USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Wenham > Notes on Wenham history, 1643-1943 > Part 4
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From Joseph Fowler's house to Mr. Parris' house, where the circle met, was a long trek for Goody Bibber to take, and we wonder how she did it.
Loss of the Charter. Another event to arouse the emo- tions of the people quite as much as the witchcraft delu-
1 Charles Upham, Witchcraft in Salem Village, 2: 296.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
sion was the impending loss of their charter. Coincident with the return of the Stuarts to the throne of England was the change in the status of the Colonists, by the set- ting aside of their charter and the dissolving of the Gen- eral Court, which had regulated the affairs of the Colo- nists from the very beginning. In its place the King sent over a Governor and Council with complete power to take over the laws, taxes, and perform all other acts of gov- ernment.
Sir Edmund Andros was sent over as Governor, and with him sufficient troops to meet any resistance. Wen- ham people, in company with the inhabitants of all other towns, were greatly excited and fearful of the event, and what it was going to mean to their liberties and living. The first tax that was levied under this new power created great excitement in Essex County, particularly in our neighboring town of Ipswich. Here they assembled in town meeting and under the leadership of John Wise, they drew up a protest, which stated that their liberties as Englishmen had been curtailed, and refused to pay the tax unless levied by an elected assembly. As a result of this John Wise was thrown into prison and, after trial, heavily fined and the minister relieved of his ministerial duties. This protest from the Ipswich people and other towns resulted in the King's representatives passing a law limiting town meetings to one a year, which must confine its business to election of town officers. Apparently there was much difference of opinion in Wenham, whether it were expedient to proceed to elect town officers under this edict. 2
Wenham was strongly in favor of the old charter, and so instructed its Representatives; when they were deliv- ered from the oppression, they publicly gave thanks.3
2 W. T. R., 1:86.
3 W. T. R., 1:89.
THE COMMONS.
To follow the story of the Common Lands in Wenham is to follow the story of the agrarian laws of Rome through England to the colonies in the New World. Our town's procedure in all land dealings was in conformity with the system with which the colonists were familiar in England.
For the first few years large grants were made, some as a reward for services rendered to the Company, like Governor Endicott's three hundred acres in Danvers. These large grants were either operated as farms by the owners or leased to others to operate, as did John Fair- field in West Wenham.1 There were other farm grants to husbandmen of experience, able to operate and increase the holdings as did William Dodge, recommended to the at- tention of Governor Endicott as a "skillful and painful husbandman."2
The Commons of Wenham, comprising some 4000 acres, was variously administrated by the town. The extension of the old English system of Commonage is an interesting chapter in the agrarian history of Wenham, as it was of all New England towns.
In the Spring of 1643, the General Court ordered : "Preventing disorder in corne fields, which are inclosed in common . . . that those who have the greater quantity in such fields, shall have power to order the whole, and that everyone who hath part in any common field, shall make and maintain fences according to the several quan- tities."3
This keeping in repair of the fences to keep in the cattle was always a matter of much controversey, and the
1 Transcript of Wills and Inventories, W. H. C., vol. 4.
2 In the general letter of instructions to Gov. Endicott, dated May 2, 1629, the following are recommended to your care viz : "that you would show all lawful favor and respect unto the planters that come over in the Lion's Whelp, out of the counties of Dorset and Somerset ; that you would appoint unto William Dodge, a painful and skilful husbandman, the charge of a team of horses."
3 W. T. R., 1 : 6. (41)
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court records of the 17th century abound with petty quar- rels among the proprietors of these Common Lands for the damage done to corn and crops by cattle. In Wenham a piece of grass land common to a group for mowing, was common to the whole in the Fall after the hay was gath- ered. (See note.)
This method of holding plots of land by a group, while common in the 17th century, persisted into the early 19th. The Historical Association has a Proprietors' Book of Long Hill, recording the meetings in 1823-30 and the number of cattle each member could put in, the amount of fence he must keep in repair, and minute data as to the time and expense of using the land.
