     Nahant, and the great range of woodland in the north of the town, had from the first settlement, been retained in common. The same spirit of practical democracy which had influenced the people at the beginning, was carried out through all their public affairs. Nahant was used as a common pasture, where any one who chose, put cattle and sheep, which were tended by a person, chosen and paid by the town, called a shepherd. In like manner the great woodlands had been reserved for common use, and the people cut their fuel in such quantities as they pleased in the woodlands nearest their dwellings. If any required timber for building, they selected the fine old oaks that plumed the craggy cliffs, and the tall, straight trunks which grew in the dark pine forests, to make into boards at' the saw mill. But now the people had so increased, and the limits of their cultivated lands become so permanently established, that they concluded it would be best to have some more definite regulations for their government in future.

     1706. On the 15th of April, a town meeting was held, when it was resolved to make a division of the public lands, only reserving the training field, which is now called the Common. They chose a committee of three persons from other towns, to make the division, whom they directed to allow each proprietor at least one fourth upland, and as near his own house as might be. The committee were Captain Samuel Gardner, of Salem, John Greenland, of Maiden, and Joseph Hasey , of Chelsea.
     We whose names are hereunto subscribed, having been chosen by the Towne of Lyn, at a Towne Meeting held April 15th, 1706, as a committee to Divide all the Undivided Common Lands within the Towne of Lyn, aforesaid, by such rules, and in such way and manner as shall be agreed upon by us; we having agreed and made Division of the Common Undivided Lands too and amongst all the proprietors and Inhabitants that have land of their own in fee, according to said Town Voate, so far as appeared to us. The way and manner of our Division, and that which we have agreed upon to make our rules by, are as followeth.
     We first obtained of the Selectmen of said Lyn, a copy of the List of Estate taken by them in 1705, which list being first perfected and made intelligible to us by the Selectmen, through our desire, by their bringing each person's land to the Right owner, and by adding such to said List, that by Reason of poverty, or others being in captivity, had been left out of said List, that soe we might come to the knowledge of all the proprietors and Inhabitants that have Lands of theire owne in fee; we having made division of the aforesaid Common Lands according to what each proprietor and Inhabitant have of Lands upon said List.
     1. We first taking out, according to the best Information we could obtaine, all such as had houses erected since the year 1694, who are priviledged for so much and no more than what each person hathe of Lands upon said List.
     2. A second Rule by which we make division is, that all such as have upon said List foure acres of Land or any Less quantity, to have priviledg for five acres; and all such as have five acres to have priviledg for six acres; and all such as have six acres to have priviledg of seven acres; and all such as have seven acres to have priviledg for eight acres; and no person to receive advantage any further for any more than for what they have upon said List.
     3. A third Rule of our Division is, that all such as have upon said List any greater number of acres than eight, till they come to twenty acres, counting two acres of pasture land for one of tillage Land; we finding them to be Rated but halfe soe much for pasture Land as for tillage or Improved Lands; are priviliged according to the number of acres they have on the List.
     4. A fourth Rule is, that all those that have above twenty acres upon said List, until they come to thirty acres, shall receive privilidg but for one fourth part of all they have above twenty acres; and for what land any person hathe on said List above thirty acres, shall receive priviledg but for one eighth part of what is above thirty acres.
     5. And whereas we, the aforesaid Committee, according to said Towne voate, are to Leave convenient ways in all places, as we shall think fitt, we have agreed that, by reason of the Impossibility of making highways passable, if Laid upon the Range Lines, Doe therefore order, that all the proprietors concerned, their heirs and assigns forever, to have free Liberty to pass and Repass over each person's Lotts, that is laid out by us on the commons, with carts and teams, to transport wood, timber; and stones, or upon any other ocation whatsoever, in such places as may be convenient, without any molestation, hindrance, or Interruption from any of the proprietors, their heirs or assigns; but no person to Damnifie his neighbor by Cutting Downe his tree or trees.
     We have left a highway over Little Nahant two poles wide on the west end, and soe Runing over the beach unto Great Nahant; and soe on the southwardly side of the hill to about ten pole above the Calf Spring, and running slanting up the hill into the old way, and soe runing on the northeast end of James Mills his land, and soe on to the first Range in the ram pasture; and have left about one acre of land joining to the highway by the Spring to accomidate Cattle coming to the Spring. We have also left a highway, two pole wide from the highway by the Spring, ouer into Bass neck, and soe through the Ranges to the southermost Range on said neck. We have also left a highway, two pole wide, on the Bay side, over to Bass neck, and so ouer Mr. Taylor's lott, Joseph Jacob's lott, and Moses Hudson's Lott, unto the other highway; and have left a highway one pole wide over the westward end of each Range on great Nahant; and a highway one pole wide, on the northwardly end of each Range on Bass neck; and a highway one pole wide ouer between the range of lots, halfe a pole on each Range, on each side of the Range Line on Little Nahant.
     Thus we make Returne of this our Doings; this first Day of January, 1706-7.
SAMUEL GARDNER,
JOHN GREENLAND,
JOSEPH HASEY.

