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 116

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 116

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Newburyport must soon cease to hold any considerable rank for shipping or commerce, unless in the future it shall become the port of the Merrimac Valley, aud river improvements shall utilize the Merri- mac, opening it to steam navigation as far as Lowell at least. This was the dream of our fathers, who, as early as 1816, sought that end ; but Boston, through the Middlesex Canal, turned to its own benefit what naturally belonged to Newburyport. Again, the same thing is sought by the Pentucket Navigation Company. The government has

been induced to appropriate considerable sums of money, and probably will spend more hereafter. The chief men of this company are Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, who would open the river to Lowell, and E. M. Boynton, who put the first steam-tug on the river to Haverhill, some years ago ; sinee which, steamers for freight and passengers have rapidly increased in number, and now a dozen find constant summer employment, the largest carrying 1,500 passengers. The whole num- ber of steamboat travellers in the river in 1878 must have been 250,- 000 ; and the steam-tugs make a profitable business. It is doubtful, however, if they can ever succeed above Haverhill without a dam at Mitchell's Falls, through which a good channel has already been cleared.

For more than a generation, Newburyport has been rapidly changing from a commercial to a manufacturing community. In default of water-power, John Coombs and others went to Danvers, and William Bartlet and others to Byfield, to establish factories for the manufac- ture of cloth, four score years ago ; and it was not till the great im- provements in modern machinery that anything was attempted herc. The first factory was for the knitting of stockings, and was located on Brown's Square about 1828. Its most active proprietor was Charles H. Coffin, then a young man, but of great enterprise. It was not a success. Soon after, Mr. Coffin established a comb-factory, at the foot of Fair Street, which was run by steani-engine, -the first ever put up in Newburyport. It employed a hundred hands ; and its combs were chiefly sold in South America, and were so large as to be worn by ladies with mantillas covering the head. The backs were two feet broad. This factory ran for several years. There were other manu- facturers about that time. The same business is now pursued near the same locality ; the largest establishment being that of Carr, Brown & Co., which employs about one hundred hands. C. H. Coffin was also, for a time, a member of this firm ; and is to be remembered as one of the most active business men the town ever had, and one who, in a half century last past, has been among the foremost in public improvements.

The establishment of steam cotton-mills commeneed in 1834; the first mill being a wooden building by the river side, just above the railroad bridge. That was operated to 1855, when it was burned. In 1837, the Bartlet corporation erected one mill: and in 1840, another. It now has $350,000 capital, ruus 22,000 spindles, and employs 300 operatives. This enterprise was materially aided by William Bartlet, who, though ninety years old at the time, invested more than $70,000 in the stock, and was as ready to do for the in- dustry of the town as when in the prime of his days. An iron man, ninety years had not effaced from his mind the conceptions of his youth. Three other corporations are in full operation : the Victoria Mills at the south end, started in 1842, with a capital of a quarter of a million, which employs 250 operatives ; the Occan Mills, chartered in 1845, which has a capital of $300,000, runs 27,000 spindles, and employs 350 operatives ; and the Peabody Mills, which started in 1846, has a capital of $300,000, runs 19,000 spindles, and employs 250 operatives. The aggregate capital in cotton mills is $1,200,000; spindles, 85,216 ; persons employed, 1,200 ; cotton consumed, 3,478,- 000 pounds ; cloth produced annually, 15,693,000 yards ; and pay- rolls, a half million dollars. The Victoria Mills, in one year during the Rebellion, divided eighty per cent. on its capital ; but, as a whole, the business has not paid well; and all the corporations, except the Bartlet, have changed hands once since its organization at least, with a loss to the stockholders.

If Newburyport has not done much in manufacturing at home, owing to a lack of water-power, Francis E. Lowell, son of Judge John, born here in 1775, and Patrick T. Jackson, born here in 1780, with Paul Moody, of Byfield, erected the first cotton-mill in Waltham, in 1813 ; and in 1821, the two last named founded Lowell, and by them, Newburyport boys, the maunfacture of cotton cloth was begun in Massachusetts, and established in New England ; and it was by Mr. Jackson, for the accommodation of Lowell, that the Boston and Low- ell Railroad was built, at a time when railroads were an experiment.

