USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 17
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Succeeding Rev. Fiske in the First Church was Rev. Antipas New- man; a new meeting-house was built in 1663. It stood in the square near the present Soldiers' Monument. He remained pastor until his death in 1672 and was followed as minister by Rev. Joseph Gerrish. In 1688 a new meeting-house was built on the site of the old one. Rev. Gerrish served for forty-six years and was gathered to his fathers, dying of apoplexy.
The fourth minister here was Rev. Robert Ward, of Charlestown, who served until called by death ten years later. The fifth pastor was Rev. John Warren, ordained 1733; a graduate of Harvard College. He aided in the famous revivals held in 1740; he died, aged forty-four years, in 1749. A church building had been started before his death, to take the place of the older one. The records show that at this "church rais- ing" the town authorities appointed a committee to look well to the apportionments made by the Town, as follows: Six gallons of rum, eight pounds of sugar, two barrels of cider, two barrels of beer, one hundred pounds of bread, one hundred weight of legs of pork, and forty pounds of cheese. The committee was instructed to see that it should "do in the prudentist way thay can for the end aforesaid."
The next minister was Rev. Joseph Swain, ordained October, 1750; a graduate of Harvard College, he served in the French and Indian war as chaplain and died in 1792, aged seventy years. His pastorate lasted forty-two years. The seventh minister was Rev. Adoniram Judson, of Malden; a graduate of Yale College; resigned in 1799, leaving on ac- count of the smallness of his salary. He became a Baptist in religious faith, and it was his son who became the first Missionary to Burmah. Rev. Rufus Anderson was the next minister; he came in 1804 and re- mained until 1814, when he died. The ninth pastor was Rev. John Smith, of Salem, New Hampshire, installed 1817. He was finally made a Doctor of Divinity by Dartmouth. He died in 1831. Ebenezer Peck
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Sperry was Rev. Smith's successor. He was born in New Haven, Con- necticut, 1785. He resigned as pastor here in 1819, and died in Ohio, where he preached many years. In his term as pastor was formed America's first Sunday school, it is said by church history.
The eleventh pastor of this church was Rev. Daniel Mansfield, who was ordained in 1837; he was born in Lynnfield; graduated at Amherst College and Andover Theological Seminary. A new church was built under his administration; also a parsonage. He died, greatly lamented, in 1847, aged thirty-nine years. The church erected a handsome monu- ment over his grave. Rev. Jeremiah Taylor, D. D., succeeded Rev. Mansfield as pastor; in 1856 he resigned and moved to another part of New England. The thirteenth minister was Rev. John Smith Sewall, D. D., who remained eight years and in 1867 was dismissed, to take a position in Bowdoin College. The next pastor was Rev. William R. Joyslin, who only preached one year, and was followed by Rev. Will Con- verse Wood, who served six years. He was a writer of ability and the author of "Five Problems of State and Religion." Next came Rev. Samuel W. Clarke, who was pastor one year, and was dismissed. He was followed by Rev. Alexander C. Childs in 1880, and he in turn by Rev. John C. Mitchell in 1884, who later was asked to resign on account of his liberal teachings. In September, 1887, Rev. George Masters Woodwell was ordained pastor, and since then the pastors have been as follows: Revs. Arthur N. Ward appointed October 3, 1891; Morris H. Turk, May 1, 1898; Walter S. Eaton, July, 1904; Frederick M. Cut- ler, May 1, 1912 ; Timothy Currier Craig, January 1, 1918, and still (1921) pastor. This church now has a total membership of eighty-one and a Sunday school of an average of ninety-nine, under the superintendency of Deacon Albert A. Tracy.
The Baptist Church of Wenham was organized in Beverly in 1801, and the Wenham Baptists worshiped there for twenty-five years. In 1826 there was a great Baptist revival in Wenham. This increased the membership, and a meeting-house was erected, costing $2,000, while a bell was added to the tower. The church was organized March 23, 1831 with twenty-five members, all coming from the Baptist church at Beverly. The first minister was Rev. Charles Miller, a native of Scot- land. He was succeeded by Rev. Henry Archibald, who continued pas- tor until 1837. Next came Rev. Joel Kenney, who was dismissed in 1840. The church was without a minister for about one year, when Rev. George W. Patch was made pastor, but he remained only two years. Then came Rev. Josiah Keely, a native of England. He was pastor for nine years and he died during the Civil war. Rev. Isaac Woodbury was the next pastor, and he was followed by Rev. Thomas Wormsley, or- dained 1856. On the night of November 6, 1859, the church edifice was burned, but friends of the congregation built a new one the next year. Rev. Wormsley's successor was Rev. Abner D. Gorham, who commenced
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January 1st, 1863, and was still pastor after a full quarter of a century in 1887. Since then the pastors have included these: Revs. F. W. Klein, 1892-95; J. W. Illsley, 1895-97; T. Clarkson Russell, 1897-1902; E. Laurens Hamilton, 1903-04; Frank Parker, 1904-19; Rial Benjamin, 1919 to date.
