USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Ould Newbury: historical and biographical sketches > Part 42
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To see if the Town will authorize some person or persons to receive a conveyance of a piece of land for a Burying ground, and direct the Treasurer to pay the money in behalf of the Town.
At a meeting held August 8, 1800, it was voted that "the Treasurer be and is hereby authorized to purchase of William Coffin Little five acres of land for a Burying ground not to exceed --- and receive a deed of it."
In book 167, page 21, of the Essex registry of deeds, the conveyance of four acres and 137 1% rods of land, from William Coffin Little, of Amesbury, silversmith, and Francis Little of Newburyport, mariner, to the town of Newburyport, is recorded, and the consideration named therein is $970. The bounds and limits of this lot of land are described as follows : -
Beginning at the northerly corner of said lot by a street or way formerly called West India Lane, now called Hill street, south 12º east, 22 rods 8 in. by said street, thence south 7º west, 4 rods 9 feet 10 in. by said street, thence south 20° west, II rods I foot 4 in. by said
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GRAVE OF CALEB CUSHING, NEW HILL BURYING GROUND.
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street, thence south 22° 30' west, 13 rods 2 feet 7 in. by said street, thence north 70° west, 20 rods 12 feet, by land purchased by Anthony Davenport, thence north 23° east, 45 rods, by land of Anthony Daven- port, thence north 79º east, 5 rods and 9 feet, by the road to the bound begun at.
Reserving out of the land above described about five rods at the westerly corner and bounded three rods on said Davenport's land westerly, and two rods by the road down to the pastures, in which reserve there are now several graves, and the said five rods are to remain for a burying place forever.
The five rods specially reserved, and the remainder of the land conveyed by the above-mentioned deed, have, since the year 1800, formed a part of the New Hill burying ground. It is evident that the burials referred to in the preceding paragraph were made, within a limited area near the corner of Hill and Pond streets, long before the land was purchased by the town of Newburyport, and some of them even before the town itself was incorporated.
The oldest stone now standing there was erected to the memory of " Sarah Little ye dater of John & Temperance Little, who died Jan. 30, 1735." The next in point of age marks the grave of " William Coffin Ripp, son of Mr. William Ripp, who died --- 12, 1739."
Other stones in that immediate vicinity bear the following inscriptions : -
Here lies buried the body of Mr William Ripp, who died July 13, 1740, aged 46.
Mrs. Temperance Little, widow of John Little, died January 17, 1769, in the 37th year of her age.
Come mortal man & cast an eye Come read thy doom & prepare to die.
Thomas R. Little, eldest son of William Little and Mrs. Mary Little, died July 8, 1785, in the 16th year of his age.
This youthful bloom was took away To ye cold grave & there to stay Till Jesus comes to summon all That ever died since Adam's fall.
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Mrs. Apphia Little who departed this life October 22, 1791, in the 59th year of her age.
John Little died May 9, 1799, in the 79th year of his age.
April 19, 1870, the city of Newburyport bought of Susan H. Coffin and John Little and Nancy C., wife of the said John Little, about four and one-half acres of land, with the buildings thereon, bounded and described in a deed of conveyance recorded in book 795, page 196. May 16, 1870, a portion of this land, with a dwelling-house standing upon the same, was sold to Mr. George Haskell (book 797, page 88), and the limits of the New Hill burying ground were then extended far enough, in a southwesterly direction, to include the remainder of the land purchased.
Epitaphs taken from tombstones and monuments in the New Hill burying ground, erected to the memory of the Rev. Samuel P. Williams, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Rev. Samuel Spring, pastor of the North Church, Rev. John Boddily and Rev. John Giles, pastors of the Second Presby- terian Church, will be found printed in full in Coffin's History of Newbury, pages 385 and 386.
Many of the men and women prominent in the political or social life of Newburyport at the beginning of the present century are buried in this enclosure. A few names and dates, gathered from the memorial tablets that mark their graves, are as follows : ---
Stephen Hooper, died Jan. 16, 1802, aged 81.
