Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 38, 1888

market-gardening. Pmbably nowhere in the county can finer cultivated fields be seen than in this town. Sun and rain, bugs and worms, remain as ever uncertain elements, but there has been a wonderful advance in the application of scientific principles. Very much of that broad plain, up which swept the tide of original settlement, is devoted to this sort of farming. The land here is rich and level, and every acre is worked for all it is worth. The Danvers onion is famous everywhere. Hundreds of barrels are raised within half a mile of the Collins House. Much of this land is comparatively new, "Turkey Plain," as it used to be called, having been covered with bushes within the memory of some living, and a hundred years ago thought to be the poorest land in town. The older farms are generally under thorough and enterprising management. Many of them make a specialty of producing milk.

An article by the editor of the Massachusetts Plouyhman, in that paper November, 1880, is authority for tiie statement that the reputation of Danvers exceeds that of Weathersfield, Conn., for the cultivation of the onion, and, further, that " no town in the State is so distinguished for its superior orcharding." This statement will not here be challenged. If it be true, it is well, and fits well to the fact that here on the " Orchard Farm " of Governor Endicott the first fruit trees of any account in New England - perhaps the whole country - were raised. A hundred years ago pear-trees were to be seen near every farm-house. Some had a few plum and peach-trees. These bore abundantly. Most of the apple-trees were then of natural fruit, and the apples were largely consumed in the shape of cider. An old cider-mill which stood on the General Putnam place was thus constructed. A trench was dug, fifteen inches wide and fiity feet in circumference, and flat stones were placed on the bottom ; the sides were of brick, eighteen inches deep. Apples were thrown in this circular trench, and a heavy stone wheel, drawn by horse-power and revolving about a central upright, did the squeezing. The apparatus was taken down about 1819. Deacon Joseph Putnam, who owned and carried on this mill, and Abram Dodge, of Wenham, were the first in the county to plant apple orchards of improved varieties for growing winter apples for market. This was soon after the Revolution. At that time farms were valued not so much for their location as for the amount of stock they would keep. The Clark farm was then considered the best farm in Danvers, so Wm. R. Putnam has written. Before the discovery of the uses of coal relieved the fear of a scarcity of wood, every well-appointed farm included one or more peat lots. Here and there peat sheds are still seen in the meadows, but it is not common, as formerly, to see about the farm-buildings carefully piled blocks of this sort of fuel. Its most general use was from about 1780 to about 1830.

been warmly supported by the farmers of Danvers. Among the incorporators of the society, June 12, 1818, were Frederick Howes and Jesse Putnam. The Danvers men have always taken a good share of premiums at the annual exhibitions, and they now stand at the head of membership. Charles P. Preston was for twenty-five years secretary of the society, resigning in 1885. Some minutes of the exhibition of 1848 show that Elijah Pope received the first premium for ploughing with double team, and Francis Dodge the second. For working oxen, Orrin Putnam, fourth ; Francis Dodge, fifth. Working steers, Elijah Pope, second. Fat oxen, Perley Goodale, first. Bulls, Orrin Putnam, second. Milch heifers, Eben Putnam, third. Yearlings, Francis Dodge, first. Sheep, Elijah Pope, gratuity, no premiums given. June butter, Charles P. Preston, first ; same, second for September butter.

Jonathan Perry came to Danvers in 1803, when he was twenty-one years old. In 1815 he bought the Towne farm of some fifty acres, which has remained in the family since that time. Mr. Perry was the first farmer in Essex County to raise strawberries and dandelions for the market, and for over thirty years he drove a vegetable wagon to Salem. His sons, Horatio and James, followed the same business, and will long be remembered and missed. Shortly before the death of the former, a few months ago, he furnished the writer with some information in regard to his father, who was a most excellent citizen. In the cause of temperance and liberty he was first and foremost ; he was one of the five who first signed the total abstinence pledge and stood alone for more than a year ; he labored earnestly to start the first temperance store in town ; he was one of the twelve Liberty Party voters in 1840 ; was captain of the militia company for a number of years.

