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THE

HISTORY OF LYNN

IKOLUDINO

N A H A N T.

BY ALONZO LEWIS, -THE LYNN BARD.

These hills, where once the Indian dwelt,
These plains, o'er which the red deer ran.
These shores, where oft our fathers knelt.
And wild doves built, unscared by man,
I love them well — for they, to me.
Are as some pleasant memory.

Secont) BUrtfon.

BOSTON:
PRINTED BY SAMUEL N, DICKINSON.
1844,

f.^'b

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844,
By Alokzo Lewis,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

No local history has been published in America, which has been more highly
praised by the public journals, or more eagerly read, than the History of Lynn in
the first edition. It was one great means of inducing that taste for historical read
ing, which has eventuated in the production of so many town histories, and other
works of a more extensive nature. A few extracts from these notices are here
given. History of Lynn. We have just risen from the perusal of a work under this title,
from the press of Mr. John H, Easthurn, The author is Mr. Alonzo Lewis, who
compiled and published the very hemdsome Map of Lynn and Nahant, we not long
since had occasion to notice. He is a gentleman of enviable talents, uniting the
rarely combined qualities of a brilliant fancy vrith a love of philosophical inquiry
and deep research. Traveller.
Mr, Lewis is favorably known as a poet of chaste and delicate fancy, and his re
marks in the pages before us show an alertness to the beautiful highly creditable to
him as a vvriter. Statesman.
The writer has not confined himself to the dry details of his subject, but has
favored us vrith glimpses of the domestic and Uterary occupations of our ancestors.
These town histories vrill be of great service to the future historian, who will look
to them as the principal sources from which his information is to be derived. .Advertiser.
The Introduction is one of the most felicitous and best written productions which
I have ever seen annexed to any work of the kind. My love and esteem for the
author of such sentiments have been much increased since I read it, which has
been more than once. The History ia all that could be expected or even desired,
John Farmer.
The author, Alonzo Lewis, Esq., has given a mass of interesting facts and occur
rences of olden time, furnishing a curious compendium, not only to antiquaries and
the immediate descendants of the first settlers of that place, but to readers of every
class and section of the country. Trameller's Guide.
As a prose writer, Mr. Lew^is is conspicuously eminent ; and were he more volu
minous, he might be styled with justice, the Southey of America. Hartford Pearl.
"We trust that every town of the old settlements will soon have its historian, like
the accomplished Lewis of Lynn, New York Star.

INTRODUCTION.

ffilifs SdSII fie mantftst tojile iieople lifae,
ffije numfier ot tScfc DesccnUants tolU balue Ct.-

THE YOLUSPA, A SUI7IC FOBU.

T the time when I began to collect the facts
of which the following pages are composed,
very little was known of the early history
of Lynn, It had not even been ascertained
in what year the town was settled — the
records for the first sixty-two years were
wholly wanting — and the names of the early settlers were
unknown. It has been said, that the town records were burnt about the
year 1690 ; but that they were in existence long after that pe
riod, is evident from an order respecting them, on the seventh
of March, 1715, when the inhabitants voted; 'that whereas
some of the old town records are much shattered, therefore so
much shall be transcribed out of one or more of them, into an
other book, as the selectmen shall think best  and the select
men having perused two of the old town books, and find that
the second book is most shattered, and that the oldest book may
be kept fare to reed severall years, think it best and order, that
soe much shall'be transcribed.' A few pages were thus copied,
and the books were afterward destroyed or lost. In my re
searches, I found several volumes of the old records of births,

6

INTBODUCTION,

marriages, and deaths, commencing in 1675, in a very ruinous
condition, and caused them to be bound and furnished with an
index. The earliest record of the proceedings of the town, now
in existence, commences in the year 1691 ; and the earliest
parish record, in 1722.
I have examined every attainable source of information, to
supply the deficiencies of the lost records. I have discovered
numerous ancient manuscripts ; and among them, a copy of
three pages of the old town records for 1638, and several in
subsequent years, which providentially happened to be the
pages most wanted; I have also found a journal, kept daily for
forty-four years, by Mr, Zaccheus Collins ; and another, for twen
ty years, by Mr, Richard Pratt ; in which they appear to have
noticed every thing remarkable during those long periods, and
from which I have extracted many interesting particulars. I
have transcribed from the records of state and county, as well
as from those of town and parish ; and from numerous files of
unpublished papers. Indeed I have spared neither labor nor
expense to make this history complete. Not only have numer
ous volumes concerning early discoveries and settlements in
America been consulted, but the manuscript records of parishes
in Great Britain, and other European nations, have been ex
plored. It would have been quite as easy, in most instances,
to have conveyed the ideas in my own words ; but as I was
delighted with the quaintness and simplicity of the original lan
guage, I thought that perhaps others might be equally pleased.
Moreover, I like to hear people tell their own stories. Some
historians have strangely distorted facts by changino' the lan
guage. The records and files of our State government furnish much
information respecting our early history; but as they existed
when I began my researches, a vast amount of patience was
requisite to obtain it. Those papers were then tied up in hun
dreds of small bundles, and many of them bore the impress of
the mob by whom they were trampled, in 1765, At my sugges-

INTRODUCTION, 7
tion, they have been arranged in volumes and furnished with
an index ; so that future historians will be spared much labor to
which I was subjected. The papers in other public offices, and
particularly those of the Essex Court, at Salem, merit a similar
attention. People yet have too little veneration for their ances
tors, and too little love for their country, or it would have been
done long ago. The Massachusetts Historical Society, at Bos
ton, merit unbounded gratitude, for the care with which they
have preserved rare historical books and valuable manuscripts.
I have given the names of more than three hundred of the
early settlers, with short sketches of the lives of many, I
have also collected the names of many Indians and their Saga
mores, the fragments of whose history have become so inter
esting. This is the first attempt, in any town, to collect the
names of all the early settlers, with those of the Indians who
were cotemporary with them, I trust that no person who is an
inhabitant of Lynn, or interested in the details of antiquity, will
think that I have been too particular, A proper attention to
dates and minuteness of circumstance, constitutes the charm of
history, and the actions and manners of men can never cease to
be interesting.
There is something so natural in inquiring into the history of
those who have Uved before us, and particularly of those with
whom we have any connection, either by the ties of relation or
place, that it is surprising any one should be found by whom
the subject is regarded with indifference. In a government like
ours, where every man is required to take part in the man
agement of public affairs, an acquaintance with the past is
indispensable to an intelligent discharge of his duties. The
knowledge of history was considered so important by the Mon
arch Bard of Israel, that he commenced a song of praise for its
enjoyment; and the relation in which we are placed cannot
render it less important and interesting to us. To trace the set
tlement and progress of our native town — to read the history
of the play-place of our early hours, and which has been the

8 IKTRODUOTION.
scene of our matnrer joj^s — to follow the steps of our fathers
through the course of centuries, and mark the gradation of im
provement — to learn who and what they were from whom we
are descended — and still further, to be informed of the people
who were here before them, and who are now vanished like a
dream of childhood — and all these in their connection with the
history of the world and of man — must certainly be objects of
peculiar interest to every inquisitive mind. And though, in the
pursuit of these objects, we meet with much that calls forth the
tear of sympathy and the expression of regret, we yet derive a
high degree of pleasure from being enabled to sit with our
fathers in the shade of the oaks and pines of ' olden time,' and
hear them relate the stories of days wliich have gone by. One
of the most useful faculties of the mind is the memory ; and
history enables us to treasure up the memories of those who
have lived before us. What would not any curious mind give
to have a complete knowledge of the Indian race ? — And what
a painful want should we suffer, were the history of our fathers
a blank, and we could know no more of them than of the abo
rigines ! Our existence might indeed be regarded as incomplete,
if we could not command the record of past time, as well as
enjoy the present, and hope for the happiness of the future !
Reality must ever possess a stronger power over the minds of
reasonable and reflecting men, than imagination ; and though
fiction frequently asserts, and sometimes acquires the ascend
ancy, it is generally when she appears dressed in the habiliments
of probability and historical truth.
Among the pleasures of the mind, there are few which afford
more unalloyed gratification, than that which arises from the
remembrance of the loved and familiar objects of home, com
bined with the memory of the innocent delights of our child
hood. This is one of the few pleasures of which the heart
cannot be deprived — which the darkest shades of misfortune
serve to bring out into fuller relief — and which the uninter
rupted passage of the current of time tends only to pohsh and

INTRODUCTION. 9
to brighten. When wearied with the tumult of the world, and
sick of the anxieties and sorrows of life, the thoughts may re
turn with delight to the pleasures of childhood, and banquet
unsated on the recollections of youth. Who does not remem
ber tlie companions of his early years — and the mother who
watched over his dangers — and the father who counselled him
— and the teacher who instructed him — and the sister whose
sweet voice reproved his wildness ? Who does not remember
the tree under which he played — and the house in which he
lived — and even the moonbeam that slept upon his bed I Who
has not returned, in sunlight and in sleep, to the scenes of his
earliest and purest joys ; and to the green and humble mounds
where his sorrows have gone forth over the loved and the lost
who were dear to his soul ! And who does not love to indulge
these remembrances, though they bring swelling tides to his
heart, and tears to his eyes ? And whose ideas are so limited,
that he does not extend his thoughts to the days and the dwell
ings of his ancestors ; until he seems to become a portion of the
mountain and the stream, and to prolong his existence through
the centuries which are passed I O, the love of Home ! — it
was implanted in the breast of man as a germ of hope, that
should grow up into a fragrant flower, to win his heart from the
ambitions and the vanities of his hfe, and woo him back to the
innocent delights of his morning hours ! Sweet Spirit of Home !
— thou Guardian Angel of the Good — thou earliest, kindest,
latest friend of man ! how numerous are thy votaries ! how
many are the hearts that bow before thy sway I What tears -of
sorrow hast thou dried ! — what tears of recollection, of antici
pation, of enjoyment, hast thou caused to flow ! To all bosoms
thou art grateful — to aU climes congenial. No heart, that is
innocent, but has a temple for thee ! — no mind, however de
praved, but acknowledges the power which presides over thy
shrine I
The advancement of the American colonies has been unpar
alleled in the annals of the world. Two hundred years have
2

10 INTRODUCTION,

scarce!

sly circled their luminous flight over this now cultivated
region, since the most populous towns of New England were a
wilderness ! No sound was heard in the morning but the voice
of the Indian, and the notes of the wfld birds, as they woke
their early hymn to their Creator; and at evening, no praise
went up to heaven, but the desolate howl of the wolf, and the
sweet but mournful song of the muckawis,* The wUd powah t
of the savage sometimes broke into the silence of nature, hke
the wailing for the dead; but the prayer of the Christian was
never heard to ascend from the melancholy waste. The moun
tains, that lifted their sunny tops above the clouds, and the
rivers, which for thousands of miles rolled their murmuring
waters through the deserts, were unbeheld by an eye which
could perceive the true majesty of God, or a heart that could
frame language to his praise. At length the emigrants from
England arrived, and the western shore of the Atlantic began to
hear the more cheerful voices of civihzation and refinement.
Pleasant villages were seen in the midst of the wide wilderness ;
and houses for the worship of God, and schools for the instruc
tion of children arose, where the wild beast had his lair. The
men of those days were compelled to endure privations, and to
overcome difiiculties, which exist to us only on the page of his
tory. In passing through the forest, if they turned from the
bear, it was to meet the wolf; and if they fled from the wolf, it
was to encounter the deadly spring of the insidious catamount.
At some periods, the planter could not travel from one settle
ment to another, without the dread of being shot by the silent
arrow of the unseen Indian ; nor could his children pursue their
sports in the shady woods, or gather berries in the green fields,
without danger of treading on the coiled rattlesnake, or being

* The Indian name of the whip-poor-will. The sounds which strike the ear of
one familiar with the English language like the words whip-poor-will, fell on the
tympanum of an Indian like the syllables which compose the word muck-a-wis.
f Powah was the designation of a priest of the red men ; and their meetings for
the exercise of their rude worship were also denominated powaha.

INTRODUCTION, 11
carried away by the remorseless enemy. The little hamlets,
and the lonely dwellings, which rose, at long intervals, over the
plains and among the forests, were frequently alarmed by the
howl of the wolf and the yell of the savage ; and often were
their thresholds drenched in the blood of the beautiful and the
innocent ! The dangers of those days have passed away, with
the men who sustained them, and we enjoy the fruit of their
industry and peril ; they have toiled, and fought, and bled for
our repose. Scarcely a spot of New England can be found,
which has not been fertilized by the sweat or the blood of our
ancestors. How grateful should we be to that good Being who
has bestowed on us the reward of their enterprise !
The day on which the Mayflower landed her passengers on
the Rock of Plymouth, was a fatal one for the aborigines of
America. From that day, the towns of New England began to
spring up among their wigwams, and along their hunting-
grounds; and though sickness, and want, and the tomahawk
made frequent and fearful incursions on the little bands of the
planters, yet their numbers continued to increase, till they have
become a great and powerful community. It is indeed a pleas
ing and interesting employment, to trace the progress of the
primitive colonies — for each town was in itself a little colony,
a miniature republic, and the history of one is almost the his
tory of all — to behold them contending with the storms and
inclemencies of an unfriendly climate, and with the repeated
depredations of a hostile and uncivilized people, till we find
them emerging into a state of political prosperity, unsurpassed
by any nation of the earth. But it is painful to reflect, that in
the accompUshment of this great purpose, the nations of the
wilderness, who constituted a separate race, have been nearly
destroyed. At more than one period, the white people seem to
have been in danger of extermination by the warlike and exas
perated Indians; but in a few years, the independent Sassacus,
and the noble Miantonimo, and the princely Pometacom, saw
their once populous and powerful nations gradually wasting

12 INTRODUCTION,
away and disappearing. In vain did they sharpen their toma
hawks, and point their arrows anew for the breasts of the white
men I — in vain did the valiant Wampanoag despatch his trusty
warriors two hundred miles across the forest, to invite the Ta-
ratines to lend their aid in exterminating the English! The
days of their prosperity had passed away. The time had come
when a great people were to be driven from the place of
their nativity — when the long line of Sachems, who had ruled
over the wilderness for unknown ages, was to be broken, and
their fires extinguished. Darkness, like that which precedes
the light of morning, fell over them; and the sunrise of refine
ment has dawned upon another people ! The pestilence had
destroyed thousands of the bravest of their warriors, and left the
remainder feeble and disheartened. Feuds and dissentions pre
vailed among their tribes ; and though they made frequent dep
redations upon the defenceless settlements, and burnt many
dwellings, and destroyed many lives, yet the emigrants soon
became the ascendants in number and in power; and the feeble
remnant of the red men, wearied and exhausted by unsuccess
ful conflicts, relinquished the long possession of their native
soil, and retired into the pathless forests of the west.
Much has been written to free the white people from the
charge of aggression, and much to extenuate the implacability
of the Indians, We should be cautious in censuring the con
duct of men, through whose energies we have received many
of our dearest privileges; and they who condemn the first
settlers of New England as destitute of all true principle, err
as much as they who laud their conduct with indiscriminate
applause. Passionate opinion and violent action were the gen
eral faults of their time ; and when they saw that one principle
was overstrained in its effect, they scarcely thought themselves
safe until they had vacillated to the opposite extreme, Eeoard-
ing themselves, like the Israelites, as a peculiar people, they
imagined that they had a right, without an immediate warrant
from heaven, to destroy the red men as heathen. The arms

INTRODUCTION. 13
which at first they took up with the idea that they were requi
site for self-defence, were soon employed in a war of extermi
nation ; and the generous mind is grieved to think, that instead
of endeavoring to conciliate the Indians by kindness, they
should have deemed it expedient to determine their destruction.
The Indians had undoubtedly good cause to be jealous of the
arrival of another people, and in some instances to consider
themselves injured by their encroachments. Their tribes had
inhabited the wilderness for ages, and the country was their
home. Here were the scenes of their youthful sports, and here
were the graves of their fathers. Here they had lived and
loved, here they had warred and sung, and grown old with the
hills and rocks. Here they had pursued the deer — not those
' formed of clouds,' like the poetical creations of Ossian — but
the red, beautiful, fleet-footed creatures of the wilderness. Over
the glad waters that encircle Nahant, they had bounded in their
birch canoes ; and in the streams, and along the sandy shore,
they had spread their nets to gather the treasures of the deep.
Their daughters did not adjust their locks before pier glasses,
nor copy beautiful stanzas into gilt albums ; but they saw their
graceful forms reflected in the clear waters, and their poetry
was written in living characters on the green hills, and the sil
ver beach, and the black rocks of Nahant, Their brave sachems
wore not the gUttering epaulets of modern warfare, nor did
the eagle banner of white men wave in their ranks ; but the
untamed eagle of the woods soared over their heads, and be
neath their feet was the soil of freemen, which had never been
sullied by the foot of a slave !
The red men were indeed cruel and implacable in their re
venge ; and if history be true, so have white men been in all
ages, I know of no cruelty practised by Indians, which white
men have not even exceeded in their refinements of torture.
The delineation of Indian barbarities presents awful pictures of
blood ; but it should be remembered that those cruelties were
committed at a time when the murder of six or eight hundred of

14

INTRODUCTION.

the red people, sleeping around their own fires, in the silent re
pose of night, was deemed a meritorious service I In resisting to
the last, they fought for their country, for freedom, for life — they
contended for the safety and happiness of their wives and chil
dren; for all that brave and high-minded' men can hold dear!
But they were subdued; and the few who were not either
killed or made prisoners, sought refuge in the darker recesses of
their native woods. The ocean, in which they had so often
bathed their athletic limbs, and the streams which had yielded
their bountiful supphes of fish, were abandoned in silent grief;
and the free and fearless Indian, who once wandered in all the
pride of unsubdued nature, over our fields and among our for
ests, was driven from his home, and compelled to look with
regret to the shores of the sea, and the pleasant abodes of his
youth !
A few, indeed, continued for some years to hnger around the
shores of their ancient habitations; but they were like the
spirits whom the Bard of Morven has described, ' sighing in the
wind around the dwelhngs of their former greatness ! ' They
are gone ; and over the greater part of New England the voice
of the Indian is heard no more. That they were originally a
noble race, is shown by the grandeur of their language, and by
their melhfluous and highly poetical names of places  the yet
proud appellations of many of our mountains, lakes, and rivers.
It would have been gratifying to the lover of nature, if all the
Indian names of places had been preserved, for they all had a
meaning, apphcable to scenery or event, 'Change not bar
barous names,' said the Persian sage, 'for they are given of
God, and have inexpressible efiicacy,' The names of Saugus,
Swampscot, and Nahant remain ; and may they continue to
remain, the imperishable memorials of a race which has long
since passed away.
In contemplating the destruction of a great people, the reflect
ing mind is naturally disposed to inquire into the causes of their
decay, in order to educe motives for a better conduct, that their

INTRODUCTION, 15
wrongs may be in some degree repaired, and a similar fate
avoided. If dissension weakened the power of the tribes of the
forest, why should it not impair the energies of our free States ?
If the red men have fallen through the neglect of moral and
rehgious improvement, to make way for a more refined state of
society, and the emanations of a purer worship, how great is
the reason to fear that we also may be suffered to wander in
our own ways, because we will not know the ways of God, and
to fall into doubt, disunion, and strife, till our country shall be
given to others, as it has been given to us. He who took the
sceptre from the most illustrious and powerful of ancient na
tions, and caused the tide of their prosperity and refinement to
flow back and stagnate in the pools of ignorance, obscurity, and
servitude, possesses ample means to humble the pride of any
nation, when it shall cease to be guided by his counsels. Al
ready have evils of the most alarming consequences passed far
on their march of desolation. Already has the Spirit of Discord,
with his dark shadow, dimmed the brightness of our great coun
cil fire I Already has the fondness for strong drink seized on
thousands of our people, bringing the young to untimely graves,
sapping the foundations of health and moral excellence, and
pulling down the glory of our country. Already has a disregard
for the Sabbath, and for divine institutions, begun openly to
manifest itself; the concomitant of infidelity, and the harbinger
of spiritual ruin. If we may trust the appearances in our west-
em regions, our land was once inhabited by civilized men, who
must have disappeared long before the arrival of our fathers.
May Heaven avert their destiny from us, to evince to the world
how virtuous a people may be, on whom the blessing of civil
liberty has fallen as an inheritance.
The poUtical system of our nation is probably the best which
was ever devised by man for the common good ; but it practi
cally embraces one evil too obvious to be disregarded. While
it advances the principle that all men have by nature the same
civil rights, it retains, with strange inconsistency, one sixth of

16 INTRODUCTION.
the whole population in a state of abject bodily and mental ser
vitude. On its own principles, our government has no right to
enslave any portion of its subjects; and I am constrained, in
the name of God and truth to say, that they must be free,
Christianity and political expediency both demand their eman
cipation, nor will they always remain unheard. Many generous
minds are already convinced of the importance of attention to
this subject; and many more might speak in its behalf, in places
where they could not be disregarded. "Where are the ministers
of our holy religion, that their prayers are not preferred for the
liberation and enlightenment of men with souls as immortal as
their own ? Where are the senators and representatives of our
free States, that their voices are not heard in behalf of that most
injured race? Let all who have talents, and power, and influence,
exert them to free the slaves from their wrongs, and raise them
to the rank and privileges of men. That the black people pos
sess mental powers capable of extensive cultivation, has been
sufficiently evinced ; and the period may arrive when the lights
of freedom and science shall shine much more extensively on
these dark children of bondage — when the knowledge of the
true faith shall awaken the nobler principles of their minds, and
its practice place them in moral excellence far above those who
are now trampling them m the dust. How will the spirit of
regret then sadden over the brightness of our country's fame,
when the muse of History shall lead their pens to trace the an
nals of their ancestors, and the inspiration of Poetry instruct
their youthful bards to sing the oppression of their fathers in
the land of Freedom !
I trust the time will come, when on the annals of our country
shall be inscribed the abolition of slavery — when the inhuman
custom of war shall be viewed with abhorrence— when human
ity shall no longer be outraged by the exhibition of capital
pimishments — when the one great principle of love shaU per
vade all classes — when the poor shall be furnished with em"
ployraent and ample remuneration— when men shall unite thei'

INTRODUCTION, 17
exertions for the promotion of those plans which embrace the
welfare of the whole — that the unqualified approbation of
Heaven may be secured to our country, and ' that glory may
dwell in our land,'
In delineating the annals of a single town, it can scarcely be
expected that so good an opportunity will be afforded for variety
of description and diftusiveness of remark, as in a work of a
more general nature. It is also proper to observe, that this
compilation was begun without any view to publication; but
simply to gratify that natural curiosity which must arise in the
mind of every one who extends his thoughts beyond the per
sons and incidents which immediately surround liim. I may,
however, be permitted to hope, that an attempt to delineate
with accuracy the principal events which have transpired within
my native town, for the space of two hundred years, will be in
teresting to many, though presented without any endeavor to
adorn them with the graces of artificial ornament, Bly endeavor
has been to ascertain facts, and to state them correctly, I have
preferred the form of annals for a local history ; for thus every
thing is found in its time and place. The labor and expense of
making so small a book has been immense, and can never be
appreciated by the reader, until he shall undertake to write a
faithful history of one of our early towns, after its records have
been lost, I could have written many volumes of romance or
of general history, while preparing this volume ; and I have en
deavored to make it so complete, as to leave little for those who
come after me, except to continue the work.
It should be remembered, that previous to the change of the
style, in 1752, the year began in March ; consequently February
was the twelfth month. Ten days also are to be added to the
date in the sixteenth century, and eleven in the seventeenth, to
bring the dates to the present style. Thus, ' 12 mo, 25, 1629,'
instead of being Christmas day, as some might suppose, would
be March Sth, 1630. In the following pages, I have corrected
3

18 INTRODUCTION,
the years and months, excepting when they are marked in quo
tations ; but I have left the days untouched.
I have the genealogies of many of the early settlers, complete
to the present time ; but to publish them all, would require an
other volume. The descendants of such, who are desirous of
preserving their lineage, can have the hsts of their ancestors by
application to me.
The history of Nahant is so intimately connected with that of
the town, that I have continued them together ; but by referring
to the index, the reader may readily trace out aU which relates
to that celebrated watering place. A topographical, historical,
and geological Map of Lynn and Nahant, has been prepared
from my own survey, which will be immediately published. .
ALONZO LEWIS.

HISTOEY OF LYNN.

CHAPTER I.
Situation of Lynn — Its picturesque beauty — Indian name of the town, Saugus
— Abousett River — Nahant — Swallows' Cave — Pea Island — Shag Rocks —
Irene's Grotto — Pulpit Rock — Natural Bridge — Cauldron Cliff— Castle Rock
— Spouting Horn — Iron Mine — John's Peril — Egg Rock — Little Nahant —
Beaches — Swampscot — High Rock — Lover's Leap — Lakes of Lynn —
Springs — Geology — Botany — Phenomena — Storm at Nahant.
One showed an iron coast and angry waves,
You seemed to heai them climb and fall,
And loar rock^thwarted under bellowing caves.

-t^^F^/^^fc^ YNN is pleasantly situated on the northern

shore of Massachusetts Bay, between the
cities of Salem and Boston. It extends six
miles on the sea shore, and five miles into the
woods. The southern portion of the town is
a long narrow prairie, defended on the north
by a chain of high rocky hills, beyond which
is an extensive range of woodland. It is sur
rounded by abundance of water; having the
river of Saugus on the w^est, the Harbor on
the south, the Ocean on the southeast, and the Lakes of Lynn
on the north. From the centre of the southern side, a beach
of sand extends two miles into the ocean ; at the end of which
are the two peninsular islands called ' the Nahants.' This
beach forms one side of the harbor, and protects it from the
ocean. When great storms beat on this beach, and on the cliffs
of Nahant, they make a roaring which may be heard six miles.
Lynn is emphatically a region of romance and beauty. Her
wide-spread and variegated shores — her extended beaches —
her beautiful Nahant — her craggy cliffs, that overhang the
sea — her hills of porphyry — her woodland lakes — her wild
secluded vales — her lovely groves, where sings the whip-poor-

20

HISTORY OF LYNN.

will, furnish fruitful themes for inexhaustible description ; while
the legends of her forest kings and their vast tribes — ' their
feather-cinctured chiefs and dusky loves ' will be rich themes of
song a hundred ages hence,
Lynn, as it now exists, is much smaller than it was before the
towns of Saugus, Lynnfield, Reading, and South Reading were
separated from it. It is now bounded on the west by Saugus,
on the northwest by Lynnfield, on the north and east by Dan-
vers and Salem. The old County road passes through the
northern part, the Salem Turnpike through the centre, and the
Rail-road from Portland to Boston through the southern part.
The distance to Salem, on the northeast, is five miles ; to Boston,
on the southwest, nine miles. It contains 9360 acres, or four
teen square miles ; and the boundary line measures thirty-four
miles. It presents a bold and rocky shore, consisting of craggy
and precipitous cliffs, interspersed with numerous bays, coves
and beaches, which furnish a pleasing and picturesque variety.

Above these rise little verdant mounds and lofty barren rocks,
and high hills clothed with woods of evergreen. The first
settlers found the town, including Nahant,, chiefly covered bv
forests of aged trees, which had never been disturbed but bv
the storms of centuries. On the tops of ancient oaks which
grew upon the chffs, the eagles built their nests; the wild-cat
and the bear rested in their branches ; and the fox and the wolf
prowled beneath. The squirrel made his home undisturbed in

HISTORY OFLYNN, 21
the nut-tree ; the wood pigeon murmured his sweet notes in the
glen ; and the beaver constracted his dam across the wild brook.
The ponds and sti-eams were filled with fish; and the harbor
was covered by sea-fowl, which laid their eggs on the cliffs and
on the sands of the beach.
The Indian name of the town was Saugus ; and by that
name it was known for eight years. The root of this word sig
nifies great or extended; aud it was probably applied to the
Long Beach. Wood, in his early Map of New England, places
the word ' Sagus ' on Sagamore Hill, The river on the west
was called by the Indians ' Abousett'' — the word Saugus being
apphed to it by the white men. It was called the river at Sau
gus, and the river of Saugus, and finally the Saugus river; the
original name ' Abousett' being lost, until I had the pleasure of
restoring it. This river has its source in Reading pond, about
ten miles from the sea. For the first half of its course, it is only
sufficient for a mill stream, but becomes broader towards its
mouth, where it is more than a quarter of a mile wide. It is
crossed by four bridges — that at the ironworks being about 60
feet in length, that on the old Boston road about two hundred
feet, on the Turnpike 460 feet, and on the Rail-road 1550 feet in
length. It is very crooked in its course, flowing three miles in
the distance of one. In several places, after making a circuitous
route of half a mile, it returns to within a few rods of the place
whence it deviated. The harbor, into which it flows, is spacious,
but shoal, and does not easily admit large vessels,
Nahant is the original name of the peninsula on the south
of Lynn, which has become so celebrated. This is probably
the Indian term Nahanteu, a dual word, signifying two united,
or twins. This name is peculiarly appropriate, and is an instance
of the felicity of Indian appellations ; for the two islands, like
the Siamese twins, are not only connected together by the short
beach, but both are chained to the main land by the long beach.
When the early settlers spoke of the larger promontory, they
called it Nahant ; but more commonly after the manner of the
Indians, who talked of both together, as twin brothers, they
called them ' the Nahants,'
Great Nahant is two miles in length, and about half a mile in
breadth, containing five hundred acres ; and is six and one quar
ter miles in circumference. It is surrounded by steep, craggy
cliffs, rising from twenty to sixty feet above the tide, with a con
siderable depth of water below. The rocks present a great
variety of color — white, green, blue, red, purple, and gray — and
in some places very black and shining, having the appearance
of iron. The cliffs are pierced by many deep fissures, caverns,
and grottoes; and between these are numerous coves, and
beeches of fine, shining, silvery sand, crowned by ridges of va-

22

HISTORY OF LYNN.

rious colored pebbles, interspersed with sea-shells. Above the
chffs, the promontory swells into mounds from sixty to ninety
feet in height. There are many remarkable cliffs and caves
around Nahant, which are very interesting to the lovers of natu
ral curiosities.

SWALLOWS CAVE,

The swallows' cave is a passage beneath a high cliff, on the
southeastern part of Nahant, The entrance is eight feet high
and ten wide. Inside, it is fourteen feet wide, and nearly twenty
feet in height. Toward the centre it becomes narrower, and, at
the distance of seventy-two feet, opens into the sea. It may
be entered about half tide, and passing through, you may ascend
to the height above, without returning through the cave. At
high tide the water rushes through with great fury. The swal
lows formerly inhabited this cave in great numbers, and built
their nests on the irregularities of the rock above, but the multi
tude of visiters have frightened them mostly away.
In delineating this delightful cavern, many a vision of early
romance rises lovelily before me.
And presses forward to be in my song.
But must not now. —
It is not allowable for a serious historian to indulge in discur-
sions of fancy, else might I record many a legend of love and

HISTORY OF LVNN,

23

constancy, which has been transmitted down from the olden
time, in connexion with this rude and romantic scenery. Here
came the Indian maid, in all her artlessness of beauty, to lave
her limbs in the enamored water. Here came Wenuchus and
Yawata, and other daughters of the forest, to indulge the gush-
ings of their love ; which they had learned, not in the pages of
Burns or Byron, but in God's beautiful book of the unsophisti
cated human heart. Here too, the cliffs, now washed by the
pure waves, and dried by many a summer sun, have been pur
pled by the blood of human slaughter ; and perhaps this very
cavern has sheltered some Indian mother or daughter from the
tomahawk of the remorseless foe of her nation. Here also, in
later times, have lovers pledged their warm and fond affections —
happy if the succeeding realities of life have not frustrated the
vision of happiness here formed.
Southward from the Swallows' Cave is Pea Island, an irregu
lar rock, about twenty rods broad. It has some soil on it, on
which the sea pea grows. It is united to the Swallows' Cliff
by a little isthmus, or beach of sand, thirteen rods long.
Eastward from Pea Island are two long, low, black ledges,
lying in the water, and covered at high tides, called the Shag
Rocks. Several vessels have been wrecked on them.

Irene's grotto.
Passing from the Swallows' Cave along the rocks, near the
edge of the water, to the western side of the same chff, you
come to Irene's Grotto — a tall arch, singulariy grotesque and

24

HISTORY OF LYNN.

beautiful, leading to a large room m the rock. This is one of
the greatest curiosities on Nahant, and was formerly much more
so until sacrilegious hands broke down part of the roof above, to
obtain stone for building.

pulpit rock.
Eastward from Swallows' Cave is Pulpit Rock — a vast block
about thirty feet in height, and nearly twenty feet square, stand
ing boldly out in the tide. On the top is an opening, forming a
seat ; but from the steepness of the rock on all sides, it is diffi
cult of access. The upper portion of the rock has a striking
resemblance to a pile of great books. This rock is so peculiarly
unique in its situation and character, that if drawings were made
of it from three sides, they would scarcely be supposed to repre
sent the same object.
The Natural Bridge is near Pulpit Rock. It is a portion of
the cliff forming an arch across a deep gorge, from which you
look down upon the rocks and tide, twenty feet below.
Near East Point is a great gorge, overhung by a precipice on
either side, called the Cauldron Cliff; in which, especially dur
ing great storms, the water boils with tremendous force and fury,
Cn the right of this, descending another way, is the Roaring
Cavern; having an aperture beneath the rock, through which
you hear the roaring of the Cauldron Chff

HISTORY OF LYNN,

25

On the northeastern side of Nahant, at the extremity of Ce
dar Point, is Castle Rock, an immense pile, bearing a strong
resemblance to the ruins of an old castle. The battlements and
buttresses are strongly outlined ; and the square openings in the
sides, especially when thrown into deep shadow, appear like
doors, windows, and embrasures. Indeed the whole of Nahant
has the appearance of a strongly fortified place.

7™i*'-";^i!!!l"'.S'»:.'-^¥'5r-.'JP — --^

CASTLE ROCK.
Northwest from Castle Rock is the Spouting Horn, It is a
winding fissure in the lower projecting bed of the cliff, in the
form of a hom, passing into a deep cavern under the rock. The
water is driven through a tunnel, formed by two walls of rock,
about one hundred feet, and is then forced into the cavern, from
which it is spouted, with great violence, in foam and spray. In
a great easterly storm, at half flood, when the tide is coming in
with all its power, the water is driven into this opening with a
force that seems to jar the foundation of the solid rock ; and
each wave makes a sound like subterranean thunder. The cliff
rises abruptly forty feet above, but there is a good descent to the
mouth of the tunnel.
Westward from the Spouting Horn is a large black ledge,
called the Iron Mine, from its great resemblance to that mineral.
It embraces a singular cavity, called the Dashing Rock,
At the Northwestern extremity of Nahant, is John's Peril, a
vast fissure in the cliff, forty feet perpendicular. It received its
name from the following anecdote : John Breed, one of the early
inhabitants of Nahant, one day attempted to drive his team be
tween a rock on the hill and this cliff. The passage being nar-
4

26

HISTORY OF LYNN.

row, and finding his team in great peril, he hastily unfastened
his oxen ; and the cart, falling down the precipice, was dashed in
pieces on the rooks below.
Directly in front of Nahant, at the distance of three-fourths
of a mile on the east, is Egg Rock. It rises abruptly from the
sea, eighty-six feet in height. Its shape is oval, being forty-five
rods in length, and twelve in breadth, containing about three
acres. Near the summit is half an acre of excellent soil covered
with rank grass. The gulls lay their eggs here in abundance,
whence the rock derives its name. The approach to this rock
is dangerous, except in calm weather, and there is but one good
landing place, which is on the western side. Its shape and
colors are highly picturesque. Viewed from the north, it has
the semblance of a couchant lion, lying out in front of the town,
to protect it from the approach of a foreign enemy — meet em
blem of the spirit which slumbers on our shores !

EGG ROCK.
South of Nahant is a dangerous rock, covered at high tide,
called Sunk Rock, On the western side, at the entrance of the
harbor, is a cluster of rocks, called the Lobster Rocks
Little Nahant is one hundred and forty rods long, and seventy
broad contammg forty acres. It is a hiU, consisting of two
graceful elevations, rismg eighty feet above the sea, and defend
ed by great battlements of rock, from twenty to sixty feet in
height. On the southern side are two deep gorges caUed the
Great and Little Furnace. Between these is^M^'s Grotto a
spacious room twenty-four feet square, and twen^ in heSht
openmg into the sea It was formerly completely roofed by a
great arched rock; but some of those persons who have no vL^
eration for the sublime works of Nature, have broken down a
large portion of it. On the north side of Little Nahant if
fissure called the Wolf's Cave, i-^anant is a

HISTORYOPLYNN. 27
Little Nahant is connected to Great Nahant by Nahant Beach,
which is somewhat more than half a mile in length, of great
smoothness and beauty,
Lynn Beach, which connects the Nahants to the main land,
is two miles in length on the eastern side, and two and a half
miles on the western. It is an isthmus, or causeway, of fine
shining, gray sand, forming a curve, and rising so high in the
centre as generally to prevent the tide from passing over. On
the western side it slopes to the harbor, and on the eastern side
to the ocean. The ocean side is most beautiful, as here the tide
flows out about thirty-three rods, leaving a smooth polished sur
face of compact sand, so hard that the horse's hoof scarcely
makes a print, and the wheel passes without sound. It frequently
retains sufficient lustre after the tide has left it, to give it the
appearance of a mirror ; and on a cloudy day, the traveller may
see the perfect image of his horse reflected beneath, with the
clouds below, and can easily imagine himself to be passing, like
a spirit, through a world of shadows — a. brightly mirrored em
blem of his real existence !
It is difficult — perhaps impossible, to convey to the mind of a
reader who has never witnessed the prospect, an idea of the
beauty and subhmity of this beach, and of the absolute magni
ficence of the surrounding scenery, A floor of sand, two miles
in length, and more than nine hundred feet in breadth, at low
tide, bounded on two sides by the water and the sky, and pre
senting a surface so extensive that two millions of people might
stand upon it, is certainly a view which the universe cannot
parallel. This beach is composed of movable particles of sand,
so small that two thousand of them would not make a grain as
large as the head of a pin; yet these movable atoms have
withstood the whole immense power of the Atlantic ocean for
centuries — perhaps from the creation !
There are five beaches on the shores of Lynn, and sixteen
around Nahant, The names of these, beginning at the east,
are Phillips' — Whale — Swampscot — Humfrey's — Lynn —
Nahant — Stoney — Bass — Canoe — Bathing — Pea Island —
Joseph's — Curlew — Crystal — Dorothy's — Pond — Lewis's —
Coral — Reed — Johnson's — and Black Rock Beaches. These
together have an extent of nine miles, and most of them are
smooth and beautiful. Great quantities of kelp and rock weed
are thrown upon these beaches by storms, which are gathered
by the farmers for the enrichment of their lands.
Swampscot is the original Indian name of the flshing village
at the eastern part of the town. This is a place of great natural
beauty, bearing a strong resemblance to the Bay of Naples, On
the west of Swampscot is a pleasant rock, called ' Black Will's
Cliff,' from an Indian Sagamore who resided there. On the

28 HISTORY OF LYNN.
east is a low and very dangerous ledge of rocks, extending into
the sea, called Dread Ledge, The cliffs, coves, and beaches at
Swampscot are admirably picturesque, and vie with those ot
Nahant in romantic beauty.
There are numerous building sites of surpassing loveliness,
not only at Nahant and Swampscot, but throughout the whole
town ; and when a better taste in architecture shall prevail, and
the town becomes as highly ornamented by art as it has been by
nature, it will perhaps be surpassed by no town in the Union,
I have long endeavored to introduce a style of architecture
which shall be in harmony with the wild and natural beauty of
the scenery — a style in which the cottages shall appear to grow
out of the rocks, and to be born of the woods. In some instan
ces I have succeeded, but most people have been too busy in
other occupations to study a cultivated and harmonizing taste.
When a style of rural refinement shall prevail — when the hiUs
and cliffs shall be adorned with buildings in accordance with the
scenery around — and when men, instead of cutting down every
tree and shrub, shall re-clothe nature vsrith the drapery of her
appropriate foliage, Lynn will appear much more lovely and in
teresting than at present.
The eminences in different parts of the town, furnish a great
variety of pleasing prospects. High Rock, near the centre of
the town, is an abrupt cliff, one hundred and seventy feet in
height. The view from this rock is very extensive and beauti
ful. On the east is the pleasant village of Swampscot, with its
cluster of slender masts, and its beach covered with boats — Ba
ker's Island with its hght — the white towers of Marblehead —
and the distant headland of Cape Ann. On the right is Bunker
HUl, with its obehsk of granite — the majestic dome, and the
lofty spires of Boston — the beautiful green islands, with the
forts and light houses in the bay — and far beyond, the Blue
Hills, softly mingling with sky. On the north is a vast range
of hill and forest, above which rises the misty summit of Wa-
chusett. Before you is the town of Lynn, with its white houses
and green trees — the rail-road cars gliding as if by magic across
the landscape — the Long Beach, stretching out in its beauty —
the dark rocks of Nahant, crowned with romantic cottages — Egg
Rock in its solitary dignity — and the vast ocean, spreading out
m Its interminable grandeur. There too may be seen a hundred
dorys of the fishermen, skimming hghtly on the waves — the
Swampscot jiggers, bounding like sea birds over the billows— a
hundred ships ploughing the deep waters — and the miohty
steamers wending their way to and from England, The whole
is a splendid panorama of the magnificent Bay of Massachusetts '
Lover's Leap is a beautiful and romantic elevation, one mile
northwest from High Rock, It is a steep cliff; on the side of a

HISTORY OF LYNN. 29
hill clothed with wood, one hundred and thirty-three feet in
height — that is, thirty-three feet to the base of the hill, and one
hundred feet above. It furnishes a pleasant view of a large
portion of the town.
Pine Hill is half a mile West from Lover's Leap, It is two
hundred and twenty-four feet in height. The southwestern ex
tremity of this hiU is called Sadler's Rock, which is one hundred
and sixty-six feet high, A small distance northward of this, is
a cliff, by the road side, which was struck by lightning in 1807,
when a portion of the rock,, about six tons weight, was split off,
and thrown nearly two hundred feet ; the bolt leaving its deep
traces down the side of the rock, A few rods beyond, where
the road is crossed by a brook, is a flat rock, in which is impress
ed the print of a cloven foot, apparently that of a cow or moose,
A stone, lying near, bears the deep impress of a child's feet.
Sagamore Hill is a very pleasant eminence at the northern
end of the Long Beach, sixty-six feet in height. It slopes to
the harbor on one side, and to the ocean on the other, and has
the town lying beautifully in the back ground. Half a mile
eastward is Red Rock, which forms a very pretty little pro
montory in the ocean. Many spots in the hills and forests of
Lynn are beautifully wild and romantic. There is a delightful
w^alk on the eastern bank of Saugus River, which passes through
one of the loveliest pine groves imaginable. On the eastern side
of this river also is the Pirate's Glen, respecting which a legend
will be found in the following pages. The view from Round
Hill in Saugus is delightful. '
There are eight ponds in Lynn, several of which are large,
having the appearance of little lakes. Their names are. Cedar —
Tomlin's — Flax — Lily — Floating Bridge — Phillips' — In-
galls' — and Bear Pond on Nahant, The first three of these are
connected with Saugus River by Strawberry Brook, on which
are many mills and factories. The margins of some of these
lakes are very pleasant, and will probably, at some more tasteful
period, be adorned with beautiful villas and delightful cottages.
The water in Tomlin's Pond is sixty feet above the ocean.
Floating Bridge Pond is crossed by a bridge which floats on the
water. It is four hundred and fifty-six feet in length, and is
quite a curiosity, reminding one of the Persian bridge of boats
across the Hellespont,
Springs are abundant — some of them exceedingly cold and
pure, and good water is easily obtained, A mineral spring exists
near the eastern border of the town, the waters of which are
celebrated for their medicinal virtues. There are several fine
springs on Nahant, particularly North Spring, which is remarka
bly cold, flowing from an aperture beneath a cliff, into which the
sun never shines. One of the early inhabitants of Nahant,

30 HISTORY OF LYNN,
having a violent fever, asked for water, which as usual was de
nied him ; but, watching an opportunity, he escaped from his
bed, ran half a mile to this spring, drank as much water as he
wanted, and immediately recovered, A curious boiling spring,
called Holyoke Spring, surrounded by willows, is found in a
meadow, near the western end of Holyoke street. Another
boiling spring may be seen in the clay meadow, near the centre
of Saugus, There is also a mineral spring in the western part
of that town, near the Maiden line.
Lynn furnishes an admirable study for the geologist. The
northern part of the town abounds with rocky hills, composed of
porphyry, greenstone, and sienite. Porphyry commences at
Red Rock, and passing through the town in a curve toward the
northwest, forms a range of hiUs, including High Rock, Lover's
Leap, and Sadler's Rock. The term porphyry is derived from
a Greek word signifying purple. It is composed of feldspar and
quartz, and is of various colors — purple, red, gray, brown, and
black. It gives fire with steel, and is susceptible of a high
polish ; the best specimens being very beautiful, equalling the
porphyry of the ancients. The- western portion of the town com
prises ledges and hills of brecciated porphyry ; that is, porphyry
which has been broken in fragments, and then cemented by a
fluid. The porphyry formation continues on through Saugus,
Near the Pirates' Glen is a ledge, which is being disintegrated
into very coarse gravel, having the appearance of pumice, or
rotten stone. Specimens of clinkstone porphyry are found, which,
when struck, give out a metalUc sound. At Lover's Leap, and
some other ledges, the porphyry seems to be subsiding into fine
hornstone. At Sadler's Rock, it is of a very delicate purple.
The hills, in the eastern section of the town, including the
ledges and chffs at Swampscot, consist of a coarse-grained
greenstone, composed of hornblende and feldspar. In opening
these ledges, dendrites of manganese have been found, beauti
fully disposed in the form of trees and shrubs. This tract of
greenstone extends through the town, north of the porphyry
hills. In many places it is beautifully veined with quartz, and
Other substances, A little north from the Iron Works in Saugus,
IS a great ledge by the roadside, with a singular vein passing
through It, having the appearance of a flight of stairs On the
eastern bank of the river, southward from the Iron Works is a
wild, tremendous ledge, from which many vast fragments have
fallen, and others seem ready to topple on the head of the be
holder. The northern section of the town comprises fine beds of
granite, of a grayish color, composed of feldspar, hornblende and
quartz. It has its name from Siena, in Egypt, It is found in
great variety, from very fine to very coarse, and is used for build

HISTORY OF LYNN. 31
ing, and for mill-stones. From the presence of iron ore, it fre
quently attracts the compass, and occasions much difficulty in
surveying. At one place in the Lynn woods, the north end of
the needle pointed south ; and at another, it went round forty
times in a minute.
Granite occurs, but chiefly in roundish masses, or boulders,
composed of feldspar, quartz, and mica. It is not so frequent as
formerly, the best specimens having been used for building. It
is remarkable, that nearly all these boulders appear to have been
brought, by a strong flood, from a considerable distance north ;
and many of them were left, in very peculiar and sometimes
surprising positions, on the tops of the highest hills and ledges.
One of these, near the Salem line, rested on the angular point
of a rock, and was a great curiosity, until that rage for destruc-
tiveness, which exists in some people, caused it to be blown
down by powder. Another boulder, fourteen feet in diameter,
weighing one hundred and thirty tons, lay on the very summit
of the chff next east from Sadler's Rock, It appeared to repose
so loosely that a strong wind might rock it, yet it required fifteen
men with levers to roll it down. A boulder of breccia, on the
boundary line between Lynn and Saugus, rests on a ledge of
breccia of a different character, and appears to have been re
moved from its original situation in the north. It is twelve feet
in diameter, weighing eighty-three tons. On this line also is a
still greater curiosity — a vast rock of greenstone, which appears
to have been brought from its bed in the north, and placed on the
summit of a hill, where it forms a very picturesque object. It
was originally sixteen feet in diameter, weighing two hundred
tons ; but several large portions have been detached, either by
frost or Ughtning, perhaps both. It must have been a tremen
dous torrent, which could have removed rocks of such magni
tude, and placed them on such elevations. Many boulders of
granite now lie on the summit of Little Nahant, The cliffs at
this place are greenstone, and on the western end are several
specimens of pudding stone, A conglomerate rock, or boulder
of breccia, of a very peculiar character, lies in the tide, on the
south side of Little Nahant. It is a spheroid, eighteen feet in
diameter, weighing two hundred and sixty tons. Its singular
disposition of colors renders it a great curiosity.
The western and southern portions of Great Nahant are com
posed of fine and coarse grained greenstones, and greenstone
porphyry. The hUls and ledges on the northern side are sienite ;
and on the northeast, they are a coarse-grained greenstone,
blending into sienite. The southeastern portion is composed of
stratified rocks of argillaceous limestone, and argillaceous slate,
variously combined, and traversed by immense veins of green
stone. The rocks, in this part, present a very peculiar appear-

32 HISTORYOFLYNN,
ance, both in their combination and disposition ; consisting of
immense masses, and irregular fragments, cracked and broken
in every direction. Were we to suppose a portion of one of the
asteroids, in an ignited state, to have been precipitated through
the atmosphere, from the southeast, and striking the earth in an
angle of forty degrees, to have been shivered into an infinite
number of fragments, it would probably present the appearance
which Nahant now exhibits. There must have been some tre
mendous up -heaving to have produced siich results ; and it is
not improbable that a volcano has more than once been busy
among the foundations of Nahant,
On the northern shore is a vast ledge of pure hornblende, so
very black and shining as to have deceived early voyagers and
founders, that it was a mine of iron ore, A very curious vein of
fine greenstone, two inches in thickness, passes through this
ledge, for more than two hundred feet, in a direction from south
east to northwest. Eastward from this, the rock is traversed by
veins of various colors, and in different directions ; evidently
produced by the action of fire. The primitive rock appears to
have been strongly heated, and to have cracked in cooling, A
fissure was thus formed, through which a liquid mass was erupt
ed ; which again heated the rock, and as it cooled, formed
another fissure in a transverse direction. This was filled by a
third substance; a similar process followed; and the original
rock, and the preceding veins, were traversed by a fourth
formation. At Nahant are found porphyry, gneiss, and hornstone. It also
presents regular strata of fohated feldspar; and, perhaps, the
only instance in New England, in which trap rock exhibits such
parallel divisions. Here also are found jasper, chalcedony, and
agate ; with prase, prehnite, chert, chlorite, dathoHte, dolomite,
quartz, epidote, rhomb spar, carbonate of lime, and hgnified as
bestos. At Crystal Beach are fine specimens of crystallized
corundum, probably the only locahty of this mineral in the United
States. These crystals are in six-sided prisms, terminated by
hexagonal pyramids, half an inch in diameter, and from two to
five inches in length, single and in clusters. Swallows' Cave is
composed of greenstone ; Pulpit Rock of argiUaceous slate ;
Castle Rock of greenstone; Egg Rock of compact feldspar.
Mineral teeth are formed by the fusion of pure feldspar
In Saugus are found most of the rocks common to Lynn
Here are rocks of red and green jasper, with antimony, and boff
iron ore m abundance. An accountof the Iron Furnace anciently
estabhshed here, will be found in the following pao-es Lead
ore has also been discovered, in the western part of the town on
land owned by Benjamin Franklin Newhall, In the northern
part of the town, sulphate of iron is found. Extensive beds of

HISTOKYOFLYNN. 33
very fine clay exist near the centre of the town, which have
been wrought into pottery. In 1630, a very singular discovery
was made near the old tavern on the west of Saugus River, It
consisted of a mass of very fine and beautiful blue sand, which
lay in a hard gravel bed, about one foot below the surface.
There were about eight quarts of it. This sand has a very sharp
grit, yet it is as fine as can easily be imagined, and as blue as
the bluest pigment. Viewed through a magnifying glass, it ap
pears bright and sparkling, like the finest possible particles of
silver. At Lynnfield, an extensive quarry of serpentine has been
opened. A large portion of Lynn bears strong evidence both of allu
vial and diluvial formations. That part between the porphyry
hills aud the harbor, is chiefly composed of strata of sand, clay,
and gravel, covered by loam and soil. The clay and gravel vary
in thickness from two to fifteen feet. On the borders of Saugus
River are extensive tracts of salt marsh, the mud of which is
from two to twenty feet in depth ; and it is probable that this
portion was once covered by the ocean. There are also evi
dences that a much larger quantity of water has at some time
been discharged by the Saugus River ; and this accords with an
Indian tradition. Just above the iron works, the river diverges
toward the w^est; but a great valley continues toward the north.
Whoever is curious to trace this valley several miles, may be
satisfied that a great flood has at some time passed through it ;
and perhaps it was this torrent which brought the boulders, and
swept down the soil which now constitutes the bed of the
marshes. These great tracts of marsh, called by the first settlers Rum-
ney Marsh, are in Lynn, Saugus, and Chelsea. They lie be
tween the porphyry hills and the sea, and are about a mile in
breadth, and nearly three miles in extent. The western portion
of these marshes are protected by Chelsea Beach, a long ridge
of sand which has been thrown up by the tide, and lies against
their southern margin. The eastern section is defended from the
sea by the Lynn Beach, which lies a mile distant, with the har
bor inside. Throughout this region of marsh are trunks of great
trees, chiefly pines, imbedded from two to four feet beneath the
surface, and in a good state of preservation. The salt water fre
quently covers these marshes from two to three feet. Many of
these trees lie in a direction from north to south, as if they had
been blown down by a strong north wind, on the spot where they
grew. But that is probably the direction in which they would
have been deposited, if brought down by a great northern cur
rent. Others lie in different directions. If we suppose these
trees to have grown where they now lie, we have the singular
anomaly of a vast forest of great trees, growing from two to six
5

34 HISTORYOFLYNN.
feet below the high tides of salt water. Nor will it assist us any
to suppose, that this forest was protected from the sea by a great
rido-e or beach ; for a river comes down from the north, and they
miist then have grown at a greater depth beneath fresh water.
The probability that they were brought from their original forest
by a great northern current, is strengthened by the fact, that on
the west of these marshes is a great region of mounds of sand
and gravel, from twenty to one hundred feet in height, in digging
through which, portions of trees have been found. Another fact
will be interesting to the geologist, that though all the neighbor
ing hills are covered with trees, these mounds, though clothed
with grass, are destitute of foliage ; and Wilham Wood, more
than two centuries ago, describes them as 'upland grasse, with
out tree or shrub,'
An alluvion commences at Humfrey's Beach, and passes up
Stacey's Brook, beneath which is another fine stratum of clay.
In this tract are some rich peat meadows, which were formerly
ponds. The peat is a formation of decomposed vegetables, and
is dug by a kind of long spade, which cuts it into regular solids,
about four inches square, and two feet in length. It is then
piled and dried for fuel, and produces a constant and intense
heat. A meadow between Orange and Chatham streets con
tains an alluvial deposit of rich black soil, twelve feet in depth.
In digging to the depth of three feet, the trunk of a large oak
was found ; and at the depth of six feet, a stratum of leaves and
burnt wood. In various other places, the fallen trunks of great
trees have been found, from three to six feet below the surface,
with large trees growing above them. In the north part of Lynn,
and in Saugus, are several large swamps, remarkable for the
great depth of vegetable matter, and for the wonderful preserva
tion of wood in them. Many acres of these swamps have been
cleared, and several hundred cords of wood taken from them,
and charred into good coal, Aud still beneath these depths ap
pears to be a ' lower deep,' filled with wood partially decayed.
The whole southern section of the town, also, presents strong
evidences of great geological changes. Whoever visits Chelsea
Beach, which extends westward from Lynn Harbor, may per
ceive that a new beach has been thrown up, outside the old
one ; and the appearance gives great confidence in the Indian
tradition, that this beach was throAvn up by a great storm, in a
single night. The Lynn Beach was once much further out than
at present; and within it was a swamp, covered by large pines
and cedars, forming an isthmus from Lynn to Nahant The
beach was thrown up against the eastern shore of this isthmus
and a succession of great storm tides have driven it in, until the
whole isthmus has been submerged by water and sand. By my
own surveys, I find that this beach has moved five rods with-

HISTORYOFLYNN, 35
in twelve years, and now covers many acres of marshy ground,
which were on the western side. After great storms, portions
of this marsh, covered by the stumps of trees, frequently appear
on the eastern side. This beach has been so much injured,
there is reason to apprehend that the tides may sweep over and
destroy it. Such an event is greatly to be deprecated, both as
it regards its beauty and utihty; for the existence of the harbor
depends on its durability. If the plan be completed, which I pro
posed, of making a barrier of cedar, it may be saved, I hope
that public spirit enough may be found, to preserve this great
natural curiosity for the admiration of future generations.
Most of the trees and plants common to New England, are
found at Lynn, and some which are rare and valuable. The
principal trees are white and pitch pine, white and red cedar,
oak, walnut, maple, birch, and hemlock. One of the most com
mon shrubs is the barberry ; the root of which is used in dying
yellow, and the fruit is an excellent preserve. Many tons of
sumach are annually gathered, and used in the manufacture of
morocco leather. Whortleberries are very plenty in the pas
tures, and many hundred bushels are annually gathered. Blue
berries, raspberries, blackberries, and cranberries, are also com
mon. The forests, fields, and meadows, are rich in the abun
dance and variety of medicinal plants, and the town presents a
fine field for the botanist.
Great numbers of wild birds, of almost every kind, frequent
the woods and waters of Lynn, Numerous sea-fowl afford
amusement to the sportsman ; and there is scarcely a bird com
mon to North America, which does not, at some season of the
year, gratify our ears with its song, or delight our eyes by its
plumage. A great variety of fishes, also, are found in the waters.
Haddock, halibut, cod, bass, and mackerel, are taken in abun
dance in boats ; and nippers and tautog are caught by dozens,
with hook and line, from the cliffs of Nahant, Hundreds, and
sometimes thousands of lobsters, are daily taken in the summer,
by ta-aps which are set around the shores ; and alewives in abun
dance are caught in the streams in the month of May, To give
a particular description of all the animal and vegetable produc
tions, would be to write a volume. In the coves around Nahant,
that very singular vegetable animal, called the sea-anemone, or
rose fish, is found. They grow on the rocks in the deep pools,
and when extended, are from six to eight inches in length, fur
nished with antenna, or feelers, which they put out to seek for
their food ; but if touched, they shrink close to the rock, and re
main folded like a rose. On summer evenings, the meadows
exhibit a beautiful appearance, being illuminated by thousands
of fire-flies, which appear to take ineffable delight in enlivening
the gloom lay their phosphoric radiance. One of them in a dark
room, will emit sufficient light to read the finest print.

36

HISTORY OF LYNN.

Some portions of the soil are very fertile, but generally it is
rather hard and acidulous. The pastures produce barberries, the
woodlands grapes ; the meadows are filled with cranberries, the
marshes with samphire ; and the fields, when neglected, run
into sorrel Much dependance is placed upon sea-weeds for the
enrichment of the lands; but the soil would be much more per
manently improved by the rich mud from the bed of the harbor.
The chraate is subject to sudden changes, and great extremes
of heat and cold, being strangely mixed up with beautiful sun
light and horrid storms, moonshiny evenings and long days of
cold rain, bright blue sky and impenetrable fogs, European poets
tell us of the charms of May, and the song of the nightingale ; our
pleasant month is June, and the whip-poor-will is our bird of love.
The months of June, July, and August are usually delightful;
and in October and November we have the Indian summer.
The temperature is then soft and agreeable, and a pleasing haze
fills the atmosphere. Sometimes the sky is 'darkly, deeply,
beautifully blue ; ' and sunset is often so gorgeously glorious,
that the art of the painter cannot portray it. The months of
May and September usually abound with chilly rain storms, and
dismal drizzly days. After these succeed the two pleasantest
portions of the year. The cold season continues from December
to Afiril, and we have snow in each of these months, from three
inches to three feet in depth. As winter approaches, the forests
are arrayed in the most splendid and beautiful colors ; exhibiting
almost every variety of shade, from pale green, and dark brown,
to bright yellow and deep scarlet. Not only are single leaves
thus colored, but whole trees and masses of foliage are vividly
tinctured with the most pleasing and variegated hues. In winter,
the weather is often, for many days together, exceedingly cold,
and the moonlight most intensely brilliant.

SUNRISE ON THE WATER.
The unequal refraction of the atmosphere frequently occa
sions pecuhar and curious appearances on the water Some
times the sun, when it rises through a dense atmosphere appears

HISTORY OF LYNN,

37

greatly elongated in its vertical diameter. Presently it appears
double, the two parts being connected together by a neck. At
length two suns are distinctly seen ; the refracted sun appearing
wholly above the water, before the true sun has risen, I have
repeatedly seen and admired this surprising and exceedingly
beautiful phenomenon. Some critics, because Pentheus saw
two suns rising over Thebes, have drawn the inference that
he could not have been a member of the temperance society ;
but his vision might have been merely assisted by refraction,*
This mirage, or loom, frequently causes Nahant, Egg Rock, and
vessels on the coast, to appear nearly twice their natural height,
and sometimes to seem actually elevated in the air, so as to
leave a space beneath them. Portions of the south shore, also,
which are commonly invisible, appear plainly in sight.

THE PHANTOM SHIPS,
It was undoubtedly this effect of the mirage which occasioned
the story of the Phantom Ship at New Haven, and the Flying
Dutchman, On a pleasant Sunday afternoon, in the summer of
1843, I saw several vessels sailing off Nahant, reflected in the
manner represented above. The atmosphere was dense, yet
transparent, and there were several strata of thin vapory clouds
lightly suspended over the water, on which the vessels were
brightly mirrored. The refracted images were as clearly por
trayed as the real vessels beneath ; and a drawing can but im
perfectly represent the exceeding beauty of the mirage.
The temperature of Nahant, being moderated by sea-breezes,
so as to be cooler in summer and milder in winter, than the main
land, is regarded as being highly conducive to health. It is de
lightful in summer to ramble round this romantic peninsula, and

* Et solam geminum, et duplices se ostendere Thebas. Enead, 4, 470.
He saw two suns, and double Thebes appear. Deyoen's Vibgil.

38 HISTORY OF LYNN.
to examine at leisure its interesting curiosities — to hear the
waves rippling the colored pebbles of the beaches,and see them
gliding over the projecting ledges in fanciful cascades — to be
hold the plovers and sand pipers running along the beaches, the
seal slumbering upon the outer rocks, the white gulls soaring
overhead, the porpoises pursuing their rude gambols along the
shore, and the curlew, the loon, the black duck, and the coot —
the brant, wilh his dappled neck, and the oldwife, with her
strange, wild, vocal melody, swimming gracefully in the coves,
and rising and sinking with the swell of the tide. The moon
light evenings here are exceedingly lovely ; and the phosphoric
radiance of the billows, in dark nights, making the waters look
like a sea of fire, — exhibits a scene of wonderful beauty.
But, however delightful Nahant may appear in summer, it is
surpassed by the grandeur and sublimity of a winter storm. When
the strong east wind has been sweeping over the Atlantic for sev
eral days, and the billows, wrought up to fury, are foaming along
like living mountains — breaking upon the precipitous cliffs, —
dashing into the rough gorges, — thundering in the subterranean
caverns of rock, and throwing the white foam and spray, like vast
columns of smoke, hundreds of feet into the air, above the tallest
cliffs, — an appearance is presented which the wildest imagina
tion cannot surpass. Then the ocean — checked in its headlong
career by a simple bar of sand — as if mad with its detention,
roars like protracted thunder; and the wild sea-birds, borne
along by the furious waters, are dashed to death against the
cliffs ! Standing at such an hour upon the rocks, I have seen
the waves bend bars of iron, an inch in diameter, double — float
rooks of granite, sixteen feet in length, as if they were timbers
of wood, — and the wind, seizing the white gull in its irresistible
embrace, bear her, shrieking, many miles into the Lynn woods !
In summer, a day at Nahant is delightful — but a storm in winter
is glorious !

CHAPTER II.
Early Voyages and Discoveries — Nahant granted to Robert Gorges — Indians at
Lynn — Nanapasheinet, the great Moon Chief, and his Wars — Montowampate
and Wenepoykin, Sagamores of Lynn — Story of Wenuchus, the Sachem's
Bride — Poquanum, Sagamore of Nahant — Belles of the Forest — Indian Cus
toms— A. D, 986 to 1628. Truth is strange, stranger than fiction. Hexky Neale.
T would be extremely gratifying, if we could
roll back the veil of oblivion which shrouds
the early history of the American continent,
and through the sunlight which must once
have illumined those regions of now impene
trable darkness, behold the scenery, and trace
the events, which occupied that long space
of silence or activity. Has one half of this
great globe slumbered in unprofitable and
inglorious uselessness since the morning of
the creation, serving no other purpose than to balance the oppo
site portion in its revolutions through unvarying ages ? — or has
it been peopled by innumerable nations, enjoying all the vicissi
tudes of animal and intellectual life ?
The most strenuous advocates of the priority of the claim of
Columbus to the discovery of America, admit that he found
people here — and we can look back with certainty to no period,
however remote, in which we do not find the continent inhabited.
How came those people here ? Were they the descendants of a
cis-atlantic Adam ? — or did they find their way, by accident or
design, from the eastern continent ? If the latter supposition
be the most probable, then a corresponding accident or design
might have returned some of those daring adventurers to their
homes, and thus a knowledge have been conveyed of the exist
ence of another continent. Nor are the difficulties of a passage,
either from Europe or Asia, so great as may at first be supposed.
The continent of Asia approaches within fifty miles of the
northwest coast of America; and ships which traded from Ice
land to the Levant, might easily have sailed from Greenland
along the shore of New England. People were much more

40 HISTORYOFLYNN,
venturous in eariy days than we are generally willing to allow;
and canoes might have passed across the ocean from Japan, and
even by the isles of the Pacific — as it is evident they must
have done, to people those islands. When Captain Blighe was
cast adrift by Christian, he passed twelve hundred miles in an
open boat with safety. Why might not such an event have
happened three thousand years ago, as well as yesterday ?
The Scandinavian manuscripts inform us, that in the year
986, Eric the Red, an Icelandic prince, emigrated to Greenland,
In his company was Bardson, whose son Biarne was then on a
voyage to Norway. On his return, going in search of his father,
he was driven far to sea, and discovered an unknown country.
In the year 1000, Leif a son of Eric, pursued the discovery of
the new country, and sailed along the coast as far as Rhode
Island, where he made a settlement; and because he found
grapes there, he called it Vineland, In 1002, Thorwald, his
brother, went to Vineland, where he remained two years.
It is very reasonable to suppose that these voyagers, in sailing
along the coast, discovered Lynn, and it is even probable that
they landed at Nahant. In 1004, we are informed that Thor
wald, leaving Vineland, or Rhode Island, ' sailed eastward, and
then northward, past a remarkable headland, enclosing a bay,
and which was opposite to another headland. They called it
Kialarnes, or Keel-cape,' from its resemblance to the' keel of a
ship. There is no doubt that this was Cape Cod ; and as they
had no ma]-), and could not see Cape Ann, it is probable that the
other headland was the Gurnet, ' From thence, they sailed
along the eastern coast of the land to a promontory which there
projected, (probably Nahant,) and which was every where
covered with wood. Here Thorwald went ashore, with all his
companions. He was so pleased with the place, that he ex
claimed— " Here it is beautiful! and here I should like to fix
my dwelling ! " Afterwards, when they were prepared to go on
board, they observed on the sandy beach, within the promontory,
three hillocks. They repaired thither, and found three canoes,
and under each three skrellings, (Indians.) They came to blows
with them, and killed eight of them, but the ninth escaped in
his canoe. Afterwards a countless multitude of them came out
from the interior of the bay, against them. They endeavored
to protect themselves by raising battle screens on the ship's
side. The skrelhngs continued shooting at them for a while
and then retired. Thorwald had been wounded by an arrow
under the arm. When he found that the wound was mortal he
said — " I now advise you to prepare for your departure as soon
as possible ; but me ye shall bring to the promontory where I
thought It good to dwell. It maybe that it was a prophetic
word which fell from my mouth, about my abiding there for a

HISTORY or LYNN. 41
season. There ye shall bury me ; and plant a cross at my head,
and also at my feet, and call the place Krossanes in all time
coming," He died, and they did as he had ordered ; afterward
they returned,' *
The question has arisen whether Krossanes, the Promontory
of .Jhe Cross, was Nahant or Gurnet Point, There is nothing
remarkable about the latter place, and though so long a
time has passed, no person has thought it desirable to dwell
there, but it is used as a sheep pasture. It is far otherwise with
Nahant, which answers to the description well. An early writer
says that it was ' well wooded with oaks, pines, and cedars ; '
and it has a ' sandy beach within the promontory.' Thousands
also, on visiting it, have borne witness to the appropriateness of
Thorwald's exclamation — 'Here it is beautiful! and here I
should like to fix my dwelling ! '
If the authenticity of the Scandinavian manuscripts be
admitted, the Northmen, as the people of Norway, Denmark,
and Sweden are called, visited this country repeatedly, in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries; but if they made any settle
ments, they were probably destroyed in some of the numerous
wars of the aborigines. The Welsh Triads and Chronicles,
those treasures of historic and Bardic lore, inform us, that in
1170, Madoc, Prince of Wales, on the tyrannous usurpation of
his brother David, came to America, with a party of his follow
ers, and settled^^ a colony. I see no reason to doubt this record
— but if there were no descendants of Welshmen in America
then, there are plenty now,
Alonzo Sanchez, of Huelva, in Spain, in a small vessel with
seventeen men, as we are informed by De la Vega, was driven
on the American coast in 1487. He returTied with only five
men, and died at the house of Columbus,
In 1492, the immortal Columbus made his first voyage to
South America, but he did not come to North America until
1498, In 1497, Sebastian Cabot, a bold and enterprizing English
man, visited the coast of North America, and took possession of
it, in the name of his king, Henry VII,
In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold visited our shores. He dis
covered land on Friday, the fourteenth of May, at six o'clock in
the morning,! Sailing along by the shore, at noon, he anchored
near a place which he called ' Savage Rock,' and which many
have supposed to have been Nahant.J A sail-boat went off to
them, containing eight Indians, dressed in deer-skins, excepting
their chief, who wore a complete suit of English clothes, which
* Antiqnitates Amerioanfe, xxx. t Purchas' Pilgrim, vol. 4. p. 1647. J Ban
croft's U S. vol. 1, p. 112. 6

42 HISTORYOFLYNN.
he obtained by trading at the eastward. The Indians treated
them kindly, and desired their longer stay ; but they left them
about three in the afternoon,* and sailing southerly, 'six
teen leagues,' the next morning they found themselves just
within Cape Cod, Archer's account of the voyage says
— 'The Coast we left was full of goodly Woods, faire Plaines,
with little green, round Hils above the Cliffs appearing unto ys,
which are indifferently raised, but all Rockie, and of shining
stones, which might have perswaded vs a longer stay there.'
This answers well to the appearances at Nahant ; but some have
supposed Savage Rock to be somewhere on the coast of Maine.
There is, however, no spot on that coast which answers exactly
to the description ; and Judge Wilhamson, the historian of
Maine, says — ' We have doubts whether Gosnold ever saw
any land of ours,' t
In 1603, Martin Pring, came over with two vessels, the Speed
well and Discoverer, to obtain sassafras, an article at that time
in great demand in England, He says — ' Coming to the Maine
in latitude 43 degrees, we ranged the same to the southwest.
Meeting with no sassafras, we left those places, with all the
aforesaid islands, shaping our course for Savage Rocke, discov
ered the yeare before by Captain Gosnold ; where, going upon
the Mayne, we found people, with whom we had no long con
versation, because we could find no sassafras. Departing thence,
we bare into that great gulf, (Cape Cod Bay,) which Captain
Gosnold overshot the yeare before, coasting and finding people
on the north side thereof; yet not satisfied with our expectation,
we left them and sailed over, and came to anchor on the south
side.' t Other voyagers doubtless visited our coast, but as places
were unnamed, and the language of the natives unknown, little
information can be gained from their descriptions.

Thus far we have pursued our way through the shadows
which envelope the whole early history of the American con
tinent. We have now come to a period when the indications of
truth give place to certainty ; when the shadows disappear, and
the sun of civilization and refinement begins to dawn brightly
upon us. We have now particulars enough, perhaps, to satisfy
the most fastidious — certainly more than any other people on
earth, ^ ^
The next white man who appears at Nahant, was that daunt
less hero and enterprizing statesman. Captain John Smith,

*^Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. 27. f Hist, Maine, vol. 1, p. 1S5, J Purchas, vol, 4,

HISTORY or LYNN. 43
Having established the colony of Virginia, he came north, in
1614, made a survey of the whole coast, and pubhshed a map.
In his description of the islands of Massachusetts Bay, proceed
ing westward from Naumkeag, now Salem, he says — 'The
next I can remember by name are the Mattahunts, two pleasant
Isles of Groves, Gardens and Cornfields, a league in the sea from
the Maine, The Isles of Mattahunts are on the west side of
this bay, where are many Isles, and some Rocks, that appear a
great height above the water, hke the Pieramides of Egypt,' *
It is evident, that by the Mattahunts he meant the Nahants, the
pronunciation of which, perhaps, he imperfectly ' remembered.'
His delineation of these islands on the map, though very small,
is very correct ; and he named them the ' Fullerton Islands,'
probably from the name of the surveyor, or some other friend.
He appears to have examined the islands and shores attentively.
He says, ' The coast of Massachusetts is so indifferently mixed
with high clay or sandy clifts in one place, and the tracts of
large, long ledges of divers sorts, and quarries of stones in other
places, so strangely divided with tinctured veines of divers
colours, as free stone for building, slate for tyling, smooth stone
for making Furnaces and Forges for Glasse and Iron, and Iron
ore sufficient conveniently to melt in them . , . who will
undertake the rectifying of an Iron Forge, in my opinion cannot
lose.'* As the beds of iron in Saugus had not then been dis
covered, he probably mistook the hornblende ledge on the north
of Nahant, for a mine of iron ore.
The Nahants appear to have been admired and coveted by
all who visited them. On the twentieth of December, 1622, we
find them granted by the council in England to Captain Robert
Gorges. He came over in 1623, took possession of his lands,
and probably commenced a settlement at Winnisimet, which
was also included in his grant.
' The said Councill grant unto Robert Gorges, youngest son of
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, and his heires, all that part of
the Maine land in New England, commonly called and known
by the name of the Massachusetts, scytuate and lyeing vpon
the North East side of the Bay, called and known by the name
of the Massachusetts, or by whatever name or names whatso
ever called, with all coastes and shoares along the Sea for Ten
English Miles in a straight line towards the. North East, account
ing seaventeen hundred and sixty yards to the mile ; and 30
English miles, after the same rate, into the Mayne Land, through
all the breadth aforesaid ; togeather with all Islands so lyeinge
within 3 miles of any part of the said land,
' Robert Gorges dies without issue ; the said lands descend to
* Smith's New England.

44 HISTORYOFLYNN,
John Gorges, his eldest brother, John Gorges, by deed bearing
date 20 January, 1628-9, (4 Car, I.) grants to Sir Wilham Brere-
ton, of Handforth, in the county of Chester, Baronet, and his
heires, all the lande, in breadth lyeinge from the East side of
Charles River to the Easterly parte of the Cape called Nahannte,
and all the lands lyeinge in length 20 miles northeast into the
Maine land, from the mouth of the said Charles River, lyeinge
also in length 20 miles into the Maine land from the said Cape
Nahannte ; also two Islands, lyeinge next unto the shoare
between Nahannte and Charles River, the bigger called Brere-
ton, and the lesser Susanna.' *
' Sir William Brereton dyes, leaving Thomas, his only son,
afterward Sir Thomas, and Susanna his daughter. Sir Thomas
dyes without issue, Susanna marries Edward Lenthall, Esq.,
and dyes, leaving Mary, her only daughter and heire, Mary is
married to Mr. Levett of the Inner Temple, who claymes the
said Lands in right of Mary his wife, who is heire to Sir Wil
liam Brereton and Sir Thomas Brereton,
' Sir William Brereton sent over Severall familyes and Serv
ants, who possessed and Improved severall Large tracts of the
said Lands, and made Severall Leases, as appeares by the said
Deedes,' t
A portion of these lands was granted by Captain Gorges to
John Oldham, including Nahant and part of Saugus. In a let
ter from the Council in England to Governor Endecott, dated
April 17, 1629, we find as follows, 'Mr. Oldham's grant from
Mr. Gorges, is to him and John Dorrell, for all the lands within
Massachusetts Bay, between Charles River and Abousett Rivep;
Containing in length by streight lyne 5 Miles vp the Charies
River into the Maine Land, northeast from the border of said
Bay, including all Creekes and Points by the way, and 3 Myles
m Length from the Mouth of the foresaid River Abousett vp
into the Maine Land N. W, including all Creekes and Points
and all the Land in Breadth and Length between the foresaid
Rivers, with all prerogatives, royall Mynes excepted '$ The
writer of this letter, in reference to the claim of Oldham says
' I hold It void in law,' and advises Mr. Endecott to take posses
sion. Such possession was taken of the Nahants, as will be
seen m proceeding; and though the heirs of Gorges afterward
renewed their claim, the colony declined either to relinquish or
pay ; because Gorges, after being appointed to the government,
had relinquished the possession and returned to Enlland

* These two islands were East Boston and Bellp Tslo + tvt . ^ •
t Hazard's Collections, .¦'"" ana celle Isle. fMass. Archives.