The town also exercised exclusive control in the cutting of timber, the privilege of cutting being carefully guarded against abuse. Whatever the inhabitant needed for boards, shingles, or firewood, he must first get permission to cut, and under no account could any of this wood be sold out of town. Further regulations were made as to removing the timber after it was cut.4
The 4000 acres which were in possession of the town were not only a means of support to the Commoners, but to the township a never ending source of wealth. When- ever the town needed money for welfare, for schools or highways, land could be and was sold, for there was always a purchaser among these land hungry colonists for the piece of meadow, woodland, or pasture offered.
During the first twenty-five years of the town's history, the pioneer inhabitants thus increased their holdings ; when Richard Dodge, the pioneer, died, his original eighty
NOTE .- Henery Kimball brought charges against several for damages done to his corn by cattle; the testimony of Robert Smith was that about the Indian harvest he and Goodman Si- mon's son saw cattle in Henry Kimball's corn, and four of them were Mr. Norton's, others were old Goodman Kemble's and his son Rice's. Goodwife Newman testified that Henry Kimball said he thought his father and brother Richard would undo him, for their oxen had eaten all his corn.
Alex. Maxey deposed that the outside fence of his master Henry Kimball was a sufficient fence, when the damage was done .- Court Records, 1: 416-1656.
4 W. T. R., 1:83.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
acres had increased to 500 acres, so that each of his five sons had 100 acres each, valued at a hundred pounds.5
Another method of increasing the town assets was by renting land with the provision that it should be returned to the town improved. John Abbey was allowed to live in his house and improve two acres of land. ... "provided he shall leave the land sown with hayseed, fower bushels to the acre at the end of the aforsd term."6
This is an example of the system of English cottage rights where many poor people were allowed to build cot- tages upon the lord's waste land, with common rights of pasturage and cropping, for which they paid in produce or in service. Many of the early settlers were of this class, some so poor that they came as indentured servants, working out their freedom after a certain period. By order of the General Court no servant or apprentice could have land allotted to him, until he had completed his term of service. Such cottage rights did not carry with them the rights of commonage."
In becoming a township, Wenham acquired the right of commonage, that is, the right to divide its Common Land among the commoners who were those who had bought land, or had land granted them for services to the Colony. Commonage was also acquired by inheritance. James Moulton Sen., at his death left an estate-living- which carried the right of commonage.8
The town also divided from time to time, large tracts of Common Land among those who had the right of com- monage. The 600 acres which had been set aside as Com- mon Land, and the boundaries defined, were divided by a method devised by the townsmen; those divisions are today well defined and, in several cases, held by the de- scendants of the original grantees. These divisions and the sucessive owners have been carefully studied and re- corded after some years of research by Mr. Louis Dodge, a record of great value to land owners in that section as well as to town assessors.9
5 W. H. C., Vol. 4.
6 W. T. R., 1. 33.
7 S. T. R., 1:47.
8 W. T. R., 1: 143.
9 Wenham Common, Louis Dodge, W. H. Col., vol. 40.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
The final division of these Common Lands was made in 1715, when the Great Swamp and land in the east end of the town was divided, usually with eight persons to a divi- sion. It has been a town tradition, a libel on the town fathers of the 17th Century, that the Swamp was divided into eight divisions, and a ninth division was allotted. By any careful reading of the records, one may find that there were nine divisions and eight people to each division, so at this late day we may justify the accuracy of pioneer mathematics.10
10 Supplement W. T. R., 2, p. 96-109
CLAFLIN-RICHARDS HOUSE ROBERT MacCLAFLIN'S "OULD HOUSE" IN 1664
CLAFLIN HOUSE FRONT ROOM Ogee braces, unique architectural feature
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE OF 17TH CENTURY WENHAM PEOPLE
Architecture. The social and domestic life of the peo- ple in Wenham during the 17th Century was greatly in- fluenced by the type of house in which they lived. Very few 17th Century houses still remain in Wenham. The following is the modest list-
In occupation of
Timothy Pickering House Hon. James Reynolds
Claflin-Richards House Historical Association Old Farm John Amory
Batchelder House Henry Erhard
Perkins House Howard Perkins
With the exception of the Claflin-Richards House, these houses have been so altered to meet the needs of the later 18th, 19th, and 20th century owners as to leave but little trace of the original house.
