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 84
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We have passed several interesting manufactures, introduced and temporarily successful. The making of salt was one of these. It was probably, thus far, the only attempt on the north shore of the bay, and was located very near the junction of Beach and Suffolk streets. Estes Newhall, James Breed, and others, were engaged, and it did well for some years, finally ceasing in the spring of 1830.
The working of rubber fabrics was undertaken, about 1836, by a company, among whom David Taylor was prominent. A large fac- tory was built on Strawberry Brook, with other buildings, and great hopes indulged ; but the panic of 1837 ruined this, with everything else. After many years the premises were purchased by Joseph M. Barrey and Joshua R. Bigelow, and the business of paper-hangings established, with great ultimate success. The same business was afterward removed to Roxbury.
The magnificent trade in ice that belongs to this country should be credited to Lynn, since Frederic Tudor. Esq .. the acknowledged pioneer in the business, was at first a resident of Saugus, and later of Nahant. where he continued to live, and finally died. Vast quan- tities of ice have, since his efforts introduced it, been cut here, for home use and export.
Having now brought the industrial history of Lynn down to the same point as the political, we leave it at the incorporation of the city. with only a few words more relative to the great enterprise of the place. the shoe trade. Looking back to 1810, we find an estimate that 1,000,000 pairs were made that year, and the women earned at least $50.000 at binding them. By 1855, this production had gone up to 9.275,593 pairs, and every other vocation bowed dowu before this. Yet, strangely enough, there were no corporations, and only a few large partnerships, at work. Nor had they, at that time, either the effectual division of labor since adopted. nor any of the remark- able helps by machinery now employed. Neither the sewing-machine. the MeKay bottoming-machine, nor any of the minor contrivances, were then known ; and the leather was all cut and sorted in the same shop where the uppers were cut, and all the sales and other business done. This has all passed away. The city of Lynn is full of indus-
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tries of all sorts and kinds ; but over and above the whole towers the gigantie shoe trade, a leading enterprise of the country, and a most notable example of the development of a place in a single direction, by its own intrinsie energies.
We now return to the days of 1630, in order to bring down the history of the place in its
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS.
It is hardly necessary to say that the faith of the first settlers was almost uniform, and corresponded eloscly to that of the whole Colony. Yet on one hand there were large exceptions to be remarked, both in religion and morals, while on the other the government was well sus- tained by public sentiment, in the proposition that there could be no offenee against morals without offence against society. In the letting down of this cardinal doctrine consists all the depression of general morality that has happened or come to exist from that time to this. The order of the Court, in 1630, for seizing " Rich : Clonghe's stronge water," on necount of certain injudicious sales, was only a single example of that "eminent domain " which society at that time pro- fessed to hold in the behavior of men, as well in the beginning as in the ripeness of their immorality.
As regarded definite religious meetings and worship, the first set- tlers were variously served. Some went to Salem on Sunday ; others, not well placed for this, resorted to social meetings at the farm-houses. But this was only for a time ; for the Rev. Stephen Bachiler arrived at Boston, June 5, 1632, and at onee came to Lynn, where his daughter lived. She had married Christopher Hussey, and the second white child born in Lynn was her son Stephen, named, apparently, for his grandfather. Mr. Bachiler was a man of decision. He had brought six church members with him ; to these he admitted additions of such as desired, and gathered the First Church in Lynn, June 8, 1632, just three days after he landed. There was no conneil nor installa- tion, no asking anybody's leave ; he came and went to work. Very soon,-within the year, probably,-the first meeting-house was built, very near the north-easterly corner of Shepard and Summer streets, where stands the house formerly of James M. Ward. It was eer- tainly small, as all the early churches seem to have been, that of Salem being only about twenty feet square. Edward Johnson, in his " Wonder-Working Providence," writes of it, in 1651, that it was " undefended from the eold northwest wind, and therefore made with steps descending into the earth." But such as it was it lasted and did service for fifty round years, and, in point of faet, is known to be still in existence, after almost two and a half centuries. More of this presently.
When Mr. Bachiler had been preaching about four months, some complaints arose about his ways and manners, so that he was eited before the Court for investigation, and at last forbidden to preach any more in public, "within our Patent, until some seandals be removed." But they were so well removed by March 4, 1633, that the Court took off the injunetion.
