USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 32
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 32
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 32
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 32
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 32
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297
ANNALS OF LYNN-1695, 1696.
The practice prevailed, for many years, of warning out of the town, by a formal mandamus of the selectmen, every family and individual, rich or poor, who came into it. This was done to exonerate the town from any obligation to render support in case of poverty. One old gentleman, who had just arrived in town, to whom this order was read, took it for a real intimation to depart. "Come, wife," he says, "we must pack up. But there - we have one consolation for it -it is not so desirable a place."
1695:
The property of the Nahants, which had been a cause of contention from the first settlement of the town, was this year claimed by the heiresses of Richard Woody, of Boston; into whose claim they probably descended by a mortgage of one of the sagamores, in 1652. At a town meeting, on the 18th of October, " There being a summons read, wherein was signi- fied that the lands called Nahants were attached by Mrs. Mary Daffern, of Boston, and James Mills summoned to answer said Daffern at an inferior court, to be holden in the county of Essex, on the last Tuesday of December, 1695; the town did then choose Lieutenant Samuel Johnson, Joseph Breed, and John Burrill, junior, to defend the interests of the town in the lands called Nahants, and to employ an attorney or attorneys, as they shall see cause, in the town's behalf, against the said Daffern, and so from court to court, till the cause be ended -they or either of them - and the town to bear the charge."
The following is transcribed from the records of the Quarterly Court, December 31. " Mrs. Mary Daffern and Mrs. Martha Padis- hall, widows, and heiresses of Richard Woody, late of Boston, deceased, plaintiffs, versus John Atwill junior, of Lynn, in an action of trespass upon the case, &c., according to writ, dated 30th September, 1695. The plaintiffs being called three times, made default and are nonsuited. The judgment of the court is, that plaintiffs pay unto the defendants costs." This is the last we hear of any claim made upon the Nahants, as individual property.
1696.
January 13. "The Selectmen did agree with Mr. [Abraham] Normenton to be schoolmaster for the town, for the year ensuing, and the town to give him five pounds for his labor; and the town is to pay twenty five shillings towards the hire of Nathan- iel Newhall's house to keep school in, and the said Mr. Nor- menton to hire the said house."
Immense numbers of great clams were thrown upon the beaches by storms. The people were permitted by a vote of
298
ANNALS OF LYNN -1697.
the town, to dig and gather as many as they wished for their own use, but no more ; and no person was allowed to carry any out of the town, on a penalty of twenty shillings. The shells were gathered in cart loads on the beach, and manufactured into lime.
This year, two Quakers, whose names were Thomas Farrar and John Hood, for refusing to pay parish taxes, suffered nearly one month's imprisonment at Salem.
The winter of this year was the coldest since the first settle- ment of New England. [During the latter part of February, the roads had become so obstructed by snow and ice that travel was suspended.]
1697.
On the 8th of January, the town, by vote, set the prices of provisions, to pay Mr. Shepard's salary, as follows : beef, 3d .; pork, 4d. a pound. Indian corn, 5s .; barley, barley malt, and rye, 5s. 6d .; and oats, 2s. a bushel.
The blackbirds had to keep a bright look out this year, as the whole town were in arms against them. The town voted, March 8, "that every householder in the town, should, some time before the fifteenth day of May next, kill or cause to be killed, twelve blackbirds, and bring the heads of them, at or before the time aforesaid, to Ebenezer Stocker's, or Samuel Collins's, or Thomas Burrage's, or John Gowing's, who are appointed and chose by the town to receive and take account of the same, and take care this order be duly prosecuted; and if any householder as aforesaid shall refuse or neglect to kill and bring in the heads of twelve blackbirds, as aforesaid, every such person shall pay three pence for every blackbird that is wanting as aforesaid, for the use of the town."
[The small pox made its appearance in Lynn, in the spring of this year to the great alarm of many people. Samuel Mans- field died of it, 10 April.
[There was a "sore and long continued drought," in the summer. And the season was one peculiarly fatal to farm stock of all kinds. The winter was very severe, and the ground was covered with snow from the first of December till the middle of March. In February, the snow was three and a half feet deep, on a level.
