USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 39
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The post office was removed from Boston street, to the south end of Federal street.
E2*
366
ANNALS OF LYNN - 1804.
1804.
This year a powder house was built, near High Rock, at an expense of one hundred and twenty dollars. [This remained a curious and conspicuous little mark for about fifty years, when on a certain night some rogue set it on fire and it was consumed. It had ceased to be used for the storing of powder, many years before.
[The first celebration of Independence, in Lynn, took place this year. There was a procession, and an oration was deliv- ered by Rev. Peter Janes, the Methodist minister. A patriotic ode, written by Enoch Mudge, was sung. A large company partook of a dinner in the hall in the west wing of the Hotel, which was built the preceding year.
[Snow fell in this vicinity, in July ; yet the month proved, on the average, to be the warmest of the year.]
On the 4th of August, the body of a woman was found in the canal, on the north side of the turnpike, a short distance west of Saugus bridge. She was ascertained to have been a widow Currel, who was traveling from Boston to Marblehead. The manner of her death was unknown.
Rev. William Frothingham was ordained minister of the Sau- gus parish, on the 26th of September. He continued to perform the duties of that office till the year 1817, when he was dismissed, on his own request.
One of the greatest storms ever known in New England com- menced on Tuesday morning, the 9th of October. The rain fell fast, accompanied by thunder. At four in the afternoon the wind became furious, and continued with unabated energy till the next morning. This was probably the severest storm after that of August, 1635. The damage occasioned by it was very great. Buildings were unroofed, barns, chimneys, and fences were blown down, and orchards greatly injured. The chimney of the school-house on the western part of the Common, fell through the roof, in the night, carrying the bench, at which I had been sitting a few hours before, into the cellar. Many vessels were wrecked, and in several towns the steeples of meeting-houses were broken off, and carried to a great distance. The number of trees uprooted in the woodlands was beyond calculation. Thousands of the oldest and hardiest sons of the forest, which had braved the storms of centuries, were pros- trated before it, and the woods throughout were strewed with the trunks of fallen trees, which were not gathered up for many years. Some have supposed that a great storm, at an early period, may have blown down the trees on the marshes; but it could not have buried them several feet deep; and trees have been found thus buried.
367
ANNALS OF LYNN-1805, 1806.
1805.
For a hundred and seventy-three years, from the building of the first parish meeting-house, the people had annually assembled in it, for the transaction of their municipal concerns. But this year, the members of that parish observing the damage which such meetings occasioned to the house, and believing that, since the incorporation of other parishes, the town had no title in it, refused to have it occupied as a town-house. This refusal occasioned much controversy between the town and parish, and committees were appointed by both parties to accomplish an adjustment. An engagement was partially made for the occu- pation of the house, on the payment of twenty-eight dollars annually ; but the town refused to sanction the agreement, and the meetings were removed to the Methodist meeting-house, on the eastern part of the Common, in 1806.
The Lynn Academy was opened on the 5th of April, under the care of Mr. William Ballard. A bell was presented to this institution by Col. James Robinson.
An earthquake happened on the 6th of April, at fifteen min- utes after two in the afternoon.
On the 11th of May, Mr. John Legree Johnson's house, on the east end of the Common, was struck by lightning.
A society of Free Masons was constituted on the 10th of June, by the name of Mount Carmel Lodge. [For further no- tices of this institution, see under dates 1834 and 1845.]
On the 24th of July, Mr. Charles Adams fell from the rocks at Nipper Stage, on Nahant, and was drowned.
[On Sunday, 11 October, Benjamin Phillips's house, on Water Hill, was struck by lightning.]
1806.
A total eclipse of the sun happened on Monday, the 16th of June. It commenced a few minutes after ten in the forenoon, and continued about two hours and a half. The sun rose clear, and the morning was uncommonly pleasant. As the eclipse advanced, the air became damp and cool, like the approach of evening. The birds at first flew about in astonishment, and then retired to their roosts, and the stars appeared. The shad- ow of the moon was seen traveling across the earth from west to east; and at the moment when the last direct ray of the sun was intercepted, all things around appeared to waver, as if the earth was falling from its orbit. Several persons fainted, and many were observed to take hold of the objects near them for support. The motion of the spheres was distinctly perceptible, and the whole system appeared to be disordered. It seemed as if the central orb of light and animation was about to be forever
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ANNALS OF LYNN -- 1807.
extinguished, and creation was returning to its original nonen- tity. The most unreflecting mind was made sensible of its dependence, and the soul involuntarily sought the protection of its Maker. The total darkness endured about three minutes. When the sun came forth from his obscurity, it was with over- whelming lustre; the dreadful silence which had spread its dominion over the universe, was broken; the cocks began to crow, the birds renewed their songs, and man and nature seemed to rejoice, as if returning to existence, from which they had been shut out by the unwonted darkness.
