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 29
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Danvers was then a charming rural hamlet of from five to seven hundred souls - a typical New England farming town, divided into hills and dales, with here and there a patch of sombre woodland, to add to the beauty of the landscape. It is not believed, however, that there was anything like a forest in that locality at that time, the town having been settled for more than a hundred years.
The selectmen were empowered to agree with the town of Salem as to the proportion of the poor belonging to the new district then in Salem almshouse, to settle the number and take care of them as they thought best, and to report at an adjourned meeting.
This meeting was adjourned until the eighteenth of the same month. On that day, the freeholders again assembled, and voted to raise £200 in lawful money to defray the charges of the district and county tax, exclusive of highways, and an additional sum of £150 for the cost of the latter. The seleetmen were to settle with the town of Salem as to the amount of school money, and were also empowered to agree with some person to keep a grammar school in the district, thus show- ing the early importance attached to the necessity of education. There were, at this time, four schools in the district. It was voted to warn the freeholders of future meetings by posting notices on the meeting- house doors in both parishes.
This meeting, as stated, was held in the First Parish meeting-house, which was located on what had been known as " Wateh-house Hill," at what is now Danvers Centre.
The hill took its name from the watch-house built upon its summit, - a log structure used as a place of observation, and also of refuge and defence during Indian attacks. This watch-house stood upon the northern brow of the hill, within what is now known as the Parsonage pasture, and about twenty-five rods from the meeting-house, which occupied the site of the present First Parish church, although facing to the north, upon the " Old Meeting-house Road." The building was erected in 1701, and was the second edifice occupied as a place of worship.
The territory comprised in what was at this time (1752) known as Salem Village, was originally set off and defined for parish purposes by conditional assent of the town of Salem, and authority from the
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
General Court or Assembly, Oct. 8, 1672. There were settlers upon it as early as 1632 or 1633, although it was not until 1635 that steps were taken to plant a formal settlement in the village. The original bounds of the village parish commenced at the " wooden bridge " at the head of Endicott or Cow-House River, afterwards ealled Waters River, near what is now known as Felton's Corner, and ran in a gen- erally north-easterly direction across the head of Crane River, cross- ing Frost-fish Brook to the Horse Bridge, so called, on the Wenham line, a point just beyond Alford, now Cherry Hill, which was included in the territory. From thence it ran in a general north-westerly direction, with slight deviations, following the present boundary be- tween Danvers and Wenham to the Topsfield line. Thence, turning south-west across Smith's Hill and Nichols Brook, to the Ipswich or Great River, the line traversed nearly the same boundary as now established, and passing in the same general direction across the river, it continued until it met the river again at a point near the north- western corner of Peabody, and from here it followed about the pres- ent course of the Peabody boundary on the Lynnfield border to a point, at that time known as the "Seven Men's Bound," near the pres- ent village of Brookdale. From here the line turned eastward, through the middle of the pond to Felton's Corner, at the wooden bridge, the point of beginning.
In the year 1710, the Second or South Parish was established for the maintenance of preaching, comprising in a large part the territory now included in the town of Peabody. This tract did not include what was then known as the New Mills, now Danversport, nor that portion of Royall Side, Beverly, now included in the present limits of Danvers. It included a large proportion of the present town of Middleton, then known as " Bellingham's Grant," which was added at the request of its owners, and more especially upon the petition of one Bray Wilkins, who desired it for public reasons, and because of his wish to be included in the Salem church, and within the limits of Salem. At the town-meeting, held March 4, 1753, a committee was chosen to set the line between the town of Salem and the district of Danvers, the line to commenee on Trask's Plain, so ealled, and running from thence to Trask's Mills, taking in said mills, and thence running northerly, through the North Fields, to the Great Cove in Beverly.
