USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > The first century of Dummer Academy. A historical discourse, delivered at Newbury, Byfield Parish, August 12, 1863. With an appendix > Part 5
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54.
FREDERIC A. ADAMS. HENRY DURANT.
from Byfield, who had always gone free. The change pro- duced no little excitement among the parishioners, who re- sented it as an unjust withdrawal of rights which were theirs originally, and which had been confirmed by. long pre- scriptive usage. The angry and resentful feelings which were thus awakened in the very neighorbood of the Acade- my, undoubtedly injured its interests, and increased the diffi- culties of the experiment. After several months of excited remonstrance and warm discussion, this little quarrel be- tween the Parish and the Trust, was compromised and nominally settled, but years elapsed, before its unfavorable influences ceased to operate on the school.
Notwithstanding the untoward circumstances I have mentioned, the Academy, during the greater part of Mr. Adams' continuance, was well attended; its instruction in every branch was comprehensive and thorough; and its discipline, though mild, was efficient. That his services as a teacher here were exceedingly valuable, and generally ac- ceptable not only to the Trustees, but to his pupils and their parents, I have every reason to believe. Nor may I omit to mention how much this silent neighborhood was enlivened and improved when the Principal's New House became the home of an intelligent and sprightly circle - a centre, at once, of attraction and of radiance. After a stay here of six and a half years, Mr. Adams removed to Orange, N. J., then a small village-now a populous and thriving community -where his excellence as a teacher is well known and highly appreciated.
To the post made vacant by Mr. Adams' somewhat sudden departure, the Trustees promoted one of their own number. The Rev. HENRY DURANT was a graduate of Yale, where, afterwards, as Tutor, he had for colleague and intimate friend, the now celebrated Horace Bushnell. When appointed Principal of Dummer Academy he was and had been, for years, the minister of Byfield. This connection was soon after dissolved. He had charge of
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55
DURANT.
CHUTE. HENSHAW.
the school for about two years, and I remember to have heard, with pain, that he was not altogether successful or happy in his position here. I can only say, if intellect and scholarship, a refined taste and great amiability are all that a teacher needs, Mr. Durant should have made a capital " Preceptor." He, subsequently, became a manu- facturer, and, failing in this, went to California. At Oaklands, across the Bay from San Francisco, he soon opened a school for boys, and was prospered. That school proved to be the seminal point of a more important insti- tution, the College of California, since established at Oak- lands, and fast rising into notice and usefulness. As the first President of her first collegiate institution, and as one of the most efficient of its founders, California may well honor the name of Henry Durant.
Next in the list of our Preceptors comes the Rev. ARIEL P. CHUTE. This gentleman, whom I knew and val- ued as a pupil, is a native of Byfield, and a graduate of Bowdoin. He is a Congregational clergyman, and had been settled several times before he was made Principal of Dum- mer Academy. His tastes, if I mistake not, incline him to physical science rather than to classical learning, and this circumstance probably influenced the course of instruc- tion and study, during his incumbency. To mineralogy, he had given special attention, having made a large and valuable collection of specimens for the illustration of that branch. His pupils here enjoyed the privilege of this
cabinet. At the end of the second year, Mr. Chute went back to the ministry for a time-but now holds an office in the Boston Custom House.
The Rev. MARSHALL HENSHAW, who came after Mr. Chute, was born in Pennsylvania, graduated at Amherst, where he was afterwards a tutor, and prepared for the ministry in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. Precluded from the pulpit by want of health, he became a teacher, and had been in charge of Hopkins Academy
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56
HENSHAW. PARSONS.
in Hadley, and of Pinkerton Academy in Derry, when he was invited to Byfield. At no time, probably, has the school been more ably taught and managed, than during the seven years of Mr. Henshaw's stay. His pupils were quite as numerous as one man could well attend to, and in mental power were above the common average. It is almost needless to say that the results of his labors were in the highest degree satisfactory to all parties concerned. The Trustees appreciated his value, and with a view to his contentment and permanency, made some special, though wholly unavailing efforts to place their resources on a bet- ter footing. Mr. Gould, in particular, evinced his high estimate of Mr. Henshaw's services by constant encour- agement and aid, and by a liberal, though conditional of- fer towards an increase of the Academy fund .* In the midst of all this, Mr. Henshaw was invited to a Profes- sorship in Rutger's College, New Jersey, and felt it his duty to accept. After three years given to College duties in New Brunswick, he has just taken charge of the Wil- liston Seminary at East Hampton, one of the largest and most flourishing institutions of the kind in Massachusetts.