     On the 28th of September, "The towne considering the great difficulty of laying out highways on the common lands, by reason of the swamps, hills, and rockenes of the land, theirfore voated, that after said common lands shall be divided, every person interested therein, shall have free liberty at all times, to pass and repass over each others' lotts of lands, to fetch their wood and such other things as shall be upon their lands, in any place or places, and for no other ends, provided they do not cut downe any sort of tree or trees in their so passing over." Eleven persons entered their dissent to this vote, but do not state whether it was against the privilege, or its limitation. Men frequently want to pass on to their lots for other purposes than to fetch wood; and in many places in the woods, if they had not cut down a tree, it would have been utterly impossible ever to have gone upon their lots at all with a carriage. If this vote were a law, many proprietors on Nahant, even now, could not go upon their lands to plant or build. But the warrant for calling this meeting is unrecorded.
     The Common Lands were laid out by the committee in "Seven Divisions." The First Division began on the west of Saugus river, including what was called the Six Hundred Acres, which were then in Lynn. The Second Division ran across the northern part of the town, and the Seventh Division was Nahant.
     There is no record that the report of the committee was accepted, though it probably was, as it was recorded, with all the separate lots and owners' names. The woodlands and the Nahants were laid out in Ranges, forty rods in width, and these were divided into lots, containing from about one eighth of an acre to eight acres. Many of these lots were afterward subdivided among heirs, so that many lots on Nahant are now six hundred and sixty feet long, and from two feet to eight feet wide. This renders it impossible in many places to obtain a building lot, without purchasing of many owners. Several lots are as narrow as two feet and three inches, and for each of these a separate deed must be written. I have constructed a complete map of Nahant on a very large scale, on Which the lots are shown with the names of the original proprietors and the present owners.


     1712. That part of the town now called Lynnfeld, was set off as a parish, or district, on the seventeenth of November. The inhabitants were to be freed from parish taxes, as soon as a meeting-house should be built, and a minister settled. The people of Lynnfield, in the town records, are called "our neighbors, the farmers."
     This year, all the shells, which came upon the Nahant beaches, were sold by the town, to Daniel Brown, and William Gray, for thirty shillings. They were not to sell the shells for more than eight shillings a load, containing forty-eight bushels, heaped measure. The people were permitted to dig and gather the clams as before, but they were required to open them on the beach, and leave the shells. The house in which I was born, was plastered with lime made from these shells.

     1716. A gentleman whose name was Bishop, was schoolmaster. Mr. Ebenezer Tarbox was chosen, by the town, as Shepherd. Three porches were added to the first parish meeting-house, and a curiously carved and paneled oak pulpit, imported from England, was set up.

     1717. Two great storms on the twentieth and twenty-fourth of February, covered the ground so deep with snow, that people for some days could not pass from one house to another. Old Indians, of a hundred years, said that their fathers had never told them of such a snow. It was from ten to twenty feet deep, and generally covered the lower story of the houses. Cottages of one story were entirely buried, so that the people dug paths from one house to another, under the snow. Soon after, a slight rain fell, and the frost crusted the snow; and then the people went out of their chamber windows, and walked over it. Many of the farmers lost their sheep; and most of the sheep and swine which were saved, lived from one to two weeks without food. One man had some hens buried near his barn, which were dug out alive eleven days after. During this snow, a great number of deer came from the woods for food, and were followed by the wolves, which killed many of them. Others were killed by the people with guns. Some of the deer fled to Nahant, and being chased by the wolves, leaped into the sea, and were drowned. Great damage was done to the orchards, by the snow freezing to the branches, and splitting the trees as it fell. This snow formed a remarkable era in New England; and old people, in relating an event, would say that it happened so many years before or after the great snow. Hon. John Winthrop says: "We lost at the island and farms above 1100 sheep, beside some horses and cattle interred in the snow; and it was very strange, that 28 days after the storm, the inhabitants of Fisher's Island, in pulling out the ruins of 100 sheep, out of the snow bank in the valley, where the snow had drifted over them sixteen feet, found two of them alive in the drift, which had lain on them all that time, and kept themselves alive by eating the wool off the others." The mail was nine days in reaching Portsmouth, and eight in returning.
     The town tax, this year, was L237. Mr. Shepard's salary was eighty-seven pounds; and the rest was for the school, and other town debts.
     It was in one of the great storms of this year, that Samuel Bellamy's pirate ship, the Whidah, of 23 guns and 130 men, was wrecked on Cape Cod, and more than one hundred dead bodies were found on the shore. Six of the survivors were afterward executed at Boston.
     This year Nahant was again without an inhabitant; James Mills being dead, and his family removed. His house and land became the property of Dr. John Henry Burchsted, who, on the 18th of December, sold it to Samuel Breed. He built a house where Whitney's Hotel now stands. He was very small in stature, and was generally called "Governor Breed." He was born November 11, 1692, married Deliverance Bassett, June 25, 1720, (the same who was mentioned as a child in 1692,) and had five children; Anna, Sarah, Huldah, Nehemiah, and William. His house became the property of his son Nehemiah, and his grandson William, by whom it was rebuilt in 1819. For twenty-four years this house was kept as a hotel, by Jesse Rice; and was purchased, in 1841, by Albert Whitney. [Mr. Whitney is a son-in-law of Mr. Rice, and still [1864] continues the public house.]
     Jabez Breed, brother of Samuel, soon after removed to Nahant and built a house directly opposite. A few years afterward, Richard Hood exchanged his house in Nahant street for this. He married Theodate Collins, May 20, 1718, and had eight children; Theodate, Jedediah, Content, Rebecca, Hannah, Patience, Abner and Abigail. His descendants still live at Nahant, on the estate of their ancestor.
     The third house on Nahant was built by Jeremiah Gray, a carpenter, and uncle of Lieutenant Governor William Gray. This house, about the year 1770, was sold to Jonathan Johnson. [And it afterward became the property of his son, Caleb Johnson, by whom it is still occupied.]
     These were the only three houses on Nahant until the year 1803. Their occupants were Quakers, and kept no taverns, but accommodated a few boarders in the summer, and occasionally made a fish chowder, for parties who visited Nahant from Boston and other places.