The anniversary of American Independence was this year publicly celebrated in Lynn, for the first time. [Mr. Lewis is mistaken here. See under date 1804.] As the spirit of party was exercising its unabated influence, the inhabitants could not unite in performing the honors of the day, and made two pro- cessions. The Federalists assembled at the First Congregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered by Mr. Hosea Hildreth, preceptor of the Academy ; and the Democrats met at the First Methodist meeting-house, where an oration was pro- nounced by Dr. Peter G. Robbins. The Democrats dined at the Hotel, and the Federalists in the hall of the Academy.
And such regard for freedom there was shown, That either party wished her all their own!
[The town meetings began to be held, this year, in the First Methodist meeting-house; and they were held there till 1814.]
1807.
The town having determined that no person who was not an inhabitant should have the privilege of taking any sand, shells, or sea manure from the Lynn beaches, this year prosecuted several of the inhabitants of Danvers, for trespassing against this order. The decision of the court established the right of the town to pass such a vote and left it in legal possession of all the natural treasures which the sea might cast upon its shores.
[A rock on the east side of Oak street, was struck by light- ning, this year, and a portion weighing some twelve tons thrown two hundred feet.
[Theophilus Bacheller's house was burned in October.]
The depression of commerce and manufactures, at the close of this year, was very great. This was principally occasioned by the state of affairs in Europe, and the spoliation of property in American vessels, by the governments of France and Eng- land, which, in the prosecution of their hostilities, had made decrees affecting neutral powers. On the twenty-second of December, congress passed an act of embargo, by which all the ports of the United States were closed against the clearance of all vessels.
369
ANNALS OF LYNN - 1808.
1808.
The enforcement of the embargo law occasioned great suffer. ing throughout the Union, particularly in commercial places. The harbors were filled with dismantled vessels, which lay rotting at the wharves. Thousands of seamen were thrown out of employment, the price of provisions was enhanced, and the spirit of desolation seemed to be spreading her dark wings over the land. While the democrats were disposed to regard this state of things as requisite to preserve the dignity of the nation and the energy of government, the federalists viewed it as an impolitic, unjust, and arbitrary measure, by which the interests of commerce were sacrificed to the will of party. The spirit of opposition, in this difference of opinion, was put forth in its utmost strength. At the election in April, the greatest number of votes was produced which had at this time been given in the town; of which 418 were for James Sullivan, and 273 for Christopher Gore. On the second of May, the people assembled for the choice of representatives. The democratic party voted to choose three, and the federalists were inclined to send none. As there was some difficulty in ascertaining the vote, it was determined that the people should go out of the house, and arrange themselves on different sides of the Common, to be counted. The democrats went out, but a part of the federalists remained, and took possession of the house. They chose a town clerk, to whom the oath of office was administered, voted to send no representative, and made a record of their proceeding in the town book. The other party then returned, and chose three representatives. Several of the principal fed- eralists were afterward prosecuted for their infringement of a legal town meeting; but as it appeared on examination, that none of the town meetings had been legal for many years, because not called by warrant, they were exonerated. On the 29th of August, a meeting was held to petition the President to remove the embargo; but the town voted that such a proceed- ing would be highly improper, and passed several resolutions, approving the measures of the administration. On the following diy, the federalists prepared a memorial, expressing their dis- approbation of the embargo, and requesting its repeal, which was transmitted to the President. The feelings of both parties were raised to a degree of excitement, which could only be sustained by political events of unusual occurrence.
[A great bull fight took place at the half way house, on the turnpike, in the summer. Bulls and bull dogs were engaged in the cruel and vulgar sport. It was got up by a Mr. Gray, of Salem, and great numbers attended. Raised seats were arranged for the spectators to conveniently watch the ferocious conflict.
24
370
ANNALS OF LYNN - 1808.
This was the first bull fight in New England, and certainly should have been, as it probably was, the last.]
On the 20th of September, the house of widow Jerusha Wil- liams, in Market street, was struck by lightning. On the same afternoon, the lightning fell on a flock of sheep, at Nahant, which were gathered beside a stone wall for shelter, and killed eighteen of them.
