History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 216

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 216

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He was clerk of the Printing Committee of the Senate for twenty years, and compiled annually the "Congressional Directory," and also, by order of Congress, "Our Diplomatic Relations," "Federal and State Constitutions," "Colonial Charters and other Organic Laws of the United States " and " The Catalogue of Government Publications." Meanwhile he was writing for the Agricultural Reports. He also supervised the indices to the Congressional Record, a class of work in which he was an expert. In 1880 he wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly entitled " Reminiscences of Washington Life," and his last work, published in 1886, was " Perley's Rem- iniscences," in two volumes, of rare interest.

His devotion to agriculture was supreme, and when he was sixteen years of age he planted at Indian Hill, with his father, a row of thirty-nine chestnut trees, which are still in a thriving condition ; and at the age of thirty-nine he planted thirty-nine elms, and a tree every year after, for twenty years, making fifty-nine elms, which are now vigorous and beauti- ful. Ile continued to add to the beauty of the farm, and received the prize of one thousand dollars of- fered by the State Agricultural Society for the best ten aeres of trees raised from seed. He was always identified with the agricultural interests of the State, and was secretary of the National Agricultural So- ciety for many years.

Few men have lived who have been more uniform-

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1875

WEST NEWBURY.

ly industrious. He had none of those qualifications which adapt a man to idle hours. He had his hours of comparative repose, but they were not hours of idleness. A change of work was his only recreation. He passed from the hurly burly of Washington life, from the turmoil of political dissensions, from the sharp competition of telegraphic correspondence, from the hospitalities of the capital to his home at Indian Hill, but he never reelined under his own roof or beneath the trees of his beautiful home, ex- cept when, as a host, he extended agreeable civilities to his many friends. His trees, his farm, his books, his correspondence, his autographs, his collection of Revolutionary relies, his clippings from the newspa- pers claimed his attention. He was not pressed for time, and while he was not deficient in method, he passed from the consideration of all these different interests so rapidly that, had it not been for his great love for the work he had temporarily in hand, one might have wondered how he found any recuperative effect in his change from the banks of the Potomac to the banks of the Merrimac. The demands made upon him during these vacation seasons, when Con- gress was not in session, never ceased, for he was so many-sided in his tastes and possessed such a fund of general knowledge that he was not at a loss for information to impart whether the gathering was lit- erary, agricultural, masonic, military or antiquarian in its nature. He was a welcomed guest wherever he went, for he had a fund of anecdotes and volumes of unwritten reminiscences in his mind, which came at his bidding to appropriately illustrate every topic and to enhance the enjoyment of every occasion.

His association with the leading statesmen of the past forty years was more intimate than that ever en- joyed by a Washington correspondent. He was in the best sense a helpful man to even those who were his superiors in special attainments. His retentive memory enabled him, on many important occasions, to prevent misstatements being made by those who consulted him, and he was justly regarded as the best authority upon any subject to which he had given his attention. "The Major never made a speech in the Senate of the United States," said a Senator to us a few years since, "but how many speeches would have been Poore's if quotation marks had covered the facts and points which he contributed." He never be- trayed a trust, and in his presence no topie, however important, was discussed in bated breath by the Sen- ators, for his loyalty was unquestioned.

One of the amusing evidences of the Major's eecen- tricity, and yet characteristic of his entire sincerity in fulfilling his obligations, was manifested by what was known as "The Great Wheelbarrow Feat." In June, 1856, shortly after the nomination of Fremont, the Major made a bet of a barrel of apples with Col- onel Robert I. Burbank that Mr. Fillmore would ob- tain more votes than Colonel Fremont in Massachu- setts, it being agreed that the loser should propel the

apples on a wheelbarrow from his own residence to that of the winner. After the election in November the Major, satisfied that he had lost, notified Colonel Burbank that he should pay the bet and perform the task of wheeling the barrel from West Newbury to Boston. Colonel Burbank offered at onee to release the Major from his engagement, but he was young and museular, and he felt that to retire from the field would be ignominious. He occupied a portion of three days in accomplishing his work. He was es- corted up State Street by the Boston Fusileers and a crowd which packed the street. He delivered his barrel to Colonel Burbank in front of the Tremont House amid the cheers of thousands, and was the re- cipient of a dinner in the evening.

