USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 16
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and the present pastor took charge of the church in October, 1920, and -Rev. Elmer F. Newell.
A wooden chapel was erected in 1885, costing about $1,600. John T. Brown of Newburyport gave the town a fine church clock in 1887. There is a neat chapel at Salisbury Beach, with Dr. J. F. Spalding as its pastor. The subjoined account of this old church has been furnished for this history by a resident of Salisbury, and it contains many interesting facts concerning the old organization, hence is here inserted :
The old Parish Church was organized about 1639, and about 1796 Jesse Lee and others so appealed to the people they desired Methodist Episcopal pastors, but opposition came to the new faith as it was called. From 1798 to 1833 the Meth- odists had a church here as part of a Circuit. Then there were many Baptists and it was thought in 1833 best to unite into one Parish, and a new church was erected in 1834, the same building still in use is a good model of the old time New England church edifice.
As long as the Methodists outnumber and outvote at the yearly meetings, which has been and is still the case, the ministers of course will be of the Methodist faith. Hence it is found that since 1833, all ministers have been sent here by the Methodist Conferences. They have suited the general community and hence are still retained. It is said to be the only Parish in the world the pastor of which is a Methodist minister.
In 1833 a great revival was had in this church under Dr. Roscoe Sanderson and Rev. John Beradhead. The present pastor, Rev. Newell, with others, has organized a local Y. M. C. A., and has about a hundred men and boys enrolled. Physical in- struction, education, social and religious activities are being greatly appreciated in the community. With the exception of Hope Chapel at the beach, this is the only church in Salisbury of the Protestant faith; two hundred and fifty-seven families are in one way or another connected with this church."
What was known as West Parish of Salisbury, or Rocky Hill church, was built in 1716. Rev. Joseph Parsons was the first settled minister; he was installed in 1718. At the age of sixty-nine years, Rev. Parsons died in 1739, after having served as minister in Salisbury for twenty- one years. Almost three hundred members were added to his church in his time.
Following the last-named pastor, came Rev. Samuel Webster, who was ordained 1741; he served almost fifty-five years, and died at Salis- bury, in 1796, aged seventy-eight years. The third pastor was Rev. An- drew Beattie, ordained 1797, died 1801. His remains are resting along- side his fellow minister, Joseph Parsons, in Rocky Hill church-yard. The fourth pastor was Rev. William Balch, who had been a chaplain in the United States army. He was ordained in 1802 and dismissed in 1816. Politics then were running at fever heat, and he took sides with one faction in his congregation. As a result, he was finally allowed to "step down and out." The council that tried him preserved the following me- mento, the contents of which might have had somewhat to do with his dismissal :
The West Parish in Salisbury, to David M. Leavitt, Dr .: To brandy and rum as per bill, $9.20; four turkeys, $4.60; eight chickens, $2.00; five pounds loaf sugar 37c
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per pound, $1.85; sixteen pounds bacon, $2.00; thirty-eight pounds beef, $2.82; three pounds currants, 40c; six pounds brown sugar and half pound tea, $2.00; butter, cheese, horse-keeping, potatoes, lodgings, etc., $10.00; time attending on Council, $10.00; journey to Exeter and Hampton Falls, $1.50; total, $46.37.
Various ministers supplied this pulpit between 1816 and 1835 for a longer or shorter period. During that time many "signed off," as it was termed under the Religious Freedom Act, and worshiped with other churches. Among others of note who filled the pulpit in Salisbury in those times may be recalled Rev. Thomas C. Upham, later a professor in Bowdoin College. Revs. Turner, Bowles, Harris and Thomas Rich came next in line. Rev. Benjamin Sawyer of the old Sandy Hill Ames- bury Church then came, serving in 1835-36 and 1837. After 1841 he gave his entire time to this church until his death in 1871, when he had reached the age of eighty-eight years. All the churches found in the town in the late eighties, as well perhaps at this date, consisting of five denominations, may be classed as having their origin in the old Rocky Hill Parish.
