History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 267

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 267

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

To In right of Kods wide at the river.

" John Watson,

Thomas Abbott,

50 acres 11

215 “ 72

Thomas Kimball, (number of acres not known ). Widow Aun Hobson,

260 4

This Thomas Kimball was killed May 3, 1676, dur- ing King Philip's War, by the three notorious Pray- ing Indians, Symon, Andrew and Peter. Kimball lived on the road leading from what is now South Groveland to Boxford. The story is that the Indians were on the way to kill somebody at Rowley who they fancied had injured them ; but finding the night too far spent, turned aside and sacrificed another instead. Something can be learned of Symon the leader, in the accompanying sketch of Haverhill. Thomas Kimball's wife and five children were carried away captive by Symon and his gang, but were afterwards set at liberty and permitted to return, through, it is said, the influence of Wannalancet, chief of the Pen- nacooks and steadfast friend of the white men, who, in 1677, retired to Canada. After her return from captivity, the widow Mary Kimball petitioned the General Court to protect her from the ruffian Symon, who had threatened to kill her and her children if she ever went back to her house. In October the court abated her taxes.

The Rogers and Phillips grants beyond Johnson's Creek are said to have been largely taken up by the numerous Hardys and Parkers. The lots at the east were very long and narrow, fronting upon the river and extending back several miles in some cases.

Of the allotments of lands, Dr. Perry wrote in 1820: " This town was at first laid out in lots running from the river to what is now called the Rowley line. These lots were of different widths, but the boundaries of most of them are easily discoverable by the course of the fences. And a sufficient number of them are still in the possession of the descendants of the first inhabitants to give any one much acquainted in town an idea sufficiently accurate of the places where the first people lived and the land they occupied." And the excellent doctor repeats "their names in order, beginning at the east end of the town." But it may be doubted whether at this day there would be much profit in attempting to give the list, save for the pur- pose of showing the method of division of lands. Even seventy years ago, some of the Christian names were uncertain. To recreate with accuracy the original land allotments, would be a task requiring patience, keenness and accuracy which few men possess.

It appears that, according to tradition, John and William Hardy were brothers, who came to America in the family of Governor Winthrop, as laborers, who, not finding employment for them, gave them at first land at Ipswich, which not suiting them, he permit- ted their removal to Bradford and obtained lands for them here.

Bradford, in its full proportions, was about eight miles long and three wide, containing abont ten thousand acres.

The soil is generally very good. In 1820 there were still considerable quantities of salmon, shad,

Widow A. Mighill,

( John Remington 102 4*

( Richard Wicom,

2087

BRADFORD.

bass, sturgeon, alewives and other fish in the Merri- mac and its tributary waters, which, in the spring, were taken largely in seines. It could then be said, " the salmon caught here are esteemed the best of any taken in the waters of the northern states, and often fetch from seventy-five cents to a dollar a pound in the market in Boston. The quantity of fish is at present much less than formerly." In 1888 a fine river shad or salmon is a novelty.

March 23, 1808, a young gentleman of Haverhill, who kept a scrap-book, made this entry in it: "Seventeen hundred Bass were caught at one Haw] in Merrimack River, at the ferry way in Bradford." But it is to be feared neither the Fish Commissions nor societies for the protection of fish and game, will ever bring back those days of plenty.

For more than a century after the settlement of ished. the town the principal reliance was upon the culti- vation of the soil. In the eighteenth century there were many large orchards of apples, peaches, pears and plums. Dr. Perry, who, in 1820, had not yet entered into the temperance movement, seems to lament that there was not so much good " Arminian cider" made as formerly. This was so called in sportive allusion to the theological views of the first pastor of the East Parish Church, Rev. William Balch, himself a noted raiser of fruit.

In the eastern part of the town, traces of mineral wealth, as iron, coal and lead, were early discovered, but they never materialized to any useful extent. There were chalybeate springs, impregnated with iron, and there was an abundance of peat, formerly considerably used for fuel. From 1790 to 1820 the quantity of wood rather increased than diminished, and at the latter date the experiment of sowing acorns and walnuts for tree-raising had begun. Prob- ably, at the present time, the quantity of standing wood is also increasing, as is the case almost every- where in Essex County.

