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 89

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 89

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LYNNFIELD.

This town, up to the date given in the sketeh of Lynn (which see), Feb. 28, 1814, was a part of the proper territory and municipal being of Lynn ; yet it had had a partial separation as a "district," July 3, 1782, by which it acquired some home rights of importance, but con- tinued to vote with Lynn for representatives. There was an original grant to Lynn of a traet "four miles square," Sept. 9, 1639, " for an inland plantation." Lewis says it only included the Readings ; but Judge Newhall says it covered Lynnfield also. The point may be difficult of settlement at this day.

The present township is elongated in form, lying with its greatest length nearly north-west and south-east. In these directions it extends about six miles, while the width varies from two to three miles. Northerly and westerly, it is bounded by Reading ; sonth-westerly, by Wakefield ; southerly, by Saugus and Lynn ; and north-easterly, by Peabody - the enclosed area being not far from ten square miles. Its northerly line is upon the Ipswich River, flowing easterly ; while the whole bonndary, with Wakefield, is marked by the Saugus River, which flows, at first, casterly for about two miles, and then southerly for about the same distance. Two hodies of water only of considerable size are found here : a third is small, but quite remarkable. The first, called "Suntang Lake," or, more simply, "Lynnfield Pond," lies with only half its surface in this town, the rest being in Peahody. The whole area of the lake is not far from half a square mile. It discharges by Noyes's Brook, northward to Ipswich River.

This lake, or pond, forms part of a grant made to John Humfrey, Esq., May 6, 1635, by the General Court ; and by this grant it became private property, and as snch was excepted from the operation of the ordiuanee that made free forever all "greate pondes " ahove ten acres in extent, in 1641. It has been in possession of different parties since then - latterly in that of the family of Saltonstall. The most remark- able feature of this lake, after its great beanty and purity, is its curi- onsly small watershed. It has been compared to water lying in a bowl; for the "divide," or limiting ridge of its watershed is within rifle-shot of the shore ou every side.

The second pond lies to the west of the lake, and is known as Pil- lings's Pond. It is very irregular in outline, and probably of only moderate depth. Little or no natural collection of water would seem to have been here, as the whole is now restrained by the dam at the old " Hawkes's Mill," which is thus furnished with power. A short stream affords subsequent exit iuto Saugus River.

The third pond in magnitnde, called "Nell's Pond," lies in the ex- treme southeru part of the township, and might, either as to geology or topography, be reckoned to Lynn or Lynnfield. It is nothing more than a mountain-spring of large dimensions, from which oue stream nearly always flows, usnally two, and sometimes three, in as many different directions. The easterly and steadiest stream is the original source of the waters of the "Lakes of Lynn," going soon to the south and entering Cedar (or Spruce) Pond. The sonthern, and most unn- sual stream is only an overflow of excess, and goes first to the south, then to the east, entering Cedar Pond also, on the west side, hy the "Straits Bridge." But the northern enrrent, that flows ont tardily in all bnt the driest of weather, tends pretty steadily to the north and north-west, under the name of "Hawkes Brook," till within a fourth of a mile of Suntaug Lake, when, making a sudden turn, it assumes a southerly conrse, aud continues it, falling into Saugus River quite a distance heyond the town boundary. Nell's Pond is manifestly higher in altitude thau auy other hody of water in the region : accurate fig- ures are not at hand, bnt a safe estimate would place it one hundred feet above tide-water. By all appearance, it has formerly been much larger than now ; the present shores are wholly inaccessible, save on the ice, and consist of peat-moss, dense, Inxnriant, and deceptive, that sinks under the too-adventurous foot, and hints at unknown deeps, over which it is gradnally spreading. In the far future, uo doubt, the whole may become bridged hy this floating verdure, and the present small expanse of opeu water may dwindle in breadth and disappear eutirely. But the issuiug streams are probably nnaffected.

The remaining water-system of the town is made up by two mod-

erate brooks, one rising near the centre of the territory and flowing sonth into Saugus River, and the other, hardly as large, rising very near the first, but getting a north-westerly conrse, and finally entering Ipswich River somewhat to the west of the paper-mills in Middleton.