HISTORY OF LYNN, 45
Before we proceed with the history of the Whites, it will be
interesting to learn something more respecting the Red Men.
Come, sit with me in the pleasant shade, and I will tell you
their story.
The emigrants from England found the country inhabited by
a people who were called Indians, because when first discov
ered, the country was supposed to be a part of India, They
were divided into several great nations, each of which consisted
of many tribes, Lechford says — ' They were governed by
sachems, kings, and sagamores, petty lords;' but Smith, who
was here before him, calls them ' sagamos ; ' and as the Indians,
in this neighborhood at least, had no r in their language, he is
prpbably correct. The word sachem, pronounced sawkum
by the Indians, is a word meaning great strength, or power;
and the word sachemo, or sagamo, evidently has the same
deriviation. Their plural was formed in uog ; Sagamore Hill,
therefore, is the same as Sachemuog Hill, or the Hill of Kings,
There appear to have been as many as seven nations in
New England, The ever-warring Taratines inhabited the east-
em part of Maine, beyond the Penobscot river ; and their great
sachem was Nultonanit. From the Penobscot to the Pascataqua
were the Chur-churs, formerly governed by a mighty chief,
called a Bashaba. The Pawtuckets had a great dominion,
reaching from the Pascataqua to the river Charles, and extend
ing north as far as Concord, on the Merrimac, Their name is
preserved in Pawtucket Falls, at Lowell, They were governed
by Nanapashemet, who sometime resided at Lynn, and, accord
ing to Gookin, could raise three thousand warriors. The Mas
sachusetts, so named from the Blue Hills at Milton, were gov
erned by Chickataubut, who also commanded three thousand
men. His dominion was bounded on the north and west by
Charles river, and on the south extended to Weymouth and
Canton. The Wampanoags occupied the southeastern part of
Massachusetts, from Cape Cod to Narraganset Bay, They
vrere ruled by Massasoit, whose chief residence was at Pokan-
oket, now Bristol, in Rhode Island, He was a sachem of great
power, having dominion over thirty-two tribes, and could have
brought three thousand warriors into the field, by a word; yet
he was a man of peace, and a friend to the English, and during
all the provocations and disturbances of that early period, he
governed his nation in tranquillity for more than forty years,
leaving an example of wisdom to future ages. The Narragan-
sets, on the west of Narraganset Bay, in Rhode Island, num
bered five thousand warriors, and were governed by two
sachems, Canonicus and his nephew Miantonimo, who ruled
together in harmony. The Pequots occupied Connecticut, and
were governed by Sassacus, a name of terror, who commanded

46 HISTORY OF LYNN.
four thousand fighting men, and whose residence was at New
London, Beside these, there were the Nipmucks in the interior
of Massachusetts, who had no great sachem, but united with
the other nations in their wars, according to their inclination.
The Pequots and the Taratines were ever at war with some of
the Other nations, and were the Goths and Vandals of New
England. The Indians were very numerous, until they were reduced by
a great war, and by a devastating sickness. All the early voy
agers speak of ' multitudes,' and ' countless multitudes,' Smith,
who took his survey in 1614, passing along the shore in a little
boat, says — ' The seacoast as you pass, shows you all along,
large come fields, and great troupes of well proportioned peo
ple ; ' and adds, that there were three thousand on the islands in
Boston harbor, Gookin has enumerated eighteen thousand
warriors in five nations, and if the remainder were as populous,
there must have been twenty-five thousand fighting men, and
at least one hundred thousand people, in New England. In the
spring of 1615, some provocation was given by the western
Indians to the Taratines, who, with a vindictive spirit, resolved
upon retaliation; and they carried their revenge to an extent
scarcely paralleled in the dreadful history of human warfare.
They killed the great Bashaba of Penobscot, murdered his
women and children, and overran the whole country from
Penobscot to the Blue Hills, Their death-word was ' cram I
cram ! ' — kill ! kill I — and so .effectually did they ' suit the action
to the word,' and so many thousands on thousands did they
slaughter, that as Gorges says, it was 'horrible to be spoken
of!' In 1617, commenced a great sickness, which some have
supposed was the plague, others the small pox, or yellow fever ;
but I have no doubt it arose from the putrefaction of the
unburied dead. This sickness made such dreadful devastation
among those whom the tomahawk had not reached, that when
the English arrived, the land was literally covered with human
bones. Still the vengeance of the Taratines was unsatiated,
and we find them hunting for the lives of the few Sagamores
who remained !
Nanapashemet, or the New Moon, was one of the greatest
sachems m New England, ruling over a larger extent of country
than any other. He swayed, at one time, all the tribes north
and east of the Charies river, to the river Pascataqua, The
Nipmucks acknowledged his dominion, as far as ' Pocontocook,'
now Deerfie d, on the Connecticut; and after his death they
had no great sachem.* Nanapashemet, like the orb of ni-ht

e

* Smith, Gookin, Hubbard, See also Sami,<.l r n„i , .
the Indians, published since mv first ediurwhe^ei? he tL'"*^'''"T ^f°^ "^
amount of facts respecting the Sons of the For^t accumulated a vast

HISTORY OP LYNN, 47
whose name he bore, had risen and shone in splendor. But
his Moon was now full, and had begun to wane. He resided at
Lynn until the great war of the Taratines in 1615, He then
retreated to a hill on the borders of Mistick river, where he built
a house, and fortified himself in the best manner possible. He
survived the desolating sickness of 1617 ; but the deadly ven
geance of the Taratines, which induced them to stop at nothing
short of his death, pursued him to his retreat, and there he was
killed by them in 1619. In September, 1621, a party of the
Plymouth people, having made a visit to Obatinua, sachem of
Boston, went up to Medford, Mr, Winslow says : ' Having
gone three miles, we came to a place where corn had been
newly gathered, a house pulled down, and the people gone,
A mile from hence, Nanapashemet, their king, in his lifetime
had lived. His house was not like others ; but a scaffold was
largely built, with poles and planks, some six foot from the
ground, and the house upon that, being situated upon the top of
a hill. Not far from hence, in a bottom, we came to a fort, built
by their deceased king — the manner thus : There were poles,
some thirty or forty feet long, stuck in the ground, as thick as
they could be set one by another, and with those they enclosed a
ring some forty or fifty feet over, A trench, breast high, was
digged on each side ; one way there was to get into it with a
bridge. In the midst of this palisade stood the frame of a house,
wherein, being dead, he lay buried. About a mile from hence
we came to such another, but seated on the top of an hill.
Here Nanapashemet was killed, none dwelling in it since the
time of his death,' The care which the great Moon Chief took
to fortify himself, shows the fear which he felt for his mortal
enemy. With his death, the vengeance of the Taratines seems
in some degree to have abated ; and his sons, returning to the
shore, collected the scattered remnants of their tribes, over
whom they ruled as sagamores on the arrival of our fathers.
The general government was continued by the saunks, or queen
of Nanapashemet, who was called ' Squaw Sachem,' She
married Webbacowet, who was the great physician of her
nation. On the fourth of September, 1640, she sold Mistick
Ponds, and a large tract of land, now included in Summerville,
to Jotham Gibbons of Boston. On the eighth of March, 1644,
she submitted to the government of the whites, and consented
to have her subjects instracted in the Bible. She died in 1667,
being then old and blind. Nanapashemet had three sons,
Wonohaquaham, Montowampate, and Wenepoykin, all of whom
became sagamores ; and a daughter Yawata,
Wonohaquaham was sagamore on Mistick river, including
Winnisimet, In 1627 he gave the whites liberty to settle at
Charlestown, and on the records of that town he is called a

48 HISTORYOFLYNN,
chief ' of gentle and good disposition,' He was called by the
Enghsh, John, and died in 1633,
Montowampate, sagamore of Lynn, was born in the year
1609. He lived on Sagamore Hill, near the northern end of
the Long Beach, He had jurisdiction of Saugus, Naumkeag,
and Masabequash, or Lynn, Salem and Marblehead, He was
called by the white people, James. Mr, Dudley, in his letter to
the Countess of Lincoln, says : ' Vppon the river of Mistick is
seated Saggamore John, and vppon the river of Saugus Saga
more James, both soe named from the English. The elder
brother John, is a handsome young , , , . (one line wanting)
. , , conversant with us, affecting English apparel and houses,
and speaking well of our God. His brother James is of a far
worse disposition, jet repaireth to us often.' He married
Wenuchus, a daughter of Passaconaway, the great powah, or
priest of the nation ; whose chief residence was at Penacook,
now Concord, on the Merrimac, This venerable, and in some
respects, wonderful man, died about the year 1673, when he was
one hundred and twenty years of age. On his death bed, he
called his friends around, and told that he was going to the land
of spirits, to see them no more. He said he had been opposed
to the Enghsh at their first coming, and sought to prevent their
settlement; but now he advised them to oppose the white men
no more, or they would all be destroyed. The marriage of
Montowampate took place in the year 1629, when he was
twenty years of age ; and it gave him an opportunity to mani
fest his high sense of the dignity which appertained to a sachem.
Thomas Morton, who was in the country at the time, and wrote
a work entitled the New English Canaan, furnishes us with the
following interesting particulars.
' The sachem or sagamore of Sagus, made choice, when he
came to man's estate, of a lady of noble descent, dauo-hter of
Pasaqumeo, the sachem or sagamore of the tenitories near
Merrimack river, a man of the best note in all those parts and
as my countrynian, Mr, Wood, declares, in his Prospect, a great
nigromancer This lady the young sachem, with the consent
and good hang of her father, marries, and takes for his wife.
Great entertamment hee and his received in those parts, at her
^ther s hands, wheare they were fested in the best manr^er that
might be expected, according to the custome of their nation
r.m''Tl"^^'.Y ""-f u^-'' ^°l«^^°ities as is usual amongsi
them The solemnity being ended, Papasiquineo caused a
selected number of his men to waite on bis rln^o-i-,*!., .^"^^^^^^ ^^
those parts th^t did properiy belong lo her lorf^nH ^^^K '""l"
where the attendants'haLn'tertain^ent b;\i"Lhem of S^S^
and his countrymen. The solemnity being ended!Te S
dants were gratified. " ' "'^ aiien-

HISTORY OF LYNN. 49
' Not long after, the new manied lady had a great desire to
see her father and her native country, from whence she came.
Her lord was willing to pleasure her, and not deny her re
quest, amongst them thought to be reasonable, commanded
a select number of his own men to conduct his lady to
her father, where with great respect they brought her ; and
having feasted there awhile, returned to their own country
againe, leaving the lady to continue there at her owne pleasure,
amongst her friends and old acquaintance, where she passed
away the time for awhile, and in the end desired to returne to
her Lord againe. Her father, the old Papasiquineo, having
notice of her intent, sent some of his men on ambassage to the
young sachem, his sonne in law, to let him understand that his
daughter was not willing to absent herself from his company
any longer; and therefore, as the messengers had in charge,
desired the younge lord to send a convoy for her ; but he, stand
ing upon tearmes of honor, and the maintaining of his reputa
tion, returned to his father in law this answer : " That when she
departed from him, hee caused his men to waite upon her to her
father's territories as it did become him ; but now she had an
intent to returne, it did become her father to send her back with
a convoy of his own people ; and that it stood not with his
reputation to make himself or his men so servile as to fetch her
againe," ' The old sachem, Papasiquineo, having this message returned,
was inraged to think that his young son in law did not esteem
him at a higher rate than to capitulate with him about the mat
ter, and returned him this sharp reply : " That his daughter's
blood and birth deserved more respect than to be slighted, and
therefore, if he would have her company, he were best to send
or come for her."
' The young sachem, not willing to undervalue himself,, and
being a man of a stout spirit, did not stick to say, " That he
should either send her by his own convoy, or keepe her ; for he
was determined not to stoope so lowe."
' So much these two sachems stood upon tearmes of reputa
tion with each other, the one would not send for her, lest it
should be any diminishing of honor on his part that should
seeme to comply, that the lady, when I came out of the coun
try remained still with her father ; which is a thing worth the
noting, that salvage people should seeke to maintaine their repu
tation so much as they doe,'
A chief who could treat a lady so discourteously deserved to
lose her. Montowampate had not the felicity to read the Fairy
Queen, or he would have thought with Spenser :
' What vertue is so fitting for a Knight,
Or for a Ladie whom a knight should love.
As ourtesie.'

50 HISTORYOFLYNN.
My lady readers will undoubtedly be anxious to know if the
separation was final? I am happy to inform them that it vi^as
not ; as we find the Princess of Penacook enjoying the luxuries
of the shores and the sea breezes at Lynn the next summer.
How they met without compromiting the dignity of the proud
sagamore, history does not inform us ; but probably, as ladies
are fertile in expedients, she met him half way. In 1631 she
was taken prisoner by the Taratines, as will hereafter be related,
Montowampate died in 1633. Wenuchus returned to her father ;
and in 1686, we find mention made of her grand-daughter Pah-
pocksit. Other interesting incidents in the hfe of Montowam
pate will be found in the foUowing pages,
Wenepoykin, erioneously called Winnepurkit, was the
youngest son of Nanapashemet, His name was pronounced
with an accent and a lingering on the third syllable, We-ne-
pawwe-kin. He was born in 1616, and was a little boy, thirteen
years of age, when the white men came. The Rev. John Hig-
ginson, of Salem, says : ' To the best of my remembrance, when
I came over with my father, to this place, there was in these
parts a widow woman, called Squaw Sachem, who had three
sons ; Sagamore John kept at Mistick, Sagamore James at Sau
gus, and Sagamore George here at Naumkeke, Whether he
was actual sachem here I cannot say, for he was then young,
about my age, and I think there was an elder man that was at
least his guardian,' On the death of his brothers, in 1633, he
became sagamore of Lynn and Chelsea ; and after the death of
his mother in 1667, he was sachem of all that part of Massachu
setts which is north and east of Charles River, He was the
proprietor of Deer Island, which he sold to Boston, He was
called Sagamore George, and George Rumney Marsh. Until
the year 1738, the limits of Boston extended to Saugus, includ
ing Chelsea, which was called Rumney Marsh, Part of this
great marsh is now in Chelsea and part in Saugus. The Indians
living on the borders of this marsh in Lynn and Saugus, were
sometimes called the Rumney Marsh Indians. W^enepoykin
was taken prisoner in the Wampanoag war in 1676, and died in
1684, He married Ahawayet, daughter of Poquanum, who
lived on Nahant, She presented him with one son, Manatahqua,
and three daughters, Petagunsk, Wattaquattinusk, and Peta-
goonaquah, who if early historians are conect in their descrip
tions, were as beautiful, almost, as the lovely forms which have
wandered on the rocks of Nahant in later times. They were
called Wanapanaquin, or the plumed ones. This word is but
another spelling of Wenepawakin, their father's name which
signifies a wing or a feather, I suppose they were the belles
of the forest in their day, and wore finer plumes than any of their
tnbe, Petagunsk was called Cicely, She had a son Tontoquon

HISTORY OF LYNN. 61
called John, Wuttaquattinusk, or the Little Walnut, was called
Sarah ; and Petagoonaquah was named Susannah. Manatahqua
had two sons, Nonupanohow, called David ; and Wuttanoh,
which means a staff, called Samuel. The family of Wenepoy
kin left Lynn about the time of the Wampanoag war, and went
to Wameset, or Chelmsford, now Lowell, and settled near the
Pawtucket Falls. On the sixteenth of September, 1684, imme
diately after the death of Wenepoykin, the people of Marble
head embraced the opportunity of obtaining a deed of their
town. It was signed by Ahawayet, and many others, her rela
tives. She is called ' Joane Ahawayet, Squawe, relict, widow
of George Saggamore, alias Wenepawweekin.' * She survived
her husband about a year, and died in 1685, On the nineteenth
of March, 1685, David Nonupanohow, ' heir of Sagamore George,
and in his right having some claim to Deer Island, doth hereby,
for just consideration, relinquish his right to the town of Boston.'t
On the eleventh of October, 1686, the people of Salem obtained
a deed of their town, which was signed by the relatives of
Wenepoykin. Yawata, daughter of Nanapashenut, and sister of the three
Sagamores, married Oonsumog. She lived to sign the deed of
Salem in 1686, and died at Natick, She had a son, Mumin-
quash, bom in 1636, and called James Rumney Marsh, who also
removed to Natick, There is great softness and euphony in the
name of this Indess, Ya-wa-ta ; six letters, and only one hard
consonant. Probably her heart was at delicate and feminine as
her name. The early settlers indicated their poetic taste by
calling her Abigail.
Poquanum, or ' Dark Skin,' was sachem of Nahant, Wood,
in his New England's Prospect, calls him ' Duke William ; ' and
it appears by depositions in Salem Court Records, that he was
known by the familiar appellation of ' Black Will,' He was
cotemporary with Nanapashemet, In 1630 he sold Nahant to
Thomas Dexter for a suit of clothes. It is probable that he was
the chief who welcomed Gosnold in 1602, and who is repre
sented to have been dressed in a complete suit of English
clothes. If he were the same, that may have been the reason
why he was so desirous to possess another suit. He was killed
in 1633, as will be found under that date. He had two chil
dren — Ahawayet, who married Wenepoykin ; and Queakussen,
commonly called ' Captain Tom,' or Thomas Poquanum, who
was born in 1611, Mr, Gookin, in 1686, says, ' He is an Indian
of good repute, and professes the Christian religion,' Probably
he is the one alluded to by Rev, John Eliot, in his letter,
November 13, 1649, in which he says: 'Linn Indians are all
* Essex Reg, Daeds, 11, 132. f Sufiblk Records,

52 HISTORYOFLYNN.
naught, save one, who sometimes eometh to hear the word, and
telleth me that he prayeth to God ; and the reason why they are
bad is partly and principally because their sachem is naught, and
carelh not to pray to God.' There is a confession of faith, pre
served in Eliot's ' Tears of Repentance,' by Poquanum, probably
of this same Indian. He signed the deed of Salem in 1686, and
on the seventeenth of September in that year, gave the following
testimony :
' Thomas Queakussen, alias Captain Tom, Indian, now living
at Wamesit, neare Patucket Falls, aged about seventy-five years,
testifieth and saith. That many yeares since, when he was a
youth, he lived with his father, deceased, named Poquannum,
who some time lived at Sawgust, now called Linn ; he married
a second wife, and lived at Nahant ; and himself in after time
lived about Mistick, and that he well knew^ all these parts about
Salem, Marblehead and Linn ; and that Salem, and the river
running up between that neck of land and Bass river was called
Naumkeke, and the river between Salem and Marblehead was
called Massabequash ; also he says he well knew Sagamore
George, who married the Deponent's Owne Sister, named Joane,
who died about a yeare since ; and Sagamore George left two
daughters, named Sicilye and Sarah, and two grand-children by
his son ; Nonumpanumhow the one called David, and the other
Wuttanoh; and I myself am one of their kindred as before;
and James Rumney Marsh's mother is one of Sagamore George,
his kindred ; and I knew two squawes more, living now about
Pennecooke, one named Pahpocksitt, and the other's name I
know not; and I knew the grandmother of these two squawes
named Wenuchus ; she was a principal proprietor of these lands
about Naumkege, now Salem ; all these persons above named
are concerned in the antient property of the lands above men
tioned.' Wabaquin also testified, that David was the grandson
of Sagamore George — by his father, deceased, Manatahqua.'*
Nahanton was born about the year 1600. On the seventh
of April, 1635, ' Nahanton' was ordered by the Court to pay Rev,
William Blackstone of Boston, two beaver skins, for damage
done to his swine by setting traps. In a deposition taken at
Natick, August 15, 1672, he is called ' Old Ahaton of Punkapog,
aged about seaventy yeares ;' and in a deposition at Cambridge,
October 7, 1686, he is called ' Old Mahanton, a?ed about ninety
years,' In the same deposition he is called '"Nahanton ' He
testifies concerning the right of the heirs of Wenepoykin to sell
the lands at Salem, and declares himself a relative of Sao-amore
George, He signed the deed of Quincy, August 5, 1665,°and in
that deed is called 'Old Nahatun,' one of the 'wise men' of

* Essex Reg. Deed, 11, 131.

HISTORYOFLYNN, 53
Sagamore Wampatuck,* He also signed a quit claim deed to
'the proprietated inhabitants of the town of Boston,' March 19,
1685, t
QuANOPKONAT, Called John, was another relative of Winne-
poykin. His widow Joan, and his son James, signed the deed
of Salem in 1686. Masconomo was sagamore of Agawam, now
Ipswich. Dudley says, ' he was tributary to Sagamore James.'
From the intimacy which subsisted between them, he' was
probably a relative. He died March 8, 1658, and his gun and
other implements were buried with him.f
The names of the Indians are variously spelt in records and
depositions, as they were imperfectly understood from their
nasal pronounciation. Some of them were known by different
names, and as they had no baptism, or ceremony of naming their
children, they commonly received no name until it was fixed by
some great exploit, or some remarkable circumstance.
The Indians have been admirably described by Wood, who
resided at Lynn, at the first settlement, ' They were black
haired, out nosed, broad shouldered, brawny armed, long and
slender handed, out breasted, small waisted, lank bellied, well
thighed, flat kneed, handsome grown legs, and small feet. In a
word, they were more amiable to behold, though only in Adam's
livery, than many a compounded fantastic in the newest fashion.'
In another place he speaks of ' their unparalleled beauty,' Jos-
selyn, in Ms New England Rarities, says : ' The women, many
of them, have very good features, seldome without a come-to-
me in their countenance, all of them black eyed, having even
short teeth and very white, their hair black, thick and long,
broad breasted, handsome straight bodies and slender, their
limbs cleanly straight, generally plump as a patridge, and sav
ing now and then one, of a modest deportment,' Lechford says :
' The Indesses that are young, are some of them very comely,
having good features. Many prettie Brownettos and spider
fingered lasses may be seen among them.' After such graphic
and beautiful descriptions, nothing need be added to complete
the idea that their forms were exquisitely perfect, superb, and
voluptuous. The dress of the men was the skin of a deer or seal tied round
the waist, and in winter a bear or wolf skin thrown over the
shoulders, with moccasons or shoes of moose hide. The women
wore robes of beaver skins, with sleeves of deer skin drest, and
drawn with lines of different colors into ornamental figures.
Some wore a short mantle of trading cloth, blue or red, fastened
* See the original deed of Quincy, in the possession of Hon. John Quincy Adams,
t Suffolk Records. J Rev. Joseph B. Felt's History of Ipswich.

54 HISTORYOFLYNN.
with a knot under the chin, and girt around the waist with a
zone ; their buskins fringed with feathers, and a fillet round
their heads, which were often adorned with plumes.
Their money was made of shells, gathered on the beaches,
and was of two kinds. The one was called wampum peag, or
white money, and was made of the tviristed part of the conkle
strung together like beads. Six of these passed for a penny,
and a foot for about a shilhng. The other was called suckauhoc,
or black money, and was made of the hinge of the poquahoc
clam, bored with a sharp stone. The value of this money was
double that of the white. These shells were also very curiously
wrought into pendants, bracelets, and belts of wampum, several
inches in breadth, with figures of animals and flowers. Their
sachems were profusely adorned with it, and some of the princely
females wore dresses worth fifty or a hundred dollars. It passed
for beaver and other commodities as currently as silver.
Their weapons were bows, arrows and tomahawks. Their
bows were made of walnut, or some other elastic wood, and
strung with sinews of deer or moose. Their arrows were made
of elder, and feathered with the quills of eagles. They were
headed with a long sharp stone of porphyry or jasper, tied to a
short stick, which was thrust into the pith of the elder. Their
tomahawks w^ere made of a fiat stone, sharpened to an edge,
with a groove round the middle. This was inserted in a bent
walnut stick, the ends of which were tied together. The flinty
heads of their arrows and axes, their stone gouges and pestles,
have been frequently found in the flelds.
Their favorite places of residence in Lynn, appear to have
been in the neighborhood of Sagamore Hill and High Rock, at
Swampscot, and Nahant. One of their burial places was on the
hill where the school-house stands in Mount Vemon street.
In Saugus, many indications of their dwellings have been
found on the old Boston road, for about half a mile from
the hotel westward ; and beneath the house of Mr, Ephraim
Rhodes was a burying ground. On the road which mns north
from Charles Sweetser's, was another Indian village on a plain,
defended by a hill. Nature here formed a lovely spot, and
nature's children occupied it. They usually buried their dead
on the sides of hills next the sun. This was both natural and
beautiful. It was the wish of Beattie's Minstrel.
' Where a green grassy turf is all I crave.
And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave,'
The Indians had but few arts, and only such as were requisite
for their subsistence. Their houses, called wigwams, were rude
structures, made of poles set round in the form of a cone and

HISTORY OF LYNN, 55
covered by bark or mats. In winter, one great house, built with
more care, with a fire in the middle, served for the accommoda^
tion of many. They had two kinds of boats, called canoes ; the
one made of a pine log, twenty to sixty feet in length, burnt and
scraped out with shells ; the other made of birch bark, very light
and elegant. They made fishing hues of wild hemp, equal to
the finest twine, and used fish bones for hooks. Their method
of catching deer was by making two fences of trees, half a mile
in extent, in the form of an angle, with a snare at the place of
meeting, in which they frequently took the deer alive.
Their chief objects of cultivation were corn, beans, pumpkins,
squashes and melons, which were all indigenous plants. Their
fields were cleared by burning the trees in the autumn. Their
season for planting was when the leaves of the oak were as
large as the ear of a mouse. From this observation was formed
the rule of the fiirst settlers,
AVhen the white oak trees look goslin grey,
Plant then, be it April, June, or May,
The corn was hoed with large clam shells, and harvested
in cellars dug in the ground, and enclosed with mats. When
boiled in kernels it was called samp ; when parched and pounded
in stone mortars it was termed nokehike ; and w^en pounded
and boiled, it was called hominy. They also boiled corn and
beans together, which they called succatash. They formed
earthen vessels in which they cooked. They made an excel
lent cake, by mixing strawberries with parched corn. Whortle
berries were employed in a similar manner. Some of their
dishes are stiU well known, and highly relished — their samp,
their hominy or hasty pudding, their stewed beans or succatash,
their baked pumpkins, their parched corn, their boiled and roast
ears of corn, and their wortleberry cake — dishes which, when
well prepared, are good enough for any body. And when to
these were added the whole range of field and flood, at a time
when wild fowl and venison were more than abundant, it will
be seen that the Indians lived well.
The woods were filled with wild animals — foxes, bears,
wolves, deer, moose, beaver, raccoons, rabbits, woodchucks, and
squirrels — most of which have long since departed. One of the
most troublesome animals was the catamount, one of the numer
ous varieties of the cat kind, which has never been particularly
described. It was from three to six feet in length, and com
monly of a cinnamon color. Many stories are related of its attacks
upon the early settlers, by chmbing trees and leaping upon them
when travelling through the forest. An Indian in passing through
the woods one day, heard a rustling in the boughs overhead, and

56 HISTORY OF LYNN,
looking up, saw a catamount preparing to spring upon him. He
said he 'cry all one soosuck' — that is, like a child —knowing
that if he did not kill the catamount, he must lose his own life.
He fired as the animal was in the act of springing, which met
the ball and fell dead at his feet.
The wild pigeons are represented to have been so numerous
that they passed in flocks so large as to 'obscure the hght,'
Dudley says, ' it passeth credit if but the truth should be known ;'
and Wood says, they continued flying for four or five hours
together, to such an extent that one could see ' neither begin
ning nor ending, length nor breadth, of these millions of millions.'
When they alighted in the woods, they frequently broke down
large limbs of trees by their weight, and the crashuig was heard
at a great distance, A single family has been known to have
killed more than one hundred dozen in one night, with poles
and other weapons ; and they were often taken in such numbers
that they were thrown into piles, and kept to feed the swine.
The Indians called the pigeon wuscowan, a word signifying a
wanderer. The wild fowl were so numerous in the waters,
that persons sometimes killed ' 50 Duckes at a shot'
The Indians appear to have been very fond of amusements.
The tribes, feven from a great distance, were accustomed to
challenge each other, and to assemble upon Lynn Beach to de
cide their contests. Here they sometimes passed many days
in the exercises of running, leaping, wrestling, shooting, and
other diversions. Before they began their sports, they drew a
line in the sand, across which the parties shook hands in evi
dence of friendship, and they sometimes painted their faces, to
prevent revenge, A tall pole was then planted in the beach, on
which were hung beaver skins, wampum, and other articles, for
which they contended ; and frequently, all they were worth was
ventured in the play. One of their games was foot-ball. Another
was called puim, which was played by shuffling together many
small sticks, and contending for them. Another game was
played with five fiat pieces of bone, black on one side and white
on the other. These were put into a wooden bowl, which was
struck on the ground, causing the bones to bound aloft, and as
they fell white or black, the game was decided. During this
play, the Indians sat in a circle, making a great noise, by the
constant repetition of the word hub, huh, — come, come,  from
which it was called hubbub ; a word, the derivation of which
seems greatly to have puzzled Dr. Johnson.
The Indians believed in a Great Spirit, whom they called
Kichtan, who made all the other gods, and one man and woman
The evil spirit they called Hobamock. They endured the most
acute pains without a murmur, and seldom laughed loud They
cultivated a kind of natural music, and had their war and death

HISTORYOFLYNN. 57
songs. The women had lullabies and melodies for their chil
dren, and modulated their voices by the songs of birds. Some
early writers represent the voices of their females, when heard
through the shadowy woods, to have been exquisitely harmo
nious. It has been said they had no poets, but their whole lan
guage was a poem. What more poetical than calling the roar of
the ocean on the Beach, Sawkiss, or great panting ? — literally, the
noise which a tired animal makes when spent in the chase. What
more poetical than naming a boy Poquanum, or Dark Skin ; and
a girl Wanapaquin, a Plume ? Every word of the Indians was
expressive, and had a meaning. Such is natural poetry in all
ages. The Welsh called their great king Arthur, from aruthr,
terribly fair; and such was Alonzo, the name of the Moorish
kings of Spain, from an Arabic word signifying the fountain of
beauty. When we give our children the names of gems and
flowers — when we use language half as designative as that of
the Indians, we may begin to talk of poetry, ' 1 am an aged
hemlock,' said one, ' whose head has been whitened by eighty
snows ! ' ' We will brighten the chain of our friendship with
you,' said the chiefs in their treaties. The Indians reckoned
their time by snows and moons, A snow was a winter ; and
thus, a man who had seen eighty snows, was eighty years of
age, A moon was a month ; thus they had the harvest moon,
the hunting moon, and the moon of flowers, A sleep was a
night ; and seven sleeps were seven days. This figurative lan
guage is in the highest degree poetical and beautiful
The Indians have ever been distinguished for friendship, jus
tice, magnanimity, and a high sense of honor. They have been
represented by some as insensible and brutish, but, with the ex
ception of their revenge, they were not an insensate race. The
old chief, who requested permission of the white people to smoke
one more whiff before he was slaughtered, was thought to bean
unfeeling wretch ; but he expressed more than he could have
done by the most eloquent speech. The red people received
the emigrants in a friendly manner, and taught them how to
plant ; and when any of the whites travelled through the woods,
they entertained them with more kindness than compliments,
kept them freely many days, and often went ten, and even
twenty miles, to conduct them on their way. The Rev, Roger
WilKams says : ' They were remarkably free and courteous to
invite all strangers in, I have reaped kindness again from many,
seven years after, whom I myself had forgotten. It is a strange
truth, that a man shall generally find more free entertainment
and refreshment among these barbarians, than among thousands
that call themselves Christians,'
The scene which presented itself to the first settlers, must
have been in the highest degree interesting and beautiful The
8

58 HISTORYOFLYNN,
light birchen canoes of the red men were seen gracefully swim
ming over the surface of the bright blue ocean ; the half clad
females were beheld, bathing their olive limbs in the lucid fiood,
or sporting on the smooth beach, and gathering the spotted eggs
from their little hollows in the sands, or the beautiful shells,
which abounded among the pebbles, to string into beads or
weave into wampum, for the adornment of their necks and arms.
At one time an Indian was seen with his bow, silently endeav
oring to transfix the wild duck or the brant, as they rose and
sunk on the alternate waves ; and at another, a glance was
caught of the timid wild deer, rushing through the shadow of
the dark green oaks ; or the sly fox, bounding from rock to rock
among the high cliffs of Nahant, and stealing along the shore to
find his evening repast, which the tide had left upon the beach.
The little sand-pipers darted along the thin edge of the wave —
the white gulls in hundreds soared screaming overhead — and
the curlews filled the echoes of the rocks with their wild and
watery music. This is no imaginary picture, wrought up for the
embellishment of a fanciful tale, — but the delineation of an ac
tual scene, which presented itself to the eyes of our fathers.
An incident respecting the Indians, about a year before the
settlement of Lynn, is related by Rev, Thomas Cobbet, in a
letter to Increase Mather. ' About the year 1628, when those
few that came over with Colonel Indicot and begun to settle at
Nahumkeeck, now called Salem, and in a manner all so sick of
their journey, that though they had both small and great guns, and
powder and bullets for them, yet had not strength to manage
them, if suddenly put upon it ; and tidings being certainly brought
them, on a Lord's day morning, that a thousand Indians from
Saugust, (now called Lyn,) were coming against them to cut
them off they had much a,do amongst them all to charge two or
three of theyre great guns, and traile them to a place of advan
tage ; where the Indians must pass to them, and there to shoot
them off; when they heard by theyre noise which they made in
the woods, that the Indians drew neare, the noise of which great
Artillery, to which the Indians were never wonted before did
occasionally, by the good hand of God, strike such dread into
them, that by some lads who lay as scouts in the woods, they
were heard to reiterate that confused outcrie, (O Hobbamock
much Hoggery,) and then fled confusedly back with all speed
when none pursued them. One old Button,* lately livin-T a
Haverhill, who was then almost the only haile man left of Iha
raXe7niZSrefoJt'^°'^^°^°-^---^^=^^y-^^°-^^^^

* Matthias Button, a Dutchman, who livp<I in „ .1, . i, , u '. — Z 
1670. So says Mr. Joshua Coffin wh^k nowpoJ^'r *°''^'' ''¦""'^ '" Haverhill, in
tory of Newbury, ' ^ "°^ compiling a curious manuscript His-

HISTORY OF LYNN.

59

There were but few towns planted in Massachusetts before
the settlement of Lynn, In 1622, a plantation was begun at
Weymouth, In 1624, the Rev, William Blackstone, with his
family, established himself at Boston. In 1625, a settlement was
begun at Braintree; in 1626, at Salem; and in 1727, at Charles-
town, On the nineteenth of March, 1628, the Council in Eng
land sold all that part of Massachusetts, between three miles
north of Merrimack River, and three miles south of Charles
River, to six gentlemen, one of whom was Mr. John Humfrey,
who afterward came to Lynn.

Boniiace Burton. Aged 113 jeaze. Fage 63,

CHAPTER III.
Settlement of Lynn — Early Inhabitants — Thomas Dexter buys Nahant for a suit
of clothes — Occupation of the People — Descriptive Ballad — Town incorporated
— Trouble about wolves — Quarrel between Dexter and Endecott — Montowam
pate goes to England — Wenuchus, his Queen, taken prisoner by the Taratines —
1629 to 1631, Love thou thy land, with love far brought
From out the storied past. Tenntsoit.
YNN is one of the earliest towns planted in Massa
chusetts. Its settlement was begun in 1629. Among
the authorities for assigning the settlement to this
w year, is the Rev. Samuel Danforth's almanac for the
/year 1647. He gives a list of the first towns set
tled in this state, to which he prefixes these words :
' The time when these townes following began — Lynn, 1629.'
By several ancient manuscripts, it appears that the settlement
must have commenced as early as the first of June,
1629. The first white men known to have been inhabit
ants of Lynn, were Edmund Ingalls aud his brother Francis
Ingalls. A record preserved in the family of the former says,
" Mr, Edmund Ingalls came from Lincolnshire, in England, to
Lynn, in 1629.' He was a farmer, and settted in the eastern
part of the town, near a small pond in Fayette street. The place
where his house stood is still pointed out by his descendants.
He had a malt house near the margin of the pond When the
lands were divided, in 1638, there were apportioned • to Edmund
and Francis Ingahs, upland and meadow, 120 acres,' He was
accidentally drowned, in March, 1648, by falling with his horse
through the old Saugus river bridge, on Boston street ; for which
the General Court paid one hundred pounds ($444) to his chil
dren His estate was valued at £135 8s, 10d,includL' house
and lands. £50,; The name of his wife was Ani3he had
nine children six of whom were born in England 1 Robert
who inherited his father's 'house and houselot' 2 Elizabeth
3. Faith, who married Andrew Allen. 4. John, to whom lis
father gave 'the house and ground that was JerTmy ffits
(Fitch,) lying by the meetinghouse, and that three acres^Ldhe

1629.] HISTORY OF lynn; 61
hath in England.' 5. Sarah, who married Wilham Bitnar,
6, Henry, who was born in 1627, and removed to Andover,
where he died in 1719, aged 92 years, A descendant of his.
Captain Henry Ingalls, died in 1803, aged 84 years. About a
year before his death, he added the following note to the family
genealogy, ' Mr, Henry Ingals, from whom all these spring,
was born in the year 1627, and he died in the year 1719, who
lived ninety-two years, and two months after his death, I Henry
Ingals was Born, who have lived eighty-three years, So that we
two Henry Ingals hath Lived on this Earth one hundred and
seventy five years.' 7, Samuel, 8. Mary, 9, Joseph, The
descendants of Mr, Edmund Ingalls, in this and other towns,
are numerous and respectable, and several of them eminent in
the learned professions.
Francis Ingalls, brother of Edmund, was born in England in
1601, He was a tanner, and lived at Swampscot. He built a
tannery on Humfrey's brook, where it is crossed by a stone
bridge in Burrill street. I saw the vats before they were taken
up in 1825. This was the first tannery in New England.
William Dixey w^as bom in England in 1607, and came over a
servant with Mr. Isaac Johnson. On his aJrival at Salem, he
says that application was made for him and others, ' for a place
to set down in ; upon which Mr. Endecott did give me and the
rest leave to go where we would ; upon which we went to Sau
gust, now Linne, and there wee met with Sagamore James and
som other Indians, who did give me and the rest leaue 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 Na
hant for som space of time ; for the Indian James Sagamore and
the rest did give me and the rest, in behalf of my master John
son, what land we would ; whereupon wee sett down in Saugust,
and had quiet possession of it by the abovesaid Indians, and kept
our cattell in Nahant the sumer following.'* Mr. Dixey was
admitted a freeman at the first General Court in 1634. He re
moved to Salem, and kept a ferry-boat across the North River.t
William Wood came to Lynn in 1629, and was admitted a
freeman May 18, 1631, He resided here, according to his own
account, about ' four years,' and during that time he wrote an
interesting work, entitled ' New England's Prospect,' containing
a very favorable account of the early settlements. On the fif
teenth of August, 1633, he sailed with Captain Thomas Graves,
for London ; where, in 1634, he printed his book, in one hun
dred pages. In 1635, he published a map of New England, en
graved on wood. He returned to Lynn the same year. He
* Deposition in Essex Court Archives, July 1, 1657.
t Felt's Annals of Salem.

62 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1630,
embarked on the eleventh of September, in the Hopewell, of
London, being then 27 years of age ; bringing with him his wife,
Elizabeth, aged 24 years.* In 1636, he was chosen represent
ative. In 1637, he went with a company of about fifty men, and
commenced a settlement at Sandwich. He was chosen town
clerk there, and was a very active, intelligent, and talented man.
His book is one of the most interesting and valuable which was
written at that early period, and several extracts from it will be
found in these pages.
John Wood was a farmer, and lived on the comer of Essex
and North streets, the same place now owned by Nathaniel
Lewis, When the lands were divided, in 1638, one hundred
acres were allotted to him. I think that William Wood, the
writer, was his son, and William Wood of Salem, his brother.
Such was the little band who commenced the first settlement
in the wilderness of Lynn. Five men, with their families, prob
ably comprising about twenty persons. They did not settle at
Sagamore Hill, because the Indians were there ; nor on the Com
mon, because that was a forest ; but coming from Salem, they
selected a ' faire playne,' somewhat less than half a mile in ex
tent, where they built their rude cottages, ' and had peaceable
possession,' John Wood appears to have been the principal
person, and from him the village has ever since been called
' Wood End,' There the soil of Lynn was first stirred by the
white men — there, surrounded by Indians, they laid the foun
dation of a town,
1630. Early in the spring, eleven vessels, having on board
about seventeen hundred persons, left the harbor of Southamp
ton, and sailed for New England, In the number of the pas
sengers were Mr. John Winthrop, the first governorr of Massa
chusetts, with many other persons of dignity, wealth, and
reputation. As Mr. Humfrey, who had been chosen deputy
governor, was not ready to remove, Mr. Thomas Dudley was
chosen in his stead. In the month of June, the ships arrived at
Salem, and the passengers began to make settlements in the
pathless woods. Mr. Dudley says that some of them settled
' upon the river of Saugus,' Others went to Chariestown and
Boston ; and the rest began new settlements at Roxbury Dor
chester, Watertown, and Medford, The Council had ao-ree'd that
each person who advanced fifty pounds, should have °two hun
dred acres ; and that each one who came over on his own ex
pense, should have fifty acres. The following persons appear
to have arrived at Lynn this year,
Joseph Armitage hved on the Common, opposite the Acade-

* Records in Westminster Hall, London.

1630.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 63
mj, and his land extended to Strawberry Brook. He was a
tailor, and was admitted a freeman in 1637. Some years after,
he became the proprietor of a corn and slitting mill on Saugus
River.* He opiened the first tavern in the town, called the
Anchor.! It stood on the Boston road, a little west of the river.
For one hundred and seventy years, this was the most cele
brated tavern in Essex county, being half way from Salem to
Boston. He died June 27, 1680, aged eighty years. His wife,
Jane, died March 3, 1677, His children were John, and Rebec
ca, who married Samuel Tarbox, in 1665.
Godfrey Armitage was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman
in 1638.
James Axey was a farmer, a representative in 1654, and died
in 1669. His wife, Frances, died the same year,
Allen Breed was a farmer, and lived in the w^estern part of
Summer street. In 1638, he had two hundred acres of land al
lotted to him. He was born in 1601, The name of his wife
was Ehzabeth, and his children were Allen, Timothy, Joseph,
and John. His descendants are numerous, and from him the
village in which he resided was called Breed's End.
William Bullard was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman
in 1638, In the same year he was a member of the Essex
Court, His children were John, Nathaniel, and Elizabeth,
George Burrill lived on the western side of Willis's Hill, He
was a farmer, and had 200 acres of land. He had three sons :
George ; Francis, born 1626, died November 10, 1704 ; and John,
born 1631, died April 24, 1703,
Edward Baker was a farmer, and lived on the south side of
Baker's Hill, in Saugus, He was admitted a freeman in 1638 ;
and was buried March 16, 1687, His wife, Joan, died April 9,
1693, His sons were Edward, who married Mary Marshall,
April 7, 1675 ; and Thomas, who married Mary Lewis, July 10,
1689, Samuel Bennet was a carpenter, and a member of the Ancient
Artillery Company in 1639. A pine forest in the northern part
of the town, still retains the name of Bennet's Swamp. He re
sided in the western part of Saugus, and when the towns were
divided, the line passed through his land, eastward of his house,
so that afterward he was called an inhabitant of Boston.
Nicholas Brown was a farmer, and lived in Walnut street, ia
Saugus. He removed to Reading in 1644. He had a son,
']"'homas, who continued at Lynn, and died August 28, 1693, His
descendants remain.
Boniface Burton was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman
May 6, 1635, He was the oldest man who ever lived at Lynn.
He died June 13, 1669, aged 113 years.J

* Essex Reg Deeds. t Mass, Archives. t Sewall.

64 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1630.
John Bancroft died in 1637. He had two sons, Thomas and
John, and his descendants remain.
Thomas Coldam was admitted a freeman in 1634. He kept
Mr. Humfrey's windmill on Sagamore Hill ; and died Aprfl 8,
1675, aged 74 years. ,. ^ ., » • .
Clement Coldam was a miller, and a member of the Ancient
Artillery Company in 1645. He had a son Clement, born in
1622, who removed to Gloucester, and died in 1703.
Thomas Chadwell was a farmer, and lived in Summer street.
He died in February, 1683, His sons were Thomas, Moses, and
Benjamin, His descendants remain.
William Cowdrey, born in 1602, was a farmer. He removed
to Reading in 1640 ; where he was Clerk of the Writs, Town
Clerk, Selectman, and Representative.
Thomas Dexter was a farmer, and lived on the west of Sau
gus river, near the iron works. He was admitted a freeman.
May 18, 1631. He owned eight hundred acres of land, and was
called, by way of excellence, ' Farmer Dexter.' He was a very
active and enterprising man, and built a mill, and a wear across
Saugus River, Among his speculations, he purchased Na
hant of the Indian chief, Poquanum, called ' Black WiU,' for
a suit of clothes ; which occasioned the town an expensive law
suit in 1657, another in 1678, and a third in 1695, He became
one of the first proprietors of the town of Sandwich in 1637, and
promoted its settlement, but did not remove at that time. He
had a son Thomas, a grandson Richard, and a great grandson
William ; but none of his descendants remain at Lynn.
Robert Driver was a farmer, and lived in Shepard street, on
the south of which a creek still bears his name. He was made
a freeman in 1635, and died April 3, 1680, aged 88 yeai's. His
wife, Phebe, died in February, 1683, He had a son, Robert,
who was a soldier in the Indian war of 1675,
Wilham Edmunds was admitted a freeman in 1635, and died
August 4, 1693, aged 33 years. His children were John; and
Samuel, who married Elizabeth Bridges, January 27, 1685,
George Farr was a farmer in the eastern part of Essex street.
He was admitted a freeman in 1635, and died in 1661. His
wife Elizabeth was buried March 11, 1687. His children were
John, Lazarus, Benjamin, Joseph, Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, and
Sarah. Hemy Feake was admitted a freeman. May 14, 1632, and
removed to Sandwich in 1637.
Jeremiah Fitch was a farmer, and lived in Shepard street.
He removed to Reading in 1644.
Samuel Graves was a farmer, and lived on the turnpike, west
of the Floating Bridge, and from him that village has ever since

1630,] HISTORYOFLYNN. 65
been called Graves End, In 1635, he gave neariy £300 to the
colony. He had a son Samuel, and his descendants remain,
Adam Hawkes was a farmer, and settled on the Hawkes
Farms in Saugus. He owned the land where the iron ore was
found, and filled up one of the mines, on the supposition that it
contained silver. Soon after his settlement, his house was
burnt. The only persons in it at the time, were a servant girl
and two twin infants, who escaped. He died in 1671. His
sons were Adam, John, Moses, Benjamin, and Thomas. His
descendants remain.
John Hawkes was admitted a freeman in 1634, and died
August 5, 1694.
John Hall was admitted a freeman in 1634. Edward Hall,
son of John, was a farmer, and died in 1669. His children were
Joseph, Ephraim, Elizabeth, Rebecca and Martha, His descend
ants remain.
Thomas Hubbard was admitted a freeman in 1634, and
removed to Billerica.
Edward Holyoke was a farmer, and had five hundred acres
of land. He was a member of the Essex Court, and was many
times chosen representative. In 1656 he owned the western
side of Sagamore Hill. He died May 4, 1660. His estate was
valued at £681. His farm in Lynn, £400; his farm at Beaver
Dam, in Reading, £150; three acres of land on Nahant, £6;
two oxen, £12; four cows, £16; and his books, £20; among
which were some valuable manuscripts. In his will, he be
seeches God to impress his children with the importance of
priv^ate prayer and public worship, and bequeaths each of them
a lock of his hair. His children were, 1. Elizur, who removed
to Springfield, and married Mary Pynchon ; 2, Ehzabeth, who
married George Keyser. An excellent spring, in the western
part of the town, surrounded by five willows, is well known by
the name of Holyoke spring. A descendant of his, Edward
Augustus Holyoke, an eminent physician, died at Salem, March
31, 1829, aged one hundred years and seven months,
Edward Howe was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman in
1636. He was several times chosen representative, and was a
member of the Essex Court in 1637, In April, 1639, after the
court was ended in Boston, having dined in his usual health, he
went to the river side, to pass over to Charlestown, and while
waiting for the ferry boat, fell dead on the shore. Governor
Winthrop says he was 'a Godly man,' He had a son Ed
ward. Lieutenant Daniel Howe, brother of Edward, was admitted a
freeman in 1634. He was representative in five courts, and a
member of the Ancient Artillery Company in 1 638, He removed
to New Haven, His son Ephraim was master of a vessel which
9

66 HISTORY OF LYNN. [163.0.
sailed from Boston, In September, 1676, his vessel, in which
were two of his sons and three other persons, was disabled by a
storm, off Cape Cod, and driven to sea for several weeks, UntU
his two sons, lashed to the deck by ropes, perished wilh wet and
cold. The vessel was then cast on a desolate island, Avhere the
three other persons died. Mr. Howe was thus left alone, and
found means to subsist for nine months, lodging and praying in
a cave, tiU he was taken off by a vessel, in June.
William Hathorne was born in England in 1607, was admit'
ted a freeman in 1634, and removed to Salem.
Thomas Hudson was a farmer, and lived on the western side
of Saugus river. He owned the lands where the iron works
were situated, part of which he sold for that purpose. He had
a son Jonathan, whose descendants remain,
Christopher Hussey was born at Darking, in Surrey, England,
in 1598, He went to Hohand, where he became enamored pf
Theodate, daughter of Rev, Stephen BachUer, who had resided
there several years, but her father would not consent to their
union, unless Mr. Hussey would remove to New England,
whither he was preparing to go. Mr. Hussey came to Lynn
with his mother, widow Mary Hussey, and his wife, in 1630,
and here, the same year, his son Stephen was born, who was
the second white child born in Lynn, He removed to Newbury
in 1636, and was chosen representative in 1637, In 1638, he
became one of the first settlers of Hampton, and was chosen a
counsellor. In 1685, he was cast away and lost on the coast of
Florida, being 87 years of age. His chUdren were Stephen,
John, Joseph, Huldah, Theodate, and Mary.
George Keyser, born 1616, was a tanner at Swampscot, and
was admitted a freeman in 1638, He married Elizabeth Hol
yoke, and had a son Elizur, who removed to Salem.
Christopher Lyndsey lived as a servant with Thomas Dexter,
and kept his cattle on Nahant, A hiU on the northeastern part
of Nahant is stiU caUed Lyndsey's HiU, He died in 1668.
He had two sons, John and Eleazer, and his descendants
remain. Thomas NewhaU was a farmer, and owned all the lands on
the eastern side of Federal street. His house stood in the same
place with that of Mr. Amos Rhodes, He had two sons, 1,
John, born in England, 2, Thomas, born in 1630, who was the
^rst white child born in Lynn. He married Elizabeth Potter,
December 29, 1652, and was buried April 1, 1687, ao-ed 67 years.
His wife was buried February 22, 1687. His children were
Thomas, John, Joseph, Nathaniel, EUsha, Elizabeth Mary
Saoiuel, and Rebecca. His descendants are more numerous
than those of any other name at Lyijn, and there are many in
the a,djacent tovvns. ¦'

1630.] HISTORY OF LYNN ^7
Jonathan Negus was born in 1601, and was admitted a free
man in 1634.
Robert Potter was a farmer, and lived in Boston street. He
Was admitted a freeman in 1634. He had a daughter Elizabeth,
John RamsdeU was a farmer, and died October 27, 1688, aged
86 years. His wife, PrisciUa, died January 23, 1675, His sons
were John and Aquila, and his descendants remain,
Edward Richards, born 1616, was 'a joiner,' and was admit
ted a freeman in 1641, He hved in the eastern part of Essex
street. On the third of April, 1646, he sold to Daftiel King,
'one parcel of land, caUed Windmill HUl,' being the eastern
mound of Sagamore HiU. He died January 26, 1690, aged 74
years. His descendants remain,
Joseph Rednap was a wine cooper, from London, and was
admitted a freeman in 1634, Judge Sewal),inhis Diary, says,
he died on Friday, January 23, 1686, aged 110 years.
Daniel Salmon, bom in 1610, was a soldier in the Pequod
war, in 1536. He had a son Daniel, born May 2, 1665.
Samuel Smith was a farmer, and lived at Swampscot, His
descendants remain,
John Smith was a farmer, and was adriiitted a freeman in
1633, He removed to Reading.
John Taylor came from HaverhiU, in England. His wife and
child died on the passage. He was admitted a freeman, October
19, 1630, and lived on the western side of Saugus river.
Captain Edward Tomlins was a carpenter, and was admitted
a freeman in 1631, He was six times chosen representative.
In 1633, he built the first mill in Lynn, at the mouth of Straw
berry brook, which flows from the Flax Pond, where Chase's
mill now stands. At one of the courts he agreed to repair Mis
tick bridge for £22. In 1638 he was a member of the Ancient
Artillery Company, In 1640, he went to Long Island, but
returned to Lynn, and was appointed Clerk of the Writs in
1643, His son Edward came over in 1635, at the age of 30 ;
but returned to London in 1644, and in 1679 was at Dublin,
Timothy Tomlins, brother of Edward, was a farmer, and was
admitted a freeman 1633, He was representative in thirteen
Sessions of the General Court, In 1640, he went with those
who began a settlement at Southampton, on Lorig Island, but
returned. A pine forest in the northern part of the toWn is
well kriown by the name of Tomlin's Svi'arhp, He was one of
the first proprietors of Cambridge, but did not reside there.
Captain Naithaniel Turner lived in Nahant street, and owned
the whole of Sagamore Hill. He applied to be admitted a free
man October 19, 1630, but did not take the oath until July 3,
1632. He was representative in the first seven sessions of the
General Court, and a member of the first County Court at Salem

68 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1630,
in 1636, In 1633, he was appointed Captain of the MUitia, and
in 1636 and 1637 had a command in several expeditions against
the Pequod Indians, In 1637 his house was burnt. In 1638,
he became a member of the Ancient ArtiUery Company ; and
the same year sold his land on Sagamore HUl to Mr, Edward
Holyoke, and removed, with others, to Quilipeake, where a new-
settlement was begun, and called New Haven, His name is
preseiyed in Turner's FaUs. In 1639, he was one of the seven
members of the first church at New Haven, In 1640, he pur
chased for the town, of Ponus, the Indian Sagamore, the tract
of land which is now the town of Stamford, for which he paid
in ' coats, shoes, hatchets, &c,' His active and useful life was
soon after terminated in a melancholy manner. In January,
1646, he, sailed for England, with Captain Lamberton, in a
vessel which was never heard of more. Governor Winthrop
informs us, that in June, 1648, the apparition of a ship was seen,
under full sail, moving up the harbor of New Haven, a little
before sunset, in a pleasant afternoon, and that as it approached
the shore, it slowly vanished. This was thought to have a
reference to the fate of Captain Lamberton's ship. The foUow
ing epitaph was written to the memory of Captain Turner :
Deep in Atlantic cave his body sleeps.
While the dark sea its ceaseless motion keeps.
While phantom ships are wrecked along the shore,
To warn his friends that he vrill come no more !
But He who governs all with impulse free.
Can bring from Bashan and the deepest sea.
And when He calls our Turner must return.
Though now his ashes fill no sacred urn,
Thomas Talmadge was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman
1634. He had a son Thomas,
Captain Richard Walker was a farmer, and resided on the
west of Saugus river. He was born in 1593 ; and was admitted
a freeman in 1634. He was buried May 16, 1687, aged 95
years. He had two sons ; Richard, born 1611, who came over
in 1635, removed to Reading, and was several times chosen
representative; and Samuel, who removed to Reading, He also
had two daughters ; Tabitha, who married Daniel King, March
11, 1662; and Elizabeth, who married Ralph King, March 2,
1663. Thomas WiUis was a farmer, and the first resident on WiUis's
Hill on which the poor-house is situated. The land on the
south was caUed WUlis's Neck, and that on the north WiUis's
meadow He was a representative in the first General Court in
1634, and a member of the Essex Court in 1639, He became
one of the first proprietors of Sandwich in 1637. but did not
remove at that time.

1630.] HISTORY op LYNN. 69
Bray WUkins was a farmer, and lived on the western side of
the Flax Pond. He was admitted a freeman in 1634, and
removed to Danvers,
John White was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman in
1633. WUliam Witter was a farmer, and resided at Swampscot.
He lived on the spot where Joseph Blaney's house now stands.
He says, ' Blacke wiU, or duke william, so called, came to my
house, (which was two or three mUes from Nahant,) when
Thomas Dexter had bought Nahant for a suit of clothes ; the
said Black will Asked me what I would give him for the Land
my house stood vppon, it being his land, and his ffather's wig
wam stood their abouts, James Sagomore and John, and the
Sagomore of Agawame, and diuers more. And George Sago
more, being a youth was present, all of them acknowlidginge
Black will to be the Right owner of the Land my house stood
on, and Sagomore Hill and Nahant was all his ; ' and adds ' that
he bought Nahant and Sagomer HiU and Swamscoate of Black
William for two pestle stones.'* He died in 1659, aged 75
years. The name of his wife was Annis, and his children were
Josiah, and Hannah, who married Robert Burdin, By his will,
August 6, 1657, he gives his wife Annis half his estate, and
Josiah the other half; and says, ' Hannah shall have a yew and
lamb this time twelf mounth,'
Captain Richard Wright was selected in 1632, to confer with
the governor about raising a public fund. He was admitted a
freeman in 1634, He removed to Boston, where, in 1636, he
contributed 6s, 6d. ' towards the maintenance of a free school
master.' t ,
The great body of fifty persons, with their families, who came
to Lynn this year, settled in all parts of the town, selecting the
most ehgible portions, and each occupying from ten to two hun
dred acres, and some more. They were principally farmers, and
possessed a large stock of horned cattle, sheep and goats. For
several years, before the land was divided, and the fields fenced,
the cattle were fed in one drove, and guarded by a man, who,
from his employment, was called a hayward. The sheep, goats
and swine were kept on Nahant, where they were tended by a
shepherd. Nahant seems to have been sold several times, to
different individuals, by ' Black William,''who also gave it to the
plantation for a sheep pasture. A fence of rails, put near
together, was made across the beach near Nahant, to keep out
the wolves, as those animals do not climb. When the people
were about building this fence. Captain Turner said, ' Let us
* Deposition in Salem Court files, 13lh and 27th April, 1657, t Boston Records,

70 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1630.
make haste, lest the country should, take it from us.' * The
people of Lynn, for some years, appear to have lived in the most
perfect democracy. They had town meetings every three
months, for the regulation of their public afiiiirs. They cut
their wood in common, and drew lots for the grass in the mead
ows and marshes. These proved very serviceable to the farm
ers, by furnishing them with sustenance for their cattle ; which
was probably the reason why there were more farmers at Lynn,
than in any other of the early setttementsi IMr. Johnson says,.
' The chiefest corn they planted, before they had plowes, was
Indian gram — and let no man make a jest at Pumpkins, for
with this food the Lord was pleased to feed his people to their
goad content, till Come and Cattell were increased.' Their
corn at the first, was pounded, after the manner of the Indians, with
a pestle of wood or stone, in mortar made either of stone, or a
log hollowed out at one end. They also cultivated large fields
of barley and wheat. Much of the former was made into malt
for beer. They raised considerable quantities of flax, which
was rotted in one of the ponds, thence called the Flax Pond,
Their first houses were rude structures, covered with thatch, or
small bundles of sedge or straw, laid one over another, A com
mon form of the early cottages, was eighteen feet square, and
seven feet post, with the roof steep enough to form a sleeping
chamber. The better houses were built with two stories in.
front, and sloped down to one in the rear ; the upper story pro
jecting about a foot, with very sharp gables. The frames were"
of heavy oak timber, showing the beams inside. Burnt clam-
sheUs were used for lime, and the waUs were whitewashed.
The fire-places were made of rough stones, and the chimneys'
of boards, or short sticks, crossing each other, and plaistered
inside with clay. The windows were small, opening outward on
hingesi They consisted of very smaU diamond panes, set in
sashes of lead. The fire-places were large enough to admit a
four-foot log, and the children might sit in the corners and look
up at the stars People commonly burnt about; twenty cords of
wood in a year, and the ministers were aUowed thirty cords.
On whichever side of the road the houses were placed, they
uniformly faced the south, that the sun at noon might ' shine
square.' Thus each house formed a domestic sun-dial by
which the good matron, in the absence of the clock, could tell,.
m fair-weather, when to caU her husband and; sons from the
field; for the industrious people of Lynn, then as well as now,
always dined exactly at twelve. It was the custom of the first
settlers to wear long beards, and Governor Winthrop says,
Some had their overgrown beards so frozen together, that they

* Deposition in Salem Court Records, April 22, 1657.

1630,] HISTORYOFLYNN, 71
could not get their strong water bottells into their mouths,' In
very hot weather, says Wood, ' servants were priviledged to
rest from their labors, from ten of the clocke till two,' The
common address of men and women was Goodman and Good-
wife ; none but those who sustained some oflice of dignity, or
were descended from some respectable family, were compli
mented with the title of Master. In writing, they seldom used
a capital F, and thus in the early records we find two small
ones used instead ; and one m, with a dash over it, stood for two.
The foUoviring ballad, written about this time, exhibits some of
the peculiar customs and modes of thinking among the early
settlers, NEW ENGLAND BALLAD.

The place where we live is a wilderness wood.
Where grass is much wanting that 's fruitful and good ;
Our mountains and hills, and our valleys below.
Being commonly covered with ice and with snow.
And when the northwest wind wilh violence blows,
Then every roan pulls his cap over his nose ;
But if any is hardy, and will it withstand,
He forfeits a finger, a foot, or a hand.

And when the spring opens, we then take the hoe,
And make the ground ready to plant and to sow ;
Our corn being planted, and seed being sown.
The worms destroy much before it is grown ;
And while it is growing, some spoil there is made
By birds and by squirrels, who pluck up the blade ;
And wh^n it is come to full corn in the ear.
It is often destroyed by raccoon and by deer.

Asd now our old garments begin to grow thin.
And wool is much wanted to card and to spin ;
If we can get a garment to cover without.
Our other in garments are clout [patch] upon patch.
Our clothes we brought with us are apt to be torn.
They need to be clouted soon after they 're worn ;
But clouting our garments they hinder us nothing,
Clouts double are warmer than single whole clothing.

If firesh meat be wanting to fill up our dish.
We have carrots and pumpkins, and turnips and fish ;
And if there 's a mind for a delicate dish.
We haste to the clam banks and take what we wish.
Stead of pottage and puddings and custards and pies,
Our turnips and parsnips are common supplies ;
W§ hav^ pijnjpkins at morning, and pumpkins at noon,
if it was not tor pumpkins we should be undone.

[1G30.

72 HISTORY OP LYNN,

r Stead of brandy and whiskey and cider and gin.
We have liquor which all mav partake without sm ;
Our springs of fresh water are excellent cheer.
And fill up the places of porter and beer.]
If barley be wanting to make into malt.
We must then be contented and think it no fault ;
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips,
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.

Now while some are going let others be coming.
For while liquor 's boiling it must have a scumming;
But I will not blame them, for birds of a feather,
Bv seeking their fellows, are fiocking together.
Then you whom the Lord intends hither to bring.
Forsake not the honey for fear of the sting ;
But bring both a quiet and contented mind,
And all needful blessings you surely shal,l find.
The General Court, for the first four years, consisted of the
Governor, Deputy Governor, twelve Assistants, or magistrates,
and all who had obtained the privileges of freemen. Instead,
therefore, of sending representatives, the whole number of free
men attended the Court in person. An order was made, that
no persons should be admitted to the privileges of ' freemen,'
but such as were members of some church, and had certificates
from their ministers that their opinions were approved. This
policy continued, tUl it was abrogated by an order from king
Charles II., in 1662.
Lynn was incorporated in 1630, by the admission of its free
men as members of the General Court. There were no acts of
incorporation for several of the early towns, Boston, Salem,
and Charlestown were no otherwise incorporated, than by their
freemen taking their seats in the General Court, They never
paused to inquire if they were incorporated; the very act of
their being there was an incorporation. The freemen of Lynn
were an important and respectable portion of the General Court,
and Lynn was as much incorporated in 1630 as Boston was.
The injustice which has been done to Lynn, by placing its in
corporation seven years too late, should be corrected.
The foUowing order was passed by the General Court, for
regulating the prices of labor, ' It is ordered, that no master
carpenter, mason, joiner, or bricklayer shall take above 16 d, a
Day for their work, if they have meate and Drinke ; and the
second sort not above 12 d. a Day, under payne of Xs, both to
giver and receiver,' This order probably occasioned some dis
satisfaction ; as the Court, some months after, determined that
wages should be left unlimited, ' as men shall reasonably agree.'
The Indians, having become acquainted with the use of guns,

1630,] HISTORYOFLYNN. 73
and having seen their superiority over bows and arrows, would
give almost any amount in land, beaver skins, or wampum for
them. This caused an apprehension of danger, and on the
twenty-eighth of September, the Court ordered, that ' noe per
son whatsoever shall, either directly or indirectly, imploy or
cause to be employed, or to their power permit any Indian to
vse any peece vpon any occasion or pretence whatsoever, under
pain of Xs. ffyne for the fu'st offence, and for the 2 offence to
be ffyned and imprisoned at the discretion of the Court.'
A company of militia was organized, of which Richard Wright
was captain, Daniel Howe lieutenant, and Richard Walker en
sign. The oflicers were not chosen by the people, but appointed
by the governor. The company possessed two iron cannon,
called ' sakers, or great guns.'
There is a story that two of the early settlers went to Nahant
for fowl, and separated. One of them kUled a seal on Pond
Beach, and, leaving him, went after some birds. When he re
turned, he found a bear feeding on his seal. He fired at him a
charge of shot, which caused him to faU, and then beat him with
his six foot gun tUl it broke. The bear then stood up, wounded
the man, and tore his clothes ; but the man, extricating himself,
ran into the pond, where he remained untU his companion came
and relieved him. They then returned to the town and informed
the people, who went down in the evening and made a fire on
the beach, which they kept burning through the night, to pre
vent the bear from coming off In the morning, they went to
Nahant and killed him.
Much mischief was occasioned among the cattle, for many
years, by the wolves, which. Wood says, used to travel in com
panies of 'ten or twelve,' On the thirteenth of September, says
Winthrop, ' the wolves killed some swine at Saugus,' On the
ninth of November, the Court ordered, that if any one killed a
wolf, he should have one penny for each cow and horse, and
one farthing for each sheep and swine in the plantation. Many
pits were dug in the woods to entrap them, and some of them
are yet to be seen. It is said that a woman, as she was ram
bling in the woods for berries, fell into one of these pits, from
which she was unable to extricate herself In the evening, a
wolf made her a very unceremonious visit, dropping down at
her side, through the bushes with which the pit was covered.
Finding himself entrapped, and being as much afraid of the
woman as she was of him, he retired to the opposite corner of
the pit; and thus they remained through the night, ogling each
other with any looks but those of an enamored couple. The
next day, the friends of the woman arrived at the pit, from which
they took her vsathout injury, and prevented any future visit from
her rude and unwelcome intruder,
10

74 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1631.
1631. In the early part of this year, provisions were very
scarce, and many persons depended for their subsistence upon
clams,' ground-nuts, and acorns. Wheat was sold for fourteen
shillin'o-s ($3.11) a bushel; and Indian corn, brought from Vir
ginia, for eleven slnllings ($2.44). The price of cattle, for sev
eral years, continued very high. A good cow was valued at
twenty-five pounds, ($111.11,) and a yoke of oxen at forty
pounds ($177.77),
On the third of February, the Court laid a tax of sixty pounds,
to make a palisade or defence about Newtown, now Cambridge,
The proportion of Saugus and Marble Harbour, or Lynn and
Marblehead, was six pounds.
On the eighteenth of February, a vessel owned by Mr. John
Glover, of Dorchester, was wrecked on Nahant rocks ; but the
crew were all saved.
The Court, on the first of March, ordered, ' That if any per
son, within the Lymitts of this Patent, doe trade, trucke, or sell
any money, either silver or golde, to any Indian, or any man that
knowe of any that shall soe doe, and conceal the same, shall
forfeit twenty for one. Further it is ordered, that whatever
person hath received an Indian into their ffamilie as a servant,
shall discharge themselves of them by the 1th of May next, and
that noe person shall hereafter entertain any Indian for a servant
without licence from the Court,'
Wonohaquaham and Montowampate, the sagamores of Wini-
simet and Lynn, having been defrauded of twenty beaver skins
by a man in England, named Watts, went to Governor Winthrop,
on the twenty-sixth of March, to solicit his assistance in recov
ering their value. The governor entertained them kindly, and
gave them a letter of introduction to Emanuel Downing, Esq,,
an eminent lawyer in London, Tradition says, that Montowam
pate went to England, where he was treated with much respect
as an Indian king; but, dishking the Enghsh dehcacies, he
hastened back to Saugus, to the enjoyment of his clams and
succatash. At this time, there was no bridge across Saugus river, and
people who travelled to Boston were compelled to pass through
the woods in the northern part of the town, and ford the stream
near the iron works, three mUes north from the Railroad bridge.
The following extract from a letter, written by Mr. John Endi-
cott, of Salem, to Governor Winthrop, on the twelfth of AprU,
Ulustrates this custom Mr. Endicott had just been married.
He says : ' Right Worshipful, I did hope to have been with you
in person at the Court, and to that end I put to sea yesterday,
and was driven back again, the wind being stiff against us; and
there being no canoe or boat at Saugus, I must have been con-

1631,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 75
strained to go to Mistic, and thence about to Chariestown;
which at this time I durst not be so bold, my body being at
present in an ill condition to take cold, and therefore I pray you
to pardon me.'
A quarrel had arisen, a short time previous, between Mr. En
dicott and Thomas Dexter, in which the Salem magistrate so
far forgot his dignity as to strike Mr. Dexter, who complained to
the Court at Boston. It was on this occasion that Mr. Endicott
wrote the letter from wliich the preceding extract is made. He
thus continues: 'I desired the rather to have been at Court,
because I hear I am much complained of by goodman Dexter
for striking him ; understanding since it is not lawful for a justice
of peace to strike. But if you had seen the manner of his car
riage, with such daring of me, with his arms akimbo, it would
have provoked a very patient man. He hath given out, if I had
a purse he would make me empty it, and if he cannot have jus
tice here, he wiU do wonders in England; and if he cannot
prevail there, he will tiy it out with me here at blows. If it
were lawful for me to try it at blows, and he a fit man for me
to deal with, you should not hear me complain.' The jury, to
whom the case was referred, gave their verdict for Mr, Dexter,
on the third of May, and gave damages ten pounds, ($44.44.)
Beside the evidence of the blow, Mr. Endicott manifests some
what of an irascible disposition in his letter; and Mr. Dexter
was not a man to stand for nice points of etiquette on occasions
of irritability. Some years afterward, having been insulted by
Samuel Hutchinson, he met him one day on the road, and
jumping from his horse, he bestowed 'about twenty blows on
his head and shoulders,' to the no small danger and deray of his
senses, as well as sensibilities.
April 12. 'It is ordered, that every Captaine shall traine his
companie on saterday in every weeke,'
May 18. 'It is ordered, that no person shall kill any wild
swine, without a general agreement at some court'
July 5. A tax of thirty pounds was laid for the purpose of
opening a canal from Charles river to Cambridge. "The requi
sition on Lynn was for one pound.
Masconomo, the sagamore of Agawam, or Ipswich, having
committed some offence against the eastern Indians, the Court,
on the fifth of .Tuly, passed an order, forbidding him to enter any
Englishman's house within one year, under a penalty of ten
beaver skins. The Taratines, also, undertook to avenge their
own wrong. On the eighth of August, about one hundred of
them landed from their canoes, at Ipswich, in the night, and
killed seven of Masconomo's men, wounding several more, some
of Avhom afterwards died. They also wounded Wonohaquaham
and Montowampate, who were on a visit to that place ; and

76 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1631.
carried away Wenuchus, the wife of Montowampate, a captive.
She was detained by them about two months, and was restored
on the intercession of Mr. Abraham Shurd, of Pemaquid, who
traded with the Indians, She returned on the seventeenth of
September, For her release, the Taratines demanded a quan
tity of wampum and beaver skins.
The people of Lynn were soon after alarmed by a report, that
the Taratines intended an attack on them, and appointed men
each night to keep a watch. Once, about midnight. Ensign
Richard Walker, who was on the guard, heard the bushes break
near him, and felt an arrow pass through his coat and 'buff
w^aistcoat.' As the night was dark, he could see no one, but he
discharged his gun, which, being heavily loaded, split in pieces.
He then called the guard, and returned to the place, when he
had another arrow shot through his clothes. Deeming it impru
dent to proceed in the dark against a concealed enemy, he de
sisted from further search untU moming. The people then
assembled, and discharged their cannon into the woods ; after
which, the Indians gave them no further molestation.
On the twenty-fifth of October, Governor Winthrop, with
several of his officers, visited Lynn on foot, passing through the
ford of Saugus river. They spent the night in Lynn, and the
next day went to Salem, They returned on the twenty-eighth.
In passing through Lynn, Governor Winthrop puts down in his
journal, 'A plentiful crop.'
Thus have we seen the town, which three years before was
a wilderness of Indians, now occupied by cottages of white men,
living in harmony with the natives ; clearing the forest, and cul
tivating the soU, and, by the blessing of Providence, reaping a
rich reward for their labors. The Indians had received them
with kindness, and given them liberty to settle where they
pleased ; but some years after, they made an agreement with
the natives for the land. The deed has shared the fate of the
lost records; but one of the town treasurers told me that he had
the deed in his possession about the year 1800, and that the
compensation was sixteen pounds ten shillings— about seventy-
three dollars. The people of Salem paid twenty pounds for the
deed of their town.

CHAPTER IV.
Character and Religion of the first settlers — Church established at Lynn— Life of
Rev. Stephen Bachiler — Poquanum, Sagamore of Nahant, murdered — Thomas
Dexter punished — Mill bulk — Wood's description of Lynn — Montowaropate
dies — Hon. John Humfrey arrives — Great Storm — New Inhabitants — Rev.
Samuel Whiting settled — Church Covenant— 1632 to 1636.
To wliat famed college we our tIcbx owe,
To what fair country, let liistorians show j
But Iet_ applause be dealt in all we may,
Oui priest was cheerful, and in season gay, Cba^bs,
HE gTeat body of the first settlers of Massa
chusetts were members of the church of Eng-
-land. After they had gone aboard the ships,
they addressed a letter ' To the rest of their
brethren in and of the Church of England,' in
which they say : ' We desire you would be
pleased to take notice of the principals and
body of our company, as those who' esteem it
our honor to call the Church of England, from
whence we rise, our dear Mother ; and cannot
depart from our native country where she
specially resideth, without much sadness of heart, and many tears
in our eyes ; ever acknowledging that such hope and part as we
have obtained in the common salvation, we have received it
from her bosom,' Prince, who stands in the first rank of our
historians, says : ' They had been chiefiy bom and brought up in
the national church, and had, until their separation, lived in
communion with her ; their ministers had been ordained by her
bishops, and had officiated in her parish churches, and had made
no secession from her untU they left their native land.' The
author of the Planter's Plea, printed in 1630, says : ' It may be
with good assurance maintained, that at least three parts out of
four, of the men there planted, are able to justify themselves to
have lived in a constant course of conformity unto our church
government.' Morton, in his Memorial says, when the ministers
were accused, ' They answered for themselves ; they were
neither separatists nor anabaptists ; they did not separate from
the. Church of England, nor from the ordinances of God there ;.

78 HISTORY OP LYNN.

[1632.

and the generahty of the people did weU approve of the min
isters answer.' Backus, who had no partiality for the church,
but who could nevertheless speak the truth, says : ' The gov
ernor and company of the Massachusetts colony held communion
with the national church, and reflected on their brethren who
separated from her.' Mr. Hubbard, who was well acquainted
with many of them, says : ' They always walked in a distinct
path from the rigid separatists, nor did they ever disown the
Church of England to be a true church.' The puritans of Ply
mouth colony, were the ' rigid separatists,' and they continued &
separate government until the year 1692, Some historians have
confounded these facts, and have thus misled their readers.
Among the early settlers of Lynn were some persons of high
reputation, and most of them appear to have been men of good
character, and of comfortable property. There is no evidence
that any of them had abandoned the church, or been persecuted
for their opinions, 'wiih. the exception of the Rev, Stephen
Bachiler, and the few persons in his connexion. Governor
Winthrop, who came over with them, begins his journal on
' Easter Monday,' which Mr, Savage says was ' duly honored ;'
and it is not until neariy five years after, that we catch a glimpse
of his Puritanism, when he begins to date on the ' eleventh
month.' 1632. For the first three years, the people of Lynn had no
minister, but some of them attended church at Salem, and others
had meetings for prayer and exhortation. The Rev. Stephen
BachUer, with his famUy, arrived at Boston on Thursday, the
fifth of June, after a tedious passage of eighty-eight days. He
came in the ship William and Francis, Captian Thomas, which
sailed from London on the ninth of March. He immediately
came to Lynn, where his daughter Theodate, wife of Christo
pher Hussey resided. He was seventy-one years of age. In
his company were six persons who had belonged to a church
with him in England ; and of these he constituted a church at
Lynn, to which he admitted such as desired to become mem
bers, and commenced the exercise of his pubhc ministrations on
Sunday, the eighth of June, without installation. He baptized
four children, bom before his arrival ; two of whom, Thomas
Newhall and Stephen Hussey, were born the same week.
Thomas, being the first white chUd born in Lynn, was first pre
sented; but Mr, Bachiler put him aside, saying, • I wiU baptise
my own child first '— meaning his daughter's child
The church at Lynn was the fifth in Massachusetts The
first was gathered at Salem, August 6, 1629; the second at
Dorchester in June, 1630; the third at Chariestown, July 30
1630, and removed to Boston ; the fourth at Watertown on the

1632.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 79
same day ; and the fifth at Lynn, June 8, 1632. The first meet
ing-house was a small plain building, without bell or cupola, and
stood on the northeastern corner of Shepard and Summer streets-.
It was placed in a small hollow, that it might be better sheltered
from the winds, and was partly sunk into the earth, being entered
by descending several steps.
In the General Court on the ninth of May, ' A proposition was
made by the people that every company of trained men might
choose their own captain and officers ; but the governor, giving
them reasons to the contrary, they were satisfied without it.'
On the fourteenth of June, as Captain Richard Wright was
returning from the eastward, in a vessel, with about eight hun
dred dollars' worth of goods on board, one of the crew, when off
Portsmouth, proceeded to light his pipe ; but was requested to
desist, as there was a barrel of powder on board. He replied
that ' he should take one pipe if the devil carried him away.'
The boat and the men, says Winthrop, were presently blown to
pieces ; but the rest of the crew, though some of them were
drunk and asleep, escaped.
Governor Winthrop, in his journal, August fourteenth, remarks :
' This week they had, in barley and oats, at Sagas, about twenty
acres good corn, and sown with the plough.'
On the fourth of September, Richard Hopkins, of Watertown,
was arraigned for selling a gun and pistol, with powder and shot,
to Montowampate, the Lynn sagamore. The sentence of the
Court was that he should 'be severely whippt, and branded
with a hot iron on one of his cheekes.' One of the Saugus
Indians gave the information, on promise of concealment, for
his discovery would have exposed him to the resentment of his
tribe. Captain Nathaniel Turner was chosen, by the General Court,
' constable of Saugus for this year, and till a new be chosen,'
In consequence of a suspicion that the Indians were conspir
ing the destruction of the whites, the neighboring sagamores
were called before the governor on the fourteenth of September.
The readiness with which they appeared evinced their friendly
disposition. Mr, Bachiler had been in the performance of his pastoral
duties about four months, when a complaint was made of some
irregularities in his conduct. He was arraigned before the
Court at Boston, on the third of October, when the foUowing
order was passed : ' Mr. Bachiler is required to forbeare exer
cising his gifters as a pastor or teacher publiquely in our Pattent,
unlesse it be to those he brought with him, for his contempt of
authority, and until some scandles be removed.' This was the
commencement of a series of difficulties which agitated the
unhappy church for several years.

