USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 43
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).
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[This year the surplus United States revenue was distributed. The amount received by Lynn was $14.879.00; and it was, by vote of the town, applied to the payment of the town debt. Lynnfield received $1.328.29, and in like manner applied it to their town debt. Saugus received $3.500.00, and appropriated it to the building of a town hall. Where shall we look for a parallel case in the history of any nation ? But, judging from the present and prospective accumulation of our national debt, cen- turies will roll away before the United States will be in a condi- tion to repeat the example.
[There was a frost every month this year, as well as the preceding.]
1838.
[The thermometer fell to 18 degrees below zero on the 30th of January.]
The ladies of Lynn held a fair at the Town Hall, on the 4th of July, for benevolent purposes. Francis Maria, [wife of Mr. Lewis] was principal, and nearly $500 were obtained.
The Eastern Rail-road, passing through Lynn, was opened for public travel, from Boston to Salem, on the 28th of August. Before this time, a few stages had accommodated all the eastern travel; but now the number of passengers, to and from Boston, so rapidly increased, that for the first three months, the average was three hundred and forty-eight persons each day. The com-
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pany for effecting this great and convenient enterprise was in- corporated on the 14th of April, 1836. [After the road was opened, as above, it was rapidly extended eastward to Port- land.] It was a magnificent project, happily accomplished, and it may be regarded not merely as a civil convenience, but as a work of great moral influence, tending to break down the barri- ers of sectional prejudice, and to promote feelings of benevo- lence and refinement, by bringing many persons of both sexes into habits of social and daily intercourse. [In relation to what Mr. Lewis says above regarding the travel by stage, before the rail-road was opened, it may be stated that in 1836, twenty-three stages left Lynn Hotel for Boston, daily, and there were like- wise numerous extras. They belonged to the great eastern and the Salem lines. Oftentimes they were well filled on their arri- val at Lynn, and the cry "stage full," fell upon the ear of the hurrying man of business in a way any thing but pleasant. A great many, however, drove to Boston in their own vehicles. And there were numerous fast horses about town.]
On the 28th of September, two brakemen a Mr. Tyler and a Mr. Baker, who were standing upon the top of a car, were instantly killed, by being struck against the overhead framework of the little bridge near the West Lynn depot.
[Edward Pranker this year bought the water privilege and other property of the New England Wool Company, at Saugus, and commenced the manufacture of flannel. In 1846 he in- creased the power by raising the dam two feet, and greatly enlarged his business, which proved lucrative and added much to the prosperity of the place. In 1860, he built a fine large mill to be run by steam power. His mills, together with that of Mr. Scott, are picturesquely situated in the vicinity of the site of the old Iron Works, a location well adapted to manu- facturing purposes.]
The Lynn Freeman newspaper was commenced on the 10th of November - David Taylor and Charles Coolidge, proprietors.
1839.
On the 27th day of May, died, Francis Maria, wife of Alonzo Lewis -a woman amiable, talented, virtuous and greatly be- loved. Her funeral was attended by perhaps as great a number of persons as were ever present at the interment of any lady in Lynn, to whom her active benevolence, and her worth as a teacher, had greatly endeared her.
