USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Wenham > Notes on Wenham history, 1643-1943 > Part 3
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The town seemed suddenly to come to life as a town, and on March 6 took into consideration the great want of a minister and set about to procure one,1 promising forty- five pounds for his salary, an increase of five pounds over John Fisk; Charles Gott became a Selectman, and was appointed on the committee to procure a pastor; after re- peated attempts, Antipas Newman was chosen and ac- cepted, thirty-three townsmen agreed to pay in money or grain the stipulated amount.
Antipas Newman. Antipas Newman came to Wenham in 1657, not as a minister but rather as a land holder. His marriage to Elizabeth, granddaughter of Governor Win- throp and daughter of his son John, gave a little social lustre to the small farmer community. Antipas Newman was the son of a preacher, Samuel Newman, in Rehoboth, a student who wrote a concordance, so Antipas Newman was undoubtedly well educated and fitted to be a teacher in the town.
He preached for six years before his ordination, which was in 1663. This ordination was a notable occasion; Roger Conant, John Higginson, and Thomas Lothrop were delegates. Apparently Antipas Newman was well liked for at his coming thirty-two of the inhabitants signed for his support; only ten of those signing were church mem- bers, although nine later became members. At this time the population of Wenham was only two hundred.
1 W. T. R., 1: 13.
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Mr. Newman was or must have been a well-to-do man, as he acquired a large amount of real estate and seemed to have been a sort of banker for the people in debt, as is evidenced by some of the inventories, which show sizable sums due him.2 He purchased the one-hundred-acre Os- borne farm, now thought to be the present Erhard estate.3 The town granted him all the land between his garden and the swamp.4
Five children were born to Antipas and Elizabeth, of whom four survived; John, born September, 1660; Sam- uel, born 1666; Sible, born March 29, 1670; Wait Stoll, born January 6, 1670. His inventory shows that he left beside the Wenham farm, his land and estate at New Lon- don, Connecticut, which was probably from his wife. (676 li.)
Antipas Newman died in 16725 after a short pastorate of ten years. During his pastorate only seven united with the church. His eldest son, John, became a physician and removed to Gloucester. His widow married Zerubbabel Endicott of Danvers.
In attempting to flash a picture of Wenham during Antipas Newman's pastorate, we should not put in the foreground too prominently the power of the church, great as it was at that time. True, political rights depended upon church membership, but the church body comprised only one-fourth the population, and the remaining three- fourths were not entirely unregenerate. A goodly portion of these latter did not subscribe but, on the contrary, did protest against the intolerance,6 the bigotry, the sancti-
2 See John White's inventory. W. H. C. V. 4.
3 E. R. D., 3 : 93.
4 E. R. D., 13 : 184, and Wenham Town Records, 1: 16.
5 Cotton Mather relates a dramatic incident, at this time: "Mr. Newman being dead, Mr. Higginson preached for the be- reaved people. The afternoon service being closed, Mr. H. re- turned to the house of the bereaved deceased pastor. Then a thunder storm began. Lightning struck the house. A ball of fire about the size of the bore of a great gun, went up chimney. It struck Richard Goldsmith, who was there with several others and killed him, and a dog under the chair in the same room where Mr. Higginson was conversing."-Felt First Ed., 540.
6 Alford, who received a 200-acre grant, which included the bounds named for him, "Alford's tree," was one of those who suffered because of dissenting from the prevalent creed.
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moniousness of the church body as it then existed. The time was rapidly approaching when a more tolerant spirit would prevail. The clergy themselves felt the necessity for greater toleration if they were to stay the rapidly de- creasing membership; this fact, and the rising force of democracy, brought about the change.
Joseph Gerrish followed Antipas Newman as pastor of the church, and very soon the town made arrangements for his settlement. Probably to make the call more attrac- tive, the town voted to build a minister's house, but a few days later the town voted to make an addition to Robert McClaflin's house, 18' square and 15' stud, and repealed the former order. At the same meeting, they voted to "give Robert Mack Laflin 15 acres of land in the Neck in exchange for his house and three acres of land adjoin- ing."
