USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Ould Newbury: historical and biographical sketches > Part 30
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The house was taken down in 1786, and replaced by a new one that is still standing beneath the shade of the old elm. It is now owned and occupied by William Jaques, a lineal descendant of Richard Jaques, who
" .. . planted the tree by his family cot, To stand as a monument, marking the spot It helped him to reach, and, what was still more, Because it had grown by his fair one's door."
The half-tone print on the opposite page gives the best view of the old elm that can be obtained by the use of the
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camera ; but, nevertheless, it does not reveal its great size and graceful proportions.
Fourteen feet is a large girth for an elm tree, measured five feet above the ground. Eighteen feet is a very large one, and twenty-two feet and a few inches is the maximum. The Newbury elm has a girth of seventeen feet and two inches. It is said to have been eighty-five feet in height, and to meas- ure ninety-six feet across from bough end to bough end, when in its prime. But the ice storm of 1885 destroyed its beauty and symmetry ; and in June, 1890, one of the largest branches was torn off by the wind within six feet of the roots.
Notwithstanding these serious injuries, the old elm is still grand and impressive. Its massive trunk and towering branches show signs of decay ; but, when it shall have crumbled to the dust and disappeared from mortal sight, it will still: live in the beautiful lines written by Miss Hannah F. Gould nearly sixty years ago :-
Did ever it come in your way to pass The silvery pond, with its fringe of grass. And, threading the lane hard by, to see The veteran elm of Newbury ?
You saw how its roots had grasped the ground, As if it had felt that the earth went round. And fastened them down with determined will To keep it steady, and hold it still. Its aged trunk, so stately and strong, Has braved the blasts as they've rushed along. Its head has towered and its arms have spread, While more than a hundred years have fled !
Well, that old elm, that is now so grand, Was once a twig in the rustic hand Of a youthful peasant, who went one night To visit his love, by the tender light Of the modest moon and her twinkling host : While the star that lighted his bosom most, And gave to his lonely feet their speed. Abode in a cottage beyond the mead.
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'Twas the peaceful close of a summer's day ; Its glorious orb had passed away ; The toil of the field till the morn had ceased, For a season of rest to man and beast. The mother had silenced her humming wheel ; The father returned for the evening meal The thanks of one who had chosen the part Of the poor in spirit, the rich in heart, Who, having the soul's grand panacea, Feel all is added that's needful here, And know this truth of the human breast, That wanting little is being blest. The good old man in his chair reclined, At a humble door, with a peaceful mind ; While the drops from his sun-burnt brow were dried By the cool, sweet air of the eventide.
The son from the yoke had unlocked the bow, Dismissing the faithful ox to go And graze in the close. He had called the kine For their oblation at day's decline. He'd gathered and numbered the lambs and sheep, And fastened them up in their nightly keep. He'd stood by the coop till the hen could bring Her huddling brood safe under her wing, And made them secure from the hooting owl. Whose midnight prey was the shrieking fowl. When all was finished, he sped to the well, Where the old gray bucket hastily fell ; And the clear cold water came up to chase The dust of the field from his neck and face, And hands and feet, till the youth began To look renewed in the outer man. And, soon arrayed in his Sunday's best, The stiff new suit had done the rest. And the hale young lover was on his way, Where, through the fen and the field, it lay : And over the bramble, the brake, and the grass, As the shortest cut to the house of his lass.
It is not recorded how long he stayed In the cheerful home of the smiling maid ; But, when he came out, it was late and dark And silent,- not even a dog would bark
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To take from his feeling of loneliness, And make the length of his way seem less. He thought it was strange that the treacherous moon Should have given the world the slip so soon ; And, whether the eyes of the girl had made The stars of the sky in his own to fade Or not, it certainly seemed to him That each grew distant and small and dim. And he shuddered to think he was now about To take a long and a lonely route ; For he did not know what fearful sight Might come to him through the shadows of night !
