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 59
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The Methodists appeared here quite early, as is shown in the records of the West Parish, but they did not meet with a very friendly reception from those committed to the maintenance of the forms, doe- trines, and usages of Puritan order. Their first appearance was in the West Parish, and as early as 1806 there is a record of their occu- paney of the meeting-house. The Universalists, also, were first known in town in that section, and it appears the Methodists, Baptists, and Universalists, by clasping hands, wrested the control of the parish from the " standing order." The Methodists first commenced holding meet- ings in the village about 1830. Osgood G. Boynton, Moses M. Chase, and Joseph T. George are among the first recorded as identified with the movement. Itinerants supplied the preaching till 1837, after which it was supplied by conference, and a church was organized at that time.
Till 1842 there was considerable prosperity, at which time the church numbered about 200. The Miller delusion then became a dis- tracting element, and the interest rapidly declined, till in 1844 the meetings were altogether discontinued. There was a revival of inter- est and a reorganization in 1851, and meetings again established in Athenæum Hall. In 1854, "The First Methodist Society in Haver- hill, Mass." was formed, and the Wesleyan church, on Winter Street, erected in 1855. The society has had many able ministers, under whose labors there has been a rapid growth, among whom were Revs. James Pike, R. W. Humphries, O. W. Scott, C. W. Millen, E. A. Smith, S. B. Sweetser, and Charles E. Hall. Rev. J. M. Durrell is the present pastor.
In 1869, a second society was organized, and Grace Church, an elegant structure, creeted in 1871, at a cost of $50,000, also on Winter Street, in which has been gathered a large and strong congregation of worshippers ; first under the pastoral care of the Rev. L. D. Barrows, who has been succeeded by able men. The Rev. Leon C. Field is the present pastor.
The Third Baptist Society was an outcome from the First Baptist Society, in 1858, thirty members withdrawing and commencing wor- ship in the town hall, under the pastoral direction of the Rev. Benjamin Wheeler. Subsequently, meetings were held in Music Hall on Winter Street, and in 1864 a large church was erected ou Portland Street, where has been gathered a flourishing and substantial society. The house has since been much enlarged, and the Rev. Mr. Burns is the present pastor.
The Freewill Baptists organized here about 1858, first worship- ping in a hall, and subsequently in a vestry erected for that purpose. In 1859, difficulties arose, creating division, and secession of a part of the members. The stronger portion of the society purchased the Winter Street church, where they have gathered a large and thriving society. The scceders continued to worship for a time in a small building on Duston Strect, but the meetings were long since discon- tinued, and the organization is extinct.
In 1858, a Free Evangelical Church was organized here for city missionary work, under the care and guidance of Elder Charles H. Cole, but, after a feeble and struggling existence of about two years, the enterprise was abandoned. Mr. Cole had for some time previous labored as a town missionary among the unchurched.
For some time prior to 1850, the Catholic population had been in- creasing here, but religious services had not then been held in town, except occasionally on week days by the officiating priest at Lawrence. On the second Sunday in September, mass was celebrated here for the
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
first time, and shortly after the foundations of a house of worship were laid, the structure built and dedicated July 4, 1852, and a residence for the priest built adjacent to the church. In 1859, the congregation had so increased as to call for an enlargement of the church, and further accommodations have since been supplied for the multiplying number of worshippers. Father MeDonnell, during his residence here, was supplied with an assistant priest. He was succeeded a few years since by Father Daley, and quite recently he has been transferred to Boston, and Father Doherty has taken his place.
The rapid increase of French population, since 1860, led to the establishment of French Catholic worship here, which for several years was held in West's Hall, Water Street, where a large congregation was gathered and ministered to by the Rev. Father L. A. Casgrain, who organized St. Joseph's Church, Nov. 24, 1872. In 1875. a church was built on the corner of Locust and Grand streets, which is occupied by a flourishing society.