Sarah Hooper, wife of Stephen Hooper, died June 26, 1779.
Alice Hooper, wife of Stephen Hooper, died May 8, 1812.
Joseph Marquand, died Sept. 6, 1820, aged 72.
Mrs. Mary Tracy, widow of Hon. Nathaniel Tracy, died Oct. 31, 1810, aged 66.
Capt. Offin Boardman, died Aug. 1, 1811, aged 63.
Capt. Peter Le Breton, died Feb. 24, 1813, aged 67.
Capt. Peter Le Breton, Jr., died March 5, 1829, aged 50.
Richard Pike, died June 2, 1827, aged 60.
John Pettingel, died Oct. 26, 1828, aged 83.
James Prince, " Collector of this District," died May 11, 1830, aged 75.
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Mrs. Margaret Atwood,* died June 5, 1832, aged 79.
Leonard Smith, died Aug. 4, 1842, aged 95.
Edmund Bartlet, died May 9, 1854, aged 76.
Benjamin Gould, "an officer of the Revolution," died May 30, 1841, aged 90.
Mrs. Grizzel Apthorp Gould, wife of Benjamin Gould, died Jan. 12, 1827, aged 74.
Hannah Flagg Gould, born in Lancaster, Mass., Sept. 3, 1788; died in Newburyport, Sept. 5, 1865.
Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel S. Wilde, and wife of Caleb Cushing, died Aug. 28, 1838, aged 30.
Caleb Cushing, died Jan. 2, 1879.
* Her will was proved and allowed in the probate court Aug. 7, 1832. An extract from this will reads as follows : -
" After paying the several foregoing annual legacies from year to year as I have provided, I devise, give, and bequeath to my executors and their successors, as trustees and in trust forever, the rest, residue and remainder of the income of all my estate, to be by them paid over for the best interest of the poor of the town of Newburyport, and to the proper officers thereof."
N. 1
S. 47 E.
W. -
E.
N. 45° E. 28 RDS. 8 1
POT-ASH HOUSE.
ROPE WALK, 39 RODS LONG.
FROG POND.
N 42 W.
John Vinal fait. 17711.
N. 42 E.
INSIE. 21RODS.
R. F.
N. ACROSS
S.13 E. 9 ROD.
13 4 RODS. ANNA
POWDER HOUSE.
OD LAND.
AUBIN.
DEA. SOMER-
BURYING HILL .,
STEPHEN HOOPER'S
7/2 ROD.
S.83 E. 13 ROD.
13 ROD.
S. 78 ° E.
-
SE. 85º
WILLET'S HOUSE
2480
9
R.F. N. 7 8 E. 19 PERCH. 5.3 4 E.
6 RODS.
" RODS.
S. 83 % E.
-3.10
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1
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W. INDIES.
ROAD TOWARD
14/2_RODS. _
CAPT. GREENLEAF'S HILL. 1
1
1
1
DEA. SOMERBYS
HOUSE.
HIGH
ST
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u RODs.
EAST END.
WIND MILL.
22 - ix.
BY'S CORNERSEBE. TO THE COR. OF B. HILL. THE ROAD is & KODS HERE,
LAND AND BUILDINGS IN THE VICINITY OF FROG POND.
72 PERCH TO A MARK IN THEFENCEX THEN3-13-6 TO THE CORNER "A"
BARTLET MALL.
It is evident from a glance at the map of Frog Pond and vicinity for the year 1700, on page 118, that all the desirable land in that neighborhood was divided among the proprietors of the town, with the exception of a small area surrounding the pond. A portion of this undivided land on the south- westerly side was subsequently enclosed as a burying ground ; and the uneven and irregular surface of the long, narrow strip on the northeasterly side of the pond, next to the country road, was, at a later date, graded and named Bartlet Mall.