This additional room in the present Claflin-Richards house is now called the "Gerrish room" and cost the town £76. 6s. "Also for the incouragement of Mr. Gerrish to setle amongst us, it was voated that Duering the time God shall continue him with us he shall have fifty pound per yere, and twenty cord of wood: together with the use of the minister's howse and land with the appirtenances, and it is further agreed that the town shall set up theire pro- portion of an outside fenc, belonging to said land. Also it is voated that Mr. Gerrish shall have two pounds of Butter for every milch cow as parte of paye from yeere to yeere. For the Rayseing or Gathering of the above said sume it is agreed that the towne shall goe on in our sab- othly contribution, and in case any peson or persons shall not come up to his or their contribution to the said sum, he or they shall be liable to be rated takeing the county rate for a rule, and whosoever shall neglect to paye his dues at or before Jan., first Monday it shall be gathered by the constable by warrant from the selectmen." At a later meeting, "with respect to kind of paye they will pay the one half in porke and English grain, oats excepted,
Alford was a member of a wealthy Guild of Skinners in Lon- don. He was subjected to censure and disarmed by order of the General Court and his land sold to Henry Herrick.
Other valuable men were either driven into exile or sub- dued to silence.
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and the other half in butter . . . and it shall be the selectmen's care to see that it be paid in. Also the Towne do agree to cover the old house with boards."7
Apparently, like all votes, it was easier to vote than it was to see that the vote was carried out, for in subsequent years there were many votes as to the arrears of the minis- ter's salary, and fines were voted against those who failed in their duties. Unfortunately, votes did not warm Pas- tor Gerrish' house or feed his family.
Shortly after his settlement, the neighbors in Ipswich, who lived in the hamlet nearest Wenham, were granted their request to make seats in our meeting house. They were granted the use of the west gallery and, for their wives, two seats next the stairs. For this privilege the neighbors were expected to contribute to the support of the ministry.8
It is interesting to note that every change in pastors creates renewed activity in the church body. The church was stirred to build a barn for the pastor. Where that was placed on the three-acre lot, there is no evidence.
Mr. Joseph Gerrish' pastorate covered a long period of forty-seven years, and there is most abundant evidence that he was a wise and conservative leader of the town's thought. During that time occurred King Philip's War, in which our men loyally did their proportionate share.9 During that time the witchcraft frenzy excited the people and in the hall of the manse were held prayer meetings for guidance in dealing with the condition. We should like to know if Goody Bibber's manifestations were dealt with.10
Pastor Gerrish, by his example, showed that the land was a trust imposed upon the owners to bring forth by their labors the fruits of the soil. He had a carefully cultivated hort-yard, abounding in fruits of all sorts and, living as he did on the main highway between Salem and Ipswich, he was host to many travellers of distinction.11
7 Wenham Town Records, 1:39, 41, 42.
8 Wenham Town Records. 1:50.
9 See page 41.
10 See Witchcraft, p. 39.
11 John Dunton, an Englishman who visited Mr. Gerrish in 1683, thus writes : "When we came to Wenham, which is an in-
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Josselyn, Maverick and Samuel Sewall all record his gen- erous and gracious hospitality.
During his pastorate also occurred the break down of the rigid demands for church membership by the adoption of the so-called Halfway Covenant, by which men not regenerated - according to the formula of John Fisk - should be admitted to a halfway covenant allowing them to have their children baptized and to become qualified voters in the town but excluded from the sacrament of the communion. This Halfway Covenant may, and un- doubtedly did, account for the increase in membership during Pastor Gerrish' ministry. In 1693 Mr. Gerrish moved to a new house which was long ago destroyed by fire, but it is to the Claflin-Richards House that the spirit and traditions of his long pastorate continue to cling.12
land town well stored with men and cattle we paid a visit to Mr. Gerrish, the present minister of the place. Wenham is a delusive paradies ; it abounds in all rural pleasures and I would choose it above all other towns in America in which to dwell. The lofty trees on each side are a sufficient shelter from the winds and the warm sun so kindly ripens both fruit and flowers as if spring, the summer. the autumn had agreed to thrust win- ter out of doors."
12 Cole, Claflin-Richards House, Wenham; Old Time New England, 16, no. 4.
KING PHILIP'S WAR.
There is no record that the inhabitants of Wenham had the same fear of the Indians which was common to other towns whose frontiers were more exposed. Tucked in as it was between other towns, its very position was in itself a fortification. The General Court required all towns to provide military training, which was complied with, as is evidenced by the military titles of many of the town's people at this time. The training field was on the site of the present town hall, where regular training days were observed.
