USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Ould Newbury: historical and biographical sketches > Part 24
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At a later date this way, as laid out to the landing-place, was found to be inconvenient ; and the proprietors of the town, at a meeting held Oct. 30, 1706, voted to authorize the selectmen to lay out a new way on the westerly side of Joseph Knight's lot in place of the old one on the easterly side. This vote was promptly executed. Under date of Nov. 1, 1706, the Proprietors' Records contain the report in full of Nathaniel Coffin, Caleb Moody, and Abiel Somerby, selectmen, making the exchange as proposed and fixing the bounds and limits of the new way. In concluding the report the selectmen say that
Ye wood & timber on sd way is to abide and remain for ye use of sd knight, to be disposed off as he pleases, only so much of it is reserved as shall be made use of for ye making a way convenient for passing with Teams and foot persons, & ye sd knight doth acknowledge himself fully satisfied for sd way, with ye Land fore mentioned on ye easterly side of his Lott which was a Highway next to William Sawyers land.
This way is called Coffin's lane on the map of the West Parish of Newbury, drawn by John Brown, surveyor, in 1729.
MERRIMACK RIVER FROM PIPE STAVE HILL.
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Tristram Coffin, at that date, owned the house and lot on the westerly corner of the Bradford road and the way leading to the landing-place near the mouth of Indian River.
Notwithstanding the fact that Joseph Knight had acknowl- edged himself fully satisfied with the new way laid out by the selectmen, it appears from the following extract from the town records that he afterward manifested some signs of discontent : - -
At a Meeting of the ffreeholders or Comoners of the Town of Newbury, June 18th, 1707, Lieut Coll Noyes, Esqr., Moderator.
Where as yr was some misunderstanding between Ensign Joseph Knight and the select-men wo wr appointed and empwed to exchange the highway wth him yt sd Knight we is above Recorded & by reason yt ye sd Joseph Knight is agrieved and Looks upon himselfe agrieved and wronged or disadvantaged by the sd exchange: Therefore for ye satis- faction of the sd Knight the Town grants him the liberty of hanging of two gates, one at the upper end of the way above wth him ex- change[d] next Bradford Roade and the other at the Lowr and next Merrimack Rivr, and yt is for the full satisfaction of the sd Ensigne Joseph Knight, & farth" it is to be understood yt ye gate we is to be hung at the Low" end of sd way is to be hung near the mouth of Indian Rivr a cross the sd Riv", ye last sd Gate to be so conveniently hung yt it may open wth the flood & shut wth the ebb.
On the map of 1729 of the West Parish of Newbury, house No. 59, at the crest of Pipe Stave Hill, on the easterly side of Indian River, is set down to Tristram Knight, who was a son of Joseph Knight ; while the next house (No. 58), still farther east, marked on the map as owned by William Sawyer, is evidently located on the lot originally granted to William Chandler.
Some years later, Michael Dalton, then a prosperous and influential merchant, living on Fish Street, Newbury,- now State Street, Newburyport,- bought of different owners two hundred acres of land, including the lot granted by the town of Newbury to Joseph Knight, on the summit of Pipe Stave Hill, and there erected a fine house, which he occupied as a country seat until his death in 1770.
His son, Tristram Dalton, then came into possession of the
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property, and found pleasure and profit in the ownership and management of this attractive and productive farm. He was liberal in his household expenditures, and with lavish hospi- tality entertained many distinguished travellers at his country home.
Brissot de Warville, in his Travels in America (page 256), says : -
We left Portsmouth on Sunday, and came to dine at Mr. Dalton's, five miles from Newbury, on the Merrimack. This is one of the finest situations that can be imagined. It presents an agreeable prospect of seven leagues. This farm is extremely well arranged. I saw on it thirty cows, numbers of sheep, etc., and a well-furnished garden. Mr. Dalton occupies himself much in gardening, a thing generally neglected in America. He has fine apples, grapes, and pears; but he complains that children steal them, an offence readily pardoned in a free country.
Mr. Dalton received me with that frankness which bespeaks a man of worth and talents; with that hospitality which is more general in Massachusetts and New Hampshire than in the other States.
The Americans are not accustomed to what we call grand feasts. They treat strangers as they treat themselves every day, and they live well. They say they are not anxious to starve themselves the week in order to gormandize on Sunday. This trait will paint to you a people at their ease, who wish not to torment themselves for show.
Mr. Dalton's house presented me with the image of a true patriarchal family and of great domestic felicity. It is composed of four or five handsome young women, drest with decent simplicity, his amiable wife, and his venerable father of eighty years. This respectable old man preserves a good memory, a good appetite, and takes habitual exercise. He has no wrinkles in his face, which seems to be a characteristic of American old age. At least, I have observed it.
