USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Rowley > The tercentenary celebration of the town of Rowley, 1639-1939 > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14
In these extremely busy modern days of speed and jazz and beano and dog-tracks and what-not, days in which so many of our younger people and many of us who are older are very much alike in many disrespects, days in which we are doing various things, some wise and some very much otherwise, we do well when we pause and turn back the pages of history for a few moments, not only to read the facts recorded there, but also to learn the lessons of the past.
Rev. Ezekiel Rogers and his company had a very serious pur- pose in mind when they settled the old town of Rowley. They, and the first settlers of the other towns in Massachusetts Bay Colony, came to this new world to found a new nation, where they could enjoy a freedom they had never known in the Mother Country. They had no thought of selfish personal aggrandizement. They were building for the future, for their children and children's chlidren.
96
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
The brave men and women who founded the church here in Linebrook, were impelled by the same serious purpose. They also were building for the future, for those who were coming after them. They were men and women of indomitable courage and unfaltering faith.
Our Pilgrim ancestors, before they set foot on the land at Provincetown, drew up a legal document for their future govern- ment which has been called the Mayflower Compact. The first sentence in that compact reads, "In the name of God, Amen." Their more immediate descendants, after they had formed the govern- ment of these United States, put this motto on our national currency, "In God We Trust." The sentiment and the idealism expressed in those two sentences may be said to constitute the chief corner- stone of this glorious republic. Never before in the whole history of the world has any country enjoyed such a phenomenal growth and prosperity in such a short space of time, and the reason for this is directly traceable to the spiritual insight and wisdom in the hearts and minds of those men, which prompted them to adopt those two sentences as their ideal.
It was the same idealism, and these are the underlying prin- ciples upon which our pioneer ancestors laid the firm foundations of this church. Their whole attitude, and the spirit in which they lived and worked and died, can best be expressed, perhaps, in those two sentences. They stood firm for the right as God gave them to see the right. They lived in hard and rigorous times, but those were the times that made MEN. We people can hardly imagine the hardships, the sufferings, the privations they had to endure. They endured their trials with an admirable fortitude.
They were strong men and true; they lived true to the best they knew, which is more than we can always honestly say. They were men of clean hands and pure hearts, who dared much, who ventured greatly, who girded themselves with the whole armor of their God. They were men of sterling worth. They lived loyal to the royal within themselves.
In the New Testament there is a certain parable which has been wrongly called the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Our pastor, Mr. Bradford, gave it a far better name when he said it should be called
97
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
the Parable of the Forgiving Father. In that parable, after the young man who had been a prodigal had returned home, had con- fessed and been freely forgiven, his Father gave him three things -- the best robe, a ring and shocs. A minister, speaking to the gradu- ating class of Governor Dummer Academy, some twenty-five or thirty years ago, explained those three things in this way. He said, "In ancient times in Palestine, the best robe was worn by the favored son as an indication to the world that he was truly a sou OF his Father. The ring was worn as a symbol of the fact that he belonged TO his Father. And the shoes were the shoes of service FOR his Father.
After that young man had accepted those three things, he found himself equipped as it were, with a suit of invincible, invulnerable, impregnable armor which carried him through to ultimate victory. We today have the same beautiful privilege, to wear the Robe of Sonship, the Ring of Belonging, and the Shoes of Service, figura- tively speaking.
Lincoln lived like that. He wore those three things, albeit unconsciously, with a humble, quiet dignity, with fully justifiable pride. Several biographies have been written about him, and many have made a careful study of his career. I have often wondered how many, if any, of those books have freely acknowledged that, as the one real secret of Lincoln's greatness. He was almost, if not quite, the greatest of our Presidents. And after all, "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." Doesn't that one verse characterize Lincoln almost to perfection? Though he passed to the great Beyond far too soon, through no fault of his own, yet his spirit still remains with us.
