History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 5

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 5

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1. Annals of Lowell .- This will embrace, in a some- what statistical form, the transactions, events and facts, very briefly stated, which will give to the reader a general idea of the city's growth and condition from year to year, leaving for future consideration a more complete description of the institutions of the city, each in its appropriate class.

2. The political history of Lowell, with sketches of the lives of its Muyors.

3. The Manufactures of Lowell.

4. Banks and Insurance Companies.

5. Military History.

6. The Press.

7. Schools.

8. Churches.

9. Societies and Clubs.

10. Physicians.

11. Libraries and Literature.

ANNALS OF LOWELL.

1826. The year 1826 was Lowell's first municipal year. The legislative act incorporating the town was signed by Gov. Lincoln . March 1, 1826, and on March 2d, Joseph Locke, Esq., a justice of the peace, issued a warrant to Kirk Boott to call a meeting of the citizens on March 6th, to take the proper measures relative to the establishment of a town government. The meeting was called at "Balch & Coburn's tavern," now well- known as the "Stone-house" near Pawtucket Falls. There being no public hail, town-meetings were called, in those early days at this tavern or at Frye's tavern, which stood on the site of the American House.

It is interesting to notice the character and stand- ing of the men whom the new town first honored with its offices. The moderator of this town-meeting was Kirk Boott. The School Committee elected were : Theodore Edson, Warren Colburn, Samuel Batchel- der, John O. Green, Elisha Huntington, all of whom, with the exception of Mr. Batchelder, had received a college education and were men of great moral and intellectual worth. None of them, however, gained a more enviable name than MIr. Batchelder, a man of the highest inventive genius, who lived to be nearly ninety-five years of age, and of whom it was said by high authority that "his name should be placed among those of eminent Americans." I will not 2-ii

even forbear to mention also the name of the town clerk, Samuel A. Coburn, whose town records, still preserved in the office of our city clerk, are a model for the imitation of all scribes in the ages to come.

At the town-meeting held May 8, 1826, Nathaniel Wright, afterwards mayor of the city, was elected the first representative of the town in the State Legisla- ture, and Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Batchelder and O. M. Whipple were chosen as selectmen.

The Merrimack Company had now (1826) been en- gaged in the manufacture of cotton goods for three years, and had three mills in operation.

The Hamilton Company had been chartered in the preceding year with a capital of $600,000. The Mer- rimack Print Works had been started in 1824.

The population of the town was about 2500.

St. Anne's Church had been consecrated in the preceding year.

The First Baptist Church and the First Congrega- tional Church were organized in this year.

A daily line of stages to Boston was established in April.

The only bridge across the Merrimack had been the Pawtucket Bridge, constructed in 1792, but in December of this year the Central Bridge was opened to travel.

The Middlesex Mechanics' Association had been incorporated in the preceding year.

The town was divided in 1826 into five school dis- tricts : the first district school house being on the site of the present Green school-house; the second at Pawtucket Falls, near the hospital; the third near the pound on Chelmsford Strect; the fourth-the " Red School-house"-near Hale's Mills, and the fifth on Central Street, south of Hurd Strect.

At the gubernatorial election in April the number of votes cast by the citizens of the new town was 162. Governor Lincoln, the Whig candidate, had a plurality of 42 votes and a majority of 28. But in future years the Whig plurality became less decided.

Hurd's woolen factory was burned down.

1827 .- Nathaniel Wright was re-elected to repre- sent the town in the General Court.

The selectmen were Nathaniel Wright, Joshua Swan, Henry Coburn.

A daily mail betwcen Lowell and Boston was cs- tablished.

The first Savings Bank was established by the Merrimack Corporation for the express benefit of the operators, but it ceased to exist after about two years. First Universalist Society formed.

1828. The representatives to the General Court were : Nathaniel Wright and Elisha Ford. The se- lectmen were: Nathaniel Wright, Joshua Swan, Artemas Young.

In this year the Appleton Company was incor- porated with a capital of $600,000, and the Lowell Company with a capital of $900,000.

The population of Lowell in 1828 was 3532.

IHISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In 1828 coal was introduced as a fuel in the town of Lowell by Mr. William Kittredge.

WILLIAM KITTREDGE was born in Newburyport, Mass., June 11, 1810, and died at his home on East Merrimack Street, Lowell, Nov. 28, 1886, at the age of seventy-six years. He was the son of Joseplı Kitt- redge, of Newburyport, and belonged to a family of fourteen children, all of whom, save one, lived to the age of maturity. Of the seven sons one received a liberal education and became a elergyman, while most of them were well-known men of ability and integrity in the business world.