     1718. In the beginning of this year, Mr. Shepard was unwell; and a gentleman whose name was Townsend, was employed to preach five sermons; for which the town paid him fifty shillings. The Selectmen, on the 5th of March, were directed to employ a schoolmaster; and in their agreement with him, "to have relation to some help for Mr. Shepard in preaching."
     According to tradition - which may not very safely be relied on in matters of importance, though it may assist in delineating manners and customs - it was about this time that potatoes were first introduced into Lynn. Mr. John Newhall received two or three, which he planted; and when he gathered the produce, a few of them were roasted and eaten, merely from curiosity; and 'the rest were put into the shell of a gourd, and hung up in the cellar. The next year he planted them all, and had enough to fill a two bushel basket. He knew not what to do with so many, and gave some of them to his neighbors. Soon after, one of them said to him: "Well, I have found that potatoes are good for something. I had some of them boiled, and ate them with fish, and they relished very well." It was several years after this, before potatoes came into general use, and then only in small quantities. A farmer, who kept a very particular account of every day's employment, first mentions "patatas," as a common article, in 1733. [But in the Colony Records we find potatoes named as early as 1628. They were among the articles to be provided for the Massachusetts settlers and sent over by the Company, probably for planting. Historians have generally supposed they were not known in England before 1653, when some were carried there by Sir John Hawkins, from Santa Fe. But the above indicates an earlier introduction. And besides, as Mr. Felt mentions, Bermuda potatoes sold in our colony, in 1636, for 2d. a pound; but these were probably what we now call sweet potatoes. The common potato, however, came slowly into general use. And it seems evident that in some places at least it fell under a sort of religious ban; attributable, as some have thought, to the fact that it is not mentioned in the Bible; but this cannot have been the case, as the use of sundry other vegetables which were highly esteemed, would, for the same reason have been interdicted. If it be true that potatoes were brought here as early as 1628, for cultivation, as an article of food, it is quite remarkable that almost a century should have elapsed before they began to be served upon the table. I know it is generally supposed that they were not introduced here till about the period indicated by the traditions alluded to by Mr. Lewis; and that they were brought by the "Scotch Irish " immigrants, as they were called.]
     At this time, tea was little used, and tea-kettles were unknown. The water was boiled in a skillet; and when the ladies went to visiting parties, each one carried her tea-cup, saucer, and spoon. The tea-cups were of the best china, and very small, containing about as much as a common wine-glass. Coffee did not come into use until many years after.

     1719. The northern lights were first mentioned this year, on the 17th of December. The people were much alarmed at their appearance. The northern hemisphere seemed to be on fire; and it is said that the coruscations were distinctly heard, like the rustling of a silken banner.

     1720. The Rev. Jeremiah Shepard was the fourth son of the Rev. Thomas Shepard, minister of Cambridge, who came from Towcester, in England, in 1635. His mother, who was his father's third wife, was Margaret Boradile. He was born at Cambridge, August 11th, 1648, and graduated at Harvard College in 1669. He was the first minister of Lynn, who was born and educated in America. His brother Thomas was minister of Charlestown, and his brother Samuel minister of Rowley. In 1675, he preached as a candidate at Rowley, after the death of his brother; and in 1678 at Ipswich. He came to Lynn in 1679, during the sickness of Mr. Whiting, and was ordained on the 6th of October, 1680. He was admitted a freeman in the same year. He resided, at first, in the street which has been called by his name; and afterward built a house, which, was burnt down, on the north side of the Common, between Mall and Park streets. In 1689, he was chosen Representative to the General Court; and this is perhaps the only instance in the early history of New England, in which a minister of the gospel sustained that office. He died on the 'third' of June, 1720, aged seventy-two, having preached at Lynn forty years.
     The life of Mr. Shepard was distinguished by his unvaried piety. He was one of those plain and honest men, who adorn their station by spotless purity of character; and has left a name to which no one can annex an anecdote of mirth, and which no one attempts to sully by a breath of evil. He was indefatigable in his exertions for the spiritual welfare of his people; but his dark and melancholy views of human nature tended greatly to contract the circle of his usefulness. It is the practice of many who attempt to direct us in the way of truth, that, instead of laying open to us the inexhaustible stores of happiness, which the treasury of the Gospel affords - instead of drawing aside the veil which conceals from man's darkened heart the inexpressible joys of the angelic world, and inducing us to follow the path of virtue, from pure affection to Him who first loved us - they give unlimited scope to the wildest imaginations that ever traversed the brain of a human being, and plunge into the unfathomable abyss of superstition's darkness, to torture the minds of the living by stirring up the torments of the dead, and driving us to the service of God, by unmingled fear of his exterminating wrath. It is not requisite for the prevalence of truth, that we should be forever familiar with the shadows that encompass it. The mind may dwell upon darkness until it has itself become dark, and callous to improvement - or reckless and despairing of good. That Mr. Shepard's views of human nature, and of the dispensation of the Gospel, were of the darkest kind, is evident from the sermons which he has left; and these opinions unfortunately led him to regard the greater part of the christian world as out of the way of salvation, and to look upon the crushed remnant of the red men as little better than the wild beasts of the forest. In alluding to the mortality which prevailed among the Indians, in 1633, he says that "the Lord swept away thousands of those salvage tawnies, those cursed devil worshipers."
     His writings exhibit occasional gleams of genius and beauty; but they are disfigured by frequent quotations fiom the dead languages, and by expressions inconsistent with that nobleness of sentiment and purity style, which should be sedulously cultivated by the young. It was the custom in his time, to prolong the sermon at least one hour, and sometimes it was extended to two; and a sand glass was placed on the pulpit to measure the time. In one of his sermons he alludes to this practice: "Thou art restless till the tiresome glass be run out, and the tedious sermon be ended," He published the following works:

