Essex County, Massachusetts - Beverly, 1888 (part 4 of 5)

1845-46. - The Mexican war was more unpopular in Beverly than the War of 1812, and there were few enlistments of our citizens. These, it is believed, joined the ranks of the regular army : Thos. J. Pousland (who was among the missing in the last war ot the rebellion) ; Joseph Bradshaw and Charles F. Dodge. Mr. Bradshaw (now seventy-two years old, and Mr. Dodge, who is about ten years his junior, receive pensions from the general government, under the new law. Mr. Dodge, who is still hale and hearty, and who diligently pursues bis vocation, as a builder, retains vivid recollections of the most eventful scenes of the Mexican invasion. He enlisted in December, 1846, in the battery of mountain-howitzers which became so famous as " Reno's Battery " in the operations of the Valley of Mexico. As he was with the troops under General Scott, he was at the bombardment of Vera Cruz, where he first landed on Mexican soil, and marched thence up the mountain slopes to Cerro Gordo. In this famous pass of CeiTO Gordo the Mexicans, under Santa Anna, were strongly posted, with a numerous force, and guns guarding every possible approach. Contrary to the expectations of the enemy. General Scott did not march directly into the yawning jaws of the gorge, where certain destruction awaited him and his army, but spent several days in opening a road along one of the high and apparently inaccessible hills, in this manner flanking the strongest batteries and forcing the Mexicans to retreat in confusion.

This masterly move won the admiration of all the old soldiers, many of whom had been with the dashing Taylor at Monterey and Buena Vista, and were disposed to murmur at Scott's slow advances. But this was the secret, perhaps of his success, for the lives of his men were precious to him, not only for their own sakes, but on account of the small force with which he was making this invasion.

Mr. Dodge was detailed to go back to communicate with the lieutenant of his company, and in doing so saw the brave General Shields, who was lying on a hillside desjierately wounded. He had the pleasure of meeting General Shields thirty years later, in 1878, on the occasion of a lecture delivered here by the latter, when they spent several hours in recounting the scenes through which they had passed together, and Mr. Dodge occupied a place on the platform, while the General gave his lecture on the war. In the great march up the slopes of the plateau to the table-land, through Jalapa, Perote and Puebla, and in the strategic operations about the Valley of Mexico, Mr. Dodge was in constant service. In addition to Cerro Gordo, he was in the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec and the city of Mexico.

When the brave Reno was wounded the command of the battery devolved upon Beauregard, for whom, as well as Pillow and Scott, he had great admiration. For General Scott, indeed, he had that fervent admiration understood only by one who participated in the desperate conflicts on Mexican soil, when the great general so successfully led that little army of ten thousand against such overwhelming odds and into the heart of a country swarming with enemies. Our townsman was one of the first tlirough the breach in the western wall of Chapultepec, but declares that General Scott was on the castle esplanade almost as soon, looking about solicitously for the wounded and complimenting the boys on their gallant and successful charge.

After Chapultepec had been carried, the city of Mexico was virtually in Scott's possession, for the guns of the castle on its rock-ribbed hill commanded every portion. But the enthusiastic soldiers dashed down the sides of the hill and along the great aqueduct away from Chapultepec to the city, charging in and out its hundred arches, to the very gates of the ancient Aztec stronghold. They carried the gates and overcame some of the barricades, when night fell about them and necessitated a halt; bat they held what they had captured, and completed the conquest on the morrow. One of the guns of the battery to which Mr. Dodge was attached was taken by General (then Lieutenant) Grant into the tower of a church, and this mountain howitzer figures conspicuously in the account of the doings of Grant at that time. During the American occupation of Mexico Mr. Dodge twice performed the journey between Vera Cruz and the city of Mexico and return ; once in doing 'escort duty after the Mexican surrender. This is but one episode, briefly sketched, of a single soldier of Beverly ; could the history of each one's adventures be given, it would fill a volume.

1848-49. - " The California Fever." - Through the acquisition of Texas, New Mexico and California, a vast territory was thrown open to exploration, as the outcome of the Mexican War. The great excitement over the discovery of gold in California was felt in Beverly as in few other places, the majority of its male inhabitants being fishermen, or connected in some way with maritime affairs.

It was at least twenty years prior to this event that gold was brought from the Pacific coast by Capt. John Bradshaw, who got it of the Indians in trade. It was in the form of gold-dust, of a coarser grain than the African gold, and of a different color. Capt. Bradshaw, who claimed to be the first to hoist the American flag on the Northwest coast, traded there for many years ; he used to refit in the Sandwich Islands, and is mentioned in Dana's "Two Years before the Mast." Mr. Joseph D. Tuck was postmaster during this period, and says the great event of this time was the arrival of the first mail acros> the Isthmus from California. The rate for letter postage was forty cents per ounce, yet some gold-dust and even grains of the precious metal found its way through the mails to expectant friends of the tar-distant miners. Although the gold country was on the other side of the continent and in a region almost inaccessible, yet neither distance nor prospective danger deterred our hardy population from making the venture. They had faced the dangers of the seas for years, and a voyage around the Horn was to them a matter of small moment.

Of those who had determined to seek the golden country, many united in purchasing and fitting out vessels. One party started on the overland journey across Texas, but some of them died of cholera at Corpus Christi, and the others were obliged to return and seek a more practicable route.

There was then no railroad reaching out westwardly across the Mississippi, and only the trail was known across Texas and New Mexico opened by American soldiers a year or two previously. Even this was little known, the territory through which it led having then but recently been acquired from Mexico. The first vessel to fit for Californi'a, it is said, was the brig "Sterling," Capt. Edmund Gallop, whose residence was at the Cove.

The second party sailed from Salem in the " Elizabeth ; '' in 1850 the " Metropoli-*," Capt. John C Bennett. Various parties were fitted out, in fact, Beverly's population being greatly depleted. If a man could not go himself, he would, perhaps, invest in another's venture, and sometimes two or more would combine to fit out. a man who had no capital other than his brain and muscle. A frequent question of those times was : " Don't you want half a man ? " meaning a half-interest in some miner's adventure.

The most important venture was made by forty men of the county, thirty-six of whom belonged to Beverly, who purchased and fitted for a long sea-voyage, the new and fine barque "San Francisco," of 320 tons, then just built in Portland.

They chose Capt. Thomas Remmonds as master, John G. Butman as chief mate, and Andrew Larcom second mate. They set sail from Beverly, these later Argonauts in search of the golden fleece, with as little concern for the vast voyage ahead of them as now we of the present generation would take palace-car for " Frisco." They were five months on the voyage, doubled the Horn, .coasted the western shore of the two ' continents, and arrived at their destination without

They landed first in San Francisco, and then went up to Sacramento, where they shared out their provisions, sold their vessel at a great sacrifice, and went into the mines. The story of their adventures has been practically repeated a thousand times ; in fine, they did not find the golden treasure they had dreamed of, and few of them returned with much to show for their labors. They could have made more in California at labor in the woods and fields, for wood that any one might cut brought sixteen dollars a cord, and labor was from ten to fifteen dollars per day.

Many of them remained two years ; some even stayed from ten to twenty years ; but the homeward migration soon commenced. Most of them returned via the Isthmus, and suffered terribly. One of our citizens, Samuel O. Gallop, broke his leg on the Isthmus, and died of the accident in New York.

Mr. Larcom and a companion came across Nicaragua, in an ox-cart, with two Indian guides, who couldn't speak a word of English. As they spoke no Spanish, their course was sometimes a difficult one and their adventures amusing, as well as sometimes dangerous. Mr. Larcom, who is now living at eighty years of age, and who is one oi^ our keenest sportsmen yet, was on the coast of Sumatra, in 1831, when the ship " Friendship " was taken by native pirates who killed some of the crew and drove the rest overboard. The crew of his ship, the " James Monroe," retook the abandoned vessel after a lively fight with the pirates and brought her home. Mr. Larcom is probably the only survivor who participated in this fight ; and there are but seven others, living in town, who went in the "San Francisco" around the Horn; Albert, Charles and Edward Perry, Charles Pickett, Daniel Wallis, Thos. D. Davis and Josiah Bennett. Many of the original " Forty-niners " died on the voyage or at the mines, and but few are left of those who returned.

1851. - Bass River Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, installed at Bell's Hall, February 21st, by M. W. G. Master Usher. A hall built for its use in 1857 was destroyed by fire 1873, but in 1874-75, the fine block now owned by the Order was erected, at a cost of about sixty-five thousand dollars. It is situated opposite the town-hall, is of brick, with trimmings of granite, and contains, besides the halls used by the lodge, some of the most eligible store-space in town. The post-office occupies the entire rear half of the lower floor, with entrances from Wallis and Thorndike Streets.

The lodge now numbers about four hundred members, its receipts during its existence have been large, and its expenditures for benefits and charities on a generous scale-

1852. - August 7th, this year, Robert Rantoul, Jr. died, in Washington, a biographical sketch of whom is elsewhere given in this volume. It needs no mention, perhaps, that the greatest in the land brought their tributes here and laid them on Rantoul's grave. In the United States Senate, Charles Sumner sketched his career and pronounced his eulogy:

"He was born August 13th, 1805, at Beverly, the home of Nathan Dane, author of the immortal ordinance by which freedom was made a perpetual heirloom in the broad region of the Northwest. Here, under happy auspices of family and neighborhood, he commenced life. Here his excellent fitther, honored for his public services, venerable also with years and flowing silver locks, yet lives to mourn his last surviving son.

