USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 38
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 38
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 38
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 38
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 38
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On the 9th of December, there was a very great snow ; nearly seven feet deep on a level. (Sparhawk.)
1787.
[The formidable insurrection alluded to by Mr. Lewis, a few paragraphs back, and known as Shays' Rebellion, commenced in 1786. A town meeting was held in Lynn 17 January, of this year, at which it was voted "to raise the men called for by Gen. Titcomb." The town also voted that one pound be ad- vanced to each soldier who went from here, in addition to the
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ANNALS OF LYNN -1788, 1790.
" wages given by the Court." It was likewise voted that the town pay each man "his wages in specie, that goes for the town, when they know what wages the Court allows to each man and will take the wages of the Court themselves." And a further vote was passed requiring the selectmen to call upon the collectors for money to furnish the soldiers with camp uten- sils and provisions. And if they could not get sufficient from the collectors, they were authorized to hire money, giving their notes in behalf of the town. These votes show the same commendable promptness and determination in the performance of public duties that have always characterized the people of Lynn.
[The first parish parsonage was built this year. It stood on the south side of the Common, corner of Commercial street. In 1832 it was sold and moved down the street, where it still stands, at the corner of Neptune street .. There were what were called parsonage lands before this date.]
1788.
[A sloop, commanded by Captain Pendleton, was wrecked on Lynn Beach, 26 January. The vessel was lost. Only thirty- five cords of wood were saved.]
General Washington passed through Lynn in October. The inhabitants were greatly delighted to see him; and the old Boston road was thronged with people, who came forth to salute him as he proceeded to Salem.
1790.
[The following amusing epistle, relating to a disaster that appears to have taken place near the old sluice, in what is now the Dye Factory village, is found among the historical collec- tions of the Essex Institute, and is dated 18 February :
BROTHER N. - I arrived at my house about 2 o'clock, but met with a dis- aster upon the road which has lamed me a little. Passing the Sluice, the ice lay so sidling I was afraid to ride over least the slay should run over the Bridge. Peggy got out to walk over, and I set on the side of the slay to drive over, and got over safe. Peggy, in passing, was taken by the wind, and must have gone over the Bridge, if she had not set herself down. Seeing that, I went to help her, and left my horse. He set out after I had assisted Peggy. I pursued after the horse and ran till I was very much spent, and finally got hold of the slay, but my strength was spent and I was not able to get forward to get hold of the bridle. I slipped and fell, but was loth to lose my hold of the slay, and suffered myself to be drawn upon the ice, I suppose, twenty rods. At length I worked myself forward, got the bridle, and stopped the horse, but found myself extremely spent, and much bruised and faint with my exertions. I feel pretty comfortable now. One of my ankles is very much swelled, but I hope it will go off soon. I now send by B- Mrs. - 's mogisons and the green cloth-am obliged to her for them-all my family are well - my regards to your family.
From your affectionate Brother.
D2*
23
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ANNALS OF LYNN-1791
1791.
Until this year, there were but two religious denominations in Lynn - the First Congregational Church and the Society of Friends. This year the First Methodist Society was organized. The Rev. Jesse Lee, a preacher of that persuasion, came to Lynn on the 14th of December previous, and was so successful in preaching at private houses, that on the 20th of February a society was formed; and on the 21st of June a house of worship was raised, which was dedicated on the 26th of the same month. This was the first Methodist meeting-house in Massachusetts. Several members of the First Congregational Church united with this society; among whom were the two deacons, who took with them the vessels of the communion service. These vessels consist of four large silver tankards, eleven silver cups, and one silver font for baptism; presented to the church by John Burrill, Theophilus Burrill, and John Breed. The removal of this plate occasioned a difference between the societies, and the Congregational Church was compelled to borrow vessels, for the communion, from the church at Saugus. The deacons afterward offered to return one half; and in prospect of a pros- ecution they relinquished the whole. It is a fact worthy of notice, that the First Congregational Church, which had opposed and persecuted the Quakers and the Baptists, was at one time so reduced, that only three male members remained. In 1794, this church invited those of its members who had seceded to the Methodist Society, to be reunited; and within a few years, one of the deacons and several of the members returned. The first stationed minister of the Methodists was Rev. Amos G. Thomson. The frequent changes of the ministers of the persua- sion, render it inconvenient to keep an account of them. They are regarded as belonging to the Conference, or society at large ; and, like the apostles, they " have no certain dwelling place." May their rest be in heaven !
