USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 37
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 37
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 37
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 37
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 37
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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
The continental currency, as it was called, consisted of small pieces of paper, about two inches square. The one dollar bills had an altar, with the words, depressa resurgit, the oppressed rises. The two dollar bills bore a hand, making a circle with compasses, with the motto, tribulatio dital, trouble enriches. The device of the three dollar bills was an eagle pouncing upon a crane, who was biting the eagle's neck, with the motto, exitus in dubio, the event is doubtful. On the five dollar bills was a hand grasping a thorn bush with the inscription, sustine vel ab- stine, hold fast or touch not. The six dollar bills represented a beaver felling a tree, with the word perseverando, by perseve- rance we prosper. Another emission bore an anchor, with the words, In te Domine speramus, In thee, Lord, have I trusted. The eight dollar bills, displayed a harp, with the motto, majora minoribus consonant, the great harmonize with the little. The thirty dollar bills exhibited a wreath on an altar, with the legend, si recte, facies, if you do right you will succeed. When I was a child, I had thousands of dollars of this uncurrent money given me to play with.
The 19th of May was remarkable throughout New England for its uncommon darkness. It began about the hour of ten in the morning. At eleven, the darkness was so great, that the fowls retired to their roosts, and the cattle collected around the barns, as at night. Before twelve, candles became requisite, and many of the people of Lynn omitted their dinners, thinking that the day of judgment had come. The darkness increased
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1780.
through the evening, and continued till midnight. It was sup- posed by some, to have been occasioned by a smoke, arising from extensive fires in the western woods, and combining with a thick fog from the sea. The Rev. Mather Byles, of Boston, of punning memory, made a happy remark on this occasion. A lady sent her servant, in great alarm, to know if he could tell the cause of this great darkness. "Tell your mistress," replied he, " that I am as much in the dark as she is." [A writer of the time says of the darkness of the succeeding night, it " was prob- ably as gross as has ever been observed since the almighty fiat gave birth to light. It wanted only palpability to render it as extraordinary as that which overspread the land of Egypt in the days of Moses. . . . A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes, was equally invisible with the blackest velvet."7
The winter of 1780 was the coldest since 1741. [From about the 15th of February to the 15th of March, the snow and ice did not melt, even on the southerly sides of buildings, and teams could pass over walls and fences, so deep and hard was the snow.]
At the commencement of the war, there were twenty-six slaves in Lynn; all of whom were made free this year. In 1675, there was a slave in Lynn, named Domingo Wight, who had a wife and two children. Another slave, in 1714, named Simon Africanus, had a wife and six children. Zaccheus Collins had four slaves, whose names were Pharaoh, Essex, Prince, and Cato. Prince was purchased at Boston, in 1746, for seventy-five dollars. In 1757, he married Venus, a slave to Zaccheus Gould. Joshua Cheever had a slave named Gift, whom he freed in 1756, at the solicitation of Hannah Perkins, who became his wife in 1745, on condition that he should free his slave at the age of twenty-five years. John Bassett had a slave, named Samson, whom he liberated in 1776, because " all nations were made of one blood." Thomas Cheever had two slaves, Reading and Jane, who were married in 1760. Samuel Johnson had two slaves, Adam, who married Dinah, in 1766. Thomas Mansfield had two slaves, one of whom, named Pompey, had been a prince in Africa; and, after his liberation, lived in the forest on the east of Saugus river. For many years, the slaves in all the neighboring towns used to have a holiday allowed them once a year, to visit King Pompey ; and doubtless this was to them a day of real happiness. On the little glade by the river side, the maidens gathered flowers to crown their old king, and the men talked of the happy hours they had known on the banks of the Gambia. Hannibal, a slave of John Lewis, was an example of the good effects which education and good treatment may pro- duce in the colored people. He was brought from Africa when
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ANNALS OF LYNN-1781.
a boy, and was treated rather as a servant than a slave. He married Phebe, a slave of Ebenezer Hawkes. By the indulgence of his master, and by working extra hours, he earned enough to purchase the freedom of three children, at forty dollars each ; but Phebe being a faithful slave, her master would not part with her short of forty pounds; yet, with a motive of hope before him, Hannibal was not to be discouraged, and in a few years her purchase was accomplished, and his own freedom was given to him. He married in 1762, and had three sons and six daugh- ters. I have seldom known a more worthy family. Ebenezer Burrill had two slaves; Jedediah Collins, two; Joseph Gould, two; and James Phillips, Samuel Burrill, Theophilus Burrill, Joseph Gaskins, Daniel Bassett, James Purinton, Ralph Lindsey, . and Dr. Henry Burchsted, one slave each; being in all, with their children, about forty slaves.
