USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Manchester > History of the town of Manchester, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1645-1895 > Part 19
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APPENDIX H.
Art. 6. " Any person wishing to become a member must sign the total abstinence Pledge."
June 6, 1842, " Voted not to admit boys under 14 years of age into the reading room ; and all boys for disorderly behav- iour to be expelled immediately."
May 17, 1843, " Voted to take the following list of papers, viz., Daily Bee, Mercantile Journal, Zion's Herald, Phila- delphia Saturday Courier, Essex Co. Washingtonian, Boston Cultivator, Portland Transcript." May 2, 1871, " Voted that this association subscribe for two daily papers, namely, the Boston Post and Boston Journal; also four weekly papers, namely, the Commonwealth, Ploughman, Gloucester Telegraph, and Portland Transcript."
Under date of Sept. 3, 1877, mention is made of the "Franklin," a " spare engine without a company, stored in a small building owned by Charles Lee." This was an engine purchased of the city of Lynn, and was too large and heavy for ordinary use; it needed a force of a hundred men to handle it.
The "Manchester," bought in 1872, at a cost of $1,635, is a good hand engine, and still serviceable.
On Nov. 15, 1880, Mr. John Knight's Tannery was burned. This was a large fire and threatened the destruction of much adjoining property. It was got under control, however, before assistance arrived from neighboring towns.
In 1885, an Amoskeag Steam Fire-Engine, the " Sea- side," was bought, costing $3,000, and a new company formed, the old company disbanding May 4, tendering its records to the Selectmen, with a " request that they be placed in the Vault of the town for safe keeping." An Engine House was built on the Common, the pres- ent Police Station. In 1891, the present commodious and well equipped Engine House on School street was built, on the site of the old Engine House which was moved to the rear of Mr. Samuel Knight's residence.
1
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
A Chemical Engine costing $1,774.50 was added to the apparatus in 1889.
The following information is from the Report of the Board of Engineers for the year ending Feb. 28, 1895.
Apparatus.
One Steamer, Fourth class Amoskeag. One Chemical En- gine. One Hook and Ladder Truck, containing a good sup- ply of sails, ropes and ladders, including one 40-foot extension ladder. Four Hose Carriages. Four Ladder Boxes in the ontlying sections, well supplied with ladders. One Hand En- gine, not in commission.
Force of the Department.
One Chief and two Assistant Engineers. One Engineer, one Fireman and Twenty-one Members, for the Steamer "Sea- side." Ten Members for the Chemical Engine. Eighteen Members for the Hook and Ladder. Total number of men in the Department, Fifty-four.
Estimated value of property, not including Reservoirs or Engine House, about $7,500.
The material equipment of the Fire Department fifty years ago would now be considered cumbrous, weak and inefficient, belonging to a crude and altogether un- scientific age.1 But, judged by the list of papers in its reading room, and its total abstinence by-law, it must be confessed that its morale was high. There were, in sooth, "Great-hearts" in those days to man the brakes and pass the buckets. And the Department was well organized and well disciplined, if the frequent adoption of stringent by-laws, and the significant action of April 24, 1839, " Voted, to abide to our By-laws," - be any criterion. Great as has been the improvement in appa- ratus, the early firemen certainly possessed personal
1 Three buckets preserved as mementoes, hanging in the Engine Room, and inscribed respectively, EAGLE, 1828, TORRENT, 1835, FRANKLIN, 1865, mark the contrast between the appliances of a former time and the pres- ent. They are a simple but picturesque memorial of departed days.
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APPENDIX H.
courage, skill and endurance worthy of all the praise which they have received. Modern improvements have been mainly in the line of better machinery, of greater variety and power of equipment, and in the use of horse power, steam and electricity. With their simple and meagre apparatus, the firemen of forty or fifty years ago performed feats of valor and skill, which the men of to-day will do well to equal.
In the future it will be found that it is in the preven- tion of fires rather than the extinguishing of them that the safety of a community mainly consists; the danger of a general conflagration seeming to increase about in proportion to the means of arresting and subduing it, as witness the " Great Fires " of recent times.1
All honor must be given to the brave men who spring to duty at the call of the dread alarum, who flinch not amidst flying cinders and deafening roar of flame, who with true knightly devotion fling themselves into battle with the fiercest of foes, who make their own the ancient devices of their guild, - painted on buckets and inscribed on banners,-
PRO BONO PUBLICO ; SEMPER PARATUS ; NIL DESPERANDUM.
