USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 11
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120
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 2.
only Redeemer. And for what of worldly goods or estates it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life, I do hereby give and bequeath to my be- loved wife and children, as hereafter followeth."
The will is dated, " 17th of June, 1708, in the seventh year of the reign of Queen Anne."
Let us visit the house so recently deprived of its pos- sessor and head. Following the road to the bridge, we turn to the right through a gate, near the present dwell- ing of Abel Story, and traveling about sixty rods westerly, come to the mansion, so well known a hundred and fifty years ago, as Dea. Low's. There are some pleasant en- closures near the house ; but the trees are so thick we cannot see the river, and the cattle have their pasture in woods, but little thinned as yet by the axe. On entering the dwelling, we find the afflicted widow occupying " the new end" of the house, which the Deacon had built but a few years before his death. Samuel, the oldest son, occu- pies the other part of the house, where he has lived since his marriage. His (Samuel's) family, especially the prat- tling babes, are a source of much comfort to the bereaved grandmother. We find her meekly submissive to the will of God, though heavily afflicted in the departure of one with whom she had lived in the conjugal state more than fifty years. She speaks of her loss in accents of sorrow, yet relieved and consoled with the hope of soon being with him in a brighter and better world. She dwells with fond recollection on his many virtues as a Christian hus- band and father, and particularly of his love to her ex- pressed in the ample provision which he had made for her in her widowed state. As she perceives by our looks that we desire her to go on, she enters into particulars, and states that he had left her the use of the new end, in which they had lived together the last few years of his life, with all their ancient furniture, and provisions more than enough for her use, consisting of two hundred weight of pork yearly, with ten barrels of Winter apples, and all the Summer fruit she needed, two barrels of cider, six
121
MALT-MAKING.
1700-1745.]
bushels of malt, three of Indian corn, and one of wheat, besides ten shillings in money, fourteen pounds of wool and twelve of flax, wood for one fire, the milk of two cows, and a horse to ride at her pleasure and convenience, together with the garden at the end of the house.
As her husband was a maltster, she invites us out to see the establishment in a building near by, where the busi- ness is still carried on by her son Samuel. On entering, we notice many bags of barley lying on one side, ready to be made into malt. The kiln or oven is upon the ground before us. In a sort of chamber, seven feet above the oven, bars of wood are laid stretching from beam to beam, crossed by others laid on them, so as to form a lat- tice, over which is spread a hair cloth, eight or ten feet square. The barley is first washed, then spread upon this hair cloth to be dried. Small openings in the kiln be- neath are constantly sending up heat and smoke for the drying process. It is then cleansed by a sieve prepared for the purpose, and carried to a mill in the other end of the building, where it is ground, and comes out malt. The barley, when wet, increases in size sufficiently to pay the maltster, by returning measure for measure. The whole presents a busy scene. Boys as well as men are employed. Some are washing the barley, and carrying it aloft for spreading. Others are removing what is dried, for the purpose of sifting and carrying it to the mill. Another is tending the fire beneath, and keeping the horse in motion in his never-ending circle ; and all to fur- nish a drink, which shall be both palatable and harmless. We learn, however, from the maltster, that the business is declining, since it is found that apples, even of the meanest kind, make a more exhilarating as well as cheaper drink, and that this branch of his business is increasing yearly, while the other is decreasing. From the malt- house we go to the cider-mill, and look in upon its oper- ations. Here is no. trouble of washing the materials. Heaps of apples lie upon the ground just as they were 16
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CIAr. 2.
taken from under the trees, crabbed, wormy and rotten. We retire from these manufactories of liquors, fully con- vinced by the teachings of experience, that the more "strong drink," the more thirst, and that health and morals can be secured only by entire abstinence from all that in- toxicates.
