Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America., Part 115

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett
Number of Pages: 450

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America. > Part 115

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In the autumn of 1789 President Washington made his Northern tour, reaching Newburyport Nov. 1st, and remained to the next day, the guest of Nathaniel Tracy. He was received with the greatest eclat : a committee met him at Ipswich ; two companies of cavalry eseorted him to the town ; a procession, including all classes of people, -the most numerous the school-children,-greeted his entrance ; the drums beat ; the canons roared ; an ode was sung; an address by John Quincy Adams, then a law-student with Judge Parsons, and destined to be one of Washington's successors, was delivered; to which Washington responded. In the evening guns were fired, a display of fireworks had, and every demonstration of joy manifested. The next morning he crossed the Merrimac at Amesbury ferry, and was escorted to the New Hampshire line, delighted with the reception which had been tendered him.

When the French Revolution of 1793 disturbed society in that country and its colonies, we were having a large trade with Gaude- loupe and other French West India islands, 'from which many plant- ers, with their families, fled to the United States, and Newburyport became oue of the central points for these refugees. Some remained here, and from them have come families now living in the valley of the Merrimac ; others, on the return of peace, went back to their own country ; and quite a number died here. On the Old Burying Hill, toward Frog Pond, now stand seven head-stones in a row

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

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to the memory of their dead. One of these refugees was Moses Cole, the portrait-painter; and another, Dr. Francis Vergenis, an accom- plished gentlemen and a skilful physician, having a choice residence on the east corner of Market and Washington streets, who was very much respected in the town.

In 1798, much alarm was created by the yellow fever, which commenced in June, and raged to the October frosts. Before it many fled; and fifty-five dead were its victims. It was confined to a small territory, at and below where the Custom House now stands, - which section was fenced in, isolating it from the rest of the town ; and, in consequence of this and other visitations of the fever, a pest- house, as it was called, was maintained in Common pasture. Among the dead was Dr. J. Barnard Swett,-a very learned physician, who had enjoyed the benefits of the best schools in Europe, and was a surgeon of the Revolutionary Army. He was a very active Free- mason, and the founder of the first encampment of the Knights- Templars in the United States.

The century closed with news of the death of Washington, which occurred Dec. 14, 1799, when the whole town went into mourning, as did the whole country. January 2d was set apart for memorial and religious services, held at the Old South Church, where Thomas Paine delivered his eulogy. Mr. Paine was then a student at law with Theophilus Parsons, and afterwards had his name changed to Robert Treat Paine,-because he would not be confounded with " Tom " Paine, and wanted " a Christian name,"as he said. He was a poet, the author of " Adams and Liberty," with other well-known poems, and a man of real genius.

This was the " golden age " of Newburyport, when the " Essex junto " was in its glory, with Theophilus Parsons at its head ; and Judge John Lowell, Rev. Thomas Cary, William Coombs, and Jonathan Jackson were the leading Federalists. At no day since has the town been so important in polities. It was also an era of improvements in streets and buildings. The old meeting-house in Market Square was razed ; and the new one on Pleasant Street, then deemed the finest in its ar- chitecture in the State, was erected. Timothy Dexter contributed the greater part of the cost for a new bell for Harris Street ; Capt. Edmund Bartlet laid out the Mall at his own expense; Nathaniel Tracy had commenced the planting of trees on High Street ; the Plum Island turnpike was built ; Timothy Palner, the celebrated bridge- builder, was surveyor of highways, and a great number of streets were laid out, and others improved ; the Newburyport turnpike was established ; a court-house built ; the Female Charitable Society or- ganized ; Timothy Dexter gave $2,000 for a fund to assist the poor out of the almshouse ; William Bartlet and Moses Brown made large donations to found the Andover Seminary ; Market Square was pur- chased; public libraries opened ; the Academy incorporated ; the Bible Society instituted ; a brick Baptist church erected on Lib- erty Street ; the chain bridge built; a fire association organized ; and they even proposed to fill up "Joppa flats": all of which, with many other events not enumerated, took place prior to 1811,- the date of the " Great Fire." The foreign commerce, the coasting-trade, and the fisheries poured wealth into the coffers of the active men. In a single month in 1805, the imports were $800,000 ; and, though we lost largely by the depredations upon our commerce, seldom a town pros- pered more. The state of affairs can be seen in the large, square houses built at that time, and in their surroundings ; and we have only to recall the names of the chief citizens to realize the facts. Nathan- iel Tracy was living in magnificent state where the Public Library now is. His fleets whitened the seas. He ranked among the great mer- chants of the world. Nor was he alone in his prosperity : Joseph Marquand had so many vessels coming from prosperous voyages that he cried out, "Lord, stay thy hand; thy servant hath enough." Tristram Dalton, on his marriage with Miss Hooper, of Marblehead, reached home in this style : "His splendid new carriage was drawn by six white horses, decorated with white feathers ; they hold four outriders, and footman and coachman dressed. in new liveries." So they rode down State Street, with the carriage-top thrown back. Lord Timothy Dexter, a shrewd and cunning man, was living in his elegant mansion on High Street, with " poet " Jonathan Plumer to sing his praises, and his broad acres surrounded with finely wrought images of gods, heroes, and animals. All these men had their coun- try seats, as well as their residences in the town; as Dexter and Tracy in Salisbury, Hooper and Dalton in West Newbury, Bartlet in Methuen.

