USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Saugus, Massachusetts. > Part 2
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Saugus, Massachusetts > Part 2
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On March 28, 1738, the parish committee organized. The first preacher was Edward Cheever, a student, who was given a three-months' trial. On June 18, 1738, he became the regular spiritual adviser of the community, and was ordained in 1739. Among other things constituting his remuneration he was given half a cord of wood each year from forty members of the parish. Cheever ceased his connection with the church in 1748, when he was dismissed.
The church itself sat upon posts, of which it is said
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there were twenty. The building was 44 feet long and 36 feet wide, with upper and lower windows, all round, of common sized glass. On its front was the front door, with a large porch or vestibule, which was entered by three doors. It had, also, a door on each side opening into the church itself.
The building stood on its original site for many years, being altered and repaired from time to time, until 1858, when it was moved three rods north and became Joseph Whitehead's grocery store, which many of the present generation remember. It is now W. P. Tilden's store.
Rev. Joseph Roby was invited by the parish com- mittee in December, 1748, to become its minister. On March 1, 1749, a committee was selected to "inform Mr. Joseph Roby that he was chosen to settle in the ministry by the church and parish."
He was to have a suitable house and barn, sixty pounds of lawful money, and also the "loose collec- tion," as well as "pasturing and sufficient winter meat for two cows and one horse, and to put the hay, or winter meat into the barn-the improvement of two acres of land suitable to plant, and to be kept well fenced."
There was apparently a controversy over the stipend he was to receive, and, as a result, it was sub- sequently increased, after some correspondence and debate. Under date of July 25, 1750, he formally ac- cepted the call of the parish and "writ" a letter to that
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
effect. He continued to be our spiritual leader until July, 1802, when he was stricken while preaching. He lingered until the following January, when he died, much beloved and respected.
Some of Parson Roby's successors were Rev. William Frothingham, who served thirteen years; Rev. Joseph Emerson, for whom the Emerson School on Lincoln Avenue, between East Saugus and Cliftondale is named; and Rev. Hervey Wilbur. Emerson and Wil- bur were principals in the Saugus Seminary, of which we shall hear more later.
In 1826 religious differences appeared and were quite prolonged in the parish. The participants in them became quite animated and very bitter. The Universalists prevailed, and got control of the parish church, whereupon the Orthodox retired and built a church of their own. It was of stone and is now John E. Stocker's store. This stone church was built in 1835, and in it they worshipped until 1854, when they built the present Congregational Church. In 1871 it was raised and a vestry constructed underneath.
Religious differences have reverberated down the corridors of time and brought about many an histori- cal event. The Pilgrims left England in the earlier days on a religious issue. Lynn and Saugus dissolved municipal partnership for a similar reason.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
WHY SAUGUS AND LYNN SEPARATED
S AUGUS became a town in 1815 because, as Hawkes writes, "the people of the low lands of Lynn would not go up to this hill country of Saugus to listen to the Preaching of the Gospel according to "Puritanism," which brings us to Choose Hill.
Hawkes continues: "The name is a reminder of a controversy which was the beginning of the end of the Town of Lynn-the first step which led up in later years to the creation, first of the Town of Lynn- field, and second of the Town of Saugus. For seventy years all the people had worshipped as one parish. The hardship of the long miles from Lynnfield bore upon the outdwellers. A committee representing the three sections which we know as Lynn, Saugus and Lynn- field attempted to CHOOSE a site for the meeting- house which should be reasonably convenient for all. They selected this now wooded hill as about equally dis- tant from each locality. Lynn objected. Lynnfield was set off as a parish or district, Nov. 17, 1712, and its inhabitants were to be freed from parish taxes as soon as a meeting house should be built and a minister settled. This was accomplished in 1715, and the Sec- ond Parish of Lynn was duly organized. Saugus later, in 1738, became the Third or West Parish."
"The natural result was that later the two parishes became towns-Lynnfield in 1814, and Saugus in 1815."
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But to return to Parson Roby and the original West Parish Church.
Rev. Ephraim Randall, a Unitarian, was installed in that year (1826), but remained only one year. The church was remodelled and repaired in 1835-36. The old high-backed lattice pews were removed, and the ancient pulpit and its sounding board were relegated to the unused accessories. The deacons' seats and gal- leries on the east and south sides were taken down, and only a small gallery on the west side was left for "ye singers." The broad south porch was torn down and its doors closed.
