USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 48
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 48
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 48
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 48
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 48
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On the 15th of July, a pleasure party from Nahant, while fishing, captured a shark twelve feet in length and weighing nearly twelve hundred pounds.
Much excitement took place this summer, in many places, concerning the discovery of pearls in fresh water muscles and clams. Many small ones were found in shell fish taken from the Floating Bridge and Flax ponds, in Lynn, but not enough to render the search more profitable than regular labor. It was quite amusing occasionally to observe some venerable and de- mure citizen, who never in his life had been guilty of imagining that there was such a thing as amusement in the world, wending his way toward the ponds, and fancying his real object entirely concealed by the rod and line, and other sporting gear with which he had so cunningly encumbered himself.
The African Methodist meeting-house, on Hacker street, was dedicated on the 1st of August.
On the 14th of August, at about one o'clock, in the afternoon, while the thermometer was standing at ninety-eight degrees, in the shade, an interesting little child of five years, a daughter of Nicholas Mailey, living on Green street, who was playing in the garden, was sun-struck, and died the next day.
On Tuesday, the 8th of September, the Fifth Regiment of Infantry, Col. Rogers, went into camp, at Nahant, remaining till Thursday. The weather was fine, and the attendance of spec- tators large.
The Franklin Trotting Park, chiefly in Saugus, was laid out this year.
A small comet was visible, to the naked eye, in September, in constellation Bootes.
The different fire engine companies of Lynn had a grand trial of power, on the Common, on Saturday afternoon, September
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26. A great multitude assembled, and much good-natured rival- ry prevailed. Money prizes were contended for, the highest being twenty-five dollars.
Blue fish were very plenty off our shores in the early part of autumn. They are great enemies to the menhaden ; and for several days such a war raged that the beaches were strewn with dead fish, chiefly of the latter species. Mr. Lewis, the historian, said that in two tides, he picked up nine bushels, and buried them in his garden, for manure.
The Congregational meeting-house in Lynnfield, south village, was dedicated November 11.
Great financial embarrassment prevailed throughout the coun- try this year and affected all classes. In Lynn there was a larger amount of suffering among the poor, than had been known for a long period. Numbers were out of employment, and many of the necessaries of life were dear. Public meetings were held, in the fall and winter, to devise means for the relief of the des- titute. Many benevolent hearts were stirred, and individuals of means contributed liberally ; and on the whole the cloud passed away with less distress and disaster than might reasonably have been anticipated. Very few business men failed, and not many of the poor suffered long.
The boundary line between Lynnfield and North Reading was changed this year.
The number of marriages in Lynn during this year was 209.
1858.
The first Congregational Methodist meeting-house, on Ches- nut street, near Broad, was dedicated on the 1st of January. It afterward became the property of the Calvinistic Society known as the Chesnut street Congregational Society.
The first vessel ever built at Nahant was a schooner of sixteen tons. She was built by J. and E. Johnson, and launched on the 11th of February.
Joseph E. Watts, of Marblehead, froze to death on the Eastern Rail-road track, near Oak Island, on the night of the 16th of February.
On the morning of February 19, the rosin oil factory, near the Lynn Common Depot was destroyed by fire. The building was of brick, and the loss of that, together with the stock, amout- ed to $6.000. On the evening of the same day a barn, belong- ing to Oliver Ramsdell, in Gravesend village, was burned.
The " Lynn Buck," so called, walked a plank, at Lowell, in February, a hundred and five consecutive hours and forty-four minutes, without sleep, and with but twenty-nine minutes' rest. A strict watch was kept on him.
Joseph L. Hill, aged 20, while at Swampscot, gunning, on the
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afternoon of March 3, was instantly killed by the accidental dis- charge of a fowling piece.
The sun-dial, on the Common, was set in April. The granite pillar was furnished by the city, and the instrument was pro- cured by private subscription and adjusted by Cyrus M. Tracy.
Telegraphic communication between Lynn and Boston was commenced on the 4th of May.
On the 5th of June, two small boys, while fishing, fell into the basin above Scott's woolen factory, in Saugus, and were drowned.
On the afternoon of June 8, the schooner Prairie Flower, Capt. Brown, left Salem for Boston, with a party on board. When off Nahant, she suddenly capsized and seven were drowned.
