History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 47

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 47

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Very reeently, a controversy has arisen between residents of Ipswich and residents of Essex, as to which of these two towns has lawful jurisdiction over a portion of the contiguous territory where the clams are dug.

At a special town-meeting held in Essex, October 3, 1887, the following citizens were chosen as a com- mittee to take such action as may be needful on ae- count of this controversy : Wm. Howe Burnham, George J. Sanger, Enoch B. Kimball, Daniel W. Bartlett and Moses Knowlton ; and money was ap- propriated to defray the expenses of any litigation necessary to defend the rights of the towu and settle the division line between Essex and Ipswich, and decide to which town belong certain clam-flats, at the present time and prospectively of great value. The territory in question is said to contain about one hundred and fifty acres.

MALTING OR BREWING .- As, in accordance with the English custom, everybody drank beer, coffee and tea being then unknown in the colonies, the business of a maltster was established early in most of the set- tlements. In many townships one person of this trade was probably sufficient for the inhabitants of the place, who would take their barley or other grain to his establishment to have it malted, as they took their eorn to the grist-mill to have it ground, the maltster receiving his compensation, as did the miller, by taking toll.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, and probably much earlier, a malt-house stood upon the premises, now owned and occupied by Daniel Win- throp Low, the business having been carried on by one or more of his early ancestors. This fact con- cerning that locality is derived from the tradition of the family.

OTHER TRADES.

House-wrights, blacksmiths, rope-makers, tailors and shoemakers (the latter sometimes termed " cord- winders" in the Ipswich records), were prime neces- sities in the new settlements, and undoubtedly came here early ; but the dates at which they severally ar- rived, it would be impossible now to determine. Farmers then, as a long time afterwards, may have had a shop on their own premises, for amateur shoe- making and shoe-mending.

EARLY BOAT-BUILDING. - Ship-carpenters and joiners came early to the settlements near the sea- board, and, of course, appeared in Chebacco not very long after the first-comers. The traditions which my wife's great uncle, Parker Burnham (the first), received from his grandfather, David Burnham (1st), who was born October 20, 1688, and was a grandson of Thomas, first settler, had been often repeated in the family for years prior to its publication anywhere. The story, which I have no doubt is entirely authentic, is

1 Babson's " History of Gloucester," conforming doubtless to the local record, gives the name as Jefford Cogswell. Ilis first name, however, was Gifford, his mother's maiden name. ITis father was John Cogswell, who was a grandson of John, the first Chebacco settler of that surname, and he married Margaret Gifford.

Gifford Cogswell married, in 1722, a daughter of Jeffrey Parsons, of Gloucester ; and the local recorder may have confusedly written the name Jefford, which is a sort of cross between Jeffrey aud Gifford.

2 " History of Gloucester," pp. 331, 332.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

this- A man namel Burnham built the first Che- the Falls were not all that were established in Che- ba vo beat in the garret of a house which stood on an bacco. eminence at the right of what is now the road to Manchester, and not very far beyond the corner or beginning of that road, which is near the residence of Aaron Low, E-q. ; and that the garret window-frame had to be removed, and the aperture enlarged, before the boat could be launched.

C'ORDAGT. - The manufacture of cordage for rig- ging, as well as for fishing-lines, was an essential auxiliary to vessel-building, and was pursued here quite early, upon a moderate scale. In the last quar- ter of the last century, it began to be carried on somewhat extensively at the Falls by the late Capt. Nathaniel Burnham; and Mr. Samuel Hardy, Sr., who had come from England with the knowledge of some valuable improvements in the method of mak- ing lines, and who married his sister, became asso- ciated with him in their manufacture. Mr. Hardy's sons, Daniel and Samuel, Jr., also conducted the same business for several years. There have since heen several large rope-walks here, with machinery propelled for some time by steam, for the manufac- ture of lines, etc., owned and conducted by David, W'm. H. and II. W. Mears. Ship's cordage of the heavier sort, tor E-sex vessels, is now, however, made «istwhere.

SAW - MILLS AND GRIST-MIIL.I.S .- Saw-mills were early established here,-the first in 1656, on C'ho- bacco River,-said to have been the first erected any- where in the town of Ipswich. Two others were, afterwards, built in Chebacco, in the same part of this precinct, called the Falls; and in 1693 a grist- mill was established in the same neighborhood.

The saw-mill and grist.mill. erected about the year 1-23, near the bridge over the Chebacco River, in the centre of the town, in connection with which wool- varding was for some years carried on, which were destroyed by fire, some years since, were the largest that had been built in the place prior to the estab- lishment of the two steam saw-mills, one on Southern Avenne, built in 1872 by the Essex Steam Mill Com- poury, and under the management of the late Jacob Burnham; and the other at the Falls, owned and operated by Elwar l Story.

