USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 43
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It is with satisfaction that we have read the Proclamation of the President of the United States denouncing the treasonable designs and acts of the Con- vention and Legislature of the State of South Carolina. This Proclamation is
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replete with true sentiments upon the construction of the Federal Constitution, of the power and duty of the President, and of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Union ; which sentiments we, in common with our brethren of this State, have been educated, from the cradle to the present time, to cherish and love ; and we will never abandon them. Therefore,
RESOLVED, That we abhor and denounce the doctrine of South Carolina Nullification, and the awkward and unnatural attitude in which she has placed herself before the Union and the world.
RESOLVED, That we approve of the sentiments and principles spread before the public by the President in his late able Proclamation, and believe it to be the duty of all good citizens to support such sentiments and principles to the hazard of life and property.
RESOLVED, That in all cases in which the construction of the Federal Con- stitution is drawn in question, the Supreme Judicial Court of the United States is the sole interpreter.
RESOLVED, That no individual State or any individual of any State has a right to declare void or nullify a single act of the Congress of the United States; and that the several States, and each and every citizen in them, owe allegiance to the United States, which cannot be dissolved excepting by a majority of the voices of the people of the whole United States, constitution- ally and legally expressed. And, further,
RESOLVED, That a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions be signed by the chairman and secretary, and transmitted to the President of the United States.]
1833.
On the 16th of January, Mr. David Taylor's shoe manufactory, corner of Ash and Elm streets was burnt, with a large amount of stock.
On the 2d of February, Rev. David H. Barlow relinquished the care of the Unitarian Society ; and Rev. Samuel D. Robbins was ordained pastor of the same church on the 13th of No- vember.
On the 14th of February, the new Baptist meeting-house on the north side of the Common was dedicated.
[The First Universalist Society was organized, 25 March, in the Town Hall.
[President Jackson visited Lynn, 26 June. The old hero was warmly greeted; but the day was stormy, and his stay was short.]
One of the most remarkable phenomena ever witnessed in New England, was a shower of meteors. It commenced soon after three o'clock, on the morning of Wednesday, the 13th of November, and continued until day. There were many thou- sands, which fell in all directions, like flakes of snow. Most of them were small, but some appeared as large as seven stars com- bined in one. The meteors seemed to proceed chiefly from a point about fifteen degrees southeast of the zenith, and the display was noticed in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
[Friction matches came into use about this time. And they soon supplanted the old tinder-box, with its flint and steel.
[Anthracite coal, also began to be used here, in small quan-
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tities. But it grew in favor slowly, and sorely tried the pa- tience of its friends. It required such different treatment, in burning, from any kind of fuel before used, that it seemed as if some people never could become habituated to it.
[Metal pens, likewise, came into use at this time; but the old goose quill long continued in favor with many. The writing paper of that time was not well adapted to the new pen, a hard- er and smoother surface being required; the want, however, was soon supplied, and then the metal pen became more gen- erally popular.]
1834.
On the 28th of May, several persons destroyed the curious cave in the Dungeon Rock, under the imagination that they might obtain a treasure. They placed a keg of powder in the cave, which, on its explosion, blew out the lower portion of the rock, causing the great mass above to fall, and thus destroying the cavern. This is the third time that curious and wonderful caves in Lynn have been destroyed by wantonness. It is much . to be regretted that this rage for destructiveness cannot cease. Such persons ought to be confined as destroyers of God's beau- tiful works.
On the 31st of July, Mr. Durant, aeronaut, ascended in a bal- loon, from Boston, passed over Nahant, and descended into the water, from which, in about fifteen minutes, he was taken up by a schooner.
On the 12th of August, Mr. John Mudge's barn, in Shepard street, was burnt by lightning.
[The anti-masonic sentiment, growing out of the alleged rev- elations regarding the evil tendency of freemasonry prevailed so extensively that in December the meetings of Mount Carmel Lodge were discontinued. But they were resumed in 1845.]
1835.
On the 22d of April, Rev. David Peabody resigned the pas- toral charge of the First Congregational Church.