Rev. Joseph Mottey was ordained minister of the Lynnfield parish on the 24th of September.
On the 29th of November there was an earthquake.
Dr. John Perkins, of Lynnfield, died this year aged 85. His wife Clarissa died in 1749, and he wrote a poem on her death. He was a very eminent physician in his time, had studied two years in London, and practised physic forty years in Boston. In 1755, he published a tract on earthquakes ; and also an essay on the small pox, in the London Magazine. He left a man- uscript of 368 pages, containing an account of his life and experience, which is preserved in the library of the American Antiquarian Society.
1781.
[Abner Cheever, Dr. John Flagg, and James Newhall, of Lynn, were commissioned as Justices of the Peace, on the 20th of September. This was the earliest date of any commission issued by Hancock, the first governor under the republican dispensa- tion, to any justice in this county. Mr. Newhall having been my grandfather, his commission fell into my hands, and has been pre- served with some care on account of the interesting autograph of Hancock which stands out with its usual boldness, indicative of the character so undismayed amid the prevailing convulsions. And it is rather a curious fact that in that very commission, the surname of the appointee is spelled in different ways, show- ing that even then people had not ceased to delight in a diver- sified orthography. And their style was certainly, in several respects, more convenient than ours. Dictionaries were scarce, and it was useful in concealing ignorance. It also made the language more picturesque, in appearance at least. And it does not seem established that more exactness in understanding is attained by our formal mode. Mr. Newhall lived in the house
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that yet stands on the northerly side of Boston street, opposite the termination of Summer. To the end of his life he was pop- ularly known as 'Squire Jim; the appellation having been bestowed on account of his commission, and to distinguish him from six others of the same name who then lived in Lynn. The nicknames of those days were in some sense necessities, as middle names were not in use; and the choice of them gen- erally had some reference to personal peculiarities, though they were often far from being dignified or select. But a word fur- ther on this point may appear in another connection.]
1782.
Rev. John Treadwell relinquished the care of the first parish this year. He was born at Ipswich, September 20, 1738; and. was ordained at Lyun, March 2, 1763, where he preached nine- teen years. He returned to Ipswich, and in 1787, removed to Salem. [He graduated at Harvard College, in 1758. After returning to Ipswich, he taught the grammar school there, for two years, before going to Salem.] He was representative of Ipswich and Salem, a senator of Essex county, and judge of the court of common pleas. In 1763, he married Mehetabel Dexter, a descendant of Thomas Dexter, who bought Nahant. He had a son, John Dexter Treadwell, born in 'Lynn, May 29, 1768, who became a highly respected physician at Salem. [Mr. Treadwell's daughter Mehetabel married Mr. Cleveland, city missionary of Boston ; and professor C. D. Cleveland, the com- piler of numerous useful school books, was their son.]
Mr. Treadwell was a great patriot, a member of the committee of safety, and foremost in all the proceedings of the town during the Revolution. It is perhaps somewhat of an anomaly in ethics, to find a minister of the gospel of peace bearing arms; but the British were obnoxious to dissenters, from an opinion that they wished to establish the church in America. There has always been a prejudice in New England against the Episcopal Church, but there is abundant evidence that a man may be a good churchman and yet a true patriot. Washington and several other Presidents were members of the church and some of our most distinguished military and naval heroes have been church- men.
Mr. Treadwell was very fond of indulging in sallies of wit: and like his namesake in Shakspeare, he was not only witty in himself, but the cause of wit in other men. One Sunday, ob- serving that many of his audience had their heads in a reclining posture, he paused in his sermon, and exclaimed, "I should guess that as many as two thirds of you are asleep !" Mr. Jo- siah Martin, raising his head, looked round and replied, “ If I were to guess, I should guess there are not more than one half!"