"The death of such a man, so suddenly, in mid-career, is well calculated to arrest attention and to furnish admonition. From the love of family, the attachment of frieads and the regard of fellow-citizens he has been removed. Leaving behind the cares of life, the concerns of State and the wretched strifes of party, he has ascended to those mansions where there is no strife, or concern, or care. At last he stands face to face in His presence whose service is perfect freedom . You and I, sir, and all of us, must follow soon. God grant that we may go with equal consciousness of duty well done."

The offering of Whittier has become a part of the permanent literature of our country, familiar to every reader of his poetry ; yet we must be pardoned if we quote it here entire ; for it belongs to us, who dwell, -

1853. - The Beverly lasurance Company was incorporated, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. Frederick W. Choate was president for many years. About 1880 the stock was sold at par to gentlemen of Boston, and the name changed to the Merchants' Insurance Company, with Chas. H. Fuller, president, and Elisha Whitney, secretary, doing business in Boston till 1886.

Mark Morse, who died March 18, 1854, at the great age of ninety-six, was a private in Capt. John Low's Company, in Col. Hutchinson's Regiment, August 1, 1775, according to the muster-roll of that date, which is still preserved at the State House in Boston. Mr. Morse was a respected resident of that part of Beverlv known as the Cove, and lived in the house (still standing) on Ober Street, just west of its junction with Woodbury Street. It is within a short distance of the spot on which Humphrey Woodbury (about 1630) built one of the first houses in Beverly; a section rich in reminiscence, and the home of many of the hardy fishermen that once materially contributed to the wealth of Beverly.

It is, the historian is well aware, contrary to the popular opinion that any survivor of the Revolution abode with us beyond 1850. On the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Lexington, in 1850, but two survivors of that fight are mentioned as among the living : Jonathan Harrington, of Lexington, aged ninety-two, and Amos Baker, of Lincoln, aged ninety-four. These honored men sat on the platform, the chief guests of the occasion, and were feelingly alluded to by the speakers.

In the town records, between 1820-30, are many allusions to the demise of Revolutionary veterans, becoming less- and less frequent beyond the thirties and forties, and ceasing entirely within forty years of the present time. In 1822 (to cite a few illustrious names) Col. John Francis died, aged sixty-eight; he was wounded in the war and received a small pension. Aaron Francis, his brother, died 1825, aged seventyfour, an oflicer in the Revolution. The year following died Peter Glover, aged eighty-five. In 1821 Asa Herrick, aged seventy-nine. Capt. Hugh Hill, our famous privateer, deceased 1829, at the ripe old age of eighty-eight. The same year, Jeffrey Thissell, at seventy-four.

In 1833, at the age of ninety-one, departed Sarah Wyer, a sister of the brothers Francis. Sergt. William Taylor Manning, a Virginian by birth, but long a resident of Beverly, died in 1838, aged eighty-one. Sergt. Manning served throughout the war, and at the close received an honorable discharge signed by Washington, bespeaking his worth and merit. In 1842, the year Stone's " History of Beverly " was published, casual mention is made of a Revolutionary soldier, Ebenezer Rea. According to the muster-roll of November, 1776, he was then enlisted. He died November 11, 1843, aged eighty-three. Upon his tomb-stone, to be seen in the second cemetery, is inscribed : " He was beloved and honoured all his life and lamented in death as the true friend, the upright and patriotic citizen, the enlightened and devoted Christian ; " but no mention is made of his war record. He lived in the old house at the Cove, on Hale Street, still known as the Rea-house, the oldest in that neighborhood, perhaps in the town, built by one of the first Thorndikes, and a fine example of the colonial architecture. Ebenezer E,ea's father was Capt. Joseph Eea, who was one of the Revolutionary committee of correspondence, and commanded the company enlisted in Beverly and Lynn which went to the aid of Washington in New Jersey. Capt. Ebenezer was fifteen years old at the time of the battle of Lexington, and, it is said, used to relate many anecdotes of events that transpired in town during the war.

After serving in the army, he sailed for the West Indies, in the " Resource," with Capt. Richard Ober, when he was taken prisoner by the British and carried into Jamaica. He was not confined closely, but was transferred with other sailors to the "Pelican," a British man-of-war which foundered at sea, four of the crew being lost. He obtained his liberty in 1782, and arrived safely home, to dwell with his neighbors during sixty years of comparative peace.

Rev. Elisha S. Williams, at one time pastor of the Baptist Church, and who died in Beverly in 1845, aged eighty-seven years, four months, was a soldier under Washington. The last of these patriots, probably, next to Mark Morse, was Josiah Foster, who died, at the age of eighty-nine, in 1849. Mr. Foster was one of the captured crew of the snow " Diana," imprisoned in Mill Prison, England, in 1781, By no means complete, this scattering record of " Revolutioners " is given merely, to indicate the probable survivors, at difi'erent periods, of that most important epoch of our historj'.

To the faithful portraiture following, from the skilled and loving hand of Rev. Dr. A. P. Peabody, who knew so intimately the departed, little may be added.

" Robert Rantoul was the son of Robert Rantoul (a native of Scotland, who early became an American citizen, was a shipmaster, and was lost at sea in 1783), and of Mary, daughter of Andrew and Mary (Lambert) Preston, of Salem. The subject of this sketch was born in Salem, November 23, 1778. The eldest child of a family left with a scanty competence, it was the ambition of his boyhood to relieve his mother's burdens, and to minister to her support and comfort, and after a short but thorough apprenticeship, at the age of eighteen, he invested his small patrimony in the establishment of a druggist's shop in Beverly. He understood his business, was diligent, frugal and enterprising, obtained the respect and confidence of his townsmen, and remained in his original calling for more than twenty years, till forced to abandon it by the pressure of various public trusts and duties which demanded and filled his whole time, till, in a late old age, he yielded to disabling infirmity. Meanwhile he had acquired not wealth, but property amply sufficient for his comfortable living, and his never stinted charities.

In 1801 he married Joanna, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Herrick) Lovett, of Beverly, whose preeminently lovely character gave grace and happiness to his home for nearly half a century, and whose precious memory has an enduring place in the hearts of all that knew her.

Shortly after his marriage he built, on a beautiful site near the seashore, the house in which he lived for more than fifty years, and which is still in the possession and occupancy of his only surviving daughter.

Of Mr. Rantoul's public life the following synopsis is an authentic, and probably a full record. It would hardly permit of being fuller: He was an overseerof the poor of Beverly from 1804 to 1854, when he resigned, having written fifty consecutive annual I'eports ; a justice of the peace and acting trial justice for the town from 1808 until his death in 1858, as well as parish clerk of the First Parish for the same period, and deacon of the First Church, for forty-six years before his death ; an original and life-long member of the Massachusetts Temperance Society from its inception in 1812; was, from 1830 to 1851 inclusive, an original trustee, on the part of the State, of the Institution for the Education of the Blind; represented the town in the General Court for the years from 1809 to 1819, from 1823 to 1827 and from 1828 to 1833 inclusive, having been chosen a Senator from Essex County for the years 1820, '21 and '22, - a total legislative term of twenty-five years ; was captain of the Light Infantry Company of Beverly from 1805 to 1809; and first lieutenant of the Coast-guard Artillery Company in 1814-15; was for some years one of the county commissioners of highways, and presented, at the invitation of the town, August 31, 1824, an address to Lafayette on his tour through Beverly ; was a member of the school committee lor forty years ; a member of two State Conventions which have been held (1820 and 1853) for amending the Constitution of Massachusetts, and called the latter to order; and, after reaching his majority in 1799, attended every annual town meeting but one, and nearly every town meeting held in Beverly, until 1854, a period of fiftyfive years.

It may well be inferred from this list that his was a pre-eminently busy life, especially as it was his uniform habit to do thoroughly to the full measure of his ability whatever he undertook to do. For many years, as justice of the peace, he had probably ninetenths of the business of Beverly and the smaller adjacent towns, and his office became a well-known and frequented court-room. At the same time, his intimate knowledge of the laws actually in force made him a safe and wise counsellor, and he was constantly called upon for his opinion and advice, which was always given gratuitously, and always with the jiurpose of settling disputes and superseding litigation. During the greater part of his service in the Legislature he was chairman of the Committee on Accounts, and in that capacity it was his wont to audit the entire accounts of the State, and to report against every charge that W8S not reasonably fair, fully authorized and legally due. In his care of the poor he kept the almshouses under constant supervision, while the merits, claims and needs of outside pensioners Avere made the subject of careful enquiry. He took great interest in the public schools, and the teachers and pupils found in him a judge of their work equally discriminating and kind. These various offices he bore, not because he sought them, but because they sought him. His public life lay chiefly within the period when fitness was deemed the prime qualification for a public charge. He would not have lifted his finger to obtain the highest place in the government of the State or the nation, and had he been elected to the humblest post of civic duty, he would have accepted it, and have put into it the best work that could be done for and in it. He belonged (as long as it existed) to the Federalist party, and had the singleness and tenacity of aim and purpose which constituted the enduring praise of its leader, yet undoubtedly led to its Inevitable defeat and disorganization. In the latter years of his life he voted with the Democratic, then with the Free Soil party, but took no active part in the measures of either. In addition to his public and official duties, Mr. Rantoul had a large and beneficent life-work. Private trusts seemed to gravitate spontaneously in his direction, and no man can have had them in greater number or diversity than he, if we except those who make the management of them a profession. As executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, he had in his hands a large proportion of the estates in Beverly, especially when such a charge was a charity. If there was a small or heavily-encumbered estate from which there was a possibility of saving a pittance for a widow or children, he was almost always solicited to assume its management, and there were many instances in which a family that, but for him, would have been left in utter penury, had their s-lender means secured, invested and husbanded by him, without cost, and without ever being reminded of their indebtedness to him. His widowed sister and her children were hardly less under his assiduous and generous charge than if they had lived under his own roof. Of the two orphan children of a brother-in-law, he adopted one as his own daughter, and so managed the patrimony of both as to surrender it on their majority with an incredibly large increase. The late Rev. Dr. Anderson and his two brothers were the step-sons of his sister-in-law, and the sons of a clergyman who left them a very scanty inheritance, which Mr. Rantoul, as their guardian, so administered as to make it suffice, so far as they were informed, for their college and professional education. Two of the brothers died young, but the venerable survivor never ceased to speak with the warmest gratitude and affection of his early care-taker and benefactor.

his time. When, as a military officer, several years before the existenceof the earliest temperance society in the world, he received the company under his command at his own house, he omitted the usual supply of intoxicating liquors, taking care to add to the entertainment more than a full equivalent for their cost. From that time - how long before we do not know - he never tasted such liquors, or had them in his house, and for a long time he found himself, at public tables and on festive occasions, the only waterdrinker.

