USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 36
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The South Groveland section was started as the result of the build- ing of the Groveland Woolen Mills at that point. It is also a near-by vil- lage to Haverhill city, and street cars run every quarter of an hour be- tween the two places. There is a small retail store business, a postoffice, and school and church interests suitable to a place of its size.
In 1921 the government in the town of Groveland was in the hands of the following officers: Town Clerk, Harry W. Vaughan; Treasurer and Collector, Frank M. Worthen; Assessors, Charles S. Husten, James H. Early, Ralph E. Maddock; Selectmen : H. W. Hardy, James H. Early, Charles H. Pike; Constables : Charles H. Stevens, George L. Nelson, Daniel Buckley, William T. Shanahan; School Committee: Stanley P. Ladd, Robert H. Crawford, John W. Cochrane; Three Warden, Sidney E. Johnson; Overseers of the Poor: Samuel H. Nelson, John F. Dorgan, C. Russell Cammett, clerk; Water Commissioners, George Mitchell, Allen G. Twombly, George B. Stiles; Auditor, Elliott C. Dorr; Moderator, John Morris.
In 1920 the following items from the assessors' report were for the town of Groveland: Number residents assessed on property, 536; non- residents assessed on property, 182; assessed for poll-tax only, 340; value of assessed personal, including bank stock, $358,459; value of assessed real estate exclusive of lands, $988,590; land exclusive of build- ings, $263,167 ; total, $1,610,246; tax rate per thousand dollars, $30.40.
Horses assessed, 120; cows, 221; neat cattle, 53; sheep, 26; swine, 54; dwellings, 587; acres land, 4,995; fowls assessed, 1895; valued at $1,895.
CHAPTER XXVII.
TOWN OF SWAMPSCOTT.
The history of Swampscott until 1852 was merged in the history of Lynn, yet it has, from the earliest days of the settlement, possessed an identity of its own. Its name, like that of Saugus and Nahant. ante- dates the arrival of the Puritans, and is one of those pleasing survivals of Indian nomenclature that have remained constant through many gen- erations. During almost two and a quarter centuries Swampscott had no separate identity as a township, yet it did possess a local individuality and a name. The origin of the name is given by Waldo Thompson in
NEW YORK BLIC LIBRARY
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his "History of Swampscott": "It is composed of two Indian words, a substantive, Ompsk, and an appellative, Musqui, meaning respectively (a standing) rock, and red; with the local affix 'ut.' Musqui-ompsk-ut means literally "at the red rock," and this by contraction became M'squompskut, and then, the English dropping the initial "m," Squamp- skut, Swampscot, Swampscott."
The only copy extant of the earliest map of the territory of New England, by William Hack, about 1663, is in the collection at Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Massachusetts. On this map the name appears as Swans Gut, a corruption of the Indian words that is quite easy to under- stand where one had but slight acquaintance with the language into which the Apostle Eliot translated the Bible.
Swampscott has ever possessed a picturesque beauty quite its own, which has attracted to it those seeking pleasing home sites rather than those in search of industrial centers. While it is generally conceded that the first tannery in the Colony was located in Swampscott, and Thompson records that a brick-yard was established here in 1630, there has been no extension of either industry to survive to the present. The fishing industry, which flourished for many years, has passed away al- most entirely, and the entire township may be termed a residential com- munity, where the individual homes, varying from the humble cottage through all gradations to the pretentious and sumptuous residence, is supplemented by extensive hotels known far and wide for their excellence in meeting the requirements of the very extensive summer colony that annually comes to this choice section of the North Shore.
Lest it be assumed that a town having a population of over 8,000 people, with no supporting industries, may be lacking in enterprise and progressiveness, and hence not of healthy growth, we shall present a sum- mary of the inventory of the public property of the town at the present time, as evidence of its thrift and prosperity :
Miscellaneous
$104,420.00
Brought forward
$889,307.60
School
633,400.00
Health
500.00
Cemetery
7,620.00
Moth
2,022.00
Police
8,867.00
Poor
70.00
Street watering
1,050.00
Fire
58,420.00
Highway
23,580.00
Water
211.208.90
Assessors
5,245.00
Sewer
34,850.00
Park
105,125.60
Engineering
747.00
$889,307.60
$1,200,925.50
Furthermore, we would call attention to the fact that the attractive- ness and accessibility of the town and its facilities for extending hospi- tality to the vacation-seeking public causes four thousand to five thou- sand summer residents and guests to visit it each year.