Davis's barn, in Saugus, was struck by lighting, during a show- er, June 20.
The Eighth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia para- ded in Lynn, on the 23d of June, in compliment to Col. Coffin. Eight fine companies of infantry were present, and many guests of dignity ; among them Gov. Banks. Dinner was served in a spacious tent, and some five hundred partook. This was the celebrated " Eighth" that gained such plaudits in the early stages of the war of the Great Rebellion.
The month of July was found, by observation, to be the cold- est that had occurred for fourteen years.
On the afternoon of the 6th of August, a barn in Swampscot, belonging to Jonathan F. Phillips, was struck by lightning and burned, with fifty tons of hay. The well-known trotting mare Lady Lawrence, valued at a thousand dollars, being in the barn, was killed by the lightning.
On the evening of the 14th of August the barn of Jacob Jack- son, on Essex street, was burned, with sixteen tons of hay. One cow perished, and another was so badly burned that it was necessary to kill her.
There was an impromptu " cable celebration " in Lynn, on the 17th of August - a firing of guns, waving of flags, and divers similar demonstrations - on the occasion of the transmission of Queen Victoria's message to President Buchanan through the Atlantic cable, the instrument of high hopes that were to be disappointed. At Federal Square, in the evening, there was quite a display.
During a heavy shower, on the afternoon of September 11, two schooners, lying at the west part of the town, were struck by lightning. The whole length of the foremast of one was splintered. The other was not much damaged.
A splendid comet appeared in the autumn of this year. It was one of the most striking and beautiful celestial objects ever witnessed. For many evenings it descended in the northwest
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with its immense tail curving toward the north. The tail was determined to be, on Oct. 10, fifty-one millions of miles in length ; and to the observer it appeared clearly delineated for a length equal to something more than half the distance from the horizon to the zenith. On the 13th of September it was a hun- dred and twenty-two mil- lions of miles from the * earth; and on its nearest approach it was fifty-two millions of miles distant. It is known as the comet of Donati. A faithful rep- SK resentation of this beauti- COMET OF 1858. ful wanderer is here given.
The meeting-house of the Second Baptist Society, on High street, was dedicated on the 7th of October.
On Thursday, the 13th of October, the completion of the elec- tric telegraph to Swampscot was celebrated. Flags were dis- played and guns fired at morning, noon, and night.
John B. Alley was elected, November 2d, Representative to the United States Congress, from this district. He was the first Lynn man, who received the honor of a seat in that august assemblage.
The Catholic Cemetery, was consecrated on Thursday, the 4th of November, by Bishop Fitzpatrick, assisted by six other clergymen. On account of the violence of the storm the ser- vices were chiefly held at the church, where the rite of con- firmation was administered to about two hundred persons. The cemetery contains eight acres.
The tide rose to such a height on the 23d of November that the Lynn and Saugus marshes were so deeply submerged as to occasion detention of the rail-road trains. All the trains were for a time forced to run over the Saugus Branch.
Benjamin Luscomb, aged 46, while examining his fowling piece, preparatory to going on a gunning excursion the next morning was instantly killed by the explosion of a charge, on Sunday evening, December 12. Not supposing the piece to be loaded he had taken the barrel from the stock and was blowing in it, near a lighted lamp.
There were landed in Lynn, during the year, 5.950.000 feet of lumber; 16.034 tons of coal; 5.820 cords of wood; 5.877 casks of lime and cement; and 79.600 bushels of grain. The number of vessels bringing the same, was 337. What was landed on the Saugus side of the river is not included in the statement. And it should be borne in mind that Lynn has no back country to look to her for supplies.
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1859.
Cyrus M. Tracy this year published an octavo pamphlet of eighty-eight pages, entitled "Studies of the Essex Flora: a Complete Enumeration of all the Plants found growing naturally within the limits of Lynn, Mass., and the Towns adjoining, ar- ranged according to the Natural System, with copious Notes as to Localities and habits." The title fully expresses the char- acter of the work, and Mr. Tracy performed his task in a very creditable manner. As it will be interesting to those who occupy this soil in the far future, when population and art have driven nature from her present footholds, to know what forest trees grew and wild flowers bloomed where then will be busy streets, this modest work will be valued long after many more pretentious things are forgotten.
