USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Reminiscences of a nonagenarian > Part 24
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The Poyen arms are :
GULES, A CHIEF AZURE, PEACOCK ON TERRACE VERT. THREE MULLETS PROPER CREST-MARQUIS' CROWN, SUPPORTED BY TWO SAVAGES, DEXTER CLUB AT GROUND, SINIS- TER CLUB AT SHOULDER.
With the family of St. Sauveur de Poyen came his nephew the Count Fran- cis de Vipart, the son of a Count of the same name, and a grandson of the Mar- quis de Vipart. This young man re- mained in America, accompanying his cousin Joseph Rochemont de Poyen in his wanderings upon the banks of the Merrimae, and with him located at the "Roeks." There he married another of the village belles and beauties, Mary Ingalls. The Ingalls family through the Bradstreets, were connections of my grandmother Little. Mary Ingalls possessed uncommon personal and men- tal attractions. Of medium height, hair in long golden curls, violet eyes, fair complexion and rosy cheeks, "none knew her but to love her." In a house nestled between the hills, since for many years owned and occupied by the late Dr. Kennison, the French lord wooed and won the Puritan maid. Their moonlight sails, and saunterings upon the pleasant Newbury shore, with the sweet strains of the Count's violin, are still remembered by a few aged in- habitants.
The wedding created a great sensa- tion in the quiet village. The bride 24
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looked supremely lovely in a dress of pink satin, with an over dress of white lace, and white satin slippers.
Though it was the delight of the Count to lavish every luxury upon his young wife, she continued the same un- pretending, modest person as before marriage. A few short weeks of bliss, and a shade fell over the sunlight of the new life of the wedded pair. Naturally delicate, continuous care and attention to a sick mother, had planted the germs of New England's scourge, consump- tion, by which the Countess de Vipart rapidly declined. In this illness she is described as presenting an almost seraphic loveliness. Reclining in an easy chair, draped in white, her appear- ance was that of a being of a higher world than earth.
Not a twelvemonth from the joyous bridal eve, the village bell pealed the funeral knell, and the remains of the lovely Mary Ingalls, Countess de Vi- part, were deposited under the turf of the quiet rural burial place on the hill side, "beneath the locust bloom." A low, slate stone, the style of the period, marks her grave, it bears this inscrip- tion :
MARY, WIFE OF FRANCIS VIPART, OF GUADALOUPE. DIED JANUARY 5, 1807, AGED 21 YEARS.
This incident of the union of the ex- iled nobleman and the New England maiden, Whittier has woven into one of his most pleasing ballads, and in his "Countess" it will be perpetuated to future generations-
"The Gascon lord, the village maid, In death still clasp their hands ; The love that levels rank and grade, Unite their severed lands."
Overwhelmed with grief, the stricken husband soon after his wife's death, re-
turned to his West Indian home. Sev- eral articles that had belonged to the Count and his bride, are still cherished as sacred mementoes, by relatives and friends, in the vicinity of the home of their brief wedded life.
Time having in a measure healed the heart wound, Count de Vipart again married in Guadaloupe, where he died and was buried. His descendants still reside at their homes on the island, ranking high in the order of nobility.
The retired valley on the old burying hill, Newburyport, contains the re- mains of several French exiles, who died during the years from 1792 to 1812. Doubtless the whole number were Catholics, and as at that period no ground had been consecrated in the Puritan town, this quiet spot was chos- en in a Protestant burial ground, to lay their bodies apart from others, when their spirits had departed - a spot doubly consecrated by the tears and prayers of surviving relatives and friends. Most of these graves were marked by head stones ; some of these have been broken; those that remain are inscribed as follows :
CI GIT MAPIE FELICITTE NADAU, ·
NEE A LA BASSETERRE · GUADALOUPE DECEDE LE 19THI FEVRIER, 1812, AGEE DE 25 ANS ET 6 MOIS. ESPOUSEDE MR. PIERRE MORLANDE, IIABITANT AU QUARTIER DE ST. ROSE, DE LA DITTE ILE.