On the night of Monday, October 31, Mr. Theophilus Breed's barn, on the south side of the Common, was burned ; and on the night of the following Thursday, a barn belonging to Mr. Jacob Chase, on the opposite side of the Common, was con- sumed; both of them having been set on fire by a mischievous boy.
A company of Artillery was incorporated by the General Court, on the 18th of November, and two brass field pieces allowed them. [Aaron Newhall was the first captain, and Ezra Mudge and Benjamin Mudge were lieutenants.]
This year Benjamin Merrill, Esq., came into town. He was the first lawyer at Lynn. [Mr. Merrill's office was in the south- west chamber of the dwelling house that still stands on North Common street, the next west from Park. He died at Salem, 30 July, 1847, aged 63. He was a man of fine talents, excellent education, and kind feelings. He remained in Lynn but a few months and then removed to Salem, where he became quite eminent in the profession ; rather, however, as a counsellor and conveyancer than as a pleader. He received the degree of LL. D. at Cambridge, in 1845. The occasion of his removal from Lynn as he informed me, a few years before his death, was somewhat singular. A deputation of the citizens called on him with the request that he would leave the place, it being appre- hended that evil and strife would abound wherever a lawyer's tent was pitched. He took the matter in good part and soon departed. The people of Lynn afterward made some amends for their uncivil proceeding, by entrusting a large share of their best legal business to his hands. He served them faithfully, and never seemed to entertain the least ill feeling toward any here. He died lamented by a large circle who had received benefits at his hand, and left a considerable estate. He was never married, which seemed the more singular, as he was emi- nently social in his habits.
[Samuel Newell -as he spelled his surname, though Mr. Lewis makes it Newhall - was this year preceptor of Lynn Academy. He was feeble, and unable to keep up a rigid disci- pline. He remained but a short time, and was afterward a missionary in India. The celebrated Harriet Newell was his wife.
[A white faced cow, while grazing in the old burying ground
371
ANNALS OF LYNN- 1809, 1810, 1811.
broke through a tomb. Some persons in the vicinity, at night, observing her head raised and struggling, were much alarmed, and horrifying ghost stories immediately prevailed.
[The trapping of lobsters was first practiced at Swampscot, this year, by Ebenezer Thorndike. He had twelve pots.
[The manufacture of chewing and smoking tobacco was be. gun this year, in that part of Lynn now known as Cliftondale, Saugus, by Samuel Copp. By degrees it grew to be a large and lucrative business.]
1809.
The inhabitants petitioned the General Court for an act to establish the proceedings of the town in their previous meet- ings, which had been illegal, in consequence of the meetings having been called by notice from the selectmen, instead of a warrant to a constable. A resolve confirming the proceedings of the town was passed by the Court on the 18th of February.
The embargo law was repealed by Congress, on the 12th of April, and an act of non-intercourse with France and England, substituted in its place.
1810.
Independence was celebrated by both political parties, who very patriotically and cordially united for that purpose. They formed a procession at the Lynn Hotel, which was then kept by Mr. Ebenezer Lewis, and proceeded to the First Congregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered by Dr. Peter G. Robbins.
This year the Lynn Mineral Spring Hotel was built.
On Friday evening, November 9, there was an earthquake.
[It appeared, by careful estimation, that there were made in Lynn, this year, 1.000.000 pairs of shoes, valued at about $800.000. The females earned some $50.000 by binding.]
1811.
On the 8th of January, Ayer Williams Marsh, aged five years, was killed by the falling of an anvil, from a cheese-press.
A great snow storm commenced on the 2d of February, and continued three days. It was piled up in reefs, in some places, more than fifteen feet. In Market street, arches were dug be- neath it, high enough for carriages to pass through.
On the 4th of July, the officers of Lynn, Marblehead, and Danvers, had a military celebration at Lynn. The young fed- eralists also partook of a dinner in the hall of Lewis's hotel, which was tastefully decorated for the occasion, by the young ladies.
The 7th of July was excessively hot. The thermometer rose
372
ANNALS OF LYNN- 1812.
to a hundred and one degrees in the shade. Mr. John Jacobs, aged 70, while laboring on the salt marsh fell dead in conse- quence of the heat.
A splendid comet was visible on the 11th of October, between Arcturus and Lyra. Its train was estimated to be forty mil- lions of miles in length. It remained visible for a number of months.
