History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 211

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 211

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Joseph's eldest son was Anthony, who married Doreas, the daughter of James Davenport, whose wife was Sarah Franklin, sister of Ben. Franklin, the statesman and philosopher. We find these Christian names, Anthony and Dorcas, often in the records of the Stickney family, and now comes in the surname of Franklin. This Anthony appears to have been a man of high position. He was a member of what is now the Unitarian Church; was a lieutenant of a Newbury company in the State of New York, fighting the French and Indians in 1756 ; held the same place in an alarm company of 1757; was a captain in the expedition against Canada, under Gen. Amherst, in

1760; he was a chaise-maker when Newbury was the leading town in that business in the country ; later he was in Chester, N. H. He was a citizen of marked ability and patriotism, learned and wealthy. From his wife, the daughter of Sarah Franklin, the sister of Ben. Franklin, whose favorite niece she was, her great-grandson, Dr. Anthony S. Jones, has an en- graved likeness of the printer-patriot, done in Paris, with his autograph on the back-side: " For Dorcas Stickney, of Newbury."

Anthony Somerby Stickney, son of Anthony, last named, was the grandfather of Dr. Jones by his daughter Marcy. He was a cooper, had a shop on Long Wharf and a house in which he lived on Fed- eral Street. Ile removed first to Chester, and then to Pembroke, N. II. Franklin thought much of his relatives in Newburyport, and often visited and cor- responded with them. He requested Anthony Somer- by Stickney to name his first son for him, which, being done, he bequeathed to him a silver tankard of the weight of sixty Spanish dollars, inscribed : " Legacy by will of Benjamin Franklin to Benjamin Franklin Stickney." Anthony Somerby Stickney, by contract, furnished the timber that was wrought into the hull of the famous frigate "Constitution," a part of it coming from Bow, N. H., and another part from the Governor Dummer farm, in Newbury.

Benjamin Franklin Stickney, uncle of Doctor A. S. Jones, was a distinguished man, though peculiar in his " notions." He moved to Pembroke, and then to Bow, N. H., where he had a large landed property. lle was a justice of the peace and postmaster at Bow, was a scholar of note, learned in mineralogy, chemis- try and natural history. From New Hampshire he went West ; was Indian agent at Fort Wayne, where the Indians called him their " white father." He was in the battle of New Orleans, and was complimented by General Jackson for his bravery. He became wealthy, and in 1802 married a daughter of General Starke, of New Hampshire, who told the soldiers at the battle of Bennington,-" We will be victorious or Mollie Starke this day becomes a widow." By Mary Starke he had five children, in whose veins was the blood of Franklin and Starke combined. lle named his two sons One S. and Two S., and his three daughters, Maryland, Indiana and Louisiana. He believed in electricity more than even his uncle, Ben- jamin Franklin, for he held that a man would never die if he kept his animal electricity ; but as he did die, thongh at a great age, he must have lost his elec- tricity.

Tenacity to earth-life is one of the characteris- ties of the ancestors of Dr. Jones. His mother lived to be ninety years, and many of the family have endured to from eighty to one hundred years. Moses Stickney, who died at Jeffrey, N. H., on his farm, at the foot of the Grand Monadnock, in 1852, was one hundred years, three months and nine days old. Dr. Jones is now eighty-six years, with no ap-

