USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 27
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COMMISSION GRANTED FOR A POST-OFFICE.
1821. There was no regular post-office before the one established by government. But letters and papers were brought by individuals from Ipswich, and left at the house of the late John Choate. In the Autumn of 1819, a pe- tition for a post-office in Essex, and a post route from Ips- wich to Gloucester, was prepared and signed. It was presented to Congress by Hon. Jeremiah Nelson in 1820, and, " through his application and perseverance," was granted this year. Dudley Choate having been " proposed as a suitable person for post-master, and conveniently sit- uated near the meeting-house," by "George Choate and a number of other citizens," and his name having been rec- ommended by Mr. Nelson, was appointed the first post- master. He kept the office in a small building attached to the house now occupied by George Norton. In 1826 he was succeeded by Amos Burnham, who removed the office to the house now occupied by his grandson, Charles A. Burnham, then used as a tavern, and who continued in office six years. In 1832, Enoch Low was appointed post- master, and from that year the office was kept near the bridge until 1864. Albert F. Low succeeded his father in 1854, and was succeeded in 1864 by Charles W. Proctor. Since his appointment, the office has been kept in a store upon the causeway.
At the annual town meeting in March, it was voted that it be the duty of the school committee to prepare a written system of discipline for the government of the respective district schools of the town. The school com- mittee chosen this year were Rev. Robert Crowell, William
295
WASHINGTON CHOATE.
1820-1868.]
Cogswell, Jr., Col. William Andrews, Capt. Noah Burnham, Capt. Winthrop Low, Capt. Jonathan Procter, Capt. Jona- than Eveleth.
1822. Washington Choate, son of David and Miriam Foster Choate, deceased, was born January 17, 1803, and died February 27, 1822. He was, at the time of his de- cease, a member of the Junior class in Dartmouth College. The following extracts from a eulogy by a college class- mate, Charles Walker, (now the Rev. Dr. Walker of Pitts- ford, Vt.,) never before published, and delivered in a few weeks after the subject of the eulogy died, are so truthful and graphic as to supersede the necessity of any other remarks. It was delivered in the college chapel, and commences as follows :
" Where is our beloved Choate ! Alas ! the eye of ardent expectation searches for him in vain. He who was so lately one of us, is not here, but gone forever. The sphere of human action was too circunscribed for the operations of a mind like his. The celestial spirit has taken its flight to en- gage in more exalted and more congenial employments. Well may we weep. The pride and glory of our institution lies low in the tomb. The finest flower in our academic grove has withered, even while opening its fragrant blossonis to the morning sun. He was a rising luminary which our eyes behield with admiration, as a planet whose dawn was auspicious ; but ere the full brilliance of the rays was emitted, a dark and portentous cloud has forever concealed the glowing lustre from mortal view. In ordinary cases, panegyric casts some borrowed rays around its object ; but here it can serve little else except to conceal an original and resplendent blaze. Seldom indeed, have the annals of any literary institution furnished an instance where the grave has so early closed over a more beloved and affectionate yeuth, a fairer candidate for fame, or a brighter example of ardent and exalted piety. But I shrink from the attempt to portray the varied excellencies of his character. With mingled emotions of reverence and affection, I can only delineate some of the more prominent features, and leave it for you who knew him, to fill up the outline and complete the picture.
" Washington Choate was born at Ipswich,* Mass , January 17, 1803. Ile very early gave indications of uncommon merit, and the discerning mind cast forward a prophetic glance, and indulged the pleasing anticipations of future greatness. The common amusements of children could not satisfy him. His judgment was so mature, and his moral sense so delicate, even when a boy, that his school associates always fixed upon him as an umpire in
* The present town of Essex, then Chebacco Parish in Ipswich.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 6.
their disputes. He had a strong sense of right and wrong. and was remark- ably scrupulous in all his acts. His natural temper was unusually amiable. ' I never,' says a gentleman who once resided in the family, 'I never met with a child whom I loved like Washington Choate.' An ardent thirst for knowledge carly appeared, as one of the most distinguishing traits in his char- acter. His opportunities for acquiring knowledge in the carly part of his life were little superior to those enjoyed by most boys ; but they were well em- ployed. Almost entirely by his personal exertions he became familiar with the Latin, and made considerable proficiency in the Greek. Here probably he laid the foundation for future eminence by the habits of vigorous applica- tion which he acquired.