The establishment of Episcopal worship here appears to have been to some extent accomplished as early as 1773, but failed at that time because of the sympathy of the rector, the Rev. M. A. Badger, with the mother country, for which reason he fled from Boston with the minis- terial fleet in 1775, abandoning his house and land here. From that time, until 1820, services were rarely held here, hnt at and after that date, the Rev. Drs. Wainwright and Eaton, of Boston, Morse, of New- buryport, and others, preached here. James II. Duncan, then a young lawyer, and Mr. Hovey, a devout churchman, at that time took an interest in the worship, but the effort failed of permanent success. From 1833 to 1835, the effort was again made by A. W. Thayer and the Rev. James C. Richmond, but services were only occasionally held. In 1855. the Rev. Charles Wingate removed from Philadelphia to Haverhill, and soon opened an Episcopal Sunday school. He was joined by B. R. Downes, of Bradford, and the Unitarian church was secured for a Sunday service by the Rev. Dr. Packard, of Lawrence, which awakened considerable interest.
This resulted in the organization of a parish called the Trinity Church Parish ; the Rev. W. C. Brown was invited to the rectorship, and a church built on White Street, which was consecrated in 1857. For several years the Rev. Charles H. Seymour was the rector, who was succeeded by the Rev. S. C. Thrall, D. D. The present rector is the Rev. C. A. Rand. The congregation has had considerable growth, and the church has been enlarged to accommodate the wor- shippers.
In 1875, the Rev. Charles Wingate, in pursuance of a long-cherished purpose, erected an Episcopal church upon the former homestead of his father, the late Moses Wingate, on Broadway, which was given the name of the Free Church of St. John the Evangelist, and is to be maintained by him forever as a free church, in which he is at present the officiating clergyman. Around this altar of worship have been gathered seventy families, many of whom have not previously been regularly connected with any society, and a thriving Sunday school is gathered.
In 1877, the September festival known in England as the "Harvest Home," an English festival, was permanently established in connection with this church, when the fruit and harvest offerings of the season, of every kind, were brought to the church, where were united thanks- giving services and social festivities, terminating with a banquet. Simultaneously with the establishment of this Free Church, Sisters Annie and Mary took up their residence here, and have since been diligently serving the public in labors of love and deeds of charity. The ultimate aim of their mission here is the establishment of a hospital.
CHAPTER X.
THE EARLY DAYS -THE COMMONERS - THEIR CONFLICTS - THE LAND QUESTION - ITS SETTLEMENT - BORDER WAR.
From the commencement of the settlement of Haverhill, a great tract of territory had been held in common by a small number of men, the first step in the division and disposal of which being to divide three hundred acres into lots, and afterwards to divide the rest of the territory, and its improvements and emoluments, proportion- ately, among the original owners, or confer grants to such as wished to become citizens of the town.
As a matter of course, the manner of transacting business was very imperfect, which gave rise to many misunderstandings, and questions of grave character soon came up for settlement. The first recorded
deed of real estate in the town was from Thomas Sleeper and his wife to William White ; and was recorded Oct. 11, 1659. The first select- men were chosen in 1646. - Thomas Hale, Henry Palmer, Thomas Davis, James White, and William White; but the town had the power, as early as 1636. to choose, not exceeding seven men, to have power over its own affairs, who were first called " the seven men," and afterwards "towne's men." These men were doubtless chosen here, hut the records of the early days were not preserved. Richard Littlehale was chosen recorder in 1643. In 1663, the first annual town-meeting was held, and in 1664, John Carleton was chosen recorder and clerk of the writs, which empowered him to try small causes. In 1648, there was a sort of board of trial justices appointed, consisting of Thomas Hale, Henry Palmer, and Thomas Davis, with power to hear " small canses" under forty shillings. Carleton was succeeded in the office of Recorder by Nathaniel Saltonstall, who held the office till 1700. That office was afterwards filled by comparatively few men, John Eatton holding it fifty-six years, Phineas Carleton eighteen years, and A. B. Jaques twenty years.
In the early days they made it compulsory to attend town-meetings. The name of every freeholder was kept on the town records, and the vote was, "having lawful warning he is to come within half an hour after the meeting is begun, and continue till sunset if the meeting hold so long, under the penalty of halfe a bushel of Indian corn or the value of it." In 1647, it is recorded that "John Ayer, Sen., and James Fiske were tined for not attending town meeting, in season." If there was an early disposition to shnn attendance upon town-meetings, or to maintain silence, it was soon improved upon, for in the account of the meeting in 1700, the officer records that " the meeting was full and the mouths, too," which gives a clew to the date when "town- meeting oratory " began to prevail.
