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This page is a part of the Lynn & Nahant town site. Not for Commercial use. All rights reserved. |
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"Saugust is callen Lin.", pgs 23-34 |
SUCH is the quaint and entire official record of the legislation by which our city came to be called by its new name, the action of the General Court necessary thereto taking place on the 15th of November, 1637. The name was given in compliment to Rev. Samuel Whiting, who had come hither from King's Lynn, in England. The name in its original form, len, signifying "spreading waters," was thought to be specially applicable to this spot, with its beautiful bays and its nine forest-girt lakelets scattered here and there. The name was written by the settlers what according to the taste and fancy of the speller "- Lin, Linn, Lyn, Lynn and Lynne. The liberties taken with the orthography of the word were no greater than was done with most other words of the language, for it seems as though some of the early writers tried to make their manuscripts as grotesque as possible. Some time was required to familiarize the people with the new name. For several years Saugus and Lynn were interchangeable terms, and sometimes the name of the place was written "Lynn at Saugus." Notwithstanding the change of name, the affairs of the colony ran on in their usual and uneventful course. Population gradually increased, better roads were constructed, bridges built, and schools opened, where the boys became acquainted with the rule of three and the schoolmaster's ferule, the heroic method of instruction being then the popular idea. Very linttle attention was given to the education of females, it being deemed of more importance that they should be skilled in domestic arts. The Iron Works were established in Saugus in 1643, and for several years continued to be the only, as they were the first, manufacture of the kind in the colonies. They continued an eventful but unprofitable existence for many years, the chief obstacle to their success beingthe scarcity of money among their customers. The ore used was quite abundant, and the furnaces turned out a good grade of charcoal iron. Three years later Lynn was made a market town and Tuesdays were given to a general interchange of commodities among the inhabitants, and the Market Street occasionally took on an animated appearance, scarcely rivalling, however, the bustle and brilliancy of a modern Saturday evening. Until the years closely following 1650, the settlers had their religious affairs very much their own way, and doubtless thought they had secured the poet's ideal-
"Freedom to worship God."
The teachings of
George Fox, und the bitter persecution accorded him in England.
had not heen unnoted in the
New World, and the
people had begun to take sides in the
controversy when the first Quakers
landed in Boston in 1656. The colonial
authorities were quick to imitate their English cousins in their methods
of dealing with the unwelcome visitors. The freedom of worship which they had found, they were wholly unwilling to accord to the
visiting Quakers, and they were promptly imprisoned and sent back to England on
the first departing vessel. The
record of the next few years forms a terrible chapter in our history. The
whipping-post and the
gallowss had their frequent Quaker
victims, and it was
not till twenty years after that the
authorities discovered that these were the least effective means ever
devised for checking the growth of a religious idea. The Quakers continued
to multiply until there were over one hundred families in Lynn, and it was
not until opposition was withdrawn and they were left to themselves that
they were found to be a simple and harmless body, with many of the
ordinary frailties common to our human nature.
