USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 35
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Not until after 1850 were there many foreigners in this town, hence no field for a Roman Catholic church. Rev. Father John McCabe of Salem celebrated the first mass in the place in 1850. In 1855 a chapel was built and first used in 1856, Rev. Thomas Shehan being deeply in- terested in this work. The house of worship erected cost $3,000.
The first attempt at establishing a society of the Protestant Epis- copal denomination was in 1872. That year services were held in the Y. M. C. A. rooms by Rev. D. Reid, rector of St. John's Church, Gloucester. Only occasional services were held until May, 1886, when St. Mary's Mis- sion was formed. Its charter members were as follows: Otis E. Smith, Frank Wilson, Charles Trenson, Mrs. Rosa Ann Morse, Reginald R. Col- ley, T. T. H. Harwood, Mrs. Abbie Tibbets, Fanny U. C. Sanborn, Delia F. Smith, Eliza T. Lane, Mary L. Tibbets, Fanny C. Tupper, John Moore, Frank H. Perkins, Luther C. Tibbetts, James Moore, Jr., O. S. S. O'Brien, M.D., Chas. F. Mills, Cora A. Pickering.
The Universalist Society in Sandy Bay was organized February 27, 1821, by the name of the Universalist Benevolent Society of Gloucester. For a time this society held services in the Congregational church
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building, but soon got into trouble with the Congregational society, which denied them the right to use the church. After a law-suit, it was decided in favor of the Congregational society. As it was no longer any use to claim a meeting-place there, the members used the school- house. Among the ministers who preached for this Universalist so- ciety are recalled such men as Revs. J. H. Bugbee, J. Gilman, J. P. Atkin- son, Hosea Ballou and Lafayette Mace. A meeting-house was built in 1829, costing $3,000. The society was incorporated in 1839 by the name of the Second Universalist Society of Gloucester, but in 1845 it was changed to the First Universalist Society of Rockport.
The Second Universalist Society was organized in the Engine Room, in August, 1861, with twenty persons present. This first society was only a Sunday school. March 31, 1869, a religious society was formed in connection with the Sunday school. In 1878 this was renamed Sec- ond Universalist Society of Rockport. In 1873 the society built a neat edifice costing $10,500. While many noted ministers have preached, but few regular pastors have ever been called here.
The churches of Rockport today include the Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Universalist, Episcopal, Catholic and Congregational.
The First Baptist Church was organized March 29, 1808, and it appropriately observed its centenary in 1908. The society now has one hundred and seventy-three members; its Sunday school has an attend- ance of eighty-five. The superintendent is Herman S. Sherburne. The society was incorporated in 1811, by the name of the First Baptist Society of Gloucester; no settled pastor until 1819. The first person baptized by immersion in Sandy Bay was James Woodbury, March 10, 1805, by Rev. Elisha Scott Williams, of Beverly. A meeting-house was built in 1822 at a cost of about $2,400. The present church is valued at about $4,000. The subjoined is a list of pastors who have here served . Revs. James A. Boswell, Reuben Curtis, Bartlett Pease, Otis Wing, Levi B. Hathaway, B. N. Harris, S. C. Gilbert, Thomas Driver, George Lyle, Thomas Driver, A. E. Bartelle, J. M. Driver, Samuel Cheever, Benj. I. Lane, Lewis Holmes, A. J. Lyon, E. D. Bowers, George A. Cleveland, N. B. Wilson, Wm. B. Smith, Jesse Coker, Charlton B. Bolles, William Clements, Daniel C. Easton, Charles W. Allen, Walter R. Bartlett, John C. Stoddard.
Up to about 1830 there were few Catholic people living in Rockport, but before 1850 quite a goodly number had come in and made permanent homes, therefore the necessity of forming Catholic societies as soon as possible. The first mass was celebrated in Eureka Hall, in 1850, Rev. Father John McCabe, of Salem, officiating. A Catholic church was formed and a building erected in 1856. This building stood on Broad- way, and was the result of untiring efforts on the part of Rev. Thomas Shehan, of Salem. The first ministering priest was Rev. Luigi Acquar- one, and his parish encircled the Cape. The congregation grew rapidly,
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Rev. Thomas Barry was appointed to take charge of the parish, and he remained till his death in 1883. Rev. D. S. Healey immediately suc- ceeded him as priest of the parish. From that day until the present time the Catholic church has flourished and is today in a good condition, although the writer has been unable to secure data relative to the congre- gation at this time.