This same year died Dea. William Goodhue, (or Capt. William Goodhue, as he was more generally called,) aged about seventy years. As captain of the militia in this place, he was no doubt often called upon to engage in excursions against the French and Indians. He filled, at several different periods, the office of selectman of the town, and of representative to the General Court. He was a leading man in the parish and church, and was 'highly respected, eminently useful and greatly beloved. It was stated in Chapter I. of this History, that he accom- panied Mr. Wise to the caucus held in the center of the town, to devise measures for resisting illegal taxation, and was imprisoned for so doing by Gov. Andros. This honor is given in Felt's History to William, his father, who re- sided in the center of the town. But the father was then more than seventy years of age, and had retired from public life ; while William, the son, was about forty-five years old, an intimate friend and near neighbor to Mr. Wise, and therefore most likely to accompany his minis- ter on such an expedition, (especially as it was unsafe in' that day to travel alone.) Dea. Goodhue left a widow and six children, viz: Hannah Cogswell, Margery Giddings, Bethiah Marshall, Nathaniel, Joseph and John.
1714, August 1. Queen Anne departed this life at noon, having reigned a little more than twelve years. Mr. Wise in his preface to "The Churches' Quarrel Espoused " thus eulogizes her while living :
" My conclusion is with the devoutest application to the supreme throne, that the Almighty God will bless the great Anne, our wise and Protestant princess, New England's royal nurse, and the great benefactress, that she may live to see all her Protestant churches, through her vast empire, more virtuous, and.
123
COMMONERS' LAND.
1700-1745.]
more united, and as they all meet and center, with their differing persuasions, by their love and loyal actions, in her person and government, let her most excellent majesty, next to Christ, continue absolute in her empire over their hearts, and as she has made such a complete conquest of all differing parties within her dominions, by her wise and virtuous measures, and thereby won all the fame of rule and sovereignty from her royal progenitors, who could never so charm such mighty nations, let her reign continue the exactest model for all courts in Europe ! And when she is full, repleat and satisfied with length of days, and the most glorious effects of a prosperous reign, let God favor her lasting, and flourishing name with an unperishing monument, on which justice shall become obliged to inseribe this memento : 'Here lies in funeral pomp the princess of the earth, the store-house of all ennobling, and princely per- fections.'"'
On the same day that Queen Anne died, George, elector of Brunswick, is proclaimed king of Great Britain. After the news arrived here, Gov. Dudley issued his proclama- tion, September 17th, declaring George the First to be king of the Province; and soon after retired. He was succeeded by Gov. Shute, the son of an eminent citizen in London, whose family were generally dissenters, or pu- ritans. In early .life he went into the army under King William, was made a captain and afterwards a colonel. He was esteemed at Court, had the character of a friend to liberty, and was of an open, generous and humane dis- position. He arrived in Boston, October 14, 1716; was received with the usual parade.
1716. COMMONERS' LAND.
" At a legal meeting of the proprietors of the common and undivided lands in the town of Ipswich, the 27th of January, 1716," a committee was chosen to divide the common lands "into eight parts, lying each part as near as may be for the accommodation of such as lie nearest to it, and to have respect to quantity and quality." The committee in their report say, "In order hereunto we have measured the said commons, and find it to amount to 7,335 acres, and we have divided it accordingly. " We laid out one-eighth convenient for the proprietors of Chebacco ; with a line beginning twenty polls and an half to the Eastward of the Widow Choate's corner ; and run- ning Southwardly to a stake and heap of stones standing to the Northward of Chebacco pond ; and so from said stake on the saine line to the pond. (The stake stands twenty perch and an half more Eastwardly than it did at first.) And to the East of this there are 1,084 acres, which we account 873 acres."
