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 63

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 63

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The population in the eensus of 1875, was 14,628 ; its number of dwellings, 2,643, with 3.422 families. The amount of capital invested in manufacturing was $2.234.227. and the annual valne of its manu- factures. $10,635,827. The assessors' valuation in 1878, was $9,580,- 385. There were in all 289 manufacturers, 106 of whom were shoe manufacturers.

The early toil and frugal habits of the possessors of this favored heritage laid the foundation for its future prosperity. Devotion to home, united with a patriotie fervor which caused their interests and their love to embrace the town, the Colony. the State, and their conn- try, was enriched by the early forecast which flowered out into the conviction that religion and education were the basis and the safe- guard of a free people. and those interests. from the first. commanded their watchful eare. With the Bible and the Psalm-book in one hand, and the musket in the other. they said their prayers before the altar they had ereeted in the wilderness, and early learned to realize, with Dr. Watts, that

" While the lamp holds out to burn The vilest sinner may return."

Intellect and affection, as well as muscle, found development. while genius had its birth amid the rude seenes of the earlier days, and the town at lengthi became honored as the birth-place of Whittier, the great poet of freedom, whose love for his native aeres, which he has so beantifully expressed in poetie measures, can never die :

" Home of my fathers ! O never may a son of thine .- Where'er his wandering steps incline,- Forget the sky that bent above His boyhood, like a dream of love."

Haverhill has thus become poetically historie ; and in painting and musie, companions of the Muse, she is not without a name. Harrison L. Plummer, a son of hers, is a portrait painter of rare and peculiar genins. possessing powers as natural and unerring as instinct. Mr. O. R. Fowler, a landscape painter, has preserved to us on canvas the home of Whittier, the school-house where he was early taught, and the charming rural seene of " Country Bridge." whither the poet often retired while under the inspiration of the Muse. Within a few years there has been a great "lifting" in musical taste and culture, which has been promoted by bringing hither combinations of artists of a high order, by Mr. James F. West, a connoisseur in those mat- ters.

Closely allied to education and a comprehensive intelligence is the Newspaper, and this agent for extending civilization soon became planted here, becoming, with the growth of years. an Institution.

The first newspaper ever printed here was " The Guardian of Free- dom." published by E. Ladd and S. Bragg, continuing till 1798, when it disappeared. and was sueceeded by the "Impartial Herald," which expired in 1800, giving place to " The Observer," published by Galen H. Fay. In 1804. Francis Gould became its proprietor. and its name was changed to the "Haverhill Museum," which had only two years of life. In 1808, William B. Allen established the "Mer-

rimaek Intelligeneer." which passed to the hands of Burrill & Tiles- ton. and finally to Nathaniel Green, where it died, abont 1815. This was followed by the " Essex Patriot." a Democratie paper. and the first ever published here. The Federalists were not pleased with the death of their organ and the springing up of a Democratic sprout from its ruins, and a new paper, the " Haverhill Gazette." was started by Nathan Burrill and Caleb Hersey, with Mr. Hersey as its editor. The " Gazette " ultimately absorbed the " Patriot," and the two. merged in one. became the "Haverhill Gazette and Essex Patriot," with W. Hastings, editor, and Nathan Burrill, proprietor. In 1824, the paper passed to the control of Isaae R. Howe. Iu 1827, it was trans- ferred to the hands of Abijah W. Thayer, who changed its name to the "Essex Gazette," which was continued till 1835. He strongly espoused the temperanee eanse, and the "Essex Gazette " was the first political paper that ever became the advocate of total abstinence, and the second of any kind, either in America or the world. From a eirculation of 1,000 it immediately dropped to 600. The "Gazette " then had the standing of being among the first in the county and State. The " Christian Messenger" was published for a short time by Rev. Dudley Phelps and Rev. Abijah Cross ; and the "Haverhill Iris," by Edwin Harriman, was short-lived.