[It is proper to add in this connection, that the Methodists. have taken a very different view of the facts regarding their possession and detention of the church plate, from that taken by the Congregationalists, maintaining that there was nothing illegal or unfair in what they did -that they were in a majority before withdrawing from the old society, but were held as legal members and taxed for its support - that the deacons were the rightful custodians of the sacred vessels. and had not been displaced - that they generously abstained from any attempt to possess themselves of the house of worship, and withdrew and erected an edifice for themselves. They further assert that an eminent counsellor was consulted, who assured them they were in the right. But does all this make out a case ? With.
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ANNALS OF LYNN-1791.
out pausing to consider what attitude the affair might have assumed had the Methodists remained and outvoted the Con- gregationalists, let us look at the facts just as they were. The Methodists withdrew -" seceded." to use Mr. Lewis's term. The plate was given to " The First Church of Christ in Lynn "- as the inscriptions on the different articles prove. Now did the seceders claim to be that First Church ? Why, no; they claimed to be Methodists-a new denomination, and one un- known in the world at the time the pious donors gave the vessels. They did not revolutionize the old society, but sece- ded from it. And in the great political secession of 1861, when the seceders appropriated all the property of the United States on which they could lay hands, what did we call them ? If the communion vessels of a church are rightfully in possession of the deacons, they are there in trust and are not such property as attaches to the person. Could erroneous legal advice have
been received? Implicit faith in the instructions of his coun- sel may be admired in any party. But notwithstanding the proverbial discernment and integrity of lawyers, it nevertheless has been known that while advocating the interests of opposing parties they have slightly differed; sometimes, perhaps, leaning most strongly toward the side from which they received their fees. Something like this happened here; for it seems that the Congregationalists as well as the Methodists consulted most able counsel, and that each party received assurance that they were in the right.
[It is not at all necessary for a moment to impute any evil intent to the Methodists ; for there was opportunity enough for honest mistake, in the outset; and as the contest increased in warmth it was not natural that their perception of the rights of the other side should become more clear. The deacons who had charge of the plate, appear to have been men of excellent character. And it is evident, too, that the old church did not conceive the conduct of the seceders to be such as to preclude them from a cordial invitation to return. And Deacon Farring- ton did, among others, return.
[This was a period when church difficulties were beginning to occur on every hand. Worse experiences than those which overtook the Old Tunnel befell some others of the societies which had been planted and nurtured amid the privations of the first settlements. Lawsuits, with their long trains of evils, in- tervened. And the decisions of the supreme court, in certain instances, fail to increase our respect for that august tribunal. It is a singular fact that the First Church of Lynn is almost the only one of the early Massachusetts churches that has main- tained her integrity in doctrine - that has adhered to the Calvin- istic faith. And perhaps her early experience with the Quakers
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ANNALS OF LYNN-1792.
and subsequent conflicts with the Methodists, saved her from what in the view of some of her devoted children would have been the greatest of all calamities, to wit, the instating of Unitarianism.]
The eighteenth of December was the coldest day known for many years. The thermometer was twenty degrees below zero.
1792.
Rev. Obadiah Parsons relinquished his connection with the first parish on the 16th of July. He was born at Gloucester, graduated at Cambridge in 1768, and was installed at Lypn, February 4, 1784, where he preached eight years. He returned to Gloucester, where he died in December, 1801. His first wife was Elizabeth Wigglesworth; his second, Sally Coffin. He had nine children ; Elizabeth W., William, Sally C., William and Sally C. again, Obadiah, Polly, Harriet, Sally. [Mr. Parsons likewise taught the school near the east end of the Common. After his return to his native place, he there taught for several years, and performed the duties of justice of the peace. His first wife belonged to one of the most eminent families in the colony. And it is enough to say of his own family, that it gave to the commonwealth the most able chief justice who ever graced her bench. His son William studied medicine, and was surgeon's mate on board the frigate Constitution while quite a young man. His son Obadiah was remarkable for early mental devel- opment, but received injury from intense application, and died a little before he would have attained his majority. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, born in 1770, was married to Amos Rhodes, who lived on the east side of Federal street, and was a man of property and standing. Polly, who was born in 1784, was married to Jabez Hitchings, a citizen long well known ..
