USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > Reminiscences of Salem, Massachusetts : embracing notices of its eminent men known to the author forty years ago > Part 9
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Samuel, Feb. 10, 1716-7. Richard, Nov. 2, 1718. Sarah, Oct. 14, 1722. Mary, July 16, 1727.
Samuel died May 5, 1723, and the mother July 9, 1743, aged 55. I think Richard and Mary died unmarried, and that the only survivor of the family was Sarah, who md. July 18, 1744, Josiah Orne, and a Josiah Orne, jr., md. June 18, 1786, Alice, dau. of Capt. Edw. Allen, and in the person of their son-the family friend of the generation before us,-who md. his cousin Anne Allen, and removed to Pontotoc, Miss., years ago the name was revived in the familiar " Elvin Orne."
. Deacon Elvins apparently lived once in St. Peters' St., as in 1743 he sold to Jos. Symonds, jr. and Jona. Verry, jr., a dwelling house and a quarter of an acre of land, bounded E. on Prison Lane, S. by the house and land of Eliz'h Gray, W. by land that belonged to Habakuk Gardner, and N. by premises of said Eliz'h Gray.
In 1728-9 he bought of Benj. Woodberry of Beverly and wife Eliz'h, and of Josiah Lee of Manchester, and wife Mary, the wives being daughters of Obed Carter, dec'd, his late dwelling house bounded
thought him an artful man & that he took advantage of Mr. Jennison. But in his society he was much respected till death, & his plaintive strains vouched for great sincerity in his ministry.
Sept. 4, 1799. This afternoon was buried Madam S. Orne æt. 77. She was a dau. of Richard Elvins. This Richard was a Baker in the eastern part of Salem, & Deacon in the East Meeting House. During the life of W. Jennison, the minister, he was often called to officiate as Jennison was very excentric. When he had begun he was unwilling to quit, & therefore went eastward to preach, & was ordained at Blackpoint, & married the widow of the Minister deceased, who was the mother of the present President Willard of Cam- bridge."
It will be seen by the following extract from a letter to the venerable society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, from Rev. Mr. Brockwell, their agent then in Salem, that he characterizes Mr. Elvins a little more harshly. He is writing to the secre- tary at Fulham, near London, of the " New Light" doctrines then industriously propagated through this country by Mr. Whitfield and others.
SALEM, Fcb. IS, 1741-2.
" Rogers of Ipswich one of this Pseudo Apostles displayed his talent in ye Town on Sun- day ye 24th January & continued here so doing until ye Thursday following, when he left his auditory in charge to one Elvins a Baker who holds forth every Thursday, and tho a fellow of consummate ignorance is nevertheless followed by great multitudes & much cried up. But I thank God, that few of my church went to hear either of them, and those yt did wholly disliked them.
"P. S. A noted teacher in this Town is suspected of Forgery, of which if he next July Court should be found guilty, I am pretty confident many of his congregation will draw off to the Church of England & more of the better sort."
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N. "by the highway going down to ye Blockhouse and Neck, South by Salem Harbor, W. by land of Joseph Hillard, and E. by that of Capt. Wm. Pickering and the Collinses ;" these premises - two acres in extent- "with the fruit trees, &c.," he sold to Capt. Benj. Ives Jan. 14, 1733.
This property at the head of the Neck was known as "The Block House Field."
He was one of the co-owners with Benjamin Ives and Philip Saun- ders in the land, dwelling-house and Windmill which were where Northey St. now runs, and in 1742 sold his quarter to Rev. James Diman.
April 10, 1721, he bought of the Rev. Benjamin Prescott and wife Elizabeth for £190, three quarters of an acre, bounded N. W. by ye premises of ye Widow Dourie, N. E. by those of Widow Sarah Williams, S. E. by the house and land of Samuel Foot, and S. W. by the land of the Higginsons, with the dwelling-house, bakehouse warehouse, fruit trees, &c., excepting its common right.
These premises were those from which the name was given of "Elvins' Point."
They had been occupied by John Stratton at a very early period, and afterwards belonged to Henry True, whose widow Israel (sic) then of Salisbury, conveyed them,- a dwelling house, quarter of an acre of land adjoining, &c.,-to George Gardner, merchant in 1659. Mr. Fitz. Waters obliges mne with the conveyances from these early owners to their later successors. George Gardner died in 1679, leaving by his will the estate in two parts, - one, the southern or water end, to his dau. the wife of Habakkuk Turner; the other or northern end to his son Samuel.
