USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 10
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DEATHS OF PROMINENT MEN.
1694. November 5, died, Deacon John Burnham, the ancestor of the Burnhams in this place, and one of the first deacons of the church here.
On the last month of this century, December, 1700, William Cogswell, son of John Cogswell died, Æ. 81. He had been a very active, and highly useful citizen in this place, and his death was much lamented.
We have now reviewed the principal events and trans- actions relating to. our ancestors in this place, from their settlement here, to the close of the 17th century. We have seen something of their trials, and sufferings, their
109
WISDOM OF OUR ANCESTORS.
1634-1700.]
energy and enterprise, their mode of living, and daily pur- suits ; their regard for the Bible and the Sabbath ; their love for the worship of God; their obedience to his com- mands ; and their regard for the best welfare of all among them.
If, in glancing at their civil regulations, we have been disposed to smile at some of them, as too particular, and interfering too much with the personal concerns, tastes and habits of private life, we must remember that they are not to be judged of, in these respects, by our modern views of civil, or national affairs. In the infancy of their settle- ments, they more resembled one large family, with several branches on the same plantation, than a state or a nation. And in their family state, their laws and regulations would, of course, resemble those, which are adopted in every well regulated family, rather than those, which are enacted by the government of a nation. Judged in this light, we see the wisdom as well as the benevolence, and watchful care, which marked all their social, civil, and ecclesiastical reg- ulations. One thing is certain that whatever fault we may find, as to the shape, and appearance of the tree, which they planted, or their manner of setting it in the ground, it has proved a healthy, long-lived tree, and borne the best of fruit. And is not the tree to be judged by its fruit ? Shall we then be wise in cutting down this tree, and plant- ing one of an opposite nature ? Shall we not do well to cherish the same principles of piety and virtue, which our fathers so warmly cherished, and follow in the same steps of sobriety, holiness and truth, in which they walked, if we would like them, hand down the blessings of a well regulated community to children's children ? Happy is that people, that is in such a ease ; yea, happy is that peo- ple, whose God is the Lord.
CHAPTER II.
1700-1745.
TO THE DIVISION OF CHIEBACCO INTO TWO PARISHES.
AT the close of the seventeenth century, Chebacco Par- ish, in Ipswich, contained a population of about three hundred souls, a church with a settled pastor, a school, and a military company .* A house of worship had been erected. Five saw-mills were in operation. A ship-yard had been laid out. Three bridges and two causeways had been built on the road from Ipswich Centre to Gloucester. The business of the place consisted chiefly of farming, fishing and boat-building.
In the mother country, King William was still upon the throne. He lived, however, but a short period in the eighteenth century, expiring on the 8th of March, 1702; and was succeeded, on the same day, by Queen Anne.
Dudley was the first Governor of Massachusetts ap- pointed after the opening of this century, Gov. Bellamont having died March 5th, and Lt. Gov. Stoughton, July 7th, 1701. On Stoughton's death the executive office devolved for the first time upon the Council, a body consisting of twenty-nine members elected annually by the House of Representatives, and which corresponded to our Senate. Gov. Dudley arrived in 1702, and continued in office four- teen years. His administration during all this period was odious to our fathers; for though a native of Massachu- setts, he was an enemy to popular liberty ; and was, there- fore, opposed, in most of the acts of his government, by the representatives of the people. When he was Chief
*" In 1683 Chebacco has 64 infantry besides troopers."
111
THE FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE.
1700-1745.]
Justice, under Gov. Andros, he kept the minister of this place and some others from Ipswich in prison, in violation of the rights of Englishmen. We allude to these State affairs because they were matters in which our fathers in this town took a deep interest, and in which their repre- sentatives acted an important part, so that they were of course, exciting topics of conversation by their firesides. There were then but two parties in the colony : the roy- alists, and the friends of liberty. The great body of the people were on the latter side; on the former, only the officers of the crown, and a few others, who sought their patronage. As a prerogative of the crown and its officers, Dudley insisted on a fixed and permanent salary. But neither the House of Representatives nor the Council would allow it, but granted him such a sum only from year to year as they thought best. Dudley, after a long contest, was compelled to submit. The people triumphed as they did also in similar contests with other royal Governors.