Francis Ingalls is recorded as the first settler in Swampscott. He and his brother Edmund Ingalls were in the first group of settlers who
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came in 1629, and have been considered in the narrative of the settle- ment of Lynn. While neither Lewis nor Newhall entered into the de- tails of the biography of Francis Ingalls further than to credit him with establishing a tannery in Swampscott and to receiving, with his brother Edmund, 120 acres of land in the division made in 1638, the research of Waldo Thompson presents more details. By his will, dated August 12, 1672, and probated in Boston, November 1, 1672, it is evident that he had a wife, Mary Ingalls, to whom he left all his estate, "movable and Imovable," for her lifetime; a son is also mentioned. After the death of his wife he provides: "Then, after my debts be discharged, and my son Joseph belknap satisfied for his disbursements, that then what there shall remain unto Elizabeth farman now living in Andover, my will is that she shall have." Francis Ingalls lived near the present junction of Burrill and New Ocean streets, near by his tannery, which was located on Humphrey's brook. Again referring to Thompson for authority, the house was about sixteen by thirty feet in dimensions, and faced due south, according to the custom of the times, and the tannery was built in 1632. The vats were extant as late as 1825, and the stone chimney of the house and other relics were found when another house was built on the lot in later years. Among other early settlers of Swampscott were Samuel Smith, W. Witter, John Humphrey, W. Clark, Edw. Richards, Lady De- borah Moody, Daniel King, J. Blaney and John Phillips.
Contemplating the comfort and luxury of the inhabitants of this town at the present time, we cannot refrain from presenting by con- trast the apparent meagre intimate possessions of what may be termed a man of fair circumstances in this community in the early colonial days. After living over forty years in this settlement, establishing a business and providing for a family, his personal belongings, outside of real estate and business accounts, are summarized in the inventory filed after his death, as follows: "2 coats, 2 pairs of breeches, 1 pair draus, and a leather doublet, and a waistcoat, 1 hat and a pair of stockings, 1 pr. shoes, 3 prs. pillows, 3 napkins, 8 pieces of old pewter, 1 Iron Kittull, a frying pan, 1 Bible and another book, a warming pan and dripping pan, 3 chairs, 4 cushions, a spinning wheel, 2 silver spoons." This inventory is pre- sented only to show something of the changes of 250 years, and to indi- cate something of the limitations of those times of peril and privation. Yet to such hardy, self-reliant and frugal forebears do some of our most highly-valued families trace their lineage.
As early as 1826 Swampscott was designed as Ward 1, Lynn, and had a population of 123 males and 120 females. After Lynn became a city, in 1850, there was a desire on the part of the people of Swampscott to be set off and incorporated as a town. On May 21, 1852, by act of the Legislature, Swampscott became a town, and the act was signed by Governor George S. Boutwell. This event was celebrated by a proces- sion of which Col. Thomas Alker was marshal; it paraded the streets,
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with the Salem Brass Band; there was an address by Rev. Jonas B. Clark, and the reading of a poem written for the occasion. In the even- ing there were fireworks, Dr. J. B. Holden causing a fire balloon to be sent up; there was also a torchlight procession, with illumination and other demonstrations of satisfaction over the fact that Swampscott had passed from the status of a community and had become a town.
The first town meeting in the newly-chartered town of Swampscott was called to order by Waldo Thompson. It was convened in Atlantic Engine Hall on Saturday, the fifth day of June, 1852, and resulted in the election of the following officers :
Moderator-Samuel C. Pitman.
Selectmen-Samuel C. Pitman, Eben B. Phillips, Henry J. Thing.
Town Clerk-John L. Seger.
Treasurer-John Chapman, Jr.
Assessors-J. F. Phillips, Thomas Stone Jr., Allen Washburn.
School Committee-Jonas B. Clark, Henry H. Hall, Edward Woodford.
Overseers of the Poor-William D. Rowe, Mark G. Phillips, John B. Richard-
son.
Surveyors of Highways-Allen Washburn, Jonathan F. Phillips. Constables-B. H. Davis, Nathaniel Galeucia, Charles Leavitt.
Tythingmen-William Widger, J. P. Blaney, John Wilkins. Measurer of Wood and Bark-Philander Holden.
Surveyor of Lumber-Moses Gilbert.
Field Drivers-A. C. Newhall, James Nesbit, S. R. Bartlett, William Galeucia. Pound Keeper-Jacob Wilford.
Board of Health-James Nesbit, J. B. Holder, A. C. Newhall.