Samuel Breck, who was born in Boston July 17, 1771, and in 1792 removed to Philadelphia, where he died Aug. 31, 1862, was a visitor at Pipe Stave Hill when quite a young man ; and on page 97 of his Diary and Recollections, edited by Mr. H. E. Scudder and published in 1877, there is an interesting description of Tristram Dalton's country home, which reads as follows : -
During the year 1787 I made many excursions around the country, and among them one in company with my sister Hannah (now Mrs.
1
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Lloyd) to Newburyport, to visit our friend Tristram Dalton. That gentleman lived in elegance and comfort at a very beautiful country house four miles from Newburyport during the summer, and in winter occupied his spacious mansion in that town. I do not recollect any establishment in our country, then or now, that contained generally so many objects fitted to promote rational happiness. From the piazza or front part of his country-house the farms were so numerous and the villages so thickly planted that eighteen steeples were in view. This villa was large, well built, and surrounded by an excellent dairy and other outhouses. His family, consisting wholly of women, was ex- tremely hospitable; and no man in Massachusetts had more dignified or polished manners than Mr. Dalton himself. It was among these good people we went to spend a few days, and most happily did we pass them. Respectable and amiable family, how enviable was your situa- tion at that time! And who would have thought that in a few years all this elegance and contentment were to give place to sorrow and poverty? In 1789 the establishments were broken up, Mr. Dalton became a politician. Popular favor flattered him, and step by step ambition lured him from his delightful abode. Happening to be a mem- ber of the State legislature at the time it was called upon by the new constitution to choose a senator to Congress, he was unluckily elected. Then came the bustle and expense of a suitable outfit. Home, that dear home where so much felicity had been enjoyed, was forsaken,- temporarily, as they first supposed, but everlastingly, as it turned out. The whole family removed to New York, where Congress then sat. A large house was taken, and a course of fashionable life adopted. Ex- penses increased with dissipation ; a relish for gay and foolish extrava- gance became habitual; and Mr. Dalton, who thought himself elected for six years, drew in the classification of senators that took place in the first Congress the lot which terminated his senatorial career in two years, and he was not re-elected. Then was the time for him to have returned home. But caressed by President Washington, and fascinated by the gaudy pleasures of a city life, he followed the government to Philadelphia, and afterwards (in 1801) to the city of Washington. There he gradually consumed his fortune, dwindled into a dependent man, died insolvent, and left his lady-like and amiable widow so poor that she was obliged, at more than seventy years of age, to open a boarding-house in the neighborhood of Boston. I was attached by feelings of respect and warm regard to that estimable family, and very sincerely regretted its downfall.
Sept. 20, 1794, Tristram Dalton sold to Joseph Stanwood, of Newburyport, merchant, for £3,700, his farm in Newbury, consisting of three pieces of land on Pipe Stave and Arche-
.
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laus Hills, containing about one hundred and ninety-four acres, the mansion house standing on the forty-acre lot, etc. (Essex Deeds, book 158, page 179).
Nov. 25, 1820, Joseph Stanwood, of West Newbury, gentle- man, sold to Enoch Moody, of Newburyport, the premises described above, "with mansion house I now live in, &c., which place was conveyed by Tristram Dalton to my father, Joseph Stanwood, deceased, Sept. 20, 1794."
June 19, 1833, Luther Lawrence, guardian of Hannah M., daughter of Paul Moody, of Lowell, sold to Susan Moody, of Lowell, widow, a portion of the "Stanwood farm," " where the mansion house of Joseph Stanwood lately stood and in which he lately lived, with the other buildings now standing thereon " (Essex Deeds, book 277, page 206).
July 30, 1839, Susan M. Moody, of Lowell, sold one-half the farm with buildings thereon to William H. Moody, of West Newbury (book 329, page I).
April 27, 1842, Susan M. Moody, of Lowell, widow, sold to Dr. Dean Robinson, of West Newbury, one-half of forty acres of land with buildings thereon, bounded on the south by the Bradford road, on the west partly by land of Caleb Moody, deceased, and partly by the Indian River, on the north by the road at the Merrimack River, and on the east by the land of Stephen Hooper, deceased. Also one hundred and thirty acres of land on the southerly side of the Bradford road, bounded by land of Edward Bayley, deceased, on the east, by land of Caleb Moody, Abner Bailey, and Moses Brickett on the south, and by land of Moses Brickett and Caleb Moody on the west (book 331, page 48).
