USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Ould Newbury: historical and biographical sketches > Part 3
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At this date there were ""housings, barnes, cow houses, orchards, gardens, and fences thereunto belonging "; but,
30
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inasmuch as Thomas Coleman had taken a lease of the farm some years previously, it is probable that stock-raising was carried on there, and "housings and barnes " were provided as shelter for cattle. Dec. 22, 1645, the town records state that, "Thomas Coleman having taken a farme so that he cannot attend to lay out lotts, John Pemberton was appointed lott layer in his roome." This statement undoubtedly refers to a lease of this property made by Richard Dummer and others, as trustees, under the will of John Spencer, Sr. The lease had two years to run from Nov. 26, 1651, as stated in the conveyance of the farm from John Spencer, Jr., to Daniel Pierce.
The full text of the deed, as recorded at Salem (Ipswich Series), book I, page 285, is as follows : -
Witnes, by these presents, that John Spenser, of Newbury. in the countie of Essex, gent, for & in consideration of five hundred pounds in hand paid & by the said John Spenser received, have infeoffed. bar- gained & sold, & by these presents do infeofe, bargaine & sell, unto Daniel Pierce of the said towne & county, smith, all that his farme with upland & meadow, containing about three hundred acres, be it more or less, lying in Newbury, on the east side of Merrimack ridge, bounded with the land of Mr. Thomas Parker & Mr. John Woodbridge on the south, and the said Mr. Woodbridge's farm on the north, & a creke that comes out of Merrimack river on the east, & the highway on Merri- macke ridge on the west, with all & singuler profitts, comons, privilidges & appurtenances thereunto belonging: to have, hold & quietly to pos- sess & enjoye the said farme, both meadows and upland, all housing, barnes, cow-houses, orchard, garden & fences thereunto belonging. to the said Daniel Pierce, his heires and assignes forever ; and the sd John Spencer for him & his heires the sd farme, &c., unto the said Daniel & his heires & assignes, will warrant & defend, provided that, if the said John Spenser shall desire to have the sd farm again, within one seaven yeare after this date, that then the said Daniel Pierce shall resigne up the said farme againe unto the said John Spencer conditionally. the said John Spenser pay backe againe the said price that he received for it, and such charges as may be thought convenient, that the said Daniell Pierce shall be at about improvement. unto ye said Daniell Pierce. his heires & assignes, and that he, the said John Spenser, come & live upon it himselfe, & alsoe the yearely rents during the time that Thomas Col- man hath in the farm yet to come, which is two yeares, being reserved & excepted unto the use of the said John Spenser, his heires. executors &
3I
THE SPENCER-PIERCE HOUSE
assignes. And alsoe foure acres of upland on the north side of the said farme next to the river, being reserved & excepted for the use of Mr. William Thomas, of Newbury, his heires and assignes.
In testimony hereof the above-named John Spenser have set to his hand & seale, the twenty sixt of November, in ye yeare one thousand, six hundred and fifty-one.
JNO. SPENSER
Signed, sealed & del'd in the presence of us & a Seale
WILLIAM THOMAS ANTHONY SOMERBY
This deed was acknowledged by ye sd John Spenser, 5th day of the Ioth month, Anno : Dom : 1651, before me
SAMUEL SYMONDS.
It is possible that young Spencer may have commenced the construction of a stone house soon after the farm came into his possession ; but, finding the total cost would exceed the amount of ready money at his disposal, he reluctantly sold the property to his uncle Daniel Pierce, and inserted in the deed a clause providing that he should have the farm back again at any time within seven years upon condition that he return and live upon it and pay back the purchase money, with such additional charges as might be necessary to meet the expenses incurred during the intervening time. In the two years -from 1649, when the will was proved, to 1651, when the deed was signed - while he was owner of the property, he may have laid the foundation and partially completed the building now standing there. But it must be remembered that young Spencer was unmarried, and there- fore could afford to await the expiration of the lease before building a large and costly house on land that was, tem- porarily at least, beyond his control.
After disposing of this property, he evidently went to Eng- land, and thence to Hayti and Jamaica, returning to this country several years later, and, finally, settling at Newport, R.I. There is no evidence that he ever came to Newbury again, and only a few incidental circumstances that seem to indicate that he, or some other person of the same name, was in Rhode Island about the year 1661.
