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 65

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 65

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The best and most economical plan for providing for the comforta- ble maintenance of the poor, was considered at an early day. The

matter remained unsettled till 1820, when the present "Town Farm" was purchased of Thomas Cogswell, for $1,500. With the additions and improvements made from time to time, it supplies a comfortable and pleasant home for the unfortunate.

Another indication of the humane spirit ruling the community, was the organization of the Haverhill Female Benevolent Society, Jan. 13, 1818. It gave its sanction to the temperance reform, in 1827, by excluding wines or cordials from its meetings. It always had a mem- bership of efficient workers. Mrs. Jeremiah Stickney was for many years its chief officer. Her successor, equally efficient, was Mrs. Samuel Fellows, who was followed by Mrs. James F. Bragg. The society has never suffered a decline in vitality, but has grown in strength and expanded in usefulness by the lapse of years. It is still active in measures of relief.

Another benevolent movement, originating about the year 1858, was the Old Ladies' Home Association, having for its object the estab- lishment of a home for aged females requiring snch provision, the plan being subject to practical limitations and conditions: The means adopted for raising a fund was by an annual May festival, which has become an "institution." Its success attracted the favor of the benevolent, resulting in contributions and endowments enabling the association to build a home, ou Main Street, which was publicly opened Oet. 18, 1876, and is now in successful operation. A Chil- dren's Aid Society and Home has since been established, located on Kenoza Avenue.

The celebration of the national centennial anniversary was entered upon with a becoming spirit of patriotism on the 4th of July, 1876. The city was made gorgeous with the display of the national emblem of the nation's life and power, together with streamers and patriotic decora- tions ; and a grand procession moved through the principal streets. The entire day was given to becoming demonstrations of rejoicing, and a large number of citizens kept open house. In the afternoon, the centennial oration was delivered before the city government and the public, in the city hall, by John Crowell, M. D., the theme being " The Colonial and Revolutionary History of Haverhill." Unusual courtesies were extended by the city government to representatives of the press, and the fullest details of the event were published in the journals of the city.

Among the brave men who participated in the war for the preserva- tion of the Union, gaining an imperishable record, was Gen. William F. Bartlett, a native of this town, born June 6, 1840. He was the son of Charles L. Bartlett and Harriet Plummer Bartlett, and grand- son of Hon. Bailey Bartlett. He was a member of the junior class in Harvard College in 1861, and his political sympathies were then with the South. On the 2d of January of that year, he gave a theme, " maintaining that the demands of the South were just," and on the 10th instant he said : " All these troubles have arisen from the inter- ference of the North." Three months later, when thinking of going to war, he said : "It would be fighting against my principles, as I have stuck up for the South all along." The very day this sentence was written, April 17th, he joined the 4th Battalion of Massachusetts volunteer militia, for a brief time performing garrison duty in one of the forts of Boston Harbor. During this time the political mirage, which had encumbered his mental vision with illusions and inverted forms, began to be dispelled. In this month of service in garrison duty he "caught the martial fever," and on the 20th of June the call for ten more regi- ments much rejoiced him. He became a captain in the 20th Regiment, soon after going to the front, taking part in the battles at " Ball's Bluff," " Plains Store," "Yorktown," &c.

He lost a leg before Yorktown, April 24, 1862. Before fairly recovering from his wounds he was elected colonel of the 49th Regi- ment, which he led in the gallant attack on Port Hudson, where he was again wounded in the foot and wrist. Once more recovering, he was commissioned brigadier-general, June 20, 1864, and assigned to the 9th Corps. At the close of the war he was made brevet major- general of U. S. volunteers. He was in some of the hardest fight- ing ; he suffered in rebel prisons, and was among the bravest of the brave. At the carly age of twenty-six years he so gained the confi- dence of his countrymen that high political positions were tendered to him, all of which he declined, preferring to commit himself to a busi- ness carcer. He became largely engaged in the iron business at West Stockbridge, and in Richmond, Va. He died at Pittsfield, Dec. 17, 1876.

The business institutions, social fraternities, and organizations for the maintenance of business, social, humane, and memorial interests of Haverhill are many. The first bank was established in 1814. There are four national banks, - the First, Merrimack, Haverhill,

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and Essex,- with the Haverhill Savings Bank, established in 1828, and the Five Cents Savings Bank, established in 1870.

