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"The History of Lynn including Nahant" by Alonzo Lewis, - The Lynn Bard

Chapter XI Politics and Religious Opinions - Methodists - Shipwreck - Total Eclipse - Academy - Embargo - War - Moll Pitcher - Sea Serpent - Frosted Trees - Antimasonry - Shower of Meteors - Universalists - Episcopal Church - Eastern Rail-road - Woman - Great Storms - High Tides - Comet - Sagamore Hall burnt.  1784 to 1844. The good old times - all times when old are good - Are Gone. --                                                                                                           BYRON.

     The whole political course of our country has been changed by one great event.  We are no longer the subjects of a foreign power.  A new era has dawned upon us. The days of three-cornered hats and three-cornered swords are gone.  Our governors are no longer appointed in England; our civil policy is no longer regulated by her laws.  We stand alone, a nation among nations.  Our thousands of little democracies, scattered throughout the wide extent of our almost boundless country, constitute one grand Republic, which is now trying, before the world, the great problem, whether a free people can govern themselves.  
     For more than twenty years from the adoption of the State constitution, in 1780, the people of Lynn do not appear to have been much agitated by any conflict of political opinions.  The insurrection in the central counties of Massachusetts, in 1786, was the first event which disturbed the public peace; and in the following year, a company of twenty-three men from Lynn, went voluntarily to suppress the rebellion.  The administration of the national government, from its commencement in 1789, seems to have been generally approved, until the year 1794, when a treaty of amity was concluded with England, by John Jay, Chief justice of the United States, with the sanction of President Washington.  This treaty served to evince the existence, throughout the union, of two great parties, who were separated by their different views of the nature and extent of republican government.  One of these parties, denominated Federalists, contended that the President, with the consent of two thirds of the Senate, had the constitutional right, in the most extended sense, to make foreign alliances, on terms the most favorable to the public welfare.  The other party, styled Democrats, considered this power to be so restricted, as not to infringe the particular rights of any State.  The principle of one party had for its object, the greatest good of the greatest number - of the other, the greatest good of each individual.  Both these parties were republican in their views; and were undoubtedly influenced by a pure regard to the general good; though they were reciprocally regarded as being hostile to it.
     In 1781, all the votes in the town, which were forty-four, were given for John Hancock, the first governor under the new constitution.  The smallest number was in 1784; when there were only twenty-seven votes for governor, and six for senators.  There were, indeed, many more voters in the town, but they were so well satisfied with the wisdom of their rulers, that they gave themselves no anxiety on the subject.  But causes of dissatisfaction gradually arose; and the spirit of party began to be more plainly manifested in 1800, when there were one hundred and thirteen votes for Caleb Strong, the federal governor, and sixty-eight for Elbridge Gerry, the democratic candidate.  The political excitement, however, appears to have been very small, and conducted altogether without animosity.  There was but one list of senators brought forward till 1801, and the federalists retained the ascendancy until 1804.  After the death of Washington, and the elevation of Mr. Jefferson to the presidential chair, the democrats in this town began more ostensibly to increase, and in 1804 manifested a decided superiority.  At the choice of governor, 145 votes were given for Caleb Strong, and 272 for James Sullivan; and this year, for the first time, a democratic representative was chosen.  The parties now began to regard each other with manifestations of decided hostility, and the political arena presented a field of civil warfare without bloodshed.  The most strenuous exertions were made by one party to maintain the ascendancy, and by the other to regain it.  No man was permitted to remain neutral; and if any one, presuming on his independence, ventured to form an opinion of his own, and to regard both parties as passing the bounds of moderation, he was regarded as an enemy by both.  This rage of party continued several years, and was sometimes so violent as to be in danger of degenerating into animosity and personal hatred.  

     1784.    Rev. Obadiah Parsons was installed Pastor of the First Parish, on the fourth of February.  On the twenty-eighth of October, General Lafayette passed through the town, on a visit to the eastward. 

     1786.    In April, Benjamin Ingalls, in throwing an anchor from a boat in the harbor, was drawn overboard and drowned. 
     The first rock was split in Lynn, this year, by John Gore.  Before this, the people had used rough rock for building. 
     On the ninth of December, there was a very great snow; nearly seven feet deep on a level.  Sparhawk.

     1789.    General Washington passed through Lynn in October.  The inhabitants were greatly delighted to see him; and the old Boston road was thronged with people, who came forth to salute him as he proceeded to Salem. 

     1791.    Until this year, there were but two religious denominations in Lynn - the First Congregational Church and the Society of Friends.  This year the First Methodist Society was organized.  The Rev. Jesse Lee, a preacher of that persuasion, came to Lynn on the fourteenth of December previous, and was so successful in preaching at private houses, that on the twentieth of February a society was formed; and on the twenty-first of June a house of worship was raised, which was dedicated on the twenty-sixth of the same month.  This was the first Methodist meeting-house in Massachusetts.  Several members of the First Congregational Church united with this society; among whom were the two deacons, who took with them the vessels of the communion service.  These vessels consist of four large silver tankards, eleven silver cups, and one silver font for baptism; presented to the church by John Burrill, Theophilus Burrill, and John Breed.  The removal of this plate occasioned a difference between the societies, and the Congregational church was compelled to borrow vessels, for the communion, from the church at Saugus.  The deacons afterward offered to return one half and in prospect of a prosecution they relinquished the whole.  It is a fact worthy of notice, that the First Congregational church, which had opposed and persecuted the Quakers and the Baptists, was at one time so reduced, that only three male members remained.  In 1794, this church invited those of its members who had seceded to the Methodist Society, to be reunited; and within a few years, one of the deacons and several of the members returned.  The first stationed minister of the Methodists was Rev. Amos G. Thomson.  The frequent changes of the ministers of the persuasion, render it inconvenient to keep an account of them.  They are regarded as belonging to the Conference, or society at large; and, like the apostles, they 'have no certain dwelling place.'  May their rest be in heaven! 
     The eighteenth of December was the coldest day known for many years.  The thermometer was twenty degrees below zero.

     1792.    Rev. Obadiah Parsons relinquished his connexion with the First Parish on the sixteenth of July.  He was born at Gloucester, graduated at Cambridge in 1768, and was installed at Lynn, February 4, 1784, where he preached eight years.  He returned to Gloucester, where he died in December, 1801.  His first wife was Elizabeth Wigglesworth; his second, Sally Coffin.  He had nine children; Elizabeth W., William, Sally C., William, Sally C., Obadiah, Polly, Harriet, and Sally. 
     The ship Commerce, of Boston, was wrecked on the coast of Arabia, on the tenth of July.  One of the crew was James Larrabee, of Lynn, who suffered almost incredible hardships, being robbed by the Bedouins, and compelled to travel hundreds of miles over the burning sands, where he saw his companions daily perishing by hunger, thirst, and heat.  He finally arrived at Muscat, where he was relieved and sent home by the English consul.  Of thirty-four men, only eight survived.
     On the tenth of August, Joshua Howard, aged twenty-nine years, went into the water, after laboring hard upon the salt marsh, and was immediately chilled and drowned. 

     1793.    This year the post office was established at Lynn, at the corner of Boston and Federal streets.  Col. James Robinson waes the first postmaster.
     A boat, containing five persons, was overset, near the mouth of Saugus river, on the fourteenth of December, and three persons drowned.  These were John Burrill, aged 67, William Whittemore, aged 27, and William Crow, aged 15 years.  They had been on an excursion of pleasure to the Pines; the afternoon was pleasant, and as they were returning, the boat was struck by a squall, which frightened them, and caused them to seek the shore, which they probably would have gained, had not one of them jumped upon the side of the boat, which caused it to be overset.  Two of them swam to the shore in safety.  Mr. Burrill and the boy also gained the beach, but died in a few minutes.  
     Dr. John Flagg died on the twenty-eighth of May.  He was a son of Rev. Ebenezer Flagg, of Chester, N. H., born in 1743, and graduated at Cambridge in 1761.  In 1769, he came to Lynn, where his prudence and skill soon secured him the confidence of the people.  He was chosen a member of the Committee of Safety, in 1775, and received a commission as Colonel.  His wife was Susanna Fowle, and he had one daughter, Susanna, who married Dr. James Gardner. 

     1794.    On the seventeenth of May, there was a great frost.  Rev. Thomas Cushing Thatcher was ordained minister of the First Parish, on the thirteenth of August. A new school-house was this year built by a few individuals, and purchased by the town.  $666 were granted for the support of schools.
     In the prospect of a war with France, the government of the United States required an army of eighty thousand men to be in preparation.  Seventy-five men were detached from Lynn.  The town gave each of them twenty-three shillings, and voted to increase their wages to ten dollars a month. 
     A child of Mr. Eli Newman, named David, aged three years, was drowned, on the nineteenth of October.

     1795.    In a great storm, on the night of the ninth of December, the Scottish Brig Peggy, Captain John Williamson, from Cape Breton, was wrecked near the southern end of Lynn Beach.  She was laden with dried fish, consigned to Thomas Amory, of Boston.  There were twelve men on board, only one of whom, Hugh Cameron, of Greenock, in Scotland, escaped.  He was ordered into the long boat, to make fast the tackle, when the same wave separated it from the vessel, and swept his unfortunate comrades from their last hold of life.  The vessel was completely wrecked, being dashed to pieces upon the hard sand, and the fragments of the vessel, the cargo, and the crew, were scattered in melancholy ruin along the beach.  The bodies of eight of the drowned men were recovered, and on the eleventh, they were buried from the First Parish meeting-house; where an affecting sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Thatcher, from Job 1:19, 'And I only am escaped alone !'  During the discourse, Hugh Cameron stood in the centre aisle. 

