury, in the County of Essex, as lies within the following lines, to wit : beginning at the nortberly boundary of Newburyport, on the Merrimac River, thence running by the Newbury line on the said river to the line of West Newbury, at the mouth of Artichoke River, thence up the said last-named River and through the middle thereof about five hundred and seventy-two rods and twenty-two links, to a place in the said stream known as the ' New Log,' thence south about twenty-five degrees east, about three hundred and sixty rods to the most easterly corner uf Newburyport, thence by the line of Newburyport to the southerly side of a stream called Little River, thence by the suntherly side of the said last-mentioned stream to the southeasterly side of the road at Clarke's Bridge, su-called ; thence on a straight line to an elm tree near the Newburyport turnpike, on land of Daniel Colman, sontherly of said Colman's house, thence to the northerly side of Marlborough street, on High street, thence to the most sontherly bend of the Pinm Island turn- pike, thence on a straight line to the ocean, four rods southierly uf the light-keeper's house, on Plum Island, thence by the ocean to Salisbury line, thence by the line of Salisbury to Newburyport, with all the in- habitants and estates thereon. is hereby set off from the town of New-

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

bury and annexed to the town of Newburyport ; and the said inhabit- ants shall hereafter be considered as inhabitants of Newburyport, and shall enjoy all the rights and privileges, and be subject to ull the duties and liabilities of the inhabitants of the said towo. Provided, however, that for the purpose of electing the represent- atives to the General Court, to which the said town of Newbury is entitled until the next decennial census shall be taken in pursu- ance of the thirteenth article of amendments to the Constitution, the said territory shall remain and continue to be a part of the town of Newbury, and the inhabitants resident therein shall be entitled to vote in the choice of such representatives, and shall be eligible to the office of representative in the town of Newbury, in the same manner as if this act had not been passed.

"Section 2. The said inhabitants and estates so set off shall be liable to pay all taxes that may have been legally assessed on them by the town of Newbury, in the same manner as if this act had not been passed, and the town of Newburyport shall be holden to pay their just and equitable (share) of the debts of Newbury, and shall also be entitled to receive their just and equitable portion of all the property owned by the town ef Newbury, the said proportions to be ascertained by the taxes paid by the inhabitants, and upon the property annexed in the part set off and the part remaining the past year.

" Section 3. The said towns of Newbury and Newburyport shall be res- pectively liable for the support of all persons who now do, or shall here- after, stand in need of relief as paupers whose settlements were gained by, or derived from a residence on their respective territories.

" Section 4. In case the suid towns shall not agree on a division of prop- erty, debts, paupers, and all other existing town liabilities, the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Essex shall, upon the petition of either of the said towns, appoint three competent and disinterested persons to hear the parties and award thereon ; and their award, accepted by the Court, sball be final Provided, however, that until the division of the said property, as aforesaid, the same shall be and remain under the con- trol of the town of Newlmry, and the inbabitants of Newbury may hold their town-meetings in the town-house as heretofore.

"Section 5. The Selectmen of Newburyport shall annually, fourteen days at least before the second Monday of November, furnish the Selectmen of Newbury a correct list, so far as may be ascertained from the records of the town of Newburyport, or any of its officers, of all persons resi- dent on the territory hereby set off, who shall be entitled to vote for representatives as aforesaid in Newbury ; and, for every neglect by the said Selectmen so to furnish such list, the town of Newburyport shall forfeit. the sum of one hundred dollars ; and for the making of any false return in respect to any part of such list, shall forfeit the sum of twenty dollars for every name in respect to which a false return shall have beeu made, to be recovered in the same manuer as is provided by the fourth section of the third chapter of the Revised Statutes, in respect to penal- ties for neglect or false returns of collectors of towns.

"Section 6. The said towns of Newbury and Newburyport may at town- meetings, duly notified within seven days after the passage of this act, grant and vote such sums of money as they may respectively judge necessary for all purposes authorized by law, and reconsider, modify and change any votes on that subject passed at their annual meeting the present year.

" Section 7. This nct shall take effect from and after its passage.

" House of Representatives, April 16, 1851.

" Passed to be enacted.

"N. P. BANKS, JR., Speaker.

" In Senate April 17, 1851.

" Passed to be enacted.

"HENRY WILSON, President.

April 17, 1851.

" Approved. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL."

The allusion to the town-house, at the end of the fourth section, refers to the fact that the Newbury town-house then in use was located on the annexed territory. By this Act the territory of Newburyport was enlarged from six hundred and forty seven acres to more than six thousand, and the population from 9534 to 12,866. At a town meeting held on the 24th of April, 1851, a committee was appointed, consisting of Caleb Cushing, Henry W. Kinsman, Joseph Rob- erts, E. S. Williams, Joshua Hale, Samuel Phillips,

Thomas Huse, E. F. Stone, Henry Frothingham and Moses Davenport, to prepare and present to the Leg- islature a petition for a city charter. In pursuance of this petition an act of incorporation was passed May 24, 1851. The act provided that the selectmen should, as soon as might be, after its passage and its acceptance by the people, proceed to divide the city into six wards; the wards to contain, as nearly as practicable, an equal number of inhabitants, the same to be subject to revisal once in five years.

At a town meeting held on the 3d of June, 1851, the selectmen presiding, the whole number of votes cast upon the acceptance of the aet was five hundred and ninety-four, of which four hundred and eighty- four were in the affirmative. In the election for city officers the following were chosen ward officers :

Ward I. Major Goodwin. Mathew Meriam. David T. Woodwell.

