USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Topsfield > History of Topsfield Massachusetts > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
The first entry in the printed book of town records is dated March 25, 1659 when committees from the towns of Topsfield and Salem ran the divisional line, or "perambulated the bounds," as it was then termed. Committees were appointed every 3 years to meet those from adjoining towns and together renew the bounds between their respective towns.
The date of the annual town meeting was set by vote on Dec. 9, 1664 to be "the first third day of March" each year until the "Towne shall see cause to alter it." This probably meant the first Tuesday of the month which is the third day of the week. A vote taken in 1689/90 confirmed this when it was agreed "that our yearely Town Meeting shall be on the first Tuesday in March as formerly."
The earliest existing records of a town meeting were of the one held March 7, 1675/6. At that time the officers chosen were clerk, selectmen, constable, a juryman for trials at the Ipswich court, and surveyors of highways and fences. How- ever, among the fragments copied from the older town book are found earlier names of officials and votes important to the government of the town. At the town meeting held March 14, 1684/5 it was agreed that nothing be taken up at any town meeting unless notice be given together with warn- ing of the meeting to the inhabitants. The legal notice for such warnings was to be in writing and set up on the meeting house doors.
Freemen were mentioned as meeting on Nov. 3, 1690 to elect Lt. John Gould deputy to the General Court. After the institution of the provincial government in 1692/3 the General
77
TOWN GOVERNMENT
Court enacted a law that freeholders and other inhabitants rateable at twenty pounds estate besides the poll, were entitled to vote for town officers. It was not until 1717 that the warrant issued by the selectmen to the constable to call the meeting of freeholders and other inhabitants was included in the records. A year later the return of the constable that he had so warned the "freeholders and inhabitants" was inserted before the records of the meeting.
The first selectmen mentioned in the printed town records were those elected in March 1661. They were Ensign Howlett, Francis Peabody and John Redington, who were "to order the prudentiall afaires of the towne and to setle the bounds betwene Salem and Topsfield and also to setle the bounds between the Comen and Vs and also where they shall se any wrong done to the towne by any they haue power to rectifie by sute or otherwise." The number was increased to five by 1675/6. When the Selectmen were elected in 1680/1 they were still to "order prudential affairs of the town but shall not alinat or give or exchange any of the town's land." In 1670/1 it was voted to choose the clerk and selectmen "by the papers" but five years later it was agreed the selectmen "be chosen by nomination."
Constables were important officers of the town. In the early days the constable served as town treasurer as well as the one to collect the taxes on "rates" both for the town's expenses and the support of the church.
On October 10, 1694, "ye Towne being worned by ye Se- lectmen to Chuse a Town Treasurer" it was found he should be chosen when other town officers were elected. So the matter was suspended until the regular town meeting in March. Then Corp. Tobijah Perkins was chosen the first town treasurer.
The laying out and making of highways and private ways were also important objects of attention in the town. Their his- tory as they advance from footpaths and horsepaths to cart- ways and carriage roads can be traced from the early town and court records. The same is true of the slow progress from sloughs to causeways and fords to bridges. (See Chapter 6)
While highway surveyors were referred to in the very early records, the names of those holding that office were not given until 1675/6 when the new town book was started by Clerk Francis Peabody. Daniel Boardman and Isaac Estey who were chosen that year were also to serve as surveyors of fences. The next year the duties were divided and different men were elected to each board, probably the duties of each office be- coming too arduous as the town grew.
78
THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
It soon became necessary for the town to pass many regu- lations for the freedom of domestic animals and fencing of land. The common lands were mainly used for pasturage. In the early times animals roamed at will and caused consid- erable damage when they entered on land planted by people of the town. The expense of fencing the common land would have been too great. Instead, at the town meeting March 19, 1666/7, the inhabitants were ordered to have all fences about their corn fields made of five rails or its equivalent and well placed. All fences were to be in good repair by the 20th of April. The penalty for failure to comply with this order was one shilling a day as a fine for every day it was in "de- fect." Isaac Estey and William Smith, who were chosen to view the fences, were to turn one half the fines into the town and keep the other half for themselves.
The first law for the restraining of any domestic animals was made April 30, 1673. It ordered all swine more than three months old to be ringed and all swine that broke into corn fields or pastures through "sufficient" fences were also to be yoked. Owners who did not comply were to be fined. Michael Dwinnell was chosen to look after the "yoaking and ringing" of hogs and was to have one half the "forfeit" for his pains. Later hog constables or "hogreeves" were elected to prevent or appraise damages done by stray swine.
