Saugus Town (part 1 of 2)

Foreword

To all who live within the borders of the ancient township of Lj^nn, the history of each part of that township has an abiding interest. The little settlement at Saugus, which later became an independent town, is one of the oldest in Massachusetts. As the scene of the first attempt to develop an iron industry in the United States, as the home of many families which have given distinguished men both to the State and the Nation, Saugus has a peculiar claim upon our attention. There is much to be learned from the history of the town as there is from the history of all the early towns of New England.

These New England towns with their methods of government and the pure democracy of the town meeting have had an influence upon the history of the United States which it is hard to overestimate, for the children of these towns, scattered through the length and breadth of the land, have carried with them the traditions, liberal education, and conduct of life w^hich are so strong in these early little settlements which began on our New England coast nearly three hundred years ago.

Such a sketch as that of Mr. Atherton has much more than a local interest and cannot fail to be of value not only to those who come from the old township but to all those interested in the growth and development of American institutions.

History Of Saugus

BACON, in his Advancement of Learning, tells us that "Industrious persons, by an exact and scrupulous diligence and observation, out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books that concern not story, and the like, do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time."

Hence we, of Saugus, especially interested, as we are, at this time, on the occasion of this our Centennial celebration, must needs be careful of what we incorporate in a history of the town,' for histories and historical references, sometimes may be like statues, monuments, tablets and markers, which, our own Senator Lodge has so well said, "can justify their existence on only, two gi'ounds - the nature of the subject they commemorate or as works of art." He opined that "we should permit none of them to be erected to deeds or to men who do not deserve them and who will not themselves be monumental in history and before the eyes of posterity, saying that when the subject is unworthy, then the monument or tablet, as was said of Sir John Vanburgh's palaces, is- simply a heavy load to the patient earth and an offense to the eyes of succeeding generations."

For equally potent reasons, histories should be equallj^ discriminating, and, in a work of this kind, the pressing interrogation is what to exclude rather than what to include in it. The subject, as worthy and fascinating as it is, can be approached only too inadequately, and thus we realize how necessarily imperfect, incomplete, and inaccurate it must be, under all the existing circumstances.

Your historian, however, approaches it with pride and pleasure, and feels as John Webster must have felt, when, in the ''Duchess of Malfi," he wrote :

We turn, for our narrative, to the following publications, most of which are on file in our public libraries ; and to the student who wishes to pursue the subject further, and it is well worth it, we recommend a frequent and detailed perusal of all these works, or any one of them :

History Of Saugus, Massachusetts

Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County in Three Volumes, covering the period from 1636 to 1667, published by the Essex Institute at Salem, in 1911-12-13;

Various publications from the trenchant and versatile pen of Hon. Nathan Mortimer Hawkes, w^hose Hearths and Homes of Old Lynn, issued in 1907, and whose Semi-Historical Rambles Among the Eighteenth Century Places Along the Saugus River, published in 1889, and an article on the Newburyport Turnpike by the same accomplished author, found in the 1914 Register of the Lynn Historical Society, are exceedingly interesting and rich in the material required for a paper of this character ;

Saugus Sketches, and a Notice on the Saugus Seminary, by the late E. P. Robinson, in 1882, before and after which this same w^riter penned many articles on Saugus ;

This is, of course, literary piracy, but there seems to be precedent for piracy in Saugus, and very early precedent, 1658, when Thomas Veal and his associates introduced the custom and basked in the sunlight of Pirates' Glen, of which v/e shall see and hear more in the Centennial Pageant.

The only difference between the piracy of 1658 and that of 1915 is that the former plucked without credit and the latter gives due credit before starting on his brief career as a wild, sea rover of literary talent. Moreover, the 1915 pirate is deeply conscious of the truth of Emerson, when he wrote :

''It has come to be practically a sort of rule in literature, that a man is entitled to steal from the writings of others at discretion. Thought is the property of him who can entertain it ; and of him who can adequately place it. A certain awkwardness marks the use of borrowed thoughts ; but as soon as we have learned what to do with them, they become our own."

With these apologies and thanks to the following persons, who constitute the historical committee, appointed by the writer, under the authority given him by our executive Centennial Committee, Mrs. Paul E. Wadsworth, Hon. Nathan Mortimer Hawkes, Benjamin Newhall Johnson, Wilbur F. Newhall, Luther Atwood, Dr. Charles J. H. Woodbury, Judge Wil-

History Of Saugus, Massachusetts

Ham E. Ludden, and John T. Brady, the last two named gentlemen having been chosen by the general committee to assist in the preparation of this work, we now approach the task and golden opportunity of saving and recovering somewhat of ancient and legendary Saugus from the deluge of time, for, as Gray says, Saugus " is rich with the spoils of time."

Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall tell us that the Indian name of the town was Saugus ; and by that name it was known for eight years. The root of the word means great, or extended ; and they aver "it was applied to the Long Beach." Wood, in his early map of New England, is said to have placed the word "Saugus" on Sagamore Hill. The river on the west was called by the Indians, Abousett - the word Saugus being applied to it by the white men. It was called the river "at Saugus," and the river "of Saugus" and finally the Saugus River.

Salem, in 1629, sent to these parts the first w^hite men. There were included in that coterie, among others, Edmund and Francis Ingalls, Obediah Turner, Zechariah Hart, William Dixey, John and William Wood, Hawkes and the other authorities tell us. They had landed at Salem the year before. In June, 1630, John Winthrop, the Governor, bearing the charter granted by Charles the First, with eleven vessels and over a thousand immigrants, arrived in Salem Harbor. Subsequently, it is written, Winthrop went to what is now Boston, and the same year, in 1630, the first political mention of Saugus is made. On Oct. 19, 1630, John Taylor was admitted ''freeman,'' as it was called, to the General Court, at which time Saugus included what now constitutes Lynn, Swampscott, Lynnfield, Reading, Wakefield and Nahant.

The name was changed, however, by an act of the Legislature, whose proceeding in the premises was exceedingly brief and to the point, and merely said: "SAUGUST IS CALLED LIN." This act was petitioned for on Nov. 15, 1637.

Thus the chrysalis of Saugus history began, that history 'Vhich," as Cicero says of other history, "is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity." Histora, testis temporum, lux veritatis vita memoriae, magistra vitae, nuntia vetustatis.

"We were forced to change counsel, and for our present shelter to plant dispersedly - some at Charlestown, which standeth on the north side of the mouth of Charles River; some on the south side thereof, which place we named Boston (as we intended to have done the place we first resolved on) ; some of us upon Mistick, which we named Medf ord ; some of us westward on Charles River, four miles from Charlestown, which place we called Watertown; others of us two miles from Boston, in a place we named Roxbury; OTHERS UPON THE RIVER OF SAUGUS, between Salem and Charlestown ; and the Western men four miles south from Boston, at a place we named Dorchester."

"application was made for a place to set down in ; upon which Mr. Endicott (colonial governor) did give me and the rest leave to go where we would; upon which we went to Saugust, now Linne and there we met Sagamore James and som other Indians, who did give me and the rest leave to dwell there or thereabouts ; whereupon I and the rest of my master's company did cutt grass for our cattell, and kept them upon Nahant for som space of time; for the Indian, James Sagamore and the rest did give me and the rest in behalf of my master Johnson, what land we would ; whereupon we set down in Saugust and had quiet possession of it by the abovesaid Indians, and kept our cattell in Nahant the summer following."

The admission of John Taylor in the First General Court placed Saugus on an equal footing with Boston and Salem in that deliberative body, and the Indian name of Saugus was changed to "Lin," in 1637, in honor of Rev. Samuel Whiting, the pastor who had formerly officiated at St. Margaret's Church in Lynn Regis, England.

The Iron Works

ABOUT this time, the names of some of the earlysettlers appear upon the horizon of our narrative. William Ballard was one of the very earliest. He received 60 acres of land by allotment in 1638. This farm constituted the village of East Saugus, and the Ballard School is named for the family. His two sons, John and Nathaniel, divided the property in 1697. Ballard Street, East Saugus, is named in honor of the same family.

Among the other early residents were Dr. Oliver, and Col. Jacob Wendell, for whom, we assume, Wendell Street, East Saugus, is named. Zaccheus Norwood and Edward Baker, who was awarded 40 acres in 1638, were also prominent. Baker's Hill, Cliftondale, bears Baker's name. Samuel Bennett had 20 acres in the westerly portion of the town, and Nicholas Brown boasted 200 acres.

Thomas Dexter had 350 acres, lived at what is now the Centre, and was known as ''Farmer Dexter." He was very prominent, perhaps the leading citizen of the period. Tradition relates that he had a fish weir on the river in 1632. Large numbers of alewives and bass found their way thither, and the first year of the catch 150 barrels were cured. He also operated a corn grinding mill on the banks of the stream.

In 1634, Nathaniel Turner, Edward Tomlins, and Thomas WilHs were representatives from Saugus in the first legislature. At the iron works locality were Richard Leader (general agent until 1651, after which John Gifford was agent), Joseph Jenks, Joseph Jenks, Jr., Henrj^ Leonard, Henry Styche (who was 103 when he died), Arzbell Anderson, Mac Galium More Downing, John Turner, John Vinton, and Samuel Appleton, Jr., who became possessed of the works in 1677. Samuel and Nathan Hayman, James Taylor and Thomas Mansfield were subsequent owners. John Gifford had a controversy with *'ye proprietors" and finally retired from the company, went to North Saugus and conducted a separate iron mill in that section, near what is now known as Howlett's Mill.

The mere mention of Thomas Dexter and the iron works introduces to our recital a very important epoch in the history of early Saugus. Thomas Dexter's 350 acres, previously alluded to, included the iron works territory. Dexter, therefore, suggests the iron works, and the iron works, Dexter, although Thomas Hudson was the first proprietor of the lands where the iron works stood.

