History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 55

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 55

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PHYSICIANS .- The first resident physician was Dr. Ebenezer Davis, who came here in 1770. He was succeeded in 1788 by Dr. Parker Russ, a native of the place. After him, in 1805, came Dr. Reuben D. Mussey, later in life distinguished in medical profes- sorships in different States. His youngest son, Gen. Reuben D. Mussey, who served with distinction in the late war, is now a lawyer, residing in Washing- ton.

Dr. Thomas Sewall, who succeeded Dr. Massey, was practicing physician here for ten years. In 1818 Dr. Josiah Lamson was invited by a committee of the citizens to settle here, where he passed the remainder of his life.

Dr. Oscar F. Swasey came here in 1853, and after a few years removed to Beverly, where he now re- sides. He was expert in surgery, having had hos- pital experience at Deer Island. Dr. William H. Hull commenced practice here in 1859. He served in the war, and, on leaving the army, resumed his practice here, which was quite extensive. Dr. Towne suceceded Dr. Hull in his practice and in the oceu- pancy of his residence.

Dr. John D. Lovering succeeded Dr. Lamson on his retirement in 1861, removing, in 1880, to Man- chester, N. H., his successor being Dr. A. P. Wood- man.

JOSIAH LAMSON, M.D .- The memory of this ex- cellent physician and estimable citizen, who prac-

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ticed his profession here for more than forty years, will long be cherished. In him everybody had im- plicit trust. Always patiently attentive and assidu- ous, his long experience rendered his services of great value ; and the unvarying cheerfulness and prompti- tude with which he responded to every call, even "in the dead waist and middle of the night,"1 in the most inclement season, and when sometimes the gratitude of the patient might be his only requital, should place his name upon the list of those who, without show or pretension, have been substantial benefactors of mankind.

He was a graduate of Harvard College, of the class of 1811. Among his class-mates who became dis- tinguished were Rev. Alvan Loamson, D.D., many years pastor of the Unitarian Church in Dedham, and editor of the Christian Examiner; William H. Prescott, the historian ; Judge Pliny Merriek ; Pro- fessor B. A. Gould ; Rev. Dr. F. W. P. Greenwood, for years minister of King's Chapel, Boston ; and Rev. Dr. Andrew Bigelow.

COLLEGE GRADUATES .- Of the natives of this place there have been twenty graduates of different colleges since Chebacco was first settled ; of whom six are now living, viz .: George F. Choate, Esq., who has been judge of probate for thirty years ; Rev. Ed- ward P. Crowell, professor in Amherst College, of which he was a graduate; Rev. Edward Norton ; Rev. David O. Mears, D.D. ; Creleb Burnham, M.D .; Rev. Michael Burnham.

Of the graduates deceased. among the Essex na- tives, was Rev. Thomas Sewall, D.D., the only son of the distinguished physician of that name. He was an eminent clergyman of the Methodist Church, and long a presiding elder. His mother was Mary, eldest sister of Rufus Choate.

OTHERS OF THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS .- Jacob Story, Esq., judge of probate, residing in Winona, Minn., studied at Yale College and graduated at the Cambridge Law School. David Choate, Jr., M.D., was a graduate of Massachusetts Medical College, and has Jong been in successful practice in Salem. J. Howard Burnham has been for several years a teacher in the State Normal School at Bloomington, Ill.

The brothers, Edward S. and Philemon Eveleth, are successful physicians, the former at Gloucester, and the latter at Marblehead. Dr. Alvin Story. after graduating in medicine in this country, traveled abroad, visiting hospitals and other institutions in Europe, and settled in Natick. Leverett Mears, who studied chemistry in Germany for some years, is pro- fessor of that science at Garfield's alma mater, Wil- liams College, Williamstown, Mass.

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE,-The following have been Representatives to the General Court, since the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780, as members from Chebacco of the Ipswich delegation

until the incorporation of Essex, and since that date as members from this separate town until 1860, when, under an amendment of the State Constitution, this town became a part of a Representative District, first with Manchester, afterwards with that place and llamilton, and since with a part of Gloucester :

John Choate, 1781, '83, '85, '86, '88; Jonathan Cogswell, 1792, '93, 1800, '13; George Choate, 1814, '17.

