Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 45 of those read), 1888 (part 2 of 3)

Education. - Impressed with the special importance of knowledge to the citizens of a country, the stability and permanence of whose institutions rest upon intelligence and good morals, he had no sooner entered on his pastoral duties than he visited the schools, to encourage the children and youth by his presence, his sympathy and friendly counsel. For more than forty years he was a member of the school committee, and no small part of the time chairman, and accustomed to examine the teachers and the eight schools repeatedly every year, to pray with and examine the same. In his fiftieth anniversary discourse he remarked that he had probably made more than two thousand visits to these schools. He was ever the advocate of the most liberal appropriation and of the most complete organization, instruction and discipline of the common schools, and he did much by pen and voice for their improvement. The school board, in their annual report for the year ending March, 1860, thus speak of his services : " As a member of the feoffees of the grammar school for a period of more than thirty years, and as one of the school committee for forty years of his useful life among us, he has done much, both by precept and example, for the moral improvement of our youth, and his active exertions and untiring zeal in the cause of education will long be held in grateful remembrance."

He always took special interest in scholars belonging to the grammar-school, particularly in those contemplating a collegiate course. By the term " grammar-school," we do not mean the common, or public school, as it now exists in our commonwealth, supported by a tax and free of charge, to rich and poor, but a school where Greek and Latin were taught, and where youth could befitted for college. The Ipswich grammar-school was established in 1650. In six years from its opening there were six young men from this town pursuing at the same time their studies at Harvard College; and all of them undoubtedly pupils of this school. But the grammar-school no longer exists as such ; it has been merged in the Manning School, and its funds appropriated, in part, to the support of its teachers. It was a grand old school some sixty or seventy years ago, when Richard Kimball, George Choate, Charles Choate and Stephen Coburn reigned there. In it more than one hundred of the natives of Ipswich, who have received collegiate honors, acquired their elementary education.

Female Uducafion and Ipswich Female Seminary. - He was among the earliest and most earnest to call attention, public and private, to the whole subject of female education, and especially to the more extensive employment of women as teachers. Of so great importance did he regard this subject, that early in his ministry he kept a private school in his own house for several years, to which a goodly number of the young ladies of his society and the town resorted.

The Ipswich Female Seminary was opened for the reception of pupils, April 23, 1828, on which occasion an address was delivered by Mr. Kimball. As president of the board of trustees during the eleven years in which Miss Grant was principal, he delivered the diplomas with an address annually to the graduating class. At no small sacrifice he received Miss Grant and her associated teachers into his family, when she made the so doing the sine qua non of her establishment in Ipswich.

His labors in education were not confined to his place of residence. He frequently spoke on the subject by request in other towns. Soon after the organization of the Essex County Teachers' Association, in 1829, the first of the kind in the United States, " when," says one,' " few could be prevailed upon to favor the enterprise, Mr. Kimball, who had himself been an able and successful instructor, readily yielded to the request of the society to lecture before it. This he did with ability and peculiar acceptance."

Foreign Missions. - Through his whole ministry he was the earnest advocate and efficient helper of the American Board ; was present at its organization at Bradford in 1810, frequently presented its claims to his own people, and occasionally addressed audiences in its behalf in other places. " Among the arguments that the early friends of missions had constantly to meet," says Rev. William Kincaid, at the annual meeting of the Board at Des Moines, October 6, 1886, " was the complaint that the sending out of so much money to the heathen would impoverish the country. So wide-spread and persistent was this objection that in 1826 two prominent ministers, of whom Dr. Lyman Beecher was one" (and Rev. David Kimball the other, see Proceedings of the Auxiliary Mission Society of Fssex County, April 11, 1826), were appointed by this board to prepare elaborate papers in answer to it. The manner in which Mr. Kimball acquitted himself may be seen in the following remarks which he offered on that occasion : " Sir, the resources of our country are not easily exhausted. When I look around this country ; when I consider its extent of territory, fertility of soil and salubrity of climate, its agricultural improvements, its extensive and lucrative commerce, the rapidly increasing growth of its manufactures ; when I consider the number, intelligence, industry and enterprise of its husbandmen, mechanics and merchants, and its favorable situation in respect to every kind of business tending to the increase of wealth ; when I survey the vast resources of my country ; I feel as little apprehension that these resources will be exhausted by its charities to the heathen, as that the waters of the Pacific Ocean will be exhausted by natural exhalation. And I would as soon accuse that ocean of a wanton waste of its waters, for suffering them to ascend for the purpose of falling on the pastures of the wilderness, and clothing them with verdure, as charge the friends of missions with profusion for collecting a portion of the riches of this world, and causing it to descend in the dew of gospel charity on the moral wilderness. Were I to surrender the point which I undertook to maintain, I would still hold on to the object to which we are devoted, and say, let the wealth of this world go, if on such terms souls may be rescued from degradation, guilt and death, and raised to that world where they will be praising God, and advancing toward him by new accessions of glory, forever and ever. But I do not surrender the point which I undertook to maintain. I do not believe that the property of the community has been lessened by the interest in foreign missions, nor that it would be lessened, if the object were to interest our entire population, and the contributions to it were increased a hundred-fold."

Ant i- Slav try. - He was the uncompromising enemy of oppression and tyranny in all their forms, and early declared himself the friend of liberty, personal and national. In an address in his native town, he said : " I appear this evening, not as a member of any anti-slavery organization, but as an anti-slavery man, independent of all organizations. As to this cause blame me not, my friends, for my love of it ; for here, in the days of my childhood and youth, was that love kindled. Yes, between those hills my father taught me, and in these ancient houses, your fathers taught me, and at the house of worship which recently stood there, the pastor taught me, that slavery is a sin, being a transgression of the law which says: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself I received it as true ; I believed it ; and I proclaimed it in this house of prayer, when at twenty-one our fathers called me on the daj'^ of our nation's birth, to echo, as I could, the just and noble sentiment, ' all men are created free and equal.' From the first moment, that, as I trust, I began to love God for what he is, for his holiness, justice and mercy; I have felt that slaverj^ is a sin, and that like every other sin, it should be immediately renounced; and I must think and feel

As he believed he spoke, and unhesitatingly gave utterance, on all suitable occasions, to the sentiments he entertained. Into the structure of his mind, - which was conservative, judicious and catholic, - ultraism, fanaticism and bigotry did not enter. He had zeal, but according to knowledge ; he hated oppression, but his hatred was tempered with prudence ; he had opinions of his own to which he tenaciously adhered, yet he allowed in others the same freedom of expression that he claimed for himself. Early in the agitation of this subject he took an open and declared an ti -slavery position ; took it, and held to it, through evil report and good report, and though he did not live to see the day of deliverance and triumph, yet he believed it would come and gloriously too. He identified himself with the enterprise at a time when, through indifference, or cowardice, or selfishness the voice of the pulpit and press was dumb, and few desired to have the subject agitated in the community. The American Colonization Society was then at the hight of its popularity, and it was regarded as almost impious to question the benevolence of its scheme. That dark period of ignorance and apathy, delusion and prejudice should be carefully pondered and properly estimated in order that the amount of moral courage requisite to meet it should also be measured and appreciated. Mr. Kimball though a diffident man and one who shrank from contending with an antagonist in oj^en extemporaneous debate, was yet firm, decided and earnest in the discussion of any question in which he conscientiously believed, whether popular or unpopular with the people. The thing for him to decide was, whether the sentiments he entertained were in accordance with the word of God. If they were he was bold in proclaiming them ; and undeterred by the fear of man and the, consequences, went straightforward in the discharge of duty, sustained by the belief that, though all men might be against him, the God in whom he trusted would be with him. His name, which stood at the head of the Massachusetts delegation, is among the one hundred and fifty-four clergymen who came before the public in 1834 as the advocates of immediate emancipation, by signing a document giving a decided expression of opinion on these two cardinal points, viz. : 1. That colonization is not an adequate remedy for slavery, and must therefore be abandoned for something else that is ; and 2. That the scheme of Immediate Emancipation is such a remedy, and is, therefore, to be adopted and urged.

In the formation of the Essex County Anti-slavery Society he took an active part. At a convention held at Topsfield April 4, 1834, to consider the expediency of forming said society, he was chosen, with others, to prepare a constitution. When the New England Anti-slavery Society met in Boylston Hall, Boston, May 2(3, 1834, he was on the committee to report on the District of Columbia and the Territories ; and in June of the same year, when the Essex County Antislavery Society was organized at Salem, he was one of the vice-presidents. Thus early and openly did he commit himself steadfastly and zealously to this great enterprise.

