USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume II > Part 33
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"Eliphalet Pearson was indeed fortunate in the type of men he found to conduct his pet enterprise, one which was far to exceed his hopes in the production of a whole library of theological literature. Timothy Flagg and Abraham J. Gould, the two first proprietors, were both members of the South Church, the latter holding the office of deacon for twenty- three years. They were both in hearty sympathy with the aims of the theological institution their work was to serve, and regarded their press as a trust to be used in furthering reli- gious faith. These estimable men set the lofty tone which was to survive as long as the old press endured, and which with the cooperation of the Seminary faculty was to give it such a high reputation in the educational and religious world.
"A good illustration of the religious spirit which pervaded even the workmen in the organization appears in the story of Josiah B. Clough, for many years a compositor there and the father of the eccentric Miss Elizabeth Clough. Every Sunday morning he was seen to pass down Central Street at a regular hour, and piqued by curiosity, someone finally asked him the purpose of his weekly pilgrimage. Mr. Clough confessed that he went to pray on the steps of the Baptist Church, which was then closed, that services might be resumed. In 1858, after the 'Great Awakening,' his prayers were answered.
"The new press was fortunate in having the first fonts of Greek and Hebrew type in America, and for years Har- vard University had any necessary printing in the Greek type done in Andover. One of the first books published here was Professor Moses Stuart's Hebrew grammar. Naturally enough, Professor Stuart found that no one knew how to set Hebrew type, so he went to work to set it himself. An unusual picture he must have made, 'tall, lean, with strong, bold fea- tures, a keen, scholarly, accipitrine nose, great solemnity of
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voice and manner,' his air Roman, his neck long and bare like Cicero's, as he bent over the type cases in the little printing plant. Although he suffered acutely from dyspepsia, Profes- sor Stuart was a tireless and productive worker, but when his malady interfered with his labors, his voice could be heard from his study, rising and falling in a wailing prayer for relief. We may well wonder if there were not occasions when, attacked by his uncomfortable illness and confronted with a task so exacting and unfamiliar, his prayers did not also resound from the windows of Flagg and Gould. At length Professor Stuart taught his compositor to do the work, and his Hebrew grammar, published in 1813 and the first printed in America, was for more than thirty years the standard among theological seminaries. Other outstanding books printed for local authors included Robinson's 'New Testament Lexicon,' Porter's 'Rhetorical Reader,' Stuart's 'Letters to Channing,' and many other classical and religious works.
"In 1821, Dr. John Codman, pastor of the Second Church in Dorchester, contributed $2,000 for the purchase of add- tional type to be used in printing the Greek and Hebrew tongues, and books printed from this type were inscribed as from the Codman Press. William Bartlet and others soon made similar contributions, and by 1829 the press had type for eleven Oriental languages besides Hebrew, and many books were issued there which could not have been printed at any other press in America. William H. Grey, an English compositor later working for the press, was capable of setting type in all of these eleven languages.
"Many a Seminary graduate carried the inspiration derived from the work of the press and of Professor Stuart with him to far off mission fields and allowed no difficulties of language to prevent the writing and printing of religious works. Accord- ing to Professor Park's speech at the Centennial in 1878, Andover alumni had written scores and hundreds of volumes in the tongues of the Mahratta and Tamil, Arabic and Syriac, Armeno-Turkish and Arabo-Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Cherokee, Choctaw, and various languages of Africa, and the islands of the seas. Fired by the same inspiration they had
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not only written grammars and lexicons, but had invented alphabets for languages where none existed before; they had not only written, but had printed the books they wrote; they had not only set the type, but had occasionally made the type with their own hands. With a note of justifiable elation Pro- fessor Park concludes, 'There is no man now living who can read the alphabets of all the languages in which the alumni of our Seminary have published their thoughts.'
