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Sunday, March 30, 2014

Thomas Macy and George Peaslee Powow preacher spats with Puritans

My story in Newburyport News with added news clips and pictures


Powow preacher spats with Puritans
During preparations for a visit to the Macy-Colby house in Amesbury next month, research led to some intriguing court documents that divulge the spiritual squabbles surrounding Thomas Macy, the first to occupy the dwelling in 1649.

Although listed in early deeds as a “merchant” and “Clothier,” Macy’s “great energy and determined will” earned him multiple positions of rank including that of town clerk, deputy to the General Court, and overseer of highways and schools. Macy also received a grant for a sawmill on “the west side of the Powow, with the privilege of using all the timber on the common.”

By all accounts, Macy appeared to be a golden boy with the Puritan power heads, except on matters of prayer. In fact, he openly defied them by preaching with Joseph Peaslee in separate assembly from the authorized Sabbath. This did not go over well with Puritan officials, who deemed it “unfit preaching” and charged the two provocateurs with “exhorting the people on the Sabbath in the absence of an ordained minister.” The General Court had passed a law in prohibiting preaching “except by leave of the authorities.”

Since Master Macy was not the sort of fellow to be trifled with, he made it very clear that his faith would not be dictated to him and “Brother Peaslee, brave confessor” was not about to rob followers of “gifted” sermons. This surge of passion animated another pet of the Puritan fold, Robert Pike, who held high public offices.  Picture of Pike below



Pike spoke out against “restraining unfit persons from constant preaching” and engaged on a crusade against the civil tribunal, asserting they “had violated their oaths as freeman; that their act was against the liberty of the country, both civil and ecclesiastical, and that he stood ready to make his declaration good.”

The provoked court arraigned the “culprit who thus dared to insult their majesty.” A series of petitions were filed to release Pike from his charges. Notables from several towns signed, and the court ordered commissioners to gather “incorrigibles” to give reason on why they were “induced to subscribe” to such a defiance. Pike waged on, accusing the leaders of “assailing magisterial authority and dignity.”

Certain commissioners who sided with Pike, such as Thomas Bradbury and William Gerrish, retracted to avoid trouble with the boss-men magistrates. Most became “refractory spirits” and were fined for turning on God’s chosen officials, but 15 men stood their ground after the officials finished their hunt.

Here are a few of the loyal souls who held up their conviction to the court: John Bishop “desired to go to the meeting house and turned his back and went away” (QC 1:367). John Emery and John Bond refusing to comply and did so in “a bold, flouting manner.” Benjamin Swett replied, “Every free subject hath liberty to petition for any that had been in esteem, without offence to any; and the petition itself hath answer in itself sufficient.” John Wolott agreed if he “be called to [a higher] power to answer, he will then answer and so went away very highly” (368).

In 1657, Macy found himself in further turmoil for sheltering traveling Quakers in his barn during a fierce rain storm. For this brief hour of gracious harbor he was ordered to appear in court, but he sent the officials a letter instead.

In 1658, “certain inhabitants” (Macy and Peaslee) filed a petition to break off from the official church of Reverend Worcester, but it was denied. The court demanded attendance to the true fellowship, and fines were issued to the flock of dissenters for “slighting and neglecting the order” and “disorderly practices.” However, Peaslee preached on as the “Come-outer,” and Pike, “the moral and fearless hero of New England,” fought injustice against Quakers and accused witches.

Macy sought religious refuge on a voyage recalled in Whittier’s poem, “The Exiles.” Macy legend states that his wife, Sarah, pleaded with him above the cries of their five tots to curtail his warrior spirit and sail away from an evil storm brewing, but he just replied, “Woman, go below and seek thy God. I fear not the witches on earth, nor the devils in hell.”

The crew made it to safety to Nantucket, where Macy took an active role in negotiating the purchase of the island.

Thomas Mayhew sold it for 30 pounds sterling and two beaver hats.

Although Macy was accused of skirting the Mass Bay despots, this sturdy pioneer preacher consciously chose not to accept laws that openly engaged in religious persecution.

With that said, no one could accuse this pulpiteer of missing his true calling where “charity and freedom dwell,” so “Let the dim shadows of the past” be a reminder for today.


