USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 13
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142
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 2.
nance, and as far as may be to prevent any after difficulties that might be prejudicial to the peace of the place and success of the ministry, I have, therefore, after due deliberation, thought it best that I should freely offer my thoughts unto you referring to this head of maintenance. We all know that a minister cannot live creditably without considerable expenses, and we also know that what was wont to be a middling salary formerly, in a moderate value, is equivalent to £150 or £160 in our paper money. Indeed such a sum makes a great sound in a man's ears ; but ordinarily men don't seriously consider (unless it be in case of their own interest,) how our Province bills are depreciated, nor how the price of goods and provisions rises, and for this reason salary men in many towns almost suffer for want. For my own part I cannot (and I think I ought not) be contented unless I have wherewithal conveniently to answer my duties and necessities, and to furnish me with such helps and advantages as whereby I might be enabled in my best manner to serve your true interests and maintain the character of a minister as it should be ; which to be sure will not be displeasing to any of you, for I am confident it would not offend you to have your minister a credit to you."
With these views the parish harmoniously concurred, and the result was that they agreed to give him the use of all the parsonage lands, they keeping the fences in repair, and £120 annually in semi-annual payments, to be increased or diminished in proportion to the value of money (silver) at 8s. per ounce troy-weight; and the avails of the customary contribution taken on the Sabbath. For a settlement, they agreed to give him the buildings on the old parsonage, and £100 toward building a house for himself. The house which he built and lived in during his ministry, was the one subsequently owned by the late Mrs. Mary Choate. The commoners also gave him the common land north of the meeting-house, being about three-fourths of an acre. The terms of settlement were agreed on in July, but the ordination was deferred to a season less busy for farmers. Accordingly on the 23d of October following, with the, usual solemnities and interest- ing services, he was ordained in the new meeting-house to the work of the gospel ministry in this place.
1726. While occupied with the affairs of the parish, we would not forget that our fathers are still citizens of Ipswich. To the body of the town they go for the trans-
143
EARTHQUAKE.
1700-1745.]
action of all town affairs. Once a year, in the month of March, the legal voters are expected to assemble in the first parish meeting-house for the choice of town officers and other business, and in April, annually for the election of Province officers. All intending marriage go to the centre for certificates of publisliment. Families needing a phy- sician must send five miles for him. The poor are pro- vided for in the body of the town, where is the alms-house upon the common, built of logs, forty feet long, sixteen wide, and six high. The tenants of the school farm on the south side of the river still carry to the centre their annual rent of £14 for the support of the Grammar school. The Indians have nearly all disappeared; but the wild beasts still inhabit the woods and set up their nightly howl. With the closing of this year ends the first Record book, which contains the transactions of the parish for the first fifty years, including those connected with its origin.
1727. This year there was experienced in this place, in common with others, a great earthquake. It occurred on the 29th of October. About forty minutes after ten at night, when there was a serene sky, and calm but sharp air, a most amazing noise was heard, like to the roaring of a chimney when on fire, as some said, only beyond all comparison greater. Others compared it to the noise of coaches upon pavements, and thought that the noise of ten thousand together would not have exceeded it. The noise was judged by some to continue about half a minute before the shock began, which increased gradually, and was thought to have continued for the space of a minute, before it was at the height, and in about half a minute more, to have been at an end, by a gradual decrease. The noise and shock of this, and of all earthquakes which pre- ceded it in New England, were observed to come from the West and go off to the East. At Newbury and other towns on the Merrimack, the shock was greater than in any other part of the State. No buildings were thrown down, but parts of the walls of several cellars fell in and
144
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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the tops of many chimneys were shaken off. The earth burst open in several places, and more than a hundred cart loads of earth were thrown out. The seamen upon the coast supposed their vessels to have struck on a shoal of loose ballast. More gentle shocks were frequently felt for some months after. "There have seldom passed above fifteen or twenty years without an earthquake, but there had been none very violent within the memory of any then living. There was a general apprehension of danger, of destruction, and death; and many who had very little sense of religion before, appeared to be very serious and devout penitents. But too generally as the fears of an- other earthquake went off, the religious impressions went off with them." * In this place the earthquake was followed by a powerful revival of religion, in which many gave evidence of having become new creatures in Christ. The number of church members at Mr. Pickering's ordination was ninety-one. It was soon increased to one hundred and seventy-seven, seventy-six of whom were added to the church as the fruits of this revival.
