USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 10
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children of not more than nine years of age were sent to 'the banks' to assist in the support of a large family. During the first four years of a boy's life at sea he was termed a 'cut tail' from the fact that he received pay only for the fish actually caught by himself, and was obliged to cut a small piece from the tail of every fish he caught to distinguish them from the others when the fare was weighed and sold. A full crew con- sisted of eight persons, four of whom were 'sharesmen,' the others being boys in various stages of apprenticeship. When, after an experience of four years, a boy was considered com- petent to catch a full share of fish, he was promoted to the important post of 'header,' and was admitted to the rights and privileges of a 'sharesman.' As he became qualified he could then assume the duties of 'splitter' or 'salter' if he chose; but it was necessary for him to pass through all the various grades of labor in order to obtain a thorough knowl- edge of the business before he could be permitted to take command of a vessel, and become a 'skipper.'"
Shipbuilding was another very important occupation of the set- tlers in this county, but more about these trades will not be taken up in this account because they are treated in other chapters of this history. The early industries are also treated elsewhere in this work. Quoting from Phillips again :
"There were no working hours in early New England, and everybody in almost every family worked from dawn till bedtime at some useful employment. In some of the larger homes special rooms were set aside for spinning and weaving. It was this training in industry which made the New Eng- landers so efficient in everything they undertook and made them respect the value of things by knowing the labor it took to make them. This in turn produced the habits of thrift which preserved the wealth of the country at home and pro- vided the capital to press forward their commerce and foreign trade. Anybody with ordinary sense can make money, but it is the special gift of New England people among Americans that they know how to save and keep it."
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The superstitions of the people throw an interesting light on their thoughts and life. I shall quote the words of Mr. Tappan, in his article on Manchester in the 1888 "History of Essex County" :
"John Pierce [in 1717] was murdered on board a vessel in the harbor, and it was long believed by the credulous that the moans of the murdered man could be heard on the approach of a storm. But it has since been ascertained that these mournful sounds proceeded from a sea-bird known as the loon.
"The people of that time were extremely superstitious. On a hill near the beginning of the Essex woods two men used to make shingles; in a drunken quarrel one was killed, and that part of the town was long avoided after dark; for on stormy nights the deceased shingle maker could be heard fil- ing his saw and uttering the most distressing groans. For many years this story was fully believed. At length, some young men who could not understand what possible use dis- embodied spirits could have for files and saws, resolved to investigate. On a windy day they ascended the hill and found a long branch of a pine tree was resting heavily on a limb below, and when swayed by the wind their heavy, pitchy sur- faces rubbed and chafed with the sounds described."
Although the following did not occur till 1780, it is an interesting bit of data that ought to be included. During this period it was not strange that the occurrence of a "Dark Day" should be viewed as the end of the world. The following is the testimony of a girl who was a witness of this "terrible day" of the darkness that extended over all the State, but was particularly noticeable in this part of the State :
"The sun rose clear but it soon began to be lowry with some showers. Towards 9 o'clock it seemed to be breaking away, but everything had a yellow appearance. Soon after 9 a dark, heavy cloud was seen rising from the northwest, which gradu- ally spread itself till it covered the whole heavens, except a narrow space near the horizon. About 10 this was also cov- ered, and the darkness increased so that we had to light a candle. All the folks out of doors, left their work and came in. Fear and anxiety were manifested on every countenance.
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It was quite dark when we set our dinner table. Early in the afternoon the darkness began to abate, and before sundown it was light, but clouded with a yellow, brassy appearance. After sundown it grew dark very fast, and the evening was more remarkable than the day. It seemed like darkness that might be felt. Some of our family who tried to go to a neigh- bor's, had to come back. We sat up late knowing that the moon would rise at nine, and expected it would make some difference as to the darkness, but it did not until after II o'clock when some glimmer of light began to appear."
