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 43
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Another indication of the growth of the town. in the first quarter of the century, was the organization of a new parish and the settle- ment of a minister over it. The northerly part of the Cape did not attract settlers at first ; but, towards the latter part of the seventeenth century several families had settled at Annisquam and at the coves east of that place. These had so increased in 1728 that. on the 9th of June. in that year, they were incorporated as a separate precinct. and immediately proceeded to settle a pastor. Their minister was Benjamin Bradstreet, who was born in Newbury. He graduated at Harvard College in 1725, and was ordained over the new parish at Squam Sept. 18, 1728. The sermon at the ordination was preached by Rev. John Tufts, of Newbury. and was published, with a preface
by Rev. John White, of the First Parish. Mr. Bradstreet's ministry continued thirty-four years, and terminated with his death. His health began to fail in the fall of 1761, and the parish took measures to supply his pulpit. He went away on a journey for the benefit of his health, and while returning home in May, 1762, suddenly became very ill at Danvers, and died there on the 31st of that month. He was buried in the burying-ground of his parish, on the 3d of June. Tradition reports that he was a good man and an acceptable preacher. His wife was Sarah Greenleaf, of Newbury, by whom he had eight children. It is not known that either of his two sons lived to mature years.
After the death of their first pastor, the parish remained nearly four years without a settled minister. At length, Mr. John Wyeth ac- cepted an invitation to settle, and was ordained Feb. 5, 1766. He was born in Cambridge, March 1. 1743. and graduated at Harvard College in 1760. His connection with this church was a very unhappy one. Great discord prevailed in the parish for about two years, and Mr. Wyeth was finally dismissed, May 17, 1768. It does not appear that anything was alleged against his moral character, but much fault was found with his pulpit performances and his general demeanor. He left the ministry, and died in Cambridge, Feb. 2, 1811, in his sixty-ninth year.
The next minister of the parish was Obadiah Parsons. He was a son of Dea. William Parsons, of Gloucester, and was born April 5, 1747. He graduated at Harvard College in 1768, and was ordained over the Squam Parish, November 11, 1772, at a yearly salary of £86 13s. 4d. The former tranquillity of the parish seemed to be now fully restored ; but it was not destined to be of long dnration.
Reports deeply affecting the pastor's moral character were circulated against him, and so alienated the people from their pastor that an ecclesiastical council was held at the meeting-house, November 3, 1779, to take into consideration a charge brought by a female of the parish against him. Mr. Parsons made a long and able defence, which made such an impression on the council that it passed a vote that the charge was not supported. The parish refused to accept this decision, and on 15th of November dismissed him from the work of the gospel ministry over them. He afterwards preached in Beverly, and in Lynn, but left the ministry July 16, 1792, and returned to Gloucester, where he taught school several years, and died in Decem- ber, 1801. aged fifty-four. Ile was twice married ; first to Elizabeth. daughter of the Rev. Samuel Wigglesworth, of Ipswich ; and next to Sarah, daughter of Peter Coffin, Esq., of Gloucester. By both wives he had nine children ; one of whom, William, became a physician in North Yarmouth, Me., and died there in March, 1810.
The unhappy termination of the ministry of Mr. Parsons, together with the impoverished condition of the people, resulting from the Revolutionary war, discouraged for many years any attempt to fill the Vacant pastorate. The vitality of the parish was, however. preserved by occasional preaching ; and at last the people rejoiced once more in having a settled minister. Mr. Ezra Leonard, the new pastor, was ordained Dec. 5, 1804, at an annual salary of $400. He was a son of Ezra Leonard, of Raynham. Mass., and graduated at Brown University, in 1801. The only incident in the history of his ministry, deserving notice in this work, is the remarkable conversion of both pastor and people to the doctrine of universal salvation. A large and respecta- ble society of Universalists had long existed in the town, by whose influence, it is likely, the new faith had taken root at Squam; and it is certain that some of the parish often engaged their pastor in dis- cussing the Calvinistic creed. In whatever way the change may have been brought about, the temporal results at least were happy, and the affairs of this religious body went on for the next twenty years in a calm and peaceful flow. Mr. Leonard continued to be the minis- ter of this parish till his death, which took place April 22, 1832, at the age of fifty-seven. Mr. Leonard possessed sufficient talents to satisfy the people of his charge during a long ministry; but his greatest influence among them was exercised by his daily life. He was a man of rare sympathy, kindness, and benevolence ; and in the place of his ministry his name is still held in tender and affectionate remembrance.
