USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 51
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here in 1728 and 1729, by order of the Governor, in order to get away from the influences of Boston, which were inimical to the grant of his. salary. In 1774 the General Court again met in this building by order of General Gage, but apparently this move on his part did not help his cause any, for it was at this session that the General Court chose dele- gates to the Congress at Philadelphia, for which "cause of rebelliousness" it was at once dissolved. However, it did not seem to stay dissolved, for again it met in Salem without authority and organized itself into a Pro- vincial Congress. In 1785 another public building was erected in the middle of Washington street, and this structure was used by the courts until the granite building used now in connection with the courts was. built in 1841. The brick building in which the court rooms and the clerk's offices are now located was built in 1861, and was remodeled and connected with the older building in 1909. The Registry of Probate and Registry of Deeds building was constructed in 1909, prior to which time the granite building was used for that purpose. Superior Court sessions are held outside of Salem in Newburyport and Lawrence. Each has its own separate court house, and in Lawrence, in addition, it houses the Registry of Deeds.
It is perhaps unnecessary to state that the foregoing is not by any means a complete review of the notable achievements of Essex county lawyers. Many there are who have sat with credit to themselves and to their county in the highest places of national service. Among them might be mentioned two of more recent date-William H. Moody, of Haverhill, who as District Attorney, Congressman, United States Attor- ney General and in 1904 Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, added great lustre to an already long list of Essex County's dis- tinguished sons; and Charles A. DeCourcy, who as practicing attorney, Judge of the Superior Court and now Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, has constantly maintained the high ideals and mani- fested the profound learning of the great judges who have made the standards of Essex County so high.
At the risk of the accusation of unwarrantable repetition, I am con- strained in closing to add a brief resumé of the story of the growth of our judicature from the small beginnings of the venturesome settlers, taken largely and to some extent verbatim from Washburn's notable history. While in the early years of the provincial charter there was little to be discerned in the way of orderly judicial procedure, perhaps owing to the fact that with the exception of Lynde, Dudley, Trowbridge and William Cushing there was not an educated lawyer on the bench of the Superior Court during all that period, yet toward the close of that time there had grown up gradually and almost imperceptibly the system from which we have derived our procedure or practice. Attorneys at. law were recognized as officers of the court, and as early as 1791 an oath
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of office was required of them upon being admitted to practice. The dis- tinction between barristers and mere attorneys-at-law was mentioned, and the custom of requiring a term of three years of study was adopted just before the Revolution on the recommendation of the Bar of Essex County, and at that period there had grown up, probably by the gradual growth of the practice of the law, men who were distinguished as judges, lawyers and statesmen whose names are now bywords in the legal, politi- cal activities of the time. No party could lawfully employ more than two lawyers in any cause, and no lawyer could refuse to advise a litigant who should tender him a fee of twelve shillings. Every attorney produced his power in each case in which he was engaged, and to guard clients from loss it was enacted that if an action arose for any error in the writ, the attorney was bound to make a new one without fee. For many years after the new organization of the government the course of practice seems to have been extremely sharp and captious in the courts. What little of special pleading was known was turned into a mere tool of trick and artifice in the hands of pettifogging attorneys. Pleas in abatement were very frequent, and special demurrers for trifling errors and defects were in use in all the courts. Special pleading, however, was far from being understood as a system. Indeed, the profession, instead of regard- ing the law as a science, made use of it as a mere trade in which trick and cunning took the place of learning and fair dealing.
Toward the latter part of this period the forms of pleading and prac- tice became generally as correct as they have been since. A more liberal system took the place of the quibbles and chicane of an earlier day. The character of the bench itself was raised by the character of the legal pro- fession, and gave to the business of administering justice a higher degree of respectability than it had before obtained. Dr. Douglass wrote in 1746, "generally in all our Colonies, particularly New England, people are much addicted to quirks of the law. A very ordinary country-man in New England is almost qualified for a country attorney in England." From such a state of things as this, the advance must have' been slow, and it was only by the influence of a succession of able and learned men that a reform was effected. Lynde, Paul Dudley, Read, Gridley, the Auchmutys and Trowbridge were among those to whom the administra- tion of justice was indebted for many of its decided improvements. There were many causes, some of which have already been alluded to, which conspired to repress the influence of the courts of justice in the Province. For many years none of the practitioners at the Bar were educated men. Judge Lynde came upon the bench in 1712 and was the first lawyer who had ever held that office. The clergy, too, continued for many years to exercise a control over the civil departments of the government, and to interfere occasionally directly with the administra- tion of justice.
