History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 72

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 72

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As illustrating the condition of paper money of that period, a good woman in this town, whose husband was an officer of a privateer, was one day in the early part of the war made happy by the receipt of a barrel of sugar and £1,000 in Continental money, as his part of the prize money. The captain, as he paid it to her, advised that it be invested in some kind of real estate; but to the good wife the sum ap- peared a large one, and fearing to take the responsi- bility, she, like the unfortunate steward of old, hid it in a napkin, and neither she or her heirs ever realized a farthing from it.

Seven men were ordered from the town by the General Court, and £12 in silver was offered to sol- diers who would enlist.

In October orders were received from Congress to provide beef for the army. For that purpose the town voted to raise £7000, but this was reconsidered and it was voted: "we will not comply, let the con- sequences be what they may."

Another widespread alarm was occasioned by that remarkable phenomenon, "The dark day." That was a superstitious period, and coming as it did at a time when harassed by want and war, it is no wonder that such an unusual condition of the heavens should have been regarded as the grand climax of their suffering, the final end of earth. This darkness extended over a great portion of New England, but was believed to have been darkest in this part of the State. A graphic description of that day from the pen of a young lady is worthy of preservation. She says,-

"The sun rose clear, but it soon began to be lowry with some showers. Towards 9 o'clock it seemed to be breaking away, but every thing had a yellow appearance. Soon after 9 a dark, heavy cloud was seen rising from the northwest, which gradually spread itself till it covered the whole heavens, except a narrow space near the horizon. About 10 this was also covered, and the darkness increased so that we had to light a candle. All the folks out of doors, left their work and came in. Fear and anxiety were manifested on every countenance. It was quite dark when we set our dinner table. Early in the afternoon the dark- nese begun to abate, and before sun down it was light, but clouded with a yellow, brassy appenrance. After sun down it grow dark very fast, and the evening was more remarkable than the day. It seemed like darkness that might he felt. Some of our family who tried to go to a. neighbor's, had to come back. We sat up late knowing that the moon would rise at nine, and expected it would make some difference as to the darkness, but it did not until after II o'clock when some glimmer of light began to appear."

This darkness was not observed by those at sea. It occurred on May 19, 1780.

In 1781 orders were again received for eight thou- sand two hundred and sixty-six pounds of beef or the

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

money to buy it; also a draft for eight men. Neither we're complied with, and the town was fined £1027 G8.

Aaron Lee, William Tuck and John Edwards drew ' none more than the women.

a petition to the fieneral Court that they would ap- point a committee " to see the poverty of the town." A letter on the subject was addressed by Aaron Lce to Esquire Phillips, of Andover.

The result was a proposition for the town to pay £50 for the beef, and give their note for £50, which was agreed to.

In November of this year £1000 was raised to hire soldiers for the remainder of the war. The town having been fined for not complying with the orders of Congress, Mr. Tewksbury was sent to confer with C'ol. Hutchinson, of Bostou, and an abatement was procured.

The fourth public-house, or tavern, was situated on Union Street, and was known as the "Crafts House." It was kept by Eleazer Crafts, from about 1780 to about 1790, the time of his decease; it was afterward kept by his widow, who was a woman of remarkable energy and an active patriot during the Revolution.

This house was removed in 1873 to a spot on School Street, next above the Catholic Church, where it made two hou-es of good size.

In 1782 the General Court ordered a quantity of guns and ammunition, which were received, aud an additional draft for men for three and five months was ordered. The town appointed William Tuck, John Lee and Jacob Tewksbury to draw notes for the soldiers; they drew interest and were signed by the town treasurer. Warrants for the town-meetings were dated according to the year of American Inde- pendence.

During the Revolution the yearly average of deaths in the town was twenty-one; but in 1777 there were fifty deaths; the total population was nine hundred and sixty-live.