In July, 1834, Rev. Thomas G. Farnsworth and Eben H. Safford started the " Essex Banner and Haverhill Advertiser," a weekly Dem- ocratie paper. This journal passed through several changes, Mr. Farnsworth retiring in 1836. The late William Taggart was for some time its editor, and Mr. Safford its business manager, but in 1843 Mr. Safford became the editor and proprietor, and has remained sub- stantially so till the present time.

In 1837, the " Essex Gazette," after several changes in ownership, and portions of the time edited by John G. Whittier. Erastus Brooks, and Dr. Jeremiah Spofford, the latter as the political editor, became the property of Dr. Spofford and John H. Harris, and again took the name of the " Haverhill Gazette." In 1840 it was again sold to Wil- liam E. P. Rogers, and in 1843 it became the property of E. G. Froth- ingham, retaining Dr. Spofford as contributor and political editor, holding position as the organ of the Whigs. About the year 1854, E. P. Hill, then the local representative of the Boston " Traveller," on its staff of correspondenee, became a contributor to the " Gazette," rep- resenting more partienlarly the Free Soil, or Republican idea, and remained such through the Fremont and Lincoln presidential eam- paigns. In 1869 Mr. Frothingham sold the paper to Alfred Kittredge, who changed it to a semi-weekly, continuing to be its proprietor and editor till his death, May 1, 1877. It was again sold in the following June to Dr. F. J. Stevens, who admitted Mr. E. P. Kimball as asso- eiate editor ; and in January, 1878, it was changed to a daily and weekly, but was not a success. In the following April it was sold to Drs. O. D. Cheney and C. D. Hunking, and Mr. Amos W. Downing. its present proprietors, and is now edited by C. L. Webster and J. H. Huntington, with Apphia Howard, editorial contributor. It is Repub- liean in tonc, but touches lightly on polities.

In 1845 the "Star in the East," a religious paper, edited by Rev. H. P. Guilford, made its appearance. In 1856 the " American Citi- zen," a "Know-Nothing " paper, edited by John M. Harding, came to the surface ; and in 1857 the "Masonie Journal" was started by George W. Chase, which was sold to Rev. Cyril Pearl. and removed to Portland. Me. The two former soon passed out of existence.

In 1859 the " Essex County Demoerat " was established by D. P. Bodfish and A. L. Kimball, as a Buchanan organ, in the closing days of that administration, but was short-lived.

January 1, 1859, Z. E. Stone, formerly of the " American Citizen," Lowell. Mass .. and since of the "Vox Populi" of that eity, estab- lished the "Tri-Weekly Publisher," as an independent paper. which met with mueh favor. In 1860 it was sold to E. G. Woodward and J. M. Palmer, and in 1861 E. P. Hill beeame connected with it as the " *" contributor, continuing for several years. during which time the paper had a growing list. January 1, 1878, Mr. Woodward dis- posed of his interest to Mr. Palmer and retired. The paper was continued till last July, when, owing to a combination of adverse eir- eumstanecs, its publication ceased. Its list, with the good-will, has since been sold to the " Bulletin."

July 1, 1871. the " Haverhill Daily Bulletin " was established by A. J. Hoyt & Co .. and in the January following a weekly was added to it. Sept. 1, 1875, the establishment was sold to its present pro- prietors, Warren Hoyt and I. L. Mitehell. The existing papers. at this time, are the weekly " Essex Banner," Democratic, the daily and weekly " Gazette," and the daily and weekly "Bulletin," which are both Republican.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER XIV.

EARLY REFORM MOVEMENTS - TEMPERANCE - ANTI-SLAVERY - THE CHURCH AND THE COME-OUTERS - MOBBING ANTI-SLAVERY LEC- TURERS - THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF FREEDOM - FIRE DEPARTMENT - FIRES - ARCHITECTURE - RIVER IMPROVEMENTS - STEAMBOATS - ORGANIZATIONS - THE MEN OF THE PAST, &C.

