Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 22: Town of Essex, 1922

Chapter 22: Town of Essex

Although Essex is among the lesser towns within the county, it may well claim much of unusual interest along historical lines ; for in its final development of profitable industries, the education and sending forth to the great outside world, many a man of genius and high attainments hailed from here. Especially in its military and church activities has it shown wonderful strength. Of the men famous in both military and religious life, special chapters will treat more fully. In passing, however, it may be stated that from this town have come numerous judges; eminent surgeons and physicians ; six commissioned officers in the French and Indian War ; seven commissioned officers in the Revolutionary struggle; thirteen clergymen, two of whom were doctors of divinity, and one a presiding elder ; fourteen physicians, all regular graduates in medicine and surgery; eight members of the legal profession; two delegates to the State Constitutional Convention of 1780; two to the Convention of 1788 which ratified the Constitution of the United States; one delegate to the Slate Constitutional Convention of 1820; three State Senators and one United States Senator - these vv'ere all duly accredited to this small town up to the year 1885.

No less authority than good Doctor Crowell, who many years since wrote concerning this town, avers that the first American settlement was made by the English in the persons of William White, John Cogswell and Goodman Bradstreet, the date of their arrival being about 1634. Nothing positive can now be learned of the families of these three men. White's Hill of this town is supposed to have taken its name from the White just named above.

An immigrant from England named Humphrey Bradstreet came over in the ship "Elizabeth," from Ipswich, England, with his wife Bridget and four children in 1634. It is believed that he was called by another Christian name, but that he and the person named as being one of the first three to settle in this town were one and the same person. John Bradstreet, of Rowley, of whom it is mentioned in Winthrop's journal that he was whipped for having "familiarity with the Devil," was one of the sons of this Humphrey. He was accused of bewitching a dog.

The Jolm Cogswell named as being one of the first three settlers was the ancestor of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Oliver Wendell Holmes. At first, he resided in Ipswich, but that territory is now within Essex. Cogswell was a native of Wilts county, England, where he had been an extensive manufacturer of broadcloth and other woolen fabrics. He inherited the mills from his father's estate, the same having been run in the family for three generations. With his wife and seven children, he came to America in the ship "Angel Gabriel," of two hundred and forty tons bur- den, carrying fourteen guns. She was strongly constructed, and was the vessel on which Sir Walter Raleigh sailed from England to South America on two voyages. Just exactly the spot where Mr. Cogswell or his companions located in this town is not known. He died in 1669, aged seventy-seven. His daughter Hannah married Cornelius Waldo, and from them descended Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Besides the three family names already mentioned, in a short time came in many more, as there is a list found in the Ipswich records for 1648 showing one hundred and sixty persons who contributed to a military fund. At least eight of this number were residents of Chebacco, viz: John Burnham, Thomas Bumham, William Cogswell, John Choate, Robert Crosse, William Goodhue, Thomas Low, William Story. More of the name of Burnham came to this settlement than any other one name in the whole settlement.

The Sagamore of Agawam, an Indian chief named Masconomet, claimed the ownership of land in this township. In 1638 he sold his right and title to the soil of Ipswich to John Winthrop, son of Governor Winthrop, for £20, equal to about $100 of United States money. The peculiar deed of old Masconomet to the whites was as follows, when translated into English ;

I, Masconomet, Sagamore of Agawam, do by these presence do acknowledge to have received of Mr, John Winthrop the sum of twenty pounds in full satisfaction of all the right, property and claim I have, or ought to have, unto all the land lying and being in the Bay of Agawam, alias Ipswich, being so called now by the English, as well as such land as I formerly reserved unto my own use at Chebacco, as also other land, belonging to me in these parts, Mr. Dummer's farm excepted only. And I hereby relinquish all the right and interest I have unto all the havens, rivers, creeks, islands, huntings and fisheries; with all the woods, swamps, timber, and whatever else is, or may be, in, or upon the same ground belonging; and I do hereby acknowledge to have received full satisfaction from the said John Winthrop for all former agreements, touching the premises and parts of them; and I do hereby bind myself to make good the aforesaid bargain and sale unto the said John Winthrop, his heirs and assigns forever, and to secure him against the title and claim of all other Indians and natives whatsoever. Witness my hand, 28th of June, 1638.