80 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1633.
October 3. ' It is ordered that Saugus plantation shall have
hberty to build a ware upon Saugus Ryver; also they have
promised to make and continually to keepe a goode foote bridge,
upon the most convenient place there.' This wear was chiefly
built by Thomas Dexter, for the purpose of taking bass and
alewives, of which many were dried and smoaked for shipping.
It crossed the river near the iron-works. The bridge was only
a rude structure of timber and raUs.
' It is further ordered, that no person shall take any tobacco
publiquely, under pain of punishment ; also that every one shaU
pay one penny for every time he is convicted of taking tobacco
in any place.'
On the second of November, a vessel commanded by Captain
Pierce, and loaded with fish, of which Mr. John Humfrey was
part owner, was wrecked off Cape Charles, and twelve men
drowned. November 7. ' It is ordered that the Captaines shaU train
their companyes but once a monethe.'
' It is referred to Mr. Turner, Peter Palfrey, and Roger Conant,
to sell out a proportion of land in Saugus for John Humfrey,
Esqr,' This land was laid out at Swampscot, Mr, Turner was
also one of a committee to settle a difference respecting the
boundary line between Cambridge and Charlestown.
Ll the month of December, a servant girl, in the family of the
Rev. Samuel Skelton of Salem, coming to see her friends at
Lynn, lost her way, and wandered seven days. Mr. Winthrop
says, 'All that time she was in the woods, having no kind of
food, the snow being very deep, and as cold as at any time
that winter. She was so frozen into the snow some mornings,
as she was one hour before she cold get up.' Mr, Wood says,
' The snow being on the ground at first, she might have trackt
her own footsteps back again ; but wanting that understanding,
she wandred, tiU God by his speciall Providence brought her
back to the place she went from, where she lives to this day,'
1633. In the month of January, this year, Poquanum, the
sagamore of Nahant was unfortunately kiUed, Several vessels
having been to the eastward in search of some pirates, stopped
on their return at Richmond's Isle, near Portland, where they
found ' Black William,' whom they hanged in reveno-e for the
murder of WaUer BagnaU, who had been kiUed by the Indians
on the third of October, 1631, Mr. Winthrop says that Bagnall
' was a wicked fellow, and had much wronged the Indians ' It
IS not certain that Poquanum had any concern in his death • on
the contrary. Governor Winthrop tells that he was kiUed by
' Squidraysett and his Indians.' Thus terminated the existence
of a chief who had welcomed the white men, and bestowed
benefits on them.

1633,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 81
In the course of a few months, Mr, Bachiler had so far suc
ceeded in regaining the esteem of the people, that the Court, on
the fourth of March, removed their injunction that he should not
preach in the colony, and left him at liberty to resume the per
formance of his public services.
At the same Court, Mr, Thomas Dexter was ordered to ' be
set in the bilbowes, disfranchised, and fined X£, for speaking
reproachful and seditious words against the government here
established,' The bilbows were a kind of stocks, like those in
which the hands and feet of poor Hudibras were confined.
' The Knight

And brave squire from their steeds alight,
At the outer wall, near which there stands
A Bastile, made to imprison hands,
By strange enchantment made to fetter
The lesser parts, and free the greater.
One of these elegant and commodious appendages of the law,
was placed near the meeting-house ; where it stood the terror
and punishment of all such evil doers as spoke against govern
ment, chewed tobacco, or went to sleep in a sermon two hours
long. However censurable Mr. Dexter may have been, his
punishment was certainly disproportioned to his fault. To be
deprived of the privileges of a freeman, to be exposed to the
ignominy of the stocks, and to be amerced in a fine of more than
forty dollars, show that the magistrates were greatly incensed
by his remarks. If every man were to be set in the bilbows,
who speaks against government in these days, there would
scarcely be ttees enough in Lynn woods to make stocks of
The magistrates of those days had not acquired the lesson, which
their successors have long since learned, that censure is the tax
which pubUc men must pay for their adventitious greatness.
On the fourth of March, Mr, Nathaniel Turner was chosen
by the General Court, ' Captaine of the military company att
Saugus.' Captain Turner gave ten pounds ' towards the sea fort,' built
for the defence of Boston harbor. Captain Richard Wright gave
' 400 feet 4 inch planke,' for the same purpose.
Mr. Edward Howe was fined twenty shillings, 'for selling
stronge waters, contrary to order of Court.'
At a town meeting on the twelfth of July, the inhabitants
made a grant to Mr. Edward Tomlins, of a privUege to build a
corn-mill, at the mouth of the stream which flows from the Flax
pond, where Chase's mill now stands. This was the second
miU in the colony, the first having been built at Dorchester the
same year. At this time, the pond next above the Flax pond
was partly a meadow ; and some years after a dam was biiUt
and the pond raised by Edward Tomlins, from whom it was
11

82 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1633.
caUed Tomlin's pond. In reference to this miU, we find the
following testimonies, given June 3, 1678,_in the Essex Regis
try of Deeds.
' I, George Keaser, Aged about 60 yeare, doe testitie, that
being at a Towne meetinge in Linne meeting house many
yeares agoe, mr. Edward Tomlins made complaint then to the
Towne of Linne, that there was not water enough m the great
pond next to the Towne of Linne to serve the miU to grind theire
grist in the sumer time, and he desired leave of the Tovrae to
make a dam in the upper pond to keep a head of water against
the height of sumer time, that soe he might have a suply of
water to Grind their Grist in the drought of sumer. And the
Towne of hnne granted him his request, that he would make a
dam there, where the old trees lay for a bridge for all people to
goe over, insteed of a bridg.'
' This I, Clement Coldam, aged about 55 years, doe testifie,
that the grant of the old mUl was in July ye 12, 1633, to Edward
Tomlins, which was the second mill in this colony ; and after
the Towne saw that the mill could not supply the Towne, they
gave leave to build an overshoot mill upon the same water;
with a sluice called by the name of the old sluce, being made
by Mr, Howell, the second owner of the mill; and then Mr,
Howell did sell the same mill to .John Elderkin ; and John El-
derkin did sell it to mr. Bennet, and mr. Bennet did seU it to
Goodman Wheeler, and Goodman Wheeler sould it to John
Ballard, and John Ballard sold it to Henry Rhodes. And this I
testifie that the water to supply the mill with, was granted to
the mill, before any Meddow in the Towne was granted to any
man, wee mowing all comon then. And this I testifie, that I
kept the key of the old sluce for mr. South, which is since about
27 or 28 yeares agoe.'
Edward Richards testified, that Mr. Tomhns ' was not to stop
or hinder the alewives to go up to the great pond.'
The following description of ancient Saugus and Nahant is
extracted from ' New England's Prospect,' vsTitten this year by
William Wood of Lynn, and which he says was undertaken,
' because there hath been many scandalous and false reports
past upon the country, even from the sulphurous breath of every
base ballad monger.'
'The next plantation is Saugus, sixe miles northeast from
Winnesimet. This Towne is pleasant for situation, seated in
the bottom of a Bay, which is made on one side with the sur
rounding shore, and on the other with a long, sandy Beach,
This sandy beach is two mUes long at the end, whereon is a
necke of land called Nahant, It is sixe mUes in circumference
weU wooded with Oakes, Pines, and Cedars. It is beside well
watered, having beside the fresh Springs, a great Pond in the

1633.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 83
middle, before which is a spacious Marsh, In this necke is
Store of good ground, fit for the Plow ; but for the present it is
only used for to put young Cattle in, and weather Goates, and
Swine, to secure them from the Woolues ; a few posts and rayles,
from the low water markes to the shore, keepes out the Woolves,
and keepes in the Cattte, One Blacke William, an Indian Duke,
out of his generosity, gave this place in generall to this planta
tion of Saugus, so that no other can appropriate it to himselfe,
' Vpon the South side of the Sandy Beach, the Sea beateth,
which is a true prognostication to presage stormes and foule
weather, and the breaking up of the Frost. For when a storme
hath beene, or is hkely to be, it will roare like Thunder, being
heard sixe miles ; and after stormes casts up great stores of great
Clammes, which the Lidians, taking out of their shels, carry
home in baskets. On the North side of this Bay is two great
Marshes, which are made two by a pleasant River, which
runnes between them. Northward up this river goes great
store of Alewives, of which they make good Red Herrings ;
insomuch that they have been at charges to make th^m a
wayre, and a Herring house to dry these Herrings in ; the last
year were dried some 4 or 5 Last * for an experiment, which
proved very good ; this is like to prove a great inrichment to the
land, being a staple commodity in other Countries, for there be
such innumerable companies in every river, that I have seen
ten thousand taken in tw^o houres, by two men, without any
weire at all, saving a few stones to stop their passage up the
river. There likewise come store of Basse, which the English
and Indians catch with hooke and line, some fifty or three score
at a tide. At the mouth of this river runnes up a great Creeke
into that great Marsh, which is called Rumny Marsh, which is
4 miles long, and 21 miles broad, halfe of it being Marsh ground,
and halfe upland grasse, without tree or bush ; this Marsh is
crossed with divers creekes, wherein lye great store of Geese
and Duckes. There be convenient Ponds, for the planting of
Duck coyes. Here is likevtrise belonging to this place, divers
fresh Meddowes, which afford good grasse ; and foure spacious
Ponds, hke little Lakes, wherein is good store of fresh Fish,
within a mile of the Towne ; out of which runnes a curious fresh
Brooke, that is seldom frozen, by reason of the warmnesse of
the water ; upon this stream is built a water Milne, and up this
river come Smelts and frost fish, much bigger than a Gudgeon,
For wood there is no want, there being store of good Oakes,
WaUnut, Cedar, Aspe, Elme. The ground is very good, in many
places without trees, and fit for the plough. In this place is more
Enghsh tiUage than in all New England and Virginia besides ;
* 150 Barrels.

84 HISTORYOFLYNN,

[1633,

which proved as well as could be expected ; the corn being very
good, especially the Barley, Rye and Oates.
' The land affordeth to the inhabitants as many varieties as
any place else, and the sea more ; the Basse continuing from
the middle of April to Michaelmas,* which stayes not half that
time in the Bay;t besides, here is a great deal of Rock cod and
MacriU, insomuch that shoales of Basse have driven up shoales
of MacrUl, from one end of the sandy Beach to the other ; which
the inhabitants have gathered up in wheelbarrows. The Bay
which lyeth before the Towne, at a lowe spring tyde will be all
flatts for two miles together ; upon which is great store of Mus
cle banckes, and Clam banckes, and Lobsters amongst the rockes
and grassie holes. These flatts make it unnavigable for shippes ;
yet at high water, great Boates, Loiters,t and Pinnaces of 20
and 30 tun, may saile up to the plantation ; but they neede have
a skilful Pilote, because of many dangerous rockes and foaming
breakers, that lye at the mouth of that Bay, The very aspect
of the place is fortification enough to keepe of an unknowne
enemie ; yet it may be fortified at little charge, being but few
landing places thereabout, and those obscure,'
Of the health of Lynn, Mr, Wood remarks : ' Out of that
Towne, from whence I came, in three years and a half, there
died but three ; to make good which losses, I have seene foure
children Baptized at one time.' Prefixed to his book, is the
following address, written by some one in England, who signs
himself s. w, ' Thanks to thy travel and thyself, who hast
Much knowledge in so small room comptly placed,
And thine experience thus a mound dost make.
From whence we may New England's prospect take.
Though many thousands distant ; therefore thou
Thyself shall sit upon mount praise her brow.
For if the man who shall the short cut find
Unto the Indies, shall for that be shrined.
Sure thou deservest then no small praise who
So short cut to New England here dost shew ;
And if than this small thanks thou get'st no more
Of thanks, I then will say the world's grown poor.'
The ' curious fresh broocke ' which Mr, Wood notices, is
Strawberry Brook ; which is kept warm by the numerous sprmgs
beneath the pond in which it originates, and by its constant
flowing for the supply of several mills, Mr, Robert Mansfield,
who lived near its source, told me that he had never seen it
frozen for more than seventy years.
A tax made by the General Court, on the first of October,
wiU show the relative wealth of the several towns. The ap-
* September 29. t Boston Harbor. J Lighters.

1633.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 85
portionment was, to Dorchester, 80 pounds ; to Boston, Charies
town, Cambridge, Watertown, and Roxbury, each, 48 pounds ;
Lynn, 36 ; Salem, 28.' At several assessments, Lynn was in
advance of Salem.
Such great quantities of com having been used for fattening
swine, as to occasion a scarcity, the Court ordered, on the fifth
of November, ' That no man shall give his swine any corn, but
such as, being viewed by two or three neighbors, shaU be judged
unfit for man's meat ; and every plantation may agree how many
swine every person may keep.'
The Court ordered, that every man, in each plantation,
excepting magistrates and ministers, should pay for three day's
werk, at one shilUng and sixpence each, for completing the Fort
in Boston harbor.
The ministers of Lynn and the westem towns were in the
practice of meeting at each other's houses, once in two weeks,
to discuss important questions. The ministers of Salem were
averse to the practice, fearing it might eventuate in the estab-
hshment of a presbytery.
On the fourth of December, corresponding with the fifteenth
of new style, the snow was ' knee deep,' and the rivers frozen.
The year 1633 was rendered memorable by the death of the
three Indian sagamores. In January, Pequanum was murdered ;
and in December, Wonohaquaham and Montowampate died.
Governor Winthrop, in his journal, says : ' December 5, John
Sagamore died of the smaU pox, and almost all his people ; above
thirty buried by Mr, Maverick of Winesemett in one day. The
towns in the bay took away many of the chUdren ; but most of
them^died soon after,
' James Sagamore of Sagus died also, and most 'of his folks,
John Sagamore desired to be brought among the English; so
he was ; and promised, if he recovered, to live with the English
and serve their God, He left one son, which he disposed to
Mr, WUson, the pastor of Boston, to be brought up by him. He
gave to the governor a good quantity of wampompeague, and to
divers others of the English he gave gifts ; and took order for
the payment of his own debts and his men's. He died in a
persuasion that he should go to the Englishmen's God, Divers
of them, in their sickness, confessed that the Englishmen's God
was a good God, and that if they recovered they would serve
him. It wrought much with them, that when their own people
forsook them, yet the English came daily and ministered to them ;
and yet few, only two families, took any infection by it. Amongst
others Mr, Maverick, of Winesemett is worthy of a perpetual
remembrance. Himself, his wife and servants, went daily to
them, ministered to their necessities, and buried their dead,
and took home many of their chUdren, So did other of the
neighbors.'

86 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1634,
After the death of his brothers, Wenepoykin became saga
more of the remaining Indians in this region.
1634. The inconvenience of having the Legislature com
posed of the whole number of freemen, and the danger of leav
ing the plantations exposed to the attacks of the Indians, induced
the people to form a House of Representatives, who first assem
bled on the fourteenth of May, Eight towns were represented,
each of which sent three representatives — Boston, Charlestown,
Roxbury, Dorchester, Cambridge, Watertown-, Lynn and Salem,
The representatives from Lynn were Captain Nathaniel Turner,
Edward Tomlins, and Thomas WiUis, The General Court this
year consisted of the Govemor, Deputy Governor, six assistants
and twenty-four representatives. This number was not much
increased for many years ; each town sending fewer, rather than
more representatives.
Hon, John Humfrey, with his wife, the Lady Susan, a daugh
ter of the Earl of Lincoln, arrived in July, He brought with
him a valuable present from Mr, Richard Andrews, an alderman-
of London, consisting of sixteen heifers, at this time valued at
more than eighty dollars each. One of them was designed for
each of the eight ministers, and the remainder were for the
poor. He went to reside on his farm at Swampscot, which had
been laid out by order of the Court, It consisted of five hun
dred acres, ' between Forest river and the cliff' The bounds
extended ' a mile from the seaside,' and ran ' to a great white oak
by the rock,' including ' a spring south of the oak.' The spring
is on Mr. Stetson's farm, and the 'old oak' is stiU standing about
a furlong north, where it is hoped it wiU long be suffered to re
main, a hying memorial of other times.
O spare the tree, whose dewy tears
Have fallen for a thousand years !
Beneath whose shade, in days of old.
The careful shepherd watched his fold ;
On whose green top the eagle sate,
To watch the fish hawk's watery weight ;
And oft in moonlight by whose side.
The Indian wooed his dusky bride!
It speaks to man of early time,
Before the earth was stained with crime
Ere cannon waked our peaceful plains.
When silence ruled her vast domains.
O, as you love tlie bold and free.
Spare, woodman, spare the old oak tree !
Since the pubhcation of these lines in the first edition, Mr
Morris has written his admiiuble song, ' Woodman, spare that
tree ! But, alas ! the old oak, the last of the ancient forest of
Lynn, has been cut down. Some people have no sentiment

1635,] HISTORY OP LYNN. 87
On the third of September, the Court ordered, ' That Mr, Ed
ward Tomlins, or any other put in his place, by the Commis
sioners of War, with the help of an assistant, shaU have power
to presse men and carts, for ordinary wages, to helpe towards
makeing of such carriages and wheeles as are wanting for the
ordinances.' On training day. Captain Turner, by the direction of Colonel
Humfrey, went with his company to Nahant, to hunt the wolves
by which it was infested. This was very pleasant amusement
for training day,
1635. Though an agreement had been made by Thomas
Dexter with the Indian chief, for the proprietorship of Nahant,
yet the town evidently regarded it as their property ; as will ap
pear by the foUowing extracts from the Town Records, preserved
in the files of the General Court :
January 11. 'It is also voted by the freemen of the towne,
that these men underwritten shall have liberty to plant and
buUd at Nahant, and shaU possess each man land for the said
purpose, and proceeding in th^ trade of fishing, Mr, Humfreys,
Daniel How,. Mr, BaUard, Joseph Redknap, Timothy Tomlins,
Richard Walker, Thomas Talmage, Henry Feakes, Francis
Dent' Januai-y 18. 'It is ordered by the freemen of the towne, that
aU such persons as are assigned any land at Nahant, to further
the trade of making fish. That if they do not proceed accordingly
to forward the said trade, but either doe grow remiss, or else doe
give it quite over, that then all such lotts shaU be forfeited again
to the towne, to dispose of as shall be thought fitte.'
The dissensions which had commenced in Mr. BachUer's
church at an early period, began again to assume a formidable
appearance. Some of the members, disliking the conduct of
the pastor, and ' withal making a question whether they were
a church or not,' withdrew from the communion, Mr. Bachiler
requested them to present their grievances in writing, but as
they refused to do that, he gave information that he should pro
ceed to excommunicate them. In consequence of this, a councU
of ministers was held on the fifteenth of March, After a de
liberation of three days, they decided, that although the church
had not been properly instituted, yet the mutual exercise of
their religious duties had supplied the defect.
The difiiculties in the self-constituted church, however, did
not cease with the decision of the council, but continued to in^
.crease, until Mr, Bachiler, perceiving no prospect of their termi
nation, requested a dismission for himself and his first members,
which was granted.
The celebrated Hugh Peters, who had just arrived in America,

88 HISTORY OP LYNN. [1635,
was next employed to preach, and the people requested him to
become their minister ; but he preferred to exercise the duties
of that office at Salem, He was a very enterprising man, but
seems to have been much better adapted for a politician than a
minister. He was a great favorite of Johnson, the Woburn poet,
who thus alludes to his preaching, and to the difficulties at
Lynn: ' With courage Peters, a soldier stout,
In wilderness for Christ begins to war ;
Much work he finds 'mongst people yet hold out.
With fluent tongue he stops phantastic jar.'
He returned to England in 1641, and unhappily became in
volved in the ambitious designs of CromweU, — preached the
funeral sermon over the ' grey discrowned head ' of the unfortu
nate Charles the First — and was executed for treason on the
sixteenth of October, 1660, He left ' A Father's Legacy to an
Only Child ; ' written in the Tower of London, and addressed,
' For Elizabeth Peters, my dear ChUd.' He says, ' I was the
son of considerable parents from Foy in Cornwall, I am heartily
sorry I was ever popular, and known better to others than to
myself And if I go shortly where time shaU be no more, where
dock nor clock distinguish hours, sink not, but lay thy head in
his bosom who can keep thee, for he sits upon the waves.
Farewell, ' I wish thee neither poverty nor riches.
But godhness, so gainful with content ;
No painful pomp, nor glory that bewitches,
A blameless life is the best monument ! '
It was the custom in those early days to have an hourglass in
the pulpit, by which the minister timed his sermons, A painter of
that day made a picture, in which he represented Mr, Peters
turning an hour glass and saying, ' I know you are good feUows-
stay and take another glass I ' '
The standard borne at this time was a red cross in a white
field. This emblem was not congenial to the feehngs of Mr,
Endicott and he ordered it to be cut out from the banner at Sa
lem, This occasioned much dissatisfaction among the people,
and a committee from each town was appointed in May, to con
sider of the offence. They judged it to be ' great, rash, and
without discretion, and disqualified him, for one year, from bear
ing any pubhc office.
. ^7 ^ 1 ' V"^'^ '" ^°° ^^"^^ °f ^^^-i- ^iid a freshe Pond, with
a httle Island, conteynmg about two acres, granted to John
Tl'^^^t"^"-' ^^'"^ ^?^^^^^ ^°^th and we^t of Saugus -pro
StrptanX^l?!,?A--/;^^^^
the said Island, and to lay in such provisions as they shall judge

1635.] HISTORY OP LYNN. 89
necessary for their use in tyme of neede,' The land thus laid
out was around Humfrey's Pond, in Lynnfield, and was nearly
one mile in extent.
On the sixteenth of August happened one of tlie most tre
mendous storms ever known in New England, It beat down
the com, overturned houses, and tore up by the roots ' many
hundred thousands of trees.' The east wind blew with such
violence, that the tide was turned before the ebb had half fallen,
and the sea rose many feet, so that some Indians were drowned,
and others climbed trees for safety, A vessel was wrecked on
Thacher's Island, and twenty -one persons lost, Mr. Anthony
Thacher and his wife, ancestors of Rev. Thomas Gushing
Thacher, afterward minister of Lynn, were the only persons
saved. This year brass farthings were-^rohibited, and musket bullets
were ordered to pass for farthings.
Many new inhabitants appear at Lynn about this time, whose
names it wiU be well to preserve,
Abraham Belknap had two sons, Abraham and Jeremy ; and
from him descended Dr, Jeremy Belknap, the historian of New
Hampshire, Edmund Bridges came over in July, 1635, and died in 1686,
aged 74 years. The name of his wife was Mary, and his sons
John and Josiah, He was the second shoemaker at Lynn,
James Boutwell, farmer, freeman 1638, died 1651, His wife
was Alice, and his chUdren, Samuel, Sarah, and John,
Edward Burcham, freeman, 1638, clerk of the writs, 1645, In
1656 he returned to England,
George Burt came to Lynn in 1635, and died November 2,
1661. He was a farmer, and the value of his estate was
£.144.4.9. He had three sons; George, who went to Sandwich
in 1637; Hugh, bom 1591; and Edward, who removed to
Charlestown. Henry Collins was a starch maker, and lived in Essex street.
He embarked in the Abigail of London, on the thirtieth of June,
1635. In 1639 he was a member of the Salem Court. He was
bom in 1606, and was buried February 20, 1687, at the age of 81
years. His wife Ami was born in 1605, His children were
Henry, bom 1630; John, bom 1632; Margery, bqrn 1633; and
Joseph, born 1635, and his descendants remain,
John Cooper embarked in the Hopewell, of London, April 1,
1635, He was bom at Oney, in Buckinghamshire, in 1594,
Timothy Cooper, farmer, died in March, 1659. His children
were Mary, Hannah, John, Timothy, Dorcas, and Rebecca,
Jenkin Davis, joiner, freeman 1637, died 1661, His wife was
Sarah, and he had a son John.
12

90 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1635,
John Deacon was the first blacksmith at Lynn, and in 1638
had twenty acres of land aUotted to him.
Edmund Freeman, bom in 1590, came to Lynn in 1635. He
removed to .Sandwich in 1637, and was an assistant of Plymouth
colony in 1640. His children were Elizabeth, Alice, Edmund,
and John. Mr. Freeman presented the colony with twenty
corslets, or pieces of plate armor.
Edmund Farrington embarked in the Hopewell, of London,
April 1, 1635, with his wife and four children,* He was a na
tive of Oney, in Buckinghamshire ; born in 1588, He was a far
mer, and had 200 acres of land, part of which was on the
western side of Federal street, where he lived, and part on the
western side of Myrtle street, where the land is well known as
' Farrington's Field,' In 1 655 he built a corn mill on Water
Hill, where a pond was dug, and a water course opened for hah"
a mile, called ' Farrington's Canal,' He died in 1670, aged 82
years. The name of his wife was Elizabeth ; bom in 1586,
His children were Sara, born in 1621; Martha, born in 1623;
John, bom in 1624; and Elizabeth, born in 1627, and married
John Fuller in 1646, He also had a son Matthew, to whom, on
the 16th of June, he gave half his corn mill, 'except the tole of
my son ffuUer's grists, which is well and duly to be ground tole
free, during the life of my daughter Elizabeth."!"
Christopher Foster embarked in the Abigail, of London, June
17, 1635, He was a farmer, was admitted a freeman in 1637, and
lived in Nahant street. He was born in 1603, His wife Frances
was born in 1610, His chUdren were Rebecca, bom 1630 ; Na
thaniel, born 1633; and John, born 1634.
Joseph Floyd Uved in Fayette street. In 1666, he sold his
house and land to ' Henry Silsbee of Ipswich,' for thirty-eight
pounds, and removed to Chelsea, His land is described as
bounded 'west next the town common, and east next a little
river,' The ' town common ' then meant the pubhc lands in
Woodend; and the 'littie river' was Stacey's brook,
George Fraile died December 9, 1663, He had a son George
who was accidentally killed in 1669, 'by a piece of timber, of
about fifteen hundred weight, roUinsj over him.+
Dennis Geere came from Thesselworth to Lynn in 1635 He
was bom in 1605, and his wife Elizabeth was born in 1613
His children were Elizabeth and Sara, He died in 1635 and
gave, by his wiU, £300 to the colony,
Nathaniel Handforth was a 'haberdasher,' from London and
hved on the north side of the common. He was buried Sep
tember 13, 1687, aged 79 years, ^
Richard Johnson came over in 1630, and lived vdth Sir Rich-

*Records,in Westminster Hall, London -f Salem Court files

1635.] HISTORYOFLYNN. 91
ard Saltonstall, at Watertown, He was admitted a freeman in
1637. He came to Lynn the same year, and settled as a farmer,
on the eastern end of the common. He died in 1666, aged 54
years. His children were Daniel, Samuel, EUzabeth, and Abi
gail. His descendants remain.
Philip Kertland was the first shoemaker known at Lynn.
His name is from the German Cortlandt, or Lack-land; and I
think it was afterwards changed to Kirkland. He was from
Sherrington, in Buckinghamshire, and in 1638 had ten acres of
land allotted to him by the town. He had two sons, PhiUp, borri
in 1614, and Nathaniel, born in 1616, who embarked on board
the Hopewell, of London, WiUiam Burdock, master, on the first
of April, 1635. The two sons remained at Lynn five years, and
in 1640 went to form the new settlement of Southampton On
Long Island. Nathaniel returned to Lynn, married, and had
three children ; Nathaniel, Sarah, and Priscilla. He was buried
December 27, 1686, aged 70 years.
The following is from the Essex Registry, October 14, 1659:
' Know aU men by these presents, that I, Evan Thomas, of Bos
ton, being about to marry the widow Alice Kertland of Lynn,
do engage to and agree not to sell or alienate her now dwelling
house and land.'
Francis Lightfoot, freeman 1636, died 1646, He came from
London, and the name of his wife was Anne.
Thomas Laighton, farmer, freeman, 1638, lived in Franklin
street. He was representative in 1646, and town clerk in 1672,
He died August 8, 1697. His children were Thomas, Margaret,
Samuel, Rebecca, and Elizabeth,
Richard Longley, farmer, had two sons.; William, clerk of the
Writs in 1655, and Jonathan,
Captain Thomas Marshall came to Lynn in 1635. He em
barked in the James, of London, on the seventeenth of July,*
and soon after his anival was admitted a freeman. With
many others, he returned to England, to join in the ambitious
designs of Crom'well, by "whom he was made a captain. He
served in the army of the anarch for several years, and returned
to Lynn, laden with military glory. He was six times chosen
representative. He purchased the tavem, on the west of Sau
gus river, which Mr. Joseph Armitage had opened. Here, with
all the frankness and hospitality of a 'fine old English gentle
man,' he kept open doors for the accommodation of the travel
ling public, for more than forty years. Mr, John Dunton, who
passed through Lynn in 1686, thus mentions him in his journal.

*Hon, James Savage. The public are greatly indebted to this gentleman for his
intelligent annotations of Gov. Winthrop's Journal, and for his valuable researches
in the manuscript records of England.

92 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1636,
' About two of the clock I reached Capt, Marshall's house, which
is half way between Boston and Salem ; here I staid to refresh
nature with a pint of sack and a good fowl, Capt, Marshall is a
hearty old gentleman, formerly one of Oliver's soldiers, upon
which he very much values himself. He had all the history of
the civil wars at his fingers' end, and if we may believe him,
Oliver did hardly any thing that was considerable without his
assistance; and if I'd have staid as long as he'd have talked,
he 'd have spoiled my ramble to Salem.' He died December 23,
1689. His wife, Rebecca, died in August, 1693. He had two
sons; John, born January 14, 1659; and Thomas, who removed
to Reading.
In the Essex Registry of Deeds is the following testimony,
which is interesting, as coming from the venerable old hero of
Cromwell's war :
' Captain Thomas MarshaU, aged about 67 yeares, doe testifie,
that about 38 yeares since, the ould Water mill at Linn, which
was an under shott mill, was by Mr, Howell committed to him,
or before the said time, and about 38 yeares since, the building
of an over shott mill was moved to the towne of Linn, and
for incuragement to go on with the said worke, they then of the
Towne of Linn Granted their Priviledges of water and water
Courses to the said mUl, and that this said water miU is now in
the possession of Henry Roades ; as witness my hand, Thomas
MarshaU; May 12th, 1683,
Thomas Parker embarked in the Christopher of London,
March 11, 1635, He was born 1614.
John Pierson, farmer, lived in Nahant street, and removed to
Reading, The name of his wife was Madeline.
John Pool, farmer, had 200 acres of land. His descendants
remain. Nicholas Potter was a mason, and had sixty acres of land
Oliver Purchis, freeman 1636, representative 1660, assistant
1685, town clerk 1686; removed to Concord 1691, and died
November 20, 1701, aged 88 years.
Richard Sadler farmer, freeman 1638, came from Worcester,
in England. He lived near the great rock in Holyoke street.
He was a member of the Salem Court in 1639, and clerk of the
writs m 1640 He had a son Richard, bom in 1610, who re
turned to England in 1647, and was ordained May 16 1648
He drd^De^cImbef 27167^7''"^^ """^ ""'"^ '^^"^ ^^^ ^^°" ^°^'^«-
±ie aied iJecember 22, 1677, His sons were John, Thomas,
Henry, and Richard, Some of his descendants remkin, others
were among the first settiers of the towns on Long Island
1636. Mr, Bachiler had been readily dismissed from his
pastoral charge, in the expectation that heVould desist fTm is
exercise, or remove from the town; instead of wliich here-

1636,] HISTORYOFLYNN, 93
newed his covenant with the persons who came with him from
England, intending to continue his ministrations. The people
opposed this design, as its tendency would be to frustrate their
intention of settling another minister ; they therefore complained
to the magistrates, who forbade his proceeding. Finding that he
disregarded their injunctions, and refused to appear before them,
they sent the marshal to compel him. He was brought before
the Court of Assistants, at Boston, in January, and was dis
charged on engaging to leave the town within three months.
Whoever has attentively read the lives of the early ministers
of New England, as written by the Rev, Cotton Mather, must
have noticed that they afe all represented to have been men of
uncommon learning, piety, and worth. This may be imputed
partly to the embellishments of his pen, and partly to the fact,
that they were born and educated in the bosom of the church,
and in the best universities of Europe, We are greatly indebted
to Mr, Mather for his account of those ministers ; but we should
have been far more grateful to him, if he had been more partic
ular with regard to dates and facts respecting the subjects of his
biography, instead of devoting so much time and space to the
worthies of Greece and Rome ; for we could easily have pre
sumed his acquaintance with ancient history and the classics,
without so ostentatious a display of it. In his life of Mr, Cob-
bett, he has given us but one date with certainty — the rest have
been supplied by my laborious research, Mr, Bachiler he did
not notice, and the following sketch of his life is the first which
has ever been offered to the public.
The Rev, Stephen Bachiler was born in England in the year
l&fii', and received orders in the established church. In the
early part of his life he enjoyed a good reputation; but being
dissatisfied with some of the ceremonies of the church, and re
fusing to continue his conformity, he was deprived of his permis
sion to perform her services. The church has been much cen
sured for her severity, and all uncharitableness and persecution
are to be deprecated ; but in simply ejecting her ministers for
non-conformity, after they have approved her mode of worship,
and in the most solemn manner possible engaged themselves in
her service, the church is no more censurable than all other com
munities, with whom the same practice is common. On leaving
England, Mr. BachUer went with his family to Holland, where
he resided several years. He then returned to London, from
which place he sailed, on the ninth of March, 1632, for New
England. He arrived at Lynn on the sixth of June, having in
his company six persons, his relatives and friends, who had be
longed to his church in HoUand, With them, and the fe-vv who
united with them, he constituted a little church at Lynn, without
any of the ceremonies usual on such occasions. He continued
his ministrations here for about three years, with repeated inter-

94 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1636,
ruptions, but he never had the support or the affections of the
great body of the people. He was admitted a freeman on the
sixth of May, 1635, and removed from Lynn in February, 1636.
He went first to Ipswich, where he received a grant of fifty
acres of land, and had the prospect of a settlement : but some
difficulty having arisen, he left the place. In the very cold win
ter of 1637, he went on foot, with some of his friends, to Yar
mouth, a distance of about one hundred mUes. There he in
tended to plant a town, and establish a church ; but finding the
difficulties great, and ' his company being all poor men,' he re
linquished the design. He then went to Newbury, where, on
the sixth of July, 1638, the town made him a grant of land.
On the sixth of September, the General Court granted him per
mission to settle a town at Hampton. In 1639, the inhabitants
of Ipswich voted to give him sixty acres of upland, and t"wenty
acres of meadow, if he would reside "with them three years ;
but he did not accept their invitation. On the fifth of July, he
and Christopher Hussey sold their houses and lands in New
bury, for ' six score pounds,' and removed to Hampton. There
a town was planted, and a church gathered, of which Mr, Bach
Uer became the minister. The town granted him three hundred
acres of land, and he presented them with a beU for the meeting
house, in 1640. Here he was treated with respect, and in 1641, he
was appointed umpire in an important case of real estate be
tween George Cleves and John Winter. Dissensions however
soon commenced, and the people were divided between him
and his colleague. Rev. Timothy Dalton, He was also accused
of irregular conduct, which is thus related by Gov, Winthrop,
' Mr, BachUer, the pastor of the church at Hampton, who had
suffered much at the hands of the bishops in England, being
about eighty years of age, and having a lusty, comely woman to
his wife, did sohcit the chastity of his neighbor's wife, who ac
quainted her husband therewith ; whereupon he was dealt with,
but denied it, as he had told the woman he would do, and com
plained to the magistrates against the woman and her husband
for slandering him. The church likewise dealing with him he
stiffly denied it; but soon after, when the Lord's supper was to
be administered, he did voluntarily confess the attempt'
For this impropriety, he was excommunicated by the church.
Soon after, his house took fire, and was consumed with nearly
a his property. In 1643, he was restored to the communion,
but not to the office of minister. In 1644, the people of Exeter
invited him to settle with them; but the Court laid their iniunc-
VP.°;, Tr, ifi.n t'^^M' P°rtsmouth, where he resided three
years. In 1660^ bemg then eighty-nine years of age, and his
second wife, Helena, bemg dead, he married his third wife
Mary ; and in May was fined ten pounds, for not publishinrS-
mtentton of marriage, according to law; half of which fine Yvas

1636,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 95
remitted in October, In the same year, the Court passed the
foUo-wing order, in consequence of their matrimonial disagree
ment: ' It is ordered by this Court, that Mr, Batchelor and his wife
shall lyve together as man and wife, as in this Court they have
publiquely professed to doe ; and if either desert one another,
then hereby the Court doth order that the marshal shall appre
hend both the said IMr, Batchelor and Mary his wife, and bring
them forthwith to Boston, there to be kept till the next Quarter
Court of Assistants, that farther consideration thereof may be
had, both of them moving for a divorce ; and this order shall be
sufficient order soe to doe ; provided notwithstanding, that if
they put in ,£50, each of them, for their appearance, with such
sureties as the commissioners or any one of them for the
county shall think good to accept of that then they shall be un
der their baUe, to appear at the next Court of Assistants ; and
in case Mary Batchelor shall live out of the jurisdiction, without
mutual consent for a time, that then the clarke shall give notice
to the magistrate att Boston of her absence, that farther order
may be taken therein,'
Soon after this, in 1651, Mr Bachelor left the country and re
turned to England, where he married his fourth wife, being
himself ninety years of age, and his third wife Mary being still
living. In October, 1656, she petitioned the Court, in the fol
lowing words, to free her from her husband :
' To the Honored Governor, Deputy Governor, with the Mag
istrates and Deputies at the General Court at Boston, The
humble petition of Mary Bachelor sheweth — Whereas your
petitioner, having formerly lived with Mr, Stephen Bachelor, a
minister of this CoUany, as his lawfuU wife, and not unkno"wn to
divers of you, as I conceive, and the said Mr, Bachelor, upon
some pretended ends of his owne, hath transported himself unto
ould England, for many yeares since, and betaken himself to
another wife, as your petitioner hath often been credibly in
formed, and there continueth, whereby your petitioner is left
destitute, not only of a guide to her and her children, but also
made uncapable thereby of disposing herselfe in the way of
marriage to any other, without a lawful permission ; and having
now two children upon her hands, that are chargeable unto her,
in regard to a disease God hath been pleased to lay upon them
both, which is not easily curable, and so weakening her estate
in prosecuting the means of cure, that she is not able longer to
subsist, without utter raining her estate, or exposing herself to
the common charity of others ; which your petitioner is loth to
put herself upon, if it may be lawfully avoided, as is well known
to all, or most part of her neighbors. And were she free from
her engagement to Mr. Bachelor, might probably soe dispose of
herselfe, as that she might obtain a meet helpe to assist her to

96 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1636,
procure such means for her livelyhood, and the recovery of her
children's health, as might keep them from perishing; which
your petitioner to her great grief is much afraid of, if not timely
prevented. Your petitioner's humble request therefore is, that
this Honored Court would be pleased seriously to consider her
condition, for matter of her rehef in her freedom from the said
Mr. Bachelor, and that she may be at liberty to dispose of her
selfe in respect of any engagement to him, as in your wisdomes
shall seem most expedient; and your petitioner shall humbly
pray. Mary Bacheler,'
No record appears that the Court took any order on this peti
tion ; nor are we informed whether the lady succeeded to ' dis
pose of herselfe,' in the manner which she seems to have had
so much at heart. It is to be hoped, however, that her request
was granted, for the woman had undoubtedly suffered enough
for her lapses, as the reader will probably agree, when he shall
have read the sentence, which may serve to clear up at least
one of the mysteries in this strangest of all the lives of our early
ministers. In the records of York, on the fifteenth of October,
1651, is the following entry: 'We do present George Rogers
and Mary Batcheller, the wife of Mr. Stephen Batcheller, min
ister, for adultery. It is ordered that Mrs. Batcheller, for her
adultery, shall receive 40 stripes save one, at the first town
meeting held at Kittery, 6 weeks after her delivery, and be
branded with the letter A.' In the horrible barbarity of this sen
tence we blush for the severity of the punishriient, rather than
for the crime. The husband and his erring wife have long since
gone to their last account, and their errors and follies must be
left to the adjustment of that tribunal which we hope is more
merciful than the decisions of men, Mr. BachUer had undoubt
edly many virtues, or he would not have had many friends, and
they would not have continued with him through aU the changes
of his varied life, Mr. Prince says that he was ' a man of fame
in his day, a gentieman of learning and ingenuity, and wrote a
fine and curious hand.' It was on his separation from the church
at Lynn, with his subsequent misfortunes, that Mr. Edward
Johnson "wrote the following lines :
Through ocean large Christ brought thee for to feed
His wandering flock, with 's word thou oft hast taught •
Ihen teach thyself, with others thou hast need, '
Thy flowing fame unto low ebb is brought.
Faith and obedience Christ full near hath joined ¦
Then trust in Christ and thou again mayst be
Wrought on thy race, though now far cast behind ;
K.un to the end and crowned thou shalt be.'
Mr, Bachelor died at Hackney, near London, in 1660, in the
one hundredth year of his age. He had four sons and three

1636.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 97
daughters. Theodate married Christopher Hussey, and removed
to Hampton. Deborah married John Wing of Lynn, and removed
to Sandwich. The third daughter married a Sanborn ; Francis
and Stephen remained in London; Henry went to Reading;
Nathaniel removed to Hampton, where in 1656, he married Debo
rah Smith, by whom he had nine chUdren, After her death, he
called on widow Mary Wyman of Woburn, and offered himself
She discouraged his hopes because he had so large a family.
Hie replied, ' It was the first time he had ever known a woman
to object to a man because he got chUdren ; he was going to
Boston on business, and when he returned he would call for her
answer,' He called as he had promised, she became his wife,
and presented him with eight more children. Among the de
scendants from the Rev, Stephen Bachiler, may be mentioned
the Hon, Daniel Webster,
The dissensions in the churches at Salem and Lynn, and the
scarcity of provisions, occasioned a fast to be proclaimed, which
was observed on the twenty-first of February,
On the third of March, the Court enacted, that each town
should have power to regulate its o-wn affairs ; to set fines on
offenders, not exceeding twenty shUUngs ; and to choose a num
ber of ' prudential men,' not exceeding seven, to order their mu
nicipal concerns. This was the legal origin of those officers since
called ' Selectmen ; ' though some of the towns had similar
officers before. They were at first chosen for only three months ;
and the to-wn of Lynn continued to choose seven, until the year
1755, when the number was reduced to three. They also had a
number of officers, caUed tythingmen, because each one was set
over ten families, to observe their conduct, and to report any
violation of the public order.
Mr. Timothy Tomlins was licensed as a Retailer, ' to draw wine
for the town of Saugus.'
Mr. John Humfrey and Captain Nathaniel Turner were ap
pointed by the Court to lay out the bounds of Ipswich.
Mr. Humfrey built a windmill, on the eastern mound of Saga
more HiU, which was thence called Windmill Hill.
A Court was established at Salem, to be held quarterly, for
the benefit of that and the adjacent towns. The judges con^
sisted of a magistrate, and several freemen, selected from each
town, by the General Court. This year there were four, of whom
Captain Nathaniel Turner was one. The first session com
menced on the twenty-seventh of June. A, fine of ten shillings
was imposed on Thomas Stanley, the constable of Lynn, for not
appearing ; and a record, made in September, says, ' Now it is
in com, in William Woods' hands.'
The Rev, Samuel Whiting arrived from England in June ; and
was installed pastor of the church at Lynn, on Tuesday, the Sth
13

98 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1636.
of November. The CouncU remamed tWo days, and found much
difficulty in organizing a church ; which was composed ot only
sSKs, beside the minister. The foUowmg is a copy of
the original church covenant, tiansoribed by me from the leaf of
a pocket Bible, belonging to one of the ministers.
' The Covenant of the First Church of Christ in Lynn,
' We do give up ourselves to God, the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, as to the only teue and living God ; avouching God the
Father to be our father ; embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as our
only Saviour, in aU his offices, prophetical, sacredotal, and regal;
depending on the blessed Sphrit of Grace to be our Sanctifier,
Teacher, Guide, and Comforter, and to make effectual apphca-
tion of the redemption purchased by Christ unto us ; promising
by the assistance, and through the sanctifying influences of that
Blessed Spirit, to cleave unto this one God and Mediator, as his
covenant people. We beUeve the revelation God hath made of
himself, and our duty, in his word, to be true ; and through grace
strengthening, we promise to comply with the whole wiU of God,
so far as he shaU discover it to us. We promise, by the assist
ance of Divine Grace, to walk before God in our houses, in sin
cerity of heart ; that we -will uphold the worship of God there
in; endeavoring to brmg up all under our inspection, in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord, We shaU endeavour the
mortification of our own sins, and we covenant to reprove sin in
others, as far as the rale requires ; promising in brotherly love
to watch over one another, and to submit ourselves to the gov
ernment of Christ in this church, and to attend the orders there
of We do like-wise solemnly agree by aU means to study and
endeavour the peace of this church, and the maintenance of the
purity of the worship of God therein ; that so the blessing of
God may be vouchsafed to this his heritage. We do also give
up ourselves to one another in the Lord, solemnly binding our
selves to walk together in the ways of his worship, and to cleave
to his ordinances, according to the rules of his word. This you
heartily comply with and consent to. You are now members in
full communion with this church, purchased by the blood of
Christ ; and you do now seriously, solemnly, deliberately, and
forever ; in the presence of God, by whom you expect shortly to
be judged, and by whom you hope to be acquitted ; in the pres
ence of an innumerable company of elect angels, and in the
presence of this assembly; give up yourselves to God, the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; avouching the Lord Jehovah to
be your God. You give up yourselves unto this church ; submit-
tmg to the holy rule and ordinance of it ; putting yourselves under
the care and inspection of it ; promising to embrace counsel and
reproofs with humbleness and thankfulness ; and duly to attend
the administration of the ordinances of the Gospel in this church ;

1636,]

HISTORY OF LYNN.

99

SO long as your opportunities thereby to be edified in your holy
faith shaU be continued. We, then, the church of the Lord, do
receive you into our sacred fellowship, as those whom we trust
Christ hath received ; and we promise to admit you to all the
ordinances of the Gospel in fellowship with us ; to watch over
you with a spirit of love and meekness, not for your halting but
helping ; to treat you -with all that affection which your sacred
relation to us now calleth for ; and to continue our ardent prayers
for you, to the Father of Light, that you may have grace to keep
this solemn covenant, you have now, before God, angels, and
men, entered into ; that so the sure mercies of the everlasting
covenant may be your portion forever. Amen,'
To those persons who did not wholly unite with this church,
but only assented to the covenant, for the privilege of haying
their clnldren baptized, the following was read, immediately
after the words ' consent to,'
' You do now in the presence of God, angels, and this assem
bly, avouch this one God in 3 persons to be your God; engaging
to be his, only, constantiy, and everlastingly. You do further
promise to labour in preparing for the table of the Lord, that in
due time you may make your approaches to God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord and Giver of eternal life, in all his ordi
nances and appointments ; that at last you may give up your
account -with joy, unto Christ, the Judge of all.'

CHAPTER V.
War with the Pequod Indians — Sandwich settled — Rev. Thomas Cobbet in
stalled — Lynn named — Lands divided — Lord Brook's Death — Lynnfield,
Hampton, Reading, Barhstable, Yarmouth, and Southampton settled' — Lineage
of Lewis — ¦ Ladies' Dresses regulated — New Inhabitants — Lady Moodey —
Life of Hon. John Humfrey — 1636 to 16<I2.
They spread broad maps of cities, where
Once waved the forest trees. M0P.RIS.

:OME of the Pequod Indians,
ha-ving committed several mur
ders upon the whites, induced
the people of Massachusetts to
commence a war upon them.
On the sixteenth of June, 1636, Govemor Henry
Vane ordered Lieut, Edward Howe to have his
men in readiness ; and in August, four companies
of volunteers were called out, one of which was
commanded by Capt, Nathaniel Turner, of Lynn. They were
directed to demand the murderers, with a thousand fathom of
wampum, and some of the Indian chUdren as hostages. At
Block Island, they destroyed seven canoes, sixty -wigwams, and
many acres of corn, and kiUed one Indian. At New London,
they burnt the canoes and wigwams, kUled thirteen Indians, and
returned on the fourteenth of September.
1637. On the eighteenth of AprU^ 175 men were raised for
a second expedition against the Pequods. Boston furnished 26
Lynn 21, (sixteen at fii-st and five aftei-ward,) Cambridge 19
Salem 18, Ipswich 17, Watertown 14, Dorchester 13, Charies-
m^Vt' ^°? J^!r°'.?T^"'^y^' Hingham 6, Weymouth 5,
Marblehead 3, and Medford 3. The Connecticut troops attacked
the Pequods on the twenty-sixth of May, a httie before day
break. Sassacus, the Pequod Sachem, had built a rude fort
surrounded by a palisade of trees. The soldiers came to the
fort m^silence, discharged their muskets on the slumbering na
tives, and then set fire to the camp. Stonghton, who commanded
the expedition, says, of 'slx or seven hundred Indians,' maiiy of

1637.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 101
whom were women, and old men, and helpless children, only
'about seven escaped.' The soldiers from Lynn arrived three
days after the massacre, and returned on the twenty-sixth of
August. Sassacus, after this desolation of his tribe, fled to the
Mohawks ; where he was soon afterwards murdered, as it was
supposed, by an Indian of the Narragansett tribe, who were his
enemies. Thus perished Sassacus, the last and bravest of the
Pequods ; a chief, who in the annals of Greece would have re
ceived the fame of a hero, — in the war of American freedom,
the praise of a patriot.
On the twenty-third of June, Govemor Winthrop visited Lynn,
and was escorted by the inhabitants to Salem. He returned on
the twenty-eighth; travelling in the night, in consequence of the
heat, which was so excessive that many persons died. Graham
says, there were, at this time, but thirty-seven ploughs in the
colony, most of which were at Lynn.
The members of the Quarterly Court this year, were John
Humfrey and Edward Howe. In a tax of £400, the proportion
of Lynn was £28 16. The General Court ordered that no per
son should make any cakes or buns, ' except for burials, mar
riages, and such hke special occasions.'
This year a large number of people removed from Lynn, and
commenced a new settlement at Sandwich. The grant of the
to-wn was made, on the third of April, by the Colony of Plymouth.
' It is ordered, that these ten men of Saugus, namely, Edmund
Freeman, Henry Feake, Thomas Dexter, Edward Dillingham,
WiUiam Wood, John Carman, Richard Chadwell, William Almy,
Thomas Tupper, and George Knott, shaU have liberty to view
a place to sit down on, and have land sufficient for three score
families, upon the conditions propounded to them by the Gov
emor and Mr. Winslow.' Thomas Dexter did not remove, but
the rest of the above named went, with forty-six other men
from Lynn.
The Rev. Thomas Cobbet arrived from England, on the
twenty-sixth of June, and was soon after installed in the min
istry, as a colleague with Mr. Whiting. The two ministers
continued together eighteen years. Mr. Whiting was styled
Pastor, and Mr. Cobbet, Teacher.
This year the name of the town was changed from Saugus
to Lynn. The record of the General Court, on the fifteenth of
November, consists of only four words, ' Saugust is called Lin'
This relates merely to the change of the name, the to"wn having
been incorporated in 1630. The name was given in compliment
to Mr. Whiting, who came from Old Lynn, in Norfolk County,
England. Old Lynn, in England, was called Lynn Regis, or King's
Lynn. It was patronized by King John, who, in 1215, received

102 HISTORY OF LYNN.

[1638.

great service from that to-wn in his war against France. ' He
granted them a mayor, and gave them his ovm sword to be
carried before him, -with a silver gUt cup, which they have to
this day.' * The ancient Britons gave it the name of Lhyn, a
word signifying a lake or sheet of water. ' Campden says, it was
• so named from its spreading waters.' Speed caUs the waters
before the old town, ' The Washes of Lume.'t The Romans, on
their conquest, caUed it Durobrivem,t a word signifying a place
of water. AU who have seen our Lynn, wUl admit how appro
priate is its name to its situation.
An old British legend of 1360, asserts that the ' Friar or Linn,'
by magic art, went to the North Pole, and came to America.
There is a very beautiful ballad, of an early date, entitled ' The,
Hene of Linne.' I have only room for two stanzas.
The bonnie heire, the weel faured heire,
And the weary heire of Linne,
Yonder he stands at his father's gate,
And naebody bids him come in.
*****
Then he did spy a httle wee lock
And the key gied linking in,
And he gat goud and money therein.
To pay the lands o' Linne.
A to-wn meeting was held this year, in which Daniel Howe,
Richard Walker, and Henry Collins were chosen a committee
to divide the lands ; or, as it was expressed in the record, ' To
lay out ffarmes.' The land was laid out in those parts of the
town best adapted to cultivation ; and the woodlands were re
served as common property, and caUed the ' to-wn common,' not
being divided until sixty-nine years after.
1638. The committee appointed by the tovm to di-vide the
lands, completed their task, and a book was pro-vided, in which
the names of the proprietors, with the number of acres aUotted
to each, were recorded. That book is lost ; but a copy of the
first three pages has been preserved in the files of the Quarterly
Court, at Salem, from which the foUo-wing is transcribed. I
have taken the justifiable liberty, in this instance, to speU the
words correctiy, and to supply a few omissions, which are in
cluded m brackets. The word 'ten,' wliich is added to many
of the aUotments, imphes that a separate lot of ten acres was
granted.

¦* Cambden's Britannia. f Speed's Chronicles of England,
% Antoninus' Itmerary, "

1638,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 103

PAGE I.
' These lands following were given to the inhabitants of the
to-wn o'f Lynn, Anno Domini 1638.
To the Right Honorable the Lord Brook, SOO acres, as it is
estimated, ¦^i Mr, Thomas WUhs, upland and meadow, 500 acres, as it
^s estimated,Mr, Ed-ward Holyoke, upland and meadow, 500 acres, as it is
estimated, Henry Collins, upland and meadow, 80 acres, and ten.
Mr [Joseph] Floyd, upland and meadow, 60 acres, and ten,
Edmund and Francis IngaUs, upland and meadow, 120 acres.
Widow Bancroft, 100 acres.
Widow Hammond, 60 acres.
George BurriU, 200 acres.
John Wood, 100 acres.
Thomas Talmage, 200,
Nicholas Brown, 200,
WiUiam Co-wdrey, 60.
Thomas Laighton, 60,
John Cooper, 200,
Alhn Breed, 200,
Jolm Pool, 200,
Edward Howe, 200, and ten.
Thomas Sayre, 60.
Job Sayre, 60, •
Thomas ChadweU, 60,
WUliam Walton, 60,
Christopher Foster, 60,
WUham BaUard, 60.
Josias Stanbury, 100.
Edmund Farrington, 200.
Nicholas Potter, 60.
WilUam Knight, 60.
Edward Tomlins, 200, and twenty.
['Mr.' ] South, 100.
Boniface Burton, 60.
John Smith, 60.
Mr. Edward HoweU, 500.' PAGE II.
' To Nicholas Batter, 60,
Mr, [Richard] Sadler, 200, and the rock by his house,
Joseph Armitage, 60,

104 HISTORY OF LYNN.
Godfrey Armitage, 60.
To Matthew West, upland and meadow, 30, and ten,
George Farr, 30, and ten.
James Boutwell, 60 acres,
Zachary Fitch, 30, and ten,
Jarrett Spenser, 30 acres,
Jenkin Davis, 30, and ten,
George Taylor, 30, and ten.
[William] Thorn, 30, and ten.
Thomas Townsend, 60.
Thomas Parker, 30, and ten,
Francis Lightfoot, 30, and ten,
Richard Johnson, 30, and ten,
Robert Parsons, 30, and ten,
Edward Burcham, 30, and ten,
Anthony Newhall, 30,
Thomas NewhaU, 30.
Thomas Marshall, 30, and ten.
Michael Spenser, 30.
Timothy Tomlins, 80.
[WiUiam] Harcher, 20,
Richard Roolton, 60,
[Nathaniel] Handforth, 20.
Thomas Hudson, 60.
Thomas Halsye, 100,
Samuel Bennett, 20,
John Elderkin, 20,
Abraham Belknap, 40,
Robert Driver, 20,
Joseph Rednap, 40,
[John] Deacon, 20,
PhUip Kertland, senior, 10,' PAGE III.
' To PhUip Kertland, junior, 10.
[Goodman] Crosse, 10.
Hugh Burt, 60.
[Goodman] Wathin, 10,
Richard Brooks, 10,
Francis Godson, 30,
George Welbye, 
Wilham Partridge, upland, 10 acres,
Henry Gains, 40,
Richard WeUs, 10,
[Joseph] PeU, 10,
John White, 20,

1638,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 105
Edward Baker, 40,
James Axey, 40,
William Edmonds, 10.
Edward Ireson, 10,
Jeremy Howe, 20.
William George, 20.
Nathaniel Whiteridge, 10.
George FraU, 10.
Edmund Bridges, 10.
Richard Longley, 40,
Thomas Talmage, junior, 20.
Thomas Coldham, 60.
Adam Hawkes, upland, 100,
Thomas Dexter, 350,
Daniel Howe, upland and meadow, 60,
Richard Walker, upland and meadow, 200.
Ephraim Howe, next to the land of his father, upland, 10.
[Thomas] Ivory, 10.
Timothy Cooper, 10.
Samuel Hutchinson, 10, by estimation,
Mr. Samuel Whiting, the pastor, 200.
Mr. Thomas Cobbet, the teacher, 200,'
' These three pages were taken out of the town book of the
Records of Lynn, the 10th, 1 mo. Anno Domini 59, 60, [March
10, 1660,] by me, Andrew BIansfield, Town Recorder,'
The 'Lord Brook' to whom the grant of 800 acres was made,
'¦was one of those patriots,' says Ricraft, who so ardently longed
for liberty, that he determined to seek it in America,' . He was
shot -with a musket-ball, through the visor of his helmet, in the
civU war of 1642, whUe storming the Cathedral of Litchfield,
Sir Walter Scott aUudes to this sacrilege in Marmion.
 -When fanatic Brook
The fair cathedral stormed and took ;
But thanks to heaven and good St, Chad,
A guerdon meet the spoiler had,
' He was kUled by a shot fired from St, Chad's Cathedral, on
St, Chad's day, and received his death wound in that very eye
¦with which he had said he hoped to see the ruin of all the cathe
drals in England,'
Though the 8680 acres of land thus laid out among 100 fam
ilies, comprised the best portion of Lynn and Saugus, the people
thought they had not sufficient room, and petitioned the court
for more. On the thirteenth of March, ' Lynn was granted 6
mUes into the country ; and Mr, Hawthorne and Leift Daven-
14

106 HISTORY OP LYNN.

[1638.

port to view and inform how the land beyond lyeth, whether it
be fit for another plantation or no.' The land laid out by this
order was for many years caUed Lynn End, and now constitutes
the town of Lynnfield. The court afterwards very pradentiy
ordered, that the Governor and Assistants should ' take care that
the Indians have satisfaction for then right at Lynn.'
The preceding winter was extremely severe, the snow con
tinued from November sixteenth to the fourth of April, and the
spring was so cold that the farmers were compeUed to plant then
com ' two or three times,'
On the first of June, between the hours of three and four in
the afternoon, there was an earthquake. It shook the whole
country very heavUy, making a noise like the ratthng of coaches,
and continued about four minutes. The earthquake was very
great; people found it difficult to stand, and furniture and chim
neys were thrown down. Other smaller shocks occurred for
several weeks after.
On the same day, the ' Ancient and Honorable ArtiUery Com
pany' was formed, at Boston, Daniel Howe, of Lynn, was
chosen Lieutenant, Other members of this company from Lynn
have been — in 1638, Nathaniel Turner, Edward Tomlins, Rich
ard Walker; in 1639, Samuel Bennett; in 1640, John Humfrey,
Thomas MarshaU; in 1641, John Humfrey, jun., Robert Bridges,
Adam Otley; in 1642, John Wood; in 1643, Benjamin Smith;
in 1648, John Cole; in 1694, Thomas Baker; in 1717, Benjamin
Gray; in 1822, Daniel N. Breed, George Johnson, Ebenezer
Neal, A settlement was this year begun at Hampton, in New
Hampshire, by Rev. Stephen Bachiler, Christopher Hussey, and
fourteen others, most of whom had been inhabitants of Lynn,
Many farmers pastured their cows in one drove, and watched
them alternately. When it came to Mr, John Gillow's turn, an
ill-minded man detained him in conversation, till the cows
strayed into a field of com, where two of them ate so much that
they became sick, and one of them died. It happened that
these two cows belonged to the man who had occasioned the
mischief who complained of Mr, Gillow before the Court of
Assistants, at Boston, on the seventh of September. As it was
proved, that the man had boasted of having designed that the
cattle should stray, the case was decided in Mr. Gillow's favor.
On the sixth of September, Mr. John Humfrey sold to Eman
uel Downing, of Salem, ' the 2 ponds and so much high ground
about the ponds, as is needful to keep the Duck Coys, pri
vately set, from disturbance of plowmen, heardsmen, and otherg
passing by that way, which he may enclose, so as he take not
in above fifty acres of the upland round about the same.' These
two ponds were probably Coy and Deep ponds, near Forest

1639,] HISTORY OF LY'NN, 107
River, In the Registry, at Salem, where the above is recorded,
Mr, Humfrey is caUed ' of Salem,' but that is not a copy of the
original grant. In the early time, the deeds were not recorded
hterally, but only a sketch of them was entered by the clerk, A
common form of beginning deeds then was, ' To all Christian
People,' One deed is recorded, which commences thus — ' To
aU Christian People, Fishermen, and. Indians,'
1639. Among those who promoted the settlement of New
England, were several of the family of Lewis, Some of them
were in the country at a very early period, but the name first
appears at Lynn this year, I have copious memoirs of this
family, from which I shall make a few brief extracts, that I may
not be like the poet described by Leyden, who
Saved other names, and left his own unsung.*
When the whole country was a -wilderness, Thomas Le-wis
came from Wales to establish a plantation. He made his first
visit to Saco, then caUed by the Indians Saga-dahock, in 1626;
and on the twelfth of Febraary, 1629, received the following
grant, a copy of which -was preserved in the archives of Massa
chusetts ; and which I am more desirous to record here, because
Mr, Folsom, the exceUent historian of Saco, appears not to have
known of its existence,
' To all (Christian People, to whom this present writing indented
shall come. The Gmn^l for the Affairs in New England , . . in
consideration that Thomas Lewis, Gentleman, hath already been
at the charge to transport himself and others to take a view of New
England . . . for the bettering of his experience in the advancing
of a Plantation, and doth now wholly intend, hy God's assistance,
to plant there, both for the good of his Majesty's realms and for the
propagation of the Christian Religion among those Infidels ; and
in consideration that the said Thomas Lewis, together with Captain
Richard Bonython, and their associates, have undertaken, at their
own proper costs and charges, to transport Fifty Persons thither,
within seven years . . . have given all that part of the Maine Land,
commonly called and known hy the name of Sagadahock . , ,
containing in breadth, from northeast to southwest, along hy the
Sea, Four Miles in a straight line, accounting seventeen hundred
and three score yards, according to the standard of England, to
every mile, and Eight English Miles upon the Maine Land, upon
the north side of the .River Sagadahock . . . He and they yielding
and paying unto cnir Sovereign Lord, the Kimg, one fifth part of
gold and silver, one other fifth part to ike Council aforesaid.'

* Quod aliena testimonium redderem, in eo non fraudabo avum meum. Paterculus.
I shall not deprive my own grandfather of the praise I -would give to a stranger.

108 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1639,
This deed was signed by Edward Gorges ; and the Rev, WU
liam Blackstone, of Boston, was named attomey for the Council,
This grant included 32 square miles, and comprised the whole
of the town of Saco. Thomas Lewis died in 1 640. Judith, his
eldest daughter and heiress, married James Gibbins.
William Lewis was descended from a very respectable
family in Wales. His descendants enjoy great satisfaction in
being able to trace their descent from a very high antiquity.
He came to Boston in 1636, In the year 1640, he and his -wife
Amy are recorded by Rev. John Eliot, of Roxbury, as attendants
at his church. In 1653, he became one of the proprietors of the
pleasant inland town of Lancaster, on the Nashaway river, and
was the third person in regard to ¦wealth among the first settlers
of that town. He died December 1, 1671. He had nine chil
dren; 1. John, born Nov. 1, 1635. 2. Christopher, born Dec. 2,
1636. 3, Lydia, bom Dec. 25, 1639. 4. Josiah, born July 28,
1641. 5. Isaac, born AprU 14, 1644. 6. Mary, baptized Aug.
2, 1646, 7, Hannah, baptized March 18, 1648, 8. Mordecai,
born June 1, 1650, His son John returned to Boston, and built
a house on land which his father had purchased of Governor
Richard BeUingham. ¦WILLIAM LEVVTS, or Walks,
Amy, his wife,
^  I 
John. Christopher. Lydia. Josiah. Isaac, of Boston, Mary. Hannah. Mordecai.
m. Mary Davis.
,  I 
Mary. Isaac, of Boston, Joseph, John. Abraham.
m. Hannah Hallett.

Isaac John, Hannah, William. Abijah. Maiy. Nathan, if Boston, Joseph,
m. Mary Newhall.

.1

toil, Nathan. John. Thomas. David. Henry. Benjamin. Zachariali, of Lynn, Stephen, WiUiam.
m. Maty Hudson.
- I —I 
Alokzo Lewis, of Lynn, Irene, Mary, WilUam.
m. Frances Maria Swan.