The hills, which in Lynn Woods have reached a considerable eleva- tion, fall away gradually as we pass through Lynnfield northward, till at its further limit the stream of Ipswich River is arrived at, running eastward through a hroad, flat valley. A tolerably rapid fall may he seen in that part of the river that comes under this notice, so that the Middleton Mills enjoy a comfortable power ; but the general character of the stream is that of sluggishness, and beyond this point it barely discharges its waters at high tide. It is a current larger than any other in the county, perhaps, save the Merrimac : accurate figures of its average volume are not at hand, but it may be nearly estimated at 900,000,000 gallons per day.

Saugns River, which makes so large a part of the western boundary, is very much less in dimension where it enters the town ; but receiv- ing on its way the waters of Pillings's Poud and some other affluents, and enjoying a large independent watershed of its own, it becomes a very considerable stream before leaving the houndary. Yet it is far less than the other, thongh it may deliver some 300,000,000 gallons daily.

The gradual softening out of the high hills of the southern part is marked, as is usnal, by the frequent oceurrence of meadow aud inter- vale lands, that furuish delightful openings to the view, and tempt the agricultorist with fine mowings aud fields for all kinds of husbandry. Indeed, the surface is rather to be called undulating than hilly ; and the only eminences of any note whatever seem to be "Robin Rock," close on the west of Nell's Pond, which gives a fine view of the country toward Boston, and "Pine Hill," in the northern section, which is a moderate elevation covered with forests.

In geological features, the town offers a good deal of variety. Hitcheock loeated it chiefly ou the "hornblende slate"; but the rejection of this name from modern lithology excuses us from a dubious inquiry as to what he intended by it in the present instance. The sontheru portion of the township laps upon the belt of sienite which occupies the northerly section of Lynn ; but the northern edge of this formation is apparently reached by one arriving at the middle of the town, and thenceforth we see no more of it. The northerly half of the territory affords a rock of rather equivocal coustitution, and of many forms, but which may perhaps be reckoned as a slaty hornblende, since it has too much quartz for a diorite, and too little of either quartz or felspar for a sienite. It shows a strong sublamellar structure, often nearly vertical, and forming numerons low, craggy hills, but rarely with auy features of interest. Ahout a mile north- west from the principal village, the ledge was breached for copper iu this rock by one Kingsford, from Lyun, about 1845. There could have been little or no indications ; for, thongh a large driftway was opened into the hill for some distance, no ore ever appeared. The adventurers were probably misled by pyrite, as the débris weathers ont in a highly ferrnginons condition.

Between the hornblende rock and the sienite below it, occurs a development of serpentine, that has attracted mueh attention. It is wholly amorphons, varying in color from olive to pistachio green, traversed by small seams of magnesite, and capable of fine polish, though soft. About 1838, this roek was approached for the mann- facture of epsom salts, under the advice of Dr. Charles T. Jackson. The then high price of this drug induced the Roxbury Chemical Works to undertake operations ou a considerable quantity, which was found to yield a superior article, nearly free from tendency to efflorescence. But in a few years the state of the market changed, and the new man- ufacture was not found to be remunerative.

It has been already stated that this town existed as a district of Lynn for some time anterior to its incorporatiou as a separate town. The date of this early division seems not well settled. Nason, and perhaps some other writers, give that above cited. July 3, 1782; but Lewis, writing of Lynn, places it as early as Nov. 17, 1712. We will

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

not here attempt to decide on the real facts ; yet there were certainly many things done prior to 1782 that indicate some such independent condition. It is added, that the separation was to free the inhabitants from parish taxes in Lynn, so soon as they had built a meeting-house and settled a minister for themselves. In those days of hardship and narrow means, however, this was by no means an easy condition, and it was not till 1715 that the first part of it reached accomplishment. But having in that year succceded in building their church, the Lyum- field people looked about for some time longer before they found any one statedly to occupy it. We do not find any one so placed till Ang. 17, 1720, when the Rev. Nathaniel Sparhawk took the position, at a salary of £70. He remained eleven years, and was finally dis- missed, July 1, 1731. It is said that he only asked his dismission at the instance of his friends, thinking to produce a quieter condition in the parish ; and, when it was unexpectedly granted, he was so disap- pointed that he refused to give up the parish records to a successor. Mr. Sparhawk was a liberally educated man, a Harvard graduate of 1715, and a person of more than average habits of observation. His diaries and almanacs, full of notes and memoranda as to passing events of interest, have always been a valued source of local information to the historiographer. Thus, in 1772, he gives careful measurements of the snow that fell in six successive storms in March, occurring respectively on the 5th, when there fell sixteen inches ; the 9th, nine inches ; the 11th, eight inches ; the 13th, seven inches ; the 16th, four inches, and the 20th, fifteen inches : being fifty-nine inches, or almost five feet on a level, in sixteen days. We give this as a sample of Mr. Sparhawk's careful notings. Others might be cited, relating to the new or Federal currency, the circumstances of church matters and ordinations, or the vicissitudes of drouths and summer showers. It is, however, rather amusing, as coming from a Christian minister, and betrays the strong tendency of classical learning to shake up to the surface, to hear him say that, in a certain dry time, "Jove thundered to ye left and all Olympus trembled att hys nod. A beautiful refresh- ing shower." It is to be hoped he did not forget to return due thanks to Jove for his timely intervention.