Mr. Leonard married, in 1805, Miss Nancy Woodbury, of Glou- cester, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. She dicd Aug. 23, 1850, aged sixty-four.
Clergymen of the Universalist denomination have followed the Rev. Ezra Leonard, as ministers of this society, one of whom, the Rev. H. C. Leonard, is the present pastor.
The first meeting-house . of this parish, erected in 1728, stood till 1830. It was a plain building, resembling that of the Second Par- ish, but considerably larger. The present edifice, on the same site, was dedicated Jan. 5, 1831.
CHAPTER VIII.
EMIGRATION TO FALMOUTH, ME. - BATTERY ERECTED - SETTLEMENT OF NEW GLOUCESTER, ME. - FOURTH PARISHI AND ITS MINISTERS - OLD TAVERN AND MEETINGS OF SELECTMEN - REDUCTION OF LOUISBURG - FIFTH PARISH AND ITS MINISTERS, AND MEETING- HOUSE.
Quite a remarkable occurrence in the history of the town, which took place about the beginning of the second quarter of the seven- teenth century, was the cmigration of a considerable number of fami- lies and a few single individuals to the town of Falmouth, now the city of Portland, Me. This place had, in its earlier history, suffered severely from attacks by the Indians, and several of its people, who were driven away in consequence, found refuge in Gloucester. An interesting historical connection had existed, indeed, from the early settlement of both towns; for among the early inhabitants of the former, were six of the pioneers of Gloucester, two of whom became victims of savage cruelty on the first destruction of Falmouth by the Indians. On the final re-settlement of the town, the connection was strengthened by the emigration above mentioned. In 1727 and 1728. a large number of Gloucester men were admitted inhabitants there, of
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
whom it seems quite certain that as many as thirty removed to the place. Some of them carried families, a few of which are still repre- sented by descendants living in Portland or its vicinity.
To compensate for this large loss of population, Gloucester was constantly receiving accessions from abroad ; but a single line will tell of all those who became founders of families still existing in town : Joseph Herrick, George Dennison, and William Steel.
In 1734, the Provincial Government was reminded by the town, that, in case of war, it would be " naked to the encmy." As early as 1703, the inhabitants called the attention of the General Court to its defenecless state, and asked to have a fortification ereeted on the " small island, or neck of land, out into the harbor"; but nothing for its protection seems to have been done till 1743, when, with a suita- ble breastwork and platform erected on the south side of the spot in- dicated in their first petition to the General Court, and furnished with eight mounted twelve-pounders, and all nceessary warlike stores, the people of the town found themselves prepared to meet any hostile demonstration upon their own waters. It is not known that a single shot was ever fired from it at an enemy. For several years it might have presented an appearance somewhat imposing to the mariners who sailed along under its eight twelve-pounders; but nothing to mark the site of the battery now remains.
At this period in the history of the town, the agricultural portion of the population could no longer find room for expansion within its limits ; and the young men who had been brought up to husbandry, were obliged to turn to the sea for support, or make a home in distant fields. They chose to emigrate, and, on one spot, adjoining North Yarmouth, in Maine, they perpetuated the name of the home they had left. Nearly all of the early emigrants to the new settlement, were from the parent town ; and New Gloucester, after the lapse of a cen- tury, still contains many families who feel an affectionate interest in tt old Cape Ann." This place was settled under a grant made by the General Court, to a number of the inhabitants of Gloucester, in 1736. The proprietors, sixty in number, soon procceded to the work of set- tlement, and, in 1742, had built a good road, cleared much land, and built bridges, a saw-mill, and several houses ; but this good progress was interrupted in 1744, by dread of the hostility of the French and Indians, during the wars of that period, and the time for a safe occu- pation of the place did not arrive, till the peace of 1763 relieved the proprietors from all fear of further molestation from an armed foe. It then began to increase in population, and is found to have contained, in 1770, as many as seventy men, who, in that year, subscribed to- wards the ercction of a meeting-house. Their first minister, the Rev. Samuel Foxcroft, had then been their settled minister, preaching in the garrison five years ; his ordination having taken place, Jan. 16, 1765. An honest-hearted minister, who was present on that occasion, informs us that they had a "jolly ordination, and lost sight of decorum."