Quoting Mr. Roads on this same subject :
"It would be almost impossible to relate half the super- stitious traditions firmly believed by the inhabitants of Mar- blehead then (1690) and for more than a century after. Stories of phantom ships seen at sea before the loss of a ves- sel; of the appearance on the water of loved ones who had died at home; footsteps and voices heard mysteriously in the still hours of the night, coming as warnings from another world; signs and omens which foretold the approaching death of some member of a family, or prophecies whispered by the wind that those away on the mighty deep would find a watery grave.
"These, and other stories of pirates met on the seas and smugglers who secreted their treasures along the shore, formed the burden of conversation during the long winter evenings. Of the many traditions of this kind, told with simple faith and sincere belief by our ancestors, few have come down to their descendants, and of these, the story of the screeching woman is perhaps the most vividly remembered. It was said that during the latter part of the seventeenth century a Span- ish ship laden with rich merchandise was captured by pirates and brought into the harbor of Marblehead. The crew and every person on board the ill-fated ship had been murdered at the time of the capture, except a beautiful English lady, whom the ruffians brought on shore near what is now called Oakum Bay, and there barbarously murdered her. The few fisher- men who inhabited the place were absent, and the women and
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children who remained could do nothing to prevent the crime. The screams of the victim were loud and dreadful, and her cries of 'Lord, save me ! Oh, Lord Jesus, save me !' were dis- tinctly heard. The body was buried where the crime was per- petrated, and for over one hundred and fifty years, on the anniversary of that dreadful tragedy, the screams of the poor woman were repeated in a voice so shrill and supernatural as to send an indescribable thrill of horror through all who hear them.
"There were other beliefs as firmly held, which, though equally as superstitious, were much more agreeable and roman- tic. The young women, on the nights when a new moon was to appear, would congregate at one of the houses in the neigh- borhood, and, putting a huge pot of tallow over the fire, would drop 'hot nails' into the boiling fat, firmly believing that the young man who should appear while the nails were dropping would be the future husband of the fair damsel who dropped them. At other times the young women would go to an upper window, and, reaching half-way out, throw a ball of yarn into the street, believing that the lucky youth who picked it up would surely come forward with an offer of marriage."
Mr. Roads gives further testimony of the customs and habits of life of the inhabitants of Marblehead :
"In April, 1709, the commoners leased all that great head of land on the northwest side of Charles Island in Little Har- bor to Edward Dimond, 'shoreman,' for thirteen shillings yearly. This person was probably the famous 'old Dimond' of whom such fabulous stories were told and believed. It was said that he was a wizard and possessed the 'black art,' which enabled him to foretell coming events, to avert disaster from his friends, and bring distress upon his enemies. When the night was dark and stormy, and the wind gave evidence of blowing a gale, 'old Dimond' would wend his way to the 'burying hill' and there, among the graves and tombstones, 'beat about' and give orders for the management of his ves- sels at sea. In a voice loud and clear, distinctly heard above the roar of the tempest, these orders would be given, and no
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one dared question their power to save from shipwreck. The advice of 'old Dimond' was sought by people far and near who believed in his great powers; but woe betide the evil doer who came into his presence. Once, when a guilty fellow, who had stolen wood from a poor widow, came to him for advice, the wizard 'charmed' him, and caused him to walk all night with a heavy log of wood on his back. At another time, when a sum of money had been stolen from an aged couple, 'old Dimond' told where it could be found, and gave the name of the thief. Let not the reader think that these stories illus- trating the superstition of our ancestors are exaggerated in the least. They were told by aged people living in Marble- head but a few years ago, now at rest, who remembered with what faith and earnestness they were told by their mothers and grandmothers."
Perhaps it is not fitting to go from superstitions to a discussion of marriage, but such will be our procedure. Quoting Weeden :
"The whole business of matrimony was conducted by an economic and practical method of procedure, the form of which were well prescribed and understood. When people married in those days, they went to the business in regular and methodical fashion. Sentiment might and generally did stimu- late the proceedings, but it must enter formally and move according to the will of parent or guardian. The pattern of love making was as rigid as that of their ruffs and collars. There was a highly economic method in the whole matter of courtship and marriage."