He was the first person in Massachusetts to stir the question of capital punishment, which he kept constantly before the I^egislature, and toward the discussion of which he contributed largely by legislative reports and through the public i>ress.

Always opposed to slavery, yet equally opposed to philanthropy of the denunciatory type, he was in full sympathy with the advanced opinions of wise and patriotic men in favor of emancipation.

Of Mr. Rantoul's private character it is impossible that any eulogy should exceed the truth. His firm religious faith and principle were made manifest in a rigid conscientiousness which could not neglect or slight any known duty. His integrity was not only strict and unswerving, but often transcended its own proper measure, so that in what he meant as simple justice he was not unapt to wrong himself, sometimes, indeed, at a very serious loss and sacrifice, assuming responsibilities which no one else would have regarded as in anywise belonging to him. While always ready to meet every legitimate call of charity, he was, in fact, much more generous than he seemed. He obeyed in full the evangelic precept of reticence as to his good deeds, and there were many cases in which funds inadequate for the needs which they were to meet could have been made sufficient only as supplemented by his unostentatious kindnes-'.

In his family, as a neighbor, as a friend, as a citizen, no man could have been more trusted, honored and revered than he was, or more deservedly.

Of church and State he was one of the strong pillars, that are never replaced in the public esteem and confidence till the generation that relied on their support has passed away. Mr. Rantoul was never in vigorous health, but seldom ill ; his mind retained its unimpaired vigor till his last illnes-^.^

1859. - The first local paper, The Citizen, established on a sure foundation was started this year, after several previous but unsuccessful attempts. The first paper to bear this name was published by Andrew F. Wales, now deceased, the first number bearing date of March 17, 1851, with Rev. Ira Washburn as editor.

1 Fuither details of Mr. Rantoul's life, and his connection with town affairs, may be found in his " Eeminisceuces," published in the " Historical Collections of the Essex Institute."

Cressy, who, during twenty-three years of ownership, wisely maintained it as a valued depository of local news and history. In 1882 it became the property of Irving W. Allen, under whose management it has been enlarged, but with the main features preserved that conduced to its success.

1860. - In the presidential election of this year the vote of Beverly is recorded : for Lincoln and Hamlin, 739; Bell and Everett, 120; Douglas, 72; Jefferson Davis, 23 ; total, 954.

It must be admitted that the people of Beverly were not unanimously in favor of the Anti- Slavery movement, although its principles had won with the majority. The struggles and triumphs of the friends of the cause are a part of yet unwritten history.

One of them, Mr. A. N. Clark, kindly furnishes the following data regarding the formation of the Beverly Anti-Slavery Society : Although the plan of colonizing Liberia, as a means of civilizing and Christianizing Africa, as well as helping to rid our own country of the curse of slavery, had been earnestly presented to the people of Beverly, in their churches, and contributions sought in aid of that endeavor, it was not till about the year 1832 that immediate emancipation began to be advocated and the rights of the slave to his freedom and citizenship upon the soil where he was born.^ Lectures were frequently delivered upon this exciting theme and earnest debates held before the Beverly Lyceum.

The universal sentiment was opposed to the extension of slavery, but very few, then, were in favor of complete emancipation. The temper of the public mind at that time is well known. By some, Garrison and his immediate followers were denounced as dangerous to the well-being of the nation ; while they, in turn, accused the northern churches of being in fellowship with the South - the " Bulwark of American Slavery " - and declared the Constitution of the United States a "covenant with hell."

There were other advocates who were listened to with more of patience, and who did good service in correcting and moulding public opinion : such men as Pierpont, May, Staunton, Leavitt, Phelps and Phillips.

The church doors, however, had become barred against the Anti-Slavery advocates, and the Old Town Hall became the battle-ground; and this only was secured by some of the citizens giving a bond for its security against violence.

As early as 1833 an Anti-Slavery Society was formed in Beverly, not numerous, for it required courage to " stand up and be counted." The object of the society was to educate public sentiment in regard to the great evil of American slavery and the safety to both races in its immediate overthrow. A library was established for the circulation of tracts and other literature on the question of slavery as was then available. This library, as a matter of convenience, was located at the drug-store of Augustus N. Clark, on Cabot Street, the proprietor of the store acting as librarian. The library case was made by John Tuck, 2d, and by him presented to the society ; it has been carefully preserved, while the library, made up as it was mostly of pamphlets and unbound books, has disappeared.

The society continued during six years, when slavery becoming (1840) an issue in politics, it ceased to exist; but the impetus of the movement could not be arrested ; the result the world knows.

It has been fully shown, in the pages preceding, that the people of Beverly were ever animated by highest principle, and were never wanting in military spirit. A well-trained militia was always to be found here at call ; as early as 1662 there was a foot company under Captain Thomas Lothrop. After his lamented death, at Bloody Brook, Lieutenant William Dixey was appointed to the command, by the General Court, and he was succeeded by Paul Thorndike. A company of horse had been organized previous to 1689, with William Rayment as captain, William Dodge as lieutenant, John Dodge, Jr., cornet, and Thomas West quartermaster.

They were on the point of being disbanded, by order of General Court, in 1690, but at their earnest request were allowed to continue, provided they could furnish " forty able-bodied troopers, equipped according to law," which they did. The services of our soldiers in the various fights with the Indians, and during the Revolution and the war of 1812, have been detailed. Between the peace of 1783 and the end of the eighteenth century the military spirit was at an ebb, but rose promptly with the exigencies of the occasion.

In 1800 (October 17th) the first voluntary association of men as a light infantry company was formed, but not organized ^under the law till June 2, 1801. They were then regularly enlisted under an order from Lieutenant-Colonel James Burnham, of the Third Regiment. Jonathan H, Lovett was chosen captain, Josiah Gould lieutenant, and Robert Ranloul ensign.

This company was disbanded in 1814, but in 1815 another light infantry company was organized, which has existed to the present time. Its first captain was William Thorndike, and his successors various respected citizens eminent in different walks of life. This organization kept alive the spark that might otherwise have become extinguished during the long period of peace ; especially at the annual " May trainings" and "Fall musters."

During nearly fifty years of peaceful life, the Beverly militia had fought its bloodless battles on the training-field ; the monotony of its existence seemed likely to continue unbroken during an equal period, when suddenly there came the occasion for its services.

1861. - It is significant, that, though there were formerly three military companies in Beverly, these had dwindled to one in 1860, and that one a voluntarj^ association. But this one. Company E., Beverly Light Infantry, Avas alert and prepared for action ; its commander had. his " ear to the ground '' for the first premonitions of war.

In the Citizen for January 19th, 1861, is printed the oflicial order by Governor Andrew, for Beverly to be ready at all times to furnish her quota of troops upon any requisition of the President of the United States. The original of this order is now in possession of Colonel Francis E. Porter, then captain of Company E. The paper adds : " In accordance with this order, Captain Porter has notified Company E. to meet at the armory on Monday next, at seven o'clock."

The sequel is thus stated : " Company E. at a special meeting, in response to the order of Governor Andrew, had a full and enthusiastic rally, and sixtyseven readily volunteered for any service that might be required of them by the government."

" The order for the meeting of the Eighth Kegiment was received here on Monday, April 16th, and early on Tuesday morning the flag of the Beverly Light Infantry was waving on their armory. The company mustered in full ranks, and with music, marched to the station to take the 10 50 train for Boston, being frequently greeted by the waving of handkerchiefs bj' the young ladies in the shoe factories on Railroad Avenue. Some time elapsed before the arrival of the train, during which the company went through the drill exercise quite satisfactorily. Before leaving, each oflficer was the recipient of a splendid sword and revolver, gifts from friends here."

"After they had entered the train, and as it left, cheer after cheer rose from the assembled multitude who had gathered to witness their departure. The company is composed of young men who are called away from the scenes of home and cherished associations to serve the land of their birth in the hour of need, and most cheerfully have they responded to the call. The wishes of every loyal citizen and lover of his country go with them.

" While the company were drilling at the station, Mr. William J. Smith, not a member, but whose breast was filled with patriotism, and who has experienced some of the hardships of Texan life, hearing the sound of the drum, dropped his axe and hastened to respond to the call to arms. He left with the company and his name appears on the roll.

The same paper announcing their departure contained, also, the President's proclamation for 75,000 troops, dated Washington, April 15th, the surrender of Sumter, April 13th, the attack on the Sixth Regiment by the Baltimore mob, and the additional information that the Eighth had safely reached Philadelphia and was quartered in the Continental hotel.