From Essex, after incorporation .- George Choate, 1819; Jacob Story, 1824; Jonathan Story (3d), 1827- 30, '33, '34; Charles Dexter, 1835, '36; Oliver Low, 1837; George W. Burnham, 1838; David Choate, 1839 ; Samuel Hardy and Aaron L. Burnham, 1840; Grover Dodge, 1841 ; John Burnham, 1842; John Prince, 1843, '53, '55, '60; Moses Burnham, Jr., 1844 ; Ezra Perkins, Jr., 1845 ; Gilman P. Allen, 1851 ; Wil- liam Burnham (2d), 1852; Samuel Story, 1856; O. H. P. Sargent, 1857; Charles Howes, 1858; Ebenezer, Stanwood, 1862; Nehemiah Burnham, 1864; Timo- thy Andrews, Jr., 1866; Leonard Mckenzie, 1868; William H. Mears, 1870; John C. Choate, 1872; Aaron Low, 1874; Daniel W. Bartlett, 1876; John F. James, 1879; Stephen P. Andrews, 1882; David L. Haskell, 1885; William Howe Burnham, 1888.

State Senators .- Hon. Stephen Choate, 1781-83 ; Hon. David Choate, 1840, '41 ; Hon. John Prince, 1858; Hon. Charles Howes, 1876, '77.

TEMPERANCE ORGANIZATIONS .- The first temper- ance society was organized here in 1829, on the basis of total abstinence from all distilled spirits. It soon afterwards took the ground of abstinence also, as a beverage from fermented liquors.

In 1842, the Washington Total Abstinence Society was formed. The writer of this, as one of a committee appointed for that purpose, drafted the constitution, of which brief extracts are given on page 322 of Crowell's town history, and also engaged the first five lecturers, four of whom were reformed men, the first of the four being a native Englishman, Dr. Henry H. Northall, a British vice consul, and a man of re- markable ability.

PUBLIC COMMEMORATIONS .- Seven public cele- brations of events of more or less interest to the peo- ple generally, have taken place in the town.

1. A celebration of the fourth of July, in 1807, when an oration was delivered by Dr. Reuben D. Massey, then the resident physician of the place- afterwards the distinguished medical professor at Dartmouth, and later of a medical college in Ohio.

2. February 17, 1815, the declaration of peace after the war of 1812 was celebrated by a military parade, a public dinner, and an illumination in the evening, and an address at the church by the pastor, Rev. Mr. Crowell.

3. In 1825, the fiftieth anniversary (strictly speak- ing, the forty-ninth of the declaration) of our na- tional independence was commemorated here, with considerable eclat, by a parade of the Essex Light

1 Horatio, in Hamlet, Act i., Scene 2.

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Infantry, and a public dinner in a pavilion on the grounds of Colonel William Andrews. The oration was delivered by Rufus Choate, Esquire, then a yning lawyer practising his profession in Danvers, and copparatively unknown to fame.

1. On the fourth of July, 1838, Rev. A. C. L. Arnold delivered an oration at the Universalist Church, and a dinner was served in a tent on the premises of Enoch Low.

5. The one hundredth anniversary of the declara- tion of independence was celebrated on the fourth of .July, 1-76; when an oration was delivered out o' door-, on the premises of Daniel Winthrop Low, to a large concourse, by Rev. David Otis Mears, D.D., a native of the town, now pastor of the Piedmont Church in Worcester.

An interesting coincidence was the presence of this occasion of two persons who had taken part in the celebration of a half a century before, when Mr. Choate was the orator. One was the late Robert W. Burnham, who was President of the day, at this later celebration, and the other was Denmark Procter, the venerable musician of Gloucester.

6. April 20, 1879, the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Universalist Society was celt .. brated by an address by Rev. Benton Smith, then acting pastor, from the text, " Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year." The church was tastefully decorated with flowers and plants, and there was a large audi- ence in attendance, comprising many from other Places, especially from tHloucester.

Addresses were also delivered by Rev. E. F. Pen- ber, who presided on the occasion, and others; and the exercises were participated in likewise by Rev. F. T. Pomeroy, of the Methodist church, and Rev. J. L. Harris, then acting pastor of the Congregational church.

7. On the 221 of August, 1883, the Congregational church commemorated the two hundredth anniver- -ary of its organization, as well as that of the parish, by a public memorial meeting, and a social festival. The occasion was one of more than ordinary interest, recalling as it did the varied events of so long a period of time, and the vast changes that had taken place. not only in the parish, but in the state and nation.

The ambience-room of the church edifice was pro- tualy adorned by wreaths, crosses and other floral degus, but for the accommodation of the audiences to Farge for the building, the public exercises were hell in a mimmoth tent, on the grounds of Daniel Winthry. Low.

In the foremoon, two interesting historical discourses w re deliverel: the first by Rev. Professor E. P. travel of Aherst College, son of the seventh pas ter ot the cherche-a thoughtful production, admir- Is written, and eminently fair and discriminating m Ist Legent if the dissensions that had arisen ; ooohAd seont, n scholarly and appreciative tribute

to the memory of Rev. John Wise, the first pastor, by Rev. Dr. Henry M. Dexter, of Boston.