John Winthrop's journal, under date of June 13, 1630, while the ship "Arbella," in which he had sailed, lay near present Beverly, or "the land of Cape Ann," has this entry: "Lord's day 13. - In the morning, the Sagamore of Agawam and one of his men came aboard our ship and staid with us all day." This meeting may have been the means of Winthrop settling at the point which he did - Ipswich, and his ultimate purchase of the territory of Agawam from the Indian chief.

Here, as elsewhere, the first occupation of settlers was of necessity that of farming. Next came fishing, both from the sea and the rivers. At first hook and line were the only means of procuring the fish, but later it was counted too slow work, and the Ipswich records shov/ this method put into practice: "December 24, 1634. - It is consented unto that John Perkins, junior, shall build a ware (fish-trap) on the river of Quasycung' (now Parker river, Newbury) and enjoy the profits of it, but in case a plantation shall settle there, then he is to submit himself unto such conditions as shall then be imposed."

Just when fishing began no one can tell, but it is certain that as soon as boats could be built, the settlers engaged in fishing, first in the rivers, and later in the ocean. At one time in the history of Essex, fourteen vessels were owned in the place, employed in the cod fisheries. There is nothing of that kind known since the close of the Civil War.

Digging clams for food and for bait has been another industry named by early v/riters in the occupations of the people. As early as 1763, the authorities of Ipswich ordered that only so many clams should be taken from the marshes as would supply the fisheraien and for food required among the inhabitants. The amount allowed each of a crew to Newfoundland for one trip, was one barrel. In 1837 clams sold here at $2.50 per barrel, and in 1886 the net price was quoted at $4. The annual receipts for shell-fish, 1886-87, were $12,800 for Essex.

Malting and brewing was carried on extensively, as beer was in common use in every household. Tea and coffee were little used here at that date. Generally, each to\Mi had one malster. The farmer took his barley and other grain to him, as he did other milling grains, and it was "tolled" by the miller, the same as wheat. Much barley was grown and much good beer w£is made in all its purity. The records do not speak of any drunkenness.

The common trades, such as cai'penters, blacksmiths, tailors, and shoemakers, were numerous, and filled a role that was very useful, if not indeed indispensable. Ecat-building by ship carpenters and joiners were early enterprises in tiiis settlement, along v/ith the production of twine and cordage. In about 1363 this branch of industiy took on larger proportions. Captain Bumham and Samuel Hardy, as well as David, William H. and H. W. Mears, were prominent in this industry, and supplied all that was required by the vessels from Essex ; but before 1890, things changed. The heavier ropes and cords were obtained elsewhere, while the smaller cordage was made at home in the well-known "rope-walks."

The first saw and grist mills were constructed here in 1656, on Chebacco river ; later, two more were added at the Falls. In 1693 a grist mill were set in operation in the town. Another set of mills were built in 1823, both sav/ and flouring mills. In connection, they had a wool-carding mill. In 1872 the Essex Steam Mill Company built two mills on Southern avenue. With the consumption of the forests, the saw mill industry has shrunk to meagre proportions at this date, as compared with earlier years.

By far the largest industry Essex has ever been favored with is that of building ships for the great ocean trade. This enterprise began in a modest way in the construction of the little Chebacco boats, boats without a bowsprit, having two masts and two sails only - foresail and mainsail - being sharp at both stem and stern. It is said that at the close of t'he eighteenth century there were nearly two thousand of these craft, of large and small tonnage, employed in the fisheries, and sailing from Cape Ann. The Indian name of Essex was Chebacco, hence the ship-builders named these boats after the Indian name. About 1825 the building of these boats materially fell off in volume, and larger vessels, with a square stern, full-rigged as schooners, were produced in large numbers. In the eighties vessels of still much greater tonnage were built at the Essex ship-yards, including several three-masted schooners, and two steamers, one for General B. F. Butler and another for Captain Lamont G. Bumham.