"No less impressive than its spiritual inspiration was the material output of the old Andover press. According to the calculation of Mr. Warren F. Draper, its last proprietor, the press published during seventy years separate titles the aggre- gate of which would form 233 octavo volumes of 500 pages each. Of these more than one hundred were written by Ando- ver professors and attained a circulation of 400,000. Deal- ers sold these books in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cin- cinnati, Oberlin, and Chicago. Tracts printed over 100 years ago were sold through dealers throughout the country includ- ing what was then Michigan Territory. But the brilliant wives and daughters of the professors were not to be left behind. Six of them issued books through the Andover press which had a circulation of at least a million. These women, among whom were some of the most popular authoresses of the day, were Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," whose husband was a professor at the Seminary; Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, Mrs. Sarah Stuart Robbins, Mrs. Harriet Woods Baker, and Mrs. Margaret Woods Lawrence.
"An amusing story bearing on the Andover press is told of an effort of the New York 'World' to increase its circula- tion. In May, 1889, this journal printed in a single issue the entire text of the 'Book of Enoch, a translation from the Ethiopic, published a few years ago in Andover.'
"'Send twenty-five cents for a three months' subscrip- tion to the "World,"' the advertisement threatened; 'other- wise you will have to send $1.75 to W. F. Draper, of Ando- ver, in order to procure a copy of this lost book of the Bible, hidden for 1800 years.'
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"We do not know what effect this naive announcement had on the 'World's' subscription list, but it inevitably resulted in several orders for the complete text with the introduction and notes being received in Andover. After the press had remained in the Brick House over thirty years, Mr. Draper moved it in the late 'sixties to the Draper block at 37 Main Street, where it remained until December, 1906.
"However, the old press did not confine itself solely to publishing the work of Andover professors and their wives. From it the first tracts of the American Tract Society were issued and also the numbers of the "Biblical Repository" and the "Bibliotheca Sacra and Theological Review," two reli- gious periodicals which were popular eighty or ninety years ago. Also the first temperance newspaper in America, the "Journal of Humanity and Herald" of the American Tem- perance Society was published in Andover from May 27, 1829. This paper was the organ of the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance, which had been founded in Boston in 1826, largely through the efforts of Dr. Justin Edwards, pastor of the Old South Church from 1812 to 1827, a trustee of Phillips Academy, and President of the Theo- logical Seminary from 1836 to 1842. The 'Journal of Human- ity' lived for only four years. At this early stage of the tem- perance movement its circulation could not have been large, and it contained very little news to commend it to the non- temperance reader. Of advertisements, without which no paper can exist for long, it seldom printed more than a single column.
"For twenty years thereafter Andover was without a newspaper, but on February 19, 1853, the first number of the 'Andover Advertiser' appeared. This was 'published every Saturday at the office of John D. Flagg, opposite Phillips Academy.' Mr. Flagg's establishment was on the second floor of the Brick House, erected in 1832 near the pres- ent Phillips Gateway when the press had outgrown its old quarters, and which many Phillips alumni will remember as a boarding house run by Mrs. M. A. Toby. The size of the 'Advertiser' was at first fourteen by eleven inches, and it con-
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sisted of four pages with four columns to a page. It was always said to be conducted by an 'Association of Gentlemen.' These gentlemen, who wrote on a variety of topics and under a variety of names, were the Hon. George Foster, Mr. East- man Sanborn, and Mr. Moses Foster, the cashier of the Andover bank. However, the first of the three did most of the work, and later conducted an Andover column in the Lawrence 'American.' In May, 1855, Mr. Warren F. Draper, who the year before had bought the press, took over the paper from Mr. Flagg and published the 'Advertiser' for eleven years, then sold it to the Lawrence 'American.' The last num- ber appeared on February 10, 1866.