The present membership is eighty-two, and there is a Sunday school with about fifty pupils. The present church was erected in 1860 at a cost of $4,000; present value of the building is $10,000.
CHAPTER XII.
TOWN OF MANCHESTER.
It is known that the territory now called Essex county, when the white race first set foot on these shores, was occupied by the Agawams, a tribe of the Algonquins. These people were described by Gosnold, who it is believed touched Cape Ann in 1602, as "a people tall of stature, broad and grym visaged; their eye brows painted white."
There is evidence that the Aborigines of this part of New England had been greatly diminished in numbers just before the date of the land- ing of the Europeans. It seems from the records there had been a three year plague which swept over this part of the East and took away a greater part of the Indian people. Just what the nature of this dis- ease was is not known, but certain it is that tens of thousands were swept from the section now known as New England. Men, also women and children, were taken, so it has been said by Hutchinson, in such vast numbers that from a fighting force of thirty thousand red men warriors there were only three hundred men left. The proud spirit of the red man was also broken by this fearful calamity. The Sagamore or chief here was named Masconnomet, who had for his chief camping grounds lands where Ipswich stands today. This Indian chief was not unfriendly to the whites, and as a result there were no bloody battles between the two races in this locality as there were in other parts of New England. As has been well said by one writer in recent years: "No colonists were waylaid and shot in ambush; no glare of burning dwell- ings, no savage war-whoop, terrified the infant settlement. The new comers planted and builded, went to church in safety, as well as to mill."
These lands were possessed peaceably or by the payment of a small sum of money given the Indians. Final payment for the lands was not made however until 1700, when the town paid the grandsons of old Masconnomet three pounds nineteen shillings for their right and title to the entire township. The "Memorial History of Boston" states that it was not until a half century after the occupation of Boston peninsula that the citizens troubled themselves to obtain a deed from the grand- son of Chickataubut. This was in 1708.
Essex-9
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Manchester is one of the lesser towns of Essex county; its length on the coast is about four and one-half miles, and its width about two and three-quarters miles, containing about five thousand acres of land. Its soil is rocky and its surface very uneven, especially so at the coast. Without any high hills, its appearance is indeed picturesque, much of the domain being well wooded, with fertile fields here and there inter- spersed. In many places the green fields and heavily wooded districts approach almost if not quite down to the ocean's edge. The shore line. is composed of rugged cliffs and boulders, Eagle Head being one of beauty and prominence. Several small islands such as Kettle, Crow, Graves, Great and Little Ram, and House, lie but a short distance from the shore. Among the natural curiosities may be mentioned "Singing Beach," and "Agassiz Rock," the latter a boulder on the east side of the Essex road, of great dimensions. There is also a much greater boulder in the valley to the north. The "Agassiz Rock" is indeed quite cele- brated.
The climate here is quite changeable, but the summer and autumn weather is delightful. Not much farming is carried on, on account of the small tracts of suitable land. The people live largely on such pur- suits as cabinet-making and fishing, while the summer population brings in money and spends it freely. There are some small manufacturing plants in this place, but generally speaking the people depend largely on the summer tourists and the industries already named.
In 1836 it was written in the "Essex Memorial," page 162: "Man- chester woods are celebrated for producing the magnolia; it is a low tree, with deep green leaves, and is seldom found at any other place in this region ; the flowers are white, and possess a delicious fragrance ; the scent is so powerful that a small grove of them will perfume the air for miles."
Conant's colony was established at Cape Anne in 1624, but for vari- ous reasons was not highly successful and was finally abandoned, save by a few of the more stable and resolute people of the company. This move- ment resulted in the settlement at Manchester.