Rev. John Nichols was the first preacher in the renovated church. Benjamin F. Newhall, James M. Usher and other citizens frequently supplied the pul- pit from 1838 to 1848, and other ministers during quite an extended period were Rev. Josiah Marvin, Rev. Henry Eaton, Sylvanus Cobb, D.D., Rev. J. W. Talbot and Rev. J. H. Campbell, bringing us up to 1858, when there was a movement for a new church. The old church was sold for $242, the site for $570. In 1860, the new church became a reality, and was erected at the corner of Main and Summer Streets, at the Centre, where it now stands, although it has since been raised and a vestry constructed underneath it.
We regret that we are obliged to content ourselves with a mere mention of the eleven other churches now organized within the confines of the town, namely :
East Saugus Methodist, Cliftondale Methodist, Sau-
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gus Centre Methodist, St. John's Episcopal, Clifton- dale Congregational, Saugus Centre Congregational, Church of the Blessed Sacrament, North Saugus Union Church, Dorr Memorial at Lynnhurst, Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, and the Church of God.
"Religion's all. Descending from the skies To wretched man, the goddess in her left Holds out this world, and, in her right, the next." -Cowper.
SAUGUS IN THE REVOLUTION
F ROM the fact that Parson Roby was active in a portion of the Revolutionary period it probably is not a violent assumption to say that he was instrumen- tal in seeing to it that Saugus did her full duty in that period by sending forth such a large representation of men to participate in the stirring times of that historic era.
Sanderson writes that 247 men had been duly or- ganized in five companies, and were ready for the opening of hostilities. These five companies were from the then town of Lynn. He says: "Each man had furnished his own musket or firearm, and no one reached the dignity of a uniform."
The first company was exclusively from Saugus, the Third Parish, and was commanded by Capt. David
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Parker. It consisted of sixty-three men, and was the largest in town. It met for drill at the Jacob Newhall Tavern in East Saugus. Later other Saugus men saw service, building the number of our ancestors who fought in the Revolution up to nearly a hundred, whose names Sanderson gives as follows :
Lemuel Allen
Thomas Florence
Jolın Batts
David Fuller
Thomas Berry
Peter Fuller
Aaron Boardman
Benjamin Goldthwaite
Amos Boardman
Moses Hart
Ivory Boardman
Adam Hawkes
John Boardman
Elkanah Hawkes
Samuel Boardman
Nathan Hawkes
Nathaniel Boynton
Richard Hill
Samuel Breeden
Robert Hill
Benjamin Brown
William Hill
Ezra Brown
Abijah Hitchings
Ephraim Brown
Daniel Hitchings
Rufus Brown
Nathan Hitchings
Israel Burrill
Nathaniel Hitchings
John Burrill
Thomas Hitchings
Abner Cheever
William Hitchings
Abner Cheever, Jr.
Ezekiel Howard
Abijah Cheever
John Cheever .
Joshua Howard Nathaniel Hutchinson
Stephen Coates
Thomas Hutchinson
Philip Coates
Timothy Hutchinson
William Coates
Benjamin Jacobs
Joshua Danforth
Ebenezer Leathe
Joseph Eaton
Amos Leeds
Joseph Edmunds
James Lelax
Joshua Felt
Benjamin Mansfield
Jonathan Felt
Samuel Mansfield
Joseph Felt
Thomas Mansfield
Clarles Florence
James Marble
William Boardman
Thomas Hawkes
Jonathan Brown, 2nd Lt.
John Hitchings
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
Josiah Martin
Enoch Stocker
David Newman
Ephraim Stocker
Thomas Newman
Thomas Stocker
Calvin Newhall
John Symmes
Jabez Newhall Jacob Newhall
Francis Smith
Francis Smith, Jr.
Nathan Newhall
Ebenezer Stacey
David Parker
Phineas Sweetser
John Pool
Samuel Sweetser
Amos Pratt
Amos Porter
Ben. Bullard Redden
Richard Tuttle
Samuel Rhodes
Benjamin Twist
Henry Roby Rev. Joseph Roby
Nathaniel Viall
Thomas Roby
Benjamin Wilson
Ebenezer Stocker
Samuel Wilson. Jr.
Ebenezer Stocker, Jr.
Ezra Waitt
Elijah Stocker
Samuel Viall
AN HISTORIC ROAD
T HESE men marched from Saugus over the old Boston road, as it was called. In connection with this thoroughfare, Hawkes' recital is valuable. He recalls that in 1639, the General Court allowed Lynn fifty pounds towards defraying the cost of build- ing a bridge over Saugus River.
