USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 31
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I pray the munificent Rewarder of virtue, that your agency in this good work may receive its compensation here and hereafter.
G. WASHINGTON.I
After the PRESIDENT had arrived at the house prepared for his recep- tion, a Feu-de-joy was fired by the several companies of Militia; and in the evening some Fire-works and excellent Rockets were played off opposite thereto. Much praise is due to the citizens of Newburyport and others, assembled on the occasion, for their orderly behaviour through the day and evening.I
At an early hour, Saturday morning, October thirty-first, while Washington and other invited guests were at breakfast,
1 Essex Journal and New Hampshire Packet, November 11, 1789 (American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.).
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS, MEMORIAL SERVICES, ETC. 413
at the residence of Hon. Tristram Dalton, occurred an inter- esting incident that was subsequently described by one who was present on that occasion as follows :-
In October, 1789, when he [Washington] was on his tour Eastward he stopped at Newburyport over night. Tristram Dalton, then United States senator, had him, the next morning, to breakfast and invited all the professional men to come and be introduced. While at breakfast, and while the President was in conversation with the Rev. John MurrayI the servant of Mr. Dalton came in and said to Mr. Dalton that an old man was in the entry, and wished to speak to Washington. Mr. Dalton, said to him, that the President was engaged ; but this request caught the ear of the President, and he immediately sprang to his feet, and went to the entry. The Rev. Mr. Murray accompanied him. As soon as the soldier saw him he says- " God bless you Major Washington." The President immediately recollecting him, said " Cotton, how do you do ! I am glad to see you," and took a guinea from his pocket, and gave it to him. Returning to his breakfast seat, he told Mr. Murray, that this man had been a faithful servant to him, in the old French war, and he had not seen him till then, since thirty years ago.
Cotton, who was always nicknamed Colonel Cotton, and did errands for people, made a hole through the guinea and wore it round his neck till poverty obliged him to part with it.2
Saturday morning the president was escorted by two com- panies of cavalry to the New Hampshire line, where he was met by His Excellency General Sullivan, with four companies of light-horse, who conducted him to Portsmouth.
The PRESIDENT passed through the towns of Amesbury and Salis- bury where several companies of Militia were paraded which saluted as he passed.
The Marine-Society of this town prepared and decorated a handsome Barge, for the purpose of carrying the PRESIDENT across Merrimack River, which was previously sent (commanded by one of the society) opposite to Amesbury Ferry, where it waited his arrival. The Barge men were all dressed in white.
On the PRESIDENT'S crossing the river at Amesbury, he was paid, by Captain Joseph A. de Murrietta, of Teneriffe, the salute of his Nation,
' Not John, the Universalist of Boston, but John, the Presbyterian of Newbury- port. The former died in 1815, the latter in 1793. They were popularly con- tradistinguished as " Damnation " and " Salvation " Murray.
2 From a communication by " Sigma " [Lucius Manlius Sargent ] published in the Boston Transcript July 15, 1863, and republished in the New England His- torical and Genealogical Register for January, 1864, p. 106.
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(twenty-one guns) his ship being elegantly dressed. We cannot but admire among the many amiable traits in the PRESIDENT'S character, that of his politeness to Foreigners, which was repeated on this occasion.I
On Tuesday, September 4, 1804, Hon. Rufus King, minister- plenipotentiary to the court of St. James from 1796 to 1803, arrived in Newburyport, on his way to Scarborough, Maine, and accepted an invitation to attend a public dinner in Washington hall on Green street. " It was a joyous occasion ; the friends of his youth were around him ; a thousand reminis- censes were awakened; the old were glad to renew their ac- quaintance with him, and the young to catch a glimpse of the man whom their fathers had delighted to honor."
Rufus King was a native of Scarborough. He graduated at Harvard college in 1777, and studied law for three years in the office of Theophilus Parsons. In 1780, he was admitted to the bar and opened an office in Newburyport. He was elected representative to the General Court in 1783, 1784 and 1785. He was a delegate to the continental con- gress at Trenton in 1784, taking his seat in December of that year.2 He was appointed, by Governor Bowdoin, a delegate to the convention assembled at Philadelphia for the purpose of framing a constitution for the United States, and in 1788 he was a member of the convention that met in Boston and voted to accept the proposed constitution. At the close of the convention he resumed the practice of law in Newburyport but soon after removed to New York.