Shoe Business. - All over this part of the country, outside of the thickly settled villages, a peculiar type of building may be noticed. It has grown dingy from lack of paint, and cob-webs and old hats have not uncommonly usurped the glazier's work. Here a hospital for decrepit plows and rusty guns, there converted into sleeping apartments for poultry, now freshened up into quarters for a " hired help," again abandoned altogether, sitting cozily by the roadside and near by the home, equipped with a chimney and well supplied with windows, the observing stranger - and it must be considerable of a stranger not to know all about it - struck by the number of its duplicates, could not fail to conclude that it was originally designed for some use to which it is not now put.

The little building is a monument to the departed days of the industry here spoken of. It is a shoemaker's shop. Here, for many years, the "stock'' was brought from some one of the manufacturers, and in the intervals between farm chores was made up. It was a family work shop, the boys learning early to use hammer and awl, and the girls "closing" and " binding." It was, too, a sort of educational and political exchange. While the pegs flew in at the swift strokes or the black-ball stick coursed round the freshly trimmed edge, ears were open to some one who read aloud what Horace Greeley said in the last Tribune about Kansas. Town topics and national legislation were here freely discussed, and the forever unsettled questions, which no man will solve until the mystery itself comes, wore likewise earnestly and thoughtfully debated. Pair by pair the finished shoes went back into the stock box, and when the sixtieth completed the "set," the hinged lid was fastened down and the old horse took a trip to town for pay and fresh work. Business was steady, pretty much the year round, and there was always the little land to fall back upon, - no fear of slack times between trades, and no labor troubles.

Machinery has closed the little shops. First a simple roller replaced the old lap-stone. That made no difference. Even when the pegging-machine was successfully introduced "gangs" were formed, and for a time the shojis struggled against steam. But .-team conquered, and here, as elsewhere, shoes have been made by the hands of many men and women, from cutter to packer, all working under one roof, and, so far as possible, by the aid of power machinery.

Danvers was a representative shoe-town in the days of the old regime, and much business is here done in the modern way. The first shoe manufacturer in town was Zerubbabel Porter, and a little shop at the foot of Porter's Hill, standing until within a few years, was the cradle of the business. Mr. Porter was a tanner by trade, and he commenced making shoes in order to work up leather unsaleable U)Y custom trade. This was about the time of the Revolution. That little shop, which was raised from its first condition so that tanning was carried on in the basement and shoemaking above, became a sort of normal school in the latter art, from which many graduated to success. About the time young Elias Endicott married Nancy Creasy, of Beverly, in 1791, he, likewise a tanner and currier by trade, built a little shop for that business. That shop now forms the parlor of the present residence of Elias Endicott Porter, above Putnamville. The young man presently added a second story, moved into it, and kept at his business beneath.

More additions were made, and about the commencement of this century, in a small shop still used as a woodshed, he too, following the example of his brother-in-law, began to manufacture shoes. Both found markets in Baltimore and other southern ports, packing their goods in barrels and shipping them from SaUm on board of coasters.

Jonathan Porter worked for his cousin Zerubbabel as early as 1786, and among his apprentices was Caleb Oakes, who commenced to manufacture in the little shop, and later l)uilt up a large and prosperous busi- ness at Danversport. His widowed mother, who was a Putnam, came here from Portsmouth when he was but two years okl. He was brought up liy Colonel Enoch Putnam, married Mehitable, daughter of Nathaniel Pope, and is buried with her in the old Pope burying-ground. He was the father of William Oakes, the distinguished botanist.

About 1789 a young boy of fourteen went to Jonathan Porter, to learn his trade, and when he became of age he took out work a year for Caleb Oakes. One day, when he returned a set of shoes and found no stock ready for him, Mr. Oakes sold him a little leather and told him he might cut it up himself. The next set of shoes he made he put into saddlebags and took them to Boston on horseback. From this beginning Moses Putnam continued with patient industry and sagacity until he became, in the neighborhood which bears his name, the chief shoe manufacturer of the town. He followed the business steadily for fifty-seven years, surviving two sons and a son-in-law, all of whom had been associated with him.