Mr. Kittredge's early education in the sehools was limited, but he was throughout his life a careful ob- server of the events of his time and a constant and thoughtful reader of the history of all times. When he was twelve years of age the family removed to Draeut, Mass., where for several years they lived upon a farm. When fifteen years of age, in 1825, Mr. Kittredge eame to Lowell and, as an apprentice to liis oldest brother, J. G. Kittredge, he learned the blaek- smith's trade. Shortly before he became of legal age he formed a partnership with this brother, in conduct- ing au iron-store, a blacksmith-shop and a wood-yard.

A most interesting event in the early years ef Mr. Kittredge's business experience in Lowell was the in- troduetion into the city of coal as fuel. In 1828, when lie was eighteen years of age, while engaged in slioe- ing a horse for S. H. Mann, Esq., a well known attor- ney-at-law, he was told by the lawyer that he had re- cently seen upon a wharf in Boston some " black rocks" which were dug from the earth and which would burn. He advised Mr. Kittredge to proeure a quantity of this new fuel, and agreed to purchase of him a portion of it. Accordingly two tons were pur- ehased by Mr. Kittredge on his individual account, at the price of $20 per ton. To transport it to Lowell in a baggage-wagon was an additional expense of $4 per ton. There were at hand no stoves or grates designcd for burning coal, and it was in the broad fire-place in the lawyer's office that the first attempt was made to burn the " black rocks" in Lowell. A grate was ex- temporized, a roaring fire of wood was started and upon it was thrown the eoal in huge lumps. The experiment failed. At length, after hours of labor, the coal at some onc's suggestion having been broken up into about two bushels of small pieces, the "rocks" began to glow. The fire waxed hotter and hotter. The paint of the room began to blister. Somebody gave the alarm of fire. Water was poured on, but the fire still raged. The room was filled with steam, and the alarmned and curious citizens gathered around the office, some even venturing inside to view the novel scene. The first load of coal is said to have supplied the town of Lowell for nearly three years. Slowly, however, eoal eame into usc as a fuel. It was first brought from Boston in barges, then by the Middlesex Canal, and after 1835 by railroads. The first shipment of coal by rail to Lowell for the

trade, about 1835, was consigued to Wm. Kittredge. Upon the close of Mr. Kittredge's co-partnership with his brother, about 1842, Le conducted a large and successful business in wood and coal. The coal busi- ness was conducted by him individually except about two years (1845-46), when he was in partnership with Mr. Nathan R. Thayer, his wife's brother.

In 1842 he purchased of the Loeks and Canals Company land lying between Market and Middle Streets, to which, at considerable eost and trouble to himself, in 1856, he procured a branch track from the location of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, which traek is to this date in constant use. His yard now contained about 13,000 square feet, with a street front of about 127 feet, and a dumping capacity of upwards of 3000 tons of coal. Up to the elose of his long life he continued his ever-increasing and very successful trade. Few of Lowell's men of business have been so long and so familiarly known. He was the city's pioneer in his line of trade, and he has left to those who follow him a record for integrity and honor well worthy of their imitation.

Mr. Kittredge took an active and generous interest in the welfare of the city of Lowell. At the time of his death he was a trustee of the Central Savings Bank and a director of the Merehants' National Bank. Though not a politician, he was three times elected a member of the City Council of Lowell. For a period of nearly thirty years he was a promi- nent and honored member of the Kirk Street Church, of which he was one of the founders.

Mr. Kittredge possessed a sympathetie and benev- olent nature. In his death many a poor family lost a faithful friend. He was a man of simple tastes, of remarkable self-control and of a very genial and buoyant spirit. The following words respecting him from the pen of the Rev. C. A. Diekinson, his pastor, contain much of truth as well as beauty : "We have all been impressed with the quiet vein of humor which seemed to flow through his whole life, like a rippling rivulet throughi a quiet meadow, -new bursting out into an occasional witticism, and now disclosing itself only in the sparkling eye and the beaming countenance; yet giving to the whole man an indescribable something which made him a stand- ing rebuke and protest against moroseness and melan- eholy." In 1842 Mr. Kittredge married Nancy Bigelow Thayer, daughter of Nathan Thayer, of Hollis, N. H., who survived him for two years. His children were : (1) Francis William, who was born in 1843, gradu- ated from Yale College, and is now a successful at- torney-at-law in Boston; (2) Henry Bigelow, who was born in 1844, and died in 1861; (3) Ellen Fra- nia, who was born in 1847, and is thic wife of Prescott C. Gates, Esq., of Lowell; (4) Anna Maria, who was boru in 1850, and is the wife of Dr. Charles T. Clif- ford, of Lowell.