     1798.    A child of Mr. Daniel R. Witt, named Abigail, was drowned on the 26th of July.  As several persons were sailing in a boat, in Saugus river, on the 25th of August, a gun was accidentally discharged, and a son of Mr. John Ballard, named Amos, eleven years of age, was instantly killed.
    
     1799. A barn, belonging to Mr. Micajah Newhall on the south side of the common, was struck by lightning, about noon, on the second of August, and burned, with a quantity of hay and grain, and one of his oxen.

     1800.    Thle memory of Washington was honored by a procession and eulogy, on the 13th of January.  He died on the 14th of December previous.  The people assembled at the school house; the scholars walked first, with crape on their arms, followed by a company of militia, with muffled drums, the municipal officers and citizens. The eulogy was pronounced by Rev. Thomas C. Thacher, at the First Congregational Meeting House.  A funeral sermon, on the same occasion, was preached by Rev. William Guirey, at the First Methodist Meeting House. 
     On the afternoon of Sunday, March 1st, there was an earthquake.  
     On the 11th of June, Mr. Samuel Dyer, a gentleman from Boston, was drowned in Humfrey's Pond, at Lynnfield. 
     On the 26th of July, Mr. Nathaniel Fuller, aged 38 years, was drowned from a fishing boat, near Nahant.
     The ship William Henry, of Salem, owned by Hon. William Gray, was wrecked on an island of ice, on the 1st of May.  Three of the crew were John Newhall, James Parrott, and Bassett Breed, of Lynn.  They launched the long boat; and the whole crew, consisting of fifteen persons, leaped into it.  They saved nothing but the compass, the captain's trunk, an axe, and a fishing line.  For six days they had no water but a small quantity which had fallen from the clouds, and laid in the hollow of an island of salt water ice.  On the fourth day, they caught a fish, which some of them devoured raw, but others were too faint with their long fast to swallow any.  When the storm and fog cleared up, they went ashore at Newfoundland, and the next morning found their boat stove and filled with water.  They subsisted three days on sea peas, thistles, and cranberries.  Several of the crew were unable to walk; but having repaired their boat, they put to sea, and were discovered by a vessel containing four men, who at first would afford them no relief, but after much entreaty threw them a rope, and they arrived at St. John, where the American consul furnished them with a passage home. 
     Previous to the year 1800, there were only three houses on Nahant, owned by Breed, Hood, and Johnson.  This year a large house was erected on the western part of Nahant, as a hotel, by Capt. Joseph Johnson. 

     1801. Theophilus Ingalls, aged 18 years, was killed at Portsmouth on the 8th of October, by falling from the foretop of the brig Traveller, and breaking his skull on the deck.
     A very brilliant meteor, half the size of the full moon, appeared in the northwest, on the evening of Friday, October, 16th. 

     1802.    Rev. John Carnes died on the 20h of October, aged 78 years.  He was born at Boston in 1724, graduated in 1742, was minister at Stoneham and Rehoboth, and chaplain in the army of the Revolution.  At the close of the war he came to Lynn, received a commission as justice of the peace, was nine times elected as a representative, and in 1788, was a member of the Convention to ratify the Constitution of the United States.  He was an active and useful citizen.  He married Mary, daughter of John Lewis, resided in Boston street, and had two children, John and Mary.
    
     1803.    Rev. Joseph Roby, pastor of the Congregational Church in Saugus, died on the last day of January, aged 79 years.  He was born at Boston, in 1724, graduated in 1742, and was ordained minister of the third parish of Lynn, now the first parish of Saugus, 1752.  He preached fifty - one years.  He was an excellent scholar, a pious and venerable man, and was highly esteemed for his social virtues.  He published two Fast Sermons, one in 1781, the other in 1794.  He married Rachel Proctor, of Boston, and had seven children; Joseph, Rachel, Mary, Henry, Thomas, Elizabeth and Sarah. [
     The ship Federal George, of Duxbury, sailed from Boston in February, bound to Madeira, with a cargo of flour and corn.  In the number of the crew were three men from Lynn, whose names were Bassett Breed, Parker Mudge, and Jonathan Ward.  In the midst of the Atlantic they were overtaken by a great storm, which, on the 22d, capsized the vessel, carried away her masts, and bowsprit, and when it subsided, left the deck two feet beneath the water.  The crew, which consisted of seven men, remained lashed upon the windlass for twenty-four days.  Their sustenance, for the first part of the time, was a small piece of meat, and a box of candles, which floated up from the hold.  They afterwards succeeded in obtaining a bag of corn, and some flour soaked with salt water.  Their allowance of drink, at first, was a coffee-pot cover full of water twice a day.  This was afterwards reduced to one half, and then to one third.  On the 18th of March, they were relieved by the Duke of Kent, an English merchant ship, returning from the South Sea.  When they were taken from the wreck, they had but one quart of water left. 
     On Sunday, the 8th of May, a snow storm commenced, and continued about seven hours.  The snow was left upon the ground to the depth of one inch.  The apple trees were in blossom at the time.
     On the eighth of July, Mr. William Cushman, aged 23, a workman on the Lynn Hotel, was drowned from a raft of timber, in Saugus river.
     On Sunday, the 10th of July, about three of the clock in the afternoon, a house in Boston street was struck by lightning, and Mr. Miles Shorey and his wife were instantly killed.  The bolt appeared like a large ball of fire.  It struck the western chimney, and then, after descending several feet, separated.  One branch melted a watch which hung over the chamber mantel, passed over the cradle of a sleeping infant, covering it with cinders, and went out at the north chamber window.  The other branch descended with the chimney, and when it reached the chamber floor, separated into two branches, above the heads of the wife and husband, who were passing at that instant from the parlor to the kitchen.  One part struck Mrs. Shorey on the side of her head, left her stocking on fire, and passed into the ground.  The other part entered Mr. Shorey's bosom, passed down his side, melted the buckle of his shoe, and went out at one of the front windows.  There were four families in the house, which contained, at the time, nineteen persons, several of whom were much stunned.  One man, who stood at the eastern door, was crushed to the floor by the pressure of the atmosphere.  When the people entered the room in which Mr. Shory and his wife lay, they found two small children endeavoring to awaken their parents.  An infant, which Mrs. Shory held in her arms, when she was struck, was found with its hair scorched, and its little finger nails slightly burned.  She is yet living, the wife of Mr. Samuel Farrington.  Mrs. Shorey was a native of New Hampshire, twenty-nine years of age.  Mrs. Love Shory, aged twenty-eight years, was a daughter of Mr. Allen Breed, of Lynn.  On the next day they were buried.  The coffins were carried side by side, and a double procession of mourners, of a great length, followed the bodies to their burial in one grave.
     On the next Sabbath, a funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Thomas Cushing Thacher, at the First Congregational Meeting House, from Job xxxvii: 2, 3, 4.  At the close of the service, a house in Market street, owned by Mr. Richard Pratt, was struck by lightning.  It descended the chimney, separated into three branches, did considerable damage to the house, and left Mr. Pratt senseless on the floor for several minutes.
     Within three weeks, ending on the 16th of August, twenty-three of the inhabitants of Lynn died.
     On Sunday, the 28th of August, at one o'clock in the morning, the hotel on the western part of Nahant, owned by Captain Joseph Johnson, took fire and was consumed, with all its contents.  The family were awakened by the crying of a child, which was stifling with the smoke, and had just time to escape with their lives.  A black man, who slept in the upper story, saved himself by throwing a feather bed from the window, and jumping upon it.
     On the 8th of September, John Ballard, John Pennerson, and his son, went out on a fishing excursion.  On the next day, the boat came ashore at Nahant, with her sails set, the lines out for fishing, and food ready cooked.  Nothing more was ever heard of the crew; but as Mr. Pennerson was a Frenchman, and as a French vessel had been seen that day in the bay, it was conjectured that they were taken on board and carried to France.
     On Thursday, the 22d of September, the Salem Turnpike was opened and began to receive toll.  The Lynn hotel was built this year.  The number of shares in this turnpike was twelve hundred, and the original cost was $189.000.  This road will become the property of the Commonwealth, when the proprietors shall have received the whole cost, with twelve per cent interest; and the bridge over Mystic river, when seventy years shall be accomplished.  This turnpike, for nearly four miles, passes over a tract of salt marsh, which is frequently covered by the tide.  When it was first projected, many persons esteemed it impracticable to build a good road on such a foundation. One person testified that he had run a pole down to the depth of twenty-five feet.  Yet this turnpike proves to be one of the most excellent roads in America.  The post office was removed to the west end of the common. 

     1804.    This year a powder house was built, near High Rock, at an expense of one hundred and twenty dollars. 
     On the fourth of August, the body of a woman was found in the canal, on the north side of the turnpike, a short distance west of Saugus bridge.  She was ascertained to have been a widow Currel, who was traveling from Boston to Marblehead.  The manner of her death was unknown.
     Rev. William Frothingham was ordained minister of the third parish, now Saugus, on the 26th of September.  He continued to perform the duties of that office till the year 1817, when he was dismissed on his own request.
     One of the greatest storms ever known in New England commenced on Tuesday morning, the 9th of October.  The rain fell fast, accompanied by thunder.  At four in the afternoon the wind became furious, and continued with unabated energy till the next morning.  This was probably the severest storm after that of August, 1635.  The damage occasioned by it was very great.  Buildings were unroofed, barns, chimneys, and fences were blown down, and orchards greatly injured.  The chimney of the school-house on the western part of the Common, fell through the roof, in the night, carrying the bench, at which I had been sitting a few hours before, into the cellar.  Many vessels were wrecked, and in several towns the steeples of meeting-houses were broken off, and carried to a great distance.  The number of trees uprooted in the woodlands was beyond calculation.  Thousands of the oldest and hardiest sons of the forest, which had braved the storms of centuries, were prostrated before it, and the woods throughout were strewed with the trunks of fallen trees, which were not gathered up for many years.  Some have supposed that a great storm, at an early period, may have blown down the trees on the marshes, but it could not have buried them several feet deep; and trees have been found thus buried. 