The next business in importance is shoe manufacturing ; in which are eight firins, who produce goods to the value of three-quarters of a million dollars annually, and pay about $250,000 a year to their op- eratives. In all are about 800 persons, male and female, in this work.

In the manufacture of wool hats, the town has become known through the Bayley Hat Company, which has the most successful fac- tory in New England. Its production is of an average value of more than $1,000 per day.

Besides the above, there are many small manufactures, - of iron machinery and steam boilers; of cord and fishing lines, to the value

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of $100,000 per annum ; of gold and silver ware; of cigars, bricks, printing, paper-boxes, and other things.

Within a few years, silver-mining has become quite a business. Though most of the mineral lands are without the city limits, it is here that the miners live. Their work is pursued as practically and systematically as is mining in Nevada or Colorado. How far it is to progress, no one at this time can determine.

Silver was discovered at an early period, according to tradition, which credits several families with the possession of spoons or orna- ments from ore found on their own lands; and a large excavation, called " Watts' Hole," on the banks of the Merrimac, the site of the present Moulton Mine, is said to have been opened for silver nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, by the man who dng the first cellar in the town, on the site of the Newburyport Market House, and which was long known in the records as " Watts his cellar."

Though specimens of silver, lead, and copper have been occasion- ally found for the last generation, and are still preserved in cabinets, no attempt at regular mining was made till 1872, when the silver dis- covery was made at Highfields, about two miles south of Newbury- port, - which caused an excitement throughout the country, hardly excelled by that which followed the opening of the Nevada mincs. Old miners returned from the Pacific coast to try their fortunes in the Eastern bonanza, which was declared to be equal or superior to the finest lodes of the West. Land went up to fabulous figures, and ances- tral farms changed hands daily. At least a hundred shafts were sunk in Newbury and adjoining towns, in most of which specimens were found ; and, in short, a regular mining fever broke out, which did not run its course for several years.

There are at present about twenty miues within the limits of old Newbury, with the appliances of shaft-houses, machinery, &c. The shafts have been sunk from fifty to two hundred and fifty fect ; and have yielded, with the drifts, from fifty to a thousand tons of ore each, chiefly argentiferous galena and gray copper, - which assays, according to Prof. Richards, of the Institute of Technology, from $179 per ton for the galena, to $1,422 silver, and $145.12 gold for the gray copper. There are several smelting works in connection with the mines, though more ore has been shipped for reduction abroad than has been worked at home. The largest number of hands that have been employed in any mine is a hundred in the Merrimac, the first one opened. Experienced miners have great faith in the future of mineral operations ; but old communities are distrustful, and the operators fail to find the material aid to carry forward their enterprises as rapidly as they desire. It is doubtful if any mines in this country have yielded more in proportion to the money and labor expended, and mining may yet become our greatest industry.

CHAPTER VII.

EDUCATION - SCHOOLS.

One of the principal arguments for a separation from Newbury was lack of school privileges, which led to maintaining private schools against the genius of the times and the people. Eleven days after the incorporation a towu-meeting was held to consider the school question - providing for the instruction of the young at the public expense, and from that hour to the present Newburyport has had an unfaltering interest in public-school education. In 1793 there were nine schools with nine hundred pupils, which was 200 more than Boston had, with several times the population. Newburyport led the Commonwealth. One school, on the corner of Essex and State streets, the Latin school, was taught by Samuel Parker. His successors were, first, "Master Fogg" ; and second, Nicholas Pike, author of the first arithmetic published in America. Mr. Pike had been a leader in poli- tics, and his arithmetic drew a letter of commendation from Washing- ton, then president of the United States. Third, came Michael Walsh author of the second arithmetic published in the country, which for many years was the standard work throughout the United States. At this period the Latin school of this town was second to uo other. It prepared young men to enter college, or to enter at onee on profes- sional studies, or mercantile life. Simon Greenleaf, who filled the Royal and the Dane professorships in the Harvard Law School, re- ceived all his preparatory education in that school; and at the age of thirteen Caleb Cushing was prepared by " Master " Walsh for college.

Among its later teachers were Albert Pike and George Lunt, cele- brated as poets and jurists.

