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 46
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On the 4th of January. 1800, died Daniel Rogers, Esq .. aged sixty- six. He was a brother of the Rev. John Rogers, minister of the Fourth Parish, and passed the days of his boyhood and youth in mercantile establishments in this town. At an early age he com- menced business for himself, and became one of the leading and most snecessful merchants in Gloucester. At one time he had sixteen ves- sels engaged in the fisheries and foreign commerce ; and the number of his houses is said to have been the same as that of his children, of which he had twenty-one in all. He left a considerable estate and an untarnished reputation.
While the town was lamenting the loss of this prominent and valu- able citizen, a deeper grief filled the hearts of the people on account of the death of the great and good WASHINGTON. Suitable public notice was taken of this mournful event ; and on the 22d of February, the birthday of the departed benefactor, the Rev. Dr. Forbes, at the request of the town, delivered a enlogy and offered prayer at the First Parish meeting-honse, where a large audience assembled to engage in the solemn services of the day.
CHAPTER XIII.
POLITICAL EXCITEMENT -- FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS - WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS - SUCCEEDING PARTIES - LOSS OF FISHING-BOATS AND MEN - SLOW INCREASE OF POPULATION IN TWENTY YEARS - FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY - SECOND BAPTIST SOCIETY - WAR OF 1812 - PEACE.
The beginning of the nineteenth century witnessed the introduction of an element of discord into the public proceedings of the town. which had not hitherto oceasioned any marked division of its people. The foreign policy of Mr. Jefferson's administration aroused a strong opposition, and, in 1806, for the first time, a violent party-spirit pre- vailed. In the elections that year, and in 1807, the Republicans obtained a majority for their candidates for town offieers and for rep- resentatives ; but the Embargo Act of the President aroused the Fed- eralists to make a strenuous effort to carry the town at the March meeting in 1808, and thus manifest the opposition of its people to the poliey of the national executive, which threatened their chief business pursuits with destruction. At this meeting, the Federal party chose their three candidates for selectmen, by a majority of seven in a total vote of 496. and, at an adjourned meeting, three more, by a majority of one in a total vote of 657 ; but on the trial for the seventh selectman, the Republicans prevailed by the same majority, and thus ended the first hard-fought political eontest in the town. The election was held in the First Parish meeting-house, and the first adjourned meeting was not itself adjourned till nearly midnight. The parish committee would not allow the building to be lighted, and as the political feelings of the voters were worked up to a high state of excitement, which the free use of liquor, at their places of refreshment, tended to increase, it is
no wonder that the floor of the holy edifiec presented a dim seenc of wild confusion and discord worthy of Pandemonium itself.
In the State election, soon after held, a full vote was brought ont. and the Federalists carried the town by a majority of twenty-five. At the next election for governor, their candidate received more than two-thirds of the votes, and they continued to maintain their ascend- ency till the party-names of the day ceased to have any political sig- nificance.
No period of political agitation again occurred in the town till 1834, when all the opponents of the national administration nuited and formed the Whig party ; the supporters of the President. at the same time, assuming the name of Democrats. The first trial of strength in Gloucester, between the two parties, took place at the fall cleetion, in the same year, when nearly every voter in town. then at home. deposited a ballot. The Democrats achieved a decided victory, and kept the ascendeney till the election for State officers in 1838, when, in consequence of a division in their party, growing out of the nomi- nation of Robert Rantoul, Jr., for Congress, they were defeated in the election of representatives, the Whigs having, at two meetings, elected five of their candidates. At the last meeting, they threw 763 votes, against 757 cast by both divisions of the opposition, - 1,520 in all, -- being the largest vote that had ever been thrown in the town. It was said that every voter in the town, with a single exception, went to the polls.
Having healed its feuds, the Democratic party regained its aseend- ency in 1839. but lost it again in 1840, when it was thrown into a minority by the incorporation of Sandy Bay as a new town. At the Presidential election in that year, it threw but 491 votes for Van Buren, against 694 for Gen. Harrison ; but it again prevailed, through distrac- tions in the Whig party, in 1842 and 1843, after which it never again became the dominant party in the town. Nor did its old opponents resist a tendency to the formation of new parties. In 1843, the Native American sentiment found carnest supporters, who, for a short time. carried the elections. Again, in 1854, under a new organization and name, it commanded the support of a great majority of the voters. most of whom were finally absorbed into the great Republican party, which, in 1860, elected Abraham Lincoln president. At this memorable election, Mr. Lincoln received 745 votes, against 487, in the aggregate. thrown for the opposing candidates ; and the party which has sup- ported him has ever since maintained its ascendency in Gloucester.