EMILY SAW - MILL. IN THE EAST DISTRICT. 1 hont five hundred yards northeast of the ship-yard ot tho liv. Lbenezer Burnham is a piece of marsh which is known to-day as "Saw-mill island." The 1. Sonoet Lufkin stated that he had heard his tather say that John Burnham, who owned a farm meer lla kell's Creek which included the premises how owned by David 1. Haskell), built a saw-mill on That i land The mall dato was tored by obstructing he creta in h tainer milar to that at the great bredde, and the ree to the tide furnished the water.

According to Mr Lait kin's te timony, which doubt- levelupon authentic traction, the saw-mills at

The John Burnham here alluded to was the eldest of the three brothers who came in 1635. He was one of the first two deacons of the first church here. He was an uncle of the John Burnham, who owned a saw-mill at the Falls, and father of John Burnham, Jr., who, as late as 1693, was granted "liberty to set a Grist-mill on Chebacco river, at the launching place."

SHIP-BUILDING .- For a century this has been the most important mechanical industry of the place. Originally it was confined principally to the building of Chebacco boats, a species of small craft, without bowsprit, having two masts, and two sails only, a fore- sail and mainsail, and being sharp at both stem and stern. At one time towards the close of the last century, there were, it is said, no less than one thous- and nine hundred of this class of vessels, many of them, of course, of small tonnage, employed in the fishery business, and sailing from Cape Ann.

The name, "Chebacco boat," was derived from the original Indian name of the territory of Essex, though it is a curious coincidence that in France there is in use a small vessel called a chabek.

In 1668, the town of Ipswich set apart an acre of land for the use of the inhabitants as a ship-yard. This land, which was the first granted by the town for that purpose, was situated in Chebacco; and as nearly as can now be ascertained from the phrase- ology of the grant, and from a consideration of what would then have been an available and eligible lo- cality, with ready access to the water, it comprised in part the premises now occupied for the same use by Arthur D. Story, and perhaps also a part of the prem- ises of Moses Adams.

Larger Vessels .- The building of the Chebacco boats began to be discontinued in the first quarter of the present century, larger vessels, with a square stern and bowsprit and full-rigged as schooners, gen- erally superseding them.

IIalf a century ago, for the period of five years next preceding 1837, there were built two hundred and twenty vessels, aggregating twelve thousand five hundred tonnage, and valued at three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.

Vessels of much greater tonnage are now built, and a larger amount of capital is employed. Several three-masted schooners of large size and two steam- ers, one for General B. F. Butler and the other for Captain Lamont G. Burnham, have been built here within a few years.

Essex vessels, for staunchness of construction, symmetry, skillful workmanship, and all sca-going quaht es, are everywhere of high repute.

Yachts .- Several yachts, as swift-sailing as any in the country, have been launched from the Essex ship-yards; and one of abont two hundred tons was built here by Moses Adams for an officer of the Uni-

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ESSEX.

ted States Navy, who, with his family, made a voyage in it to Europe. Another, the "Gevalia," was built by John James & Co., for G. M. Winslow, of Boston. She was sixty feet in length, six feet in depth and nineteen feet and four inches in width. The first summer after she was launched, she sailed in three races and took three prizes.

A Historic Vessel .- Messrs. John James and Leon- ard Mckenzie built here the vessel afterwards so widely known, in which Dr. Elisha K. Kane went to the Arctic regions in 1853, on the Grinnell expedi- tion in search of Sir John Franklin, and incidentally to find, if possible, an open polar sea. She was originally called "Spring Hill," but when secured for Arctic service her name was changed to the "Ad- vance." She was of one hundred and forty-four tons burthen, carpenter's measurement. Dr. Kane, in the first volume of his narrative of the voyage, says of her : "She was a good sailer and easily managed."

Some Statisties of Former Years .- The following are among various items gathered by Deacon Caleb Cogswell, a gentleman of long experience and exten- sive knowledge of the business, and contained in an exceedingly well written, comprehensive and inter- csting chapter contributed by him to Dr. Crowell's town history. Some of the statistics were furnisbed by members of the family with which the writer of this is connected :

Parker Burnham, Ist, was the builder of the first square-stern vessel ; and his nephew, Captain Parker Burnham, built the largest square-stern vessel in the place, prior to the war of 1812. It was a brig of two hundred and twenty tons, named "Silk-worm ;" and he made several voyages in it, as commander, the first one to Lisbon. He also built the schooner " July," of fifty tons burthen, which was commenced and entirely finished in the month of July, 1837,- the shortest space of time in which any vessel of that size had ever been begun and completed.