     1805.    For one hundred and seventy-three years, from the building of the first parish meeting-house, the people had annually assembled in it, for the transaction of their municipal concerns.  But this year, the members of that parish observing the damage which such meetings occasioned to the house, and believing that, since the incorporation of other parishes, the town had no title in it, refused to have it occupied as a town-house.  This refusal occasioned much controversy between the town and parish, and committees were appointed by both parties to accomplish an adjustment.  An engagement was partially made for the occupation of the house, on the payment of twenty-eight dollars annually; but the town refused to sanction the agreement, and the meetings were removed to the Methodist meeting-house, on the eastern part of the Common.
     The Lynn Academy was opened on the 5th of April, under the care of Mr. William Ballard.  A bell was presented to this institution by Col. James Robinson.
     An earthquake happened on the 6th of April, at fifteen minutes after two in the afternoon.
     On the 11th of May, Mr. John Legree Johnson's house, on the east end of the Common, was struck by lightning.
     A society of Free Masons was constituted on the 10th of June, by the name of Mount Carmel Lodge.
     On the 24th of July, Mr. Charles Adams fell from the rocks at Nipper Stage, on Nahant, and was drowned. 

     1806.    A total eclipse of the sun happened on Monday, the 16th of June.  It commenced a few minutes after ten in the forenoon, and continued about two hours and a half.  The sun rose clear, and the morning was uncommonly pleasant.  As the eclipse advanced, the air became damp and cool, like the approach of evening.  The birds at first flew about in astonishment, and then retired to their roosts, and the stars appeared.  The shadow of the moon was seen traveling across the earth from west to east; and at the moment when the last direct ray of the sun was intercepted, all things around appeared to waver, as if the earth was falling from its orbit.  Several persons fainted, and many were observed to take hold of the objects near them for support.  The motion of the spheres was distinctly perceptible, and the whole system appeared to be disordered.  It seemed as if the central orb of light and animation was about to be forever extinguished, and creation was returning to its original nonentity.  The most unreflecting mind was made sensible of its dependence, and the soul involuntarily sought the protection of its Maker.  The total darkness endured about three minutes. When the sun came forth from his obscurity, it was with overwhelming lustre; the dreadful silence which had spread its dominion over the universe, was broken; the cocks began to crow, the birds renewed their songs, and man and nature seemed to rejoice, as if returning to existence, from which they had been shut out by the unwonted darkness.
     The anniversary of American Independence was this year publicly celebrated in Lynn, for the first time.  As the spirit of party was exercising its unabated influence, the inhabitants could not unite in performing the honors of the day, and made two processions.  The Federalists assembled at the First Congregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered by Mr. Hosea Hildreth, preceptor of the academy; and the Democrats met at the First Methodist meeting-house, where an oration was pronounced by Dr. Peter G. Robbins.  The Democrats dined at the hotel, and the Federalists in the hall of the academy.
      
          And such regard for freedom there was shown,
          That either party wished her all their own! 

     1807.    The town, having determined that no person who was not an inhabitant should have the privilege of taking any sand, shells, or sea manure from the Lynn beaches, this year prosecuted several of the inhabitants of Danvers, for trespassing against this order.  The decision of the court established the right of the town to pass such a vote and left it in legal possession of all the natural treasures which the sea might cast upon its shores. 
     The depression of commerce and manufactures, at the close of this year, was very great.  This was principally occasioned by the state of affairs in Europe, and the spoliation of property in American vessels, by the governments of France and England, which, in the prosecution of their hostilities, had made decrees affecting neutral powers.  On the twenty-second of December, Congress passed an act of embargo, by which all the ports of the United States were closed against the clearance of all vessels. 

     1808.    The enforcement of the embargo law occasioned great suffering throughout the Union, particularly in commercial places.  The harbors were filled with dismantled vessels, which lay rotting at the wharves.  Thousands of seamen were thrown out of employment, the price of provisions was enhanced, and the spirit of desolation seemed to be spreading her dark wings over the land.  While the Democrats were disposed to regard this state of things as requisite to preserve the dignity of the nation and the energy of government, the Federalists viewed it as an impolitic, unjust, and arbitrary measure, by which the interests of commerce were sacrificed to the will of party.  The spirit of opposition, in this difference of opinion, was put forth in its utmost strength.  At the election in April, the greatest number of votes was produced which had at this time been given in the town; of which 418 were for James Sullivan, and 273 for Christopher Gore.  On the second of May, the people assembled for the choice of representatives.  The Democratic party voted to choose three, and the Federalists were inclined to send none.  As there was some difficulty in ascertaining the vote, it was determined that the people should go out of the house, and arrange themselves on different sides of the common, to be counted.  The Democrats went out, but a part of the Federalists remained, and took possession of the house.  They chose a town clerk, to whom the oath of office was administered, voted to send no representative, and made a record of their proceeding in the town book.  The other party then returned, and chose three representatives.  Several of the principal Federalists were afterward prosecuted for their infringement of a legal town meeting; but as it appeared on examination, that none of the town meetings had been legal for many years, because not called by warrant, they were exonerated.  On the twenty ninth of August, a meeting was held to petition the president to remove the embargo; but the town voted that such a proceeding would be highly improper, and passed several resolutions, approving the measures of the administration.  On the following day, the Federalists prepared a memorial, expressing their disapprobation of the embargo, and requesting its repeal, which was transmitted to the President.  The feelings of both parties were raised to a degree of excitement, which could only be sustained by political events of unusual occurrence.
     On the twentieth of September, the house of widow Jerusha Williams, in Market street, was struck by lightning.  On the same afternoon, the lightning fell on a flock of sheep, at Nahant, which were gathered beside a stone wall for shelter, and killed eighteen of them.
     On the night of Monday, October thirty-first, Mr. Theophilus Breed's barn, on the south side of the common, was burned; and on the night of the following Thursday, a barn belonging to Mr. Jacob Chase, on the opposite side of the common, was consumed; both of them having been set on fire by a mischievous boy.
     A company of Artillery was incorporated by the General Court, on the eighteenth of November, and two brass field pieces allowed them. 
     This year Benjamin Merrill, Esq., came into town.  He was the first lawyer at Lynn. 

     1809.    The inhabitants petitioned the General Court for an act to establish the proceedings of the town in their previous meetings, which had been illegal, in consequence of the meetings having been called by notice from the selectmen, instead of a warrant to a constable.  A resolve confirming the proceedings of the town was passed by the Court on the eighteenth of February.
     The embargo law was repealed by Congress, on the twelfth of April, and an act of non-intercourse with France and England, substituted in its place.

     1810.    The fourth of July was celebrated by both political parties, who very patriotically and cordially united for that purpose.  They formed a procession at the Lynn Hotel, which was then kept by Mr. Ebenezer Lewis, and proceeded to the First Congregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered by Dr. Peter G. Robbins.
     This year the Lynn Mineral Spring Hotel was built.
     On Friday evening, November ninth, there was an earthquake. 

     1811.    On the eighth of January, Ayer Williams Marsh, aged five years, was killed by the falling of an anvil, from a cheese press.
     A great snow storm commenced on the second of February, and continued three days.  It was piled up in reefs, in some places more than fifteen feet.  In Market street, arches were dug beneath it, high enough for carriages to pass through.
     On the fourth of July, the officers of Lynn, Marblehead, and Danvers, had a military celebration at Lynn.  The young Federalists also partook of a dinner in the hall of Lewis's hotel, which was tastefully decorated for the occasion, by the young ladies.
     The seventh of July was excessively hot.  The thermometer rose to a hundred and one degrees in the shade.  Mr. John Jacobs, aged 70 years, while laboring on the salt marsh, fell dead in consequence of the heat.
     On the seventh of August, George, a black man, aged twenty years, a servant at the hotel, was drowned, while bathing in the fatal river Saugus.
     A splendid comet was visible on the eleventh of October, between Arcturus and Lyra.  Its train was estimated to be forty millions of miles in length.  It remained visible for a number of months.
     The Second Methodist Society was formed in the eastern part of the town, by separation from the first.  A meeting house was built, which was dedicated on the twenty seventh of November.  Their first minister was Rev. Epaphras Kibbey.

     1812.    On the fourth of May there was a snow storm, all day and night.  The snow was about eight inches deep.
     War was declared by Congress, against England, on the eighteenth of June.  This was called the War of Impressments, because England claimed the right to search American vessels for her sailors.  The conflict was chiefly conducted by battle ships on the water, but people were much affected by it in the depression of commerce.  The Federalists disapproved of the war - the Democrats exulted in it.
     A new meeting house was built by the First Methodist Society, at the east end of the Common.  The burial ground in Union street was opened. 

