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 51

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 51

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In 1863, August 17th, voted, that the selectmen be authorized to hire money to pay aid to the families of drafted men.

In 1864, April 8th, the treasurer, under the direction of the select- men, was authorized to borrow money sufficient " to pay a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each volunteer for three years service, as will enlist to the credit of the town under the pending call of the President for two hundred thousand mnen." June 25th, the same officers were authorized to borrow money and pay the same bounty for volunteers in anticipation of another call for more men by the President. August 13th, a citizens' meeting was held ; a com- mittee was appointed " to circulate a subscription paper to raise funds for the payment of bounties to volunteers, in addition to the one hun- dred and twenty-five dollars voted by the town," which meeting was adjourned till August 15th. At that meeting the committee reported thirteen hundred and sixty-four dollars collected from one hundred

and twenty subscribers, which money, and the subscription list, were passed to the selectmen.

On the 16th of February, 1865, the selectmen were authorized to enlist meu to fill the quota of the town, and to draw upon the treasury for the necessary funds.

During this time Groveland furnished one hundred and eighty-five men for the war, making a surplus of seventeen over and above all demands. Seven were commissioned officers. The total sum of money appropriated and expended by the town for war purposes, exclusive of State aid, was twenty-seven thousand eight hundred and twelve dollars and fifty-seven cents ($27,812.57).

In addition, the amount of money raised and expended by the town during the four years of the war, for State aid to soldiers' families, which was afterwards re-imbursed to it by the Commonwealth, was as follows : In 1861, $764.08; in 1862, $2,544.66; in 1863, $3,403.96; in 1864, $3,557.33 ; in 1865, $3,000 ; making a total amount of $13,- 269.93.

In addition to this, the ladies of this town were constant in their labors in supplying the means of relief and comfort to the siek and wounded soldiers in hospitals and in eamp, which were distributed through the ageney of the various instrumentalities organized for that service.

At the close of the war, upon the return of the soldiers, the town gave them a public reception, which took place on the 27th of July, 1865, which was a fitting testimonial of respect for the surviving heroes who had faithfully served their country in this memorable con- flict.

While the living were thus made sensible of a proper appreciation of their services, the " Roll of Honor" was not forgotten, and a mon- nment was erected to commemorate the patriotic deeds and sacrifices of the twenty-four who gave their lives for their country during the War of the Rebellion. This marble shaft, of appropriate design, was erected on the Common, near the Congregational church, at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars ; and was dedicated in 1866, on the first anni- versary of the return of the soldiers, with appropriate ceremonies. In 1867, the L. B. Schwabe Post, No. 107, G. A. R., was organized, which name was subsequently changed to that of the Charles Sumner Post, and now bears that honored name and title.

Of the business men in this town, none have occupied a more prominent or influential position than the late George Savory, whose death occurred in 1854. He was a man of noble impulses, possessed of ample means, generous of heart, and public-spirited, whose busi- ness enterprise was of great advantage to the town. He was liberal in his religious opinions, and in politics Democratic. He was an acknowledged leader of that party in this section, and was once a candidate for lieutenant-governor on the Democratic State ticket.

Dea. Nathaniel Ladd was also a man of much prominence and of a patriarchal character. He was much iu town office, and much engaged in services of trust and responsibility for his neighbors and townsmen. He was a man highly respected, and one in whom the fullest publie confidence reposed. He died, June 9, 1878, at the ripe age of 92 years.

The most remarkable living man in Groveland, at the present time, is Dr. Jeremiah Spofford, now in the 92d year of his age, yet in the possession of tolerable health, considerable vigor of body, and retaining his mental powers with remarkable strength, clearness, and activity. Dr. Spofford has been for more than seventy years a citizen of the town, during which time he has been constantly engaged for the pro- motion of its interests. He has usually been found a warm friend of public improvements, and the promotion of educational interests. The existence of the "chain ferry," so long a convenience to the publie, was through his instrumentality. He was one of the earliest and most earnest promoters of the Newburyport and Georgetown Railroad enterprise, and warmly favored the bridging of the Merrimac for the public convenience, while he was generally friendly to public improvements. The establishment of the Merrimack Academy was largely through his efforts, and his voice and pen have ever been actively employed in behalf of the cause of education. As a physi- cian, he has ever held an honorable position, though now chiefly, if not entirely, retired from practice. His life has been long enough to span nearly all the political phases of parties since the days of Wash- ington, and he possesses much personal knowledge of all the political organizations which have existed in the present century. He is the author of "Spofford's Gazetteer of Massachusetts." The present pos- session of his powers of body and mind, iu so full measure, renders him a remarkable mau, and one whom it is a pleasure to meet.