The news of the suspension of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain was received with acclamations of joy. Every heart rejoiced that war had ceased, that peace had returned, and the great blessing of independence had been secured. It was a happy release from the grievous burdens which for seven long years had borne so heavily upon the im- poverished people of the town. The old cannon that had so long stood in front of the church was dragged from its place, and in charge of Benjamin Leach, who had served all through the war upon the sea, and Joseph Kolum, who for the same period had served his country on the land, it was taken to every part of the town and JUcharged all day, the happy people jobbing in the celebration, and furnishing refresh- ments and powder. Everywhere the sound of re- Joling was heard, but frott none were the prayers of tinujk-giving more heart felt, and earnest, than rose trom the trembling hips bt the mothers and daughters; they El silently borne terrible burdens of privations

and hardships; and very many had sacrificed their husbands, fathers and loved ones upon the altar of liberty. During that long war, all suffered; but

During the latter part of the war, the people of the town were greatly distressed for the means of living-paying taxes and meeting the drafts ordered by the Continental Congress. For seven years the productive labor had been called from their pursuits to the defense of the country. And in order to pay the soldiers and to meet the expenses of the war. Congress was obliged to issue notes which circulated as the currency of the people. These were counter- feited in England, and extensively distributed through- out the colonies, the county was flooded, and the value fell so rapidly, and so low that the people lost confidence in its ever being redeemed. And when the soldiers returned it was to find the people every- where embarrassed by debt, commerce destroyed, the fishing fleet lost, or so decayed as to be almost useless, and with no means for the building of new ones. The outlook was extremely disheartening, but being a self-reliant and hopeful people, they went to work, and by industry and economy they gradually recovered, and as they became more prosperous, pub- Jie improvements were recommenced.

This stagnation created in some parts of the State a feeling of disaffection which took the form of an insurrection known as "Shay's Rebellion " of 1786. The movement found no sympathizers in Manchester who furnished her quota for its suppression. Among them William Tuck acted as ensign, and Samuel Ayres served as a private. Ayres was in the Conti- nental army during the War of the Revolution, and had previously served nineteen years in the English army, from which he had been honorably discharged.

During the seven long years of mourning aud suf- fering, the schools had been somewhat neglected; but now money was raised for the free school, and in 1785 a new school-house was ordered. It was to be thirty feet long and twenty-six feet wide.

And a bell was purchased for the church. It weighed three hundred pounds, and cost £58 3s. 7d. This bell remained to call the people together until the remodeling of the later church in 1845, when a liberal citizen of the town exchanged it for a much larger one.

In 1788 the first regular communication with Salem and Boston was effected by the establishment of a line of two-horse open carriages from Gloucester. They ran twice a week, and nearly the whole day was con- sumed in making the journey. The arrival of this vehicle always created a sensation.

About this time Captain William Tuck's schooner " Race Horse " was towed to "Tuck's Point" in a damaged condition, and condemned. A portion of her was used in the construction of other vessels, but some of the timbers of the old wreck are still visi- ble.

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A grammar school was ordered.

Rev. Benjamin Tappan died. He was buried in the old burial ground, and his grave-stone bears this inscription :

"In memory of Benjamin Tappan, late pastor of the church in Manchester, who expired May 6, 1790, in the 70th year of his age, and the 45th year of bis ministry. He was a sincere and exemplary Christian, a tender husband and parent, a judicious and sound divine , a prudent and faithful minister."

In 1789 a building for the poor of the town was built near the land where the Baptist Church now stands. It was known as the long house, it being but seventeen feet wide and sixty feet in length.

During the year 1791 a house was elected at Grave's beach for small-pox patients, and in the year follow- ing Daniel Low had "liberty to run a wharf to the point of rocks opposite the town wharf."

Rev. Ariel Parrish was ordained as the minister on the 12th of April, 1792; he was born in Lebanon, Conn., in 1764.

His ministry was a very brief one, for he died May 30, 1794, a victim to the " great sickness," as it was called, and which made that year a memorable one in the annals of the town. But little is known of the disease, except it was a fever of a very malignant type. The people were greatly alarmed, and the fear of contagion was so great that it was almost impossi- ble to obtain nurses. Of a population of nine hun- dred and sixty-five, no less than ninety died.

Captain William Tuck, of this town, was appointed by President Washington to the office of Collector of Customs for the district of Gloucester.

In Feb., 1798, the schooner " Esther," Captain Wil- liam Hooper, Jr., of Manchester, which, on a voyage to Bilboa, was captured by the French privateer " Ven- geance," taken to Bayonne and condemned.

The town appointed a committee to view the road leading over the "great hill," and see if it is advisable to turn the same.

