USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, 1883 Volume > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, 1883 Volume > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, 1883 Volume > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, 1883 Volume > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, 1883 Volume > Part 21
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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
" Now will we gather up Stray fragments that elucidate our story, The breezy freedom of past years commingling With these our busy times."
IN the present Chapter will be presented a variety of what may, with propriety perhaps, be called detached matters relating to the History of beloved old Lynn ; but it will be the aim to select from the great number of topics that will naturally offer themselves, only such as best subserve the leading purpose of our volume. As to the arrangement of subjects, it can only be said that it will be somewhat arbitrary, as it would be difficult to adhere to any fixed rule ; but the endeavor will be to make it as convenient as possible for the reader, who, aided by the index, will not be at a loss to find any thing of importance that may come under notice.
FIRST PROJECTED RAIL-ROAD. In 1828 a proposition was made to construct a Rail-road from Boston to Salem ; and a circular was sent out from the House of Representatives, to various towns in the vicinity, seeking information from which a judgment could be formed as to the expediency of undertaking the formidable enterprise, either by individuals or the State. The circular sent to Lynn was addressed to the editor of the Mirror, and was responded to after evidently careful investiga- tion and consideration. Without rehearsing the congratulations on the then existing prosperity, or the rosy predictions for the future of Lynn - which latter, by the way, have been fully real-
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ized - we will present some of the statements touching the actual condition of certain matters of business here at that period. Swampscott and Nahant, it will be remembered, were then con- stituent parts of the town.
The principal manufacture of Lynn is shoes. Of these it appears that 1.038. 189 pairs are annually made ; which at four shillings a pair will amount to $692. 126. These, as they are usually packed, will fill 11.535 boxes ; the transportation of which, at one shilling a box, will cost $1.922.50. It is considered that about three fourths of the above amount returns to Lynn in sole leather and other articles for the manu- facture of shoes, in English and West India goods, and other merchandize ; the transportation of which may be fairly estimated at $5.768. The article of flour alone - 2.500 barrels, at $6 a barrel - would amount to $15.000 ; the transportation of which would cost $750. The transportation of the same amount in shoes, would cost only $41.67. And many other heavy articles will bear an equal proportion. The transportation of a barrel of flour from Boston to Lynn, is 30 cents, about the same as the conveyance from Baltimore to Boston.
There have been about 1.000 tons of fresh fish, and 50 tons of cured fish, conveyed on the Turnpike, as far as Charlestown, during the past year ; the transportation of which, at twenty shillings a ton, amounts to $3.500. Fifty barrels of oil have also been extracted, the transportation of which, at two shillings a barrel, cost $16.66.
The other articles transported on the Boston route, are 60 tons of hay, 70 tons of chocolate, 26 tons of grain, 50 tons of cocoa, 20 tons of rice, 30 tons of ginger, 16 tons of neat hides, 12 tons of leather, 27 tons of goat and kid skins, 85 tons of sumac, 9 tons of iron, 36 tons of coal, 30 tons of barberry root, and 200 tons of marble - making in all 671 tons; the transportation of which, at twenty shillings a ton, amounts to $2.236.67. Besides these a large amount of goods is annually conveyed to the dye house and [silk] printing establishment.
The average number of passengers is about eleven each day, for 300 days of the year ; the amount of whose conveyance, at $1.25 each, is $4.125. The amount paid by Lynn people, for tolls, is probably about $2.100.
By this statement it appears that the annual expense to the town of Lynn, on the Boston route, is $19.668.33.
The amount of property invested in baggage wagons, is about $4.000.
The small amount of coal brought hither at that time, which was when anthracite was just beginning to come into use in New England, shows how exclusively wood was still in use for fuel. And we are inclined to think that a large portion even of the thirty-six tons was bituminous, or such as blacksmiths use.