HAMILTON.

Hamilton was a part of Ipswich, and known as "The Hamlet," until its incorporation, June 21, 1793, when it received its present name in honor of Alexander Hamilton. It is bisected by the Eastern Railroad, and is by it about twenty-four miles from Boston. The church is in north latitude 42º 37' 22.09", and in west longitude 70° 51' 35.21". The town is bounded on the north by Ipswich, from which it is partly separated by Ipswich River; on the cast by Es- sex ; on the south by Manchester for a short distance, and by Wenham ; and on the west by Topsfield, the dividing line being in part the Ipswich River. The underlying roek is sienite, and bowl- ders are plentifully strewn over the surface of the ground. The soil is in general productive, and under good cultivation. The whole number of farms is ninety-three. They are well fenced, and the highways are kept in good order. Vineyard Hill, a notable eminence in the westerly part of the town, overlooks the valley of the Ipswich River : and from Brown's Hill, a beautiful, rounded eminence in the south-casterly part, may be seen the windings of the Miles River, and the well-shaded village of Hamilton, on the north; the Chebacco Pond, and the dense forests of Essex and Manchester, and the ocean, on the cast; the spires of Marblehead, on the south ; and a broad sweep of land, with the State insane asylum, on the west. The views on every hand are very charming. This hill and the neigh- boring ponds were favorite resorts of the red men.

There are several other pleasant eminences, as Sagamore and Dodge's hills, within the limits of the town ; but the land is for the most part level, or gently broken, with a gradual slope towards the north-west. An extensive swamp occupies the south-western angle of the town, and prevents its being settled.

The water-supply is very good, and furnishes some motive power, together with an abundance of fresh-water, and in some instances salt-water, fish. On the west and north, the Ipswich River, rising in the town of Wilmington, meauders through fertile valleys, and then enters Ipswich near the line of the Eastern Railway. It receives, as affluents from Hamilton, the outlet of Pleasant Pond, Black Brook, and Miles River, -a pretty, serpentine stream which flows from Wenham Pond, and holds its course north-eastwardly, and nearly parallel with the main street of the central village. Several beautiful sheets of water - as Beck's Pond, Round Pond, Gravel Pond, and Chebacce Pond, a part of which is in Essex - diversify the scenery in the south-eastern section of the town, and furnish pleasant resorts for boating and angling in the summer, and for skating in the winter season. Asbury Grove, a noted Methodist camp-meeting ground, in the southerly part of the towu, is laid ont, in a forest of lofty pines, with. streets, avenues, and parks, on which have been constructed many cottages, in various styles of architecture, for the accommo- dation of families during the continuance of the meetings, which annually attract thousands of people to this delightful spot. It is approached by a branch railroad from the Wenhamn station of the Eastern Railroad. The first meeting was held here in 1859.

The town has four public schools, all in a good condition ; a hand- some Congregational ehnreh ; a good parsonage, built by the ladies ; and an ancient cemetery, opposite to the church. There is an excel- lent hotel on the Chebacco Pond, owned and kept by Mr. John Whipple. It commands a fine view of the pond, and the scenery on every side is quite romantic. The building was struck by lightning in August, 1878, but has since been repaired. The town is accon- modated by three railroad depots ; one of which is the Wenham station on the Eastern road, and the others are the Miles River and Woodbury's station on the Essex Branch road.

The people are mostly engaged in agricultural pursuits, for which the soil is well adapted ; and lead very quiet, frugal and contented lives. None of them are very wealthy, none very poor; and hence republican simplicity in the maiu prevails.

The principal village consists of one extended and well-shaded street, the buildings of which present a rural and comfortable aspect.

In answer to a petition of sixty-five men of the Hamlet, it was organized as a parish, Oct. 14, 1713; and in November of that year

the first meeting-house was completed. It was 50 feet long, and 38 feet wide, with a turret on the south end. In September, 1731, a bell of 300 pounds for it arrived from England, and was for some time hung on a pine-tree near the meeting-house.