In 1820, farmers still highly prized the salt hay which they brought, in the season, by the river from the marshes near the sea; and its value in the enrichment of the land is dwelt upon by that keen observer, Dr. Perry, who takes occasion also to recommend the use of plaster of Paris, of which David How, of Haverhill, had made such profitable employment, at Golden Hill, on his great farm in East Bradford, and elsewhere.

Before the Revolution, there had been little trading in this town. There may have been a store in each par- ish, near the respective meeting-houses, where a few indispensable articles of groceries and hardware could be obtained. Moses Parker is said to have had the first store of any importance, which was in the East Parish. He kept a great variety of merchandise, exchangeable for country produce, and had con- siderable trade in New Hampshire. This may be supposed to be the same Moses Parker who, for some years after 1770, carried on successfully the

manufacture of tobacco. In the early part of the present century there were quite a number of stores in the East Parish, where it was possible to obtain upon "good terms" most of the articles required in common life. Probably the inhabitants of the Upper Parish (now Bradford) always carried their trade largely to Haverhill, where there was from an early day considerable pretension to cosmopolitanism, as we are informed by Mrs. Emery, of Newbury, in her interesting "Reminiscences of a Nonogenarian."

Ship-building was begun by Mr. John Atwood, of Boston, in 1720. It is now a lost art.

Shubael Walker began tanning in the Upper Par- ish, soon after the settlement of the town. But in Dr. Perry's time that manufacture had concentrated itself in the East Parish, whence also it has now van-

The manufacture of straw, chaise-making, cooper- ing, the making of chocolate, brass and pewter buckles, bricks, sleigh-bells, twine and thread, and various other things, were attempted with greater or less success at different times, but were all ulti- mately abandoned.

Greater success has attended the development of the valuable water-power of Johnson's Creek, "the greatest and, indeed, the only considerable means for water-works in this town, and it has been consider- ably improved for this purpose, for on it have stood, or are now standing (1820), four saw-mills, five grist- mills, three fulling-mills, two bark-mills." The first of these was a grist-mill, set up by Edward Carleton, the first person born in Rowley, or his father, probably about the year 1670. From that time on, saw and grist-mills were erected in different parts of the town. The descendants of Rowley, with their Yorkshire traditions, recognized the value of the Johnson's Creek power for cloth-making. Dr. Perry, with his wonted practical sagacity, adds,-"I take this op- portunity to observe that though much use is made of the water of Johnson's Creek, yet a much more considerable advantage might be derived from it. Several mills more might, with perfect convenience, stand upon it." He suggests a carding-mill and another saw-mill.

"Indeed, it would be easy to show how enterprising individuals might get wealth, and the community be better served, by enlisting in their service, the force of this water, which God, in his goodness, causes to flow down this stream for the use of men."

The excellent elergyman did not live to see the great development of the water-power upon his favorite stream at South Groveland, by that able manufacturer, the late Mr. Hlale. MIr. Hale was con- nected with the East Parish by marriage, and may have heard the old minister descant upon the pros- pective value of Johnson's Creek. He was a man who did not need much prodding in the direction of money-making. Ile was eminently keen and hard- headed.

2088

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Daniel Hardy, afterwards of Pelham, N. H., began to make shoes about 1760. He sent them to Ports- mouth. Thomas Savory and Nathaniel Mitchell af- terwards carried on the business extensively, sending their shoes to the Southern States and to the West Indies. About the time of the French Revolution Moses Savory and Mr. fage entered upon the same business, and after that time shoemaking became "one of the most important articles in the business of this town."

In 1820 Dr. Perry could say : " Large quantities of shoes are manufactured here, and sent to the Southern and Middle States, the West Indies, etc. About one hundred and fifty men are constantly employed in this business, besides many who employ the winter in it, who, it is supposed, make fifty thousand pairs of shoes and boots yearly."

It is a curious circumstance, brought to light by Mr. Ordway, that when the town, March 3, 1775, sympathetically sent its contribution, through a committee composed of Abraham Parker and two others, to the sufferers by the Boston Port Bill, it forwarded "the small sum of £19 48. 5d. in cash, together with thirty-four pair of shoes."