What will most surprise the reader, however, is the small number of passengers from Lynn to Boston - an average of eleven daily, and that when our population was 6.000. But such of us as remember those days can readily understand why it was so. Excepting here and there a prominent business man, few went to Boston more than once or twice a year ; many not more than once in five years ; and had it continued thus to this day
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there is little doubt that it would have been better for us, in many respects. Are we not too much on the wing ? " Shopping," what little there was, was done in town. A visit to the city ordinarily consumed a whole day and the expenses of the journey were very much greater than at present, to say nothing of the discomforts of the public conveyances. The few leading business men who went up once or twice a week usually hal their own " teams," and often took in a neighbor, who would pay the tolls and horse-baiting. The anecdote related in our Annals, under date 1847, of a couple of business worthies, who rode to Charles- town bridge, when they got into a dispute over the payment of a toll, continuing to wrangle all day, and at night turning about and jogging home without going over, has reference to this custom as well as showing the obstinacy of the actors in the com- ical scene. Then there were others - some even of the smaller manufacturers - who were accustomed to go on foot, getting a lift, perhaps, part of the way, on some friendly baggage wagon.
In relation to steam transportation, it may be stated that up to 1828, no steam-propelled craft had ever stirred the waters of Lynn. The "Ousatonic," well remembered as a steamer of what would now be called diminutive size, was advertised to visit Lynn on Monday, the 8th of September, of that year, to take a party out on an excursion among the islands of Boston harbor. The announcement caused a real sensation, for hardly any one had seen a vessel moved by that mysterious motive power ; and before the appointed hour an cager multitude hast- ened to every point of observation, some even posting themselves on house-tops. But no steamer came on that day, and great was the disappointment, which manifested itself in various unsavory ways. And if we rightly remember, a boat did not come till the next year.
In connection with the above, and for the purpose of showing what great expectations were raised from the enlarged use of steam, the following paragraph which exultingly went the newspa- porial round of that propitious year, 1828, may be given :
" Great Despatch. The Benjamin Franklin, steamer, made her last trip from New York to Providence, in sixteen hours. She was seventeen minutes at Newport. The shortest passage ever made." The writer made a passage from Providence to New
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York, in the " palatial " steamer President, in the summer of 1829, in what was then considered the very quick time of eighteen hours, the sea being calm and the weather beautiful.
RICHARD HAVEN, OR HART, HOUSE.
The above is a faithful picture of a very ancient house, which was owned by Richard Haven, who settled here as early as 1640. In later years it was known as the Hart house, the last occupant of the name being Joseph Hart, a farmer, who died in 1806. It was taken down, transported to Reservoir Hill, and there consumed in a sort of sacrifical bonfire on the morning of the Centennial Day of the Republic- July 4, 1876. It stood on the south-west corner of Boston and North Federal streets ; and it may be mentioned, in passing, was the birth-place of the writer - if that is a circumstance of interest to any one. The large tree in front was a buttonwood, and in the great gale of 1815, as the individual just alluded to well remembers, had its top blown off, while he was gazing from the lower window on the right. The singular out-branching of the new growth, as represented in the cut, followed the disaster of the gale. This venerable tree was cut down in 1881.
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In the Lynn Reporter of July 8, 1876, appeared the following editorial account of the holocaust. There is a mistake as to the builder of the house, which is corrected in the foregoing para- graph, and it was older than the editor supposed, the western portion at least having been built before Mr. Hart's time.
THAT "BEACON LIGHT." Whatever points Lynn may have fallen behind in as to the celebration of the Fourth, she may fairly claim the honor of making the most remarkable bonfire in this section, in honor of its centennial opening. And thus it happened :
Samuel Hart was one of our early settlers, and built a house on Boston street, about 1670. His descendants always held and occupied the place down to HIon. James R. Newhall, who stands in the direct line on the. mother's side. Now the house, so very old, was greatly dilapidated and not worth repairs. As it was then determined to remove it, it was sold at auction last week for a nominal sum, -ten or fifteen dollars, - and with the consent of Judge Newhall, given to the young men of West Lynn for a burnt-offering at the nation's jubilee. At it they went, at dusk on Saturday evening, and before morning every scrap and stick was torn down and teamed, load after load, to the tip-top of Pine Hill, two hundred feet high, and in plain sight of the country for miles away, in all directions. Before Monday night the whole was solidly packed in a great pyramid, near forty feet high, firmly stayed. and bound, including several barrels of tar and kerosene, and one cask at least. of benzine cement. During the evening, the pile was frecly drenched with waterpots of kerosene, and as "the hour of midnight tolled," it was lighted on two or three. sides at once, amid the wildest cheers of a great crowd, and the rapid reports of fire- arms, great and small. A more glorious blaze is rarely seen. Even under the clear moonlight the glare was most intense. The old timbers burned and burned, and at eight next morning were yet blazing. And such was the end of the homestead of two hundred years ; it flamed up to heaven at last to honor the celebration of American liberty and independence. Where else did they do any thing more significant than this ?