On the 7th of May, 1753, " It was agreed between Ichabod Plaisted, Benjamin Piekering, Joseph Bowditch, Timothy Pickering, Thorndike Proctor, Jonathan Gardner, John Gardner and Abraham Watson, on behalf of the town of Salem, on the one part, and Daniel Eppes Jr, Thomas Flint, Samuel Holton, Samuel King, David Putnam, John Proetor, and Jasper Needham, on behalf of the district of Danvers on the other; that the fixed boundary line between the said town and the district from ye Great Cove, so called, in North Fields, to Trask's Plain, shall be and remain as follows : Beginning at a stake standing in the lower part of the thatch bank at ye northerly part or point of Peter's Neck, so called, owned or claimed by Joshua Orne of Marblehead, by the cove aforesaid, and running south a little westerly eighteen poles to a stake and stones five feet west of a Red Oak on Orne's land, and thenee westerly ending a little to the eastward of Trask's grist mill, and from the end of that line running southerly to the eastermost elm tree on said plain, [probably the present great tree on Boston Street, Salem, ] and by the northerly side of the highway, there called the Boston road, leaving the grist mills within said district. The several stakes and bound trecs on this line shall be marked with a Marking iron."
The origin of the name Danvers, as applied to this territory, is a matter of conjecture, and will probably never be definitely deter- mined. The word itself is D'Anvers, meaning in the French tongue, Antwerp, of Belgium. There was, too, at the time, a noble family of England by the name of Danvers, who were of considerable promi- nence ; and there is a theory that the farmers of Salem Village came originally from the vicinity of their estates in the mother country.
But the later and more probable theory is, that the name was given in honor of Sir Danvers Osborne, the governor of New York in 1753. With the establishment of the new bounds, the New Mills became a portion of the district, and its people united themselves with the First Parish. The acquisition was a valuable one, for extensive manufact- ures were carried on here, and also the business of ship-building.
The first tax was levied upon the inhabitants of the district, June 19, 1752. The surveyors of highways were ordered, in his majesty's name, to collect tax of ye several persons, his or her proportion, for the cost of the highways. Those who wished, were allowed to work out their proportion upon the roads, each man to be allowed two shil- lings and eightpenee per day for his labor, the value of the labor by boys and teams " to be set by the surveyors." Should any person fail to pay his tax, either in money or labor, they were authorized to dis- train his goods and chattels ; and then if not paid, "ye distress, or distresses, were to be exposed openly at an outcry for payment," no- tice of such sale being duly posted. "For want of goods and ehat- tels," the order ran, "you are to seize ye bodies of ye person or per- sons, and commit them to the common gaol, there to remain until the amounts of distress are satisfied, or until the Court of General Ses- sions shall order any part of the taxes abated."
At the commencement of the year 1755, a movement was set on foot looking to a general union of all the English governments and Colonies in America. This, perhaps, may have been the first germ of the desire among the colonists to erect an independent government, which subsequently found fulfilment in the great struggle of twenty years later. The "farmers" of Danvers, although imbued to a re- markable degree with the spirit of true independence, as evinced by all their acts from the time of their separation from Salem, down to the present, were not inclined to look with favor upon this early movement, and at a special town-meeting held in the North Parish meeting-house (as the First Parish was now ealled ), February 3, 1755, Daniel Eppes, Jr., Esq., named in the records as the town's represen- tative, was instructed to use his utmost endeavors to prevent the plans for such a union " from taking effeet in the Great and General Court." He was also to oppose any other plans of union that he should think would be an infringement on ye liberty and privileges of the people of this district. At the same meeting, Mr. Eppes was empowered to prefer a petition to the General Court, that the Distriet of Danvers be erected into a township. The Act of incorporation only gave it district rights as a district, but the final organization of the town, including the rights of representation in the General Court, which were denied in the Aet of incorporation, was completed June 16, 1757. The bounds between Danvers and Wenhan were renewed and fixed April 23, 1754. The line between Danvers and Beverly, from Frost-fish Brook to Salt River, and by its side to where it comes out opposite ye Great Cove, was fixed on the same date ; and within the same month the Topsfield and Middleton bounds were definitely settled. The Lynn line, running by Otter-hole Brook, and through Humphrey's Pond, was established May 13, 1754.