That little group of Godly men and women, Rev. George Lesslie, Deacons Jonathan Burpee, and John Abbott, David Perley, Ebenezer Tenney, Joseph Metcalf and the others lived in like man- ner. They literally followed the scriptural injunction, "Come ye out from among them and be ye pure." When they established and organized this church, they became, so to speak, Princes among their fellow-men. When they admitted the women to membership, they made them Princesses among women; God's Noblemen and Noblewomen. They were living exponents of those intangible
98
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
values which make life most worth living at all, in this or in any age or generation; Truth, Honor, Integrity, Virtue and Moral Rectitude.
In their honor and to their memory, we do now dedicate 2 tablet of bronze, permanent and enduring. But we do more than that. We dedicate that tablet to the splendid type of Manhood and Womanhood which they represent to us. They have left to us a goodly heritage. We are enjoying the fruits of their labors. We are living witnesses for them. What we, the members of this church who are here present, do with our heritage today, will deter- mine what this church shall be tomorrow.
Our fathers fought the battle of life valiantly, and without complaint. They could rightly feel at the last, they had fought a good fight, they had finished their course, they had kept the faith ; henceforth there was laid up for them a crown of righteousness.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should dedicate that tablet and burying ground to their memory. It is entirely appro- priate that we should do this in connection with the Tercentenary celebration of the Town of Rowley.
We people in Linebrook and Rowley, and all good citizens of these United States are enjoying a wonderful freedom in this coun- try, that is very precious to us. Freedom to worship God, every man according to the dictates of his own conscience. Freedom of speech, of the press, of the ballot box, and all those others which are included in the Bill of Rights. Let us guard those freedoms well.
Then let us the living here dedicate, let us here rededicate, reconsecrate ourselves to whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report; to the virtuous, the praise-worthy things.
A certain poet once wrote, "I have a rendezvous with death. I shall not fail that rendezvous." It is true, men have called life's last experience death and they have been utterly wrong in thinking about it like that. We are travelling, not downward to the door of death, but ever onward and upward toward glorious, triumphant, eternal life. May we, each and every one, as we come to the end of our pathway in life, as we come face to face with life's last great adventure, may we, like the men and the women of olden
99
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
time, also be humbly worthy to receive our reward; a reward re- served for God's own elect. Simply this, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
"Here on this day, then, when we meet, These shades august to greet,
And sun us in their shining memory, Let us our vows record, Never by act or word To shift our shoulders from the weight They laid on us of Liberty.
Now, while their spirits gather near,
Let us from them take heart and cheer, And pledge our utmost will and skill High up to hold, with spirits bold, The task they planned we should fulfill.
No cravens recreant to our trust, No cowards shrinking from the fight,
But ready, through life's toil and dust To combat for the right.
Ready, with heart and hand, to strive To keep the ancient faith alive, And bear us, so that our New England name Through us, Shall never suffer shame." *
* Quoted from "Ode on the Anniversary of the Fifth Half Century of the Landing of Gov. John Endicott," by William W. Story. Deliv- ered before the Essex Institute Sept. 18, 1878, and now in the Institute library.
TABLET LESSLIE ROAD BURYING GROUND
Erected by Linebrook Parish and the Town of Rowley, 193). Standing, left to right: Hon. Cornelius F. Haley, Chair- man of Rowley Tercentenary Committee; Brainard C. Wallace, Chairman of Board of Selectmen of Ipswich; Miss Louise Tenney and Master Harrison E. Tenney, Jr., who unveiled tablet; Rev. J. Kenneth Clinton, pastor of First Congregational Church, Rowley; Mrs. Esther Tenney Hills, who read poem; Deacon Elmer M. Hills, of Linebrook Parish Church and Chair- man of their commitee, who delivered the address.
