USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Mass., 1635-1902 > Part 22
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The act provided, also, that only one representative should be elected annually from the remaining part of the town of Newbury; that the boundary lines between the several par- ishes should remain as heretofore by law established ; that public buildings and other public property should be equitably
* Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, vol. iv., p. 676.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
divided, accounts adjusted, and settlement made according to the valuation fixed by the last tax levy.
June 6, 1765, the inhabitants of Newbury appointed a com- mittee to confer with a committee from Newburyport in re- gard to the value of the public buildings, within the limits of Newbury, belonging to the inhabitants of both towns; and March 1I, 1766, this committee was authorized to demand and receive from the town of Newburyport all sums due in settlement of claims to that date .*
The dividing-line between Newbury and Newburyport can be traced on the map on page 239, beginning at the point marked M on the Merrimack river, thence running to the point marked T, thence to S, thence to K, thence to L, and thence by the Merrimack river to the bound begun at.
* Town of Newbury Records.
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CHAPTER V.
1765-1902.
AFTER the incorporation of Newburyport the inhabitants of Newbury voted, September 19, 1764, to hold the next annual town meeting in Rev. Moses Hale's meeting-house in the Second parish, "provided the inhabitants of that parish consent thereto." *
At a meeting of the inhabitants of the Second parish, held October 16, 1764, liberty to use the meeting-house for the transaction of public business, "in the month of March next," was granted without debate .; The annual meetings of the town were held there until May 19, 1767, when it was voted " that, hereafter, the town house in the first parish shall be the place of meeting until further orders." *
March 8, 1768, the subject was again under considera- tion ; and the town voted that "the next annual meeting shall be held in the second parish." The town-house at this time was very much out of repair, and repeated efforts were made to improve its condition. Votes passed at one meeting, authorizing the selectmen to make the necessary repairs, were reconsidered and declared null and void a few weeks later.
March 13, 1770, the town voted that hereafter, until other- wise ordered, "one half the town meetings shall be held in the second parish." March 10, 1772, the inhabitants again assembled in the town-house; but, after choosing a modera- tor, they voted to adjourn to the meeting-house in the First parish, where the regular order of business was taken up and disposed of. Subsequently, town meetings were held alter- nately in the First parish and the Second parish meeting- houses until March 10, 1818, when the inhabitants were notified to meet in the Newburyport Academy, then within
* Town of Newbury Records.
t Second Parish Records, p. 139.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
the limits of the town of Newbury, the old town-house having been sold at public auction to John Mycall, Esq., in 1780 .*
At a meeting held in the academy April 6, 1818, a com- mittee was chosen to select a suitable place for a town-house ; and a few weeks later land owned by Dudley A. Tyng, Esq., at the corner of the Bradford road and the way to the Ames- bury ferry, now in Newburyport, was purchased, and the building of a new town-house decided upon. June 18, 1818, the legal voters of the town were summoned to at- tend a meeting to be held in the Second parish meeting- house, "to see if they will suspend building the town house until the determination of the Legislature is known respect- ing the division of the town." +
At this meeting 229 votes were cast in favor and 309 against discontinuing the work; but in the month of July following, at a meeting held in the Newburyport Academy, the town voted to reconsider its action in regard to building a town-house in the Fourth parish, and decided that it should be erected in the First parish between the head of Green- leaf's lane, now State street, and the toll-house on the New- buryport turnpike. October 1, 1818, the selectmen were authorized by an unanimous vote (241 persons voting in favor of the motion and no one opposing it) to purchase a lot of land near the turnpike, owned by Moses Brown, and to remove from the Fourth parish to this land all the lumber and other materials that could be used in the construction of a town-house.
The building was completed during the following winter, and March 9, 1819, the inhabitants of Newbury assembled for the first time in the new town-house, and continued to meet there annually until April 17, 1851, when the General Court ordered that a portion of the town of Newbury, includ- ing the town-house, should be set off and annexed to the town of Newburyport.#
*"Ould Newbury," pp. 198-200, 649.
t Town of Newbury Records, also Essex Deeds, book ccxvii., p. 204.
# The town-house is still standing nearly opposite the entrance to the Oak Hill Cemetery. For several years it was used by the city of Newburyport for the accommodation of the pupils of the Brown High school. It was afterwards sold and converted into a dwelling-house.