An instance illustrative of this kind of clerical interference is taken
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from the autobiography of the Rev. John Barnard, a clergyman who was for a long time a clergyman in Marblehead in the years succeeding 1715. While there, an action of slander was brought by a clergyman against a layman for words which he had spoken of him. At the request of Cotton Mather, Mr. Barnard and a Mr. Webb, another clergyman, attended the trial at Salem. Mr. Bernard dined with the court, and told the judges that when the case came on he had something to offer with their leave. They agreed to notify him of the trial and of the proper time to speak.
The case was called, the plaintiff's attorney made his opening state- ment. Thereupon Mr. Barnard asked permission to put certain inter- rogatories to the plaintiff, which he did, and the plaintiff answered them. The trial proceeded, and the defendant's attorney closed "with many fleers upon the ministry and our churches." The Chief Justice then told Mr. Barnard that it was then a good time if he wished to offer any- thing, whereupon he "paid his respects to the Court and delivered his speech," and concluded by wishing the Court to dismiss the action. Mr. Webb said he "joined in my sentiments and request." "The judges im- mediately threw the action out of court, being glad, as they expressed it, to get rid of so dirty an affair." Instances may also be found in the records of interference by the judges in the affairs of the clergy, as in a case in Springfield where the court took the matter of examination of a minister, who has been "called" and was at the time being examined by the council, out of their hands, and proceeded to examine him "upon mat- ters of doctrine and faith" themselves. The manner of the court towards the bar and suitors was distant and severe. Courtesy between them and even between members of the profession themselves, was measured by the rules of artificial rank, in which urbanity had little place. One cause of this was the distance in fact between the members of the court and the uneducated practitioners at the bar, in the early part of the history of the Province, and the still greater distance that grew up at a later period between the leading members of the profession who were educated and those who were not. The judges and the public had not learned (perhaps it has not yet been fully realized, universally at any rate), that the true dignity of a court depends more on the learning, talents and in- tegrity of its members, than any robes of office or pomp of ceremony that may attract the gaze or admiration of the multitude for the passing moment. An illustration might be found in the want of respect with which the judges of the inferior courts during this period were some- times regarded by those members of the Bar who knew how to appreci- ate their incompetency for the place of expounders of that law which they did not understand.
An anecdote which is found in the address of the venerable Mr. Holmes before the Bristol Bar in 1834 may serve as an instance of this want of respect on the part of leading members of the profession. While the distinguished "Brigadier Ruggles" was practicing at the Bristol Bar,
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a very old woman who was witness in his case told him she could stand no longer, and asked him where she could sit. Ruggles, looking around and seeing no vacancy except on the bench, told her, inadvertently, that she might go there. The old woman hobbled to the bench and, creeping up the stairs, got within the breastwork and was sitting down, when one of the judges asked her what she was there for. She replied that Rug- gles told her to come there and take her seat. The court asked him if he sent the old lady there. Ruggles, feeling above equivocation, said he did. "How came you to do this?" was the next question. He began to repent, but as it was too late to retreat he must make the best of it, and looking up with a dignified smile said hesitatingly, "I-, I really thought that place was made for old women." The court hesitated, but considering on the whole that silence was the safest course, dropped the subject.
Whoever is at all familiar with the general history of this Common- wealth will recognize at once among the names of those who were of the law in those days, many who were not only able to give character to the profession they adorned, but who in fact stamped a character upon the age in which they lived. As we look back upon this period of our judicial history, every one must feel that there were giants in those days in the land. The influence of such a Bar was reflected upon the Bench itself. The profession became an able and liberal pursuit. The judiciary be- came elevated and improved, legislation became more free, and the people were taught their rights as Englishmen under the common law and as citizens of Massachusetts under the charter.
The recounting of the story which is always found buried in the debris of by-gone years on every phase of human activity, benefits us nothing unless therefrom we gain the knowledge which enables us to chart the future to progress and higher advancement. No poet uttered a more manifest truism than he who wrote:
"Constant changes bring new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth, He must onward march and upward Who would keep abreast of truth."