1702. It appears from the following entry in the Parish Records that the first school-house was erected this year :
" Whereas it was left to the Selectmen (of Chebacco) to appoint a place for the erecting a school house in Chebacco, we, the subscribers, having duly considered the same, have appointed that the said house be built on the right hand of the way as you go from the Meeting-house to Dea. Thomas Low's, upon a handsome, rising, dry piece of ground, right opposite to Mr. Adam Cogswell's barn, which is accounted to be pretty near the centre of the place. Near by said place stands a shrubbed white oak.
NATHI. RUST, JR., BENJ. MARSHALL, JOHN CHOATE, NATH. GOODHUE,
Selectmen."
This school-house, therefore, stood on " the common," in front of the house now owned by William H. Mears, and continued to be used for school purposes till 1757, when it was sold, and a new one built. What its dimensions were, we are not informed. It was doubtless small, designed to accommodate all the children in the place-about fifty in number. The school, which had been originally com- menced in this parish in June, 1695, had been hitherto
112
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 2.
kept in the private house of the teacher, Nathaniel Rust, Jr., (now Mr. Mears' dwelling-house.) The erection of this first school-house was, in that day, a great affair in the little community of our fathers, and excited, no doubt, great interest among them. In generations to come, it will be interesting to their posterity, as education advances, to trace it back to this small beginning. May they never have occasion to say that they are doing less in proportion to their numbers, and ability for the education of their children, than did their fathers in 1702. The privilege of six months' schooling was then given annually to every child and youth in the place, even at a time when, in ad- dition to other hardships, they were obliged to do their part in maintaining expensive and harassing wars with the French and Indians. Generally at that day the only books used in the schools were reading and spelling books. Arithmetic was taught by the master's writing the rules and examples in the scholars' manuscripts, to be wrought by them on the slate. As the parents had been required by law to instruct their children in the principal laws of the country, and in moral and religious truth, so the same was expected of their school-teacher. The school-masters at that time were chosen by the parish. Among the earliest whose names are known, were Samuel Phillips in 1709, a graduate of Harvard College in. 1708, and after- wards pastor of the South Church in Andover; and Wil- liam Giddings, in 1713.
1703. It is a fact that may serve to show the compara- tive importance of Ipswich in the early settlement of the country, both in civil and military affairs, that it paid a higher County and State tax in 1703, than any other town in the County, Salem not excepted.
Before the close of this year a French and Indian war broke out, which lasted through ten long years at the ex- pense of much blood and treasure. Every fifth man, it was stated in a public document, was called into the mili- tary service. This war commenced with the attack of the
113
MR. WISE'S HOUSE.
1700-1745.]
Indians on Deerfield in the Connecticut valley. Three years before, ninety men, of which this town furnished its quota, had been drawn from the Essex regiments to be stationed at Haverhill, Amesbury, Wells, and Kittery, to prevent surprise from the enemy. In 1704, Col. Church, known for his exploits in former wars, was sent to the province of Maine to operate against the enemy, with five hundred and sixty men. He proceeded to the Penobscot River, and there killed and took captive many Indians. He then went up the river St. Croix, and took the town of Menis. There were doubtless several from this place in this, as in other expeditions. One-fifth of the men called out to war, would require ten or twelve from Chebacco to be more or less constantly absent from home. On the 18th of May, this year, a public Fast was observed "to pray," as the proclamation stated, " for her majesty, that her forces, and those of her allies, and of this Province may prevail, that the sea-coast, and inland frontiers be protected and that there be a plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit of God for a thorough reformation of all evils."
