USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Topsfield > History of Topsfield Massachusetts > Part 41
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PHYSICIANS AND MEDICAL PRACTICE
and was associated with Dr. Justin Allen. He was born at Vassalboro, Maine, Mar. 20, 1863, and was the son of George LeBarron Randall, M. D. and Caroline Matilda (Sturgis) Randall. Doctor Randall received the degree of M. D. at the Maine Medical School, Bowdoin College, in 1889. He married June 7, 1893, Alice Martha Hawes, daughter of Isaiah and Lucy (Hatch) Hawes. They have no children. In 1890 he sold his practice in Topsfield and went to Augusta, Me., and later removed to Lowell, Mass.
Dr. Thomas Lincoln Jenkins, was born Oct. 10, 1866, in Chelsea, Mass., the son of Loyal Lovejoy and Mary Jane (Nor- ton) Jenkins. After graduating from the Revere public schools, and the Charlestown High School, he attended Har- vard Medical School, and was graduated in 1890, and on November 1, 1890, he came to Topsfield, having purchased the practice of Doctor Randall. In 1891, he became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He married June 18, 1902, Lucy Maud Garbutt, daughter of Andrew and Lucy Ann (Dunderdale) Garbutt. They have two daughters. He was Assistant Surgeon in the 8th Mass. Inf. U. S. Vols., in the Spanish-American War and later Major and Surgeon of the 2nd Brigade Mass. Vol. Militia. In the World War he served as Major and Surgeon, 8th Mass. Inf., Major and Surgeon, 103rd F. Art., Director Ambulance Cos. 26th Div., Sanitary Inspector, 26th Div., Div. Surgeon, 26th Div., Lt .- Col. Feb. 22, 1919, retired as Brig. Gen., Nov. 1930.
Dr. Byron Sanborn, the son of James Stanlius and Mary Ella (Yeaw) Sanborn, was born in Loudon Centre, N. H., August 13, 1874. He was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1897, and received the degree of M. D. from Dartmouth Medical School in February 1900. After studying in Boston and New York Hospitals he came to Topsfield, Sept. 28, 1901. In 1909 he became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and also the American Medical Society. On Sept. 25, 1901 he married Mary Rebecca, daughter of Edward Picker- ing and Emma (Glover) Leavitt of Concord, N. H. They have one son.
The following physicians were born in Topsfield but prac- ticed elsewhere :- Nathaniel Bradstreet, Israel Balch, Josiah Lamson, Elisha Huntington, Humphrey Gould, John Augus- tus Lamson, Charles Treadwell, Israel Rea and George Wil- liam Perkins.
CHAPTER XXIX
CEMETERIES AND BURYING-GROUNDS
The custom of our English ancestors of burying their dead about the parish church, was not generally followed in New England. Whittier has written that
The dreariest spot in all the land To Death they set apart; With scanty grace from Nature's hand, And none from that of Art.
Too often that was true, but it can not be said of Topsfield, especially at the present time. Where the first interment was made is not known. No record exists and no stone now marks the spot. The oldest gravestone having an inscription that can be deciphered, is in Pine Grove Cemetery and was erected in memory of Sergeant Ebenezer Averill who died Dec. 22, 1717. This cemetery is undoubtedly the oldest burying-ground in the town, but the earliest mention in the town records is not until the year 1706 when "The Town agreed to ffence in ye Burying-Place with a Stone-wall." The selectmen also were instructed to "lay out what Ground maybe Convenient for the Burying Place." In May of that year the selectmen re- ported as follows :-
We whose Names are under writen being appointed by the Town to stake out the Buring place accordingly have; and Bounded it beginning at Mr. Perkins his Ston Wall at ye South-East Side of his place agoing into his field: Bounded with a Ston by his Wall Side: and from thence to a Great Ston lying near the West Gate of ye Old meeting-House ffortt: and then to two Stons lying between the White oak Tree and the Old ffort : and then to two Stons lying on the Plain : and then to a stump at the South-East of the Burying Place : and then to Mr. Perkinses ffence.
Dated 19th of April 1706. Ephraim Dorman John Hovey John Curtis
Elisha Perkins
Daniel Redington
Selectmen of Topsfield.
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The meeting house had been built in 1663 in order to ac- commodate Boxford people who came to Topsfield to meeting and the fort mentioned was a stone wall five or six feet high that had been built in the fall of 1675 at the time of Indian alarms. There was a ten foot space between it and the meet- ing house and at the southeast corner a watch house ten feet square. The meeting house was located at the left of the present main entrance to the cemetery and according to tradi- tions the pulpit was above where the Parson Capen gravestone now stands, the meeting house having been sold to John Gould for £5, and removed in 1704, the year after the new meeting house had been built on the present location on the Common.
