USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Haverhill > The story of a New England town; a record of the commemoration, July second and third, 1890 on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Haverhill, Massachusetts > Part 11
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We come now to the period when Haverhill begins to part with portions of her large domain and to send abroad her colo- By the removal of all four from Indians, new districts had been occupied, too remote from the centre to derive much benefit from other church or school. This li a company of settlers in the western portion of the parish too petition the
- More than one hundred acres were date given to at two churches in Meth ion; one hundred and ten to the West Parish. twenty nine, besides the lot used to-day as a bunal ground, to the North Push.
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General Court to be formed into a new tools Laboral grants to retain them yet longer were unavailing-and in 1725 they were incorporated, and so Methoon, one of Haverhill's fair daughters, took her place among the towns of the Common- wealth. The following year the settlement of Peunyeook, now Concord, New Hampshire, began. The leading spirit in this was Capt. Ebenezer Eastman, altogether one of the men of mirk in our history. He was to the manor born, his father being an early settler and a sufferer from the indian raids. He married a daughter of Nathaniel Peasley, an honored and useful man, and whose descendants in different branches and hearing other manus as Cog well and Whitties and Badger, have added to the lastis of his early renown A soldier from his youth, he was, in one of the early expeditions to Canada pal in comonud of a company of infantry and afterwards served at the reduction of Louisburg. Bowen times an purgetie citizen and merchant here, ke fed in opening up the repeater of war tiver, and built the first wharf in town. Fruitful in expedients, a man mule to. daring adventure, he threw himself with zeal into the projected settlement, and was the prime factor in its succes The office for admitting new settlers was opened in Haverhill, and of the one hundred who after careful examination were accepted thirtysis were Haverhill men, -some of our chowest, --- most of whom, with Lastman, removed at once to the new settlement. If our sister city in all these years has been happy and pros- porous she knows whom to thank.
Well was it for Haverhill, in view of what now fol- lowed, that the difficulties between jaopticots and non-pro- mictions had been so happily settled for so only could the town have been prepared for the Borler War, as it has been called, which grew out of the disputes over the boundary question. The first charter granted @ all that part of New England lying between three miles to the north of the Merrimack River, and three miles to the south of the Charles River, and of every part thereof in the Massa- chusetts Bay, and in the length between the described breadth
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from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Sea." Under this char- ter. Massachusetts claimed all the territory south of a line drawn thee miles to the north of the outlet of Winnipisogee Lathe - - m her view the northermost part of the Merrimack - due cast to the Atlantic. This gave her of course, the larger part of what is now New Hampshire, and a good slice of Maine, to say nothing of Vermont, should the pro- posed line be projected westward. According to this inter- pretation of the charter she granted lands and townships. This interpretation was hotly challenged by the New Hampshire patentees, who insisted that the northern boun- dary of Massachusetts could not possibly extend, at any point, more than three miles north of the middle of the channel of the Merrimack. Nevertheless, Massachusetts clung to her jurisdiction over the grants she had made as in the case of Haverhill and other towns. The second charter, under William and May, that might have been framed so as to leave no chance For debate, was scarcely more definite as Regards boundaries. The dispute of long standing, between the two provinces was now made an intensely practical, not to say per-Qual one, by the incorporation in 1722, under the loys of New Hampshire, of the town of Londonderry. This was settled by a hardy, enterprising colony of Scotch-Irish, of tigliang antecedents, from the north of Ireland. Coming up the Merrimack, their families had been hospitably cared for by Haverhill, while the men went to prepare rude cabins in the woods to the north of us, for the reception of wives and children. The Haverhill proprietors, under what was known as the fifth division, had a short the before made exten- sive grats in this section of the town, and the grorives had en- tered upon them, and were clearing up their farms. They soon came into collision with the people of Londonderry, who claimed these very lands. The validity of their claims is not important here, but so stoutly were they asserted that the strife soon became exceedingly bitter. Suits for trespass were brought against the Haverhill settlers in the courts of New Hampshire, who retaliated by arraigning the Nov. Hamp-
