History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 2

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 2

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The next minister was Rev. Charles M. Peirce, of Hinsdale, Mass., who was ordained September 2, 1863. He had sound discretion and Christian zeal, endowed with a fine scholarship and rich ministerial gifts. He resided in the Peter Pearl bouse. He was dismissed, at his request, July 17, 1867, and was soon after settled in Middlefield, Mass.

The poverty of the church and society was one of the principal reasons for the resignation of Revs. Messrs. Park and Peirce; but in 1872 a great change occurred in the financial condition of the society. Captain John Tyler, of this parish, who died that year, be- queathed to the parish a fund of thirty thousand dol- lars, the income of which to be appropriated annu - ally to the support of the gospel here.

In 1875 the parish erected a handsome parsonage, in the Gothic style, on an eminence northeast from the church, at a cost of about five thousand dollars.

Ten years had elapsed since Mr. Peirce was dis- missed, and no " call " had been accepted by a clergy- man to settle here, though five invitations had been extended. The sixth one was accepted by Rev. James McLean, of South Weymouth, Mass. He was installed here on Wednesday, February 20, 1877. Mr. McLean was the first occupant of the new parsonage. He was a native of Scotland, and had been settled in the min- istry at South Weymouth and several other places. He resigned, and was dismissed July 1, 1878. Mr. MeLean afterwards preached in Groveland for three years, then went West, and died in Springheld, Mo., January 11, 1884.

The next and present pastor settled over this church is Rev. Charles Lawrence Hubbard, who was installed on Wednesday, January 15, 1879. Mr. Hubbard was born in Candia, N. II., July 4, 1839, and was settled over the church at Merrimac, N. H., for ten years before coming to Boxford.

The church has seventy-five members. The Sun-

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day-school connected with it has eighty-five scholars and a library of two hundred volumes.

The churches of the First and Second Parishes are both orthodox Congregational, there being no other religious organization in the town. The members of the Third Parish, which existed for a few years only, were Liberals, though they styled themselves Congre- gatioualists.

Third Parish .- This parish was founded on account of an extensive disaffection in the First Church while Rev. Mr. Briggs was settled here. They were incor- porated by the name of the Third Congregational So- ciety April 19, 1824. No church was ever organized, but the society existed, and religious services were held for a period of ten years. The last legal meet- ing of the society was held April 29, 1834. The academy building was erected, not only for the use of the school, but for a hall in which this new re- ligious society could hold their services. 1n 1826 the society had ninety-eight members, eighteen of them belonging to Topsfield, thirty-five to Middleton, and forty-five to Boxford. Among those who preached to this society were Revs. Charles W. Upham, J. Bart- lett, Ebenezer Robinson, Hubbard, Green and Loring. The preaching was of the Liberal kind, and mostly attended by that class of persons, who did not believe in Congregationalism.

MILITARY HISTORY .- In the very first settlement of the town the men who were compelled by law to train performed their military duty with the com- pany at Rowley, but being totally disregarded hy that town for several years, they were ordered to train with the Topsfield company. In 1674 the General Court gave them liberty to train at either place, as they pleased. As soon as the town was incorporated The long and tedious "French and Indian War" drew into service many of the inhabitants. Boxford raised "a company of foot" for the "invasion of Canada," in 1758, which was placed under the com- mand of Capt. Israel Herrick. This company, with another, under command of Cipt Franeis Peabody, of Boxford, were in service while the war lasted, 1758 -60. Other men served in various companies. Of the dangers and sufferings endured by these soldiers, no one but themselves could justly tell. When the colonies were taxed so heavily by the mother coun- a military company was formed here. Their first stock of ammunition was procured in 1689, and con- sisted of " poudr & bullets and flents." To the time of the division of the town into two parishes there was but one company in the town ; after that time there was one in each parish. In 1762 the officers of the First Parish Company were: Asa Perley, cap- tain ; John Hale, lieutenant ; and Thomas Andrews, ensign. Of the Second Parish Company : Isaac Ad- ams was captain; Nathan Barker, lieutenant; and John Chadwick, ensign. A powder-house was built , try, just previous to the Revolution, in their corre- spondence with Boston, the committee of Boxford speak of the great amount of suffering, money and anxiety this war had cost them.

by the town in 1801, and in 1856 it was sold and taken down. It stood in a pasture, a short distance from and northeast of Stevens Pond. In 1832 the two companies were united, and continued so until the spring of 1840, when all the militia throughout the State were disbanded. A new and dashing company, calling themselves the "Boxford Washington Guards," was formed in 1836. In 1840 the town built them an armory. The company flourished for about ten years.