In the Claflin-Richards House, we find all the charac- teristics of the 17th Century home : one room and an entry, a big central chimney, a gable and traces of a later gable over the door; the huge fireplace was in the kitchen, later called the hall, and was the common room for all who were a part of the household. It was where they cooked and ate, spun and wove, made soap and sausages, and candles for lighting. Overcrowded with people and diverse ac- tivities, it was no quiet place when the big families of twelve and fourteen children were in process of growing up ; such overcrowding and forced intimacy did not con- duce to delicacy or simple manners.
In the Claflin-Richards house the opening of the chimney was shortened by two feet when the chimney was rebuilt, for safety, in 1918. This opening of nine feet was sur- mounted by a wooden lintel nine by eleven and a quarter inches. The trammel bar of wood has been replaced by one of iron, and upon this bar hung the pots, kettles and spits used for cooking. In the big kettle was cooked the corn
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
meal mush, occasionally meats and stews, as the daily fare of the colonists ; before the fire on new shingles were baked the Indian bannocks, (crisp corn meal mush). Meat was supplied from the wild game by those who had time to hunt. Domestic animals were too much prized to slaught- er for food. The spit which was in every fireplace, held the meat for roasting and was constantly kept revolving in order for the meat to cook evenly. An iron pan caught the drippings. Later the revolving cord was replaced by a "tin kitchen" which was placed before the fire and turned constantly to ensure even cooking. The every day dishes were wooden or pewter.
The furniture consisted of the trestle table, benches, and one or two chairs for the old people or company, chests for the clothing since there were no closets.
The outside of the house was boarded up and down with wide boards, and all the 17th Century houses in Wenham were shingled, as is shown in the frequent grants per- mitting sufficient lumber to be cut for shingles for a house : "To Nathaniel Waldren : Liberty for so much timber pine or hemlock as may make enuf for the shingling ye west end of his house which he bought of John Abby." Wen- ham Town Records 1: 177. "To Zacheas Goldsmith tim- ber for a dwelling house of fourtey foote long and twenty foote wide and timber for boards and shingle and plank for finishing of it." Wenham Town Records 1:178.
These houses of the mid 17th Century were well built, and all through the century the early Wenham colonists were not hampered by the extreme privations of the earlier emigrants, whose roofs were thatched and too often the cause of frequent fires which destroyed them.
George Francis Dow, whose extensive researches made him an authority on the life of the 17th Century, says of this period, "With the present widespread belief in Puri- tan austerity of character, there is associated a conception of simplicity of dress and manners, but the channels of information have been ecclesiastical, and bias was a factor in outlining the composition of the picture. In point of fact, our New England ancestors, when viewed as a body, are found to have had standards of living far below those of today. The common speech was gross; crowded living
FISK-PATCH-BATCHELDER HOUSE Now residence of Henry Erhard
SMITH-GOLDSMITH -- FOWLER-TREVITT-PICKERING-LOW HOUSE Residence of Hon. James Reynolds
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
led to familiarity. There was more drunkenness, profan- ity, loose living and petty crime, in proportion to the popu- lation, than at the present time, and by no means did every one go to meeting on Sunday."1
Dress. The people of the seventeenth century were quite fond of color and style as are the people of today with this difference-the early colonists brought with them an ingrained feeling of rank; that feeling cropped out in the seating of the meeting house, in the laws of the Gener- al Court as to the wearing of clothes above ones station. The Puritan zealot felt the utmost contempt for any ex- cessive interest in dress. The General Court also felt an increasing responsibility in the wasting of estate "unsuit- able to our povertie," and in 1651 passed a new set of dress regulations aimed at those people of "mean estate, education and callings taking upon themselves the garbe of gentle folk," and the Selectmen of every town were re- quired to present any individual who dressed above their rank.
The Court records of 1652 were filled with such pre- sentments; Ruth Hatfield of Wenham was presented for wearing excess in apparel, but at the next Court was dis- charged, as it was proven that her mother was worth over two hundred pounds ; the wives of Austin Killam and John Kimball were presented for wearing silk scarfs, and the wife of Thomas Fisk for wearing a tiffanny hood, all of these dressy wives in Wenham were discharged when it was proved that their husbands were worth more than two hundred pounds.
This effort of the General Court to curb undue atten- tion to dress was of short duration, though it was one of the high lights of Puritan zeal; neither church, taxation or fining could control the desire for clothes that were elegant, and in the style of their English relatives at home, and the many regulations soon became a dead letter, though on the law books for many years.