In June, 1811, was incorporated the First Baptist Society in Gloucester. Nearly all of its members resided in the Fifth (Sandy Bay) Parish, now the town of Rockport. This society owes its origin to the labors of Capt. Benjamin Hale, a respectable shipmaster of Sandy Bay, who, while absent on a foreign voyage. about 1804. was couverted in a somewhat remarkable manner. The first baptism in Sandy Bay was of Andrew Woodbury, on the 10th of March. 1805. Through the exertions of Capt. Hale and others, a church was organ- ized in March. 1808. and frequently enjoyed the ministerial services of the Rev. Elisha Williams. of Beverly ; but no pastor was settled over it till December. 1820. when the Rev. James A. Boswell became its minister. He left in 1823. from which time till 1840. when it ceased to be a Gloucester church. five different ministers were, at different times. its pastors. This society held its religions meetings for several years at the house of one of the brethren ; next it met for publie wor- ship in a hall, and, finally in a meeting-house. built in 1822, which it still occupies. Capt. Hale, the founder of the society. removed from Sandy Bay about 1812. but returned and died there in 1818, aged forty-two.
Among the first members of the Sandy Bay Baptist Church was John Smith. of the Harbor Parish. He had been a member of the First Church. but withdrew from it. in 1806. to join the Baptist church in Beverly. He. and a few carnest persons who joined with him, assembled for religious worship in private houses at the Harbor. till the number so increased that they were obliged to resort to a large school-room. At these meetings. and at their public baptisms. they were sometimes annoyed by the disorderly conduct of persons drawn by that idle curiosity which everything new serves to arouse. but no serious persecution was attempted. They inereased so slowly, how- ever. that no church organization was effected till Dec. 29. 1830. when twenty persons were constituted the Second Baptist Church of Gloucester. Their first settled minister was the Rev. Samuel Adlam. a native of Bristol. Eng .. who was installed March 24. 1831. He resigned in 1834, since which time several pastors have successively been settled as ministers of the society. The Rev. J. M. English is the present pastor. and the society is now one of the largest and most prosperous religious bodies on Cape Ann. Their place of worship is
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
the large and handsome meeting-house, at the corner of Pleasant and Middle streets. John Smith, the worthy leader in the founding of this society, died Oct. 29, 1828, aged sixty-eight.
On a previous page mention has been made of the hostility of the people of the town to the policy of the National Government, under the administration of President Jefferson. That policy brought on the war with Great Britain in 1812, which threatened the business of the town with serious interference, if not temporary destruction. " Our home," the people said, "is on the ocean ; our wealth we draw from the deep ; and by dangers and suffering's which from repetition have become familiar, we support ourselves, our wives, and our children." But, the poor resources of opposition at the elections. complaint, and endurance, was all that was left for them. The anticipated effects of the war upon the prosperity of the town were fully realized. Its fisheries were interrupted ; its commerce was nearly destroyed, though some was carried on under cover of a false neutrality ; and many of its citizens were made captives at sca, and confined in English prisons. In fear of an attack by sea, the old forts were put into a condition for defenec, and two companies of State militia were raised by draft and stationed in the town for its protection ; besides another company raised by authority of the National Government.
The necessity for these preparations was soon apparent. In August, 1813, the British ship " Nymph " made her appearance in the bay, and created considerable alarm among the inhabitants. No landing, how- ever, was attempted, but she made several captures of coasting and fishing vessels, and compelled the masters to come on shore and pro- eure money demanded for their ransom.
