USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 47
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 47
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 47
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 47
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 47
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For several years a difference had existed among the Friends, occasioned by some of their distinguished writers having advo- cated and published sentiments which were deemed by a large portion of the society to be at variance with some of its well- known and fundamental principles. This difference at length resulted in a division or separation in the Yearly Meeting of New England, one branch professing to adhere uncompromis- ingly to the original ground, while the other had so far aban-
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doned that ground as to acknowledge religious fellowship and unity with those who had sought to introduce their modified views into the church. A large proportion of the Friends' Meeting in Lynn having declared themselves subordinate to this latter body, no alternative remained for those members who could not join in this course but to meet apart from them and thus sustain or continue the Meeting in connection with the Yearly Meeting which had resisted the innovations upon its discipline and doctrines. This year they erected a neat meeting-house on Cambridge street. Perhaps the reader will be enabled to form some just conception of the differences existing between the two parties by the statement that both contended that they were the true Quakers. Those who re- tained possession of the meeting-house, approved the teachings of Joseph John Gurney, an English Quaker, and considered that the reading of the scriptures forins an essential part of family and private devotion - that the scriptures alone reveal the true character of sin - that the observance of the sabbath is impor- tant - that the written gospel becomes the power of God unto salvation - that Christ will come again literally. The other party, in accordance with the ministration of John Wilbur and the early Quakers, held that the influence of the Holy Spirit, within the heart, was the true gospel, and alone sufficient for salvation -that the sabbath is a Jewish institution, the first day of the week not being the anti-type thereof nor the true christian sabbath, which, with Calvin, they believed to have a more spiritual sense - that the reading of the scriptures is profitable, but the knowledge of them not so essential to the understanding or practice of a holy life as to preclude the pos- sibility of leading such a life without it - that Christ has come already spiritually.
1855.
By an amendment of the city charter, the municipal year was made to commence on the first Monday in January instead of the first Monday in April.
The influx of the sea was so great during the violent storms in the early part of this year that considerable damage was done to the embankments along Ocean street. Many bathing houses were thrown down and King's Beach was at times com- pletely overflowed.
" Josselyn's Lynn Daily," a good sized, well printed and ably edited sheet was commenced in January, and continued for some months, by Lewis Josselyn.
On the morning of January 10, Samuel Newhall shot, near Saugus river, two eagles - one gray and the other bald.
There was an interval of severe cold early in February. On
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the morning of the 5th, the body of a well-dressed man was found in the road between Lynn and Danvers. He had evidently frozen to death. On the 7th, the thermometer stood at eighteen degrees below zero, in the morning, but at noon it was eight above; making a change of twenty-six degrees in four hours.
The new Methodist meeting-house in East Saugus, was dedi- cated on Thursday forenoon, 22 February. Sermon by Bishop Janes. The cost of the edifice, including furnishings, was about $9.000.
On Tuesday forenoon, 27 February, Mrs. Mary Farley, aged 28, died from the effects of ether. She went into the office of a respectable and skillful dentist, near the Central Depot, for the purpose of having a tooth extracted, and desired that ether might be administered. The operator advised against it, but after being urged complied. She died immediately, without returning to consciousness. A coroner's inquest was held, and the verdict was that she died from congestion of the lungs, caused by inhaling the ether. And the jury exonerated the operator from all blame in the unfortunate matter.
During the week ending March 3, the Swampscot fishermen were unusually successful. The number of boats employed was fourteen, and the aggregate tonnage, six hundred. The total number of men employed was one hundred and twenty-six, and the fish which they caught sold for $5.272.00. None of the boats, excepting one, were out more than five days.
Rev. Jotham B. Sewall was installed pastor of the Central Church, Silsbe street, on Wednesday, 7 March.
The Lynn Library Association was incorporated in March.
On Saturday evening, 31 March, some gentlemen at Little Beach captured a black-fish, eighteen feet in length. The blub- ber produced two barrels of oil.
Seven thousand tons of ice were cut in the ponds of Lynn during the last winter.
The Lynn Musical Association was incorporated this year.
On Sunday, 6 May, a large tract of woodland, in Saugus, was burned over. A striking display was made by the fire, at night.
Early on Friday morning, May 11, the shoe manufactory of Nelson Raddin, near East Saugus bridge, was burned, and with it a large amount of stock.