[Before Mr. Parsons came to Lynn he was settled over the Squam parish, in Gloucester, which he left, in consequence of charges of a gross nature made against him by a female member. A council was held to examine into the allegations, and before it he made a strong defense. The result of the examination appears in the following votes: "1. That the charge or com- plaint made against the Rev. Mr. Obadiah Parsons was not sup- ported. 2. That, nevertheless, considering the great alienation of affection, especially on the part of his people, (nearly one half having left his ministry,) and the little prospect there is of further usefulness among them, we think it expedient, and advise as prudent, that the pastoral relation be dissolved." The coun- cil also made a report which was accepted by church and pastor. And Mr. Babson, in his valuable History of Gloucester says the church made application for a parish meeting to be called to act upon the doings of the council; which meeting was held
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ANNALS OF LYNN-1793.
on the 15th of November, and resulted in the refusal of the parish to accept the decision of the council. And they further voted, unanimously, under an article in the warrant for a pre- vious meeting adjourned to the same day, that Mr. Parsons be dismissed from the work of the gospel ministry. One would think that this action clearly enough indicated the prevalent opinion regarding the guilt of Mr. Parsons. Nevertheless, the Lynn church gave him a call. And, under all the circumstances, one may almost be pardoned for the suggestion that some evil spirit governed their course, in the hope that thereby the church would be broken up.
[As might have been expected, the society was not prosper- ous under the ministry of Mr. Parsons. And there were not wanting stories of his moral delinquencies while in our midst. If he were innocent, he was greatly sinned against, and very unfortunate in being involved in suspicious circumstances. He was unquestionably a man of talents, learning, and pleasing manners, and under other circumstances might have been an instrument of much good. I have been informed by one of our most aged and intelligent citizens, who was a pupil at his school, that he would frequently send by the scholars his compliments to their mothers with the message that he would call and take tea with them. But his reputation was such that notwith- standing the sacred relation he sustained, the return message that it would not be convenient to entertain him would occa- sionally come. He lived in the Lindsay house, as it is now called, on South Common street, the second west from the corner of Pleasant.]
The ship Commerce, of Boston, was wrecked on the coast of Arabia, on the 10th of July. One of the crew was James Lar- rabee, of Lynn, who suffered almost incredible hardships, being robbed by the Bedouins, and compelled to travel hundreds of miles over the burning sands, where he saw his companions daily perishing by hunger, thirst, and heat. He finally arrived at Muscat, where he was relieved and sent home by the English consul. Of thirty-four men, only eight survived.
On the 10th of August Joshua Howard, aged twenty-nine, went into the water, after laboring hard upon the salt marsh, and was immediately chilled and drowned.
[Widow Elizabeth Phillips died on the 11th of December, aged a hundred years.]
1793.
This year the post office was established at Lynn, at the corner of Boston and Federal streets. Col. James Robinson was the first postmaster. [He died in 1832; and a brief notice of him will appear under that date.]
L
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ANNALS OF LYNN -- 1794.
A boat, containing five persons, was overset, near the mouth of Saugus river, on the 14th of December, and three persons drowned. These were John Burrill, aged 67, William Whitte- more, aged 27, and William Crow, aged 15 years. They had been on an excursion of pleasure to the Pines; the afternoon was pleasant, and as they were returning, the boat was struck by a squall, which frightened them, and caused them to seek the shore, which they probably would have gained, had not one of them jumped upon the side of the boat, which caused it to be overset. Two of them swam to the shore in safety. Mr. Burrill and the boy also gained the beach, but died in a few minutes.
Dr. John Flagg died on the 27th of May. He was a son of Rev. Ebenezer Flagg, of Chester, N. H., born in 1743, and graduated at Cambridge, in 1761. In 1769, he came to Lynn, where his prudence and skill soon secured him the confidence of the people. He was chosen a member of the Committee of Safety, in 1775, and received a commission as Colonel. His wife was Susanna Fowle, and he had one daughter, Susanna, who married Dr. James Gardner.