The first record in the Essex County Registry of Deeds, Book 1, Page 1, is a proceeding in connection with the iron works, perhaps our most conspicuous historic landmark of ancient days. These works were

Herewith is reproduced for the first time, a photographic copy of this caveat from Book 1, Page 1, a transcript of which is of undying interest to Saugus and the students of her history. It reads as follows: of August then next following with a reservation upon the sale of the said fearme to give the said Dexter the overplus above the debt and damages of the said 90£."

As Hawkes says, this was not the mortgage itself, but a sort of caveat or notice, to whomever it might concern, that such a claim was in existence. '*It was fifty years after Farmer Dexter bought his two oxen and two bulls with Mr. Bradstreet's money upon the security of the land when the Governor finally released his claim upon the iron works farm."

In the same Book 1, Page 2, 1646, we find what is evidently a direct conveyance from Dexter to Richard Leader, the iron works general agent, previously

"Thomas Dexter of Lyn in the County of Essex ye ( Oman) for the sum of 40£ st(erling) hath sowld unto Richard Leder for ye use of the Iron works all that land, wch by reason of (a) damme now agreed to be made, shall overflow and all sufficient ground for a water course from the damme, to the works to be erected, and alsoe all (the) land betweene the an(cient) water course and the new extended flume or water course togeather with five acres and an halfe of land lying in the corn field most convenient for the Iron Works and also tooe convenient cartwayes that is to one on each side of the premises as by a deed indented bearing date the twentie seaventh of January, 1645, more at lardge apth."

It was, as Hawkes says, "At the head of tide water, or about where Scott's Mills in the Centre now stand. Near by is the great bank of scoria (cinder banks) upon which the snows of 250 bleak winters have fallen, which marks the spot where the settlers of Massachusetts made their first essay in manufacturing - the spot where the die for the 'pine tree shilling' was cast - the spot where Jenks made the first fire engine ever seen in America." Jenks also forged scythes and tools.

Hawkes also informs us, in his "Hearths and Homes of Old Lynn," that in the time of the first Thomas Mansfield this iron works house was the centre of life in the old town, for he had a clothier's shop, a fulling mill, a dye-house, an ''archhouse or vault," a grist mill, **and the conveniency of the stream," as well as a cider-mill. Its modern name results from the fact that Sally, daughter of the third Thomas Mansfield, happened to marry Capt. Timothy Davis, from whom its title passed to the late Andrew A. Scott, and in turn, upon his death to his son, Walter Scott. Walter Scott, having deceased, the title passed to George Niven, who has recently sold it to Wallace Nutting of Framingham, and it is to be preserved by him for historical purposes.

The village at the foundry was known as "Hammersmith," the place in England from which many of the workmen came. The company itself consisted of eleven Englishmen who advanced £1000 to establish the works. Dexter and Robert Bridges were among the original promoters and in May, 1645, the General Court passed an order to the effect that "ye iron works is very successful," although there is much doubt as to how long it continued so. There were many lawsuits and ultimately the company was dissolved.

"The painful smith, with force of fervent heat. The hardest iron soon doth mollifie, That with his heavy sledge he can it beat. And fashion to what he it list apply."

CONTEMPORANEOUS with the iron works period, Appleton's pulpit lore presses for recognition, for in September, 1687, we are informed, upon the tablet on the well-known rock in Appleton Street, at the Centre, that ''resisting the tyranny of Sir Edmond Andros, Major Samuel Appleton, of Ipswich, spoke to the people in behalf of those principles which later were embodied in the Declaration of Independence," and for the support of which, it may be remarked, in passing, Saugus sent forth the largest of the five companies of Minute Men who went from Lynn to the Lexington green.

Newhall also informs us that ''tradition says that in these troublous times (1687) a watch was stationed on the hill (near Appleton's pulpit) to give alarm of any approach of the Crown officers to arrest their man. The watch was to signal their approach by crying, 'Caleb, mount!' and from this cry came the name of the hill." It is known even to this day as Catamount Hill and pasture.

It is at this point that our pageant of 1915 is to be held in conjunction with our pending celebration. The immediate location is Berrett's field, a part of the old Catamount pasture, and at present owned by the Ellen Berrett heirs, who very generously donated the use of it for the pageant. It is certainly a very appropriate and desirable place for so unique a part of our Centen- nial exercises, pai-ticularly when we remember of its connection with oui- earliest and well-chei-ished ti-aditions of the fearless Appleton and his courageous utterances.

Parish Church And Parson Roby

WE pause, with reverence, before a tombstone in the old cemetery at the Centre. It is the last earthly resting- place of Rev. Joseph Roby, for whom the adjacent Roby School is named. For more than half a century he was the minister of the West Parish, as Saugus was then called.

Burke, in his ''Reflections on the Revolution In France," said, "We know, and, what is better, we feel inwardly, that religion is the basis of civil society, and the source of all good, and of all comfort."

Joseph Roby was the religious and civil leader of his time in Saugus. He was a native of Boston, having been born there May 12, 1724. We quote from his epitaph :

"Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Joseph Roby, who departed this life January 31st., 1803, in the 80th year of his age and 53d of his ministry in this parish.

**By a constant practice of the Christian and social virtues, he rendered himself beloved and respected in the various walks of domestic life. Reader, wouldst thou be honored in life and lamented in death, go and do likewise.

"No pain, no grief, no anxious fear Invade thy bounds ; no mortal woes Can reach the peaceful sleeper here While angels watch his soft repose. So Jesus slept; God's dying Son, Passed thro' the grave, and blest the bed ; Then rest, dear saint, till from His throne The morning break and pierce the shade."

During his long pastorate in Saugus it is said he married some 300 couples. He was twice married. Shortly after the battle of Lexington, the people chose a committee of safety. Parson Roby represented Saugus. On the next Sunday, Sanderson tells us, by recommendation of the Provincial Congress, all men who lived within twenty miles of the seacoast went to church armed. Parson Roby religiously followed these instructions, appearing at meeting with his musket under one arm and his sermon under the other. When President Washington journeyed through Lynn, Parson Roby was one of those presented to him at the Newhall Tavern.

The Old Parish Church, where Parson Roby preached, was organized in 1738, and thus our religious life began, that religion that has at one and the same time been the basis of our civil society, as

Up to 1738, our people worshipped at the Parish Church on Lynn Common. In 1736, the men of Saugus started their ''meetinghouse," as it was called. It is said to have been finished in 1737. The ''finishing" included merely a pulpit, a floor and some seats. There were "men's seats" on one side of the building, and "women's seats" on the other.

Hawkes says that the "movement to secure a separate place of worship took definite form when William Taylor, on July 1, 1736, conveyed to Thomas Cheever, Jonathan Waite and John Waite a parcel of land 'for divers good causes and considerations, but more especially to encourage the building of a meetinghouse for the public worship of God,' w^hich includes what is now the public square, whereon stands the Soldiers' Monument, in Saugus Centre, and the old burying ground lying to the west."

On March 28, 1738, the parish committee organized. The first preacher was Edward Cheever, a student, w^ho was given a three-months' trial. On June 18, 1738, he became the regular spiritual adviser of the community, and was ordained in 1739. Among other things constituting his remuneration he was given half a cord of wood each year from forty members of the parish. Cheever ceased his connection with the church in 1748, when he was dismissed.

there were twenty. The building- was 44 feet long and 36 feet wide, with upper and lower windows, all round, of common sized glass. On its front was the front door, with a large porch or vestibule, which was entered by three doors. It had, also, a door on each side opening into the church itself.

The building stood on its original site for many years, being altered and repaired from time to time, until 1858, when it was moved three rods north and became Joseph Whitehead's grocery store, which many of the present generation remember. It is now W. P. Tilden's store.

Rev. Joseph Roby was invited by the parish committee in December, 1748, to become its minister. On March 1, 1749, a committee was selected to ''inform Mr. Joseph Roby that he was chosen to settle in the ministry by the church and parish."

He was to have a suitable house and barn, sixty pounds of lawful money, and also the ''loose collection," as well as "pasturing and sufficient winter meat for two cows and one horse, and to put the hay, or winter meat into the barn - the improvement of two acres of land suitable to plant, and to be kept well fenced."

There was apparently a controversy over the stipend he was to receive, and, as a result, it was subsequently increased, after some correspondence and debate. Under date of July 25, 1750, he formally accepted the call of the parish and "writ" a letter to that effect. He continued to be our spiritual leader until July, 1802, when he was stricken while preaching. He lingered until the following January, when he died, much beloved and respected.

Some of Parson Roby's successors were Rev. William Frothingham, who served thirteen years ; Rev. Joseph Emerson, for whom the Emerson School on Lincoln Avenue, between East Saugus and Cliftondale is named ; and Rev. Hervey Wilbur. Emerson and Wilbur were principals in the Saugus Seminary, of which we shall hear more later.

In 1826 religious differences appeared and were quite prolonged in the parish. The participants in them became quite animated and very bitter. The Universalists prevailed, and got control of the parish church, whereupon the Orthodox retired and built a church of their own. It was of stone and is now John E. Stocker's store. This stone church was built in 1835, and in it they worshipped until 1854, when they built the present Congregational Church. In 1871 it was raised and a vestry constructed underneath.

Religious differences have reverberated down the corridors of time and brought about many an historical event. The Pilgrims left England in the earlier days on a religious issue. Lynn and Saugus dissolved municipal partnership for a similar reason.

Why Saugus And Lynn Separated

SAUGUS became a town in 1815 because, as Hawkes writes, "the people of the low lands of Lynn would not go up to this hill country of Saugus to listen to the Preaching of the Gospel according to "Puritanism," which brings us to Choose Hill.