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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1717. We find this year, for the first time, mention made of the existence of Slavery among us. From a bill of sale still extant, dated July 30, 1717, it appears that Joshua Norwood of Gloucester sold to Jonathan Burnham of Chebacco, for £64 in bills of credit, a negro boy whom he had bought of Thomas Choate of Hogg Island .* During most of the last century, slaves were held by our fathers in this and the neighboring towns, and in the colonies gen- erally. How shall we justify them in that which we now condemn ? While we have such exalted views of the in- tegrity and piety of our puritan ancestors, can we say that being slave-holders, they could not have been Christians ? But while compelled to admit, that it is possible for a slave- holder, who treats his slaves well, to be a Christian, we have in the case of our fathers some things to say in their behalf, as to the way in which they became slave-holders, and their conduct in reference to it. They did not send vessels to Africa to bring slaves to this country. They did not enter at all into the slave-trade, nor willingly give it any en- couragement. On the contrary, they remonstrated most loudly against it. All the slaves here were originally brought from Africa to this country in English ships, and forced upon the colonies. "England," says Bancroft " stole from Africa, from 1700 to 1750, probably a million and a half of souls, of whom one-eighth were buried in the At- lantic, victims of the passage, and yet in England no gen- eral indignation rebuked the enormity. Massachusetts unremittingly opposed the introduction of slaves. In 1701 the town of Boston instructed its representatives to put a period to negroes being slaves. In 1705, the General Court imposed a tax upon those who brought slaves into the market, of so much for every slave sold." All the colonies at the South, as well as the North, were always opposed to the African slave-trade. But England per-
* This must have been Gov. Tho. Choate, so called ; as his son, Lieut. Thomas, would have been but 24 years old in 1717, and the sale to Norwood might have been a con- siderable time before, thus making Lieut. Thomas, perhaps, a minor.
-
125
SLAVERY.
1700-1745.]
sisted in bringing them and landing them upon our shores. But why did our fathers buy them ? The only apparent reason is that of humanity or necessity. If they had not taken them into their families by purchase, they might have been left to perish in our streets, or subjected to all the horrors of another passage over the Atlantic to be sold to some other country. If they had been left unpro- vided for, upon our shores, they must have perished ; for they were as incapable of providing for themselves, as the most neglected and ignorant child. "The concurrent testimony of tradition," says Bancroft, "represents the negroes at their arrival to have been gross and stupid, having memory and physical strength, but undisciplined in the exercise of reason, and imagination." Their condi- tion, therefore, was at once improved as soon as they came into the possession of our fathers. They dwelt under the same roof; their wants were all cared for; they worked shoulder to shoulder with their masters in the field; sat by the same fire with the children, were taken to church with them on the Sabbath, and instructed in the great truths of Christianity, and when our fathers were made free, they were made free with them. There is nothing in these facts to diminish aught of England's guilt in the enormities of the slave-trade; but they certainly furnish some apology for our fathers in giving a home to those who were already bondmen.
During this year Mr. Wise publishes another treatise, entitled " A Vindication of the Government of the New England Churches, Drawn from Antiquity, the Light of Nature, the Holy Scriptures, its Noble Nature, and from the Dignity which Divine Providence has put upon it." Two years before this, he received a written request from the ministers in Gloucester to print a new edition of his former treatise, couched in the following language :
" Reverend Sir : We have had the favor and satisfaction of reading, and according to our measure considering the transcendent logic, as well as gram- mar and rhetoric of your Reply to the Proposals; by which our eyes are
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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opened to see much more than ever before we saw of the value and glory of our invaded privileges, and are of opinion that if your consent may be ob- tained to a new edition it may be of wonderful service to our churches, if God shall please to go forth with it. However it will be a testimony that all our watchmen were not asleep, nor the camp of Christ surprised and taken be- fore they had warning We are, &c.,
SAMUEL MOODEY. JOHN WHITE.
" Gloucester, March 25, 1715."
Mr. Wise probably delayed complying with this request, till he had completed his second treatise, and then pub- lished them both together in one volume. Another edi- tion of them was published some years after, together with the Platform adopted by the churches in 1648, and the Confession of Faith in 1680.
In the month of April, this year, much anxiety and alarm were felt by the people in this place, as on all the sea-board, on account of pirates cruising on our coast.
1718. ERECTION. OF THE SECOND HOUSE OF WORSHIP.
This year a new house of worship was erected. Two years before, it had been voted at a Parish meeting-
" That when there shall be a vote for building a new meeting-house in Chebacco, said house shall be erected upon the land lying on the easterly side of a white oak tree, on the right hand of the highway, beyond the school-house ; said tree being about thirty rods westerly of said school-house."
A committee was chosen by the Parish-
" To wait on Mr. Wise to see if he be willing that the new meeting-house shall be removed from the site of the old one so far as the plain by Moses Rust's, and he expose himself to come so far from the new parsonage to carry on the service of God's holy worship there."