The Christian Baptist Society was the first to separate from the old original church in Salisbury. This commenced about 1827, when a few members withdrew and held services in the loft over Oliver Osgood's warehouse, on the wharf, at the Point. Very soon a meeting-house had to be erected, as the membership increased very rapidly. Another so- ciety was formed in 1835, composed of people from Rocky Hill and others from Sandy Hill churches of Amesbury. They also built a church on the western extremity of the Point, and there formed a Congregational church Society, with the name of the Union Evangelical Society of Amesbury and Salisbury. This grew to become a strong church and society, whose influence was sent forth far and near. "
The First Baptist Church was formed as a branch of the Brentwood Baptist Church, in September, 1821. Ministers came now and then (no regular pastors) for a number of years, but they were depised by some and treated even with less tolerance than were the Quakers. The first recognized preacher was Rev. Samuel Shepard, born in East Parish. The first to move in the matter of organizing this church were Moses Chase, Barnard Currier and David Currier. Some of these Baptist ministers, as well as the laymen, were fearless in their conduct and actions toward other denominations. Sometimes they were arrested, but they simply opened the Bible in the face of the constables, and that usually settled it.
CHAPTER XI. TOWN OF WENHAM
Wenham of today has a poulation of 1,090, according to the recent United States census returns. The first mention in record of Wenham
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was in 1637. The second mention of the place was in 1638, when it is shown that Hugh Peters preached a sermon "on a small conical hill, be- tween the highway and the lake." He preached from the text found in John 3-23: "Enon, near Salim, for there was much water there." This settlement was then called Enon, and Peters was the minister at Salem, a part of which town was then Wenham. The reader will observe the spelling, as it appears in the Scriptures.
The Killam family have long carried the tradition that the first to locate in what is now Wenham were three immigrants, who were an early Fiske settler and Austin Killam and Richard Goldsmith. The settlement must have been effected about 1635. It was at first known as Salem Village as well as Enon. It was incorporated as a distinct town, May 10, 1643, in recorded words as follows: "It is ordered that Enon shalbee called Wennam. Wennam is granted to bee a towne, & hath liberty to send a deputy." It is supposed that the name was taken, in part, from two parishes near Ipswich, England, possibly from which locality many of the first settlers hailed.
Sidney Perley's history of this town says: "The people of Wenham obtained a deed of their territory from the Indians, bearing date De- cember 10, 1700. The aborigines who claimed a title to the soil were Samuel English, Joseph English and John Umpee, heirs of Masconnomet, the late Sagamore of Agawam. The Indians were paid for their interest in the lands, four pounds and sixteen shillings. The early settlers were forbidden to sell arms and ammunition to the savages."
The following is a list of the first to make settlement in Wenham, between 1635 and 1700, as shown by records now in existence. The years of these settlements will be omitted, as it is sufficient to know that certain families arrived here before 1700: John Abby, Mr. Auditor, John Badger, John Barr, Joseph Batchelder, John Beaman, John Berry, John Bette, Goodman Bibber, Richard Brabrook, Edmund Bridges, John Browne, George Byam, John Carpenter, John Clarke, Richard Coy, Rob- ert Cue, John Dennis, Richard Dodge, E. Dubldee, John Edward, Rice Edwards, James Ellis, Daniel Epps, John Fairfield, John Fiske, Phineas Fiske, Wm. Fiske, Samuel Foster, Joseph Fowler, James Friend, Wm. Geare, Joseph Gerrish, Richard Goldsmith, Charles Gott, Robt. Gowen, Joseph Hacker, Henry Haggett, Robert Hawes, Jo Herrick, Robert Hib- bert, Thomas Hobbs, Mr. Hubbard, Wm. Hulitt, Isaac Hull, John Hun- kin, Richard Hutton, Alice Jones, William Jones, Edward Kemp, Austin Killam, Richard Kimball, John Knowlton, Wm. Knowlton, Mordecai Lar- com, John Leach, Robert Mackcliffin, A. Maxey, James Moulton, Antipas Newman, Abner Ordway, Edmund Patch, John Perkins, Richard Pettin- gell, John Poland, Samuel Porter, Esdras Reade, Nicholas Rich, Theo- philus Rix, John Rogers, Wm. Sawyer, John Severett, John Shepley, Samuel Smith, John Soolard, Mr. Sparrowhawk, Edward Spaulding, Rob- ert Symonds, Peter Tompson, Francis Urselton, Edward Waldron,
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Joshua Wallice, Jeremiah Watts, Phillip Welsh, Thomas White, Edward Whittington, Wm. Williams, Ezekiel Woodward, Christopher Young.