In the next year the enemy had several large ships on the coast ; and the ringing of the alarm-bell, and the startling cry of " alarm !" "alarm !" several times, occasioned great excitement and fear that they. would land and destroy the town. Their apprehensions of this kind were so serious, that many families moved their most valuable effects into neighboring villages ; but their alarm proved groundless ; for, with a single exception, it does not appear that any Englishman set his foot upon the soil of Cape Ann with hostile intent. The in- jurious acts of the enemy were chiefly such as he could inflict upon the sea. On the 6th of June, an English frigate sent two barges, well-manned, into Squam harbor, to take or destroy a few vessels then lying there. One of these was burnt, another was sunk, and two others, laden with fish, were carried off. About the same time, a schooner laden with flour was chased into Gloucester harbor, and run ashore at Eastern Point, but she was saved by the timely appearance of Col. Appleton with an artillery company. Another schooner was chased in by an English frigate, and run ashore at Norman's Woe ; the artillery hastened to her relief, but the barges of the frigate, under protection of her guns, succeeded in getting her off, and taking her away.
A more important affair ocenrred on the 8th of September, when the captain of the British frigate " Nymph," sent into Sandy Bay two barges, full of men, to get possession of a fort the people of that place had built on Bear-Skin Neck. They left the frigate about mid- night, and, favored by a dense fog, one of the barges made a landing not far from the fort, to which the men on board immediately marched, took the sentinel by surprise, and made prisoners of the soldiers sta- tioned in it. They then spiked the guns and threw them out of the fort. The men in the other barge reached the shore about daybreak, at a place near which a sentinel was on watch, who gave an alarm, which roused the people of the village, and brought a number of armed men to the spot. Some firing on both sides ensued, but no one received injury, for the fighting was soon brought to an end by the sinking of the barge, caused by the firing of a large gun in her bow, which started a butt. The men succeeded in getting on shore, where most of them were made prisoners, but were finally exchanged for those taken in the fort.
The people of Gloucester did not engage in privateering to any considerable extent during this war. Only three vessels, suitable for ocean navigation, were fitted out. Two of these were taken by the enemy on their second cruise, and the other returned in safety from a third cruise, without taking a valuable prize on either. One of them captured an English East Indiaman, with a valuable cargo ; but, by a blunder, suffered her to be retaken. The greatest success achieved in this line, was by a fishing-boat of twenty-eight tous, carrying twenty-eight, men. In one short cruise, she took a ship of four hun- dred tons, laden with timber and naval stores, and a brig of three hundred tons, bound to Halifax, with a valuable cargo. Both of these prizes were brought into Gloucester, and yielded the. captors about $900 a share.
However wide apart the views of the people had been with regard to the justice and necessity of the war, there was no difference in the feelings with which, in February, 1815, they received the news of peace.
The large meeting-house of the First Parish was brilliantly illumi- nated ; patriotie songs were sung within its walls ; and the sacred edi- fice was a scene of merriment and extravagant demonstrations of joy.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SEA-SERPENT - BOYS DROWNED - SHIPWRECKS - FIRST METIIOD)-
ISTS AND METHODIST SOCIETIES IN GLOUCESTER -- NEWSPAPERS - EVANGELICAL SOCIETY - NORTII ORTIIODOX CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHI - OTHIER RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES - GREAT FIRES - SHIP- WRECKS AND LOSS OF LIFE.
One of the most remarkable events in the history of this town, whether a reality or a delusion, was the visit of the famous sea- serpent to its waters, in August, 1817, the particulars of which were gathered by the New England Linnean Society, and com- prise the statements of ten persons, given on oath, and all nearly agreeing as to the size, shape, color, and motions of this won- derful creature. Its length was variously estimated, from sev- enty to a hundred feet; and its body, which was apparently rough, and of a very dark color, was about the size of a half-barrel. One man saw eight distinet portions, or bunches, apparently caused by a vertical motion of the animal. Its straight onward movement was thought to be at the rate of about twelve or fourteen miles an hour, though sometimes, when on the surface of the water, its motion was slow ; the animal at times playing about in circles, and then disap- pearing by sinking directly down like a rock. Three men saw it within a distance of thirty feet, and reported that it darted out its tongue, which resembled a harpoon, and was two feet in length. Three other men saw it at the same distance, one of whom fired a ball at its head. A moment's anxious suspense followed, for the creature turned immediately towards them as if to approach. But he sank down, and went directly under the boat, again making his appearance at about one hundred yards distance.