Amid the attention which is given to the various concerns of humanity, surely one page may be spared as a tribute to the excellence of Woman. In the course of history, the virtues and the worth of Man are delineated in all the features of strong and admirable portraiture ; but Woman - the inspiration of exist-
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ence, the soul of humanity, without whom the world would be but a resplendent desert, and life itself a burden to its lordly and lonely possessor - Woman is overlooked with indifference, as if she were not entitled even to a small share in the record of human events. When a man is consigned to the tomb of his fathers, his worth is recorded on monuments of marble, and his virtues illuminate the page of history ; but the grave of woman is passed in silence and neglect. She who is the mother of man, the wife of his bosom, the daughter of his affection - she who has shared all his dangers and encouraged his footsteps up the steep ascent of fame -she who in the hour of sickness has been his comforter, in the day of adversity his support, and in the time of trial his guardian angel - generous, virtuous, unas- suming woman - is permitted to go to her everlasting sleep, with no mention of her name, no record of her virtues. Poetry indeed has extolled her, but even poetry has praised her but half. It has represented her chiefly as a thing of beauty, an object of youthful admiration, a creature of light and fancy, full of fascination and the blandishments of love. Poetry and ro- mance follow her in the sunny days of youth and beauty; but when the time of her maturity and usefulness arrives, they abandon her for other pursuits, and leave her alone to encounter the trials, and sickness, and sorrows of home. It is there, in the unobserved paths of domestic life, that the value of woman is to be estimated. There may be found unwavering faith, untiring affection, hope that endures all afflictions, and love that bears all trials. There may be found the smile of unfailing friendship, mantling over a breaking heart - the unobtrusive tear of sym- pathy, falling in the silence of solitude. There may be found a being, like a spirit from another world, watching through the long dark hours of night, over the form of manhood, prostrate and wasting by slow consuming sickness, and performing all the numerous duties, and encountering all the innumerable trials of common life, with the enduring patience of years, and with no reward but the satisfaction of her own secret heart. Man per- forms the public toils of life, and participates the honors of the world and the recompense of fame ; but woman, who has formed man for his high destiny, and whose virtues and amiable quali- ties constitute the refinement of society, has no share in such rewards. But history cannot do justice to her merits; she must be satisfied with the living admiration of her excellence on earth, and the everlasting remuneration of her virtues in heaven.
[Louisa Jane a young daughter of Samuel Stearns, keeper of the rail-road depot on Central Square, in August, 1837, drank some potash, in a tumbler of water, which had been prepared for cleaning purposes. It destroyed the inner coating of her
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stomach, and she did not eat for twenty-two days. On the 30th of March, this year, she died, having again abstained from food for twenty-one days.]
On the 7th of June, Rev. Samuel D. Robbins resigned the care of the Unitarian Society.
One of the greatest storms for many years commenced on Sunday, December 15th, and continued three days. It consisted of snow and rain, and the wind blew a gale, which did great damage to the shipping in many places. The schooner Catha- rine, from Philadelphia, for Boston, was wrecked on the rocks near Bass Point, at Nahant. Two of the crew were instantly drowned, and another was so injured, by being dashed upon the rocks, that he soon died. Capt. Nichols and one man were saved. At Gloucester, twenty vessels were wrecked, and sev- enteen dead bodies were picked up on the beach.
1840.
On the 1st of January, Rev. William Gray Swett was ordained minister of the Unitarian Society.
[The house of widow Betsey Newhall, in the south part of Lynnfield, was burned, on the 4th of January.
[On the 16th of January the thermometer was 18 degrees below zero.]
On the evening of Sunday, October 25th, a scene of terrific grandeur was exhibited. A tempest suddenly rose, in which the thunder was exceedingly heavy, so as to shake the houses like an earthquake; and the lightning was intense, making the whole atmosphere, at times, appear as if it were a flame; and in the house it seemed as if one were enveloped with fire. At the same time snow fell and covered the ground. The exhibi- tion was singular and awfully sublime.
On the 11th of November, during a storm, the tide rose higher than it probably had done since 1815. The wind had been east- erly for several weeks, and the swell of the waters was immense, passing for several days entirely over the Long Beach, so that not only the harbor, but the marshes of Lynn, Saugus and Chel- sea, were a portion of the mighty sea. There was no safety in approaching the level shore; but it was a grand and terrible sight, to stand upon Sagamore hill, or some other elevation, and view the fearful devastations of the waters. Nahant appeared to be severed forever from the main, and ocean to be passing the bounds of its ancient decree.
[The Puritan, a religious and secular newspaper was com- menced this year, at Lynn. Rev. Parsons Cooke was editor of the religious department, and James R. Newhall of the secular. The paper was afterward removed to Boston, and being united with the Recorder was called the Puritan Recorder. Sub-
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sequently the name Puritan was dropped and the publication continued under the name Recorder. Mr. Cooke's connection with it continued till 1862.]
