USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 2
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Seeking thus to do only the legitimate business of his sacred office, he had his reward in the occurrence of several seasons of special religious interest among his people, and in the addition of two hundred and fourteen persons by profession to the church, which at the time of his ordination contained but six male members, and only thirty-two in all. As the result of one of these revivals of religion which began in September, 1827, and of which more par- ticular mention is made elsewhere in this history, eighty-three persons were admitted to the church, among them many of the members of the Bible- class above referred to. According to the recollection of some of his pa- rishioners, his labors during that harvest season were incessant. " His style of preaching was the same as usual ; his manner, earnest and impressive, manifesting a deep feeling of his dependence upon the Holy Spirit ; and he often expressed the fear that he should prove an unprofitable servant. He at- tended most of the inquiry meetings, went from house to house holding several short meetings the same day, and conversed freely with his people wherever he met them." t
While aiming at the best possible cultivation of his own field, he could not,
* Dr. Fitz's funeral sermon.
t Deacon Caleb Cogswell.
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however, confine his thoughts or limit his exertions to that. The same spirit of single-hearted devotion to his Master's cause, which animated him in his parochial duties, overflowed into undertakings for the moral and spiritual welfare of others. "The arms of his expansive benevolence embraced within them the welfare of the town, the country and the world. Whatever related to the spiritual good of man and to the glory of God deeply interested him. With grief he saw the progress of error, and lamented the wide and inereas- ing departure of so many in this generation from the faith and practice of their pious ancestors." * One indication of his interest in the prosperity of the churches in immediate fellowship with his own, is found in the fact commu- nieated by the present seribe of that Body, that " he took an active part in the organization of the Essex South Conference of Churches, on the 8th of May, 1827, was Moderator of the first meeting after its formation, and was rarely absent from its sessions as long as he lived." But he was especially interested in the work of laying anew the foundations of evangelical religion in several places in his own neighborhood, participating in this with the late Rev. David Jewett, of Sandy Bay, (now Rockport,) with whom he was " particularly acquainted for more than thirty years, and intimately associated in several objects of benevolence."f "It was their earnest and united efforts," writes Rev. Charles S. Porter, the first pastor of the Congregational Church at Gloucester Harbor, " aided by a few warm-hearted laymen, that called into being the evangelical churches at the Harbor and at Lanesville, (then a part of Annisquam parish). Many were their prayerful consulta- tions, their journeys, often on foot, to raise funds in behalf of those Christian enterprises, and frequent their visitation of those places for the purpose of preaching, at first in school-houses, and of conversing in private with the people. These churches and that in West Gloucester are so many monuments to the zeal, wisdom and fidelity of those men, erected while they still lived to perpetuate their memory on earth." " After the incorporation of the Re- ligious Society at Lanesville, March 6, 1828," adds Rev. Thomas Morong, its late pastor, "Dr. Crowell took a lively interest in everything pertaining to the project, both by preaching there and by uniting with a few other ministers in soliciting the funds necessary for the erection of a house of worship. Of the land, upon which that building was erected, he was made one of the Trustees. At the organization of the church, August 25, 1830, he was present, and took part in the exercises. He is remembered by that church as a constant benefactor and friend in their day of small things." Respecting similar labors in other places, Rev. Mr. Morong furnishes the fol- lowing information drawn from the records of the Essex South Conference, of which he is the seribe. "On the 9th of May, 1832, the Conference, at the instance of Dr. Crowell and Mr. Jewett, resolved, 'That this Conference
* Sermon at the funeral of Dr. Dana.
t Sermon at the funeral of Rev. David Jewett, July 23, 1841.
