Essex County, Massachusetts - Beverly, 1888 (part 3 of 5)

The last individual living in Beverly to whom Washington then spoke was Captain Peter Homan (it is said), who died in 1871, at the age of ninety-one. He was then a boy of nine, at work in the factory. As a child, Mrs. Grant " assisted in laboring for the soldiers of freedom at that early day of our nation's history ; when a woman, wife and mother, she worked for the sons of America in 1812, and as an aged grandmother, she knit stockings for the soldiers of the Union in 1861."

1791. - The town treasurer was directed to fund the paper money on hand, and in 1793 it was voted that all contracts should be paid in hard money, instead of town orders.

1795. - A petition was presented to Congress, drawn up by the Rev. Mr. McKean, William Burley, Israel Thorndike, Moses Brown and John Stephens, praying for the immediate fulfilment of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain.

1798. - A health officer was appointed, for the first time, and in 1801 a small-pox hospital was built at Paul's Head. This promontory, where the lighthouse now stands, and where the breastworks, erected during the Indian wars and the Revolution, may yet be seen, was early the property of Paul Thorndike, one of the first selectmen of the town.

The hospital, built here in 1801, costing four hundred and fifty dollars, was destroyed by fire, and the land is now included within the boundaries of the light-house property. The residue of Paul's Point is now occupied by some of the finest houses on the coast.

1799. - This year, departed one of the least of Beverly's population, in point of size, yet who had a wide-spread provincial reputation, - Miss Emma Leach, sixty-one years of age and but twenty-two inches in height. She was the daughter of William and Tryphosa (Herrick) Leach, and was born here June 27, 1717. She measured nearly as much at the age of two years as at her death, being then twentytwo inches in height.

In the almanac for 1777, published by Nathaniel Ames, on the cover of which is a wood-cut of the " prodigy," is " A short description of the extraordinary person that lately made her appearance in this town (Boston), which may not be disagreeable to our readers, although it may not be so particular as the curious may desire, as she would not admit of an accurate examination." From this it is learned that "she was, at her birth, as well a shaped child as any of the ten which the same mother bore. Her friends early discovered her bones to be in a flexible state, and unable to resist the action of the muscles, which made it very difficult to support her in any other than a horizontal position. After two years the bones acquired some considerable degree of firmness ; but they had been so long inflected, by the action of the muscles, that they never recovered their proper figure or function."

" She measured in a right line from the crown of the head to the feet, twenty-two inches. The head was as large as is usual for persons of a common stature, and not at all deformed. The vertebrae of the back were somewhat elevated. Her feet were about the size of a child's of four or five years old, and not at all deformed. She could never walk, but was either carried by her friends, or moved herself about with the assistance of a small chair and stick. She enjoyed a tolerable share of health, free from most complaints except indigestion. In her conversation she discovers a vivacity which very much surprises all who hear her. She now enjoys herself very agreeably at her native place."

The Leach homestead, where she resided, has descended to Benjamin Goldsbury, through the marriage of his grandfather, Nicholas Goldsbury, to Tryphosa Leach, daughter of Benjamin, brother to Emma Leach.

In this, the last year of the century, a schooner of Beverly, the " Alert," was set upon by three French privateers, as she was entering the harbor of Santander, and, after a desperate resistance, captured and sent into Bayonne ; an outrage upon American neutrality deeply resented.

1800. - A review of the century past shows a continued advance, since the close of the "primeval epoch," in every native industry and all the elements of prosperity.

A large area of land had been brought under cultivation, remote districts connected by roads, six school districts were now established, and two flourishing churches ; the fleet of fishing- vessels, numbering thirty-two, employed three hundred men, and foreign commerce was in a flourishing condition.

For a short period of the nineteenth century, proximate, even while the inhabitants of Europe were distracted by wars, employing four millions of their fighting men, our people were to enjoy the blessings of peace.

Some Notable Names of the Century. - Many of those who contributed to the prosperity of Beverly, either on land or sea, some who aided in shaping its destinies, and otbers who acted as the conservators of the morals of the community, have been mentioned in the pages preceding. Yet it is not claimed that many may not have escaped mention, through the incomplete chronicles of the times. A distinguished merchant of the war period, was Moses Brown, born in 1748, a graduate of Harvard in 1768, who began business here in 1772. He took an active part in military affairs, raised a company of soldiers in 1775, and in 1776 joined the army as a captain in Glover's regiment, serving in New York and New Jersey, and being present at the battle of Trenton.

Associated with him in business at one time was another famous merchant, Israel Thorndike (born in Beverly in 1755), who owned several large ships, and through extensive trade with China and the East Indies, amassed a fortune (immense for those times), of nearly a million and a half of dollars. He removed to Boston in 1810, and expired in 1832. He subscribed five hundred dollars for the founding of a proi'essorship of Natural History in Harvard, and the same sum for the library of the Theological School. In 1818 he purchased, in Hamburg, at a cost of six thousand five hundred dollars, and presented to Harvard, a large library "thereby securing to his country one of the most complete and valuable collections of works extant in American history."

The Cabots, George, Andrew, and John, left an enduring fame as great merchants ; the first, who was born in 1751, residing here nearly forty years. He was one of the most enlightened men of his time, a delegate to the provincial Congress in 1779, the confidential friend of Washington and adviser of Hamilton. He removed to Boston in 1793, where he died in 1823 ; but the foundation of his fortune was laid, and his most brilliant labors performed, while a citizen of Beverly.

Josejih Lee, a brother-in-law of the Cabots, was also associated with them in business. He was born in Salem in 1744, and died in Boston in 1831. During his residence in Beverly, and throughout his life, he gave great attention to the designing of vessels, being of material aid to naval architecture. He gave twenty thousand dollars to the Massachusetts general hospital. His grandson, Henry Lee, who married a granddaughter of Andrew Cabot, resides on a fine estate at Beverly Farms.

In the year 1780, deceased in Beverly, Henry Herr/c^, one of the most active and influential members of the "Committee of Correspondence" in the Revolution, a direct descendant of the first American ancestor of the same name. He was an active agent, says the historian, in all the first Revolutionary movements, and for many years (twenty-four) represented the town in General Court.

From his relative, Joshua, have descended most of the name still residing in Beverly, and others in Maine, including Horatio G. Herrick, sheriff of Essex County for many years past; and Joshua and Benjamin Herrick, of Maine. The Herricks are intimately connected, through marriage, with several of the oldest families of Beverly,

In 1807 (March 27), Captain George Raymond, deceased, at the advanced age of ninety-nine years, having been born December 21, 1707. This aged citizen, whose life embraced the greater part of the eighteenth century, was influential in town aftairs, and at one time in military, having taken part in the Cape Br^on expedition. From generation to generation, and from century to century, as in the Herrick and Raymond families, the military prestige has been kept alive.

Another eminent citizen, who died in 1809, was Josiah Batchelder, Jr., whose father served in the Port Royal expedition of 1707, His early years were passed at sea, and in 1761 he had the misfortune, while in command of a vessel, to be captured by a French privateer. He succeeded in having the vessel released, but was detained for its ransom for some time, in a prison at Martinique. His name appears frequently in the Revolutionary correspondence, and he was actively engaged in privateering ; he was several times elected a member of the Provincial Congress, and during his declining years was surveyor and inspector of the port of Salem and Beverly.

William Burley, born January 2, 1751, died December 22, 1822. Was a native of Ipswich, but gave freely of his wealth to the poor of this town, leaving legacies to Beverly and Ipswich to promote the instruction of poor children. He not only aided the American cause, with advice, but took an active part, enlisting as a soldier, and while a lieutenant, under Colonel Thompson, in February, 1780, was taken prisoner near White Plains, remaining in captivity a year and nine months. His son, Edward Burley, is living in Beverly, at the age (1887) of eighty-four, and two grandchildren, Mrs. Cabot and Mrs. Susan Howes.

To the neighboring town of Ipswich, the town of Beverly has been placed under deep obligations for some of its most vigorous and brightest intellects. Notable above all his professional brethren of that time was iVai'/ia?i i)ane, born in Ipswich, December 29, 1752. He was of English ancestry, the first of the name having settled in Andover, Ipswich and Gloucester. It will be noticed, by one who will closely scan the chronicles of our early settlements and note the achievements of our foremost citizens, that no Englishman became so truly great as when transplanted to America. All the inherent nobility of character of long linesi of ancestors, latent for generations, first finds expression here.

The son of a farmer, Mr. Dane worked on his father's farm till he was twenty-one, acquiring that physical stamina which supported him through the unremitted labors of a long life. He graduated from Harvard in 1778, immediately after which he taught school in Beverly, where, in 1782, he began practicing law. In this latter year, and the three years succeeding, he was a representative at the General Court of Massachusetts ; after which for three years he was a delegate to Congress, and for five years, beginning with 1790, a member of the Massachusetts Senate. He was on a committee to revise the State laws, in 1795, and a presidential elector in 1812. His enduring monument is the celebrated " ordinance of 1787," of which Daniel Webster said, in the United States Senate, in 1830 :

" We are accustomed to praise the law-givers of antiquity ; wc help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus ; but I doubt whether one single law of any law-giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of a more distinct and marked and lasting character than the ordinance of '87. ... It fixed, forever, the character of the population in the vast regions northwest of the Ohio, by exchuliug from them involuntary servitude. It impressed upon the soil itself, while it was yet a wilderness, an incapacity to bear up any other than freemen. It laid the interdict against personal servitude, in original compact, not only deeper than all local law, but deeper, also, than all local coustitution."