      1813.    Rev. Thomas Cushing Thacher discontinued his connection with the First Parish.  The people gave him a recommendation and made him a present of eight hundred dollars.  He was a son of Rev. Peter Thacher, minister of Brattle Street Church, in Boston.  He graduated in 1790, was ordained in 1794, preached nineteen years, and removed to Cambridge Port.  He wrote many good sermons, six of which, on interesting occasions, he published.
     1.  A Sermon on the Annual Thanksgiving, 1794.
     2.  A Sermon on the Interment of Eight-Seamen, 1795.
     3.  A Eulogy on the Death of Washington, 1800.
     4.  A Sermon on the Death of Mrs. Ann Carnes, 1800.
     5.  A Masonic Address, delivered at Cambridge.
     6.  A Sermon on the Death of Mr. Shorey and Wife, 1803.
     At the town meeting in March, thirtynine tythingmen were chosen.  This was for the purpose of enforcing the Sunday law, that no person should journey on the Sabbath.
      The schooner Industry was fitted out as a privateer, under the command of Capt. Joseph Mudge, and sent in three prizes.
     On the first of June, the people of Lynn were called forth by an occasion of unusual interest.  The English frigate Shannon, Capt. Brock, being expressly fitted for the purpose, approached the harbor of Boston, and challenged the American frigate, Chesapeake, to battle.  The hills and the house tops were crowded with spectators, who looked on with intense solicitude.  The Chesapeake, commanded by Capt. James Lawrence, sailed out beyond Nahant, and engaged with her adversary.  After a short and spirited conflict; Capt. Lawrence fell, the colors of the Chesapeake were lowered, and the Shannon, with her prize, departed for Halifax. 
     The new Methodist meeting-house was dedicated on the third of June.
     Rev. Isaac Hurd was ordained Pastor of the First Parish, on the fifteenth of September.
     This year many racoons, driven by the war from the north, were shot at Swampscot; and a wild-cat, after a deperate resistance, was killed at Red Rock.
     The celebrated Mary Pitcher, a professed fortune-teller, died April 9, 1813, aged 75 years.  Her grand-father, John Dimond, lived at Marblehead, and for many years exercised the same pretensions.  Her father, Capt. John Dimond, was master of a vessel from that place, and was living in 1770.  Mary Dimond was born in the year 1738.  She was connected with some of the best families in Essex county, and, with the exception of her extraordinary pretensions, there was nothing disreputable in her life or character.  She was of the medium height and size for a woman, with a good form and agreeable manners.  Her head, phrenologically considered, was somewhat capacious; her forehead broad and full, her hair dark brown, her nose inclining to long, and her face pale and thin.  There was nothing gross or sensual in her appearance -her countenance was rather intellectual; and she had that contour of face and expression which, without being positively beautiful, is, nevertheless, decidedly interesting - a thoughtful, pensive, and sometimes downcast look, almost approaching to melancholy - an eye, when it looked at you, of calm and keen penetration - and an expression of intelligent discernment, half mingled with a glance of shrewdness.  She took a poor man for a husband, and then adopted what she doubtless thought the harmless employment of fortune-telling, in order to support her children.  In this she was probably more successful than she herself had anticipated; and she became celebrated, not only throughout America, but throughout the world, for her skill.  There was no port on either continent, where floated the flag of an American ship, that had not heard the fame of Moll Pitcher.  To her came the rich and the poor - the wise and the ignorant - the accomplished and the vulgar - the timid and the brave.  The ignorant sailor, who believed in the omens and dreams of superstition, and the intelligent merchant, whose ships were freighted for distant lands, alike sought her dwelling; and many a vessel has been deserted by its crew, and waited idly at the wharves, for weeks, in consequence of her unlucky predictions.  Many persons came from places far remote, to consult her on affairs of love, or loss of property; or to obtain her surmises respecting the vicissitudes of their future fortune.  Every youth, who was not assured of the reciprocal affection of his fair one, and every maid who was desirous of anticipating the hour of her highest felicity, repaired at evening to her humble dwelling, which stood on what was then a lonely road, near the foot of High Rock, with the single dwelling of Dr. Henry Burchsted nearly opposite; over whose gateway were the two bones of a great whale, disposed in the form of a gothic arch.  There, in her unpretending mansion, for more than fifty years, did she answer the inquiries of the simple rustic from the wilds of New Hampshire, and the wealthy noble from Europe; and, doubtless, her predictions have had an influence in shaping the fortunes of thousands.  Mrs. Pitcher was, indeed, one of the most wonderful women of any age; and had she lived in the days of alleged witchcraft, would doubtless have been the first to suffer.  That she acquired her intelligence by intercourse with evil spirits, it would now be preposterous to assert - and it requires a very great stretch of credulity to believe that she arrived at so many correct conclusions, merely by guess - work.  That she made no pretension to any thing supernatural, is evident from her own admission, when some one offered her a large sum, if she would tell him what ticket in the lottery would draw the highest prize.  'Do you think,' said she, 'if I knew, I would not buy it myself?'  Several of the best authenticated anecdotes which are related of her, seem to imply that she possessed, in some degree, the faculty which is now termed clairvoyance.  Indeed, there seems to be no other conclusion, unless we suppose that persons of general veracity have told us absolute falsehoods.  The possession of this faculty, with her keen perception and shrewd judgment, in connection with the ordinary art which she admitted to have used, to detect the character and business of her visitors, will perhaps account for all that is extraordinary in her intelligence.  In so many thousand instances also, of the exercise of her faculty, there is certainly no need of calling in supernatural aid to account for her sometimes judging right; and these favorable instances were certain to be related to her advantage, and insured her abundance of credibility.  She married Robert Pitcher, a shoemaker, on the second of October, 1760.  Had she married differently, as she might have done, she would have adorned a brighter and a happier station in life, and the world would never have heard of her fame.  She had one son, John, and three daughters, Rebecca, Ruth, and Lydia, who married respectably; and some of her descendants are among the prettiest young ladies of Lynn.  Nor is there any reason why they should blush at the mention of their ancestress.  While it is hoped that no one, in this enlightened age, will follow her profession, it must be admitted that she had virtues which many might practice with advantage.  She supported her family by her skill, and she was benevolent in her disposition.  She has been known to rise before sunrise, walk two miles to a mill, purchase a quantity of meal, and carry it to a poor widow, who would otherwise have had no breakfast for her children.

     1814.    The district of Lynnfield, which was separated from Lynn on the third of July, 1782, was this year incorporated as a town, on the twenty-eighth of February. On the same day, the Lynn Mechanics' Bank was incorporated, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars.  The Town-house, on the Common, was begun the same month.
     A company of militia, consisting of seventy-eight men from Essex county, was detached, in July, for the defense of the sea-coast.  Of this number, Lynn furnished fifteen, and the whole were placed under the command of Capt. Samuel Mudge, of this town.  On the first of August, they mustered at Danvers, and on the next day marched to Salem, and encamped on Winter Island.  On the twenty-seventh, a violent storm blew down most of the tents, and on the next day the detachment removed to Fort Lee. On the night of the twenty-eighth of September, a great alarm was occasioned by some men who were drawing a seine at Beverly.  Alarm guns were fired about midnight, and in less than thirty minutes the Salem regiment was drawn up for orders.  Nearly sixty old men of that town also took their arms, went directly to the fort, and patriotically offered ther services to Captain Mudge.  The alarm spread to the neighboring towns, and within an hour the Lynn regiment was in arms, and on its march toward Salem.  The promptitude with which these two regiments were formed, the self-possession manifested by the officers and soldiers, and the readiness with which they marched toward what was then confidently believed to be a scene of action and danger, is worthy of commendation.  The company was discharged on the first of November.  During a considerable part of this season, guards were stationed in Lynn, on Long Wharf and Saugus Bridge.  The town, with its accustomed liberality, allowed to each of its soldiers, who went into service, thirty dollars in addition to the pay of the government, which was only eight dollars a month.  The town received 100 muskets from the State, and 100 old men volunteered to use them.
     In a great snow-storm, on the night of November nineteenth, Mr. Ward Hartwell, of Claremont, N.H. perished in attempting to pass Lynn Beach, to Nahant. 
     An earthquake happened on the twenty-eighth of November, at twenty minutes past seven, in the evening. 

     1815.    The Second Parish of Lynn was incorporated on the seventeenth of February as a seperate Town, by the name of Saugus.  On the same day, a treaty of peace with England, which was signed at Ghent on the twenty-fourth of December preceding, was ratified by Congress.
     This year the First Baptist Church in Lynn was organized, on the seventeenth of March.  In May, the meeting-house which the Methodist society had vacated, was purchased for their use.  It is worthy of remark, that this building was placed upon land purchased of the first Congregational Church - that very church which had prosecuted the Baptists, and delivered them up to the executioner, 164 years before. 
     A very great storm, on the twenty-third of September, occasioned much damage.  The wind blew violently from the southeast, and buildings, fences, and trees, fell before it.  A part of the roof of the Academy was taken off, and carried by the wind more than half way across the Common.  The spray of the ocean was borne far upon the land, and the fruit on trees several miles from the shore, was impregnated with salt.

     1816.    The Baptist society was incorporated on the fifteenth of April; and on the fifteenth of September, Rev. George Phippen was settled as their first minister.
     Rev. Isaac Hurd relinquished his pastoral care over the First Congregational Society, on the twenty-second of May.  He was born at Charlestown, and removed to Exeter.
     In November, new bells were placed on the First Congregational, and the First Methodist meeting-houses.

     1817.    Friday, the fourteent of February, was an exceedingly cold day.  The thermometer was eighteen degrees below zero.  There was an earthquake on Sunday,  September seventh; and another on the fifth of October.  This year, Hon. Thomas H. Perkins built the first stone cottage on Nahant.  President Monroe passed through Lynn. 

     1818.    On Friday, January thirteenth, the thermometer was eleven degrees below zero.
     Rev. Otis Rockwood was ordained pastor of the First Congregational Church, on the first of July.
     A stone building, for a school-house and library, was built at Nahant, and several hundred volumes presented to it, by gentlemen from Boston.
     The First Social Library at Lynn was incorporated. 