In the month of March, 1629, Charles I, "By the grace of God, Kinge of England, Scotland, Fraunce, and Ireland, Defender of the Fayth, etc.," granted a charter to the "Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in Newe-England." This charter granted:
To the Councell established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the plant- ing, ruling, ordering and governing of Newe England in America, and to their suc- cessors and Assignes forever, all that parte of America, lyeing and being in Bredth from forty degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equinoctiall Lyne, to Forty- eight Degrees of the saide Northerly Latitude inclusively, and in Length, of and within all the Breadth of aforesaid, throughout the Main lands from Sea to Sea, together also with all Firme lands, Soyles, Grounds, Havens, Portes, Rivers, Waters, Fishing, Mynes, and Mynerals, as well Royall Mynes of Gould and Silver, as other Mynes and Mynerals, Precious Stones, Quarries, and all and singular other Com- modities, Juris diccons, Royalties, Privileges, Franchesies, and Prehemynences, both
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within the said Tract of Land upon the Mayne, and also within the Islandes and Seas adjoining.
In April three ships sailed for Massachusetts Bay with supplies and a number of "Planters." The "Talbott," one of the ships, was probably the first that ever entered Massachusetts harbor, dropping anchor here June 27, 1629. Rev. Francis Higginson, one of the ministers sent out by the company to superintend the spiritual affairs of the settlement, wrote in his journal: "June 27, 1629-Saturday evening we had a westerly wind, which brought us, between five and six o'clock, to a fyne and sweet harbor, seven miles from the head of Cape Ann (in this harbor twentie ships may lie and easily ride therein), where there was an island, whither 4 of our men went with a boat, and brought back strawberries, gooseberries, and sweet single roases. Monday 29th as we passed along to Naim Keake it was wonderful to behold so many islands replenished with thick wood and high trees, and many fayere green pastures."
The government by agents residing in England proved unsatis- factory, and the following October the government and patent were transferred to New England, and John Winthrop, the "Founder of Massa- chusetts," was chosen governor. He sailed in the "Arbella," a vessel of about four hundred tons, and six other ships, with three hundred set- tlers, for Salem. On June 11, 1630, the "Arbella" seems to have come to anchor nearly opposite Gales Point.
Governor Dudley, writing about a year later than Winthrop's re- port, sums up the resources of the colonists in these words: "Materials to build, fewell to burn, ground to plant, sees and rivers to ffish in, a pure ayer to breathe in, good water to drinke till wine or beare can be made, which together with the cowes, hogges, and goats, brought hither allready may suffice for food, for as for foule and venison, they are danties here as well as in England." Nearly all the settlers were "free- men," and as such had rights in the common lands. Later these were styled "Proprietors." About 1692 an act was passed for the "Regulating of Townships, Choice of Township Officers, and Setting forth their Powers." It appears of record, however, that the Proprietors of Man- chester did not organize under this Act until August 26, 1718. From that date on, their records appeared in what was known as the "Com- missioner's Records."
The first settlers landed, it is supposed by many writers, at Kettle Cove in either 1626 or 1627. The original house may have been erected on the estate of T. Jefferson Coolidge, Esq., by John Kettle. The earliest frame house was built by William Allen, no doubt. The early records show land descriptions as follows-homely but plain. "A black burtch, pitch-pine, grate hemlock, white oke, Litle black oke tree, a stump of fower mapls, wortle bush, bunch of oalders, a white pritty big pine tree, and standing upon a grate high Rock which is almost to the Ad- miration of them that doe behold it."
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As early as 1640, when there were but sixty-three people in all re- siding at "Jeffrys Creeke" the people "jointly and humbly" petitioned the court to grant them power to erect a village." This was granted, and in 1645 the name of the place was changed to Manchester, the exact date being June 18.
The following list of names of places within the borders of the town was compiled in 1836 by Dr. Leach. Most of them date back to the earliest times :
Hills-Image, Moses, Eagle, Bennett's, Millstone, Jacks, Shingle Place, Town, Flagstaff, Great Powder House, Waterman's Rocks's.
Plains Briery or Bushie Poplar.
Meadows-Fresh Meadow, Cranberry, Beaver Dam, Cold Spring.
Swamps-Cedar, Millett's.
Marshes-Norman's, Bishop's, Cheever's, Barberry.
Creeks-Jeffreys, Chubbs, Days.
Coves-Kettle, Black, Lobster, Pebble, Pitts.
Points-Pickworth, Gale's, Smith's, Goldsmith's, Masters, Glasses, Bishop's, Cheever's, Tuck's.
Necks-Great or Old, Norton's.
Brooks-Wolf Trap, Clay, Cheever's, Saw Mill, Foster's Mill.