Hawkes continues: "The name is a reminder of a controversy which was the beginning of the end of the Town of Lynn - the first step which led up in later years to the creation, first of the Town of Lynnfield, and second of the Town of Saugus. For seventy years all the people had worshipped as one parish. The hardship of the long miles from Lynnfield bore upon the outdwellers. A committee representing the three sections which we know as Lynn, Saugus and Lynnfield attempted to CHOOSE a site for the meetinghouse which should be reasonably convenient for all. They selected this now wooded hill as about equally distant from each locality. Lynn objected. Lynnfield was set off as a parish or district, Nov. 17, 1712, and its inhabitants were to be freed from parish taxes as soon as a meeting house should be built and a minister settled. This was accomplished in 1715, and the Second Parish of Lynn was duly organized. Saugus later, in 1738, became the Third or West Parish."

Rev. Ephraim Randall, a Unitarian, was installed in that year (1826), but remained only one year. The church was remodelled and repaired in 1835-36. The old high-backed lattice pews were removed, and the ancient pulpit and its sounding board were relegated to the unused accessories. The deacons' seats and galleries on the east and south sides were taken down, and only a small gallery on the west side was left for "ye singers." The broad south porch was torn down and its doors closed.

Rev. John Nichols was the first preacher in the renovated church. Benjamin F. Newhall, James M. Usher and other citizens frequently supplied the pulpit from 1838 to 1848, and other ministers during quite an extended period were Rev. Josiah Marvin, Rev. Henry Eaton, Sylvanus Cobb, D.D., Rev. J. W. Talbot and Rev. J. H. Campbell, bringing us up to 1858, when there was a movement for a new church. The old church was sold for $242, the site for $570. In 1860, the new church became a reality, and was erected at the corner of Main and Summer Streets, at the Centre, where it now stands, although it has since been raised and a vestry constructed underneath it.

We regret that we are obliged to content ourselves with a mere mention of the eleven other churches now organized within the confines of the town, namely : gus Centre Methodist, St. John's Episcopal, Cliftondale Congregational, Saugus Centre Congregational, Church of the Blessed Sacrament, North Saugus Union Church, Dorr Memorial at Lynnhurst, Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, and the Church of God.

Saugus In The Revolution

FROM the fact that Parson Roby was active in a portion of the Revolutionary period it probably is not a violent assumption to say that he was instrumental in seeing to it that Saugus did her full duty in that period by sending forth such a large representation of men to participate in the stirring times of that historic era.

Sanderson writes that 247 men had been duly organized in five companies, and were ready for the opening of hostilities. These five companies were from the then town of Lynn. He says: "Each man had furnished his own musket or firearm, and no one reached the dignity of a uniform."

Parker. It consisted of sixty-three men, and was the largest in town. It met' for drill at the Jacob Newhall Tavern in East Saugus. Later other Saugus men saw service, building the number of our ancestors who fought in the Revolution up to nearly a hundred, whose names Sanderson gives as follows :

History Of Saugus, Massachusetts An Historic Road

THESE men marched from Saugus over the old Boston road, as it was called. In connection with this thoroughfare, Hawkes' recital is valuable. He recalls that in 1639, the General Court allowed Lynn tifty pounds towards defraying the cost of building a bridge over Saugus River.

This was the first bridge built in Lynn over tide water and was on the site of the one which now marks the dividing line between Lynn and Saugus, near the East Saugus Depot. Its construction shortened the distance between Boston and the towns to

"Over this road, from Cambridge to Newburyport, on the 11th of September, 1775, Benedict Arnold led the army which General Washington dispatched for the conquest of Quebec," continues Hawkes. "This expedition, through the unbroken wilds of Maine and Canada, was the most wonderful, chivalric and quixotic event of the Revolutionary War. Had it been a success, what a change would have been made in our history. North America would have been wholly. American instead of one-half remaining English, Arnold might have been the pivotal hero of our race, instead of the world's champion traitor."

Over this road. President George Washington traveled in his memorable journey from New York to Portsmouth, in 1789 ; and over this road, Washington's friend, the gallant Frenchman, Lafayette, was escorted beneath floral arches in 1824. By this road, the Essex Minute Men marched at the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, to death and undying fame."

We can only mention the military records of some of these Saugus patriots in the Revolution. Every man had an honorable and commendable career. In those days, they were known as Minute-men. In reality, they were hour-men, day-men, week-men, yearmen, yea century-men, for the patriotism they displayed and the sacrifices they made under depressingly adverse circumstances will never be forgotten by us.

Their cause was our cause and we should never tire of singing their pi'aises to our children and our children's children. The pathway they emblazoned by their loyal devotion and unselfish service to liberty and independence has enabled us and all mankind to walk down the highway of self-government, basking in the sunlight of the most successful form of Republican government the world has ever known.

These were Saugus men and the ashes of some of them rest sacredly in our keeping in the old burying ground at Saugus Centre. As the immortal Lincoln said, at the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, of the Union soldiers, let us, on the ocasion of our Centennial celebration, within the shadow of the old cemetery at the Centre and on the hallowed ground of our ancestors, made dearer as the time goes on, say of our Pwevolutionary soldiers: -

*Tt is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

At the shrine of the memories of the Saugus men who fought in the Continental army well may we renew our faith in them, their cause, their patriotism,

"Captain Parker mustered his Company at an early hour on the day of the Concord fight and marched them with all speed to the scene of the conflict."

Colonel Cheever was in the battle of Lexington, in 1775. He was of the Corps of Minutemen of that day, and received the alarm of the British marching to Concord that morning at three o'clock.

Saugus Center

SAUGUS, like all Gaul, is divided into three principal parts, Saugus Centre, the geographical centre of the town, Cliftondale, and East Saugus. The other and smaller villages are practically subdivisions

In the olden days, Saugus Centre boasted the iron works, the pai-ish church, and a goodly number of "freemen," leading citizens. To-day it has the Town Hall, soldiers' monument, five churches, the two cemeteries, the High and Roby Schools, many of our leading residents, and is, as for 275 years, our center of civic activity, typified by its busy square, and our geographical axis.

At Pranker's Mills, about 1770, Ebenezer Hawkes made a rude dam, and excavated, in part, the present canal, upon the banks of which he built a gristmill and sawmill. In 1794 Benjamin Sweetser bought the property and made chocolate there. The business flourished and his chocolate became famous. Subsequent owners, William Smith, among the number, continued to make this world-renowned commodity, and found a ready sale in New Orleans and for the export trade. Chocolate and its by-products now enjoy an immense sale throughout the world.

About 1822, William Gray, of Boston, otherwise familiarly known as "Billy Gray," manufactured duckcloth here, coming from Stoneham for that purpose, literally bringing his factory with him, having torn it down at Stoneham. Two years later. Brown & Baldwin bleached and printed calico at this point. True & Broadhead succeeded to this business, and later Brierly & Whitehead assumed it. Then True

& Street became the partnership and during their time a large brick factory, 85 by 40, three stories high, was erected. In 1834, Whitwell, Bond & Co. became the owners, and were succeeded, the following year, by Livermore & Kendall.

Edward Franker came in 1838 and the history of the property since is familiar, it recently having been operated as a branch of the United States Worsted Co., previous to which it was conducted as the Franker Manufacturing Co., by the six grandchildren of Edward Franker, who died in 1865. Its specialties in those days were all-wool shirtings and ladies' dress goods and sackings of all colors and shades. The mills were badly damaged by fires in 1866. The tall, round, and familiar chimney was constructed in 1884.

Scott's Mills began with Joseph Emes about 1810. He had, in turn, a gristmill, a fulling mill, and a morocco factory. In 1847 the factory was burned and Mr. Emes sold out to Francis Scott of Salem. He rebuilt and remodelled, and commenced the manufacture of flannel. His son, Andrew A. Scott, in 1857, became a partner in the business under the style and firm name of Francis Scott & Son. In 1862, Francis Scott was fatally injured by being thrown from a cart, and the business was conducted by Andrew A. Scott up to the time of his death, several years ago. The plant is now occupied by the C. R. G. Manufacturing Co.

gus about one hundred years ago. Iron works were also maintained by John Gifford at North Saugus, after his quarrel with the original iron works about 1654.

The shoe business at the Centre was once a thriving industry. Among the early manufacturers there were Moses Mansfield, his brother Thomas, and Richard Mansfield. In 1818, Benjamin Hitchings came to town and began the making of shoes, later taking his two sons, John B. and Otis M. into partnership. David Newhall and W. W. Boardman manufactured from 1830 to 1850, and Otis M. Hitchings w^as so engaged from 1846 to 1872. In 1852, we find Walton & Wilson in the same business, which they conducted until 1879, selling out to Charles S. Hitchings. William T. Ash, William F. Hitchings, and Otis M. Burrill were among the last men to be in the shoe manufacturing business at the Centre.

Newburyport Turnpike

THERE are about four miles of the famous Newburyport Turnpike in Saugus. This road was finished about 1805, and cost nearly $480,000. While it was projected by some of the leading residents of Newburyport, the wisdom of its construction is open

Undoubtedly many noted men have travelled the Newburyport Turnpike, some on foot, many in automobiles. A large number of them have passed through Saugus. At least one of these notables stopped over night in Saugus. He was Henry Wilson, the Natick cobbler. He was ''hoofing it" from Farmington, N. H., to Natick, Mass. When he reached Newburyport, en route, it is related that he bought a pair of slippers for twenty-five cents to protect his feet, which were blistered. Then he walked via the Turnpike from that city to North Saugus, where he remained over night. A strange coincidence in connection with Wilson's pilgrimage over the Turnpike is that later, in 1861, the 22nd Massachusetts regiment was formed at Lynnfield. Wilson organized and commanded it. It was known as the Wilson regiment, he being at the time United States Senator from Massachusetts. Upon the war's conclusion, General Grant became President and Wilson Vice-President, the same Wilson who many years before, as a boy, passing through Lynnfield and Saugus, tramped over the hills and through the valleys of the Newburyport Turnpike, resting therefrom at least one night in Saugus.