There was very little cold or tempestuous weather, in the winter of 1858-9, before the middle of February. The evenings of January, as regarded temperature, were generally more like those of April, than any other season. The cumulous clouds, on several occasions, like immense fleeces of wool, rose to a great height, and in the moonlight made a very beautiful appear- ance. After the colder weather set in, one of the chief amuse- ments, not only of the school boys but the school girls and not only of the young, but of the mature, of both sexes, was skating. On moonlight evenings, the ponds were vocal with the merry voices of those engaged in the exhilarating recreation.
1859.
Judson J. Hutchinson died, January 11, age 38. He was one of the favorite band of singers known as the Hutchinson brothers. He committed suicide, by hanging, at the wooden dwelling on the west of the stone cottage, at High Rock. The act was no doubt done while he was laboring under mental aberration. For several years he had at times been insane, and his mind occasionally seemed to incline to self-destruction. Many months before the melancholy event took place, he very pleas- antly and as was supposed jocosely assured the writer that nothing but lack of courage had for a long time prevented his destroying his life. He was an enthusiast, and possessed many eccentricities in manners and modes of thought; but he was genial in disposition, affable in manners, intelligent, and much beloved. He was a spiritualist, and could see no evil in taking the abrupt road that he did to join his friends in the spirit land.
There was a " Calico Ball" at the Sagamore House, on Wednesday evening, January 19. All the ladies appeared in calico dresses, which at that time were the cheapest style of dress. A hundred couples were present. The prize of a gold bracelet was awarded to the lady who in the judgment of a committee was arrayed in the most neat and becoming manner,
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personal charms also being taken into account - and Miss Nellie Clapp was the fair winner of the prize. It was a very pleasant gathering ; and the prevalence of silks and satins could not have added to its attractiveness.
Early on the morning of the 21st of January, the commodious . grammar school-house, in Woodend, with its contents, was totally destroyed by fire. The building was valued at $6.000, and was built in 1851.
On Wednesday night, February 2, during a violent storm, the Vernon, a British bark of 265 tons, bound from Messina for Bos- ton, with a cargo chiefly of fruit, was driven ashore on Long Beach. The wind was very high and the sea in terrific commo- tion; but by great courage and the skillful management of a life boat all the crew were saved. Most of the cargo was also saved. At low tide the vessel was left almost out of water; but on Sunday morning, 13 February, she was got off and towed to Boston, in a crippled condition. A spirited lithographie print, illustrating the scene at the wreck, was soon after published.
There was a total eclipse of the moon early on the morning of February 17. The sky being very clear, an unusually strik- ing effect was produced.
On Friday morning, February 25, the tin ware and stove store of Brawn and Morrill, on Broad street, near Newhall, was burned. Loss $3.000.
A large humpback whale was several times seen near the Swampscot shore in the latter part of February.
The New England Mechanic, a weekly newspaper, of good size, was commenced on the 19th of March, by Alonzo G. Dra- per as an advocate for the interests of the journeymen shoe- makers.
The New England Conference of the Methodist Church com- menced its annual session in Lynn, on Wednesday, April 6, Bishop Ames presiding.
On Saturday night, 28 May, the Catholic church, on Ash street, was burned, and one or two small buildings standing near, were considerably damaged. The value of the church property destroyed was $6.500.
William F. Mills and Charles A. Forbes, while on a pleasure sail some two miles outside of Egg Rock, on Sunday, May 29, were overtaken by a squall which overset the boat. Mills was drowned and Forbes was taken up, in an insensible condition, by a passing schooner, and carried to Boston.
A man ran round Lynn Common on the evening of June 3, on a wager, in two minutes and three quarters.
On the nights of the 4th and 5th of June there were severe frosts.
Independence was celebrated in Lynn, in a very pleasant
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manner. A long procession, consisting of military and fire companies, city officials and other dignitaries, with numerous decorated carriages containing the pupils of the public schools, moved through the principal streets, accompanied by bands of music. A collation was prepared on the Common, and short addresses were made by the Mayor and others. In the evening there was a display of fireworks. The day was also celebrated at Swampscot.