This was the first bridge built in Lynn over tide water and was on the site of the one which now marks the dividing line between Lynn and Saugus, near the East Saugus Depot. Its construction short- ened the distance between Boston and the towns to
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the east, and soon diverted the travel to the Colonial highway, now known as Boston Street.
"Over this road, from Cambridge to Newburyport, on the 11th of September, 1775, Benedict Arnold led the army which General Washington dispatched for the conquest of Quebec," continues Hawkes. "This expedition, through the unbroken wilds of Maine and Canada, was the most wonderful, chivalric and quix- otic event of the Revolutionary War. Had it been a success. what a change would have been made in our history. North America would have been wholly; American instead of one-half remaining English, Arnold might have been the pivotal hero of our race, instead of the world's champion traitor."
Over this road, President George Washington traveled in his memorable journey from New York to Portsmouth, in 1789; and over this road, Washing- ton's friend, the gallant Frenchman, Lafayette, was escorted beneath floral arches in 1824. By this road, the Essex Minute Men marched at the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, to death and undying fame."
We can only mention the military records of some of these Saugus patriots in the Revolution. Every man had an honorable and commendable career. In those days, they were known as Minute-men. In re- ality, they were hour-men, day-men, week-men, year- men, yea century-men, for the patriotism they dis- played and the sacrifices they made under depressingly adverse circumstances will never be forgotten by us.
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Their cause was our cause and we should never tire of singing their praises to our children and our chil- dren's children. The pathway they emblazoned by their loyal devotion and unselfish service to liberty and independence has enabled us and all mankind to walk down the highway of self-government, basking in the sunlight of the most successful form of Repub- lican government the world has ever known.
These were Saugus men and the ashes of some of them rest sacredly in our keeping in the old burying ground at Saugus Centre. As the immortal Lincoln said, at the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, of the Union soldiers, let us, on the ocasion of our Centennial celebration, within the shadow of the old cemetery at the Centre and on the hallowed ground of our ances- tors, made dearer as the time goes on, say of our Revo- lutionary soldiers :-
("It is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
At the shrine of the memories of the Saugus men who fought in the Continental army well may we re- new our faith in them, their cause, their patriotism,
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
their bravery, and proclaim, as did Scott in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel"-
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said
This is my own, my native land."
B. F. Newhall, in his sketches in the Lynn Reporter in 1860, said of the Saugus Company :
"Captain Parker mustered his Company at an early hour on the day of the Concord fight and marched them with all speed to the scene of the conflict."
The death notice of Col. Abner Cheever, aged 82, who died in Lynn, Sept. 13, 1837, and which was pub- lished in the Lynn Record, stated that
Colonel Cheever was in the battle of Lexington, in 1775. He was of the Corps of Minutemen of that day, and received the alarm of the British marching to Concord that morning at three o'clock.
"Of all human things nothing is more honorable or more excellent than to deserve well of one's coun- try."-Cicero.
SAUGUS CENTER
S AUGUS, like all Gaul, is divided into three princi- pal parts, Saugus Centre, the geographical cen- tre of the town, Cliftondale, and East Saugus. The other and smaller villages are practically subdivisions
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of these principal communities, although North Sau- gus and Oaklandvale ought not to be so considered.
In the olden days, Saugus Centre boasted the iron works, the parish church, and a goodly number of "freemen," leading citizens. To-day it has the Town Hall, soldiers' monument, five churches, the two ceme- teries, the High and Roby Schools, many of our lead- ing residents, and is, as for 275 years, our center of civic activity, typified by its busy square, and our geographical axis.
At Pranker's Mills, about 1770, Ebenezer Hawkes made a rude dam, and excavated, in part, the present canal, upon the banks of which he built a gristmill and sawmill. In 1794 Benjamin Sweetser bought the property and made chocolate there. " The business flourished and his chocolate became famous. Subse- quent owners, William Smith, among the number, continued to make this world-renowned commodity, and found a ready sale in New Orleans and for the export trade. Chocolate and its by-products now en- joy an immense sale throughout the world.
About 1822, William Gray, of Boston, otherwise familiarly known as "Billy Gray," manufactured duck- cloth here, coming from Stoneham for that purpose, literally bringing his factory with him, having torn it down at Stoneham. Two years later, Brown & Baldwin bleached and printed calico at this point. True & Broadhead succeeded to this business, and later Brierly & Whitehead assumed it. Then True
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
& Street became the partnership and during their time a large brick factory, 85 by 40, three stories high, was erected. In 1834, Whitwell, Bond & Co. became the owners, and were succeeded, the following year, by Livermore & Kendall.