Mr. JOHN S. PARSONS had been employed as a teacher in the State of New York, for some time before he as- sumed the care of Dummer Academy. He had been here but little more than a year, when a short sickness removed him from the scene. What he would have accomplished had he been longer spared, we can only conjecture. He was here long enough, however, to make a very pleasant impression, and to leave a respected name. It is some- what remakable that of thirteen individuals who have been Principals of Dummer Academy during the century, Mr. Parsons alone died while in office.t
* Mr. Gould offered $2500 on condition that additional subscriptions should bring the sum up to $10,000. His partner and friend, Edward S. Mosely, Esq., subscribed 81,000, subject to the same condition - and here the generous movement stopped.
t Mr. Samuel Adams resigned a few months before his death. I may add here that Mr. SOLON ALBEE was elected Principal soon after the death of Mr. Parsons, and resigned early in the present year, ( 1864 ). The present incumbent, Mr. EDGAR
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THE . FEOFFEES: DUMMER. FOXCROFT. CHAUNCY.
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The first Trustees of Dummer School, named, as al- ready mentioned, in the Will, were the Rev. CHARLES CHAUNCY and THOMAS FOXCROFT of Boston, and Mr. NA- THANIEL DUMMER of Byfield. The first and almost the only duty which was devolved on these Feoffees, consisted in erecting a building for the school. Of that work, in the first instance, Mr. Dummer had undoubtedly the charge. The construction of the second school house must have been authorized by them, but under whose agency it was accomplished, is unknown. After they had placed the school house, the mansion house and the farm in Mr. Moody's hands, there was, so far as we can see, nothing left for them to do. And this, perhaps, was fortunate, for Dummer and Foxcroft were far advanced in years, and Chauncy must have been too busy at home to have much leisure for the affairs of a distant school.
NATHANIEL DUMMER is mentioned as a relative in the Governor's will. He graduated at Harvard with James Bowdoin in the class of 1745. He died at his home in Newbury (Byfield) February 27, 1767, aged 82.
THOMAS FOXCROFT lived until 1759, his strength both of mind and body having been much impaired by sickness for several years before his death. He was minister of the First Church in Boston, for fifty-two years,-admired as a preacher while his strength continued-an object of love and veneration to the end.
CHARLES CHAUNCY, the junior colleague of Foxcroft in that famous First Boston Church, ranked among the great men of his day. He was descended in the third degree from the second President of Harvard College. His grandfather, Isaac Chauncy had been associated with the renowned Isaac Watts in the ministry of the Berry Street Meeting in London. Mr. Chauncy was born in
L. FOSTER, is quite a young man, - but time will be mending that fault every day. So far as I can learn, he makes a very favorable impression. Let him work on in patience and in hope, and he cannot fail of success .- Post-script, November, 1864. I have just heard that Mr. Foster has resigned and the school is again closed. My exhortation fails in this case-but I let it stand. It may do for the next man.
58
TRUSTEES. THE POWELLS. WILLARD.
OSGOOD.
Boston-was settled while yet quite young-and soon rose into notice as a man of more than common ability and learning. An earnest and independent spirit marked his whole career. He long bore a conspicuous part in the polemic contests of his time, and when the revolutionary struggle came, threw himself with almost youthful ardor and courage into the cause of his country. Few men, among the patriots of that eventful period, stood higher in esteem and influence, than the Rev. Doctor Chauncy. Officially connected with Dummer School for a quarter of a century, he must have felt an interest in its welfare, and in some way, doubtless, made it manifest. He signed the petition for incorporation, and was named as a Trus- tee in the Act, but attended no meeting of the Board.
' The names of JEREMIAH POWELL and WILLIAM POWELL were, I suppose, placed on the list of Charter members, partly, at least, in compliment to the memory of their dis- tinguished relative-the Founder. So, probably, they re- garded it. Jeremiah was chosen the first President, and was reelected the following year. But there is no reason for thinking that either be or William ever attended a meeting of the Trust, or ever visited the school.
There were other and stronger reasons for placing on that list the name of JOSEPH WILLARD. To this prepar- atory institution, the College over which Willard presided with dignity and success, was then accustomed to look as among its best sources of supply. Though he attended no meeting of the Trustees, -being prevented, doubtless, by duties at home,-he could not be indifferent to the welfare of a school taught by his own early master, and generous benefactor. President Willard continued to be a Trustee until he died in 1804.
