USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 33
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 33
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 33
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 33
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
On the 14th of December, ten pounds were allowed for the maintenance of a grammar master ; "and such master to have, over and above the said ten pounds, 2 pence per week for such as are sent to read, 3 pence per week for them that are sent to write and cipher, and 6 pence per week for them that are sent to learn Latin, to be paid by parents and masters that send their children or servants to learn as aforesaid."
[The price of oak wood, was three shillings a cord, this year. Walnut was generally preferred for fuel, and that sold for five shillings.]
1703.
[The following is a copy of a letter sent to Governor Dudley, by the Quakers of Lynn. " Lynn, 22th 4 mº 1703. Whereas, we, the people called Quakers, of the town of Lynn, having been requested by the governor to give in a list of our names - in answer thereunto each person hath respectively signed by himselfe." The signatures are, Richard Estes, Samuel Collins, William Bassett, Walter Phillips, Richard Oake, Joseph Rich- ards, John Hood, Samuel Breed, Hugh Alley, William Bassett, Jr., John Bassett, John Collins, Jabez Jenkins, Walter Phillips, Jr., Isaac Clark, Samuel Collins, Jr., John Estes.
[Walter Phillips, senior, being a Quaker, and refusing to per- form military duty, had a fourth of an acre of his land seized and sold for the payment of his fine.
[The town paid the sexton two pounds and thirteen shillings for "sweeping 'ye meeting house, and Ringing ye bell for ye year past, and one shilling for gitting ye Claper for ye bell."]
1704.
This year another war was prosecuted with the French and Indians, called Queen Anne's war. It was begun by the In- dians in the preceding year, and was productive of the most dreadful cruelty. Several of the soldiers from Lynn were taken prisoners. It continued about a year.
Col. Benjamin Church, who commanded in this expedition, wrote a letter to Governor Dudley, requesting " That four or five hundred pair of good Indian shoes be made; and let there be a good store of cow hides, well tanned, for a supply of such Z* 20
-
306
ANNALS OF LYNN-1705, 1706.
shoes, and hemp to make thread, and wax, to mend and make more such shoes when wanted, and a good store of awls."
On the 6th of March, the town, " being informed that several persons had cut down several trees or bushes in Nahants, where- by there is like to be no shade for the creatures," voted that no person should cut any tree or bush there, on a penalty of ten shillings.
1705.
[There was a very violent northeast storm on the 29th and 30th of January. Immense quantities of snow fell. Joseph Newhall, of Lynn, perished in the storm, on the second day. He was no doubt the same individual elsewhere noticed as a son of Thomas Newhall, the first white person born in Lynn. He was born 22 September, 1658, married Susanna, a sister of Thomas Farrar, Jr., and settled in Lynnfield. He had eleven children, and a great many of his descendants remain.
[In June, a severe drought prevailed. "Corn and grass perished, pretty much."]
1706.
Nahant, and the great range of woodland in the north of the town, had from the first settlement, been retained in common. The same spirit of practical democracy which had influenced the people at the beginning, was carried out through all their public affairs. Nahant was used as a common pasture, where any one who chose, put cattle and sheep, which were tended by a person, chosen and paid by the town, called a shepherd. In like manner the great woodlands had been reserved for common use, and the people cut their fuel in such quantities as they pleased in the woodlands nearest their dwellings. If any required timber for building, they selected the fine old oaks that plumed the craggy cliffs, and the tall, straight trunks which grew in the dark pine forests, to make into boards at the saw mill. But now the people had so increased, and the limits of their cultivated lands become so permanently established, that they concluded it would be best to have some more definite regulations for their government in future.
On the 15th of April, a town meeting was held, when it was resolved to make a division of the public lands, only reserving the training field, which is now called the Common. They chose a committee of three persons from other towns, to make the division, whom they directed to allow each proprietor at least one fourth upland, and as near his own house as might be. The committee were Captain Samuel Gardner, of Salem, John Greenland, of Malden, and Joseph Hasey, of Chelsea. [And they make return of their doings as follows.]
13071
ANNALS OF LYNN-1706.
We whose names are hereunto subscribed, having been chosen by the Towne of Lyn, at a Towne Meeting held April 15th, 1706, as a committee to Divide all the Undivided Common Lands within the Towne of Lyn, aforesaid, by such rules, and in such way and manner as shall be agreed upon by us ; we having agreed and made Division of the Common Undivided Lands too and amongst all the proprietors and Inhabitants that have land of their own in fee, according to said Town Voate, so far as appeared to us. The way and manner of our Division, and that which we have agreed upon to make our rules by, are as followeth.