The successors of Mr. Sparhawk, the Revs. Stephen Chase, Benja- min Adams, Joseph Mottey, and Joseph Searl, furnish little that may engage the pen of any historian. But a serious change had bred it- self in the very bosom of their people, and with the retirement of Mr. Searl, Sept. 17, 1827, the whole, or the influential part, lapsed from the faith of the fathers, and decided for no further entertainment of Orthodox doctrine. A supply was determined on, and this was made Unitarian, continuing thus till 1849, when further progress in the same direction brought them to a definite recognition of the Univer- salist belief. A supply still went on, till 1854, when they finally con- cluded to settle a minister of the new persuasion, and the Rev. Luther Walcott was favored with the position. Since then, we hear of no further mutations in the old parish.

Meanwhile, Sept. 27, 1832, a Trinitarian Congregational Society had been formed, as it were to replace the defection in the old one. It was located, as the other had always been, in the Centre Village, about two miles north-west of Suntaug Lake. . The Rev. Josiah Hill was first settled, remaining about four years. He was succeeded, at intervals, by the Revs. Henry S. Greene, Uzal W. Condit, Edwin R. Hodgman, and William C. Whitcomb; at least, up to 1859. A soci- ety of the same persuasion was also formed, somewhat later, at the South Village, on the banks of the lake, and the Rev. Ariel P. Chute became its first pastor, but retired in 1858, and was followed by the Rev. Allen Gannett. A Methodist society was likewise originated at the Centre, as early as 1816, and continued to sustain preaching till 1834, having erected a house of worship in 1823. Meetings were at length discontinued. This constitutes, substantially, the religious history of the place.

Lynnfield has all its industries, other than agricultural, located in the two villages mentioned above. Naturally, there is considerable set- tlement connecting the two ; and the manufacture of dyewoods, at the " Hawkes Mill," lies midway between them, but not strictly in either. The wood here prepared, is chicfly the root of the indigenous barberry, which affords an abundant and useful yellow. The grinding of grain is also carried on here, and there are several saw-mills in other parts of the town.

The village of South Lynnfield had its origin about 1800, when the peculiarly bold and unsuccessful enterprise of the Newburyport Turu- pike was carried forward through the very centre of Essex County. Perhaps the vicinity of the beautiful lake decided the location, as fav- orable to boating, bathing, and the like ; but the agreeable evenness of the small plain over which the road here passes was certainly a

strong reason in the case. A large hotel was built, with its rear grounds commanding the water ; and, in the immediate neighborhood, the road for some half mile or so was widened to a sufficient breadth for a trotting-ground. But the utter failure of the turnpike as a thor- oughfare included that of the " Hotel Village," and for many years it was a place of great quietness. After a time, the "South Reading Branch Railroad," one of the earliest of this class of ways, was char- tercd, April 26, 1848, and built through the village, being opened for travel, Aug. 31, 1850. Either as a partial cause, or a natural effect, the then-increasing trade in ice connected itself with the new transit ; and large storing. houses were built on the south margin of the lake, with a spur-track for shipment. The railroad is still in active opera- tion, affording much facility and encouragement to the village; but the icc-trade is understood to be much declined. Since this first rail- road, the town has found access to the world by two others ; the Dan- vers Railroad crossing it very near the Centre Village, and the Salem and Lowell Railroad near the northern boundary.