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views with deep interest and tender concern the moral desolations of the West Parish in Gloucester, and recommend to our churches that special efforts be immediately made to restore that waste place;' and instructed the Standing Committee on Domestic Missions, (of which Dr. C. was one,) ' to confer im- mediately with such persons in said parish as they may think proper, on the subject of erceting a chapel ; and to secure their co-operation in such a way as may be best adapted to insure the success of the Gospel in that place.' The Committee went vigorously to work, and in a little less than two years had the satisfaction of reporting the completion of a house of worship, and the organization of an evangelical church in West Gloucester. It required, however, a great deal of perseverance and many appeals to the churches be- fore the Committee succeeded in discharging the debt that they had contracted in their benevolent efforts. I think it safe to say that, but for Dr. Crowell and Mr. Jewett, there would have been no evangelical society, and perhaps no preached gospel at all in West Gloucester to this day. Dr. Crowell was mainly instrumental in 1835, in carrying out similar enterprises in Saugus and in Upper, now North Beverly. By his persevering efforts, houses of worship were erected in each of those places, and finally paid for. Ever af- terwards he was prominent in suggesting and raising the sums which the Conference donated towards the support of those four feeble churches ; and so late as the 10th of October, 1855, only a month before his death, he was made Chairman of a Committee to which was given the oversight of those churches, and the payment of money from the general fund in aid of their pastors. Besides this, he often visited them, preached in their meeting- houses on the Sabbath, and encouraged them to a hopeful perseverance. Three of these churches are now self-supporting ; but of all them, it may be truly said, that Dr. Crowell was one of the main instruments, under God, of their existence."
From the same motive he identified himself heartily with all the interests of the town of which he was a citizen. In measures or enterprises for its greater material prosperity, such as the opening of a canal or the construc- tion of mills, he was always ready to co-operate, because he believed that thrift and intelligence might be made tributary if not auxiliary to piety. And in his researches into the past history of the town, his chief object was to show that its political institutions and privileges were the legacy of men of the Puritan stamp, and to trace the inseparable connection between thesc civil blessings and that style of character, that his townsmen might be at- tracted into likeness to it as the true type of a model citizen. The very first New Year's day after his ordination,-being the Sabbath,-he gave from the pulpit, in the form of an historieal discourse, from Job 8 : 8, " A sketch of the history of the Second Parish in Ipswich." To the request for its publi- cation he assented, as stated in his prefatory note, " for the benefit chiefly of the rising generation of this parish, with the hope that it may serve to in-
3
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crease their knowledge of their fathers, and lead them through Divine grace to imitate their pious and devout examples." And the chief reflection drawn from the subject at the close of the sermon, was " the high value their an- cestors attached to the institutions of the gospel."
To the cause of education in the town he contributed much time, thought and labor. His years of service as one of the School Committee, amounted in all to more than a quarter of a century, and he did but reiterate a senti- ment which he had always felt and often expressed, when, in his last annual school report to the town in April, 1855, he declared that " the education of all the children in the town is confessedly the most important business in which the town has any concern ; involving its welfare for the present and com- ing generations, and in a measure, the good of the country at large, especially of those parts of it in which some of our youth may establish themselves and exert an influence for weal or woe." The estimation in which his ser- vices in this capacity were held by his fellow-townsmen, may be inferred from a passage in the annual report of his surviving associates of the Committee at the elose of the next school year, in which they " not only deem it appropri- ate to pay a passing tribute to his memory because of the official relation which he sustained toward them, but feel prompted to do so by their esteem for his worth as a citizen, and their appreciation of his services as a friend of educa- tion and a publie teacher of morals and religion." They also bear witness that he had " evineed a most lively interest in the improvement of the schools and a paternal solicitude for the general welfare of the rising generations," and declare that " his name is cherished among those of the mental and moral benefactors of the town."*
Early convinced of the incalculable evils of all use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, he joined heartily in the movement which accomplished the temperance reformation, leading the way in his own parish by his own example and precept. "The first public mecting in town with reference to the sub- jeet was held in his church, and was opened with prayer by him. He was one of eight to form the first Temperance Society there, July 16, 1829, and to sign the first temperance pledge, exerted himself to have all his church- members sign the pledge also, often afterwards preached on the subject, and never suffered his zeal in the cause to flag to the end of his days." t Al- though the reform began amid bitter opposition, the influence of that society was such that as early as 1833, no licenses were granted by the town.
