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 126
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An interest in this plantation having been aroused in England, it was deemed best to send one of their number across the sea, to explain their condition ; and for this purpose John Woodbury was selected, and he went, and remained abroad some six months. As a consequence of the newly awakened interest, and the application of Mr. White for State license and protection, a grant was obtained
from the Council for New England, by a written document dated March 19, 1628, new style, which conveyed the soil then denominated Massachusetts Bay to Sir Henry Roswell, John Endicott, and others. The bounds of the colony so granted were "between three miles to the northward of Merrimac river and three miles to the southward of Charles river, and in length within the described breadth from the Atlantic ocean to the South sea." The grantees selected from among their number John Endicott - "a man of dauntless courage ; benev- olent thongh austere; firm though choleric; of a rugged nature which his stern principles of non conformity had not served to mel- low " - as a " fit instrument to begin this wilderness work." Ile was appointed governor of the plantation, Matthew Cradock being gov- crnor of the Massachusetts Company in London ; and in June, 1628, he set sail for Salem in the " Abigail," accompanied by his wife and a band of emigrants. They cast anchor in Salem harbor on the 6th of September. Conant and his companions were gathered on the shore to receive them, and the scene presented to the view of the voyagers must have been striking and impressive. Uniting with those already here, Endicott founded the oldest town in the Colony, soon to be called Salem ; and extended some supervision over the waters of Bos- ton harbor, then called Massachusetts Bay.
Until this time, the Massachusetts Company acted under the patent from the Council for New England ; but this was a grant of property in the soil, rather than an authority to establish municipal govern- ment, and the company solicited, and on the 4th of March, 1629, Charles I. put the broad scal of England to the letters-patent for Massachusetts. This created a corporation under the name of the " Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," and was the instrument under which the Colony of Massachusetts continued to conduct its affairs for fifty-five years.
Among those named in this charter were Sir Henry Roswell, John Endicott, Richard Saltonstall, and Matthew Cradock. It gave power to the freemen of the company to elect annually from their own num- ber a governor, deputy, and eighteen assistants, on the last Wednes- day of Easter term, who were to meet once a month or oftener, "for dispatching such businesses as concerned the company or plantation." Four times a year, the governor, assistants, and all the freemen, were to be summoned to "one great, general, and solemn assembly," and these "great and general courts" were invested with full powers to choose and admit into the company so many as they should think fit to elect, and constitute all requisite subordinate officers, and to make laws and ordinances for the welfare of the company and for the gov- ernment of the lands and inhabitants of the plantation, " so such laws are not repugnant to the laws and statutes of the realm of England." Matthew Cradock was the first home governor under this charter, and John Endicott the governor of the plantation. A duplicate of the charter was sent over to Endicott, which is now deposited in Plum- mer Hall, in the keeping of the Salem Athenaeum, reposing in the very settlement where it was once the Magna Charta on which the council at Naumkeag made their laws and granted their authority.
After the organization under the charter, the company made haste to send over colonists, and six vessels were despatched, containing eighty women, twenty-six children, and three hundred men, with "one hundred and forty head of cattle." The company were careful to make plentiful provision of " godly ministers." The_Rev. Francis Iligginson and the Rev. Samuel Skelton came over among the pas- sengers in the "Talbot," and reached Salem June 29, 1629. In Mr. Higginson's journal, referring to their arrival, he says : "By God's blessing we passed the curious and difficult entrance into the spacions harbor of Naimkecke and as we passed along it was wonderful to behold so many islands replenished with thick woods and high trees and many fayre green pastures." In a letter written in 1629, by the same hand, we find, " that Naimkecke contained at that time about half a score of houses built and a favre house newly built for the Governor," and that in all, about two hundred planters were settled there.
After the arrival of Higginson, Gov. Endicott sct apart the 20th
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of July, 1629, " to be a solemn day of humiliation for the choyce of a pastor and teacher at Salem." The vote was taken by each one's writing in a note the name of his choice. Such is the origin of the usc of the ballot on this continent. Skelton was chosen pastor, and Higginson teacher. Higginson lived but a short time after his ar- rival. He left his native land hoping to gain health and strength in a new country ; but his hopes were all in vain, and he died at the carly age of forty-three. He was greatly loved by his people, and his tal- ents were of a high order. A primitive writer of New England de- scribes him as "a man indued with grace, apt to teach, mighty in the Scriptures, learned in the Tongnes, able to convince gain sayers."
