History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880, Part 50

Author: Smith, S. F. (Samuel Francis), 1808-1895. 4n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : American Logotype Co.
Number of Pages: 996

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880 > Part 50

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"NEWTON, Dec. 16, 1824 .- Impressed with the utility and importance of laying the foundation of a permanent fund, from which may be annually drawn some aid and relief for certain descriptions of the Poor of my native town of Newton, through all future generations, I am disposed to make the following proposals.

" 1. To pay into the hands of the Selectmen of Newton, as Trustees, the sum of one thousand dollars, to be by them let at lawful interest, secured by mortgages on real estate of at least three times the value of the sums loaned.

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THE KENRICK FUND.

"2. That the annual interest of five hundred dollars of the proposed sum be distributed from year to year, at the discretion of the Trustees, towards assisting and relieving the needy, industrious poor of Newton, especially widows and orphans, none of whom have fallen under the immediate care of the Overseers of the Poor.

" 3. That the annual interest arising from the remainder of the Donation be added to the principal, and carefully kept, interest on interest, until the whole sum amounts to three thousand dollars, which with due care will be effected within twenty-eight years. After which, I direct that the whole fund be loaned at an interest of five per cent. per annum, and the annual interest be distributed in manner, and to descriptions of poor before mentioned for- ever, through all future generations.

" With a view of promoting the future prosperity of Newton, and from a full persuasion that where industry, temperance, honesty and punctuality prevail, there will be but few paupers, I further direct that this fund be loaned in moderate sums, not exceeding three hundred dollars to any one person, and for terms of time not exceeding five years ; that the several sums be collected when due and re-loaned to others,-a preference being always given to applications from married young men, from twenty-three to thirty years old, of temperate, industrious habits, and distinguished for honesty and punctuality in their dealings.

" If the town of Newton vote to accept the proposed Donation, and con- stitute the Board of Selectmen and their successors in office permanent Trus- tees, with special instructions faithfully to manage and apply the fund in exact accordance with the foregoing directions and apparent intentions of the Donor, then, if my life continues, I will pay over the sum proposed within six months after the town's vote of acceptance and appointment of Trustees.

" JOHN KENRICK.

" Selectmen of Newton.

"P. S. Hopes are indulged that some others, of ability and like minded, will be disposed to make additions to the Fund proposed.

"J. K."

VOTED, that the town accept the noble benefaction now offered by John Kenrick, Esq., with a full determination to conform to all the conditions with which he has seen fit to accompany the same.

VOTED, that this Donation be denominated the " Kenrick Fund."

VOTED, that the Board of Selectmen and their successors in office be hereby appointed permanent Trustees, to manage and apply the said Fund according to all the conditions accompanying the same.

VOTED, that the present Selectmen of the town be hereby appointed a committee, with directions to wait upon John Kenrick, Esq., and present to him the thanks of the town, for his truly noble benefaction, and make known to him the grateful feelings with which his benevolent offer is accepted; and assure him that no efforts on the part of the present generation shall be want- ing, to carry his generous intentions respecting the same into the fullest and most complete effect.

JOSEPH JACKSON, Town Clerk.

May 2, 1825 .- John Kenrick added two hundred dollars to the above Donation.

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HISTORY OF NEWTON.

Under date of August 5, 1826, John Kenrick, Esq., added again two hundred dollars to his former Donations to the town, accompanied by the following letter :

NEWTON, Aug. 5, 1826 .- Gentlemen,- I herewith transmit a due bill for the further sum of $200, to be added to the Fund for assisting and relieving the industrious poor of Newton, and direct that after making the second yearly dividend of $30, the sum of $40 be annually distributed until the Fund amounts to $4,000, proposed in my letter of April 30, 1825.

If there is a continuance of the same honorable and faithful management the Trustees have hitherto exhibited, the fund will be complete in little more than twenty-two years from the reception of this concluding part ; after which they will be enabled to make their loans at five per cent. per annum, and commence their yearly distribution of $200.

When this fund is once completed, it must never be diminished. And if, either by accident or mismanagement, any part of it is lost, I do hereby expressly enjoin that the interest arising from the remainder be added to the principal until the deficiency be made good.

Thus guarded and secured, I indulge the consoling, animating hope that this humble relief fund will outlast the superb obelisk designed to perpetuate the memory of martial heroes and a bloody battle, and endure as long as the aberrations, infirmities and wants of the human family.

