USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Haverhill > The history of Haverhill, Massachusetts, from its first settlement, in 1640, to the year 1860 > Part 22
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206
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
On the 3d of June, a grammar-school was ordered to be established im- mediately, and Mr. Richard Saltonstall was appointed to procure a suitable instructor. In July thirty pounds were raised to be appropriated for that purpose ; and the selectmen were ordered to " write a letter to the scholar that Richard Saltonstall had treated with, or to some other meet person, to invite him to come and be the school-master for this town of Haverhill."
The school was not, however, established ; as we find that the next year, September 12th, a meeting was called to see about a school-master, when " The question being moved by some of the inhabitants whether this Town is obliged by the Law to be provided with a Grammar school-master ---- Yea or no : the Town answers in the negative and therefore do not procecd to do it, because they do not find they have the number of one hundred families or householders which the law mentions."
At the annual election, in 1701, John White was chosen Town Clerk, in place of Nathaniel Saltonstall, who had filled the office regularly, and acceptably, since 1668, a period of more than thirty years. The latter was now an old man, grown gray in the active and honorable servive of his country, and his town, and he sought, in the retirement of his own fire-side, that repose which should the better fit him for his approaching sunset of life.º
A special committee was chosen, at this time, " to seat all such strangers as are come to town since the last seating, or such as may come the present year to dwell here as settled inhabitants." It was further ordered that, "if any of the inhabitants did sit in any seat where he or she was not seated, should pay a fine of one shilling in money."
It appears that Joseph Peasely had recently suffered considerably by fire, for the town " voted to give him his rates " on that account.
Early in the spring, the Indians again made their appearance, in small parties, traversing the woods in every direction. They soon became bold, and attacked the garrison of Jonathan Emerson ; but were repulsed with the loss of two killed, while the whites sustained no injury. One of the soldiers, after the war was over, meeting one of the Indians, spoke of the attack, when the following dialogue ensued : -
"' You had two of your number slain,' said the garrison man. 'How do you know that ?' asked the Indian. 'We saw your biers,' was the reply. ' Ugh, Ugh,' grunted the tawny fellow of the woods. 'And you put them in the great hole,' continued the garrison man. 'Ugh, Ugh ! no, we did not,' muttered the Indian, feeling that he was questioned too closely. 'What did you do with them ?' asked the garrison man, laugh-
@ He died in 1707.
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HISTORY OF HIAVERIIILL.
ing in his sleeve, as the saying is, confident that he had the best end of the dispute. 'We carried them to the deep hole above,' he replied, sharply ; and immediately wheeled about and marched for the woods.""
The " deep holes," referred to by the Indian, were situated in the low- lands, a short distance from the junction of Fishing and Little Rivers, and not far from the present brick-yards. One of them not many years since, was near fifteen feet in depth, and was called the great hole ; and the other was called the deep hole. Soon after the attack on the garrison, two Indian biers were found near them, which led to the supposition that two of the enemy were slain.
The breaking out of a new war in Europe, was the occasion of this re- newal of Indian hostilities. The inhabitants of the town again found themselves exposed to all the dangers and horrors of a savage border war- fare, and were obliged to resort to former measures of defence and security.t In addition to the old garrisons, one was ordered to be kept in the north- easterly part of the town, in the house of James Sanders, who lived near the foot of the hill still known by his name, -" Sander's Hill." His house stood on or near the site of the present house of Richard Stuart.t
It was customary for the nearest neighbors to sleep in the garrisons at night, but one Thomas Whittier, § a member of the Society of Friends, who lived near the garrison above mentioned, always refused to shelter himself and family beneath its roof. Relying upon the weapons of his faith, he left his own house unguarded, and unprotected with palisades, and carried with him no weapons of war. The Indians frequently visited him, and the family often heard them, in the stillness of the evening, whispering beneath the windows, and sometimes saw them peep in upon the little group of prac- tical "non-resistants." Friend. Whittier always treated them eivilly and hospitably, and they ever retired without molesting him. To injure such a household, was too diabolical, even for a blood-thirsting savage.
January 5, 1702, a meeting was called to see about laying a tax " for the defraying the Town charges in 1701." The following, which is given as the total indebtedness of the Town, is well worth a place in our pages :- " To Mr Benj Rolfe. £01.10.00 To Capt Ayre. 09.15.00
· Tradition .- Mirick.
t The House of Representatives (1702) ordered snow-shoes to be provided for the frontier towns, on account of their exposure to Indian depredations in the winter.