Saugus Branch

THE much maligned Saugus Branch was started in 1844. Joshua Webster of Maiden may well be said to be the father of it. In 1846 he projected a railroad from East Saugus to Maiden, connecting with the Boston & Maine. The route was through the center of Saugus, thence down the valley of the Newburyport Turnpike through Maplewood to Maiden, a distance of over five miles.

In 1847 a petition was presented to the Legislature for a charter. To oppose this project, the Eastern Railroad brought forward a scheme to build a branch railroad from Breed's Wharf in Lynn through East Saugus to Saugus Centre.

The war for these rival routes first began in Saugus, and was then transferred to the Legislature. The Maiden route was victorious. Edward Franker of Saugus was one of the Titans in the struggle, and George Pearson of Saugus was another of the leaders in the fight. Joshua Webster was chosen president in 1848. In 1849 permission was given to change the location from the turnpike valley route to Cliftondale and Linden to Maiden. In 1850 it was extended from East Saugus to Lynn Common. In 1852 Benjamin F. Newhall of Saugus was elected a director.

After the usual vicissitudes of financing a new corporation, the road was built. In February, 1854, an engine and two cars ran upon it. The latter part of the month four trains each way were run from Lynn Common to Edgeworth, in Maiden, there connecting with the Boston & Maine. The line later became a leased line of the Eastern Railroad, and still later a part of the Boston & Maine system, under whose regime it was double tracked.

Street Cars

OUR system of street railroads dates back to 1860, when the first horse railroad was built in Saugus over the Salem Turnpike. The cars from Lynn first stopped at the East Saugus bridge. Cars comcenced running there in 1882. Later an extension was made to Ballard Street, and finally to Cliftondale, to which point the cars ran in 1885. The line up Chestnut and Winter Streets to Saugus Centre began operation in 1886, and other extensions and amplifications of the electric car lines in town are doubtless familiar to all.

The more modern method of transportation, that of flying through the air, had a brief though pathetic start in Saugus a few years ago at the old race track, but we fear that our people still prefer the dear old Saugus Branch and the car propelled by electricity and gasoline. The aeroplane plant, and its prospectus, which was a fine specimen of the printer's art, figu- ratively folded their tents, like the Arabs, and silently stole away, leaving a reputation that will probably never equal that of the old iron works as a manufacturing plant.

Situated Opposite The Fork Of The Wakefield And Melrose Roads

town had a number of farms, including those of Elkanah Hawkes, Deacon Pratt, John Dampney, Ivory Boardman, Samuel Boardman, Aaron Boardman, Asa Rhodes, Joseph Rhodes, Ezra Brown, Lemuel Allen, Jacob Eustis, John Stocker, Ellis Boynton, and others which will be referred to more specifically.

The early residents of ^augus were farmers. Then an era of shoemakers, or cordwainers, as they were called, came upon the scene. Later, as time wore on and the population increased, the trades and employments became more diversified, until now we have many and varied skilled artisans in our midst, not a few of whom are employed in the shoe factories and General Electric Plant in Lynn. Many of our people also work in Boston, and other neighboring cities and towns.

Ancestral Homes

OME of the old houses of Saugus require passing O mention. In addition to those already cited are the following, nearly all of them in North Saugus and Oaklandvale.

The Abijah Boardman house, or, as it is being called in these later years, the Bennett-Boardman house, is a familiar one. It is near the Melrose line, on Howard Street. Hawkes says of it, "that it is by far the best preserved specimen of the projecting upper story, Colonial house yet in existence in the old town,'* and he states, also, another very interesting fact, that it has been in two counties, Suffolk and Essex, and in at least four towns, Boston, Lynn, Chelsea, and Saugus. After Samuel Bennett's occupancy of it, the house came into the possession of the Boardman family, including William, and his son Aaron, who occupied it during- the Revolution. Abijah followed his son Aaron as owner and up to within a very few years (about 1906) it was occupied and owned by Boardman heirs.

Bennett-Boardman House, Oaklandvalk

The Saunders place at Oaklandvale, now owned and occupied by Selectman Frank P. Bennett, who likewise owns w^hat was formerly the George W. Phillips place, deserves attention. George W. Phillips was a brother of Wendell Phillips, the orator, whose picture in the auditorium of the Town Hall, was the gift of Mrs. George W. Phillips. Selectman Bennett has greatly improved the combined properties and conducts a model dairj^ farm there, probably the most sanitary in Essex County.

Bennett- Bo Ardman House, Rear View

The Draper family owned it from 1827 until it went to Nathan Hawkes in 1848. Deacon Ira Draper lived and died here. His sons, Eben and George, created the town of Hopedale. George Draper was the father of the governor, Eben S. Draper, and of George A. Draper, prominently identified with the large manufacturing plant at Hopedale.

Hitchings-Draper-Hawkes House

Hawkes of that name, the one who was the prime mover in the incorporation of Saugus as a separate town in 1815, and undoubtedly the leading man of his time in the West Parish of the then Town of Lynn. His birth occurred in 1745. He was born, lived and died in this house, and was also the only Saugus man who served as selectman, of Lynn before the separation. He was the ensign in the Saugus company of Minute Men, and his great grandson, Nathan Mortimer Hawkes, has his sword and commission, which bears the signatures of a major part of the Council of Massachusetts Bay in New England, including James Otis, Caleb Cushing and thirteen others.

Nathan Hawkes was parish clerk during a portion of Parson Roby's pastorate, and the friendship between the two was very close. Probably the most important public act of Nathan Hawkes' long and active career was the part he took in having Saugus set off from Lynn in 1815, already mentioned. He really won the legislative fight which gave the divisionists the victory, and his memory should always be honored by Saugus people. He ranks with Joseph Roby, Landlord Newhall and other sturdy oaks in Saugus yeomanry.

CLIFTONDALE may well be said to be the new part of Saugus, new in the sense that it has developed in the later years. Its growth has been rapid, substantial, and gratifying. In the old days it was known as "Sweetser's Corner," and in that period, was the location of important activities in the tobacco and allied trades. There were a few, scattered houses there in the Revolutionary period, but Cliftondale did not put on its seven league boots until about 1800.

Snuff was the particular form of the weed that was the corner stone of its mercantile life and the vehicle which rolled it into prominence. William Sweetser, Jr., made it by hand previously and disposed of it ''up county," as he wrote. In his footsteps came Samuel Copp, a native of Boston, whose establishment became the second building at ''Sweetser's Corner," in the square. If Samuel Copp could revisit Cliftondale Square during our present celebration he would be justified in lifting his eyebrows at the progress and development which has occurred in a little more than one hundred years in the vicinity of his snuff mill, w^hose only music in his time was its grinding mortars.

Charles Sweetser, in 1820, appeared on the scene and bought out Copp. Sweetser added the manufacture of "short sixes" and "long nines" to the business, "two-fers" as they were sometimes designated. They sold readily, and Sweetser, who was a son of William, developed and cultivated the trade very successfully. His wares were sold all over the United States and British provinces, without the aid of pictures of baseball players, premiums and other catch-penny schemes which modern efficiency has produced for the tobacco industry. He retired in 1860 and was succeeded by his two sons, Charles A. and George H. Sweetser, both of whom are remembered by the present genera-

Others entered the same line of business endeavor at the ''Corner," among them Charles Raddin, S, S. Dunn, Charles M. Bond, Silas S. Trull, Thomas F. Downing, Hiram A. Raddin, and John M. Raddin. The war of 1861 practically ended the cigar business of "Sweetser's Corner," owing to the loss of the southern tobacco market and the heavy internal revenue taxes placed on these low-priced goods. The business thereafter decreased gradually but steadily from year to year, until now, so far as the writer knows, it is entirely extinct in Saugus, although two old families of this section, Revere and Saugus, are represented in the well-known firm of Waitt & Bond, who do a large and successful cigar business in Boston. It had its inception at Cliftondale, where Mr. Bond's father was for years engaged in it. Henry Waitt and Charles H. Bond, both deceased, are well remembered in Saugus, the latter as one of our most highly respected residents and the former as a citizen of Revere, just over the line from Saugus. The public school in that portion of Revere, known as Franklin Park, is named the Henry Waitt School, and Charles H. Bond's generosity in connection with the Saugus public schools and the Cliftondale Congregational Church are recalled with gratitude by members of the present generation.

History Of Saugus, Massachusetts

tained a peat deposit and some fine blue clay. About 1808, William Jackson, an Eng-lishman, and for whom, we assume, Jackson Street is named, bought a farm in this part of the town, and finding this clay adapted for brown and red earthenware, began its manufacture, which he continued for four years, Wilbur F. Newhall informs us.

In 1853 Kent's curled hair industry started at Cliftondale. Enoch T. Kent was its pioneer, living in that section. In 1866 he went to the Centre and established a factory on Shute's Brook, near the railroad station.

Cliftondale has the Felton School, named for Cornelius Conway Felton. The history of the arrival of the Feltons in Cliftondale is interesting. When the Newbury port Turnpike was projected, tolls were exacted from its travelers. The proprietors dispatched Cornelius Felton of Newburyport to collect them at Saugus, and Hawkes tells us of ''the little toll house" (gate No. 1), where the elder Felton performed that important service.

"The story of the efforts of the toll keeper's son to obtain the rudiments of an education will long be related in Saugus, but of the boy who became the profound Greek scholar and President of Harvard, his biographer. Rev. A. P. Peabody, D.D., says: a unique place in our world of letters. It is seldom that an adept in one department is a proficient in all the essential branches of liberal culture. This was, however, true of him. While as a classical scholar he had no superior, he was versed in the languages and familiar with the best literature of modern Europe, was largely conversant with national science, and had a highly educated and nicely critical taste in the entire realm of art. The ability that he showed in many and diverse directions, had its scope been narrower, would have been accounted as genius of a very high order; but its breadth and versatility was more than genius. Within the largest bounds of a liberal education no demand was made upon him that found him incapable or unprepared: and whatever he did he did so well that he seemed to have a speciial adaption for it'."