Marriage was not a religious ceremony, but was regulated by the General Court, which authorized particular persons to perform the ceremony. It was not until 1692 that the Massachusetts Bay Colo- nists were compelled by the charter of that year to accept the ecclesi- astical marriage service as of equal importance with the civil. It was required that the marriage bans must be published three times before the ceremony. This was a serious matter, as a young farmer found out who was required to stand one hour at the court door with a paper stuck in his hat bearing the words in capital letters: "For
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setting up a faulse purpose of marriage att Topsfield." At Rowley a clerk of writs had his license taken away from him because he had too hastily married the son of a wealthy family to a maid below his social rank without the consent of the groom's parents.
The above remarks of Mr. Weeden are continued by Harriet S. Tapley in her chapter in the "Commonwealth History of Massa- chusetts":
"Marriage contracts were often required when either person concerned was possessed of property, and in the ordi- nary family parents were eager to make suitable selections for their children. Nor was this mercenary bargaining in matri- monial ventures confined to the upright and pious Puritan magistrate and merchant of Salem and Boston. A spirit of calculation pervaded fashionable courtship, which did not dis- dain discussing openly the bride's portion and deciding upon the marriage settlement. A case in Salem, in 1672, well illus- trates the method of procedure as recorded in that court. Philip Cromwell informed Madam Corwin, wife of the lead- ing magistrate, that he wished his son John to marry Han- nah, the daughter of Jacob Barney. Upon Barney being told of this affair, he went to the father of the young man, who invited him into the house and they then and there declared their willingness that the marriage should be consummated. When they began to discuss their 'comfortable living,' Mr. Cromwell, 'having a cold in the head could not hear what was said, so Mrs. Cromwell conducted the conversation, and they all agreed very lovingly,' she suggesting 'if they did marry, they should liue with them, if they would and take their diett with them. If they did not like to liue with ym they should liue in one end of the house and ymselves at the other end of it, yf they did not like to liue so, they should goe into the other house . , and there I shall furnish them two rooms, withall necessaries ; as for theire ordinarye occasions they shall not need to borrow anything.'
"Marriages in the new world were early and frequent. As soon as girls reached a marriageable age, they were sought by farmers' and artisans' sons, who were often given a portion of the parental estate upon which to build a house. Intermar-
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riage among families of clergymen and other professions, as well as among artisans, was a feature of this century. Single women or spinsters were not numerous, because if by chance a girl had passed her twenties without opportunity of marriage, she was quite likely to be appropriated sooner or later by some stricken husband, who, bereft of wife, was fortunate to get her to care for his motherless children. Spinsters were at first
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IPSWICH-WHIPPLE HOUSE
Courtesy of The Essex Institute
granted lots of land; but fearing that it would be a bad prece- dent to allow unmarried women to keep house alone, Governor Endicott put an end to this practice, by declaring that 'grant- ing lotts unto single maidens not disposed of in marriage' was a great evil. One woman in Salem thus refused, 'being a maid,' was consoled by a gift of four bushels of corn from the
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chief men of the town. On the other hand, bachelors were allowed home lots as an encouragement for marriage.
"Sometimes a little persuasion was necessary to bring the suitor to the point of marriage, and one father frankly told his prospective son-in-law that if the latter had more love for his own estate than for the girl, he should not enter their house again. In two days they were married. The law as applied to servants and apprentices was very strict, and no one in these positions could contract a marriage without the consent of his master or mistress.
