USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 42
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 42
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 42
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 42
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
Rev. David Hatch Barlow was ordained minister of the Uni- tarian Society, on the 9th of December.
The canker worms, for seven years, have been making great
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1830.
ravages among the fruit trees. Many orchards have borne but little fruit during that time, and the leaves and blossoms have been so thoroughly devoured, that the trees have appeared as if scorched by fire.
In a very great thunder shower, on the 30th of July, a barn on Nahant, belonging to Stephen Codman, Esq., was struck by lightning, and Mr. William Hogan, a carpenter, was killed.
In September, a stone beacon, twenty feet in height, was erected on the outer cliff of Dread Ledge, by order of the United States government, at an expense of one thousand dollars. It was thrown down by a storm, on the 31st of October.
The first complete Map of Lynn was made this year, from a particular survey, by Alonzo Lewis. [And the first numbers of the first edition of Mr. Lewis's history were published.
[The manufacture of flannel was commenced at Saugus, this year, by Brierly and Whitehead. In a few years it grew to be a large and profitable business.]
1830.
The publication of the second newspaper, entitled the Lynn Record, was begun, January 23, by Alonzo Lewis. [Mr. Lewis's connection with this paper ceased with the sixth number. It then became the organ of the anti-masonic party, which soon attained supremacy in municipal affairs, and held .it for several years. The Record was discontinued in 1841.
[During January, not a single death occurred in the whole population of 8.000 in Lynn, Lynnfield, and Saugus.]
One of the highest tides ever known happened on the 26th of March. It rose about five feet higher than common high tides, passing entirely over the Long Beach, and making Na- hant an island. It also flowed over the southern part of Market street, and passing up the mill brook, swept off a quantity of wood from a house in Bridge street.
On the 12th of July, Mr. Joseph Blaney, aged 52, went out in a fishing boat at Swampscot, when a shark overset his boat and killed him. [This shark must have been extremely ferocious. Mr. Blaney went out into the bay in one of the large Swamps- cot boats, which he left, and in a small boat rowed away, alone, to fish. After some hours he was seen to wave his hat for assistance. Another boat immediately started toward him, and presently the fish was seen to slide off, Mr. Blaney still remain- ing in his boat. But the shark renewed the attack, carrying down the boat, before the other could arrive. It came to the surface bottom up, and the unfortunate man was no more seen.]
The meeting-house of the Third Methodist Society, built this year, in South street, was dedicated on the 3d of August. The first minister was Rev. Rufus Spaulding.
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1831. 1
A great tempest of rain and wind, on the 26th of August, occasioned very great damage to the corn and fruit trees.
Donald MacDonald, a native of Inverness, in Scotland, died in the Lynn almshouse, on the 4th of October, aged 108 years. He was in the battle of Quebec, when Wolfe fell, and was one of the few whom Washington conducted from the forest of blood when Braddock was killed by the Indians.
Vegetation this year was abundant; English hay was eight dollars a ton ; and more apples were gathered than in all the seven previous years.
Another great storm tide, on the 29th of November, came in high and furious, doing great damage to the Long Beach, by sweeping down the ridge and throwing it into the harbor.
On Wednesday, December 1st, there were two shocks of an earthquake, about eight o'clock in the evening.
On the morning of the 4th, half an hour after midnight, a meteor, exceedingly brilliant, passed south of the moon, which was then shining near the meridian.
The northern lights made an uncommonly rich display on the evening of the 11th, assuming the most fanciful forms, changing into the appearance of tall spires, towers, arches, and warriors armed with long spears.
1831.
Dr. Aaron Lummus died on the 5th of January, aged 74. He resided in Lynn nearly fifty years, and was one of the most popular physicians in the town. He married Eunice Coffin, in 1786. In 1823 and 1824, he was a senator of Essex county. [Dr. Lummus had seven sons and three daughters, viz: Clarissa, Hannah, John, Aaron, Edward A., George, Elizabeth C., Samuel, Charles F., and Thomas J.
[The Essex Democrat, the third Lynn newspaper, was com- menced this year, by Benjamin Mudge. It was published a year or two, and then the materials were moved to Salem and used on the Commercial Advertiser.]
A great storm commenced on the 15th of January, in which a schooner, belonging to Stephen Smith, was torn from her fastenings at his wharf, and dashed to pieces against the em- bankment on Deer Island, throwing down about sixty feet of the new granite wall, recently built by the United States gov- ernment.