As early as 1703 a windmill was set up on the open space near the southeastern extremity of the pond, and forty or fifty years later a rope-walk was erected at the northeasterly end parallel with High Street. The town of Newbury granted John Crocker liberty, March 8, 1748, to build a rope-walk "along by the windmill and to improve said place for ten years for making of ropes and for no other use."- Coffin's History of Newbury, page 218.
Jan. 28, 1764, a portion of the town of Newbury, less than a mile square, but including Frog Pond and land adjacent thereto, was set apart and incorporated as a new town by the name of Newburyport.
In the year 1766 measurements were taken, and in 1771 a plan was drawn by John Vinal, giving the bounds and limits of the common and undivided land in the vicinity of Frog Pond. A photographic copy of this plan, taken from the first volume of the records of the town of Newburyport and reproduced on the opposite page, will assist the reader in locating the old windmill, burying ground, rope-walk, and other objects of interest in that locality.
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The survey was undoubtedly made, by order of the select- men, for the purpose of obtaining the courses and distances named in the following official document, issued Feb. 28, 1766 :-
Laid out by the Selectmen of the Town of Newburyport at the request of a number of the Inhabitants, the following Tract of Land Included within the line hereafter mentioned as a Private way for the use of the Town, viz. beginning at the corner of Deacon Sam1 Somerbys land towards the great Pasture gate, not far from the burying Hill, thence running North Forty Two Degrees East as the Fence now stands to a notch in the fence not far from D. Somerbys well, thence North Forty five degrees East until it comes to the highway, of four rods wide called high Street to the Northward most side thereof, thence South Forty Seven Degrees East, Seventy Two Rods, to a mark in the fence, thence Three Rods, Thirteen feet, Six inches to the Corner of the fence. Then beginning at Deacon Somerbys Corner before mentioned, and thence running South Seventy Eight Degrees East to the Corner of burying hill fence, thence running across the way there to a mark in the fence, owned by John Little, thence North East crossing a nother way to Land in Newbury owned by Richard Greenleaf Esq., thence North East Seventy Eight Degrees East, nineteen Rods, thence South Thirty four Degrees East, thence as the fence stands to the Garden spot improved by Nath1 Willet, and so round the same, as the fence stands, thence South, Eighty five Degrees East Twenty four Rods, thence South Eighty Three Degrees East Eleven Rods, and so across the Road to the corner A mentioned in the annexed plan,- all the land Included in the Lines, covered or not covered, excepting a Tract of Land containing about one hundred & Thirty four Rods with a House on it now owned by Stephen Hooper, also excepting the King's High- way, called High street, of four Rods wide,- wee lay out as a way for the use of the Town. The Annexed is a Plan of the same. Laid out this 28th of February A.D. 1766, By us.
DANL FARNHAM Selectmen JOHN BERREY of CUTTING MOODY Newburyport.
March 8, 1774, the town of Newburyport voted, on peti- tion of Captain Ralph Cross and others, to level the ground in the vicinity of Frog Pond in order to render it available as a training-field ; and, March 9, 1779, Nathaniel Tracy was authorized to plant shade trees where the old rope-walk formerly stood. May 16, 1781, Stephen Sewall, Stephen
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BARTLET MALL
Hooper, Mary Hooper, Nathaniel Tracy, Nathaniel Atkinson, Benjamin Greenleaf, Enoch, Joshua, and Richard Titcomb, and the heirs of the late Benjamin Frothingham, donated the land needed to make a four-rod way from High Street to Merrimac Street between State and Market streets; and March 28, 1782, Green Street, as laid out, was accepted and the plan of the same ordered to be placed on record.
Nearly a century previous to the laying out of Green Street, a school-house was erected in the vicinity of Frog Pond, and children were there instructed in reading, in writing, and in arithmetic. Ever since that date the pursuit of knowledge and the training and discipline of the mind have been prominently identified and intimately associated with that neighborhood.