Scarcely
had the excitement over Quakerism
begun to decline when the bugaboo of witchcraft arose to vex the righteous
souls of the settlers. Salem village, now a portion of Danvers, was
headquarters for the strange delusion, but Lynn was by no means left out
in the cold. On the contrary, she took an active part in the strange and
terrible tragedies, and furnished her quota of alleged witches, and an
occasional wizard. The excitement culminated in 1692, and notwithstanding the violence of the outbreak,
subsided as quickly as it had arisen. The log meetmg-house, which for half a century served
the spiritual needs of the colony, was removed, in 1682, from Shepard
street to the center of the Common, and converted into a more pretentious
edifice, which, from its peculiar shape, has gone into history by the name
of the Old Tunnel. The Rev. Samuel Whiting, for forty years the faithful
pastor and earnest preacher, passed to his rest in 1679, and shortly
after, the Rev. Jeremiah Shepherd came to fill his post. Mr. Shepherd had
few of the characteristics of his
predecessor. He was a positive spiritual force, and stirred up the church
to greater outward effort and efficacy than it had before shown. But he
was also of a fiery and somewhat irascible disposition, and mixed as
freely in the worldly as the spiritual contentions of his time. He was a
man of strong mental power - a discourse three hours long was not an
uncommon feat for him; but whether this habit was in any way the occasion
of the enactment by the General Court of a law compelling everyone to
attend meeting, is not stated. But a similar habit on the part of his
predecessor was the occasion of this quaint paragraph in the Journal of
Obadiah Turner, one of the early lights of Lynn:
"Allen Bridges hath bin chose to wake ye sleepers in meeting, and being much proud of his place, must needs have a fox taile fixed to ye end of a long staff, wherewith he may brush ye faces of them yt will have napps in time of discourse; likewise a sharpe thorne, wherewith he may prick such as be most sounde. On ye laste Lord his day, as hee strutted about ye meeting-house, hee did spy Mr. Tomlins sleeping with much comforte, hys head kept steadie by being in ye corner, and hys hand grasping ye rail. And so spying, Allen did quicklie thrust his staff behind Dame Ballard, and give hjm a grievous prick upon ye hand. Whereupon Mr. Tomlins did spring vpp mch above ye floore, and with terrible force strike with hys hand against ye wall, and also, to ye great wonder of all, prophainlie exclaime in a loude voice: 'Cuss ye ,woodchuck;' he dreaming, as it seemed, yt a woodchuck had seized and bit his hand. But on comeing to know where he was and ye great scandall he had committed, he seemed much abashed, but did not speake. And I think he will not soone againe go to sleepe in meeting. Ye women may sometimes sleepe, and none know it by reason of their enormous bonnets. Mr. Whiting doth pleasantlie say yt from ye pulpit, he cloth seeme to be preaching to stacks of straw, with men sitting here and there among them."
In
1683, following the example of their neighbors round about, the people of Lynn succeeded in perfecting their title to their
lands, by deed from the heirs of the original Indian proprietors. This deed is recorded at Salem. It is a long and curious document,
abounding in surplusage and legal redundancies, on account of which,
possibly because few people
could unravel their meaning,
such documents were thought to be all
the more binding. This deed conveyed all the
interest which David Kunkshamooshaw and Abigail, his wife, Cicely, better
known as Su George, and
James Quonopohit - the sole
surviving heirs of Nanapashemet
- held in
the territory of Lynn and Nahant. The
signatures of David and Abigail seem to be rude representations of a
bow and arrow. The third signature is that of
Cicely. Jamcs signed his name in full, after the manner of white men.
The last is thc sign
manual of Mary Ponham, his wife. The
settlers attached much importance to the Indian
deeds, but Sir Edmund
Andros, the English governor, professed the
greatest contempt for them, likening
them to scratches of a
bear's claw, and by an
arbitrary exercise of his power,
endeavored to set aside
the deed of Nahant in favor
of his secretary, Edward Randolph,
who had coveted the peninsula. The spirit with which his
purpuse was resisted by the
settlers taught him the useful lesson that in this country the
government is no
stronger than the popular
will, and that the ruler who undertakes to breast public
opinion, right or wrong, has a
wearisome, and possibly a dangerous,
course to follow. Randolph persisted in his claim, and
finally, finding himself
vigorously opposed by Oliver Purchis, lost his temper, and attempted to cut off the ears of
his opponent. This was more than the settlers could endure, and
headed by Parson Shepherd, they hunted
Randolph to Boston, and made it desirable for that
indiyiclual to look elsewhere for a
summer residence. From that day to
this Nahant has continued to be the queen of seaside resorts, but the
later invasions from Boston have
been of a more peaceful and
desirable character. So
the century passed away, and gradually
the turmoils of its later years subsided, and the lives of the people moved on in straighter lines. In 1712
Lynnfield was set off as a separate
town, and two years later a meeting-house was built.
In all the early New England settlements the meeting-house
was the center of influence and power.
The building of a meeting-house and
the settlement of a minister was
insisted upon as a necessary preliminary to the recognition of a new municipality. If law and public policy could
have made a people as a whole religious
and God-fearing, our ancestors would have been entitled
to canonization. Possibly some of them
are, for what they did accomplish.