[For the purpose of giving an idea of the facilities for inter- communication, at this time, the following extract from a letter dated in February, is introduced. The letter was from Jonathan Dickenson, at Philadelphia, to William Smith. "In 14 days we have an answer from Boston; once a week from New York; once in three weeks from Maryland; and once in a month from Virginia.""]
299
ANNALS OF LYNN-1698, 1699, 1700.
1698.
On the 4th of January, Oliver Elkins and Thomas Darling killed a wolf in Lynn woods. On the 28th of February, Thomas Baker killed two wolves. This year also, James Mills killed five foxes on Nahant. Twenty shillings were allowed by the town for killing a wolf, and two shillings for a fox.
The town ordered that no person should cut more than seven trees on Nahant, under a penalty of forty shillings for each tree exceeding that number.
June 1. The Court enacted "that no person using or occu- pying the feat or mystery of a butcher, currier, or shoemaker, by himself, or any other, shall use or exercise the feat or mys- tery of a Tanner, on pain of the forfeiture of six shillings and eight pence for every hide or skin so tanned." They also en- acted that no tanner should exercise the business of a butcher, currier, or shoemaker. " And no butcher shall gash or cut any bide, whereby the same shall be impaired, on pain of forfeiting twelve pence for every gash or cut." It was also enacted that no "shoemaker or cordwainer shall work into Shoes, Boots, or other wares, any leather that is not tanned and curried as aforesaid; nor shall use any leather made of horse's hide for the inner sole of any such shoes or boots on pain of forfeiting all such shoes and boots."
1699.
The platform of the meeting-house was covered with lead. The bell was taken down and sent to England to be exchanged for a new one. Mr. Shepard's salary was reduced to sixty pounds.
On the 7th of November, the town ordered that any person who should follow the wild fowl in the harbor, in a canoe, to shoot at them, or frighten them, should pay twenty shillings ; and Thomas Lewis and Timothy Breed were chosen to enforce the order.
1700.
On the 25th of May, Mr. John Witt killed a wolf. [The town paid Timothy Breed two shillings "for killing of one ffox at nahant."
[Dr. John Caspar Richter van Crowninscheldt, bought of Eliz- beth Allen, wife of Jacob Allen, of Salem, 20 June, twenty acres of land "neer a certain pond called the Spring Pond, with all the houses, buildings, waters, fishings," &c. The land appears to have previously belonged to John Clifford. The oldest grave stone in the burying ground near the west end of Lynn Common, bears this inscription : "Here lyeth ye body of John
300
ANNALS OF LYNN-1701, 1702.
Clifford. Died Iune ye 17, 1698, in ye 68 year of his age." It is on the west of the foot path leading from the front entrance, and, unlike the other old stones, faces the east. The 9 in the date has been altered, in a rough way, so as to resemble a 2, and hence some have been deceived into the belief that there was a burial here as early as 1628. Mr. Lewis declared the alteration to have been made in 1806, by a pupil at Lynn Academy. This John Clifford appears to have been the same individual who owned lands in the vicinity of Mineral Spring. He was made a freeman in 1678, and is sometimes called of Salem; which would be natural enough if he lived any where about Spring Pond. I think he married Elizabeth Richardson, perhaps as a second wife, 28 September, 1688, he being then some fifty-eight years of age. Mr. Lewis states that Dr. Crowninscheldt built a cottage at Mineral Spring about the year 1690. And in Felt's Annals of Salem, under date 1695, we find the following : " This year Richard Harris, master of the Salem Packet, bound to Canada river, invites 'Doct. Grouncell (Crowninshield, ) a Ger- ". man, who married Capt. Allen's daughter at Lynn Spring,' to accompany him, but he declined." Could it have been of his mother-in-law, that the Doctor purchased the land, in 1700 ? At first view, there seems something like confusion in the above; but I do not see that the statements are irreconcilable.]
At a meeting of the Selectmen, on the 7th of June, Mr. Shepard was chosen to keep a grammar school, for which thirty pounds were the next year allowed.
1701.
[Henry Sharp, innholder, of Salem, let his carriage, a calash, for the conveying of Mr. Bulkley, who had arrived at that place, sick, to his home. But as he could get no farther on his jour- ney than Lynn, he here dismissed the driver, who returned to Salem on Sunday. For the desecration of holy time Mr. Sharp was called to answer, but was finally discharged by making it appear that the travel was necessary. This calash is noted as being one of the first carriages ever owned in the vicinity. On horse-back or a-foot our forefathers and mothers almost exclu- sively traveled, down to a period something later than this. The above incident well shows the solicitude with which the sanctity of the Lord's day continued to be guarded.]
