USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 39
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
[The Legislature passed, 20 February, an act to encourage the manufacture of shoes, boots, and goloshes.]
On the afternoon of Sunday, March 1st, there was an earth- quake.
E2
362
ANNALS OF LYNN-1800.
On the 11th of June, Mr. Samuel Dyer, a gentleman from Boston, was drowned in Humfrey's Pond, at Lynnfield.
[On Friday, 18 July, the first regular New England Methodist Conference commenced at the meeting-house on the Common. Among those present were Jesse Lee, George Pickering, Joshua Wells, Joshua Taylor, Joshua Hall, Andrew Nichols, William Beauchamp, Thomas F. Sargent, Daniel Fidler, Ralph Williston, Timothy Merritt, and John Finnegan, elders, and fathers of American Methodism, though some of them were then young in years. The Conference continued in session two days. The preachers, however, remained over Sunday, when ordination services were held. Bishop Asbury delivered an address, from the text, Matthew ix : 36-38. While the congregation were still assembled, the clouds gathered and a copious rain descend- ed. This was deemed a " signal instance of divine goodness ; " for a severe drought had prevailed, and the preachers had been zealously praying for rain.]
On the 26th of July, Mr. Nathaniel Fuller, aged 38 years, was drowned from a fishing boat, near Nahant.
The ship William Henry, of Salem, owned by Hon. William Gray, was wrecked on an island of ice, on the 1st of May. Three of the crew were John Newhall, James Parrott, and Bas- sett Breed, of Lynn. They launched the long-boat ; and the whole crew, consisting of fifteen persons, leaped into it. They saved nothing but the compass, the captain's trunk, an axe, and a fishing line. For six days they had no water but a small quantity which had fallen from the clouds, and laid in the hol- low of an island of salt water ice. On the fourth day, they caught a fish, which some of them devoured raw, but others were too faint with their long fast to swallow any. When the storm and fog cleared up, they went ashore at Newfoundland, and the next morning found their boat stove and filled with water. They subsisted three days on' sea peas, thistles, and cranberries. Several of the crew were unable to walk; but having repaired their boat, they put to sea, and were discovered by a vessel containing four men, who at first would afford them no relief, but after much entreaty threw them a rope, and they arrived at St. John, where the American consul furnished them with a passage home.
[An elephant was exhibited in Lynn, for the first time, this year. He was shown in the chaise house of Col. Robinson, on Boston street, corner of Federal.
[On the 24th of December there was no frost in the ground.
Previous to the year 1800, there were only three houses on Nahant, owned by Breed, Hood, and Johnson. This year a large house was erected on the western part of Nahant, as a hotel, by Capt. Joseph Johnson.
363
ANNALS OF LYNN-1801, 1802, 1803.
[The manufacture of morocco leather was introduced into Lynn, this year. William Rose established a factory on the south side of the Common, opposite where the pond now is. A small brook ran across at that place.]
1801.
A very brilliant meteor, half the size of the full moon, ap- peared in the northwest, on the evening of Friday, 16 October. [" In all my school days, which ended in 1801," says Benja- min Mudge, in a memorandum, "I never saw but three females . in public schools, and they were there only in the afternoon, to learn to write." In the Lynn school reports, female pupils are not spoken of till 1817.]
1802.
Rev. John Carnes died on the 26th of October, aged 78. He was born at Boston in 1724, graduated in 1742, was minister at Stoneham and Rehoboth, and chaplain in the army of the Revo- lution. At the close of the war he came to Lynn, received a commission as justice of the peace, was nine times elected as a representative, and in 1788 was a member of the Convention to ratify the Constitution of the United States. He was an active and useful citizen. He married Mary, daughter of John Lewis, resided on Boston street, and had two children, John and Mary.
1803.
Rev. Joseph Roby, pastor of the Congregational Church in Saugus, died on the last day of January, aged 79. He was born at Boston, in 1724, graduated in 1742, and was ordained minister of the third parish of Lynn, now the first parish of Saugus, 1752. He preached fifty-one years. He was an excellent scholar, a pious and venerable man, and was highly esteemed for his social virtues. He published two Fast Sermons, one in 1781, the other in 1794. He married Rachel Proctor, of Boston, and had seven children ; Joseph, Rachel, Mary, Henry, Thomas, Elizabeth and Sarah. [Mr. Roby belonged to an excellent family. Dr. Thomas Roby, of Cambridge, and Dr. Ebenezer Roby, of East Sudbury, both highly distinguished men, were his uncles. Some of the family spelled the name Robie. His son Thomas, who was born 2 March, 1759, graduated at Cambridge in 1779; settled at Chatham in 1783, and remained there till 1795. He died in 1836.]