     1819.    The winter was unusually mild, with little snow, and the harbor scarcely frozen.  Farmers ploughed in every month; January was like April, and the spring was forward and warm. 
     The first attempt to form an Episcopal Church in Lynn, was made this year.  A few persons were organized as a church on the twenty-seventh of January, and continued to worship in the Academy about four years.
     On the thirty-first of January, Jonathan Mansfield was drowned in the Flax pond.  On the sixth of April, William Phillips was drowned in the Pines river.  On the fourth of September, Asa Gowdey was drowned near the mouth of Saugus river. 
     Tuesday, July sixth, was an exceeding warm day.  The thermometer rose to 120 degrees.
     A farm of about fifty acres was purchased by the Town, and a new Poor-house built on Willis's hill. 
     This year the Nahant Hotel was built, by Hon. Thomas H. Perkins and Hon. Edward H. Robbins, at an expense of about sixty thousand dollars.
     That singular marine animal, called the Sea Serpent, first made his appearance in the waters of Lynn this year.  It was alleged that it had been seen in August, 1817 and 1818, in Gloucester harbor.  On the thirteenth and fourteenth days of August, this year, many hundred persons were collected on Lynn Beach, by a report that it was to be seen.  Many depositions have been taken of its subsequent appearance.  It was represented to have been from 50 to 70 feet in length, as large as a barrel, moving swiftly, sometimes with its head several feet above the tide.  I have not seen such an animal, but perhaps it exists; and it may be one of the mighty existing relics of a buried world. In 1638, Dr. John Josselyn tells us of 'A Sea Serpent or Snake, that lay quoiled up, like a cable, upon a Rock at Cape Ann.  A boat passing by, with English aboard and two Indians, they would have shot the serpent, but the Indians disswaded them, saying that if he were not killed outright, they would be in danger of their lives.'

     1820.    On the fourteenth of February, two barns, belonging to Mr. Joseph Breed, in Summer street, were burnt by the carelessness of a boy.  The people, by a subscription, built him a good barn immediately, which they stocked with hay. 

     1821.    On the twenty-fifth of January, the themometer was 17 degrees below zero. 
      Rev. Joseph Mottey died on the ninth of July.  He was born at Salem, May 14, 1756, and graduated at Dartmouth, in 1778.  He was ordained over the second parish, now Lynnfield, September 24, 1780.  He was characterized by extreme sensibility, and fondness for retirement.  His manners were affable, and his mode of preaching mild and persuasive.  He married Elizabeth Moody and had four children; Charles, Elias, Charles Edward, and Eliza.

     1822.    A considerable disturbance was this year occasioned in the meetings of Friends, in consequence of a portion of that society having embraced different views. On Sunday, the seventeenth of February, one of these essayed to go into the ministers' gallery, with a sword by his side, which he said was an emblem of the warlike disposition of those against whom he wished to bear testimony; but before he had reached the seat, he was stopped, and the sword taken away.  In the afternoon the disturbance was renewed, by several persons attempting to enter the high seats; and many people having assembled about the house, the deputy sheriff was called from the first parish meeting-house, who read the riot act in the street.  Four persons were apprehended, and after a trial, the next day, before a justice, were committed to prison, at Salem, where they remained until the time of their trial, at Ipswich, on the sixteenth of March.  Two of them were then discharged, and the others were fined.  A report of this trial was published, with a review in a separate pamphlet.   
  The first Circulating Library at Lynn was opened this year, by the author of this sketch. 
     The Second Congregational Society was incorporated on the fifteenth of June; and on the twenty-fifth of November, the corner stone of the first Unitarian meeting-house was laid with an address by Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, of Chelsea.
     As some workmen were this year digging a cellar, in Liberty street, they found the skeleton of an Indian.  It was more than six feet in length, and the skull was of an uncommon thickness.  Two large clam shells were found buried with it.

     1823.    The coldest day this year, was the first of March.  The thermometer was seven degrees below zero.
     The Second Congregational Meeting-house was dedicated on the thirtieth of April.  Sermon by Rev. Henry Colman.
     On the fifth of May, snow fell, and the ice was one quarter of an inch thick.  Thermometer 29 at sunrise.
     A young woman named Sarah Soames, aged 19 years, living at Thomas Raddin's went in to bathe in Saugus river, on the evening of June 15th, and was drowned.  

     1824.    The tide, during great storms, had for many years been making its encroachments upon Lynn Beach, washing its sands over into the harbor, and sometimes making deep channels, as it ran across in rivulets.  In compliance with a petition of the town, the General Court, on the eighteenth of February, made a grant of fifteen hundred dollars, to which the town added fifteen hundred more; and by the aid of this fund, a fence was constructed, about half the length of the beach, to prevent the encroachments of the tide.
     The thermometer, on the twenty-fifth of February, was ten degrees below zero.
     On the sixth of May, the ice was one quarter of an inch thick.  Thermomneter 27 sunrise.
     John Gilbert Pratt, aged eight years, son of Mr. Micajah C. Pratt, was drowned, on the fourteenth of April, from a boat, in the harbor.
     On the twenty-first of June, Rev. Joseph Searl was ordained pastor of the Congregational society in Lynnfield.  He continued his connection with that parish, till the seventeenth of September, 1827, when he removed to Stoneham.
     The French General Lafayette, who served in the War of Independence, this year came to America, and was received with general gratulation and welcome.  He passed through Lynn on the thirty-first of August.  He was received at Saugus bridge, on the Turnpike, by an escort, consisting of a battalion of cavalry, the Lynn Rifle Company, Lynn Light Infantry, the Salem Cadets, and a large number of officers and citizens, by whom he was conducted to the Lynn Hotel, where an address was delivered to him by Captain John White, to which he made an affectionate reply.  After being introduced to many gentlemen and ladies, with several revolutionary soldiers, he entered an open barouche, and passed through two lines of the children of the town, who threw flowers into his carriage as he proceeded.  A salute of thirteen guns was fired, on his entrance into the town; and another of twenty-four, when he departed.  On his way he passed through seven beautiful arches, decorated with evergreens, flags, and festoons of flowers, and bearing inscriptions in honor of Lafayette and Freedom.  Proceeding through the principal streets, he was received, at the eastern boundary of the town, by another escort, and conducted to Marblehead.
     Rev. James Diman Greene was ordained pastor of the Second Congregational Society, on the third of November. 

     1825.    For several days in the month of April, the moon and stars, with the planet Venus, were visible, for some hours, in the middle of the day.  There were no clouds, and the sun shone with a dim light.
     On the twentieth of April, a piece of land adjoining the Quaker burial ground, in Lynn, was purchased by several individuals and opened as a free burial ground.  This was done because that society had refused to permit a child to be buried in their ground, without a compliance with their regulations.
     This year Frederic Tudor, Esq., of Boston, built his beautiful rustic cottage at Nahant. 
     On Thursday, the twenty-third of June, at the commencement of twilight, a remarkable sungush appeared.  It proceeded from the place of sunsetting; and rose perfectly straight and well-defined, to the height of twenty degrees.  Its color was a beautiful bright red, and its width equal to that of a broad rainbow; the clouds around were variegated with the finest colors, and the pageant continued about fifteen minutes.
     On Saturday, September third, the first newspaper printed in Lynn was published by Charles Frederic Lummus, with the title of Lynn Weekly Mirror, edited by Alonzo Lewis.
     A comet was visible in October, on the right of the Pleiades, with a train about six degrees in length.
     Hon. William Gray died at Boston, on the third of November, aged 75 years.  He was born at Lynn, June 27, 1750.  His father, Mr. Abraham Gray, born January 13, 1715, was one of the first manufacturers in Lynn, who employed journeymen and apprentices.  He received such as education as could at that time be obtained in a town school.  On his arrival at manhood, he entered extensively into the European and East India trades, and by his industry, ability, and uncommon success, accumulated an amount of property which few individuals in America have ever surpassed.  His great success in trade gave an impulse to the mercantile business of Salem, and the amount which he added to the prosperity of that ancient and respectable town, occasioned the following epitaph:
          'Salem and Lynn for Gray's birth now contest;
          Lynn gains the palm, but Salem fares the best."
     After the embargo, Mr. Gray removed to Boston, and in the years 1810 and 1811, was elected Lieutenant Governor.  His sons are among the most respectable lawyers and merchants in the city of Boston.

     1826.    The coldest day this winter, was February first, when the thermometer was sixteen degrees below zero.
     A schooner, loaded with six hundred bushels of corn, struck on a rock off the mouth of Saugus river, on the twelfth of April, and sunk.
     The festival of St. John, June 24, was celebrated at Lynn, by Mount Carmel Lodge, and five other lodges.  The address was delivered by Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport.
     The Lynn Institution for Savings was incorporated on the twentieth of June.  A temperance Society was formed on the twentieth of December.
     The Quaker meeting-house in Boston, with the burial ground adjoining, having been long disused, and few or none of the society remaining in the city, it was thought best to remove the bones.  The remains of one hundred and nine persons were taken up and removed to the Quaker burial ground at Lynn.  Mr. Joseph Hussey, who had two sisters buried at Boston, was unwilling that they should be removed with the rest, and caused their remains, so dear to his memory, to be deposited in the cemetery of King's Chapel.

