USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 9
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The term Cordwainer, as a designation of this craft, has long usurped the place of Ladies' Shoemaker. This word had its origin from Cordova, a city in the south of Spain, where a pecu- liar kind of leather was manufactured for ladies' shoes. The word in the Spanish is Cordoban; in the Portuguese, Cordovan ;
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and in the French, Cordouan; whence the term Cordouaniers, or Cordwainers. [Cordwinder, by the way, is the shape in which the term appears in the first Colony Charter. The Cor- dovan leather was tanned and dressed goat skin. Members of the craft are sometimes called Sons of Crispin. And this arose from the honor done the calling by that worthy. Several of the societies of shoemakers, in France and England, early adopt- ed good Crispin as their patron.] In the eighth century, the descendants of Alaric, in revenge at being passed by in the choice of a king, called the Arabians to their aid. They came, and Roderic, the last of the Goths, fell in the seven days' battle, at Tarik, in 711. In 756, Abderrhaman made himself master of Spain, and established his caliphate at Cordova. During the Arabian power, agriculture, commerce, the arts and sciences, flourished in Spain ; and in that period, the celebrated Cordova leather was introduced. It was similar to what is now known as morocco, and was altogether superior to any thing which had been previously used for the manufacture of ladies' shoes. It was at first colored black, and afterward red, by the use of cochineal.
[The names of the first two shoemakers in the Massachusetts colony appear in the following extract from the Second General Letter of the Governor and Deputy of the New England Com- pany, dated London, 28 May, 1629, which may be found in the Col. Recs. vol. I, pp. 404, 405. And the extract may prove addi- tionally interesting, as explaining, to some extent, the condition and position of that class of craftsmen. But would not one of our extensive manufacturers now think that the time when " divers hydes, both for soles and vpp leathers," with two men to work them " vpp in bootes and shoes," were sufficient for the country, was a day of rather small things ?
Thomas Beard, a shoomaker, and Isack Rickman, being both recomended to vs by Mr Symon Whetcombe to receive their dyett & houseroome at the charge of the Companie, wee haue agreed they shalbe wth yow, the Gounor, or placed elsewhere, as yo" shall thinke good, and receive from yo", or by yor appointmt, their dyett & lodging, for wch they are to pay, each of them, after the rate of 10£ p ann. And wee desire to receive a certificate, vnder the hand of whomsoever they shalbe soe dyetted & lodged wth, how long tyme they haue remained wth them, in case they shall otherwise dispose of themselues before the yeare bee expired, or at least wise at the end of each yeare, to the H*
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end wee may heere receive payınt according to the sd agreemt. The said Tho : Beard hath in the shipp the May Flower divers hydes, both for soles and vpp leathers, wch hee intends to make vpp in bootes and shoes there in the coun- try. Wee pray yow let Mr Peirce, the mr of the said shipp, viewe the said leather, & estimate what tonnage the same may import, that soe the said Beard may ether pay vnto yow there after the rate of 4 £ p tonn for fraight of the same, the like for his dyett if there bee occasion to vse any of his comodi- ties, or otherwise, vpon yor advice, wee may receive it of Mr Whetcombe, who hath promised to see the same discharged. Wee desire also the said Tho : Beard may haue 50 acres of land allotted to him as one that transports him- selfe at his owne charge. But as well for him as all others that shall haue land allotted to them in that kinde, and are noe adventurers in the comon stock, wch is to support the charge of ffortyficacons, as also for the ministrie & divers other affaires, wee holde it fitt that these kinde of men, as also such as shall come to inheritt lands by their service, should, by way of acknowl- edgmt to such from whom they receive these lands, become lyable to the pformance of some service certaine dayes in the yeare, and by that service they and their posteritie after them to hold and inherite these lands, wch wilbe a good meanes to enjoy their lands from being held in capite, and to support the plantacon in genall and peticuler.
[This extract also gives a glimpse of the nature of the tenure by which it was desired that the class to which Mr. Beard belonged, should hold their lands. There was nothing very democratic in it. Of Isaac Rickman, the other shoemaker who came over in the fleet, nothing seems to be known. He proba- bly returned in a short time. Mr. Beard was made a freeman, 10 May, 1643, and soon after purchased an estate at Strawberry Bank, now Portsmouth, where he probably settled.]