But all this - the condition of things just prior or subsequent to 1800 - was soon to change. Some of the men we have mentioned died poor ; and not many of the merchants, who built the grand houses

which have been the admiration of all, died in them. They passed to other hands. First came the embargo, then the fire, and, finally, the war of 1812 was the finishing stroke. If Newburyport rapidly advanced, as rapidly it declined.

The "Great Fire," as it is termed, deserves special notice. After several incendiary fires in the early spring of 1811, on the 31st of May the flames burst out from an unoccupied stable on Inn Street, and the alarm sounded. The clear sky was soon clouded with the blackening smoke ; and the flames, leaping from building to building. lighted the heavens to be discernible for forty miles. From the stable the flames quickly spread to Pleasant Street on the south, and the Market on the north ; consuming every building on both sides of Stite Street, proceeding into Essex Street a short distance, through Middle Street to Fair, through Liberty to within one house of Independent, and down Water as far as Cushing's wharf; blotting out Centre Street, the whole range of buildings on Merchants' Row, on Ferry Wharf, and in fact all the wharf property between the above and Commercial Wharf; clearing a track of fifteen and a half acres in the populous busi- ness part of the town, consuming two hundred and fifty buildings, - including all the printing-offices, four in number, the enstom-house, the surveyor's office, the post-office, two insurance offices, the Baptist church, the town library, &c., - in money value nearly a million dol- lars. The fire burned all night, the inhabitants being powerless to stay it, subsiding about daylight of its own accord. Caleb Cushing, in his History, says : " Nothing was more remarkable during the heart- rending scene of this destructive conflagration, than the spectacle which State Street exhibited on one occasion. Two large brick build- ings, four stories in height, stood upou the western side of this street, and opposed a barrier to the destructive element, which, it was hoped for a time, would there be arrested in its course. But a sudden change of wind threw the flames directly upon these immense piles, which were speedily involved in the general calamity. The opposite buildings being now on fire, and the wind blowing with great force, the flames ascended high on either side, and meeting in the air, extended in a continual sheet of fire across the spacious street." It was doubtless a sight truly terrific, at a time when the country had not experienced any fires of very great extent. But hardly had the flames subsided before contributions for the sufferers began to pour in from all sides. Boston, ever generous, headed the list with $24,315.25 ; Philadelphia gave $13,000; Salem $10,000 ; and other cities in pro- portion, until a fond of $128,000 was raised, - a no inconsiderable part of which was by private contributions of citizens of the town, who had still a competency remaining. A reward of $1,000 for the con- viction of the incendiary was offered, but to no purpose ; though teu years later Newburyport, not to her credit, wreaked her vengeance by hanging a lad of seventeen years of age for setting fire to a barn on Temple Street.

Immediately after the fire, many persons removed from the town ; some for business in Boston, and others to more distant parts. It was about that date that John Peabody, who was the Stewart of our dry-goods trade, left ; and property so depreciated that the Merrimac House, which was his private residence, built at a cost of $30,000, was sold to the Eastern Stage Company for $12,500. With him went his nephew, George Peabody, afterwards the great London banker, who distributed millions for the benefit of mankind. So went the Dodges, Todds, Woods, and others, known later in trade and letters at Washington.