  
Links and sources to check out
History of Essex County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches, Volume 1 edited by Duane Hamilton
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association 
Thoughts and Experiences in and Out of School By John Bradley Peaslee
The New England Magazine, Volume 22Genealogy of the Maulsby Family for Five Generations, 1699-1902: Compiled by Careful Research Among Quaker, Government and Family Records by Patty Payne
The Essex Antiquarian, Volume 8 edited by Sidney Perley
Genealogy of the Macy Family from 1635-1868 By Silvanus J. Macy
Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890 By Nathaniel Philbrick
The Successful American, Volume 1, Part 1 - Volume 2, Part 1
The Coffin Family: The Life of Tristram Coffyn, of Nantucket, Mass., Founder of the Family Line in America; Together with Reminiscences and Anecdotes of Some of His Numerous Descendants, and Some Historical Information Concerning the Ancient Families Named Coffyn
Nantucket Genealogies By Alexander Starbuck
The New Puritan: New England Two Hundred Years Ago: Some Account of the Life By James Shepherd Pike
Early Settlers of Nantucket: Their Associates and Descendants edited by Lydia Swain Mitchell HinchmanGenealogical and Personal Memoirs
The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts By David Webster Hoyt
The Churchman, Volume 39
Nantucket Historical Commission
Miner Descent 
Pike Family
Coffin Family Story
Coffin Family History
Lucrtia Mott Coffin

ALL ARTICLES PDF CAN BE SENT VIA EMAIL

The Settlement Of Nantucket

Date: Saturday, December 31, 1831
Paper: Nantucket Inquirer (Nantucket, MA)
Page: 2 

   
           
  
  
   


200 Years Old but Nantucket Celebrates Its Centennial Only Island T Own En Fete a Notable Program of Addresses

Date: Wednesday, July 10, 1895
Paper: Worcester Daily Spy (Worcester, MA)
Page: 3, 1 

Nantucket Island
Date: Monday, August 4, 1873 Paper: Public Ledger (Philadelphia, PA)
Volume: LXXV    Issue: 113 Page: 2


From Saturday, July 9, 1836 Paper: Norfolk Advertiser (Dedham, MA)
Volume: VI   Issue: 28 Page: 1


The First White Settler in Nantucket

Date: Tuesday, August 23, 1842
Paper: Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, MA)
Volume: XIII   Issue: 3705 Page: 2 

 


Thursday, March 27, 2014

Captain Henry Phelps Salem MA---Letter in a bottle

For New England Phelps Group and those researching Phelps line

Info from "The Phelps family of America and their English ancestors, with copies of wills, deeds, letters, and other interesting papers, coats of arms and valuable records" by Oliver Seymore Phelps
Americana, Volume 13
  
Captain Henry Phelps*, son of Henry Phelps, was born in 1745, and died in 1786. He was united in marriage with Betsey Herrick, of Beverly, Massachusetts. In October, 1786, Captain Phelps was lost at sea. When all hope of being saved had been given up, he wrote a letter to his wife, describing the terrible situation, and, sealing it in a bottle, cast it forth upon the waters. It was picked up by a Boston vessel, and forwarded to his wife, who, from the contents, learned the sad fate of her husband.

Some time after it was picked up by a Boston vessel and so reached Mrs. Phelps. This letter is now in the family. We are indebted to Mrs. E. C. Poland of Wakefield, Mass. for the following copy of same.

"Oct.. 1786, Lat. 44°-24, Long. 52 W.

My Dear Wife:—As I fear this will be the last you will hear from your unfortunate husband, I would inform you that I sailed from France, the 27th of Aug. I had nothing but bad weather. I lost half of our water, and head of my bow spirit with jib and jibboom twelve days after starting. I fell in with a French Vessel in Latitude 48 who gave me about twenty pounds of beef and pork, the bread was all shared. The bearer of this I hope wil! spare me some provisions. I do not know what I shall receive from him. (Note— Mr. Wakefield says, "It is supposed a Vessel was sighted and they hoped to be rescued. The Boston Vessel that picked Up the bottle knew nothing about the wreck.) The 24th of Oct. we shipped a Sea which took off our quarter sail and stauchels and left nothing above my deck. We have at present nothing but our three sails to set. God only knows if we ever meet again. I would advise you if you can, to get Henry through his learning. (Note by Mr. Wakefield "Henry was then in Harvard College.") What little remains of the property is for you to use if you want it, and what you can spare for my dear little sou David. Grief stops my pen. Adieu my dear wife and children. Hoping we shall meet in Heaven. We have been on allowance sixty days and now we are very short. Two of my men are sick and we are almost discouraged. Once more Adieu, my dear wife and children. From your loving husband, Henry Phelps."

Extract from Salem Gazette, 4 April, 1782: Ship "Exchange," Capt. Forester and brig. "Revolt," Capt. Phelps, both belonging to this Port are taken and carried into New York.