The former was sold by Robert Turner of Weathersfield, Conn., ·joined by his sister Mary and their mother Mary Marston, in 1698, to Samuel Foot, and while in the holding of the latter was so largely washed away by the wind-driven waters, as stated by the elder Ward.
In 1702 Capt. Samuel Gardner conveys to his son and dan., John and Hannah Higginson, the house " Cozen John Buttolph lives in," with the Bakehouse, &c., &c.
Elizabeth Higginson a dau. md. Rev. Benj. Prescott, and from them, as we have seen, the estate came to Richard Elvins. In 1744 Elvins conveyed it to his son-in-law Josiah Orne. Witnesses, Walter Palfray. Francis Cabot.
In 1748 Orne sells to John Carrell. Witnesses, Thos. Lechmere. .
James Perrott.
In 1756 he recovers the same from Carrell by execution.
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In 1757 he sold it to Capt. John Webb (who md. Judith Phelps, whose sister Rachel md. Daniel Hathorne), and Webb sold in 1798 to his son-in-law James Carroll the northerly portion, having earlier in that year sold the southerly part to Joseph Fogg, who I think bought afterwards the other part also and from whom the flats at the bottom of Daniels' St. took the name which they have borne in our own time, of "Fogg's Beach."
In regard to the changes of our shore, Dr. Bentley remarks about 1818, that Collins Cove was then only half as deep as when he came to Salem (1783) so much deposit having been carried into it, especially by the little creek flowing down what was afterwards East Street.
Might not Virgin Point have taken its name from John Virgin, an early merchant of Salem?
STANLEY WATERS.
LIBRARY CHICAGO
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ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
ESSEX INSTITUTE,
OCTOBER 5, 1874,
AT THE
CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY .
OF THE MEETING OF THE
PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY
IN SALEM, OCTOBER 5, 1774.
BY ABNER C. GOODELL, JR.
SALEM. PUBLISHED BY THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. IS74.
ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
ESSEX INSTITUTE,
OCTOBER 5, 1874,
AT THE
CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
OF THE MEETING OF THE
PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY
IN SALEM, OCTOBER 5, 1774.
BY ABNER C. GOODELL, JR.
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
SALEM. PUBLISHED BY THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. IS74.
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ADDRESS.
O NE of the most striking and suggestive fables of Greek history is the story of the founder of Athens. Arrived at manhood, Theseus parts from his mother, lifts the stone under which lie concealed the patrimonial sword and sandals, and proceeds on his eventful way. Wielded by his vigorous arm, his trenchant blade now parries the tremendous club of Corynetes, and now pierces the obdu- rate hide of the terrible Pha. He crowns his trium- phant progress by still greater deeds of renown; he safely threads the dismal and intricate labyrinth of Crete, frees its despairing captives, and slays the monster Min- otaur. Returning thence, he calls together the sons of Hellas, and raises the standard of united Attica.
The true story we are assembled to commemorate finds in this fable a parallel. Sprung from a nation the proudest
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and greatest in all history, the genius of independence was first transplanted to these rugged shores of the Massa- chusetts Bay. Nurtured long in the severe and heroic discipline of this western wilderness, as if preparing for its majestic mission, at length, in this ancient town, it first officially repudiated the control of the motherland, and, fully comprehending the greatness of its destiny, girded itself for desperate conflict. Later, it lifted and laid the corner-stone of the Republic, in the immortal Declaration at Philadelphia, and turned the sword, al- ready unsheathed in self-defence, to deeds of aggressive war. Against formidable obstacles and discouragements, with matchless fortitude, through eight dreary years of conflict, it parried the thrusts of treason, pricked the sides of apathy and halting discontent, vanquished that unnatural monster,-a hireling foe, and compelled the ministers of tyranny to acknowledge the victory. Mean- while, it had successfully threaded the labyrinth of the untried inter-colonial system, delivered these youthful states from the frowning walls of doubt that environed them, and raised the standard of a harmonious confed- eration.
