USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 28
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March. The town voted "to choose a School Commit- tee of five, to be sworn and paid for their services: that David Choate, Winthrop Low and Charles Dexter be a committee to inquire into the condition of the several schools : that the selectmen subscribe for the American Journal of Education."
July 4th. The fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was celebrated by the Essex Light In- fantry-the town uniting with them. An oration was delivered in the meeting-house by Rufus Choate, Esq., then of Danvers, but a native of Essex. The dinner following the public exercises, was served up in the inclosure belong- ing to Col. William Andrews, west of his house. The officers of the Light Infantry on this occasion, were Joshua Low, captain; Moses Andrews, Jr., lieutenant; John F. Burnham,
* Boston Recorder, March 3, 1826.
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ensign ; committee of arrangements, David Choate, U. G. Spofford, Charles Dexter and Winthrop Low. The pre- ceding year the name of the company had been changed to " Essex Light Infantry." The uniform had also been changed at the same time to " a blue coat with gilt trim- mings and bell buttons, black varnished leather cap with gilt trimmings and a white plume, white trowsers and black half-boots."
1827. A revival of religion in the Congregational Church commenced in September, as the result of which more than eighty persons united with the church during the years 1828 and 1829. The following account of the beginning of this revival is taken from the minutes of the clerk in the records of the church :
"September. First Sabbath evening. A special meeting of the church to pray for the cffusion of the Holy Spirit. A meeting also was held by ap- pointment at the house of the pastor, for any who might be anxiously in- quiring what they must do to be saved. Two persons attended this inquiry meeting.
" Second Sabbath evening. Church meeting by adjournment at brother D. Choate's. Much engagedness manifest. The second inquiry meeting at the pastor's. Number of inquirers increased to ten.
" Third Sabbath evening. At the meeting for the anxious, about thirty persons came in distress of mind to 'ask the law at the priest's lips.'
" The usual Thursday evening lecture at the chapel was attended fully and with uncommon solemnity. Such an attention to the things of eternity has become apparent, as has not been witnessed within the memory of any but the aged.
" A prayer meeting appointed to be holden at the chapel on Sabbath morn- ing between the first and second bell ringing; well attended and solemn; is to be continued, if it should be attended in such numbers as to justify such continuance.
" October. Inquiry meeting continued weekly, on Tuesday evening, at the pastor's ; also on Friday evening, at a private house in the Falls district ; number of inquirers exceeding thirty.
" December. The hopeful appearances of a revival of religion continue deeply interesting, though without much perceptible increase. Inquiry meet- ing and lectures continued as usual."
1829, March. The town appropriated $150 for the re- pair of the great bridge and causeway.
305
TEMPERANCE REFORMATION.
1820-1868.]
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION .*
Some interest in the temperance movement had been previously awakened, but the first public address upon the subject was delivered on the 16th of July, in the Congre- gational meeting-house, by William C. Goodell of Boston, the editor of a paper devoted to good morals and particu- larly to temperance. To most of the audience in attend- ance, the theme was a new one, and they were startled by the form in which it was announced by the speaker : " Ardent spirits ought to be banished from the land. What ought to be done can be done." The effect of the lecture, however, was seen in the formation of the first temperance society, at the same meeting. Its constitution bears the following title : " Essex Temperance Society, on the princi- ple of total abstinence ; formed July 16, 1829. Prov. vi. 27, 28; Col. ii. 1." It was drawn up by Mr. Goodell and Rev. Mr. Crowell, and its third article reads as follows :
" The members of this society, believing that the use of intoxicating liquors is, for persons in health, not only unnecessary but hurtful ; and that the prac- tice is the cause of forming intemperate habits ; and that while it is continued, the evils of intemperance ean never be prevented, do, therefore, agree that we will abstain from the use of distilled spirits, except as a medicine in case of bodily infirmity ; that we will not allow the use of them in our families, nor provide them for the entertainment of our friends, or for persons in our employment ; and that in all suitable ways we will discountenance the use of them in the community."