An elm grew close by the cottage's eaves. So he plucked him a twig well clothed with leaves ; And, sallying forth with the supple arm, To serve as a talisman parrying harm, He felt that, though his heart was so big, 'Twas even the stouter for having the twig. For this, he thought, would answer to switch The horrors away, as he crossed the ditch, The meadow and copse, wherein, perchance, Will-o'-the-wisp might wickedly dance, And, wielding it, keep him from having a chill At the menacing sound of " Whip-poor-will !" And his flesh from creeping, beside the bog, At the harsh, bass voice of the viewless frog. In short, he felt that the switch would be Guard, plaything, business, and company.
When he got safe home, and joyfully found He still was himself ! and living ! and sound ! He planted the twig by his family cot, To stand as a monument, marking the spot It helped him to reach, and, what was still more, Because it had grown by his fair one's door.
The twig took root, and, as time flew by, Its boughs spread wide and its head grew high ; While the priest's good service had long been done, Which made the youth and the maiden one, And their young scions arose and played Around the tree, in its leafy shade.
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But many and many a year has fled Since they were gathered among the dead ; And now their names, with the moss o'ergrown, Are veiled from sight on the churchyard stone That leans away, in a lingering fall, And owns the power that shall level all The works that the hand of man hath wrought, Bring him to dust, and his name to nought ; While, near in view, and just beyond The grassy skirts of the silver pond, In its " green old age," stands the noble tree The veteran elm of Newbury.
THIRD PARISH IN NEWBURY,
AND FIRST RELIGIOUS SOCIETY IN NEWBURYPORT.
Sept. 17, 1722, the First Parish in Newbury gave their consent to the formation of a parish to be called the Third Parish in Newbury, but its bounds and limits were not defi- nitely fixed until two or three years later.
Coffin, on page 196 of the History of Newbury, quotes from a letter written by William Moody, of Byfield, to his brother-in-law, Judge Samuel Sewall, dated Feb. 17, 1725, as follows : -
Our people at towne are going to build another meeting house, but intend to set it so nigh to Mr. Toppan's (minister at the First Parish) that I fear it will make great contention. Newbury are great sufferers this day for what have happened by contending about the place of a meeting house.
The report of the committee of the General Court ap- pointed to fix the bounds of the proposed parish and the action of the court thereon were as follows : -
At a Greate and Genaral Court or Assembley of his Majesties Prov- ince, of the Massachusetts Bay New-England, Held November 3, 1728.
Samuel Thaxter, Esq., from the Comity, of both Houses on the Petition of several Inhabitants of Newbury first Parish, Gaue in the following Report, viz :
Pursuant to an order of the Genaral Court at thair Session in No- uember 1725, in answer to the Petition of the westerly part of the old Parish in Newbury ordering us the subscribers to view the scituation of the Peticioners as well as the other part of the first Parish in New- bury, Especially where the middle diuiding line is Proposed and to hear the parties therein, Conferred and make Report thereon :
In obediance to the said order upon the first day of December Curnt we Repaired to Newbury and hauing Notified the Persons Concernd,
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we Vewd the seuarall parts of the old Presinct and the Land of the new proposed Parish and Report as follows, That the Lane called Chandler's Lane shall be the diuding Line between the old and new Parishes, and to continue as the old or first Parish has already Granted on the nine- teenth of June 1722. But in as much as eight families that live near the said line and on the South Side there of, viz. Edward Sargant, Jams Crocker, Isaac Hall, Joseph Swasey, Stephen Presson, William Allen, John Greenlife Jun, and Isaac Miricke have desired to be set to the New Parish, and Som of them have been at charge in building the New Meeting House, the Comity are humbly of opinion that the said eight families with their estats adjoyning shall be set to the new Parish during the Courts pleasure. Also where as there is a considera- ble number of families on the Northerly Side of the New Meeting House, that have entred thair decents against being joyned to the New Parish, the Comity are of opinion that thay be joined to the New Par- ish. Prouided the said Parish do accomodate them with Sutabel Pews, or Seats for thair reception, without thair being at any Charge therefor. December 8, 1725: William Rogers, Daniel Epes, Samuel Thaxter, Thomas Choat, Spencer Phips.
In Counsel read and ordered that this Report be accepted, and that the Land within the Bounds in the Said Report Discribed, be sett of a distinct and seprate Precinct, and that the Inhabitance thereof be vested with the powers and Privileges that the Inhabitants of other Precincts are Vested with :
In the House of Representatives Read and Concurd.
