History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 74

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 74

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1274

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

boulders and the band found rest in the cool shade of the woods, where " with sweet melody they passed the weary hours."

As the boats from the frigate approached the shore they captured two citizens of the town who were fish- Ing. Judging one was familiar with the coast, the officer in charge ordered him (Captain Danforth) to pilot them in; to which the captain responded with so much cheerfulness as to create a doubt if the peo- ple on shore whose drum and fife they could veca- sionally hear), bad not prepared for them an uncom- fortable reception, and the innocent-looking fisher- men were cunning decoys. They stopped rowing ; with their glasses they could see the cannon, numer- aus bodies but half concealed behind the rocks, and the frequent notes of martial music scemed to tell of gathering forces.

They hesitated-they listened and consulted-and then with eurses they dismissed the fishermen and re- turned to their ship.

The victorious land forces were called from the rocks, the band from the woods, and, with the old cannon and the rear guard of noisy boys, they started for home in high spirits.

In descending the " great hill," they were amazed at finding their long-treasured and only cannon ball, which they had so carefully placed in the gun, and from which they had expected such wholesale de- struction to the " wooden walls of old England," had rolled out in ascending the hill, and was quietly re- posing by the wayside. This incident somewhat dampened the enthusiasm of the officer in charge; but the rank and file, and the people, always regarded this expedition as a great military success -- " a glo- rions victory."

A " Poor-house " that had been built near the site at the present Baptist Church, was destroyed by fire ; it was called the "long house." It had become a nuisance, aml the people made no effort to prevent its destruction.

1815 brought peace and terminated another period of suffering. Although the people had differed as to the justice and necessity of the war, they all united in rejoicing that it had been brought to a elose. On that February day bon-fires, the firing of cannon, public gathering and gladness was everywhere. In this town the event was celebrated by a notable din- ner at the tavern, when the emotions of the people touud vent in speeches, patriotic songs, and shouts of grent merriment until the small hours of the coming day.

At the beginning of the war the United States had out a small number of naval vessels; but privateers | we're soon fitted out from almost every port, and many prizes were taken from the enemy. This war was to a great extent fought upon the ocean and the great lakes. It was a naval conflict, where the sea- men of the young republic exhibited such uncommon brary, and nautical skill, as to win for their flag a

respect and a much higher position among the nations of the earth than it had ever occupied before.

Until about this time, agriculture and commerce had almost exclusively engaged the attention of the people, but the embargo and the war, had diverted a great deal of capital from commerce to manufacturing. Thus new fields of enterprise and industry were opened and a more varied occupation for the people was created. For a while there had been much distress among the poor, but the prosperity of the nation had advanced. Its strength had been perfected in suffer- ing.

As in all the earlier wars Manchester performed her part loyally. Many of her citizens were in priva- teers, and in the naval service of the United States. With Perry in his victories on Lake Erie, and with M'Donough on Champlain there were Ephraim Clem - ons, John Babcock, Joseph Camp and William Camp. These two last named were probably killed, as they never returned.

Some of the sailors served in the navy on the ocean. Lambert Flowers was in the Chesapeake with Law- rence when she surrendered to the Shannon, after a hard and bloody engagement. Flowers was a giant in size, of wonderful strength, and of great courage ; he boarded the Shannon before the surrender, and though badly wounded, with the head of a boarding pike deeply buried in his great frame, and its broken shaft hanging from it, he was in the thickest of the fight. After his cutlass had been broken he contin - ucd his bloody work with a carpenter's axe. For many years after the declaration of peace he remained a boatswaiu in the U. S. Navy.

The year following the declaration of peace was exceptionally cold, with frost in every month. It has often been referred to as the year without a summer. At this time this town furnished no less than fifty captains for the foreign trade of Boston, Salem, and Newburyport.

In 1817, William Hooper and others of the Cove were authorized to build a wharf or sea-wall from Crow Island into the sea. This structure yet re- mains; it was probably a break-water, under the protection of which the small vessels then engaged in the fisheries might discharge their catch. During this year the road to Essex was made. In the follow- ing year it was voted by the town to join the middle district in building a school-house, "the town to build one-half of the house, and become proprietors of the lower part, exclusive of furnishing the inside of the distriet room." This is the old building on School street, now used for the Public Library and engine house.