I

Alonzo. Frances Maria. AnreUus, LleweUyn, Arthur. Lynnworth.
Edmund Lewis was one of the eariy proprietors of Water-
town and was admitted a freeman May 25, 1636 On the four
teenth of October, 1638, he was one of^the Committee appoir^
to lay out the lands in that town. He came to Lynn in 1639
and was the first settler in Lewis stieet. He died in January;
1651, The name of his wife was Mary, and his children we7e
John, Thomas James, and Nathaniel, His descendants remaTn
The name of LeAvis is the fifth in Lynn, in regard to numbers

1639,] HISTOKY OF LYNN, 109
George Lewis came from East Greenwich, in the county of
Kent, England, He was at Plymouth, in 1633, He removed
to Scituate, and afterward to Barnstable, He mamed Sarah
Jenkins, in England, and had nine children, of whom Joseph
and John were killed by the Indians, in the war of 1675-6,
Dr. Winslow Lewis, of Boston, is descended from this family.
On the fourteenth of January there was an earthquake.
Another grant of land was made to the town, by the General
Court, on the seventh of September. ' The petition of the
Inhabitants of Lynn, for a place for an inland plantation, at the
head of their bounds is granted them, 4 miles square, as the
place will affoard ; upon condition that the petitioners shall,
within two years, make some good proceeding in planting, so as
it may be a village, fit to contain a convenient number of inhabi
tants, which may in dewe time have a church there ; and so as
such as shall remove to inhabit there, shall not withall keepe
their accommodations in Linn above 2 years after their removal
to the said village, upon pain to forfeit their interest in one of
them at their election ; except this court shall see fit cause to
dispense further with them.' The settlement thus begun was
called Lynn Village, and included Reading, South Reading, and
North Reading.
Two other settlements were this year begun by people who
removed from Lynn ; one at Barnstable, and the other at Yar
mouth, The General Court aUowed the town fifty pounds to buUd a
bridge over Saugus River, and fifty shillings annually to keep it
in repair. They forbade the people to spread bass or codfish
upon their lands, as they had been accustomed to do, for the
enrichment of the soil, A tax of one thousand pounds ¦ was
laid, of which the proportion of Lynn was £7919 9, On the
third of December, the court laid a fine of ten pounds upon the
town, for not maintaining a watch against the Indians.
The following order passed by the General Court for the reg
ulation of women's dresses, will be interesting to my lady
readers, ' No garment shall be made with short sleeves ; and
such as have garments already made with short sleeves, shall
not wear the same, unless they cover the arm to the wrist ; and
hereafter no person whatever shall make any garment for women
with sleeves more than half an ell wide ; ' that is, twenty-two
and a half inches. Our eariy legislators were anxious to keep
the minds, as well as the persons, of their women ' in good
shape.' It seems that in 1637, the ladies of Boston were accus
tomed to meet for social improvement; on which Governor Win
throp remarks, ' That though women might meet, some few
together, to pray and edify one another, yet such a set assembly,
where sixty or more did meet every week, and one woman in a
prophetical way, by resolving questions of doctrine, and expound-

110 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1640,
ino- scripture, took upon her the whole exercise, was agreed to be
disorderly, and without rale.' What would they have thought
in these later times, when women write books, and supply our
pulpits. It might have been well for human welfare, if our
legislators had always been as harmlessly employed, as when
they were cutting out dresses for the ladies.
1640. Many new inhabitants appear at Lynn about this
time. The great tide of immigration ceased in 1641, and after
that time not many came over.
Hugh Alley, farmer, hved on the comer of Market and
Front streets. He had a son Hugh, who married Rebecca
Hood, December 9, 1681, and had seven chUdren, Solomon,
born October 11, 1682; Jacob, born January 28, 1683; Eleazer,
bom November 1, 1686 ; Hannah, born August 16, 1689 ; Richard,
born July 31, 1691; Joseph, bom June 22, 1693; Benjamin,
bom February 24, 1695,
John Alley, farmer, lived in Market street, and had five chil
dren, John, born in January, 1675; Hannah, born January 22,
1679; Rebecca, born May 28, 1683; Hugh, born Febmary 15,
1685; William, born July 14, 1683, The descendants of Hugh
and John Alley are very numerous,
Samuel Aborne, a, farmer, resided at first on the Common, and
afterward removed to Lynnfield, where his descendants remain,
Robert Bridges was admitted a freeman, June 2, 1641, In
the same year he was a member of the Ancient Artillery Com
pany and a captain of the militia. He had a large share in the
Iron Works. In 1644, he was chosen representative, and
appointed a mejnberof the Quarterly Court, at Salem. In 1646,
he was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the next
year became an Assistant, in which ofiice he continued untU his
death, in 1656.
Lieut. Thomas Bancroft, son of widow Bancroft, had two
chUdren; Ebenezer, bom AprU 26, 1667; Mary, bom May 16,
1670. He died March 12, 1705. His wife Elizabeth died May
1, 1711. His descendants remain.
WiUiata Bassett, farmer, died March 31, 1703. He had two
sons; William, who married Sarah Hood, October 25, 1675;
and Ehsha, who married Ehzabeth  -, His descendants remain.
WiUiam Clark, farmer, died March 5, 1683. His chUdren
were Hannah, John, Lydia, Sarah. Mary, and Ehzabeth. His
descendants remain,
John Diven, died October 4, 1684, He had a son John,
Thomas Farrar, farmer, hved in Nahant street, and died Feb
ruary 23, 1694, His wife Elizabeth died January 8, 1680. He
had one son, Thomas, who married AbigaU ColUns, March 3 1 68 1 ¦
and four daughters ; Hannah, Sarah, Susannah, and Ehzabetii!
John Fuller came from England, with his brother Samuel, in

1640,] HISTORY OF LYNN. Ill
1630, and when they arrived in Boston, 'only seven huts were
erected,' After residing there several years, Samuel went to
Scituate, and John, in 1644, came to Lynn, and settied at the
western end of Waterhill street. He was chosen Representa
tive in 1655, and Clerk of the Writs in 1662. He died June 29,
1666, The name of his wife was Elizabeth, and he had five
children — Lieut, John Fuller, who married Elizabeth Farring
ton, and died AprU 24, 1695 — Wilham, Susannah, Elizabeth,
and James. Several of his descendants have borne respectable
offices, and some of them remain,
Zaccheus Gould, owned at one time, the MUls on Saugus
River. He had a son Daniel,
John GUlow died in 1673. The name of his wife was Rose.
He had two sons, Benjamin and Thomas,
Nathaniel Hathorne had two children ; Ebenezer, who married
Esther Witt, December 26, 1683, and Nathaniel,
Richard Haven, farmer, lived near the Flax Pond, His wife
Susannah died February 7, 1682. His chUdren were Hannah,
born 1645, Mary, Joseph, Richard, Susannah, Sarah, John,
Martha, Samuel, Jonathan, Nathaniel and Moses, Several of
his sons were among the first settlers of Framingham,
Joseph HoUoway died November 29, 1693, He had a son
Joseph, who married Mary  , and had four chUdren, Mary,
born AprU 16, 1675; Samuel, born November 2, 1677 ; Edward,
born February 1, 1683, John, bom October 11, 1686, His
descendants remain, and speU their name Hallowell,
Robert Howard had a son Edward, who married Martha ^  ,
and had two children; Amos, born April 16, 1696; Jane, born
March 4, 1699. His descendants remain.
Richard Hood, came from Lynn in England, He Hved in
Nahant street, and died September 12, 1695. He had three
sons ; Richard, born 1670 ; Joseph, born July 8, 1674 ; Benjamin,
born January 3, 1677, His descendants remain, and are among
the principal inhabitants of Nahant, In those early days, a
young man, who was inclined to indulge in the laudable custom
of courting, went to visit a young lady of this famUy named
Agnes, As he was returning late one evening, he was over
heard saying to himself — ' WeU, so far proceeded towards
courting Agnes,' This phrase became common, and has been
introduced into an Enghsh comedy,
Edward Ireson died December 4, 1675. His son Benjamin
married Mary Leach, August 1, 1680, and had a son Edward,
born AprU 9, 1681,
Thomas Keyser was mate of a vessel which saUed from Bos
ton, Govemor Winthrop teUs a story of one of his men, who
was whipped for stealing a gold ring, and some other articles
from him at Portsmouth.
Andrew Mansfield came from Exeter, in England, to Boston,

112 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1640.
in 1636. He came to Lynn in 1640. He was a farmer, and
lived in Boston street. The neighborhood in which he lived ¦was
called Mansfield's End. He was town clerk in 1660, and died
in 1692, aged 94 years. He had a son Andrew, who was Rep
resentative in 1680, and who married Elizabeth Conant, January
10, 1681. His descendants remain.
John Mansfield, a taUor, freeman in 1643, died in 1671, aged
52 years.
Lady Deborah Moodey came to Lynn, in 1640, Five years
before, she went from one of the remote counties in England, to
London, where she remained in opposition to a statute, which
enjoined that no persons should reside beyond a limited time,
from their own homes. On the twenty-first of April, the court
of the star-chamber ordered, that ' Dame Deborah Mowdie, and
the others, should return to their hereditaments in forty days, in
the good example necessary to the poorer class. On the fifth
of April, 1640, soon after her arrival at Lynn, she united with
the church at Salem. On the thirteenth of May, the General
Court granted her 400 acres of land. In 1641, she purchased
Mr. John Humfrey's farm, ' called Swampscot,' for which she
paid £1,100, Lechford, in 1641, says, ' Lady Moody lives at
Lynn, but is of Salem church. She is, good lady, almost un
done, by buying Master Humphries' farm, Swampscot.' Some
time afterward she became imbued with the erroneous idea, that
the baptism of infants was a sinful ordinance, for which, and
other opinions, she was excommunicated. In 1643, she removed
to Long Island. Governor Winthrop says, ' the Lady Moodye,
a wise, and anciently religious woman, being taken with the
error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt with by many of
the elders, and others, and admonished by the church of Salem,
whereof she was a member ; but persisting stUl, and to avoid
further trouble, she removed to the Dutch, against the advice of
all her friends.' After her arrival at Long Island, she experi
enced much trouble from the Indians, her house being assaulted
by them many times. Her wealth enabled her to render as
sistance to Governor Stuyvesant, of New York, in some difficul
ties which he encountered in 1654; and so great was her influ
ence with him, that he conceded the nomination of the magis-
tirates that year to her. She was of a noble family, and had a
son. Sir Henry Moody, With the exception of her troubling the
church with her rehgious opinions, she appears to have been a
lady of great worth,
« ^^oa'^ S^'"^ T^-^v^'^^'. ^\ Woodend, He died November
8, 1694, His wife, Elizabeth, died August 29, 1693, His chU
dren were Robert, Zachary, Elizabeth, and Mary, and his de
scendants remain, ¦'
Hpnry Rhodes was a farmer, and hved on the westem side of
Saugus River, He was born in 1608, and had two sons, Jona-

1640,] HISTORY OP LYNN, 113
than died April 7, 1677, Henry had a son Henry, Their de
scendants remain,
John Tarbox had two sons ; John ; and Samuel, who married
Rebecca Armitage, November 14, 1665, and had eighteen chil-
di-en, Samuel died September 12, 1715, aged 93 years. His
descendants remain.
Captain Shubael Walker was buried January' 24, 1689, He
lived at the Swampscot Farms.
John Witt/died in December, 1675, His children were Ann,
Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, Martha, John who mamed Elizabeth
Baker, January 14, 1676, and Thomas who married Bethia Pot
ter, February 26, 1675, His descendants remain,
Thomas Welman died in 1672, His chUdren are AbigaU,
Isaac, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Mary,
Other inhabitants were, Andrew Allen, Theophilus Bayley,
died 1694, John Cole, Hugh Churchman, died 1644, Wentworth
Daniels, Henry Fitch, Daniel Fairfield, John Farrington, Abra
ham Ottley, Adam Ottley, Thomas Gaines, Tobias Haskell,
James Hubbard, William Hubbard, Joseph Howe, William
Knight, Michael Lambard, Robert Mansfield, Thomas Mans
field, Michael Milner, went to Long Island in 1640, Richard
Mower, Thomas Putnam, Richard Pray, Quentin Pray, Thomas
Purchis, Edward Paine, Hugh Stacey, John Stacey, George
Taylor, WUham Taylor, John TUton, WUliam TUton, Daniel
TrambuU, Nathaniel Tyler, Wilham Wells, Jonathan Witt.
In the short space of ten years from its settlement, we have
seen six other to^wns deriving their origin from Lynn ; yet the
place continued to abound with inhabitants, and this year beheld
the commencement of the seventh. About ' forty ' families,
' finding themselves straitened,' left the town with the design
of setthng a new plantation. They invited Mr. Abraham Pierson,
of Boston, to become their minister, who with seven of the emi
grants entered into a church covenant before they left Lynn.
They saUed in a vessel commanded by Captain Daniel Howe,
to Scout's Bay, in the westem part of Long Island, where they
purchased land of Mr. James Forrett, agent of Lord Stirling, and
agreed with the Indians for their right. On receiving informa
tion of this, the Dutch laid claim to that part of the island, on
account of a pre^vious purchase of the Indians, and sent men to
take possession, who set up the arms of the Prince of Orange on
a tree. The Lynn people, disregarding the claims of the Dutch,
cut down the trees and began to buUd, Captain Howe likewise
took do^wn the Prince's arms, and instead thereof an Indian drew
a very ' unhandsome face,' This conduct highly incensed the
Dutch governor, Wilham Kieft, whom Mr, Irving, in one of his
humorous works, has characterized by the appeUation of ' Wil
liam the Testy,' but whom Mr, Hubbard denominates ' a discreet
15

114 HISTORYOFLYNN, [l 640.
man,' who, on the thirteenth of May, sent Comelius Van Ten
Hoven the secretary, the undersheriff", a sergeant, and twenty-
five soldiers, to break up the settlement. They found eight
men, with a woman and an infant, who had erected one cottage,
and were engaged in building another. They took six of the
men, whose names were John Farrington, WiUiam Harcher,
PhUip Kertland, Nathaniel Kertiand, Job Sayre, and George
Wells, and brought them before the governor. These he exam
ined on oath, and then put them in prison, where tbey remained
while he -wrote a Latin letter to the govemor of Massachusetts.
To this Mr. Winthrop replied, in the same language, that he
would neither maintain the Lynn people in an unjust action, nor
suffer them to be injured. On the reception of this reply, the
Dutch governor liberated the men, after they had signed an
agreement to leave the place. They accordingly removed more
than eighty miles, to the eastern part of the island, where they
purchased land of the Indians, and planted a town, which, in re
membrance of the place from which they sa^iled in England, they
called Southampton.
Dr. P. S. Townsend, of New York, says, the people of Lynn
also settled five other towns on Long Island ; Flushing, Graves-
end, Jamaica, Hempstead, and Oyster Bay.
At the court, on the thirteenth of May, WUUam Hathorne,
Samuel Symonds, and Timothy Tomlins, were appointed to lay
out 'the nearest, cheapest, safest, and most convenient way'
between Lynn and Winnisimet ferry.
Lynn Village, now South Reading, was ordered to be exempt
ed from taxes, as soon as seven houses should be built, and
seven families settled.
William Hathorne and Timothy Tomhns, having been ap
pointed to lay out the bounds of the town of Lynn, made report,
on the fourth of June, that they had fixed the bounds at Charles
town line, Reading Pond, Ipswich River, and Salem.
The Court ordered that grain should be received as a lawful
payment for debts; Indian corn at 5s., rye at 6s, 8d„ and wheat
at 7s, a bushel. The price of a cow was £5,
Mr, Richard Sadler was appointed Clerk of the Writs The
duttes of this office were, to fill warrants in civil actions,' and to
fln^^ffl '^"^fi ^"%' ^^<^ ^^^'^^- It was legally distinct from
the office of To-wn Clerk, who was at the first called the Town
Recorder, though m many instances both ofiices were held by the
same individual, ^
Mr, Humfrey's bam at Swampscot, with all his com and hay,
to the value of one hundred and sixty pounds, was burnt by the
carelessness of his servant, Henry sfevens, in setting foe to
some gunpowder. At the court of Assistants, on the first of
November, -^Henry Stevens, for firing the barn of his master
Mr, John Humfrey, he was ordered to be servant t^ Mr

1641,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 115
Humfrey, for 21 years from this day, towards recompensing
him,' The court afterward allowed Mr, Humfrey for his loss and
his good services, £250,
There was one woman in the town at this time, who con
tended that aU things ought to be common, as atone time among
the eariy Christians ; but she found it difficult to persuade the
people that she had as good a right to their property as them
selves. She went ' from house to house,' helping herself to such
httle accommodations as she wished, tiU her demands became
so extravagant, that she was brought before the Quarterly Court
at Salem, On the twenty-ninth of September the following
record was made, • Mary Bowdwell of Lyn, for her exorbitancy,
not working, but liveing idly, and stealing, and taking away other
¦victuals, pretending communitie of all things ; The court sen
tence that she shall be whipped ; but throwe their clemency she
was only admonished, and respited tUl next courte,'
This year a new version of the Psalms was made for public
worship. It was an octavo volume of 400 pages, and was the
first book printed in America, The following is a specimen of
the poetry, from Psalm 44,
' Our eares have heard our fathers tell
and reverently record
The -wondrous ¦workes that thou hast done
in olden time, O Lord,
'Ro-w thou didst cast the Gentiles out
and stroid them vrith strong hand ;
planting: our fathers in their place
and gavest to them their land.
They conquered not by s-word nor strength
the land of thy behest.
But by thy hand, thy arm, thy grace,
because thou louedst them best.'
1641. Lord Say, having an intention of forming a plan
tation at New Providence, one of the Bahama Islands, had
engEiged Mr. Humfrey in the design, with the promise of making
him govemor of the new colony. Some of the Lynn people had
determined to accompany him ; but the intention was frustrated,
by the island falling, for a time, under the government of Spain.
Mr. John Humfrey was a native of Dorchester, in Dorset
shire, England, a lawyer, and a man of considerable wealth
and good reputation. He married Susan, the second daughter
of Thomas, Earl of Lincoln, and sister of Frances, the wife of
Mr, John Gorges, and of Arbella, the wife of Mr, Isaac Johnson.
He was one of the most influential in promoting the settlement
of the colony, and the people of Massachusetts will ever regard
him as one of their earliest and most efficient benefactors. He
was one of the original patentees of the colony, and the treas
urer of the company at Plymouth, in England; and by his
exertions many donations were obtained, and many persons,

116 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1641,
among whom were some of the ministers, were induced to
emigrate. He was chosen Deputy Governor in 1630, and As
sistant in 1632, both before his arrival ; and such was the respect
in which he was held, that when the formulary for the consti
tuting of freemen was in debate, an exception was made in
favor of ' the old planters and Mr, Humfrey,' He arrived at
Lynn, in 1 634, received several liberal grants from the court, and
fixed his residence at Swampscot, In discharging the duties of
an Assistant in the general government, he devoted his time
and energies for seven years to the service of the state, and
seems not to have been surpassed in devotedness to her welfare.
He became a member of the Artillery Company in 1640; and
in June, 1641, was appointed to the command of aU the militia
in the county, with the title of Sergeant Major General, But
with all his honors and possessions, a shade of dissatisfaction
had spread itself over his prospects, which his numerous mis
fortunes contributed to darken. The disappointment of the
Bahamas must have been severely felt, by a mind so ambitious
of honor as his appears to have been ; and it is not improbable
that he experienced a secret chagrin at seeing the young and
uninformed Henry Vane promoted to the office of govemor,
above one whose years, knowledge, and services, entitled him
to precedence. It is probable likewise that his affection for his
wife, whose hopes were in the land of her nativity, had some
influence in determining his conduct, Li^ving so far removed
from the elegant circles in which she had delighted, and having
lost the sister who might have been the companion of her
solitude, the Lady Susan was weary of the privations of the
wilderness, the howUng of the wUd beasts, and the uncouth
manners of the savages, and had become lonely, disconsolate,
and homesick. She who had been the dehght of her father's
house, and had glittered in aU the pride of youth and beauty, in
the court of the first monarch in Europe, was now sohtary and
sad, separated by a wide ocean from her father's home. The
future greatness of America, which was then uncertain and
ideal, presented no inducement to her mind to counterbalance
the losses which were first to be endured ; and the cold and
barren wUderness of Swampscot, populated by its few lonely
cottages, round which the Indians were roaming by day, and the
wolves making their nightly excursions, had nothing lovely to
offer to soothe her sorrows or elevate her hopes. What the mis
fortunes and disappointments of Mr, Humfrey had begun her
importunities completed. He sold the principal part of his farm
to Lady Moody, and returned to England with his wife, on the
twenty-sixth of October, They were much censured for leav
ing their children, but their intention of visiting the Bahamas
and the approaching inclemency of the season, rendered it

1641.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 117
imprudent to take them, and they undoubtedly intended to
retum or send for them. That Mr, Humfrey possessed deep
sympathies, his letters sufficientiy evince; and it would be
extremely uncharitable to suppose that the Lady Susan was
without the endowments of maternal love, A woman of high
feelings and keen sensibilities, the daughter of an English Earl,
and according to Mr, Mather's own account, of ' the best family
of any nobleman then in England ' — it cannot be supposed that
she was destitute of those affections which form the character
istic charm of her sex. The emotions of the heart are not always
regulated by rule, and disappointment sometimes makes sad
havoc ¦with the best feelings of our nature,
' 'Tis thus with the dreams of the high heaving heart.
They come but to blaze, and they blaze to depart ;
Their gossamer ¦vrings are too thin to abide
The chilling of sorrow, the burning of pride ;
They come but to brush o'er its young gallant swell.
Like bright birds over ocean, but never to dwell,' John Neai,,
The misfortunes which afterward befel some of the chUdren,
infhcted a wound on the heart of the affectionate father from
which he never recovered. In a letter to Governor Winthrop,
dated 4th September, 1646, he says : ' It is true the want of that
lost occasion, the loss of all I had in the world, doth, upon rub
bings of that irreparable blow, sometimes a little trouble me ;
but in no respect equal to this, that I see my hopes and possi-
bUities of ever enjoying those I did or was wUhng to suffer any
thing for, utterly taken away. But by what intermediate hand
soever this has befallen me, whose neglects and unkindness
God I hope wUl mind them for their good, yet I desire to look at
his hand for good I doubt not to me, though I do not so fully see
which way it may work. Sir, I thank you, again and again, and
that in sincerity, for any fraits of your goodness to me and mine ;
and for any thing contrary, I bless his name, I labor to forget,
and desire him to pardon,' Mr, Humfrey died in 1661, and in
the same year, his administrators, Joseph Humfrey and Edmund
Batter, claimed the five hundred acres of land ' by a pond of
fresh water ' in Lynnfield, which had been given him by the
court. The character of Mr, Humfrey has been drawn with
conciseness by Governor Winthrop, who represents him to have
been ' a gentieman of special parts of learning and activity, and
a godly man,' His chUdren were John, Joseph, Theophilus,
Ann, Sarah, and Dorcas, The first married William Palmer, of
Ardfinan, Ireland, and afterward the Rev. John MUes of Swan-
zey, I have in my possession a deed signed by her, and sealed
with the arms of the house of Lincoln,
Mr, Humfrey appears to have owned nearly aU the lands from

118 HISTORY OF LYNN,

[1642.

Sagamore Hill to Forest River, His house was near the east-
ern'end of Humfrey's beach, and his place there was called the
Swampscot Farm, His lands were chiefly disposed of in 1681,
when his daughter Ann sold ten acres to WUliam Bussett, Jr,,
and twenty acres with a house in Nahant street to Richard
Hood, Robert Ingalls bought nine acres of the farm at Swamp
scot for two hundred and eighty pounds, and Richard Johnson
had sixty acres of salt marsh for thirty pounds. The wind-miU
at Sagamore Hill was valued at sixty pounds. The whole of
Mr. Humfrey's lands, at Swampscot, were about thirteen hundred
acres, besides five hundred at Lynnfield. In 1685, we find that
Daniel King, senior, having bought four hundred acres of this
land, mortgages the same to widow Elizabeth Curwen of Salem,
He afterward married her, and thus secured it ; but in 1690 it
was again mortgaged to Benjamin Brown of Salem. In 1693,
March 20, it was sold by Elizabeth and Daniel King to Walter
Phillips and John Phillips, ancestors of the numerous and
respectable family of Phillips, This tract of four hundred acres
is mentioned as beginning at the farther end of the beach be
yond Fishing Point, and extending to the west end of the Long
Pond, Another description of this same four hundred acres,
makes it extend to Beaver Brook, which is the little stream
next eastward of Phillip's Pond, and runs out at the bounds
between Lynn and Salem, Henry Mayo bought Fishing Point,
which is the point next east of Swampscot, which he sold,
March 10, 1696, to Walter Phillips, for one hundred and forty
pounds, Mr, Humfrey's house and the land adjacent, was
bought by Hon, Ebenezer BurriU, in whose famUy it remained
until 1797, when it was bought by Robert Hooper of Marble
head, In 1842, his daughter Hannah, widow of WUham Reed,
sold it to Mr, Enoch Redington Mudge of Lynn, who has built,
near the old house, a beautiful gothic stone cottage, worthy of
the olden time.
In the early part of this year, says Governor Winthrop, ' a
goodly maid of the church of Linne, going in a deep snow from
Meadford homeward, was lost, and some of her clothes found
after among the rocks,'
1642. The winter was exceedingly cold, -with deep snow,
and the harbor was passable with teams for five weeks. The
Indians said that the weather had not been so cold for forty
years, ^
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
blacksrniths were durected to suspend all other business till the
arms of the colony were repaired. A house was buUt for the

1642,]

HISTORY OF LYNN,

119

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 limits of Saugus,
about eighty rods from the eastern boundary, and about the
same distance south of Walnut street. The cellars of both these
buUdings remEun, and near them, on the east, is a fine unfaU-
ing ,spring.
At the Salem Court, July 12, ' George Sagamore and Edward,
alias Ned,' prosecuted Francis Lightfoot for land. The case
was referred to the Boston court.
Governor Dudley, in a letter to his son in England, dated
November 28, remarks, ' There is a want of school-masters
hereabouts.'. At the Quarterly Court, December 14, ' The Lady Deborah
Moodie, Mrs, King, and the wife of John Tillton, were presented,
for houldinge that the baptising of Infants is noe ordinance of
God.'

Mark X : 14,

CHAPTER VI,
Iron Foundry established, the first in America — Joseph Jenks, and other Inhabitants
— 'Simple Cobler' — Laws concerning Courtship and Long Hair — More Inhab
itants—Persecution of the Baptists— Johnson's Description of Lymi— Shoes --
Money Coined— The First Fire Engine— Life of Rev. Thomas Cobbet. 1643
to 1656.  A second multitude.
With wondrous art, founded the masfly ore. MiLTOir,
RON ORE was discovered in Lynn at a very early
period, but no attempt was made to work it untU the
year 1643, It is of the kmd caUed Bog Iron, and
was found in large quantities in various places within
L a mile or two from the meeting-house, where it stiU
S') exists. The great want in the country of iron tools
and iron ware, induced several enterprising gentlemen to attempt
the establishment of a Forge, Among the principal of these
were Thomas Dexter and Robert Bridges. Mr. Dexter was a
very active and energetic man, foremost in every pubhc enter
prise ; and his greatest fault appears to have consisted in speak
ing somewhat too freely of the government, because they did
not keep up with his plans of improvement. The character of
Hon. Robert Bridges has been given by Johnson, in a few words ;
' he was endued with able parts, and forward to improve them
to the glory of God and his people's good.'
This year, Mr. Bridges took some specimens of the Iron ore
from the mines in Saugus, and went to London, where he suc
ceeded in forming a company, called the ' Company of Under
takers for the Iron Works,' consisting of the following wealthy
and enterprising gentlemen,
Lionel Copley, Esquire, of York County, England.
Nicholas Bond, Esquire, of Westminster,
Thomas Pury, Esquire, of Westminster,
John Becx, London, Merchant,
WiUiam Beauchamp, London, Merchant,
Thomas Foley, London, Gentleman,
WiUiam Greenhill, Stepney, Middlesex County.
Thomas Weld, Minister, Gateshead, Durham County,
John Pococke, Merchant Tailor, London,

1642,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 121
William Becke, Merchant TaUor, London,
WiUiam Hicocke, London, Citizen,
This company advanced one thousand pounds for commencing
the work. Land was purchased of Thomas Hudson, and a
Foundry erected on the western bank of Saugus river, where
large heaps of scoria are still to be seen, John Winthrop, Jr.,
also engaged in the enterprise ; and Mr. Endecott, of Salem, in
a letter to Govemor Winthrop, dated December 1, says, ' I want
much to hear from your son's iron and steel.' The village at
the Iron Works was called Hammersmith, from some of the
principal workmen who came from a place of that name in
England. This Iron Foundry at Lynn, was the first which
was established in America,
Several persons came from England this year to engage in the
Iron Works, either as superintendents or workmen, among
whom were the foUowing :
Richard Leader was General Agent for the Company of the
Undertakers for the Iron Works, and is mentioned as a man of
superior abihty,
Hemy Leonard was a workman at the Iron Foundry, The
family of the Leonards have been extensively engaged in the
manufacture of Iron, in various places, ever since their ances
tor assisted to make the first castings at Lynn,
Henry Styche Uved at the Iron Works, It appears by a
deposition given by him, at the Salem Court, in 1653, that he
was then 103 years of age,
ArsbeU Anderson came from Scotland, and was a workman at
the Iron Foundry, He died in 1661,
Mac Galium More Downing came from Scotland, He worked
at the Forge, and died in 1683.
Joseph Jenks came from Hammersmith in England, He
was a Machinist at the Iron Foundry, and was a man of great
genius, of which abundant s'ddence ¦wiU be found in this history.
He made the dies for coining the first money, built the first fire-
engine, and took out several patents for improvements in miUs
and iron tools. He is said to have been descended from an
ancient family in Wales, He came over a widower, leaving two
sons in England, and married Elizabeth  , by whom he had
one son and two daughters. He died in March, 1683, and his
wife Elizabeth died in July, 1679, His chUdren were, 1, Joseph,
born in England, resided some time in Lynn, where he married
Esther, daughter of WUliam BaUard, He then removed to
Pawtucket, where he built a forge, which was destroyed in the
Wampanoag war in 1675. In 1681, he was an Assistant in the
gdvemment'^of Rhode Island; he had a son, Joseph Jenks, who
was governor of that State from 1727 to 1732, 2, George, went
to Virginia. 3. Sara, married John Chilson. 4. Samuel, like
16

122 HISTORY OF LYNN

[1643.

his father, was a workman in Iron, and married Elizabeth Dar
ling, 5. Deborah. 6. John, married Sarah Merriam. 7, Daniel,
went to Rhode Island, where he built several mUls, The
descendants of Joseph Jenks, throughout New England, are
numerous, and several of them have been eminent; among
whom is the Rev, WUham Jenks, D, D,, of Boston.
Joseph Jenks, the founder of this family, deserves to be held
in perpetual remembrance in American History, as being the
first founder ' who worked in Brass and Iron ' on the westem
continent. By his hands the first models were made, and the
first castings taken of many domestic implements and iron tools.
The first article said to have been cast, was a small iron pot,
capable of containing about one quart. Thomas Hudson, of
the same family with the celebrated Hendric Hudson, and the
lineal ancestor of my mother, was the first proprietor of the
lands on Saugus River, where the Iron Foundry stood. When
the forge was established, he procured the first casting, which
was this famous old iron pot, which he preserved as a curiosity.
It has been handed down in the famUy ever since, and is now
in the possession of my mother, who, I suppose, would not
exchange it for a silver one,
1643. Much difficulty was occasioned for several years, by
an opinion which some of the people entertained, that the bap
tism of infants was sinful, Mr, William Witter was presented
at the Salem Court for his conduct in this respect, and on the
twenty- eighth of February, the foUowing record was made :
'William Witter — Now comeing in, answered humbly, and
confessed his Ignorance, and his willingness to see Light, and,
(upon Mr, Norris our Elder his speech,) seemed to be stagered,
Inasmuch as that he came in court meltinglie. Sentence —
Have caUed our ordenonce of God, a badge of the whore on
some Lecture day, the next 5th day being a pubUc fast. To
acknowledge his fait. And to ask Mr, Cobbett forgiveness, in
saying he spok against his conscience. And enjoined to be
heare next court att Salem,'
At the same court, Roger Scott was presented, ' for common
sleeping at the pubhc exercise upon the Lord's day, and for
striking him that waked him,' In December following, not
having amended his conduct, he was sentenced by the court,
'to be severely whipped,' It was the custom at this tune,
during the public service, for a person to go about the meeting
to wake the sleepers. He bore a long wand, on one end of
which was a baU, and on the other a fox taU, When he
observed the men asleep, he rapped them on the head with the
knob ; and roused the slumbering sensibUities of the ladies by
drawing the brush lightly across their faces.
On Sunday morning, March 5, there was an earthquake

1644,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 123
A controversy was in agitation respecting the right of the
assistants to a negative vote upon the resolves of the representa
tives, Mr, Cobbet wrote a treatise, in which he advocated the
right of the assistants, and the question was finally det;ided in
their favor.
On the fifth of June, says Gk)vernor Winthrop, ' there arose a
sudden gust at NW, so ¦violent for half an hour as it blew down
multitudes of trees. It lifted up their meeting-house at New
bury, the people being in it. It darkened the air with dust, yet
through God's great mercy it did no hurt, but only killed one
Indian, It was straight between Linne and Hampton,'
In June, Mr, Edward Tomlins w.s appointed by the court a
commissioner to treat with the Indians, He was also appointed
Clerk of the Writs, instead of Mr, Richard Sadler,
Mr, Joseph Armitage, who kept the Tavem on the west of
Saugus River, ha-ving become involved in pecuniary difficulty,
in consequence of certain speculations beyond his means, his
¦wife Jane presented a petition to the General Court, in June,
that they would ' reconfirme the custody of the said ordinary to
the petioness.' It was signed by the two ministers, and by
thirty-two other principal inhabitants, and was granted on the
twenty-sixth of October, ' Joseph Armitage is allowed to keep
the ordinary, but not to draw wine,'
It was probably on account of this refusal of the court, to
allow Sir, Armitage to seU spirit, that he procured the warrant
mentioned in the Salem Court files, December 27th, when
Joseph Armitage was presented, ' for procuring a warrant for
seaventy persons to appeare forthwithe before the Governor,
which we conceave may be of dangerous consequence,'
1644. The Company of Undertakers for the Iron Works,
on the seventh of March, laid before the court ten propositions
for the advancement of their designs ; the most important of
which were granted. They were allowed permission to make
use of six places, three mUes square in each place, wherever
they might choose, without interfering with previous grants.
Their privUeges were to continue twenty-one years; with
exemption of themselves, their workmen, and stock, from all
public taxes, for ten years.
On the twentieth of May, the court allowed the to^wn ' thirty
sacre shot' for their two great guns, of which Captain Robert
Bridges had the care. At the same court, the name of Lynn
Village was altered to Reading.
At the Quarterly Court, on the twenty-seventh of August,
the following persons were presented. ' Wm, Hewes and John
his son, for deriding such as Sing in the Congregation, tearm-
ing them fooles ; also WUUam Hewes for saying Mr, Whiting

124 HISTORY OP LYNN. [1645.
preaches confusedly ; also John Hewes for charging Mr. Cobbitt
with falshood in his doctrine. Wm, Hewes, and John his son,
shall pay 50s, a peece for a fine, and that it be Injoyned they
shall make an humble confession at Lynn, at a pubUck meeting,
which according to it the Court wiU consider of their fines,'
On the thirteenth of November, the Iron Company presented
to the court seven more propositions; in reply to which, the
court, in addition to their former grants, allowed them three
years ' for the perfecting of their worke, and furnishing of the
country with all sorts of barr iron.' They gave any of the
inhabitants hberty to share in the work, by ' bringing in within
one year, no less than 100£ a person, with aUowance to the
adventurers, &c., for 1000£ already disbursed;' if they would
complete the finery and forge, as well as the furnace, which ' is
already set up.' They gave them liberty, in all waste places,
' to make use of aU yron ston, or yron oare,' to cut wood, and to
make ponds and highways. They likewise granted them
immunities, civil and rehgious, equal with any in the jurisdic
tion ; and recommended them to provide religious instruction
for the families of their workmen, who were to be free fi^om all
watchings against the Indians, and from all trainings,
1645. The establishment of the Iron Foundry was highly
approved by the Court, who passed the foUowing order on the
fourteenth of May,
' Whereas it is now found by sufficient purpose that the iron
work is very successful, both in the richness of the ore and the
goodness of the iron, and like to be of great benefit to the whole
country, especiaUy if the inhabitants here should be interested
therein, in some good proportion, one half at the least, and
whereas the time hmited for adventurers to come in wUl be
expired in the ninth month next : This Court taking the same
into serious consideration, and being careful that such an oppor
tunity, for so great advantage to the Commonwealth might not
be let slip : have taken order, that speedy notice thereof should
be given to every town within this jurisdiction, expecting that
aU such persons, as are of sufficient ability, and intend their ovm
benefit, with the common good wiU forthwith appear to come in
to share in the work, accordmg to their abilities, and for their
better instruction, and direction herein, they are hereby to under
stand that there is already disbursed between £1200, and £1500
with which the furnace is built, with that which belongeth to it'
and good quantity of mine, coal and wood provided, and some
ons of sow iron cast, and some other things, in readiness for
the forge, &c,, they are also to know that no adventurer is to'put
in less than £100 : but divers may join together to make up that
sum : so it come aU under one name, there ¦wiU be need of some

1645,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 125
£1500 to finish the forge, &c,, which will be accepted in money,
beaver, wheat, coals, or any such commodities, as wUl satisfy the
workmen, and these are to be paid in to Mr. Henry Webb, of
Boston, by such direction as they may receive from the under
takers, Mr. John Winthrop, jun., major Sedgwick, Mr. Henry
Webb aforesaid, and Mr. Joshua Hewes ; the new adventurers
are also to know, that they must bear their part, in such loss, as
is befaUen the first stock, by forbearance, or otherwise, to the
time of the new adventurers paying in their adventures, and all
such, as wiU adventure are desired to hasten their resolutions
that the work may go on speedily.'
A question has arisen, whether the first forge might not have
been estabhshed at Braintree. It certainly was not. The first
purchase of land for the iron works at Braintree, which has been
discovered, was not till some months after this time, namely, on
the twenty-ninth of September, 1645, when George Ruggles
sold Richard Leader twenty acres. The grant of ' 2860 acres,'
made for the u-on works ' to be set up ' at Braintree, was not
laid out tiU the eleventh of January, 1648. It is certain that an
Iron Foundry was in successful operation at Lynn, as early as
1643, and as mention is only made by the court of one forge, it
foUows of course that it must have been this. In 1691, iron ore,
caUed ' Rock mine,' was taken from the ledges at Nahant for
the forge at Braintree.
The court ordered, that youth, from ten to sixteen years of
age, should be exercised, on training days, in the use of small
guns, half pikes, and bo'ws and arrows. They also ordered, that
any person who should make or publish a false report, should be
fined ten shillings, or set in the stocks,
Mr, Edward Burcham was chosen ' Clarke of the Writts, and
to record deaths, births, and marriages for the Towne,'
' Thomas Layton hath Liberty granted him by the house of
deputies, to drawe ¦wine for the town for one yeare,'
' Thomas Layghton, Edward Burcham, and Thomas Puttnam
are chosen by the house of deputies to end smaU controversies,'
The number of inhabitants having been considerably dimin
ished by the removal of so many families to Reading, Long
Island, and other places, a petition was presented to the court
for an abatement of taxes. The original paper, very much torn
and trampled by the mob, which dilapidated Governor Hutchin
son's house and papers in 1765, is still in existence. It com
mences ¦with ' humbly shewing, that whereas the overrulinge
Providence of God hath much weakened our hands, which yet
were never of hke strength with others about us, to bear such a
share in the Publique disbursements and debts of the country
as formerly, we therefore make bold truly to Informe this hon
oured Court of our Infeebled estate with which we have more

126 HISTORY or LYNN. [1645.
Immediate cause to be best acquainted. Those fewe able
persons which were with and of us. Its not unknowne how many
of them have deserted us ; as my lady Moody, whose share, in a
former rate of this town, at 80£. was above 4 £. and her estate,
left now in a hfe rate, pays not 1 £, 10 s, Mr, Howel 6 £. Mr.
Willis 5 £, Mr, Keayne 2 £, Mr, Edward Tomlins neare 3 £.
John Poole 1 £ 15s, Mr, Sadler 1 £, 10s. Nic Bro-wne as much.
Lieftenant Walker l£, Wm. Halsey l£. John Cowper l£, Mr.
Wade i2s. James Hubbard 12s. Wm. Cowdrey, Wm. Blott, Wm.
Martin, Thomas MarshaU, Zachary ffitch, 10s, each of them, besides
above 20 more whose share in such a rate was, some 8, some 7,'
&c. The petitioners state, that between ' two and three hun
dred acres of the deserted farms is soe overrun ¦with Sorrel that
it is scarce quittinge cost to such whose necessities is such as
with us force them to improve the same. We would not envy
our neighbor to^wnes, which are of the risinge hand by tradinge
or otherwayes, we rather wish theyr prosperity, but for ourselves,
we are neither fitted for or inured to any such course of trade,
but must awayte God's blessinge alone upon our Lands and
Cattel ; our Earnest Request therefore is, that this honoured Court,
in which is the Confiuence of the ¦wisdom, fidelity, and Equity
of the Country, would please seriously to weigh the premises
touching our present estate, and proportion out such share of
Publique Charges, according not to our supposed but real Abili
ties which the Lord hath left us, and we shall cheerfully put too
our shoulders and continue our joynt prayers for you and yours.
Resting yours to serve and obey in the Lord,' This petition
was signed by Thomas Putnam, Francis Lightfoot, Henry Col
lins, WUham Longley, and Thomas Laighton, Selectmen, The
court, in their reply say, ' We conceive the estate of lin should
be considered ; ' and when they lay the tax, which was £616,15,
they required only £25 from Lynn,
Some of the inhabitants of Lynn and Salem petitioned the
court for liberty to form an independent company. The court
gave permission, and a band was formed, called ' The MUitary
Company of Lynn and Salem,'
At the Quarteriy Court, on the fifth of July, Samuel Bennet
was presented, ' for saying, in a scornful manner, he neither
cared for the Towne, nor any order the Towne could make,'
Captain Robert Bridges was appointed by the court, a com
missioner to negotiate between Lord De La Tour and Monsieur
D'Aulney, the governors of the French provinces on the north
of New England, He was accompanied by Richard Walker
and Thomas MarshaU, For their ' good service ' in this embassy.
Captain Bridges was allowed ten pounds. Lieutenant Walker
four pounds, and Sergeant Marshall forty shUlings
On the fourteenth of October, the Company of Ui.dertakers
for the Iron Works presented a petition to the court, which was

1645,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 127
granted. As the answer of the court comprises some interesting
information respecting the Iron Works, it is transcribed,
' 1, It was granted and by this court ordered, that the under
takers, their agents and assigns, are hereby granted the sole
privilege and benefit of making Iron and managing of all Iron
mines and works that now are, or shall be discovered and found
out, or hereafter shall be in this jurisdiction, for the term of
twenty-one years from the former grant : Provided that the said
adventurers, their agents or assigns, do within three years from
the former date, use their best endeavors to their utmost skUl to
perfect so many of the said works, that the inhabitants of this
jurisdiction be furnished with bar iron of all sorts for their use,
not exceeding twenty pounds per ton. Provided also, that it
shall be in the liberty of any within this jurisdiction to be adven
turers ¦with the undertakers, that by the last day of this Octo
ber they bring in their adventures, not less in one man's name
than fifty pounds, ¦with allowance to the adventurers, for the
stock of one thousand pounds, by them already disbursed,
' 2, The Court doth hereby further grant to the said under
takers, their agents and assigns, in all places of waste and lands
not appropriated to any to'wn or person, that the said undertakers,
their agents or assigns, at all times during the said term of
twenty-one years, shall and may freely and at their own discre
tion have and take, all manner of wood and timber, to be con
verted into coals, or any other uses for the service of the under
takers, as also aU manner of earth, stones, turf clay, and other
materials for buUdings and reparation of their works, forges, mUls,
or houses built, or to be buUt, or for making or moulding any
manner of guns, pots, and all other cast-iron ware, and for con
verting wood into charcoal, and also to get, dig, and c-arry away
of all manner of stone iron ore and wood of all sorts ; and any other
material, or things of use for their works, and it is hereby also
granted to the' said undertakers, their agents, or assigns, that they
shaU have free hberty to make all convenient ways and passages,
as also all manner of dams, watercourses, sluices, ponds for water,
in aU waste grounds, or other conveyances, to, from and for the
service of the said works built or to be built not appropriated to
any town or person, during such time as the said works shall
continue. Provided, if by any pond, sluice, dam, or any other
work (though in land appropriated) they should spoil, or any
ways prejudice the land appropriated to any town or person the
said undertakers shall make due and just satisfaction,
' 3. Also the Court doth hereby further grant to the said
adventurers, their agents, or assigns, in all the grounds that are
or shaU be appropriated, that the said adventurers, their agents
or assigns, shaU have free liberty at all times during the term to
dig, get, carry away aU manner of stone, or iron ore, and to

128 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1645.
make and use all convenient ways and sluices, water-courses,
pools, dams, ponds for water, and other conveniences, to, from,
and for the service of the said works through all the said grounds,
that are or hereafter shall be appropriated, (except houses,
orchards, not exceeding three acres and yards) giving such due
and full recompense for the same to the owners thereof, for the
time being, as three indifferent men shaU adjudge, whereof one
to be appointed by the said court at the next general meeting
after the undertakers, their agents or assigns, shall make or use
any of the said ways, or water-courses, or other particulars
therein mentioned for the services aforesaid, and one other by
the owner of the land for the time being, and the third by the
undertakers or adventurers.
' 4. The Court hereby do further grant unto the said adven
turers and to their heirs and assigns forever, so much land now
or hereafter to be in this jurisdiction, as aforesaid, as shall con
tain in six places three miles square in each place, or so much
in quantity as containeth three miles square not exceeding four
miles in length to be set out in such places and parcels, as the
said undertakers or their agents shall make choice of, not being
already appropriated as aforesaid, upon which said land the said
adventurers shall have free liberty and hereby do undertake that
within the said term of [twenty-one] years, to search, set out and
find convenient places within the said compass of land ; for the
biiUding and setting up of six forges, or furnaces, and not bloom-
aries only, or so many more as they shall have occasion for, for
the making of iron as aforesaid, which they shaU, (the iron stone
and other materials appearing proper and fit for the making of
iron as aforesaid,) buUd and set up within the term aforesaid.
Provided that the Court may grant a plantation in any place
where the court doth think meet, the undertakers or their agents
there residing having first notice thereof and not making choice
of the same for part of the land to be set out and granted to
them, for the design of planting the said iron works and making
iron as aforesaid,
'5. And it is further granted and ordered that what quantity
of iron of aU sorts and quaUties the said adventurers, their agents
or assigns, shaU make more than the inhabitants shall have need
or use of for their sei-vice to be bought and paid for by the said
inhabitants as aforesaid, they shaU have free hberty to transport
the same by shipping to other ports or places of the worid, and
to make sale thereof, in what way and place the said adven
turers shall please, for their best advantage. Provided they seU it
not to any person or state in actual hostility with us
'6. It IS further granted and ordered that the said undertakers
and agents, and servants, shall, from the date of their presents,
have and enjoy aU hberhes and immunities whatsoever; present
or to come, equal with any in this jurisdiction, according to the

1645.] HISTORY OP LYNN. 129
laws and orders thereof, for the time being, and according to the
rights and privileges of the churches.
' 7. It is also granted that the undertakers and adventurers,
together with their agents, servants, and assigns, shall be and
are hereby free from all taxes, assessments, contributions, and
other public charges ¦whatsoever, for so much of their stock or
goods as shaU be employed in and about the said iron works
for and during the term of [twenty-one] years yet to come from
the date of their presents.
' 8. It is also hereby further granted and ordered that all such
clerks and workmen as miners, founders, finers, hammer-men,
and colliers, necessarily employed, or to be employed in and
about the said works, built or to be built, for any the services
thereof, shall from time to time during the term of [twenty-one]
years, be and hereby are absolutely freed and discharged of and
from all ordinary trainings, ¦watchings, etc., but that every person
at all times be furnished with arms, powder, shot, etc., according
to order of court.
' 9, Lastly. It is ordered by the Court, that in aU places
¦where any iron work is set up, remote from a church or congre
gation, unto which they cannot conveniently come, that the
undertakers shall provide some good means whereby their fami
lies may be instructed in the knowledge of God, by such as the
court or standing councU shall approve of
On the twenty-second of December, ' Thomas Hudson" of
Linne, granted unto Thos, Hutchinson of Linne, sixty acres of
ground amongst the ffurnaces, adjoyning to Goodman Townsend's
fiarme,' A book was ¦written this year, by Rev, Nathaniel Ward, of
Ips^wich, which atttacted much attention. It is entitled ' The
Simple Cobler of Aggawam, -wUling to help mend his Native
Country, lamentably tattered, both in Upper Leather and Sole,
¦with all the honest Stitches he can take.' It abounds in pun
gent wit and satire, interspersed with much good sense. He is
particularly severe on those who cause innovations in religion,
and deny the rite of infant baptism. He says, ' The removing
of some one iota in scripture, may draw out all the life, and
traverse aU the truths of the Bible. To authorize an untruth by
a toleration of state, is to build a sconce against the walls of
heaven, to batter God out of his chair I ' His book concludes
with the follo^^^ng stanza :
' And farewell, Simple "World,
If thou 'It thy cranium mend.
There is my Last and Awl,
And a Shoemaker's End '. '
17

130 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1646,

1646. The proprietors of the Iron Works, in the beginning of
this year, made an agreement with Thomas Dexter, for opening a
new water-course, and enlarging the pond. They purchased
' all that parcell of land neere adjacent to the Grantor's bouse,
which shall necessarUy be overflowed by reason of a pond of
water, there included, to be stopped to the heighth agreed on
betwixt them ; and sufficient for a ¦water-course intended to be
erected, together with the land lying betweene the ould water
course and the new one. And also five acres and halfe in the
cornfield next the Grantor's house,' for which they allowed £40,
They agreed to make a fence ' toWard Captain Bridge's house,'
with ' a sufficient cart bridge over the said water-course,' and ' to
allow sufficient water in the ould river for the Alewives to come
to the wyres before the Grantor's house,' This extension of the
pond caused it to overflow three acres of land belonging to Mr.
Adam Hawkes, The whole amount purchased was forty-five
acres, Thomas Dexter's house stood at some distance above the Iron
Works on the left. The present road to the northward runs
through the bed of the old pond. This year the dam was moved
further up the river, and a littie canal was dug from the pond,
and brought along on the high ground, untU it reached the Foun
dry, This canal was the ' new water course ' mentioned in the
preceding agreement.
On the eighteenth of February, Mr, WUliam Witter was pre
sented at the Quarterly Court, ' ffor saying that they who stayed
while a ChUde is baptized, doe worshipp the dyvill ; also Henry
CoUens and Mathew West, deling with him about the former
speeche, he speaks to them after this manner, That they who
stayed at the baptising of a Childe, did take the name of the
Father, Sonn, and holly ghost in vain and broke the Saboth, and
cenfesseth and justifieth his former speech. Sentence of Court
is, an Iniunction next Lord's day being faire, that he make a
pubhque confession to Satisfaction, in the open congregation at
Lyn, or else to answer it at the next General Court, And con
cerning his opinion, the court hath yet patience toward him, tiU
they see if he be obstinate, and only admonish him '
By permission of the court, Mr. Leader purchased some of the
country s Gunnes,' to melt over at the Iron Foundry
*^ ?'!J^V^"!.^ °^ ¦^T''' ^'- -^"'^P^ J^"'^^ presented a petition
that the Court would patronise his improvements in mills, and
the manufacture of sythes, ' In Answer to a peticon of Joseph
Jencks for liberty to make experience of his abillityes and Inven
tions for the making of engines for mills, to goe with water, for
the more speedy despatch of worke than formeriy, and miUs for
the makmg of sithes and other edge tooles, with a new Invented

1646.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 131
sawemiU, that things may be afforded cheaper than formerly, and
that for fourteen yeeres without disturbance by any other's set
ting up the like Invention, that so his study and costs may not be
in vayne or lost, this peticon was graunted, so as power is stiU
left to restrayne the exportation of such manufactures, and to
moderate the prizes thereof, if occacon so require,'
Mr, Daniel King complained to the Court that his goods had
been taken, to the amount of fifty shUlings, by ' the captain of
ye trayned band of Lin, for supposed neglect of trayning, he be
ing lame, and willing to find a sufficient man,' The court ordered
him to pay the fifty shiUings for the past, and ten shillings annu
ally for the future.
Much damage was done to the com, wheat, and barley, this
summer, by a species of large black caterpillar.
On the fourth of August, Mr, Thomas Dexter was presented
at the Quarterly Court ' for a common sleeper,' in meetings for
public worship, and fined.
The proprietors of the Iron Works addressed a letter to the
court in May, which was answered in September. In their re
ply, the court say, ' We acknowledge with you that such a staple
comodity as Iron is a great meanes to enrich the place where it
is, both by furnishing this place with that comodity at reasona
ble rates, and by bringing in other necessary comodityes in ex
change of Iron exported, but as we use to say, if a man lives
where an axe is worth but 12d., yet it is never the cheaper to
him who cannot get 12d. to buy one. So if your Iron may not
be had heere without ready mony what advantage will that be
to us if wee have no money to purchase it. Itt is true some men
have here Spanish mony sometimes, but little comes to our
Smiths hands, especially those of inland tonnes. What monyes
our Smithes cann gett you may be sure to have it before any
other ; if we must want iron so often as our mony failes, you
may easily Judge if it were not better for us to Procure it from
other places by our come and pipe staves, &c., then to depend
on the comming in of mony which is never so plentifull as to
supply for the occacon.'
In October, Captain Robert Bridges was chosen Speaker of
the House of Representatives.
On the night of the fourth of November, began ' a most dread
ful tempest at northeast, with wind and rain.' The roof of Lady
Moody's house at Salem was blown off! Winthrop,
At the court, in this month, ' on the tnotion of the deputies of
the towne of Linne ; It is ordered that there shalbe once a weeke
a market kept there on every third day of the weeke, being their
lecture day.'

132 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1647.

1647. On the twentieth of January, Richard Leader sold to
Joseph Jenks, the privilege to buUd a forge at the Iron Works,
for the manufacture of sythes.
On the twenty-sixth of May, Captain Robert Bridges was
chosen an Assistant,
In June, an epidemic sickness prevailed through the whole
country, supposed to have been the infiuenza.
In October, the court ordered, that every to-wn containing
fifty families, should have a school for reading .and ¦writing ; and
that all towns containing one hundred families, should maintain
a grammar school.
An order was passed, that if any young man should address a
young woman, ¦without the consent of her parents, or in their
absence, of the county court, he should be fined five pounds.
The court fixed the prices of grain to be received for taxes ;
Indian com at 3s,, rye and peas at 3s. 6d,, barley at 4s,, and wheat
at 4s. 6d. a bushel.
Among the presentments at the Quarterly Court, was the fol
lowing. December 14. ' The town of Lynn, for want of a staff"
for the constable.'
December 29. 'John Turner, living at the Iron Workes at
Lin, being convicted before the court for stabbing Sara Turner,
his daughter-in-law — the sentence of court is, that he shaU be
severely whipped,'
1648. Mr, Edmund Ingalls, the first white inhabitant of
Lynn, was drowned, in March, in crossing Saugus River. Soon
after, ' Robert IngaUs, with the rest of his brethren and sisters,
being eight in number,' petitioned the General Court, ' That
whereas their Father hath been deprived of life by the insuffi
ciency of Lynn Bridge, that according to the law in such cases,
there shall be an hundred pounds forfeited to the next heir.'
This was granted. It was in conformity with an old British
law, established by Howell the Good, King of Wales, by which
the value of each person's life was nominally fixed, and so much
money paid, in case of his being kiUed.
On the twenty-third of March, the court allowed the town
twenty pounds, toward repairing the ' great bridge ' over Saugus
river. On the eighteenth of October, thirty shiUings were
granted annually for the same purpose.
On the twenty-seventh of AprU, Captain Robert Bridge's
house, near the Iron Works, was burnt, Winthrop
In June, Margaret Jones, of Chariestown, was ' executed at
Boston, for a witch. This was the first execution for this offence
in New England, and should have been the last
In a letter to his son, dated August 4, Mr, Winthrop remarks •

1649,] HISTORY OF LYNN, , 133
' The iron work goeth on with more hope. It yields now about
7 tons per week, but it is most out of that brown earth which
lies under the bog mine. They tried another mine, and after 24
hours they had a sum of about 500, which when they brake,
they conceived to be a 5th part silver. There is a grave man of
good fashion come now over to see how things stand here. He
is one who hath been exercised in iron works,' In another
letter, September 30, he says, ' The furnace runs 8 tons per
week, and their bar iron is as good as Spanish, The adventur
ers in England sent over one Mr, Dawes to oversee Mr, Leader,
but he is far short of Mr, Leader. They could not agree, so he
is returned by TenerUTe,'
1649. The Rev, Thomas Cobbet preached the Election
Sermon before the court, on the third of May,
On the tenth, the Governor and Assistants, among whom was
Captain Robert Bridges, signed a protestation against the pre
vailing custom of wearing long hair, ' after the manner of ruffians
and barbarous Indians.'
On the seventh of September, Nicholas Pinion was presented
at the Quarterly court, for swearing. ' The deposition of Quin-
ten Pray. This deponent saith, that meetinge with Nicholas
Pinion the last Lord's day, cominge out of his come, hee heard
the said Pinion sware all his pumpkins were turned to squashes,'
The court, as a comment upon Mr, Johnson's text, (p, 33, old
edition,) 'let no man make a jest at pumpkins,' fined him.
On the eleventh, Matthew Stanley was tried for winning the
affections of John Tarbox's daughter, without the consent of her
parents. He was fined £5, wilh 2s, 6d, fees. The parents of
the young woman were allowed six shillings for their attend
ance three days.
1650. In the preceding pages, I have given the names of
every man whom I found in Lynn before the year 1650, except
ing those who staid but a short time, and left to settle in other
places. I shall here give a list of a few more naines, which I
find before the year 1690, and after that time they become too
numerous to be continued,
Samuel Appleton, Jr., was here from 1677 to 1688, in con
nexion ¦with the Iron Works, which he owned at that time. He
was a descendant of John Appulton, who died at Great Wal-
dingford, in 1436. The foUowing record of his family is from the
old volume of Lynn Records, which was discovered by me, after
it had been lost for many years, ' Mr. SamueU Apleton, Junior,
and Mis Elizabeth Whittingham, the Daughter of Mr. WUliam
Wliittingham, Marchant, in Boston, was married the 19th
of June, 1682. Mary, the Daughter of Mr, SamueU Appleton

134 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1650"
and of Elizabeth his wifTe, was bom into this world the 30 of
March, 1683. Hannah ther Daughter was bom the first of
November, 1684. Elizabeth their daughter was Born the 10th
of July, 1687.' He removed to Boston in 1688; and was the
ancestor of the very respectable family of Appletons in that city,
Thomas Berry married Elizabeth, and had two sons; Thomas,
bom March 14, 1695; and Samuel, born June 25, 1697. His
descendants remain.
John Blaney married Elizabeth Purchis in November, 1678,
He had a son Joseph, whose descendants live at Swampscot,
Samuel Bly married Lois Ivory, December 19, 1678, and died
December 31, 1693, He had two sons, Theophilus and Samuel,
Thomas Brewer married Elizabeth Graves, December 4, 1682,
and had six children ; Mary, Rebecca, Mary, Crispus, Thomas,
and John,
William Barber married Elizabeth Kirk, May 4, 1673, He had
two children ; Elizabeth, born November 1, 1673 ; WUliam,
bom January 8, 1 674,
John Henry Burchsted, a native of Silesia, married Mary, ¦widow
of Nathaniel Kertland, AprU 24, 1690. Henry, his son, was
bom October 3, 1690, They were both eminent physicians, and
lived on the hill in front of High Rock, where Dr, Richard Hasel-
tine's house stands, Dr, John Henry Burchsted died September
20, 1721, aged 64 years. The foUowmg is his epitaph :
Silesia to New England sent this man.
To do their all that any healer can, '
But he who conquered all diseases must
Find one who throws him down into the dust,
A chemist near to an adeptist come,
Leaves here, thrown by, his caput mortuum.
Reader, physicians die as others do ;
Prepare, for thou to this art hastening too.
Thomas Beal had two sons. WiUiam married widow Mary
Hart, March 5, 1684, Samuel married Patience LoveU March
28, 1682,
Thomas Burrage married Elizabeth, 1687, and had six chU
dren ; Ehzabeth, John, Thomas, Mary, Bethiah, and Ruth
John Coats and Maiy Witherdin, were married AprU 14. 1681,
and had two children, Mary and John.
Philip Giffbrd married Mary Davis, June 30, 1684, He had
two chUdren, Philip and Mary.
¦ ^^^r^^f ,?°"^li^'''f.''/°'' Daniel, bom about 1650, who mar
ried Elizabeth, She died August 3 1691
John Gowing married Joanna, 1682, and had seven chUdren;
John, Thomas Elizabeth, Samuel, Joanna, Lois, and Timotiiy:
Samuel Hart married Mary Witteridge, January 29, 1673, and
had two children ; John and WUliam. j , 'o, auu

1650,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 135
Thomas Ivory had two sons, Thomas and John, He died July
18, 1690,
Daniel King married widow Elizabeth Corwen of Salem, He
died May 27, 1672, His widow, Elizabeth, died February 26,
1677, He lived at Swampscot, and bought a large portion of
Mr, Humfrey's farm. He had two sons ; Daniel married Tabi
tha Walker, March 11, 1662', Ralph married Elizabeth Walker,
March 2, 1663.
Thomas Laighton married Sarah — , and had two sons, 1, Thom
as, who married Sarah Rednap, December 28, 1670 ; and 2.
Samuel, who married Sarah Graves, February 14, 1680,
John Lyscom married Abigail — , and had a son, Samuel ; born
September 16, 1693,
Ezekiel Needham married Sarah King, October 27, 1669, and
had five children ; Edmund, Sarah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Ralph.
Daniel Needham married Ruth — , 1673, and had five children ;
Elizabeth, Edmund, Daniel, Ruth and Mary.
Thomas Norwood and Mary Brown were married August 24,
1685, and had six chUdren; Francis, Ebenezer, Mary, Thomas,
Mary, and Jonathan.
George Oaks married Jennet — , and had five children ; John,
born July 31, 1664, Mary, Richard, Sarah, Elizabeth and
George, John Perkins and Anna Hutchinson were married August 29,
1695, and had five children ; Anna, John, Elizabeth, Mary, and
WUliam, John Person married Tabitha — , and had eleven children ;
James, born November 28, 1680, Tabitha, John, Rebecca, KendaU,
Susanna, Mary, Thomas, Ebenezer, Sarah, and Abigail,
Samuel Penfield married Mary Lewis, November 30, 1675,
and had two children ; Samuel and Mary,
John Phillips married Hannah — , and had two children ; John,
born December 3, 1689; Hannah, born June 6, 1694, He died
September 29, 1694, He lived at Swampscot,
William Robinson had three sons ; Wilham, born October 7,
1683, Aquila, and John,
Henry Silsbe had three sons ; Jonathan married Bathia Marsh,
January 1, 1673; Samuel married Mary Bistow, July 4, 1676;
Henry married Grace Eaton, November 18, 1680,
Henry Stacy married Hannah, and had five chUdren ; Wil
liam, bom January 3, 1674; Henry, born AprU 1, 1677; Sarah,
bom January 3, 1678; Ebenezer, born January 4, 1680; John,
bom October 30, 1682,
Joshua Wait and Elizabeth Mansfield were married January
10, 1675, and had two chUdren, Moses and Mary,
Abraham WeUman married Elizabeth — , and had a son born,
May 3, 1676.

136 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1651,
Domin<^o Wight, a black man, had three chUdren ; Mary, bom
August 31, 1675; Joseph, bom May 23, 1678; Hannah, born
September 5, 1679,
1651. Mr, Richard Leader, the agent for the Iron Works,
was arraigned by the Court, on the seventh of May, for re
proaching Governor Endecott, the court, and the church at Lynn.
In their first excitement, the court fined him two hundred pounds,
which were afterward reduced to fifty, Mr, Leader made an
acknowledgment, and the fine was finally remitted. After this,
Mr, John Giffbrd appears as agent. He married the widow
Margaret Temple, and had a son Philip.
On taking the management of the Iron Works, Mr. Giffbrd
raised the dam, which caused the water to overflow six acres of
'plowland' belonging to Mr. Adam Hawkes. For this, on the
twentieth of June, an agreement was made, in which Mr.
Hawkes was allowed £8 for damages.
On Sunday, the twentieth of July, three men of the Baptist
persuasion, whose names were John Clarke, John CrandaU, and
Obadiah Holmes, came from Newport, and went to the house of
Wilham Witter, at Swampscot, where Mr. Clark preached, ad
ministered the sacrament, and re-baptized Mr. Witter. This
being reported to the authorities, two constables went do^wn to
Swampscot to apprehend them as disturbers of the peace. They
carried a warrant, which had been granted by Hon, Robert
Bridges, ' By virtue hereof, you are required to go to the house
of William Witter, and so to search from house to house for
certain erroneous persons, being strangers, and them to appre
hend, and in safe custody to keep, and tomorrow morning at 8
o'clock, to bring before me,' Mr. Clark says, ' while I was yet
speaking, there comes into the house where we were, two con
stables, who with their clamorous tongues make an interruption,
and more uncivilly disturbed us than the pursuivants of the old
English bishops were wont to do.' In the afternoon, they were
taken to Mr, Whiting's meeting, where they refused to uncover
their heads, Mr. Bridges ordered a constable to take off" their
hats, when one of them attempted to speak, but was prevented.
At the close of the meeting, one of them made some remarks,
after which they were taken to the Anchor tavern, and guarded
through the night. In the morning, they were sent to Boston
and imprisoned. On the thirty-first, the Court of Assistants
sentenced Mr, Holmes to pay a fine of thirty pounds, .Mr, Clark
of twenty, and Mr CrandaU of five. The fines of Clark and
CrandaU were paid ; but Mr, Holmes refused to pay his, or sufli'er
it to be paid, and was retained in prison tUl September, when he
was publicly whipped. When brought to the place of execu
tion, he requested liberty to speak to the people, but the presid-

1651.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 137
ing officer, one Flint, rightly named, refused, and ordered him to
be stripped. His friends brought some wine, which they re
quested him to drink, but he declined it, lest the spectators
should attribute his fortitiide to drink. The whip was made of
three cords, and the executioner spat three times in his own
hands, that he might not fail to honor justice. In a manuscript
left by Governor Joseph Jenks, it is ¦written that ' Mr, Holmes
was wliipped 30 stiipes, and in such an unmerciful manner, that
for many days, if not some weeks, he could not take rest, but as
he lay upon his knees and elbows, not being able to suffer any
part of the body to touch the bed,' As the man began to lay on
the stripes. Holmes said ' though my flesh should fail, yet my
God will not fail' He then prayed, ' Lord lay not this sin to
their charge.' When he was released, two spectators, John
Shaw and John Hasel, went up and took hold of his hand to
sympathize with him, for which they were fined forty shillings
each. Such is the bitterness of religious persecution. Dr. John
Clark was one of the most respectable physicians in Rhode
Island, and wrote a book entitled ' III News from New England,'
with a full account of this persecution.
Mr. Witter was presented at the Salem court, on the twenty-
seventh of November, for neglecting discourses and being re-
baptized. On the fourteenth of October, the court made an order against
' the intolerable excess and bravery ' of dress. They ordered
that no person whose estate did not exceed £200 should wear
any great boots, gold or sUver lace or buttons, or silk hoods, rib
bons or scarfs, under a penalty of ten shUlings,
' In answer to a petition of George Indian at Lynn, This
Court refers him to bring his action in some inferiour court,
against any that ungenerously withhold any land from him,'
The foUowing description of Lynn is from ' The Wonder
Working Providence,' a work published this year, by Mr, Ed
ward Johnson, of Wobum :
' Her scituation is neere to a River, whose strong freshet at
breaking up of Winter fiUeth aU her Bankes, and with a furious
Torrent ventes itself into the Sea, This Towne is furnished
¦with Mineralls of divers kinds, especially Iron and Lead, the
forme of it is almost square, onely it takes two large a run into
the Land- ward, (as most townes do,) It is filled with about one
Hundred Houses for dwelling. There is also an Iron MiU in
constant use, but as for Lead they have tried but littie yet.
Their meeting house being on a LeveU Land undefended from
the cold North west wind, and therefore made ¦with steps de
scending into the earth ; their streets are straite and comly, yet
but thin of Houses ; the people mostly inclining to Husbandry
18

138 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1652.
have built many Farmes Remote. There CatteU exceedingly
multiplied. Goates which were in great esteeme at theire first
comming, are now almost quite banished, and now Horse, kine
and Sheep are most in request with them.'
In his remarks on manufactures, Mr, Johnson says, ' All other
trades have fallen into their ranks and places, to their great ad
vantage, especially Coopers and Shoemakers, ¦who had either of
them a corporation granted, inriching themselves by their trades
very much. As for Tanners and Shoemakers it being natural
ized into their occupations to have a higher reach in managing
these manifactures then other men in Ne'w England are, having
not changed their nature in this, between them both they have
kept men to their stande hitherto, almost doubling the price of
their commodities, according to the rate they were sold for in
England, and yet the plenty of Leather is beyond ¦what they had
there, counting the number of the people, but the transportation
of Boots and Shoes into forraign parts hath vented all however,'
The manufacture of shoes had not, at this time, become a
principal business at Lynn, A few persons practised the em
ployment regulariy; but they traded with merchants at Boston,
and did not export for themselves. The shoes which they made
were principally of calf skin, for Morocco had not been intro
duced. Cloth was worn only by the most wealthy ; and if a
lady in the more common ranks of life obtained a pair of stuff
shoes, to grace the nuptial ceremony, they were afterward laid
aside, and carefully preserved through life, as something too
delicate for ordinary use.
1652, Wenepoykin, the Lynn Sagamore, on the first of
April, mortgaged ' aU that Tract or Neck of Land commonly
called Nahant,' to Nicholas Davison of Charlestown, ' for twenty
pounds sterling dew many yeer.' The deed was signed with
his mark, which has somewhat the form of a capital H in
writing. At the Quarteriy Court, on the twenty-ninth of June, the fol
lowing presentments were made. ' We present Ester, the wife
of Joseph Jynkes Junior ffbr wearing sUver lace ; ' and ' Robert
Bulges for bad come grinding.' Other persons were presented
for wearing great boots and silk hoods.
Mr. Giffbrd this year increased the height of the dam at the
Iron Works, by which ten acres of Mr. Hawkes's land were
flowed ; for which he agreed to give 16 loads of hay yearly, and
200 cords of wood Afterward he agreed to give him £7, ' which
ends aU, except that 10s. is fo be given him yearly' By this
agreement the water was fo be so kept ' that it may not ascend
foot°P °/ *J^, "PP;\fl°°dgates in the pond higher than within
a foot and a halfe of the top of the great Rock thit Ues in the mid
dle of the pond before the gates.'

1653.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 189
This year a mint was estabhshed at Boston for coining silver.
The pieces had the word Massachusetts, with a pine tree on one
side ; and the letters N. E, Anno 1652, and III, VI, or XII, de
noting the number of pence, on the other. The dies for this
coinage were made by Joseph Jenks, at the Iron Works,
1653. On the seventh of March, the boundary line between
Lynn and Reading was established,
Samuel Bennet, carpenter, sold his com mill to Thomas
Wheeler, on the first of AprU, for £220,
This year, Mr, Thomas Savage, of Boston, attached the Iron
Works, at Lynn, for the amount owed to him and Henry Webb.
On the fourteenth of September a special court convened at
Boston, for the trial. Mr. Savage obtained for himself £894 2s,,
and for Henry Webb £1351 6s, 9d, The total account of Mr,
John Gifford, agent for the company, was £16,284 7s. 4d.
1654. The selectmen of Boston agreed with Mr. Joseph
Jenks ' for an Ingine to carry water in case of fire,' This was
the first Fire Engine made in America.
In August, the court fixed the prices of grain ; Indian corn at
3s., rye and peas at 4s,, and wheat and barley at 5s, a bushel.
At a town meeting, on the twenty-eighth of December, a grant
was made to Mr, Edmund Farrington, allowing him the privi
lege to build a grist-mill, in Water Hill street, on condition that
grain should be seasonably and faithfully ground ; otherwise the
privilege was to revert to the town,
1655. This year Edmund Farrington built his mill on Water
Hill, A pond ¦was dug by hand, and the water brought from the
old brook, by a little canal about half a mile in length. This mill
was for many years the property of Benjamin Phillips, and in
1836 was purchased by Henry A. Breed, who dug out a new
pond of more than an acre, for a reservoir,
Mr, John Gifford, agent of the Iron Company, having been
imprisoned on account of the pecuniary affairs of that establish
ment, a petition was sent from London to the General Court, for
his release. It was dated on the twenty-seventh of February,
and signed by John Becx, William GreenhUl, Thomas Foley,
and Phebe Frost.
On the twenty-third of May, the General Court granted to
Mr. Joseph Jenks a patent for an improved scythe, ' for the more
speedy cutting' of grasse, for seven years.' This improvement
consisted in lengthening the blade, making it thinner, and weld
ing a square bar on the back to strengthen it, as in the modern
scythe. Before this the old English blade was short and thick,
hke a bush scythe.

140 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1656.

1656. This year the Rev, Thomas Cobbet reluiquished his
connexion ¦with the church at Lynn, and removed to Ipswich,
He was born at Newbury, in England, 1608, Though his father
was poor, he found means to gain admission at the University
of Oxford, which he left during the great sickness in 1625, and
became a pupU of Dr, Twiss, in his native town. He was after
ward a minister of the established Church, He came to Lynn
in 1637, and was welcomed by Mr, Whiting, ¦with whom he had
commenced a friendship in England, Mr, Mather says, ' they
were almost every day together, and thought it a long day if they
were not so ; the one rarely traveUing abroad ¦without the other,'
Mr, Cobbet preached at Lynn 19 years, and 29 at Ips^wich. In
1666, he preached the election sermon, from II, Chronicles, 15, 2.
He died on Thursday, 5th November, 1685, and was buried on
the next Monday, At his funeral were expended, one barrel of
wine, £6 8s, ; two barrels of cider, lis.; 82 pounds of sugar, £2 Is.;
half a cord of wood, 4s. ; four dozen pair of gloves, ' for men and
women,' £5 4s. ; ¦with ' some spice and ginger for the cider,' It
was the custom at funerals to treat all the company ¦with cider,
which in cold weather was heated and spiced. In the year 1711,
the town of Lynn paid for ' half a barrel of cider for the widow
Dispaw's funeral,' Wine was distributed when it could be af
forded. Gloves were commonly given to the bearers and prin
cipal mourners, and by the more wealthy, rings were sometimes
added, Mr, Cobbet appears to have been much esteemed.
The follo^wing epitaph to his memory is one of the best of Mr.
Mather's productions :
' Sta viator ; thesaurus hie jacet ;
Thomas Cobbetus ;
Cujus, nosti preces potentissimas, ac mores probatissimos.
Si es Nov-Anglus.
Mirare, si pietatem colas ;
Sequere, si felicitatem optes,'
Stop, traveller, a treasure 's buried here ;
Our Thomas Cobbet claims the tribute tear.
His prayers were powerful, his manners pure.
As thou, if of New England's sons, art sure.
If thou reverest piety, admire ;
And uuitate, if bliss be thy desire,
Mr, Cobbet possessed good learning and abilities, and wrote
more books than any one of the eariy ministers of New England
Among his works, were the foUowing :
1. A Treatise Assertmg the Right of the Magistiates to a
Negative Vote on the Resolves of the Representatives 1643
2, A Defence of Infant Baptism, 1645, This is said to have
been an admirable summary of the principal arguments for and

1656.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 141
agamst the subject, and an able exposition of the error of those
who deny the validity of this important rite.
3. The CivU Magistrate's Power in Matters of Religion,
Modestly Debated, with a Brief Answer to a certain slanderous
pamphlet, caUed 111 News from New England ; containing six
pages of grievous dedication to Oliver Cromwell, 1653,
4, A Practical Discourse on Ptayer, 1654. Mr. Mather re
marks that, ' of all the books written by Mr. Cobbet, none de
serves more to be read by the worid, or to live tiU the general
burning of the world, than that of Prayer,'
5. A Fruitful and Useful Discourse, touching the Honor due
from ChUdren to then: Parents, and the Duty of Parents toward
their ChUdren, London, 1656,
6, A Treatise on Ecclesiastical Order and Discipline,
7, A Treatise on the First, Second, and Fifth Commandments.
The foUowing beautiful picture of the enduring affection of a
mother, is from the discourse on the duties of children.
' Despise not thy mother when she is old. When she was
young, yea, when she was middle aged, thou prisedst, and re-
speotedst, and did reverence and obey her ; do it as well when
she is old ; hold on doing of it to the last. Age may wear and
waste a mother's beauty, strength, parts, limbs, senses, and es
tate ; but her relation of a mother is as the sun when he goeth
forth in his might, for the ever of this life, that is, always in its
meridian, and knoweth no evening. The person may be gray-
headed, but her motherly relation is ever in its flourish. It may
be autumn, yea winter, with the woman ; but with the mother,
as a mother, it is always spring,'
In descanting on the duties of children, he says ; ' How tender
were your parents of their dealings ¦with men, to discharge a
good conscience therein ; of their very outward garb, what they
¦ware, and of what fashion, and the like ; but you their children
regard not what you do, nor how you deal ¦with others, nor what
you ¦wear, nor of what fashion, so the ne^west. Did ever your
good father or grandfather wear such ruffianly hair upon their
heads ? or did your godly parents frisk from one new fangled
fashion to another, as you do ? '
The foUo^wing anecdote is related by Mr, Mather, ' The un
grateful inhabitants of Lynn one year passed a town vote, that
they could not allow their ministers above thirty pounds apiece
that year, for their salary ; and behold, the God who will not be
mocked, immediately caused the town to lose three hundred
pounds in that one specie of their cattle, by onfe disaster.' With
his characteristic carelessness, Mr. Mather does not give any
date to this fact,
Mr, Cobbet was much respected for his piety and the fervency
of his prayers. One of the soldiers in Philip's war, whose name

142 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1656.
was Luke Perkins, says, that when he was detached, in 1675,
to go against the Indians, he went to request the prayers of Mr.
Cobbet, who prayed that the company might be preserved, and
they all returned in safety.
Some women of his neighborhood were one day attempting
some trick of witchery, when their minister appeared, ' There,'
said one of them ' we can do no more ; there is old crooked back
Cobbet a coming,'
For a considerable time, he was in the practice of walking
from Ipswich to Boston, once in two weeks, to attend IMr, Nor
ton's lecture, and to see his old friend, Mr, Whiting, He used
to remark, that it was worth a journey to Boston, ' to hear one of
Mr, Norton's good prayers,'
The parents of Mr, Cobbet came over some time after his arri
val. The name of his wife was Elizabeth, and he had four
sons ; Samuel, who graduated in 1663 ; Thomas, John, and
Eliezer, Thomas Cobbet, Jr., who was a seaman at Portsmouth, was
taken prisoner by the Indians in 1676, and carried to Penobscot,
After an absence of several weeks, he was released by Madock-
a^yando, the sachem, who received a red coat as a present. On
this subject, Mr, Cobbet thus writes, in his letter to Increase
Mather : ' As to what you querie, whether there were not an
swers of prayer respecting my captured son. Surely I may truly
say his wonderfuU preservations in all that 9 weeks time after he
was taken, and deliverance at the last, they wiU be put on that
account as answers of prayer ; for he was constantiy pleaded for
by Mr, Moody in his congregation for that end, from his being
first taken (of which they first heard) tiU his redemption. So
was he in like sort pleaded for by Mr. Shepard in his congrega-
l^°'^^^r¦''^''^^^*°'^'^^' and by my desire signified that way, by
Mr Philips, Mr, Higginson, Mr, Buckley, in theyr congregations,
and I doubt not by yourself Mr, Thatcher, Mr, AUin, in the 3
Boston churches, besides the prayers going constantly that way
for him in the famihesand closets of godly ones, which heard of
his captivity and hazard. He was constantly, as there was cause,
remembered in our congregation for that end, and wliich I may
sentTp tLT?°''' When Mr, Moody, by a post sent hither,
sent me the firs news of his taking by the Indians, and thei^
further rage m those parts, calling out for further prayers -I
presentiy caused one of our Deacons to call to my house that very
day, as many godly men and theyr wives as were near its to
spend some hours in prayer about the same: about 30 met sey!
eral of them prayed, Capt. Lord was with them in it, ^nK^
me also, who began and ended that service ; and haVinabli'd
some amends of our wasted son Eliezer at h^me as a p"edl of
the desired mercies to our captived son abroad as grafted my

1656,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 143
heart I must acknowledge to the Lord's praise, was sweetly
guided in the course of that service, and I was even persuaded
that the Lord had heard our prayers in that respect, and could
not but express as much to some of our godly friends ; so was
one of our sisters, (as since she informed my wife,) as confident
ly persuaded that she should ere long see him returned, and
that in comfortable plight, as if he were already come,' He says
that his son Eliezer began to amend, ' insomuch that he who
before could not walk up and down the town without stagering,
could yet walk up that high hill (which you know of,) that is by
Mr. Norton's, now our house,'
The great age to which many of the early settlers lived, is a
subject worthy of notice, Boniface Burton died in 1669, at the
great age of 113 years; an age to which no person in Lynn,
since his time, has attained, Joseph Rednap lived till he was
110 years of age, in the full possession of his faculties. In the
year 1635, when he was in his 80th year, we find a vote of the
to-wn granting him lands at Nahant, for the purpose of pursuing
the trade of fishing ; and he seems as enterprising at that age
as if he were just beginning active life, Henry Styche was an
efficient workman at the iron foundry in the year 1653, and was
then 103 years of age. How many years longer he lived, his
tory has not informed us, Christopher Hussey was pursuing
his active and useful life, in 1685, when he was shipwrecked
on the coast of Florida, at the age of 87 years. This great lon
gevity and good health of the early settlers, may probably be
referred to the regularity of their habits, and the simplicity of
their diet. They seldom ate meat, and they generally retired to
rest soon after sunset. A pitch pine torch in the chimney cor
ner, served to illuminate the common room, until the family
prayer was said ; and then the boys and girls retired to their re
spective chambers, to undress in the dark. Nor did they steam
themselves to death over hot iron. Cook stoves were unkno^wn,
and no fire was put into a meeting house, except the Quaker,
until 1820.