JOHN BAPTISTE DATOUR, ESQ., FORMERLY OF GRANTERRE IN THE ISLAND OF GUADALOUPE. DIED APRIL 24, 1797, AGED 74.
HIERE LIES A GOOD SON, JAQUE MESTRE, WIIO DIED AUG'ST 2ND, 1793, AGED) 21 YEARS.
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HERE LIES A GOOD SON, LOUIS EN MESTRE, WHO DIED DEC'R 9TH, 1792, AGED 17 YEARS.
M. MEDERIC DUMAS,
NATIF DE BORDEAUX, IIABITANT DU FORT DAUPHIN, ISLE ST. DOMINIQUE, DECEDE A NEWBURYPORT, LE 9TH OF MAR., 1792, AGE DE 49 ANS.
In 1795, Nicholas Cools Godefroy, from Castrie in the island of St. Lucia, in the West Indies, came to Newbury- port in a vessel commanded by Capt. John Coombs. He was accompanied by his youngest son, 'Moise Jacques Dupree Cooles Godefroy, who was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1785, and about twenty negro slaves, house ser- Fants, and families from his plantation. The oldest son, Jacques Mane Cools Godefroy, had previously come to Bal- timore. This family of exiles com- menced housekeeping in a house near the head of Federal street ; but, aged and infirm, torn from home and friends, the exhausted fugitive turned his face to the wall and died, surviving scarcely a week from the day of his landing. A will is on record in Salem, which was proved Dec. 28, 1795, by which the plantation in the island of St. Lucia was bequeathed to the eldest son, and a large sum of money to the youngest, to whom Capt. Coombs was appointed guardian, and in whose family he found a home. The negroes, now free, went to service in Oldtown, where the jovial faces, woolly heads and glistening ivory of the little darkies, and their frolicsome pranks, attracted much no- tice. They and their parents are still remembered by some aged persons. Owing to a wrong translation of the
will of his father which was written in French, the lad, Moise Cooles Godefroy, was defrauded of a portion of his in- heritance ; the household effects were sold-plate engraved with the family arms, clothing and linen. Nothing of this personal property has descended in the family, with the exception of one solitary counterpne, made from a dress of Madam Nicholas Cooles God- efroy, who had died some years previ- ous to her husband's exile. In 1810 Jacques Mane Cooles Godefroy, visited his brother previous to his return to the plantation in St. Lucia. He pre- sented Moise with nearly a thousand dollars to stock his store on State street, and made a will in his favor, which was deposited with Bishop Chevereux in Boston, who was ap- pointed the executor.
He died a few years after, at his home in St. Lucia. A short time after, to his surprise, Moise Cooles Godefroy re- ceived a notification from Bishop Chev- eraux, purporting that a priest and a lawyer had arrived in Boston, bringing with them a second and later will made by Jacques Cooles Godefroy shortly before his decease, by which his estate was willed to the church. Proof was wanting to controvert this second will, which the descendants have supposed forged or obtained from a mind weak- ened by disease. Sam L. Knapp, esq. was employed by Moses Cooles Gode- froy, but nothing was effected, and the despoiled heir, under the plain English name of Moses Cole, continned his bus- iness on State street. He married Miss Sally Avery from York, Maine, and reared a large family. Mr. Cole possessed a fine talent for portrait painting, which he delighted to culti- vate. His sitters were counted amongst
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our most prominent citizens, and many of his portraits are extant. I have mentioned that he was an adept in framing the paintings and wrought pictures of the young ladies of New- buryport. On Monroe's visit to this town, unknown to the president, Mr. Cole sketched a fine likeness of him while he was at the dinner table. This artistic talent descended in his family ; three of the sons chose art as a profes- sion. Joseph and Charles, both de- ceased, were noted painters, and Mr. Lyman Cole's pictures are well known in this vicinity. Mr. Moses Cole was a sufferer by the great fire of 1811, losing both his dwelling house on Mid- dle street, and his store on State street. He died in 1849, aged 65. His widow, Sally (Avery) Cole, survived . many years, dying Oct. 23, 1874, at the ad- vanced age of 92 years.