For about half a century, a constant intercourse was kept up between the parent town and its eastern offshoot; but the bonds of near re- lationship and strong affection have become weakened by time, and the strongest tie that now connects them, is that which binds all men to the homes and graves of their ancestors.
Allusion has already been made to the circumstance which led to the formation of a Fourth Parish in the town. It was incorporated Dce. 15, 1742, but no minister was settled till Feb. 1, 1744, when Mr. John Rogers, of Kittery, Me., was ordained as pastor. He was a son of the Rev. John Rogers, of Kittery, where he was born in 1719. He graduated at Harvard College in 1739. His ministry continued for a period of thirty-eight years ; and furnishes no other matter for his- tory than the melancholy fact that the closing years of it were rendered distressing, both to him and his parishioners, by the results of the Revolutionary War. Most of his people were engaged in maritime pursuits, and, as they could derive no support from their accustomed employments after the war commenced, they enlisted in the army, or engaged in privateering. Of those who sought support for their fam- ilies in the latter occupation, some were taken and died in captivity, and many perished at sea. The pecuniary condition of the parish became so reduced at this troubled period, that the minister's salary was only paid in part, and he was obliged to eke out a scanty main- tenance by supplying destitute parishes in neighboring places.
Having thus shared in the sufferings of war, Mr. Rogers was not permitted to greet the return of peace. He died suddenly, with- out a struggle or a groan, at the house of a friend, where he had just dined, Oct. 4, 1782. He was accounted a good scholar and an ex- cellent preacher. He belonged to a family which claims the distinction of descent from the martyr; and which is really entitled to the renown
of having furnished to the New England churches, through five gener- ations, some of their most able, faithful, and godly ministers.
Mr. Rogers was thrice married : first to Susanna Allen; next to Mary Ellery ; and last to Mrs. Abigail Woodward, who died March 12, 1819, aged eighty. The eldest of his eight children, Jolin, gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1767, and, for more than forty years taught school in his native town. He also held the office of town clerk forty- five years, and died Nov. 24, 1827, aged seventy-nine.
The Rev. John Rogers was the only settled minister this parish ever had ; but the parish organization was kept up, many years after his death, for the purpose of taking care of its meeting-house, and man- aging the public school kept within its limits. The meeting-house, which was built in 1752, on or near the site of the old one, built by the town in 1700, was kept in very good repair, nearly down to 1840, and was used for religious worship, occasionally, chiefly by the Method- ists, to about that time, when it was taken down. The bell had long been cracked, and its last doleful tones were in melancholy unison with the closing existence of the parish, and the departed glory of its abandoned and decaying temple.
The Meeting-house Plain on which this building stood, as well as previous ones, in which the early settlers worshipped, is about a mile from the Harbor, on the road to Squam. Not far from it, the first and the second mill, and the first taverns were situated ; and this section was of so much importance in the first hundred years after the settle- ment of Gloucester, that it was usually called the "town," and to this day, it is customary for the people at the Harbor to speak of going " up in town." Standing on the Meeting-house Plain, and looking towards the Harbor, one sees, a few rods distant, a very ancient house, which has stood, apparently without alteration, about one hundred and seventy years. It is the oldest building in town which is known to have been occupied as a tavern. It was built by the Rev. John White, and occu- pied by him many years, but after the removal of that minister to be nearer to the new meeting-house, erected at the Harbor, in 1738, it passed first into the possession of James Stevens, and next into that of Capt. William Ellery, both of whom used it for the purposes of a tavern.