The hill on which the bonfire took place, is the highest point back of the house, as shown in the picture, and the highest point in Lynn. It is two hundred and twenty-four feet in height, and distant about three fourths of a mile. Second Pine. Hill was the name by which the range of which it forms a part was formerly known ; but after the construction of the City Reser -. voir, on the northern slope, this summit began to be called. Reservoir Hill.
The " Old Indian," an enormous red cedar, stood within a few rods of the spot whereon the bonfire was kindled. This tree was a marked object for generations, as it towered above all its forest neighbors, its blanched limbs stretching out above their heads, in patriarchal dignity. Its age must have been very great ; and judging from its appearance, one might well accept
15
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as true the assertion that long before the white settlers came it was a guide for the Indian skiffs that skimmed about in the offing. When it yielded to the ruthless woodsman's ax, which was quite within the writer's recollection, it seemed as if one of the few remaining links that bound our dispensation to that of the red man, had been severed.
SLAVES. There were in Lynn, at the commencement of the Revolution, twenty-six slaves. There had been a few from very early times ; but they were most numerous throughout the Province, in 1745. In 1754, there were four hundred and thirty- nine in Essex County, and in all Massachusetts, four thousand, four hundred and cighty-nine. In 1774 the General Court passed a bill prohibiting the importation of Slaves, but Governor Gage withheld his assent. The State Constitution was established in 1780. The first article of the Declaration of Rights asserts that all men are born free and equal ; and this was generally supposed to have reference to slavery ; but it was a point on which there was by no means unanimity of opinion. In 1781, however, at a court in Worcester, an indictment was found against a white man for assaulting, beating, and imprisoning a black. The case finally, in 1783, went to the Supreme Court, and the defense was that the black was a slave, and the beating, &c., the necessary and lawful correction of the master. But the defense was declared invalid. And this decision was the death-blow to slavery in Massachusetts. In later years, when the resolute movement for the extinction of slavery throughout the land, commenced, Lynn manifested becoming zeal in the cause ; and among the most efficient workers was Mr. Lewis ; whose zeal, however, seemed somewhat to abate as age advanced. But yet, for his efforts in the incipient stages of the noble cause, he was worthy of greater praise than many of those who at the eleventh hour and from less disinterested motives pushed noisily to the front.
JOHN DUNTON, the London bookseller, who visited Lynn in 1686, as mentioned in our Annals, under date 1635, was married, at an early age, to Elizabeth Annesley ; and a sister of hers who married Samuel Wesley, became mother of the celebrated John Wesley. They were daughters of Dr. Samuel Annesley, a dis-
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senting minister. Dunton seems not to have entertained the most friendly feelings toward his brother-in-law, as he says, "Sam Wesley has fouled his nest in hopes of a bishoprick." It might be interesting to know what connection, if any, the blasted hopes of the father, touching the bishopric, had with shaping the reli- gious course of the son.
SPEAKER ONSLOW. On page 490 of the 1865 edition of the History of Lynn, mention is made of Governor Hutchinson's comparing Speaker John Burrill, of Lynn, with Speaker Onslow, of the British House of Commons. There were two Speakers of the House of Commons, named Onslow - Sir Richard, elected in the seventh year of Queen Anne, 1708, and Sir Arthur, in the first year of King George III., 1727. They were both eminent presiding officers, and extremely watchful of the dignity of the House. It is related that Col. Fitzroy, afterwards Lord Southampton, when on one occasion reprimanded for making a late appearance, excused himself by saying that he had been detained by attendance on the King. Speaker Onslow, in a loud voice and authoritative manner, replied, "Sir, don't tell me of waiting ; this is your place to attend in ; here is your first duty."