CHAPTER VIL
Thomas Dexter claims Nahant— Pirate's Glen— Iron Company prosecuted-
Hathorne's ease of Slander— Order respecting Shoes —Wampanoag -VVar-
¦Wenepovkin dies — Life of Rev. Stephen Whitmg — PeUtion of soldiers m the
Indian ¦V^ar — 1657 to 1687. Thus he hath lost his lande soe broad
Both hill and holt and moor and fenne.
All but a poore and lonesome lodge
That stood far off in a lonely glenne. Heiee or Ltnne.
AVING purchased Nahant of the In
dian Sagamore for a suit of clothes,
Thomas Dexter was not disposed to sit
down in unconcern, when the to^wn
made kno^wn their intention of dividing
it into lots for the benefit of all the peo-
 _ ^^ pie. At a town meeting held on Feb
ruary 24, 1657, the following order was taken: 'It was voted
that Nahant should be laid out in planting lotts, and every house
holder should have equal in the dividing of it, noe man more
than another ; and every person to clear his lot of wood in six
years, and he or they that do not clear their lotts of the wood,
shall pay fifty shillings for the towne's use. Alsoe every house
holder is to have his and their lotts for seaven years, and it is to
be laid down for a pasture for the to^wne ; and in the seventh'
every one that hath improved his lott by planting, shaU then,
that is in the seventh year, sow their lott with Enghsh come ;
and in every acre of land as they improve, they shall, ¦with their
English come, sow one bushel of English hay seed, and soe
proportionable to all the land that is improved, a bushel of hay
seed to one acre of land, and it is to be remembered, that no
person is to raise any kind of buUding at aU ; and for laying out
this land there is chosen, Francis Ingals, Henry Colhns, James
Axee, Adam Hawckes, Lieut Thomas MarshaU, John Hathorne^,
Andrew Mansfield,' — Mass. Archives. , '
This record is valuable, as it exhibits several interesting par
ticulars. It shows that the purchase of Nahant by Mr. Dexter
was not considered vahd — it exhibits the most impartial speci
men of practical democracy in this country, the lots being

1657.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 145
apportioned to each householder equally, ' noe man more than
another ' — it furnishes an explanation of the cause and manner
of Nahant being so entirely cleared of the beautiful wood which
once grew upon it — and it shows that Nahant was early planted
with English com, that is, with wheat. On the passing of this
order, Mr. Dexter commenced a suit against the town for occu
pying it. The people held a town meeting, in which they
appointed Thomas Laighton, George Keysar, Robert Coats, and
Joseph Armitage, a committee to defend their right. On the
third of June, the following depositions were given,
1. • Edward Ireson, aged 57 yeares or there abouts, swome,
saith, that liveing with Mr. Thomas Dexter, I carried the fenc
ing stiiffe which master Dexter sett up to fence in Nahant, his
part with the rest of the Inhabitants, and being and living with
mr Dexter, I never heard him say a word of his buying of
Nahant, but only his interest in Nahant for his fencing with the
rest of the inhabitants, this was about 25 yeares since, and after
this fence was sett up at nahant, all the new comers were to
give two shiUings sixpence a head or a piece vnto the setters
up of the fence or inhabitants, and some of Salem brought
Cattell alsoe to nahant, which were to give soe,'
2, ' The Testimony of Samuel Whiting, senior: of the
Towne of Linne, Saith, that Mr. Humphries did desire that mr
Eaton and his company might not only buy Nahant, but the
whole To^wne of Linne, and that mr Cobbet and he and others
of the To^wne went to mr Eaton to offer both to him, and to
commit themselves to the pro^vidence of God, and at that time
there was none that laid claim to or pleaded any interest in
nahant. Save the to-svn, and at that time farmer Dexter lived
in the To-wne of Linne.' The person to whom Lynn was thus
offered for sale, was TheophUus Eaton, afterward govemor of
Connecticut. He came to Boston June 26, 1637, and went to
New Haven in August of the same year,
3, ' The Deposition of Daniel Salmon, aged about 45 yeares,
saith, that he being master Humphreye's servant, and about 23
yeares agon, there being wolves in nahant, commanded that the
whole traine band to goe drive them out, because it did belong
to the whole towne, and farmer Dexter's men being then at
training, went with the rest,'
4, ' This I Joseph Armitage, aged 57 or there abouts, doe
testifie, that about fifteen or sixteen yeares agoe, wee had a
generall towne meeting in Lin, at that meeting there was much
discourse about nahant, the men that did first fence at nahant
and by an act of generall court did apprehend by fencing that
nahant was theires, myself by purchase haveing a part therein,
after much agitation in the meeting, and by persuasion of mr
Cobbitt, they that then did plead a right by fencing, did yield
19

146

HISTORY OF LYNN. [1658,

up all their right freely to the Inhabitants of the Towne, of
which Thomas Dexter, senior, was one,'
5, ' We, George Sagomore and the Sagomore of Agawam,
doe' testify that Duke William so caUed did sell aU Nahant unto
ffarmer Dexter for a suite of Cloathes, which cloathes ffarmer
Dexter had again, and gave vnto Duke William so called 2 or
3 coates for it again.' This deposition was signed with an S,
as the mark of Masconomotd ; and with a bow and arrow, as
the mark of Winnepurkitt.
6. ' This, I Christopher Linsie doe testifie ; that Thomas
Dexter bought Nahant of Blacke WUl, or Duke William, and
employed me to fence part of it, when I lived with Thomas
Dexter,' 7, ' I John Legg, aged 47 years or thereabouts, doe testifie,
that when I was Mr, Humphrey's servant, there came unto my
master's house one Blacke Will, as wee call him, an Indian, with
a compleate Suit on his backe, I asked him where he had that
suit, he said he had it of ffarmer Dexter, and he had sould him
Nahant for it,'
Other depositions were given by Richard Walker, Edward
Holyoke, George Farr, William Dixey, William Witter, John
RamsdeU, John Hedge, and WiUiam Harcher, The court
decided in favor of the defendants, and Mr. Dexter appealed to
the Court of Assistants, who confirmed the judgment, Mr.
Dexter was afterward granted liberty to tap the pitch pine trees
on Nahant, as he had done before, for the purpose of making
tar. A vessel owned by Captain Thomas Wiggin of Portsmouth
was wrecked on the Long Beach, and the sails, masts, anchor,
&c., purchased by Thomas Wheeler, on the third of June.
Sagamore Wenepoykin petitioned the General Court, on the
twenty-first of May, that he might possess some land, formerly
owned by his brother, called Powder Horn HiU, in Chelsea, He
was referred to the County Court,
1658. At the court of Assistants on the thirteenth of May,
the towns of Lynn, Reading, and Chelsea, received permission
to raise a troop of horse.
At the Quarteriy Court, on the twenty-ninth of June, Lieu
tenant "Thomas Marshall was authorized to perform the ceremony
of marriage, and to take testimony in civU cases.
This year there was a great earthquake in New England,
connected with which is the following story.
Some time previous, on one pleasant evening, a littie after
sunset, a smaU vessel was seen to anchor near the mouth of
Saugus river, A boat was presently lowered from her side, into
which four men descended, and moved up the river a considera-

1658.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 147
ble distance, when they landed, and proceeded directiy into the
woods. They had been noticed by only a few individuals ; but
in those early times, when the people were surrounded by dan
ger, and easily susceptible of alarm, such an incident was well
calculated to awaken suspicion, and in the course of the evening
the intSUigence was conveyed to many houses. In the morning,
the people naturally directed their eyes toward the shore, in
search of the sti-ange vessel — but she was gone, and no trace
could be found either of her or her singular crew. It was after
ward ascertained that, on that morning, one of the men at the Iron
Works, on going into the foundry, discovered a paper, on which
was written, that if a quantity of shackles, handcuffs, hatchets,
and other articles of iron manufacture, were made and deposited,
with secrecy, in a certain place in the woods, which was partic
ularly designated, an amount of silver, to their full value, would
be found in their place. The articles were made in a few days,
and placed in conformity with the directions. On the next
moming they were gone, and the money was found according
to the promise ; but though a watch had been kept, no vessel
was seen. Some months afterward, the four men returned, and
selected one of the most secluded and romantic spots in the
woods of Saugus, for their abode. The place of their retreat
was a deep narrow valley, shut in on two sides by high hills and
craggy precipitous rocks, and shrouded on the others by thick
pines, hemlocks, and cedars, between which there was only one
small spot to which the rays of the sun at noOn could penetrate.
On climbing up the rude and almost perpendicular steps of the
rock on the eastern side, the eye could command a full view of
the bay on the south, and a prospect of a considerable portion of
the surrounding country. The place of their retreat has ever
since been called the Pirates' Glen, and they could not have
selected a spot on the coast for many miles, more favorable for
the purposes both of concealment and observation. Even at
this day, when the neighborhood has become thickly peopled, it
is stUl a lonely and desolate place, and probably not one in a
hundred of the inhabitants has ever descended into its silent and
gloomy recess. There the pirates built a small hut, made a
garden, and dug a well, the appearance of which is stUl visible.
It has been supposed that they buried money ; but though peo-
have dug there, and in several other places, none has ever been
found. After residing there some time, their retreat became
known, and one of the king's craisers appeared on the coast.
They were traced to their glen, and three of them were taken
and carried to England, where it is probable they were executed.
The other, whose name was Thomas Veal, escaped to a rock
in the woods, about two miles to the north, in which was a
spacious cavern, where the pirates had previously deposited

148 HISTORY OF LYNN.

[1659.

some of their plunder. There the fugitive fixed his residence,
and practised the trade of a shoemaker, occasionally commg
down to the vUlage to obtain articles of sustenance. He con
tinued his residence tUl the great earthquake this year, when
the top of the rock was loosened, and crushed down into the
mouth of the cavern, enclosing the unfortunate inmate m its
unyielding prison. It has ever since been caUed the Pirate's
Dungeon. 1659. A road was laid out from Lynn to Marblehead, over
the Swampscot beaches, on the fifth of July. In reference to
the part between Broadway and King's Beach, the Committee
say, ' it has been a country highway thurty and odd years, to the
knowledge of many of us.'
At the Quarterly Court, on the twenty-nmth of November,
' Thomas MarshaU, of Lynn, is alowed by this court, to seU
stronge water to trauiUers, and also other meet provisions.'
The General Court had passed some very severe laws against
the people caUed Friends or Quakers, forbidding any even to
admit them into their houses, under a penalty of forty shiUings
an hour. Mr. Zacheus Gould had offended against this order,
for which he was arraigned by the court. On the 25th of No
vember, ' The deputies having heard of what Zacheus Gould
hath alleged in Court, in reference to his entertainment of
Quakers, do think it meet that the rigor of the law, in that case
provided, be exercised upon him, but considering his ingenious
confession, and profession of his ignorance of the law ; and he
also having long attended the Court, do judge that he shall only
be admonished for his offence by the governor, and so be dis
missed the court, and all ¦with reference to the consent of our
honored magistrates hereto,' This decision of the deputies was
sent to the magistrates, and returned with this endorsement :
' The magistrates consent not thereto,' So it is probable that Mr,
Gould was compeUed to pay his fine.
The court this year enacted that the festival of Christmas
should not be observed, under a penalty of five shUlings,
1660. Mr, Adam Hawkes commenced a suit, in June, against
Oliver Purchis, agent for the Iron Company, for damage by over
flowing his land. The following papers relating to this subject,
were found in the files of the Quarterly Court,
' The deposition of Joseph Jenks, senior, saith, that having
conference with adam hawkes about the great dam at the Iron
works at Lin, he complayned that he suffered great damage by
the water flowing his ground, I answered him, I thought you
had satisfaction for aU from the old companie, he said he had
from the old company, and further saith not'

1661.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 149
' This, I Charies Phillopes do testifie, that I, keepeing of the
watter at the Irone Workes, since Mr. Porchas came there, Mr,
Porchas did att all times charge me to keepe the watter Lowe,
that it might not damage Mr, Hawkes, which I did, and had
much Ul will of the workmen for the same,'
Others testified that the lands had been much overflowed,
Francis Hutchinson said, that the water had been raised so
high, that the bridge before Mr, Hawkes' house had several
times been broken up, and ' the peces of tember raised up and
Made Sweme,' John Knight and Thomas WeUman were ap
pointed to ascertain the damage. They stated that the corn had
been ' Much SpoUled,' and the weUs ' sometimes ffloted ;' that
the English grass had been much damaged, and the tobacco
lands much injured, ' in laying them so CouUd,' They judged
the damage to be ' the ualloation of ten pounds a yeere,'
1661. ' At a GeneraU Towne Meetinge, the 30th of Decem
ber, 1661, vpon the request of Daniell Salmon for some land, in
regard he was a soldier att the Pequid warrs, and it was order
ed by vote that Ensign John ffuUer, Allen Breed, senior, and
Richard Johnson, should vew the land adjoyninge to his house
lott, and to giue report of it vnto the next towne meetinge.'
1662. Mr, WUUam Longley prosecuted the town, for not
laying out to him forty acres of land, according to the division of
1638, The case was defended by John Hathorne and Henry
Colhns. In March, the Court decided that he should have the
forty acres of land or forty pounds in money.
On the thirteenth of May, the boundary line between Lynn
and Boston ¦was marked. It ran ' from the middle of Bride's
brooke, where the foot path now goeth,' This line has since
become the boundary between Saugus and Chelsea.
For the first time since the organization of the general gov
ernment in 1634, the town of Lynn sent no representative.
1663. On the evening of January twenty-sixth, there was
an earthquake.
Mr. John Hathorne complained to the church at Lynn, that
Andrew Mansfield and William Longley had given false testi
mony in the recent land case, for which they were censured.
They appealed to the county court, accusing Mr, Hathorne of
slander, of which he was found guilty, and sentenced to pay a
fine of £10, and make a public acknowledgment in the meet
ing-house at Lynn ; or else to pay £20 and costs. On the fourth
of AprU, the court directed the follo^wing letter to the church at
Lynn. ' Reverend and loving friends and brethren : We understand

150 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1663.
that John Hathorne hath accused Andrew Mansfield and WUliam
Longley in the church of Lynn,forgivingafalse testimonyagainst
himself and Henry Collins, at the court of Ipswich, in March this
was 12 month, and for which the said Mansfield and Longley
stand convicted in the church, and finding themselves aggrieved
thereat, hath brought their complaint against the said Hathorne
in several actions of slander, which hath had a full and.impartial
hearing, and due examination, and by the verdict of the jury the
said Hathorne is found guilty. Now because it is much to be
desired that contrary judgments in one and the same case may
be prevented, if possibly it may be attained, and one power
strive not to clash against the other, we thought it expedient,
before we give judgment in the case, to commend the same to
the serious consideration and further examination of the church.
We doubt not but that there hath been even more than a few
both in the words and carriage of all the parties concerned,
(though not the crime alleged), which if it may please God to
put into their hearts to see and o^wn so as may give the church
opportunity and cause to change their mind and reverse their
censures, so far as concerns the particular case in question, we
hope it will be acceptable to God, satisfactory to ourselves and
others, and the beginning of their own peace and quiet, the dis
turbance whereof hitherto we are very sensible of, and shall at
all times be ready to afford them our best relief, as we may have
opportunity or cognizance thereof Had you been pleased, be
fore your final conclusion, to have given us the grounds of your
offence, we should kindly have resented such a request, and
probably much of your trouble might have been prevented. We
have deferred giving judgment in this case till the next session
of this Court, to see what effect this our motion may have ¦with
them. Now the God of peace and wisdom give them under
standing in all things, and guide them to such conclusions, in
this and all other causes of concernment, as may be agreeable
to his will, and conducing to your peace and welfare. So prays
your friends and brethren.
By order of the County Court at Ipswich,
Robert Lord, Clerk.
To this letter Mr, Whiting made the foUowing reply, on the
fourth of May.
' Honored and beloved in the God of love : We have received
your letter, which you have been pleased to send to us, wherein
we perceive how tender you are of our peace and how wisely
careful you declare yourselves to be in preventing any clash that
might arise between the civil and ecclesiastical powers for
which we desire to return thanks from our hearts to God and
unto you concerning the matter you signify to us ; what your

1663.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 151
pleasure is that we should attend unto, we in aU humUity of
mind and desirous of peace, have been ¦wiUing to prove the
pai-ties concerned, to see what errors they would see and own ;
and for his part that complained to us, he doth acknowledge his
uncomely speeches and carriage both unto the marshal, he being
the court's officer, and also to brethren in the church, in the
agitation of the matter, and doth condemn himself for sin in it,
but for the other parties that stand convicted, they either do not
see or will not acknowledge any error concerning their testi
mony, which we judge they ought. Wherefore we humbly
present you with these few fines ; not doubting but they wUl be
pleasing to God and acceptable to you, whatever hath been
suggested to yourselves by others that bear not good wUl to the
peace of our church ; we are sure of this, and our consciences
bear us witness, that we have done nothing in opposition to you,
or to cast any reflection upon your court proceedings, but have
justified you all along in what you had done, Secundum Allegata
et probata;* in aU our church agitations, which our adversaries
can tell, if they would -witness ; but by reason of this, that some
of our brethren did swear contrary oaths, we thought it our duty
upon complaint made to us to search who they were that swore
truly and who did falsifie their oath, and after much debate and
dispute on Sunday days about this matter, we did judge those
two men faulty, which in conscience we dare not go back from,
they continuing as they do to this day. Could we discern any
token of these men's repentance, for this that they are, especially
one of them, censured in the church for, we should cheerfully
take off the censures ; but inasmuch as they justify themselves,
and tell us if it were to do again they would do it, and lift up
their crests in high language and come to such animosities from
the jury's verdict, we desire the honored court would not count
us transgressors if "we do not recede from ¦what we have done,
EspeciaUy considering what disturbers they have been to us ;
especially one of them, for these several years. Now, there
fore, honored and dear sirs, seeing by what we have done
we have gone in our own way as a church in the search after
sin, we hope the court wiU be tender of us and of him that com
plained to us on that account, and if we humbly crave that it be
not grievous to you that we humbly tell you that in our judg
ment the discipline of these churches must fall ; and if so, of
what sad consequence it will be we leave it to those that are
wiser than ourselves to judge, for this case being new and never
acted before in this country, doth not only reflect on our church
but on aU the churches in the country ; for if delinquents that
are censured in churches, shaU be countenanced by authority,
* According as they were alleged and proved.

152 HISTORY OF LYNN

[1664.

against the church in their acting in a just way, we humbly put
it to the consideration of the court, whether there ¦wiU not be a
wide door opened to Erastiannisme,* which we hope all of us do
abhor from our hearts. Now the God of peace himself give the
country, courts and church peace always by all means ; grace
be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
'Dated the 4th, 3d, 1663, with the consent and vote of the
church. Samuel Whiting.'
On the next day, the Court replied as foUows :
' Reverend and beloved. We are very sorry our endeavors \
have not produced that effect we hoped and desired, but seem
to have been interpreted contrary to our intentions, (and, we
conceive, our words,) as an encroachment and destructive to the
right and power of the churches. We have been taught, and
do verily believe, the civil and ecclesiastical power may very
well consist, and that no cause is so purely ecclesiastical, but the
civU power may in its way deal therein. We are far from think
ing the churches have no power but what is derived from the
christian magistrates, or that the civil magistrate hath ecclesias
tical powers, yet may, and ought, the matter so requiring, take
cognizance and give judgment in solving a case, not in a church
but civil way. We suppose we have kept much witliin these
bounds in the case that hath been before us, and that our opin
ion and practice herein hath been as clear from Erastianisme, as
some men's assertions have been from the opposite error, and
the declared judgments of our congregational di'vines. In that
point, we own and deshe so to regulate our proceedings accord
ingly. The God of order guide all our ministrations to his glory,
and the peace and edification of his people,
' By order and unanimous consent of the County Court, sittiag
at Ipswich, May 5th, 1663, p, me, ' Robert Lord, Clerk,'
1664. On the twenty-eighth of June, TheophUus Bayley was
licensed to keep a public house,!
This year the wheat is first mentioned to have been blasted,*
and littie has been raised on the sea-coast of New England
since, A public fast was appointed on account of dissensions and
troubles. In November, a comet appeared, and continued visible tiU
February,

nf '^uT^' ^"''"'' 'f 16*'' during the civil wars in England, contended that the
Church^ad^no gower to 'gnsure^ or decree. This opinion was termed Erastianism,

1665.] history of lynn, 153

1665. On the twenty-seventh of June, Thomas Laighton,
Ohver Purchis, and John Fuller, were appointed commissioners
to try small causes.
On the twenty-ninth of November, Mr, Joseph Jenks was
admonished by the Salem Court, for not attending pubhc
worship. 1666. IMr. Andrew Mansfield was chosen Town Recorder.
On the seventh of December, the General Court assembled
for religious consultation and prayer, in which Mr, Whiting and
Mr, Cobbet sustained a part.
> 1667. At the Quarterly Court, on the twenty-sixth of June,
Nathaniel Kertland, John Witt, and Ephraim HaU, were pre
sented, ' for prophaining the Lord's Day By Going to WUliam
Craft's house, in time of pubhke exercise, (they both being at
meeting,) and Drinkeing of his sider, and Rosteing his Aples,
without eyther the consent or knowledge of him or his wife,'
Mr. Joseph Jenks presented a petition to the General Court
for aid to commence a wire manufactory, but did not receive
sufficient encouragement.
1668. The ministers of the several towns asseinbled in
Boston, on the fifteenth of April, to hold a public disputation
with the Baptists. Mr. Whiting and Mr. Cobbet were among
the principal.
On the thirteenth of June, Robert Page of Bostph was prp-
sented, 'for setinge saille from Nahant, in his boate, being
Loaden ¦with wood, thereby Profaining the Lord's daye.'
Land on the north side of the Common was this year sold for
£4 an acre ; and good salt marsh, £riO,
1669. On the twenty-ninth of April, the boundary line
between Lynn and Salem was defined. It ran from the west
end of Brown's pond, in Danvers, ' to a noated Spring,' now
caUed Mineral Spring; thence to 'Chip Bridge,' on the little
brook whict runs out near the house of John Phillips, and throligh
the house of Daniel King, senior, to the sea-shore,
1670. The Court ordered, that the lands of deceased per
sons might be sold for the payment of their debts. Before this,
if a person died in debt, his land was secure. The method of
conveyance was by ' turfe and twig;' that is, the seUer gave a
turf from the ground, and a fwig from a tree, into the hands of
the buyer, as a tok&n of relinquishment 20

^54 HISTORY OF LYNN.

[1671.

1 671 On the eighteenth of January, there was a great
snow Sito'rm, in which there was much ^^'^^^'^''^^^1^''!'''^^.
The following memorandum is copied from the leaf of a Bible
Mav 22 ' A very awful thunder, and a very great storm of wind
and haii, especiaUy at Dorchester town, so that it broke many
glass windows at the meeting-house,' ^.^ , ,, ^
Mr Samuel Bennett prosecuted Mr. John Gifford, the former
agent of the Iron Works, and attached property to the amount
of £400 for labor performed for he company. On the twenty-
seventh of June, the following testimony was given.
' John Paule, aged about forty-five years, sworne, saith, that
living with Mr. Samuel Bennett, upon or about the time that
the Iron Works were seased by Capt. Savage, m the year 53 as
I take it, for I lived ther several years, and my constant imploy-
mentwas to repaire carts, coale carts, mine carts, and other
working materials for his teemes, for he keept 4 or 5 teemes,
and sometimes 6 teemes, and he had the most teemes the last
yeare of the Iron Works, when they were seased, and my mas
ter Bennet did yearly yearne a vast sum from the said Iron
Works, for he commonly yearned forty or fifty shiUing a daye
for the former time, and the year 53, as aforesaid, for he had five
or six teemes goeing generally every fahe day.' *
The Iron Works for,several years were carried on -with vigor,
and furnished most of the hron used in the colony. But the want
of ready money on the part of the purchasers, and the gTeat
freedom with which the company construed the Uberal privileges
of the court, caused their failure. The o^wners of the lands
which had been injured, commenced several suits against them,
and at last hired a person to cut. away the fiood gates and de
stroy the works. This was done in the night, when the pond
was full. The dam was high, and just below it, on the left,
stood, the house of Mac Galium More Downing, The water
rushed out, and flowed into the house, without disturbing the
inhabitants, who were asleep in a chamber. In the morning,
Mrs. Downing found a fuie live fish flouncing in her oven. The
works were much injured, and the depredator fled to Penobscot
¦ The suits against the Iron Works were protracted for more
than twenty years. Mr. Hubbard says ' that instead of dra^wing
out bars of iron for the country's use, there ¦was hammered out
nothing but contention and law suits.' The works were con
tinued, though on a smaller scale, for more than one hundred
years from their establishment. But they have long been dis
continued, and nothing now is to be seen of them, except the
heaps of scoria, nearly overgi-own ¦with grass, and called the
• Cinder Banks.' * Salem Q. C. Files,

1672,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 155
1672. Mr, Daniel Salmon attached the property of the town,
to the ¦value of forty poynds, for not laying out the land granted
to him in 1661, On the twenty-seventh of June, the Quarteriy
Court required the town to give him about six acres, near his
house. 1673. On the eighteenth of June, a new road was laid out
from Lynn to Marblehead, on the north of the former road. It
is now called Essex Stieet,
The second inhabitant of Nahant, of whom we find any men
tion, -was Robert Coats, He probably lived there as a fisherman
and shepherd ; and left before he married Mary Hodgkin, which
was December 29, 1682, He had six sons and three daughters.
After he left, there appears no inhabitant untU 1690,
1674. Some of the inhabitants of Salem attempted to form
a new church, and engaged Mr, Charles Nicholet for their min
ister; but their design being opposed, they came to Lynn to
complete it. Mr, Rogers, Minister of Ipswich, Wrote a letter to
Mr, PhilUps, Minister of Rowley, requesting him to assist in
preventing the accomplishment. 'This letter was handed to Ma
jor Dennison, who subjoined the following approbation, ' Sir,
Though I know nothing of what is above ¦written, I cannot but
approve the same in all respects,' On Sunday, the eleventh of
December, the delegates from the churches of Boston, Wobum,
Maiden, and Lynn, Tvith the govemor, John Leverett, assembled
at Lynn, and formed a council. They chose the Rev, John
Oxenbridge, of Boston, moderator, and agreed that the new
church should be formed. Afterward, the delegates of the
churches of Salem, Ips^wich, and Rowley, arrived; when the
vote of the council was reconsidered, and decided in the nega
tive. In the curious church records of Rowley, it, is said that
' This work was begun ¦without a sermon, which is not usuall.
There was also a breaking out into laughter, by a great part of
the congregation, at a speech of Mr, Batters, that he did not
approve of what Major Hathorne had spoken. Such carriage
was never known on a first day, that I know of After the
frastration of this design, Mr, Nieholet went to England.
1675. This year we find mention made, in the records of
the Society of Friends, of the sufferings of that people, in con
sequence of ,their refusal to pay parish taxes. In reference to
George Oaks, who appears to be one of the first who embraced
the doctrines of George Fox in Lynn, is the following record.
' Taken away for the priest, Samuel Whiting, one cow, valued
at £3,' Others afterward suffered, for refusing to perform mU-

156 HISTORY OF LYNN.

[1675.

itary duty, or to pay church rates, by havmg their cattie, corn,
hay, and domestic furniture taken away.
On the twenty -ninth of August, there was 'a very great wind
and rain, that blew down and twisted many trees.' — Bible leaf.
The year 1675 is memorable for the commencement of the
great war of Pometacom, caUed king Phihp, Sachem of the
Wampanoag Indians, in Plymouth county and Rhode Island,
just one hundred years before the war of the Independence of
the United Slates. Pometacom was a son of Massasoit, but was
more warhke than his father. Perhaps he had more cause to be
so. As we have received the history of this war only from the
pens of white men, it is probable that some incidents which
might serve to illustrate its origin, have been passed unnoticed.
It commenced in June, and some of the eastern tribes united
with the Wampanoags. One of the causes of their offence, was
an outrage offered by some sailors to the ¦wife and chUd of
Squando, Sagamore of Saco. Meeting them in a canoe, and
having heard that young Indians could s"wim naturally, they
overturned the frail bark. The insulted mother dived and
brought up her child, but it died soon after.
The mihtary company in Lynn, at this time, was commanded
by Captain Thomas Marshall, Lieutenant Ohver Purchis, and
Ensign John Fuller, The troops from Massachusetts, winch
¦went against the Indians, were commanded by Major Samuel
Appleton, Fifteen men were impressed at Lynn, by order of the Court,
on the thirtieth of November, in addition to those who had
been previously detached Their names were Thomas Baker,
Robert Driver, Job Farrington, Samuel Graves, • Isaac Hart,
Nicholas Hitchens, Daniel Hitchens, John Lindsejr, Jonathan
Locke, Charies PhiUips, Samuel Rhodes, Henry Stacey, Sam
uel Tarbox, Andrew Townsend, and Isaac WeUman,
On the nineteenth of December, says the Bible Leaf there
was 'a dreadful fight -with the Indians,' This was the great
swamp fight, at South Kingston, R. I, when eighty white men
and more than three hundred Indians were kUled. Mr. Ephraim
Newhall, of L^ynn, was one of the slain.
Wenepoykin, the Sagamore of Lynn, who had never been in
deep friendship with the wliites, went and united with Pometa
com. He probably had some causes of offence which have been
left unrecorded. Indeed the thousand httie insults, which the
men of his race have ever been in the habit of receiving from
white men, and which must have been felt by his proud mind
might have been sufiicient cause for his conduct. As a poetess
has well said — '^
Small slights, contempt, neglect, unmixed with hate
Make up in number what they want in weight

1676.] HISTORY OF lynn.
Two of the descendants of Nanapashemet, ¦wlSg;§*'daj!£es
were Qtianapaug and Quanapohit, living on Deer Isfe^^ijul
become Christians, by the names of James and Thomas, These
united with the wliites, and became spies for them, for which
they were to have £5 each; for which cause the Wampanoag
Sachem offered a reward for their death, but they sur^vived the
war. Several anecdotes of their cunning are preserved by Mr,
Drake, At one time, when they were taking him to Pometa
com, Quanapaug escaped by his skill, Quanapohit, also, came
accidentaUy upon six of his armed eneriiies, whom he put to
flight, and plundered their ¦wig-wam, by turning round and beck
oning, as if he were caUing his company.
1676. The war with the Indians was prosecuted by both
parties ¦with the most determined vigor and craelty. Many towns
were burnt, and many of the inhabitants put to death. Great
numbers of the Indians also were kUled, and those who were
taken prisoners were most cruelly sold for slaves to the West
Indies, against the earnest entreaties of some of the principal
officers. At last, PhiUp was pursued to a swamp, near his resi
dence at Mount Hope, and killed, on the moming of Saturday,
the twelfth of August, After his death Annawon, Tispaquin,
and others of his chiefs and warriors, submitted themselves, on
the promise that their fives would be spared; but, they were
unmercifully put to death. From the expressions of some of
them, it is probable that they did not wish to survive the destruc
tion of their nation.
Thus feU PhiUp, the last great king of the Wampanoags, —
the last formidable enemy of the Enghsh. Like Sassacus, he
foresaw the destruction of his nation ; but he was at first friendly
to the white people, and wept when he heard that some of them
had been kUled. The pen of the historian ¦will do justice to his
patriotism, and the harp of the poet ¦will eulogize him in strains
of immortaUty, Tradition, legend, tune, and song.
Shall many an age that wail prolong ;
' Still from the sire the son shall hear
Of that stern strife and carnage drear,
Wenepoykin, who had joined with the Wampanoags, was
taken prisoner, and sold as a slave to Barbadoes, He returned
in 1684, at the end of eight years, and died at the house of his
relative, James Muminquash, at the age of 68 years. The tes
timony of Tokowampate and Waban, given October 7, 1686, and
preserved in Essex Registry of Deeds, declares, that ' Sagamore
George, when he came from Barbadoes, lived some time, and
died at the house of James Rumneymarsh.' The old chief who

158 HISTORY or LYNN, [1677.
had ruled in freedom over more than half the State of Massa
chusetts, retumed from his slavery, sad and broken-hearted, to
die in a lone wigwam, in the forest of Natick, in the presence
of his sister Yawata,
A law had been passed, prohibiting the friendly Indians from
going more than one mile from their o-wn wigwams. On the
twenty-fifth of October, the Court agreed that they might go out
to gather 'chesnuts and other nuts in the wUderness,' if two
white men went with each company, whose charges were to be
paid by the Indians.
The injuries which the; Indians received in the early history
of our country, cannot now be repaired ; but the opportunity is
afforded for our riational government to manifest its high sense
of magnanimity and justice, and to e^vince to the world that re
publics are not unmindful of honor and right, by redressing any
wrongs which the existing red men have received, and by pro
viding for their ¦welfare, m a manner becoming a great and pow
erful nation, which has received its extensive domains from a
people who are now wandering as fugitives in the land of their
fathers. Such conduct, it may reasonably be expected, ¦wUl
receive the approbation of heaven; and it cannot be supposed,.
that He who watehes the faU of the sparrow, ¦will regard its
neglect ¦with indifference.
The leaf of the Bible says, there was 'a great sickness this
year.' 1677. The following letter was addressed by Mr. Whiting
to Increase Mather, October 1, 1677.
' Reverend and Dear Cousin. I acknowledge myself much
engaged, as to God for all his mercies, so to yourself for your in
defatigable labors, both in our church here, and in your writings,
which of your love you have sent to me from time to time ; and
especially for your late book which you sent to me, wherein you
have outdone any that I have seen upon that subject Go on,
dear cousin, and the Lord prosper your endeavors for the glory
of his great name, and the good of many souls. And let me beg
one request of you, that you would set pen to paper in writing
an history of New England, since the coming of our chief men
hither ; which you may do, by conferring ¦with Mr. Higginson,
and some of the first planters in Salem, and in other places ;
which I hope you may easily accomphsh, having by your dih-
gence and search found out so much history concerning the Pe-
qiiot war. And the rather let me entreat this favor of you,
because it hath not been hitherto done by any in a polite and
scholar hke way ; which if it were so done would glad the hearts
of the Lord's people, and turn to your great account in the last

1678,] HISTOR.Y OF LYNN, 159
and great day of the Lord Jesus, Thus commending my love
to you and your loving consort, with thanks to you for your
kindness to me and my son, when we were last with you at your
house, beseeching the Lord to bless you and all yours, not know
ing how shortiy I must put off this earthly tabernacle, I rest,
Samuel Whiting,'
At this time, there was but one Post Office in Massachusetts,
which was at Boston, On the third of December, the Court of
Assistants appointed John Hayward Postmaster for the whole
colony. On Thanksgiving day, the fourth of December, happened one
of the greatest storms ever known m New England, It blew
down many houses and many trees.
1678. This year, Samuel Appleton, Jr,, took possession of
the Iron Works, by a grant in the will of William Payne, of
Boston. On the ninth of June, Thomas Savage prosecuted an
old mortgage which he held on the property, and Samuel Waite
testifies, ' 'There is land, rated at Three Thousand acres of Iron
MiU Land,' In 1679, Mr, Appleton had possession of three
fourths of the Iron Works, valued at £1500, The law suits
respecting the Iron Works were protracted to a tedious length,
and papers enough are preserved in the Massachusetts archives,
respecting them, to form a volume.
The Selectmen, or as they were callpd, ' the Seven Praden-
tial men,' this year, were Thomas Laighton, Richard Walker,
Andrew Mansfield, WiUiam Bassett, Nathaniel Kertiand, John
BurrUl, and Ralph King. The price of com was two shilhngs a
bushel. The first meetinghouse of the Society of Friends,, says an old
record of one of their members, 'was raised on Wolf HUl,' where
their meetinghouse now stands.
Tlie people of Reading petitioned the General Court, on the
third of October, that the alewives might be permitted to come
up to Reading Pond, as before ; that they might find no obstiuc-
tion at the Iron Works, "but 'come up freely into our ponds,
where they have their natural breeding place;' which was
granted. Thomas Dexter, Jr., and Captain James Oliver, administrators
to the estate of Thomas Dexter, prosecuted the town of Lynn,
on the twenty-sixth of November, at Boston, for the recovery of
Nahant. The jury decided in favor of the town. This was a
review of the case decided September 1, 1657, against Mr.
Dexter.

160 HISTORY OF LYNN.

[1679.:

1679. In the number of the early ministers of New England,
there were few who deserved a higher celebrity, for the purity
of their character, and the fervor of their piety, than the Rev.
Samuel Whitmg. His name has been frequently overlooked
by biographers, and littie known and estimated even in his own
parish. He has no stone erected to his memory, and the very
place where he was buried is known only to a few.
Dust long outlasts the storied stone.
But thou — thy very dust is gone.
This is another instance of the tmth of the observation, that
men are indebted to the poet and the historian for their remem
brance to after ages. An honorable memorial of the dererving,
dead is one of the rewards of goodness, and the very desire of
remelhbrance is itself a virtue. We naturally love the idea that
we are remembered by Others, and that our names wiU be
known beyond the circle of those ¦with whom we shared the
endearments of friendship. It is sweet to tliink that we have
not altogether lived'in vain; to persuade ourselves that we have
conferred some shght benefit on the world, and that posterity
wiU repay the pleasing debt by mentioning our names ¦wi1;h ex
pressions of regard. It is not vanity, it is not ambition; it is a
pure love of mankind, an exalting sense of right, that t^wines,
itself around every virtuous and noble mind, raising it above the
enjoyment of worldliness, and making us ¦wish to prolong our
existence in the memory of the good.
Rev. Samuel Whiting Was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire,
England, on the twentieth of November, 1597. His father, Mr.
John Whiting, was mayor of that city in 1600 ; and his brother
John obtained the same office in 1625, Having completed his
studies in the school of his birth place, young Samuel entered
the university at Cambridge ; where he had for his classmate,
his cousin, Anthony Tuckney, afterward Master of St, John's
College, ¦with whom he commenced a friendship, which was
not quenched by the waters of the Atlantic, He received im
pressions of piety at an early age, and loved to indulge his
meditations in the retired walks of Emanuel College. He
entered college in 1613, took his first degree in 1616, and his
secOnd in 1620, Having received orders in the Church of Eng
land, he became chaplain in a famUy consisting of five ladies
and two knights. Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Sir Roger Town,send,
with whom he resided three years. He then went to old Lynn,
where he spent three years more, a colleague with Mr. Price.
While at that place, complaints were made to the Bishop of
Norwich, of his nonconformity in administrating the services of
the church, on which he removed to Skirbick, one mUe from old

1679.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 161
Boston, There the complaints were renewed, on which he de
termined to sell his possessions and embark for America, He
remarked, ' I am going into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the
Lord, and I -wiU not leave a hoof behind me.' The beauty,
piety, and harmony of the church, in our own time, induce us to
wonder why a pious man should have objected to her services.
But the church, at that period demanded more than is now re
quired; and the dissenters, by their repugnance to those cere
monies and requisitions which were excessive, were driven to
revolt against those forms which were really judicious,
Mr, Whiting saUed from England in the beginning of AprU,
1636, and arrived at Boston on the twenty-sixth of May, He
was very sea sick on his passage, during which he preached but
one sermon. He observed, that he would 'much rather have
undergone six weeks imprisonment for a good cause, than six
weeks of such terrible sea sickness,' He came to Lynn in June,
and was instaUed on the eighth of November, at the age of
thirty-nine. He was admitted to the pri^vileges of a freeman on
the seventeenth of December, His residence was nearly oppo
site the meetinghouse, in Shepherd street. He had a walk in
his orchard, in which he used to indulge his habit of meditation ;
and some who frequentiy saw him walking there, remarked,
' There does our dear pastor walk with God every day.' An
anecdote related of him, will serve to illustrate his character.
In one of his excursions to a neighboring town, he stopped at a
tavem, where a company were revelling. As he passed their
door, he thus addressed them : ' Friends, if you are sure that
your sins are pardoned, you may be wisely merry.' He is re
puted to have been a man of good learning, and an excellent
Hebrew scholar. In 1649, he delivered a Latin oration at Cam
bridge; a copy of which is preserved in the Libraiy of the
Massachusetts Historical Society. He employed much of his
leisure in reading history ; and he could scarcely have chosen a
study more indicative of the seriousness and soUdity of his
mind. He possessed great command over his passions, was
extremely mild and affable in his deportment, and his counte
nance was generally illumined by a smile. He was chosen
moderator in several ecclesiastical councils, and appears to have
been generally respected. In his preaching, he was ardent and
devoted; but he was less disposed to frighten his hearers by
wUd and boisterous efforts, than to win them to virtue by mild
and persuasive eloquence.
In the latter part of his life, Mr. Whiting was afflicted by a
comphcation of disorders, and endured many hours of most ex
cruciating pain. But his patience was inexhaustible, and his
strength enabled him to continue the performance of the public
services till a very advanced age, in which-he was assisted by
21

162 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1679,
his youngest son, Joseph, A short time before his death, he
presented to the General Court a claim for five hundred acres
of land, which he had by deed of gift, from his brother-in-law,
Mr, Richard Westland, an alderman of Boston, in England, who
had loaned money to the colony of Massachusetts. As the claim
had been some time due, the Court allowed him six hundred
acres. He made his "wiU on the twenty -fifth of Februaiy, 1679.
He commences thus : ' After my committing of my dear flock
unto the tender care of that great and good Shepherd, the Lord
Jesus Christ' He gave his son Samuel, at BUlerica, his house
and four hundred acres of land at Dunstable, valued at £ 362,
and fourteen acres of marsh at Lynn. He remembered his son
John, at Leverton, in England, and his daughters, at Roxbury
and "ropsfield, and bequeathed his dwellinghouse, orchard, and
eight acres of marsh, at Lynn, to his son Joseph. His money
and plate amounted to £77 2 ; and his whole estate to £570 15 6,
He died on the eleventh of December, 1679, at the age of eighty-
two ; having preached at Lynn forty-three years.
The death of Mr, Whiting called forth the foUowing elegy
from the pen of Mr, Benjamin Thomson, a schoolmaster, bom
at Braintree, and the first native American poet,
UPON THE VERY REVEREND SAMUEL WHITING.
Mount, Fame, the glorious chariot of the sun!
Through the world's cirque, all you, her heralds, run.
And let this great saint's merits be revealed,
Which during life he studiously concealed.
Cite all the Levites, fetch the sons of art.
In these our dolors to sustain a part ;
"Warn all that value worth, and every one
Within their eyes to bring a Helicon ;
For in this single person we have lost
More riches than an India has engrost.
When Wilson, that plerophory of love.
Did from our banks up to his centre move.
Rare Whiting quotes Columbus on this coast,
Producing gems of which a king might boast.
More splendid far than ever Aaron wore.
Within his breast this sacred father bore,
Sound doctrine, Urim, in his holy cell.
And all perfections, Thummim, there did dwell.
His holy vesture was his innocence ;
His speech, embroideries of curious sense.
Such awful gravity this doctor used,
As if an angel every word infused ;
No turgent style, but Asiatic lore ;
Conduits were almost full, seldom run o'er
The banks of time — come visit when you will,
The streams of nectar were descending still.
Much like semtemiluous Nilus, rising so.
He watered Christians round, and made them grow.
His modest whispers could the conscience reach,
As well as whirlwinds, which some others preach.
No Boanerges, yet could touch the heart,
And clench his doctrine with the meekest art.

1679.] HISTORY OP LYNN. 163
His learning and his language might become
A provmce not inferior to Rome.
Glorious ¦was Europe's heaven, when such as these.
Stars of his size, shone in each diocese.
Who writ's! the fathers' lives, either make room.
Or with his name begin your second tome.
Aged Polycarp, deep Origen, and such.
Whose worth your quills, your wits not them enrich ;
Lactantius, Cyprian, Basil, too, the great,
Quaint Jerome, Austin, of the foremost seat.
With Ambrose, and more of the highest class
In Christ's great school, with honor I let pass.
And humbly pay my debt to Whiting's' ghost,
Of ¦whom botli Englands may with reason boast.
Nations for men of lesser worth have strove
To have the fame, and in transports of love
Built temples, or fixed statues of pure gold,
And their vast worth to after ages told.
His modesty forbade so fair a tomb,
Who in ten thousand hearts obtained a room.
What sweet composure in his angel face !
¦What soft affections ! melting gleams of grace !
How mildly pleasant! by his closed hps
Rhetoric's bright body suffers an eclipse.
Should half his sentences be fairly numbered,
And weighed in wisdom's scales, 'twould spoil a Lombard,
And churches' homilies but homily be,
If, venerable "Whiting, set by thee.
Profoundest judgment, "with a meekness rare,
Preferred him to the moderator's chair,
Where, like truth's champion, with his piercing eye.
He silenced errors, and bade Hectors fly.
Soft answers quell hot passions, ne'er too soft.
Where solid judgment is enthroned aloft.
Church doctors are my witnesses, that here
Affections always kept their proper sphere
Without those wilder eccentricities.
Which spot the fairest fields of men most wise.
In pleasant places fall that people's hne,
Who have but shadows of men thus divine ;
Much more their presence, and heaven piercing prayers.
Thus many years to mind our soul aifairs.
The poorest soil oft has the richest mine !
This weighty ore, poor Lynn, was lately thine.
O, wondrous mercy ! but this glorious light
Hath left thee in the terrors of the night.
New- England, didst thou know this mighty one,
His weight and worth, thou 'dst think thyself undone.
One of thy golden chariots, which among
The clergy rendered thee a thousand strong ;
One who for learning, wisdom, grace, and years,
Among the Levites hath not many peers ;
One, yet with God, a kind of heavenly band,
"WTio did whole regiments of woes withstand ;
One that prevailed "with heaven ; one greatly mist
On earth, he gained of Christ whate'er he hst ;
One of a world, who was both born and bred
At ¦wisdom's feet, hard by the fountain's head.
The loss of such a one would fetch a tear
From Niobe herself, if she were here.
What qualifies our grief, centres in this ;
Be our loss ne'er so great, the gain is his.

164 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1679.
The foUowing epitaph has been appUed to him by Mr. Mather,
In Christo vixi morior, vivoque, Whitingus ;
Do sordes morti, cetera, O Christe, tibi, do.
In Christ I lived and died, and yet I live ;
My dust to earth, my soul to Christ, I give.
Mr. Whiting published the following pamphlets and books,
1, A Latin Oration, delivered at Cambridge, on Commence
ment day, 1649.
2. A Sermon, preached before the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company, at Boston, 1660,
3, ' A Discourse of the Last Judgment, or Short Notes upon
Matthew 25, from verse 31 to the end of the chapter, concerning
the Judgment to come, and our preparation to stand before the
great Judge of quick and dead ; which are of sweetest comfort
to the elect sheep, and a most dreadful amazement and terror to
reprobate goats.' Cambridge, 1664, 12mo. 160 pages.
4. 'Abraham's Humble Intercession for Sodom, and the Lord's
Gracious Answer in Concession thereto.' Cambridge, 1666, 12mo.
349 pages. From this work the foUo^wing exteacts are taken.
' What is it to draw nigh to God in prayer ? It is not to come
¦with loud expressions, when we pray before Him. Loud crying
in the ears of God, is not to draw near to God. They are nearer
to God, that silently whisper in His ears and tell Him what they
want, and what they would have of Him. They have the
King's ear, not that call loudest, but those that speak softly to
him, as those of the council and bed chamber. So they are
nearest God, and have His ear most, that speak softly to Him
in prayer.
' In what manner are we to draw nigh to God in prayer ? In
sincerity, with a true heart. Trath is the Christian soldier's
girdle. We must be true at aU times ; much more when we
fall upon our knees and pray before the Lord.
' We, in this country, have left our near relations, brothers,
sisters, fathers' houses, nearest and dearest friends ; but if we
can get nearer to God here, He -wiU be instead of aU, more than
all to us. He hath the fulness of aU the sweetest relations bound
up in Him. We may take that out of God, that we forsook in
father, mother, brother, sister, and friend, that hath been as near
and dear as our own soul.
' Even among the most wicked sinners, there may be found
some righteous; some corn among the chaff— some jewels
among the sands — some pearls among a multitude of sheUs.
' Who hath made England to differ from other nations, that
more jewels are found there than elsewhere? or what hath that
Island that it hath not received? The East and West Lidies
yield their gold, and peari, and sweet spices ; but I know where

1679,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 165
the golden, spicy, fragrant Christians be — England hath yielded
these. Yet not England, but the grace of God, that hath been
ever with them. We see what hope we may have concerning
New-England ; though we do not deserve to be named the same
day with our dear mother,'
In enumerating the evUs with which the people of New-
England were obliged to contend, he says, it is cause ' for humil
iation, that our sins have exposed us to live among such wicked
sinners,' with whom he ranks ' Atheists and Quakers.'
Mr. Whiting married two -wives in England, By his first wife
he had three childi-en. Two of them were sons, who, with their
mother, died in England. The other was a daughter, who came
with her father to America, and married Mr, Thomas Weld, of
Roxbui-y, His second wife was Elizabeth St, John, of Bedfordsliire, to
whom he was married in 1630, She was a daughter of Oliver
St, John, Chief Justice of England in the time of Oliver Crom
weU. She came to Lynn ¦with her husband, and died on the
third of March, 1677, aged seventy-two years. She was a wo
man of uncommon piety, seriousness, and discretion ; and not
only assisted her husband in ¦writing his sermons, but by her
CEire and prudence relieved him from aU attention to temporal
concerns. By her he had six chUdren ; four sons and two daugh
ters. One daughter married the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart, of Tops-
field ; and one son and one daughter died at Lynn. The other
three sons received an education at Cambridge.
1. Rev. Samuel Whiting, Jr., was born in England, 1633.
He studied ¦with his father, at Lynn, and graduated at Cam
bridge, in 1653. He was ordained minister of BiUerica, 11 No
vember, 1663 ; preached the ArtiUery Election Sermon, in 1682 ;
and died 28 Febraary, 1713, aged 79 years. The name of his
¦wife was Dorcas, and he had ten cliUdren, 1. Elizabeth. 2. Sam
uel. 3. Rev. John, minister at Lancaster ; where he was killed
by the Indians, 11 September, 1697, at the age of 33. 4. Oliver.
5. Dorothy. 6. Joseph. 7. James. 8. Eunice. 9. Benjamin,
10, Benjamin,
2, Rev, John Whiting, graduated at Cambridge, in 1653. He
returned to England, became a minister of the Church, and died
at Leverton, in Lincolnshire, October 11, 1689, very extensively
respected. 3. Rev. Joseph Whiting graduated in 1661. He was ordained
at Lynn, 6 October, 1680, and soon after removed to Southamp
ton, on Long Island. He married Sarah Danforth, of Cam
bridge, daughter of Thomas Danforth, Deputy Governor, He
had six children, bom at Lynn, 1, Samuel, bom 3 July, 1674.
2. Joseph, born 22 November, 1675. 3. Joseph, bom 8 May,
1677. 4, Thomas, bom 20 May, 1678. 5. .foseph, bom 14 .Tan.

166 HISTORY OP LYNN, [1680,
uary, 1680, 6. John, bom 20 January, 168i, All except the
first and sixth, died ¦within a few weeks of their birth.
Of the descendants of Mr, Whiting, now living, are the Rev,
Samuel Whiting, minister at BUlerica; and Henry Whiting, a
major in the service of the United States, and author of a beau
tiful little Indian tale, entitled Ontwa, or the Son of the Forest
1680. On the sixth of October, Mr. Jeremiah Shepherd was
ordained pastor, and Mr, Joseph Whiting teacher, of the church
at Lynn,
On the eighteenth of November, a very remarkable comet
made its appearance, and continued about tw^o months. The
train was thirty degrees in length, very broad and bright, and
nearly attained the zenith, A memorandum, on a Bible leaf,
thus remarks : ' A blazing star, at its greatest height, to my
apprehension, terrible to behold,' It was regarded by most
people with fear, as the sign of some great calamity. This was
the comet on ¦which Sir Isaac Ne^wton made his interesting ob
servations, WhUe the party, who were predominant in religious
affairs, were noting every misfortune which befell those of a
different opinion, as the judgments of God ; they, on the other
hand, regarded the earthquakes, the comets, and the blighting
of the wheat, as manifestations of his displeasure agEiinst their
p,ersecutors. Dr, Phihp Read, of Lynn, complained to the Court at Salem,
of Mrs, Margaret Gifford, as being a witch. She was a respect
able woman, and wife of Mr, John Gifford, formerly agent for
the Iron Works, The complainant said, ' he verUy believed that
she was a witch, for there were some things which could not be
accounted for by natural causes.' Mrs. Gifford gave no regard
to her summons, and the Court very prudently suspended theii:
inquiries. ' We present the wife of John Davis, of Lynn, for breaking
her husband's head with a quart pot' Essex Court Rec.
1681. In town meeting, on the second of March, the people
voted, that Mr, Shepard should be allowed eighty pounds, law
ful money, a year, for his salary; one third of which was to be
paid in money, and the other two thirds in articles of domestic
production, at stipulated prices. Besides the salary, a contribu
tion was to be kept open,
1682. The meetinghouse was this year removed from Shep
ard street to the centee of the common, and rebuUt, It was
fifty feet long, and forty-four wide. It had folding doors on
three sides, without porches. The top of each door was formed
into two semicircular arches. The windows consisted of small

1683,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 167
diamond panes, set in sashes of lead. The floor was at first
supplied with seats ; and pews were afterward separately set
up by individuals, as they obtained permission of the town.
By this means, the interior came at length to present a singular
appearance. Some of the pews were large, and some small ;
some square, and some oblong ; some -with seats on three sides,
and some with a seat on one side ; some with small oak panels,
and some with large pine ones ; and most of them were sur
mounted by a littie balustrade, with small columns, of various
patterns, according to the taste of the proprietors. Most of the
square pews had a chair in the centre, for the comfort of the old
lady or gentleman, the master or mistress of the family, by
whom it was occupied. One pew, occupied by black people,
was elevated above the stairs in one corner, near to the ceiling.
The galleries were extended on three sides, supported by six
oak columns, and guarded by a turned balustrade. They were
ascended by two fiights of stairs, one in each corner, on the south
side. The pulpit was on the north side, and sufficiently large
to contain ten persons. The top of the room was imceiled for
many years, and exhibited enormous beams of oak, traversing
the roof in all directions. The light from the diamond windows
in the gables, shining down upon the great oak beams, present
ed quite a picturesque appearance. The roof presented four
pediments ; and was surmounted by a cupola, with a roof in the
form of an inverted tunnel. It had a small bell, which was rung
by a rope descending in the centre of the room. The town
meetings continued to be held in this house till 1806, A sketch
of this buUding, drawn before its form was changed, may be
seen on page 99,
1683. This year, the heirs of Major Thomas Savage sold
the six hundred acres, called Hammersmith, or the lands of the
Iron Works, to Samuel Appleton, who thus became possessed
of the whole property. In 1688, he sold the whole to James
Taylor, of Boston, who was the last proprietor of the Iron Works
of whom I have found any record. They probably ceased op
erations about this time,
1684. A letter written at HaverhiU this year, by N. Salton
stall, to the captain of a militia company, thus proceeds : ' I have
orders, also, to requhe you to provide a flight of colors for your
foot company, the ground field, or flight whereof is to be green,
¦with a red cross in a white field in the angle, according to the
ancient custom of our own Enghsh nation, and the English
plantations in North America, and our own practice in our ships.
This was the American standard, tUl the ^stripes and stars were
introduced, in 1776.

168 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1685.
1685. The foUowing singular deposition is transcribed from
the files of the Quarterly Court, and is dated July 1, 1685:
' The deposition of .Toseph Farr, and John BurriU, junior, tes
tifieth and saith, that they being at the house of Francis Burrill,
and there being some difference betwixt Francis BurriU and
Benjamin Farr, and we abovesaid understanding that the said
Benjamin Farr had been a suitor to EUzabeth BurriU, the daugh
ter of Francis BurriU, and he was something troubled that Ben
jamin had been so long from his daughter, and the said Francis
BurriU told the said Benjamin Farr that if he had more love to
his marsh, or to any estate of his, than to his daughter, he should
not go into his house ; for he should be left to his liberty, he
should not be engaged to anything more than he was freely
willing to give his daughter, if he had her ; and this was about
two days before they was married,'
At a town meeting, on the first of December, the people
voted, that no inhabitant should cut any green tree upon the
common lands, which was less than one foot in diameter.
The foUowing petition of some of the inhabitants of Lynn,
for a remuneration of their services in the Wampanoag war, was
presented this year.
' To the Honoured Govemor and Company, the General Court
of the Massachusetts Bay, that is to be assembled the 27 May,
1685, the humble petition of several inhabitants of Lynn, who
were sold, impressed, and sent forth for the service of the coun
try, that was with the Indians in the long march in the Nipmugg
country, and the fight at the fort in Narragansett, humbly show
eth. That your petitioners did, in obedience unto the authority
¦which God had set over them, and love to their country, leave
their deare relations, some of us our dear wives and children,
which we would have gladly remained at home, and the bond
of love and duty would have bound us to choose rather soe to
have done considering the season and time of the year, when
that hard service was to be performed. But your petitioners
left what was dear to them, and preferred the publique weal
above the private enjoyments, and did cleave thereunto, and
exposed ourselves to the difficulties and hardships of the winter,
as well as the dangers of that cruel warr, ^vith consideration to
the enemy. What our hardships and difficulties were is well
known to some of your worships, being our honoured magis
trates, as also what mercy it was from the Lord, who alone pre
served us, and gave us our lives for a prey, by leading us through
such imminent dangers, whereby the Lord gave us to see many
of our dear friends lose their blood and life, which might have
been our case, but that God soe disposed toward us deliverance
and sti-ength to returne to our homes, which we desire to remem-

1685,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 169
ber and acknowledge to his most glorious praise. But yet, we
take the boldnes to signifie to this honored Court, how that ser
vice was noe whitt to our particular outward advantage, but to
the contrary, much to our disadvantage. Had we had the lib
erty of staying at home, as our neighbors had, though we had
paid double rates, it would have been to our advantage, as in
deed we did pay our properties by our estates in the publick
rates to the utmost bounds. Notwithstanding aU, yet we hum
bly conceive, that, by the suppression of the enemy, which God
of his great mercy vouchsafed, wee poor soldiers and servants
to the country were instruments to procure much land, which
we doubt not shall and wiU be improved, by the prudence of
this honoured Court, unto people that need most especially.
And we, your poor petitioners, are divers of us in need of land,
for want whereof some of us are forced upon considerations of
departing this Colony and Grovernment, to seek accommodations
whereby the better to maintaine the charge in our families, with
our wives and children, and to leave unto them when the Lord
shall take us away by death, which we must expect. And di
vers of us have reason to fear our days may be much shortened
by our hard service in the war, from the pains and aches of our
bodies, that we feel in our bones and sinews, and lameness
thereby taking hold of us much, especially at the spring and
faU, whereby we are hindered and disabled of that abUity for
our labour which we constantly had, through the mercy of
God, before, that served in the warrs. Now, your poore pe
titioners are hopeful this honored Court will be moved with
consideration and some respect to the poor soldiery, and partic
ularly to us, that make bold to prefer our petition, humbly to
crave, that ¦we, whose names are hereunto subscribed, may be
so graciously considered by this honored Court as to grant us
some good tracks of land in the Nipmugg country, where we
may find a place for a to^wnship, that we, your petitioners, and
our posterity may five in the same colony where our fathers did,
and left us, and probably many of those who went fellow sol
diers in the war may be provided for, and their children also, in
the portion of conquered lands their fathers fought for. Your
petitioners think it is but a very reasonable request, which will
be no way offensive to this honored Court, which, if they shall
please to grant unto your petitioners, it will not only be satisfac
tion to their spirits for their service already done, but be a future
obligation to them and theirs after them for future service, and
ever to pray,' This petition was signed by twenty-five inhabi
tants of Lynn, ¦whose names were : WilUam Bassett, John Far
rington, Nathaniel Ballard, Timothy Breed, Jonathan Locke,
Daniel Johnson, Widow Hathorne, Samuel Tarbox, Samuel
Graves, John Edmunds, Samuel Johnson, Daniel Golt, Joseph
22

170 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1686.
Hawkes, Andrew Townsend, John ^^l^^.'^^^f.^i^^^'^^r
el Mower, Robert Potter, semor, Joseph Mansfield, Robert Dri
ver John Richards, John Lmzey, Phihp Kertland, Joseph Breed,
Henry Rhodes. It was also signed by sisteen persons ot other
towns On the third of June, the Court granted them a tiact of
land in Worcester county, eight mUes square, on condition that
thirty famUies with an orthodox minister, should settie there
within four years.
1686. Mr. Oliver Purchis was chosen Town Clerk,
' A great and terrible drouth, mostly in the 4th month, and
continued in the 5th month, ¦with but littie rain ; but the 18th,
being the Sabbath, we had a sweet, rain,'
James Quanupcowit and Da^vid Kunkskawmushat, descend
ants of Nanapashemet, sold a lot of land, on the West side of
the Iron Works' Pond, on the 28th of July, to Daniel Hitchings,
1687. At a town meeting on the 15th of Febraary, ' the
town voted the Selectmen be a committee to look after en
croached lands, or highways, from Francis BurriU's bam to the
gate that is by Timothy Breed's, or parcels of land in places
least prejudicial to the to^wn, and make good sale-of any of them
on the Town's behalf for money to pay the Indians at the time
appointed, and the necessary charges of that affair.'
On the 16th of February, Captain Thomas Marshall ex
changed with the town his right in Stone's meadow, in Lynn
field, for a right in Edwards's meadow ; and the to^wn, at the re
quest of Mr. Shepard, made a grant of it to the ministry.
Mr, Shepard kept the school several months this winter. Ed
ucation, with the children of the early settlers, was a matter of
convenience, rather than of accomplishment. ' I have seen the
signatures of several hundreds of the first settlers, and have^ac
similes of many, and they are quite as good as an equal number
of signatures taken at random at the present day. But in clear
ing the forest, and obtaining a subsistence, they had httle leisure
for their children to spend in study ; and a month or two in win
ter, under the care of the minister, was the principal opportunity
which they had to obtain the httle learning requisite for their
future life. The consequence was, that the generations suc
ceeding the early settlers, from 1650 to 1790, were generally
less learned than the first settlers, or than those who have lived
since the Revolution,

CHAPTER VIII,
Usurpation of Andros — Nahant claimed by Edward Randolph — Defended by the
to-wn — Horrible delusion of Witchcraft — Nahant claimed by Richard Woodey's
heirs — Laws concerning Shoemakers — Wolves and Foxes killed — Grammar
School — Indian War, 16S8 to 1705.
* So tTTannizing and oppresBuig all.* SPBKCEIE,
URING the administration of Sir Edmund An
dros, the people of Lynn had an opportunity of
¦witnessing the tendency of arbitrary government.
Andros had been appointed by the British King,
James II,, Gtovemor of all New England, and
came over in 1686 to exercise that authority ; and
his administeation, for two years, was character
ized by many acts of arbitrary power. He asserted, that the
people of Massachusetts had forfeited their charter, and that all
the lands belonged to the King, Edward Randolph, his Secre
tary, looking round among these lands, to see where he might
establish a little dukedom, fixed his attention upon the beautiful
domain of Nahant, which he requested the Governor to give to
him. The foUo-wing is a copy of his petition,
1688. ' To his Excellency, Sir Edmund Andros, Knight,
Govemor, &c, &c. The humble petition of Edward Randolph,
that there is a certain tract of land nigh the Township of Lynn,
in the county of Essex, in this His Majesty's territory and do
minion, out of fence and undivided, containing about five hun
dred acres, commonly called Nahant neck, for which your peti
tioner humbly prays His Majesty's grant, and that your Excel
lence would please tO issue a warrant to the Surveyor- General to
admeasure the same, in order to passing a pateiit, he paying
such moderate quitrent as your ExceUence shaU please to di
rect, &c.
'Ed, Randolph,'
On the reception of this modest petition, the Council, on Fri
day, the third of February, directed the constables to ' Give
public notice in the said town of Lynn, that, if any person or

172 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1688.
persons have any claim or pretence to the said land, they appear
before his Excellency, the Govemor, in CouncU, on Wednesday,
the seventh of March next, then and there to show forth the
same, and why the said land may not be granted to the petition
er,' In pursuance of this order, the constable, John Edmunds,
notified a town meeting, which was held on the fifth of March,
when a committee was chosen, who made the foUo'wing repre
sentation, ' To his Excellency, Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, and our
Honorable Governor, with his Honorable CouncU to sit with
him, on Wednesday, the seventh of this instant March, 1688.
' Having received an order upon the second day of this in
stant March, that orders our constables of Lynn, or either of
them, to give public notice in the said town of Lynn, of a pe
tition of Mr, Edward Randolph, Esq,, read in a councU held in
Boston, on the third day of February, 1688, praying His Majes
ty's grant of a certain tract of land, therein called vacant land,
lying nigh the town of Lynn, called Nahant, &c,, as also, that,
if any person or person have any claim or pretence to the said
lands, they appear before his Excellency, in council, on Wednes
day, the seventh of this instant March, to show forth the same,
and why the said land may not be granted to the petition, &c.
' Wherefore, we, the proprietors of the pasture of Nahant,
and inhabitants of Lynn, have, in obedience to our present Hon
orable Governor and his Honorable CouncU, presented before
them as followeth.
Imprimis : Our humble and most thankful acknowledgment
of the favor sho^wed unto us, in giving us notice of such an en
terprise, as whereby, should it take effect, would so extremely
indamage so many of His Majesty's good subjects at once ;
whereby we conclude his Excellency, our Honorable Governor,
and his Honorable CouncU, are such as will search for and do
justice, and maintain the cause of the innocent, weak, and poor,
as we humbly and sincerely acknowledge ourselves to be ; and
yet being clearly satisfied of our just right in the tract of lands
petitioned for, have good hope our honorable rulers will, of clem
ency and justice, adhere to, hear and weigh reasons herein pre
sented, why we cannot comply with Mr, Edward Randolph's
petition for the alienation of our Nahants ; which, we humbly
conceive, is groundlessly represented to be a parcel of vacant
land, and therefore must apply ourselves to demonstrate to our
Honorable Govemor, and his Honorable CouncU, the contiary.
And although the time is very short indeed for us to lay before
your Honors to vindicate our just right to our Nahants, yet our
endeavours shaU be as effectual as we can in so short a time as
we have to bethink ourselves, and show your Honors, that it is
not vacant land, and that the proprietors have a true and

1688.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 173
just right thereunto, wherefore we present your honors as fol
loweth. ' That we have in our records, that in the year 1635, this tract
of land, viz, our Nahants, was in the hands of the freemen of
Lynn to dispose of; who did then grant unto several inhabitants
to plant, and build upon, and possess ; and, if they did not per
form the conditions, they, to whom it was so granted, forfeited
the land to the town again, to dispose as shall be thought fit ;
and among those to whom these lands were granted, that wor
thy and honorable gentleman, Mr, Humphreys, was one, who
was a patentee and an assistant in the first government ; there
fore, sure it was the town's land then,
' That these inhabitants that did build and dwell there, they
were tiibuteiries, or tenants, and paid their yearly rent to the
town as long as they lived, or were removed by the town ; as
to instance, one Robert Coates yet living to testify it,
' There have been some that have laid a claim to this land
called Nahant, and commenced suit at law with the town for it,
but were cast at law, the Court that then was gave the town the
case, justified the town's right, and never denied it, nor blamed
them about it.
' This tract of land, it hath been divided into planting lots to
the several proprietors by a vote of the town, as appears in our
records. Anno, 1656, and the whole fenced as a common field,
and the lots been improved by the proprietors, in planting, till
ing, and manuring ; and afterward, by the agreement of the
proprietors, converted into a pasture ; and so, ever since to this
day improved ; so we have by hard labor and industry subdued
it, and brought it into so good a capacity as it is at this day, for
the town's future benefit and no other,
' We have honestly purchased said tract of land with our
money, of the original proprietors of the soil, ¦viz, the Natives,
and have firm confirmation thereof, under their hands and seals,
according to law.
' We have possessed and improved the said tract of land up
wards of fifty years, for so long since it hath been built upon,
inhabited by tenants paying then acknowledgments year after
year. ' We hope arguments of this nature wiU be swaying with so
rational a commonwealth's man as Mr, Randolph, who hath ever
pretended great respect to His Majesty's subjects among us, and
an earnest care and desire to promote their welfare and prosper
ity. The premises considered, we believe a gentleman, under
such circumstances, will not be injurious, by seeking a particu
lar benefit, to impoverish aud disadvantage so many of His
Majesty's good subjects, by seeking the alienation of such a
tract of land, so eminently useful and needful for those propri-

174 HISTORY OF LYNN.

[1688,

etors now in possession of it — it being a thing so consistent
with His Majesty's pleasure, that his subjects should enjoy then
properties and flourish under his government,
' We are confident, therefore, that this Honorable CouncU
wUl be solicitous for the promoting our welfare, as not to suffer
us to be impoverished by the alienation of such a considerable
tract of land, as this wiU do, if it should be alienated, — yea,
we are bold to say again, extremely prejudicial, if not impover
ish the body of the inhabitants of Lynn, who live not upon
traffic and trading, as many seaport towns do, who have greater
advantages, but upon husbandry, and raising such stocks of cat
tle and sheep as they are capable, and as their outiands wiU
afford ; for this, our Nahant is such a place for us as God and
nature hath fitted and accommodated with herbage ; and like
wise, the only place about us for security for our creatures from
the teeth of ravening wolves ; which, this last summer, as
well as formerly, have devoured very many that fed in other
places about us, to the very great damage of sundry of our in
habitants accordingly. Therefore, the said tract of land hath
been improved by the proprietors as a grazing field with great
benefit to the body of the whole town, which otherwise would
be exposed to great hardships, inconveniences, and difficulties,
to obtain a poor living ; and, therefore, we cannot but be deeply
sensible, that, if the said pasture be ahenated from us, our poor
families will be very great sufferers, and we shall be rendered
very uncapable, either to provide for them, or to contribute such
dues and duties to His Majesty's government set over us, which
otherwise we might be capable of, and shall always readily and
carefuUy attend unto our utmost capacity,
' And we humbly trust, our Honorable Govemor and his Hon
orable CouncU wUl show us the favor, as in their wisdoms, to
weigh and consider weU our dutiful application to their order, to
give in and show our reasons why we claim this said tract of
land to be our right, as not to suffer any alienation of that which
we do so much need for our great comfort and benefit ; but
rather grant us further confirmation thereof, if need require,
' And thus we, the proprietors of the tract of land, even our
Nahant, that is petitioned for, have taken notice of your Hon
ors' order, and have, this first day of March, 1687-8, made
choice of a committee, to consider what is meet to lay before
your Honors, and of messengers, to appear and present the
same to your ExceUency, our Honorable Governor, and the Hon
orable CouncU ; which, if these things are not satisfactory, we
then in humUity crave the favor of His ExceUency and his
Honorable CouncU for such a trial and process as the law
may admit of in such a case, wherein persons are in pos
session of lands, as we of this said tract, having tenants there-

1688,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 175
on ; and further time and opportunity being granted, we doubt
not but we shall produce such valid confirmations of our true
and honest title to said tract of land, as shall be abundantly sat
isfactory to our honored rulers, and put a period to further de
bates about it. So we rest and remain. His Majesty's most loyal
subjects, and your ExceUency's and CouncU's most humble ser
vants. The Committee, in the name and behalf of the Proprie
tors of Nahant,
' Thomas Laughton,
Ralph King,
John Lewis,
Oliver Purchis,
John Burrill,
Edward Richards,
John Fuller,'
It may appear stiange to many, at this time, to notice the
humble and almost abject demeanor of the committee, as
evinced in the preceding address. They doubtless thought, that
nothing would be lost by soft words ; but the spirit of freemen was
at length roused, and ample vengeance was soon to be taken on
the aggressors of arbitrary power, Nothwithstanding the repre
sentation of the committee, Mr, Randolph persisted in his de
mand, and renewed his claim as follows.
' To His Excellence, Sir Edmund Andros, Govemor, The
humble representation of Edward Randolph showeth : That
having, by his humble petition to your ExceUence, prayed a
grant of a certain tract of land lying in the township of Lynn,
in the county of Essex, called Nahant, your Excellence was
pleased, by your order in Council, the third day of February
last, to direct that the constables of the said town do give public
notice to the said town, that, if any person or persons have any
claim or pretence to the said land, they should appear before
your ExceUence in Council, on Wednesday, the seventh of this
instant March ; at which time several of the inhabitants of the
said town of Lynn did appear, and presented your Excellence
¦with a paper, containing their several objections to the said peti
tion. ' In answer whereto, is humbly offered as follows : That by
their said prayer, it does not appear the lands petitioned for, or
any part thereof, were disposed of to the inhabitants of Lynn,
nor that the said town of Lynn was incorporated in the year
1635, nor at anytime since, and so not endowed with a power
of receiving or disposing such lands.
' That the freemen of Lynn, mentioned in the first article of
their said paper, were not freemen of the corporation of Lynn,
(as they would insinuate,) but inhabitants only in the township,
and were admitted by the General Court to be freemen of

176 HISTORY OP LYNN. [1688,
the Colony, with power to elect magistrates, etc, and their town
of Lynn is equal to a vUlage in England, and no otherwise.
' And in regard then: whole paper contains nothing more ma
terial than what is expressed in then fust article, the petitioner
hath nothing further to offer, than to pray your ExceUence's
grant according to his petition, AU which is humbly sub
mitted,
' Ed, Randolph,'
On the reception of this petition, the people of Lynn held an
other meeting, and addressed the Govemor as foUows,
' To His Excellency, Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, our Hon
orable Govemor, Captain- General of his Majesty's Territory and
Dominion in New England, the humble address of the inhabi
tants of Lynn is humbly offered,
' We, whose names are subscribed, having, by the favor of
your ExceUency, good information of the endeavours of some
to seek the alienation of a tract of land from us, called the Na
hants, containing about four or five hundred acres, which wiU
prove extremely prejudicial and injurious to the body of His
Majesty's subjects among us ; it being a tract of land honorably
purchased of the natives, the original proprietors of the soil, and
possessed by our predecessors and ourselves near upon sixty
years, and to this day. We have also renewed confirmations of
the tract of land hj firm deed from the successors of the ancient
proprietors, the natives ; having also been at great cost and
charges, and hard labor for the subduing of the said land, to
bring it into so good a capacity as it is in at this day ; having
also defended our right to this tract of land as well as others
possessed by us, by blood and the loss of many lives, both for
merly, and especially in the late engagements, with the barba
rous pagans. The said tract of land having been built upon,
also, and inliahited upwards of fifty years. It hath been ploughed,
planted, tilled, and manured, and fenced in ; the fence remaining
to this very day, only wanting reparation ; none ever, to this day,
from the first settlement of our plantation — called formerly by
the name of Sawgus — dispossessing of us ; but we have main
tained our possession and right, which hath been owned and
defended by His Majesty's former government set over us.
The said tract of land being also eminently beneficial and need
ful for the support of our inhabitants ; it being improved for a
grazing field for our sheep, and such other useful creatures as
can scarcely be preserved from the ravening wolves,
' Therefore, we are sensible, that, by the aUenation of such a
tract of land from us, so circumstanced, many of His Majesty's
good subjects, — our honest, innocent neighbors, — wUl be ex
posed to great sufferings and hardships, and we aU rendered inca
pable to contribute such dues and duties to His Majesty's govern-

1689.] HISTORY OP LYNN, 177
ment set over us, as is our bounden duty, and which we shall
always readily attend, knowing how consistent it is with His
Majesty's pleasure, and how well pleasing to your ExceUency,
that we live and prosper under your government,
' We request your ExceUency, therefore, to condescend to cast
a favorable aspect upon the premises, and that our mean and shat
tered condition may not induce your contempt, but rather obtain
your pity and succour. And, therefore, we confide in your Ex
cellency's favor for our encouraging answer to this our petition,
which is for the further and future enjoying of our Nahants,
' By your ExceUency's fatherly and compassionate grant of
such a patent for further confirmation thereof unto ourselves
and heirs forever, upon a moderate acknowledgment to be paid
to His Royal Majesty, as may be consistent with your Excel
lency's prudence, and most conducive to our -best behoof and ben
efit, and so that we may live and prosper under your government,
that we may have tranquility under the same from henceforth,
' The second day of April, Anno Domini, One Thousand Sis
Hundred Eighty and Eight Annogui Regni Regis Jacohi Se-
cundi Quarto.'
The above petition was signed by seventy-four inhabitants,
and, with the preceding papers, are preserved in the Massachu
setts archives. Their interesting nature has induced me to give
them entire, I have only corrected the spelUng,
The revenge which had been burning in the breasts of the
eastern Indians for twelve years, for their friends killed and
sold into slavery in 1676, this year broke out into open war.
Their animosity was increased by the instigation of Baron de St.
Castine, a Frenchman, who married a daughter of Madooka-
wando, the Penobscot Chief His house had been plundered
by Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor of Massachusetts, and
and this induced him to join with the Indians, The French of
Canada also united with them in their depredations, which
were continued ¦with intervals tUl 1698, under the appeUation of
Castine's war. A company of soldiers from Lynn were im
pressed, by order of the Governor, and sent out against the In
dians, in the depth of winter. One of the soldiers from Lynn,
Mr, Joseph RamsdeU, was kUled by them at Casco Bay, in 1690,
1689. The assumptions of Andros and his lordly secretary,
as may well be supposed, gave great offence to the people of
Lynn, and there seems to have been no other general topic of
conversation for several years. At length the spirit of the peo
ple was roused to such a degree, that, on the nineteenth of
AprU, the inhabitants of Boston rose in arms, wrested the power
from Sir Edmund, and confined him a prisoner on Fort Hill until
he was sent back to England.
23

178 HISTORY OF LYNN,

[1689.

The people of Lynn, who had not only been injured, but even
insulted by Governor Andros, united with some from other
towns, and went up to Boston, under the command of Rev, Jer
emiah Shepard, the minister of Lynn, A writer who was pres
ent says : ' April 19th, about 11 o'clock, the country canae in,
headed by one Shepherd, teacher of Lynn, who were hke so
many wild bears ; and the leader, mad with passion, more sav
age than any of his foUowers, All the cry was for the Governor
and Mr, Randolph,' * The Lynn people were doubtiess some
what excited, but it may be noted, that the above account of
their conduct was written by a friend of Governor Andros,
In the exigency of public affairs, town meetings were held,
and a CommUtee of Safety for the county of Essex appointed,
with directions to make a report of grievances, to be laid before
the government The people of Lynn made the foUowing rep
resentation, .
' At Lynn, the 24th of May, 1689, upon a signification from
Captain Jonathan Corwin, of the Committee of the County of
Essex, to make inquiry into the grievances suffered under the
late government, that it is expressed, that this town, or any in
habitants therein, that have been aggrieved or burthened, do
manifest the same under their hand, to the Committee aforesaid,
or to Captain Jonathan Corwin to make known the same. We
the Committee, chosen by the inhabitants of Lynn, on the 20th
of May, 1689, to consider of the signification abovesaid, and to
draw up what grievances and burdens we have sustained by the
late government, &c., do declare, viz, that this poor town of
Lynn have sustained great wrong and damage by the said late
government; in that our orderly, honest, and just rights, in a
tract of land within the bounds of Lynn, called Nahants, that
hath been enjoyed, possessed, buUt upon, and improved, by fen
cing, planting, and pasturing, &c., by the township of Lynn, weU
onward to sixty years; and yet, by the injurious, unjust, and. cov
etous humors of some very ill minded persons, upon petitions
preferred, — as Mr. Randolph first, and Mary Daffin, of Boston,
in the second place, when Mr. Randolph could not make his pe
tition trae and valid, then he throweth in Mary Daffin her peti
tion for the same lands, and as unjustly founded as Mr, Ran
dolph's, But on their two petitions and vain pretences, we, the
poor people of Lynn, have been, by orders from the Governor
and CouncU, called, summoned, and ordered to appear at Bos
ton, and to show and make good title to said lands before Sir
Edmund Andros, and his Council, at one sitting, and a second
* This interesting passage, probably vn:itten by Randolph himself, was copied
from a manuscript Account of the Insurrection, among the papers of the Archbishop
of Canterbury, ia the Lambeth Palace, at London.

1689.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 179
sitting, and so a third, and a fourth, to our great loss, and ex
pense of time and moneys, and no advantage nor benefit to us,
because of delays and procrastinations, to screw our moneys out
of our hands, and to make us pay, with a vengeance, for such
writings as we must be constrained to take forth. And thus we
have been grieved and oppressed, and put to loss, cost, and
damage, near one hundred pounds, and never the better, no
justice done us, and at last put upon a threatened necessity of
patenting our own old enjoyed properties, and a denial of our
rights in any of our commons, always enjoyed, but now called
King's lands, and we denied to be any town. Thus we have
been perplexed, vexed, and oppressed, and impoverished ; and
except the Lord had wrought for us, whose name we bless, and
give thanks to the worthy gentlemen, his instruments, we had
been the worst of bondmen. Furthermore, we were debarred,
by the late government, of our constant liberty of town meet
ings but once in a year, whereby we could not meet to consult
of defending our rights in the premises, because it should be
charged with riot ; and also of keeping a watch for our security
from any dangers we had too just cause to fear, which was our
great grief and burthen ; and our abuses by the profane farmers
of excise; and our sons, neighbors, and servants impressed
and sent out so remote in the winter season, and constrained
hereunto, and aU sufferings, and we understand not upon what
grounds. Per order of, or in the name of the Town and Com
mittee. Oliver Purchis, Cleric.
' Jeremiah Shepard, aged forty-two years, and John Burrill,
aged fifty-seven years, we, whose names are subscribed, being
chosen by the inhabitants of Lynn, in the Massachusetts Colo
ny, in New England, to maintain their right to their properties
and lands, invaded by Sir Edmund Andres's government, we do
testify, that, (beside Sir Edmund Andros his unreasonable de
mands of money, by way of taxation, and that without an as
sembly and deputies, sent from our towns, according to ancient
custom, for the raising of money and levying of rates,) our prop
erties, our honest, and just, and true titles to our land were also
invaded ; and particularly a great and considerable tract of land,
eaUed by the name of the Nahants, the only secure place for
the grazing of some thousands of our sheep, and without which
our inhabitants could neither provide for their famihes, nor be
capacitated to pay dues or duties for the maintenance of the
public, but, if dispossessed of the town must needs be impover
ished, ruined, and rendered miserable. Yet this very tract of
land, being petitioned for by Edward Randolph, was threatened
to be rent out of our hands, notwithstanding our honest andjust

180

HISTORY OF LYNN, [1690.

pleas for our right to the said land, both by ahenation of the
said land to us by the original proprietors, the natives, to whom
we paid our moneys by way of purchase, and notwithstanding
near sixty years peaceable and quiet possession, and improve
ment, and also enclosure of the said land by a stone waU ; in
which tract of land, also, two of our patentees were interested
in common with us, viz. Major Humfrey and Mr. Johnson ; yet
Edward Piandolph petitioning for the said land. Sir Edmund, the
Governor, did so far comply with his unreasonable motion, that
we were put to great charges and expense for the vindication
of our honest rights thereto. And being often before the Gov
emor, Sir Edmund, and his Council, for relief, yet could find no
favor of our innocent cause by Sir Edmund ; not-withstanding
our pleas of purchase, ancient possession, enclosure, grant of
General Court, and our necessitous condition ; yet he told us
that all these pleas were, insignificant, and we could have no
true title, until we could prove a patent from the king; neither
had any person a right to one foot of land in New England, by
virtue of purchase, possession, or grant of court ; but, if we
would have assurance of our lands, we must go to the king for
it, and get patents of it. Finding no rehef (and the Governor
having prohibited to^wn meetings,) we earnestly desired liberty
for our town to meet to consult what to do in so difficult a case
and exigency, but could not prevail ; Sir Edmund angrily telling
us, that there was no such thing as a to^wn in the country; nei
ther should we have liberty so to meet ; neither were our an
cient records, as he said, which we produced for our vindication
of our title to the said lands, worth a rush. Thus were we from
time to time unreasonably treated, our properties, and civil lib
erties, and privileges invaded, our misery and ruin threatened
and hastened, till such time as our country, groaning under the
unreasonable hea^vy yoke of Sir Edmund's government, were
constrained forcibly to recover our rights and privileges,
' Jeremiah Shepard,
' John Burrill,'
1690. The third inhabitant of Nahant, and the first perma
nent one, was James MiUs, He had a small cottage, which
stood in the field a few rods southeast from Whitney's ho
tel, wherein he resided twenty-six years. He had three chU
dren : Sarah, bom February 27, 1675; James, born October 11,
1678 ; and Dorothy, born AprU 21, 1681, A bay on the south of
Nahant having been her favorite bathing place, is caUed Doro
thy's cove.
The first monthly meeting of the Society of friends in Lynn,
was held at the house of Samuel CoUins, on the 18th of July.
There were but five Lynn men present.