At this early day, ministers' meetings were begun to be held at each other's houses, for study and discussion. The ministers, from stations west of us, united with Lynn ; but those eastward objeeted, thinking it was not good Congregationalism. But presently they were called to meet, for good reason. Mr. Bachiler's difficulties again came to the surface, and some of his people withdrew, having doubts " whether they were a church or not." A quarrel with the pastor began at once, and a Ministers' Couneil assembled to put the matter right. They decided, after three days' deliberation, that the church was not, indeed, properly constituted, "yet the mutual exer- cise of religious duties had supplied the defeet." This was like bid- ding the tempest cease, but it kept raging, and finally Mr. Baehiler asked his dismission, and obtained it. His six first members went with hint.
The Lynn church had now no minister, and they looked abont only to find one man that pleased them. This was the celebrated Hugh Peters, then preaching at Salem, and later, one of the Regi- eides, and exccuted for that high erime in London, Oet. 16, 1660. Mr. Peters received an invitation to settle at Lynn, but it was too small a field to attraet him. He preferred Salem while he stayed, and all England afterward.
Mr. Bachiler, after dismission, undertook to stay in Lynn and keep up church relations, with his few retainers. The people objeeted to this, but as they could do nothing, they went to that absolute power, the Court, who, right or wrong, sent him out of town within three months. For these and other things, difficulties gradually gathered between the churches of Salem and Lynn ; till Feb. 21, 1636, they
proelaimed a fast for the elearing of their mental and spiritual horizon. It is to be hoped it produced good ; yet it was said to be partly brought about by searcity of provisions.
At any rate, the good time was coming. The Rev. Samuel Whiting arrived in June, but, not so hasty as his predecessor, waited till Nov. 8, 1636, when he was properly installed as pastor of the church at Lynn. But the church was almost a myth, only six persons accepting membership. It was just the counterpart of Mr. Baehiler's, six of one, half a dozen of the other. But this new arrangement was better made ; the covenant was definitely drawn, and distinetly accepted, so that members knew what they were doing. Some have said that the " half-way covenant" was adopted, and used in the New England churches at this date, but others place it mueh later.
Next year the Antinomian troubles, generally aseribed to Anne Hutchinson, became grievous, and another fast was held June 20, 1637, to help get rid of this evil also. But now, apparently, having had two churches with one pastor, they thought best to try two minis- ters, and one church, if possible. The Rev. Thomas Cobbett arrived May 26, 1637, and was made a colleague with Mr. Whiting. After this, as the two proved worthy yoke-fellows, there was no trouble in relig- ions matters for a good while. The only speck of difficulty was with Lady Deborah Moody, who came here in 1640, but only stayed three years. She owned all the Humfrey farm, ealled Swampscott, and in- eluding nearly all the present town of that name. But she adopted views against the baptism of infants ; and the church at Salem, where she belonged, " dealt with her," no doubt with all aid and sympathy from the Lynn pastors. But rather than give up her eonseience she went to Long Island.
Mr. Whiting appears to have been generally liked ; but his colleague could not please every one, and William Hewes, and John his son, were fined heavily for disrespectful language respecting both the min- isters. The forfeitures for such offences must have reckoned up hand- somely ; in 1644, two townsmen had to pay 2s. 6d. each for sleeping in meeting. At that time, as often sinee, the drinking of liquor made trouble ; but the people and magistrates all believed too thoroughly in its use for any temperanee measures, and used the means instead now termed " stringent license." A few retailers were thus privileged, but there was constant difficulty with them. But by far the greatest share of controversy was about the baptism of children. Feb. 18, 1646, William Witter comes up again, having said that " they who stay while a child is baptized, do worship the Devil." The Court said he should make publie confession to the congregation, next Lord's Day, if the weather were fair. We do not hear whether it was done. As an example of punishment of a different vice, we find, Sept. 7, 1650, Nicholas Pinion fined by the Court, being heard to " swear that all his pumpkins were turned to squashes." In the same year, under a new law operating in that behalf, Matthew Stanley was also fined for winning the affeetions of John Tarbox's daughter, without her parents' consent. He should have gone to the Court first, as they had power to grant permission in such cases, on " general principles," probably.
The ministers did not think themselves utterly bound by their in- stallations, any more than some of their snecessors. Mr. Whiting, Mr. Cobbett, and four more wrote to Cromwell, Dee. 31, 1650, professing their readiness to go and preach in Ireland, if he so chose to direct. He probably was not as ready as they were.