Masonry was established here in 1802. Its organizations are : Merrimack and Saggahew lodges, Pentucket Chapter. Haverhill Council, Haverhill Commandery Knights Templar, and Masonic Hall Association.

Odd Fellowship is well established, heing represented by Mutual Relief and Mizpah lodges, Kenoza Lodge, Daughters of Rebekah, Merrimack Lodge (colored), Eagle Encampment, and Odd Fellows' Hall Association. In addition to these, are the St. Jean Baptiste Association, Knights of Pythias, Hibernians, Knights of Honor, and, perhaps, some others.

Major How Encampment, Post No. 47, G. A. R., was organized in 1868, and is well sustained. A Savings Fund and Loan Associa- tion was organized in 1877. The Haverhill and Groveland Street Railway was incorporated in 1877, and is in successful operation. The only military organization is the Haverhill City Guard, Co. F, Gth Regiment, organized in 1869.

There are three cemeteries : Pentucket, embracing the first bury- ing ground; Linwood, adjacent to it, which has lately been much enlarged and improved ; and Hilldale Cemetery, established in 1859, at the suggestion of the late Eleazer A. Porter.

Kenoza Lake Club, a social institution, holding control of public grounds on the shore of Kenoza Lake, was organized Ang. 26, 1859, with James H. Carleton, president ; E. A. Porter, B. P. Woodman, Newell Harding, vice-presidents ; E. P. Hill, elerk. John G. Whit- tier was elected honorary member. The three principal hotels are the Eagle House, J. Dow, landlord ; Washington Square Hotel, Mrs. E. J. Griffin ; and the Etna House, J. Dewhirst.

Very few of the ancient buildings now remain. Two relics of the past are the "White" house on Mill Street, now 198 years old, con- taining oak beams eighteen inches square ; and the residence of Mrs. James Day, on Washington Street, which is over 200 years old.

The early and prominent names connected with the opening history of the town, are : John Ayer, Gen. Joseph Badger, Hon. Bailey Bartlett, Israel and Isaac Bartlett, Gen. Samuel Blodgett, Capt. Henry Young Brown, George Corlis, James Duncan, Capt. Nehemiah Emerson, Rev. Peter Eaton, D. D., Isaac Bradley, Gen. James Brickett, John Johnson, Gen. Benjamin Moers, Judge James C. Merrill, the Salton- stalls, - Nathaniel, Hon. Guerdon, Hon. Richard, Col. Richard (the loyalist), Dr. Nathaniel, and Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, - Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent, Hon. John Varnhum, IIon. Leonard White, and Thomas Whittier, who came here with Rev. Mr. Rolfe, and from whom, it is believed, all the Whittiers here descended. The name of Thomas was transmitted to successive generations, and was the name of the father of Hon. Warner R. Whittier. The name of Harriet At- wood Newell is worthy of perpetual record, for her self-sacrifice and devotion to principle, and a cherished purpose, though the fruit was blasted by adverse conditions and early death.

Later in the order of time are to be placed the names of those identified with the town's affairs as men of professional, mercantile, industrial, and common interests, who were known and will be remem- bered by many now living: David How, Isaac R. How, John Marsh, David Marsh. Hon. Stephen Minot, Dr. Rufus Longley, Hon. James H. Duncan, elsewhere referred to, James Gale, Phineas Carle- ton, Jesse Harding, Col. Charles White, Rufus Slocomb, Eleazer A. Porter, Charles Porter, Ezekiel Hale, Caleb Hersey. Moses D. George, Thomas Newcomb, John Keeley, and Roger Buttrick.

Benjamin Emerson, who died March 7, 1874, at the age of eighty- eight years, was, from an early date, the friend of the slave, and was one of the few, in the early days when the North was the slave-hunt- ing ground of the South, who possessed the combined will and moral courage to protect the fleeing bondman.

Benjamin Greenleaf, the author of Greenleaf's Arithmetic, and other mathematical works, was born in Haverhill Sept. 25, 1786.

Mr. Greenleaf was for many years preceptor of Bradford Academy, and afterwards president of the Board of Trustees. He died in Bradford at the age of seventy-six years.

David P. Harmon, whose death occurred Nov. 11, 1869, at the age of seventy years, was for many years the open and devoted friend of the slave, and one of the pillars of the anti-slavery cause. His house was ever open to shelter the hunted fugitive, and was the welcome home of the advocates of the anti-slavery cause.