Temperance. - His mother instilled early into his mind and heart the great principle of brotherly love, including in its wide embrace love of all humanity, thus striking, with her heaven-inspired hand, the keynote of philanthropy in his heart, and laying the foundation of that spirit of benevolence which led him to adopt and proclaim the great reformatory doctrines which in the last half century have so extensively occupied the attention of the more thoughtful of our fellow-countrymen. Hence it was, that war and slavery and intemperance had in him an uncompromising foe, ready on all proper occasions to employ against them " a sling and a smooth stone out of the brook," weapons which, if not mighty, did good service in the cause of humanity. The second sermon which he wrote was on temperance, and during his ministry he frequently discoursed upon it on the Sabbath, and always readily and cheerfully complied with the invitations of his fellow-citizens and others to speak on the subject, lending his influence and giving his labor to promote it at a period when, in popular feeling, attachment to the cause did not add to a raan's public reputation.

He was one of the original members of the first State temperance society in the country, - " The Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance," instituted in 1813. In 1826, when the American Temperance Society was formed, on the principle of total abstinence, he united with it, as he did with the Washingtonian movement of 1840.

The American Education Society. - While he took a deep interest in all the benevolent and religious enterprises of the day, the American Education. Society in particular, whose object was the education of pious young men for the gospel ministry, occujjied much of his time and attention. In the preliminary work of the Essex Auxiliary Education Society he bore a prominent part. At its organization, October 30, 1816, he was made secretary. As such he prepared, in December of that year, a circular addressed to the evangelical ministers of the county, inviting them to recommend to their several churches an annual collection for this object; and in 1828 he caused to be printed five hundred copies of the constitution, with a list of officers and an address prepared by himself. Having acted as secretary for twenty-three years, in 1839 he resigned the office. His resignation not being accepted, he continued the secretaryship, attending the annual meetings and preparing the yearly reports to the close of his life, a period of forty-four years. During this time, says Rev. Dr. Perry, " he never failed in an appointment, nor at the annual meeting came unprepared with a report carefully made out. His reports were often extended to a considerable length, were directed to different bearings and responsibilities of the society, and, if brought together, would make a volume filled with important truths and practical instruction ; and I must regard it as no small loss to the religious world that they should be hid in the depository of finished business, comparatively unknown and unread."

Essex North Association. - Soon after his ordination he united with this association. Having, as scribe pro tempore, kept the minutes and conducted the correspondence of the society for a year, he was chosen permanent secretary, May 12, 1812, which office he held till his death, a period of forty-eight years, during all which time he was punctual in attendance at the meetings, and always ready to contribute his full share of time and labor to its interests. Three times he was called upon to deliver the annual sermon at the conference of the churches in Essex North. He was unanimously chosen to preach the anniversary sermon before the Massachusetts General Association at Woburn in 1844, which discourse was publicly commended as most appropriate and excellent. He was one of four who formed a society separate from the association for the purpose of studying the Scriptures in their original languages, and for making themselves better men and better ministers. "It is a noble example, worthy to be put into the history of our body," [The " Ecclesiastical History of Essex County"], "that Father Kimball commenced and prosecuted the study of Hebrew after he was forty years old." The distinct impression which he left on the memories of his associates was his fidelity and untiring industry. His productions, says Rev. Dr. Pike, were always scholarly and his heart always true to the Redeemer's kingdom.

Church in Linehrook Parish. - This church, organized in 1749, but which in 1819 had been reduced in membership to two women, one of whom was very aged and infirm, was watched over by him with a fatherly eye. For several years he occasionally held meetings for prayer among the people, and for a considerable period conducted a Bible-class exercise one evening a week ; visited their sick, buried their dead, and, whenever a religious interest was manifest, however slight, he instantly hastened to their aid. Said a member of that church, " I shall never forget the expression of his countenance nor the tears I have seen flow, when I have been telling him of persons in our parish whom I knew to be anxious about the salvation of the soul." His labors for the church during its struggle for existence knew no abatement. In this he proved himself a wrestling Jacob and a prevailing Israel. When at its lowest point and without a suitable place of worship, the old meeting-house having gone to decay, he urged the people to hold together and make a united effort for the erection of a new house ; and, when they had decided to build, he addressed the secretary of the Massachusetts Missionary Society for aid in support of a minister, and received from him the assurance that the society would appropriate to this object one hundred dollars annually. The continued interest of Mr. K. in this parish was shown by the action of his society, in j^resenting to it, at his suggestion, in 1848, for its present church edifice, the bell which had formerly hung in the steeple of the old meeting-house in Ipswich. In 1860 the church had increased from two in 1819 to seventy. A bequest of $7000, by John Perley, Esq., of Georgetown, has enabled it to secure the services of a regularly settled minister, and it is in a prosperous condition.

Publicatioyis. - While the modesty of Mr. Kimball was such as to prevent him committing to the press the earlier productions of his pen, copies of which had in several instances been requested, and among them an oration delivered in Andover, July 4, 1804 ; an addresss on education in Bradford Academy, 1805; a sermon on peace in Ipswich, July 4, 1817 ; and while he declined similar requests in later years, he was the author of sixteen published discourses, which were regarded as valuable contributions to the religious literature of the day, - noticeably, a sermon bel'ore the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, in Park Street Church, Boston, 1821 ; a Sketch of the Ecclesiastical History of Ipswich, 1821; a Centennial Discourse before the First Church and Congregation in Ipswich, August 10, 1834, two hundred years after the gathering of that church; a sermon on the Utility of a Permanent Ministry, 1839; The Last Sermon in the Ancient Meeting-House of the First Parish in Ipswich, February 22, 1846 ; the First Sermon in the New Meeting-house of that Parish, February 4, 1847: a Discourse on the Fiftieth Anniversary of his Ordination, October 8, 1856. He also furnished many miscellaneous articles to secular and religious magazines and papers.

Hospitality. - His house was the seat of a generous hospitality. He followed the injunction of St. Paul, " Be not forgetful to entertain strangers," many of whom he cordially received. B'or most of the time from his settlement to the completion of the Eastern Railroad, his company, in addition to that of particular friends, averaged not less than one person for the whole time, and one horse in the stable. It was not uncommon for strangers passing through the town by stage to come directly to his house to dine, while their companions were being entertained at the public-house.

Revivals- - There were several interesting religious awakenings during his ministry. As the fruit of which there were received into the church in 1808, 16; in 1820, 13; in 1825-26, 35; in 1829, 88; in 1830, 22; in 1838, 16; in 1849-50, 45; an aggregate of 235. " In such seasons of merciful visitations," said Rev. Mr. Fitz in his sermon at the funeral of Mr. K., " he spared not himself, multiplying his meetings and going from house to house to preach repentance, to offer to the inquiring sinner an Almighty Saviour, and to implore, on behalf of every household, the influences of the Holy Spirit."

On July 24, 1851, he withdrew from the active duties of the pastoral office, which he had filled with distinguished ability and faithfulness, and became pastor emeritus. After his retirement he preached in various places, and continued to do so till the time of his death, '' being never so happy," to use his own words, as " when engaged in this delightful employment." As he drew near " the shining-shore," he must have found comfort in the thought, that by God's blessing, the church, which at his ordination consisted of but fifty-three members, had been quadrupled under his ministry.

The great aim which Mr. Kimball seems ever to have had in view was usefulness. He lived to do good ; and although it cannot be said of him, or of any man that ever lived, that he made no mistake in the devising or the carrying out of his plans, yet no one could question the- purity of his motives or the integrity of his acts. If he possessed little of what is called genius, he had two of the greatest of all possessions, diligence and perseverance; if not a man of profound erudition, his requirements were more than respectable. He was a careful and cautious thinker, an accomplished writer, an accurate scholar, a forcible and instructive preacher. In every department of duty he was diligent, prompt and faithful, deeply interested in all the philanthropic movements of the day, and zealous for the Lord of Hosts, - a consecrated champion of Christian truth. And having lived a life of faith and obedience, he died the death of the righteous.

His last sickness, pneumonia, was short, but very painful. As he drew near the river's brink, and some thought he had passed over, he revived and exclaimed, " The gates of the New Jerusalem are opening ; " and after a pause, " I see within the city." He then took affectionate leave of his family, and breathing benedictions on his people, for whom his last audible prayer was offered, he fell asleep. There was no pang in the dying hour. *At the moment of the soul's departure, according to the testimony of his daughter, Mary, there came to his lips a smile of ineffable beauty, and there it remained till he was buried out of sight, never more to be seen till the morning of the resurrection.

The citizens of the town exhibited the most profound respect for the deceased pastor. A man of spotless character, he was universally beloved. From the time the intelligence of his illness spread through the community till his burial the house was thronged. Many children came to see the face of him they loved. At twelve o'clock of the day following his death, all the bells in the town tolled in concert. At his funeral all classes pressed to show their love and express their grief. The people of Ipswich without distinction of sect or party, formed a most honorable procession and accompanied the remains to the appointed place of burial. He was greatly honored in his death. Many clergymen and distinguished laymen from abroad were present at his funeral. Through the kindness and generosity of his nearest neighbor and ever constant friend, Deacon Aaron Cogswell, an eligible burial spot was secured for him and his family, near the centre of the ancient cemetery in High Street, where he reposes in the midst of a thousand of ihe people of his charge, and where the sun smiles upon his rest as his Heavenly Father smiled upon his departing spirit.

