USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Topsfield > History of Topsfield Massachusetts > Part 30
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Miss Friend became Mr. Conant's wife in 1853 and taught with him twenty-nine years. She was an accomplished and thorough teacher, a writer and a poet. She excelled as a mathematician and teacher of Latin and French. She could shower figures on the blackboard with either hand, and at times cipher with both hands at a time, an accomplishment seldom witnessed. Mr. Conant was present at the reunion of the Academy scholars held in 1897.
Joseph Warren Healey succeeded Mr. Conant. He began with the summer term of 1854, and bought the property the next following vacation. His wife, Mrs. Jane C. Healey, was preceptress. In 1855-6 H. J. Richardson assisted in mathe- matics and natural sciences; A. J. Pike followed him. Prof. C. P. Bronson lectured on physiology and elocution, and Prof. A. P. Shattuck taught penmanship. Among his assistants were Daniel Wilkins in mathematics; A. B. Coffin and G. L. R. Gleason in vocal music; Nelson Spofford and Susan E. Perley in English branches. Mr. Healy's first term numbered fifty scholars and during 1855-6, there were two hundred three students. He revised and enlarged the course of study and adapted it to existing needs. He established two departments, Classical and English, and made the course three years, of four terms each. His classical course led directly into New
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THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
England college life. His English course provided for the needs of the business community.
The lyceum, so popular and effective during Mr. Conant's principalship, was revived. Live questions were discussed, and it was a parliament in government. Kimball, Gleason, Wiley, Clark, Pierce, Hardy, Wilkins, Merriam, Harvey, Pearson, Towne, Porter, Rea, Balch, Stowe, Newell, Dodge, Fowler, Ames, Rollins, and others we cannot now recall, were the Websters, Clays, and Henrys of the occasion. Besides the lyceum, each yearly and semi-annual examination closed with an exhibition. The exhibitions were anticipated with great interest by students and citizens alike. They were planned to entertain the people. The lyceums were not alone confined to the students; citizens were invited, and many a civilian engaged in the war of words, and many a spectator enjoyed the forensic efforts and the mirth. The practice was a strong one; it brought the two together, and a sympathy between the school and the people sprung up, of mutual benefit. Here, too, the ladies participated.
While Mr. Healy was teaching at Topsfield, he supplied the pulpit of the Linebrook (Ipswich) church, perhaps two years. Rev. Alpheus Justus Pike, who was assistant to Profs. Healy and Allis, was born in Topsfield, March 7, 1828. He was educated at Thetford Academy, and at Dartmouth College, and he studied theology at Andover. Prof. O. D. Allis, began here with the winter term of 1856-7, and closed his services with the fall term of 1858. He continued the school in rela- tion to the course of study, terms and tuition, as these had been adopted by Mr. Haley. A. J. Pike assisted him in the winter term; Austen Hazen, in the spring term; L. T. Bur- bank, of Williams College, thereafter. Mrs. Mary A. Jones, was preceptress, Miss C. M. Thurston was assistant. Prof. B. R. Downes, Jr., taught piano music; G. LeR. Gleason, vocal music; and Daniel T. Ames, penmanship. Prof. Allis came to Topsfield with an experience of some seven or eight years. He was a good teacher and disciplinarian.
Albert Ira Dutton, followed Principal Allis. He began with the winter term of 1858-9, and taught five consecutive terms. During his first year he had one hundred and twenty- one students, with an average per term of forty-nine. Mrs. Mary A. Jones was his preceptress and Miss Helen A. Reed, assistant. J. W. Porter and J. B. Putnam were assistants the summer term of 1859; Geo. F. Flint and Miss Lucie R. Weston the fall term of the same year. Prof. Downes, Jr., gave instruction on the piano. Miss Sarah D. McMillan, a
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY
graduate of Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., and an experienced teacher, succeeded Mrs. Jones' resignation, at the end of the year 1858-9.
The individuality of the Academy dissolved, in 1860, at the age of thirty-two years. It had survived other nearby acad- emies, except the female academies at Ipswich and Andover.
Nearly 800 names of students of Topsfield Academy are recorded. Ten principals issued no catalogue. The number who studied here may be safely estimated at 1200. A large proportion of them taught while students, and thus the in- dividuality of the Academy began to expand. Some contin- ued the teacher's profession, some became intelligent and pro- gressive farmers, some entered business, others became skillful mechanics, and many studied in higher schools and entered the professions.