[In the early part of the summer of this year, George Thomp- son, a prominent English abolitionist, visited Lynn and lectured. in several of the meeting-houses, to large audiences, on the subject of slavery. In the latter part of the summer he again came to Lynn, to attend a meeting of the Essex County Anti- Slavery Society, held in the First Methodist meeting-house. Some opposition was now manifested by the opponents of the anti-slavery movement. In the evening, while Mr. Thompson was lecturing, a great crowd collected about the meeting-house, and a stone was hurled through one of the windows, causing great disturbance within. A large number pressed into the H2* 26
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entry and attempted to burst in the inner doors, which had been closed. During the tumult Mr. Thompson ended his dis- course, and passed out, unobserved by the crowd. He was presently surrounded by a guard of ladies, and conducted to a neighboring house, whence he departed, privately, to his tempo- rary residence, at Swampscot.]
A comet appeared, in the constellation of Ursa Major, on the 9th of October, and continued in view about two weeks.
On the 4th of November, Hezekiah Chase's mill, at the mouth of Strawberry brook, was burnt.
The Christian Church, in Silsbe street, was organized on the 5th of November. The first minister was Rev. Philemon R. Russell, who preached there about five years.
On Tuesday evening, November 17, the northern lights were very lustrous, and presented the singular appearance of a splen- did illuminated crown in the zenith.
On the 10th of December, the First Universalist Meeting- house, in Union street, was dedicated.
The 16th of December was the coldest day of the season, the thermometer being fourteen degrees below zero.
On the evening of the 17th of December, Mr. Rufus Newhall's barn, in Essex street, was burnt.
On the 28th of December, Lieutenant Robert R. Mudge, of Lynn, aged 26 years, was killed by the Seminole Indians, near Withlacoochie, in Florida, three persons only escaping in a com- pany of a hundred and eight.
[There were one hundred families reckoned as belonging to the Society of Friends, in Lynn, this year.]
1836.
This year a second attempt was made to form an Episcopal Church in Lynn. It was commenced on the 7th of January, by three persons, under the name of Christ Church. On the 5th of November, a handsome rustic edifice, with diamond windows, and four Tuscan columns, was erected on the north side of the Common. [And this was the first Episcopal Church built in Lynn.] Rev. Milton Ward was the first minister.
The Second Universalist Society was organized on the 9th of March. Their first minister was Rev. Dunbar B. Harris.
[The act establishing the fire department of Lynn was passed March 23, and accepted by the town April 18.]
The winter was very long and cold; snow began on the 23d of November, and sleighing continued until the 15th of March sixteen weeks. [There was a frost in every month, and remark- · able spots appeared on the sun.]
Rev. Parsons Cooke was installed pastor of the First Con- gregational Church on the 4th of May.
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[The first post-office in Lynnfield was established 25 May, in the south village.]
This year Henry A. Breed, Esq., built a large brick factory on Water Hill, for calico printing and dyeing. He dug a new pond, comprising about an acre, for a reservoir. He also laid out sev- eral new streets, and built nearly four hundred convenient cot- tages, and other buildings, and a wharf.
[The Trinitarian Congregational Society, at Saugus centre, built their stone meeting-house, at a cost of $2.800.]
Dr. Richard Hazeltine died on the 10th of July. He was born at Concord, N. H., November 28th 1773, married Phebe Carter in 1799, and came to Lynn in 1817. [He owned the beautiful estate on the south side of Essex street, between High and Pearl streets, and there resided. He was a man of sterling integrity, dignified manners, and commanding person. He. act- ed to some extent as a civil magistrate, and took much interest in the common schools.]
On the 23d of September, a young man jumped off the preci- pice of High Rock, a descent of sixty feet, and, strange to tell, walked away uninjured.
A fire. in Broad street, near Exchange, on the evening of the 18th of October, burnt the stable of Boynton Viall and the shoe manufactory of Isaac B. Cobb.
The brig Shamrock, Jortin, of Boston, with a cargo of sugar and molasses, was wrecked on Long Beach, on the 17th of De- cember.
[At this time there were but seventeen buildings of brick in all Lynn, and only six, of any material, above two stories in height. There were sixty streets, and the dwellings, through- out the town were valued at an average of $500.]
1837.
On the 15th of January, at two o'clock in the morning, there was an earthquake.
The new meeting-house of the First Congregational Society, on South Common street, corner of Vine, was dedicated on the 1st of February.
On the 20th of June, the schooner Triton of Waldoborough, loaded with wood, was wrecked on. Fishing Point, Swampscot.
[The barn of Hubbard Emerson, Lynnfield, was struck by · lightning, 20 June, and an ox killed.]