The Lowell Bank was incorporated with a capital of $200,000. .

William Attridge

LOWELL.

Moses Hale died in 1S2S, at the age of sixty-three years. He was born in West Newbury, September, 1765. He came to East Chelmsford (now Lowell) in 1790, and built a mill on River Meadow Brook (now called Hale's Brook), for the purpose of fulling, dye- ing and dressing, cloth. The building now stands. Other and far more extensive buildings were added. In subsequent years Mr. Hale became interested in a great variety of enterprises, among which were dressing cloth, carding wool, grinding grain, sawing lumber and manufacturing gunpowder. So extensive were these works that in 1818 they were visited by Hon. John Brooks, the Governor of the State. On this occasion the Governor was escorted by the Chelmsford Cavalry.

1829 .- The representatives to the General Court were: John P. Robinson and J. S. C. Knowlton. The selectmen were: Nathaniel Wright, Joshua Swan, Artemas Young.

In this year the Merrimack Lodge of Odd Fellows was instituted.

In this year one of the inills of the Merrimack Company was burned. The Lowell Institution for Savings was incorporated. The town appropriated $1000 to purchase a fire-engine and hose. The town roted to build a town-house.

Captain William Wyman was appointed postmaster in 1829, and moved the post-office from Central Street to the new Town Hall, now the City Government Building.

The Middlesex Company was incorporated with a capital of $500,000.

1830. The representatives to the General Court were: Kirk Boott, Joshua Swan and John P. Robin- son. The selectmen were: Nathaniel Wright, Joshua Swan and Artemas Young. In this year the Middle- sex Company was incorporated with a capital of $1,- 000,000. The population of Lowell for 1830 was 6477. The Merrimack House was opened in 1830.

As early as 1829 such was the rapid increase in the population of the town that the want of a convenient hall for public meetings was seriously felt. In May of that year a committee, which had been appointed in reference to securing a new hall, reported that the cost of erecting a suitable town building (the descrip- tion of which was given) would be about $18,000. By vote of the town a committee, consisting of Kirk Boott, Paul Moody, Jonathan Tyler, Elisha Glidden and Elisha Ford, was appointed to erect a town-house at an expense not to exceed $18,000. The town-house was erected in 1830 at a cost of about $19,000.

In popular language we may say that the City Government Building, now occupied by our city offi- cials, is the identical town-house of 1830. It was said of the wandering palmer on returning from his pil- grimage, in the days of knight-errantry, that

"The mother that him bare Would scarcely know her son."

So the committee who, nearly sixty years ago,

erected the town-house for $19,000, could they come back to earth again, would scarcely recognize its identity. The bricks indeed remain, but the two rows of short windows have given place to one row of long ones. The hall in the second story has disap- peared; the long entry running through the building parallel to Merrimack Street is no more; the post- office, very conveniently located on the farther side of this entry, has long since begun its travels about the city, and soon the comely house of which our fathers were proud will sink into insignificance beside the palatial edifice now to be erected.

1831. The representatives to the General Court were Kirk Boott, Joshua Swan, J. P. Robinson, J. S. C. Knowlton and Eliphalet Case. The selectmen were Joshua Swan, Artemus Young and James Tyler.

In this year the Suffolk Manufacturing Company was incorporated, with a capital of $600,000, and the Tremont Mills, with a capital of $600,000. The Lawrence Manufacturing Company also, with a capi- tal of $1,500,000. To supply these three last-men- tioned corporations with water the Suffolk and Wes- tern Canals were cut.

The Railroad Bank was incorporated, and the High School was opened in 1831.

July 7th. Paul Moody, one of the founders of Lowell, died, at the age of 52 years. He is noticed on another page.

1832. The 'representatives to the General Court were: Ebenezer Appleton, Artemus Holden, O. M. Whipple, Seth Ames, Maynard Bragg, William Davidson, Willard Guild.

The selectmen were: Joshua Swan, Matthias Parkhurst, Josiah Crosby, Benjamin Walker, Samuel C. Oliver. In this year the Lowell Bleachery was incorporated, with a capital of $50,000, and the Boott Mills, with a capital of $1,200,000.

The population of Lowell in 1832 was 10,254. The Lowell Mutual Fire Insurance Company was incor- porated.