Seven persons only responded to the call to organize that society, and to sign the pledge that evening. Their names are as follows : Winthrop Low, Samuel Burnham, John Choate, John Perkins, Jonathan Eveleth, Francis Burnham, David Choate. Capt. Winthrop Low was elect- ed the first president of the society. Rev. Mr. Crowell's name for some reason, was not added until a few days after, though he was decided and earnest from the first in favor of the whole movement, and, in fact, had been the first to
** Furnished by Mr. Uriah G. Spofford.
39
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introduce the subject to the notice of the people. Within a year following, forty others enrolled their names to the pledge, twenty-nine of whom were ladies. The names of the men were as follows: Robert W. Burnham, John S. Burnham, Philemon S. Eveleth, Zaccheus Burnham, Elias Savage, Thomas Perkins, U. G. Spofford, J. C. Perkins, James Perkins, Aaron Cogswell, Caleb Cogswell.
Within a short time after the formation of the society, Mr. Goodell, Capt. Low and Mr. Crowell canvassed nearly all the town in behalf of the cause, presenting the subject to the people at their homes, and urging all to adopt the pledge. The public discourse and the conversations in private caused a good deal of excitement and commotion in the community. Many who were themselves well-dis- posed, kept aloof from the movement from the fear that they could not obtain workmen, unless they furnished liquor to their employes. But there was also great and bitter opposition in all parts of the town. Some ridiculed. Others declared that the temperance men were aiming to bring about a union of Church and State. The strongest opponents were those who were engaged in the traffic in liquor, and those whose views were determined by their appetite for it. Such contended against the movement with all their might. The members of the society how- ever were full of zeal in the cause. Weekly meetings were held in the chapel, and lectures were delivered in the meeting-house. From time to time, there were additional signatures to the pledge, and the reform went steadily on- ward, although from the opposition it encountered, its progress was slow for a number of years. So deep-rooted had become the custom of the social use of intoxicating drinks on all occasions, that, when Mr. Spofford succeeded in moving a building by the aid of the neighbors, without " treating " them, it was considered a remarkable feat, and was always remembered as the first instance of the kind. Opposition to the cause was most strongly manifested, of course, when the town began to take action with reference
307
UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY.
1820-1868.]
to it; but such was the influence of the society, that as early as 1833 no licenses were granted by the town.
It was not long before an advance was made by the ad- vocates of temperance to the position of total abstinence from all fermented as well as from all distilled liquors. Rev. Mr. Frost was the first lecturer in town, who urged this application of the principles of temperance. He was followed by Mr. Moses B. Parish, who illustrated his argu- ment to prove that cider contained alcohol, by the use of a distilling apparatus in his lecture. It required consider- able time and discussion, in those days, to convince many people of this fact.
That public sentiment was essentially revolutionized and the foundation of the reform firmly laid in those opening years of the temperance movement, the efficiency of the subsequent temperance organizations, the sobriety of the inhabitants and the prevailing condition of public opinion have clearly shown. A sufficient illustration of the state of public sentiment on this subject is found in the result of the State election of 1867, in which there was a majority of sixty votes in town in favor of the prohibitory law.
1830. Town statistics : Population, 1,333; three per- sons over ninety years of age, and eleven between eighty and ninety years of age ; number of polls, 319; valuation, $322,298 ; number of dwelling-houses, 157.
THE ESSEX UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY,
Which had been formed April 20, 1829, was legally or- ganized on the 20th of April of this year, at a meeting held by virtue of a warrant issued by Jonathan Story, Esq., at the request of ten members. The officers chosen at this meeting were Parker Burnham, Jr., moderator; Oliver Low, clerk; Enoch Low, treasurer ; William Andrews, Jr., Benjamin Burnham, Jr., Parker Burnham, Jr., committee. The number of members at the formation of the society was forty-six. The next year, by vote of the society passed April 25, 1831, preaching was supported by subscription.
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1832. A school-house was built at the Falls this year. It was thirty-three feet by thirty, and eleven feet post. The building and the land on which it stood cost $800. The changes made in it in 1845, together with its repairs, cost $300.