Edward Pranker came in 1838 and the history of the property since is familiar, it recently having been operated as a branch of the United States Worsted Co., previous to which it was conducted as the Pranker Manufacturing Co., by the six grandchildren of Ed- ward Pranker, who died in 1865. Its specialties in those days were all-wool shirtings and ladies' dress goods and sackings of all colors and shades. The mills were badly damaged by fires in 1866. The tall, round, and familiar chimney was constructed in 1884.
Scott's Mills began with Joseph Emes about 1810. He had, in turn, a gristmill, a fulling mill, and a mo- rocco factory. In 1847 the factory was burned and Mr. Emes sold out to Francis Scott of Salem. He re- built and remodelled, and commenced the manufac- ture of flannel. His son, Andrew A. Scott, in 1857, became a partner in the business under the style and firm name of Francis Scott & Son. In 1862, Francis Scott was fatally injured by being thrown from a cart, and the business was conducted by Andrew A. Scott up to the time of his death, several years ago. The plant is now occupied by the C. R. G. Manufacturing Co.
Linen and snuff were manufactured at North Sau-
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gus about one hundred years ago. Iron works were also maintained by John Gifford at North Saugus, after his quarrel with the original iron works about 1654.
The shoe business at the Centre was once a thriving industry. Among the early manufacturers there were Moses Mansfield, his brother Thomas, and Rich- ard Mansfield. In 1818, Benjamin Hitchings came to town and began the making of shoes, later taking his two sons, John B. and Otis M. into partnership. Da- vid Newhall and W. W. Boardman manufactured from 1830 to 1850, and Otis M. Hitchings was so engaged from 1846 to 1872. In 1852, we find Walton & Wil- son in the same business, which they conducted until 1879, selling out to Charles S. Hitchings. William T. Ash, William F. Hitchings, and Otis M. Burrill were among the last men to be in the shoe manufacturing business at the Centre.
NEWBURYPORT TURNPIKE
T HERE are about four miles of the famous New- buryport Turnpike in Saugus. This road was finished about 1805, and cost nearly $480,000. While it was projected by some of the leading residents of Newburyport, the wisdom of its construction is open
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
to argument. It certainly has never benefitted Saugus much and has always been of endless expense.
Undoubtedly many noted men have travelled the Newburyport Turnpike, some on foot, many in auto- mobiles. A large number of them have passed through Saugus. At least one of these notables stopped over night in Saugus. He was Henry Wilson, the Natick cobbler. He was "hoofing it" from Farmington, N: H., to Natick, Mass. When he reached Newbury- port, en route, it is related that he bought a pair of slippers for twenty-five cents to protect his feet, which were blistered. Then he walked via the Turnpike from that city to North Saugus, where he remained over night. A strange coincidence in connection with Wilson's pilgrimage over the Turnpike is that later, in 1861, the 22nd Massachusetts regiment was formed at Lynnfield. Wilson organized and commanded it. It was known as the Wilson regiment, he being at the time United States Senator from Massachusetts. Upon the war's conclusion, General Grant became President and Wilson Vice-President, the same Wil- son who many years before, as a boy, passing through Lynnfield and Saugus, tramped over the hills and through the valleys of the Newburyport Turnpike, resting therefrom at least one night in Saugus.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
SAUGUS BRANCH
T HE much maligned Saugus Branch was started in 1844. Joshua Webster of Malden may well be said to be the father of it. In 1846 he projected a rail- road from East Saugus to Malden, connecting with the Boston & Maine. The route was through the center of Saugus, thence down the valley of the Newburyport Turnpike through Maplewood to Malden, a distance of over five miles.
In 1847 a petition was presented to the Legislature for a charter. To oppose this project, the Eastern Railroad brought forward a scheme to build a branch railroad from Breed's Wharf in Lynn through East Saugus to Saugus Centre.
The war for these rival routes first began in Saugus, and was then transferred to the Legislature. The Malden route was victorious. Edward Pranker of . Saugus was one of the Titans in the struggle, and George Pearson of Saugus was another of the leaders in the fight. Joshua Webster was chosen president in 1848. In 1849 permission was given to change the location from the turnpike valley route to Cliftondale and Linden to Malden. In 1850 it was extended from East Saugus to Lynn Common. In 1852 Benjamin F. Newhall of Saugus was elected a director.