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

parent cause of death for years to come. He was the only child of his mother, who was a young lady of seventeen years when Washington rode past her resi- dence, on Federal Street, in 1790, and her life, com- bined with her son's, exceed the life of the Republic In his early life Dr. Jones took an active part in public affairs ; as in the Fire Department, for which, through Henry Frothingham, then the representa- tive, he obtained the charter for its organization, under which it has acted. Likewise, before he was by more than five years. The utmost care was taken with his early education, and, on the advice of Pro- fessor Francis Brown, of Dartmouth College, who was a relative and frequent visitor of the family, he was put to the study of Latin and Greek, and was quite , of age, he obtained the signatures and forwarded the proficient in the translation, when a mere child, at the petition for the incorporation of the Institution for Saving, designed to encourage the poor in their small accumulations, it not heiug foreseen that its de- posits would ever reach the millions. In the same way he was one of the founders of the Newburyport Insurance Company. He was ever ready to act for the public good, and to seize upon any new things for the same purpose. He built the first ice-house in town; and he sold the first kerosene oil, which was as much before the whale oil and tallow candle as elec- tricity is before it, for illuminating purposes. Fur- ther details might be tiresome. school of that celebrated teacher, Michael Walsh, where he was in the same class with Caleb Cushing. Later he had the benefit of instruction by another well-known teacher of that day, " Master McPhail." Ile did not, however, pursue his studies beyond the public and private schools of Newburyport, which were second to none in the State. Ile turned his at- tention chiefly to natural science. Ile was an expert in geology, and for years Professor Hitchcock, of Am- herst College, in his survey of the State, engaged his assistance on his Essex County staff. He also had a love for astronomy, and was invited to join a party of Trained by a pious mother, Dr. Jones early became a member of the church ; and when Sunday-schools were instituted he was secretary of the first organiza- tion, at the court-house, that in a very few Sundays numbered over six hundred members, and in his class, as pupils, were William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knopp, who soon after led the anti-slavery revolution. A similar school was held in the school-house on Marlboro' Street on Saturdays and Sundays, in which he was a teacher, while he was himself a scholar in Dr. Spring's Saturday evening Bible class, designed to aid the general movement. At first the family at- tended the Harris Street Church; but offended by political preaching on Sundays, though they were Democrats as strong and stern as Parson Giles him- self, they removed to the Old South, and listened to the saintly Dr. Dana; but when the Whitefield so- ciety was formed, from personal friendship for its first pastor, the late Rev. John Emerson, Dr. Jones became an earnest worker and liberal contributor to that movement. scientific gentlemen, many years ago, in their obser- vations of the annular eclipse of the moon, from the highest peak of the Green Mountains. More than anything else, however, he devoted himself to chem- istry, in which he become so proficient as to rank with the best chemists of the country ; and he kept up his studies and investigations to a very late period. This fitted him for his profession and business in life, as a druggist and apothecary ; and very early he had the honor of receiving a diploma from the College of Pharmacy, and classed with the first men in his busi- ness, as David Henshaw, Dr. Lowe and Sampson Reed, of Boston, who were his fast friends. Doctor Jones, in trade, first bought out Dr. Nathaniel Smith, and had his store opposite the "Shambles," on Mar- ket Square. He moved from there to the corner of State and Essex Streets, and then to the corner of State and Middle Streets, where he remained many years, till he retired in 1858, with a competency of this world's goods. It was in that store that Oliver Putnam made his will, by which the world has the Putnam Free School. It was afterwards rewritten by Caleb Cushing. Dr. Jones was a witness to it, and presented it to Probate.

Dr. Jones was an active Free Mason in the times that tried Masonic souls, and is to-day the oklest Free Mason in this city; made in St. Peter's Lodge when he was twenty-one years old, or in 1823. He was one of the signers of the well-known " Declara- tion of the Free Masons of Boston and vicinity," is- sued in 1831, and was invited to the bangnet on the semi-centennial celebration of that declaration, which was signed by fifty-seven Masons in Newburyport, of which number to-day he is the only survivor. Caleb Cushing, Rev. Dr. Morse, Judge Marston, Dr. R. S. Spofford, Hon. Eben Bradbury, Dr. Brickett, William

Woart, and all the rest have passed to the higher degrees of the Supreme Lodge above, and he alone remains to testify to what Masonry was in the days of the fathers.

He has participated in most of the religious and charitable operations of the day, and following the example of his mother, who was much interested in the Orphans' Asylum of former times, has been especially attentive to the wants of children, having adopted or himself provided for a large number who looked to him as to a father. Thus he has proved his faith by his works and can see and feel that he has not lived in vain.

WILLIAM RICHARD JOHNSON.I

Under this head we propose to give a sketch of the Johnson family ; an old family, if any can be called such in America, and one of the best and most sub-

1 By dieo. J. L. Colby.

Ihr. A. Johnson

1-55

NEWBURYPORT.

stantial in the county of Essex. How far back they may be traced, we know not. Manrice was a member of Parliament for Stamford in 1523. Abraham had three sons,-Isaac, William and Edward, who came to America in 1630. In that year Isaac was at Salem, a close friend to John Winthrop, and ranking in the class of Winthrop in education and wealth. He was afterwards among the settlers of Boston. His wife, Arabella, was a danghter of the Earl of Lincoln, and the ship in which she came was named "Arabella," in honor of her. He was the wealthiest of the founders of Boston.

