History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 21

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 21

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).

In his relations with others, whether in the practice of his profession or the participation in the social life of the town, he was marked by noble personal quali- ties, by unblemished purity of character and a high sense of honor, sincere religious convictions, and a broad and kindly sympathy for all who needed it. His life in South Danvers covered the period of its development from a quiet village to a manufacturing community ; he was the literary friend and compan- ion of Fitch Poole and of Rufus Choate, and a prom- inent figure in the intellectual life of the town at the time when the standard of thought was high in New England towns-the era of plain living and high thinking, before the lecture system had degenerated into elventionary athletics, and while the foremost thinkers of the country spoke directly to the people.

He was a student of literature, and was the author of several poems and addresses. In 18JI, he delivered a Masonic address in Danvers. He was deeply inter- ested in Freemasonry ; he was the first master of Jor- dan Lodge of Free Masons in Danvers instituted in 1508, and in 1831 he wrote and published a poem enti- tled " The Spirit of Freemasonry." In 1819 he de- livered an address in Danvers entitled " Temperance und Morality," in which he took advanced ground. In 1-86 he delivered the annual address before the Massachusetts Medical Society, of which he was a member from Is11 to Isto, and a councillor. The subjee of the address was " Irritation of the Nerves." At theOntennial Celebration of the town of Dan-

vers, in 1852, he delivered a historical poem, entitled " Danvers," which shows his intimate acquaintance with old-time customs and traditions.

He was an enthusiastic student of the growing science of geology, and a learned and skillful botanist, and spent much time from a leisure by no means ex- tended in exploring the woods and fields of his native town and county, in search of geological specimens and rare flowers and plants ; taking an especial inter- est in native wild flowers. Although his farming ex- perience was confined to his early years, his interest in agricultural matters and his knowledge of the sub- ject was so great that he was a member and at one time the treasurer of the Essex Agricultural Society. He was the orator of the society at Topsfield, October 5, 1820.

In 1833 the Essex County Natural History Society, afterward merged in the Essex Institute, was formed ; a project in which Dr. Nichols took great interest, from his enthusiastic devotion to all branches of scientific research. He presided at the meeting of or- ganization, December 16, 1833, and was elected the first president of the society, a position which he held till 1845, remaining a member till his death. He was also, for many years, the president of the Essex South District Medical Society.

Dr. Nichols died at his residence in South Dan- vers, in the house which now stands back of the building of the Essex Club, on Main Street, near the square, on the 30th of March, 1853. A funeral discourse was delivered by Rev. F. P. Appleton, at the Unitarian Church, where he attended worship, on April 3, 1853, and his death was formally noticed by the societies and organizations in which he had taken so active a part ; an obituary sketch was pre- pared by Dr. Samuel A. Lord, and published in the proceedings of the Massachusetts Medical Society ; but no adequate memorial of his life has been com- piled.

A striking portrait of Dr. Nichols hangs in the rooms of the Essex Institute in Salem, painted by his niece, Mrs. Berry, of Danvers. It conveys a strong impression of the vigor and individuality of the man and gives token of a character which might well have left a lasting impression even on a larger and more cultured community than his native town that he loved so well.

HON. DANIEL P. KING was born January 8, ISOI, in the South Parish of the old town of Danvers, which afterwards became the town of Peabody. His parents Daniel and Phobe ( Upton) King, came of families long settled in that vicinity. William King, the an- cestor of the King family, was one of the original set- tlers, having received a grant of land in 1636, and from that day to the present the King family has maintained its ownership of land in the vicinity, and in every generation its representatives have held an honorable place among their townsmen for those qual- ities of industry, intelligence and sturdy independ-

Daniel P. Sting

1047

PEABODY.

