Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 4: Organization of Essex County, 1922

The object of this chapter is to begin with the judicial power vested in the Court of Assistants in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639, and trace the various changes in sub-divisions and the government of such parts of the territory as were from time to time organized to operate in a sense, separate from and independent of the general colony.

September 9, 1639, it was enacted that "for as much as the business of the ordinary Court of Assistants are so much increased as they cannot be dispatched in such season as were fit, it is therefore ordered that such of the magistrates as shall reside in or near to Boston, or any five, four or three of them, the Governor or Deputy to be one, shall have power to assemble together upon the last fifth day of the eighth, eleventh, second and fifth months every year, and then and there to hear and determine all civil causes, whereof the debt or trespass and damages shall not exceed twenty pounds, and all criminal causes, not extending to life or member ox banishment, according to the cause of the Court of Assistants, and to summon juries out of the neighbor towns, and the Marshal or necessary officers are to give their attendance as at other courts."

March 3, 1635, it was enacted that "there shall be four courts kept every quarter, one at Ipswich, to which Newbury shall belong; two at Salem, to which Saugus shall belong ; two at Newtown, to which Charlestown, Concord, Medf ord and Watertown shall belong ; four at Boston, to which Roxbury, Dorchester, Weymouth and Hingham shall belong."

There were also to be four great Quarter Courts kept yearly in Boston by the Governor and the rest of the magistrates ; "the first, the first Tuesday in the fourth month, called June ; the second, the first Tuesday in September ; the third, the first Tuesday in December ; the fourth, the first Tuesday in the first month, called March." This was when the old calendar was in use.

June 2, 1641, it was enacted that "whereas it is desired by this Court to ease the country of all unnecessary travels and charges, it is ordered that there shall be four Quarter Courts kept yearly by the magistrates of Ipswich and Salem, with such others to be joined in commission with them as this Court shall appoint, not hindering any other magistrates that will help them ; this order to take effect after the next Quarter Court shall be ended at Salem and Ipswich, two of these Quarter Courts to be kept in Salem and the other two at Ipswich; the first Court to be kept the last third day of the seventh month at Ipswich (and the next at the same time the former courts were) and the next at Salem, the third quarter at Ipswich, the fourth at Salem, and the magistrates of Ipswich and Salem to attend every of these courts, but no jurymen to be warned from Ipswich to Salem, nor from Salem to Ipswich ; to each of these a grand jury shall be warned once a year, and these courts to have the same power both in criminal causes the Court of Assistants hath at Boston Court; provided it shall be lawful to appeal from any of these courts to Boston ; the fines of these Courts to defray the charges of the same, and the overplus to be returned to the treasurer for the public. And Salisbury and Hampton are joined to this jurisdiction of Ipswich, and each of them to send a grand juryman once a year to Ipswich."

These enactments show the arrangement and distribution of judicial I)owers at the time of the division of the Massachusetts Bay Colony into counties, in 1643. May 10th that year it was enacted "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction is divided into four shires, to wit:

These were all of the incorporated towns in the Massachusetts Colony, In the shire of Essex, Salem was incorporated June 24th, 1629, as a town, and March 23, 1836, as a city ; Lynn, in November, 1637, as a town, and in April, 1850, as a city ; Enon (later known as Wenham) was incorporated May 10, 1643; Ipswich, August 5, 1634; Rowley, September 4, 1639, as a town; Newbury, May 6, 1635; Gloucester, May 22, 1639, as a town, and May 26, 1871, as a city; and Chochicawick (later Andover), May 6, 1646, after the incoi-poration of Essex county.

In Norfolk, Salisbury was incorporated October 7, 1640; Hampton, September 4, 1639 ; Haverhill, in 1645, as a town, and March 10, 1869, as a city ; Exeter, and Dover and Strawberry Bank (now Portsmouth) became afterwards a part of New Hampshire.