Edward was the founder of Woburn, and a man of much importance in the colony. Ile owned land in Boston, which is now the church-yard of King's C'hap- el, and he was the first person there interred. He was a man of letters, author of the " Wonder- Working Providence," a history of New England from 1628-52.

William Johnson, from whom those in New- bnry sprang, first settled in Charlestown, where he married Elizabeth Story ; and thence came to the banks of the Merrimac, where he commenced ship- building near the foot of Ship Street, living in what is called the Johnson house, probably the oldest on Water Street. He was the father of Nathaniel, who was the father of William, born in 1671.

William married Martha Pierce in 1696. She lived on what is now known as the Little farm, originally the Spencer farm, belonging to John Spencer, one of the early settlers of Newbury, a man of much wealth and high character, who returned to his English home, conveying this farm to his kinsman Pierce, the father of Martha. His lands extended from Iligh Street to the river, but northward there was only one honse to Ship Street ; that was at the foot of Lime Street. A lonely journey mnst it have been to young Johnson going a-wooing Miss Martha, a two miles' tramp along the river and through the woods, when darkness was upon the earth. The Johnsons and Pierces were among the first families of the new town. To William and Martha Johnson were born six children,-three sons and three danghters. Eleazer, the youngest son, was born in 1697. His eldest son, William, was a clergyman, graduated at Harvard, and became the first pastor of the Second Church in West Newbury ; and another was Eleazer, born in 1720.

Eleazer Johnson, the son of Eleazer, continuing the ship-building on the banks of the Merrimac, was a very remarkable man, energetic, intelligent and the strongest man in the town. He could lift a half-ton of iron with his hands, and would carry timber against three ordinary men. He was as patriotic as he was strong, and fitted to be the leader of men. In the exciting times just before the Revolution of 1776 he was to Newburyport what Sam Adams was to Boston. We have heard old men, born before independence, claim that the Revolution was started and nursed in the Johnson ship-yard. It is unquestionably true, and it was on his suggestion and under his leadership

that the ship-carpenters, then the most numerons class of workers in town, twice burned tea-all they could find in town-before the " Mohawks" mixed theirs with the salt water of Boston harbor. He marched at the head of that band of patriots, his broad-axe upon his shoulder, under the blows from which the oaken door fell in. He stood at the head of the " Sons of Liberty " when by his side was his neighbor, Jonathan Green- leaf, whose " silver tongue " fired the public heart. while Rev. Jonathan Parsons, in the "Old South " pulpit, denounced British tyranny, till the people or- ganized their company for Bunker IFill in the broad aisle and in front of the communion table in his church.

To such a father, and to his wife, Elizabeth l'ierce, in full sympathy with him, were born nine children, five of them sons of the heroic caste. Philip, born in 1743, was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and later vexing the enemy on board a privateer. William Pierce, master of the "American Hero," in the French West Indies in 1776, hearing that the war had commenced, loaded his vessel with arms and ammu- nition and made all haste to Boston with such needed supplies for the patriots defending their liberties. Nicholas was in the privateer navy of the country, and at the close of the war was the first man to float the " Stars and Stripes " over the waters of the Thames in London. Eleazer, the third of that name, com- manded a privateer during the war, was captured by a British man-of-war, and suffered in the infamous "Old Mill" prison. Joseph, born in 1742, died before the Declaration of Independence, in 1775.

All of these sons partook of the spirit of the times and of the character of their father. They were brought up in the ship-yard, swinging the axe in their youth, and embarked on the seas, commanding the ships they sailed. To be the master of a ship then was also to be a merchant, for they were the buyers and sellers of their cargoes; and most of them, after building ships and sailing ships, retired to their own counting-rooms.

Joseph, whose line we are to follow, had four chil- dren, of whom three were sons, and only one, Eleazer (the fourth Eleazer), born in 1773, had children. He married Sarah Newman in 1797, and she hore him nine children. In general character and pursuits he was like his ancestors whom we have described. He was a shipwright, then at sea, and in the War of 1812- 15 was captured and confined in Dartmoor prison, which so many Americans entered to die. Later he was a merchant, and finally president of the Mechan- ics' Bank. He died in 1847, leaving only one son, Richard, born in 1813, of all his nine children, with descendants, to continue the line of his family.

