USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Pigeon Cove : its early settlers & their farms, 1702-1840 > Part 6
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with some variations. They are also recounted in a volume writ- ten and privately printed in 1865 by Charles J. Bushnell. This is a reprint, with additional notes, of the narrative of John Blatch- ford, Jr.'s experiences in the Revolution, originally written by himself and printed in 1788.
Blatchford married Rachel Clark, daughter of Samuel, in Gloucester, January 7, 1755, and the record terms him a "so- journer," meaning a foreigner or stranger. They were credited with 6 sons and 2 daughters: Molly, baptized June 19, 1757, mar- ried Craven; John, baptized September 2, 1759, married Anna Grover March 4, 1784; William, baptized August 2, 1761, died young; Rachael, baptized October 23, 1763, no marriage or death record; Samuel, baptized May 26, 1765, married Lydia Clark, intentions March 30, 1785; Nathaniel, baptized September 20, 1767, married Nabby Cloughlin of Sandy Bay October 2, 1790; Henry, born August 30, 1769, married Hannah Gammage of Sandy Bay March 15, 1791; Jonathan, baptized June 30, 1771, died young.
The son John junior, who had been in the naval service in the Revolution and was a prisoner of war for a long period, was a Representative in the General Court in 1834 and 1835 when 75 years old. Nathaniel died January 11, 1852, 85 years old, and Henry died in 1853, 84 years old.
Rachel, the mother, must have died before June 7, 1771, for on that day John Blanchford (Blanchfill in the notice of intentions) married Mary Morgan. Here he was again recorded as a so- journer, even though he had then lived in Gloucester for all of sixteen years. Mary was probably the daughter of Paul and Ruth (Lane) Morgan who was born May 8, 1741 or 1742 (the record is not clear), and if so her mother was a daughter of Deacon James Lane, a large land owner in Lanesville. John and Mary had two children according to the records, but both died in in- fancy, one June 26, 1773, the other January -, 1775. The records show that Mary Blanchford died October 7, 1792. On January 8, 1795, John Blanchfill married again, this time Mrs. Sarah Clark. On this occasion he was not termed a foreigner.
It is said by his descendants that Mr. Blatchford at one time lived at Sandy Bay village, and that his house stood on the sea-
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ward side of what is now Main Street, Rockport, a little west of the Granite Savings Bank building. This tradition appears to be borne out by the fact that he bought from the Commoners, May 13, 1760, "a small piece of land ... on the northerly side of the way leading from Capt. Samuel Davis' (near Long Cove) to John Pool's." The lot was said to be 8 rods wide on the highway and to run north to the sea, its easterly boundary being a reserved cart road leading to the shore. The Savings Bank building prob- ably stands on the corner next that " cart road."
For this land he paid 20 shillings. Eleven years later, June 27, 1771, or just after he had married his second wife, he conveyed this same land with " appurtenances," which word probably covered a house and other improvements, to David Plummer of Gloucester, trader, "in trust for the Town of Gloucester for- ever." The compensation stated in the deed was 10 pounds, or ten times what he had paid for the land. That in itself seems to indicate that a house was included. This deed gave the area of the lot as 27 square rods (6,806 sq. ft.) and stated that it was bounded north on "Sand bay beach." The intention of that trust has not been determined. The trust deed was not recorded at Salem until February 1, 1803, which was about a year after Mr. Blatchford's death. A search of the deeds from the Town of Gloucester after that date might reveal what was done with that land and if the trust was abrogated.
Nothing has been found to indicate when Mr. Blatchford settled on his part of woodlot No. 80. It is surmised, however, that it was not until after he had married his second wife, Mary Morgan, June 7, 1771. It will be noted that Mary was probably a granddaughter of Deacon James Lane. When he died in 1751 he owned a large part of the land lying between Lane's Cove and Folly Cove, also ten and a half woodlots in the Eastern Division of 1722/23. One of the latter parcels was the western end of lot 80 which was sold in 1797 to James Norwood by the heirs of Deacon Lane, the deed stating that the land abutted easterly on John Blanch's land. It seems not unreasonable to assume that Mary had been given the four acres in lot 80 at the time of her marriage, and that her husband thereupon built a house there.
