History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 266

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 266

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He has been twice elected a member of the General School Board, and in '85 and '86 was a member of the Board of Aldermen, and in that board was on several important committees.

In the fall of 1886, Mr. Jaques was elected one of the representatives from Haverhill to the General Court, where he was a faithful public servant, and was honored by being assigned to the special commit- tee to represent the Commonwealth at the centennial celebration of the signing of the National Constitu- tion. November, 1887, Mr. Jaques was re-elected to the General Court.

Mr. Jaques has long been a member of Haverhill Commandery of Knights Templar ; Saggahew Lodge, F. and A. M., and of Mutual Relief Lodge, I. O. of O. F.

The subject of our sketch has proved the truth of the proverb : "Seest thou a man diligent in his busi- ness ? he shall stand before kings ; he shall not stand before mean men."

AMOS W. DOWNING.

The moral and intellectual features of different in- dividuals are often as strongly marked as is their per- sonal appearance. Each man exhibits a group of distinctive traits belonging to the mind or the heart, which, whether they are the offspring of some natural tendency or the result of education, enables him to perform his part with greater effect in a particular circle of action. Early in life the subject of this

sketch gave promise of unusual achievement along the line of human endeavor. Ile was born in Mid- dleton, N. H., March 31, 1838, and was the son of Samuel H. and Eliza D. Downing. Though tenderly attached to his home, the spirit of self-reliance and enterprise led him to leave it and strike out for him- self at the age of fourteen. He learned the shoe- maker's trade, which he followed steadily till his twentieth year. The horizon of the shoe-shop became too contracted fur the activity of his brain, and he began to desire a broader field and bolder ventures. Just then the store-keeper of the town proposed to sell out, and made overtures to Mr. Downing. It was a surprise to him, for he had neither capital nor knowl- edge of the business. But the price was agreed on, his note was accepted, and he left the shoe-bench and became proprietor of the store. At once he mastered the new situation. He visited Boston, selected his supply-merchants, obtained the credit he sought with- out reference, and did a successful business there for four years, when, in 1864, he sold out his store, re- moved to Haverhill, Mass., and established himself in a first-class grocery business. His movements and methods, though a stranger, at once inspired confi- dence and won a liberal patronage. But he desired a broader sphere of enterprise, and one less occupied in that flourishing city, and commenced the leather business in the winter of 1867-68. For ten years his operations were limited to the retail trade, and were gradually extended. He then united with others in the manufacture of leather, connecting himself with the old and reliable house of B. F. Thompson & Co., of Boston, in which he is now an active partner. IIe is also the senior member of the firm of A. W. Down- ing & Co., having places of business in both IIaver- hill and Boston, and who do an extensive business in the manufacture of morocco.

Mr. Downing's remarkable success cannot be traced to inherited wealth, social position, the culture of the schools or to special training for the occupations which he has successively pursued. His powers were drawn out and stimulated by favorable circumstances, and he has achieved large measure of success in each of his varied undertakings. His insight into men and affairs is extraordinary. His habits and manner of life are pure and simple. His sympathies are broad and generous. That he has the respect and confi- dence of his fellow-citizens is evident from the nuin- erous responsible trusts, both private and public, both financial and religious, which have been committed to him.

In 1859 Mr. Downing married Susan A., daughter of Captain Robert and Ann D. Grace, and she has been a true helpmeet to him in all the varied experi- ences through which their lives have run.

2083

BRADFORD.

HAPTER CLXV.

BRADFORD.

BY JOHN B. D. COGSWELL.

Mr. Rogers' Rowley Plantation-Resources and Industries of the Town.

THE East Parish of Bradford was incorporated as a town by the name of Groveland, March 8, 1850. A part of Boxford, including more than three-fourthis of Johnson's Pond, was annexed to Groveland, March 21, 1856. The history of Groveland has been writ- ten for these volumes by a highly competent gentle- man, and it will not be necessary to treat of it in this sketch, other than as connected with the old town of Bradford.