"Both Andover and the Andover press were always fortu- nate in the type of men who controlled the publishing house, and Warren F. Draper, the last and most notable of the long line of names associated with it, carried on the tradition of the 'Christian business man.' He was a graduate of Phillips Academy in 1843, of Amherst in 1847, and began his studies at the Andover Theological Seminary, but failing eyesight com- pelled him to resign. In 1849 he entered the employ of Allen, Morrill and Wardwell, then the proprietors of the press, and in 1854 became the sole proprietor. Before he relinquished control, in 1887, he had published more than 600 volumes, some of which had a very large sale. He accumulated during his life a considerable fortune, a large part of which he devoted to charitable objects, his total donations to Andover institutions amounting to over $100,000. His most generous gifts were to Abbot Academy, New England's first private girls' school, of which he was trustee and treasurer, but he also gave to Phillips Academy the Draper Prize Speaking Fund, Draper Cottage, and a scholarship. In March, 1904, the Ando- ver town meeting passed a resolution of gratitude to Mr. Draper, who had done so much for the town, and who, on his eighty-fifth birthday, had sent $1,000 to the selectmen to be used for the benefit of the school children. In 1887 Mr. Draper sold the press to a corporation of Andover business men, of which John N. Cole was treasurer and business man-
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ager, and it at once established the present Andover Press, publishing the Andover 'Townsman.'
"The plant remained in the Draper Building until Decem- ber, 1906, when it moved to its new home, the Press Building, where it still is. Since that date several additions have been made to the building, and modern machinery has been con- stantly added to meet the ever-growing requirements of the business.
"The Andover press was a distinguished little plant a cen- tury ago, doing important work for the Seminary, Academy, and Harvard. Today it prints for Phillips, Abbot, Harvard, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and numer- ous other institutions and commercial houses. It still is a dis- tinguished but much larger and more modern organization. Its present academic work is primarily for undergraduates.
"Of the forces that made Andover in the last century a world-renowned center of religious and spiritual life, the old Andover press was no small part. Working in close coopera- tion with the theological professors, whom they resembled in their religious enthusiasm, the Andover printers did their share to spread Christianity to the far corners of the earth, and to inspire those who were working at home and in the mis- sion field with fresh vigor. And perhaps not the least of their services was the stimulation they gave, by the recognition of feminine writers, to the development of woman's place in literature."
BIBLIOGRAPHY-"History of Essex County," edited by D. Ham- ilton Hurd, Philadelphia, 1888, 2 vols.
"Municipal History of Essex County," edited by B. F. Arring- ton, New York, 1922.
"Salem Imprints, 1768-1825," H. S. Tapley, Salem, 1927.
"A History of Printing in Andover, Massachusetts," S. H. Para- dise, Andover, 1931.
Fraternal Organizations
CHAPTER XXIII
Fraternal Organizations
By Elroy S. Thompson
It may be a far cry from the alpha of heraldry to the present crusade to have every free-born American citizen, with his heritage of liberty and passion for freedom, solemnly and unresistingly regis- ter his fingerprints. There may be no direct connection between the symbols which in all ages have been employed by various families or tribes, civilized or uncivilized, as their distinguishing marks, and the jewels or badges worn by present and past officers in fraternal organi- zations to signify their rank or honors. Again, even those who have risen to distinction in fraternal organizations in Essex County may never have thought of the connection of the particular lodge, coun- cil, chapter, or branch in which they have labored, with other branches of the same order. Still more improbable is it, that the average "joiner" of a society has ever recognized his connection with fraternal organizations in general; their common ancestry, interdependence, significance, mission and achievements.
We have no Knights of the Garter, no Order of the Bath or Thistle, no ribbon of the Legion of Honor or Iron Cross. These are decorations of the Old World, such as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Roman Eagle, the Danish Raven, or White Horse of Saxony. Yet, if one traces fraternal organizations, their genealogical derivations, and the like, going back to the Guilds in England, one is only traveling in reverse gear to a halfway station. He must, at least, return to Egypt and the so-called "Mysteries" about the time of the Arabian conquest. He can safely take the word of Bayard Taylor that Egyptian monu- ments show that the spiritual precepts of the Mosaic writings were
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taught in Egypt five hundred years before Moses was born; and groups of scholars and philosophers capitalized on what they learned and had mystic ways and means of identifying themselves to one another.
Men are justly proud of jewels and badges which they have won by active participation in organizations which are demonstrating what the square and compasses stand for in the Masonic fraternity; the three links of Odd Fellowship; the triangular badge of the Knights of Pythias; the elaborate insignia of the Improved Order of Red Men; the dial with hands signifying II o'clock on the emblem of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, just to mention a few of the older and larger fraternal organizations which exist, and long have existed, in Essex County. They have contributed materially to the peace, happiness, prosperity and good will of this historic com- munity. Those entitled to wear the emblems of fraternal organiza- tions are connected with institutions which have proven their worth until they have won the recognition and respect of the whole civilized world.