"On the loth of April, 1801, (says Schouler's 'Massachusetts in the Rebellion ') Governor Andrew received a telegram from Washington to send forward at once 15,000 men. The drum-beat of the long roll had been struck.

" On the morning of the 16th the companies began to arrive in Boston, and before nightfall every company that had received its order in time reported at headquarters for duty."

Company E. was the first in Massachusetts to report for duty ; Captain Porter received his orders at five P. M., April 15th, when he immediately notified his men in person, reporting ready for duty that night. It was the second to arrive in Boston, and could have been the first, had not Adjutant-General Hinks sent word that the company was not needed before twelve o'clock.

Subscriptions were started for a relief fund for soldiers' families in town, and had reached the amount of two thousand eight hundred dollars on the morning of their departure.

April 20th, a mass meeting was held in the townhall, and patriotic speeches were made by many citizens. The relief fund, at the close of the meeting amounted to three thousand dollars.

The ladies of Beverly organized a society for the furnishing of clothing and other necessaries to the militia of the State. One hundred and thirteen ladies attended the first meeting; Miss Hannah Ran - toul was chosen president, with an able corps of assistants.

Following Schouler's " Massachusetts in the Civil War," we find that the Eighth Regiment, which had arrived in Boston on the 16th, did not leave the city till the 18th, when it marched to the State-House and was presented with a set of regimental colors by Governor Andrews, who also addressed the soldiers in spirited terms. The regiment left Boston at four o'clock that afternoon, greeted everywhere along the route to Philadelphia " with the same unbounded enthusiasm the Sixth had received. General Butler accompanied it as commander of the Massachusetts brigade. The regiment reached New York on the morning of the eventful 19th of April, - when the soldiers of the Sixth were attacked by the Baltimore mob, - and marched down Broadway amid the congratulations of the vast multitude. This was the second Massachusetts regiment that had marched through that city in advance of all others, while two other regiments were on the seas for Fortress Monroe."

"This intelligence gave new energy and enthusiasm to the men, and made them more eager to press forward to Washington. They had expected to reach the capital by way of Baltimore; but that route was now closed, and a new one had to be opened, which served as the military highway to Washington for Eastern troops, until sedition was suppressed in Baltimore, and that city assumed a loyal attitude. The new route was by the Susquehanna and Chesapeake

Bay to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland. A branch railroad of seventeen miles connected Annapolis with the Baltimore and Washington Railroad. By this route, Washington could be reached without touching Baltimore The railroad from Annapolis to the Junction, where it connects with the Baltimore and Washington Railroad, had in part been destroyed, and the engines and cars j^artially disabled. After considerable delay, the track was relaid and the engines and cars put in order by the men of the Eighth, To the Eighth Regiment will ever be the honor of having opened the route to Washington by the way of Annapolis, and of having saved from possible loss the frigate ' Constitution,' the ' Old Ironsides' ofthe War ofl812."

" We doubt whether any other single regiment in the country could furnish such a ready contingent to reconstruct a steam engine, lay a railroad track and bend the sails of a mau-of-\\ ar."

On the arrival of the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment at Annapolis, General Butler found the railroad engine-house locked up. He broke it open, and discovered the engine all in pieces. " Who knows anything about an engine ? " was the question.

A member of the New York Seventh writing of this event at the time, said that Charles S. Homans, of the Beverly Light Infantry, was the deus ex machina, who found his mark written on the disabled locomotive at Annapolis, and superintended its construction.

Mr. William Isaac Smith, who volunteered as fireman on this occasion, was the gentleman who left his labors to join the company in the depot at Beverly.

A letter from Capt. Porter, dated May 8, 1861, describes the regiment as in good condition, undergoing thorough drill and quartered in the House of Representatives.

The Si:?:th Massachusetts Volunteers, he adds, were the first to reach Washington, and the Eighth opened thp nii)itary route from Annapolis. "We should have been the next, had we not received a despatch from General Scott to stop at Annapolis, and guard that post until the arrival of another regiment."

The first man of the regiment injured was Lieut. Moses S. Herrick, of the Beverly Company, who was shot in the foot by the accidental discharge of a musket, in the rotunda of the Capitol. The muskets, loaded with ball cartridges, were stacked around near the wall, and as some men were bringing in mattresses, they knocked a stand down, one of the guns being discharged into Lieut. Herrick's foot, mutilating it terribly. The limb was amputated by the surgeon of the Sixth, and Lieut. Herrick bore his great misfortune bravely, only lamenting that he could not have received the wound while fighting in the field. Attentions of every sort were showered upon him as he lay in hospital, and also en route home and in Beverly, He is residing in Beverly today, in the Upper Parish, the house of the Chipmans and Herricks.

" Resolved, That we tender to the officers and soldiers now absent in the service ofthe country, our warmest meed of praise for their noble and manly self sacrifice, in so readily responding to the national call, and for the skill, energy, perseverance, courage and ability which they so faithfully evinced in their triumphal progress and march to the nation's capital.

" Resolved, That we tender to the far-famed Seventh Regiment of New York, our heart-felt thanks for their many kindnesses to our Eighth Massachusetts Regiment, and especially for their liberality towards our wounded fellow-citizen, Lieut. Moses S. Herrick.

" Resolved, Ih&t our wurmest sympathies be tendered to Lieut, Herrick in his misfortune, and (hat we pledge ourselves to him and to all his associates in our Beverly company, and our other Beverly soldiers, and to their respective families, to render all the material aid and comfort that we can legitimately bestow."

The last of August, 1861, Lieut, John W, Raymond, who had returned with the Eighth, proposed to recruit a company in Beverly, to be attached to the old regiment, if revived, otherwise to some other Massachusetts regiment.

In less than a month he had raised over sixty men, who were encamped under his command on the common. The name proposed for the company was the " Rantoul Guard." The first of October the company chose as officers : Captain, John W. Raymond ; First Lieutenant, Henry P. Woodbury ; Second Lieutenant, Daniel W. Hammond.

On the Sunday succeeding (October 5th), they attended, in a body, divine services at the Washington Street Church, in the morning, and at the Bapti-Jt in the afternoon.

October 15th the gallant captain, with nearly his full complement of one hundred ofthe picked men of the town, went into camp at Lynnfield. Before they had fairly departed from the town a new movement was on foot for the recruiting of another company, with the promise of more than members enough to help fill it at the outset.

The interdependence of soldiers and citizens is well shown in one little incident of this period. A request was sent from Capt. Raymond to Capt. F. E. Porter, at home, for a supply of such shirts as the Ladies' Aid Society had furnished them. The letter arrived on Monday, on Tuesday the ladies were industriously at work, and on Friday they packed and forwarded over one hundred of the required garments to their brave brothers at the front.

The history of the Twenty-third Regiment has been carefully written by Dr. James A. Emmerton, of Salem: " A Record of the Twenty-third Regiment," Boston, 1886.

" Hardly had the year (1862) opened, says the historian, " when these new made soldiers found themselves amid the dangers and privations of Hatteras, and in early February they took a prominent part in the battle of Roanoke Island - one of the completest as it was one of the first of Union victories.

" The capture of Newbern soon followed, and, after that, the regiment, though by no mean^ inactive, saw little of pitched battle for two years.

" In the Virginia campaign of 1864, it was in the forefront of the almost uninterrupted fighting which followed the landing at Bermuda Hundred, and culminated in the stubborn and bloody repulse of Beauregtrd at Drury's Bluff; it gained the foremost ground reached and held by the Eighteenth Corps at Cold Harbor, and bore its full share of the dangers and privations of the early days of the siege of Petersburg. A remnant of its veterans and recruits was employed in picket and outpost duty till the campaign of 1885, when they shared the fortunes of the column which opened communication with Gen. Sherman.''

The first week in May, 1864, the Beverly boys of the Twenty-third lost heavily in killed and wounded. Captains Raymond and Woodbury, of Companies G and F, were captured and wounded, but the former effected his escape by cutting his captor nearly in twain with his sword, while the latter shot his assailant with his revolver. Officers and privates all sustained the honor of their native town at the peril, and many with the sacrifice, of their lives.

An episode of the Drury's Bluff battle (May 16, '64) in which Captain Raymciid was a participant, is narrated in the "Record of the Regiment."

" Captain Raymond, of ' G,' following the retreating regiment, stopped to help a wounded man, Bray, of his company. Concluding, from the bloody torrent gushing from his breast, that he could do no good, he rose to leave him, and found the rebel line, with colors, close upon him. His ccmtemptuous refusal to surrender brought a volley upon him which tore his clothes, carried away his sword-belt and almost blinded him with the dust and bits of bark torn from neighboring trees. Yielding to first impulse, he opened a return fire from his revolver, but speedily recognizing the odds against him, he left the field in the hands of the enemy and escaped into the favoring fog."

" About the 1st of July, Captain Raymond, of " G," who, since we had lost Colonel Chambers, and Major Brewster was disabled by his wound, was, practically, in command of the regiment, had another, and perhaps the closest of his escapes from serious injury. I do not forget that the bullet which, hitting him in the head at Drury's Bluff, left him for a time unconscious, or the missile which passed just below his right armpit, grazing his thorax and arm, at Gold Harbor, came very near his life. This time the immediate disability was more lasting, and the remote effects have never disappeared. He was sitting on a trench, reading a letter, when a shot or shell from some rebel gun plunged through the heaped earth, struck the log on which the captain's shoulder rested, and threw him against the sharp-angled abutment of the stairs. Examination showed a rib broken, another bent, and a third bruised ; but Captain Raymond would not go to the hospital, insisting that he could not be spared, and that his euro would progress as well iu the trenches as anywhere else."

