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.
[
Jonathan Townsend, of Lynn, graduated at Harvard
College. He was settled, 23 March, in Needham, being the first minister of
the place, and remained in the ministry forty-two years. He died 30
September, 1762, aged 64. A record in his hand writing, dated Needham, 17
July, 1735, states an interesting fact regarding a lady, who, it is probable,
was a member of his church: "This day died here, Mrs.
Lydia Chickering, in the 83d year of her
age. She was born in Dedham, in New England, July 14, 1652, and about the
year 1671 went up from thence to Hadley, where for the space of about a year,
she waited upon
Col. Whalley, and
Col. Goffe (two of
King Charles 1st's judges), who had fled thither
from the men that sought their lives. She was the daughter of
Capt. David Fisher, of Dedham, one of the
magistrates of the colony under the old charter."
[
Governor Shute passed through Lynn, 15
October. There was considerable parade. The Salem Troop, under
Col. Brown, came over, to escort him to
their town, where he was received in a becoming manner, had "a splendid
entertainment," and remained over night. He was on a journey to New
Hampshire.
[An extraordinary
darkness prevailed at mid-day, 21 October. Lighted candles were found
necessary on the dinner table, fowls went to roost, and there was great alarm.]
Two great storms on the 20th and
24th 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. [But the
greatest snow storm of the year occurred in April. It being so late in the
season, however, the effects were not long visible.]
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.
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.
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. [It is an interesting question, whether this was the first
time that the northern lights were observed here. If the earlier settlers
had seen them it is remarkable that recorded descriptions are not found.
It seems now to be settled that intervals of many years, perhaps centuries, do
occur in which they are not seen; and then they suddenly blaze forth again to
the surprise and terror of mankind. I have seen this peculiarity remarked
upon in a history of Iceland. The ancients have left no account of the
phenomenon, under the present name; though some have imagined that it is alluded
to in the book of Job, ch. 37, v. 22 - "Fair weather cometh out of the north:
with God is terrible majesty " - the term rendered "fair weather," meaning also
bright light. And the last reading seems most natural, as there is no
"terrible majesty" connected with fair weather. The following extract from
a curious letter, dated Chester, 19 June, 1649, may be sufficient to convince
some that the northern lights were seen before this year: " Being late out
on Saturday night to see my horse eat his Oates, it being past 12 a clock at
night, we saw in the North East, in the Ayre, 2 black Clowdes firing one against
the other, as if they had been 2 Armies in the Clowdes: The fire was disserned
sometimes more and sometimes lesse by us. It was not a continuing fire,
but exactly as if Muskitiers were discharging one against another.
Sometimes there could be no fire seene, and then about half an hour after, we
could discerne the North Clowde retreat: And so it did till the day began to
appear, and all the while the last Clowde following it, both firing each at
other: It was the strangest sight that ever I saw, nor can I relate the
exactnesse of it; it was in such a wonderful nanner that I cannot express
it." It is not easy to determine what this was, if it was not the aurora
borealis, though in some particulars the description does not exactly answer for
the usual appearance at the present day. The wonder-struck observers,
however, could not have supposed that the contending forces intended much damage
to each other, as their shooting was probably perpendicular and not horizontal.
[The summer of this year was
remarkable for copious rains. In the Boston News Letter, for the week
ending 17 August, appears this paragraph: "It is very remarkable that tho' on
last Lord's Day we had then some Rain, which had been grievous for about a Month
before, that after the Ministers of the several Meeting Houses had made
Intimation to their Congregations of their intending the Thursday following,
that the Publick Lecture should be turned into a Day of Fasting and Prayer, to
beg of God that He would avert His Judgments in granting suitable and seasonable
Weather, after the great Rains, to ripen and gather in the Fruits of the Earth,
both by Land and Sea, that that self same Evening the Rain ceased and the sun
shone clear ever since, even before the Day appointed for His people to call
upon Him for these great mercies."]
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 3d 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.
[
Mr.
Shepard does not appear to have been entirely exempt from the
prevailing custom of the early clergy of sometimes expressing their thoughts in
numbers. Few specimens of his versification, however, are now to be
found. In the first edition of
Hubbard's Indian Wars, printed in 1677, is a page
of poetry, following the "Advertisement to the Reader," addressed " To the
Reverend Mr. William Hubbard, on his most
exact History of New England Troubles," and signed
J. S.; which initials are generally supposed to
refer to
Mr. Shepard. A short
extract follows:
When
thy rare Piece unto my view once came,
It
made my muse that erst did smoke, to flame;
Raising my fancy, so sublime, that I
That
famous forked Mountain did espie;
Thence in an Extasie I softly fell
Down
near unto the Helliconian Well.
[That the church at Lynn enjoyed a
good degree of temporal prosperity under the ministry of
Mr. Shepard seems evident; and it does not appear
that its spiritual progress was not commensurate; though outward prosperity is
not a sure indication of godliness within. The encomiums of
Mr. Lewis, so far as they touch certain points in
the character of
Mr. Shepard are, no
doubt, well merited; and the reflections on the dark features are as judicious
as direct. But the entire character is not given. One might infer,
from what is said, that he was of a quiet, retiring disposition; but such, I
apprehend, was by no means the case. He was vigorous, if not
passionate. His piety may have been deep and sincere; and so were his
prejudices. In the troublous times of the
Andros administration, he was more distinguished
for political ardor, than christian forbearance. He certainly seems to
have secured the attachment of the people here; and he could not have had so
many friends and held them so long without possessing some sterling qualities.
But while preaching at Rowley he was almost constantly embroiled with the
people, and became the subject of severe censure. And there is something
mysterious if not significant in the fact that
Cotton Mather says nothing about him. He
seems to have preached at Rowley and Ipswich not only before he was ordained,
but before he had become a professor. In a note in
Gage's History of Rowley, page 20, appears this
statement: "It is understood that this
Jeremiah
Shepard was not a member of any church, having made no public
profession of religion at the time he preached at Rowley and Ipswich." He
commenced his labors at Rowley, in February, 1673, and continued there some
three years.
Gage remarks that he
was the cause of much trouble in the church and town of Rowley. The town
made him a grant, 12 December, 1673, of
L50 and
one load of wood from each man who has a team, for his work in the ministry "
for that year. And they further agreed, in 1674, to give him
L50 a year, so long as he continued to preach for
them. There was, however, even then, a respectable minority who
dissented. The troubles increased, and in 1676, obstinate hostility
existed between his adherents and opponents. Before this year closed, it
became apparent that his adversaries had risen to a decided majority. At a
town meeting held 30 January, 1677, a motion was made to "invite
Mr. Shepard to establish a monthly lecture."
But it failed, and a motion to reconsider was unsuccessful, when the meeting
"brake up in confusion."
Mr. Shepard
sued for his salary of that year, and his suit was contested. Judgment was
given in his favor at the Ipswich court, and the town appealed to the Court of
Assistants. Finally, he took
L20 as payment
in full. The discord attained such an extremity that the General Court was
appealed to. And that august body, in warm terms, uttered their mandate
against all irregular proceedings, declaring that they had by law "made
provision for the peace of the churches and a settled ministry in each
town." What their precise view on the questions immediately concerning
Mr. Shepard was, does not seem perfectly
clear; but they order that certain of his leading friends, as abettors in the
turbulence, " be admonished, and pay, as costs,
L6.7.8; "which they certainly would not have done had
they deemed them innocent.
Mr.
Shepard left Rowley, soon after, and went to Chebacco parish, Ipswich,
now the town of Essex, where he remained a short time, and then, in 1679, came
to Lynn. I have given these passages in his life as exhibiting points of
character which
Mr. Lewis does not appear
to have observed. And a biography is never perfect without at least a glimpse at
every principal trait.