ence of character which mark the descendants of so many of the pioneers in the Puritan settlement of New England. For reasons remarked in the historical sketch of the town, the policy of those who undertook the direction of the settlement of this region had for its result the growth of a community marked by the superior character of its individual members. Though they chose the agricultural life, and their lot was cast amid the simplest of social customs and methods of living, they not only maintained among themselves an unusual degree of intellectual development, but by wise forethought in educational affairs and careful home-training these same qualities, along with the loyalty to their native soil, which was an early char- acteristic, have been perpetuated to the present time. By intermarriage, Mr. King numbered among his an- cestors not only those families whose names were borne by his father and mother, but he was allied with the Pages, the Putnams, the Townes, the Nurses, the Jacobses and Flints, and others of those who have dwelt in that region since the earliest settlement. As Mr. Upham remarks, in his memoir to Mr. King, he may be considered as a specimen of the manhood de- veloped by the influences long operating in this lo- cality upon the generations which have occupied it.

His family had from the first held a respectable position as farmers, and in later times had been en- riched by extensive trading, so that the father of the subject of this sketch was possessed of means large for that time, and Daniel P. King was enabled to enjoy the advantages of a thorough academic educa- tion. His early training in the district school was continued at Saco in Maine, and at Phillips' Acad- emy in Andover, where his preparation for college was completed. He took his degrees at Harvard University, graduating in the class of 1823. As a boy he showed the same traits which marked his mature life, His exactness of mind, clearness of memory for personal and historic details, quiet and courteous bearing, and respectful observance of the wholesome regulations of school life, attracted atten- tion even from his schoolmates, who never failed to be won by the charm of his thoughtful and warm- hearted personality. His college life illustrates the peculiarity of his character, that he cared little for rivalry with his classmates, and had small ambition to attain eminent distinction as a scholar. He quietly pursued his college course, acquiring by care- fnl study a knowledge more practical than showy, and enriching his mind with a culture which enabled him to make the fullest use of his natural powers, and which gave him a mental grip and vigor that never failed of honorable attainment in the responsi- bilities which his singularly successful public life brought to him. Though known to be a young man of ample means, his taste and judgment avoided luxury and display, and made him rather a repre- sentative of the plain farming community from which he sprung. Notwithstanding his quiet and unassum-

ing manner of life, the respectful good will of his classmates toward him was shown by his election as marshal at the commencement exercises.

After graduation, he began the study of the law, but did not develop a taste for that profession, though his qualities and attainments would undoubt- edly have insured success as a lawyer. The agricul- tural life had the greatest attractions for him, and after his marriage, in 1824, to Miss Sarah P. Flint, he took up his residence on the excellent and beauti- fully situated farm near his home, left by her father, Hezekiah Flint, which had been in the possession of the Flint family for two centuries, and became a practical and successful farmer, employing his leisure time in reading the masters of English literature, not neglecting the pursuit of classical studies, which he greatly enjoyed. It was a life not common then, and still more uncommon now in this country ; but he was not a man who could easily be spared from public duties, and it was not long before his towns- men learned to intrust their most important interests to his charge. It is to be remarked of this period of his life, which was surely the happiest, that while there was nothing of the speculator or money seeker about his ways, he had a shrewdness and conserva- tism which saved him from the extravagant mistakes of most gentlemen farmers, and gave him a well- earned reputation among his neighbor husbandmen.

In 1835 he was elected a representative of his native town in the State Legislature. He had been put forward several years before, but failed of his election by one vote. He did not take this much to heart, but observed in his quiet way that he owed his fortunate escape to having himself voted for the suc- cessful candidate ; and he claimed thereby the right to share in the satisfaction and congratulations of the winning party.

In 1836, he was selected by his townsmen to de- liver the address at the laying of the corner-stone of the monument erected in honor of those who fell at the battle of Lexington ; a duty which he performed with the same careful historical research and happy facility of speech which marked his later efforts. He afterward, in 1845, delivered a eulogy on General Foster, the hero of that fight.

While a member of the House of Representatives, he rendered a great service to the cause of education by introducing and carrying into effect an order in- structing the Committee on Education to consider the expediency of providing by law for the better education of teachers of the public schools. This movement, followed up and enforced by able co- workers, led to the establishment of the Board of Education, and of the several Normal Schools in the commonwealth.