The great labor of his life was " A General Abridgement and Digest of American Law," published 1823- '29, the material for which he began to gather as early as 1782 ; the first general code of American law, and of incalculable value to the country. The private life of Mr. Dane was exemplary, his public life every way to be admired. By his benefactions, as Avell as by his literary productions, he has caused his name to be remembered. By a donation of $15,000, he established the "Dane Professorship of Law," at Harvard, and was a donor to the Dane Law Library, of Ohio, and other institutions.

His valuable life was prolonged to eighty-three years, during sixty of which he pursued his studies. Although surviving to 1835, well into the nineteenth century, he yet belongs to the eighteenth, the formative period of our political history. His home was opposite the old South Church, in the house (still standing) built by Capt. Benjamin Ellingwood about 1784, one of the first (four) brick houses erected in Beverly, the others being the dwellings of Andrew, George and John Cabot. The monument to Mr. Dane, in the Hale Street Cemetery, bears an inscription by Judge Story.

In the year 1781, Robert Endicott, a descendant of Governor John Endicott, removed from Danvers to Beverly, where he died in 1819, aged sixty-two years. He was born on the ancient Endicott farm, now belonging to William Endicott, of London. His son, the venerable and well known William Endicott, the only survivor in the seventh generation from Gov. John Endicott, resides in Beverly, at the advanced age of eighty-eight. He began business here as a clerk with "Squire" Rantoul, and for thirty-six years owned and occupied the drug store at the corner of Cabot and Washington Streets. He retired from active business twenty-five years ago, but still maintains relations with several financial and charitable institutions.

We have seen that our town was particularly favored in its ministers, such as Hale, Blowers, Willard, McKean and Chipman. The medical profession also was adorned with names whose lustre is yet undimmed. The minister and the doctor of early times exerted a greater influence than even the politician ; in truth, he who attended to the spiritual welfare of the people, as well as he who ministered to their physical well being, was considered competent also to shape their political affairs.

The first school-master, Mr. Hardie, was also a dispenser of medicines, and succeeding him came the Hales, Robert and Eobert, Jr., the latter already noticed. Robert Hale was son of the Rev. John Hale, born November, 1668, died 1719.

A Dr. John Herrick was here in 1721, and a resident physician was Dr. Benj. Jones, a native of Beverly in the second parish, who had an extensive practice, and died in 1778. He was distinguished for his active interest in public affairs and in the welfare of the community.

Dr. Timothy Clement, who married a daughter of Capt. William Dodge, had a promising practice, but died at an early age. His successor was Dr. Israel Woodbury, born 1734, died 1797, who resided on his ancestral estate, and whose life was a blessing to the parish. Dr. Isaac Spofford, who died 1786, at the early age of thirty-five, was skilled alike in his profession and in music, and was very popular. His gravestone in the old cemetery is consijicuous for its Latin inscriptions and Masonic emblems. Dr. Larkin Thorndike, another native of this town, who died at Norfolk, Va., also practiced here, and was appointed a surgeon in the navy under the administration of President Adams. Dr. Tucker, Dr. Orne and Dr. Lakeman [from Hamilton) all died without achieving the great distinction promised in early life.

A man of prominence was Dr. EHsha Whitney, born 1747, graduated at Harvard, 1766, who began practice in Ipswich. After several voyages as surgeon on board the privateers under Captains Hill and Giles, he returned to his profession, removing to Beverly in 1792, where he resided till his death, in 1807, beloved and highly respected.

Dr. Joshua Fisher, who was born in Dedham, 1749, and graduated at Harvard in 1766, came to Beverly in early manhood, after practising a while in Ipswich and Salem. Like Dr. Whitney, he sailed as surgeon in a privateer, but was unfortunate in his maritime experiences, the vessel being driven ashore in the

British Channel, and he with difficulty avoiding capture. Escaping from England to France, after a number of dangerous ad ventures, he embarked in another privateer for America, which he ultimately reached. He was interested in that first cotton factory in 1788, and his public spirit always led him into similar enterprises for the good of the people. Through his great talent and active pursuit of his profession, he amassed a large fortune, much of which he expended in charitable works. He endowed the Fisher Professorship of Natural History at Harvard, with twenty thousand dollars, and founded the Beverly Charitable Society, now known as the Fisher Charitable Society, which has been so beneficial in ameliorating the condition of the poor.

Of the donation to this society one hundred dollars was to be set aside to accumulate for one hundred years, as an available fund at the expiration of that period. Dr. Fisher died in 1835, aged eighty-four.

From this brief biographical excursion, let us return to the narration of events. It is a matter of regret that we cannot much more than enumerate the names of those departed worthies, whose many virtues adorn the age in which they lived. The best lessons of history are to be drawn from the lives of great and good men and women, who worked with singleness of purpose and high aims for the advancement of their fellows. Many such - though, from the limitations of their environment, unknown to the world at large - we find living in the pages of our local history. Their lives shine with devotion to principle and religion ; they had faith in their God, their country and the home of their adoption ; and the torch they lighted at the fires of their primitive hearth-stones they have handed down to us, their descendants.

The Mother Churches. - As two new churches were founded in the opening years of this century, and important changes took place in the first and second parishes, at this point it would seem fitting to take a survey of some matters ecclesiastical.

What was the origin of the First Church, has been shown ; that its growth was identical with that of the town, and their affairs inseparably interwoven. Its first ministers and officers were the leaders of the community, as the church, indeed, formed the nucleus of the town.

Its ministers, mentioned in order, were : Hale, Blowers, Champney, Willard, McKean, up to the close of the eighteenth century, when the last-named was called to the presidency of Bowdoin College, and was succeeded, Dec. 13, 1803, by the Eev. Abiel Abbott.

The following biographical sketch of Dr. Abbott was prepared by the Rev. Dr. A. P. Peabody, a lifelong friend of the family, and is entitled to the reader's thoughtful attention :

" Ariel Arrott, the youngest son of John and Abigail Abbott, was born at Andover, August 17, 1771. Two elder brothers - John, professor of ancient languages at Bowdoin College, and Benjamin, the so widely-known, revered and beloved principal of Phillips' Exeter Academy - had already graduated at Harvard. Abiel was the pupil of Dr. Pemberton, at Phillips' Academy, in Andover, whence he entered college, graduating the second scholar in his class, in 1792. He maintained ever afterwards a close connection with the college, where he was held in high regard, as was evinced in his appointment as Phi Beta Kappa orator in 1800, his being invited to deliver the Dudleian Lecture in 1819 and his receiving the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1821. On graduating he returned to Andover and became assistant teacher, afterwards principal of the academy, at the same time pursuing the study of theology under the direction of his pastor. Rev. Jonathan French. In 1795 he was ordained as minister of the First Church in Haverhill. In the following year he married Eunice, daughter of Ebenezer Wales, of Dorchester. His ministry at Haverhill was eminently successful. Its precious memory long survived him, and was lovingly recalled by old people who had him for their pastor in their childhood or youth. But his salary was inadequate to the support of his family and he was, therefore, and for that sole reason, compelled to resign his charge.

On his release from his engagement at Haverhill, Mr. Abbott's services were eagerly sought by several vacant parishes. He preached with great acceptance at the Brattle Square Church, in Boston, and, anticipating the probability of his being invited to its pastorate, the First Church in Beverly chose him as its minister, voting him as salary the stipend which (with the addition, however, of a parsonage-house and fuel for its fires, and the education of his sons) would have been offered him in Boston.

This salary throughout his lifetime was larger than was paid by any parish in Massachusetts, except in Boston. The Beverly parish was and continued to be, during his entire ministry, very large, embracing a population at the outset of twenty- three hundred, and never less than fifteen hundred. The town was then the fourth in the State, in point of wealth, with a better harbor than that of Salem, with a great deal of foreign commerce as well as with a large amount of capital lucratively invested in the fisheries. It was the residence of several merchants of distinction, who afterwards removed to Boston, and whose ships sailed thence and brought thither their return cargoes. It was also the home of several professional men of the highest eminence, as Nathan Dane and Joshua Fisher, and the parish comprised many families of wealth and culture. Hence, in a worldly point of view, the place was especially desirable, while its pulpit had been filled by men of superior ability and merit, his two nearest predecessors having been called to the presidency - one of Harvard, the other of Bowdoin College. Such a pastorate made great demands on its incumbent, and in this case they were more than fully met.

No ministiy can ever have been more prosperous than Dr. Abbott's, in the full attendance on its services, in the undivided respect and affection of the people, and in the tokens of religious interest and spiritual edification. By those who knew Dr. Abbott best it has been often said that they never knew his like, or, for his peculiar life-work, his equal. His personal endowments were of a rare order. His countenance bore the impress of his character, at once grave and gracious, commanding and winning, with a benignity whose attractions none could resist, yet with a dignity which would keep a flippant tongue in silence. His manners were those of a born gentleman, who could not be otherwise than courteous, meek, considerate and kind. His conversational power was almost unique. In whatever society he might be, without assuming the leadership, he could not bear other than the chief part, and those who were else the most ready to talk, in his presence subsided into greedy listeners. He was unsurpassed in vivid and picturesque description and narrative, and he possessed the rare and precious art of giving religious admonition, counsel or consolation, without seeming to give it - of virtually preaching the gospel without unseasonably interlarding his conversation with conventionally sacred names and phrases, so that all that he meant to say reached the inward ear, only after, sometimes long after, his voice had died upon the outvvard ear. When Monroe, as President of the United States, was making his northern tour, he breakfasted with Israel Thorndike, and Dr. Abbott was one of the guests. Some time afterward the President said to a visitor that the best talktr that he ever heard was a clergyman who breakfasted with him at Mr. Thorndike's. While Dr. Abbott thus adorned the choicest society, he made himself none the less welcome in the poorest homes, and with persons of the lowest standard of intelligence and culture. Without the wretched farce of condescension, he so identified himself with all the people under his charge that he felt, and therefore always seemed, at his ease among them, as belonging with them, and they had no experience of restraint or awkwardness as with one who stooped to them from a loftier plane than theirs. He was the most assiduous of pastors. Of course, in so large a parish he would not be a frequent visitor in every house, yet there was not a family in his flock which he did not know intimately, and in which there was not a corresponding sense of intimacy with him ; nor was there a child whom he did not know, or w^ho was not made the happier by meeting him and having hia unfailing smile and kind word of recognition. A large part of his time was devoted to the sick, infirm and afilicted, who received his most tender ministries and always felt that he came to them in their need and sorrow as a messenger of divine support and comfort. Nor was he less mindful of the poor, and while generous to them to the utmost of his means, he knew

Dr. Abbott was, in an important sense, the minister of the town, no less than of his own parish. There was no public occasion on which he did not oflSciate, nor any public enterprise that tended to improvement or progress in which he did not bear a foremost part. For many years he was chairman of the school committee, and his reading of his annual report was among the first items of business at the annual town-meeting, which he always opened with an impressive prayer. He presided at the school examinations, and the pupils listened eagerly on those occasions to the closing address which he always gave.