Mr. Shepard
was comparatively young, at the time he preached at Rowley; and no doubt as he
gathered experience saw more and more clearly the necessity of restraining his
natural temper; yet it would occasionally assert itself, to the end of his
days.]
The name of
Mr. Shepard's wife was
Mary. [And she was a daughter of
Francis Wainwright, of Ipswich.] She died
March 28, 1710, aged fifty-three years. He had nine children; 1.
Hannah, born 1676, married
John Downing, of Boston, 1698. 2.
Jeremiah, born 1677, died 1700. 3.
Mehetabel, 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.
Mehetabel second, married
Rev. James Allin of Brookline, 1717.
The following epitaph was
transcribed from the grave stone of
Mr.
Shepard, with much difficulty, having become nearly obliterated by the
dilapidations of time.
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.
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. [It is probably intended by this
phraseology that the grammar school was a circulating institution; not that
there were four schools, but one school kept a part of the time in each of four
places. Yet
John Lewis was not the
only schoolmaster in Lynn about this time.
Samuel Dexter, a son of
John Dexter, of Maiden, and afterward minister of
the first church in Dedham, taught here. In his diary he says: "Then being
Desirous, if it might be, to Live nigher my friends, by ye Motion of some, I was
invited to keep ye School at Lyn. Wrfore, Quitting my school at Taunton, I
accepted of the Proffers made at Lyn, and, Feb. 17, 1720-21, I Began my School
at Lyn, in weh I Continued a year; and upon ye Day yt my Engagement was up there
A Committee from Maldon Came to treat with me in Reference to Maldon school; wch
proposalls I Complyed with & kept yr school for abt six weeks & then was
mostly, to the present time, [4 Dec. 1722,] Improv'd in preaching." He was
a graduate of Harvard College, and at the time of taking the school in Lynn, was
twenty years of age. Some of his descendants became eminent for their
talents.]
The General Court
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
Hon. John Burrill, of Lynn, then a Councillor,
died of the dreaded disease, 10 December, aged 63 years. He was one of the
most eminent men that Lynn, or indeed the colony ever produced. A
biograpical notice of him appears elsewhere in this volume.]
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.
[A terrific storm took place on
Sunday, 24 February. The tide rose to an unusual height.
Mr. Dexter says, in his diary, there was "ye
mightyest overflowing of ye sea yt was almost ever known in this Country."
Rev. Thomas Smith, in his journal
notes it as "the greatest storm and highest tide that has been known in the
country." And on the 16th of the preceding January he says, "This month
has been the hottest that ever was felt in the country." The hottest
January, he probably means. The Boston News Letter, referring to the
storm, says, "the water flowed over our Wharffs and in our Streets to a very
surprising height. They say the Tide rose 20 Inches higher than ever was
known before. The storm was very strong at North-east."
[It is probable that the old
Friends' meeting-house was built this year, succeeding the one "raised on Wolf
Hill," in 1678. The land on which it stood was given to the Society by
Richard Estes, "in consideration of the
love and good will" he bore to "ye people of God called Quakers, in Lyn," by
deed dated " this seventeenth day of the tenth month, called December in ye
ninth year of the reign of
King George, in
the year of our Lord, according to the English account, one thousand, seven
hundred and twenty two." The land was given "unto ye people
aforementioned, to bury their dead in, and to erect a meeting house for to
worship God in; I say those in true fellowship of the gospell unity with the
monthly meeting, and those are to see to ye Christian burying as we have been in
ye practice of. "The meeting-house built this year was removed to give
place to the new house, built in 1816; the same which is the present place of
worship, occupying the rear of the lot and facing on Silsbe street. The
old house may still be seen on Broad street, corner of Beach, where it stands,
occupied by a firm engaged in the lumber business. The Friends are not
high churchmen, and do not scruple, in common with most of the denominations
around them, to take back an edifice that has once been solemnly dedicated to
the service of the Lord, and devote it to worldly purposes. But even this
is less objectionable, to the orderly mind, than so to devote it while it still
remains professedly the Lord's.
[The first mill on Saugus river,
at the Boston street crossing, was built this year. It was an important
undertaking, and the town records exhibit, the public action in the
premises. A privilege was granted, 27 October, 1721, to
Benjamin Potter, Jacob Newhall, and
William Curtis, to erect a mill here. But
they did not complete their project, and, in town meeting, 8 October, 1722,
"resigned up their grant to the town again." At the same meeting the
privilege was granted to
Thomas Cheever
and
Ebenezer Merriam, under some
conditions:
William Taylor and
Josiah Rhodes protesting against the grant.
The mill was soon in operation. In 1729,
Merriam sold out to
Cheever. And in 1738,
Joseph Gould, a Quaker, purchased the
property. He died in 1774, and the premises became dilapidated, and for a
time remained unfit for use. They were afterward purchased by
George Makepeace, extensive repairs and additions
were made, and the manufacture of snuff and chocolate commenced.
Mr. Makepeace, in 1801, sold the property to
Ebenezer Larkin, of Boston, and another,
though he,still continued to manage the business; and the premises were
afterward re-deeded to him. On the 6th of June, 1812,
Amariah Childs bought the estate, and continued
the business many years, with success. In 1844
Mr. Childs sold to
Charles Sweetser. Saugus is undoubtedly,
directly and indirectly, greatly indebted to these mills for her prosperity.]
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.
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.
[Such a way of trying new vessels was common down to the time of the
Revolution, and was not unknown for some years after.
[At the Salem Court, this year,
L13.15 were awarded to
Nathaniel Potter, for three pieces of linen
manufactured at Lynn.]
[The bridge over Saugus river was
repaired this year, the county bearing two thirds of the expense.
[News of the death of the King was
received in Lynn, 14 August, and
George
II. immediately proclaimed.
["This was a very hott August,
throughout," says
Jeremiah Bumstead, in
his diary of this year.]
An
earthquake happened on the 29th 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. [A memorandum in an interleaved almanac, made by
James Jeffrey, of Salem, speaks of this as the
most terrible earthquake ever known in New England, the first shock being of two
minutes' duration, and there being a succession of shocks during the week.
Rev. Benjamin Colman, in a letter to his
daughter, dated Boston, 30 October, 1727, says; "My dear Child: No doubt you
felt ye awful and terrible shock of ye Earthquake on ye last Night, about half
an hour after ten; and some of ye after tremblings at eleven and before twelve
again, and about three and five toward morning. ye first shock was very great
with us and very surprising. We were all awake, being but just got into
bed, and were soon rais'd and sat up till two in ye morning, spending ye time in
humble cries to God for our selves and our nei'bours, and in fervent praises to
him for our singular preservations. Your mother and sister were exceeding
thankful yt I was not with you; that is to say, not absent from them, as we were
proposing on thursday last. And as God has ordered it I hope it is much ye
best. We long to hear from you, how you do after such a terrifying
dispensation to ye whole land. We hear from Dedham, Watertown, Concord,
Chelmsford, Lyn, &c. that ye shake was ye same, and about ye same time, with
them that it was wth us. It remains a loud call to ye whole land to
repent, fear, and give glory to God. God sanctify ye rod weh he has shook
over us for our humiliation and reformation." [A fast was held throughout
the province, on Thursday, 21 December, on account of the earthquake.]
The town, on the 22d of November,
fixed the prices of grain; wheat at 6s., barley and rye at 5s., Indian corn at
3s., and oats at Is. 6d. a bushel.
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.
A great snow storm happened on the
15th 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.
On Sunday evening, 12 April, there
was an earthquake.
On
Monday, 24 August, "
Governor Jonathan
Belcher went through Lynn, and the people paid their respects to him in
an extraordinary manner." (
Collins.)
On the 31st of August Mr.
Andrew Mansfield was killed in a well, at
Lynnfield, by a stone falling on his head.
On the 22d of October, the
northern lights appeared very brilliant and awful, flashing up in red streams.
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 24th of November. His salary was
L100.