In 1817 President Monroe visited the town, on his Northern tour, and was received with military and civic honors. Ebenezer Moseley was chairman of the committee of arrangements. The bells were rung, a salute fired, a procession formed, in which were 1,850 children, addresses delivered, and a dinner provided. It was during dinner that Moses Cole sketched the best portrait of James Monroe over taken.

In 1820 Maine was set off and created a State; and the same year Massachusetts revised her constitution, and it remained without alteration to the revision of 1853. The same year the Savings Insti- tation was organized, the deposits of which finally exceeded five mil- lions ; while the Five Cents Bank, established in 1854, had abont one million at the same time.

In 1824 the town gave a publie reception to Lafayette. It was similar in its arrangements to that which had been given to Washing- ton and Monroe. Hle was entertained by James Prince ; and occupied the same room that Washington had occupied, the bed and furniture being unchanged.

In 1832 the Police Court was established. Hon. Stephen Marston became judge ; and he was succeeded by the present incumbent, Hon. William E. Currier.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In 1835 the semi-centennial anniversary of the settlement of New- bury was celebrated. Caleb Cushing delivered the oration, George Lunt wrote the ode which was sung, and among the guests at dinner were Lieut. Gov. Armstrong, Edward Everett, Robert C. Winthrop, and many natives of the town from abroad. In the evening the ladies gave a tea-party in Washington Hall ; and, as a result, from the surplus receipts the Society for the Relief of Aged Females was founded ; to which William Gordon, a native of Norway, gave, in 1839, $1,000; and that was increased by donations from William Wheelwright and others, by which the Old Ladies' Home was established.

It was in this same year, 1835, that William Wheelwright, who spent a half century in projecting and executing improvements in South America, received a grant of the exclusive right to steam-navigation of the ports and rivers of Chili.

In 1840 the Eastern Railroad was opened to Newburyport, super- seding the Eastern Stage Company, which had been a corporation of much magnitude. That has been followed by other railroads : the Newburyport Railroad, which was opened to Georgetown in 1850; the City Railroad, which runs to the river line ; and the Horse Rail- road, connecting with Salisbury and Amesbury ; the last two being built by aid of the city. This was also the year of the exciting pres- idential election, during which a public dinner was given to Caleb Cushing, and Daniel Webster, Leverett Saltonstall, and others made speeches on Brown's Square, and in the evening Mr. Cushing gave a reception to 3,000 persons, in the No. 2 Bartlett Mill, before the machinery had been put up.

In 1842 Oak Hill Cemetery was consecrated,-the garden resting- place of the dead ; and this was the beginning of the improvements made at the other burying-grounds.

In 1847 the telegraph was here established ; and in 1848 was the great emigration to California, the land of gold. The first vessel fitted for passengers was the brig, " Ark," by C. H. Coffin.

There are many institutions of the past and present which our limits will only permit ns to name ; as the Fire and Marine Insurance Company, which has been in operation since 1829, the successor of a dozen such offices. Of banks which commenced here in 1795, we have the Mechanicks', incorporated in 1812, capital $250,000, Edward S. Moseley president ; Merchants', chartered in .1831, capital $120,000, Nathaniel Hills president ; Ocean, chartered in 1833, capital $150,- 000, Charles Lunt president ; and First National, organized in 1864, capital $300,000, Charles H. Coffin president. All of these are now national banks. Military companies : The Cushing Guard, Capt. David L. Withington ; and City Cadets, Capt. Samuel E. Tuck. Ma- sonic bodies : St. John's and St. Mark's lodges, King Cyrus chapter, and the encampment of Knights Templars. Odd Fellows : Quas- caeunquen Lodge and Merrimac Encampment. Knights of Pyth- ias, Knights of Honor, Good Templars lodge, and various temperance societies. The Marine Society, formed in 1772, which has a fund for charitable purposes ; the Humane Society, which also has an ample fund ; the Howard Benevolent Society ; General Charitable Society ; the Historical Society ; medical, clerical, educational, social, and other societies, of more or less importance.

CHAPTER VI.

THE INDUSTRIES OF NEWBURYPORT.