Among other farly manufacturers were Samuel Putnam, Nathaniel Boardman, Eben Putnam, Major Joseph Stearns, Daniel Putnam, Gilbert Tapley, the Prestons, Elias Putnam and Joshua Silvester. Fifty years ago the business was confined mostly to Putnamville, the Plains and the Port. About that time James Goodale and Otis Mudge began to manufacture at the Centre. In 1854 there were thirty-five firms, making more than a million and a half pairs annually, and giving employment to about twenty-five hundred men and women.

Samuel Preston and Joshua Silvester were carrying on business on opposite sides of the square at the time of the great fire of 1845. About 1830 Mr. Preston was also running a store at Perley's corner. David Wilkins did his teaming, going into Boston four times a week with a pair of horses. He would load up with cases of brogans and start at one or two o'clock in the morning, and deliver the shoes at the various wharves along old Commercial Street. Then, with a load of groceries previously ordered, - molasses, great boxes of sugar bound with raw hide, and with a hundred sides of leather on top of all, - he drove back. One Hartwell at the Port was, at the same time teaming for the Putnamville people, and did a good bu.siness. Later Mr. Wilkins, still a familiar figure with his lumber-wagon in our streets, formed a partnership with the late D. J. Preston, and took all the Boston teaming. It was the growing importance of the shoe business and the need of banking accommodation that led to the establishment of the Village Bank in 183(5. During the financial crisis of the next year Danvers men lost heavily with others. For twenty years there was prosperity, and then the crisis of 1857 and the demoralization of business occasioned by the breaking out of the war, forced many to the wall. Those who pulled through

Among those who have contributed to the fame of Danvers as a shoe town within the past twenty or thirty years, and who have either retired, deceased or engaged otherwise in business, are John Sears, Daniel F. Putnam, J. C. Butler, C. H. Gould, Ira P. Pope, Alfred Fellows, J. R. Langley, Amos A. and Henry A. White, Joel Putnam, Aaron Putnam, I. H. Putnam, William E. Putnam, I. H. Boardman, Henry F. Putnam, Phinehas Corning, J. M. Sawyer, G. B. Martin, G. H. Peabody,

The oldest established firm still in business is that of E. and A. Mudge & Co. Edwin Mudge, senior partner, commenced manufacturing in 1837, when nineteen years old. From 1840 to 1847 he was associated with his brother Otis. In 1849 he formed the partnership with his brother Augustus, which, with the admission of Edward Hutchinson in 1858, has since remained without further change. After a number of expedients to accommodate their extensive business, the firm erected a large three-story factory, well fitted with all modern conveniences. It was situated close by the residences of its owners, and was the life of the Center, but at present the tall chimney is the melancholy monument of its former existence. It was burned about the first of June, 1885. Its loss has not proved so disastrous to the Center as was feared, for it so happened that the firm were able to move at once into the factory they now occupy at the corner of Pine and Holten Streets, Tapley ville, taking their old help with them, and the horse cars make the two villages practically one. Upon the corner mentioned, George B. Martin manufactured shoes, and built up a prosperous business in a factory which, by successive additions, had grown to great size, and was occupied by Martin, Clapp and French (W. T. Martin, son of G. B.), when, on the night of February 23, 1883, the whole establishment and five adjoining dwellings were burned. The firm at once rebuilt, but they had not long occupied their fine factory before they experienced serious labor troubles and were induced to move their business to Dover, N. H. Thus the Mudges were enabled to move into it at once after their fire. G. W. Clapp withdrew from the Martin firm at the time of its removal, and with W. A. Tapley commenced the business carried on near the old carpet factory. Other large shoe manufacturers are C. C. Farwell & Co., J. E. Farrar & Co., Glover & Co. and Eaton & Sears ; numerous other firms do a smaller business.

