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 145

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 145

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The territory thus taken from Lynn is an irregular triangle, smaller than any other in the county, save only Nahant. It is bounded north- easterly by Salem and Marblehead, westerly by Lynn, and southerly by the sea. A large part of the surface is rocky, uninviting pasture, coming down to the shore in heavy, beetling, precipitous hills, in front .of which the road just finds room for passage : on the east this softens out into considerable traets of fine arable land, allowing for many excellent farms ; and, on the west, a lesser space of the same good character connects with the intervales of Lyun. Beside the two beaches named are two others, ealled Whale Beach and Phillips Beach ; at which, however, little or no business is done.

In point of actual settlement, this is the oldest of the towns origi- nating from Lynn ; one of the five first settlers of 1629, Franeis Ingalls, having located here, and established the first tannery in the country. The place of his homestead is yet well known, and some of his aneient vats were discovered and opened as lately as 1825. The business did not, however, fix itself here ; and, indeed, it does not appear that any tanner has been here since.

In 1795, there began a more permanent form of local industry. The catching of fish from small boats, or from the shore, was coeval with the Indians themselves : all the people practised it. But this year some of the men of this village -James Phillips, Jonathan Blaney, and others - fitted out the schooner " Dove," of twenty tons, and sent her to the fisheries in a larger way. She was wrecked two years after ; and they replaced her with the "Lark," of sixteen tons, which was also lost in about two years. Then they put on another, called the

"Dove," which was more fortunate. From this was formed the con- siderable fleet of " jiggers," or small fishing-craft, which have since made the town famous for their immense catches of cod and other shore fish. In some cases, the fortune of these little vessels has been incredible. We will only mention the week ending Dee. 13, 1856, in which the schooner " Flight," Capt. Stanley, with thirteen hands, took 62,700 pounds of codfish ; and the single day's catch of the schooner " Flying Dait," with twelve men, Feb. 25, 1863, when they took 14,000 pounds, within twenty-four hours. These vessels, it is under- stood, do not generally go to the great Eastern fishing grounds, though there are not a few veteran "banksmen" to be found in the town. Beside this, the trapping of lobsters has become a valuable industry of the place. It was begun by Ebenezer Thorndike, in 1808, with only a dozen pots. Afterward it was remarkably enlarged as a busi- ness by Ebenezer Weeks, who had pots and ereels in all the neighbor- ing waters. The number taken is still immense ; but the market seems fully equal to the supply.

Between Whale and Phillips beaches, the shore projects in a con-

spienous promontory, covered originally with beautiful woods. This carly attracted the attention of wealthy summer residents ; and a fine hotel, called the Ocean House, was built upon this cape in the first part of the century. It was very popular for many years. From this grew up the purchase and occupation of the neighboring lands, for gentlemen's country-seats, along with which proceeded the enterprise of large boarding hotels for transient company in the warm season. In this direction, perhaps, the ability and energy of the towns-people have gone furthest of all. The eapacions houses for fashionable enter- tainment may now be reckoned by the dozen ; while the private dwell- ings that are annually given up to rent to wealthy strangers are still more numerous. The roads have been enlarged to streets, and many of these are improved so as to afford the most splendid drives.

It is not strange that the republic of pleasure should be so gracious to the little town of Swampscott. Its distance from Boston is not great ; its facilities for sea-bathing, boating, and the like are unrivalled ; its air is delightful ; and its scenery, to such as love the finest features of coast-view, is often quite enchanting. From its heights, a broad expanse of sea and country can be surveyed at a sweep ; and a mod- erate walk inland exchanges the busy streets of the little town for spots that are still and secluded as the wilderness.

Swampscott has three religious societies : an Orthodox Congregation- alist, a Methodist, and a Baptist, -all with good honses of worship. The first was established July 15, 1846. A fine town hall is found here, with a small, but choice library. The Eastern Railroad passes through the middle of the township, but somewhat 'apart from the principal seat of business. A branch also diverges here, running to Marblehead, which affords much advantage to those in the eastern section.

A sad shading to this lovely pieture is observable in the peculiar exposure of the very rocky coast to the fury of the heaviest storms, which has been the occasion of many most distressing wreeks. Perhaps the most painful of these was that of the barque " Tedeseo," Capt. Peterson, of Portland, from Cadiz, with salt and wine. She struck on Long Rock, near the Ocean House, Jan. 18, 1857, in the severest storm remembered by any one. The mercury had been twenty-eight below zero, and then stood about twelve below. The snow was so terrible as to suspend travel for two days, and nothing could be done for the vessel. She had twelve in her company ; all of whom perished, six bodies being recovered and buried at one time.