"Families were large, life was hard and many mothers suc- cumbed before their children were grown. Second marriages were speedy, especially in the case of women, who, left with young children and little means, were forced to marry again as soon as possible. There are many cases of a woman's second marriage before sufficient time had elapsed to administer upon her deceased husband's estate. There is a tradition that a son of the Rev. Stephen Bachiler of Lynn and Hampton, left a widower with nine children, and with no special predilection as to where to turn for a mother to his large flock, resolved to be governed in his choice by the direction in which his staff, held perpendicularly over the floor, should fall when dropped from his hand. It fell pointing to the southwest and in that direc- tion he bent his steps straight forty miles or more to the widow Mary Wyman of Woburn, a cousin of his wife. She discour- aged his hopes on account of his large family, and he made answer that it was the first time he had ever known of a woman to object to a proposal of this sort because of the children; that he was going to Boston and would call for a definite answer upon his return. The widow's fears were overcome, and she became his wife."
Quoting again from Mr. Roads :
"A marriage was the scene of the most joyous festivities, and the occasion of a season of merrymaking for an entire week in duration. Everybody in the community who chose attended the wedding, and when, at a late hour in the night, the guests were ready to depart for their own homes, the
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bride and groom were put to bed by their maids and grooms- men, and the entire company marched around their bed, throwing old shoes and stockings, and various other missiles at them, for good luck, and by way of a parting salute."
Drink probably flowed freely at such times, but the laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony forbade dancing at weddings in 1651.
Miss Tapley relates :
"Wedding ceremonies among the wealthy usually included a psalm before and a prayer following, with perhaps a sermon preached by the minister of the church which they attended, after which sackposset or some other drink was freely dis- pensed, while bride's cake and bride's gloves were later sent as gifts to the friends of the two families."
The custom of giving gifts was carried on in the town of Man- chester at funerals when among the wealthier families the pall-bearers were presented with gloves and gold finger rings. The rings were often of curious and unique design.
It is interesting to note, in passing, that the innkeepers were not allowed to make buns and cakes except for the festivities that attended weddings and funerals.
Continuing Miss Tapley's account :
"However much there may have been of matrimonial unhappiness, we like to think that for the most part peace and accord reigned in the majority of seventeenth century homes, and that there were many women in the new land who could echo the words of Anne Bradstreet, when she wrote:
"If ever two were one, then surely we;
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray."
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A bit more might be said about the precautions that were taken against fires. In 1642, in Ipswich, it was voted that "as much hurt hath been done by fire, through neglect of having ladders in readiness at men's houses, and also by the insufficiency of chimneys and due cleaning of them, every householder shall have a ladder in constant readiness, twenty feet long, at his house." The town adopted the following order in 1649: "Whereas complaint hath been made of the great danger that may accrue to the inhabitants by reason of some men's setting stacks of hay near their dwelling houses, if fire should happen, ordered that whosoever hath any hay or English corn, or straw by their houses, or hath set any hay-stacks within three rods of their houses, shall remove it within six days after notice on fine of twenty shillings." In 1681 every house had to be equipped with a ladder. In 1804 smoking was prohibited in the streets, because the practice was considered dangerous, and a fine of one dollar for each offense was imposed. During the first half of the nineteenth century most of the towns had fire companies and fire engines. At Rockport, where a company was organized in 1807, each member was required to have two stout leather buckets and two bags of substantial mate- rial of three bushel capacity, with strings at the mouth so that they could be tightly drawn together, always in readiness. They were usually kept in the front hall of the owner's residence. Each of the articles was to be marked with the owner's name. Any member who did not conform to the above rules was fined twenty-five cents for the use of the company. If anyone did not have a good and sufficient rea- son for being absent from a fire or for not giving aid to anyone who was in need at such times, he was fined one dollar and a half.