On the 3d of August, the
school-house was removed from Franklin street to Water Hill.
[A severe northeast snow storm
took place on the night of the 5th of April. A memorandum in an
interleaved almanac says: "Very wett going to the Fast."]
On the 5th 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.)
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.)
[The following appears on the
Lynnfield church records: Dec. ye 20, 1733, at a Chh. meeting. Voted that
every Communicant of this Chh. shall pay three pence every Sacrament day, in
Order to make provision for the Lord's table."]
The first meeting-house in the
third parish, now Saugus, was built this year.
On the 4th of September,
Thomas Hawkes was drowned.
On Sunday, 6 February, there was
an earthquake, says
Collins's journal.
Square toed shoes went out of
fashion this year, and buckles began to be used. [It took buckles about
three years to get into general use. Square toed shoes were again in use
in 1833, and continued for about seven years. They are now again in
fashion, and ought never to give place to the cramping round or pointed toe.]
On the 31st 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.
On the 3d of March, Mr.
Theophilus Burrill's barn was burnt.
Rev.
Edward Cheever was ordained minister of the third parish, now Saugus,
on Wednesday, the 5th 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.
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.)
[The summer was uncommonly wet.]
In a great snow storm, on the
17th 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 13, and on the 4th of April following it
covered the fences. (
Collins.)
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, 26 March.)
"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.)
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 17th of July, a mass of
"snow congealed into ice," lay at Ipswich, " nearly four foot thick."
(Same, 22 July.)
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.
The
Rev. George Whitefield preached in Lynn. An
evening meeting on the 11th 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 18th of June, Mr.
Nathaniel Collins's house was struck by lightning.
On the 12th of October, Mr.
Jonathan Norwood fell from a fishing boat,
near Nahant, and was taken up dead.
[A memorandum, 27 June, says,
"Multitudes of worms eat almost every green thing in the ground."]
On the 13th of July, Mr.
Moses Norwood, of Lynn, was drowned at Boston.
On Sunday morning, June 3d., there
was an earthquake, sufficiently violent to throw down stone wall. It was
repeated on the 20th. (
Collins.)
On the 14th, 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 31st of December, Mr.
Theophilus Merriam was found dead on the
ice, on Saugus river.
On the evening of March 9th, 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. [The barn alluded to
was an outbuilding belonging to the
Hallowell house, which still stands on North
Common street, the second east from St. Stephen's church. It did not then
belong to
Mr. Hallowell, who was not born
till 1750, but to
Benjamin Newhall, who
built the house, and whose daughter
Mr.
Hallowell, many years after, married.
Mr. Newhall was town clerk, and died during the
Revolution.]
Mr. Whitefield also
delivered a discourse, standing on the platform of the whipping-post, near the
first parish meeting-house. On 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 systems
of faith.
A packet schooner, commanded by
Capt. Hugh Alley, passed from Lynn to
Boston. It continued to sail for many years, and was a great convenience.
On the 18th of August, there
was a frost, sufficient to damage the corn.
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.
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 6th of July. A memorandum on the 18th 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. [And this is the year in which it is said the good bishop of Lausanne
pronounced the frightful sentence of excommunication against caterpillars.]
John
Adam Dagyr, 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.
[Quite an
excitement prevailed regarding the raising of silk worms and manufacture of
silk; but it died away without important results. Numerous mulberry trees,
however, were planted, which continued to yield their delicate fruit, for many
years.]
On the night of July
2, Mr.
Robert Mansfield's house, near the
Flax pond, was struck by lightning.
On the 8th of February,
Capt. Benjamin Blaney, of Swampscot, fell from his
horse, at Malden, and was taken up dead.
[On the 10th of April, there was
so great a snow storm that the fences were covered. It was thought to have
been the greatest since 1717.]
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 29th
of September; and on the 27th 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.
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.
[The General Court this year ordered that all persons having barberry bushes
growing on their lands, should extirpate them before the 10th of June,
1760. And the surveyors of highways were required to destroy all growing
by the roadside within the specified time, or the towns should pay two shillings
for every one left standing. The reasons for this order were that those
bushes had so much increased that the pasture lands were greatly encumbered; and
it was imagined that something "flew off" from them that blasted the English
grain.
A shop, on the Common, belonging
to Mr.
Benjamin James, was burnt, on the
4th of February. On the 24th, a schooner, from Salem, was cast away on
Short Beach, at Nahant. (
Collins.)
On Sunday, April 27th, 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 5th of November.
The greatest earthquake ever known
in New England, happened on Tuesday, the 18th 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. [It was very destructive, from Maryland to Halifax, in many
places. More than fifteen hundred chimneys were thrown down or shattered,
in Boston; some twelve brick houses had their gables thrown down; and the
spindle of the vane on the market house was broken off. It does not appear
that any greater damage was done in Lynn than the injuries to walls and
chimneys. Its direction seemed to be from the northwest. In the West
Indies the sea rose six feet, having first subsided, leaving the vessels dry at
the wharves. In this vicinity the air was calm, the sky clear, and a
bright moon shining; but the sea was roaring in a portentous manner.]
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.
[Opposite the Doctor's house, the cot of
Moll
Pitcher, the celebrated fortune teller, stood. And many were the
sly inquiries, from strangers, for the place where the big whale bones were to
be seen.]
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.
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." [The championship, in such
an exercise, is much more worthy of being striven for than the championship in
those pugilistic encounters which are the delight of this refined age. But
a bloody nose is more easily appreciated by most people than an intellectual
achievement.]
There was an earthquake on the 8th
of July, at fifteen minutes after two o'clock. (
Collins.) [A witness says of this
earthquake, "it seemed as though some small body was swiftly rolling along under
the earth, which gently raised up that part of the surface that was over it, and
then left it as gently to subside."]
On the 6th of February, two
merchant vessels, from London, valued at one hundred thousand pounds, were
wrecked on Lynn Beach.
On the
afternoon of Sunday, August 14, 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 6th 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.) [The regiment is judged to have
been a rather unruly one, from the frequent complaints made by the citizens.]
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 4th of
August, an ox, belonging to Mr.
Henry
Silsbe, was killed by lightning.
A sloop from Lynn, commanded by
Capt. Ralph Lindsey, was cast away, on the
15th of August, near Portsmouth.
[A bear, weighing four hundred
pounds, was killed in Lynn woods, this year.
[The Lynnifield church records
state the death, 4 June, of
Margaret, wife
of
John Briant, of "something supposed to
breed in her brain."
[
Rev. Jacob Bailey, a Church of England missionary,
on the 13th of December, having walked all the way from Gloucester to Lynn,
stopped at Norwood's tavern for lodging. And in speaking of the company
found there he says: "We had among us a soldier belonging to
Capt. Hazen's company of rangers, who declared
that several Frenchmen were barbarously murdered by them, after quarters were
given; and the villain added, I suppose to show his importance, that he split
the head of one asunder, after he fell on his knees to implore mercy."]
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 22d of November, 1700, according to
a statement on the Lynn records, in the hand writing of his son, though some
other records give a different date. He 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, and now stands on the west side of Park street, a few rods
south of the brook.]
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,
as appears by
Whitefield's Journal and
Dr. Wigglesworth's Letter.
Mr. Henchman 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 12th 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 20th 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.
[
Hon.
Ebenezer Burrill died, 6 September, aged 82. He was a conspicuous
and useful man in the province. A brief biographical sketch of him may be
found elsewhere in this volume.]
Mr.
John Treadwell was ordained minister of the first
parish, on the 2d 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
hone'y, 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."
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."
[The bridge over Saugus river was
rebuilt this year, the county bearing two thirds of the expense.]
December 28. Mr.
Robert Wait was found dead on the marsh, near
Saugus river.