And finally it is believed to be no exaggeration, in the view of those who had personal acquaintance with him, to assert that in his demeanor in private life he approximated the high and beautiful ideal thus sketched by him for another. "In your social intercourse with your fellow-men, never forget that you are an ambassador of Jesus. Let your conversation, therefore, be as becometh the gospel of Christ, that a holy consistency may mark your every step, and
* Rev. John Prince, School Report for 1855-56. + Mr. U. G. Spofford.
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that you may be an example to the believers, in speech, in behavior, in love, in faith, in purity ; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to filthy luere, but a lover of good men,-sober, just, holy, temperate. As much as in you · lies by kindness and forbearance, charity and eondeseension, live in peace with all men; yet still maintain a suitable firmness and decision of character as a servant of God, to whom you are to render your final account."* Were any corroboration of this statement needed, it might be furnished in the tes- timony of Dr. Fitz, that " in the various eireumstanees and relations of life, decision, prudence and affection remarkably mingled in his character. He was regardful of the feelings and the reputations of others ; but he was bold in maintaining what he believed to be a right course of action, and in dispens- ing what he considered the eternal truth of God." Those who knew him best could not say less of him in this regard, than he expressed in his tribute to the memory of his friend, Mr. Jewett : " All the relative and social du- ties were discharged by him with habitual tenderness and care. His home was the bosom of hospitality and friendship, of peace and love."
But all his traits of character, thus imperfectly sketched, under these various aspects of theologian, preacher, pastor, eitizen and friend, were but different branches of one and the same root,-an earnest piety shaping his entire life, " ruling every hour and aet." The Christian spirit from which they sprang was like a vital force determining the direction in which his powers should be exerted, and inspiring all his use of them, while drawing in turn its life from the revealed Word of God. To this central quality,- the fashioning power of his character,-as thus sustained, the preacher of the sermon at his funeral, referred in the following words : " To him the truths of the gospel were ' spirit and life ' He clung to them with all the strength of a devoted faith, and with all the ardor of a quenehless love. They were his comfort in life ; they wonderfully bore him up under the pressure of re- peated and sore bereavements and amid severe bodily sufferings ; and they were his support when heart and flesh were failing. He was a man of prayer. He kept up constant communion with his Savior. He appeared to live and aet with eternity in view. With one hand he seemed to put away the objects of earth, while with the other he laid hold on those things which are above."
The ripeness of this Christian character, the maturity of this faith, found full proof at the elose of his life. " Living and feeling thus," continued Dr. Fitz, " he was calm and peaceful when the Master he served suddenly indicated to him that his work on earth was done. As he approached eternal scenes he appeared to be supported by the everlasting arm, and to be sus- tained by the bread of heaven. The precious doctrines of the gospel which he had so long and so faithfully preached, shed their radiance, and their eonso- lations around that death-bed seene. 'If there is one thing,' said he, ' which gives nie more comfort than another at such a time as this, it is the doctrine
*Charge to Mr. Taylor.
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that where the work of repentance and faith is begun in the soul by the Holy Spirit, it will be carried on to the day of perfection.'"
Confidence in the reality and the purity of this Christian temper had ever been the strongest tie between the minister and his people during his lifetime, . and because of this, while they mourned him when dead, they ' sorrowed not even as others which have no hope.' On the day of his burial the church was crowded with parishioners and other people of the town,-the aged, who " had hoped that he would remain to be their comforter amid in- firmities and sorrows, that he would smooth their passage to the grave, and commend their departing spirits to God," *- the young, who " had known no other pastor than the one whose sleeping dust was then before them,-to wit- ness a scene as new as it was painful, fifty-six years having elapsed since a mourning congregation had been gathered at the interment of Rev. Mr. Cleaveland." ¡ Around his lifeless form, were assembled as mourners, nearly all the members of the ministerial association to which he belonged. But the funeral service " though impressive was not gloomy. The hopeful and the spiritual overpowered the painful and the earthly. The craped church ; the pensive congregation ; the motionless form before the desk where it had stood for nearly half a century as the animated ambassador of Christ ; the long pro- cession of old and young that thoughtfully followed to the grave on the open road the remains of a teacher so faithful yet so kind ; the silent weeping there ; the calın and golden sunshine ; the solemn autumn evening with its elear, im- mortal stars that drew on ;- all made one of those rare lulls in this stormy life when Christ's voice could be heard, speaking of eternity, saying : 'I am the resurrection and the life : He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.' " }
* Dr. Fitz's funeral sermon. + Ibidem.