Several young men made a trial of their powers in a pedes- trian contest, in June. Albert Ramsdell ran three fourths of a mile in two minutes and fifty seconds; Jacob Ramsdell ran the same distance in two minutes and fifty-five seconds ; and Charles Breed equalled the latter. E. F. Newhall ran one mile, on Long Beach, in five minutes and fifteen seconds. A. M. Col- yer, a shoemaker, ran a mile in five minutes and twenty-seven seconds, barefoot, and on hard ground.
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On the 16th of June, a turtle, weighing thirty-five pounds, was caught in Floating Bridge pond.
True Moody died on Sunday morning, 17 June. He was a colored man and had been out-door servant and hostler at Lynn Hotel for about forty years. He was a native of New Hamp- shire, an honest man and a faithful servant, and acquitted him- self so willingly and skillfully in his humble calling that travelers regarded him with great favor. In person he was stout, and possessed in a well-developed form, all the physical peculiarities that distinguish the African race. His mouth was capacious and answered the novel purpose of a temporary savings bank ; for in it he was accustomed to deposit the pecuniary gratuities that were bestowed by the numerous visitors at the house, till he could find time to remove them to a more suitable place, or till he required his mouth for some more legitimate use. And there is an account of a wager by some young men as to the amount of silver change in his mouth at a given time. To determine the bet he consented, with his usual good nature, to discharge the deposits into a bowl, when they were found to amount to a little more than five dollars, the whole being in small pieces. By his gains in this humble way, he was enabled to secure a comfortable home and respectably support a family. By the failure of Nahant Bank, in 1836, he lost some five hun- dred dollars, which was a sad misfortune. And the Eastern Rail-road, which was built a few years afterward, by diverting travel from the Hotel, which for many years had ranked as one of the best in the vicinity, greatly reduced his income. It is said that at this period he was accustomed to retire to a corner of the deserted stable and weep. He long bore the name of Master True, and few persons were better known to travelers. And he knew all the noted characters who traveled the road, many of whom would rather have lost an hour on their jour- ney than an opportunity to have a chat with him. It is said that Harrison Gray Otis was accustomed to speak of him as an acquaintance, and a man of great moral worth. Some newspa- pers stated that he was ninety-seven years old at the time of his death ; but this was probably far from the truth; or he must have been endowed with extraordinary physical powers. His history affords another illustration of the fact that diligence and faithfulness, even in the most lowly occupation will attract attention and ensure reward.
The electric telegraph to Nahant was put in operation this summer.
The bakery of J. C. Eldred, on Commercial street, was de- stroyed by fire on Friday night, 10 August. Loss $3.500.
On Monday, 20 August, a horse mackerel, weighing a thou- sand pounds, and measuring ten feet in length and six in girth,
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was captured between Egg Rock and the Swampscot shore, by three men from Swampscot.
A severe drought prevailed during the last of summer and first of autumn.
A sad accident occurred at Dungeon Rock, September 19. Ed- win Marble, who was assisting his father in the work in progress there, and Benjamin Mann, were engaged in blasting, when a charge prematurely exploded, breaking Edwin's left arm and two of the fingers of his right hand ; also badly cutting and bruising his face and neck. Mr. Mann was likewise bruised, though he escaped with comparatively little injury.
David S. Proctor, of Swampscot, during three days hunting in Lynn woods, killed three foxes and forty gray squirrels.
On Sunday, 25 November, the Catholic church, on Ash street, was consecrated, by Bishop Fitzpatrick. Nearly three hundred persons were confirmed on the same day. The main portion of the building was old. It was built by the Methodists ; after- ward occupied by the Baptists ; and later still used for the sixth ward grammar school. The Catholics purchased, repaired, and enlarged it, rendering it capable of accommodating something over a thousand worshipers. This was the first Roman Catho- lic church in Lynn. See under date 1815.
Michael Dolan, aged 22, was knocked down by a rail-road train from Boston, at the Market street crossing, 21 December, and so much injured as to cause his death.
At the close of December there was a splendid display of frosted trees, continuing three days. Few people ever witnessed such a fairy-like exhibition. It appeared to me far superior to that noticed under date 1829. In the forest, when the sun was shining brightly, one could hardly realize that he had not been transported to some enchanted land.