Letters from the front, from our brothers encamped before the enemy throughout the South, from on board men-of-war and gunboats, were for three years prominent in our local papers. They all breathe the same spirit, of fervent patriotism, disregard of danger and high devotion to principle, that infused their ancestors under similar circumstances a hundred years before.

Until the latter part of '61, Beverly had been fortunately exempt from grave casualties, but as the next year opened began the list of dead and wounded that soon lengthened portentously.

1862. - The first soldier killed in conflict with the enemy was private William Wallis, who was fatally wounded in the battle of Newbern, on the 14th of March, and died on the 16th. As a specimen of the thousands of soldiers' letters n( w speeding back to the north with their sad tidings, the following is quoted ; written by a comrade of the deceased to his widow.

On the 19th of April, just a year from the Baltimore massacre, died, private James Williams, another of the soldiers wounded in the Newbern fight. He, with two other comrades, James Dodge and John Glidden, had been badly wounded, he in the leg, by a ball which passed through the knee and dropped into his boot; Glidden was shot through the thigh, and Dodge through the shoulder. Funeral services were held in the Dane Street Church, Eev. Dr. Abbott preaching an impressive sermon. The coffin was deposited in the church, and upon its lid the fatal bullet.

Thus were we reminded of the terrible consequences of war. Scarce a week passed, now, that some name was not added to the death-roll, or that did not witness the return of some disabled patriot. Williams was the first man, as Dr. Abbott said, who had died among us from a wound received on the field of battle.

" That the selectmen of this town be authorized to allow and pay, in addition to the customary allowance for the benefit of the families of volunteers, the sum of one hundred dollars to each person who, as a part of the quota of this Commonwealth, shall within twenty days be duly enlisted in this town into the volunteer service of the U. S. ; payable when mustered into service. The selectmen are ai.thorized to use the credit of the town fully to carry this into effect."

At the same time, recruiting was going on vigorously, with the prospect of a full company of one hundred and one men being raised in a short time.

The Beverly company raised at this time, Company K, was attached to the Fortieth Massachusetts, with Edward L. Giddings as captain, John F. Piper, first lieutenant, Leonard G. Dennis, second lieutenant, and left for the seat of war September 4, 1862.

Company E, of the Eighth, was mustered out August 1, 1861. The next call was made May 26, 1862. Banks having been driven back into the Shenandoah Valley, the government called for more men. Ninety men responded in two hours after orders were received. They proceeded to Boston where, after remaining two days, they found they were not wanted at that time and returned home.

On the 19lh of September, Company E was again mustered in for nine raonlhs, with three officers and ninety-eight men. They departed for Newbern, the day before Thanksgiving, and arrived there on the 4th of December. The next day, before the company received its arras and equipments, it was ordered with Company A of Newburyport to Roanoke Island where it remained till June 28th. It then received orders to join the regiment at Newbern. On reaching Newbern, the company found that the regiment had been ordered to Baltimore and followed on, arriving there July 12th, only to learn that the regiment had gone to Maryland Heights where the company found it finally. The same day, the company started with the regiment for Funkstown Md., where it arrived on the afternoon of the next day, just in season to see the rear of Lee's army across the Potomac. After following it down the Potomac to Bealton's Station on the Rappahannock, the company was ordered to report at Massachusetts, its term of service having expired, arriving about the first of August.

1864. - April 2Sfh, another call was made on Company E, this time for garrison duty at forts in Massachusetts. It proceeded at once to Readville. It was mustered into service with three officers and eighty-eight men who served ninety daj^s and were then mustered out and re-enlisted for one hundred days' service. At the expiration of that time they were mustered out and nearly all the men re-enlisted again, for a year, in the Second Unattached Company, Massachusetts Volunteers. The company was reorganized at once in Beverl}'- with three officers and one hundred men and Avas ready for service during the winter of 1864-65.

On the 21st September, 1887, Company E held a reunion of its surviving members, at which were present many who had served during the Rebellion. With the field music marched drummer George M. Tucker, beating the old drum which he brought from Washington in the summer of '61, with the same sticks which sounded the calls and the long roll, not only for Company E, but for three years in the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery.

1864. - On the 26th of April, the Fifty-ninth Regiment left the State, to join the command of General Burnside. In this regiment were thirty-one soldiers from Beverly, in Companies A, B, C, G and H. Company C was commanded by Captain John H. Chipman, who had returned to recruit for the regiment.

Besides the foregoing, some hundred at least of the Beverly men have served in the array for other places, and nearly as many more have served in the navy.

The whole number of Beverly men who have died in the army and navy is about ninety, or ten per cent, of the whole number enlisted, - a much less percentage than that of our early California emigration.

A reception to our esteemed veterans was given August 4, 18G5, when the day was observed as a general holiday. Soldiers and citizens marched in procession to Standley's Grove (where the tables were spread), marshalled by Col. John W. Raymond, of the military veterans, and Masters' Mates George P. Abbott and George Woodbury, of the navy.

Recapitulation. - The number of enlistments from Beverly in the United States army during the Rebellion was 608 ; in the navy, 74 ; total, 682. The whole number of enlistments, counting re-enlistments for nine months, one hundred days and three years, was 988. The several calls of the government for men were promptly met, and at the close of the war Beverly stood credited with a surplus of 90 men, sufficient to meet her quota on a call of 300,000 men, had it been given. Beverly furnished 32 commissioned officers from the army, most of whom were promoted from the ranks. A large number in the naval service also received commissions as volunteer officers.

Three military organizations represented our town in the army : Companies E, of the Eighth Regiment; G, of the Twenty-third; and K, of the Fortieth, while the rolls of almost every regiment from the eastern part of the State bore the names of Beverly men.

The effects of the war did not cease with the surrender of Lee ; indeed, they may be traced to-day in the battle-scarred and maimed veterans yet in our midst.

rector of St. Peter's, of Salem, the Eev. Wm. R. Pickman. The following year Rev. S. H. Hilliard had it in charge, and in 1865 the church was erected at the corner of Cabot and Bow Streets, with Rev. Mr. Pickman as rector, until his removal to Michigan about a year later. Rev. F. M. Cookson was rector till 1870, and Rev. George Denham till Easter, 1872. From May 13, 1873, to 1878, the Rev. William G. Wells, succeeded by Rev. J. C. Wellwood. In 1885, Rev. Roland C. Smith.

1866. - June 15th, Capt. John H. Chipman died of disease contracted in the service of his country, through exposure, wounds, and the cruelties of the infamous Libby prison. He was scarcely twentyeight years old at the time of his death, yet had won for himself and the place of his birth the highest honors. He was a descendant in the third generation from the Rev. John Chipman, pastor of the Second Parish Church, 1715-75.

Captain Chipman volunteered with the Eighth at three hours' notice and left behind him a bride of but two months. He participated in the march to the capital, but was prostrated by hemorrhage from the lungs, and returned home. Rapidly recovering, he once more enlisted for nine months, serving which he returned, but was soon commissioned a captain in the Fifty-ninth Regiment, raising a company, and was assigned to Burnside's corps. At Cold Harbor he was accidentally wounded in the hand, came home on a furlough, but soon recovered, resumed his command, and entered the rifle-pits before Petersburg. Soon after he was taken prisoner, and confined in several of the horrible pens in which the rebels kept their captives, and was not released until February, 1865. His constitution was now undermined by sickness, but he reported to his regiment as soon as recovered sufficientV, only to be honorably discharged. A year later he sank beneath his infirmities and soon was carried to the grave, having been preceded thereto, two months before, by his young and devoted wife.

The school district system was abolished, and an improved order of things educational inaugurated. The first steam fire-engine was purchased this year. 1867. - The first Methodist Church was organized April, 1867, with Rev. Allen J. Hall as pastor. Services were held in the town-hall at first, but a church and parsonage were built on Railroad Avenue in 1869, during the pastorate of Rev. J. M. Bailey. The church building was enlarged to its present dimensions in 1886, and is a conspicuous feature of the section in which it stands. In 1870 Rev. C. S. Rogers was settled here; in 1872, Rev. S. C. Jackson; in 1874, Rev. M. E. Wright ; in 1877, Rev. A. P. Adams ; in 1878, Rev. Daniel Waite; in 1881, Rev. Seth C. Cary ; in 1883, Rev. John Capen ; in 1885, Rev. James W. Barter.

grounds in the purchase by the selectmen of about ten acres of the Bancroft estate, known as Walnut Hill. This hill, which commands one of the finest prospects in town, lies immediately east of Galley s Bridge.

Fifty years ago there were eight burial places in the township, - two near the second parish church, one in Dodge's Row, one at Ryal Side, one at the Farms and the three in the town proper. The oldest of which mention is made in the records is that near the vestry of the First Parish and intersected by Abbott Street, in which lie the remains of the first three ministers of Beverly, - Hale, Blowers and Champney. This was the only burial-place within the limits of the First Parish until 1790.

The earliest decipherable dates on stones in the ancient burial-place are 1678, 1686, 1683, the last of which is at the grave of Rebecca, wife of Rev. John Hale.

The old graveyard of the Second Parish shows as its most ancient stone that at the grave of Joseph Herrick, bearing date 1717. It was opened 1715, and the first occupants were a child of John Dodge, Jr., and the wife of John Trask. The second cemetery here was laid out, near the meeting-house, in 1803. In the old Leach burial-lot at Ryal Side, is the unmarked grave of Reuben Kennison, the first Beverly soldier killed at the battle of Lexington.

In 1788 a lot of land was purchased near the common, and the first grave there was that of Mary Allen, widow of Capt. Barnabas Allen, in January, 1790. Other stones here indicate the last resting-places of many famous in the eighteenth century and first part of the nineteenth.