Upon the death of George I., this year, his son, George II., ascended the throne of England. To our fathers the death of one sovereign and the accession of another were events of the deepest interest, since the appointment of their governor depended on the pleasure of the crown, and the whole aspect of their political affairs took its hue from the royal countenance. On the accession of George II., Burnet, a son of the bishop of Salisbury, who was at this time governor of New Jersey and New York, was ap- pointed governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Gov. Shute had returned to England three years before this, with many and bitter complaints against Massachu- setts, as not sufficiently loyal, and too much inclined to independence. The consequence was that Massachusetts was obliged to accept an explanatory charter, which con- firmed the right of the governor to negative the speaker
*Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts.
145
CAPT. TIIOMAS CHOATE.
1700-1745.]
of the House, and forbade the House to adjourn for more than two days without his consent. During Gov. Shute's absence, Lt. Gov. Dummer, a native of Newbury, managed the affairs of the Province. He continued to act as gov- ernor till Burnet arrived, and again at his death till Belcher took the gubernatorial chair. Gov. Dummer, at his decease, bequeathed a valuable estate in Byfield toward supporting a grammar school there. This is now Dummer Academy.
1728. As Capt. Thomas Choate has been the represen- tative of the town to the Great and General Court for several years, we will make an excursion to Hogg Island, and learn of him something of the political affairs of the Province, and of the doings of the Court. Mr. Choate is a man of strong mind, extensive information, and well qualified to express what he knows with clearness, precis- ion and force. Though living upon an island, his influence is felt in all public matters. Ipswich, which stands next to Salem, and near to Boston in political importance, would not be represented in the government of the Province by a man of inferior abilities. Our visit is on a bright sum- mer's morning, when the sun gladdens all the salt meadows, and the birds carol from the neighboring bushes and trees, reminding us of the poetic words of the Ettrick shepherd :*
" O never before looked a morning so fair Or the sunbeam so sweet on the lea ! The song of the merl from her old hawthorn tree And the blackbird's melodious lay, All sounded to him like an anthem of love,
A song that the spirit of nature did move,
A kind little hymn to their Maker above Who gave them the beauties of day."
As we approach the island we see that like most other portions of the town it is in a great part covered with a thick forest. Mr. C. has cleared for himself an excellent farm, and has vigorous sons to cultivate it. Eleven chil- dren with himself and wife constitute the family. After
* James Hogg.
19
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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an introduction and remarks on the weather, &c., we ex- press to him our desire that he would give us some little account of affairs in Boston, and of our prospects for civil. and religious liberty.
" I can relate to you a few things," he says, " which have come under my own observation during the few years I have been at Court. Aside from our trouble with the Indians, which I hope is nearly at an end, our chief labor and difficulty have been to preserve our rights and liberties from royal encroachments. Our kingly governors set their mark too high for the pre- rogatives of the crown, and for their own independence above the will of the people. They require not only a large salary, but also that we should place it beyond our own control, by making it permanent, or during their continu- anee in office. This, we think, is contrary to our liberties and privileges, as Englishmen, given us by Magna Charta. It is true his majesty has a salary fixed for life. But he is the father of his subjects, while our governors have no other interest with us, than to fill their purses and carry away what they can. There is no other way, we think, to ensure their good behavior, and make their administration for the public good, than to make them dependent for their living on those whom they serve. If the people furnish the money for all public uses, it belongs to them to say how it shall be disposed of. The keys of their own treasury they have a right to keep in their own hands. For this most essential principle of liberty, we have been obliged to contend with all our royal governors. Dummer has been more pacific and yielding, in some respects, than the rest of them ; yet he has contended for a portion of the people's money, in a yearly stipend, without the people's yearly con- sent. So wearisome have been our contests with his majesty's servants on this point, and so unbecoming their language often to us, that when, on a certain occasion, a motion was made for a grant to a governor to bear the ex- pense of his lady's funeral, an old representative dryly remarked that he ob- jected to a grant for the governor's lady ; had the motion been for a grant to bury the governor himself, he should have thought the money well laid out.