At a town meeting in 1818 it was voted to sell the corner seats in the meeting-house and invest the pro- ceeds in a " stove, and set the same in the meeting- house." Later in the day it was voted to reconsider the above vote, and expend the money arising from the sale of the seats in the town and school-house.

1275

MANCHESTER.

In 1820 the town voted to furnish a room in the lower part of the school-house for the selectmen's office.

On the twelfth of September of this year Rev. Samuel M. Emerson was installed as pastor of the Congregational Church. IIe was a graduate of Williams College.

In 1821 the town voted to authorize the selectmen to purchase a stove for the meeting-house.

The early meeting-houses of our hardy ancestors were not built with reference to heating them. They had neither chimneys nor stoves; how the men, women and children could endure to sit on the hard board seats, where the temperature was the same as that which raged and howled over the snow and ice without, and listen to the long services of the per- iod, can only be explained by a much greater degree of zeal and endurance than is possessed by their de- scendants. Judge Sewall tells in his diary of a cer- tain day in Boston, in 1686. "This day was so cold that the sacramental bread is frozen pretty hard, and rattles sadly as broken into the plates." The people not only endured it, but stoutly re-isted any measure that would lessen the frigid temperature of their places of worship. But very few stoves were used in the churches of New England before 1750, and in most places the movement towards greater comfort was successfully opposed until after 1800.

In Manchester the first action in that direction was in 1818, when the town voted to sell some corner seats in the meeting-house and buy a stove, but later in the day the opposition was aroused, and the vote was reconsidered. In 1821 the attempt was made again, and the stove was purchased. We are told the arguments against it were the questionable effect on the health of the congregation, and the belief that the young would be made puny and effeminate.

This original stove was used for many years. It was a heavy cast-iron box, and absurdly small for the large space it, was expected to warm. It stood in front of the pulpit, and was connected with the chimney at the opposite end of the church by a long pipe over the central isle.

The first cold Sunday after it had been placed in position, the people all went to meeting fully pre- pared to watch the result of the experiment. Many felt it uncomfortably warm; and two young women were so overcome by the "baked air " they fainted, and were taken to the vestibule where the atmos- phere was of a better quality. But the next day it was learned, the wood for the stove had not been received, and no fire had been made; this proved a fatal blow to the opposition, and but little was said upon the subject afterwards.

Many ladies used foot-stoves; these were tin boxes in wooden frames, in which, a dish of hard wood- coals was placed just before leaving home; but long before the close of the service they were always quite cold.

In 1822 the School and Town-House was finished, and a bell was purchased and placed in the cupola. This bell deserves a moment's notice. As a vessel in Gloucester Harbor was raising her anchor, this was found on one of the flukes. It evidently had been a ship's bell, and was believed to have been of Spanish origin. As no record or tradition existed of any vessel having been lost in that part of the harbor, it was thought to have been of great antiquity, and per- haps it had lain beneath the sea,-long before the advent of English adventurers.

When the building was no longer needed for educational purposes, the bell was exchanged for a larger one that calls the scholars to the High and Grammar Schools. The old bell, with its long service and mysterious history, should have been preserved.

Before a family took possession of a new house, it was thought necessary to invite the minister and the people, and with prayers and appropriate addresses, dedicate the house. The services concluded, a lunch, with a bountiful supply of stimulants ended the ceremony. This ancient custom was not discon- tinued until about this time.

The raising of the frame of a house, or barn, or the launching of a vessel, was an occasion for a general frolic ; some eating, and a great deal of drinking.

In 1823 Capt. William Babcock was murdered at sea by pirates who attempted to take his vessel.

In 1825 John P. Allen was granted the privilege of setting a mill for sawing mahogany on the site of the old "Grist Mill," and on the following year the town voted thirty-seven dollars for the "Singing Society."

A hearse was purchased; before this the dead were borne to the grave on a bier carried by four men, hence the name of " bearers."

And once more the town voted against the division of Essex County.