Brick-Making. - Danvers bricks rival Danvers onions in their reputation for sterling qualities. Farmer Andrews' trip to Medford and young Jeremiah Page's return with him, the origin of the business here, has been mentioned in the sketch of the Plains. Mr. Page continued the business, of which he was the pioneer, to the close of his life, 1806, and at his decease his son, John Page, and son-in-law, John Fow- ler, carried it on a few years in partnership. Mr. Page then continued the business alone, and with such energy and success that Page's bricks were widely known and in great demand. He is said to have made the first " clapped bricks," which were really pressed bricks, made before the invention of machinery facilitated this most important feature of brickmaking. For many years Mr. Page was a large contractor for government work, and many of his bricks were used in fortifications and light-houses. A very large number were sent to Forts Taylor and Jefferson on the Florida coast. In fact Danvers bricks were the government standard, specifications calling for them or others as good. Mr. Page had yards on both sides of High Street, that on the westerly side extending beyond the location of the railroad and others on South Liberty Street near the Peabody line.

Deacon Joseph Putnam and Israel, his brother, nephews of General Israel, many years ago made bricks near the driving-park on Conant Street. The Webbs, too, were early brick-makers, Nathaniel Webb, grandfather of Putnam Webb, now living at the Port, having a yard near the horse-car stables on High Street. Jotham Webb was just beginning business below the box-mill at the Port, when at the Lexington alarm, he hurriedly donned his wedding suit, and was brought back to his young bride slain by a British bullet.

Josiah Gray was born in Beverly, but his parents moved to Bridgeton, Me., when he was a small boy. He came thither when a young man and learned to make bricks under John Page. He then worked some fifteen years making nails and anchors at the iron works, but on the occasion of a sharp cut in wages he began to make bricks in East Danvers, then Beverly. He virtually made Liberty Street what it is to-day, erecting a number of dwellings and setting out the first shade trees. He died in 1873 at an advanced age, having been a most excellent citizen. The business which he began has continued prosperously in his family for more than fifty years. In 1881 the old yard oflF Liberty Street, then carried on by S. F. and J. A. Gray was bought by the New England Pressed Brick Company. Expensive works proved, however, a poor substitute for simpler processes and the company failed. J. A. Gray went to Maine, and S. F. Gray, is carrying on the yard otf High Street, formerly worked by W. H. Porter.

Asa and Nathan Tapley and Matthew Hooper were early brickmakers in District No. 6. William H. Walcott succeeded Nathan Tapley, and William T. Trask succeeding Mr. Walcott, at present carries on that yard. Isaac Evans, Samuel Low and Moody Elliott were also among the early makers. G. H. Day commenced business in 1861 ; his sons, G. H. and E. F. Day, later. Samuel Trask, who succeeded Mr. Evans, W. H. Porter, Edward Carr and H. E. Elliott, began about the same time. At some time, John C. Page made bricks on Lefavour's Plain, 33 J

South of Water's Eiver, near Kernwood ; and Charles Page in the large pasture near Crane Eiver bridge ; this latter yard was reopened by the Grays, and some of the bricks for the Danvers Lunatic Hospital, for which they had the contract, were made here.

John Grout had a yard in the rear of his residence on High Street. It is estimated that about five million bricks are now annually made here, divided as follows :

Physicians. - With the exception of an uncertain report of a Dr. Gregg, said to have lived at Salem Village in 1692, there is no evidence that the town had any settled physician until about 1725, but depended for medical and surgical services upon the Salem doctors.

Jonathan Prince was probably born in Danvers and was certainly the first resident physician of whom there is any clear account. He studied medicine with Dr. Toothaker, of Billerica, and was the preceptor of Drs. Amos Putnam and Samuel Holten. He lived on the southern slope of Hathorne Hill, at a spot marked by a cluster of pines. The house was long since removed to the corner of Hobart and Forrest Streets, where it is known as the " Hook house."