It had long been the custom of the selectmen to meet at a tavern for the transaction of their business. These meetings were not fre- quent, but, when they did take place, they probably continued a whole day ; and the cost of the meals and drink for the Board, at the end of the year, was brought as a charge against the town. Their records show that the " expense for the Selectmen and Licker at the house of Mr. James Stevens," on the occasion of swearing in the town officers in 1740, was £3 18s. 2d. Looking at the old tavern, its venerable appearance turns our thoughts at once to the past ; and only a slight exercise of the imagination is necessary to revivify the scene of 1740, with its solemn assumption of municipal duties, and the simultaneous discussion of town affairs and the quality of the dinner and the " licker." It is quite probable that the tavern bills produced at least some dissatisfaction, for, at a town-meeting in March, 1745, a vote was passed that the selectmen should be allowed, for the ensuing year, a salary of five pounds, old tenor, " for doing the town's business and finding themselves." But the year 1745 is memorable for the occur- rence of an event of much greater importance to the people of Cape Ann than the tavern bills of the selectmen. The reduction of Louis- burg, a strongly fortificd place in the island of Cape Breton, then be- longing to France, was felt to be a matter of the highest importance to the people of Gloucester, because the town now sent yearly several vessels on fishing voyages to the Banks of Newfoundland; and these vessels, in case of hostilities between the two countries, would lie at the mercy of this stronghold of the enemy. Such a case had already arisen ; for the kings of England and France had mutually deelared declared war in March, 1744, and, according to a statement of the Rev. John White, the enemy had already begun to " molest and break in upon our fisheries, and break them to pieces." The resolve of the colonial authorities, to undertake the reduction of Louisburg, was, therefore, without doubt, warmly approved by the people of Glouces- ter ; and the news that the city and fortress had surrendered to the provincial forces on the 16th of June, 1745, must have been received with great satisfaction. Little is known of the part borne by Glouces- ter men in this expedition. Capt. Charles Byles, belonging to the town, commanded a company of forty-one men engaged in it; and Capt. Thomas Sanders, of Gloucester, had, during the siege, com- mand of the transports in Chapeau Rouge Bay. The persons from Gloucester who are known to have suffered on this occasion were,- Job Stanwood, who lost his left arm; David Stanwood, who was wounded ; Thomas Ayres, who lost his life ; and James Parsons and Samuel Goodwin, who returned home sick and died soon.
140
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
A few of the immigrants of this period fixed their homes on the south-easterly end of the Cape. Settlers had been slowly gathering in that section during the first half of the century, principally around the cove known from about the beginning of this period as Sandy Bay. Inconveniently situated by distance from religious worship at either of the meeting-houses of the town, they sought, of course, at the earliest practicable moment, separate parish privileges. These were secured to them by an Act of the General Court, approved by the governor Jan. 1, 1754, incorporating them as the Fifth Parish of Gloucester. It was the last act by which the inhabitants of any par- ticular section of the town were organized as a separate religious body. Ten members were dismissed from the First Church to form the new one, which was organized Feb. 13, 1755, when the ministers of the First, Third, and Fourth churches, with delegates, were present to assist in the ceremonies and solemnities of the occasion.
The minister selected for the new parish was Ebenezer Cleaveland, who was ordained in December, 1755, at a salary of sixty pounds per annum. He was born in Canterbury, Conn., Jan. 5, 1725. He and his brother John, who became minister of Chebacco Parish, Ipswich, were expelled from Yale College for attending a Separatist meeting while at home during vacation. This aet of the college government aroused public indignation, and the brothers were restored to favor, and obtained their degrees. It is said that Mr. Cleaveland was a chaplain in the army sent again Ticonderoga in 1758, and in the tri- umphant campaign to Canada in 1759. With the consent of his church, the patriotic minister joined the Revolutionary army as chap- lain, and was stationed at Dorchester Heights in the winter of 1775. Hc afterwards served in Rhode Island, and other places ; but he returned home before the close of the war, and finding his people in a distressed condition, and nnable to do anything more for his support than to furnish him a few quintals of fish per annum, he sought another field of labor. After several removals, he came back to his old home at the Cape, some time in 1797, and finished his days in the house which he built there at the commencement of his ministry. He died July 4, 1805, aged eighty. His wife was Abigail Stevens, of Canter- bnry. She died Dec. 25, 1804, aged seventy-seven. The virtues of this pastor were subjected to severe trials. Through the misconduct of some of his children - twelve in number, in all, -great and unusual domestic troubles fell to his lot; but he kept a patient, serene, and affectionate spirit to the end, and died in faith, trusting, as he said, " in the same God who had protected him when the bullets were flying about his head on the battle-field," and resting " on the doctrines of free grace his hope of immortal glory."
Three of Mr. Cleaveland's sermons were printed, entitled respect- ively, " Sins of Omission," " Sins of Commission," and "The Abound- ing Grace of God Towards Notorious Sinners."
