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 9
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AARON K. HATHAWAY was, at two different periods, a regular Assist- ant, having been prepared at Byfield for Amherst College, where he grad- uated in 1835. After having been for some time the Principal of Woburn Academy, he went, on invitation, to North Carolina, and after a year of experience in teaching there, came back not a little disgusted. He, soon after, settled in Medford, where he taught, 'successively, a public and a private school, and where he died not many years ago. Mr. H. was one of the most hard-working men I have ever known.
CHARLES NORTHEND was also a regular Assistant. Mr. Northend entered Amherst College, but did not complete the course. His life thus far has been steadily devoted to the cause of education. For sixteen years he taught public schools in Danvers and Salem, and for three years, was Superintendent of Schools, in the town first named. For ten years past he has been Assistant Superintendent of public schools in the State of Connecticut. In 1863, he was elected President of the American Insti- tute of Instruction. During these busy years, he has found time, not only for the editing of an Educational journal, and the preparing and pub- lishing of several school books, but also to attend nearly a hundred Teach- ers' Institutes, lasting, generally, four or five days, and most of them under his direction. His present home is New Britain in Connecticut.
My last Assistant, JOHN RODMAN ROLLINS, a Newbury man - a Dart- mouth scholar -was with me about a year. The Academy at Lunen- berg, Mass., was under his care for some time. During the last eleven years he has been an officer in the employ of the Essex Company in Lawrence. In 1857 and 1858, he was the Mayor of that young city. When, in 1862, the call came for 300,000 nine months' men, Mr. Rollins raised a company, received a Captain's commission, joined the forces under General Banks, was at the siege of Port Hudson, taking part in the as- sault, and came home uninjured. Captain Rollins has lately been appoint- ed to the direction of a large mining establishment in Colorado, and has gone to live at Denver.
XXIV.
APPENDIX.
NOYES. DEAN. TRUSTEES OF THE LAST QUARTER-CENTURY.
There have been a few assistant teachers in the Academy since 1843. Mr. F. A. Adams was aided, for a while, by Mr. DANIEL P. NOYES. Mr. Noyes, an alumnus of Dummer Academy, of Yale College, and of Andover Divinity School, was a tutor at New Haven, a settled clergyman in Brooklyn, N. Y., and then, for many years, one of the Secretaries of the American Home Missionary Society. He has just returned to Massachusetts, to assume a similar position, in regard to missionary work in his native State. Inclination prompts me to say more. But his rec- ord speaks for itself.
Mr. Chute, in 1851, was assisted by FREDERIC DEANE, of Bangor. He is a graduate of Bowdoin, and was master of the High School in his native town. When the blight of rebellion fell upon Texas, Mr. Deane was teaching at Galveston. I hope he has survived the tender mercies of the barbarians.
There may have been others who are entitled to a place in this rec- ord. If so, their names are unknown to me.
VIII .- PAGE 70.
TRUSTEES OF THE LAST QUARTER-CENTURY.
To complete the record of the Board, I give the names of its members chosen since 1840, in the order of their election.
ROBERT CROSS, a native of Newburyport, and son-in-law of Mr. D. A. Tyng, was in 1840, a lawyer in Amesbury. His removal to the West, not long afterwards, put an end to his trustee-ship. He died while yet in middle life.
DAVID CHOATE of Essex was in the Board ten years, dating from 1840. His familiarity with education, both in its theory and practice, to- gether with his knowledge and habits of business, must have made him a very useful member. I can only regret that his decade of service did not sooner begin.
WINTHROP SARGENT (1843) had come from Philadelphia, to live on the Parsons Farm. Being a prompt, intelligent man, he was put on the Farm Committee, and from 1846 to 1852, he was Secretary.
JOHN PIKE, chosen in 1843, became at once a zealous and active Trustee. Since 1852, he has been President. As chairman of the Board and of the Prudential Committee, and living, as he does, near the Acad- emy, he has long borne an important and influential part in all its con- cerns. Few need be told that he has been for more than twenty years, the highly respected Congregational Minister of Rowley.
LEONARD WITHINGTON was re-chosen in 1846, having been out of the Board eight years. His second term, during most of which he was President, ended in 1850.
ASAHEL HUNTINGTON, 1846. Of this gentleman as a successful prac- titioner and officer of the law, and as a philanthropic citizen, nothing needs be told in a community to which he has been so long and so well known. Suffice it here to say that his trusteeship of Dummer Academy
XXV.
APPENDIX.