If one may judge from the rude pasture stones marking early graves at the southern end of the cemetery, its original limits in that direction were much the same as at present. The entrance was about midway to the present main entrance and may be easily noted by the vertical joining in the stone wall. There were wooden posts and a gate between the ends of the wall and there was no drive or path inside as the body was carried by bearers, on a bier which was kept under the stairs in the steeple of the meeting house on the Common. The remains of a very old bier, made of oak, is now preserved in the tool house in the Cemetery. In 1672, those who lived in Rowley Village (Boxford) were allowed to build, near the meeting house, a Sabbath-day house and a shed in which to shelter their horses. In April, 1896, when a grave was dug for the interment of Edward A. Hood (The Elisha Hood lot), a cellar wall was uncovered, the cellar hole beside it having been filled up with rubbish, bricks, charcoal, etc. Several old knives were found, but they were simply flakes of rust. This grave is at the rear of the traditionary site of the meeting house and probably marks the site of the Sabbath-day house of 1672. Not long after this, while digging a grave nearby, a Pine Tree shilling was found.
In November 1838, the town gave permission to Moses Wildes "to move the wall on the North side of the Burying- ground 20 feet into his field, he moving said wall at his own expense, & giving the Town a Deed with reservations as stated by him to the Town this Day." Mr. Wildes had stated that he wished to reserve three lots for himself and others. These lots are the range at the left of the present main entrance, containing the Nehemiah Cleaveland and Asahel Huntington lots which he sold to them in 1848.
The need for enlarging the burying-ground became appar- ent in 1840 and at the annual town meeting held Mar. 7, 1848,
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THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
a committee of five was appointed to negotiate with Moses Wildes who owned the field and pasture to the north. When the committee made its report in October 1848, the town voted to buy the land of Moses Wildes and also a small piece from Royal A. Merriam, M. D., which was done at a cost of $188.33. The town also voted to have the front wall of the old burial ground rebuilt and repairs made on the back wall. Iron gates were ordered placed at the new entrance (the present main entrance) and hung from granite posts and the committee was directed to cause to be removed the bushes, briers, etc. upon the old burial ground. This added over two acres to the area of the burying-ground and extended the northern bounds to a point just beyond the tomb which was built in 1874 at a cost of $432.25.
As a result of action taken at the annual town meeting in 1883, the town bought of Samuel Todd for $800, Bare Hill pasture, so called, containing thirty-four acres and extending north from the burying-ground to the "Gunnison highway," now Bare Hill road. From time to time, as needed, portions of this pasture have been added to the recognized area of the burying-ground, which then became known as Pine Grove Cemetery, the name originating from a fine circular grove of white pine trees standing on the level area near the top of the first rise on the slope of the hill side. The present cement lily pond, constructed in 1934, is about in the center of where the grove of pines formerly stood. They began to die and the last of the grove was removed in 1930. In 1934, with C.W.A. governmental aid, the greater part of the pasture was cleared of underbrush, trees were trimmed and an avenue entering from Haverhill Street, was built, winding up the hillside to the top of Bare Hill from which there is an excellent view. The entrance was flanked by large stone posts built of pasture stones and a bronze tablet marks the area as "Bare Hill Park."
In the older part of Pine Grove Cemetery lie buried Rev. Joseph Capen (1659-1725), Rev. John Emerson (1707-1774), Rev. Asahel Huntington (1761-1813), ministers of the church in Topsfield. Here also lie buried Thomas Perkins (1758- 1830), an eminent merchant, Dr. Nehemiah Cleaveland (1760- 1837), Dr. Richard Dexter (1712-1783), Major Joseph Gould (1736-1803), who commanded a Topsfield company at Lexing- ton, Jacob Kimball (1760-1826), musical composer, Dr. John Merriam (1758-1817), Dr. Royal A. Merriam (1786-1864), Capt. Stephen Perkins (1726-1790), who commanded a Tops- field company at the battle of Lexington, and the ancestors of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet.
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CEMETERIES AND BURYING-GROUNDS
The stone of David Balch who died a suicide in 1812, aged 59 years has the following :
Whose last dying words were
To the war.
Nou ille pro caris amicis
Ant patria timidus perire.1
Sweet Jesus was resigned to the Father's will,
Indeed so was he who lies here still.