The Godefroy arms are :
1
THREE PELICANS' HEADS VULNING
THEMSELVES. CREST-A DEMI SARACEN PPR, HOLDING IN THE DEXTER HAND A CROSS CROSSLET FITCHEE A.
The remains of Nicholas Cooles Godefroy lie with his countrymen, in the valley on burying hill, but no stone marks the grave.
Anthony and Mary Le Breton were born in the city of Nantes, France.
They had thirteen children. Stephen Le Breton their eldest child emigrated to the West Indies, and settled . in Guadaloupe.
Pierre Le Breton was born in Nantes, Oet. 17, 1745, being the youngest of thirteen children, receiving his name from his paternal grandfather. When he was about fifteen years old, he took French leave of his parents and home, and went to join his brother Stephen, of whom he was very fond. His brother sent him immediately back to France. As a punishment for this es- capade, his father placed him an ap- prentice to a cabinet maker ; here he learned the use of tools, which ever af- ter was a source of pleasure to him. When they thought him sufficiently punished, his parents consented to his joining his brother. - At the age of twenty he was the owner of a large plantation and a number of slaves When about twenty-one he became very ill, pronounced in a consumption. and his physicians, for a change of air, advised a trip to New England. Capt. William Noyes, the husband of my great-aunt Mollie Smith, was at the island in a fine new ship, and with him young Le Breton took passage. This Capt. Noyes had lost one of his hands ; he was the one so long confined in Dartmoor prison during the Revolu- tionary war; it was his hat that fur- nished the braid by which my aunt Sa- rah Smith learned to braid straw. Capt. Noyes and his passenger became firm friends, and upon their arrival in Newburyport, the captain took the young Frenchman home to his honse on Liberty street, where he remained boarding in the family until he entirely recovered his health. Pierre LeBre- ton often accompanied Captain and
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Mrs. Noyes in their visits to the Smith homestead on Crane-neck hill. I have often heard my aunt Sarah speak of his appearance as most striking. A pale, fair complexion, deep, blue eyes shaded by long, black lashes, and dark, chestnut hair waving in curls about his face and neck. A large garden was attached to Capt. Noyes' house, and there Pierre delighted to resort. In an adjoining garden, belonging to a Mr. Pearson, the young foreigner often ob- served a young lady busy among the flowers ; he soon formed an acquaint- ance, and became deeply interested in her. This interest combined with his friendship for the Noyes family, and his strong liking for the town of New- buryport, induced him to dispose of his plantation in Guadaloupe and set- tle here. This was done against his parents' and brother Stephen's advice and entreaties. Not being acquainted with business, he had not been long in the country before he lost all his prop- erty. This event was such a surprise that ever after he lived in a state of expectancy and preparation for a simi- lar occurrence.
He had now to commence life anew, and went to his old friend, to whom he was very strongly attached, for advice. This turned his attention to navigation. He sailed with Capt. Noyes until he became both ship master and owner. Having secured a competence, again become a rich man, he built the house on Middle street, on the corner of Fair, opposite the Universalist church, with a shop attached, that in case he should lose property he might in some measure be prepared for it. This calamity, so greatly feared, never occurred. The great fire of 1811 burned to his house and there stopped.
Having accumulated a fortune, and built his house, he determined to marry. All this time he had entertained an in- terest in Miss Elisabeth Pearson, and having ascertained that this affection was mutual, after great opposition from her parents on account of his being a foreigner, they were married in 1776. Their children were Peter and Elisa- beth LeBreton. Mrs. LeBreton died, of typhoid fever, taken from her hus- band, Dec. 27, 1781, aged thirty-six years.