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shire people in the courts of Massachusetts. Well would it have been if the contest had remained ons of litigation merely. But the belligerents came to blows Private rights were invaded, property destroyed, and tights were common occurrences all along the border. The luchless New Hamp- shire man, at work in the fields, would be swooped down upon by his antagonists lying in wait, brought by force into Haverhill village, and forcibly detained there; while, in his tarn, the Haverhill settler suffered a similar fate from the other side. Meanwhile the General A semblies of each province, being overwhelnel with petitions from the con- tending partes, were forced to take up the question of boundary. New Hampshire was ready to yield to Massa- chusetts all lands south of a line that should be run due west from a fixed point three miles north of the month of the Merrimack. It would have been wise for the Common- weald to have sex pied the concession El would have been considerably richer in territory than at por ent. She did not, and after many angry discussions, and various fruit- less attempts at adjustment, in 1737 the matter went to the king While his majesty was holding the question of the bounday under advisement, our townsmen in the stress of their grievances framed a petition of their own for his gracious consideration. At length the decision came. Whether because New Hampshire was represented by more able counsel than Massachusetts, as is now generally conceded, or because of the justice of her claim, the decision was ad- verse to the latter, and by the king's decree the boundary between the provinces in 1710 was fixed is it now stands. Although, by a special provision incorporated in the decree, private property was to remain maffected, the government of New Hampshire claimed the lands of Massachusetts set- this north of the new line. The questions of individual ownership, however, had to be determined by the courts. This gave the Haverhill proprietors a gud adva lage. They had shown the utmost zeal, hitherto, in maintaming the rights of Haverhill settlers. Richard Bazzen, one of the most j rom
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ment of them, moved into New Hampshire for the sole purpose of thus rendering more efficient aid to las distressel townsmen. We used his private means in their behalf to the extent of thou- sands of dollars, for which he was never repaid. In all the legal contests that now followed, hundreds of pounds were ex- pended by the proprietors in defending the titles of their grantees, and in prosecuting trespass on the common lands, whether they were north or south of the recently established New Hampshire line. They were considerably impoverished in the process. so that it was questioned whether one penny would fall to the proprietors when the old grants were all made good ; but they came off vigorious. Their organiation and property riglas, though at one time fiercely assailed, remained inviolate, as events proved, that they might be available for just this emergency. The litigations growing out of the boundary struggle being settled, "this long and busy and powerful organi ation." its work being accomplished, soon after came to an end. Its last record is dated October 10, 1763.
The running of the new line out sorely into ffosr. hill. It took off fully one-third of its territory, property and population, .nul if we add to this the loss of Methuen. more than one-half of its so arers had now vanished. Many, thus transferred with- out their consent beyond the jurisdiction of their beloved town and Commonwealth, would fain have lingered under the old the that for so long had sheltered then. New towns, however, were rapidly formed out of the territory of which. Haverhill was deprived, Hampstead, Plaistow, Salem and Atkinson, whose in- timate and valued intereourse with us, even to this present hour, revives the memories of the olden time.
In 1728 the North Parish was constituied. Some forty- six members soon after withdrew from the old parish church, and, with Rev. Caleb Cushing as pastor, a new church was organized and a meeting-house erected. This was fol- lowel by a similar movement in 1731. when the westerly part of the town was set off and became known as the West Parish. The brick meeting-house, long a well-known landmark was at once built, and Rev. Samuel Bacheller daly ordamed
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as the shepherd of this flock. The withdrawal of seventy-seven persons to inaugurate this enterprise was a considerable drain upon the resources of the old parish, so that a request from the settlers of the east end of the township for similar favors was refused. The town felt that the work of dismembership had gone far enough at present. Perseverance, however, at length prevailed, and the General Court, in spite of the vig- orous protest of the town, consented to the setting off of the East Parish in 1743.