Edward G. Frothingham, who died Sept. 17, 1876, at the age of sixty-five years, was a native of Newburyport. He was. for twenty- six years, from 1843, editor and proprietor of the "Haverhill Gazette," and for several years was assistant assessor in the internal revenue service. For several years prior to his death he had retired from active life on account of physical infirmities and declining health.

Hon. Alfred Kittredge, who died May 1, 1877, in the seventy- second year of his age, was, at the time, the editor and proprietor of the " Ilaverhill Gazette." Mr. Kittredge had been long a citizen here, and had at times been so intimately connected with public and busi- ness affairs that his name is inseparably connected with the history of the community, in many ways, through full three decades. As an editor, he was a success, being at once bold, original, and indenen- dent. Under his management, the " Gazette" was a paper of opinions. and much read by those relishing independence in utterance and originality in thought. Mr. Kittredge was a mau of ability, and quite distinctive in his characteristics.

The Rev. Benjamin F. Hosford, for many years the much-beloved pastor of the Centre Congregational Society, died Aug. 11, 1864. Ile was a man much estecined by the general public for his integrity and firmness of character, and his unflinching support of what he held to be true in theology made him a trusted leader by all who were har- monious in faith with him. Of him, a friendly hand has written : "Mr. Hosford's love for nature and the arts was a true devotion. Music was to him a special delight, and the early part of his sickness was soothed by the grand symphonies of the masters, as rendered by the Boston Orchestral Union. His character as a Christian minister stands without blemish. He preached the gospel as a man thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Divine Master. Sometimes he cut sharply into the sins and absurdities of men; but this might be expected from one who saw things with

. Truth's directness, Meeting each occasion Straight as a line of light.'

His peaceful death was the crowning act of

' A life of duty Transfigured into love.'"

A history of Haverhill was written by B. L. Mirick, in 1832; a second by George Wingate Chase, in 1860.

With this page ends the present record of this historic town, from its settlement in 1640, to the present hour, covering a period of two hundred and thirty-eight years. Few towns occupied so prominent a position as this in the early days, and few so ahound in facts of historic interest. The leading events have been brought together with as much of detail as space would allow. It has been the aim of the writer to be faithful to facts, and to the spirit of the community whose record he was making, constantly thinking and believing that its course, politically, and in its social, intellectual, moral, and religious features, has steadily tended upward from the beginning. It has been the aim to give a true interpretation to the events which make up its history, and to their influence upon the public, as well as their relations to the line of right and justice. Although three his- tories have now been written, the full and perfect one is yet to come.

IPSWICH.

Ipswich is a large and beautiful seaboard town in the easterly part of the county, and distinguished alike for the pleasing variety of its natural scenery and for the intelligence and sobriety of its inhabitants. It is, by the Eastern Railroad, twenty-seven miles from Boston, eighty from Portland, and twelve from Newburyport. The First Congrega- tional Church is, according to the State Trigonometrical Survey, 42º 40' 54.03" north latitude, and 70° 50' 29.49" west longitude. The township is triangular in form, having Boxford and Rowley (from the latter of which it is in part separated by Rowley River) on the north- west and north, the ocean on the east, and Essex, Hamilton, and Topsfield (by an irregular line), on the south. The castern boundary is formed in part by the southern section of Plum Island, and by Castle Neck, on the northern shore of which are situated the two Ipswich lights.

The water supply is abundant, and affords considerable motive power. North-easterly, through the centre of the township, flows in a eireuitons course the Ipswich River, which is navigable for small vessels nearly to the principal settlement, and which discharges itself into the sea between Plum Island and Castle Neck. Johnson, in 1646, speaks of it as " a faire and delightful river, whose first rise or spring begins about twenty five miles farther up the country, issuing forth a very pleasant pond. But soon after it takes its course through a most hideous swamp of large extent, even for many miles, being a great harbour for bears. After its coming forth this place, it groweth larger by the income of many small rivers, and issues forth in the sea, due east against the Island of Sholes [Plum Island] a great place of fishing for our English nation."

A long sand bar extends across the mouth of the river, and obstruets, in some degree, the navigation. Its main affluents on the south are : Miles River, the outlet of Wenham Pond, and Fox Creek, which flows from Essex; and into it from the north flow Plum Island River and several minor streams. Bull Brook and Muddy Brook, together with Rowley River, into which they flow, drain the northerly section of the town and serve to beautify the landscape. A ereek from the last- named stream forms with it Holy Island ; and Plum Island River, with its creeks and those of Ipswich River, form the peninsula called Jef- frey's, or the Great Neek, supposed to be the place first settled by the Englishmen in the town.