His Excellency Christopher Gore, governor of Massachu- setts, accompanied by his wife, arrived in Newburyport, Sep- tember 1, 1809, on his way to the district of Maine, then a part of the state of Massachusetts. At twelve o'clock, a cavalcade of gentlemen, with the selectmen and other officers of the town in carriages, met the governor near the toll house on the turnpike and escorted him to the Sun hotel, " the form-
1 Essex Journal and New Hampshire Packet, November 4, 1789 (American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.).
2 " Monday last the Hon. Rufus King, Esq. left this town on his way to Con- gress." Essex Journal and the Massachusetts and New Hampshire General Ad- vertiser, November 24, 1784.
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er mansion of the late Hon. Nathaniel Tracy Esq." At two o'clock he proceeded, under military escort, to Washington hall, on Green street, where dinner was served by Prince Stet- son, landlord of "Wolf Tavern." At an early hour in the evening, His Excellency left town for Hampton, N. H.
[June 16, 1817] Voted that the Selectmen with ten other Gentlemen be a Committee with full powers to make such arrangements at the ex- pense of the Town, as they may think proper, for the reception of the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, on his intended visit to this Town.I
At that date, Ebenezer Moseley, Esq., Col. Abraham Wil- liams, Mr. Robert Clark, Mr. Richard Bartlett and Mr. Steph- en Howard were selectmen of Newburyport, and with the following-named gentlemen, William Bartlet, Joseph Marquand, Moses Brown, William Cross, William B. Bannister, Daniel Swett, Joshua Carter, Joseph Williams, Thomas M. Clark and Josiah Smith, were authorized to arrange for the public recep- tion of James Monroe, president of the United States.
On account of inclement weather, and delay in Boston and Salem, President Monroe did not reach Newburyport until Saturday, July twelfth, instead of Thursday, the tenth, as he had intended. He received an address of welcome from Eben- ezer Moseley, Esq., and was escorted by a regiment of cavalry, under the command of Col. Jeremiah Colman, to Bartlet Mall, where the children of the public schools were assembled to meet him. From the mall, the Washington Light Infantry escorted him, with the members of his staff and the committee of arrangements, down Market street to Union, now Washing- ton, street, and thence to Green street, down Green to Merri- mack, down Merrimack to State and up State street to Gil- man's hotel, now Wolfe tavern, where he dined with invited guests and then proceeded on his way to Portland, Maine.2
At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Newburyport held on the twenty-third day of August, 1824, Hon. Ebenezer Moseley, moderator, the following reso- lutions were passed :-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 23.
2 For additional details, see History of Newburyport (Mrs. E. Vale Smith), p. 209.
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Resolved, unanimously, that the Citizens of Newburyport warmly par- ticipate in the sentiment of joy which pervades the whole nation on the occasion of the arrival of General La Fayette in the United States; and that they are desirous of evincing their high respect for the brave soldier who devoted his person and fortune to our country's cause, and their gratitude to the early, zealous and constant Friend of Liberty and of America.
Resolved that the selectmen [Ebenezer Moseley, Ebenezer Wheel- wright, Philip Coombs, Anthony Smith and William Davis] together with the Hon. Samuel S. Wilde, Hon. William Bartlet, Hon. Josiah Smith, Hon. William B. Bannister, William Farris, Esq., William Cross, Esq., Thomas M. Clark, Esq., Hon. Nathan Noyes, John Coffin, Esq., and Caleb Cushing, Esq., constitute a committee of arrangements with full authority to take such measures as they shall deem expedient for carry- ing the foregoing resolve into effect in behalf of the Town ; with power to fill any vacancy in said committee which may happen by the absence or sickness, of any of the members.
Resolved that the Selectmen be and are hereby authorized and di- rected to draw their order on the Town Treasurer for the amounts dis- bursed by the committee pursuant to the foregoing resolves.I
Arrangements were made to meet General LaFayette in Ipswich, and escort him to Newburyport. On the thirty-first day of August, he arrived, about nine o'clock in the evening, at the corner of High and South, now Bromfield, streets, the dividing line between the towns of Newbury and Newbury- port, where he was received by the Washington Light Infantry and the Newburyport Artillery and escorted up High street to State street, where an arch had been erected, bearing the motto : "The Hero of Two Continents" ; and thence to the Tracy house, now the Public Library building, but then owned and occupied by James Prince, Esq.
