History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 59

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 59

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THE STORY FAMILY .- From all that I have discoy- ' ered, by such records as I could obtain access to, I beheve that all the families of the name of Story in Lesex descended from William Story, who came, in 1637. trom Norwich, England, the same place from w luch ca'ne the first Burnhams.

Some have supposed that a portion of the Story residents of this place descended from Andrew Story, the early immigrant, who served in the Pequot War. 16% I think, is a mistake. I do not find any proof that he live I here for any length of time, if at all, after the love of his service in that conflict. I can til no record of his having had a family here, nor of His having been married. It is said that he went to I unertient, and never returned. Though he had a The Fradit for his military service, I have seen no re el thiet he took up or improvea any land here-

Wil an story & thought by some to have been a ler of the first Andrew mentioned. Although theta bột napcháMe I have not found any positive roh to that ofet in any orhy record. He came to this entry allon two years after the arrival of

" Withan - is the record s clear that he mar-

ried Sarah Foster, daughter of Reginald Foster, who came to Ipswich in 1638, one year after he himself had arrived. He was the first ancestor, in this coun- try, of the distinguished Judge Story. Reginald Fos- ter was a lineal ancestor of Miriam Foster, mother of Rufus and David Choate.

William Story was an extensive land-owner in Chebacco. He bought of Henry Archer, of Ipswich, a farm of ninety acres "beyond Chebacco Falls." The deed of conveyance was signed by said Archer and his wife, Elizabeth, May 10, 1649. This prob- ably included what is now known as the farm of the late Captain David Low. He also owned land else- where in this place, bounded in part by Belcher's Lane, embracing the premises of the late Adoniram Story, and extending to the river.

He had three sons, Andrew, Seth and William, who are mentioned in his will; in which it is said that the price for which William sold to Andrew one-half of Perley's meadow, was a just price.

He is believed by some of his descendants to have built the first saw-mill in Chebaeco, in 1656, which is said to have been the first erected anywhere within the town of Ipswich. Two circumstances render this probable : he was by trade a carpenter, and he had bought the farm " beyond the Falls " seven years before that date.

ADDISON COGSWELL, a lineal descendant in the 8th generation from John Cogswell, the first permanent settler of Essex, is a son of William and Lucy (Choate) Cogswell, was born November 11, 1815, in Essex, Mass., and married Miss Elvira Dike, of Montague, Mass., January 6, 1886.

He is by occupation a farmer, and resides in Essex. Ilis educational opportunities were limited to about twelve weeks annually in a district school, in which reading, writing, arithmetic and a partial initiation in grammar and natural philosophy, constituted the enr- riculum.

He has a taste for reading, with a preference for the solid rather than for the lighter kinds, and is a man of much and varied information, being specially well posted upon subjects of public interest.

Prompted by the spirit of business enterprise and a desire to promote the prosperity and welfare of the town and its people, he was led to associate himself with others like-minded in building an extensive saw and planing-mill,-which, so far, has not proved as successful as was desired. Mr. Moses Knowlton, a substantial and reliable citizen, joined with him in building an extensive shoe-factory, at great cost and risk, for the purpose of introducing the shoe-business into the town. This has met with such a measure of success as abundantly compensates for the risk and anxiety incurred in its introduction.

His energy and perseverance have since been di- rected through another channel, in part auxiliary to the enterprise last-mentioned, but also of much wider scope in the public benefit conferred. Through his

addison Toogswell

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ESSEX.

personal exertions and the investment of his capital, in association with others who joined earnestly in the movement, the track of the Essex Branch Railroad, which for fifteen years has been such att advantage to the town as a whole, has been extended to the village on the south side of the river, its terminus being near the shoe-factory,-thus affording additional accommo- dation to the people residing in that locality and be- yond it.

One trait in Mr. Cogswell's character may have been inherited from an ancestress (Mrs. Thomas Varney), who, in 1679, in common with others, desired the pre- sence and privileges of a place of public worship in this parish or precinct. But their own church in Ips- wich and the Great Court at Boston forbade them to do so preposterous a thing as to rear a meeting-house. They, however, having the fear of God, but not of Ipswich and the Great Court, before their eyes, did deliberately and with pertinacious audacity raise the First Church in Essex. This bonored ancestress was arrested, and charged with, and tried for, contempt of great and mighty powers. She was doomed to ac- knowledge this, her great sin. Having secured the church, and there being no occasion for another, she very humbly promised to " doe soe no more."

This possibly inherited characteristic has manifested itself in his steadfast adhesion to whatever he believes to be right and just, in all matters of either public or private concern, wherein anything like principle seems to him to be involved, whatever may be the opinions or conclusions of others.