The existence of an enormous marine animal of the serpent kind had been affirmed long before this time. One had been seen, indeed, on our own shores as early as 1639, when a visitor to New England was told "of a sea-serpent, or snake, that lay quoiled up like a eable upon a rock at Cape Ann. A boat passing by with English aboard, and two Indians, they would have shot the serpent ; but the Indians dissuaded them, saying that, if he were not killed outright, they would be all in danger of their lives."
About this time efforts began to be made to form a Methodist society in the town. The first preacher of this sect who visited Gloucester was the Rev. George Pickering, who found here John Edney, an English Wesleyan, in whose house Mr. Pickering preached. Great crowds flocked to Edney's house, out of curiosity, and some of the citizens, becoming alarmed for the peace and good order of society, induced the selectmen to interfere, and request the minister to leave the town. He told the selectmen that he should remain just as long as there was a prospect of doing good. A few converts were the fruit of those carly labors ; but the foundations of a permanent ministry were not laid till 1821, when, and in the four following years, Mr. Pickering frequently visited the town, and preached either in a private house or in the old meeting-house of the Fourth Parish.
A society, consisting of about twenty persons, was organized in 1826, in which year the Rev. Aaron Wait was appointed to the new station, which embraced the whole Cape. His Sunday labors were usually performed in the old meeting-house before mentioned, till the fall of 1828, when he began to preach in a new one erected on Pros- peet Street, in the Harbor Parish. The Methodists of that part of the town had constant preaching, in their first house of worship, till 1858, when they purchased the mecting-house on Elm Street, which they now occupy.
The Rev. Aaron Wait, and the five succeeding ministers of this denomination, labored in the Harbor Parish and in the Fourth Parish, occasionally preaching at Sandy Bay, till 1838, when the Methodists residing in the Fourth Parish erected a house of worship, in which they have enjoyed constant preaching down to the present time. An- other Methodist society was organized at Bay View, on the north side
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
of the Cape, in 1870 ; and the three churches are now in a prosperous condition, and happy in the enjoyment of their religious privileges.
The Methodists of Sandy Bay, just before that section was set off as the town of Rockport, erected a small house of worship, and had the Rev. Israel Washburn as their first minister.
An event of this period, worthy of notice, was the establishment of the first newspaper in the town. On Monday morning, Jan. 1, 1827, appeared the first number of the "Gloucester Telegraph," after- wards published on Saturdays, and, after 1833, also on Wednesdays, till 1873, when it was again made a weekly paper. It had nearly reached the end of its fiftieth year, when, in October, 1876, its pub- lication was discontinued. Till within about a year of its discontinuance, its editor and proprietor for thirty-two years was John S. E. Rogers, who made it such a faithful chronicle of local events that a file of it will ever be of great value for reference.
The "Telegraph" was a family newspaper till 1834, when it became an engine of political warfare in the memorable contest between the Whigs and Democrats. Having taken sides with the former party, the latter established an opposition paper, which was called the "Glouces- ter Democrat." The first number was issued on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1834, and continued to be issued semi-weekly till Feb. 16, 1838. Its most important political articles were understood to be from the pen of Robert Rantoul, Jr. That able man had recently settled in the town, in the practice of law. He made here a brilliant start in polities, and soon won for himself a wide renown as the able, bold, and independ- ent representative from Gloucester in the General Court of Massa- ehusetts. His residence here terminated in 1839.
The next newspaper published in the town was the "Gloucester News," a family sheet, established by John J. Piper, and issued semi- weekly from October, 1848, to Deeember, 1851.
Except a few ephemeral sheets, the only other newspapers that have been published in the town are the "Cape Ann Advertiser" and the " Gloucester Bulletin." The former was first issued Dec. 19, 1857, by Procter Brothers. After about a year it was made a weekly paper, issued on Friday, and has been continued as such to the present time. Besides its general merits, it has particular valne as a record of eurrent local history, both of which combined have secured it the large cir- culation which it enjoys.
The " Bulletin" was first issued in 1877, from the old office of the "Gloucester Telegraph." Its publication day is Wednesday. It is a well-conducted newspaper, and, like the "Advertiser," aims to interest its readers, by supplying them with all the eurrent local news.