April 13, 1842, George H. Carleton, administrator of the estate of William H. Moody, of Lowell, deceased, sold to Dr. Dean Robinson, of West Newbury, one-half the land and buildings described above (book 331, page 62).
April 27, 1842, Martha B. Moody, widow, conveyed by quitclaim deed to Dr. Dean Robinson, of West Newbury, " one-half of the Stanwood farm in West Newbury, which was owned by my late husband William H. Moody, deceased, being the same land conveyed by George H. Carleton,
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administrator of said W. H. Moody, to the grantee April 13, 1842 " (book 331, page 61).
Dr. Robinson was born in Andover, Mass., April 15, 1788. He married Mrs. Elizabeth F. Farnham, a widow with two children, and removed to Newbury (now West Newbury) in 18II. He was an eminent physician with a large practice, extending beyond the limits of West Newbury to Amesbury, Salisbury, Newburyport, Georgetown, and Rowley. He died Aug. 22, 1863, and was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Newburyport. By the terms of his will, proved Sept. 15, 1863, he devised to his only child, Martha L. Moody, one undivided half of all his real estate, and to her son, Samuel Moody, " all the rest and residue."
Samuel Moody died July 25, 1877. By his will, proved Oct. 1, 1877, he gave to his mother, Martha L. Moody, all his real estate in West Newbury, with power to dispose of the same.
Martha L. Moody died Oct. 27, 1890. Her will was proved Dec. 1, 1890, and provides for the disposal of the homestead and farm, as follows : -
All the lands and real estate, including the farm in said West New- bury on which I now reside, which were devised to my late son, Samuel Moody, and myself by my late father, Dean Robinson, ... I give and bequeath to Horace Moody, son of the late Horace J. Moody, of Yonkers, N. Y.
The house in which Tristram Dalton lived was taken down nearly sixty years ago, and the one now standing on the summit of the hill was probably erected between the years 1835 and 1840. Extensive alterations and improvements have been made in the house, externally and internally, since it came into the possession of its present proprietor, Mr. Horace Moody, of New York.
In 1686, when the upper commons were divided among the freeholders of the town of Newbury, Pipe Stave Hill was covered with a dense forest of oak and birch trees, from which were cut and shipped to Europe and to the West Indies large quantities of staves for wine casks and molasses
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hogsheads. For many years this was a flourishing industry, and the locality where these staves were cut soon came to be known as Pipe Stave Hill.
The forests have long since disappeared, and thickly set- tled towns and villages have taken their place. Farm-houses, factories, churches, and other signs of civilization add to the rural beauty of the scene ; while far to the eastward the blue waters of the Atlantic, now as in the days of old are plainly visible, with Cape Ann in the distance, and low down on the horizon the dim outline of the Isles of Shoals. From the highest point, in the rear of the house, some of the promi- nent hills in New Hampshire can be easily distinguished on a bright, clear day; and in the immediate foreground is a lovely view of the Merrimack River winding its way to the sea.
INDIAN HILL.
In the records of the town of Newbury, under date of April 16, 1650, the first mention of Indian Hill is made in a deed of conveyance, signed by " Great Tom, Indian," which reads as follows : -
Witness by these presents that, I, Great Tom, Indian, for and in consideration of three pounds in hand paid by and received of the townsmen of Newbury, have given, granted, covenanted, and fully bar- gained, and for and by these presents do give, grant, convey, confirme, bargain, and sell all that my thirty acres of planting land as it is fenced in one entire fence in Newbury, lying neere Indian hill, with all my right, title, and interest in all the woods, commons, and lands that I have in the township of Newbury to have and to hold, all the said premises Respectively to bee to the proper use and behoof to the said Inhabitants of the Said Towne of Newbury, their heirs, executors, administrators, and assignes for ever, and I, the said Great Tom, Indian, doe hereby engage and bind myself, mine heirs, executors, and assignes unto Mr. William Gerish, Abraham Toppan, and Anthony Somerby, being Townsmen in the behalf of Said Towne, to warrantize the said Bargained premises to the said Towne and for ever defend.
In witness whereof I the said Great Tom, Indian, have sett my hand and seale April 16, 1650.
Witness
the mark x of Great Tom, Indian.
JOHN BARTLET,
WILLIAM TITCOMB.
This is a true coppy of a deed, as is abovesayd, taken from the originall.
Attest ANTHONY SOMERBY, Clerk of Newbury.
