USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Topsfield > History of Topsfield Massachusetts > Part 35
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In order to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors, and to insure orderly conduct in the houses of public entertainment, the courts early issued licenses to innholders. No person could open a house to the public until he had procured a license. The Court records contain the names of many men who were licensed to keep inns in Topsfield, or to sell liquor at retail. Some were in business but a short period, while others kept an inn for many years, even from father to son. The first mention of an inn at Topsfield is found in the Court records of June 26, 1660, when "Danyell Cleark was licensed to keep a house of public entertainment." At the next session of Court, only three months later, he was sentenced as follows: "For selling half a pint of liquor to the Indians, to pay a fine of 20 s .; for provoking speeches, 10 s .; and for selling liquors without a license, imprisonment during the pleasure of the court; and for disorders in his house, was prohibited from keeping an ordinary any longer." 1 He may have been obliged to wait nine years for a renewal of his license, as the records do not mention the issuance of another until April 28, 1669. He was then granted a license to keep an ordinary for selling beer and victuals for a year.
1 Essex Co. Quarterly Court Records, Vol. II, page 243.
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Daniel Clark was an early settler in Topsfield. An inn was kept by one of that name for four generations until sold by the great grandson in 1781. The first Daniel came from Ipswich. Where his inn stood in 1660 is a matter of conjec- ture. Mr. Clark was given grants of land, and may have lived in various places the first years of his residence in Topsfield. When Daniel Clark mortgaged his house and land to William Haywood of Ipswich on Sept. 20, 1665, it was bounded by the highway leading to Salem on the south, land of Thomas Per- kins on the east and Luke Wakely (Wakelin) on the southwest. After a lapse of five years, this Daniel Clark, who married Mary Newbury, was given an innholder's license from 1674 to 1682. He was fined a second time for selling liquor to the Indians in 1678. His will was probated in 1690. His son Daniel, born Nov. 20, 1665, married Damaris Dorman in 1689. His occupation was given in a document in 1706, as a painter and later as a carpenter. In 1718 he was given an innholder's license which was held almost continuously by him, his son and grandson until 1781.
The second Daniel Clark must have been of a quarrelsome and militant nature. In 1723 he was presented at the Sep- tember session of Court "for nine crimes of prophane cursing and swearing, and for breach of ye peace in striking Jesse Dorman." The Court probably took away his license, as a petition for its renewal was signed by sixty prominent citizens of the town and presented to the Court in December. The selectmen were divided in their opinion as to his continuance as an innholder. Three of the members sent a letter of ob- jection to the Court on Dec. 27, but John Howlett and Jacob Peabody refused to sign. Daniel Clark pleaded to have the proceedings quashed for reasons set forth, and it was allowed but the license was not renewed. A second petition from the citizens asked that "our Landlord Daniell Clark be our In- holder, for we do esteme him to be a sutable man." Four new selectmen were elected in 1724 and these men with John Howlett, recommended the appointment of Daniel Clark. The Court still refused to grant the license and on July 1, 1724, the selectmen again requested it be given, as complaints were made to them for want of a tavern keeper. This time the Court acceded, and Daniel Clark appears as inn keeper. In 1732 he paid an excise tax of £6. 9s. 4d. to the collector, and a similar amount in 1734.
On September 19, 1727, during the controversy between the town and Mr. William Osgood, over the latter's settlement as minister, the town allowed. "Daniel Clark 18s. for six mens
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dinners, viz .; ye four Reverend ministers, and two Mr. Os- goods, and also 13s. and 6d. for other nescesarys for sd Gen- tlemen on ye Day that the ministers Gave their advice to ye Town Concerning Mr. Osgood." The town also allowed "Mr. Daniel Clark two pounds, four shillings and six pence for keeping a minister and his horse Eight Sabbath Days." On March 5, 1727-8, all town officers went to the house of Mr. Daniel Clark after town meeting, and took the oath belonging to their respective offices.
The second Daniel Clark died in 1749 and mentioned in his will his dwelling house, and "the house where my son Dan now dwells." It has generally been conceded that the tavern kept by the Clarks of the four generations was the one which stood in the driveway leading to the barn in the rear of the present Bailey block. This is known' to have been the Clark tavern in later years. It cannot, however, be conclusively proved that this was the site of the earliest inn. The second Daniel Clark and his son, familiarly known as Dan, took a prominent part in town affairs and held public office.