We first obtained of the Selectmen of said Lyn, a copy of the List of Estate taken by them in 1705, which list being first perfected and made intelligible to us by the Selectmen, through our desire, by their bringing each person's land to the Right owner, and by adding such to said List, that by Reason of poverty, or others being in captivity, had been left out of said List, that soe we might come to the knowledge of all the proprietors and Inhabitants that have Lands of theire owne in fee; we having made division of the aforesaid Common Lands according to what each proprietor and Inhabitant have of Lands upon said List.
1. We first taking out, according to the best Information we could obtaine, all such as had houses erected since the year 1694, who are priviledged for so much and no more than what each person hathe of Lands upon said List.
2. A second Rule by which we make division is, that all such as have upon said List foure acres of Land or any Less quantity, to have priviledg for five acres ; and all such as have five arres to have priviledg for six acres ; and all such as have six acres to have priviledg of seven acres; and all such as have seven acres to have priviledg for eight acres ; and no person to receive advan- tage any further for any more than for what they have upon said List.
3. A third Rule of our Division is, that all such as have upon said List any greater number of acres than eight, till they come to twenty acres, counting two acres of pasture land for one of tillage Land ; we finding them to be Rated but halfe soe much for pasture Land as for tillage or Improved Lands; are priviliged according to the number of acres they have on the List.
4. A fourth Rule is, that all those that have above twenty acres upon said List, until they come to thirty acres, shall receive privilidg but for one fourth part of all they have above twenty acres; and for what land any person hathe on said List above thirty acres, shall receive priviledg but for one eighth part of what is above thirty acres.
5. And whereas we, the aforesaid Committee, according to said Towne voate, are to Leave convenient ways in all places, as we shall think fitt, we have agreed that, by reason of the Impossibility of making highways passable, if Laid upon the Range Lines, Doe therefore order, that all the proprietors concerned, their heirs and assigns forever, to have free Liberty to pass and Repass over each person's Lotts, that is laid out by us on the commons, with carts and teams, to transport wood, timber, and stones, or upon any other oca- tion whatsoever, in such places as may be convenient, without any molestation, hindrance, or Interruption from any of the proprietors, their heirs or assigns ; but no person to Damnifie his neighbor by Cutting Downe his tree or trees.
We have left a highway over Little Nahant two poles wide on the west end, and soe Runing over the beach unto Great Nahant; and soe on the south- 'wardly side of the hill to about ten pole above the Calf Spring, and running slanting up the hill into the old way, and soe runing on the northeast end of James Mills his land, and soe on to the first Range in the ram pasture; and have left about one acre of land joining to the highway by the Spring to accomidate Cattle coming to the Spring. We have also left a highway, two pole wide from the highway by the Spring, ouer into Bass neck, and soe through the Ranges to the southermost Range on said neck. We have also left a highway, two pole wide, on the Bay side, over to Bass neck, and so ouer Mr. Taylor's lott, Joseph Jacob's lott, and Moses Hudson's Lott, unto the other
308
ANNALS OF LYNN-1706.
highway; and have left a highway one pole wide over the westward end of each Range on great Nahant; and a highway one pole wide, on the north- wardly end of each Range on Bass neck; and a highway one pole wide ouer between the range of lots, halfe a pole on each Range, on each side of the Range Line on Little Nahant.
Thus we make Returne of this our Doings, this first Day of January, 1706-7. SAMUEL GARDNER, JOHN GREENLAND, JOSEPH HASEY.
On the 28th of September, " The towne considering the great difficulty of laying out highways on the common lands, by rea- son of the swamps, hills, and rockenes of the land, theirfore voated, that after said common lands shall be divided, every person interested therein, shall have free liberty at all times, to pass and repass over each others' lotts of lands, to fetch their wood and such other things as shall be upon their lands, in any place or places, and for no other ends, provided they do not cut downe any sort of tree or trees in their so passing over." Eleven persons entered their dissent to this vote, but do not state whether it was against the privilege, or its limitation. Men frequently want to pass on to their lots for other purposes than to fetch wood; and in many places in the woods, if they had not cut down a tree, it would have been utterly impossible ever to have gone upon their lots at all with a carriage. If this vote were a law, many proprietors on Nahant, even now, could not go upon their lands to plant or build. But the warrant for calling this meeting is unrecorded.