Rams were not to run at large from the first of August until "a month after mickellmas," upon a forfeiture of one half the animal. Horses and cattle were allowed to go at large under certain regulations. The "cow common" was men- tioned as early as 1664. Stray animals were taken up and put in the "pounds." A man was chosen to "keep the pound" in 1693 and "pounders" to take up the animals roaming at large illegally on public highways, etc., and keep them from breaking thru fences into enclosed fields. Later they were called haywards and field drivers. June 14, 1799, David Per- kins, town treasurer, was ordered to pay 59 persons one dollar each as bounty on dogs, voted by the town.
In 1687 a bounty of ten shillings a piece was allowed any man who killed a wolf in the town. By 1739 deer were deemed sufficiently valuable to be protected by law and Joseph Her- rick and Thomas Gould were chosen that year to prosecute breakers of the act referring to the killing of deer. These officers who were elected annually at town meetings during the Colonial period were called "deer reeves."
In 1741 the Mass. General Court passed an Act to prevent damage to Indian corn and other grain. The Act provided
79
TOWN GOVERNMENT
that whoever killed crows, blackbirds, water rats, grey or ground squirrels and should bring their heads to one of the selectmen of any town, should be paid four pence each for squirrels, six pence for crows, three shillings a dozen for grown blackbirds, and twelve pence a dozen for nestlings. The selectmen were directed to cut off the beaks of the birds and the ears of the squirrels.
Israel Clarke was a selectman of Topsfield in 1743 and 1744 and this duty seems to have devolved upon him as the follow- ing entries in his account book shows:
"May 20, 1743 Received of Dan Clarke by the hand of his son Daniel Eight Black birds not feged and Cut of their Beeks. July 15, 1743 Received of Henery Armson 16 Ground Squir- els and Cut of there Ears."
From numerous facts in the records it would appear that the people of Topsfield thought more highly of fish than game in the early days. Solicitude and vigilance was long mani- fested by the town to the annual migration of alewives and other fish up Ipswich river and smaller streams. It was thought their progress was obstructed by mill-dams. Orders were obtained from the General Court, countless votes passed by the town, agents appointed to keep the fishways open and prosecute trespassers and other means were taken to protect these fish.
The early records are not lacking in quaintness. When John Robinson, in consideration of the sum of twenty-five shillings per annum, agreed to sweep the meeting-house and fasten the doors, as a perquisite he was appointed to dig graves "for such as shall Requir him and to have three shillins six penc for al graves abou four foot long and two and six pence for al under."
The selectmen acknowledged the receipt of the new laws made at the General Court in 1680 about "new standereds or meseres for Corne, bere and wine" and promised to pay the constable for what he would lay out for them. At the same time Francis Peabody was chosen to seal weights and measures by the town standards as "is now newli Com from Ingland and is at present to be our standered in Masetuset colene." A sealer of weights and measures thus early became an officer of the town.
Sergeants Hovey, Howlett and Redington were chosen the first assessors of the town in 1694 according to the "Treas- urers worrent" and were sworn to the faithful discharge of their duty, "as the Court act directs." Isaac Cummings was
80
THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
the first moderator mentioned and he was chosen to preside over the town meeting March 2, 1676/77.
The towne agreed in 1684 to pay a deputy to the General Court fifteen shillings per week in country pay. Five years later, Lieut. Thomas Baker was chosen the town's represent- ative at the "preasent Counsell for safety of the people and Conseruation of the peace." He was to act for the public good, welfare and safety of the colony and against anything that would infringe on the charter privileges. In 1693 it was voted to pay a representative twelve shillings a week or two shillings a day. Capt. John Gould was chosen for the office and also Lt. Thomas Baker to serve "the other part time tak- ing turns one at a time as they agree."
March 22, 1694/5 the town reckoned with Lieut Baker "upon ye account of his goeing Representitive from ye be- ginig of ye world to this day." The next year Lieut. John Gould was chosen deputy to attend the sessions of the Gen- eral Court at Boston.
Other officers elected during the first century of the town's existence were members of the school committee, overseers of the poor, sealer of leather, surveyor of hemp and flax, clerk of the market and surveyor of clapboards and shingles.