At the beginning, women's shoes at Lynn, were made of neat's leather, or woolen cloth; only they had a nicer pair, of white silk, for the wedding day, which were carefully preserved, as something too delicate for ordinary use. About the year 1670, shoes began to be cut with broad straps, for buckles which were worn by women as well as by men. In 1727, square-toed shoes, and buckles for ladies, went out of fashion; though buckles continued to be worn by men till after the revolution. The sole-leather was all worked with the flesh side out. In 1750, John Adam Dagyr, a Welchman, gave great impulse and notoriety to the business, by producing shoes equal to the best made in England. From that time the craft continued to flour- ish, until it became the principal business of the town. Fathers, sons, journeymen, and apprentices, worked together, in a shop
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of one story in height, twelve feet square, with a fire-place in one corner, and a cutting-board in another. The finer quality of shoes were made with white and russet rands, stitched very fine, with white waxed thread. They were made with very sharp toes, and had wooden heels, covered with leather, from half an inch to two inches in height ; called cross-cut, common, court, and Wurtemburgh heels. About the year 1800, wooden heels were discontinued, and leather heels were used instead. [The manufacture of wooden heels was as much a separate business as last making now is. One of the principal factories at which they were turned out was on Boston street. I think they did not go out of use quite so early as would be supposed from the date Mr. Lewis gives.] In 1783, Mr. Ebenezer Breed introduced the use of morocco leather ; and at the commence- ment of the present century, two of the principal shoe manufac- turers, were Mr. Amos Rhodes and Col. Samuel Brimblecom.
Many shoemakers have become eminent. Nilant has a book on shoes. Hans Sack wrote fifty volumes of prose. Bloom- field composed that delightful poem, the Farmer's Boy, while at work on his bench, and wrote it down when he had finished the labor of the day. William Gifford, the editor of the London Quarterly Review, and the translator of Juvenal, served his apprenticeship with a cordwainer. John Pounds, of Portsmouth, while engaged in his daily work, contrived to educate some hundreds of the neighboring children. [Linnaeus, the great botanical classifier, was apprenticed to a shoemaker. And so was David Pareus, the elder, celebrated as professor of theology at Heidelburgh. Benedict Baudouin, one of the most learned men of century 1500, was a shoemaker. And so was Holcraft, author of The Critic.] In our own country, Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was a shoe- maker; and John G. Whittier left the manufacture of shoes for ladies' feet, to make verses for their boudoirs. [But it would, perhaps, be quite as profitable to cast an observing eye upon those born in our own community, who have risen from the shoemaker's seat to positions conspicuous and honorable. Lynn can present numerous examples most worthy of imitation. It is, however, important to distinguish between those whose claims rest on mere wealth, which is frequently attained by the
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most ignorant and undeserving, and those who possess that which is really ennobling - between those whose minds expand not beyond the circumference of a dollar and those who, by God's grace, are more richly endowed.]
Poets, in all ages, have noticed the shoe as an important part of the dress, especially of a lady. Shakspeare bestows an ex- quisite compliment on the dressing of the foot, when he says - "Nay - her foot speaks."
Butler, in his Hudibras, makes the hero of that inimitable poem pay his devours to his lady-love, in the following terms -
" Madam! I do, as is my duty, Honor the shadow of your shoe-tie !"
A certain critic, of more learning than good sense, once under- took to bestow an unusual quantity of censure on two of our own lines, in the description of a lady's person -
" But if one grace might more attention suit, It was the striking neatness of her foot."
Now we think that every reader of good taste will agree with us, at least in admiring the idea which these lines are intended to convey.
Genteel Reader -for I trust I shall have many such -are you aware that you are now perhaps trampling the industry of Lynn beneath your feet! How often are we indebted to those of whom we think least, for many of our most valuable and salutary enjoyments. Look at that young lady, who might be taken by Brackett as a model for one of the graces, reclining in an easy-chair, with her foot upon an ottoman. See the delicate shoe which fits as if it were formed by the hand of Apelles ! Shakspeare, in his Romeo and Juliet, says -"I would I were a glove upon that hand !" How often have I wished -" O, would I were a shoe upon that foot!" Perhaps neither she who dis- plays that elegant foot, nor the many who admire it, think that much of its grace is to be ascribed to some unknown indi- vidual on the shores of Lynn. Yet there, by the sound of the rippling waters, are thousands of men employed in manufactur- ing all manner of outer vestures for the delicate foot, and as many women engaged in binding and trimming them. There the belle of the city may suit both her form and taste with the newest and most delicately formed style, either for the boudoir
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or ball-room, with its classic shape and its Parisian title - there the rustic maid may procure the laced buskin which shall add a new grace to her modest beauty - and there the mother may find the substantial fabric, adapted to domestic comfort for her own foot; or the soft tissue, with its congenial trimming of gossamer and gold, for the foot of her loved little one. So long as the foot needs to be protected, so long will the manufactures of Lynn continue to flourish.