On Tuesday, July 19, Mr. Fenno went out from Swampscot, in a boat, to fish ; subsequently the boat was found drifting and Mr. Fenno was missing, though his hat remained in the boat. On the 28th, his body was found floating a short distance from the Ocean House.
A grand regatta took place at Nahant, on the 22d of July. The prize contended for was an elegant silver pitcher.
On Sunday evening, July 31, a fire occurred in Healey's Ar- cade, at the west end of the Common, damaging the same to the amount of some $2.000. The stocks in the stores were likewise considerably damaged.
A horse mackerel was taken off Bass Point, Nahant, on the 3d of August, measuring between nine and ten feet in length and six feet in girth, and weighing six hundred and fourteen pounds.
On the afternoon of August 12, as a train was passing on the Eastern Rail-road, a few rods east of the Swampscot depot, it ran into a herd of cows which were feeding on the track. The engine, tender, and a baggage car were thrown from the track, down an embankment, and several of the cows were killed.
There was a brilliant display of the northern lights, on Sun- day evening, August 28. The whole heavens were overspread.
Charles Frost was run over by a fire engine, in Market street, on the evening of August 31, and instantly killed, one of the wheels passing over his head.
In the early part of September, some twenty spots were observed on the surface of the sun, distributed in clusters.
In September, a lady living in Lynn, feeling a prickling sensa- tion in her heel, examined and found protruding a needle, which from certain circumstances she was convinced was one that she ran into her foot eleven years before. In all that time it had not proved troublesome ; and when extracted was as bright as when new.
On the morning of September 2, the heavens were tinged by an aurora of a deep red hue. In the southwest it appeared like the reflection of a conflagration.
The engine house, corner of Ash and Elm streets, was burned, together with nine hundred feet of hose, the hose carriage, and other property, on the night of Sunday, October 2.
M2
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1860.
Two barns on the Hood Farm, Water Hill, were destroyed by fire on the morning of November 10, together with fifty tons of hay, and a large quantity of vegetables. And on the night of the same day, the barn of Daniel Fairchild, on Boston street, was burned, three horses perishing in the flames.
A large barn, belonging to John Mansfield, in the south village of Lynnfield, was burned on the 18th of November. Two yoke of oxen and two horses perished in the fire.
On Sunday evening, November 20, the Union street Metho- dist meeting-house was totally destroyed by fire. A Sunday school concert was being held in the building at the time, and some five hundred persons, a large portion of whom were chil- dren, were in attendance ; but all safely retired. The loss was about $8.000. The bell, organ, clock, and part of the Sunday school library were lost.
The church bells were tolled in Lynn, at sunrise, noon, and sunset, on Friday, December 2, on account of the execution of John Brown, at Charlestown, Va., on the charge of treason, growing ont of an armed attempt to free slaves.
So many fires had in recent years occurred in the woods, destroying such quantities of wood which had been prepared for fuel, as well as that standing, that a serious depreciation in the value of wood land seemed likely to ensue. Several large proprietors, awakening to the necessity of some action, made a move for the protection of their interests. Their direct efforts, perhaps, secured no conspicuous result; but by arousing atten- tion and operating on public sentiment some good was effected. Rewards have been offered by the authorities, from time to time, for the detection of rogues setting such fires. In the spring, when the earth has become dry, and before the new verdure has put forth, the greatest danger exists ; and many a boy, by carelessly throwing down a lighted match has been the instrument of great mischief; to say nothing of those who are so abandoned as to wantonly destroy the property of others. The fact that the fires most frequently occur on Sunday is sig- nificant.
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1860.
On the afternoon of January 6, three young men walked across the harbor, on the ice, from near the south end of Com- mercial street, to Bass Point, Nahant. No one had before so crossed at a point so far out, for some twenty years.
The brick school house, in Woodend, which was built to supply the place of the wooden structure destroyed by fire, on the 21st of January, 1859, was dedicated on the 8th of February.
The Lynnfield Agricultural Library Association was founded on the 11th of February.
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1860.