On the 4th of July, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of American Independence was celebrated; an ar- tillery company from Gloncester took part in the parade and fired the customary salutes from the common. A conspicuous feature of the procession was a company of "twenty-four veterans of the Rev- olution," who marehed in their service-worn uniforms with a banner, on which was inscribed "76." An oration was delivered in the church by Tyler Par- sons, and a dinner was served in the town hall, where patriotic speeches and toasts closed the observances of the day.

In 1828 Lieutenant Henry Ward, U. S. N., while journeying with his wife, feeling unwell alighted from his carriage and sat by the road-side in the shade of an oak, where he died. A hewn stone on the south- ern side of the road beyond the "Crescent House," marks the spot.

This year the town purchased the first fire engine and twelve pairs of leather buckets, and the first engine company was organized.

In 1829 Mr. John Price, who had taught for one

1276

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

season at West Manchester, took charge of the Cen- tral School; this had not been satisfactorily con- ducted, but under Mr. Price's management it soon attained a much better position than it had ever be- fore occupied. From this time a very marked im- provement in the educational system of the town may be dated ; his influence was felt in every school ; the rod was less used, reason and a system of re- wards took its place, and far better discipline and greater progress was the result.

Hle continued in the public schools until 1834, when he became a teacher in the Franklin School, of Slem. Ile returned in 1$36, and opened an acade- my, which proved very successful ; not only were the seats sought for by the youth of the town, but from other towns and States, and from the West Indies. For twenty-one consecutive years he continued this academy, when he spent a year of rest in Cuba, and returning reopened his school and continued in his chosen profession until he had completed forty-two years of teaching in Manchester.

At one time, when he was the teacher of the Cen- tral School, his scholars numbered one hundred and five. At that time penmanship was an important branch of study, 'and all the copies were written by the teacher, who also made and repaired all the quill pens used. A man who can look back to an etlucational record of forty-two years has not lived in VAII.

Mr. Price was born in Tamworth, N. H., in 1808, and is yet vigorous.

In 1830 there was reported to be 150 acres of til- lage, 500 acres English upland, 1550 acres of pas- tures, 75 of meadow, 50 salt marsh, 1256 woodland, 50 acres unimproved, 281 unimprovable land. Popula- tion 1236.

In 1833 the stone wall was built along the Sum- mer Street side of the burial-ground, and one hun- dred and fifty dollars appropriated for the same.

In December, 1834, Jonathan Lull. Benjamin Jones and Asa Woodbury sailed from Salem. A violent storm raged along the coast that day, and the vessel foundered at sea.

The steeple of the Congregational Church was damaged by lightning.

In 1835 the town petitioned Congress for the re- moval of a pile of rocks in the harbor known as . B. Bell rocks." They were soon after removed.

15 ) The fishing and coasting trade employs about twelve hundred tons. Formerly the town was much more actively engaged in the fisheries, but for the last ten years the business has gradually dimin- ishet, but few vessels are now being built for that trade Most of the youthe were formerly trained to the Ment, either in the fishing trade or in foreign com-

In 1515 there were fifty commanders of vessels in foresen commerce belonging to this town. At this perI there are not twenty. The furniture business

is fast taking the place of nautical pursuits. This trade employs over two hundred men, and has given a stimulus to the activity of the town unequaled in any former period. Two packets are kept constantly employed freighting the furniture to Boston, whence it is shipped to the more distant markets. The sales for the present year are sixty thousand dollars. The estimated valuation $356,674,82.

There are three grist-mills, three lumber-mills, one mahogany vencering-mill, one bakery, twelve car- penters, one cooper's shop, one wheelwright, three painters, one tailor, one brick-yard, six shoemakers' shops, two blacksmiths, one manufacturer of ship steering wheels, ten furniture shops and one tan- nery, and the following farm products and stock : 2500 bushels of corn, 450 bushels of barley, 290 tons of English hay, 160 cows, 60 oxen, 40 tons of salt hay, 28 horses, 59 swine, 35 tons of fresh meadow hay.

This year, Dr. Ezekiel Wallis Leach completed his history of the town. Many years ago, the doctor finding our early records in a lamentably defective condition, and feeling that no time should be lost, set himself at work connecting the missing links. For years he made it a labor of love, and succeeded in collecting from various sources a large amount of valuable historical matter bearing on our early his- tory; he presented a manuscript copy to the town. And for greater security against probable Joss, he prepared a revised copy, which he deposited with the Massachusetts Historical Society, in Boston.