The land conveyed by the above deed remained in the possession of the proprietors of the town of Newbury, with other common and undivided lands, until the great division
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in 1686. At that date the "freehold lots," extending in two great divisions on each side of the Bradford road, from John Emery's farm at Artichoke River to John Gerrish's farm at the Bradford (now Groveland) line, were assigned to the freeholders ; while a central strip on the southeast side of the south way, or middle road as it is now called, was surveyed and classified, in eight great divisions, under the name of "rate lots." The first division extended from the Bradford line to the Crane Neck Hill road. The second and third occupied the space between the Crane Neck Hill road and the Ilsley Hill road. The fourth and fifth were bounded by the Ilsley Hill road and the road back of Indian Hill, formerly known as Merrill's lane. The sixth division in- cluded the land between Merrill's lane and the lane leading to Indian Hill.
The last lot in the sixth division was assigned to Joseph Downer. On the map of the West Parish of Newbury, pub- lished in 1729, the road leading to Indian Hill is called Downer's lane; and house No. 146, next to the line that separates the East from the West Parish, was owned and occupied at that date by Andrew Downer. The adjoining estate, No. 147, was the property of Stephen Sayor, whose descendants still reside there.
Other lots on Downer's lane were assigned to John Web- ster, Jr., Dr. John Dole, Jonathan Clarke, Hugh Pike, Moses Pilsbury, Matthew Pettingell, William Noyes, John Moody, Stephen Greenleaf, Jr., Thomas Follansby, Edward Poore, and others. Most of these lot holders, having no desire to locate in West Newbury, sold their possessions in that locality ; and the land assigned to several of them in the great division of 1686 was, by exchange and by purchase, ultimately made a part of the estate now known as Indian Hill Farm.
On the map of the West Parish, previously referred to, the house of Samuel Poore3, on Downer's lane, numbered 148, is correctly designated. How long before the publication of this map Samuel Poore3 resided there is uncertain.
His grandfather, Samuel Poore1, was one of the early
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settlers of Newbury. He bought a house and land of Tristram Coffin April 15, 1652, bounded on the northwest by land that he had previously bought of Richard Kent ; but the description is otherwise so vague and indefinite that it is impossible to say just where the land was located. He died Dec. 31, 1683.
Samuel Poore2, was born Oct. 14, 1653, and married to Rachel Bailey Feb. 16, 1679-80. He owned the house and land on the west bank of the Merrimack River, afterward sold to Samuel Moggaridge and occupied as a ship-yard. The narrow way, now Merrimack court, was formerly known as Poore's lane, and is so designated in deeds written in the last century. He sold March 9, 1707-8, to his son, Samuel Poore3, two acres of land in Newbury, bounded on the west by land belonging to his son Samuel3, on the south- east by a lane or highway leading to the Merrimack River, northerly on land of Job Pillsbury, and northeast on land belonging to the grantor (book 32, page 177). He died Nov. 29, 1727. His will, dated Jan. 20, 1725-6, and proved Jan. I, 1727-8, gave all his real estate and most of his personal estate, excepting a few small legacies, to his wife Rachel. On the same day that the will was proved, Samuel Poore3, Sarah, widow of Joseph Brown, Timothy and Eleanor Putnam, Thomas and Rebecca Smith, conveyed "to our mother, Rachel Poore, widow of our father, Samuel Poore2, our interest in our father's estate, real and personal " (book 54, page 117).
Sept. II, 1728, Rachel Poore, widow, sold to Samuel Mog- garidge a portion of this real estate (book 54, page 140) ; and Feb. 28, 1732-3, she sold to Samuel Moggaridge about ninety rods additional, bounded easterly on a way leading from Poore's lane to the river, "it being all my land on the northwest side of said way " (book 63, page 4).
Samuel Poore3, son of Samuel2 and Rachel Poore, was born June 23, 1683. He married Hannah, daughter of Benjamin Morse, in September, 1705 ; and lived for several years with his father in the old homestead near the Merrimack River.
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March 9, 1707-8, he bought, as previously stated, two acres of land belonging to that estate. June I, 1709, he bought of Joseph Goodrich a thirty-acre rate lot in Newbury, bounded northerly by land of Deacon Cutting Noyes, southerly by land of Corporal Stephen Sawyer, westerly and easterly by highways (book 32, page 185).
This " rate lot " was evidently the first land purchased by Samuel Poore3 in the vicinity of Indian Hill. Other lots were added at a later date, and now constitute what is known as Indian Hill Farm. The house formerly standing on this lot was probably erected during the year 1709 or 1710; and Samuel Poore3 and his family were certainly living there when the map of the West Parish was published in 1729. Some years later the house was struck by lightning and completely destroyed. A new dwelling was erected on the same site, and Samuel Poore3 continued to reside there until his death, in 1769. His will, dated Dec. 19, 1768, and proved Aug. 28, 1769, after making some small bequests, gave the rest and residue of his estate, including the farm upon which he then lived, to his son Benjamin4.