As carly as 1645 the sale of intoxicating beverages was restrained by license, both as to the manner of sale and the number of places where it should be sold. "Presentment " and fines were common for selling drink in violation of law, and for excessive indulgence ; and the steady purpose appears to have been to restrain the traffic within practical limits. In 1728 the town voted that two taverns were " sufficient for the town's benefit"; but it was not till a century after that date that a temperance organization made its appearance. The tendency of the traffic had been to increase; and, with the growth in population, drinking, as a social habit, became a marked and alarming evil. In 1827 nearly every West India goods trader in town sold liquors. In the summer of that year, the Rev. Mr. Hewett was the first to lecture upon the evils of intemperance. His attack upon the evil created great excitement; and, while the reform found warm supporters, a violent opposition to the movement was enlisted on the part of a large class interested in the traffic, and wedded to the habit, who thought the subject had " better be let alone."

With the opening appeal of Mr. Hewett, the reform had been established in the thought and purpose of the men who had become convinced of the necessity and practicability of the movement. An organization was soon effected, embracing Haverhill and Bradford ; the first meeting being held in the chamber of Jonathan K. Smith, which was in the wooden building standing west of Haverhill Bank, on Merrimac Street, it being used at the time for evening meetings by the First Baptist Society. The Rev. George Keeley advised the church to suspend their usual evening meeting, to favor the move- ment. The officers of the society then formed were : President, the Rev. Gardner B. Perry, East Bradford; Vice-President, the Rev. Dudley Phelps, of the First Parish ; Secretary and Treasurer, A. W. Thayer. Mr. Perry moved with moderation and prudence ; while Mr. Phelps was bold, aggressive, and earnest. Mr. Thayer was equally decided and outspoken ; making his appeals through the " Gazette," of which he was the editor. The stand taken by that paper was unpopular, and the circulation at once dropped from one thousand, weekly, to six hundred ; but that did not change the pur- pose of the editor, and the work went on.

The fruit of the movement was soon seen in the abandonment of the traffic by prominent dealers. Dea. Ezra C. Ames was the first merchant to give up the traffic ; becoming a zealous advocate of total abstinence, and impassioned in his appeal to his fellow-traders to abandon the business. The determined spirit of Mr. Thayer and Dea. Ames was more offensive to those differing from them in opin- ion than were the position and movements of the clergymen, who were expected to be in advance of laymen. So bitter was the feeling towards this reform that Messrs. Thayer and Ames were borne through the streets in effigy, and the forms placed on a raft in the river and burned. The cause remained not only unharmed, but be- eame strengthened ; and both of its early champions, thus brought to prominence, lived to witness the acceptance of the principle of total abstinence by thousands, and the abandonment of the traffic by the merchants of the town.

Following this early movement, a Youths' Temperance Associa- tion was formed, under the charge of Elias T. Ingalls as President, in 1831, which existed for many years in a flourishing condition. In 1833 a list of town officers was nominated by the reformers, whose ballots were printed on colored paper; and in 1842 the cause became so strong that emphatic temperance resolutions were adopted in town- meeting, the selectmen instructed not to license the sale of liquors, and other measures adopted to further the cause, embracing both moral and legal instrumentalities.

From that time to the present hour, there has been no permanent subsidence of interest or effort in this reform. The pulpit and press have unequivocally indorsed the movement, while the lecture-field has been constantly improved; and voluntary associations of Sons of Temperance, Good Templars, Knights of Honor, Rechabites, &c., have done much to strengthen and mould public sentiment. Of the later movements, the Reform Club of " blue ribbons " takes rank as one of the strongest moral movements which has ever appeared here.