Amos Putnam was born in Danvers 1722. He pursued his medical studies with Dr. Prince, and practiced in the town till the opening of the French War, when he entered the service as a surgeon. At the close of the war he returned to Danvers, and followed his profession until he was more than eighty years of age. He was a justice of the peace for many years, and one of the most influential citizens of the town. His grave is in a small inclosure near the Collins House, marked by a plain head-stone, on which is the following inscription : " Sacred to the memory of Doct. Amos Putnam and Hannah Phillips, the wife of A. P." He died July 26, 1807, aged eighty-five. She died Oct. 2, 1758, aged thirty-three.

Samuel Holten was more distinguished in our history in other respects than as a physician. An outline of his biography has been already given.

Archelaus Putnam was born in Danvers in 1744. His birth-place and residence through life was the old Putnam homesteail, near Wadsworth Cemetery. He graduated from Harvard College in 1763, and soon after commenced to practice his profession in town. He was a skillful physician and surgeon, and a man of great influence among his fellow-citizens. His death occurred in 1800, and his remains are buried in Wadsworth Cemetery.

Dr. Shed was a druggist rather than a practicing physician. He was long town clerk, and something is said of him in connection with that office. He lived in the South Parish.

During the first years of this century quite a number of physicians began business in town, but after a brief period removed to other localities. Among these may be mentioned, Drs. Clapp, Cilley, Gould, Porter, Patten and Carleton.

George Osgood was born in North Andover, March, 1784. After receiving his medical degree he came to Dan vers and commenced practice in 1808. He also joined the Massachusetts Medical Society the same year. His home was for a time near the village bank building, and afterwai'ds near the Essex depot, in the Abbott House. He was in active practice more than half a century, and during this longtime he was one of the most familiar figures in the town. He was a son-in-law of Dr. Holteu, and is buried near the grave of the latter in the Holten Cemetery. The headstone bears this inscription :

Ebenezer Hunt, whose name has often appeared in these pages, for more than half a century practiced in this town of his adoption. He was born in Nashua, N.H., April 13, 1799; died at Danversport, October 27, 1874. He graduated at Dartmouth Medical College in 1822, and the next year settled here. He was among the earliest and foremost in the temperance and anti-slavery movements, and so ardent was his patriotism that when war came he enlisted as assistant surgeon in the Eighth Regiment. Radical in his views, grufi" in manner, he was warm of heart and skillful in his profession, and will long be remembered as a ixseful citizen.

David A. Grosvenor, Jr., a son of Dr. Grosvenor, of North Reading, was born in Manchester, Mass., 1812. He pursued his medical studies with his father, and also with Dr. Mussey, of Hanover, N. H. He received his diploma as Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School in 1835. He commenced practice in Rutland, Mass., in 1836, but three years later came to Danvers and settled. His residence is on Elm Street, near the Essex depot. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1840.

1820. Studied medicine at Harvard Medical School and Hospital. Graduated at Pittsfield College ; commenced practice at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, in 1847 ; settled in Danvers, January 1, 1850 ; removed to Saco, Me., in 1867, and shortly after to Boston, where he now resides.

Dr. p. M. Chase was born in Bradford, Mass., May 11, 1828; entered Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1847 ; attended a medical course at Woodstock, Vt., in 1853 ; was a pupil of Dr. H. B. Fowler, of Bristol, N. H. ; entered the Medical Department at Dartmouth College in 1854, and in 1855 entered Harvard Medical School, and graduated from Harvard Medical College in 1857 ; located at Danvers as practicing physician in 1857; was commissioned examining surgeon for recruits in the Rebellion in 1861 ; in 1874 was commissioned United States Examining Surgeon for Pensions ; in 1875 was commissioned surgeon in the Eighth Regiment, M. V. M.; was a Democratic candidate for State Senator in 1874-75. He died at his residence, corner of Locust and Oak Streets, January 4, 1887.

Lewis Whiting, homeopathist, was born in Hanover, Mass., January 24, 1832; he graduated from the Bridgewater Normal School, and taught school till his health failed ; began the study of medicine at Bellevue Hospital, N. Y., in 1861 ; was afterwards two years in the navy as surgeon's steward ; continued his studies in 1864 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York, and graduated in 1865 at the New York Homeopathic Medical College ; settled in Danvers August, 1865. Residence on Putnam Street.