The financial policy of General Washington's ad- ministration proved a success, and public confidence in the government was secured to such an extent as to give an impulse to business, such as the people had never experienced before.

The Indian troubles in the West had been sup- pressed. The liberal policy of the general govern- ment in opening those fertile regions for settlement caused a large emigration thereto.

The revolution in France, and the general Euro- pean war that followed, opened their markets to the commerce and productions of America. The people advanced in prosperity with a rapidity before un- known. In the space of ten years the exports were increased from nineteen million to ninety-four million dollars.

This wonderful growth in the commercial interests of the country was soon felt by the inhabitants of Manchester whose home was on the sea. The building and the fitting out of vessels for the merchant service,

and for the fisheries, created an increased demand for skillful navigators, and this want was fully met by Stilson Hilton, who was noted for his mathematical and nautical knowledge ; he opened a school where young men were taught all the mysteries of naviga- tion for a moderate tuition fee, and so successful was this teacher that there were soon more than forty sea-captains from this town in command of merchant vessels from the principal ports of the Commonwealth. And the fishing industry was no less prosperous. New fishing stations sprang up at the Cove, and in the little creeks and inlets of the town new ves- sels were built; warehouses, wharves and flakes for the drying of the catches were largely extended. Those too old to go to sea found employment in preparing the fish for market. All were busy.

The ocean has for the old mariner a charm that is very difficult to eradicate. As the old race- horses often strive to join in the struggle after they have been assigned to the monotonous labors of the road, so with them. As a case in point, we might mention the instance of skipper Samuel Allen, who for many years had commanded a fishing vessel, but getting old he retired to his farm on the Plain. One day a vessel was all ready to sail for the Grand Banks, but the captain (or skipper, as they were called), was nowhere to be found; the owner was in a great state of excitement; the vessel was at the wharf; the tide was almost high; men, pro- visions, everything on board, but no one to take com - mand. Just then skipper Allen came in sight with cart, oxen and corn for the grist-mill. Hurrying to him the excited owner exclaimed, "You are just the man I was looking for; my vessel is all fitted for 'the Banks,' men, provisions, all on board, tide is in, the wind is fair, but the skipper can't be found, and you must take his place !"

The old man stopped his team. It was a fine ves - sel, and, as he looked at her tugging impatiently at the ropes that bound her to the shore, the old love for the sea was kindled anew ; it was too much for the old skipper, and he answered, " Yes, I'll go; but you must see to getting the oxen and the grist home, and tell my folks where I am." He went on board; in a few minutes he was out of sight, and in sixty-five days he returned with a famous cargo of fish, and again retired to his farm.

Having reached the close of the century, it is a good time to refer to some of the events of the war in which our people were actors.

It seems almost incredible that a people numbering only three millions, educated to the belief in the " Divine right of King," and scattered from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, should have had the courage to wage war with one of the most powerful nations of the earth. It would appear almost impossible to have devised any system of intolerance and persecution that could drive a people to such desperation.

The Declaration of Independence was sent by Con-

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

gress to all the towns, with the request to have it read from all the ptopits, and to have it entered on the lown records. This was gone in Manchester, and the Original copy is still preserved.

The town then numbered about eight hundred ; the men had generally been employed in the fisheries and in commercial pursuits, so that, when the war be- gan, their occu pation being at an end, many engaged in the privateer service. Among them was Captain William Tuck, who in 1776 made several successful voyages in a schooner to Bilboa laden with dry fish, and returned loaded with powder for the colonies.

In 1777 he became part owner and commander of a privateer brig, the " Remington," of eighteen guns, and captured many prizes during 1778. In the latter part of the war he was unfortunate. In 1782 he took command of a ship mounting twenty-four guns and with one hundred men (many of them from this town) ; he was captured eight hours out of port by the English frigate "Higate Blonde." of thirty-six guns; the prize was sent to Halifax, and was wrecked off the coast of Nova Scotia. After the war he commanded the ship that hoisted the second American flag in the Baltic Sea. He became a large land owner in the town, and, on his retiring from sca-life, became a farmer, and was employed in many town offices. In the early part of the war he was a delegate to the County Convention at Ipswich, and represented the town in the General Court in 1777. 1Ie married four times, having children by each of his wives, number- ing in all twenty-three. He died in March, 1826, aged eighty-seven years, and was buried under the forms and ceremonies of the order of Free Masons, of which order he was a member.