# Rev. J. M. Hoppin, in the Congregationalist of November 30, 1855.
History of Essex.
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CHAPTER I.
1634-1700.
FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
THE first settlement of this town commenced in 1634. Plymouth began to be settled in 1620, Salem in 1627, Boston in 1630, and Ipswich in 1633.
Our ancestors originally came from different parts of England. The reasons assigned for leaving their own country and settling in a wilderness, were, "That the ancient faith and true worship might be found insep- arable companions in their practice, and that their pos- terity might be undefiled in religion." *
Soon after the commencement of the Reformation in England, 1534, the Protestants were divided into two parties : the one adhering to Luther, the other to Calvin. The former chose to secede from the church of Rome in a very gradual manner, while the latter were desirous of affecting an entire reformation at once. They contended earnestly for the "scripture purity," in worship, as well as in doctrine. This, together with their gravity of deport- ment and pious conversation, obtained for them the name of Puritans. The Lutheran party, however, prevailed, and their sentiments were made the basis of the Established,
* Morse and Parish's Hist. of N. E.
22
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 1.
or National Church. With this church the Puritans con- tinued in fellowship many years, although they constantly lamented its popish forms, and sighed for a thorough ref- ormation. At length, in 1602, a number of them formally separated from the Established Church, and set up for themselves a more pure form of worship. The conse- quence was, a violent and cruel persecution of them by the bishops and authorities of the land. Not suffered to live in peace where they were, nor permitted to depart, they endured many hardships and trials. But in 1607, a considerable number of them succeeded in leaving their country, and removed, some to Amsterdam, and some to Leyden, in Holland. Grieved with the corrupt examples around them, and fearing lest their children should be contaminated therewith, they resolved on a removal to the desolate regions of North America. Accordingly, in 1620, August 5th, they embarked at Delft-Haven, near Leyden, and, in November following, arrived on the bleak and barren shores of Cape Cod. Here they anchored for a short time only, and in the following month removed to a place which they called Plymouth. The persecution still continuing in England, and, in addition to the former corruptions of the Church, a "Book of Sports on the Holy Sabbath of God" being required to be read by the min- isters of their respective assemblies, great numbers of others, eminent for their piety, talents, and learning, em- barked for this country. In 1627, Captain John Endicott, with about one hundred persons, arrived at Naumkeag, afterwards Salem. In June, of the following year, they were joined by two hundred more, under the ministry of the Rev. Messrs. Higginson, Skelton, and Bright. A part of these soon after removed, and began the settlement of Charlestown. In the Summer of 1630, about fifteen hun- dred persons, with Governor Winthrop at their head, ar- rived at Salem; whence they proceeded to Charlestown, and soon settled Boston, Watertown, and Roxbury.
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FIRST SETTLERS OF CHEBACCO.
1634-1700.]
" In March, 1633, J. Winthrop, a son of the Governor, with twelve men, began a plantation at Agawam; which afterwards was called Ipswich. The next year, a church was gathered, being the ninth in the colony. In April, the people being destitute of a minister, the Governor traveled on foot from Boston to Ipswich, spent the Sab- bath with them, and exercised by way of prophecy"* or exhortation. In 1634, the Rev. Nathaniel Ward came over from England, and became their first minister.
FIRST SETTLERS OF CHEBACCO.
The same year William White and Goodman Brad- street removed toward Chebacco River, where lands were granted them by the town. Thus commenced the first settlement of this town in 1634. History gives us no account of these two families. The name of William White is first met with in 1635, in the transactions of Ipswich, as one of its inhabitants. So also are several of the name of Bradstreet: but which of them settled in this part of Ipswich, is uncertain. The land, which these first two settlers occupied, lay in what is now the north part of Essex. The next year, October, 1635, Mr. John Cogswell had three hundred acres granted him by the town, "in the farther part of Chebacco." This grant was bounded on the west by what is now the main road from Ipswich to Gloucester, and the brook which runs on the east side of the old burying-ground, and the creek run- ning to the river; on the south by the river; on the cast by the water, and on the north by the brook which runs on the north side of the farm now owned by Colonel John P. Choate.