In August, the sun and the atmosphere, for many days, pre- sented a smoky appearance, of a greenish blue color. The same phenomenon was noticed by M. Arago, the French astronomer, at Paris. [It was also observed in other parts of Europe. It was not damp, like fog, and was entirely wanting in some of the properties of smoke. In some places it was at times so lumin-
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ous that people were able to read by it, at midnight. I remem- ber it very well, and how much it was remarked and speculated upon here at Lynn. Some time after it had disappeared, an em- inent astronomer of Europe thought he had discovered sufficient evidence to determine that the earth was then enveloped in the tail of a comet. And such an occurrence has now ceased to be alarming, as it is well ascertained to have taken place at other times. The tail of the great comet which appeared in our heavens with such startling suddenness, in 1861, is known to have been in actual contact with the earth, three days before it became visible. See under date 1861.]
On the evening of the 26th of August, the moon rose about fifteen minutes before nine ; and half an hour after, there was a shower in the northwest, and on the cloud a perfect and beau- tiful lunar rainbow was depicted, of a yellowish color.
This year the small-pox made its appearance in Chesnut street, Woodend. The infected were promptly removed, and the disease soon disappeared. One death occurred.
Another beacon was erected on Dread Ledge, at Swampscot- an obelisk of granite, twenty-five feet in height, and three feet square at the base.
On the 22d of November there was a singularly mingled tempest, very violent, for an hour in the morning, with rain, hail, snow, thunder and lightning, a strong east wind, and a high tide. The lightning struck at Breed's End, and a vessel went ashore on Phillips's Beach, and another on Nahant Beach.
Dr. James Gardner died 26 December, aged 69 years. He was born at Woburn, in 1762, entered the army of the Revolu- tion at an early age, and on the return of peace devoted himself to study, and graduated at Harvard, in 1788. He came to Lynn in 1792, and commenced the practice of medicine. The next year he married Susanna, daughter of Dr. John Flagg. He was a skillful and popular physician, and possessed the manners of a gentleman. [His residence was on the south side of Bos- ton street, near Bridge ; and he was the father of a very respect- able family.]
This year Mr. John Alley enclosed about twenty acres of water, by a dam from his wharf to the marsh, [near the foot of Pleasant street,] thus making a pond, on which he built a grist mill, and afterward a fulling mill.
On the last of December, the thermometer was eleven degrees below zero.
1832.
[Col. James Robinson died on Saturday, 21 January, aged 75. He was the first postmaster of Lynn - appointed in 1795- and for many years a most useful citizen. For a long time he H2
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1832.
resided in the ancient mansion, still standing on the northeast corner of Boston and Federal streets. And in a little shop near by, the post-office was kept. He was father of a large and respectable family. After marrying his second wife, he removed to Boston and there lived for a number of years. The latter part of his life was passed in reduced circumstances, and mental obscurity. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and in his last years received comforts from a small pension. His first wife was a daughter of James Newhall, known as 'Squire Jim, and his children by her were, James, Lydia, Abigail, John, Harriet, Lois, Janet, George, Charles, Horatio.
[The Weekly Messenger, the fourth newspaper established in Lynn, was commenced April 14, by James R. Newhall. It was published on Saturdays, and was as large and well printed as any newspaper ever printed in Lynn, up to that period. The publishing business was not then profitable here; nor was it for many years after, if, indeed, it has ever been. It is a kind of business that naturally concentrates in the larger cities ; and Lynn is too near Boston to afford any great encouragement to printers.]
The Lynn Anti-Slavery society was formed on the 25th of April.
Rev. Otis Rockwood was dismissed from the pastoral charge of the First Congregational Church, on the 12th of May. Rev. David Peabody was ordained pastor of the same church on the 15th of November.
[The Lynn Mechanics Fire and Marine Insurance Company was incorporated this year. Also Nahant Bank, which failed in 1836.
[Eight and a half inches of rain fell in May, and the summer was cold.]
The Tuscan Chapel at Nahant was erected by subscriptions made by gentlemen of Boston. Religious services are held in it during the warm and visiting season.