Extract Salem Gazette, 9 May, 17X2: Sunday, May 5th, 1782, Capt. Phelps came to Salem from New York, "who was lately taken iii a brig belonging to this Port." He left New York on the Monday preceding, and brought with him considerable news.

Extract Salem Gazette, 15 Jan., 1784: Brig "Monmouth," H. Phelps Commander, cleared Salem Harbor for North Carolina, 14 Jan., 1784.

Extract Salem Gazette, 19 July, 1787: Phelps Commander, arrived in Boston from Hispaniola, 19 July, 17S4.

Extract Salem Gazette, 20 Jan., 1787: A letter from a gentleman in the West Indies to his friend in Portsmouth says: " I supplied a Vessel belonging to Beverly, Henry Phelps, Master, with a small quantity of provisions, 12 Nov., 1786, in Longitude 52 West. Am afraid if he did not get into Nova Scotia he must have perished. He was 76 days from Isle of Ree and almost a wreck."

Essex Probate Records: Capt. Henry Phelps Beverly, Mariner, Intestate, Administration granted to his widow Hannah Phelps, 7 April, 1788, in 1789. A minor son David, oldest son Henry.

Essex Probate: Mr. Henry Phelps, late of Beverly, Mariner, supposed to be deceased, having been absent about two years, Son David r6o8 Phelps Genealogy. Phelps aged 14, Dec. 2nd, 1778, Josiah Bacheldor appointed Guardian, Cornelius Wood and Henry Phelps of Salem, sureties, bonds 600. April, 1788, Appraised Real Estate, 155, Personal 67, 19s., ad. Total ,£222, 14s, 9c. Real estate could not be divided, and it was settled by oldest son, Henry Phelps, payiny younger son, David Phelps, his share in money. Children, b. Beverly, Mass.: + 330. I. Henry, b. 1766, m. three times. 340. II. David, b. 1774, num.
A Mariner, lost at sea in 1803.

After the death of Capt. Phelps, Mrs. Herrick-Phelps m. Joseph Simmons. They removed to Gt. Barrington, Mass., where shed. 18 Jan., 1808, aged 62 years, and where he d, in 1S09. By 2nd marriage she had no children.

*Henry1, John2, Henry3, Henry4

Below is an article Capt Phelps captured by Brits "Revolt" 

By the Hartford Post. Baltimore, April 16
Date: Thursday, May 9, 1782 Paper: Massachusetts Spy (Worcester, MA)
Volume: XII   Issue: 575 Page: 3






Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Gerrish Line Part 1

Taken from "Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Maine: A History, Volume 4 edited by Louis Clinton Hatch History of Maine Register UNH Archives Gerrish Family Genealogy, 1617-1917 And check out The New England Historical and Genealogical Register,: Volume 51 1897, Volume 51: Gerrish Family Bible Record by Lucy Hall Greenlaw


William Gerrish was born June 24, 1842, son of George Washington Gerrish and Sarah Howard (Hanson) Gerrish and died April 12, 1903. His line of New England ancestors extends back for seven generations, beginning with Captain William Gerrish, born August 20, 1617, who came from Bristol, England, and settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1639. Captain William Gerrish died in Salem, Mass., August 9, 1687. His first wife was Joanna, daughter of Percival Lowell and widow of John Oliver, their marriage occurring April 17, 1644. Their eldest son was Captain John Gerrish, born in Newbury, Mass., May 15, 1646, who married, August 19, 1667, Elizabeth Waldron, daughter of Major Richard Waldron, of Dover, N.H., and died December 19, 1714.  
Robert Elliot Jr & Sr George Vaughan, Andrew Peppermill Timothy Gerrish deed.



Next in direct line was Colonel Timothy Gerrish, son of Captain John and Elizabeth Waldren, born in Dover, N. H., April 2, 1684. Captain John was quartermaster in 1670, captain in 1672, high constable in 1683, member of the special General Assembly, 1684, Representative from Dover, 1689-90, Royal Councillor of New Hampshire, 1692, Assistant Justice of the Supreme Court of Pleas of New Hampshire, April 27, 1697, until his death in 1714. Colonel Timothy Gerrish's sixth son, Andrew Gerish, lived in various places, including Dover, New Hampshire, and there his son, Timothy Gerrish, was born April 7, 1756. He was a gold and silversmith, but for the sixteen years preceding his death at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 30, 1815, was deputy sheriff and jail warden. He married, February 6, 1780, Dorothy Patterson, of Portsmouth. Their sixth child, Dorothy Gerrish, born January 1, 1791, died September 27, 1867, married (first) September 1, 1808, William Senter. Among their seven children were sons: William, Timothy, Gerrish and Andrew. William, the eldest, and Andrew, the youngest, were both expert jewelers and were associated in the business in Portland, Maine, the firm Lowell & Senter, becoming large and prosperous.  Below Gerrish Silver Description: COIN SILVER,NH,B1753,FIDDLE,WINGS



