Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 23: Town of Georgetown, 1922

Chapter 23: Town of Georgetown

This section of the work was furnished by local writers, whose names appear in the introductoiy mention of contributors to the History, and may be relied upon as accurate.

Historical Narrative

Georgetov/n is situated not far from the geographical centre of Essex County, and claims the distinction of containing within its limits the highest land of the county, Baldpate Hill. From the lookout which has been built on the top of this hill, the surrounding country within a radius of more than fifty miles can be seen. On the west and northwest are the mountains of Maine and New^ Hampshire ; Monadnock and Kearsarge, with Agamenticus, farther to the north ; while looking east across the irregular roofs of the Baldpate Inn and the clustered houses of the village may be seen the white sand hills of Plum Island, and on the horizon's farthest verge the faint blue line of the Atlantic. An observer from this hilltop somewhat less than three hundred years ago might have seen the sunlight reflected from the v/hite sails of the pinnace which brought to these shores the first settlers of our town.

In the autumn of 1638, Mr. Ezekiel Rogers, with a little company consisting of about sixty families, dissenters from the Church of England, "godly men and men of good estate," emigrated from the Yorkshire town of Rowley, England, seeking in the new world the freedom which was denied them in the old. "Large accommodations" had beeia offered by the General Court of Massachusetts to Mr. Rogers if he would settle here. These "accommodations" comprised an area extending from the Atlantic to Andover, and included the towns of Georgetown, Boxford, Groveland and parts of Haverhill and Middleton, as well as

Rowley. It was all unbroken wilderness. Where now are broad highways, alive with motor cars, were then only narrow Indian trails, winding in and out among the giant trees of the primeval forest. Instead of the shriek of the locomotive and the blare of the automobile horn was the scream of the eagle or the wild fowl's harsh note, while the only sign of human life v/as, perhaps, the curling smoke from some Indian camp fire.

It required courage to clear this Vv^ilderness and transplant a home from an old world to a new, but this courage our sturdy forefathers possessed; and here, near the coast in Rowley, the band of emigrants cleared a little spot in the all-surrounding forest and built their fu'st homes. For a time all their energies were spent in the laborious work of clearing the land of the forest growth and tilling the soil, but probably as early as 1645 the territory now known as Georgetown was gone over, the lands were examined, the lakes explored, and the brooks and streams, with the meadows through which they flowed, were appraised as of great value. The uplands were probably heavily wooded, but in these meadows was an abundance of grass, providing excellent pasturage for cattle in sum.mer, as well as hay for winter use. The settlers of Rowley, however, seem not to have been in haste to take possession of these valuable lands in the western part of their plantation, partly, no doubt, because of the difficulty and danger of the enterprise, and partly because they were so fully occupied in the original settlement. Another possible reason for their delay has been given by Mr. Henry Nelson, in a newspaper article published in 1909. He says:

It is well known by antiquarians that Rev. Ezekiel Rogers and Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan leader in England, were close friends, and that there was an agreement between them that if Cromwell failed to conquer King Charles of England in parliamentai'v contests, he was to come to this country and join Mr. Rogers. Somewhere in this broad area given to Mr. Rogers, extending from the River Merrimack to Ipswich River, was the selected spot for Oliver Cromwell It is a plausible theory that land grants to individuals in that part of Rowley awaited the issue of the strife so fiercely carried on between Cromwell and Charles in the old home of the Rowley community. But all expectation of Cromwell becoming a citizen of Rowley becoming a thing of the past, the first grant of land was made out to Humphrey Raynor, who a year or two before had aided in its surveJ^

Elder Raynor was a prominent citizen and church member in Rowley, and was without doubt the first owner of land in the territory of Georgetown. His grant vv^as in the southern part of the town extending fromx Baldpate pond perhaps nearly to Pen brook. A grant to Thomas Mighill followed in 1652. Under this date the records of the town of Rowley contain the following entry, the first having reference to the territory now Georgetown: "Twenty-three Akers at the place called the pen, where young cattell were formerly kept." This grant to Thomas Mighill included the farm formerly owned by Mr. Humphrey Nelson, and now the property of Miss Eleanor Jones of Haverhill. There was probably good pasturage here, and the place had doubtless been used for the pasturing of young stock for some years before the grant was made.

In 1661 extensive land grants were made to Samuel Brocklebank and his brother John. These grants extended southerly, including the farm now owned by Daniel P. Bond, and westerly toward Central street, including the Harmony cemetery. Upon this Brocklebank grant stands what is undoubtedly the oldest house in town, now owned by Mr. Melvin Spofford. In the same year, 1661, an allotment of land near and on Pentucket pond was made to Mary, the widow of Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, and included the land between Pentucket and Rock ponds. It extended to Groveland. In 1666 or 1667 a tract of land, called the three thousand acres, was laid out as village land. This tract included nearly all of Georgetown west of Pen brook, extending from what is now the centre of the town to Baldpate Hill. Soon the people of Rowley began to discuss the encouragement of a settlement there. The following action is recorded in the Rowley town records: "It was agreed and voted that there should be a small farme laide out in the three thousand Acres of Land that v/as exchanged for land at the necke and the rest of the saide farm it is agreed that it shall be forever for the use of the ministry, or for the towne's use." John Pickard, John Pearson and Ezekiel Northend was appointed ''to make a bargon with any who should appeare to take the saide f erme, provided that they Let not above thirty Acres of meddow, or halfe of the meddow belonging to the thre Thousand Acres, provided allso that they put the town to no charges, provided allso that they lay not out above thre score Acres of upland to the saide ferme."

It was not long before a "bargon" was made with one of Rowley's citizens, John Spofford, one of the original company of emigrants from Yorkshire. His name is found in the records of the division of lands into homestead lots in 1643. He had a house lot on Bradford street, near the centre of the present town of Rowley, and also owned land in the "fresh meadows, the salt meadows, the village lands, the Merrimack lands and shares in the ox pasture, the cow pasture, and the calf pasture."

This record is found under date of March 17, 1668: "Seventeenth day of March, in the year one Thousand six hundred sixty-eight, it was agreed and voted that John Spofforth, if he would goe to the farme that was granted to be laid out in the thre Thousand Akers, that he should have the benefit of penninge the cattell for the terme of seven years, ha keeping the herde of the younger cattel as carefully and as cheape, as any other should doe." His lease was for twenty-one years, and he was to pay as rent for the first five years "three hundred feet of white oak plank, and after that time ten pounds each year, one-half in English corn at price current, or Indian com, as he pleases, the other half in fat cattel or leane at price current." And so John Spofford, after living for thirty years in Rowley, left his home there and removed to the "Gravelle Plain, near the Bald Hills," now Baldpate, and thus became the first settler of the town of Georgetown. Why he should have left his home in Rowley for this wilderness is not known. It may have been that the "benefit of penning the cattel" was a valuable privilege. At the time of his removal he had eight children, four sons and four daughters.

It is hard for us in these days of easy, comfortable living to picture the lives of the rugged pioneers who had possessed courage and hardihood sufficient not only to leave their comfortable homes in Yorkshire for the wilderness beyond the sea, but had now left the comparative shelter and comfort of the settlement at Rowley for the unbroken forest to the west. They had reached the elemental facts of life. They were engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle with the untamed forces of nature. Their first house must have been of the rudest and most primitive description - probably a log cabin made from the trees felled in the process of clearing the land. They were beset with dangers - cold, hunger, wild beasts, and, most dreaded of all, the Indians. Their nearest English neighbor was four or five miles distant, Moses Tyler of Boxford. What compensations did such an existence hold for the comfort and companionship they had renounced? Doubtless it did hold compensations, for it was not long before other settlers came. The first of these after John Spofford was Capt. Samuel Brocklebank. Indeed, it is probable that before that first permanent settlement Capt. Brocklebank had a house at his farm on Pen brook, and spent the farm season there, returning to Rowley in the winter. The records are meagre with regard to the other early settlers, but among the names of those who were first to settle are Wheeler, Browne, Plumer, Poor, Harrim.an, Goodrich, Stickney, Mighill and Nelson.

By 1700 about twenty families were settled within the limits of the territory now known as Georgetown, at least four-fifths of this number being in the Byfield section of the town. It was in this section that the massacre of the Goodrich family by the Indians occurred. Mr. Goodrich was at prayer with his family on a Sunday evening in October, 1692, when the house was attacked by a small band of Indians, and he, his wife, and several children were killed. It is said that one of the family, a little girl of seven, was carried off captive, but was redeemed the next spring. The house was sacked, and afterward set on fire ; but whether it was wholly or only partially burned is not known. This house stood on the Newburyport road at the entrance of the street leading to Gorham D. Tenney's house. There is a tradition that this murder was the act of a roving band of Indians, who were returning from an unsuccessful raid in Newbury, the object of which was the death of a man against whom they had a grudge ; and that coming unexpectedly upon the Goodrich home, they vented their anger and disappointment upon its unfor- tunate inmates. That the Indians were numerous in this vicinity is shown by the number of Indian relics that have been found here. Many have been turned up by the plough near the banks of Parker river, on the slopes of Baldpate, and on the shores of the ponds, which were probably favorite fishing grounds of the Indians.