101
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
And now, as we unveil this tablet, "Erected by Linebrook Parish, the Town of Rowley, and Descendants of Those Buried Here," let us ever keep it "Sacred to the Memory of Rev. James Lesslie, 1763, his wife Margaret; James, son of Joseph Lesslie, 1756; Jonathan, son of Rev. George Lesslie, 1771; Ebenezer Tenney, 1795, his wife Ann, 1753; his wife Mary Woodbury; his wife. Moore ; his daughter Judith, 1753 ; his child, 1754 ; his son Ebenezer, 1757; his child, 1762; Jonathan Ellsworth, 1769; his wife Eunice Tenney, 1813; Joshua Goodwin, 1778; Eunice Tenney, 1789; Joseph Metcalf, 1761; his wife Sarah, 1757; his Negro boy Scipio; Deacon Moses Chaplin, 1811; his wife Hannah, 1807; their chil- dren Mary and Jeremy, and others, probably one hundred in all."
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them."
LESSLIE ROAD BURYING GROUND SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
REV. JAMES LESSLIE 1763, HIS WIFE MARGARET JAMES, SON OF JOSEPH LESSLIE 1756 JONATHAN, SON OF REV. GEORGE LESSLIE 1771 EBENEZER TENNEY 1795, HIS WIFE ANN 1753 HIS WIFE MARY WOODBURY, HIS WIFE MOORE HIS DAUGHTER JUDITH 1753, HIS CHILD 1754 HIS SON EBENEZER 1757, HIS CHILD 1762 JONATHAN ELLSWORTH 1769, HIS WIFE EUNICE TENNEY 1813 JOSHUA GOODWIN 1778, EUNICE TENNEY 1789 JOSEPH METCALF 1761, HIS WIFE SARAH 1757 HIS NEGRO BOY SCIPIO DEACON MOSES CHAPLIN 1811, HIS WIFE HANNAH 1807 THEIR CHILDREN MARY AND JEREMY
AND OTHERS, PROBABLY ONE HUNDRED IN ALL
Erected by Linebrook Parish, the Town of Rowley And Descendants of Those Buried Here 1939
102
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
THE LESSLIE ROAD BURYING GROUND ELMER M. HILLS, Chairman
The first record of the old Linebrook Parish Burying Ground is the article in the warrant for the Parish meeting of Nov. 30, 1749; "To see if ye Parish think it convenient to provide a burying place that may be convenient for the Parish." No vote is recorded on this article. At the Parish meeting of June 6, 1750, it was voted to exchange land with the Rev. George Lesslie. Dea. John Abbott, Dea. Jonathan Burpee and Mr. Thomas Potter were the commit- tee. They were to give a lease of land lying on the south side of the Meeting House to set his house on, and to take a lease from Mr. Lesslie of his land of the same value, at the westerly end of the Parish land; "and that each lease be for the space of nine hun- dred ninety and nine years." The committee reported its doings March 25, 1754, and were allowed two shillings for the charge of the lease.
The lease given to the Parish by Rev. Mr. Lesslie was not recorded and was lost for 144 years until 1897, when Mr. Martin Van Buren Perley, Linebrook historian, found it in a trunk of old papers. It was endorsed on the back, "George Lesslie's Quitclame to Linebrook Parish For Burying Ground." Mr. Perley wrote an article to the Ipswich Independent of April 1, 1897, describing the lease and giving a copy of it. The original lease dated July 1, 1753, is recorded in the Essex Institute, in Salem, Deeds Vol. 4 Page 5.
The land adjoining the burying ground was sold in 1922, when it became necessary for the Parish to establish its claim, and the bounds. The original lease was secured from Mr. Perley and recorded in the Registry of Deeds, Vol. 2535-Page 186. Careful search of deeds revealed that George Lesslie sold his land in 1780 to Elijah and Allen Foster, "being the piece of land I had in ex- change with Linebrook Parish, agreeable to the lease of said Parish." (Essex Deeds, 138-132.) Later deeds all had the same wording- "and by a piece of land formerly used as a burying ground." Mr. Newman Saunders, who had lived in the old Ellsworth Place (now owned by Mr. Wilson) located near the Meeting House or Ells- worth Road, showed the bounds to a committee of the Parish in
103
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
1924. The ground was surveyed by John T. Desmond of Haver- hill; the bounds were agreed to as correct by the Parish Commit- tee, the new owners of the adjoining property, the Chaplins, and by the surveyor. A plan was made and recorded, Essex Deeds, Plan Book 63-Plan 51. Mr. Saunders also made an affidavit of his knowl- edge of the bounds with the description, which is recorded Vol. 3187-420.
