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 97
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149
Regular stage-coach communication was established between Mar- blehead and Boston in 1768, and with Salem in 1794. These coach lines continned, with brief interruptions, till the completion of the Eastern Railroad, which finished its branch from Salem to Marble- head in 1840.
From the first settlement of the town, its inhabitants had depended mainly on the fisheries for the employment of their eapital and labor, and this business was the basis of that eommereial prosperity which distinguished the town before the Revolutionary War. With the close of that conflict, the business was resumed with such means and eredit as was left to the enterprising men of the place, and was pros- ecuted with a fair degree of sucecss, till the second war with Great Britain prevented the further prosceution of the industry during the eontest. With the proclamation of peace between the two countries, it was again resumed ; but the two wars had nearly exterminated the foreign commerce of the town, and what little remained was gradually removed to the port of Boston, or continued till the few vessels engaged were found unseaworthy.
The fishing business, however, was still proseeuted with persever- ance and energy, steadily increasing till a fleet of a hundred vessels or more were again engaged in this time-honored industry.
Other enterprises had, in a degree, diverted capital and labor to new pursuits ; but the business was still pursued with moderate suc- cess, till the terrible disasters experienced in a tremendous gale of wind on the banks of Newfoundland inflicted a blow from which it has never recovered. At that time, thirteen vessels, with sixty-five men and boys, were lost ; and from that year the business has steadily decreased, till it is now redneed to a fleet of less than twenty sail of vessels.
Marblehead had been for nearly two centuries a prosperous field of labor for those who had learned the eordwainer's trade. Employ- ment was not only derived from the wants of the inhabitants for boots aud shoes, but in furnishing the fishermen and seamen with leather jackets and tronsers, and heavy sea-boots, all made exclusively
of sole-leather. Many who had acquired wealth and distinction dur- ing the previous century, had commenced life in this humble calling, and it continued to employ no inconsiderable number of the popula- tion, till the heavy cotton-cloth, saturated with oil, and made iuto elothing, was generally accepted as a cheaper, and yet a very good, substitute for the leather jackets and trousers, as a protection for the fisherman in wet weather. This reduced the demand for the eord- wainer's skill, and he was obliged to seek employment in other direc- tions.
A few enterprising men in the neighboring town of Lynn, had, for many years, been gradnally developing a new industry by the mann- facture of ladies' and children's shoes for distant markets ; and many of the Marblehead cordwainers either removed to this new field of labor, or had the stock sent to them all prepared for making into shoes, and, the price of their labor being fixed by the skill and amount of labor performed, industrious men eould earn very fair wages. From the very beginning, children's shoes appeared to be the special product of the shoemakers of Marblehead, and the number inereased so rapidly that, in a few years, hundreds were employed by the Lynn manufacturers, maintaining a daily express between the two places, for the transportation of boxes of shoes, made and unmade, while a few enterprising men commeneed the manufacture of the cheaper grades of children's shoes in the town. One of the earliest to engage in this business in Marblehead was Mr. Thomas Wooldredge, whose house and place of business was located on Orne Street. Other young men soon engaged in this branch of industry, nearly all being practical shoemakers, among whom may be mentioned A. C. Orne, Benjamin Hawkes, Thomas Garney, Samuel and Peter Sparhawk, and Joseph R. Bassett. With the completion of the railroad connection with Boston, the business increased more rapidly, attracting men of enterprise and industry, but with very little capital, till, finally, the manufacturers of Marblehead were employing the larger proportion of the workmen residing in the town. With the introduction of machin- ery for the production of shoes, large and commodious factories were ereeted in different parts of the town ; hundreds of cottages were built by industrious and provident workmen, and the reputation of the place established as the principal seat for the manufacture of children's sewed shoes in New England.
For several years, an odd, eccentric man, regarded as mean and miserly hy his neighbors, resided with his aged wife and sister in a plain two-story house on Franklin Street. One small room in the house had been fitted up for a store, and here he prosceuted a small business with great industry, dealing in window-glass, paints, and paint-oils, putty, and small groceries. Thus he lived and plodded along in his quiet way for several years, and his aged companions, the wife and sister, passed away, leaving him to pur- sue his quiet life alone. In the year 1853, his death was an- nounced, and a few neighbors followed the lifeless form to its last resting-plaee ; but the astonishment of the people ean hardly be described, when the statement was made, and confirmed by official authority, that the moderate fortune which had belonged to this man was given to his uative town as a fund for the benefit of poor and worthy widows. Of the $13,500 which his prudenee had thus saved for this purpose, every dollar was found to be wisely invested in prof- itable corporations. His will also provided that the old mausion which had been his home for so many years should be fitted with such conveniences as were necessary, and should be used as a home for sneh worthy widows as the board of overseers may select, at a low rent. Even if this intelligenee had failed to reverse the publie judgment in regard to the character of this man, the information which soon fol- lowed the announcement of his public bequest would certainly have done it ; the proprietors of stores where the necessaries of life were sold, - the wood and eoal dealer, the baker, and others engaged in local business, - testified that, for several years, they had been the almon- ers of this man's charities; that, furnished with a list of deserving cases, they were instructed to deliver the goods to these persons, and bring the bills to him for settlement ; and they were charged that his uame must never be mentioned in connection with these charities, and that his patronage depended on their faithful compliance with this request. This was sufficient, aud their lips had been sealed while he lived.