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The next day Mr. Martin was brought up for disturbing divine service ; but he contended "it was not the time of divine ser- vice; the minister had ceased to preach, and it was guessing time." He was accordingly discharged. [This Josiah Martin who had the temerity to measure wit with Mr. Treadwell, was an eccentric and in some respects unworthy man. He was the immediate predecessor of Landlord Newhall in the old Sau- gus tavern, having married the widow of Zaccheus Norwood. He appeared in town about the year 1760, and is supposed to have been an English adventurer. At times he assumed great polish of manner, and made pretension to extraordinary piety ; and at other times he exhibited the characteristics and breeding of a gross villain. He was famous for indulging in practical jokes as well as witticisms, and in whimsical displays of every kind, with the only apparent object of eliciting the gaze of his neighbors. He is said, among other feats, to have ridden two miles, to attend meeting at the Old Tunnel, on a warm June day, in a double sleigh, with a span of horses, the dust flying and the runners grating horribly, and striking fire at every step. And his wife was a forced passenger at his side. He enlisted in the war, and never returned to Lynn.]
On the night of the 18th of March, Dr. Jonathan Norwood fell from his horse, injuring himself so much as to cause his death. He was a son of Zaccheus Norwood, born September 19, 1751, and graduated at Harvard University, in 1771. He lived on the north side of the Common.
[There was scarcely any corn or second crop of hay this year, on account of the drought.]
1783.
This year, the war, which had spread its gloom through the colonies for seven years, was terminated by a treaty of peace, signed on the third of September; and the then thirteen United States took their rank as an independent nation. The red cross banner of England was exchanged for a flag with thirteen stripes and thirteen stars ; and Americans now regard the people of England, like the rest of mankind-in war, enemies; in peace, friends.
With a few remarks respecting men and manners before the Revolution, we will take our leave of the olden time. People were then generally a plain, plodding, go-a-foot, matter-of-fact sort of people. Rail roads and steam boats had not even been thought of; the stage-coach and the omnibus were unknown; and when something which was intended to answer the purpose of a coach at last appeared, it was a lumbering vehicle, drawn by two horses, passing through the town twice a week, in going to and returning from Boston. A few of the more wealthy
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farmers kept a chaise, or a chair, which was only " tackled " on Sundays, or perhaps once a month for a journey to a neigh- boring town. People walked, without thinking it a trouble, from three to six miles on Sunday to meeting; the farmer rode on horseback, taking his wife behind him; and two or three spinsters of the family, or perhaps a young wife, followed in chairs placed in a horse-cart -for a four-wheeled wagon was unknown in the town for more than one hundred and forty years after its settlement; and when Mr. Benjamin Newhall, about the year 1770, introduced the first ox wagon, it was humorously said, that his hired man had to drive down to the Common to turn it. The physician made his visits on horse- back, with his big saddle-bags on each side, stuffed with medi- caments -for an apothecary's shop was as rare as an opera house. There were no lectures, or lyceums, or libraries, or concerts in those days; there were few excitements, for people had not leisure to promote them; a reputation could not then be destroyed, as now, in a day, for they lived too remote for common slander - but when the spirit of invective and evil, which had been confined for sixty years, did at length break forth, as in the time of witchcraft, it was as if a mountain lake should suddenly burst its cerements of porphyry, uprooting the finest trees, and bearing boulders of granite through the culti- vated valleys.
Gentlemen, in those days, wore hats with broad brims, turned up into three corners, with loops at the sides ; long coats, with large pocket-folds and cuffs, and without collars. The buttons were commonly plated, but sometimes of silver, often as large as half a dollar. Shirts had bosoms and wrist-ruffles; and all wore gold or silver shirt-buttons at the wrist, united by a link. The waistcoat was long, with large pockets ; and the neck-cloth or scarf, of fine white linen, or figured stuff, broidered, and the ends hanging loosely on the breast. The breeches were usually close, with silver buckles at the knees. The legs were covered with long gray stockings, which on holidays were exchanged for black or white silk. Boots, with broad white tops ; or shoes, with straps and large silver buckles, completed the equipment.