In Mr. Perley's article to the Ipswich Independent he said there were probably 100 graves in all in this burying ground. He gave the names of several, quoting Dea. J. H. Tenney of the Line- brook Church as saying his Great, Great, Grandfather Ebenezer, his three wives and several of his children were among the number. Mr. Henry A. Chaplin, of Rowley, told the Parish Committee that his ancestor Dea. Moses Chaplin of the Linebrook Church and his wife Hannah were buried there. Acting on this information Line- brook Parish in July 1939, appropriated $25 toward the expense of a bronze memorial tablet with the names, to be placed in the burying ground, "provided the Town of Rowley would appropriate an equal or larger amount."
A committee was appointed consisting of Dea. Elmer M. Hills, Chairman, Dea. O. M. Hills, Albert F. Tenney, Harrison E. Ten- ney, and David S. Perley. This committee met with the Rowley Tablet Committee and the Rowley Tercentenary Committee, and $50 was voted by the Rowley Committee.
The parish received contributions of $61 from Lesslie, Tenney, Ellsworth, Burpee descendants; $5 each from the Linebrook Sunday School and the Linebrook Social Committee. The tablet was cast by Albert Russell & Sons Co. of Newburyport, at a cost of $85. It was set in granite, which was placed in the burying ground by A. J. Barton and Son, of Ipswich, for $59.61, a total of $144.61.
Careful search was made by the Chairman of the Linebrook Committee for the names and dates of death, using Mr. Perley's article as a guide, in the Linebrook Church and Parish records; also in the Rowley and Ipswich vital records, the "Tenney Family Genealogy," "Early Settlers of Rowley," by Blodgett and Jewett, "James Lesslie of Topsfield and Some of His Descendants," by M. V. B. Perley, and his other historical writings, all of which are in the Essex Institute Library in Salem. Several other histories,
104
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
biographies and genealogies were consulted; Gage's "History of Rowley," Felt's "History of Ipswich," Water's "History of Ips- wich," M. V. B. Perley's "History of Ipswich," (published in Hurd's "History of Essex County"). The inscription as it ap- pears on the tablet was finally completed.
Dedication exercises were held Friday, August 25, 1939. The address of dedication was delivered by Dea. Elmer M. Hills, of the Linebrook Church. The tablet was unveiled by Master Harri- son E. Tenney, Jr., and Miss Louise Tenney, age six and seven, respectively, children of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison E. Tenney, of Rowley. They are descendants of Thomas Tenney, one of the first settlers of Rowley, and of Ebenezer Tenney, one of the founders and organizers of Linebrook Church. Thomas Tenney was one of Rev. Ezekiel Rogers' company. About 80 or 90 were present. The exercises were held in connection with the Rowley Tercentenary Celebration. Among those present was Mr. Bernard S. Lesslie, of Beverly, a descendant of Rev. James and Rev. George Lesslie of Linebrook, and Mrs. Lesslie. Others present included Senator Cornelius F. Haley, of Rowley, chairman of the Rowley Committee, the pastors of the Rowley and Ipswich Congregational Churches, officials of Rowley and Ipswich, visitors from other towns and states who were interested in the Rowley Tercentenary, and especially in this tablet dedication. It was referred to by many as unique, it being in a burying ground which had been almost for- gotten for nearly 200 years.