We have reached the era of the first denominational oppression in Lynn. Sunday, July 20, 1651, John Clarke, John Crandall, and Obadiah Holmes, all from Newport, R. I., went to Swampscott, and had a Baptist meeting at the house of an already-known dissenter, William Witter. Mr. Clarke preached, held communion, and re-baptized Witter. The bold transgression was quickly known at Lynn ; Hon. Robert Bridges sent two constables down, arrested the whole company, and took them to hear Mr. Whiting in the after- noon. They refused to uneover, and sought to speak, which was not allowed, though one did offer remarks after service. Then they were guarded over night at Joseph Armitage's "Blue Anehor " tavern, and sent to prison in Boston next morning. Being afterward sentenced, Clarke and Crandall paid their fines ; but Holmes, refusing, was kept a time in prison, and then barbarously flogged. As regards Witter, it appears that the business cost him another presentment at Salem Court, but the result is not stated.
In 1656, Mr. Cobbett coneluded not to stay in Lynn, and so re- moved to Ipswich. He had been nineteen years in Lynn, and he stayed at his new station twenty-nine, dying there Nov. 5, 1685. As to the cause of his leaving Lynn, we get a hint from Cotton Mather that comes very near the principles of our own day. He says : "The un- grateful inhabitants of Lynn one year passed a town vote that they
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
could not allow their ministers above thirty pounds apiece that year, for their salary ; and behold, the God who will not be mocked, imme- diately caused the town to lose three hundred pounds in that one specie of their eattle, in one disaster." And they lost Mr. Cobbett, besides.
The second denominational collision was with the Qnakers, and took place in 1659. The striet law of the Court, that none should admit a Quaker into his house, had been infringed by one Zaccheus Gould, of Lynn. He made his defence before the Court, and sue- eecded so well that they concluded to remit his fine, if the magistrates would consent. But the magistrates refused, and he would have been three pounds worse off, but happening to suffer by fire, it was thought best to let him go without paying.
The practice of religious fasting was in the height of its vogue. The whole General Court fasted on May 22, 1672, and Mr. Whiting was one of the officiating clergymen at the State House. It was not so ealled. but there were feelings of independence, even as early as this. We doubt if the General Court, as such, has fasted very often since, for any cause.
A second church was near being formed in Lynn, about this time. It was attempted by Salem parties, who wished to settle one Charles Nicholet over it. The council was held at Lynn, Dee. 11, 1674; Boston, Woburn, and Malden being represented, and Gov. Leverett being present also. After debate (but no sermon) they agreed to constitute the new church ; but just then the delegates of Ipswich, Salem, and Rowley entered. and took seats, not being specially wel- come. The above vote was then reconsidered, and passed in the neg- ative ; so the project fell through. Is not this an earlier instance of a reconsideration than any recognized by Judge Cushing ?
The Quakers were still made to suffer. They would pay no parish taxes, and George Oaks, one of the first Friends here, had a cow taken in consequence, "for the priest," as he said. But the doctrine of Fox had gotten a pretty firm foothold here already, and the Quakers were rapidly coming to do much as they would. Their earliest meetings are supposed to have been at or near the spot of the present residence of John L. Shorey, Esq., on Boston Street ; but, in 1678, they built a meeting-house on " Wolf Hill." It was the same site occupied for many years on Washington Square. And now "the priest," who had ranked them as " sinners and atheists," and troubled them always, was taken away. The Rev. Mr. Whiting died Dee. 11, 1679, aged 82, after a ministry in Lynn of forty-three years.
The church was untended for about nine or ten months, and then the Rev. Jeremiah Shepard was installed as pastor. It was thought that there should be an associate, and the Rev. Joseph Whiting, son of the old pastor, was set in this useful place. He did not stay long, but removed to Southampton, L. I. But he was hardly needed, for they had a man in the pastorate who carried foree enough for about all occasions, and proved it too in more cases than one. Under his energetic lead, they soon determined on a better house. for the old one was small. and not centrally situated. Lewis says, therefore, that in 1682, "the meeting-house was removed to the center of the Common and rebuilt." This statement is not clear, to begin with ; nor true, to end with. The fact is, that the old house was disposed of to some ancestor of the late Timothy Alley. and removed to make the westerly half of a house at the head of Sea Street, in which Mr. Alley lived and died. This house was afterward removed to Harbor Street, where it now stands in the same position, the westerly half being the old church, with little transformation. The church on the Common, known as the " Old Tunnel," was a new edifice . entirely. Nor did it stand, as Judge Newhall states, opp site Whiting Street, but about a hundred feet to the west. just in front of the present residence of Daniel A. Caldwell. It was a great improvement, being fifty by forty- four feet, with pulpit to seat ten persons. galleries, eupola, and bell.