Among the encroachments of the
arbitrary power of the mother country, was the attempt to impose taxes upon the
colonies without their consent. Those taxes were at first levied in the
form of duties; but the people objected to this incipient plan of raising a
revenue for the support of a government in which they had no action, and their
opposition eventuated in the establishment of their independence. This
year an act was passed by the Parliament of England, called the Stamp Act,
requiring the people of the American colonies to employ papers stamped, with the
royal seal, in all mercantile and legal transactions. This act called
forth a general spirit of opposition, particularly in Boston, where, on the
night of the 26th of August, a party of the people collected, and nearly
demolished the house of
Lieutenant Governor
Hutchinson, and several others. In many other places the people
manifested their displeasure, by tolling bells, and burning the effigies of the
stamp officers.
This year the stamp act was
repealed. The people of Lynn manifested their joy by ringing the bell and
making bonfires. On the first of December, they directed their
representative,
Ebenezer Burrill, Esquire,
to use his endeavors to procure an act to compensate
Mr. Hutchinson, and others, for their losses in
the riot of the preceding year.
[
Ebenezer Mansfield, of Lynnfield, aged 18, dropped
down dead in the street, on the 10th of January. And Ensign
Ebenezer Newhall, of the same place, died on the
22d of June, aged 73, "of something supposed to breed within him."]
On Saturday, the 8th of February,
an English brig, from Hull, was cast away on Pond Beach, on the south side of
Nahant.
[There were made in Lynn, during the year ending 1 January, 80.000 pairs
of shoes, as appears by a statement in the Boston Palladium, of the 6th of
February, 1827.
[At half past
nine, on the evening of the 6th of August, the aurora borealis appeared in a
complete arch, extending from the northwest to the southeast, and "almost as
bright as a rainbow." This must have been similar to the remarkable
appearance on the night of 28 August, 1827.]
On the 7th of November,
John Wellman and
Young Flint were drowned in the Pines river, and
their bodies taken up the next day.
A catamount was killed by
Joseph Williams, in Lynn woods.
A snow storm on the 11th of May,
continued twelve hours.
On
Wednesday evening, July 19, a beautiful night arch appeared. It was widest
in the zenith, and terminated in a point at each horizon. The color was a
brilliant white, and it continued most of the evening.
On the 8th of August, as a party
were going on board a schooner, in the harbor, for a sail of pleasure, the
canoe, in which were six women and two men, was overset, and two of the party
drowned. These were
Anna Hood, aged
23, daughter of
Benjamin Hood, and
Alice Bassett, aged 17, daughter of
Daniel Bassett.
In a very great storm, on the 8th
of September, several buildings were blown down, and a sloop driven ashore at
Nahant.
After the repeal of the stamp act,
the English Parliament, in 1767, passed an act imposing duties on imported
paper, glass, paints and tea. This again awakened the opposition of the
colonies. The General Court of Massachusetts, in 1768, published a letter,
expressing their firm loyalty to the king, yet their unwillingness to submit to
any acts of legislative oppression. This letter displeased the English
government, the General Court was dissolved, and seven armed vessels, with
soldiers, were sent from Halifax to Boston, to ensure tranquillity. On the
5th of March, 1770, a part of these troops, being assaulted by some of the
people of Boston, fired upon them, and killed four men. The soldiers were
imprisoned, tried, and acquitted.
On the 12th of April, the duties
on paper, glass, and paints, were repealed; but the duty on tea, which was three
pence on a pound, remained. On the 24th of May, the inhabitants of Lynn
held a meeting, in which they passed the following resolutions.
1. Voted, We will do our endeavor
to discountenance the use of foreign tea.
2. Voted, No person to sustain any
office of profit, that will not comply with the above vote.
3. Voted, No taverner or retailer
shall be returned to sessions, that will not assist in discountenancing the use
of said tea; and the selectmen to give it as a reason to the sessions.
4. Voted, unanimously, That we
will use our endeavors to promote our own manufactures amongst us.
The disaffection against the
English government, appears to have been occasioned, not so much by the amount
of the duty on the tea, as by the right which it implied in that government to
tax the people of America without their consent. The colonies had always
admitted their allegiance to the English crown; but as they had no voice in
parliament, it was ungenerous, if not unjust, in that parliament, to impose any
taxes which were not necessary for their immediate benefit.
[Canker worms committed great
ravages this year.]
A great
storm, on the 19th of October, raised the tide higher than had been known for
many years.
[A disease among
potatoes prevailed extensively this year. It appears to have been similar
to that which began to prevail in this vicinity about the year 1850, and has
shown itself in a greater or less degree every year since - called the potato
rot.]
Mr.
Sparhawk, of Lynnfield, in his diary, thus remarks: "An amazing
quantity of snow fell in the month of March, such as I never knew in the time
that I have lived." On the 5th of March, the amount of snow which fell,
was sixteen inches; on the 9th, nine inches; on the 11th, eight inches; on the
13th, seven inches; on the 16th, four inches; and on the 20th, fifteen inches.
Thus the whole amount of snow, in sixteen days, was nearly five feet on a
level. [On the second Friday of April, a violent snow storm occurred.
In some places the snow drifted to the depth of twelve feet.]
A fishing schooner was wrecked on
Long Beach, on the 21st of March, and
Jonathan
Collins and
William Boynton, the
only two men on board, were drowned.
On the 15th of May,
Abigail Rhodes, a daughter of Mr.
Eleazer Rhodes, was lost. On the 24th, a
great number of people went in search of her, in vain. On the second of
June, another general search was made; and on the 21st of July, her bones were
found in a swamp near the Pirates' Glen. There were strong suspicions of
unfairness in regard to her death. She left a house in Boston street, in
the evening, to return to a cottage in the forest, where she had been living,
and was seen no more alive. Several persons were apprehened on suspicion,
but as only circumstantial evidence was elicited, they were discharged.
The opposition to the duty on tea
continued unremitted. The East India Company sent many cargoes to America,
offering to sell it at a reduced price; but the people resolved that it should
not be landed. Seventeen men, dressed like Indians, went on board the
vessels in Boston harbor, broke open three hundred and forty two chests of tea,
and poured their contents into the water.
A town meeting was held at Lynn,
on the 16th of December, in which the following resolutions were passed.
1. That
the people of the British American Colonies, by their constitution of
government, have a right to freedom, and an exemption from every degree of
oppression and slavery.
2.
That it is an essential right of freemen to have the disposal of their own
property, and not to be taxed by any power over which they have no control.
3. That the parliamentary duty
laid upon tea landed in America, is, in fact, a tax upon Americans, without
their consent.
4. That the
late act of parliament, allowing the East India Company to send their tea to
America, on their own account, was artfully framed, for the purpose of enforcing
and carrying into effect the oppressive act of parliament imposing a duty upon
teas imported into America; and is a fresh proof of the settled and determined
designs of the ministers to deprive us of liberty, and reduce us to slavery.
5. That we highly disapprove of
the landing and selling of such teas in America, and will not suffer any teas,
subjected to a parliamentary duty, to be landed or sold in this town: and that
we stand ready to assist our brethren of Boston, or elsewhere, whenever our aid
shall be required, in repelling all attempts to land or sell any teas poisoned
with a duty.
The tea fever raged very high at
this time, especially among the ladies. A report having been put in
circulation through the town, that Mr.
James
Bowler, who had a bake-house and a little shop, on Water Hill, had a
quantity of tea in store, a company of women went to his house, demanded the
tea, and destroyed it. This exploit was certainly as great a piece of
patriotism on their part, as that performed in Boston harbor the same year, and
deserves to be sung in strains of immortality. Slander, however, who is
always busy in detracting from real merit, asserted that the women put on extra
pockets on that memorable night, which they filled with the fragrant leaf, for
their own private consumption.
A deer was this year started in the Maiden woods, and chased by some hunters,
through Chelsea, to the Lynn marsh. He plunged into the Saugus river, and
attempted to gain the opposite shore; but some Lynn people, coming down the
river in a boat, approached and throwing a rope over his horns, brought him
ashore at High Point.