One of the largest private collections of Indian relics in New England is that made by Mr. Frank Bateman, who lived on the road between Georgetown and Newburyport. A description of it, published some years ago, is as follows:

This collection has the additional value of having been dug up on the owner's land or near it. In the collection there are about 900 good specimens, including axes, pestles, gouges, sinkers for fish lines, hammers, drills, arrow heads, and small effigies. Mr. Bateman has found five Indian graves in his garden. From one of them he took ninety specimens of stone work, including spear heads, knives, scrapers and drills. Nearly all were broken, but two of the drills were whole. In one grave he found bones. In another he found a stone ax, a drill, three arrow heads, and a tooth. The other three graves contained no relics. He has also exhumed on his property a number of Indian fireplaces with ash pits. The relics are scattered over an area of about an acre and a half, that must have been the site of an Indian village including its graveyard. '

Other valuable collections have been made, notably one by Mr Alfred Spaulding and one by Mr. Hiram Harriman. The latter is now in the historical room of the Peabody Library. Mr. John Perley's monument in Harmony cemetery occupies the site of an Indian watch-tower built by the early settlers as a protection from the savages. In those days there was constant fear of the lurking enemy. Men were often shot by an Indian bullet or arrow while at work haying in the meadows The men of every household were ordered to have their muskets with them while m the meeting-house on the Sabbath, and there were colonial laws forbidding persons journeying alone and receiving Indians into their homes.

The Indians were not so numerous, however, at the time of the first settlement of Massachusetts as they had been before. In Gage's "History of Rowley" is the following quotation from Johnson's "Pathway to erect a Plantation": "It seems God hath provided this county for our nation destroying the natives by the plague, it not touching one Englishman! tnough many traded and were conversant among them. They had three plagues in three years successively near two hundred miles along the seacoast that in some places there scarce remained five of a hundred."

As the settlers became more numerous and the land was cleared roads began to be opened through the town. An article on the subject Old Roads was prepared by Mr. Leonard Dresser for the Historical Souvenir Book which was published by the Georgetown Improvement Association in 1909. The article is as follows:

In 1800 the roads were in a primitive state, narrow and unwrought, but fortunately, the art of roadmaking was very much improved about this time by the introduction of turnpike roads connecting the villages. The roads as first laid out had little regard for public travel. The lots of farms were laid out in ranges, and a "proprietor's way" was laid out at the head of each row of lots, which paid but little attention to hills or valleys, and often made acute angles by passing around the corner of lots. Such an angle was made at Eliot's Comer on Pentucket Square. The Swamp, or Library Road was not made until the Parish Church had been used for forty years, standing on the lot east of the Humphrey Nelson house in the Marlboro district. Another right angle was made in passing the road to the Byfield mills, just below the Baptist Church parsonage, which may still be traced and may be remembered by some still living. At the west end of the Hill road it kept its course by some line of lots, beyond the house once occupied by Parker Spofford, over a rocky ledge, and down Gregg Hill, and turning a right angle to the left by Half Moon Meadow, past the house of Joseph Spofford, then, by a right angle to the right, passed on by the house of Moses Spofford to Boxford and Andover. The road over Spofford's Hill was early travelled to the old Spofford farm. It passed from Andover gate, which was near the present site of the soldier'.« monument, nearly as at present to the comer of the Little pasture, near the Bridges house, then by a circuit in the pasture to the farm gate or entrance to his premises. The road up the Great hills, as they were then called, was not made. It was a new and narrow cut between two high banks, and was a little over a carriage width. Elm Street is one of the oldest streets in the town, outside, of course, of the earlier roads through from Rowley to Bradford and Andover. Elm Street was opened to public travel somewhere about the year 1686. North Street came next, being opened in 1713, and one year later West Main, or Haverhill Street was opened for travel. Nelson Street was opened in 1770. Central Street was not opened until sometime in the early part of 1800, as in 1795 there was a fenced lane leading south from the corner, Pentucket Square, to the house of John Brocklebank. This lane was afterward opened through to the Chaplin's at South Georgetown, making the street now called Central Street. Many of the shorter streets, such as Nelson Avenue, Pond Street, Prospect, Middle, Union and School Streets are comparatively recent. The old road that connected the two ends of the Parish, Marlboro and Federal City, ran along the north side of Pentucket Pond, and is easily traced at the present time. Federal City was a little settlement in the western part of the town, and Marlboro was another settlement in the eastern section.

By 1795 there were sixty houses in the New Rowley parish scattered about on farms in various parts of the town. Most of them were unpainted, although a few were painted red. All that remains to mark the sites of many of them is a clump of lilac bushes, a group of gnarled apple trees, or a few "tiger" lilies. The first dwelling house to be erected within the limits of Georgetown was the log house built by John Spofford, It was raised in the western end of the Old Town Field, now owned by Samuel P. Batchelder. Later, Mr. Spofford built a frame house, which was burned. Another Spofford house was situated a little to the east, and still farther east was the house which has been generally known as the old Spofford homestead. It was probably built in 1741, and was occupied by descendants of the Spofford family until quite recently, when the house and farm were bought by Mr. Batchelder, who tore down the old building and erected a new residence on the site. The oldest house still standing in town is the one already referred to as the Melvin Spofford house, built on the Brocklebank land grant near the Old South green. Nine years after having received his grant, Samuel Brocklebank, in 1670, erected a dwelling on the exact spot where the present house stands, and it is believed that the original stinicture forms a part of the present house, which was built over it. It passed into the hands of Dudley Tyler, who owned it in 1765, and later it came into the possession of Solomon Nelson, who left it to his son, Paul Nelson. While owned by Tyler and the Nelsons, it was used as a tavern, and had a sign bearing the picture of an English officer on horseback, supposed to be that of General James Wolfe, who was killed in the battle of Quebec. This sign is still in existence. It has in it a bullet-hole, about which there are a number of traditions. One says it was made by some patriot marching past on his way to battle for independence in 1775, who took this way of showing his hatred toward England and everything English. From Mr. Nelson the house passed into the hands of Charles Beecher, (brother of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher) and was used as a parsonage, while he was pastor of the Old South Church, as the First Congregational Church was then called. The house is still in good condition, its heavy oak timbers showing no sign of decay.

Another Spofford house is the one now owned by Mr. Alfred Kimball. This house was built by Deacon Eleazer Spofford, grandfather of Ainsworth, who was for many years librarian of Congress at Washington. Still another old house on Spofford hill is now owned by Mr. Allan Wilde. The date of its erection is unknown, but it was occupied as early as 1798. On the top of the hill is another very old dwelhng, known as the Boynton house. It was occupied until quite recently. It may have been built by Richard Boynton in 1732, and remained in possession of the Boyntons until purchased by Mr. Samuel Noyes about 1882. It is now the property of Mr. John Seward of Boston.

The house now known as the Baldpate Inn is one of the oldest houses in town. It was raised July 4, 1733. It was built by Dea. Stephen Mighill and has been in the possession of the Spoffords or Mighills ever since. It was finally purchased by Mr. Paul Spofford of New York, who was in the direct line of descent from Deacon Stephen Mighill. It was improved and enlarged, and under the management of Mr. William Bray has become one of the best known hotels in Essex county; many famous people have been entertained there. Another interesting old house is the little brown cottage which one passes on the left hand side of the road in riding from Georgetown to Haverhill, just before reaching the electric car bridge over the railroad track. In this house was born the mother of George Peabody, the first of America's merchant princes to devote the bulk of his fortune to philanthropic purposes. Its original site was in Bailey lane, on the further shore of Rock pond, near a small stream, called Dodge's brook. After several years the Dodge house was moved across the pond on the ice to its present site.

portion of the town, was for more than half a century one of the most popular taverns between Salem and Newburyport. It was built more than a hundred years ago by the Little brothers - Uncle Ben and Uncle Joe, as they were called - and is today as staunch and firm as when built.

In the Marlboro district is the Humphrey Nelson house, now the property of Miss Eleanor Jones. It has recently been remodelled and fitted with antique furnishings. In Marlboro also is the Job Brocklebank house, owned by Ebenezer Boynton in 1726. It passed through many different hands until 1799, when it again came into the possession of the Brocklebanks ; a portion of it is still owned by Mr. Wendell Brocklebank. In the southem part of the town is the Adams house, now owned and occupied by Mrs. Samuel K. Herrick. It was built by Abraham Adams, about 1754, and is said to have been the first house in Georgetown to have a carpet spread upon its floor. So choice was the mistress of the home of this possession that she removed her shoes upon entering the room.