In this Dr. Leach has rendered the town an in- valuable service, and it is to be hoped that some measures will be adopted for its completion and publication.

Through the courtesy of the above named society we were grauted every facility for a study of this manuscript, and much of the material in those pages was gathered from it.

A high school, where the ancient languages were taught, was opened by William Long. . This excel- lent school was kept in the building afterwards re- modeled into a parsonage for the Congregational Church.

It is often pleasant to know the age of trees.

The first shade trees planted on Central Street, was in 1835, when Col. Eben Tappan set the elms in front of his residence.

Those on the Deacon Enoch Allen estate, were planted in the following year.

The large elm in front of the " Gentles " home on School Street, was planted about seventy-five years ago. And farther up on the same street opposite the " Butler" house is one that was planted by Ezkiel Leach in 1810.

In 1836 the brick house of George W. Marble on Bridge Street, was destroyed by fire. The weather was very cold, and the water so scarce, that engines were useless.

1277

MANCHESTER.

The great fire began on the morning of the 28th of August, 1836. In the Salem Gazette of Angust 30th, we find the following account of it:

" It is with the deepest regret we announce that the thriving village of Manchester in our neighborhood, has experienced a severe calamity, in the destruction by fire of its principal business establishments, by which upwards of 100 industrious men have been thrown out of employ- ment, and several worthy individuals have lost their all.

" About 2 o'clock on Sunday morning the Steam Veneering Mill of John P. Allen, situated near the centre of the village, was discovered to be of fire, and the flames spread with great rapidity, communicating im- mediately to the two cabinet-shops, and the handsome dwelling-house and barn of that gentleman, and which were totally destroyed with their contente.

" Also the large cabinet manufactory of Mr. Larkin Woodbury which wae destroyed. Part of the contents were saved in a damaged condi- tion.

"Also the dwelling-house, bare and ontbuildings of Dr. Asa Story which were destroyed.

"Also the dwelling-house and barn of Mr. Solomon Lee, an aged vet- eran of the Revolution ; n total loss and no insurance.

"Also the house and shop of Mrs. Andrew Masters, and the stable and shed attached to the tavern of Nathaniel Colby, all of which were burnt.

" The loss sustained by Mr. Allen is very great, estimated from $20,000 to $30,000, but we are glad to leara he has considerable insurance. Be- sides his buildings, mahogany, tools, &c., all his valuable house furni- ture, a large number of mahogany logs, veneers, lumber and articles of new furniture were destroyed.

"A gentleman of this city, we learn, had $1,000 worth of mahogany at this mill. Mr. Woodbury'e loss is estimated at $4,000 ; supposed to be iosured. Both of these gentlemen were absent on a tour in the interior.

"Dr. Story's loss is about $2,500; no insurance.

"Mr. Colby likewise had no insurance. When the fire was at its height it ruged on both sides of the small stream, near which these establishments were situated, so that it was impossible to pass the bridge which crosses it. Owing to the dense fog the fire was not seen in this neighborhood, and it was not known until about 3 o'clock when the alarm was given, and one engine and many of our citizens proceed. ed to the scene of the conflagration."

Engines from Salem, Beverly, Gloucester, Essex, and Hamilton, were present and rendered most valu- able assistance.

Soon after the town petitioned the County Commis- sioners for aid in building a stone bridge in place of that destroyed by the fire; and the present bridge was con- structed, but of less width than now.

For a long time the only mementos of the original occupants of the soil, were the great heaps of shells by the water side, and several "mounds" which marked their resting places. One of them was to the sontheast of the Congregational Church, on land then owned by Capt. Thomas Leach.

A much larger one was at the upper part of the Reservoir Pond, and was leveled by John Knight in 1836. This was where the Kelham & Fitz steam mill stands. It was more than one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, and some eight feet high; it was snr- rounded by a trench that was filled by the high tide. Great numbers of skeletons were found here in a sit- ting position, but the bones were as soft as the clay in which they were imbedded. No implements were found here.

In leveling the land for the " Union Cemetery " de- posits of ashes and charred wood were found at a con- siderable depth, showing a long occupancy of the land.