Consented to : WILLIAM DUMMER.
The meeting-house of the new parish was erected in the centre of a triangular piece of land now known as Market Square, Newburyport. It was a commodious structure, sixty feet in length and forty-five feet in breadth, with a steeple on the end confronting the river and the pulpit at the opposite end. It was dedicated June 25, 1725, Rev. John Tufts, of the Second Parish in Newbury, preaching the dedicatory sermon.
Rev. John Lowell, of Boston, who supplied the pulpit from June 27, was invited, Aug. 23, 1725, to take charge of the parish as its settled minister. At this date the church was unorganized ; and there is no record of a parish meeting until Dec. 29, 1725, when it was " voted to provide a parsonage house for Rev. Mr Lowell or give him two hundred pounds on condition of his settling and continuing with us."
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Jan. 12, 1725-6, Rev. Moses Hale, of Byfield, preached in the Third Parish meeting-house ; and a church was gath- ered by Rev. Caleb Cushing, of Salisbury, who drew up the church covenant. This covenant, or confession of faith, was signed by Richard Kent, Benaiah Titcomb, William Titcomb, Moses Titcomb, Stephen Greenleaf, Henry Sewall, Abraham Toppan, and many others.
Jan. 19, 1725-6, Rev. John Lowell was ordained pastor of the church. The ordination services were conducted by Rev. John Tufts, of the Second Parish, who made the open- ing prayer ; Rev. Thomas Foxcroft, of Boston, who preached from 2 Corinthians, 12th chapter, 13th, 14th, and 15th verses ; Rev. Moses Hale, of Byfield, who gave the right hand of fellowship ; and Rev. Caleb Cushing, of Salisbury, who gave the charge.
At a meeting of the parish held Jan. 31, 1725-6, it was " voted that Richard Kent, Esq., Deacon William Noyes, and Lieut. Benaiah Titcomb shall have power to make sale of the house and land lately bought of Mr. Thomas Brown, or any part of the same, for the use of the new parish in Newbury, if the Rev. John Lowle does not care to accept of the same." At a subsequent meeting held May 10, 1726, it was "voted that the Rev. John Lowle shall have the house and land bought of Thomas Brown, he paying the money and the said Parish to pay him £200." For further details relating to this conveyance the reader is referred to the sketch of the Lowell house, page 449.
May 23, 1727, the parish voted to purchase a bell weigh- ing about four hundred pounds, and also " voted that Jona- than Woodman should treat with some gentlemen in Boston to send for a bell for said Parish." Early in the month of February, 1727-8, the bell had evidently arrived, and had been hung in the belfry, for on the twenty-first day of the month the assessors were authorized to agree with Ambrose Berry to ring the bell till the March meeting ; and March 19, 1727-8, it was "voted that the bell of the Third Parish be Rung at nine of the clock."
Nov. 26, 1729, the parish " voted that the Comity to looke
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out for a place for a schoole house be a comity to looke out a place for a burial place." William Johnson and William Titcomb were appointed on this committee. At a meeting held March 17, 1729-30, the school-house was located on High Street, between Fish Street (now State Street) and Queen Street (now Market Street) and the land on the westerly side of Frog Pond was taken for a burying ground, and ordered to be enclosed with a board fence. At the same meeting it was also "voated that if any Gentleman in our Parish will appear to higher a School Master, thay shall have our Parishes part of the money that is to be Raised in the Generall, by the Town, provided thay do keep a Gramar School a year in sum Convenient place in s'd Parish, and any person of our Parish shall have Liberty to send their children, provided thay do pay for thair Schooling a Groat a week."
Dec. 1I, 1734, the parish "Voated that Richard Kent, Esq., Joseph Atkins, Esq., and Abiel Somerby be a comity to recover the Interest money of the fifty thousand pounds which the selectmen has given under their hands to pay for the use of the third Parish in Newbury."
" March 10, 1734-5, Voated that the Interest Money of the fifty thousand pounds which the third Parish has in their hands shall be Improved for to git a clocke for sd Parish.