Richard became a master mariner, and among his voyages carried to Charleston, S. C., stone for the foundation of Fort Sumter, since so famous as the point at which the inter-State war of 1861 commenced. Another fact will indicate the commercial difference

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of Newburyport now and a half-century ago. Then ships sailed direct to their points of destination in the various nations; and they brought to our wharves their return cargoes from Europe, the East and West Indies, and, in fact, from all parts of the world. So it happened that Richard Johnson, who commenced sea-life at sixteen and continued till he was forty, was at New Orleans, London, and Havre in France, before he had ever seen Boston or New York. He married Mrs. Fannie B. Woodbury, of Beverly, in 1852, and died in 1872, leaving two children,-Caro- line Elizabeth and William Richard. The last-named, born in 1855, is now the sole representative of the Johnsons from Joseph through Eleazer and Richard.

Wehave said that Captain Richard Johnson mar- ried Mrs. Woodbury, of Beverly. She was the daugh- ter of Dr. Nathaniel Bradstreet, a very skillful and popular physician at Newburyport, who, two years prior to his settlement here, had served as surgeon on the United States sloop-of-war "Merrimac," com- manded by Captain Moses Brown. This was when war was anticipated with France. In 1800 he entered upon professional duties, living in the "Parson Spring" house on Titeomb street, which at that day was an elegant estate, with a large, beautiful garden in the rear. Ile died in 1828, from yellow-fever taken from a vessel when he was acting as port physician, and from him it was caught by a daughter, who also died therefrom. Now his grandson, William Richard Johnson, the last of the Johnsons of his family line, is also the last of the Bradstreet family, to which his mother belongs, descended from Governor Simon Bradstreet : and as Governor Bradstreet mar- ried Anne, daughter of Thomas Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts colony, our young townsman has in his veins the blood of the Earls of Lincoln mingled with that of the heroic Johnson, and also oftwo Govern- ors who ruled the colony for a score of years. Anne Dudley, the wife of Governor Simon Bradstreet, was the first American poet. Her works were published in London, and became so popular that she was styled the " tenth muse." She was the mother of eight chil- dren, to whom she refers in the following lines :

" I bave eight birds batch't in the nest, Font cocks there were, and bens the rest ; I nuis't them up with pains and care, For cost nor labor did I spare ; Till at last they felt their wing, Mounted the trees and learned to sing."

William R. Johnson, whose portrait wepresent, was born in the mansion-house on High Street, adjoin - ing what is called the Dexter house, where "Lord Timothy" lived and held court. That house was built by Judge Charles Jackson, of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. By its side is the Johnson house, built by the very distinguished Judge John Lowell, from whom it passed to the Tracys, who there entertained the most distinguished visitors from Europe-Talleyrand, Louis Philippe and Lafayette

among the number partaking of his princely hospitality. From John Tracy, Captain Eleazer Johnson purchased it in 1809, and has transmitted it. William R. Johnson, the present proprietor, was educated in our public schools ; graduated at the Putnam, and as he is of studious habits, is a well- educated gentleman. Having the care of a large estate he has engaged less in public affairs than he other- wise might have done, but he has not failed to encour- age any business enterprises that would advance the interests of the city. He has been in the shoe busi- ness, is a stockholder and director of the Bayley Hat Company, is a director in the Merchants Bank, and a trustee in the Five Cents Savings Bank. He has especially devoted himself to the introduction of the electric lights, and invested his money that the city might have the best street lights yet invented, indicating his desire to keep step with the progress of the age. Ile has served the city two years in the Common Council and two years as an alderman. He has also been one of the leading members of the Masonic fraternity, wasmade a Mason in St. John's Lodge in 1877, and has been its Master ; is a member of King Cyrus Chapter, and has been its Iligh Priest ; belongs to the Newburyport Commandery of the Knights Templar, and has been its Commander. Personally popular in his manners, liberal in opinions, devoted to his native town, having in himself the strong will and conrage of the Johnsons combined with the courtly politeness of the Bradstreets, he apparently has a brilliant future before him.

GOV. JOSIANI BARTLETT.

Gov. Josiah Bartlett was a man of singular great- ness, goodness and simplicity. His ancestry was hon- orable, brave and generous. The name Bartlett in England is illustrious and titled from the conquest until now. Courage, self-sacrifice and generosity, with great mental activity, have ever been character- istic traits of the family.