William Winslow Eaton, born in Webster, Me., May 20, 1836 ; graduated from Bowdoin College in 1861 ; began the study of medicine, in 1860, with Dr. Isaac Lincoln, of Brunswick ; took his first and second course of lectures in 1861 and '62, at the Maine Medical School ; was a pupil of Dr. Valentine Mott in the winter of '63 and graduated at N.Y. University in 1864; entered the military service as assistant surgeon of the Sixteenth Regiment, Maine Infantry, in 1862 ; was promoted to surgeon and served three years ; began practice in South Reading, Mass., in 1865 ; removed to Danvers in April, 1867; was elected a member of the Maine Medical Association, and of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1865. Residence on Holten Street, near the Peabody Institute. Dr. Eaton has served on the school committee, as trustee of Peabody Institute, and in other public capacities, and has been recently elected president of the Walnut Grove Cemetery corporation.

D. Homer Batchelder, born in Londonderry, N. H., 1811, graduated at Berkshire Medical College in 1840, practiced thirteen years in Londonderry, then removed to Cranston, R. I., from which town he came to Danvers in December, 1876. His residence was at the Port, and after a few years he moved elsewhere and was succeeded by Dr. Frost.

Edgar O. Fowler was born in Bristol, N. H., May 7, 1853 ; graduated at New Hampton Institute ; studied medicine with his father, Dr. H. B. Fowler, of Bristol, N. H. ; was a student at Bellevue Medical College and Long Island Hospital, N. Y., in 1872 and 1873 ; graduated at Dartmouth Medical School with the degree of M.D. in 1873 ; commenced practice in Danvers in 1874 ; joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1875 ; died suddenly of heart disease. May 1, 1884.

Woodbury G. Frost was born in Brunswick, Me. ; graduated at Bowdoin College in 1860 ; taught school before and after graduation ; received degree of A.M. in 1863, and the degree of M.D. in 1866 ; was acting assistant surgeon under Farragut in the W. G. B. Squadron ; practiced medicine twenty years in Freeport and Portland, Me., and in Danvers, Mass. ; served on school committees in Maine, and at present is on the Danvers boai'd.

Lawyers. - At least three natives of North Danvers have risen to high judicial positions, - Samuel Holten, as probate judge of Essex County ; Samuel Putnam, as justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts ; and Rufus Tapley, as justice of the Supreme Court of Maine. Hon. Nathan Read came also to be a Maine judge. Arthur A. Putnam has been, if he is not still, judge of a local court in Worcester County. Judge Cummings of the Massachusetts Supreme Court ; Frederick Howes of the Burley Farm ; Abner C. Goodell, long Register of Probate at Salem ; and Mellen Chamberlain, ex-chief justice of the Municipal Court of Boston, and now superintendent of the Boston Public Library, have lived in North Danvers. Wm. Oakes was a lawyer, and practiced somewhat in Ipswich, but devoted himself chiefly to botany. Among those who have practiced here and gone elsewhere are William G. Choate, A. A. Putnam and Horace L. Hadle3^ A few devoted martyrs still remain to pour on oil when life's Avaters are troubled. Their names, - J. W. Porter, E. L. Hill, D. N. Crowley and A. P. White. Stephen H. Phillips, at one time attorney-general of Massachusetts, has within a few years taken up his residence on a part of the estate which was formerly owned by his fathei'. A number of distinguished lawyers, including Rufus Choate, practiced in that part of Danvers which is now Peabody, and their names, here purposely omitted, will be found in the sketch of that town elsewhere in this book.

The Danvers Lunatic Hospital. - That is the official name, and though it doesn't slide so easily from the tongue as insane asylum it doubtless is professionally more correct. The act of 1873 authorized the Governor to appoint commissioners to select and buy a site for a new hospital for the insane, to be located in the northeastern part of the State. S. C. Cobb, of Boston, C. C. Esty, of Framingham, and Edwin Walden, of Lynn, were so appointed, and they selected Hathorne Hill, in Danvers, then owned by Francis Dodge, as the best location. From an esthetic and hygienic point of view, the situation of the great institution is superb, and the beautifully kept grounds on the summit of the sightly hill add much to the attractiveness of Danvers, yet on practical grounds, the wisdom of placing the building so high has been questioned.