The Common Lands were laid out by the committee in "Seven Divisions." The First Division began on the west of Saugus river, including what was called the Six Hundred Acres, which were then in Lynn. The Second Division ran across the north- ern part of the town, and the Seventh Division was Nahant.
There is no record that the report of the committee was ac- cepted, though it probably was, as it was recorded, with all the separate lots and owners' names. The woodlands and the Nahants were laid out in Ranges, forty rods in width, and these were divided into lots, containing from about one eighth of an acre to eight acres. Many of these lots were afterward subdi- vided among heirs, so that many lots on Nahant are now six hundred and sixty feet long, and from two feet to eight feet wide. This renders it impossible in many places to obtain a building lot, without purchasing of many owners. Several lots are as narrow as two feet and three inches, and for each of these a separate deed must be written. I have constructed a com- plete map of Nahant on a very large scale, on which the lots are shown with the names of the original proprietors and the pres- ent owners.
[It will be observed that the above stands as it did in the 1844
راس؟
سير
الجمر
الرمل
جه 40 لحم
$
٢
1
1
٢٠٢٠ الفجوة
में
تاسع عدم
ho Murrianas pers of Williams and Elizab (Brad) munici was born at tuare afe 251691. He married RebecaSharp m 1)94 atsales. In 1716 he and his broth Win hold their farms in by was to Jonathan Was and moved to Wallingford CA. W ™ site in the Parish of Cheshire and Loluna in " . of minden - Both have numero, descendants.
Her children of Lohnt Rebecca wen
yes miriam haw a child still born 2.5 moh 1694 5 Nathaniel G. 26 Mak 1696
John "
26 Oct 1697
William
9 ape 700
20 Mck 1702
Rebeckach
- '70x
29
Josepha Rutte
12 th 1706
abigail "
IN any 1708
10 Nov 10
Suzanna
309
ANNALS OF LYNN -1708, 1712, 1713, 1715.
edition. Many changes have of course taken place since that time. But it will always be interesting as showing how mat- ters formerly stood in these important particulars.]
1708.
[A fast was held, 23 June, and prayers offered for deliverance from the devastations committed by insects, on the fruit trees. They appear to have been caterpillars and canker worms. And we had, in 1863, another grievous instance of the destruction that may be accomplished through the combined industry of those voracious little spoilers. But this unbelieving generation instead of resorting to prayers and fasting, resorted to burning brimstone and other stifling appliances.]
1712.
Lynnfield was set off as a parish, or district, 17 November. The inhabitants were to be freed from parish taxes, as soon as a meeting-house should be built, and a minister settled. The people of Lynnfield, in the town records, are called " our neigh- bors, the farmers."
This year, all the shells, which came upon the Nahant beaches, were sold by the town, to Daniel Brown, and William Gray, for thirty shillings. They were not to sell the shells for more than eight shillings a load, containing forty-eight' bushels, heaped measure. The people were permitted to dig and gather the clams as before, but they were required to open them on the beach, and leave the shells. The house in which I was born, was plastered with lime made from these shells.
1713.
Mr. John Merriam was employed as schoolmaster. The school was called a grammar school, because Latin was taught in it. The other studies were reading, writing, and ciphering. Eng- lish grammar was not a common study, and no book on that subject was introduced into general use, till about seventy years after this time. No arithmetic was used by the scholars, but the master wrote all the sums on the slate. No spelling book was used. [So one would naturally conclude from the ways in which words were sometimes spelled. There had been no established system of orthography, but each spelled as best suited his own fancy, using letters in any way that gave the sound of the word. Some uniformity, however, now prevailed.]
1715.
The first meeting-house in the second parish, now Lynnfield, was built. When the building of the first parish meeting-house was in contemplation, the people of the northern part of the
310
ANNALS OF LYNN-1716, 1717.
town, being obliged to travel six or eight miles to meeting, wished to have the house placed in a central situation, and a committee was appointed to " chuse " a place. They selected a hill, now included in the bounds of Saugus, which was thence called Harmony Hill. It was afterward determined to place the house on the Common, and the people of Lynnfield continued to attend meeting there till this year.
1716.