The questions coming before the town at that early date were varied in character, and quite exciting. All the affairs of the parish were disposed of hy the town, the voting of the salary of the "Teacher," the division of parsonage lands ; and as early as 1765 the parish had the ordering of " Tate and Brady's Psalms, with the largest impression of Dr. Watts Hymns, to be sung in public." Upon parish questions, and especially upon the voting of salaries, there was a wide difference of opinion, which led to many exciting contests.
In 1651, the town voted " that all the undivided land, after all the meadows and second division of plough land is laid out, shall remain to the same inhabitants, the proprietors of the three hundred and six acres, to every one according to honest and true meaning, all eom- mons remaining in general to them."
This made the original purchasers or grantees the proprietors of the lands. Conflicts often occurred hetween the commoners and non- commoners, sometimes ending with hloody noses and battered faces. The question of land division was a disturbing one from 1651 to its final settlement. The division of plough lands and meadow lands took place from time to time.
In 1706, the land question was revived again with inereased vio- lence, and in town-meeting all inhabitants of the town were voted pro- prietors of the common lands. Notwithstanding this, all division of lands was made on the basis that the commoners were the rightful owners thereof. Out of the conflicting opinions grew a long contest, involving questions of rights of ownership and titles. In course of the scrimmages the town books were lost, and when returned they were in a damaged and mutilated condition, involving the loss of valuable and interesting records.
In the antumn of 1723, the critical time arrived when the settle- ment of the land question became very pressing. The selectmen of Haverhill and Kingston met at that time and ran the lines between the two towns, which hy the original grant bordered on each other. The talk was all abont land, and the two parties were fast verging to a state of open, sanguinary hostility ; and unless a peaceful settlement could be reached, disastrous results promised soon to follow. Five town-meetings, in succession, ended with no results except a war of words, and the question of homestead and land interest was the stir- ring one of every household. The largest, and then quite valuable tract of land. remaining undivided, was what was called " Cow Com- mon," laid ont in 1665, to be " forever " a common pasturage.
Moderate counsel still prevailed, and, Sept. 2, 1723, a committee was chosen by the " town" to confer with the commoners, having in view a settlement which would lead to peace. Two meetings passed, and the committee were only able to report that they had been " met with silence and nothing more " by the commoners. This silence seemed like declining to accept the olive-branch of peaceable adjust- ment, but subsequent events proved otherwise.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
In January of 1724, a meeting of the proprietors was called, in which the petitioners said : "Taking into consideration the damage of contention " they would inquire " upon what condition such persons would be satisfied." Dea. James Ayer, Nathaniel Peasely, and Rich- ard Hazzen were chosen a committee to meet the non-proprietors for conference. An interview was had at the tavern of " Cornet James Pecker," with a large number of the discontented inhabitants, who appear to have only indicated what would personally satisfy them- selves, rather than suggesting any general plan of distribution or adjustment ; and there does not appear to have been any more practi- cal plan of settling the question entertained by the committee repre- senting the commoners.
The report of the committee fully illustrated the selfishness of the men whose claims they were called upon to consider, and this early page of history supplies a practical lesson in the ways of men, while it presents a disagreeable picture of the deformity which cupidity is capable of producing. As an illustration of their claims the follow- ing is taken from the records :
"Joshua Swan would not be easy unless They would grant him 15 acres between Samll Davis & Job Clement."
" William Johnson would not be easy unless they would fling up ye eow common."
" Isack Bradley, because he had bore charges and lost friends by ye Indians requests six acres neer honey ball mill."
" Matthew Harriman junr declared yt hee would bee uneasy unless all ye fences erected on ye cow common were demolished & itt lay according to ye vote of ye ancient fathers & ye proprietors records Burnt."
These are samples of the terms of settlement offered by a large number. Upon the presentation of the report to the proprietors they voted to grant the several parties the land specified in their applica- tions, on "Condition yt They rest satisfied & Contented wth ye division of ye Comon land according to ye proprietors order & yt for ye future They appeare in all Towne meetings, unless hindered by extraordinary Casualty & doe oppose By voate & argument, all such persons and voates as any way disturbe or hinder ye proprietors in their peaceable Injoyment of their lands."