1691,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 181
1691. Lieutenant John Burrill was chosen Representative
' to the great and generall court,' The pay of a representative
was three shUlings a day,
]\Ir, John BurrUl, junior, was chosen Town Clerk, in which
office he continued thirty years,
AprU 14, ' Clement Coldam and Joseph Hart were chosen
cannoners, to order and look after the great guns,'
July 13. Lieutenant John Fuller was chosen Clerk of the
Writs, It is thus evident, that this office was not the same as
that of Town Clerk,
On the northern shore of Nahant is a ledge of rock, which
contains a portion of iron. Some of it was smelted in the
foundry at Saugus, and more was taken for the forge at Brain
tree. ' It was voted, that Mr. Hubbard, of Braintree, should give
three shiUings for every ton of Rock Mine that he has from Na
hant, to the to^wn, for the town's use, and he to have so much
as the town sees convenient'
Mr. William Bassett was Quarter Master in the mUitia, and
collector of the parish taxes. People who held offices were
generally better kno^wn by their titles, than by their first names.
December 21. At a meeting of the Selectmen, ' Mr. Shepard,
with his consent, was chosen Schoolmaster for the year en
suing,' To^wn Records.
1692. January 8. ' It was voted, that Lieutenant Blighe
should have hberty to set up a pew in the north east corner of
the meeting house, by Mr, King's pew, and he to maintain the
windows against it
' The town did vote, that Lieutenant Fuller, Lieutenant Lewis,
Mr. John Hawkes, senior, Francis Burrill, Lieutenant Burrill,
John BurrUl, junior, Mr, Henry Rhodes, Quarter Master Bassett,
Mr. Haberfield, Comet Johnson, Mr, Bayley, and Lieutenant
Bhghe, should set at the table.
' It was voted, that Matthew Farrington, senior, Henry
SUsbee, and Joseph Mansfield, senior, should set in the deacon's
seat. ' It was voted, that Thomas Farrar, senior, Crispus Brewer,
Allen Breed, senior, Clement Coldam, Robert Rand, senior,
Jonathan Hudson, Richard Hood, senior, and Sergeant Haven,
should set in the pulpit
' The town voted, that them that are surviving, that was
chosen by the town a committee to erect the meeting-house,
and Clerk Potter to join along with them, should seat the in
habitants of the town, in the meeting house, both men and
women, and appoint what seats they shall set in ; but it is to
be understood, that they are not to seat neither the table, nor

182 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1692.
the deacon's seat,_nor the pulpit, but them to set there as are
voted by the town,' t-u . ^
'The town voted that Mr. Shepard should have hberty to
remove Mr. Shepard's pew, and to set it adjoming at the east
ward end of the pulpit.'
Lieutenant John Lewis, Comet Samuel Johnson, John Witt,
Joseph Breed, Thomas Farrar, junior, Joseph NewhaU, and
John BurrUl, junior, were chosen Selectmen, ' to order the pru
dential affairs of the town.' These were the first Selectmen of
Lynn whose names are recorded in the town book.
' The town voted, that the persons undernamed, m answer to
their petition, should have liberty of the hindmost seat in the
gaUery to set in, and fit it up as weU as they please, in the
northeast corner, provided they do no damage in hindering the
li<rht of the window. Sarah Hutchins, Mary NewhaU, Rebeckah
BaUard, Susannah CoUins, Rebeckah CoUins, Ruth Potter, Jane
Ballard, Sarah Farrington, Rebeckah Newhall, Elizabeth Nor
wood, Mary Haberfield.' t. r.
The year 1692 has been rendered memorable in the annals of
our country, by the great excitement and distress occasioned by
imputed Witchcraft. It was an awful time for New England —
superstition was abroad in her darkest habiliments, scourging the
land, and no one but trembled before the breath of the destroyer,
for no one was safe. It seemed as if a legion of the spirits
of darkness had been set free from their prison house, ¦with
power to infect the judgment of the rulers, and to sport, in
their wanton mahce, with the happiness and the lives of the
people. The stories of necromancy in the darkest ages of the
world — the tales of eastern genii — the imaginary delineations
of the poet and the romancer — wild, and vague, and horrible as
they may seem — fall far short of the terrible realities, which
were performed in the open dayhght of New England. The
mother at midnight pressed her unconscious chUdren to her
trembling bosom — and the next day she was standing before a
court of awful men, with her life susperided on the breath of
imagination — or barred within the walls of a prison, and guarded
by an armed man, as if she were a thing to be feared — or
swinging in the breeze between earth and sky, with thousands
of faces gazing up at her, ¦with commingled expressions of pity
and imprecation. The father, too, retumed from his work at eve,
to his peaceful household — and in the morning he was lying
extended on a rough plank — with a hea^vy weight pressing on
his breast — till his tongue had started from his mouth — and
his soul had gone up to Him who gave it — and all this, that he
might be made to confess an imaginary crime.
The alarm of witchcraft commenced in February, in the house
of Rev, Samuel Parris, of Salem, with an Indian ghl named

1692,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 183
Tituba, Thirteen women and five men were hung, and two.
Rev, George Burroughs and GUes Corey, pressed to death,
because they would not answer or confess. More than one
hundred others were accused and imprisoned, of whom the
following belonged to Lynn :
1, Thomas Farrar was brought before the court, at Salem,
May 18, and sent to prison at Boston, where he was kept until
November 2, more than five months. He was an elderiy mah,
and his son, Thomas Farrar, jun., was one of the Selectmen
this year. He hved in Nahant street, and died February 23.
1694, ^
2, Sarah Bassett was tried at Salem, May 23, and sent to
Boston prison, where she was kept untU December 3, seven
months. She was a daughter of Richard Hood, and ¦wife of
William Bassett, junior, in Nahant street She had a young
chUd, 22 months old, which she took with her to prison. The
next daughter which she had after her imprisonment, she called
' Dehverance,' 3. Mary Derick, widow of Michael Derick, was carried to
Boston prison. May 23, and kept there seven months. She was
a daughter of WiUiam Bassett, senior.
4. EUzabeth Hart was arraigned and sent to Boston, May 18,
where she was imprisoned until December 7; nearly seven
months. She was an old lady, the wife of Isaac Hart, and died
November 28, 1700,
5. Thomas Hart, son of Elizabeth Hart, in a petition to the
court, October 19, says 'he has been in prison ever since May,
for imputed witchcraft, and prays to be released,'
6, Sarah Cole, the wife of John Cole, was tried at Charles-
to^wn, the first of February, 1693, and acquitted,
7. Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor, of Danvers, was a
daughter of WUham Bassett. She was condemned to death,
but was released on account of her peculiar circumstances. Her
husband was executed.
That aged people, as some of those were, and respectable as
they all were, should have been subjected to long imprisonment
and the danger of death, on the accusation of a few hoyden
girls of uncertain reputation, infiuenced by wild malice, or a
distempered imagination, is a matter which now excites our
wonder and pity. My readers ¦will doubtless be anxious to know
what was said about the accused from Lynn, It is really too
triffing for a serious record, and only merits notice for its conse
quences. The following is the testimony against Thomas
Farrar :
' The deposition of Ann Putnam, who testifieth and saith ;
that on the Sth of May, 1692, there appeared to me the
apperishion of an old gray head man, with a great nose, which
tortored me, and almost choaked me, and urged me to writ in his

184 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1694,
book ; and I asked him what was his name, and from whence
he came, for I would complain of him ; and people used to call
him old father pharaoh ; and he said he was my grandfather, for
my father used to caU him father ; but I tould him I would not
call him grandfather, for he was a wizzard, and I would com
plain of him, and ever since he hath afflicted me by times, beat
ing me, and pinching me, and allmost choaking me, and urging
me continewally to writ in his book,'
The testimony against Elizabeth Hart was as follows : ' The
deposition of Mary Wolcott, who testifieth and saith, that on the
13th of May, 1692, I saw the apparition of Goody Hart, who
hurt me much by pinching and choaking of me ; and urged me
grievously to set my hand to her book, and several other times
she has tormented me, ready to tare my body in pieces.'
There were several other depositions, but these were the most
important; yet on evidence like this, respectable people were
taken from their homes, and imprisoned more than half a year.
It is some satisfaction to know, that some of the judges and
jurymen afterward saw their error and regretted it. Some
restitution was also made, by the court, to some of the sufferers,
Mary Derick was allowed £9, being at the rate of six shillings
a week during her imprisonment, and £5, for her goods lost ;
and Sarah Bassett -was also allowed £9,
The first thing which opened the eyes of the prosecutors, and
tended to put a stop to accusations, was the ' crying out ' against
the Rev, Jeremiah Shepard, minister of the church at Lynn, as
a wizard ! Every body saw the absurdity of the charge, and
the court were convinced that if the matter proceeded much
farther, themselves might not be safe.
In reflecting on this subject, it should be remembered, that
people at that time generally beUeved in ¦witchcraft. It was
part of their religion, and under such a misconception of scrip
ture, the slightest indications were proof The more absurd,
improbable, and even impossible a thing was, the more certain
it appeared — for many people very wisely conclude, that no one
would assert an impossibility, unless it were true ! We wonder
at the delusion of those days— but is there no mist before our
eyes at present?
1694. The society of Friends having increased, Mr. Shep
ard became alarmed at their progress, and appointed the nine
teenth of July, as a day of fasting and prayer, ' that the spiritual
plague might proceed no further,'
At a town meeting on the twenty-fifth of July; ' The consta
bles personably appearing, and declaring that they had aU warned
their several parts of the town, according to their warrants
and so many being absent from said meeting ; the town did then

1695.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 185
vote and give power to Jacob Knight, in behalf of the town, to
prosecute against any and every person or persons, that has not
attended this meeting, according to the bye-laws, or town orders.'
The practice prevailed for many years, of warning out of the
town, by a formal mandamus of the selectmen, every family
and individual, rich or poor, who came into it, "This was done
to exonerate the town from any obligation to render support in
case of poverty. One old gentleman, who had just arrived in
town, to whom this order was read, took it for a real intimation
to depart ' Come wife,' he says, 'we must pack up. But
there — we have one consolation for it — it is not so desirable a
place 1 '
1695. The property of the Nahants which had been a cause
of contention from the first settlement of the town, were this
year claimed by .the heiresses of Richard Woody, of Boston;
into whose claim they probably descended by a mortgage of one
of the sagamores, in 1652, At a town meeting, on the eighteenth
of October, ' There being a summons read, wherein was signi
fied that the lands called Nahants were attached by Mrs. Mary
Daffern of Boston, and James Mills summoned to answer said
Daffern at an inferior court, to be holden in the county of Essex
on the last Tuesday of December, 1695; the town did then
choose Lieutenant Samuel Johnson, Joseph Breed, and John
, BurriU, junior, to defend the interests of the town in the lands
caUed Nahants, and to employ an attomey or attorneys, as they
shall see cause, in the town's behalf, against the said Daffern,
and so from court to court, tUl the cause be ended — they or
either of them — and the town to bear the charge.'
The foUowing is transcribed from the records of the Quarterly
Court, December thirty-first
' Mrs. Mary Daffern and Mrs. Martha Padishall, widows, and
heiresses of Pachard Woodey, late of Boston, deceased, plain
tiffs, versus John AtwUl, junior, of Lynn, in an action of tres
pass upon the case, &c., according to writ, dated 30th September,
1695. The plaintiffs being called three times, made default, and
are nonsuited. The judgment of the court is, that plaintiffs pay
unto the defendants costs.' This is the last we hear of any
claim made upon the Nahants, as individual property,
1696. January 13, ' The Selectmen did agree with Mr.
[Abraham] Normenton to be Schoolmaster for the town, for the
year ensuing ; and the town to give him five pounds for his
labor ; and the town is to pay twenty -five shillings towards the
hire of Nathaniel Newhall's house to keep school in, and the
said Mr. Normenton to hire the said house.'
Immense numbers of great clams were thrown upon the
24

136 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1697.
beaches by storms. The people were permitted, by a vote of
the town, to dig and gather as many as they wished for their
own use, but no more ; and no person was aUowed to carry any
out of the town, on a penalty of twenty shiUings. The sheUs
were gathered in cart loads on the beach, and manufactured
into lime.
This year, two Quakers, whose names were Thomas Farrar
and John Hood, for refusing to pay parish taxes, suffered neariy
one month's imprisonment at Salem.
The winter of this year was the coldest since the first settle
ment of New England.
1697. On the eighth of January, the town, by vote, set the
prices of provisions, to pay Mr. Shepard's salary, as follows :
Beef 3d. ; pork, 4d. a pound. Indian corn, 5s, ; barley, barley
malt, and rye, 5s, 6d ; and oats, 2s, a bushel.
The blackbirds had to keep a bright look out this year, as the
whole town were up in arms against them,
March 8. ' The town did vote, that every householder in the
town should, some time before the fifteenth day of May next, kill
or cause to be killed, twelve blackbirds, and bring the heads of
them, at or before the time aforesaid, to Ebenezer Stocker's, or
Samuel CoUins's, or Thomas Burrage's, or John Gowing's, who
are appointed and chose by the town to receive and take account
of the same, and take care this order be duly prosecuted ; and if
any householder as aforesaid shall refuse or neglect to kill and
bring the heads of twelve blackbirds, as aforesaid, every such
person shall pay three pence for every blackbird that is wanting
as aforesaid, for the use of the town,'
1698. On the fourth of January, Oliver Elkins and Thomas
Darling kUled a wolf in Lynn woods. On the twenty-eighth of
February, Thomas Baker killed two wolves. This year also,
James MUls kUled five foxes on Nahant. Twenty shillings
were allowed by the town for kiUing a wolf, and two shillings
for a fox.
The town ordered that no person should cut more than seven
trees on Nahant, under a penalty of forty shiUings for each tree
exceeding that number.
June 1. The court enacted ' that no person using or occu
pying the feat or mystery of a butcher, currier, or shoemaker, by
himself or any other, shaU use or exercise the feat or mystery of
a Tanner, on pain of the forfeiture of six shillings and eight
pence for every hide or skin so tanned.' They also enacted
that no Tanner should exercise the business of a butcher, currier,
or shoemaker. 'And no butcher shall gash or cut any hide,
whereby the same shall be impaired, on pain of forfeiting twelve
pence for every gash or cut.' It was also enacted that no

1699.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 187
* shoemaker or cordwainer shall work into Shoes, Boots, or other
wares, any leather that is not tanned and curried as aforesaid ;
nor shaU use any leather made of horse's hide for the inner sole
of any such shoes or boots on pain of forfeiting aU such shoes
and boots,'
1699. The platform of the meeting-house was covered
with lead. The bell was taken down, and sent to England to
be exchanged for a new one, Mr, Shepard's salary was reduced
to sixty pounds.
On the seventh of November, the town ordered that any
person who should foUow the wUd fowl in the harbor, in a canoe,
to shoot at them, or frighten them, should pay twenty shiUings ;
and Thomas Lewis and Timothy Breed were chosen to enforce
the order,
1700. On the twenty-fifth of May, Mr, John Witt killed a
wolf At a meeting of the Selectmen on the seventh of June, Mr,
Shepard was chosen to keep a grammar-school ; for which thirty
pounds were the next year allowed,
1702. On the sixteenth of March, Mr. Walter PhUlips
kUled a wolf
On the fourteenth of December, ten pounds were allowed for
the maintenance of a grammar-master ; ' and such master to
have, over and above the said ten pounds, 2 pence per week
for such as are sent to read, 3 pence per week for them
that are sent to ¦write and cipher, and 6 pence per week
for them that are sent to learn Latin, to be paid by parents and
masters that send their children or servants to learn as aforesaid.'
1704. This year another war was prosecuted with the
French and Indians, called Queen Anne's War. It was begun
by the Indians in the preceding year, and was productive of the
most dreadful cruelty. Several of the soldiers from Lynn were
taken prisoners. It continued about a year.
Colonel Benjamin Church, who commanded in this expedi
tion, wrote a letter to Governor Dudley, requesting, ' That four
or five hundred pair of good Indian shoes be made ; and let
there be a good store of cow-hides, well tanned, for a supply of
such shoes, and hemp to make thread, and wax, to mend and
make more such shoes when wanted, and a good store of awls.'
On the sixth of March, the town, ' being informed that several
persons had cut down several trees or bushes in Nahants,
whereby there is like to be no shade for the creatures,' voted
that no person should cut any tree or bush there, on a penalty of
ten shillings.

CHAPTER IX.
Nahant and Woodlands divided — The Great Snow — Hon. John Burrill — The
Cold Winter — John Adam Dagy r, the Shoemaker — Notices of Ministers ; Shep
ard, Sparhawk, Whitefield, Cheever, Chase, Henchman. 1706 to 1764.
There is a tear for all -who die,
A mourner o'er the humblest grave ;
But nations swell the funeral cry,
And triumph weeps above the Ijrave.

) AHANT, and the great range of woodland in
i the north of the to'wn, had from the first set-
' tlement, been retained in common. The
\ same spirit of practical democracy which had
i influenced the people at the beginning, was
: carried out through all their public affairs.
Nahant was used as a common pasture, where
j any one who chose, put cattle and sheep,
 ; which were tended by a person, chosen and
paid by the town, called a shepherd. In like manner the great
woodlands had been reserved for common use, and the people
cut their fuel in such quantities as they pleased in the wood
lands nearest their dwellings. If any required timber for build
ing, they selected the fine old oaks that plumed the craggy cliffs,
and the tall straight trunks which grew in the dark pine forests,
to make into boards at the saw mill. But now the people had
so increased, and the limits of their cultivated lands became so
permanently established, that they concluded it would be best
to have some more definite regulations for their government in
future.

1706. On the fifteenth of April, a town meeting was held,
when it was resolved to make a division of the public lands,
only reserving the training field, which is now called the Com
mon, They chose a committee of three persons from other
towns, to make the division, whom they directed to allow each
proprietor at least one-fourth upland, and as near his own house
as might be. The committee were Captain Samuel Gardner
of Salem, John Greenland of Maiden, and Joseph Hasey of
Chelsea,

1706,] HISTORY OP LYNN, 189
' We whose names are hereunto subscribed, having been
chosen by the Towne Lyn, at a Towne Meeting held April
15th, 1706, as a committee to Divide aU the Undivided Common
Lands within the Towne of Lyn, aforesaid, by such rules, and
in such way and manner as shaU be agreed upon by us ; we
having agreed and made Division of the Common Undivided
Lands too and amongst aU the proprietors and Inhabitants that
have land of their own in fee, according to said Towne Voate, so
far as appeared to us. The way and manner of our Division,
and that which we have agreed upon to make our rules by, are
as followeth,
' We first obtained of the Selectmen of said Lyn, a copy of
the List of Estate taken by them in 1705, ^hich list being first
perfected and made intelUgible to us by the Selectmen, through
our desire, by their bringing each person's land to the Right
o^wner, and by adding such to said List, that by Reason of pov
erty, or others being in captivity, had been left out of said List,
that soe we might come to the knowledge of all the proprietors
and Inhabitants that have Lands of theire owne in fee; we
ha-ving made division of the aforesaid Common Lands accord
ing to what each proprietor and Inhabitant have of Lands upon
said List
1. ' We first taking out, according to the best Information we
could obtaine, all such as had houses erected since the year
1694, who are privilidged for so much and no more than what
each person bathe of Lands upon said List.
2, ' A second Rule by which we make division is, that all
such as have upon said List foure acres of Land or any Less
quantity, to have pri\dledg for five acres ; and all such as have
five acres to have privilidg for six acres ; and all such as have
six acres to have privUidg for seven acres ; and all such as have
seven acres to have privihdg for eight acres ; and no person to
receive advantage any further for any more than for what they
have upon said List.
3. ' A third Rule of our Division is, that all such as have upon
said List any greater number of acres than eight, till they come
to t'wenty acres, counting t'wo acres of pasture land for one of
tiUige Land ; we finding them to be Rated but half soe much for
pasture Land as for tillige or Improved Lands ; are priviliged
according to the number of acres they have on the List.
4, ' A fourth Rule is, that all those that have above twenty
acres upon said List, until they come to thirty acres, shall re
ceive privilidg but for one-fourth part of all they have above
twenty acres ; and for what land any person bathe on said List
above thirty acres, shall receive priviledg but for one eighth
part of what is above thirty acres.
5. ' And whereas we, the aforesaid Committe, according to

190 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1706.
said Towne voate, are to Leave convenient ways in all places,
as we shall think fitt, we have agreed that, by reason of the
Impossibility of making highways passable, if Laid upon the
Range Lines, Doe therefore order, that all the propriators con
cerned, their heirs and assigns forever, to have free Liberty to
pass and Repass over each person's Lotts, that is laid out by us
on the commons, with carts and teams, to transport wood, tim
ber and stones, or upon any other ocation whatsoever, in such
places as may be convenient, without any molestation, hin
drance, or Interruption from any of the propriators, their heirs or
assigns, but no person to Damnifie his neighbor by Cutting
Downe his tree or trees,
' We have left a highway over Little Nahant two poles wide
on the west end, and soe Riming over the beach unto G^sat
Nahant ; and soe on the southwardly side of the hUl to about ten
pole above the Calf Spring, and running slanting up the hUl
into the old way, and soe runing on the northeast end of James
Mills his land, and soe on to the first Range in the ram pasture;
and have left about one acre of land joining to the highway by
the Spring, to accomidate Cattie coming to the Spring, We
have also left a highway, two pole wide from the highway by
the Spring, ouer into Bass neck, and soe through the Ranges to
the southermost Range on said neck. We have also left a
highway, two pole wide, on the Bay side, over to Bass neck,
and so ouer Mr. Taylor's lott, Joseph Jacob's lott, and Moses
Hudson's Lott, unto the other highway ; and have left a high
way one pole wide over the westward end of each Range on
great Nahant; and a highway one pole wide, one the north
wardly end of each Range on Bass neck ; and a highway one
pole wide ouer between the range of lots, halfe a pole on each
Range, on each side of the Range Line on Littie Nahant.
' Thus we make Returne of this our Doings, this first Day of
January, 1706-7.
Samuel Gardner,
John Greenland,
Joseph Hasey,'
On the 28th September, ' The towne considering the great
difiiculty of laying out highways on the common lands, by rea
son of the swamps, hiUs, and rockenes of the land, theirfore
voated, that after said common lands shaU be divided, every
person interested therein, shall have free liberty at all times, to
pass and repass over each others' lotts of lands, to fetch their
wood and such other things as shall be upon their lands, in any
place or places, and for no other ends, provided they do not put
downe any sort of tree or trees in their so passing over,' Eleven
persons entered their dissent to this vote, but do not state whether

1712,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 191
it was against the privUege, or its limitation. Men frequently
want to pass on to their lots for other purposes than to fetch wood ;
and in many places in the woods, if they had not cut down a
tree, it would have been utterly impossible ever to have gone
upon their lots at all with a carriage. If this vote were a law,
many proprietors on Nahant even now, could not go upon their
lands to plant or build. But the warrant for calling this meeting
is unrecorded. The Common Lands were laid out by the committee in
' Seven Divisions,' The First Division began on the west of
Saugus river, including what was called the six hundred acres,
which were then in Lynn, The Second Division ran across
the northern part of the town, and the Seventh Division was
Nahant, There is no record that the report of the committee was
accepted, though it probably was, as it was recorded, with all
the separate lots and owners' names. The woodlands and the
Nahants were laid out in Ranges, forty rods in width, and these
were divided into lots, containing from about one eighth of an acre
to eight acres. Many of these lots were afterward subdivided
among heirs, so that many lots on Nahant are now six hundred
and sixty feet long, and from two feet to eight feet wide. This
renders it impossible in many places to obtain a building lot,
without purchasing of many owners. Several lots are as narrow
as two feet and three inches, and for each of these a separate
deed must be ¦written. I have constructed a complete map of
Nahant on a very large scale, on which the lots are shown with
the names of the original proprietors and the present owners.
1712. That part of the town now called Lynnfield, was set
off as a parish, or district, on the seventeenth of November.
The inhabitants were to be freed from parish taxes, as soon as
a meeting-house should be buUt, and a minister settled. The
people of Lynnfield, m the town records, are called ' our neigh
bors, the farmers.'
This year, all the shells, which came upon the Nahant beaches,
were sold by the town, to Daniel Brown, and WiUiam Gray, for
thirty shillings. They were not to sell the shells for more than
eight shillings a load, containing forty-eight bushels, heaped
measure. The people were permitted to dig and gather the
clams as before, but they were required to open them on the
beach, and leave the shells. The house in which I was born,
was plastered with hme made from these sheUs.
1713. Mr. John Merriam was employed as schoolmaster.
The school was caUed a grammar school, because Latin was
taught in it The other studies were reading, writing, and

192 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1715.
ciphering, English grammar was not a common study, and no
book on that subject was introduced into general use, till about
seventy years after this time. No arithmetic was used by the
scholars, but the master wrote all the sums on the slate. No
spelling book was used. The reading books were the New
Testament, and the Psalms of David — the translation of which
is found in the Prayer Book of the church,
1715. The first meeting-house in the second parish, now
Lynnfield, was built. When the buUding of the first parish
meeting-house was in contemplation, the people of the northern
part of the town, being obliged to travel six or eight miles to
meeting, wished to have the house placed in a central situation,
and a committee ¦was appointed to ' chiise ' a place. They
selected a hill, now included in the bounds of Saugus, which
was thence called Harmony Hill. It was afterward determined
to place the house on the Common, and the people of Lynn
field continued to attend meeting there till this year.
1716. A gentleman whose name was Bishop, was school
master. Mr. Ebenezer Tarbox was chosen, by the town, as
Shepherd. Three porches were added to the first parish meet
ing-house ; and a curiously carved and paneUed oak pulpit,
imported from England, was set up.
1717. Two great storms, on the twentieth and twenty-
fourth of Febmary, covered the ground so deep ¦with snow, that
people for some days could not pass from one house to another.
Old Indians, of an hundred years, said that their fathers had
never told them of such a snow. It was from ten to twenty feet
deep, and generaUy covered the lower story of the houses. Cot
tages of one story were entirely buried, so that the people dug
paths from one house to another, under the snow. Soon after,
a shght rain feU, and the frost crusted the snow ; and then the
people went out of their chamber windows, and walked over it
Many of the farmers lost their sheep ; and most of the sheep and
swine which were saved, lived from one to two weeks without
food. One man had some hens buried near his bam, which
were dug out alive eleven days after. .During this snow, a great
number of deer came from the woods for food, and were fol
lowed by the wolves, which kiUed many of them. Others were
kiUed by the people with guns. Some of the deer fled to Na
hant, and being chased by the wolves, leaped into the sea, and
were drowned. Great damage was done to the orchards, by the
snow freezing to the branches, and spUtting the trees as it feU.
This snow formed a remarkable era in New England ; and old
people, in relating an event, would say that it happened so many

17 17.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 193
years before or after the great snow, Hon, John Winthrop says :
' We lost at the island and farms above 1100 sheep, beside some
horses and cattle interred in the snow ; and it was very strange,
that 28 days after the storm, the inhabitants of Fisher's Island,
in pulling out the ruins of 100 sheep, out of the snow bank in
the valley, where the snow had drifted over them sixteen feet,
found two of them alive in the drift, which had lain on them all
that time, and kept themselves alive by eating the wool off the
others.' The mail was nine days in reaching Portsmouth, and
eight in returning.
The town tax this year was £237. Mr. Shepard's salary was
eighty-seven pounds ; and the rest was for the school, and other
town debts.
It was in one of the great storms this year, that Samuel Bel
lamy's pirate ship, the Whidah, of 23 guns and 130 men, was
wrecked on Cape Cod, and more than one hundred dead bodies
were found on the shore. Six of the survivors were afterwards
executed at Boston.
This year Nahant was again without an inhabitant; James
Mills being dead, and his family removed. His house and land
became the property of Dr. John Henry Burchsted, who, on the
eighteenth of December, sold it to Samuel Breed. He built a
house where Whitney's Hotel now stands. He was very small
in stature, and was generally called ' Govemor Breed,' He was
bom November 11, 1692, married Dehverance Bassett, June 25,
1720, (the same who was mentioned as a chUd in 1692,) and
had five children ; Anna, Sarah, Huldah, Nehemiah, and Wil
liam. His house became the property of his son, Nehemiah,
and his grandson William, by whom it was rebuUt in 1819,
For twenty-four years this house was kept as a Hotel, by Jesse
Rice ; and was purchased, in 1841, by Albert Whitney,
Jabez Breed, brother of Samuel, soon after removed to Na
hant and built a house directly opposite, A few years after
ward, Richard Hood exchanged his house in Nahant street for
this. He married Theodate Collins, May 20, 1718, and had
eight children ; Theodate, Jedediah, Content. Rebecca, Hannah,
Patience, Abner and Abigail. His descendants still live at
Nahant on the estate of their ancestor.
The third house on Nahant was built by Jeremiah Gray, a
carpenter, and uncle of Lieutenant Govemor WUliam Gray,
This house, about the year 1770, was sold to Jonathan Johnson,
and is now occupied by his son Caleb Johnson,
These were the only three houses on Nahant until the year
1803. Their occupants were Quakers, and kept no taverns, but
accommodated a few boarders, in the summer, and occasionally
made a fish chowder, for parties who visited Nahant from Boston
and other places. 25

194 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1718.
1718. In the beginning of this year, Mr. Shepard was un-
weU ; and a gentieman, whose name was Townsend, was em
ployed to preach five sermons ; for which the town paid him
fifty shillings. The Selectmen, on the fifth of March, were
directed to employ a schoolmaster; and in their agreement
with him, ' to have relation to some help for Mr. Shepard in
preaching.' According to tradition — which may not very safely be relied
on in matters of importance, though it may assist in delineating
manners and customs, it was about this lime that potatoes were
first introduced into Lynn. Mr. John NewhaU received two or
three, which he planted ; and when he gathered the produce,
a few of them were roasted and eaten, merely from curiosity;
and the rest were put into the shell of a gourd, and hung up in
the cellar. The next year he planted them all, and had enough
to fill a two bushel basket He knew not what to do with so
many, and gave some of them to his neighbors. Soon after,
one of them said to him : ' Well, I have found that potatoes are
good for something, I had some of them boiled, and ate them
with fish, and they relished very well,' It was several years
after this, before potatoes came into general use, and then only
in small quantities, A farmer, who kept a very particular
account of every day's employment, first mentions ' patatas,' as
a common article, in 1733,
At this time, tea was little used, and teaketties were unknown.
The water was boiled in a skUlet ; and when the ladies went to
visiting parties, each one carried her teacup, saucer, and spoon.
The teacups were of the best china, and very small, containing
about as much as a common ¦wine glass. Coffee did not come
into use until many years after.
1719. The northern lights were first mentioned this year,
on the seventeenth of December. The people were much
alarmed at their appearance. The northern hemisphere seemed
to be on fire ; and it is said that the coruscations were distinctly
heard, like the rustiing of a silken banner.
1720. The Rev. Jeremiah Shepard was the fourth son of
the Rev. Thomas Shepard, minister of Cambridge ; who came
from Towcester, in England, in 1635. His mother, who was
his father's third wife, was Margaret BoradUe, He was bom at
Cambridge, August llth, 1648; and graduated at Harvard Col
lege in 1669, He was the first minister of Lynn, who was bom
and educated in America. His brother Thomas was minister of
Chariestown, and his brother Samuel minister of Rowley, In
1675, he preached as a candidate at Rowley, after the death of
his brother; and in 1678, at Ipswich. He came to Lvnn in

1720,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 195
1679, during the sickness of Mr, Whiting; and was ordained on
the sixth of October. 1680, He was admitted a freeman in the
same year. He resided, at first, in the street which has been
called by his name ; and afterward built a house, which was
burnt down, on the north side of the Common, a httie distance
eastward from Mr, George Brackett's, In 1689, he was chosen
representative to the general court; and this is perhaps the only
instance in the early history of New England, in which a min
ister of the gospel sustained that oflice. He died on the ' third '
of June, 1720, aged seventy -two ; having preached at Lynn forty
years. The life of IMr, Shepard was distinguished by his unvaried
piety. He was one of those plain and honest men, who adorn
their station by spotless purity of character ; and has left a name
to which no one can annex an anecdote of mirth, and which no
one attempts to suUy by a breath of evil. He was indefatiga
ble in his exertions for the spiritual welfare of his people ; but
his dark and melancholy views of human nature tended greatly
to contract the circle of his usefulness. It is the practice of
many who attempt to direct us in the way of truth, that, instead
of laying open to us the inexhaustible stores of happiness, which
the treasury of the Gospel affords — instead of drawing aside the
veil which conceals from man's darkened heart the inexpressible
joys of the angelic world, and inducing us to follow the path of
virtue, from pure affection to Him who first loved us — they
give unlimited scope to the wildest imaginations that ever trav
ersed the brain of a human being, and plunge into the unfathom
able abyss of superstition's darkness, to torture the minds of the
living by stirring up the torments of the dead, and driving us to
the service of God, by unmingled fear of his exterminating
wrath. It is not requisite for the prevalence of truth, that we
should be forever familiar with the shadows that encompass it.
The mind may dwell upon darkness until it has itself become
dark, and callous to improvement — or reckless and despairing
of good. That Mr. Shepard's views of human nature, and of the
dispensation of the Gospel, were of the darkest kind, is evident
from the sermons which he has left ; and these opinions unfor
tunately led him to regard the greater part of the christian world
as out of the way of salvation, and to look upon the crushed
remnant of the red men as littie better than the wild beasts of
the forest. In alluding to the mortahty, which prevailed among
.the Indians in 1733, he says that, ' The Lord swept away thou
sands of those salvage tawnies, those cursed devil worshippers,'
His writings exhibit occasional gleams of genius and beauty ;
but they are disfigured by frequent quotations from the dead
languages, and by expressions inconsistent with that nobleness
of sentiment, and purity of style, which should be sedulously

196 HISTORYOFLYNN

[1721.

cultivated by the young. It was the custom in his time, to
prolono^ the sermon at least one hour, and sometimes it was
extended to two ; and a sand glass was placed on the pulpit to
measure the time. In one of his sermons he aUudes to this
practice ' Thou art restiess tiU the tiresome glass be run out,
and the tedious sermon be ended,' He pubhshed the foUowmg
works :
1, 'A Sort of Believers Never Saved,' Boston, 1711, 12mo,
2. ' Early Preparations for EvU Days,' Boston, 1712, 24mo.
3, ' General Election Sermon.' Boston, 1715, 12mo.
The foUowing epitaph was transcribed from his grave stone
with much difficulty; having become nearly obhterated by the
dilapidations of more than one hundred years,
' Elijah's mantle drops, the prophet dies,
His earthly mansion quits, and mounts the skies.
*  _  So Shepard 's gone.
His precious dust, death's prey, indeed is here.
But 's nobler breath 'mong seraphs does appear ;
He joins the adoring crowds about the throne.
He 's conquered all, and now he wears the crown.
The name of Mr. Shepard's wife was Mary. She died March
28, 1710, aged 53 years. He had nine chUdren, 1. Hannah, born
1676, married John Downing of Boston, 1698. 2. Jeremiah, born
1677, died 1700. 3. Mehetabel, died 1688. 4. Nathaniel, bom
June 16, 1681, removed to Boston. 5. Margaret, died 1683.
6. Thomas, born August 1, 1687, died 1709. 7, Francis, died
1692, 8, John, married Alice Tucker, 1722, 9, Mehetabel
second, married Rev, James Allin of Brookline, 1717,
Rev,, Nathaniel Henchman, who had been invited, in Febru
ary, to settle as a colleague with Mr, Shepard, was ordained min
ister of the first parish in December. His salary was £115; and
he received £160, as a settlement Twenty persons, 'called
Quakers,' were exempted, some entirely and others in part, from
the payment of parish taxes.
Rev. Nathaniel Sparhawk was ordained minister of the second
parish, now Lynnfield, on the seventeenth of August, His sal
ary was seventy pounds,
Mr, John Lewis was master of the Grammar School, The
school was kept in four places ; on the Common, at Wood End,
in the west parish, and in the north parish,
1721. The general Court, of the preceding year, ordered
fifty thousand pounds to be emitted in bills of credit. Of this,
Lynn received £124, 4, as its proportion, which was loaned at
five per cent This money, which was afterward called Old
* This line is thus on the monument.

1721,] HISTORY or LYNN, 197
.Tenor, soon began to depreciate ; and in 1750, forty-five shU
lings were estimated at one dollar.
The small pox jirevailed in New England, In Boston more
than eight hundred persons died. If the small pox of 1633 was
a judgment upon the Indians, for their erroneous worship, was
not this equally a judgment upon the inhabitants of Boston?
Some men are very free in dealing out the judgments of God to
their enemies, while they contrive to escape from the conse
quence of their own reasoning. If a misfortune comes upon one
who differs from their opinions, it is the vengeance of heaven ;
but when the same misfortune becomes their own, it is only a
trial. One might suppose that the observation of Solomon, that
' all things happen alike to all men,' and that still more pertinent
remark of our Saviour, respecting the tower of Siloam, would
teach men understanding. (Luke 13: 4.) But though he spoke
so plainly, how many do not rightly understand the doctrine of
that inimitable Teacher.
The Honorable John Biinill died of the small pox, on the
tenth of December, aged 63 years. He was bom on the fif
teenth of October, 1658, and lived on the western side of WiUis's
hiU. He married Mary Stowers of Chelsea, on the twenty eighth
of July, 1680, and left no children. He was Town Clerk for
thirty years, and was twenty one times elected Representative.
He was Speaker of the House for several years, and at the time
of his death was a Counsellor. He gained a reputation which
few men who have since filled his stations, have surpassed.
The purity of his character, and the integrity of his life, secured
to him the warmest friendship of his acquaintance, and the un-
Umited confidence of his native town. He was affable in his
manners, and uniformly pmdent in his conduct. His disposition
was of the most charitable kind, and his spirit regulated by the
most guarded temperance. He willingly continued in the House
many years, when he might have been raised to a more elevat
ed office ; and his thorough acquaintance with the forms of leg
islation, the dignity of his deportment, and the order which he
maintained in debate, gave to him a respect and an influence,
which probably no other Speaker of the House ever obtained.
Governor Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, compares
him to the celebrated Wilham Pitt, speaker of the English
House of Commons. The following epitaph is on his grave
stone. 'Alas! our patron 's dead ! The country — court —
The church — in tears, all echo the report ;
Grieved that no piety, no mastering sense.
No counsel, gravity, no eloquence,
No generous temper, gravitating to
Those honors, which they did upon him throw.
Could stay his fate, or their dear Burrill save
From a contagious sickness, and the grave.

198 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1722,
The adjacent towns this loss reluctant bear,
But widowed Lynn sustains the greatest share ;
Yet joys in being guardian of his dust,
Until the Resurrection of the Just.'
1722. Between the years 1698 and 1722, there were kiUed
in Lynn woods, and on Nahant, four hundred and twenty eight
foxes ; for most of which the town paid two shillings each. In
1720, the town voted to pay no more for killing them, and the
number since this time is unrecorded. We have also no ac
count of the immense multitude which were killed during the
first seventy years of the town. If these animals were as plenty
in the neighborhood of Zorah, as they were at Lynn, Sampson
probably had little difficulty in obtaining his alleged number,
1724. The eastern Indians recommenced their hostilities
early in the spring. On the 17th of April they attacked a sloop
from Lynn, lying at the mouth of Kennebunk river, commanded
by Captain John Felt, of Lynn, who ¦went there for a load of
spars. He had engaged two young men, William Wormwood
and Ebenezer Lewis to assist him. While standing on the raft.
Captain Felt was shot dead. Lewis fled to the mill, when a
ball struck him on the head and killed him instantly. The ball
was afterward found to be flattened. Wormwood ran ashore,
closely pursued by several Indians, and with his back to a
stump defended himself with the butt of his musket, untU he
was killed by several balls. They were all buried in the field
near Butter's rocks, and Captain Felt's grave stones were stand
ing but a few years since.
1726. A ship yard was open at Lynn, where the wharves
have since been built, near Liberty Square. Between this year
and 1741, two brigs and sixteen schooners were built CoUins's
Journal, It is said, that before the first schooner was launched,
a great number of men and boys were employed, with pails, in
filhng her with water, to ascertain if she was tight,
1727. An earthquake happened on the twenty ninth of
October, about twenty minutes before eleven, in the evening.
The noise was like the roaring of a chimney on fhe, the sea
was violently agitated, and the stone waUs and chimneys were
thrown down. Shocks of earthquakes were continued for many
weeks; and between this time and 1744, the Rev, Mathias
Plant, of Newbury, has recorded nearly two hundred shocks,
some of which were loud and violent.
The town, on the twenty second of November, fixed the pri
ces of grain; wheat at 6s„ barley and rye at 6s,, Indian corn at
3s., and oats at Is. 6d. a bushel.

1728.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 199

1728. The general court having, the preceding year, issued
sixty thousand pounds more, in biUs of credit, the town received
£130, 4, as its proportion, which was loaned at four per cent
A school house was built in Laighton's lane, now Franklin
street 1729. A great snow storm happened on the fifteenth of
February, during which there was much thunder and lightning.
The general court was held in Salem, on the twenty eighth
of May, in consequence of the measles at Boston.
At the request of the first parish, Mr. Henchman'relinquished
his salary of £115, trusting entirely to the generosity of the
people for his support ; in his own words, ' depending on what
encouragement hath been given me, of the parish doing what
may be handsome for the future,' At the end of the year, the
contiibution amounted to £143, 1, 4,
1730. On Sunday evening, April twelfth, there was an
earthquake. On Monday, August 24th, ' Governor Jonathan Belcher went
through Lynn, and the people paid their respects to him in an
extiaordinary manner,' Collins,
On the thirty first, Mr, Andrew Mansfield was killed in a
well, at Lynnfield, by a stone falling on his head.
On the twenty second of October, the northern lights appeared
very brilUant and awful, flashing up in red streams,
1731. The Rev, Nathaniel Sparhawk was dismissed from
the pastoral charge of the north parish, now Lynnfleld, on the
first of July, having preached eleven years. He was a son of
Mr. Nathaniel Sparhawk of Cambridge. He was born in 1694,
and graduated at Harvard College in 1715. He was ordained
August 17, 1720 ; and died May 7, 1732 ; about one year after his
separation from that church. A part of his people had become
dissatisfied with him, and some, whom he considered as his
friends, advised him to ask a dismission, in order to produce
tranquillity. He asked a dismission, and it was unexpectedly
granted. A committee was then chosen to wait on him, and
receive the church records ; but he refused to deliver them.
Soon after, he took to his bed, and is supposed to have died in
consequence of his disappointment. I have sixteen papers of
his hand writing, being the confessions of faith of his wife and
other members of his church. He married Elizabeth Perkins,
who died May 12, 1768, aged 68 years, He had four chUdren,
1, Elizabeth, 2, Nathaniel, 3. Edward Perkins Sparhawk, born
July 10, 1728, and graduated at Harvard CoUege in 1753, He

200 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1/32,
married Mehetabel Putnam, 1759, He was never ordained
thouo^h he preached many times in the parishes of Essex, I
have^twenty .six of his manuscript sermons, and seventeen inter
leaved almanacs. He appears not to have approved the settie-
nient of Mr. Adams as minister of the parish for which he was
a candidate, and calls him ' old Adams, the reputed teacher of
Lynnfield.' He is the first person whom I found in our records,
having three names. The custom of giving an intermediate
name seems not to have been common, tiU more than one hun
dred years after the settlement of New England. 4. John, born
October 24, 1730, was apprenticed as a shoemaker, and after
ward became a physician in Philadelphia.
Rev. Stephen Chase, of Newbury, was ordained minister of
the second parish on the twenty fourth of November. His
salary was one hundred pounds.
On the third of August, the school house was removed from
Franklin street to Water Hill,
1732. On the fifth of September, there was an earthquake
without noise. In October an epidemic cold affected most of
the people in Lynn. It ranged through America, and passed to
Europe. Collins.
1733. A settlement was begun at Amherst, in New Hamp
shire, by people from Lynn.
A memorandum respecting the town meeting, on the fifth of
March, says : ' At this meeting we had a great debate and strife,
so that the town was much in a hubbub.' Collins.
1736. The first meeting house in the third parish, now
Saugus, was built this year. On the fourth of September,
Thomas Hawkes was drowned.
1737. On Sunday, February 6th, there was an earthquake.
Collins. At this time, there were fourteen chaises, nine vehicles called
chairs, and one calash, owned in Lynn.
Square toed shoes went out of fashion this year, and buckles
began to be used.
1738. On the thirty first of March, two houses were burnt;
one of which belonged to Mr. Edmund Lewis, and the other to
Mr, John Hawkes, Mr, Richard Mower was schoolmaster. The
town tax was £119 16s, lOd,
1739. On the third of March, Mr. TheophUus BurriU's barn
was burnt.

1740,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 201
Rev, Edward Cheever was ordained minister of the third
parish, now Saugus, on Wednesday, the fifth of December,
Mr. Edmund Lewis and Mr. Ralph Lindsey, were chosen by
the town, to enforce an act of the general court, to prevent the
destruction of deer.
1740. A fatal disease, called the throat distemper, prevailed,
in Lynn, and many fell ¦victims to it. In October, six children
died in one week. CoUins,
In a great snow storm, on the seventeenth of December, a
schooner was ¦wrecked on Nahant rocks.
The winter was exceedingly cold, with many storms. The
rivers were frozen in October. Snow began to fall on Thanks
giving day, November thirteenth, and on the fourth of April fol
lowing, it covered the fences. Collins.
1741. The winter of 1741, was perhaps the coldest ever
known in New England, since its settlement. Francis Lewis,
signer of the Declaration of Independence, drove his horse from
New York to Barnstable, the whole length of Long Island
Sound, on the ice I
' For these 3 weeks we have had a continued series of ex
treme cold weather, so that our harbors and rivers are entirely
frozen up. On Charles river a tent is erected for the entertain
ment of travellers. From Point Alderton along the south shore,
the ice is continued for the space of above 20 miles,' Boston
Post Boy, Jan 12.
' People ride eveiy day from Stratford, Con. to Long Island,
which is three leagues across, which was never known before.'
Boston News Letter, March 5,
' We hear that great numbers of horses, cattle and sheep are
famishing for want of food. Three hundred sheep have died on
Slocum's Island, and 3000 on Nantucket, Neat cattle die in
•great numbers.' Some farmers offered half their cattle for the
support of the rest tUl May, ' but in vain.' Same, March 26.
' Dorchester, March 28. People from Thompson's Island,
Squantum, and the adjacent neighborhood, have come fifteen
Sabbaths successively upon the ice to our meeting,' Same,
April 2,
A letter dated at New London ; on the ninth of July, five days
later than our day of Independence, says r— ' There is now at
Lyme, on the east side of Connecticut river, at a saw mill, a
.body of ice, as large as two carts can draw, clear and sohd, and
I believe might lay there a month longer, were it not that so
many resort, out of curiosity, to drink punch made of it,' Same,
July 27, 26

202 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1742.
On the seventeenth of July, a mass of ' snow congealed into
ice,' lay at Ipswich, ' nearly four foot thick.' Same, July 22.
A difference had existed for several years, between Mr.
Henchman and his parish, in consequence of their refusal to
make so large an addition as he desired to his salary, on which
he dechned to accept it This year he offered to preach lectures
to them gratuitously, for which he received their thanks, and an
increase of his salary.
Great commotions were excited in the neighboring towns, by
Mr, Whitefield's preaching. In some places, meetings were
held almost every evening ; and exhortations and prayers were
offered by women and children, which had never before been
done in New England,
On the eighteenth of February, the Winnesimet ferry boat
was overset, and a Frenchman drowned,
1742. The Rev, George Whitefield preached in Lynn. An
evening meeting on the eleventh of March, is thus noticed.
' This evening sundry young persons were struck, as they call it,
in the religious manner. This is the first of so in our town.'
CoUins's Journal.
On the eighteenth of June, Mr, Nathaniel CoUins's house was
struck by lightning.
On the twelfth of October, Mr, Jonathan Norwood feU from a
fishing boat, near Nahant, and was taken up dead. On the thir
teenth of July, 1643, Mr, Moses Norwood, of Lynn, was drowned
at Boston,
1744. On Sunday morning, June third, there was an earth
quake, sufficiently violent to throw down stone wall. It was
repeated on the twentieth, CoUins.
On the fourteenth, a small company of men were impressed,
to be sent, with other troops from Massachusetts, against the
French and Indians, who were making depredations on the
northern frontier. The town was furnished with a stock of
powder, which was stored in a closet, beneath the pulpit of the
first parish meeting house.
On the thirty -first of December, Mr. TheophUus Merriam was
found dead on the ice, on Saugus river,
1745. On the evening of March ninth, there was a night
arch. Rev, George Whitefield came to Lynn, on the third of July,
and requested Mr. Henchman's permission to preach in his
meetmg-house, which was refused. Some of the people re
solved that he should have liberty to preach; and takino- the
great doors from Mr. Theophilus Hallowell's barn, and placing
them upon some barirels, they made a stage, on the eastern part

1746.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 203
of the Common, from which he delivered his address. He also
delivered a discourse, standing on the platform of the whipping
post, near the First Parish meeting-house. After the first ap
plication and refusal, Mr, Henchman addressed a letter, in a
printed pamphlet, to the Rev, Stephen Chase of Lynnfield,
containing reasons for declining to admit Mr, Whitefield into his
pulpit. Some of these reasons were, that Mr, Whitefield had
disregarded and violated the most solemn vow, which he took
¦when he received orders in the Church of England, and pledged
himself to advocate and maintain her discipline and doctrine —
that he had intruded into places where regular churches where
established — that he used vain boasting, and theatrical gestures,
to gain applause — that he countenanced screaming, trances,
and epUeptic falhngs — that he had defamed the character of
Bishop TiUotson, and slandered the coUeges of New England.
To this letter, Mr. WUliam Hobby, minister of Reading, made a
reply; and Mr. Henchman rejoined in a second letter. The
controversy extended throughout New England, and many
pamphlets were written, both for and against Mr. Whitefield,
Some good seems to have been done by him, in awakening the
people to a higher sense of the importance of piety ; but seeking
only to awaken them, and not to direct them to the Church, of
which he was a minister, they were left to form new separations,
and to buUd up other faiths,
1746. On the eighteenth of August, the corn was hurt by
a frost, A packet schooner, commanded by Captain Hugh Alley,
passed from Lynn to Boston. It continued to sail for many
years, 1747. The Rev, Edward Cheever relinquished his connex
ion ¦with the second parish, of which he had been minister for
eight years. He was a son of Mr, Thomas Cheever, of Lynn,
and was bom May 2, 1717, He graduated at Harvard College
in 1737, and was ordained in 1739, He removed to Eastham,
where he died, August 24, 1794, aged 77 years,
1749. The drought of this summer was probably never
exceeded in New England, The preceding year had been
unusually dry, but this was excessively so. There was but little
rain from the sixth of May to the sixth of July, A memorandum
in the eighteenth of July, by Collins, says : ' Extreme hot dry
weather, such as has not been known in the memory of man —
so scorched that the creatures can but just live for the want of
grass.' The effects of the drought were so great, that hay was
imported from England. Immense multitudes of grasshoppers

201 HISTORY or LYNN. [1750.
appeared. They were so plenty on Nahant, that the inhabitants
walked together, with bushes in their hands, and drove them by
thousands into the sea,
1750. .lohn Adam Dagyr,* a shoemaker, from Wales, came
to Lynn. He was one of the best workmen for ladies' shoes,
who had ever appeared in the town. At the time of his arrival,
the business of shoemaking at Lynn was very hmited, and the
workmen unskilful. There were but three men who conducted
the business so extensively as to employ journeymen. These
were John Mansfield, Benjamin Newhall, and William Gray,
grandfather of WiUiam Gray, Lieut, Gov, of Massachusetts.
The workmen had frequently obtained good shoes from Eng
land, and taken them to pieces, to discover how they were made.
By the instruction of Mr, Dagyr, they were soon enabled to pro
duce shoes nearly equal to the best imported from England,
Shoemakers, from all parts of the to^wn, went to him for infor
mation ; and he is called, in the Boston Gazette of 1764, ' the
celebrated shoemaker of Essex,' He resided in that part of the
town caUed Mansfield's End. He married Susannah NewhaU,
in 1761 ; and had three children, Caroline, Sarah, and Joseph,
Like many who have consulted the public interest more than
their own, he was poor, and died in the Lynn Alms House, in
1808, On the night of July 2, Mr, Robert Mansfield's house, near the
Flax pond, was struck by hghtning,
1751. On the eighth of February, Captain Benjamin Blaney,
of Swampscot, fell from his horse at Maiden, and was taken up
dead, 1752. Rev. Joseph Roby was ordained minister of the third
parish, now Saugus, in August,
The school house was removed from Water Hill, to its for
mer place in Franklin street, on the twenty-ninth of September ;
and on the twenty-seventh of November, it was again removed
to the eastern part of the common.
The Selectmen were allowed two shUUngs a day for their
services, Dr, Nathaniel Henchman was schoolmaster,
1753. Many sheep having been killed by wUd animals, the
people assembled on the sixth of August, and ranged through the
woods, to lull the wolves and foxes. On the twenty seventh, a
great number of the inhabitants of Lynn, Salem, and Reading,
met, and spent the day, in endeavoring to clear the forest of them,
* A Welsh word, signifying a tear.

1755.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 205

1755. A shop on the Common, belonging to Mr, Benjamin
James, was burnt, on the fourth of February. On the twenty-
fourth, a schooner, from Salem, was cast away on Short Beach,
at Nahant, Collins,
On Sunday, April twenty-seventh, the Society of Friends, for
the first time, had two meetings in one day, Collins.
Rev. Stephen Chase resigned the care of the second parish,
now Lynnfield. He graduated at Harvard University, in 1728 \.
and was ordained November 24, 1731, He married Jane Win-
get of Hampton, in 1732 ; and his chUdren, bom at Lynn, were,
Abraham, Stephen, Jane, Stephen second, and Mary, He
removed to Newcastle, in New Hampshire, where he settled
and died,
Mr. Benjamin Adams was ordained minister of the second
parish, on the fifth of November.
The greatest earthquake ever known in New England, hap
pened on Tuesday, the eighteenth of November, at fifteen
minutes after four, in the moming. It continued about four
minutes. Walls and chimnies were thrown down, and clocks
stopped. On the foUo^wing Saturday there was another earth
quake. CoUins. Onthefirstof this month Lisbon was destroyed,
A whale, seventy-five feet in length, was landed on King's
Beach, on the ninth of December, Dr, Henry Burchsted rode
into his mouth, in a chair drawn by a horse ; and. afterward had
two of his bones set up for gate posts, at his house in Essex
street, where they stood for more than fifty years.
In the eastern French and Indian war. Governor Lawrence
of Nova Scotia sent to Massachusetts, in the course of two years,
about 2000 French Catholic Neutrals, who were quartered in
different places, Lynn had fourteen, Thomas Lewis supplied
them ¦with provisions ; and among the items of his bill are 432
quarts of mUk, at six pence a gallon. The ¦war continued until
1763. 1756. The manuscript of Dr. John Perkins gives a long
and particular relation of a singular encounter of wit, had be
tween Jonathan Gowen of Lynn, and Joseph Emerson of Read
ing. They met, by appointment, at the tavern in Saugus, and
so great was the number of people, that they removed to an
adjacent field. The Reading champion was foiled, and went
home in great chagrin. Dr, Perkins says that the exercise of
Gowen's wit 'was beyond all human imagination,' But he
afterward fell into such stupidity, that the expression became
proverbial — ' you are as dull as Jonathan Gowen,'
1757. There was an earthquake on the eighth of July, at
fifteen minutes after two of the clock. CoUins,

206 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1758.
On the sixth of February, two merchant vessels, from Lon
don, valued at one hundred thousand pounds, were wrecked on
Lynn Beach,
On the afternoon of Sunday, August fourteenth, the people
were alarmed, during meeting time, by the beating of drums ;
and on the next day, twenty men were impressed, and marched
to Springfield. Pratt.
On the sixth of December, Lord Loudon's regiment, in march
ing through Woodend, took a boy nam^d Nathaniel Low, living
with Mr. Zaccheus Collins. His master followed the regiment
into Marblehead, and on his solicitation, being a Quaker, the
boy was released. This regiment had for some time been
quartered in Boston, where Lord Loudon sported his coach and
six horses. Collins.
1758. Thomas Mansfield, Esq. was thro^wn from his horse
on Friday, January 6, and died the next Sunday.
A company of soldiers, from Lynn, marched for Canada, on
the twenty-third of May. Edmund Ingalls and Samuel Mudge
were killed.
In a thunder shower, on the fourth of August, an ox, belong
ing to Mr. Henry Silsbe, was killed by the lightning,
A sloop from Lynn, commanded by Captain Ralph Lindsey,
was cast away, on the fifteenth of August, near Portsmouth,
1761. The Honorable Ebenezer Burrell was born on the
thirteenth of July, 1679, He was representative from Lynn six
years; and in 1731, and 1746, was chosen councillor. He was
sent a commissioner to Casco Bay, to treat with the Indians, on
the seventeenth of July, 1732; and retumed on the fifth of
August, He lived at Swampscot, at the place where Mr. Hum
frey formerly resided ; and died on the sixth of September, 1761,
aged 82 years. He married Martha Farrington, by whom he
had ten children.
The Rev, Nathaniel Henchman was a son of Mr, Nathaniel
Henchman, a book-binder, and deacon of a church in Boston,
He was born* on the twenty-second of November, 1700; and
graduated at Harvard University in 1717. He was ordained
minister of the first parish in Lynn, in December, 1720, His
residence was on the north side of the Common, where he buUt
the house now owned by Mr, George Bracket, He died t on
the twenty-third of December, 1761, aged 61 ; ha-ving preached
forty-one years. In the early part of his ministry, Mr. Hencli-

* Lynn Record, in the hand writing of Dr Nathaniel Henchman, his son, Town
Clerk. Some other records have a different date. t ' About one or two o'clock
ii the morning.' Collins, '

1761,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 207
man enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his people. His
learning was extensive, and his integrity and virtue entitled him
to high respect. He was strongly attached to regularity and
order, and disinclined to every species of enthusiasm. He
thought the services of the Sabbath, in general, were sufiicient,
and was decidedly opposed to evening meetings. By his omit
ting to deliver lectures, and refusing to admit itinerant preachers
into his pulpit, disaffections were created, which deprived him of
the regard of many of his people. The occasion of these diffi
culties IS to be imputed to the opinions of the time, rather than
to any want of urbanity on the part of Mr, Henchman, who was
very aflable m his manners, and tieated Mr, Whitefield with
great civihty and respect in his own house, and invited him to
remain longer,* He pubhshed the following pamphlets:
1, Reasons for Declining to Admit Blr, Whitefield into his
Pulpit; addressed to the Rev, Stephen Chase of Lynnfield
Boston, 1744, 8vo,
2, A Letter to Rev, WUliam Hobby of Reading, in Reply to
his Vmdication of Mr, Whitefield, Boston, 1745, 4to.
The foUo-wing epitaph was written for Mr, Henchman,
Three times aloud the summons hath been blown.
To call Lynn's watchmen to the highest throne.
First Whiting left the church her loss to weep ;
Then Shepard next resigned his peaceful sheep ;
Our other shepherd now gives up his trust.
And leaves his charge to slumber in the dust,
A few fleet years, and the last trump will sound.
To call our Henchman from ihe silent ground.t
Then we who wake, and they who sleep must come.
To hear the Judge pronounce the righteous doom.
Mr. Henchman had two wives ; 1. Deborah Waker, in 1727,
and, 2. Lydia Lewis, in 1734, He had five children, 1, Dr,
Nathaniel, bom April 1, 1728, graduated at Harvard University
in 1747, was town clerk of Lynn for two years, and died May
30, 1767, aged 39. 2. Daniel. 3. Anna, 4, Lydia, 5, Anna,
On the twelfth of March, at twenty minutes after two, in the
morning, there was an earthquake ; and on the first of Novem
ber, between eight and nine in the evening, another, CoUins.
On the twentieth of April, John Stavers commenced running
a stage from Portsmouth to Boston, It was a curricle, drawn
by two horses, and had seats for three persons. It left Ports
mouth on Monday morning, stopped the first night at Ipswich,
and reached the ferry the next afternoon. It returned on Thurs
day morning, and reached Portsmouth on Friday, The fare was
* 'Whitefield's Journal — Dr. Wigglesworth's Letter. f The word ' henchman '
signifies a warder or watchman.

208

HISTORY OF LYNN.

[1762.

thirteen sihillings and six pence. This was the first stage in
New England,
1762. The summer of this year was remarkably dry. On
Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of July, a day of fasting and
prayer was observed, in consequence of the drought ; and on
the Sunday following, there was a 'fine shower of rain.'
1763. Mr, John Treadwell was ordained minister of the
first parish, on the second of March.
There was at this time in the town a man named Robert
iBates, who had such a facility for rhyming that he iisuaily made
his answers in that manner. Many of these have been related,
but I only notice one. The tax gatherer called on him one day,
•and addressed him thus : ' Mr. Bates, can you pay your rates ? '
to which he replied : ' My dear honey, I have no money ; I
can 't pay you now, unless I sell my cow ; I will pay you half,
when ITiUl my calf; but if you 'U wait till faH, I'll pay you aU.
1764. August 27, Mr, John Tarbox was drowned from a
gondola, at the salt marsh.
December 28. Mr. Robert Wait was found dead on the
marsh, near Saugus river.
The Boston Gazette, of October 21, says: 'It is certain that
women's shoes, made at Lynn, do now exceed those usually
imported, in strength and beauty, but not in price. Surely
then it is expected, the pubhc spirited ladies of the town and
province wiU tum their immediate attention to this branch of
manufacture.'

CHAPTER X.
Stamp Act --Duty on Tea— Resolutions of the Town — Public Spirit of the
Women — Battle of Lexington — Lynn Men Killed — Battle of Bunker Hill —
Paper Money— Peace Proclaimed— Manners and Customs before the Revolu
tion, 1765 to 17&3, When Freedom, f].om her mountain height.
Unfurled her standani to the air,
She tore the azure robe of nielit, '
And set the stars of gloiy there. DRA£B.
MONG the encroachments of the arbitrary power
of the Mother Country, was the attempt to im
pose taxes upon the -Colonies without their con
sent. Those taxes were at first levied in the
form of duties; but the people objected to this
incipient plan of raising a revenue for the sup
port of a government in which they had no action, and their
opposition eventuated in the establishment of their independ
ence. 1765. This year an act was passed, by the -Pa.rliament of
England, called the Stamp Act ; requiring the people of the
American Colonies to employ papers stamped with the royal
seal, in all mercantUe and legal transactions. This act called
forth a general spirit of opposition, particularly in Boston;
where, on the night of the twenty-sixth of August, a party of
the people collected, and nearly demolished the house of Lieu
tenant Gfovernor Hutchinson, and several others. In many other
i. places the people manifested their displeasure, by toUing beUs,
and burning the effigies of the stamp officers,
1766. This year the stamp act was repealed. The people
of Lynn manifested their joy by ringing the belj. and making
bonfires. On the first of Decembei:, they directed their repre
sentative, Ebenezer BurrUl, Esquire, to use his endeavors to
procure an act to compensate Mr, Hutchinson, and others, for
their losses in the riot of the preceding year.
On Saturday, the eighth of Febraary, an Enghsh brig, from
Hull, was cast away on Pond Beach, on the south side of
Nahant, 27

210 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1768.
1768. On the seventh of November, John WeUman and
Young Flint, were drowned in the Pines' river, and their bodies
taken up the next day,
A Catamount was kUled by Joseph Williams, in Lynn woods,
1769. A snow storm, oil the eleventh of May, coiitinued
twelve hours, ' t t ¦ r.
On Wednesday evening, July nineteenth, a beautiful night
arch appeared. It was widest in the zenith, and terminated
in a point, at each horizon. The color was a briUiant white, and
it continued most of the evening.
On the eighth of August, as a party were going on board a
schooner in the harbor, for a sail of pleasure, the canoe, in which
were sis women and two men, was overset, and two of the
party drowned. These were Anna Hood, aged 23, daughter of
Benjamin Hood; and Alice Bassett, aged 17 years, daughter of
Daniel Bassett,
In a great snow storm on the eighth of September, several
buildings were blown down, and a sloop driven ashore at
Nahant. 1770. After the repeal of the stamp act, the English Par
liament, in 1767, passed an act imposing duties on imported
paper, glass, paints, and tea. This again awakened the opposi
tion of the colonies. The General Court of Massachusetts, in
1768, published a letter, expressing their fii-m loyalty to the king,
yet their unwillingness to submit to any acts of legislative
oppression. This letter displeased the English government, the
General Court was dissolved, and seven armed vessels, with
soldiers, were sent from Halifax to Boston, to ensure tranquillity.
On the fifth of March, 1770, a part of these troops, being
assaulted by some of the people of Boston, fired upon them,
and killed four men. The soldiers were imprisoned, tried, and
acquitted. On the twelfth of April, the duties on paper, glass, and paints,
were repealed ; but the duty on tea, which was three pence on
a pound, remained. On the twenty-fourth of May, the inhabi
tants of Lynn held a meeting, in which they passed the follow
ing resolutions.
' 1. Voted, we will do our endeavor to discountenance the use
of foreign tea.
' 2. Voted, no person to sustain any ofiice of profit, that wiU
not comply with the above vote.
' 3. Voted, no taverner or retailer shall be returned to sessions,
that will not assist in discountenancing the use of said tea ; and
the selectmen to give it as a reason tp the sessions.