[The first meeting for the preaching of Mormonism, in Lynn, was held in the summer of this year. And for the space of ten years afterward, elders of the faith continued to visit here and hold meetings at intervals. About a dozen converts were made. Several emigrated to Nauvoo, and thence, when the Latter Day Saints, as they styled themselves, were driven from Illinois, journeyed to the Salt Lake. Two or three finally returned, having renounced the faith; and one of them, a female, put forth a book exposing the errors and evil practices of the Saints. Baptism by immersion was administered to a small body of con- verts, by an elder named Freeman Nickerson, near the foot of Market street, in 1841.]
A Whaling Company was formed, and five ships employed,
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1832.
three of which were built at Lynn. They harbored in Saugus river, but on the crossing of the rail-road, in 1838, they were removed to Boston. [None of the whale ships were built at Lynn. A ship yard was established in the western part of the town, about this time, but no vessel larger than a schooner was built there.
[This year the great Nullification ferment in South Carolina occurred. Many entertained serious apprehension that it would result in a dissolution of the Union. Indeed the fiery southern sentiment seemed rapidly ripening into a gigantic rebellion. But the energy and unswerving patriotism of General Jackson, who was happily then in the presidential chair, in all human probability saved the country from great disasters. The stern and uncompromising proclamation which he issued on what appeared to be the eve of a terrific political storm, created a profound sensation, and was enthusiastically applauded in every loyal quarter of the Union. The excited southerners at once saw the danger of precipitancy, and discreetly abstained from overt acts. And the danger passed away in harmless dischages of oratory. On the evening of the 25th of December, soon after the reception of the proclamation at Lynn, a meeting of the citizens was held in the Town Hall, composed of the adhe- rents of all parties - of Anti-masons, Democrats, and National Republicans - at which the following preamble and resolutions passed unanimously :
At a time of unprecedented prosperity in agriculture, commerce and manu- factures, in our happy Union, and this Union purchased with a great treasure, and cemented with the blood and tears of our progenitors, and hallowed by our own devout prayers, aspirations, and labors, we, the citizens of Lynn, learn with sorrow that our sister State, South Carolina, once so patriotic, has assumed false principles, and, pretending peace, made warlike preparations to dissolve the Union so dear to the people in most portions of the nation. We cannot consent to the proposition, in fact we do not believe, that any State of the twenty-four States now solemnly united, can withdraw her allegiance to the United States, whenever she may please, or dictate to the Congress of the United States the laws which should be enacted or repealed, any further than the weight of the representatives of such State may prevail in the acts and deliberations of that body.
But since the acts of the State of South Carolina have undertaken to decide the constitutionality of the laws of Congress, and upon the same principle all other laws of the United States, when such decision is wholly confided to, and intrusted in, the Supreme Judicial Court of the Union, by the United States constitution, to which every citizen of the twenty-four United States owes absolute and unqualified allegiance, and since such principles of Nullification and misrule prevail by a majority of the citizens of one State, and are openly approbated, and not reprobated, by some other States, we are alarmed for the safety of the Union, and our own, and in common, for the liberties of the people.
It is with satisfaction that we have read the Proclamation of the President of the United States denouncing the treasonable designs and acts of the Con- vention and Legislature of the State of South Carolina. This Proclamation is
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1833.
replete with true sentiments upon the construction of the Federal Constitution, of the power and duty of the President, and of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Union ; which sentiments we, in common with our brethren of this State, have been educated, from the cradle to the present time, to cherish and love ; and we will never abandon them. Therefore,
RESOLVED, That we abhor and denounce the doctrine of South Carolina Nullification, and the awkward and unnatural attitude in which she has placed herself before the Union and the world.
RESOLVED, That we approve of the sentiments and principles spread before the public by the President in his late able Proclamation, and believe it to be the duty of all good citizens to support such sentiments and principles to the hazard of life and property.
RESOLVED, That in all cases in which the construction of the Federal Con- stitution is drawn in question, the Supreme Judicial Court of the United States is the sole interpreter.
RESOLVED, That no individual State or any individual of any State has a right to declare void or nullify a single act of the Congress of the United States; and that the several States, and each and every citizen in them, owe allegiance to the United States, which cannot be dissolved excepting by a majority of the voices of the people of the whole United States, constitution- ally and legally expressed. And, further,
RESOLVED, That a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions be signed by the chairman and secretary, and transmitted to the President of the United States.]
1833.
On the 16th of January, Mr. David Taylor's shoe manufactory, corner of Ash and Elm streets was burnt, with a large amount of stock.