The history of the ancient roads in Danvers, is of considerable local interest, many of them being the cause of many a bitter contest and protracted struggles. The oldest highway, is that known as the " Old Ipswich Road," which dates from 1630. It was not laid out, however, by the General Court, till 1643. The original road from Salem to Andover, crossed the brook at " Hadlock's Bridge," near the present carpet-factory in Tapleyville, and followed the line of Pine Street, turning upon Hobart Street at the residence of S. Walter Nourse ; the latter highway is the " Old Meeting-house Road." From here it passed westerly to " Ingersoll's Corner," by the present First Parish meeting-house, and thence along the line of Centre Street, past the house of Joel Kimball, keeping what is now an untravelled way to the " Log Bridge " over Ipswich River, nearly half a mile west of the estate now occupied by Charles Peabody. From this point it passed aeross " Will's Hill " to Andover. The " Old Boston Path " to Read-
13
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
ing and Boston, by Medford Bridge, is the present little used road, turning from Centre Street, just beyond the present school-house, and leading southward near the house of Zephaniah Pope, to the place which is owned by the Goodell family, and from thence to Bos- ton. This was a favorite route with many travellers, although the Ipswich road was the greater thoroughfare of the two. The present highway from the meeting-house to Tapleyville, by Centre and Hol- ton streets, was opened about the year 1725, although it may have been a private way before that year.
Eastward from Hobart Street, at the corner of Forest Street, was the "Old Boxford Road." According to tradition, this followed an Indian trail toward the Merrimae Valley, at North Andover and Haverhill. Its general course was along what is now Forest and Nichols streets, crossing the Newburyport Turnpike by the house of Edward Wyatt; passing the house of Henry Verry, ascending the hill to the north-west by a way yet discernible, and leading thence to " Rowley Village " or Boxford, or turning a little more to the right to Topsfield. From the hill beyond Henry Verry's there is also a path westward to Middleton. At Beaver Brook, near the "Log Bridge," there was also a path. leading in at the lane by Jacob E. Spring's place, and William A. Lander's, and crossing to Putnamville, entering upon the present Locust Street by the lane south of I. H. Putnam's house ; and also passing by a branch to Wenham, north of the Great Pond. This way was used in commen with the "Ipswich Road " by travellers to Wenham and the towns beyond. The line of the " Box- ford Road " may also perhaps have been continued in some manner past the place once occupied by Joseph Hutchinson, and across the fields to the vicinity of "Hadlock's Bridge." A branch may also have led to the right, towards the house of Joseph Holton, at the place now owned by the family of the late Isaac Demsey, and thence south-west- erly over the meadows.
Sylvan Street, from Ash Street, by the mills of Otis F. Putnam to the town house, was opened in 1842, and is simply a straightening of the "Ipswich Road."
The road along High and Water streets, from the Plain to Crane River, at Danversport, was opened in 1755, and relocated in 1802. Before the opening of this way, which was continued in 1761 to the North Bridge, in Salem, the "Ipswich Road " was the only highway leading toward Salem. The population at the "Port," or the " New Mills," was at that period very small.
April 14, 1760, Samuel Clark petitioned for a way through Capt. Samuel Endicott's land, and a bridge across Waters River. This was violently opposed by Israel Andrews and a strong faction, and was the subject of heated controversies at the town-meetings for several years subsequent to its construction.
Thus, November 5, 1764, it is recorded that the suit of Capt. Hutchinson, for amount expended in repairs upon the Waters River Bridge, was decided against the town. On the first of April, 1765, the bridge was torn to pieces by a violent storm, and the town refused to repair it. April 8, of the same year, a committee was chosen to examine the bridge and report its condition, and the committee was also empowered to see what could be done towards getting the town relieved of the burden of the bridge. May 14, 1766, a committee was chosen on the part of the town to attend a hearing at the Great and General Court, upon the petition of John Proctor and others, for a bridge over Waters River. The petition appears to have been granted, for it is recorded that Mr. Sawyer repaired the bridge. October 2, 1770, the bridge was again destroyed by a terrible storm, and occa- sioned another bitter controversy. May 20, 1771, a committee was chosen to examine into the repairs upon the Waters River Bridge, and to see what could be done towards throwing the expense of the same upon other towns. At the same time, it is recorded that Enoch Put- nam and Aaron Putnam, who repaired the bridge, refused to hand in their accounts for the same ; and in the following September, the town voted to choose agents to commence actions against the Putnams for
the conversion of the town's timber to their own use in the repairs upon Waters River Bridge.