Thus lived and died Moses A. Pickett, who for many years submitted to the unjust reproaches of his fellow-men, with noble patience and fortitude, confident that when death should release him from carthly eares and trials the public would do justice to his memory, and behold the grace aud beauty of that charity which the Saviour of man- kind so graciously commended.
283
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
The first attempt to number the population of the town was made in 1765, when a Province eensus was taken, and the population found to number 4,594. A colonial census was taken in 1776, when the population was reported as numbering 4,386 ; but an official statement, recorded in the town records two years before, in reference to small-pox, reported that five thousand of the resident population had never been exposed to the contagion of that dreaded disease. This indicates that Marblehead had a much larger population at that time than was reported by the official canvassers, and it is possible that in this report the absent soldiers and sailors may have been omitted. A census taken under the authority of the town, in 1780, showed a population of only 4,142. It is a well-established fact that, soon after the Revolutionary conflict commenced, many families removed from the place to the inte- rior towns, and returned when peace was proclaimed. The United States census for 1790 reported a population of 5,661. From that year till 1840, a period of fifty years, there was very little change in the population of the town, the largest number being reported in 1810, when there was 5,900, and the smallest in 1830, when there was 5,149. The population in 1840 was reported in the census as 5,575, or eighty-six less than it was fifty years before. With the completion of the railroad, in 1840, the business enterprises of the place were prosecuted with greater energy and perseverance, and during the next twenty years the population increased over 2,000, the number reported in 1860 being 7,646. During this period the town showed greater activity and more enterprise, and made greater progress in every department of local administration, than had been shown since the commencement of the Revolutionary War.
Efforts were made to establish other kinds of business in addition to those already in existence. A wealthy citizen introduced ship- building, and this was so successful for a time as to attract hundreds of new residents from the British Provinces and other New England States, and several vessels, from one hundred to twelve hundred tons each, were built and successfully launched. This business, however, failed to be profitable after four or five years, and was finally aban- doned as one of the local industries. The shoe business, however, was prosecuted with greater energy and success, and new manufacturers, springing from the ranks of the workmen themselves, were rapidly diminishing the number of local shoemakers depending on the Lynn manufacturers for employment. Commodious and convenient fac- tories were erected, nearly twenty streets and courts laid out and
graded, and hundreds of new houses erected. A new almshouse was built, and the poor depending on public charity for support were fur- nished with a clean, comfortable, and healthy home ; ten acres of land were purchased, and Waterside Cemetery was established ; the fire department made more efficient by the purchase of the " Gerry, " Mug- ford," and "Gen. Glover" suction engines, and " Washington " hook and ladder truck, and the erection of three new houses, and the improve- ment of others for the accommodation of the different companies.
The high school, which had been commenced in 1835 and discon- tinued in 1838, was re-established permanently. Previous to 1840 the town had only built the Farms School-house, with a public appro- priation, and two school-houses with the " Marchant Fund." The town primary schools were mostly accommodated in private dwelling- houses ; no intermediate or female grammar schools were in existence, and females had only limited privileges for public education beyond the primary school. During the twenty years that followed, eleven new school-houses were erected and occupied, and the schools grad- ually graded, until the complete system of public education now in existenee was firmly established.
This was the prosperous condition of the town when the people were startled with the intelligence that the first gun had been fired in the American Civil War.
The political events which led to this great conflict between the free and slave States are too well known to be mentioned here. Marble- head had supported for some years three military companies, desig- nated as the " Marblehead Sutton Light Infantry," organized in 1809; the "Lafayette Guards," organized in 1825; and the " Glover Guards," organized in 1852. These belonged to the 8th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, which then embraced eight companies. During the afternoon of April 15, 1861, the captains of these com- panies received orders to report, with their commands, on " Boston Common," the following day, duly armed and equipped for active service. The summons was sudden and unexpected, for it found the men engaged in their usual occupations ; but these were promptly laid aside, and, repairing to the respective armories, active preparations were made to respond to the order. All that night the town was the scene of a great excitement, for nearly two hundred young men were
suddenly called to leave home and friends, with, in many cases, small families dependent on them for their daily bread, to accept the priva- tions and face the terrible perils of war. The morning of the 16th of April was cold, gloomy, and cheerless, and the " minute-men" of 1861 marched to the railroad station in the midst of a driving storm of sleet and rain. At the station thousands were assembled,-wives, mothers, daughters, and sweethearts, parting with those they loved, in grief and tears, and fathers, brothers, and friends cheering them with words of encouragement. Amid the shouts of thousands the train finally moved from the station, and while a soldier could be seen on the moving cars, a thousand handkerchiefs were waving wildly, as signs of loving recognition or farewell benedictions.