A more recent industry appears to be that of the granite quarries. As in most other cases in Essex County, the term granite is made to include all the more workable sienites, such as are found of fine qual- ity in the hill at the South Village, which is capped by Robin Rock. A vigorous effort was made, on the eastern side of this hill, as early as 1855, by a company who carried on business for some time, but finally failed. Some years later, a second quarry was opened, on the south side, at a higher point ; and this we believe is still being worked. Both afford fine stone, light-colored, and very clenvable; and the facilities for transportation and shipment are quite good.

In the immediate neighborhood of these quarries exists a curious example of the drift-ridges, so notable in other seetions, supposed to be ancient glacial moraines. This, which is called Bow Ridge, is a thick dike of porous gravel, some five hundred feet long, and twenty feet high, on the rear slope, with a flat, pathlike top, not more than ten feet wide. It lies in a semi-oval form, with its convexity toward the north-west, whither the front slopes down thirty or forty feet to an open meadow. Its rear obstructs, as a dam, the northerly outlet of Nell's Pond ; and this, till lately, only found a slow percolation through its base, issuing in sweet springs lower down in the meadow, and there forming, as already stated, the source of Hawkes's Brook.

Lynnfield is much resorted to by invalids, on account of the rather peculiar salubrity of its air. Perhaps no, very evident reason can be assigned for this ; yet medical men and others assert that a residence in this town, in its peaceful and cleanly villages, or on one of its well- kept farms, will do as much for the relief of chronic affections as a voy- age abroad, in very many cases. For such, the larger accommodations perhaps, are found in the South Village, and a greater or less number are found every season enjoying them. But the South Village is memorable for a sadder reason, as being the scene of a gloomy casu- alty, Aug. 15, 1850. A party of ladies and gentlemen from Lynn were holding a picnie by the lakeside, and a large flat boat was in service to furnish trips on the water. Some twenty-five were on board, when, by careless movement, the boat was careened, and then upset completely, in very deep water, and with no help anywhere at hand. Thirteen of the number, mostly females, were drowned before they could be rescued.

In a small country town like this, with only a few inhabitants of profession or leisure, we hardly look for many men of distinction. Yet a few lines may be afforded to the memory of Dr. John Perkins, who died at his residence in Lynnfield, in 1781, aged eighty-five years. Of him, Lewis writes : " He was a very eminent physician in his time, had studied two years in London, and practised physic forty years in Boston. In 1755, he published a tract on earthquakes ; and also an Essay on the Small Pox, in the ' London Magazine.' He left a manu- script of 368 pages, containing an account of his life and experience, which is preserved in the library of the American Antiquarian Soei- ety."

We close the account of Lynnfield by a citation of a few of her more important statistics. Her population, by the census of 1875, was 769, having materially fallen off since 1865, when it was 806. She reck- oned 224 ratable polls, of whom she admitted a total of 186 voters. The value of carriages made within the year was $2,800, and other different manufactures ran up in value to $6,187. As an illustration of her agricultural activity, a department in which she has always evinced a commendable zeal, we mention that her total value of field products was $69, 721, in which the quantity of 764 tons of hay stood for $15,676 ; that of 1,892 pounds of butter, for $794 ; 114,325 gallons of milk, for $19,408 ; and 15,450 pounds of pork, for $1,577. The total valuation of the town was $758,780.

MARBLEHEAD.