It was organized by J. K. Osgood, of Gardiner, Me., April 1, 1874, with Reuben E. Griffin, President; at once becoming an efficient power. Hon J. B. Swett became his successor, and for three years or more led the club through successive campaigns of vic- tory ; becoming the banner club of Massachusetts, and the parent of more than a score of organizations in this State and New Hampshire, and holding a membership of over four thousand. Early in its exist- ence, a union Sunday-evening prayer-meeting was established under its auspices, supported by all religious societies, and exerting a powerful influence. It also sustains weekly meetings for lectures and conference exercises, attracting large audiences ; and its anniver- sary celebrations are among the most popular publie gatherings.

A Reformed Men's Union was organized in 1876, of which Duncan Sherwood is President; which has a large membership, and has accomplished a thorough work of reform with the class which has been gathered within its folds. Both organizations are regarded as permanently established, and very influential for good.

Another great moral and political conflict was that of anti-slavery, which really had its beginning when slavery received the sanction of colonial law, and never ceased till its overthrow was finally accom- plished through the most bloody conflict the age has known. The code of laws recognizing it was written by the Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of Ipswich, father of John Ward, who was at the head of the pioneers in the settlement of Haverhill; but he wanted the institution con- trolled by the "law of God established in Israel concerning such persons." Slaves were not numerous in the Colony ; but a few were

to be found in certain sections. A small number were owned in Haverhill; and, in the town valuation as late as 1767, ten " servants for life " are cnumcrated, at forty shillings each. A deed of a negro slave, bearing date Haverhill, June 16, 1740, from Benjamin Emer- son to Nathaniel Cogswell, conveying his " negrow Boy seser," in consideration of " one Hundred pounds paid in hand," was in 1860 in the possession of William G. Brooks, Esq., of Boston, showing that traffie in human flesh was once carried on here to a limited extent. A few slaves were also owned in the Merrimac valley ; but the public sentiment against the ownership of that kind of property was early developed, and in 1766 the agitation for the abolition of the slave- trade found strong supporters in this section. In 1775 it became a disturbing element in the church ; continuing to increase till, in 1832, an anti-slavery society eamc into existence.

This town was not far behind; for, April 3, 1834, an anti-slavery society was formed here, of which Hon. Gilman Parker was Presi- dent; A. W. Thayer, Recording Secretary ; and John G. Whittier, Corresponding Secretary. - This was followed by the organization of a female anti-slavery society, and several similar combinations in different parts of the town. The Essex County Anti-slavery Society next appeared, June 10, 1834, of which the Rev. Gardner B. Perry was President, and John G. Whittier, Corresponding Secretary. A co-operating force was found in the persons of William Lloyd Garri- son, and Isaac Knapp, of Newburyport, Joshua Coffin, of Newbury, and others. The logic of Garrison and the poetry of Whittier soon made the valley ring with the sentiment of liberty, which was the sentiment of the age.

The utterances and movements of these men attracted kindred spirits, and the agitation soon became general. The pulpit and press began to speak ont; but an open hostility to the reform soon made its appearance, which in large measure silenced both pulpit and press. When this happened, a class of reformers who would not be silenced made their appearance, and were known as "Come-outers." Very soon newspapers appeared specially devoted to the defence of the cause. About this time George Thompson, of England, visited this country to advocate the cause. While lecturing in Concord, N. H., he was attacked by a mob, and driven away. He fled to this town ; and was sheltered and protected by John G. Whittier, for several days and nights, against the fury of his pursuers. The sentiment of freedom grew strong, however, by agitation ; and in 1835 Mr. Thompson lectured in the Centre Church. A hostile and bitter spirit was generated ; and an effigy was set up on the common, placarded " Abolitionist," where it remained during the day, and was blown up with powder and burned at night. About this time, William Savory, a well-known abolitionist, residing on Merrimac Street, not far from the site of the Masonic Temple, was threatened with violence by a howling crowd gathered about his house. .