The first business was fishing - the catching, curing, and shipping of sturgeon taking the lead; and the first man engaged therein was one Watts, who is often referred to in the early records, but of whom little is known. Capt. Paul White, who had a grant of land for a wharf near to Watts, where the ferry now is, was better known. He was a merchant and a distiller. He first made rum here, -a busi- ness destined to increase till, in 1781, Newburyport had ten distil- leries in operation at once ; and when Washington reached the town, in 1789, the men in that business were so numerous that they formed a distinet section "in the street parade. Now it has been reduced to one distillery, that of the Caldwells, who have conducted it for three gen- erations, some ninety years, and have increased its capacity to the consumption of two and a half million gallons of molasses per annum, and to the payment of more revenue into the national treasury than all other manufactures in the county of Essex.

But the most important of all our industries has been ship-building. When that began on the Merrimac does not appear from any records.

It must have been about the close of the first half of the seventeenth century, and probably on Carr's Island. The first ship-yard on the south of the river was at the foot of Federal Street, where Thomas Johnson built. But he appears not to have stopped there long, as Ezra Cottle was occupying the same yard in 1698, and in 1700 John Stickney was there building. Afterwards William Johnson, shipwright, owned those premises, and from him they descended to his son, Eleazer, ship-builder; then to his son, William P. Johnson, who built the wharf, with the brick store at its head, and also the first brick house on the lower side of Federal Street, for which Capt. Samuel Huse, house-joiner, made the blinds now on it, - the first ever used in this town.

It appears from the colonial records that 130 vessels were built on the Merrimac River from 1681 to 1714, of which 100 were built in Newbury, mostly small vessels. The first ship was the "Samuel and . David," owned in Boston, of 100 tons, exceeding the tonnage of any other vessel to her date, 1703. During one year eleven vessels, tive of them ships of from ninety to 310 tons, were built on English account.

During the early part of the eighteenth century, Gideon Woodwell began building below Marlborough Street. That was in 1759, though the place had been previously used for the same purpose. He and his sons and grandsons, down to about 1845, launched 145 vessels, the largest 320 tous. At the north end, in 1730, we find Samuel Moggradge at a point of rocks which still bears his name. He em- ployed negro slaves in his work.

Between these two points - Woodwell's at the south end and Mog- gradge's at the north end - the yards were stretched all along the river, so that Cushing's History says that seventy-two vessels were building at one time in 1766. At the extreme south end, below what is now the Huse wharf, the Cottles, Woodwells, Hunts, Pierces, Pet- tingells, Atkinsons, Gerrishes, Cokers, Hales, and others were build- ers. William Gerrish was the most wealthy of these, and had his yard where the railroad now crosses Water Street. He owned the whole square bounded by Bromfield, Water, and Purchase streets, and Somerby's Lane; and from Somerby's Lane around to Purchase Street all the houses, forty years ago, were occupied by his descend- ants. Above, to the Market, the Coombses, Johnsons, Greenleafs, Crosses, and others built. Ralph Cross, who came from Ipswich, was a ship-builder, as were his two sons, Stephen and Ralph. Stephen was employed by the government to build a flotilla on Lake George, in the French and Indian War in 1756, and was assisted by many carpenters from both sides the Merrimac River. He was captured, and carried a prisoner to France. He and Ralph, who was a briga- dier-general in the Revolution, built three frigates for the State, and also a sixteen-gun ship, called the " Neptune," with other war vessels owned by private citizens. They were among the firmest patriots in the Revolution. In early times, not only were Merrimac ships built for England and Scotland, but timber in large rafts, formed like ships, was exported. In 1770, one such, called the "Newbury," made the passage to London in twenty-six days. The Revolution checked this trade, as it did all other industries.

After the Revolution, the ship-yards extended at the northward to the Deer Island bridge, where Elias Jackman had a yard, and was among the chief builders. Among the shipwrights of this name was Stephen Jackman, who built a large number of brigs of peculiar model, for Capt John N. Cushing, who, at the time of his death, was the largest ship-owner in the State. They were very burdensome, designed for ocean freighting, carrying twice their tonnage. The brig " Pocahontas," lost on Plum Island, with all her crew, in 1839, was one of them. In all, Mr. Jackman launched thirteen of these brigs ; and in the total, thirty vessels, including two coastwise steamers, the " Ohio " and "Decatur." George W. Jackman, brother of Stephen, succeeding in the same yard, has built twenty-seven vessels, all but one of large size. Two were gunboats, of more than a thousand tons each, launched in 1864; and two were ocean steamers, of 3,000 tons each -- the largest vessels ever built on the Merrimac, - launched in 1866 and 1867.