LYNN, IN 1750 AND IN 1817. A New York merchant who travelled east, in 1750, says he put up at Mr. Ward's, in " Lyn, which is a small Country Town of abt 200 Houses, very pleas- antly situated, & affords a Beautifull Rural Prospect." He arrived at about one o'clock, "and dynd on fryd Codd." After dinner, being refreshed by a glass of wine, he pursued his journey to Salem, " through a barren, rocky country," and the next day, after visiting Marblehead, returned to Boston, stopping again at Mr. Ward's, in Lynn, where he "dyned upon a fine mongrel goose."
In 1817, John Palmer, of King's Lynn, England, while on his travels in the United States and Canada, an account of which he afterwards published, in London, found occasion thus to speak of our vicinity : " After crossing [September 11] a bridge which joins Charlestown to Chelsea, another small suburb, we found the road very excellent, carried on for some miles through salt marshes where the hay stacks are all placed on frames to prevent
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their being damaged by high tides, which sometimes overflow the level. We passed through the town of Lynn, noted for its extensive manufacture of elegant silk and cloth shoes. Morse gives the number made in 1795 at 300.000 pairs, and in 1802 computes them to amount to 400.000 pairs. At present, I am told, the trade is on the decline, the spirit of emigration having seized many of the apprentices and journeymen. Lynn contains four or five thousand inhabitants, but presents little appearance of compactness. As is common in the United States, the houses are spread over a wide tract of ground. Leaving Lynn [and proceeding towards Salem] the remainder of the journey is through a rocky country."
The barren aspect of the country between Lynn and Salem, noticed by these travellers, though somewhat improved in our day, yet furnishes evidence that they were observing chroniclers. The pestiferous wood-wax is now an added annoyance.
FIRST CORN FROM THE WEST. It will be remembered that the summer of 1816 is stated to have been remarkably cold, in New England, that very little corn ripened, that there was a frost in every month of the year, and that snow fell in June. In connection with this it may be interesting to state that Captain James Mudge, of Lynn, during the year, brought to Boston, from Cincinnati, Ohio, in the brig Cincinnatus, a cargo of corn in the ear. This was the first sea-going vessel ever built in Cincinnati, and so lively was the interest felt, that many in different parts of New England went to considerable pains to procure an ear of the corn to preserve as a memento of the enterprise. The vessel was built in 1814, by John Brooks, an emigrant from Maine.
SINGULAR RECORD. The following remarkable entry appears on the public records of Lynn : " Married, Daniel Gowing to Mary Bowers, Dec. 25, 1764, by Rev. Mr. Adams. Said Gowing took the sd Mary naked, except a sheet & shift that she borrowed." Rev. Mr. Adams was minister of the Lynnfield parish. Proba- bly the bride appeared in that condition under the apprehension that if she brought nothing to her husband he could not be held responsible for any existing debt of hers. But why might she not have borrowed a gown as well as the other articles ?
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RECORDS OF LYNN. In the preservation of her carliest records Lynn has been unfortunate. Yet it is probable that for many years they were kept in a manner so loose and imper- fect as to have been hardly worth preserving, as a whole, though they undoubtedly contained some things that should have en- sured their safe custody. The county records, however, supply, in the form of deeds, wills, inventories, depositions, and so forth, a great portion of the information the loss of which would be most seriously felt. For instance : among the county files may be found the copy made by Andrew Mansfield, of the land allot- ments of 1638.
The earliest regular town records now in existence commence in 1691. But there was an order passed in 1715 requiring that some of the previous records, then in a dilapidated condition, should be transcribed ; and the order was complied with to the extent of a few pages, it having been left to the selectmen to carry it out in such manner as they thought best. The copies relate to matters as far back as 1661.