The principal original contributions to the history of Bradford have been made by two clergymen, Rev. Dr. Gardner B. Perry, of the East Parish, and Rev. Dr. John D. Kingsbury, present pastor of the Congrega- tional Church in Bradford. Dr. Perry, born at Nor- ton, Mass., 1783, and graduated at Union College, was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in the East Parish Sept. 28, 1814, dying at Groveland, Dec. 16, 1859. Dr. Perry was a man of great industry and usefulness, and was early allied with several reform- atory movements, which worked great changes in society and opinion in Essex County. Dec. 23, 1827, in response to a call addressed to all those in Haver- hill and vicinity interested in the promotion of temperance, he presided over a meeting in that place, which led to the formation of a temperance society, of which he was the first president, delivering an address upon the occasion. He was the first president of the Essex County Anti-Slavery Society, organized June 10, 1834, of which John G. Whittier was cor- responding secretary.

On Forefathers' Day, 1820, he delivered at East Bradford an historical discourse containing a history of the town, which was published in 1821, at Haver- hill, and reprinted in 1872. It contains a great deal of information about the first settlers of the town, its industries and churches, a considerable portion of which he had gathered from tradition. Dr. Kings- bury's " Memorial History " was prepared for the two hundredth anniversary of the First Church in Brad- ford, Dee. 27, 1882. This history exhibits the result of wide reading and abundant research, displayed in a vivid and picturesque manner. All subsequent in- vestigators must be deeply indebted to these two pro- ductions. The writer of this imperfect compilation, hastens to acknowledge his unlimited obligations to both.

conduct of the pioneers. The first projector of the llaverhill plantation was Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of Ipswich ; indeed, it was at tirst known by his name. In a similar way, another clergyman was the chief promoter of the first occupation of the original terri- tory of Bradford by Englishmen.

Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, born in Haverhill, England, was ordained pastor of the church in Ipswich in 1637-38, to succeed Mr. Ward, who, retiring from the active ministry there, yet remained some years longer, preparing the famous "Body of Liberties," and scheming about new and large plantations. Perry tells us that Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, who came to this coun- try in the fall of 1638, and fixed himself at Rowley, which originally included Bradford, was influenced in doing so by a desire of being near and enjoying the society of Mr. Nathaniel Rogers, of Ipswich.

Ezekiel Rogers was a Puritan of the Puritans. Born at Wethersfield, England, in 1590, and private chaplain for a while, he was twenty years pastor of a church in Rowley, in memory of which the new plan- tation in Massachusetts was doubtless named-as John Smith had before anticipated would often be the case-" in memory of their old." He is said to have been an eloquent man and a forceful, if not a wilful. In 1643 he preached the election serinon, in which be maintained that the same person should not hold the office of Governor for two successive years, This was Democratie doctrine, at a moment when there was a certain leaning towards establishing the magistracy for life, of which Winthrop said "he was no more in love with the honor or power of it than with an old frieze coat in a summer's day." " It is a good observation," wrote Eliot, "and has been often repeated, that the election sermon is the pulse by which we can tell the state of the body politic."

Mr. Rogers had a singular variety of afflietions, in his declining years. He lost two wives, and the third, when she was left a widow, quarreled with his successor and his people. On the night after his third nuptials his house burned down, and he lost his goods and most of his papers. The last is supposed to have been an historical loss. Then he disabled his right arın by falling from his horse, and had to learn how to write with his left. But thanks, probably, to his land operations, he left considerable property, of which Harvard College had the largest benefit. To his friend, Rev. Zachariah Symmes, of Charlestown, (father of the first minister of Bradford), he wrote : " I am hastening home. Oh, good brother, I thank God I am near home, and you, too, are not far off." The masterful old man had no doubt about his future. " We shall sit next the martyrs and confessors." And so when he came to make his will, he gave vent once more to his cherished dislikes, among other things " of all the base opinions of Anabaptists and Antino- mians, and all other Phrenetics, dolays of the times." lle died in 1660, but, curiously enough, his scorn of

No one can read the carly history of Essex Coun- ty, without realizing how much the ministers had to do with shaping the settlements and controlling the | sectaries, seems to have been largely participated

2084

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in, in this old parish of Bradford, all the way down through the centuries.

Mr. Rogers was accompanied to America by about twenty families from Yorkshire, but immigration was very large at that time, and, as he was probably a magnetic as well as energetic person, his company had much increased by the time his arrangements were completed, and he took at least sixty families to Rowley. There, for a few years, lands were culti- vated in common, but that arrangement has never comported long with the genius of New England, and, before a great while, there was an allotment in sev- eralty.