Edward P. Kimball, son of Hon. Charles Kimball, was born March 22, 1836. Acquiring the rudiments of his education at the common schools of the town and at the old High School, he finished his course there at a time when there sprang up among the young men of the place quite an enthusiastic desire to fit and enter college, and he was one of a class of several who. with that end in view, recited their Latin and Greek before breakfast at an early morning hour to Rev. John P. Cowles, then principal of the Ipswich Female Seminary. Continuing under Mr. Cowles' instruction for a year, he completed his preparation for college at Thetford Academy, Thetford, Vt., and at the Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., and in the autumn of 1852 entered the Freshman Class of Amherst College. Remaining there two years, he was obliged to leave on account of ill health, and staying out a year, entered the Junior Class at Williams College, where he graduated in 1857. The late ex-President Garfield was then a member of Williams, and rooming near him, he there made his acquaintance, as well as that of other men afterwards distinguished in public life and in the various professions. After graduating, he taught in the Shippensburg Collegiate Institute at Shippensburg, Pa., practically having charge of the school.

In 1858 he entered upon the study of the law in the office of Hon. Otis P. Lord at Salem, remaining there till Judge Lord took his seat upon the bench, and then completing his studies in the ofliQC of his father, he was, in 1861, admitted to the bar. He practiced his profession in Ipswich for a few years, and afterwards in Gloucester, and then associated himself with his father in business at Salem, and continued it after his father's decease until, in October, 1886, he assumed the duties of postmaster of Ipswich under appointment from President Cleveland. Mr. Kimball has held various public offices, having served upon the school committee of Ipswich for six years, and as selectman of the town for two years, besides being candidate for the House of Representatives and State Senate, failing of election only because his party were in the minority. He has always taken a great interest in music, is a fine bass singer, has given instruction in vocal music, and was leader of the South Church choir for eighteen years. Mr. Kimball was married in 1867 to Sarah M. Kimball, daughter of Rev. Reuben Kimball, of North Conway, N. H., and has four children, - two sons and two daughters. Mrs. Kimball is a lady of intelligence, of a bright, cheerful and sunny disposition, remarkably conscientious, interested in every good work, devoted to her family and a leader in the affairs of church and society which come within the sphere of woman's activities.

It is interesting to notice in families the peculiar traits that descend from father to son, and in Mr. Kimball's case they are especially noticeable.

He has inherited from his father, and possesses in a remarkable degree, a spirit of thoroughness in everything which he undertakes. There is nothing so abhorrent to him as the disposition sometimes displayed of an arrogant, dogmatic assertion as facts of things of which the speaker is profoundly ignorant. Indeed, his exceeding caution in this respect may have sometimes worked to his disadvantage in giving him an appearance of hesitation, betokening ignorance of subjects on which he was really better informed than more flippant and showy, but at the same time more superficial, thinkers.

In manner and deportment he is unassuming. His natural reserve has sometimes given the impression of haughtiness, but this is an erroneous view of his temperament.

Though dignified in bearing, he is not distant. He has a quick perception of the humorous. His opinion and judgment are often sought in questions of disjiute.

In matters pertaining to the welfare of the town he is deeply interested, and takes pride in her grand historic past and its present growth and prosperity.

In the preparation of legal papers and in advising upon legal subjects, this mental quality of his conspicuously appears, so that whatever is said or done by him can be depended upon without hesitation, subject only to such qualifications as he expressly lays down. Weighing well a subject, and coming slowly and carefully to a conclusion, we cannot wonder that his opinions, once formed, are held with great tenacity ; but no one, however much he may differ himself from his views, can but respect the deliberate and careful way in which his judgment is made up or the conscientious fiiirness and candor with which his views are entertained. At the same time tolerant and deferential to those who are constrained to disagree with him, it is not strange that he commands the undivided respect and esteem of the entire comunity in which he dwells.

The Fitz family ranks among the very early Puritan families of New England. Its first Anglo-American ancestor was Robert Fitz. He was born in 1617, and came to this country from Fitz Ford or its vicinity, near Tavistock, in the county of Devonshire, England, as early, certainly, as 1640. Mrs. Bray has directed attention to this locality by making it the scene of her novel entitled "Fitz of Fitz-Ford." She says of it, in the introduction to her book :

"To the west of the town, by the side of the new road to Plymouth, stand the ruins of the gate- way of Fitz-ford, which, except an old barn, is all that now remains of the mansion and olBces of the family of Fitz. This gate-way is spacious, and the label ornaments of its architecture proclaim it to be a structure of the time of Henry the Seventh. Such portions of the carving as appear through the ivy, with which it is amply hung, are well sculptured ; and the whole might form an interesting subject for the pencil of a Harding or a Prout. The ancient mansion of Fitz-ford, that once stood in an open court beyond this gate-house, was many years since pulled down, and the materials used to erect the present market-house in the town."

There is a tradition that Robert Fitz was at Ipswich in 1635. The most prominent member of his family at the time of his emigration was Sir John Fitz, a London barrister of position and wealth, whose country seat was upon the bank of the river Tavy on the west side of Tavistock as above stated by Mrs. Bray.

Robert Fitz is said to have been induced to leave his native land by the discomforts to which he was subjected on account of his Puritan principles. Whether he was at Ipswich, in 1635, or not, it is certain that he and his wife Grace D. were among the original settlers of Salisbury, in 1640. From that time the genealogy of his descendants has been carefully preserved.

Rev. Daniel Fitz belonged to the seventh generation of his family in this country, and his ancestry may be traced back in unbroken line through Samuel Currier, of Derry, of the sixth generation ; Daniel, of Sandown, N. H., of the fifth ; Richard, of South Hampton. N. H., of the fourth ; Richard, of Salisbury, of the third ; Abraham, of Ipswich, of the second ; and Robert, of Salisbury, the Anglo-American head.

He was the second child and oldest son of Samuel Currier Fitz, above named, and of Sarah George Fitz. He was born at Sandown, N. IL, May 28, 1795, and in early childhood accompanied his parents ujjon their removal to Derry, where they ever afterwards lived. He graduated in 1818 at Dartmouth College, then under the presidency of Dr. Francis Brown, and just emerging from its great controversy, finally settled by the Supreme Court of the United States, and since famous as the Dartmouth College case. His class numbered twenty-eight, some of whom subsequently attained positions of eminence. Among these were Prof. George Bush, D.D., of New York Univeri By Joseph B. Walker.

Upon leaving college, Mr. Fitz devoted himself to teaching for a while, as thousands of other New England students before and since have done. By this means he strengthened his resources, both mental and financial, the first by a review of former studies, and the latter by the moderate compensation then allowed for such work. For a single term he was assistant teacher of Pinkerton Academy, established but a few years before in his town of Derry. Soon afterwards, Salisbury, N. H., Academy, then in its palmy days, offered him its principalsliip, which he accepted and continued to hold for some two years, until he was called to assume that of the Academy at Marblehead in which he continued for about a year and a half.

The objects sought by teaching having been attained, he entered Andover Theological Seminary in 1822, there to prosecute the studies which were to prepare him for the work of his chosen profession, under a corps of stalwart theologians, prominent among whom were Dr. Leonard Woods and Dr. Moses Stuart. It was near the close of the period of the great warfare waged by the theological Titans of New England ; a fierce warfare in which no quarter was asked or given by either party, but which, like most religious controversies, was most effective in confirming the combatants in their own cherished views. As was most natural, Mr. Fitz accepted the doctrines of his teachers. These, with slight modifications, he held throughout his whole subsequent life.

Mr. Fitz completed the prescribed course of study, and graduated in 1825. At this time, the health of the venerable Dr. Joseph Dana, who had been in continuous service as pastor of the South Congregational Church, of Ipswich, for sixty-one years, had become impaired by age, and he was wanting a colleague. The position was offered by the church and society to Mr. Fitz, and he accepted it. On the 26th day of June of the next year he was ordained and installed as associate pastor.

The services of this occasion were held in the ancient meeting-house of the society, which stood near the location of the present house, by which it was superseded in the year 1837. The clergymen who took part in the exercises were well known in their day and have been favorably remembered ever since. The ordination sermon was by the Rev. Daniel Dana, D.D., of Newburyport, a son of the senior pastor. His text was the 26th verse of the 20th chapter of Acts. The installing prayer was by Rev. Robert Crowell, of Essex ; the prayer of consecration by Rev. Samuel Dana; the concluding prayer by the Rev. Joseph B. Felt, of Ipswich; the address to the church and society by the Rev. Edward L. Parker, of Londonderry, N. H., the home pastor of Mr. Fitz ; the right hand of fellowship by Rev. David T. Kimball of the First Congregational Church of Ipswich, and the charge to his young brother, by the senior pastor. The church had not had an ordination before for two generations, and the occasion was as interesting as it was solemn.