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Coffin, in his History of Newbury, on page 397, gives the deposition of Anthony Somerby, which contains a statement to the effect that Spencer conveyed the farm to Pierce by means of "turfe and twigge." This method of transferring real estate was not uncommon in England at that time. The testimony is as follows : -
This deponent saith that about the yeares 1651 or fifty-two I was at the farm yt Mr. John Spencer sold to Mr. Daniell Peirce in Newbury, and Mr. Spencer and Mr. Peirce with myselfe and another, I suppose it was Mr. William Thomas, and, as we were going through the land of ye said farme, Mr. Pierce said to Mr. Spencer you promised to give me possession by turfe and twigge. Mr. Spencer said soe I will, if you please to cutt a turff and twigge, and Mr. Pierce did cut off a twigge off a tree, and cutt up a turfe, and Mr. Spencer tooke the twigge and stuck it into the turff, and bid us beare witness that he gave Mr. Pierce pos- session thereby of the house and land and ffarme that he had bought of him, and gave the turff and twigge to Mr. Pierce and further saith not.
Taken upon oath 10 Jan. 1679.
Before me
JOHN WOODBRIDGE, Commissioner.
The above deposition is recorded in the Registry of Deeds, Salem (Ipswich Series), book 4, page 133.
If conveyance was made by turf and twig as therein stated, still the transfer was supplemented by a deed in the usual form, duly signed and recorded. The full text of that deed has already been given.
The discovery of additional testimony indicates that some question of title was in dispute when Anthony Somerby's deposition was taken; and this new evidence will be pre- sented in connection with a later conveyance, to which it more properly belongs.
Daniel Pierce, uncle to John Spencer, Jr., was the ancestor of the Pierce family in this country. He came in the ship " Elizabeth" from Ipswich, county of Suffolk, England, in 1634, aged twenty-three years, and settled in Watertown, Mass., of which he was one of the proprietors, in February, 1636-7. He was made a freeman May 2, 1638, and removed
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THE SPENCER-PIERCE HOUSE
to Newbury the same year. His children by his first wife, Sarah, were : -
Daniel, born May 15, 1638, in Watertown. Joshua, born May 15, 1642, in Newbury. Martha, born Feb. 14, 1648-9. in Newbury.
His wife died July 17, 1654; and Dec. 26, 1654, he married Mrs. Ann Milward, widow of Thomas Milward, "mariner." At the close of 1665 he went with several other Newbury men to a township in New Jersey, returning to Newbury as early as 1670. He was a friend and sup- porter of the Rev. Thomas Parker in the bitter and protracted church controversy that disturbed the peace and quiet of the town for many years. Having sold his lands in New Jersey, it is supposed that he built the stone house about this time. He died Nov. 27, 1677. His will, dated Nov. 12, 1677, was proved March 26, 1678. He evidently valued the place highly, and intended, if possible, to keep it in the possession of his family, as is evident from the provisions of his will, which give to his son, Daniel Pierce, "all my housing and lands that are undisposed of, & appoint him my true & Law- full heir of all & also my sole executor of this my last will & testament, desiring him to Doe for his brother Joshua Pierce's children as he shall see in his Discretion meet to be Done to them." The will also provides that,
Whereas upon my marriage agreement with Anne, my wife, she was to have twenty pounds a year during her naturall life, I appoint my said executor, that in all conditions she shall be in, that he provide all proper necessaries for her that she shall stand in need of, and that she shall enjoy her former libertyes in the house During her life.
And whereas I have given my housing and Lands as above said unto my said son, that is the farme I now dwell upon, I give it unto my heir, and his heirs, so that it shall never be sold or any part divided from the Lawfull heire male upon forfeiture of all the said premises unto the next heire male of the same name and kindred.
There is no further reference to the house in this will, and the description is not sufficiently minute to enable any one at
34
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this date to say positively that the house then standing on the farm was built of brick and stone.
Daniel Pierce, Jr., as executor of the will, settled the estate in due season, and took quiet possession of the house and farm.
About this time a controversy seems to have arisen in re- gard to the title to the property ; and the following deposi- tions were placed on record in the Registry of Deeds at Salem (Ipswich Series), book 4, page 312 : ---
The deposition of John Webster, aged 47 years, testifieth upon oath, I, being formerly an apprentice with Daniel Pearce, ffather to the now Capt. Daniel Pearce, In the time of my service, in the sumer, in the yeare one thousand six hundred fiftye one, my master Pearce bought the land that Capt. Vinson now dwells upon; and I farther testifie that in the latter end of the winter ffollowing my master Pearce removed his ffamaly, cattell, and goods to the land aforesayd, and lived upon it as his owne land, both himselfe and his [-] to this time.
Sworne in Court held at Ipswich the 30th of March, 1680.