It was named Lesslie Road Burying Ground. It is near the site of the first Linebrook Meeting House, erected in 1743. The location is clearly shown on the map of Rowley, 1830, in the County Engineer's Office, in Salem. The name Lesslie Road is shown on Town Maps in the Registry of Deeds, about 1870, and that name was officially voted by the Town of Ipswich, in 1937.
(Grateful acknowledgement and appreciation is here made of the helpful suggestions received from Mr. and Mrs. Amos E. Jewett, Miss Marion Todd, Mr. John A. Marshall, and Senator Cornelius F. Haley, of Rowley; Mr. M. V. B. Perley's daughter Miss Edith F. Perley, of Danvers; Mr. William H. Lavalette, of Malden, form- erly Deacon of Linebrook Church; to the Town of Rowley, and to all others who have in any way assisted. - Elmer M. Hills, Chairman.)
105
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
The afternoon sports program was postponed until Saturday morning due to inclement weather.
A large number visited the Lambert Homestead, the home of Mrs. Knight Dexter Cheney on Main street, and the Platts house, the home of Lyman B. Perley on South Main street Friday after- noon when open house was held.
COLONIAL BALL
The Colonial Ball on the Common in the evening of Friday, August 25, sponsored by Rowley Grange with Mrs. Edith L. Dag- gett, chairman of the committee, was certainly an outstanding feature of our Tercentenary Celebration. The unusual setting within a tent, brightly illuminated upon the Village Green with a canvas floor, music by one of the leading orchestras of eastern Massachu- setts and a director of exceptional ability as well as the large gath- ering assembled and the many brilliant and showy costumes com- bined to make a scene long to be remembered and probably never before equalled in the Town's history.
The grand march at the opening of the ball was led by Senator Cornelius F. Haley and Mrs. Frederick J. Daggett, chairman of the ball committee; followed by John A. Marshall, Clerk of the Committee, and Mrs. Marshall; Frank W. Fletcher, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and Mrs. Fletcher; Job B. McCormick, Worthy Master of Rowley Grange, and Mrs. McCormick, and a long line of people prominent in the affairs of Rowley and neigh- boring communities. Here was seen a brilliant array of Civil War belles, accompanied by men in stovepipes, tails and high boots. There were hoops, panniers, bustles, pantalet dresses, lace caps of the Martha Washington period, Indian chiefs with gay feathered head- dresses, Revolutionary generals, Puritan soldiers and many others.
Albert E. Haynes, dancing master of Henry Ford at the Way- side Inn, Sudbury, directed the grand march and all the old-
106
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
fashioned dances. The presentations were made by Mrs. Daggett, who was costumed in a black spangled hoop dress of unusual width. The music was provided by Frank Dowey's orchestra from the Inn at Sudbury. Dancing was on a canvas floor under a canopy deco- rated. with Japanese lanterns. Dainty refreshments provided by the chairman of the dance committee, Mrs. Daggett, were served in a tent adjoining, adding a pleasing feature to the occasion.
Garbed as a Colonial soldier of America in a light blue uni- form, scarlet trimmed, with pale yellow breeches and cocked hat, Francis E. Harriman of Groveland was selected as the best looking male dancer at the ball. With Miss Helen Churchill, of Portland, Me., who was judged the prettiest girl, they donned the royal robes of scarlet and ermine to receive the homage of the assembled gathering.
Although the Rowley dance team won two of the old-fashioned dance contests, the large trophy for excellence in the entire competi- tion went to the team from Hampton Falls, which was the winner in a similar contest at the Hampton tercentenary a year ago. Smaller trophies for both the Lady Washington reel and Hull's Victory were awarded to Hampton Falls while the Rowley team took the honors in the Fisher's hornpipe and the chorus jig.
The winning team was composed of Judge and Mrs. Ralph O. Bragg of Seabrook, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Janvrin, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Batchelder, Myron Brown, Mrs. Florence Batchelder, Mrs. Grace Trafton, Robert Van Horne, John Irving and Mrs. Edwina McConnell, all of Hampton Falls. Serving as judges were: Paul Reddy of Ipswich, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Moody of Newbury.