     1. "A Sort of Believers Never Saved." Boston, 1711, 12mo.
     2. "Early Preparations for Evil Days." Boston, 1712, 24mo.
     3. "General Election Sermon." Boston, 1715, 12mo.

The following epitaph was transcribed from the grave stone with much difficulty; having become nearly obliterated by the dilapidations of more than one hundred years.

          Elijah's mantle drops, the prophet dies,
          His earthly mansion quits, and mounts the skies.
          -------------------So Shepherd's gone.
          His precious dust, death's prey, indeed is here,
          But's nobler breath'mong seraphs does appear;
          He joins the adoring crowds about the throne,
          He's conquered all, and now he wears the crown.

     The name Mr. Shepard's wife was Mary. She died March 28, 1710, aged 53 years. He had nine children, 1. Hannah, born 1676, married John Downing of Boston, 1698. 2. Jeremiah, born 1677, died 1700. 3. Mehetable, died 1688. 4. Nathaniel, born June 16, 1681, removed to Boston. 5. Margaret, died 1683. 6. Thomas, born August 1, 1687, died 1709. 7. Francis, died 1692. 8. John, married Alice Tucker, 1722. 9. Mehetable second, married Rev. James Allin of Brookline, 1717.
     Rev. Nathaniel Henchman, who had been invited, in February, to settle as a colleague with Mr. Shepard, was ordained minister of the first parish, in December. His salary was L115; and he received L160, as a settlement. Twenty persons, "called Quakers," were exempted, some entirely and others in part, from the payment of parish taxes.
     Rev. Nathaniel Sparhawk was ordained minister of the second parish, now Lynnfield, on the 17th of August. His salary was L70.
     Mr. John Lewis was master of the grammar school. The school was kept in four places; on the Common, at Woodend, in the west parish, and in the north parish.

     1721. The General Court of the preceding year, ordered fifty thousand pounds to be emitted in bills of credit. Of this, Lynn received L124.4 as its proportion, which was loaned at five per cent. This money, which was afterward called Old Tenor, soon began to depreciate; and in 1750, forty-five shillings were estimated at one dollar.
     The small pox prevailed in New England. In Boston, more than eight hundred persons died. If the small-pox of 1633 was a judgment upon the Indians, for their erroneous worship, was not this equally a judgment upon the inhabitants of Boston? Some men are very free in dealing out the judgments of God to their enemies, while they contrive to escape from the consequence of their own reasoning. If a misfortune comes upon one who differs from their opinions, it is the vengeance of heaven; but when the same misfortune becomes their own, it is only a trial. One might suppose that the observation of Solomon, that "all things happen alike to all men," and that still more pertinent remark of our Saviour, respecting the Tower of Siloam, would teach men understanding. (Luke 13: 4.) But though he spoke so plainly, how many do not rightly understand the doctrine of that inimitable Teacher.
     The Honorable John Burrill died of the small pox,on the tenth of December, aged 63years. He was born on the fifteenth of October,1658,and lived on the western side of Willis's hill. He married Mary Stowers of Chelsea, on the twenty eighth of July, 1680, and left no children. He was Town Clerk for 30 years, and was twenty-one times elected Representative. He was Speaker of the House for several years, and at the time of his death was a Counsellor. He gained a reputation which few men who have since filled his stations, have surpassed. The purity of his character, and the integrity of his life, secured to him the warmest friendship of his acquaintance, and the unlimited confidence of his native town. He was affable in his manners, and uniformly prudent in his conduct. His disposition was a the most charitable kind, and his spirit regulated by the most guarded temperance. He willingly continued in the House many years, when he might have been raised to a more elevated office; and his thourough acquaintance with forms of legislation, the dignity of his deportment, and the order in which he maintained in debate, gave to him a respect and an influence, which probably no other Speaker of the House ever obtained. Governor Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, compares him to the celebrated William Pitt, speaker of the English House of Commons. The following epitaph is on his gravestone.

'Alas! our patrons dead! The country - court -
The church-in tears, all echo the report;
Grieved that no piety, no mastering sense,
No counsel, gravity, no eloquence,
No generous temper, gravitating to
Those honors, which they did it upon him throw,
Could stay his fate, or their dear Burrill save
From a contagious sickness, and the grave
The adjacent towns this loss reluctant bear
But widowed Lynn sustains the greatest share
Yet joy in being guardian of his dust
Until the Resurrection of the Just'

     1722. Between the years 1698 and 1722, there were killed in Lynn woods and on Nahant, four hundred and twenty-eight foxes; for most of which the town paid two shillings each. In 1720, the town voted to pay no more for killing them, and the number since this time is unrecorded. We have also no account of the immense multitude which were killed during the first seventy years of the town. If these animals were as plenty in the neighborhood of Zorah, as they were at Lynn, Samson probably had little difficulty in obtaining his alleged number.

