Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 39, 1888

Chapter 39

Old Officers. - Under the act of February 13, 1789, any town might " give liberty for swine to go at large during the whole or part of the year," provided they were yoked throughout spring and summer, and "constantly ringed in the nose,"' the legal yoke to be " the full depth of the swine's neck, above the neck, and half as much below the neck, and the soal, or bottom of the yoke full three times as long as the breadth or thickness of the swines." To see that the laws were enforced, officers called "hogreeves " were regularly elected until 1827. Many honorable and well-known men were incumbents of this office, seemingly not alluring to ambition. Israel

Daniel Rea was, in 1752, commissioned "to take care that ye Laws Relating to ye Preservation of Deer be observed." " Deer-reeves " were chosen from 1765 to 1797; the first, William Poole and George Wiatt ; the last, Eleazer Putnam and Timothy Fuller.

A Sealer of Weights and Measures was first chosen in 1759, and but for the resignation of Francis Symonds, of the Bell Tavern, his posterity, instead of the descendants of Joseph Pairpont, might now claim the ancestral honor of having first adjusted the pints and pecks of the town to legal standard.

Sealers of Leather were chosen from the very first, and the office was not altogether discontinued until within a few years. Israel Cheever and James Upton were the first leather measurers. Deacon 8. P. Fowler has in his possession one of the old iron seals mentioned in this memorandum :

"June 18, 1765. Two Sett of Marks or Seals, wasProvit'jd at the Cost of the Town for Sealing of Leather according to the Law of the Province and the same delivered to the Sealers of Leather for the Present year, the Tees are for Sealing of Tanned Leather, and the Cees for Curried Leather. By order of Selectmen.

" Wardens " were elected from 1761 to 1790. The first to hold that office were Jeremiah Page, Bartholomew Rea, (xideon Foster, and Joseph Osborne; and the last, Benjamin Proctor and Oliver Putnam.

Whether or not it was common for the selectmen to appoint sextons, the only record of such appointments is in 1821, the appointees being Isaac Munro, Bartholomew Dempsey and William Johnson.

From 1752 to 1791 "haywards'' were annually chosen. Jonathan Putnam and John Osbon were the first ; Jno. Dodge and Gideon Putnam the last. That hay-scales were not in existence here earlier than 1770, witness the following interesting petition :

"The Petition of Francis Symonds to the Selectmen of Danvers for the Present year 1770 Signifieth that they grant him the following Request on the following Conditions Namely that he may Erect a Convenient pair of Skails or Stilyards that will answer to way Cart or Sled Loads of hay that are Bought and Sold in our Markets, and that Said Selectmen Enter it in our Said Danvers Town Book.

" That no other Person within two miles of the Petitioner shall liave the Liberty or Grant from us to Entercept him by Entering the like or any Skails or Stilyards for said purpose for Twenty year provided and it is understood that said Symonds hath this Grant allowed him by us the said Select Men on those Conditions That he keep said Skails or Stilyards in good order and see them well tended and that he Charges no more for his waying hay or anything Ells Then tlie Comon Price Now Gentlemen as I trust you will Observe the need we have of such a Convenience and how Likely to Bennefit our Nabourwhod for which Reson I trust you will due it as well as this to oblige your hombul Sarvent. Signed

Captain Jonathan Ingersoll, Benajah Collins and Samuel Page were chosen in 1811 "to consider the expediency of the Town erecting hay-scales," and their report sets forth the need of such scales near the south meeting-house, " and we also find that a considerable quantity of hay is annually purcha.sed on the road leading from the plains (so-called) to Salem, and that a hay-scale erected in some suitable place on that road would make it very convenient for the inhabitants of that part of the Town, and further, we find from the best information we can obtain that the expense of erecting one hay-scale with all the apparatus thereto will amount to about one hundred and seventy-five dollars."

The acceptance of this report was doubtless the origin of certain massive arrangements of beams, tackle and steel-yards, which, within the memory of older citizens, stood nearly in front of the Baptist Church at Danversport, and which weighed whatever was driven beneath by lifting wagon and load bodily from the ground. The selectmen were, in 188G, instructed to sell " the Hay Scales at the Neck."