One of the most interesting houses in town is the Hazen house in the Marlboro district, now the property of Mrs. William 0. Kimball, who uses it as a summer home. The exact date of its erection is unknown, although the timbers show it to have been built sometime in the latter part of the 17th century. Its distinguishing characteristic is its Dutch lean-to roof. Another interesting feature is a secret room, entered though a closet in the front hall. One of the rooms facing on the street had a forge in it at the time of the Revolution, where muskets and bullets were made for use in the war. Other old houses are the Nathaniel Nelson house on Elm street, built in 1797* ; the Dow house, formerly known as the William Dole home, on West Main street, near the railroad crossing, built as early as 1793; the Clark house on West Main street, owned by Capt. Benjamin Adams, a captain of infantry in several campaigns in the Revolution; and the Colonial Tea House, on Elm street, formerly known as the Winter house. This house is full of valuable and interesting heirlooms of the Winter family, whose descendants still occupy it.*

The period between 1800 and 1830 was one of rapid growth for Georgetown, and many new houses were built. A map in Gage's History of Rowley shows the growth of that section of the town which lies be-

[*Note - In the cellar of this house may he seen a recess in one of the great chimneys where, tradition says, papers and gold belonging to the city of Newburyport were stored for safe keeping during the War of 1812, when much fear of a British invasion was felt in the New England coast towns. Mr. Nelson brought the valuables from Newburyport in an ox team by night, and in telling the story years afterward to his daughter, Mrs. J. P. Jones, said at its conclusion: "And only think, daughter, they never asked me to give any security for all that gold." Such was the reputation for probity of one of the early fathers of our town.]

tween Pentucket Square and Lovering's Comer, between 1810 and 1840. In 1810 there were ten buildings, in 1840 the number had increased to sixty. At the present time (1921) there are sixty-three.

In 1824 the town was gi^anted a postoffice. It was a box 30 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 12 inches deep, inscribed on one side, "New Rowley and Georgetown post-office, established March 17, 1824. Benjamin Little, postmaster." This box is now in the Essex Institute at Salem.

The matter of separation from the town of Rowley now began to be discussed. The younger business men, who felt none of the sentimental attachment to Rowley to which the older settlers were responsive, and whose business was disturbed by the distance between the two parishes, clamored for a separation. Letters intended for New Rowley were often addressed to Rowley, and their delivery was delayed. In 1837 a meeting was called to arrange for a division. A succession of meetings followed, and after much-heated discussion about boundaries, the lines were established and the name Georgetown was decided upon. This was in 1838.

The Woman's Club was organized in the fall of 1895, with a membership of 39. The first meeting was at the home of the president, Mrs. Edward M. Hoyt, Oct. 24, 1895, and the meetings for the first year were devoted to Italian studies, under the direction of Mrs. May Alden Ward. At the close of the course, a public lecture by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was given. For many years the club held to its original plan and had a course of study for at least half of the season. Of late years the program has been miscellaneous in character, and more emphasis has been placed upon the social side of the work. The club has contributed to many worthy causes, both within town and outside, and was active in many ways during the World War, giving generously to the various war organizations, besides doing a large amount of work. In 1914 the club was admitted to the Massachusetts State Federation of Woman's Clubs. There were at the close of last year, (June, 1921) 108 members. Mrs. Louise T. Perkins is at present president of the club.

The Georgetown Improvement Association was organized March 5, 1910. The first president was Rev. Bartlett H. Weston. The association raises its money by dues and an annual carnival, and is interested in all civic work for the town. It has at present a membership of 162, and the president is Mrs. Elizabeth McKay Daniels.

Beginning in 1638-9 : The first vessel to reach our shores brought not only the minister and the tillers of the soil, but also the millwright, sawyer and builder, the miller, cooper and maltster; the spinner, weaver and dyer ; the tailor, the shoemaker, the blacksmith, the tanner and the surveyor. For two hundred years - from 1638 to 1838 - the present area of Georgetown was a part of Rowley. We are told that the surnames of the earliest settlers were Rogers, Nelson, Spofford, Mighill, Brocklebank, Dummer, Jewett, Perley, Pearson, Lambert; and that within the first fifty years there came into the record the names of Chaplin, Noyes, Shute, Dole, Men-ill, Boynton, Bridges, Searles, Burpee, Woodbury, Tenney, Harriman, Stickney, Plumer, Poor, Tyler, Weston, Perkins, Dodge; also, in very early times Hilliard, Little, Palmer, Hardy, Moulton, Lovering, Giles, Cheney, Hale, Tidds, Dresser, Winter, Coker, Pingree, Adams, Bateman, Savory, Killam, Jones, Baker; in comparatively early times there appear the names of Brewster, Carlton, Osgood, Bailey, Daniels, Carter, Dorman, Atwood and Wilson. The men bearing the foregoing names were at one time or another identified with the mdustrial, commercial or professional life of the old and the new town. It is only with these phases of our history that the present writer deals.

Briefly and Chronologically: The making and manufacturing and compounding of articles of trade and commerce within the area of our present town limits began with the opening days of the settlement. The first manufacturers v/ere the itinerant shoemakers, tailors and dressmakers. Among the very first to set up a permanent business was the malster. At first cloth and leather were brought from the "old country"; but in less than three years the millwrights had built a waterpower sawmill, and sawyers were "getting out" lumber for the settlers' houses. Within the same period the millwrights had built for Thomas Nelson the first grist-mill in the settlement, wherein were ground corn, wheat, rye, oats and barley into meal and flour, both for home consumption and for shipment to Salem and other parts, in barrels made by the village cooper. From the "old country" the millwright brought his tools; the miller his "burr-stones"; the sawyer his saws; the spinners and weavers brought the heckle, the card, the small (flax) and the big (wool) spinning wheels, the harness and the several delicate parts used in the building of the great hand-looms, upon which homespun cloth - both linen and wool - were woven by the womenfolk. Before 1643 the millwrights had erected water-power fulling mills (small they were, no doubt), where the home woven cloth was fulled and made ready for use. Even during that early period the weavers of our settlement had "attained to a wide celebrity as the makers of fine cloth." As before stated, for the present purpose, we deal only with the doings of men within the boundary limits of what is now Georgetown.

The first business started here was done by Jonathan Harriman, when, in 1699-70, he located and built on Rock Brook the first mill, a sawmill and grist-mill combined. In this mill, lumber was sawn and grist was ground for exactly one hundred years. Later, but in the same year (1670), Jeremiah Nelson opened and "ran" the first grocery store; and also in the same year, Joachim Rayner established a tanneiy business, which was kept in constant operation by himself and successors for eighty years. In 1715-18 Joachim Plumer established and conducted for many years a large clothing manufacturing business. This kind of business, later, became an important industry in the town.

In 1722 iron-works were built by Samuel Barret at the upper end of Rock Pond, where an excellent quality of iron was made from ore found near the shores of the pond, in the peat bogs near by. These iron-works were successfully operated for nearly twenty years. In 1732 Deacon Abner Spofford built and "run for forty years" a very large sawmill "on the stream which finds its outlet at Parker River above Scragg Pond." Forty-five years later, in 1778, on the same site, Colonel Daniel Spofford operated the largest grist-mill in the town's history. In this mill, he and his sons "ground three thousand bushels of grain (grown by the farmers of the town) in a single year." In connection with this mill the Spofford's "ran" a very large sawmill. (It is worthy of note that as early as 1725 there were eighteen grist mills in operation in this territory at one time.) There is no doubt but that the itinerant shoemaker came here v/ith the first settlers, but the first one, whose name we know, was John Bridges. He went over his route with his "bag or kit" and made shoes for his patrons for forty years, from 1735 to 1775.

Daniel Pierce, in 1770, commenced the digging of the canal below Pentucket Pond. Later a dam was built just below Mill street, where a grist-mill was built (by parties now unknown) and "operated for seven months in the year." In 1770 Major Asa Nelson opened on Nelson street the second grocery store to be lun in town. As early as 1782 Benjamin Wallingford, and his son "Ben," doing business "at the comer", had won an enviable reputation as "chaise makers." Their fame extending to wide fields, they did a large and profitable business.

The year 1775 was prolific in the development of new industries among t"he people of the parish: Eleazar Spofford established the business of "wire pulling," which proved very successful. Jonathan Chaplin built and operated a rope-walk; and Deacon Stephen MighiU, like his English ancestors, manufactured malt in ever-increasing quantities. As all of the early settlers were Englishmen, so they all drank home brewed ale, hence the importance of dealing with a maltster who was trained to the business as Deacon Stephen had been, for his ancestors for many generations had been "licensed maltsters under the Crown." The same year the Burpee family "dammed a swift running stream," built a mill and carried on the business of "breaking flax by water-power" for the people, which could be done much quicker and cheaper than by hand. The same year, too, Jeremiah Spofford built and operated a snuff-mill, and that year he commenced the manufacture of molasses from cornstalks and watermelons. The business was carried on successfully during the period of the Revolutionary War, a period when it was impossible to bring molasses here from Jamaica and Cuba. After the war, molasses, made from sugar-cane, could be had that was better and cheaper. Besides the above-named new industries. Deacon Thomas Merrill and his two oldest sons manufactured nails "with forge, hammer and anvil" in "a smithy" located in the ell of his house.