[The "Lynn Wire and Screw Manufacturing Company," was incorporated this year. They built a dam and factory on Sau- gus river. There was a fair prospect of success ; but the peace of 1815, by restoring the means for cheap importations, ruined their prospects, and the business was abandoned. A number of substantial individuals were engaged in the promising enter- prise.
[The first meeting for the preaching of Universalism, in Lynn, was held in the Academy, on the Common, this year. Rev. Joshua Flagg, of Salem, preached. He also lectured at Graves- end.]
The Second Methodist Society was formed in the eastern part of the town, by separation from the First Society. A meeting- house was built, which was dedicated on the 27th of November. Their first minister was Rev. Epaphras Kibbey.
1812.
On the 4th of May there was a snow storm, all day and night. The snow was about eight inches deep.
War was declared by Congress against England, on the 18th of June. This was called the War of Impressments, because England claimed the right to search American vessels for her sailors. The conflict was chiefly conducted by battle ships on the water, but people were much affected by it in the depression of commerce. The Federalists disapproved of the war -the Democrats exulted in it.
A new meeting-house was built by the First, Methodist Soci- ety, at the east end of the Common.
The burial ground in Union street was opened.
[A pottery was commenced in what is now Cliftondale, Saugus, by William Jackson. A fine kind of earthen ware was made from clay found in the vicinity. It was continued about four years. Mr. Jackson was an Englishman and occupied a respect- able position. He twice represented the town in the General Court.
[The old Lynn Light Infantry was organized this year.
[Reuben P. Washburn, a native of Leicester, Mass., commenced the practice of law, at Lynn. His office was in the building so long occupied by Caleb Wiley for a West India goods store, at the corner of Federal street and the Turnpike. He graduated
373
ANNALS OF LYNN-1813.
at Dartmouth College, with the class of 1808, and studied law under Judge Jackson, at Boston. He procured his education and made his way in the world by his own exertions. While at Lynn he married a daughter of Rev. Mr. Thacher. He was a per- sonal friend of Judge Story and other eminent men both in law and letters. Considering the business of the place, his practice could not have been large, here, and he removed to Vermont, in 1817. There he became a judge, and to the end of his life maintained a high position, and preserved an unsullied reputa- tion. He died in 1860, at the age of 79.]
1813.
Rev. Thomas Cushing Thacher discontinued his connection with the First Parish. The people gave him a recommendation and made him a present of eight hundred dollars. He was a son of Rev. Peter Thacher, minister of Brattle Street Church, in Boston. He graduated in 1790, was ordained in 1794, preached nineteen years, and removed to Cambridge. He wrote many good sermons, six of which, on interesting occa- sions, he published.
1. A Sermon on the Annual Thanksgiving, 1794.
2. A Sermon on the Interment of Eight Seamen, 1795.
3. A Eulogy on the Death of Washington, 1800.
4. A Sermon on the Death of Mrs. Ann Carnes, 1800.
5. A Masonic Address, delivered at Cambridge.
6. A Sermon on the Death of Mr. Shorey and Wife, 1803.
[Mr. Thacher died at Cambridge, 24 September, 1849. He was born at Malden, 11 October, 1771. His wife was Elizabeth Blaney; and she survived him, living till September, 1858, when she died at South Reading, aged 88.]
At a town meeting in March, thirty-nine tithing-men were chosen. This was for the purpose of enforcing the Sunday law, that no person should journey on the Sabbath.
The schooner Industry was fitted out as a privateer, under the command of Capt. Joseph Mudge, and sent in three prizes - two brigs and one ship.
On the first of June, the people of Lynn were called forth by an occasion of unusual interest. The English frigate Shannon, Capt. Brock, being expressly fitted for the purpose, approached the harbor of Boston, and challenged the American frigate Chesapeake, to battle. The hills and the house tops were crowded with spectators, who looked on with intense solicitude. The Chesapeake, commanded by Capt. James Lawrence, sailed out beyond Nahant, and engaged with her adversary. After a short and spirited conflict, Capt. Lawrence fell, the colors of the Chesapeake were lowered, and the Shannon, with her prize, departed for Halifax.
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1813.
The new Methodist meeting-house was dedicated on the 3d of June.
Rev. Isaac Hurd was ordained pastor of the First Parish, on the 15th of September.