J. W. Healey purchased the property of the proprietors July 22, 1854, for $800. He and his wife Jane C., of Gardner conveyed their interests Nov. 23, 1858, for $1000 to Albert Ira Dutton, who was then principal of the school. From A. I. Dutton the title passed to Asahel Huntington, clerk of courts of Salem and Jacob W. Reed, attorney-at-law, of Grove- land. In 1862-3 Mr. Reed remodeled the building and it was rented and occupied by several families.
On April 17, 1865, Messrs. Huntington and Reed sold the property, Huntington for $1. and Reed for $1050. to Jeremiah Balch and Ephraim P. Peabody. Peabody sold to Balch, Jan. 17, 1868, for $600. and Balch conveyed the property to the town of Topsfield, March 6, 1868 for $1450. The town immediately converted the building into a schoolhouse. The number of scholars had increased beyond the capacity of the modest structure on the Common, and the Topsfield Academy became the Center schoolhouse.
In 1897 the Topsfield Historical Society conceived the idea of a reunion of the teachers and students of the old Academy, which proved to be a great success. It was held on August 12, 1897 and nearly three hundred who had attended the Academy at some time were present.
The Town having built a new brick school building on Proctor field adjoining the Common, in April, 1935, the build- ing was sold at auction by order of the Selectmen, for $250. to be taken down to the granite foundations. The bell is in the possession of the Topsfield Historical Society.
CHAPTER XIX
THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION
Topsfield's connection with the witchcraft delusion in Salem Village (Danvers) largely came about because of disputes over bounds and the ownership of land.1 Upham in his monumental work and John Fiske in his Lowell lecture upon the subject, recognized that bitter feelings had long existed over land boundary disputes between the town of Topsfield and the Put- nam family of Salem Village, but the facts have not been sufficiently emphasized. In all newly settled communities there is more or less difficulty in defining and agreeing upon the divisional bounds, but the differences existing between the Salem Village men and Topsfield men, over their boundaries, had some slight foundation in fact, because of a clerical error in recording the first grant made by the General Court in 1639, and the depth of feeling aroused at that time can scarcely be imagined at the present day.
In March, 1636, the General Court passed an order that the towns of Salem, Ipswich, and Newbury, each should extend inland six miles and this six miles extent should be measured from the meeting house in the town.
November 5, 1639, the General Court adopted the following order: "Whereas the inhabitants of Salem have agreed to plant a village neare the ryver which runs to Ipswich, it is ordered, that all the land near theire bounds, betwene Salem & the said ryver, not belonging to any other towne or person, by any former grant, shall belong to the said village." It afterwards appeared, not only by vote of the General Court in 1643, but also by the testimony of Increase Norwell, the secre- tary, that inhabitants of Ipswich and inhabitants of Salem at the same time petitioned in 1639 for the privilege to set up a village near the Ipswich river, but through the error of the recording secretary, Increase Norwell, he had entered the grant
1 This chapter has been much enlarged from a paper by Mrs. Abbie Towne and Miss Marietta Clarke, in Topsfield Hist. Coll. Vol. XIII.
(320)
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upon the Court records as made to Salem men only. Norwell also complicated the matter further by writing in the margin beside the order: "Land graunted to Salem Village, now Wenham."
Following the action of the Court in 1639, John Putnam of Salem and his sons occupied a large tract of land, a thousand acres or more, extending to the Ipswich river, while on the northerly side of the river, nearer Ipswich, several families from Ipswich had set up a small settlement before 1641, as Rev. William Knight was "dispencing the word of God unto them that year."
The selectmen of Salem, May 30, 1649, granted to Walter Price and Thomas Cole, both of Salem, one hundred and forty acres of land on the Ipswich river near the highway to Andover (now the turnpike to Lawrence), land that afterwards was decided to be within Topsfield bounds. Price and Cole sold this land, March 3, 1652-3, to Thomas and Nathaniel Putnam, and Thomas Putnam conveyed his part, which lay to the north and nearest the common and undivided land belonging to Topsfield, to his son Edward Putnam. In 1692 Edward Put- nam also owned all the land that lay west of the Andover road, between it and the river, all of it within Topsfield bounds.