The destruction of the tea at
Boston, gave great offence to the English government, and an act was passed, by
which the harbor of Boston was closed against the entrance or departure of any
vessels. The inhabitants of Lynn held several meetings, in which they
expressed their disapprobation of the shutting of the port of Boston, and their
abhorrence of every species of tyranny and oppression.
On the 7th of October, a congress
of delegates from the several towns of Massachusetts, assembled at Salem, to
consider the state of affairs. The delegates from Lynn were
Ebenezer Burrill, Esq., and
Capt. John Mansfield. They made addresses to
Governor Gage, and to the clergy of the
province, chose a committee of safety, and recommended measures for the
regulation of the public conduct. [
Governor
Gage, in fact, called this assembly, as a regular General Court, though
he afterward rescinded his call. But they convened, and presently resolved
themselves into what was essentially a provincial congress.]
The night of October 25th was one
of surpassing splendor. The northern lights cast a luminous night arch
across the heavens, from the eastern to the western horizon.
On the morning of Wednesday, the
19th of April, the inhabitants of Lynn were awakened, by the information that a
detachment of about eight hundred troops, had left Boston, in the night, and
were proceeding toward Concord. On receiving the intelligence that the
troops had left Boston, many of the inhabtants of Lynn immediately set out,
without waiting to be organized, and with such weapons as they could most
readily procure. One man, with whom I was acquainted, had no other
equipments than a long fowling-piece, without a bayonet, a horn of powder, and a
seal-skin pouch, filled with bullets and buck shot. The English troops
arrived at Lexington, a little before five in the morning, where they fired upon
the inhabitants, assembled in arms before the meeting-house, and killed eight
men. They then proceeded to Concord, where they destroyed some military
stores; but being opposed by the militia, they soon began to retreat. The
people from Lynn met them at Lexington, on their return, and joined in firing at
them from the walls and fences. In one instance, says my informant, an
English soldier coming out of a house, was met by the owner. They leveled
their pieces at each other, and firing at the same instant, both fell
dead. The English had sixty-five men killed, the Americans fifty.
Among these were four men from Lynn, who fell in Lexington.
1. Mr.
Abednego Ramsdell. He was a son of
Noah Ramsdell, and was born 11 September, 1750.
He had two brothers, older than himself, whose names were
Shadrach and
Meshech. He married
Hannah Woodbury, 11 March, 1774, and resided in
the eastern part of Essex street. He had gone out early on that morning to
the sea shore, with his gun, and had killed a couple of black ducks, and was
returning with them, when he heard the alarm. He immediately threw down
the birds, and set off. He was seen passing through the town, running in
haste, with his stockings fallen over his shoes. He arrived at Lexington
about the middle of the day, and fell immediately.
2. Mr.
William Flint. He married
Sarah Larrabee, 5 June, 1770.
3. Mr.
Thomas Hadley. His wife,
Rebecca, was drowned, at Lynnfield, in the stream
above the mill pond, into which she probably fell, in attempting to cross it, on
the 9th of January, 1771. She had left her house to visit an acquaintance,
and not returning, was searched for. On the 26th her body was found.
4. Mr.
Daniel Townsend. He was born 26 December,
1738. A stone has been erected to his memory, at Lynnfield, with the
following inscription.
Lie,
valiant Townsend, in the peaceful shades; we trust,
Immortal honors mingle with thy dust.
What
though thy body struggled in its gore?
So
did thy Saviour's body, long before;
And
as he raised his own, by power divine,
So
the same power shall also quicken thine,
And
in eternal glory mayst thou shine.
[He left a wife and five young
children. The Essex Gazette, of 2 May, in a brief obituary, speaks of him
as having been a constant and ready friend to the poor and afflicted; a good
adviser in cases of difficulty; a mild, sincere, and able reprover. In
short, it adds, "he was a friend to his country, a blessing to society, and an
ornament to the church of which he was a member." And then are added, as
original, the lines given above. The obituary notice and lines were
probably written by some patriotic friend, the latter being transferred to the
stone, when it was erected.]
In the number of the wounded, was
Timothy
Munroe, of Lynn. He was standing behind a house, with
Daniel Townsend, firing at the British troops, as
they were coming down the road, in their retreat toward Boston.
Townsend had just fired, and exclaimed, "There is
another redcoat down," when
Munroe,
looking round, saw, to his astonishment, that they were completely hemmed in by
the flank guard of the British army, who were coming down through the fields
behind them. They immediately ran into the house, and sought for the
cellar; but no cellar was there. They looked for a closet, but there was
none. All this time, which was indeed but a moment, the balls were pouring
through the back windows, making havoc of the glass.
Townsend leaped through the end window, carrying
the sash and all with him, and instantly fell dead.
Munroe followed, and ran for his life. He
passed for a long distance between both parties, many of whom discharged their
guns at him. As he passed the last soldier, who stopped to fire, he heard
the redcoat exclaim, "Damn the Yankee! he is bullet proof - let him go! "
Mr. Munroe had one ball through his
leg, and thirty-two bullet holes through his clothes and hat. Even the
metal buttons of his waistcoat were shot off. He kept his clothes until he
was tired of showing them, and died in 1808, aged 72 years. Mr.
Joshua Felt was also wounded, and
Josiah Breed was taken prisoner, but afterward
released.
[The battle of
Lexington appears to have been sometimes called the battle of Menotomy, probably
from the fact that the portion of Cambridge lying contiguous to Lexington, and
in which a part of the battle was fought, was at that time called Menotomy - the
same territory now constituting West Cambridge. Thus, in the Essex
Gazette, of 8 June, appears the following advertisement: "LOST, in the battle of
Menotomy, by
Nathan Putnam, of
Capt. Hutchinson's company, who was then badly
wounded, a French firelock, marked D. No. 6, with a marking iron on the breech.
Said
Putnam carried it to a cross
road near a mill. Whoever has said gun in possession, is desired to return
it to
Col. Mansfield, of Lynn, or to the
selectmen of Danvers, and they shall be rewarded for their trouble."]
The war was now begun in
earnest. On the 23d of April, the people of Lynn chose a committee of
safety, to consult measures of defense. This committee consisted of
Rev. John Treadwell, minister of the first
parish,
Rev. Joseph Roby, minister of the
third parish, and Deacon
Daniel Mansfield.
A company of alarm men was organized, under the command of
Lieutenant Harris Chadwell. Three watches
were stationed each night; one at Sagamore Hill, one at the south end of Shepard
street, and one at Newhall's Landing, on Saugus river. No person was
allowed to go out of the town without permission, and the people carried their
arms to the place of public worship.
Mr.
Treadwell, always foremost in patriotic proceedings, appeared, on the
Sabbath, with his cartridge box under one arm, and his sermon under the other,
and went into the pulpit with his musket loaded. [The Provincial Congress,
in June, recommended the carrying of arms to meeting, on Sundays and other days
when worship was held, by the men who lived within twenty miles of the sea
coast.]
On the 17th of June,
was fought the memorable battle of Bunker Hill. The Lynn regiment was
commanded by
Colonel John Mansfield.
The English, in the battle, lost two hundred and twenty-six men killed, and the
Americans one hundred and thirty-nine.
For many years the tavern in
Saugus was kept by
Zaccheus Norwood, and
after his death, by his widow, who married
Josiah
Martin, who then became landlord, as tavern keepers were then called.
In 1775, he enlisted in the war, and Mr.
Jacob Newhall then took the tavern, which he kept
through the Revolution, and until the year 1807.
In January, the English troops
were quartered at Boston, and the American at Cambridge, separated by Charles
river. It was the intention of
General
Putnam to cross over to Boston, as soon as the river should become
sufficiently frozen. Three of his soldiers, one of whom was
Henry Hallowell, of Lynn, hearing of this design,
set out to try the strength of the ice, by throwing a large stone before them.