Farming continued to be the chief occupation
of the settlers. There were a few tanneries, and in 1760 the manufacture of shoes had begun to receive
considerable attention. Some skilled workmen in the line of ladies' shoes
had come to the town from England, and they had imparted their skill to
the home workmen, so that in 1764 The Boston Gazette records the fact that
"the women's shoes made at Lynn do now exceed those usually imported, both
in strength and beauty, but not in price" - a standard always since lived
up to - and in 1768 it is stated that
80,000 pairs of shoes were made in Lynn the previous year. The foundation
of our subsequent prosperity was then laid. Good work at a fair price was
the motto, and in all the achievements of the later years this has been
the governing principle.
The occurrences which led up to the War of the Revolution were full of interest and
excitement for the citizens of Lynn. No less than the Bostonians did they
resent the oppressions and exactions of the English Government. Some of
her citizens participated in the Boston tea-party, and all joined with
spirit and faithfulness in the crusade which was declared against all
taxed tea.
At a meeting on the 16th of December, 1773, it was,
among other things, resolved, "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 in Boston or elsewhere, whenever our aid shall be required, in
repelling all attempts to land or sell any teas poisoned with a
parliamentary duty."
There is little occasion to question the meaning of
this declaration, and the people were as good as their word. It became
known that Mr. James Bowler, on Water
Hill, had a quantity of tea in store. A committee of ladies immediately
waited upon him, demanded the tea, and destroyed it. The independent
spirit of the mothers has been transmitted to their descendants, and the
actors in this first American boycott planted seeds which still flourish
in our soil. Holmes asserts that:
"The
waters of the rebel bay
Have kept their tea-leaf savor;
Our old North
Enders in their spray
Still taste a Hyson flavor."
And the same spirit which led our ancestors to unite to
resist an arbitrary and unjust tax still bands our people together to
combat any real or fancied attempt at
oppression.
The following year the port of Boston was closed,
by order of the English Government. Then the storm clouds rapidly
gathered. The people of Lynn made
common cause with those of the surrounding towns. Couriers constantly
passed back and forth between Concord, Salem and Boston, and a company of Lynn minute men assisted at the reception given the
English regulars at Lexington - four
of whom were killed in the fight, and several more were wounded. Among the
latter was Timothy Munroe, who had one ball through his leg, and
thirty-two bullet-holes through his clothes and hat. Active measures were
taken for carrying on the war, which all now perceived was inevitable. A
Committee of Safety, consisting of Rev. John Treadwell, pastor of the
First Church, and Rev. Joseph Roby, of
the Lynnfield parish, and Deacon Daniel Mansfield, was
appointed. Guards were stationed on Sagamore Hill, Shepard street, and the
crossing at the Saugus River, and no one was suffered to pass out of town without permission. Arms were carried to meeting on the
Sabbath, and it is recorded that the minister appeared with his
powder-horn under one arm and his
sermon under the other, and stood his musket at one side of the pulpit
when he rose to begin the service. A company of minute men was formed,
which took part in the battle of
Bunker Hill. In the long and terrible war which followed, Lynn furnished
her quota of men and means, and bore with patriotic fortitude the
privations, hardships and
disappointments of that trying time. One hundred and sixty-eight of her
citizens were in the Continental Army, of whom fitty-two men were lost,
besides the four men killed at Lexington.
The years
succeeding the war were devoted to retrieving the losses and repairing the
waste of that long struggle. With the
exception of the ripple caused by Shay's Rebellion in 1787, there were no
clouds in the political horizon until
1808, when the Embargo brought all
sorts of commercial activity to a standstill, and reduced all
manufacturing interests to a low ebb. A majority of the people were
Democrats, and upheld the General
Government in its policy, though not without a vigorous protest from their Federalist neighbors.
Again, in 1812, the naval war
with England seriously checked all business
for a time. As was their wont, the citizens of Lynn were alive to the contest. A privateer was
fitted out, which sent home three
prizes, and generally the feelings of the people were keyed up to the
fighting pitch. The frequent successes of the Yankee tars and their impromptu fleet had caused the
people to regard them as we ll-nigh
invincible. One of the songs of the day ran:
"I often have
been
told
That the British seamen bold
Could beat the tars of France so neat and handy O.
But they never found their match
Till the Yankees did them catch,
For the Yankee tars for fighting are the dandy O.