A church of twenty-eight members was organized here as the third of Ipswich, Oct. 12, 1714; and, on the 27th of the same month and year, the Rev. Samuel Wigglesworth was ordained as pastor. The salary of Mr. Wigglesworth for the first year was £60, two-thirds to be paid in money, the rest in corn ; and he was also to have twenty cords of wood per annum. His salary was to be increased by £5 the second, and £10 the third, year; with the use of the parsonage when completed. His " settlement" was £100, and one and a half acre of land.

Mr. Wigglesworth was the son of the Rev. Michael (and Martha) Wigglesworth, author of the once-popular poem called " The Day of Doom ; " and was graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1707. After leaving college, he spent several years in practising medicine and in teaching school. Ile delivered the election sermon before the General Court in 1733, and the Dudleian lecture in 1760. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, and continued in the pastorate at the Hamlet until his decease, which occurred at the age of seventy- nine years, Sept. 3, 1768. He was twice married, and had thirteen children ; of whom Edward Wigglesworth ( Harvard College, 1761) was a colonel in the Revolutionary War. [Memoir of the Rev. Michael Wigglesworth by John Ward Dean, A.M., p. 120.]

He was buried in the graveyard nearly opposite to his church. The dwelling-house in which Mr. Wigglesworth lived and died is still standing, a little distance southward from the church, and is at present occupied by Mrs. Francis Danc.

Among the earliest deaths at the Hamlet was that of Mr. Richard Hubbard, May 3, 1681. He was a brother of the Rev. William Hubbard, was a graduate of Harvard College in 1653, and deputy to the General Court in 1660. Also, that of John Whipple, Aug. 10, 1683. Ile was appointed, Feb. 21, 1676, captain of a troop to repair to Marlborough against the Indians, and in 1677 was sent with a company against the enemy at Salisbury. He was treasurer of the county. The burial-place, enlarged and still in use, was occupied as such as early as 1706; and the earliest legible inscription in it is : " Memento mori, Fugit hora. Here Lyes ye Body of John Dane, who departed this Life, Dec. 23, 1707."

Nathaniel Woodbury, of the Hamlet, was taken by the Indians, at Wells, in 1712; and after many hardships, and paying £30 for his redemption, returned home in November, 1720. The General Court allowed him £60, and appointed him interpreter of the Indian language. (Felt, p. 210.)

March 17, 1722, the Hamlet was saddened by the death of Dea. John Gilbert, only son of Humphrey Gilbert, and a useful citizen.

In 1726 there were three Indian families, each of which owned a wigwam on Wigwam Hill. But they soon afterwards left the place.

The great earthquake which occurred Oet. 29, 1727, caused many of the people to give serious attention to religion, and within one year afterwards ninety-uine persons united with the church. Ipswich votes this year to give the Hamlet its " old school bell." Abraham Tilton died here, March 28, 1728, in the ninetieth year of his age.

Alive to the cause of education, the Hamlet voted March 10, 1730, to erect a school-house ; and Joseph Sceomb was that year employed as an instructor. Mr. Samuel Langdon subsequently taught the school. The innholder in 1732 was JJohn Thomson. The building was near the church. The spotted fever prevailed here extensively in 1738; and Jan. 23d of that year Nathaniel Cross had lost all his seven children, within a month, of that disease. On the 28th of January, 1739, Matthew Whipple, of this place, died in his eightieth year ; leaving, inter alios, William, whose son William became a signer of the Declaration of Independence. June 29, 1740, John Whipple, Jr., was killed while felling a tree. On the 7th of April, 1741, " Mr. Lord, of the Hanilet, who had left his house but a short time after breakfast, was found in the evening, under a tree, killed

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by lightning." The people at that time knew but little of the laws of electricity, and had not noticed that a tree is a good conductor of the fluid, and therefore to be avoided in a thunder-storm. Aug. 30, 1741, Col. Symonds Eppes died at the Hamlet, in his seventy-ninth year. He gave a large silver ean to the Hamlet church. He held many public offices, and was highly respected. He married, in 1715, Mary Whipple, who afterwards became the wife of President Hol- voke. While Mr. Wigglesworth was conducting service in church, June 3, 1744, the people were greatly alarmed by an earthquake .. To restore quiet, he said to them, " There can be no better place for us to die in than the house of God."

The sensation of the Hamlet in 1753 was the introduction of a chaise by the Rev. Mr. Wigglesworth, who in all things was deter- inined to keep abreast of the times in which he lived. The sleigh had already come into use.

In 1757 it was voted by the parish, that the scholars attending school " find the wood and the master's board."

