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 69

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 69

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" A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year. Remote from towns he ran his godly race, Nor e'er had changed, or wished to change his place."

The Rev. William H. Pierson was installed over this church Jan. 1, 1868, and dismissed July 15, 1872.

He was followed by the Rev. Marshall B. Angier, a man of excel- lent qualities, and an eloquent speaker, who was installed Feb. 4, 1874, and resigned in 1878.

The first newspaper published in this town was commenced by Mr. John H. Harris, in July, 1827, and called "The Ipswich Journal." It was discontinued in August of the following year.

An academy building was created in 1826, at a cost, including the land, of $4,000. The Rev. Hervey Wilbur taught in it one year, when he was followed by Mr. James H. Ward, who continued here till March, 1828, after which the building was used exclusively for the education of young ladies, and was known under the name of " The Ipswich Female Seminary."

It was organized April 23, 1828, by Misses Mary Lyon and Zilpah Z. Grant, who conducted it for several years with signal ability. It then (May, 1844) came under the care of the Rev. John P. Cowles (Yale College, 1826), and his estimable lady, who was graduated from the seminary in 1829. Having taught successfully here for thirty-two years, and prepared many pupils for extensive usefulness as missionaries, writers, and educators, they closed the seminary in 1876, and still reside in Ipswich. The following studies were pur- sued in 1836 : mental and written arithmetic, English grammar and

composition, history (ancient and modern), geography (ancient and modern), geometry, government of the United States, Watts on the Mind, botany, chemistry, astronomy, natural philosophy, intellectual philosophy, rhetoric, Butler's Analogy, evidences of Christianity, natural theology, calisthenics and vocal music. Board was $1.75 per week ; tuition, $25 per annum.

The trustees at this time were, the Rev. David T. Kimball, the Rev. Daniel Fitz, the Rev. Joseph B. Felt, Charles Kimball, Nathan- iel Lord, Jr , Samuel N. Baker, and Daniel Cogswell. Miss Lyon resigned in 1834, and, in 1837, became the principal of the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, over which she presided for twelve years with great success. Miss Grant continned here until married to the Hon. William Bannister, of Newburyport. The reputation of the seminary was fully sustained by Mr. and Mrs. Cowles; and to it the country is indebted for many of its advanced ideas in respect to female education.

A cotton-mill, built of stone, on the Ipswich River, went into oper- ation here in 1830, and, in 1832, it had sixty looms.

A Unitarian society was formed in 1830, and their meeting-house was dedicated Oct. 23, 1833. It is now used for other purposes, and the society no longer exists.

A bank was incorporated here, with a capital of $100,000, March 25, 1833. George W. Heard was the president, and Joseph Lord, Jr., the cashier.

A valuable history of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton, by the Rev. Joseph Barlow Felt, LL. D., was published in 1834, and to it the writer is much indebted for material in preparing the present sketches of these towns.

The town was, in 1839, delighted to witness, for the first time, the arrival of a locomotive engine, with a train of cars, on the Eastern Railroad, which was this year opened from Boston to this place. The road divides the township into sections nearly equal, well accommo- dating the principal village, and affording all needed facilities for travel and for trade. The opening of this road, the rapid growth of Lawrence, with other considerations, led the way to the removal of the courts from Ipswich. It had long been one of the three shire towns of the county, and reluctantly yielded this prestige to another placc. The house of correction still remained, and the court-house and jail were appropriated to other uscs.

In 1846, the First Congregational Society erected a handsome church edifice, on the site of the old meeting-house.

The Rev. Robert Southgate was installed pastor of the First Con- gregational church July 24, 1857, the Rev. William T. Dwight, D.D., of Portland, preaching the sermon. After a faithful ministry, he was dismissed Feb. 5, 1868, and died at Woodstock, Vt., Feb 5, 1873.

The town took an active part in the support of the government during the late war, sending as many as 348 men into the army and navy. To the memory of those who lost their lives, a handsome granite monument, costing $2,800, has been erected.

