USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, Vol. II. 1864-1893 > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, Vol. II. 1864-1893 > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, Vol. II. 1864-1893 > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, Vol. II. 1864-1893 > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, Vol. II. 1864-1893 > Part 21
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BIOGRAPHICAL, SKETCHES. Washburn. Wheeler.
lips's positive men. They are rarely met with in public or private life. Vermont appreciated him, and he will be mourned as one of the few in public life whose sense of justice was stronger than personal preference or even the dictation of party." The Repub- lican, of Springfield, Mass., remarked " It was in the office of Adjutant General that Governor Washburn's fitness for public service was first made known to the people. His accuracy of dealing was as certain and as rigid as mathematics. The dis- charge of a public duty was with him reckoned among the 'exact sciences.' If he had been less honest than he was, he would still have followed honesty from sheer devotion to its straight- forwardness, its absolute correctness. We speak of this charac- teristic, not to elevate it above his unimpeachable integrity, but because it is what marks him among governors. Vermont has had honest executives before but it has been some time since she had a governor who governed, who picked up the loose ends in her administrative departments and set every thing in order. He was not only above jobbing and lobbying, rail-road or other- wise, but he forbade his private secretary to use so much as a two-cent stamp of the State's property, except for public purposes. With the same regard for the fitness of things, he introduced almost military formality in his intercourse with subordinates ; not that he was at all 'set up' by his position, but he would have order and system in every thing, insisting on every man's knowing his proper place and his responsibilities."
WASHBURN, REUBEN P., a learned lawyer, who settled in Lynn, in 1812. He removed to Vermont, and became a judge in a State court ; was father of Governor Washburn, just spoken of, and died in 1860, aged 79. See Annals, 1812.
WENEPOYKIN, an Indian Sagamore. See History of Lynn, 1865 edition, page 38.
WHEELER, THOMAS. Mr. Wheeler came to Lynn in 1635, and was made a freeman in 1642. He appears to have been a useful man, in an unostentatious way, while here ; was a mill owner, and a man of some property. His name figures in our Annals under dates 1633, 1653, and 1657. It was against him
217
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Whiting.
that Captain Bridges issued the warrant for slander of Rev. Mr. Cobbet. (See notice of Robert Bridges.) He remained till 1664, and then removed to Stonington, Ct., taking with him his wife Mary, his son Isaac, and his daughters Elizabeth and Sarah. He became the largest land-holder in Stonington, partly by grants from the town and partly by purchase ; was an honored member of the church ; held important public offices ; and died there, in 1686, at the age of 84. His grandson Isaac, son of the Isaac who went from Lynn, married a daughter of Rev. Jeremiah Shepard, first minister of the Old Tunnel, December 9, 1697. She was quite a business character, and amassed a handsome property ; was accustomed to ride from Stonington to Boston to purchase dry goods, and bought up all the spare beef and pork in her neighborhood, for shipment to the latter place. She had two children, Margaret and Thomas, and lived to a good old age. Thomas was born in 1700, and died in 1750, the richest man in the vicinity. See Annals, early dates.
WHITING, Rev. SAMUEL, a learned divine, for more than forty years minister of the First Parish. See Annals, 1679 and earlier dates. Of none of the New England fathers can a roll of nobler descendants be presented. Some of them are named in our pages of Annals, some in the Centennial Memorial, and some in the book giving an account of the proceedings on the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement. It is not, however, recollected that we have heretofore named Nathaniel Whiting, who was a Lieutenant in Pepperell's expedi- tion, in 1745. He was born in 1724, and graduated at Yale, in 1743 ; was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Crown Point expedition, and at the battle near lake George, succeeded to the command, when Colonel Williams - from whom Williams College took its name-fell. He was with Abercrombie at Ticonderoga, and with Amherst in the reduction of Canada ; always acquitting himself as a brave, prudent, and humane officer. All along, through our whole history, we find examples of the heroic devo- tion of members of this noble family. We find them in all departments, military, civil, and ecclesiastical, pursuing with patriotic zeal and intelligent forecast, the highest interests of the loved country of their birth. Who of this generation can forget
218
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Widger. Wilkins.
the devoted conduct of Hon. William Whiting, of Boston, during the civil war ? Whiting school was named in memory of our early minister ; also Whiting street ; indeed the name of the town was adopted in courtesy to him. A fac-simile of a signature of his written at the age of eighty-two, follows.
Samuel Justiting
WIDGER, THOMAS, a mariner and prisoner of war. He died January 21, 1871, aged 80 years. See Annals, 1871.