We find also that as early as 1780 Westen & Phineas Hardy had built and were operating a tanyard, which was located near the site of the old Harriman mill on Rock Brook (Parker River), Mill street. It was during this year that Samuel Norris began the manufacture of clothing, the second to engage in this business in town. It was in this year that Captain Benjamin Adams began the tanning and currying of leather, his tanyard being on Salem Road (now Central street). As early as 1782 Captain William Perley had built and equipped a bark-mill, and was grinding bark by water-power. This he sold to the "nine tanneries" cheaper than the tanners could grind the bark by horse-power, and therefore did a large and lucrative business for many years.

The historian tells us that in 1785 Solomon Nelson and his sons built fishing-vessels of 18 to 25 tons burden, which, when completed, were hauled by oxen over the road to tide-water at Rowley, six miles distant. It must have been a grand sight to see the 40-odd yoke of oxen - big, sturdy and willing - slowly and carefully pulling such a great load over the road to the sea. Never again, in the history of man will such a beautiful sight (to the country-bred boy) be seen.

The year 1800 and the years immediately following were very significant years in the town's industrial history, for we are told that in that year Benjamin Wallingford, Jr., began and carried on successfully for "many years" the manufpxture of "horse-collars, harness and saddle-bags." At that time, and for forty years afterwards, Deacon Solomon Nelson "ran" a large tannery on Nelson street. It was also in this year that Daniel Clark, one of the three or four largest tanners in the parish, built and "ran" a tannery on North street. Three years later, however, his tanneiy, lands and buildings were purchased, and the tan-yard was operated by Henry Hilliard, the first of that name to appear in the industrial affairs of the town. This Henry was a very active and pushing tanner and farmer during his long and successful life. At his death, his son Henry took up and carried on the business profitably to himself and his heirs for many years. Upon his death, his nephew, the third Henry (who is today an honored citizen of the town, and its tax collector for twenty-five years) came into possession of the property, and tanned and curried hides and skins up to 1903, when he closed the tan-pits forever and a day. Thus it was that the three Henry Hilliards carried on the business of tanning in the same tan-yard for exactly one hundred years.

acquired the great gi'ist-mill, first owned by Daniel Pierce, and which had then been run for one hundred years, and added a sawmill to the plant. Within a few years the property came into the hands of Paul Stickney.

Beginning some thirty years before 1810 shoe manufacturing was "carried on" by the tanners in conjunction with their tanning business. The leather (both upper and under stock) was "given out" in the sides. This was "worked up" into boots and shoes by the farmers, and others, when the weather and other conditions were such that they could do nothing else; but with the opening of the year 1810 there began a new era in the history of our people, for in that year the two brothers Benjamin and Joseph Little came here and began the manufacture of boots and shoes on a large scale in a building located near the ancient parish church on the old South Green, on Elm street. Besides "carrying on the shoe business," the Litfles "ran" a very large "West India and Dry Goods Store," where could be purchased a cambric needle or an ox-yoke, a quintal of salt mackerel, a gallon or a barrel of rum. Much of their merchandise they bartered for boots and shoes that the farmers made during their off hours, rainy days and during the winter months. Richard and his son, Amos J. Tenney, began manufacturing the regular Georgetown heavy boot and brogan in 1811, - which business was continued many years successfully. Beginning at this time (1811) and for the thirty years following, "Deacon Sol" and Nathaniel Nelson did a very large and prosperous business both as tanners and as shoe manu- Ifacturers.

In 1815 Paul Pillsbury (by some kind of a crude mechanical device <of his own invention) produced the first shoe-pegs ever made or used in this field, and, so far as the writer knows, the first ever made except by Ihand with a knife. It was during this period that Deacon Asa Nelson owned and operated a large tannery on Elm street. Benjamin Winter wa^ another one of the early old-time and successful shoe manufacturers; he began in 1818 and he made a specialty of boys' brogans, the first ever ](nade in a commercial way in the parish. The records tell us that Stephen Little commenced the manufacture of "pegged shoes," the first ever made in the county for the general trade. Before that period, be lit remembered, all kinds of boots and shoes were made "stitch-downs," "fudge-welt" or "fair-stitch."

It is worthy of note that some of the high-class journeyman tanners, men like Amos Nelson and Benjamin Low, and others in their class, "with the money they had saved, carried on an independent tanning business by renting and using the 'pits' of the large tanners." These two men especially became "well-off" as contracting tanners. Still another Nelson - ^Major Jeremiah - operated a very large tannery on Elm street, near the old meeting-house, from 1824 to 1845. But the greatest stride forward in the tanning business came with the year 1825, when Colonel John Kimball (who at that period owned the Captain Benj. Adams tan-yard on the Salem Road, now Central street) tanned and curried in that year over four thousand South American horse-hides.

Beginning about 1829 Amos J. Tenney and his son, George J. Tenney, began the manufacture of heavy boots and shoes on a large scale, and in a few years their type of goods were reckoned as "standard" throughout the entire country. The son, George J., and his son, Milton G. Tenney, continued the business for upwards of fifty years. D. M. Winter, in 1830, was another member of the old families to enter the shoe business, and he also was successful.

Incidentally, it may be stated that by this time (1830) there was scarcely a farmhouse (or any other house) but that had in its back-yard a 12x12 foot shoe-shop. It was in these small shops that the countrywide known Georgetown boots and shoes were made until recent years, when they were manufactured in factories.

We are told that "Tailor" Thurlow (the last-known itinerant clothing maker, and the second one that we know by name) was at the height of his business career in 1830. It was in 1831 that Samuel Little, another man famous in the annals of Georgetown's history, began to manufacture shoes; but two years later (1832) he took Hiram N. Noyes (the father of George W., H. Howard and Miss Elizabeth M. Noyes) in as a partner, and, under the firm name of Little & Noyes, the business was carried on successfully for several years, when the partnership was dissolved and the business continued for twenty-five years by Little & Moulton, the leading manufacturing concern in the town.

The second manufacturing tailor (the first being Benjamin Plumer, in 1718, as we remember) to do business here was Samuel Plumer (the first of the remarkable trio of manufacturing tailors who made Georgetown widely known and justly famous as the center of production of high-grade clothing for men). Samuel Plumer commenced business in 1838, and continued it up to the time of his death in 1890, a period of 52 years.

The years between 1827 and 1840 witnessed Georgetown's greatest growth in population, manufacture and commerce. More than fifty buildings, including shops, were erected in one year, 1839. At that time there were 27 factories engaged in the manufacture of shoes. The capital invested was $99,000; the annual product was $221,000. At that time there were nine tanneries being operated, with a total capital of $11,000 and an annual output of $66,000. Carriages were manufactured here at the time to the value of $2,500. It is said that in the three or four years preceding 1835 and the years immediately following, Georgetown had the largest ratio of people engaged in the shoe industry of any town in the country; at this period, also, Georgetown was the largest producer of men's and boys' heavy boots and shoes in the United States, made almost wholly for the farmer, the fisherman and the miner; and

The next man to own the gi'eat Pierce- Wood-Stickney mill property on Mill street was Major Paul Dole, a notable man in the business life of the town for many years. He purchased the property in 1840, and within a few years increased its value five-fold by acquiring the "flowage rights" that naturally belonged to the water-shed that gathers the waters for the two large oval-shaped basins, Rock and Pentucket Ponds.

By thus securing these "flowage rights", and by raising the dam, he could "keep back" the "flood waters of spring," and thus was enabled to "run" his mill practically the year round. Major Paul had a brother, Edmund, vv^ho was reputed to be a "little queer." In 1841 he invented a machine that made shoe-pegs, but being "queer"} he never would let anyone see it; and as it was never patented, nothing came of his invention. Up to about 1841 our manufactured products were transported by large two and four-horse teams into Boston, which returned with loads of merchandise for merchants and manufacturers. After the "Eastern" Railroad Vv^as built, these teams hauled goods back and forth to Rowley, which became our shipping point. This arrangement continued up to 1849, when the steam railroad was opened between Haverhill and Newburyport, via Georgetown, and in 1854 between Georgetown and Boston, via Danvers Junction.

Beginning in 1835 and bringing the record up to the present time (1921), we shall deal with men, things and events as chronologically and as briefly as possible, and make the story reasonably clear to the reader.