All the freemen under the charter met in " Great and General Court till 1634," when deputies became a part of the Legislature ; and it was ordered that the whole body of freemen be excused from at- tending the four annual General Courts, except that for election of magistrates in May. This continued till 1663, when a vote passed that the freemen should choose part of their number to assemble at the court of election, and choose a governor and other magis- trates. This latter change was so unpopular that it was repealed the subsequent year. The people were apprehensive that they might lose their political heritage, so jealous were they, even then, of any encroachment on their political rights, which might be subversive of their liberty. The charter made provision for a common scal for the company, and such a seal in silver was sent to Endicott in 1629. The Indian which is to-day a part of the seal of our Commonwealth, was a principal figure on this colonial seal. A representation of this seal may be found on the title-page of this volume.
During the early part of Endicott's settlement at Salem, the colo- nists were sadly afflicted with sickness, and were unprovided with suitable food and shelter. Being destitute of regular medical attend- ance, word was sent to the Colony at Plymonth, and Dr. Samuel Ful- ler was sent to Salem. The visit of Dr. Fuller was not without results other than those which attended his ministrations to the needs of the sick. He was the means of strengthening the friendship between Gov. Bradford at Plymouth, and Mr. Endicott, and of interesting the colouists at Salem in the congregational form of worship followed by the people of Plymouth. The Massachusetts Company at London were still attached to the Church of England, its liturgy and forms, and gave no encouragement to Messrs. Higginson and Skelton, who adopted the congregational discipline of Plymouth. Some of the Salem colonists also clung to their old faith, and Messrs. John and Samuel Brown wrote letters of complaint to the company at London, whereupon they were charged by Gov. Endicott with factious conduct and sent back to London. Upon their arrival they made complaint of Endicott and his ministers, "concerning some rash innovations begun and practiced in the civil and ecclesiastical government."
The difficulties arising from having the government of the planta- tion in London now hegan to be apparent; and Gov. Cradock, at a meeting of the company proposed, "for weighty reasons to transfer the Gouernment of the Plantacon to those that shall inhabit there, and not to continue the same in subordination to the Company heerc as now it is." This matter was fully discussed at several meetings of the company at London, until at the meeting of Aug. 29, 1629, it was decided " by erecon of hands that the Government and Pattent should be settled in New England, and accordingly an order to be drawne vpp." Having decided to transfer the government to New England, Gov. Cradock resigned, and Messrs. John Winthrop, Richard Salton- stall, Isaac Johnson, and John Humphrey werc put in nomination for the position, the first named being chosen " with full consent by erec- con of hands."
Winthrop was a man well fitted for the difficult task in which he was to engage. "An honest royalist, averse to pure democracy yet firm in his regard for existing popular liberties ; in his native parish a conformist, yet wishing for ' gospel purity'; disinterested, brave, and conscientious, his character marks the transition of the reformation into virtual republicanism ; when the sentiment of loyalty which it was intended to cherish, gradually yielded to the irresistible spirit of civic freedom." Winthrop, with a company of emigrants, arrived in Salem harbor, in the " Arbella," June 12, 1630, after a long and stormy pas- sage, bringing with him the original charter, now deposited in the State archives at Boston, of, which Endicott was already in possession of a duplicate copy.
After the long voyage, the shores of their new home must have been a welcome and attractive sight. Arriving in the month of June, when all Nature is at her best, before the heats of summer have scorched the foliage and robbed the fields of their freshness, it must have been a fair and attractive landscape that greeted the eyes of
these weary and tempest-tossed travellers. Winthrop writes, that " most of our people went on Shore upon the land of Cape Ann, which lay very near us, and gathered store of fine strawberries." But while Nature had donned her choicest robes to welcome them, they were doomed to disappointment at the unexpected condition in which they found the colonists. More than eighty had died the winter before ; that terror of our climate, consumption, had fastened upon Higgin- son, and he was slowly wasting away ; others were weak and sick ; and the corn and bread was scarcely sufficient for a fortnight's supply. To add to Winthrop's distress, his son Henry, who arrived in the harbor of Salem July 1st, in the ship "Talbot," was drowned while landing from the vessel.