Only two companies were ready for the early morning train, but the other followed an hour later, and all were accompanied by large delegations of citizens as far as Boston. At nine o'clock in the morn- ing the first two companies arrived at the Boston station, and three minutes after, the " Old Infantry," as many loved to call the oldest company organization, was marching up Friend Street, to the music of drum and fife, under the command of Knott V. Martin, and was the first company in the State to report for duty on that eventful morning ; the " Glover Guards," commanded by Capt. Francis A. Boardman, reported a few minutes later, and the "Lafayette Guards," under the command of Capt. Richard Phillips, a little more than an hour after. The 8th Regiment left Boston for Washington on the 18th of April, 1861, late in the afternoon ; but the limits of this work will not per- init the record of faithful service performed by this first detachment of the "minute-men " of the war, nor of those which afterwards engaged in the long and bloody conflict.
" Your families shall be cared for," so the citizens promised when the young men went away ; and, four days after their departure, the town appropriated $5,000 for this purpose. The meeting was large and enthusiastic, and closed with ringing cheers for the Union.
Shortly after the departure of these companies measures were taken to recruit another company, to be designated as the " Mugford Guards," and the town, at a public meeting, appropriated $400 for purchase of necessary clothing for the new recruits in this company. The ranks were finally filled, and commanded by Capt. Benjamin Day ; it was mustered into the service for three years, and became a part of the 14th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, and left the State for active service July 7, 1861.
The Legislature being in session while these events were transpir- ing, passed a general State law authoring "State aid " for families dependent on the absent soldiers for subsistence. At a town meeting held soon after this, it was voted to appropriate $10,000 for this pur- pose. As this law provided that the board of selectmen should be the distributing committee of " State aid," the committee charged with that service at a previous meeting, reported that $495 had been distributed among several families, embracing seventy adults and 100 children, and that patriotic citizens had furnished all the funds neces- sary for this purpose.
On the first day of August, 1861, the " minute-men " who had done three months' faithful service returned, and were received with enthu- siastic manifestations of joy and gratitude by the public authorities and the whole population of the town.
Soon after the return of these companies, Capt. Martin was author- ized to recruit a company for the 23d Regiment, and, having accom- plished his purpose, the regiment left for the seat of war during the month of November, 1861.
A call being made by the authorities for a body of troops to serve nine months, the 8th Regiment volunteered, including two of the Mar- blehead companies. The " Glover Guard " had lost many men from its ranks, who had joined the three years' regiments, and two of its most efficient officers, Lieut. Thomas Russell and Lieut. John Good- win, had accepted commissions under Capt. Martin in the 23d Regi- ment : thus weakened, the company was unable to rally under this new call, and the organization was abandoned.
The "Lafayette Guards " went into service in accordance with this call under its old commander, Capt. Richard Phillips, while " the old Infantry " were under the command of Capt. Samuel C. Graves, who had served as a lieutenant under Capt. Martin during the three months' service.
The exploits of rebel cruisers near the coast, and the fears that a war with Great Britain might possibly result from the many unfriendly acts charged against that government, moved the citizens of the town to appeal to the governor and council for aid to place the town and harbor in a proper state of defence. The government price for labor was $1.25 per day ; but it was urged that men would not work for this
284
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
price, in view of the high cost of all articles of merchandise, measured by a depreciated currency, and the town finally appropriated $4,000, as a fund to increase the daily wages of laborers on the fortifications, to $1.75 per day. With this provision made by the town, laborers were secured, and, under the supervision of government engineers, Fort Sewall was enlarged and reconstructed, and two new fortifications were erected, one near the head of the harbor, called " Fort Glover," and the other near Naugus Head called "Fort Miller," and after their completion were garrisoned by soldiers from other parts of the State during the remainder of the war.
As the war continued, further calls for troops were made by the government, and each town being assigned a quota to raise for the service, or submit to a draft from the able-bodied men, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, every effort was made by the town authorities to avoid the threatened conscription, and $15,000 was appropriated to provide $125 for each recruit that may be obtained on the quota of the town.