No activity of life illustrates this better than that of the profession of the law. Practiced nobly and conscientiously, no larger opportunity for service presents itself to the unselfish seeker for the highest rewards of a well-spent life, and more and more should we of the present and those who follow us hew close to the highest ideals of a noble profession and make as a working rule of its practice the oath of admission thereto:
"I will do no falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in Court; I will not wittingly or willingly promote or sue any false, groundless or unlawful suit, nor give aid or consent to the same; I will delay no man for lucre or malice; but I will conduct myself in the office of an attorney within the Courts according to the best of my knowledge and discretion, and with all good fidelity as well to the Courts as my clients, So help me God."
CHAPTER XLVII.
AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE
While today Essex county is not classed among agricultural dis- tricts in the sense that other New England counties are, yet in the early times much was produced from the soil in this part of the State. Farm- ing of necessity has been most developed within the last third or half of a century, in the line of market gardening. Probably nowhere in the county were there finer farms than in Danvers township. Sun and rain, bugs and worms, remain as ever uncertain elements, but there has been a great advance of scientific principles. Very much of that broad plain, up which swept the original tide of settlement, is now devoted to this class of agriculture. The land is rich and level in many places, but usually somewhat broken and rocky. Concerning the growth of onions, known as the "Danvers" it may be said that their growth is famous. Thousands of barrels have been raised annually in this part of Essex county. Other farmers have for many years been engaged in the pro- duction of milk. In 1880 there appeared an editorial in the "Massachu- setts Ploughman," stating that
The reputation of Danvers exceeds that of Weathersfield, Connecticut, for the cultivation of the onion, and, further, that "no town in the State is so distinguished for its superior orcharding." This statement will not here be challenged. If it be true, it is well, and fits well to the fact that here on the "Orchard Farm" of Gover- nor Endicott, the first fruit trees of any account in New England, perhaps the en- tire country, were raised. A hundred years ago, pear trees were to be seen near every house. Some had a few plum and peach trees. These bore in great abun- dance. Most of the apple trees were then of natural fruit, and the apples were largely consumed in the shape of cider. An old cider mill that stood on the Gen- eral Putnam place was thus constructed. A trench was dug fifteen inches wide and fifty feet in circumference, and flat stones were placed on the bottom; the sides were of brick, eighteen inches deep. Apples were thrown in this circular trench, and a heavy stone wheel drawn by horse power and revolving about a central up- right, did the squeezing. The apparatus was taken down about 1819.
Deacon Joseph Putnam, who owned and operated this mill, and Abram Dodge, of Wenham, were the first in this county to plant apple orchards of improved varieties, for growing winter apples for market. This was soon after the Revolution. At that date, farms were not valued so much for their location as for the amount of stock they would keep. Before coal was used here for fuel, every farmer included one or more peat lots. This, however, did not obtain much later than 1830.
The first hundred and more years of agriculture, of course, were fol- lowed with a view of "getting a living" more than to improve the soil or make any attempt at scientific methods; but in time, farms were worked with more intelligence, and better and more profitable results were the reward for such work upon the part of the tiller of the soil.
Taking an account of farming operations in North Saugus, one
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will find about an average condition in agricultural operations in the county in the early eighties, about a third of a century ago: Louis P. Hawkes, 33 acres of tillage, 47 acres pasture, 21 cows and four horses. He also had a good sized silo, which was then a new thing in the world. Samuel Hawkes, 13 acres tillage, and ten acres of cranberry meadow. Heirs of Richard Hawkes, 23 acres tillage and nine cows. These three farms formed a portion of the original farm of Adam Hawkes, settled in 1634, and have continued down in an unbroken line from their ancestors. Henry E. Hone, four acres tillage, 32 acres pasture, seven cows and two horses. Byron S. Hone, 50 acres tillage, 114 acres pasture, 42 cows, and four horses. Joshua H. Coburn, 20 acres tillage, 15 cows and two horses. Heirs of George W. Butterfield, 10 acres tillage, 20 cows and four horses. Francis M. Avery, 15 acres tillage and nine cows. These farms were chiefly for milk and hay. The farms in the immediate vicinity were all conducted on about the same scale.