Cutting Pettingell, Jr. llenry A. Lander.

Ward 4. Wm. Thurston. Daniel Granger.

Eleazer R. Walker.

William A. Marston.

John Burtio.

Ward 2. Phillip Johnson.

Ward 5. Edward Burrill.

John B. Goodwin. Moses H. Hale.

Charles M. Bayley.

William IE. Brewster.

Rufus Smith. Nicholas Brown.

Henry Stover. Robert Sherman.

Ward 3. Ames Toppan. Ward 6. John Merrill.

Joseph H. Bragdon.

Abraham Toppan.

D. S. Blake.

Amos Wood.

Nathaniel S. Osgoud.

Samuel C. Currier.

Rufus S. Grithth.

Daniel T. Colman.

The mayor, aldermen and councilman were sub- sequently chosen as follows :

Mayor.

Caleb Cushing.

Aldermen.

Ward 1. Thomas Huse.

Ward 4. Nathaniel Ilorton.

" 2. John Porter. " 5. John M. Cooper.

" 3 Moses Davenport.

6. Joseph Roberts.

Common Council.

Ward I. Zacheus P. Thurle.

Ward 4. Phillip K. Hills.

John Woodwell. William C. Balch.

George W. Knight. Eben F. Stone.

Ward 2. Phillip Johnson. Ward 5. Albert Runnell.

Frederick Knight. Jacob Horton.

Jacob Stone. Jacob Hale.

Ward 3. Isanc H. Boardman. Ward 6. John Currier, Jr.

Charles T. Brockway. Julın Colby.

Moses Hale. Joseph Newell.

School Committee.

Ward 1. George J. L. Colby. Harvey Kimball. J. II. Sawyer.

Ward 4. Daniel P. Pike.

Ward 2. William Graves. Ward5. II. W. Kinsmun.

Mark Seymour. E. Lawrence.

Ward 3. Randolph Campbell. Ward 6. A. L. Merrell.

Newman Brown. Henry Merrell, Jr.

Overseers of the Poor.

Ward 1. Charles H. Ireland. Ward4. Daniel P. Pike.

" 2. Eleazer Johnson. " 5. Richard Store.

" 3. Daniel C'olinun. " 6. John Colby.

The following gentlemen have served as mayors during the years specified with their names :

-----

1777

NEWBURYPORT.

1851. Caleb Cushing. 1852 (part). Caleb Cushing. 1852 (part). Henry Johnson. 1853. Henry Johnson.

1854. Moses Davenport. 1855. Moses Davenport. 1856. William Cushing. 1857. William Cushing. 1858. William Cushing.

1873. Warren Currier. 1874. Warren Currier.

1875. Benjamin F. Atkinson.

1876. Benjamin F. Atkinson.

1877. George W. Jackman, Jr.

1878. Jonathan Smith.

1879. John James Currier.

1880. John James Currier.

1881. Robert Couch.

1882. Benjamin IIale.

1883. Wm. A. Johnson.

1863. Isaac H. Boardman.

1864. George W. Jackman, Jr.

1884. Wm. A. Johnsou.

1865. George W. Jackman, Jr.

1885. Thomas Simpson.

1866. William Graves.

1886. Charles C. Dame.

1867. Eben F. Stone.

1887. Job Otis Winkley.

The following persons may be mentioned as associ- ated with Newburyport in the third period of its ex- istence :

WILLIAM WHEELWRIGHT was born in Newbury- port in 1798. He was the son of Capt. Ebenezer Wheelwright, a prominent merchant of that town, and he began life as a sailor before the mast in the employ of Wm. Bartlett. At the age of nineteen he was placed in command of the ship "Rising Sun " of two hundred and eighty-four tons, and made several voyages to South America, in one of which he was wrecked near the mouth of the river La Platte. After his safe arrival at Montevideo he crossed the continent to Guayaquil, and engaged in the coasting trade in a vessel which he named the "Fourth of July." In this business he accumulated a moderate fortune and returned to Newburyport, where he mar- ried the granddaughter of his early employer, who re- turned with him to South America. Soon after 1830 he went to England and organized a company which built two steamers, the "Peru" and " Chili," which were the first steamers to double Cape Horn, and which became the nucleus of what is now known as the British Pacific Steamship Company. His next enterprise was the introduction of gas street lights iu Valparaiso which was soon followed by the construc- tion of aqueducts.

Mr. Wheelwright built the first railway on the west coast of South America from Caldera to Copœbo, and afterwards turning his attention to the eastern coast constructed the Argentine railroad from Buenos Ayres to Cordova, and was engaged in building a railroad from Buenos Ayres to Ensenada with the view of a final connection with the harbor of Val- paraiso.

In the execution of these enterprises he exhibited great business capacity united with patience, power of endurance, tact and knowledge of men. In 1873, he went to London where he died on the 26th of Sep- tember, 1873, leaving a widow and an only child, the wife of Paul Krell, both of whom were with him at the time of his death. He left a large fortune, two- ninths of which he bequeathed to trustees for the

purpose of founding a scientific school in his native city, for the education of young men of the Protes- tant faith. The trustees were Robert Codman and Charles C. Wood, of Boston, and Wm. B. Atkinson, Lavinia B. Cushing and Eben F. Stone, of Newbury- port. His remains were brought from England in the steamship "City of Paris," and after private fun- eral services at his late residence in High Street, Newburyport, on the 15th of October, his body was conveyed to the old South Presbyterian Church, where public obsequies took place. The flags on the public buildings were hung at half mast, and during the passage of the funeral procession the church bells of the city were tolled.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 192

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