Mr. King's chief efforts as a State legislator were in aid of the agricultural interest, which was through life an object dear to him. Ile was impressed with the opinion that there was great need of more scien-

1048

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tific teaching and application in agriculture, and he lost no opportunity of aiding plans for meeting this need. He brought forward a proposition, since car- ried into effeet, of establishing a college for this de- partment of instruction, and for providing a profes- sorship of the same in Harvard College. While in Congress in 1848, he resisted successfully an attempt to reduce the number of copies printed of the Annual Agricultural Report prepared by the Commissioner of Patents.

He served two years in the House, and was then returned as a Fenator from Essex County. He con- tinned in the Senate four years, during the last two of which he was President of that body, and won the highest opinions hy his performance of the duties of the office.

In 1842 he was again elected to the House, and after an exciting contest for Speaker, Mr. King, though not at first a candidate, was elected by a majority of one vote. His known devotion to ad- vanced views in opposition to slavery was the means of attracting votes which could not be commanded by the other Whig candidate. This success gave him a commanding position in the Commonwealth, and was not the only occasion on which, though an un- deviating Whig, he received support ontside of party lines. Ile began to be called the " man of luck," and his good fortune, which was in reality the result of a trust in his ability and uprightness going beyond party lines, followed him all his life through.

After seven years' service in the legislature, he was elected a representative to Congress in 1843. There had been two unsuccessful attempts to elect a con- gressman from the district of which Danvers was a part. At that time, a majority of the votes was necessary to elect, and after the two contests the Whig candidate withdrew, and Mr. King took his place. At the next special election, the Democratic plurality was greatly reduced, and the Democratic candidate, a man distinguished in his party, with- drew rather than meet the defeat which he foresaw. lu the fourth trial, Mr. King received a majority of eighty-two votes, and he held the district by secure majorities to the end of his life.

He early took a part in the important and exciting debates of the period. Within a few days after he took his seat, he presented the resolves of the Legis- lature of Massachusetts against the annexation of Texas, and shortly afterward he took part in a warm debate in behalf of slaves and free negroes in the District of Columbia.

He was one of the foremost champions of the anti- slavery cause, and was ever fearless in his efforts and speech. While he was yet a new member, in January, IS14, a southern member interrupted him while he was presenting, as the voice of Massachusetts freemen, certain resolves of the Legislature of Massachusetts, relating to slavery, to ask whether the petitions had not been signed and prepared by a runaway slave

from Virginia. Mr. King replied, that " he presumed the petition was signed by freemen only, for in Massachusetts they had no slaves, but every man, ereated in the image of his Maker,"-at this point the whole of the angry violence of the friends of slavery was exerted to intimidate and suppress him ; but raising his voice to the full power and height for which it was remarkable, he continued in tones dis- tinctly heard above the uproar "owes allegiance to Him alone."

So great was the impression of personal power then exhibited, that although he was declared out of order by the Speaker, he was allowed to continue his speech, and no attempt was ever again made to over- awe or silence him. The incident made a deep impression in his favor not only among the friends of liberty, but with all who admired courage and address. From that day he was marked as a leader.

In 1844 he introduced and carried an amendment prohibiting spirit rations in the navy, and also used his influence toward the completion of coast improve- ments at Rockport, Mass. He was placed upon important committees of the House, and was snecess- ful in urging reforms, and in securing support for enterprises of education and public improvements. He was an earnest supporter of the continuance of the fishing bounties, and a sincere friend of the hardy and patriotic fishermen of his native state; and on more than one occasion his voice and influence were successful in securing relief for wronged or disabled fishermen and seamen, and for the necessities of the Naval Hospital. He was deeply interested in the application of the Smithsonian Fund, and urged the claims of agriculture to its assistance. He attempted to obtain from Congress provision for the erection of a monument to General Warren, and he reported a bill to erect a monument to General Herkimer.