In the old French war, the Hamlet was well represented. In March and May, 1755, the Rev. Mr. Wigglesworth delivered good sermons in the presence of the troops enlisted from the town of Ipswich. Both of them were printed. Antipas Dodge, John Jones, Joseph Symonds, Amos Howard, and Elijah Maxey were soldiers from the Hamlet. The first three were killed at Lake George ; the other two were wounded in the service. The soldiers from the Hamlet, under Capt. Stephen Whipple, in the expedition against Crown Point in 1756: Benjamin Pinder, aged nineteen ; Ebenezer Porter, twenty-four ; Joseph Whipple, seventeen ; Nathaniel Adams, nineteen ; William Poland, twenty; Stephen Brown, twenty; Ste- phen Lowater, twenty-three ; Benjamin Glazier, twenty-one ; Jolin Baker, seventeen ; John Marshall, forty-two ; Thomas Adams, thirty- three ; and John Boynton, nineteen. Capt. Whipple, then twenty- nine years old, had charge of the stores at Fort William. Samuel Porter, of the Hamlet, was at the eastward, in a company disguised as Indians.

On the 8th of July, 1758, Capt. Whipple was severely, as his two lieutenants, Burnham and Low, of Chebacco, were mortally, wounded. On the day preceding, Samuel Porter and Nehemiah Knowlton, of the Hamlet, with some others, captured a French lieutenant and two privates. The lieutenant threw down his watch and purse, and cried for quarter. On meeting Capt. Whipple, Porter made inquiry as to the wound he had received. To which the gallant officer replied, "No matter for it : I am afraid I have lost my two lieutenants."

Porter was afterwards in a ship below Quebee when that city, in 1759, surrendered to the victorious army of Gen. Wolfe.

Abraham Hobbs, of the Hamlet, was in the army at Quebec, and in the battle on the Plains of Abraham. He heard Gen. Wolfe say to his men, as the French approached, "Now, my boys, do your best !" Unconsciously, the men were training themselves in these hard campaigns for the great struggle of the Revolution.

Capt. Stephen Whipple and nineteen men of his company took passage in the snow " Hibernia," from Louisburg, for Boston, Dec. 5, 1760; but were driven by a storm to the West Indies. They soon however, returned in the ship " Montreal," Capt. Caleb Seabury, to New York, and thence to the Hamlet.

A warden was appointed for the parish in 1761, whose duty it was to enforce a strict observance of the Sabbath. This office was con- tinued many years, and all offenders were promptly prosecuted.

The parish contributed this year £82 14s. 2d. for the relief of sufferers by fire in Boston the year preceding.

A second church edifice, 60 feet long and 40 feet wide, was erected on the site of the old one in 1762, at a cost of abont $2,151. It had long seats on one side of the aisle for men, and on the other side for women. It has been remodelled, and is still in use.

John Annable, born Feb. 19, 1722 ( Harvard College, 1744), died on the 18th of April of this year. Ile had been a schoolmaster, and was fitted for the ministry.

Dea. Matthew Whipple, son of Maj. Matthew Whipple, died here, much lamented, Feb. 17, 1764.

The Hamlet had, in 1768, a school in the centre; and also one at the cast, and another at the west, part.

Mr. Wigglesworth was succeeded, Sept. 11, 1771, by the Rev. Mannassch Cutler, who continued in the pastorate until his death, July 28, 1823. Ile was born in Killingly, Conn., May 3, 1742 : gradnated at Yale College in 1765 ; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1767. Dissatisfied with his profession, he then studied theology with his father-in-law, the Rev. Benjamin Balch of Dedham, and in 1770 was licensed to preach the gospel. Though settled over

a quiet rural parish, he manifested great vigor of mind, and in various capacities rendered valuable service to his country. In the Revolu- tionary war, he was appointed chaplain of the 11th Massachusetts regiment, commanded by Col. Ebenezer Francis ; and for his gal- lantry in the action in Rhode Island, Aug. 28, 1778, was presented with a fine horse. He studied and practised medicine, and became noted for his knowledge of botany, to the study of which he was allured by the varied flora of the Hamlet. He was the first to attempt a scientific description of the plants of New England; and by him was in part prepared the chapter on plants and trees in Dr. Jeremy Belknap's History of New Hampshire. In 1781 he was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. To him belongs the honor of laying the foundation of the State of Ohio. As agent of the Ohio Company, he bought, in 1787, one and a half millions of acres of land lying north-west of the Ohio River. On the 7th of April of the ensuing year, the settlement of Marietta was commeneed by a company of emigrants under his direction ; he himself travelling thither the next year, in a sulky, in the short space of twenty-nine days. The emigrants started from Dr. Cutler's house in December, 1787, and fired a salute on leaving his door. They went in a large covered wagon, on which was painted, "Ohio ! For Marietta on the Muskingum." He is justly considered the founder of that noble State. He was buried in the graveyard in front of his church. In his epitaph it is truly said : "He was eminent for his botanical, medical, political, and theological knowledge."