Major Poore had a natural love for a military life, and as a student of tactics he acquired great profi- ciency. He was the commander of a boys' company when quite a youth, and while at the South he gave considerable attention to the militia. He held sev- eral stati appointments during his editorial career in Boston.

With much labor and expense he organized and commanded the First Rifle Battalion of Massachu- setts, which was the first corps to tender their ser- vices to President Lincoln in 1861. He was first major and then lieutenant-colonel of the Sixth Mass- achusetts Regiment, rendering important services in keeping the way open from the North to the capital. Later he returned to his duties in Washington in poor health, but Governor Andrew declared that his dispatches to the Boston Journal, and other services in Washington were worth a regiment in the field, as he was there known as the soldiers' friend.

Prominent among Mr. Poore's characteristics was his devotion to the Masonie Fraternity. It was prior to the year 1860 that he received, at Paris, France, the Thirty-second Degree of the Scottish Rite, and after that time he was an Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, and was promoted to the Thirty- third Degree. He was loved and honored by thou- sands of Masons who never knew him personally. On the farm, which was his home for so many years, he made a lodge in the open air, among the trees that he had planted when a boy,-a lodge duly propor- tioned, with seats of stone and an altar of stone, on all sides enclosed by a thick set hedge,-which had, by a regular meeting held there, been duly conse- crated. And here, to show how Mr. Poore was appre- ciated by his fellow Masons, it may be stated, that Albert Pike, the gifted poet, on the 29th day of May, 1887, as Grand Commander of the Masonic Frater- nity, issued a manifesto in honor of Mr. Poore, which was exceedingly complimentary to the departed, and full of the noblest sentiments. One of the paragraphs in Mr. Pike's manifesto is as follows: " We who are Masons cannot think of Brother Poore as dead; but only as one gone far away from us, into an unknown realm, from which no return to us is possible ; but

1876

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS

into which we shall follow him in a little while, and be happier in the renewed intercourse of affection. because of the temporary separation. Nature must have her way, and we must for a time lament this new loss and deprivation, and speak of him regret- fully, and sadly remember him in our lonely self-com- munings." And again, after alluding to his faith in Masonry, Mr. Pike says : " In that faith our Brother labored here, and firm in that faith he died ; no man or woman in all the work being poorer because he had lived, and no one's life made cheerless by loss of faith in God's goodness, or of hope of immortality by any word he ever wrote."

"Twice overwhelmed by anguish in his later years, by the deaths which left him chiklless, of his dangh- ters grown to womanhood, and beloved by him with an unmeasurable love, he bore with patient courage and resignation these terrible afflictions. Death has mercifully spared him the sharper agony of being left wholly alone in his old home to mourn over another grave, and we offer the desolate widow the sympathy of our brotherly love." Then followed the order that for sixty days all the Brethren should wear the badge of sorrow for an Inspector General deceased.

The last literary work performed by Major Poore was the preparation of a history of the " Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company," of Boston, an organ- ization two hundred years old, of which he was Past Commander, and long an influential member. It was on the day that he delivered, in person, the manu- script to the printer in Washington that he was stricken down with faintness at the National Capital, from whence he was conveyed to the Ebbitt House, which had been his winter home for a great many years. After an illness of two weeks, during which time he received every possible care and attention from his devoted wife and relatives, his sincere friends, Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Willard, as well as from his physicians, Doctors Baxter and Harrison, he breathed away his life in perfect peace on the morn- ing of the 30th of May, 1887, and was buried by the side of his two daughters near Indian Hill.

A leading feature of Mr. Poore's character was his disposition to help his fellow-men, often giving away his money while denying himself comforts that he needed. During his sojourn in Georgia he identified himself with the Methodist Church, but as years pro- gressed he sided with the Protestant Episcopal Church, and at all times and in every place never failed, as oc- casions occurred, to manifest his regard for the Chris- tian religion.

His survivors are his widow and his two sisters, now living at Indian Hill Farm, and his only grand- child, the son of his younger daughter, who was the wife of Frederick &. Mosely, of Newburyport, Mass.

In the note-book carried by Major Poore was found pasted the following touching verse, which, perhaps, may be appropriately quoted in thus closing the life of one of E-sex's faithful sons :

" When I am dead and gone And the mould upon my breast, Say not that he did ill or well, Only he did his best."