In the spring of 1659 a joint committee selected by Salem and Topsfield established bounds between the two towns. The Salem men were Thomas and Nathaniel Putnam and Joseph Hutchinson all of whom owned land and lived near the bound- ary line to be established by them. Topsfield was represented by Abraham Redington, John Redington, John Wildes and William Evans. The joint committee agreed upon a boundary line to run from Crumwell's rock in Ipswich river, located six miles by estimation from Salem meeting house, in accordance with the order of Court adopted in March, 1636, thence east- erly by a brook to a heap of stones at the edge of Great Ashing swamp, owned by John Putnam. Thence to Walnut Tree hill near the wigwam of Perie, the Indian, thence to a heap of stones near Nichols brook, thence to a swamp near Smith's hill (now known as Rea farm hill), thence to a black oak near Wheel brook, thence to Wenham meadow near the causeway. These town bounds agreed upon in 1659 and accordingly entered on the town records of both Salem and Topsfield, were the identical bounds reported year after year by later com- mittees representing the towns, and the Salem Village men who established them,-they and their sons-were the men who shortly attempted to violate the agreement. Disputes began in 1668 when a committee of Topsfield men was appointed by
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THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
the town to divide the common land belonging to the town that lay on the south side of the Ipswich river including that which lay between the Endicott land and the land held by Lieut. Thomas Putnam, which had been granted by Salem selectmen, in 1649, to Walter Price and Thomas Cole. The plots of land were drawn by lot and those lying nearest the land held by the Putnams passed into the hands of Edmund Towne and Francis Peabody. The Putnams shortly set up the claim that the grant of the General Court in 1639 gave Salem the land extending to the river and consequently they refused to pay taxes to Topsfield.
In 1680, Topsfield appointed a committee consisting of Mr. Thomas Baker, Corp. Jacob Towne and John How to demand that all men in the town declare the bounds of their land, in- structing the committee to recover for the town any land illegally held, giving them power to bring suit in behalf of the town, and awarding the committee one half of any land they might recover or to pay them double wages. This action was reaffirmed at a town meeting, held Apr. 12, 1682, wherein it was stated that "this is to Confurme any former order re- lating to some Salem men that have Land in our bounds."
Suit for trespass was brought by Lieut. John Putnam at the June 27, 1682 session of the Salem Quarterly Court, against the Topsfield committee. Testimony for Lieut. Putnam showed that the land in dispute had been granted by the Selectmen of Salem before Topsfield became a town. The Topsfield com- mittee showed Putnam the order of the town and put the dis- pute to a test by felling "before his face" one timber tree within Topsfield line a considerable way. John Putnam further told them that he had a hundred acres or more adjoining that on which they felled the tree, and that it all was within Salem line. The Topsfield men told him he had more than his due there and he had no reason to claim theirs. The Court gave a verdict for Putnam and the Topsfield men appealed the case to the next Court of Assistants which set aside the judgment and gave Mr. Baker the costs of Court, £3.11.6. Suit and counter suit followed until "a grate dele of monye and time hath ben Spent at ye Law . . . in a Likely way of Destroyeing and being destroyed one by another, " as appears by a petition2 of the Putnams to the General Court in 1698. The General Court heard the claims of the two parties at the session of Oct. 10, 1683, and decided in favor of Topsfield.
Throughout this suit and the several others that followed,
2 Mass. Archives, Vol. 113, page 180.
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THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION
the names of How, Towne, Estey, Baker, and Wildes frequent- ly appear, either as members of a committee representing Tops- field or as witnesses before the Court, while on the Salem side we have the Putnams. On Nov. 9, 1686 the Putnams and Nathaniel Ingersoll, acting as "trustees or agents" for Salem Village, but in truth acting for their own interest, brought suit against John Curtis of Topsfield, for occupying and im- proving land belonging to Salem Village. Curtis owned prop- erty on the south side of the river, between what is now Hill street and Rowley Bridge street and now owned by Richard Wheatland. The claim of the Putnams was based upon the old disagreement over the grant made in 1639 and they were the men who acted with the Topsfield committee in 1659 and established the Topsfield-Salem bounds whereby the land they now attempted to seize lay in Topsfield. Curtis in his declara- tion to the Court3 stated the claims of Topsfield so well that he easily won his case and the Putnams were obliged to pay 54 shillings court charges.