In other plantations the menace of the Indian began to be keenly felt and understood. While little apprehension was expressed in the town records of Wenham, the com- mittee of Essex County to view the towns and see what measures for defense should be adopted, reported some very fantastic schemes. One plan,1 which included Wen- ham, was to build a stockade eight feet high, to enclose the tract of territory from the Charles river to the Con- cord river in Bellerica, and ending at the Merrimac, and that the several towns falling within this area (which included Wenham) send a representative to proceed to survey the line, how it should be built, maintained and defended. Various towns questioned the wisdom of this order and it was not done.
At the opening of King Philip's War, each county had its regiment of trained soldiers according to colonial laws ; each foot company had sixty-four soldiers, the company could nominate its own officers, and there must be two drums.
Continued rumors of the Indian atrocities in outlying territory finally stirred the town to action, to take some means of defending itself. The town of Wenham secured ammunition as required, and on the twelfth day of the tenth month, 1671, delivered a town rate to pay for this ammunition, "the rate to be gathered in money or else in
1 Mass. Archives, 68. 72.
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wheate, mault or butter at mony prices."2 This ammuni- tion was stored in the "clossett" in the meeting house. The time had come to do some thing more than talk.3 The Massachusetts Bay Colony impressed over 500 men for defense. Wenham quota was five men, to be impressed from the militia by Sergeant Thomas Fisk, and were, Mark Batchelder, Richard Hutton, Thomas Kemball, Samuel Moulton and Philip Welch. In addition to this quota there were volunteers, Thomas Abbe, Caleb Kim- ball and John Dodge.4
After the eastern part of the country had become aroused to the serious plight of the Connecticut colonists, Captain Lothrop of Beverly, "a godly and conscientious man" Increase Mather called him, was in charge of the "Flower of Essex," which was a choice body of men, re- cruited from the first families in the county-some from every town. The company numbered one hundred men, and proceeded at once to the place of rendezvous. On the 18th of September this company was assigned to con- voy a train of eighteen wagons of grain which had been
2 W. T. R., 1:35.
3 Old neighbors of Wenham people-were killed in the Indian massacre at Lancaster. Thomas White's sister Mary, who had married the Rev. Joseph Rowlandson of Ipswich, was captured and the account of her captivity and restoration is a story of suffering and endurance. This account was printed by Samuel Green, Cambridge, 1692, and reprinted in the White Genealogy. (Descendents of John White vol. 1, p. 771-810) Elizabeth White, another sister of Thomas was shot and burned in the Garrison House.
4 John Dodge held many public offices in Beverly, but he was a citizen of Wenham. In 1679, Wenham claimed a new boundary line, between Beverly and Wenham, previous to this it had been the Longham meadows. The citizens who were to be thus trans- ferred to Wenham, included John Dodge; they remonstrated. They liked to be a part of a larger town; this remonstrance took the form of refusing to pay taxes, in Wenham, and when the Wenham people represented by Walter Fairfield, Thomas Fisk, and Richard Hutton, attempted to collect taxes from Lieut. John Dodge, there was trouble. They came when he was away from home, and calmly took down the pewter platters on the wall, in lieu, of money; John Dodge wife resisted this, and a brawl ensued, which resulted in the determined woman's being thrown down, much bruised, by these determined tax collectors. The matter was brought to court, and all the neighbors testi- fied, the records of this episode give much valuable data as to the neighbors, their connections and ages. Q. C. R .- Vol 7.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
left in the fields about Deerfield, when the inhabitants had been routed by the Indians.
Just as Captain Lothrop was about to cross the river with his wagons, the Indians, hiding in the underbrush, fell upon the company. Captain Lothrop was the first to fall, and in the carnage which followed few survived. Of the Wenham men who were at "Bloody Brook" on that day, Mark Batchelder and Caleb Kimball were killed, and Thomas Abbe and John Dodge, wounded.
Though the "Flower of Essex" were so mowed down by this sudden onslaught, the survivors tell how reenforce- ments coming, pushed into the palisades.