The account given in all previous histories shows that as the towns of Amesbury, Haverhill and Salisbury were the only towns in Norfolk county outside of the territoiy of New Hampshire, vvhich became a Royal province in 1679, the following act was passed by the General Court on February 4, 1679 :

This Court being sensible of the great inconvenience and charge that it will be to Salisbury, Haverhill and Amesbury to continue their County Court, now some of the to-wns of Norfolk are taken off, and considering that these towns did formerly belong to Essex county, and attended at Essex courts, do order that these towns that are left be again joined to Essex and attend public business at Essex courts, there to implead and be impleaded, as occasion shall be; their records of lands being still kept

By this act Norfolk County, as incorporated in 1643, was extinguished, to be revived in another section of the State by an act of incorporation dated March 26, 1793. The act above mentioned alludes to a former union of Amesbury, Haverhill and Salisbury with Essex, which never actually existed. The allusion is probably to old court connections which existed before the incorporation of the county, in 1643. Amesbury was a part of the old town of Salisbury; Boxford of the old town of Rowley; Beverly a part of Salem, and afterwards of Danvers; Bradford, a part of Rowley; Danvers, a part of Salem; Essex, a part of Ipswich; Georgetown, a part of Rowley; Groveland, a part of Bradford and Boxford; Hamilton, a part of Ipswich; Lawrence, a part of Andaver, North Andover and Methuen; Lynnfield, a part of Lynn; Manchester, a part of Salem; Marblehead, a part of Salem; Merrimack, a part of Amesbury; Methuen, a part of Haverhill; Middleton, a part of Salem, Topsfield, Boxford and Andover; Nahant, a part of Lynn ; Newburyport, a part of Newbury; North Andover, a part of Andover; Peabody (formerly South Danvers and a part of Danvers) ; Rockport, a part of Gloucester; Saugus, a part of Lynn and Chelsea; Swampscott, a part of Lynn and Salem; Topsfield was New Meadows; Wenham was Enon, mentioned in the act incorporating the county; and West Newbury was a part of Newbury, incorporated as Parsons, and changed to its present name June 14, 1820.

Since the addition of the towns of Amesbury, Salisbury and Haverhill in 1679, the only change in the boundaries of the county of Essex is that already referred to, caused by the annexation of a part of Chelsea, in Suffolk County, to Saugus.

The State historians mention Essex County as follows: "Essex county, of which Salem, Lawrence and Newburyport are the shire towns, is situated in the northeast comer of Massachusetts, and is bounded on the northeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by Massachusetts Bay, on the southwest by Suffolk and Middlesex counties, and on the northwest by New Hampshire." It contains about five hundred square miles, traversed by the Merrimac river, which flows into the ocean at Newburyport; the Shawsheen, which enters the Merrimac at Lawrence; the Parker river; Bass river, and the Ipsv/ich river.

After the formation, in 1643, of the counties, the above courts continued, though the Strangers' Courts were modified, and the Quarter Courts, in their respective counties, were called County or Inferior Quarter Courts. It had also been provided by an act passed September 9, 1639, "that records be kept of all wills, administrations, inventories, of every marriage, birth and death, and of all men's houses and lands." It had before the above date been provided by a law passed April 1, 1634 :

That the constable and four or more of the chief inhabitants of every town (to be chosen by all the fj:eemen there at some meeting there) with the advice of some one or more of the next assistants, shall make a surveying of the houses, back side, com fields, mowing grounds and other lands improved or enclosed on, granted by special orders of the court, of every free inhabitant there, and shall enter the same in a book (fairly writteai in words at length and not in figures), with the several bounds and quantities by the nearest estimation, and shall deliver a transcript thereof into the court, where in six months next now ensuing; and the same so entered and recorded shall be a sufficient assurance to every such free inhabitant, his and their heirs and assigns of such estate of inheritance or as they shall have in any such houses, lands or frank tenements. The like course shall be taken for assurance of all houses and town lots of all such as shall be hereafter enfranchised, and every sale or grant of such houses or lots as ishall be, from time to time, entered into the said book by the said constable, and four inhiabitants or their successors (who shall be still supplied upon death or removal), for which entry the purchasers shall pay six pence and the like sum for a copy thereof under the hands of the said surveyors or three of them.