A party of about fifty of the English soldiers, on the opposite shore,
commenced firing at them; which they only regarded by mocking with their voices
the noise of the bullets. They continued on the ice till the English party
retired; when, thinking they had gone to procure a cannon, they returned, after
picking up more than seventy balls on the ice, which they presented to
General Putnam, as trophies of their venturesome
exploit. The soldiers from Lynn were under command of
Capt. Ezra Newhall.
On the 21st of May, the people of
Lynn voted, that the ministers should be invited to attend the annual town
meetings, to begin them with prayer. I was once at the meeting of a town
in New Hampshire, in which this practice prevails, and was convinced of its
propriety. There are occasions on which prayer is made, which are of less
apparent importance than the choice of men, to govern the town or commonwealth,
and to make laws on which the welfare and perhaps the lives of the people may
depend.
A company of
soldiers was furnished for an expedition to Canada. On the 2d of August,
the town allowed them fifteen pounds each, and voted that ten pounds should be
given to any person who would voluntarily enlist.
An alarm was made, at midnight,
that some of the English troops had landed on King's beach. In a short
time the town was all in commotion. Many persons left their houses and
fled into the woods. Some families threw their plate into the wells, and
several sick persons were removed. Some self-possession, however, was
manifested. Mr.
Frederick Breed, for his
exertions in rallying the soldiers and marching them to Woodend, where he found
the alarm to be false, received a commission in the army, and afterward rose to
the rank of colonel. [There was a tavern kept in the old house now
standing on Federal street, corner of Marion, by
Increase Newhall. It was an alarm station;
that is, a place to which, when an alarm occurred, the enrolled men in the
district instantly repaired for duty. At this King's beach alarm, it is
said that the officer whose duty it was to take command, did not appear, and
after the soldiers returned, all safe, he emerged from an oven, in which,
panicstricken, he had concealed himself.]
Rev.
Benjamin Adams was born at Newbury, in the year 1719, and graduated at
Harvard University, in 1738. He was ordained minister of the second
parish, now Lynnfield, November 5, 1755, and died May 4, 1777, aged 58, having
preached twenty-one years. He married
Rebecca
Nichols, and had seven children;
Rebecca,
Dr. Benjamin, Elizabeth, Sarah, Ann, Joseph and
Nathan; the two latter being twins.
[The Friends established a school
in Lynn, this year.
John Pope was
master.
[Vaccination was
not practised at this time, and great fears were excited whenever the small pox
made its appearance. It was customary for companies to retire to
convenient places, provide themselves with nurses and all things necessary, and
then be inoculated with small pox. Taken in this way, the disease was
thought to be milder. At all events, it was less likely to prove fatal, because
of the more favorable circumstances under which it might be had. The
following memorandum relates to a Lynn company: " Lynn, May 14, 1777.
There was a company of us went to Marblehead to have the small
pox. We had for our doctors,
Benjamin B.
Burchstead and
Robert Deaverix,
and for our nurse,
Amos Breed. Hired
a house of
Gideon Phillips - viz.
Abraham Breed, Jonathan Phillips, William Breed, Simeon
Breed, Richard Pratt, jr., Nathan Breed, jr., Rufus Newhall, James Breed, jr.,
John Curtin, jr., James Fairne, jr., William Newhall, jr., David Lewis, Micajah
Alley, Jabez Breed, jr., Micajah Newhall, Paul Farrington, Ebenezer Porter,
William Johnson, Amos Newhall - making nineteen in the whole; and all
came home well." The above was copied from the original, which was handed to me,
some thirty years ago, by the
Richard Pratt,
jr., whose name appears as one of the company; and he assured me that
he had carried the same in his pocket, from the day of its date - more than
fifty-five years. It was accompanied by this certificate: "M'head, June
4th, 1777. By virtue of this certificate permitt ye within mention'd
person, after being smok'd, to pass ye guards.
John Gerry."]
In the winter of this year,
John Lewis, aged 26, and
Benjamin, aged 15, brothers, of Lynn, died on
board the Jersey prison ship, in the harbor of New York. Their deaths were
principally occasioned by severe treatment, and by unwholesome food prepared in
copper vessels.
The town of Lynn granted as much
money as would purchase twenty-seven hundred silver dollars, to pay the
soldiers. Within two years, the town granted seventy thousand pounds, old
tenor, to defray their expenses. The principal money in circulation was
the paper money issued by Congress, which had greatly depreciated. A
soldier of the Revolution says, that in 1781, he sold seventeen hundred and
eighty dollars of paper money, for thirty dollars in silver.
The continental currency, as it
was called, consisted of small pieces of paper, about two inches square.
The one dollar bills had an altar, with the words,
depressa resurgit, the oppressed rises. The two
dollar bills bore a hand, making a circle with compasses, with the motto,
trhibulatio dital, trouble enriches. The device
of the three dollar bills was an eagle pouncing upon a crane, who was biting the
eagle's neck, with the motto,
exitus in dubio, the
event is doubtful. On the five dollar bills was a hand grasping a thorn
bush with the inscription,
sustine vel abstine,
hold fast or touch not. The six dollar bills represented a beaver felling
a tree, with the word
perseverando, by
perseverance we prosper. Another emission bore an anchore, with the words,
In te Domine speramus, In thee, Lord, have I
trusted. The eight dollar bills, displayed a harp, with the motto,
majora minoribus consonant, the great harmonize with
the little. The thirty dollar bills exhibited a wreath on an altar, with
the legend,
si recte, facies, if you do right you
will succeed. When I was a child, I had thousands of dollars of this
uncurrent money given me to play with.
The 19th of May was remarkable
throughout New England for its uncommon darkness. It began about the hour
of ten in the morning. At eleven, the darkness was so great, that the
fowls retired to their roosts, and the cattle collected around the barns, as at
night. Before twelve, candles became requisite, and many of the people of
Lynn omitted their dinners, thinking that the day of judgment had come.
The darkness increased through the evening, and continued till midnight.
It was supposed by some, to have been occasioned by a smoke, arising from
extensive fires in the western woods, and combining with a thick fog from the
sea. The
Rev. Mather Byles, of
Boston, of punning memory, made a happy remark on this occasion. A lady
sent her servant, in great alarm, to know if he could tell the cause of this
great darkness. "Tell your mistress," replied he, " that I am as much in
the dark as she is." [A writer of the time says of the darkness of the
succeeding night, it " was probably as gross as has ever been observed since the
almighty fiat gave birth to light. It wanted only palpability to render it
as extraordinary as that which overspread the land of Egypt in the days of
Moses.... A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes, was
equally invisible with the blackest velvet."]
The winter of 1780 was the coldest
since 1741. [From about the 15th of February to the 15th of March, the
snow and ice did not melt, even on the southerly sides of buildings, and teams
could pass over walls and fences, so deep and hard was the snow.]
At the commencement of the war,
there were twenty-six slaves in Lynn; all of whom were made free this
year. In 1675, there was a slave in Lynn, named
Domingo Wight, who had a wife and two children.
Another slave, in 1714, named
Simon
Africanus, had a wife and six children.
Zaccheus Collins had four slaves, whose names were
Pharaoh, Essex, Prince, and
Cato.
Prince was purchased at Boston, in 1746, for
seventy-five dollars. In 1757, he married
Venus, a slave to
Zaccheus Gould.
Joshua Cheever had a slave named
Gift, whom he freed in 1756, at the solicitation
of
Hannah Perkins, who became his wife in
1745, on condition that he should free his slave at the age of twenty-five
years.
John Bassett had a slave,
named
Samson, whom he liberated in 1776,
because "all nations were made of one blood."
Thomas Cheever had two slaves,
Reading and
Jane, who were married in 1760.
Samuel Johnson had two slaves,
Adam, who married
Dinah, in 1766.
