USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 26
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* Word illegible in the Records. t See Chap. 1, p. 87.
284
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 5.
ing Knight's farm which is hereby directed and ordered to lie to the Hamlet."
May 4,1820, Essex appointed George Choate, Esq., Jacob Story and John Procter a committee to meet a committee from Ipswich to settle and establish the line between said towns from the head of Choate's Brook to Hamilton line. As these committees were unable to agree, the selectmen were authorized and empowered by the town, October 16th, to join the committee from the town of Ipswich in leaving the settlement of the line between Ipswich and Essex to a reference. The referees-David Dodge, Temple Cutler and Azor Brown-July 20, 1821, made the following award :
" Beginning at a small stone bridge in the road at the north-westerly cor- ner of Mr. William Cogswell's* land, thence running easterly in the road 31 rods to a stake and stones on the southerly side of the road, thence South 28} degrees West 'to a stake and stone on Hamilton line."
FIRST TOWN MEETING.
The first town-meeting was held at the North meeting- house, on the 1st of March, a warrant having been issued by George Choate, Esq., in accordance with the act of in- corporation. Esq. Choate was chosen moderator; and it was then voted " that this and every annual town-meeting be opened with prayer." The following town officers were chosen : Joseph Story, town clerk; George Choate, Esq., Capt. Jonathan Story, 4th, Elias Andrews, William Cogs- well, Jr., and William Andrews, selectmen, assessors and overseers of the poor; Nathan Choate, town treasurer; the selectmen, with Rev. Robert Crowell, a committee to visit, oversee and regulate the schools. At a meeting held March 9th, voted $1,000 for the support of the poor, and other town charges (which was increased, April 5th, to $1,200;) voted $400 for the support of the schools ; voted that $555.83-the expense incurred in obtaining an act of incorporation-be assumed and paid by the town; voted $460 for highways. In accordance with the third section
* The father of Mr. Zaccheus Cogswell and grandfather of Mr. Darius Cogswell, both of whom lived on the same farm.
285
LOCATION AND LAND OF ESSEX.
1800-1819.]
of the act of incorporation, George Choate, Esq., William Cogswell, Jr., and Elias Andrews, were appointed a commit- tee, on the 9th of March, "to meet with a committee of the town of Ipswich to ascertain the amount of the debt of said town previous to the incorporation of Essex, and, if possi- ble, to make a final settlement with them." The report of this committee was accepted, December 21, 1819, and the town treasurer authorized to settle with the town of Ips- wich agreeably to it. The debt of Ipswich at this time was $17,000-31 per cent. of which was $5,270. The share of Essex in the public property of Ipswich was $2,270, leav- ing, as a balance to be paid by Essex to Ipswich, $3,000. For the payment of this sum, together with the expense incurred in obtaining the act of incorporation, (which amounted to $555.83), Essex raised, in 1819, $1,000, in 1820, $1,000, and in 1822, $1,500.
LOCATION AND CHARACTER OF THE LAND.
As thus constituted, the latitude of Essex is 42º 38', its longitude 70° 47' 10". It is bounded by Ipswich, Ham- ilton, Manchester, and Gloucester. Its greatest length from north to south is 54 miles, and its mean length 42 miles. Its greatest breadth from east to west is 4 miles, and its mean breadth 34 miles. The soil is chiefly argil- laceous, loamy, gravelly, and marshy. In 1855 there were 262} acres of tillage, 937 of English and upland mowing, 78 of fresh meadow, 1949 of salt marsh, 2460 of pasture, inclusive of orchard pasturage, 1301 of woodland, exclusive of pasture land enclosed, 49 unimproved, and 120 incapable of improvement. There were also 100 acres of roads, and 2000 acres covered with water. Its real and personal es- tate at the time of incorporation was valued at $248,813. Its population was 1107. The number of paupers was 21, and the expense of maintaining the same per annum, $756.
COL. JONATHAN COGSWELL, SEN.