Cliftondale suggests the country house of Col. William Tudor, ''Rockwood," now the Saugus Town Home. William Tudor was a Revolutionary officer and a friend of General Washington. In 1805, his third son, Frederic Tudor, evolved a scheme of harvesting and marketing ice. The plan seemed feasible, and in that year he had cut from a pond in front of his father's country place on the Turnpike a large quantity of ice, which he loaded on a schoner and shipped to Marti- nique. He accompanied the cai'Ro, although hxughed at by his associates and neighbors, who pronounced him mentally unbalanced. Tradition informs us that the consignees of the ice were unappreciative of its value, but the fact remains that the foundation of a Saugus industry is thus chronicled.

"Rockwood" was purchased by the town in 1823 for the almshouse, a designation later very appropriately changed to ''Saugus Home," at the suggestion of the late George G. Spurr, whose ideas were subsequently ratified by a vote in tow^n meeting.

Another one of the distinguished houses of old Cliftondale is the Dr. Cheever place, on what is now Essex Street. Hawkes says its builder was Dr. Abijah Cheever, a surgeon in the Revolution, and the first of a line of scholars who made the title of Professor Cheever familiar and respected by successive classes of Harvard down to the present time.

Dr. Cheever planted his trees, laid out a private drivew^ay, and erected this house in 1806. Its exterior looks a good deal now as it did then. His brother, Col. Abner Cheever, was nearby and CoL William Tudor of "Rockwood" not far away. Dr. Cheever was prominent in civic affairs and was often our representative in the General Court.

Cliftondale is now a section of beautiful homes, and has many fruitful and beckoning themes for historical discussion, but lack of space prohibits their proper presentation in a book of this character. Its attractive village square, the enlarged "Sweetser's Corner," and its many and amplified environs, very noticeably remind us of the growth of Saugus in the period covered by our present Centennial period, from just before 1815 to 1915.

Perhaps the old Pliny Nickerson place on Essex Street, formerly the Jacob Eustis property, may suggest the answer. In 1807, about the time ''Sweetser's Corner," came into prominence, this farm was owned by Jacob Eustis. He was a brother of Governor Eustis. In 1830, Jacob sold it to James Dennison, who, in turn, passed title to W. Turpin. The latter transferred it to Seth Heaton, who occupied it until 1853.

Then Daniel P. Wise, et als, of Maiden appeared upon the scene, and, with them, the mystic name of "Cliftondale," by which the village name of "Sweetser's Corner" was relegated to the rear. The name of Cliftondale was actually suggested by Joshua Webster, first president of the Saugus Branch. Wise and his associates began a comprehensive scheme of development, which has gone on ever since. Enterprising citizens and hustling real estate men have consistently built up the village in systematic, substantial fashion, not the "booming" of a busted cow-town on the western plains, but the orderly upbuilding of a beautiful residential section near Boston and Lynn.

Eustis farm many years a^o. Down near the Revere line, Daniel Bicklord, Isaac Carleton, Charles H. Bond, Henry Waitt, and Edward S. Kent were responsible for much development and building. Later, Ernest L. Noera, in his time, built one hundred houses in Cliftondale.

The old Cliftondale Horse Railroad, of which James M. Stone of Charlestown was the manager, had a more meteoric career. It went up in 1860 and came down three years afterwards. Cars ran on it on Nov. 20, 1860. Its starting point was at the East Saugus Bridge, from which it ran on to the Cliftondale depot, thence through the woods to the Newburyport Turnpike and so on via Maiden Bridge and Charlestown. The principal motive of its construction was to boom the sale of house lots in Cliftondale, called the ''homes, '* but evidently it was not to be. Its traffic was light, which probably accounts for its brief corporate existence. Its rails were removed, and very few of the present generation perhaps can recall its existence.

Revolutionary Men Of

IT was nine o'clock at night on the nineteenth of April, 1775, when the courier bearing the news of the fight at Lexington reached Saugus from Maiden. The word spread rapidly throughout the town, it hav- ing first been known at Cliftondale. A horseman flew to the tavern and the alarm was sounded throughout the countryside. Not a moment was wasted, and before midnight the first detachment of Minute Men, including several from Cliftondale, was galloping over the road, then known as the county street running from Boston to Salem, and which went, as now, by the way of Maiden, but along a different route back of Baker's Hill.

There were five companies which went to Lexington and Concord from what is now the separated sections of the old town of Lynn, and the so-called Saugus company, that is the one which was recruited from what at present includes the territorial limits of the town, was the largest of the five. This company was drilled in the old Landlord Newhall Tavern at East Saugus.

It met at irregular intervals, and its guiding hands were Major David Parker, its commander. Parson Roby, and, doubtless, others. Parker conducted a blacksmith's shop on the so-called county road not far from the tavern. The patriotic citizens of what is now Saugus gathered here, and, in the large room before the open fireplace, discussed the pressing theme of the time, which was whether or not the mother country would force the colonies to armed resistance against the crown.

David Parker was born in 1744 and died in 1810 at Maiden. He is buried in the old Bell Rock Cemetery. His grave, near the wall, on the north side, is under a spreading maple, and is marked with a slate stone. The Saugus Branch trains on the Boston & Maine skirt along this cemetery at Bell Rock Station.

In addition to these sixty-three men from Saugus who answered the first call to arms, there were thirtyeight others who served during the later periods of the war.

Among those from what is now the Cliftondale section of the town were Nathaniel Boynton; Benjamin, Ezra, Ephraim, Rufus and Jonathan Brown, father and sons. Jonathan Brown was a second lieutenant, the three Cheevers, Abner, Abner, Jr., and John ; three Coatses, Stephen, Philip, and William; Joshua Danforth and Joseph Eaton.

Eaton was at Bunker Hill and so were five other Saugus men, including two from Cliftondale. Their names were Thomas Berry, Amos Boardman, Ezra Brown, Israel Burrill, and Thomas Hutchinson. Eaton and Brown were Cliftondalers.

Saugus should feel proud of the fact that at this late day, when the records are so dim and incomplete, it can be substantiated that at least six Saugus men directly took part in this famous battle, one of the bloodiest of all history, up to that time; where in an hour and a half the number killed and wounded was more than thirty per cent, of the men engaged.

Other Cliftondalers in the Revolutionary War were the Stockers, Ebenezer, his son, Ebenezer, Jr., Elijah, Enoch, Ephraim, and Thomas ; the Sweetsers, Phineas and Samuel; Ben Bullard Raddin, ancestor of former selectman J. Arthur Raddin, and Lemuel Allen, who was a sergeant in the Saugus company. Allen married Parson Roby's daughter, and lived on what was later known as the George N. Miller place, northwest of the Cliftondale Depot. He held the highly honorable position of hog reeve and warden in 1766, 1769 and 1781.

East Saugus

THE two things at East Saugus that command the historian's attention as he approaches that part of the town are, of course, the old tavern, and the activities at the mill site, which began in 1721.

But the old tavern antedates the mill by at least seventy-five years. This famous hostelry, for noted it was, was located approximately in what is now Lincoln Avenue, en route from East Saugus to Cliftondale, at the intersection of that thoroughfare, Ballard and Chestnut Streets, at Washington Square.

The Tavern was established as early as 1643, Mr. Newhall informs us. Then the "old street," as it was then called, was the old Boston road (now Chestnut Street), and, in those days, was the artery of travel between Boston and Salem. The old tavern, called

"The Anchor" was about half way, and, as easily understood, was the center of interest for the colonists of the countryside, as well as the only place hereabouts where the inner man could be publicly refreshed with food and drink. It served this purpose for one hundred and seventy years, and its Bonifaces were some of our most prominent men.

Joseph Armitage, its first proprietor, named it 'The Anchor Tavern." The court records, in 1669, indicate that ''Mine Host" Armitage rendered petitions for "bear and cacks" (beer and cakes) for such eminent personages as Governors Endicott and Bradstreet. These distinguished gentlemen also had "vitalls, bear and logen, beare and wyne att sevrall times," according to these same court records. John Hathorne follow^ed Armitage.

Capt. Thomas Marshall succeeded Hathorne as proprietor. Armitage died in 1680, but Wilbur F. Newhall opines that Marshall took the tavern long before this. Zaccheus Norwood conducted the famous hostelry in 1760. He died in 1768. In 1773 Jacob Newhall became possessed of the "Anchor," but changed its name to "Rising Sun Tavern." He erected a large sign with a painted representation of the morning sun just apearing above the horizon. He was an ardent patriot and, as his proprietorship covered the Revolutionary period, the tavern was the scene of many stirring events in connection with Saugus' part therewith. So anti-English and pro-American was Landlord Newhall that he would not have a -lion and a unicorn portrayed upon his signboard, and removed those upon the one of his predecessor. Many of the Saugus Minute Men naturally assembled there and Landlord Newhall and Major David Parker, who lived nearby, were two of the leading men in the movement. George Washington stopped at the tavern in 1788, and four years before. General Lafayette did likewise. Soldiers and civilians alike made the tavern their headquarters during the Revolution.

In 1800 the tavern and the entire farm again entered the possession of the Ballard family. Two years later, John Ballard built a new hotel, about nine rods south of the old structure. This was at the time that the Salem Turnpike was building. Mr. Ballard had prevented the turnpike from being built over his farm. This new hotel proved a failure as the turnpike, when built, diverted travel from the old Boston road. From 1815 to 1822 Mr. Ballard made the hotel his homestead, and its career, such as it was, began to wane. In 1871, Wilbur F. Newhall purchased it, removed it to the eastward on Ballard Street, and erected his present residence on its site. He is a great grandson of Landlord Newhall.