     1724. The eastern Indians recommenced their hostilities early in the spring. On the 17th of April they attacked a sloop from Lynn, at the mouth of Kennebunk river, commanded by Captain John Felt, of Lynn, who went there for a load of spars. He had engaged two young men, William Wormwood and Ebenezer Lewis to assist him. While standing on the raft, Capt. Felt was shot dead. Lewis fled to the mill, when a ball struck him on the head and killed him instantly. The ball was afterward found to be flattened. Wormwood ran ashore, closely pursued by several Indians, and with his back to a stump defended himself with the butt of his musket, until he was killed by several balls. They were all buried in the field near Butler's rocks, and Capt. Felt's grave stones were standing but a few years since.

     1726. A ship yard was open at Lynn, where the wharves have since been built, near Liberty Square. Between this year and 1741, two brigs and sixteen schooners were built.  Collins's Journal. It is said that before the first schooner was launched, a great number of men and boys were employed, with pails, in filling her with water, to ascertain if she was tight.

     1727. An earthquake happened on the twenty ninth of October, about twenty minutes before eleven, in the evening. The noise was like the roaring of a chimney on fire, the sea was violently agitated, and the stone walls and chimneys were thrown down. Shocks of earthquakes were continued for many weeks; and between this time and 1744, the Rev. Mathias Plant, of Newbury, has recorded nearly two hundred shocks, some of which were loud and violent.
     The town, on the twenty second of November, fixed the prices of grain; wheat at 6s., barley and rye at 5s., Indian corn at 3s., and oats at 1s. 6d. a bushel.

     1728. The General Court having, the preceding year, issued sixty thousand pounds more, in bills of credit, the town received L130.4, as its proportion, which was loaned at four per cent.
     A school house was built in Laighton's lane, now Franklin street.

     1729. A great snow storm happened on the fifteenth of February, during which there was much thunder and lightning.
     The General Court was held at Salem, on the 28th of May, in consequence of the measles at Boston.
At the request of the first parish, Mr. Henchman relinquished his salary of L115, trusting entirely to the generosity of the people for his support; in his own words, "depending on what encouragement hath been given me, of the parish doing what may be handsome for the future." At the end of the year, the contribution amounted to L143.1.4.

     1730. On Sunday evening, April twelfth, there was an earthquake.
     On Monday, August 24th, "Governor Jonathan Belcher went through Lynn, and the people paid their respects to him in an extraordinary manner."  Collins.
     On the thirty first of August Mr. Andrew Mansfield was killed in a well, at Lynnfield, by a stone falling on his head.
     On the twenty second of October, the northern lights appeared very brilliant and awful, flashing up in red streams.

     1731. The Rev. Nathaniel Sparhawk was dismissed from the pastoral charge of the north parish, now Lynnfield, on the first of July, having preached eleven years. He was a son of Mr. Nathaniel Sparhawk of Cambridge. He was born in 1694, and graduated at Harvard College in 1715. He was ordained August 17, 1720; and died May 7, 1732; about one year after his separation from that church. A part of his people had become dissatisfied with him, and some, whom he considered his friends, advised him to ask a dismission, in order to produce tranquillity. He asked a dismission, and it was unexpectedly granted. A committee was then chosen to wait on him, and receive the church records; but he refused to deliver them. Soon after, he took to his bed, and is supposed to have died in consequence of his disappointment. I have sixteen papers of his hand writing, the confessions of faith of his wife and other members of his church. He married Elizabeth Perkins, who died May 12, 1768, aged 68 years. He had four children. 1. Elizabeth, 2. Nathaniel, 3. Edward Perkins Sparhawk, born July 10, 1728, and graduated at Harvard College in 1753. He married Mehetabel Putnam, 1759. He was never ordained though he preached many times in the parishes of Essex. I have twenty-six of his manuscript sermons, and seventeen interleaved almanacs. He appears not to have approved the settlement of Mr. Adams as minister of the parish for which he was a candidate, and calls him "old Adams, the reputed teacher of Lynnfield." He is the first person whom I found in our records, having three names. The custom of giving an intermediate name seems not to have been common, till more than one hundred years after the settlement of New England. 4. John, born October 24, 1730, was apprenticed as a shoemaker, and afterward became a physician in Philadelphia.
     Rev. Stephen Chase, of Newbury, was ordained minister of the second parish, on the twenty fourth of November. His salary was L100.
     On the third of August, the school-house was removed from Franklin street to Water Hill.

     1732. On the fifth of September, there was an earthquake without noise. In October, an epidemic cold affected most of the people in Lynn. It ranged through America, and passed to Europe. Collins.


     1733. A settlement was begun at Amherst, in New Hampshire, by people from Lynn.
     A memorandum respecting the town Meeting, on the 5th of March, says: "At this meeting we had a great debate and strife, so that the town was much in a hubbub."  Collins.

     1736. The first meeting-house in the third parish, now Saugus, was built this year.  On the fourth of September, Thomas Hawkes was drowned.


     1737. On Sunday, February 6th, there was an earthquake. Collins.
     At this time, there were fourteen chaises, nine vehicles called chairs, and one chlash, owned in Lynn.
     Square toed shoes went out of fashion this year, and buckles began to be used.

     1738. On the thirty first of March, two houses were burnt; one of which belonged to Mr. Edmund Lewis, and the other to Mr. John Hawkes.  Mr. Richard Mower was schoolmaster.  The town tax was L119.16.10.