George W. Chaplin, one of the town's most able men, began the manufacture of boots and shoes in 1835. From the beginning to the end of his business activities in 1872 - 37 years - he was successful in business, active in public affairs, a staunch supporter of his church, and an honored citizen throughout a long life. Another man, in early life a noted teacher, widely read in ancient, modern and current history, wise in the council of town affairs, and famous in the business life of the town, was Mr. H. Prescott Chaplin. He entered the shoe business the same year that his brother George W. began, and he was actively interested in the business for fifty-five years, until his death, in 1890.

In 1837 Lewis H. Bateman (one of the town's most enterprising and all-around successful business men) formed a partnership with Charles S. Tenney, and they opened one of the largest (at that time) department stores in the county. This was possible, because Georgetown then, as now, was the "hub" of a large purchasing population. The firm "carried" a varied stock : dry-goods, groceries, boots and shoes ; it did dressmaking, and upstairs ran millinery parlors. At the same time the firm was associated with a brother of Mr. Tenney in the conduct of a meat market.

In 1841-2 a man by the name of Blodgett came here, and established and carried on for a few years an extensive business in the manufactlire of men's clothing, employing as many as "forty hands."' He was also an inventor of ability. Being a poor mechanic (but a clever business man), he employed skilled mechanics in Boston, and they, under his direction, produced in 1846-8 (during the very same years that Howe, Singer, Wilson and Baker produced their sewing machines) a practical, good, workable sewing machine. When finished, he quickly applied for and was granted patents on his machine by both the United States and Great Britain. Being a wise and far-sighted man, he sold, for a very large sum, both his American and foreign patents. With his large wealth (for those times) he moved to Philadelphia, where he died.

John P. Coker began the manufacture of shoes in 1838, and with his son, Robert A., continued the business for fifty years. This concern was the first in this town to use a sewing machine in the manufacture of boots and shoes. It was a waxed-thread machine. Concerning this particular machine, a long and historically interesting story might be told ; but, briefly, the Coker business was mostly the making of long-legged boots. Mr. David Haskell was the first man to operate the machine. Being an ingenius mechanic, he soon discovered that as the machine was of a "flat bed" type (up to that time all makes of machines - the Howe, Singer, Wilson and Baker - were all made "flat-bed") he could not "sideup" the legs of the boot tops. The only real and practical work that he could do on the machine was to "sew on the counters." After a few months of theoretical and practical experimenting, he devised, developed and patented in 1852-3 the first "post" sewing machine ever made. With his improved machine, he could "side-up" the "tops" of boots thirty times quicker than the same work could be done by hand, with "awl, waxed-end and clamps." Today, there are more of the Haskell idea of "post" machines used in shoe factories than all other machines put together.

Moses Atwood, in 1841, began the manufacture of "Atwood's Bitters," a patent medicine that attained to nation-wide popularity. Medicinally and financially the "bitters" v/ere a great success. Lewis H. Bateman and Moses Carter had a hand in compounding the herbs, and aided Atwood in the early stages of the development of the business; but not feeling satisfied with Atwood's "cutting loose" from them when the business showed prospects of large profits, they both entered and carried on the business of making and selling "Atwood's Bitters" for several years. As they found iron ore in the "peat bogs" near the shores of Rock Pond in 1722, from which they smelted an excellent quality of pig-iron, so this same Moses Atwood, in 1844, discovered, at the base of Atwood's Hill (Scribner's), a deposit (not very large, as it proved) of ochreous earth, from which he manufactured and sold large quantities of "a mighty good" paint. The "bitters" and "paint" business making him a rich man, he 'Vent West" in 1853 or 1854. It is a notable fact that Atwood, Bateman and Carter, all three, manufactured and sold "Atwood's Bitters" for several years; and aftei-wards it was manufactured by a New York concern, and sold by them as one of the standard patent medicines of the country for fifty years.

The business of "manufacturing chemists" was begun by Moses Carter in 1841-2 and continued by him and his son, Luther F. Carter, up to the time of the latter's death in 1815. The third of this trio of "manufacturing chemists," Mr. Bateman, became, in 1858, the largest cigar manufacturer in Essex county, carrying on the business up to 1865, when he, disposing of the business, opened and conducted an oldfashioned apothecary-shop up to his death in 1871, the business begun by him being then taken over and continued up to this time by his son. Dr. Lewis H. Bateman.

The third and the most widely known and active of the "trio" of men's clothing manufacturers was Stephen Osgood. He "learned his trade" and later became a partner of Samuel Plumer (the first of his apprentices to do so) ; in 1848 he began business for himself, and he remained interested in the business up to the time of his death in 1911, sixty-three years.

In 1863 Major Moses Tenney purchased the Major Paul Dole mill, with its "flowage rights," enlarged the mill, and installed a full line of modern machinery for making woolen cloth, but the Civil War hurt rather than helped the enterprise, and so the business proved a great financial loss to the company promoters.

George W. Noyes, son of Hiram N. Noyes, became interested in the shoe industry in 1865, and he was prominently identified with the business for a period of forty-five years.

Edwin L. Daniels began his long life in the handling of leather in die making, manufacturing and selling of shoes in 1866, when he went to work for George J. Tenney. Today he runs the only retail shoe store in town, and so he has handled leather, in one way and another, in our town for fifty-six years.

As early as, or it maybe earlier than 1856, George H. Carlton associated himself with H. Prescott Chaplin in the shoe pattern making business. Later with Mr. Chaplin, as a silent partner, he manufactured shoes several years, up to 1870, when he joined A. B. Noyes, and under the firm name of Noyes & Chaplin continued in this business up to 1875, when he retired from the business altogether, and became the first cashier of the Georgetown National Bank.

The name of H. Howard Noyes will always stand high on the list of the town's great and successful shoe manufacturers. He entered the employ of his uncle, Mr. George W. Chaplin, in 1872, and managed the business until 1896. Edward K. Titus, a grandson of George W. Chaplin, was a partner in the business from 1887 to 1899. Mr. Noyes took over the entire business in 1900, and he continued a steadily-increasing business up to 1918 (46 years), when he retired from the shoe business to give his whole time to banking and other financial interests.

In 1875 out-of-town capitalists purchased the old Harriman - ^Major Dole - Major Tenney mill property. They enlarged the buildings, and for a few years did a very large business in the weaving of fabrics ; but the business being unprofitable, after a few years, it was discontinued altogether. Later the whole property was destroyed by fire ; today only ruins remain on the site of its ancient glories.

Walter M. Brewster, also one of the town's big shoe manufacturers, having been a partner of H. Prescott Chaplin for a number of years, "came to the comer" in 1877 and "set up" for himself, continuing a successful business up to 1896-7, when he retired, a very wealthy man.

J. K. Nute manufactured shoes here from 1877 to 1881. The Little Corporation was organized in 1881, with Charles P. Tyler as president, Charles E. Jewett as treasurer, and Edwin L. Daniels as general superintendent. Not proving financially successful, the company was dissolved in 1888. John A. Gale, of Haverhill, manufactured women's "calf, buff and split" pegged and standard screw shoes for the Southern trade from 1878 to 1882, when he moved back to Haverhill. Cloutman & Dunham, from Farmington, N. H., in the same building (the "brick block") manufactured a medium-priced McKay sewed and standard screw line of boots for women for the Western and Southern trade. The firm remained here from 1882 to 1884. Horace E. Harriman, succeeding his father, continued a successful business, the making of men's high grade heavy boots and shoes, and retired from the business in 1896. Prebble & Worth in 1896 fitted up the old "Osgood carriage factory" and manufactured a cheap grade of women's felt, cloth and kid shoes, but the business was discontinued in 1898.

Major Hamilton L. Perkins, the third of the remarkable "trio" of Georgetown's great manufacturing tailors, having learned his trade of Samuel Plumer, became his partner in 1870, and he remained a partner until 1883, when he started up for himself, doing business here for several years, and then went to Haverhill, where he continued in the same business for nearly thirty years.

In 1885 Mr. George W. Noyes, Edward A. Chaplin and George H. Wilson incorporated the Georgetown Boot & Shoe Corporation. The A. B. Noyes Company was made into a corporation in 1888, with A. B. Noyes, president; Joseph E. Bailey, treasurer; and Edwin L. Daniels, superintendent. In 1896 Mr. Noyes retired from the company and went West ; the business, however, was continued for twenty-five years, up to 1913, when the corporation was dissolved.

Cornelius G. Baker, who had done a successful business for more than two-score years, took in his son Fred W., as a partner in 1890, the partnership continuing for ten years to 1900.

Lawrence L. Chaplin, son of H. Prescott Chaplin, was in partnership with his father in the manufacture of boots and shoes for a number of years, up to 1900, when the business was discontinued. Aftei'wards he was with the George W. Chaplin company for three years. In 1903 he became the cashier of the Georgetown National Bank, which position he now holds.

At the end of the ten years' partnership with his father, Fred W. Baker, in 1900, began manufacturing "on his own hook" the famous "Little Ripper" shoes for boys and youths. From the start the business was very successful. The entire plant, however - building, machinery and stock - was destroyed by fire in 1917.