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THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
During the next two or three years public meetings were held in the high-school building near the First parish meeting- house and at the vestry in Pearson's Mills village. March 20, 1854, the selectmen were authorized to purchase a lot of land and build a town-house in the farms district between the estates of Luther Noyes and John N. Kent. The first meeting in this new town-house was held November 13, 1854.
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC CONVEYANCES.
Heavy carts for the transportation of merchandise and agricultural products, drawn by oxen or horses, were in use in Newbury as early as 1670, and perhaps earlier ; but men and women, travelling for business or pleasure, went on foot or rode on horseback. Carriages or coaches for the trans- portation of passengers were considered a costly luxury in the province of Massachusetts Bay previous to the year 1700. Jonathan Wardell set up the first hackney coach in Boston in 1712 .*
The improvement in roads, and the gradual increase of wealth in the province, led to the introduction of the calash, a low, two-wheeled carriage, with a top that could be thrown back or raised at pleasure, drawn by one horse. The pas- senger chair, or chaise, having two, sometimes four, wheels, came into use about the same time. Sulkies and gigs, for carrying a single person, soon followed. At a later date the curricle, a two-wheeled carriage, with seats for three or four persons, drawn by two horses, was a popular conveyance on long lines of public travel.
Judge Sewall, having sailed in the sloop "Samuel and Hannah " from Boston for York, was forced by head winds to land at Marblehead. In his diary, under the date of May 13, 1718, he wrote : "Went to Salem in a Calash my Bror provided. From thence with the Post got to Newbury that night."
For the better accommodation of travellers the General
* Memorial History of Boston, vol. ii. (note), p. 452.
t Diary of Samuel Sewall, vol. iii., p. 184.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
Court ordered, June 23, 1718, " that at Charlestown, Winni- simmet [Chelsea] Salem and Newbury ferries there be hence- forth provided and kept on each side of the water, by the ferry men of the respective ferries, a pair of planked trucks of a sufficient breadth for the Safe and more convenient passing of coaches, colashes, horses and cattle, in and out of the ferry boats, on penalty of ten shillings for every three months neglect," etc .*
In 1737, a tax of thirty shillings per annum on the owner of a coach or chaise having four wheels, and twenty shillings per annum on the owner of a chaise, calash, or chair having two wheels, was imposed by order of the General Court. A memorandum on the fly-leaf of the records of the town of Newbury gives the names of some of the persons taxable under this law, as follows : -
Joseph Atkins, chaise, May 26, 1738.
Lieut Joseph Pike, calash, June 12, 1738.
Edmund Greenleaf ordered his new chaise to be entered July, 1738.
Joseph Moulton informed the town clerk that he owned a chaise July 31, 1739.
Lieut John Emery, chaise, March 20, 1739-40.
Benjamin Moody paid for his chaise for one year past twenty shillings, March 24, 1739-40.
Rev. Matthias Plant, minister at Queen Anne's Chapel, noted in his memorandum, or account book, the following items : -
Aug. 12, 1748 I pd Jacob Chaice for painting my chair 1.10.0.
Aug. 25, 1748 pd Pearson for oil & paint for chair 0.17.0
He also acknowledged at a subsequent date the receipt of ten shillings for the use of his chair, or chaise, from Newbury to Boston and return.
From the tavern kept by John Stavers in Portsmouth the first stage, or passenger chair, with two horses, and capable of carrying four persons besides the driver, started on Monday, April 20, 1761, for Boston, passing through Newbury on the way, returning in season to reach Portsmouth Friday night. For many years this stage continued to make one trip every
* Province Laws, vol. ii., p. 102.
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THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
week to Boston and back, leaving Portsmouth, however, on Tuesday instead of Monday, and returning on the Saturday following. Bartholomew Stavers, brother of John Stavers, published in May, 1763, the following notice : -
THE PORTSMOUTH FLYING STAGE COACH
Is now finished, which will Carry Six persons inside : runs with four or six horses : each person to pay 135 6d to Boston and 4s 6d to New- bury. Sets out from the sign of the Earl of Halifax, every Tuesday morning between 7 and 8 o'clock, goes thro' Newbury to Boston, and will put up at inns on the road where good entertainment and attendance are provided for the passengers in the coach. The subscriber, Master of the Stage coach, is to be spoke with from Saturday night to Monday night, at Mr. John Stavers', innholder, at the Sign of the Earl of Halifax.