An extension of the second cemetery was made in 1829, easterly towards the beautiful Walnut Hill, with which it was joined in 1867, forming one continuous tract of about forty acres.

Longevity. - It may be interesting, in this connection, to note some of the examples of longevity in the past, as shown by the grave-stones and the records of the town. On one stone in the Dane Street cemetery are the names of five members of the Appleton family, whose combined ages reach four hundred and four years, among them one who died at one hundred and three.

" In a town more remarkable for the sober good sense and uaostentatious manners of its inhabitants than for their tastes in the fine arts, the discovery of an undoubted genius is a remarkable event and deserving of record. Miss Quiner, of Beverly, with proper patronage and advantages, would take no mean rank among American artists. Without instruction or cultivation of any sort, her talent for modeling in clay has already attracted much notice."

She died in poverty without having secured that recognition of her genius it so richly deserved. Her portrait, painted by Frothingham, was presented to the public library, and a highly appreciative sketch of her life and work apjieared in the Citizen of about the date of her death.

Memorial Day, 1868, Post 89, G. A. R., placed iron "markers" at the head of every soldier's grave. They then identified one hundred and fifty in all ; a list of names is given in the Citizen of November 2, 1868.

1869. - The Roman Catholic Church, organized this year, purchased and remodeled the house of worship formerly occupied by the First Baptist Society, and built a parsonage adjoining. It was dedicated in 1870 by the Very Rev. P. F. Lyndon, Vicar General of the Diocese of Boston, assisted by Rev. Fr. Singer, of St. Patrick's, Montreal, Rev. Fr. Haskins, of Boston, Rev. Fr. Delehanty, Rev. Fr. Higgins and Rev. J. J. Gray, of Salem. The first pastor was Rev. Fr. Shahan, who was succeeded by Rev. Fr. Keiley, he by Rev. W. J. J. Denvir and he by Rev. W. H. Ryan.

At the Farms, in 1887, a handsome church was built for the Roman Catholics in that section, at a cost of eleven thousand dollars. It is one hundred and ten feet long, sixty-five in width, with seats for five hundred people.

1870. - January 14th. This date died Charles Davis, at the age of seventy-four, a prominent and wealthy citizen who, at his death, left bequests to the Essex Institute, of Salem, and to the First Parish Sunday School, five thousand dollars each. He passed most of his life on the homestead farm, inherited through his mother, near the head of Bass River. The old house here has a connection with witchcraft times, as having been the residence, in 1692, of Thomas Gage, who made deposition against one Dr. Toothaker. It is related that during the War of 1812 a brick oven containing rows of bean-pots stored full of Spanish dollars was bricked up, and the treasure there secreted was not disclosed till many years had passed. Not far away lies the homestead farm of Roger Conant, who came here in 1635, one of the " Old Planters."

1871. - Israel Whitney, a son of Dr. Elisha Whitney, died November 12th, aged seventy-four years; one of Boston's most respected merchants, and of Beverly's cherished sons. As a shipmaster, he was for many years in the employ of Israel Thorndike. His adventures as merchant captain were sometimes perilous, as when his ship " Beverly " was burned at sea, despite his heroic efforts to save her, and when he was exposed to great suffering in an open boat, for several days. Leaving the sea, he became .interested in manufacturing, was for thirty-four years director in the Massachusetts Bank and for thirty years a director in the National Insurance Company, besides having other interests in Boston.

He left nine children, six sons and three daughters. His appreciation of the natural beauties of his native place was emphasized by early residence here, after his retirement from maritime life, in one of the most delightful retreats on the shore, near the mouth of Sallow's Brook.

1872. - On the 28th January, died an old and highly-respected shipmaster of Beverly, Capt. Samuel Endicott, for a long time president of the Bank, and for forty years one of its directors.

(1) Gov. John Endicott, (2) Samuel, (3) Samuel, (4) Samuel, (5) John, (6) Robert, (7) Samuel. He was born July 18, 1793, and was the son of Robert and Mary (Holt) Endicott, his mother being a daughter of Rev. Nathan Holt, of Dan vers. Capt. Endicott was a fine specimen of the shipmasters cf the old school, and sailed for many years in the employ of that eminent Salem merchant, Joseph Peabody. He was for several years in command of the famous ship " George," whose arrival from Calcutta in the spring was as regularly looked for and realized as the recurrence of the months, and which was largely manned by Beverly sailors.

Two worthy citizens, whose lives of probity and industry as mechanics endeared them to all, passed away in January ; Deacon Joseph Wallis, at the age of sixty-five, long connected with the First Baptist Church and Sunday-school, and Reuben Herrick, at the age of sixty-seven years. Deacon Wallis lived in the house of Mr. Herrick, who had three sons in the Civil War : Reuben, Jr., who lost his life, and two others, Benjamin T., and Frank S., who served in the Union Army.

The new almshouse was finished in February, which is located on the side of the cedar-covered hill near Essex Street, commanding delightful prospects by sea and land. The main structure is fifty by sixty feet, with three stories, mansard roof and basement. It contains every convenience of the times, thirty-six furnished rooms for inmates, offices, etc.

The town owns real estate adjoining, to the extent of twenty-seven acres, the cost of which, with the buildings, was about twenty-five thousand dollars. Owing to its eligible location, and its natural advantages, this property could, probably, be sold at any time at a price exceeding its total cost.

The town early gave attention to the condition of its poor, and the few paupers lived well, " boarding around" after the manner in which teachers of country schools are even yet entertained. One of the conditions of contract with a pauper, in 1723, was that he should be " kept as a Christian ought to be kept," and doubtless he was. The name of a certain Joshua Turland frequently appears in the town records as the first supjjorted at the town charge, being entertained first by one substantial citizen, and then by another. The first almshouse was built in 1803, though the town voted to provide one nearly a century earlier. This was situated in Charity Court, near Essex Bridge, and during the latter years of its existence its hospitalities were severely taxed by numerous representatives of the genus " tramp." It was a comfortable old house, and gave a pleasant home to the poor and friendless, who had acquired a right of residence.

A notable character deceased January 17, 1872, in the person of a life-time inmate of the almshouse, - Hector Ross. This " child of natural and unbiased affection '' was born in the poor-house, October 9, 1809; his mother, Joanna Stoutly, and his father, a French West Indian of color, reported of fabulous strength. Hector himself was of great strength (imagining himself a Hercules), and though a little "off color," and in intellect a " little below the average," he was yet a great favorite with the children. Two or three generations have been amused by his vagaries, his droll stories and his comic songs. He had a quick wit and retentive memory, but his hallucinations possessed him completely. He claimed to resemble the great Bonapai'te (and his profile was indeed markedly Napoleonic), although his color was that of rich mahogany. He firmly believed himself the rightful heir to immense wealth, which various citizens of the town, now one individual and now another, retained from him in their possession.

Schools and Education. - There is nothing on record in regard to the education of the young prior to 1656, when a meeting-house was built and used as a school-room, which arrangement continued for eighteen years. In 1674 a school-house was built on the town's land near the meeting-house, twenty by sixteen feet and nine foot stud, which was also used for a watch-house. Samuel Hardie was the first school-master, at a salary of twenty pounds. He kept the school several years.

In 1686 an agreement was made with Corporal Perkins to furnish a school-room, with a fire-room in it, for the space of six months, for ten shillings, and John Perley was engaged for the term ensuing ; his salary, twenty pounds " in pay" or ten pounds in money per year.

In 1700 a Grammar School was established, and Robert Hale, son of the first minister, appointed teacher at a salary of ten pounds. In 1701 Daniel Dodge was the teacher, and in 1704 James Hale,

In 1782 the Grammar School was discontinued, for which the town was presented to the Court of Sessions, when it was resumed and kejjt till 1825. It was held in variourj places till 1798, when it was established in a new house on Watch Hill, the second story being fitted up for town purposes.

About the middle of the century the teacher was required to return a list to the selectmen of the names of parents and masters and the number of children and servants instructed by him. The selectmen were to tax the parents arid masters for the support of the schools, and the children and servants of persons refusing to pay their proportion of fuel were not allowed to warm themselves by the schoolhouse fire.

In 1749 the sum of thirty-two pounds, old tenor, was granted to the inhabitants of the eastern part of the town, towards a school, during four months, and in 1752 a Grammar School was kept there a time proportionate to the amount of taxes paid. From 1754- 1825 various changes were made, until the Grammar School was abolished, and it was voted to divide the school money raised among the ten school districts.

In 1797, " considering the populous and increasing state of the town, and the decayed state of the schoolhouse on the common, the town voted it expedient to build a new Grammar School-house, 43x32^ feet, of two stories, each about ten feet stud, with room below of about thirty -one feet square for the school, and the same above for town-meetings and other purposes, with room convenient for selectmen and assessors, with one below for a library and with a convenient entry and stairway."

The site on Watch Hill was bought of the heirs of Larkin Thorndike, by the building committee, and the next year, 1798, school was opened here under the tuition (it is believed) of Andrew Peabody, father of the Rev. Dr. Peabody, whose successor was Silas Stickney, who was succeeded by Isaac Flagg.

Until 1841, when the town, having bought the Thorndike mansion and fitted it for a town-house, the hall in this building was used for municipal purposes.

Then the district bought the school-house and land and gave it the name of Briscoe, in honor of Robert Briscoe. In 1873 the school-grounds were enlarged by the addition, by purchase, of the lands of several adjoining estates, and the old school-house removed to the lot on the common, where it now stands, but little distant from the site of the original school building of 1674.