In one important feature, however, the parallel fails. The noble AEthra, looking upon her son as the heaven- favored scion of Pelops' line, and swelling with high hopes of his future glory, invoked a favorable issue on his journey, led him to the stone which his father's hand had placed, and rejoiced as, with elastic step, he went forth from her presence. Not so with her to whom our fathers looked with filial love and reverence. The bosom that had heroically nursed the spirit of independence, heaved only with indignation when her sons asserted their birth- right. The mother who with almost mortal pangs had brought forth every idea involved in our struggle for the
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right of self-government, answered the appeals of her children for the liberties of Englishmen, with taunts and objurgations, and met every effort to assert them with new measures of oppression, and fresh displays of coer- cive power. Nay, she herself created the monsters of tyranny that beset the path of her children, and rejoiced with unnatural joy, when their defeat seemed imminent.
This is the theme, so inspiring and yet so sad, which the lapse of a century invites us to ponder. If, haply, in restoring tints that have faded from the well-worn pic- tures of the past, we bring into brighter relief examples of heroism that shall stimulate a just and healthy pride, and furnish new incentives to patriotism and noble living, then the labor will be not without profit ; or if, in waking the echoes of those voices, long silent, which, from the inmost heart of England, and above the hostile din of partisan clamor, spoke words of lofty cheer to our strug- gling grandsires in the solemn hours of the Revolution, we shall strengthen the ancient ties of love and friendship which still attach us to the home of our ancestors, the effort will be rewarded with unspeakable pleasure.
In order better to understand the historical and politi- cal significance of the events we are about to consider, it will be well to review the relations that had existed be- tween Great Britain and her American colonies, before we inquire, particularly, what took place in the town of Salem one hundred years ago.
Three kings of the house of Hanover, of the same name, had successively held the sceptre of Great Britain. George the Third had been upon the throne fourteen years ; and, though reputed a faithful husband and indul- gent father, had shown, from the first, an utter want of sympathy with the traditional tendencies of English gov- ernment, and ignorance of, or disregard for, the best les-
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sons of English history. He emulated the Stuarts in his jealous zeal for the Royal prerogative, opposition to politi- cal progress and. indifference to the welfare of the people. except so far as he imagined it might insure the stability or increase the grandeur of the throne. Generally it hap- pens that some great minister or cabal stands behind the throne, and directs its motions ; but this monarch seldom permitted himself to be persuaded, and never to be intimidated. He remembered his mother's injunction, "George, be King," and he observed it with undoubting, and, apparently, unconscious fidelity, as if in the exercise of a right as clear and unquestioned as an axiom in mathe- matics. How far he secretly entertained the doctrine of di- vine right, which had become infamous under the Stuarts. and was finally rejected in the revolution of 1688, and the act of settlement, it is needless to inquire. It is enough that his construction of the constitution, by its menace of peril to English liberties, put him in opposition to the best minds of the nation as surely as did their as- sumption of divine ordination and independent authority.
Partly by the bestowment of offices, dignities, and pensions, and partly by notoriously promoting the elec- tion of those whose known views accorded with his own, King George the Third had found it possible to surround himself with ministers, and to secure numerical majori- ties in parliament, willing to go almost any length in support of his favorite measures.
It was in a parliament thus constituted that a theory, affirming the absolute right of the Home Government to unlimited control of all legislative and administrative functions in the colonies, began to be asserted and acted upon, by the King and his retainers, with vigor and with- out scruple. This theory, which had been maintained in the days of the Stuarts, and proposed in later times
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against strenuous protests, and had been put in prac- tice when the colonies were too much occupied, in their struggles with a common enemy, to make effective op- position possible, was unsupported by the best estab- lished precedents. But it could be presented in such specious forms, and defended by such refinement of reasoning, that those of its opponents who could keep their vision steadily fixed upon its essential fallacy were few. So, while the injustice of its practical application . to the American colonies was evident to all friends of the constitution, their grounds of objection were various, and the novel questions of law and policy which it in- volved, evoked heated discussions on both sides of the Atlantic.