As an offset to this may be mentioned a much later case, occurring not far from 1860, when a vessel struck near Galloupe's Point, in the darkest possible night, and was lifted bodily by a great wave to a natural groove in the rocks, where it lett her upright, high and dry. The whole erew, captain and his wife, all stepped from the rail upon solid ground, and walked to the shore, with no hurt whatever.

We conclude with a few statistics. The population of this town in 1875 was 2,128, including 612 ratable polls and 541 voters. She bad five public schools, occupying houses worth $22,500, with $300 addi- tional property. Her manufactures were very limited : the most was done in house-carpentry, in which the aggregate value reached was $19.100. Hler best agriculture was in milk, of which she raised 47,033 gallons, worth $10,878. Next were onions, amounting to 5,600 bushels, worth $5,535. Hay, however, was more valuable, reckoning 414 tons, at $8,073. Seventeen farms above ten acres appear, valued, with five smaller ones, at $425,900

TOPSFIELD.

Before we commence our sketch of the history of the ancient town of Topsfield, let us take an ideal sail up the Ipswich River. It is the year 1640. We spread our sail at the Ipswich settlement, and pro- ceeding westward, with a good breeze, we soon reach the " river meadows," as they are now called, in Topsfield. We have just passed, on our right hand, the farm of five hundred acres which was granted by the town of Ipswich, in 1637, to Dep. Gov. Samuel Symonds. Farther away to the north lies a farm laid out to John Winthrop, Jr., both farms being almost surrounded by "common " land. Before turning, in the bend of the river, in a southerly direc- tion, away off toward the west about a mile, we faintly discern the spot on which, a few years later, was the residence of Francis " Pabo- die," the ancestor of the Peabody family in America, near which was the first mill in the town, erected in 1672, but now known as " Towne's grist-mill."

Sailing along down the stream for a mile or two, we make a turn to the right. On the right hand, the heavy growth of the forest extends nearly down to the banks of the river; on the left, the "Wennam " meadows, as they were then called, present an unvarying scene as far as the eye can reach. A part only of these lowlands had been granted to individuals. Bryant Pendleton, William Howard, and a few others owned small tracts here. On the west of this extensive tract of meadow lies some common land called " Salem Woods." As we continue our boat-ride, we see to the right a house belonging to Allan Perley (the ancestor of the Perley family in America), which he conveyed, in 1652, to Walter Roper, a carpenter, who had been residing in the little settlement. A very short distance ahead and nearer the banks of the river, we come in full view of Alexander Knight's house. Half a mile further on, on the same side of the river, we have a good view of the old ancestral home of the Goulds. " Old Zacehens Gould " here built his house upon a tract of land that had previously been granted to Capt. Patrick. On the south side of the river, some of the land is under cultivation. Beyond this point, the wild, uninhabited country, with its plains and hills, forests and swamps, prevails for miles.

With the addition of two or three dwellings (Daniel Clark's, John Reddington's, and perhaps one or two more), our sail up the river gives us a just estimate and a very good view of the settlement of She-ne-we-me-dy, as Topsfield was then called by the Indians. Prob- ably on account of the extensive tracts of meadow land in its imnie- diate vicinity, the settlement was known among the English as New Meadows.

The first notice which we find of Topsfield is contained in an order of the General Court, dated on the 4th of the 7th month, 1639. By this order, certain lands lying near Ipswich River, were granted for a village, to inhabitants of Salem. Although Salem alone had lawful authority to settle there, several families in Ipswich availed themselves of the opportunity and settled with the Salem people. The town of Ipswich, or rather "the Ipswich people," maintained preaching in the Topsfield settlement for two years before the General Conrt gave them liberty to take up grants of land there. This order is dated 10th of the 3d month, 1643, and a clause reads as follows, viz. : " It is therefore ordered that Mr. John Endicott, and the said inhabitants of Ipswich, viz. : Mr. Bradstreet, Mr. Symonds, Mr. Whittingham, Mr. William Paine, Mr. Robert Paine, with such others of Ipswich or Salem as they shall associate to themselves, shall have liberty to settle a village near the said river of Ipswich, provid- ing it is done within one year," &c. (Town Records, Vol. 1, p. 45.)