In 1792, Samuel Tenney, and soon after Uriah Gage, Timothy Phillips and William Tenney, were engaged in the manufacture of shoes in Bradford. Their markets were in Boston, Salem, Newburyport and Portland. They at first carried their goods to market on horseback. Shoes were largely sent to Salem, and thence shipped to the South and the West Indies. They began to be sold on commission in Georgetown, Philadelphia and elsewhere. From 1815 to 1837 the shoe manufacture of Bradford was important. But after the railroad reached Haver- hill, in 1837, the Bradford manufacturers, before en- terprising and successful within the limits of their own town, began to remove their establishments to Haverhill. In 1876 the centennial orator enumer- ated, as among the leading manufacturers of Haver- hill, the following residents of Bradford : L. Johnson & Co., A. L. Kimball, John B. Farrar, Warren Ord- way, Alfred A. Ordway, S. W. Hopkinson, Peter E. Pearl and John F. Merrill.

In 1882 the names of Montgomery, Hoyt, Johnson, Ordway, Webster, Sawyer, Farrar, Kimball, Day, Waldo, Merrill, Ford, Carleton, Durgin, Pearl, Toun and Hopkinson, were stated as among those who had been or were successful manufacturers and resident in Bradford,

The free bridge between llaverhill and Bradford, latterly the extension of the Haverhill and Grove- land horse railroad to Bradford, made it casy and pleasant for large numbers of people to do business or find employment in the former town, whilst resid- ing here. The building of a second bridge from the upper part of the village of Bradford to the manu- facturing district of Haverhill, somewhat agitated within a few years, is probably only in abeyance at

the present time. Inerease of population and assured business would revive the demand with increased force. The course of things during the last few years, however, has not been favorable to expensive schemes of this character. The manufactories which improved railroad and other facilities concentrated thirty or forty years ago have, to a limited extent, been dismantled or quiescent during the last few seasons, whilst goods have been made in small towns here and there throughout the country. Of course, these conditions are counter to all recognized and familiar laws of trade, and can only be accounted for by exceptional circumstances, as labor disturbances or the apprehension of them. These problems will gradually work themselves out, like all others con- nected with the interests and progress of civilized man. Local pride and attachments, combined with the attractions of unsurpassed beauty of situation and natural wholesomeness of surroundings, will, it may reasonably be hoped, secure the continued prosperity of these two interesting communities so long living together in substantial friendship.

While the very great advantages of Bradford, as a place of residence, preserve and even augment its population by a healthful increase, it is not to be overlooked that there are also facilities connected with its situation in reference to the Merrimae River, and the parallel transportation system of the Boston and Maine Railroad, which are susceptible of great expansion by the application of business capital and energy. On the bank, between the railroad and the river, are already a large hat factory, an extensive coal and lumber yard, a large and successful paper mill and other enterprises.

Whether the two communities, which in 1869 and 1872 could not vote together "to form a more perfect union," will ever be legally consolidated, it were quite useless to discuss in this place. As Dr. Kings- bury happily observed in reference to the early friendship and intercourse between the towns: "The frequent visits to and fro have already begun that long friendship which, whatever names men may call tbem by, will make them one forever."

CHAPTER CLXVI.

BRADFORD-( Continued).

The Turn is Erected-The Church is Built.

IN oue respect, okl Rowley village appears to great advantage in comparison with many other towns of large territory and far-off, outlying settlements. The towns, or leading individuals who controlled their pol- icy, loved power and hated to relinquish it. They dreaded to be diminished in importance. For a vari-

2089

BRADFORD.

ety of reasons, as greater protection, development of the country, increase of trade and population, the young and adventurous were encouraged to go out into the wilderness, cut down the great trees and subdue the soil. If they were successful, as of course they almost invariably were, they soon had numerous young people growing up around them. They were too far away to go to school or to meeting. The mothers sighed as they remembered the privileges of their own youth in the older settlements or in dear old England, and saw their children growing up in ignorance and without the privileges of the sanctuary. Through their influence, and the fathers' sense of duty to their children, there began to be agitations in the town-meetings for the setting off of parishes and the building of new meeting-houses. But the outly- ing settlers were scattered and could not concentrate their influence. The residents of the central portion of the town, who knew each other well, and were in the habit of working together, almost always came off victorions, and sent them home discomfited, year after year.