The recorder was the clerk of the court. In 1641 it was provided that in every town "a clerk of the writs" should be appointed, and a part of his duty was to record all births and deaths, and yearly deliver to the recorder of the court a transcript thereof. It was also provided that every married man bring a certificate, under the hand of the magistrate who married him, to the clerk of the writs, to be recorded and returned by him to the recorder. Thus it will be seen how extensive the jurisdiction of the county court was made. Aside from its ordinary judicial powers, it had charge of the records of deeds of probate matters and the laying out of highways, and included the departments now held by the judge and register of probate, the register of deeds, the clerk of the courts, and county commissioners.

With regard to the treasurers, their duties up to 1654 were performed by the treasurer of the whole Colony or of the county. In that year it was provided "that henceforth there shall be treasurers annually chosen in every county, provided that no clerk or recorder of any county court shall be treasurer of the county." The officer now called sheriff was in the days of the Colony called marshal. There was a marshal of the General Court alone, up to the formation of the counties, in 1643, and after that date each court apparently appointed its own marshal, though it is possible that even before that time every Quarter Court had its own officer bearing that name. So far as Essex County is concerned, it is proper to state that the present registry of deeds contains the entire records from 1638, and that the original probate records prior ta 1671 are to be found in the office of the clerk of the courts, where they were originally kept. The registry of probate was located in Ipswich until 1851, when, under general powers conferred by law, the county commissioners removed it to Salem.

Another court may be mentioned, to complete the Colonial judicial system so far as it concerned the county. On September 6, 1638, it was ordered "that for avoiding of the countries charge by bringing small charges to the Court of Assistants, that any magistrate in the town where he may hear and determine by his discretion all causes wherein the debt, or trespass, or danger, etc., doth not exceed twenty shillings, and in such town where no magistrate dwells, the General Court shall,' from time to time, nominate three men ; two thereof shall have like power to hear and determine all such actions under twenty shillings ; and if any of the parties shall find themselves grieved with any such end or sentence, they may appeal to the next Quarter Court, or Court of Assistants. And if any person shall bring any such action to the Court of Assistants before he hath endeavored to have it ended at home (as in this order is appointed), he shall lose his action and pay the defendant's costs."

In 1691 a new charter was issued, embracing Massachusetts, Plymouth, Maine, Nova Scotia, and the intervening territory, in one government under the name of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. This charter reached Boston May 14, 1692, and under its provisions the government consisted of a governor, deputy-governor and secretary appointed by the King, and assistants or councilors chosen by the General Court, and a House of Representatives chosen annually by the people. The governor had the power of veto, and all acts and elections by the General Court must be transmitted to England and approved or disallowed by the King.

The first court established under the charter was a special court of Oyer and Tei-miner, organized by Governor William Phipps, the first governor of the Province, before any law had been passed authorizing it, for the purpose of trying, chiefly in Essex County, persons charged with witchcraft. June 2, 1692, the governor issued his commission appointing William Stoughton chief justice, and Nathaniel Saltonstall (who declined and was succeeded by Jonathan Curwin), John Richards, Bartholomew Gedney, Wait Winthrop, Samuel Sewall and Peter Sargeant, associate justices; Stephen Sewall, clerk; Thomas Newton, attorney-general* George Corwin, sheriff. The first meeting of this court was held at Salem on June 2, 1692, and its last meeting September 17, following which the court was dissolved. During this time the expense of the court for Essex county was £130, and nineteen persons were tried, condemned and hanged, and one was pressed to death.

November, 1692, a law was passed establishing Courts of Justices of the Peace, four courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for each county, an Inferior Court of Common Pleas for each county, a Superior Court of Judicature for the whole province, and a High Court of Chancery for the province. This act, however, was soon dissolved. June, 1697, another was passed, establishing County Courts, which was also disallowed. It appears that the chief business in those days was to plan for the change in the court systems. The Inferior Court of Common Pleas continued until 1782, when the Court of Common Pleas was established, to be held within each county at specified times and places, with four judges appointed by the Govenior from within the county. This

Lawrence; Southern district. Moody Kimball, Newburyport; County court continued until June, 1811, when an act was passed providing that the commonwealth, except Dukes county and the county of Nantucket, should be divided into six circuits.