It was, therefore, with great
expectation of a glorious victory that the people lined the
heights of Nahant on the first
day of June, 1813, to witness the battle between the British ship
Shannon and the American brig Chesapeake. They were doomed to a bitter
disappointment, for after a short and spirited contest Capt. Lawrence of
the Chesapeake fell, her colors were lowered, and the people sadly watched
the Shannon depart with her prize for Halifax.
At last
the treaty of peace brought an end to hostilities, and the people once
again turned their attention to their ordinary peaceful pursuits. Farming and
shoemaking continued the chief
occupations of the people. Attempts were made, from time to time, to
inaugurate other industries, but either the place or the people were not
suited to them. Several tanneries were in operation from 1820 to 1830, but
by 1833 these were all discontinued, it being possible to purchase leather
in Philadelphia cheaper than it could be manufactured here. In
1819 the sea-serpent made a reconnaisance of
our shores, much to the consternation of the people, and in 1824 a visit
from General Lafayette was the occasion of a great demonstration. Five
years later the community was convulsed by the anti-masonry excitement,
and for several years the opponents of that ancient order held complete
control of municipal affairs. Scarcely had the public interest in this
controversy begun to die away when abolition became a burning question. In
the early days many slaves had been owned in Lynn, but at the opening of
the Revolution all that were then held here were given their freedom. From
that time onward there had been a marked and oftentimes outspoken
opposition to the institution of slavery among the people, and in 1832 the
Lynn Anti-Slavery Society was formed. This organization soon became noted
for its advanced opinions, and its boldness in expressing them. Frequent
meetings and discussions were held, and the silvery voice of Phillips and
the burning eloquence of Garrison were often heard here in behalf of the
southern slave. Old Town Hall was frequently the scene of exciting
occurrences, but probably no more spirited gathering eyer met within its
walls than was called together on the 5th of October, 1850, the occasion
being the passage by Congress of the Fugitive Slave Law. The measure was
denounced in the most unsparing manner, and those who had taken prominent
part in the enactment of the law were called by name and roundly
castigated. The resolutions adopted by the meeting were characteristic of
our people, and breathed the uncompromising hatred of oppression and love
of liberty which, seventy-five years before, had led their fathers into
rebellion. Following is one of the resolutions adopted at the meeting,
which shows the temper of the people:
Resolved, That, since God hath commanded us to "bewray not him that wandereth," and since, our fathers being witnesses, every man's right to liberty is self-evident, we see no way of avoiding the conclusion of Senator Seward, that "it is in violation of the divine law to surrender the fugitive slave who takes refuge at our firesides;" and in view of this, as well as the notorious fact that the slave power has constantly trampled under foot the Constitution of the United States to secure its own extension or safety, and especially of the open, undisguised and acknowledged contempt of that instrument with which the slave states kidnap our colored citizens travelling south and imprison our colored seamen, we, in obedience to God's law, and in self-defense, declare that, Constitution or no Constitution, law or no law, with jury trial or without, the slave who has once breathed the air and touched the soil of Massachusetts shall never be dragged back to bondage.
Other large meetings were
held in various parts of the Commonwealth, and such a fire of indignation
was kindled that a Legislature was chosen which made such provisions that
the operation of the law was seriously
obstructed and Massachusetts nullification became the theme of many a
fiery Southern orator.
It was on Fayette street where Edmund Ingalls built
his humble cottage, in the shade of some of the old giants of the forest. A small natural
clearing formed the beginnings of his
husbandry, and the sweet waters of Lake Wenuchus supplied both his family and his flocks.