The Mexican War met with his persistent and un- compromising opposition. He lost no opportunity to vote against it from first to last. On the passage of the bill to raise volunteer and other troops for the war, there were one hundred and fifty-nine yeas to four nays, two of which were those of John Quincy Adams and Daniel P. King. His opposition to the war endeared him to the Society of Friends, and on two occasions he presented to Congress the memorials of the society against the war, and succeeded in ob- taining recognition for them; and in the second in- stance, in 1848, he obtained, in the face of vigorons opposition, not only a proper reference of the me- morial, but a vote to print it. In a speech delivered on the 4th of February, 1847, he declared that he wished his epitaph might say of him,-"A Lover of Peace, of Liberty, of his Country-he voted against the Mexican War." Ilis objection to the Mexican War did not prevent him from being a sincere friend to the patriotic soldier, and in 1850 he made an earn- est effort to extend and complete the provisions of law in favor of the veterans of 1812.

1049

PEABODY.

He held for a long time the chairmanship of the Committee on Accounts, and distinguished himself by instituting reforms in contingent expenses. On one occasion a member of the opposing party was ap- pointed by Mr. Winthrop, then Speaker of the House, to the chairmanship of that committee, but declined it in favor of the pre-eminent qualifications of Mr. King for the place. In 1849, under a Democratic Speaker, he still retained this chairmanship. He also served as chairman and member of other import- ant committees, and was frequently entrusted with the duty of making up their reports, and conducting the management of them in the House, in which he was remarkably successful.

While in Congress Mr. King confined himself mostly to incidental debates and to discussions arising from hour to hour. But on the few occasions when he essayed a more elaborate effort, he displayed marked powers as a speaker, and was fluent in style and thought, and always impressive from the unmis- takable sincerity and profoundness of his convictions. His success as a public speaker, and indeed as a pub- lic man, rested not so much upon any exterior or ap- parent qualifications as upon the native vigor of mind and force of personal character, which never failed to exert a powerful influence over those with whom he came in contact, and to command attention and re- spect even from his strongest political opponents.

During his last years in Congress he fearlessly es- poused the cause of liberty, and his name was known throughout the country, not merely for his opinions, but for his readiness in argument and his skill and success in debate. In his last elaborate speech, in May, 1850, he reaffirmed the principles to which he had always been so consistent, and eloquently au- nounced his unalterable determination to oppose the spread of slavery.

Such was his devotion to his public duties that he would suffer no private interest to interfere with his presence at important junctures. On one occasion, as related by his colleague, the Hon. John G. Palfrey, he received news of the severe illness of a heloved daughter. At the time the debate upon an import- ant measure of public policy was drawing to a close, and he refused to leave his post until the final vote on the question was taken. He then set out at once, but arrived at his home too late to see his child alive. Such heroic devotion to duty in one so affectionate and warm-hearted ranks with the noblest examples of history.

His religious life and character were sincere and earnest. He attended the Unitarian Church in the South Parish of Danvers, and was most faithful iu his duties there. While the presiding officer of the Senate of Massachusetts he confided to an intimate friend that he never left his lodgings to take his place in the State-House without first invoking in prayer guidance from above. He carried his religious prin- ciples into the smallest details of life, and was always

ready for occasions to do good, either by the thought- ful and liberal bestowal of charity, or by kindly in- terest and advice. In paying tribute to his charac- ter upon the occasion of the formal announcement of bis death in the House of Representatives, Mr. Joseph R. Chandler, of Philadelphia, summed up a most feeling and appreciative speech by saying, "If I were called upon to present, from public life, the true exemplification of the Christian gentleman, I know of no character that would more beautifully il- lustrate the idea, and supply the model, than that of Daniel P. King."

On the 10th of July, 1850, he left Washington to attend to some business requiring his presence at home. He had previously been somewhat unwell, though his indisposition had not been considered dangerous. He seemed, for a few days, to improve with the rest from public duties; but very soon the disease took on a more serious form, and he died ou the 25th of July. His return and illness had hardly become known beyond the immediate neighborhood, and the announcement of his death brought a shock deeply felt throughout the whole country.