William Towne, Thomas Perkins, John Wildes, Abraham and John Reddington, Nathaniel Porter, George Currier, of Salem, and others, were also among the original proprietors of land at New Meadows.

Gov. Endicott also owned a considerable tract of land here as early as 1639. In 1648, a copper mine was discovered upon his land. Mr. Leader, a metallurgist, then superintending the Lynn iron-works, hav- ing expressed a favorable opinion of the ore, Endicott spent eonsid- crable money in excavating and working it. The site of this ancient

mine can be seen on the County Map. More than 120 years after its discovery, in spite of Endicott's failure, it was re-opened, and worked for a while, at considerable loss to the proprietors. After an interval of about seventy years, a company of Salem capitalists caused the old shaft to be cleared out, and subjected the ore to anal- ysis. The result was, that the hole was once more filled up, never again, probably, to be disturbed.

Besides the operations at the " copper mine," bog-iron ore was dug, to a considerable extent, by the carly settlers. In 1681, June 17th, the town orders " that there shall bee noe boge mine doge in ye Towne but by some townes men : and hee that dos dige et shall Carey et with his one teme or hieree a townes man to Carey et alwayes pro- vieded hee that diges it a grees with the selectmen of the Towne to pay four pence a ton for the Towns Vese ether in Silver or Iron and this order stands in force " only one year. Ten days later "Ensign goold" was granted liberty to dig twenty tons of bog iron. And Lieut. Peabody also received the same liberty .- ( Town Records, Vol. 1, p. 25.) Bricks were also manufactured here before 1697.

The population increased, more houses were built, and the little hamlet of a few cottages had emerged into a settlement of no incon- siderable importance, comparatively speaking, when the General Court granted them a town charter, as per following : " At a third session of the General Court, held at Boston, the 15th of October, 1650: In answer to the request of Zaccheus Gould and William Howard, in the behalf of Topsfield, the Court doth grant that Topsfield shall, from henceforth, be a town, and have power within themselves to order all civil affairs, as other towns have." By this order it seems that the name was changed to Topsfield before the town was incorporated. It was so ealled, probably, from Topesfield, a small parish, about four miles W. N. W. from Castle Hedingham, in Essexshire, Eng.

Topsfield was a part of the old sachen, Muschonomet's territory ; and although the old chieftain gave a title of the land then within the bounds of Ipswich, which included a part of what was afterwards Topsfieid, to John Winthrop, Jr., more than sixty years after, his grandson, Samuel English, made a claim upon them for the land. Upon the payment of three pounds in money, he gave them a quit- claim decd, bearing date March 28, 1701.

The first records of town-meetings, &c., are gone, so that the ear- liest town officers eannot be ascertained. In 1661, however, we find that " Ensigne Howlett, ffrances pabodye and John Redington" were chosen selectmen. Lieut. Francis Peabody was, probably, town clerk from the incorporation of the town until March 7, 1681-82, when John Gould was chosen to be his successor. It is a fact worthy of note, and only paralleled by few eases, that Mr. Jacob Towne, and his son, J. P. Towne, held the office of town clerk from 1810 to March, 1878, a period of seventy-seven years.

In 1661, the common lands on the south side of the river were laid out to " m" Bradstreet, m' perkins, Zacheus Gould, mr Baker, Tho Dorman, ffrances Pebody, Willi Evens, Daniell Clark, Isaac Cum- ings, Sen' Isae Cumings jun" Ensigne Howlet Willi Smith, mr Endicott, John Wiles, John Redington, Tho Perkins, Tho Browning, Jacob Towne, Isaac Estey, Willi Towne, Edmond Towne, matthew Standly, Anthony Carell, ffrances Bates, John How, Edmond Bridges, and Willi Nicholse "

In 1664, the land on the south side of the river, which was still common, was divided among the several inhabitants of the town that paid to the minister's rate. Those that paid fifty shillings, or more, minister's tax, were to have one of the larger pieces ; those that paid more than twenty and less than fifty shillings, to have a middle piece ; and those that paid less than twenty shillings were to have one of the least pieces. Thus they divided it np among the following per- sons, viz. : "John Goold, mr thomas baker, danel Clark, thomas dor- man seur, frances pabody, decon hovey, william Eevens, Isack Comings senr, Isack Comings innar, Ensigne howlat, antoni Carol, thomas perkins, thomas broning, thomas averil, thomas hobes, John Redington, John wildes, william smith, Edman bridges, Jacob towne, Isack Este, william towne, Joseph towne, Edman towne, mathew

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

stanle, william nicoles, m' william perkeings, m' Endicot, John how, Robart andros, and frances bates."