The town meetings were held from the earliest times for at least 200 years, in the meeting house, except such times as the building was being built or repaired. Often the meeting was adjourned to the inn where it was more comfortable and re- freshments were obtainable. Corp. William Smith was chosen in 1682/3 to keep an ordinary in town. As the town meeting was held in cold weather, the innkeeper was to sell beer to the townsmen that day and keep a fire in the inn if it became necessary to adjourn the meeting to his house. It apparently became the custom for the newly elected officers to repair to the inn immediately after the town meetings to take their oaths of office.
In 1873 the town finally voted to build a town hall on the Common near the Congregational Church. The question had been brought up at many town meetings before the final vote was passed. Many discussions had taken place and warm feelings were engendered during the consideration of the enterprise. It was a fine structure costing $13,230.92 with an additional expenditure of $1773.14 for furnishings.
CHAPTER V EARLY HOUSES AND HOME LIFE
To picture the life in Topsfield homes in the years following its settlement would require many screens. 1 Then, as now, life had its contrasts and utmost poverty existed but shortly removed from comparative wealth. In the early days most of the men were engaged in farming. Removed from any large town and the sea they were almost entirely dependent upon their own resources for their livelihood. In fact, in petitioning for release from military duty in 1693, the officers of the militia said it was a small place and a scattered one, being a "Town yt doth live by our Labor."
It is very probable that the style of dwellings here was similar to those of the same period in Ipswich and other towns from which the first settlers came. They were a plain people and, therefore, their homes were modest and primitive.
The "house" in which William Hughs lived on William Paine's land at the New Meadows, in 1643, with 9 acres of land, 12 loads of hay, and an unknown amount of grain and straw, was sold for only £10, the price of two cows, at that time. It was easy, however, to dig a saw pit and with two men and a whip saw to produce boards and plank in quantity ; and doubtless when Zaccheus Gould brought his wife and four children to the New Meadows in 1644 he had already built a suitable house in the English fashion. It may have been constructed of logs hewed square and dove-tailed at the corners. A few such houses yet remain, usually garrison
houses. It could not have been a log house of the more modern type, built of rounded logs notched and over-lapped at the corners and chinked with clay, for such structures did not exist in New England in early days. The English settlers had never seen one and they were not built in America until after the Swedes and Finns landed on the Delaware in 1637.
The early records mention no houses or furnishings of great value. In most instances the little property must have passed to the heirs for there was a relatively small number of estates settled through the courts compared with the deaths.
(81)
82
THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
The first settlement of an estate recorded in probate court from Topsfield after it became a town was that of George Bunker. 1 The inventory was taken June 29, 1658 and the appraised value amounted to £300.14s. It was a goodly amount for the times for usually an estate did not exceed a £100. His debts, however, totalled more than £158.
George Bunker was the son of William, a Huguenot in Eng- land, and was probably in Topsfield before 1653. His widow, who was Jane Godfrey, married Richard Swain of Hampton in October, 1658. On July 5, 1660 they sold the Topsfield farm with house, barn, etc., to Thomas Perkins. It comprised a large area east of the village.
Mr. Bunker's wearing apparel was valued at £3.6s .; bed- ding, linen, woolen & cotton wool at £8; table, chairs, trays, tubs & barrels were worth £2.3s .; bras & pewter, £3. His farm stock included: working cattle, £36, cows, heifers & calves, £16; swine £2. His carts, plows, and other implements (tack- ling) £3; cowes pelt skines & wheeles, a Rop and bandalers, gun and sword, £4. The crop of corn upon the ground, £9.