One of these vessels, built in 1853, became historic. It was constructed by John James and Leonard McKenzie, and was used by Dr. Elisha K. Kane on his Grinnell expedition, in search of Sir John Franklin, the famous Arctic explorer. Its name at first was "Spring Hill," but when used by Dr. Kane, she was renamed "Advance." She had a 144 ton burden and was complimented highly by Dr. Kane.

As time passed on, the Essex vessels were of larger and better construction. In 1842 the "Ann Maria," of 510 tons burden, was constructed. The swiftest boatmaking up to that day was in 1837, when in the month of July a craft was entirely built at the Essex yards and named the "July." Dr. Crowell mentions all the vessels so far named. Since his record, still larger craft have been the rule. The "Mattie W. Atwood," a three-masted schooner of seven hundred and seventy tons burden, was built in 1872 by James & McKenzie. In 1880, L. G. Bumham built the "Vidette" of eight hundred and nineteen tons burden; she had two propellers.

Coming down to 1888 and later dates, the active ship-builders were Arthur D. Story, James & Co., Moses Adams, Joseph, Samuel and Charles Oliver Story, Daniel Poland and Willard Burnham.

As to the present of boat-building, let it be recorded that there are now only two firms building vessels for the sea trade. These are Arthur D. Story and J. F. James & Son. The last named succeeded the old firm of Tarr & James, and they were preceded by Leonard McKenzie. Everett B. James is now at the head of this well known boat-building company. In 1921 the firm built and launched the prize boat "Maj/flower," in the month of April, when ten thousand people were present at the christening.

John Prince established the first printing office in Essex in 1843. Along with it was published a newspaper, known as the "Essex Cabinet" ; it sumved, however, only a part of the year. Later, a religious paper was issued, called the "Universalist Cabinet." Many years later the "Essex Enterprise" was established, but it was continued for but a short time.

Among the useful trades of Essex from an early time was that of tanning hides and pelts into leather. It is certain that in 1743, Joseph Perkins and father-in-law, Thomas Choate, Jr., bought for £928 twentysix acres of land, known as Old Tenor, of Francis Cogswell, tanner, and Hannah, his wife : "One half of this land to go to said Thomas and the other half to the said Joseph." Joseph was engaged at tanning several years on this tract of land. He was succeeded in the same line by his grandsons, John and James Perkins. Their tan-vats were near the brook, in the rear of the old burying-ground. Captain Francis Bumham also had a tannery at the Falls for many years, on the same site on which the Francis Goodhue tannery was erected. With the change of times and the centralization of industries in larger cities, this industry was lost to Essex.

S. B. Fuller & Sons, with Frank E. Gilbert, in 1872 opened a shoe factory in Essex, in a building thirty-five by sixty feet, and three stories high; it was greatly enlarged in 1880. In 1888 there were about one hundred and twenty-five persons employed, the pay-roll amounting to fifty thousand dollars a year. Four hundred thousand pairs of shoes were made there annually in the eighties. For several years this industry has not existed in Essex.

Besides those already mentioned, Essex has had business interests in the successful handling of ice, hay, milk, butter, fruits and vegetables, all of home production. While many of the former factories have been closed down, other enterprises have sprung up.

The business of the town of Essex in 1921 is chiefly confined to agriculture, ship-building, clam digging and the making of fish-lines. The last-named business was established many years ago, when rope-walks and flax and hemp were used in the making of lines, cords and rope. The Mears Improved Line Company now makes a fishing line that is sold from coast to coast in large quantities. H. W. Mears is the present proprietor. There are now being taken from the sands along the coast of Essex no less than one hundred barrels daily of excellent merchantable clams. There are two saw mills in operation a part of the year, although timber is becoming very scarce in the vicinity of Essex.