In the early days of the settlement of Sandy Bay the enterprise of the people was divided between agriculture and fishing, but the latter predominated. As late as the opening of the eighteenth century, it is stated there was not enough hay raised in Sandy Bay for the wintering of stock, and that they depended upon Ipswich and other towns for such commodity, the same being transported by boats. In the nineteenth cen- tury, things changed materially, many acres of swamp and rocky pas- ture land being converted into fruitful fields. From 1836 to 1840, while the breakwater and wharves were being built at Long Cove, many acres of land were cleared of stone and used in these works. The stone busi- ness called for cattle, and cattle called for hay, and this incited the farm- ers to greater efforts in this line of business. But in later years much of the land has been employed as truck garden patches, to provide for an increasing population, especially in the summer months, when tran- sients make this section their home, and have to purchase all they use. The matter of horticulture in the last century and less has claimed the attention of the husbandmen in Rockport and vicinity, where fruits have been grown in large quantities and of the rarest flavor and beauty of color.
In Peabody, in 1855, it was stated that the important industry of the town was farming and its branches. The dairy and farm products that year were valued at $128,000, of which $77,000 was from the growth of onions. The valuation of the whole town of Danvers in 1827, was $1,- 870,000. In 1855, the value of South Danvers alone was almost $3,000,- 000.
An agricultural and horticultural association, formed after the Civil War, did much towards improving farm conditions in the town of Essex, especially in the way of raising fine fruits, specimens of which were annually on exhibition at the county fairs, especially strawberries, in which the growth of, by Abel Burnham, became famous. Aaron Low was
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widely known as a grower of choice vegetables, of mammoth varieties; also in the growth of fine grapes was he successful. English hay from this place used to be sold in large quantities. Milk has been sold for near a half century from Essex, to the summer residents, at the water- places of this county, especially much of such product has in times gone by, been shipped into near-by Gloucester.
In Haverhill, the first mention of sheep in the history of the town was in 1634, when "the proprietors of the Great Plain, thinking to lay down the said field for some years to be improved for a sheep pasture." In 1687 it was ordered, "it being the interest and desire of the inhabi- tants for the sake of back, belly and purse, to get into a stock, and a way to keep a stock of sheep, in which all endeavors hitherto have been in- valid and of no effect, for a further trial; the selectmen have hereby power granted them to call forth the inhabitants capable of labor, with suitable tools, and in suitable companies, about Michaelmas, to clear some land at the town's end, sides, or skirts, as they in their discretion shall meet to direct, to make it capable and fit for sheep, with the less hazzard; and he that is warned as above, and doth not accordingly come and attend the service, shall pay a fine of two shilling per day." "With the less hazzard", shows that sheep were in great peril from the wolves. Ames- bury had repealed the forty shillings bounty for wolf heads, two years before. But Coffin estimated that in 1685, there were over 5,000 sheep in Newbury. Shepherds were employed and hurdles used in pasturing them. The commons of Haverhill were admirably adapted to sheep husbandry.
In the town of Bradford, in 1820, the farmers still highly prized the salt hay which they brought, in the season, by the river from the marshes near the sea; it enhanced the richness of the land. Also land was made to produce very much greater crops by putting on a good coating of plaster of Paris. David How was one of the persons who experimented and was highly successful in the use of this mineral fertilizer.
At the present time one sees many attractive farms within this county. The silo is in evidence, here and there, wherever cows are raised for milking purposes. The land is well cared for, and all that such soil can be made to produce is gotten from it by the work of men using not only muscle but also intellect.
In a former history of Essex county, that reliable citizen, Benjamin P. Ware, wrote concerning the Essex County Agricultural Society, and we are here permitted to make use of the facts contained in his article, which was written about 1886.
The idea of the formation of an agricultural society originated with Colonel Timothy Pickering, who headed forty men in the first armed re- sistance to British forces, February 28, 1775, at North Bridge, Salem. He called a meeting of the farmers of Essex county, at Cyrus Cummings' Tavern in Topsfield, Monday, February 16, 1818. There a society was
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formed and officers were elected as follows: Timothy Pickering, presi- dent ; William Bartlett, Dr. Thomas Kittredge, John Heard and Ichabod Tucker, vice-presidents; Leverett Saltonstall, secretary, and Dr. Ne- hemiah Cleveland, treasurer. Mr. Pickering served as president for ten years. He was succeeded, in their order, by the following: Frederick Howes, E. Mosely, James H. Duncan, Joseph Kittredge, L. Saltonstall, J. W. Proctor, Moses Newell, Richard S. Fay, Daniel Adams, Allen W. Dodge, Joseph How, William Sutton, Benjamin P. Ware.