Among those who were licensed to knock down the goods and chattels of their friends and neighbors under the auctioneer's hammer in the first quarter of this century were Sylvester Proctor, John Fowler, Benjamin Porter, Captain Thomas Putnam, Eleazer Putnam, Joseph Shed, Porter Kettell and Stephen Upton. Dr. Slied was an auctioneer from 1818 nearly or quite all the time to his death, in 1853. Those who began service in the second quarter were William D. Joplin, Hathorne Porter, Edward Stimpson, Squires Shove, Daniel P. Clough, Thomas Trask ; since 1850, Richard Hood, William Dodge, S. D. Shattuck, Alfred Porter, John A. Putnam, Charles H. Rundlett, William B. Morgan, George Faxon, T. P. Conway.

The tax collectors of the early years of the town glad enough doubtless to meet with ready payment in any sort of money, were nevertheless bothered to reduce the several kinds of currency, silver and continental notes of old and new issues, to a common standard. Distraining and tax sales were rare, and abatements common. The assessors left short minutes of their reasons for abatement, such as " Gone," " Poor and dead," " G. P's dam gave way," " Under captivity by the Indians," " Taxed twice," " Taxed wrong," " Old and lost his faculty," " Poor widow," " Being gone to sea fishing," " Being not well," " Broke his leg," " Not 16 years old."

A move was made as early as 1813 towards the creation of a Board of Health. At that time certain persons asked the town to petition the Legislature for authority to elect such officers. The proposition was dismissed, however, and not till nearly twenty years later, 1832, was the first board chosen. Its members were Benjamin Jacobs, Oliver Saunders, J. W. Proctor, Thomas Cheever, Samuel Preston, Joseph Stearns, Jeremiah Putnam, Robert S. Daniels and Richard Osborn. Since then a Board of Health have been annually chosen.

Town Clerks and Records. - The records of the town clerks have reached the thirteenth volume. As a whole, they have been kept remarkably well. A good recording oflScer must have continually in mind the fact that the writing will outlive the writer and must preserve in his records a full and clear statement of events which shall be of use when they can no longer be aided by the memory of anj'. Such true quality was possessed by our earliest town clerks, and the spirit has been, for the most part, transmitted through the line. In one hundred and thirty -five years of town life there have been twenty different clerks, the average length of whose terms is about six and a half years. Since 1800 there have been but seven, the terms of three of whom comprise seventy-three years. Here follows a comjjlete list of

Town Clerks

Mr. Howard's twenty-eight years is the longest service, and was appropriately recognized by appreciative resolutions when he declined to serve longer. Mr. Poor, who was clerk of the old town at the time of division, has ever since been retained as clerk of South Danvers and Peabody. Before the building of the town-houses the records followed the abode of the clerks. A small projection in front of one of the houses where the old Ipswich Road crosses the Andover turnpike, and begins to climb Hog Hill, is recalled by a few aged people as the headquarters of Nathan Felton, whom they remember as an old man dispensing the rude justice of a country squire. Much of biographical interest might and ought to be written of many of these town clerks, but space here forbids. Perhaps the model clerk of all was Dr. Shed, a man who evidently loved to make his records clear and beautiful. He was a physician of the South Parish, residing on the main street opi:)osite and a little below the old bank building, where he also had an apothecary store. Dr. Shed was a justice of the peace, and he drew aud acknowledged most of the deeds by which his fellow-citizens made their real-estate conveyances. His death was formally announced at a meeting in Granite Hall April 11, 1853, when Dr. Hunt presented resolutions of regret and respect, and the selectmen and other town officers were directed to attend, in official capacity, the funeral.

Up to the annual meeting of 1887, the town has held nine hundred and forty meetings. Of this uuml>er, 309 were held in the several meeting-houses of the First or North Church (of which number 25 were in the " Brick Meeting-house," and 22 at " Village Hall," the basement of the present meeting-house), 293 were held in the South Meeting-house, 2 in schoolhouse No. 5, 17 at Liberty Hall, 2 at Chapman's Tavern, 4 at the hall of Benjamin Goodridge, 96 at Union Hall, 39 at Granite Hall (vestry of the Maple Street Church), 172 in the Town-Hall, 6 at places not named. One of the meetings at " Liberty Hall, in the house occupied by Geo. Southwick, Jun., Innholder," was called there in 1828 by reason of the refusal of the proprietors of the South Church to allow the use of their house, and at this meeting a familiar parliamentary form was slightly but pungently varied ; it was voted " that the communication from the Proprietors of the South Meeting-house pass under the table."