Attest
ROBERT LORD, Clerc.
The deposition of John Emery, Senior, aged about 52 years. This deponent saith that about the latter end of the year 1651 or at the be- ginning of the yeare 1652 Mr. Daniell Pierce, senior, went to live at the ffarm, and possessed it during his life, and his son after him to this time, without any molestation as his owne land. This farme spoken off is the farme that Capt. Daniell Pearce now liveth upon.
Sworn in court held at Ipswich the 30th of March, 1680.
Attest ROBERT LORD, Clerke.
The testimony of Richard Knight, aged 78 years or thereabouts, Tes- tifieth & saith that I, being lott layer with Thomas Colman, Mr John Spencer, Junior, called me to lay out his grant of a 150 acres of upland which was granted September the 4th 1638, wch by a Towne order we weare bound so to do at three days warning. And accordingly Thomas Colman & I did lay out the 150 acres of upland on both sydes Merri- mack ridg to Mr John Spencer in the yeare 1648 or at the begining of the yeare 1649, which land lyes on the south syde of Mr. John Wood- bridges ffarm & is that which Daniell Pearce do now Dwell upon, and
.
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THE SPENCER-PIERCE HOUSE
Henry Jaques, and Richard Pettengell & Joseph Domer also do dwell upon it.
1127418 p me RICHARD KNIGHT.
Sworn in Court held at Ipswich the 30th of March, 1680.
Attest ROBERT LORD, Clerc.
From these depositions it appears that at least a portion of the farm granted to John Spencer, Sr., by the town of New- bury was not laid out until after his decease, and that John Spencer, Jr., found it necessary to have this done before he could give a legal conveyance of the land to his uncle.
Daniel Pierce, Jr., or Colonel Daniel Pierce, as he was usually called, was prominent in civil, ecclesiastical, and mili- tary affairs. He married Dec. 5, 1660, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Ann Milward. Six years before, Daniel Pierce, the elder, had married Elizabeth's mother, who was then a widow.
Colonel Daniel Pierce died April 22, 1704. His will, dated Aug. 12, 1701, was proved May 8, 1704. It gives to his wife "fourteen pounds a year yearly during her natural life, and the Parlor in the Stone house, with as many pertitions made in it as she shall see cause to have, also a passidge throw the kitchen for her more convenient going to the well "; to his son, Joshua Pierce, "my now dwelling house with the malt house and out housings, &c., &c."; to his son, Thomas Pierce, " that dwelling house which I built for him, situate and being upon that my land that the malt house do stand upon"; to his oldest surviving son, Benjamin, " the ffarm yt my Honoured ffather (deceased) bought of Mr. John Spencer, of wch he shall not sell any part. ... The houseing and lands as is hereby given unto my said son Benjamin Peirce, and his heirs particularly expressed, shall be and Remain unto my said son Benjamin Pierce and his heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, and so to the male heirs of my son Benjamin Pierces male heirs, bodyes lawfully begotten, forever ; . . . and farther my will is that it shall not be in the power of the above mentioned heirs to sell or diminish any part or parcell of the said Houses or lands which is hereby entailed to the
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heirs male as is above expressed, but that the same and every part and parcell thereof shall be and remaine to the heirs as is above said, to have and to hold to them and the heirs male of their bodyes lawfully begotten as above said forever."
Benjamin Pierce was executor of his father's will. He married Lydia Frost, daughter of Charles Frost, of Kittery, Me. He died at the old stone mansion, and was buried in the graveyard near the First Parish Meeting-house. Upon the tablet that marked his grave was the following inscription : -
Here Lys ye body of Benjamin Pierce, Esqr., who died May ye 19th 17II, aged 42 years and three months.
Pillar i' th' State he was,
Bid fair still
At greater things.
To all yt knew him well,
Pattern of vertue.
Kind to all was he,
Loued by friends,
Feard of his enemie.
Embalmd in tears,
Enuey itselfe stood dumb.
Snacht from ye world
In times most troublesome.
When the meeting-house was destroyed by fire in 1868, this gravestone was probably broken into fragments by the falling timbers or shattered by the sudden application of water to its heated surface. No trace of it can now be found.
Administration on the estate of Benjamin Pierce was granted Oct. 1, 1713. His eldest surviving son, Charles Pierce, came into possession of the property when he arrived at the age of twenty-one. He married Sarah Frost, of Kit- tery, Me., Nov. 20, 1718. He had children as follows : Charles, born Feb. 2, 1719; Benjamin, born Feb. 24, 1723 ; William, born Dec. 29, 1731.