" Another dark spot in our political horizon is the increased issue of Prov- ince bills. This is owing to the mistaken notion that an increase of currency in bills of credit, will not only revive trade, but be a remedy for all the evils felt from the depreciation of bills already in circulation. This is much the same as if a man, whose blood is in a corrupt state, should seek to restore it by high living. We look for the time when both of these dark clouds, which so strongly threaten our peace and prosperity, shall with the blessing of heaven, break and disappear."
In full concurrence with these sentiments of Mr. Choate, we take leave, and return from the island.
1729. This year a native of Chebacco, a son of our
0
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147
REV. JEREMIAH WISE.
1700-1745.]
first minister, has the honor of preaching the Election Sermon in Boston. It was delivered, as the title-page says, "Before his Excellency, William Burnet, esq., the Honourable, the Lieutenant-Governor, the Council and representatives of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, May 28, being the day for the election of his Majesty's Council. By Jeremiah Wise, M. A., Pastor to a Church of Christ in Berwick. Sold at the Bible and Three Crowns near the Town Dock, Boston." The text is Rom. xiii. 4 : " For he is the minister of God to thee for good." The subject of the discourse is, "Civil Rulers should improve all their power and influence for the best good of a peo- ple." Among the various ways mentioned of doing this, is, taking care of the education of youth, and making suitable provision for the support of it. We give the following extracts as a specimen of the sermon :
" The education of youth is a great benefit and service to the publick. This is that which civilizes them, takes down their temper, tames the fierce- ness of their natures, forms their minds to virtue, learns them to carry it with a just deference to superiors, makes them tractable or manageable, and by learning and knowing what it is to be under government, they will know bet- ter how to govern others when it comes to their turn. And thus it tends to good order in the State. Yea, good education tends to promote religion and reformation as well as peace and order; as it gives check to idleness and ignorance, and the evil consequences thereof. Further by this means men are fitted for service for publick stations in Church and State, and to be pub- lick blessings. The publick would greatly suffer by the neglect thereof, and religion could not subsist long, but would decay and even die without it. The public weal depends upon it, and therefore it ought to be the publick care, and so it has been in the best formed Commonwealths who have erected and endowed publiek schools and colleges for the education of youth.
" This was our fathers' early care, even in the infancy of the country, and their pious zeal for the glory of God and the good of their posterity, has been remarkably blessed. Learning has flourished greatly under the care of the government, new colleges have been erected, and God has raised up gen- erous friends to become benefactors to them."
In his address to the rulers, he says :
" It is worthy of your serious inquiry, whether there has been enough done to guard the sanctity of the Sabbath, and to prevent the disorders,
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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which too many in country towns are guilty of, in the intervals of divine service and on the evenings after it. Whether there may not be something further done to prevent the growth of intemperance, which has increased so much by yearly accessions, and threatens to deluge the country."
The sermon consists of fifty-four printed pages, and does honor to the talents, learning, and fidelity of the author. Gov. Burnet's administration was short,-a little more than a year, and almost wholly spent in warm altercation with the Honorable House, in regard to a fixed salary. His want of success affected his spirits. He fell sick of a fever and died on the 7th of September, 1729. He was succeeded by Jonathan Belcher, a native of Massachusetts, but at that time a merchant in London. He arrived in the fol- lowing August. Like his predecessors, he proposed a fixed salary. Like them he saw the proposal repelled with de- cision and firmness. Seeing the cause to be desperate, he obtained leave from the crown to receive such grants as should be made to him. Thus ended the controversy which had been carried on for more thar forty years. Our fathers triumphed and maintained their liberty in the face of all the opposition of the British court, and the strenuous efforts of the royal governors.