1 Great Fires and Fire Extinction, by Gen. A. P'. Rockwell, Boston, 1878.
APPENDIX I.
SOME OLD BOOKS.
PROBABLY the oldest Bible in town, and one of the oldest in the country, is in the custody of the Historical Society. It was " Imprinted at London by the deputies of Christopher Barker Printer to the Queenes most Excellent Majestie, 1599." It is a good deal worn by use and by " the tooth of time "; the following portions being wanting, Gen. i-Dent. xvi, 1 Tim. iv-Rev. xxii, besides scattered leaves or parts of leaves here and there. The title page of the New Testament is mostly preserved, giving the date. It is a copy of the Bible known as the "Bishops?" Bible, translated in 1563; it contains marginal references and annotations, and each book is prefixed by an Argument; there are also some quaint maps and diagrams of Ezekiel's temple. The ink and paper must have been good, as the type is still per- fectly clear and legible except where greatly worn and defaced by handling.
Upon the blank leaf separating the Old and New Testaments is the following writing, without date, ". sire of John Lee and Sarah -ee the Owners of this Book that it become the Property of their Grandson Thomas Lee after their Decease." Below are the auto- graphs, Thomas Lee, Jun", and anna allen.
It is said that this Bible was sent from England by John Lee to his grandson, Thomas Lee, Jr., who was born in Manchester in the house now owned and occu- pied by Mrs. Abby Baker,1 in 1694, and where he died in 1775. After his death, the book was in the Lee family until abont sixty-five years ago, when the last of
1 Henry Lee deeded this house to his widow, in 1674; see cut, p. 49.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
the family, who occupied the house above referred to, died, and it came into possession of Dea. Enoch Allen, by purchase at auction. After Dea. Allen's death in 1845, his daughter restored the volume to Mr. Charles Lee, a de- scendant in direct line from Thomas Lee, Jr. Soon after Mr. Lee's death in 1889, his daughter, Miss Ella F. Lee, of the seventh generation from John Lee, of England, the original owner, presented it to the Historical Society for safe keeping.
The book is an interesting and valuable historieal relie. It was printed thirty years before the Landing at Plymouth, and was almost half a century old when Manchester received its present name. For obvious reasons, copies of the " Bishops'" Bible are more sel- dom found in New England than those of the " Geneva " translation, and of course are much more rare than old copies of King James' Version. It is of special interest as a book that has been in the possession of Manches- ter families for two hundred years, and was, no doubt, in daily use in the Lee family through several genera- tions. It may have been in the hands of some of the first settlers, and is a memento to their descendants of the source from which their religious faith and their civic virtues took their spring.
Two old books in the Town Library are the Second and Fourth volumes of Matthew Henry's Commentary. They evidently belonged to different sets. One has the autograph of Ebenezer Tappan, 1790, and very likely was the property of his father, Rev. Benjamin Tappan, who died in that year. The other was owned in part- nership. An inscription, very much faded, on the in- side of the cover shows how much beyond the means of most persons were books of this size and cost, and the estimation in which they were held. The writing is in a beautiful round hand.
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APPENDIX I.
Memorandu
Manch' 14th June 1734.
That this Book & the Rest of the First Five Volumes of the Revrd Mr Henry's Exposition upon the Holy Bible, Together with the Revr MF Burkit's Exposition upon the New Testa- ment are held in Partnership Between Mess's Nath' Lee Benja Allen Nath1 Marsters Ezekiel Goodel Rich: Coye & Robt Herrick for the - Benefit of Themselves their Heirs Execrs & Admr Upon Condition that each Proprietor shall have the Use of but one Book at a Time, and not to Keep it longer than Six Months; and at the End of every Six Months They are to Exchange them One with another upon Demand in a numerical Order
[Here the inscription becomes illegible.]
The book is mostly in a good state of preservation, and is an interesting memorial of the intelligence and devout piety of the " Proprietors."
There are other old books in town, but few as old or as interesting as these.
Another volume may serve as a sample of a "world- lie " book. For its age, it is a decidedly handsome speci- men of the bookmaking art. The book is a valuable one as evidence that there was some good learning in Manchester a hundred and thirty-five years ago. Its title, abbreviated, is as follows : The Young Mathemati- cian's Guide; Being a Plain and Easy Introduction to the Mathematics. I. Arithmetic, Vulgar and Decimal. II. Algebra. III. The Elements of Geometry. IV. Conic Sections. V. The Arithmetic of Infinites. With an Appendix on Practical Ganging. And a Supplement on the History of Logarithms. By John Ward, Lon- don, 1758. The title page bears the name of Simeon Miller, in a very ornate style of penmanship, with the words Ejus Liber, and the date Jan. 1, 1760. Mr. Mil- ler was a teacher, and lived on the "Row"; he has no direct descendants among us.