The first actual military service the settlers entered was King Philip's War, in 1675, when Philip and his allies were plundering and burning the build-

ings, and murdering the settlers in Swanzey and vi- cinity. Joseph Bixby served in the company of Capt. Samuel Brocklebank, of Rowley, and provi- dentially escaped the fate of nearly all of that heroic band. Robert Andrews was a member of the com- pany of the brave Capt. Gardner, and was killed at the storming of Fort Narragansett December 19, 1675. He was twenty-four years of age, and unmar- ried.

In 1689 several of the men, with other soldiers from the neighboring towns, went down into Maine to help defend the frontier settlements from the at- tacks of the savages, who had become very fierce. For several years some of the soldiers went into actual service against the Indians. Several of them were in the company of the brave Capt. Lovewell in 1725. Boxford men were stationed at Scarborough in 1748 and 1749, and at Gorhamtown and New Mar- blehead in 1749 and 1750. They were again on the eastern frontiers in 1754 and 1755.

Some of the Boxford soldiers assisted in depopu- lating Acadia (now Nova Scotia), of the neutral French, who, refusing to remain neutral, were brought by water to Boston, and distributed among the va- rious towns in the colonies. Fifteen were sent to Boxford, six of whom were afterwards transferred to Middleton. This strange proceeding took place in 1755. The heads of the three families that were sent to Boxford were named Ommer Landry, Paul Lan- dry and Renar Landry. They lived in town, being supported by the Province, until 1760, when many of them went to Canada. The cloud of their sorrows was never dispelled, and in a land of strangers many of them pined away and died.

The citizens of Boxford resented the aggressive acts of Great Britain at a very early day in the uprising of the colonics. May 24, 1770, the town voted "that they will, to their utmost, encour- age the produce and manufacture of all such ar- ticles as have formerly been imported from Great Britain, and used among them; that they will not use any foreign tea, nor suffer it to be used in their families (cases of sickness excepted); until the duty upon it shall be wholly taken off, the duty ou

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which has so largely contributed towards the support of such a -1 set of mnen; that they will not, by any means whatever, knowingly, have any sort of trade or dealings with those detestable persons who have preferred their own little interests to the good of the country in contriving to import goods contrary to the non-importation agreement of the merchants and traders on the continent; and that whosoever shall be found to trade with them knowingly, shall be deemed unworthy to hold any office or place of trust in the town forever hereafter."

In a letter to the committee of Boston, dated Feb- ruary 4, 1773, the committee of correspondence of Boxford write: " We are desirous to exert our ut- most abilities in all legal and constitutional methods to break, if possible, the iron-band of oppression and prevent the welding of the last link in our chain of impending slavery."

December 27, 1773, they write: " It is the resolu- tion of this town to do all that is in their power, in a lawful way, to heave off this yoke of slavery, and to unite with their brethren of the town of Boston, and the other towns in the Province, to defend our rights and charter privileges, not only with our estates, but with our lives; considering how dear those rights and privileges were purchased for us by our fore- fathers at the expense of their own blood and treas- ure."

Seventeen days before the Declaration of Independ- ence was adopted, the town " voted unanimously that if the Honorable Continental Congress should for the safety of the colonies declare them independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they, the said inhabitants of Boxford, will solemnly engage with their lives and fortunes to support them in the measure."

The two militia companies, the East Parish Com- pany, commanded by Capt. Jacob Gould, and con- sisting of fifty-seven men; the West Parish Com- pany, commanded by Capt. John Cushing, and num- bering thirty-three men ; and the company of "Min- ute-Men," which had early been organized here, under the command of Capt. William Perley, num- bering fifty-two men, marcbed to the scene of the Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, but too late to participate in the battle. The two militia companies returned home, but the "Minute-Men" followed in the rear of the British as they retreated to Boston,

And gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and barn-yard wall."

The "Minute-Men" camped in the vicinity of Bos- ton, and on the 17th of June following took a promi- nent part in the memorable battle of Bunker Hill. Eight members of the company were left dead upon the battle-field. Capt. Knowlton, who so success- fully defended the rail-fenec there, was a native of

Boxford ; and Gen. Israel Putnam had called Box- ford his early home.