1732. The fishery was successfully carried on here, and in the centre of the town. The town by a vote passed the year before, require the names of all the crews of the fishing vessels in the town to be entered with the town clerk, on penalty of £20 for every omission.
Leonard Cotton, the school-master, is allowed by this parish the use of the school land. He had taught one year before this, and continued one year after.
1733. Died July 9th, Dea. John Choate, eldest son of the first settler of that name, and brother of Capt. Thomas Choate. He was born in 1660, married Miss Elizabeth Giddings, and settled on the farm now owned by Darius Cogswell. He had six sons, four of whom died young. In 1712, he was chosen deacon of Mr. Wise's church. His age was 73.
149
JONATHAN COGSWELL, ESQ.
1700-1745.]
Jonathan Cogswell, commissioned a justice of the peace, October 26, 1733, was a great-grandson of the first settler of that name and was the father of the late Col. Jonathan Cogswell. He was married July 1, 1731 to Miss Elizabeth Wade of Ipswich, and resided on the Cogswell farm which he inherited. He died May 2d, 1752. There is good tra- ditional authority for believing that the frame, chimneys, and a large part of the wood-work within, of the house, which was the residence of the late Adam Boyd, were built by Mr. Cogswell. One of the volumes, which, as a magistrate, he must have had frequent occasion to consult, has been preserved to the present time. It is a large, heavily bound book, entitled “ Acts and Laws of his Maj- esty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, passed by the Great and General Court or Assembly of the Massachusetts Bay, published in 1726." The oldest enactments in it are dated, 1692. His commission, with the signature of the Province officers, is also extant. The following is a y exact copy of it :
" George the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all unto whom these Presents shall come, Greeting : Know ye that We have assigned and constituted, and do by these Presents assign, constitute and appoint our trusty and well-be- loved Jonathan Cogswell, to be one of our Justices to keep our Peace in the County of Essex, within our Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, and to keep and cause to be kept the laws and ordinances made for the good of the Peace and for the Conservation of the same and for the quiet Rule and Government of our People, in the said County, in all and every the articles thereof, according to the force, Form and effect of the same, and to chastise and Punish all Persons offending against the Form of those Laws and ordinances, or any of them, in the county aforesaid, as according to the form of those Laws and ordinances shall be fit to be done, and to cause to come before him the Said Jonathan Cogswell those that shall break the peace, or attempt anything against the same, or that shall threaten any of our People in their persons, or in burning their houses, to find sufficient security for the peace and for the good behaviour towards us and our people, and if they shall refuse to find such security, then to cause to be kept safe in Prison until they shall find the same, and to do and perform in the county aforesaid all and whatsoever according to the laws and ordinances of our province aforesa or any of them, a Justice of the Peace may and ought to do and per-
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form, and with other our Justices of the Peace in our said county (according to the Tenour of the commission to them Granted, ) to enquire by the oaths of good and lawful men of our said County, by whom the truth may be the better known of all and all manner of thefts, Trespasses, Riots, Routs and unlawful assemblies whatsoever, and all singular other misdeeds and offenees of which Justices of the Peace in their general Sessions may and ought to inquire, by whomsoever or howsoever done or perpetrated, or which shall here- after happen howsoever to be done or attempted in the county aforesaid con- trary to the form of the Laws and ordinances aforesaid made for the common good of our Provinee aforesd and the People thereof, and with other Justices in our sd County (according to the Tenour of the commission to them Granted as aforesd ) to hear and determine all and singular the said Thefts, Trespasses, Riots, Routs, unlawful assemblies, and all and singular other the Premises, and to do therein as to Justice appertaineth according to the Laws, Statutes and ordinances aforsed; In Testimony whereof We have caused the Publick Seal of our Province of the Massachusetts Bay aforesaid to be hereunto affixed.