Though articles of agreement were drawn up and signed, nothing was settled, and the General Assembly was petitioned for redress. The court took the direction of electing town officers after the commoners and non-commoners had come to a dead-lock, appointing Richard Kent, Esq., of Newburyport, the moderator. John Eaton was declared town clerk, and the election of other officers followed in order.
After that, the meetings of the commoncrs and non-commoners were held separately, and separate records kept. In the town of Haverhill, the long and bitter contest suddenly terminated by the practical acknowledgment of the rights of the "Proprietors"; but in portions of the original township, set off to other towns in New Hampshire, the confliet continued ; but, in all eases, the rights of the commoners were respected in law. After disposing of all their lands, the organization of commoners disappeared. Their last meeting was Oct. 10, 1763.
The boundary line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts was not settled till 1741, when it was established by being referred to the king, who authorized the appointment of commissioners to mark the line. George Mitchel and Richard Hazen were appointed by Gov. Belcher on the part of New Hampshire ; but Massachusetts declined to make an appointment, and the proceeding was ex parte, as the king's decree permitted. According to Chase, "This line gave to New Hampshire a territory of about fifty miles by fourteen more than she had ever asked for."
The effect of this was to cut off one-third of the original territory of Haverhill ; but the "proprietors " continued to claim the common and undivided lands in all the territory thus set off, and to prosecute trespassers. There was a constant warfare going on between those who attempted to hold and occupy the common lands and the Haver- hill proprietors. The forests were cut down, the meadows mowed, and the possession of the land in various ways interfered with. It was frequent that fierce encounters took place, resulting in pummelled heads and bloody noses, and, it is said, the parties sometimes went fully armned with deadly weapons.
Sometimes men were taken prisoners in the field, and taken to Haverhill, where they were detained under guard. The Rev. Mr. Parker, in his history of London- derry, relates an account of the visit of a large party from Haverhill, led by Mr. Herriman, fully armed for a fight unless the settlers sur- rendered to their demands. It was Friday, and the families were
assembled, after the Presbyterian custom, under a spreading oak, in the preparatory service for communion. The assailants yielded to the request to desist till the religious services were over, after which, Herriman said to his followers: "Let us return; it is in vain to attempt to disturb this people, for surely the Lord is with them."
These settlers were a determined people, and so were the original proprietors, and the settlement of their differences generally passed to the courts, where the claims of the proprietors were almost invariably sustained.
In addition to this trouble, the New Hampshire government claimed, not only jurisdiction of the territory, but also the property, which was contrary to the order of the Crown, and attempted to drive out all the inhabitants, and take away their property by force of arms. There were more than one hundred families there, settled by Haverhill, who were oftentimes besieged by elans, from fifty to one hundred, coming from Kingston and Londonderry, to fence in and possess their lands.
The distress and vexation attendant upon this state of things came to the notice of Mr. Richard Hazzen, a citizen of Haverhill, who transferred his residence to Hampstead, having lands there, to aid and assist the Haverhill settlers in their resistance of the people who were attempting to drive them off by force. His influence with Gov. Wentworth put a stop to that ; but the Kingston and Londonderry people only changed their tactics by commencing lawsuits against the inhabitants. These Mr. Hazzen defended to the utmost of his power through ten successive years, making "one hundred and thirty-nine journeys to Portsmouth, oftentimes in rain and snow, heat and cold," and, by his energy and devotion, saved to every Haverhill man his estate. In this work, his own estate became involved to Capt. Edward Tyng, for the redemption of which the General Court voted to loan him five hundred and sixty-eight pounds, free of interest, for the term of five years, but failed to com- ply with the vote, and after the death of Mr. Hazzen, in 1754, his wife petitioned that body for aid.
The " border war" had been long and severe; but it finally drew to a close, the last mention of it being in 1759, when the " pro- prictors " chose a committee to adjust the " Mason claim" in the township of Salen.