After the usual vicissitudes of financing a new cor- poration, the road was built. In February, 1854, an engine and two cars ran upon it. The latter part of
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
the month four trains each way were run from Lynn Common to Edgeworth, in Malden, there connecting with the Boston & Maine. The line later became a leased line of the Eastern Railroad, and still later a part of the Boston & Maine system, under whose re- gime it was double tracked.
STREET CARS
0 UR system of street railroads dates back to 1860, when the first horse railroad was built in Sau- gus over the Salem Turnpike. The cars from Lynn first stopped at the East Saugus bridge. Cars com- cenced running there in 1882. Later an extension was made to Ballard Street, and finally to Cliftondale, to which point the cars ran in 1885. The line up Chestnut and Winter Streets to Saugus Centre began operation in 1886, and other extensions and amplifi- cations of the electric car lines in town are doubtless familiar to all.
The more modern method of transportation, that of flying through the air, had a brief though pathetic start in Saugus a few years ago at the old race track, but we fear that our people still prefer the dear old Saugus Branch and the car propelled by electricity and gasoline. The aeroplane plant, and its prospectus, which was a fine specimen of the printer's art, figu-
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
ratively folded their tents, like the Arabs, and silently stole away, leaving a reputation that will probably never equal that of the old iron works as a manufac- turing plant.
About the time Saugus was set off from Lynn, the
SAMUEL BOARDMAN HOUSE, ONE OF THE OLDEST IN ESSEX COUNTY, SITUATED OPPOSITE THE FORK OF THE WAKEFIELD AND MELROSE ROADS
town had a number of farms, including those of Elkanah Hawkes, Deacon Pratt, John Dampney, Ivory Boardman, Samuel Boardman, Aaron Boardman, Asa Rhodes, Joseph Rhodes, Ezra Brown, Lemuel Allen, Jacob Eustis, John Stocker, Ellis Boynton, and others which will be referred to more specifically.
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
The early residents of Saugus were farmers. Then an era of shoemakers, or cordwainers, as they were called, came upon the scene. Later, as time wore on and the population increased, the trades and employ- ments became more diversified, until now we have many and varied skilled artisans in our midst, not a few of whom are employed in the shoe factories and General Electric Plant in Lynn. Many of our people also work in Boston, and other neighboring cities and towns.
ANCESTRAL HOMES
S OME of the old houses of Saugus require passing mention. In addition to those already cited are the following, nearly all of them in North Saugus and Oaklandvale.
The Abijah Boardman house, or, as it is being called in these later years, the Bennett-Boardman house, is a familiar one. It is near the Melrose line, on Howard Street. Hawkes says of it, "that it is by far the best preserved specimen of the projecting upper story, Co- lonial house yet in existence in the old town," and he states, also, another very interesting fact, that it has been in two counties, Suffolk and Essex, and in at least four towns, Boston, Lynn, Chelsea, and Saugus. After Samuel Bennett's occupancy of it, the house
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
came into the possession of the Boardman family, in- cluding William, and his son Aaron, who occupied it during the Revolution. Abijah followed his son Aaron as owner and up to within a very few years (about 1906) it was occupied and owned by Boardman heirs.
E
BENNETT-BOARDMAN HOUSE, OAKLANDVALE
The Boardmans and Samuel Bennett were very promi- nent in early Saugus history, the latter during the iron works era.
The Saunders place at Oaklandvale, now owned and occupied by Selectman Frank P. Bennett, who like- wise owns what was formerly the George W. Phillips place, deserves attention. George W. Phillips was a
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
brother of Wendell Phillips, the orator, whose picture in the auditorium of the Town Hall, was the gift of Mrs. George W. Phillips. Selectman Bennett has greatly improved the combined properties and con- ducts a model dairy farm there, probably the most sanitary in Essex County.
BENNETT- BOARDMAN HOUSE, REAR VIEW
The Hitchings-Draper-Hawkes home is another one. The first Daniel Hitchings was the original owner in the Indian days.
The Draper family owned it from 1827 until it went to Nathan Hawkes in 1848. Deacon Ira Draper lived and died here. His sons, Eben and George,
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HISTORY OF SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS.
created the town of Hopedale. George Draper was the father of the governor, Eben S. Draper, and of George A. Draper, prominently identified with the large manufacturing plant at Hopedale.
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