The remains of the dead of the first few settlers were buried in the same cemetery grounds that have been in use so many decades down to the present time. The records first mention this cemetery in 1681, and tradition, quite well founded, states that a gravestone was discovered in this burial place, bearing the date of 1642. This old cemetery was probably a portion of the Rev. Mr. Fiske's farm. It has been several times enlarged. John Severett appears of record to have been the first grave-digger. Rev. David O. Allen in his will left $500 as a fund to help keep up the grounds. Another burying place was in the western part of the town-the Fairfield burying ground. Dodge's Row Cemetery in Beverly, a part of which lies within Wenham, has been in use for over one hundred and eighty years.
A postoffice was established in Wenham in 1809, with Thomas Barnes as postmaster. He was appointed April 21, 1809. The subjoined is a list of all postmasters serving in the town from 1812 to 1921: Uzziel Dodge, appointed in 1812; John Thorn Dodge, 1818; Ezra Lummus, 1830; Adoniram J. Dodge, 1837; John A. Putnam, 1846; Benjamin C. Putnam, 1857; Nathaniel S. Gould, 1862; Elisha P. Chapman, 1866; William W. Fowler, 1867; Henry Hobbs, 1870; John W. Curtis, 1878; Andrew D. Trowt, 1880; Miss Kate M. Kavanagh, 1885; Fred P. Stan- ton, 1886; Andrew D. Trowt, April, 1897; William P. Porter, September 10, 1912.
The office has been kept in many buildings during its more than a century of existence. First opened in the old tavern, the former resi- dence of Rev. Joseph Gerrish, it remained there until 1830, when it was moved to the brick tavern of Postmaster Lummus; in 1837 Postmaster Dodge removed it to his wagon shop, where it continued until 1846, when John A. Putnam, postmaster, removed it to his store. When Mr. Hobbs took the office in 1870, for the first six months it was kept in his harness- shop, then moved to Union block, where it remained for many years; since 1912 it has been located in the Porter building. This is a fourth class postoffice and it transacted a business in 1920 of $1,426.52.
The old turnpike from Boston to Ipswich ran through Wenham, and this necessitated several taverns, or inns, for the traveling public. In 1833 the steam cars began to run through the center of the town over the Eastern railroad, as then called. It was finished as far east as Ips- wich that year. The Newburyport and Wakefield branch of the Boston & Maine railroad passes across the western end of the town, but there is no station point there for this road. The last-named railway was constructed in 1853. May 26, 1886, street cars were first run from Gloucester, crossing in Beverly to the Soldiers' Monument in Wenham. The same season the line was extended to various points, including the Camp Grounds at Asbury Grove. Ever since then steam and street car
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thoroughfares have kept the town in touch with the busy nearby towns. and cities.
The records show that forty years ago Wenham had a population of 871; in the same report, it is shown that the town then had 293 ra- table polls, and 270 legal voters, only ten of whom were naturalized. The number of dwellings then was one hundred and ninety, all frame save one, which was constructed of brick. In 1900 Wenham had a population of only 847; in 1910 it was 1,010 and the 1920 U. S. census gave it 1,090.