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[Conveniences for travel are matters of the first importance in all new settlements. And of course our fathers soon directed their attention to the securing of means for communication be- tween different parts of their own wide-spread plantation and with the adjacent settlements.
[At times, vigorous discussions have taken place as to the particular course of the early routes from Lynn to Boston. It should be remembered that water communication was much favored by the early settlers, for land journeys over the primi- tive roads, in such a rough country, were excessively fatiguing, and to an extent dangerous. And besides the obstacles of rock, stump, and quagmire, there long existed an apprehension that ravenous beasts and serpents would dispute the way. An ac- credited tradition is mentioned in Felt's Annals, to the effect that certain persons from Salem visited Boston soon after its settlement and were four days on the road. On the next Sun- day after their return they had a note of thanks, for their safe deliverance from the perils and hardships of the journey, read at the meeting-house. For the crossing of creeks and rivers, and for inconsiderable coast voyaging, the Indian canoes were sufficient ; and attention was early called to the construction of shallops suitable for more extended navigation. It is very likely that passengers were taken to Boston from a point in the vicinity of Sagamore Hill, as well as from points as far west as Saugus river. In good weather the passage was pleasant, and with a fair wind by no means tedious. But a land route must have been very soon established, for the water communication was liable to be interrupted by ice in winter, and rendered haz- ardous and subject to delays by storms and adverse winds, more
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or less, at all times. In 1639 the General Court granted to Gar- ret Spencer " the fferry at Linn, for 2 yeares." And this was no doubt a ferry established between Needham's Landing, just be- low Chase's mill, in Lynn, and Ballard's Landing, in East Saugus, and was a very great convenience for passengers to and from Boston.
[It is not easy to determine exactly the direction which the first road took. And it is highly probable that before the bridge over Saugus river was built, two or three routes from settled parts of the town, to fording places, existed; nor is it improba- ble that these were struck out almost simultaneously.
[I am satisfied, from examination, that one of the most ancient of these routes was along the foot of the hills, north of Boston street. From the northern termination of Federal street it fol- lowed Walnut to the bend where Holyoke joins. Thence it proceeded, by Holyoke street, along the margin of what was formerly called Pan Swamp, a comparatively waste territory, though making some pretension to the dignity of a cranberry meadow; but which has been reclaimed and now forms the beautiful interval lying on the north of the street last named. It followed the upland curve, crossed the busy little stream called Beaver Brook, and, passing perhaps a furlong west of the late farm residence of Rev. C. C. Shackford, came out at the point where the road leading to the Saugus woolen factories diverges from the old highway between Lynn and Lynnfield. There this ancient way, without following either of the present roads, kept on to a fording place considerably above the roman- tic site which was subsequently occupied by the Iron Works, so famous in early colonial history. And from the fording place, it probably swept off for Boston through the vicinage of Malden and Medford. Into this road, undoubtedly, at different points, other roads from the scattered neighborhoods of Lynn entered. In support of the belief that an ancient and important way pur- sued the direction here indicated, it may be mentioned that some of the first and most prominent settlers are found to have located along the course. Richard Sadler, one of the very early comers, and who was the first Clerk of the Writs - an official with duties somewhat analogous to those of Town Clerk -lived just at the junction of Walnut and Holyoke streets - the lofty
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cliff known as Sadler's Rock deriving its name from him. Nich- olas Brown, Samuel Bennett, and Adam Hawkes, who were also among the early planters, pitched their tents considerably to the northwest of Mr. Sadler. And it is quite certain that in the territory above the Iron Works there were settlers while the town was in its very infancy. The renowned Thomas Dexter sat himself down there ; and the very first deed on our county records is one given by him, in 1639. And furthermore, on a pleasant afternoon during the last autumn, I took an opportunity to examine almost the whole of the route from Holyoke street to the river, and was surprised at the clear evidences of an an- cient settled way. Remains of the old wall are clearly distin- guishable, on either hand, for considerable distances, and here and there appear sites that bear unmistakable marks of ancient occupancy. It is perfectly plain that it was not a mere cart- way, laid out for the convenience of drawing wood. And observation indicates that there may have been a branch di- verging from this road, at about the point where Myrtle street intersects Holyoke, running along under the hills, by Oak street, and joining again, perhaps half a mile northwest of the old Dun- geon Gate, which was near Henry B. Newhall's farm house ; or, possibly, continuing on to another fording place.