One fact appears evident from recent observation - either the sea is encroaching upon our shores by elevation, or the marshes are sinking. There are strong indications, by marks upon the rocks, that the ocean once broke against the cliffs of Saugus ; and on examination of the marshes, we are led to the almost irresistible conclusion that the whole region now occu- pied by them was once a portion of the sea. By some means, not easily explained, these marshes were formed, and covered, or filled, with trees. The trunks and stumps of those trees, in some places bearing marks of the axe ! are now buried two or three feet below the surface of the marsh ! and twice that depth beneath the level of high tides !- so that the sea, after having been shut out by some great revolution, appears to be returning to claim what were perhaps its ancient limits. Another proof that the waters are gaining upon the land is the fact that the creeks are much wider now than they formerly were; and the trunk of a pine, which a few years since projected three feet into the river, now projects twenty feet.
1841.
The Lyceum Hall, in Market street, was built this year.
Phrenology and Mesmerism received much attention at this period. Many lectures were given by European and American professors, and many interesting experiments performed to the satisfaction of numbers ; but some remained incredulous.
This year Joseph G. Joy, Esq. built his log cabin, at Nahant, from a plan by Alonzo Lewis. [A sort of. log cabin mania pre- vailed to some extent throughout the country. The political campaign which resulted in the election of General Harrison to the presidency, was called the log cabin and hard cider cam- paign, in allusion to the alleged fact that the General, during his western life, lived in a log cabin and refreshed himself, while toiling as a husbandman, by the free use of hard cider. It was thought by sagacious politicians that the picture of simplicity thus brought before the people, with the adjunct of hard cider songs, had great influence in the election. Many individuals, before and after the election, erected unique structures, for temporary residences and other purposes, bearing some resem- blance to the log cabins of the frontier.
[Some disturbance was created in Lynn and other places, about this time, by the Comeouters, as they were called. They arrayed themselves against the religious organizations, and in a number of intances disturbed public worship by entering the meeting-houses and denouncing the proceedings. The First
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Congregational and the First Baptist churches had the benefit of their visits; but members of the congregations, without appre- ciating the interruptions, quietly carried out the disturbers. They had little respect for Sunday, or the settled institutions of religion. In some cases their conduct became so outrageous that they were arrested and punished as breakers of the peace. They professed great regard for morality, but seemed to think it better when separated from religion. In a few years, how- ever, the new light exhausted itself in extravagance of doctrine and indecorum of practice.
[On the 17th of April a party of public spirited young men assembled and set trees around the Common, in Lynnfield.
[The first Daguerreotype picture ever taken in Lynn was executed this year by James R. Newhall. It was a landscape, and the instrument by which it was taken was a cumbrous affair, imported from France. The beautiful art had been dis- covered but a few months before, and was just beginning to be applied to the taking of likenesses of persons. No more sensi- tive coating for the plate had then been discovered than the sim- ple exhalation of iodine; and the plate was of copper with a face of silver; it not having been discovered that a picture could be taken on any thing but a surface of silver. Three minutes were the shortest time thought of for a sitting, even in clear sunshine ; and eight or ten minutes were not unfrequently required. And after the trial of sitting, the miniatures were dim and unsatisfactory, requiring to be held in a particular light to have any effect, or even, in most cases, to be discernible. American ingenuity, however, soon greatly improved the art. And at the famous world's exhibition, in London, in 1852, the pictures from the United States took precedence of all others. In about twenty years after the first operations under the process, the elegant miniatures known as photographs were produced. And presently the photograph album appeared on the centre-table of the mansion and shelf of the cot, often dearer than the Bible itself.]
1842
[Robert W. Trevett died, 13 January, aged 53. He was a graduate of Harvard College, and for many years in respectable practice as a lawyer, at Lynn, having come in 1813. He was a conspicuous man in our community, and something of a poli- tician, though he never occupied a very high official position. With general literature of the better sort, he was more than ordinarily familiar, and few stood before him in knowledge of the history of American commerce and manufactures. In person he was of something more than medium size, and in tempera- ment exceedingly nervous, so much so, that in his latter years
T 2
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his whole system, mental and physical, was unfavorably affected. The closing years of his life he passed in obscurity and indi- gence, shunned by most of those who in his prosperous days had received benefits at his hand. His wife was a lady eminent for her virtues. They had four children; Sarah, Robert W., Susan W., and Warren G.