A particularly interesting incident was the intro- duetion, at the close of the forenoon meeting, of a native resident, Mr. Andrew Burnham, then in his ninety-ninth year, (who lived to be over one hundred,) and who well remembered John Cleaveland, and the raising of the meeting-house in 1792.

The congregation then visited the grave of Rev. John Wise, in the old cemetery, where a prayer was offered by Rev. Prof. Edwards A. Park, of Andover.

In the afternoon, addresses were delivered by Rev. E. B. Palmer. pastor of the parent church, at Ipswich ; Rev. F. G. Clark, of Gloucester ; Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Taylor, then of Providence, R. I., for some years pre- viously minister at Wenham, who gave personal reminiscences of Rev. Dr. Crowell; and Prof. Park, of Andover.

At the social re-union in the evening, brief addresses were delivered by Rev. F. H. Palmer, acting pastor, who was president of the day ; ex-pastor Rev. J. L. Harris ; Rev. George L. Gleason, of Byfield ; John Howard Burnham, of Bloomington, IN., a native of Essex, a descendant of John Choate, first settler, and of Deacon William Goodhue, who was fined and imprisoned with John Wise and others, under the despotie rule of Sir Edmund Andros ; and Rev. D. O. Mears, of Worcester, a native of Essex. An original poem, written for the occasion by Mrs. Elizabeth (Choate) Lane, of Boston, a native of this town, was read by Miss Ida P. Howes.

William C. Choate, organist of the church, a de- scendant of the early settler, John Choate, conducted the musical exercises of the day.

A hymn was lined off, after "ye ancient style," by Rufus Choate.

Letters were received from several who were unable to attend, among them Rev. John Pike, of Rowley ; Rev. Wm. S. Coggin, of Boxford: Rev. J. C. Webster, of Illinois, son of a former minister of this parish ; and a letter peculiarly interesting in reminiscence and full of heart, from Rev. Michael Burnham, writ- ten while travelling abroad and dated at Paris.

ESSEX BRANCH RAILROAD .- Until 1872, no rail- road track crossed any part of the territory of this town; and the nearest railroad station was at Man- chester, on the line of the Gloucester branch road, upwards of four miles distant, the next in point of nearness, in the direction of Salem and Boston, being that at Wenham, a distance of about six miles, on the main line of what what was then the Eastern road, but is now the Eastern branch of the Boston and Maine road.

On the 1st of July of that year, the first train of ears was run over the track of the Essex Railroad, which extended from Wenham to this town, and the building of which, just then completed, had been commenced in the preceding year.

It was built by the Essex Railroad Company, of

1 LG, Turnharry.

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which Leonard Mckenzie was President, and John C. Choate, Secretary ; the town, in its corporate capae- ity, contributing the larger portion of the capital. It was afterwards sold to the Eastern Railroad Company, and is now held and operated by the Boston and Maine Company.

A continuation or extension of the road across the river and marshes to the Thompson Island settlement, near the junetion of Southern and Eastern Avenues, has recently been completed ; and on the evening of Oc- tober 10, 1887, there was a jubilation over the event of the opening of the extension on that day, for the first time, for regular travel. Many buildings were illuminated, and a procession, preceded by the Essex brass band, marched to the residence of Addison Cogswell, to whom, more than to any other person, the success of the enterprise was dne, and escorted him to a hall where a banquet was served; after which Elias Andrews, chairman of the committee of arrange- ments, called successively upon Mr. Cogswell, Morris C. Fitch, Rev. Mr. Sanger, J. R. Pringle, of the Bos- ton Globe, and Aaron Low, Esq., who each responded in an appropriate speech. In the course of his re- marks, Mr. Cogswell signified his intention to present to the town a building for a public library. This gratifying announcement was received with much en- thusiasm.

It will be conceded that the persevering efforts of the late Leonard Mckenzie, Esq., president of the company, contributed more than those of any other one individual at the time, to the pushing forward of the building of the original road.

HOG ISLAND .-- This island is located in the bay, a short distance from the main land, and is said to have received its name from its fancied resemblance to a hog's back, as seen in the distance from certain points. It is now divided into three farms.

Portions of it have at varions times been in posses- sion of different persons. One of my ancestors, Rob- ert Day, who came from England in 1635, in the ship Hopewell, was the owner in 1664, of four and a half acres on this island. The statement in the Ipswich records is, that he owned a share and a half; and it appears from other entries in the same records, that hy an established rule a "share " contained three acres.

