History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 24

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 24

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After the death of Nanepashemet the general gov- ernment of the Naumkeags was continned by his widow, who became the squaw sachem. She was as- sisted by her three sons, Wonohaquaham, Montowam- pote and Winepoyken, or Winnepewecken, all of whom became sagamores. The squaw sachem lived on terms of friendliness with the whites, and finally submitted to their government.

The three sons of Nanepashemet, after the death of their father, had each his separate jurisdiction as sagamore. Wonohaquaham, called by the English John, was located on the Mystic River; Montowam- pote, called by the white people James, had jurisdie- tion of the territory now comprised in Lynn, Salem and Marblehead, or, as Mr. Lewis, in his "History of Lynn, " says: "Saugus, Naumkeag and Massabe- quash." The last was the Indian name for Forest River, bnt whether it was applied to the territory comprised in the township of Marblehead there ap- pears to be no means of ascertaining except on the authority of Mr. Lewis. Winepoykin, called by the English George, was the youngest son of Nanepash- emet. He was born in 1616, and was a boy when the white men made their settlement on his territory.

The Rev. John Iligginson, in writing of this saga- more, says :

"To ye best of my remembrance, when I came over with my father to this place, being then about thirteen years old, there was a widow woman called squaw sachem who had three sons. Sagamore John kept at Mystic, Sagamore James at Saugust, and Sagamore George here at Naumkeke. Whether he was actual suchem here I cannot say, for he was about my age, and I think there was an older man, yt was at least his guardian. But ye Indian town of Wigwams was on ye north side of yo North River, not farre from Simondes, and ye north and south side of that river was together called ' Naumkeke.' "

In 1633 both Sagamore John and Sagamore James, with many of their people, died of the small-pox, which broke out among them and raged to such an extent as to nearly exterminate the entire tribe. So disastrous were the effects of the disease among them that is stated "that Mr. Maverick gave Christian burial to thirty of them in one day."

After the death of his brothers, Winepoykin became Sagamore of Lynn and Chelsea, as well as Naumkeag ; and after the death of his mother, which took place in 1667, he became sachem of all that part of Massa- chusetts which is north and east of the Charles River. Winepoykin married Ahawayet, a daughter of Poqua- num, who lived at Nahant. Ile died in 1684, and on the sixteenth of September of that year, the inhabi- tants of Marblehead procured a deed of their town- ship from his heirs. It is signed by Ahawayet, who is called "Joane Ahawayet, squaw, relict, widdow of George Saggamore, Alias Wemepauweekin."

Of the manners, customs and habits of life of these Indians little is known, except such as can be gath- ered in extraets from the writings of the early settlers. That they lived, generally, in peace with their white neighbors, there ean be little doubt. The great re- duction in their numbers would seem to be of itself evidence that they were obliged to keep the peace ; and the testimony of the white men proves this theory correct.

The Naumkeags are described as a tall, strong- limbed people, whose only wearing apparel was a beast-skin thrown over one shoulder, and another about the waist. Their wigwams were small, and were constructed of poles set in the ground and fastened at the top, being covered with mats made from the boughs of trees.

Like all the Indians of North America, the Naum- keags compelled their squaws to do the greater part of the manual labor, while they, the lords of the for- est and the mighty waters, spent their time in fishing, hunting and idleness. Their wants were few. With plenty of corn, raised by the women, the forests abounding in game, and the waters about their coast filled with fish of almost every variety, there was no reason why they should suffer hunger, save only from their own indolence and inactivity.

Kind and docile in their disposition, and generous in their treatment of the whites, they in time became the wards of the settlers; and forsaking the gods of good and evil whom their fathers had taught them to

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worship, many were baptized and embraced the Christian religion.

That Indians formerly occupied the land now com- prised in the territory of Marblehead, there can be no doubt.

Relics of the villages, grave-yards, shell-heaps and an Indian tort have been found from time to time, · which, were other evidence wanting, would be suffi- cient to prove the fact. Numerous arrow-heads, spears, clubs and various utensils made of stone have also been found.

The largest shell heap is near the "Pine" Grove, on the line of the railroad to Salem. This contained by actual measurement thirty cords of shells, placed in layers of stone and ashes.