The first attempt at a systematic index of the records was made in 1832. Then the selectmen were directed to have made a " digested index of the town records from the commencement thereof in a book specially for this purpose, with reference to the volume and page in which the subject may be found.'' They were to allow such compensation for the work as when completed they should judge it worth. Nine years later, on petition of J. W. Proctor and others, the index was brought up to date, and it was then made the duty of the clerk to make an annual index. Measures were taken in 184() " for keej)ing the records in one office, rather than in separate places, as now kept." But the old indexes have been found to be imperfect, and, with the accumulated records of later years, need has been felt of a new index, based upon a thorough and systematic overhauling of the originals. A few years ago J. W. Porter, J. A. Putnam and I. W. Andrews were appointed to take the matter in hand. They consulted at first and from time to time with William P. Upliam, an ex[)ert in such matters, and obtained the services of Miss Helen Tajjley to do the practical work. The town clerk's records have all been thus indexed, and it is safe to say that no other town can surpass the accuracy and general excellence of this work, and but few can equal it. A new vault has been constructed for files and plans in the basement, and the old one for ordinary use has been much enlarged.

Moderators. - From 1752 to 1887, inclusive, thirty-five different men have presided over the one hundred and thirty-five annual town-meetings. A list of these moderators arranged chronologically according as their names first appear, with subsequent years of service, if any, given, is as follows, the right

It may be noticed with what regularity honors alternated from say, 1826, to division, 1856, the office being held by north parish men odd years, and by south parish men even years.

Representatives. - The following men have represented Danvers in the General Court, arranged by consecutive years after 1802, when the town began to send several representatives annually :

To the great convention called in 1820 to make the first revision of the State Constitution, in which Daniel Webster, Judge Story, Leverett Saltonstall, Josiah Quincy and others were prominent figures, Danvers sent Caleb Cakes, John Page, Ebenezer Shillaber and Ebenezer King. At the gubernatorial election of 1851 voters were called upon to decide whether or no a convention should be called for another revision of the Constitution. The citizens of this town said "No," 681 to 556. The next year on the same question, " Yes," 638 to 636 ; in each case the voice of the town was the voice of the State. Delegates were chosen to meet at the State House, May 4, 1853. In this convention were Rufus Choate, Sidney Bartlett, Nathan Hale, George S. Hillard and others from Boston. Robert Rantoul, Marcus Morton, Jr., Henry K. Oliver, John B. Alley, R. H. Dana, Jr., Asahel Huntington, Otis P. Lord, Charles W. Upham and others from Essex County. John A. Putnam, now of Danvers, represented Wenham. At the election, March 7, 1853, the vote of Danvers was as follows :

Sixteen other candidates had from 1 to 39. Messrs. Braman, Fowler and Abbott were elected delegates. Each of the eight propositions submitted by the convention to the people were rejected by this town at the fall election of 1853 by an average vote of about 715 nays to 515 yeas.

Dan Vers

One of the propositions for disposing of the new school building in the short-lived district No. 8 was to convert it to a lock-up and tramp-station, but the town then refused to believe itself sufficiently advanced in modern civilization to need a separate building devoted to such uses. Soon, however, 1864, accommodations for guests of the public, voluntary and otherwise, were fitted in the basement of the town-hall, and there for ten years some sin and vagrancy retired behind the bars. When in 1874, better conveniences were demanded, a part of the basement of Bell's Hall, on Maple Street, was fitted up. This past year, 1886, a considerable addition was made to the old brick school-house on School Street - the original building being now occupied by two companies of the fire department - and ample and respectable police headquarters have there been established, with plenty of room above for a local court, - when it comes. Michael J. Mead has been for some years chief of the small police force, which is efficient much beyond its numerical strength. William O'Neil presides over the station and dispenses the town's hospitality to certain of the traveling public.