In the effort to learn the facts concerning this man a search
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was made in the assessment records at Gloucester City Hall. The earliest preserved book of this nature deals with abatements and with the care of the poor and is dated 1784. An entry there states that the Town "Agreed with Mr. John Blanch to keep Anna Stanwood at 9 pounds a year." Anna, it later appears, was about six years old at that time. This arrangement continued for two or three years. The next record relative to the subject is found in the valuation book of the Assessors for 1797, which is the earliest one of its kind that has been preserved. There it appears that John Blackfield, " past his labor," meaning aged and infirm, had a. "small dwelling house and about 4 acres," obviously located back of Pigeon Hill. The valuation books from 1797 through 1801 show John Blatchfield listed as above. In 1802 the place was assessed to his widow, and again in 1803. After that no mention is made of the place.
In 1804, Joseph Bailey was for the first time assessed for a house on the Daniel Gott place, 275 Granite Street, which seems to bear out the tradition in the Bailey family that Joseph moved the " Blanch " house from " the Sheep Pasture " and set it up on the land that he had just bought from the Daniel Gott heirs.
These were all relatively remote locations, but a reference to the map will show that there were several so-called roads leading into and through the section. The road from Folly Cove (now Woodbury Street at its northern end) to Squam Hill and Sandy Bay, " the path to Jumper's," was probably the earliest. The next one, judging from the language of certain deeds, was prob- ably " the road into the woods," now the northerly end of Curtis Street, from Granite Street to 46 Curtis Street. Later this por- tion of that road was known as Goose Lane and as School House Lane. This road was extended to Stephen Gott, Jr.'s house and thence across the Mill Brook to Langsford's and to Jumper's path.
Andrew Woodbury, Jr., a member of the Lanesville and Folly Cove family, married Judith Bootman, intentions November 20, 1754. His house lot, 69 Curtis Street, on which the two story house still stands, was probably bought from William Norwood, but no deed of record has been found. The earliest discovered reference to the house is in a deed from Joseph Wheeler to James Story in 1790, which states, as will be noted below, that
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Mr. Woodbury was then deceased. It is not impossible that he may have built the house about the time of his marriage in 1754. The Woodburys had a number of children, among them Walter, baptized October 20, 1764, who married Polly Lane November 29, 1788, and Peter, born April 23, 1772, who married Rebecca Marchant, intentions August 27, 1796.
In 1797, Peter was taxed for half a dwelling house, half a barn, and half an acre, the other occupant of the place being Jabez Marchant. His wife was Rebecca Woodbury, probably a daugh- ter of Peter and Betty (Griffin), whom he married November 25, 1779. Mrs. Judith Woodbury, widow of Andrew junior, was perhaps living there in 1790 when she was listed in the Federal census as the head of a family with one boy under sixteen years of age, probably Walter, and two girls. The death dates of Andrew and Judith are not known. Peter owned the property in 1808, but in 1811 it was acquired by his brother Walter from a Newburyport man who had come into partial possession in satisfaction of a debt of $60 incurred by Peter. On July 20, 1813, Walter sold the place to James Clarkson whose wife, Sophia, was a daughter of Moses Wheeler of The Garrison House. After five years Clarkson sold, July 1, 1818, to Benjamin R. Bray, mariner, and John Harris, gentleman. Bray acquired Harris' in- terest and lived there until September 12, 1860, when he sold to his son Benjamin, then of Winchester, Mass. Four years later, March 15, 1864, the son sold to Benjamin Fretch, whose family lived there until within recent years. Peter Woodbury was the father of Peter junior, who married Anna Wheeler, the daughter of John Dane Wheeler of The Old Castle.
What is now 64 Curtis Street was settled upon by James Story from Chebacco in 1790, whereupon he was duly " warned out " by the Town. He had served in the Continental Army from Ipswich and had married Sarah Woodbury in April 1786. Joseph Wheeler sold him the eastern end of a 4-acre woodlot bounding west on the Norwood Mill Brook, September 3, 1790. This lot was said to abut easterly on "the highway from the dwelling of Andrew Woodbury deceased," i.e., Curtis Street. Mr. Story built a two story house, probably in 1791. He had 4 sons and 8 daughters. Mr. Story died December 16, 1851, and his wife
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died January 12, 1854. An unmarried daughter, Lucy, con- tinued in the house until her death in 1865. Two years later, February 19, 1867, the heirs sold the place to William H. Mackay, who conveyed it to his brother David. He subsequently tore down the old house and built the present one. An excellent water color drawing of the old house is owned by the descend- ants of David Mackay.