In 1775, saltpetre was manufactured here for the purpose of making gun-powder ; and the black- smiths' forges were used for melting lead to be run into bullets.

Several men served in the famous Sullivan expedi- tion formed to ravage the Indian settlements on the western frontier, and passed through the ordeal of suffering and death which became their lot. The names of Schoharie, Cherry Valley, Unadilla and others associated with them, will never be forgotten by the annalist of Indian history.

Boxford men served on Cape Ann, Winter Hill, Roxbury and Dorchester. Capt. Richard Peabody was stationed at Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1776, with a company of volunteers, and took part in the fight at Ticonderoga. Others served in the disastrous expedition of Arnold to Quebec, in the fall of 1775, and suffered with the rest of that dis- couraged and emaciated band. One of the Boxford soldiers, Enos Reynolds, was one of the personal guard in the cell of Major Andre on the night before his execution.

The patriotism of Boxford all through the seven long years of the War of the Revolution never wavered. Scores of its most stalwart men had per- ished on the battle-field, or died from the fatigues and exposures of various expeditions, or at Valley Forge and Monmouth; while others in the hands of the savages were tortured into the valley of silence.

Shay's Rebellion, in 1787, called ont several Box- ford men ; but into no active service.

The 1812 War was unpopular here, as the people believed it would be detrimental to their prosperity, happiness and morals. Several drafts on the militia companies were made for guarding the sea-ports along the Atlantic coast.

Boxford again had a trial of its patriotism in the War of the Rebellion ; and sent forth more soldiers than had been asked for, as well as money, appropri- ating for this purpose $10,756.35, exclusive of State aid, and comforts for the soldiers at the front who were in the hospitals suffering from wounds or sick- ness.

The volunteers numbered ninety-two. Of these two died in Andersonville Prison and one in Libby Prison, twenty succumbed to the fatal ritle balls and Southern diseases, and thirteen others were wounded in battle, or contracted diseases of which they died soon after arriving home. In addition to these volunteers, thirty men were drafted, five more entered the navy, and faithfully served their country until they died or were discharged.

Entering the army at the beginning of the strife, several of the brave young spirits died on the field of battle at Bull Run, Cedar Mountain and other places. Others were wounded, some fatally, in the battles of Port Hudson, Blunt's t'reek, Antietam, Spottsylvania,

1 HIon. Aaron Wood, who was the town clerk, when these resolves were passed, being a moral man, left this word out, and inserted a dash in its stead.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Mechanicsville, Bull Run, Gettysburg, Lookout Moun- tain and other fierce conflicts of the Rebellion. Under the command of General Joe Hooker, some were numbered with the Army of the Potomac.

The following are the names of those who died in the war: Martin L. Ames (in Andersonville Prison), John Q. Batchelder, Samuel H. Brown, D. Butler, Charles W. Cole, John F. Cole, Oscar F. Curtis, Joshua G. Day, Murdock Frame (killed in battle at Cedar Mountain ), Albert A. Frye, Charles L. Foster, George H. Gage, William A. Gurley, Harrison Hale, Matthew Hale, George P. Hobson, Horace A. Killam, Thomas A. Masury, Ilerbert C. C. Morse (in Libby Prison), Asa K. Perley, Thomas P. Perley, John Sawyer (in Andersonville Prison), Aaron Spofford (killed in last battle of Bull Run), and David M. Sullivan, in the army, and Benjamin S. Twisden in the navy.

In 1874, Jonathan Tyler Barker gave the West Parish one thousand dollars toward the erection of a soldiers' monument. Various persons in the town added the necessary amount of money, and a granite monument, about twenty feet in height, was erected in the spring of 1875, and dedicated on Memorial Day, May 29, 1875, with appropriate ceremonies, Gover- nor Gaston and staff being present. The cost of the cenotaph was $2,017.19. The following is the inscrip- tion on its front face :

IN MEMORY OF OUR PATRIOT SOLDIERS. WAR OF 1861. ERECTED BY THE MUNIFICENCE OF THE LATE J. TYLER BARKER OF NORTH ANDOVER. 1873.

The other three faces of the monument are inscribed with the names and dates of death of the deceased soldiers and sailors of the town.