# John Sanders, the first of that name in this town, was from Weeks, in the Parish of Dainton, County of Wilts, England. He made his will in 1670. The above-named James, was, we believe, a son of the first John.
§ The ancester of our distinguished Poet.
.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
To John White. .06.14.00
To the Schoolmaster. 06.00.00
To the Selectmen's salary. .02.10.00
To the Assessors of the Country Tax. .01.04.00
To making return of the choice of Representative. 00.06.00
To time and money spent to obtain a Schoolmaster .00.06.00
To returning an account of the Country Tax .00.08.00
To Jotham Hendrick .01.03.06
. To Constable Bartlitt .. 00.03.00
To Hanniel Clark. .00.12.00
To Constable Simmons. .00.03.00
To Capt Simon Wainwright. .00.02.00
To the Committee for Micall Emerson's land. 01.10.00
The above sums the Town voted to pay, after deducting the following credits : -
" Dne to the Town from Ens. Saml Hutchins. £00.09.09
from Joseph Bond. 00.08.06
from Serjt Josiah Gage. 00.07.03
from Const. Saml Ayer, .. .00.08.06
Leaving the Town's indebtedness £31.12.06, for which a rate, or tax, was voted to be made. This year, John Hutchins was chosen "Sealer of Leather."" Such an officer was first chosen in 1675, and from that time to 1702, Michael Emerson had been annually re-elected .;
The minister, Mr. Rolfe, applying to the town for a supply of wood, ten pounds was added to his salary for that purpose, and he was also allowed " four publie contributions."¿
The Selectmen being ordered to get a Schoolmaster, for this year, " with all the speed they possibly can," engaged a Mr. Tufts, and agreed to pay him thirty-four pounds for his services. The cause of this great hurry to get a schoolmaster, was the fact, which afterward appears, that the town had been again "presented" for being destitute of a school. Their post- haste compliance with the law did not, however, save them from a fine for previous neglect.§
At the annual meeting in 1703, Captain Richard Saltonstall petitioned for liberty to run a fence " from the pound cross over the spot where the
" John Hutchins was a son of Joseph, of this town, who was probably a son of John, of Newbury, as were also John and Samuel, of this town.
t A Clerk of the Market was first chosen in 1698. Ensign Thomas Eatton was the first, and continued in the office until 1706.
# Four public contributions were first granted him the year previous, and were annually voted him until his death, in 1708.
§ Court Records.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
old meeting-house formerly stood, to his fence," and to " feed the burying- place." or else he wanted the town themselves to fence in the burying- place by itself. They voted to do the latter. From this it appears that the old meeting-house had already disappeared, though it was only about three years since it was abandoned for worship. Let us, then, fondly believe that it was not, after all, occupied as a horse shed !
Mr. Tufts' engagement as schoolmaster having expired, a meeting was held July 21, to see what should be done for the future. After much dis- cussion, the meeting adjourned to August 18th, when they met, and again adjourned to September 15th, without coming to any decision. At the meeting in September, " after much discourse about getting a school- master, the town, on consideration of their troubles with the Indians, resolved that nothing should be done about it, and the meeting was dissolved.
That the town had good excuse for declining to assume the expense of a school in their then exposed and straightened condition, is made evident by a subsequent order of the General Court (November 1705) exempting all towns of less than two hundred families from keeping a Grammar School for three years,-on account of their being impoverished by the Indian war.
The Indians had been quite peaceable for a year or two, and the inhabi- tants pleased themselves with the hope that they would not again trouble them. They therefore relaxed their watchfulness, and neglected to guard their dwellings as strictly as in former years. But the French in Canada were again stirring up the savages to deeds of blood and cruelty, and plotting the ruin of the frontier settlements of New England.
The first important attack in this war, " was made on the 10th of August, when five hundred French and Indians ravaged the settlements from Casco to Wells, and killed and captured one hundred and thirty persons. The news of this incursion had hardly reached this town, when intelligence was received of an attack on Hampton, by a' party of thirty Indians, in which five of the inhabitants were killed. It was this alarming intelli- gence, that led to the adjournment of the second meeting above alluded to, and the final decision of September 15th.