The next mob was also in 1835, attacking an assembly gathered in the South Church, Washington Square, to hear Samuel J. May. This was a demonstration of great violence. Stones were thrown through the windows, and a cannon planted in the street, which was

194

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

to be fired after the flight of steps to the church were torn away, causing the audience to rush out, falling in a promiscuous pile. This catastrophe was averted by Mr. Rufus Slocomb, whose appeal to the reason of the crowd was heard and heeded. From that time the meeting-houses and public buildings were closed against anti-slavery lectures, through fear, till Judge Minot tendered the use of the base- ment of the First Parish Church for the discussion of the question.

On another occasion a stone was thrown through a window of the town hall while Parker Pillsbury was addressing an audience. The speaker coolly remarked, that "the argument was weighty, but not convincing." In 1848, when Charles Remond was the guest of David P. Harmon, on Summer Street, a stone was thrown through a parlor window, from which Mrs. Harmon narrowly escaped injury.

During the heated discussion of " the right of petition " in Con- gress, a dissolution of the Union was threatened, if petitions for the abolition of slavery continued to be sent in. This led to discussion here, and to the drawing of a petition by Benjamin Emerson, 2d, of this town, signed by forty-four persons, asking for a peaceable dissolution of the Union, and sent to John Quincy Adams, who presented it to the House of Representatives, Jan. 24, 1842, moving its reference to a special committee, with instructions to report an answer to the petitiouers. The petition and the signers were as follows : --

" To the Congress of the United States : The undersigned, citizens of Haverhill, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, pray that you will immediately adopt measures, peaceably, to dissolve the Union of these States.

" First, because no union can be agreeable or permanent, which does not present prospects of reciprocal benefit.

" Second, because a vast proportion of the resources of one section of the Union is annually drained to sustain the views and course of another section withont any adequate return.

" Third, because (judging from history of past nations ) this Union, if persisted in. in the present course of things, will certainly over- whelm this whole nation in utter destruction.

" Benj. Emerson, 2d, John P. Montgomery. Osgood G. Boynton, Elihu Hutchinson, Franklin Currier, Edward R. Dike, Elijah S. Tosier, Wm. Hale. Joseph Flanders, Alfred S. Parmlee, George O. Harmon, N. P. Dresser, James Harmon, Otis W. Butters, John Philbrick, Wm. HI. Noyes, Edwin A. Sargent, Hermon Kimball, Washington Johnson, Thomas Ball. Joseph B. Spiller, J. Henry Johnson, Francis Butters, Jr., Sewell E. Jewett, William H. Currier, Daniel Brickett, Cornelins Jenness, Wm. N. Davis, Ezekiel Hale, Jr., Tappan Chase, Samuel Stuart, Samuel Plummer, Nathaniel Foot, Leonard Parker. Francis Butters, Geo. F. Bailey, Elbridge G. Davis, Alfred Gage. Truman M. Martin, Oliver H. F. Delaware, B. Greeley, Nathan Webster, Charles Fitch, John L. Head."

The presentation of this petition created intense excitement ; and Mr. Adams, as well as the petitioners, received the bitter denuncia- tion of those who had often threatened the very thing the petition asked for. The petition was doubtless intended as a rebuke to the mien from whom these unmeaning threats had so often come. This action was an outcome from the "gag " resolutions against the right of petition, presented to Congress by Charles G. Atherton, of New Hampshire.

The movement had its origin in Webster's hat store, on Water Street, the same now occupied by Higgins & Lewis for a fish-market. The active men in carrying it forward were Benjamin Emerson, 2d, Sewell E. Jewett, Franklin Currier, and Osgood G. Boynton; and a large portion of the signatures were written on the communion table of the Winter Street Orthodox Church. A peculiar interest now surrounds the survivors who signed this historic document, and the localities where it was drawn and the signatures obtained.

There was no decline in the agitation of the question ; and in 1845 Thomas P. Beach came here, and asked for liberty to speak upon the subject in the Winter Street Church ; which was granted by the Rev. Mr. Finney, who occupied the pulpit, he only requesting Mr. Beach to wait till a revival prayer-meeting could be brought to a close, it then being a time of nnusual religious interest.