After remaining three years a wid- ower, Mr. LeBreton married Miss Elizabeth Sawyer, on the 20th of March, 1784. They had one child who died in infancy. At the time of this marriage, a sister of Elizabeth, Eunice Sawyer, was taken into and made one of the family, and on his decease, Mr. LeBreton bequeathed to her a sufficient maintenance during her life. This property Eunice willed back to the LeBreton family, but, by some inform- ality in the will, it went to the Sawyer relatives. Mr. and Mrs. LeBreton adopted the daughter of her eldest sis- ter Eunice Couch ; they also adopted the first grandchild, Peter LeBreton, when he was two years old. Capt LeBre- ton was a generous, genial gentleman, the soul of hospitality and good humor.
One morning, Mr. Moses Colman was called to his door, where he found a strange woman whose home he failed to enquire, offering a pig for sale. She was on horseback, her wares in pannier baskets. Mr. Colman did not need the pig but the little fellow looked so cunning, peeping from the basket, that the old gentleman, fond of pets, concluded the bargain, and the small porker was placed in the pen, where he became the distinguished sire of the
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famous Byfield breed of swine. This | years on Monday, for a quarter of a caused Mr. Colman's pork to be in dollar and a basket of cold victuals ; and on Saturday she scoured the brass- es, candlesticks, stairs and floors, did the day's cleaning, receiving therefor, with much gratitude, her bundle of ed- ibles, and the coffee grounds which for a long period were daily poured into a pitcher for her use. great demand. Capt. LeBreton having purchased a pig for family use, David Emery, then a lad in his teens, took it to the house, where it was carried to the kitchen to be cut up. Through his father Colman, David had formed the acquaintance of Capt. LeBreton, with whom he was a favorite. One o'clock Capt. LeBreton's good humored gen- erosity was often subjected to imposi- tion. One day he came to the sham- bles, and with a jovial face and in gay tones, said, "David, yesterday I gave one leetle boy a pair of shoes ; dis mornin' half a dozen leetle boys come shoof, shoof, shoof, after me. What did it mean ? Wanted shoes, hey ! Too moosh, too moosh, David, but I shod the rogues, I shod every garcon, Da- vid," ending his recital with a hearty laugh, rubbing his hands together in great glee. came, the dinner bell sounded. A sum- mons was sent for David ; the youth hesitated ; he wore only his common suit under his frock : to dine with Capt. LeBreton he ought to be dressed in his Sunday best, but the old gentleman step- ping into the kitchen, in his most per- emptory manner ordered David to take off his frock and follow him. The bountiful repast over, wine was served with dessert, and little Peter, then scarcely able to talk plain, was told to drink to the guest. The little fellow bashfully demurred, at which the old gentleman exclaimed, "Peter, mine grandson, be a little gentleman, and drink Monsieur Emery's health directly. The tiny glass was filled, and little Pe- ter drank with due etiquette. Mr. Em- ery was so much amused that he often related the story.
Capt. Le Breton was exceedingly lib- eral to his workmen. Every Saturday night those in his employ received a piece of meat for their Sunday dinner. For years the Captain bought his meat of Mr. Emery. Amongst the steve- dores was an Irishman by the name of Murray. The master always superin- tended the giving out of the meat to his men, and in his funny way he would say : "Cut dat for Murray, Da- vid, he 'ave one hard tooth."
This Murray had a wife, a most worthy woman, who worked for me for
In 1807, Etienne LeBretagne, Capt. LeBreton's eldest and best beloved brother, Stephen, made him a visit, and was much pleased with the coun- try and people, and declared, "if he had been a younger man he would remove himself and family, and finish his days here with his brother." Two other brothers visited him, one of whom set- tled in the city of New Orleans, the other in some part of New Jersey.
Capt. LeBreton was a Catholic. In performance of a vow he presented the First Religious society of Newburyport with the pair of tall silver tankards, used in the sacramental service.