Mr. Cogswell, before his emigration, was a prosperous merchant in London. He sailed for this country from Bristol, England, May 23, 1635, in the ship Angel Gabriel. On his passage he was wrecked in a violent storm on the
* Ilist. of New England.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 1.
coast of Maine, in Pemaquid Bay. By this catastrophe, he lost a part of his property ; but escaped safely to land with his family, where they lived for a short time. in a tent. Leaving his family in the tent, he took passage for Boston, where he procured a vessel denominated a barque, com- manded by Captain Gallop, and returned to Pemaquid Bay for his family and goods. He arrived at Ipswich in August, and removed to this place in the following Octo- ber. His furniture and other goods were more than could be stored at one time in the vessel, from Pemaquid to Ipswich. From an inventory taken at his decease, it ap- pears that his furniture brought from England, consisted of beds, suits of curtains, table-linen, damasks, Turkey carpets, silver plate, etc. His wife's name was Elizabeth. Their children were born in London; one was buried there, and the remaining seven,-William, John, Edward, Mary, Hannah, Abigail and Sarah,-they brought with them to this place. He had the title of Mr., and his wife, Mrs., which were given only to persons of some distinction. Their daughter Mary married Godfrey Armitage ; Hannah married Charles Waldo, and removed to Chelmsford; Abi- gail married Thomas Clark; and Sarah married Simon Tuthill. Their first house, which was of necessity built of logs, stood, as tradition says, about thirty rods south- east of the house occupied by the late Colonel J. P. Choate.
Other settlers arrived, no doubt, soon after this. But we have no record even of their names, as residents of this part of Ipswich. Mr. Felt, in his history of Ipswich, in general, gives a valuable table of the names of the early settlers, with the year in which these names are first met with in the town records; but which, of course, does not specifiy in what part of the town they lived. Among the names which are known to have been long prevalent in this place, are the following : 1634, John Perkins ; 1635, Robert Andrews, Wm. Goodhue, George Giddings ; 1638, John Burnham; 1639, Andrew Story ; 1643, Thomas Low,
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VISIT TO THE FIRST SETTLERS.
1634-1700.]
1648, John Choate. The presumption is, that these were among the early settlers of this southern section of Ipswich, called by the Indians, Chebacco.
FIRST ROAD FROM IPSWICH TO GLOUCESTER.
Owing to the difficulty of making bridges in those early days, the roads were very circuitous, avoiding, as much as possible, the crossing of brooks and creeks. The road from Ipswich through this place to Gloucester, came by the house now occupied by Darius Cogswell, at the head of Choate's brook, entered the present Ipswich road, and proceeded as far as the lane, which leads to Colonel J. P. Choate's, which it entered, and passed on to the river by the house of Adam Boyd; crossed the river by ferry, pro- ceeded in a southerly direction over the hills, to the head of Clark's Creek, thence by the present dwelling of Elias An- drews, thence to Gloucester, west parish, along by the site of the first meeting-house to a ferry, which crossed to the "up-in-town" parish, then the first parish in Gloucester .*
VISIT TO THE FIRST SETTLERS.
Leaving for awhile this dry, but necessary detail of facts, yet still keeping close to the lines of truth, let me invite you to go back two hundred years, and survey the place as it then was, and look in upon the settlers, and see how they managed in-doors and out. The first house which you visit, is that of Mr. Cogswell. Viewing the building, as you approach it, you perceive it is built wholly of logs, in a square form, much as children build a house of cobs; the under and upper sides of the logs being roughly hewn, that they may lie somewhat contiguous, and not admit too many of the rays of the sun, or too much of the keen air of Winter, the ends are notched to fasten them together, and the roof covered with thatch.
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