This year, many racoons, driven by the war from the north, were shot at Swampscot; and a wild cat, after a deperate resist- ance, was killed at Red Rock. [It can easily be imagined that wild animals have no partiality for gunpowder. But it seems hardly reasonable to suppose that the war could have had much influence in driving the racoons hither, inasmuch as there were military movements here as well as at the north. Such animals abounded a short distance back, and some necessities touching their food may have induced their descent. They had always been found hereabout; occasionally in considerable numbers. As late as November, 1829, four were killed in the barn on the Carnes place, Boston street, two of them weighing fifteen pounds each.]
The celebrated Mary Pitcher, a professed fortune-teller, died April 9, 1813, aged 75 years. Her grandfather, John Dimond, lived at Marblehead, and for many years exercised the same pretensions. Her father, Capt. John Dimond, was master of a vessel from that place, and was living in 1770. Mary Dimond was born in the year 1738. She was connected with some of the best families in Essex county, and, with the exception of her extraordinary pretensions, there was nothing disreputable in her life or character. She was of the medium height and size for a woman, with a good form and agreeable manners. Her head, phrenologically considered, was somewhat capacious ; her forehead broad and full, her hair dark brown, her nose inclining to long, and her face pale and thin. There was nothing gross or sensual in her appearance- her countenance was rather intellectual; and she had that contour of face and expression which, without being positively beautiful, is, nevertheless, deci- dedly interesting - a thoughtful, pensive, and sometimes down- cast look, almost approaching to melancholy - an eye, when it looked at you, of calm and keen penetration - and an expres- sion of intelligent discernment, half mingled with a glance of shrewdness. She took a poor man for a husband, and then adopted what she doubtless thought the harmless employment of fortune-telling, in order to support her children. In this she was probably more successful than she herself had anticipated ; and she became celebrated, not only throughout America, but throughout the world, for her skill. There was no port on either continent, where floated the flag of an American ship, that had not heard the fame of Moll Pitcher. To her came the rich and the poor -the wise and the ignorant -the accom- plished and the vulgar - the timid and the brave. The ignorant
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ANNALS OF LYNN-1813.
sailor, who believed in the omens and dreams of superstition, and the intelligent merchant, whose ships were freighted for distant lands, alike sought her dwelling; and many a vessel has been deserted by its crew, and waited idly at the wharves, for weeks, in consequence of her unlucky predictions. Many persons came from places far remote, to consult her on affairs of love, or loss of property ; or to obtain her surmises respecting the vicissi- tudes of their future fortune. Every youth, who was not assured of the reciprocal affection of his fair one, and every maid who was desirous of anticipating the hour of her highest felicity, repaired at evening to her humble dwelling, which stood on what was then a lonely road, near the foot of High Rock, with the single dwelling of Dr. Henry Burchsted nearly oppo- site ; over whose gateway were the two bones of a great whale, disposed in the form of a gothic arch. There, in her unpretend- ing mansion, for more than fifty years, did she answer the inquiries of the simple rustic from the wilds of New Hampshire, and the wealthy noble from Europe ; and, doubtless, her predic- tions have had an influence in shaping the fortunes of thou- sands.
Mrs. Pitcher was, indeed, one of the most wonderful women of any age ; and had she lived in the days of alleged witchcraft, would doubtless have been the first to suffer. That she ac- quired her intelligence by intercourse with evil spirits, it would now be preposterous to assert - and it requires a very great stretch of credulity to believe that she arrived at so many correct conclusions, merely by guess-work. That she made no pretension to any thing supernatural, is evident from her own admission, when some one offered her a large sum, if she would tell him what ticket in the lottery would draw the highest prize. " Do you think," said she, "if I knew, I would not buy it my- self ?" Several of the best authenticated anecdotes which are related of her, seem to imply that she possessed, in some degree, the faculty which is now termed clairvoyance. Indeed, there seems to be no other conclusion, unless we suppose that per- sons of general veracity have told us absolute falsehoods. The possession of this faculty, with her keen perception and shrewd judgment, in connection with the ordinary art which she admit- ted to have used, to detect the character and business of her visitors, will perhaps account for all that is extraordinary in her intelligence. In so many thousand instances also, of the exer- cise of her faculty, there is certainly no need of calling in super- natural aid to account for her sometimes judging right; and these favorable instances were certain to be related to her advantage, and insured her abundance of credibility. She mar- ried Robert Pitcher, a shoemaker, on the 2d of October, 1760. Had she married differently, as she might have done, she would
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