Even though some of the fraternal organizations, or secret socie- ties, do not revel in claims to remote antiquity, they have a common ancestry, as far as principles which govern the orders are concerned and, in startling instances, the rituals have a similarity and are based on the same ancient examples, in harmony with the two great com- mandments. Sir Walter Scott wrote: "The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other"; and Lord Alfred Tennyson, in his "Lady Clara Vere de Vere," says in stanza 7:
"From yon blue heaven above us bent, The gardener Adam and his wife Smile at the claims of long descent."
And in the same poem Tennyson says :
"Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood."
Those, therefore, who have been decorated by lodges which teach loyalty to country, the golden rule, brotherly kindness and relief, are as proud of those decorations as though they had been deco- rated by king or potentate, with ribbon, cross, or wreath; and they believe that their distinction is more American, to say the least.
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There are, roughly speaking, three hundred nationally known secret societies in the United States and some 6,000,000 members. There are mysteries, mythical incidents, and traditions connected with societies, some of which were presumably intentionally inserted and carried on without much truth to back them. Actual knowledge, even of some of the most prominent societies, is possessed only by those who have made a study of fraternal histories, and these constitute a
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LAWRENCE-MASONIC TEMPLE Courtesy of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce
small percentage of the membership. Such students have forsaken, in the interest of truth, even some of the most cherished traditions. Legendary accounts have intrigued so many that it seems almost a shame to disillusion those who believe them, even if it were possible to make them accept the corrections. Essex County has its share of the numerous secret societies and its fraternal history is interesting and worthy.
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Directly, or indirectly, the Masonic fraternity is the parent organi- zation of modern secret societies. Few know why or how and to what extent there is a Masonic trace in their fraternal blood stream. Symbolism appeals, and people like to parade. Hundreds of thou- sands of candidates are initiated each year into fraternities and sis- terhoods, and it can't help affecting the family life.
George Washington was a Mason. So were most of his generals. Before the Revolution the Sons of Liberty were generally officered by Masons. They had their share in events which led to the Revolution.
Benjamin Franklin was a Mason and of the order he wrote:
"It has secrets peculiar to itself, but of what do these principally consist? They consist of signs and tokens, which serve as testimonials of character and qualifications, which are only conferred after a due course of instruction and examina- tion. These are of no small value. They speak a universal language, and act as a passport to the attention and support of the initiated in all parts of the world. They cannot be lost so long as memory retains its power.
"Let the possessor of them be expatriated, shipwrecked or imprisoned. Let him be stripped of everything he has got in the world. Still these credentials remain and are available for use as circumstances require. The great effects which they have produced are established by the most incontestable facts of history. They have stayed the uplifted hand of the destroyer. They have softened the asperities of the tyrant. They have mitigated the horrors of captivity. They have sub- dued the rancor of malevolence, and broken down the bar- riers of political animosity and sectarian alienation.
"On the field of battle, in the solitude of the uncultivated forests, or in the busy haunts of the crowded city, they have made men of the most hostile feelings, and most distant reli- gions and the most diversified conditions, rush to the aid of each other, and feel social joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief to a brother Mason."
ANTI-MASONIC EXCITEMENT-In 1827 an anti-Masonic politi- cal party made its appearance in the United States, making political capital of the Morgan incident. Previous to 1827 there were in
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Essex County twelve Masonic lodges which are still in existence. Interest in the anti-Masonic excitement and all that it entailed, divid- ing families, leading to social ostracism, breaking of church affilia- tions and general misunderstandings, founded on prejudice and fanned by propaganda, was rife in Essex County. Masonry in the county had its first lodge in 1760, when Philanthropic Lodge was instituted in Marblehead.
Other lodges which went through the anti-Masonic excitement and period of persecution were those of Newburyport, Gloucester, Salem, Haverhill, Lynn, Peabody, Andover, Amesbury, Beverly and Lawrence.