" He entered the academy at Andover in the Autumn of 1818. His su- perior talents and amiable disposition soon secured him the admiration and the love of all who knew him. The unremitted and vigorous exercise of his extra- ordinary powers, in a short time raised him entirely beyond the reach of those with whom he was associated. Gentlemen best qualified to judge, pronounced him the best and most lovely scholar that ever belonged to that institution.
" The senior class well recollect what high expectations were raised, when he commenced his collegiate course ; with what enthusiasm the members of college singled out the individual of whom they had heard so much. These expectations were more than realized. His views were so enlarged and so elevated, that even the wonderfully successful efforts of his mind could not satisfy him. Hence the smile of self-complacency was never seen playing upon his countenance. There was a restless panting after perfection in what- ever he engaged, which appeared to arise from his native greatness ; and the struggles of his manly spirit seemed sometimes to threaten the entire demoli- tion of its earthly tenement. The motives of ordinary ambition had little influence on his mind. He sought indeed the approbation of the wise and good ; but an unconquerable, ever growing attachment to the pursuits of literature and science was the strong motive which impelled him forward. After he became pious, love to his Redeemer supplied a far nobler and more efficient incentive. With such views and under the influence of such motives, we saw him incessant in his exertions. No one in college, I presume, knows how much he accomplished. His retired and modest habits were such that it could not be easily ascertained. It is well known, however, that he had familiarized himself with the most important parts of ancient literature. His compositions partook largely of classic elegance and taste, vigor and manli- ness. Words, however harmoniously arranged, afforded him no gratification, unless they embodied some valuable thought. He had made very considera- ble proficiency in some of the modern languages, and had selected, and eagerly perused a large number of the best English authors. What this extraordinary young man effected in so short a time, and a view of him in different situa- tions of life, afford conclusive evidence that his native talents were of the first order. The whole current of his thoughts and affections and his successful exertions, evinced a mind elevated above the generality of scholars ; and even
297
MILL CORPORATION.
1820-1868.]
the most distinguished were ready most cheerfully to allow a superiority which he by no means claimed. He thought with unusual elearness. His mind darted forward like lightning. He was delighted with the investigation and discovery of mathematical truth,-and satisfied every one who noticed the efficiency of his mind, that his reasoning powers were of no ordinary grade. The flashings of his fancy were uncommonly brilliant, and he possessed an inexhaustible fund of invention and keen native wit. But no trait of excel- lence was more conspicuous than the purity and correctness of his taste. In- deed, his mind seemed to have been cast in the finest and most delicate mould. He had a strong relish for the elegances of polite literature, and readily de- tected whatever did not deserve the name. Rarely can there be found so discriminating a mind at so early an age.
" We all know the unaffected modesty and simplicity of his manners. The sweetness of his disposition and the generous ardor of his affections seemed to entwine themselves with every ligament of his soul. His delieate spirit recoiled at the voice of adulation. His uncommon diffidence and reserve, however, could not conceal the exeellences of his character. The veil was too transparent to hide such glowing lustre. When the ardor of social feel- ing thrilled through his heart, what an expressive smile was lighted up in his countenance. Yet with all this softness and delicacy, there was nothing of effeminacy. The native dignity of his mind was conspicuous in his whole demeanor."
ESSEX MILL CORPORATION.