April 19th, died Jonathan Cogswell, Esq., aged 79. Col. Cogswell was a great-great-grandson of the first settler of
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 5.
that name, and a cousin of Dea. Jonathan Cogswell, their mothers having been sisters. He was born July 11, 1740, at the "Cogswell farm." February 4, 1768, he was mar- ried to Miss Elizabeth Wise, grand-daughter of Rev. John Wise. She was born. September 19, 1744, and died Octo- ber 31, 1838. By great industry and economy after com- ing of age, he soon cleared off a heavy debt, with which the estate inherited from his father had become encum- bered, through the mismanagement of his guardian who had charge of the property after his father's death, and made the farm a profitable one. In 1791, he purchased and removed to the " Pickering Place"-a house built by Rev. Mr. Pickering, and occupied by him during the most of his life. Mr. Cleaveland rented it a few years, and it was afterwards purchased by Rev. Mr. Porter. His family resided in it during his absence in Nova Scotia. Dr. Davis, the first resident physician in Chebacco, purchased it of him, and Esq. Cogswell was the next owner. Esq. Cogswell " was on the Committee of Correspondence and Inspection in the Revolutionary War; Captain of the mil- itary company raised in Chebacco in 1774 ; Major in 1775; Colonel of the Second Regiment from 1776 to the close of the war; Delegate to the United States Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts; Representative in 1776, 1792, 1793, 1800-1813; Justice of the Sessions Court ; and feoffee of the Grammar School." His character was briefly delineated in two obituary notices published in the newspapers soon after his death, one of which is as follows:
" Died, Jonathan Cogswell, Esq., aged 79, an officer in the Revolution, one of the delegates in the Convention of this State who voted for the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, for many years a member of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, a useful citizen and magistrate, a sincere Federalist, a devout Christian and an excellent man. But what author- izes us thus to eulogize him ? Ask of his fellow-townsmen how he acquired the reputation of a good citizen, and they will answer ' by performing every duty incumbent upon him.' Though he never sought, yet when through solicitation he accepted an office, he executed the trust with scrupulous fidelity. Ask of his political companions what were his princples, they will say he was never found
287
COL. JONATHAN COGSWELL, SEN.
1800-1819.]
the advocate of party spirit, but he supported every measure which he in con- science approved, and exhibited a model of generous candor and undeviating consistency. Ask of his associates in the Legislature what was his character there, and they will tell you that though the persuasive appeal of eloquence never burst from his lips, wisdom and sound sense were closeted in his heart and always at his command. The poor man's gratitude acknowledges his benevo- lence, and the uniform uprightness of his deportment declares his fervent piety.
" More than half a century, passed in the enjoyment of connubial felicity, proved him an attentive, affectionate husband, a kind, indulgent father. And though in the close of life he was severely afflicted by the loss of an only son, who had reached the period of life when hope elevates and joy is lively, and who was just about to form a connection the dearest of all on earth, though she to whom he looked as a staff on which in the infirmity of old age he might lean and find support, was suddenly torn from him, this virtuous man bowed his head in pious resignation, for he knew God could not err. It was in the re- tirement of domestic life and its peculiar pleasures, that Col. Cogswell chiefly delighted. Surrounded by his family, and in the circle of his friends, his countenance wore the smiles of benevolent sociability and hearty good nature. He was polite and affable, given to hospitality, fully blessed with that most excellent gift of charity. Free from all appearance of selfishness, the happi- ness of others seemed the study of his life. His religion, as it had been the guide of his youth, became the comfort of his age, and virtues, like the rays of the setting sun, beamed softly and beautifully, as he descended to the tomb. We mingle our tears with those of his widow and surviving daughter, and would with them chant the solemn requiem of peace to his ashes. May the mantle of his excellence fall on us who remain, and when called to leave this region of sorrow, may we meet him in Heaven."
" In public life," adds the other sketch, " he manifested a sound judgment and unshaken integrity. In private. he exhibited all the amiable and useful qualities of a good citizen, a peaceful neighbor, a judicious adviser and friend, a benefactor to the poor, a kind husband and affectionate father. It was a remarkable trait in his character that he carefully avoided speaking of the faults of others, and, as if like measure were meted to him again, it was rarely if ever that any were found to speak against him. He retained in an unusual degree his bodily and mental vigor to the last ; though family bereavements together with a love of retirement, for several years had led him to decline all public service. In his death his be- reaved family and this new incorporated town have sustained an irreparable loss."
A daughter, Mrs. Mary Choate widow of the late John. Choate, Esq., of Ipswich, survived him forty-one years, and died in the same house, June 28, 1860, in her 83d year.