March II, 1712, the town of Newbury "Voted that a house for ye keeping ye Gramer school in, shall be bilt and set up near ye middle waye, between ye old school house & ye little old house now standing by ye way near frog Pond and that the Gramer schoole master shall have fifteen pounds in money and fifteen pounds as money for keeping the Schollers to learn Lattin & to write & cypher for the year ensuing."
Soon after the incorporation of the town of Newburyport in 1764 a committee was appointed to provide suitable accom- modations "for one Grammer School not far from the Revd Mr. Lowell's meeting House, and two reading, writing & arithmetick schools, one of them adjoining to Queen Street, Ordua Lane, or Bartlett's Lane, preferring the latter, and the other adjoining or near Cross Street or Elbow Lane."
In compliance with this vote, a building for the north school was erected on Bartlett's lane, now Winter Street, and there for more than fifty years the younger pupils of the town were taught to read, to write, and to cipher .*
At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of Newburyport, held
* May 13, 1764, the town of Newburyport purchased of John Harbut, blockmaker, about nine and one-half rods of land, bounded on the southeast by Bartlett's lane, on the southwest by land of John Lewis, on the northwest by land of Hezekiah Collins and Josiah Titcomb, and on the northeast by land of the grantor (Essex Deeds, book 115, page 258).
In the Newburyport Herald, July 13, 1821, the town of Newburyport advertised several lots
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March 9, 1790, it was "voted to build a new school house for the north school to be kept in ; voted that the said school house be placed somewhere near the Hay scale on the Town land ; voted that the said school house be forty feet long and thirty feet wide; voted that the selectmen with the school master be a committee, to build said school house at the Town's expense."
The new building was located at the northwesterly end of Frog Pond. It was a wooden structure of modest dimen- sions, but still sufficiently commodious to meet the wants and requirements of the community at that time. It soon, how- ever, became overcrowded and was ultimately removed to make room for another building.
May 30, 1823, the selectmen of Newburyport were author- ized "to build a new school house,- instead of making an addition to the school house at the western end of the mall,- on the site where the school house now stands, or near the same, at an expense not to exceed eighteen hundred dollars exclusive of the old school house and the powder house."
Plans were prepared, materials purchased, and the work of construction was commenced without delay. The school- house was built of brick and was ready for use in October of that year. The Lancastrian or monitorial system of educa- tion was then exceedingly popular, and under the supervision of Master Coolidge that plan or method of teaching was adopted and maintained in the school for several years ; but the results were not satisfactory, and a thorough reorganiza- tion became necessary. Changes were made, not only in the method of instruction, but in the classification and grading of the school. Under the direction of experienced teachers, it was soon brought to a high standard of efficiency, and con-
of land for sale, and among them "a lot of land on Winter Street, containing about nine and one- half rods, with a building formerly occupied for a school house."
Dec. 17, 1821, the town of Newburyport gave a deed of the above described land, with the building thereon, to Andrew Wilson (book 232, page 137).
In 1826 Andrew Wilson gave a mortgage deed to Charles Marstes of house and land on a way " formerly called Bartlett's Lane, now Winter Street" (book 241, page 113); and April 30, 1827, he conveyed the equity in this property to Charles Marstes (book 244, page 227).
March 22, 1833, Charles Marstes sold the honse and land to Moses Dodge (book 270, page 190).
The building is still standing. It has been occupied as a dwelling-house since 1826.
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tinued in a flourishing condition until the school-house was destroyed by fire in 1868.
The Latin-Grammar school-house, at the southeasterly end of Frog Pond, was built in the year 1796 by order of the town of Newburyport. At a meeting legally called for that purpose on the fourth day of April, 1796, the town " voted to build a new school house of brick nearly of the same
SCHOOL-HOUSE AT NORTHWESTERLY END OF BARTLET MALL.
dimensions of the north school house, and that the same be set at the southerly end of the Mall, on the towns land near the Frog Pond."