By an act of the Legislature approved June 15th, John Dexter, Winthrop Low, William Andrews, Jr., George Choate, Dudley Choate, Enoch Low, Ezra Perkins, John Choate, Joshua Low and James Perkins, were incorporated as the Essex Mill Company with a capital of $10,000; with power to build a dam across Chebacco River at or near the great bridge with gates twenty feet wide for the pas- sage of boats free of toll, and to erect saw-mills and other mills; "provided said Corporation shall make in or at the end of said dam a good and sufficient lock or locks fifteen feet wide and fifty feet in length, for the passage of flat- bottomed boats, gondolas and other water-craft, and shall attend and admit the same free of toll through said locks for the ordinary purposes of business." The stock was di- vided into one hundred shares. Of these, sixty-nine only were taken up. The whole cost of the locks and mills was about $10,000, and for the balance of the expense
38
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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money was hired, for the payment of which the stock of the company was pledged. At the first meeting of the corporators, held July 1st, George Choate was chosen chairman, William Andrews, Jr., clerk, and a committee of three appointed to obtain subscriptions to the stock. The same month James Perkins was chosen treasurer, and George Choate, John Dexter and John Choate a committee to purchase a spot, and superintend the building of a dam and a saw-mill, and to make the necessary assessments. The next year the same committee were empowered to erect a grist-mill, and to purchase and set up in it a card- ing-machine and lathe. In 1825, Charles Dexter was elected clerk, and George Choate, William Andrews, Jr., and John Choate, directors. The directors chose George Choate, president, and John Dexter, agent. The same year an adjoining piece of marsh was purchased of Elliott Woodbury for $375. In 1826, a canal was dug through this marsh, and a wharf three hundred and twenty-five feet long built near the grist-mill.
1823. The Selectmen were authorized to build a new road at the Falls to the "landing." This cost $320.
A draw was built to the " great bridge." The cost of this, together with the rebuilding of one of the abutments and other repairs, was about $1,400.
Graduated at Yale College John Dennison Russ, the son of Dr. Parker and Mrs. Elizabeth Cogswell Russ. He was born in Chebacco, September 1, 1801.
" Having finished his studies preparatory for college, under the venerable Dr. Abbott of Exeter, N. H., he entered Yale College, and graduated from that iustitution in 1823. He began the study of medicine in the office of John D. Wells, M. D., Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Bowdoin College, continued it in the Baltimore and Massachusetts Medical Colleges, and received his Doctorate from Yale in 1825. After spending a year abroad in the hospitals of Paris, London and Edinburgh, he commenced the practice of medicine in New York city. The next year his attention was directed to the famishing condition of the Greeks, then engaged in a desperate struggle with the Turks for liberty. Full of zeal for their cause, he availed himself of the wide-spread feeling which laid almost every city and village under contribution, and took charge of the brig 'Statesman,' which sailed from
299
DR. JOHN D. RUSS.
1820-1868.]
Boston in June, 1827, laden with supplies. Other vessels followed in rapid succession, the majority of whose cargoes it fell to his lot to distribute. In the accomplishment of this work, he visited almost every village in Greece. He also established a hospital at Poras, of which he had the charge for fifteen months. Having determined then to erect a hospital more commensurate with the wants of the country, and having been furnished with a site at Hex- amelia on the Isthmus of Corinth, he commenced and nearly completed a building two hundred feet in length and two stories high, when sickness com- pelled him to leave the work to others. In the Spring of 1830, Dr. Russ left Greece, and on his return visited Malta, Sicily, Italy and France. He reached Paris a few days before the breaking out of the Revolution, and brought the first intelligence of it to this country. He recommenced the practice of his profession in New York city, and during the prevalence of the cholera soon after, he was assistant physician at the cholera hospital at Corlears Hook in that city. At a little later period, he became interested in the condition of the children in the city nurseries, who were very gener- ally suffering from ophthalmia, and many of whom had lost their sight by this disease. At his own cost, he began the instruction of seven blind children-which was the first attempt of the kind in America. Finding the apparatus for their instruction, used in other countries, exceedingly rude and ill adapted to their use, he made many improvements in that used for the study of Arithmetic and Geography, and substituted for the old maps used with chords and pins, paper maps. These maps, first introduced by him, are now in use wherever civilization has caused the blind to be regarded.