These were the days of the dreariest superstitions of New England. In 1680 Dr. Philip Read complained that Margaret, wife of John Gif- ford, of the iron-works, was a witch. But she was a very respectable woman, and neither she nor the Court took notice of the folly. So Parson Shepard wrote of a strange thunderstorm that happened March 26, 1682, when one Handford, at Lynn, saw an apparition of a man in the clouds, and afterwards of a ship, causing much trepidation. Both the historians of Lynn suspect it may have been mirage or atmospheric refraction ; but this is taxing science for the benefit of credulity.
The Quakers continued to thrive. They now invited the monthly meet- ing to Lynn, where it was held for the first time July 18, 1690. Lewis says, at the house of Samuel Collins; but, if they did not use the meeting-house, it is certainly singular. Mr. Collius was, more prob-
ably, the chief entertainer. There were only five Lynn men present. Iu 1692 the town voted how the people should sit in the new church ; for. strange as it seems to us, this was matter of public decision then. So we have votes on record as to who should sit in the pulpit, being eight " honorable men"; who in the deacons' seat, three more ; and who at the table, twelve more, and chiefly military men. A commit- tee arranged the remaining seats and appointed the sitters for each.
Now began the persecution of the witches, the darkest page of our colonial history. The story need not here be recited ; but the eom- paratively small share of Lynn in the general misforture will justify some detail. We had the following sufferers : Thomas Farrar, an old man living in Nahant Street. arraigned May 18th, and imprisoned at Boston till Nov. 2d. Sarah Bassett, wife of William, of Nahant Street, and daughter of Richard Hood, tried May 23d, imprisoned at Boston till Dec. 3d. She took with her her babe of twenty-two months old ; and another, born soon after liberation, she named Deliverance. Mary Derick, sister of the above William Bassett, and widow of Michael Derick, imprisoned at Boston seven months from May 23d. Elizabeth Hart, wife of Isaac, imprisoned at Boston from May 18th to Dee. 7th ; she was quite old, yet was probably released principally on account of the intercession of her son, Thomas. Sarah Cole, wife of John, tried at Charlestown Feb. 1, 1693, and acquitted. Elizabeth Proe- tor, wife of John, and daughter of William Bassett; she lived in Danvers but was of the Lynn family. She was sentenced to death. but, her condition making the brutality of the judgment evident, she was finally released, but her husband suffered the dread penalty.
The testimony against these persons was such as would not now convict a school-boy of stealing an apple. Some recompense was made to the survivors afterward, such as it was : Mary Derick had £19 in all, and Sarah Bassett, £9. Mr. Shepard himself was at one time "cried out against," but nobody was so foolish as to proceed in the ease. So the thing gradually passed away, like a horrible pestilence.
But the growth of the Quakers was probably, in Mr. Shepard's eyes, more threatening than the curse of witeheraft. He appointed a fast-day, July 19, 1694, to stop the " spirital plague." Cotton Mather says he accomplished very much by it, more than by any "coereion of the civil magistrate." One can easily believe the last statement to be wholly true. He, and perhaps others, thought that Quakerism took severe hurt that day ; but the deadly wound was so far healed that, in 1696, two Quakers, - one of them the alleged wizard, Thomas Farrar,-refused to pay parish taxes, as before, and were imprisoned near a month in Salem jail.
Presently Mr. Shepard found a new ally. The Revs. George Keith and John Talbot arrived from England, as missionaries, not for the established church so much as against these same troublesome Quakers. What moved these men in this direction is not elear, but Keith was himself a renegade from the faith of the Friends, which may account for it in part. Mr. Shepard joined with them on their coming to Lynn, and they went to the peaceable church on Wolf Hill, stopping at Samuel Collins's on the way. In both places they met, not only the usual worshippers, but a pretty capable and combative preacher of theirs, one John Richardson, also from England. Violent disputes occurred at both places, and. as in their recorded accounts both claim the best of it, we naturally conclude there was no vietory on either side.