About this time, as we learn from the parish record, Mr. Wise built for himself a house on the ten-acre lot, which the parish had bought and given him, at his ordination for a settlement. The old parsonage-house, it will be remem- bered, stood in the parsonage-lot, nearly opposite the resi- dence of Capt. Joseph Choate, at the north end of said lot. There Mr. Wise had lived for about twenty years, when he built this house on his own land, on the spot where the house of the late John Mears, Sen., now stands, fronting the same way, and, as tradition says, with the same yard before it. On enlarging his cellar in 1844, Mr. Mears found a shoe-buckle brush, with the initials of Mr. Wise's name on the handle. It appears that before Mr. Wise built his house, the parish had engaged to build for him a new par- sonage; and also to give Mrs. Wise £100, in case she should be left a widow in the parsonage-house ; as she would then be obliged to remove from it. But at a sub- 15
114
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 2.
sequent meeting, they offered their minister £50 if he would release them from these obligations, and give bond to pay the parish £80, if he left them to settle over any other people. It stands on the record in these words with some abridgments :
" May the 21, 1701. It was then voted, that, provided the Rev. Mr. John Wise forgive us all the behindments relating to his salary until the be- ginning of this present year ; and also that he forgive us all the stone wall that the place is yet obliged to do about the pasture, and also doth acquit and discharge us from all repairs of the parsonage-house, except shingling and groundselling and clapboarding ; and also from a house this place was form- erly obliged to build for him ; and from the £100 it was formerly voted to Mrs. Wise, provided she was left a widow,-it is voted that we will give to our minister, Mr. John Wise, the full sum of £50. He, the said Mr. John Wise shall give bonds," etc.
This offer of the parish Mr. and Mrs. Wise accepted ; and in a few years after, he removed to his own house ; receiving during his life the rents of the old parsonage- house ; which, at his decease reverted to the parish.
Let us visit the first minister in his new dwelling. The way is familiar but the scenery of olden time is new to us. Extensive forests confine our view chiefly to the road and adjacent fields. As we go from the Centre to the North End, we leave the new school-house on the common upon our left, Capt. Adam Cogswell's house and barn upon our right, and soon the meeting-house, also upon our right, and the old parsonage upon our left, and after a short distance farther, we come to the new parsonage, as it is called. Mrs. Wise receives us at the door, and entertains us with much hospitality. Mr. Wise is in his study. The younger children are at school, while her daughters in the kitchen are preparing the repast for noon. On inquiring for the welfare of her children, the good lady gives us the follow- ing particulars : Jeremiah, the eldest, was graduated at Harvard College about four years since. Having studied theology and been licensed to preach, he is settled in the ministry at Berwick in the Province of Maine. Lucy was married, about a year since, to the Rev. John White of
115
VISIT TO MR. WISE.
1700-1745.]
Gloucester. Joseph is living in Boston. Ammi Ruhami, Henry and John are at school. The hour of dinner having come, Mr. Wise is called from his study, and we take our seat with him at the social board. Presently the boys come in from school, and are seated with us.
" Well my boys," said the father, " what has Master Rust said to you to- day ?"
" After repeating our Catechism, he asked us who was the governor of the Province, and who was queen of England, and the name of her sister, that was queen before her."
" And could you tell ?" inquired their father.
" Yes," says one ; " I knew that Governor Dudley is our governor."
" And I knew," said another " that Anne is our queen ; for I heard you speaking of her, the other day, and of her sister Mary as the wife of King William, and daughter of King James. But Master Rust is going to ask us more questions about it, and wants us to find out how James came to be a Catholic, and his daughters Protestants, and what the story is about Anne's running away from home, when Mary and her husband came to take away their father's throne."
" Well, boys, I will tell you the story after dinner," added the father.
Dinner being ended, we are invited into the study-the south-west corner chamber-that its occupant may have the most light and heat. The library before us is not ex- tensive, though sufficient to acquaint and enlarge the mind with a knowledge of history, philosophy, the ancient clas- sics, and especially theology. The Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, with their respective Lexicons, are upon the table for daily use. We notice Gurnel's "Armor of Light" by the side of Dalton's " County Justice," upon the shelf, showing that the pastor must have the law for civil ac- tion, as well as the gospel for spiritual direction.