APPENDIX J.
POLICE REGULATIONS.
IN these times when Personal Liberty is placed by many above Public Morals and Public Safety, some of the early town legislation would seem burdensome and tyrannical in the extreme, and would no doubt stir up a rebellion. Our fathers, however, believed in good man- ners and self-restraint, and found them an excellent schooling and conducive to public comfort, respecta- bility and safety.
In 1808, it was ordered
That no person or persons shall presume to smoke any pipe or Segar in any outhouses or barns used for hay, at any time, or in any of the streets or lanes in this town, after sunset, and that every person offending against this order shall forfeit and pay the sum of two Dollars. 1
There was an ordinance forbidding "Ball, Stone or Sticks " to be played with a " battler or club," within " Seventy Yards of any Public building or Dwelling house."
" Guns or pistols charged with ball or shoot" were not to be fired " within one mile of the compact part of the town, in a direction whereby the lives of any of the inhabitants may be endangered, being in such part of the town."
Carts and carriages were not to be driven " through any public highways, lanes or alleys of this town, but at a foot pace or common walk, nor without a sufficient
I Many years after this, men who were accustomed to smoke regularly, never smoked on the streets; it was not considered "good form."
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
driver." Minute regulations were made as to the man- ner of driving horses, either by holding the " thill or hindermost horse " by a halter, or if in a carriage by " bits in the mouth ... with reins fastened in such manner as to give the driver full command, etc."
Stringent measures were also taken to prevent " Per- sons Behaving in a Rude and Disorderly Manner " in any of the highways or near any dwelling house in the night time. It was ordered that any who
shall insult any Person within the town, or be guilty of rude or disorderly behaviour, or use indecent or profane lang- uage in the night time, to the annoyance or disturbance of any of the inhabitance, or by cutting or defacing fences or buildings; shall forfeit and pay for every such offence, 50 cents, to be recovered by complaint or information, to a jus- tice of the peace; one moiety to the use of the poor of the town, and the other moiety to the use of the constable or other person who shall inform and prosecute for the same.
We may smile at such " paternal" government, but we might be better off if we had a little more of it. It is possible that in some particulars our fathers were sometimes over-governed. But the children are now making up for it by not being governed at all. Which is the greater evil it needs no Solon to decide. The most singular thing about these old by-laws is, that they were made to be enforced, and not simply to adorn the records.
APPENDIX K.
SOME NOTABILITIES.
MANCHESTER has been the birthplace and home of many persons, both men and women, who were possessed of marked individuality and force of charac- ter. There was WILLIAM ALLEN, ancestor of most of the Allens in Manchester and vicinity, who came over to Cape Ann in 1624 and settled in Manchester " about 1640 "; one of the first selectmen, a carpenter who built the first frame house in town, and " an influential and enterprising citizen." - - There was BENJAMIN ALLEN, one of the first deacons, serving from 1716 until his death in 1747 .- There was SAMUEL ALLEN, father of thirteen children, town clerk, selectman and merchant, born in 1701 .- There was Capt. JOHN ALLEN, " Bos'n Allen," one of the old-time Yankee Vikings, who built the brick house now owned and occupied by his grandson, Capt. John Allen, a lordly house in its time .- There were Capt. " BEN " ALLEN, and the three brothers, JOIIN, JAMES and SAMUEL, all " noted shipmasters."-There was MALACHI ALLEN, 2d, a gentleman of the old school who is described by one who is still living,1 and who worked for him when a boy at the " Cove," seventy-one years ago, as " a man of much dignity of character, of an inquiring mind, and much interested in hearing about foreign countries ; always asked a blessing at meals ; he was a good man; was about five feet, ten inches in height, wore short clothes, had a queue, and silver buckles on his shoes." He was able to work about his
1 Charles H. Allen, of Salem, Mass.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
farm when over eighty years of age, and when eighty- nine " could cut up a codfish like a young man." A fine and edifying figure must have faded out of the land- scape, when he ceased to walk abroad .- There was " Skipper " PRESTON of Newport, whose self-conscious- ness would have done credit to the quarter-deck of a frigate, a kind of self-constituted tribune of the little hamlet; a man who was a law to himself, as he very plainly gave the Selectmen to understand when they thought to instruct the District as to the duties of the District School Committee. - There was JOHN DODGE, a representative old-time " skipper," a man of prodigious strength, who performed the astonishing feat of lifting seven fifty-six-pound weights with his teeth. He knew all the intricacies of the New England coast, and could make harbor in the darkest night from the sound of the breakers on the different reefs. He was the father of Cyrus Dodge .- There was EDWARD NORTHIEY, who lived at the "Cove " and was of the craft of silver- smiths, some of whose workmanship is in the possession of a descendant in the town, and is highly valued. Mr. Northey went to New Hampshire about the commence- ment of the Revolution. His trade was one that could be carried on with greater security away from the sea- board .- There was 'Squire COLBY, a kind of natural " deemster," whose decisions according to "common statute law " were as generally accepted without appeal by litigious parties as were those of higher legal authorities .- There was Major HENRY STORY, a left- handed Benjamite, of rather dubious maritime reputa- tion, whose stalwart form and Yankee spirit impressed the guards of Dartmoor prison with a wholesome
1 The incident is given on the authority of Mr. John Lee, who repre- sented the majesty of the town in the rencontre, and narrated it to Mr. D. L. Bingham.