'The Old Anchor Tavern" continued to stand during the existence of the new hotel, but was torn down in 1836 to make way for the "new street" - Lincoln Avenue - running from the old tavern locality down to what is now Franklin Square, at the river bridge, the portion of the village which started in 1721, and which now appropriately may enter our recital of the early days of East Saugus. The house numbered 61, occupied by Evan Evans, Jr., was the first house built on the "new street," by the late George Oliver.

The Old Mill Site

IN 1721, Benjamin Potter, Jacob Newhall and William Curtis were granted the privilege of conducting a tide mill at the bridge at East Saugus. They failed to build, but the following year, Thomas Cheever and Ebenezer Merriam built one of the corn-grinding variety. Thus the mill property, so called, has been prominent for nearly two hundred years.

Joseph Gould, near the mill ; Col. Ebenezer Stocker, on the site of the house now owned by Bernt W. W. Newhall ; Jacob Newhall, at the corner of what is now Riverside Court and Chestnut Street ; the Moore house, located where Frederic Stocker's house now stands; Jacob Newhall's Tavern, already referred to; Major David Parker's residence, beyond; Samuel Oliver's place, not far from Major Parker's blacksmith shop; the Solomon Brown house. Brown being the great grandfather of H. ]\Iiner Brown ; the one owned by

To return to the old mill, without a detailed mention of which the village history would be like Hamlet without the melancholy Dane. Joseph Gould purchased it in 1738 for 620 pounds. He operated it until 1774, when he died. His widow permitted it to deteriorate, and the water came and went at pleasure without let or hindrance.

George Makepeace appeared on its scene in 1792, paying $900. to the Gould heirs. He was a Bostonian and rebuilt the mill, beginning the manufacture of snuff. This was the first appearance of this industry in East Saugus. His nephew, Jonathan, succeeded him, and for half a century, his product, "Makepeace's Snuff," was a staple article.

Wilbur F. Newhall says that Major Makepeace, as he was known, "gave his personal attention to the making of this snuff from the very best of leaf tobacco, cured in the most careful way; it was then ground and scented and put up in small wooden kegs, with his own autograph on each."

The Makepeace regime also saw the manufacture of chocolate in this mill, beginning in 1796. Benjamin Sweetser, Amos Rhodes and Deacon John Waitt were the first manufacturers of it, and it was continued for many years by Amariah Childs.

men who has chronicled Sau^us events with so much careful, systematic detail, as he did in his sketches and personal reminiscences, in the Lymi Reporter, used to work in the chocolate mill, and we regret we cannot produce verbatim what he writes about all these olden times and periods. They virtually constitute a history of Saugus, and Mr. Newhall may well have said with Cicero : 'The whole of which I saw and a part of which I was."

Amariah Childs sold the mill in 1844 to Charles Sweetser, who lived in Cliftondale. He abandoned the chocolate business and put in machinery for roasting and grinding coffee. Herbert B. Newhall, son of Benjamin F., became interested in this property and conducted it for many years, as did Charles A. Sweetser before him.

The shoe industry was also very much identified with East Saugus and environs in the by-gone years. In 1802, Ebenezer Oakman established a factory, and various other men followed in his footsteps hereabout, including Thomas Raddin, Jr., George W. Raddin, Jacob Newhall, Jr., Abel Newhall, Benjamin F. Newhall, John W. Newhall, James C. Lockwood, Levi D. Waldron, Pickmore Jackson, Charles W. Newhall, Harmon Hall, Charles E. Raddin, A. Clarke Newhall, Albert Hitchings, John W. Hitchings, Cyrus W. Oliver and Isaac Oliver. Harmon Hall was one of the leading citizens of his time, serving as Representative, Senator and Executive Councillor.

Old Rock Schoolhouse

THE old Rock Schoolhouse was situated on the present site of James D. Bee's house, Washington Square, East Saugus. The schoolhouse was built in 1806, and the following year prayer meetings were also held in it. A long flight of steps led to its side porch. The building itself was twenty-four feet square. In 1838, it was succeeded by a new schoolhouse, what is now the Mansfield School, named in honor of Eliza A. Mansfield, who taught in it for fifty years. During the attempt to remove the old Rock building an accident occurred, and it fell to the

Church services were held in the old Rock Schoolhouse, beginning about 1810, and the plans for building the village church were completed there.

The latest school building in Saugus, the Ballard, and probably the most modern, for that reason, was completed in 1911, and opened in September of that year, is within a very short distance of the site of the old Rock Schoolhouse, and nearer still to the old tavern location.

When the building committee turned the Ballard School over to the town, informal exercises of acceptance were held. Members of the board of selectmen and other citizens attended. A letter was read from President William H. Taft, who, at the time, was at the summer capital at Beverly, Mass. The president wrote :

"I am glad to learn of the opening of the new school building in Saugus next Wednesday, and I congratulate the community on the accomplishment of its efforts in bettering the facilities for the education of its children.

The letter bears the date of Sept. 4, 1911, and is in the possession of the East Saugus member of the school committee at the time, to whom it is addressed.

In connection with East Saugus the **lower landing" should be mentioned. It was at the foot of what is now Ballard Street, which was built from the old Boston road (Lincoln Avenue) to the Salem Turnpike in 1850. In 1639 there was a ford and ferry at the ''lower landing," designated on the Lynn side as Needham's Landing and on the Saugus side as Ballard's Landing.

Brickmaking has flourished in East Saugus for many years. Frederic Stocker, father and then son of the same name, have carried it on there for at least seventy years.

The legend of Pirates' Glen and Tom Veal (1658) can receive but passing reference in a brief work of this character. Its complete story is found in the History of Lynn, Page 243, and already referred to. Vinegar Hill and environs also are replete with historical significance. Both merit more attention than we are able to accord them in this history.

Midway between Vinegar Hill and Choose Hill, both previously mentioned, the site of the old garrison house is found. Under date of 1642, Alonzo Lewis writes :

"A great alarm was occasioned through the colony by a report that the Indians intended to exterminate the English. The people were ordered to keep a watch from sunset to sunrise, and blacksmiths were directed to suspend all other business till the arms of the colony were repaired. A house was built for the soldiers, and another, about forty feet long, for a safe retreat for the women and children of the town, in case of an attack from the Indians. These houses were within the Hmits of Saugus, about eighty rods from the eastern boundary, and about the same distance south of Walnut Street. The cellars of both these buildings remain, and near them, on the east, is a fine, unfailing spring."

The garrison house site is now in the possession of the Lynn Historical Society, to be preserved for historical and public purposes, and as it is within the present territorial limits of Saugus, it is deemed fitting to refer to it in this paper. Pirates' Glen, Dungeon Rock, Vinegar Hill, Choose Hill, the garrison site, and their accompanying legends and traditions, are, therefore, all the peculiar heritages of Saugus in this its hour of Centennial celebration. Unfortunately, however, only passing mention can be made of them.

The early schools of the West Parish met in various houses hereabouts, sometimes in one and sometimes in another. This plan continued until 1775, when a schoolhouse was erected at the Centre, on the southeast corner of the old burying ground. It served its purpose until 1801, when Richard Shute bought it for $63. He removed it, made some alterations and additions and thereafter conducted it as a grocery store in connection with his house. Fire destroyed it in 1820.

About 1800 five schoolhouses were petitioned for^ two at the Centre, one at the "North End" (North Saugus), one at "Boardman's End" (Oaklandvale), and the other in the ''South Part" (East Saugus) . One was deemed sufficient, however, and the Centre got it, "Southwest of the meetinghouse." It was later used as a shoe shop by William W. Boardman.

Rev. Joseph Emerson of Beverly, previously referred to, established a Ladies' Seminary in Saugus, a plan that was encouraged by the parish. It was constructed in 1822. Young ladies came to it in considerable numbers, but, unfortunately, in the autumn of the second year, an epidemic of typhoid broke out and several of the students died. In 1824, Mr. Emerson's health failed him and he retired, to be succeeded by Rev. Hervey Wilbur, who continued it until 1826, when he abandoned the Seminary. Fanny Fern, the noted authoress, attended, and later, young men being admitted, Cornelius Conway Felton, previously mentioned, was also a student, and chore-boy.

The course of study in the Seminary embraced two terms of twelve weeks each, separated by a vacation of a fortnight. The terms were $6, ''payable in advance, common price of board from $1 to $1.75 per week, without fuel, lights, or washing." Attached to the Seminary was a preparatory school taught by Mrs. Emerson and Miss Z. B. Cheever at fifty cents a week. The bell of the Seminary, which was a very fine one, was sold in 1854, and soon after, we are informed, Mr. Edwin Jeffers purchased the building and converted it into a dwelling house.

While the typhoid epidemic is generally ascribed as the reason for the cessation of the Seminary's activities as an educational institution, apparently the unfortunate religious difficulties of the period also permeated its affairs and undoubtedly played a somewhat prominent part in its dissolution.

The town now has thirteen schoolhouses, which, together with the land under them, have an estimated value of about $217,000, according to the town's appraisal committee.

These schoolhouses are : High, Roby, Felton, Lincoln, Cliftondale, Armitage, Ballard, Mansfield, Emerson, North Saugus, Lynnhurst, Oaklandvale, and the old building at the Centre.

the High School was held in a large room in the Town Hall. The Lincoln School is named in honor of the martyred President, Abraham Lincoln. The Cliftondale School was originally called the Bond School, in honor of an old Saugus family, but after an unfortunate controversy in connection with it, the name was changed to Cliftondale School, by a vote in town meeting. The Armitage School is named in honor of Laura F. Armitage, one of the town's most faithful teachers, who served in that capacity for many years. The Lynnhurst, Oaklandvale, and North Saugus Schools bear their designations in honor of their respective localities, and the Roby, Felton, Ballard, Mansfield and Emerson have already been alluded to. Cliftondale's next school building might appropriately be named the "Sweetser School," in honor of ''Sw^eetser's Corner" and the well-known family of that name.