Graduated at Amherst College, Jonathan Cogswell Per- kins. Mr. Perkins was born November 21, 1809, and was fitted for college at Phillip's Academy, Andover, of which school he was a member in 1827 and 1828. Com- mencing the study of law in the October following his graduation at college, he was a student in the office of Hon. Rufus Choate until January, 1834, and then a mem- ber of the Cambridge Law School until May, 1835. Hav- ing finished his legal studies in the office of Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, of Salem, he was admitted to the bar at the September term of the Court of Common Pleas, the same year, and immediately commenced the practice of law in Salem. In the years 1845 and 1846, he was one of the representatives of Salem in the Legislature, and the next two years was a member of the State Senate. In June following his second term of service in the Senate, he was appointed one of the Judges of the Court of Com- mon Pleas, which office he filled until 1859. In 1850, Judge Perkins, was elected one of the trustees of Amherst College. He had already rendered valuable service to his Alma Mater, when a member of the Legislature. In 1846, a donation of $25,000 was received from the State, by that college, with reference to which Dr. Hitchcock, at that time president, remarked on a public occasion : "The re- port and efforts of the Hon. Jonathan C. Perkins as chair- man of the committee of the Legislature, exerted a strong influence in giving the college success in its application for aid from that body." Judge Perkins was in 1853 a member of the convention for revising the Constitution of the State. For many years he has also been distin- guished among the members of his profession, for his edi- tions of various foreign legal works, with additions and
309
MASTER JOSEPH STORY.
1820-1868.]
copious annotations of his own. With reference to one of these, Hon. Simon Greenleaf, one of the highest legal authorities in the country, remarked in 1844 :
" From my knowledge of Mr. Perkins as a well-read and exact lawyer eminently fitted for the work, I anticipated, from the first announcement of his design to furnish notes for an edition of Brown's Chancery Reports, a rich contribution to the stock of our equity jurisprudence. I have examined his notes with some care, and find my expectations more than realized. His notes are practical, and in neatness, comprehensiveness and accuracy, are not surpassed by any editorial notes which I have seen."
In 1867, Mr. Perkins received from Amherst College the degree of LL. D.
1833. March 14th, died Joseph Story, familiarly known as " Master Story." He was born December 12, 1760, was a soldier of the Revolution, and served through the whole of that war. He was in the Northern army when Gen. Burgoyne and his army surrendered. Mr. Story taught school thirty years, twenty-seven of them in the Falls District. He was town clerk, from the incorporation, and held that office much longer than any successor has done, and was clerk of the First Parish for a long series of years ; the exact number is not known, as there is a break in the record from 1775 to 1818. Mr. Story was clerk at that time (1818), and continued to be until 1825.
NEW POOR-HOUSE.
1834, March. The town voted to accept the report of a committee appointed in March, 1833, to consider the expe- diency of erecting a new poor-house, and to report respect- ing the material, size and expense of the same ; also voted to build a poor-house, and to expend $2,000 for the same. Jacob Story, Charles Dexter and Samuel Hardy were chosen building committee. In 1835, $914 more were voted to de- fray the balance of the cost of the house, and the thanks of the town were voted to the building committee.
MILLS AT THE FALLS.
This year a bark-mill was erected at the Falls, by Capt. Francis Burnham, in connection with his tanning estab-
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lishment. Three mill privileges at the Falls seem to have been improved from a very early period, although from the level of Chebacco pond to high water mark at the head of the creek at the "Falls Landing," there is a fall of only forty feet (according to a careful measurement made some years since.) The first mill-site was granted by the town in 1665, to a Mr. Wade, for a saw-mill. This was, according to authentic tradition, where Mr. Perkins Story's saw-mill now is, and this spot is believed to have been occupied for that purpose ever since. Mr. Story's present mill was erected in 1837. In 1667, the town granted leave to Mr. Thomas Burnham " to set up a saw- mill upon Chebacco River, not prejudicing Mr. Wade's." This was upon the same dam upon which the bark-mill now is, but on the other side of the stream. In 1687, John Burnham, a son of Thomas, having raised the dam two feet higher, which was "likely to damage the town very much by flowing the town common (commoners' land), and killing the wood if the dam be not removed, and the said John Burnham now moving the town to have a place below where the dam now stands to set up the said mill, which place will be little or no damage to the town, only the flowing one acre or two of the town's com- mon, voted and granted unto the said John Burnham, in consideration of the grant to his father and the charge he will be at in moving his mill, liberty to set up his saw-mill upon the place now propounded for upon said river near to G. Story's mill; and he is not to damnifie any former grant." In 1698 or 1700, the saw-mill was removed, and a grist-mill took its place, as appears from an old account- book now in the possession of Mrs. Job Burnham; and this spot has ever since been occupied by a grist-mill until quite recently. The last one was built about the year 1800, and was disused in 1847. It was torn down in 1862.