Pierre LeBreton died in Newbury- port, from gout in the stomach, Febru- ary 24, 1813, aged 67 years.
Peter LeBreton, the only son of Capt. LeBreton, married Tabitha Lew- is of Marblehead, Sept., 1800. Their
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oldest son, Peter, adopted by his grand- father, at his death received property independent of his father. Peter Le- Breton 3d, married in 1823, Sarah E., daughter of Tristram Chase, of the Chase farm, Meeting-house hill, West Newbury.
Elisabeth LeBreton, the oldest daugh- ter, married Henry Johnson in 1825. This lady died at the age of twenty- one, leaving an infant ten days old.
Mary Anthony, the second daughter of Peter LeBreton, jun., named by her grandfather for his father and mother, Marie Antoine LeBretagne, married Henry Johnson, May, 1826.
Edmund Lewis LeBreton, the sec- ond son, married Lucy Oliver, daugh- ter of Dr. Prescott, September, 1829.
Stephen LeBreton, the third son of Peter LeBreton, jun., died unmarried, Nov. 4, 1834.
Caroline Lewis, the third daughter, married John Stephen Bartlett, July, 1832. John Stephen Bartlett, M. D., died in Marblehead, March 6, 1840 : his widow married Capt. William Ham- mond of Marblehead, May, 1842.
The fourth son, George Washington LeBreton, was shot by an Indian in Oregon, and died from inflammation, March 6, 1844, aged 32 years.
Charlotte, youngest daugliter of Pe- ter LeBreton, jun., married John James Coombs, August, 1835.
Elisabeth LeBreton, only daughter of Capt. Peter and Elisabeth (Pearson) LeBreton, was born Nov. 28, 1786. Her mother died when she was but two years old. Her grandmother and aunts who lived in the next house, cared for her until her father's second marriage, in 1784, to Elisabeth Sawyer, who made herself beloved, not only to the
father, the children, and the Pearson family, but to all who knew her.
Elisabeth LeBreton married Captain David Stickney, in 1802. They had four children; Elisabeth LeBreton, Hannah Lee, Peter LeBreton, and Ma- ry Thurston Stickney. Capt. Stickney died February, 1820. The widow Stickney married the Rev. Henry C. Wright, then pastor of the society in first parish in West Newbury, in 1826.
Eunice Couch, the niece adopted by Captain and Mrs. LeBreton, married David Rogers. She died in Cincinnati, aged 30 years.
Mrs. Elisabeth (Sawyer) LeBreton died May 4, 1822, aged 74 years.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The first meeting-house in Newbury was built on the lower green in Old- town, but in 1642, a majority of the population having moved farther up on the Merrimac, a new house of worship was erected. This removal caused much opposition and contention, but in 1642 "there was granted to Mr. James Noyes, four acres of land upon the hill, by the little pine swamp, upon which to set the meeting-house." Of this struc- ture I have no record, excepting that the canopy of the pulpit was presented to the new society in the west precinct, after the erection of their meeting- house, the first parish having built a new sanctuary, in the year 1700.
I distinctly remember this building, the spire and high pointed roof being plainly visible from Crane-neck hill. It was a square edifice of two stories, with front and side entrances, the high
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four-sided roof terminated at the apex in a dome-shaped belfry, surmounted by a high, pointed spire, crowned by a copper weathercock. The principal en- trance opened into a broad aisle, which led to the high pulpit, with the sounding- board above, the deacon's seat beneath, and the communion table in front. Two short cross aisles led from the side doors. Galleries ran round three sides of the house. The "singing seats" were op- posite the pulpit ; the side galleries-were filled with benches. and a larger part of the lower floor. Space was appropri- ated for pews, and permission granted to about twenty persons to build them. It was voted, "that a pew be built for the minister's wife by the pulpit stairs ; that Colonel Daniel Pierce esquire should have the first choice of a pew and Major Thomas Noyes the second, and Colonel Daniel Pierce esquire, and Tristram Coffin esquire, be impowered to procure a bell of about four hundred pounds weight."