Among the early settlers money was so scarce that trade was car- ried on by bartering something that you had made for something that you wanted. The main commodities were fish, pipe-staves, masts, fir- boards, pitch and tar, pork and beef; some of these products were sent to Virginia and the Barbados for tobacco and sugar, which in turn were sent to England for other desired products. Coin was so scarce that the General Court appointed Samuel Archer, a resident of Manchester, "to examine all persons going out of Massachusetts, to see that they carry no more than twenty shillings in coin to pay expenses." Paper money was issued by the different towns, but as one town's paper money usually was not recognized by the other
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towns, and as that money was not sufficiently backed by gold and sil- ver currency, the practice was called to the attention of the English Parliament, and those responsible for the printing and issuing of this money were heavily fined and made to redeem every penny of it. Produce and materials, of course, had a certain value in silver; about 1640, at Newbury and Lynn, a cord of oak wood was worth one shilling, six pence, the same value as one bushel of turnips. The town of Ipswich, which had been founded in 1633 by settlers from Boston in order to prevent the Jesuits from getting a foothold in New Eng- land, was without money for the first twenty years, trade being car- ried on by barter, but there were musket-bullets, wampum, and later some English coins which could be used as means of exchange. Silver was coined in Boston as early as 1652, and Massachusetts coined gold, silver, and copper from 1786 to 1789, several years before the United States coined these metals. The value of the metals in the coins soon led to the practice of "clipping," and "searchers of coins" were appointed to prevent this. Paper money was printed at times throughout the eighteenth century, but the people often had reason to lose faith in government paper, and in 1781 it took seventy-five paper dollars to equal one in silver.
Communications between the early towns existed, but they were naturally poor. Traveling was not comfortable, since what was done was usually on foot or horseback. Many of the roads were no more than cowpaths, but most of the towns did not allow this condition of things to last long. In 1637 and 1638 Salem required every work- ingman upon the seventh day of the month to appear and contribute his labors toward the building and improvement of the roads. In 1639 the General Court ordered each town to appoint two or more men to provide for a road between them and the next town. In this the way a continuous highway ran along the coast from Newbury to Hingham. In 1699 Ipswich ordered that its roads should be four rods wide except where they passed through an individual's land, and then that he should make the way two rods wide. Ferry service was more or less regular, but most of the ferries could not take carriages. If the improvements in communication were too much of a strain upon the local authorities, the Colony helped bear the burden. Lynn was granted fifty pounds by the Colony to help build a cart-bridge over the river.
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The earliest type of conveyance was introduced about 1725, a body of a chaise upon a pair of wheels, called a curricle. About 1750 a top was added to the seat. The stage with four horses came about 1774, and the so-called "horse-wagon" for carrying merchandise began to be used about 1800. The body of the wagon at first rested upon the axle trees, then upon wooden springs, next upon long leather straps and was thus suspended from the chassis to which the wheels were attached, and finally upon steel springs.
The isolation of the early settlements, and strict laws against what seem to us harmless pleasures, had a detrimental effect upon the char- acter of Essex County people. Ford comments on this end: "The cramping of innocent pleasures probably led to compensations of a much more dubious character on the part of the citizens, even those openly dominated by religious principles. The history of early Mas- sachusetts, though it shows pretty effective restricting of dancing, drama, and music, gives abundant evidence of excessive drinking and of much physical cruelty towards children, Indians and law-breakers. It may be unfair to criticize these traits from the point of view of the twentieth century, especially in view of the fact that drunkenness and cruelty were equally common in England at that time. Nevertheless, excesses in these two latter directions must have some basis in the sup- pression of the legitimate impulses and emotions of the Puritan colo- nists. The religious leaders of gentler and broader spirit like Eliot and Williams protested such excesses and found many hearers."
What is said to have been the first murder among the English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony occurred in Wenham, near the Beverly-Wenham line, in 1637. One John Williams, a ship car- penter by trade, had been imprisoned for theft, but had escaped from the jail with one John Hoddy and had started toward Ipswich. On the way Williams killed his companion and took from him everything he had, including his bloody clothing. Putting on the clothing Wil- liams went on into Ipswich, where he was taken into custody, but he would not confess until a week after Hoddy's body was found. He was tried, convicted, and executed on September 28, 1637.
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