The committee was chosen, but the town lost its case ; and Dec. 2, 1771, it was called upon to raise money to defray the costs of a judgment against it in favor of the Putnams, amounting to £258 14s. 2d. The fol- lowing spring, we find the town calling its committee-men and repre- sentatives in this bridge case, to account for their inability to win its cause. The bitterness engendered was not wholly obliterated for many years. Liberty Street, with its bridge over Porter's River, was laid ont in 1803. The bridge known as "Liberty," or otherwise as " Spite" Bridge, was built to draw travel from the famous Essex Bridge, constructed in 1788. The latter caused a great deal of bitter- ness in Danvers, and its proprietors were compelled to pay the town of Danvers the sum of ten pounds, annually, for fifty years. Liberty Bridge was built with the anticipation that it would prove of great public benefit, and would materially attract business from Beverly. Locust Street occupies mainly the route of the " Old Topsfield Road." It was relocated in 1807, the bounds beginning from near where the flagstaff now stands at the Plain and in front of the Post-Office. North Street, which runs north-west from Locust Street, passing to the south of the house of Samuel Wallis, crosses the turnpike, and leads off into Topsfield, is an old road, relocated in 1785.
The road from the old Judge Lindall place upon Locust Street to Beaver Brook, following in part the routes of Poplar and Maple streets, was opened in 1793. Previous to that period, the travelled way had been by Hobart and Pine streets, by the corner, at Mr. S. Walter Nourse's place. The continuation of Maple Street, from Beaver Brook, past the residence of Dea. William R. Putnam, to the inter- section with Preston Street, by M. S. B. Swan's house, now the main line from the Plain to Middleton, was constructed in 1813.
It will be remembered, that one of the first acts of the inhabitants of Danvers, was to look after the proportion of poor belonging to the town, then in the almshouse at Salem, and to this end the select- men, chosen at the first meeting, were to take care of such poor per- sons in that institution as rightfully belonged to the district to support. This matter of the care of panpers and the town poor, continued to be a prominent subject for discussion at the town-meetings from the very commencement of the town organization. The different means adopted for the maintenance of sundry poor persons, thrown upon the town's charity from time to time, present some quaintly humorous phases to us of the present day. Here is a copy of an agreement en- tered upon the records, and dated June 4, 1759, in which Jonathan Kettle agrees for an annual consideration of the sun of thirteen shil- lings and fourpence, paid by the town to himself, lawful attorney or his heirs, to take care of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Bridget Webb, and to supply her with all necessaries whatever, during the term of her natural life, and thereby save harmless the town of Danvers. But it is agreed, that it shall be so long as he shall live and no longer, and that upon the decease of ye said John Kettle, this agreement shall immediately become void and of none effect.
(Signed) JONA. KETTLE.
And again, June 7, 1762, Nathaniel Nurse, and Daniel Nurse, of Salem, agree for the sum of £7 16s., lawful money, in seasonable payments, to take care of their honored father, Mr. Benjamin Nurse, during the term of his natural life, and thereby " save the town of Danvers harmless of him." The remaining conditions being the same as in the case of Kettle. What a wealth of sarcasm in that word honored. In 1761, an attempt was made to cause a poor- house to be erected, but it was voted down. At the town-meeting of March 14, 1763, Benjamin Prescott, Joseph Southwick, and Archelaus Dale, were voted a committee upon a poor-house. There is no further mention made of the matter, but there are entries from time to time, of action taken by the town in reference to divers poor persons, who were thrown upon its hands. In the year 1808, a substantial poor- house was erected.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
The cause of education was also early made one of the most impor- tant matters to be considered. One of the artieles in the first warrant was to authorize the selectmen to obtain a sehoolmaster, to keep a grammar school in the district as soon as may be. Danvers claims the honor of the first free school in this county, although Salem can fairly dispute the title, as it, at that time, included the territory. September, 1641, the selectmen of Salem ordered, that a notice be published on lecture day, that such as have children to be kept at schools would bring in their names, and what they will give for one whole year ; and also that "if anie poor bodie hath children, or a childe, to be put to sehoole, and is not able to pay for their schooling, that the towne will pay it by rate." Under this order, it is claimed that the school, which was established under the care of Endicott himself, as governor of the Colony and chairman of the seleetmen of Salem, was held at the Orchard Farm at " Skelton's Neck," Danversport, on what is now Danvers soil. However that may be, the first notice in the parish record of a school, which was held within the limits of the present Danvers, oecnrs in 1701, when it was voted, that " Mr. Joseph Herrick and Mr. Joseph Putnam, and Mr. John Putnam, Jr., are chosen and empowered to agree with some suitable person to be a school-master amongst us, in some convenient time ; and make return to the people." These men constituted the first school committee. It is probable that schools, or classes for instrue- tion, had been held from early times, though without much regularity, at the houses of the farmers in different parts of the town.