In 1875 the Central Grammar School was opened in this building, the name of which was changed to the Hardie School, in honor of the first school -master, Samuel Hardie.

Just after the Revolution a school was established by a few of the citizens in Dike's Lane (now Elm Square). It was in a small, plain building, heated by a large open fire-place, and about forty scholars was the maximum attendance. The price of tuition was four dollars per quarter, and none of the teachers, all of them college graduates, received over five hundred dollars salary. There was a class in Latin and Greek, and the English scholars were divided into three classes. The sexes were about equally represented. This school lasted about thirty years, Isaac Flagg being the last teacher, who, when this was discontinued, took charge of the Grammar School in Briscoe Hall.

Among the early teachers of this school was William Prescott, a son of Colonel Prescott, of Bunker Hill fame, afterwards a distinguished judge, who came to Beverly to study law with Hon. Nathan Dane. He established his first law-ofllice in Beverly ; his daughter, Mrs. Franklin Dexter, is one of the oldest sea-shore residents.

The High School was not established until after a conflict of several years, the ojiposition being not so much against the establishment of the school itself as from a fear that the money devoted to its support would be proportionately taken from the various district schools, all of them being popular local institutions, and each with its special neighborhood attractions.

The towns had become large enough to be liable in law to support a High School, and some of its friends got so far out of ])atience in waiting for the town to establish it that they had it indicted. This but intensified the opposition, which was then a decided majority, and they at first attempted to defend the town ; but eventually yielded, though the school was at first established at the W"st Farms, at some distance from the centre of population.

In 1860 it was voted to discontinue the school, but in 1861 the subject was referred to a committee of one from each school district, who reported in favor of locating it in Odd Fellows' Hall, then on Railroad Avenue. Afterwards the town bought the present armory building on Cabot Street, where the school was held until the completion of the Briscoe Building, in which excellent accommodations had been provided for it. The principals have been John R. Baker, Joseph Hale Abbott, Leroy N. Griffin, Willard G. Sperry, Edwin C. Colcord, Enoch C. Adams, Benjamin S. Hurd, who have always had the services of valuable assistant teachers.

m en t has been made in the schools and buildings. Anticipating for several years the abolition of the district system in 1866, the school-houses throughout the town had fallen into decay ; and this condition of things necessitated vigorous measures when the town took charge. New buildings were erected in every district save one (at the Cove), where the house was enlarged and beautified.

1875. - In January of this year the finest school building in town was dedicated, standing in the place of the Hardie school-house, and known as the Briscoe. The total cost of this brick structure, the architect of which was J. Foster Ober, a son of Beverly, was about seventy-five thousand dollars.

The school census of Beverly recently completed, shows sixteen hundred and eighty-four children between the ages of five and fifteen years - an increase of twenty-eight over last year, -

In 1873, at the age of seventy years, Joseph Hale Abbot deceased, in Cambridge. Mr. Abbot was well known to the people of this town through his long connection with the High School, and his marriage with the only daughter of a prominent citizen. Captain Henry Larcom. He was a descendant of the fi rst minister of Beverly, Eev. John Hale, and a relative of Rev. Abiel Abbott. He left a widow, who survived him but a short time, and several children. One of his sons, Edward S. Abbot, is buried here, having died in his country's service.

Of Beverly's place in literature, it is yet early to write. Of the published productions of the earlier writers - Hale (tract on witchcraft, and sermons), Champney, Hitchcock, Willard, McKean (published sermons), Dr. Abiel Abbott and Rev. Joseph Emerson (sermons by the former, and " Letters from Cuba;" scientific and educational essays by the latter) - mention has been made. The greatest contribution to legal lore was by Hon. Nathan Dane, in his " Digest of American Laws," etc.

A daughter of Dr. Abbott, Miss Anne W. Abbott (still living, at nearly eighty years of age), wrote many charming story-books for children, as: "Kate and Lizzie," 1845; "The Tamed and the Untamed," " The Olneys," etc. ; and a popular game of her invention forty years ago, " Dr. Busby," is still published for the delight of the youth of to-day.

One of the first books descriptive of the islands of the South Sea was written by a Beverly lady, Mrs. M. D. Wallis, under the title of " Life in Fejee."

One who wrote throughout a long life was Wilson Flagg, whose delightful descriptions of nature are unsurpassed. His first observations were conducted in Beverly, and his first literary productions emanated hence. The books that have made his reputation, as a poetic and thoughtful student of nature, are " Birds and Seasons," and " Woods and By-ways of New England." Besides these, he published other books and contributed for many years to the magazines and papers.

Another eminent author, whom we may claim as a native of Beverly by right of birth, is Rev. Dr. A. P. Peabody, whose valued works on Christianity and Ethics are familiar to all readers. His most popularly-known books, perhaps, are " Conversation" and " Reminiscences of European Travel."

Of America's distinguished women, one who has , modestly won an enviable position in the world of letters, is Miss Lucy Larcom, another descendant of Beverly's pioneer families. Mi?s Larcom began to write verses while running about the fields and hills of Beverly, as a child, and continued to do so during her earlier years, while a mill-girl at Lowell. She was, perhaps, the youngest contributor to the Lowell Offering, published by the working-girls of that city, many years ago. She continued to write for publication during the years that followed, while studying and teaching in young ladies' schools.

Her first volume of poems was published by Fields, Osgood & Co., about 1868. This was followed by other volumes of verses : " An Idyl of Work," " Childhood Songs" and "Wild Roses of Cape Ann." A complete collection of her poems has recently been added to their "Household Edition," by Houghton. Mifflin & Co, She has also compiled several works, as, " Breathings of a Better Life," "Roadside Poems for Summer Travelers," " Hillside and Seaside in Poetry," etc.

To travel and history, Frederick A. Ober, a native of Beverly, has contributed " Camps in the Caribbees," a personal narrative of adventure in the West Indian forests, " Travels in Mexico," a "History of Mexico," the " Silver City," and other stories of adventure.

Yet another descendant of the first of his name in Beverly, is George E. Woodberry, author of a " History of Wood Engraving," a " Life of Edgar A. Poe," of a threnody entitled, "The North-Shore Watch," and of other poems, which have won the admiration of scholars and critics.

In 1849 deceased, at West Needham, William B. Tappan, who was born in Beverly, the author of that beautiful hymn, " There is an Hour of Peaceful Rest." Of other writers, mention maybe found in the pages preceding ; but it is not claimed that the list is an exhaustive one, and the historian craves the reader's indulgence.

In January, 1875, Rev. George Trask, the anti-tobacco philanthropist, died in Fitchburg, at the age of seventy-seven. Mr. Trask did battle for principle throughout a long and active life, and was an honor to Beverly, the town of his birth.

1876. - The oldest inhabitant of Beverly died April 20th, this year - Jacob Groce, who was born February 12, 1780. In early life he followed the sea, making many trips to the West Indies, Europe and elsewhere. In 1800 or 1801, while on a passage to the West Indies in the schooner " Sally," with Capt. Gideon Ray, his vessel was chased by a French privateer, captured and taken into Guadaloupe; sailing thence, on board the privateer, they were again captured, by a British man-of-war, and afterwards sent home on an eastern lumber vessel, after remaining a while in Martinique. In 1812 he was taken prisoner by a British sloop-of-war, carried into Bermuda and thence to Halifax, where he and his companions were nearly starved, Mr. Groce's life was unambitious though serene in his latter years, and his example was one of goodness and charity to his fellow-men.

1878. - March 17th passed away the then oldest inhabitant, in the person of Mrs. Elizabeth Whitney Page, at the age of ninety-five years and three months. Her husband was Josiah Page, who was drowned off the coast of Sumatra, 1810 ; and she was a daughter of Dr. Elisha Whitney, whose wife, Eunice, was daughter of General Michael Farley, of Ipswich, a descendant of the Farley who came from England in 1675.

1879. - Dr. Wyatt C. Boyden deceased, after a long residence in Beverly, at the age of eighty-seven. He was born in Gardner, Mass., in 1794, but reared in Tamworth, N. H., where his early life was passed on a farm. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1819, a class-mate with Rufus Choate, and he was the last survivor of his class. Dr. Boyden came to Beverly Farms in 1823, where he first taught school, and there married and began j^ractice as physician. In

1826 succeeded to the practice of Dr. Abner Howe. As citizen and physician he was held in high esteem ; he took a lively interest in local affairs, and especially in the cause of education ; was a trustee of the Fisher Charitable Society for fifty-one years.

1880. - November 1st, Dr. Augustus Torrey, son of Dr. Joseph Torrey, a well-known physician of Salem, and in his later years of Beverly, and a grandson of the famous Rev. Manasseh Cutler, of Hamilton, died, this date, in his seventy-sixth year. He graduated at Harvard in 1824, and from its medical school in 1827. He married a niece of Nathan Dane, and left a family of five sons and two daughters. He is remembered as a worthy citizen, a man of fine literary tastes and a skilled practitioner. In the same profession as his father and grandfather is Dr. Samuel Torrey, son of Dr. Augustus Torrey, who maintains the prestige of the family to-day.

the age of seventy-four. He was a son of Beverly, educated at Phillips Academy and Bowdoin College, and studying medicine at the Harvard Medical College. He practiced medicine in Portland and East- J)ort, Me., and was appointed superintendent of the Maine State Lunatic Hospital in 1841, and. of the Butler Hospital for Insane, at Providence, R. I., in 1846, where he remained till 1867. He won high recognition for his practice and theory of the medical treatment of insanity, and published many valuable books on the subject, which are recognized as authorities. The physicians practicing in Beverly to-day maintain the reputation of their predecessors. The oldtst practitioner is Dr. Chas. Haddock, who has had thirty-five years of service here, and with whom is now associated his son, Dr. Chas. W., the next being Dr. Oscar F. Swazey, with thirty years of practice in our midst.