" Having retired from the direction of the New York Institution for the Blind, he next devoted his energies to the amelioration of prison discipline. In this cause he expended much gratuitous service, and distinguished himself as the author of several voluminous and highly important reports on that sub- ject. He was for many years Corresponding Secretary of the New York Prison Association. The over-crowded state of the City Penitentiary also excited his sympathies, and he commenced an agitation of political sentiment respecting this matter. The first meeting for the consideration of the subject was called by him, and it was a report written by him which led to the erec- tion of the present noble edifice known as the New York Work-house. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Board of ' Ten Governors,' for the better regulation and oversight of the Penitentiary and Work-house. In 1837, Dr. Russ wrote a letter to Henry Clay, then President of the Col- onization Society, in which he appealed to that statesman to aid in carrying out his views in relation to the gradual emancipation of the slaves. The plan proposed in it was the purchase of every female slave as she arrived at ma- turity, with the understanding that her master should retain her services un- til she was twenty-one years of age, and should cause her to be instructed in reading, writing and arithmetic. By this slow and gradual process, ho thought slavery might be abolished in about twenty-five years, at an estimated
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cost of three hundred millions of dollars, without any violent organic change in society, and with the education of the slaves for the responsibilities of free- dom. In 1848, Dr. Russ was chosen a member of the Board of Education of the city of New York. During the last two years of his connection with it, through his influence and efforts, the laws regulating public instruction in the city were so altered as to unite the different organizations then existing, in one, and to build up that splendid system of school instruction which places New York city in the van of common school education. The sugges- tions and plans of Dr. Russ also led to the establishment of the New York Juvenile Asylum, in which the neglected children of the city, taken from the guardianship of their parents, are protected and educated by the State. He drew the act of incorporation, urged it through the Legislature, became Sec- retary of the Board, and since 1853, has been the Superintendent of the Asylum. To him, also, the Board are indebted for the plan of the edifice they now occupy. In the year 1830, Dr. Russ was married to Miss Eliza P. Jenkins, daughter of a captain in the English navy."
1824. March 24th, the town voted $125 to repair the long causeway.
October. The town voted $600 for the purchase of a fire engine of four and one-half inch chamber, twenty-four buckets, two fire hooks and four long ladders, and the erec- tion of an engine-house on a piece of land near the meeting- house. In 1838, by vote of the town, this engine-house was moved to the spot which it now occupies near the "Centre gravel-pit."
POOR-HOUSE AND FARM.
1825. Though a committee had been appointed in March, 1821, " to consider the expediency of providing a permanent place for the poor," it was not until March of this year that the town voted " to purchase an establish- ment for the poor for their permanent residence." Up to this time the poor, as in other places, were let out to the lowest bidder. A committee, consisting of George Choate, Esq., Jonathan Story, Esq., John Dexter, Col. William An- drews, Capt. Francis Burnham, Capt. James Perkins, Capt. Winthrop Low, were chosen to purchase a poor-house and farm, and were authorized to draw on the treasury for the cost. In December, the committee reported that they had purchased the house and farm of Capt. John Procter for
1820-1868.]
GEORGE CHOATE, ESQ. 301
$4,600. The house measured thirty feet by fifty, and had seven lodging-rooms for the poor. It had been built about a century. The farm contained about one hundred acres of upland, fifty of marsh and twenty acres of woodland. A committee of three was then chosen "to stock, furnish and prepare said farm for the reception and accommoda- ยท tion of the poor," and the sum of $800 was voted to de- fray the expense of the same. In March, 1826, $600 more were voted for the same purpose. Mr. William Luf- kin, Jr., was the first superintendent, with a salary of $200. The number of paupers, when the house was opened, was twenty-one. In 1833, there were twenty paupers, "almost all of whom were impoverished either directly or indi- rectly by intemperance."
April 4th. The town voted " that the selectmen allow no bills for liquor on the highway." At the same meeting, it was also voted " that the constables present to the grand jury, or otherwise prosecute, all persons that may be guilty of a violation of the law providing for the due observance of the Lord's day."