The common schools, with all the care bestowed upon them, how- ever, failed to satisfy the public demands, and as late as 1836 the private schools were more numerous and more costly than the public, the former being maintained at a cost of $4,500, and the latter at little less than $3,000 ; but since the re-organization of the schools in 1851, private schools have almost absolutely disappeared. The Latin school took the name of Brown, from Moses Brown, a prominent mer- chant, from whose estate it had a fund of $15,000 for its support. Later, in 1860, it was consolidated with the Female High School, and both are connected with the Putnam, founded by Oliver Putnam, and made free to the youth of the world and all are now under A. H. Thompson, as principal, assisted by a large number of teachers, who have elevated it to very near the grade of colleges of a half-cen- tury ago.

We may not follow all the different schools in their changes, nor have we space to note the changes in the modes of instruction. The Lancasterian system was thoroughly tested, and for some years pop- ular; nor do we feel assured that much improvement has been made on that. But it must be remembered that our public schools were for boys, not girls. The first record of schools for girls was in 1790; and then they were to be "taught good manners, reading, spelling, sewing, and knitting." In 1792. the girls were tanght reading and grammar, "after the dismission of the boys, for one hour and a half." These were deemed charity schools, as no person could send his danghters who paid a tax on more than £300; and they were for girls of over nine years.

In 1804, there were two primary mixed schools, kept six months, from six to eight o'clock in the morning. Here were 1,400 pupils, and the school appropriation was $4,000. Now, with less than twice that number of pupils, the cost is full ten times that amount.

In 1812 the morning schools were merged into three female gram- mar, schools, with the same studies as boys; and from 1820 a charita- ble colored school was established, which the town adopted in 1825. and supported to 1835, from which date there has been no distinction on account of race or color.

In 1843 Newburyport had the honor of establishing the first public Female High School in Massachusetts. Eben F. Stearns, a distin- guished teacher, was its first principal ; and it obtained its greatest success under William C. Todd, principal for ten years from 1854. Soon after it was consolidated with the Brown School.

The Putnam Free School is in charge of trustees, under the will of its founder, Oliver Putnam, who died in 1826, leaving it a legacy of $50,000, exclusive of buildings, free to "vonth wherever they belong." Instruction in the dead languages is prohibited. Its first principal, in 1848, was W. W. Wells, previously of Phillips Academy, Andover ; others succeeded till its connection with the town high schools in 1868.

Another school, almost passed out of mind, was the Newburyport Academy, one of the oldest in New England, incorporated in 1807. It was in a handsome brick building on High Street, now a dwelling- house, and maintained a good reputation for more than a generation, many of its teachers and graduates obtaining distinction in after life.

Among other means of education have been evening schools during the winter, for the benefit of adults and children employed during the day ; and, for a hundred years and more, there has been an ample supply of reading. In the very year of the incorporation of the town, the publication of a newspaper was commenced by Isaiah Thomas, the first and most distinguished of our printers; and from that day, Newburyport has not been without one newspaper or more. The first was the "Essex Journal"; the second, the "Herald," pub- lished from 1793 to the present, and daily since 1832, being the first daily in the State out of Boston, and still flourishing. Since it began, some forty newspapers have come and gone - the only one surviving, the " Merrimae Valley Visitor," having been published from 1872.

Our libraries have been many, large, and select. The Circulating Library, of 1.500 volumes, was established in 1800 ; and the same year a Religious Library. In 1805 came the Social Library. In 1810 the Athenænm was incorporated,-a fine collection of books,-which con- tinued some forty years. In 1812, the Franklin Library was insti- tuted. In 1832, there were several Sunday-school libraries, and the high school had 400 volumes ; and in 1856 the Public Library, which now has 17,000 volunes. It was founded by Hon. Josiah Little by a donation of $5,000, and its funds were subsequently increased by $5,000 by Matthias Plant Sawyer, and $15,000 by George Peabody, the London bruker ; and by other means the historie building on State Street was provided for its use.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The free reading-room in the same building, the first of its kind in the State, was founded by William C. Todd, who had been principal of the Female High School, by a donation of $5,000.