A great Shoemakers' Strike commenced in Lynn, in February. No occurrence of the kind in this part of the country perhaps ever before created such a sensation. Processions of workmen paraded the streets, day after day, with music and banners. Large delegations of operatives from other places joined. And in several instances - on one occasion during a snow storm - large bodies of females appeared in the ranks ; for the shoebind- ers were also on a strike. On the 16th of March, a really im- posing spectacle was presented. Several military and fire companies belonging to Lynn and other places, numerous de- tachments of strikers from neighboring towns, and hundreds of women, formed in grand procession with the Lynn strikers and marched through the streets with bands of music, flags, and banners with devices. They moved in as close order as is common with such bodies, and the procession was something more than half a mile in length, and numbered, at different points, from three thousand to five thousand individuals. The day was very pleasant, and the demonstration passed off in an orderly manner. In the early part of the strike there was a good deal of excitement; and the city authorities, not deeming themselves sufficient for the emergency, sent to Boston for a detachment of police officers and took means promptly to secure other support from abroad should necessity require. After continuing about seven weeks, the great ferment quietly sub- sided. There was very little violence -a wonderfully small amount, considering the magnitude of the interests supposed to be at stake, and the energy with which the war of words was kept up. The object of the strikers was the same that is com- mon in all such movements; namely, the obtaining of more adequate remuneration for labor ; for it was alleged that at the current rates very few found it possible to obtain a decent livelihood. On the other hand, the manufacturers maintained that under existing circumstances, it was not in their power to pay higher prices. There was probably a misconception of facts on both sides. The whole trade had, in truth, through the instrumentality of some who had made heedless haste to be rich, and others, who had operated in ways positively dis- honest, been brought into an unhealthy condition, a condition where it was necessary that some remedy should be applied. But whether a resort to such means as a general strike was the most expedient remains problematical. Yet the result did not seem to be mischievous. The energetic discussions that took place opened the way for a better understanding. Many facts were brought to light, useful to employers and employed. The suspension of labor prevented the accumulation of large stocks on the hands of the manufacturers, which stocks, no doubt, would in many cases have been disposed of, on credit, to south-
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ern dealers, who, judging from the experience of some Lynn people, about that time, touching southern integrity, would not have been over-anxious that the spirit of rebellion should be curbed till they had time to discharge their obligations. Though perhaps no definite and conspicuous result of this famous Strike could be shown; yet it is far from certain that it was not bene- ficial. Each party saw more clearly the strength and weakness, the wants and difficulties, of the other, and the friends of justice, on both sides, had the means furnished for a more intelligible view. The whole country seemed to have their eyes momenta- rily turned on Lynn, and through the daily journals and illustra- ted weeklies, her travail was magnified to an extent far beyond what was dreamed of in her own borders.
On Sunday morning, February 19, Dr. Ezekiel P. Eastman died, aged 42. He had practised in Lynn for a number of years, was a skillful physician, and possessed attractive manners.
The Mechanics' Steam Mill, on Broad street, near the foot of Market, was burned on the evening of March 12, together with one or two other frame buildings, occupied for mechanical purposes. Loss, about $8.000.
John Whalley, a partially deaf man, was killed on the rail-road track, near Market street, being struck by a locomotive, on the 23d of March.
The Third Baptist Society in Lynn, was formed this year ; and their meeting-house, near Dye House village, was dedicated on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 16.
There was an uncommon drought during the spring of this year. The first rain for forty-one days fell on the 19th of May. Vegetation, however, did not materially suffer, the dews being heavy and the sun not in its summer position.
The Universalist meeting-house in the centre village of Sau- gus was dedicated on Thursday, the 24th of May. The Univer- salists had succeeded to the first Calvinistic church property, and having disposed of the old meeting-house, which stood in the Square, and which was built in 1738, erected their new edifice. The ancient house was steepleless, and certainly not a very elegant specimen of architecture; but its history is interest- ing. It was there that the celebrated Parson Roby preached, so many years. The spot where it stood was purchased by the town to be retained as a public ground.
St. Andrew's Episcopal Chapel, in the ancient Gothic style, was built this year, on Ontario Court, and first opened for service on Sunday, June 10.
Rev. Sumner Ellis was installed pastor of the First Universal- ist Society, in Lynn, on the afternoon of June 13.
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