BARTHOLOMEW STAVERS .*
In 1774, the following advertisement appeared in the Massachusetts Gazette : -
STAVERS STAGE COACH NUMBER ONE
Continues to ply from Portsmouth to Boston with FOUR HORSES equal to any in America : sets out from Portsmouth on Tuesday morn- ings, reaches Boston next Day: Leaves Boston Friday mornings reaches Portsmouth next day, at said Staver's House, where is good accommo- dations for Carriages and Horses. He takes Care and provides good Drivers. His Carriages for twelve years have never been overset nor Passengers met with any Hurt.
N.B. Such as want a Passage from Boston are desired to apply to Mrs. Bean's in King Street.t
During the same year Mr. Ezra Lunt commenced to run a line of coaches from Newburyport through Newbury, Ipswich, and Salem to Boston, making two trips a week each way. In The Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet, a newspaper printed in Newburyport, in the month of May, 1774, is the following advertisement : -
STAGE COACH
That constantly plies between Newburyport and Boston sets out with four horses every Monday morning, at 7 o'olock, from Newbury-
* " Rambles about Portsmouth," p. 187.
t Putnam's Monthly Magazine, July, 1892, p. 76.
274
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
port, and arrives at Boston the same day ; leaves Boston every Thursday morning, and reaches Newburyport the same day. Such ladies and gentlemen as want a passage from Newburyport to Boston, are desired to apply at the house of the subscriber, opposite to the Rev. Mr. Par- son's Meeting House. And those from Boston to Newburyport, at the house of Mrs. Beal, in King Street.
It is hoped this very expensive undertaking will meet with encourage- ment from all ladies and gentlemen as they may depend on the punctual performance
Of the people's most obedient servant
EZRA LUNT .*
At the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Mr. Lunt sold his horses, carriages, and stable fixtures, and enlisted in the Continental army. April 21, 1795, Jacob Hale and son announced that they would run a line of stages through the towns of Newbury and Ipswich to Boston, "twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, returning Wednesdays and Satur- days." Seats to be secured at Mr. Hale's house on Federal street, Newburyport, "near Mr. Dana's meeting-house." } April 22, 1800, Joseph and Benjamin Hale advertised in the Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette that "the stage formerly run by Mr. Jacob Hale" " will leave Federal street opposite Mr. William Bartletts " once a week for Boston.
In 1818, the Eastern Stage Company was organized ; and under the management of Mr. Benjamin Hale, Dr. Nehemiah Cleaveland, and others, a line of stages was established and maintained from Dover to Portsmouth, N.H., and from thence to Newburyport, Newbury, Ipswich, Topsfield, and Boston.
April 14, 1836, the Eastern Railroad Company was in- corporated by the General Court of Massachusetts. The road was opened from Boston to Newbury on the nineteenth day of June, 1840, and to Newburyport on the twenty-eighth day of August following.
In 1850, the road from Newburyport through Byfield was built to Georgetown, and from thence, in 1851, to Bradford. Two years later, it was extended from Georgetown through Topsfield and Wakefield, and leased to the Boston & Maine
*Gage's History of Rowley, p. 465 ; also, Putnam's Monthly Magazine, July, 1892, p. 77. t Impartial Herald, April 21, 1795.
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THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
Railroad Company. In 1884, the Eastern and the Boston & Maine railroads were consolidated, and are now under the management of one board of directors.
These roads, in connection with the street railway from Parker river to Newburyport,* and the street railway through Byfield, operated by the Georgetown, Rowley & Ipswich Railroad Company,t give the inhabitants of Newbury oppor- tunity to enjoy frequent and easy communication with other towns in Essex county.
TURNPIKES.
In order to shorten the distance between Newburyport and Boston, and render it possible for travellers to make the journey more expeditiously, the building of a turnpike was proposed and zealously advocated; but the inhabitants of Newbury, believing that it would divert travel from the old road, via Parker river bridge to Ipswich and Boston, voted, May 11, 1802, to oppose the project. The General Court, however, on the eighth day of March, 1803, authorized " Micajah Sawyer, William Coombs, Nicholas Pike, Arnold Wells, William Bartlet, John Pettingell, William Smith, John Codman and James Prince and all such persons as are or shall be associated with them under the name of the Newbury- port Turnpike Corporation " to lay out and build a turnpike road, four rods wide, from the head of State street in Newburyport, through Newbury, Rowley, and Ipswich, to Topsfield, and thence in a southwesterly direction, in as nearly a straight line as possible, to Chelsea bridge, with liberty to erect turnpike gates and establish tolls, to be collected from every person travelling in a coach, cart, or other carriage over that road. The company organized, and ordered the pre- liminary surveys to be made without delay. During the summer of 1803 the work of construction was begun. The turnpike was completed in 1806 at a cost of nearly $420,000.