Some more of the common lands, on the south side of the river, were laid out in 1668, by John Gould, Thomas Baker, John Wildes, and Franceis Peabody. Probably all the land that now remained com- mon, on the south side of the river, was the five hundred aeres of upland voted to be laid out, 14th of the 10th month, 1661, " to remain common to perpetuity for the use of the inhabitants."

Although the town was incorporated in 1650, its boundaries were not settled for a long time afterward, with the exception of Rowley. Rowley bounds being settled very early, their exact location was, doubtless, forgotten in a few years ; and after Boxford was incorpo- rated (1685) a long contention of forty-six years ensned before the boundary could be settled upon. Town-meetings were held, com- mittees and attorneys were appointed, prosecutions were entered be- fore the law tribunals, and the action even of the General Court was repeatedly invoked and obtained. The bounds against the town of Salem were settled in 1664. The Ipswich line was established after a short quarrel. With Wenham, the limits were easily settled, but the duty of the perambulators on that side of the town was rather severe. The course which they were compelled to take, as from year to year they went round to renew or identify the landmarks, carried them through a sort of bog. in which they often got sadly mired. To pre- vent this calamity, the line was finally altered by an amicable arrangement.

At a town-meeting held June 10, 1726, a petition signed by Thomas Caves, Edward Putnam, Joseph Knight, and five others, praying that Topsfield would grant them liberty to join with other families of Salem, Boxford, and Andover, to be set off as a distinct town, was presented. The town would not listen to the petition, and the subject was dismissed without being acted upon. However, the petitioners, with the others mentioned, presented their petitions to the General Court, which were listened to with due respect, and satisfactorily answered, two years later. These families thus set off from the four towns became the town of Middleton.

The few families on the east side of the river, now included within the town of Topsfield, originally belonged to Ipswich. The Lampson and Cummings places were settled as early and, perhaps, earlier than the town of Topsfield. They helped to support the ministry in Tops- field, the same as the Rowley Village (Boxford) people, from its earliest date. From 1729 until 1774, these families struggled to free themselves from Ipswich, and to be annexed to Topsfield. The town of Ipswich repeatedly opposed their petitions, until the General Court finally ordered, Feb. 11, 1774, that the families of Joseph Cummings, John Lampson, Ireal Clark, Joseph Cummings, Jr., John Lampson, Jr., and Thomas Cummings, with their lands, &e., be set to the town of Topsfield. These two instances are the only material changes in the original boundaries.

In Topsfield, as elsewhere, the farmers carried weapons and ammu- nition, as well as tools, to the field, and armed sentries used to walk their rounds about the house of God, while the people were assembled for His worship upon the Sabbath day. In 1673, -when it stood in the cemetery near by Mr. Samuel Todd's house, -a massive stone wall of five or six feet in height, and three feet wide, was built around their house of worship, leaving a space of ten feet between the wall and the building, except on the south side, which was twelve feet. On the south-east corner of the wall was built a watch-house, ten feet square. A space of four feet was left between the watch and meeting- house, so that the passage around it - the meeting-house - would not be obstructed. . The watch-house was, probably, fitted up without windows, and excepting through the small loop-holes, little light was let in. It was called in 1706, the " Old meeting house ffort." There was a watch-house built to the new meeting-house, in 1703, in which, the town voted, Dec. 17, 1707, "Samuel Perley, sent hath liberty to make a fire on Sabath dayes at noontime so long as the town see cause." (See Town Records, Vol. 1, p. 131.) At a town-meeting held May 14, 1708, the Rev. Mr. Capen had liberty granted him to work in the watch-house, and to make a place to let in more light. It was removed before 1738.