Benjamin Poore4, the son, was born at Indian Hill Sept. 5, 1723, married Judith, daughter of Daniel and Judith Noyes, in February, 1749, and settled on the farm with his father. He died intestate March 18, 1817, aged ninety-three years and six months. Two daughters, Judith and Abigail Poore, and one son, Daniel Noyes Poore5, inherited the house and farm. The daughters were never married, and resided on the place until their decease. Daniel Noyes Poore5 was born July 16, 1758, graduated at Harvard College in 1777, and two years later was a practising physician in West Newbury. He lived with his sisters on the farm until his marriage, July 3, 1796, to Lydia, only child of John and Mary (Little) Merrill. He then bought a dwelling-house with land under and adjoining the same on the Bradford road in West New- bury, where he resided until his death, which occurred Jan. 23, 1837.
His eldest son, Benjamin6, born Sept. 23, 1797, married Mary Perley, daughter of Allen and Mary (Burroughs)
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Dodge, Nov. 29, 1819. He lived for a few years in New- buryport, where his eldest child, Ben : Perley Poorer, was born Nov. 2, 1820, and afterward removed to New York City.
March 23, 1825, the will of Daniel Noyes Poores (proved ten or twelve years later), was duly signed and executed, giving to his grandson, Ben : Perley Poore7, one third part of Indian Hill Farm in West Newbury, with all the build- ings thereon, containing about sixty acres of mowing and tillage land, sixty acres of pasture land, and about seven acres of marsh land. On the same day Abigail Poore and Judith Poore, in separate wills, each gave to Ben : Perley Poore", "son of my nephew, Benjamin Poore," one third part of the same estate.
Many years previous to this date another house (the third one at Indian Hill) was erected for the use of the family ; and the old unoccupied house was used for the storage of hay, grain, fruit, and vegetables.
In 1832, Benjamin Poore6 visited England and Scotland with his son, Benjamin Perley Poore7, then a young lad. After his return he decided to repair the old house, and make it an interesting and attractive dwelling-place for himself and family. He built projections and wings on either side, added a picturesque front porch, and provided quaint-looking win- dows, with diamond-shaped panes, similar in style and appear- ance to those seen in England a century ago. When the alterations and improvements were completed, he removed his family to the new apartments provided for them. The house made vacant by their removal was then taken down, and the land under and adjoining the same was graded and converted into a lawn.
Benjamin Poore6 continued to reside at the farm until the year 1849, when the discovery of gold in California induced him to visit the Pacific coast, where his wife and daughters joined him a year or two later. He afterward went to Hong Kong for the purpose of establishing a line of steamers between that port and San Francisco. The vessel in which he sailed, on the homeward voyage, was wrecked in the China Sea, and he was drowned July 23, 1853.
C
BEN: PERLEY POORE.
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Ben : Perley Poore7, after his return from New York, resided, with his father, mother, and sisters, at Indian Hill . and attended school at Dummer Academy. Before he was twenty-one years of age he was the editor and publisher of a newspaper in Athens, Ga. In 1841, he went to Brussels as an attaché of the American legation, and remained there until 1844, when he was authorized by the Massachusetts legislature to procure copies of all the important documents relating to the American Revolution on file in the archives of the French government. Ten large volumes of valuable manuscript papers and two volumes of maps were sent to the state house in Boston as the result of his labors and inves- tigations in Paris. When the work was accomplished, he returned home, and soon after was engaged as Washington correspondent of the Boston Atlas. He married, June 12, 1849, Virginia, daughter of Francis and Mary (Thompson) Dodge, of Georgetown, D. C .- He was for a short time editor of the Boston Bee, and afterward editor and publisher of the American Sentinel. In 1854, he was employed as Washing- ton correspondent of the Boston Journal, which position he held for more than twenty years. At the same time he was clerk of the senate committee on printing, and also clerk of the committee on foreign relations. He had a natural love for military life, and devoted much time and attention to the study of military tactics. At the beginning of the Civil War, in 1861, he was appointed major, and afterward lieuten- ant-colonel, of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment. Under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler this regiment rendered important service in keeping the way open from New York and Philadelphia, through Maryland, to Washing- ton, D. C. In the month of December following, Major Poore returned to his duties at the capital. During the next ten years he published, in several volumes, compilations of the Federal and State charters, the various treaties nego- tiated by the United States, and other papers of historical value. In 1882, he sent to the press the " Life of General Burnside," and in 1886 he published his " Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis."
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