[The Essex County Washingtonian, a large and well printed paper, designed to advocate the cause of temperance, was commenced on the 16th of March - Christopher Robinson pro- prietor.]
The Lynn Natural History Society was formed on the 3d of August. It was quite successful in the collection of interest- ing natural curiosities, and continued in operation a number of years.
[The house of Warren Newhall, at Lynnfield Centre, was destroyed by fire, on the 23d of September.]
Another great storm happened on Friday, the 3d of Decem- ber, during which a singular phenomenon occurred. It was high tide about ten o'clock in the forenoon, and the tide rose nearly three feet higher than common spring tides. Soon after eleven, when the water had ebbed more than a foot, the wind changed, and brought the tide in again above two feet; so that vessels and timbers, landed by the first tide, were set afloat by the second. This is the only instance on record of a double tide, since the remarkable one in 1635.
1843.
Dr. Charles O. Barker died on the 8th of January. He was born at Andover, March 8, 1802, graduated at Cambridge in 1822, and married Augusta, daughter of Rembrandt Peale, in 1828. His practice was extensive and successful, and he was beloved by all who formed his acquaintance.
Rev. William Gray Swett, pastor of the Unitarian Society, died on the 15th of February. He was born in Salem, July 15, 1808, and graduated at Cambridge in 1828. He went to Cuba in 1830, for the benefit of his health, where he spent upwards of two years. In July, 1836, he was ordained at Lexington ; and on the first of January, 1840, was installed at Lynn. He was a practical preacher, and was greatly beloved by his people. His death was a great loss to his society and to the town; for he was a man of talent, of active benevolence, and of sterling worth. He united high classical attainments with a manly piety, and knew enough of human nature to mingle with all its sympa- thies and partake of all its innocent and social enjoyments.
In a sudden storm of snow and rain, on the morning of March 17, before daybreak, the schooner Thomas, Captain William Sprowl, of Belfast, loaded with wood, was wrecked on the
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southern end of the Long Beach. There were seven men on board, five of whom were drowned, by the swamping of the long-boat, as they were attempting to gain the shore.
A splendid comet made its appearance this year. It was observed on the 1st of February, in the day time, passed the sun on the 26th of that month, and was in its most favorable position for observation on the night of the 18th of March. Its train then extended from Zeta in Eridanus, to Eta in Lepus - thirty-eight degrees in length. It was brilliant and beautiful.
The winter was very cold. I crossed the harbor on the 17th of March, and the ice was then strong enough to bear a horse. On the 4th of April the snow in many places was three feet deep, and on the 8th, a man drove an ox-sled, loaded with wood, across Spring Pond. On the 20th of April, the ice was still thick on the ponds. There were heavy frosts on the 1st and 2d of June.
President Tyler attended the celebration of the battle of Bunker Hill, on the 17th of June; and in that week, 20,600 people passed over the Eastern Rail-road.
Lewis A. Lauriat made an ascent, in a balloon, from Chelsea, on the 4th of July, and descended amid thousands of spectators, near the Lynn Bard's cottage, at Sagamore Hill.
This year, Theophilus N. Breed built his factory for making cutlery and shoemaker's tools on Oak street. [An excellent water power was obtained by running a dam across the valley, a few rods from Oak street, on the north. A fine pond, of fifty- three acres, was thus formed, which, besides answering the useful purpose of carrying machinery, constituted a most pictur- esque feature of the landscape. Surrounded by woodland hills, excepting at the narrow outlet on the west, where, at the dam, the busy little colony of iron workers was located, and with waters as clear as an alpine lake, it never failed to attract the eye that could appreciate the romantic and beautiful. On the 15th of April, 1851, during the memorable storm by which the light house on Minot's Ledge was destroyed, a serious disaster happened here. Some forty feet of the dam were carried away, and out rushed the waters, in a current ten feet in depth, with such impetuosity as to carry large rocks across Oak street, down into the meadow, where they still remain. Some of the buildings were considerably injured by the storm and rushing waters, and other damage was done. The dam was repaired, and Mr. Breed continued his business, which was casting and machine work, five or six years longer, and then the works were closed. In 1860 the dam was broken and the water suf- fered to escape. And then the acres which formed the bed of that beautiful pond were reduced to a noxious bog, where rank vegetation flourished and noisy reptiles congregated. The
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clink of the iron worker's hammer no longer rang among the hills, the red fires of the forges went out, and the buildings began to decay. In 1863, however, the dam was again repaired, the pond restored, and the business of preparing hair com- menced.]