He is a gentleman of spotless integrity and personal honor, who has the respect aud confidence of the en- tire community, and to whom may be truthfully ap- plied the proverbial declaration that his word is as good as his bond.

His training and reading, together with his own re- flections, have led to convictions upon theological subjects, which are decidedly of the Calvinistic type. The lasting influence of early training, in the older mode, and perhaps also the force of heredity, may be seen, on reading the following, which is one of Mr. Cogswell's criticisms :

"OUR MOTTOES.

"One of our mottoes, 'Simply to Thy Cross I Cling,' is n simple, con. cise and comprehensive sentence, representing one of our oldest and best known hymns. Adopting the motto is adopting tho hymn. Its words and its imageries are the forms which Christian thought has taken. It ie n Christian classic. It is founded on the Rock of Ages, and will en_ dure.

" The motto is the hymn condensed ; the amplification of the motto is in the hymn. It is the prayer of a suppliant ; leprous sin has made him an outcast from his Father's honse and is consuming his life ;- to remain as he is, is death. To effect his own cure, he ie helpless. To purchase healing, his zeal and tears are valueless. He despairs of help, save from One. He sees above him the Cross, and on it One who points him to the Rock on which he may rest, to the Cleft in which he may hide from the Avenger, to the blood which will cleanse him, and to the robe which will cluthe him for, and to the Daysman who will present him in, his Father's presence ; and to the Cross he clings with all the energy that a drend of death and n hope of life can awaken.

"It is an offective educator. Pliny relates that 'the Christians were accustomed to meet on a stated day, and to repent among themselves a

hymn to Christ, as to a God.' All who accept and repeat this, will re- ceive the appellation of Christian, and will be known to address Christ as God. It will carry an adequate knowledge of Ilim wherever it goes. He is its Alpha and Omega. Its doctrines are the mobl in which Christ - ian character is formed, and it will form a character which will be re- coguized as a likeness of Him.

"In juxtaposition to this, we have another, 'Nearer my God to Thee.' This is also a concise sentence, representing another hymn-one of a more modern date. It is a candidate for, and is receiving much favor. It is a religious, not a Christian hymn. To adopt this motto is to adopt its related hymn. It is the prayer of an aspirant. He is not an outenst. Ile needs no Cleft to hide him from the Avenger. He has no leprous disqualifications requiring costly bloud. It is not death to remain as he is,-he needs no mediator ; he is in favor with God, and is raising hinself to a closer fellowship, but is overweighted with some goodly but over- loved object, which 'e'eo though it be a cross' to do so, he lays aside ; and it becomes a stepping-stone, on which he raises himself to that de- sired nearness. It is full of oegations. Hlad the early Christians re- peated this, and only this, Pliny, with all his acunien, would not have discovered that they addressed Christ as God, and it wouldl bave been a misnomer to have given them the appellation of Christian. It does not extend a knowledge of Ilim. It does not notice Hlin, either expressly or impliedly, or even emblematically. The lithographer has shown his skill in setting forth the spirit of each hymn, by giving the emblem of the Cross on the one, and withholding it from the other. Its doctrines will more deeply mould every feature of a self-righteons character, and self-identification will be more firmly assured. Used in public worship, it passes by liim, who alone can present, and from whom alone the Fa - ther will receive, our service-the only daysman allowed between God and us. 'Ye would see Jesus, louk not for Him here-we know not wbere it has laid Him.'

" Both mottoes incite the aspiration of ocarness to God, but here their likeness ends ; they seek it io different ways. The first points to, and is inseparably associated with, the Living Way ; the other points to, and is inseparably associated with, another way. Que isdrawn heaveoward hy Ilim who is lifted np. The otbor, self-reliantly, raisee himself thither- ward. The one enters by the Door ; the other climbs up another way. In one, the name of Jesus is ahove every oame, and definitives and pro- nominals relating to llim find a ready welcome. It 18 The or Thy Cross. In the other, there is oo beauty in Him that he should be desired, and no room for such relatives. It is a cross. Paul exulted joyfully in the Cross, as the most glorious of ways. The other reluctantly accepts the most unwelcome of ways, 'e'en a cross.'

" Ilere is an anomaly :- the devout accept the first, as the way, and the only way, that God hath appointed, and yet are receiving and teach- ing another way-one that God hath nut cast up. Ou hearing the aspi- ration, 'Nearer my God to Thee,' they are moved by its perfect accord with their own, and with minds filled with the vivid imageties of the first, pointing to llim who is the Way, we are led in spirit by one, and in word by the other ;- the first is the cause, the other is the occasion, of the benefit received.