With the year 1741 we trace the beginning of what is now Morimack Street. Hitherto as far as Little River, the parsonage land; now. the town voted to lay it out into lots, and eut a highway through it two and a half rods wide. 1 am sure you will judge leniently the fathers when you com- plain that it is no wider, if you recall the tribulation they en- dured as the result of their first experience in road building. In the largeness et their hearts they made their first highway --- that from anders till to the Rocks -twelve rods wille. Rendered almost bankrupt in maintaining it, they hal juist voted to reduce its width to four rods. To save themselves from a similar catastrophe, you can see how very easy it was to go to the offer extreme, in laying out Merrimack Street.
Accompanying this movement, corresponding changes were taking place in the opposite direction, destined to affect for all time the natural beauty of Haverhill. Itberto, there had been no building whatever allowed on the south side of Water Street. It was doubtless the original intention that this traet should forever remain open. But the demands of trade were now becoming inexorable, and sentiment must yield to business. Haverhill was, in fact, waking up to some ap- preciation of the commercial advantages that the river offered. Up to this time, little or no use had been made of this ready artery of communication with the outside world. Overland transportation hal boen the rule. Good Deacon White had borne the sugar and wine with which to appropriately sol- emnize Parson Gardner's ordination ad the way from Boston on horseback. The lime for plastering his par-onage had
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been hanled from Newbury by oxen, and the nails for the watch-house had been brought from Ipswich on horseback. A new era was now dawning. Some bright men had con- ceived the idea of utilizing the magnificent oak timber with which the town abounded for ship-building, and others of using these same ships for commerce. Wharves and ship-yards were accordingly required. The proprietors, ever prompt to respond to all demands for true progress, did not hold back now, but met generously every request for grants, until the entire tract on the south side of Water Street, from the present bridge to Mill Break, was disposed of Wharves were built, the keels of many noble barks were laid. Tralbe by sea sprang into vigor- ous hite, that made Haverhill from this time till the breaking out of the Revolution one of the most extensive interior com- mercial towns in the Commonwealth.
Up to this time the inhabitants still retained very much of their primitive simplicity. Then houses with tow exceptions were plain and inexpensive, --- two hundred and eighty one of them were only valned by the assessors at five pounds cach, - their luxuries were few. In 1653 only one chaise was owned in the town; some rode in calashes, which were Title more than a wagon seat on two wheels without springs or covering. The common mode of travel was on horseback. The farmer rode to charch thus, with wife behind him on a pillion, and perhaps there would be a child in the arms of cach. The women come to the village to shop on horseback frequently forming quite a cavalcade for such excursions. Goodman Webster re- members counting twenty-four thus grouped together, chatter- ing as they rode along " like a flock of blackbirds."
In the French War, which again broke eat in 1744, and raged, with short intervals of peace, until the reduction of Quebec in 1759, there is just occasion for pride in the gallant record of Haverhill. Again and again the town responded promptly to the call for men, placing in the field more, even, than her required quota. At the memorable siege of Louisburg, at Ticonderoga, at Fort William and Crown Point, at Lake George and the fall of Quebec, Haverhill men bore an honor-
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able part, and many never returned. Brave officers, like Col. Richard Saltoustall, Captains Edward Moors, Jolu: Hazzen, and Henry Young Brown, added lustre to our history by their soldier-like deeds. The latter served throughout th. war, and at its close received from the General Court, in recognition of his gallantry, eleven thousand acres of land on Saco River, to which he removed.