The First Methodist Episcopal Church has occupied the field about Rockport many years, though much less than other churches. The pres- ent church edifice was erected in 1876, costing $15,000. The total mem- bership is now 110, and that in the Sunday school is about 225. James B. Silva is present superintendent. The pastors serving here succeeded one another in the following order: Revs. J. H. Mansfield, J. H. Humph- frey, E. E. Small, Joseph Chandlin, Wesley Wiggin, L. P. Causey, E. D. Lane, E. E. Holmes, E. E. Abercrombie, W. T. Hale, H. P. Rankin, Adam Bird, E. B. Frye, and the present pastor, Newton S. Sweezey.
CHAPTER XXV.
TOWN OF BRADFORD.
The East Parish of Bradford was incorporated as a town, named Groveland, March 8, 1850. A portion of Boxford, including over three- fourths of Johnson's Pond, was annexed to Groveland, March 21, 1856. Bradford is one of the most northern towns in Essex county. Originally the Indians held this territory, and the name of the particular tribe was the Pawtucket. It is supposed that about 1638 Masconomet, the chief, was fully satisfied with the disposition made of his lands to the white settlers, but in the early years of the eighteenth century, Samuel English and Joseph English, his grandchildren, and John Umpee, his nephew, claiming to be his heirs, made a new demand, and an elaborate deed was executed by them in 1701 to John Tenney, Phillip Atwood and John Bointon, for themselves and other freeholders and proprietors of Bradford. The consideration was 16 pounds and 12 shillings. The deed was attested by Nathaniel Saltonstall and Dudley Bradstreet, magistrates of Haverhill and Andover, respectively. This deed was at once recorded.
Bradford was well protected from invasions by the Indians by Haverhill on the north and by the river. Still, there was ever alarm and anxiety among the settlers, and Bradford soldiers had to march else- where. Sentinels were stationed and they patroled constantly dur- ing the Indian scare-days. Three garrison houses were constructed, one of brick at the west end of the town; one where the parsonage later stood; and the third was where Widow Rebecca Foster's house stood in 1820. This was palisaded, when grave danger was felt. There was also
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a block-house on the neck near the falls. The Indians sometimes crossed the river near that point, when on their forays.
One of the original settlers, Thomas Kimball, was killed by the In- dians in King Philip's War, the Indians being the notorious Praying Indians, Symon, Andrew and Peter. Kimball resided on the road from what is now South Groveland to Boxford. The story runs that the In- dians were on their way to kill somebody at Rowley, who they imagined had injured them; but finding it was too late in the night, they turned in and made another deadly sacrifice instead. Kimball's wife and five children were carried away captive by Symon and his band, but later were set at liberty, it was thought through the influence of a friendly chief, Wannalancet.
The Bradford lands originally laid out to the Haseltines and Wilde include the west half of the village. Their meadow land is known even today as the Haseltine Meadow. In 1658 Joseph Jewett had laid out to him the whole of Bradford Neck. In 1671, the following lot owners appear of record "below the Glover Farm:" Joseph Chaplin, 35 acres; John Simmonds, 42 acres; Abraham Foster, 37 acres; John Simmonds, 36 acres; John Simmonds, 66 acres; Hugh Smith, 38 acres; Jonathan Hopkinson, 32 acres; Samuel Boswell, 53 acres; James Dickinson, 57 acres ; Deacon Jewett, 95 acres; Mrs. Kimball, Boston, 102 acres; James Barker, 111 acres; John Boynton, 93 acres.
Bradford was known originally as Rowley Village. That part now called Bradford was at first "the Merrimac Lands." Sometimes it was styled Rowley Village-by-the-Merrimac. Georgetown used to be called New Rowley. Probably there is not another American village so little changed with the passing centuries as that of Rowley. There one finds the two or three main streets upon which the exiles settled themselves- Wethersfield, in memory of the pastor's birthplace, and Bradford, to preserve the name of the substantial town in Yorkshire, England, from which others had emigrated to our shores. This band was made up of industrious weavers, farmers and smiths, who soon introduced their own special trades and callings here. They had a great storehouse for hemp and flax, built their fulling-mill and made serviceable clothes.
Rowley was incorporated September 4, 1639, when it was ordered by the General Court that "Mr. Ezekiel Rogers' plantation be called Row- ley." May, 1640, it was declared by the same court "that Rowley bounds is to be eight miles from their meeting-house in a straight line (wester- ly) ; then a cross line diameter from Ipswich Ryver to Merrimack Ryver when it doth not prejudice any former grant." October of the same year, "the neck of land on Merrimack, near Corchitawick, is ordered added to Rowley."