I am, gentlemen, respectfully yours, JOHN KENRICK.

Selectmen of Newton.

In 1830, Mr. Kenrick added to the fund three hundred dollars. In addition to the above liberal acts, Mr. Kenrick made still another gift to the town, in the following letter :

NEWTON, Aug. 6, 1828 .- Gentlemen,-Newton has a house and farm for the residence of their poor, and I am happy to learn it has answered a good purpose, and is likely to be beneficial in future. I have been thinking, since I awoke, that it would be advantageous to have that farm well stocked with fruit-trees. And as I have abundance of young apple-trees, English cherry and peach-trees, all budded and containing variety as large as can be desired, and can make the supply without any injury to myself, I will make the town welcome to as many of the above kinds as you may send for. It will be in- dispensable, however, that you take the trouble of taking them up. Also, I will furnish as many currant bushes, and as large, as you may wish.

I am respectfully yours,

J. KENRICK.

NOTE .- I recommend moving the trees in autumn.

CHAPTER XL.

NEWTON AND TEMPERANCE .- FIRST MOVEMENT .- DR. GILBERT'S RECOLLECTIONS. - NEWTON AND FIRE COMPANIES. - FIRE- WARDS CHOSEN. - PROPERTY OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.

THE citizens of Newton early took an interest in the cause of Temperance. "The Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance " was formed at the State House in Boston, Feb- ruary 5, 1813. The object of the Society, as expressed in the Constitution, was " to discourage and suppress the too free use of ardent spirit, and its kindred vices, profaneness and gaming, and to encourage and promote temperance and general morality." Many saw no happy results from this Society, and, after many years of effort, retired from the field in despair. The " American Temperance Society " was formed in Boston, February 13, 1826. At the first meeting a Constitution was adopted, and sixteen gen- tlemen were "chosen by the members of the meeting, at the com- mencement, to compose the Society." Seven of the members were ministers, and the second on the list was the Rev. William Jenks, D. D., a native of Newton. A month later, March 12, eighty-four more persons were elected, in the Northern and Mid- dle States, as members of the Society. A circular was prepared and sent out, setting forth the evils of intemperance, and soliciting contributions for the support of a Secretary, who should devote his whole time to the promotion of the objects of the Society. In September, 1826, an association of more than fifty heads of fami- lies and more than a hundred and fifty young men was formed in Andover, on the plan of total abstinence. On the 15th of Decem- ber, 1826, only two months later, a meeting was held in Newton, which took active measures on the subject of Temperance, and, by a circular, addressed to the inhabitants of the town, sought to create a general interest in regard to it. The following is the circular :

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HISTORY OF NEWTON.

Newton, December 15, 1826.

SIR,- At a meeting of several gentlemen held at this place, to inquire whether any measures could be adopted for the suppression of intemperance, it was unanimously resolved to be expedient to form an Association for that purpose, and a committee was appointed to draft a Constitution.

At a subsequent meeting, the following Constitution was adopted, and the undersigned were directed to forward a copy to every family in Newton, accompanied with such a statement of facts in relation to the subject, as they might think proper.

In conformity with these instructions, we now address you, and respect- fully invite your attendance at the Centre School-house, on the evening of the first Wednesday of January next, at 6 o'clock, when this Constitution will be revised, and such an one adopted, as a majority of those who choose to become members shall approve; and officers for the ensuing year will be chosen.

CONSTITUTION.

Believing that intemperance is productive of more liuman misery and moral degradation than any other, or all other vices combined; and that this most appalling of earthly calamities, is but the legitimate fruit of what our- selves, in common with a vast majority of the most valuable citizens of this highly privileged land, have practised, and termed the "reasonable and necessary use of ardent spirits"-

Believing that "man cannot live to himself alone," and that every indi- vidual, however insignificant or uninfluential, may exert some influence upon others by his example, and is accountable to God and the community for all the evil consequences of that example; and, believing that associated, is uniformly more successful than individual, effort, we hereby form ourselves into an Association for the suppression of intemperance.