Other unsound propositions respecting personal liberty, and the freedom of speech and of the press, began to be maintained at the instance, or with the sanction, of the Government, and were adopted and applied in the courts of justice. These met with vehement opposition ; and England teemed with controversial pamphlets and news- paper articles, upon the powers of the government and the rights of the citizen. The popular party, prominent in which appeared the anonymous writer Junius, whose elegant and incisive criticisms laid his antagonists, by their own confession, upon a bed of torture,* made the best arguments ; but their opponents had the counte- nance of the Crown. These effusions were copied and widely circulated in the colonies ; and there were many here who began to share the conviction of the more radical reformers of England, that the King and his advisers were conspirators against the constitutional lib- erties of Englishmen and the natural rights of man. In both countries, among thoughtful men, the course
* See the letter of Sir William Draper to Junius, Oct. 7, 1769.
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of the Government was a theme constantly agitated, and the source of repeated discomfiture and profound alarm. ... With regard to colonial affairs, what to Englishmen at home seemed but a subversive theory, and therefore worthy of denunciation and of efforts for repeal, was to these colonies a terrible and bitter realization of the encroachments of tyranny, and engendered thoughts of open resistance.
: : The stamp act of 1765, imposing a tax without the consent of the colonies, provoked prompt demonstra- , tions of hostility, here, and led to a Congress of nine of the colonies, at New York, whose earnest protest ef- fected a repeal. Massachusetts, the principal maritime colony, had taken the lead in all measures of opposition, and she had assumed the most prominent part in the movement for united colonial action. The repeal of this act was accompanied by a declaration of the right of par- liament to tax the colonies, and was followed by the adoption of more stringent measures, proposed by a new ministry.
The impost act of 1767, laying a duty on several im- ported articles, including tea, and reinforced by provi- sions intended to make the courts of justice here, more effective agents of the Crown, was promulgated with a display of land and naval forces, to intimidate, if not to coerce, the colonists into obedience. Again Massachu- setts appealed to her sister colonies ; and, in defiance of the express orders of the Crown, her Legislature, by an overwhelming majority, refused to rescind the vote where- by that appeal was authorized.
After the Boston Massacre, the British troops, which had been quartered in that town almost within hearing of the debates of the Assembly, were withdrawn at the instant and firm demand of the brave inhabitants, made
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through their spokesman, Samuel Adams; and this im- post act was repealed, except the item fixing a duty on tea, which was, however, rendered practically void by the refusal of the people to use that article.
But the King was determined not to be foiled in his purpose to exact from these colonies an acknowledgment of the supreme authority of the imperial legislature ; and, although in the year 1772 the whole net income derived by Great Britain from colonial taxation had amounted to but eighty-five pounds sterling, * parliament, the next year, under pretence of increasing the revenue, renewed its attempts to bring the colonies into subjec- tion, by conferring upon the East-India Company privi- leges amounting to a monopoly of the tea trade with America, and exacting from them a duty of but three- pence per pound, instead of the shilling duty previously imposed. This insidious measure, it was thought, would prevail against the scruples of the colonists, put an end to smuggling, and establish a precedent in favor of the claims of the ministry.
The excitement which ensued here upon the publication of this act, the violent demonstrations of the mobs,- especially the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor, the particulars of which were discussed at our anniversary notice of that event last winter,-convinced the Home Government that the objections of the colonists were radical, that they were founded on principle, and could not be overcome by menaces, or silenced by any con- siderations of temporary profit, in the nature of a bribe.
* So stated at the time, without dissent, in the famous speech of the Bishop of St. Asaph, Am. Archives, Fourth Series, Vol. i, p. 99. This speech was published in England, at the time, in a pamphlet, at one shilling, sterling. It was republished in Salem, by the brothers Hall, of the "Essex Gazette," for "no more than six coppers."-See "Essex Gazette," of Sept. 20, 1774, No. 321. It was widely read in the Colonies.
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They were satisfied that to insure the success of the new measures, something more was needed than the former show of authority, and the appointment of subservient agents ; and plans for active co-ercion were now promptly determined upon. Accordingly, in response to a message from the King, parliament, in the spring of 1774, en- acted a law closing the port of Boston, as a punishment for her contumacy, and removing the seat of customs to Salem and Marblehead. To enforce the blockade, and to insure obedience to the orders of the privy council, and to certain contemplated acts of parliament, which were soon to be promulgated, it was deemed proper to call to the highest office of the provincial government-which had hitherto been held by native-born citizens, or persons in civil life-a British soldier, competent to direct the movements of forces sufficiently large to overawe the colonists. Therefore Thomas Gage, who had been com- mander-in-chief of the army in America, was appointed to the command of this province, and soon after commis- sioned as Governor.