Thus discontents were roused, and heart-burning> fostered. The only remedy was repeated trial, or an appeal to the General Court. That was expensive, and, to the rude, simple pioneers, seemed like starting for another world. Nobody in the remote districts was likely to know much about public business, or have any great aptness for transacting it. Besides,

olized the offices. He was accustomed to visiting the shire-town-the capital. He could "afford " to go. Sometimes, however, the woodsmen learned the craft of the villagers and beat them with their own weapons -by union, combination or log-rolling. This was the case at Haverhill. The parishes combined were too strong for the central village, with all its wealth and trade, and array of professional men,

But in Rowley old town there was not so much of this selfishness and love of power exhibited as in many other towns. Thus we read that in 1669 the town voted that the inhabitants of Rowley village- Boxford-shall pay taxes like the other freemen, but may apply them, first to village expenses, and next to improve the minister's farm. Similar kindness was extended towards the dwellers on the Merrimac lands. Thus, when they went to the General Court in 1668, to talk about being set up as a separate town, instead of being confronted by fierce and relentless opposition, they were treated in a kind and considerate manner, with encouragement :

their petition to be a township provided they de gett and setle an ahle and orthodox minister and continue to maynteigne him or also to re- main to Rowley as formerly "

The providing a suitable minister and making pro- vision to support him was, in the Puritan polity. a condition precedent to the ervetion of a parish or the incorporation of a town. Not only to prepare thus for the spiritual needs of the people, and so to for- ward one of the capital ends for which the founders had forsaken the land and Church of England, but also because the accomplishing of these things tended towards stability and permanence in the community. Whatever faith he is ofor of no faith, the wise statesman will always recognize that the churches, with their organization and their work, are, in a land like ours, the strongest bulwark of the State.

Provision had already been made by anticipation on the " Lands," for the commencement of this great work. We have seen that the clerical pioneer of Bradford, Mr. Rogers, was a warm friend of Minister Zechariah Symmes, of Charlestown. Mr. Rogers had just passed to the exalted seat he had assigned, him- self; but doubtless he had been already consulted as to the organization of the new church and had pointed out the son of his old friend, just now eligible.

The elder Symmes, himself the son of a minister, was born at Canterbury, England, in 1599. He came to New England in 1634, in the same ship with Ann Hutchinson, and died in Charlestown in 1676. His there was no opportunity to learn how. The village , son, Zechariah, born at Charlestown in 1637, gradu- magnate, very likely a well-to-do trader, monop- ated at Harvard, the first scholar of his class, in 1657.

Ile was afterwards a fellow of the college. He had preached at Rehoboth (Pawtucket) from 1661 to 1666, and came to Bradford to preach in 1667. He was thus thirty years of age, and must have been in the maturity of hispowers.

The father had been a man of great physical endur- ance, and his auditors must have needed a great deal also. Johnson recorded of him that on one occasion "he continued in preaching and praying four or five hours." Said the Scotch minister, when asked if he were not much fatigued after a similar effort : " Na, na, I waur as fresh as a daisy. But ye sud hae scen how tired the folk waur !"

Mr. Symmes, of Bradford, was a man of large stature He was a man of learning and picty ; much respected. He lived forty years in Bradford, dying here March 22, 1707. When his first wife died, he married the Widow Dalton, born Mehitable Palmer, of Haverhill. Before his coming, the people on the lands had doubtless worshipped at Haverhill, and enjoyed the ministrations of the excellent Mr. Ward. They were therefore exceptionally fortunate.

For two years Mr. Symmes preached in a house or barn-perhaps sometimes in the open air, like Mr. Ward in the beginnings of Pentucket. Mr. Symmes could not administer the sacrament, because he had not been ordained. For this reason, most of the Bradford people at this time were members of the

" In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Rowley, living over against Haverhill, the Court having considered the petition, perused the town of Rowley's grant to the petitioners, heard Rowley's deputy, and also considering a writing sent from Rowley, with what els hatb been presented in the case doe find that there is liberty granted to the petitioners by the town of Rowley to provide themselves of a minister and also an intent to release them from their township when they are arcordingly provided, and therefore see not but this court may grant

1312

2090

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Haverhill church and probably crossed over with the pastor on communion days, although Dr. Kingsbury thinks Mr. Ward may have crossed to Bradford som(- times to administer the sacred elements.