Chebacco was set off from Ipswich in 1819, and incoiT)orated as the town of Essex by an act of the legislature, February 5th that year. The committee of the town of Essex, in conjunction with another like committee from Ipswich, adjusted the settlement between the two places. The names of those serving from Essex were Georgee Choate, William Cogswell, Jr.,and Elias Andrews. The population in 1819 was 1,170, including twenty-one paupers. The late United States census returns for 1920 gives the number of inhabitants as 1,478. Other state- ments in other enumeration periods give the following: In 1860, it was 1701 - the largest on record; in 1830 it was 1,333; in 1840, it was 1,432; and 1870 the total was 1,614. The town is now bounded by Ipswich on the north, Hamilton on the west, Manchester on the south, and Gloucester on the south and east. The area is about 9,000 acres, 7,000 of which are divided into tillage, upland, fresh and salt meadows, woodland and highways. As late as 1890 there were 2,000 acres under water.

At the first town meeting in Essex, the moderator was George Choate, of the distinguished Choate family in New England and New York. Joseph Story, a Revolutionary War soldier, was the first town clerk; George Choate, Jonathan Story (4th), Elias Andrews, William Cogswell and William Andrews were chosen the original selectmen, assessors and overseers of the poor; Nathan Choate was first town treasurer, and Rev. Robert Crowell and the selectmen were by vote of the town meeting designated as the first school committee.

The following is a list of the town officers (elective) for the year 1921: Moderator, George E. Mears; Town Clerk, Epes Sargent; Selectmen: Caleb W. Cogswell (chairman), Aaron Cogswell; Secretary, Fred W. Andrews ; Assessors : Fred W. Andrews, Leonard A. Story, Caleb M. Cogswell; Treasurer, Grove N. Dodge; Auditor, Charles M. Stevens; Tax Collector, Joseph N. Tucker; Overseers of the Poor: 0. Perry Bumham William A. Lendall, John Wilson ; School Committee : Alden C. Burnham Marshall H. Cogswell, Assie B. Hobbs; Tree Warden, Otis 0. Story; Con stables: Charles R. Lane, Stewart J. Hadley; Cemetery Commissioners: Leighton E. Perkins, Alphonso W. Knowlton ; Highway Surveyors : Frank E. Watson, George H. Paynter, David Mears, Welbus L. Cogswell, Edward H. Burnham; Fence Viewers: A. F. Haskell, Benj. F. Raymond Wm. A. Lendall, Enoch B. Kimball.

In common with many other towns in Essex county, Essex has a good library, of which the librarian's report in 1920 gave these facts: Bound volumes on shelves, 6,963; circulation, 16,320; volumes added^ 165 ; cards in circulation, 484. The investment of funds belonging to the hbrary was as follows : Bank deposits and Liberty War bonds, $20,664.64. The Burnham and Russ funds have been of great help toward carrying on this excellent library. The librarian making the above statement in 1920 ,was E. B. Story.

As a matter for future reference, it may be well to give the following figures from the town assessors' report in 1920 ; Value of assessed personal estate, $312,424.00; assessed real estate, $1,058,090.00; increase m 1920 over previous year, $37,807.00; tax on personal estate, $7,030.21 - tax on real estate (1920), $23,807.78; tax on 458 polls at $5 each, $2,- 290.00. Concerning the last item, it may be said that three of the five dollars derived from the polls were paid to men who served in the War with Germany, as required by Chapter 283, Acts of 1919.

In 1819 a postofRce was established in Essex with Dudley Choate as postmaster. He was succeeded by the following in their order: Amos Bumham, 1826; Enoch Low, 1854; Charles W. Proctor, 1864; Daniel W .Bartlett, Sr., and Daniel W. Bartlett, Jr., 1868 to 1881 ; Leighton E. Perkins, 1881 to 1914, when he was succeeded by Clarence S. Perkins. The office has been kept in the present building since 1868. It is a third class office, with one rural route going from it. The last year's business of this office was about $1,700.