The Lynn Five Cents Savings Bank commenced receiving deposits, November 27 - George Hood, president.
There were issued in Lynn, during this year, one hundred and sixty-three marriage certificates.
1856.
On Saturday, January 5, a violent snow storm commenced, and continued through Sunday. A great quantity of snow fell, and the wind blew a hurricane from the northeast. Rail-road traveling was greatly obstructed. The half past six o'clock train from Boston, on Saturday evening, was twenty-two hours in reaching Salem ; it became fast bound, a short distance east of the Swampscot station, and had to remain through the night, the passengers, among whom were some twenty ladies, suffering much from the intense cold, and want of food. For several days after the storm the weather was very cold, the thermome- L2
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ter, on Wednesday, standing at twelve degrees below zero. In- deed the winter of 1855-6 was one of marked severity. From Christmas to near the middle of March, the same snow, in many instances, remained on the roofs. Sleighing commenced the day after Christmas and continued between eighty and ninety consecutive days. On the morning of the 10th of March, the thermometer, in various parts of Lynn, stood at ten degrees below zero. The ice in the harbor broke up on the 19th of March. Cutting winds from the northwest greatly prevailed for ten weeks preceding the middle of March, adding much to the piercing effects of the cold.
On the 17th of January, George H. Jillson, aged 46, a carpen- ter, employed on Nahant Hotel, was so badly injured by the falling of a board from the fifth story, upon him, that he died on the following Sunday.
A pair of bald eagles were seen upon the ice in Lynn harbor, 17 January.
On Tuesday, 12 February, Ezra R. Tibbetts, a respectable citizen of Lynn, while passing along the side-walk in Bromfield street, Boston, was killed by the falling of a body of ice and snow from a three story building, upon his head. He was a mason by trade, and an industions, worthy man. He held vari- rious responsible offices under the old town government. Tib- betts's Building, so called, on Market street, was built by him.
On the night of 27 February, a sudden and vivid flash lighted up the whole atmosphere. It resembled lightning, in some respects, though no thunder was heard. It was probably some brilliant meteor passing behind the clouds.
On Tuesday evening, April 8, a farewell meeting was held at the First Methodist meeting-house, on the occasion of Rev. William Butler's departure for his field of duty as superintendent of the Methodist missions in India. Several dignitaries from the church at large were present and the exercises were instructive and impressive. Mr. Butler received his credentials and charges at this meeting. Soon after his arrival in India, the great Sepoy revolt took place, and he was subjected to much loss though he escaped personal harm.
On the morning of April 10, the carpenter shop of William H. Mills, on Chesnut street, was destroyed by fire with all its contents. Loss, about $1.400.
A severe northeast storm began on Saturday evening, 19 April, and continued to rage till Monday night. Numerous buildings were more or less injured. The steeple of the Meth- odist meeting-house at Swampscot, then in process erection, was blown down.
The brick school-house on Howard street, was destroyed by fire on the morning of May 15. Loss $1.500.
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Stephen Palmer, a carpenter, aged 53, fell from a staging, while at work on the house of Holten Johnson, at the eastern end of the Common, on the 15th of May, and was so injured that he lay senseless till the morning of the 18th, when he died.
The first Methodist meeting-house at Swampscot, was dedi- cated on Monday, June 30. Bishop Simpson preached the sermon.
As an instance of the quick work of one of our Lynn shoe- makers, it may be stated that Francis D. Rhodes, in fifty days, made, in a good, workmanlike manner, seven hundred and ninety-two pairs of ladies' shoes, at twenty-two cents a pair, thus earning, in less than two months, $174.24. They were, of course, made entirely by hand.
On the evening of 26 June, a Mrs. Brazil, visiting at the house of John Regan, South Common street, attempted to fill a lamp with burning fluid, when an explosion took place, setting fire to her clothes. A child ran toward her, the fire was communicated to its garments, and it was so much burned that it died. Mrs. Brazil was not fatally injured. This was one of many accidents that took place about this time from the explosive burning fluid then in such common use.
The new school house in the centre district of Lynnfield was dedicated on the 11th of July.
On the 16th of July, Capt. William T. Gale, fell down a flight of stairs in the Bay State Building, Central Square, and so in- jured himself that he died the next day, remaining insensible during the mean time. He was for a number of years commander of the Lynn Artillery, and was buried with military honors.