     1827.    Micajah Collins, a much respected minister of the society of Friends, died on the thirtieth of January, aged 62 years.  He was a son of Enoch and Rebecca Collins, and was born April 19, 1764.  His father died when he was young, but his mother was careful of his education, and he beacame serious at an early age.  For nearly thirty years he was a teacher of the Friends' school, and was greatly beloved by his pupils.  He was for about twenty-six years an approved minister, and in that capacity made several visits to different parts of the Union.  He married Hannah Chase, of Salem.  He was a good teacher, a beloved and virtuous man, and died in the assurance of a blessed immortality.
     On the eleventh of April, the First Congregational meeting-house was removed from the centre of the Common to the corner of Commercial street.  Its form was changed, a new steeple added, and it was dedicated on the seventeenth of October. 
     On the thirtieth of April, Mr. Paul Newhall was drowned from a fishing boat, at Swampscot, in attempting to pass within Dread Ledge.  His. body was found uninjured, thirty-nine days after; having, it was said, been caused to rise by heavy thunder, which agitated the water.
     On the night of Thursday, May tenth, a schooner from Kennebeck, loaded with hay and wood, was driven by a storm upon Lynn Beach, and dismasted.
     The anniversary of Independence was this year celebrated at Woodend.  In the procession were thirteen misses, dressed in white, wearing chaplets of roses, representing the thirteen original states, and eleven younger misses, representing the new states.  They recited a responsive chorus, written for the occasion, and an oration was delivered by the author of this history.
     A son of Mr. Ezra Brown, named Edwin, aged twelve years, was drowned on the eighth of July, while bathing in the harbor.
     On Tuesday evening, August twenty-eighth, a most beautiful pageant was displayed in the heavens.  During the first part of the evening, the northern lights were uncommonly luminous; and at half past nine, a broad and brilliant arch was formed, which spanned the entire heavens, from east to west.  No one who did not behold it, can easily imagine its splendor and sublimity.
     On several evenings in September, the Northern lights were exceedingly luminous, sometimes so bright as to cast shadows.
     In the month of November were several great and drifting snow storms, and the weather was colder than had been known at that season for many years.  It was so cold that it froze a large water cistern solid, and burst it.

     1828.    On the second of May, a whale was cast ashore at Whale Beach, Swampscot, measuring sixty feet in length, and twenty-five barrels of oil were extracted from it.
     An oration was delivered, on the fourth of July, by Rev. James Diman Green.  His connection with the Second Congregational Society, was dissolved, at his request, on the fourth of August.
     Flora, a black woman, died on the first of October, aged one hundred and thirteen years.  She was born in Africa, and related many interesting anecdotes of her country.  Her father was one of the chiefs, and when he died, they built a house over him, as they considered it an indignity to suffer the rain to fall on his grave.  One day a party of slave dealers came and set fire to their happy and peaceful village.  Her mother was unable to run so fast as the rest, and as Flora was unwilling to escape without her, she remained and was taken.  She had two husbands and five children in Africa, and three husbands and five children in America.  She was a sensible and purely pious woman, and was greatly respected.
     In a storm, on the twenty-second of November, a schooner, belonging to Freeport, was cast upon the Lobster Rocks.  The crew, with a lady passenger, immediately left the vessel, which was found in the morning, drifted upon Chelsea Beach.
     The Lynn Lyceum was established, December twenty-third.

     1829.    One of the most beautiful appearances of nature was presented on the morning of Saturday, the tenth of January.  A heavy mist had fallen on the preceding evening, and when the sun rose, the whole expanse of hill and plain displayed the most enchanting and dazzling prospect of glittering frost.  The tall and branching trees were bent, by the weight of ice, into graceful arches, and resembled magnificent chandeliers, glittering with burnished silver.  As far as the eye could reach, all was one resplendent surface of polished ice; and in some places, the trees which stood in colonnades, were bent till their tops touched together, and formed long arcades of crystal, decorated with brilliant pearls, and sparkling with diamonds.  But the scene in the open village, although so highly beautiful was far exceeded by the magnificent lustre of the woods.  The majestic hemlocks bent their heavy branches to the ground, loaded as with a weight of gold, and formed delightful bowers, sparkling with gems, and illuminated with colored light.  The evergreen cedars were covered with crystal gold, and glowed with emeralds of the deepest green.  The silver tops of the graceful birches crossed each other, like the gothic arches of some splendid temple; while the slender shafts, and the glittering rocks, resembled columns, and altars, and thrones; and the precipitous cliffs looked down, like towers and battlements of silver; and far above all, the tall pines glittered in the frosty air, like the spires of a thousand cathedrals, overlaid with transparent gold, and burnished by the cloudless sun.  This beautiful and surprising exhibition continued undisturbed for two whole days.  On the third morning, the warm fingers of Aurora found the frozen chords which upheld the glittering show.  They severed at the touch - and from lofty spire and stately elm, came showering gems and pearls, that tinkled as they bounded on the crystal plain.  The ice, which had confined the mighty arms of aged forest trees, came crashing down, breaking the frosted shrubs beneath, and sending through the woods a mingled sound, like falling towers, and the far dash of waters.  The admirer of the works of nature, who, during the continuance of this beautiful scene, was in the majestic woods, will never forget their indescribable splendor, or doubt the power and skill of Him, who, with such slight means as the twilight vapor and the midnight mist, can form an arch of fire in heaven, or create an exhibition of glory and grandeur on earth, so far surpassing the utmost beauty of the works of man.  
     In the snow storm on the \sixth of February, a woman perished on Farrington's Hill, on the turnpike, one mile eastward of the Lynn Hotel.  Another great storm commenced on the twentieth, when several vessels belonging to Swampscot, were driven out to sea.  One of them remained five days, and went on shore at Chatham, where the crew were much frozen.
     On the night of the fifth of March, a schooner, loaded with coffee, struck on Shag Rocks, on the south side of Nahant, and was dashed entirely to pieces.  No traces of the crew were found, and it is probable that they all perished.
     Dr. John Flagg Gardener died at Ipswich, on the fourteenth of March, aged thirty-five years.  He was a son of Dr. James Gardner, of Lynn, and was born May 27, 1794.  He graduated at Harvard University in 1813, and after completing his studies with his father, and at the medical school in Boston, he settled in the practice of medicine at Ipswich.  He was esteemed for his ability as a physician, and beloved for his disposition as a gentleman.
     Great excitement was occasioned this year in Lynn, as it had been in many other towns and cities for some years previous, on the subject of Freemasonry.  On the first of April, Mr. Jacob Allen, of Braintree, gave an exhibition of some of the alleged mysteries of that institution, at Liberty Hall; and on the sixth, the inhabitants, in town meeting, voted, that they regarded Freemasonry 'as a great moral evil,' and its existence 'as being dangerous to all free governments,' and gave Mr. Allen the use of the Town Hall to continue his exhibitions. 
     Mr. Joseph Fuller died on the seventh of November, aged 82 years.  He was a patriotic citizen and a benevolent man.  He was for several years a selectman, and in 1820 was chosen a delegate to amend the state constitution.  His son, Hon. Joseph Fuller, was born March 29, 1772, and died in 1815, aged 43 years.  He was six times chosen representative, and was elected a senator for Essex county in 1812.  He was also the first President of the Lynn Mechanics' Bank, and an associate Judge of the Court of Sessions. 
     Rev. David Hatch Barlow was ordained minister of the Second Congregational Society, on the ninth of December.
     The canker worms, for seven years, have been making great ravages among the fruit trees.  Many orchards have borne but little fruit during that time, and the leaves and blossoms have been so thoroughly devoured, that the trees have appeared as if scorched by fire.
     In a very great thunder shower, on the thirtieth of July, a barn on Nahant, belonging to Stephen Codman, Esq., was struck by lightning, and Mr. William Hogan, a carpenter, was killed.
     In September, a stone beacon, twenty feet in height, was erected on the outer cliff of Dread Ledge, by order of the United States' government, at an expense of one thousand dollars.  It was thrown down by a storm, on the thirty-first of October.
     The first complete Map of Lynn was made this year, from a particular survey, by Alonzo Lewis.  

     1830.    The publication of the second newspaper, entitled the Lynn Record, was begun, January 23d, by Alonzo Lewis.
     One of the highest tides ever known happened on the 26th of March.  It rose about five feet higher than common high tides, passing entirely over the Long Beach, and making Nahant an island.  It also flowed over the southern part of Market street; and, passing up the Mill brook, swept off a quantity of wood from the house in Bridge street.
     On the 12th of July, Mr. Joseph Blaney, aged fifty-two years, went out in a fishing boat at Swampscot, when a shark overset his boat and killed him.
     The meeting house of the Third Methodist Society, built this year, in South street, was dedicated on the 3d of August.  The first minister was Rev. Rufus Spaulding.
      A great tempest of rain and wind, on the 26th of August, occasioned very great damage to the corn and fruit trees.
     On the 4th of September, a boat in the harbor, in which two boys were playing, was overset, and Joseph Thomson, aged 15 years, son of William Thomson, was drowned.
     Donald MacDonald, a native of Inverness, in Scotland, died in the Lynn Almshouse, on the 4th of October, aged 108 years.  He was in the battle of Quebec, when Wolf fell, and was one of the few whom Washington conducted from the forest of blood when Braddock was killed by the Indians.
     Vegetation this year was abundant; English hay was eight dollars a ton; and more apples were gathered than in all the seven previous years.
     Another great storm tide, on the 29th of November, came in high and furious, doing great damage to the Long Beach, by sweeping down the ridge and throwing it into the harbor.
     On Wednesday, December 1st, there were two shocks of an earthquake, about eight o'clock in the evening.
     On the morning of the fourth, half an hour after midnight, a meteor, exceedingly brilliant, passed south of' the moon, which was then shining near the meridian.
     The northern lights made an uncommonly rich display on the evening of the 11th, assuming the most fanciful forms, changing into the appearance of tall spires, towers, arches, and warriors armed with long spears.