The ship Federal George, of Duxbury, sailed from Boston in February, bound to Madeira, with a cargo of flour and corn. . In the number of the crew were three men from Lynn, whose names were Bassett Breed Parker Mudge, and Jonathan Ward.
1
364
ANNALS OF LYNN - 1803.
In the midst of the Atlantic they were overtaken by a great storm, which, on the 22d, capsized the vessel, carried away her masts, and bowsprit, and when it subsided, left the deck two feet beneath the water. The crew, which consisted of seven men, remained lashed upon the windlass for twenty-four days. Their sustenance, for the first part of the time, was a small piece of meat, and a box of candles, which floated up from the hold. They afterward succeeded in obtaining a bag of corn, and some flour soaked with salt water. Their allowance of drink, at first, was a coffee-pot cover full of water twice a day. This was afterward reduced to one half, and then to one third. On the 18th of March, they were relieved by the Duke of Kent, an English merchant ship, returning from the South Sea. When they were taken from the wreck, they had but one quart of wa- ter left. [The Bassett Breed mentioned as one of the sufferers, survived for many years, and died at Lynn, on the 22d of De- cember, 1862, at the advanced age of 87. He had accumulated considerable property, and was a worthy citizen:]
On Sunday, the 8th of May, a snow storm commenced, and continued about seven hours. The snow was left upon the ground to the depth of one inch. The apple trees were in blos- som at the time.
On the 8th of July, Mr. William Cushman, aged 23, a work- man on the Lynn Hotel, was drowned from a raft of timber, in Saugus river.
On Sunday, the 10th of July, about three of the clock in the afternoon, a house on Boston street, nearly opposite the foot of Cottage, was struck by lightning, and Mr. Miles Shorey and his wife were instantly killed. The bolt appeared like a large ball of fire. It struck the western chimney, and then, after descending several feet, separated. One branch melted a watch which hung over the chamber mantel, passed over the cradle of a sleeping infant, covering it with cinders, and went out at the north chamber window. The other branch descended with the chimney, and when it reached the chamber floor, separated into two branches, above the heads of the wife and husband, who were passing at that instant from the parlor to the kitchen. One part struck Mrs. Shorey on the side of her head, left her stocking on fire, and passed into the ground. The other part entered Mr. Shorey's bosom, passed down his side, melted the buckle of his shoe, and went out at one of the front windows. There were four families in the house, which contained, at the time, nineteen persons, several of whom were much stunned. One man, who stood at the eastern door, was crushed to the floor by the pressure of the atmosphere. When the people entered the room in which Mr. Shorey and his wife lay, they found two small children endeavoring to awaken their parents.
365
ANNALS OF LYNN- 1803.
An infant, which Mrs. Shorey held in her arms, when she was struck, was found with its hair scorched, and its little finger nails slightly burned. She lived, and became the wife of Mr. Samuel Farrington. Mr. Shorey was a native of New Hampshire, 29 years of age. Mrs. Love Shorey, aged 28 years, was a daugh- ter of Mr. Allen Breed, of Lynn. On the next day they were buried. The coffins were carried side by side, and a double procession of mourners, of a great length, followed the bodies to their burial in one grave.
On the next Sunday, a funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Thomas Cushing Thacher, at the First Congregational meeting-house, from Job xxxvii : 2, 3, 4. At the close of the service, a house in Market street, owned by Mr. Richard Pratt, was struck by lightning. It descended the chimney, separated into three branches, did considerable damage to the house, and left Mr. Pratt senseless on the floor for several minutes.
On Sunday, the 28th of August, at one o'clock in the morning, the hotel on the western part of Nahant, owned by Captain Joseph Johnson, took fire and was consumed, with all its con- tents. The family were awakened by the crying of a child, which was stifling with the smoke, and had just time to escape with their lives. A black man, who slept in the upper story, saved himself by throwing a feather bed from the window, and jumping upon it.