In the pulpit Dr. Abbott's manner was impressive to the last degree. He was never impassioned, and never cold; but there was a calm, equable f rvor, indicating a full flow of devout feeling, without ebb or ripple, sustaining the unflagging attention of the audience, and adapted to make the entire service to the serious hearer, as it manifestly was to the preacher, a continuous act of devotion. His voice was clear, strong and flexible, and his utterance was perfectly natural, with no pulpit tone, but as it might have been in conversation on solemn themes. Nature shaped him for an orator, and he remained unspoiled by art. What he should say seemed his sole concern ; his unstudied saying of it could have been only made worse by the attempt to make it better. His sermons were scriptural, evangelical, in the true sense of the word, in a style elegant without being ornate, sufiiciently simple for the recejjtivity of any person of ordinary intelligence, yet so thoughtful as to command the close attention and strong interest of those of the most advanced culture. They were remarkable for so strict an appropriateness to time and space that many of the best of them could have been preached elsewhere or at a later time only with large omissions or changes. No phase of the passing day, or occasion of public interest, or striking event in the larger or smaller circle, was suffered to pass without being made to yield up its fitting les?ons of truth or duty. His sermons for the Sunday service were always carefully written, and such of them as admitted of it, especially his frequent exj^ository sermons, bore the tokens of extended reading and faithful study. He had at the same time a great facility of extempore utterance, or rather, of thorough preparation without writing; and some of his most appreciative hearers thought that he appeared at his very best in the unwritten discourses sometimes in series lasting through several weeks or months, which he was wont to deliver in a chapel erected expressly for evening services.

Dr. Abbott's devotional services jhad an indelible and cherished place in the memory of all who listened to them. They were not preaching prayers, but composed wholly of' simple and lofty forms of praise and supplication. It was the custom in his church, as in the New England churches generally, to send in ' notes,' requesting public prayer, or thanksgiving, in case of bereavement, severe illness, or recovery therefrom, the birth of a child, being ' bound to sea,' or return from a voyage.

Dr. Abbott, without ever compromising the dignity of the service, or entering into details unfit for the sanctuary, would so make reference to every individual case, that he would seem to bear heavenward and to lay upon the heavenly altar the burden or joy of each soul in a form denuded of all earthliness, and fully fit to be heard on high. The children of the parish enjoyed his special care. The old institution of 'catechizing' was with him a matter, not of form, but of deep concern, and he made it such a service that no child was ever willingly absent from it. He not unfrequently addressed the children on Sundays, and sometimes had special services for them in the chapel, while they learned very early to listen to his sermons, and many a dull child who carried home no meagre report of one of his discourses, would command neither attention nor memory when any one else filled the pulpit.

The earliest Sunday-school in New England, if not in the United States, was opened in 1810, by two ladies of his church, after the example and method of Robert Raikes. This school, which had, from the outset, their pastor's approval and furtherance, was never discontinued, but was, after a few years, removed to the church, and was the nucleus of a still flourishing Sunday-school, subsidized by a considerable fund, the legacy of one of its superintendents, who was trained under Dr. Abbott's nurture and influence.

Dr. Abbott added to his distinctively professional gifts that of superior musical taste and talent. He had the best voice in the congregation. The old church had no space in which an organ could be erected till it was remodelled after his death, and whenever the chorister Avas absent, Dr. Abbott led the singing from the pulpit, as he did at the communion service, at the monthly ante-communion lecture, and at the chapel. Dr. Abbott was a Unitarian, of the type commonly, though incorrectly denoted under the name of Arian. But while he explicitly declared and defended his own opinions in the pulpit, he was indisposed to controversy, sought peace among the churches, was at many points in close sympathy \sith clergymen of a different creed, and was associated with not a few of them in intimate friendship and in the interchange of professional services.

When the disruption of the Congregational body took place, probably no member of that body had so much reason to regret it as he had, nor was there any one with whom his friends of the opposite party were so sorry to part fellowship. In his family and in all the relations and intercourse of society Dr. Abbott, by his sweetness, gentleness, unselfishness of spirit, was constantly diffusing happines.-, and in his cheerful, sunny 45i temperament received largely of the happiness which he gave. His home was rich in all that can make life beautiful, and that can render the Christian household at once a centre of refining and beautifying ministries and influences for this world, and a training school for heaven.

In 1818 Dr. Abbott's health had become so far impaired by incessant labor as to make a rest and change of scene desirable, and he spent the winter in South Carolina and Georgia. He performed the return journey alone, in a sulky, driving through regions where he was warned of serious danger from the savageness of the poor whites; but all along his way making friends and receiving civilities and kindnesses.

In 1827 he was again an invalid, and spent the winter principally in Cuba. He seemed in the spring entirely restored, but on his passage homeward, in the harbor of New York, he was seized with a sudden and profuse hemorrhage from the lunss, which proved almost instantlv fatal, leaving him but a few moments for some last directions as to his worldly affairs, and for the expression of his cheerful readiness to depart in the full assurance of a blessed immortality. His death occurred on the 7th of June, 1828.

Dr. Abbott published a considerable number of sermons and other pamphlets. The only volume that he gave to the press was of ' Sermons to Seamen,' which in its time was highly prized, especially by shipmasters and sailors.

After his death his ' Letters from Cuba,' a charming record of travel and sojourn in an island then little known at the North, were edited, with a memoir of the author, by his friend, Judge Story.

Dr. Abbott's excellent wife survived him only two years. Of his nine children there remain : Emily, widow of Rev. Stevens Everett, now resident at Cambridge, Anne Wales, a member of her sister's family and Rev. William Ebenezer Abbott, formerly pastor of the Fir-it Church in Billerica, now living in the Dorchester district of Boston."

Dr. Abbott was everywhere welcomed in the town, and his good offices as peacemaker were often sought. He had one parishioner who frequently quarreled with his wife, and who, disregarding the figurative meaning of his pastor's advice, to "throw water on the fire," obeyed it literally, drenching his wife with a full bucket, the next time she scolded.

When the good parson chided him, telling him the woman was the weaker vessel, and should be cherished, he retorted: "The weaker vessel, is she; then, blast her, let her carry less sail ! "

A gradual divergence from the tenets of the original church took place during Dr. Abbott's ministry, and his successor, the Rev. Christopher T. Thayer, was settled over the first parish as a Unitarian, by a vote of two to one, January 27, 1830. Mr. Thayer, though coming to Beverly from Lancaster, was a descendant of Andrew Elliot, our first town clerk. He was a graduate of Harvard (1824), always interested in the welfare of the town during his pastorate, and the author of a valuable contribution to its history - a "Bi-Centennial Address," on the two hundredth anniversary of the formation of the First Church. He retired in 1859, followed by the best wishes of all his townspeople, and passed his remaining days in Boston, where he died June 23, 1880, at his residence on Beacon Street, and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery. Mr. Thayer served as chairman of the School Committee many years, and at his death left a legacy of five thousand dollars to the church.

He was succeeded by the Rev. John C. Kimball, a native of Ipswich, and graduate of Cambridge Theological School, the period of whose pastorate was eleven years, and who has since preached in Oregon, Newport, R. I. and Hartford, Conn.

In 1872 (March 7), Rev. Ellery Channing Butler was settled over this church, the ninth in the line of distinguished ministers, beginning with Rev. John Hale. Mr. Butler was born in Otego, N. Y., and is a graduate of Meadville College, Pa. Under him the parish continues in a prosperous condition, the present congregation numbering two hundred and eighty families.

The First Meeting-house. - The first house of worship was erected as early as 1G56, a rude structure, which answered the needs of the people until 1682, when a new building was raised, fifty by forty feet, which stood on the site of the present church. It was used as a town-house also, and as no fires were allowed in the meeting-houses of those days, it was considered the safest depository for the town ammunition, a powder-room in it having been built in 1727.

In 1770 a third meeting-house was erected, on the site of the second, and is at present standing, having been enlarged in 1785, remodeled in 1835 and again some twenty years ago.

Its first bell was brought by Capt. Lothrop, from Port Royal, in 1656 ; this was replaced by another in 1685, by yet a third in 1712, the gift of Robert Briscoe, and, by the fourth one, which remains, in 1803, from the foundry of Paul Revere & Son.

The first town clock was obtained in 1796, and has done good service for ninety years. The first parish meeting-house, the "Old South," is one of the landmarks of the town, and around it cluster associations that should never be dispelled. From its bell-tower, these many years, have rung the noon-day hour and the vesper peals, proclaiming the hour of nine and warning the youth of generation after generation of the time for retiring.