[But there may have been another route to Boston, as early. The present Boston street was a traveled way soon after the settlement commenced. When the traveler struck the river by this route, which he must have done at a point just about where the street now strikes it, if no means were at hand by which he could cross, he pursued his way up, on the eastern side, the road running along the most level upland near the river. At a fording place he crossed, and proceeded on toward Boston, either by coming down on the west side to a point nearly op- posite where he turned up, thus making a detour of perhaps three miles, and then following a road along the margin of the salt marshes ; or, by taking a broader and more westerly sweep from the fording place.
[In October, 1631, Governor Winthrop, accompanied by sev- eral official dignitaries, left Boston, and traveled " on foot to Saugus, and the next day to Salem, where they were boun- tifully entertained by Captain Endicott." And the day after
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" they returned to Boston by the ford at Saugus river and so over at Mistick."
[It will be observed in regard to these routes, that they are supposed to have been traveled before the establishment of the Iron Works, which went into operation in 1643. And the bridge at the Boston street crossing was built about four years before. After the bridge was completed, travelers, of course, nearly abandoned the fording places. It is well, also, to bear in mind that the travel, in those days, was quite limited. At- tendance on the General Court was one of the chief necessities that called men to the metropolis. While the Iron Works were in operation, which appears to have been, to some extent, till 1683, the road just spoken of as running up the east side of the river, from Boston street, was undoubtedly much used. The manufactured articles, however, were, in all probability, trans- ported chiefly by water; for whoever takes notice of the posi- tion in which the Works stood, will at once conclude that convenience for loading the little vessels was a prominent object.
[So much is said elsewhere in this volume concerning these Iron Works that little should be said here. It is certain that Mr. Lewis felt a very great interest in their history. And, indeed, the public records show that the colonial authorities deemed their establishment a matter of great importance. On the after- noon spoken of, after carefully traversing the route up from Boston street, through the still wild and beautifully diversified region, where one is forced at almost every step to linger and admire, I came to a halt in the romantic vale where the old Works were seated. Borrowing a pickaxe' from one at work in the neighborhood I lustily applied it to one of the mounds of scoria, or cinder banks, as they are called. The labor, and object, to be sure, were humble in comparison with those of . Layard at Nineveh, but a fact of no little interest was verified. Sufficient mould has accumulated, during these two centuries, to sustain a respectable garniture of grass ; but even the casual passer would hardly mistake them for natural hillocks. It is really remarkable that in a neighborhood which has been well populated for generations, so many tons of these relics should remain heaped up, just as the sooty workmen left them two
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hundred years ago. Certainly scores, and probably hundreds, of tons, of those which remained nearest the river, were, how- ever, removed many years since. They were boated down and sunk at the dam at the Boston steet crossing. It was imagined that they would form the best material for preventing the pas- sage of eels, which are troublesome sappers; but they did not prove to be of much value. Still, as they can easily be removed it may not be long before some other use is found for them. The unsentimental hand of improvement or speculation may be suddenly extended, and in a day scatter them, so that a few years hence the mining river or delving ploughshare will be looked to for the recovery of specimens wherewith to enrich the cabinets of the curious. Whether the Iron Works were, on the whole, successful, it is not easy to determine; in some respects, they undoubtedly were. A prejudice early arose against them, founded on the singular apprehension that their great consumption of wood might ultimately produce a scarcity of fuel. This will hardly be belived ; yet it was so. The under- takers found themselves, from various causes, involved in pro- tracted lawsuits, and a good portion of their profits vanished in the corrosive atmosphere of the courts. Law is expensive as a luxury. And those who freely indulge in it may consider themselves on the high road to ruin. Yet, as a remedial agent, it is occasionally useful if not necessary.