     1739. On the third of March, Mr. Theophilus Burrill's barn was burnt.
     Rev. Edward Cheever was ordained minister of the third parish, now Saugus, on Wednesday, the fifth of December.
     Mr. Edmund Lewis and Mr. Ralph Lindsey, were chosen by the town, to enforce the act of the General Court, to prevent the destruction of deer.

     1740. A fatal disease, called the throat distemper, prevailed in Lynn, and many fell victims to it. In October, six children died in one week.  Collins.
     In a great snow storm, on the seventeenth of December, a schooner was wrecked on Nahant rocks.
     The winter was exceedingly cold, with many storms. The rivers were frozen in October. Snow began to fall on Thanksgiving day, November thirteenth, and on the fouth of April following it covered the fences.  Collins.

     1741. The winter of 1741, was perhaps the coldest ever known in New England, since its settlement. Francis Lewis, signer of the Declaration of Independence, drove his horse from New York to Barnstable, the whole length of Long Island Sound, on the ice!
     "For these 3 weeks we have had a continued series of extreme cold weather, so that our harbors and rivers are entirely frozen up. On Charles river a tent is erected for the entertainment of travellers. From Point Alderton along the south shore, the ice is continued for the space of above 20 miles." Boston Post Boy, Jan. 12.
     "People ride every day from Stratford, Con., to Long Island, which is three leagues across, which was never known before."  Boston News Letter, March 5.
     "We hear that great numbers of horses, cattle, and sheep, are famishing for want of food. Three hundred sheep have died on Slocum's Island, and 3000 on Nantucket. Neat cattle die in great numbers." Some farmers offered half their cattle for the support of the rest till May, " but in vain." Same, March 26.
     "Dorchester, March 28. People from Thompson's Island, Squantum, and the adjacent neighborhood, have come fifteen Sabbaths successively upon the ice to our meeting." Same, 2 April 2.
     A letter dated at New London, on the ninth of July, five days later than our day of Independence, says: "'There is now at Lyme on the east side of Connecticut river, at a saw mill, a body of ice, as large as two carts can draw, clear and solid, and I believe might lay there a month longer, were it not that so many resort, out of curiosity, to drink punch made of it." (Same, 27 July.)
     On the seventeenth of July, a mass of "snow congealed into ice," lay at Ipswich, " nearly four foot thick."  Same, July 22.
     A difference had existed for several years, between Mr. Henchman and his parish, in consequence of their refusal to make so large an addition as he desired to his salary, on which he declined to accept it. This year he offered to preach lectures to them gratuitously, for which he received their thanks, and an increase of his salary.
     Great commotions were excited in the neighboring towns, by Mr. Whitefield's preaching. In some places; meetings were held almost every evening; and exhortations and prayers were offered by women and children, which had never before been done in New England.
     On the eighteenth of February, the Winnesimet ferry boat was overset, and a Frenchman was drowned.

     1742. The Rev. George Whitefield preached in Lynn. An evening meeting on the eleventh of March, is thus noticed. "This evening sundry young persons were struck, as they call it, in the religious manner. This is the first of so in our town." (Collins.)
     On the eighteenth of June, Mr. Nathaniel Collins's house was struck by lightning.
     On the twelfth of October, Mr. Jonathan Norwood fell from a fishing boat, near Nahant, and was taken up dead.

     1744. On Sunday morning, June third., there was an earthquake, sufficiently violent to throw down stone wall. It was repeated on the twentieth.  Collins.
     On the fourteenth, a small company of men were impressed, to be sent, with other troops from Massachusetts, against the French and Indians, who were making depredations on the northern frontier. The town was furnished with a stock of powder, which was stored in a closet beneath the pulpit of the first parish meeting-house.
     On the thirty-first of December, Mr. Theophilus Merriam was found dead on the ice, on Saugus river.

     1745. On the evening of March ninth, there was a night arch.
     Rev. George Whitefield came to Lynn, on the 3d of July, and requested Mr. Henchman's permission to preach in his meetinghouse, which was refused. Some of the people resolved that he should have liberty to preach; and taking the great doors from Mr. Theophilus Hallowell's barn, and placing them upon some barrels, they made a stage, on the eastern part of the Common, from which he delivered his address. He also delivered a discourse, standing on the platform of the whipping-post, near the first parish meeting-house. After the first application and refusal, Mr. Henchman addressed a letter, in a printed pamphlet, to the Rev. Stephen Chase, of Lynnfield, containing reasons for declining to admit Mr. Whitefield into his pulpit. Some of these reasons were that Mr. Whitefield had disregarded and violated the most solemn vow, which he took when he received orders in the Church of England, and pledged himself to advocate and maintain her discipline and doctrine - that he had intruded into places where regular churches were established - that he used vain boasting, and theatrical gestures, to gain applause - that he countenanced screaming, trances, and epileptic fallings - that he had defamed the character of Bishop Tillotson, and slandered the colleges of New England. To this letter, Mr. William Hobby, minister of Reading, made a reply; and Mr. Henchman rejoined in a second letter. The controversy extended throughout New England, and many pamphlets were written, both for and against Mr. Whitefield. Some good seems to have been done by him, in awakening the people to a higher sense of the importance of piety; but seeking only to awaken them, and not direct them to the Church, of which he was a minister, they were left to form new separations, and to build up other faiths.