Gage arrived at Boston on the 13th of May, and was soon followed by several regiments of the regular army. Here he found that writs had already been issued for con- vening the General Assembly in the old State House in Boston, on the 25th of the same month. He accordingly met with that body and, after rejecting thirteen of their newly-chosen councillors, including those who were most prominent in their opposition to the acts of parliament, he notified them that, after the first day of the following month, he should hold the General Court in Salem, in accordance with the special command of the King. Fear- ing a voluntary adjournment, the Governor, a week later, suddenly adjourned the Court to meet here on the 7th of June. More than forty years before, Gov. Burnet had
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executed a threat against the patriots of Boston, who con- trolled affairs in that brave old town, by adjourning the Assembly to the same place, alleging, as one reason for this course, that he was informed that the people here were, like their representatives, well-inclined to the King, and that the country members would "not be so much tampered with" here as in Boston .*
From the selection of this new seat of government it would seem that the impression made upon the ministry by Burnet's action had not been effaced. Perhaps it was kept vivid by the known popularity here of the Browne family f-a family always conspicuously loyal, and to a member of which Gov. Burnet had given his daughter in marriage.
The removal of the legislature from Boston had never been ordered without a protest from the Representatives, even when the prevalence of the small-pox there rendered it imperative ; and Gage's predecessor, Hutchinson, had greatly added to the opprobrium with which his name was loaded, by adjourning to, and holding the General Court at, Cambridge, in obedience to the orders of the privy council. The old arguments against this removal were mainly based on the form of the writ for convening the Assembly, in which Boston was named as the place of meeting ; and as that form, though enacted by the pro- vincial legislature, had been sanctioned by the King in council, and never repealed, it was urged that the Gene- ral Court could not be held elsewhere. But this posi- tion had been generally abandoned as untenable, and the change was now opposed on grounds of policy and con-
* See Burnet's Letter to the Lords of Trade, Oct. 26, 1728, in notes to Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, Vol. ii, p. 523.
t Although that family is now extinct here, in the male line, the name is still attached to one of our public schools, and designates one of our principal streets.
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venience. The adjournment by the Governor, without consultation with the Assembly, and by the unauthorized direction of the privy council, was loudly denounced as uncalled for, and a grievance.
This rapid sketch of the progress and posture of affairs down to the time of the first meeting of the Assembly here under Gage, excludes many important events which were transpiring in quick succession in Great Britain, in this province, and throughout the American colonies.
Dr. Franklin, for his advocacy of the claims of the col- onies, had been removed from the charge of the general post-office,-which, under his prudent and skilful man- agement, had become useful and profitable, - and a pri- vate system of letter-carriage had been put in competition with the regular mails, whereby the committees of corres- pondence might exchange advices with speed and safety. These committees, which, on former occasions, had been found useful in promoting local and inter-colonial concert of action, were now revived and actively employed. Pul- pits rang with earnest denunciations of the tyranny of the administration, and with exhortations to firmness in patri- otic duty. The Boston massacre was commemorated by ' an annual oration. Pamphlets circulated the arguments of patriots and tories ; and broadsides and newspapers · brought to every household reports of the doings of munic- ipal and legislative bodies, the most eloquent speeches of the friends of the colonies in parliament, patriotic songs, and narratives of turbulent proceedings. The minutest actions of the civil agents of the Crown, and the move- ments of troops, transports and armed vessels, were watched with lynx-eyed vigilance, and tidings of every important step of the enemy were conveyed, by swift messengers, from town to town and from colony to colony.
Massachusetts was still the principal theatre of oppo- sition to tyranny, but her patriots, chief among whom
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stood Samuel Adams of Boston-a man ever to be held in highest veneration-were wise enough to foresee that, unless the general consent of the sister colonies could be secured, all efforts for liberty were without the prospect of success. Such a cooperation had effected the repeal . of the stamp act in 1765, and similar efforts, in 1768, had been followed by the partial repeal of the impost act of the previous year. Who should say that the united action of the colonies in another Congress would not result in some final plan of agreement upon the great questions at issue between them and the Home Government?
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