Among the most distinguished builders of the last century was Orlando B. Merrill, who, with his brothers, Jonathan aud Nathan, oc- cupied the yard next below Moggradge's Point. He invented the water-line model now in use, from which the working plans are taken in ship-construction. His original model is still in existence. He built the war-brig "Pickering" in 1798 for the United States ; the " Massachusetts " in 1799 - an eighteen-gun ship of 600 tons ( very large then) - for the East India trade ; and in 1812 the sloop-of-war " Wasp."

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

333

In 1807, the embargo was declared ; and in the same year, Elisha Briggs, shipwright, removed from Medford to Newburyport, and to 1837 built seveutcen ships, thirteen brigs, and ten schooners.

In the same yard, John Currier and James Townsend built a large number of ships, some of them as large as any Merrimac sailing ships. Among them was the " Dreadnaught," which was never beaten for quick passages. Following them, at the same yard, were George E. and Charles H. Currier, who have built thirty vessels, of about 15,000 tons, in half the yard, while J. W. S. Colby and Enoch P. Lunt have launched twenty schooners from the other half.

John Currier, Jr., has built more large vessels than any other per- son. He commeneed in 1831, and is still in the business ; has launched ninety-four vessels, chiefly ships, in the aggregate of 85,000 tons. His ships are known the world over. Others, as the Dnttons, and the Picketts, and the Hardys, have built in this section of the city ; aud there Donald McKay commenced the life of a carpenter, now the most famous builder of wooden ships in the country, and who has placed upon the water the largest amount of tonnage.

Just below, Eben Manson has built a large number of vessels, and some of the best. Still further down the river, at the foot of Titeomb Street, Fillmore & McQuilen and Atkinson & Fillmore have had a yard since 1862 - the latter firm in ten years launching 10,000 tons of shipping. At the foot of Centre Street, a few years ago, was the Selfredge ship-yard ; and, in fact, in every few rods of the river-bank there has been ship-building in the two centuries past. It is impossible to tell how large the business has been, but it has been the great me- chanical employment of the town ; and by a devotion to that the great- est excellence has been attained. Not on the face of the earth is there a place which has had a better reputation for ship-building ; bus this has not been more from the skill of the carpenters than of the ship- joiners, painters, iron and brass- workers, sail-makers, and riggers. At present, building has fallen off, owing to the decline of commerce in American bottoms, and its future is uncertain. It is in competition with iron and steel hulls, and the canvas gradually but surely .yields to steam on the ocean.

Fishing, we have said, was the original business on the river, ante- dating the grant for the town of Newbury. The deep-sea fishing was for codfish, and largely at the Labrador. The first vessels to the Labrador sailed in the very last years of the last century, and the number of vessels quickly ran up to more than sixty sail. The same vessels took their cargoes to the West Indies, returning with sugar, molasses, and coffee ; or, to the French aud Spanish ports of the Mediterranean, returning with merchandise from Europe, and this constituted a large trade. But that branch of the fisheries has almost entirely disappeared. Only two vessels from the United States were engaged in it in 1878, and those from Newburyport. Gradually the cod-fishing was abandoned ; and, near the beginning of this century, the mackerel fishery began to supersede it. That attained its maxi- mum in 1834, when 28,000 barrels were landed. Some 130 sail of ves- sels were employed. The vessels were small, not averaging half the size of those in the same business now. The decline ran from 1835 to 1851, when, of ninety vessels, nine, with a large number of men, were lost in a gale in the Bay of St. Lawrence, which greatly hastened that decline. The catch of that year was 21,000 barrels, and in the year following it was only half of that.

This year (1878), fourteen vessels constituted the entire fleet, and the utter extinction of the business is not distant. An attempt was made, some fifty years ago, to establish the seal fishery and the Atlantic whale fishery ; but both failed. More successfully, the Pacific whale fishery was carried in 1833, and several ships made paying voy- ages : but as the carrying trade from the South to Europe was then more profitable, and cotton manufactures more enticing, that was given up ; and Newburyport has ceased to have rank among the fishing towns. The same causes that destroyed cod-fishery combined to destroy the West India trade, which was very large up to 1827 ; and since that our shipping interest has chiefly been in freighting ships to Europe, East Indies, California, Australia, and other parts of the world ; but that, also, as the coastwise shipping, is of far less importance now than thirty years ago.

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Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America., Part 115

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett Number of Pages: 450

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett
Number of Pages: 450