The venerable sextons of the church have been, at times, reckoned as personages of almost as much importance as the ministers themselves. The first to be mentioned (1665), is Goodman Bailey, who received for his services a peck of corn annually from each householder; and to the emoluments of this office, in 1680, succeeded Goodman Hoar, during whose term the nine o'clock bell was introduced. An important service of these early sextons was the turning of the hour-glass, as a gentle reminder to the minister that time was fleeting. In 1748 Josiah Woodbury held the office, remaining its incumbent for forty-one years, when he died. Wells Standley came next, in 1790, dying in office 1797, in which year Joshua Wallis fell dead while ringing the bell, and was succeeded by Thomas Barrett. This faithful servitor held the position from June, 1797, to 1844, the year he died. Ezra Woodbury was appointed his colleague, in 1842, and for over thirty years attended to the various duties, dying in January, 1876,

The first meeting-house of the Second Parish was erected 1713, with a turret, but no steeple or bell. The Rev. Mr. Chipman was ordained 1715, and January 11, 1716, the church held its first meeting. As a special mark of honor, in 1759, Lieut. Henry Herrick was invited, when he attended worship there, to " take the second seat on the floor before the pulpit." In 1771 Mr. Enos Hitchcock was settled to succeed Mr. Chipman, who died in 1775, and was buried in the old cemetery of the parish.

In 1787 Mr. Daniel Oliver accepted a settlement here, but resigned in 1797, dying in Roxbury in 1840, at the age of eighty-nine. Mr. Moses Dow, of Atkinson, N. H., was the next minister, called here in October, 1800, ordained March, 1801, resigned 1818.

The Rev. Ebenezer Robinson succeeded Mr. Poor, in October, 1830, but was dismissed in January, 1833. Rev. Edwin M. Stone was pastor for thirteen years succeeding. Rev. Mr. Stone is the author of the excellent " History of Beverly," published in 1842, a book of reference to which all writers on the subject must turn for exact information. Mr. Stone's pastorate began March 21, 1834, and ended in 1847. For a period of nearly twenty years, there was no settled minister here, and the church dwindled to less than a score of members. At the end of this time its history was joined to that of the Fourth Congregational, in a curious manner. This latter was organized 1834, and the Rev. John Foote installed as first minister, 1836 ; who was succeeded by Rev. Allen Gannet, installed December 15, 1847, and dismissed April 26, 1853.

He was succeeded by J. W. Lounsbury, and he by Eli W. Harrington, in 1860. Rev. Mr. Harrington continued pastor until 1866, when the Fourth Congregational was merged in the Second, taking the name of the " Second Congregational Church." Rev. Mr. Harrington continued to reside here till 1884, though with no pastoral charge, active in educational work, when he removed to another town. In 1865 the church celebrated its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary by a re-dedication, and began its worship in

May, 1866, with Eev. Chas. S. Porter officiating. This, the Second Congregational, continues to occuidv its original church, though the building has several times been altered and improved.

Rev. Robert Southgate succeeded Mr. Porter, and he was followed by Rev. Wm. Phipps in 1869, Rev. T. D. P. Stone in 1870, the Rev. Alexander J. Sessions, installed as acting pastor, in 1872, and, since 1876, various preachers have occupied the pulpit, it being filled, at present, by Rev. William Merrill. The church now numbers thirty-five persons, the parish twenty, with one hundred in the Sundayschool. The locality of the Second Parish (or North Beverly) is a historic one, with its old house, the parsonage of John Chipman (the first minister) erected 1715, still standing in good preservation, and the old cemetery with its ancient head-stones.

ISOl. - March 25th, the First Baptist Church of Beverly was organized, and a meeting-house erected the same year, on Cabot Street, nearly opposite Elliot, with the Rev. Joshua Young as pastor. He departed in 1802, and in 1803, in June, he was succeeded by Rev. Elisha S. Williams, a graduate of Yale College, who ministered until 1812, when he resigned. In early life, Mr. Williams had served under Washington, on Long Island ; in his later years he returned to Beverly, and died here in 1845, at the home of Mrs. Samuel S. Ober, his daughter, at the age of eighty-seven years, four months.

In 1814, the Rev. Harvey Jenks, of Hudson, N. Y., was called to the society, but died before settlement; and the next pastor ordained was Rev. Nathaniel W. Williams, of Salem, whose ministry extended from 1816-24, when he resigned ; in 1836 he accepted another call to the church and continued till 1840. His successor, in 1825, was Rev. Francis G. Macomber, a graduate of Waterville College, who suddenly expired July 1, 1827, and there was again no settled pastor until 1830. Then the Rev. Jonathan Aldrich was ordained and served till 1833, during which time twenty-six members of the church were dismissed, to form a new society at Wenham. 1834, September 10th, the Rev. John Jennings was ordained and continued two years, followed by Rev. Nathaniel W. Williams a second time, from 1836-40. On November lltli, this year. Rev. Charles W. Flanders, a graduate of Brown University, was ordained. He remained ten years, but in 1850 resigned his pastorate here and afterwards occupied pulpits at Concord, N. H., Westboro', Mass., and Kennebunkport. Me. Finally returning to Beverly, he built here a home, doing occasional ministerial work, especially at the Farms, in the Second Baptist, and expired here August 2, 1875, at the age of sixty-eight.

In 1852 the Rev. Edwin B. Eddy was ordained, resigning three years later, and in the year following, August 7, 1856, Rev. Joseph C. Foster was settled over the church.

which was a highly successful and memorable one, the beautiful church was erected, now occupied by the society, at the corner of Abbot and Cabot Streets.

In 1837 the original church building had been taken down and a new one erected in a more eligible locality on the same street. This was several times enlarged and improved, and a chapel built, but the needs of the society demanded better accommodations, hence the spacious structure now in use. It is the finest house of worship in the town, cost forty-five thousand dollars, and its handsome spire is one hundred and sixty-two feet in height.

It was built by a member of the society, masterbuilder John Meacom, who also rebuilt the older structure in 1854, and who has followed his honorable calling here for nearly sixty years,

Mr. Foster resigned in 1872, and was succeeded, for one year, by Rev. E. B. Andrews, late president of Deuison University, Ohio, and now professor in Brown University, Providence, R. I. The present pastor. Rev. D. P. Morgan, gallantly served (as did Mr. Andrews) in the Union army in the War of the Rebellion.

1802. - The most important offshoot of the First Church was the Third Congregational, subsequently called and now known as the Dane Street Society. The church was organized November 9, 1802, incorporated March 7, 1803, present name adopted in 1837. Their first meeting-house was raised in 1802, finished in December, 1803, and dedicated by the Rev. Samuel Worcester, of Salem. This building was altered and improved in 1831, but destroyed by fire in December, 1832. In 1833 the present commodious building was erected, since, from time to time, enlarged and beautified in accordance with the demands of the times.

The first minister was Rev. Joseph Emerson, born in Hollis, N. H., October 13, 1777, a graduate of Harvard, a teacher and preacher in several places prior to his ordination here, September 21, 1803. After thirteen successful years he resigned, his health demanding a cessation of labor for awhile, and for some time was engaged in educational work, occasionally preaching in various places. He established a literary seminary in Byfield, removing thence to Saugus, and later to Weathersfield, Conn., where he died May 13, 1833. To Beverly, where he was highly honored and esteemed, he frequently returned, delivering here several courses of historical lectures, and writing a memoir of Miss Fanny Woodbury, a missionary from this town.

His successor was the Rev. David Oliphant, installed February 18, 1818, and dismissed, by mutual council, 1833, after a long period of profitable labor. He died in St. Louis, Mo., in 1871. October 13, 1834, the Rev. Joseph Abbot was ordained, an occasion which witnessed also the dedication of the present house of worship. After a pastorate of thirty years, during which his serene and beautiful life was ever a beneficent presence to his people and the com- munity, this beloved minister was dismissed in December, 1865. He was removed by death April 10, 1867, at the age of fifty-eight years, eight months. Mr. Abbot was born in Philadelpliia August 16, 1808, and graduated from Union College, N. Y. In early life he studied medicine with Dr. McClellan, father of Gen. George B. McClellan, but became convinced that the ministry should be his calling, and pursued his theological studies at Andover. He early became aware that he was subject to disease of the heart, and considered himself in the light of a "minute man," liable to call at any moment. This consciousness served to restrict his labors somewhat, and gave to his aspect that repose and serenity which were his characteristics.

Of marked piety (says an obituary), of ripe and rare scholarship and culture, of a peculiarly social, amiable and genial nature, his companionship was a benediction at all times, and our community have been favored indeed in enjoying so much of the blessing of his well-spent life and labors. Able as a writer, and instructive and discriminating as a preacher, yet he published but little, although there were but few if any of his finished productions that would not have well stood the test of severe criticism. Feeling a deep interest in the cause of education, he aided many in travelling those cherished walks of literature in which he was so much at home, doing public service also as chairman, and for about a quarter of a century as member, of our school committee. He was, said his friend. Rev. J. C. Foster, a true man. " To this, his whole life was a beautiful testimony. He was genuine and sincere, and his artlessness and truthfulness were uncommonly prominent. He was as unselfish as unpretentious, and he shrank instinctively from publicity. He did not appreciate his own claims to be ranked high among the strong men in the ministry, and his remarkably unobtrusive spirit would not allow him to gain the reputation abroad which he could have easily sustained with his superior abilities."

" Death did not take him by surprise ; but he had been looking for the event which at length came unnoticed by him in its actual coming, permitted as he was ' to wake up in glory ' from the peaceful slumber of the midnight hour."