Captain John Hazzen, beside other gallant service, com- manded a company of Haverhill men for the redaction of Ti- vonderoga and Crown Point. Subsequently, as the leader of a party of settlers, among whom were Michael Johnston, John Potfie, Col. Joshaa Howard, CO. Charles Johnston, Jesse Harri- man. Thomas Johnson, David Merritt. and Frekan! Ladd, all Haveduill men, he removed to northern New Hampshire, on the Connecticut River, and planted a new town, which he succeeded in having manmed in honor of the place of his own nativity,
Stunnel Blodgett, a Haverlaill man, who was present a the battle of Lake George, made a vivid sketch of that the e light. It was afterwards engraved, and in pamphlet form. accompanied with an account of the battle written by himself. appeared in Boston. Recently has it been brought to right once more, and a fac-simile of Blodgett's plan, issued by the Massachusetts His- totical Society, revives the memory of Haverhill's connection with this great historieal conflict. After the war, he returned to Haverhill and established pot and pearlash works, among the first in the country. Possessed of consid rable mechanical ingenuity, he was the originator of several valuable inventions. Among these was an apparatus for raising sunken vessels, which In used with such success in the case of a bank shanded near I'M mouth, that he went to Europe in the hope of being per- mitted to make a similar attempt upon a rich Spanish ship, and even the " Royal George " of the British navy. Not meeting with aty encouragement, however, upon his retain he estab- lisled in this town a factory for the manufacture of linen duck, with machinery largely of his own isentist. which elicited ge cial commendation from Washington a de time of li, visit
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After the tragic death of Rolfe a sheression of pious and able ministers, Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Barnard filled the pulpit of the old parish. With the exception of a serious difficulty at this time rending asunder the West Par- i: h, - upon which time forbids me to enter, -- there had been progress and harmony in the religious affairs of the town. The standing order had held the field and ruled supreme. It was sufficiently entrenched in its conservatism to even refuse the celebrated George Whitefield the use of its meeting-house. If there were any thoughts of dissent they were cherished in sout; and with the prompt suppression of Joseph Peasley, to whom reforeure has been made, and afterwards of the son of the same name, when he asked the use of the meeting-house for some Quakers, there had been no symptoms of what was con- sidered choorder. But this quiet of uniformity in opinion and practice was in 1725 disturbed by the advent of Hezekiah Buddy, and, as makin, da rise of the first successful religious dissent, merits a brief notice. Smith was a gra luat of Prince- ton, a man of commanding presence, and a preacher of rare fervor and eloquence. At first all the pulpits of the standing order in town er county were cordially thrown open to him. At the West Parish, now pastorless as the result of Ino troubles, he was enthusiastically welcomed, and finally called. as the very man most likely to reunite the hostile factions. he was then that he felt compelled to avow his connection with a seet at that time everywhere spoken against,- the " Baptists." 'This announcement, of course, closed the existing parishes to bim. But many in the town had been too deeply moved to allow Mr. Saith to withdraw. They rallied around him and hung upon his ministrations of the word. Some of them, as Divine Providener ordered, were among the most respectable and wealthy people of the town, --- as James Duncan, Squire Samuel White, the three JJohn Whites, Deacon Whittier and others, -and they determined to form a society of their own. James Duncan furnished luis house (now the site of the Carrier Block on Main Street) for a meeting, Janu- ary 1, 1765, " where several friends met and agreed that night to begin a private society or meeting." h was a boll and
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aninous undertaking. They could get no incorporation, for the law did not recognize a Baptist society as entitled to any rights of property or existence. They were pioneers in the battle for larger religious freedom. They were at first subject of to much petty annoyance. It was some time before they could secure ex- emption from the regular parish tax. This was afterwards granted to communicants only, upon presentation of certificates then they were members of a regular Baptist congregation. However, they struggled through, worshipping in private houses till they could build their own. The church rapidly grew into a vigorous body, became the centre of a wonderful missionary zeal, and filled the wilderness of Maine and New Hampshire with churches. Mr. South Icame celebrated for his services in the Revolition as a chaplain and friend of Washington, and for his wisdom and weight in all town affans. When he died m 1805 he was followed to his grave with the tearful homage of all classes and opmicro;
