USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Memorial history of Bradford, Mass. > Part 2
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To Joseph Chaplin,
66
66
James Dickinson, = Thomas Dickinson, 57
James Barker, Jr.
II
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
on their way to Rowley that night of the terrible mas- sacre, but changed their mind, went back and turned aside on another road to commit this murder. In Oct. 1676, the General Court remembered that lonely widow by the abatement of her taxes after her cruel captivity. Bradford was not so much troubled by Indian depreda- tions as some of the neighboring towns. But defence was needful. There were three garrison houses built, viz .: one near the John Day place in the upper dis- trict ; one near the old parsonage at Indian Hill; one where widow Rebecca Foster lived. This last was pali- saded. There was a block house near Mitchell's Falls where the inhabitants often kept watch. Another Thomas Kimball living near the residence of the late John Mar- ble was afterwards taken captive by the Indians, but was not killed. The location of his house is shown at this day.
Population increases. Haverhill has come to be a near neighbor. The frequent visits to and fro have already begun that long friendship which, whatever names men may call them by, will make them one forever. Robert Haseltine has been plying his ferry across the river for several years by order of General Court, with liberty to " charge fourpence if paid presently, and sixpence if booked."
NINETEEN YEARS AFTER.
The line of the river is cleared of trees. Along the river front the hardy yeomen have now a broad belt of " ploughed land," that is, land that has been ploughed and brought under cultivation. Above this is another belt, partially cleared, and bounded by marked trees. Still higher on the slope is the upper range of marked trees, and beyond is still unbroken forest. The road which now leads to Andover, is laid out and at least
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
thirteen houses have been built between the ferry at Haverhill and the Andover line. Along the river from the ferry ran the road to Rowley. In 1662, this road was relaid, and coming up what is now Main Street, turned at John Haseltine's corner, which is the corner of Main and Salem Streets .*
The years have passed quickly. Robert Haseltine has a happy group of seven children. John, his brother, has three. Their companion Wilde, has gone to Ipswich. The Kimballs have come into the heritage, the Chaplins, Hopkinson, Boynton and Dickinson; the Watsons and Mighills and Tenneys and Bailey and Jewett and Worster and Stickney and West and Barker and Shubal Walker, Simonds, Hall, Savory, Gage, Griffin and many others, who are to play a prominent part in the history of the town.
Changes have come to Rowley. Most important of all is the death of the leading spirit, Rev. Ezekiel Rogers. He died Jan. 23, 1660. He had grown feeble in later years. Manifold trouble had wearied mind and body He wrote to his friend Rev. Zechariah Symmes, of Charles town, (father of the first pastor of Bradford, ) "I am " hastening home. Oh, good brother, I thank God, I " am near home, and you, too, are not far off. We " shall sit next the martyrs and confessors. Cheer up " your spirits. Let us be zealous for our God and Christ. "Now the Lord bring us well through our poor pil- " grimage." In his will, he gives the story of his life, . Robert and Ann Haseltine were married 23 d. 10 mo. 1639, being the first married in Rowley. Their children are Ann, born 1 d. 2 mo. 1641. Mary, born 8 mo. 1612, died in infancy. Mary, born 14 d. 12 mo. 1646. Abraham, born 23 d. 3 mo. 1648. Married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Langhorn, Oct. 4, 1669; was town clerk of Bradford from 1686 to 1690, when his brother, Capt. David II., was chosen and continued till 1703. Deliverance b. 21 d. 1 mo 1651. Elizabeth b. 15 d. 11 mo. 1652. Robert b. 7 d. 9 mo. 1657. Married Elizabeth, daughter of Maximilian Jewett, 21 d. 7 mo. 1640. Gersham b. 31 d. 11 mo. 1661. David was probably born in 1654 or 5. John Haseltine, brother of Robert, was probably mar- ried before crossing the sen. His wife's name was Joan. Their children were Samuel, b. 20 d. 12 mo. 1615. Mary b. 9 d. 10 mo. 1648. Nathaniel, bora 20 d. 7 mo. 1656. Perhaps others.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
his godly ancestry, his conversion, call to the ministry, his suspension from the holy office " for refusing to read from that accursed book that allowed sports on God's holy Sabbath," his exile with his adherents and his life and "rest and comfort " in New England. He gives free expression to his hatred of " all the base opinions of Anabaptists, and Antinomians, and all other Phre- netics, dolays of the times." I do protest against all the evil fashions and guises of this age, both in ap- parel and that general disguisement of long ruffian- like hair."
