History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 60

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 60

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Subsequently, on December 3, 1715, upon the peti- tion of Matthew Whipple, John Whipple and others, to the fieneral Court, the Saltonstall farm and other neighboring inhabitants, who had so petitioned, were set off to the new precinct.

In 1719. a dispute having arisen between the Ham . let and Chebacco Parish in regard to Knight's farm, and Knowlton and Buckman farms, the matter in dispute was referred to Hon. Addington Davenport, Samuel Sewell and John Clark, Esqs., who reported that it was their opinion that Thomas Knowlton and Jeremiah Buckman should continue to the Hamlet, as they have already been set off with their friends of Knight's farm by the General Court in the year 1718, and be freed from any further charge at Chebacco, each of the parties to bear their own charges. This report was confirmed in council, July 22, 1720.

The meeting-house was built according to the vote of Oito ef 21, 1712. on the site of the present house. Its dimensions were fifty teet in length, thirty-eight an wilth and twenty stud; the windows were small, with di mond shaped panes; the rafters were not .over | with plaster, so that the swallows, in course of the literally built their nests among them, and hey ma lively twitter during divine service. This

house stood until 1762, when it was taken down to give place to its suceessor ; this was built mainly by contributions of the proprietors, varying from the largest, that of Matthew Whipple, Sr., of £26 4s. 7d., to that made by John Stockwell, of 1s. 3d. Joseph Whipple, joiner, gave £8 in making the pulpit.

Rev. Mr. Gerrish, minister of Wenham, con- tributed five pounds. The rights to build pews were assigned by a committee of the parish, and each per- son to whom such assignment was made was to build his own pew. These rights were granted under the restriction that no owner of a pew should sell withont leave of a majority of the proprietors. There were separate seats for men and women below aud separate galleries. Seaters were chosen annually at the parish meeting, who were to assign seats for the year, and none were permitted to intrude into other seats. In 1730, probably in consequence of some laxity in this respect, it was voted "That if any person belonging to the precinct shall at any time presume or make it a practice to sit in time of worship in the meeting- house, in any other seat than he or they shall be duly directed by proper seaters, chosen for such purpose, they shall be proceeded with as disorderly in God's or offenders." In 1713 Rev. Samuel Wigglesworth was unanimously invited to be the minister of the parish, and in May, 1714, he was authorized to build a house on the land then in possession of John Walk- er, and it was voted to defend Mr. Wigglesworth's title, if the person who was the heir to the land should molest him, and to make good to him any damage he should sustain. This lot of land was ad- joining the meeting-house, and this and the house built by Mr. Wigglesworth is undoubtedly that after- wards owned by Rev. Dr. Cutler and Rev. Mr. Felt, and now, by Mrs. Francis Dane. In 1720 seven acres lying on the main road southerly of Mr. Wiggles- worth's house-lot were bought for a parsonage lot ; this was retained until 1839, when it was divided into house-lots and sold, excepting that upon which the present parsonage stands. Mr. Wigglesworth's salary was fixed at sixty pounds for the first year, sixty-five pounds for the second and seventy pounds for the third ; the salary was to be paid two-thirds money and one-third grain. He was also to receive twenty cords of wood and one hundred pounds towards building his house. In 1741 the custom was adopted of designating at the annual meetings eight parish - ioners, who shouldl furnish the twenty cords of wood, vach providing two and a half cords. The parish also took charge of schools, and in 1730 voted to build a school-house and set it up in the centre of the par- ish as near as may be, and that a school for writing and reading be kept in the centre of the parish, as long as the proportion of the one hundred pounds or one hundred and twelve pounds raised by the town, for the use of schools which belong to the parish, will maintain it. On the 20th of October of that year it

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was voted that Mr. Joseph Secomb keep a school for four months, and Captain Matthew Whipple, Mr. Thomas Brown and Deacon Matthew Whipple were chosen the first school committee and authorized to collect the school money and pay the first teacher. This seems to be the beginning of public schools in the Hamlet. In 1748 the parish voted to raise, by taxation, fifty pounds, old tenor, and to choose a com- mittee " to agree with a teacher to keep school for as long a time as to speud fifty pounds, old tenor." In the same year provision was made for a school in the north part of the Hamlet. Nine years later an appro- priation was made for a school in the west part, by a vote November 9, 1757, "That the west part of the Hamlet begin to keep a school November 21, 1757, and keep it six weeks, and that they have their pro- portional part of the money for said school." Cap- tain John Whipple (3d), Adam Brown and Joseph Bolles were chosen a committee to regulate schools, and it was voted that the scholars find wood and pay the schoolmaster's board. At this period in the his- tory of the Hamlet schools, it was usually provided that each scholar should furnish one foot of wood within a reasonable time from the beginning of the school or be debarred from its privileges.