1 Domestic Life in 17th Century in New England, by G. Fran- cis Dow, at the Metropolitan Art Museum. N. Y. Privately printed.
2 Q. C. R., 2 : 153.
3 R. M. B. C., 3: 34, 332, and 4: 57.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
Care of the poor, sick and old age. Wenham in common with other towns was very careful not to allow strangers to secure a residence here. Even servants and relatives were carefully watched and ordered back home if they seemed to tarry too long.
William Lincorne was warned by the selectmen to re- move himself and his family out of towne; and Cornet John Dodge was given notice to free his house of sd Lin- corne and family.4
The selectmen had control of the social work, and the town voted the money to carry it on. Often the selectmen were not backed up by the town; in town meeting as- sembled the town was frequently not as humane as the selectmen. The relief of widow Mercy Fisk is typical of all the regulations as to the needy. "Lt. Charles Gott did receive into his house or family and entertain his kins- woman Mercey Fisk, the widow and relect of Noah Fisk, deceased, without leave of the selectmen and contrary to the town orders, and now by the providence of God she being visited with sickness and laneness, and not being able to help herself, and her condition being so dangerous as it calls for speedy relief and said Lt. Gott not being home to take care of her, the selectmen judge it their duty to do some thing for her present relief, and she having put herself under the hands of Dr. Edward Wells of Salem, practitioner of Physic-for help under God it is agreed that sd, Mr. Wells will use his best skill to doe what he can for her present relief where she is, the sd selectmen in behalfe of the towne will take care that he have suitable satisfaction for his pains ; but will not yield to have her removed to Salem."5
This was an occasion when the town did not back up the action of the selectmen for when it was put to a vote as to paying the doctors bill the town voted in the negative. Later there was continued dispute as to the payment of the bill, with the final outcome, that the town voted to sell some land in the east part of the town, and accordingly an acre of land was sold to Thomas Patch for £3, to cover the cost of Mercey Fisk's need.
4 W. T. R., 1: 72.
5 W. T. R., 1 : 135.
JOHN PERKINS HOUSE, c. 1690 Now residence of Howard Perkins
"OLD FARM," c. 1680-BUILT BY JOHN PORTER OF DANVERS FOR HIS SON JOHN-through successive owners to present John Amory
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
Wages. The control of wages by some political body is no new devise to halt excessive prices, those first good colonizers on the Arabella, foresaw danger of rising prices of labor as they viewed the few workers who accom- panied them. On Aug. 16, 1630 on board the Arabella, there was a conference and the price of labor for different services was carefully regulated.
The following year in May, it was arranged that the price of different services should be regulated by the par- ties concerned ; this resulted, in extortion on account of the shortage of labor, and the price of commodities rose to double the cost in England.
There was then an attempt to correct this, by fining both employer and employee for a breach of the wage regulations, and there are numerous instances of these fines being so levied in the Court records.
Finally the General Court gave up trying to regulate wages, and ordered that the freeman in every town should regulate from time to time, prices and rates for workers. . despite these regulations excessive prices prevailed, and Hugh Peters was chosen to unite with other officials in remedying this evil-he never did.
In these days of rationing and control both of food and wages, it is interesting to read of the type of rationing in the 17th century.
John Josselyn, Gent. came to New England as a travel- ler, and thus writes.
The proportion of victuals for a mess of four people being four men. At sea. 2 pieces of meat of three and one quarter each.
4 pounds of bread
1 pint of pease
4 gallons of beer with nutmegs and vinegar for three flesh days a week
For four fish days a week
2 pieces of fish, cod or habberdine
1/4 pound of butter
4 pounds of bread
3/4 pounds of cheese
For private use, he continues, you may carry in case of
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
sea sickness, conserve of rose leaves, clove gilly flower, wormwood, ginger, burnt wine, English spirits, prunes to stew, raisins of the sun, sugar, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, pepper and ginger, bisket or Spanish rusk, eggs, rice, lemon juice well put up, to prevent scurvy.
To prevent or take away sea sickness, conserve of worm wood, is very proper.
EDUCATION IN THE 17TH CENTURY
In 1647, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colo- ny decreed that every town of 100 families should estab- lish a Grammar school, and imposed a penalty of five pounds for not complying.