A horse-mackerel, nine feet in length, and weighing nearly a thousand pounds was captured off Nahant, 16 July.
On the 26th of July the thermometer stood at from ninety- seven to a hundred degrees, in the shade, in different parts of Lynn ; and for the preceding five consecutive days it had stood above ninety during some part of the day.
A colored youth named Francis P. Haskell, aged 20, was drowned in the Flax pond, on the 3d of August. He rode a horse in to water, and not loosening the martingale the animal became restiff, threw his rider over his head, and with his fore feet thrust him under water.
There was a severe drought this summer. It ended on the night of August 5, when a copious rain commenced, continuing in almost unbroken torrents till Wednesday noon. On the next Friday there was a violent thunder storm. The house of Dr. Asa T. Newhall, on Olive street, was struck and damaged to the amount of $250. A house on the opposite side of the same street was also struck; likewise a brick house on Sea street, the latter having every pane of glass, in one window, broken.
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Two gentlemen were riding over Long Beach, when the pole of their carriage was struck and shivered into innumerable splinters. The house of John Blaney, in Swampscot, was also struck. Indeed the lightning struck in some twenty places, within a circuit of ten miles. The storm was extraordinary for its duration, raging, with very brief intervals, for full fourteen hours. Between five and eight o'clock in the afternoon it was very severe; but from half past eleven to half past one in the night it was really appalling-the thunder jarring the most substantial fabrics, the lighting gleaming with blinding intensity, the rain pouring down in equatorial torrents, and the wind roaring furiously.
Out-door services were held in Lynn, this year, by several of our clergymen. Dr. Cooke, of the First Church, preached his first field sermon on Sunday, 7 September, on the Common. But the experiment, on the whole, was not successful, the wea- ther often interfering with the arrangements. The groves are indeed beautiful temples, but in a climate so variable as that of New England not so convenient for fashionable worshipers.
Egg Rock light was shown, for the first time, on Monday, night, 15 September. The cost of the building was $3.700. It was built by Ira P. Brown. On the 8th of July, a company of gentlemen from Lynn and the neighboring places visited the rock and held a jovial celebration.
Patrick Buckley, the " Lynn Buck," ran five miles in twenty- eight minutes and thirty-eight seconds, at the Trotting Park, September 19, for a belt valued at $50. And on the 4th of December, William Hendley ran the same distance in twenty- eight minutes and thirty seconds.
The schooner Shark, Captain Carlisle bound from Bristol, Me. for Boston, with wood, was wrecked on Long Beach, 30 Sep- tember. The cargo was strewed along the shore and the vessel went to pieces; but no lives were lost. The disaster was occasioned by the Egg Rock light being mistaken for that on Long Island.
Forest Hill Cemetery, Lynnfield, was consecrated October 14. Addresses were delivered by Rev. E. R. Hodgman and Rev. A. P. Chute.
Some of the Swampscot fishermen were very successful about the close of the year. During the week ending Decem- ber 13, the schooner Flight, Captain Stanley, with thirteen hands, caught 62.700 pounds of cod fish. And a short time before, the crew of the Jane caught in one day, among a large quantity of cod fish of the ordinary size, twelve which weighed on an average fifty-six pounds each. Captain Nathaniel Blanchard caught one cod fish which weighed ninety-four pounds, gross, and seventy- eight pounds dressed.
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1857.
A very violent snow storm commenced on Sunday, January 18. It had been extremely cold. On Friday, the thermometer sank to twenty-two degrees below zero, and on the morning of the day on which the storm began, it was from twelve to twenty below. The wind was high, and the snow drifted furi- ously. So great a quantity fell that almost all travel was sus- pended for one or two days. Three powerful engines were required to force the formidable snow plough along the rail-road track. It was not till Tuesday afternoon that trains were able to reach Lynn from Salem and Boston; at which time one arrived from each place, drawn by four engines. The way being thus opened, other trains followed, and there were eleven engines at the Lynn station, at one time. Much damage was done on the coast and the beaches bore melancholy evidence of the perils of the sea.