Another son Oliver Gerrish born Jan 4 1796, Portsmouth NH. Married Sarah Little on Jan 6 1825 in Portland ME and died Dec 3 1888, Portland MEApprenticed in 1810 to John Gaines in Portsmouth NH He worked from 1817 to 1819 as a goldsmith and jeweler in Boston MA as a journeyman for various firms. Portland ME, 1819-1888: president of Portland Savings Bank, Secretary and Treasurer of Relief Fire Society, a prominent Mason, and active in a large number of charitable and philanthropic organizations. He worked from 1819 to 1857 as a silversmith, jeweler, and watchmaker in Portland ME taking the stand formerly occupied by Joshua Tolford at 6 Jones Row, Exchange Street. Master to Abner Lowell c 1825 in Portland ME. Master to William Senter abt 1828 in Portland ME.







Back to William who married November 14, 1706, Sarah, daughter of the Hon. Robert Elliot and Sarah (Fryer) Elliot, of Newcastle, N. H. Sarah received as her wedding dowry the eastern end of Champernowe Island containing nearly one thousand acres and which for nearly two hundred years has been known as Gerrish's Island and the residence of Gerrish descendants where. the couple settled on Gerrish's Island, at Kittery and he died November 19, 1755. He was a wealthy farmer and merchant of Kittery, Maine, as his father had been of Dover, New Hampshire, and filled many public offices. He was Councillor for Massachusetts and Colonel of the West Yorkshire Regiment. His son John, who was born in Dover, N.H., February 6, 1710, and died in March, 1750, married November 21, 1734, Margery, daughter of Dr. George and Joanna (Pepperrell) Jackson, of Kittery, Me., and a niece of Sir William Pepperrell.
Gerrish chandlery in Kittery Maine Maritime Museum


George Gerrish, son of John and Margery, was born in Dover, N. H., April 9, 1737. He married Mary James, of Portsmouth, N.H., daughter of John and Ann (Lord) James. Her father served in the Continental army as a private in Captain Eliphalet Daniels's company, which in 1775 was stationed at Fort Sullivan. George Gerrish settled in Lebanon, Me., in 1776.

His son, Captain George Gerrish, grandfather of William, was born in Dover, N.H., October 19, 1775. He settled in Lebanon, Me., and married Elizabeth Thompson Furbush (February 21, 1799), a daughter of Richard and Jane (McCrillis) Furbush, of that town. His title of Captain was derived from his rank in the militia of York County, Maine. He died in Chelsea, Mass., January 26, 1850.

George W. Gerrish, son of Captain George and father of Lieutenant William Gerrish, was born in Lebanon, Me., January 20, 1809. In 1836 he settled in Chelsea, and engaged in the real estate business, becoming one of the largest operators in real estate in the State of Massachusetts; and he was for about forty years the largest individual taxpayer in Chelsea. At the time of his death, which took place in Chelsea, April 24, 1876, he had over one hundred and twenty-five buildings in process of construction. His wife, Sarah Howard Hanson, was a daughter of Israel and Sarah (Howard) Hanson, of Dover, N.H. They had eight children; namely, Israel Hanson, Captain George Albert (pic below), Joanna Elizabeth, Hiram Augustus, Joanna Elizabeth (second), William, Sarah Augusta, and Lydia Caroline. Israel, George Albert, and William were soldiers of the Civil War.


William Gerrish was educated in the public schools of Chelsea, and fitted for college at the Chauncy Hall School of Boston. On the breaking out of the great Civil War he enlisted for three years in Company H, formed in Chelsea and belonging to the First Massachusetts Regiment, but was discharged on account of disability. He spent six months endeavoring to recuperate his health, and then entered Norwich University in Vermont, where he spent two years in study. On February 4, 1864, he was commissioned First Lieutenant of the Twentieth United States Colored Infantry, a regiment raised, equipped, and turned over to the United States government by the Union League of New York City, which took part in the capture of Mobile and several other engagements, and which was mustered out in the fall of 1865. While with the regiment Lieutenant Gerrish served as Acting Assistant Adjutant-General for the district of Carrollton, La.