A heavy rain that set in early in the evening disarranged the plans made by the committee and rendered it necessary to modify them to meet the exigencies of the occasion. The route of the procession was shortened and the address of welcome, by Hon. Ebenezer Moseley, was delivered in the Tracy house, where, at a later hour, dinner was served to General LaFayette and invited guests.2
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 142.
2 The tables were supplied with choice viands and wine from the hostelry of Prince Stetson, on the corner of State and Temple streets, and his son, Charles Stetson, served as valet de chambre to General LaFayette.
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS, MEMORIAL SERVICES, ETC. 417
In the morning, although the weather was still extremely unfavorable, many citizens and old soldiers of the Revolution, called at the Tracy house to pay their respects to LaFayette.
Of the many veterans of the Continental army who were presented to the General none produced a stronger title to notice than Mr Daniel Foster who is the only man in this town belonging to LaFayette's select corps of Light Infantry. He was a non-commissioned officer therein, of course constantly about the General, and possesses now the very sword which the General gave him in common with other officers of that his
DANIEL FOSTER.
favorite and most excellent corps. Mr. Foster held this sword before the General when introduced, with emotions of honest pride, and stating the circumstances welcomed the General to our shores and told him that he was proud to see him once more on American soil and that his sons participated in the joyful occasion. When LaFayette learned that one of his own infantry stood before him, who had often commanded his quarter-guard, and when he saw his own mark on the blade of the sword, half drawn from the scabbard, he greeted his old soldier very cordially and assured him that he looked upon him as one of his own family.I
1 Communication published in the Newburyport Herald September 3, 1824. Daniel Foster died August 29, 1833, aged seventy-one.
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Owing to the muddy condition of the streets, and the threatening clouds that obscured the sky, the military and civic procession was abandoned, and LaFayette, under the escort of a company of cavalry, proceeded in his carriage to Hampton on his way to Portsmouth, N. H.' Returning, he reached Newburyport at midnight and was obliged to leave for Boston at an early hour in the morning to meet an engagement to review a body of troops at Lexington that day.
John Quincy Adams, ex-president of the United States, was invited to deliver an oration in Newburyport July 4, 1827. He accepted and in company with his son, Charles Francis 'Adams, then about thirty years old, left Boston, Mon- day afternoon, July third, in a stage drawn by four horses. At Ipswich he was met by Caleb Cushing, Samuel T. De Ford and John Bradbury, members of the committee of ar- rangements, and taken in a private carriage to the " trayne- ing green " in Newbury, where he received an address of welcome to which he briefly responded. He was then escort- ed by a cavalcade of young men from "trayening green " up High street to the residence of Mr. Cushing who was then living in the three-story brick dwelling house on the corner of High and Fruit streets in Newburyport.
The next day, the distinguished and eloquent statesman delivered an oration to an immense audience, in the meeting house on Pleasant street, and in the evening he received the hearty congratulations and greetings of friends and ac- quaintances at a levee held in the town hall.
At nine o'clock on the morning of July fifth, Mr. Adams and his son left Newburyport in a private coach provided by the committee of arrangements, and arrived in Boston about one o'clock P. M.2
June 16, 1847, a committee was appointed to invite James
1 The children connected with the public schools had been invited to partici- pate in the celebration, and were disappointed to find that it was given up. The next day, the weather being fair, fifteen hundred children under military escort, marched through the principal streets of the town to the mall where, after a brief address, refreshments were served, and the children dismissed.
2 Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, vol. IX., pp. 357-360.
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K. Polk, president of the United States, to visit Newburyport.1 This committee was authorized to make arrangements for his reception and provide suitable accommodations in case he de- cided to remain in town over night. The president was unable to accept the invitation extended to him, but consented to make a brief address at the railroad station on his way from Portland to Boston. He arrived in Newburyport, Monday, the fifth day of July, about two o'clock P. M., and was con- ducted by the committee of arrangements to a temporary platform, that had been erected near the station, and intro- duced to the people assembled there. His remarks occupied ten or fifteen minutes, and probably as much or more time was consumed in the customary exercise of hand-shaking before he re-entered the car and the train started on its way to Boston, followed by the cheers of men, women and children.