     1746. On the eighteenth of August the corn was hurt by a frost.
     A packet schooner, commanded by Captain Hugh Alley, passed from Lynn to Boston. It continued to sail for many years.

     1747. The Rev. Edward Cheever relinquished his connection with the third parish, of which he had been minister for eight years. He was a son of Mr. Thomas Cheever, of Lynn, and was born May 2, 1717. He graduated at Harvard College, in 1737, and was ordained in 1739. He removed to Eastham, where he died, August 24, 1794, aged 77 years.

     1749. The drought of this summer was probably never exceeded in New England. The preceding year had been unusually dry, but this was excessively so. There was but little rain from the 6th of May to the sixth of July. A memorandum on the eighteenth of July, by Collins, says: "Extreme hot dry weather, such as has not been known in the memory of man - so scorched that the creatures can but just live for the want of grass." The effect of the drought was so great, that hay was imported from England. Immense multitudes of grasshoppers appeared. They were so plenty on Nahant, that the inhabitants walked together, with bushes in their hands, and drove them, by thousands, into the sea.

     1750. John Adam Dagyr (a welsh word, signifying a tear.), a shoemaker, from Wales, came to Lynn. He was one of the best workmen for ladies' shoes, who had ever appeared in the town. At the time of his arrival, the business of shoemaking at Lynn was very limited, and the workmen unskillful. There were but three men who conducted the business so extensively as to employ journeymen. These were John Mansfield, Benjamin Newhall, and William Gray, grandfather of William Gray, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. The workmen had frequently obtained good shoes from England, and taken them to pieces, to discover how they were made. By the instruction of Mr. Dagyr, they were soon enabled to produce shoes nearly equal to the best imported from England. Shoemakers, from all parts of the town, went to him for information; and he is called, in the Boston Gazette of 1764, "the celebrated shoemaker of Essex." He resided on Boston street, not far from the foot of Mall. He married Susanna Newhall, in 1761, and had three children, Caroline, Sarah, and Joseph. Like many who have consulted the public interest more than their own, he was poor, and died in the Lynn alms-house, in 1808.
     On the night of July 2, Mr. Robert Mansfield's house, near the Flax pond, was struck by lightning.

     1751. On the eighth of February, Captain Benjamin Blaney, of Swampscot, fell from his horse, at Malden, and was taken up dead.

     1752. Rev. Joseph Roby was ordained minister of the third parish, now Saugus, in August.
     The school house was removed from Water Hill, to its former place in Franklin street, on the twenty-ninth of September; and on the twenty seventh of November, it was again removed to the eastern part of the common.
     The selectmen were allowed two shillings a day for their services.  Dr. Nathaniel Henchman was schoolmaster.

     1753. Many sheep having been killed by wild animals, the people assembled, on the 6th of August, and ranged through the woods, to kill the wolves and foxes. On the 27th, a great number of the inhabitants of Lynn, Salem, and Reading, met and spent the day, in endeavoring to clear the forest of them.


     1755. A shop, on the Common, belonging to Mr. Benjamin James, was burnt, on the fourth of February. On the twenty-fourth, a schooner, from Salem, was cast away on Short Beach, at Nahant. Collins.
     On Sunday, April twenty-seventh, the Society of Friends, for the first time, had two meetings in one day. Collins.
     Rev. Stephen Chase, resigned the care of the second parish, now Lynnfield. He graduated at Harvard University, in 1728, and was ordained November 24, 1731. He married Jane Winget, of Hampton, in 1732; and his children, born at Lynn, were, Abraham, Stephen, Jane, Stephen, second, and Mary. He removed to Newcastle, in New Hampshire, where he settled and died.
     Mr. Benjamin Adams, was installed minister of the second parish, on the fifth of November.
     The greatest earthquake ever known in New England, happened on Tuesday, the eighteenth of November, at fifteen minutes after four, in the morning. It continued about four minutes. Walls and chimneys were thrown down, and clocks stopped. On the following Saturday, there was another earthquake. Collins. On the first of this month Lisbon was destroyed.
     A whale, seventy-five feet in length, was landed on King's Beach, on the 9th of December. Dr. Henry Burchsted rode into his mouth, in a chair drawn by a horse; and afterward had two of his bones set up for gate posts, at his house in Essex street, where they stood for more than fifty years.
     In the eastern French and Indian war, Governor Lawrence, of Nova Scotia sent to Massachusetts, in the course of two years, about 2000 French Catholic Neutrals, who were quartered in different places. Lynn had fourteen. Thomas Lewis supplied them with provisions; and among the items of his bill are 432 quarts of milk, at six pence a gallon. The war continued until 1763.

     1756. The manuscript of Dr. John Perkins gives a long anc particular relation of a singular encounter of wit, had between Jonathan Gowen, of Lynn, and Joseph Emerson, of Reading. They met, by appointment, at the tavern in Saugus, and so great was the number of people, that they removed to an adjacent field. The Reading champion was foiled, and went home in great chagrin. Dr. Perkins says that the exercise of Gowen's wit "was beyond all human imagination." But he afterward fell into such stupidity, that the expression became proverbial - "You are as dull as Jonathan Gowen."