Probably there is not a village in America so little changed by the lapse of time as Rowley. There are the two or three streets upon which the exiles settled themselves,-Wethersfield, in recollection of the pas- tor's birth-place, and Bradford, to preserve the name of the substantial town in the West Riding in York- shire, from which others of them had come. These people were farmers, smiths and weavers. They soon reverted to their English ways, had great store of hemp and flax, built a fulling-mill and made cloth.

Rowley was incorporated September 4, 1639, when it was ordered by the General Court that " Mr. Eze- kiel Rogers' plantation be called Rowley." May 13, 1640, it was declared by the General Court " that Row- ley bounds is to be eight miles from their meeting- house in a straight line ( westerly ) ; and then a cross line diameter from Ipswich Ryver to Merrimack Ryver when it doth not prejudice any former grant." In October of the same year the court ordered "that the neck of land on Merrimack, near Corchitawick, be added to Rowley."

There seems to have been an original amicable ar- rangement by which the settlement of Rowley was to intervene with loving neighborship, between Ipswich and Newbury. But before long there was friction. In 1640. " Mr. Ward's Plantation," at Pentucket or Haverhill, was settled upon. But now the people of Rowley, under their strong leader-what one of the Essex County historical writers whimsically calls " The Rev. Ezekiel Rogers' Company "-was eager to stretch from the seashore to the Merrimack. Mr. Rogers was still in the prime of life-about fifty. He had traveled all through the promised land, and he carnestly desired to be added to the Rowley domain what is now Bradford Neck, and Head's Hill, with other lands, which he claimed were intended for Row- ley, but had been assigned to Andover instead, by mis- take or wrong. When he demanded its restitution of the General Court and was refused, he retired in high dudgeon, threatening to appeal to the elders. The " El- ders" were, as a learned Congregationali-t minister has written, "in the early days of New England, taken into express partnership with the civil power, in a manner greatly to exalt the sway which they would otherwise have bad ; and which on the one hand made it easy for them to realize, and easier on the other hand for

them to attempt great things, in the way of public in- fluence." No wonder they were rather topping in their manner.

Still, Mr. Rogers afterwards apologized for his heat ; hnt he had his desire, the court giving way before his resolute demand. "A stranger," says Mr. Kingsbury, " passing through Rowley, asked him in the style of Puritan speech, are you the man that serves here ?" " Serves ! I am the man that rules here."

Mr. Herbert I. Ordway, a zealous antiquarian of Bradford, upon the two hundredth church anniver- sary, read the following extracts of letters from the clerical promoters of plantations, which, even at this distance of time, are interesting glimpses. Nathan- iel Ward, whose somewhat greedy letters about Pen- tucket (Haverhill) may be perused in the present volume, nevertheless writes Governor Winthrop in this tone of studied moderation :

" Our neighbour towns are much greined to see the lauish liberality of the Court in giving away the countrye. Some honest men of our towne affirme that in their knowledge there are 68 towns in England within as little compasse as the bounds of Ipswich : I knowe heere 40 where I dwelt : Rowly is larger than Ipswich, 9 or 10 miles longo & will have other plantations within it, tributaries to it, & intend, as we heare, to stretch their wings much further yet, will spoile & Qutchic- qute vtterly, if not Pentucket. We earnestly pray you to prevent it."

On the other hand, Mr. Rogers writes the Governor :

"Sir, there is one thing that is a newe trouble to vs : though the Court doe gine vs but three miles of the eight, that we go into the coun- try, yet we heare that some woulde take somewhat of from that. It seemeth they thinke vs very vnworthy neighbours."

Lastly, in another letter to Governor Winthrop, Mr. Rogers falls back upon another line of consider- ation, with which Mr. Ward was also familiar:

" You best know how oft we expressed ourselves & how plainly, con- cerning our desired bounds, as Ipsw. Riner & Merimack : without which we woulde vpon no termes accept of a plantation here. Ipswich men desiring our neighbourhood coulde shewe vs little desireable here (except we purchased it at a deare rate), but the name of Merimack & some considerable places there, as a neck of land & the like . .. . whereupon I wrote many letters to my friends in England, wherein I toldo them precisely our bounds ; & the sound of Merimack we made not a little vse of."

These were both good men and famous ministers, such as Cotton Mather loved to eulogize in the " Mag- nalia," but they went about to enlarge the kingdom, much as modern lobbyists are accustomed to proceed. Eventually Mr. Rogers got his way.