The subject of building a new meeting-house be- gan to be agitated in 1761, and the following year the new house was built. It was sixty feet in length, forty-four feet in width, and twenty-six feet stud, and Dr. Cutler says, in his sermon referred to hereafter, " It has been admired for its just proportions and pleas- ing appearance." The house, with the exception of the pews, was finished by the parish. A committee was chosen to value the pew room, and determine the size of the pews; these were to be built by the pur- chasers of sites, and to be of one fashion. These rights to build were sold at " publick vendue " Octo- ber 28, 1763, Deacon John Patch being “vendue master." Until 1801 there were two long rows of seats on the right and left sides of the aisle in front of the pulpit; after that this space was taken up by the square pews. This house stood with the side fronting the street, the front door opening directly into the house ; there were porches on the northier- ly and southerly ends, the tower and steeple being on the southerly end. The galleries were on the front side and on each end. In 1764 provision was made for seating the choir, by a vote that " any young men, that are good singers, sett in the men's sixth seat be- low, during the Parish pleasure." The pulpit was high, and overhung by the sounding-board; in front was the deacon's seat, occupied by Deacons Nathan- iel Whipple and John Patch. Deacon Patch sat at the door, and Deacon Whipple at the farther end, wearing a full-bottomed wig. Deacon Patch used to interline the hymn, and Deacon Whipple set the hymn or psalm. No provision was made for heating the house until 1824, when box stoves were set up. The pews were square, with seats on the side, hung

on hinges, so that they could be turned up during prayer, and at the close would come down with a lively clatter. Chairs were placed in the centre of the pews for the elderly occupants, and considerable sensation was created by one good lady, who con- sulted her comfort so much as to take a rocking-chair into her pew.

The mode of lighting for evening meetings, which were occasionally held, according to the usual notifi- cation at " early candle light," was by candles, which members of the congregation would bring and set up in tin sconces hung in the pews.

The year 1768 was memorable in the annals of the Hamlet for the death of its pastor, Rev. Samuel Wig- glesworth. He began his ministry with the organi- zation of the church, in 1714, and continued in his office fifty-four years; he was able to discharge his duties as preacher and pastor nearly to the close of his life. He was the son of Rev. Michael Wiggles- worth, author of the somewhat noted poem, "The Day of Doom," and was born in Malden February 4, 1688. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1707. He first studied medicine, and came to the Hamlet in March, 1710, to practice that profession, and re- mained until December 29th of that year, when he returned to his native place, took a school and began the study of divinity. In 1714 he returned to the Hamlet, prepared for his new profession and, after preaching some months, was ordained over the newly organized Third Church of Ipswich, in the Hamlet, October 27, 1714. That he was diligent and faithful in his duties may be inferred from his long pastorate. He was somewhat afflicted by bodily infirmity, so that at times he needed assistance in his work, and as early as 1724 the parish voted to pay whoever should preach for him one pound for every day's preaching ; but still it was said of him that he preached long enough to wear out one meeting-house and have an- other built for him.

Ilis successor, Rev. Dr. Cutler, in his century discourse, preached October 27, 1814, on the one hundredth anniversary of the church, says of him : " That he was possessed of very respectable talents- in his sentiments Calvinistical-in the strain of his preaching, evangelical, instructive and practical. Sol- emn and unaffected in his manner, he commanded attention and supported the character of an able and sound divine, amiable and exemplary-respected and beloved, he filled up a long, peaceable and useful ministry."