The little volumes of records of "Marriages, Births and Deaths in the Town of Lynn," with the exception of the first, are yet in the custody of the city clerk ; and in the title-page of the second, is this note: "The first volume is lost. In 1820 I found this volume in ruins, bound it and furnished it with an index. Preserve it carefully. ALONZO LEWIS." These volumes contain quite a number of what are called " genealogics" of the old families, and are very useful, in many cases, in tracing pedigrees ; but they are not free from errors ; and the details are frequently so imperfect and involved as to occasion doubt and perplexity. Much difficulty arises from the identity of names, as middle ones were then seldom used. At one time, for instance there were eight persons here of the name James Newhall, not one having a middle name, but each relying for his identity upon some nickname benevolently bestowed by his neighbors ; marks of distinction, however, which could not appear on the public records. These "genealogical " records have been copied into a proper book, with an alphabetically arranged index, which adds greatly to the facility for examination ; but the copying afforded an opportunity, not altogether unimproved, to add to the errors of the originals.
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It need not be added that ever since Lynn became a city, her records have been kept in the most careful manner ; and indeed for many years before the adoption of the Charter, there was little reason to complain of the competency or faithfulness of our recording clerks.
The First Parish records extend back only to 1721-2; and they are the earliest church records that have been preserved.
MATRIMONIAL FINESSE. In our biographical sketch of Mr. Lewis, in the 1865 edition of the History of Lynn, an "interme- diate" matrimonial companion is spoken of. The romantic affair of the supposed valid second marriage was the occasion of much comment among his friends. He unquestionably died without a doubt that she had, at the time of the separation, a former husband living, whatever his suspicions may have been as to some of her other and more equivocal declarations. About fourteen years after the death of Mr. Lewis, however, the writer was informed by a worthy priest of the Catholic church, that he had received a letter from the lady herself, who was then in London, informing him of her conversion to the Romish faith, and confessing that the story of her previous marriage was a fiction, framed by herself for the purpose of severing her connec- tion with Mr. Lewis, under whose "gentle control " she had become restive. If this was true, she must have had a confed- erate in the person of a young man, for a marital claimant certainly did appear here in Lynn. Mr. Lewis himself, in con- siderable perturbation one morning informed the writer that he had just had an interview with such a one and requested some friendly interposition for the settlement of the unpleasant affair. A young literary flirt does not usually prove the most suitable conjugal companion for a staid citizen of advanced years. His age was fifty-six, and hers seventeen, at the time of the marriage, as the hymeneal notice in the newspapers stated.
SIAMESE TWINS. It was in 1831 that the famous Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, so mysteriously united in person, were first exhibited in this vicinity. During the warm season of that year they were for a short time rusticating in Lynnfield, and while out on a gunning excursion, one day, became so irritated
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by being followed and stared at, by men and boys, that they committed a breach of the peace, were taken before a magis- trate's court, and put under bonds. It came near becoming a serious question how one could be punished by imprisonment, should it come to that, if the other were innocent. The difficulty vanished, however, when it appeared that both were guilty. They died in North Carolina, in the winter of 1873, within two hours of each other, aged 63 years.
FUNERAL EXPENSES. Much has been said, of late, and with justice, concerning the extravagance so commonly indulged in, on the burial of the dead. The expenditures for casket, floral decorations, carriages, and so forth, have become really burden- some to persons of limited income. Many seem to think it mean not to follow the fashion in these matters, and mean also to dis- pute any charge of those who furnish the appliances, however exorbitant such charge may be. But does not a sentiment very different from love for the departed or grief for one's own loss, rule here ? Certainly it is not in ostentatious display that the grieved heart most naturally seeks relief. Of course we all realize that no good can come to the departed by glitter and parade, however costly they may be. Nor can they heal affec- tion's deeper wounds. It would be truly lamentable if the time should ever come when heart-relieving ceremonials were dispensed with at the burial of the dead ; but garish pomp is but fast fading drapery about a grave.
In carly New England times the dead were committed to their last resting places with very little ceremony beyond the proces- sion of mourning friends ; the coffin was rude ; and seldom was a prayer offered, an omission, however, that probably arose from anxiety to avoid any thing that approached the popish custom of praying for the dead. But before the beginning of the last century, new and strange customs began to appear, and expendi- tures were made for purposes more reprehensible than any extravagance of this day. Indeed funerals were sometimes made seasons of jollification. Especially when the deceased was a minister or other prominent personage, spirituous liquors were provided, and gloves and rings presented. And these customs prevailed to some extent even down to times within the memory
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