Here are other epitaphs, probably duplicated in other early burying grounds.
Death is the Lot, the Tomb the Place, For all the Sons of Adams Race.
Reader pass on, ne'er waste your time,
On bad biography, and bitter rhyme,
For what I am, this cumbrous clay ensures,
And what I was, is no affair of yours.
Depart my friends dry up your tears,
Here I must lie till Christ appears,
Death is a debt that's nature's due,
I've paid the debt & so must you.
Behold and see as you pass by,
As you are now so once was I,
As I am now so you must be, Prepare for death & follow me.
THE LOWER CEMETERY
At a town meeting held May 9, 1825, the town voted that a committee of five be chosen to consider the subject of purchas- ing one or more burying-grounds, and Elijah Cummings, Jacob Towne, Jr., Sylvester Cummings, Samuel Hood and Daniel Bixby were chosen. The committee presented its re- port on June 1st, following, and the town voted to purchase land for a new burying-ground, the proprietors of the bury- ing-ground near Reuben Smith's and near David Cummings, to be exempted from paying any part of the expense of pur- chasing the land or fencing the same.
April 3, 1826, the town instructed the selectmen to look up some suitable place or places for a burying-ground and the following month they reported, favoring an enlargement of the old burying-ground near Merriam's corner, but the town voted not to accept their report. Joseph Gould, Luke Towne,
1 The Latin inscription aims to convey the idea that he was not afraid to die, either for his dear friends, or his country.
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THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
William Munday, Joseph Batchelder and Daniel Hobbs, Jr., were chosen a committee to purchase land for one or two new burying-grounds, and on May 15, 1828, the town voted to ac- cept a piece of land which part of the Committee have agreed to purchase of Major Cornelius B. Bradstreet for a burying- ground. On July 4, 1828, the land was deeded to the town, the consideration being $125. Aug. 29, 1833, the town voted not to build "a good and sufficient fence around the lot of land that the Town purchased of Cornelius B. Bradstreet in the year 1828 for a new Burying Ground" and the following November, an effort was made to have the town vote to sell the land that had been purchased for the new burying-ground. The endeavor was a failure, and the meeting voted "to sanction the doings of the Committee wherein they have agreed for the fencing of said land."
March 4, 1835, the town made choice of Nehemiah Cleave- land, Jacob Towne, Jr., and Royal A. Merriam to divide into family lots, the new burying ground and the following report was presented by them at a town meeting held May 4, 1835, when it was accepted and adopted.
The undersigned, a committee appointed at a Town-meeting holden in Topsfield on the 4th day of March, 1835, to divide into family lots the new burying ground, ask leave to report that they have attended to the duty assigned them, and have divided said ground, and laid out one hundred and fifty-four lots, and numbered the same, reserving an alley of ten feet in width through the centre from the gate to the west end also an alley of four feet in width around the whole ground by the wall, and also an alley of three feet in width between each row of lots as by plan annexed, - leaving a portion on each side of the centre alley at the east end of the ground to be ap- propriated hereafter as the board of Selectmen for the time being shall direct.
N. Cleaveland, Jacob Towne, R. A. Merriam. Committee. May 4th, 1835.
The rules and regulations drawn up by the committee in- clude the following :- All cattle are hereby prohibited said ground forever, unless it should hereafter be judged by the selectmen to be necessary to pasture sheep upon it.
The "Lower Cemetery," as it is generally known, has its entrance on the Boston and Newburyport turnpike (Boston street) near the corner of Maple street. The oldest inscrip-
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CEMETERIES AND BURYING-GROUNDS
tion is upon a stone erected to the memory of Mrs. Lois R. Carter, who died Aug. 20, 1833.
THE SOUTH SIDE CEMETERY
The South Side Cemetery is situated in the southern part of the town, on Rowley Bridge Street, the highway leading to Danvers. It is on a hill and somewhat removed from the travelled road. A time-stained wall of stone, encloses about an acre of green-sward "where heaves the earth in many a mouldering heap." The beauty of the spot is found in the trees planted by the different generations of men who have loved this acre well. There are the usual native varieties, but one forgets all save the towering pines.