There occur in human life periods of intense interest which exact approbation and move the heart. It is a glorious hour when the soldier, in unselfish defense of his country, buckles on his harness and hies to scenes of peril. So is it when a venerable and able statesman, as regardless of the opposition of rank and numbers as of his own comfort, raises his voice in the parliament house of his nation in aid of the helpless, and spends his last strength in a desperate struggle for right, conscious the while that his tongue will be dumb in death when the pjean of victory is sounded. We follow with bated breath and admiration the modest figure of a Florence Nightingale as it moves noiselessly at midnight through dimly lighted hospital wards, now pausing to moisten the parched lips of the suffering, and anon to gently close the eyelids of the recent dead.

But a nobler than any of these is the sight of a young man, of clean hands and a pure heart, coming to God's altar for solemn consecration of himself to his chosen life-work of aiding his fellows in their efforts for delivery from the curse of sin. The warrior, the statesman, the philanthropist minister to social and physical needs, which are temporal ; the priest at God's altar to spiritual wants which are eternal.

At the time of his ordination, Mr. Fitz was thirtyone years of age, in vigorous health and possessed of a sound mind in a sound body. His figure was of medium height, compact and firm. His complexion was dark, and his hair, which inclined to curl, was as black as the raven's wing. His eyes of a hue similar to that of his hair were soft and gave to his face when in repose a mild expression, which changed immediately to one of great earnestness when his mind was roused. He was of graceful manners, and easily and equally accessible to persons of all conditions. His mind, which was strong and well-balanced, working actively and incisively, reached correct conclusions, partly by reason and partly by instinct. His imagination, which was quick and enhanced the interest of his utterances, was kept in subjection to a calm judgment which rarely led him wrong. His quick sympathies made him appreciative of the real character of the person with whom he had to do, and protected him from the impositions to which a miaister is often exposed. While naturally inclined to be much guided in his opinion by an abounding charity, he intuitively tempered these by a clear insight into the motive which underlaid proffered professions.

By descent Mr. Fitz was a Puritan. As above stated, the emigration of his Anglo-American ancestor, Robert Fitz, was due to his Puritan principles. Spiritual constraints, rather than physical discomforts, prompted this. In the latter respect he was no gainer by leaving home. No part of England possessed greater attractions than the one he abandoned. Devonshire, the " Emerald County,'' was a county of small farms, of pastures and cattle and dairies ; of numerous streams and water-powers and forests. It possessed a fair soil and a good climate. It was near to the sea, and ever open to the southwest winds which floated over it continually, freighted with the mild winds and moisture of the gulf stream just before it loses itself in the Bay of Biscay - tho?e winds which are a benediction to some of the southern counties of England ; securing to them perpetual mildness of climate and a verdure unsurpassed.

The transition from which such a land to one upon which the Arctic current breathed even in summer, as yet in possession of savages and a wilderness, was as disheartening as it was marked. But great moral purposes afford a sustaining power which regards but little, either, hardship or danger or even death itself. So the Puritan left his old home and religious constraint upon the Tavy for a new one and freedom, three thousand miles away upon the bank of the Merrimac.

All the way down the succeeding generations of his family, we find apparent strong religious traits of character. Sarah Thorne Fitz, the great-great-grandmother of the subject of this sketch, displayed these in a very marked degree. She was a mtmber of the first Ipswich Church, but lived in Salisbury, sixteen miles away. Tradition says that to enjoy its Sunday worship, she was accustomed at times, to rise very early in the morning, and, having milked her cows, to paddle across the Merrimac River to Newbury, whence she went on foot to Ipswich, arriving in season for the morning service. This journey was reversed in the afternoon and finished in season for the evening milking.

To anticipate a little, for the sake of convenience, it may be here said in regard to some of the religious opinions which he held in mature life, that Mr. Fitz received his theological training at Andover Theloogical Seminary, under the distinguished professors who had raised it to an eminent power in the land. He then accepted and ever held the doctrines there taught, which were in full accord with the orthodox branch of the Christiau Church. But while he received these and held them firmly, he held them broadly. He had little sympathy with narrow interpretations of great truths, and was free from the uncharitableness which comes from the magnifying of minor points. While as a Calvinist he adopted Calvin's views, he yet took them with such modifications as more quiet times and a wider learning had suggested. But the deep, underlying foundation of his religious faith was the gospel of Jesus Christ. This he read and pondered all his life, and upon this rested his belief that the Son of God had made provision for the salvation of all and not for that of an elect few only. Hence, he urged all men to repent,

He had little taste for polemical divinity, not very much for metaphysics, by which almost anything can be proved, and no admiration whatever for hair-splitting theorists. As was usual in his day, he preached doctrinal sermons from time to time for the instruction of his people, but with an unfeigned respect for the views of others from whom he differed upon unessential points. Both the conservative bent of his mind and his wide knowledge of mankind, led him naturally to this, as well as a native courtesy which never forsook him. But this was not the courtesy which weakness or timiditj'^ engenders. Fear was an emotion to which he was a stranger. If attacked, he was always ready to encounter heavy blows, and return them if necessary, not, however, from any love of contest, but from loyalty to what he deemed the right. Consequently, like most peace-loving men of like character, he was very rarely assailed.

Such was the ancestry, bent and religious training of the young minister, who, on the 26th day of June, 1826, stood upon the threshold of his career, gazing into a future which his dark eye could not penetrate, with faith and a hearty submission to the will of him to whom he had consecrated his every power.

But, he was not to go on far alone. Protestantism has never favored the celibacy of its clergy. It has rather made prominent the injunction of the great apostle that, "A bishop must be the husband of one wife." Mr. Fitz's parishioners could not consent that he should serve them unaided, and his own loving nature was in accord with their wishes.

The writer of this memorial sketch would be unworthy of his delicate trust, if he omitted a passing tribute to the gifted woman who soon after the pastor's installation became his wife. She was the oldest daughter of the Rev. Moses Sawyer, of Henniker, N. H., who, for nearly twenty-four years, had been the faithful pastor of the Congregational Church of that town, where she was born on the 8th day of May, 1804, and subsequently reared, amid the duties of a country ministerial life.

We omit all record of her earlier years, except to note that she received her higher education partly at Byfield Academy, then in charge of Rev. Joseph Emerson, and partly at Derry Female Academy, of which Miss Grant and Mary Lyon were the instructors.

After her graduation, she was herself a teacher until her marriage to Mr. Fitz, on the 5th day of September, 1826, transferred her from a New Hampshire School to a Massachusetts parsonage.

Mrs. Fitz brought to her new home a thorough knowledge of a New England pastor's wife. This she had acquired in the best of all schools, that of experience ; and, from the lips and lives of the best of all teachers, those of her father and mother.

been enhanced in power by thorough training. She naturally took broad views of a subject, and had a ready insight to its vital points. Having the rare power to divest herself of all personal predilections, when her opinion was asked, and to look disinterestedly at the matter under consideration from all sides, she almost uniformly reached correct conclusions. She had common sense - the gift of God - in large measure. Courage she also had, and was undaunted in the presence of obstacles. Possessing executive and organizing ability, she was naturally a leader in her husband's parish ; not from choice, but from the demands of her position and of her associates. Skillful was she in dissipating the apathies and in allaying the various frictions, not unfrequently present in society work ; mingling love with energy and intuitively comprehending the various forces operating to advance or retard its progress.

Besides these qualities, the power of which time and experience greatly enhanced, to Mrs. Fitz was given great sweetness of disposition and marked comeliness of person. Natural grace of manner, and a charming affability, founded upon innate modesty and brilliancy of intellect, combined to give her presence an unusual attractiveness. Both at home and in society, these marked characteristics secured to her the popularity which usually attends upon the gifted and the good.

She was always accessible to all who would approach her. To the burdened soul which, in it^ perplexity confidentially sought her advice, she gave wise counsel mingled with the most delicate sympathy. The giddy and the wayward were rebuked so lovingly that they blessed in very gratitude the hand which chastened them. Her ministrations to the sick were abundant, and in her presence there was healing.

At the general assemblages at the parsonage from time to time, she dispensed hospitality mingled with grace and seasoned with love. The kindly glances of her dark eyes and the graceful pose of her attractive figure increased the fascination of her conversation. It was natural for her to be agreeable, and she knew not how to be otherwise. Indeed, Madame Recamier, in her splendid salon, surrounded by the beauty and talent of the French capital, never presided with more grace and sweetness than did she on those simple occasions. We must not be surprised, therefore, at the remark of one who knew her well, " She had never a peer in Ipswich."

For nearly forty years Mrs. Fitz discharged with great ability the double duties which she had assumed with her marriage ring. She was faithful to her family, and faithful to her husband's people, and when, in January, 1862, her pure spirit rose to companionship with "the just made perfect," and her mortal remains were lowered tenderly to their last rest, hot tears fell upon the cold ground, and hearts ached with a sorrow as lasting as lite.