In 1866 (February 15th) Rev. Eugene H. Titus was ordained, but dismissed, after an active pastorate, June 16, 1867. He died in Georgetown, Mass., July, 1876.

He was succeeded by Rev. Orpheus T. Lanphear, who was installed October 23, 1867. Dr. Lanphear was dismissed June 3, 1880, but fixed his residence in Beverly, in whose prosperity he has always taken a lively interest. In 1881 (July 7th) Rev. Samuel W. Eddy, a graduate of Union College, N. Y., was ordained, but dismissed April 8, 1887, on accou^-t of ill health, to the great regret not only of his own parishioners, but the entire community as well.

The Dane Street Society now numbers about nine hundred and fifty, with three hundred and forty-one in the church, and has a large and constantly increasing membership in its Sunday school. Its oldest living member is Mrs, Adeline, the widow of Rev. Francis Norwood, who united with the church in 1826.

Civil History Continued

1802. - Having thus outlined the history of the four oldest churches in Beverly, and prepared the way for mention of the others in sequence, attention will now be given again to civil affairs. The Beverly Bank, one of the most important of the town, was incorporated 1802, with capital at $160,000, reduced in 1815 to $100,000, but increased in 1836 to $125,000. Under successive charters it has continued in corporate capacity to the present time, becoming the Beverly National Bank in 1865, with a charter for twenty years, renewed for twenty more in 1885, with a capital of $200,000. Its first president was Israel Thorndike, succeeded by Moses Brown, Joshua Fisher, William Leach, Pyam Lovett, Albert Thorndike, Samuel Endicott and John Picket, names, all of them, synonyms for integrity, and identified with the town's highest interests.

In the course of its long existence, eighty-five years, it has had but three cashiers : Josiah Gould, Albert Thorndike and Robert G. Bennett. Mr. Bennett succeeded Mr. Thorndike, when the latter was elected president, in 1844, and held this position of trust during forty-one years, when he was chosen treasurer of the Savings' Bank. The present cashier, Mr. Augustus Stevens, was connected with the bank thirty-one years, as teller, when he succeeded Mr. Bennett as cashier.

The bank, for a long time, occupied a portion of the brick building at the corner of Cabot and Central Streets, built by John Cabot in the latter year of the last century, and now owned and occupied by Edward Burley. It was, for a period, located in the Masonic building, but in 1885 entered into the beautiful edifice, corner of Cabot and- Thorndike Streets, which it now occupies conjointly with the Beverly Savings' Bank, which built it. This latter institution was chartered in 1867, and has deposits to the amount of about a million dollars. Its president is William Endicott, who has held this position since 1867, as also has its treasurer, R. G. Bennett. The bank building, erected in 1885, at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars, is in the Queen Anne and Colonial style of architecture, of brick, with trimmings of freestone and is considered one of the finest and most complete of its kind in the country. It occupies the site of the former residence of Albert Thorndike (long time cashier and president of the old bank), a house built above one hundred years ago.

1802. - January 20, a Social Library was started, by subscription, with thirty-two shares at five dollars each, the money raised being invested in valuable books. These were selected by Joshua Fisher, Nathan Dane, Thomas Davis and Rev. Mr. McKean, and the collection steadily auo;mented by purchase and donation, amounted in 1842 to one thousand volumes. Other libraries, later established, were those of the Mechanics' Association and the "School District.'' In 1851 the Legislature authorized towns to establish public libraries, and that year John I.Baker introduced a petition for an appropriation in the town-meeting, by which one hundred dollars was voted. It was also voted that the library be located in the Social Library room of the town hall. The first library was in the Briscoe Hall.

Each succeeding year the town appropriated one hundred dollars more towards the library, until 1860, when the amount was increased to five hundred dollars, and since 1870 to one thousand dollars, at which figure it now stands. When the question was first discussed, some of our best citizens raised two thousand five hundred dollars by subscription ; donations were later made, and the interest in the subject has increased to the present day.

The first trustee*, who were also active in securing the subscriptions (aided by several ladies), were: Dr. Chas. Haddock, Wm. Endicott, Jr., Chas. W. Galloupe, Benj. O. Peirce, Richard P. Waters. The present trustees are: Wm. C. Boyden, president; Franklin Leach, secretary ; Joseph D. Tuck, treasurer; Edward Giddings and Wm. R. Driver. A new trustee is elected each year; Mr. Tuck has been re-elected for nearly thirty years, and Mr. Leach twenty-five. Under the intelligent supervision of its trustees the library has prospered exceedingly, containing to-day over ten thousand volumes and proving itself a necessity to all, only limited in its beneficent work by the scantiness of the appropriations. It is open to the public every week day afternoon, and Saturday evenings.

1806. - Miss Elizabeth Champney, daughter of the third pastor of the First Church, and for many years a successful teacher, died, April 23d, aged sixty-six.

1807. - The Beverly Charitable Society (already mentioned), was incorporated. The town was called to lament the death of Dr. Elisha Whitney. The sons of Dr. Whitney became world-famous as merchants and ship owners, and his descendants to-day maintain in Beverly the honorable name of their distinguished ancestor.

An old soldier, in the person of Capt. George Raymond, died this year, aged ninety-nine years, having been born December 21, 1707. He was in the expedition to Cape Breton, and in 1770, as appears by the records, was moderator of a town-meeting assembled for the purpose of condemning the use of tea by patriots.

1808. - Joseph Wood, who died this year, at the age of sixty-eight, was a survivor of the Committee of Correspondence during the Revolution, in 1778 a member of the convention for ratifying the United States Constitution and from 1771 to the day of his death held the office of town clerk, discharging every public duty with conspicuous fidelity.

1809. - The Beverly Marine Insurance Company was chartered, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. Its rooms were in the building then occupied by the bank.

1809. - December 10, Josiah Batchelder, jr., expired, aged seventy-three. From his tombstone standing in the Second Cemetery, we learn that, "The whole assemblage of associate virtues, which so superlatively exalt the Christian and endear him to society, his friends and his God, conspired to portray in the liveliest colors the character to whose memory this stone is sacred."

"To Josiah Batchelder jr., Esqr. one of the Justices assigned to keep the Peace in and for the County of Essex. - Ebenezer Woodbury, of Beverly, gentleman, in the county aforesaid, on oath informs the said Justice, that on the first day of February, instant, and on divers other days, in the night time, the following Goods, viz : five pecks of Indian Corn. & one canvas bag, two bushels & one half Bushel of meal, and two Bags (one of said bags being of plain coarse Cloth and marked J. K.) all which were stol^^n and carried away from the Grist Mill then in the care & occupation of the said Ebenezer Woodbury - the first mentioned corn and bag the property of Benj" Butman ; 5 pecks of the meal & the bag, marked E W., is the property of Elizabeth Woodbury, widow; & 5 pecks of the meal and the bag mark'd J. R. was the property of Joseph Rea of s'd Beverly, Gentleman, - of the value of twenty-four shillings & nine pence, the property of the said Benj" Butman Eliz» Woodbury & J. Ray - were feloniouslj' stolen, taken and carried away from the Grist Mill of the said Ebenezer, & others, now in the occupation of s'd Eben'r at Beverly, as aforesaid, and that thoy, and he, hath probable cause to suspect, and doth suspect, that one Jtjpitek Bunn, of Beverly, in the county of Essex, labourer, did steal, take, and carry away, the same goods, as aforesaid, and prays that he, the said Jupiter Bunn, may be apprehended, and held to answer to this complaint, and further dealt with, relative to the same, according to law ; and the said Eben'r saith that he hath cause to suspect, and doth suspect, that the aforesaid corn, meal, etc., are secrtted in the dwelling-house of one Anthoney, and prays for a Warrant to search there for the same."

And the sherifTof said County of Essex is instructed, forthwith to apprehend said Jupiter Bunn, and bring him before said Josi Batchelder; from which it is inferred that said Bunn was apprehended, and had good cause to repent his misdeed.

There are some grounds for believing that Jupiter Bunn was not the guilty party, since he was at one time a trusted servant in one of the first families of Beverly. In the possession of Mi>s Hannah Rantoul is an antique chair, which once belonged to the family referred to, and which was always called " Jupiter's chair," becatise this individual always insisted upon occupying it, refusing to sit in any other.

and devoted servant, by Mr. Rantoul, in his " Reminiscences," who states tliat she, when a child, was sold to a Mr. Cave, of Middleton, who paid for her in iron, and took her in his chaise from Salem to Middleton.

She came to this town about the beginning of the Revolutionary war, and maintained herself by labor. " She resided upon that portion of the old Gloucester road, now traversed by the railroad, between Pride's Crossing and West's Beach, and habitually, within a few years of her death, walked by starlight from this point to the town, some four miles distant, whenever she had a day's work to perform, that she might be ready to begin her labors with the sun."

1810. - The Earliest Sunday-School in New England. - At the close of the Revolutionary war, that sturdy privateersman and patriot. Captain Hugh Hill, then in the employ of Messrs. John and Andrew Cabot, sailed for Ireland, with the intention of bringing to Beverly his brother James and family. On the return voyage to Philadelphia, on board the ship " Rambler," in the Delaware River, Hannah Hill was born, September 17th, 1784. And this daughter of James and Elizabeth Hill, in connection with Miss Joanna B. Prince, established, in the year 1810, the first Sunday-school in America, for the religious instruction of the young. Misses Hill and Prince both taught private schools during the week, and in the summer of 1810, they gathered a company of about thirty neglected children, who were accustomed to play about the wharves on the Sabbath, in a chamber of Miss Prince's house, corner of Davis and Front streets, and taught them that knowledge which is beyond all price. This later grew into a school for children of all families. Miss Hill is described by a person who knew her as a woman of great originality, intellectual and scholarly, possessing a lively interest in children. It was said by Dr. Peabody, at the fiftieth anniversary of the school, that he was a pupil in her class in Sunday-school for several years, and that later in life, at her earnest solicitation, he gave her lessons in Greek, so that she had the satisfaction of reading the New Testament in the very language in which it was written. Miss Hill continued her connection Avith Sunday school work until her death, which occurred in 1838, at the age of fifty-three years. She lies in the Dane Street Cemetery, where her grave-stone may still be seen.