In our Indian and colonial wars, as well as in the confliet to preserve the Massachusetts charter by de- posing and imprisoning Andros two centuries ago, they have honorable mention, the only soldier going alone from Newbury to Boston in the darkness of the night being Samnel Bartlett, who took part in the overthrow of Andros.

Josiah Bartlett was born at Amesbury, Massachu- setts, November 21, 1729. He was the fourth son of Stephen and Hannah Webster Bartlett, whose ances- tors came from England to Newbury, Mass., in 1634.

At the age of sixteen he began the study of med- icine, having acquired sufficient knowledge of Greek and Latin.

After five years of hard study he commeneed prac- ticing at Kingston, N. 11., and established a reputation during the prevalence of angina maligna in 1754, introducing treatment with Peruvian bark, in oppo- sition to common usage.

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1857

NEWBURYPORT.

In 1765, Dr. Bartlett was elected to the Legislature of New Hampshire from Kingston, during the arbi- trary administration of the royalist Governor, Went- worth. He would not submit to the will of a man whose object, next to self-aggrandizement, was the subjection of the people of New Hampshire to British tyranny. Governor Wentworth appointed Dr. Bartlett to judicial office, commissioned him colonel of the New Hampshire regiment and vainly sought by every blandishment of self-interest and honor to attach him to the royal cause, which was still powerful in New Hampshire, as backed by the haughty Wentworth.

The Governor dissolved the Assembly he could not control, but the Commitee of Correspondence addressed circulars to the towns, and their delegates assembled at Exeter and elected Dr. Bartlettand John Pickering delegates to the first Coutinental Convention in 1774, at Philadelphia.

Neither could be spared at this juncture of the New Hampshire conflict. Dr. Bartlett's house, with its contents, was burned, his military and judicial com- missions revoked by Wentworth, but in his poverty he was more than a match for the haughty Governor, who was soon after compelled to take refuge on a British man-of-war. Thus ended forever British rule in New Hampshire.

Then Bartlett and Pickering, who, with Sullivan and Starke, had organized the minute-men of New Hampshire, leaving their professions and their fam- ilies in poverty, mounted their horses and rode to Philadelphia, where they met the Colonial Congress in 1775.

Before leaving, they had established a patriotic colonial government, and framed a test oath to ex- clu le the Tories.

In September, 1775, Dr. Bartlett took his seat in Congress, and applied himself day and night with such energyas seriously to impair his health.

In 1776 he was re-elected, and became the first signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was the first called upon for his vote and his signature.

Rebellion against Great Britain, without an arms factory or powder-mill, with the rich men of our col- onies, many of them, Tories ; against the most opulent stubborn and warlike nation in the world, whose fleets had shorn France of her colonies, was like the leading a forlorn hope, and required the courage of such men as ouce held the pass at Thermopyla.

In the autumn of 1777 the terror inspired by Bur- goyne's army called for the utmost exertions of Bart- lett, Pickering and Starke to protect New England from hostile incursions. Bartlett rode everywhere, rallying troops to the support of Starke, with whom, in his persecution, he deeply sympathized. He had secured the commission as brigadier-general for his associate, Whipple, and both were personally with Starke at the battle of Bennington. The long rides through forests and over rough mountains, and the swift gathering of this little host which at Bennington

first checked the power of Burgoyne, would make a thrilling volume The Congress of 1778 was the last in which Bartlett took part.

In 1779 he was appointed chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in New Hampshire; in 1782 associate judge of the Supreme Court, in 1788 chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. The same year he was a member of the convention that secured the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

In 1789 he was elected first United States Senator, which he declined ; he was elected President of New Hampshire in 1790 and first Governor under the new constitution in 1793.

In January, 1794, he sent to the Legislature the following farewell address :

" Gentlemen of the Legislature,-AAfter having served the public for a number of years to the best of my abilities in the various offers to which I bave had the honor to be appointed, I think it proper, before your adjournment, to signify to yon and through yon to my fellow-citizens at large, that I now find myself so far advanced in age, that it will be expedient for me, at the close of the session, to retire from the cares and fatignes of public business, to the repose of a private life, with & grateful sense of the repeated marks of trust and confidence that my fellow-citizens have reposed in me, and with my best wishes for the future peace and prosperity of the State."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 211

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