The 8th Regiment having returned to the State after serving nine months, again responded to another call for a body of troops to serve one hundred days. To this last call of the regiment for active service, the "Lafayette Guards" failed to respond in time, but was finally recruited to the requisite munber by its veteran commander, and was mustered into the service for one year as an unattached company. While in Virginia, a few weeks later, it was attached to a regiment of heavy artil- lery, and when its term of service closed, the company had lost its charter as one of the local military organizations. Marblehead had furnished at the close of the war, 1,440 men, on the several calls of the govern- ment : but as many of them had enlisted more than once, on different terms of service, it has been estimated that the number was about 950 soldiers for three years' service recorded on the quotas of the town, while at least 150 men enlisted for the same term of service on the quotas of other towns ; making the whole number of soldiers engaged in the war, belonging to the place, as 1,100. Of this number, the names of 129 soldiers and nine sailors are recorded on the country's " roll of honor," and a granite monument has been erected to their memory, which was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies on the Fourth of July, 1876.
During the time of " Jefferson's Embargo," in the early part of the eentury, a poor boy, the son of a fisherman, left the town to serve an apprenticeship with a master-cooper in the neighboring town of Salem. Master of his trade, at the age of twenty-one he went to the West Indies with a young companion, where he was employed two years by a Boston firm extensively engaged in trade with those islands. Return- ing to Boston on the death of his companion, he opened a cooper's shop in that city, where, after several years of indifferent success, his perseverance and industry established a prosperous and Incrative busi- ness. He was married at the age of thirty-three, and, although no children blessed the union, he lived a happy and peaceful life with his companion for more than forty years. He was a man of plain and fingal habits, great integrity, untiring industry, and sagacious judg- ment, and his savings, from year to year, were wisely invested for safe and profitable returns. In 1870, his wife, who had been his faithful and trusted companion so many years, departed from this life, and two years after he closed his long career of usefulness at the age of seventy- seven. This in brief is the story of the life of Benjamin Abbot. A few months before he died, he executed his last will and testament, giving $14,800 to the missionary and educational institutions of his religious faith ; $70,000 to his relatives and friends, embracing legacies to sixty-two different persons ; and the balance of his large property, amounting to nearly $100,000 at the time of his death, to the town of Marblehead ; because, as he briefly but eloquently declared, "it was my birth-place." With this generous gift he imposed no conditions, but modestly expressed the wish that it might be applied to " the erec- tion of a building for the use of the inhabitants," and that his name might be attached to the object on which the fund should be ex- pended.
In due time the executors of the will notified the selectmen that they had settled all claims against the estate, and the balance, amount- ing to over $100,000, safely invested, remained in their hands for the benefit of the town. On Thursday evening, February 9th, a town- meeting was held, and resolutions adopted by a unanimous vote, accepting the bequest, declaring it as the purpose of the town to observe his wish in regard to a public building, to which his name should be attached, and expressing the gratitude of the people for the man who, by his life of industry and integrity, had conferred honor on his native town, and by his generous gift at the close of his carthly career had won the honor of being its noblest benefactor. The town
treasurer, with the board of selectmen, were appointed as trustees to accept and take charge of the fund in behalf of the town.
The "Common," or " training-field hill," as it was often called, had been mentioned by many as a suitable place for the contemplated building ; bnt, there being some doubts as to the legal right of the town to appropriate that place for such a purpose, a committee was appointed to secure, if possible, a special Aet from the Legislature granting this right. A minority of the citizens opposed this location, and the legislative committee charged with the consideration of the petition of the town reported against the project. At the same meet- ing which appointed this committee, it was voted "to erect a brick building, with stone trimmings, to be designated as Abbot Hall, of such dimensions as will secure an audience hall that will seat at least 1,200 persons, a hall for a public reading-room and library that will accommodate not less than 20,000 volumes, a fire-proof vault for the storage and security of the records and other important papers belong- ing to the town, and such rooms as may be necessary for the conven- ient use of the different boards for the transaction of public business." Eleven different places had been suggested as suitable places for the location of the building, and it was finally resolved to select the loca- tion by ballot, on Saturday, May 22, 1875. Considerable interest was manifested in the subject, and when the polls were closed it was found that the " Common " had received 380 votes to 331 votes for all other places. A building committee of five citizens were ballotcd for and elected at that and subsequent meetings, consisting of Simeon Dodge, J. J. H. Gregory, Moses Gilbert, Henry F. Pitman, and Thomas Appleton. The selectmen were instructed to secure the best legal advice possible as to the right of the town to use the " Com- mon" for this purpose; but the citizens, finally convinced that no reliable legal opinion could be obtained except by proceedings that would secure the judgment of the supreme court, instructed the " building committee" to proceed to excavate earth on the Common, preparatory to erecting the building, "at an expense not exceeding fifty dollars."
Another meeting was called, Dec. 13, 1875, and propositions made to "reseind" the previous action of the town in regard to location, and the vote whereby the employment of legal counsel was anthor- ized to defend the action of the town; but both propositions were defeated by large majorities.
Twelve days after, another mecting was held, and $75,000 appro- priated from the " Abbot fund " for the use of the building committee in carrying out the vote of the town.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.