Wenham was first incorporated in 1643, about eight years after the pioneer settlement was effected. Various buildings were occupied by the town officials until 1854, when a Town Hall was erected, under supervision of the following persons: John Porter, C. A. Killam, A. Dodge, F. Hadley, J. Cook, Benjamin C. Putnam and Moses Mildram. Its size was thirty-five by fifty feet, two stories high, with a basement. Here were rooms of all descriptions-school rooms, selectmen's rooms and various ante-rooms, as well as accommodations for the fire depart- ment, which had been established about 1820. A fire company was or- ganized in 1835 with twenty-five members. Another company was or- ganized in 1849. A new engine was purchased and named "Enon, No. 1"; this cost $900. The new fire company had about forty-five mem- bers, and was presented with a silken banner and a silver trumpet by the ladies of the town. Another company was formed in March, 1887, with Otis C. Brewer as foreman. From the date last named to the pres- ent, the town has had its modern appliances and equipments for fighting fire, with also its well-trained volunteer fire company.
The present town officers, all elective, are as follows: Moderator, Horace E. Durgin; Town Clerk, Roscoe B. Batchelder; Selectmen. Charles H. McQueeny (chairman), Arthur D. Prince; Clerk, Chester S. Cook; Assessors, Arthur D. Prince, Ralph M. Smith and G. W. Patch ; Town Treasurer, Horace E. Durgin; Tax Collector, James E. Kavanaugh ; Auditor, W. Arthur Trowt; School Committee, Herbert W. Porter, Carl I. Aylward, Frank H. Tarr; Constables, J. L. Cole, T. J. Luxton, Frank A. Corning; Trustees of Public Library, Benjamin H. Conant, Ruth H. Prince, Adeline P. Cole, Frank H. Tarr, Harvey R. Williams and Anna M. Davis.
The business interests of the town and the size of the place were more or less influenced by the large emigration from town in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It will be recalled that many of the persons who formerly resided in Wenham left for Maine and became pioneers in that State. Vermont and New Hampshire also drew many from these parts. Again the Great West claimed its colony from Wen- ham and nearby vicinity. It was in 1787 that the first settlement was effected in Ohio, at Marietta, on the Ohio river. This colony was headed by Dr. Manasseh Cutler, of Hamilton, who made the entire journey to Ohio-then a part of the Northwest Territory-in an ark-like wagon,
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covered with black canvas. But Wenham had enough left to build up a town of some importance, even after it had aided in building up some of the sister States in New England and helped to populate the far, illimi- table and ever-changing West, at least by its Ohio colony. It is not in- tended in this chapter to go far into details concerning the business and various firms of the town, simply to outline some of the more important lines of industry and trade. We here draw from Sidney Perley's "His- tory of Wenham" for a few paragraphs in his volume:
The history of its old style taverns, if it could be correctly written, would be delightful to read. From its earliest days the town had its public houses. March 1643-44, William Fiske received authority to keep a tavern from the General Court, as follows: "Willi Fiske is appointed & allowed to keepe an ordinary at Wennam." By the same authority: "Willi Fiske, of Wennam, hath liberty to sell wine." Mr. Fiske died in 1654 and was succeeded by Phineas Fiske, who kept an ordinary at Wenham, and the record shows that he was "allowed to draw wine there for this yeare ensuing." It will be remembered that no one could start a hotel or inn in those days in New England without first getting permit from the authorities. The records are cumbered with such affairs. One notice reads as follows: March 18, 1684, the General Court licensed John Fiske, "a sore wounded soldier of the late In- dian War, to keep a public-house of entertainment." In nearly all of these inn per- mits there was also a permit to sell liquor. Among the jolly landlords of early years in Wenham must be named Ezra Lummus, postmaster, blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He ran a tavern about ten years from 1827 on, in the brick house he built for the purpose. He was a Free Mason, and his sign consisted of his name, "E. Lummus, 1827." There was also added to the sign the picture of a square and compass. Other hotels included the "Green House" at the end of the Commons, by William H. Bry- ant, which business was wiped out by the fire of April, 1869. The Enon House was opened by its proprietor Stephen Currier in 1886.