SAMUEL MOODY EMERY.

Samuel Moody Emery was born A.D. 1804, in that part of Newbury, Mass., which in 1819 became a separate town, now called West Newbury. ITis father, Moody Emery, was a descendant of John Emery, Jr., who with father, mother, sister, uncle and other friends, came to Newbury in 1635.

John Emery, Sr., was one of the " original grantees of land " in the town, " declared, December 7, 1642, to have proportionable rights in all waste lands, com- mons and rivers undisposed, &c."1 He also had a por- tion of land granted him, "called the greene, about three akers, being more or less, &c., only the twenty rods [is] reserved in said land for a burying-place, &c." The price of this land was three pounds.1 He lived at the old settlement for some years, but in the latter part of his life resided in West Newbury.1

At this time, the western part of the town was called the Commons or Upper Woods.1

In 1644 " there was laid out unto John Emery, Jun., fourscore akers of upland, bee it more or less, joyne- ing unto Merrimacke River on the north and run- ning from the mouth of Artichoke River unto a marked tree by a swamp, &c."1

John Emery or his father must have had much land added by purchase or grant to this " fourscore akers," which was, at one time, deeded by him to his father, and again given back to the son. Before John, Jr.'s death he was a large landed proprietor in West Newbury and owned land in Haverhill.

In the year 1679 "the town," on March 3d, "granted unto John Emery, junior, twelve acres of land on the west side of Artichoke River, provided he build and maintain a corn-mill, to grind the town's corn from time to time, and to build it within one year and a half after the date hereof, and so forth."2

He was also granted three acres on the cast side of the river to build the mill, on certain conditions.

The " Mill " property was afterwards sold by Ste- phen Emery, Esq., who married Hannah Rolfe, and built a new house on the old farm.

Ile was the grandfather of Moody Emery-the father of Samuel M. Emery, whose mother's name was Abigail Prescott, from New Hampshire.

Samuel was a delicate child, requiring much care. When about the age of twelve years he was brought low by a severe illness, from which he slowly recov- ered.

The first school Samuel Emery entered was a very primitive one, presided over by a lady called by her pupils Ma'am Jewett.

1 See Collin's " History of Newbury," pp. 292, 18, 301, 302, 36, 11. 2 C'offin's list. , page 121.

Famille. Emery

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WEST NEWBURY.

Some of Miss Jewett's pupils did her much credit in their after-lives. Her school assembled in her bed- room, in a building a little below Brown's Spring, on the opposite side of the road.

After leaving Miss Jewett's, Samuel attended the district school near his home.

Although West Newbury was an agricultural town. with a few mechanical industries, it was not unusual, occasionally, for a boy to seek for a liberal education. Samnel Emery, the son of old John, Jr., was a graduate of Harvard in 1691, probably the first from West Newbury.

There must have been an inclination for reading cherished by some of the people of this town, for there was an old library in the East Parish, where books requiring much perseverance to be thoroughly studied, were found, such as "Rollin's Ancient History," " Tillotson's Sermons," ete.

A few young men, of whom Samnel was one, began to collect a circulating library, to contain more mod- ern and attractive books than the old one. This lib- rary lived several years.

Evidently, there was a strong movement in the i boring towns, he was engaged, in December, to assist minds of some West Newbury boys towards a better education than they could obtain at home, between the years 1823 and 1834, with this result : Cornelius C. Felton graduated at Harvard in the class of 1827, From Mr. Emery's private journal I extract the Samuel M. Emery in that of 1830, Robert A. Coker following entry, dated Dec. 12th : in 1831 and Samuel M. Felton in 1834.

Mr. Emery was prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, and always retained a love for that institution. He entered college in 1826. While there he studied as one in earnest.

One of his class-mates wrote of him after his de- cease : "So early as college life he developed his high-toned character and stainless reputation." He must have stood well as a scholar, to have a " part " at commencement, in a class like that of 1830.

For several years succeeding his graduation Mr. Emery was employed, the greater part of the time, in teaching. On March 8, 1831, he engaged as mas- ter of the classical department of the academy at Northfield, Mass., where he remained for two terms. From Northfield, accompanied by a cousin, one of the pupils of the academy, he walked nearly to Boston, finishing the journey to Newburyport by water.