For nearly half a century the land question, in various shapes, had kept the people on the " perilous edge of battle," till many had become weary and desponding, and even the indefatigable Hazzen was led to say that "rather than endure so much again, he would give up all his estate and sit down in the remotest parts of the carth."
The end came, and following the termination of turmoil and strife, came thrift and prosperity to the peace-crowned community, which had cven then begun to be known as the " Ancient town of Haverhill."
CHAPTER XI.
HOME STRIFE AND ITS END - THE FRENCH WAR - TAXING THE COLONIES - THEIR RESISTANCE - THE REVOLUTION - THE PART HAVERHILL TOOK IN IT.
Through a period covered by more than two generations, the his- tory of the town has been traced, the first of which is marked by the trials, struggles, and privations incident to frontier life in the midst of a wilderness till then untouched by the hand of civilization, fol- lowed by more than a generation of almost constant conflict with a savage, treacherous, and murderous foe, at the elose of which came a distracting internal conflict, for the settlement of property rights, between two clans, - the " commoners " and the " non-commoners," - begun long years before, but left to culminate in much violence of spirit, after the occasion had passed for a clasping of hands in a com- mon interest for defence against an inveterate border enemy.
The notes of war had never fairly ceased their sounding, but there had been comparative peace, and cessation of sanguinary strife, and a few years had been given to harassing and costly contests in the courts for the settlement of legal titles. These days of quasi peace proved to be of short duration, for, in 1754, the Colonies were again involved in a state of solicitude and distress by another war with the French, which was formally declared in 1756, and expeditions were, that year, planned against the French in Nova Scotia, Ohio, Crown Point, and Ticonderoga.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
Haverhill men were embraced in the memorable expedition to Nova Scotia. In the expedition to Crown Point, the town was represented. and in 1756, nearly an entire company went to Albany, and a large number of them bore part in the disastrous campaign of that year, In 1757, every man was enrolled, and liable to be called into service. There was an "alarm list" which embraced all between the ages of sixteen and sixty years of age, who were exempt from ordinary call, but upon extraordinary occasions were liable to be called out to do duty in their own town. Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point were the objective points in that day of struggle, and Haverhill men were plentifully mixed with the forces at the front. In 1757, Peter Webster and Nathaniel Saunders were taken prisoners at Fort William Henry.
Capt. Henry Young Brown served through the whole war, and the General Court granted him eleven thousand acres of land on Saco River. Dr. James Brickett was surgeon's mate in Col. Frye's regi- ment from 1759 till the close of the war.
The revival of the Sugar Act, and the passage of the Stamp Act, aroused the people of Boston in resistance, and all the Colonies joined in remonstrance and appeal. Patriotic, energetic Haverhill was neither slow to move, nor uncertain in her utterance. Within her borders were the fit constituent clements of a State -
" Men who their duties knew, But knew their rights, and knowing, dared maintain."
At a town-meeting, Oct. 14, 1765, they instructed their represent- ative, Col. Richard Saltonstall, to use his infinenee against the Stamp Act and Excise Act, and that there be "no excise on tea, coffee, &c., and that the duty be not more than fourpence per gallon on liquors for private consumption."
When the General Court refused to rescind the famous resolutions of Samuel Adams, for which refusal the Colonial Governor dissolved the body, Haverhill at once called a town-meeting, - the engine of power in those days, -and "the thanks of the town voted to the Gentlemen of the House of Representatives for their firmness in defending the liberties of the people."
Every moment of lapsing time showed a strengthening of the spirit of resistance to the oppression of the mother country. When the collision came between the people of Boston and the British troops, on the 5th of March, 1770, a meeting was called for deliberation. They were of one mind, voting to resist the importation and sale of British goods, and to do so, "by all lawful ways and means exert our- selves in exposing to shame and contempt all persons who shall offer or make sale of British Goods imported contrary to the agreement of marchants, and that all persons who shall violate or coun- teract this vote and resolve, shall be rendered incapable of being ehosen to any office of profit or honor in this town." To give force to this vote, Messrs. Thomas West, Dea. John Ayer, Capt. William Green- leaf, Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent, Esq., Nathaniel Walker, John Young, and James Carr were chosen a committee to "Give notice and expose all who shall violate it, that their names may be remembered with infamy."
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