The following is a copy of the shipping-paper of the privateer "Hawke," commanded by Jeremiah Hibbert in 1777 :

+ Now fittel for era and ready to proceed on n cruise, the privateer Ach 4 r 'Hawke a well-built vessel of 75 tons burden, mounting 10 carriage guns nul eight swivels, small arms, &c. She is a prime sailer, and has on bol every convenience for such a cruise, and is to be com- manded by Captain Jereminh Hibbert. The whole crew will draw one- half of all the prizes. Out of which the captain will draw 8 shares ; the lot Liout will draw a shairs ; the ad Lient, will draw } shares ; the Mas- I r willdraw 4 shares ; the Prize Master will draw 3 shares ; the Ist mas- tr vestiaw 21 , shares , the zd master will draw 2 shares ; the Surgeon w / w " sharea ; 10 remainder will draw n single share. Jeremiah 13 1 x 1, 4g win, Mar tom Watson, Ist Lieut. ; Caleb Ray, Surgoon ; will Be miatt, Master Ezekiel Leach, Mate ; Benjamin Leach, Prize Mit . Except the Surgeon all the officers were from Manchester.

Those of the crew belonging to the town were Thomas Stedle, Theophilus Lane, Joseph Perry, Nicholas Babcock, Sitson Hilton, Abial Lee and John Knight, carpenter.

good graces of the prize captain, that he was invited to accompany that officer to visit some of his British friends on shore.

During their absence Leach, who was on deck, was watching the doings of the prize crew, who were all in the rigging, making some repairs and shaking out the sails, that they might dry. In this Leach thought he saw his opportunity ; and with him to see was to act. Some of the prisoners were on the deck, and soon comprehended the plan. Leach loitered towards the arm-chest, and, seizing an axe, burst the cover open ; this being the signal agreed upon, the Americans were quickly armed, and the crew in the rigging were at their mercy. Leach and his crew were in charge, and the English crew were his prisoners.

After a pleasant visit on shore, the prize captain and his polite friend were rowed alongside. Leach received them courteously, and surprised the English captain by ordering him below as his prisoner; and Captain Tuck was informed that the ship was bis again, and his old crew were awaiting his orders. Under his direction the vessel was taken safely to Boston.

From the Salem Register of July 30, 1838, we copy the following :

"At an early period in the great struggle for Independence, Mr. Wit- liam Kitfield, when only 21 years of age, with John Girdler, of this towu, and n young man by the name of Lawrence, of Gloucester, shipped at Boston with Captain Smith, of Salem, on a voyage to Bilboa. On their return voyage they were taken by a British ship of war, and carried to England and thrown into prison, from which they managed to escape and find their way to a sea port, where, as English men, they shipped on A versel bound to Jamaica and Halifax. While at the former place Kit- field prop sed to the other two a plan for taking the vessel while on her way to Ilulifax. They agreed to it, and the next day, while on shore, each bought a sword. When they were well to the northward, about midnight, when all three were in the same watch, Girdler, armed, was placed at the cabin-door ; Kitfield went to the second mate, who was at the helm, and told him the anchor was off the bow. Thus they got charge of the deck, and the officers were prisoners below. The crew, be- ing promised a share of the prize, rendily joined them and assisted in working the vessel. The next day they ran alongside an American pri- vateer, and were taken into Salem, where the vessel was given up to the three daring youngsters. The Captain cried bitterly, and said he would not care so much about it if it were not the first time he had heen Cap- tain."

Captain William Pert was so unfortunate as to have his ship captured by an English cruiser when he was quite near Boston. A prize crew was put on board and she was headed for Halifax.

Among the cargo of the captured vessel was a large amount of provisions and excellent liquors. For the first day the wind was very light, and but very little progress was made. The English officers had already discovered the merits of the food, and they very fre- quently refreshed themselves with the liquors. As the sun was setting there were indications of more wind. The prize officers, not feeling sufficiently familiar with the dithicult navigation of this part of Massachusetts Bay, asked Captain P'ert to work the ship, to which he very cheerfully agreed. But occasion-

It is related of " Captain Daniel Leach," who was then a mate under Captain Tuck : Their vessel was capture and a prize ces placed on board to take lor to ILMax. Wluke on their way they put into a qual labor ou Mu Nova ceta coast. Captain To k was a line cony rectionalist and of most excel- lent less, and he so jogratias of herself into the | ally he found time to go below, and adding zest to the

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MANCHESTER.

festivities hy bringing to their notice some untried varieties of brandies and wines, which were greatly relished.