WILKINS, BRAY. This early settler was a husbandman by occupation, though like many others, at that period, he found it expedient to follow other callings at different times. See Annals, 1630. It is probable that he had something to do with the iron works, for when he and John Gingle purchased the Bellingham farm, they paid down £24 in bar iron, and £1 in money, mort- gaging back for £225 ; this purchase being made after his return from Dorchester, whither he went from Lynn, and where he had been keeper of Neponset ferry. Gingle was a tailor by trade and lived in Lynn, but left no mark by which he can with any certainty be traced. In 1676 the mortgage was discharged, and Wilkins, having bought out Gingle's interest, became sole pos- sessor of the farm, which originally comprised some hundreds of acres, and had been enlarged by other purchases. He had six sons, lusty and strong, some or all of whom settled around him, he remaining like a patriarch among them. He was stern and uncompromising in his religious views, and became conspic- uous for his zeal in the witchcraft prosecutions, evidently having a sincere belief in the personality of the evil one and his vile attempts to harass and destroy the good people hereabout. John Willard, a grandson of his, was among the unfortunates who suffered death for the supposed crime, and the conclusion cannot be avoided that the course the grandfather took had no tendency to prevent the unhappy result. Hon. C. W. Upham, in his valuable work on the witchcraft outbreak, gives some touching details regarding Mr. Wilkins and his kindred as connected with the strange episode; but to many minds his
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Willis.
narrations are more interesting than his conclusions satisfactory ; for it can hardly be possible that human nature, depraved as it is, could develop such examples of precocious cunning, lying, and dissembling, in mere children, as he supposes. No, no, the " delusion" must have arisen from some psychological condition different from that suggested by him.
Mr. Wilkins in a deposition says : "When John Willard [his grandson] was first complained of by the afflicted persons for afflicting them, he came to my house, greatly troubled, desiring me, with some other neighbors, to pray for him. I told him I was then going from home, and could not stay ; but if I could come home before night, I should not be unwilling. But it was near night before I came home, and so I did not answer his desire ; but I heard no more of him upon that account. Whether my not answering his desire did not offend him, I cannot tell ; but I was jealous, afterwards, that it did." And his jealousy appears to have gathered strength ; for, being seized by certain terrible pains, so that he " was like a man on a rack," he says, " I told my wife immediately that I was afraid that Willard had done me wrong ; my pain continuing, and finding no relief, my jealousy continued. Mr. Lawson and others there were all amazed, and knew not what to do for me. There was a woman accounted skillful came hoping to help me, and after she had used means, she asked me whether none of those evil persons had done me damage. I said I could not say they had, but I was sore afraid they had. She answered she did fear so too." We can only account for this cold way of estimating the conduct of a near relative who himself appears to have been intelligent and piously inclined, and who died upon the gallows like a Christian hero, through the prevailing hallucination. Whether Mr. Wilkins finally came to view the matter in its true light does not exactly appear ; but his minister, the Rev. Joseph Green, remarks : " He lived to a good old age, and saw his children's children and their children, and peace upon our little Israel." Many respectable families in various parts of the country claim descent from him.
WILLIS, THOMAS, the first resident of Tower Hill. He was a Representative from Lynn in the first General Court. See Annals, 1630, and other early dates.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Wood. Wormstead.
WOOD, JOHN, was one of the first settlers, and from him Woodend took its name. See Annals, 1629. His autograph is among those on the Armitage Petition, page 106.
WOOD, WILLIAM, Lynn's earliest delineator. See Annals, 1629, and other early dates.
WORMSTEAD, JOHN B., A privateersman in the war of 1812. He died September 2, 1874, aged 85. See Annals, 1874.
YAWATA - an Indian princess. The name was much admired by Mr. Lewis. See History of Lynn, 1865 edition, page 40.
In closing our Chapter of Biographical Sketches, it is only necessary to remark that the aim has been to shadow forth the spirit of the people and the general condition of things here, at different periods of our history. For this end individuals living at different times and pursuing diverse walks of life have been introduced. Possibly some critical reader may think of other names that in his opinion should not have been omitted. But on reflection he may perceive a reason for the omission. There is something more to be considered than mere present popular- ity, as that may rest on a foundation that will soon crumble away. We are far from claiming that our judgment in these matters is perfect, or that we have been successful in carrying out a plan in itself good. But it is safe to say that no individual who has not done something for the benefit of a community has any claim to be remembered in that community, however he may have thirsted for posthumous fame or however his friends may desire his canonization. Yet it will be borne in mind, that our business has not generally been so much with the individuals themselves as with their external relations.
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-
(221)
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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
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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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
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 had 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 eager 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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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
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.
what
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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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
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 Hon. 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 freely 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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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
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 eighty-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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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
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."
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