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TRUSTEES. SALE OF FARM.
has been of a piece with the rest of his active and useful career. If the Records can be trusted, few members have been more punctual - none more devoted. The disabled finances of the Academy early attracted his attention. He saw its money fund greatly reduced. He saw also there a large and valuable farm, which imposed a burden of care, with very moderate returns. On his motion, in the summer of 1849, the Trustees instructed their Farm Committee to ascertain, as nearly as possible, the yearly product of the Farm for the last twenty years, and unanimously declared it to be the sense of the Board, that it would be proper to change the real estate into some other description of property, if it could be brought about. Mr. Huntington, Mr. Gould, and Col. Adams were appointed to consider and report on the question, whether it would be safe to dispose of the farm under Legislative authority, if the same could
be obtained. When, however, in the January following, Mr. Huntington proposed that application for license should be made to the Legislature, the Board voted "to take no farther action on the subject at present." Notwithstanding this rebuff, in March, 1853, Mr. Huntington, as chairman of Committee, reported substantially as follows: That they had the writ- ten opinion of Hon. Richard Fletcher, to the effect that the Trustees have the right "under the authority and with the license of the Supreme Court, to convey a good and valid title to the whole estate, or any part thereof, and that without any danger of forfeiture." They refer to the fact, ascertained four years previously, after careful investigation, that the annual income of the farm, for a period of twenty years, was somewhat less than two hundred dollars. They believe the farm may be sold for at least $8,000, which sum properly invested would yield more than double the amount now received from the real estate. They believe it to be the duty, as it certainly would be for the interest of the Academy, to make the change. They see no reason for supposing that the principal would be any less secure. What avail the solidity and permanence of landed property, if it fails to yield an income? And furthermore, the money received for the farm, might be placed in "prime mortgages " and still have real estate for its base and its security. The committee proposed, in case these recommendations should be adopted, that the avails of the Farm should constitute a distinct fund and separate account, -the princi- pal to remain inviolate.
The report was accepted, "as expressing substantially the views of the Board and the ground of its action," and Messrs. Huntington, Adams, and Colman, were appointed to make application to the Supreme Court for license and authority to sell all the real estate belonging to the Cor- poration, excepting as specified in the Report." In accordance with this, the order, in due form and with full power to sell, was obtained from the Supreme Court. A special meeting to act on the matter was called Feb. 11, 1854, and after a protracted discussion, the whole subject was laid on the table until the next annual meeting. At that meeting, after another long talk, the Trustees voted, (eight to two) that it was inexpe- dient to sell the Farm.
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XXVI.
APPENDIX.
HUNTINGTON. STEARNS. PUNCHARD. GOULD.
A year later, the question was again before the Board, and Mr. Huntington was directed to obtain a renewal of the court license which had then expired. While doing this, the members disclaimed all intention of pledging themselves to any particular course. Whether the license was then renewed does not appear from the Record. In July, 1858, this sub- ject came up once more, and again Mr. Huntington was made a commit- tee to obtain the requisite authority-not, however, without the cautious reservation "that the Trustees were not thereby bound to any definite ac- tion." This matter had another airing in the Board, April 30, 1859, and received what seems to have been its quietus, in a vote of the Trus- tees that it would be expedient to sell the Farm, provided it could be sold at a price not less than ten thousand dollars.
In accordance with this vote, the Committee was directed to advertize the Farm. Whether they obeyed instructions I cannot say. Two years afterward, the Trus- tees again voted it to be inexpedient to make any change for the present.
I give these proceedings in regard to a change in the property of the Academy, because I consider the question as having great interest and importance. That the sale of the Farm would not only add materially to the annual income of the School, but would be decidedly beneficial in other respects, has been my firm belief these forty years past. This would stop a constant drain on the Treasury, for ditches and fences, for building and repairs. It would remove an object of care, and a cause of vexation, -foreclosing future disputes about boundary lines, and tres- passing neighbors, such as have repeatedly occurred, and run on for years, -not to mention other and more annoying misunderstandings be- tween the Trustees and the Tenants. Much more might be said in its favor-but as the Board of Trust, by its vote of April 30, 1859, has ex- pressed the conviction that the proposed exchange is legal and safe, and may be expedient, only one point remains to be decided. That the change will come, if not otherwise, yet as a matter of necessity, hardly admits of doubt.
JONATHAN F. STEARNS was elected a Trustee in 1846, being, at that time, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Newburyport. He was in the Board only four years. He is now a clergyman of high stand- ing among the Presbyterians of Newark, N. J.