The main object of this Society, is not the reformation of drunkards. The habitual drunkard's example does comparatively nothing to tempt, but much to deter, the rising generation from its imitation. We are, however, fully aware that the drunkard inflicts upon his affectionate wife and innocent children a weight of woe not to be told or conceived, and sufficient to justify the unceasing labor of a whole community to remove. But, at the same time, we feel that a whole community may labor with untiring zeal and perse- verance, and accomplish literally nothing in this work. And were we able to remove from our mortified sight the drunkard's example, and relieve all the discouraged wives and humble children, from that horrid weight of woe which is sinking them into the earth; even then we should do nothing that death would not, in a very short time, accomplish without us. Indeed, the "terrible ravages of this sin are but streams, issuing from the fountain of habitual moderate drinking; " so that the reformation of every drunkard in the town would not arrest, for a single moment, this many-headed monster. The example of the daily "reasonable " draughts of our most influential men, so long as a majority of such men continue to exhibit such an example,

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TEMPERANCE.

will continue to produce successive crops of drunkards, to blast our moral welfare, and multiply widows, orphans and paupers amongst us.

"To warn the temperate, to sound an alarm to the thinking, to stand be- twcen the living and the dead, is the purpose of this Association." And, for the accomplishment of this object, we mutually bind ourselves to a rigid observance of the following Rules and Regulations :

1. The first and most prominent article of this Association shall be, that its members totally relinquish the use of ardent spirit, unless as a medicine.

2. Should a physician recommend to any member of this Society the daily use of ardent spirit, to continue thirty days, it shall be his duty to give notice of the same to the Secretary, and withdraw his name; and be admitted a member again, only when such necessity ceases.

3. The members of this Association hereby agree to refrain from invit- ing others to the use of ardent spirit at their social visits; and from furnish- ing it in any quantity, or on any occasion (except as a medicine), to those whom they may employ - and, as far as our circumstances and situation will permit, from offering it in hospitality to strangers, or others who may inci- dentally call on us,-the object being to banish ardent spirit from our dwell- ings altogether ; and to this point every member pledges himself to approach as near as possible.

4. Members who arc parents or guardians of children and youth, pledge themselves to keep them from such places and company as may have a ten- dency to tempt to the use of ardent spirit, and to use every effort to impress. on the minds of the young, a realizing sense of the dangerous consequences connected with its habitual use.

5. Members of this Association, in the employment of laborers on their premises, are expected to give a preference to those who use no ardent spirit.

6. Any person more than fourteen years old, may become a member by signing this Constitution.

7. The name or stylc of this Society, shall be the " Newton Friendly Society."

8. The officers of this Association shall be a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and three Directors, to be chosen annually on the first Wednesday in January.

9. It shall be the duty of the President to preside at all meetings of the Society, and of its Directors ; and in case of his absence, the Vice-President shall preside.

10. The Treasurer shall receive funds, and dispose of the same as the Board of Directors shall determine.

11 .. The Secretary shall keep a fair record of all the Association's trans- actions, officers' and members' names, and of such facts and circumstances as the Board direct.

12. It shall be the duty of the Directors to watch over the interest and prosperity of the Association; and they, together with the President, Vicc- President and Secretary, shall form the Board of Directors, for the transac- tion of the business of the Society, and' use all laudable means to obtain members, and promote its objects. They shall meet as often as once in three months.

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HISTORY OF NEWTON.

13. This Constitution may be altered or amended at any annual meeting, by a majority of the members present.

We presume it can hardly be necessary to state one fact, or offer one argu- ment in addition to those urged in the foregoing preamble; yet as there are facts which, to a candid mind, present a weight of testimony, absolutely irresistible, permit us to name some of them.

The Secretary of State, in a report to the Legislature of New York, rela- tive to the causes of pauperism, justifies the conclusion, that there are, at this moment, eighty thousand persons in that State, who have become pau- pers, either directly or indirectly, from the use of ardent spirits; and that it requires an annual expense of more than half a million dollars, to support them. In one town in that State, thirteen-fourteenths of its paupers have become such from its improper use.

Forty million dollars are annually expended for this poison, in the United States ;- and if to this we add the immense amount expended for paupers, and for healing those who have become diseased, its effect upon our pecu- niary prosperity becomes obvious enough.