Miss Joanna B. Prince was born in Castine, Me., February 23, 1789, and removed to Beverly, the native home of her mother, with her parents during her childhood. She was a person of entirely different temperament from Miss Hill, but like her, delighted in doing good. In 1819 she married Ebenezer Everett, and removed to Brunswick, Me., where she died, September 5, 1859. Her son. Professor C. Carrol Everett, is now Dean of Harvard Divinity School.

brick school-house in the south district, the Dane Street Chapel, the Briscoe School-house, and finally, about 1819, to the First Parish Church. It is probable, says Robert R. Endicott, (from whose report as superintendent of this school in 1885, this account is mainly taken), that the children who attended the school at the start had no church connection, but as the school widened its sphere and increased its numbers it embraced scholars and teachers from the various parishes in town. In the year 1819, the Dane Street and the First Baptist societies organized parish schools, and from that time to the present the various societies have formed schools under their own organizations.

On the 4th of July, 1842, a union celebration was held on the Town-Hall square, 1,123 scholars and teachers being present ; and in 1860 occurred the Fiftieth Anniversary, with large floral processions, music, a collation on the common, under a mammoth tent, and addresses by distinguished speakers. The Eightieth Anniversary, doubtless, will find within the limits of the United States, 100,000 Sundayschools, 10,000,000 scholars, and a million teachers,

Throughout the years 1809, '10, '12 and '14, the citizens of Beverly entered frequent and eloquent protests against the embargo, and restrictive laws of that period, which eventually (as they had foreseen) destroyed the commerce it had taken a hundred years of self-sacrifice to found and maintain.

In the petition of 1812, it is stated : " They find themselves totally deprived of their commerce, coasting-trade and fisheries, even in their own bays and harbors within the State, by the restrictive laws of the Union, and another embargo, which, for severity and oppression, is without precedent."

But, though finding themselves plunged into a conflict they could not conscientiously approve, they yet contributed soldiers for the manning of the ancient breastworks and sailors for service by sea.

Under act of Congress, March 9, 1878, pensions were granted to those who had served in the war of 1812; and in June, 1879, the venerable Stephens Baker wrote an account of the militia and the pensioners, from which the following is an extract : In this town, the first coast guard consisted of a sergeant's guard of fifteen men, with a ser^reant and two musicians. The place of meeting was in front of the First Parish meeting-house. On the alarm being given, their location was at Hospital Point.

There were three companies of militia in the time of the war, in which were enrolled some three hundred and fifty men. The North Beverly Company was commanded by Abraham Lord, with Israel Trask, second lieutenant; the Cove and Farms Company by

Aaron Foster, with Jona. Foster, lieutenant. The comj^any in the centre of the town, in which were nearly half of all the men enrolled, was commanded by Capt. Nathaniel Lamson, John Davis, lieutenant; James Hill, ensign, Isaac Gallop, Jonathan Stickney, Thomas Farris and Stephens Baker, sergeants, with the latter recording clerk. Ebenezer Trask and Robert Gary were the musicians. This company attended a regimental muster in Danvers numbering one hundred and sixty-five muskets, three commissioned officers, four sergeants, four corporals and two musicians.

They were under excellent discipline and considered one of the best companies in the State. But three of this company were known (by Mr. Baker) to be living in 1879, - Thos. Farris (died 1882, aged ninety), S. P. Lovett (died recently), and Stephens Baker (died 1883, aged ninety one years, ten months), and four of the company commanded by Gapt. Foster, - Eben Ray, Peter Corning, Joseph Russell and Jesse Woodbury. The following persons received pensions under the act of 78 : Stephens Baker, Peter Corning, Samuel P. Lovett, Joseph Russell, Eben Ray. Fourteen widows are enumerated as entitled to pensions, several of whom died after application had be^en made, and several other applications were pending. But two survive. Many sailors from Beverly were taken prisoners in that war, John Bradshaw, who died 1880, aged ninety-three ; and James Stone died 1881, aged ninety-one, were both confined as prisoners at Bermuda, and- both returned to Beverly to live many years. Peter Homan died 1871, aged ninety-one, Jacob Grace died 1876, aged ninety-six, John Bradshaw in 1880, at ninety-three. Of the widows of 1812 veterans but two are living. One of these, Mrs. Nancy Trowt, who lives at the Farms, is active and cheerful, at ninety years of age.

Deceased

There were many veterans and pensioners scattered throughout the town, and of the local " characters," " Uncle " Peter Woodbury is one of the best remembered. He was a sailor on board the "Constitution," and lost his thumb while at the helm during a fight, by having it struck by a splinter. Another veteran was John Crampsey, who had both arms shot off at the shoulders, and who was yet an expert fisherman in later life.

a large number of our aged citizens yet retain vivid recollections. The battle between the Chesapeake and Shannon was witnessed from many house-tops, and the excitement in town was intense. An incident that brought the vicissitudes of the war home to our doors, was the chasing ashore of a schooner belonging to Manchester, by a barge load of sailors from a British man-of-war, who destroyed her cargo and set her on fire. The flames were extinguished by the rallying inhabitants of the shore, but vessel and cargo were a total loss. Great alarm spread throughout the country, and a town meeting was promptly called to provide for the protection of our coast. This event is remembered and vividly narrated by several of our venerable citizens.

The arrival of the artillery company from Danvers (which, with others from Haverhill and Methuen, was stationed here for a period), and which he followed to its station at Hospital Point, is distinctly remembered by one. At the alarm, his grandfather hastily entered the room in which he was sleeping, strapped powder-horn and accoutrements, seized his musket and ran out to join with his fellow-citizens in rei^elling the anticipated invasion. He was followed by the boy of seven, who, now a man of eighty years, gives this narrative to the writer.

The affair is remembered also by William Endicott, now eighty-eight years old, by Richard Clark, eighty-six, and by several others. Mr. Clark was working in a garden above the beach itself when the schooner was driven ashore, and stayed to watch proceedings until the flying bullets drove him behind a house. He saw one of the English sailors climb the rigging and cut a strip of canvas out of the topsail, and remembers that he thought him an excellent mark for a bullet and wondered they had not shot him.

Mr. Clark's father was in a privateer in the Revolutionary war commanded by Captain Herbert .Woodbury. Their vessel was taken by an English brig of fourteen guns, which they retook and brought safely to an American port. The first American ancestor of the Trowts - the widow of whose son, Mrs. Nancy, over ninety years old, draws a pension for her husband's services in the war of 1812 - came here as one of the prisoners.

Richard Clark, Sr., who was then quite young, took his share of the prize money and went to school. It was just after the War of 1812, says Mr. Clark, that the most money was made by the fishermen, as for so long a period the embargo had kept their vessels in port and prices were high. He went fishing twenty-five summers, beginning when a mere boy, and distinctly remembers landing at " Col. Hale's garden," at Cape Breton.

In the procession on Memorial Day, 1874, walked two veterans of 1812 - Thomas Farris and Thomas Pickett, - who were once shopraates with John Smith, a survivor of the Chesapeake engagement, and known

In consequence of this occurrence (at Mingo's Beach), writes Eobert Eantoul, in his " Reminiscences," " a town-meeting was held on Saturday, June 11th, and measures were taken to procure from the State field-pieces of cannon, ammunition, etc., for the defence of the town. A number of persons were associated together as artillery men, and on the 17ih of June, at a meeting held for the purpose, Nicholas Thorndike was chosen captain,! was chosen first lieutenant, and Benj. Brown, Jr., 2d lieut. Frequent meetings were held to exercise with the two brass six-pounders, which the State had furnished. The number of persons associated was fifty-four. We turned out twice on alarms that the British were landing, which proved to be groundless, and met frequently for practice until February 13, 1815, when information was received that a treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent, 24th Dec, 1814. In the afternoon of the day of the receipt of this news, the company assembled, and, dragging the cannon to the Watch-house Hill, near Hale St., fired a salute of 18 gnns, under my command, Capt. Thorndike being out of town."

" The town of Beverly, tbo' almost bent to the ground by the pressure of the times, has not lost its elasticity. True to their principles, the inhabitants have never engaged in a War which they believed to be impolitic and unjust. They have undergone their full share of suffering in a variety of forme, from the interruption of business and loss of property, to the alarms of threatened attack and actual aggressions on their shores by the enemy. The intelligence of the Peace found them almost in despondency, for that blessing was supposed to be still distant. The change from that despondency to excess of joy can only be described by an appeal to the feelings of every patriotic bosom on the occasion. Individual pleasure was expressed by congratulations, and countenances once more illuminated with smiles, whilst i-eiterated huzzas were at once the effect aud stimulus of their united rejoicings. A large sled fancifully dressed with the national colours was soon manned with a crew of gallant seamen, and dispatched through the street with the intelligence.

"The assembled people flew to the gun-house, dragged the heavy artillery to the top of the highest hill, and, amidst the peals of bells, fired salutes which proclaimed the pleasure they felt. In the evening, the destruction by fire of the dwelling-house of an unfortunate citizen, suspended for a while the natural joy, which had begun to flow from the domestic circle.