With Winthrop came Lady Arbella Johnson, a daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, who, with a woman's devotion, left "a paradise of plenty and pleasure which she enjoyed in the family of a noble Earl- dom " for this " wilderness of wants," that she might accompany her husband in his voluntary exile. She died within a month of her arrival, and was buried in Salem.
After remaining at Salem about a week, Winthrop proceeded with a party in quest of some more attractive place of settlement. He traced Mystic River to its source, and, after an absence of three days, re- turned to Salem to spend the Sabbath. When ten or eleven vessels had arrived, the colonists kept the 8th of July as a day of thanks- giving. Winthrop selected Charlestown as the seat of government, and early in August, with much cost and labor, the removal was made from Salem. Ten weeks after the landing, the first Court of Assistants was held at Charlestown.
With the coming of Winthrop and the supersedure of Endicott, Salem ceased to be the capital town ; but the record of her people dur- ing the first two years of the Colony will always remain as an example of fortitude in the face of danger and suffering, and of a supreme reliance on that overruling Power who guided their footsteps to this trackless wilderness. Neither death nor danger nor disaster could turn them from the path in which their conscience told them they should walk; and we of to-day do well to pause, and, turning back the pages of history, contemplate the heroic virtues, the unflinch- ing devotion to duty, the dauntless courage which endured through sorrow and suffering and death, which will make the names of the Puritan fathers of Salem respected so long as a free people shall enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and so long as the printed page shall endure to preserve the record of their acts.
The Commoners .- The territory of Salem was held by the members of the corporation of the Massachusetts Company, under their patent, in common and undivided, and from time to time grants were made by the " commoners," as they were styled, to individual members of the corporation. The records of the ancient commoners of Salem com- mence in 1636 and end in 1739. Nearly all the citizens were common- ers and had an interest in the common lands, and rights were granted and land conveyed by vote of the proprietors in public meetings. From the commoners all the present titles are directly or indirectly derived. With increasing population this method of holding the lands became unwieldy and cumbersome, and in 1713 and 1714 the commoners determined to make a general division and distribution of the lands held by them. In 1713 they granted all the highways and burying-places and common lands lying within the town bridge and block-houses, to remain forever for the use of the town of Salem ; and the Common was then dedicated forever as a " training field." In 1714 the commoners, at a meeting held at "ye meeting house of yc first parish in Salem," voted that Winter Island be wholly reserved and granted for " ye use of ye fishing " rights, to use the same to be let hy the selectmen of Salem ; and the same year the Neck lands were granted and reserved to the town of Salem for a pasture for " milch cows and riding horses," the same to be fenced at the town's charge.
In 1722-23, Feb. 26, the grand committee of the commoners who had charge of affairs reported the whole number of rights to be 1,132, and the number of acres held 3,733. Several distinct proprietaries were formed under an Act of the colonial Legislature ; and the com- moners of the two lower parishes, having 790 rights and 2,500 acres of land lying between Spring Pond and Forest River, organized them- selves into a corporation. This organization continued till 1855, when they were incorporated into the Great Pasture Company ; and by that company the last of the common lands, about 400 acres in ex- tent, are now held.