The largest number built by any one person was about two hundred, by Adam Boyd. The largest number built by one person in any year was thirteen, by Andrew Story.

In 1842, the ship " Ann Maria," of five hundred and ten tons, was built by a company of Essex ship- wrights, of which Ebenezer Burnham was the agent, and his brother Jacob was the master-workman. She was purchased by David Pingree, of Salem, a prom- inent merchant of that time. This was the largest vessel that had been built in the place up to that date.

Later Vessels of Larger Tonnage .- Since the pub- lication of Dr. Crowell's History, however, still larger vessels have been built here,-among them a three-masted.schooner, named "Mattie W. Atwood," of seven hundred and seventy tons custom-house measurement, but having a carrying capacity of one thousand one hundred tons. She was built in 1872 by Messrs. James & Mackenzie. Of still larger tou-

nage was the steamer "Vidette," built for Captain Lamont G. Burnham, as before mentioned. She was of eight hundred and nineteen tons' burthen, and was launched from the yard of John James & Co. in 1880. She had two propellers.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVE BUILDERS AT PRESENT,- Moses Adams, Arthur D. Story, James & Co., Joseph, Samuel and Charles Oliver Story, Willard Burnham, Daniel Poland.

SPAR-MAKING .- Those essential adjuncts to a sail- ing vessel, the masts and spars, must have given em- ployment to more or less persons, a part of the time at least, soon after the building of boats was begun here. This business is now conducted by Messrs. Timothy Andrews and Son.

PRINTING .- The first printing-office in the town was established by the writer of this history, in 1843, and a newspaper entitled The Essex Cabinet was pub- lished by him for several months of that year; and later, for a considerable length of time, a religious publication, entitled The Universalist Cabinet, was issued. Pamphlets, circulars, &c., were likewise printed, with a variety of other work.

Many years afterwards a printing-office, which is still continued, was established by Erastus S. Burn- ham, who for a short time published a weekly sheet entitled The Essex Enterprise.

ATTORNEY AND COUNSELLOR AT LAW .- Frank C. Richardson, Esq., a native, resides here and has an office at Salem. He was for some time a student at law in the office of Hon. Charles P. Thompson, now Judge of the Superior Court. He has appeared, in recent cases, in behalf of the town and its territorial rights.

In preceding years, the late Obed B. Low, Esq., a native, who studied with Rufus Choate, conducted several cases in this place, and appeared in some instances in behalf of the town, in courts and before legislative committees.

The late George F. Mears, Esq., a native, was also a recognized practitioner here, in addition to his legal business elsewhere.

If others of this profession were located here at an earlier time, I have found no distinct record of them. NOTARY PUBLIC .- Daniel W. Bartlett.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE .- Ezra Perkins, Nehe- miah Burnham, Ebenezer Stanwood.

BLACKSMITHING .- This branch of mechanical in- dustry must have been introduced here early ; and during the hundred years and more in which boat- building has been carried on, it has been an essential auxiliary of that business. It is worth noting that, for a long term of years, the blacksmiths of the place were of the names of Andrews, Goodhue and Story, and lineal descendants of the primitive settlers of those names. Those at present of that occupation here are Francis Haskell & Sons, John Gilbert and Otis Story.

WHEELWRIGHT .- Deacon Caleb S. Gage, son of

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Ih onas Gage. Esq., the historian of Rowley, is still proprietor of the business he established here half a century ago.

PAINTERS .- Daniel W. Bartlett, Sr., Story & Clos- son, Charles A. Burnham, John P. Story.

TELEGRAPHR OPERATOR .- Daniel W. Bartlett, Jr.

TANNING .-- The manufacture of leather was carried en here early in the last century, and possibly in the century preceding. In 1743, Joseph Perkins and his father-in-law, Thomas Choate, Jr., bought, for £928, Old Tenor, twenty-six acres of land of Francis Cogs- well, tanner, and Hannah, his wife: " one-half of this land to go to said Thomas, and the other half to said Joseph." The latter was for some years engaged in tanning npon the-e premises. His grandsons, the late John and James Perkins, pursned the same business for several years. Their tan-vats were near the brook, in the rear of the old burying-ground. Captain I'rancis Burnham followed the same occupation for many year- at the Falls, the business being since conducted on the same spot by Francis Goodhue. Those adopting this trade, it will be observed, have all borne the surnames of primitive settlers.