* Completed and operated July 10, 1890, as a horse railroad from Newburyport to " trayneing green," Newbury, extended to Parker river, May 30, 1891, equipped and first used as a street electric railway June 27, 1891.
+ Supplied with electric motive power and opened for the transportation of passengers April 30, 1900.
276
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
It was never popular with the travelling public, and proved to be an unprofitable investment for the capitalists who built it.
February 24, 1806, the General Court passed " An Act to establish Plum Island Turnpike and Bridge Corporation." Although the subscribers to the capital stock of this corpo- ration were nearly all citizens of Newburyport, the turnpike, about two miles long, extending from the northeast end of Rolfe's lane, now Ocean avenue, Newburyport, to a point on Plum island about one mile north of Sandy beach, so called, together with the bridge over Plum Island river, were wholly within the limits of the town of Newbury. The turnpike and bridge were completed before the close of the year. The corporation has been several times reorganized ; and visitors are now transported to and from Plum island over this bridge and turnpike in cars connected with the Citizens' Electric Street Railway system of Newburyport.
BRIDGES.
For the accommodation of travellers on their way from Newbury to Rowley and thence to Boston, a bridge was built over the Parker river, near the residence of Richard Thorlay, previous to the year 1654. It was one of the earliest bridges erected in New England, and the first one over navigable waters within the limits of the town of New- bury. It has been several times enlarged and repaired.
In September, 1660, a committee was appointed by the court at Ipswich to view the bridge and highway between Newbury and Rowley. This committee reported June 25, 1661 ; and the court ordered the county treasurer to pay the sum of forty pounds to Ezekiel Northend and John Pickard, provided they build "a sufficient horse bridge six foot wide " over the Parker river .* Messrs. Northend and Pickard evidently assigned or sublet their contract to John Woolcott.
When the bridge was completed, the committee reported that it was inadequate and unsatisfactory .¡ November 25, 1662, John Woolcott, who built the bridge, agreed to make it
* Salem Court Records, vol. iv., p. 71. t Salem Court Files, vol. viii., p. 94.
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THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
strong and substantial ; * and June 30, 1663, the court ordered the county treasurer to pay him the balance due according to the terms of the contract.t
In 1758, a larger and more serviceable bridge over the same river from Newbury neck to Oldtown ferry landing, was built with funds raised by means of a lottery authorized by an act of the General Court passed January 29, 1750-1. It was maintained as a toll-bridge until 1850, when the rights and privileges of the corporation were surrendered to the commonwealth. In 1853, it was rebuilt by the county of Essex and made a free bridge. Since that date the annual charges for repairs and maintenance have been paid by the inhabitants of the town of Newbury.#
The Essex-Merrimack Bridge Company was incorporated February 24, 1792, and built, during the following summer, a bridge over the Merrimack river connecting Deer island with the towns of Newbury and Salisbury. In the year 1810 the main portion of this bridge was taken down, and a chain sus- pension bridge erected in its place. February 6, 1827, some of the chains supporting this structure gave way, and the bridge, with a loaded team, two men, four oxen, and one horse, fell into the river below. The horse and men were saved, but the oxen were drowned. During the following summer the bridge was rebuilt and maintained as a toll-bridge until the fourth day of August, 1868, when it was laid out as a public highway under the provisions of an act passed by the General Court in the month of June preceding.§
June 14, 1794, Enoch Sawyer, William Coffin, Joshua Wingate, Jacob Brown, Joseph Newell, Amos George, Ephraim Elliot, Moses Moody, William L. Abbot, and William Cutler, " with such other persons as may be associated with them," were made and constituted a corporation by the General Court, and authorized to build a bridge over the Mer- rimack river "from the public landing at Swett's ferry in Haverhill to the opposite shore in Newbury." The bridge was built at or near Holt's rocks, and was known as the Rocks
.
* Salem Court Records, vol. iv., p. 107. tlbid., vol. iv., p. 118. For a more extended account of Thorlay's bridge the reader is referred to " Ould Newbury," pp. 201-211.