In 1895 Justin F. White (with Henry K. Palmer, as a partner) opened a retail shoe store and men's furnishings. At the end of the third year, Mr. Palmer retired from the business, and Mr. White continued the business up to two years ago. During the past few years Mr. White has added and built up a very large insurance agency business.

The story of the Pentucket Shoe Company, incorporated in 1896, if told in detail would (psychologically) disclose one of the most curious (certainly one of the most regrettable) chapters in the history of the town's business life. Never was there a business undertaking in our history where so many high-class men, clean cut, and financially responsible men, were interested as in this enterprise. Its incorporators in the order of the amount of their subscriptions were Walter M. Brewster, Harold F. Blake, Fred S. Hardy, Sherman Nelson, Dr. R. B. Root, Edward S. Ficket, Lewis H. Bateman, Dr. Edward M. Hoyt, Dr. Thomas Whittle, Theodore A. McDonald, W. W. Smith and George W. Noyes. Mr. Brewster was made president, Mr. Blake was made vice-president, and Mr. Hardy was treasurer and manager. The manager having had years of experience in managing the business that our company took over, success seemed assured; but at the end of the third year, solely under his management, the company failed, practically without assets. This manager afterwards identified himself with an electrical business (of which he had had no previous knowledge) and in a few years became a veiy wealthy man. The moral of the story is that "Every man may succeed in life if he but finds his business affinity."

Martineau & Burke in 1908 began the manufacture of leather skivings into "pancake" for heels and innersoles, and the firm did an extensive business here until 1919-20, when the entire business was removed to Ipswich.

In 1910 George W. Noyes and Edward A. Chaplin retiring from the business, the Georgetown Boot & Shoe Co. surrendered its charter ; George H. Wilson, as an individual, continuing the business under its corporate name down to the present time.

nected with the firm of Cass & Daly, shoe manufacturers of Salem, Mass., and they incorporated the F. W. Baker Shoe Company, Inc. The company at once purchased and greatly enlarged the H. Prescott Chaplin shoe factory building and installed a full line of modem machinery. With plenty of capital at its disposal, the company will, under normal business conditions, do upwards of half a million dollar business annually.

Henry P. Chaplin, in 1917-18, took over the George W. Chaplin Company business from his uncle, H. H. Noyes, but the great war coming on soon after, he closed his factory doors, to help "Uncle Sam" fight the Germans.

The Community Shoe Shop (company) was incorporated in 1918 by Haverhill men; but as none of them were practical shoe men, the company was not a success, notwithstanding that local men, with their time and money, tried to make it successful.

The Georgetown Standard Shoe Company was incorporated by Theodore McDonald, John J. Molloy and Henry J. Minchin in 1920, and the company makes men's and boys' medium priced standard screw and loose-nailed goods. As a specialty the firm makes wood-soled brogans for use in foundries, woolen and felt mills, hat-shops, tanneries and by the miners. With the return of general business, the firm will undoubtedly be of great benefit to the town as a whole.

During the same year (1920) Thomas M. Cook & Son purchased the "old carriage factory" on Clark street, and removed their sole leather business from Haverhill to Georgetown. This business, which runs pretty steadily all the year round, will give employment to many men who formerly worked in Haverhill. George S. Rollins, for several years a growing shoe manufacturer in Haverhill, in 1920 purchased the Molloy factory and other buildings adjoining, remodeled them into a modem factory and moved his entire business here. While his line of work is entirely foreign to the old-time type of Georgetown footwear, he has, with modem machinery methods, maintained the quality of his former output, and has from the beginning done a capacity business since locating here. Being a large employer of men and women, his business is of great benefit to the town as a whole.

Fred H. and W. A. Harriman, sons of H. E. Harriman, in 1919-20, under the firm name of Harriman Brothers, began and are today manufacturing a popular priced shoe for children.

And lastly, in the matter of manufacturing, the Georgetown Wood Heel Company began the making of wood heels in the old Doctor Carter building, on East Main street. As this business permits of the payment of large wages, the business adds greatly to the general welfare of the town.

Cigar making was discontinued by Lewis H. Bateman in 1865 ; but it was taken up by Thomas B. Masury in the same year, and continued in a large way up to 1890, since which time no cigar making has been done here. A large apple-evaporating business was conducted on Main street from 1870 to 1880. The first to "take pictures" in town was W. H. Harriman ("Uncle Has"), who opened his "saloon" in 1859, and "took" ambrotypes, tintypes and photographs up to 1872, when he sold his "saloon" to Selwin Reed, of Newburyport, who "ran" the business up to 1884. Since that time no picture studio has been opened in town. The first known wheelwright, carriage builder and repairer was Joseph Currier, who begun business here in 1840. He was followed by Robert Boyce ; he by James Messenger, who did this work up to 1917. Today what little of this work is done is performed by E. S. Sherburne and Phillip Nolin.

Livery stables were maintained here for more than one hundred years. In the early days, three large stables could scarcely take care of the patronage. The business was carried on by such men as Savory, Boynton, Nelson, Adams, Rogers, Hood and Pingree, Charles A. Pingree being the last one to "hitch-up" a "livery team", in 1917.

Our first public soap maker was Elisha Hood; then came Charles Smith, and later his son, James R., 1887-1895; John T. Hilliard, 1886- 1892 ; and the last was Clark Wilkins, who closed up soap making in our town in 1894.

Historically our harness makers have been Benjamin Wallingford, 1780; next one Delaney; Edward Domey, 1842; followed by Robert Savory, Thomas F. Hill, Isaac McLain and Jacob Hardy, the last to retire from the business in 1919. The cold garage has taken the place of the warm and cozy harness shop. In the town's early history, and for several generations, the Spoffords and Hazens were the leading carpenters and builders of the town.

The making of wooden shoe-boxes was begun here first by Joseph P. Folsom in 1860, and the same business was carried on successively by William Sawyer, Bansfield Brothers, George B. James, M. Frank Carter and for the past thirty years by Williard C. Hardy.

Heel making, as a separate and distinct business, was first done here by John P. Coker & Son (Robert A.) and was carried on with a fair degree of success for several years. From 1910 to 1913 Charles E. Cartwright and Horace E. Harriman manufactured heels by a process invented by Mr. Cartwright. The heel met with instant success, being ordered in large quantities, but its very success killed the business locally, because great monied interests, seeing huge possibilities in the marketing of the Cartwright process of making heels, placed the same process made heel on the market at a cheaper price.

The cutting of ice, commercially, was begun here by Little & Tenney in 1853 ; by M. L. & C. N. Hoyt, 1880-1893 ; by Abbott Brothers in 1882, and the business was continued by Andrew M. Abbott up to 1919,

For a number of years the Middlesex Company and the Porter-Milton Company, continually enlarging their house, did an enormous business up to 1918 and 1920, when all of the houses belonging to these companies were destroyed by fire. At this time no ice is being cut except for local trade by Adams & Bailey.

Concerning the professions: The lawyers of the past were Jeremiah P. Jones, Jeremiah P. Russell, William A. Butler. Those now living here, all native born, are Robert F. Metcalf, Harry E. Perkins, C. Atherton Holmes and Dennis F. Buckley. Of the other Georgetown "boys and girls" who have attained to pre-eminence in the professions in other fields we shall mention Lyman K. Eliot, who became a leader at the bar in California ; Boyd B. Jones, today one of the great leaders of the bar in New England; Dr. Francis D. Donohue is today recognized as one of the greatest surgeons and cancer specialists known to the medical world ; Charles M. Spofford is a noted authority on civil engineering, has been since 1909 Hayward Professor of Civil Engineering and head of the department of Civil and Sanitary Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also a member of the finn of Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, civil engineers of Boston; Miss Marion D. Weston, Ph.D., is a noted botanist. For eleven years identified with the Rhode Island College of Education, she is today a professor of botany in that celebrated institution of learning. Forrest P. Hull is a noted writer, for several years on the editorial staff of the "Boston Transcript", is a gi-aceful writer of special articles.

To the foregoing we may add the names of Moody Spofford, the greatest American civil engineer of his time. It was this Mr. Spofford who built the first bridge across the Merrimac River, built in Haverhill in 1794. Paul Spofford, the "merchant prince," was born here in 1792. Going to New York City early in life, he amassed in a few years a great fortune as the head of the firm of Spofford & Tileson, who were the largest jobbers of boots and shoes in the country at that period. Two years after the birth of Paul Spofford, another boy was bom here - Nathaniel Savory; and while, perhaps, his story may not add any great lustre to the town's annals, it does give variety and scope to the doings of its sons. Early in life this young man Savory became a sailor and in due tim.e qualified as a noted navigator. In 1841, on his becoming marooned on Peel Island, one of the Sandwich Islands (now the Hawaiian Islands), he fell in love with a native, a princess, the daughter of the king. When the old king died, Savory (our "Nat"), by right of his wife, became the king, or, we will say, the governor.