The meeting-house erected by the Fifth Parish stood near the head of Long Cove. It was about thirty-six feet square, two stories high, and unprovided with belfry or steeple. It was taken down in May, 1805, just before the decease of the venerable man who had been its only occupant as the minister of the parish.
The Sandy Bay Parish was without a settled minister more than twenty-five years, though the place of one was partially supplied at different times by Mr. Cleaveland, before and after his final return to the Cape in 1797. At the time of his death, the church was in a low condition, and the people exhibited the usual signs of a want of relig- ions instruction and New England Sabbath influences. A strong, sincere, and earnest spirit was needed to undertake a reformation in the parish, and such was happily found in the Rev. David Jewett, who became its next pastor. Mr. Jewett was born in Hollis, N. H., July 16, 1774; he graduated at Dartmouth College in 1801, and was ordained over this parish Oct. 30, 1805. A long and eminently suc- cessful ministry followed. He found a church of ten members, which he increased to two hundred and fifty, and the happy result of his labors for the improvement and elevation of his people, entitles him to a high rank among the ministers of the town. Compelled by ill- health to resign his office in 1836, he removed from town, and died in Waltham, July 14, 1841.
Mr. Jewett's successor was the Rev. Wakefield Gale. His ministry may more properly be given in the history of Rockport than in that of Gloucester. Of all the parish churches of Gloucester, the Fifth (now the First Congregational Church of Rockport) is the only one that has preserved a continued existence, and the faith of the early settlers.
The meeting-honse in which it now worships, was erected in 1804. It has been greatly altered and improved at different times, at consid- erable expense, and is now a very neat and handsome edifice.
CHAPTER IX.
FRENCH WAR - POPULATION, 1735 - THE POOR -TOWN EXPENSES - SMALL-POX - STAMP ACT - SAD LOSS OF LIFE AT SEA - PEOPLE OF THE TOWN READY TO DEFEND THEIR RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES - PREPARATION FOR WAR.
The year 1755, is distinguished in American history. for the beginning of the systematie operations which resulted in the total de- struction of French power on this continent. Not many towns had a larger interest at stake in the war, than Gloucester. Its Grand Bank fishery had now become important, and the contest was to decide for its people, whether, on their visits to this fishing-gronnd, they should continue to be subject to annoyance by French cruisers, or not. In the first year of the war, the town furnished one whole company. and several soldiers for other companies ; but in addition to this, all we know is, that Capt. Jonathan Fellows commanded the company. of which John Row was lientenant, and Samnel Fellows ensign; and that it formed part of the expedition against Crown Point. Of the particular service of the Gloucester soldiers who joined the army for service against the French. in 1756. no account is preserved. They assembled at the meeting-house, on the day of the annnal public fast, April 29th, and listened to an address from the Rev. Samuel Chand- ler. which, at their desire, he copied for them. Again, on the day of their departure, May 3d, they went to the house of public worship. On this occasion, the venerable Mr. White prayed for them, and his colleague gave them a word of exhortation.
Though the war had been disastrons to the English, so far, great preparations were made for a vigorous proseention of the contest. in 1758. On this occasion, Gloucester was a scene of considerable mil- itary display. On the 18th of April, a general meeting of officers was held at Col. Allen's, followed by a " genteel entertainment." On the 23d. the transport, with troops from Gloucester and some of the neighboring towns, sailed for Halifax. to join the large force there assembling for an attack on Louisburg ; and, on the 24th of May, a large company, commanded by Capt. Andrew Giddings. marched out of town, accompanied by a great concourse of people. This company, consisting of about eighty men, formed a part of the unsuccessful expedition to Ticonderoga. The great sneeess of the year, was the reduction of Lonisburg, which surrendered in July, and was the occa- sion for great rejoicings by the people of Cape Ann.
The conquest of Canada followed, in 1759, and the struggle of the French for a controlling power in North America, ceased forever. A company from Gloucester was in the battle on the Plains of Abraham, near Quebec, but no particular aceonnt of its doings or its sufferings, has been preserved. We know, however, that the great victory was celebrated by the people of the town, who testified their joy by an illumination, and the firing of cannon. They might well rejoice, for the result of the war seenred to them a safe prosecution of the bnsi- ness, by which they advanced steadily in a career of prosperity, till called upon to assert their rights in the struggle which gave them lib- erty and independence.
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