The bark Tedesco was totally wrecked in the terrible storm spoken of in the foregoing paragraph. She was commanded by Captain Peterson, of Portland, and was from Cadiz, with a cargo of wine and salt. She was driven ashore at Long Rock, Swampscot, below the Ocean House, and soon went to pieces. All on board, twelve in number, perished. Six of the dead bodies were buried from the Methodist meeting-house in Swamp- scot, at one time. The vessel was valued at $15.000, and the cargo at the same. The captain had been married, at Cadiz, immediately before sailing, but his wife was not on board.
From the 7th day of January to the 20th, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter were all visible in the western hemisphere, and Saturn in the eastern. Uranus was also visible by glasses. Such an occurrence, it is said, Copernicus longed to witness, but did not. Neptune was likewise, at the same time, visible by telescopic aid.
James H. Luscomb, a youth of the age of fifteen, while driving a cow across Long Beach, 19 February, fastened one end of a rope around her neck and the other end around his own body. The cow suddenly turned and rushed back toward Little Nahant, dragging him three quarters of a mile and killing him. His skull was fractured and his back broken in two places.
Goold Brown, aged 65, died at his residence on North Com- mon street, March 31, after an illness of nine days. He early directed his attention to studies connected with the science of language and became widely known as a grammarian. Many years ago he published a grammar which was extensively intro- duced into the schools of the United States. And he taught a seminary in New York city, long and acceptably. His last and great work, which was completed but a short time before his L2* 29
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- death, was entitled the Grammar of English Grammars. He was a native of Providence, R. I., and a descendant of the founder of Brown University ; was a member of the Society of Friends and a much respected citizen. He left a widow and two adopted daughters.
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Haddock appeared in great numbers, at times, during the early part of the year. On the thirteenth of March, about one hundred of the Swampscot fishermen, in twelve boats, caught, in some six hours, 160.000 pounds of fish, almost entirely had. dock.
Fisher Kingsbury, a respectable citizen of Saugus, aged 70, was instantly killed on the Saugus Branch Rail-road, at Malden, 17 March. Both his legs were cut off, and he was otherwise injured, by a passing train.
A number of respectable shoe manufacturers early this year joined in forming a board of trade. It was thought that bene- fits would accrue from the association, particularly through the adoption of rules regarding credit to customers and for the security of greater uniformity in the trade generally. But all the good that at first seemed promised was not realized, owing perhaps in a great measure to the diversity of interests and the unwillingness of some to yield to any regulation that might appear to restrain the largest freedom in trade. The associa- tion did not long continue in active operation.
Trawl-fishing began to be practised by some of the Swamps- cot fishermen this year.
A team load of goods, while passing over Long Beach, from Nahant, May 6, took fire, and was damaged to the amount of sixty dollars.
On the evening of May 26, the shoe manufactory of Albert B. Ingalls, on Union street, was burned, with a considerable amount of stock.
John E. Gowan, a native of Lynn, arrived at Sebastopol, Russia, June 3, to undertake the raising of the ships sunk in that harbor, during the Crimean war, under a contract with the Russian government. His enterprise was successful, and honors were bestowed upon him.
The barn of Captain Fuller, in Humfrey street, Swampscot, was burned, June 13. The fire was set by two little boys who were playing with matches, in the barn. One of the boys, a son of J. A. Knowlton, aged four and a half years, was burned to death.
The color of Egg Rock light was changed from white to red, June 15.
On Sunday morning, 21 June a dwelling-house in process of completion for Mrs. Raddin, widow of George W. Raddin, near the Saugus line. was burned. Loss, about $1.200.
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Widow Mary Wiggin, died June 20, aged 95 - the oldest person in Lynn, at the time.
Independence was celebrated in Lynn, this year. A long procession marched through the streets, consisting of a caval- cade in fancy costumes, fire companies, bands of music, and numerous carriages, beautifully decorated, and filled with school children, bearing mottos, flags, and other insignia. An enter- tainment was provided, on the Common, for the children. In the evening there was a display of fireworks. It was called a juvenile temperance celebration.
At Swampscot, July 4, Henry Scales and John Draper were seriously injured while firing a salute. Scales was badly wound- ed in the bowels, and had an arm broken; and he soon after died, at the Massachusetts Hospital. Draper had an arm broken, an eye destroyed, and was otherwise injured. He was also taken to the hospital, and in about two months died of lockjaw.
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