In regard to its effects on our moral welfare, facts are still more conclusive. We have been characterized by a late eminent statesman, as " a nation of drunkards." Out of 1,061 cases of criminal prosecutions in North Carolina, from eight to nine hundred were connected with, or produced by the vice of intemperance. And of 4,931 cases brought before the Municipal Court, in Boston, the great mass of them could be traced to the same cause; and the same is supposed to be the cause of three-fourths of all the crimes committed in the United States.

Nor is this waste of property and moral degradation all the evil that is brought upon our country by this vice. It has been computed by those wlio have carefully investigated this subject, that more than 10,000 lives are an- nually destroyed in the United States, while the number of those who are diseased, distressed and impoverished, amounts to more than 200,000.

And now, Sir, in view of these and many other facts, which might be added, whether we deem complete success possible or not, does not our use- fulness, our characters, our prosperity, our healths, our lives, and the ever- lasting welfare of our souls, require us to do all that God has given us the means of doing, to arrest the progress of this deadly vice? And may we not indulge a hope that in this effort we shall be aided by the weight of your in- fluence and example?

Very respectfully, yours,

SAMUEL HYDE, WILLIAM JACKSON, JOEL FULLER, SETH DAVIS.

In conformity with the invitation, as set forth in the above cir- cular, a meeting was held at the time and place specified, and twenty-seven members subscribed their names to a document of

TEMPERANCE.

the same import as the circular, and officers were chosen. This was, probably, the first local or town organization of the kind in the State, or in New England, excepting that at Andover, above alluded to. Much ridicule and opposition was manifested ; but the Society, notwithstanding, continued to increase rapidly in num- bers and influence, until hundreds were in the ranks. Weekly meetings for several consecutive winters were held in a building used for a private Academy in West Newton, it being the only place convenient for such purposes. It was at that place that the Society established a library of several hundred volumes, called the Adelphian Library. It also originated the "Institution for Savings" in the town of Newton. At their weekly meetings, debates on the utility of railroads and other subjects, on astrono- my, chemistry, agriculture, history, etc., were held, and were pop- ular, and as numerously attended as any meetings of a like charac- ter at West Newton. Thus the first fruits of the Temperance reform were felt in a stimulus to frugality and literary culture ; and, perhaps, a hint comes down to us from those earlier days, as to new methods of giving interest to this class of meetings, which are now too often barren and repetitious. Let the mind be fed with higher nutriment, and the lower appetites of the body will find an effectual check. It is fitting, at a meeting for the promo- tion of universal self-control, to discuss the relations of this attainment to general prosperity in all things. .

The following is a part of the action recorded at the first meeting of the Society :

Deeply impressed with a sense of the important and valuable results, to the rising and risen generations, which may be reasonably anticipated from the efforts of the Newton Association for the Promotion of Temperance, and be- ing fully aware that these efforts have been, and (to be effectually useful) must continue to be, attended with considerable pecuniary sacrifice, we here- by cheerfully contribute and agree to pay to the Treasurer of said Society, the respective sums set against our names.

William Jackson,

$10.00

E. B. Kenrick,

$2.00

Joseph Grafton,

1.00

Ephraim Jackson, 2d,

1.50

Samuel Hyde,

3.00

Joel Jenison, .26

Joel Fuller,

1.33

Joshua Jenison, .25

Seth Davis, 1.50

E. F. Woodward, 1.50

Increase S. Davis, 2.00

Marshall S. Rice,

2.00

John Kenrick,

5.00

William Kenrick, 1.00

$32.34

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HISTORY OF NEWTON.

Dr. Gilbert gives the following interesting account in con- nection with the early movement in Newton in the cause of Tem- perance :

I had not been long in Newton when Mr. William Jackson came to request me to deliver a Discourse before the Temperance Society at its second an- niversary. I was not very well posted in regard to the subject; but as I had been a member of the Temperance Society in the town of Andover, I felt that I was enlisted for the war. I had read Dr. Beecher's "Six Sermons on Intemperance," and heard Drs. Edwards and Hewitt preach on the subject ; and so I acceded to the request.

While I was engaged in preparing my Discourse, I called on father Greenough, who felt a little cool towards the movement. He was a very conscientious man, and, being in the practice, under medical advice, of tak- ing a half a glass of gin every day, he had joined the Society, with that pro- viso. I told him what I was doing. I told him I had come to the conclusion that the army of intemperates in the United States was enormous. "How many? " he inquired. "Thirty thousand," said I. " O no; there cannot be half so many," said he. "Even that is only twenty-five to a thousand peo- ple." " Well, there could not be so many." "Mr. Greenough, don't you think your own parish would furnish that proportion?" "No, no." " Well, suppose we add Watertown and Brighton." " Well, if you add Watertown, I don't know ; they do drink there."