Wearing apparel was usually given a total value in inven- tories but an itemized list shows that John Dorman, who died January 16, 1661/2, left the following : "One booke and Apar- ell, one cloke, 2li.5s.6d .; one jackit and briches, 2li .; one wascoate, 7s .; one dublit and a paire of briches, lli.1s .; three paire of stockins, 8s .; Gloves, 6s .; one Inkhorne, 4d .; one neckeloath, 8d .; one hate, 10s .; another wascoate jackit and two paire of briches, 1li. 15s .; one pair of boots and spurs and 2 paire of shooes, 1li. 1s .; in sheets, shirt and other linen, 2li. 15s .; 4 cushins, 12s .; 4 bands and 3 handkercheifs, 9s. 6d." His meagre household furnishings included : "one bedstead and beding on it, 7li. 8s .; puter and spounes, 12s. 6d .; one drinkeing cup and brase skellitt, 4s .; in earthern and wooden dishes and trayes, 6s. 4d .; in chest and boxe, 9s .; in one Iron pot and pothookes, 12s." 2
The clothing left by Thomas Howlett, Jr., in 1668 com- prised : "Dublite, paire of breeches, two Coats, paire of Drawers, two paire of stockings & paire of bootes, valued at 4li. 10s. His best aparill he gave away when he was upon his death bed." 3
Isaac Cummings was well supplied with clothing at the time of his death in 1677, viz: "Cloth Sute, 2 li .; a Grey sute, 1li. 15s .; 6 yds of cloth with butons silk & thread as they cost at
1 Essex Co. Quarterly Court Files, vol. 4, leaf 60.
2 Essex Co. Quarterly Court Files, vol. 7, leaf 94.
3 Essex Co. Probate Files. Docket 14.092.
83
EARLY HOUSES AND HOME LIFE
the merchants, 1li. 19s. 3d .; an old Grat Coat, 9s .; wascot, 6s. ; payer of Gren brchis & two payer of drawers, 9s .; 3 payer of shoos, 1s .; 5 payer of stokins, 8s .; 4 shirts, 10s .; 7 caps, 7s .; one slke Cape, 4s .; 10 bandes, 10s .; 7 handcerchrs, 3s. 6d .; 4 hates, 8s .; cloth hood & startups, 1s. 6d."4
John Wilde, Jr. left "three ould woolin garments, a sarge westcote and some ould linin" when he died the same year.5
Unfortunately there appears to be no settlement of a woman's estate in Topsfield in the 17th century and no in- ventory lists any woman's wardrobe of the period. Judging from other records it probably consisted of simple clothes of homemade material for in nearly every early inventory, homemade cloth, linen, wool and cotton are included as well as flax, tow, hemp, cottonwool, etc.
A house owned by Robert Andrews who was slain at Narra- gansett in King Phillips War in 1676, was valued at £28 when his estate was appraised. Altho' he lived just over the line in Boxford (Rowley Village so-called) he was closely identified with Topsfield. He served in the local militia and attended church there.
The houses were made of rough hewn planks and boards. The settlers first dug saw pits and later built sawmills and produced boards suitable for construction. Testimony in 1668 shows that Edmund Bridges desirous of "getting cla- boards for his house, not knowing where to get them, asked Ensign John Gould to let him get them upon his division."
At a town meeting April 12, 1682 it was voted to give Zacheus Curtis, Sr., "Claboards & shingels for to Clabor (d) & Shingell his house provided et dos not amount to above fivteen hundred of Clabords & Shingell."
William Perkins, son of Rev. William had a house built in 1691, a few years before his death. He made a contract with Joseph Hale of Newbury to do the work, which has been preserved : 6 "Thease preasents witnesseth yt I Joseph Hale of Newbury in ye County of Esex in New England doe bind my self my heyers Executors or Administrators, to Heugh frame and seat up, and doe all ye Carpenters woorke of a House of : 25: foot long and 20: foot wide and 14 foot stud, for William Pearkins of Topsfield in ye above sd County at or before ye first of march next insueing ye date heare of ye woorke is to be compleatly finished, & ye aboue sd William
4 Essex Co. Probate Files, Docket 6,705.
5 Essex Co. Probate Files, Docket 29,826.
6 Topsfield Hist. Coll., Vol. XVIII.
84
THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
Pearkins doe like so In gage my self my hyers or Executors, to provid for ye above sd Joseph hale meat drink and Like- wise to bring all ye Tymber into Place yt is needfull for ye building and to provide sutch as shall be sutable for ye same, and likewise to provide Boards shingles and nails sutable for ye woorke, In consideration to Twenty seaven Poundes wch ye above sd william peareins have Given for ye payment of and to ye suere performance of what is above written I the above sd Joseph Hale doe seat to my hand and seale this: 16: of march: 1691 The poasts are to be split and studs and joyst sawd Sealed and delivered in ye William Perkins (seal) Joseph Hale preasents of : witnesses John How Philip Goodridge"
In the first years of the colony the settlers were advised by Rev. Francis Higginson, of Salem, to bring all things needed before they came. For when you are once parted with Eng- land you shall meete neither markets nor fayres to buy what you want, he wrote. Be sure to furnish yourself with many things which were better for you to think of there than to want them here. 7
Clothing, arms and tools of all kinds were brought over but the natural resources and fruits of their husbandry were ex- pected to supply the rest of the things necessary to life and comfort. But the hardships and inconveniences of living were met and overcome. In a few years the rawness and discomfort disappeared and by the time the settlement of Topsfield was well under way a comfortable degree of living was enjoyed in most homes while a few may have had a degree of luxury with fine furnishings.
