History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 222

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 222

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autumn the leaves " rustle to the eddying gust and to the rabbit's tread."

" And now, when come the calm, mild day, as still such days will come, To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home,-

When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though nil the woods are still,

And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill."

There is a great charm about these scenes (not nn- felt, let us hope, even by the keen hunter) over which genius has shed

"The light that never was on sea or shore."

Notwithstanding the multiplication of sportsmen, there are still coverts known to the initiated in the North Parish, as well as the East, where it is possible to bag a respectable number of birds.

Mirick wrote, fifty-five years ago, -" Before thetown was settled it was covered with an immense and, in some places, almost impenetrable forest, except the lowlands, or meadows. These were cleared by the Indians, perhaps centuries before the discovery of America, and they were covered with a heavy growth of grass, which grew so exceedingly thick and so very high that it was impossible to discover man or beast at a distance of five rods. They resembled the cele- brated prairies of the West in everything, except ex- tent. Every autumn the Indians set the dried grass on fire, so that they might more easily kill the deer which came to feed on it the next spring. On account of the grass, they were prized aboveall other lands by the first settlers, for there they procured hay for their flocks, and they were divided into small lots and dis- tributed among them. The forest was filled with various kinds of small birds. Innumerable flocks of ducks resorted to the ponds, and the timid loon was seen sailing majestically in their waters. The wild deer reposed in the shady groves or bounded over the hills, followed by the eager hunter. The loud bark of the raccoon was heard, and the wily fox was often seen leaping through the woods. But the worst ene- my, of the beast kind, to the infant settlement, was the cruel and voracious wolf. They sometimes roamed the woods in droves, trotting like dogs, and in some of their excursions destroyed large numbers of sheep. At one period they had become so bold and trouble- some that a large plot of ground was enclosed near the common and used as a pasture for the sheep. Shepherds were likewise appointed to protect them, and at night they were collected into a close fold or pen. Hardly a day passed in which depredations were not made; and almost every night their dismal howlings broke upon its solitude."

Wolves were very destructive to the swine and cattle, as well as sheep. As early as 1630 the General Court ordered bounties for their destruction. The wolves appear to have been unable or unwilling to leap fences in pursuit of cattle, a trait the settlers soon learned to profit by. Wood, speaking of the " necke of land called Nahant," says, "for the present it is only used to put young cattle in and weather

1900

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

goates and swine, to secure them from the wolves; a few posts and rayles from the lower water-markes to the shore, keeps out the wolves and keeps in the cattle." The same practice was resorted to in Bos- ton, where the neck was fenced across-" So that a little fencing will secure their cattle from the wolves."

As late as 1717, in February, occurred the greatest fall of snow, lasting from the 20th to the 24th, recorded in the annals of New England. During the snow great numbers of deer came from the woods for food, followed by the wolves, which killed many. Previous to 1662 both the colony and the county had offered large bounties for wolf-heads, but in that year the town of Haverhill offered in addition forty shil- lings for every wolf killed. In 1685 Amesbury re- pealed its provision for paying a similar bounty, and the Haverhill people soon after took the same action, apparently being fearful that all the wolves would come into their town to take advantage of the bounty or that they would be obliged to pay for wolves ac- tnally killed in Amesbury. (See Whittier's " Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal.") The selectmen, however, were authorized to pay such sums as they should agree upon in particular cases. Two years after, a regular bounty of fifteen shillings was offered for every full-grown wolf killed within the town's limits, and seven shillings sixpence for each young one. In 1696 the town granted Timothy Eaton, for killing a full-grown she-wolf, on the ox-common, a special bounty of ten shillings, "since he declares it was a bitch-wolf and that she will not bring any more whelps."

Chase says, "Among the records for this year (1695) we find a copy of a receipt from the state (provincial) treasurer for ' eight wolves' heads, at eigbt shillings sixpence, in full for thirty thousand pounds' assess- ment.' Something of a discount we think.'" After- wards and for many years, the bounty was twenty shillings a wolf, and as late as 1716 five full-grown ones were killed in the town.