No further allusion is made to the matter, and there is nothing to show that this committee accomplished their object. The next men- tion of the subjeet is not till 1712, when the records tell us that a committee appointed to receive the school money from the selectmen of Salem, were directed to pay to "ye widow Dealand five pounds, which is her due for keeping ye school in ye village formerly," and also " to invite her to come and keep school in ye Village again, and to engage her five pounds a year for two years of that money, that is granted to us by the Town for a school." Almost a year later, there is a receipt signed by " Katherin Daland," for this five pounds, due " for keeping school at Salem Villig at ye School House near Mr. Green's." In the year 1708, the diary of that gentleman, has this reeord : -
" March 11. My lectures ; full assembly, few strangers. I spoke to several about building a school house, and determined to do it etc. " 18. I rode to ye neighbors about a school house, and found them willing to help. I went to Wenham r. M. Bad riding as ever was.
" 22. Meeting of the Inhabitants. I spoke with several abont build- ing a school house. I went into ye Town Meeting and said to this effect ; Neighburs, I am about building a school house for the good education of our children, and have spoken to several of the neigh- burs, who are willing to help it forward, so that I hope we shall quickly finish it; and I speak of it here that so every one that can have benefit, may have opportunity for so good a service. Some replycd that it was a new thing to them and they desired to know where it should stand, and what the design of it was. To them I answered that Deacon Ingersoll would give land for it to stand on, at the upper end of the training field, and that I designed to have a good school master to teach their children to read and write and cypher and everything that is good. Many commended the design, and none objected against it.
" 25. Began to get timber for the school house."
Further on in his journal, the minister describes the work of rais- ing and underpinning the building, and getting the "mantel tree." The pastor built the school-house, and the generous deacon, who had already given the training field to the parish, gave it also a spot for its school-honse. Soon after this, however, it became the custom at town or parish meetings, to direet that the school should be kept a few weeks at a time, in rooms in private dwellings in different parts of the parish.
On the 7th of April, before the new school-house was wholly fin- ished, Mr. Green hired " Mrs. Deland " for a teacher, and on the next day he hired a room of Mr. James Holton for school purposes, and his two boys, "Joseph and John, went to school." He paid "ye school dame" himself to 1709, inclusive. The salary due the lady in 1712 was not for this school. In 1714 " Captain Putnam and Lieutenant Putnam wher choasen to look after" a schoolmaster " and to get him as Cheap as they can for the benefit of the pepell." Samuel Andrew was engaged. His receipt for his first payment of his salary reads as follows : " Saillem Vileg November the 3 in the year 1714. These may Certifie hom it may Consarn thatt I have Rescived of Capt. Put- nam and Lieutt. Putnam the sum of seaven pounds, and forty shillings of Sevarall persons for teaching ther children, the wich nine pounds I have Reseived in full for keeping seholl in Saillem Villeg I say Reseived By Me, Saml" Andrew." This is a copy of the original receipt by David Judd, the clerk, who is probably responsible for the orthography. It continued to be the custom from this time on, to determine the number of schools, and where they were to be held, at the sueeessive annual town-meetings. The first sehool-master at the New Mills was Caleb Clark, who kept a school in the house of farmer Porter.
It is stated that four sehools had been erected in the middle par- ishes in 1736, and they were all, withont doubt, in existence at the organization of the town.
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