" Witness Jonathan Beleher, our captain-General and Governour-in-Chief of our Provinee, at Boston, the twenty-sixth Day of October, 1733, In the seventh year of our reign.
" By order of the Governour, with the advice and consent of the Couneil.
J. BELCHER." "J. WILLARD, Sec'y.
THE FIRST COLLEGE GRADUATE FROM CHEBACCO.
1734. Rev. John Eveleth, whose death occurred August 1, of this year, was the first Chebacco boy who received a liberal education. He was the son of Joseph and Mary Eveleth, and was born in Gloucester on the 18th of De- cember, 1669, of which town his grandfather, Sylvester Eveleth, (or Eveleigh as it was then written,) became a resident about the year 1648. When John was about five years of age, in the year 1674, his father removed with his family to Chebacco where he spent the remainder of his life and where he died December 1, 1745, at the extraordinary age of 105 years. "It is said that he was remarkable for his piety, and that a few years before his death (probably in 1740), he was visited by the celebrated preacher, Rev. George Whitefield, on one of his journeys through this town from Boston to Newburyport, who, in accordance with an ancient custom kneeled down before this venerable patriarch and received his blessing." John
151
REV. JOHN EVELETH.
1700-1745.]
was fitted for college at the Ipswich grammar school, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1689. As soon as he had studied divinity sufficiently, he commenced preach- ing at Manchester, and continued to supply the pulpit there until 1695. On the 13th of May, 1700, he was in- vited to preach in the town of Stowe. He accepted this invitation and remained there seventeen years, although the organization of a church, and his ordination as its pas- tor, did not take place until three or four years after his call. Dismissed in December, 1717, he was settled again in 1719, at Arundel (now Kennebunkport, Me.,) and his pastorate there extended to the year 1729. During three years of this ministry, he divided his services equally between the towns of Arundel and Biddeford. He also acted as chaplain to some provincial forces stationed in the vicinity, from January 11, 1724, till the middle of 1726, or later. He resigned his ministerial charge much against the wishes of the inhabitants, " as he was not only their minister and school-master, but a good blacksmith and farmer, and the best fisherman in town." His re- maining years, at least till 1732, were spent in the same town. He was buried "in the town of Kittery, near Eliot." Mr. Eveleth's brother James was the father of Aaron Eve- leth, and the grandfather of the late Jonathan Eveleth.
John Burnham, 3d, has the improvement of the school pasture, as school-master of the place. In addition to what is raised here, a committee is appointed to receive from the town their proportion of £100, raised for the support of schools in the several parishes.
At a meeting in May, a committee is chosen to wait on Mr. Pickering, and inquire on what terms he will sell to them the lot of land given him by the commoners, lying on the north of the meeting-house, joining upon Joseph and Robert Rust's land, Thomas Varney's, and the Glou- cester road, measuring one hundred and twenty-three square rods. Mr. Pickering afterward conveyed this lot to the parish by deed. At a meeting in August they
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voted, that in consideration of their love and affection to the Rev. Theophilus Pickering, they do freely, fully and absolutely give, grant and convey to him, and his heirs and assigns forever, all their right, title and interest in the land on which the fence in front of his house stands, and the land enclosed by the same, and also in the well dug by him on the south-easterly side of the road. This year they add fifty pounds to his salary, on account of the depreci- ation of currency. They had been gradually increasing it years before, and continued so to do till his salary amounted to two hundred and thirty-two pounds.
1735. The most extensive and fatal epidemic which had been known in New England since its settlement by our fathers, prevailed in this and other towns. It was called the throat distemper. The throat swelled with white or ash colored specks, an effloresence appeared on the skin, there was a great debility of the whole system, and a strong tendency to putridity. The distress and anguish were often indescribable. The writhings and contortions of the patient seemed as great as if he were on a bed of burning coals. It spent its force chiefly in the northern part of this county, and in some of the adjacent towns in New Hampshire. It was confined to no season of the year but prevailed and continued with more or less sever- ity through every month. Some families lost all their children. In some towns one-seventh part of the popula- tion were cut down by it.
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