The accounts of this bloody battle and the loss of so many neighbors and friends, aroused the towns to greater effort. News came that the Indians were drawing to- gether in the Narragansett country for an even more deter- mined stand against the white man. There seemed no alternative, the colonies must further fight or be annihi- lated. Plymouth, Connecticut and Massachusetts together raised a thousand men. The seven Massachusetts com- panies, numbering 527 men, under the command of Major Samuel Appleton of Ipswich, started on their perilous adventure in December, 1675. They received in starting a promise from the Governor, that "if they played the man, took the fort, drove the enemy out of the country at Narragansett, their great seat, they should have a quan- tity of land beside their wages." We know how those intrepid men did take the fort, after a forced march through an early winter snow storm. The Wenham men were in Major Appleton's division, and to them fell the breaking through the entrance to the fort, after the other leaders, Captains Gardner and Mosely, had been shot. It was a bitter fight and resulted in the Indians being driven into the winter woods, without provision or shelter, while our troops, burdened with the wounded, marched back in the drifting snowstorm to headquarters. As far as the Wenham town records go there might never have been a war, and yet Wenham sent its full quota of fighting men as well as volunteers. This data we find recorded in the colonial records, and in the records of bounties paid to wounded soldiers.5
5 W. T. R., 2.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
Long after the close of this war, a certain number of old soldiers recalled the promise made by the General Court as to land bounty, petitioned to the General Court in 1685, asking that the promise be fulfilled.
The General Court endeavored after much delay to ful- fil this obligation, and in 1729 appointed a committee to examine the list of claimants. These claimants were bid- den to meet in Boston "if the small-pox be not there, if so in Cambridge."
The following men from Wenham were deemed eligible to a share in the New Hampshire township, and num- bered lots were assigned.
Lot 58-Thomas Abbot (Abbey) from his father, Tho- mas Abbott (Abbey).
Lot 101-John Batchelder from his uncle, Joseph Batchelder.
Lot 111-Elizabeth Fowler from her father Richard Hutton.
Lot 54-William Rogers and Joseph Perkins from Jo- seph Perkins.
Some of the lots were exchanged for other lots; it is interesting to note that the taking of land in this section may account for the removal of other Wenham people to sections of this division or in the neighborhood, like New Boston. The allotment was incorporated as a town in 1729, at which time it was named Amherst for Gen. Jef- frey Amherst, commander of the British forces in North America.
1876790
TRANSPORTATION.
The first Colonists adopted the Indian method of get- ting about, which was mostly by waterways. The streams in Wenham, more particularly the Miles River and Long- ham, were kept free from being overgrown with brush by burning, which was the custom of the Indian.
"Dug-outs," canoes and shallops were the types of boats in common use. The "dug-outs" were of very general use, they were pine logs two and one-half feet wide and twenty feet long. Apparently there was much loss of life in the frail canoes because, for greater safety, in Salem, they were inspected at regular intervals.
On land, foot paths were worn through the woods which soon opened into bridle paths as horses became available. Roads soon became a necessity: "It is ordered that the selectmen shall laye out according to their discretion wht highways they think necessary for the use of the town." The General Court in 1640 had ordered a way to be laid out, from Salem to Ipswich through Wenham.1
The highways which the town, from time to time, was called to lay out were not public highways as of today, but a way from the country road to some settler's house. To connect with the country way from Salem to Ipswich or with the road to Manchester was what is now Larch Row. These ways might be called social ways in that they were purely for the settlers to get out of their homes and to the homes of their neighbors.
An exploring trip in Wenham would uncover many of these ways: . . . parallel stone walls, a rod apart, enclos-
1 By order of the General Court, a road was laid out by a committee, from Rowley to Ipswich, and from Ipswich to Salem, and ordered to be recorded May 1, 1640. That part of the record which concerns Wenham was "By Mr. Hubbard's farm house, and so on upon the east side by Mr. Smith's house, and from thence by like consent of Salem men, over the Old Planters' Meadow, and so to the two ponds usually dry in summer, near which ponds the way doth branch." The two ponds were in the triangle formed by Dodge Street, and Cabot and Conant. The Landing Place was where Conant Street crosses Frost-fish River.
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ing a way overgrown by brambles that suddenly comes to a dead end . . . but a little grubbing in the underbrush is almost certain to disclose the cellar of an old house, just a little hole and a pile of stones. .. . These forgotten ways are great adventures.