In 1723-24 the ancient commoners, as a body, ceased to convey land, though they retained their organization and acted in adjustment and closing up of their affairs till 1739, when their records end.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
House Lots .- After the arrival of Gov. Endicott, in 1628, the town seems to have been regularly laid out in house-lots; aud the first houses built in Salem appear to have been located in what is to-day the most central part of the city. Washington Street was the first street. and was laid out four rods wide. connecting the two rivers and the primitive highways which ran along their banks at the point where they approach nearest together. A fort was enclosed between this street on the east and North and Summer streets on the west, and was built near the western corner of Sewall and Lynde streets, on the highest land in that part of the town. The manner in which the house-lots iu the central part of the town were originally laid out seems to indicate that the earliest settlement was made in the vicinity of Elm Street and Washington Street. upon the South River. Be- tween these streets the lots were small, irregular, and not in conform- ity with the plan upon which the rest of the town was laid out. East of these. all along the South- River to the Neck, house-lots were laid out running back from the river ; and along the North River, west of North Street. were larger house-lots, also running back from that river. Essex Street was probably a way that came gradually into use along the ends of these lots; and. as they were all of the same depth from the river, this street acquired, and has retained, the same curves the river originally had.
The Indians .- Before proceeding further with our narration, let us turn for a moment and consider the condition of the aboriginal inhab- itauts of this territory, found here on their arrival by the early settlers. A " great aud grevions plague " had. a few years previously. swept away the larger portion of the Indian tribes living hereabouts, so that but a small remnaut were found inhabiting the region about Salem. Tradition seems to point to an Indian settlement on the north side of the North River. and another on Marblehead Neck. Indian remains have been exhumed at the lower part of the city and on the Marble- head side of our harbor, and it is related that, down to 1725. a com- pany of Indians paid an annual visit to Salem and encamped on a side of Gallows Hill. It is very likely that some, if not all of them, were descendants of those who onee occupied this territory.
In 1686 the inhabitants of Salem fearing that. by a possible forfeit- ure of their charter. the land they held might be taken from them. endeavored to provide for such a contingency by obtaining from the Indians then residing around Salem, for the sum of £40, a deed of the territory within the town limits. Such a deed was drawn and formally executed on the eleventh day of October, 1686, and the original now hangs on the walls of the city hall.
Town Government .- In 1635 the towuship of Salem comprehended the present towns of Beverly. Danvers. Marblehead, Middleton, Tops- field, Wenham, and a part of Lynu. Marblehead was recognized as a distinct settlement in 1635, and was incorporated in 1649. Wen- hat was incorporated in 1643; Manchester in 1645; Topsfield in 1650; Beverly in 1668 ; and Danvers, which then included the present town of Peabody, in 1757. Salem cannot strictly be said to have been ever incorporated. Gov. Winthrop, on his arrival, in 1630, found it the only settlement or town in the Colony, except, perhaps, Charlestown. It was recognized as a town by the government of the Colony, and indeed it had been established as such before the exist- ence of any authority here superior to that of its own goverument. Upon the settlement of Boston and other places, town governments sprang up and were gradually moulded into the form in which they have continued until this time, and which constitutes one of the peculiar institutions of New England. Their origin was not derived from the authority of the General Court, but, like that of all governments, was from the necessity of the case. Their founda- tion was in the voluntary though tacit compact of the proprietors and settlers of the differeut towus.
It was necessary that some form of town government should be (stablished, and as early as 1633 the inhabitants chose several of their principal proprietors. then styled "Townsmen." aud not till some years afterwards "Selectmen," to whom were intrusted the principal concerns of the town. These held regular meetings. at which the important affairs of the town were transacted. and their proceedings were afterwards brought before general or town meet- ings for confirmation. The first records of the town of Salem bear date. the "Book of Grants," Oet. 1, 1634. and the " Town Records." Dec. 26, 1636, a portion of the record being in the hand-writing of Gov. Endicott.
- Town and Court Houses .- Town-meetings were held, prior to 1655, in the first meeting-house.
About 1677, a building for town purposes was ereeted in the middle of Washington Street, anciently called School Street, near
what is now Lynde Street and facing Essex Street. Its upper part was fitted up for the accommodation of the court. In this building the innocent victims of delusion charged with the crime of witchcraft were tried, and here was anxiously agitated the question of submis- sion to the Commissioners of Charles II.
In 1719, a building was erected, the lower story to be used for town purposes and the upper for the courts. This building stood on Washington Street. its northern wall nearly coinciding with the liue upon which stands the southern parapet of the Eastern Railroad tun- nel. Here for nearly half a century the freeholders held their town- meetings. and the selectmen consulted upon municipal affairs. In this building the session of the Provincial Congress was held October 5, 1774, which is referred to more at length hereafter.