The town began very early to agitate the question of temperance in the matter of drinking spirituous liquors. Its first temperance society was formed in 1829, and in 1842 the Washington Total Abstinence Society was organized. With the passing years and decades, as public sentiment changed regarding the handling of such problems, Essex has ever had her full share of worthy, practical, sensible temperance advocates, even down to these later years, when the States and the Nation itself have decreed the dethronement of King Alcohol.

Essex was without a railway until 1872, the nearest railroad communication being Manchester, on the Gloucester branch road, more than four miles distant, with Wenham six miles away. July 1, 1872, the first train of steam cars was run over the tracks of the Essex Railroad, which extended from Wenham to Essex. The town appropriated a part of the necessary funds to secure this railroad, which was subsequently sold to the Eastern Railroad Company and is today a part of the great Boston & Maine system. The road was extended across the river and marshes to the Thompson Island community, in 1887, when a jubilee was held over the event. To the first promoter and president of the original railroad company, Leonard McKenzie, Esq., must be awarded the credit of dominating service and labors in the construction of the long-wanted and much-needed road.

Fully forty years after the first settlement by the English, which is placed at 1634, there was no preaching in what is now Essex, by any regular ordained minister. Now and then, ministers from Ipswich would come over and hold a service, pray with the religiously-inclined and counsel with them. At funerals, these men of God also came to Essex, and after a brief service the remains of the deceased were taken upon the shoulders of the pallbearers to the burying-ground at Ipswich and there laid away to rest. Prior to 1667 there appears no record of any preaching at Essex. Early in 1668 Rev. Jeremiah Shepard, son of Rev. Thomas Shepard, of Cambridge, preached in private houses; he declined to act as a regular minister, on account of the church at Ipswich objecting thereto. This was no doubt due to the tax that always went with the organization of any new church. The first conference looking toward a second church was held in Ipswich, February, 1677. Two years later the interested men and women took matters into their own hands, regardless of what might be said in Ipswich. These people were tired of traveling five miles weekly to worship God, hence they revolted. The frame of a suitable dimension for a church building was provided, without the sanction of the church or the State, as one might well term it, the work being carefully superintended by three energetic women who labored in secret with their husbands in this enterprise. Not many days after they had raised the frame for a church, three women - Mrs. Goodhue, wife of William Jr., Mrs, Vamey, wife of Thomas Varney, and Mrs. Martin, wife of Abraham Martin, and Abraham Martin himself and his hired man, John Chub - were all placed under arrest, tried before a magistrate in Ipswich, found guilty of "contempt" in helping to raise a meeting-house at Chebacco, and bound over to the "Great and General Court" in Boston, where they made confession, and were allowed to go unpunished. Later they completed their meeting-house. The site of this structure served for the residence of Captain Joseph Choate. It was a very plain, well built structure, with a frame of white oak. The building had a cupola, and a fine toned bell hung within it.

The first minister was Rev. John Wise, a native of Roxbury, Massachusetts, bom 1652. The father came from England in 1635 as a servant of Dr. George Alcock. The son. Rev. Wise, graduated at Harvard College in 1673, then little better in educational standards than our present high or noiTnal schools. He was a chaplain in King Philip's War, and later preached at Hatfield, Massachusetts ; he was married in 1678 to Miss Abigail Gardner. In the spring of 1680 he went to Chebacco to dedicate a church, the record states. He was finally ordained and settled here and preached in Essex for forty-five years. He died in 1725, aged seventy-three years.

It is not the intention in this chapter to dwell long on sundry points that might be thought interesting in a church history proper. In a general work of which this volume is a part, it is inexpedient to more than touch here and there, in an outline history. Hence the life and character of the numerous ministers will be very briefly mentioned.