The eldest son, Charles, inherited the house and farm on the death of his father, which occurred Jan. 23, 1764.
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THE SPENCER-PIERCE HOUSE
The intended marriage of Charles Pierce, Jr. (born Feb. 2, 1719), to Mary Feveryear, of Boston, was published March 24, 1759. She died April 27, 1760, aged twenty-two years, leaving one daughter, who afterwards married Thomas Butman. Charles Pierce, her husband, died Nov. 29, 1772, leaving no male issue.
At this date (1772) William, born Dec. 29, 1731, was married, but had no children ; and Benjamin, born Feb. 24, 1723, was not living, having died Sept. 7, 1765, leaving one son, Daniel, who was born in 1754.
Five years later (Sept. 9, 1777) there was “an indent- ure to dock the entail of the Pierce farm by and between Moses Acres of Newbury, cooper, of the first part, Timothy Pettingell, of Newbury, yeoman, of the second part, Daniel Pierce, of Newbury, yeoman, of the 3ª part, William Pierce, of Newbury, yeoman, of the 4th part, & Ebenezer Flood, of Newbury, laborer, of the fifth part," by which Daniel Pierce conveys to William Pierce, uncle of said Daniel, land and buildings thereon.
Recorded in the Essex Registry of Deeds, book 135, page 256, and in the same book, page 258, there is a similar indent- ure from William Pierce to his nephew, Daniel Pierce. The next year (1778) there was a partition of this property, and one-half of the house and land was assigned to William Pierce, and the other half to Daniel Pierce (see Registry of Deeds, book 135, page 259). A plan of this division is re- corded in book 136, page 67 ; and, for the convenience of those who are interested in local history, a tracing of that plan has been made, and is inserted with this sketch.
Daniel Pierce sold his part of the house and land to Nathaniel Tracy in 1778. (Deed recorded in book 136, page 92.) William Pierce died March 15, 1778. Eunice Pierce, his widow, was appointed administratrix July 21, 1778 ; and she with other heirs sold to Nathaniel Tracy the other half of the house and land (see Deeds, book 136, pages 91, 121, 123, 181, 249).
At this time Nathaniel Tracy was rich and prosperous. He lived in magnificent style ; and, besides the brick house
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on State Street built for him by his father, Patrick Tracy, he owned a large farm and dwelling-house at Medford, and also the house at Cambridge formerly occupied by Washington as headquarters. To these elegant and desirable residences he now added the old stone house, where he died nearly twenty years later. The story of his life and the interesting events with which he was connected will be more fully re- lated in the history of the brick house on State Street, with which he and other members of his family were prominently identified.
Compelled by financial disasters to dispose of some of this property, he sold, Nov. 17, 1786, the old stone house and farm to Thomas Russell, of Boston (see deed, recorded book 146, page 214).
Jan. 1, 1787, Thomas Russell, of Boston, merchant, leased to Patrick Tracy for his life, at an annual rent of £133 6s. 8d., to be paid by Nathaniel Tracy, the Pierce farm of three hundred acres. The lease also provided that, in case Patrick Tracy should die within seven years from the date of the lease, Nathaniel Tracy could retain possession of the property until the expiration of the seven years, and upon the payment of the sum of £5,333 6s. 8d. to the said Thomas Russell a deed of conveyance would be made to the said Nathaniel Tracy (Essex Deeds, book 146, page 215).
April 7, 1791, Thomas Russell conveyed the Pierce farm, land and buildings, to Nathaniel Tracy in exchange for a brick house on State Street, "which was devised to the said Tracy under the will of his father, Patrick Tracy " (book 153, page 210).
Nathaniel Tracy died Sept. 20, 1796; and Feb. 21, 1797, Mary Tracy, guardian of the children of Nathaniel Tracy, by the authority of the General Court sold to Offin Boardman for $12,800 "the farm whereon I now live" (book 162, page 144).
The new owner was a man well known in this vicinity be- cause of his connection with the capture of the British ship "Friends," Jan. 15, 1776, just outside the bar at the mouth of the Merrimack River. He retained possession of
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MILLS
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MILS
PLAN SHOWING DIVISION OF SPENCER-PIERCE FARM, 1778.
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Country Road
MILS
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the property until his death; and the executors of his will April 26, 1813, by license from court, sold it to John Pettin- gell (book 200, page 236).
During a portion of the time that Mr. Pettingell owned the farm the stone house was unoccupied, and the wooden addition at the extreme end was used by the tenants.