On the 17th of November, 1829, a new church was formed in the town, by an ecelesiastieal council convened for that purpose. It was composed of a few seceders from the First Church, who alleged that they could not be instructed or edified by the pastor's preaching. The pastor, at that time, was the Rev. Hosea Hildreth ; and it was gener- ally allowed that his sermons were not after the old Calvinistie model - that he did, indeed, enforce good works more than good belief. It was owing to this, without doubt, that the seceding members failed to reap instruction or edification from his sermons. Having completed their ehureh organization, they next organized a society, March 13, 1830, which they called the Evangelical Society, and then took meas- ures for the creetion of a house of worship. Soon after this was eont- pleted they invited Mr. Charles S. Porter to become their pastor, who accepted their call, and was ordained over the new society Aug. 1, 1832. During Mr. Porter's ministry, the settlement of a decided Unitarian in the First Parish produced another breach in that ancient body, the result of which was that a number of its members joined the Evangelical Society. Mr. Porter's connection with the society was dissolved in 1835, since which seven different ministers have been settled over it. It is now without a pastor. The society now occupies a small, but neat and beautiful meeting-house, built in 1854, on the site of their first one, at the corner of School and Middle streets.
Soon after the formation of the church last mentioned, another, of the same religious sentiments, was organized at Lane's Cove, now called Lanesville. At an ecclesiastical council, convened Aug. 25, 1831, three males and ten females were constituted a church, to be known as the North Orthodox Congregational Church. An Orthodox society was formed about three years before this time, and had already built a small meeting-house. Their first minister was the Rev. Moses Saw- yer, who was installed March 2, 1831. He remained till 1835, since which year it has had nine regularly installed pastors, and sometimes it has been long without one, though preaching has been constantly maintained. The small house of worship, built by the society in 1828, gave place in 1865 to a new and larger one, in which they now worship. The Rev. S. B. Andrews is their present minister.
The next religious society organized in Gloucester was of the Cath- olic sect. It was, of course, composed almost entirely of persons of foreign birth or parentage, of which class of persons there were but few in town before 1840. This sect held their services, at first in 1849, in a room of a Catholic family ; and afterwards, till 1855, in the town-hall. In that year they purchased the meeting-house first erected by the Baptists, and dedicated it to their own religions wor- ship, Sept. 30, 1855. The great influx of persons of this denomina- tion, since that date, created a necessity for better accommodations, which have been recently supplied by the erection of a church, which, when completed, will be the largest, the most imposing, and the most costly religious edifice in Gloucester. It has already been occupied sonic time by the society, the ministering priest of which is the Rev. J. J. Healey. His predecessor, the first Catholic priest settled on Cape AAnn, was the Rev. Luigi Acquarone.
The other religious societies, formed since the preceding, and now existing in Gloucester, are : St. John's Church, Episcopal, of which the Rev. William R. Harper is rector ; the. East Gloucester Baptist Church, of which the Rev. G. W. Mccullough is the pastor; the Swedenborgian Society, of which the Rev. Robert P. Rogers is pas- tor ; the Universalist Society, at West Gloucester; and another of the same denomination at Lancsville.
Before 1830, Gloucester never suffered severely by fire ; but on the morning of the 16th of September, in that year, at about four o'clock, the people were roused by the cry of fire, and soon saw a raging con- flagration that threatened the whole compactly-built part of the town with destruction. It commenced in the rear part of a large building, oceu- pied as a dwelling-house and a store, near the westerly end of Front Street ; and the progress of the flames was not arrested till twenty dwell- ing-houses and forty stores and out-buildings had been consumed. The estimated amount of all the property destroyed was $150,000; and, as it was not so eustomary then to seck protection by insurance as it now is, many of the sufferers were reduced to poverty. Of this elass, the greater number were assisted from the money liberally contributed in Boston and other places for their relief.
Since 1830, the town has suffered by one other extensive conflagra- tion. A great fire on the 18th of February, 1864, swept away nearly everything on the easterly half of Front Street, that the fire of 1830 had spared. The number of buildings destroyed was 103, and the total amount of property lost was estimated at $450,000, on which there was insurance to the amount of $150,000.
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