1702.
[Rev. George Keith, a missionary of the Church of England, visited Lynn, in July, accompanied by Rev. John Talbot, also a Church minister. He appears to have come rather to combat Quaker principles than to propagate his own. He had himself been a Quaker and suffered persecution for his faith. But now
301
ANNALS OF LYNN-1702.
that he appeared as a champion against them, he seems to have divested himself of at least the pacific characteristic that dis- tinguishes the Quaker of this day. In his journal appears the following account of the transactions on the occasion of his visit. The entries are made under dates Wednesday and Thurs- day, July 8 and 9.
I went from Boston to Linn, accompanied with Mr. Talbot, and the next day being the Quakers' meeting day, we visited their meeting there, having first called at a Quaker's house, who was of my former acquaintance. Mr. Shep- ard, the minister of Linn, did also accompany us; but the Quakers, though many of them had been formerly members of his church, were very abusive to him, as they were to us. After some time of silence I stood up and began to speak, but they did so interrupt with their noise and clamor against me, that I could not proceed, though I much entreated them to hear me; so I sat down and heard their speakers one after another utter abundance of falsehoods and impertenances and gross perversions of many texts of the holy Scripture. After their speakers had done, they hasted to be gone. I desired them to stay, and I would shew them that they had spoke many falsehoods, and perverted many places of Scripture, but they would not stay to hear. But many of the people staid, some of them Quakers, and others who were not Quakers but disaffected to the Quakers' principles. I asked one of their preachers before he went away, seeing they preached so much the sufficiency of the Light within to salvation, (without any thing else) did the Light within teach him, without Scripture, that our blessed Saviour was born of a virgin, and died for our sins, &c .? He replyed, if he said it did, I would not believe him, and therefore he would not answer me. After their speakers were gone, I went up into the speakers' gallery, where they used to stand and speak, and I did read unto the people that staid to hear me, Quakers and others, many quota- tions out of Edw. Burroughs's folio book, detecting his vile errors, who yet was one of their chief authors, particularly in pages 150, 151, where he renders it the doctrine of salvation that's only necessary to be preached, viz. Christ within, and that he is a deceiver that exhorts people for salvation to any other thing than the Light within ; as appears by his several queries in the pages cited. And where he saith, page 273, that the sufferings of the people of God in this age [meaning the Quakers] are greater sufferings, and more unjust, than those of Christ and the Apostles; what was done to Christ, or to the Apostles, was chiefly done by a law, and in great part by the due execution of a law. But all this a noted Quaker, whose name I spare to mention, (as I generally intend to spare the mentioning of their names) did boldly defend. But another Quaker who stood by, confessed the last passage in rendering the Quakers' sufferings greater and more unjust than the sufferings of Christ, was not well worded; but to excuse it, said, we must not make a man an offender for a word.
[John Richardson, a noted Quaker preacher, from England, was then in Lynn, stopping at the house of Samuel Collins, which stood on the north side of Essex street, a few rods east of Fayette. He vigorously engaged Mr. Keith, and gives an account of the meeting not exactly coincident with the above. It is but fair to give his version. But we shall first quote from his recital of an encounter the evening before. He says :
. I came to Lynn, to Samuel Callings, [Collins's] where I had not been long before I met with an unusual exercise, which I had expected for some time would fall upon me. . . . Having heard of George Keith's intention of Z
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302
ANNALS OF LYNN-1702.
being at Lynn Monthly Meeting the next day; (this Lynn, as near as I remem- ber lies between Salem in the east part and Boston,) the evening coming on, as I was writing to some friends in Old England, one came in haste to desire me to come down, for George Keith was come to the door, and a great number of people and a priest with him, and was railing against Friends exceedingly. I said, Inasmuch as I understood this Lynn Meeting is, although large, mostly a newly convinced people, I advise you to be swift to hear, but slow to speak, for George Keith hath a life in argument; and let us, as a people, seek unto and cry mightily to the Lord, to look down upon us, and help us for his name's sake, for our preservation, that none may be hurt. . . . I went to the rails and leaned my arms on them, near to George Keith's horse's head, as he sat on his back, and many people were with him; but the few Friends who were come, stood with me in the yard.