Of mills, it may be said that the water power here has never been but a feeble stream with slight fall, hence not sufficient to propel heavy machinery. However, as early as 1653 a mill was built, probably by Goodman Hawes, on the farm later occupied by David Pingree. In 1682, John Dodge had a saw mill. In 1691 there was a saw mill near Lord's Hill, and John Porter and James Friend had liberty to "flow the brook." In 1700 there was another saw mill where John Leach then resided. The first grist mill was that built as early as 1686. In 1713 Josiah Dodge's corn mill was situated near the ford. In 1699, Ensign Porter was granted timber for a small malt mill, to be set on the brook near his house.
The first blacksmith was Abraham Martin, who was granted two acres of land within the town, providing he should set up a shop and re- main at least a term of seven years. Other early blacksmiths were Rob- ert Symonds, Josiah Bridges, Daniel Herrick, Pelatiah Brown, Ben- jamin Young, Ezra Lummus, John J. Senter, George A. Lummus, Uzziel Dodge, Jebez Richards, Daniel Bradbury, 1840 who in 1882 sold to Charles F. Dudley. Since then the several smiths have been well known to this generation and need no special mention in this connection.
At various periods tanning has been an important industry in Wen-
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ham. In 1707 the town granted to Daniel MacClaflin sixty square rods of common land, on condition that he engage in the tanning business. In 1708 he had liberty granted him to dam up the brook; and in 1721 the land was given him free from condition. Samuel Gott carried on the tanning business for forty years from 1725, on land later owned by Michael Sullivan. Not many years ago the sink in the land marked the numerous tan-vats he used so long. His was the largest tanning estab- lishment in Essex county. A later tanner was a Mr. Flint, who oper- ated here during the days of the Civil War. In 1884 a kindred business was established by Patch & Gould, makers of morocco; they rebuilt larger in 1886 and added steam power.
The ice business has long been a very extensive industry in Wen- ham. Charles W. Lander of Salem, purchased of the town the land on which stands the famous hill where Hugh Peters preached his sermon, and leveled it off and there erected large ice houses and connected them by a spur with the Eastern railroad tracks. This business was started in 1843, and in 1850 the plant was sold to Addison Gage & Co., who continued until 1882, and then went out of business. About 25,000 tons of the purest ice to be seen in the world was taken from the lake. Later ice was cut from the Beverly shore of the same lake.
Boots and shoes were made here by different persons and firms for many years. Amos Gould engaged in this business between 1834 and 1875, the work being carried on at his house. Other manufacturers of this line included Edward Perkins, Abraham Patch, John P. Rust, Dr. Nathan A. Jones, Daniel J. Foster, and some others. George W. Pea- body made heavy brogans at West Wenham from 1846 to 1862. Later shoe factories were operated by Samuel K. Evans, Albert R. Fiske, John Meldram, James H. Moulton, the last named having quarters in the old Dempsey blacksmith shop, and then in Union block to 1882.
In 1855 it is said that in Wenham 4,200 pairs of boots and 25,000 pairs of shoes were made by forty-six males and twenty females. Grad- ually the shoe business drifted to Lynn, and other sections of New England. Today the town boasts not of the industry, but is quite con- tent to relate pleasing accounts of the former importance of the shoe business in town. The surrounding country is a most excellent farm- ing section, and this is now carried on after the most modern and in- tensive methods. Every item is made to count and yield a reasonable profit.