The first meeting-house in Bradford was built in 1670, probably a rough log building, although it must have been quite high, for it is seen by record that in 1690 a gallery was constructed. John Haseltine gave
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the meeting-house lot and churchyard, which was the old burying place on the road to present Groveland. The meeting-house stood in the west corner of the lot and the departed dead were laid to rest in the rear. The first house erected in the town was not far from the last named spot. The first schoolhouse was built on about the same site, the same being eighteen by twenty-two feet, with seven-foot posts.
Prior to the Revolutionary War there had not been much trading in the town of Bradford. Possibly a store or two near each church was to be seen and patronized for the necessities of the household. Moses Parker opened the first store of much note, and that was located in East Parish. Upper Parish (Bradford) usually traded at Haverhill. Ship- building was carried on to some extent in 1720, but has long since been a lost art, so to speak.
The water power furnished by Johnson's creek has always been of untold value to this part of Essex county. The noted Dr. Perry once said: "Indeed, it would be easy to show how enterprising individuals might gain wealth, and the community better served, by enlisting in their service the force of this water, which God, in his goodness, causes to flow down this stream for the use of men." This was said long years before the great factories had been built and the busy hum of machinery had been heard for the first time up and down this wonderful valley.
In 1760 Daniel Hardy commenced making shoes here. They were sent to Portsmouth; many were also sent to the Southern States and as far as the West Indies. At the time of the French Revolution it was said that "the shoe business is one of the most important lines of busi- ness in the town." Dr. Perry's diary speaks of 1820 industries in this place as follows: "Large quantities of shoes are manufactured here, and sent to the Southern States and West Indies. One hundred and fifty men are constantly employed, besides many who employ the winter in it, who, it is supposed, make fifty thousand pairs of shoes and boots yearly."
In 1792, Samuel Tenney, Uriah Gage, Timothy Phillips, and William Tenney engaged in the manufacture of shoes in Bradford. Their market was Boston, Salem, Newburyport and Portland. At first these goods were carried to market on horseback. Shoes went largely to Salem, and thence on to the West Indies and our Southern States. Between the years 1815 and 1837 the shoe business in Bradford was immense for those days. But as soon as Haverhill obtained its railroad, business men in Bradford commenced to remove their factories to that place, on ac- count of shipping facilities. In the early eighties, it was stated that the following men and firms were then or had been recently engaged in the manufacture of shoes in Bradford: Montgomery, Hoyt, Johnson, Ordway, Webster, Sawyer, Farrar, Kimball, Day, Waldo, Merrill, Ford, Carleton, Durgin, Pearl, Toun and Hopkinson.
With the passing of years and the annexing of Bradford to the city
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of Haverhill, conditions have materially changed. Bradford is now one of the numerous resident districts of the thriving city, while its busi- ness enterprises are confined to a few small concerns.
At the annual election in 1896 it was determined to annex Brad- ford to the city of Haverhill, and this went into effect January 4, 1897. This included all the territory of Bradford village and country districts. So, since the date last named, the history as an incorporated territory of Bradford has been one and the same as Haverhill.
Without going back into the dim and misty past, to speak of census enumerations, it may be stated in this connection that in 1900 the United States census reports gave Bradford (in with Groveland) 2,376; in 1910 it was 2,253 and in 1920 it was placed at 2,650.
The first meeting-house in Bradford was erected in 1670, and twenty years later a gallery was provided, hence it will be seen the building was one of good proportions, otherwise it would have been too small for such an improvement. The minutes of the church state that January 29, 1671, "at a general town meeting," an agreement was made with Samuel Haseltine "to sweep the meeting-house one whole yeare, and for his pains he should have of every householder and voter one peck of Indian corn, which is to be brought to his house." (This shows that money did not go as a medium very much in those early times, but com- modities served as "coin of the realm.") The first year, Rev. Symmes, pastor, received forty pounds and the next year fifty pounds sterling as a salary. It was payable in wheat, pork, butter, cheese, malt, Indian meal or rye. It has been questioned by one of a later date than colonial days what the minister could have needed so much malt for? In reply, it should be stated that malt was in every house. Beer was drunk by old and young, and was counted a staple article of diet. Even the Harvard College accounts were partly payable in malt. Butter and cheese being used so much in settlement of accounts leads us to believe that dairying was a very early and profitable branch of farm life here.