This is the roll of honor : Luther B. Andrews, Charles P. Bach- elder, John A. Barker, Geolois F. and John O. Bridges, Henry A. and Jeremiah W. Brown, Pierce S. Butler, William Cash, Nathaniel Chambers, James A. Clarke, Henry A. Cowles, Charles H. Dowc, William A. Estes, James Gammon, James Gordon, William Gray, Nathaniel Hover, John H., John J., Lorenzo T., and William H. Jewett, Nathaniel A. Johnson, Samuel Laflaw, Thomas Lang, Pike N. and Philip C. Lavalette, Marcus Linburg, Caleb H. Lord, Parker and Alexander B. McGregor, George W. Morley, Patrick Murray, Cornelius O'Connell, Jr., William Patterson, Joseph and William P. Peatfield, Samuel R. Pickard, Daniel J. Potter, Alfred C. Richardson, Cornelius Schofield, William W. Shattuck, Daniel B. and John G. Skanks, John P. Smith, Timothy J. Thurston, John M. Tozer, Joshua Turner, David L. Wade, Samuel S. Wells, and Daniel M. Whipple. Total, 51.

An Episcopal church edifice was erected on County Street in 1868, it being a chapel of the Church of the Ascension in New York city, of which the Rev. John Cotton Smith is rector. The Rev. Reuben Kidner is now the acting curate.

The Rev. Thomas Morong was installed over the First Congregational Church in Ipswich, Feb. 5, 1868, and continued as pastor until Jan. 12, 1876. During his pastorate a revival occurred in town, and 100 persons were admitted to the church. He was born in Cahawba, Ala., April 15, 1827, graduated at Amherst College in 1848, and is now settled at Ashland. His ministry was attended with success, and his services to the town itself were valuable. His course of sermons on " Natural History" was very much admired.

The Heard Frec Library was dedicated on the 9th of March, 1869.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

It was built by Angustine Heard, Esq., a native of the town, at an expense of $18,000, to which he added books and funds, making the whole amount of his donation $50,000. The late Prof. Daniel Tread- well, of Cambridge, another native of Ipswich, gave his library, together with property amounting to $20,000, to this library. It now contains about 8,000 well-selected volumes, which are at the service of the citizens of the town.

" The Ipswich Chronicle," established 1872, is a well-conducted weekly journal. The present editor and proprietor is Lyman Daniels, Esq.

The Manning School-house, one of the finest buildings of the kind, was erected on Central Street in 1873-74, at a cost of $35,000. This was in part from funds devised by the late Thomas Manning, M. D., for sixty years the leading physician of the place. His nephew, Rich- ard Henry Manning, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., gave $15,000, and the late J. G. Cogswell, LL. D., Custodian of the" Astor Library, New York city, $4,000, towards the building. Col. Luther Caldwell, of Elmira, N. Y., has given $1,000, the interest of which is to be applied to prizes. The town voted at the opening of the school, $2,000 per annum for ten years for its support. The building well accommodates the high school, of which Martin HI. Fiske is the principal, and also the grammar schools of the town.

The Rev. Edwin B. Palmer, present pastor of the First Congrega- tional Church (Bowdoin College, 1856 ; Bangor Theological Seminary, 1859), was ordained at New Castle, Me., Sept. 20, 1859, and installed at Ipswich, Jan. 12, 1876.

This town has the honor of producing the following men of note : - Fitz John Winthrop, F. R. S., eldest son of Gov. John Winthrop, was born here, March 14, 1638, and died in Boston, Nov. 27, 1707. He went to England, and held a commission under Richard Cromwell in 1658, and returning served as a major in Philip's War. He became a magistrate of Connecticut in 1689; and in the year following was appointed major-general of the army raised for the expedition against Canada. He was noted not only for his skill in civil and mil- itary affairs, but also for his attainments in philosophy.

Nathaniel Appleton, D.D., an eminent divine, son of John Appleton, for twenty years judge of probate for Essex County, was born Dec. 9, 1693 (Harvard University, 1712), and ordained as successor of William Brattle, at Cambridge, Oct. 9. 1717, in which pastorate he continued sixty-six years. He died at Cambridge, Feb. 9, 1784. He published sermons on a great variety of subjects.

Michael Farley, an active leader in the Revolution, was born here in 1719, and died June 20, 1789. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress, 1774-75, major-general of militia, and a delegate to the con- vention for the adoption of the National Constitution. He was also sheriff and treasurer of Essex County.

Dr. John Manning was born here in November, 1737, studied med- icine, and practised in his native town. He served as a surgeon in the Revolutionary War, and died, highly respected, in 1824. Three of his sons were physicians.

Col. Edward Wigglesworth, son of the Rev. Samuel Wigglesworth, was born here Jan. 3, 1742 (Harvard College, 1761), and died in Newburyport, where he was collector, Dec. 8, 1826. He was com- missioned a colonel June 24, 1776, and was the third in command of Arnold's flotilla on Lake Champlain, Sept. 5th of the same year.