The inscription on this bell, was "let us love as brethren, Mathew Bayley fundet 1705." It was ordered "that this bell be rung at nine o'clock every night and the day of the month be tolled."
As the belfry was just above the centre of the ceiling, the bell rope de- pended therefrom, and the bell-ringer stood in the broad aisle to perform his duty.
The Rev. John Woodbridge, the suc- cessor of Messrs. Parker and Noyes, died in 1695. The next clergyman was the Rev. John Richardson ; his succes- cessor, the Rev. Christopher Toppan. who died in 1747 ; he was followed by the Rev. John Tucker ; the last clergy- man to minister through his pastorate in the old meeting house was the Rev.
Abraham Moore, a fine speaker and a man of superior literary attainments ; he died in 1801, and the Rev. John Popkin was ordained in 1804. In 1806 a new house was built; this structure many of our readers still re- member. On May 4, Dr. Popkin preached for the last time in the old building ; May 6th, it was torn down.
On the 16th of June there was a to- tal eclipse of the sun ; the obseuration commenced about ten o'clock, and in half an hour stars were visible; the birds flew to, the trees, and the fowl sought their roosts. On this day the sills of the new mecting house were laid, and it was dedicated on the seventeenth of September. The rais- ing and dedication were days of jubi- lee, in which great crowds thronged to Oldtown.
By the year 1685, what was termed the west precinct, or the new town, had acquired so large a population, that the inhabitants, being such a distance from the meeting house, began to consider the expediency . of forming a second parish. and erecting a house of worship in a more convenient locality. March 10, a petition was sent to the town of Newbury, "the humble request of some of the inhabitants of this town, doe desire and entreat, that you would be pleased to grant us your consent, approbation and assistance in getting some help in the ministry amongst us, by reason that we doe live soe remote from the means, great part of us, that we cannot with any comfort and con- venience come to the public worship of God; neither can our families be brought up under the means of grace as christians ought to bee. and which is absolutely necessary unto salvation ; therefore we will humbly crave your
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loving compliance with us in this our request." This petition commenced a contest which lasted for several years, which shows that the men of "ye good old times" were subject to like pas- sions and prejudices as those of more modern days.
In 1688, Joseph Moring bequeathed, in his will, twenty pounds to the " new town" in Newbury, to help build a meeting-house. The next year, 1869, sixteen persons erected a meeting-house about thirty feet square, at the plains. In the February following, the town appointed a committee of eight per- sons to confer with the Rev. Mr. Rich- ardson respecting the propriety of the west-end people calling a minister. Mr. Richardson, anxious not to give of- fence, declined to express his opinion or give his advice. The committee re- ported, " that considering the times as troublesome, and the towne being so much behind with Mr. Richardson's sal- ary, the farmers and the neck men be- ing under great disadvantages upon many accounts, do desire and expect, if such a thing be granted, that they should have the same privilege to pro- vide for themselves, which we think cannot conduce to peace, therefore de- sire the new towne to rest satisfied for the present."
At the town meeting in March, fif- teen men belonging to the west end, "after stating that it was well known how far they had proceeded as to a meeting-house, left two propositions with the town; one that the town would agree to support two ministers, so that one could preach at the west end meeting-house, or that the town would consent to have the ministry amongst them upon their own charge, and that the town would lovingly agree
upon a dividing line between them so that they might know what families may now belong to the west meeting- house."
The summer following, the inhabi- tants of the "new towne " began to consider respecting the calling of Mr. Ed- ward Tomson to minister to them in spir- itual things. This elicited a vote by the town "against the settlement of Mr. Tomson or any other minister until ye church and towne are agreed upon it, looking upon such a thing as an intru- sion upon ye church and town." In October the people of the west end petitioned the general court, " to be es- tablished a people by themselves, for the maintenance of the ministry amongst them."
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