[Ebenezer Burrill discovered an old tan vat, at Swampscot, which evidently belonged to the tannery on King's brook, which was in operation in 1743, and took from it a side of leather which had doubtless lain there forty years. Near a branch of the same brook Mr. Burrill also found relics of an ancient brick kiln.]
1794.
On the 17th of May, there was a great frost.
Rev. Thomas Cushing Thatcher was ordained minister of the First Parish, on the 13th of August.
A new school-house was this year built by a few individuals and purchased by the town. Six hundred and sixty-six dollars were granted for the support of schools.
In the prospect of a war with France, the government of the United States required an army of eighty thousand men to be in preparation. Seventy-five men were detached from Lynn. The town gave each of them twenty-three shillings, and voted to increase their wages to ten dollars a month.
[The manufacture of snuff was commenced at Makepeace's mill, on Saugus river, by Samuel Fales. Two mortars, formed by rimming out a couple of rough buttonwood logs, were set up. And this was the beginning of a business which became profitable.
[Christmas day was so warm that at noon the thermometer stood at eighty, and boys went in to swim. Such a thing was probably never known here, before or since.]
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ANNALS OF LYNN-1795, 1796.
1795.
In a great storm, on the night of the 9th of December, the Scottish brig Peggy, Captain John Williamson, from Cape Bre- ton, was wrecked near the southern end of Lynn Beach. She was laden with dried fish, consigned to Thomas Amory, of Bos- ton. There were twelve men on board, only one of whom, Hugh Cameron, of Greenock, in Scotland escaped. He was ordered into the long-boat, to make fast the tackle, when the same wave separated it from the vessel, and swept his unfor- tunate comrades from their last hold of life. The vessel was completely wrecked, being dashed to pieces upon the hard sand, and the fragments of the vessel, the cargo, and the crew, were scattered in melancholy ruin along the beach. The bodies of eight of the drowned men were recovered, and on the 11th, they were buried from the First Parish meeting-house, where an affecting sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Thatcher, from Job 1 : 19, " And I only am escaped alone !" During the dis- course, Hugh Cameron stood in the centre aisle.
[In Dwight's Travels it is stated that during no summer for eighty years was there so much rain as during that of 1795. For ten weeks, commencing in the middle of June, it rained at least a part of half the days.
[Massey's Hall, so called, was built this year. It was on Boston street, a few rods west of Federal, and is believed to have been the first public hall in Lynn. Here the Republican and Democratic caucuses were held. The first dancing school was opened in this ball, in 1800.
[The schooner Dove, of about twenty tons, was this year purchased by James Phillips, Jonathan Blaney, and others, and was the first of the little schooners owned in Swampscot. In 1797 she went ashore in a storm, between Black Rock and New Cove, and became a total wreck. The same year, James Phillips, Beniah Phillips, Joseph Fuller, and others, bought the schooner Lark, of sixteen tons. In October, 1799, during a gale, she sank at her moorings, being a leaky old boat. But the Swamp- scot people were not to be driven from their purpose by these disasters, and in the same year bought another schooner of the name of the first - the Dove. Such was the beginning of that class of Swampscot marine, which now makes such a picturesque appearance in her little bay.]
1796.
[The first fire engine purchased for public use in Lynn, was bought this year. It is still [1864] in existence, and occasion- ally makes its appearance, on an alarm, attracting much more attention by its antique appearance than by its usefulness.]
-
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ANNALS OF LYNN -1797, 1798.
1
1797.
[Jonathan Makepeace commenced the manufacture of choco- late at the mill on Saugus river. And this may be set down as the beginning of the production of that excellent article which, under Mr. Childs, attained a world-wide celebrity. It is not improbable, however, that before this, Benjamin Sweetser had made a little chocolate, by horse power.]
1798.