The wolves long since ceased to trouble the sheep in Haverhill, but the fox survives in the parishes and refuses to be exterminated, notwithstanding great snc- cesses occasionally reported to that end. On one of the last days of the very latest November a trium- phant hunter was seen passing the North meeting- house, bearing under his arm a splendid fox, whose noble brush would, in one of the English counties, have been gallantly awarded to some spirited Di Vernon and been considered ample recompense for all the expenditure of fine horses, costly pack of hounds, grooms, huntsmen, whippers-in, and the destruction of crops, which a hard run after Reynard entails.

Professor Gray, in treating of the flora of Boston and its vicinity (and he takes the environs of Boston to include the counties of Norfolk, Middlesex and Essex) declares that long after the ice-age

" our coast must have been at one time clothed with white spruces ; then probably with black spruce and arbor vitæ, with here and there some

canoe. birches and beeches ; and there, as the climate ameliorated, were replaced by white and red pines, and et length the common pitch-pine came to occupy the lighter coils; and the three or four species of oak, the maples, eshes, with their various eibored and frutescent associates, came in to complete the ordinary and well-known New England forest of historic times.

"Even without historical evidence, we should infer with confidence that New England before humen occupation was wholly forest-clad, ex- cepting a line of salt marshes on certain shores, and the bogs and swamps not yet firin enough to sustain trees.

"The Indian tribes found here by the whites had not perceptibly modified the natural vegetation ; and there is no evidence that they had been preceded by any agricultural race. Their inconsiderable plantation of maize, along with some beans and pumpkins,-originally derived from much more Southern climes, but thriving under a sultry sunimer,-how- ever important to the raisers, could not have sensibly affected the face of the country; elthough it was said that 'in divers places, there is much ground cleared by the Indians.' But, whatever may have been the amount of their planting, if the aborigines had eimply abandoned the country, no mark of their occupation would have long remained, so far as the vegetable kingdom is concerned."

Very little is said by the chroniclers about Indian planting in Haverhill. Doubtless there had been something of the kind. But Indian cultivation was very superficial. The labor was generally performed by the squaws and with very rude and imperfect im- plements. The warrior disdained labor. Therefore what Mirick hassaid about the Indians " clearing " the meadows, as quoted upon a former page, must be taken with much allowance, as far as it implies any substantial clearing off of the forest; the Indian was too lazy to do anything of the kind.

Among the trees new to the settlers, Professor Gray mentions the flowering dogwood, the sassafras, the tupelo and the hickory ; and, among evergreens, the hemlock-spruce and what the colonists improper- ly ealled the cedar-the white pine; among the larger shrubs, the magnolia and rhododendron, the larger sumach, the hawthorns, the azaleas, the epigœa or Mayflower, blueberries and huckleberries.

" The influx of European weeds was prompt and rapid from the first, and has not ceased to flow ; for hardly a year passes in which new-comers are not noticed in some parts of the country."

The earliest intelligent account of the plants of this country were by John Josselyn, published in 1672 and 1674. Josselyn's observations were princi- pally made at Scarborough, Maine, not far east of Haverhill. The next was by Rev. Manasseh Cutler, of Essex County (The IIamlet, Ipswich), published in 1785. Presumably, therefore, substantially all the plants they enumerated were to be found in Haverhill.

Josselyn gave a list of "such plants as have sprung up since the English planted and kept cattle in New England." Among these naturalized plants he names sorrel, spearmint, ground-ivy, tansy. Perhaps it surprises almost everybody to learn that the barberry is not a native of New England, but is an intruder. It grows abundantly in some localities in the East Parish.

The European willows, the white poplar, the Lom- bardy poplar, the English ehn, the horse-chestnut, the ailanthus, the Norway maple and spruce, the

1901

HAVERHILL.

European larch, the lilac and the snowball arc all importations and are well naturalized in Haverhill. It has been said that when the white settlers took possession of the town, it was well-wooded. There are no longer extensive forests and most of the wood used is brought from adjoining towns. The oak, it has been said, predominates. There are, also, the walnut, sycamore, elm, locust, hemloek, spruce, ash, white and black birch, willow, alder, wild black cherry, plum, white and pitch pine, and a few white and rock maple.

On the hillsides grew spontaneously (and some of them in abundance) the whortleberry, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, the vine and bush blackberries.