Work was commenced on the hill May 1, 1874. The hospital was ready for use in May, 1878. The cost of buildings, land, etc., at the latter date was $1,599,- 287.49. The first superintendent was Calvin S. May, M.D., who served from May 13, 1878, to August 9, 1880. William B. Goldsmith, M.D., was appointed superintendent March 1, 1881, and resigned February 1, 1886, to accept a similar position at the Butler Hospital, Providence, R. I. During the year's absence of Dr. Goldsmith in Europe, July 15, 1883, to July 15, 1884, Henry R. Stedman, M.D., was acting superintendent. William A. Gorton, the present superintendent, was appointed on the date of Dr. Goldsmith's resignation.

The first board of trustees were Charles P. Preston, of Danvers, Daniel S. Richardson, of Lowell, Gardner A. Churchill, of Boston, Samuel W. Hopkiuson, of Bradford, James Sturgis, of Boston. The present board, 1887, include Messrs. Preston, Richardson and Hopkinson, and also Harriet R. Lee, of Salem, Solon Bancroft, of Reading, Dr. Orville F. Rogers, of Boston, Florence Lyman, of Boston.

Dr. May was treasurer as well as superintendent. After his resignation the offices were separated, and Stephen C. Rose, of Marblehead, was appointed treasurer. He served from August 9, 1880, to September 1, 1882, when his successor, Charles H. Gould, of Danvers, who at present holds the office, was appointed. There are now, July, 1887, in the institution seven hundred and fifty patients. The receipts for the past year were $151,598.95 ; payments, $149,- 887; balance in favor of the institution, $1711.95. The coal bill was about $2500.

The officers at the hospital, 1887, are as follows : superintendent, William A. Gorton ; lady physician, Julia K. Carey ; first assistant physician, Edward P. Elliot; second assistant, Milo A. Jewett; third assistant, Arthur H. Harrington ; treasurer, Charles H. Gould ; steward, Nathaniel W. Starbird, Jr. ; clerk, C. A. Reed; engineer, G. A. Luf kin ; farmer, S. S. Pratt.

Literary Societies. - Probably the first was the "New Mills Lyceum," organized December 24, 1832. Its original members were Wm. Francis, Alfred Porter, J. P. Harriman, Edward Stimpson, Hathorne Porter, Samuel Mclutire, Jr., Benj. Porter, Aug. Fowler, Jere. Page, Jr., Wm. Black, Wm. Endicott, Wm. Cheever, Edward Perry, Wm. Chaplin, David

The meetings were held in the school-house or Baptist vestry. Many of the young men who became conspicuous in the anti-slavery movement " learned to talk " in this debating club.

Nearly fifty years ago the North Danvers Lyceum used to hold its meetings in the hall of the old tavern, which hall was part of the mansion once standing on Folly Hill. On one side sat the ladies, on the other the gentlemen. The dignitaries, chief among whom were the ministers, Dr. Braman and others^ sat at the head of the hall. Just how long the Lyceum continued its existence cannot be stated, but that for a time its meetings were the scenes of many vigorous and beneficial discussions on all sorts of topics, and by men who were no mean gladiators in such combats there is ample testimony. Mrs. Philbrick has preserved this interesting notice:

The BowDiTCH Club, which had its origin among the young men of Putnamville, grew to a flourishing and very useful existence, and lived far longer than such societies usually do. Its first meetings were held in the Putnamville school-house in 1857, and one of its original members and most enthusiastic supporters has informed the writer that so earnestly were questions debated that after adjournment certain members who lived at the Port would be accompanied and argued with all the way home.