The Haverhill people entreated them hospitably. In town-meeting in 1669 they made choice "of An- drew Greely, Sr., to keep the ferry at Haverhill ; pro- vided that he agree and will carry over the inhabitants of the town, and the inhabitants of the town of Mer- rimack over against us, for three pence an horse, and a penny a man ; and that he will carry all ministers over tree that come upon visitation to us, and in particular Mr. Symes ; and that if the inhabitants of the town over against us do come over to meet with us on the Sabbath days, they shall have free use of the ferry boat, or boats, for the occasion, without pay- ing anything." Dr. Kingsbury wrote of the return of Mr. Symmes and his people over the ferry after eom- munion : "I havethought ifour ears were sufficiently acute we might catcb, from the breezes on the river, , to set fences about his house. the faint echo of the psalms they sung as they re- turned with devout and grateful hearts from the table of the Lord." One of the old diarists, whose entries make events life-like, wrote in his little book : " Re- turning from Andover, I crossed ye ferry ; heard then sing well upon ye water,"

The first niceting-house was built in 1670, and was probably a rude log house, like that at Pentucket-a wealthier plantation. It must have been of pretty good height, for in 1690 they built a gallery in it. We have seen that John Haseltine had given a lot for a meeting-house and burying-place. That was the old burying-ground on the road to the present Grove- land. The meeting-house stood in the west corner of the lot and the dead were buried in the rear. The pound was located in another corner when the town voted, January 5, 1685, to build one the next spring. with gate, lock and key.

The first house in the town had been built near the same spot-the site of the first meeting-house at the old burial lot. August 17, 1681, when Mr. Symmes' wife died, the town chose a committee to state a burial- place " for his own proper use, according to Mr. Symmies' desire." That was on the east of the burial lot.

The first school-house was built upon the same site, which, as was customary, was the political centre of the town, dedicated to all public uses. This first school-house was twenty-two feet long, eighteen feet wide and seven feet posts.

Of course, the building of the meeting-house, and, indeed, all matters about the prudentials of the church, were town matters and ordered in the town-meetings, so long as there was ouly one parish. April 18, 1670, a committee, of which "Sargent " Gage was chairman, was chosen " for the ordering, setting up and furnish- ing of a meighting-house according to their best dis- cretion for the good of the town."

January 9, 1671, Robert Haseltine, Ensign Chan-

dler and Shubal Walker were chosen to carry on the work and given power to call upon the inhabitants to come to aid " with hands or teams after legal warning," or in case of refusal, "then to pay double wages to be recovered by distress."

January 29, 1671, " at a general town-meeting," an agreement was made with Samuel Haseltine "to sweep the meeting-house one whole yeare," " and for his pains" he should have of every householder and voter "one peck of Indian corn, which is to be brought to his house."

As soon as Mr. Symmes was received as minister, and at the first town-meeting of which there is a record, not legal because the town was not yet in- corporated but held with the kindly license of good Mother Rowley, the selectmen were directed to " finish the Minister's house according to Mr. Sim- mies' direction and to raise the pay by rate."

Persons were selected to procure his firewood, and

The first year he received forty pounds and the next fifty, which appears to have been fixed as his salary, until he was ordained, some years after. Half of this was to be paid in wheat, pork, butter and cheese, the other half in malt, Indian corn or rye. One writer inquires what the minister wanted with so much malt. But at that time, when every- body drank beer, malt was not only a staple article, but current in barter anywhere. The Harvard College accounts show that the students' bills were often paid in malt, in whole or in part.

The provision for payment in butter and cheese in part was rather an unusual one, and indicates a goodly number of milch cows in the town. In 1669 the town gave Mr. Symmes forty acres of common land at Indian Hill. And for many years it was customary to appoint a committee yearly to see that the minister's work was done, and to attend to such things as he might have need of. Indeed, as Dr. Perry observes, "provisions for the full and respect- able enjoyment . of religion, and for the comfort of those who ministered to them in holy things, formed a very prominent trait in the character of the first settlers in this town."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 267

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