The common hour for Sunday forenoon services was from eight to nine o'clock, and members were fined for being tardy. No manuscripts were read by the minister for a sermon, but the good man of God placed his hour-glass before him and when it had emptied itself of its sands, if he proposed to preach longer, he turned the hour-glass over again. The elders gave out the psalms, line by line, to be sung.
One odd feature of the first church organization in Bradford was the fact that no permanent church organization was had from the year 1668 to 1682, notwithstanding Rev. Symmes was minister all those years, and had not yet been ordained. Finally this was brought about, and Rev. Symmes remained pastor until he was so aged that an assistant pastor had to be provided for him. About 1705 Rev. Symmes passed to the other shores, and in a short time was succeeded as pastor by his tal- ented son, Rev. Zachariah Symmes, a graduate of Harvard, and a man
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about thirty years of age at the time he came to the Bradford church to take his venerable father's place as minister. He died after a checkered ministry, in October, 1725. The next minister was Rev. Joseph Parsons, who with others did not endorse the preaching of Whitefield and opposed his being admitted to the pulpit.
The East Precinct was incorporated in 1726, and the church or- ganized one years later. Rev. William Balch was the first pastor for the new parish. He was ordained in 1728 and died in 1792, aged eighty- eight years. The East Parish built its first meeting-house in 1726 and its second one in 1790. The two parishes were separated after two hundred years of municipal life. Groveland was incorporated March 8, 1850.
The fourth pastor of the First Parish was Rev. Samuel Williams, a graduate of Harvard College, a noted astronomer and mathematical scholar. He was ordained in his twenty-second year, hence was not well liked by the older set of ministers. In 1780 he was dismissed at his own request, to take a chair at Harvard College. His successor was Rev. Jonathan Allen, aged thirty-two years, and also a Harvard graduate. He died in Bradford, in 1827. Following this minister was Rev. Ira Ingraham, who did not long remain pastor on account of his bitter op- position to the stand his church took in not wanting to further the cause of total abstinence. From that day on to 1866, the pastors of this church were, inclusive of these: Revs. Hoadly, ordained 1830, dismissed 1833; M. C. Searle, dismissed 1834; Nathan Munroe, dismissed 1854; James T. McCollom, dismissed 1865; John D. Kingsbury, installed 1866. The present church history is wrapped up with that of Haverhill.
CHAPTER XXVI.
TOWN OF GROVELAND.
Groveland originally was included in territory now occupied by Georgetown, Boxford, Rowley and Bradford, Rowley having been first settled in September, 1639, by Rev. Ezekiel Rogers and about sixty families, and was then styled Roger's Plantation. It was named Rowley on account of the immigrants coming from Rowley, England. Among the companions of Rev. Rogers were John and Robert Hazeltine and William Wilde. In 1649 these men desiring to obtain more land sought the rich meadows and fields in the handsome, rich Merrimac Valley, in the then Indian territory of the Pentucket, for a permanent abiding place. As the settlement increased, the name was changed to Merri- mac, and finally to "Bradford," so called after Bradford, England. The earliest mention of Bradford in Massachusetts records is in October, 1675, in a list of expenses occasioned by King Philip's War. The Gen-
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eral Court order establishing the incorporation of Rowley, and dated May 27, 1668, read as follows :
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 else hath been presented in the case, doe find there is liberty granted to the petitioners by the town of Rowley to provide themselves with a min- ister and also an intent to release them from the township when they are accordingly provided, and therefore see not, but this court may grant the petitioners to be a township provided they doe gett and setle an able and orthodox minister and con- tinue to maynteigne him or else to remain to Rowley as formerly.
At the village of Groveland in the summer of 1921 the business was in the hands of the following persons : Hardware store, by Cobban Bros .; Groceries, by Messrs. C. P. Boynton, W. T. Pike, A. E. Brock, “the Dis- tributing Store"; a bakery by F. E. Packard; tobacco and cigar store, Fred Wood; Groveland Garage, by H. L. Macdonald, also another garage by Harvey Hatch; Banking by the Groveland Co-operative Bank; The Mutual Fire Insurance Company, W. T. Pike president. The place has street car connections by the Newburyport and Haverhill line, every fifteen minutes during the day.