In this 17th century, carts and wagons were rare. When a family moved, it was by water, if possible. Travelling by foot or horseback necessitated frequent ordinaries or taverns. 2
A few years after the founding of the town, in 1654, provision was made for an ordinary by choosing Samuel Foster as Keeper of the Tavern.3 The appointment of the Ordinary Keeper was always made by the town to ensure a reliable man, for to him was entrusted the proper dispensing of liquor along the lines carefully laid out by the General Court. "No tippling after nine at night. On week days during the hours of Meeting, the house must be cleared of all persons able to attend Meeting." In 1645 a woman might be licensed to keep an Ordinary, provided she "procure a fitt man, that is godly to manage the busi- ness."
The first tavern4 was undoubtedly on the lot next the Historical House where later, in the 19th century, was the Sign of the "Enon Hotel."
The method of moving about the country was first by the bridle paths, these giving way to highways; stepping
2 March 12, 1637, the General Court ordered that "thereafter. every town shall present a man to be allowed to sell wine, strong water, made in this country, and no other strong drink to be sold."
Orders of the General Court as to ordinairies: 13-9-1644. "It is ordered that every vintner or other person, that hath license to draw wine, within this jurisdiction shall pay unto the officers appointed by the Court to receive it 20 s. for every butt of sack drawn, and so proportionately for every greater or lesser vessell and for every hogshead of French wine or other wines 5 s and that every drawer of wine, shall appear once every quarter either at Court in Boston, or other courts, there to take oath."
Inn keepers were allowed to brew beer, which they sell at their houses.
3 This action of the town was ratified by the General Court. "Samuel Foster was licensed to sell strong water, for the re- liefe of travell."-Q. C. R., 1,413.
4 Wenham Town Records, 1:9.
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stone and fords to ferries which, in later years, were super- ceded by bridges.
The ferry used by Wenham people to get to Salem was at the right of the present Salem bridge. The lease of that ferry to a ferryman paid or helped pay the grammar school master of Salem. At first this ferry was operated only for foot passengers but in 1639 it provided a "horse- boat," and townspeople could use it for 1d, strangers were charged 2d apiece and "for mares, horses and other great beasts 6d each, and goats calves and swine 2d."
Even at this early date it required two ordinaries to be licensed in Wenham, ostensibly for the travelling public, but in reality a gathering place for sociability, at all times frowned upon by the church members, though a warm and grateful meeting place to spend the hour between the morn- ing and afternoon services on the Sabbath.
Apparently the Town Records did not always record for we find in the Quarterly Court Records that in 1658 Richard Coy was licensed to keep an Ordinary and draw wine and strong waters in Wenham, and in the same year Henry Kimball was also licensed in Wenham, probably near his home land which was off the main road to Ips- wich, while Richard Coy was on the road to Manchester, near the pond which today bears his name. There is no record of the appointment of these men in the Town Records.
SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL DISTURBANCES OF THE LAST YEARS OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
Witchcraft delusion. The minds of the ministers and the magistrates were in a highly emotional state; the war was considered a visitation of punishments from on high, for their sins. The devil was a very real person, and the malefactor was felt to be in personal league with the devil. It only needed a spark to light this belief into a persecu- tion so relentless as to be unbelievable. Mr. Charles Up- ham in his exhaustive study of this period has carefully laid the background for this frenzy in the bad feeling which existed between some families in Salem Village and Topsfield over land holdings. This feeling of the older people was caught up by an emotional and imaginative group of young people, who, under the guidance of a West Indian servant of the Pastor Parris, had learned palm- istry and some secrets of mesmerism; beside these young girls of 'teen age were others who attended these meetings from the surrounding villages, and one from Wenham, by name Goody Bibber. This woman lived in the house of Joseph Fowler (probably Mr. Reynolds' house), who gave her a most unsavory reputation in his testimony. "Good- man Bibber and his wife lived at my house; I did observe her idle in her calling and very much given to tattling and tale bearing, making mischief amongst her neighbors, and very much given to speaking bad words, and was a woman of turbulent spirit. It had been proven that she was able to fall into fitts at any time. When Sarah Nourse was tried she accused Goody Bibber of cheating in the matter of pins, but Bibber did not belong to the village and was considered an interloper."1
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