In 1675, a committee appointed for that purpose petitioned the General Conrt for leave to form military companies, in order to. pro- tect the inhabitants while at their work from attacks of the Indians. The following year the General Court ordered, that each town should " scout and ward," and clear up the brush-wood along the highways, "to prevent the skulking of the enemy," which order was not disre- garded, probably, by such men as were the carly settlers of Topsfield. A tax-rate was made in February, 1676-77, for defraying the ex-

penses of the "Indian War." In 1679, they purchase ammunition to the value of £46 5s. 6d. Cleaveland, in his bi-centennial address, at Topsfield, 1850, says : "On the grounds of the estate which belonged to Dr. Dexter, and not far from the Newburyport turnpike, may still be seen the traces of an old fortification, once the garrison-house of the town."

It was just nine years before the terrible episode of the " witchcraft delusion," that is, in 1683, that the alarming demand for the surrender of the Provincial charter, under a threat of quo warranto in case of refusal, came over from Charles II. In the record of a town-meeting held in Topsfield, Dee. 25th of that year, is the following brief but significant entry : "We do hereby declare that we are utterly unwill- ing to yield, either to a resignation of the Charter, or to any thing that shall be equivalent thereunto, whereby the foundation thereof should be weakened."

In the following year the royal menace was put into execution, and the letters-patent of Massachusetts were cancelled by a judgment in the Court of Chancery. To carry out the arbitrary measures thus begun, James II., in 1686, sent over the notorious Sir Edmund Andros to be governor over the Colony. After two years King James fled to France, and the people, having no more to fear from him, pounced upon Andros and his tyrannical officers with well-known results. Lieut. Thomas Baker, of Topsfield, was chosen to meet and consult with the " council of safty " about resuming the former government according to the charter. His instructions were : "To act for the public good, and welfare and safty of this Colony,-prohibiting any act or anything that may have any tendency to the infringement of any of our charter privileges whatsoever."

They followed the old English style of the "churchyard," and buried their dead around their house of worship,-a custom which we could wish was more prevalent at the present time. The most ancient headstone now remaining in this ancient cemetery bears the following inscription :-

HERE LYES BURIED YE BODY OF CAPT THOMAS BAKER WHO DIED MARCH YE 18TH 1717-18 AGED 81 YEARS & 6 MONTHIS & 5 DAYS.

This was and is the principal cemetery of the town, In 1706 an addition was made to it, and the whole enclosed with a new stone wall. A few years ago another addition was made, which has been laid out in perfect order, with avenues and roads dividing the family squares one from another. The first grave-digger of whom we have learned may be claimed by the Hobson family. His name was John Hobson, and he came into possession of his office March 7, 1676-77. The town ordered him to " dig graves for such as shall Requier him and he is to have three shilens sixten for ol graves abov for foot long and thre for ol under." He was also to have the charge of the meet- ing-house, sweep it out, keep the key, &c. In 1709 Benjamin Bixby was chosen grave-digger.

We find on the records, under date of Dec. 27, 1720, that the town "alowed to John Willds for makeing the Towns Stoock and for finding y.e Iorns and Lock and bringing them to the meeting house and for seeting up sd stoocks 1.£ 4s." These "stocks" were used as a mode of punishment until about 1757.

Wild animals of all species,-wolves, bears, deers, &c.,-were plenty, even as late as 1722, when the last wolf was killed of which we have any account. In 1687 the town offered a bounty of ten shil- lings for every wolf killed in the town by townsmen.

The laying out and the making of private ways, and of highways, must, of necessity, be among the earliest and most important objects of attention in a new settlement. The history of these in Topsfield, as they advanced from foot-paths to horse-paths, from these to cart- ways, and from the last to the carriage-roads of the present day ; the slow but certain progress which was made from sloughs to causeways, and from fords to bridges, might, perhaps, in most instances be dis- tinctly traced.

A "minister's farm " was early laid out and a parsonage built upon it for the use of the minister. The house was situated in the rear of the Dr. Merriam homestead, being about a quarter of a mile away. The Revs. Gilbert and Hobart probably occupied the house while they preached here. The Rev. Mr. Capen moved into it in 1684. After a few years he built a house of his own, which is still standing and at pres-

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ent occupied by Mr. Alonzo Kneeland. After the Rev. Mr. Capen moved into his new residence the parsonage was occupied, during the years of 1694 and 1695, by Goodman (also called " Father ") Lovewell, who kept the only school in town, and swept the meeting-house. March 5, 1694-95, the town granted him the use of the orchard also. The town voted, March 24, 1700-01, to dispose of the parsonage- house, which was probably immediately done. The site of this resi- dence of some of the carly theologians is still pointed out by the old residents. The farm was let, year after year, till within a few years.

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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 145

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