"On Wednesday, the 22d inst., when the memory of Washington was again associated with peace, in conformity to previous arrangements, the inhabitauts, at an early hour, assembled at the Bank, where, after listening to the official declaration of Peace, read by the first Marshal, they were escorted in procession to the South Meeting-house. A large concourse of people was assembled. The Rev. Mr. Emerson read appropriate scriptural selections, and then addressed the God of Peace with mingled effusions of patriotism aud devotion. An elegant and interesting address was delivered by the Bev. Mr. Abbot, with his characteristic energy and propriety of manner, followed by a pertinent concluding prayer by the Rev. Mr. Whiting. Select pieces of music were well performed by an uncommonly numerous choir under the direction of Mr. Isaac Flagg. The bells were rung and salutes fired by the two artillery companies of exempts, at sunrise and during the moving of the procession. The escort honors were handsomely performed by the Light Infantry company, commanded by Capt, Wm. Thorndike, which on this occasion made its first public appearance ; aiid all the proceedings were conducted with the attention and decorum due to the day. After the jjublic performances, a large number of the citizens dined together in the town hall ; Moses Brown, Esq., was elected their President, and Nicholas Thorndike, Nathaniel Goodwin, and Josiah Gould, Esqrs., Vice-Presidents. A large number of patriotic toasts circulated with the glass, and the company separated at a seasonable hour, after a temperate foretaste of the blessings of Peace. In the evening, the Bank and several conspicuous private buildings were neatly illuminated."

Among the twenty "patriotic toasts circulated with the glass," at this "temperate foretaste," are a few which, like the above-quoted description, give us an insight of the times, the motives for action, and the prevailing condition of affairs.

"(5.) His Excellency, Caleb Strong - May we never forget, that though we have felt the inconveniences of War, it is to him we owe our preservation from ita horrors.

" (10.) Our Army - Having gathered a, full harvest of honor, in defence of our own territory, may it never have occasion to glean in the field of our neighbors."

" By Joshua Fisher : The Fisheries - ' Free-trade and sailors' rights' - May they not be abandoned by our Government, although forgotten by our Envoys.

1820. - Four delegates were elected to attend the convention of five hundred met for amending the constitution, - Nathan Dane, Robert Rantoul, John Low and Rev. Nathaniel W. Williams.

1824, August 31st. - The great event of this year was the reception to Ge neral Lafayette, who passed through the town (August 3ist) on his grand tour through the country. A salute of thirteen guns on Ellingwood Point announced his approach; anarch spanned the bridge, decorated with flowers and flags, and inscribed: " Welcome, Lafayette, the man whom we delight to honor ! "

He was welcomed in a brief but eloquent address by the Hon. Robert Rantoul, to which he feelingly replied, and then continued his journey. Many people yet residing with us remember the visit of Lafayette, and all allude to the day as having been exceptionally rainy. The following is Mr. Rantoul's account of the visit, taken from his " Reminiscences," published in the Essex Institute " Historical Collections : "

"A committee of arrangements was constituted to prepare for liis reception. This committee invited me to make an address to him. He was so situated, in regard to his stopping at Salem and at Ipswich, that he could not alight here ; it was therefore arranged that he should stop with the escort and cavalcade in front of the bank-house on Cabot St., and receive the address in his coach. When he arrived at the proposed place there was a heavy shower of rain ; his coach stopped abreast the front door of the house, the door of his carriage was thrown open, and I proceeded in the midst of the heavy rain from the door of the house to the side of the coach, having first secured Nathaniel Lamson to hold an umbrella over me. I stood in the water with my hat under my arm, and read the address I had prepared, to which he made a reply ; but his foreign accent, the excitement of the occasion and my perturbation prevented mo from fully understanding it. This being accomplished, the cavalcade moved on for Ij^swich, amidst the cheers of those assembled around the bank, and the pelting of a drenching rain."

In 1824 was established the Liberty Lodge of Freemasons, with Colonel Jesse Sheldon as its first master, and Stephens Baker as secretary. This lodge has flourished from the first, and now embraces many of our leading citizens.

In 1867 the Masons erected a large brick building at the corner of Cabot and Washington Streets, which was then considered the finest of its class in town, and cost over twenty thousand dollars. The Amity Chapter of Royal Arch Masons was chartered subsequently, and occupies the hall, while stores and numerous ofiices absorb the space of the first and second floors.

1826. - May 15th the town lost a valued citizen by the death of Dr. Abner Howe, who was born in Jaffrey, N. H., 1781, and graduated from Dartmouth in 1801. He was eminently successful as a physician, and interested in public and private charities and the schools. The house he lived in, on Washington Street, is now occupied by his son, Captain Octavius Howe.

1827. - Captain John Low, a one-time resident of Beverly, who died in Lyman, Maine, in his eightysecond year, raised a company here for the Continental army at the commencement of the Revolution, and at one time kept a public house near the ferry landing.

1829. - At the Farms, this year, a church was organized, and the Re^. Benjamin Knight ordained pastor, September 2d. It started as a " Christian " Church, but afterwards became, under the lead of Mr. Knight, united with the Baptist denomination in 1834. The cost of its first house of worship, which was built of bricks from the old factory at North Beverly, was one thousand six hundred dollars, and it was dedicated February 23, 1830. In 1831 it was presented, by the First Church, with a silver tankard, as a token of its love and good-will. Mr. Knight severed his pastoral relations with the church in 1834, and was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Gilbert, then by Rev. P. P. Sanderson, March, 1840-42 ; Rev. Sumner Hale, 1842-47 ; Rev. C. W. Redding, 1848-56 ; Rev. Samuel Brooks, 1857-60 ; various "supplys" from 1860-67 ; Rev. J. W. Lothrop, 1867-70 ; Rev. Chas. W. Flanders, 1870-74; Rev. C. W. Redding. 1874 - 81, when he resigned, on account of ill health, but still resides at the Farms ; Rev. E. M. Shaw, 1881 -84; Rev. J. D. Smith, 1885-86; Rev. T. R. Reed, stated supply from October, 1886, to present date. The present church was erected in 1843-44, at a cost of five thousand dollars.

vention was held in Topsfield to found a county lyceura. This most valuable method of disseminating knowledge was publicly advocated in this town, and the Beverly Lyceum was one of the very first established, by independent effcM't of its citizens. As early as 1830, '31 and '32, Robert Rantoul, Sr., delivered before it his lectures on local history, which formed the basis of Stone's work on Beverly. During the twenty years and more of its existence, it was ably supported, and many famous names appear among the lecturers on its platform. It is recorded that Horace Greeley and Elihu Burritt each received fifteen dollars for a lecture, and that the former was very much surprised to receive an invitation to appear a second time. George Bancroft, Wendell Phillips, Chas. Sumner and Theodore Parker, received twelve dollars each. Ex-President John Q. Adams lectured here, as also Miss Lucy Stone, Wilson Flagg, Robert Rantoul, Jr., Mr. Thorndike, Dr. W. C. Boyden, Dr. Augustus Torrey and others of our townsmen.

Owing to the rise of rival associations, the old Lyceum lost support, but the impulse toward this form of intellectual recreation continued, and has been sustained to the present day.

1830-31. - The introduction of coal into this town began about this time. In October, 1831, Messrs. Pickett & Edwards carted two thousand seven hundred and ninety pounds of coal to the hay-scales near the Old South, to be weighed, and then to the house of Jonathan Batchelder; and also other small lots to a few other individuals. October, 1834, fortyseven tons were landed here from a vessel, of which Capt. Stephen Woodbury was master. This lot was sold to forty-three different persons in the space of eleven and one-half mouths. It came in large blocks, and had to be broken up with the top-maul or axe, to prepare it for the stove. Many weary, fretful hours (says Mr. Pickett), were spent in trying to make the "strange stuff" burn; some would finally give it up in despair, but others persevered and made it a success. At present, it is estimated, twelve thousand tons are annually consumed.

Fuel at first came (after the home supply became diminished) from the forests of Maine; but even these are now exhausted, and wood is brought from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

In May of this year, the association purchased land on the northeasterly side of Washington Street, and erected a building in which, June 17th, a school was opened, with Abiel Abbott, of Wilton, N. H., as principal, and Miss Mary R. Peabody assistant.

Chas. A. Peabody, of Tamworth, N. H. (since a judge and a prominent citizen of New York City), succeed Mr. Abbott for one terra, next year, when Edward Bradstreet assumed the position, retaining it till June 30, 1836.

A year previous, January 30, 1835, an act of incorporation had been obtained by Elliot Woodbur}^ Josiah Lovett 2d, Michael Whitney and their associates and successors, as the Beverly Academy.

The officers of the Institution elected February 18, 1835, as trustees, were : Robert Eantoul, Josiah Lovett 2d, Elliott Woodbury, Albert Thorndike, William Endicott, with Wm. Endicott treasurer, and Stephens Baker clerk.

Between the years 1836-41, Thos. B. Webb was principal, followed by Edward Appleton, a Cambridge graduate of 1835. Valued assistants under Mr. , West were: Miss Ann W. Abbott, Miss Mary Williams and Miss Mary T. Weld.

From September, 1847, to November, 1854, Issachar Lefavour was principal, with Miss Phoebe E. Abbott as assistant. Mr. Lefavour, a graduate of Amherst College, who began teaching in Beverly, in 1834. in the old school-house at the Cove, purchased the Academy building in 1848. The building was then situated on the corner of Brown and Washington Streets, but was removed thence, and is now occupied as a shoe fafctory, on Park Street. Mr. Lefavour was the last to maintain the Academy here, and in 1855 accepted a situation as principal of the Ipswich Grammar School, where he taught without interruption nineteen years. He always remained a citizen of Beverly, however, and still maintains, after half a century of valuable service, an undiminished interest in the cause of education. A short-lived academical school was opened previous to the above mentioned, in a building on Washington Street, since removed to Beckford Street, where it was used as the Ryal-Side School-House, but now owned and occupied as a dwelling-house.