Ancient Rowley included the present Georgetown, Boxford, a part of Middleton, Groveland and Brad- ford.

Boxford was known originally as "Rowley Vil- lage." That part of Rowley which is now Bradford was first the "Merrimac Lands," then Merrimac ; sometimes, also, " Rowley Village by the Merrimac." Georgetown used to be called New Rowley. And thus Mr. Rogers' great plantation fell to pieces in the fulness of time.

Finally, two individual allotments of land were made to Rev. Mr. Rogers himself and to the Rev.

2085

BRADFORD.

Samuel Phillips, his colleague. They were of three hundred acres respectively ; both tracts were in that part of Bradford which is now Groveland. Mr. Phil- lips' tract was east of Johnson's Creek, and was bounded on the east by Mr. Rogers', which extended to the river. Twenty acres of meadow were also as- signed to Mr. Phillips, and twenty-five to Mr. Rogers, in Jeremie's Meadow. For a few years the Rowley settlers had enough to occupy them in the original village by the brook-side. But when the village lands had been divided and the population of the town began to increase, there were some more adven- turous who began to think of u'ilizing the Merrimac lands. Besides, Pentucket or Haverhill had now been settled some years. It was a prosperous, and hitberto peaceful village, not yet alarmed by the Indian war-whoop. Some of the original inhabitants were of Newbury, but others had been of Ipswich. There were occasions to pass to and fro, and doubtless some halted on the route and entered Rowley Village by the way of Bradford Street to exchange greetings. Thus the Rowley men would hear of the progress of Haverhill, of the new meeting-house "on the lower knowłe," in the " Mill-Lot," with its lofty protecting stockade of smooth poles, sixteen feet high, of the excellent ministrations of Pastor Ward. In 1647 the town had been presented for not having a ferry, and the next year Thomas Hale was appointed to keep it, charging "one penny for a passenger, two pence for eattel under two years old, and four pence for such as were over that age." This has ever since been the "old ferry-way," a little east of the foot of Kent Street. The Haverhill people had crossed at that point from the beginning. But doubtless they were eager to have neighbors upon the south. Thus the long wilderness pathway would seem less wild and tedious. In the same year (1647) John Osgood and Thomas Hale were appointed to "lay out the way from Andiver to Haverell" --- of course over Mer- rimac lands. In short, the time seemed to have fully come for an occupation, at least in a pastoral way. Accordingly it was determined that cattle should be pastured near the river, and an agreement was made by which the town allowed special privileges to those who were willing to serve it as herdsmen. The orig- inal agreement was made in 1649 to continue seven years, but there was some misunderstanding about it, and in 1652 the committee were directed to renew it, without, however, enlarging the original term of the contract. The town's committe were Matthew Boyes and Francis Parrott, who were associated with the selectmen, Richard Swan, William Stickney, William Hobson, Samuel Brocklebank and William Tenney- names afterwards familiar in the history of Bradford. The affair was evidently regarded as important. So it was, and especially from an historical stand-point. It shows who were the pioneers and with what views and inducements they came. Following is the agree- ment :

" Imprimis, that the Town of Rowley hath granted to the sald Robert Haseltine, John Haseltine and Wilham Wilde, each of them 40 acres of upland, to be laid out to them is convenient us may be without the great prejudice of the town.

" 2d. The said town of Rowley hath granted to the aforesaid parties, each of them, to have commons for 20 head of cattle, which sand com- mous they shall have liberty to fence in, wholly or in part, as they see cause. Provided, that the town of Rowley doith declare that they did restrain them from liberty to crert any more than three tenements upon any part of the aforesaid uplund or commons.

"3d. The town hath granted to each of them 20 acres of meadow and which meadow and upland shall be luid ent to them when they claim it, unless some Providence of God shall hinder

"4th. They have liberty to get, each of them, a thousand of Pipe- staves yearly, for the space of seven years, which years began in 1649.

"5th. They have liberty on the commons to ent firewood for their families as also timber for building, and for fencing in of their ground, provided, that they are not to full any fencing stuff within a quarter of a mile of the pasture felice.