Camp Stanton .- During 1861 and 1862 several regi- ments were quartered here. The camp was named from the Secretary of War. The commandant was Colonel Edward F. Jones, now of Binghampton, N. Y. The Eighth, Forty-first, Forty-seventh, Fifti- eth and other regiments were here. Musters of the State Militia have been since held on the old camp- ground.

SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES, ETC .- The first public school teacher in Boxford was the town clerk, Captain John Peabody, in 170I. The school was kept for many years in private houses in different sections of the town. In 1738 or 1739 the town was divided into dis- triets, and a school-house built in each district. About 1796 new buildings took the place of the old. New buildings have since been built of a more commodi- ons size and modern appearance, and the small red school-house of years agone is a thing of the past. The town is now divided into six districts, and the average number of scholars attending school is one

hundred and twenty, $2,371.78 having been paid for their support the past year. The school fund now amounts to $3,467.59.

In 1826 Major Jacob Peabody, a native of Boxford, and a merchant of Boston, was instrumental in estab- lishing an academy in the building used by the Third Congregational Society for their meetings. This building stood on the corner, across the street from the residence of Prof. Allen. The academy flour- ished for two or three years in a marked degree. The first principal was Prof. Leavenworth, and he was followed by Pratt, Wyatt and others. The average attendance was about fifty. The building was after- wards occupied as a dwelling-house, and was ulti- mately destroyed by fire on the night of December 26, 1867.

The Barker Free School was founded by a fund given by the late Jonathan Tyler Barker, of North Andover, in his will, in 1872. The fund amounted to thirty thousand dollars. In 1884 the trustees leased a building in the West Parish, and in it opened the school. Mr. Stephen C. Clark was chosen for the prin- cipal. In 1885 the trustees erected a large and tasteful house and stable for the residence of the principal. The school has about twenty members. The school building is to be built, when the fund is of sufficient magnitude, near the principal's house, which occu- pies the rising ground to the north of Fowler Pond.

From about 1865 to 1881, the Rev. Calvin E. Park, had a private school for young men near his residence in the West Parish.

The Proprietors' Library was established in the East Parish in 1794. This library was in use about forty years. The works composing it were prin- cipally of a religious and historical character. It contained about three hundred volumes. The stand- ard works have been added to the new public library in the parish.

The Boxford Library Association founded the public library in the East Parish in 1873. The first contributions were made by Mr. Augustus E. Batch- elder, of Boston, who has ever manifested much interest in the welfare of the library. It now con- tains eleven hundred volumes of well selected litera- ture. At first, a chamber over the paint-shop of Mr. S. Frank Ayres was used as a library room. In 1880, the Bacon house, situated in front of the post- office, was purchased, and re-modeled to suit the re- quirements of the library, and was dedicated to its new use August 27, 1880, with appropriate exercises. The Association has a fund of about three hundred dollars, and is in a flourishing condition.

The West Boxford Library Association, established the West Boxford Public Library in 188I. It is situated near the church, the Association having purchased and remodeled the building used by Rev. Mr. Park for his school. The library now contains about seven hundred volumes, and is constantly in- creasing in size and usefulness. The works are

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very carefully selected, and a better class of litera- ture for general use in educating the public cannot be found in any library.

Thirty-five young men have taken full collegiate courses and graduated, sixteen at Harvard, fourteen at Dartmouth, two at Yale, and one each at Amherst, Brown and Union College, all having been natives of Boxford.

BUSINESS AND MANUFACTURING .- From the earli- est settlement of the town to the present time, the prin- cipal occupation of the inhabitants has been that of agriculture; and from the primitive soit of their plains and hillsides they have ever drawn, by their industry and well-adapted labor, an independent livelihood, while many of them have prospered so well that they have become comparatively rich.

The power which the several streams in the town afford was utilized quite early for driving saw-mills and grist-mills. The first saw and grist-mill in town was erected by William Peabody, about 1695, near the residence of the late William A. Herrick, Esq., and it existed until 1845. In 1710 the saw-mill which stood in the rear of the residence of Mrs. John Q. Batchelder, was built by Thomas Hazen, Jacob Per- ley and Dr. David Wood. It was allowed to decay and fall down about twenty years ago. Pegs were manufactured at this mill for a while about twenty- five years ago. Howe's saw and grist-mills were established in 1710 by Richard Kimball, Ephraim Dorman and Samuel Fisk, as a saw-mill, and the grist-mill was built by Asa Foster about 1795. The Andrews' saw and grist-mills were established quite early in the eighteenth century. The Day mill in the West Parish was first built as a grist-mill by Richard Pearl about 1740; it was changed to a saw and box-mill, about 1848, by John Pearl and James Carleton, and was destroyed by fire about three years ago. The Herrick saw-mill was established by John Hale about 1760. Capt. Por- ter's saw-mill was erected by himself in 1836, and the grist-mill in 1839.