The ofRce of county commissioner was first established March 4, 1826. These were to be appointed by the governor, by and with the consent of the Council, four persons in each of the counties of Essex, Worcester, Middlesex, Suffolk, NorfoJk and Nantucket. There were also two persons appointed to act as special county commissioners.

In 1835 it was provided by law that in every county except Suffolk and Nantucket the judge of probate, register of probate, and clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, should be a Board of Examiners. The people were to elect the three county commissioaiers and two special commissioners for a term of three years. This law remained until 1854, when it was provided that commissioners should be elected alternately. The subjoined is a list of the county commissioners serving since the first boai'd in 1828: 1828-33 - Asa W. Wildes, of Newburyport; Joseph Winn, of Salem; Stephens Baker, of Ipswich; William B. Breed of Lynn. 1834 - John W. Proctor, of South Danvers, in place of William Breed. 1835-37 - Moses Newell, of West Newbury, in place of Asa W. Wildes. 1838-40 - Asa T. Newhall, of Lynn. 1841-43 - Charles Kimball, of Ipswich; Robert Patten, of Amesbury; William Whipple, of Rockport. 1844-46 - Asa W. Wildes, of Newburyport, and Benj. F. Newhall, of Saugus. 1847-49 - John I. Baker, of Beverly. 1850-54 - Benjamin Mudge of Lynn.

In 1854 the law was so changed that the county commissioners were elected in such manner as to have one member go off the board each year and another chosen by the people for a term of three years. John I. Baker, by lot, drew the first class, Benjamin Mudge the second class, and Asa W. Wildes the third class. At the 1854 election and at subsequent elections, the following were chosen as commissioners: 1854, Stephens Baker, of Beverly ; 1855, Eben B. Currier, of Lawrence ; 1856, George Haskell, of Ipswich; 1857, Stephens Baker; 1858, Eben B. Currier ; 1859, Abram D. Wait, of Ipswich ; 1860, James Kimball, of Salem ; 1861, Jackson B. Swett; 1862, Abram D. Wait; 1863, James Kimball; 1864, Jackson B. Swett; 1865, Abram D. Wait; 1866, James Kimball; 1867, Jackson B. Swett; 1868, Charles P. Preston, of Danvers; 1869, James Kimball; 1870, Jackson B. Swett; 1871, Charles P. Preston; 1872, James Kimball; 1873, Zachariah Graves, of Lynn; 1874, Joseph 0. Proctor, of Gloucester ; 1875, James Kimball ; 1876, Zachariah Graves ; 1877, Joseph O. Proctor; 1881, John W. Raymond, of Beverly; 1882, Edward B. Bishop, of Haverhill; 1883, George J. L. Colby; 1884, John W. Raymond; 1885, Edward B. Bishop; 1886, David W. Low, of Gloucester, in place of George J. L. Colby ; 1886, John W. Raymond ; 1887, George J. L. Colby; 1887, David W. Low; 1888, John W. Raymond; 1889, Ed B..

The State Constitution was so amended in 1855 that every fifth year thereafter, the register should be chosen by the people for a term of five years. In 1856 a Court of Insolvency was established for each county. This court had a judge and register of probate, hence the offices o£ judge and register were created. In 1862 the Probate Court was made a court of record. The executive officers of the court in Colonial days up to 1685 were called marshals, except in the very earliest years, when they were styled beadles. The records show that as early as 1634, James Penn was chosen marshal. Under President Dudley he was called provostmarshal; under Andros he was called sheriff; and after Andros, until the province was established, in 1692, he was again called marshal. As nearly as present records show, the marshals of Essex county were: 1663, Samuel Archard; 1670, Henry Sherry; 1685, Robert Lord; 1686, Jeremiah Neals ; 1691, John Rogers ; 1692, John Harris.