1834. - February 21st, the Beverly Anti-Slavery Society was formed. There died in Camden, Maine, December 10, 1834, a native of Beverly, Mr. Robert Thorndike, at the age of one hundred years and five months.

1835. - On February 5th Nathan Dane departed this life, who was born in Ipswich December 27, 1752. Another lawyer of local eminence, who at one time studied in the office of Mr. Dane, closely followed him' at his departure, - William Thorndike, born in Beverly January, 1795, died July 12, 1835. He fitted for college at Phillips Academy in Exeter, and graduated with distinction from Harvard in 1813. He was admitted to the Essex bar in 1816, and comm enced the practice of law in Bath, Me., but in a few years returned to his native town to engage in mercantile pursuits. Here he was elected to fill positions of trust and honor ; he pronounced the Fourth of July oration of 1816, was a representative at General Court in 1826 and '27, and a senator in 1828 and four years succeeding, during the last of which he was i^resident of the Senate. He was for several years superintendent of the First Parish Sundayschool, and at his death at the head of financial institutions in Boston.

A noteworthy celebration of America's independence was that of this year's anniversary, on the occasion of which Edward Everett delivered the oration, taking for his theme the early life of George Washington.

An immense audience greeted him in the Dane Street Church meeting-house, where, for an hour and a half, they had the enviable pleasure of listening to this distinguished orator. After the intellectual feast had concluded, the citizens of the town, with invited guests, repaired to the Common, where a pavilion bad been erected, and there sat down to a substantial dinner. Robert Rantoul, Sr., presided, and among the assembled participants were twelve Revolutionary soldiers, probably the last survivors of those gallant sons of liberty our town had provided in such numbers. Although many toasts were drunk, it is related that the president of the occasion and many influential citizens set a commendable example of total abstinence from intoxicants.

" The orator of the day : The union of genius, talents and industry, regulated by virtuous principle, will alwaj's command respect and esteem from a free and enlightened community. The power of eloquence, when employed to promote harmony, union and peace among friends and neighbors, excites the most grateful feelings and merits the warmest praise."

Josiah Lovett, 2d, was chairman of the committee of fourteen who so wisely conceived and ably elaborated the plan of the celebration, and the Beverly Light Infantry did escort duty on the occasion. There is a tradition current now, at this date fifty years removed from the event, that there was prospect of the festivities being interrupted, early in the day, by the appearance of a "suspicious-looking Southerner," armed with pistols. As this gentleman made earnest enquiry for Mr. Everett, some zealous officials promptly arrested him and took his pistols away from him. But when he was permitted to send a note to Mr. Everett, his identity was established as a reporter for the New York Herald, at all events not an enemy

At a town meeting held August 20, 183.5, a committee was appointed to secure the change of location of the Eastern Railroad, from the east side of Essex Bridge (as projected) to the west, and this was complied with in 1837.

The old ways of traveling were now to give way to the new method with propulsion by steam, and at the advent of the iron horse came the edict of banishment for the antiquated coach and stage, with their numerous and interesting retinues of attendants. But various stage and transportation lines were kept up until very recent times, the last (or one of the last) being Trask's stage to Gloucester, terminated within the memory of many of the younger generation.

Even this solitary representative of the past, - this lumbei-ing stage with its four prancing horses and jolly driver, making its daily trips between Salem and Gloucester, awoke great interest all along the line, and gave us a hint of what the stage-coach must have been in tlie hey-day of its existence.

It is a tradition, firmly believed in by all who were favored with a glimpse of Trask and his "turn-out," that the stage of ancient times was a most glorious thing, bright with varnish, with gorgeous landscapes painted on its panels, numerous straps dangling temptingly just out of reach of the small boy, and mysterious recesses within its spacious interior. And thebroad-visaged, rubicund driver, with his expansive smile and hearty ways, his long-lashed whip that could easily reach a "cut behind" - but rarely did - he was a king on a throne, and, if he were conscious of the envy and admiration he excited, would certainly have put on kingly airs.

The last stage coach has now been relegated to the most neglected corner of shed and barn, its only occupants the feathered bipeds of the farm-yard ; for, even in regions remote, that were wholly unknown in the days of its glory, such as Texas, California and the highlands of Mexico, it has been steadily pursued and persistently demolished by the iron monster - that first entered our territory as a humble servitor, but now threatens to crush us beneath the steel-shod hoofs of monopoly. The last of the old stage-drivers of the Boston line was Woodbury Page, who was also the first station agent here of the railroad company. His old stage, " The Rambler," was for a long time stored in a barn on the Bancroft estate, which was burned to the ground, with all its contents, about 1850. Woodbury Page, though a native of New Hampshire, was connected, through his mother, with the AVoodburys, of Beverly.

1836. - A body of its members retired from the Dane Street Church, and organized as a distinct society, February 8, 1837, by the name of the "Washington Street Church."

The first pastor was Rev. William Bushnell, installed January 3, 1838, and dismissed May 9, 1842. Rev. George T. Dole was ordained October 6, 1842, and dismissed July 1, 1851.

Rev. Alonzo B. Rich, installed December 8, 1852, was dismissed August G, 1867. During his ministry the greatest number (one hundred and fourteen) were added to the church.

1840. - The first Universalist Society was organized February 17, 1840, with Daniel Hildreth, Stephen Homaus, Jeremiah Wallis, Benjamin D. Grant and William A. Foster as parish committee. Among its early preachers were Revs. John Prince, Henry Bacon, William Hooper and Sylvanus Cobb, but the first settled jjastor was Rev. E. H. Webster, in 1843.

In 1846 a church was erected, which was enlarged and beautified in 1863, and every demand anticipated of the increasing needs of its congregation. After Mr. Webster came Rev. W. G. Cambridge, for a year and a half, followed by Rev. John L. Stephens, who remained a year and then withdrew from the ministry and entered political life. He was afterwards editor of the Keimebec Journal and subsequently was appointed United States Minister to Uruguay and Paraguay, and later to Norway and Sweden.

Rev. Mr. Washburn came to the pastorate in 1847, and continued till May, 1851, when he resigned, on account of ill-health, and died the same year. Rev. Stillman Barden occupied the pulpit two years, resigned in 1853, and died in Rockport in 1865.

September 19, 1856, Rev. John Nichols was settled over the church, and continued in service here for eleven years, impressiug the entire community with the purity of his life and sincerity of purpose. The day of his valedictory sermon was also the day of his death, as he was stricken with paralysis of the brain that afternoon, and died the same evening.

Rev. G. W. Whitney was ordained July 24, 1867, and resigned in April, 1872. In November, 1872, the Rev. J. N. Emery was installed, remaining here until 1884, and is now at Bellows Falls, Vt. Like his predecessors, he acquired the confidenceof his fellowcitizens and exerted an infiuence for good. From 1884-85 Rev. E. W. Prebble preached here, and Rev.

The present congregation numbers about three hundred individuals. There is a well-attended Sundaj'-school, of which one of our influential citizens, Samuel Porter, was (until 1886) superintendent for thirty years.

1840. - In the great Whig campaign of this ye^r Beverly partook of the general excitement. The population of the Farms and Cove marched to the Centre in procession, with banners flying, and on the day of the great convention at Charlestown the town seemed almost entirely deserted, so universal was the attendance.

1841. - All town-meetings, previous to 1798, had been held in the First Parish meeting-house, but in this year a building was erected as a town and schoolhouse combined. In town-meeting March 12, 1798, " the committee appointed to view and report the disposition of the rooms in the new Grammar Schoolhouse find the large chamber in the upper story in said house (with another row of benches), will accommodate one hundred and forty persons, and therefore recommend that this chamber in future be appropriated to and occupied for the purposes of town-meetings and town affairs, and that the western room be appropriated more immediately for the use of the selectmen and assessors.

It was then voted that " All future town-meetings shall be warned and holden in the chamber in the new Grammar School-house, known by name of the Town Hall, instead of the place they are now held."

This old town hall stood on the hill back of the present Briscoe school-house, was of two stories in height, with a cupola and bell. In 1842 it was given over to the exclusive use of the Grammar School, and was thereafter known as Briscoe Hall, until 1874. In 1841, with a portion of the United States surplus assigned the town it purchased the Thorndike mansion, which was built by Andrew Cabot some sixty years previously, and fitted it up for the uses of the town officials, with a large hall for public meetings. This edifice was a beautiful example of the best buildings of the period of its construction, and long stood an ornament to the business centre of the town.

It was opened to the public October 26, 1841, with religious exercises and an address by Robert Rantoul, Jr., who, though at first opposed to its purchase, gracefully admitted his mistake. The work of alteration was ably supervised by a committee of citizens, of whom the only survivor is Augustus N. Clark, who has, for nearly fifty years, been prominent in works for the welfare of the town. This hall, at various times enlarged and improved, answered the needs of the community for nearly thirty years. But the growing demands for hall and library space, for rooms in which to transact town affairs, and greater security of property, necessitated its enlargement in 1874. The lines of the original structure were obliterated, but ample accomodations were secured for all the purposes of town business. The cost of the later alteration was about thirty thousand dollars.

The Thorndike property, which included a garden of great attractiveness, and extended from Cabot to Lovett Streets, was thrown open to occupation, at the time of its purchase by the town, and is now covered by some of our finest estates.

A grandson of Rev. Thomas Blowers (second minister of the First Parish) died at Halifax, N. S., in October, 1842, at the age of one hundred years. He was the oldest surviving graduate of Harvard College, and had long occupied an eminent judicial position.