1771.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 211
'4, Voted, unanimously,' that we will use oul: endeavors to
promote bur own manufactures amongst us,'
The disaffection against the English government, appears to
have been occasioned, not so much by the amount of the duty
on the tea, as by the right which it implied in that government,
to tax the people of America without their consent. The
colonies had always admitted their allegiance to the -English
crown ; but as they had no voice in parliament, it was ungen
erous, if not unjust, in that parliament, to impose any taxes
which were not necessary for their immediate benefit,
A great storm, on the nineteenth of October, raised the tide
higher than had been known for many years,
1771. On the ninth of January, Mrs, Rebecca Hadley, wife
of Mr, Thomas Hadley, of Lynnfield, left her house to visit an
acquaintance, and did not return. On the twenty-sixth she was
found, drowned in the stream above the mill-pond, into which
she probably fell, in attempting to cross it,
1772. Mr. Sparhawk, of Lynnfield, in his diary, thus
remarks : ' An amazing quantity of snow fell in the month of
March, such as I never knew in the time that I have lived,'
On the fifth of March, the amount of snow which fell, was 16
inches ; on the ninth, 9 inches ; on the eleventh, 8 inches ; on
the thirteenth, 7 inches; on the 16th, 4 inches; and on the
twentieth, 15 inches. 'Thus the whole amount of snow, in
sixteen days, was nearly five feet on a level.
A fishing schooner was wrecked on Long Beach, on the
twenty-first of March, and Jonathan Collins and WiUiam Boyn-
ton, the only two men on board, were drowned.
On the fifteenth of May, AbigaU Rhodes, a daughter of Mr,
Eleazer Rhodes, was lost. On the twenty-fourth, a great num
ber of people went in search of her, in vain. On the second of
June, another general search was made; and on the twenty-
first of July, her bones were found in a swamp near the Pirate's
Glen, There were strong suspicions of unfairness in regard to
her death. She left a house in Boston street, in the evening, to
return to a cottage in the forest, where she had been living, and
was seen no more alive. Several persons were apprehended
on suspicion, but as only circumstantial evidence was elicited,
they were discharged.
1773. The opposition to the duty on tea continued unre
mitted. The East India Company sent many cargoes to Amer
ica, offering to seU it at a reduced price; but the people resolved
that it should not be landed. Seventeen men, dressed like

212 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1774.
Indians, went on board the vessels in Boston harbor, broke open
342 chests of tea, and poured their contents into the water.
A town meeting was held at Lynn, on the sixteenth of De
cember, in which the foUowmg resolutions were passed :
' 1, That the people of the British American Colonies, by
their constitution of govemment, have a right to freedom, and
an exemption from every degree of oppression and slavery,
' 2, That it is an essential right of freemen to have the dispo
sal of their own property, and not to be taxed by any power
over which they have no control,
'3. That the pariiamentary duty laid upon tea landed in
America, is, in fact, a tax upon Americans, without their consent.
' 4, That the late act of parliament, allowing the East India
Company to send their tea to America on their own account,
was artftUly framed, for the purpose of enforcing and carrying
into effect the oppressive act of Parhament, imposing a duty
upon teas imported into America ; and is a fresh proof of the
settled and determined designs of the ministers to deprive us of
liberty, and rediice us to slavery,
¦ 5, That we highly disapprove of the landing and selling of
such teas in America, and will not suffer any teas, subjected fo
a parliamentary duty, to be landed or sold in this town ; and that
we stand ready to assist our brethren of Boston, or elsewhere,'
whenever our aid shall be required, in repelling all attempts to
land or sell any teas poisoned with a duty,'
The tea fever raged very high at this time, especially among
the ladies, A report having been put in circulation through the
town, that Mr, James Bowler, who had a bake-house and a
little shop, on Water Hill, had a quantity of tea in store, a
company of women went to his house, demanded the tea, and
destroyed it. This exploit was certainly as great a piece of
patriotism on their part, as that performed in Boston harbor the
same year, and deserves to be sung in strains of immortality.
Slander, however, who is always busy in detracting from real
merit, asserted that the women put on extra pockets on that
memorable night, which they fiUed with the fragrant leaf, for
their own private consumption,
A deer was this year started in the Maiden woods, and chased
by some hunters, through Chelsea, to the Lynn marsh. He
plunged into the Saugus river, and attempted to gain the oppo
site shore ; but some Lynn people, coming down the river in a
boat, approached ; and throwing a rope over his horns, brought
him ashore at High Point,
1774. The destruction of the tea at Boston gave great
offence to the English government, and an act was passed, by
which the harbor of Boston was closed against the entrance or

1775.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 213
departure of any vessels. The mhabitants of Lynn held sev
eral meetings, in which they expressed their disapprobation of
the shutting of the port of Boston, and their abhorrence of every
species of tyranny and oppression.
On the seventh of October, a congress of delegates from the
several towns of Massachusetts, assembled at Salem, to con
sider the state of public affairs. The delegates from Lynn were
Ebenezer BurriU, Esq., Eind Capt. John Mansfield. They made
addresses to Governor Gage, and to the clergy of the province,
chose a committee of safety, and recommended measures for
the regulation 'of public conduct.
The night of October 25th was one of surpassing splendor.
The northern lights cast a luminous night arch across the heav
ens, from the eastem to the western horizon.
1775. On the moming of Wednesday, the nineteenth of
April, the inhabitants of Lynn were awakened, by the informa
tion that a detachment of about eight hundred troops, had left
Boston, in the night, and were proceeding towards Concord. On
receiving the inteUigence that the troops had left Boston, many
of the inhabitants of Lynn immediately set out, without waiting
to be organized, and ¦with such weapons as they could most
readUy procure. One man, with whom I was acquainted, had no
other equipments than a long fowling-piece, without a bayonet, a
horn of powder, and a seal-skin pouch, fUled ¦with bullets and
buck shot. The Enghsh tioops arrived at Lexington, a little
before five in the morning, where they fired upon the inhabitants,
assembled in arms before the meeting-house, and killed eight
men. They then proceeded to Concord, where they destroyed
some mihtary stores; but being opposed by the mUitia, they
soon began to retreat. The people from Lynn met them at
Lexington, on their return ; and joined in firing at them from the
walls and fences. In one instance, says my informant, an
EngUsh soldier, coming out of a house, was met by the owner.
They levelled their pieces at each other, and firing at the same
instant, both feU dead. The English had sixty-five men kUled,
the Americans fifty. Among these wer^ four men from Lynn,
who fell in Lexington.
1. Mr. Abednego RamsdeU. He was a son of Noah Rams
deU, and was bom 11 September, 1750, He had two brothers,
older than himself, whose names were Shadrach and Meshech.
He married Hannah Woodbury, 11 March, 1774, and resided in
the eastem part of Essex street. He had gone out eariy on that
morning to the sea shore, with his gun, and had killed a couple
of black ducks, and was retuming with them, when he heard
the alarm. He immediately threw down the birds, and set off:
He was seen passing through the town, running in haste, with

U14 HISTORY OF LYNN. I^l/ytj
his stockings fallen over his shoes. He arrived at Lexington
about the middle of the day, and fell immediately,
2, Mr. William Flint, He married "Sarah Larrabee, 5 June,
1770. 3, Mr, Thomas Hadley, His wife, Rebecca, was dro^wned, as
mentioned in 1771.
4, Mr, Daniel Townsend, He was bom 26 December, 1738,
A stone has been erected to his memory, at Lynnfield, ¦with the
following inscription :
' Lie, valiant Townsend, in the peaceful shades; we trust.
Immortal honors mingle with thy dust.
¦What though thy body struggled in its gore?
So did thy Saviour's body long before ;
And as he raised his own, by power divine,
So the same power shall also quicken thine.
And in eternal glory mayst thou shine.'
Ll the number of the wounded was Timothy Munroe, of Lynn.
He was standing behind a house, with Daniel To^wnsend, firing
at the British troops, as they were coming do^wn the road, in
their retreat toward Boston, Townsend had just fired, and ex
claimed, ' There is another redcoat ' do^wn,' when Munroe, look
ing round, saw, to his astonishment, that they were completely
hemmed in by the flank guard of the British army, who were
coming down through the fields behind them. They immedi
ately ran into the house, and sought refuge in the cellar ; but no
cellar was there. They looked for a closet, but there was none.
All this time, which was indeed but a moment, the balls were
pouring through the back windows, making havoc of the
glass. Townsend leaped through the end window, carrying
the sash and aU before him, and instantiy fell dead, Munroe
followed, and ran for his life. He passed for a long distance be
tween both pai;ties, many of whom discharged their guns at him.
As he passed the last soldier, who stopped to fire, he heard the
red coat exclaim, 'Damn the Yankee! he is bullet proof — let
him go ! ' Mr. Munroe had one ball through his leg, and thirty-
two bullet holes through his clothes and hat. Even the metal
buttons of his waistcoat were shot off He kept his clothes
until he was tired of showing them, and died in 1808, aged 72
years, Mr, Joshua Felt was also wounded, and Josiah Breed
was taken prisoner, but afterward released.
The war was now begun in earnest. On the 23d of April,
the people of Lynn chose a committee of safety, to consult
measures of defence. This committee consisted of Rev, John
Treadwell, minister of the first parish. Rev, Joseph Roby, min
ister of the third parish, and Deacon Daniel Mansfield. A com
pany of alarm men was organized, under the command of Lieu
tenant Harris ChadweU, Three watches were stationed each

1776,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 215
night ; one at Sagamore HiU, one at the south end of Shepard
street, and one at Newhall's Landing, on Saugus river. No
person was allowed to go out of the town without permission ;
and the people carried their arms to the place of pubhc worship,
Mr, Treadwell, always foremost in patriotic proceedings, ap
peared, on the Sabbath, ¦with his cartridge box under one aritn,
and his sermon under the other, and went into the pulpit with
his musket loaded.
On the 17th of June, was fought the memorable battle Of Bun
ker Hill. The Lynn regiment was commanded by Colonel John
Mansfield, The English, in this battie, lost two hundred and
twenty-six men kUled, and the Americans one hundred and
thirty-nine, Mr. John Le^wis died this year, aged ninety-two. He lived
on the place of his ancestors, in Boston street, and was for many
years a deacon of the first parish. He owned the second tan
nery in Lynn, which was on the brook opposite his house. He
was a gentieman extensively beloved and respected. He mar
ried Mary Burrill in 1715, and had five children, 1, Lydia, who
married Rev, Nathaniel Henchman, in 1734, 2, Sarah, 3, Ma
ry, who married Rev, John Games, in 1747, 4, Lois, 5, John,
who was bom 7 November, 1724 ; graduated at Harvard Uni
versity in 1744 ; practised medicine ; and died 21 October, 1754,
For many years the tavern in Saugus was kept by Zaccheus
Norwood, and after his death, by his widow, who married Josiah
Martin, who then became landlord, as tavern keepers were then
called. In 1775, he enlisted in the war, and Mr, Jacob NewhaU
then took the tavern, which he kept through the Revolution, and
until the year 1807. He died in 1816. He was a man very
highly esteemed, and his house was considered the best, as it
had always been the most noted, in Essex county.
1776. In January, the English troops were quartered at Bos
ton, and the American, at Cambridge, separated by Charies river.
It was the intention of General Putnam to cross over to Boston,
as soon'as the river should become sufficiently frozen. Three
of his soldiers, one of whom was Mr. Henry HalloweU, of Lynn,
hearing of this design, set out to try the strength of the ice, by
throwing a large stone before them. A party of about fifty of
the English soldiers, on the opposite shore, commenced firing at
them ; which they only regarded by mocking with their voices
the noise of the bullets. They continued on the ice till the
English party retired; when, thinking that they had gone to
procure a cannon, they returned, aft^r picking up more than sev
enty baUs on the ice, which they presented to General Pntnam,
as trophies of their venturesome exploit. The soldiers from
Lynn were under the command of Capt. Ezra Newhall,

216 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1777.
On the 21st of May, the people of Lynn voted, that the min
isters should be invited to attend the annual town meetings, to
begin them with prayer, I was once at the meeting of a to^wn
in New Hampshire, in which this practice prevails, artd was
convinced of its propriety. There are occasions, on which
prayer is made, which are of less apparent importance than the
choice of men, to govern the town or commonwealth, and to
make laws on which the welfare and perhaps the hves of the
people may depend,
A company of soldiers was furnished for an expedition to
Canada, On the 2d of August, the town allowed them fifteen
pounds each, and voted that ten pounds should be given to any
person who would voluntarily enlist.
An alarm was made, at midnight, that some of the English
troops had landed on King's beach. In a short time the to^wn
was all in commotion. Many persons left their houses and fled
into the woods. Some families threw their plate into the weUs,
and several sick persons were removed. Some self possession,
however, was manifested. Mr. Frederick Breed, for his exer
tions in rallying the soldiers and marching them to Wood End,
where he found the alarm to be false, received a commission in
the army, and afterward rose to the rank of Colonel. '
1777. Rev. Benjamin Adams was born at Newbury, in the
year 1719, and graduated at Harvard University in 1738. He
was ordained minister of the second parish, now Lynnfield,
November 5, 1755; and died May 4, 1777, aged 58; having
preached 21 years. He married Rebecca Nichols, and had sev
en chUdren: Rebecca, Dr, Benjamin, Ehzabeth, Sarah, Ann,
Joseph and Nathan, (twins,)
In the ¦winter of this year, John Le^wis, aged 26, and Benja
min, aged 15, brothers, of Lynn, died on board the Jersey prison
ship, ih the harbor of New York, Their deaths were prmcipally
occasioned by severe treatment, and by unwholesome food
prepared in copper vessels,
1780, The town of Lynn granted as much money as would
purchase twenty-seven hundred silver doUars, to pay the sol
diers. Within two years, the town granted seventy thousand
pounds, old tenor, to defray their expenses. The principal mon
ey in circulation was the paper money issued by Congress, which
had greatiy depreciated, A soldier of the Revolution says, that,
m 1781, he sold seventeen hundred and eighty doUars of paper
money, for thirty dollars in silver.
The continental currency, as it was called, consisted of small
pieces of paper, about two inches square. The one dollar bills
had an altar, with the words, depressa resurgit, the oppressed

1780,] HISTORY OP LYNN, 217
rises. The two doUar bills bore a hand, making a circle with
compasses, with the motto, trihulatio dital, trouble enriches. The
device of the three dollar bUls was an eagle pouncing upon a
crane, who was biting the eagle's neck, with the motto, exitus in
duhio, the event is doubtful. On the five dollar bills was a hand
grasping a thombush with the inscription, smtine vel abstine,
hold fast or touch not. The six dollar bUls represented a beaver
feUing a tree, with the word perseverando, by perseverance we
prosper. Another emission bore an anchor, with the words. In te
Domine speramus. In thee, Lord, have I trusted. The eight
doUar bUls, displayed a harp, with the motto, majora minoribus
consonant, the great harmonize with the little. The thirty dollar
bUls exhibited a wreath on an altar, with the legend, si recte, fa
cies, if you do right, you will succeed. When I was a child, I
had thousands of dollars of this uncurrent money given me to
play with.
The 19th of May was remarkable throughout New England
for its uncommon darkness. It began about the hour of ten in
the morning. At eleven, the darkness was so great, that the
fowls retired to their roosts, and the cattle collected round the
bams, as at night. Before twelve, candles became requisite,
and many of the people of Lynn omitted their dinners, thinking
that the day of judgment had come. The darkness increased
through the evening, and continued till midnight. It was sup
posed, by some, to have been occasioned by a smoke, arising
from extensive fires in the westem woods, and combining with
a thick fog from the sea. The Rev. Mather Byles, of Boston,
of punning memory, made a happy remark on this occasion,
A lady sent her servant, in great alarm, to know if he could tell
the cause of this great darkness, ' Tell your mistress,' replied
he, ' that I am as much in the dark as she is I '
The winter of 1780 was the coldest since 1741,
At the commencement of the war, there were twenty-six
slaves in Lynn : all of whom were made free this year. In
1675, there was a slave in Lynn, named Domingo Wight, who
had a wife and two children. Another slave, in 1714, named Si
mon Africanus, had a wife and six children. Zaccheus Collins
had four slaves, whose names were Pharaoh, Essex, Prince, and
Cato. Prince was purchased at Boston, in 1746, for seventy-five
doUars. In 1757, he married Venus, a slave to Zaccheus Gould.
Joshua Cheever had a slave named Gift, whom he freed in
1756, at the solicitation of Hannah Perkins, who became his
wife in 1745, on condition that he should free his slave at the
age of twenty-five years, John Bassett had a slave, named
Sampson, whom he liberated in 1776, because ' aU nations were
made of one blood,' Thomas Cheever had two slaves, Reading
and Jane, who were married in 1760, Samuel Johnson had two
28

218 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1782.
slaves, Adam, who married Dinah in 1766. Thomas Mansfield
had two slaves, one of whom, named Pompey, had been a
prince in Africa ; and, after his liberation, lived in the forest on
the east of Saugus river. For many years, the slaves in all the
neighboring to^wns used to have a hohday allowed them once a
year, to visit King Pompey ; and doubtless this was to them a
day of real happiness. On the little glade by the river side, the
maidens gathered flowers to crown their old king, and the men
talked of the happy hours they had kno^wn on the banks of the
Gamba. Hannibal, a slave of John Lewis, was an example of
the good effects which education and good treatment may pro
duce in the colored people. He was brought from Africa when
a boy, and was treated rather as a servant than a slave. He
married Phebe, a slave of Ebenezer Hawkes. By the indulgence
of his master, and by working extra hours, he earned enough to
purchase the freedom of three children, at forty dollars each;
but Phebe being a faithful slave, her master would not part with
her short of forty pounds ; yet, with a motive of hope before
him, Hannibal was not to be discouraged, and in a few years
her purchase was accomplished, and his own freedom was given
to him. He married in 1762, and had three sons aijd six daugh
ters. I have seldom known a more worthy family, Ebenezer
Burrill had two slaves ; Jedediah Collins, two ; Joseph Gould,
two ; and James Philips, Samuel Burrill, Theophilus Burrill, Jo
seph Gaskins, Daniel Bassett, James Purinton, Ralph Lindsey,
and Dr, Henry Burchsted, one slave each ; being in all, with
their children, about forty slaves.
Rev. Joseph Mottey was ordained minister of the Lynnfield
parish on the 24th of September,
On the 29th of November there was an earthquake,
Dr, John Perkins, of Lynnfield, died this year, aged 85, His
wife Clarissa died in 1749, and he wrote a poem on her death.
He was a very eminent physician in his time, had studied two
years in London, and practised physic forty years in Boston.
In 1755, he published a tract on earthquakes ; and also an essay
on the small pox, in the London Magazine, He left a manu
script of 368 pages, containing an account of his life and experi
ence, which is preserved in the library of the American Antiqua
rian Society.
1782. Rev, John Treadwell rehnquished the care of the first
parish this year. He was born at Ipswich, September 20, 1758 ;
and was ordained at Lynn, March 2, 1763, where he preached
nineteen years. He returned to Ipswich, and, in 1787, removed
to Salem. He was representative of Ipswich and Salem, a
senator of Essex county, and judge of the court of common
pleas. In 1763, he married Mehitabel Dexter, a descendant of

1783.] HISTORY OP LYNN. 219
Thomas Dexter, who bought Nahant, He had a son, John Dex
ter Treadwell, born at Lynn, May 29, 1768, who became a highly
respected physician at Salem,
Mr, Treadwell was a great' patriot, a member of the commit
tee of safety, and foremost in all the proceedings of the town
during the Revolution. It is perhaps somewhat of an anomaly
in ethics, to find a minister of the gospel of peace bearing arms ;
but the British were obnoxious to dissenters, from an opinion
that they -wished to establish the church in America, There
has always been a prejudice in New England against the Epis
copal Church, but there is abundant evidence that a man may
be a good churchman, and yet a true patriot, Washington and
several other Presidents were members of the church, and some /
of our most distingiushed mihtary and naval heroes have been
churchmen. Mr, TreadweU was very fond of indulging in salhes of wit ;
and hke his namesake in Shakspeare, he was not only witty in
himself but the cause of -wit in other men. One Sunday, ob
serving that many of his audience had their heads in a reclining
posture, he paused in his sermon, and exclaimed, ' I should
guess that as many as two thirds of you are asleep ! ' Mr, Jo
siah Martin, raising his head, looked round and replied : ' If I
were to guess, I should guess there are not more than one half!'
The next day, Mr. Martin was brought up for disturbing divine
service ; but he contended ' it was not the time of divine ser
vice ; the minister had ceased to preach, and it was guessing
time.' He was accordingly discharged.
Dr. Jonathan Norwood was a son of Mr. Zaccheus Norwood,
bom September 19, 1751, and graduated at Harvard University,
1771. He hved on the north side of the common. His death
¦was occasioned by faUing from his horse, on the night of the 18th
of March.
1783. This year, the W^ar, which had spread its gloom
through the Colonies for seven years, was terminated by a treaty
of peace, signed on the third of September ; and the then Thir
teen United States took their rank as an independent nation.
The red cross banner of England was exchanged for a flag with
thirteen stripes and thirteen stars ; and Americans now regard
the people of England, like the rest of mankind, — in war, en
emies ; in peace, friends.
With a few remarks respecting men and manners before the
Revolution, we ¦wiU take our leave of the olden time,. Peo
ple were then generally a plain, plodding, go-a-foot, matter-of-
fact, sort of people. Rail-roads and steamboats had not even
been thought of; the stage-coach and the omnibus were un-

220 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1783,
known; and when something which was intended to answer
the purpose of a coach at last appeared, it was a lumbering ve
hicle, drawn by two horses, passing through the town twice a
week, in going to and returning from Boston, A few of the more
wealthy farmers kept a chaise, or a chair, which was only ' tackled'
on Sundays, or perhaps once a month for a journey to a neigh
boring town. People walked, without thinking it a trouble, from
three to six miles on Sunday to meeting ; the farmer rode on
horseback, taking his wife behind him ; and two or three spin
sters of the family, or perhaps a young wife, followed in chairs
placed in the horse-cart, — for a four-wheeled wagon ¦was un
known in the town for more than one hundred and forty years
after its settlement ; and when Mr, Benjamin Newhall, about
the year 1770, introduced the first ox wagon, it was humorously
said, that his hired man had to drive down to the common to
tum it. The physician made his visits on horseback, ¦with his
big saddle-bags on each side, stuffed with medicaments, — for
an apothecary's shop was as rare as an opera house. There
were no lectures, or lyceums, or libraries, or concerts in those
days ; there were few excitements, for people had not leisure to
promote them ; a reputation could not then be destroyed, as now,
in a day, for they lived too remote for common slander, — but
when the Spirit of invective and evil, which had been confined
for sixty years, did at length break forth, as in the time of witch
craft, it was as if a mountain lake should suddenly burst its cere
ments of porphyry, uprooting the finest trees, and bearing bould
ers of granite through the cultivated valleys.
Gentlemen, in those days, wore hats with broad brims, tumed
up into three corners, with loops at the sides ; long coats, with
large pocket folds and cuffs, and without coUars, The buttons
were commonly plated, but sometimes of silver, often as large
as half a doUar. Shirts had bosom and wrist ruffles ; and aU
wore gold or sUver shirt buttons at the wrist, united by a link.
The waistcoat was long, with large pockets ; and the neckcloth
or scarf, of fine white linen, or figured stuff", broidered, and the
ends hanging loosely on the breast. The breeches were usuaUy
close, with silver buckles at the knees. The legs were covered
with long gray stockings, which on holydays were exchanged for
black or white silk. Boots, with broad white tops ; or shoes, vidth
straps and large silver buckles ; completed the equipment.
Ladies wore caps, long stiff stays, and high-heeled shoes.
Their bonnets were of silk or satin, and usually black. Gowns
were extremely long-waisted, with tight sleeves. Another fash
ion was, very short sleeves, with an immense frill at the elbow,
leaving the rest of the arm naked, A large flexible hoop, three
or four feet in diameter, was for sometime quilted into the hem
of the gown, making an immense display of the lower person.

1783,]

HISTORY OF LYNN,

221

A long, round cushion, stuffed with cotton or hair, and covered
with black crape, was laid across the head, over which the hair
was combed back and fastened. It was almost the universal cus
tom, also, for women, to wear gold beads, — thirty -nine little hol
low globes about the size of a pea, strung on a thread, and tied
round the neck. Sometimes this string would prove false to its
trust, — at an assembly, perhaps, — and then, oh ! such a time to
gather them up, before they should be trampled on and ruined !
Working women wore petticoats and half gowns, drawn with a
cord round the waist, and neats' leather shoes ; though they gen
erally throughout the country had a pair of ' Lynn shoes ' for
Sunday, Women did not ' go a-shopping ' every day then ; there
were few shops to go to, and those contained only such articles
as ¦were indispensable, and in very limited variety.
Those times had their benefits, but we would not wish their
retum. Nature brings not back the mastodon ; why, then,
should we wish a recurrence of those gigantic days, which pro
duced great men in proportion to great evils. That the men were
more honest and generous, or the women more amiable and vir
tuous then, is not contended. The charm about them consists
chiefly in this, that they lived in the early period of our history, —
a period which will always be interesting — the records of which
will be read ¦with as much avidity a thousand years hence, as
they are to-day.
Lynn had 168 men in the Revolutionary War, of whom fifty-
two were lost, beside the four men killed at Lexington.

CHAPTER XI.
Politics and Religious Opinions— Methodists— Shipvirreck— 'Total Eclipse-
Academy— Embargo -^War- Moll Pitcher— Sea Serpent— Frosted Trees--
Antimasonry — Shower of Meteors — "Universalists — Episcopal Church- liast-
ern Rail-road — Woman— Great Storms — High Tides — Comet— Sagamore
Hall burnt, 1784 to 1844,
The good old times — all times when old are good —
Are gone.  Btbon,
HE whole political course of our country has
now been changed by one great event. We
¦are no longer the subjects of a foreign power,
A new era has dawned upon us. The days of
three-cornered hats and three-cornered swords
are gone. Our governors are no longer ap
pointed in England ; our civil policy is no
longer regulated by her laws. We stand
alone, a nation among nations. Our thousands
of little democracies, scattered throughout the
wide extent of our almost boundless country,
constitute one grand Republic, which is now trying, before the
world, the great problem, whether a free people can govern
themselves. For more than twenty years from the adoption of the State
constitution in 1780, the people of Lynn do not appear to have
been much agitated by any conflict of political opinions. The
insurrection in the central counties of Massachusetts, in 1786,
was the first event which disturbed the public peace ; and in the
following year, a company of twenty-three men from Lynn, went
voluntarily to suppress the rebellion. The administration of the
national government, from its commencement in 1789, seems to
have been generally approved, until the year 1794, when a treaty
of amity was concluded with England, by John Jay, Chief
Justice of the United States, with the sanction of President
Washington. This treaty served to evince the existence,
throughout the union, of two great parties, who were separated
by their different views of the nature and extent of republican
government. One of these parties, denominated Federalists,
contended that the President, with the consent of two thirds of

1784.] HISTORY op LYNN, 223
the Senate, had the constitutional right, in the most extended
sense, to make foreign alliances, on terms the most favorable to
the pubhc welfare. The other party, styled Democrats, consid
ered this power to be so restiicted, as not to infringe the partic
ular rights of any State. The principle of one party had for its
object, the greatest good of the greatest number — of the other,
the greatest good of each individual. Both these parties were
repubhcan in their views ; and were undoubtedly infiuenced by
a pure regard to the general good ; though they were reciprocally
regarded as being hostile to it.
In 1781, all the votes in the town, which were forty -four, were
given for John Hancock, the first governor under the new con
stitution. The smallest number was in 1784 ; when there were
only twenty-seven votes for govemor, and six for senators.
There were, indeed, many more voters in the town, but they
were so well satisfied with the wisdom of their rulers, that they
gave themselves no anxiety on the subject. But causes of
dissatisfaction gradually arose ; and the spirit of party began to
be more plainly manifested in 1800, when there were one hun
dred and thirteen votes for Caleb Strong, the Federal governor,
and sixty-eight for Elbridge Gerry, the Democratic candidate.
The pohtical excitement however appears to have been very
smaU, and conducted altogether without animosity. There was
but one hst of senators brought forward until 1801, and the Fed
eralists retained the ascendancy until 1804, After the death of
Washington, and the elevation of Mr, Jefferson to the Presiden
tial chair, the Democrats in this town began more ostensibly to
increase, and in 1804 manifested a decided superiority. At the
choice of governor, 145 votes were given for Caleb Strong, and
272 for James Sullivan; and this year, for the first time, a
democratic representative was chosen. The parties now began
to regard each other with manifestations of decided hostility,
and the political arena presented a field of civil warfare without
bloodshed. The most strenuous exertions were made by one
party to maintain the ascendancy, and by the other to regain it.
No man was permitted to remain neutral; and if any one, pre
suming on his independence, ventured to form an opinion of his
o^wn, and to regard both parties as passing the bounds of moder
ation, he was regarded as an enemy by both. This rage of
party continued several years, and was sometimes so violent, as
to be in danger of degenerating into animosity and personal
hatred. 1784. Rev. Obabiah Parsons was installed Pastor of the
First Parish, on the fourth of February. On the twenty-eighth
of October, General Lafayette passed through the town, on a
visit to the eastward.

224 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1786.
1786. In AprU, Benjamin IngaUs, in throwing an anchor
from a boat in the harbor, was drawn overboard and drowned.
The first rook was spht in Lynn this year, by John Gore,
Before this, the people had used rough rock for building.
On the ninth of December, there was a very great snow ;
nearly seven feet deep on a level, Sparhawk,
1789. General Washington passed through Lynn in Octo
ber. The inhabitants were greatly delighted to see him ; and
the old Boston road ¦was thronged with people, who came forth
to salute him as he proceeded to Salem,
1791. Until this year there were but two religious denomi
nations in town — the First Congregational church and the
Society of Friends. This year the First Methodist Society was
organized. The Rev. Jesse Lee, a preacher of that persuasion,
came to Lynn on the fourteenth of December previous, and was
so successful in preaching at private houses, that on the twen
tieth of February a society was formed ; and on the twenty-first
of June a house of worship was raised, which was dedicated on
the twenty-sixth of the same month. This was the first Metho
dist meeting-house in Massachusetts, Several members of the
First Congregational church united with this society; among
whom were the two deacons, who took with them the vessels of
the communion service. These vessels consist of four large
silver tankards, eleven silver cups, and one silver font for bap
tism ; presented to the church by John BurrUl, Theophilus Bur
rill, and John Breed. The removal of this plate occasioned a
difference between the societies, and the Congregational church
was compelled to borrow vessels, for the communion, from the
church at Saugus. The deacons afterward offered to return one
half; and in prospect of a prosecution, they relinquished the
whole. It is a fact worthy of notice, that the First Congrega
tional church, which had opposed and persecuted the Quakers
and the Baptists, was at one time so reduced, that only three
male members remained. In 1794, this church invited those of
its members who had seceded to the Methodist society to be
reunited ; and within a few years, one of the deacons and sev
eral of the other members returned. The first stationed minis
ter of the Methodists was Rev, Amos G, Thomson, The fre
quent changes of the ministers of this persuasion, render it
inconvenient to keep an account of them. They are regarded as
belonging to the Conference, or society at large ; and, like the
aposties, they ' have no certain dweUing place,' May their rest
be in heaven !
The eighteenth of December was the coldest day kno^wn for
many years. The thermometer was twenty degrees below zero.

1792,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 225
1792. Rev, Obadiah Parsons relinquished his connexion
with the First Parish on the sixteenth of July, He was born at
Gloucester, graduated at Cambridge m 1768, and was installed
at Lynn, Febraary 4, 1784, where he preached eight years. He
retumed to Gloucester, where he died in December, 1801, His
first wife was Elizabeth Wigglesworth ; his second, Sally Cof
fin, He had nine chUdren ; Ehzabeth W,, WiUiam, Sally C„
WiUiam, SaUy C, Obadiah, PoUy, Harriet, and Sally,
The ship Commerce of Boston was wrecked on the coast of
Arabia, on the tenth of July, One of the crew was James Lar
rabee of Lynn, who suffered almost incredible hardships, being
robbed by the Bedouins, and compelled to travel hundreds of
miles over the burning sands, where he saw his companions
daUy perishing by hunger, thirst, and heat. He finaUy arrived
at Muscat, where he was reheved and sent home by the English
Consul. Of tliirty-fom- men, only eight survived.
On the tenth of August, Joshua Howard, aged twenty-nine
years, went into the water, after laboring hard upon the salt
marsh, and was immediately chUled and drowned,
1793. This year a post office was established at Lynn, at
the corner of Boston and Hart streets. Col, James Robinson
Avas the first postmaster,
A boat containing five persons, was overset, near the mouth
of Saugus river, on the fourteenth of December, and three per
sons drowned. These were John BurrUl, aged 67, William
Whittemore, aged 27, and WUliam Crow, aged 15 years. They
had been on an excursion of pleasure to the Pines ; the after
noon was pleasant, and as they were returning, the boat was
struck by a squall, which frightened them, and caused them to
seek the shore, which they probably would have gained, had not
one of them jumped upon the side of the boat, which caused it
to be overset, "Two of them swam to the shore in safety. Mr,
BurrUl and the boy also gained the beach, but died in a few
minutes. Dr. John Flagg died on the twenty-seventh of May. He was
a son of Rev. Ebenezer Flagg, of Chester, N. H., bom in 1743,
and graduated at Cambridge in 1761. In 1769 he came to
Lynn, where his prudence and skUl soon secured him the con
fidence of the people. He wais chosen a member of the Com
mittee of Safety in 1775, and received a commission as Colonel.
His wife was Susannah Fowle, and he haid one daughter,
Susannah, who married Dr. James Gardner.
1794. On the seventeenth of May, there was a great frost.
Rev. Thomas Gushing Thacher was ordained minister of the
29

226 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1795,
First Parish, on the thirteenth of August. A new school-house
was this year biiUt by a few individuals, and purchased by the
town. $666 were granted for the support of schools.
In the prospect of a war with France, the government of the
United States required an army of eighty thousand men to be
in preparation. Seventy- five men were detached from Lynn.
The town gave each of them twenty-three shUlings, and voted
to increase their wages to ten dollars a month.
A child of Mr. Eli Newman, named David, aged three years,
was drowned, on the nineteenth of October.
1795. In a great storm, on the night of the ninth of December,
the Scottish Brig Peggy, Captain John Williamson, from Cape
Breton, was wrecked near the southern end of Lynn Beach,
She was laden with dried fish, consigned to Thomas Amory of
Boston. There were twelve men on board, only one of whom,
Hugh Cameron, of Greenock, in Scotland, escaped. He was
ordered into the long . boat, to make fast the tackle, when the
same wave separated it . from the vessel, and swept his unfor
tunate comrades from their last hold of life. The vessel was
completely wrecked, being dashed to pieces upon the hard sand,
and the fragments of the vessel, the cargo, and the crew, were
scattered in melancholy ruin along the beach. The bodies of
eight of the drowned men were recovered, and on the eleventh,
they were buried from the First Parish meeting-house ; where
an affecting sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Thacher, from
Job 1: 19, 'And I only am escaped alone!' During the dis
course, Hugh Cameron stood in the centre aisle.
. 1798. A chUd of Mr. Daniel R. Witt, named AbigaU, was
drowned on the 26th of July. As several persons were sailing
in a boat, in Saugus river, on the 25th of August, a gun was ac
cidentally discharged, and a son of Mr, John BaUard, named
Amos, eleven years of age, was instantly kUled,
1799. A barn, belonging to Mr, Micajah Newhall, on the
south side of the common, was struck by lightning, about noon,
on the second of August, and burnt, with a quantity of hay and
grain, and one of his oxen,
1800. The memory of Washington was honored by a pro
cession and eulogy, on the 13th of January. He died on the
14th of . December previous. The people assembled at the
school house ; the scholars walked first, with crape on their arms,
followed by a company of mihtia, with muffled drums, the mu
nicipal officers and citizens. The eulogy was pronounced by
Rev. Thomas C, Thacher, at the First Congregational Meeting

1801.] HISTORY or LYNN, 227
House, A funeral sermon, on the same occasion, was preached
by Rev, WiUiam Guirey, at the First Methodist Meeting House,
On the afternoon of Sunday, March 1st, there was an earth
quake. On the llth of June, Mr, Samuel Dyer, a gentleman from
Boston, was drowned in Humfrey's Pond, at Lynnfield.
On the 26th of July, Mr. Nathaniel Fuller, aged 38 years, was
drowned from a fishing boat, near Nahant.
The ship WiUiam Henry, of Salem, owned by Hon, William
Gray, was wrecked on an island of ice, on the 1st of May.
Three of the crew were John Newhall, James Parrott, and Bas
sett Breed, of Lynn. They launched the long boat ; and the
whole crew, consisting of fifteen persons, leaped into it. They
saved nothing but the compass, the captain's trunk, an axe, and
a fishing line. For six days they had no water but a small
quantity which had fallen from the clouds, and laid in the hol
low of an island of salt water ice. On the fourth day, they
caught a fish, which some of them devoured raw, but others
¦were too faint with their long fast to swallow any. When the
storm and fog cleared up, they went ashore at Newfoundland,
and the next moming found their boat stove and filled with
water. They subsisted three days on sea peas, thistles, and
cranberries. Several of the crew were unable to walk ; but
having repaired their boat, they put to sea, and were discovered
by a vessel containing four men, who at first would afford them
no relief but after much entreaty threw them a rope, and they
arrived at St. John's, where the American consul furnished them
with a passage home.
Previous to the year 1800, there were only three houses on
Nahant, owned by Breed, Hood, and Johnson, This year, a
large house was erected on the western part of Nahant, as a
hotel, by Capt. Joseph Johnson.
1801. TheophUus IngaUs, aged 18 years, was killed at
Portsmouth on the Sth of October, by faUing from the foretop
of the brig TraveUer, and breaking his skull on the deck.
A very briUiant meteor, half the size of the fuU moon, ap
peared in the northwest, on the evening of Friday, October 16lh.
1802. Rev. John Games died on the 20th of October, aged
78 years. He was bom at Boston in 1724, graduated in 1742,
was minister at Stoneham and Rehoboth, and chaplain in the
army of the Revolution. At the close of the war he came to
Lynn, received a commission as justice of the peace, was nine
times'elected as a representative, and, in 1788, was a member
of the Convention to ratify the Constitution of the United
States, He was an active and useful citizen. He married

228' HISTORY or lynn. [1803.
Mary, daughter of John Lewis, resided in Boston street, and had
two chUdren : John and Mary,
1803. Rev. Joseph Roby, pastor of the Congregational
Church in Saugus, died on the last day of January, aged 79
years. He was bom at Boston in 1724, graduated in 1742, and
was ordained minister of the third parish of Lynn, now the first
parish of Saugus, 1752. He preached fifty-One years. He was
an excellent scholar, a pious and venerable man, and was highly
esteemed for his social virtues. He published two Fast Ser
mons, one in 1781, the other in 1794. He married Rachel Proc
tor, of Boston, and had seven chUdren : Joseph, Rachel, Mary,
Henry, Thomas, Ehzabeth, and Sarah.
The ship Federal George, of Duxbury, saUed from Boston in
February, bound to Madeira, with a cargo of flour and corn.
In the number of the crew were three men from Lynn, whose
names were Bassett Breed, Parker Mudge, and Jonathan Ward.
In the midst of the Atlantic they were overtaken by a great
storm, which, on the 22d, capsized the vessel, carried away her
masts, and bowsprit, and when it subsided, left the deck two
feet beneath the water. The crew, which consisted of seven
men, remained lashed upon the windlass for twenty-four days.
Their sustenance, for the first part of the time, was a small piece
of meat, and a box of candles, which fioated up from the hold.
They afterwards succeeded in obtaining a bag of com, and some
flour soaked with salt water. Their allowance of drink, at first,
was a coffee-pot cover full of water twice a day. This was af
terwards reduced to one half, and then to one third. On the
18th of March, they were relie-v-ed by the Duke of Kent, an
English merchant ship, returning from the South Sea. When
they were taken from the wreck, they had but one quart of wa
ter left.
On Sunday, the Sth of May, a snow storm commenced, and
continued about seven hours. The snow was left upon the
ground to the depth of one inch. The apple trees were in blos
som at the time.
On the eighth of July, Mr. WiUiam Cushman, aged 23 years,
a workman on the Lynn Hotel, was drowned from a raft of tim
ber, in Saugus river.
On Sunday, the 10th of July, about three of the clock in the
afternoon, a house in Boston street was struck by lightning, and
Mr, MUes Shory and his wife were instantly kUled. The bolt
appeared like a large baU of fire. It struck the westem chim
ney, and, after descending several feet, separated. One branch
melted a watch, which hung over the chamber mantel, passed
over the cradle of a sleeping infant, covering it with cinders,
and went out at the north chamber window. The other branch

1803,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 229
descended with the chimney, and when it reached the chamber
floor, separated into two branches, above the heads of the
wife and husband, who were passing at that instant from the
parlor to the kitchen. One part struck Mrs. Shory on the side
of her head, left her stocking on fire, and passed into the ground.
The other part entered Mr, Shory's bosom, passed down his
side, melted the buckle of his shoe, and went out at one of the
front windows. There were four families in the house, which
contained, at the time, nineteen persons, several of whom were
much stunned. One man, who stood at the eastem door, was
crushed to the fioor by the pressure of the atmosphere. When
the people entered the room in Avhich Mr. Shory and his wife
lay, they found two small children endeavoring to awaken their
parents. An infant, which Mrs, Shory held in her arms, when
she was stmck, was found with its hair scorched, and its little
finger nails slightly burned. She is yet living, the wife of Mr,
Samuel Farrington, Mrs. Shory was a native of New Hamp
shire, twenty- nine years of age. Mrs. Love Shory, aged twenty-
eight years, was a daughter of Mr. AUen Breed of Lynn. On the
next day they were buried. The coffins were carried side by
side, and a double procession of mourners, of a great length,
followed the bodies to their burial in one grave.
On the next Sabbath, a fimeral sermon was preached by the
Rev. Thomas Gushing Thacher, at the First Congregational
Meeting House, from Job xxxvu. : 2, 3, 4. At the close of the
service, a house in Market Street, owned by Mr. Richard Pratt,
was strack by lightning. It descended the chimney, separated
into three branches, did considerable damage to the house, and
left Mr. Pratt senseless on the floor for several minutes.
Within three weeks, ending on the 16th of August, twenty-
three of the inhabitants of Lynn died.
On Sunday, the 28th of August, at one o'clock in the morn
ing, the hotel on the westem part of Nahant, owned by Captain
Joseph Johnson, took fire and was consumed, with all its con
tents. The family were awaked by the crying of a child, which
was stifling with the smoke, and had just time to escape with
their hves A black man, who slept in the upper story, saved
himself by throwing a feather bed from the v/indow, and jump
ing upon it.
On the Sth of September, John Ballard, John Pennerson, and
his son, went out on a fishing excursion. On the next day, the
boat came ashore at Nahant, with her saUs set, the fines out for
fishing, and food ready cooked. Nothing more was ever heard
of the crew ; but as Mr. Pennerson was a Frenchman, and as a
French vessel had been seen that day in the bay, it was con
jectured that they might have been taken on board, and carried
to France,

230 .HISTORY OF LYNN. [1804,
. On Thursday, the 22d of September, the Salem Turnpike
was opened, and began to receive toU. The Lynn hotel was
built this year. The number of shares in this turnpike were
twelve hundred, and the original cost was S 189,000, This road
will become the property of the Commonwealth, when the pro
prietors shall have received the whole cost, with twelve per
cent, interest ; and the bridge over Mystic river, when seventy
years shall be accomphshed. This turnpike, for. nearly four
miles, passes over a tract of salt marsh, which is frequently cov
ered by the tide. When it was first projected, many persons
esteemed it impracticable to build a good road on such a foun
dation. One person testified that he had run a pole down to the
depth of twenty-five feet. Yet this turnpike proves to be one
of the most excellent roads in America. The post office was
removed to the west end of the common.
1804. This year a powder house was built, near High Rock,
at an expense of one hundred and twenty dollars.
On the 4tli of August, the body of a woman was found in the
canal, on the north side of the turnpike, a short distance west
of Saugus bridge. She was ascertained to have been a widow
Currel, who was travelling from Boston to Marblehead. The
manner of her death, was unknown.
Rev, William Frothingham was ordained minister of the third
parish, now Saugus, on the 26th of September, He continued
to perform the duties of that office till the year 1817, when he
was dismissed on his own request.
One of the greatest storms ever kno-wn in New England
commenced on Tuesday morning, the 9th of October, The
rain fell fast, accompanied by thunder. At four in the afternoon
the wind became furious, and continued with unabated energy
till the next moming. 'This was probably the severest storm
after that of August, 1635. The damage occasioned by it was
very great. Buildings were unroofed, bams, chimnies, and
fences were blown down, and orchards greatly injured. The
chimney of the school-house, on the westem part of the com
mon, fell through the roof in the night, carrying the bench, at
which I had been sitting a few hours before, into the ceUar,
Many vessels were wrecked, and in several towns the steeples
of meeting-houses were broken off; and carried to a great dis
tance. The number of the trees uprooted in the woodlands was
beyond calculation. Thousands of the oldest and hardiest sons
of the forest, which had braved the storms of centuries, were
prostrated before it, and the woods throughout were strewed
with the trunks of fallen trees, which were not gathered up for
many years. Some have supposed that a great storm at an
early period may have blown down the trees on the marshes, but
it could not have buried them several feet deep.

1805.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 231

1805. For one hundred and seventy-three years, from the
building of the first parish meeting-house, the people had annu
ally assembled in it, for the transaction, of their municipal con
cerns. But this year, the members of that parish observing the
damage which such meetings occasioned to the house, and be
lieving that, since the incorporation of other parishes, the town
had no title in it, refused to have it occupied as a town-house.
This refusal occasioned much controversy between the town
and parish, and committees were appointed by both parties to
accomplish an adjustment. An engagement was partially made
for the occupation of the house, on the payment of twenty-eight
dollars annually ; but the town refused to sanction the agree
ment, and the meetings were removed to the Methodist meet
ing-house, on the eastern part of the common.
The Lynn Academy was opened on the 5th of April, under
the care of Mr, William Ballard. A bell was presented to this
institution by Col. James Robinson,
An earthquake happened on the 6th of April, at fifteen min
utes after two, in the afternoon.
On the 1 1th of May, Mr. John Legree Johnson's house, on the
east end of the common, was struck by lightning.
A society of Free Masons was constituted on the 10th of
June, by the name of Mount Carmel Lodge.
On the 24th of July, Mr. Charles Adams feU from the rocks
at Nipper Stage, on Nahant, and was drowned.
1806. A total eclipse of the sun happened on Monday, the
16th of .Tune. It commenced a few minutes after ten in the
forenoon, and continued about two hours and a half The sun
rose clear, and the moming was uncommonly pleasant. As the
eclipse advanced, the air became damp and cool, hke the ap
proach of evening. The birds at first fiew about in astonish
ment, and then retired to their roosts, and the stars appeared.
The shadow of the moon was seen traveUing across the earth
from west to east ; and at the moment when the last direct ray
of the sun was intercepted, aU things around appeared to waver,
as if the earth was faUing from its orbit. Several persons
fainted, and many were observed to take hold of the objects
uear them for support. The motion of the spheres was distinct
ly perceptible, and the whole system appeared to be disordered.
It seemed as if the central orb of hght and animation was about
to be forever extinguished, and creation was returning to its
original nonentity. The most unrefiecting mind was made sensi
ble of its dependence, and the soul involuntarily sought the pro
tection of its Maker, The total darkness endured about three
minutes. When the sun came, forth from his obscurity, it was

232 HISTORY QF LYNN, [1807.
with overwhelming lustre ; the dreadful silence which had spread
its dominion over the universe, was broken ; the cocks began to
crow, the birds renewed their songs, and man and nature seemed
to rejoice, as if returning to existence, from which they had been
shut out by the unwonted darkness.
The anniversary of American Independence was this year
publicly celebrated in Lynn, for the first time. As the spirit of
party was exercising its unabated influence, the inhabitants
could not unite in performing the honors of the day, and made
two processions. The Federalists assembled at the First Con
gregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered by
Mr. Hosea Hildreth, preceptor of the academy ; and the Demo
crats met at the First Methodist meeting-house, where an oration
was pronounced by Dr, Peter G, Robbins. The Democrats
dined at the hotel, and the Federalists in the haU of the academy.
And such regard for Freedom there was shown.
That either party wished her all their own !
1807. The town, having determined that no person who
was not an inhabitant should have the privUege of taking any
sand, shells, or sea manure from the Lynn beaches, this year
prosecuted several of the inhabitants of Danvers, for trespassing
against this order. The decision of the court established the
right of the town to pass such a vote, and left it in legal posses
sion of all tiie natural treasures which the sea might cast upon
its shores.
The depression of commerce and manufactures, at the close
of this year, was very great. This was principally occasioned
by the state of affairs in Europe, and the spoliation of property
in American vessels, by the governments of France and Eng
land, which, in the prosecution of their hostUities, had made
decrees affecting neutral powers. On the twenty-second of
December, Congress passed an act of embargo, by which aU the
ports of the United States were closed against the clearance of
all vessels,
1808. The enforcement of the embargo law occasioned
great suffering throughout the Union, particularly in commercial
places. The harbors were filled with dismantied vessels, which
lay rotting at the wharves. Thousands of seamen were thrown
out of employment, the price of provisions was enhanced, and
the spirit of desolation seemed to be spreading her dark wings
over the land, WhUe the Democrats were disposed to regard
this state of things as requisite to preserve the dignity of the
nation and the energy of govemment, the Federalists viewed
It as an impolitic, unjust, and arbitrary measure, by which the

1808,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 233
interests of commerce were sacrificed to the wUl of party. The
spirit of opposition, in this difference of opinion, was put forth
in Its utmost strength. At the election in AprU, the greatest
number of votes was produced which had at that time been
given in the town; of wMch 418 were for James SuUivan, and
273 for Christopher Gore, On the second of May, the people
assembled for the choice of representatives. The Democratic
party voted to choose three, and the Federalists were inclined
to send none. As there was some difficulty in ascertaining the
vote, it was determined that the people should go out of the
house, and arrange themselves on different sides of the common,
to be counted. The Democrats went out, but a part of the
Federahsts remained, and took possession of the house. They
chose a town clerk, to whom the oath of office was administered,
voted to send no representative, and made a record of their pro
ceeding in the town book. The other party then retumed, and
chose tlu-ee representatives. Several of the principal Federal
ists were afterward prosecuted for their infringement of a legal
town meeting ; but as it appeared on examination, that none of
the town meetings had been legal for many years, because not
called by a warrant, they were exonerated. On the twenty
ninth of August, a meeting was held to petition the president to
remove the embargo; but the town voted that such a proceed
ing would be highly improper, and passed several resolutions,
approving the measures of the administration. On the following
day, the Federalists prepared a memorial, expressing their dis
approbation of the embargo, and requesting its repeal, which
was transmitted to the President. The feelings of both parties
were raised to a degree of excitement, which could only be sus
tained by political events of unusual occurrence.
On the twentieth of September, the house of widow Jerusha
Williams, in Market Street, was struck by lightning. On the
same afternoon, the lightning fell on a flock of sheep at Nahant,
¦which were gathered beside a wall for shelter, and killed
eighteen of them.
On the night of Monday, October thirty-fu-st, Mr. Theophilus
Breed's barn, on the south side of the common, was burned ;
and on the night of the following Thursday, a barn belonging to
Mr. Jacob Chase, on the opposite side of the common, was con
sumed ; both of them having been set on fire by a mischievous
boy. A company of Artillery was incorporated by the General
Court, on the eighteenth of November, and two brass field pieces
allowed them.
This year Benjamin Merrill, Esq., came into town. He was
the first lawyer at Lynn.
30

234 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1809.

1809. The inhabitants petitioned the General Court for an
act to establish the proceedings of the town in their pre'vious
meetings, ¦which had been illegal, in consequence of the meet
ings having been called by a notice from the Selectmen, instead
of a warrant to a constable. A resolve confirming the proceed
ings of the town was passed by the Court on the eighteenth of
February. The embargo law was repealed by Congress, on the twelfth
of April, and an act of non-intercourse with France and England,
substituted in its place,
1810. The fourth of July was celebrated by both political
parties, who very patriotically and cordially united for that pur
pose. They formed a procession at the Lynn hotel, which was
then kept by Mr, Ebenezer Le^wis, and proceeded to the First
Congregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered
by Dr, Peter G, Robbins,
This year the Lynn Mineral Spring Hotel was built.
On the twenty-fifth of August, Mr, David Dunn was dro^wned
from a gondola, in Saugus river.
On Friday evening, November ninth, there was an earth
quake, 1811. On the eighth of January, Ayer WUliams Marsh, aged
five years, was kUled by the falling of an anvU, from a cheese
press, A great snow storm commenced on the second of February,
and continued three days. It was pUed up in reefs, in some'
places more than fifteen feet. In Market street, arches were
dug beneath it, high enough for carriages to pass through.
On the fourth of July, the officers of Lynn, Marblehead, and
Danvers, had a mUitary celebration at Lynn. The young Fed
eralists also partook of a dinner in the haU of Lewis's hotel,
which was tastefuUy decorated for the occasion, by the young
The seventh of July was excessively hot. The thermometer
rose to 101 degrees in the shade, Mr, John Jacobs, aged 70
years, ¦whUe laboring on the salt marsh, fell dead in consequence
of the heat.
On the seventh of August, George, a black man, aged twenty
years, a servant at the hotel, was drowned, whUe bathing in the
fatal river Saugus,
A splendid comet was visible on the eleventh of October
between Arcturus and Lyra, Its train was estimated to be forty
mUhons of mUes in length. It remained visible for several
months.

1812.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 235
The Second Methodist Society was formed in the eastem
part of the town, by separation from the first, A meeting house
was built, which was dedicated on the twenty seventh of No
vember, Their first minister was Rev, Epaphras Kibbey,
1812. On the fourth of May there was a snow storm, all day
and night. The snow was about eight inches deep.
War was declared by Congress, against England, on the
eighteenth of June. This was called the War of Impressments,
because England claimed the right to search American vessels
for her sailors. The confiict was chiefly conducted by battle
ships on the water, but people were much affected by it in the
depression of commerce. The Federalists disapproved of the
war — the Democrats exulted in it,
A new meeting house was built by the First Methodist Soci
ety, at the east end of the Common, The burial ground in
Union stieet was opened.
1813. Rev. Thomas Gushing Thacher discontinued his con
nection with the First Parish, The people gave him a recom
mendation, and made him a present of eight hundred dollars.
He was a son of Rev. Peter 'Thacher, minister of Brattle Street
Church, in Boston. He graduated in 1790, was ordained in
1794, preached nineteen years, and removed to Cambridge Port.
He wrote many good sermons, six of which, on interesting occa
sions, he published.
1. A Sermon on the Annual Thanksgiving, 1794.
2. A Sermon on the Interment of Eight Seamen, 1795.
3. A Eulogy on the Death of Washington, 1800.
4, A Sermon on the Death of Mrs, Ann Carnes, 1800.
5. A Masonic Address, deUvered at Cambridge.
6. A Sermon on the Death of Mr. Shory and Wife, 1603.
At the town meeting in March, thirty nine tythingmen were
chosen. This was for the purpose of enforcing the Sunday
Law, that no person should journey on the sabbath.
The schooner Industry was fitted out as a privateer, under
the command of Capt. Joseph Mudge, and sent in three prizes.
On the first of June, the people of Lynn were caUed forth by
an occasion of unusual interest. The English frigate Shannon,
Capt. Brock, being expressly fitted for the purpose, approached
the harbor of Boston, and challenged the American frigate,
Chesapeake, to battie. The hiUs and the house tops were
crowded with spectators, who looked on with intense solicitude.
The Chesapeake, commanded by Capt. James Lawrence, saUed
out bevond Nahant, and engaged wUh her adversary. After a
short and spirited conflict, Capt. Lawrence feU, the colors of the
Chesapeake were lowered, and the Shannon, with her prize,
departed for Halifax.

236 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1813.
The new Methodist meeting-house was dedicated on the
third of June.
Rev. Isaac Hurd was ordained Pastor of the First Parish, on
the fifteenth of September.
This year many raccoons, driven by the war from the north,
were shot at Swampscot ; and a wild-cat, after a desperate
resistance, was killed at Red Rock,
The celebrated Mary Pitcher, a professed fortune-teller, died
April 9, 1813, aged 75 years. Her grand-father, John Dimond,
lived at Marblehead, and for many years exercised the same
pretensions. Her father, Capt, John Dimond, was master of a
vessel from that place, and was living in 1770, Mary Dimond
was born in the year 1738. She was connected ¦with some of
the best famUies in Essex county, and, with the exception of
her extraordinary pretensions, there was nothing disreputable in
her life or character. She was of the medium height and
size for a woman, with a good form and agreeable manners.
Her head, phrenologically considered, was somewhat capacious ;
her forehead broad and full, her hah dark bro^wn, her nose
inclining to long, and her face pale and thin. There was
nothing gross or sensual in her appearance — her countenance
was rather intellectual ; and she had that contour of face and
expression, which, without being positively beautiful, is, nev
ertheless, decidedly interesting — a thoughtful, pensive, and
sometimes down-cast look, almost approaching to melancholy —
an eye, when it looked at you, of calm and keen penetration —
and an expression of intelligent discernment, half mingled with
a glance of shrewdness. She took a poor man for a husband,
and then adopted what she doubtless thought the harmless
employment of fortune-telling, in order to support her chUdren,
In this she was probably more successful than she herself had
anticipated ; and she became celebrated, not only throughout
America, but throughout the world, for her skill, "rhere was no
port on either continent, where floated the flag of an American
ship, that had not heard the fame of Moll Pitcher, To her
came the rich and the poor — the wise and the ignorant — the
accomplished and the vulgar — the timid and the brave. The
ignorant sailor, who believed in the omens and dreams of super
stition, and the intelligent merchant, whose ships were freighted
for distant lands, alike sought her dwelling; and many a vessel
has been deserted by its crew, and waited idly at the wharves
for weeks, in consequence of her unlucky predictions. Many
persons came from places far remote, to consult her on affairs of
love, or loss of property ; or to obtain her surmises respecting
the ¦ncissitudes of their future fortune. Every youth, who was
not assured of the reciprocal affection of his fair one, and every
maid who was desirous of anticipating the hour of her highest

1813,] HISTORY OF LYNN, 237
felicity, repaired at evening to her humble dwelling, which stood
on what was then a lonely road, near the foot of High Rock,
with the single dweUing of Dr. tienry Burchsted neariy oppo
site ; over whose gateway were the two bones of a great whale,
disposed in the form of a gothic arch. There, in her unpretend
ing mansion, for more than fifty years, did she answer the
inquiries of the simple rustic from the wUds of New Hampshire,
and the wealthy noble from Europe ; and, doubtiess, her predic
tions have had an infiuence in shaping the fortunes of thousands.
She was, indeed, one of the most wonderful women of any age ;
and had she lived in the days of aUeged witchcraft, would
doubtless have been the first to suffer. That she acquired her
inteUigence by intercourse with evil spirits, it would now be
preposterous to assert — and it requires a very great stretch of
credulity to beheve that she arrived at so many correct conclu
sions, merely by guess-work. That she made no pretension to
any tiling supernatural, is evident from her own admission, when
some one offered her a large sum, if she would tell him what
ticket in the lottery would draw the highest prize ? ' Do you
think,' said she, ' if I knew, I should not buy it myself? ' Sev
eral of the best authenticated anecdotes which are related of
her, seem to imply that she possessed, in some degree, the fac
ulty which is now termed clairvoyance. Indeed, there seems to
be no other conclusion, unless we suppose that persons of gen
eral veracity have told us absolute falsehoods. The possession
of this faculty, with her keen perception and shrewd judgment,
in connexion ¦with the ordinary arts which she is admitted to
have used, to detect the character and business of her visitors,
wUl perhaps account for all that is extraordinary in her intelli
gence. In so many thousand instances also, of the exercise of
her faculty, there is certainly no need of calling in supernatural
aid to account for her sometimes judging right; and these
favorable instances were certain to be related to her advantage,
and insured her abundance of credibUity. She manied Robert
Pitcher, a shoemaker, on the second of October, 1760, Had
she married differently, as she might have done, she would have
adorned a brighter and happier station in life, and the world
would never have heard of her fame. She had one son, John,
and three daughters, Rebecca, Ruth, and Lydia, who married
respectably; and some of her descendants are among the pret
tiest young ladies of Lynn, Nor is there any reason why they
should blush at the mention of their ancestress, WhUe it is
hoped that no one, in this enlightened age, will follow her pro
fession, it must be admitted that she had virtues which many
might practice with advantage. She supported her family by
her skill, and she was benevolent in her disposition. She has
been known to rise before sunrise, walk two mUes to a miU,

238 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1814.
purchase a quantity of meal, and carry it to a poor -widow, who
would otherwise have had no breakfast for her children.
1814. The district of Lynnfield, which was separated from
Lynn on the third of July, 1782, was this year incorporated as a
/town, on the twenty-eighth of February. On the same day, the
Lynn Mechanics' Bank was incorporated, with a capital of one
hundred thousand dollars. The "rown-house, on the Common,
was begun the same month.
A company of militia, consisting of seventy-eight men from
Essex county, was detached, in July, for the defence of the
sea-coast. Of this number, Lynn furnished fifteen, and the
whole were placed under the command of Capt, Samuel Mudge,
of this town. On the first of August, they mustered at Danvers,
and on the next day marched to Salem,. and encamped on Win
ter Island, On the twenty-seventh, a violent storm blew down
most of the tents, and on the next day the detachment removed
to Fort Lee. On the night of the twenty-eighth of September,
a great alarm was occasioned by some men who were drawing
a seine at Beverly. Alarm guns were fired about midnight,
and in less than thirty minutes the Salem regiment was drawn
up for orders. Nearly sixty old men of thai town also took their
arms, went directly to the fort, and patriotically offered their
services to Captain Mudge. The alarm spread to the neighbor
ing towns, and within an hour the Lynn regiment was in arms,
and on its march toward Salem, The promptitude with which
these two regiments were formed, the self-possession mani
fested by the officers and soldiers, and the readiness with which
they marched toward what was then confidently believed to be
a scene of action and danger, is worthy of commendation. The
company was discharged on the first of November, During a
considerable part of this season, guards were stationed in Lynn,
on Long Wharf and Saugus Bridge, The town, -with its accus
tomed liberality, allowed to each of its soldiers, who went mto
service, thirty dollars, in addition to the pay of the government,
which was only eight doUars a month. The town received 100
muskets from the State, and 100 old men volunteered to use
them. In a great snow-storm, on the night of November nineteenth,
Mr. Ward HartweU, of Claremont, N, H, perished in attempting
to pass Lynn Beach, to Nahant.
An.eacthquake happened on the twenty-eighth of November,
at twenty minutes past seven, in the evening,
1815. The Second Parish of Lynn was incorporated on the
seventeenth of Febmary, as a separate Town, by the name of
Saugus, On the same day, a treaty of peace with England,

1^16.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 239
which was signed at Ghent on the twenty-fourth of December
preceding, was ratified by Congress,
This year the First Baptist Church in Lynn was organized,
on the seventeenth of March, In May, the meeting-house
which the Methodist society had vacated, was purchased for
their use. It is worthy of remark, that this buUding was placed
upon land purchased of the first Congregational Church— that
very church which had prosecuted the Baptists, and delivered
them up to the executioner, 164 years before,
A very great storm, on the twenty-third of September, occa
sioned much damage. The wind blew violently from the south
east, and buildings, fences, and trees, fell before it, A part of
the roof of the Academy was taken off, and carried by the wind
more than half-way across the Common, The spray of the
ocean was borne far upon the land, and the fruit on trees sev
eral mUes from the shore, was impregnated with salt,
1816. The Baptist society was incorporated on the fifteenth
of AprU; and on the fifteenth of September, Rev, George
Phippen ¦was settled, as their first minister.
Rev, Isaac Hurd rehnquished his pastoral care over the First
Congregational Society, on the twenty-second of May. He
was bom at Charlestown, and removed to Exeter,
In November, new bells were placed on the First Congrega
tional, and the First Methodist meeting-houses,
1817. Friday, the fourteenth of February, was an exceed
ing cold day. The thermometer was eighteen degrees below
zero. There was an ^arthqna^ on Sunday, September sev
enth; and another on the fifth of October, This year, Hon,
Thomas H. Perkins buUt the first stone cottage on Nahant,
President Monroe passed through Lynn,
1818. On Friday, January thirteenth, the thermometer was
eleven degrees below zero.
Rev. Otis Rockwood was ordained pastor of the First Con
gregational Church on the first of July.
A stone building, for a school-house and library, was built at
Nahant, and several hundred volumes presented to it, by gen
tlemen from Boston.
The First Social Library at Lynn was incorporated.
1819. The winter was unusually mild, with little snow, and
the harbor scarcely frozen. Farmers ploughed in every month ;
January was like April, and the spring was forward and warm.
The first attempt to form an Episcopal Church in Lynn, was
made this year. A few persons were organized as a church on

240 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1820.
the twenty-seventh of January, and contmued to worship m the
Academy about four years.
On the thirty-first of January, Jonathan Mansfield was
drowned in the Flax Pond. On the sixth of April, WUUam
Phillips was drowned in the Pines River. On the fourth of
September, Asa Gowdy was drowned near the mouth of Saugus
river. Tuesday, July sixth, was an exceeding warm day. The
thermometer rose to 120 degrees.
A farm of about fifty acres was purchased by the Town, and
a new Poor-house built on Willis's HUl.
This year the Nahant Hotel was built, by Hon. Thomas H.
Perkins and Hon, Edward H, Robbins, at an expense of about
sixty thousand dollars.
That singular marine animal, called the Sea Serpent, first
made his appearance in the waters of Lynn, this year. It was
aUeged that it had been seen in August, 1817 and 1818, in
Gloucester harbor. On the thirteenth and fourteenth days of
August this year, many hundred persons were coUected on Lynn
Beach, by a report that it was to be seen. Many depositions
have been taken of its subsequent appearance. It was repre
sented to have been from fifty to seventy feet in length, as large as
a barrel, moving swiftly, sometimes with its head several feet
above the tide. I have never seen such an animal, but perhaps
it exists ; and it may be one of the mighty existing reUcs of a
buried world. Li 1638, Dr. John Josselyn teUs us of ' A Sea
Serpent or Snake, that lay quoiled up, like a cable, upon a Rock
at Cape Ann. A boat passing by, with Enghsh aboard and
two Indians, they would have shot the serpent, but the Indians
disswaded them, saying that if he were not kiUed outright, they
would be all in danger of their lives.'
1820. On the fourteenth of February two bams, belonging
to Mr. Joseph Breed, in Summer street, were burnt by the care
lessness of a boy. The people, by a subscription, built him a
good barn immediately, which they stocked with hay.
1821. On the twenty -fifth of January the themometer was
17 degrees below zero.
Rev. Joseph Mottey died on the ninth of July. He was bom
at Salem, May 14, 1756, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1778.
He was ordained over the second parish, now Lynnfield, Sep
tember 24, 1780. He was characterized by extreme sensibility,
and fondness for retirement. His manners were affable, and his
mode of preaching mild and pursuasive. He married Elizabeth
Moody, and had four children ; Charles, Ehas, Charles Edward,
and Eliza,

1822,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 241
1822. A considerable disturbance was this year occasioned
in the meetings of Friends, in consequence of a portion of that
society having embraced different views. On Sunday, the sev
enteenth of February, one of these essayed to go into the min
isters' gallery, with a sword by his side, which he said was an
emblem of the warlike disposition of those against whom he
wished to bear testimony ; but before he had reached the seat,
he was stopped, and the sword taken away. In the afternoon
the disturbance was renewed, by several persons attempting to
enter the high seats ; and many people having assembled about
the house, the deputy sheriff was called from the first parish
meeting-house, who read the riot act in the street. Four per
sons were apprehended, and after a trial, the next day, before a
justice, were committed to prison, at Salem, where they remained
until the time of their tiial, at Ips^wich, on the sixteenth of March.
Two of them were then discharged, and the others were fined.
A report of this trial was pubUshed, with a review in a separate
pamphlet. The first Circulating Library at Lynn was opened this year,
by the author of this sketch.
The Second Congregational Society was incorporated on the
fifteenth of June ; and on the twenty-fifth of November, the
corner stone of the first Unitarian meeting-house was laid, with
an address by Rev, Joseph Tuckerman, of Chelsea,
As some ¦workmen were this year digging a cellar in Liberty
stieet, they foimd the skeleton of an Indian, It was more than
six feet in length, and the skull was of an uncommon thickness.
Two large clam shells were found buried with it.
1823. The coldest day this year, was the first of March.
The thermometer ¦was seven degrees below zero.
The Second Congregational Meeting-house was dedicated on
the thirtieth of AprU. Sermon by Rev. Henry Cohnan.
On the fifth of May, snow fell, and the ice was one quarter
of an inch thick. Thermometer 29 at sunrise.
A young woman named, Sarah Soames, aged 19 years, living
at Thomas Raddui's, went in to bathe in Saugus river, on the
evening of June 15th, and was drowned,
1824. The tide, during great storms, had for many years
been making its encroachments upon Lynn Beach, washing its
sands over into the harbor, and sometimes making deep chan
nels, as it ran across in riviUets. In compliance with a petition
of the town, the General Court, on the eighteenth of February,
made a grant of fifteen hundred doUars, to which the town added
fifteen hundred more ; and by the aid of this fund, a fence was
31

242 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1825,
constructed, about half the length of the beach, to prevent the
encroachments of the tide.
The thermometer, on the twenty-fifth of Febraary, was ten
degrees below zero.
On the sixth of May, the ice was one quarter of an inch thick.
Thermometer 27 at sunrise.
John GUbert Pratt, aged eight years, son of Mr. Micajah C.
Pratt, was drowned, on the fourteenth of AprU, from a boat, in
the harbor.
On the twenty-first of June, Rev. Joseph Searl was ordained
pastor of the Congregational society in Lynnfield. He con
tinued his connexion with that parish, till the seventeenth of
September, 1827, when he removed to Stoneham,
•The French General Lafayette, who served in the War of
Independence, this year came to America, and was received
with general gratulation and welcome. He passed through
Lynn on the thirty-first of August, He was received at Saugus
bridge, on the Turnpike, by an escort, consisting of a battalion
of cavalry, the Lynn Rifle Company, Lynn Light Infantry, the
Salem Cadets, and a large number of officers and citizens, by
whom he was conducted to the Lynn Hotel, where an address
was delivered to him by Captain John White, to which he
made an affectionate reply. After being introduced to many
gentlemen and ladies, with several revolutionary soldiers, he
ascended an open barouche, and passed through two lines of the
children of the town, who threw flowers into his carriage as he
proceeded. A salute of thirteen guns was fired, on his entianee
into the town ; and another of t^wenty-four, ¦when he departed.
On his way he passed through seven beautiful arches, decorated
with evergreens, flags, and festoons of flowers, and bearing in
scriptions in honor of Lafayette and Freedom. Proceeding
thi-ough the principal streets, he was received, at the eastern
boundary of the town, by another escort, and conducted to
Marblehead. Rev. James Diman Green was ordained pastor of the Second
Congregational Society, on the third of November.
1825. For several days in the month of AprU, the moon
and stars, with the planet Venus, were visible, for some hours,
in the niiddle of the day. There were no clouds, and the sun
shone with a dim light.
On the twentieth of April, a piece of land, adjoining the
Quaker burial ground in Lynn, was purchased, by several indi
viduals, and opened as a free burial ground. Tliis was done
because that society had refused to permit a chUd to be buried
in their ground, without a compliance with their regulations.
This year, Frederic Tudor, Esq., of Boston, built his beautiful
rustic cottage at Nahant,

1826.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 243
On Thursday, the twenty-third of June, at the commencement
of twilight, a remarkable sungush appeared. It proceeded from
the place of sunsetting, and rose perfectiy straight and well-
d.efined, to the height of twenty degrees. Its color was a beau
tiful bright red, and its width equal to that of a broad rainbow ;
the clouds around were variegated with the finest colors, and
the pageant continued about fifteen minutes.
On Saturday, September third, the first newspaper printed
in Lynn, was published by Mr. Charles Frederic Lummus, with
the titie of the Lynn Weekly Mrror, edited by Alonzo Lewis.
A comet was visible in October, on the right of the Pleiades,
with a train about six degrees in length.
Hon. WiUiam Gray died at Boston, on the third of November,
aged 75 years. He was born at Lynn, June 27, 1750. His
father, Mr. Abraham Gray, bom January 13, 1715, was one of
the first shoe manufacturers in Lynn, who employed journey
men and apprentices. He received such an education as could
at that time be obtained in a town school. On his arrival at
manhood, he entered extensively into the European and East
India trades, and by his industry, ability, and uncommon success,
accumulated an amount of property which few individuals in
America have ever surpassed. His great success in trade gave
an impulse to the mercantile business of Salem, and the amount
which he added to the prosperity of that ancient and respectable
to^wn, occasioned the following epigram :
¦ Salem and Lynn for Gray's birth now contest ;
Lynn gains the palm, but Salem fares the best.'
After the embargo, Mr. Gray removed to Boston, and in the
years 1810 and 1811, was elected Lieutenant Govemor. His
sons are among the most respectable lawyers and merchants in
the city of Boston.
1826. The coldest day this winter was February first, when
the thermometer was sixteen degrees below zero,
A schooner, loaded ¦with six hundred bushels of corn, struck
on a rock off" the mouth of Saugus river, on the twelfth of April,
and sunk.
The festival of St, John, June 24, was celebrated at Lynn, by
Mount Carmel Lodge, and five other lodges. The address
was dehvered by Hon. Caleb Gushing, of Newburyport.
The Lynn Institution for Savings was incorporated on the
twentieth of June. A Temperance Society was formed, on the
twentieth of December.
The Quaker meetinghouse in Boston, with the burial ground
adjoining, having been long disused, and few or none of the

244 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1827,
society remaining in the city, it was thought best to remove the
bones. The remains of one hundred and nine persons were
taken up and removed to the Quaker burial ground at Lynn,
Mr. Joseph Hussey, who had two sisters buried at Boston, was
unwilling that they should be removed -with the rest, and caused
their remains, so dear to his memory, to be deposited in the
cemetery of King's Chapel,
1827. Micajah Collins, a much respected minister of the
society of Friends, died on the thirtieth of January, aged 62
years. He was a son of Enoch and Rebecca CoUins, and was
born April 19, 1764, His father died when he was young, but
his mother was careful of his education, and he became serious
at an early age. For nearly thirty years he was a teacher of the
Friends' school, and was greatly beloved by his pupUs. He was
for about twenty-six years an approved minister, and in that
capacity made several visits to different parts of the Union, He
married Hannah Chase, of Salem, He was a good teacher, a
beloved and ¦virtuous man, and died in the assurance of a blessed
immortality. On the eleventh of AprU, the First Congregational meeting
house was removed from the centre of the Common to the cor
ner of Commercial street. Its form was changed, a new steeple
added, and it was dedicated on the seventeenth of October.
On the thirtieth of April, Mr, Paul Newhall was drowned
from a fishing boat, at Swampscot, in attempting to pass within
Dread Ledge. His body was found uninjured, thirty-nine days
after ; having, it was said, been caused to rise by heavy thun
der, which agitated the water.
On the night of Thursday, May tenth, a schooner from Kenne
bec, loaded with hay and wood, was driven by a storm upon
Lynn beach, and dismasted.
The anniversary of Independence was this year celebrated at
Woodend, In the procession were thirteen Misses, dressed in
white, wearing chaplets of roses, representing the thirteen
original states; and eleven younger Misses, representing the
new states, 'They recited a responsive chorus, written for the
occasion, and an oration was delivered by the author of this
history, A son of Mr, Ezra Brown, named Edivin, aged twelve years,
was drowned on the eighth of July, while bathing in the harbor.
On Tuesday evening, August twenty-eighth, a most beautiful
pageant was displayed in the heavens. During the first part of
the evening, the northern lights were uncommonly luminous ;
and at half past nine, a broad and briUiant arch was formed,
which spanned the entire heaven, from east to west. No one,
who did not behold it, can easUy imagine its splendor and
sublimity.

1828.] HISTORY OF LYNN.

245

On several evenings in September, the Northern lights were
exceedingly luminous, sometimes so bright as to cast shadows.
In the month of November were several great and drifting
snow storms, and the weather was colder than had been known
at that season for many years. It was so cold, that it froze a
large water cistern solid, and burst it,
1828. On the second of May, a whale was cast ashore at
Whale Beach, Swampscot, measuring sixty feet in length, and
twenty-five barrels of oil were extracted from it.
An oration was delivered, on the fourth of July, by Rev, James
Diman Green, His connexion with the Second Congregational
Society, was dissolved, at his request, on the fourth of August,
Flora, a black woman, died on the first of October, aged one
hundred and thirteen years. She was born in Africa, and re
lated many interesting anecdotes of her country. Her father
was one of the chiefs, and when he died, they built a house over
him, as they considered it an indignity to suffer the rain to fall
on his grave. One day a party of slave dealers came and set
fibre to their happy and peaceful village. Her mother was unable
to run so fast as the rest, and as Flora was unwilling to escape
¦without her, she remained, and was taken. She had two hus
bands and five children in Africa, and three husbands and five
chUdren in America, She was a sensible and purely pious
woman, and was greatly respected.
In a storm, on the twenty-second of November, a schooner,
belonging to Freeport, was cast upon the Lobster Rocks, The
crew, with a lady passenger, immediately left the vessel, which
was found in the morning, drifted upon Chelsea beach.
The Lynn Lyceum was established, December twenty-third.
1829. One of the most beautiful appearances of nature was
presented on the moming of Saturday, the tenth of January, A
heavy mist had fallen on the preceding evening, and when the
sun rose, the whole expanse of hill and plain displayed the most
enchanting and dazzling prospect of glittering frost. The tall
and branching trees were bent, by the weight of ice, into grace
ful arches, and resembled magnificent chandeliers, ghttering
•with bumished silver. As far as the eye could reach, all was
one resplendent surface of pohshed ice ; and in some places,
the trees which stood in colonnades, were bent till their tops
touched together, and formed long arcades of crystal, decorated
with brUliant pearls, and sparkling with diamonds. But the
scene in the open viUage, although so highly beautiful, was far
exceeded by the magnificent lustre of the woods. The majes
tic hemlocks bent their heavy branches to the ground, loaded as
with a weight of gold, and formed dehghtful bowers, sparkling

246 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1829,
with gems, and Uluminated with colored light. The evergreen
cedars were covered with crystal gold, and glowed with emeralds
of the deepest green. The silver tops of the graceful birches
crossed each other, like the gothic arches of some splendid
temple ; whUe the slender shafts, and the gUttering rocks, re
sembled columns, and altars, and thrones ; and the precipitous
cliffs looked down, like towers and battlements of silver ; and
far above all, the taU pines glittered in the frosty air, like the
spires of a thousand cathedrals, overlaid with transparent gold,
and bumished by the cloudless sun. This beautiful and sur
prising exhibition continued undisturbed for two whole days.
On the third morning, the warm fingers of Aurora found the
frozen chords which upheld the glittering show. They severed
at the touch — and from lofty spire and stately elm, came shower
ing gems and pearls, that tinkled as they bounded on the crystal
plain. The ice, which had confined the mighty arms of aged
forest trees, came crashing down, breaking the frosted shrubs
beneath, and sending through the woods a mingled sound, like
falling towers, and the far dash of waters. The admirer of the
works of nature, who, during the continuance of this beautiful
scene, was in the majestic woods, will never forget their inde
scribable splendor, or doubt the power and skill of Him, who,
with such slight means as the twilight vapor and the midnight
mist, can form an arch of fire in heaven, or create an exhibition
of glory and grandeur on earth, so far surpassing the utmost
beauty of the works of man.
In the snow storm, on the sixth of February, a woman perished
on Farrington's HiU, on the turnpike, one mile eastward of the
Lynn Hotel, Another great storm commenced on the twentieth,
when several vessels, belonging to Swampscot, were driven out
to sea. One of them remained five days, and went on shore at
Chatham, where the crew were much frozen.
On the night of the fifth of March, a schooner, loaded ¦with
coffee, struck on Shag Rocks, on the south side of Nahant, and
was entirely dashed to pieces. No traces of the crew were
found, and it is probable that they all perished,
Dr, John Flagg Gardner died at Ipswich, on the fourteenth of
March, aged thirty-five years. He was a son of Dr, James
Gardner, of Lynn, and was bom May 27, 1794, He graduated
at Harvard University in 1813, and after completing his studies
with his father, and at the medical school in Boston, he settled
in the practice of medicine at Ipswich, He was esteemed for
his ability as a physician, and beloved for his disposition as a
gentleman. Great excitement was occasioned this year in Lynn, as it had
been in many other towns and cities for some years previous,
on the subject of Freemasonary, On the first of April, Mr.

1830,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 247
Jacob Allen, of Braintree, gave an exhibition of some of the
alleged mysteries of that institution, at Liberty Hall ; and on the
sixth, the inhabitants, in town meeting, voted, that they regarded
Freemasonry ' as a great moral evil,' and its existence ' as being
dangerous to aU free governments,' and gave Mr, AUen the use
of the town hall to continue his exhibitions,
Mr, Joseph FuUer died on the seventh of November, aged 82
years. He was a patriotic citizen and a benevolent man. He
was for several years a selectman, and in 1820 was chosen a
delegate to amend the state constitution. His son, Hon, Joseph
FiiUer, was born March 29, 1772, and died in 1815, aged 43
years. He was six times chosen representative, and was elected
a senator for Essex county in 1812, He was also the first Presi
dent of the Lynn Mechanics' Bank, and an associate Judge of
the Court of Sessions.
Rev. David Hatch Barlow was ordained minister of the
Second Congregational Society, on the ninth of December,
The canker worms, for seven years, have been making great
ravages among the fruit trees. Many orchards have borne but
little fruit during that time, and the leaves and blossoms have
been so thoroughly devoured, that the trees have appeared as if
scorched by a fire.
In a very great thunder shower, on the thirtieth of July, a barn
on Nahant, belonging to Stephen Codman, Esq., was struck by
Ughtning, and Mr, WUliam Hogan, a carpenter, was killed.
In September, a stone beacon, twenty feet in height, was
erected on the outer cliff" of Dread Ledge, by order of the United
States' govemment, at an expense of one thousand dollars. It
was thrown do"wn by a storm, on the thirty -first of October,
The first complete Map of Lynn was made this year, from a
particular survey, by Alonzo Lewis,
1830. The publication of a second newspaper, entitled the
Lynn Record, was begun, Januaiy 23d, by Alonzo Lewis,
One of the highest tides ever kno-wn happened on the 26th
of March, It rose about five feet higher than common high
tides, passing entirely over the Long Beach, and making Na
hant an island. It also flowed over the southern part of Market
street; and, passing up the MiU brook, swept off' a quantity of
wood from the house in Bridge street.
On the 12th of July, Mr. Joseph Blaney, aged fifty-two years,
went out in a fishing boat from Swampscot, when a shark over
set his boat and killed him.
The meeting house of the Third Methodist Society, built this
year, in South street, was dedicated on the 3d of August. The
first minister was Rev. Rufus Spaulding.
A great tempest of rain and wind, on the 26th of August, oc
casioned very great damage to the com and fruit trees.

248 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1831.
On the 4th of September, a boat in the harbor, in which two
boys were playing, was overset, and Joseph Thomson, aged 15
years, son of William Thomson, was dro^wned.
Donald MaoDonald, a native of Inverness, in Scotland, died
in the Lynn Almshouse, on the 4th of October, aged 108 years.
He was in the battle of Quebec, when Wolf feU, and was one
of the few whom Washington conducted from the forest of
blood when Braddock was killed by the Indians,
Vegetation this year was abundant ; English hay was eight
dollars a ton ; and more apples were gathered than in aU the
seven previous years.
Another great storm tide, on the 29th of November, came in
high and furious, doing great damage to the Long Beach, by
sweeping down the ridge and throwing it into the harbor.
On Wednesday, December 1st, there were two shocks of an
earthquake, about eight o'clock in the evening.
On the morning of the fourth, half an hour after midnight, a
meteor, exceedingly brilUant, passed south of the moon, which
was then shining near the meridian.
The northern lights made an uncommonly rich display on the
evening of the llth, assuming the most fanciful forms, changing
into the appearance of tall spires, towers, arches, and warriors
armed with long spears.
1831. Dr. Aaron Lummus died on the 5th of January,
aged 74 years. He resided in Lynn nearly fifty years, and was
one of the most popular physicians in the town. He married
Eunice Coffin in 1786, and had five sons ; Aaron, John, Ed^ward,
Charles Frederic, and Thomas Jefferson, In 1823 and 1824, he
was a Senator of Essex county,
A great storm commenced on the 15th of January, in which
a schooner, belonging to Stephen Smith, was torn from her
fastenings at his wharf and dashed to pieces against the em
bankment on Deer island, throwing down about sixty feet of
the new granite waU, recently buUt by the United States gov
ernment, Maria Augusta Fuller, daughter of Hon, Joseph Fuller, died
on the 19th of January, aged 24 years. She was a young lady
of estimable character, and a poetess of considerable merit. She
wrote many pieces, both in prose and poetry, ¦with the signature
of Finella ; and was perhaps the most talented and imaginative
female which Lynn has produced.
In August, the sun and the atmosphere, for may days, pre
sented a smoky appearance, of a greenish blue color. The same
phenomenon was noticed by M. Arago, the French astronomer,
at Paris, On the evening of the 26th, the moon rose about fif
teen minutes before nine ; and half an hour after, there was a

1832,],

HISTORY OF LYNN. 249

shower in the northwest, and on the cloud a perfect and beau-
"*^li, ^P^^*" rainbow was depicted, of a yeUowish color.
This year the smaU pox made its appearance in* Chestnut
street, Woodend, Two persons were removed to a httie build
ing, which had been placed on the woodland road to Blood's
swamp. One of them, Lydia, wife of Mr. Ephraim Brown,
died on the 14th of August. Mr. Amos AUen recovered. Rich
ard Haseltine, an orphan boy, nine years old, was carried in a
boat to Rainsford's island, and returned weU.
Another beacon was erected on Dread Ledge, at Swampscot,
on the 7th of November, — an obehsk of granUe, twenty-five
feet in height, and three feet square at the base. On the 22d,
there was a singularly mingled tempest, very violent, for an hour
in the moming, with rain, hail, snow, thunder and- lightning, a
strong east wind, and a high tide. The lightning struck at
Breed's End, and a vessel was driven ashore on PhiUip's Beach,
and another on Nahant Beach.
Dr. James Gard'ner died December 26, aged 69 years. He
was born at Woburn, in 1762, entered the army of the E,ev-
olution at an early age, and on the return of peace devoted him
self to study, and graduated at Harvard in 1788. He .came to
Lynn in 3792, and commenced the practice of medicine. The
next year he married Susannah, daughter of Dr. John Flagg,
He was a skUful and popular physician, and possessed the ^anr
ners of a gentleman.
This year, Mr, John Alley enclosed about twenty acres of
water, by a dam from his wharf to the marsh, thus making a
pond, on which he built a giist niill, and afterward a fulling mUl.
, On the last of December the thermometer was eleven de
grees below zero.
1832. The Lynn Anti- Slavery Society was formed on the
25th. of April,
Rev, Otis Rockwood was dismissed from the pastoral charge
of the First Congregational Church, on the 12th of May. Rev,
David Peabody was ordained pastor of the same church on the
15th November,
This year the Tuscan chapel at Nahant was erected, by sub
scription? made by gentlemen of Boston, Religious services
are performed during the warm and visiting season, by the min
isters of Boston, each of whom preaches one Sunday,
A Whaling Company was formed,.and five ships employed ;
three, of which were buUt at Lynn, They harbored in Saugus
river; but on the crossing of the rail -road, in 1838, 4hey were
removed to Boston, 32

250

HISTORY OF LYNN. [1833.