On Mar. 13, 1740, Joseph Herrick, who lived on the farm lately owned by William L. Batchelder and now the estate of the late William C. Sills, "in consideration of love, goodwill and affection I bear towards" David Cummings, John Cum- mings, Joseph Towne, Nathaniel Porter, Thomas Dwinell, Benjamin Towne, Samuel Curtis, Aaron Estey, Gideon Towne, Nathaniel Porter, Jr., Amos Dorman, Thomas Dor- man, Israel Towne, Daniel Robinson and Joseph Hobbs, deeded to them "one-half acre of land in Topsfield on the south side of Ipswich River, known as the burying place, in- closed with a stone wall, to be used as a burying place forever. I furthermore grant a priviledge for said persons to pass and repass across my land to bury their dead." Joseph Hobbs lived on the William Peabody farm just over the line, in Mid- dleton, and John Cummings lived on the Porter Gould place, also in Middleton.
It will be noted that the deed says "known as the burial place," proving that the spot must have been used for burial purposes before 1740. There are no stones to mark the earliest graves and the resting places of only a few of the many Revo- lutionary soldiers buried here can be identified. There is the grave of Mrs. Esther Estey, who lived to be over a hundred years old, and off in a corner, separated from the other mounds, is a grave with a large tree at its head. There are two traditions relating to this mound, one, that it is the grave of a slave once the property of the Cummings family ; another, that it is the grave of an Indian woman named Sarah Tutoo. The late John H. Gould believed in the latter story.
Judge Cummings, having lost his wife Sally, in 1814, per- suaded his father to enlarge the Cemetery by the gift of about half as much land as it then contained, the boundary of the old ground being between the Herrick row and the lot of the late
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THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
David Towne. The land added in 1814 is now occupied by lots of David and Lorenzo Towne, and the Peterson, Johnson, Cummings, Batchelder and Rea families.
The Cummings family built the wall, and it is said, planted the larches and many of the other trees. "Master Sam" Cum- mings cared for the ground as long as he lived, and after his death, David Towne collected money by subscription and re- paired the wall, purchased new gates (the stone gate posts were given by Lorenzo P. Towne) and put the ground in good order. After his death the burial ground became neglected, until in 1893, the neighborhood, to the number of thirty, devoted a day to clearing away the undergrowth. A subscription paper was again circulated and the sum of $262. was contributed and accepted by the town in town meeting assembled Mar. 5, 1894, as a permanent fund, the income of which forever should be ex- pended in the care of the "South Side Cemetery," a designa- tion adopted at that time.
David Cummings, who died April 1, 1910, bequeathed to the town of Topsfield, "one thousand dollars to invest and hold and use the income thereof for the perpetual care of the South Topsfield Burying Ground, and special care to be given the two Cummings lots therein." By 1939 the principal and accumulated income from these two funds had increased to $3711.40.
THE CUMMINGS BURYING-GROUND
This private burying-ground, located in the easterly part of the town on the old Cummings farm back of the house and not far from the Ipswich river, was set aside for burial purposes at an early day. Here lie over one hundred of those who lived in the vicinity, which, until 1774, was a part of the town of Ipswich. The Cummings, Smith, Lamson families here lie buried. But few stones now remain and these are of com- paratively recent date.
THE LAKE BURYING-GROUND
This private burying-ground lies in the rear of the house of Miss Margaret Cummings, River street, and not far from the river. Formerly called the Stanley family burying-ground, it probably was used in the early days by the Stanley and Lake families who lived nearby. Matthew Stanley lived here before 1662 and Henry Lake was living here in 1681. The oldest inscribed stone is 1836.
CHAPTER XXX LIBRARIES
The Topsfield Library Society was organized Mar. 20, 1794. Rev. Asahel Huntington, pastor of the church, was the first secretary and it is likely may have suggested the formation of such a Society. Its Constitution provided for three trustees, a secretary, a treasurer and a librarian, and required that each member should pay twenty shillings to be used for the purchase of books. The library was to be kept within one mile of the meeting house and was to be open for the circu- lation of books, the last Monday in every month, from one to four in the afternoon, when each member might take out one volume to be retained not longer than two months. In 1824 this rule was changed so that books might be taken out only on the last Monday of May, August, November and February, from four to six o'clock, when each member might borrow two volumes. Any member might sell his or her share and mem- bers also might hold more than one share and be entitled to borrow more books in proportion to their holdings.
Eighty members signed the Constitution, among them three women. The first trustees were Daniel Bixby, Nathaniel Ham- mond and Nehemiah Cleaveland. The treasurer was Daniel Bixby, and the secretary-librarian was Rev. Asahel Hunting- ton, among whose duties was the careful examination of all books returned "to notice injuries done them and to assess damages." The by-laws specifically named some of these in- juries such as "writing in it, blotting, greasing, turning down leaves." There was also a curious provision in the by-laws that "Books shall be taken out in Alphebetical order, Pro- vided always that any Book shall go to the highest bidder present." Failure to return a book by two o'clock on the stated library days was penalized by a fine of six pence and after that at the rate of a shilling a month. In 1824, this rule was changed to twelve and one-half cents and five cents for each subsequent week.