In 1791 he received from Yale College the degree of LL.D., and he served as member of Congress from 1800 to 1804. He delivered a centennial discourse at Hamilton. Oct. 27, 1814, which was pub- lished. Ilis son Jervis Cutler was one of the emigrants who settled Marietta, and died at Evansville, Ind., June 25, 1844.

Dr. Cutler was dignified and courteous in manner, fluent in con- versation, and ever zealously bent on the acquisition of knowledge. His complexion was light : his voice, low, distinct, and clear.

At the time of the settlement of Mr. Cutler, the church had twenty- seven male and forty-one female members. Two years later, the Hamlet contained 116 dwelling-houses, 172 families, 419 males, and 451 females ; making a total of 870 inhabitants.

Dr. Elisha Whitney (Harvard College. 1766), came to practise medieine at the Hamlet in 1772, served as a surgeon in the army. and removed to Beverly in 1793. He was followed by Dr. Nathan Lakeman, who practised here from that time until 1800.

In the opening of the Revolution, and all through that great struggle, the people of the Hamlet evinced an ardent patriotism, and the village was well represented in most of the great battles of the War. The citizens abstained from the use of imported manufactured articles, and substituted other beverages for tea. The soldiers were mostly enrolled in the Ipswich companies, and for their equipment and payment the Hamlet made great sacrifices. An alarm-list was made up at the Hamlet ; and. March 13, 1775, John Whipple, Jr., was chosen captain, John Thompson, 2d, lieutenant, and Jonathan Lamson ensign. In 1776 Joseph Lufkin was killed by the fall of a tree while serving in the western army.

In 1777, June 30th, there were sixty-one cases of the small-pox in the easterly part of the parish ; and people from some other towns opposing inoculation came here to be inoculated for that disease. The pest-house was even more dreaded than the British army. Some of the neighboring towns, as Beverly and Manchester, stoutly opposed the practice of inoculation, and hence the large number of cases at the Hamlet.

A considerable quantity of saltpetre was made here in the early part of the Revolution, and one lady, when asked if her oak wood might be cut down for this purpose, nobly replied : "It is for liberty ; take as much of the wood as you want."

Dec. 18, 1778, Benjamin Ireland died in this place, at the remark- able age of 100 years ; and Feb, 12, 1780, the Widow Marshall died at the still more remarkable age of 102 years. From 1771 to 1792, there were 252 deaths at the Hamlet. Thirty-three of these were of persons eighty years old or upwards.

At the close of the Revolution, fishing vessels, some of twenty tons, were to some extent built here, and drawn by ox-teams two or three miles to the Chebacco River; but the business has long since been abandoned as unprofitable.

On the 4th of July, 1784, three sons were born at one birth in the Hamlet, all of whom attained the age of manhood.

The Hamlet was, through the efforts of Dr. Cutler, incorporated as a town June 21, 1793, and named in honor of Alexander Hamil- ton, then Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The town voted £36 for schools in the year of its incorporation. A post-office was established in 1803.

On the 16th of August, 1808, Jonathan Lamson, aged 87 years, died in consequence of being scalded by hot water.

Dea. Nathaniel Whipple, a prominent citizen, and the last man who wore a full-bottomed wig here, died Dec. 19, of the year follow- ing, aged 89 years.

Solomon S. Whipple, of this town, was graduated in 1811 at Dart- mouth College.

In 1812, the town voted in opposition to the war; but two years later it voted to pay the detached men, when called into actual service, $5 per month.

On the 15th of August, 1814, the town lost a valuable citizen by the death of Barnabas Dodge, owner of the mills on the Hamilton side of the Ipswich River. He was in his 75th year at the time of his death. He was a land surveyor, and held several civil offices.

A Sabbath-school was established here on the 8th of May, 1818, which has been in operation ever since. By it the knowledge of the Scriptures has been extended, the singing improved, and the church augmented.

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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 51

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