On the 21st of June, Lewis A. Lauriat ascended in a balloon from Chelsea, and landed in the woods near Lynn Dye House.
Augustus, son of Israel Perkins, aged 14, was drowned on the 1st of July, while bathing in Alley's mill pond, near the wharf.
Independence was celebrated near Lover's Leap, by a party
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of ladies and gentlemen of Lynn, Boston and Salem, and several songs written by the Lynn Bard, were sung. [The "Lynn Bard " was Mr. Lewis. He adopted the name soon after he be- gan to publish poetry.]
The Episcopal Church, on North Common street, was conse- crated on Thursday, 20 July. Sermon by Bishop Griswold.
[The subject of the manufacture of silk excited much attention in Lynn and many other places at this time. Great numbers of white mulberry trees were planted to furnish food for the worms, and high expectations were entertained. Considerable success attended the experiments ; but the matter died away without important results. A gentleman who took quite an interest in the business, showed me, within a few months, some handkerchiefs, which were woven from silk produced by worms raised by him, and fed on leaves of trees which he planted. They were of beautiful texture, and handsomely printed at the silk printing works then in operation here.]
In August, a survey of Lynn Beach and Harbor was made by Alonzo Lewis, under the direction of Congress; and a plan submitted for the purpose of erecting a sea wall, the whole length of the Beach, at an expense of $37.000; but though en- couragement was given for a grant, yet none was obtained.
[This year the surplus United States revenue was distributed. The amount received by Lynn was $14.879.00; and it was, by vote of the town, applied to the payment of the town debt. Lynnfield received $1.328.29, and in like manner applied it to their town debt. Saugus received $3.500.00, and appropriated it to the building of a town hall. Where shall we look for a parallel case in the history of any nation ? But, judging from the present and prospective accumulation of our national debt, cen- turies will roll away before the United States will be in a condi- tion to repeat the example.
[There was a frost every month this year, as well as the preceding.]
1838.
[The thermometer fell to 18 degrees below zero on the 30th of January.]
The ladies of Lynn held. a fair at the Town Hall, on the 4th of July, for benevolent purposes. Francis Maria, [wife of Mr. Lewis] was principal, and nearly $500 were obtained.
The Eastern Rail-road, passing through Lynn, was opened for public travel, from Boston to Salem, on the 28th of August. Before this time, a few stages had accommodated all the eastern travel; but now the number of passengers, to and from Boston, so rapidly increased, that for the first three months, the average was three hundred and forty-eight persons each day. The com-
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pany for effecting this great and convenient enterprise was in- corporated on the 14th of April, 1836. [After the road was opened, as above, it was rapidly extended eastward to Port- land.] It was a magnificent project, happily accomplished, and it may be regarded not merely as a civil convenience, but as a work of great moral influence, tending to break down the barri- ers of sectional prejudice, and to promote feelings of benevo- lence and refinement, by bringing many persons of both sexes into habits of social and daily intercourse. "[In relation to what Mr. Lewis says above regarding the travel by stage, before the rail-road was opened, it may be stated that in 1836, twenty-three stages left Lynn Hotel for Boston, daily, and there were like- wise numerous extras. They belonged to the great eastern and the Salem lines. Oftentimes they were well filled on their arri- val at Lynn, and the cry " stage full," fell upon the ear of the hurrying man of business in a way any thing but pleasant. A great many, however, drove to Boston in their own vehicles. And there were numerous fast horses about town.]
:
On the 28th of September, two brakemen a Mr. Tyler and a Mr. Baker, who were standing upon the top of a car, were, instantly killed, by being struck against the overhead framework of the little bridge near the West Lynn depot.
[Edward Pranker this year bought the water privilege and other property of the New England Wool Company, at Saugus, and commenced the manufacture of flannel. In 1846 he in- creased the power by raising the dam two feet, and greatly enlarged his business, which proved lucrative and added much to the prosperity of the place. In 1860, he built a fine' large mill to be run by steam power. His mills, together with that of Mr. Scott, are picturesquely situated in the vicinity of the site of the old Iron Works, a location well adapted to manu- facturing purposes.]
The Lynn Freeman newspaper was commenced on the 10th of November -- David Taylor and Charles Coolidge, proprietors.
1839.