In 1703 the Quakers responded to the demand of Gov. Dudley for a list of their names, and reported, by signature, seventeen men. These were probably heads of families or householders. The same year one of them, Walter Phillips, refused to do military duty, and a lot of his land was seized for his fine.
There had been much talk of a second church, and now it was at hand. The people of the north farms had not liked to come so far as the common to meeting, and now, in 1715, they obliged the town to allow them a meeting of their own, and built them a church accord- ingly. At the first of 1718, Mr. Shepard being feeble, one Mr. Townsend preached for him a while. But the aged pastor continued to decline, and finally, at the age of 72, he died, June 3, 1720. He had preached here forty years.
By the ensuing December the church had made an arrangement with the Rev. Nathaniel Henchman to take their vacant pulpit. He had been invited before, as Mr. Shepard's colleague, and was doubt- less well known. He was ordained before the end of the year, re- eciving £160 at first, and £115 yearly afterward. The new church at " Lynnfield District " had succeeded in settling a minister in August previous, and were enjoying the care of the Rev. Nathaniel Sparhawk, and paying him £70 per year. And here was seen the first symptom
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of a fair religious toleration. Twenty persons, being Quakers, were, by definite order, fully or partly exempted from parish taxes. In fact, the Friends had now the best of it, or very near. They moved away their old meeting-house, which has since been lost sight of, and built another and better near the same spot. This seems to have been done about 1723. Meantime the old parish moved heavily. They could not promise to pay Mr. Henchman his £115, so at their instance he gave it up and trusted to contribution. But this proved a good move, for he received over £143 in the year. The Lynnfield Parish were not so blessed : they differed with Mr. Sparhawk and finally dismissed him, July 1, 1731. He had preached cleven years, and, being disappointed, he refused to deliver his church records ; took his bed and died May 7, 1732 ; that is, in less than a year. He was succeeded by the Rev. Stephen Chase, Nov. 24, 1731.
And now, seeing that the Lynnfield farmers could sustain a church and parish rates, their brethren west of the river felt like inclinations. They carried their point for a separation, and built a house for the Third Parish in 1736, but we hear of no ordination till 1739, when the Rev. Edward Cheever took charge, Dec. 5. All these things tended to weaken the old parish, and they told Mr. Henchman they could not pay all he wished for. He would not take less, but offered to preach lectures in addition to his sermons. On this they made considerable increase of his pay, and he probably, on the whole, made quite a gain.
Another cpoch in the church history had now arrived. The Rev. George Whitefield had made great stir in the adjoining towns by his powerful sensational preaching; and now, July 3, 1745, he came to Lynn and applied to Mr. Henchman for the use of the church. This was flatly refused ; so some of the people, desiring to hear the new-comer, built him a platform on the common, using the barn-doors of Benjamin Newhall for that purpose. Here Mr. Whitefield preached, and afterward from the platform round the whipping-post, very near the old church. But we sec no evi- dence that he succeeded in making any deep impression, as indeed he never did anywhere. Mr. Henchman soon after attacked him, in a pamphlet-letter addressed to Mr. Chase, of Lynnfield; and to this the Rev. William Hobby, minister at Reading, replied, open- ing a warm controversy that reached far and lasted long, but prob- ably was not worth the ink used in it. Mr. Cheever, of the Sangus Parish, resigned his pastorate, after eight years' service, and removed to Eastham. The church worked its way along till August, 1752, when they succeeded in settling the Rev. Joseph Roby. The spirit of change seems, indeed, to have come over the whole people. Mr. Chase decided not to stay at Lynnfield, and left, in 1755, for Newcastle, N. H. But the people did not wait long, but installed the Rev. Benjamin Adams in November of the same year. The next mutation was in order for the First Parish, whose fourth pastor was now to be taken away. Mr. Henchman was not a very old man, being but sixty-one, but sickness fell upon him, after forty-one years of service, and he died at his house on North Common Strect, Dec. 23, 1761. Two years were allowed to pass, and then choice was made of the Rev. John Treadwell, who was ordained over the old church March 2, 1763.
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