[A warm discussion between the champions, followed this abrupt introduction, concerning which Mr. Richardson, with a triumphal air, says :
1
I was roused up in my spirit in a holy zeal against his wicked insults and great threatenings, and said to him, that it was the fruit of malice and envy, and that he was to us but as an heathen man and a publican. . . . Then he began to cast what slurs and odiums he could upon Friends, with such bitter invectives as his malice could invent. I stood with an attentive ear, and a watch- ful mind; for as I stood leaning upon the rails, with no small concern upon my mind, I felt the Lord's power arise, and by it my strength was renewed in the inner man, and faith, wisdom, and courage with it, so that the fear of man, with all his parts and learning, was taken from me; and in this state George Keith appeared to me but as a little child, or as nothing. . . . He said, The Quakers pretend to be against all ceremonies, but he could prove that they used many ceremonies, as taking one another by the hand, and men saluting one another, and women doing so to one another; and he said that women did salute men; yea, they had done it to him; as it was generally understood by those who heard him, which I thought not worthy of notice. He went on, and said, the Quakers pretend to be against all persecution, but they were not clear, for the Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Jerseys had persecuted him, and would have hanged him, but that there was some alteration in the govern- ment. Then came out one of my arrows which cut and wounded him deep ; I said, George, that is not true. Upon that the priest drew near, and appeared very brisk, and said I had as good as charged Mr. Keith (as he called him) with a lie. I replied, give me time, and I will prove that which George said was not true, and then thou and he may take your advantage to rescue him from that epi- thet of a liar, if you can. The priest said, I know not Mr. Keith. I replied, if he knew him as well as I did, he would be ashamed to be there as an abettor of him. The priest got away and troubled me no more in all the arguments that George and I had afterwards (although the said priest was with him.)
[Here let us pause a moment and throw a glance back upon the rationale of the edifying occasion, imagining how those assembled partisans, on either side of the fence, must have had their christian sympathies refreshed and perceptions improved by the encounter of the sturdy combatants. Do such things give us a particularly elevated idea of the piety of the times ? Or does it appear that the non-resistant principles of the Quakers had become sufficiently consolidated to withstand the pugnacity of nature ? But we will proceed with Mr. Richardson's account of the transactions at the meeting-house, the next day.
1
303
ANNALS OF LYNN-1702.
Now to the meeting we went: George Keith with two priests and a great - many people gathered together of several professions and qualities into one body, and Friends and some friendly people into another body; and as we came near to the meeting-house, I stood still, and took a view of the people, and it appeared to me as if two armies were going to engage in battle. There appeared with George Keith men of considerable estates, parts, and learning, and we appeared like poor shrubs."
[Before entering the meeting-house, Mr. Richardson addressed a few words of advice and encouragement to the Friends. And immediately after they had entered, Mr. Keith proclaimed that he had come, in the Queen's name, to gather Quakers from Quakerism to the good old mother Church, the Church of Eng- land; and that he could prove, out of their own books, that they held errors, heresies, damnable doctrines, and blasphemies. Upon this, Mr. Richardson was moved to inform the assembly what manner of man Mr. Keith was. He stated that he had been a Quaker for many years, but during the latter part of his walk with them, had been very troublesome on account of his contentious spirit; and as they had in vain labored to reform him, he had been publicly disowned; whereupon he commenced opposing and vilifying them. And sundry other rough person- alities and home thrusts did the Quaker champion deliver. In the course of the discussion divers points of doctrine and prin- ciples of faith were considered and more or less darkened by the unchristian spirit manifested. Mr. Richardson proceeds :
The priest of this place, whose name was Shepard, before my mouth was opened in testimony, made preparation to write ; and when I began to speak, he had his hat upon his knee, and his paper upon its crown, and pen and ink in his hands, and made many motions to write, but wrote nothing ; as he began, so he ended, without writing at all. And as Friends entered the meeting-house in the Lord's power, even that power which cut Rahab, and wounded the Drag- on, which had been at work, kept down in a good degree the wrong spirit in George, for he appeared much down; but this busy priest called to him several times to make his reply to what I had spoke. After some time, I said to the priest, in behalf of the meeting, that he might have liberty to make reply. He proposed to have another day appointed for a dispute; to which I said, if I did make a voluntary challenge, (which he should not say we put him upon) we, or some of us, (meaning Friends) if a day and place were agreed upon, should find it our concern to answer him as well as we could. He said he would have Mr. Keith to be with him; I told him, if he should, and meddled in the dispute, if I was there, I should reject him for reasons before assigned. When the priest had said this, and somewhat more, an elder of the Presbyte- rian congregation clapped him on the shoulder, and bid him sit down ; so he was quiet; and then stood up George Keith, and owned he had been refreshed amongst us that day, and had heard a great many sound truths, with some errors, but that it was not the common doctrine which the Quakers preached.