Ladies wore caps, long stiff stays, and high heeled shoes. Their bonnets were of silk or satin, and usually black. Gowns were extremely long-waisted, with tight sleeves. Another fash- ion was, very short sleeves, with an immense frill at the elbow, leaving the rest of the arm naked. A large flexible hoop, three or four feet in diameter, was for some time quilted into the hem of the gown, making an immense display of the lower person. A long, round cushion, stuffed with cotton or hair, and covered with black crape, was laid across the head, over which the hair was combed back and fastened. It was almost the universal
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custom, also, for women to wear gold beads - thirty-nine little hollow globes, about the size of a pea, strung on a thread, and tied round the neck. Sometimes this string would prove false to its trust -at an assembly, perhaps - and then, oh ! such a time to gather them up, before they should be trampled on and ruined ! Working women wore petticoats and half gowns, drawn with a cord round the waist, and neats' leather shoes ; though they generally, throughout the country, had a pair of "Lynn shoes " for Sunday. Women did not " go a shopping " every day then; there were few shops to go to, and those con- tained only such articles as were indispensable, and in very limited variety.
Those times had their benefits, but we would not wish their return. Nature brings not back the mastodon; why, then, should we wish a recurrence of those gigantic days, which pro- duced great men in proportion to great evils. That the men were more honest and generous, or the women more amiable and virtuous then, is not to be contended. The charm about them consists chiefly in this, that they lived in the early period of our history -a period which will always be interesting- the records of which will be read with as much avidity a thou- sand years hence, as they are to-day.
Lynn had 168 men in the Revolutionary War, of whom fifty- two were lost, besides the four men killed at Lexington.
1784.
The whole political course of our country has been changed by one great event. We are no longer the subjects of a foreign power. A new era has dawned upon us. The days of three- cornered hats and three-cornered swords are gone. Our govern- ors are no longer appointed in England; our civil policy is no longer regulated by her laws. We stand alone, a nation among nations. Our thousands of little democracies, scattered through- out the wide extent of our almost boundless country, constitute one grand Republic, which is now trying, before the world, the great problem, whether a free people can govern themselves.
For more than twenty years from the adoption of the state constitution, in 1780, the people of Lynn do not appear to have been much agitated by any conflict of political opinions. The insurrection in the central counties of Massachusetts, in 1786, was the first event which disturbed the public peace ; and in the following year, a company of twenty-three men from Lynn, went voluntarily to suppress the rebellion. The administration of the national government, from its commencement, in 1789, seems to have been generally approved, until the year 1794, when a treaty of amity was concluded with England, by John Jay, chief justice of the United States, with the sanction of President Washington.
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This treaty served to evince the existence throughout the Union of two great parties, who were separated by their different views of the nature and extent of republican government. One of these parties, denominated Federalists, contended that the President, with the consent of two thirds of the Senate, had the constitutional right, in the most extended sense, to make foreign alliances, on terms the most favorable to the public welfare. The other party, styled Democrats, considered this power to be so restricted, as not to infringe the particular rights of any State. The principle of one party had for its object, the greatest good of the greatest number - of the other, the greatest good of each individual. Both these parties were republican in their views ; and were undoubtedly influenced by a pure regard to the general good ; though they were recipro- cally regarded as being hostile to it.
In 1781, all the votes in the town, which were forty-four, were given for John Hancock, the first governor under the new constitution. The smallest number was in 1784; when there were only twenty-seven votes for governor, and six for senators. There were, indeed, many more voters in the town, but they were so well satisfied with the wisdom of their rulers, that they gave themselves no anxiety on the subject. But causes of dissatisfaction gradually arose; and the spirit of party began to be more plainly manifested in 1800, when there were one hun -. dred and thirteen votes for Caleb Strong, the federal governor, and sixty-eight for Elbridge Gerry, the democratic candidate. The political excitement, however, appears to have been very small, and conducted altogether without animosity. There was but one list of senators. brought forward till 1801, and the fed- eralists retained the ascendancy until 1804. After the death of Washington, and the elevation of Mr. Jefferson to the presiden- tial chair, the democrats in this town began more ostensibly to increase, and in 1804 manifested a decided superiority. At the choice of governor, 145 votes were given for Caleb Strong, and 272 for James Sullivan ; and this year, for the first time, a dem- ocratic representative was chosen. The parties now began to regard each other with manifestations of decided hostility, and the political arena presented a field of civil warfare without bloodshed. The most strenuous exertions were made by one party to maintain the ascendancy, and by the other to regain it. No man was permitted to remain neutral ; and if any one, pre- suming on his independence, ventured to form an opinion of his own, and to regard both parties as passing the bounds of mod- eration, he was regarded as an enemy by both. This rage of party continued several years, and was sometimes so violent as to be in danger of degenerating into animosity and personal hatred.
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ANNALS OF LYNN-1786.