Fence Viewers-Allen Washburn, Ebenezer Weeks, F. Griffin.
Sealer of Weights and Measures-John B. Richardson.
The whole number of votes at the first Town meeting was one hundred and fifty-five.
The first town meeting in the Town Hall was convened March 9, 1861, Eben N. Wardell presiding as moderator, and Rev. Jonas B. Clark opening the meeting with prayer.
Daniel King, a merchant, lived in Swampscott in 1642, and purchased the Humphrey property in 1651. He died May 28, 1672, and the inven- tory filed after his death totaled £1,528 9s. Captain Ralph King built the house long known as the "old Blaney House" in 1641, and John Blaney was married in 1656 and moved into it. The house, a conspicuous land- mark in Swampscott for many generations, was razed only a few years ago. In 1651 it was ordered by the Court that "no person who is not worth two hundred pounds shall wear any gold or silver lace or any silk hose or scarf."
John Phillips settled in Swampscott in 1650, and from him the Phil- lips Beach section of the town received its name, and through him the long line of Phillips families was established. He died in 1694 and left a widow, Hannah, and two children. John Humphrey and his wife, Lady Susan, embarked from Kings Beach, near Black Will's Cliff, when they left Swampscott for England in 1641.
Essex-19
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1832-Ebenezer Weeks kept a tavern opposite Blaney's Beach. 1846-The first post office established, Waldo Thompson, postmaster. 1852-Dr. William R. Lawrence of Boston contributed 150 books and $100 to start a library. 1879-A post office was opened at Beach Bluff. Thompson, post master. 1879-A post office was opened at Beach Bluff. 1881-Street cars of the Lynn & Boston Horse R. R. commenced run- ning, and in 1884 the line was extended to Marblehead. Col. Charles A. Stetson was proprietor of the Astor House in New York City. Honorable Enoch Redington Mudge was proprietor of the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans in ante-bellum days.
More than passing mention is due John Humphrey (Humfry) for the important part that he took in colonizing this section of New Eng- land. He was one of the six original purchasers, from the Plymouth Company, of that tract of land extending from three miles north of the Merrimac to three miles south of the Charles rivers, and westward to the "South Sea." One year later these six gentlemen, namely Sir Henry Rosewell, Sir John Young, Thomas Southcott, John Humphrey, John Endicott and Syman Whetcomb, had associated with themselves Sir Richard Saltonstall, Mr. Isaac Johnson and eighteen others, when the Charter of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England passed the seals, March 4, 1628-9, which was in the fourth year of the reign of King Charles I.
Since John Humphrey was active from the beginning of this organi- zation, which acquired the corporate name of the Governor and Com- pany of the Massachusetts Bay in New England; to him should be given credit-in part at least-for securing a charter which sets forth such fundamentals of free government as are contained in the section here quoted :
And our will and pleasure is. And we do hereby for us, our heirs and suc- cessors, ordain and grant, That from henceforth forever, there shall be one Gov- ernor, one Deputy Governor, and eighteen assistants of the same Company, to be from time to time constituted, elected and chosen out of the freemen of said Com- pany, for the time being, in such manner and form as hereafter in these presents is expressed. Which said officers shall apply themselves to take care for the best disposing and ordering of the general business and affairs of, for and con- cerning the said lands and premises hereby mentioned to be granted, and the plan- tation thereof, and the Government to the people there.
This Charter permitted the removal of the seat of Government to the New World, and was one of the foundation stones in the structure of Liberty and Freedom.
At the election of officers, which occurred October 20, 1629, Mr. John Winthrop, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Mr. Isaac Johnson and Mr. John Humphrey were nominated for governor. "By a general vote and full consent of this Court," Mr. John Winthrop was chosen governor, and in the same manner Mr. John Humphrey was chosen deputy governor for
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR JOHN HUMPHREY HOUSE 99 Paradise Road, Swampscott Showing present condition after partial restoration by the Swampscott Historical Society, Inc.
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the ensuing year. It was also decided to remove the seat of the govern- ment to the New World when the colony was established.
On the 23d of March, 1630, the last court of the Governor and Company to be held on the other side of the water was convened in the cabin of the "Arabella" (the vessel that was to convey Governor Win- throp) while the fleet lay at anchor at Southampton before departure. As it was decided that John Humphrey was to remain in England, he was discharged of his deputyship, and Thomas Dudley was chosen to fill his place. It appears that John Humphrey was then made treasurer, and he remained very active in the management of the company.