Excavations found in the "Small Pox Pasture," at the Harris farm, and in fields on Atlantic Avenue, have been thought to indicate the former location of Indian wigwams. These cellars are always to be found near some reliable supply of water; they are trom six to eight feet across, and were orginally from two to four teet in depth.

The Bessom Pasture, near Salem Harbor, was pro- bably the site of an Indian village. Excavations, supposed to have been the cellars of wigwams, are to be found everywhere in the vicinity.

In November, 1874, an examination of the hill in this pasture revealed a grave containing five skele- tons, four being those of grown persons, and the other that of a child. They were all in a remarkable state of preservation, except that of the child, one being very large, evidently that of a man. The bodies were all buried on their backs with their heads to the west except one, which lay with its head to the east; the legs being drawn up so that the knees nearly touched the chin. The grave contained, be- sides the skeletons, a lot of trinkets, an earthen cup, a small bell, two sea-shells, and a quantity of beads, proving conclusively that the bodies were buried after the white settlers came to America.

By reliable tradition we are informed that Indians dwelt in Marblehead as late as one hundred and seventy years ago. The location of an Indian stockade in the Lower Division Pasture is still pointed out by some of the older inhabitants. They received their information many years ago from aged citizens, then about to depart for their final rest, whose memories fondly cherished the traditions trans- mitted to them by their fathers.

CHAPTER LXXVIL.

MARBLEHEAD-(Continued).

HARLY SETTLEMENTS.

Probable Origin of Fort Settlers- The Fishing Industry Established-Grants of Land -First Stop Built in the Colony Sheets Imported - The First Meeting -house

MARBLEHEAD was settled about the year 1629. An- thorities differ as to the exact part of England from

whence these settlers emigrated, thongh all agree that they were English, and that they made their set- tlement in the northeastern part of the town, near the headland now known as Peach's Point. From their manners and customs, but more especially from their peculiar dialect, it would seem that they were natives of the Island of Guernsey and Jersey in the British Channel. Their numbers were undoubtedly increased from time to time by people from the west of England, which would account for many of the idiomatic peculiarities which for more than two cen- tnries characterized the speech of their descendants. They were fishermen, a rough, illiterate race, accus- tomed to a life of toil and hardship, probably from infancy, and they were therefore neither dismayed nor disheartened at the difficulties attending the founding of a settlement in the wilderness.

A few years before the coming of these settlers a settlement four miles north of their landing place, aud the village thus formed had been named Salem. This township included in its boundaries a large por- tion of the land now comprised in nine or ten towns of Essex County, one of which is Marblehead. Though a corporate part, and within the limits of Salem, the little peninsula seems to have been known even at that early day by a distinct name. The Rev. Francis Higginson, writing of the place in 1629 or '30, speaks of the rocky headlands which line the shore as "marble stone, that we have great rocks of it, and a harbor hard by. Our plantation is from thence called Marble Harbor."

Though " Marble-Harbor " is the name most fre- quently applied to the settlement in the earlier re- cords, it is evident that it was equally well-known as Marblehead from the beginning. William Woods in his description of Massachusetts, written in 1633, speaks of the locality as " Marvill Ilead," and de- seribes it as "a place which lieth four miles full South from Salem, and is a very convienent place for a plantation, especially for such as will set up the trade of fishing. There was made here a ships load- ing of fish the last year, where still stand the stages and drying scaffolds. Here be a good harbor for boats, and a safe riding for ships." Thirty years later, Samuel Maverick, one of the first settlers in this section, in writing an account of the towns east of the Hudson River, referred to the town as follows : "Two miles below this Towne on the South side of the Harbor by the sea side lyeth Marblehead or tloy the greatest Towne for fleishing in New England."1 This is the only instance, of which we have any knowledge, in which the name of "Foy " was ap- plied to the peninsula.

From the records of the Massachusetts Colony, under date of October 18, 1631, we learn that it was

1 From a valuable manuscript discovered in the new British Museum by Mr. Hrury F. Walters, of Salem, agent of the New England Historico- Genealogical Society.

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MARBLEHEAD.

ordered " that Thomas Grayes house at Marble-Har- bor shall be puld downe, & that noe Englishemen shall hereafter give house roome to him or intertaine him, under such penalty as the conrt shall thinke meete to inflicte." It is evident, however, that the sentence was not executed, as the name of the offen- ders is frequently mentioned in subsequent records.