Somewhat later than 1750, Hugh Talent, a gay and popular Irish fiddler, who hired as a servant with Judge Richard Saltonstall, planted in front of the latter's residence certain sycamore trees, which thrived and were famous for almost a century. May 23, 1748, the judge petitioned the proprietors of common lands in Haverhill for about one-fourth acre of land south of his homestead, " where he had lately planted some Button Trees." The petition was granted, and the trees continued to flourish long after the estate had passed from the Saltonstalls to the Dun- cans, who still own it. Mirick wrote, in 1832, " The sycamore, or buttonwood, as it is more frequently called, attains to the greatest size. About twenty of them are now standing on the banks of the Merrimac, before the mansion of the widow of Samuel W. Don- can, and, together with the willows which adorn the bank of the river for some distance, make a delight- ful shade. This appears to be a favorite retreat of the citizens of all classes, and on the pleasant even- ings of summer, it is frequently thronged." But at last a disease attacked these sycamores, as many others in different localities of Massachusetts, and the glory of the " Old Buttonwoods " became a matter of tradi- tion and history.

There are a few who still remember the pleasant greetings, the village gossip, and perhaps, even the flirtations, beneath their grateful shade. When, a year or two since, an elderly lady who had been a belle in her youth, revisited Haverhill after an absence of many years, it was observed that her recollections of the village were indistinct, save the beauty of the walk beneath the buttonwoods and the splendor of the sunsets as seen from Golden Hill !

What became of Hugh Talent, who, by his skill and ability as a fiddler and success as a tree-planter, thus made his name a household word in the town, and enhanced its gayety for a hundred years ? Judge Richard Saltonstall, his master, died at the old resi- dence in 1756, and was buried in the ancient place of sepulture, reserved by the forefathers. His eldest son, Col. Richard, born in 1732, at the outbreak of the Revolution, adopted the King's side, and died in England, a voluntary exile from his beautiful home and the land of his birth. But who was " Hugh

Talent," who, in 1776 was denounced as a Tory, at Pelham, N. H .? Was not he, perchance, the hero of the fiddle and the Buttonwoods, in his old age, sym- pathizing with the politics of his young master, whom he taught so long ago to keep time to the twanging of his bow, and who, with the officiousness of a boy, helped him to plant the twenty sycamores before rebellion was dreamed of.

CHAPTER CL.

HAVERHILL-(Continued).

Description of Haverhill-its Topography.

THE beautiful natural situation of Haverhill has been always and universally acknowledged. Its southern boundary, the Merrimac River, though not the largest, is confessed to be the most picturesque stream in New England. It flows through more than one hundred miles of rich and fertile country. It is the most noted water-power stream of the world, on which, with its tributaries, there is probably more power utilized than in any other drainage basin of equal size in America. The head of tide and of navigation for coasting vessels is a few miles above Haverhill, but small river boats can ascend as far as Lawrence. Above that point there is no navigation on the river, although there are long stretches of still water behind the dams supplying water-power; and although the idea of rendering the stream navigable even to Manchester has been broached, the cost of the undertaking has prevented any steps being taken to carry it out. Considerable sums have been ex- pended by the general government in opening a chan- nel, and by private enterprise in attempts to develop a successful steam navigation to Lawrence, but at present they appear to be abandoned.

Seventy-eight thousand six hundred net horse- powers were utilized in 1880 on the Merrimac and its tributaries.

The drainage basin has been deprived of its forests to a considerable extent, and, except in the upper portions, scarcely any part of it can be called thickly wooded.

The average fall of the stream is 2.45 feet per mile. Though this is not a large fall, the greater part of it occurs within short distances at six places, giving rise to its noted and remarkable powers.

The mean annnal rainfall over the basin of the Merrimac River, is, according to the Smithsonian charts, about forty-three inches of which ten fall in spring, eleven in summer, thirteen in autumn and nine in winter. This distribution is evidently very favorable for a constant flow.

As regards accessibility, it is sufficient to refer to the

1902

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

map, which shows that the stream is followed closely by the railway through its entire length. No river can be more favorably situated in this respect.