Prichard's Pond, in the westerly angle of the town, is a fair sheet of water, well supplied with pickerel, bream, and other fish. The southern section of Plum Island, a long and narrow bank of sand, blown by the winds into fantastic forms, and named from a peculiar plum (Prunus maritima) it bears, makes the eastern feature of the town ..

The underlying roek is sienite and trap, and bowlders of all shapes and sizes, from another region, frequently appear. A fine blue elay, and also elay for making bricks, are found in several localities. The soil, consisting of yellow, gravelly or sandy loam, or alluvium, is well adapted to pasturage and to the growth of grain, fruit, and forest trees, and garden vegetables. The flora is both varied aud abundant, and the timber growth consists of oak, maple, pine (both hard and soft ), birch, willow, elm, and alder.

The surface of the town is charmingly diversified by hill and valley, glade, meadow, forest, orchard, and cultivated field. Referring to the scenery here, Mr. William Tudor, in his "Letters on the Eastern States," 1820, says : "We have still so much wood that even in the oldest cultivated parts of the country it is very difficult to find a pano- ramic view of any extent, where some patches of the native forest are not to be found. I know of but one exception, which is from the steeple of the church in Ipswich, in Essex, Massachusetts. This is one of our oldest towns, and the prospect will put you in mind of the scenery of your own country. I need not add that it is a very pleas- ing one, and will repay you for the slight trouble of aseending the steeple."

A range of beautiful, isolated, and rounded eminenees, for which this town is noted, extends from Great Neck on the north-east to Tops- field on the south-west. The first is known as North Ridge, rising

from Great Neck, and overlooking Plum Island River and the ocean ; then comes Tilton Hill, on which the Coast Survey erected a signal- station, and which was once fortified by the Indians ; then Town Hill on the left, and Heart-break Hill on the right, bank of the river, over- look the central villages ; Turkey Hill, a commanding elevation west of the villages, affords a fine view of the whole township. Scott's Hill, Turner's Hill, and Bear Hill, follow successively in the chain of elevations to the south-western angle of the town. Jewett's Hill oeeupies an angle jutting into Rowley ; and near it, Prospect Hill rises on the confines of the respective towns to an altitude of 264 feet, affordiug a magnificent view of the surrounding country and the ocean.

" Aseend on some lovely morning, in the month of June," said the writer, in another work, "that beautiful eminence which they call 'Town Hill.' To the north your eye stretches far away over the ver- dant meadows of Rowley and Newbury, catching glimpses of the spires of Newburyport, to the rounded summit of Powow Hill in Amesbury. A little to the right you see the fantastic and shifting sand-knolls of Plum Island, the beaches of Salisbury and Hampton, the solitary peak of old Agamenticus, the Isles of Shoals, and the dim, distant outline of the coast of Maine. On the east you send your gaze along over the silvery beach of Squam and the headlands of Cape Ann, far out into the Atlantic ocean, sparkling in the sun- beams and dotted with countless sail of fishing or of coasting vessels. Below you, on both sides of the river, lies the quiet village, half shel- tered by its towering elm trees, while farther inland rises a suecession of wooded or cultivated hills and knolls, with intervening glades and hamlets, green pastures and blossoming orchards, which terminate picturesquely in the confines of the neighboring towns of Hamilton, Topsfield, and Rowley." - [Memoir of Rev. N. Ward, by J. W. Dean, M.A., p. 87.]

The whole number of inhabitants (1875) was 3,674, of whom 1,796 were males, and 1,878 females. There were two persons of the age of ninety-two years. The number of ratable polls is 1,015 ; of voters, 917. The number of farms was 450; of cows, 635, and of horses, 436. The town valuation was $1,801,936.

The capital invested in manufacturing establishments was $401,150, and the value of goods made in the year ending May 1, 1875, as fol- lows : Boots and shoes, $107,750 ; hosiery, $480,000 ; bread and pas- try, $12,480; bricks, $3,000; clothing, $11,100; confectionery, $1,000 ; die blocks, $950 ; fringes, head nets, &c., $13,800 ; harnesses, $3,000; houses, barns, &c., $54,310; ice, $700; isinglass, $54,375 ; lumber and meal, $16,100 ; lumber and packing boxes, $6,685 ; news- papers, $2,500; soap, $5,700; stoves and tin-ware, $2,500; wagons and carriages, $11,363 ; total, $787,313 ; the whole number of cstab- lishments being thirty-five. The whole number of persons employed was 504, of whom 325 were males, and 179 females.