Opposite the James Story place there stands a small house, num- ber 63, which was first mentioned in a deed dated 1794. On Wash- ington's Birthday in that year Moses Wheeler of The Garrison House deeded "Half an acre where Job Knights house now stands." Knights, a fisherman, was the purchaser, and the price that he paid was 7 pounds, 10 shillings Lawful Money. The Knights family continued to live there for about eighty years and then sold to Austin W. Story who in turn sold in 1874 to Michael Counihan, describing the property in the deed as located on a private way " called School house lane." The deed also stated that it was the land conveyed by Moses Wheeler to Job Knights in 1794.
Opposite the Benjamin Stockbridge house there is another old dwelling in the rear of 33 Curtis Street. The earliest refer- ence to it is in a deed to Charles Wheeler, a son of Moses, when the latter's estate was being distributed. The deed was dated November 5, 1833, and it included a small piece of land and a house, which, according to the deed, was then occupied by Solomon Knights. Three years later Charles Wheeler conveyed the place to John and Thomas Knights for $145.
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The North Village of 1840
A T THE TIME of Rockport's incorporation as a town in Feb- ruary, 1840, Pigeon Cove was showing unmistakable signs of business bustle and expansion. Quarrying on an organized commercial scale had been under way for several years, quite upsetting the quiet of the hitherto farming-fishing hamlet. Things were definitely booming in 1840. At least two companies and one or two individuals were getting out building stone for which there was a ready market, and every ledge and rocky pasture acquired a speculative value.
As early as 1823, Nehemiah Knowlton had met with con- siderable success cutting up large boulders that were perched on the shore in the neighborhood of the present-day Federated Church on Granite Street. Three years later a Quincy man, William Torrey, came to Pigeon Cove and bought an acre of shore front at Folly Cove for $110.50 and began quarrying the shore ledges and boulders. This was a part of the Samuel Lane farm of 1707, and lay between Granite Street and the sea oppo- site the old Lane house, then owned by Nathaniel Lane. Torrey bought his shore piece from Daniel Marchant, Jr., possibly 3rd. In 1831, Torrey bought the ledge that then lay along the road- side where now the houses stand that are numbered 100 and 102 Granite Street.
Meantime two other concerns began operations. The partners in one of those enterprises were two young men, Ezra Eames from Holliston, Mass., and Beniah Colburn from Wentworth, N. H. In 1829 they bought from the heirs of Benjamin Wheeler, Jr., the great ledge that then rose to a height of nearly thirty feet from the easterly side of Granite Street between numbers 143 and 151 of the present day. The pit lying east of the Granite Street houses is a relic of that operation, which was carried on until about 1840.
In October, 1830, five men from Quincy and Cambridge, Mass., organized the Boston & Gloucester Granite Company, and bought
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from the heirs of William Rowe of Pigeon Hill Farm, a piece of land lying on both sides of Granite Street between Rowe Lane and the quarry bridge. They also bought a piece that lay next south of the Rowe land. Zacheris Green, a native of Carlisle, Mass., but then of Cambridge, was the president of that com- pany. After ten years of activity the company dissolved, and in 1841 a new set of partners bought the property and continued the business. Messrs. Eames, Colburn and Torrey were members of that partnership, and with them were associated Joshua San- born and John Stimson. The latter was from Ludlow, Vt., and had married Mr. Green's daughter Eliza. In 1845, Mr. Stimson bought out his partners for $10,000 and became the sole operator. Later, Charles S. Rogers, whose father, George D. Rogers, had married Mr. Stimson's sister Anna, became associated with this quarry and his family has been connected there to the present time.
These quarrying activities had attracted a considerable num- ber of young workmen, chiefly country lads from various parts of northern New England, who were looking for jobs. Many of those who stayed married here, and as a result more houses began to go up along Granite Street. A number of native men, not all connected with the granite industry, also built houses along this street, so that in 1840 the north village of the new town presented a far more populous appearance than it did in the farming days.
On the accompanying map there are shown all the houses that, so far as can be determined from the deeds, were standing in 1840. Where houses then standing have since been removed the sites are represented by hollow squares. There follows a sum- mary of the origin of the houses of that period, number by num- ber and street by street, throughout the village.