On the 27th day of May, died, Francis Maria, wife of Alonzo Lewis -a woman amiable, talented, virtuous and greatly be- loved. Her funeral was attended by perhaps as great a number of persons as were ever present at the interment of any lady in Lynn, to whom her active benevolence, and her worth as a teacher, had greatly endeared her.
Amid the attention which is given to the various concerns of humanity, surely one page may be spared as a tribute to the excellence of Woman. In the course of history, the virtues and the worth of Man are delineated in all the features of strong and admirable portraiture; but Woman- the inspiration of exist-
2
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ence, the soul of humanity, without whom the world would be but a resplendent desert, and life itself a burden to its lordly and lonely possessor - Woman is overlooked with indifference, as if she were not entitled even to a small share in the record of human events. When a man is consigned to the tomb of his fathers, his worth is recorded on monuments of marble, and his virtues illuminate the page of history ; but the grave of woman is passed in silence and neglect. She who is the mother of man, the wife of his bosom, the daughter of his affection - she who has shared all his dangers and encouraged his footsteps up the steep ascent of fame-she who in the hour of sickness has been his comforter, in the day of adversity his support, and in the time of trial his guardian angel - generous, virtuous, unas- suming woman - is permitted to go to her everlasting sleep, with no mention of her name, no record of her virtues. Poetry indeed has extolled her, but even poetry has praised her but half. It has represented her chiefly as a thing of beauty, an object of youthful admiration, a creature of light and fancy, full of fascination and the blandishments of love. Poetry and ro- mance follow her in the sunny days of youth and beauty; but when the time of her maturity and usefulness arrives, they abandon her for other pursuits, and leave her alone to encounter the trials, and sickness, and sorrows of home. It is there, in the unobserved paths of domestic life, that the value of woman is to be estimated. There may be found unwavering faith, untiring affection, hope that endures all afflictions, and love that bears all trials. There may be found the smile of unfailing friendship, mantling over a breaking heart - the unobtrusive tear of sym- pathy, falling in the silence of solitude. There may be found a being, like a spirit from another world, watching through the long dark hours of night, over the form of manhood, prostrate and wasting by slow consuming sickness, and performing all the numerous duties, and encountering all the innumerable trials of common life, with the enduring patience of years, and with no reward but the satisfaction of her own secret heart. Man per- forms the public toils of life, and participates the honors of the world and the recompense of fame ; but woman, who has formed man for his high destiny, and whose virtues and amiable quali- ties constitute the refinement of society, has no share in such rewards. But history cannot do justice to her merits; she must be satisfied with the living admiration of her excellence on earth, and the everlasting remuneration of her virtues in heaven.
[Louisa Jane a young daughter of Samuel Stearns, keeper of the rail-road depot on Central Square, in August, 1837, drank some potash, in a tumbler of water, which had been prepared for cleaning purposes. It destroyed the inner coating of her
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stomach, and she did not eat for twenty-two days. On the 30th of March, this year, she died, having again abstained from food for twenty-one days.]
On the 7th of June, Rev. Samuel D. Robbins resigned the care of the Unitarian Society.
One of the greatest storms for many years commenced on Sunday, December 15th, and continued three days. It consisted of snow and rain, and the wind blew a gale, which did great damage to the shipping in many places. The schooner Catha- rine, from Philadelphia, for Boston, was wrecked on the rocks near Bass Point, at Nahant. Two of the crew were instantly drowned, and another was so injured, by being dashed upon the rocks, that he soon died. Capt. Nichols and one man were saved. At Gloucester, twenty vessels were wrecked, and sev- enteen dead bodies were picked up on the beach.
1840.
On the 1st of January, Rev. William Gray Swett was ordained minister of the Unitarian Society.
[The house of widow Betsey Newhall, in the south part of Lynnfield, was burned, on the 4th of January.
[On the 16th of January the thermometer was 18 degrees below zero.]
. On the evening of Sunday, October 25th, a scene of terrific grandeur was exhibited. A tempest suddenly rose, in which the thunder was exceedingly heavy, so as to shake the houses like an earthquake; and the lightning was intense, making the whole atmosphere, at times, appear as if it were a flame; and in the house it seemed as if one were enveloped with fire. At the same time snow fell and covered the ground. The exhibi- tion was singular and awfully sublime.