     1757. There was an earthquake on the eigth of July, at fifteen minutes after two o'clock. (Collins.
     On the sixth of February, two merchant vessels, from London, valued at one hundred thousand pounds, were wrecked on Lynn Beach.
     On the afternoon of Sunday, August fourteenth, the people were alarmed, during meeting time, by the beating of drums; and on the next day, twenty men were impressed, and marched to Springfield.  Pratt.
     On the sixth of December, Lord Loudon's regiment, in marching through Woodend, took a boy named Nathaniel Low, living with Mr. Zaccheus Collins. His master followed the regiment into Marblehead, and on his solicitation, being a Quaker, the boy was released. This regiment had for some time been quartered in Boston, where Lord Loudon sported his coach and six horses.  Collins.

     1758. Thomas Mansfield, Esq., was thrown from his horse, on Friday, January 6, and died the next Sunday.
     A company of soldiers, from Lynn, marched for Canada, on the twenty third of May. Edmund Ingalls and Samuel Mudge were killed.
     In a thunder shower, on the fourth of August, an ox, belonging to Mr. Henry Silsbe, was killed by lightning.
     A sloop from Lynn, commanded by Captain Ralph Lindsey, was cast away, on the fifteenth of August, near Portsmouth.

        1761. The Honorable Ebenezer Burrill was born on the thirteenth of July, 1679. He was representative from Lynn six years; and in 1731, and 1746, was chosen councillor. He was sent a commissioner to Casco Bay, to treat with the Indians, on the seventeenth of July, 1732; and returned on the fifth of August. He lived at Swampscott, at the place where Mr. Humphrey formerly resided; and died on the sixth of September, 1761, aged 82 years. He married Martha Farrington, by whom he had ten children.
The Rev. Nathaniel Henchman was a son of Mr. Nathaniel Henchman, a bookbinder, and deacon of a church, in Boston. He was born on the twenty second of November, 1700; and graduated at Harvard University, in 1717, and was ordained minister of the first parish of Lynn, in December, 1720. His residence was on North Common street, between Mall and Park streets. The house which he built was, till within a short time of its removal, in 1855, owned by Mr. George Brackett, Mr. Henchman died on the twenty-third day of December, 1761, aged 61, having preached forty-one years. In the early part of his ministry, he enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his people. His learning was extensive, and his integrity and virtue entitled him to high respect. He was strongly attached to regularity and order, and disinclined to every species of enthusiasm. He thought the services of the Sabbath, in general, were sufficient, and was decidedly opposed to evening meetings. By his omitting to deliver lectures, and refusing to admit itinerant preachers into his pulpit, disaffections were created, which deprived him of the regard of many of his people. The occasion of these difficulties is to be imputed to the opinions of the time, rather than to any want of urbanity on the part of Mr. Henchman, who was very affable in his, manners, and treated Mr. Whitefield with great civility and respect in his own house, and invited him to remain longer.He published the following pamphlets.
     1. Reasons for Declining to Admit Mr. Whitefield into his Pulpit; addressed to the Rev. Stephen Chase, of Lynnfield. Boston, 1744, 8vo.
     2. A Letter to Rev. William Hobby of Reading, in Reply to his Vindication of Mr. Whitefield. Boston, 1745, 4to.
     The following epitaph was written for Mr. Henchman.

          Three times aloud the summons hath been blown,
          To call Lynn's watchmen to the highest throne.
          First Whiting left the church her loss to weep;
          Then Shepard next resigned his peaceful sheep;
          Our other shepherd now gives up the trust,
          And leaves his charge to slumber in the dust.
          A few fleet years, and the last trump will sound,
          To call our Henchman from the silent ground.
          Then we who wake, and they who sleep must come,
          To hear the Judge pronounce the righteous doom.

     Mr. Henchman had two wives; 1. Deborah Walker, in 1727, and, 2. Lydia Lewis, in 1734. He had five children. 1. Dr. Nathaniel, born April 1, 1728, graduated at Harvard University in 1747, was town clerk of Lynn for two years, and died May 30, 1767, aged 39. 2. Daniel. 3. Anna. 4. Lydia. 5. Anna.
     On the twelth of March, at twenty minutes after two, in the morning, there was an earthquake; and on the first of November, between eight and nine in the evening, another. Collins.
     On the twentieth of April, John Stavers commenced running a stage from Portsmouth to Boston. It was a curricle, drawn by two horses, and had seats for three persons. It left Portsmouth on Monday morning, stopped the first night at Ipswich, and reached the ferry the next afternoon. It returned on Thursday morning, and reached Portsmouth on Friday. The fare was thirteen shillings and six pence. This was the first stage in New England.


     1762. The summer of this year was remarkably dry. On Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of July, a day of fasting and prayer was observed, in consequence of the drought; and on the Sunday following, there was a 'fine shower of rain.'

     1763. Mr. John Treadwell was ordained minister of the first parish, on the second of March.
     There was at this time in the town a man named Robert Bates, who had such a facility for rhyming that he usually made his answers in that manner. Many of these have been related, but I only notice one. The tax gatherer called on him one day, and addressed him thus: "Mr. Bates, can you pay your rates? " to which he replied: "My dear honey, I have no money; I can't pay you now, unless I sell my cow; I will pay you half, when I kill my calf; but if you'll wait till fall, I'll pay you all."

     1764. August 27, Mr. John Tarbox was drowned from a gondola, at the salt marsh.
     December 28. Mr. Robert Wait was found dead on the marsh, near Saugus river.
     The Boston Gazette, of October 21, says: "It is certain that women's shoes, made at Lynn, do now exceed those usually imported, in strength and beauty, but not in price. Surely then, it is expected, the public spirited ladies of the town and province will turn their immediate attention to this branch of manufacture."