The Putnams were strong-willed men, of high temper, eager for controversy and even personal conflict. In a suit brought in 1687, by Thomas Towne, Isaac Easty, Sen., Isaac Estey, Jr., John Towne, and Joseph Towne, Jr., testified that they were in the woods within Topsfield bounds on the south side of the river and "saw Capt. John Putnam of Salem Farms or Village & his sons & som of his cozins cutting down tymber within Topisfield bounds & on Topisfield mens properties & seuerall of Topisfield men forewarned Capt. John Putnam from Cutt- ing Tymber on their land; the sd Capt. Puttnam replied, I haue faled the tymber yt is here cutt down on my orders & I will Keep Cutting & Careing away from This Land till next March, & ye sd Puttman being asked, what by violance, his answer, ay by violance & further sd you may sue me, you know where I dwell & then did his company falle on." 4 The timber was cut on land owned by Thomas Towne. The Court again decided in favor of the Topsfield men which of course only served to make the Putnams more bitter. They even entered a complaint at the next Ipswich Court, that Isaac Easty had told a lie in open Court during the trial of their land case. The Court summarily referred their complaint to the next quarter session and nothing more came of it. Five years later Anne Putnam accused Mary Easty, the wife of Isaac, of afflicting her and the accusation led to her ignomini- ous death on Gallows Hill, Salem.
3 Essex Court Files, Vol. 46, leaf 75.
4 Essex Court Files. Vol. 47. leaf 43.
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THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
We all know how easily children absorb the feelings of their elders and usually to an exaggerated extent. To them, the people hated by their fathers are capable of the most terrible crimes, therefore it is not surprising that among those first accused of witchcraft we find Rebecca Nurse of Salem Village, daughter of William Towne of Topsfield, and sister and aunt to the Townes who had "recovered" the so-called Putnam land. To the excited imagination of these children, Rebecca Nurse was not the dear, saintly woman that she was to all others, but an enemy, and one capable of that blackest of all crimes, witchcraft.
The complaint against her was made by Edward Putnam. brother of Thomas Putnam whose wife and daughter Ann had received "hurt and injury" to their bodies by Rebecca Nurse. Jonathan Putnam, son of Capt. John Putnam, and cousin of Edward, also joined in the complaint. At the examination of the aged woman, the twelve-year old girl Ann Putnam, her mother, her father Thomas Putnam, her uncle Edward Put- nam, Capt. John Putnam, his son John and John's wife, Hannah and Nathaniel Putnam, the brother of Capt. John, all testified or deposed against her. It was a goodly gathering of the men who had gone into the Topsfield woods five years be- fore and cut timber on land owned by Thomas Towne, brother of Rebecca Nurse, "by violence," if need be, Capt. Putnam had boldly declared.
Two weeks later another sister of Thomas Towne was arrest- ed. Sarah Towne had married; first Edmund Bridges of Topsfield, and second, Peter Cloyse of Salem. She was a neighbor of her sister Rebecca, and had joined the Village church in 1690, being then about forty-eight years of age. She is described as a person of very nervous temperament and exceedingly sensitive. She was greatly upset by the proceed- ings against her sister and did not wish to attend meeting the following Sunday, but as it was communion Sunday it was thought best that she should go. The nature of the sermon and the allusions to her sister Rebecca were such that she broke down and hastened from the meeting house. Unfortu- nately the wind was strong and slammed the door. On the 8th of April a warrant was issued for her arrest. She was tried in the usual way but told John Indian, who was testifying against her that he was a "grievious liar," and was so over- come by the horror of it all that she fainted. Later, while in prison, she joined with her sister Mary Estey in a remarkable petition to the judges in which they stated that Mr. Capen, pastor of the church in Topsfield, and many of the town and
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THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION
church were ready to testify in their behalf. She was con- demned but the general jail delivery took place before a time for her execution was set and so she escaped.