Most of the first houses in Topsfield were doubtless similar to those of the average class of people in other towns in the colony. There was usually but one room and an entry way on the first floor with a chamber above and sometimes a garret. As the family increased in size and became more prosperous another room would be added to the house on the other side of the entry and chimney, making the structure a so-called two-room house. Still later, with the need for more room, a leanto would be built on the back of the house, thereby supply- ing three additional rooms on the ground floor with a kitchen in the middle.
7 Higginson's N. E. Plantation, L., 1630.
85
EARLY HOUSES AND HOME LIFE
The earlier kitchen would then become a living-room or sitting room. In 1686, the town laid out to Mr. Capen, the minister, an additional "ten foot for a leantoo on the west ende." This earlier kitchen was usually called the hall during the seventeenth century and in it centered the life of the family. It was the room where the food was cooked and eaten. There the family sat and there the indoor work was carried on. A loom sometimes occupied considerable space near a window and frequently a bed was made up in a corner, on which the father of the family slept.
The principal feature of this common room was its huge fireplace in which hung pots and kettles suspended by means of pot chains and trammels from the hardwood trammel-bar or lug-pole that rested on wooden cross bars and so bisected the wide flue in the chimney. These large fireplaces in the early days were sometimes called "chimneys" in the vernac- ular of the time. They were generally as wide as eight feet and a ten foot opening is not unknown. Such a fireplace was in the old Cummings-Foster-Horne house on Rowley Bridge Street near the Copper Mine Road. A person could stand upright in it. There is also a similar one in the Parson Capen house.
This cavernous opening was spanned by a wooden lintel, a stick of timber sometimes sixteen inches or more square, and when exposed to a roaring fire, piled high with logs, this became an element of danger, the charring wood smoldering all night and setting fire to the house. The trammel-bar in the flue also caught fire not infrequently and gave way, allow- ing the pots and kettles to fall to the hearth, bringing disaster to the dinner or to the curdling milk and sometimes to those seated near. On cold nights the short bench inside the fire- place was a chosen place and the settle, a long seat made of boards with a high back to keep off the draft, was drawn before the fire and here sat the older members of the family.
The larger kettles hanging in the fireplace, were of brass and copper and some of them were of prodigious size. Hot water was always to be had and these kettles served for daily cooking, cheese-making, soap-boiling, and candle-dipping.
Much of the food of the average family, until comparatively recent times, consisted of corn-meal, boiled meats and vege- tables and stews. Every well-equipped household had its spits for roasting and many had gridirons, but the usual diet of the average family was "hasty pudding," corn-meal mush and milk, varied by boiled meat or fish served in the center of a large pewter platter and surrounded by boiled vegetables.
86
THE HISTORY OF TOPSFIELD
Baked beans and stewed beans appeared on the table several times every week in the year. Indian bannock, made by mixing corn meal with water and spreading it an inch thick on a small board placed at an incline before the fire and so baked, was a common form of bread. When mixed with rye meal it became brown bread and was baked in the brick oven with the beans and peas.
The brick oven was a feature of every chimney. Sometimes in early days it was built partly outside the house but so far as known the opening was always in the kitchen fireplace. To reach it the housewife stooped below the oaken lintel and stood inside the fireplace, taking care that her woolen skirts did not come near the flames. To heat it for a baking, a fire was built inside, usually with specially prepared pine or birch wood that had been split and seasoned out of doors for a short time and then housed. The oven was hot enough when the black was burned off the top and the inside had become a uniform light color. The fire and ashes were then taken out by means of a peel, a long-handled flat-bladed shovel made for the purpose and when dusted out with a broom made of hemlock twigs it was ready for the brown bread, beans, peas, Indian pudding, pies and rye drop cakes which were made with rye meal, eggs and milk and baked directly on the bricks in the bottom of the oven. Potatoes and eggs were roasted in the ashes of the fireplace.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.