In August, about twenty of the Penobscot Indians came to Lynn, and encamped, some at High Rock, and others at Nahant.
Rev. John Pierpont, Jr. was ordained minister of the Unita- rian Society, on the 11th of October.
For about four years past, it has been noticed that the syca- more trees [buttonwoods] have been leafless, decayed, and dy- ing. It is supposed that their decay has been owing to heavy frosts blighting them, after they had budded early. [But their diseased condition was noticed in various distant parts of the country and in Europe. They seem now, [1864] however, in a great measure to have recovered; though there are but few left of what was once a very fashionable tree.]
Sagamore Hall, near the Central Square Depot, was partially burnt in the night of the 25th of November. Loss, about $3000. The town has been remarkably exempt from losses of this kind- this being the only great fire for ten years.
With the year 1843 the labors of Mr. Lewis, as the historian of Lynn, close. He inserted a concluding chapter, bearing date 1844, which was probably written in the early part of that year. A few passages of it appeared to be superseded by other matter in this edition, and the remainder is given in other con- nections. In 1857, he made known his intention to prepare a new edition, but causes operated to prevent his fulfilling his design; and he died in the early part of 1861. I have not thought it right, in the preceding pages, to make any essential alteration in the text of Mr. Lewis, nor to introduce additions of my own in a way that would render him responsible. And hence, as elsewhere remarked, I have indicated by brackets what I have supplied. It would have been a little more fash- ionable, perhaps, to have resorted to foot notes than to have introduced the new matter in the way chosen. But the most fashionable things are not always the most convenient. And foot notes, though often pets with writers are dire afflictions to readers. In the remainder of our volume, however, the unor- namental bracket will of course be dispensed with, as Mr. Lewis's matter extends no farther than this page. J. R. N.
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1844.
Early this year Laroy Sunderland gave a course of lectures on Pathetism, as he termed his subject, in Lyceum Hall. He claimed ability to explain divers mystical operations of the mind, and by experiments to exhibit some of its most remarkable effects on the body. The attendance on his lectures was very large. The supposed science, however, seemed but another phase of Mes- merism, or animal magnetism, which created a good deal of attention in France toward the close of century 1700, and which Franklin, as a member of an investigating committee, referred to the imagination. Yet, on a question of such depth in mental philosophy it might require one greater than Franklin to deter- mine what is imaginary and what real. During the few years immediately antecedent to the year 1850, scores of lecturers, many of them ignorant mountebanks, travelled up and down the country, pretending to great discoveries in mental science, and adopting various learned names for the dignifying of their sys- tems. But they all seemed to fade away in the light of Spiritualism, which began to prevail about that marked year, 1850. Great numbers among the learned and refined, as well as among the ignorant, believed that means were now discov- ered by which intelligible communication could be held with disembodied spirits. The means -to wit, the knocking against a wainscot or the tipping of a table -through which the com- munications of the invisible ones were vouchsafed, were, to be sure, to common apprehension a little extraordinary ; but in matters which are altogether mysterious, and without the circle of common events, the rules of what we call common sense may not apply. But all such things are perhaps useful, from directing attention to studies which may do much to elevate mankind; even as the old astrology, which in itself was puerile, led to some of the loftiest discoveries in astronomy.
The Essex County Whig, a weekly newspaper was com- menced this year. In 1846, the name was changed to Lynn News. And in 1861 it was discontinued.
The journeymen shoemakers formed a society for mutual benefit, early this year. They endeavored to establish better and more uniform prices. The old order system - the system under which the workman was compelled to take orders payable in goods, for his earnings - which often operated oppressively, was now very generally abandoned, and the wages were paid in money. No striking results, perhaps, immediately followed the formation of this society ; yet, like all similar movements, it was useful in diffusing a knowledge of the real condition of things. and affecting public sentiment.
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