[At a legal town meeting, the people of Lynn adopted an address to the President and Congress, touching our troubles with France. The address, which seems in the style of Rev. Mr. Thacher, well exhibits the loyalty and spirit of the people, and, together with the President's reply, is here given :
To John Adams, President, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America :
At a period which so seriously arrests the attention of every American, and true friend of his country, as the present, the inhabitants of Lynn, in the State of Massachusetts, feeling it to be their duty, and impressed with the just, wise and prudent administration of the Executive and the rulers in general of the American republic, ardently embrace an opportunity to announce their de- termined resolution to support their constitution and government, with all they hold most sacred and dear. Convinced as we are, that the President has, by fair, unequivocal, and full instructions, which he has given to our envoys, to adjust and amicably accommodate all existing difficulties between the United States and the French republic, done all consistent with the honor, dignity, and freedom of his country, to preserve peace and good understanding with that nation. Notwithstanding our envoys are commissioned with full power to settle all animosities with the French agents, upon the broadest basis of equity, they are treated with neglect-refused an audience, lest their reasonings should show to the world the integrity of our government and disclose their iniquity.
Legislators, Guardians! The most nefarious designs have been plotted to subvert our government, subjugate the country, and lay us under contribution ; but thanks be to the Sovereign of the universe, that we do not experience the fate of Venice, nor groan under the oppression of subdued nations. We are a free people, have a sense of the blessings which we enjoy under that liberty and independence, which we have wrested from the hand of one king, and will not supinely submit to any nation.
We wish not again to behold our fields crimsoned with human blood, and fervently pray God to avert the calamities of war. Nevertheless, should our magistrates, in whom we place entire confidence, find it expedient to take energetic measures to defend our liberties, we will readily cooperate with them in every such measure; nor do we hesitate, at this interesting crisis, to echo the declaration of our illustrious chief, that "we are not humiliated under a colonial sense of fear ; we are not a divided people." Our arms are strong in defense of our rights, and we are determined to repel our foe.
[REPLY. ]
To the Inhabitants of Lynn, in the State of Massachusetts :
ยท Gentlemen : Your address to the President, Senate and House of Repre- sentatives, adopted at a legal town meeting, has been presented to me by your Representative in Congress, Mr. Sewall.
When the inhabitants of one of our towns, assembled in legal form, solemnly
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1799, 1800.
declare themselves impressed with the wise, just, and prudent administration of their rulers in general; and that they will support their constitution and government, with all they hold most sacred and dear, no man who knows them, will question their sincerity.
The conviction you avow that the President has done all, consistent with the honor, dignity, and freedom of his country, to preserve peace and good understanding with the French, is a gratification to me which I receive with esteem.
As the treatment of your envoys is without a possibility of justification, excuse, or apology, I leave it to your just resentment. Your acknowledgment of the blessings you enjoy, under your liberty and independence, and deter- mination never supinely to surrender them, prove you to deserve them.
JOHN ADAMS.]
1799.
[A resolve passed the General Court, 7 June, establishing a Notary Public, at Lynn. And this being the first officer of the kind here, it may be well to say a word respecting the history of the office in Massachusetts. Hutchinson, under date 1720, says, " There had been no public notaries in the Province, except such as derived their authority from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The House now first observed that a Notary Public was a civil officer, which by the charter was to be chosen by the General Court, and sent a message desiring the council to join with the house in the choice of such an officer in each port of the province." The custom under the second charter must be referred to; and we may conclude that the colonists under the first charter operated with a high hand in this as well as in many other things; for the Court appointed, in 1644, William Aspinwall, of Boston, Notary for Massachusetts. And in 1697, Stephen Sewall was a " notary publique."]
A barn, belonging to Mr. Micajah Newhall on the south side of the Common, was struck by lightning, about noon, on the 2d of August, and burned, with a quantity of hay and grain, and one of his oxen.
1800.
The memory of Washington was honored by a procession and eulogy, on the 13th of January. He died on the 14th of De- cember previous. The people assembled at the school-house ; the scholars walked first, with crape on their arms, followed by a company of militia, with muffled drums, the municipal officers and citizens. The eulogy was pronounced by Rev. Thomas C. Thacher, at the First Congregational meeting-house. A fune- ral sermon, on the same occasion, was preached by Rev. William Guirey, at the First Methodist meeting-house.
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