     1831.    Dr. Aaron Lummus died on the 5th of January, aged 74 years.  He resided in Lynn nearly fifty years, and was one of the most popular physicians in the town. He married Eunice Coffin, in 1786, and had five sons; Aaron, John, Edward, Charles Frederic, and Thomas Jefferson.  In 1823 and 1824, he was a Senator of Essex county.
     A great storm commenced on the 15th of January, in which a schooner, belonging to Stephen Smith, was torn from her fastenings at his wharf, and dashed to pieces against the embankment on Deer Island, throwing down about sixty feet of the new granite wall, recently built by the United States government.
     Maria Augusta Fuller, daughter of Hon. Joseph Fuller, died on the 19th of January, aged 24 years.  She was a young lady of estimable character, and a poetess of considerable merit.  She wrote many pieces, both in prose and poetry, with the signature of Finella; and was perhaps the most talented and imaginative female which Lynn has produced.
     In August, the sun and the atmosphere, for many days, presented a smoky appearance, of a greenish blue color.  The same phenomenon was noticed by M. Arago, the French astronomer,at Paris.  On the evening of the 26th of August, the moon rose about fifteen minutes before nine; and half an hour after, there was a shower in the northwest, and on the cloud a perfect and beautiful lunar rainbow was depicted, of a yellowish color.
     This year the small pox made its appearance in Chesnut street, Woodend.  Two persons were removed to a little building, which had been placed on the woodland road to Blood's swamp.  One of them, Lydia, wife of Mr. Ephraim Brown, died on the 14th of August.  Mr. Amos Allen recovered.  Richard Haseltine, an orphan boy, nine years old, was carried in a boat to Rainsford's island, and returned well. 
     Another beacon was erected on Dread Ledge, at Swampscot, on the 7th of November, - an obelisk of granite, twenty-five feet in height, and three feet square at the base.  On the 22d, there was a singularly mingled tempest, very violent, for an hour in the morning, with rain, hail, snow, thunder and lightning, a strong east wind, and a high tide.  The lightning struck at Breed's End, and a vessel was driven ashore on Phillips's Beach, and another on Nahant Beach.
     Dr. James Gardner died December 26, aged 69 years.  He was born at Woburn, in 1762, entered the army of the Revolution at an early age, and on the return of peace devoted himself to study, and graduated at Harvard, in 1788.  He came to Lynn in 1792, and commenced the practice of medicine.  The next year he married Susanna, daughter of Dr. John Flagg.  He was a skillful and popular physician, and possessed the manners of a gentleman. 
     This year Mr. John Alley enclosed about twenty acres of water, by a dam from his wharf to the marsh, thus making a pond, on which he built a grist mill, and afterward a fulling mill.     
     On the last of December, the thermometer was eleven degrees below zero.

     1832.    The Lynn Anti-Slavery society was formed on the 25th of April.
     Rev. Otis Rockwood was dismissed from the pastoral charge of the First Congregational Church, on the 12th of May.  Rev. David Peabody was ordained pastor of the same church on the 15th of November.
     This year the Tuscan Chapel at Nahant was erected, by subscriptions made by gentlemen of Boston.  Religious services are held in it during the warm and visiting season, by the ministers of Boston, each of whom preaches one Sunday.
     A Whaling Company was formed, and five ships employed; three of which were built at Lynn.  They harbored in Saugus river; but on the crossing of the rail-road, in 1838, they were removed to Boston. 

     1833.    On the 16th of January, Mr. David Taylor's store, in Ash street, was burnt.  On the 2d of February, Rev. David H. Barlow relinquished the care of the Second Congregational Church; and Rev. Samuel D. Robbins was ordained pastor of the same church on the 13th of November.
     On the 14th of February, the new Baptist meeting house on the north side of the Common was dedicated. 
     One of the most remarkable phenomena ever witnessed in New England, was a shower of meteors.  It commenced soon after three o'clock, on the morning of Wednesday, the 13th of November, and continued until day.  There were many thousands, which fell in all directions, like flakes of snow.  Most of them were small, but some appeared as large as seven stars combined in one.  The meteors seemed to proceed chiefly from a point about fifteen degrees southeast of the zenith, and the display was noticed in Philadelphia and Baltimore. 

     1834.    On the 28th of May, several persons destroyed the curious cave in the Dungeon Rock, under the imagination that they might obtain a treasure.  They placed a keg of powder in the cave, which, on its explosion, blew out the lower portion of the rock, causing the great mass above to fall, and thus destroying the cavern.  This is the third time that curious and wonderful caves in Lynn have been destroyed by wantonness.  It is much to be regretted that this rage for destructiveness cannot cease.  Such persons ought to be confined as destroyers of God's beautiful works.
     On the 31st of July, Mr. --- Durant, ascended in a balloon from Boston, passed over Nahant, and descended into the water, from which, in about fifteen minutes, he was taken up by a schooner.
     On the 12th of August, Mr. John Mudge's barn, in Shepard street, was burnt by lightning.  The Mechanics Bank, in Broad street, was built this year.

     1835.    On the 22d of April, Rev. David Peabody resigned the pastoral charge of the First Congregational Church. 
     A comet appeared, in the constellation of Ursa Major, on the 9th of October, and continued in view about two weeks.
     On the 4th of November, Hezekiah Chase's mill, at the mouth of Strawberry brook, was burnt.
     The Christian Church, in Silsbe street, was organized on the 5th of November; the first minister was Rev. Philemon R. Russell, who preached there about five years.
     On Tuesday evening November 17, the northern lights were very lustrous, and presented the singular appearance of a splendid illuminated crown in the zenith.
     On the 10th of December, the First Universalist Meeting House, in Union street, was dedicated.  The 16th was the coldest day of the season, the thermometer being fourteen degrees below zero.  On the evening of the 17th, Mr. Rufus Newhall's barn, in Essex street, was burnt.  On the 28th, Lieutenant Robert R. Mudge, of Lynn, aged 26 years, was killed by the Seminole Indians, near Withiacoochie, in Florida, three persons only escaping in a company of 108. 

     1836.    This year, the second attempt was made to form an Episcopal Church.  It was commenced on the 7th of January, by three persons, under the name of Christ Church.  On the fifth of November, a handsome rustic edifice, with diamond windows, and four Tuscan columns, was erected on the north side of the common.  Rev. Milton Ward was the first minister.
     The Second Universalist Society was organized on the 9th of March.  They purchased the old meeting house, vacated by the First Congregational Society, now standing on the corner of Commercial street.  Their first minister was Rev. Dunbar B. Harris.
     The winter was very long and cold; snow began on the 23d of November, and sleighing continued until the 15th of March, sixteen weeks. 
     Rev. Parsons Cooke was installed pastor of the First Congregational Church on the 4th of May. 
     This year Henry A. Breed, Esq., built the large brick factory on Waterhill, for calico printing and dying.  He dug a new pond, comprising about an acre, for a reservoir. He also laid out several new streets, and built nearly four hundred convenient cottages, and other buildings, and a wharf.
     Dr. Richard Hazeltine died on the 10th of July.  He was born at Concord, N. H., November 28th, 1773, married Phebe Carter in 1799, and came to Lynn in 1817.
     On the 23d of September, a young man jumped off the precipice of High Rock, a descent of sixty feet, and, strange to tell, walked away uninjured!
     A fire in Front street, on the evening of the 26th of October, burnt Mr. Boynton Viall's stable,  and the shoe manufactory of Isaac B. Cobb, Esq.
     The brig Shamrock, Jortin, of Boston, with a cargo of sugar and molasses, was wrecked on Long Beach, on the 17th of December. 

     1837.    On the 15th of January, at two o'clock in the morning, there was an earthquake.
     The new meeting house of the First Congregational Society was dedicated on the 1st of February.
     On the first of June, Mr. William Newhall was drowned, by falling overboard from a sloop, near Nahant.  On the 20th, the schooner Triton, of Waldoborough, loaded with wood, was wrecked on Fishing Point, Swampscot.  On the 21st, Lewis A. Lauriat ascended in a balloon from Winnisimet, and landed in the woods near Lynn Dye House.
     Augustus, son of Israel Perkins, aged fourteen years, was drowned on the 1st of July, while bathing in Alley's mill pond, near the wharf.
     The Fourth of July was celebrated near Lover's Leap, by a party of ladies and gentlemen of Lynn, Boston and Salem, and several songs, written by the Lynn Bard, were sung. 
     The Episcopal Church, on north side of the common, was consecrated on Thursday,  July 20th.  Sermon by Bishop Griswold. 
     In August, a survey of Lynn Beach and Harbor was made by Alonzo Lewis, under the direction of Congress; and a plan submitted for the purpose of erecting a sea wall, the whole length of the Beach, at an expense of $37.000; but though encouragement was given for a grant, yet none was obtained. 

     1838.     Charles Frederic Lummus died on the 20th of April, aged 37 years.  He was the printer and publisher of the Lynn Mirror, the first newspaper in Lynn.  He was an excellent musician, and a choice spirit.  Few young men in Lynn were ever more extensively beloved, or more deserved to be.  But thou art dead!  'Alas! poor Yorick!'  Thine is a loss to be thought about, and thou shalt long live in our love.
     The ladies of Lynn held a Fair at the Town Hall on the 4th of July, for benevolent purposes.  Francis Maria Lewis was principal, and nearly $500 were obtained.
     The Eastern Rail-road, from Salem to Boston, passing through Lynn, was opened for public travel on the 28th of August.  Before this time, a few stages had accommodated all the eastern travel; but now the number of passengers, to and from Boston, so rapidly increased, that for the first three months, the average was three hundred and forty-eight persons each day.  The company for effecting this great and convenient enterprise was incorporated on the 14th of April, 1836.  The road has since been extended to Portsmouth, at expense of about $2,3000,000.  It was a magnificent project, happily accomplished, and it may be regarded not merely as a civil convenience, but as a work of great moral influence, tending to break down the barriers of sectional prejudice, and to promote feelings of benevolence and refinement, by bringing many persons of both sexes into habits of social and daily intercourse.  
     On the twenty-eighth of September, two brakemen, Tyler and Baker, who were standing upon the top of a car, were instantly killed, by being struck against the overhead framework of the little bridge at Breed's wharf.
     The Lynn Freeman the third newspaper in Lynn, was commenced on the tenth of November. 