" We sing it heartily and with great satisfaction, and feel that we have made one of our most acceptablo approaches to God,-shall we approach a little nearer, and ask Him, who alone can, to present, for us, this our soug, in which we have studiously ignored Him? Does Ile, who hangs on the Cross, notice if the suppliant, who is clinging to its foot, look wistfully on any other cross ?

" We sing with the spirit, and do well, -let us sing with tho under- standing, which is still better. The suppliant, saved, will ascribe the whitenese of his robe to blood found in the Cross. The aspirant, saved, will owe the brightness of his array to his having found and passed through the fountain opened in the Cross.

" Can this good mnotto be dissociated from a false way ? Is it mislend- ing ? Are all provided with kuowledge to supply its defects ? Can we follow this, and yet be loyal to the first? Cun mottoes so diverse be con- gruous in the same temple ? Or songs so diverse be appropriate to offer on the same altar? If one offers sacred, does not the other offer strange, fire ? With the pointers in our school-rooms guiding different ways, will it be a surprise, if some of us are found lisping in the speech of Ashdod ?" 1

The writer of the foregoing criticism is likewise the author of a "Lay Sermon," upon the topic of " Christ- ian Perfection," the doctrine of which is in general

1 Nehemiah xiii. 24.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

accord with the sentiments of the preceding article, and which has been printed and issued in pamphlet forni.

DESCRIPTION OF CONOMO POINT .- This attractive summer-resort was thus graphically and facetiously described by Mr. Cogswell, in a paper read at a pub- he entertainment given on the occasion of the en- largement of the facilities of a manufacturing enter- prise of the town :

" Parties have built and are occupy ing a cluster of cottages on a plex- «sut plateau on the south bank of the Essex River, in the town of Essex. On the opposite side of the river ( ross' Island rises to the height of some ou hundred feet-on this shore is another cluster of cottages. The river, in its passage between these villuges, is compressed within narrow limits by the rocky and jagged bauks, and given a wild and rapid current, whh h is broken into rddies and whirlpools of cavernous and unknown depths, and is the lit abode of mermaids and merinen, of elves and sprites, atul all singular genii who delight in weird abodey. Here they must have held high carnival long before its mysteries were known to the lately ar-

"On dark evenings. when the cottages on each side are lighted, and other lights, whether carried by jack or sprites or boatmen, are flitting arries the river, the whole scene becomes too mysterious to be visited by young people who have precocions imaginations, unless They are attended by some who are mutore in judgment and imagination."

MISCELLANEOUS .- The winter of 1686 was so in- tensely cold that several cattle in this place were frozen to death.

Houses in this place were not painted, either out- side or within, until a hundred years after the first settlement in 1634.

A remarkable instance of musical precocity occurred in this town in 1859, when a child of scarcely three years of age ( Marth S. P. Story, now the wife of Dr. Fancher, | of Middletown, N. Y.) commenced playing, without tuition, upon a melodeon, producing, not only the air of a tune, but its accompaniment, in correct time. She played before public audiences in several towns of the county, and in Boston. The occurrence was phenomenal, and has never been explained.

Mrs. Mary H. Andrews, an accomplished and suc- cessful teacher, was the first lady in the town, if not the first in the county, chosen Superintendent of S hools or a member of the school committee.

Reser Brass Band. This organization of twenty performers has won encomiums from the general pub- he and the favorable judgment of those claiming to be connoisseurs and critics in music.

Triplets, Israel Andrews and his sister, Mrs. Al- mura Holmes, residents of Essex, and their sister, Mrs. Susan Mears, a resident of Manchester, are the otily triplets ever born in Essex, so far as is now known. The tilly-fifth anniversary of their birthday Was commemorated by a social gathering at the house ot Mr Andrew , in this town, in the autumn of 1887.

RITA MONVE: How the tabledu has changed mir, on flows gning May, in the memorable year 1511. I came here terreside, and sat in my little study in the Southe ast chamber of the residence of the fate Capt in Meses Andrews, on Western Avenue; though the golden summer the birds came and str Of the Fra nelas that enhowered the window ; and

during that romantic Presidential campaign, when the rival banners of Harrison and Van Buren waved in the breeze, the warbling of the robins and bobolinks would occasionally intermingle with the voice of my neighbor across the way, as he hailed the occupant of some passing vehicle, and energetically discussed with him the uppermost topics. I hear again, in fancy, the words "tariff," "bank," "Mr. Clay," "Mr. Calhoun." And how the sign on the gate, " I forbid all persons passing over my land," seemed to frown on me, until the genial proprietor signified that I might pass over it whenever I pleased so to do. lle passed over it, for the last time, a long, long while ago.