The next Topsfield person to be arrested was Abigail Hobbs on April 19, 1692. Two days later, her father and mother, William and Deliverance Hobbs, also were arrested. William Hobbs came to Salem Village from Lynn in 1660 and bought 80 acres of land from William Robinson of Salem. Later he acquired from Thomas Putnam, about one hundred acres on which he built a house. This land adjoined Topsfield common land allotted to Edmund Towne, the woodland on which Capt. John Putnam and his relatives cut timber in December, 1686. The cellar of the house in which the Hobbs family lived may still be seen on the left of Nichols street in Danvers, while going toward East street, about halfway between the corner of the Topsfield road and East street. The last of his descend- ants removed to Maine and it is said that none of them are now living. He appears to have been a good man and respect- ed by his neighbors, but he was unfortunate in having a daughter, who, judging from the depositions, must have been either exceptionally daring in evil doing or partially insane, for the neighbors testified that for nearly two years she had told of meeting the Devil, and of remaining alone in the woods all night, and when asked if she were not afraid, said she was not for she had sold herself to the Devil, body and soul. She seems to have been in the habit of conducting herself in an unseemly way when she visited the neighbors' houses, and tried to shame her mother by her foolish behavior. During her examination she confessed her compact with the Devil and described the images he brought to her and the instruction he gave as to the manner in which they should be used. She also described the meeting of witches in Mr. Parris' pasture and also told of the red bread and wine used in that unholy sacra- ment. It is said that a colony of spade-foot frogs formerly existed in the Parris pasture. These frogs make a noise that may be described as diabolical, and if one approaches, however softly, they instantly disappear. It has been suggested that this awful and unaccountable noise may have led to the belief that the witches held their meetings in this place. Of the later history of this Hobbs girl nothing now appears. There are absolutely no traditions of these unfortunates for even the people of only two generations ago refused to talk of the witchcraft delusion.
William Hobbs in his examination showed himself to be manly and straightforward, and although his daughter and
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THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
his wife both confessed, he still insisted on his own innocence. He was condemned, however, and remained in prison until December, when he was bailed by his neighbors John Nichols and Joseph Towne, who gave bond in the sum of two hundred pounds for his appearance in January. He was kept away from that session of the Court and the fine was paid, but at the next session of the Court in May, the fine was remitted and he was cleared by proclamation. Of Deliverance, his wife, the story is sad and distressing. She confessed herself a witch and gave very minute details of the meetings in Mr. Parris' pasture, telling who were there and accusing Sarah Wilds of urging her to sign the Devil's book. She also said that Sarah Wilds was one of those who distributed the red bread. Eph- raim Wilds said he thought that her desire to incriminate his mother arose from the fact that he was constable of Topsfield and had been obliged to arrest ber. One shrinks from the picture of what these confessing witches must have had to face when the excitement had abated and the people realized that they had saved their lives at the expense of their neighbors, or, as every one then believed that witches really existed, was it possible that the community really believed that they told the truth about themselves, and that their tales about innocent persons were really a part of an awful compact.
Very few persons today realize how universal was this belief in witchcraft. These accused persons knew that they were innocent but they honestly believed that the crime was a real one. As late as 1830, an old lady in the south part of Tops- field was believed to be a witch and many stories were told of the tricks she played on her neighbors. One of these will bear repeating. There were two owners of the farm on which she lived and the relations between the two families were not of the pleasantest. One day the men of the other family were teaming hay from the meadow back of the house (the meadows have long been known as the "Sticky Meadows" and well de- serve the name) and the heavily loaded wagon became "mired." The men at once said that old lady Foster had bewitched it and to get even with the witch they chained the wagon wheels, the effect being to choke the witch to death unless some one gave her something to drink. This would have happened if the witch in question had not run into her neighbors and asked for a drink of sweet cider, which relieved her and so saved her life.
The other people arrested at this time, in whom we are in- terested, were Mary the wife of Isaac Easty, Sarah the wife of John Wilds, all of Topsfield, and Edward Bishop and his wife
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Sarah, of Salem Village. Mrs. Bishop was the daughter of John Wilds of Topsfield and with her husband was a member of the church in Topsfield in 1681, but in 1690 they were regularly dismissed to the church in Salem Village where they were then living. Their name still survives in the name of the meadows east of the Newburyport turnpike to Danvers, which have always been called "Bishop's Meadows", and "Bishop's dam" was on Nichols' brook just as it crosses North street. Bishop's home was near this dam on the east of the road and also on the easterly side of the brook. This location is about half-way between the Topsfield church and the Village church and it will readily be seen that their sympathies would be with the Topsfield people in any difference of opinion. At the time of their arrest, Edward Bishop was about 44 years old while his wife was three years younger. They had twelve children. Their property confiscated at that time consisted of household goods valued at ten pounds, six cows, twenty-four swine, and forty-six sheep. At that time the lean-to house, with its back to the meadows, faced toward the south, while the brook ran by the westerly end. We may almost picture the barns and outbuildings, and the neighbors dropping in from time to time to repeat the latest news or to borrow coals with which to start a neglected fire. Now, there is nothing to mark the spot; nothing remains of this life but a nearly filled cellar. Edward and Sarah Bishop escaped from prison and death and removed to Rehoboth, Mass., where they kept an inn, in 1703.
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