" From the mouth of the river to Haverhill Bridge, a distance of seventeen miles and a half, there is a navigable depth of twelve feet at ordinary high-water. Thence to the head of Mitchell's Falls, a distance of four miles, is a depth of four and a half feet, in or- dinary stages of the river with the mill water at Lawrence running. Above the Falls the effect of the tide is not noticeable. Mitchell's Falls are of no value for water-power, the fall varying with the tide, and only amounting to six or eight feet." So says a writer upon the water-powers of the United States, in volume sixteen of the census of 1880.

The earliest mention of the Merrimac was by Sieur De Monts, who wrote from the banks of the St. Lawrence, in 1604: " The Indians tell us of a beautiful river far to the south, which they call the Merrimack." Its abundant fisheries and fertile plant- ing-grounds were exceedingly attractive to them at the appropriate season of the year. The falls of the river were their special places of resort. The Northern Indians called it Merrimack, said to mean a strong place-a place of strong currents. The Massachusetts Indians called it Monomack, a place of islands, or, according to others, the place of sturgeon-from the abundance of fish. Champlain discovered the river June 16, 1605.

On the opposite side of the river from Haverhill are Bradford, Groveland and West Newbury, whose green hills and thriving and attractive villages are objects always delightful and refreshing to the eye. On the east Haverhill is bounded by Merrimac, on the north by Salem, Atkinson and Plaistow, N. II., and on the west by Methuen. Merrimac, previously known as West Amesbury, was incorporated in 1876; Amesbury, called by the first settlers Salisbury New- town, was incorporated in 1668 ; and Salisbury, first known as Colchester, was originally settled about 1638, and incorporated in 1640. Salisbury began two years before Haverhill, was for nearly thirty years its eastern boundary, extending along the river to the sea. As we have seen, Amesbury was first carved from it, and, after an interval of more than two hun- dred years, Merrimac from Amesbury. In the "ab- stract of the census of 1860," prepared in the office of the Secretary of State by George Wingate Chase, the historian of Haverhill, which is annually pub- Jished in the Manual of the General Court, there ap- pear half a dozen towns, the precise date of whose incorporation is not given. Haverhill is one of them ; Bradford is another. The date of the incor- poration is given thus: "- - - 1645." In the early colonial days the act of incorporation was not so formal a thing as at the present day, and frequently consisted merely in some official recognition of the new plantation, as the attendance of a deputy, the appointment of a constable, the reception of a peti-

tion. Thenceforward it was usually received into the general scheme of government, as a matter of course.

The northern line of the town of Haverhill is also the boundary between the States of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The Indian deed, executed in 1642, granted to its inhabitants a tract of land extend- ing eight miles from Little River to the west, six miles to the north and six miles to the east from the same. When the General Court established its boundaries, twenty-five years after, the town assumed nearly the form of a triangle, each angle of which was abont fifteen miles in length. The extreme north - ern point, or " North-westerly angle of Haverhill," was once familiarly known as "Haverhill Peke," This was a very large township. It included a large part of the territory of the present municipalities of Methuen and Lawrence, in Massachusetts, and Salem, Atkinson, Plaistow and Hampstead, N. H. But the town bounds have not been altered since 1741, when the State line was run.

Thus clipped in extent, Haverhill still is about nine miles in length, upon the river, and three in breadth, from the river northwardly. Its latitude is 42º 47' north; its longitude is 71° 4' west from Greenwich. Its maximum altitude is about three hundred and twenty-five feet. The distance to Boston is thirty miles, or by rail thirty-three; to Portland, seventy- two and seven-tenths miles, or by rail eighty-three. The Boston and Maine Railroad passes through it, of which there is a branch connecting it with George- town, Newburyport, Salem and the whole eastern division of that system. It is connected with both Bradford and Groveland by bridges. The river has a width of six hundred feet, and a depth of eight feet in the channel at high water. Water communication is open to coasting vessels of two hundred tons, which ply to Maine for pine and lumber, to Rockport for granite and to Philadelphia for coal. Vessels are towed by steam-power up from Newburyport, at the mouth of the river. Small pleasure steamers ply be- tween the city, Newburyport and the adjacent beaches. Small steamers of light draught have ascended the river to Lawrence. Says a writer in the last " United States Census Reports " (not always consistent and perhaps sometimes fallible) : "The rapids above the city extend up about a mile and have a fall of nine (9) feet in this distance. They are in two sections."