On the 11th of November, during a storm, the tide rose higher than it probably had done since 1815. The wind had been east- erly for several weeks, and the swell of the waters was immense, passing for several days entirely over the Long Beach, so that not only the harbor, but the marshes of Lynn, Saugus and Chel- sea, were a portion of the mighty sea. There was no safety in approaching the level shore; but it was a grand and terrible sight, to stand upon Sagamore hill, or some other elevation, and view the fearful devastations of the waters. Nahant appeared to be severed forever from the main, and ocean to be passing the bounds of its ancient decree.
[The Puritan, a religious and secular newspaper was com- menced this year, at Lynn. Rev. Parsons Cooke was editor of the religious department, and James R. Newhall of the secular. The paper was afterward removed to Boston, and being united with the Recorder was called the Puritan Recorder. Sub-
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sequently the name Puritan was dropped and the publication continued under the name Recorder. Mr. Cooke's connection with it continued till 1862.]
One fact appears evident from recent observation - either the sea is encroaching upon our shores by elevation, or the marshes are sinking. There are strong indications, by marks upon the rocks, that the ocean once broke against the cliffs of Saugus; and on examination of the marshes, we are led to the almost irresistible conclusion that the whole region now occu- pied by them was once a portion of the sea. By some means, not easily explained, these marshes were formed, and covered, or filled, with trees. The trunks and stumps of those trees, in some places bearing marks of the axe ! are now buried two or three feet below the surface of the marsh ! and twice that depth beneath the level of high tides !- so that the sea, after having been shut out by some great revolution, appears to be returning to claim what were perhaps its ancient limits. Another proof that the waters are gaining upon the land is the fact that the creeks are much wider now than they formerly were; and the trunk of a pine, which a few years since projected three feet into the river, now projects twenty feet.
1841.
The Lyceum Hall, in Market street, was built this year.
Phrenology and Mesmerism received much attention at this period. Many lectures were given by European and American professors, and many interesting experiments performed to the satisfaction of numbers; but some remained incredulous.
This year Joseph G. Joy, Esq. built his log cabin, at Nahant, from a plan by Alonzo Lewis. [A sort of log cabin mania pre- vailed to some extent throughout the country. The political campaign which resulted in the election of General Harrison to the presidency, was called the log cabin and hard cider cam- paign, in allusion to the alleged fact that the General, during his western life, lived in a log cabin and refreshed himself, while toiling as a husbandman, by the free use of hard cider. It was thought by sagacious politicians that the picture of simplicity thus brought before the people, with the adjunct of hard cider songs, had great influence in the election. Many individuals, before and after the election, erected unique structures, for temporary residences and other purposes, bearing some resem- blance to the log cabins of the frontier.
[Some disturbance was created in Lynn and other places, about this time, by the Comeouters, as they were called. They arrayed themselves against the religious organizations, and in a number of intances disturbed public worship by entering the meeting-houses and denouncing the proceedings. The First
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Congregational and the First Baptist churches had the benefit of their visits; but members of the congregations, without appre- ciating the interruptions, quietly carried out the disturbers. They had little respect for Sunday, or the settled institutions of religion. In some cases their conduct became so outrageous that they were arrested and punished as breakers of the peace. They professed great regard for morality, but seemed to think it better when separated from religion. In a few years, how- ever, the new light exhausted itself in extravagance of doctrine and indecorum of practice.
[On the 17th of April a' party of public spirited young men assembled and set trees around the Common, in Lynnfield.
[The first Daguerreotype picture ever taken in Lynn was executed this year by James R. Newhall. It was a landscape, and the instrument by which it was taken was a cumbrous affair, imported from France. The beautiful art had been dis- covered but a few months before, and was just beginning to be applied to the taking of likenesses of persons. No more sensi- tive coating for the plate had then been discovered than the sim- ple exhalation of iodine; and the plate was of copper with a face of silver; it not having been discovered that a picture could be taken on any thing but a surface of silver. Three minutes were the shortest time thought of for a sitting, even in clear sunshine ; and eight or ten minutes were not unfrequently required. And after the trial of sitting, the miniatures were dim and unsatisfactory, requiring to be held in a particular light to have any effect, or even, in most cases, to be discernible. American ingenuity, however, soon greatly improved the art. And at the famous world's exhibition, in London, in 1852, the pictures from the United States took precedence of all others. In about twenty years after the first operations under the process, the elegant miniatures known as photographs were produced. And presently the photograph album appeared on the centre-table of the mansion and shelf of the cot, often dearer than the Bible itself.]
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