SAMUEL OSGOOD was a native of Andover, one of Moody's earliest pupils in Byfield, and a graduate of Har- vard in 1770. Five years later he was acting as a mem- ber of the Board of War, and afterwards was on the
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59
JEWETT. M. PARSONS. THE GREENLEAFS. TUCKER.
staff of Gen. Artemas Ward. In 1781 he was a dele- gate to the National Congress. 1785, that body made him First Commissioner of the Treasury, and, four years afterwards, he received from Washington the appointment of Post-Master-General. This able and useful public ser- vant, resigned his trustee-ship in 1789, and died in New York ( 1803), being, at the time, Naval Officer of that port.
DUMMER JEWETT, another of the first fifteen, was a son of Jedediah Jewett, fifth minister of Rowley, whose wife was Elizabeth Dummer. He graduated at Harvard, 1752, and was a trader in Ipswich, where he died, 1788.
MOSES PARSONS, the excellent minister of Byfield, who had, probably, been more influential than any other man in securing the foundation of a school in his parish, as well as in the choice of its first master, died the year after it was incorporated. He was the first Secretary of the Trust.
BENJAMIN GREENLEAF, Probate Judge, son-in-law of Dr. Chauncy and father-in-law of Theophilus Parsons, was cho- sen President of the Board in 1784, attended nearly every meeting, and held the office till he died in 1799.
His successor in the Presidency was JONATHAN GREEN- LEAF, of the 'silver tongue,'-an equally punctual member, invariably present in his entire suit of drab, or of deep blue, set off by wig, shoe-buckles, and cocked hat. Left a portionless child by his father's violent death, he had been apprenticed to Edward Presbury, a prosperous ship- builder, and, in process of time, was heir not of his mas- ter's 'dexterity' only, but also 'of his house and his daugh- ter's hand.' Rising to wealth and influence, he was called to represent his town and county in the State Councils, and his district in the Continental Congress. His trus- teeship ended with his life in 1806.
The Rev. JOHN TUCKER of the First Parish in New- bury, who maintained so long and so bravely his Armi-
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60
TRACY. M. SAWYER. CARY. DUMMER. BRADBURY. PARSONS.
nian citidel-sending forth, occasionally, a polemic bomb- shell charged with wit and satire,-was the first acting Secretary of the Trustees, and held that office seven years. Dr. Tucker died in 1792 after a ministry of almost fifty years.
The first Treasurer of the Corporation was NATHAN- IEL TRACY. His father, Patrick Tracy, had come from Ireland, a mere sailor lad, but found a genial home in Newburyport, where he rose to be a ship-master, a pros- perous merchant, and a valued citizen. His son Nathan- iel was long at the head of society in his native town. His spacious house on State Street, so long the home of a generous and elegant hospitality, is still pleasantly re- membered as having been the transient resting-place of Washington and of La Fayette .* Two daughters and a son of Mr. Tracy still live.
As Treasurer of the Academy, Mr. Tracy was suc- ceeded by Dr. MICAJAH SAWYER, long a distinguished phy- sician of Newburyport, who held that important position with great fidelity and advantage to the institution, from 1784 to 1809.
The Rev. THOMAS CARY, Mr. Lowell's successor in the 3d Newbury Church, was a Trustee for 26 years, and his name occurs often in the record. Paralyzed as he was for a large portion of the time, it was impossible that he should take a very active part. His son, of the same name, was fitted at Dummer Academy, graduated 1797, and left his property to Harvard College.
RICHARD DUMMER, a Newbury farmer, and SAMUEL MOODY, the Preceptor, complete the roll of Charter mem- bers.
The earliest of the elected members were THEOPHI- LUS BRADBURY and THEOPHILUS PARSONS, both chosen in 1784. Mr. Bradbury was born in Newbury and settled in Falmouth, the first lawyer admitted there. When that
* It is gratifying to know that this venerable mansion is to be occupied hence- forth by a public library, and that its sacred memories are no longer to be sup- planted or disturbed by any of the baser uses.
61
JOSEPH HALE. COOMBS. MARCH.
town was destroyed, he came back to Newburyport, went to Congress in 1796, was placed on the Bench, 1797, and died, 1803. Theophilus Bradbury was a respectable man, but perhaps his greatest honor consists in the fact that he was the first law-teacher of Theophilus Parsons.