1826. February 8th, died George Choate, Esq., aged 64. At the time of his death he was treasurer of the town and of the parish. The following obituary notice appeared in the Salem Gazette :- " Few men have so well discharged the duties of husband, parent and citizen as Mr. Choate. He was for many years a member of the Legislature from Ipswich, and the first representative from Essex, and was much employed by his townsmen in the management of their concerns, deservedly enjoying their highest confidence, respect and esteem. By them his use- fulness will be long remembered. To a strength and pu- rity of mind there was united a quiet, peaceful and ami- able disposition, which greatly endeared him to his friends and acquaintances. So mindful was he of the rights of others that, as he never made an enemy, so certainly he has not left one ; and we cannot but admire and wish to imitate that discipline of mind and feeling, which he so
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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eminently manifested, and which enabled him to perform the duties and sustain the fatigues and ills of life without a murmur or complaint. The virtues of honest fidelity and benevolence will not perish with the body. For the upright and faithful there remaineth a rest. He was al- ways deeply interested in the cause of education, and gave his hearty and constant support to the institutions of religion."
February 10th. Died, at Byfield, Dr. Parker Cleave- land, aged seventy-four years. He was a son of Rev. Mr. Cleaveland, and was born in Chebacco, October 14, (O. S.,) 1751.
" He was not favored with the advantages of a collegiate course ; but hav- ing received as good a medical education as the country then afforded, he be- gan the practice in the parish of Byfield, at the carly age of nineteen. At the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, he sought employment in the ser- vice of his country, was appointed chief surgeon of a continental regiment, and discharged the duties of that office during the first year of the war. Dr. Cleaveland repeatedly represented the town of Rowley in the General Court ; and was one of three, including the venerable Ex-President Adams, who were members of the two State conventions, of which, one formed and the other revised and amended the Constitution. For forty years he was an acting magistrate. In these and other public trusts, he displayed equal ability and faithfulness. At once active and patient, ardent and discriminating, had he been early trained to public speaking, he might have made himself felt and valued in any deliberative assembly. He was an intelligent and skillful phy- sician. Throughout his life, he read every medical work of importance that came in his way ; and though he adopted no opinions upon trust, or without the most considerate examination, yet far was he from shutting his mind upon the advancing light and improvements of the age. He was carefully observ- ant of every symptom and rarely erred in his judgment or prognostic.
" He was a firm believer in the doctrines of revealed truth. It was indeed to the grand and beautiful system of the Gospel that he directed the chief force of his acute and vigorous understanding. The ablest and most abstruse discussions of the great masters in theology, were the subjects of his close and successful investigation. Notwithstanding his professional and public duties and many distracting cares, he found time to read much, very much, both in practical and polemic divinity. He called no man master. His religious opinions were adopted only after the most patient and scrutinizing examination and comparison, and they were held with that meek firmness which is the natural result of convictions thus grounded. In his sentiments he was strictly orthodox. But let it not be supposed that his religion was a system of cold
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1820-1868.]
speculation. It were difficult to do him greater injustice. He possessed not merely a well-furnished and argumentative head, but a heart replete with the best affections and graces of the Christian character. He was faithful, and affectionate, benevolent, humble and devout. Emphatically might he be called a man of prayer. Often at the bed of sickness has he administered to the sinking body, and cheered with holy hopes the desponding spirit. At differ- ent periods of peculiar religious attention, his pious and useful influence has been eminently conspicuous. Firmly confiding in the justice and the mercy of every providential dispensation, he endured with Christian resignation the trials of life. Called repeatedly to part with those who were dear to him, doomed in the decline of life to struggle with adverse circumstances, his firm- ness, his cheerfulness never forsook him. In the love of his Redeemer, he could find relief from every earthly solicitude ; this was the theme of his de- lightful contemplation. Although for many months before his death his health had been evidently failing, he was confined to the house but for a few weeks previously to that event. He seemed fully apprehensive that his dissolution was approaching, yet did not his principles, his faith or his hope desert him. He knew in whom he had trusted, and could therefore look back with satis- faction, and forward with unfaltering trust. In the death of such a man, it is superfluous to say that his family, his friends, his neighbors and the church have sustained an irreparable loss."*
His children were the late Prof. Parker Cleaveland, LL. D., of Bowdoin College and the Rev. John P. Cleave- land, D. D., of Billerica, Mass.
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