As matter of history: A member of Commodore Perry's staff records that when on their voyage to "open up Japan's 'closed gates,' in 1853, they 'called' at Peel Island, and there saw our Yankee 'King' - living in ease and comfort, raising with but little labor abundant harvests of sweet potatoes, corn, onions, pineapples, bananas and watermelons." So far as we know, neither "King Nat" nor any of his descendants ever visited the land of his ancestors. He died in 1878. Another of our noted men was the Hon. Moses Tenney, State Treasurer from 1856 to 1860, the full legal term. Another was Charles S. Tenney, the first superintendent of the old Haverhill-Georgetown-Newburyport and Danvers railroad, vv^hich office he held until the line became a part of the great Boston and Maine railroad system.

As to taverns: The first building used as a public house in our "parish" was built by Captain Samuel Brocklebank in 1670. It was occupied by him as a dwelling up to the time of his death in 1676, when he was killed by the Indians on April 21, at Sudbury, Mass. This dwelling, then as now, faced "Old South Green," and soon after the Captain's death became a tavern. Who the first landlords were the records at hand do not show, but for a good many years previous to 1775 it was known as "Wolf's Tavern," and as early as 1750 it was "run" by Dudley Tyler. For the five years previous, and up to 1775, the landlord was Solomon Nelson, Jr. The second public house was known as Pillsbury's Tavern, and though, no doubt, many and many a glass of "hot rum toddy" was quaffed under its roof in its time, its general story needs no telling here. The third public house was Savory's Tavern, built by Col. J. B. Savory in 1825. Savory was an ideal landlord of the old fashioned type. He possessed in a high degree the art of "welcoming the coming, and speeding the parting guests," and so was a popular innkeeper for a great many years.

After Savory's death, his house was renamed the Pentucket House, and was so called under various landlords up to 1895-6. In 1840, James T. Dunbar opened "Dunbar's Hotel" in what is now the residence of George H. Wilson, and it was used as a hotel until about 1860, when it became a private residence. But in the long history of the town, of all the taverns, inns, houses and hotels that have given food, shelter and entertainment to the friend and stranger alike, the present famous house, standing on the heights of "Old Baldpate," and known for its splendid hospitality from one end of the country to the other, is the Baldpate Inn. This ancient and historical property was taken over by William Bray in 1895. The old dwelling place of the pioneer Mighills and Spoffords has been enlarged by him several times, and as each succeeding year comes and goes, more, and still more guests find good cheer under its roof.

Farming among us as compared with early times is insignificant. Where once could be seen several score pairs of oxen on the farms of the town, today not one pair can be seen here. Mr. Flint Weston, more than twenty years ago, owned and "worked" the last pair to be seen in yoke or in barn. To many (and the writer is one) it is the belief that the glory of New England farming departed when oxen were no longer "raised" and kept on her farms. Cows only are kept today, kept for "making milk" for village and city consumption. Our farmers here, as elsewhere in the East, are even buying for their own tables butter, cheese, pork and lard; whereas the old-time farmer, from the milk he produced, made (1) butter and cheese, and (2) with the buttermilk and whey so made, he, in £>, large measure, raised pigs and hogs lor fresh pork, bacon, ham, lard and for salt pork. From his large fields of com he fattened his oxen, sheep and lambs for the market. These creatures being "raised and kept" on the farm, they made the kind of fertilizer that enriched its soil - incomparably so, as compared with the chemical fertilizers used by the farmers today. Now, except milk, eggs, potatoes and a few vegetables, the average farmer raises nothing; hence, as no general farming is being done in New England, so there is no money made in farming in our part of the country.

The Carlton Home is a home-like institution. It was established in 1901 and it was made possible through the munificence of the late George H. Carlton, who, by his will, left $20,000 to provide, and perpetually maintain, as he said: "A home for respectable people of both sexes who shall have reached the age of seventy years, and unable to support themselves in comfort." The management of the "home" is in the hands of a board of nine trustees - five of whom, under the terms of the will, shall be women. The funds of the institution have, from the beginning, been in the hands of trained financiers, with the result that today the treasurer has in his hands nearly double the amount of funds originally donated by Mr. Carlton.

Express forwarding business between here and Boston, and other points, was established here first in 1840 by George Spofford. In 1848- 49 the business was taken over by Rutherford Martin and "run" by him up to 1873, when it was purchased by Charles W. Tenney. In 1896 he sold the business to his son-in-law, Henry L. Adams, who continued the business until 1918, when he sold it to Frank T. Maguire, Jr., who now carries on the business in conjunction with local business of the American Railway Express Company.

In 1849 George Spofford was appointed the first Boston & Maine railroad station agent here. The most celebrated was William E. Horner, a natural wit and philosopher, who held the position for thirty years. The present agent is Mr. Herbert C. Reed.

The Haverhill, Georgetown & Danvers street railway was opened as far as Georgetown on October 25, 1896. Instead of building the road to Danvers, as planned, its promoters, two years later, built and opened the line to Dummer Academy, and there connected it with the Ipswich & Newburyport line. This change of route gave great joy to our people, especially to those living in the lower part of the town, and in the Byfield district; and therefore, when the company two years ago ceased to operate cars below Georgetown Square, dismantling its power-house and car-barns in Byfield, it brought great hardship and universal regret to the inhabitants living in the district through which the cars formerly ran.

The Bell Telephone Company opened its lines here in 1898, with eleven subscribers. Today it has 265 subscribers. Electricity for heat, light and power was brought into town from the Haverhill Electric Company's plant in 1912. Street lighting was installed in that year. Today there are 375 families and plants using electric lights, and 25 plants using electric motors for manufacturing purposes.

Our fire department, as early as 1838, was noted for its efficiency. In the old days of the fireman's muster, our "boys" with the old handtubs - the "Pentucket" and the "Watchman" - won many a first or near "first prize." But when it came to "dinners" and the "fireman's ball" in the evening, Georgetown always won first honors. The old Hook & Ladder Company was organized in 1872 ; the Steamer No. 1 Company in 1875. These two companies were, by a vote of the town in 1920, merged into one company, the Combination Chemical & Hose Company.

Our fine old town hall, built in 1854-5, was destroyed by fire Dec. 14, 1898. For several years, up to 1916-7, the public meetings of the town have been held in various halls and church vestries, but in that year the town came into the possession of the old Memorial Church, and converted it into (or rather made use of it) as a town hall. This noble building, having also been destroyed by fire (in 1920) , the town is again without adequate-sized rooms for public meetings. The concensus of opinion seems to be that the town will in the very near future erect a public building, with a large auditorium, and with offices suitable to the needs of the town.

Our first post-office was established in 1824, and our first postmaster was Benjamin Little, who served twenty-seven years up to his death in 1851. His successors in the order of their service were: Joseph P. Stickney, Samuel Wilson, Joseph Hervey, Jeremiah P. Jones, Richard Tenney, Charles E. Jewett, Rev. 0. S. Butler, Sylvester A. Donoghue, 1878-86 ; Jos. V. Noyes, 1890-94 ; Albert B. Comins, 1894-98 ; Stephen Osgood, 1901-05 ; Thomas F. Hill, 1904-08; T. Allan Hill, 1908-13. Tn 1913 our post-office became a branch of the Haverhill office, with T. Allan Hill as superintendent.

The first town meeting in Georgetown was held on April 28th, 1838. At this meeting Robert Savory was chosen moderator; George Foot, town clerk ; John A. Lovering, Sewell Spoff ord and G. D. Tenney, selectmen and assessors; James Peabody, Moses Thurlow and Jeremiah Clark, overseers of the poor; Benjamin Winter, collector and treasurer; Moody Cheney, Charles Boynton and Robert Savory, constables.

In 1921 this town had real estate valuation of $1,255,000 ; personal property valued at $274,087. The United States Census of 1920 gave Georgetown a population of 2,004.

The Churches Of Georgetown

A history of the religious life of Georgetown is interwoven with that of the Mother Church of Rowley (formed in 1639), to which belonged the first settlers. The Spoffords, who were the earliest settlers in what is now Georgetown, transferred their membership in 1692 to the church in Bradford, organized ten years earlier. In 1702 the inhabitants near the Mills on Parker river, including a part of Rowley, and a part of Newbury, formed a parish called at first Rowlbury, afterwards Byfield. This parish included all the people living northwest of a line drawn over Long Hill to the road which now goes to Haverhill, by way of East and West Main streets to the Great Rock boundary on the present Groveland line.

The church building was erected on the spot now occupied by the Byfield church, on the line between Georgetown and Newbury. The first pastor was Rev. Moses Hale, a worthy, devoted and successful minister. He was bom in Newbury, in 1678, graduated from Hai'vard in 1699, and was ordained in 1706; he died in 1743. His successor was Rev. Moses Parsons (father of Hon. Theophilus Parsons, the eminent jurist). He was bom in Gloucester in 1716, graduated at Harvard in 1736, and was ordained in 1744. He died in 1789, at the age of 73. The present pastor of this church is Rev. Cyrus L. D. Younkin, and the present membership is 70.