This cot long since gave way to a more
pretentious edifice, and the outlines
of the farm have been lost in
the network of streets which com- pose that section of the city. It
is two
centuries since the sturdy Puritan sought repose in the bosom of his foster-mother. Lynn would doubtless have been
sought out and settled had not Edmund Ingalls first selected this as the
place of his abode; but who shall
say how much of our present permanence and prosperity we
owe to the steady courage and fervent piety of our first citizen, whose blood has flowed down through successive generations in an
ever-widening stream until, in our own
day, his name is borne by half a
hundred of our citizens? It was on the
corner of Essex and
Chestnut streets that John Wood built
his modest dwelling. His house was long since demolished and his farm sub-divided,
but his name became engrafted upon the
locality which will be known as Woodend as long as Lynn continues a city. Joseph
Armitage, who came here in 1630, cleared a farm on the
north side of the Common, his land
extending from Mall street to
Strawberry Brook. The Common was then a forest and somewhat swampy, with a shallow brook crossing it. Mr. Armitage afterward opened the Anchor
Tavern, situated in Saugus on the carriage road to Boston. For one
hundred and seventy years this was the
most celebrated hostelry in Essex County, and it counted
among its guests many of the noted men
of the time. Another of the early settlers whose name has become inseparably connected
with the city was Allen Breed, or Bread, as the custom of that early
time had it. His farm was on Summer street, near the Western Avenue, and from him that section was early
known as Breed's' End. Samuel Graves,
whose possessions lay west of the Floating Bridge, is the third
of the Lynn immortals, that locality being yet called Gravesend, though
modern usage is gradually changing this to the more musical Glenmere.
In 1836 it is mentioned that there
were only seventeen buildings of brick
in Lynn, and only six of any material above two stories in height. The
dwellings throughout the town had an average value of $500. These buildings were scattered along sixty
streets, and not near enough together but that each family had plenty of
breathing space. Market street was largely given up to dwellings, though
here and there a shoe shop or tannery gave variety to the scene. The cuts
on this and the preceding page give a faithful picture of Market street as
it was in 1820. Referring to the numbers, 1 is now Sea street, 2 Timothy Alley, 3
Wm. Richards, 4 Viall's
slaughter-house, 5 F. S. & H. Newhall's morocco factory, 6
Winthrop Newhall's tannery, 7 water
trough, 8 Benj. Alley, 9 and 10
Solomon Alley, 11 Richard Pratt, 12
Pelatiah Purington, 13 John Alley,
Jr., 14 now Summer street, 15 James
Alley, 16 Simeon Breed, 17 Dr. Lummus, 18 Capt. Jos. Mudge, 19 Jerusha
Williams, 20 and 21 Stephen Smith's
house and shoe shop, 22 Gamaliel W.
Oliver's shoe shop and house - in this
shop William Lloyd Garrison worked
shoemaking for some time - 23 J. B. Ingalls, 24 Rev. Enoch Mudge, 25
Methodist meetinghouse, "The Bowery," now Lee Hall. These cuts were made
from reliable data, and are said by those who survive that time to be a
correct representation of things as they were then. The only building of
that time now standing is close by the railroad. It is not shown in the
cut, being on the opposite side of the street. It was then used as a
morocco factory, and close by it was a creek through which the tides flowed in
and out of what is now Harrison Court. A stone culvert spanned this stream
just below where now the railroad crossing is.
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Up to this time the town had probably not changed
very much in the matter of its streets for a century or more. In the
center of the town it had Market street, Liberty street, Spruce street - now a part of Washington - Sea street,
Front street - now that part of Broad
from Exchange to Market - Union
street, Pine street - now Exchange - Spring street, Broad street. Further
east were Broad, Nahant, Lewis,
Chestnut, Fayette, Olive, Mason,
Orange, Essex, Pearl and High streets. In the western part of the town
were Pleasant, Shepard, Summer, Commercial, Elm, North and South Common, Franklin and Franklin
avenue, Turnpike - now Western avenue - Boston, North Shepard, Mall, Center and Federal streets. Nahant street led to Nahant over the
beach; there being no road, the tides
were watched to know when the long beach could be used for travel.
Lewis street led to Swampscott and
into Humphrey street, and a cart road extended on through the farms to
Marblehead. Essex street led from
Woodend to Salem, with no cross
streets. All other parts of Lynn were in wood or pasture lands, or farms,
and there was no house south of Nahant and Broad streets, nor east of
Nahant, Broad and Lewis streets. The lands between Lewis, Fayette ancl
Essex streets, also between Essex, Orange, Chestnut and the Turnpike, also
south of Summer and Commercial streets, were used as farms or pastures.