On the 8th of September, John Ballard, John Pennerson, and his son, went out on a fishing excursion. On the next day, the boat came ashore at Nahant, with her sails set, the lines out for fishing, and food ready cooked. Nothing more was ever heard of the crew ; but as Mr. Pennerson was a Frenchman, and as a French vessel had been seen that day in the bay, it was con- jectured that they were taken on board and carried to France.
On Thursday, the 22d of September, the Salem Turnpike was opened and began to receive toll. The Lynn Hotel was built this year. The number of shares in this turnpike was twelve hundred, and the original cost was $189.000. This road will become the property of the Commonwealth, when the proprie- tors shall have received the whole cost, with twelve per cent. interest; and the bridge over Mystic river, when seventy years shall be accomplished. This turnpike, for nearly four miles, passes over a tract of salt marsh, which is frequently covered by the tide. When it was first projected, many persons es- teemed it impracticable to build a good road on such a founda- tion. One person testified that he had run a pole down to the depth of twenty-five feet. Yet this turnpike proves to be one of the most excellent roads in America.
The post office was removed from Boston street to the south end of Federal street.
E2*
1
366
ANNALS OF LYNN - 1804.
1804.
This year a powder house was built, near High Rock, at an expense of one hundred and twenty dollars .. [This remained a curious and conspicuous little mark for about fifty years, when ยท on a certain night some rogue set it on fire and it was consumed. It had ceased to be used for the storing of powder, many years before.
[The first celebration of Independence, in Lynn, took place this year. There was a procession, and an oration was deliv- ered by Rev. Peter Janes, the Methodist minister. A patriotic ode, written by Enoch Mudge, was sung. A large company partook of a dinner in the hall in the west wing of the Hotel, which was built the preceding year.
[Snow fell in this vicinity, in July ; yet the month proved, on the average, to be the warmest of the year.]
On the 4th of August, the body of a woman was found in the canal, on the north side of the turnpike, a short distance west of Saugus bridge. She was ascertained to have been a widow Currel, who was traveling from Boston to Marblehead. The manner of her death was unknown.
Rev. William Frothingham was ordained minister of the Sau- gus parish, on the 26th of September. He continued to perform the duties of that office till the year 1817, when he was dismissed, on his own request.
One of the greatest storms ever known in New England com- menced on Tuesday morning, the 9th of October. The rain fell fast, accompanied by thunder. At four in the afternoon the wind became furious, and continued with unabated energy till the next morning. This was probably the severest storm after that of August, 1635. The damage occasioned by it was very great. Buildings were unroofed, barns, chimneys, and fences were blown down, and orchards greatly injured. The chimney of the school-house on the western part of the Common, fell through the roof, in the night, carrying the bench, at which I had been sitting a few hours before, into the cellar. Many vessels were wrecked, and in several towns the steeples of meeting-houses were broken off, and carried to a great distance. The number of trees uprooted in the woodlands was beyond calculation. Thousands of the oldest and hardiest sons of the forest, which had braved the storms of centuries, were pros- trated before it, and the woods throughout were strewed with the trunks of fallen trees, which were not gathered up for many . years. Some have supposed that a great storm, at an early; period, may have blown down the trees on the marshes ; but it could not have buried them several feet deep; and trees have been found thus buried.
367
ANNALS OF LYNN-1805, 1806.
1
1805.
For a hundred and seventy-three years, from the building of the first parish meeting-house, the people had annually assembled in it, for the transaction of their municipal concerns. But this year, the members of that parish observing the damage which such meetings occasioned to the house, and believing that, since the incorporation of other parishes, the town had no title in it, refused to have it occupied as a town-house. This refusal occasioned much controversy between the town and parish, and committees were appointed by both parties to accomplish an adjustment. An engagement was partially made for the occu- pation of the house, on the payment of twenty-eight dollars annually ; but the town refused to sanction the agreement, and the meetings were removed to the Methodist meeting-house, on the eastern part of the Common, in 1806.
The Lynn Academy was opened on the 5th of April, under the care of Mr. William Ballard. A bell was presented to this institution by Col. James Robinson.
An earthquake happened on the 6th of April, at fifteen min- utes after two in the afternoon.
On the 11th of May, Mr. John Legree Johnson's house, on the east end of the Common, was struck by lightning.