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APPENDIX K.
respect. There was EDWARD LEE, the fervid ex- horter, whose erect figure and white locks formed a conspicuous object in the meeting-house in his later years, as he stood during the long service, and whose remarkable foreboding of approaching calamity, uttered upon his death-bed with " something of prophetic strain," was thought by many to have found fulfilment in the "great sickness." - There was Major LEE, a man of autocratic temper, and an owner of slaves when human flesh and blood were still bought and sold in Massachu- setts ; his house with the slavepens in the attic, which occupied the site of the " Rabardy Building," surviving its imperious owner almost a century .- There was "Goodman " BABCOCK, the tything-man, a grizzly veteran of Valley Forge, whose duty it was to watch over the youths of " disorderly carriage," and see that they " behave themselves comely "; and whose austere demeanor, stately tread and staff of office made an im- pressive figure in the Sunday assembly, where he seemed to embody in his person the combined authority of Church and State. 1 -There was ANDREW LEE, a notable character. Originally an ardent Universalist, he became later in life an equally earnest disciple of evangelical religion. He was a man greatly esteemed for his integrity and his benevolent disposition. His love for the Sunday school and his love of children were prominent characteristics to the very last. His life was written by his pastor, Rev. O. A. Taylor, and published by the Massachusetts Sunday School Society. -There was Mrs. (SAMPLES) CRAFT, who when
1 Many amusing anecdotes are told of this village beadle's pompons ways and eccentric manners. One of our most respected aged citizens well remembers the terror struck into his heart as a small boy when de- tected in some childish prank, by the stern official pointing his finger at him and calling out in stentorian voice, " I see you, serving the devil, in the Lord's house."
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
Boston was invested by the British, made a journey there on foot, eluded the sentries, procured a supply of pins and needles, of which there was a distressful need, and made her way home to the great joy of the house- wives who had been using thorns for pins, and whose stock of needles had become wholly exhausted. There was " Aunt " MARTHA LEE, a kind of spiritual authority and "mother in Israel."- There was "Mother" DODGE, a woman who bore her testimony on all occasions, with most unconventional freedom, often supplementing the sermon with her exhortation, a kind of modern prophetess.
The sketches which follow are selected mainly because the materials were more accessible, or because the subjects were of a somewhat representative character.
The experience of NATHANIEL ALLEN, known as " Sailmaker Allen," one of Manchester's sea-rovers, illustrates the adage, that "truth is stranger than fic- tion." He was a soldier in the Revolution, crossed the Delaware with Washington, was in the battles of Tren- ton and Princeton, and in other hard-fought conflicts, was taken prisoner, and kept for a time by a band of Indians, of whom he learned the art of making birch canoes, baskets, etc. After his release, he returned to seafaring life. In October, 1780, he shipped on the schooner " America," bound to the West Indies. On the return passage, December 31, they encountered a violent gale, and lost sails, bowsprit and rudder. In this disabled condition, they had for two months a suc- cession of heavy winds and seas, and drifted helplessly up and down the Atlantic. For two hundred and sixty- one days, these men were at the mercy of the stormy waves, at times reduced almost to the last mouthful and the last drop of water, when they were rescued, and carried into New York; they finally reached home,
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APPENDIX K.
so emaciated that they were scarcely recognized by their friends who had long since given them up for lost.