In his private intercourse he was accessible and kind in manner, and instructive in conversation. In personal appearance he was small in stature, of light complexion and alert in his movements. His voice was clear, though not strong, but he spoke with such carnestness as to command attention. His intellect- ual ability was above the average standard. He was reputed to be especially well versed in ecclesiastica] matters, and, in consequence, his assistance and

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counsel were often sought by other churches in the settlement of their difficulties; and he was also prompt in the painful duty of discipline in his own. During his ministry very large additions were made to hl- church, particularly after the great earthquake in 1727, which occurred on Sunday evening, October 27th. The next Wednesday was observed as a day of bumiliation and prayer, and an appropriate ser- mon was preached by Mr. Wigglesworth, which, at the request of his people, was published. Parish. He was then a young man, twenty-seven years of age, wearing a brown wig over his shorn head, in conformity to the clerical fashion of the day. He was a graduate of Yale College, of the class of 1765, and was a native of Killingly, in Connecticut. Ilis father was a farmer, and he had himself worked on the farm, had been engaged in business, and had studied and practiced law; he had, however, for some years looked toward the ministry as possibly his life-work, and having married the daughter of During the year following about one hundred were added to the church. In 1744 an earthquake took place on Sabbath afternoon during service ; the audi- ence were greatly alarmed ; Mr. Wigglesworth en- deavored to calm them, and remarked, "There can be no better place for us to die in than the house of Rev. Mr. Balch of Dedham, he commenced his theo- logical studies with him in 1769. He was ordained September 11, 1771. Mr. Balch preached the ordina- tion sermon. Mr. Cutler then began that affectionate and able ministry to the material, intellectual and spiritual wants of his people which continued for God." Several of his discourses were published, -in | fifty-two years, and ended only at his death. The 1733 an election sermon preached before the Legis. lature on the necessity of a general reform in morals and piety ; in 1751 a discourse before the convention

parish voted him £ 133, 68. 8d. as settlement. and for salary, £ 85, and the use of the parsonage. He pur- chased the house owned by his predecessor, which he of Congregational ministers of Massachusetts ; in 1755 | enlarged and greatly improved, leaving it at his two sermons to bis parishioners during the French and Indian War; in 1760 the Dudleian lecture. decease, in external appearance, substantially as it is at present. In 1772, the parish voted "to sing Dr. Watts' psalms for the future."

Ile showed himself ready to keep pace with the march of improvement by being one of the first to purchase a chaise ; this was in 1753.

It is an interesting item in the history of the parish, as illustrating the great depreciation of the currency He was married, June 30, 1715, to Mary, daughter , in the latter years of the Revolutionary War, that of John Brintnal, of Winnissimmet (now Chelsea) ; she died June 6, 1723. Their children were Mary, Michael, Martha and Phebe. March 12, 1730, he married Martha, daughter of Rev. Mr. Brown, of Reading; she survived him, and died at Newbury- port, 1784, nged 89. Their children were Sarah, Phebe, Samnel, Katharine, Elizabeth, Edward, John, Abigail and William. Of his thirteen children, four sons and four daughters survived him. He died September 3, 176% ; on the 6th the parish voted to bear the charge of his burial, to build a brick grave, to give eight pounds to Madame Wigglesworth, and to provide woven gold rings, six for the bearers and one for Rev. Mr. Hopkins, who was then preaching for them, and at a parish meeting held November 14, 1780, a com- mittee of five were chosen, "To calculate the amount of £ 85, which is the nominal sum of Mr. Cutler's salary, agreeable to ye first stipulated price of articles in this State in present current money." At an adjournment of this meeting held Novem- her 28, the calculation having probably been made in the mean time, the sum of eight thon- sand pounds in current money was voted for his salary for that year ; this vote was how- ever reconsidered, and it was voted to raise one hun- dred pounds in silver for that purpose ; that probably being estimated as equivalent to the amount first voted. In March 1781, it was voted that five pecks eighteen pair- of men's white gloves, presumably for ' of corn per month be paid to Benjamin Ayers, for the attending ministers. Deacons Patch and Whip- ple and John Hubbard were chosen a committee to have charge of the funeral. He was buried in the cemetery opposite the meeting-house. The inscrip- tion on his monument is : ringing the bell, and that the herbage of the burial place be let out for two bushels, three quarts and one pint of corn, it being, probably, too intricate a prob- lem to determine these values in currency. The scarcity of West India molasses, occasioned by the "In metnory of tho w portable nad beleved minister of ('hrlet, TIL REY SAMI EL WIGGLESWORTH, war, stimulated the ingenuity of some persons in the Hamlet to provide as a substitute the juice of corn- stalks, expressed from them after being ground in a mill, and then boiled down, and in 1778, a load of this was carried from the Hamlet to a Salem distillery, where it yielded the most satisfactory result in spirits.