The second minister in Essex was Rev. Theophilus Pickering, an officer of the Revolutionary struggle, and also a member of President Washington's cabinet, as well as in the administration of the elder Adams. After about sixteen years. Rev. Pickering and his flock disagreed over the preaching of that wonderful preacher and revivalist. Rev. George Whitefield, who in 1640 first preached in Ipswich, and visited Chebacco. He did not agree with Whitefield's methods of presenting his views, while his church, as a rule, held Whitefield up as a model. A considerable number in his church declined to stand by him. They consequently withdrew and formed a separate church, with Rev. John Cleveland as settled pastor. From this line of Clevelands came the late President Grover Cleveland.

The third minister of the original church at Essex was Rev. Nehemiah Porter, a native of Hamilton, who filled the pulpit upon the death of Rev. Pickering. He was a Harvard graduate; remained here seventeen years, and moved to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He left two hundred descendants ; the year of his death was 1820.

The Church of the Separatists was presided over by Rev. John Cleveland until his death in 1799, over a half century. He was somewhat of an orator, and never afraid to speak his mind. Once in his church, it was bitter cold, while preaching one morning, and he suffered from the coldness. Finally, he stopped long enough to stamp his foot violently on the floor, and exclaimed, "0, God, who can stand before thy cold." (Psalm cxlvii). He then proceeded with his two hours' sermon. His successor was Josiah Webster.

All was orthodox preaching by the Congregationalists in Essex for over one hundred and seventy years after its original settlement. Then in 1809, a plain flat-roofed building, without steeple or tower, was erected upon the site of the Methodist church. It was thirty-five feet square, of pine, and instead of pews had long benches for seats. The Christian Baptist society occupied this plain meeting-house. The church had no written creed, the members styling themselves Christians, the same as the Campbellites after the death of Alexander Campbell. The society prefeiTed to be knovv^n as the Church of Christian Baptists, or Christians. Their most distinguished preacher was Rev. Elias Smith. He founded the first newspaper in this part of the country - ^probably in the United States. Its first issue was pulled from the press in September, 1808, eight years prior to the "Boston Recorder". Styled the "Herald of Gospel and Liberty," it had an existence of nine years. Its editor. Elder Smith, was first a Calvinistic Baptist, then Free Will Baptist, then Christian; later, he became a Universalist, and at last was counted with the Rationalists. He became a botanical doctor in Boston and died in his eighty-fifth year in 1846.

The Universalist Society was formed in 1829 by forty-three persons, who signed a constitution and agreed to a statement of belief. Various clergymen preached here, including Rev. Ezra Leonard, a Congregational preacher, who was converted to the Universalist faith. Other ministers sei'ved, and in 1835 Rev. Joseph Banfield, a former Christian Baptist preacher, who now saw the faith as taught by Universalists, became the first regular pastor. The old Baptist church and sometimes the school house were occupied by this society for public v/orship. In 1836 a meeting-house was provided, under a committee which included Messrs. Jacob Story, John Dexter, Sr., Parker Bumham, Oliver Low and Samuel Hardy. The sale of the pews brought more money than the cost of the land, house and furniture, by $500. Since 1885 the pastors have been as follows : Revs. Closson, Sanger, Charles E. Petty, George Sanger and Wm. F. Rider, D.D. The present membership is sixty-eight. Since 1918 the Essex pastor has also served the church at West Gloucester.

Town Of Georgetown 241

February, 1874, saw the first Methodist Episcopal church formed in Essex. It was instituted by Rev. Daniel Sherman, presiding elder. In 1888 these Methodist people were still flourishing and worshiping in the Century Chapel. Recent records of this church show that at South Essex it has a successful work, with a membership of eighty-one and of preparatoiy members, thii-ty. In 1911 the church auditorium was rebuilt and remodeled. Since 1900 the Land Court has given the Methodist church a clear title to its property. In the summer of 1920 the vestry was completed at a cost of $2,500, counting donated work, of which the pastor performed a hundred days' labor himself. Recent pastors have been: Revs. Tillon, Pitman, Thornburg, 1917-19; and present pastor, Rev. Louis H. Kaub, 1919 - .