He gave his estate to his kindred in part, but largely to Rowley Church, on certain conditions. These condi- tions not being fulfilled the property went to Harvard College by his provision.
The changes which have occurred outside the Rowley Plantation are very great. The Protectorate of Crom- well has passed away, and the great Protector is dead, and the king is again on his throne, but the free Com- monwealth of England remains. The pride of aristoc- racy has been humbled ; imperious selfishness is never more to have unrestrained power over the consciences of men. It may sit on thrones, and dwell in king's palaces, but henceforth it must acknowledge the freedom of thought, liberty of conscience and the divine rights of men.
The progress of free thought has led into diversities and extremes, and sometimes into falsities. The changes in parties and factions reveal many strange vibrations and silent transformations in thought and character. The Quakers appear with new doctrines, a divergent faith, strange practices and troublesome convictions of duty. They interrupt the public worship in Salem and Boston. They denounce the ministers of God as the servants of Satan. They "speak evil of dignitaries." Whereupon the Puritan, who has been exiled by intol- erance, becomes intolerant, orders the Quakers to be
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
whipped, imprisoned, to have the ears cropped, to be sold as slaves, and put to death. The General Court is over- taxed in applying remedies for the disorders of the times, and the elders of the churches are filled with grave ap- prehensions concerning the defections from the faith.
Meantime, the little plantation by the Merrimack moves on in its quiet way. No Quakers either then or after- ward disturbed the easy current of social and religious life. The early days of peace, while the colonies were disturbed, were a sort of prophecy of that later life in which there should be perfect freedom from the wiles and woes of witchcraft and the delusions and animosi- ties of controversies which have never been known among us.
Those primitive days give us little material. It was the early growth. It was in the midst of great difficul- ties and under hardships. Luxuries they had none. In- deed they often suffered from the need of what we call the necessities of life.
Nineteen years of primitive life pass away and we come to the next step in the history. The popula- tion now spreads over a wide area. The people begin to think about a separate township. Old Rowley re- gards with kind parental indulgence the wish of the Bradford child.
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
The name which the little community first took was Rowley Village, on the Merrimack. . But they soon changed that to " Merrimack," which was the common designation till Jan. 7, 1672, when the name was changed to Bradford, in memory of Bradford in Eng- land. The taxes which belonged by right to Rowley have already been granted to the Merrimack settlers by
15
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
the mother town .* The first recorded action which we find looking towards a new township is on the records of the General Court, and is as follows : -
At the meeting of the General Court in 1668, the following order was passed, anticipating the incorpora- tion of the town :
" In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Rowley, living over against Haverhill, the Court having considered the petition, perused the town of Rowley's grant to the petitioners, heard Rowley's deputy, and also considering a writing sent from Rowley, with what els hath been pre- sented in the case doe find that there is liberty granted to the petitioners by the town of Rowley to provide themselves of a minister and also an in- tent to release them from their township when they are accordingly pro- vided, and therefore see not but this court may grant their petition to be a township provided they doe gett and setle an able and orthodox minister and continue to maynteigne him or else to remain to Rowley as formerly."
The first object in having separate organization is told in the last words of this resolution. They were planning for the church and the minister of God. The first meeting of the town is called in 1668. At that meeting it appears they have already secured their pas- tor. Rev. Ezekiel Rogers was an intimate friend of Zechariah Symmes, of Charlestown. It was natural that this intimacy should lead to such acquaintance between the parties that even after the death of Rogers, the son of his friend should be introduced as a candidate for the new pastorate.