We are indebted to Hawkes for an interesting recital concerning the Oaklandvale School. When the proposition to build it was pending (1848) a general budget was before the meeting. A resident of the Centre, Ben. Parker, desirous of defeating the whole measure, moved to increase the amount for this school from $1500 to $2200. It carried. The voters evidently felt exceedingly generous. Probably the tax rate was not mounting skyward then as it is now. The residents of Oaklandvale, to show their appreciation, put up the foundation walls themselves, and the $2200 was utilized for the building alone.

'The result was that the smallest school in town had the largest schoolhouse," concludes Hawkes, to whom we are also indebted for another interesting thing in connection with our earlier educational facilities, to wit:

"Before the building of the first schoolhouse, the first detached school of the Third Parish was established in an apartment of this house" (the old Nathan Hawkes house, on the north side of the road from North Saugus to Wakefield) "a few rods west of the present North Saugus Schoolhouse."

In David N. Johnson's ''Sketches of Lynn" is found the first school report made to the Town of Lynn. The outlying districts were Nahant, North Saugus, and Swampscott, thus mentioned:

"Your Committee visited Nahant; found nine present. Also the school at Nathan Hawkes'; present twelve. All the schools visited were in good order." The date of this report is April 14, 1812.

The Rev. Edward T. Taylor, afterwards founder of the Seamen's Bethel in Boston, received the rudiments of his education in this school of Nathan Hawkes' and also was entertained under the roof of this same house during his itinerancy, which carried him also to the old Rock Schoolhouse at East Saugus.

He was introduced to Saugus by "Ma'am Sweetser," to whose house Taylor came in 1814 as an itinerant peddler, selling his wares. Social evening meetings, for exhortation and prayer, were appointed, and the peddler p:uest took a prominent part therein. People came from miles around. Ma'am Sweetser's whole house, parlor and kitchen, soon became too small to accommodate the crowd that came.

B. F. Newhall writes: 'To meet this exigency, a few of the neighbors projected the building of a schoolhouse, which would answer the double purpose of teaching and preaching. This, by great effort on the part of a few, was soon accomplished, and the 'North End Schoolhouse,' so renowned in after years, sprang into existence."

During Taylor's administration Methodism took a deep root in North Saugus, and later the First Methodist Episcopal Society (East Saugus) was formed.

At the Rock Schoolhouse in East Saugus, Taylor's career was a stormy one, if all reports are correct. B. F. Newhall says Taylor was there "threatened with stones, tar and feathers, the rail, etc., but he is not in the least discouraged or cast down. His staunch friend, Solomon Brown, is always by his side. 'Fight On, Brother Taylor,' were the encouraging words then given, and he did fight on, and his persecutors quailed before him. Such was the beginning of Methodism in Saugus, and such was the fortune and treatment of the stripling Taylor in its defense," begun in the tw^o earliest schools of Saugus, the one at Nathan Hawkes' house in North Saugus and the other at the old Rock Schoolhouse in East Saugus.

Taylor said ''adieu" and entered the academy at Newmarket, N. H., preparatory to entering a wider field of labor, in which he became famous.

The story of Father Taylor in Saugus is very replete with historical, educational and religious significance, and we regret that we must leave it and hurry on.

Hawkes says, in one of his many historical gems: "As early as 1635, our towns established schools, supporting them in various ways, by subscriptions, by endowments, by grants of income, by fishing privileges, by tuition fees, by direct taxation, and they have been steadily climbing to the top. At no time has the work relaxed. And now, Massachusetts leads the world in educational privileges."

Saugus is one of the towns included in this complimentary paragraph. Our earlier schools accomplished much ; our modern ones are doing immeasurably more, and that we are not niggardly in this day and generation is shown by the size of our annual appropriations for the maintenance of our public schools, which, as Lord Maccaulay once said in parliament, deserve "the peculiar attention of the State."

Katiikii Tayi Saugus As A- Separate Town

OF our original Saugus .territory, our well-known historian, James R. Newhall, aptly says that down to 1814 no very extensive tract had been severed, and continues :

"In that year Lynnfield, which had been called Lynn End, and having been incorporated as a district in 1782, was set off as a separate town under its present name. Another portion was, by legislative action, taken from the mother town in 1815, and incorporated under the name of Saugus, thus reviving the old name in that detached portion of the territory. In 1852 still another portion was set off, and the new town of Swampscott came into being. The next year, 1853, the pleasant little peninsula was unbound and made a separate municipality. By these facts it will be seen that it is very difficult to treat of those municipal children of Lynn as having any separate early history."

Thus, in 1814, Lynnfield blazed the way to separate corporate identity which Saugus followed the following year, 1815, and which our town is now in the midst of celebrating. Your present historian had at first intended to treat Saugus in three periods, the Colonial, from 1629 to 1775; the Revolutionary, from 1775 to 1815 ; and the Centennial, from 1815 to 1915, but in a brief, running narrative, hastily prepared and of necessity limited as to its scope, it has been decided not to attempt any such subdivision of the topic, which is

Our town, which was for nearly two hundred years the West Parish of Lynn, was set off as a separate town on Feb. 17, 1815, by an act of the Legislature. There were two remonstrants, petitions against it, but they availed nothing.

To the Honorable the Senate and the Honorable the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth in General Court assembled. The Subscribers of the Second Parish in Lynn in the County of Essex, - Respectfully represent that the said parish lies in the western part of Lynn and is bounded westerly on Maiden and Reading, northerly on Lynnfield and southerly on Chelsea, being wholly in said Town of Lynn except a small section of land in the Town of Chelsea in the County of Suffolk, which is annexed to the said second parish : that it would greatly promote the interest and convenience of the said second parish of Lynn to be set off from a Town; that the travel of the said inhabitants to and from Town meetings would be shortened from one and a half to four miles ; that the taxes, now almost insupportable to your petitioners, would be much reduced and would be more equally assessed and distributed, and that many other evils and inconveniences would be remedied. Your petitioners, therefore, pray that the second parish in Lynn may be set off from the Town of Lynn and established as a separate Town, and include all the lands within the boundaries of said parish, except the section of land belonging to the Town of Chelsea, with all rights and privileges belonging to Towns in this Com-

The remonstrants had suggested that the town, if established, be named Westport. This plan was abandoned, however, and the bill, as enacted, incorporated the town of Saugus from the Second Parish of Lynn.

That all that part of the town of Lynn in the County of Essex lying and being situate within the boundaries of the Second Parish in Lynn aforesaid, together with the inhabitants therein, be and the same is incorporated into a separate town by the name of Saugus, viz. : Beginning at Bride's brook, so called, and continuing as the said brook runs until it meets the river that runs between Chelsea and Lynn, and then by said river until it meets Pines river, and then by said Pines river until it meets Saugus river, and then along Saugus river by the middle of said river to Great bridge, so called, then runninp: from said bridj^fe a straight line to the easterlyend of the farm now owned by William Sweetser and. Ephraim Sweetser, formerly belonj^in^ to John Hawks' successors, and then tiu'ning and I'unninji: to the line of Lynnfield to the northern side of the land now belonging to John Reading, formerly of Isaac Larrabee, thence running by the line of Lynnfield until it meets the line of the town of South Reading, thence running by the line between South Reading and the town of Lynn until it comes to the Three County Mark, so called, thence running on the line between Chelsea and Lynn until it comes to Bride's brook, the place first set out from.

Section 2 - Be it further enacted, that the said town of Saugus shall be entitled to hold such proportions of all the real and personal estate now belonging to and owned by the inhabitants of the town of Lynn as the property of the inhabitants of the town of Saugus now bears to the property of all the inhabitants of the town of Lynn, according to the latest valuation thereof, excepting always all rights of common landing places and privileges heretofore possessed by the inhabitants of the town of Lynn, all which shall be held and enjoyed by the towns respectively within whose limits the same may be, except the privileges on Pine beach, which shall hereafter be enjoyed by the inhabitants of the said town of Lynn and the said town of Saugus in common.

Section 3 - Be it further enacted, that the said town of Saugus shall be holden to pay their proportion, to be ascertained as aforesaid, of all debts and claims now due and owing from the said town of Lynn or which may hereafter be found due and owing by reason of any contract, engagement, jud^-ment of court or any matter or thing now or hereafter entered into or existing, and shall be entitled to receive their proportion to be ascertained as aforesaid, of all the debts, taxes and monies now due to said town of Lynn.

Section 4 - Be it further enacted, that the said town of Saugus shall be holden to support their proportion of the present poor of the said town of Lynn, which proportion shall be ascertained as aforesaid, and all persons who shall or may hereafter become chargeable as paupers shall be considered as belonging to that town on whose territory they may have gained a legal settlement, and shall be supported by that town only.

Section 5 - Be it further enacted, that nothing in this act shall be so construed as to alter or affect in any way parish privileges of the right or manner of assessing and collecting parish taxes within or for either the said town of Lynn or the said town of Saugus, which said rights and privileges shall hereafter be held and enjoyed in the same manner, as if this act had not been made.

Section 6 - Be it further enacted, that there shall be and is hereby granted to the town of Lynn the right to tax those inhabitants of the said town who now own salt marsh on the southerly and easterly side of the Salem Turnpike road, but within the limits of the tov/n of Saugus, so long as the same shall continue to be owned by the inhabitants of the town of Lynn or the heirs of said inhabitants who now own the same.