Thomas Mansfield had two slaves, one of whom,
named
Pompey, had been a prince in Africa;
and, after his liberation, lived in the forest on the east of Saugus
river. For many years, the slaves in all the neighboring towns used to
have a holiday allowed them once a year, to visit
King Pompey; and doubtless this was to them a day
of real happiness. On the little glade by the river side, the maidens
gathered flowers to crown their old king, and the men talked of the happy hours
they had known on the banks of the Gambia.
Hannibal, a slave of
John Lewis, was an example of the good effects
which education and good treatment may produce in the colored people. He
was brought from Africa when a boy, and was treated rather as a servant
than a slave. He married
Phebe, a
slave of
Ebenezer Hawkes. By the
indulgence of his master, and by working extra hours, he earned enough to
purchase the freedom of three children, at forty dollars each;
but
Phebe being a faithful
slave, her master would not part with her short of forty pounds; yet, with a
motive of hope before him,
Hannibal was
not to be discouraged, and in a few years her purchase was accomplished, and his
own freedom was given to him. He married in 1762, and had three sons and
six daughters. I have seldom known a more worthy family.
Ebenezer Burrill had two slaves;
Jedediah Collins, two;
Joseph Gould, two; and
James Phillips,
Samuel Burrill,
Theophilus Burrill,
Joseph Gaskins,
Daniel Bassett,
James
Purinton,
Ralph Lindsey, and
Dr. Henry Burchsted, one slave each; being
in all, with their children, about forty slaves.
Rev.
Joseph Mottey was ordained minister of the Lynnfield parish on the 24th
of September.
On the 29th of
November there was an earthquake.
Dr.
John Perkins, of Lynnfield, died this year aged 85. His wife
Clarissa died in 1749, and he wrote a poem
on her death. He was a very eminent physician in his time, had studied two
years in London, and practised physic forty years in Boston. In 1755, he
published a tract on earthquakes; and also an essay on the small pox, in the
London Magazine. He left a manuscript of 368 pages, containing an account
of his life and experience, which is preserved in the library of the American
Antiquarian Society.
[
Abner Cheever, Dr. John Flagg, and
James Newhall, of Lynn, were commissioned as
Justices of the Peace, on the 20th of September. This was the earliest
date of any commission issued by
Hancock,
the first governor under the republican dispensation, to any justice in this
county.
Mr. Newhall having been my
grandfather, his commission fell into my hands, and has been preserved with some
care on account of the interesting autograph of
Hancock which stands out with its usual boldness,
indicative of the character so undismayed amid the prevailing convulsions.
And it is rather a curious fact that in that very commission, the surname
of the appointee is spelled in different ways, showing that even then people had
not ceased to delight in a diversified orthography. And their style was
certainly, in several respects, more convenient than ours. Dictionaries
were scarce, and it was useful in concealing ignorance. It also made the
language more picturesque, in appearance at least. And it does not seem
established that more exactness in understanding is attained by our formal
mode.
Mr. Newhall lived in the
house that yet stands on the northerly side of Boston street, opposite the
termination of Summer. To the end of his life he was popularly known as
'Squire Jim; the appellation having been
bestowed on account of his commission, and to distinguish him from six others of
the same name who then lived in Lynn. The nicknames of those days were in
some sense necessities, as middle names were not in use; and the choice of them
generally had some reference to personal peculiarities, though they were often
far from being dignified or select. But a word further on this point may
appear in another connection.]
Rev.
John Treadwell relinquished the care of the first parish this
year. He was born at Ipswich, September 20, 1738; and was ordained at
Lynn, March 2, 1763, where he preached nineteen years. He returned to
Ipswich, and in 1787, removed to Salem. [He graduated at Harvard College,
in 1758. After returning to Ipswich, he taught the grammar school there,
for two years, before going to Salem.] He was representative of Ipswich
and Salem, a senator of Essex county, and judge of the court of common pleas.
In 1763, he married
Mehetabel
Dexter, a descendant of
Thomas
Dexter, who bought Nahant. He had a son,
John Dexter Treadwell, born in Lynn, May 29, 1768,
who became a highly respected physician at Salem. [
Mr. Treadwell's daughter
Mehetabel married
Mr.
Cleveland, city missionai:y of Boston; and professor
C. D. Cleveland, the compiler of numerous useful
school books, was their son.]
Mr. Treadwell was a great patriot, a
member of the committee of safety, and foremost in all the proceedings of the
town during the Revolution. It is perhaps somewhat of an anomaly in
ethics, to find a minister of the gospel of peace bearing arms; but the British
were obnoxious to dissenters, from an opinion that they wished to establish the
church in America. There has always been a prejudice in New England
against the Episcopal Church, but there is abundant evidence that a man may be a
good churchman and yet a true patriot.
Washington and several other Presidents were
members of the church and some of our most distinguished military and naval
heroes have been churchmen.
Mr.
Treadwell was very fond of indulging in sallies of wit: and like his
namesake in Shakspeare, he was not only witty in himself, but the cause of wit
in other men. One Sunday, observing that many of his audience had their
heads in a reclining posture, he paused in his sermon, and exclaimed, "I should
guess that as many as two thirds of you are asleep!" Mr.
Josiah Martin, raising his head, looked round and
replied, "If I were to guess, I should guess there are not more than one
half!" The next day
Mr. Martin was
brought up for disturbing divine service; but he contended "it was not the time
of divine service; the minister had ceased to preach, and it was guessing
time." He was accordingly discharged. [This
Josiah Martin who had the temerity to measure wit
with
Mr. Treadwell, was an eccentric and
in some respects unworthy man. He was the immediate predecessor of
Landlord Newhall in the old Saugus tavern, having
married the widow of
Zaccheus Norwood. He
appeared in town about the year 1760, and is supposed to have been an English
adventurer. At times he assumed great polish of manner, and made
pretension to extraordinary piety; and at other times he exhibited the
characteristics and breeding of a gross villain. He was famous for
indulging in practical jokes as well as witticisms, and in whimsical displays of
every kind, with the only apparent object of eliciting the gaze of his
neighbors. He is said, among other feats, to have ridden two miles, to
attend meeting at the Old Tunnel, on a warm June day, in a double sleigh, with a
span of horses, the dust flying and the runners grating horribly, and striking
fire at every step. And his wife was a forced passenger at his side.
He enlisted in the war, and never returned to Lynn.]
On the night of the 18th of March,
Dr. Jonathan Norwood fell from his horse,
injuring himself so much as to cause his death. He was a son of
Zaccheus Norwood, born September 19, 1751, and
graduated at Harvard University, in 1771. He lived on the north side of
the Common.
[There was
scarcely any corn or second crop of hay this year, on account of the drought.]
This year, the war, which had
spread its gloom through the colonies for seven years, was terminated by a
treaty of peace, signed on the third of September; and the then thirteen United
States took their rank as an independent nation. The red cross banner of
England was exchanged for a flag with thirteen stripes and thirteen stars; and
Americans now regard the people of England, like the rest of mankind - in war,
enemies; in peace, friends.
With a few remarks respecting men and manners before the Revolution, we will
take our leave of the olden time. People were then generally a plain,
plodding, go-a-foot, matter-of-fact sort of people. Rail roads and steam
boats had not even been thought of; the stage-coach and the omnibus were
unknown; and when something which was intended to answer the purpose of a coach
at last appeared, it was a lumbering vehicle, drawn by two horses, passing
through the town twice a week, in going to and returning from Boston. A
few of the more wealthy farmers kept a chaise, or a chair, which was only
"tackled" on Sundays, or perhaps once a month for a journey to a neighboring
town. People walked, without thinking it a trouble, from three to six
miles on Sunday to meeting; the farmer rode on horseback, taking his wife behind
him; and two or three spinsters of the family, or perhaps a young wife, followed
in chairs placed in a horse-cart-for a four-wheeled wagon was unknown in the
town for more than one hundred and forty years after its settlement; and when
Mr.