The club held its meetings at the Plains after 1858 or 1859, and in 1870 moved into very comfortable quarters in the Bank Building. A half a dozen years later it died the inevitable slow death of its kind. It has left a fine record, and was long an efiicient agency in the promotion of culture. The club maintained an annual lecture course, before the Peabody free course, and brought here the best talent to be had. Its own entertainments were of a high tone and always interesting. The " Bowditch Club Dinner " was long a feature of each winter, and a " picnic "' was held each summer. It would be well, indeed, for the town, were just such another society in existence to-day.

The Holten Lyceum, Wadsworth Association, and perhaps other societies, have had their day and ceased to be, at the Centre. A number of others might be mentioned, the Shakespeare Club, the Atlas Society, etc., etc.

The Danvers Scientific Association was organized September 27, 1882, and has held fortnightly meetings at Peabody Institute. The Sawyer Club is an active literary and social organization composed principally of members of the Universalist Society.

The Danvers Women's Association. - On the 18th of April, 1882, a number of ladies met with Miss A. L. Page, under a call to all interested in forming a society among the women of Danvers for consideration of matters of common interest, furtherance of woman's work, general improvement and social enjoyment. One week later, the first regular meeting was held at Miss Shepherd's, where, also, officers were elected and a code of by-laws adopted, under the name of the " Danvers Women's Association ;" and until November following, meetings were held in private houses. Then the Grand Army Hall was used until January 1, 1884, when the Association took and fitted rooms especially for its own use, in the Ropes building. Upon the completion of the new post-office building it moved into its present quarters, comprising the whole of both upper floors. The membership of the Association has been for some time necessarily limited to one hundred and twenty, and the number is always full. Meetings have been regularly held on Tuesday afternoons, for seven months each year, at which instructive papers or talks have been given, usually by friends from out of town. Three times each winter " social teas " have been held, to which gentlemen have been invited.

To a remarkable degree the club has been successful in its aim towards '"general improvement and social enjoyment," and in tending to break down whatever prejudices or exclusiveness naturally clung to the several religious societies it has been a potent influence in the right direction. Mrs. Harriet L. Wentworth has been its president from its formation. The other ofiicers at present (1887) are: Vice-Presidents, Mrs. E. A. Spofford, Mrs. C. E. Whipple. Treasurer, Mrs. V. A. Burrington. Secretary, Miss Mary W. Nichols. Directors, one year, Miss Maria L. Fowler, Mrs. Sarah D. Merrill, Mrs. Abby Hutchinson, Mrs. Alice G. Richards. Two years, Mrs. Mary L. Ewing, Mrs. Julia S. Spalding, Mrs. Hattie R. Keith, Miss Isabel B. Tapley.

Secret Societies. - They are a small legion. Yet let no man with a new " improved " or " ancient" or otherwise peculiar " order " hesitate to come. There are still plenty of "joiners."

Free Masonry goes back nearly a hundred and ten years in Danvers, to the organization of the " United States Lodge," May 1, 1778. It ante-dated the Essex Lodge of Salem by one year. Among the members of the "United States" were Samuel Page, Jethro Putnam, Daniel Squiers and the famous drummer of New Mills, Richard Skidmore.

The latter was Tyler, and the jewels and regalia were destroyed at the burning of his house in 1805. The lodge had ceased to hold regular meetings be- fore this, its decay being attributed to the eulistment of so many of its members in the Revolution. A new lodge - the Jordan Lodge - was established in 1808, the meetings of which were held many years at Berry's tavern, but during the anti-masonry excitement, from 1825 to 1835, meetings were held in South Danvers, and only often enough to preserve the charter. The furniture, regalia, etc., were moved there, and when regular meetings were resumed the lodge kept and has since retained its establishment in South Danvers (Peabody). Many North Danvers Masons went thither until 1863, when Amity Lodge was established here and provided itself with the comfortable quarters in the Bank building, which are exclusively used for secret society purposes. The first regular communication of Amity Lodge was held October 26, 1863. Seven years later thirty-three of the members petitioned for a new lodge, and the present Mosaic Lodge, which was chartered October 30, 1871, was the result.