The Second Parish in Rowley, long known as New Rowley (since 1838 as Georgetown) , was incorporated October 5, 1731. In this parish the first Congregational church was organized, October 4, 1732. On that day eighteen men stood together, while Rev. Moses Hale of Byfield read the simple covenant (still in use), to which they assented by raising the right hand. Mr. Hale then declared them to be a Church of Christ, regularly constituted.

31, 1732, on a settlement of £300 and an annual salary of £110 (about $500), and twenty cords of wood. He married Mary Hale, daughter of Rev. Moses Hale, of Byfield. Mr. Chandler was an able and devoted minister. He died in 1787, at the age of eighty-three, after a faithful service of fifty-eight years.

The church building stood on the site of the home of the late David Brocklebank, with the parsonage nearby, on the spot where now stands the residence of the late Humphrey Nelson. This structure remained in the same place until 1768, when it was sold to the Baptist Church for a trifle, taken down, and rebuilt at Hale's Comer, Bradford. Later it was removed to New Rowley, near Dole's Mills.

The Old South Meeting House was built on the comer of Main and Elm streets, where it remained standing for over a century. This was a much more pretentious building than its predecessor, being 45 by 55 feet, surmounted by a tower and tall steeple, and topped by a weather cock 105 feet from the ground. This frame was raised in one day, July 25, 1769, and from its timbers the celebrated George Whitefield preached one of his powerful sermons. The building was sold and taken down in 1875, a new one having been erected in 1874, at the comer of Clark and Andover streets - the present First Congregational Church,

Owing to the bitter controversies between those of the Calvinistic and Arminian faiths, a successor to Mr. Chandler was not easily found. In the interval of eight years there were in all sixty-four candidates. Rev. Isaac Braman was finally chosen. He was bom at Norton, 1770; graduated at Harvard ; and ordained in 1797, on a settlement of £200 and an annual salary of £80 (and ten cords of wood) , with an addition of £10 when com was more than four shillings a bushel. He continued sole pastor until 1842, when Rev. Enoch Pond, Jr., of Bangor, Maine, was appointed colleague. Mr. Pond served very acceptably in this capacity for some four years, and died, much lamented, in 1846. His successor as associate-pastor to Mr. Braman was Rev. John M. Prince, ordained in 1846. Mr. Prince resigned in 1857 because of ill health.

The Rev. Charles Beecher, son of Lyman Beecher, was installed as third colleague in 1857. Upon the death of Mr. Braman in 1858, he became sole pastor, and so continued till 1873, when a colleague for him was chosen. Rev. Thomas Beeber.

In 1863, eighty-five members of the First Congregational Church withdrew from its membership and formed the Orthodox Church. At this time George Peabody, the London banker, presented the church organization with a beautiful brick building (erected near the centre of the town at a cost of about $100,000) in memory of his mother, Mrs. Judith Peabody, a native of this parish. From now on the church was known as The Orthodox Memorial Church. The first pastor was Rev. David Dana Marsh, who was ordained in 1868. Mr. Marsh served acceptably for twenty years, and was succeeded by a series of pastors until the year 1908, when after forty-five years of faithful and fruitful service the members deemed it wise to disband and reunite Vv^ith the Mother Church - the First Congregational Church. The present pastor of this united church is Rev. Hugh Penney, and the present membership is 180.

What is now the Baptist Church in Georgetown dates its origin from about 1754, the time of the withdrawal of a number of the members of the Congregational Church. These people styled themselves Separatists, and were soon joined by others of similar faith. In 1781 they became a branch of the Baptist Church of Haverhill, with Elder Samuel Harriman as leader. But in 1784 they were set off as a distinct church of the Baptist faith. Their house of worship was removed to the Mills in New Rowley, near the old Baptist parsonage. In 1829 a new church was built on the parsonage grounds ; this was removed in 1837 to its present location, corner of North and Pleasant streets. It has since been enlarged and remodelled. The first pastor of this church was Elder William Ewing, of Shutesbury. Elder Shubal Lovell became pastor in 1797, and continued so for thirteen years. The present pastor is Rev. Frederick L. Brooks, and the present membership is 132.

The Universalist Society was organized in 1829 with 59 charter members. The church was built on the site of the present Central School, at a cost of over $2,000. Meetings were held with many eminent preachers. Rev. Joseph Morse was the first minister. The building was sold to the town in 1855. That the Town Hall might be erected on its site, the church was at this time removed to the opposite comer and changed into a dwelling house.

The first Roman Catholic service in Georgetown was held in 1849, In the apartment of James McLain in the house of Nathaniel Nelson, corner of Andover street and Nelson avenue. Services were afterward held m various places up to 1870, when the Congi-egational Chapel, corner of Main and Elm streets, was purchased. St. Mary's Church on Central street was dedicated in 1907. Among the early priests were Rev. Richard Cummings and Rev. John Cummings of Newburyport. The present pastor is Rev. John J. McGrath, and the present membership is 250.

All Saints' Church (Episcopal) was estabhshed in 1916, on the corner of West Main and School streets, by Rev. Glenn Tilley Morse, the present rector. The present membership of this church is 60.

In a town of independent thinkers, like Georgetown, it was inevitable that a number of organizations should be formed, of longer or shorter existence. Soon after the establishment of the Baptist church, a Free Will Church was started, but was of short duration. About 1840 a Union Church divided for a year or two the religious forces of the town, but this was neither the time nor the place for church union.

foiTn in the question of temperance and the abolition of slavery caused a more serious and lasting disturbance. The Liberty Party here was made up of strong men and women, and although not exactly a church, the Come-Outer Element was very much in earnest.

It is said that a branch of the Mormon Church existed here for a season. The leader in Georgetown v/as Elder Nathaniel Holmes. This church had a much larger following over the line in East Bradford, from which neighborhood there was quite an emigration to Utah. It should be said in justice to Elder Holmes and some others of that faith that they were strongly opposed to polygamy.

The limitations of space prevent an adequate mention and appreciation of the many devoted ministers who have served the different churches in the town. But fuller tribute should be paid to those three men who in unbroken succession for a century and a half (from 1731 to 1881) were sei-vants of the old First Congregational Church. Alike were these men in their ever-zealous devotion to their beloved Christian faith ; in their genial, kindly dispositions ; in their courteous and gentlemanly ways; and in their keen, trained intellects. Each of the three worthy divines was up to his generation or beyond in his religious faith and practice. Of Mr. Beecher this was pre-eminently true, and no proof is needed.

Concerning Mr. Chandler, it is related that he advised one of his deacons to hear Mr. Whitefield preach. Receiving the answer, "Why, your preaching is good enough." Mr. Chandler said: "But Mr. Whitefield doesn't preach as I do ; he preaches with power," and this at a time when Whitefield was debarred from many a New England pulpit. Mr. Braman took great delight in telling this story of himself. At a period of strong religious dissensions he made a pastoral call upon a household divided within itself. No reference was made to creed or belief, but, during the call, the good lady of the house drew Father Braman aside and guardedly whispered : "I like your preaching very much, your doctrines have the right ring, I wish you will be enabled to settle, but don't tell John this!" Not many minutes later, John took the prospective pastor aside, and said almost the same words, adding cautiously at the end, "but don't tell my wife!"

In fulfillment of the divine promise to the godly man, "With long life will I satisfy him and shew him my salvation," we note that each of the three noted preachers lived to attain the four-score mark and beyond. Father Braman reached the advanced age of eighty-seven years, while the average age of all was eighty-five years. Long lives were also granted to ministers' wives in those days, it would seem, as Huldah Nelson Harriman, widow of Elder Harriman (first Baptist minister) died in her 101st year, and the widow of Mr. Braman (Sarah Balch Braman) lived to be 103. It is interesting to note that from the birth of Mr. Chandler (the first of the three ministers) in 1706, to the death of

Mr. Beecher (the last of the three ministers) in 1900, a period of 194 years had passed. Proud indeed may Georgetown well be that these three venerable ministers of the Lord, who gave to us so much of their precious lives, lie buried in our town.

Summary : Byfield Church - Fonned in 1702 ; present pastor, Rev. Cyrus L. D. Younkin, membership, 70. First Congregational Church - Formed in 1732; present pastor, Rev. Hugh Penney; membership, 180. First Baptist Church - Formed in 1781 ; present pastor. Rev. Frederick L. Brooks ; membership, 132. Catholic Church - Formed in 1871 ; present pastor. Rev. John J. McGrath ; membership, 250. Episcopal Church - Formed in 1916 ; present pastor. Rev. Glenn Tilley Morse ; membership, 60.