In October of the year preceding this, viz., 1717, it was voted to build a meeting-house fifty-two feet by forty-two, and twenty-one in height, and that it be erected the en- suing winter. The site first chosen was near where the pound now is. But afterward another spot was selected, and by much labor prepared for the new house. This was in the rear of the house now owned by Henry Mears.
127
THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE.
1700-1745.]
The road in that day, in passing the corner from the North End to the Falls, was over the high land, westerly of its present course. Gravel was dug for the highway near the lower house now owned by Adam Boyd, in the rear of which, and near Mr. Boyd's upper house stood Mrs. Johannah Rust's house. The Record styles it, "The first knowle of land southerly from the gravel pit, which is on the front side of Mrs. Johannah Rust's dwelling-house."
Forty-seven voters entered their names on the Parish Record in favor of this new location for the meeting-house. But in May, 1718, it was voted-
" That, whereas, there was a place of late that has been in nomination, and also a considerable quantity of labor has been done by said inhabitants upon said place in order to level the same for the raising said house ; yet upon the urgent request of Mr. Wise, our Reverend Minister, that they would alter their designs concerning the same, and would be pleased to gratify his desire concerning said house, and raise it upon the plain spot of land by Moses Rust's, which formerly was voted by said inhabitants, for said service, and also, in viewing said plain and considering thereof, it is the opinion of most of said inhabitants, that the latter is far more commodious than the former to accom- modate the erecting said house ; wherefore it was voted that our new meeting house shall be raised upon the plane spot, agreeable to the former vote for setting the house there. The vote was further tried in the negative and no hand was held up."
When it is considered that the question of locating a meeting-house has generally proved a very difficult one, and has often done more to divide and alienate from each other the members of a parish, than almost anything else, we must give credit to our fathers for a spirit of mutual forbearance and conciliation, in coming to a unanimous vote on such a vexed question. It was also voted at this meeting-
" That the building committee, with the parish Clerk, shall take account of what people offer to do in raising the house, and also take care of such things as shall be given in, for the benefit of said work, and shall order and direct the workmen, upon the day of raising, to the several places of entertainment whereat people have promised to make provision for them."
The house was accordingly raised and nearly completed that Summer. Liberty is granted to certain individuals
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 2.
that desire it, to build pews around the house, next to the walls. These pews had lattice-work on the sides of them near the top, as is recollected by some aged persons now living. The rest of the house is filled with seats on each side of the broad aisle. Galleries are erected on three sides of the house. The pulpit, with an hour-glass upon it, is on the west side, opposite to the front door. A door is at each end north and south. A turret is on the center of the roof, for the new bell, which has been re- cently purchased, the rope of which hangs down in the middle of the house below. The roof on the inside re- mains unfinished, the beams and rafters and ridge-pole be- ing all in sight. A short ladder is kept standing on a plat- form resting on the cross-beams, and reaching to the bell.
After the dedication of the house, a committee is chosen " to dignify the seats and seat the people." This is a deli- cate and difficult task. There are certain rules, however, which, according to the customs of the day, govern and direct in this matter. The highest seat in dignity is in the middle of the house. The rest grow less and less in dig- nity as they recede from this, whether toward the pulpit or toward the door. The men occupy the seats on the right of the broad aisle, as you enter the house, the wo- men those on the left. The women are seated according to the dignity of their husbands, or, if widows, according as the dignity of their husbands had been. Magistrates have the pre-eminence. Next to them come military offi- cers in their various grades, from the major-general down to the corporal. Respect is also shown to the aged, and to those who have done special service for the benefit of the parish, or who pay the largest sum for the support of the ministry. In all these cases, however, a suitable abate- ment is made if a man is known to be in debt; he must take a lower seat in proportion to what he is owing. If we are disposed to object to this ancient custom, we must consider that it is in agreement with the public sentiment of the day. We must consider, too, that when the seats
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NURSERIES OF CIVIL LIBERTY.
1700-1745.]
are free, some system for assigning them to individuals and families, as their places of sitting from Sabbath to Sabbath, must be adopted by the parish, to preserve order and prevent confusion. Having removed to their new house, the old one (on Meeting-House Hill) in which our fathers had worshiped for nearly forty years, and in which they had held all their parish meetings, is left desolate, and soon after sold, pursuant to a vote of the parish.