The mystic shuttle of Time can weave no veil that will hide from my retrospective vision that radiant dawn of early manhood. The faces of those I knew, -the dear old friends who vanished year by year, as one after another they stepped into the silent, phan- tom procession that never halts in its march,-I seem to see them again beaming upon me, as if in placid benediction from some blessed region. And so now 1 look with yearning gaze through the vista of the intervening years at those early scenes, like one who from a winding and sometimes rugged road has glimpses of a charming landscape in a peaceful valley.

CHAPTER XCVIII.

HAMILTON.

BY DANIEL E. SAFFORD.

HAMILTON is a pleasant farming town situated about twenty-two miles north of Boston, in the east- ern part of Essex County. It is near enough to the ocean to hear the roar of the surf, while it is no- where touched by its waters. The landscape com- bines the elements of diversified and attractive scen- ery-the hill and valley, the meadow and stream, the forest and lake. The old Eastern stage road winds through the centre of the town. This road, long called the Bay road, because leading to Boston, was laid out in 1641, through the farm of Matthew and John Whipple, who were large land-owners in the Hamlet. The principal village lics along this street. The town has for neighbors Ipswich on the north, Essex on the east, Manchester and Wenham on the south and southwest, and Topsfield on the west. The Ipswich River forms in part the northwestern boundary line on Topsfiekl, and the northeastern on Ipswich. The Miles River rises in Wenham Lake, enters Hamilton on the southern boundary, and run- ning northeasterly, crosses the line into Ipswich, and empties its shallow and sluggish waters into Ipswich River. The highest elevation is Brown's Hill, situa- ted in the southeastern part of the town. The other

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HAMILTON.

prominent hills are the Sagamore, at the northeast, and Vineyard, in the west. A recent visitor to the town describes Brown's Hill as " A beautiful, round- ed eminence, from which may be seen the windings of Miles River, and the well-shaded village of Hamil- ton on the north; the Chebacco Pond and the dense forests of Essex and Manchester, and the ocean on the east; the spires of Marblehead on the south; and a broad sweep of land, with the State Insane Asylum, on the west. This hill and the neighboring ponds were favorite resorts of the red men." A

charming feature of the scenery is formed by a clus- ter of ponds in the southeastern corner of the town. Chebacco Pond, a large sheet of water, lying partly in Essex, and Beck's Pond, Round Pond and Gra- velly Pond, which are wholly within the limits of Hamilton. The area of the town is nine thousand four hundred and forty acres, of which three hun- dred and fifty-five are under water. Its greatest length from east to west is five and one-half miles, and its mean length three and three-quarters; its greatest breadth from north to south is three and three- eighths miles, and the mean breadth three miles. The soil is generally loamy and gravelly. In the southwestern corner lies an extensive tract of swamp land, called Wenham Swamp.

Hamilton was originally included in the ancient town of Ipswich and was known as the Hamlet; it does not appear when the earliest settlement was made, but land within its limits was granted to Matthew Whipple in 1638, and, as before mentioned, the old stage road was laid out through his and his brother's land in 1641, and his house was sold, July 10, 1647, to John Annable, tailor. It was incorpora- ted as a separate municipality in 1793. This division was accomplished after several attempts and long de- lays.

The divisionists of that day, however, had a most persistent and able leader in Rev. Dr. Cutler, the sec- ond pastor of the Hamlet Church, who in this achievement displayed the skill which had distin- guished him in a larger enterprise in 1787, in his ne- gotiations with the Continental Congress, which is referred to later in this history. The name of Hamil- ton was selected by Dr. Cutler, who was a stanch Federalist, in honor of the statesman whose policy he so much admired. Fifty years later, on the incor- poration of a new town, the representative of Hamil- ton then in the Legislature was approached by agents of the new town, which coveted the honored name, to negotiate for purchasing it; the proposals were promptly declined. But long before this com- plete separation from Ipswich, a movement was made in 1712, by the residents of the Hamlet, so called, to be set off as a separate parish. The citizens and estates of the Hamlet were then a part of the terri- torial First Parish of Ipswich, and taxable for the sup- port of the ministry there, of which the Revs. John Rogers (2d) and Jabez Fitch were the incumbents.