[Mr. Richardson repelled the obnoxious insinuation contained in the last clause. Whereupon the other began to exhibit charges against the Quakers, declaring that he could prove them by their own books; referring especially to the works of Fox and Burroughs. Mr. Richardson continues :
304
ANNALS OF LYNN-1702.
He had in a paper, a great many quotations out of Friends' books, and a young man with him had many books in a bag. . .. He was now crowded up into the gallery between me and the rail, with a paper in his hand, and I standing over him, and being taller, could see his quotations, and his para- phrases upon them; on which I told him, loudly, that all the meeting might hear, that he offered violence to the sense and understanding which God had given him, and he knew in his conscience, we were not that people, neither were our Friends' writings either damnable or blasphemous, as he, through envy, endeavored to make the world believe, and that he would not have peace in so doing, but trouble from the Lord in bis conscience. I spoke in the Lord's dreadful power, and George trembled so much as I seldom ever saw any man do. I pitied him in my heart, yet as Moses said once concerning Israel, I felt the wrath of the Lord go forth against him. George said, "Do not judge me." I replied, The Lord judges, and all who are truly one in spirit with the Lord, cannot but judge thee. So he gave over; and it appear- ing a suitable time to break up the meeting, Friends parted in great love, tenderness, and brokenness of heart; for the Lord's mighty power had been in and over the meeting from the beginning to the end thereof. . .. Two Friends were desired to stay, to hear what George had to say to them who remained, 'which said two Friends gave an account to us afterwards, that George said to the people after we were gone, that the Quakers had left none to dispute with him but an ass and a fool; when I heard it, I said, could you not have replied, An ass was once made sufficient to reprove the madness of the prophet. . . . George called to see me the next day, and said "You had the advantage over me yesterday, for you persuaded me to be quiet until you had done, and then you would not stay to hear me;" neither, indeed, were we under any obligation so to do. I told him, I hoped that truth would always have the advantage over those who opposed it; and so we parted, but met again upon Rhode Island.
[And thus ended one of those " disputes" on christian doc- trine, so characteristic of the time. The champions seem to have been well matched as to ability and destitution of Christian courtesy. And it is probable that the friends of each claimed a victory, as is usually the case in such contests. I have given the account from the details furnished by the opposing parties themselves, who deemed the affair of sufficient importance to merit narration in their journals. And certainly a strange spectacle is presented, though one that well illustrates the man- ner of conducting religious controversies at that period ; those controversies in which asperity of temper and bitterness of expression were especially conspicuous. And when Episcopa- lians, Congregtionalists, or Quakers, of this day, undertake to defend the course of their fathers in the faith, in every particu- lar, and on principles that obtain at the present time, they undertake a labor that it would be more creditable to avoid. And when those same theological partisans, on the promulgation of an unpalatable truth concerning their kindred of the past, deem themselves under censure, they exhibit an unreasonable sensibility.
[Mr. Shepard, the minister at the Old Tunnel Meeting House, was present to enjoy the proceedings. And he exhibited some- thing of that inclemency of temper which on certain other occa-
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1703, 1704.
sions reached a point that furnished but a poor example for those to whom he preached forbearance and meekness. The fact that such a sturdy hater of the Church as he, could readily fraternize with an Episcopal missionary, and stand his abettor in assaults upon Quakerism, is instructive. But we must consider that he had nothing to fear from Episcopacy, while Quakerism was making great inroads upon his parochial jurisdiction.]
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