Besides those mentioned in various sections of this work as having been men of celebrity in some one or more role in life's conflict, the names of the following must not be overlooked in the annals of Essex county : Hon. Timothy Pickering was long a resident of Wenham; was very fond of agriculture, and was the first president of the Essex County Agricultural Society. After a life of more than four score and four years, having been a general in the Revolution, judge of the Court of
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Common Pleas, and of the Maritime Court, Postmaster General of the United States, Secretary of War, Secretary of State of the United States, Member of Congress and United States Senator, he died in Salem, 1829. Rev. Moses Fiske (1642-1708) graduated at Harvard College, was a clergyman at Quincy, Massachusetts. Hon. William Fairfield (1662- 1742), was speaker in 1741, in the House of Representatives for Massa- chusetts. Rev. Phineas Fiske (1682-1749) graduated at Yale College, was a tutor in that college, and pastor of a church at Haddam, Connecti- cut. He also was an eminent physician. Dr. Tyler Porter (1735-1811) was a physician, and patriot in the Revolution. Dr. Josiah Fairfield (1735-1811) was a physician in Pepperell Borough, Maine. Hon. Daniel Killam 1751-1841), a graduate of Harvard College, and a member of both the upper and lower houses of the legislature and of the Governor's council; and an apothecary in Newburyport. The Rev. John Kimball (1761-1824), a graduate of Harvard College, later a talented clergyman in New Hampshire. Dr. Benjamin Jones Porter (1763-1847), a surgeon in the Revolutionary War; physician in Scarboro', Westbrook and Port- land, Maine; fellow and Treasurer of Bowdoin College; and a Councillor and State Senator. Henry Porter (1809-1851) was the inventor of Por- ter's burning fluid and a nurse lamp. Rev. Francis Elliott Cleaves (1816- 1883) was a Baptist clergyman at East Sanbornton, New Hampshire, and other New England places. Rev. John Henry Dodge (1828-1863) graduated at Amherst College in 1856 and from Andover Theological Seminary, 1859; was a missionary to West Africa. Edward Kimball (1835) graduated at Amherst College, was president of the Boston Board of Trade, and a merchant in Boston. Rev. Isaac Francis Porter (1839-) graduated at Madison University, and became a Unitarian clergyman at Chicopee, Massachusetts. Arthur Kemble, M. D. (1838), graduate at Boston Medical College, was assistant surgeon in the Civil War on the ship "Gemsbok," and later practiced in Salem. Dr. John Franklin Robinson (1863), graduate at the Harvard Medical school; he became a surgeon at Manchester, New Hampshire.
It is generally believed that for the first few years the religious element in and near Wenham worshiped at Salem. Mention has been made of the sermon delivered on the hill at Wenham Lake by Hugh Peters, successor to Rev. Roger Williams, pastor of the First Church in Salem. It may be added that Rev. Peters returned to England about 1642, became a famous preacher, was made a chaplain by Cromwell; became "mixed up," as we say today, in politics, and was supposed to have been guilty of assisting in the death of Charles I., and was publicly beheaded therefor on Tower Hill, after the Restoration.
The church record made by Rev. John Higginson, Salem minister, says: "There are divers passages set down about three villages to go out of ye brethren of Salem church, considered of in several church meetings, for several years together, the first of which was 1639, Aug-
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ust 24th. Mr. Downing and some others were with him for the village of Danvers; other brethren for a village at ye pond (Wenham) ; and others for one at Jeffrey's Creek (Manchester)."
It is certain that in 1641 a small church building was erected and Rev. John Fiske, who had assisted Hugh Peters at Salem, settled about that date in Wenham. In 1650 a bell was added to this church. A church was duly organized and Rev. Fiske ordained minister, October, 1644. Things went well until 1655, when the pastor and many of his flock removed to Chelmsford, where he became pastor. Being both minister and a physician, he was greatly missed in Wenham. He was always referred to by early settlers and writers as a man of great char- acter and wonderfully good as a neighbor and citizen. Being a non- conformist, he had to come to America from England in disguise, bring- ing with him servants, husbandry and carpenter tools sufficient to sup- port his family for three years, including their provisions.
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