" Mrs. Choate was the seventh in descent from the noble old martyr, John Rogers. Margaret Rogers, daughter of Dr. John Rogers, a President in Harvard College and great-grandson of the martyr, having married the Hon.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 5.
John Leverett, F. R. S., another President of Harvard ; by this marriage there were two daughters; the younger, Mary, married Col. John Denison, of Ipswich, by whom he had a daughter ; this daughter married John Wise, son of Rev. John Wise, the first ordained minister of Essex (then Chebaeco Parish), and who was distinguished for his courage, great strength, intelleet- ual attainments, and elevated piety, and who was tried, deposed from the ministry, and heavily fined and imprisoned in Boston for advising the town not to comply with the order of Sir Edmund Andros for raising a Provinee tax, it being, as he affirmed 'contrary to eharter rights.' Of this marriage was born Elizabeth Wise, mother of the deceased."
RUFUS CHOATE.
Graduated at Dartmouth College, Rufus Choate. He was born upon Hog Island, October 1, 1799, the son of David and Miriam Foster Choate. When at the age of six months, his father removed with his family from the Island to the centre of the town. Of this parent he was deprived by death when less than nine years old. He commenced the study of the Latin Grammar, either near the close of 1809, or in the Spring of 1810, with Dr. Thomas Sewall, who about that time became a boarder in the family of Mr. Choate's mother, and who subsequently married her eldest daughter. Dr. Sewall's educational in- fluence upon many of the young men of Chebacco, will long be remembered. In the Summer of 1810, Rev. Thomas Holt, then recently installed in the ministry at Chebacco, opened a private school and gave instruction to Mr. Choate in the Latin language. Mr. Choate's next teacher in the languages, was Mr. William Cogswell, who taught the dis- triet school in the Winter of 1810 and 1811, also during the school term of the next year. Mr. Cogswell was after- wards the Rev. Dr. Cogswell of Gilmanton, N. H. The subsequent teachers of Mr. Choate, during his preparation for college, were Center Merrill, then teaching a private summer school at the Falls, Samuel Sewall, who for some months had a private class in the languages, John Rogers of Londonderry, N. H., then teaching the North School, and the Rev. Robert Crowell, D.D. He finally entered at Hamp- ton Academy, N. H., in January, 1815, James Adams, Esq.,
289
RUFUS CHOATE.
1800-1819.]
preceptor, where he remained seven months reviewing his studies, and entered Dartmouth College in August of that · year. His public career as a statesman and orator, has been briefly sketched by Edwin P. Whipple, the essayist. The principal facts in his life, he gives as follows :
" He entered College in 1815 and was distinguished there for that stern devotion to study and that love of classical literature which have accompanied him through all the distractions of political and professional life. Shortly after graduating he was chosen a tutor in college ; but selecting the law for his profession he entered the Law School at Cambridge, and afterwards com- pleted his studies in the office of Judge Cummins of Salem. He also studied a year in the office of Mr. Wirt, Attorney General of the United States. He commenced the practice of his profession in the town of Danvers in 1824. But a considerable portion of the period between his first entry into his profession and his final removal to Boston in 1834 was passed in Sa- lem. He early distinguished himself as an advocate. His legal arguments replete with knowledge, conducted with admirable skill, evineing uncommon .felicity and power in the analysis and application of evidence, blazing with the blended fires of imagination and sensibility, and delivered with a rapidity and animation of manner which swept along the minds of his hearers on the torrent of his eloquence, made him one of the most successful advocates at the Essex bar. In 1825 he was elected a representative to the Massachusetts Legislature from Danvers ; and in 1827 he was in the State Senate. He took a prominent part in the debates, and the energy and sagacity which he displayed gave him a wide reputation. In 1832, he was elected member of Congress from the Essex district. He declined a re-election and in 1834 re- moved to Boston, to devote himself to his profession. He soon took a position among the most eminent lawyers at the Suffolk bar, and for seven years his legal services were in continual request. In 1841, on the retirement of Mr. Webster from the Senate, he was elected to fill his place by a large majority of the Massachusetts Legislature,-an honor which Massachusetts bestows on none but men of signal ability and integrity. Since Mr. Choate resigned his seat in the Senate he has been more exclusively devoted to his profession than at any previous period of his life. The only publie office he now holds (1847) is that of Regent of the Smithsonian Institute. The country is principally indebted to his efforts for the promising form which that institu- tion has now assumed."