In September, 1631, Isaac Allerton, one of the most prominent men of Plymouth Colony, having had some difficulty with his associates, set sail in the White Angel for Marblehead, where he established a Fishery Station. His son-in-law, Moses Maverick, accompanied him; and a short time after their arrival it is recorded that "this season Mr. Allerton fished with eight boats at Marble-Harbor." It was proba- bly with reference to the business thus established, that in April 1633, the court ordered :

"That if any swine shall in fishing time come within a quarter of a myle of the stage at Marble-Harbor, they shall be forfeited to the own- ers of od stadge, & Bve for all other stages within their lymitts."

The name Marblehead is mentioned for the first time in the Colonial records of 1633 under circum- stances not particularly flattering to the inhabitants, though it is by no means certain that the persons named were residents among them.

" July 2d, 1633, James White is ffined XXXS for drunkennes, by him comitted att Marblehead, on the Sabbath day. John Bennet is flined XS for being drunke att Marblehead."

The carly records of the colony abound with ref- erences to Allerton and his doings. Under date of September 1, 1633, Governor Winthrop makes the following entry in his journal :

"Mr. Craddock's house at Marblehead was burnt down about mid night before, there being in it Mr. Allerton and many fishermen whom he employed that season, who were all preserved by a special providence of God, with most of his goods therein, by a tailor, who sat up that night at work in the house and, hearing a noise, looked out and saw the house on fire above the oven iu the thatch."

The brief period of Allerton's residence in Marble- head were evidently years of misfortune to him and his family. During the same year in which his house was destroyed, a pinnace which he had sent on a trading voyage to France, was lost with its entire cargo. Two years later, in March, 1635, the court ordered that he shall be sent for to the intent that he may understand the desire of the country for his re- moval from Marble Harbor. Accordingly, in May, of that year, he conveyed to his son-in-law, Moses Maverick, all his houses, buildings, and stages at Mar- blehead, and departed, it is presumed, for New Haven, Conn.

But his misfortunes were not to end with his re- moval. During the same year a shallop which he had sent to Newbury to convey the Rev. John Avery and his family to Marblehead, was lost off Cape Ann, with nearly all on board. Shortly after his arrival in New England Mr. Avery had been in- ,vited to take up his residence at Marblehead, " but" as Mr. Mather says in his " Magnalia" "there being no church there, and the fishermen there being

generally too remiss to form one," he had declined the invitation. It seems, however, that he had been indneed to reconsider his determination, and had embarked with two families, his own, and that of his cousin, Mr. Anthony Thacher. On their passage a storm arose, and the vessel was lost ; the only persons in the entire company who were saved being Mr. Thacher and his wife, who were cast ashore by the waves.

On the 6th of May, 1635, the court ordered :

" That there shalbe a plantacion at Marble-Ilead, and that the inhab- itante now there shall have liberty to plant and imp've such grounds as they stand in neede of, & that as sd plantacion increaseth, the inhabit- ants of Salem shall p'te with such ground as shalbe imp'vd by them thereabouts, being payed for their labor and costs."

It was also ordered that Mr. John Humphrey should improve the land between the Clifte and Forest River, and dispose of it to the inhabitants of Marblehead as they stood in need ; the only charge to the purchaser being enough to recompense him for the labor and costs bestowed upon it.

"June 3, 1635. It 18 ordered that Mr. Holgrove shall have power to presse men to help him unlode the salt at Marblehead."

In March, 1636, the court agreed that Mr. Hum- phrey's land should begin at the Clifte, in the way to Marblehead,

" Which is the bound between Salem and Linn, and so along the line between the said townes to the rocks, one mile, by estimation, to a grate red oake, from wch, the said marked tree, all under & over this rocks vpon a streight line to the running brooke by Thomas Smyth's house, all the which said ground wee alow him for his owne, & sue from Thom- as Smyth's to the sea."

The records of Salem, with the records of the colony, give the only authentic information concern- ing the town and its people, at this early stage of its history. The first mention of Marblehead in the records of Salem, is as follows :

" By vote of the towne representatives, viz : the 13 Men Deputrd-the 28th of the First month, 1636. John Peach, thisherman, and Nicholas Marriott having fenced about five acres of ground on Marble Neck 1 (though contrarie to the order of the towne), yet it's agreed that they may for the present improve the said place for building or planting, pro- viding always that the propriety thereof be reserved for the right of the towne of Salem, to depose in the p'cesse of tyme to thein or any other thishermen or others, as shalbe thought most, yet soe as they may have reasonable consideration for sny chardge they shalbe at."