On Jan. 25th occurred the unique convivial celebra- tion, by the Burns Club, of the seventy-third birthday of Robert Burns. It was held at the Mansion House, which then stood near Merrimack Street, on the site of the present Massachusetts boarding-houscs. The feast was attended by nearly all the prominent citi- zens of the town. The occasion was hilarious, not to use a stronger term. The genial Alexander Wright, a countryman of Burns and agent of the Carpet Cor- poration, presided, and Peter Lawson, an intense Scotchman, was toast-master. The table was graced by the haggis, a favorite Scottish dish, whose ingredi- ents are the finely-minced liver and lights of a calf and a sheep, oat-meal, beef-suet, and salt and pepper, the mixture being inclosed in a sheep's stomach and boiled three or four hours. After a formal address to the haggis by John Wright, brother of the presi- dent, the repast began. Wine and songs and speeches followed. Dr. Bartlett, Lowell's first mayor, made a

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

speech and recited Burns' " Highland Mary." "The Banks of Doun " and " Duncan Gray " were sung. John P. Robinson, Lowell's most learned and bril- liant lawyer, spoke of Tam O'Shanter and his gray mare Meg. The comic Perez Fuller gave an ini- promptu medley, in which were laughable allusions to the invited guests.

While the president, in the " wee " morning hours, was making his closing remarks some demoralized reveler rudely interrupted and struck up the song, "O, Willie brewed a peck o' maut," in which all hil- ariously joined. Finally, in parting, all joined hands and made the old Mansion House resound with " Auld Lang Syne."

September 15, 1832, Judge Edward St. Loe Liver- more died at the age of seventy years.

1833. The representatives to the General Court were: S. A. Coburn, John P. Robinson, Cyril French, Simon Adams, Jacob Robbins, J. L. Sheafe, Jesse Fox, Royal Southwick, Joseph Tyler, Jonathan Spalding. The selectmen were: Matthias Parkhurst, Joshua Swan, Benj. Walker, Elishia Huntington, Samuel C. Oliver. The population of Lowell in 1833 was 12,963. In this year occurred that long-protracted and exciting canvass for Representative in Congress, between Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport (Whig), and Gayton P. Osgood, of Andover (Democrat), the vote of Lowell favoring Mr. Cushing by a small majority. The Irish Benevolent Society was started. The sys- tem of sewerage was begun.

Among the many men of talent whom the rapidly- rising town attracted within its borders was the cele- brated Wendell Phillips. On leaving the Law School. at Cambridge in 1833, he came to Lowell and spent about one year in the office of Luther Lawrence and Elisha Glidden, who were then in partnership, but he did not practice in Lowell after being admitted to the bar. Mr. Phillips' sketch of Lowell society at that time, as quoted by Mr. Cowley, will be read with interest :

" Lowell was then crowded with able men-well- read lawyers and successful with a jury ; among them, scholarly, eloquent, deeply read in his profession, and a genius, was John P. Robinson. The city was rich in all that makes good society-amiable, beautiful, and accomplished women, hospitable and amply able to contribute their full share to interesting and sug- gestive conversation,-gentlemen of talent, energetic, well-informed and giving a hearty welcome to the best thought of the day. The changes that thirty years have made in that circle would afford matter for a history deeply interesting and very largely sad."

In May, 1833, occurred a sensation which deeply moved and interested the people of New England and especially the citizens of Lowell. It was the trial for inurder of the Rev. Ephraim K. Avery, of Bristol, R. I., who, during the two preceding years, had been tlie pastor of the Methodist Church worshiping in the

chapel near the site of the Court-House. While in Lowell Mr. Avery had formed a somewhat intimate acquaintance with Miss Sarah Maria Cornell, a mnein- ber of his church. On leaving Lowell for Bristol, R. I., Miss Cornell had followed him and found a resi- dence in Tiverton, a neighboring town. On the night of December 20, 1832, she was foully murdered. The trial (at Newport) of Mr. Avery, who was arraigncd for her murder, occupied twenty-eight days. The celebrated Jeremiah Mason was employed as counsel on the defence, and Mr. Avery was acquitted.

It is said that no other clergyman of the United States had been tried on an indictment for murder. This fact, added to the other remarkable circum- stances attending this atrocious crime, made the whole affair one of absorbing interest and of an intensely sensational nature.

September 13, 1833. Warren Colburn, agent of the Merrimack Mills, died at the age of forty years. He was greatly instrumental in establishing and sustain- ing the public schools of the city.

In 1833 the Lowell Police Court was established with Joseph Locke as standing justice.