The sheriff's of the county have been from 1692 to 1886 as follows: 1692, George Corwin; 1696, William Gedney; 1702, WilHam Waimvright, William Gedney ; 1708, Daniel Denison ; 1710, William Gedney ; 1715, John Denison; 1722, Benjamin Marston; 1746, Robert Hale; 1766, Richard Saltonstall; 1779, Michael Farley; 1792, Bailey Bartlett; 1831, Joseph E. Sprague ; 1852, Frederick Robinson ; 1854, Thomas E. Pason ; 1856, James Carey ; 1867, Horatio G. Herrick continued until 1893, when came Samuel A. Johnson to 1921, when the present sheriff, Arthur G. Wells, was elected.

The clerks of the courts were appointed by the courts during the Colonial period. During the provincial time, the clerks of the County Courts and those of the Superior Court of Judicature, and afterwards of the Supreme Judicial Court, were distinct until 1797, and the clerk of the two courts had his office in Boston. The appointments lay with the courts until 1811, when the Governor and Council were made the appointing power. In 1814 the appointment was given to the Supreme Judicial Court. It remained there until 1856, v/hen the law provided that that year and every fifth year thereafter, clerks should be chosen by the people in the several counties. The following is probably a list of the various clerks of the courts in Essex from first to the present time:

1637, Ralph Fogg; 1647, Henry Bartholomew, Robert Lord; 1653, Elias Stileman; 1658, Hilliard Veren; 1683, Benjamin Gerrish; 1692, Stephen SewaJl; 1750, Joseph Bowdich; 1771, William Jeffry; 1774, Joseph Blaney; 1779, Samuel Osgood; 1783, Isaac Osgood; 1795, Thomas Bancroft; 1797, Samuel Holton; 1798, Thomas Bancroft; 1804, Ichabod Tucker; 1812, Joseph E. Sprague; 1813, Ichabod Tucker; 1828, John Prince, Jr.; 1842, Ebenezer Shillaber; 1852, Asahel Huntington; 1872, Alfred A. Abbott; 1885, Dean Peabody to 1897, when came Edward B. George, serving until 1918, when the present clerk, Archie N. Frost, was elected. The register and clerk's offices were one and the same, until 1715, since which time the offices have been separate.

Up to 1869 the registry of deeds for the whole county was kept at Salem. June 22 that year an act was passed providing that the city of Lawrence and the towns of Andover, North Andover and Methuen should constitute a district for the registry of deeds, under the name of the Northern District of Essex, and that the other towns in the county should constitute the Southern District.

In 1654 the law provided that each county should annually elect a treasurer. With a few changes this office continued the same until 1855, when it was provided that a county treasurer should be chosen that year and every third year thereafter, for the term of three years. Up to 1654, when the treasurers were elected, the treasurer chosen by the General Court was the treasurer of the whole colony. These were as fallows: May 13, 1629, George Harwood, chosen in England; December 1, 1629, Samuel Aldsey; 1632, William Pynchon; 1634, William Coddington; 1636, Richard Dummer; 1637, Richard Bellingham; 1640, William Tyng; 1644-54, Richard Russell. The records are silent as to who the treasurers were until 1774, after those above mentioned, but from 1774 to the present the treasurers of Essex County have been as follows : 1774, Michael Farley; 1792, Stephen Choate; 1813, Bailey Bartlett; 1814, Nathaniel Wade; 1852, Daniel Weed; 1853, Allen W. Dodge; 1878, Edward K. Jenkins to 1904, when the present county treasurer, David I. Robinson, was elected.

Prior to 1652 there was but one prison in the colony. May 22 that year, the court ordered one to be built at Ipswich. In September the "Seven men" contracted with Henry Pinder and Thomas Rowell to construct such a building. It was to stand near the old watch-house, a site near the First Church, and was to be of the "same hight and W3mdes." "There were to be three floors of joist, set thick and well bounded with partition above and below, and sides and ends, stud and stud spaces, and to clapboard the house round and shingle it and to daub its whole wall, all but the gable-ends, and to underpin the house and make doors and hinges, and hang the doors and fit the locks, which said house shall be finished, with all the drawings, iron work for the doors and nails by the 15th of May next." The contract price was fixed at forty pounds.