" Voated that Capt William Johnson and doct Nathan Hale should see to git a clocke for sª Parish."
This interest money was probably derived from the issue of bills of credit under an act passed by the General Court March 31, 1721, entitled " An act for the making and emit- ting the sum of Fifty Thousand Pounds in bills of credit on this Province in such manner as in the said act is hereafter expressed." By the provisions of this act the several towns in the Province were authorized to loan a certain proportion of the public funds on good security, and it was also provided that the income from this loan should be used in the payment of local public charges.
As the population of the town increased in numbers, the demand for seats in the meeting-house increased; and the
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parish was at length compelled to furnish an additional supply. At a meeting held March 25, 1736, it was " Voated that Capt William Jonson, Capt John Greenlef, Joshua Beebe, Lieut Abraham Toppan, doct Enoch Sawyer, Benjamin Little, Samuel Plumer, Abiel Somerby, Cutting Moody, Joseph Titcomb, Col. Richard Kent, be a comity to consider and treat about inlarging said meetin house; aded to the Comity Benjamin Greenlef and Lieut. Moses Gerish and William Titcomb, Jur. Voated that the Comity above chosen have full power to proceed in Inlarging said meeting house thirty five foot back in the best method thay can, And to agree with worke men to parfect the finishing of sd house as soon as may be, and also to dispose of the Pews to parsons belonging to the Parish, In order to Raise money to defray the charges."
With this addition the meeting-house must have been a large and commodious building, measuring eighty feet by sixty feet, with a gallery on one side, and probably on three sides, for the accommodation of the rapidly increasing number of worshippers. In September, 1740, Rev. George Whitefield preached his first sermon in Newbury to an im- mense audience that occupied all the available space in this meeting-house.
That the parish was earnest and active in its efforts to provide for the support of the public schools is evident from the frequent mention of the subject in the parish records.
March 28, 1740, it was "Voated that the assessors do Raise one Hundred and twenty pounds uppon the Parish for two schools, to be Equally divided betweene them, for gram- mar schooles and for Radeders and Righters and Siferring. Voated that one of the schools be kept in the school house, and the other schoole to be kept betweene Ordway's Lane and Woodman's Lane, and the officers to appoint the place. Voated that Mr Joshua Moody should be one of the school masters for the year Insuing if he will take up with the terms proposed and to help at the school house.
" Voated that Mr. Lenard Cotten should be the other school master for the year Insuing, if he shall take up with the terms proposed, M' Cotten accepts of the school."
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The care and control of the "Old Hill Burying Ground " is also often referred to in the records. March 25, 1741, it was "voted that Dr. Joshua Beck and Ambrose Berry be a comity to take care that the Burying place in s'd Parish be fenced in with Rocks."
In 1743, thirty-eight members of the parish asked for letters of dismissal in order to join the new society that a few years later completed its organization, and invited Rev. Jonathan Parsons to become its pastor. After repeated efforts to secure a favorable answer to their request the disaffected brethren formally withdrew from communion in the Third Parish, and in October, 1746, were admitted to membership in the First Presbyterian Church.
At this time, the services in the Third Parish on the Lord's Day were exceedingly plain and simple, beginning with a long prayer, followed by the singing of a psalm, then by a sermon occupying one or two hours in the delivery, and closing with a short prayer and the benediction. An inter- mission of an hour was allowed for the mid-day meal. The exercises were then resumed, and the afternoon service pro- ceeded in substantially the same order from the opening prayer to the final benediction.
The reading of the Bible was not considered essential or even justifiable in public worship. The rubrics of the Church of England made it obligatory upon her clergy to read a certain prescribed portion upon holy days and fast days ; but the men who had separated from the Church were not dis- posed to follow her teachings in this respect, although their descendants in the nineteenth century insist that the Word of God shall be read not only in the meeting-houses on Sun- day, but in the public schools on every other day in the week. Not until the year 1750 did the reading of the Script- ures become a part of the established order of religious worship in the Third Parish .*
For several years after the organization of the Presbyterian Society and the settlement of Rev. Jonathan Parsons the tax levied upon the members of that society for the support
* In the First Parish the Scriptures were not read at divine service until the year 1769.