In 1636, the building of a college was projected, and the site proposed for its ercetion was in Marble- head, evidently in the vicinity of Mr. Humphrey's farm. At a town-meeting held at Salem, in May of that year, in an order for the division of Marblehead Neck, Mr. Humphrey made application for some land beyond Forest River. The request was referred to a committee of six gentlemen, who were authorized to view the land and "to consider of the premises, least it should hinder the building of a college, which would be many men's losse."

1 In the early records the land between Forest River and the ocean, near the boundaries of what is now the town of Swampscott, was called the Plains or Marblehead Neck. The peninsula now known by that name was then called Greate Neck.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In October following, the court granted four hun- dred pounds towards the crection of a college, and the next year a committee was chosen to superintend its erection. Among the members of this committee were Mr. Humphrey and the Rev. Hugh Peters. The court subsequently ordered the college to be built at Cambridge, then called Newtowne, and to be named " Harvard College," in honor of the Rev. John Har- vard, who made a bequest of several hundred pounds towards its erection, and donated his library for the use of the students.

Not only did the General Court encourage educa- tion and learning by the establishment of schools, but every industry and enterprise having for its object the general welfare of the colony, was fostered and aided by wise legislation.

The year 1636 was an important epoch in the his- tory of the little community at Marblehead. During that year, a ship of one hundred and twenty tons bur- den, the third ship ever built in the colony, was con- structed on the shore, probably on the harbor side of the plantation. This vessel was known as the " De- sire," and for more than two years was employed in the fishing business. A few years later, she was sent to the West Indies, on a commercial voyage, and re- turning brought a cargo of " salt, cotton, tobacco, and negroes." They are supposed to have heen the first s'aves brought into the colony.

On the second of the eleventh month (January), 1636, the town of Salem ordered, " for the better l'ur- thering of the fishing trading, and to avoid the incon- venience found by granting land for fishermen to plant, that none inhabiting at Marblehead shall have any other accommodation of land than is usually given by the town to fishermen, viz. : A house lott and garden lott or ground, for the placing of their flakes, according to the company belonging to their families : to the greatest family not above two acres, and the comon of the woodes nere adjoining, for their goats & their cattle."

The same day, Mr. William Knight was received for an inhabitant, but no land was to be appropriated unto him but "a ten-acre lott & comon for his cattle & hay."

On the 27th of this month, another meeting was held, at which it was ordered :

" That all the lund along the shore of Darby Fort 1 side up to (31r. Humphrey N bund) die Hugsties, and so to run along the shore towards Marblulund 20 prole into the batal, shall be reserved for the Comons of the towns, to serve them for wond & timber. '

The next year, 1637, Erasmus James, Nicholas Listen, Richard Granaway and Philip Bere were al- lowed as inhabitants " with them at Marblehead, and were granted two acres of land cach." John Hart and William Charles were granted five acres each, and a house-lot of half an acre between them. " John

Deverekxe" was also granted half an acre for a house-lot.

At a town-meeting held on the 21st of August, 1637, then the sixth month in the year, John Gatchell, of Marblehead, was fined ten shillings for building upon the town's land without permission. In case, bowever, that he should " cut of ye long har off hys head into a sevil frame," it was agreed that half his fine should be abated, and that he should have per- mission to go on with his building in the meantime.

The prejudice of the Puritans against the habit of wearing long hair is well known, and it seems that they were willing to enter into any compromise with Mr. Gatchell in order to remove the obnoxious habit.

It appears, however, that he was not a man to sub- mit to any such interference with his personal appear- ance, and, it is said, "continued the custom to his dying day, in spite of popular opinion and all the formal denunciation of church and State.

On the 1st day of January, 1837, a meeting was held at Salem and a vote of one hundred and twenty pounds was ordered, of which eight pounds were to be assessed upon the following inhabitants of Marble- head : Moses Mavericke, William Stephens, Archi- bald Tomson, William Charles, John Heart, John Peach, John Lyon, Anthonie Thatcher, John Coite, Richard Seers, Richard Greeneway, John Gatchell, Samuel Gatchell, John Bennet, John Wakefield, Eras- mus James, Thomas Gray, John Devereux, Nicholas Meriatt, Abraham Whitehaire, George Vickary, John Russell, Nicholas Listen, Philip Beare.