In about a year after his settlement, the death of Dr. Dana left Mr. Fitz sole pastor of his church and society. He accepted willingly the increase of labor which this event devolved upon him. He was fortunate in his people who were reasonable, peaceful and intelligent. Part of them resided in the village, and a part upon some of the hay farms for which Ipswich is so celebrated. They were not rich, yet poverty was unknown to them. They were blessed with that golden mean of life's condition for which the Hebrew sage so wisely besought his God.

With the acres of their forefathers, they had inherited the traditions of two hundred years or more. These were influencing and moulding their characters constantly. The generations of many of the families of Mr. Fitz's parish went back in unbroken succession to the foundation of the town. They were good old English stock, with hearts of oak; stock which had been improved by transplanting, and grew better continually. They were a people who feared God, and respected every man entitled to respect. No where outside of New England can such a community be found, a happy society of villagers and farmers which had flourished for two hundred years, without deterioration, upon a fertile tract of coast land, with three thousand miles of ocean in front of them, and three thousand miles of continent behind them. The ocean was, and had ever been, a blank. Over the continent the waves of new populations had been advancing continually, a hundred miles each decade, to meet ere long the great Pacific Sea, whose eastern billows wash the Occident, and whose western breakers dash upon the shore of the orient. Yet the Ipswich farms were to change only to increased productiveness, and the village to wider borders and greater beauty.

Among this people Mr. Fitz went in and out, a welcome visitor at every house. He had come among them to stay. For better or worse they had taken him and he them, and the bond which united both in one was to endure as long as he lived. He soon learned their habits of life and thought, and so adjusted his ways to theirs, that he came into their sympathies and gained their confidence and love. Indeed, one of the most beautiful characteristics of his pastorate was the mutual affection and respect which ever existed between him and the people of his charge.

In labors for their good he abounded. He preached a carefully-written sermon the forenoon and afternoon of every Sunday, and conducted a less formal meeting for conference and prayer in the evening. Besides these, he held frequent week-day meetings in the rural parts of his parish, and for many years, as chaplain of the county almshcuise, held there a Sunday morning service. Yet his strength failed not, and he never grew weary in his work. He had scarcely a vacation in all his life. His chief recreation was in the variation of his daily duties.

In his pulpit, his full figure clothed with scrupulous neatness, his dark eye and fine face enhanced the effect of his ministrations. His manner was simple and reverential. He never assumed familiarity with the Deity, but seemed to feel that it was a solemn thing to minister at God's altar, and to be deeply sensible of the responsibility of standing between Him and those he sought to aid.

His sermons were logical, lucid, earnest, practical. He drew his illustrations largely from sacred history. Whatever the subject discussed, the application was close and personal to every heart. The commonest individual could understand his message and retain in mind the truths uttered in his hearing. He was always animated, and at times eloquent. His prayers, which were filial, earnest and expectant, were prompted by his nice appreciation of the wants of those for whom he plead. He had a strong, clear, flexible voice, and so read the sacred scriptures that his simple reading became a luminous commentary to those who listened.

He could hardly be called a literary man ; yet a perusal of some of his written sermons proves that he wielded a pen of much ability, evidently writing with fluency, and always with clearness and vigor. His reading was more extensive than that of the average minister of his time. Some of his discourses on special occasions, which have been published, and are models of their kind, afford evidence of the possession by their author of broad views and a well-trained mind. But his regular clerical duties absorbed his time, and to these he gave his strength.

Dr. Fitz understood perfectly the character of all his people, and how to influence them for good. Indeed, he measured their several capacities for excellence, and was reasonable in his expectations and patient. He attempted the possible only, but never sought the manifestly unattainable. Like all active clergymen, his course was at times through channels narrow and devious, with Scylla on one side and Charybdis on the other ; yet he was never wrecked on either shore. An amusing incident, which occurred one Sunday morning during our late war, will illustrate his skill on such occasions. His people were divided in their sympathies for the two contending parties. As he was going out of church at the close of the service, a good deacon of democratic proclivities whispered sternly in his ear: "You were altogether too outspoken, sir, in your prayer this morning; your plainness of speech will give just offense." Farther down the aisle he encountered a second official of the same grade, who also whispered, as he passed him, " Too lukewarm, sir, too lukewarm, you didn't come come up to the mark." These conflicting assurances which offset one another, we;e answered by a silent smile, and in a few days both his friends were complaisant again.

Dr. Fitz mingled little in civil affairs, and probably never held a political office in all his life. But he took a deep interest in the general welfare, and with unostentatious independence exercised his rights of citizenship. He rejoiced in the prosperity of his townsmen, and was always ready to aid, as he could, in the promotion of their interests. He did much for the improvement of the schools of Ipswich, and to the furtherance of all useful local enterprises, he never declined to lend a willing hand.

He possessed courage, and was rarely disheartened. But his was a courage based upon knowledge, guided by wisdom and sustained by activity. He believed that the realization of faith came from persistent effort, and that all hopes of success without this were vain.

But the most marked trait in his character was his abounding love for all mankind. It was the dominant quality of his nature. His appeals in behalf of the effete nations of the East manifested it, and this prompted his earnest calls in aid of the missionaries upon our Western frontier ; thus laboring to mould into homogeneity and elevate to a higher manhood the discordant i^opulations which have come to us from the nations beyond the sea. Everything which promised highest good to his fellow-men commanded at once his interest.

Particularly strong was his love for children, who, apprized of this by their unerring instincts, returned it in full measure. With their love they mingled respect, but never fear. Sober Ipswich never enjoyed a more charming sight than that of the sleigh of the good doctor, when carrying his children to their school, into which others had climbed, and piled one upon another, until it was full, and more than full. As he sped along as best he could, buried in this living load of clamorous joy, no heart beat happier than his own. Was all this a little thing and unimportant? It was a significant one, and thoughtful observers saw more than the animated pile, and remembered that childhood would soon grow to youth, and youth in a short time change to maturity, but, that the love then engendered would never grow cold, and the good counsels which it enfolded would never be forgotten.

It was his invariable custom when driving upon the road to invite any chance footman he might overtake to a seat in his carriage. One of his daughters has remarked that, when riding with her father, and up almost to the time when she considered herself a young lady, she had repeatedly been asked to sit in his lap to make room for some wayfarer whom he had never seen before and was most likely to never see again.

The soiled tramp who called at his door, ragged and redolent perhaps of whiskey, was always treated with kindness. He bore God's image upon his face, and that must be respected.

The ministry of Dr. Fitz was a successful one. His active pastorate lasted forty-one years. He and his predecessor. Dr. Joseph Dana, were the sole pastors of the church for a continuous period of one hundred and two years, a fact not easily paralleled. The records show that at the time of his settlement, its members numbered fifty-four and that three hundred and thirteen joined it while he held the sacred office. But the most important acts of his pastorate were not recorded upon the register of the church, but the hearts of his people, to be read only by the eye of Omniscience.

It was impossible that such a life, identified with all that was best in Ipswich, and flowing on for nearly half a century in a channel ever widening and ever deepening, should fail to be a power for good. It was impossible that its beneficent fame and influence should be restricted to the scene of its own labors. As the decades came in and went out, one after another. Dr. Fitz became more and more widely known. Neighboring parishes in their perplexities sought his counsel. To pulpits more , important than his own, he was invited for exchanges of ministrations. In 1862 his Alma Mater, in recognition of his merit, conferred upon him a degree of Doctor of Divinity. He rose into high esteem among his brethren in the ministry, and became at length an honored father in their midst.

But his heart of hearts remained where it had ever been, and clung closest to the people he was ordained to serve. His settlement had been for life. With the union then formed both parties were satisfied, and never wished it sundered. So it continued on until his strong arm began to weaken, and physical infirmity compelled a surrender of his sacred trust. In 1867 he resigned the active duties of his ministry. For two years longer, in declining health, he went about among those he had loved so long, until, on the second day of September, 1869, "he was not; for God took him." His manly form was laid before the altar at which he had ministered, and his friend, Dr. Pike, of Rowley, comforted as well as he could the sad hearts which had gathered around. From the church it was borne to the cemetery near by, and laid to sleep in the company of dear ones gone on before, - there to rest until "this mortal shall have put on immortality, and Death is swallowed up in victory."

General James Appleton

Among those who have done good and signal service in the cause of temperance, the name of the late James Appleton, of Massachusetts, should be held most gratefully and most tenaciously in remembrance by all who have faith in the expediency and the necessity of a prohibitory liquor law. It was he who first publicly maintained - as most, if not all, who believe in total abstinence now maintain is the logical outcome of the temperance movement - that legislation has nothing whatever to do with moral evil except to aim at its complete suppression. If this is to be the legislative policy of the future as to the traffic in intoxicating drinks, as it already is that of several of the States, it is interesting to trace that policy to its source, and to learn something of the man who first promulgated it.