The site of the second house was near the Town Pound. Thus " the common " more than a hundred years ago, was occupied with a parish-church and school-house, leaving room besides for the regular military musters, and all the accompaniments of a training day.
If we seem to make too much of these matters, it should be considered that they were the germ of the liberty and independence of our whole land. Our towns, and schools and churches were the birth-places and the nurseries of that liberty and equality, order and prosperity, which grew into manhood, and, in due time, threw off the shackles which our mother country imposed upon us.
" In the settlements which grew up on the margin of the greenwood," says the historian Bancroft, " the plain meeting-house of the congregation for pub- lie worship was everywhere the central point. Near it stood the public school by the side of the very broad road, over which wheels did not pass, to do more than mark the path by ribbons in the sward. The snug farm houses, owned as freeholds, without quit-rents, were dotted along the way, and the village pastor among his people, enjoying the calm raptures of devotion, 'appeared like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the year, low and humble on the ground, standing peacefully and lovingly in the midst of the flowers round about ; all in like manner opening their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun.' In every hand was the Bible ; every home was a house of prayer ; in every village all had been taught ; many had comprehended a methodical theory of the divine purpose in creation, and of the destiny of man." Again he says : "All New England was an aggregate of organized democracies. But the complete development of the institution was to be found in Connecticut and the Massachusetts Bay. There each township was also substantially a territorial parish; the town was the religious congrega- tion ; the independent church was established by law; the minister was elected by the people, who annually made grants for his support. There, too, the system of free schools was carried to great perfection, so that there 17
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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could not be found a person born in New England, unable to read and write. He that will understand the political character of New England in the eighteenth century, must study the constitution of its towns, its congregations, its schools, and its militia."
1720. This year the Ipswich Grammar school was placed under charge of a native of Chebacco-Henry Wise. Being a classical as well as English school, it had already afforded him the requisite preparatory training for college, when it was under the instruction of Mr. Daniel Rogers, a son of President Rogers of Harvard College. Of the fifteen students who were fitted for college by Mr. Rogers during the period in which the school was under his charge (1687-1715,) eight were from Chebacco, whose names were as follows: William Burnham, Benjamin Choate, Francis Cogswell, John Eveleth, Francis Goodhue, John Perkins, Henry Wise, and Jeremiah Wise. Mr. Perkins was a son Abraham Perkins, and a descendant of William Perkins, who emigrated to Ipswich about 1632. He was graduated in 1695, studied medicine, and first settled as a physician in Ipswich, but afterwards removed to Boston. He died in 1740. Mr. Cogswell was a son of Jonathan Cogswell, and a grandson of Dea. William Goodhue, from whom he received by bequest, the li- brary of his uncle, Rev. Francis Goodhue. He was grad- uated at Harvard in 1718. Henry Wise was a son of the minister. His connection with the Grammar school as a pupil closed in 1713, when he entered Harvard Col- lege. He was graduated in 1717. For nearly three years he resided in Boston, and was engaged in mercantile business. He then removed to the center of Ipswich, and on June 20, " at a meeting of the Selectmen, Mr. Henry Wise accepted the offer the Selectmen made him for keep- ing the school for the year ensuing. Accordingly the Selectmen delivered the key of the school-house, and he began to instruct the Grammar school." His salary was £55 in bills of credit. He continued to be the Preceptor of the school for eight years. It is not certainly known
131
THE SCHOOL-FARM RENTS.
1700-1745.]
when his death occurred, but it was on or before the year 1732. It was some time during this year, also, that the tenants of the school-farm refused to pay their rents, on the ground that " no power had been given by the town to their Trustees, to appoint successors in that trust, for receiving and applying the rents, or of ordaining and di- recting the affairs of the school." The town, by their Selectmen, assumed the control of the school and its prop- erty. And the next year, (1721,) an action at law was brought against the tenants of the school-farm, which lin- gered until 1729, when the town "received £100 of Gifford Cogswell on account of charges at law about the school- farm." This sum the town very properly ordered to be distributed to the several parishes "to be used towards the support of reading and writing schools." Under this order, £20 were paid to the Chebacco Committee.
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