A gentleman whose name was Bishop, was schoolmaster. John Me Mr. Ebenezer Tarbox was chosen, by the town, as shepherd. ale Three porches were added to the first parish meeting-house, for and a curiously carved and paneled oak pulpit, imported from Nº C
England, was set up.
[Jonathan Townsend, of Lynn, graduated at Harvard College. He was settled, 23 March, in Needham, being the first minister of the place, and remained in the ministry forty-two years. He died 30 September, 1762, aged 64. A record in his hand wri- ting, dated Needham, 17 July, 1735, states an interesting fact regarding a lady, who, it is probable, was a member of his church: "This day died here, Mrs. Lydia Chickering, in the 83d year of her age. She was born in Dedham, in New Eng- land, July 14, 1652, and about the year 1671 went up from thence to Hadley, where for the space of about a year, she waited upon Col. Whalley, and Col. Goffe (two of King Charles 1st's judges), who had fled thither from the men that sought their lives. She was the daughter of Capt. David Fisher, of Dedham, one of the magistrates of the colony under the old charter."
[Governor Shute passed through Lynn, 15 October. There was considerable parade. The Salem Troop, under Col. Brown, came over, to escort him to their town, where he was received in a becoming manner, had "a splendid entertainment," and remained over night. He was on a journey to New Hampshire. [An extraordinary darkness prevailed at mid-day, 21 October. Lighted candles were found necessary on the dinner table, fowls went to roost, and there was great alarm.]
1717.
Two great storms on the 20th and 24th of February, covered the ground so deep with snow, that people for some days could not pass from one house to another. Old Indians, of a hundred years, said that their fathers had never told them of such a snow. It was from ten to twenty feet deep, and generally covered the lower story of the houses. Cottages of one story were entirely buried, so that the people dug paths from one house to another, under the snow. Soon after, a slight rain fell, and the frost
311
ANNALS OF LYNN-1717.
crusted the snow; and then the people went out of their cham- ber windows, and walked over it. Many of the farmers lost their sheep; and most of the sheep and swine which were saved, lived from one to two weeks without food. One man had some hens buried near his barn, which were dug out alive eleven days after. During this snow, a great number of deer came from the woods for food, and were followed by the wolves, which killed many of them. Others were killed by the people with guns. Some of the deer fled to Nahant, and being chased by the wolves, leaped into the sea, and were drowned. Great damage was done to the orchards, by the snow freezing to the branches, and splitting the trees as it fell. This snow formed a remarkable era in New England; and old people, in relating an event, would say that it happened so many years before or after the great snow. Hon. John Winthrop says : " We lost at the island and farms above 1100 sheep, beside some horses and cattle interred in the snow; and it was very strange, that 28 days after the storm, the inhabitants of Fisher's Island, in pulling out the ruins of 100 sheep, out of the snow bank in the valley, where the snow had drifted over them sixteen feet, found two of them alive in the drift, which had lain on them all that time, and kept themselves alive by eating the wool off the others." The mail was nine days in reaching Portsmouth, and eight in returning. [But the greatest snow storm of the year occurred in April. It being so late in the season, however, the effects were not long visible.]
-- ----
The town tax, this year, was £237. Mr. Shepard's salary was eighty-seven pounds ; and the rest was for the school, and other town debts.
It was in one of the great storms of this year, that Samuel Bellamy's pirate ship, the Whidah, of 23 guns and 130 men, was wrecked on Cape Cod, and more than one hundred dead bodies were found on the shore. . Six of the survivors were afterward executed at Boston.
This year Nahant was again without an inhabitant; James Mills being dead, and his family removed. His house and land became the property of Dr. John Henry Burchsted, who, on the 18th of December, sold it to Samuel Breed. He built a house where Whitney's Hotel now stands. He was very small in stature, and was generally called "Governor Breed." He was born November 11, 1692, married Deliverance Bassett, June 25, 1720, (the same who was mentioned as a child in 1692,) and had five children; Anna, Sarah, Huldah, Nehemiah, and William. His house became the property of his son Nehemiah, and his grandson William, by whom it was rebuilt in 1819. For twenty-four years this house was kept as a hotel, by Jesse Rice ; and was purchased, in 1841, by Albert Whitney. [Mr.
312
ANNALS OF LYNN-1718.
Whitney is a son-in-law of Mr. Rice, and still [1864] continues the public house.]