James Appleton was born in 1786 on the farm in Ipswich, Mass., granted to his ancestor, Samuel Appleton, in 1636; to this home he returned in his old age, when the work of his life was finished, and there he died in 1862. For many years his home was in the neighboring town of Marblehead, and for twenty years, from 1833 to 1853, he resided in Portland, Me. But wherever he lived he was known and esteemed for his interest and energy in public affairs, and was looked up to as a born leader of men. Though a Federalist in politics, he gave his services, as a colonel of a regiment, to his country when it became involved in a second war with England in 1812. Those old enough to remember the earlier days of the antislavery movement, if they know anything about it or those engaged in it, will recall the name of General Appleton as con.'spicuous in that little band of men and women, who, like their great leader, would not equivocate, who would not retreat a single inch, who would be heard and who were not afraid. Nor was he less earnest in upholding the saving grace of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks; but that doctrine, even half a century ago, had so grown into popular favor that the most zealous on its behalf were not easily distinguished in the multitude of its apostles, nor has the memory of them been so carefully preserved.

But it was James Appleton, as chairman of a legislative committee to which had been referred a petition in regard to the license laws of Maine, made a report, herewith published, which would in time be recognized as the beginning of a new and auspicious era in the temjjerance reform. Its argument was that inasmuch as "it is now ascertained, not only that the traffic is attended with most appalling evils to the community, but that ardent spirit is entirely useless - that it is an unmitigated evil," the committee, therefore, were " not only of opinion that the law giving the right to sell ardent spirits should be repealed, but that a law should be passed to prohibit the traffic in them, except so far as the arts or the practice of medicine may be concerned."

But the legislative report, though the most complete, was not the earliest attempt made by General Ai)pleton for the suppression by law of all traffic in ardent spirits. It is remembered in his family that he dated his convictions upon the subject from the year 1831. It came to him - when listening to an earnest debate in the Massachusetts Legislature, of which body he had been a member - as a sudden revelation, as a discovery in morals, that the way to stop intemperance was to stop it. If the drinking of spirits was always wrong and dangerous, and the source of all the monstrous evils charged to it, then it was not to be tolerated, nor dallied with by license laws, but put an end to. If there was no liquor, there would be no drunkenness ; if the sale was made illegal, the traffic in it and the use of it would become disgraceful as well as dangerous. It might not, indeed, be possible to suppress it altogether and at once by act ot the Legislature; but, as an argument, this was just as true of the laws against murder, arson, forgery, theft, or any other acknowledged crime, which bad men would still commit in defiance of the law.

Though persuaded in his own mind that he had discovered the true remedy for the monstrous evil, the first application he proposed was tentative and indirect ; not that he wanted faith in the perfect efficacy of that remedy, but he doubted if the public mind was yet ready for heroic treatment. Accordingly, he prepared a petition to the Massachusetts Legislature - this was before he removed to Portland, and when he was residing at Marblehead - praying that the sale of liquor in any quantity less than thirty gallons be forbidden by law.

The proposition was clearly meant as the first step toward absolute prohibition ; indeed there was no pretence in the petition of concealing the hope of its author that a limitation of the sale of ardent spirits to a minimum of thirty gallons would take from the large majority of drunkards all chance of getting drunk. The purchase of rum in so large a quantity would be beyond their means, while the moderate drinker who could affijrd it would easily and almost unconsciously abandon a habit, unless very firmly fixed, which called for more forethought and larger immediate outlay than the gratification was worth.

But even this compromise aroused more opposition than ])robably General Appleton was prepared for. The agent of the Massachusetts Temperance Society, a Rev. Mr. Hildreth, pounced upon it at once as a mischievous measure. His notion evidently was that among the "inalienable rights" of man was the right to rum. He fairly represented the timid public opinion of that day, which in the temperance, as in the anti-slavery, movement, shrunk from any denunciation in " harsh language " of a popular wrong, and from any proposed remedy that would be pronounced " radical." Moral suasion " was the cant phrase of the time, and if there were a few tender souls - Mr. Hildreth may have been one of them - who used the term in its true sense, with the multitude it only meant that they would not tolerate any onslaught upon evil which reflected upon respectable sinners, was likely to open their eyes and bring them to repentance.

The letter of Mr. Hildreth and that of another writer, who signs himself " Danvers," show the spirit in which General Appleton's moderate proposal was met. He was quick to reply whether to argument or cavil, and in three clear and forcible letters signed " Essex," to be found in the Salem Gazette of February, 1832, he sets forth his reasons for the faith that is in him, and the real object he had in view in the petition. On one point, however, he acknowledged his error, and accepted, in his own way, the rebuke of his opponents. He ought not, he confessed, to have asked the Legislature for a limitation in the traffic in ardent spirits, whether to thirty gallons or any other quantity. The trade, it was plain to him now, should be not regulated, but prohibited. The opposition he had aroused was an evidence of the foolishness of any proposed compromise between right and wrong. He meant prohibition, and ought to have said so directly, rather than have condescended to an expedient which pleased nobody and would deceive but few. " I made a great mistake," he said to a member of his family - " a great mistake." And this he publicly reiterates, it will be observed, in a postscript to his third and final letter, - " We wish the prayer of the petition had been without any qualification, for its authors, we believe, intended the absolute prohibition of the traffic, as their argument abundantly evinces." But here was the end of the matter. Perhaps he had gained all he had hoped for in provoking some discussion of the subject, and it is doubtful if the petition, which probably nobody but himself would have signed, was ever presented to the Legislature.

Here for ihe first time prohibitory legislation was proposed, though with no other immediate result, apparently, than to convince its author that the opposition to it would be formidable, if not insurmountable. He may have been for a time discouraged, but he was not defeated. He knew he was right, and he had learned, moreover, a lesson of practical value. If ever again he could make an opportunity to urge his principles upon any legislative body, there should be no mistake of a want of directness in his method.

Meanwhile he had removed to Portland, and in 1836 he was elected a member to the Maine Legislature. The opportunity he had vvaited for came when a petition on the license laws was referred to a Committee of which he was chairman. He could speak now with a certain authority, and did not need, even were he so minded, to appeal to public attention by the suggestion of an indirect and experimental measure. The whole subject was, no doubt, much clearer in his mind than when he put forth his thirty gallons petition, and he was ready to meet the unbelieving or the timid at all possible points of difficulty or objection. He covers the ground so completely, presents his argument so frankly, confidently and forcibly, that the report might go before any State Legislature to-day as an exhaustive presentation of the whole question of prohibition.

The report, of course, was laid upon the table, and it is not remembered whether it gave rise to any debate. Very likely not; for doubtless to most, if not all, of the honorable members, it seemed as preposterous as it was novel, and not even worth talking about. Nevertheless, "The Maine Law " was born then and there, though it was not till nine years later that the first tentative act M-as passed as the beginning of prohibitory legislation. The years of agitation and discussion which preceded and prepared the way for legislation also had a beginning, and there is neither record, nor tradition, nor memory of the oldest inhabitant that can trace it beyond the Appleton Report to the Maine Legislature of 1886-37, unless it be to the Appleton petition to the Massachusetts Legislature of 1832. But both came from the same man, and together they leave nothing more to be said as to the question of the origin of this special temperance policy. James Appleton, as a private citizen of Massachusetts, publicly suggested in 1832 the wisdom of a prohibitory liquor law, and in 1837 the same James Appleton, as a member of the Maine Legislature, urged upon that body the enactment of such a law. When at last, in 1851, the " Maine Law," as it now stands upon the statute-books of the State, was passed, it was a fitting recognition of his early devotion to the principle of prohibition that he, among others, should have been called upon to aid in the preparation of the act.

He lived to see ten years of the enforcement of the perfected law in Maine and in other States. It was, in spirit and purpose, of his own devising, and he would sometimes speak at his own fireside with natural pride and profound thankfulness of the result of his work. But he left it to others to show at some future time how much was due to his foresight, his keen moral sense and his courage.