Nathan Dane, an eminent statesman and jurist, was born here Dec. 27, 1752 (Harvard College, 1778), studied law and settled in Bev- erly, where he practised till his death, which occurred in that town Feb. 15, 1835. He was a member of Congress 1785-88, where he framed, in 1787, the celebrated ordinance which excluded slavery from the vast territory north-west of Ohio and secured it to freedom. In 1814 he was a member of the Hartford Convention, and in 1823-29 published his erudite and extensive work, in nine large vol- umes, entitled " A General Abridgment and Digest of American Law." He founded the Dane professorship of law in Harvard Uni- versity, and also furnished funds for building the Dane Hall of the Law School. He was one of the most distinguished of the sons of Ipswich, and his character as a jurist received the highest encomium from Daniel Webster.

Col. Nathaniel Wade, son of Timothy Wade, was born in Ipswich in 1756, and died here Oct. 26, 1826, at the age of seventy-six years. He was a brave, intelligent, and patriotic Revolutionary officer, and held several important civil offices. At the head of his company of Ipswich minute-men he fought gallantly in the battle of Bunker Hill, and was in the battles at Long Island, Harlem, and White Plains. He served as colonel during the campaign, and was president of a court- martial at Providence, Dec. 23, 1777. He commanded a regiment

raised for the suppression of the insurrection under Capt. Daniel Shays, in 1786-87. The confidence reposed in him by Washington may be scen from the following interesting letter :

" HEADQUARTERS ROBINSON HOUSE, 25 Sept. 1780.

" Sir .- General Arnold is gone to the enemy. I just now received

a line from him, inclosing one to Mrs. Arnold, dated on board the Vulture. From this circumstance and Col. Lamb's being detached on some business, the command of the garrison, for the present, devolves on you. I request you will be as vigilant as possible ; and, as the enemy may have it in contemplation to attempt some enterprise, even to-night, against these posts, I wish you to make, immediately after the receipt of this, the best disposition you can of your force, so as to have a proportion of men in each work on the west side of the river. You will see or hear from me further to-morrow.

"I am, Sir, your mo. obt. servt. GEO. WASHINGTON."

Nathaniel Howe, an original divine, celebrated for his remarkable " Century Sermon," Hopkinton, Dec. 24, 1815, and introduced as one of the characters of Mr. Longfellow's " Kavanagh," was the third son of Capt. Abraham and Lucy (Appleton) Howe, and was born at Linebrook, Oct. 6, 1764 (Harvard College, 1786), and was settled as pastor over the church in Hopkinton Oct. 5, 1791, where he continued a faithful minister until his death, Feb. 15, 1837.

Daniel Dana, D. D., son of the Rev. Joseph Dana, D. D., was born here July 24, 1771 (Dartmouth College, 1788), was pastor in New- buryport and Londonderry, also president of Dartmouth College, 1820- 21, and published many sermons, essays, and discourses. IIe died in Newburyport Aug. 26, 1859. Ile was an able theologian of the Presbyterian order.

Joseph Mckean, D. D., an eminent divine, was born here April 19, 1776 ( Harvard University, 1794), was minister at Milton from Nov. 1, 1797, to Oct. 3, 1804, and Boylston professor of rhetoric in Har- vard College from Oct. 31, 1809, till his death, March 17, 1818. He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Levi Frisbie, son of the Rev. Levi Frisbie, and an eminent scholar, was born here Sept. 15, 1783 (Harvard University, 1802), and died at Cambridge, where he was Alford professor of moral philosophy and political economy, July 9, 1822. His writings were collected, edited, and published by Prof. Andrews Norton. Mr. Frisbie wrote the beautiful hymn, commencing :

" Behold the western evening light."

Joseph Green Cogswell, LL. D., was born here. Sept. 27, 1786 (Harvard University, 1806), and held a professorship in his alma mater 1820-23, after which he founded, with George Bancroft, the Round Hill School, at Northampton. Ile subsequently edited the " New York Review," and assisted in planning the great Astor Library, of which he was many years librarian. He presented many valuable specimens of plants and minerals to Harvard University. His death occurred Nov. 26, 1871.

Daniel Treadwell, A. A. S., an inventor, was born here in 1791. He invented a power press in 1820; in 1829 his machine for spinning hemp cordage. Ile was Rumford professor of technology in Harvard University from 1834 to 1845.

Jonathan Cogswell Perkins, lawyer and judge, was born here Nov. 21, 1809 (Amherst College, 1832), and was admitted to the bar in 1835. He became judge of Court of Common Pleas, and was State Senator in 1847. His legal writings are voluminous and valuable. He resided in Salem.