Daniel Clark, the 3rd of that name, continued to keep the inn and must have been of a nature similar to his father. He was frequently presented at Court and often had difficulty in securing a license. In 1751 his license was suspended and on July 13 a number of prominent citizens asked that it be restored, for it was very inconvenient for travelers and they considered "in general he has behaved well for the time past and upon the whole we think it is more convenient and suita- ble for him to be an Innholder than it is for any other per- son."2 Similar petitions, signed by a long list of citizens from Newbury, Boxford, Wenham and Ipswich were presented to Court in favor of Dan Clark saying, "we have no better entertainment than we have in that house." Again the select- men were divided in their, approval of Mr. Clark. Matthew Peabody and John Gould entreated the court not to give him a license as he had used every possible means to procure persons to sign papers in his behalf. Even tho' their brethren approved of Mr. Clark, they believed he was not a man qualified and against the interest of religion, the peace and welfare of the town, if he was an innholder.
At the same time these two selectmen asked that Jacob Robinson be appointed, as they "judge him to be a man of sober conversation suitably qualified." Petitions were also presented for the latter by citizens who were "obliged to
2 Essex Co. Quarterly Court Records.
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Travil Through your Town a great deal and we think it hard to be oblidged allwase To call at one house. We Recon we are more likely to be imposed upon Than if thier was two." Mr. Clark took the matter to the General Court, showing that the "Court of Sessions had refused him license only to gratifie Deacon Bixby" who was prejudiced against him. It was ordered that the license be granted him "if they see cause," but with the approbation of the selectmen. He secured the signatures of three of the members, Benjamin Towne, Elijah Porter and Samuel Smith. The two opponents of Mr. Clark were not elected at the town meeting in 1752, being replaced by Jacob Averill and Daniel Clark himself. Thus Mr. Clark secured his approval as a suitable person to be an innholder, by the four selectmen, his own signature of course, not ap- pearing on the paper. John Gould and George Bixby still bitterly opposed the appointment.
Trouble arose again the next year and Mr. Clark was still unable to secure a license. While jealousy and feeling against him, for the part he took in the seating of the meeting house caused some of the people to object to him, Mr. Clark's con- duct and language in the tavern must have given some grounds for the complaints made against him. He realized he must mend his ways in order to obtain his license. So, in a peti- tion dated July 11, 1753, he assured the Court that "upon ye more mature Thought that good rule might be kept up: I Desire to Justifie ye Honble Court: and to Take Shame to my Self Humbly asking your Honours forgiveness and ye forgiveness of all other persons yt I have Justly offended and as it is ye Desire of ye Greatest part of the Inhabitants of This Town and of many others I again aske your Honrs favour in Granting me a Licence to be an Innholder in Topsfield and I hereby Promise as god Shall Enable me to Beheave more Inofencive to all men."
His apology was accepted and he continued as innkeeper until another complaint was lodged against him in 1757 by several men from Rowley. One testified that he had seen him assault a man in the tavern breaking a chair over him. Again fearing his license might not be renewed he sent a humble request to the selectmen for their approval, as it was "a time of Sorrow and Trouble with me and my family as I have a Large quantity of Speritous Liquors by me."
This Daniel Clark, who married Martha Reddington, died in 1776. His son, born 1733-4, continued the inn for about five years. On April 10, 1781, with the consent of his mother Martha and wife Hannah, he sold the property to Thomas
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Porter and removed to Rowley. 3 Samuel Hood bought it in 1786 and was licensed as an innholder for 3 years. In 1821 the land and buildings were sold to John Rea 3rd who con- ducted a tavern there until it was burned by an incendiary on the night of October 16, 1836.
In March 1670, John Gould was licensed to "draw cider and liquors for six months." In September his license was renewed, but he was "not to suffer Townsmen to drink liquors in his house." The following March Mr. Gould's license was renewed for a year. He was probably the first retailer in town.
The first Daniel Clark having given up his inn, on Jan. 30, 1682-3, in order to have a warm place to hold town meeting, the selectmen sent the following petition to the Court:
"We have Chosen Corpr Will: Smith to kepe ornorey at Topsfeild which wee doe desier this honered Court to point him a tirm for yt end also wee hauing our prinerall Town meeting in cold wether wee doe a Low Corpr Smith to sell beer to ye Townsmen that day and to kepe a fier in ye hous that day for The Towne to remoue there meeting and if thay see Case demand." The license was granted.