The attack on Hampton proved to be the last one of that season, and the inhabitants were left to pass a few months in gloomy anxiety, and fearful apprehensions.
During the winter, as the Indians had heretofore seldom made their appearance before the opening of spring, less care was taken to guard * Which is known as the French and Indian War. 27
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
against surprise. This carelessness proved fatal, ere winter was over, as may be seen from the following account, which we copy from Mirick: -
"On the 8th of February, about 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, " a party of six Indians attacked the garrison of Joseph Bradley, which was unhappily in an unguarded state-even the sentries had left their stations, and the gates were open. The Indians approached eautiously, and were rushing into the open gates, before they were discovered. Jonathan John- son, a sentinel, who was standing in the house, shot at and wounded the foremost, and Mrs. Bradley, who had a kettle of boiling soap over the fire, seized her ladle, and filling it with the steaming liquid, discharged it on .his tawny pate -a soap-orific that almost instantly brought on a sleep, from which he has never since awoke .; The rest of the party immediately rushed forward, killed Johnson,¿ made prisoner of the intrepid woman, and of some others. Pike in his Journal says four.§ Three persons es- caped from the garrison. . The Indians, then fearing lest they should soon be attacked by a stronger party, commenced a hasty retreat, aiming for Canada, which was their place of resort when they had been so successful as to take a number of prisoners.
Mrs. Bradley was in delicate circumstances, and in slender health ; still she received no kindness from her savage conquerors. No situation of woman would ever protect her from their demon-like cruelties. The weather was cold; the wind blew keenly over the hills, and the ground was covered with a deep snow, -yet they obliged her to travel on foot, and carry a heavy burthen, too large even for the strength of man. In this manner they proceeded through the wild wilderness ; and Mrs. Brad- ley informed her family, after she returned, that for many days in succes- sion, she subsisted on nothing but bits of skin, ground-nuts, the bark of trecs, wild onions, and lily roots.
· Pike's Journal. + Penhallow. # Town Records.
§ We copy the following from Mr. Pike's Journal - it is all that he says of the affair. "Feb. 8. About 3 or 4 o'clock, afternoon, Joseph Bradley's house, at Haverhill, was taken by six Indians ; 13 per- sons killed and 5 carried away, whereof one returned. 3 more persons escaped out of the house, and 1 In- dian was slain in it by Jonathan Johnson." Mr. Pike is the only one that we can find, who says that thirteen persons were killed in this attack. Penhallow, in his history of the "Indian Wars," speaks of no other slain, than Jonathan Johnson and the Indian; and if there were thirteen killed, it appears rather singular that he did not mention it. Mr. Pike says there were only six Indians, and thirteen slain - the disparity of the two parties seem to invalidate his statement, for, unless they were all children, which is not probable, they must have been positive cowards, or been taken extremely unawares. Or, if they were women, it hardly seems probable to us, for women at that period, seem to possess, at times, as much courage and fortitude as the men. Another reason we have for doubting the statement of Mr. Pike, is the silence of the Town-Records on the subject. The death of Mr. Johnson is there faithfully re- corded, thus : - "Jonathan Johnson [birth] killed by the Indians, Feb. 8, 1703-4." Why did they neglect to record the deaths of the others? It appears to us that, if other persons were slain, their deaths would have been recorded as well as that of Mr. Johnson .- Mirick.
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HISTORY OF IIAVERHILL.
While in this situation, with none but savages for her assistants and protectors, and in the midst of a thick forest, she gave birth to a child. The Indians then, as if they were not satisfied with persecuting the mother, extended their crueltics to the innocent and almost friendless babe. For the want of proper attention, it was sickly, and probably troublesome ; and when it cried, these remorseless fiends showed their pity, by throwing embers into its mouth." They told the mother that if she would permit them to baptize it in their manner, they would suffer it to live. Unwil- ling to deny their request, lest it should enrage their fierce and diabolical passions, and hoping that the little innocent would receive kindness at their hands, she complied with their request. They took it from her, and baptized it by gashing its forehead with their knives .; The feelings of the mother, when the child was returned to her with its smooth and white forehead gashed with the knife, and its warm blood coursing down its cheeks, can be better imagined than described.