GEORGE PUNCHARD, 1848. This gentleman, who was one of my first pupils at the Academy, had been compelled by failing health to relinquish the ministry, after a period of useful service in Plymouth, N. H. Then, for a number of years, he was a proprietor and editor of the Boston Traveller, which, under his management, became valuable and popular. During his connection with the Board, he was punctual in attendance, and, I doubt not, judicious in action.
BENJAMIN A. GOULD, 1848. From the time when he became a Trus- tee, to the day of his death in 1859, Mr. Gould was a faithful and effi- cient member of the Board. For the discharge of such duties he was eminently qualified by learning and experience. Nor was this all. He was an alumnus of the Institution, and every endeavor which he made to
XXVII.
APPENDIX.
EVERETT. TENNEY. SPARKS. PROCTOR. CALDWELL. MOSELEY. FITZ. WALKER.
resuscitate and re-establish it, seemed to be stimulated, if not prompted by the memories of his youth, and by a lively sense of early obligations. From the resolutions, full of grateful appreciation, in which, after his death, the Trustees of the Academy expressed and recorded their admiration and regrets, I select one or two sentences : "His great desire was to make this a classical school of the highest order, believing that in such a ser- vice and by such a mission, it would better accomplish the greatest use- fulness, and best answer the designs of its liberal and enlightened founder, as well as meet the demands of its own former history." "How he la- bored for it in the higher sources of influence, in the metropolis, and in the university; how he thought and provided for it in sickness and in health; how he attended our meetings and examinations, at whatever of inconvenience and even of hazard to himself; - we are and have been wit- nesses. In great weakness and infirmity his last meeting with us was only one fortnight before his death." To such testimony, coming from such a source, nothing can be, or needs be added.
EDWARD EVERETT was elected a Trustee in 1848, and accepted the position. I do not find that he attended any meeting of the Board, or school examination. He undoubtedly found such attendance incompatible with other engagements, and accordingly sent in his resignation in 1850. But that name, forever illustrious, is on the roll, and by his own consent.
FRANCIS VERGNIES TENNEY was chosen in 1850, being then the min- ister of Byfield Parish. He was in the Board eight years-a member of the Prudential Committee, and constant at the meetings. Mr. Tenney is now a settled minister in Manchester, Mass.
JARED SPARKS, 1850. President Sparks attended the examination and the Trustee meeting, following his election, and took part in the questions which were discussed. He resigned in 1853.
JOHN PROCTOR, an alumnus of the Academy, and a citizen of Row- ley, was Trustee from 1851 to 1853.
DAVID S. CALDWELL, a substantial Byfield farmer, has been a Trus- tee since 1851.
EDWARD S. MOSELEY was elected in 1852. Mr. Moselcy, a son of Col. Ebenezer Moseley, already mentioned, was, for several years, Secre- tary of the Trust. In all its deliberations and action he has taken a prominent part. His liberal offer towards an increase of the fund, shows that his professions of interest in the Academy are not mere words. (See page 56, note).
DANIEL FITZ came into the Board in 1853, and is still there. This venerable gentleman is a congregational minister in old Ipswich.
JAMES WALKER. President Walker, chosen in 1853, attended a meet- ing of the Trustees in 1855.
ALLEN W. DODGE, chosen the same year, is a member still. Mr. Dodge's accurate knowledge and varied experience in the departments ot law, divinity, politics, agriculture and finance, have qualified him for ex- tensive usefulness, and have made him a valuable Trustee of Dummer Academy.
XXVIII.
APPENDIX.
MOODY. SPALDING. BROOKS. GOULD. FELTON. HILL. BYFIELD.
LUTHER MOODY, elected in 1853, is a Byfield man, and the only parishioner on the Trustee list not belonging to the Newbury side. For thirty years past, Mr. Moody has done more than any other person to keep the Academy in good repair, and now a decaying parish seems to be thrown on his hands. He is strong, and will do all he can, but this. double task is too much, I fear, even for him.
SAMUEL J. SPALDING, as a Trustee, dates from 1857. Dr. Spalding, since 1851, has been pastor of the Whitfield Church in Newburyport. In 1863, he went to Louisiana as chaplain of the 48th Massachusetts Regi- ment and was with them at the siege of Port Hudson, and at Donald- sonville. He is now Secretary of the Board, and has been always a prompt and useful member.
CHARLES BROOKS, seventh and last pastor of Byfield, became a Trus- tee in 1859, and was soon after made Secretary. After the death of Mr. Parsons, Mr. Brooks had charge of the school for a few months. He has recently found a settlement in one of the thriving villages of Con- necticut, with a fair prospect of being able to live.