It was a long time ere Wenham came within this regu- lation. During the time there were no schools, the chil- dren were taught at home, for these early settlers had a great respect for education, and passed to their children the arts of reading and writing: the type of people in our town was evidenced by their support of Harvard College, when in 1653 twenty families contributed. Nearly as many as contributed to the support of the ministry. The four largest contributors were Richard Dodge, £2, Mr. Fisk £1-3s. William Fisk and Edward Kemp each 10s. and the remaining twenty contributed from 6s to 1s each, according to their ability or inclination.
As to establishing a school, Wenham was negligent in carrying out the orders of the Court, failing to have as many families as required, and finally was presented for such negligence.1 It cost the town 20 shillings to send Capt. Fisk and William Fairfield to answer the present- ment. But the school was established and in the beginning of the 18th century Capt. Fisk, he of the Indian Wars, now an elderly man, was appointed to keep a school in the town for the ensuing year, according to terms then agreed upon between the selectmen and him. The selectmen were apparently forgetful, in carrying out the agreements, and failed to provide for a rate to pay Capt. Fisk. Such was the beginning of Wenham Schools.
If Wenham was remiss in starting the public schools, it has the distinction of being a pioneer in employing wo- men teachers. We find no record of a school earlier than 1702, when the town reappointed Capt. Fisk, "to learn those that would learn to read write and cypher," they fur- ther voted to give the selectmen power to "agree with such
1 Supplement to Vol. I, W. T. R., 52, 53. (51)
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
school dames as are necessary to learn children to read." Reading seemed to be the only subject within the capacity of women to teach. Two distinguished school masters were in the neighborhood of Wenham, Michael Walsh, the author of Walsh's arithmetic, lived in Hamilton, then Ipswich. Ezekial Cheever, who had married the sister of Capt. Lothrop of Beverly, later, was in Boston, where he taught the Boston Latin school, beginning his long service there in 1670.
It might be well to call the attention to the oft-quoted remark that the inhabitants of the small towns were un- lettered, since the deeds and conveyances were so often signed by "his mark"; this however is in no way an indi- cation of inability to write, for there are many examples of a well written signature, followed a few years later by a document signed with "his mark" : old age or rheumatism oft-times made writing difficult; this may explain the numerous "his mark" signatures, when the writers were known to have been educated to the point of reading and writing.2
The method of teaching was at first by the Horn book, and later the New England Primer. The alphabet was a test of memory and sight, never of sound. The endless repetition of the couplets in the primer was the foundation of many a childs theology.
The real story of Wenham schools begins with the 18th century.
2 It is ordered that for the yearly choosing of assistants for the time to come, instead of papers, the freeman shall use in- stead, indian beans, the white ones for election, the black ones for blanks .- Gen. Court 1:331. While paper was not plentiful, the pioneers believed in the Dignity of well written letters and petitions.
For presenting a petition on "so small and so bad a piece of paper," Sir Robert Saltonstall was presented-fined-five shil- lings.
INDUSTRIES OF THE 17TH CENTURY
The industries of this century were purely utilitarian ; food, shelter, fuel and clothing were the prime concerns of the Wenham farmers: whatever he may have raised in excess of his needs gave him the means of trading for the imports from the mother country, or for molasses and rum from the Barbadoes. Corn the colonist must grow, and having grown it, mills to grind it became an early neces- sity.
Mills. While the town records make no mention of a mill before 1653, some of the old wills have mention of these mills, the first seems to be that of John Dodge, on which site later the town granted the right to put up a saw mill. The will of pioneer Richard Dodge mentions a cider mill.
There was without doubt immediately after the town was founded, a mill, for we read of the miraculous deliver- ance of John Fisk's son, in his journal, telling of the son being carried under the mill wheel when it was in motion, and coming out without a bone broken! The diary states under date 6th of the third month, speaking of his son John, nine years old, "he escaped a great danger in pass- ing with the stream under the mill wheel, when the mill was a going, at which time he rejoiced in a new life, and not a bone broken." The mill may have been Hawes mill, for which there is a record in 1653, for repairing this mill, or it may have been where the brook flows from the Great Pond, which would make it near the land of John Fisk.
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