At the first meeting of the town they vote his salary forty pounds, one half in wheat, pork, butter and cheese, the other half in corn and cattle. The next year they increased his salary to fifty pounds, and paid for mov- ing his goods from Charlestown, and gave him forty acres of land. The parsonage was finished under Mr. Symmes' direction. For two years they worship in a private house, possibly in a barn. But in 1670, they * In 1669, Rowley voted that the inhabitants of the village, (Boxford), shall pay taxes as other freemen, but they may appropriate these first to the expense of the village, next to improve the minister's farm. There is evidence that a similar "grant" was made to Bradford .- Rowley Records.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
build the meeting-house. Samuel Heseltine has "one peck of corn from every voter for sweeping the meet- ing house." In the history of the next fifty years the records of the town show that the most important busi- ness transacted by the town was that which had imme- diate relation to the minister and the worship of God. This was according to Puritan idea, "it being," as some one says, " as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able ministry, as for a smith to work iron without fire." *
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDIFICES.
The primitive house was doubtless built. of logs. It was roofed with the coarse thatch from the marshes. No windows except oiled paper fastened over the hole left between the logs. The chimney on the end, some- times on each end, giving place for the cheerful log fire, before which in the evening was drawn up the old fash- ioned "settle," with high back to keep off the cold air. In later times the houses were more elaborate, some of them two-storied, windows hung on hinges swinging out- ward. The house built for Mr. Symmes in 1668 we have no account of, only that it was finished under his direc- tion, but the second parsonage, standing where Mr. Towne now lives, opposite the old cemetery, was built in 1708, and was "46 feet by 20 and 15 feet stud and four chimbleys." t
The first school-house was built on the meeting-house lot, and was 22 feet long, 18 feet wide and 7 feet posts.# There are still standing several buildings which have historical interest in connection with the schools. In Mr. John Ellis's yard there stands a small building which
. Johnson.
t See Town Records.
# Perry's llis. Disc., p. 16.
·
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
in the early part of the century was built and used for a school ; it stood on the road leading to Gage's Ferry. On the land of Lafayette Day there is a portion of the second building used for a school-house in that part of the town. On the premises of Charles Hasseltine the " old red school-house" is still standing. The house now owned by F. Croston in the village, was used for many years for a school-house, and in that house Miss Mary Hasseltine and her associates gathered the first Sabbath school. The house lately owned by Mrs. Joseph Parsons has a portion of the addition to the first Bradford Academy building.
The connection between the school-house and the church was very close. Education and religion went hand in hand. It was not strange to see the two build- ings standing side by side. The meeting-house was the place of worship first of all, but it was the place for all town business ; the rallying point for every loyal concern ; the centre of all civil affairs. The magistrates often held court there. The whipping post and the pil- lory were set up in its yard and well to the front .* The pound for cattle occupied a corner, the school- house by its side, and behind all on the green slope facing the east they laid their friends to rest when, weary with life, they fell asleep.
The style of the early churches we know little about. The first was built in 1670, and was probably a rude log house.
Lumber was not easy to obtain. The saw mills came in tardily. The first lumber was sawed by hand. The log was lifted upon a frame. A pit was dug under- neath in which the lower man stood. A stage was built over the log for the other man. The saw, 8 to 10
* There is no evidence that the stocks or the whipping post ever occupied the post of honor by the side of the meeting-house in Bradford, but the stocks were set up by the side of the meeting house in Haverhill in the same year that John and Robert Ileseltine came to Bradford. The whip- ping post stood there also and was often used.
IS
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
feet long, was drawn back and forth splitting out the lumber ; a slow process. They did not wait for this in the primitive times. They built the first church of logs. It stood in the west corner of the old cemetery lot. John Heseltine gave the land.
The following vote of the town was passed, Jan. ye 5th, 1665 :
" Whereas, John Haseltine, senior, of Haverhill, hav- ing given to ye inhabitants of ye town of Bradford one acre of land to set their meeting-house on, and for a burying-place, and did engage them to fence it and maintain it ; but now upon ye motion of his son Ensign Samuel Haseltine, of Bradford, he seemeth to be willing to release ye town of that engagement, provided they will set up a good, sufficient five rail fence from Mr. Symmes' fence to Goodman Hall's fence below the bury- ing-place, this ye town assents to." It is probable that John Haseltine removed to Haverhill after the first few years of residence in Bradford. His name does not ap- pear in the records of the town, and when the church was formed his name is not among the members. He was a member of some church, for he was made a " free- man " in Rowley, in the year 1640. I think our John Haseltine is the same man who appears about this time in the records of Haverhill, and who was one of the early deacons of Rev. John Ward's church there.