BENJAMIN A. GOULD was elected in 1860, and brought into the Board of Trust, not only a high scientific reputation, but an interest in the school and a willingness to work for it, which shows a record thus far not unworthy of the name he bears.
CORNELIUS C. FELTON, 1860. After the death of President Felton, his successor in that high office, Dr. THOMAS HILL was made a Trustee, and his name completes the enumeration.
BYFIELD. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
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To meet the religious wants of the population occupying the south- western side of Newbury, and that part of Rowley which adjoined it, a territorial parish was created in 1710 by act of the General Court. The society was then eight or ten years old, having built a meeting-house in 1702, and having settled their first minister in 1706. The name was as- sumed in compliment to Judge Byfield, a man of wealth and note, who afterwards gave it a bell in return for the honor. MOSES HALE, grand- son of pioneering THOMAS, the Glover, died in Byfield, 1743, after a min- istry of thirty seven years. MOSES PARSONS succeeded him in 1744, and in 1783, at the age of sixty seven, closed his ministry with his life. ELIJAH PARISH was settled in 1787, and died, 1825, aged sixty two. Since the death of Dr. Parish, ISAAC R. BARBOUR, HENRY DURANT, FRANCIS V. TENNEY, and CHARLES BROOKS, all of them still living, have been the successive occupants of the Byfield pulpit. The ministry of Hale, Parsons and Parish, covered a period of 114 years, which was divided al- most equally between them.
There is reason to believe that Hale's long ministry was peaceful and . .
prosperous. Mr. Parsons had more trouble-or, it may be, we know more about it. Coffin, in his 'History of Newbury,' gives us a specimen, and there is plenty more in the Church Record, for those who like to know how perverse and how unreasonable good men can sometimes be.
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XXIX.
APPENDIX.
ANTI-SLAVERY. VIOLET. DR. PARISH. BYFIELD.
The zealous anti-slavery labors of Dea. Benjamin Colman - his charges against Mr. Parsons as the owner of a negro woman ( who had, in fact, been liberated, but refused to go )- his direct appeal to the wench, and her answer, which we are left to guess at - his exclusion from the church as a slanderer, and subsequent restoration on confession of his fault -the after-life of that sable 'Violet,' sustained, privileged, and petted by the sons through her long old age-going from Eben's to Theoph's, and from Theoph's to Billy's - living where she pleased, saying what she pleased, doing as she pleased -regarding herself as one of the family -taking com- fort under her 'rheumatiz,' in the thoughit that it ran in the Parsons blood -and buried, at last, with every token of respect, as though "she had been a daughter of the house; "-all this and much more may be found in that pleasant memoir of Theophilus Parsons, for which we are indebted to his distinguished son.
The settlement of Mr. Parish was not entirely harmonious. A num- ber of dissidents, some of whom were men of property, left the congrega- tion, erected a meeting-house, and attempted to go on as a separate so- ciety. But the effort failed, and all, or nearly all, finally returned. Un- der the earnest and faithful labors of the new pastor the church added largely to its numbers, and in a few years the reputation of Mr. Parish, as an able preacher, and as an author, extended far beyond the bounds of his parochial charge. On the questions then dividing the country into two great and angry parties, his people, for the most part, sided with him - proud of the minister whose talents and boldness had drawn upon himself so much admiration and so much hate. As his political sermons were usually giv- en on the annual days of Fast and Thanksgiving, the old Byfield meeting house, on those occasions, was often filled with eager hearers from all the adjoining towns.
Of the four later pastorates I might find something to say. But as these have hardly entered the historical period -the pastors still extant, and many of their flock - I must leave that record for some later gleaner. Within the last twenty five years, Byfield, as a congregational parish, has declined considerably from its old prosperity. A respectable congregation of the Methodist Episcopal order, has grown up on the western side and takes most of the people in that quarter. Much of the property which formerly contributed its share to the support of regular, religious ordi- nances, has been withdrawn from the Society, and the places of men who once added largely to its strength and respectability, have been but partial- ly supplied. The feeble condition and uncertain prospects of the Parish, are the more to be regretted, that they exert, of necessity, an unfavorable influence upon Dummer Academy.
THE PARISH AND THE ACADEMY.
The relations between Dummer Academy and Byfield Parish, have been, from the first, anomalous, ill-defined, and, at times, very unsat- isfactory to both parties. The Will of Mr. Dummer gave the appoint- ment of a master for the foundation school to Byfield Parish, and its choice was to be expressed through the minister for the time, and a com-
XXX.