Hon. Charles Kimball

Charles Kimball was born in Ipswich, Mass., on December 24, 1798. His parents were Jeremiah and Lois Kimball. Twelve children were born to them, of whom he was the youngest. His mother was of the Choate family, of Essex, made famous by the "great Rufus." His father was a lineal descendant of Richard Kimball, who came from Ipswich, England, in 1634, the same year in which its namesake on this side of the water began its existence as a body corporate. This ancestor located in Watertown, Mass., but three years later, 1637, removed to Ipswich, and there made a permanent settlement ; and from that date to the present the male line in Ipswich has been unbroken. The father of Charles, like his progenitors, was of sturdy mould, and "honest, manly and efficient." Of the twelve children, five of them attained the age of moi-e than eighty years, two of them the age of seventy-five or more, one the age of ninety-one and another the a£e of ninety-seven, a remarkable record of longevity for one single family. In 1815, when Charles was sixteen years old, he entered the office of Nathaniel Lord, Jr. (who married his sister Eunice, and who was the father of the late Judge Otis P. Lord), in Ipswich, then register of probate, and at the same time became a member ot his family. He began active life with few educational privileges, but the head of the family in which he made his home was a graduate of Harvard College, a man of letters, of exact knowledge and accurate business methods, and of the advantages these afforded he fully availed himself. In 1827 he was elected colonel of one of the militia regiments from the office of adjutant, the latter being equal, only in rank, to the modern lieutenant, a very marked promotion, and the cause of many heart-burnings at the time, but soon forgotten, as his special fitness for the position became apparent. His precision and promptness in the discharge of his duties was readily acknowledged, and his dignified and soldierly bearing and easy and graceful horsemanship won many commendations. In 1830 he voluntarily resigned this office, but the title followed him through life. In 1829 he married Mary Ann Outein. Her father was of French origin ; her mother of New England birth. Three children were the fruit of this union, two sons and one daughter. The elder son, Charles A., was a lawyer, and died at the age of thirty-eight ; and the daughter died at the age of thirty-five. Both were unmarried. The surviving son, Edward P., is a lawyer, and at present postmaster, and resides at the homestead. The wife and mother was a woman of great intelligence, of remarkable simplicity of character, of earnest, sincere piety, faithful in her conjugal relations and her filial duties, and self-sacrificing to the last degree in her devotion to her family. In 1836 he was elected to the State Senate, and served therein till 1840, the Hon. Edward Everett being then Governor. This was also a marked honor, as he had had no previous legislative experience. From 1841 to 1847 he was county commissioner, and perhaps the highest compliment ever paid him was that of one of his associates on this board who remarked that he " never saw a man so anxious to know and do the right." In politics he was a Whig, but upon the dissolution of that party, he, like many other conservatives, associated himself with the Democracy. In 1851 he was candidate for State Treasurer. In politics, as in everything else, he acted from conviction and principle. He held, at different times, various town offices ; was selectman one year. School Committee man and clerk and treasurer of two boards of trustees of educational funds for many years, and for thirty or more consecutive years moderator of town meetings. In 1851, on the retirement of Mr. Lord from the office of register of probate, he established an office in Salem. He had been all this time acquiring a knowledge of probate county as a practitioner in the Probate C )urts of rare skill and experience. In 1858, at the age of fiftynine, on the petition of Judge Perkins, Wm. C. Endicott, Wra. D. North end and others of mark in the profession, he was admitted to the bar, a very high compliment to his ability, learning and personal worth, and unique in itself. Hitherto in all his cases before the courts, except the Probate Court, he had been obliged to call to his aid some member of the bar; but now a wider field of practice was open to him, and from that date to the close of his business career, he devoted himself assiduously to his profession. On the 10th day of December, 1877, at the age of seventy-nine, he suddenly lost, while in his office, all capacity for business. In a moment the power of connected thought was gone. Everything became one confused mass in his mind, and in this condition he remained to the day of his death, November 30, 1880. It was not alone in business that he was active. In 1880 he united with the South Congregational Church, in Ipswich, and to its spiritual welfare gave much of his time and thought. He served on church and parish committees, was superintendent of the Sabbathschool for over forty-five years, and in 1868 was chosen deacon. He understood the creed of his church, and could and did stoutly maintain it against all antagonism. He was versed in ecclesiastical law, and was prominent in Ecclesiastical Councils, notably, the famous one at Manchester, in the deliberations ot which he took an active and leading part. He prepared a paper on ecclesiastical law, which he read before the Essex Congregational Club, and which was regarded as a valuable contribution to this difficult and occult branch of legal lore. On the occasion of his funeral, which was largely attended by the people of the town and many others, including members of the bar, his pastor, the Eev. T. F. Waters, preached a discourse which was a discriminating analysis of his life and character, and a glowing tribute to his sterling worth.

At the December Term of the Supreme Court, 1880, resolutions in memoriam were offered by the Hon. Wm. D. Northend, seconded by James Gillis, Esq., and responded to by his Honor, Judge Bacon, the presiding judge, and by him ordered to be entered on the records of the court.

Such is the mere outline of this long and useful life. While the record speaks for itself, behind it lies the secret of his success. Slow and patient toil, close application and an absorbing interest in his work, led him, step by step, thro' rugged paths to the standing in his profession which he attained. Unlike the majority of the profession, he entered upon his work without any knowledge derived from the textbooks. He learned first in the school of experience, and then he sought the books, and they accompanied him in his labors. His keen observation, quick perception, logical acumen and retentive memory, enabled him to build on a sure basis and to acquire an accurate and precise knowledge of the law. The bare routine, the mere knowing how to do a thing, did not satisfy him. He must know the theory, the underlying principle of every legal rule, and he delved deep till he found it. With the law relating to real estate, to trusts and matters in equity, with their technicalities and fine distinctions, he was specially familiar. In the drafting of wills and in all matters pertaining to probate law and practice, he was regarded as authority. His clientage included every town in the county. For sound and judicious advice and delicate and intricate business he was sought after. He became an instructor of those who desired to practice in the Probate Courts, and many are they who owe all their knowledge of probate matters to his tuition. His name was frequently mentioned in connection with the judgeship of the Probate Court. The late Judge White, of that court, said of him, " No man was better fitted than Col. Kimball for Judge of Probate." His qualifications for the position were generally recognized, and he probably would have been so appointed if he had urgently pressed his own claim. This his sense of propriety forbade. While his business life covered a period ofsixty-three years, during which he never took a vacation, and his professional services were in constant demand he yet found time for other duties. He responded to every call of the church, the parish, the town or larger community. Whatever he did he aimed to do with care and exactness. His standard was of the highest. He allowed no opportunity for mental or moral advancement to escape him. He was of an intense religious nature. As the Constitution was his guide in civil life, so were the Scriptures his guide in moral action. He was true to his convictions, possessed of great moral cournge, and when he had once determined upon the right nothins^ could swerve him from his course of action. He had the confidence of his fellow-men. They felt safe with him.

He was prominent in every public gathering of the citizens of his native town. He presided over their meetings with efficiency, impartiality, ease and dignity. His self-possession never forsook him. He was a natural leader of men.

In disposition he was kindly and sympathetic, generous and liberal in every good cause, and his deeds of charity were numerous and at the same time unostentatious. He loved his family, his home and the town.

In the closing years of his life, when the chain of thought was broken, and the affairs of the world which once engaged his attention had become a myth to him, his religious principles had been so firmly grounded, and his religious observances so habitual, that they remained clear and distinct in his otherwise clouded intellect, and still controlled his thought and action. He went regularly to the sanctuary and to the weekly meetings, and often spoke on religious subjects with intelligence and force. During the last week of his life his constant plea was to "go home," and thither he has gone, leaving behind him a fragrant memory and a shining example of fidelity, integrity and worth.

John Merrill Bradbury, born in Newburyport October 29, 1818, was son of Hon. Ebenezer and Mrs. Nancy (Merrill) Bradbury. Major Bradbury, the father, was one of the prominent men of the town for many years, noted for his intelligence, public spirit and genial temper, and for his interest in the public schools of the town. He was frequently entrusted with public otfice, representing Newburyport in the legislature in various years, from 1828 to 18-17, at which time he was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1845 and 1846 he was a member of the executive qouncil, and in 1849 he was chosen treasurer of the commonwealth, which office he held for two years. In 1853 he was delegate from the town of Newton to the Constitutional Convention, and was later judge of the Municipal Court in the town of Milford, filling all the offices with which he was entrusted with ability, and winning the confidence of all who knew him.

The subject of this sketch was a worthy son of such a father, and it was a family which had been prominent in New England. The earliest immigrant ancestor was Thomas Bradbury, who came to New England in the year 1G34 as the agent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and after a few years' residence at Agamenticus, now York, Maine, settled in Salisbury, Mass., where he was long prominent in the affairs of the town, county and colony. "His hand-writing, preserved in the colony records, has been admired for clearness, elegance and force, having no superior in our colonial archives. In every generation of his descendants there has been one or more prominent in public office." There are strong reasons for believing that Thomas Bradbury, of Salisbury, was a son of Wymond Bradbury, of Wicken Bonant in Essex, of the same family as Sir Thomas Bradbury, who, in 1500, was mayor of London, and that his mother was a niece of Archbishop Whitgift.

Mr. Bradbury's youth was spent in his native town, where he received a good English and classical education at the public schools, and also at the Dummer Academy in the adjoining town of Newbury, while this institution was under the charge of Nehemiah Cleveland, LL.D., recently deceased. In Newburyport he was, at one time, a pupil of Albert Pike, the poet, lawyer and confederate general, who, in his old age, is a resident of the capital of the country.

One of his earliest schoolmates and most intimate friends was Rev. George Wildes, D.D., who was in the same class in the High School, in the Latin Department of which, under Roger S. Howard, they occupied neighboring desks and formed a life-long friendship, and Dr. Wildes said of his friend that the sight of a mathematical problem was to him an inspiration, that he was well grounded in historical studies and had a love for the English classics.