Otis Kimball, born here Sept. 17, 1816, died in Boston Aug. 1, 1878, was at the time of his decease the oldest railroad and trans- portation agent in New England. He early came to Boston, and evinced remarkable tact for business. Connecting himself with rail- road management, he developed the system, now in vogue, of trans- porting freight from any point in bulk and unbroken. In 1850 he became one of the acknowledged leaders of the Whig party in Boston. He was for several years a member of the city council and a director of several of the public institutions. Ile spoke with case and fluency, and was ever welcome in the social circle. Of him it was truly said : " His acts form his truest record, and his life his most fitting epitaph."

Ipswich is largely, honorably represented by her sons and daugh- ters in almost every city in the Union, and the salutary instructions of her teachers, the good examples of her worthy men and women, will, in their influence, extend to many generations. Many in distant climes and distant times will speak her name with reverence, and probably claim a lineage from sires who settled or were born and bred within her borders.

LAWRENCE.

CHAPTER I.

A PRELIMINARY RECORD.

WHAT THE CITY IS AND IS NOT -LOCATION AND SURROUNDINGS - THE PARENT TOWNS .- OLD SETTLERS AND LANDMARKS - STATISTICS - INDIAN TRADITIONS AND RELICS.

Contrasted with records of older townships in Essex, the early his- tory of Lawrence is anomalous. No ancient rural neighborhood here slowly widened into a village ; the village expanding, in a century, to the proportions of a city. Growth was startlingly rapid ; transition from dreamy quiet and isolation to bustle, activity, and mercantile im- portance, was sudden and notable.

Progress was not a natural growth, born of need for a new commer- cial centre ; it was a bold push of the enterprising to establish a work- shop for the world in this " sleepy hollow " of the Merrimae Valley. Enterprise and labor here joined hands ; wealth supported both. The fruit of this union is a city, fair, young, and vigorous, standing where, but a generation ago, was a rural scene of most perfect quiet.

Naming no one man or body of men as singly entitled to the honor of founding or building the city, the simple record, as it follows, will do justice to those who, by shrewd forecast, intense personality, and persistent labor, have made their life-record a part of local history.

The city lies in a broad and open plain, has few visible marks of age, or charms for the antiquarian, has a population diverse in origin and industrious by habit.

The central and populons wards are upon the rolling swell of land on the north bank of Merrimae River, where that stream curves about the great mills. The southern district, more sparsely populated, is a wide plain extending westward from Shawsheen River, somewhat rolling and broken near the western limits. The highlands west of the city, kuown as Tower Hill, and the rolling ridge, Prospect Hill, eastward, are picturesque sites for residence, having an elevation of 80 to 150 feet above the dam. These heights command wide views, their southern slopes rising abruptly from the Merrimac bank. The valley enclosed by these ridges is nearly two miles broad, extending northerly and southerly to higher lands beyond city limits.

The generally dry, sandy, alluvial soil, or drift deposit, rests upon a base of secondary rock. This rock crops ont in ledges in the south- western part of the city, giving vast quantities of building-stone, solid and durable, though lacking the beauty of Quincy or Concord granites.

The city lies in latitude 42° 42' 13", and in longitude 71º 10' 13" west from Greenwich ; has nearly seven square miles (4,435 acres ) area, of which 2,135 acres are in the northern district, taken from the town of Methuen ; 2,000 acres, south of Merrimac River, were taken from the town of Andover ; and about 300 acres is the estimated water area. Excluding water surface, railway, public, and church lands exempted, 3,351 acres remain as taxable estates.

The population in 1875 was 34,916. The estimated population in 1878 is 38,000, inhabiting 4,638 dwellings. The assessors' moderate valuation of taxable estates is $23,744,017 ; of which value, $10,454,- 625 is the property, in real estate and machinery, of manufacturing corporations.

The idea has been advanced that the whole land within and about Lawrence was once covered by an immense lake ; that Cochichewick, Mystic, Haggett's, and World's End ponds are but puddles remaining after subsidence of waters let loose from their bed by earthquakes or unusual convulsions of nature. Viewing the site from adjacent hill- tops, and examining soil and rock, the theory seems plausible, which is all that can be said by the unscientific.

Less than two miles uorthward from the city proper is the busy vil- lage of Methuen, built upon ridges and in hollows about Spicket Falls. During two years following the founding of Lawrence, before

the new settlement became a separate town, the bulk of iuflowing population was within the limits of this staid township.