On the 2d of February, Rev. David H. Barlow relinquished the care of the Unitarian Society ; and Rev. Samuel D. Robbins was ordained pastor of the same church on the 13th of No- vember.
On the 14th of February, the new Baptist meeting-house on the north side of the Common was dedicated.
[The First Universalist Society was organized, 25 March, in the Town Hall:
[President Jackson visited Lynn, 26 June. The old hero was warmly greeted; but the day was stormy, and his stay was short.]
One of the most remarkable phenomena ever witnessed in New England, was a shower of meteors. It commenced soon after three o'clock, on the morning of Wednesday, the 13th of November, and continued until day. There were many thou- sands, which fell in all directions, like flakes of snow. Most of them were small, but some appeared as large as seven stars com- bined in one. The meteors seemed to proceed chiefly from a point about fifteen degrees southeast of the zenith, and the display was noticed in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
[Friction matches came into use about this time. And they soon supplanted the old tinder-box, with its flint and steel.
[Anthracite coal, also began to be used here, in small quan-
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1834, 1835.
tities. But it grew in favor slowly, and sorely tried the pa- tience of its friends. It required such different treatment, in burning, from any kind of fuel before used, that it seemed as if some people never could become habituated to it.
[Metal pens, likewise, came into use at this time ; but the old goose quill long continued in favor with many. The writing paper of that time was not well adapted to the new pen, a hard- er and smoother surface being required; the want, however, was soon supplied, and then the metal pen became more gen- erally popular.]
1834.
On the 28th of May, several persons destroyed the curious cave in the Dungeon Rock, under the imagination that they might obtain a treasure. They placed a keg of powder in the cave, which, on its explosion, blew out the lower portion of the rock, causing the great mass above to fall, and thus destroying the cavern. This is the third time that curious and wonderful caves in Lynn have been destroyed by wantonness. It is much to be regretted that this rage for destructiveness cannot cease. Such persons ought to be confined as destroyers of God's beau- tiful works.
On the 31st of July, Mr. Durant, aeronaut, ascended in a bal- loon, from Boston, passed over Nahant, and descended into the water, from which, in about fifteen minutes, he was taken up by a schooner.
On the 12th of August, Mr. John Mudge's barn, in Shepard street, was burnt by lightning.
[The anti-masonic sentiment, growing out of the alleged rev- elations regarding the evil tendency of freemasonry prevailed so extensively that in December the meetings of Mount Carmel Lodge were discontinued. But they were resumed in 1845.]
1835.
On the 22d of April, Rev. David Peabody resigned the pas- toral charge of the First Congregational Church.
[In the early part of the summer of this year, George Thomp- son, a prominent English abolitionist, visited Lynn and lectured in several of the meeting-houses, to large audiences, on the subject of slavery. In the latter part of the summer he again came to Lynn, to attend a meeting of the Essex County Anti- Slavery Society, held in the First Methodist meeting-house. Some opposition was now manifested by the opponents of the anti-slavery movement. In the evening, while Mr. Thompson was lecturing, a great crowd collected about the meeting-house, and a stone was hurled through one of the windows, causing great disturbance within. A large number pressed into the H2* 26
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1836.
entry and attempted to burst in the inner doors, which had been closed. During the tumult Mr. Thompson ended his dis- course, and passed out, unobserved by the crowd. . He was presently surrounded by a guard of ladies, and conducted to a neighboring house, whence he departed, privately, to his tempo- rary residence, at Swampscot.]
A comet appeared, in the constellation of Ursa Major, on the 9th of October, and continued in view about two weeks.
On the 4th of November, Hezekiah Chase's mill, at the mouth of Strawberry brook, was burnt.
The Christian Church, in Silsbe street, was organized on the 5th of November. The first minister was Rev. Philemon R. Russell, who preached there about five years.
On Tuesday evening, November 17, the northern lights were very lustrous, and presented the singular appearance of a splen- did illuminated crown in the zenith.
On the 10th of December, the First Universalist Meeting- house, in Union street, was dedicated.
The 16th of December was the coldest day of the season, the thermometer being fourteen degrees below zero.
On the evening of the 17th of December, Mr. Rufus Newhall's barn, in Essex street, was burnt.
On the 28th of December, Lieutenant Robert R. Mudge, of Lynn, aged 26 years, was killed by the Seminole Indians, near Withlacoochie, in Florida, three persons only escaping in a com- pany of a hundred and eight.