In 1864, in a gravelly knoll to the south of this, four hnman skeletons were found lying side by side ; and one was of unusual size; the skull rested on a plate of native copper some sixteen inches in diame- ter. The hair was still very black, and thirty inches long ; here was also found an iron tomahawk, a knife blade, a pipe, some bone arrow heads, net sinkers, wooden ladles, and spoons, fishing lines of some fibrous material, and a kind of coarse cloth made of flags or rushes.

Thus, the lost traces are gone forever, and nothing remains to mark the former homes of that friendless race, whose footsteps, as they retreated west- ward from advancing civilization, were reddened by want and bloodshed.

The schooner "Vesper" of about sixty tons, owned by Jacob Cheever and his two sons, was lost in Sep- tember, 1843. The " Vesper " had been spoken by a passing vessel. They had been very fortunate, were nearly loaded, and were to start homeward in a day or two.

Shortly after a severe gale came on, and it was sup- posed she sank at her anehors, or was run down by some other vessel.

The crew consisted of John Cheever, Capt. Rufus Cheever, his younger brother, Hilliard Moore, David Hall, Nathaniel Morgan, and Merritt Lennon. All but the second named were married.

These men were all valued citizens, and in the prime of life. They left five widows, each with one or more children. The waves closed over them, and no one could tell the story of their end.

On the 28th of February, 1844, the "Christian Church " was built on School Street, and Elam Burn- ham, of Essex, was the first pastor. It afterwards became the Baptist Church, and was very much en- larged and improved. It is forty-eight by sixty-four feet on the ground, is two stories high, and has a tower in which is a fine bell weighing twelve hundred pounds.

In 1837 the street was widened at the burnt dis- trict, and a "Suction Engine No. 2" was bought with the necessary hose and carriage for the same.

This engine was manufactured in the town by Colonel Eben Tappan, has been in use for fifty years and is yet a reliable and good machine.

1838. John and Ilenry Knight's bark mill and curry shop, containing two thousand dollars worth of leather was burned to the ground, February 1, 1838. The fire broke out at half past one o'clock at night. A barn filled with hay and bark, standing within six feet of the building burnt, was fortunately saved.

In 1839 the town received its proportion of the "Surplus Revenue," and voted to invest the same in the purchase of the "Poor Farm " at the Cove, at a cost of twenty-three hundred dollars : but few towns made so wise a disposition of their money,

In the following year the " Blooming Youth " and

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the "Senator " were wrecked on Sable Island. After much suffering they reached the main land, and their homes.

September 12, Rev. Oliver A. Taylor was installed pastor of the First Congregational Church. He was a graduate of Union College.

The population is one thousand three hundred and fifty-live.

In 1844 a bounty of one dollar was offered by the town for destroying rattlesnakes. The woods in the eastern part of the town were much infested by these pests, and to the skill of one of her citizens the town is indebted for their total annihilation.

John D. Hlibreth was long known as a remarkably successful hunter of these reptiles : he killed many and derived a considerable revenue from bounties, muel from their oil which was highly prized as a re- medy for rheumatism, and he also supplied living specimens for naturalists and showmen : upon the receipt of an order he would call his dog, shoulder a light pole, with a line and slip noose drawn through a hole at the end, and disappear in the woods : he took as many of these poles as he required in rattle- snakes. When his little dog announced the presence of one, he annoyed him with the pole until the anger- ed reptile coiled and raised his head for a strike, then the noose encircled the neck, the cord was tightened, and his snakeship was soon dangling at the end of the stick. In that way he gathered them.

lle had a theory, that they all collected in one place for the winter : and believing he knew where that place was, he resolved to bring about their ex- termination. After a snow had fallen, and they had become dormant in their headquarters, he built a fire on the ledge near the crevice which had been much worn by their passage in and out, for untold cen- turies.

When the rocks had become warmed, the unsus- pecting reptiles crept forth to see how far spring had udvanced, when the ever ready staff tossed them into the snow, where in a moment they became stiff and helpless; in this way, a large number was collected. Then he enlarged the fire and extended it across the entrance, so that none escaped. Not a snake of this kind has been seen in the town since Hildreth made war upon them. This publie benefactor died in 1885.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 74

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