Soon as Mrs. Bradley had regained sufficient strength to travel, the In- dians again took up their march for Canada. But before they arrived at their place of rendezvous, she had occasion to go a little distance from the party, and when she returned, she beheld a sight shocking to a mother, and to every feeling of humanity. Her child, which was born in sorrow, and nursed in the lap of affliction, and on which she doted with maternal fondness, was piked upon a pole .¿ Its excrutiating agonies were over - it could no more feel the tortures of the merciless savages - and its mother
could only weep over its memory. Soon after, they proceeded to Canada, where Mrs. Bradley was sold to the French for eighty livres. She informed her friends, after her return, that she was treated kindly by the family in which she lived. It was her custom, morning and evening, when she milked her master's cow, to take with her a crust of bread, soak it with milk, and eat it; with this, and with the rations allowed her by her mas- ter, she eked out a comfortable subsistance.§
In March, 1705, her husband, hearing that she was in the possession of the French, started for Canada with the intention of redeeming her. He travelled on foot, accompanied only by a dog that drew a small sled, in which he carried a bag of snuff, as a present from the Governor of this Province to the Governor of Canada. | When he arrived, he immediately redeemed her, T and set sail from Montreal for Boston, which they reached in safety ; and from thence travelled to Haverhill.
o Penhallow. + Tradition. # Rev. Abiel Abbot's MSS. § Tradition.
|| The only authority we have of the dog and sled, and bag of snuff, is tradition, which we heard related very minutely by his descendants .- Mirick.
TT Penhallow, p. 10.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
Penhallow" mentions this as her second captivity, and Hutchinson says the same ; but Penhallow is, without doubt, his authority. Diligent search has been made to learn the history of her first ; but, thus far it has been unsuccessful. Very accurate traditions of the captivities of the other members of the family, have been transmitted to their descendants, but they have never heard their fathers tell that this person was taken at any other time ; at least, they can give no account of such a fact. We ex- tract the following, from Rev. Abiel Abbot's MS., taken by him from Judith Whiting : - " Destitute of nurses and necessaries, the child was sickly, and apt to cry, and they would put hot embers in its mouth. Be- ing obliged to leave it a short time, on her return, she found it piked on a pole. º 0 Having been brought home by her husband, she was taken a second time, but not before she had finished and wounded an In- dian, by pouring boiling soap into his mouth." From this, it appears that she was twice captivated; but of the truth of the statement, in this par- ticular, we will not undertake to judge. It certainly does not agree with Penhallow's, and if we rely on one, we must throw up the other, at least, in part."
Mrs. Bradley's deposition, which we give in another place, is conclusive evidence that the above was her second captivity. As we have it from one of her descendants, Mrs. Bradley was engaged in boiling soap, when she was startled by the appearance of Indians at her very door, one of whom exclaimed, exultingly, -" Now, Hannah, me got you." Instead, however, of quietly allowing herself to be captured a second time, Hannah saluted the savage with such vigorous applications of " soft soap," that he quickly gave up the ghost. After a desperate resistance, she was at last made a prisoner. Revenge for the death of their comrade, was doubtless the principal cause of the subsequent tortures of the child by the savages. Their extreme barbarity, in this particular instance, can only be accounted for upon some such supposition. Their ingenuity was always exerted to the utmost in devising tortures for a brave warrior, when taken prisoner, and the case of Mrs. Bradley is but a similar instance of their revenge and cruelty.
On the 29th of the same month in which the attack was made on the garrison of Mr. Bradley, Hertel de Rouville, with two hundred French, and one hundred and forty-two Indians, fell upon the town of Deerfield, Mass., killed forty-seven, and made prisoners of one hundred and twelve of its
" Hist. of Indian Wars, p. 10.
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HISTORY OF HAVERIIILL.
inhabitants. April 25th, two persons were killed, and two captured, at Oyster River; and again in August several more were killed at the same placc.
It was indeed a time of trial to the inhabitants of the frontier." On the 3d of August, Colonel Saltonstall thus writes to Colonel Thomas Noyes, of Newbury :- t
" Sir, by his excellency's express direction I command you in her majesty's name forthwith to appoint and set forth one-half of your com- pany by name and have them ready, well fixt with arms & ammunition and ten day's provision to march at an hours warning. The command is striet."
On the 4th of August, Joseph Page, and Bartholomew Heath, of this town, were killed by the Indians, and a lad who was with them, narrowly escaped the same fate .¿ The particulars of this attack are now lost.