Of Mr. PARSONS I have had occasion to speak else- where, and need add nothing here, except to say that he undoubtedly exercised an efficient and useful influence in the concerns of the School, before as well as after he be- came a Trustee. He continued in the Board as long as he lived.
Deacon JOSEPH HALE had thirty one years of service as a Trustee. In all matters connected with the farm, the Board seems to have relied much upon him. The building of the present large barn was intrusted solely to his care. I cannot praise his architecture. But we must remember that he built at a time, when, through all this region, length seems to have been regarded as the all- important quality of a barn. Boys at the school in those days, many of whom boarded with Mr. Hale, had an idea that he was rather quick in temper, and severe in speech. If it were so, is it to be supposed that there was no provo- cation ? If the whole truth could be known, who doubts that it was the Deacon who had most reason to com- plain ?
Mr. WILLIAM COOMBS, a well known and highly re- spected merchant of Newbury, was long a faithful and useful Trustee.
To Judge EBENEZER MARCH the fourth President of the Board the Academy was largely indebted, for a service of more than twenty years. His agency in disposing of the half-township granted by the State, was exceedingly valuable.
For a term nearly as long, the list of Trustees was enriched and honored by the name of that great Grecian,
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POPKIN. CARTER. LITTLE. ADAMS E. SAWYER. B. COLMAN. E. PARSONS.
JOHN SNELLING POPKIN. Of his fame as preacher, schol- ar, Tutor, Professor, and humorist, none but the youngest of those who hear me, need that I should say a word. From 1806 to 1815, when he left 'Old-town' for Cam- bridge, he generally attended the examinations of the Acad- emy .*
In NATHANIEL CARTER of Newburyport, the Board had for eighteen years one of its most useful and practical members.
EDWARD LITTLE, a son of the well known Col. Josiah Little, JOHN ADAMS, ENOCH SAWYER, and BENJAMIN COL- MAN, all of Newbury, and the last three also pupils of Moody, were members of the Trust, and appear to have borne their full share in its transactions.
Mr. EBEN PARSONS was a Trustee and Vice-Presi- dent from 1807 till his decease in 1819. This gentleman, an elder brother of the Chief Justice and a prosperous Bos- ton merchant, had purchased a part of the old Dummer territory near the "Falls," which he cultivated and adorn- ed with lavish hand. During the last years of his life, he made this place his home, and Dummer Academy be- came, more than ever, an object of regard. For several seasons the Trustees had a standing invitation to dine at the "Farm " on Examination Day. This was in Mr. Ab- bot's time, and after the fatigue of examining his ten or twelve boys, those generous dinners must have been very refreshing. In his records of the Trustee meetings, the venerable Secretary did not fail to make due and grate- · ful mention of the entertainments referred to.
* Old Newbury folks will enjoy the following graphic touches, from Professor Lowell's late publication - Fireside Travels. " Who that ever saw him can forget him in his old age, like a lusty winter, frosty but kindly, with great silver spec- tacles of the heroic period, such as scarce twelve noses of these degenerate days could bear ? He was a natural celibate, not dwelling 'like the fly in the heart of the apple,' but like a lonely bee rather, absconding himself in Hymettian flowers, incapable of matrimony as a solitary palm-tree. * * A thoroughly single man, single-minded, single-hearted, buttoning over his single heart a single-breasted surtout, and wearing always a hat of a single fashion, -did he in secret regard the dual number of his favorite language as a weakness ? *
* Fidelity was his strong char- acteristic, and burned equably in him through a life of eighty three years.
63
WHITE.
THE SALEM TRUSTEES. ANDREWS.
DANIEL APPLETON WHITE, elected in 1809, was then a citizen of Newburyport, and from that time until his resignation in 1819, was a constant attendant on the meet- ings of the Trustees. In almost every proceeding and committee of importance, we find his name, and it may well be doubted if any one more competent and useful has had a seat in that body. It is but yesterday, as it were, that this distinguished man passed from among us, full of years and of honors.
A number of attempts were made to enlist Salem * talent and influence in the interest of this Academy. But whether Salem was too far off, or Byfield not sufficiently attractive, the enterprise met with only partial success. Of six individuals elected between 1810 and 1838, the most exemplary in his attendance was the learned and reverend Dr. JOHN PRINCE, who came, for several years, quite regularly. That able lawyer and distinguished philologist Dr. JOHN PICKERING attended one examination. His illustrious father, TIMOTHY PICKERING, presided in the Board at its annual meeting of 1820. The courtly Colonel BENJAMIN PICKMAN was present as a Trustee at three of my annual examinations, and the calm Judge SAMUEL PUTNAM at two of them. The eloquent advocate and statesman LEVERETT SALTONSTALL visited the Academy only once.