[There were one hundred families reckoned as belonging to the Society of Friends, in Lynn, this year.]
1836.
This year a second attempt was made to form an Episcopal Church in Lynn. It was commenced on the 7th of January, by three persons, under the name of Christ Church. On the 5th of November, a handsome rustic edifice, with diamond windows, and four Tuscan columns, was erected on the north side of the Common. [And this was the first Episcopal Church built in Lynn.] Rev. Milton Ward was the first minister.
The Second Universalist Society was organized on the 9th of March. Their first minister was Rev. Dunbar B. Harris.
[The act establishing the fire department of Lynn was passed March 23, and accepted by the town April 18.]
The winter was very long and cold; snow began on the 23d of November, and sleighing continued until the 15th of March - sixteen weeks. [There was a frost in every month, and remark- able spots appeared on the sun.]
Rev. Parsons Cooke was installed pastor of the First Con- gregational Church on the 4th of May.
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1837.
[The first post-office in Lynnfield was established 25 May, in the south village.]
This year Henry A. Breed, Esq., built a large brick factory on Water Hill, for calico printing and dyeing. He dug a new pond, comprising about an acre, for a reservoir. He also laid out sev- eral new streets, and built nearly four hundred convenient cot- tages, and other buildings, and a wharf.
[The Trinitarian Congregational Society, at Saugus centre, built their stone meeting-house, at a cost of $2.800.]
Dr. Richard Hazeltine died on the 10th of July. He was born at Concord, N. H., November 28th 1773, married Phebe Carter in 1799, and came to Lynn in 1817. [He owned the beautiful estate on the south side of Essex street, between High and Pearl streets, and there resided. He was a man of sterling integrity, dignified manners, and commanding person. He act- ed to some extent as a civil magistrate, and took much interest in the common schools.]
On the 23d of September, a young man jumped off the preci- pice of High Rock, a descent of sixty feet, and, strange to tell, walked away uninjured.
A fire in Broad street, near Exchange, on the evening of the 18th of October, burnt the stable of Boynton Viall and the shoe manufactory of Isaac B. Cobb.
The brig Shamrock, Jortin, of Boston, with a cargo of sugar and molasses, was wrecked on Long Beach, on the 17th of De- cember.
[At this time there were but seventeen buildings of brick in all Lynn, and only six, of any material, above two stories in height. There were sixty streets, and the dwellings, through- out the town were valued at an average of $500.]
1837.
On the 15th of January, at two o'clock in the morning, there was an earthquake.
The new meeting-house of the First Congregational Society, on South Common street, corner of Vine, was dedicated on the 1st of February.
On the 20th of June, the schooner Triton of Waldoborough, loaded with wood, was wrecked on Fishing Point, Swampscot.
[The barn of Hubbard Emerson, Lynnfield, was struck by lightning, 20 June, and an ox killed.]
On the 21st of June, Lewis A. Lauriat ascended in a balloon from Chelsea, and landed in the woods near Lynn Dye House.
Augustus, son of Israel Perkins, aged 14, was drowned on the 1st of July, while bathing in Alley's mill pond, near the wharf.
Independence was celebrated near Lover's Leap, by a party
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1838.
of ladies and gentlemen of Lynn, Boston and Salem, and several songs written by the Lynn Bard, were sung. [The "Lynn Bard " was Mr. Lewis. He adopted the name soon after he be- gan to publish poetry.]
The Episcopal Church, on North Common street, was conse- crated on Thursday, 20 July. Sermon by Bishop Griswold.
[The subject of the manufacture of silk excited much attention in Lynn and many other places at this time. Great numbers of white mulberry trees were planted to furnish food for the worms, and high expectations were entertained. Considerable success attended the experiments ; but the matter died away without important results. A gentleman who took quite an interest in the business, showed me, within a few months, some handkerchiefs, which were woven from silk produced by worms raised by him, and fed on leaves of trees which he planted. They were of beautiful texture, and handsomely printed at the silk printing works then in operation here.]
In August, a survey of Lynn Beach and Harbor was made by Alonzo Lewis, under the direction of Congress; and a plan submitted for the purpose of erecting a sea wall, the whole length of the Beach, at an expense of $37.000; but though en- couragement was given for a grant, yet none was obtained.
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