Around the southwest corner of Union and Exchange streets ran a stone
wall, and on the opposite corner stood the Keene homestead. Through a
culvert under what is now Central square flowed a stream of pure, cool water, from springs under
the present Central Station. It formed
a muddy, grassy brook which ran down Union street to where the Ingalls
building now is, then turned and flowed through the gardens of Jonathan
Connor and William D. Thompson, across
Broad street to the sea. In the brook near Earl's new building was sunk a
tub, where the neighbors watered their cows. Nearly all
the principal families owned a cow, and if they had no pasture, they hired or owned what
was called a "cow lease," or "right to
pasture a cow in Rocks Pasture or on Nahant. Where Goldthwait's stable now is was a hill, on the
summit of which was a two-story house,
the cellar of which must have been much above the roof of the present
stable. Half-way down the hill was an old-fashioned well, with curb, sweep
and an old oaken bucket. The stone wall extended up the south side of
Union street for a short distance to the house of Farmer Silsbee, where
Welch & Cummings' store now is. The one-story house of George Todd
stood opposite Pearl street. From this point the stone wall extended most
of the way to Woodend. A stone wall marked the site of the Sagamore House,
and from Pearl street a wall extended nearly to the burying-ground. Where
the East Baptist Church is, and beyond, was called Smith's field, and
where Ireson street is was called Quaker Pasture - a decided contrast to
the modern, busy, thronging Union street. There were no Beach, Baltimore,
Atlantic, Ocean, or other cross streets in that section, nor any Silsbee,
Green, Ireson, Rockaway, Washington, Willow, Munroe, Oxford, Andrew or Johnson streets,
and only five or six cross streets from the Common. There were formerly
salt works near the foot of S. N. Breed's wharf, with a windmill to pump the water
into tanks for evaporation; and where the engine-house is was a small
beach called "Water Side." Where
Central avenue and Willow street are was a cow pasture, and Almont street
was given over to brick-yards. At the foot of Nahant street was a fence,
with a gate, to keep the cows from returning home too early.
The last
decade of this period of our history is full of events of great importance
as bearing on the future of the town. First, in 1838, came the Eastern
Railroad, pushing its way north and east - first to
Salem, and then onward toward Portland. The projectors of the railroad
were men of courage and foresight. The
science of railroad building and management, as it is now understood, was
an unknown quantity, and the tremendous possibilities of the steam locomotive undreamed of. They came to Lynn,
and calling the prominent business men together, asked their opinion as to
the average number of passengers they might expect between Lynn and Boston. After mature deliberation
and close calculation, the conclusion was reached that the average might
reach thirty-eight per day, though one gentleman emphatically dissented,
saving that "never in the world will they have so many!" The first station
was a one-story wooden structure, about forty feet long, with a bell on
the roof, which was rung on the arrival of each train. The first cars
were about fifteen feet long, and
seated twenty-two persons. The first locomotives were very crude, and had
scarcely power enough to draw the few coaches in the train. Frequently in
cold weather, or when facing a high wind across the marshes, the trains
would be compelled to stop to get a head of steam sufficient to proceed.
That was railroading under difficulties. But with the railroad came new
life and energy into the place, which made itself manifest in the impetus
given to business and the various new
enterprises which sprung into life. The financial panic of the previous
year, though falling heavily upon many of our manufacturers, had
served to clear the business
atmospbere, and brought many young men
to the front. The era of invention, which has
astonished the world by its productions, was then just
beginning, and the shoemaking industry early began to receive its share of attention. A few minor inventions were brought out
prior to 1850, but
they were mostly
crude and of little use; but
they began to open the way for the
great revolution in the
methods of shoe manufacture
which began ten years later. They consisted
chiefly in improvements in
lasts, and in methods of cutting the
soles. The styles of boots most
commonly made had heen foxed gaiters, slippers and huskins, but in 1848 the
congress boot was invented,
which at once came into great
favor. The city, in the years 1840 to 1850, took rapid strides both in population and business, and it
began to be felt that Lynn had
outgrown
her town organization. The subject of
obtaining a city charter was agitated for several years. Finally, on the 10th of April, 1850, the
Legislature granted a
charter, and on the 19th it
was accepted by the town. With this
action may be said to end the second
period of our history. In our brief review we have seen a sparsely-settled colony, planted in a wilderness,
grow to a busy and prosperous town, with an industry of
sufficient magnitude to
give employment to thousands of
busy workers,
and prosperous in a
marked degree.
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