The town has generally been supplied with black- smiths' and wheelwrights' shops. The present black- smiths' shops are carried on by J. Horace Nason, Henry Newhall and Perley Brothers, and the wheel- wright shops by J. Horace Nason and Perley Brothers. There are three stores in town, all grocery, whose trade is conducted by Frederic A. Howe, Gardner S. Morse and John Parkhurst.

The first public house in town was kept by William Foster, under a license from the town, at the resi- dence of Mr. Solomon W. Howe, from 1687 for several years. Solomon Dodge was an inn-holder about 1754; an inn was kept by Lieutenant Asa Merrill in 1788; another hy Phineas Cole in 1800 ; one by Deacon Parker Spofford in 1800; one by Captain Josiah Batchelder in 1840; another in the West Parish by Elisha G. Bunker in 1836, and by John Brown in 1837; and another at the Bunker

place by Mr. Bunker in 1840. Hotel Redington was opened by Mr. Daniel S. Gillis about three years since, and is the only public-house in town.

The earliest business in town, besides farming, was the "iron works," which were established by Henry Leonard of Lynn in 1669. The capital stock of the company which carried on the bu iness was about a thousand pounds. llubbard, in his History of New England, says that the ore here was "not inferior to that of Bilboa." The site of these works is just in the rear of the Andrews' mills. The busi- ness was discontinued shortly after 1680. Not only has mining for iron been carried on, but Mr. Nathan K. Fowler and D. Frank Harriman mined in 1875 and 1876 for silver and galena, and Mr. Harriman erected smelting works. Limestone has also been quarried in the town. The quarry lies about half a mile from and northeast of Stevens' Pond. The busi- ness was carried on about 1750 by Ilon. Aaron Wond. The kiln, in which the limestone was burned, was situated near the pond.

Iron-smelting was established at the site of the match-factory, about 1770, by Samuel Bodwell of Methuen and Thomas Newman of Boxford, and iron- smelting was continued here until 1805. The s'te was afterwards used as a cotton-mill, then a grist- mill and for the manufacture of wooden trays, bowls, etc., then for cotton manufacturing again, this time producing yarn, wieking and batting. In 1867 the whole factory property was purchased hy Messrs. Byam & Carlton, match manufacturers, who changed the machinery and the buildings themselves, and did the first day's work here at match-making September 2, 1867. About five years ago the factory was pur- chased by the Diamond Match Company, who have since conducted the business. The company have some thirty thousand dollars invested in the business here, and manufacture about three hundred and fifty gross per day, using some eighteen hundred tons of timber annually. A saw and box-mill is also run in connection with the factory. About forty hands is the usual number employed.

The late Captain Samuel Kimball established a peg-factory here in 1860, and afterwards, in company with Mr. William Sawyer, introduced box machinery. The mill was burned in the spring of 1875. On the same site, two years later, Mr. Henry M. Cross of Newburyport undertook the manufacture of silver polish from the marl deposits here.

Several shoe-manufactories have existed in the town. In 1837 the estimated value of shoes manu- factured here was $52,975. Among the manufac- turers were Samuel Fowler, Marion Gould, John Hale, Isaac Hale, and Edward lowe & Son. The only firm doing business now is Edward Howe & Son. Mr. Howe began business in 1838, and was joined by his son, Deacon William W. Howe, in 1876. Their trade is generally confined to the Southern and Mid- dle States.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

DISTINGUISHED NATIVES-Boxford has probably given birth to more distinguished and enterprising persons than any other town of its size in the com- monwealth. A large majority of the young men leave the old, dull home of their fathers and enter into the busier scenes of life, most of them becoming successful in the business or professional career which they had chosen, and making themselves an honor to the dear old home of their boyhood. A list of some of the more distinguished and professional natives, not already mentioned, is appended.

Rev. Oliver Peabody (1698-1752) graduated at Har- vard College in 1721; was the first settled pastor of the Indian Church at Natick, and a missionary among the Mohegan Indians. He was noted as a theologian, and a kind and useful pastor.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 2

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