Pastr if the 9 har is in Ipswich, who departed than life Sept. 84, 1768, -the par f los age, and the Anth yeur of his ministry. 'And 0 , 1 mlt. t | |le, Fear not, for the Lord will not forsake his [ { chest na 'Ssake, Italy fear the lord and serve him in truth with all ) ar be art.' '

After the death of Mr. Wigglesworth, Revs. Messrs. Hopkins, Brigham and Searl, successively de lined the rivitation of the parish to settle with then & the ministry. In May 1771, Mr. Manasseh Calls accepted a call to the ministry in this

The years 1773 and 1775, were noticeable in the annals of the parish for unusual sickness and mor- tality. The average mortality in the Hamlet for the twenty-one years preceding the incorporation of the town was twelve. In the year 1773, the deaths num- bered twenty-nine, and in 1775, twenty-six. The

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prevalent diseases were a malignant fever, afterwards known as typhus fever, and a disease which was called canker fever. In 1777, small-pox prevailed to an alarming extent ; of the twenty-three deaths in that year, five were from that disease. A pest house was located in the eastern part of the parish, and a committee reported, June 30, 1777, that there were sixty-one cases. The diseases continued into the next year, and persons came from other iowns to be inoculated.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, the people were so much straitened in their means that Dr. Cutler's salary was raised with difficulty, and his thoughts were turned to the West, as affording better prospects for his future, in providing support for his family. In 1786 several of the officers of the late army organized a company in Boston, called the Ohio Company, for the purchase of territory northwest of the Ohio river, for locating a permanent settlement.

This land was to be purchased with the government paper, with which the army had been paid off, and which had so depreciated in value that it was scarcely available for anything else than purchasing of the government its land. Dr. Cutler, through the influ- ence of Major Winthrop Sargent, became a member of the company and was selected as its agent to un- dertake the delicate and difficult duty of negotiating with the Continental Congress for the purchase of the land ; for this duty he was well equipped by his vari- ous learning and experience in agriculture, science, law, medicine and divinity, and more especially, by his tact in dealing with men, his affable manner, and great conversational ability. He had also gained a wide-spread reputation for his scientific attainments and contributions. He had already been chosen a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and to the first volumes of the memoirs of this society, had contributed astronomical and meteor- ological papers; he was also a member of the Philo- sophical Society of Philadelphia. Possessing all these natural and acquired qualifications, and indorsed by many letters of introduction from distinguished men, he started on his mission. He left his home in his sulky, in the latter part of June, for New York, where the Continental Congress was then sitting, and reached New York, July 5, 1787, after a twelve days journey, coming in, as he writes, " by the road that enters the Bowery," putting up his horse "at the sign of the 'Plow and Harrow' in the Bowery barns." He succeeded in obtaining a contract for one million acres, at one dollar per acre, with five hundred thous- and more thrown in as an allowance for bad lands and incidental charges. He also at this time rend- ered a greater service for the northwestern territory, then and in coming time, and for the country at large by his influence, which was powerful if not decisive in securing the passage of the clauses in the ordi- nance of 1787, prohibiting slavery in that territory, and providing for education. The honor of proposing the

anti-slavery clause has been awarded to Nathan Dane, the eminent jurist, who was a member of this congress, but it is believed upon good evidence that his action was prompted, if not decided, by the counsel of Dr. Cutler. The Hamlet may claim further honor in connection with this ordinance, since Mr. Dane was a native of the Parish, though at this time a resident of Beverly. Dr. Andrew P. Peabody, of Harvard Uni- versity, in a highly appreciative paper on Manasseh Cutler, April, 1887, says of him : "As I cannot but read our history Manasseh Cutler was the providential man who set impassable metes and bounds to the slave power. But for him American history would have taken its course in widely different channels. The free states would have made hardly ashow of coun- terpoise to the slave states."