Jabez Breed, brother of Samuel, soon after removed to Na- hant and built a house directly opposite. A few years after- ward, Richard Hood exchanged his house in Nahant street for this. He married Theodate Collins, May 20, 1718, and had eight children ; Theodate, Jedediah, Content, Rebecca, Hannah, Patience, Abner and Abigail. His descendants still live at Nahant, on the estate of their ancestor.
The third house on Nahant was built by Jeremiah Gray, a carpenter, and uncle of Lieutenant Governor William Gray. This house, about the year 1770, was sold to Jonathan John- son. [And it afterward became the property of his son, Caleb Johnson, by whom it is still occupied.]
These were the only three houses on Nahant until the year 1803. Their occupants were Quakers, and kept no taverns, but accommodated a few boarders in the summer, and occasionally made a fish chowder, for parties who visited Nahant from Bos- ton and other places.
1718.
In the beginning of this year, Mr. Shepard was unwell; and a gentleman whose name was Townsend, was employed to preach five sermons; for which the town paid him fifty shillings. The Selectmen, on the 5th of March, were directed to employ a schoolmaster ; and in their agreement with him, "to have rela- tion to some help for Mr. Shepard in preaching."
According to tradition - which may not very safely be relied on in matters of importance, though it may assist in delineating manners and customs-it was about this time that potatoes were first introduced into Lynn. Mr. John Newhall received two or three, which he planted; and when he gathered the produce, a few of them were roasted and eaten, merely from curiosity ; and the rest were put into the shell of a gourd, and hung up in the cellar. The next year he planted them all, and had enough to fill a two bushel basket. He knew not what to do with so many, and gave some of them to his neighbors. Soon after, one of them said to him : " Well, I have found that potatoes are good for something. I had some of them boiled, and ate them with fish, and they relished very well." It was several years after this, before potatoes came into general use, and then only in small quantities. A farmer, who kept a very particular ac- count of every day's employment, first mentions " patatas," as a common article, in 1733. [But in the Colony Records we find potatoes named as early as 1628. They were among the articles to be provided for the Massachusetts settlers and sent over by the Company, probably for planting. Historians have
313
ANNALS OF LYNN-1719.
L
generally supposed they were not known in England before 1653, when some were carried there by Sir John Hawkins, from Santa Fe. But the above indicates an earlier introduction. And besides, as Mr. Felt mentions, Bermuda potatoes sold in our colony, in 1636, for 2d. a pound; but these were probably what we now call sweet potatoes. The common potato, how- ever, came slowly into general use. And it seems evident that in some places at least it fell under a sort of religious ban ; attributable, as some have thought, to the fact that it is not mentioned in the Bible; but this cannot have been the case, as the use of sundry other vegetables which were highly esteem- ed, would, for the same reason have been interdicted. If it be true that potatoes were brought here as early as 1628, for culti- vation, as an article of food, it is quite remarkable that almost a century should have elapsed before they began to be served upon the table. I know it is generally supposed that they were not introduced here till about the period indicated by the traditions alluded to by Mr. Lewis ; and that they were brought by the "Scotch Irish " immigrants, as they were called.]
At this time, tea was little used, and tea-kettles were unknown. The water was boiled in a skillet; and when the ladies went to visiting parties, each one carried her tea-cup, saucer, and spoon. The tea-cups were of the best china, and very small, containing about as much as a common wine-glass. Coffee did not come into use until many years after.
1719.
The northern lights were first mentioned this year, on the 17th of December. The people were much alarmed at their appear- ance. The northern hemisphere seemed to be on fire ; and it is said that the coruscations were distinctly heard; like the rustling of a silken banner. [It is an interesting question, whether this was the first time that the northern lights were observed here. If the earlier settlers had seen them it is remarkable that re- corded descriptions are not found. It seems now to be settled that intervals of many years, perhaps centuries, do occur in which they are not seen; and then they suddenly blaze forth again to the surprise and terror of mankind. I have seen this peculiarity remarked upon in a history of Iceland. The ancients have left no account of the phenomenon, under the present name; though some have imagined that it is alluded to in the book of Job, ch. 37, v. 22-"Fair weather cometh out of the north : with God is terrible majesty " - the term rendered " fair weather," meaning also bright light. And the last reading seems most natural, as there is no "terrible majesty " con- nected with fair weather. The following extract from a curious letter, dated Chester, 19 June, 1649, may be sufficient to con- A2
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.