In this building, Michael Walsh, author of Walsh's Arith- metic, taught Latin and Greek from 1796 to 1803. July 6, 1809, the town of Newburyport " voted to put a second story on the Brick school house in the Mall to accommodate the Centre school."
The addition of this second story, when completed and
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viewed from an architectural standpoint, gave rise to con- siderable adverse criticism. The height of the structure, compared with its length and breadth, was especially notice- able. Notwithstanding its defects and peculiarities, the remodeled building was made useful and serviceable for many years. In 1831, it was repaired, and March 5, 1832, it was reopened for the accommodation of the Latin and Eng- lish high school of Newburyport, under the charge of Roger S. Howard * and David P. Page.t
Mr. Howard retained his position as instructor in this school until 1845, with the exception of an interval of two or three years, when he was engaged in teaching a private school for girls in the Newburyport Academy. Mr. Page resigned in December, 1844, to take charge of the State Normal School at Albany, N. Y.
In 1853, a more convenient and commodious building on the turnpike, now State Street, was provided for the accom- modation of the high school. The two-story brick structure on the mall, left for several months unoccupied, was subse- quently utilized for the instruction and education of younger
* Mr. Roger S. Howard was born in Thetford, Vt., July 20, 1807. He graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1829, and came to Newburyport soon after that date. He married, March 22, 1832, Martha, daughter of Richard and Sarah Pike, of Newbury. She died at Thetford, Vt., Sept. 24, 1849. Mr. Howard was then supervisor of public schools in the State of Vermont. After the death of his wife he removed to Bangor, Me., and for nearly ten years had charge of the Female high school there. For his second wife he married, Aug. 18, 1853, Laura Frances, adopted daughter of Mr. Bezer Latham, of Lyme, N. H. She died at Bangor March 27, 1858. Soon after this event Mr. Howard was admitted to orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1859 he was rector of St. Stephen's Church in Portland, Me. He married, July 19, 1860, Mrs. Charlotte P. Jewett, of that city, for his third wife. He subsequently was settled at Rutland and at Woodstock, Vt., and at the Church of the Reconciliation in Webster, Mass. On account of failing health he was obliged to resign his pastoral office in the autumn of 1879. He removed to Greenfield, Mass., and there died April 16, 1880. He left a widow and one daughter by his first wife. The daughter married Hon. Chester C. Conant, judge of the probate court in Franklin County, Massachusetts. She died July 17, 1889. Mrs. Charlotte (Jewett) Howard, widow of Rev. Roger S. Howard, D. D., died in Greenfield Aug. 9, 1892.
t David Perkins Page was born in Epping, N. H., July 4, 1810. He was a student in 1827 and 1828 at the Hampton Academy. He came to Newbury when eighteen or nineteen years of age, and taught, during the winter, in one of the district schools at Byfield. He afterward opened a private school in a small one-story building that formerly stood on Green Street, Newburyport, where the Church of the Immaculate Conception now stands. Hon. John N. Pike, of Newbury- port, Moses Coleman, Esq., of Boston, and others now living, were members of that school.
In the year 1831, the number of pupils had increased sufficiently to warrant the removal of the school to the vestry, or chapel, on Harris Street, adjoining the Second Presbyterian meeting-house. There Master Page continued his labors as instructor until he was appointed principal of the Eng- lish department of the Newburyport high school. He married, Dec. 16, 1832, Susan M. Lunt, daughter of Micajah and Sarah (Giddings) Lunt. He died in Albany, N. Y., Jan. 1, 1848, leaving a widow, two sons, and two daughters. He was buried in Oak Hill cemetery at Newburyport, Mass.