Section 7 - Be it further enacted, that the rights and privileges of the fishery shall be held and enjoyed hereafter by the towns respectively within whose limits the streams may run, in the same manner as is now provided by law for the town of Lynn.

Section 8 - Be it further enacted, that either of the justices of the peace for the County of Essex is hereby authorized to issue a warrant directed to some inhabitant of the said town of Saugus, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof to meet at such convenient time and place as shall be expressed in said warrant for the choice of all such officers as towns are by law required to choose in the month of March or April annually.

Looking Backward

OUR people in 1815, when we were set off, numbered approximately seven hundred. This year occurred our first town meeting, in accordance with the terms of our charter granted by the Legislature.

It was held in the parish church, Saugus Centre, March 13, 1815. In 1837 General Jackson distributed the United States revenue surplus. The share for Saugus was $2000. What should be done with it aroused much discussion. Some wanted it distributed pro rata among the citizens ; others wanted it put into a town hall. Finally, after much discussion and heated argument, it was voted to build a **town-house," which was done, the structure being the so-called old town hall, now used for school purposes and the town library.

This ''town-house" was used for town meetings until 1875, when the present Town Hall was completed and has since been used for our corporate home. The inhabitants of East Saugus were not very enthusiastic over the new town hall program and made an effort to be annexed to Lynn at this time. The effort was not successful, as the bill was killed by the Legislature. To assuage the feelings of the East Saugus people the town voted $5000 to introduce water pipes into that section of the town. This event was celebrated in 1878. The pipes were generally extended throughout the town about ten years later, when an appropriation was passed, July 8, 1887, for seven miles of pipe at a cost of approximately $35,000.

In connection with the town's water supply, it is worthy of note that a large standpipe on Baker's Hill is now nearing completion, at a cost of $25,000. It is 45 feet in diameter, 85 feet high, and has a capacity of 1,000,000 gallons. It will give a much desired addition to our water supply, and increased pressure, which is so much needed. Its actual use is contemplated about Aug. 1, 1915.

The town has always had three post offices, that is, since their establishment. The first one was authorized at East Saugus in 1832. Henry Slade was the postmaster. In 1858, offices were created at the Centre and Cliftondale. Julian D. Lawrence was postmaster in the former locality, and William Williams at the latter. In those days, these offices were what are called fourth-class offices, where the patrons call for their mail. In 1901, Saugus postal affairs were consolidated with Lynn, and the free delivery of mail established, a privilege which it has since enjoyed, in addition to retaining its local offices of by-gone days. The Saugus post offices now have superintendents instead of postmasters, John E. Stocker being in charge at Saugus Centre, Ernest C. Brown at Cliftondale, and Henry J. Mills at East Saugus. Mr. Stocker has occupied this responsible position since 1870. Ernest C. Brown succeeded Miss Martha S. Fiske, who held the position from 1883 until her death in 1914. Henry J. Mills at East Saugus was appointed in 1885 and is still in the saddle.

Durinp: this change in our postal arrangements what is known as a rural free delivery route was installed for the benefit of the people in the outlying sections of the town. It is still in operation and a great convenience to those who are fortunate enough to be upon its line. What such public service would have meant in the Colonial and Revolutionary periods is easily understood, of course, for the rural route, the telephone, and other handmaids of civilization have sent the Saugus countryside ahead by leaps and bounds in the last few years alone.

Another interesting fact in connection with the Saugus postal administration is that when the aviation park was in its heyday of threatened success at the Old Saugus Race Track, mail for two or three days was sent by flying machine to the Lynn boundary, where it was dropped to waiting messengers, and by them carried to the Lynn Post Office from a point not far from the foot of Commercial Street, West Lynn, and thence dispatched to the addresses, wherever they might be. Such a letter was dispatched to the late Hon. Curtis Guild, Jr., at the time United States Ambassador at St. Petersburg (now Petrograd), Russia, who courteously acknowledged its receipt, with complimentary references to the unique manner in which it had been dispatched from Saugus. The temporary post ofliice, which had been established at the aviation field, by authority of the national government, was abandoned after two or three days, and was one of the

Gustavus Vasa Fox

From Saugus to Russia seems a far cry, but the incident of forwarding a letter from Franklin Park to General Guild, at Petrograd, reminds us that the visit of our native son, Guxtavus V. Fox, to Russia after the Civil War, has been declared by several writers to have been largely responsible for the purchase of Alaska by this country in 1867.

On May 16, 1866, Congress passed a resolution of greeting to the Emperor of Russia, and Fox was selected to carry a copy to the Russian ruler. This he did on the Miantonomoh, the first American ironclad to cross the Atlantic. He was the recipient of numerous honors, and after he had presented the copy of the resolutions to the Czar on August 8, he telegraphed to Secretary of State Seward of the fact, which cable was the first message from Russia to come to America by the Atlantic Cable, as was General Guild's letter to St. Petersburg the first one to be started to Russia by aeroplane from the aviation park years later.

The late Robert C. Winthrop, a distinguished Massachusetts man, before the Massachusetts Historical Society, in November, 1883, paid a remarkable tribute to Fox, this son of Saugus, saying, among other things: "He was a man of great intelligence, accomplishments, and ability; no one rendered more valuable service to the Navy, and to the whole Country, during the late Civil War, than he did."

Fox died in New York City, Oct. 29, 1883, and was not only a very prominent figure during the war, "but was in a larpfe measure responsible for altering the national boundaries wiien through the instrumentality of his mission to Rusia, the vast territory of Alaska, then the property of that empire, was added to the domain of the American Republic," certainly an interesting historical fact to chronicle in this the hour of our Centennial celebration in Saugus, where Gustavus V. Fox was born in 1821.

Through the influence of Fox, a monitor of the United States Navy was named "Saugus," a brief history of which is timely. The vessel was a single turret monitor, 4th rate, 2 guns, and 2100 tons displacement. It was built by the Harlan Hollingsworth Co., at Wilmington, Delaware, under contract dated Oct. 13, 1862, at a cost of $460,000; completed April 9, 1864, and put in commission April 7, 1864 ; North Atlantic Squadron, 1865 ; laid up at Washington, D. C, in 1866 ; and sold at Washington, April 20, 1891.

Another prominent citizen of the 1815 period was Samuel Hawkes, born Dec. 4, 1816. He was a son of Ahijah, who was chairman of the first board of selectmen. Members of the present generation remember Samuel Hawkes well. He was a Democratic member of the Legislature in 1854, the last year the State had a Whig Governor. He was appointed by Governor Russell as a delegate to the National Farmers' Congress held at Sedalia, Mo., in 1891. Mr. Hawkes rendered efficient service as Chairman of the Boards of Selectmen and Overseers of the Poor and as Town Moderator. He was exceedingrly well versed in town affairs in his time, and by general consent his suggestions as to the amount of the annual appropriations of the Town were almost invariably adopted. From its establishment in 1888, he had been a member of the Sinking Fund Commission, to which he was re-elected at the March meeting of 1903, though known to be seriously ill. He died March 24 of the same year.

The 1820 census gave Saugus 748 people. On April 3, 1815, we cast 150 votes for governor. At the last State election, Nov. 3, 1914, we cast 1193 votes for governor. On April 1, 1914, the population, as taken by the asessors, was 9,360, and Town Clerk Henry A. Parker gives it as his opinion that the population at the present w^riting, June 1, 1915, is very close to 10,000. The valuation of our real and personal property on April 1, 1914, was $6,943,355. Fifty years ago, 1865, the valuation was $1,349,517, and the tax rate $17 a thousand. In 1914 the rate w^as $25.40. In 1860, it was $6.80.

Citizen Soldiery

IN all the wars which the country has been engaged, Saugus has never failed to send forth the flower of its citizenship. That was true of the Revolution. It was equally true of the Civil War. In the trying days of 1861, the town had 163 enlisted men, eight of whom served in the Navy. Gen. E. W. Hinks, Post 95, G. A. R., is one of the most honored of Saugus' organizations, representing, as it does, the Civil War Veterans and their valorous deeds of bravery. Charles A. Newhall was its first commander and James F. Pratt is the present occupant of that office. The names of all the soldiers and sailors from Saugus in that period are inscribed on the enduring bronze tablets of the soldiers' monument at the Centre, to which the reader is referred for more detailed information in this regard. This monument was the gift of the late Henry E. Hone, and occupies, worthily, one of the most prominent places in our leading public square.

Conclusion

WE are ''loath to close." The subject deserves more space and attention, but both are denied us. In fact, we were not advised that the willing task of preparing this history was to fall to our unworthy hands until May 11, 1915, which gave us less than two months in which to prepare it, among multitudinous other duties. Deeply conscious of its many errors and omissions, it is submitted in the hope that it may at least answer some useful purpose, and, in small measure, indicate that even though Saugus is a small

The history of Saugus ought to be taught in its public schools, for Saugus has a very fine record, not excelled by any other cities or towns in the State, excepting, possibly, Boston, Salem, Plymouth, Lexington, and Concord, which are very rich in historical data and legendary lore.

As Bovee, in his Summaries of Thought, well says : "Truth comes to us from the past as gold is washed down from the mountains, in minute but precious particles, and intermixed with infinite alloy, the debris of centuries."

Our pupils who are learning a great deal about other history, ancient and modern, might well glean something of the truth of their own Town. It would make them proud of Saugus, as well as better citizens of it.

Episode

The scene of the episode is laid in the village of Pennacook, now Concord, New Hampshire, where dwells Papasiquineo, a great chieftain and medicine man. He has called his braves in council to consult with them, for Montowampate, Sachem of Saugus, has sought the hand of his daughter, Weetamoo. They agree to consider his offer, provided he can win the consent of the princess. Montowampate comes up the river in his canoes, bringing costly gifts. The father permits him to make his offer to the maid by seating himself at her side. If she remains, he is accepted ; if she rises, he must go away alone.