The records show a town meeting was held, at which, on February 20, 1668, officers were elected as follows: Thomas Kimball, constable; John Gage, Robert Haseltine, Joseph Pike, John Griffing and John Ten- ney, selectmen; Joseph Pike, clerk of writs; Samuel Worcester, Ben- jamin Gage, Benjamin Kimball and David Haseltine, overseers.
The major part of Groveland was at first platted into lots running south from the river, which were granted in the following order, be- ginning down the river at the easterly end, to Joseph Richardson, Jonas Platts, John Hopkinson, Joseph Bailey, Edward Wood, Benjamin Savory, William Hutchens, Ezra Rolf, Samuel Tenney, Francis Jewett, Samuel Worster, Samuel Stickney, John Hardy, William Hardy, Abraham Par- ker, and Daniel Parker, and adjoining the Carleton Patent. A large part of Johnson's Pond was within this town, and from it flowed John- son's creek, having a fall of seventy-five feet to the river. The name Groveland has no special significance, other than that it was suggested by the existing beautiful groves in and surrounding its territory.
The industries of this town, save those in South Groveland, had in the early eighties of the last century become about extinct, though in an early period were well sustained and quite numerous. The falling waters of the stream called Johnson's creek were harnessed up as early as 1670 and made to do service in propelling a grist-mill on that stream. Corn mills were opened along the stream in 1684. A fulling-mill was built in 1660 and a flouring mill on the same stream in 1690. It has been stated by an old historical writer that up to 1820 there had been on this creek four saw-mills, five grist-mills, three fulling-mills, and two
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tan-bark mills. During the year 1820, it is certain that there were five tan-yards in operation. On account of the production of leather here, there grew up quite a manufacture of coarse boots and shoes. Other factories included a chocolate works, brass and pewter buckles, cooper- shops, tobacco factories, together with brick-making and the straw hat industry. By about 1837 many of these industries had disappeared.
The population of Bradford in 1850, after it had seen Groveland in- corporated, was 1,328; the town of Groveland having 1,286. In 1885 Bradford had 3,106 and Groveland 2,272. The United States census re- turns for 1900 gave Groveland 2,376; in 1910 it was 2,253, and in 1920 it was 2,650.
Of course, being a well regulated New England town, Groveland has had its full share of various religious sects and societies. In 1667 Rev. Zachariah Symmes was engaged as pastor, at a salary of £40, one- half to be paid in wheat, pork, butter and cheese, and the other half in cattle and corn. At the town meeting in April, 1670, it was voted by the townsmen that "Sargeant Gage, Robert Haseltine, Benjamin Kim- ball, Thomas Kimball, John Simmonds, Nicholas Walington and John Griffing be chosen for the ordering, setting up and furnishing of a Meighting House according to their best discretion for the good of the town."
The Church in the East Parish of Bradford was incorporated in 1726; organized in June, 1627, with Rev. William Balch as pastor, with £100 settlement and £100 annually as a salary At the first year's end the church numbered one hundred and seventy-nine. He served as min- ister here for the long term of sixty-five years, closing it only at death in 1792. He was followed by Rev. Ebenezer Dutch, who served till his death in 1814. Next came Reverend Gardner Braman Perry, who died while pastor in 1859. Other ministers were Revs. Wasson, Daniel Pickard, Thomas Daggett, Martin S. Howard, John C. Paine, James Mc- Lean, Augustus C. Swain, 1881, followed by Rev. Bernard Copping to October, 1887.
The present membership of the Congregational church is 241, the largest it has ever been. In 1895 the Ladies' Parlor was added to the chapel ; in 1908 the church was renovated, new pews were placed without rental, and the entire front of church was changed; in 1910 the chapel was raised and a gymnasium built; a new organ was also installed; in 1912 the house of the third pastor Perry was made into a parsonage, with extensive repairs ; in 1918 hardwood floors were placed in the church building. Pastors since 1894 have been Revs. Louis F. Barry, Alexander Sloan, Charles F. Clarke, Arthur Deckman, Andrew Campbell, Archibald Cullens. The present pastor is Herbert E. Beckwith.
Besides the Congregational church, there was organized at East Bradford, a Methodist church before its incorporation as Groveland. This was formed October, 1831, under direction of Rev. Thomas W. Gile
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and Aaron Wait, employed by the Christian Union Association. Rev. Charles S. McReading was the first Methodist pastor assigned to this charge. A church building was erected the following year. Since then the Methodists have had a work in the town for many years, but not at present.
At South Groveland there is an Episcopal and a Catholic church.
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