In 1785, a building was erected for the joint use of the town and county. It stood in the middle of Washington Street, its west side facing the Tabernacle Church. and fronting Essex Street. The ex- pense of its erection was divided between the town and county. Town-meetings were held here until the erection of the town hall in Derby Square in 1816, when the town sold its interest in the building to the county. and it was thereafter used exclusively to accommodate the courts and court records until the building of the Eastern Rail- road tunnel, iu 1839. compelled its removal. The present granite court-house was thereupon erected in 1841 ; and twenty years there- after. in 1861. the brick court-house was built, in which to-day all the courts are held. save the probate court, which still holds its sessions in the grauite building.
In 1816. the town hall and market-house now standing on Derby Square was built. and the lower part was opened as a market. Nov. 26. 1816. The town hall was first used on the occasion of President Monroe's visit to Salem. July 8, 1817. and from that time until the town was incorporated as a city it continued to be used for all town- meetings.
Modes of Punishment. - While speaking of the courts where sen- tence was passed on the offender. it may be well to note the ancient in- struments of punishment by which that senteuce was carried into effect. In 1638. Isaae Davis is paid for a pair of stocks. and in 1657, two persons "undertake to make stocks sufficientlie aud to sett vp the whipping post." Both of these were formerly placed in Washington Street. near Essex Street. The county court orders. Nov. 27, 1666, that a cage shall be erected in Salem, in which to display wrong- doers. aud in 1715. Miles Ward is paid by the county for making a pillory. It was ereeted in front of the court-house and near the whipping-post. On Sept. 28. 1630, the Court of Assistants order that two persons shall sit in the stocks here four hours for being accessories in crime ; and June 14, 1631. Philip Ratelif is sentenced to be whipped. have his ear cropped. and be banished for hard speeches against Salem church as well as the government. Ou Dec. 4, 1638, the Assistants order a resident of Salem to sit in the stocks, on lec- ture day. for travelling on the Sabbath.
Mary Oliver seems to have given the magistrates much trouble. On January, 1642. she was presented for neglect of public worship. In February, 1644. she was sentenced to be publicly whipped for re- proaching the magistrates, and on August, 1646, she had a cleft stick put on her tongue for half an hour, for slandering the elders. She was finally banished from the town. Ou May 14, 1714, an inhabitant of Salem is found guilty of passing counterfeit bills. He is sentenced to the pillory. to have his ear cropped, to be imprisoned twelve months. branded with F on his right cheek. and pay £30. The pillory. stocks, and whipping-post ceased to be used as a means of punishment in 1805 ; but it is still a question whether a certain class of crimes. like wife-beating or cruelty to children, could uot more effectually be punished at the whipping-post than by our preseut system of punishment.
Salen Neck seems to have been the place for the execution of criminals. Jan. 16, 1772, Bryan Sheehau was hung there in the presence of 12.000 people, the Rev. Mr. Diman preaching a sermou ; and Dec. 21, 1786. Isaac Coombs, an Indian. suffered the same fate, his crime being the murder of his wife. Jan. 14, 1796, Henry Black- burn. an Englishman, and a chimney-sweeper in town. was hung there for murder. In 1821, May 10, Stephen M. Clark. of Newburyport, aged 17, was hung ou Winter Island, for setting fire to a stable, by which a dwelling-house was consumed. Since then executions have taken place in the yard of the present jail on St. Peter's Street.
Prisons. - For the confinement of prisoners, provision was made June 30, 1668, for the building of a prison. It was located near the south-western end of the first meeting-house; aud June 29. 1669, Benjamin Felton was appointed its keeper. In 1684, a new prison was
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
built near the corner of Federal and St. Peter's streets, at the charge of the county, on common land given by Salem. Its dimensions were thirteen feet stud and twenty feet square. A curious custom pre- vailed for a long time, of allowing the keeper of the prison the per- quisites of selling liquor to his prisoners. The county, in 1813, built the present stone jail which stands at the foot of St. Peter's Street.
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