Thursday afternoon, September 3, 1857, His Excellency Henry J. Gardner, governer of Massachusetts, arrived in New- buryport. He dined at Wolfe tavern with invited guests, and held a reception at ten o'clock the next morning at the resi- dence of Hon. Caleb Cushing. At noon he reviewed the troops at the military encampment on the plains, and in the afternoon returned to Boston.
On the thirtieth day of September following, Governor Gardner visited Indian hill, in West Newbury, where a bat- tallion of riflemen were encamped, and in the evening he held a reception at the residence of Hon. William Cushing, in Newburyport. The next day, he attended an exhibition of poultry, cattle and agricultural products, gathered by mem- bers of the Essex County Agricultural Society, in a field opposite the Dexter house, extending from High street to Congress street. He dined with a large number of invited guests in a spacious tent erected on the mall, and was greeted with great applause when he rose to respond to the call made upon him by the president of the day. He spoke briefly on topics suggested by the occasion and closed in season to take an early train for Boston.
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 280.
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Monday, October 22, 1860, the Prince of Wales, now King Edward the Seventh, of England, on his way from Boston to Portland, stopped for a few moments at the Eastern Railroad station in Newburyport. All the streets and buildings in that vicinity were crowded with spectators, anxious to see the dis- tinguished visitor. The police, with the assistance of the Cushing Guard, a military organization connected with the Eighth Massachusetts regiment, were instructed to maintain order and protect women and children from injury or annoyance. On the arrival of the train the crowd cheered vociferously, the band played " God Save the Queen," and the prince, es- corted by the Duke of Newcastle and the Earl of St. Ger- mains, came to the platform at the rear end of the car and bowed to the multitude. For a few moments he stood, hat in hand, gazing intently on the enthusiastic crowd, until the ringing of the engine bell announced that the time of depart- ure had come, and the train moved slowly from the station, carrying with it hearty cheers for the future king of England.
Tuesday morning, October 17, 1871, Ulysses S. Grant, president of the United States, on his way from Boston to Portland, with several members of his cabinet, arrived at the Eastern Railroad station in Newburyport about half-past nine o'clock. He was received with tumultuous applause. To a few brief words of welcome from Hon. Elbridge G. Kelley, mayor of the city, he bowed his acknowledgements and while the band played, " Hail to the Chief," and the artillery com- pany fired a national salute, veterans of the civil war and men prominent in social or political life improved the opportunity, before the departure of the train, to take the hand of the most distinguished soldier of modern times.
MEMORIAL SERVICES.
George Washington died at Mount Vernon December 14, 1 799, but the news did not reach Newburyport until Christmas day, when the church bells were tolled from four o'clock in the afternoon until nine o'clock in the evening.1
1 Diary of Moses Kimball.
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On the second day of January following, a procession, com- posed of citizens, members of Masonic lodges, the orator of day, officiating clergymen, selectmen and officers of the army and navy, under the direction of Col. [John] Tracy and Major [Ebenezer] Bradbury, escorted by the Newburyport Artillery company, marched at ten o'clock A. M. from Market square up State street to Pleasant street, through Pleasant to Green, down Green to Merrimack, through Merrimack and Water to Federal, and up Federal street to the First Presby- terian meeting house, where services were held commemorat- ing the nobility of character and patriotic life of Washington.
The stores were closed, and labor on the wharves, in the ship-yards and work-shops, was suspended for the day. Flags were displayed at half-mast by the shipping in the harbor, minute guns were fired and the church bells tolled while the procession was passing through the streets of the town. A band, composed of players on three clarinets, five flutes, one bass viol and one drum, furnished the music.I
The exercises at the meeting house were opened with prayer by the Right Reverend Edward Bass, bishop of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Thomas Paine, A. M., afterwards known as Robert Treat Paine, then delivered an appropriate and eloquent eulogy. One of Dr. Watts' Lyric odes, adapted to the occasion, was sung by a choir, and the exercises closed with prayer by Rev. Samuel Spring.2
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died July 4, 1826. The selectmen, clergymen, and other prominent citizens of the town assembled at the court house, between four and five o'clock in the afternoon of July fourteenth, while the church bells were tolling, and, under escort of the Washington Light Infantry, proceeded to the meeting house on Pleasant street, where a memorial address was delivered by Hon. Caleb Cushing.