The first keeper was Theophiliis Wilson, in 1656, when he received as compensation three pounds five shillings per year for each prisoner, and prisoners were to pay their board if able; and if not able, to be kept alive on bread and water. The prisoners were required to work, and the "seven-men" were required to keep (xn hand hemp and flax for that purpose, that they might always have plenty to do. Another prison, or house of correction, was provided in 1684. This was ordered by the Quarterly Court, and the expense was to be paid by the towns that sent juries to Ipswich.

In 1751 the town voted to petition the General Court Sessions "that the late prison be effectually repaired and established as heretofore as a prison and a house of correction." As a result, in 1771 (but not before then) was the prayer answered in the construction of a new jail built on the site of the odd one.

In 1809-10 a stone jail was built in Ipswich by the county. Its cost was $27,000 ; it stood where later was the "County House." In 1866 it was sold to the Eastern Railroad Company, who used it to arch a roadway.

A prison (or, as we say today jail) in Essex County was built in Salem in 1668, near the southwesterly end of the meeting-house, which gives color to the statement that the church was sometimes used for courthouse purposes. The second jail was built in Salem in 1684, near the comer of Federal and St. Peter's streets, and the next jail or prison was built in 1813.

The jail or House of Correction at Lawrence was built in 1853, and with considerable improvements and additions it still serves its purpose. The original cost was $100,000. It is a stone structure, located on Auburn street. It has 116 cells, and can easily care for 180 prisoners. The site cost $3,200.

From all that can now be discovered, the first courts were held and county business in Essex County was transacted in the church, and this continued many years. A courthouse was built in Salem in 1719, which also served and was partly paid for by the incorporation of Salem. It stood on Washington street, near the southern end of the railway tunnel. In this building the General Court met, October 31, 1728; also April 2, and June 25, 1729, by order of Governor Burnet, because he believed that undue influence was exerted in Boston against a grant for his salary.

May 25, 1774, the General Court was adjourned by Governor Gage, to meet at Salem on the 7th of June; and again the Salem town house became historic. The sessions lasted eleven days, during which the court protested against its removal from Boston, and the 17th passed a resolve appointing James Bowdoin, Thomas Gushing, Samuel Adams, John Adams and Robert Treat Paine delegates to the Congress at Philadelphia, "to consult upon measures for the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies." Upon this action, Governor

Gage at once, on the same day, dissolved the court ; and so ended, in the old town-house in Salem, which aught to be standing today, the last General Court in Massachusetts under a provincial governor.

On Thursday, the 1st of September, writs were issued by the governor for a new court, to cooivene at Salem on October 5, but were recalled by proclamation. The Assembly met, notwithstanding, and organized with John Hancock, chairman, and Benjamin Lincoln, clerk; and October 7 voted "that the members of foresaid do now resolve themselves into a Provincial Congress, to be joined by such other persons as have been or shall be chosen for that purpose, to take into consideration the dangerous and alarming situation of public affairs in this Province, and to consult and determine on such measures as they shall judge will tend to promote the true interest of His Majesty and the peace, welfare and prosperity of the province." After this action, the Congress adjourned to Concord, where it was more formally organized by the election ofiMr. Hancock, president, and Mr. Lincoln secretary ; and after sessions in Concord and Cambridge finally dissolved. Thus the old town-house again became memorable, and was not only the scene of the last act under the old dispensation, but the scene also of the first act under the new.

In 1785, another building was erected for the joint use of the town and county, in the middle of Washington street, nearly opposite the Tabernacle Church, and town meetings were there held until the erection in 1816 of the town-house in Derby Square, which was used until the incorporation of the city in 1836. In 1841 the present stone courthouse was completed, and in 1861 the handsome brick structure was added; the two buildings now connected, one with the other, still serve the needs of the county.