" Now for the story about King James and his daughters," says the father to the sons. " I will make it short, that you may remember and tell it to your teacher. The two brothers, Charles and James, after their father Charles the First was beheaded, were in exile with their mother in Papal countries, and were brought up Catholics. Charles, when he came to the throne of England after Cromwell's death, was secretly a Catholic. But he knew that he could not be king of England without declaring himself a Protestant. He had no children to succeed him. His brother James, then Duke of York, would be his successor, if living at his death. But he seems to have thought
116
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 2.
that he should live as long as his brother, that the daughters of James would be his successors, and that it was as necessary that they should be educated Protestants as that he should declare himself one. So with his kingly power, he took his brother's daughters, Mary and Anne, and placed them in Protes- tant families, under Protestant teachers. But James outlived Charles ; and came to the throne a bigoted papist. This of course, could not be endured by Englishmen. Secretly a conspiracy was formed against him. William, Prince of Orange, who had married his daughter Mary, then at the head of the Dutch nation, was invited by the conspirators to come over to England, and take the throne with his wife, who was the next heir to the crown. William and Mary came, and after fighting several battles, James was obliged to flee from the country. Anne, who had married George, Prince of Denmark, was at home, when William and Mary landed on the western shores of England. Wishing to join her sister, she improved the opportunity of her father's absence, who was at Salisbury eighty miles distant, to escape privately. Lady Church- ill, her particular friend, communicated to some of the leading conspirators her wish to do so, and in a few hours everything was arranged. Accompanied by a friend and two female attendants, she stole down the back-stairs in a · dressing-gown and slippers, at dead of night, and gained the street unchal- lenged. A hackney-coach was in waiting. Two men guarded the humble vehicle. One of them was the bishop of London, her old tutor. The car- riage drove to his house, where she was secreted for the night. The next day she joined the army of the insurgents. When James reached home and found that Anne had gone, he exclaimed in agony "God help me ! my own chil- dren have forsaken me."
To this story our school-boys listened with the greatest eagerness, and will, no doubt, be able to give their teacher the principal facts, if not all the particulars. As the chil- dren are retiring, the father expresses his satisfaction at the progress of education among us,-that we have now a school of six months for all the children in the place, taught by a faithful, industrious and well-qualified teacher. He alludes also, with much pleasure, to the fact that five young men, have participated in the privileges of the Latin school in the town, have enjoyed the advantages and honors of Harvard University, and are pleasantly and usefully laboring in the ministry. We inquire of him his opinion of the late act of Queen Anne in declaring war against France. At this he expresses his deep regret, as involving us in all the horrors of another French and In- dian war. But we must trust in God, he says, and buckle
117
REV. FRANCIS GOODIIUE.
1700-1745.]
on the armor for self-defence. It is a day that calls for courage and bodily strength, as well as for faith and prayer. But hark ! Some one is knocking at the door below. Mr. Wise is called down to see a stranger. We look from the window into the yard, and see that the stranger has tied his horse to a post within, and hear him say to our pastor, " Sir, my name is Chandler, of the town of Andover; hear- ing that you were a famous wrestler, and having myself some success that way, having thrown all in our region, I have come all the way from Andover to take hold with you." "No objection to that," is the pleasant reply. They take hold in earnest, and after a few struggles, Mr. Chan- dler is laid upon his back. On rising, he is not satisfied, and wishes for another trial. The result is that Mr. Wise not only lays him a second time upon his back, but gently puts him over the fence into the street. "And now," says Chandler, " if you will just throw my horse over after me, I will go along." With this amusing incident, we take leave for the present of the pastor's house.
1705. The snow was so deep during the Winter that there was no moving about without snow-shoes, and what was very remarkable, horses had to wear them as well as men.
1707. September 15th, Rev. Francis Goodhne, a native of this place, died at Rehoboth in Bristol County.
" He was the successor in the ministry at Jamaica, L. I., of the Rev. John Hubbard, a native of Ipswich who graduated at Harvard College, 1695, set- tled over the Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, February, 1702, and died October 5, 1705, aged 28. Mr. Goodhue was settled the same year that Mr. Hubbard died. He was a native of the same place and probably had been a companion of Hubbard in childhood, as he was but one year younger, and both pursued their studies preparatory to college in the Ipswich Grammar School. He was a son of Dea. William and Hannah Goodhue, and was born in Chebacco Parish, Ipswich, Mass., October 4, 1678. His grandfather, William, was one of the most influential, and respectable men in the colony of Massachusetts, whose " many virtues " are said to have " conferred honor upon his name and family." Francis Goodhue graduated at Harvard in 1699, and was settled at Jamaica in 1705. At the close of the summer of 1707, he went from that place on a journey to New England to visit his rel-
118
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHIAP. 2.