[These ancient works must have presented a highly pictur- esque appearance, seated down there between the densely wood- ed hills, the smoke curling up among the trees, and at night the red glare of the furnace fires streaming over the dark river, lighting up the thickets beyond, and perhaps revealing the dusky form of some skulking Indian or prowling beast; to say nothing of the roving devils which the lively imaginations of our good fathers discovered in every quarter where there were pious men and women to affright and harrass. But the Iron Works were destined before many years to have their final account closed - the clink of the hammer ceased, the fire of the forge went out, and the begrimmed workmen departed.
[It may be mentioned that there are traditions confirming the existence of the old roads here spoken of. A worthy yeoman who lives on the eastern border of Saugus, with considerable I 7
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assurance informed me that the ancient mail route lay through the strip of woods running north from Boston street and imme- diately on the east of Saugus river. He learned this from family tradition. And it is through these woods, it will be observed, that the old roads are supposed to have run, with the exception of the branch by Oak street. It is by no means unlikely that while the Iron Works were in operation, there was considerable correspondence carried on with Boston and Salem; and it is not at all improbable that a post-rider may have pursued that route, delivering letters and retailing news by the way; for it will be remembered that there were no newspapers in America at that time. And when some great historical romancer shall arise, we shall see those ancient post-riders conspicuously figuring.
[The ferry from Needham's Landing, in Lynn, to Ballard's Landing, in Saugus, has been already mentioned. It must have been a great accommodation, to several neighborhoods, even after the bridge was built. But it does not appear to have been long kept in operation.
[Perhaps a word should be said regarding the routes eastward. These are not now so easily traced, for reasons that will suggest themselves to the reader. The first, appears to have followed along the foot of the hills, northeasterly, from the end of Fed- eral street, being, in fact, a continuation of that first described as running through Walnut and Holyoke streets. From this, at a later period, a branch ran through the Mineral Spring grounds, and after pursuing a devious course probably joined another road that came in from Salem and Marblehead, through Swamps- cot and Woodend. By the record book of Salem grants, it appears that that town granted " to Leiftenant davenport about 2 acres of Land lying on the west side of Butt brook, not farr from the place where the way goeth over to Lyn." This was in 1638. And Butt Brook took its name from a family of the name of Butt who lived near it. It is now called Tapley's Brook.
[It would he interesting to say something of the highways as they appeared in succeeding years. But perhaps sufficient will appear in the following pages. Our roads, at the present time, are quite famous for their excellence, being broad, level, and hard. And should one of the old settlers be permitted to
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arise and perambulate them, how would he be astonished at their perfection and at the elegance of the edifices that adorn them. But more than all would he be astonished at the variety and style of the vehicles by which they are traversed, and the multitudes of the merry sons and daughters of his sedate con- temporaries who in strange and extravagant apparel throng them. It would be interesting, too, to trace the progress of im- provement in the modes of travel, were there not so many other matters of seemingly more importance pressing forward for no- tice. Going back to the time when wheeled carriages were hardly known here for purposes of mere travel, we might see the old gentleman sally forth upon the back of plodding dobbin, with the good dame seated upon her pillion behind him. And years after, when population had increased sufficiently to induce public-spirited individuals to establish conveyances for the con- venience of the public and their own profit, might be seen awkward and rickety vehicles lumbering along, at protracted and uncertain intervals, and at a pace, extraordinarily rapid for the time, perhaps, but yet such as would lead the ambitious pedestrian of our day to decline their services, if he were in haste. Still further on appears the jolly stage-coach, which, for so many years, held its supremacy - at first an unseemly and uncomfortable affair, literally a " slow coach "- and then, light, tasty and as rapidly moving as emulous horses and aspiring Jehus could make it. What a bright spot will the stage-coach occupy in history - what a bright spot does it already occupy in poetry and romance. But the rail-road came, and with a triumphant whistle drove it from the track. A day of reckoning, however, may be in store for that arrogant intruder. Its gilded sides and velvet cushions, its sleeping and its smoking cars, may not be competent to save it from a mortifying end through the agency of some yet uninvented traveling machine - some wonderful offspring of art and science, that will exultingly send it screaming away to that oblivious depot whither are dis- patched all the used-up things of earth.
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