The town had eight vessels employed in coastwise, and the same number in ocean commerce, with a total tonnage of 1,504, valued at $71,800. Two vessels were engaged in the fisheries, and the amount of fish taken was 1,900 quintals of cod, valued at $8,500; 300,000 herrings, valued at $4,200; 3,870 bushels of clams, valued at $2,535 ; 9,250 gallons of clams, dressed, valued at $5,413 ; and 4,000 lobsters, valned at $300; amounting in all to $20,948, as the yearly produet of the sea and river.

The town has three Congregational churches, one of which is at Linebrook, a quiet village in the westerly section, one Methodist, one Episcopal, and one Catholic church ; it has nine public schools, one of which is a high school ; a public library, founded by the munifi- cence of the late Augustine Heard, Esq. ; a public reading-room ; a good hotel, - "the Agawam Honse "; a well-conducted public journal, " The Ipswich Chronicle," established in 1872 ; a savings bank, incor- porated in 1869 ; and a handsome granite monument, costing $2,800, ereeted in memory of its soldiers lost in the late war. It has also the John T. Heard Masonie Lodge, the Agawam Lodge of Odd Fellows, and a lodge of Good Templars. The principal village is neatly built on both sides of the Ipswich River, is well shaded by aneient elin-

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trees, and presents a very neat and prosperous appearance. The First Congregational church is literally founded on a rock, and the architecture of the Episcopal church is unique and elegant. The an- cient cemetery on the western slope of Town Hill is still in use.

Proceeding from the railway station along Market Street, and ar- riving at the well-shaded common, we have on high rocky land in front, the First Congregational church, surmonnted by a vane that has come down from former generations, and on our right, the Ips- wich Female Academy, the parsonage, the well-constructed library building, and the Methodist church. In the rear of the library, and on another street, stands the elegant Episcopal church. Crossing the common by the Congregational church, and towards the west, we come to the ancient " Agawam House," whence, moving northerly, we pass the old " Norton House," and soon arrive at the old burial-place, where

" The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

Returning, we leave the Roman Catholic church, distinguished by its cross, upon our right, and then passing Choate Bridge, and by the elegant mansion of Mr. Heard on our left, and the ancient residence of Dr. Dana on the right, we reach the substantial edifice of the Sec- ond Congregational church.

The citizens of Ipswich are intelligent, industrious, and very much attached to their beautiful town. Agriculture, manufactures, and fishing occupy their attention mainly ; and their schools and religious institutions are well supported. The people of Linebrook, four miles west of the principal settlement, are mostly farmers, and lead very quiet and peaceful lives. Remote from a railway, this village, still inhabited by descendants of the original settlers, reminds one of the rural pictures drawn by Goldsmith, and " while the world is ever changing, changes not.'

" Ipswich," says Joseph H. Bragdon, "has acquired some reputation as a watering place. The beach, some miles from the centre of the town, is an attractive and healthful place ; and the lower end of Plum Island, which belongs to the town, is one of the finest resorts for wa- ter parties in the county. There are few towns better suited to the invalid than this. The clear air and general quietness, with the fine drives and walks, are highly beneficial to health."

The town has much improved within the last twenty years. Sev- eral new streets have been opened, two of which, Connty and Central streets, with their lines of commodious buildings, add much to the beauty of the place, as well as to the convenience of the people. Fruit culture has of late received much attention, and George Haskell, Esq., has, by singular persistence, succeeded in producing several new and hardy varieties of grapes, which in flavor much resemble those of for- eign growth.

Originally Ipswich embraced the present towns of Essex and Ham- ilton. When first discovered by the English, the land was owned and occupied by a small tribe of Indians, whose chief, or sagamore, bore the name of Masconomo, and the place was known as Agawam, or "The Fishing Station." These aborigines were dressed in skins ; they wore a single lock of hair upon the summit of the head; and, with faces rudely painted, made a very grotesque and hideous appear- ance. They dwelt in huts, called wigwams, and subsisted mainly on wild animals, fish, and Indian corn. They frequently engaged in war with tribes in the vicinity, but were kindly disposed towards the English settlers.

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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 65

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