APPENDIX.
THE PARISH AND THE ACADEMY.
mittee of five free-holders, duly elected. The same instrument fixed the position of the school, within the Parish, indeed, but quite on one side. So far as Byfield was concerned, this is all that the document contains. The Parish had no oversight of the Farm or other property. That was committed to the three Feoffees. It had no control over the Master, beyond the simple act of appointing him, -for he could be removed only by the Overseers of Harvard College, on certain specified grounds.
The record of a Parish meeting held Dec. 10, 1762, contains the first reference to Dummer School. At that meeting, Col. Joseph Gerrish, Da- vid Pearson and Daniel Chute, were appointed to treat with the heirs of Mr. Dummer, in regard to placing the school near the centre of the Par- ish. The result of that conference, ( if conference there were ) can only be inferred. At the regular meeting, March 1st, 1763, Oliver Pearson and Joseph Searle, with the three before named, were chosen the "Com- mittee for Dummer Charity School." Although the School had begun and was prospering, Byfield was far from feeling satisfied. At a special Parish meeting held May 23, 1764, Col. Gerrish, then representing New- bury in the General Court, was instructed to present the following ques- tions to that body, with a request that it would answer and settle the same :
"1. Who are the Persons that are to Rent sd farm, to repair the Buildings, to Receive the Rents, and pay the same to the Master of the school ? "
"2. What number of those persons mentioned in the sd Gov. Dum- mer's will ( to direct and appoint in the affair of the Master And said school ) are to be agreed, so as to make a Valid act ?"
"3. Who is to Judg or Say when Scholars are qualified for sd School, According to the Will of the Doner, and what other Larning besids Grammar, that first Being Duly Regarded, is to be taught In sd School ?"
"4thly. Who are the Persons that are to have the Care and Inspec- tion of sd Master and School ?"
This literal transcript from the Records, indicates, at least, that the school was not founded too soon. There is nothing to show what Col. Gerrish did in the premises, or whether the General Court condescended to enlighten the people of Byfield in regard to those dubious points. From this time until 1782, the five free-holders were elected duly as the years came round, and a very easy time they must have had. Mean- while the Byfield youths, under Moody's vigorous and wholesome sway, were demonstrating the priceless value of the institution. The Parsons boys, Theoph. and Theodore - the Pearsons, Eliphalet and Abiel - Sam. Webber, Sam. Tenney, John Smith, and others, trudged their two and three miles to school, and were none the worse for it as scholars, or as men.
But in 1782, Byfield has heard of Dr. Chauncey's memorial to the Legislature and the proposed incorporation. At a meeting in April of that year, a proposition to ask the Legislature to move Dummer School to the centre of Byfield Parish, was made and was negatived. But the
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XXXI.
APPENDIX.
THE PARISH AND THE ACADEMY.
Parish did appoint a Committee to instruct the regular Committee of the School, in reference to the Chauncey memorial. The members of this committee were Col. Jacob Gerrish, Dr. Parker Cleaveland, Messrs. Israel Adams Jr., Joseph Pike, and Paul Moody. The sort of instruction which they were expected to give, and which they probably did give, may easily be imagined. The Record sheds no farther light on this point. Their opposition, whatever it might be, did not prevent the incorporation. And yet the warning for the regular meeting of 1783, five months after the passage of an act, transferring to a Board of Trustees all the functions of the five free-holders, had an article to this effect -"to choose a Com- mittee for Dummer School as formerly." The Parish chose its Commit- tee, and it proved to be the last of the series. Byfield finally submitted to the change, but the submission could hardly be called sincere and hear- ty. Its inhabitants could not get over the feeling that some portion of their rights had been unjustly taken from them.
From considerations of justice, or of expediency, or of both, Master Moody allowed all Byfield boys to attend the school free of charge. This precedent of twenty years standing, the Trustees of the Academy not only refrained from disturbing, but, from time to time, confirmed by their votes. When the Academy was re-modified by the experiment of 1837, the Trus- tees, as one way of meeting their increased expenses, voted to assess the Byfield scholars in one half of the tuition. This act caused an unusual excitement in that usually quiet population. It revived the old question of Byfield rights and Byfield wrongs. Meetings were held - committees appointed-and, if I mistake not, men learned in the law were consulted and paid. Some parents refused to send their sons-other parents sent and refused to pay. They even hired a respectable gentleman and a good teacher to open a sort of opposition school in the old opposition meeting- house. A state of affairs so unpleasant, could not but affect injuriously the interests of the Academy.
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