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and maintenance of public worship in the meeting-house, where Rev. Mr. Lowell officiated, was stoutly resisted. At length an amicable agreement was reached, which resulted in the passage of an act, by the General Court, Jan. 29, 1752, entitled " An act to impower the proprietors of the meeting house in the First Parish in Salem, where the Reverend Mr. John Sparhawk now officiates, and also the proprietors of the meeting house in the Third Parish in Newbury, where the Reverend Mr. John Lowell officiates, to raise Money for defraying ministerial and other necessary charges." By the provisions of this act the proprietors were authorized to levy a tax on the pews in Rev. Mr. Lowell's meeting house, and to raise such sums of money as should be agreed upon at any meeting legally called. They were also authorized to assess upon pewholders, according to their cir- cumstances and ability, whatever balance might be required to meet the expenses of the parish over and above the sum received from the tax on pews ; " and all persons not attend- ing publick worship in said house as well as those who do" were freed from parish taxes. This act continued in force for three years, and was then extended for three years longer. It was subsequently renewed from time to time until the year 1780, when the new State constitution was adopted, which provided that all money raised for the sup- port of public worship should be paid according to the in- struction or request of the tax-payer " for the support of the public teacher or teachers of his own religious sect or de- nomination, provided there be any on whose instruction he attends." Armed with the authority conferred by the legis- lative act of 1752, the proprietors of the Third Parish meet- ing-house were able to provide the funds needed to meet the annual expenses without further irritation or annoyance.
Notwithstanding the deep religious interest prevalent at that time, and the reverent attention given to religious in- struction by the men of that day, it is evident that some of the younger members of the community who attended Sun- day services in the Third Parish meeting-house were not absolute models of propriety. Possibly, they transmitted to
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the boys of the present generation some of their sinful pro- clivities. At all events, their behavior was severely criticised ; and June 20, 1751, the parish voted "that Joshua Pillsbury and Stephen Moody and Paul Shackford and Edmund Bart- lett take care of the Boyes that Play at meeting."
In an interleaved almanac now in the possession of Mrs. Alexander B. Forbes, of Fatherland Farm, the Rev. Moses Parsons wrote : -
Feb. 9, 1754, a thunder shower in the evening with hail and rain. The lightening struck ye steeple of Mr Lowell's meeting house and shattered it very much, and did some damage to ye house and to ye windows of ye houses near.
Soon after this event, Benjamin Franklin visited Newbury, and made a careful examination of the premises. In a letter to M. Dalibard at Paris, dated Philadelphia, June 29, 1755, and read before the Royal Society of London Dec. 18, 1755, Franklin wrote : -
I thank you for communicating M. de Buffon's relation of the effect of lightning at Dijon, on the 7th of June last. In return, give me leave to relate an instance I lately saw of the same kind. Being in the town of Newbury, in New England, in November last, I was shown the effect of lightning on their church, which had been struck a few months before. The steeple was a square tower of wood, reaching seventy feet up from the ground to the place where the bell hung, over which rose a taper spire, of wood likewise, reaching seventy feet higher, to the vane of the weather-cock. Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall ; then down by the side of that wall to a clock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger than a common knitting needle. The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the Square in which the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell.
The lightning passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire, without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet holes, through which the wire passed, a little bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendu-
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lum-wire of the clock extended; which latter wire was about the thick- ness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendulum, down quite to the ground, the building was exceedingly rent and damaged, and some stones in the foundation-wall torn out and thrown to the distance of twenty or thirty feet. No part of the aforementioned long small wire, between the clock and the hammer, could be found, except about two inches that hung to the tail of the hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissi- pated in smoke and air, as gunpowder is by common fire, and had left only a black smutty track on the plastering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middle and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceil- ing, under which it passed, and down the wall. These were the effects and appearances on which I would only make the following remarks, viz. : --
I. That lightning, in its passage through a building, will leave wood to pass as far as it can in metal, and not enter the wood again till the conductor of metal ceases. And the same I have observed in other instances, as to walls of brick or stone.
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