The night set in very dark with a strong breeze. Captain Pert being pilot, managed to gradually change the course of the ship, and by daylight the following morning, the bewildered officers fonnd themselves, with bad headaches, under the guns of the fort in Boston Harbor.

Captain Pert was never an intemperate man, but to the day of his death he believed there are times when intoxicating liquors may be profitably employed.

Captain John Lee commanded a privateer that sailed from Newburyport ; he captured several prizes. Captain Hibbert was in command of the "Civil Usage," which was lost in the great storm off Portland. In 1777 the privateer " Barrington," Captain Hant, of Newburyport, was lost, and with her Andrew Leach and ten others belonging to Manchester went down.

The names of some of those who served in the army were John Lendall, Josiah Lee, Wm. Kellham, Henry Frederics, Jos. Kilham, Eleaser Crafts, Major Wm. Kitfield, Joseph Haskell, Samuel Bear, John Allen, William Dow, Benjamin Kimball, Thomas Hooper, John Knight, Joseph Knight, Lieutenant Joseph Leach, Ezekiel Leach, Isaac Preston, Dr. Jo- seph Whipple, Samuel Ayres, Amos Jones, Isaac Allen, John Kimball, John West, Abiel Burgess, Thomas Gentlee, Solomon Lee, John Danforth, Jere- miah Dow, Moses May, James Lee, Joseph Babcock, Asarius Allen, Hooper Allen, Benjamin Crafts, John Poland, Stephen Danforth, Nicholas Babcock, Israel May, Michael Tappan, Ebenezer Tappan, John Bab- cock.

In Governor Everett's oration on the History of Liberty delivered at Charlestown, July 4, 1838, we find the following :

" In the following year, 1755, in the month of July, Washington was present as an aid to the ill-starred Braddock, in the fatal battle which bears his name ; and there is living in the State of Massachusetts, an individ- ual who was also in the battle. He remembers the appearance of the Colonel, as he calle him. He saw him as he rode, for three long hours, through the storm of fire and steel, which beat on that disastrous plain ; leaping from horso to horse, as two were successively shot from under him, the constant mark of the Indian warrors. ae they afterward told him, hut preserved like the pious children of Israel, 'on whose bodies the fire had no power.' Not like them, indeed, in all respects, for it is recorded, that 'neither were their coats changed nor the smell of fire had passed on them.' The garments of Washington were pierced with bullets in fonr places, but he was preserved through the fiery trial, to be the saviour of his country. The aged person to whom I have allud- ed, living, as I believe, in Massachusetts, in the county of Essex, is probably the sole surviving eye-witness of the ecene."

The experience of " Mr. Nathaniel Allen" is so remarkable that we cannot fail to give it a place in these pages. From an account published in the Salem Gazette of February 1839, we extract the following :

At an early period of the Revolutionary War, he served in the Artillery under the command of Col. Harry Knox. He crossed the Delaware with Washing- ton, was engaged in the battle of Trenton, Princeton

and other conflicts. After he had served his time he retired from the arduous duties and privations of a soldier's life, to what he supposed would be a more comfortable one on the ocean. How far these hopes were realized will be seen.

Early in October, 1780, he shipped on the schooner " America" of Gloucester, bound to the West Indies, Capt. Isaac Elwell commander, John Wood second mate, Jacob Lurvey, Aaron Witham, Nathaniel Allen and Samuel Edwards Cook. Nothing of im- portance occurred on the outward passage. They arrived at Point Petre, Guadaloupe, where they dis- posed of their fish, and took in a cargo of sugar, cotton, cocoa, coffee, rum and molasses and on the 10th of December, sailed for home.

Everything went well until they reached George's Banks, which was December 31, and they were happy at the prospect of soon meeting their friends. But a very violent gale came on in which they shipped a sea that carried away their sails, bowsprit and rudder, rendering the schooner wholly unmanageable. For two months they had a succession of gales from the west and north-west, and were tossed at the mercy of the wind and waves.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 72

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