From October, 1831, to August, 1833, he was instructor of the " lligh School for Young Ladies" at Portsmouth, N. H.

He was baptized in St. John's Church by Dr. Bur- roughs, September 2, 1832, and confirmed the next Sunday, in the same place, by the Rt. Rev. A. V. Griswold, bishop of the Eastern Diocese.

Mr. Emery was brought up as a Congregationalist, but was, for some time previous to his baptism, dis- satisfied with the religious system to which he had been accustomed.

After leaving Portsmouth he took a room at Cam- bridge, and studied theology under the direction of

the Rev. Dr. Coit, then reetor of Christ Church> Cambridge, and subsequently under that of Rev. Dr. Wainwright, rector of Trinity Church, Boston, after- wards provisional bisbop of New York.

While preparing for holy orders Mr. Emery con- tinued to instruct pupils.

In the winter of 1835 he was employed by a gentle- man in Lancaster, who was obliged by his duties in the Legislature of the State to leave some students from Harvard, who had been placed under his care. President Quincy engaged Mr. Emery to take charge of them during this gentleman's absence. He be- came much attached to these young men, and one of them beeame his intimate friend.

He returned to Cambridge, and on July 28, 1835, was admitted to the holy order of deacons, with two other candidates, in (old) Trinity Church, Boston, by the Right Rev. Bishop Griswold. Ile was presented by the Rev. William Croswell, then rector of Christ Church, Boston, in which church the newly-ordained deacon preached his first sermon.

After officiating occasionally in Boston and neigh- the rector of Trinity Church, Chatham (now Port- land), Conn., a beautiful town on the Connecticut River, opposite the city of Middletown.

" Reached Chatham, after a journey of about three days, and entered upon the duties of 'journeyman,' assistant minister to Rev. William Jarvis, disabled by laryngitis."

Mr. Emery was elected to the rectorship of Trinity Church, Chatham, in April, 1837, and was advanced to the Holy Order of Priests in the same church, on Whitsunday, May 14th, by the Right Rev. T. C. Brownell, bishop of Connecticut.

There was in 1837 but one church (Episcopal) in Middletown, and one in llartford. The nearest churches were at Middle Haddam and Glastonbury. Meriden was near enough to admit of exchanges between the rector there and the one in Chatham. ] notice in Dr. Emery's journal two instances in which he walked home from Meriden, a distance of some ten miles.

There was no livery stable in Chatham at that time, but Mr. Jarvis and other parishioners were very willing to lend horses and vehicles to the rector, and he sometimes rode or drove to distant parts of the parish or to other towns. An old gentleman, a parishioner, favored him so often with his horse, that Mr. Emery was taxed for the animal, of which he was supposed to be the owner. Mr. Emery would tell this story with great amusement.

He was very fond of children and young people, and attracted them by his cheerfulness and good humor. But he believed in discipline.

He gave the Sunday-school a large share of his at- tention. He was usually present at its sessions.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. Emery often preached three times on a Sunday, and occasionally on week-days. He frequently, in the early part of his work, held evening services in private houses, where he had aged or infirm parish- ioners, or where families resided at a considerable distance from church.

On the 17th of November, 1841, Rev. S. M. Emery was married by the Rev. Dr. Morss, rector of St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, to Mary Hale, only surviving child of Eliphalet and Sarah (Hale) Emery, of West Newbury, Mass.

Eliphalet Emery, Esq., resides on the old farm given to John Emery, Jr., in 1644. He was a promi- nent citizen of West Newbury, son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Short) Emery, and grandson of Stephen and Hannah / Rolfe) Emery, mentioned above, as grand- parents of Moody Emery, the father of Rev. Samuel M. Emery. Consequently Mr. and Mrs. Emery's fathers were own cousins.

On June 2d of this year the name of a part of the town of Chatham was changed to Portland.

Rev. S. M. Emery and his wife were blessed with seven children, six of whom survive their honored and lamented father. Abbie Prescott died in child- hood.

Hle was a "lover of hospitality " in the simple way in which a country clergyman forty years since coukl show it, and never ceased in after-years to practice it as he had ability. His house was open to his parish- ioners, his brethren of the clergy, and strangers and friends from ont of town.