For fifty years, a very few excepted, the Lyceum has furnished a course of scientific and other lectures ; and thus, with schools, news- papers, libraries, and lecture courses, the means of education have been all that could be desired.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CHURCHES.

Episcopal Church. - The members of the Second Parish of New- bury, who were opposed to the moving of the meeting-house from the Plains to Pipe-stave Hill, joined an Episcopal Society, under the auspices of the bishop of London, in 1711, who presented them a bell in the name of Queen Anne, for whom their house was named Queen Anne's Chapel. The first minister was Mr. M. Lampton, who returned to England in 1714. The next year Henry Lucas was sent for, and officiated both in Newbury and Kittery, till his death by suicide, in a fit of temporary insanity, in 1720. In 1722 Matthias Plant took charge of the society, and effected a thorough organization of the church, according to the English forms. During his ministry the " Water side " people proposed to build a new church, which was done in 1738, though not finished for seven years. It was called St. Paul's, and was on the site of the present edifice, and was occupied by a virtually distinct society, though Mr. Plant officiated both in St. Paul's and Queen Anne's. Edward Bass, afterwards first bishop of Massa- chusetts, succeeded Mr. Plant, being ordained to the work in England by the bishop of London. During Mr. Bass's ministry the Revolution- ary war broke ont, and by his omitting the prayers for the royal family the church lost the aid provided for it as a missionary station of an English society. James Morss, D. D., a native of Newbury- port, succeeded Bishop Bass in 1803, and continued till his death in 1842. Dr. Morss was succeeded by John S. Davenport in 1843 ; E. A. Washburn, 1845 ; William Horton, D. D., 1853 ; John C. White, 1863 ; and he was followed by the Rev. George D. Johnson. The pres- ent rector is the Rev. E. L. Drown.

First Religious Society .- This was the third church in Newbury, organized in 1725, under John Lowell as pastor. The first house was in Market Square, which was succeeded by the present building on Pleasant Street, in 1801, which is widely celebrated as a model of architectural beauty. The parish was formally set off by the General Court from its mother-parish in 1785, Federal Street being the divid- ing line ; and the new parish at once, in accordance with their com- mon-law privileges, established schools, and transacted much other business that would now belong to the towu. The church was very zcalous in the cause of religion, which they attempted to revive from its " decaying and languishing condition by extraordinary efforts, in the way of special meetings ; enforcing the law for the observation of Sunday ; appointing committees to wait on backsliders ; appointing fasts," &c.

Mr. Lowell continued their pastor till his death, in 1767, He was succeeded by Thomas Cary the next year ; who, at his death, in 1808, was succeeded by John Andrews, who had been his colleague for twenty years. Mr. Andrews resigned in 1830, and died in 1845. Thomas B. Fox was the next minister, a man of much culture and liberality of views. He was succeeded by T. W. Higginson, since widely known as a reformatory lecturer and writer, and a colonel in the War of the Rebellion. He is probably the ablest minister that the church has ever had. Next came the Rev. Charles Bowen ; the Rev. A. B. Muzzey ; and now the Rev. George L. Stowell is pastor.

First Presbyterian Church .- This church was formed, in 1746, by nineteen persons who had withdrawn from the First Parish in New- bury, and had held meetings for two years in a small building on High Street, Joseph Adams officiating as their pastor. By advice of Whitefield, the Separatists (as they were termed by their former associates) invited Jonathan Parsons to become their pastor, who was installed after an entirely original form. Mr. Parsons simply said, after the vote to settle him was passed, "I take this people to be my people "; and the clerk replied for the society : "In the presence of God and these witnesses, we take this man to be our minister." The next spring they joined the Boston Presbytery, though for a long time they were unjustly condemned to pay taxes

to the First and Third societies, from which most of the members had separated ; the Legislature refusing to grant them any relief in reply to their repeated petitions, though Gov. Shirley on one occa- sion specially commended their case to the consideration of the Court. Some refused to pay the taxes, and were thrown into prison, and steps were finally taken to present the case of the Presby- terians to the king and council; but the Legislature, finding that the attorney-general of England was about to move in the matter, and fearing that their charter was in danger, made some conces- sions, that proved the stepping-stones to fuller liberty of conscience, though the Presbyterians were not formally free from paying taxes to the Congregationalists till 1794.