The next move was to provide for the territory emigrants of good New England stock. The dwellers in the Hamlet, who were near Dr. Cutler's house on a certain day in December, 1787, could have seen start- ing from his door a large wagon, covered with black canvass, having on its sides, in white letters, "Ohio, for Marietta on the Muskingum," and would have heard a vulley fired by the armed emigrants, as a salute, as it moved off on its long journey. These emigrants numbered forty five, from various towns, and among them, Jervis, a son of Dr. Cutler. They reached their destination in April, 1788, and com- menced the first white settlement in Ohio, for Marietta. Dr. Jos. B. Felt, the historian, of Hamilton, says of the historic wagon, which so linked Hamilton with the then far west, " The use to which the wagon already spoken of was appropriated -- the circumstances under which it left New England, and reached an unculti- vated wilderness, where political power is soon likely to wield the destinies of our republic -- have made this exploring vehicle an object of much interest among some of our literati, who have mentioned it, so that it is beginning to waken, in the mind, associations somewhat similar to those produced by the sugges- tions of the Mayflower, which landed the pilgrims on the shore of Plymouth."

The next summer, Dr. Cutler himself visited the new colony, starting from Hamilton in the sulky, in which he made part of the journey, but which was exchanged for the saddle at the Alleghanies ; the last of the journey was made by water. Ile reached Marietta, August 19th, and preached the next Sab- bath. He returned to the Hamlet October 15th, hav- ing formed the conclusion that it would be best for his family and himself to remain in New England. This must have been an interesting episode in the history of the Hamlet, turning as it naturally would the sympathies and interest of the people to "the Ohio," which was then the " Far West."

Early in the year 1788, the project of entire separa- tion from Ipswich as a town was first agitated. Several meetings in reference to this matter were held before Dr. Cutler left for the west; at the first, held Jannary

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21, it was voted that "the minds of ye parish is to be set off as a town, ' and to choose a committee to treat with an attorney. In June it was voted to petition the General Court to be incorporated into a separate town. The matter seemed to have then been dropped, but was revived in 1791, when similar action was taken. The project was pressed the following year, and in March, 1793, Rev. Dr. Cutler, Col. Robert Dodge, Mr. Joshua Giddings and Mr. Jonathan Lamson were appointed a committee to provide for the payment of such sums of money and the fulfil- ment of such conditions as the General Court may impose in granting the petition, which was then be- fore that body, for incorporating the parish and cer- tain other persons and estates into a separate town and parish. On June 21st, 1793, the long desired event was consummated, and the Hamlet ceased to exist, and the town of Hamilton was incorporated. Dr. t'ntler in his eentury sermon says of this: "This separation from the ancient and highly respectable town of Ipswich was a transaction in which the in- habitants of both felt themselves deeply interested. In accomplishing this desirable object, every pro- verding of the people was conducted with entire unanimity. Although the peenniary condition ap- peared to be large, it was promptly and cheerfully paid. And let it also be noticed, with peculiar satis- faction, that the unpleasant feeling excited in the minds of any of our brethren in Ipswich appears to have very happily subsided." The number of in- habitants at the time of incorporation is not accurately known, but probably was about the same as by the census of 1810, when it was seven hundred and eighty. This sketch gives the names of many of the principal citizens of the hamlet who gave di- rection to its parochial and ecclesiastical affairs; of most of them, we know nothing but their names, and can only infer their characters from the trusts confided to them. This is especially true of those who are named in the earliest records; of some, however, we have a little fuller information. Dr. Felt in his history, to show the character of the Ham- let, quotes a remonstrance of the town of Ipswich in 1679, which characterizes it as follows: "One of the principal of these hamlets lies on the road to Boston, extending almost to Wenham, wherein are several of the better rank ; members of the church, persons w publie place and service, as well or better landed than why, and as wise to be sensible of their difficulties which they deeply share in as others."

Among the carly residents in this part of Ipswich, were Matthew Wlapple, who died in 1647, to whom Mud win pantel in the Hamlet in 1638. He held the chef oficerin town. John Whipple, to whom a ar runt was made in 1639, was the incumbent of Sigh offers; was deputy to the General Court for et yoo aby a deacon and ruling older in the Frtchur h. Richard Hubbard, who died in 168 1, 1 ILM raduate of Harvard College, and held the

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 60

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