" Now," said I, " suppose you begin at the Poorhouse and count through the parish,- you are better acquainted than I am, - now are there not a dozen at the Poorhouse?" "Yes, but they all came from Oak Hill." "Well, then, suppose you reckon, for your part, two at the Poorhouse." "Yes, there may be two." "Now," said I, " let us count on." His three unmar- ried daughters took up the matter and began the count, and passed through the entire parish. In a settlement of about sixty houses, they counted up, to the astonishment of the good old man, nineteen. " Oh," said he, " who would have thoughit there were half so many?"

I found subsequently as many more, who were known to go quite too far in the same direction. Many of them afterwards reformed; some died, unchanged. But the cause of Temperance won the hearts of the commu- nity, and a great work was done.

Dr. Gilbert's Discourse was published, and was among the first which maintained the doctrine of total abstinence.

The town of Newton, in its corporate capacity, undoubtedly kept even pace with the Commonwealth and with public opinion on the subject of temperance. Liquor and license laws were, from time to time, here as elsewhere, matters of familiar discussion with the people ; and whatever measures Massachusetts legislation established, the executives of Newton promptly sanctioned and carried out. The progress of the temperance movement in New-

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TEMPERANCE.

ton was in harmony with the movement in the best towns of the State. The Records occasionally testify that there were faithful men, watching over the public welfare, who were ever ready to put in execution, in this department, the most stringent law which pub- lic opinion could be made to sanction. Some of the entries in the Records, designed to shelter the people from harmful temptation, are sufficiently curious. Thus in April, 1850, the Selectmen were appointed a committee to prosecute all violators of the license law in the town. In March, 1853, the citizens, in town meeting assembled, voted not to license any to sell intoxicating liquors. April 1, 1862, a certificate is issued to one of the citizens, and signed by the whole Board of Selectmen, appointing the person in question "agent for the sale of spirituous liquors under the liq- uor laws of this Commonwealth, for the year ending May 1, 1863." In 1864, the business in some respects assumed a still graver char- acter, the town itself becoming, through its agent, the purchaser and seller of spirituous liquors to its inhabitants. The following is the certificate, placed among the Records of the town :

CERTIFICATE OF THE APPOINTMENT OF TOWN LIQUOR AGENT. Under the Laws of Massachusetts.

TOWN OF NEWTON :

This is to certify that John J. Ware, having given bonds, has been duly appointed by the Selectmen of Newton, an agent to purchase intoxicating liquors, and to sell the same at Newton, in Beacon Street, in the Town of Newton, to be used in the Arts, or for Medicinal, Chemical and Mechanical purposes, and no other ; under and in conformity with the Laws of the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts. (See General Laws, Chapter 86, Sections 17 to 24 inclusive.) This appointment to continue for eight months from the date hereof, unless sooner revoked by said Selectmen. Said agent shall re- ceive a salary of fifty dollars a year, which shall be in full for his said ser- vice, or in that proportion for a less time.

Dated at Newton this sixth day of September, 1864.

THOMAS RICE, JR., } SAMUEL F. DIX, FRED. A. COLLINS, > Selectmen of Newton. ORRIN WHIPPLE, J. F. C. HYDE,

The following year it was specified that the place of deposit and sale of these articles should be at the Almshouse.

A similar certificate was granted in 1865-7. But this method was in due time abolished. And in the warrant for the town

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HISTORY OF NEWTON.

meeting of November 5, 1867, there was an article "to see if the town will abolish its Liquor Agency and discontinue its traffic in intoxicating liquors, or remove its stock of liquors from the Alms- house, and establish an agent for the sale thereof in each village. in the town." When the article was read in the town meeting, " after considerable discussion the town voted to postpone indefi- nitely the whole matter."

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History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880, Part 50

Author: Smith, S. F. (Samuel Francis), 1808-1895. 4n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Boston : American Logotype Co. Number of Pages: 996

Author: Smith, S. F. (Samuel Francis), 1808-1895. 4n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : American Logotype Co.
Number of Pages: 996