William Morgan, of Batavia, New York, was arrested September II, 1826, on a charge of petit larceny and put in jail at Canandaigua, New York. It was claimed that Morgan was about to issue a book exposing the secrets of Freemasonry.
The story circulated was that on the evening of September 12, in the absence of the jailer, the amount of the execution was paid to the jailer's wife, whereupon Morgan was released. The story con- tinued that he was taken in a closed carriage, guarded by several men, to Fort Niagara on the Niagara River. All trace of him was there lost, until the following October, when a badly decomposed body was found on the shore of Lake Ontario. The body was identified by Morgan's wife or widow, Thurlow Weed, and others who knew him, as that of the missing Morgan.
A few months before, Timothy Munroe, a Canadian fisherman, was drowned. Members of the Munroe family were positive that the body was that of the fisherman.
Thurlow Weed, William H. Seward, and other members of the National Republican party, had political ambitions and attempted to ride into office on the Morgan incident. Weed is said to have replied to someone who asked him if he were positive in his identification of the body that "It's a good enough Morgan until after election."
Prejudice against secret societies and the alleged oaths which can- didates were forced to take was inflamed by propaganda, kept at white heat by politicians for political purposes. New England churches and the press aligned themselves on the anti-Masonic side. Itinerant lecturers saw an opportunity to "expose Freemasonry" by
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hiring halls and giving public representations of what they said were Masonic ceremonies. Even the very elect were deceived. John Quincy Adams contributed to the public press "Letters on the Masonic Institution," later published in book form.
Weak-hearted men, in some instances, renounced their Masonic affiliations, being unable to live in peace with misinformed and preju- diced relatives. Social, political, and religious ostracism was the alternative, but most of the Essex County Masons stood by their altars or held meetings somewhere else, if not in their accustomed lodge rooms.
The English rite came to Massachusetts in 1733. In 1769 Joseph Warren was "Grand Master of Masons in Boston, New England, and Within One Hundred Miles of the Same." In 1773 Joseph War- ren was appointed by the Grand Master of Scotland "Grand Master of Masons for the Continent of America." His death at Bunker Hill resulted in the Massachusetts Grand Lodge declaring its inde- pendence and sovereignty, thus becoming the first Independent Grand Lodge of Masons in America. Masonry was deeply entrenched in the idea of American liberty, and anti-Masonic propaganda was not destined to overthrow its convictions of universal brotherhood, the cultivation of virtues, relief of suffering, and search for truth among the Essex County fishermen, shipmasters, artisans, farmers and the liberty-loving people in general who knew its virtues.
GENESIS OF ESSEX COUNTY LODGES-Grateful acknowledgment is made to numerous members of various fraternal organizations for their cooperation in furnishing facts concerning their own and allied societies. Conspicuous in this helpful group has been Past Master George M. R. Holmes, of Andover, present secretary of St. Mat- thew's Lodge, A. F. & A. M., who has made the following excellent contribution regarding Freemasonry in Essex County :
"While there were Freemasons in Essex County years before, it was not until 1760 that a Masonic Lodge was insti- tuted within its confines. To the seafaring town of Marble- head goes the honor of being the first to receive that honor. Philanthropic Lodge was granted its charter by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts that year and from that day on it has held an honored position in the Masonic fraternity of the
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Bay State. Only recently it celebrated its 175th anniversary in a most fitting manner.
"From that year on the growth of Freemasonry in the county has been a steady and honored one, until today there are no less than thirty-three lodges within the district, and reports showed that the total membership on August 3Ist, 1934, was 14,193.
"The largest individual lodge in the county is Mount Car- mel, of Lynn, which has 1,035 members. The next largest is also situated in Lynn. It is Golden Fleece, which was char- tered in 1865 and has a membership of 943. There are five lodges in the famous shoe city and they have a total member- ship of 2,918, which is over 1,000 more than can be shown by the city of Lawrence, which has 1,457, belonging to three lodges. Haverhill, another noted shoe city, is a close third to Lawrence, as the membership of its two lodges totals 1,231.
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