On training day in June 1685, when "horse and foot trained" in Topsfield, trouble arose in Corp. Smith's house. Samuel Smith of Rowley was presented at Court for "having a principall hand in ye Riot." Witnesses were summoned to appear at the Court session held in Ipswich in April 1686, to give evidence concerning "Jonatha (n) Platts, Joseph Rob- inson Thomas Ellithrop Docr Ben(itt) Henry Ingalls and Andrew Potter, for Scurrilous langua (ge) & Ryotts, behavior, fighteing & Breaking of ye peace wc was to ye Hazard of ye lives, (of Thomas Woodbery & John Allen) wc disturbances was at a traineing at Topisfeild ye last Sumer in June."
Samuel Smith and Jonathan Platts had been "a quarrelling all most with every company they came into that day, and all most all ways when they com to our house," according to the innkeeper's wife Rebecca. The tithingmen had put Smith in the stocks and he and others had threatened to "split the stocks in peeces and burn the meeting house." Men from the troop and constables testified that upon hearing an outcry they went to a room in the inn and found the defendants in a fight, in which John Allen of Andover and Thomas Wood- berry, were "like to bee hurte or kiled." No record is found that Corp. Smith was given a license to keep an inn after that year. It must have been located near the training field in the center of the village, the exact site at present unknown.
3 Essex Co. Registry of Deeds, book 141, leaf 77.
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The next innholder was Capt. John How. His first license was issued in 1691. It was renewed the following year with the provision "he pay his excise duty as the law requires." He received a license as innholder annually until 1717. After 1708, he was also granted one as a retailer. No mention is found where the How tavern was located. His homestead was said to have been in the northern part of the town not far from Hood's pond, no doubt his tavern was nearer the village.
In 1707, the town agreed "that Capt. John How shall pro- vide entertainment for the commitee chosen by ye General Court" to view the disputed lines between Topsfield and Box- ford. His bill of charge for entertaining was £1. 1s. In 1713 the selectmen sent a petition to the Court, requesting a renewal of Mr. How's license. In 1717, the selectmen of Topsfield, "petitioned the court to appoint Thomas Goodhall innholder, having great need of a House of Entertainment to be kept in our Town." The license apparently was not granted and the next year the town still being in need of an inn, the selectmen of Topsfield, petitioned again "we haveing no House of Entertainment in our Town as your Honours very well know; which there have been for want thereof Great Complaint made by strangers and Travelers to us And Thomas Goodhall we do approve one to be our In- holder For ye year ensueing as the other Selectmen did ye Last year be Liveing so commoded upon the Road; and seeing no other Persons will apeare for it." Mr. Goodale's house was built between 1714 and 1718 on what is now Main Street on the lot of land on which the house occupied by Mrs. Otto E. Lake stands. It disappeared or was removed before 1761. Mr. Goodale's petition was refused in 1718 and the innholder's license given to the second Daniel Clark.
The first mention of Thomas Howlett as innholder was found in 1743. He sent a memorial to Lieut. Gov. Spencer Phips, Sept. 25, 1745 in which he stated; "That he has kept a House of Entertainment in sd Town for several years to good Acceptance, That at the Time of Granting Licenses in said County. He was Lame and could not attend the Session, also lost his opportunity of renewing his License," etc.
His petition was granted and the Court of General Sessions was ordered to grant the license, which was done in Dec. 1745. Mr. Howlett died Sept. 14, 1746 and his widow must have carried on the tavern a year or two after his death as on April 6, 1747 and in April, 1748, the proprietors of the River Meadows and Hassocky Meadows held a meeting at the house of Mrs. Lydia Howlett, innholder in Topsfield.
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Jacob Kimball was approbated as an innholder in 1759. His house was built in 1756 on a lot of land he bought near the south end of the common. Mr. Kimball's name appears again in the records as an innholder from 1790-1800. He was a black- smith as was his son Benjamin.