Benjamin Newhall, about the year 1770,
introduced the first ox wagon, it was humorously said, that his hired man had to
drive down to the Common to turn it. The physician made his visits on
horseback, with his big saddle-bags on each side, stuffed with medicaments -for
an apothecary's shop was as rare as an opera house. There were no
lectures, or lyceums, or libraries, or concerts in those days; there were few
excitements, for people had not leisure to promote them; a reputation could not
then be destroyed, as now, in a day, for they lived too remote for common
slander - but when the spirit of invective and evil, which had been confined for
sixty years, did at length break forth, as in the time of witchcraft, it was as
if a mountain lake should suddenly burst its cerements of porphyry, uprooting
the finest trees, and bearing boulders of granite through the cultivated
valleys.
Gentlemen, in
those days, wore hats with broad brims, turned up into three corners, with loops
at the sides; long coats, with large pocket-folds and cuffs, and without
collars. The buttons were commonly plated, but sometimes of silver, often
as large as half a dollar. Shirts had bosoms and wrist-ruffles; and all
wore gold or silver shirt-buttons at the wrist, united by a link. The
waistcoat was long, with large pockets; and the neck-cloth or scarf, of fine
white linen, or figured stuff, broidered, and the ends hanging loosely on tlhe
breast. The breeches were usually close, with silver buckles at the knees.
The legs were covered with long gray stockings, which on holidays were
exchanged for black or white silk. Boots, with broad white tops; or shoes,
with straps and large silver buckles, completed the equipment.
Ladies wore caps, long stiff
stays, and high heeled shoes. Their bonnets were of silk or satin, and
usually black. Gowns were extremely long-waisted, with tight sleeves.
Another fashion was, very short sleeves, with an immense frill at the
elbow, leaving the rest of the arm naked. A large flexible hoop, three or
four feet in diameter, was for some time quilted into the hem of the gown,
making an immense display of the lower person. A long, round cushion,
stuffed with cotton or hair, and covered with black crape, was laid across the
head, over which the hair was combed back and fastened. It was almost the
universal custom, also, for women to wear gold beads - thirty-nine little
hollow globes, about the size of a pea, strung on a thread, and tied round the
neck. Sometimes this string would prove false to its trust - at an
assembly, perhaps - and then, oh! such a time to gather them up, before they
should be trampled on and ruined! Working women wore petticoats and half
gowns, drawn with a cord round the waist, and neats' leather shoes; though they
generally, throughout the country, had a pair of "Lynn shoes" for Sunday.
Women did not "go a shopping" every day then; there were few shops to go to, and
those contained only such articles as were indispensable, and in very limited
variety.
Those times had their
benefits, but we would not wish their return. Nature brings not back the
mastodon; why, then, should we wish a recurrence of those gigantic days, which
produced great men in proportion to great evils. That the men were more
honest and generous, or the women more amiable and virtuous then, is not to be
contended. The charm about them consists chiefly in this, that they lived
in the early period of our history - a period which will always be interesting -
the records of which will be read with as much avidity a thousand years hence,
as they are to-day.
Lynn had
168 men in the Revolutionary War, of whom fifty-two were lost, besides the four
men killed at Lexington.
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.
[The mode of
reckoning the currency at this period is illustrated by a memorandum of
Mr. Sparhawk, of Lynnfield, in an interleaved
almanac "January ye 30th. Bought two piggs by ye hand of
Mr. Reed, the barrow weighing 62 pounds, att five
pence per pound... the other weighing 54 pounds att five pence per pound;" the
whole amounting to "two pound, eight shillings and two pence - which is eight
dollars and two pence."]
Rev. Obadiah Parsons was installed pastor
of the first parish, on the 4th of February. [The following is another
almanac memorandum of
Mr. Sparhawk: "Feb.
ye 4th. Then was Installed, att ye Old Parish, in Lynn, Mr.
Obadiah Parsons. ye
Revnd mr. Cleaveland of Ipswich began with prayder
ye
Revnd mr. Forbes of Capan preachd the
sermon, ye
Revnd mr Roby, of Lynn 3d
parish, gave the charge, ye
Revnd mr.
Payson, of Chelsea, made the concluding prayer, and the
Revnd mr. Smith, of Middleton, gave the right hand
of fellowship. The gentleman above mentioned was settled in peace,
harmony, and concord."
[Still
another memorandum of
Mr. Sparhawk says:
"From ye 14th of June untill the 13th of July, a very dry time. And upon
ye 14th of July, early in the morning, Jove thundered to the left and all
Olympus trembled att his nod. The sun about an hour high; a beautiful
refreshing shower. Again, July ye 15th, the latter part of ye night, Jove
thundered to the left, three times, and Olympus trembled. A shower
followed."]
On the 28th of
October,
General Lafayette passed through
the town, on a visit to the eastward.
[The Friends, who had been
annually paying for the support of public schools, this year made request to
have a portion refunded for the use of their own school. After
considerable opposition the request was granted and an allowance annually made,
for some years.
[On the 26th
of June, there was a remarkably high tide.]
In April,
Benjamin Ingalls, in throwing an anchor from a
boat in the harbor, was drawn overboard and drowned.
[A town meeting was held on the
8th of May, at which
John Carnes was
chosen representative. And the matter of giving him special instructions
was considered. It will be observed that the political elements were at
this time in an active state, and the most patriotic hearts, the wisest heads,
and firmest hands were required in moulding them for the noblest purposes.
A committee, consisting of
Sylvanus Hussey, Col.
John Mansfield, and Deacon
Nathaniel
Bancroft, was selected to draw up instructions. They produced the
following, which were at once voted to be given:
To Mr.
John Carnes, chosen to represent the town of Lynn
and the district of Lynnfield in General Court, the ensuing year:
SIR: Our choice
of you as Representative shews that we have put great confidence in you.
But to join our voice with that of many others, in order to save the public, we
would enjoin two things in particular upon you. The first is, That you
would look into the grants of public salaries and other monies, and endeavor to
prevent the laying of unnecessary burdens in this way. But at the same
time let every one have an adequate reward for their services. The other
injuaction is this, That you would endeavor to prevent the ruin of individuals
and the public by endeavoring to bring about another mode of proceeding in our
law matters and to put it out of the power of the gentlemen of the law to take
such advantage of their clients as they have often done, and to put them to so
much needless trouble and expense. And if it cannot be done in any other
way, that you endeavor to bring about an annihilation of the office. But
we would have you in this and every thing else to adhere strictly to the
Constitution."
[The first matter in these
instructions was certainly important and well put. But the last savors of
an unworthy antipathy to a class who probably did more than almost any other, to
confirm our liberties and establish our institutions on a true and abiding
foundation.]
The first rock
was split in Lynn, this year, by
John
Gore. Before this, the people had used rough rock for
building. [
Mr. Lewis must certainly
be mistaken in this. Do not numerous old cellars and the underpinning of
many ancient houses prove the contrary? In 1854, some workmen near
Sadler's rock, exhumed a deposit of quarried granite, which, from the appearance
of the trees above it, must have lain there a hundred years, if, indeed, it did
not belong to
Mr. Sadler's habitation,
which stood in the immediate vicinity more than two hundred years before.
It would be astonishing if the old Iron Works did not turn out drills and
wedges innumerable, for use, in the neighborhood. The art of working stone
is a rudimental art, practiced every where, even among the rudest people, and
was known in ages long before the foundation stones of Egyptian grandeur were
laid. And there must have been a clear necessity for its practice in early
New England times. How could they have built roads or cleared lands
without blasting? And how easy it was to split up the granite boulders for
building purposes.]
On the 9th
of December, there was a very great snow; nearly seven feet deep on a
level. (
Sparhawk.)