[The mode of reckoning the currency at this period is illus- trated by a memorandum of Mr. Sparhawk, of Lynnfield, in an interleaved almanac "January ye 30th. Bought two piggs by ye hand of Mr. Reed, the barrow weighing 62 pounds, att five pence per pound . .. the other weighing 54 pounds att five pence per pound ; " the whole amounting to "two pound, eight shillings and two pence - which is eight dollars and two pence."]
Rev. Obadiah Parsons was installed pastor of the first parish, on the 4th of February. [The following is another almanac memorandum of Mr. Sparhawk: "Feb. ye 4th. Then was In- stalled, att ye Old Parish, in Lynn, Mr. Obadiah Parsons. Ye Revnd mr. Cleaveland of Ipswich began with prayer, ye Revnd mr. Forbes of Capan preachd the sermon, ye Revnd mr. Roby, of Lynn 3d parish, gave the charge, ye Revnd mr. Payson, of Chelsea, made the concluding prayer, and the Revnd mr. Smith, of Middleton, gave the right hand of fellowship. The gentleman above mentioned was settled in peace, harmony, and concord."
[Still another memorandum of Mr. Sparhawk says : "From ye 14th of June untill the 13th of July, a very dry time. And upon ye 14th of July, early in the morning, Jove thundered to the left and all Olympus trembled att his nod. The sun about an hour high; a beautiful refreshing shower. Again, July ye 15th, the latter part of ye night, Jove thundered to the left, three times, and Olympus trembled. A shower followed."]
On the 28th of October, General Lafayette passed through the town, on a visit to the eastward.
[The Friends, who had been annually paying for the support of public schools, this year made request to have a portion refunded for the use of their own school. After considerable opposition the request was granted and an allowance annually made, for some years.
[On the 26th of June, there was a remarkably high tide.]
1786.
In April, Benjamin Ingalls, in throwing an anchor from a boat in the harbor, was drawn overboard and drowned.
[A town meeting was held on the 8th of May, at which John Carnes was chosen representative. And the matter of giving him special instructions was considered. It will be observed that the political elements were at this time in an active state, and the most patriotic hearts, the wisest heads, and firmest hands were required in moulding them for the noblest purposes. A committee, consisting of Sylvanus Hussey, Col. John Mans- field, and Deacon Nathaniel Bancroft, was selected to draw up instructions. They produced the following, which were at once voted to be given :
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To Mr. John Carnes, chosen to represent the town of Lynn and the district of Lynnfield in General Court, the ensuing year :
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SIR: Our choice of you as Representative shews that we have put great confidence in you. But to join our voice with that of many others, in order to save the public, we would enjoin two things in particular upon you. The first is, That you would look into the grants of public salaries and other monies, and endeavor to prevent the laying of unnecessary burdens in this way. But at the same time let every one have an adequate reward for their services. The other injunction is this, That you would endeavor to prevent the ruin of individuals and the public by endeavoring to bring about another mode of proceeding in our law matters and to put it out of the power of the gentlemen of the law to take such advantage of their clients as they have often done, and to put them to so much needless trouble and expense. And if it cannot be done in any other way, that you endeavor to bring about an annihilation of the office. But we would have you in this and every thing else to adhere strictly to the Constitution."
[The first matter in these instructions was certainly important and well put. But the last savors of an unworthy antipathy to a class who probably did more than almost any other, to confirm our liberties and establish our institutions on a true and abiding foundation.]
The first rock was split in Lynn, this year, by John Gore. Before this, the people had used rough rock for building. [Mr. Lewis must certainly be mistaken in this. Do not numerous old cellars and the underpinning of many ancient houses prove the contrary ? In 1854, some workmen near Sadler's rock, exhumed a deposit of quarried granite, which, from the appear- ance of the trees above it, must have lain there a hundred years, if, indeed, it did not belong to Mr. Sadler's habitation, which stood in the immediate vicinity more than two hundred years before. It would be astonishing if the old Iron Works did not turn out drills and wedges innumerable, for use in the neighbor- hood. The art of working stone is a rudimental art, practiced every where, even among the rudest people, and was known in ages long before the foundation stones of Egyptian grandeur were laid. And there must have been a clear necessity for its practice in early New England times. How could they have built roads or cleared lands without blasting ? And how easy it was to split up the granite boulders for building purposes.]
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