The heirs of John Pettingell, residuary devisees, and trus- tee under his will, proved December, 1828, conveyed the premises, Oct. 1, 1861, to Edward H. Little (book 628, page 240).
Edward H. Little died in 1877, in- testate ; and the house and farm were assigned, in the division of the estate, to his son, Ed- ward F. Little, who now resides there.
When the age of this old house, with its picturesque exte- rior, the solid ma- sonry of its walls, and the men who have owned and oc- cupied it, is consid- ered and allowed to quicken the thought and imagination, it tells an interesting story of old colonial days. There are few residences in New England that are more attractive or fascinating. Its style of architecture is remarkable, considering the early date at which it was built. Its walls are composed of several varieties of stone ; and some of them must have been brought from a long dis- tance, perhaps by means of boats or rafts down the Merri- mack River. The bricks used in the construction of the front porch, as well as the square tile which form the floor, were probably brought from England. Brickyards were established at Salem and Medford previous to 1680; but the finished product of those yards was of an inferior
41
THE SPENCER-PIERCE HOUSE
quality, and the size of the bricks was fixed by order of the General Court, as follows : "Every brick shall measure 9 inches long, 21/2 inches thick, and 41/2 inches wide." Im- ported English brick were much smaller and more smoothly moulded.
The house was built in the form of a cross. On the northern projection, where the kitchen is located, a tall brick chimney rises from a stone foundation, outside the rear wall, to the roof above, as shown in the engraving on the oppo- site page.
" The great porch of this old house," writes Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford, in an article published in Harper's Maga- cine for July, 1875, "is said to be the most beautiful archi- tectural specimen in this part of the country, although it doubtless owes part of its beauty to the mellow and varied coloring which two hundred years have given it. Yet the bevelled bricks of its arches and casements and the exquisite nicety of its ornamentation lead the careful scrutinizer to side with those who dismiss the idea of its having been a garrison house, and to conjecture that that idea gained cur- rency from the fact that it was once used to store powder in, - a fact that was fixed in the popular memory by an ex- plosion there which blew out the side of the house, and landed an old slave of the occupant on her bed in the boughs of an adjacent apple-tree."
EDWARD RAWSON.
EDWARD RAWSON.
Edward Rawson was born in the village of Gillingham, county of Dorset, England, April 15, 1615. He married Rachel, daughter of Thomas Perne, and grand-daughter of John Hooker, and came to Newbury in 1636 or 1637, leaving his eldest child, a daughter, with relatives in England, where she afterwards married an " opulent gentleman," whose name is unknown. He was admitted to the rights and privileges of a freeman in March, 1637-8; and in May of that year he served as deputy to the General Court from Newbury. June 8, 1638, he was fined 5s. for absence when court was called ; but Edward Converse was afterwards admonished for his neglect to provide men and boats for the convenience of travellers, and was excused upon payment of Mr. Rawson's fine, thus indicating that the deputy was delayed in his prog- ress by some neglect on the part of the ferryman.
In July he was chosen one of the selectmen, and in August his name appears as one of the signers of an agreement with Richard Dummer for the erection of a mill "for the grynd- ing of corne." Sept. 6, 1638, the General Court appointed Edward Rawson, John Woodbridge, and Edward Woodman as commissioners to decide small causes in Newbury ; and from the town records it appears that Nov. 19, 1638,
It was ordered that Edward Rawson should supply the place of Mr. Woodbridge, and be the Public Notary & Register for the town of Newbury; and, while he so remains, to be allowed by the town after the rate of five pounds per annum ffor his paynes.
He was evidently a man of ability and familiar with public affairs, though only twenty-three years of age. His subse- quent career justifies the confidence reposed in him by his
44
OULD NEWBURY
fellow-townsmen who honored him with so many important offices.
In 1639 he represented Newbury in the General Court, and again in 1642. In the town records, under date of January, 1643-4, is the following entry :-
In consideration of Mr. Rawson's keeping the towne book, it is ordered by us, according to our power from the towne and courte granted to us, that he shall be freed and exempted from all towne rates for one whole yeare from the twenty-ninth of September last to the twenty-ninth of September next, 1644.
In May, 1644, Rawson again took his seat in the House of Deputies, and thereafter was annually re-elected repre- sentative from Newbury until the year 1650. In the last week of the session, extending from May 14 to July 5, 1645 the deputies passed the following vote : -
Edward Rawson is chosen & appointed Clarke to the house Deputs for one whole yeere to Enter all votes past in both houses & those alsoe yt passe only by them into their booke of Records .- Massachusetts Colony Records, book 3, page 21.
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