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pupils. In this way it was made serviceable for nearly thirty years ; but, at length, on account of needed repairs, it was again vacated. By a vote of the committee on public prop- erty, it was sold at public auction May 30, 1883. A few months later it was taken down ; and now a brick, stamped with the figures 1796, an old weather vane, and a marble slab, bearing the inscription "Bartlet Mall 1800," are the only memorials of the ancient structure that remain .*
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING AT SOUTHEASTERLY END OF BARTLET MALL.
At the April term of the court of general sessions held in Salem in the year 1797, suit was brought by the pro- prietors of common land in the town of Newbury against the town of Newburyport, stating that said town in 1771 took land and flats, called the middle ship-yard, and did not make
* For a more particular account of the schools established and maintained at the southeasterly and northwesterly ends of Bartlet Mall, the reader is referred to a series of articles, prepared by Mr. Oliver B. Merrill, published in the Newburyport Herald for Dec. 22 and 29, 1877, and Feb. 23, 1878.
BARTLET MALL, 1800.
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BARTLET MALL
compensation for the same, and praying that damages might be awarded. Nathan Dane was counsel for the petitioners and Theophilus Bradbury was counsel for the town of Newburyport. This petition was dismissed (court records, page 25).
At the October term of the year 1799, another suit was brought, in which the proprietors of common land in New- bury pray that the way about Frog Pond, laid out in 1766, and the way at the middle ship-yard, laid out in 1771, be discontinued and the land revert to the proprietors. This petition was dismissed (court records, page 104).
The legal questions involved in these suits having been disposed of for the time being, Captain Edmund Bartlet offered to fill with gravel and loam the deep ravine, near the head of Green Street, and make an attractive promenade around the pond.
June 26, 1800, the work was commenced, and in August of that year it was completed. Captain Bartlet contributed liberally toward the expense of this improvement, and the placed was named, in his honor, " Bartlet Mall."
Oct. 2, 1804, the town of Newburyport " voted unani- mously that the town will concur with the honorable court of sessions in placing a new court house on land between Frog Pond and the mall directly fronting Green Street," and in the year 1805 the court house was erected. Previous to this date the court held its sessions in the town house, built in 1762, on the corner of State and Essex streets. The new edifice was designed by Bulfinch and was an imposing structure, with square brick columns or pillars in front and the figure of "Justice," with evenly-balanced scales, standing above the entrance; but all traces of Bulfinch's skill and handiwork disappeared when the building was remodeled in 1853 .*
* For many years previous to this date, the opening of the court was announced by a peculiar ringing or intonation of the bell on the Second Presbyterian meeting-house. To the youthful members of the community it seemed to say : -
" Run, boys, run ! The Court's begun ! Stand 'fore the justice And tell what you've done."
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At the court of sessions, held at Salem, Mass., in July, 1823, the erection of a new jail at the northwesterly end of Bartlet Mall was considered and an order appropriating $2,000 "for the purchase of a lot of land in Newburyport for the erection of a jail in said town was passed."
Aug. 1, 1823, Thomas Somerby conveyed to Essex County "a lot of land in Newburyport, bounded north easterly by Back Street, south easterly by road from High Street by burying ground to Common Pasture, and westerly and northwesterly by land of grantor and others in common " (Essex Deeds, book 235, page 306).
At the October term of the same year the court " ordered that said jail be erected on land recently purchased by the County of Essex of Thomas Somerby near the westerly end of the Pond."
At the July term, in the year 1825, the court authorized the treasurer to issue notes in settlement for land, materials, labor, etc., " used in the construction of house, barn, jail and wall around the same," and at the same term appointed Stephen W. Marston a committee to sell the old jail and pay over the net proceeds thereof to the county treasurer. This old place of imprisonment was then standing on the northerly side of Federal Street (formerly Chandler's lane, afterward called King Street), between Prospect Street and Temple Street. It was erected during the year 1744. The town of Newbury purchased of Anthony Somerby Feb. 4, 1743-4, a lot of land four rods wide on King Street " to build a prison and work house on " (Essex Deeds, book 88, page 2).
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