A society of Free Masons was constituted on the 10th of June, by the name of Mount Carmel Lodge. [For further no- tices of this institution, see under dates 1834 and 1845.]
On the 24th of July, Mr. Charles Adams fell from the rocks at Nipper Stage, on Nahant, and was drowned.
[On Sunday, 11 October, Benjamin Phillips's house, on Water Hill, was struck by lightning.]
1806.
A total eclipse of the sun happened on Monday, the 16th of June. It commenced a few minutes after ten in the forenoon, and continued about two hours and a half. The sun rose clear, and the morning was uncommonly pleasant. As the eclipse advanced, the air became damp and cool, like the approach of evening: The birds at first flew about in astonishment, and then retired to their roosts, and the stars appeared. The shad- ow of the moon was seen traveling across the earth from west to east; and at the moment when the last direct ray of the sun was intercepted, all things around appeared to waver, as if the earth was falling from its orbit. Several persons fainted, and many were observed to take hold of the objects near them for support. The motion of the spheres was distinctly perceptible, and the whole system appeared to be disordered. It seemed as if the central orb of light and animation was about to be forever
368
ANNALS OF LYNN- 1807.
extinguished, and creation was returning to its original nonen- tity. The most unreflecting mind was made sensible of its dependence, and the soul involuntarily sought the protection of its Maker. The total darkness endured about three minutes. When the sun came forth from his obscurity, it was with over- whelming lustre; the dreadful silence which had spread its dominion over the universe, was broken; the cocks began to crow, the birds renewed their songs, and man and nature seemed to rejoice, as if returning to existence, from which they had been shut out by the unwonted darkness.
The anniversary of American Independence was this year publicly celebrated in Lynn, for the first time. [Mr. Lewis is mistaken here. See under date 1804.] As the spirit of party was exercising its unabated influence, the inhabitants could not unite in performing the honors of the day, and made two pro- cessions. The Federalists assembled at the First Congregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered by Mr. Hosea Hildreth, preceptor of the Academy ; and the Democrats met at the First Methodist meeting-house, where an oration was pro- nounced by Dr. Peter G. Robbins. The Democrats dined at the Hotel, and the Federalists in the hall of the Academy.
And such regard for freedom there was shown, That either party wished her all their own!
[The town meetings began to be held, this year, in the First Methodist meeting-house; and they were held there till 1814.]
1807.
The town having determined that no person who was not an inhabitant should have the privilege of taking any sand, shells, or sea manure from the Lynn beaches, this year prosecuted several of the inhabitants of Danvers, for trespassing against this order. The decision of the court established the right of the town to pass such a vote and left it in legal possession of all the natural treasures which the sea might cast upon its shores.
[A rock on the east side of Oak street, was struck by light- ning, this year, and a portion weighing some twelve tons thrown two hundred feet.
[Theophilus Bacheller's house was burned in October.]
The depression of commerce and manufactures, at the close of this year, was very great. This was principally occasioned by the state of affairs in Europe, and the spoliation of property in American vessels, by the governments of France and Eng- land, which, in the prosecution of their hostilities, had made decrees affecting neutral powers. On the twenty-second of December, congress passed an act of embargo, by which all the ports of the United States were closed against the clearance of all vessels.
369
ANNALS OF LYNN - 1808.
1808.
The enforcement of the embargo law occasioned great suffer- ing throughout the Union, particularly in commercial places. The harbors were filled with dismantled vessels, which lay rotting at the wharves. Thousands of seamen were thrown out of employment, the price of provisions was enhanced, and the spirit of desolation seemed to be spreading her dark wings over the land. While the democrats were disposed to regard this state of things as requisite to preserve the dignity of the nation and the energy of government, the federalists viewed it as an impolitic, unjust, and arbitrary measure, by which the interests of commerce were sacrificed to the will of party. The spirit of opposition, in this difference of opinion, was put forth in its utmost strength. At the election in April, the greatest number of votes was produced which had at this time been given in the town ; of which 418 were for James Sullivan, and 273 for Christopher Gore. On the second of May, the people assembled for the choice of representatives. The democratic party voted to choose three, and the federalists were inclined to send none, As there was some difficulty in ascertaining the vote, it was determined that the people should go out of the house, and arrange themselves on different sides of the Common, to be counted. The democrats went out, but a part of the federalists remained, and took possession of the house. They chose a town clerk, to whom the oath of office was administered, voted to send no representative, and made a record of their proceeding in the town book. The other party then returned, and chose three representatives. Several of the principal fed- eralists were afterward prosecuted for their infringement of a legal town meeting; but as it appeared on examination, that none of the town meetings had been legal for many years, because not called by warrant, they were exonerated. On the 29th of August, a meeting was held to petition the President to remove the embargo; but the town voted that such a proceed- ing would be highly improper, and passed several resolutions, approving the measures of the administration. On the following diy, the federalists prepared a memorial, expressing their dis- approbation of the embargo, and requesting its repeal, which was transmitted to the President. The feelings of both parties were raised to a degree of excitement, which could only be sustained by political events of unusual occurrence.