THE VILLAGERS AND THEIR HOMES IN 1840
GRANITE STREET (Then called the Road to Sandy Bay)
87. This two story stone house, on the easterly side of the street, was built by Zacheris Green, president of the Boston & Glouces- ter Granite Company, at some time between 1830 and 1840, and
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probably for his own occupancy. The earliest deed mentioning this house is dated January 24, 1840, at which time the company dissolved. "The Homestead, including the Mansion Houses, barn & other buildings thereon," were then conveyed to Mr. Green. The boundaries of the property were given as beginning at the corner of the highway and the wharf road south 42° west from the west corner of the stone house and 8 rods 10 links dis- tant, then northerly by the highway to Samuel Parker's land, then easterly by Parker about 13 rods, then south 311/4° west by the wharf land and by the wharf road 22 rods, then south 791/2 west 9 rods 22 links, then north 59° west by said road 3 rods 8 links to the highway at the first bound. One of the " Houses " included in this deed was a story and a half frame house that stood about 30 feet north of the stone house, and close beside the road. It was moved away many years ago, but its cellar is now the sunken garden connected with the stone house. That frame house was built by Major John Rowe, on a part of whose farm it stood, at some time between 1798 and 1801. Just one year after the transfer to Mr. Green he conveyed the property as land and buildings " commonly called the Homestead," one undivided half to his daughter Eliza, wife of John Stimson, the other half to Stimson himself. The Stimsons mortgaged back to Green for $4,000. The debt was discharged in 1846, at which time Mrs. Stimson transferred her share to her husband for $2,500 through Elijah Canney. That deed omitted any reference to the Home- stead or the Mansion Houses, but covered " a stone building used as a boarding house." It was probably being operated by Mr. Canney at that time to house quarry workmen, and it was so used for many years thereafter. Mr. Canney came from Dover Neck, N. H., where the name is still known and pronounced Kenney. He acquired the house himself from Stimson, but in 1852 sold to Alexander McJannett, who probably continued it as a boarding house. In those days two large elm trees are said to have stood by the roadside in front of the house, and one of the deeds gives a walnut tree as one of the back corners of the land. Stimson retained the frame house and the adjacent land and con- tinued to live there for some time thereafter.
On the opposite side of Granite Street, at the western end of
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Rowe Lane, there still stands the " mansion house " built by Major John Rowe at some time between 1784, when he bought the Pigeon Hill Farm, and 1801, in which year he died. The " old house " mentioned in the Major's inventory as standing " in front of the mansion house " was probably removed by the son Wil- liam, as it was not mentioned in the latter's inventory in 1824. The detailed story of the Rowe farm has already been given in these pages. (See chapter: Pigeon Hill Farm.)
50. The house now standing was built by William H. Davis, stone cutter, who, on April 3, 1839, bought land from the Rowe heirs, extending 310 feet northerly from Rowe Lane. On the same day Daniel Davis, also a stone cutter, and said to have been a brother of William, bought the land next north, 350 feet wide on the street. William died about 1850, leaving a widow and two minor sons. In 1865 and 1866 the sons sold their father's house to Aaron M. Brown. The house stands in 1940 substantially as it was built.
95. The house directly opposite the Davis house was built by John Stimson, but not until 1842. Numbers 52 and 54, next north of the Davis house, were not built until 1849.
68. Daniel Davis, a brother of William who built No. 50, built this house in 1839 or 1840 and immediately sold it with a 350 foot frontage for $751. In 1843 it was again sold for $800, and Joseph D. Stanley, a stone cutter, the purchaser, lived there for many years. A subsequent owner greatly enlarged the house and added a French roof. The other houses along that frontage, and num- bered 52, 54, 60, 74, 76, 78, were built at various times between 1842 and 1853. Number 74 was the earliest, being built by Elbridge Witham about 1842. The house as originally built by Daniel Davis is presumed to have been on the same lines as his brother's house, No. 50.
101. The stone house under the elm trees on the easterly side of the street was built by Samuel Parker soon after he bought the land from the Rowe heirs on August 10, 1828. He was a black- smith from Hollis, N. H., and had married Jane Boyd Rowe, a
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daughter of William of Pigeon Hill Farm. The house was surely there on January 28, 1832, when he bought adjacent land from the Rowes described as north " of the lot on which his house stands." The following year he bought another piece south of the house, which gave him a 290 foot frontage on the street. The property is now owned and occupied by a descendant.
84. Beniah Colburn bought the site from the Rowes, 168 feet wide on the westerly side of the street, February 21, 1832, and that same year built a story and a half house which was much later enlarged to accommodate summer visitors. For this land he paid $62.50. The following year, May 25, 1833, he bought another piece from the Rowes which was on the opposite side of the street from the house. This lot was 226 feet wide on the street and included the present numbers 115, 117, 119 Granite Street. This piece was known as " the bull rock pasture," as is learned from a deed dated 1908 given in the division of the estate of Ezra Eames. The " Bull Rock " was a high ledge on the sites of 117 and 119 that rose above the street level 20 feet or more. Mr. Colburn had married Sarah Ann Wheeler, daughter of Moses and Sally (Sargent).