The record of this period would scarcely be condete .. it! ont a passing reference to . sother society, different in . hasacter bat benevolent in purpose, which came into existence in 1768, - the Fire Club. With a membership origm dly limited to twenty -have though afterwards increased, it required a unani- mous vote to enter the favored circle. There are many who will still recall mong their household memories the vision of the leather buckets, brightly painted and lettered ; with the capa- cious bags, a yard and three-quarters in length, tightly rolled and in readiness for instant use, thrust into them ; the long fire pole, painted green, with its sharp metallic tip, -- all of which each miember was required to keep in a convenient place, and . pripped with which he must appear upon every emergency. The Inanane impulse, that in these simple communmies prompted all able-bodied men, in time of alarm, to spring to a neighbor's relief, was stimulated, in the case of the society. by the penalty of a fine of fifty cent, levied for non- tendance at a fire. The members had a watchword, changed from time to time, which all were forbidden to divulge under a penalty of thirty -lom cents For each offence. Besides rendering aid in times of his, which
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this society aimed to do in common with other similar organiza- tions, there was added to it a wholly anique provision, that of the recovery of stolen goods and the ferie ting out of thieves. Half of the members were required to draw tickets at the quarterly meetings, upon which were inscribed the different roads to be pursued in case of a theft. Each ticket holder, at the first report of a robbery, was to repair at once to the place where the thett had been committed, and then with all lispatch to pursue the road i.dicated upon his ticket, using the utmost diligence to capture the thief and recover the spoil. It was no easy matter lot a culprit to elude these extenq orized officers of the law, and so vigorously were its measures carried into effect that the so- divo soon became a terror to evil-doers. 'The actual work of the Fire Club ceased when by the growth and increasing needs of the town its functions passed to an organized fire department and police force ; but for many years after, the organization lived as a social institution and its annud sapper assived the friend- ships of the period and embalmed its memories.
The next decade of our history is taken up with the exciting events that preceded the first conflict of arms in the Revolution. Haverhill needed no direction or pressure from without to deter- min. ber action. The uprising of her people was spontaneous and decisive. A few days before the Stump Act was to take offret, October 14, 1765, a town meeting was called to voice the sentiments of the inhabitants. The letter of instructions ad dressed to their representative, Col. Richar I Saltonstall, then adopted, struck the key-note of uncompromising resistance to what they regarded as the exactions of the mother country. From that hour there was not an instant of wavering. As the contest waxed hotter, town meetings were multiplied. Joining with other towns in the Commonwealth. Haverhill abjured the use of tea, and by stringent resolutions refused to purchase any merchandise of any person, imported contrary to the agreement of the merchants of Boston and of the Cominental Congress. The great popularity and family traditions of Colonel Saltonstall could not save him when his convictions brought him into col- hsion with his townsmen, and under the stress of popular feeling
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against him he was constrained to become an exd. from home andl country. His brother, Dr. Nathaniel Salonstall, espoused the cause of the patriots and remained, until his death in 1815, a leading physician, respected and useful in the community. After the war he lived on Merrimack Street, in the line mansion built by him, and which has since been transferred with all its antique richness of proportion and adornment to the beautiful shore of Lake Saltonstall.
The patriotic fervor of Haverhill did not spend itself in resolutions. Committees of correspondence and inspection were appointed ; energetic measures were taken to provide ammuni- tion and muskets ; voluntary comributions were raised for the sufferces in Boston, made such by the closing of her port ; and though the town had already three efficient militin companies, another, composed of leading citizens, was organized, who regu- larby met for drill twice each weck. The first delegates from this town to the Provinid Congress nag mized at Salem in October, 1774, were Sarouel White and Joseph Hayn . Na- taniel Pea-lee Sargent and Jonathan Webster ropre ented the town in the second and third. Carrying out the instructions of the Cmgres, a company of minute men wis raised. Sixty- this . thates appear upon the roll, pledged to exercise them- selves in arms, and be ready to march at the first alarm. The impressive certainty that conflict was now inevitable gave to these preparations a terrible and solemn gravity. They were scarcely completed when the storm of war burst apon the land. The news that blood of patriots had been shed at Lexington reachel Haverhill about noon. The town had just passed through a great excitement incident to a destinetive fire, two days before, that destroyed all the buildings on the west side of Main Street, From what is now White's Corner to Court Street. The distress and loss, however, were forgotten in the emotions that these tidings awakened. From very quarter gathered the minute men, who were ready for the simmons.
" They left the ploughshare in the noakl, Then locks and herds worthom a foll And mustered in their simple dr ., With arms, to seek a stern tedie is.
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