His health had generally heen good, and his well known simplicity of living apparently had its effect in a still youthful freshness of complexion and ap- pearance. But it is probable that his long residence away from his beloved farm, and the pressure of ir- regular hours and responsible duties, had slowly un- dermined his powers of resistance to illness, and when he at last broke down, the end came quickly.

In Congress, and by the press and individuals throughout the land, the most sincere tributes were paid to his memory ; and nowhere more deeply than in his native town and among his own kindred and neighbors, was his loss felt and grieved for, and his character appreciated and lauded. Ile was in the truest sense a representative of the best clement of New England; stainless in private character, unas- suming in life and manners, clear and vigorous in in- tellect and while not seeking advancement, not shrinking from any responsibility which came as his duty ; inflexible in principles and fearless in their utterance, yet never desirous of useless quarrels ; having " malice toward none and charity for all." His character gathered weight with years, until he wield- ed an influence which seemed inexplicable to those who looked at the surface and saw only the plain, quiet and unobtrusive man, not marked by striking qualities of appearance or address, and hardly sug- gesting in his kindly and genial face that intellectual and moral vigor and energy which always rose to the full height of the occasion. Without laying claim to the title of a great man, he filled every position to which his remarkable fortune called him, nobly and with effective results.

Beside his political honors, he was for many years a trustee of the Massachusetts Lunatic Asylum, a member of the Essex Historical Society, of the Es-

1050

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

sex Natural History Society and of the New Eng- land Historieo-Genealogical Society. He wasa mem- ber and trustee of the Massachusetts Society for pro- moting agriculture, and an officer of the Essex Agri- cultural Society.

Ilis political life seemed to be in its very prime of successful vigor when he left Washington never to re- turn. Mr. Upham, to whose very interesting and valuable memoir the writer of this brief outline is chiefly indebted for his materials, believed that if Mr. King had lived he would have been within no long time Governor of Massachusetts. Certain it is, that in the stormy times which followed, his voice and his influence would ever have been found on the side of liberty, union and equal rights for all.

GEORGE PEABODY, the son of Thomas and Judith Peabody, was born February 18, 1795, in a hou-e still standing in Peabody, on the northerly side of Wash- ington Street, the old Boston road. The Peabody family is one of historie distinetion, both in England and in this country. George Peabody was a descend- ant of Lient. Franeis Pabody, who emigrated from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, in 1635, and set- tled in Topsfield, then a part of Salem Village, in 1667, where he died in 1698. The name of Peabody is found in the early annals of the province, and sev- eral of the name served honorably in the various wars in which the mother country enlisted the services of her colonists ; and in the Revolution from Bunker's Hill and the siege of Boston, to the end of that triumphant struggle, the name is borne upon the roll of honor of those who faithfully served their country.

The branch of the family to which George Pea- body belonged, was but poorly endowed with worldly goods at the time of his birth. He gained his early education in the district school of the town, and when but twelve years of age he went to work in the grocery store of Captain Sylvester Proctor, in 1807. Captain Proctor's store stood for many years in the place now occupied by Mr. Grosvenor's apothe- cary store. It was a small building, the upper part being used as a residence; and in the attic George had his room while he worked with Captain Proc- tor. His treatment here was kind, and Mr. Peabody always retained a warm feeling for Captain Proc- tor, and when in 1852 he gave the beginning of the fund which was to found a public library in his native town, he requested that the venerable Captain Proctor should be selected to lay the corner stone of the edifice. Unfortunately, the old gentleman did not live to perform that ceremony, to which he had looked forward with the deepest interest.

Mr. Peabody is said to have tohl the story that the first dollar he ever earned was while he was yet n scho I-boy, for tending a little booth for the sale of apples and other delicacies at some celebration. He stuck to his post, in spite of the fascinations of the country sports about him, and was rewarded for

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 21

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