William Henry Harrison, president of the United States,
1 Moses Kimball was a member of the band, and he states in his diary that he played a flute on that occasion.
2 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, January 3, 18co.
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died April 4, 1841, and on the seventeenth day of that month the following vote was passed by the inhabitants of Newbury- port :-
Voted that a Committee of nine be Chosen to act in concert with Com- mittees, of the neighboring Towns to engage a suitable Person to deliver a. Eulogy on the Death of President William H. Harrison at such time as they deem expedient, and that the same committee be requested to procure one of the largest churches in town for the purpose, and make all necessary arrangements for the occasion.I
A committee, consisting of the following-named persons, was chosen : Charles H. Hudson, Samuel T. DeFord, Ebenezer Bradbury, Nathaniel Foster, Robert Bailey, Jr., Moses D. Randall, Joseph Silloway, Jr., Thomas M. Clark and Moses B. Wheeler. This committee matured the plans that were adopt- ed for the memorial service.
May 3, 1841, the selectmen, committee of arrangements, members of the fire department and citizens generally were escorted by the Newburyport Artillery, under the command of Capt. Stephen Ilsley, from Brown square to the mall, where the pupils of the public and private schools were assem- bled, and from thence to the meeting house on Temple street, where hymns, written by Miss Hannah F. Gould and Hon. George Lunt, were sung, and a memorial address was deliv- ered by Hon. Caleb Cushing.
Saturday, April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, died by the hand of an assassin in Wash- ington, D. C. At a meeting of the city council of New- buryport, held on the following Monday evening, a series of resolutions were adopted recommending the suspension of business and a memorial service on the day of the funeral.
Resolved That as a proper mark of respect the City Hall be draped in mourning for the period of thirty days, and that his honor the mayor order all public offices to be closed, and request the entire sus- pension of business, on the part of the citizens, on the day of the funeral.
Resolved, that in accordance with the wish expressed by the acting secretary of state the mayor request the citizens to meet at their respec- tive places of worship during the hours of 12 M and 2 P. M.
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 108.
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At noon, on Wednesday, April nineteenth, all the bells in the city were tolled, and religious services were held in all the meeting houses. Public buildings and private residences were decorated with the emblems of mourning, and men and women assembled in their accustomed places of worship to express their sorrow for the death of the chief executive of the nation. At three o'clock in the afternoon, a special service, arranged by the mayor, Hon. George W. Jackman, Jr., and a committee of citizens, was held in the meeting house of the First Relig- ious Society on Pleasant street, at which, after prayer by Rev. Randolph Campbell and singing by a select choir, addresses were made by Rev. Samuel J. Spalding and Rev. Richard H. Richardson, and the benediction pronounced by Rev. Daniel P. Pike.1
October 8, 1879, a memorial service was held in City hall to commemorate the public life and illustrious career of Caleb Cushing, who died January 2, 1879. Hon. George B. Loring, member of congress from the sixth Massachusetts district, delivered an address that was listened to with close attention by a large audience, composed of members of congress, state senators, officers and members of the Massachusetts Histori- cal Society, selectmen of neighboring towns, ex-mayors of Newburyport, and other distinguished guests. At the close of the address, a chorus of male and female voices, under the direction of Prof. L. A. Torrens of Boston, sang " Happy and Blest are They " from the oratorio of St. Paul ; and the bene- diction was pronounced by Rev. Samuel J. Spalding, D. D.2
At a meeting of the members of the city government, Al- bert W. Bartlett post, No. 49, of the Grand Army of the Re- public, officers of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, trustees of the Wheelwright Scientific school, and representatives of the Essex Bar association, held in the meeting house of the First Religious Society in Newburyport
1 For further details relating to the memorial services, April 19, 1865, see " Newburyport in the Civil War," by George W. Creasey, pp. 193-197.
2 A pamphlet, giving a full account of this memorial service, was published by order of the city council of Newburyport in 1879.
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