1835, April 20th. The town voted "that the inhabit- ants, with their estates, north of the North school-house (which stood a few rods north-east of the house of Jona-
.
311
CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT.
1820-1868.]
than Low) be called the Essex North School District, and the residue of the late North School District be called the Central School District." On account of some supposed illegality connected with this division of the North Dis- trict, or some defect in the statement of the boundary line between the two districts into which it was divided, the subject was brought again before the town, at a meeting held December 10, 1837; and it was then
" Voted, that the section of territory which, previous to the year 1835, was called the North School District, be divided into two school districts by a direct line running due east and west, and drawn through the center of the spot of land upon which the North School-house, so called, stood, and from which it was removed in 1835.
" Voted, that the two districts, so constituted, be known and called by the name of the North and Central School Districts."
The Central District purchased a lot of land of John Perkins, and erected upon it a school-house twenty-eight feet in width by thirty-eight feet in length, and two stories in height. The building and land cost $1,925. It was opened for school purposes in December 1835. The first teacher in it, and the only one until December, 1842, with the exception of three winter terms, was Hon. David Choate, who, in addition to the town school in the winter months (except as above), taught a private school in it the remainder of the year. During this period, the average number of pupils per term was sixty. Many of them were from other towns.
Among the features of this school of especial interest to the pupils, as recol- lected by some of them, were the use of apparatus to illustrate the principles of natural philosophy and astronomy, and of instruments in the study of sur- veying ; courses . of lectures on natural philosophy, and on other subjects ; instruction in music and in Latin ; the constant use of outline and other maps, with which the school-room was abundantly supplied ; a school-library ; prizes for excellence in various branches, and a record of scholarship and of demerit ; and every morning a unique " general exercise " of half an hour for the whole school. This usually consisted of a familiar lecture by the teacher, on various subjects outside of the regular course of study, in which were communicated truths, aphorisms, instructive historical and biographical anecdotes, and a mass of information of all kinds, adapted both to stimulate and to enrich the minds of the pupils. In their estimation, it was the most
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interesting as well as profitable exercise of the day. Besides the regular studies, which were pursued with great thoroughness, and towards which a remarkable degree of enthusiasm was excited in the minds of the scholars, there were frequent exercises in singing, accompanied by the piano ; and at intervals, dialogues, moot-courts, readings from entertaining books, and ex- cursions to places and objects of interest.
On the 29th of October, 1837, the district voted that the school be divided ; that the younger scholars be taught in the chamber of the school-house, by a female teacher ; and that the division be made by the teacher, the Pruden- tial Committee, and the clerk, at their discretion.
On the 30th of April, the first meeting of the new North District was held. Nehemiah Dodge was chosen moderator ; John Burnham, clerk; Josiah Low, pruden- tial committee. By vote of the district, a school-house lot, of six square rods of land was purchased of John Burnham for $12, the school-house of the old North Dis- trict aforesaid was purchased for $48.78, removed to its present position, and the sum of $315 expended in repairs upon it. In 1846, further repairs were made upon it, for which the sum of $100 was raised.
By vote of the Thompson's Island School District, at a meeting held March 21st, a new school-house was built in that district, on " a lot of land in front of the house of William Burnham, 4th, and on the corner of the Manches- ter and Ipswich roads," and the sum of $1,000 appropriated for the payment of the house and land. Benjamin Court- ney was chairman of the building committee. The old school-house, which stood between the present dwelling- houses of Moses Knowlton, Jr., and Aaron Burnham, Jr., and the land under it, were sold. In 1845; the school- house was divided into two rooms and painted, and the sum of $200 raised to defray the cost of the same. In 1850, the building was raised from the underpinning, an- other story built beneath it, and the whole was painted. To defray the cost of these improvements, the sum of $650 was raised.
September 1. Died, Mr. Westley Burnham, aged eighty-
313
MR. WESTLEY BURNHAM.