[A great bull fight took place at the half way house, on the turnpike, in the summer. Bulls and bull dogs were engaged in the cruel and vulgar sport. It was got up by a Mr. Gray, of Salem, and great numbers attended. Raised seats were arranged for the spectators to conveniently watch the ferocious conflict.
24
370
ANNALS OF LYNN - 1808.
This was the first bull fight in New England, and certainly should have been, as it probably was, the last.]
On the 20th of September, the house of widow Jerusha Wil- liams, in Market street, was struck by lightning. On the same afternoon, the lightning fell on a flock of sheep, at Nahant, which were gathered beside a stone wall for shelter, and killed eighteen of them.
On the night of Monday, October 31, Mr. Theophilus Breed's barn, on the south side of the Common, was burned; and on the night of the following Thursday, a barn belonging to Mr. Jacob Chase, on the opposite side of the Common, was con- sumed; both of them having been set on fire by a mischievous boy.
A company of Artillery was incorporated by the General Court, on the 18th of November, and two brass field pieces allowed them. [Aaron Newhall was the first captain, and Ezra Mudge and Benjamin Mudge were lieutenants.]
This year Benjamin Merrill, Esq., came into town. He was the first lawyer at Lynn. [Mr. Merrill's office was in the south- west chamber of the dwelling house that still stands on North Common street, the next west from Park. He died at Salem, 30 July, 1847, aged 63. He was a man of fine talents, excellent education, and kind feelings. He remained in Lynn but a few months and then removed to Salem, where he became quite eminent in the profession ; rather, however, as a counsellor and conveyancer than as a pleader. He received the degree of LL. D. at Cambridge, in 1845. The occasion of his removal from Lynn as he informed me, a few years before his death, was somewhat singular. A deputation of the citizens called on him with the request that he would leave the place, it being appre- hended that evil and strife would abound wherever a lawyer's tent was pitched. He took the matter in good part and soon departed. The people of Lynn afterward made some amends for their uncivil proceeding, by entrusting a large share of their best legal business to his hands. He served them faithfully, and never seemed to entertain the least ill feeling toward any here. He died lamented by a large circle who had received benefits at his hand, and left a considerable estate. He was never married, which seemed the more singular, as he was emi- nently social in his habits.
[Samuel Newell -as he spelled his surname, though Mr. Lewis makes it Newhall-was this year preceptor of Lynn Academy. He was feeble, and unable to keep up a rigid disci- pline. He remained but a short time, and was afterward a missionary in India. The celebrated Harriet Newell was his wife.
[A white faced cow, while grazing in the old burying ground
1
I e
la
371
ANNALS OF LYNN-1809, 1810, 1811.
broke through a tomb. Some persons in the vicinity, at night, observing her head raised and struggling, were much alarmed, and horrifying ghost stories immediately prevailed.
[The trapping of lobsters was first practiced at Swampscot, this year, by Ebenezer Thorndike. He had twelve pots.
[The manufacture of chewing and smoking tobacco was be- gun this year, in that part of Lynn now known as Cliftondale, Saugus, by Samuel Copp. By degrees it grew to be a large and lucrative business.].
1809.
The inhabitants petitioned the General Court for an act to establish the proceedings of the town in their previous meet- ings, which had been illegal, in consequence of the meetings having been called by notice from the selectmen, instead of a warrant to a constable. A resolve confirming the proceedings of the town was passed by the Court on the 18th of February.
The embargo law was repealed by Congress, on the 12th of April, and an act of non-intercourse with France and England, substituted in its place.
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.