Dancing in the Rowley team were: Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Devarenne of Danvers, Daniel Kennedy of Ipswich and Mrs. Edward MacDonald, Hallett Pickard of Ipswich and Miss Martha Mac- Donald, Lewis Henderson and Miss Elizabeth Dummer, Miss Stacia Egounis and Melvin Haley of Rowley. Mr. and Mrs. F. Payson Todd danced with the group in one prize-winning number, while Mr. and Mrs. B. Harris Hardy were in the other.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles N. Pickard danced with the five couples in another of the contests.
107
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Devarenne of Danvers won the prize waltz contest. In her green satin, panniered costume, with high white wig, Mrs. Devarenne also captured top honors for the pret- tiest costume. Her husband was garbed in yellow satin brocade with lace ruffles, knee breeches and white wig.
Runners-up in the waltz were Clarence N. Pickard of Salis- bury, who was attired as a Puritan settler, with his sister, Mrs. Ruth Pickard Faulkingham, of Rowley, in a green satin hoop skirt, and Daniel Kennedy of Ipswich with Mrs. Edward McDonald of Row- ley, both of whom wore the colorful satins of the post-Revolutionary period.
Second prize for the women's costumes was awarded to Miss Stacia Egounis of Rowley and third to Mrs. Fred R. Segee, of Rowley. For his unique attire as a Sioux Indian, George. Patter- son of Ipswich won first prize among the men. Judges for the cos- tumes were Mrs. Hugh U. Erwing of Merrimac, Mrs. David Knight of Newburyport, and Mrs. Ruth Seaborg of Ipswich.
108
1639-Rowley Tercentenary Celebration-1939
SATURDAY
T HE sports program, sponsored by the Rowley Community Club under the direction of Randolph W. Emerson, which had been postponed Friday afternoon because of the shower, was held on the Common Saturday morning. The first feature was a doll carriage parade which was entered by eleven little girls with their doll carriages, including Norma Perley with a doll whose large hoop skirt covered the carriage; Jean Ann Manthorn, dressed as a Puri- tan, whose carriage was very cleverly decorated to represent the ship "John" of London; Jean Goodwin with an old-fashioned doll and carriage; Helen Streiff with red, white and blue decorations ; Elizabeth and Joan Jedrey with old-fashioned carriage; Roberta Watts with red, white and blue decorations; Betty Ann Stevens, red, white and blue; Alice Burke, old-fashioned carriage; Shirley Chap- man, pink and white costume and carriage; Barbara Blatchford, dressed in a blue and white hoop skirt costume; Mary Kent with heart decorations. The first prize was awarded to Jean Ann Man- thorn, the second to Shirley Chapman and the third to Alice Burke. The judges were: Mrs. G. Carleton Brown, Mrs. Stanley Gregory and Miss Ruth Gilday.
The other prizes were awarded as follows: 50 yard dash for boys under eight, first Floyd Maker, second Payson Todd, third Daniel Barrett; 50 yard dash for girls under twelve, first Delberta Leavitt, second Marie Peters, third Norma Hussey; 50 yard dash for boys twelve and under, first Morris Stevens, second Robert Cressey ,third Robert Burke; 100 yard dash for girls twelve and over, first Thelma Burns, second Marie Peters, third Evelyn Seaver ; 100 yard dash for boys over twelve, first William Mehaffey, second Harlan Savage, third Morris Stevens; bag race for girls twelve and over, first Madelyn Ricker, second Corrine Johnson, third Thelma Burns; bag race for boys under twelve, first Robert MacRae, second Robert Blatchford, third Winfield Chapman; bag race for boys twelve and over, first William Mehaffey, second Thomas Burke, Jr., third Donald Cressey; three-legged race for girls, first Thelma Burns and Vida Porter, second Lorraine MacDonald and Norma Flynn, third Elizabeth Jedrey and Phyllis Maker; three-legged race
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.