In opening his address Mr. Beach said : "I have come here to test the religion you are getting. If there is no humanity in it, the less you get of it the better." Immediately following this remark, the lights were blown out, and Mr. Beach hustled into the street, and the door of the church closed. The speaker found his way to the steps of the house, delivered his address, and the audience dispersed. Such were the conditions under which these reformers were accus- tomed to speak for several years. Those most frequently heard here at that time, and down to 1856, were William Lloyd Garrison, Parker

Pillsbury, A. P. Foss, Frederick Douglass, Lucy Stone, Sallie Hawley, Abbie Kelley, and Stephen S. Foster. The first time Frederick Douglass came here, he lodged with John A. Collins, a white man, in the Corlis Honse, corner of Winter and Pleasant streets. On being introduced to his lodging companion, Mr. Douglas was politely inquired of by his friend if he had any " color prejudice."

Among those who always kept an open door for the fleeing and hunted fugitives, were David P. Harmon, Ezekiel Hale, Jr., William Savory, Sewell E. Jewett, and O. G. Boynton. Mr. Jewett re- ceived and protected the negro whom Delia Webster was accused of helping to freedom, and tried therefor, but not convicted. Cal- vin Fairbanks, however, was convicted of the erime, and suffered the penalty of fifteen years' imprisonment in Maryland. Parker Pillsbury was a frequent visitor here ; and on oue occasion, after lecturing in Andover, came to town with his chaise besmeared with barn-yard filth, by the mob element he encountered there.

The abolitionists and the leading politicians were for many years mutually and bitterly hostile, and the dominant political party in the nation fully committed to the defence, maintenance, and exten- sion of slavery. The evangelical church was also generally opposed to the agitation of the slavery question, after the manner of the abolitionists, and a large majority of the pulpits were closed to these reformers. In some instances the pulpit led in the suppression of free discussion upon this question, and sometimes the pews controlled the pulpit. It was the silence of the churches upon that issne which caused William Lloyd Garrison to place the standing quotation from Isaiah xxviii. 15. at the head of the columns of the "Liberator": " They have made a covenant with death, and with hell they are at agreement." Ecclesiastical and political hostility, however, could not stifle discussion, or crush the truth ; pulpits ceased to be dumb, and politicians were obliged to accept the principle that liberty is the inalienable right of man ; each achievement being an advancing step towards the final sanguinary conflict through which its practical rec- ognition was established in the National Government.

The early records of the town show that there was an occasional exhibition of hatred of races, which was exercised to exclude such as were objectionable to the dominant race from settlement here. In 1714, by authority of the magistrates, negroes were warned out of town, Nathaniel Merrill receiving compensation for the service. There was also a primitive hatred exhibited towards the Irish, which undoubtedly prevented carly settlements being made here by repre- sentatives of that race. In 1718, five shiploads of emigrants from the north of Ireland landed in Boston ; sixteen families of whom, hearing of a tract of land above Haverhill, called Nutfield from the abundance of chestnuts there, started to take possession of it. They came this way; and in crossing the river, just before they had reached the shore, the boat accidentally capsized, and men, women, and children were thrown promisenously into the river. Mirick says : "This ad- venture afforded much amusement to the inhabitants of this town, at the expense of the poor Irishimen, whom they thoroughly hated, and were not at all delicate in making it manifest." Strangers and in a strange land, the spirit of their reception under circumstances of misfortune could not have been very flattering. The families re- mained here. however, till the following spring. while the men went to possess the land they designed to make their future home, and erect huts to live in. In 1722 their settlement was incorporated in the name of Londonderry, from a city of that name in the north of Ireland. Although not desired as citizens here at that time, they planted a neighboring community, which, for religious zeal, sound morality, true patriotism, industry, and thrift, was not exceeded by any in the Colony. It was this party who first introduced the potato here. They were first planted in this town by William White, on Mill Street, whose first product was four bushels, so largely in excess of his own wants that he distributed the surplus to his neighbors.

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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 63

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