1833. .On the 16th of January, Mr. David Taylor's store, in
Ash street, was burnt.
On the 2d of February, Rev. David H. Barlow relinquished
the care of the Second Congregational Church ; and Rev, Sam
uel D, Robbins was ordained pastor of the same church on the
13th of November,
On the 14th of February, the new Baptist meeting house on
the north side of the common was dedicated.
One of the most remarkable phenomena ever witnessed in
New England, was a shower of meteors. It commenced soon
after three o'clock, on the morning of Wednesday, the 13th of
November, and continued until day. There were many thou;
sands, which fell in all directions, like flakes of snow. Most of
them were small, but some of them appeared as large as seven
stars combined in one. The meteors seemed to proceed chiefly
from a point about fifteen degrees southeast from the zenith,
and the display was noticed in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
1834. On the 28th of May, several persons destroyed the
curious cave in the Dungeon Rock, under an imagination that
they might obtain a treasure. They placed a keg of powder in
the cave, which, on its explosion, blew out the lower portion of
the rock, causing the great mass above to faU, and thus destroy
ing the cavern. This is the third time that curious and won
derful caves in Lynn have been destroyed by wantonness. It
is much to be regretted that this rage for destructiveness cannot
cease. Such persons ought to be confiaed, as destroyers of
God's beautiful works.
On the 31st of July, Mr.  Durant ascended in a balloon
from Boston, passed over Nahant, and descended into the water,
from which, in aboii|; fifteen minutes,, he was taken up by a
schooner. On the 12th of August, Mr. John Mudge's barn, in Shepard
street, was burnt by lightning. The Mechanics Bank, in Broad
street, was built this year.
1835. On the 22d of AprU, Rev, David Peabody resigned
the pastoral charge of the First Congregational Church.
A comet appeared, in the constellation of Ursa Major, on the
9th of October, and continued in view about two weeks.
On the 4th pf November, Hezekiah Chase's miU, atthe mouth
of Strawberry brook, was burnt.
The Christian Church, in Silsbee street, was organized on the
Sth of November; the first minister Was Rev. PhUemon R. Rus
sell, who preached there about five years.
On Tuesday evening, November 17, the northern hghts were

1836i] HISTORY OP LYNN. 251-
¦very lustrous, and presented the singular appearance of a splen
did iUuminated crown in the zenith.
On the 10th of December, the Firs,t Universalist Meeting
House, in Union stieet, was dedicated. The 16th was the
coldest day of the season, the thermometer being fourteen de
grees below zero. On the evening of the 17th, Mr. Rufus New
hall's barn, in Essex stieet, was burnt. On the 28th, Lieutenant
Robert Mudge, of Lynn, aged 26 years, was kUled by the Sem
inole Indians, near Withlacoochie, in Florida, three persons only
escaping in a company of 108,
1836. This year, the second attempt was made to form an
Episcopal Church. It was commenced on the 7th of January,
by tliree persons, under the name of Christ Church, On the
fifth of November, a handsome rustic edifice, with diamond
¦windows, and four Tuscan columns, was erected on the north
side of the common. Rev. Milton Ward was the first min
ister. The Second Universalist Society was organized on the 9th of
March, They purchased the old meeting house, vacated by the
First Congregational Society, now standing on the corner of Com
mercial street. Their first minister was Rev. Dunbar B. B[arris.
This winter was very long and cold ; snow began on the 23d
of November, and sleighing continued until the 15th of March,
sixteen weeks.
Rev. Parsons Cooke was installed pastor of the First Con
gregational Church on the 4th of May.
This year, Henry A. Breed, Esq. built the large brick factory
on Waterhill, for calico printing and dying. He dug a hew pOnd,
comprising about an acre, for a reservoir. He also laid out sev
eral new streets, ,and built neariy four hundred convenient cot
tages, and other buildings, and a wharf
Dr. Richard Haseltine died on the 10th of July. He was
bom at Concord, N. H., November 28th, 1773, married Phebe
Carter in 1799, and came to Lynn in 1817.
On the 23d of September, a young man jumped off" the preci
pice of High Rock, a descent of sixty feet, and, strange to tell,
walked away .iininj ured !
A fire in Front street, on the evening of the 26th of October,
burnt Mr. Boynton Viall's stable, and the shoe manufactory of
Isaac B. Cobb, Esq.
The brig Shamrock, Jortin, of Boston, with a cargo of sugar
and molasses, was wrecked on the Long Beach, on the 17th of
December. 1837. On the 15th of January, at two o'clock in the mom
ing, there was an earthquake.

252 HISTORY OP LYNN. [1838,
The new meeting house of the First Congregational Society
was dedicated on the 1st of February,
On the first of June, Mr. William Newhall was drowned, by
falling overboard from a sloop, near Nahant. On the 20th, the
schooner Triton, of Waldoborough, loaded with wood, was
wrecked on Fishing Point, Swampscot. On the 21st, Lewis A.
Lauriat ascended in a ballon from Winnisimet, and landed in the
woods near Lynn Dye House.
Augustus, son of Israel Perkins, aged fourteen years, was
drowned on the 1 st of July, whUe bathing in AUey's mUl pond,
near the wharf
The Fourth of July was celebrated at Lover's Leap, by a
party of ladies and gentlemen of Lynn, Boston, and Salem, and
several songs, written by the Lynn Bard, were sung.
The Episcopal Church, on the north side of the common, was
consecrated on Thursday, July 20th. Sermon by Bishop Gris-
wold. In August, a survey of Lynn Beach and Harbor was made by
Alonzo Lewis, under the direction of Congress ; and a plan
siibriiitted for the purpose of erecting a sea wall, the whole
length of the beach, at an expense of $ 37,000 ; but though en-
courageifaent was given for a grant, yet none was obtained.
1838. Charles Frederic Lummus died on the 20th of April,
aged 37 years. He was the printer and publisher of the Lynn
Mirror, the first newspaper in Lynn. He was an excellent mu
sician, and a choice spirit. Few young men in Lynn were ever
more extensively beloved, or more deserved to^ be. But thou
art dead ! ' Alas ! poor Yorick ! ' Thine is a loss to be thought
about, and thou shalt long live in our love.
The ladies of Lynn held a great Fair at the Town HaU on
the 4th of July, for benevolent purposes, Frances Maria Lewis
was principal, and nearly $ 500 were obtained.
The Eastern Rail-road, from Salem to Boston, passing through
Lynn, was opened for public travel on the 28th of August.
Before this time, a few stages had accommodated all the eastern
travel ,- but now the number of passengers, to and from Boston,
so rapidly increased, that for the first three months^, the average
was three hundred and forty-eight persons each day. The com
pany for effecting this great and conyenient enterprise, was in
corporated on the 14th of April, 1836, The road hag" since been
extended to Portsmouth, at an expense of about $ 2,300,000, It
was a magnificent project,- happily accomphshed, and it may be
regarded not merely as a civU convenience, but as a work of
great moral influence, tending to break down the barriers of sec
tional prejudice, and to promote feelings of benevolence and re
finement, by bringing many persons of both sexes into habits of
social and daily intercourse, ,

1839.] HISTORY OP LYNN. 253
On the twenty-eighth of September, two brakemen, Tyler and
iianer, who -were standing upon the top of a car, were instantly
killed by being steuck against the overhead framework of the
httie bridge at Breed's wharf
The Lynn Freeman, the third newspaper in Lynn, was com-
mericed on the tenth of November,
1839. On the twenty-seventh of May died Frances Maria,.
wife of Alonzo Lewis — a woman amiable, talented, virtuous, and
greatiy beloved. Her funeral was attended by perhaps as great
a number of persons as were ever present at the interment of
any lady in Lynn, to whom her active benevolence, and her
worth as a teacher, had greatly endeared her.
Amid the attention which is given to the various concerns of
humanity, surely one page) may be spared as a tribute to the
excellence of Woman, In the course of History, the virtues and
the ¦worth of Man are delineated in all the features of strong and
admirable portraiture; but Woman — the inspiration of exist
ence, the soul of humaruty, without whom the world would be
but a resplendent desert, and Ufe itself a burden to its lordly
and lonely possessor — Woman is overlooked with indiff"erence,
as if she were not entitled even to a small share in the record
of human events. When man is consigned to the tomb of his
fathers, his worth is recorded on monuments of marble, and his
virtues Uluminate the page of history; but the grave b£ woman
is passed in silence and neglect. She who is the mother of
man, the wife of his bosom, the daughter of his aff"ection — she
who has shared all his dangers and encouraged his footsteps up
the steep ascent of fame — she who in the hour of sickness has
been his comforter, in the day of adversity his support, and in
the time of trial his guardian angel — generous, virtuous, unas
suming woman — is permitted to go to her everlasting sleep,
with no mention of her name, no record of her virtues. Poetry
indeed has extolled her, but even poetry has praised her but
half It has represented her chiefly as a thing of beauty, an
object of youthful admiration, a creature of light and fancy, full
of fascination and the blandishments of love. Poetry and ro
mance follo^w her in the sunny days of youth and beauty ; but
when the time of her maturity and usefulness arrives,- they
abandon her for other pursuits, and leave her alone to encounter
the trials, and sickness, and sorrows of home. It is there, in the
unobserved paths of domestic life, that the value of woman is to
be estimated. There may be found unwavering faith, untiring
affection, hope that endures all afflictions, and love that bears all
trials. 'There may be found the smUe of unfaUing friendship,
mantling over a breaking heart — the unobtrusive tear of sym
pathy, faUing in the sUence of soUtude, There may be found a

254' HISTORY OP LYNN. [1840.
being, like a spirit from another world, watching through the
long dark hours of night, over the form of manhood, prostrate and
wasting by slow consuming sickness, and performing aU the
numerous duties, and encountering all the innumerable trials of
common life, with the enduring patience of years, and with no
reward but the satisfaction of her own secret heart, Man per
forms the public toils of life, and participates the honors of the
world and the recompense of fame ; but woman, who has formed
man for his high destiny, and whose virtues and amiable quali
ties constitute the refinement of society, has no share in such
rewards. But history cannot do justice to her merits ; she must
be satisfied with the living admiration of her excellence on
earth, and the everlasting remuneration of her virtues in heaven.
On the seventh of June, Rev. Samuel D, Robbins resigned
the care of the Second Congregational Church,
One of the greatest storms for many years commenced on
Sunday, December fifteenth, and continued three days. It con
sisted of snow and rain,, and the wind blew a gale, which did
great damage to the shipping in many places. The schooner
Catharine, from Philadelphia for Boston, ¦was wrecked on the
rocks near Bass Point, at Nahant, Two of the crew were in
stantly drowned, and another was so injured, by being dashed
upon the rocks, that he soon died. Captain Nichols and one
man were saved. At Gloucester, twenty vessels were wrecked,
and seventeen dead bodies were picked up on the beach, '
1840. On the first of January, Rev, WUliam Gray Swett
was ordained minister of the Second Congregational Church.
On the evening of Sunday, October twenty-fifth, a scene of
terrific grandeur was exhibited, A tempest suddenly rose, in
which the thunder was exceedingly heavy, so as to shake the
houses like an earthquake ; and the hghtningwas intense, mak
ing the whole atmosphere, at times, appear as if it were a flame ;
and in the house, it seemed as if one were enveloped with fire.
At the same time snow fell and covered the ground. The
exhibition was singular and awfully sublime.
On the eleventh of November, during a storm, the tide rose
higher than it probably had done since 1815,- The wind had
been easterly for several weeks, and' the sweU of the waters was
immense; passing for several days entirely over the Long
Beach, so that not only the harbor, but the marshes of Lynn,
Saugus and Chelsea, were a portion of the mighty sea. There
was no safety in approaching near the level shore ; but it was a
grand and terrible sight, to stand upon Sagamore hUl, or some
other elevation, and view the fearful devastation of the waters,
Nahant appeared to-ibe severed forever fiom the main, and
ocean to be passing the bounds of ita ancient decree.

1841,] HISTORY OP LYNN.

255

One fa,ct appears evident from recent observation — either
the sea is encroaching upon our shores by elevation, or the
marshes are sinking. There are strong indications, by marks
upon the rocks, that the ocean once broke against the cliffs of
Saugus ; and on examination of the marshes, we are led to the
almost irresistible conclusion, that the whole region, now occu
pied by them, was once a portion of the sea. By some means,
not easily explained, these marshes were formed, and covered,
or filled, with teees. The trunks and stumps of those trees, in
some places bearing marks of the axe ! are now buried two or
three feet below the surface of the marsh I and t-wice that depth
beneath the level of high tides ! — so that the sea, after having
been shut out by some great revolution, appears to be retuming
to claim what were perhaps its ancient limits. Another proof
that the waters are gaining upon the land, is the fact, that the
creeks are much wider now than they formerly were ; and the
trunk of a pine, which a few years since, projected three feet
into the river, now projects twenty feet,
• 1841. The Lyceum Hall in Market street was built this
year. During several years the public attention has been much
excited by the subjects of Phrenology and Mesmerism. Many
lectures have been given, by professors from Europe and America,
and many interesting experiments performed, to the satisfaction
of many; but some stUl remain incredulous. The most popu
lar lecturer on Mesirierism is Dr. Robert H. CoUyer, of London.
This year, Joseph G. Joy, Esq. built his Log Cabin, at Nahant,
from a plan by Alonzo Le-wis.
1842. Mr. Enoch Curtin died on the twenty-eighth of May.
He was born September 25, 1794, and married Susan Ireson.
He was a man of estimable qualities, and possessed great poet
ical talent. He had a very happy faculty for the production of
odes and songs, adapted to particular occasions. Plis mind was
intellectual, refined, and noble, and he was -widely esteemed and
beloved. The Lynn Natural History Society was formed on the third
of August. It has been very successful in the coUection of in
teresting natural curiosities, and promises to become a source of
great information and utUity, as well as of amusement.
On the seventh- of September, a boy from Salem, William
Henry Ropes, aged 14 years, was killed by the RaUroad cars,
whUe walking with his father, on the track, near the crossing of
Burrill street.
Another great storm happened Friday, the third of December,
durino- which a singular phenomenon occurred. It was high
tide aliout ten o'clock in the forenoon, and the tide rose nearly

256 HISTORY OF LYNN, [1843.
three feet higher than coinmon spring tides. Soon after eleven,
when the water had ebbed more than a foot, the wind changed,
and brought the tide in again above two feet ; so that vessels
and timbers, landed by the first tide, were set afioat by the
second. This is the only instance on record of a double tide,
smce the remarkable one in 1635,
1843. Dr, Charles O, Barker died on the eighth of January,
He was born at Andover, March 8, 1802, graduated at Cam
bridge in 1822, and married Augusta, daughter of Rembrandt
Peale, in 1828, His practice was extensive and successful, and
he was beloved by all who formed his acquaintance.
Rev, WiUiam Gray Swett, pastor of the Second Congrega
tional Church, died on the fifteenth of February, He was bora
in Salem, July 15, 1808, and graduated at Cambridge in 1828,
He went to Cuba in 1830, for the benefit of his health, where he
spent upwards of two years. In July, 1836, he was ordained at
Lexington ; and on the first of January,1840, was installed at Lynn.
He was a practical preacher, and was greatly beloved by his peo
ple. His death was a great loss to his society and t(j the town ; fgr
he was a man of talent, of active benevolence, and of sterling
worth. He united high classical attainments with a manly piety,
and knew enough of human nature to mingle with all its sym
pathies, and partake of all its innOcent and social enjoyments.
In a sudden storm of snow and rain, on the moming of March
seventeenth, before day break, the schooner Thomas, Captain
William Sprowl, of Belfast, loaded with wood, was wrecked
on the southern end of the Long Beach. There were seven
nien on board, five of whom were drowned, by the swamping of
the long boat, as they were attempting to gain the shore.
A splendid comet made its appearance this year. It was
observed on the first of Febraary, in the day time, passed the
sun on the twenty-sixth of that month, and was in its most favor
able position for observation on the night of the eighteenth of
March. Its train then extended from Zeta in Eridanus, to Eta
in Lepus — thirty-eight degrees in length. It was very briUiant
and beautiful.
The winter was very cold. I crossed the harbor on the sev
enteenth of March, and the ice was then strong enough to bear
a horse. On the fourth of April the snow in many places was
three feet deep, and on the eighth, a man drove an ox sled, loaded
with wood, across Spring Pond. On the twentieth of AprU, the
ice was still thick on the ponds. There were heavy frosts on
the first and second of June.
¦ President John Tyler attended the celebration of the Battie
of Bunker Hill, on the seventeenth of June; and in that week,
20,600 people passed over the Eastem Railroad,

1843.]

HISTORY OP LYNN.

257

Lewis A, Lauriat made an ascent from Winnisimmet on the
fourth of July, and descended amid thousands of spectators,
near the Lynn Bard's cottage, at Sagamore Hill,
This year, Theophilus N. Breed built his factory, for making
cutlery and shoemaker's tools, on Oak street.
In August, about twenty of the Penobscot Indians came to
Lynn, and encamped, some at High Rock, and others at Nahant,
Rev, John Pierpont, Jr, was ordained minister of the Second
Congregational Church, on the eleventh of October.
For about four years past, it has been noticed, that the Syca
more trees have been leafless, decayed, and dying. It is sup
posed that their decay has been owing to heavy frosts, blighting
them, after they had budded early.
Sagamore Hall, near the Lynn Depot, was burnt in the night
of the twenty -fifth of November, Loss about ^3000. The town
has been remarkably exempt from losses of this kind — this
being the only great fire for ten years.

Canova's Washington.

33

CHAPTER XII
Shoemaking at Lvnn — Tanneries — Morocco Manufactoriefs— Fishery— Public-
Buildings and Societies— Climate— Sea Bathing-— Census- Cottages at Na
hant. Spare notie but such as go in clouted flhoon,
For such, are thrifty, honest men. Shakspeakb,
The American foot shall be as celebrated as the Phidian nose. Willis.
ADIES' SHOES began to be made in Lynn
at a very early period ; and that business has
long been the principal occupation of the in
habitants, Shoemaking is a very ancient and
respectable employment, for we read in Homer,
of princes manufacturing their own shoes.
They have been made of various materials —
hides, flax, sUk, cloth, wood, iron, silver, and
gold — and in great variety of shape, plain and ornamental.
Among the Jews they were made of leather, linen, and wood.
Soldiers wore them of brass and iron, tied with thongs. To
put off the shoes was an act of veneration. The Asiatics and
Egyptians wore shoes made of the bark of papyrus. Among
the Greeks, the shoe generally reached to the mid leg, like what
we now call bootees. Ladies, as a mark of distinction, wore
sandals — a sort of loose shoe, something like a modern shp-
per. Xenophon relates that the ten thousand Greeks, who
followed young Cyrus, wanting shoes in their retreat, cov
ered their feet with raw hides, which occasioned them great
injury. The Roman shoes were of two kinds — the calceus,
which covered the whole foot; and the solea, which covered
only the sole, and was fastened with thongs. Ladies of rank
wore white, and sometimes red shoes ; other women wore black.
The shoes of some of the Roman emperors tvere enriched ¦with
precious stones. It was generally regarded as a mark of efiemi-
nacy for men to wear shoes. Phocion, Cato, and other noble
Romans, had no covering for their feet when they appeared in
public. In the ninth srnd tenth centuries, the greatest princes
of Europe wore wooden shoes, or wooden soles fastened with
leather thongs. In the eleventh century, the upper part of the
shoe was made of leather, and the sole of wood.

1844,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 259
"The Saxons wore shoes, or scoh, with thongs. Bede's account
of Cuthbert is curious. He says : ' When the saint had washed
the feet of those who came to him, they compelled him to take
off^his owri shoes, that his feet might also be made clean; for
so httle did he attend to his bodily appearance, that he often
kept his shoes, which were of leather, on his feet for several
months together,'*
In the Dialogues of Elfric, composed to instruct the Anglo
Saxon youth in Latin, we find that the shoemaker had a very
comprehensive trade. ' My craft is very useful and necessary
to you, I buy hides and skins, and prepare them by my art,
and make of them shoes of various kinds, and none of you can
winter without my craft,' Among the articles which he fabri
cates, he mentions — ancle leathers, shoes, leather hose, bridle
thongs, trappings, leather botties, flasks, halters, pouches and
wallets. t
In the year 1090, in the reign of WiUiam Rufus, the great
dandy Robert was called the Horned, because he wore shoes
¦with long points, stuff'ed, tumed up, and twisted like homs.
These kind of shoes became fashionable, and the toes continued
to increase in extent, until, in the time of Richard II, in 1390,
they had attained such an enormous extent as to be fastened to
the garter by a chain of silver or gold. The clergy declaimed
vehementiy against this exteavagance; but the fashion con
tinued, even for several centuries. In the year 1463, the Par
liament of England passed an act, prohibiting shoes with pikes
more than two inches in length, under penalties to maker and
wearer ; and those who would not comply were declared excom
municate. In the year 1555, a company of Cordwainers was
incorporated in old Boston, England, By their charter, it was
ordered, ' That no persons shall set up, within the said borough,
as Cordwainers, untU such time as they can sufliciently cut and
make a boot or shoe, to be adjudged by the wardens . . , that
if any foreigner, or person who did not serve his apprenticeship
in the said borough, shall be admitted to his freedom, he shall
then pay to the wardens £3 25, M. . . and that no fellow of
this corporation, his journeyman or servant, shall work on the
Sabbath day, either in town or country,' %
Shoes in their present form came into use in the year 1633, a
short time after the first settiement of this country. The first
shoemakers kno-wn at Lynn, were PhiUp Kertland and Edmund
Bridges, both of whom came over in 1635. The business grad
ually increased with the increase of the inhabitants ; and many
* Bede Vit. Cuthbert, p. 24.3. t Turners History Anglo Saxons, 3, 111.
J Thompson's Hi.story of Boston, Eiig. p. 82.

260 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1844.
of the farmers, who worked in the fields in the summer, made
shoes in their shops in the winter. The papers relating to the
Corporation of Shoemakers, mentioned by Johnson in 1651,
are unfortunately lost ; having probably been destroyed by the
mob in 1765. As the first settlers introduced many of then-
customs from England, the privileges were probably similar to
those conferred, mJ^dSS, on the Cordwainers of old Boston.
The term Cordwainer, as a designation of this craft, has long
usurped the place of Ladies' Shoemaker. This word had its
origin from Cordova, a city in the south of Spain, where a pecu
har kind of leather was manufactured for ladies' shoes. The
word in the Spanish is Cordoban; in the Portuguese, Cordovam;
and in the French, Cordouan ; whence the term Cordouaniers,
or Cordwainers. In the eighth century, the descendants of
Alaric, in revenge at being passed by in the choice of a king,
called the Arabians to their aid. They came, and Roderic, the
last of the Goths, fell in the seven days' battle, at Tarik, in 711.
In 756, Abderrhaman made himself master of Spain, and estab
lished his caliphate at Cordova. During the Arabian power,
agriculture, commerce, the arts and sciences, flourished in Spain ;
and in that period, the celebrated Cordova leather was intro
duced. It was made of the skins of the goats of Tafilet, since
denominated Morocco, It was altogether superior to any thing
which had been previously used for the manufacture of ladies'
shoes. It was at first colored black, and afterwards red, by the
/use of cochineal.
' At the beginning, women's shoes at Lynn, were made of
neat's leather, or woollen cloth ; only they had a nicer pair of
white silk for the wedding-day ; which were carefuUy preserved,
as something too delicate for ordinary use. About the year
; 1670, shoes began to be cut with broad straps, for buckles, which
were worn by women, as well as by men. In 1727, square-toed
shoes, and buckles for ladies, went out of fashion; though
buckles continued to be worn by men tUl after the revolution.
The sole-leather was all worked with the flesh-side out. In
1760, John Adam Dagyr, a Welshman, gave great impulse and
notoriety to the business, by producing shoes equal to the best
made in England, From that time the craft continued to flour
ish, until it became the principal business of the town. Fathers,
sons, journeymen and apprentices, worked together, in a shop
of one story in height, twelve feet square, with a fire-place in
one corner, and a cutting-board in another. The finer quality of
shoes were made with white and russet rands, stiched very fine,
with white waxed thread. They were made with very sharp
toes, and had wooden heels, covered with leather, from half an
inch to two inches in height; called cross-cut, common, court,
and Wurtemburgh heels. About the year 1800, wooden heels

1844,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 261
were discontinued, and leather heels were used instead. In
1783, Mr, Ebenezer Breed inti-oduced the use of Morocco leather;
and at the commencement of the present century, two of the
principal shoe manufacturers, were Mr, Amos Rhodes and Col,
Samuel Brimblecom, Lynn is now the principal place in America
for the production of ladies' shoes. There are 130 manufacto
ries, employing about 3000 workmen, and about as many women
binders. There are about Three MUlion Pairs of Shoes annually
made, valued at nearly Two Million Dollars,
Many improvements have, within a few years, been intro
duced into the manufacture of shoes. Formerly all shoemakers
sat at their employment, but that was found injurious to the
health of many. In 1804, Thomas Parker, of England, invented
the ' Standing Seat,' as it is called, which at first was sold for
two guineas. Lasts were formerly made by hand, by a very
slow process ; but Mr, Richard Richards, of Lynn, now has a
machine in operation, impelled by steam, in which lasts, of any
required pattern, are shaped with great facility. The same gen
tieman has recently obtained a patent for a new Sole Cutter,
which greatly relieves the labor of the mechanic. • —
Many Shoemakers have become eminent. Nilant has a book
on shoes. Baudoin, a shoemaker, has a learned work on the
ancient shoe, entitied ' De Solea Veterum.' Hans Sack, a Ger
man shoemaker, wrote fifty volumes of prose. Robert Bloom-
field composed that dehghtful poem, the Farmer's Boy, while at
work on his bench, and wrote it down when he had finished the
labor of the day. WiUiam Gifford, the editor of the London
Quarterly Review, and the translator of Juvenal, served his
apprenticeship with a cordwainer. John Pounds, of Portsmouth,
while engaged in his daily work, contrived to educate some
hundreds of the neighboring children. In our own country, Roger
Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ
ence, was a shoemaker; and John Greenleaf Whittier left the
manufacture of shoes for ladies' feet, to make verses for their
boudoirs. Poets in aU ages have noticed the shoe as an important part
of the dress, especially of a lady. In tho time of Chaucer, the
vamps of ladies' shoes were fashioned in the resemblance of a
gothic church window, Shakspeare bestows an exquisite com-
phment on the manner of dressing the foot, when he says of a
lady — , ,
' Nay — her foot speaks,'
Butier, in his Hudibras, makes the hero of that inimitable poem
pay his devoirs to his lady-love, in the foUowing terms —
' Madam ! I do, as is my duty.
Honor the shado-w of your shoe-tie ! '

262 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1844.
A certain critic, of more learning than good sense, once under
took to bestow an unusual quantity of censure on two of our
own lines, in the description of a lady's person,
' But if one grace might more attention suit.
It -was the strilcing neatness of her foot.'
Now we think that every reader of good taste will agree with
us, at least in admiring the idea which these lines are intended
to convey.
Genteel Reader — for I trust I shall have many such — are you
aware that you are now perhaps trampling the industry of Lynn
beneath your feet! How often are we indebted to those of
whom we think least, for many of our most valuable and salu
tary enjoyments. Look at that young lady, who might be taken
by Brackett as a model for one of the graces, reclining in an
easy chair, with her foot upon an ottoman. See the delicate
shoe which fits as if it were formed by the hand of Apelles !
Shakspeare (in his Romeo and Juliet) says — ' I would I were
a glove upon that hand I ' How often have I wished — ' O, would
I were a shoe upon that foot ! ' Perhaps neither she who dis
plays that elegant foot, nor the many who admire it, think
that much of- its grace is to be ascribed to some unknown
individual on the shores of Lynn. Yet there, by the sound
of the rippling waters, are thousands of men employed in
manufacturing all manner of outer vestures for the dehcate
foot, and as many women engaged in binding and trimming
them. There the vUlage-lace and the ankle-tie have their
origin — there the belle of the city may suit both her form and
her taste with the newest and most delicately formed style, either
for the boudoir or the baU-room, with its classic shape and its
Parisian titie — there the rustic maid may procure the laced buskin
which shall add a new grace to her modest beauty — and there
the mother may find the substantial fabric, adapted to domestic
comfort for her own foot ; or the soft tissue, with its congenial
trimming of gossamer and gold, for the foot of her loved httie
one. So long as the foot needs to be protected, so long wiU the
manufactures of Lynn flourish.
The tanning of sole., leather was commenced in Lynn at an
early period. In 1630, Francis Ingalls built a tannery at Swamp
scot, which was the first in the United States. In l720, John
Lewis opened a tannery in Boston street. In 1820, there were
six tanneries, but in consequence of the importation of leather
from Philadelphia and other places, they were all discontinued
before 1833.
In the year 1800, WiUiam Rose inteoduced the manufacture
of Morocco leather, m a factory by the brook, on the south side
of the common. There are now three tanneries and eight man-
ufactories of Morocco in Lynn,

1844,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 2C3
The Other principal business of the town is the cod and mack
erel fishery, which is very productive. There are fifteen schoon
ers and about one hundred boats employed in the business at
Swampscot; and a few boats are also engaged at Nahant,
These two places supply Boston, and many country towns, with
fish during the yeai- ; and, in summer, many hundred lobsters
are daily sent into the markets.
There are, in the town, three grist miUs, one miU for choco
late and spices, an establishment for the manufacture of paper
hangings, a dye house, two factories for printing silks and cal
icoes, a manufactory of sashes, blinds, and bedsteads, a planing
mill and a manufactory of cutlery and shoemakers' tools,
Lynn has thirteen churches, nine principal school houses, an
academy, post office, lyceum, bank, two newspapers, (the Wash-
ingtonian, aud Essex County Whig,) an institution for savings,
two insurance companies, eleven fire engines, a social and circu
lating Ubrary, a natural history society, a temperance society,
an anti-slavery society, two ladies' benevolent societies, several
societies for providing watchers for the sick, and ten hotels.
There are three mUitary companies ; the Lynn Artillery, Lynn
Light Infantry, and Lynn Mechanics' Rifle Company, — all in a
good state of discipline.
The climate of Lynn is generaUy healthy, but the prevalence
of east winds is a subject of complaint for invalids, especially
those afflicted ¦with pulmonary disorders. That these winds are
not generally detrimental to health is evident from the fact, that
the people of Nahant, surrounded by the sea, and subject to all
its breezes, are unusually healthy. From some cause, however,
there are a great number of deaths by consumption, Formeriy, a
death by this disease was a rare occurrence, and then the indi
vidual was ill for many years, and the suljjects were usuaUy
aged persons. In 1727, when a young man died of consump
tion at the age of nineteen, it was noticed as a remarkable cir
cumstance ; but now, young people frequently die of that dis
ease after an illness of a few months. Of 316 persons, whose
deaths were noticed m the First Parish for about twenty years pre
vious to 1824, 1 12 were the subjects of consumption ; and in some
years since, more than half the deaths have been occasioned by
that insidious malady. There is something improper and unnat
ural in this. It is doubtiess owing to the habits of the people,
to their confinement in close rooms, over hot stoves, and to then-
want of exercise, free air, and ablution. It is owing to their
violation of some of the great laws of nature. To one accus
tomed, as I have always been, to ramble by the sea shore and
on the hUl top, to breathe the ocean wind and the mountain air,
this close confinement of the shops would be a living death.
Were it not for the social intercourse, I would as soon be con-

264 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1844.
fined in a prison cell as in a room twelve feet square, with a hot
stove, and six or eight persons breathing the heated air over and
over again, long after it has been rendered unfit to sustain hfe. If
mechanics find it convenient to work together in shops, they should
build them longer and higher, and have them well ventilated.
The subject of bathing, also, requires more attention. There
are many people in Lynn, as there are in all other places, who
never washed themselves aU over in their lives, and who would
as soon think of taking a journey through the air in a balloon as.
of going under water. How they contrive to exist I can^not im
agine ; they certainly do not exist in the highest degree of hap
piness, if happiness consist in the enjoyment of that free and
buoyant mind which is nourished by pure air and clean water.
Some of these water haters, a few years since, made a law, that
boys should not bathe in sight of any house ; yet they have fur
nished no bathing houses ; and there are no secluded places,
excepting where the lives of chUdren would be endangered.
Thus they not only refuse to bathe themselves, but prevent the
young, by a heavy penalty, from enjoying one of the purest
blessings and highest luxuries of existence. Perhaps nothing
is more conducive to health than sea bathiag, I do not wish
for a retum of the ' olden time,' with all its errors and absurd
ities, but I do desire a return to that simplicity which is bom of
purity. By the census of 1840, Lynn contained 9,375 inhabUants. It
is the second town in Essex county, the seventh in Massa
chusetts, and the thirty-sixth in the United States, The an
nual expenditures of the town are about $18,000, of which
$6,000 are appropriated for the support of schools. Education
has received considerable attention, but much remains to be
done. The roads are good, the houses neat, and the inhabi
tants moral and industiious. In respect to the beauty of the
scenery, and the equality of the people, there are few places
where a residence is more desirable. The great mass of the
people are m comfortable pecuniary circumstances. None are
very rich — few are very poor. Probably there is no town of
equal population in the worid, where the inhabitants are more
on an equahty. They are remarkable for their temperance, and
much IS annually expended in relieving the poor. If the people
are wanting m aught, it is perhaps in then: appreciation of ser
vices rendered purely to the public, and not to party or sect.
¦The two men who did the most for the manufactures of the town
died in the poor house, Mr, Whiting, who gave a name to the
place, has no stone to mark the spot of his interment ; and the four
men who fell at Lexington, boldly battUng for freedom, when
liberty was almost as hopeless as a dream, have no monument to
their memory. Perhaps there is no greater injustice than that

1^44,] HISTORY OF LYNN. 265

I

inen, who have employed their abUities for the benefit of man-
kind, and the attainment of honorable purposes, should be
allowed to slumber in the dust of neglect; and that those should
engross every mark of attention and every profitable trust, whose
hearts never felt a throb of love for their native country, and
whose deeds leave no inheritance to humanity.
Perhaps it will be an interesting curiosity to some to mention,
that the descendants of several old families are still very nu
merous. The following are the principal names, with the num
ber of legal voters :

NewhaU,

S-2

Chase,

31

Mansfield,

21

Moulton,

15

Breed,

6S

Phillipsj

30^

Rhodes,

20

Tarbox,

15

Johnson,

5.5

Ingalls,

27

Oliver,

18

Collins,

14

Alley,

4S

Parrott,

26

Bachiler,

17

Mudge,

13

Lewis ,

40

Stone,

26

Smith,

16

Perkins,

12

Brown,

33

Richardson,

24

Hawkes,

15 ¦

Fuller,

12

It would doubtless be gratifying to some of the early settlers,
if they could return and witness the advancement which the
town has made in the space of two hundred and fifteen years —
to see the dark wUderness filled with the abodes of industry and
happiness ; and to behold Nahant, which was then ' the portion
of foxes,' now annually visited by the best and fairest iti the
land. Nahant has always been a place of interest to the lovers of
natural scenery, and has long been visited in the summer
season by parties of pleasure, who, when there were no hotels,
cooked their chowders on the rocks. Few of the numerous
visitors at Nahant have any idea of the place in its primitive
simplicity thirty years since, when its advantages were known
and appreciated by a limited number of the inhabUants of the
city and neighboring towns. Accommodations for visitors were
then circumscribed, and food not very abundant, A chicken
knocked, down by a fishing-pole in the moming, and cooked at
dinner, served to increase the usual meal of fish, and was
regarded as one of the luxuries of the place. But notwith-
standin<^ the inconveniences to which visiters were subjected,
several "families from Boston passed the whole summer in the
close quarters of the village. The Hon. James T. Austin, the late
William Sullivan, Hon. William Minot, Charies Bradbury, Esq.,
Rufus Amory, Esq., and Marshall Prince, were among those who
-early and annuaUy visited the rock-bound peninsula with their
families. At this time, Nahant did not boast of a house from Bass
Beach roijnd by East Point to Bass Rock. The whole of the space
now dotted by luxurious cottages and cultivated soil, was a barren
waste, covered bv short brown grass, tenanted by grasshoppers
and snakes. The straggler to East Point, Pulpit Rock, and
34

266

HISTORY OF LYNN. [1844.

Swallows' Cave, found his path impeded by stone-waUs —
while the rest of the island, excepting the road through the vU
lage, was a terra incognita to all, save the old islanders and a
few constant visiters. Subsequently, Rouillard opened a house
in the viUage, which accommodated the numbers who ¦were
beginning to appreciate the beauties of the place. At this time,
no artificial rules of society marred the comfort of the visiters.
There was no dressing for dinners — no ceremonious caUs. No
beUes brought a wardrobe, made up in the latest fashion of the
day ; and no beaux confined and cramped their hmbs with tight
coats, strapped pants, and high-heeled boots. Visiters shook oflT
the restraints of society, and assimilated themselves in some
degree to the rugged charatiter of the scepery around them.
Parties were frequently made, and whole days passed by them
in the Swallows' Cave and on the adjacent rocks — the ladies
with their sewing and books, while the men amused themselves
in shooting or fishing, and the chUdren in picking up pebbles and
shells on the beaches. One of the first improvements made at
Nahant, was a bathing-house at the southern extremity of Bass
Beach, buUt under the direction of James Magee, Esq., whose
name Isecame associated with most of the early improvements.
Since the citizens of Boston took Nahant into their patronage,
its improvement has been rapid, and it now presents the appear
ance of a romantic town, sparkling in the ocean waves.
Among the benefactors of Nahant, no one is deserving of
•higher commendation than Frederic Tudor, Esq,, who has built
one of the most beautiful rustic cottages in the country, and
has expended many thousand dollars to improve and beautify
the place, by constructing side-walks, and plantipg several
thousands of fruit and ornamental trees,bothonhis own grounds,
and in the public walks. He has converted a barren hill into a
garden, which has produced some of the richest and most deli
cious fruits and vegetables that have been presented at the hor
ticultural exhibitions. Citizens of Boston who now have rural
cottages at Nahant for their summer residences, are the fol
lowing: Hon. Thomas H. Perkins, Frederic Tudor, Esq., Geo. CrowninshieldjEsq.
" Edward H. Eobbins, Henry Codman, " Joseph G. Joy, "
" Stephen Codman, John A. Lowell, " Mrs. John Phillips,
" William Prescoft, Samuel Hooper, " ", Gardner" G. Greene,
" David Sears, Benj. C. Clark, " " John Hubbard,
" Benj. W. Crowninshield, John E. Lodge, " " Samuel Hammond,
" Samuel A. Eliot, Thomas G. C&ry, " Francis Peabody, Esq. )
" Nathaniel P. Russell, John H. Gray, " Salem, j
There are three houses on Nahant for the accommodation of
parties and boarders in the summer season — the Nahant Hotel,

1844.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 267
kept by Mr, Phineas Drew ; the Village Hotel, by Mr, Albert
\yhitney; and the Mansion Hotel, by Mr, Jesse Rice, The
visiting season usually commences about the first of June, and
continues four months. During that time, Nahant is thronged
with visiters from all parts of America, and many from Europe,
A summer residence at Nahant is regarded as a refined luxury,
A ramble round the beaches, and among the coves and grottoes,
is a delightful recreation ; but it should be done thoroughly to
be truly enjoyed. Those who drive over the middle road, and
return in an hour, may possibly go away disappointed. Those
who spend a few days, or a longer time, in examining the curios
ities of the place, always express satisfaction and delight.
The Lynn Mineral Spring is a place of agreeable resort at all
seasons of the year. It is in a highly picturesque and romantic
spot, by the side of an extensive pond, or lake, surrounded by
hills and wild woodlands. The first white man who selected this
delightful retreat for his residence, was Caspar Van Cro^wnin-
sljield, Esq., a gentleman from Germany, ancestor of the res
pectable family of Crowninshields, of Boston. He built a cottage
here about the year 1690, and several of the old apple-trees,
planted by him, are still standing in the garden. . A neat and
commodious hotel is open here fOr the accommodation of board
ers and visiters, kept by Mr. Otis King.
In 1836, a new place was found for the admiration of the
lovers of sea-breezes and rural scenery, at the New Cove,
Swampscot. In that year, a convenient house was erected by
Mr. WUliam Fenno, of Boston. It commands a fine view of
the ocean and Nahant on one side, whUe on the other the land
is clothed with the drapei-y of abundant foliage. It combines the
advantages of fishing and bathing, with quiet retreat and cooling
shade, and almost rivals Nahant in its attractions.
The opportunities for the sportsman are not so frequent nor
so great as in the early days ; stUl there are occasionally some
fine chances among the birds. Mr. Ebenezer B. PhiUips, of
Swampscot, has killed forty-seven shags at one shot — that is,
with a single and a double barrelled gun, fired in succession.
He also killed, with one gun, twenty-seven black ducks, which
he sold in Boston for twenty-four dollars.
The Lynn Hotel, situated on the crossing of several great
roads, and in the midst of a pleasant neighborhood, forms a con
venient and agreeable boarding place. The Saugus Hotel, two
mUes westward, in a thriving village, commands a beautiful view
of variegated and picturesque scenery. Five mUes northwest
from the Lynn Depot, is the Lynnfield Hotel, kept by Mr. John
Andrews. It is a pleasant seclusion from the noise and heat of
the cities 'The verdant forest, and the woodland lake, with its
romantic island, wiU be appreciated by every lover of nature.

268 HISTORY OF LYNN, , [1844.
The inhabitants of Lynn, during two centuries, wiU not suffer
in comparison with any equal number of people, in regard to
morality and industry. For one hundred-and seventy-nine years
fi-om the first settlement of the town, there was no lawyer in the
place ; and even no^w, with a population of about ten thousand,
it supports only two. Though that profession is respectable,
still it tells well for the honesty and accommodating disposition
of the people, that they have conducted so large a portion of their
affairs without recourse to law. They indulge somewhat loo
much in detraction; and there is, with many, too much fond
ness for excitement, and too great a love of change, I doubt if
there be any more rational and solid piety and virtue among
those who change their preachers every season, than there was
when the minister remained forty or fifty years, and grew old
and respected among the affections of his people. My own ex
perience has taught me that teachers are changed quite too
often for the benefit of scholars, Itwould be well, before worthy
and devoted teachers are censured, that the inquiry be honestly
made, whether the fault may not be with the children, perhaps
with yourselves. And if the teacher be censurable, do not rash
to the ward meeting, and tum him out, without notice ; but in
form him of youi- objections, and give him the opportunity for
improvement, I never knew any people to suffer for rewarding
merit ; nor was any thing ever lost by candor, honesty, or be
nevolence. The spirit of improvement is evidently upward and
onward ; and people are beginning to find out, and to practice
on the knowledge, that in educating the poor, in relieving the
needy, and in elevating the miserable, they are consulting their
own happiness. Trath dwells only in Love,
In preparing this book, I have endeavored to make it as cor
rect as th* nature of the case would admit, and in so doing, have
been fortunate in obtaining the services of a good Overseer,
Mr, Nathan Sawyer, and a first rate Proof Reader, Mr, George
P, Oakes, who are employed in the estabhshment where the
printing was executed. It is not impossible, however, that in
such a multitude of facts and dates, a few errors may be found ;
but I have discovered none which are essential.

PUBLIC OFFICERS.

REPRESENTATIVES OF LYNN.

1649 to 1653.

Thomas Laighton.

1654.

James Axey.
John Fuller,

1634.

May 14.

Nathaniel Turner,

1655.

Thomas Willis,
Thomas Laighton.
Edward Tomlins.
1656 to 1658.
Thomas Laighlon.
1635.
March 4.
Nathaniel Turner,
1659.
Thomas^Marshall.
Timothy Tomlins.
1660. May 30.
Thomas 'Marshall,
May 6.
Nathaniel Turner,
Thomas Smith.
Dec. 19.
Thomas Marshall,
Oliver Purchis.
Sept. 2.
Nathaniel Turner,
1661.
Thomas Laighton.
Edward Tomlins,
1662.
None.''
Thomas Stanley.
1663.
Thomas Marshall,
1636.
March 3.
Nathaniel Turner,
1664. May IS.
Thomas Marshall.
William Wood.
August 3
John Fuller.
May 25.
Nathaniel Turner,
1665 to 1667.
Oliver Purchis.
Daniel Howe.
166a.
Thomas Marshall
Sept. 8.
Timothy Tomlins,
1669 to 1673.
Oliver Purchis.
Daniel Howe. i
1674 to 1678.
John Fuller.
1637.
April 18.
Timothy Tomlins,
1679.
Richard Walker.
Daniel Howe.
16S0 to 1683.
Andrew Mansfield.
1638.
March 12
Timothy Tomlins,
Edward Howe.
1684to]6S6.
Oliver Purchis.
16S7 10 1688.
None.
1639.
March 13
Timolhy Tomlins,
Edward Howe.
16S9.
Rev. Jeremiah Shepard,
Capl. Oliver Purchis.
May 22.
Timothy Tomlins,
1690.
None.
Edward Holyoke.
1691.
John Burrill, Jr.
Sept. 4.
Edward Tomlins,
Edward Holyoke.
1692.
John Burrill, Sen.,
John Burrill, Jr
1640.
May 13.
Timothv Tomlins,
' But one to serve at a time,'
Richard Walker.
1693 to 1696,
John Burrill, Jr.
Oct. 7.
Timothy Tomlins,
1697,
John Burrill, Sen.
Edward Holyoke.
1698 to 1701.
John Burrill, Jr.
1641.
June 2.
Edward Holvoke,
1702,
John Person.
. Richard Walker.
1703. March 1.
John Person.
Oct. 7.
Edward Holyoke,
May 13.
Samuel Johnson.
Nicholas Browne.
1704.
John Burrill. Jr.
1642.
Edward Holyoke.
1705.
Joseph NewhaU.
1643.
Edward Holyoke,
1706.
John Pool.
Edward Tomlins.
1707.
Jno. Burrill, Jr., Speaker.
1644.
Robert Bridges,
1708.
Samuel Johnson.
Edward Tomlins.
1709.
Jno. Burrill, Jr., Spealeer.
1645.
Robert Bridges.
1710.
John Person.
1646.
Robt. Bridges, SpeaTcer.
1711 to 1719,
John Burrill, Jr.
Thomas Laighton.
1720 to 1724.
Richard Johnson.
1647.
Edward Holyoke.
1725.
Ebenezer BurriU.
164a
Thomas Laighton,
1726 to 1727.
Thomas Cheever.
Edward Hblyoka
1728 to 173a
Ebenezer Burrill
270

HISTORY OF LYNN,

1731. May 17.
June 4.
1732. 1733 to 1739.
1740 to 1742.
1743 to 1745.
1746.
1747 to 1748.
1749 to 1750.
1751.17,52 to 1756.
J 757.
1758 to 1762.
1763.1764 to 1773.
1774. May 19.
Oct. 17.
1775. Feb. 1.
May 31.
Jiilv 12.
1776 to 1777.
1778.1779. May 12.
August 2,
1780 to 1781.
1782.1783. 1784 to 1790.
1791 to 1793.
1794 to 1795.
1796 to 1802.
1803.-1804 to 1805.

Ebenezer Burrill.
Richard Johnson.
R.iohard Johnson.
WiUiam Collins.
Thomas Cheever.
William CoUins.
Ebenezer BurriU.
William Collins.,
Benjamin NewhaU.
None.Benjamin Newhall.
WiUiam Collins.
Benjamin NewhaU.
William CoUins.
Ebenezer Burrill.
Ebenezer Burrill.
Ebenezer Burrill,
John Mansfield.
John Mansiield.
Nathaniel Bancroft.
Edward Johnson.
Edward Johnson.
Hollon Johnson.
Holton Johnson,
Samuel BurriU.
Samuel Burrill.
Holton Johnson.
Samuel Burrill
John Carnes.
Ezra Collins.
John Carnes.
James Robinson.
Abnei- Cheever.
Joseph Fuller, 3d.

1784.1785.
1786.1804.
1820.
1831.

Benjamin Johnson.
William Collins.
Ephraim Breed.
Henry Hallowell.
Samuel Hallowell.
Thomas Bowler.

Since this time, the town has usually
sent from four to six annually ; making
quite too long a list for my pages.

CLERKS OF THE WRITS,
1640. Richard Sadler.
16'13. Edward Tomhns.
1645. Edward Burcham.
16.55. WiUiam Longley.
1662. John Fuller.

TOWN CLERKS.
1666. Andrew Mansfield.
1672. Thomas Laighton.
1686. Oliver Purchis.
1691. John Burrill.
1722. Richard Johnson.
1749. John Fuller.
1755. Joseph Fuller.
1756. Ebenezer BurriU.
1765. Dr. Nathaniel Henchman.
1767. Ebenezer Burrill.
1775. Benjamin Newhall.
1777. William ColUns.

1634 lo 1641.
1646 to 1656.

ASSISTANTS. John Humfrey.
Robert Bridges.

COUNCILLORS.
1721. John Burrill.
1731 to 1746. Ebenezer Burjill.
1827 to 1828. Ezra Mudge.

' SENATORS.
1812. / ^ Joseph FuUer.
1823 — 1824.* Aaron Lummus.
1832 — 1833. Josiah Newhall.
1834—1836. Stephen Oliver.
1839. Isaiah Breed.
1844. Francis S. NewhaU.

MINISTERS.
FIRST CONGBEGATIOSAL.
Stephen Bachiler.
Samuel Whiting.
Thomas Cobbet.
Jeremiah Shepard.
Joseph Whiting.
Nathaniel Henchman.
John Treadwell.
Obadiah Parsons.
Thomas Gushing Thacher.
Isaac Hurd.
Otis Rockwood.
David Peabody.
Parsons Cooke.
SECOND CONGKEGATIONAL.
James Diman Greene,
David H. Barlow,
Samuel D. Robbins,
William Gray Swett,
John Pierpont, Jr.

1632.1636.1637.
1680.1680.
1720. 1763. 1784.
1794.1813.1818.1832.1836.

1824.1829.1833.1840.1843.

1816.
1820.1829.

George Phippen.
Ebenezer Nelson.
Daniel Chessman.

HISTORY OF LYNN,

271

1833. L. Stillman BoUes.
1837. Joel S. Bacon.
1840. Hiram Graves,
1843. Thomas Driver.
FIRST UNIVEESALtST.
1835. Josiah C. Waldo
1839. Lemuel Willis.
1843, Horace G, Smith,
SECOND UNIVEHSALI^T.
1836. Dunbar B. Harris.
1839. Edward N. Harris.
1840. Henrv Jewell,
1S43, John Nichols. CHRISTIAN,
1&35. PhUemon R. Russell.
1841. Josiah Knight.
1842. David Knowlton.
1842. Elilui Noyes.
1843. Warren Lincoln.
EPISCOPAL.
1836. Milton Ward.
1837. Georse Waters.
1639. Frederic J. W. PoUard.
1841. WiUiam A. White.

PHYSICIANS.
1680, PhUip Read.
1685. John Henrv Burchsted,
1720. Henry Burchsted!
1744. John Lewis.
1747. Nathaniel Henchman, Jr.
1769. John Flagg.
1771. Jonathan Norwood.
1775. John Perkins.
1779. Abijah Cheever.
1782. Aaron Lummus.
179"2. James Gardner.
1798. Rufus L. Barrus.
1S05. Peter G. Robbms.
1816. John Lummus.
1817. Edward L. Coffin.
1817. Richard Haseltine.
4828. William B. Brown.
1831. Charles O. Barker,
1832. William Prescolt.
1835. Edward A. Kittredge.
1836. Abraham Gould.
1836. Silas Durlree.
1836. Daniel Perley.
1^7. James Clark.
1837 Asa T. Newhall.
1842, Joseph M. Nye.
1843. William Read.
1843. Charles H. Nichols.
1S43. John PhiUips,

LAWYERS,
1808. Benjamin Merrill.
1811. Joshua Presoott.
1812. Reuben P. Washburn.
ISl,-?. Robert W. Trevett.
1826. Isaac Gales.
1828. Jeremiah C, Stickney.
1837. Thomas B. Niiwhall.

PRECEPTORS
OF LYNN ACADEMY,
1805, William BaUard.
1805. Francis Moore.
1806. Hosea Hildrelh.
1807: Abiel Chandler.
1807. Abner Loring.
1808. Samuel Newhall.
1S09. Proctor Pierce.
1811. Joseph Wardwell.
1812. Solomon S. Whipple.
1815. John Flagg Gardner.
1817. Amos Rhodes.
1819. Benjamin P. Emerson.
1823. Alonzo Lewis.
182.5. Ripley P. Adams.
1827. George Delavan.
1829. Joseph H. Towne.
1S30. Samuel Lamson.
1835. Ephraim Ward.
1835. Jacob Batchelder.

POSTMASTERS,
1795. James Robinson, '
1802 Ezra Hitchings.
1803. Samuel MuUiken.
1807. Elijah Downing.
1808. Jonathan Bacheller.
1S29. Jeremiah C. Stickney.
1839. Thomas J. Marsh.
1841. Stephen Oliver.
1842. Thomas B. NewhaU.
1843, Benjamin Mudge.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Aaron Lummus,
Thomas B. Newhall,
Jeremiah C Stickney,
George Johnson,
Thomas J. Marsh,
Edward S. Davis,
Benjamin Mudge, i
Francis S. NewhaU,
Daniel Perley,
Oliver B. Coolidge,
Asa T. Newhall,
Alonzo Lewis.

272

HISTORY OF LYNN,

SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION.

COLONELS.
John Mansfield,  1775
Ezra Newhall,  1776
CAPTAINS.
Eleazer Lindsey,
Daniel Galeucia,
Joseph Stooker.
LIEUTENANTS.
Frederic Breed,
John Batts,
Harris Chadwell,
Edward Johnson, Jr.
John Upton. SEPJEANTS,
John Hart,
Ebenezer Mansfield,
Henry Roby,
Ebenezer Stocker,
Edward Thompson,
CORPORALS,
Abijah Cheever,
Joshua Danforth,
Michael Drake,
-William Hill,
David Newman,

Ephraim Alley,
Joseph Alley,
Nathan Alley,
Thomas Atwill,
William Atwill,
Zachariah Atwill,
James Bacheller,
Aaron Bailey,
John Baker,
Thomas Barry,
Abel Belknap,
Abraham Belknap,
John Blanchard,
Benjamin Bowdoin,
Francis Bowdoin,
Edward Bowen,
Aaron Breed,
Amos Breed,
Ephraim Breed,
Benjamin Brown,
Jof=hna Burnham,
Alden Burrill,
Ebenezer Burrill,
John Bnrrage.
Garland Chamberlain,
Israel Cheever,
Thomas Cheever,
Thomas Cheever, Jr.
Stephen Coats,
Natlianiel Cashing,

Jacob Davis,
David Dunn,
Oliver DunneU,
Reuben DunneU,
John Farrington,
Jo.^eph Farrington,
Theophilus Farrington,
Theophilus Farrington, Jr.
¦William Farrington,
Joseph Felt,
Charles Florence,
Thomas Florence,
William Gill,
Edward Hallowell,
Henry Hallowell,
Samuel Hallowell,
Theophihis Hallowell,
Ebenezer Hart,
Peter Harris,
Robert Hill,
Nathan Hitchings,
Thomas Hitchings,
Ezekiel Howard,
Benjamin Hudson,
John Hunt,
Daniel Ingalls,
Jacob Ingalls,
John Ingalls,
Joseph Ingalls,
Edward Ireson,
John Ireson,
Benjamin Jacobs,
John Jacobs,
Benjamin James,
Edward Johnson,
James .lohnson,
.John Johnson,
Enoch .Tarvis,
Benjamin Larrabee,
Caleb Lewis,
Blaney Lindsey,
Daniel Lindsey,
Joseph Lindsey,
Joseph Lindsey, Jr,
Ralph Lindsey,
Ralph Lindsey, Jr.
Joseph Lye,
Daniel Mansfield,
Robert Mansfield,
Samuel Mansfield,
Thomas Mansfield,
William Mansfield,
.Tosiah Martin,
Benjamin Massey,
Ezra Moulton,
Enoch Mudffe,
Nathan Miidee,
Samuel Mudge,
Timothy Munroe,
Allen Newhall,
Asa Newhall,
Benjamin Newhall,

Calley Newhall,
Calvin Newhall,
Charles Newhall,
Daniel A. B. Neiyhall,
Ebenezer Newhall,
.lacob Newhall,
Tames Newhall,
James Newhall, Jr.
Micajah Newhall,
Nathan Newhall,
Thomas Newman,
Aaron Nourse,
James Nourse,
Isaac Orgin,
Daniel Parrott,
Marslin Parrott,
Brinslev Peabody,
Joseph i'each,
Richard Pepoon,
Ebenezer Porter,
.Tohii Proctor,
Joseph Proctor, Jr,
James Ramsdell,.
.lames Ramsdell, Jr,
Kimball Ramsdell,
Shadrach RamsdeU,
Silas RamsdeU,
William RamsdeU,
James Rich,
Ebenezer Richardson,
Eleazer Richardson,
Solomon Richardson,
.losiah Rhodes,
John Rhodes,
James Robinson,
Thomas Roby,
John Simms,
Enoch Stocker,
Baxter Tarbox,
Benjamin Tarbox,
Nathaniel Tarbox,
WiUiam Tarbo."c,
David Tufts,
Edward Tutlle,
Richard Tmtle,
Samuel Tuttle,
Ephraim Twist,
Samuel Wait,
Daniel WhIIs,
William Watts,
.Tesse Whitman,
.John Willis,
Daniel Williams,
Ebenezer Williams,
,Toseph Williams,
Henry Young, 163,
KILLED AT LEXINGTOS.
Abednego Ramsdell,
William Flint,
Thomas Hadley,
Daniel Townsend.

ORDER OF THIS HISTORY.

CHAPTES PiOB
L DESCRIPTION OF LYNN AND NAHANT,  19
II, HISTORY OF THE INDIANS,..;  986 to 1628. .. . 39
III SETTLEMENT OF LYNN,  1629 to 1631. .. . 60
IV. CHARACTER AND RELIGION,  1632 to 1636- ...' 77
V. LANDS DIVIDED,.  1636 to 1642. .. .100
VL IRONWORKS, AT LYNN,  1642 to 1656. .. .120
VIL DEXTER CLAIMS NAHANT,..  •  1657 to 1687. ... 144
VIIL ¦USURPATION OF ANDROS,  1688 to 1705. .. .171
IX. NAHANT AND WOODLANDS DIVIDED,  1706 to 1764. . , .188
X. TIME OF THE REVOLUTION,  1765 to 1783. • . .209
XI. REPUBLICAN HISTORY,  1784 to 1844- .. .222
XIL SHOEMAKING AT LYNN,  1844  258

DISTANCES FROM LYNN DEPOT, ETC.

M. E.
To Railroad House,  ^
Post Office,  "  " 1^
Western Depot,  "^ ^82
Lynn Hotel,  1 "
Lynn Beach,  "226
Whitney's Hotel,  4
Nahant Hotel,  4 136
Swampscot Beach,  1 •^^6
Fishmg Point,  2 20
Ocean House,  •  2 ^^^
PhiUips's Point,  3 58
Lynn Dye House,  •  ¦ • 2 70
Mineral Sprmg Hotel,  2 194
Saugus VUlage,  2 220
Saugus Centre,  3 260
Lynnfield Hotel,  4 280
Salem,  •  •  5 96
Danvers,  5 80
Marblehead,  5 184
Boston,  10 170
The Common contains 21 acres — its length,  0 239
Length of Lynn Beach, entire,  2
Nahant Beach,  0 170
Length of Streets,  34 16
Boundary Line,  33 118

ALONZO LEWIS practices Surveying, Writing and Dra^wing, and fur
nishes Plans for Houses and Cottages. For specimens of his work, he refers
to the Maps of Lynn and Nahant ; and to Dr. Kittredge's cottage, in Baltimore St,
Mr. Sweetser's cottage, in Federal St, and Mr. Joy's log cabm, at Nahant.

INDEX.

Page
Abousett River,  21, 44
Academy,  231, 271
Aged People,- .48, 59, 63, 67, 143, 183, 245
Agriculture,  55
Aha-wayet, Indian Princess,  50, 51, 52
Alarms,  58, 76, 216, 238
Alley,  110
Andros, his usurpation,  171 - 180
Anecdotes, of John's Peril, 25 ; fever, 30
Sachem's bride, 48 ; man and bear, 73
¦woman and wolf, 73 ; beaver skins, 74
Dexter, 75 ; gunpowder, 79 ; girl, 80
marriage, 97 ; courtship. 111, 168 ; Mary
Bowdwell,- 115 ; ministers, l4l ; pi
rates, 146 ; apples and cider, 153 ; warn
ing out 185 ; -wit, 205 ; boy, 206; rhyme,
208; soldiers, 2] 5; Mather Byles, 217 ;
gTiessing time, 219 ; Washington, 224.
Animals,  55
Animal flower,  35
Anti-slavery Society,  249
Appleton,  133, 159, 167
Architecture,  ^, 70
ArtUlery,  106, 2.33, 263
Assistants,  -110,116,270
Bachiler, Rev. S.. . • .78, 79, 81, 87, 93, 106
Ballad,  71
Balloon.  2.50, 252, 257
Bancroft, Hon. George,  41, note.
Bank,  238
BaptUts,  112, 119, 122, 130, 136,
'^ 153, 239, 250.
Barker, Dr. C. O.  256
Barlow, Rev. D. H.  247, 250
Bathing,  264
Beaches,  27, 34, 38, .56, 83, 232, 252
Beacon,'  247,249
Bear Pond,  29
"RpFirs •¦  ....¦••¦¦•"¦•  •••¦ /t5
Belles of the Forest,  50
Birds,  21,35, 56,58, 186, 187, 267
Blacksmith,  90, 118
Black WiU,  27, 51, 60, S3

Page
Boiling Springs, . ¦ . ¦ ,  30
Boniface Burton, • ¦ ¦ • •  59, 63
Boston,. -20, 28, 51, 52, 53, 69, 74, 81, 85, 86,
92, 100, 109, 139, 142, 149,
153, 203, 208, 224, 259, 266.
Botany,  -35
Boundary,  20
Breed,  25, 63, 103, 106, 139, 251, 257
Breed's End,  63
Bridges,  21, 24, 29, 80, 109
Brooks,  84, 118
Brook, Lord,  103,105
Burial ground,.  23.5, 242, 243
BurriU,  • : -63, 197, 206
Bunker HiU,  28, 215
Canker worms,  247
Castle Rock,  25, 32
Cattle,  61, 74, 86, 106, 138, 193, 201
Caves  22, 26
Census,  264
Character of first settlers,  77
ChUdren, first born,  66, 78
Christmas forbidden,  •  148
Church,  77, 219, 239, 251, 252
Churches,. . .'78, 87, 98, 149, 155, 224, 239,
241, 250, 263, 270.
Clams,  185, 191
Clay,  23
Clerk of Writs,. • ¦ . 114, 123, 125, 181, 270
Clifl"s,  21, 24,27
Climate,  -¦  37, 263
Clovenfoot rock, • . •  29
Coats, Robert, .'  155, 173
Cobbett, Rev. Thomas, • - . . 101, 105, 123,
124,140,153.
Cobler, Simple;  129
Coffin, Joshua,  58, note.
Cold,  36, 71, 106, 118, 186, 201,
203, 224, 225, 239, 240, 241,
242, 243, 249, 251, 256, 257.
CoUins,  6,89
Comet,  152, 166, 234, 243, 250, 256
Commissioners,  125, 126, 153

276

INDEX.

Cordwainers,  259, 260
Corn,  70, 71, 74, 79, 84, 106, 114, 131,
132, 138, 139, 159, 186, 198, 203.
Cottages at Nahant,  266
Councillors,  270
Courts,  72, 86, 97, 101, 148, 149, 152
Courtship,  48, 111, 132, 133, 168
CromweU,  88, 91
Customs,  219
Curtin, Enoch,  255
Dagyr, John Adam,  204
Dark day,  ^..-217
Dexter, Thomas,. .64, 75, 80, 81, 105, 120,
130, 131, 144, 145, 159.
Drake, Samuel G.  46, note.
Dread Ledge,  28,247,249
Dress, Ladies',  109, 137 , 220
Drought,  170, 203, 208
Drowned,  202, 208, 210, 211, 224,
225, 226, 227, 230, 231, 234,
240, .241, 242, 244, 248, 252.
Dungeon Rock,  148, 250
Ewly Settlers, •..¦,.,  60, 62, 77, 78
5arly 'Voyages,  ,  40
Earthquakes,.. .106, 109, 122,149, 198, 199,
- 200, 202, 205, 218, 227, 231,
234,238,239,248,251.
Eclipse,. •,,•..,,.,  231
Education,  ¦  368, 170
E,gg Rock , ..,.,•..-.,..............,,,.,.. ,26, 28, 32
Embargo, ¦ . •.  232, 334
Fair, Ladies'., . • -• , ,  252
Fairv Queen,  ; . . 49
FarmersV •...¦••  55, 61, 63, 69
Farrington,  90, 139
Felt, Rev. Jos. B.,  53, note.
Fire engines,  139,363
Fires,  65, 68, 114, 132, 200, 205, 226,
229, 233, 240, 250, 251 , 257'.
Fire Flies,  35
Fish,  :  35, 82, 83, 84, 109, 1.54
Fishery,  '.  263
Fishing Point,  118
Flag,  .,...,  88,167,219
Flagg, Dr. John,  225
Floating BridgCj  29
Flora, .¦-•...  245
Foxes,  186, 198, 204
Freemasons,  231, 243, 246
Freemen,  72,87
Friar of Lynn,  102
Frosted Trees,  245
FuUer,  110, 247, 248
Furnaces,  .26, 120
Gardner,  .¦..,"  246, 249
Geology,  30 - 35, 255
Girls lost,  80, 118, 211
Gorges, Governor of Nahant,  43
Graves End,  65
Gray, WiUiam,  ' .'  243
Green, Rey, James D,  242, 245

Groves,  29
Grottoes,  23, 26
Hair, long,  133, 141
Harbor,  ,-  21
Heat,  234,240
Heir of Linne,  102
Henchman, Rev. N.- • . -196, 199, 202, 206
High Rock,  28, 30, 251
Hills,  28
Historical Society,  7
History,.  7, 17
Home,  8, 13
Houses,  55, 70, 266
Humfrey, Hon. John,  86, 88, 97, 101,
' 106,112,114,115.
Hurd, Rev. Isaac,  236, 239
Independence,  232, 234, 244, 252, 257
Indians, . . .11, 45-58, 72, 74, 76, 79, 100,
113, 119, 142, 156, 157, 1^.,170,
177, 187, 198, 202, 241, 257
Infantry,  263
Ingalls,  60, 132
Inhabitants,'  60, 62, 6^, 103, 107,
110, 121, 133, 264,
Irene's Grotto,  23
Iron Works,. . . -25, 65, 120, 123-13S, 138,
139, 147, 148, 154, 159, 167.
Jenks,. . . . 121, 130, 132, 138, 139, 148, 153
John's Peril,  25
Johnson,  90
Justices of the Peace,  .,  146, 271
Kertland,  91, 104, 114
Labor, prices of,  72
Ladies, their dresses,- -109, 137, 138, 220;
shoes, 221, 258 ; method of waking
them, 122.
Ladies' Fair,  252
Lady Moodey,  112, 119, 131
Lady Humfrey,  115
Lafayette,  223, 242
Lakes of Lynn,  19, 29
Lands divided,  102, 149, 188
Lawyers,  233, 271
Lewis, .... 107, 108, 109, 175, 182, 196, 198,
200, 201, 215, 216, 218, 247, 252, 253,
Lexington,  213, 221, 272
Library,  239, 241
Lightning, ¦ . . .204, 206, 228, 231, 233, 247
Lincoln, Earl of,  115^ 117
Lobster Rooks,  26
Log cabin,  255
Lover's Leap,  -28, 30, 252
Lummus,  249, 252
Lyceum,  245, 255
LYNN, its early history, 5 ; description,
of, 18, 82, 137 ; map, 18, 20 ; pleasant
situation, 19 ; boundaries, 20 ; Indian
name, 21 ; geology, 30 ; settled, 60 ; in
corporated, 72; deed, 76; health, 84;

INDEX.

277

named, 101 ; granted more land, 105';
market, 131 ; petitions of, 172, 176, 234;
churches, 265 ; pubUo men, 269,
Lynnfield,  20, 106, 191, 238
Lynn VUlage,  114, 123
Manatahqua, Indian,  50, 52
Map of Lynn,  18, 20, '^17
" ofNahant,  18,20,43
Marblehead,  48, 51, 52, 74
Market,  131
Marriage,   97, 146
Marshall, Thomas  91, 106, 146, 148
Marshes,  '  33, 83, 255
Mary's Grotto^  26
Masconomo,  53, 75
Meadows,  34
Meetinghouses, -99, 137, 159, 166, 181, 187,
192, 200, 202. 224, 231, 239,
241, 244, 249, 250, 251, 252.
Men lost,  229
Meteors,  250
Methodists,  224, 235, 247
MUitia,  73, 75, 79, 80, 81, 87, 100, 123,
125, 126, 131, 146, 156, 167, 181,
202, 206, 216, 234, 238, 263, 272.
Mills,  64, 67, 81, 82, 90, 92, 97,
118, 130, 139, 249, 263.
Mills, James,  180
Mineral Springs,  29, 30, 234, 267
Mines,  25, 43, 65, 120
Ministers,  78,270
Mirage,  35, 36
Moodey, Lady,  112, 119, 131
Money, coined, 139 ; paper money, 216 ;
old tenor, 196, 199.
Montowampate,  47, 48, 74, 75, 79, 85
Morocco,  260, 262
Mother's affection,  141
Muminquash,  51, 157
NAHANT, map of, 18, 20 ; meaning of
name, 21 ; description of, 21 to 27 ; ge
ology, 32 ; temperature, 37 ; storm at,
38 ; its beauty, 40 ; Smith's descrip
tion, 43 ; granted to Robert Gorges,
43 ; cattle kept there, 61 ; sheep pas
ture, 69 ; bear killed, 73 ; Sagamore
kUled, 80 ; Wood's description, 82 ;
wolves there, 81 ; leased for fishing,
87 ; rock mine, 125 ; mortgaged, 138 ;
divided, 144 , claimed by Thomas Dex
ter, 145 ; anecdote, 153 ; Robert Coats
an inhabitant, 155 ; clainied by Dexter's
heirs, 1.59; claimed by Edward Ran
dolph, 171 ; James Mills an inhabitant,
180 ; iron mine, 181 ; claimed by Daf
fern, 185; foxes there, 186; divided
again, 188 ; inhabitants, 193 ; houses,
227, 239, 242, 266; sheep killed, 233;
school-house, 239; hotel, 240; man kill
ed, 247 ; chapel, 249 ; improvements,
265 ; cottages, 255, 266 ; hotels, 267 ;
Little Nahant, 26, 31.
Nahanton, Indian,  52

Nanapashemet,. Sachem,  45, 46
Natural liistory Society,  255
Natural Bridge,  24
NewhaU,,  66, 78, 104
Newspapers,  243, 247,263
Night arch,  202, 210, 213, 244
Nonupanohow,  51, 52
Northern Lights, 194,199, 244, 245, 248, 250
North Spring,  29
Packet,  203
Old FamUies,  265
Old oak,  86
Old style,  17
Olden time,  8, 115, 219
Old tenor,  196, 199
Pahpocksit,  52
Parsons, Rev. Obadiah,  223, 225
Pasaconaway,  48
Pea Island,  23
Peace,  319, 238
Peat meadows,  34
Peabody, Rev. David,  .249,250
Pequod war,  100
Perkins,  205, 218, 239, 240, 266
Petagoonaquah,  50, 51
Peters, Hugh, . . -•  87, 88
Petitions,  12.5, 168, 171, 172, 175, 176
Phenomena,  ¦  36, 37, 248, 250
Phillips,  118, 135
Physicians,  166, 271
Pierpont, Rev. John, jr.,  257
Pirate's glen,  39, 30, 146
Pitcher, Molly,  236
Politics,  222, 232
Pometacom,  156, 157
Ponds,  29
Poor house,  240
Porphyry,  30
Postmasters,  271
Post Office,  159, 225
Potatoes,  194
Powder house,  202, 230
Poquanum, Sagamore,^  51, 80
Preceptors,  271
Psalms,  »  115
Pulpit Rock,  24, 32
Pumpkins,  -"~- -70, 71
Quakers, 148, 155, 159, 180, 184, 186, 205,
241, 243, 244.
Quanopkonat,  53
Quanapaug,  .157
Quanapohit,  157
Queakussen,  51, 52
Railroad,  252, 2.53, 255, 256
Randolph, claims Nahant,  171
Reading,. . .20, 109, 114, 123, 139, 146, 159
Records,  103
Rednap, Joseph,  67, 87, 104
Religion,  77
Representatives,  86, 181, 269
Revolutionary War,  213, 221, 272

278

INDEX.

Rifle Company,  263
Roaring Cavern,  24
Robbins, Hon. Edward H.,  240, 266
Robbins, Rev. Samuel D.,  250, 254
Roby, Rev. Joseph,  204, 228
Rocfcwijod, Rev. Otis,  239, 249
Rocks,  22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 41
Round HiU,  29
Sagamores, 27, 46, 61, 74,79, 85, 86, 137, 138
Sagamore HiU,  28, 47, 68, 69, 146
Salem,. . . .-20, 48,- 51, 52, 61, 76, 78, 92, 97,
100, 114, 124, 153.
Sassacus,  100
Saugus,  20; 21, 80, 101, 238
Saugus River,. . .21, S3, 109, 121, 132, 137
Savage Rock,  41, 42
Savage, Hon. James,  91, note.
Schools,  226, 239, 264
Schoolmasters,  170, 185, 187, 191, 192,
194, 196, 200, 204.
Scott, Sir Walter,  105
Scythe,  139
Sea Serpent,  240
Selectmen,  97, 159, 170, 175, 182, 204
Shark,  247
Shepard, Rev. Jeremiah,. . .166, 170, 179,
182, 184, 186, 187, 193, 195.
Ships built,  198, 249
Shipwrecks, . -66, 74, 80, 146, 193, 201, 206,
209, 210, »25, 2-26, 227, 243,
244, 245, 246, 251, 252.
Shoes and Shoemakers,. .89, 91, 138, 186,i
187, 204, 208, 258 ; tools, 257.
Simple Cobler,  129
Slander,  149
Slaves,  • - . 13, 15, 217
Small pox,  197, 249
Smith, John,  42, 67
Snow,. -85, 106, 118, 192,210, 211, 224, 228
Soil,  36
Soldiers of the Revolution,. .213, 221, 272
Spouting Horn,  25
Springs,  ,.  29. 30, 65
Stage,.  ¦ .207
Stamp act,  209
Stocks,  81
Storms,. .19, 35, 38, 89, 123, 131, 159, 192,
199, 201, 210, 228, 230, 234, 235, 238,
239, 241, 245, 246, 248, 254, 255, 256.
Sunrise on the Water,  36
Swallows' Cave,  22, 23
Swampscot,  27, 28, 30, 80, 112, 114,
118, 148.
Svramps,  34
Tanneries,  61, 138, 262
Taverns,  63, 91,97, 123, 125, 152, 215

Taxes,  84, 132, 193, 264
Tea,  194, 210, 211, 212
Temperance,  243
Tempest,  247
Thacher, RevJ T. C,  22.5, 235
Tides,  247
Tontoquon,  50
Tomlin's,  67, 81, 97, 103, 114, 123
Town Clerks,  105, 112, 114, 153, 270
Town House,. • • •  238
Town Records,  5
Towns settled by Lynn people. Sand
wich, 101 ; Lynnfield, Hampton, 106 ;
Reading, Spiith Reading, North Read
ing, Barnstable, Yarmouth, 109 ; South
ampton, Flushing, Gravesend, Jamaica,
Hempstead, Oyster Bay, 114 ; Amherst,
200; Saugus, 238.
Townsend,  92, 104, 114
TreadweU, Rev. John,  208,218
Trees,  20, 33, 35, 89, 245, 247, 257
Tudor, Frederic,  242, 266
Turner, Nath'l,  67, 69
Turnpike,  230
Universalists,  251, 271
War,  6, 46, 100, 156, 157, 177, 187,
205, 213, 226, 235.
Washington,  219, 224, 226, 257
Webster, Daniel,  97
Wedding,  48, 138
Wenepoykin, Sagamore,. .47, 50, 86. 119,
138, 146, 156; 157.
Wenuchus,  23, 48, 50, 76
Whale,  205, 245
Whaling Company,  249
Wheat,  152
Whipping post,  81
WhippoorwiU,  10, 19, 36
Whiting, Rev. Samuel,. 97, 105, 123, 150,
153, 158, 160.
Whitefield, Rev. George,  202
WindraiU,  64, 97
Winthrop, Gov.. .62, 74, 117, 118, 121, 123
Witchcraft,  166, 182, 236
Witter, William,. . . .69, 122, 130, 136, 137
Wood End,  61,62
Woodlands,  102, 188
Wood, WiUiam,  21, 61, 82
Wolves,  26, 73, 87, 186, 187, 204
Woman,  109, 212, 220, 253
Wonohaquaham,  47, 74, 75
Wuttanoh,  50,51
Wuttaquattinusk,  50, 51
Yawata,  23, 47, 51

PINI S.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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