1882. - October ISth, the soldiers' monument was dedicated, which stands on the triangular lot of land at the junction of Abbot and Endicott Streets. It was erected by the comrades of " John H. Chipman " Post 89, G. A. R., from the proceeds of various fairs, during several years, and subscriptions by our townspeople. Four years previously, after advertising for designs for a soldiers' and sailors' monument, the post accepted the design submitted by the Hallowell Granite Company, of Maine, at the price of four thousand eight hundred dollars.

The corner-stone was laid October 10, 1882, and a box deposited beneath it containing, among other papers, a brief sketch of each full company furnished by Beverly for the war : Company E, Eighth Regiment, Capt. F. E. Porter; Company G, Twenty-third Regiment, Capt. John W. Raymond; and Company K, Fortieth Regiment, Capt. E. L. Giddings, as also their memorable battles, etc.

The dedicatory exercises were held on the 13th, and called to Beverly many distinguished people as participants, among them the Governor, John B. Long, and staff, and veterans from other Grand Army of the Republic organizations.

The procession formed was the largest the town had ever witnessed within its limits, containing twentysix hundred, with delegates from all the county posts, members of the entire Fire Department of Beverly, and no less than fourteen bands of music and drum corps. A section of Battery C, of Melrose, fired the salutes of the day, opening with seventeen guns for the Governor, and closing with a national salute of thirty-eight guns, at the end of the exercises at the monument.

The chief marshal was Col. John W. Raymond, of Beverly, with Col. H. P. Woodbury as chief of staff, and Dr. Chas. Haddock surgeon-general. Col. F. E. Porter commanded the First Brigade, which con- tained Post 89 with its one hundred and fifty members, led by Wm. H. Morgan, commander. The monument was dedicated by Post Commander Wm. H. Morgan ; jjrayer was offered by Wm. Staftbrd, chaplain of the post, and an address by Rev. J. F. Lover-' ing, of Worcester. Owing to an accident, by which the platform on which were the invited guests, seventyfive in number, was thrown to the ground and several people injured, the exercises here were interrupted and the procession moved to the common, where a dinner was served in the mammoth tent, and toasts were responded to by the eminent guests of the occasion.

Many buildings along the route of the procession were handsomely decorated. At one point was stationed an old war-horse, thirty-four years of age, from whose back was killed Col. Wells, of the Thirtyfourth Massachusetts Volunteers, and in whose body were several bullets received in battle.

The monument was cut from fine white granite, is thirty-six feet in height, with a square base, twelve by twelve feet. The plinth is six feet six inches square, and on the dies, five feet four inches square, are the inscriptions :

Post 89, Beverly, G. A. R., was organized June 6, 1869, and took its name from John H. Chipman, who went out a second time to the war as captain of Company C, Fifty-ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, which was recruited in town and composed in part of Beverly men.

The Post has a membership of 200, and has paid out, for the benefit of comrades and families of deceased members, in the past six years, over $6,000. On the 1st of November, 1882, the monument was formally presented by the Post to the town, with public exercises in the town hall, presented by Commander Morgan, and accepted by John I. Baker in behalf of the town, and a list was published of the soldiers and sailors who had died in service since the war.^

In April, of this year, died Capt. Jona. H. Lovett, a retired sea-captain, and David Lefavour, at the age of seventy-six, one of the first shoe manufacturers of the town.

1883. - The Rev. Edwin M. Stone, formerly minister of the Second Parish Church, 1834-47, representative 1842 and 1844, and the author of a " History of

Beverly," died in Providence December 22d, aged seventy-eight years. The latter i^art of his life was passed in Providence, R. I., where for some years he was a city missionary. He had done much literary work in the course of his life, his latest and most valuable publication being " Our French Allies in the Revolution."

Miss Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne, the last surviving sister of Nathaniel Hawthorne, died January 1st, aged eighty years and nine months. For the thirty years then past she had lived a very retired life in a farm-house at Monserrat, almost unknown to her neighbors. She was two years the senior of her gifted brother, who, it is said, often declared that she could attain fame if she would devote herself to literary pursuits. Hawthorne's grandmother, daughter of Jonathan and Lydia (Cox) Phelps, was born in Beverly, June 1, 1734, in the house that stood on or near the site occupied by the Roman Catholic parsonage.

In excavating for the foundation of the Lawrence Pottery, to replace the one destroyed by fire, an ancient brick kiln was unearthed. The bricks were somewhat longer and wider than those now in use, and thinner.

1884. - Jamiary 9, Lieut.-Col. Henry P. Woodbury died at the age of forty-eight years. One of the first to respond to the call for three months' men, in 1861, as first sergeant, under Col. Porter, he re-enlisted at the expiration of this term of service as first lieutenant under Capt. Raymond, in Company G, Twentythird Regiment. He fought gallantly to the end of the war in 1865, sustaining injuries from which he never recoA^ered. He left a widow and two sons, and an aged mother, Mrs. Nancy Woodbury, who is now living (1887), in excellent health, at ninety years of age. Colonel Woodbury represented the town in the Legislature in 1877.

3Iay 6, at Cambridge, died Wilson Flagg, aged seventy-eight years and six months. Mr. Flagg was an ardent lover of nature, and the author of several books on birds and trees: "Studies in Field and Forest," 1857 ; " Woods and Byways of New England," 1872, and other books, as well as many articles in the Atlantic Magazine. His rare musical talent he inherited from his father, Isaac Flagg, the school-master and choir-leader of the old South for many years. '"One of his most wonderful feats in the musical line was his arrangement of the songs and notes of the birds to music, as given in their grand anthems of May and June, particularly the song of the vesper bird, the peculiar trilling notes of the 'veery'and the solemn tones of the wood-thrush with its strange cadence. One can say, in the words of Emerson, as he wrote of Thoreau : 'His soul was made for the noblest society ; wherever there is knowledge, wherever there is virtue, wherever there is beauty, he will find a home.' "

In December, 1884, the South School-house was destroyed by fire with a loss to the town of $2,000. A new building was erected in 1885 at a cost of $25,000.

1885. - In June this year the old mill at the head of Bass Eiver was burned. It is about two hundred and fifty years since the first mill was erected in Beverly, probably by John Friend, who had a grant of land (ten acres) in 1637, and one hundred more in 1638. In 1665, after Friend's death, his heirs granted and confirmed to John Leach, son of Lawrence, "the mill and mill-house standing in Bass River, with all the appurtenances, with two acres of land adjoining and twenty acres a little distance otF, all on Eyall's Neck side. " This was reognized as the property of Lawrence Leach by the town of Salem, in 1627, when it decided that the way from the meeting-house to said mill shall be directly in the country way to Edmund Grover's (near the present corner of Cabot and Beckford), etc., substantially as Mill Street to-day, but crossing the mill-i^ond farther up the stream than the present road over the dam. Relics of the old dam and gateway may still be seen, and the course of the ancient roadway may yet be traced.

The original mill was probably much nearer the head of the stream than the last one. At the point where Bass River Brook meets the tide-water is a high embankment, which once served as a dam and another still farther up. One of these dams was used to confine the water for the cotton-mill erected there in the last century.

The oak frame of the old mill, or a portion of it, is in one of the barns formerly owned by Aaron Dodge, near the mill-dam. In 1669, John Leach, miller, sold to John Dodge, Jr. for two hundred and fifty pounds, all the lands, dwelling-house, mills and privileges. This Capt. John Dodge, Jr., was a son of William Dodge, the first of the name here. In 1702 he deeds to his son-in-law, Ebenezer Woodbury, for two hundred pounds in silver, "all my grist-mill, alias cornmill, in Salem, with 2 acres of land in Salem & 1^ acres in Beverly, with all streams, water tools, implements, etc."

Bass River was then a boundary between Salem and Beverly. The heirs of Ebenezer Woodbury, in 1798, sold the mill property to Thomas Davis, Jr., who had married a daughter of Israel Woodbury.

This property was purchased in 1848 by Aaron Dodge, who in 1851 enlarged it and added the elevator and tower, said to be the first in the State.

In 1885 there were in Beverly nine claimants entitled to reparation for French spoliation, on account of the losses to brig "Nancy" in 1798, and to the schooner " Esther" in 1799.

The oldest person in Beverly, Joseph K. Russell, died at the age of ninety-four yeary, seven months. He was a soldier and pensioner of 1812, and had lived for seventy years in the same house in Black Swamp, from which he had not been absent a month.

In August one of the most promising of Beverly's daughters. Miss Alice L. Moulton, died in Steelenbosch, South Africa, whither she had gone as a teacher in February, 1884. Miss Moulton was a graduate of Wellesley College, where she had won high honors Her ideals and aspirations were pure and elevated, and her young life was consecrated to the cause of Christianity.

Fire Depaetmext and Water-Works. - In August and September, 1885, the town voted to accept the act of Legislature giving it permission to erect water-works and maintain an independent water supply, at a cost, exclusive of land damages, not to exceed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

A committee of sixteen was appointed, who made a report in November, recommending a pumping station at Wenham Lake, with two pumps, each of two million gallons daily capacity, a reservoir on Brimble Hill capable of holding three million gallons, an eighteen-inch main to connect with the street pipes already laid, and a twelve-inch main to the Farms. Brimble Hill is one hundred and seventy seven feet above sea-level, and is thirty higher than the Salem reservoir.