On the 28th of September, Colonel Saltonstall again writes to Colonel Noyes : -
" I desire and order that by tomorrow morning at farthest you press and post at your block houses in Newbury twelve able souldiers, three at each of your four (block) houses, to abide there night and day, to watch."
Happily, no further attacks were made that year; but such was the distress and poverty occasioned by the Indian hostilities, that the town ordered its selectmen to petition the Assembly for an abatement of this year's taxes.
During the next year, no attacks were made by the Indians, but the in- habitants had every reason to expect them, and were obliged to keep a constant watch and guard, day and night. In June, Governor Dudley ordered Colonel Saltonstall " to detach twenty able soldiers of the New- bury militia and have them rendezvous at Haverhill on July fifth."
On the appearance of these " able soldiers " in this town, Colonel Sal- tonstall thus writes to Colonel Noyes, of Newbury :- §
" Haverhill, July 17, 1705.
I received your return of ye twenty men ye Governor commanded me to call for, and when ye persons (which I cant't call men) appeared, even a considerable number of them, to be but boys, or children, and not fit for service, blind in part, and deaf, and cross-handed, I stopt till I waited on
April 4th, a general Fast was held throughout the New England colonies, on account of the war with France and Spain.
t Coffin.
# Pike's Journal. Joseph Page was a son of Joseph; and Bartholomew Heath was a son of John.
§ Coffin.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL.
ye governor, ye twelfth instant and upon liberty to speak with him, I with ye major have taken ye best care we can to keep the men and children sent hither for ye present, till I may have opportunity to tell you the queen likes it not to be served in this manner.
But in one special, Nicholas º º º º ** by name, is blind, and deaf, and small, and not fit to be continued, and therefore to be short, I send Nicho- las 994 900 # home to you, and do expect that you will send some able man in his place, if you have an able one in Newbury.
The other diminutives are sent out to garrison at present, or else you had mett with them to return to you for ye like exchange.
My heart, if it speaks, is full. . I wait a suitable time, to tell you what I have to say on her majesty's behalf. To take boyes for originally prest men, and they hired too, I know not ye regularity of it. I shall be glad to see you, and intend to do it at Haverhill or Newbury or a middle place, as you will desire, if I am able to attend, to see what is right and what is our duty for us to do.
Your very humble servant,
Nathaniel Saltonstall.
To lieutenant-colonel Thomas Noyes."
No one, we think, can blame the Colonel for writing thus severely. To send hired boys, in place of able soldiers, to defend a frontier town against merciless savages, was indeed cruel. No wonder his heart was full, when he contemplated the feeble resistance such " soldiers" would make, in case of an attack. The bloody record of 1708 fully reveals the sad result of depending upon " hired boys " for defence !
A fortnight later, Colonel Saltonstall again writes to Colonel Noyes : - " August 4th 1705.
One Smith came this day with two of his sons in order to get a release for John Danford. I wonder how you concern yourself so much about this man, to get Danford home, and disregard your default and have not yet sent a good man for that pitiful insufficient sick man Nicholas 9009000 whom I sent off ye sixteenth of July last to you to send a better hand, & he to returne in two days time to me but he is not yet come, nor other for him. Pray consider what lyes at your doore and do not deale so unhand- somely with your patient friend and humble servant, N. Saltonstall. To lieutenant-colonel Thomas Noyes."
Thank Heaven, no attack was made by the enemy that season. Had it been otherwise, Colonel Noyes would have had bitter cause to "consider " the grevious wrong that lay at his door."
" A company of " Centinels," under Captain Saltonstall, was also posted at Bradford block-houses, from April 6th, to September 7th, of the same year, and probably still later.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL,
But little business was done by the town in this and the two succeeding years. The inhabitants were so closely occupied in guarding the lives of their families, that little time or inclination was left for anything else.
In 1705, John Swan, and Jonathan Emerson, were granted the privilege of setting up a grist-mill, on Little River. The location was, we judge, near where Mr. Rich recently erected a mill, -about midway between the mouth of the river, and the Winter Street Bridge, -and near where Ezekiel Hale formerly had a grist-mill.
At the next annual meeting, John White was allowed to build a " full- ing-mill on Mill Brook, near his now dwelling house." The location was probably near where the plaster-mill now stands. . This was the first mill of that kind in town.
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