There are fifteen thousand two hundred acres in Haverhill, eleven hundred and seven of which are cov- ered with water. The remarkable statement has been made that the amount of unimprovable land is only thirteen acres. Perhaps there is none; but there is certainly a good deal more which is not improved. What that writer subsequently adds is doubtless cor- rect : " But few towns can show so small a number of acres of nnimprovable land or land of decidedly in- ferior quality." Much land is nnder a high state of cultivation. The soil consists of a light loam, gravel

SALTONSTALL HOUSE, LAKE SALTONSTALL. RESIDENCE OF WM. G. HOWE, HAVERHILL, MASS.

1903

HAVERHILL.

and clay, with granite and common rock in consider- able abundance. Clay is very abundant, is found a few teet below the surface, and, owing to its retention of moisture, renders the soil damp and heavy ; with drainage and cultivation the soil is made productive, especially for potatoes and other vegetables, The city proper slopes abruptly towards the river, and the natural drainage is good. The balance of the terri- tory is undulating, with several hills rising here and there, but not connected.

The highest recorded summer temperature is 100°; highest summer temperature in average years, 95°; the lowest recorded winter temperature 20°; lowest winter temperature in average years, 10°. Fogs roll up the river during the spring and fall, causing dampness and some sickness, but no malaria. The marshes are not large enough to have any perceptible effect on the climate, while the elevated lands are considered healthful. The east winds from the ocean are frequently cold and damp, while the west winds are dry and genial.

There are four bodies of water, which have been already referred to in another connection. They were onee called ponds, but have been rechristened as lakes, with more or less success. Ayer's Pond, so- called, because in the beginning several persons of that name settled near its western extremity, and, till recently, owned and cultivated a great deal of land adjoining, is the smallest, covering an area of forty-one acres. It is situated about half a mile from the Mer- rimae, nearly north from that portion of the village originally settled. Portions of its bottom, especially at its western extremity, were formerly covered with mud, but its sources of supply are springs bub- bling up through the sand. Its appearance has been much improved by the Aqueduct Company, which now has the control of all the ponds as the water sup- ply of the city. At its southern point a dam or "plug " has long existed, to which its surplus water was formerly drawn to supply the mills on the brook connecting it with the Merrimae. Hence the name of " Plug" Pond, which, superseding the original, is perhaps that by which it is still best known. It will, however, be eventually recognized as Lake Saltonstall, in memory of a family formerly and for a long time the most distinguished in Haverhill, where the name is no longer borne, although there are a number of descendants in the female line. After the "Button- woods " passed out of the possession of the family. Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall built, and, in 1789, finished his new house upon Merrimac (then Water) Street, west of Main. There were then but few houses in that part of Water Street, and the view was open to the river upon the south. There Dr. Saltonstall died in 1815. Subsequently to the death of his daughter, Mrs. Isaac R. Howe, her son, William G. Howe, removed the family residence to the beautiful northern slope of Plug Pond, where it awaits the near approach of its centennial, which

happens to be that of the inauguration of the consti- tutional government of the United States and the locally famous visit of President Washington to Hav- erhill. On the east of Lake Saltonstall, upon the elevated land overlooking it, is Birchbrow, the pie- turesque residence of Mr. Thomas Sanders, whose family also represent the first minister, John Ward, and Nathaniel Saltonstall, the best known citizen among the first settlers. In the vicinity of Lake Saltonstall is " The Highlands," a district only opened recently for the better elass of residences, but now being rapidly occupied for that purpose. Evidently the day is close at hand when all that lovely lake region will be filled with handsome villas, and will be the haunt of sight-seers who will wonder why its un- surpassed beauties were not earlier appreciated.

Pass over the steep hill which separates Lake Sal- tonstall from its sister lake, and you emerge upon the high table-land where opens a superb view of Kenoza, once "The Great Pond," and rechristened under very happy auspices some thirty years since, as has been already told. On the heights stands " Mimekeni Towers," a magnificent situation, whose advantages were discovered and developed by Dr. James R. Nichols, of Haverhill, now owned and occupied by the family of Mr. William G. Webb.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 222

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