SHOR-MANUFACTURING .- In 1872, a shoe-factory was established here, which is now under the execu- tive management and control of Messrs. S. B. Fuller & Son, proprietors ; with Frank E. Gilbert as general superintendent, and William S. Perkins as foreman of construction. A building, 35 by 65 feet, and three stories in height, with a basement, was erected in that year, which was enlarged in 1880 by an addition of the same height, and 28 by 75 feet. There is a box- maker's department, in which are made all the boxes used in the business. The whole number of persons cibployed in all the departments and divisions is about one hundred and twenty- five, to whom are paid in wages about fifty thousand dollars a year. Four hundred thousand pairs of shoes are made annually. The machinery of the establishment is, of course, pro- pellet by steam.

The uppers of the shoes are now cut and fitted in Lynn : and for that part of the work about sixty-five thousand dollars are paid yearly. The labor of this branch was formerly done at the factory in Essex; bet, as the result of a strike, a few years since, it was troisferred to the city mentioned, thus withdrawing Infin Les a considerable portion of the money pre- vously disbursed, although a number of those from this town, who had been employed there, are still em- poved on the same branch in Lynn.

Two STEAM CIDER-MILLS,-One at the Falls Vil- Age aludt the other on Southern Avenue, in connection with the saw-mills in those localities, manufacture cu ddy mme forty thousand or more gallons, in the coler ma ing season , which are soll, in part, for the po tot nay turned não vinegar.

MEAT AND PROVISION DEALERS- Wm. B. and (abb low, bo Quimby, Chas. H. Story.

denise establishment of Messrs. Low

Brothers has facilities for furnishing fresh meats not surpassed by establishments in the same line in the larger towns and cities generally, having an extensive refrigerator and other conveniences.

EXPRESS BUSINESS .- Joseph M. Marshall was the pioneer in this line, having begun the carrying of packages, etc., between this place and Boston, by stage-coach to Manchester, and thence by railroad, about forty years ago. He is still interested in it.

Thomas M. Procter and Horace Quimby have also for many years been engaged in this branch of busi- ness.

Elisha B. Annable has conducted, by private con- veyance, for several years an express between Essex and Salem.

STORES, TRADERS, ETC .- Groceries .- Jona. M. Richardson, Henry F. Dodge, Arthur D. Story, Geo. A. Fuller, J. M. Marshall, Herbert P. Andrews.

Dry-Goods .- H. F. Dodge, Geo. A. Andrews.

Cutlery, Fancy Goods, Books, Periodicals, Etc .- Geo. F. Burnham.

Furniture, Clocks, Watches, Watch- Repairing, and Printing .- Erastus S. Burnham.

Hardware, Mechanics' Tools, Etc .- Joseph M. Mar- shall.

Drugs and Pharmacy .- B. F. Raymond.

Noves, Tin and Sheet-Iron Work .- J. F. Smith.

Dealer in Tin Ware, Oil Cloths, Household Utensils, Etc .- Wm. C. Howard.

Hair-dressing Saloon .- Edward Warren Lander.

AN AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL ASSO- CIATION, formed several years since, continuing its operations with well sustained interest, has done much to encourage and stimulate the culture of fruit, of which some of the finest specimens are dis- played annually at its own exhibition in town, as well as at the county fair.

In the department of small fruit raising, especially of strawberries, of which, in this town, the late Abel Burnham was the pioneer,-Sylvester Dade and Miles S. Andrews have been extensive cultiva- tors, disposing of very large quantities in various parts of the county and elsewhere.

VEGETABLE GROWING, GRAPES, SEED FOR PLANT- ING. Aaron Low, Esq., widely known as an exten- sive cultivator of choice vegetables of the mammoth varieties, who has often taken premiums for his pro- ducts at the annual fairs of the Essex County Agri- cultural Society, and who has given much attention to grape-culture, has also carried on, upon a consid- erable scale, the business of a seedsman.

JIAY-MILK-BUTTER .- English hay from this place is soll in as large quantities, probably, as from any other place of its size in the county.

Milk is daily furnished in large quantities to the summer watering-places in the vicinity; and with choice butter and other farm products is sent through- out the year to the neighboring City of Gloucester.

ICE BUSINESS .- This is carried on here quite ex-

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ESSEX.

tensively, large quantities of ice cnt from Chebacco Pond or Lake being transported abroad by the Essex Branch Railroad to Wenham, and beyond in varions directions over the lines of the Eastern Branch of the Boston and Main Road. Ice is also delivered to order about town.

This industry alone contributes a very large pro- portion of the freight traffic of the Essex Railroad.

There are two establishments, one comprising two buildings with an aggregate storage capacity of twenty thousand tons, conducted under the auspices of the Drivers' Union Company ; Manning Story and Enoch Story, managing proprietors.