The meeting-house now occupied by the society was built in 1756; and is noted for a remarkably fine whispering-gallery, which is fully equal to that of St. Paul's in London. The remains of White- field are preserved in a vault under the pulpit, and a monument is erected in the church to his memory.

The successor of Mr. Parsons was John Murray, an Irishman of great ability and eloquence. He was a strong patriot during the Revolution ; was president and secretary of the Provincial Congress, and chairman of the committee for reporting rules and orders for Congress, the basis of which reports are still preserved in the rules of the Legislature for this Commonwealth. Mr. Mur- ray was succeeded by Daniel Dana, D. D., an eminent theologian, S. P. Williams, John Proudfit, D. D., Jonathan F. Stearns, A. S. Vermilye, the Rev. R. H. Richardson, the Rev. Charles F. Durfee ; puu the Rev. William W. Newell, Jr., is now pastor.

Belleville Congregational Church. - This church was organized in 1808, and was strictly independent and self-organized, as it is recorded that "a number of individuals formed themselves into : Christian church"; no allusion being made to a council, and no evi- dence appearing that any council was called, which was a wide departure from Congregational usage.

The first pastor was James Miltimore, installed 1808 ; dicd 1836. He was succeeded by John C Murch, ordained 1832; died 1846. Daniel T. Fisk was ordained 1847, and is the present pastor.

There were but nine original members ; six named Atkinson, and three Little. Four hundred and thirty-three members have been added, there being about 233 at present. The parish connected with this church was set off from the Fifth Church in Newbury, which was incorporated in 1761. The first meeting-house was dedi- cated in 1807, and destroyed by fire in 1816. The present house was erected the same year, and remodelled in 1860, making it one of the prettiest church buildings in the county, as it is also a model parish. This is in reality the Second Parish of Newburyport.

North Church was organized in 1768, as the Second Congre- gational Church, it being an offshoot from the First Church. The reason of the separation, as stated in the records, was that after the death of the Rev. Mr. Lowell the church was unable to agree in the choice of a person to be his successor in the ministry, in conse- quence of a difference of opinion as to some of the important doctrines of Christianity. Mr. Cary, the successor of Mr. Lowell, was what was denominated a rational Christian, whose liberal theology did not suit the more rigid Calvinists. The separation, however, was per- fectly harmonious, the seceding church being allowed to retain a share of the communion plate. The warrant for the first meeting was drawn in the name of His Majesty George the Third, this being the last church deriving its authority from the king of England. Its pastors have been Christopher B. Marsh, ordained 1768, died 1773. Samuel Spring, ordained 1777, died 1819. Luther F. Dimmick, or- dained 1819, died 1860. E. C. Hooker, ordained 1860, dismissed 1864. W. A. McGinley, installed 1865, dismissed 1869. James Powell, ordained 1869. The present pastor is the Rev. Charles R. Seymour.

The new society at first beld its meetings in the town hall; but a meeting-house was built within the year, on the site of the present building, on Titcomb Street. The house was burned in 1861; the present one being built and dedicated the same year.

Fourth Church was originated from the First Presbyterian Church, and organized in 1793. It has had but three pastors : - Charles W. Milton, installed 1794, dismissed 1837. Randolph Cam- bell, installed 1837, and still their senior pastor, and I. H. Ross settled as assistant pastor in 1877.

At the time of the separation of this church from the First Pres- byterian, that church was under the care of Mr. Murray, who oh- tained the services of Mr. Milton as assistant. After the expiration of his engagement a portion of the church withdrew, and retained

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Mr. Milton, the meeting being held in a private house. They were cen- sured and suspended for this act, which led them to form an Indepen- dent Society, which ignored in its form of government the authority of the Presbytery. The General Court refused to recognize theni under the name they had chosen of " Independent Calvinistic Society," and they were finally incorporated under the present designation of " Fourth Religious Society." In 1798, the First Presbyterian Church voted to take off the censure from the members who had with- drawn.

The meeting-house on Prospect Street was built in 1793. The parish was then poor; and some of the members of the society, in their zeal, mortgaged their own houses to procure the necessary funds. It was enlarged and remodelled in 1800.

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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 116

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