Southward, by a pleasant way of three miles, the charmingly- located institutions and residences of Andover crown the "Hill," on and about which cultivated communities dwell in prosperity and thrift, and leaders in conservative religions thought have their chosen home.

North Andover, a gem among New England towns, lies to the south- east. Cochichewick Pond, better known as Silver or Crystal Lake (650 acres area), and wide, fertile valleys and commanding hills, are features in the landscape of this ancient town. The first prospecting pioneers saw in these timber-forests, clear, rapid streams, waterfalls, and fertile lands, a place of settlement promising better rewards for labor than the sandy barrens of the coast.

These towns encircle the city, - a girdle of thrift. The history of Andover and Methuen is rich in traditional and romantie features. Lawrence, formed upon a rib of territory taken from each older town- ship as they lay in sleepy quiet, claims modest inheritance in their old- time traditions.

The northern district of the city, including the larger corporations and bulk of population, was once a part of the great triangular town- ship of Haverhill, and in Norfolk (north-folk) County. This town- ship included the present Haverhill, nearly all of Methuen, the larger part of Salem and Plaistow, and all of Atkinson, N. H. From this tract Methuen, with added territory, was set off as a separate town in 1726.

Lands along the river-bank, immediately below North Lawrence, were occupied by whites about 1655. Pioneers named Messer, Frye, and Cross appear to have been the first comers. One of these, a German weaver, is said to have purchased a tract lying along the eastern boundary of Lawrence, which still remains in possession of descendants, having been transmitted from father to son since first settlement. Indian occupants claimed ownership in these lands, and, for a roll of cloth, the pioneer purchased of the red men their rights in all the lands he could surround in a day's travel through the forest. Commencing on the river, with his savage companions, he took a course north-westward over highlands about Spicket Falls, thence southward along the slopes of Tower Hill to the Merrimac and by the north bank to point of starting ; thus compassing a favorite hunt- ing-ground, and including the site of a future city. Though he took no written deed, the red men respected their verbal obligations, and peace was secured through fair dealing.

Indian sachems received, in 1642, for their rights in Haverhill lands, £3 10s. Cutchamache received for Andover territory £6 and a coat. Lawrence is but a speck in those great townships, and the proportionate valuation of its lands by Indian owners would not have exceeded five shillings.

It is not probable that many whites had permanent residence within Lawrence limits prior to the year 1700, though Shawsheen Fields (South Lawrence) were cultivated by residents of Andover Village, protected by block-houses, and Methuen intervales (North Lawrence) were mown by commoners, from the direction of Haverhill, for years before that date.

Though records are imperfect and traditions obscure, it is known that one Bodwell had a rude dwelling, probably the first permanent habi- tation, where Newbury Street unites with Essex ; that he controlled a large area of land. One of the first frame-dwellings erected was just west of the mouth of Spicket River, upon the Merrimae bank. In this fertile and sheltered position a flourishing orchard grew from seed, bore fruit in abundance, and loug since went to decay. An ancient house, known as the Swan House, stood .ou the west line of the common, just east of Central Congregational Church; the stones of the cellar underlie the much-travelled Haverhill Street.

Few old buildings remain, or old landmarks are noticeahle, in the new city. The ancient dwelling on the corner of East Haverbill and Elm streets has a history going back into dim obscurity. A portion of the old house stood near the mouth of Spicket River. It was re-

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

moved to the present site when highways were laid out in the region ; large additions have been made thereto, and it now stands beneath the great, shadowing elm (known to have been transplanted by a wan- dering soldier one hundred and forty years ago), almost the only relic deeply marked by time in the central wards of this city of to-day. Bricks have been taken from the huge chimney, marked 1688. They arc laid in mortar, made by admixture of clay and chopped straw.

A few ancient homesteads are noticed in the outlying districts, but the work of enterprise has nearly overshadowed and obliterated all that is venerable. Obscure traditions locate a rude log fort, or refuge for settlers, in Jackson Terrace; by others it is said to have stood nearer the mouth of Spicket River. There was also a timber fort or stockade on the slopes of Tower Hill, overlooking this valley.

Early settlers were mainly from the agricultural districts of Eng- land, and appear to have chosen their new and isolated home with no wild expectation of riches, and to have led quiet lives of severest in- dustry. They were neither adventurers, enthusiasts, or renegades, but practical, exemplary laborers, lured by no golden visions, deceived by no extravagant hopes.

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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 69

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