Under date of September 6, 1638, the records of the colony have the following entry :

" Moses Maverick is permitted to sell a tun of wine at Marblehead and not lo excede this year."

As the number of inhabitants increased the records of grants made at the town meetings became more numerons. On the 14th of October, 1638, the follow- ing grants of land were made to the inhabitants of Marblehead :

" To Mr. Walton, eight acres on the Main: to Moses Maverick at the same place ten acres; to John Coite on the Neck three acres; to Will Keene and Nich. Listen on John Peach's Nocke, three acres ; more to them on the Greate Necke, five acres; to Richard Seers three acres, where he had planted formerly; to John Wakefield four acres on the Nerke ; to John Gatchell and Samuel Gatchel six arres on the Necke ; to Tho. Sams, three acres on the Necke; to John Lyon four acres near his house ; to the Widow Blancher six acres on the Necke ; to Ralph Warrin two acres on the Necke; to George Ching three acres on the Nocke ; to Phillip Beare three acres near the Widow Tomsons ; to John Bennet four neres on the Necke ; upon John Peach's Necke ; to Rosamond James four acres on the Main." 1

1 The Main was the part of the town near the harbor ; John Peach's Nock was from "Naugus Head" to what is now called "Peach's Point," and from Naugus Hend to Forest River was known as the " For- est side."

The " Mr. Walton " to whom the first grant was made was Mr. William Walton, who was then preach- ing at Marblehead, though without ordination. This is the first mention of his name in the records, and it is therefore probable that he began his ministrations in Marblehead during the year 1638. Through his

Da's Fort was a fontiflation at Nangar Hend, Imilt by the people of salem an a place of refuge in case of attack by the Indians.

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MARBLEHEAD.

endeavors, sneeeeded by Maverick and other influ - ential inhabitants, a meeting-house was erected, and religious services were regularly held on the Sabbath. This edifiee, which was a crude, farm-like structure, stood upon one of the most rocky hills of the town ; and abont it, after the manner of their forefathers, the simple fishermen made their burial ground.

Marblehead at this time has often been described as a place barren of trees and abounding in nothing but unproductive land. The records of the general town meetings and other commoners prove conclu- sively that this is a mistake. The fact of its settle- ment is also of itself evidence of the fallacy of this theory, for emigrants in those days could not have settled on a eoast where there were no trees from which they could build their honses. At a town meeting beld in Salem on the IIth of November, 1640, it was ordered that all who should cut timber trees within two miles of Salem and one mile of Marble- head, and prepare them for shipping, should be paid for their labor. The last record of grants in the re- corde of Salem concerning land in Marblehead is in 1640, when the inhabitants were granted " all such lands near adjoining them as have not been formerly granted to other men."

The state of affairs in Marblehead seem to have oe- eupied much of the attention of the General Court at its session in May, 1644. The people were negligent of many of the laws of the colony, and treated others with contempt; and as laws which were readily obeyed by the Puritans in other towns could not be enforced among them, special legislation was found necessary for their government. According to the l'uritan law no one could become a freeman without first becoming a church member; and none but freemen could vote at elections or hold any office whatever in the colony. The inhabitants of Marble- head were far from being a religions people, and, though they supported a religious teacher and main- tained the ordinances on Sunday, no church had been formed, and there were few church members among them. As a consequence there were no magistrates or offieers in their community, and, being some dis- tance from the settlement at Salem, they knew no law save that of their own will.

This faet, and the necessity that there should be some officer in the place to enforce the laws of the colony, led the court to relax somewhat of its aceus- tomed strictness in such matters, and to order : " That in defeet of freemen at Marblehead, the inhabitants of Salem shall have libertie to command some honest and able man, though he be not a freeman, and the Dep- uty Governor shall have power (if he think him fit to give him the oath for constable of that place till the Court shall take further order." Accordingly, on the 25th of the same month, the inhabitants of Salem elected David Curwithin, who was duly sworn as eon- stable of Marblehead for one year from the date of his election.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 24

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