Jacob Averill, Jr. bought the house built on the southern part of the Capen land in 1752 and it was taken down about 1812. He received a retailer's license for the first time in 1757. The next year the Court of Sessions notified the selectmen of all the towns in the county on account of the increasing num- ber of retailers, not to approbate any more than were neces- sary for the public good. For that reason, Mr. Averill was the only one to receive the license, Moses Perkins' application not being allowed. In 1762, on the other hand, altho' Mr. Averill was approbated, only the license to Mr. Perkins was given. A number of citizens had petitioned the Court in July 18, 1760 for the appointment of Moses Perkins. They said there was "but one retailer who lives within about one Hundred rodes of ye Tavern and ye said Moses lives on ye South side of ye river It will be a real advantage to a very considerable num- ber of the Inhabitants of Topsfield especially those that live towards Middleton and Danvers." Mr. Perkins owned the old house that stood near the site of the farm house of the late David Pingree on Salem Street. The petition must have borne some weight with the court, since Mr. Perkins received the license as retailer instead of Jacob Averill, Jr. who was appro- bated by the Selectmen.
Jacob Robinson who was denied a license in 1751-2, owned a house on South Main Street. He had held a retailer's license in 1741. Mr. Robinson sold the place in 1761 to Elijah Porter who moved to the village when he sold his farm south of the river. This house was later owned by Nehemiah Cleaveland, and removed when Joseph E. Stanwood built the present house in 1873 (now owned and occupied by C. Lawrence Bond). In 1763, Elijah Porter was given a retailer's license, in addition to Moses Perkins, which he held until 1774. He died suddenly the next year when no person was licensed in Topsfield. His son, Thomas continued for a few years. Nehemiah Cleaveland kept an inn here from 1801 to 1809.
Capt. Thomas Cummings was approbated "to be a suitable person and well Calculated for another Innholder" in 1764 and operated an inn until 1766. Abraham Hobbs, Jr., replaced Capt. Cummings in 1767-69. The site of neither inn is known. From the latter date until he sold his tavern in 1781, Mr. Clark was the only innholder. There appears to have been no
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settled innholder for a number of years after Mr. Clark. John Baker kept one in his house from 1783 to 1795. This was a portion of the house on Main Street now owned and occupied by Eugene M. Dow.
When the turnpike was built from Boston to Newburyport in 1803-4, the Newburyport Turnpike Corporation erected a hotel on the rise at the junction of what is now High Street, near the site of the house built by Daniel Perkins and still owned by his descendants. It was expected there would be heavy travel over this highway, and the Topsfield Hotel soon became the stage-center of Essex County, and was said to have been the best tavern on the Eastern Stage route. It is not known who was first in charge, but Ephraim Wildes probably hired it when he was given an innholder's license in 1807. In 1809 he advertised in the Salem Gazette he had taken the Hotel and solicited the patronage of the public. The next pro- prietor was Cyrus Cummings, who kept the hotel for a number of years. The records show he was first given a license in 1812.
At this hotel was held in 1808, the famous Caucus to de- nounce the Embargo, and in March, 1812 the court martial for the trial of Capt. Samuel Griffin of the 5th Regiment, 2nd Division. Here in 1818 was organized the Essex Agricultural Society, and its annual meetings were here for a number of years; also in 1829, the confederation of County Lyceums, and in 1834, the Essex County Natural History Society, from which grew the Essex Institute. Its parlors were the scene of many political and social gatherings.
The hotel was not profitable and in 1823 it was sold at auction for $3,135.00 to Ephraim Wildes, who with his brother Solomon and nephew Moses later ran a widely known hotel for stages in Boston. On Dec. 15, 1826, Cyrus Cummings, who was still the proprietor, bought the property of Mr. Wildes for the same sum. In an advertisment in the Salem Gazette, July 13, 1824, Mr. Cummings stated that this hotel "offers a most agreeable and healthy summer residence to invalids and others who are disposed to spend the summer months in the country. The bar is always supplied with the choicest liquors, and the table with the best provisions of the season. Parties of pleasure and others may depend on respectful attendance and every effort will be used to give perfect satisfaction to all who favor the establishment with their patronage." Mr. Cummings con- tinued as proprietor of the hotel until his death in 1827, at the age of 45 years. His wife Susan continued the establishment until 1835. That year she advertised the property for sale, set- ting forth its many advantages and announcing that "seven
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regular stage coaches stop at the Hotel every week day and the private travel has been constantly increasing." The purchaser was John Holland, who was for many years known to trav- elers on the Eastern stages as one of the most intelligent, oblig- ing and temperate of that body of drivers.