#" Ould Newbury," pp. 530-539- § Ibid., pp. 593-604.
ROCKS BRIDGE, FROM WEST NEWBURY.
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THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
bridge by the travelling public, although " Merrimack bridge " was the name given to it in the act of incorporation. It was one thousand feet in length, and connected Rocks village in East Haverhill with the upper parish in Newbury, now a part of the town of West Newbury.
The bridge, built in a substantial manner, supported by five piers and two abutments, was completed on the twenty- sixth day of November, 1795. The event was celebrated by the display of flags, the ringing of bells, the firing of cannon, and by a procession of workmen, officers of the corporation, and citizens generally, who marched in military order over the bridge, escorted by a troop of horsemen under the com- mand of Captain Boardman .*
A heavy freshet, that raised the water in the Merrimack river to an unprecedented height, with the floating ice that formed a temporary dam between the piers, swept the bridge away in the spring of 1818, completely destroying it. No effort was made to rebuild it until the year 1828, when the General Court granted " the proprietors of the Merrimack Bridge" liberty to build a bridge "upon the old foundations at or near Holt's rocks." The work of reconstruction, begun in April, 1828, was completed early in the month of November follow- ing. It was maintained as a toll-bridge until 1868, when it was made free and laid out as a public highway by order of the General Court.
In 1883, it was repaired and supplied with a new swinging draw of modern construction. In 1892 it was strengthened by the addition of two new piers, and in 1894 a portion of the bridge on the Haverhill side was removed and replaced by a new iron structure.
The half-tone print on the opposite page gives a view of the covered way as it was in 1828 and as it appears from the Newbury, now West Newbury side of the river.
Several years previous to the rebuilding of Rocks bridge some of the prominent citizens of Amesbury became interested in a plan to revive and restore, if possible, the popularity of the old route of travel over Hook's ferry by building a
* Impartial Herald (Newburyport), December 1, 1795.
28c
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
bridge, across the Merrimack river, from the mouth of Powow river to the old ferry landing-place on the opposite shore, in Newbury.
Robert Patten, and other persons who were interested with him, presented a petition to the General Court, May 27, 1824, asking for an act of incorporation for the purpose named, subject to such restrictions as the General Court might consider necessary. On the seventh day of June the Senate concurred with the House of Representatives in the appoint- ment of a committee to view the location, and investigate the claims set forth by the petitioners as well as the objections urged by the opponents of the measure. A strong remon- strance from the inhabitants of Haverhill, and other towns on the river, undoubtedly induced the committee to recommend " that further consideration of the subject be referred to the next General Court." This recommendation, adopted Febru- ary 15, 1825, although unsatisfactory to the petitioners, was accepted by them ; and no further attempt was made to secure the coveted charter. During the following summer a new movement was inaugurated that resulted in the building of a bridge two or three miles below the place selected by Robert Patten and his associates.
As early as February 27, 1802, William Bartlet and Nicho- las Pike applied to the General Court for liberty to build a bridge from Newburyport to Salisbury, and also a road to connect it with a proposed turnpike from Portsmouth to Boston. On the eleventh day of May the town of Newbury voted to oppose the erection of a bridge over the Merrimack river from Newburyport, and also voted to oppose the build- ing of a turnpike to Boston. The inhabitants of other towns on the river objected, on the ground that the proposed bridge would be an obstruction to navigation.
June 12, 1802, a special committee was appointed by the Senate and House of Representatives to visit Newburyport, hear the testimony of the petitioners as well as the remon- strants, and report the result of their investigations at the next session of the General Court. February 28, 1803, this committee reported "inexpedient to grant the prayer of the
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THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
petitioners," and, apparently, no farther action was taken for nearly twenty-five years.
March 4, 1826, James Prince, John Wood, Stephen Froth- ingham, "and all other persons associated with them" were authorized to erect a bridge over the Merrimack river, from Newburyport, between Market and Kent streets, to some convenient point. in the town of Salisbury ; and, also, to lay out and make a road four rods wide from the bridge on the Salisbury side to the county road leading to the meeting- house in East Salisbury. The bridge was built during the summer of 1827. It rested on four stone piers and two abutments, and was supported in part by chains that ex- tended from the top of a high wooden arch, built on the west bank of the river, to the centre of the span between the stone abutment and the first pier, and thence over the top of a second arch, built on that pier, to the centre of the second span, and so continuing until the Salisbury shore was reached.
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