Colonel Pickering delivered the first address at the annual meeting of this Agricultural Society, and with the single exception of five years, between 1823 and 1829, an annual address has been delivered by some competent, well-advised citizen of Essex county ever since. These an- nual addresses have been delivered by men of the best thoughts and minds in Essex county, who gave wise suggestions and advice; they for the most part have been practical farmers themselves. These addresses have all been carefully preserved, and furnish a wonderful lot of farm literature and recorded matter. We here quote from a member of the Agricultural Society in 1887:
The Essex County Agricultural Society, unlike all others in the State, own no grounds, including a trotting track and show buildings; it has no local abiding place. But instead, owns a tent, some portable cattle pens, twelve hundred exhibi- tion fruit dishes, an experimental farm of one hundred and fifty acres, which brings in an income from $300 to $500 per annum, besides conducting such experiments as are required by the committee having that in charge. A library of 800 volumes of valuable books for reference and study, and funds invested in bank stock, the market value of which is $17,119.83. This society needs no trotting track, for it never paid a dollar for speed since its organization; or for any other attraction, nor al- lows any on its grounds, except of a purely agricultural or horticultural character, which must be grown or owned within the county.
This society holds its annual exhibitions in different parts of the county where most needed, and where suitable accommodations can be provided. Since its or- ganization, it has held its shows at Danvers, ten times; Lawrence, seven times; six each at Lynn, Topsfield, Haverhill and Newburyport; five times at Georgetown and Salem; four times at Gloucester; three times each at Andover and Ipswich; two at Peabody; one at Newbury; and two others in doubt. This society has held, since required by the State Board of Agriculture, 1879, forty-eight institutes in different parts of the county where most wanted.
The society publishes annually, an edition of from 1,500 to 2,000 copies of its transactions, containing from 120 to 220 pages, for distribution among its members and others. The transactions published since the formation of the society make in the aggregate 8,700 pages of valuable and interesting reading matter, and which are no inconsiderable part of the agricultural literature of the State.
This society recently held its one hundredth anniversary exercises. Aside from this general county society for the advancement of agricul- ture, there are numerous lesser organizations, including granges, farmer's institutes, etc., scattered here and there throughout the county.
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CHAPTER XLVIII.
LODGES IN ESSEX COUNTY
Anything like an adequate presentation of the growth and expan- sion of the secret and fraternal society movement in Essex county would be out of question in a work like the present. In one city, for example, there are today nearly one hundred organizations of the strictly fraternal type, not to mention any others. Following a policy to which the pub- lishers of this history have long been committed, the present purpose is to present what may be termed a registry of only three societies. First, by reason of their age, the Masonic (or Blue) lodges are taken up, next the subordinate lodges in Odd Fellowship, and lastly, the Knights of Pythias lodges. For the past three years, there has been a particularly large ac- cession to the ranks of secret orders. The cause is to be found in the influences to which the great World War gave rise. At the time of writ- ing, the peak in this abnormal volume of applications appears to have been passed. If throughout the country fraternal bodies have since the close of the war been called upon to deal with applications for member- ship in degree never before equalled during a corresponding period, the point might well be made that at one stage in the past diametrically opposite conditions prevailed. Reference is made, of course, to that era generally described as "anti-Masonic times." The inception and expan- sion of that mischievous movement, with all its absurdities and exaggera- tions, as well as its inglorious extinction, following a sober second thought on the part of the American public, are familiar subjects to legions of readers. This allusion is made today, in order that retrospection may concern itself with an era when so many Masonic and Odd Fellows' lodges felt it incumbent, in the face of partisan fury as well as gross perversion of facts, to surrender their charters. It was a low ebb, indeed, for a number of lodges of different types in Massachusetts, in keeping with conditions in other States where pernicious propaganda was asso- ciated with cunning manipulation, in order to discredit fraternal organi- zations. That was back in the thirties of the last century. Along about 1845, the movement died out, despised by myriads of honest men, and a matter of shame to many of its deluded adherents, as they contemplated the part they had borne in a hue and cry where intolerance vied with the rankest libels upon truth and morality.
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