Beaches-Neck, Graves, Gray's, Black Cove, Lobster Cove.
Islands-Great and Little Crow, Kettle, Egg, Ram Great and Little, Howes, Chubbs, Friends or Island Wharf.
Springs-Cold, North Yarmouth, Kettle Cove, Newport, Plains, Row, Great Neck, Smith's Farm, Town Landing, Great Pasture, Norton's Neck, Nicholas Com- mons, Graves.
Landings-Smith's, Marsters, Black Cove, Church Lane, Town Landing, Kettle Cove, Whitehead Landing.
Bridges-Jabez, near Bears House, Jones below Captain Knight's, Town Bridge, Centre built 1828, Chubbs, built 1835.
The records of the town show no formal Act of Incorporation. This, however, was not an uncommon thing in the early history of the com- monwealth. Before 1655 "the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay" made grants to land companies and individuals for towns and plan- tations, usually annexing certain conditions to their grants; such as "that certain number of settlers or families should within a stated time build and settle upon the same; or that the gospel should be regularly preached, or a church gathered upon the granted premises". (See "His- tory of Groton, Mass.")
The first book of Town Records, from 1645 to 1658, is unfortunate- ly lost; this gap cannot be supplied in any manner by writers of today. The town meeting of February 25, 1657, is the first of which we have any record. The town meeting has usually been looked upon as a unit of the democratic form of governmnet. Away back in the fifth century, in the tiny district of Sleswick, appears to have originated this custom. Here in New England the town meeting has been of much value as an educa- tional force. The annual meeting was always opened by prayer; in lat- er decades this custom was not in use, but in 1895, by a vote of the
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annual meeting at the suggestion of Moderator Henry T. Bingham, the practice was again taken up in Manchester. These town meetings were the town itself acting in both legislative and executive capacity. The "select men" were simply the town's agents. The town meeting shares with the church and the common school the honor of shaping the affairs in civic and social life in New England. Of all the town meetings, per- haps the "March Meeting" has long been known as the most important in shaping the destinies of the town and county government. So far, no form of government has shown itself superior to the town govern- ment system now known in New England.
In volume VII. of the "New England Genealogical Register" ap- peared in 1853 the following:
We whose names are subscribed belonging to the church and the towne of Salem (being straitened in our accommodations, soe we are not ably comfortably to sub- sist, having advised and taken counsell about our present state and condition, it being Judged full and free liberty being granted us to remove, and noe place being soe convenient, for our easye remove all as Jefferyes Creeke lying soe neare us and most of us having some small quantity of ground allotted to us there already) doe therefore Jointly and Humbly request the Honbl Court to give us power to erect a village there, and to allow us Such Inlargement thereabouts as it is not granted to anyother plantation thus leaving our request to your wisdomes Con- sideration, With our Prayers for a blessing from heaven on your psons and pro- ceedings we rest.
Your Humble Petitioners: William Walton, John Black, William Allen, Samuel Archard, George Norton, William Dixy, John Sibley, ames Standish, John Ffriend, John Pickwith, John Gally, Ben. Parmenter, Robert Allen, Jon Norman, Edmond Grover, Pascoe Ffoote, William Bennett.
1640-14th-3mo.
The petition is granted and referred to Mr. John Winthrop and Mr. Symond Bradstreet to settle the bounds.
The place was duly incorporated, and has run well its course until the present date. The elective officers of Manchester town in 1921 were: Selectmen and overseers of the poor: Samuel L. Wheaton, George R. Dean, William W. Hoare; moderator: Raymond C. Allen; town clerk: Lyman W. Floyd; treasurer and collector : Edwin P. Stanley ; assessors: Edward S. Knight, Leonard W. Carter, Frank G. Cheever; school com- mittee : Raymond C. Allen, Percy A. Wheaton, Robert T. Glendenning ; tree warden, Everett O. Smithers: constables: Louis O. Lations, Leon- ard Andrews and Joseph P. Leary; pound keeper, Alfred Whalen; chair- man cemetery trustees, Duncan T. Beaton; chairman of library com- mittee, Robert T. Glendenning; park commissioner, Jeffrey S. Reed, chairman.
The Manchester Library sprang from the old Manchester Lyceum Association, established in 1830. It became a library of the public in 1871, since which time it has grown rapidly and is duly appreciated by all good, intelligent citizens. The present beautiful Library and Grand Army of the Republic Post Hall was donated largely by Hon. Thomas J.