Mr. Choate was appointed attorney-general of Massa- chusetts in 1853, which office he filled one year. On the 29th of June, 1859, he set sail for England, on a tour for the restoration of his health; but prostrated by disease, 37
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 5.
landed at Halifax, N. S., where he died, the 13th of July following.
Mr. Choate's " Works, with a Memoir of his Life, by . Rev. Samuel G. Brown, D. D.," then Professor in Dart- mouth College and now President of Hamilton College, were published, in two volumes, in 1862.
Notwithstanding an extensive examination of many of the recent town histories proves that biographical sketches of the inhabitants both earlier and later, who have distin- guished themselves among their fellow-men, make an in- teresting part of such town history, yet a fear oppresses those of us who have anything to do with completing the history of Essex, that the balances will betray the fact that they were sometimes held by an unsteady hand, and that more is said of some and less of others than strict impar- tiality demands. Had the original design of the author been carried out, all fear of this kind would have been taken away by a close of the history with the incorpora- tion of the parish of Chebacco as the town of Essex. The unmistakable demand of the town however, as expressed at the annual town meeting, that the history should be brought down to the present time, imposes new duties as well as much additional labor. And in relation to the sketch above begun by Mr. Whipple, while it might with great propriety have been left where it is by him, yet some extracts from remarks by members of the Suffolk bar, with a few others, will, it is hoped, be excused by all, while they may perhaps be said to be demanded by some who still regard old Chebacco as their cherishing mother :
Extract from the Address of Hon. Charles G. Loring, at a Meet- ing of the Suffolk bar, on the occasion of Mr. Choate's decease.
" Having been for more than twenty years after Mr. Choate came to this bar, his antagonist in forensic struggles, at the least, I believe, as frequently as any other member of it, I may well be competent to bear witness to his peculiar abilities, resources and manners in professional service. And bav- ing in the varied experiences of nearly forty years, not infrequently encoun- tered some of the giants of the law, whose lives and memories have contributed to render this bar illustrious throughout the land,-among whom I may include
291
RUFUS CHOATE.
1800-1819.]
the honored names of Prescott, Mason, Hubbard, Webster, Dexter, and others among the dead, and those of others yet with us, to share in the sorrows of . this hour,-I do no injustice to the living or the dead in saying, that for the peculiar powers desirable for a lawyer and advocate, for combination of accu- rate memory, logical acumen, vivid imagination, profound learning in the law, exuberance of literary knowledge and command of language, united with strategic skill, I should place him at the head of all whom I have ever seen in the management of a cause at the bar. * *
"His remembrance of every fact, suggestion, or implication involved in the testimony, of even the remotest admission by his adversary,-his ready knowledge and application of every principle of law called for at the mo- ment,-his long forecast and ever watchful attention to every new phase of the case, however slight,-his incredible power of clear and brilliant illustra. tion,-his unexampled exuberance of rich and glowing language,-his won- derfully methodic arrangement, where method would best serve him, and no less wonderful power of dislocation and confusion of forces, when method would not serve him,-his incredible ingenuity in retreating when seemingly annihilated, and the suddenness and impetuosity with which, changing front, he returned to the charge, or rallied in another and unexpected direction,- and the brilliant fancy, the peerless beauty and fascinating glow of language and sentiment, with which, when law and facts and argument were all against him, he could raise his audience above them all as things of earth, while in- sensibly persuading it that the decision should rest upon considerations to be found in higher regions, and that a verdict in his favor was demanded by some transcendent equity independent of them all, at times surpassed all pre- vious conceptions of human ability."