The first meeting-house had good height for in 1690 they built a gallery in it. Very likely they voted as the church in Dedham did, to " daub the walls with clay and whiten it workmanlike."
The following votes were passed in town meeting :
April 18, 1670. " Sargent Gage, Robert Heseltine, Benjamin Kimball, Thomas Kimball, John Simmonds, Nicholas Walington and John Griffing are chosen, for the ordering, setting up and furnishing of a Meighting- House according to their best discretion for the good of the town."
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
Jan. 9, 1671. " Robert Heseltine, Ensign Chandler, and Shubal Walker were chosen for ye looking after and carrying on of ye work about the meeting-house till it be finished, and we do grant them power to call upon and require men to work when they shall see oc- casion and opportunity according to their best discre- tion, and in case any shall refuse to come with hands or teams, after legal warning, then to pay double wages to be recovered by distress."
The second church stood on the brow of the hill a few rods east of the first church. It was "48 feet long, 40 feet wide and 20 foot stud." It was built in 1705. The recorded action of the town is as follows: Dec. 3, 1705. "Voted and passed on the affirmative that the town would forthwith build a new meeting-house, forty and two feet in breadth and forty-eight feet long." Dec, 17, 1705. It was voted that the meeting-house be 40 feet wide and 20 feet between plates. Voted, same day, that the meeting-house that is voted, when it is fit to rayse, shall stand upon the knowl on the east side of the old meeting-house, within eight rods or as near as shall be thought convenient. Capt. David Haseltine, Cornet Richard Kimball and John Hutchins are ap- pointed building committee. The work was afterwards " desisted till the following winter." This house stood till 1751 when the location was changed and the church was built near the centre of our Park. The commit- tee appointed to build it, were Benj. Gage. Daniel Thurston, Nathaniel Gage, Josiah Chandler, Moses Gage. It faced toward the south, had the principal entrance through a porch on the south side. There were entrances also on each end. It had the old time sounding-board and the seats hung on hinges, and the old-fashioned square pews and banister railings, which the boys used to turn till they squeaked. Neither of these first three churches were painted. Neither of them had a bell or a clock, and only the last one had stoves, and these
20
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
were added at a late day in the years of Parson Allen's ministry .* It is probable that neither of them was raised without a liberal supply of rum. My eye has fallen on a statement of the expense of an ordination one hun- dred years ago in Danvers. Some of the items are these :
€ 8.
Buxton, for sugar
7 10 0
malt
7 6
Rum 8 0
Wine Sugar 4
0 0
1 Barrel and cask 1
15 0
06 Syder,
15
0
66 New Eng. Rum
16
0
The fourth church was built in 1834, and dedicated Oet. 8, of that year. It stood on the site of the pres- ent house. It proved too small for the wants of the congregation, and after fifteen years it was taken down and in 1848 the present church was built, and dedicated Jan. 10, 1849. It has sittings for eight hundred persons. Its architecture Corinthian, with fluted column and foli- ated capital. The church was furnished with an organ, which after many years' service gave place to the instru- ment which now leads the "Service of Song," from the manufactory of Hook. It is a fact of interest that the pulpit in this church was presented by the children of the parish, and the baptismal font by the young ladies of Bradford Academy. The first chapel was built in the year 1838. The present chapel was built in 1879, and dedicated on Sabbath evening, Nov. 23, of the same vear. The sermon was preached by the pastor.
· It is difficult to ascertain when stoves came into general use in churches. Franklin invented the stove which bears his name in 1745. Count Rum- ford, who received in part his education in Bradford, made his improve- ment in stoves in 1795.
In 1709, the 2d Parish of Boxford thought of putting a stove in the church but did not. In 1824, two stores were set up. In 1824, the East Parish voted to put in a store. His. Boxford, p. 263.
21
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
WORSHIP.
Our forefathers often assembled on the Sabbath at the beat of the drum, and sometimes at the sounding of a horn. The Magistrate escorted the minister from his house to the church, preceded him up the broad aisle to the pulpit stairs. When the minister entered, the people stood, and when the worship ended they stood again while the minister and his family retired. The hour of morning worship was 8 o'clock, sometimes nine. In front of the pulpit were seated the Ruling Elders, and before them the Deacons, both facing the con- gregation.