BENJAMIN CRAFT, who was at the siege of Louisburg, kept a journal of the expedition, showing a keen obser- vation and a devout spirit. He wrote many letters to his wife also which show the religious character and loving disposition of the man. The following will serve as a specimen of his correspondence :
DEAR WIFE: We came out of Boston last Sabath Day fifty odd Sail of us, & stood off to sea that night. The wind came against us & we put in again. At night we got close in to Cape Ann, but ye wind dying away we were obliged to stand off to sea & a Tuesday we arrived in Sheepscott . . . Remem- ber me to Mr. Choate & his family & to Brother Eleazer and to all our friends & tell them I desire & beg their prayers to God for me - Stephen Low William Allen & Joseph Emerton remember their love to their wives & families . . . Dear Wife I recommend you to heavens care & keeping. Begging your prayers for me I subscribe your loving husband till death. BENJA. CRAFT.
LOUISBURG ye 13th October 1745. DEAR & LOVING WIFE,
Having an opertunity by the providence of God to write to send you a few lines to let you know my circumstances. I have been sick for about eight weeks past but blessed be God I have not been so bad as to keep my bed, but I am pined away to nothing but skin & bones . . . If I should not come home this winter I believe that ye Captain & Lieut. Gidding will be discharged by whom I shall send, If I cannot get dis- charged, so that you may receive my wages, which will be be- tween forty & fifty pounds - I am in very good business & have been for a month past having ye care of the Commisary Business for our Regiment beside what I do for others, which is a considerable income, not less than fifteen shillings a day, beside my wages . . . If I should tarry all winter I believe I shall be in good Business for I am in considerable favour with several of the great men, & which way it came I know not - but there is nothing is any temptation to me I long so much to get home to see you & my poor children & dear friends . ..
BENJA. CRAFT.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
Mr. Craft was also second lieutenant in Capt. Benj. Kimball's Company, of the 19th Regiment, at the Siege of Boston, and was in camp at Winter Hill. He kept a Journal from June 15 to Nov. 16, 1775. It is published in the Essex Institute History Collection, vol. I, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5. He received his discharge, Nov. 11, 1775, on the ground that " his wife and family being situated in a seaport town [were] consequently much exposed to danger from the enemy."
ELEAZAR CRAFT, brother of Benjamin, served throughout the war of the Revolution. He was a lieutenant at the time of the Lexington alarm, and was afterward engaged in many battles. He rose to the rank of major of the Cape Ann and Manchester Brigade in 1777, and the next year was commissioned as lieu- tenant-colonel, his commission bearing date of 12 Aug. 1778. He was in the army under General Gates, when Burgoyne surrendered his forces. He kept a journal throughout the entire war, but all that has been pre- served of it is the portion printed in the Historical Col- lection of the Essex Institute of Salem, Mass., from 9 Sept., 1777, to 1 Dec., 1777, vol. VI, pp. 181-194.
EZEKIEL CHEEVER, son of Rev. Ames Cheever, was born in 1741. He was noted for his " integrity, strong religious convictions, phenomenal memory and extreme gentleness." He was wont to restore to their native element any fish that were caught on the hook other- wise than by the mouth, addressing them in this fashion, " You are the victim of an accident; I cannot claim you ; go in peace." This gentle disciple of Izaak Wal- ton never deviated from a fixed price ; an advance in the market made no difference with him. One day, as he was returning from fishing, while crossing "Smith's point," a dangerous bull charged upon him " with
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APPENDIX K.
mighty bellowing"; whereat Mr. Cheever calmly sat down on his barrow, and addressed the angry bovine with such an impressive array of Scripture texts, that after pawing the earth awhile and sniffing at the bar- row, the infuriated but perplexed beast withdrew with a crestfallen air.
SAMUEL LEE, a man of considerable note in his day, had many grievances against the town, of which record remains in various communications, drawn up with a good deal of care and forcibly worded, and signed with a flourish and in a bold hand, " Sirs, yor most Humble & Devoted Servt Sam" Lee."
One of these papers, dated 11 March, 1771, and ad- dressed to the " Moodrator of ye Annuel Town Meet- ing," is a vigorous protest against " granting any Parson or Parsons Liberty of Erecting Hors Houses, or Shedds any Whare adjoyning on any of my Lands."
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