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Coolidge at a cost of many thousand dollars, and is still the pride of the town. It was dedicated October 13, 1887.
From all that can be learned, Manchester was settled largely by people from the eastern shires of England, from which locality came so many stalwart, noble pioneers to the New World. These were largely from the middle walks of life-such as the Winslows, Carvers, the Brewsters, the Winthrops and Endicotts, and came mostly from the lib- erty-loving weavers of Flanders who had fled to England a century be- fore on account of persecutions. They were of the best stock of English Puritanism. It may be added in passing, that they were not like Gover- nor Berkley of Virginia, who thanked God "that there are no free schools, nor printing." They were men who prized and were willing to pay well for all educational institutions.
"The Third Parliament of Charles, King of England, hardly dis- solved itself when 'conclusions' for the establishment of a great colony on the other side of the Atlantic were circulating among gentry and traders, and descriptions of the new country of Massachusetts were talked over in every Puritan home," says Historian Green. In 1637 King Charles sought by royal proclamation to prevent men of wealth from emigrating to New England, but if this had any effect at all, it was in fact to send or allow to come to Massachusetts a more common and far more desirable class of Englishmen. Naturally, at first the develop- ment was quite slow, but in time the heavy forests began to disappear and farming and shipbuilding commenced to take high rank in the New World, by reason of those who invaded this part of New England. Churches and schools kept pace with all else in this colony, hence the great educational and religious schools of today.
Public morals were from the first of a high standard here. The slave trade was prohibited; even cruelty to animals was considered a civil offense. No person could be sent to prison for debt, save in cases of fraud. One writer who was far from being a friend of this form of government, declared "profane swearing, drunkenness, and beggars are but rare in the compass of this patent." There were rigid laws against lying, as well as against stealing; meeting with corrupt company ; tippling in ordinaries; and against disobedience to parents, and the court even tried to regulate courtship. The law was felt and usually obeyed to almost the letter. These people who first settled on the "wild New England shores" cared little for patents of nobility or ecclesiastical preferment. They were simply nobles by the right of an earlier crea- tion and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand. They looked with contempt upon the claims of long descent. Perhaps there is no finer eulogy on the Pilgrim Fathers than was given by the Boston "Daily Advertiser" in its issue of December 22, 1894, which reads thus:
They believed that the invisible things of this world are greater than the things that are seen. They believed that Eternity is of more consequence than Time. They
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believed that he who should lose his own soul to gain the whole world would make a bad bargain. They believed that plain living is none too dear a price to pay for the privilege of high thinking. They believed that he to whom any precious and pregnant truth has been revealed must utter it, or else stand condemned of high treason at the judgment bar of the King of Heaven. They believed that a true church may be instituted by the voluntary act of a body of Christian disciples or- ganizing themselves into a communion, and a lawful state by the consent and co- operation of self-governing citizens. They believed these things practically as well as theoretically. They had the courage of their convictions. They dared to do. They feared nothing else as much as sin, and they counted no other shame so great as recreancy to their loftiest ideals. They said what they meant and meant what they said. For truth, as they saw it, for duty as it was revealed to them, they braved the stormy, lonely ocean, and endured poverty and exile, hunger, cold and death, a savage wilderness peopled by savage men. In thus believing, they set an unsurpassed example of faith. In thus choosing the better part, as between flesh and spirit, they made a like choice easier for all coming generations of the children of men in all the earth.
Here as well as in the settlement of any new country, it is next to impossible to describe what the pioneer had to endure in order to get his start in a wild wilderness and forest land hard by the great Atlantic. The winters were severe, the soil was rock-bound, and all means of com- munication with the outside world were hedged up as yet by forest and bridgeless streams. True, the needs of the people were quite simple, and at times readily supplied. The woods furnished ample game. The sea gave forth of its stock of fine fishes, and wild fruits and berries were plentiful in season, as was the fine growth of vegetables produced. All household and farm implements were necessarily of the most crude de- sign. Settles stood in the fireplace, box-beds occupied one end of the kitchen, great logs blazed on the irons, a huge crane hung in the spaci- ous chimney ; a noon-mark served the purpose of a time piece. Books were not common then; the Bible, the angel of the home, came with every immigrant to these shores and was studied. Learning, however, was little prized, many of the chief men of the town being unable to write their own names, yet no worse than it was in Rhode Island, where five out of the thirteen original settlers had to make their cross or mark in making the contract under which Providence was to be governed.
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