The people are seated by the selectmen. In the first church according to "rates," then with respect to the time of residence. In the second church, 1st, Those above 60 years, according to age. 2d, according to the rate of taxes. The men are on one side, and the wo- men on the other. The children are seated by them- selves, within reach of the tithing-men who touch the offenders with the rod if they are irreverent. The peo- ple are early to church. Any tardy members are treated as delinquents and fined. The church votes, in 1723, "it is indecent and irreverent to lay down the head and sleep in the house of God." If any are guilty of this offence, the church is " stayed " that they may be " ad- monished before the whole church."
The following votes show that the town took special action in some cases: It was "granted to Shubal Walker, Jan. 6, 1679, that he should have a place at the east end of the pulpit in the meeting-house, for a seate for his wife and children." March 18, 1711 : " Voted that the petitioners be allowed to make a seate pew-fashion in the hind part of the west gallery." " Voted that Goodman Spofford has liberty to sit in the fourth seate before the pulpit, and his wife to sit in the
22
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
third seate in the north-east corner, the selectmen to give them notice."
The worship begins with prayer, then follows singing of Psalms, given out by the Elder. No instruments were used. The sermons last an hour. The hour glass stands on the pulpit. When the sands are out the min- ister gives it another turn. Sermons with notes or from manuscript were at first unknown.
Cotton Mather says, "Wareham, a melancholy man who could not always summon his powers was the first man who read his sermons."* The sermons in this pulpit. judging from the specimens which are preserved, were never very lengthy. When the sermon was over, the elders sometimes invited strangers or laymen to "exhort or prophecy," the elder announcing, "If this present brother hath any word of exhortation, in the name of God, let him say on." +
There was no fire in the meeting-house, but alongside the little church which stood in the old cemetery lot the people erected at least one "nooning " house, with fireplaces, where, during the interval between morning and afternoon service, they warmed themselves and ate their lunch. The meeting-house in the early years had an armed watch during divine service. The church at Haverhill was stockaded. Smooth poles set in the ground. close together, forming a defence against the attacks of the savages. It is not probable that the Brad- ford church was so protected, but the guard was un- doubtedly set before the door with the old flint lock musket.
All the people who had arms were required to bring them to church. It was customary sometimes to place a tower on the roof and set a watch there. The Puri-
· Magnolia, B. iii, ch. 18. Warcham was pastor of the church at Dor- chester which migrated (1636) in a body to Windsor, Conn. One hun- dred men, women and children travelled through the wilderness, praying and singing psalms as they went. Sprague's Annals, v. i, p. 18.
t Lechford.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BRADFORD.
tans were prejudiced against the formalities of English worship, so much so that they could not bear the reading of the word of God without exegesis. They called it "dumb reading."
Worship was a necessity, not a matter of taste. Re- ligion in the Puritan idea, was an essential part of the commonwealth. Therefore attendance on worship was made obligatory.
In 1699, the town voted to assign the seats of the meeting-house to individuals, and if any refused to take the seat set to him, he should be fined five shillings for every day of assemblage.
It was ordained by the General Court in the Massa- chusetts Colony, 1677, that the selectmen shall appoint tithing-men, each of whom shall have the inspection of ten families. These tithing-men are empowered as mag- istrates to arrest men who violated the sabbath. Vio- lators are to be put in a cage in Boston, and in such other towns as the court might designate, and to be exposed before the people on meeting-days and training- days. This statute was carried out in this parish. The tithing-men were appointed and their families were al- loted. It is not known that the cage was ever set up here. It is easy to sneer at the rigidity of the Puritan, and to praise the greater freedom of our later times. But it may well become us to inquire whether our lib- erty has not dropped into license, and whether instead of the liberty of our fathers which was "glorious" in righteousness, their children have not a slavery to lust and sin. Our fathers believed in law. Obedience to it was virtue.
We do well to remember that there is nothing more salutary than reverence to law. When the moral nature of man is found in conformity with the perfect law, there is safety to the state, freedom to the church, hope for the people. Danger comes when we cast off law ; the greatest peril when we cast off the Almighty, and
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