Philip Fowler is likewise recorded as the owner of shares in Hog Island, as well as on Castle Neck and Plum Island, in the same year, 1664.

Jacob Bennett, grandson of John Perkins, Ist, owned several acres here, with a house, in which he and his family lived, which his heirs, in 1704, sold to Captain Thomas Choate, who had long been a resi- dent of the island. This Bennett was a son of Henry, an ancestor of the late Captain Parker Burnham, whose mother's maiden-name was Hannah Bennett.

Matthew Whipple, son-in-law of William Cogs- well, grandson of John, first settler, was, at Mr. Cogs- well's decease, appointed guardian of his minor

children and administrator of his estate; and one charge upon the estate, nnder date of May 16, 1717, was for " dividing the Island with Mr. Choate." From this it may be reasonably inferred that William Cogs- well had been a part owner of Hog Island.

Captain Thomas Choate, it is generally understood, beeame finally the exclusive owner of the island; and from this eireumstance, it is said, he was called Governor Choate.

In 1886, a road was constructed from the mainland to Hog Island by Captain Lamont G. Burnham, for the proprietors, Messrs. Marshall, Choate, and him- self. The road across the marsh, about one-half mile long, from Low's to Dean's Island, was located and built, a few years previously, for his own use, by Rufus Choate, who also built a small ferry-boat, upon which he could drive a horse and light carriage, and, by the use of ropes and pulleys, could cross at any time of the tide. A substantial plank-road, thirteen hundred feet long and about twelve or fifteen feet wide, has been built to take the place of the ferry- boat. There are two bridges intersecting the plank- road, one of three hundred and eighty feet, the other of one hundred feet, left open underneath for the enrrent on each side of the great thatch-bank. There are also spaces left between the piles which form the foundation of the road, for the passage of hay-boats and floating iee. All the Inmber used about the bridge is hard pine, exeep.ing the piles, which are of hemlock. The bridge and repairs upon the marsh road, which had gone somewhat to decay, cost between six and seven thousand dollars.

Change of Name .- The proprietors of the three farms upon the island, Rufus Choate, Nehemiah Choate Marshall, and Lamont G. Burnham, in Octo- ber, 1887, changed the name to Choate Island, and requested the Selectmen to so record it upon the town books. The former inelegant name will, there- fore, become obsolete.

It is said that no less than eighty-two persons of the name of Choate have been born upon this island.

The three present proprietors of the island are kinsmen, Captain L. G. Burnham being a descendant of George Giddings, who was ancestor also of Mary (Giddings) Choate, wife of Captain William Choate, and great-grandmother of Rufus, now the resident owner of one of the three farms.

LAMONT GIDDINGS BURNHAM-Was born in Essex, August 5th, 1844, and is the son of Washing- ton and Mary (Giddings) Burnham, and a great- grandson of Benjamin Burnham, who was a soldier at the battle of Bunker Hill and served throughout the entire Revolutionary War, living to the age of ninety-two years. By two separate lines of ancestry, he deseended from John Tuttle, sometimes written Tuthill, who came to Ipswich, from London, in the ship Planter, in 1635, of whose daughters one was the wife of George Giddings, who eame in the same vessel, and another married Thomas Burnham,

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second of the three Burnham brothers, early immi- grants. Tuttle and Giddings became large land owners in Ipswich.

He received his education in the public schools in E-ex, the Putnam school at Newburyport, and a business school in Boston. He enlisted, at the age of eighteen, in Company E. Forty-eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, which joined General Banks' command in New Orleans, taking part in the battle before Port Hudson and at Donald- sonville. He was afterwards appointed Captain, First Brigade, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, on the staff of General I. S. Burrill, and later, on the staff of General Hobart Moore, and elected Captain of Troop D. First Battalion of Cavalry, still later.

In 1565, he established himself in the coal business in Boston. Commencing in a moderate way, his business so increased that he is now the owner of several iron and other steamers, one of which, of eight hundred and nineteen tons, was built at Essex, and became proprietor of several large coal establish - ments, the most extensive, covering two acres, with Imildings of storage capacity of eighty thousand tons.

He is President of the Boston Board of Trade, and fi Is many other prominent official positions in vari- ou- business companies and corporations.

In isso, he married Mrs. M. A. Wood. They have improved their summer residence in Essex, formerly in the possession of the Choate family, where Gov- ernor Robinson and wife were entertained by them, in 1886. In 1878, the farm adjoining the birth-place of Rufus Choate, on Hog Island, was purchased by him; and in Isso, a road and bridge from the main land to the Island, were constructed by him for the proprietors, Mesers, Marshall, Choate, and himself.