The second court house in Ipswich was completed in the spring of 1795. Its cost was $7,000, of which the town paid one-half. This served until 1855, when upon the removal of the courts from Ipswich, it was sold to the Methodist society and converted into a chapel. Later it was moved to Depot Square and converted into a business house.

Concerning the courthouse at Lawrence, it may be stated that at first the people of Lawrence were compelled to travel to Salem or Newburyport to attend court and to transact other county business. After the town-house or city hall was built in Lawrence, quarters were provided for the court, then known as the Court of Common Pleas, in the audience hall of such building. Later, sessions were held in Music Hall, but in 1859 the county completed a courthouse there. The Essex Company donated the land, the city provided the foundation, and the Essex county commissioners erected the building. In the great fire of 1859, which burned the United States Hotel, this courthouse was almost ruined, but in 1860 was rebuilt. This served Lawrence until 1900, when through the members of the Essex county bar and the State Legislature, the present building was provided at a cost of $250,000, all told, from beginning to completion. Here are ample rooms for all departments of the county's business, including the superior criminal, a superior civil and a probate court, a registry of deeds, a law library, besides numerous offices. The law library is claimed to be one of the best in all New England, with its 13,000 voJumes. The structure is fireproof, built of brick with free-stone trinmiings.

What is usually known as the Essex County Industrial Farm is one of the most unique experiments ever tried out with a good degree of success in this country. This enterprise was started in the dark days of the late World War, when every available foot of land was being required by the government, in order that enough provisions might be obtained successfully to carry on our part of the conflict - feed our home people and send abroad what we could possitjly spare. It was then that the county commissioners of Essex county bethought themselves to set the some forty or more convicts at work clearing a' tract of land near Danvers and making it fit for cultivation. This was accomplished, and in 1918 there was produced a crop of 450 bushels of potatoes, all the fresh vegetables that could be consumed in the prison camp and an excess for the county jail, a large supply of winter vegetables including turnips, beets, beans, and buckwheat, and some 3,000 head of cabbage, more than could be used in the camp and in the Salem House of Correction. This crop was secured from land that a few months before was under a heavy underbrush and covered with thousands upon thousands of stones, which these forty county prisoners had to remove before plowing and planting could proceed.

No inmate is required to go against his will, but once he decides to join the colony, he is expected to "brace up" and make a man of himself; to conform to the few simple rules as laid down by the county commissioners; and not to leave the immediate vicinity of the camp without permission. These prisoners are chiefly victims of the liquor habit, who have been sentenced to the county jail. Here they are well fed, have excellent beds, and work sufficient to keep them healthy in both body and mind. They also were set at work clearing off grounds, near by the camp, where now stands the great tubercular hospital. This preliminary work was all accomplished by these trusty prisoners, who work without any guard. In the life of the institution, only one man has made his escape. It is good for the men and also good for the county.

Essex County was incorporated in 1643, and has three shire towns - Salem, Lawrence and Newburjrport. Its officers at this time include: Judges of Probate and Insolvency, Harry R. Dow, North Andover, and Alden P. White, Salem. Register of Probate and Insolvency, Horace H. Atherton, Jr., Lynn ; Sheriff, Arthur G. Wells, Lynn ; Clerk of the Courts, Archie N. Frost, Lawrence; County Treasurer, David I. Robinson, Gloucester; Registers of Deeds, Northern district, Moses Marshall,

Essex County has the following institutions belonging to various State Departments: The Essex County Agricultural School, located at Danvers (Hawthorne postoffice), Fred A. Smith, present director; Trustees - George C. Thurlow, George W. Cressy, Ralph S. Bauer, Justin E. Vamey, and the county commissioners.

The Danvers State Hospital for the Insane has for trustees at this time (1921): Francis S. Caskins, Jr., Danvers, term expires 1921; Mary Ward Nichols, Danvers, 1922; S. Herbert Wilkins (chairman), Salem, 1923; James F. Ingraham, Jr., Peabody, 1924; Arthur C. Nason, Newburyport, 1925; Katherine Abbott, Manchester, 1926; Samuel Cole (secretary) , Beverly, 1927. John B. Macdonald, M. D. is superintendent.