" They are to be freed from all towne charges for the lands, houses, four oxen, and six cows and four calves, each of them such a quantity, during the space of seven years, began in 1649 ; also they have liberty to keep swine,

"For and in consideration of all the aforesand privileges, granted by the town of Rowley to the aforesaid Robert, John, and William, and their heirs and assigns, they have covenanted with the same towne, for themselves, their heirs and assigns, sufficiently to look to the herd of cattle, that the towne of Rowley shall put into the pasture during the time of seven years. Provided the cattle be two years . Id and upward. Provided, also, the town shall give them 2's, by the day, for so ninch time as they shall spend about looking to said pasture."

" 21. The said Robert, John, and William doth covenant with the towne to provide convenient diet and lodging, at different times, to any that the towne shull send to keep uny herd there."

These were great privileges,-i. c. to each, forty aeres of upland and twenty acres of meadow ; right of com- monage to each for twenty head of cattle, with liberty to fence the same ; liberty for each to build a tenement, with license to cut timber for building and fencing, and to eut firewood for family use ; license for each to cut a thousand pipe-staves yearly, for seven years; exemption from town taxes for seven years, for lands, houses and fourteen head of cattle each, as specified ; and liberty to keep swine. In consideration of all which, they covenanted to look sufficiently to the herd of cattle, of two years and upwards, that for the space of ten years the town shall put into the pasture But for such care, they were to be paid at the rate of two shillings a day, according to time expended. And they agreed at all times to board any persons the town should see fit to send as herd-keepers. The re- striction as to number of tenements, was doubtless intended to exclude any claim for allotment of addi- tional commonage to other tenements.

The privilege of cutting one thousand pipe-staves each, annually for seven years, was a valuable one. Pipe-staves were becoming an important article of commerce with the West Indies and elsewhere. The town of Haverhill at times passed special rates, allow- ing the householders to cut pipe-staves, but not within two miles of the house-lots.

After some years William Wilde sold out his lands to the llaseltines, and to George Hadley, and went to Ipswich, where he died in 1662. John and Robert Haseltine were brothers. John was probably married

2086

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

before coming to America. He had children before removing to Merrimae Lands.

Robert and Ann Haseltine, were married at Row- ley in 1639, being the first marriage of the town. They had nine children, some born before, more after coming to the Merrimac.

John Haseltine had been made a "Freeman" in Rowley in 1640, and must therefore have been a church member, as the law then was. But his name does not appear later among the Bradford church members, and it is therefore thought that he removed over the river to Haverhill, and was Deacon John Haseltine of Mr. Ward's church.

A house-lot was laid out to John Haseltine in Haver- hill about 1650, so that he did not personally remain very long in Bradford, if the above conjecture is correct. But he was represented here by a son or sons.

In 1643, at the first survey, house lots had been laid out to John and Robert Haseltine on Holmes Street, and to William Wilde on Bradford Street, in old Rowley.

The Haseltines have always been numerous and respectable, both in Bradford and Haverhill. But the original Haseltines who came over the seas with Rogers, though doubtless hardy and vigorous men, were probably illiterate. John could not write liis name.

The Bradford land originally laid ont to the Ilaxeltines and Wilde, includes the west half of the village. "The lower corner" of this traet "is where the road turns by Jacob Kimball's." "Their meadow land is well known to this day as the Hasel- tine meadow." In 1658 Joseph Jewett had laid out to bim the whole of Bradford Neck. One Glover set- tled near the cove by Lafayette Day.

In 167I, the following lots were laid out below the farm of Glover:

In right of

Rods wide at the river. 35 acres 111/2

" Joseph Chaplin,

John Simmonds,

Widow Cooper,

42. 12

Abraham Foster,

John Burbank, 37 16 12

John Simmonds,

Thomas Palmer,

36 14

John Simmonds,

W'm. Wilde and another, 66 = 27

John Simmonds,

Hugh Smith, 38 12

Jonathan Hopkinson,

Michael Hopkinson,

Samuel Boswell,

Wm. and John Boynton, 53

2116

James Dickinson,

Thomas Dickinson, 57

Deacon Jewett,

John Spoforth, 95

3114

Mrs. Kimball, Boston,

¿and Geo, Kilborn,

( James Canada and

James Barker and

James Barker, Jr.,

William Stickney,

111 # 3316

John Boynton,

( William Scales and

93 4 26 "

These were the first settlers above the village, and their lots took in the land between Head's Hill and the Haseltine farm. Four lots were laid out below the village in the same year :

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 266

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