The other establishment is conducted by its pro- prietor, Charles H. Mears, cutting usually in the ice season about fifteen hundred tous.

IMPROVEMENT IN GENERAL .- Since the advent of the branch railroad, now just extended to the shoe- factory in the village on the south side of the river, the town is well nigh as eligible for the purposes of either a residence or business, as most of the larger places. An impetus has also been given to trade; and great is the change from the time, many years after the first settlement, when the residents must send out of town for most but the commonest com- modities, to the present period, when the finest watch can be repaired and regulated as skillfully in town as elsewhere.

EARLY MISDEMEANORS .- " 1641. Jo : Lee, accused for stealing of a Bible of the widow Haffield, is found guilty ; he shall restore I5s. to the widow, and pay 10s. fine for lying."1

"Jo:" must have been an obdurate person. There is no record of his having read the book, after he had stolen it.

How far from the border of Chebacco this widow Haffield may have lived is not specified; but six years before the commission of the theft mentioned, as the records show, Richard Haffield " had an house- Jot granted to him in 1635, beyond Mr. Hubbard's, having the highway to Chebacco on the sonth, and an houselot of Robert Andrews on the east." The wid- ow Haffield mentioned was probably the Goodwife Haffield, from whom the name of " Haffield's Bridge" was derived.

"1670, March 29, Thomas Bragg and Edward Cogs- well, for fighting in the meeting-house on the Lord's day, in time of exercise, fined 10s. a piece and costs and fees."2

This Edward was a son of John Cogswell, first settler. The number of rounds fonght, which of the two combatants received the worse pummelling, and which threw up the spouge, are points not stated.

ESSEX MASTERS OF THE IPSWICH GRAMMAR SCHOOL .- Of this venerable institution, sometimes styled in the early records the Feoffees' Latin School,

established abont 1651, by the mnnificence of the wealthy Payne brothers and William Hubbard, Sr., father of the historian, and afterward liberally en- dowed by grants of land, six of the teachers have been of Essex origin,-the aggregate of their terms of service being abont sixty years, or more than one- quarter of the time since it was founded. Those only of first-class qualifications were selected for this posi- tion.

Thomas Andrews, son of Capt. Robert Andrews, and cousin of the three Burnham brothers, immigrants, tanght for twenty-three years from 1660. He was the immediate successor of the famous Ezekiel Chee- ver, the first teacher. Henry Wise, a graduate of Harvard College, son of Rev. John Wise, taught for eight years from 1720. Major Thomas Burnham, also a graduate of Harvard, tanght about twenty- four years in all, beginning in 1774,-leaving the school for several years, to serve in the field in the Revolutionary War, and on retiring from the army, again taking charge of it. AImos Choate, afterward Register of Deeds, taught seven years from 1800. Geo. Choate, late Dr. George, of Salem, taught two years from his graduation in 1818; and Charles Choate, two years from 1823.

FATE OF MASCONOMO .- The sagamore of Agawam, who disposed of Chebacco and the rest of Ipswich for such a trivial smin, became in his later years very poor, and dependent npon charity-virtually a pau- per, thongh I do not know, from direct statement in any record, that he was an inmate of an alms-honse. He died abont the year 1658.

It is said that some years after his burial, on Saga- more Hill, his bones were taken up and his skull was carried around on a pole by a reckless person who was arrested and held to answer for it. What was the motive for such sacrilege, other than wanton mis- chief, we are not informed.

CHAPTER XCIV. ESSEX-(Continued).

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.

First Preaching, First Settled Minister and First Church in Chebacco-The First Meeting-house-The Second Minister-Whitefield's Power as an Orator-Rogers, of Ipswich, in Salem-Davenport, the Fanatic, who, in his Prayers in Chebacco, insulted Mr. Pickering-Great Disorders in Ipswich-The Disorders Described-Pickering Street-Third Minister of the Original Church-Mr. Porter the ouly Chebacco Minister Recognized in Manchester-Last Minister of the Church of Wise and Pickering-A Dispute about Cleaveland Precipitates a Division of the First Church in Ipswich-The Church of the Separatists and its Ministers-Cleaveland's and Murray's Army Chaplaincies-Persecution of Murray-Cleaveland's Family-His Genealogy-Ruling Ellers and their Functions-Cleave- land's Successors-Later Preachers-Seating the Congregation-First Baptist Preaching-Christian Church-Elder Elins Smith-First Re- ligvous Newspaper in the Country-Other Christian Preachers-The Universalist Meeting-house-Formation of a Church-A Deacon De- scended from Deacons-A Valuable Bequest by a Goodhus Descendant- Methodist Society and Church.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 47

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