Judge Løcke was born in Fitzwilliam, N. H., April 8, 1772. He graduated from Dartmouth College at the age of twenty-seven years. Having been admitted to the bar, he began the practice of law in Billerica in 1802. For eight years he represented that town in the Legislature. He held many offices, among which were those of Presidential elector and member of the Governor's Council. He came to Lowell in 1833, and was, in that year, made first judge of the Police Court. He served in that office thirteen years, resigning in 1846, when he was seventy-four years of age. He was a man of sound learning and humane and generous heart. He died November 10, 1853, at the age of eighty-one years.

Upon the resignation of Judge Locke, in 1846, Natlian Crosby was appointed his successor. Judge Crosby was born in Sandwich, N. H., February 12, 1798. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1820. He came to Massachusetts in 1826, and practiced law in Amesbury and in Newburyport. He devoted sev- eral years to lecturing and laboring in promotion of the cause of temperance. In 1843 he removed to Low- ell, where he was employed by the Manufacturing Companies in securing the right to control the waters of lakes in New Hampshire, for the benefit of the mills in seasons of droughit.

As judge of the Police Court he bore himself with that dignity, humanity, courtesy and patience which well become a good judge. He was, in every sphere of life, a true Christian gentlemen. He died after holding the office for thirty-nine years, on February 10, 1885, at the age of eighty-seven years.

On February 25, 1885, Samuel P. Hadley, who had long been the clerk of the court, was appointed Judge Crosby's successor. Judge Hadley was born in Mid- dlesex Village (now a part of Lowell) October 22,

LOWELL.

1831. He was educated at Phillips Academy, Law- rence Academy and the State Law School. He studied law with Isaac S. Morse, of Lowell, and A. C. Bradley, of New York City. On August 1, 1857, he was appointed clerk of the Police Court of Lowell, and was promoted to be justice of the court in February, 1885.

It is interesting to learn the number and character of the cases brought before our Police Court. For the year ending October 1, 1889, the number of cases was 4040. Of these 3034 were "liquor cases." Of the remaining 1006, more than one-half are cases of as- sault and battery, etc., which are traceable to the use of intoxicating drinks, while there were only two or three hundred traceable to other causes.

The sessions of this court begin at ten o'clock on every working-day. The salary of the judge is $2300.

PRESIDENT JACKSON'S VISIT .- Few events in the history of Lowell have been attended with so much eclat, and remembered by the citizens with so much pride and pleasure, as the visit of President Jackson, June 26 and 27, 1833. What made the Presidential visit so remarkable and so worthy of special de- scription, was theunique and novel and very successful attempt of the managers of the great manufactories of Lowell to display upon the streets, in gorgeous procession in honor of the chief magistrate of the nation, the thousands of Yankee mill girls then in their employ. When to this attraction a long and charming array of the children of the public schools was added, it is not strange that from all the country round, men, women and children gathered to witness the brilliant display.

The days of railroads had not come, and it required fonr entire days to ride in a carriage from Washington to New England. The Presidential party consisted of President Jackson, Mr. Van Buren, Gen. Cass, Mr. Woodbury and Mr. Donalson, the President's private secretary. The President was in feeble health, having recently had a severe attack of sickness while in Boston. Men who had formed their opinion of the personal appearance of the man from reading of his dauntless courage and his iron will, were greatly disappointed when their eyes first rested on their ideal hiero. Says Mr. Gilman, then editor of the Cusket : "The old gentleman appears as though he was very feeble. He has the appearance of a very aged man; his white hair and thin, pale features, bespeak a life of trial and hardship. He was, not- withstanding, very complacent and dignified ; yet, while looking at him, it seemed as if a tear would start instead of a smile. It was with a peculiar melancholy that we regarded him. Such a contrast! his aged countenance, his hoary head, bowing all around, and his feeble motion, the throng of eager and curious faces crowding to obtain a clear view, and the loud shouts that from time to time rent the air, seemed illy to harmonize."

The Presidential party had visited Salem and had

tarried an hour at Andover, where they visited the seminaries and partook of a collation. On coming from Andover to Lowell they were met on Nesmith Street, south of Andover Street, where a brief speech of welcome was made. The military and a cavalcade of citizens rested on Nesmith and Andover Streets. On Andover Street were the civic organizations and citizens, and on Church Street were the mill girls and the school children. At the head of each division of mill girls was a silk banner with the inscription : " Protection to American Industry." The inscription is a slogan still. There were nine of these banners, white upon one side and green upon the other. B. F. Varnum, Esq., was chief marshal, having thirty-one assistants, the last survivor of whom, Col. Jefferson Bancroft, died in January, 1890.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 5

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226