The Stage lines were soon discontinued, for the coming of the railroad had taken the through travel and altho' the rail- road did not extend to Topsfield until 1854, the patronage at the Hotel was so poor that Mr. Holland was forced to mortgage the property to Solomon and Moses Wildes who took possess- ion of it in 1840. They advertised it for sale or to let on June 1, 1841, it then being vacant. It might be interesting to include their description of the place. They said it was "one of the pleasantest situations for a summer residence that can be found, being very airy. The House is three stories high, has a fine hall, and was built expressly for a Public House. Adjoin- ing is a large Stable, sufficient to accomodate 50 or 60 horses overnight - together with large Wood Sheds and other out buildings. There are about three acres of first rate Land, on which is about 100 grafted Fruit Trees of selected fruit. One of the finest wells of water, together with an aqueduct that never fails of water."
Joseph Bassett, shoe manufacturer, and William Fabens, lawyer, both of Marblehead, bought the building, and in 1844 it was removed to Clifton by Perley Tapley of Danvers. The venture was not a financial success and on January 1, 1846 it was totally destroyed by fire.
In 1809, Thomas Meady built the house on Main Street now used as a store and dwelling and owned by Mrs. Otto E. Lake. Mr. Meady used it as a store and tavern until he moved to Philadelphia in 1817. Ephraim Wildes kept the hotel about two years, and in 1825 he sold it to Capt. William Munday, butcher. At intervals it was kept by his son Thomas and his grandson, Alfonso. It was known far and wide first as Mun- day's Hotel and later as the Topsfield House. Here, in stage- coach days, many a weary traveller found rest, also plenty to eat and drink. Later, standing near the depot, it served as an accommodation to travellers over the railroad. In 1888, Dal- mer J. Carleton who married the widow of Thomas Munday in 1868, was the landlord, and it was then the only public house in town.
The large house on the Newburyport turnpike near the cor- ner of Ipswich road, built in 1808, was used as a public house or tavern for several years. It is now owned by Thomas E. Proctor. Frederick Perley was given a license as innholder and
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retailer from 1827 to 1835. He came from Georgetown and, with his brother Nathaniel kept the store and tavern in what is now the Poor Block. He was followed by Benjamin P. Adams who operated an inn and was given a license in 1837.
John Ryder had a hotel in the house built for Richard Phil- lips, Jr. in 1847. It was long known as the Shepard House. While occupied by Mr. Ryder, it was destroyed by fire on March 17, 1884. It stood nearly opposite the Balch-Jordan house near the upper end of the common.
Dr. Royal A. Merriam announced in the Salem Gazette of June 19, 1838 that he was able to accommodate a few invalids "with board, horse and carriage exercise, bathing, etc." This house was long known as the Todd house near the junction of Haverhill and Main Streets.
For about fifty years there has been no hotel in town. Some of the larger houses were opened for summer boarders. The one north of the Congregational Church has been used for this purpose in later years. Augustus M. Smith was owner for some time. It was later owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. F. Percy Smerage and known as the Homestead.
CHAPTER XXIII THE TOPSFIELD COPPER MINES
Governor Endecott's attempt at mining copper is the earli- est record we have of the mining of this metal in the English colonies in North America. The Indians had made some use of copper for personal adornment, long years before the advent of the white man; but the eastern tribes had obtained it in barter from the tribes living near the great lakes where cop- per could be found nearly pure in its crude state.
"Mr. Endecott hath found a copper mine in his own ground, Mr. Leader hath tried it." so wrote Governor John Winthrop to his son on Sept. 30th, 1648. This out-crop of what was thought to be copper had been found on land that Endecott assumed had been granted to him by the General Court, Nov. 5, 1639. This grant was for 550 acres and it was to be "vpon Ipswich Ryver (if it be not within Rowley bounds), vpon the north of Salem bounds." This vaguely established location was reaffirmed by the Court, Oct. 7, 1640, when it was ordered that Rowley should have "so much land in another place, lying conveniently to the end of their bounds," should it appear that the 550 acre grant to Endecott lay within Rowley bounds. It was on this grant that indications of an outcrop of copper were found, it is very likely, found by Richard Leader the man in charge of the Saugus Iron Works, who had "skill in mynes and tryall of metalls." It is quite conceivable that En- decott employed Leader to prospect his grant in search of the "Mynes and Myneralls, as well as royal mynes of Gould and Silver" included in the Royal charter to the Massachusetts Bay Company.
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