In April, 1835, in his seventeenth year, Mr. Bradbury entered Dickinson College at Carlisle, Penna., where he studied three years, leaving college in April^ 1838, after completing his junior year. On leaving college he visited Philadelphia, but soon returned to his native town, and engaged in teaching for several years.

On the 28th of August, 1843, he was married at Gloucester to Miss Sarah Ann Hayes, daughter of Daniel and Abigail (Sargent) Hayes, a lady of cultivated tastes, who appreciated and encouraged his studies, and made his home pleasant and attractive.

In May, 1849, he went to Boston, and soon after received an appointment to the second clerkship in the State Treasury, and on the resignation of the chief clerk, in Dpcember, 1850, he was advanced to fill the vacancy. Very soon after this promotion, he engaged with Messrs. Gilmore, Blake and Ward, bankers, as their accountant, which position he held through various changes of the firm to the summer of the year 1868, when his interest in the house ceased, and he retired with a competent fortune. Mr. Bradbury's tastes and attainments fitted him for the banking business, and he applied himself assiduously to its duties, but during his leisure hours he cultivated his literary tastes, his favorite reading, his history and belleslettres,

" Mr. Bradbury's iiiiuc was eminently of a mathematical and analytical cast ; and in ainuist every conversjition and discussion, whether upon literature, art, science, or religion, the tendency 'to analyze was apparent. Mr. Blake used to say frequently, that Mr. Bradbury understood the relations of figures better than any man he knew ; and the faeility he displayed in mathematical calculation was surprising. The following incident will illustrate. On one occasion, the State of Massachusetts, being about to issue a new loan, submitted, through the State Treasurer, certain questions, the answers to which involved some very nice calculations. In order to secure accuracy in the matter, Mr. Blake handed the questions to three clerks, Mr. Bradbury, Mr. Harris and myself, and requested that we work out the pioblems independently. The following morning Mr. Harris and myself appeared each with a formidable bundle of paper containing our calcuhitions. Mr. Bradbury, however, quietly took from his pocket two half sheets of note paper, on which he had worked out, by the use of logarithms, the problems which had cost his junior clerks quires of paper and the midnight oil. He had frequent recourse to algebraic solutions of problems.

"On one occasion, the examination of a foreign account, embracing many hundreds of items, resulted in a discrepancy of just one penny. I think Mr. Bradbury and myself devoted the greater part of ten d.ays to a vain search for the error, so that finally, utterly vexed and out of patience, I threw down the account declaring that I would pursue the matter no further. I remember distinctly the unruffled manner of our friend on taking up the account and saying, "Joseph, the error is somewhere, and can be found." Ho quietly, and I need hardly say successfully, continued the examinations."

In September, 1868, Mr, Bradbury, accompanied by his wife, took passage for Europe. They travelled in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, the Tyrol, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. In London they met his friend and correspondent, the late Horatio G. Somerby, Esq,, like himself a native of Newburyport, who was of much assistance in directing them to the points of interest to be visited, and in whose society they spent many pleasant evenings during their stay in that city. Soon after Mr, Bradbury's arrival, he obtained, through Mr, Somerby, a reader's ticket at the British Museum, and, at a later period, to the department of Literary Inquiry in the principal registry of Her Majesty's Court of Probate, commonly called Doctors' Commons. After he had become weary with sight-seeing, he spent much time in historical and genealogical research at these two institutions. '

While at London he made several excursions into the country, especially to places where his ancestors lived or which had a special interest to Americans, - Boston, in Lincolnshire, and Wicken Bonant, in Essex, where his emigrant ancestor is supposed to have been born.

On the 18th of November, 1868, Mr. Bradbury left London, and the same evening arrived in Paris, where he remained till the following spring, and then returned to London. On the 31st of August he again left London on a brief tour. After travelling a few weeks in Ireland and Scotland he returned to England, arriving in York on the 23d of September, As several of the early settlers of Essex County, from whom he had descended, came from Yorkshire, he remained there nearly a week, employing much of his time in genealogical researches. From York he went to Hull, and also visited other places in the country of genealogical interest to an Essex man, and on his way to London he spent one day in Oxford,

The following winter he visited the continent and saw Rome and Naples, and ascended Vesuvius, returning to England in the autumn. In the spring of 1870 a lameness came upon him which at first he did not suppose to be serious, but it was more than the sprain which he considered it, and resulted in the necessity of amputating his foot.

He returned to this country in July, 1871, and resided in Boston till the next spring, when he purchased an estate in Ipswich, where he resided till his death. His residence was near the summit of Town Hill, from which the fine view is obtained, which his friend, the Rev. Mr, Nason, paints in such vivid colors. Here he died on Tuesday morning, March 21, 1876, in his fifty-eighth year, leaving a widow but no children.

In his will he left one thousand dollars to his native city, frtr the benefit of its public library, and two thousand dollars and certain stock securities to the

Mr. Bradbury was admitted a resident member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, April 11, 1853, and in 1863 he made himself a lifemember. From 1863 to 1867 he served on the committee on finance, and from 1867 to 1870 was one of the board of directors. In 1860 his eminent fitness for the position induced the nominating committee to tender him the office of treasurer, and he took the matter into consideration, but finally decided that he would not have the requisite leisure to perform the duties of the office. He was also a member of the Prince Society of Boston, and the Essex Institute of Salem,

Mr. Bradbury published " The Bennet Family of Ipswich," and "The Whitgift-Bradbury Family," " A Memoir of Horatio Gates Somerby," and a number of shorter articles in the Historical and Genealogical Register. No better summing up of the character and tastes of Mr. Bradbury can be given than that of his friend, Charles W. Tuttle, Esq., who has himself since died, and who was a man of rare discrimination though ardent in his friendships. Mr. Tuttle says :

"I became acquainted with the late Mr. Bradbury while I was living *n Newbiiryport about twenty years ago. His intelligence, frankness, and gentle manners attracted me to him at once ; and I saw much of him after I came to Boston, where he was then living.

" While he was familiar with a wide range of subjects, being a constant reader, there were two on which he most frequently discoursed with me. Of astronomy he had considerable knowledge, having been drawn to that science by his early fondness for mathematics. He watched its progress with more than ordinary interest, and was acquainted with the names and discoveries of the great observers throughout the world.

" But his chief delight and interest were in the history and antiquities of New England. He had a keen relish for antiquarian research, and never lost an opportunity to add to his stock of this kind of information. He was as familiar as one could well be with the local history of both banks of the Merrimac River where the early settlements were made. His ancestors for six and seven generations had lived and died there, and he knew the history of each generation with marvellous accuracy and fullness. He had gathered local traditions and examined ancient records till he was master of the history and genealogy of all, or nearly all, of the old families between Haverhill and Plumb Island.

" In these researches he was careful and exact beyond any one I ever knew. A result was carefully weighed, and only the highest degree of probable evidence would satisfy him of its being true. This fastidiousness, the consequence of mathematical training, prevented his quickly arriving at results satisfactory to him, and giving to the world nmny things he had undertaken. A retentive and exact memory greatly facilitated his investigations.

"While in England, and suffering from severe lameness, he found time to w?'ite several letters giving me information which he had copied from ancieut records, of persons of my surname who had died there in the fure part of the seventeenth century, and telllug me of his wanderings in that merry land. These letters show how ardently he was pursuing his inquiries, and how thoroughly he was enjoying his rambles among the venerable antiquities of England, especially any connected with our New England forefathers.

"Mr. Braillinry was a man of large practical common sense. There was no ])etty jealousy in his composition. He was serene under all circumstances. He loved peace and minded his own affairs. I remember, with mingled feelings of pleasure aud sadness, how cheerful and happy he was in his pleasant home in Boston where he always was when not at his office ; how he made every one welcome there, and how like a benediction his politeness and hospitality were. I am sure all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance revere his memory."

Mr. Rust is one of the most energetic, enthusiastic and successful ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and in the varied official po.sitions to which he has been called has rendered valuable service and exhibited rare executive ability in the administration of affairs intrusted to his care. He was born in Ipswich, Mass., September 12, 1815. His mother, from whom he inherited many of his traits of character, was a woman of deep piety and superior attainments, the daughter of Richard Sutton, distinguished among his townsmen for integrity, independence aud intelligence. He was left an orphan, his father dying when he was eight years old, and his mother when he was ten, leaving him no patrimony but a parentage spotless and revered. One of his uncles, residing in Portsmouth, N. H., gave him a year's schooling, where he first formed a taste for studj', which never forsook him. Another uncle gave him a home till he was fourteen, during which time he was compelled to work hard upon a farm, with only three months' schooling each winter. He was then aj^prenticed to learn a cabinet-maker's trade, and at the end of three years, yearning for school and more congenial pursuits, purchased the balance of the apprenticeship, and entered Phillips' Academy, Andover, Mass., to prepare for college.