1820-1868.]
eight years. He was the grandson of David Burnham who lived in the house since occupied by his great-grandson, the late Abner Burnham, at the south-eastern end of Che- bacco pond ; and who was a vessel-builder. The following sketch has been furnished by Mr. Robert W. Burnham.
"This David Burnham is known to have built a brig, at the foot of what is now Addison Cogswell's hill, near the ereck. It would seem that the family of Burnhams had been shipwrights from time immemorial. Their system was, for a considerable period, thought to be peculiar to themselves, as it was different from any now in vogue here, but it has recently been found in a book on naval architecture, which was brought from England about thirty years ago.
" Mr. Burnham's father was also named Westley. He died June 28, 1797, aged seventy-eight. The mother of the subject of this sketch was Deborah, the daughter of Dea. Zechariah Story. She was born in 1723, in the old house now belonging to Aaron Story, 2d, and died November 24, 1821, aged ninety-eight.
" Mr. Burnham was born August 27, 1747. In his carly life, he was a sailor. At the age of seventeen, he made a voyage to Lisbon, and rowed in a boat over the site of Old Lisbon, which had been destroyed and sunk by an earthquake in 1755. He became a successful navigator, although his educa- tion had been only such as Chebacco afforded. No vessel commanded by him was ever wrecked or dismasted ; and his judgment in maritime matters was very highly esteemed. He was always styled 'Skipper Westley.' For several years in succession, he made voyages to Virginia. The cargoes in those days, usually consisted of fish, lumber, and New England rum. In exchange for these, corn, raccoon-skins, snake-root and rice were obtained, and brought into Chebacco, or disposed of at other harbors in the country. Mr. Burnham was also a fisherman, and made many trips to the 'Grand Banks.' He afterwards followed the hereditary occupation of vessel-building. He was a man of extraordinary strength.
" For a short time, Mr. Burnham served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution. Afterwards he entered the privatecring service. In an engage- ment with the enemy, the vessel in which he sailed was captured, and with the rest of the crew he was carried to England. An order of the admiralty gave permission to any American prisoners to go on board his majesty's ships and do sailor's duty, except fighting, if they should choose to do so, in prefer- ence to lying in prison. After remaining some time in the 'Mill Prison,' he took advantage of this order, and entered the seventy-four gunship Preston. While on a cruise on the West India station, he was taken sick with the small- pox,. and was left in hospital in Jamaica. He was so near to dying there, that one man who returned to this country from that island reported to his family that he was dead. On his recovery he immediately took ship for Bos- ton, and on arriving there, walked to Chebacco. His arrival was noised 40
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abroad, and as he expressed it, ' that night all Chebaeco was at the house to see one who had risen from the dead.' Though not a member of the church, he was a constant church-goer, and a strict observer of the Sabbath, which in his belief and practice commenced on Saturday evening. For a considerable length of time, he was totally blind. And it is a very significant faet with reference to his intelligence and mental training, that he was then accustomed to spend his evenings in listening to the reading of a grandson (who was for several years a member of his family), partly for his own entertainment, but also for the sake of knowing what the boy was in the habit of reading, and of training him to a correct pronunciation. Mistakes in accent and in-em- phasis were carefully criticised, and passages were required to be read over and over again, until their meaning was properly and fully expressed.
" In 1771, he was married to Molly, daughter of Robert Woodbury of Beverly Farms. Mrs. Burnham was born July 29, 1749, and died April 27, 1830, at the age of eighty years and nine months. To these parents, each of a robust and long-lived race, were born ten children, and the lon- gevity of these children has been as remarkable as that of their parents. Molly (Mrs. Caleb Andrews.) was born October 13, 1772, and died Febru- ary 18, 1847. Westley was born September 14, 1774, and died June 21, 1811. Nathan was born May 26, 1776, and died September 23, 1860. Asa was born September 9, 1778, and died May 23, 1850. Michael was born April 3, 1781, and died October 28, 1862. Henry was born June 23, 1783, and died 1867. Anne (Mrs. Abner Burnham, ) was born July 14, 1785, and died March 3, 1862. Samuel was born October 28, 1787. Richard was born December 9, 1790, and died January 1, 1855. Ruth (Mrs. Jacob Burnham,) was born March 16, 1793. The eldest son only, of all these children, has died before reaching old age.
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