Messrs. Bixby, Cleaveland and Huntington were the first committee to purchase books and with the £21. 4s. 9d. at their
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THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
disposal they secured sixty-eight volumes. The first on the list was Rollins' Ancient History, in ten volumes, a purchase quite to be expected at that time. Then came Robertson's History of America, Stackhouse's History of the Bible, Belk- nap's History of New Hampshire, Ramsay's History of the American Revolution, Forrester's Brief History of America, Newton on the Prophesies, etc, etc. The sixty-eight volumes may be classified as follows : history, 20; religion, 13; travels, 15; literature, 10; biography, 2; agriculture, 1; philosophy and miscellaneous 6; a diversified and well considered selec- tion. During the life of the Society 174 volumes were pur- chased and five were received by gift.
On Nov. 28, 1796, it was voted to purchase a bookcase for the library and a supply of leather with which to cover the books. A tax of two shillings was laid on each proprietor to cover the cost and £4. 16s. was collected. This bookcase has been preserved and now stands in the Town Library building still holding most of the books owned by the Library Society, many of them protected by the leather covers put on in 1796.
Mar. 25, 1805 the proprietors voted to legalize (incorpo- rate) under the recently enacted laws of the Commonwealth and two months later the Constitution and by-laws were re- vised and slight changes made. Lieut. Jonas Merriam suc- ceeded Mr. Huntington as librarian. In 1808, the Society is mentioned in its records as the Topsfield Social Library Soci- ety, but the designation was not officially recognized until a new Constitution and by-laws were adopted in 1824. In 1809 Elijah Averill became librarian and served until his death in 1813. Samuel Hood was his successor. Nov. 28, 1809, the proprietors voted - That a printed Catalogue of the Books, belonging to the Library be purchased for the use of the pro- prietors ; and sixty-six copies of a broadsheet, listing the books by author and title, were printed by Thomas C. Cush- ing in Salem, at a cost of four dollars. The sheet measures 101/2 X 16 inches and one of them has been preserved and placed on the inside of a door of the bookcase.
Mr. Huntington had selected the books since the beginning and had been the moving force behind the organization. He died Apr. 22, 1813, and without his active influence interest in the library began to wane. Not a business meeting was held between May 30, 1814 and May 10, 1824 when fifteen proprietors of the Social Library in the Town of Topsfield issued a call for a meeting to elect officers, revise the Constitu- tion and by-laws and provide for the care and increase of the library. As it had been customary for the librarian to have
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LIBRARIES
in his house the bookcase containing the library and Samuel Hood lived in a house that then stood about where Merrill B. Bailey's driveway now is, undoubtedly the books were kept at that convenient place, but at the reorganization effected in 1824, the Rev. Rodney G. Dennis, pastor of the Topsfield church, was admitted a proprietor and elected librarian. He was also elected clerk and may have been the physician who gave new life to the organization. He lived in the western half of the Towne-Hodges house on High Street. It was a feeble breath, however, and only money enough to buy five books was collected and shortly, meetings of the proprietors were discontinued. In May 1831, the new minister, Rev. James F. McEwen, inspired a meeting of the proprietors at his house at which he was elected librarian and the bookcase was transferred to what is now the William C. Long house at the corner of Main and Summer Streets. In 1833, William Hubbard became librarian and the bookcase was taken to his house off Prospect Street, now owned by Thomas Longo.
The use of the library evidently declined so no books were added and on June 8, 1836, it was voted to sell the library at auction, which action was reconsidered at a later meeting. In 1839 by a vote of four to three, the proprietors again voted to sell the library. This was not done, however, as the records show that a meeting was called for the same purpose in May 1840, at which John Wright was elected librarian and a com- mittee appointed to report on the affairs of the corporation and to estimate the worth of the Library to keep as a Library and also its worth to sell. Three weeks later the committee reported the value of the books and case containing them, for sale at public auction at $36.49 ... and the value of the same to be kept for a Library at $55.21, whereupon it was voted not to sell. An annual meeting was held in 1842 and nothing more appears on the records until 1854 when a meeting was held at the Academy, on Oct. 30th, at which it was voted to place the Library in the Academy, under the care of J. W. Healey (the principal) so long as the Trustees shall direct.
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