Beverly City (part 1 of 2)

Beverly City

Having performed her whole duty in the perilous times, throughout, having lost many of her noblest citizens, and having freely expended of her substance to bring about this consummation, it was with joyful anticipations for the future that she entered upon the era of peace. It was some time, however, before the tangled web of debt and obligations, woven about her by the war, could be unraveled, and her paralyzed commerce regain its wonted activity.

In 1786, especially, the burden of debt and taxation, together with the weight of a depreciated currency, bore heavily upon Beverly, in common with every town in the State. It was in this year that Shay's rebellion occurred, to aid in suppressing which soldiers from Beverly joined the Essex company, under Colonel Wade, of Ipswicli, an officer known and trusted by General Washington.

1785. - Rev. Joseph McKean, who was born in Londonderry, N. H., 1757, and graduated at Dartmouth College, was ordained over the First Parish May 11th, on which occasion a large number of churches were represented. His salary was fixed at two hundred pounds and his settlement at three hundred pound-', to which two hundred pounds was added in 1801. He was a man of great piety and learning, honored by all our citizens. In 1802 he received and accepted a call to the presidency of Bowdoin College. Among other papers i)ublished in the Rantoul Reminiscences is the following bill, for entertaining the council and delegates at Mr. McKean's ordination :

1787. - Beverly cast one hundred and twenty-five votes for Governor, of which seventy-seven were for John Hancock, and forty-eight for James Bowdoin ; George Cabot, Joseph Wood and Israel Thorndike were this year chosen delegates to the convention in Boston January, 1788, for considering the framing of a constitution for the United States. For several years later, it was difficult to find people willing v,o serve the town in official capacity, and fines were imposed upon those who refused offices.

1788. - The first fruits of peace were not long in showing themselves, and the most important step taken in the securing of independence of the mother country was the establishment of a cotton fiictory. This factory, the first in America, was erected in the Second Parish, near Baker's Corner, at the junction of Cabot and Dodge streets. A company of proprietors was incorporated February 3, 1789 - but, the enterprise proving unprofitable, it was afterwards abandoned. The factory attracted much attention at the time, and was visited by General Washington when on his tour through the country in 1789.

A contemporary periodical said of it : " An experiment was made with a complete set of mac hines for carding and spinning cotton, which answered the warmest expectations of the jiroprietors. The spinning jenny spins sixty threads at a time, and with the carding machines forty pounds of cotton can be well carded per day. The warping machines and the other tools and machinery are complete, and jjromise much benefit to the public, and emolument to the patriotic adventurers."

The Salem Gazette, of 1790, says : " The wear of the Beverly corduroys is already become very common ; " yet the enterprise failed, and, after several other attempts, the proprietors suspended operations.

For nearly thirty years preceding 1800, the town was agitated over the spread of the small-pox, and in 1788, even threw fences across the roads, to prevent the passing of persons infected with the disease, erecting a hospital and smoke-houses for fumigation.

1788. - The Essex Bridge was built this year, one thousand four hundred and eighty-four feet long and thirty-two feet wide, at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars. It was to be a toll-bridge for seventy years, at the expiration of which period it reverted to the State. Robert Rantoul states, in his reminiscences, that (then a Salem school-boy of ten), he walked over the bridge the day it was opened, and again in his eightieth year, in 1858, on the day its charter expired.

In October, 1787, the Rev. Daniel Oliver was ordained over the Second Church, continuing here for ten years, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Stephen Dorr, who was ordained in March, 1800.

Several of our inhabitants joined the famous expedition of Dr. Cutler (of Hamilton), that initial migration to Ohio, which resulted in the settlement of our vast Western prairies.

1789. - The event of this year was the visit of Washington, on his tour of the North, when he called on his friends, William Bartlett and George Cabot ; the latter then occupying the mansion now owned by Mrs. Seth Norwood. In the Book of Records of the Second Parish is a note by Mr. Stone of the following communication made to him by Isaac Babson March 13, 1835:

" When General Washington came to visit the cotton factory (near Baker's Tavern corner), he rode from Salem on horseback and was greeted by a great number. As he passed the residence of Col. Francis he bowed to Mrs. F., who was at the window. In the factory a number of females were arranged, holdicg pieces of cloth in their laps for inspection. The General stopped opposite Miss Francis (afterwards Mrs. Low) and examined the cloth in her lap. On leading the factory he entered his carriage (his servant riding his horse) and went on to Ipswich."

As recently as 1863 there died, one who was conversant with these details : Mrs. Beisey Grant (widow of Joseph, and mother of Benjamin D. Grant), a lineal descendant of John Balch, one of the first settlers. She was born in the " Upper Parish," February 10, 1772, and was seventeen years old at the time of Washington's visit, which she distinctly remembered in 1861. Washington paused at her side and asked her several questions about the work, " little realizing, perhaps, the reverent affection with which he was regarded by her, and which would embalm his sentences in her heart forever."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beverly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Civil History Continued

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1808. - Joseph Wood, who died this year, at the age of sixty-eight, was a survivor of the Committee of Correspondence during the Revolution, in 1778 a mem

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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