In 1821, when I took the charge, and during nearly the whole of my stay here, the combined offices of Sec- retary and Treasurer were held by the Rev. Dr. JOHN ANDREWS, - a Trustee for nearly fifty years. To no other man was the Academy indebted for so long, or so de- voted a service. In fidelity to his trust, he was almost, if not altogether unparalleled. A man of stricter integ- rity never lived, and in punctuality he beat the sun- being generally some way ahead of the time. My quar- ter day, which began in October, came on the eleventh day of every third month-and, circumstanced as I then was, there was very little danger of my forgetting it. As
64
ANDREWS. PARISH.
early, however, as the 5th or 6th of the month, I usually received a note from the old gentleman, saying that he would be ready to pay me on the 11th. Not content with this, he would sometimes send me in the meanwhile, by Byfield men whom he intercepted on their way home, two or three oral messages, to the same effect. If, on the day, I failed to go down, as was occasionally the case, he seemed to be positively distressed. Of course, I felt bound in duty and honor to put him out of his misery as soon as possible. Yet, I must confess that his ex- treme promptness in this particular, was sometimes a little annoying. If we must regard as a failing this trait in his character, it certainly was one of those failings, which lean very decidedly to virtue's side. I think I see some good clergymen around me, who, Protestants as they are, would cheerfully accord to this sin a plenary indulgence.
The name of Dr. ELIJAH PARISH ranked among the celebrities of that day. Years before, he had gained con- siderable reputation as an author of geographical works, and of a History of New England, which was introduced into many of the common schools. It was, however, as an ardent, political preacher, that he was most widely known. The present generation can have only a faint conception of the intensity and bitterness which character- ised the strife of parties, fifty or sixty years ago. While the boldness with which Dr. Parish attacked the adminis- tration and the dominant party was not unpleasing to the Federalists, it was only natural that his unsparing and keen invective should draw upon himself much angry de-
nunciation. But those days of deep feeling and angry passion had gone by, and seemed to be quite forgotten, at the time when I came to know the venerable Doctor, as a neighbor, and pastor, and Trustee. In all the pro- ceedings of the Board he had long borne an important part, and though less active, continued to be a member until 1825, the year of his death. A volume of his sermons.
65
PARISH.
TYNG. SILAS LITTLE.
was published soon after, with a short but discriminating sketch of the man from the pen of Leonard Withington. An engraving in the book gives some idea of the Doctor's look when uttering one of his sharp things .*
Facts which I have already stated show the deep inter- est felt by Mr. DUDLEY ATKINS TYNG in the prosperity and usefulness of the Academy. His devotion to this object seemed to be truly filial, and continued unabated, until growing infirmity compelled him to resign in 1828. From my first coming here, he took me into his confidence and friendship. He knew how to allow for youth and inex- perience. He was desirous that I should succeed, and he helped me to succeed. I recall with thankfulness his steadfast regard-his judicious counsel-his firm and gen- erous advocacy. I still turn back to one gloomy time, when, but for his look and words of cheer, I should, per- haps, have quit the scene in discouragement and disgust. Amid the associations of this place and hour, it seems easy to recall the man,-his twinkling eye, his pleasant smile, his portly frame ;- to drop in upon him as he sits reading or dozing by his winter fire-or, in summer, to find him by the door which opens into the garden, or under the old tree whose shade he loved, because it had been dear to others long before; or to sit with him again at that hospitable board, with its conservative traces of the olden manners - the pewter plate from which he al- ways ate his dinner, and the silver tankard which stood by its side.
Not three miles distant from the Academy, upon his farm in Old-town, lived another aged Trustee, Mr. SILAS LITTLE. Mr. Little was a graduate of Hanover, and en-
*In that great senatorial debate of 1830, which ended and culminated in the grand- est speech of modern times, if not of all time, the South Carolina Senator, in his at- tack on New England, made large quotations from northern speakers and writers, stretching, as Webster expressed it, his " drag-net " " over the whole surface of per- ished pamphlets, indiscreet sermons, frothy paragraphs, and fuming popular addresses." In this " farrago" brought to Mr. Hayne by his northern scavenger and tender, and by him read to the Senate, some extracts from Dr. Parish's sermons made a conspicuous show. Carey, in his "Olive-branch," drew still more largely from the same source.
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