During the last twenty years of Mr. Emery's resi- dence in Portland the number of the clergy in the vicinity was greatly increased. The Berkeley Divin- ity School, in Middletown, incorporated in 1854, and the removal of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Williams to the house formerly occupied by the Rev. S. M. Jarvis, D.D., produced great changes.

The chapel of "St. Luke the Beloved Physician," erected by a lady in memory of her husband, for the use of the Berkeley School, was opened to the public.

Christ Church, Middletown, assumed the name of "Holy Trinity," and a church in the southern part of the town was built which bears the name of " Christ Church," Sonth Farms; and chapels followed in various distant parts of the town or neighboring villages, served by professors or students of the Berke- ley School.

The Rev. Dr. Goodwin, of Holy Trinity, was an intimate friend of the Portland rector, and they often exchanged pulpits. Dr. Emery was on very pleasant terms with the Middletown clergy and often received a "labor of love" to assist him in his services. He had many warm friends among them-some of them much younger than himself.

He was for some time a trustee of the Berkeley Divinity School, and held the office until he left the State.

During most of his residence in Portland he was

one of the Board of School Visitors for the public schools of the town.

He was very much interested in the education of the young, from children in the primary school to students in college, or divinity school. He prepared a number of young men for college, and instructed one, through the freshman year.

He received the degree, "ad eundem," of M.A. from Trinity College in 1838, and of S.T.D. from the same institution in 1864.

Dr. Emery prepared most of his sermons with care. He had not acquired the habit of extempo- raneous speaking, and never willingly trusted to his memory, without notes. Ile was an earnest preach- er, and usually commanded the attention of a con- gregation, sometimes, when roused and excited by his subject, rising to eloquence.

His advice was asked often in regard to secular as well as spiritual matters, and all sorts and conditions of men were represented from time to time in his study.

He had been in the habit of officiating occa- sionally in the eastern part of the town. He inan- gurated a mission there, with the approval of the bishop, and the help of a Berkeley student, son of the late bishop of Mississippi, now the Rev. Stephen H. Greene, of St. Louis.

Before Dr. Emery left Portland he had the satis- faction of seeing the corner-stone of the "Chapel of St. John Baptist" laid by Bishop Williams, and of returning next year to be present at its consecration. This chapel is connected with Trinity Parish, and the rector is expected to celebrate the Holy Com- munion once a month within its walls. One of the Berkeley students reads service every Sunday when no clergyman is present.

Ile resigned the rectorship of Trinity Church on Easter Monday, 1870, and preached his "farewell sermon " the first Sunday after Trinity, June 19th.

In the course of the summer the whole family were settled on old John Emery's farm, situated on the Merrimac and Artichoke Rivers, in West Amesbury.

Dr. Emery did not wish to be rector of another parish, hut desired to be engaged in the work of the ministry. He assisted other clergymen, and filled vacancies in parishes.

Near the close of this year the Rev. George D. Johnson was elected rector of St. Paul's Church, Newburyport. Dr. Emery, who remembered him as a student in Middletown, enjoyel his society keenly, and was occasionally able to assist him in the parish.

While residing in West Newbury, four miles from St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, when not engaged elsewhere, Dr. Emery usually held a service in the evening, on Sundays, at his house, and often a little congregation of neighbors attended. The rector of St. Paul's approved of this service, and once came out and preached. Occasionally, other clergymen, visiting at the house, would as-ist by preaching.

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WEST NEWBURY.

Dr. Emery superintended the public schools in Rev. Matthias Plant, the minister of Queen Anne's West Newbury from 1871 to February, 1874. Chapel, and the first rector of St. Paul's.

Early in November, 1873, the whole family re- moved to Newburyport.

He had the pastoral care of St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, at one time, while the rector was absent in Europe.

Ile was minister in charge at St. James' Church, Amesbury, for about two years, while residing in Newburyport.

In the spring of 1882, Dr. Emery and family re- turned to their West Newbury home.

He was now hardly strong enough to officiate in public, but usually held divine service in his house, for the benefit of those necessarily detained from church.

He became interested in his farm, and was very thoughtful of the comfort of those employed by him.

He officiated twice at funerals during this last year of his life.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 216

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