In the spring of 1630, eleven vessels, having on board about 1700 persons, sailed from Southampton to the new colony. Salem was the chief objective point, and from there the passengers scattered through Salem, Saugus, Charlestown and Boston, where settlements had been made, and commenced new settlements in Roxbury, Dorchester, Water- town and Medford.
John Humphrey was a native of Dorchester in Dorsetshire, Eng- land. He was a lawyer, and a man of considerable wealth and of good reputation. Governor Winthrop characterizes him as "a gentleman of special parts of learning and activity, and a Godly man." By local his- torians he is variously designated as "Mr.," "Esquire," "Honorable," "Colonel," "Sergeant Major General" and "Assistant Governor." He served as associate justice and was a member of the Ancient and Honor- able Artillery Company. He is mentioned as "one of our earliest and most efficient benefactors," and as one of the most influential in pro- moting the settlement of the colony, securing colonists, obtaining many donations and procuring some ministers. Evidently, he was interested in ships and in trading with the colonies, for it is recorded that on the 2d of November, 1632, a vessel, of which John Humphrey was part owner, was wrecked off Cape Charles and twelve men were drowned.
John Humphrey's investment in the colony was quite material. It was agreed that each member of the company was to receive 200 acres of land for each £50 invested in the enterprise. In the allotment of land he received a grant of 500 acres in 1633 in the present town of Swampscott. Later his land holdings were increased, until it is said that he owned 1,300 acres of land between Sagamore Hill and the Forest river. He was also granted 500 acres of land in the present town of Lynnfield, where his holdings gave the name to Humphrey's pond. In Marblehead he owned much land, three hundred acres of which was the tract that Salem wished to give for the establishment of the proposed college, afterwards named Harvard College. That was near the present site of the Tedesco Club. John Humphrey was one of the original com- mittee appointed to establish the college. November 7, 1632, the court "referred to Mr. Turner, Peter Palfrey and Roger Conant to set out a proportion of land in Saugus for John Humphrey, Esqr." This land was laid out at Swampscott.
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The map published by Alonzo Lewis in 1829 shows the westerly boundary of this farm to have commenced at a point a little east of Red Rock, and to have crossed the easterly part of Sagamore hill near the present junction of Lewis and Ocean streets, and to have continued in a straight line across the present Eastern avenue to a point near the Fay estate. Sagamore Hill included all the bluff along the shore from the present site of Washington street to near the Swampscott line, for the elevation is the same at the junction of Ocean and Lewis streets as at Ocean and Nahant streets. It is so shown on the old maps. This would include the easterly part of Sagamore Hill in the Humphrey farm, and would well conform to the record that in 1636 John Humphrey built a wind-mill on the easterly shoulder (one historian says "knob") of Sagamore Hill. Where else should he have built it, except on the high- est accessible part of his farm? The name Windmill Hill then given to the location has passed out of general use.
John Humphrey married Lady Susan, daughter of Thomas Clinton, third Earl of Lincoln. Rev. Mr. Whiting refers to her family as the highest among the English nobility. It is evident that the family of the Earl of Lincoln was greatly interested in the new colony.
Of the four vessels of the fleet that conveyed Governor Winthrop to Salem, the "Arabella" was the one on which he took passage. This ship was formerly the "Eagle," and was renamed the "Arabella" in honor of Arabella, the daughter of the Earl of Lincoln. Lady Arabella accompanied Governor Winthrop on this voyage to join her husband, Isaac Johnson, who had preceded her to this country. This is undoubt- edly the Johnson to whom John Humphrey referred in a letter to Gover- nor Winthrop as "my dearest brother." Lady Arabella died about a month after her arrival at Salem.
Isaac Johnson, brother-in-law of John Humphrey, was a man of wealth, who owned property in four counties in England. He establish- ed his home in this country near the present site of Boston City Hall.