atives, but died of fever on his way, at Rehoboth, Mass., where he was buried. The ministry of Goodhue was short, but it was eminently useful in keeping the congregation together under its adverse circumstances. It is deeply af- feeting to contemplate the situation of the congregation called thus to mourn over the early graves of two ministers, who, having been pleasant and lovely in their lives, in death were not far divided. A literary friend has kindly furnished me with the following elegant lines on Mr. Goodhue, taken from the Boston News Letter of February 28, 1723 :
"' Libertas nomen ; bonitas conjuneta colori Cognomen præbent ; Insula Longa gregem. Nascitur Ipsvici ; dissolvitur inter eundum ; Seconchæ lecto molliter ossa cubant. Doctrina, officium, pietas, adamata juventus, nil contra jussam convaluere necem. Pars potior sedes procedit adire beatas, gaudens placato semper adesse Deo.'
" Which may be thus translated :
" Liberty gives him a name (Francis ;) good joined to hue, a surname ; Long Island, a flock. Born at Ipswich, he dies whilst traveling. His bones softly repose in their bed at Seekonk. Learning, sacred office, piety, amiable youth could avail nothing against death decreed. The immortal part enters into Paradise, rejoicing to be forever in the presence of God reconciled." *
His library was brought home to his father. Two vol- umes of it-" Calvin's Institutes " and "Elton on Colos- sians,"-printed in London in 1634, and containing his autograph, are now in the author's possession.
1710. It was during this year that Mr. Wise wrote and published his treatise on the liberty and independence of the churches, under the quaint title, "The Churches' Quar- rel Espoused." The occasion of his putting forth the treat- ise was as follows : At the meeting of ministers in Boston on Election week, May, 1705, several questions were pro- posed and discussed relating to councils, and the best method of conducting the government and discipline of the Congregational churches; and the consideration of them recommended to the several associated ministers in the different parts of the colonies. They adjourned, and met again in Boston on the same subject, in September following, and again in November, and finally agreed on several " Proposals" to be printed and circulated among the churches. These proposals were sixteen in number,
*" Ilistory of the Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, L. I., by J. M. MacDonald, pastor. 1847."
119
DEACON THOMAS LOW.
1700-1745.]
under two general divisions ; the first eight respecting the action of associated ministers in licensing candidates for the ministry, determining when it was expedient for coun- cils to be called, and the propriety of each pastor submit- ting such cases of discipline as would be likely to produce any embroilments to the consideration and advice of his associated brethren, before proceeding to any action on them in his church. The second division of the proposals related to standing councils, to consist of associated minis- ters, and lay delegates from their respective churches, to meet at least once a year, and as much oftener as the association of ministers might determine. These proposals, however honestly intended for the good of the churches, ob- viously contain principles, which, if carried out, must tend to subvert their liberties. So it was considered by some in that day, and the danger thus threatening the churches drew from the pen of our first minister here a sharp and able reply ; which is still numbered among our standard works in ecclesiastical affairs.
This year, news arrives that William Cogswell of this place is killed by the Indians; probably in some one of the frequent skirmishes that occurred in Maine.
1712. April 12th, died, Dea. Thomas Low, aged 80. He left a widow, Martha, and seven children, Samuel, Jonathan, David, Martha Dodge, Joanna Dodge, Sarah and Abigail Goodhue. He was one of the deacons of the church here 1 from its commencement to his decease. Besides the man- agement of an extensive farm, he entered largely into the business of making malt. He was a prominent man in the church, and for several years parish clerk. His will, made four years before his death, thus begins :
" In the name of God, Amen. I Thomas Low, of Ipswich, in the county of Essex, in the Massachusetts Bay, Maltster, not knowing how soon it may please God Almighty to call me to my long home, and to the grave, the place appointed for all the living ; therefore I make this to be my last Will and Testament. First of all I commit my immortal soul into the gracious hands of God, that gave it, and my body to the grave, and a decent burial, in hope of a glorious resurrection through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, my
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