Marblehead was originally a part of Salem, and is situated fourteen miles north-east of Boston, on a rocky peninsula, bounded on the north, south, and east, by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean ; and, on the west, by the city of Salem and town of Swampscott. It embraces within its territorial limits about 3, 600 acres, including several valua- ble and productive farms. It presents an irregular shore line, seven miles in length, marked with fine beaches, sheltered coves, and rocky bluffs, with a commodious harbor, one mile long, and nearly half a mile wide, easy of access at all tides, while numerous hills near the shore line afford unrivalled views of land and ocean scenery. The few Englishmen who first sought these rugged shores for a home found but few Indians to dispute or even witness their landing. The earliest writers of New England history represent that a large tribe of Indians, called the " Nanmkeags," once occupied the territory be- tween " Ipswich and Mystic " rivers, but that a fatal " plague or pesti- lence " which visited them in 1618, or the year after, nearly extermi- nated the tribe. The chief of this tribe, whose name was "Nana- pashemet," was killed in battle, in 1619. In 1630, his son " Montowompate," was recognized as the " Sagamore of Lynn and Marblehead," at the same time claiming authority over the Indians at Salem and Ipswich as tributaries ; but, in 1633, another pestilence, in the form of small-pox, raged among their wigwams, and the young chief, with the most of his weakened tribe, became its vietims. One son alone of the numerous family left by the warrior, Nanapashemet, now remained to assume the dignities and authority of the chieftain. His Indian name was " Winnapurkit," and he was also called " George Rumney Marsh " and "No Nose." With but few subjects, and there- fore with limited power and influence, but little is known of his sub- sequent carcer ; but Mr. Eliot, the "Indian Apostle," charged him with defeating the object of his mission among the Indians at Lynn. In the terrible and bloody crusade against the English raised by Philip, the Indian king, it was charged that he acted with his race ; that he was captured and transported to the West Indies, and sold as a slave ; that he was afterwards released, and, returning to his native country, found a home during the remainder of his life with a relative at Natick, where he died in 1684, at the age of sixty-eight. During his whole life, he claimed the lands once occupied by the members of his tribe, and, dying, earnestly directed his kindred to prosecute the claim till their rights were acknowledged. He had been dead but a few months when the town of Marblehead satisfied the claim, by the payment of fourteen pounds and thirteen shillings, and received a deed duly signed by his descendants. The remains of a rude fortifi- cation adjoining the "gravel pit," near the western limits of the town, is all that is left to remind the present generation of the powerful tribe that here gathered about Nanapashemet to defend their lands and rights against their ancient foes.

As early as 1629, a rude fortification was constructed at " Naugus Head," and called " Darby Fort," as a place of refuge for the little colony on the other side of the harbor, in case of attack by the Indians.

The carly records, however, fail to give us either the exact year of settlement, or the names of those who first selected Marblehead for their habitations. Thomas Gray, who is mentioned as having been the owner of Nantasket in 1622, by purchase from the Indians, was a follower of Conant when he came to "Naumkeag," in 1626, and founded that Colony. During the month of October, 1631, the " Gen- eral Court," holding its session at Boston, directed "that Thomas Grayes howse at Marbleharbor be pulled down, & that no Englishman shall hereafter give howse room to him, or entertain him, under such penaltie as the Court shall think meet to inflict." The offence that provoked this cruel judgment of the public authorities is not recorded, nor does it appear that the judgment was ever executed, for his name is frequently mentioned in connection with the place subsequently, and more than thirty years after he and his wife were reported as " two aged people," requiring support at the public charge.

Isaac Allerton, who was a " Mayflower Pilgrim," and who had been a deputy governor of the Plymouth Colony, was represented to have severed his connection with that Colony as early as 1631, and, during

the fall of that year, sailed from Marblehead for England, but there is nothing to show that he was a resident of the place till two or three years after. John Deveraux received a grant of land in 1631, cover- ing the farm near the " Deveraux Station," on the Swampscott Branch of the Eastern Railroad, and this farm remained in the family of the original proprietor for more than two hundred years. Moses Maver- ick, who married a daughter of Isaac Allerton, is first mentioned as a resident of the place, in 1633. In 1637, the names of twenty-four male inbabitants of Marblehead are given ; viz., Moses Maverick, William Stevens, Archibald Thompson, William Charles, John Heart, John Peach, John Lyon, Anthony Thatcher, John Gaite, Richard Secres, Richard Greenway, John Gatchall, Samuel Gatchall, John Bennett, John Wakefield, Erasmus James, Thomas Gray, John Dev- eranx, Nicholas Merriott, Abraham Whitehaire, George Vicary, John Russell, Nicholas Listen, Thomas Beare.

The Rev. Francis Higginson, writing from Naumkeag, in 1629, to friends in England, wrote, "that here is plentie of marble stone in such store that we have great rocks of it and a harbour hard by : our plantation is from thence called Marbleharbour." During that very year the name of Salem was suggested and adopted ; but some, it appears, adhered to the carlier name, and the territory on the south- ern side of Salem Harbor was never designated by any other, till 1633, when, by general consent, it was changed to Marblehead.

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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 89

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