In the transfers of property it is shown that the major part of Mr. Humphrey's Swampscott farm was purchased by Lady Deborah Moody in 1641. Lady Moody arrived in Salem in 1640 and had 400 acres of land granted to her in Salem soon after her arrival. She re- tained her connection with the Salem church, but lived in Lynn (Swamp- scott). She paid £1100 for the Swampscott property. She incurred the displeasure of the church by "maintaining that the baptism of in- fants was unwarranted and sinful." For this reason she was obliged to leave the colony, and she went to Long Island, where she became a woman of great influence in the Dutch colony. Her son, Sir Henry Moody, sold about 400 acres of the farm in Swampscott in 1651 to Daniel King. For him King's beach and King's street are named. The property remained in the King family for many years, and finally passed by foreclosure of mortgage into the hands of Robert Bronsden of Bos- ton. The mortgage bore date of February 24, 1693.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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THE OLD HUMPHREY HOUSE Taken from an Old Sketch
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SECTION OF OLD MAP IN BRITISH MUSEUM With notes by Governor Winthrop, showing location of the Humphrey house
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Robert Bronsden, on September 27, 1700, transferred 120 acres of the property including the house in question, to John Burrill, Sr., who lived on Boston street. The property remained in the Burrill family until 1797. John Burill, Sr., never lived in the Humphrey house, but on his death bed, in 1703, he gave the property to his son, Hon. Ebenezer Burrill. From 1703 until 1761 Ebenezer lived in the Humphrey house, and his son, Samuel, lived there until his death in 1797. In 1798 the property was sold to Robert Hooper of Marblehead. It passed to his daughter, the widow of Hon. William Reed, in 1842, and subsequently it was purchased by Hon. Enoch Redington Mudge. (The above upon investigation of Miss Ellen Mudge Burrill). The map published by Alonzo Lewis in 1829 gives the names of the original owners (with date) of the houses in Lynn and also of subsequent owners. That map indi- cates the location of the Humphrey house with the date of 1634, and beneath the name of John Humphrey, 1634, is the name Lady Moody, 1640. [1641 it should be.] It also gives some of the bounds of the Humphrey farm.
There is also a relic of the past in Swampscott that tradition has associated with the name of John Humphrey and his wife, Lady Susan. That relic is the Humphrey house, whose history has been searched thoroughly, until it appears that there is no reasonable doubt that the house, which for generations stood near the present intersection of Elmwood road and Monument avenue, is the one built by or for John Humphrey in the period 1634-37, and referred to by Governor Winthrop in his margin notes and "thumb-nail" sketch on a map sent by him to England previous to Nov. 20, 1637, and possibly at an earlier period. A copy of that map is reproduced in this work, and the notes have been authenticated by eminent authorities on such matters in this State as in the handwriting of Governor Winthrop. This map, with other evi- dence presented, should forever disprove the contention that the Hum- phrey home was on Nahant street, Lynn, rather than in Swampscott. In 1891, this historic house was moved from its original location to 99 Paradise road, where it now stands. It has been acquired by the Swampscott Historical Society, recently formed and incorporated, and is in a fair state of preservation, as is shown by the cut.
The most positive and conclusive evidence of the location of John Humphrey's home in Swampscott is shown in a map of the Massachu- setts Bay Colony found in the British Museum, London, and reproduced herewith.
A section of this map was published by Rev. George Anson Jackson in 1904 in his little book, "The Ladye Susan." This map is believed to have been drawn by Thomas Graves, surveyor, about 1634, and many reference marks and margin notes in the handwriting of Governor Winthrop. While most of the representations of houses in the clusters representing settlements are without detail, there are certain "thumb-
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nail" sketches, about one-sixth or one-fourth the size of a postage stamp, that show some distinguishing marks of detail. Under one of these sketches, representing a house with the door in the center, win- dows on either side and a chimney in the center, appears the letter "B." In the margin in Gov. Winthrop's handwriting appears the note: "B. Mr. Humphrey's ferme house at Saugus." The location of the Hum- phrey house, as shown on this map, is near the easterly end of King's (Humphrey's) beach, Swampscott, exactly as given in Alonzo Lewis' "History of Lynn." It also corresponds to the location of the Hum- phrey house as shown on the map published by Mr. Lewis in 1829.
This map is a complete confirmation of both the tradition and the recorded history that John Humphrey, on arriving in the Colony, "went to reside on his farm at Swampscott, which had been laid out by order of the court." An examination of this old map under a magnifying glass shows that while a very few of the houses indicated are sketched as "half houses," the Humphrey house is shown as a house complete, with door and chimney in the center. In these essential details the sketch corresponds to the main details of the house under consideration. The reasonable inference is that the Humphrey house was the most pre- tentious in the Colony at the time. This would be fully in keeping with the wealth and position of John Humphrey, and would indicate that he had provided a home in keeping with the tastes and social standing of his wife, Lady Susan, who, like her sister Arabella, had "come from a paradise of plenty and pleasure which she enjoyed in the family of a noble earldom into a wilderness of want."
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