Richard H. Dana, near the close of his remarks on the same or a similar occasion, said :
"One word more, sir. It is not so generally known, I suppose, of Mr. Choate. that certainly during the last ten years of his life, he gave much of his thoughts to those noble and elevating problems which relate to the nature and destiny of man, to the nature of God, to the great hercafter ; recogniz- ing, sir, that great truth-so beautifully expressed in his favorite tongue-in sacred writ, [expressed in Greek, ] things not seen are eternal. He studied not merely psychology; he knew well the great schools of philosophy ; he knew well their characteristics. and read their leading men. I suspect he was the first man in this community who read Sir William Hamilton, and Man- sell's work on the Limits of Religious Thought ; and I doubt if the Chairs of Harvard or Yale were more familiar with the English and German mind, and their views on these great problems, than Mr. Choate. He carried his study even into technical theology. He knew its genius and spirit better than many divines. He knew in detail the great dogmas of St. Augustine ; and he studied and knew John Calvin and Luther. He knew the great principles
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 5.
which lie at the foundation of Catholic theology and institutions, and the theology of the evangelical school ; and he knew and studied the rationalistic writings of the Germans, and was familiar with their theories and characteristics. * * *
.
" I meant to have spoken of his studies of the English prose writers, among whom Bacon and Burke had his preference. But he read them all and loved to read them all ; from the scholastic stateliness of Milton, warring for the right of expressing thoughts for all ages, to the simplicity of Cowper's letters.
" But all this is gone for us ! We are never to see him again in the places that knew him. To think that he, of all men, who loved his home so, should have died among strangers ! That he, of all men, should have died under a foreign flag ! I can go no further."
The Hon. B. R. Curtis, in presenting to the Supreme Court the resolutions of the Suffolk bar, on the 20th day of September, 1859, followed them in a speech of great power and eloquence, but we are precluded from inserting it by want of space, and can only make room for a portion of Judge Sprague's reply, as follows :
" It is not to be understood by any means," said Judge S., " that Mr. Choate's highest merit consisted in his rhetoric. That, indeed, was the most striking. But those who had most profoundly considered and mastered the subject, saw that the matter of his discourse, the thought, was worthy of the drapery with which it was clothed. His mind was at once comprehensive and acute. No judicial question was. too enlarged for its vision, and none too minute for its analysis. To the court he could present arguments learned, logical and profound, or exquisitely refined and subtle, as the occasion seemed to require. But it was in trials before a jury that he was pre-eminent. Noth- ing escaped his vigilance, and nothing was omitted that could contribute to a verdict for his client. His skill in the examination of witnesses was con- summate. I have never seen it equaled."
Upon another point the court remarked, " No man was more exempt from vanity. He seemed to have no thought for himself, but only for his client and his cause. The verdict was kept steadily in view. His most brilliant efforts had no indication of self-exhibition or display. Magnificent as they were, they seemed to be almost involuntary outpourings from a fulness of thought and language that could not be repressed. From feeling, reflection and habit, he was a supporter of law, and of that order which is the result of its regular administration. We cannot but sympathize with the bar, in a bereavement which has taken from us such an associate and friend, by whom the court has been so often enlightened and aided in their labors, and whose rare gifts contributed to make the ' light of jurisprudence gladsome.'"
CHAPTER VI.
CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF EVENTS FROM 1820 TO 1868.
1820. TOWN STATISTICS : population, 1,107; number of polls, 258; real and personal estate, $248,813.
The Essex Canal Company was incorporated this year. A canal was opened by them from Chebacco River to Fox Creek (a branch of Ipswich River,) of about half a mile in length, for the transportation of ship-timber and lumber from the shores of the Merrimac, through Plumb Island Sound and across Ipswich River, to this place. The stock was divided into twenty-seven shares of $40 each; and the cost of the canal was nearly $1,100. For about thirteen years, the dividends of the company were from five to six per cent.
A chapel was built by proprietors near the meeting- house, for the accommodation of the Congregational Church in social religious meetings, and for the promotion of sacred music. Its dimensions were twenty-four feet by thirty-six, and its cost $640, including the land under it. Besides the audience-room there were two smaller rooms, one of which became the library-room of the "Essex So- cial Library," and the other, the selectmen's office. The building committee were Joseph Choate, John Dexter and William Andrews, Jr. On the 11th of December, it was dedicated by appropriate religious services. The text of the discourse preached by the pastor on the occasion, was the first verse of the 127th Psalm. The two-hundreth anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, was also ob- served in it, December 22d, by religious exercises and the preaching of a sermon from Exodus xv. 2. "Many will recollect with pleasure the numerous interesting and
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 6.
profitable meetings they attended in that building, during the thirty years in which it was used for religious pur- poses." A more convenient room for a chapel or vestry having been prepared in the basement of the church in 1842, this building was disposed of by the proprietors, and is now occupied as a store.
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