The following petition was prepared and presented to the town :

" To the Inhabitants of Ipswich now Assembled. May 1, 1712. The bumble petition of us whose namee are hereunto subscribed humbly showetli, That wberens by God's providence our habitations are so farr Distant from ye puldyk Worship of God in said Towne yt above fourty families, tho with Great Difficulty repair to Wenham to Worship God. There where wee have been att Great Charge to Build, but our Numbers being greatly Encreased The Roome will not Containe us without some Inlargement & ye burden of Conveying our ffamilies to said house so In- tolerable yt we cannot rest quiet, but if possible we might be silent were not ye circumstances of our condition so hard to bear. yrfore after twice seven years past wee Due humbly renew or petition to you who are our ffathers, yt you would consider ye circumstances of our condition, and find out some way for us to have ye word of God preached among us, or freely sett us off to be a precinct by ourselves, & free us frodi paying to ve ministry with you, yt so we may with Greater comfort, & more gen- erally attend ye publick worshipp of God in ye midst of or Hanlett yt God may be glorified & or Souls edifyed, so hoping you will graut us n'r request Wee remaine yore humble petitioners, viz :

" Matthew Whipple, sen.

Richd Walker

Jno: Whipple, jun'r

Sam'll Browne

Matt : Whipple, jr Matt : Whipple, 4th

Isaac Ringe Juo Loverill

Willianı Moulton

Nicholas Williams

James Whipple

Daniel Killim, sen.

Jona Whipple

Thomas Browne

Jno Deane

Johu Gillbert

Daniel Deane

William Quarles.

Nath'I Deane

Richard Dodge

Edmund Pottar

Moses Welch

Nath'l Dike

Moses Stevens

James Browne

Richard Roberds

Jacob Browne

John Perkins

Parker Dodge

James Poland

Jno Walker

Willm Maxul

Jno Whipple

Jon Piper

Jno : Annable

Natb' Pottar

Mattw Annable

Jno : Hubbard

Joo Annable, Ju'r

Abra. Tilton

Jno Rockwell

Bernard Thorne

Matt Whipple, 3d

Jolin Thorne

Antho Dike

Timo. Knowlton

Christo'r Bedlock

Isaac Giddings

Samuel Poland

Benj. & Sauli Knowlton

Daniel Gilbert

Joo & Thos Knowlton

Thomas Durgy

John Hooker

Samuel Tilton

Matthew Aunable

James ffrow ?

Jno Davis jr.

Charles Tuttle

Wm Davison

Nathi'll Browne

Josepli Browne."

This petition was granted by the inhabitants of Ipswich at a legal meeting held May 22, 1712, upon the recommendation of a committee which had been chosen to treat with their neighbors of the Hamlet. This committee say that they consider the request reasonable, if their brethren of the Hamlet consider that they are able to go through so expensive an undertaking, when the public burdens lay so heavy upon them, and they recommend that the citizens of the Hamlet be freed from all further charges for the support of the present ministers of Ipswich, when they shall have erected a meeting-house and called an orthodox minister to preach the Gospel to them ; the committee, however, somewhat plaintively present the consideration that the old parish has two minis- ters to support, and that two have been maintained from the foundation of the town, and they express the hope "that these will continue to be to the end of

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the world, and if it should ever be otherwise it will be a shameful degeneracy from the piety of our ances- tors." U'pon this recommendation it was voted to grant the request for a separate precinet or parish. On the 21st day of October following, a meeting of the inhabitants of Ipswich belonging to the Hamlet was hehl at the house of Matthew Whipple, Quarto; Cornet Whipple was chosen moderator, and it was voted that a "meeting-house be built and finished at or before the next November come twelve months," and a committee consisting of Cornet Whipple, Car- penter Knowlton, Mr. Nathaniel Brown, Mr. Isaac Ringe, Mr. John Whipple, Sergt. Gilbert, Mr. Thomas Brown, Mr. Samuel Poland and Mr. Matthew Whip- ple, tailor, were chosen for the carrying out said work and to take an account of every man's labor. At a session of the Great and General Court or Assembly of her Majesty's Provinces of the Massa- chusetts Bay in New England, hell at Boston, Octo- ber 14, 1713, upon the reading of the petition of Capt. Matthew Whipple and others of the Hamlet, it was ordered that according to a vote of the town of Ipswich they be made and allowed to be a distinct and separate precinct to be established as follows, namely : "all the Inhabitants of the Hamlet, so | house, and shall suffer the penalty as such offender calle 1, with all the inhabitants and lands lying within the compass of these farms, vs. Annable farm and Jacob's farm, and Abbott farm, Capt. Whipple's farm, the farm of Joseph Whipple, dec'd; Lovering's farm, from thence, bounding on Col. Saltonstall's farm exclusively, and all the farms lying upon Wen- ham bounds, and all the land and Inhabitants lying in Chebacco, that are not enclosed in Chebacco pre- cinct."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 59

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