Capt. Burnham is a valued and esteemed citizen, liberal, publie-spirited and hospitable, whose success- ful carcer is the result, not only of his remarkable business capability and enterprise, but of strict in- tegrity and honorable dealing.

LONGEVITY .- The proportionate number of per- sons of advanced age, at different periods since the set- tlement of this place, has probably been as large as the average of that of other towns in the vicinity. Of 676 who died during one period of 43 years, 80 were upwards of 0 years old, and 20 were over 90. Of these Jeph Mexhall was over 96.

CENTENARIANS WHO WERE NATIVES OF THIS Prach. Mrs. dot ma Andrews, wh was born in " abruco, and whose maiden name was Burnham, djed in Gloucester January 20, 1817, at the age of more hundred and two years and three months. Her melhor del at the age of ninety-two, and a sister sas lvin at nloety four

Hju tog rell, a descendant in the sixth genera- thời from Jeho Voswel , first setiler, died in Essex a 1 de at the age of one hundred years. He was a

soldier of the Revolutionary War, and was with General Gates at the surrender of Burgoyne.

Andrew Burnham, a descendant in the fifth genera- tion, froni John, the eldest of the three Burnham boy brothers, who came from England in 1635, died in Essex in 1885, at the age of one hundred years and two months. It is said that during his long life, a large portion of which was passed in active business pursuits, he was never seriously ill. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He had ten children- nine by his first wife and one by his second. He was the father of George P. Burnham, Esq., of Melrose, and of Susan H., wife of Judge Benjamin Kingsbury, of Portland, Me. He was a merchant in Boston for many years, in business at one time on May's wharf, in old Federal Street, and subsequently in Green Street. He was at first engaged in the shipping busi- ness and importing of West India goods ; then in the wholesale tobacco and West India trade, in company with Jonathan Carlton, and later in the retail family grocery line. He was one of a family of thirteen children, of whom several lived to a very advanced age-one, a brother, to his eighty-seventh year, and a sister to her eighty-ninth year. His father lived to be seventy-nine, and his grandfather eighty-eight. His great-grandfather died at the early age of thirty years and five months, but his great-great-grandfather John, his first ancestor in this conntry, lived to be seventy-six. This ancestor was one of the first two deacons of the First Chebacco Church, of which Rev. John Wise was pastor. The centenarian was a mem- ber of the Methodist Church.

By his descent from Abigail Varney, who married his great-grandfather, Josiah Burnham, and who was the sister of Mary Varney, who became the first wife of Captain Thomas Choate and mother of all his ebildren. Andrew Burnham was a third cousin of David Choate, Ist, father of Rufus.

A CENTENARIAN WHO LIVED AND DIED HERE, BU'T WAS NOT A NATIVE .- Joseph Ereleth, who was born in Gloucester, about 1640, when about 34 years of age removed to Chebacco, where he spent the re- mainder of his life, dying here in December, 1745, at the age of one hundred and five years.

Hle was a son of Sylvester Eveleth, who immigrated to Boston from England, where he for some time carried on the trade of a baker; and who removed to Gloucester, where for some years he was a selectman. The name was frequently written Eveleigh, and is said to have been originally derived from an estate in England called Yeverleigh.

ALMOST A CENTENARIAN .- Widow Hannah Ayres, who had been a school-mistress, died here in 1776, at the age of nearly one hundred years.

A FORMER RESIDENT, NOT A NATIVE, ALMOST A CENTENARIAN .- Rev. Nehemiah Porter, born in the Hamlet (Hamilton), who preached here seventeen years and owned a house here, died at Ashfield, Mass., in 1820, in the one hundredth year of his age.

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SOME OF THE NONOGENARIANS .- Anne Choate, widow of John, first settler, was ninety years old, at her death in 1729.

Ned Choate, a negro, a member of the church, died in the year 1800 at the age of ninety. He had been employed upon the Choate farm on Hog Island, and early in life may have been a slave.

Thomas Giddings, who died in 1802, at the age of ninety-four, walked nine miles in one day within a year of his death.

A widow Smith died in 1816, at the age of ninety- seven years and three months.

Daniel Choate died in 1820 at ninety-one.

Mrs. Deborah Burnham, widow of Wesley Burn- ham, 1st, a native of this place, a daughter of Deacon Zechariah Story, died here in 1821, at the age of ninety-eight. She was of the same lineage as that of Judge Story. She lived in the ancient house long occupied by Aaron Story, son of Ephraim, who was also of the same lineage. This house is the first on the left, after turning to the right from Western Avenue into the old road around the Falls village.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 55

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