     1839.    On the twenty-seventh of May died Francis Maria, wife of Alonzo Lewis - a woman amiable, talented, virtuous and greatly beloved.  Her funeral was attended by perhaps as great a number of persons as were ever present at the interment of any lady in Lynn, to whom her active benevolence, and her worth as a teacher, had greatly endeared her.
     Amid the attention which is given to the various concerns of humanity, surely one page may be spared as a tribute to the excellence of Woman.  In the course of history, the virtues and the worth of Man are delineated in all the features of strong and admirable portraiture; but Woman - the inspiration of existence, the soul of humanity, without whom the world would be but a resplendent desert, and life itself a burden to its lordly and lonely possessor -Woman is overlooked with indifference, as if she were not entitled even to a small share in the record of human events.  When a man is consigned to the tomb of his fathers, his worth is recorded on monuments of marble, and his virtues illuminate the page of history; but the grave of woman is passed in silence and neglect.  She who is the mother of man, the wife of his bosom, the daughter of his affection - she who has shared all his dangers and encouraged his footsteps up the steep ascent of fame - she who in the hour of sickness has been his comforter, in the day of adversity his support, and in the time of trial his guardian angel - generous, virtuous, unassuming woman - is permitted to go to her everlasting sleep, with no mention of her name, no record of her virtues.  Poetry indeed has extolled her, but even poetry has praised her but half.  It has represented her chiefly as a thing of beauty, an object of youthful admiration, a creature of light and fancy, full of fascination and the blandishments of love.  Poetry and romance follow her in the sunny days of youth and beauty; but when the time of her maturity and usefulness arrives, they abandon her for other pursuits, and leave her alone to encounter the trials, and sickness, and sorrows of home.  It is there, in the unobserved paths of domestic life, that the value of woman is to be estimated.  There may be found unwavering faith, untiring affection, hope that endures all afflictions, and love that bears all trials.  There may be found the smile of unfailing friendship, mantling over a breaking heart - the unobtrusive tear of sympathy, falling in the silence of solitude.  There may be found a being, like a spirit from another world, watching through the long dark hours of night, over the form of manhood, prostrate and wasting by slow consuming sickness, and performing all the numerous duties, and encountering all the innumerable trials of common life, with the enduring patience of years, and with no reward but the satisfaction of her own secret heart.  Man performs the public toils of life, and participates the honors of the world and the recompense of fame; but woman, who has formed man for his high destiny, and whose virtues and amiable qualities constitute the refinement of society, has no share in such rewards.  But history cannot do justice to her merits; she must be satisfied with the living admiration of her excellence on earth, and the everlasting remuneration of her virtues in heaven. 
     On the seventh of June, Rev. Samuel D. Robbins resigned the care of the Second Congregational Church.
     One of the greatest storms for many years commenced on Sunday, December fifteenth, and continued three days.  It consisted of snow and rain, and the wind blew a gale, which did great damage to the shipping in many places.  The schooner Catharine, from Philadelphia, for Boston, was wrecked on the rocks near Bass Point, at Nahant.  Two of the crew were instantly drowned, and another was so injured, by being dashed upon the rocks, that he soon died.  Captain Nichols and one man were saved.  At Gloucester, twenty vessels were wrecked, and seventeen dead bodies were picked up on the beach.

     1840.    On the first of January, Rev. William Gray Swett was ordained minister of the Second CongregationalChurch.
     On the evening of Sunday, October twenty-fifth, a scene of terrific grandeur was exhibited.  A tempest suddenly rose, in which the thunder was exceedingly heavy, so as to shake the houses like an earthquake; and the lightning was intense, making the whole atmosphere, at times, appear as if it were a flame; and in the house it seemed as if one were enveloped with fire.  At the same time snow fell and covered the ground.  The exhibition was singular and awfully sublime.
     On the eleventh of November, during a storm, the tide rose higher than it probably had done since 1815.  The wind had been easterly for several weeks, and the swell of the waters was immense, passing for several days entirely over the Long Beach, so that not only the harbor, but the marshes of Lynn, Saugus and Chelsea, were a portion of the mighty sea.  There was no safety in approaching the level shore; but it was a grand and terrible sight, to stand upon Sagamore hill, or some other elevation, and view the fearful devastations of the waters.  Nahant appeared to be severed forever from the main, and ocean to be passing the bounds of its ancient decree.
     One fact appears evident from recent observation - either the sea is encroaching upon our shores by elevation, or the marshes are sinking.  There are strong indications, by marks upon the rocks, that the ocean once broke against the cliffs of Saugus; and on examination of the marshes, we are led to the almost irresistible conclusion that the whole region now occupied by them was once a portion of the sea.  By some means, not easily explained, these marshes were formed, and covered, or filled, with trees. The trunks and stumps of those trees, in some places bearing marks of the axe! are now buried two or three feet below the surface of the marsh! and twice that depth beneath the level of high tides! - so that the sea, after having been shut out by some great revolution, appears to be returning to claim what were perhaps its ancient limits. Another proof that the waters are gaining upon the land is the fact that the creeks are much wider now than they formerly were; and the trunk of a pine, which a few years since projected three feet into the river, now projects twenty feet.

     1841.    The Lyceum Hall in Market street was built this year.  During several years the public attention has been much excited by the subjects of Phrenology and Mesmerism.  Many lectures have been given,  by professors from Europe and America, and many interesting experiments performed, to the satisfaction of many; but some remained incredulous.  The most popular lecturer on Mesmerism is Dr. Robert H. Collyer, of London.
     This year Joseph G. Joy, Esq. built his log cabin, at Nahant, from a plan by Alonzo Lewis.  

     1842    Mr. Enoch Curtin died on the twenty-eighth of May.  He was born September 25, 1794, and married Susan Ireson.  He was a man of estimable qualities, and possessed great poetical talent.  He had a very happy faculty for the production of odes and songs, adapted to particular occasions.  His mind was intellectual, refined, and noble, and e was widely esteemed and beloved.
     The Lynn Natural History Society was formed on the third of August.  It has been quite successful in the collection of interesting natural curiosities, and promises to become a source of great information and utility, as well as of amusement.
     On the seventh of September, a boy from Salem, William Henry Ropes, aged 14 years, was killed by the Railroad cars, while walking with his father, on the track, near the crossing of Burrill street.
     Another great storm happened Friday, the third of December, during which a singular phenomenon occurred.  It was high tide about ten o'clock in the forenoon, and the tide rose nearly three feet higher than common spring tides.  Soon after eleven, when the water had ebbed more than a foot, the wind changed, and brought the tide in again above two feet; so that vessels and timbers, landed by the first tide, were set afloat by the second.  This is the only instance on record of a double tide, since the remarkable one in 1635.

     1843.    Dr. Charles O. Barker died on the eighth of January.  He was born at Andover, March 8, 1802, graduated at Cambridge in 1822, and married Augusta, daughter of Rembrandt Peale, in 1828.  His practice was extensive and successful, and he was beloved by all who formed his acquaintance.
     Rev. William Gray Swett, pastor of the Second Congregational Church, died on the fifteenth of February.  He was born in Salem, July 15, 1808, and graduated at Cambridge in 1828.  He went to Cuba in 1830, for the benefit of his health, where he spent upwards of two years.  In July, 1836, he was ordained at Lexington; and on the first of January, 1840, was installed at Lynn.  He was a practical preacher, and was greatly beloved by his people.  His death was a great loss to his society and to the town; for he was a man of talent, of active benevolence, and of sterling worth.  He united high classical attainments with a manly piety, and knew enough of human nature to mingle with all its sympathies and partake of all its innocent and social enjoyments.
     In a sudden storm of snow and rain, on the morning of March seventeenth, before daybreak, the schooner Thomas, Captain William Sprowl, of Belfast, loaded with wood, was wrecked on the southern end of the Long Beach.  There were seven men on board, five of whom were drowned, by the swamping of the long boat, as they were attempting to gain the shore.
     A splendid comet made its appearance this year.  It was observed on the first of February, in the day time, passed the sun on the twenty-sixth of that month, and was in its most favorable position for observation on the night of the eighteenth of March.  Its train then extended from Zeta in Eridanus, to Eta in Lepus - thirty-eight degrees in length.  It was brilliant and beautiful.
     The winter was very cold.  I crossed the harbor on the seventeenth of March, and the ice was then strong enough to bear a horse.  On the fourth of April the snow in many places was three feet deep, and on the eighth, a man drove an ox -sled, loaded with wood, across Spring Pond.  On the twentieth of April, the ice was still thick on the ponds.  There were heavy frosts on the first and second of June.
     President John Tyler attended the celebration of the battle of Bunker Hill, on the seventeenth of June; and in that week, 20,600 people passed over the Eastern Rail-road.
     Lewis A. Lauriat made an ascent from Winnisimmet on the fourth of July, and descended amid thousands of spectators, near the Lynn Bard's cottage, at Sagamore Hill.
     This year, Theophilus N. Breed built his factory, for making cutlery and shoemaker's tools, on Oak street. 
     In August, about twenty of the Penobscot Indians came to Lynn, and encamped, some at High Rock, and others at Nahant.
     Rev. John Pierpont, Jr. was ordained minister of the Second Congregational Church, on the eleventh of October.
     For about four years past, it has been noticed, that the Sycamore trees have been leafless, decayed, and dying.  It is supposed that their decay has been owing to heavy frosts blighting them, after they had budded early.
     Sagamore Hall, near the Lynn Depot, was burnt in the night of the twenty-fifth of November.  Loss, about $3000.  The town has been remarkably exempt from losses of this kind - this being the only great fire for ten years.

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