88. On the street frontage of this lot formerly stood the Dis- trict 9 South School House. The Committee of the District bought the land, 43 feet wide on the street, from the Rowes November 30, 1830. School was kept there until about 1850. It was then sold to a group of neighboring property owners who subsequently sold it to the village Universalist Society. Services were held there from 1857 to 1869. The property was then sold to Beniah Colburn and the building was moved to 102 Granite Street, where it now stands as a dwelling house. For a time after it was first moved it was used as a store.
90. Gustavus Norwood, Jr., mariner, sometimes known as 3d, bought the site of the house from David Babson and John and William Fears April 10, 1830. This lot, somewhat triangular in shape, had been a part of the original layout of Landmark Lane, but in 1819, when Babson and the Fears brothers bought the Land-
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mark Field on the hilltop from the Town of Gloucester, this corner piece was included in the transaction. On November 26, 1830, Reuben Norwood, fisherman, a son of Gustavus junior, bought from the Rowes a piece next south of his father's and adjoining the school lot. The following year Reuben and his brother Gustavus 4th were drowned off Pigeon Cove and the son's land became the property of the father. That lot is now the garden end of number 90. Gustavus junior, the father, had mar- ried Sally Fears in 1802. She was a sister of John, William and Nathaniel. They had nine children. The present owner, May- hew Main, is a grandson of Gustavus junior, the builder of the house. Gustavus was in the fifth generation from Francis senior of Goose Cove. His father was a son of Jonathan and grandson of Francis junior.
121. Across the street opposite Gustavus Norwood, Jr., his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Fears, fisherman, built a house at about the same time. On February 9, 1829, he bought his land from the Rowes, 105 feet wide on the street and running east to the sea. Nathaniel had married Betsy Rowe (called Ellen Augusta in the town records) June 11, 1827. They had five boys and five girls. The oldest child was Nathaniel junior, born December 17, 1829. He married Delia Long Rowe July 26, 1864. It is understood that it was then that a second story was built on the house so that the son might live there also.
123-127. The two houses now on that land, on the easterly side of the street, are of relatively modern origin. In the days when it was a part of the Rowe farm this piece of land was known as " the barley stubble." The northeast corner of the Rowe farm, including the barley stubble, and all else northerly to and includ- ing 139 Granite Street, and from the street to the sea, William Rowe, son of the Major, sold to Abraham Lurvey, mariner, August 31, 1805. Mr. Lurvey had married Anna Fears in De- cember 1801. The old house probably built by Thomas or Daniel Harris between 1715 and 1724, mentioned elsewhere in these pages in the story of the Pigeon Hill Farm, stood on this land about 25 feet north of the present 131 Granite Street.
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129-139. Lurvey immediately built the present 139 Granite Street, and on October 3, 1809, he sold a half interest in the re- mainder of the property to Zebulon Lufkin, mariner, for $300. Lufkin then built himself a house which is the present 129 Granite Street. Four years later, January 8, 1813, Lurvey and Lufkin sold to John and William Fears for $300 all the land from 13 1 to 135 Granite Street, both included, on which stood the old Harris house. This land did not run through to the sea. On the same date as that in the deed to Fears, Lurvey quitclaimed to Lufkin everything that remained, from the line between 135 and 137 south to include Lufkin's house site, and thence to the sea, ex- cepting what had been conveyed to the Fears brothers.
Zebulon Lufkin had married Betsey Fears November 15, 1807. She was a sister of John and William, of Nathaniel of 12 I Granite Street, of Anna, Mrs. Abraham Lurvey, and of Sally, Mrs. Gustavus Norwood, Jr., of 90 Granite Street. John and William presumably lived in the old Harris house until 1829, when they divided the property, William taking the southern end, where he built the present house at 131 Granite Street, and John built the present 135. As already stated Abraham Lurvey had built 139 Granite Street when he first bought the land in 1805. When he and Lufkin sold the piece to Fears, Lurvey retained for himself the land at 137. This was later sold to George Robinson, mariner, who sold, January 10, 1824, to Captain Daniel Wheeler for $40, who in turn conveyed in 1832 to Colburn and Eames, who quarried the seaward end, and built the present house on the street front which they sold to John Harris December 3, 1836. The deed stated that Harris was then living there.
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