On being mustered out he went to Chicago, but returned East in 1867, and in the following year entered the office of his father. He has since remained a resident of Chelsea. He belongs to the order of the Knights of Malta. For ten years he held the office of Assessor in the city of Chelsea. He is an expert with the rifle, having served as a member of the American team in two international rifle contests. In 1880 he made the highest score at long range ever made. So far as known, the Lieutenant has made ten of the largest scores of any man in the world of which there is authentic record.

Lieutenant Gerrish was married in Chicago, June 11, 1872, by the Rev. Robert Collyer, to Emily Gertrude, daughter of Artemas Spofford and Susan Wheeler (Turner) Patten. His children arc four in number: Susan Louise, born April 12, 1873; William Patten, born September 10, 1874; Charles Victor, born May 15, 1876; and George Howard, born August 15, 1877, of Harvard University, 1901.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

He left his pipe in Newburyport

by Jack Garvey Columnist Leader of AISI Newburyport News He has been a street-piper in Newburyport since 1982, performing on the Inn Street Mall and Market Square as weather allows. He can be reached at hammlynn@yahoo.com  Pictures added by Melissa Berry

                              
               “You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve 
                 your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.” ~John Q Adams


Presidents Day, Monday, Feb. 17 2104

Our Newburyport Public Library once “entertained” three Revolutionary heroes and the infamous pair of Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr.

Sixth name on the lawn plaque belongs to our sixth president, John Quincy Adams, just nine when dad championed the Declaration drafted by a reticent Thomas Jefferson.

Unlike the other five, the younger Adams lived in Newburyport, an apprentice for over two years to Theophilus Parsons, an architect of Massachusetts’ Constitution and later Chief Justice of the Commonwealth.

Adams was engaged to local girl Mary Frazier until her parents broke it off because they thought he had no prospects.

Only in Newburyport.

Perhaps the Fraziers worried over one of Adams’ youthful pastimes. When he arrived here in 1787 as a 20-year-old Harvard grad, he brought with him a musical instrument:

A flute.

Adams’ biographer says he “fell in with a circle of fiddlers and flautists,” frequently playing in public houses, most often the legendary Wolfe Tavern—a tradition now carried on every Wednesday evening and many Sunday afternoons downtown in the Port Tavern.

But there’s no mention of music by the time Pres. Madison sent him to Russia. As minister to Czar Alexander, Adams redeemed himself from a failed stint as a US Senator.

“Failed” is a relative term for a legislator who backed Jefferson’s embargo against an England that mocked our independence with the “impressment” of American sailors into the British navy.

The embargo cost Massachusetts manufacturers dearly, and just as today, putting principle ahead of economic interest was political suicide.

America’s Revolution needed a second act. To win the War of 1812, Adams wrote accords in St. Petersburg and Ghent well before January, 1815, when Andrew Jackson fired that gun and the British kept a’comin’.

Like father, like son: In separate acts each played a lead. The younger Adams’ triumph was gaining Russia’s alliance. Following Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow, England had to accept that a very powerful friend had our back.

Adams’ redemption came when Pres. Monroe made him secretary of state. According to Monroe’s biographer, Adams wrote “the core provision” of the Monroe Doctrine “ending foreign colonization in the Americas.”

Like father, like son: They state the case, a Virginian gets the credit.

A Boston newspaper dubbed Monroe’s two terms “The Era of Good Feeling,” but friction between North and South ended that by the time Adams defeated Jackson—and Henry Clay—in the 1824 presidential race.

Obstructed from the start by a bitter and ambitious Jackson, Adams’ one-term presidency was hardly the stuff of Mount Rushmore.

Old Hickory’s supporters termed Adams’ appointment of Henry Clay as Secretary of State “The Corrupt Bargain,” a theft of the election.

Thus began a four-year smear campaign. Like then, like now: Claims that Adams used prostitutes to strike an alliance with Russia and secure the Treaty of Ghent were as foam-mouthed as “death panels” and “Obamunism” today.

The treaty thus discredited, their slogan for 1828’s rematch gained traction: "Adams who can write, or Jackson who can fight?"

Undeterred, Adams then served Massachusetts and the abolitionist cause for 16 years in the House of Representatives, waging a long and successful war against a “gag order” preventing any discussion of slavery in Congress.

His 1841 victory in the Supreme Court would inform the 1997 film, “Amistad,” with Anthony Hopkins in a penetrating turn as Adams.

Only a stroke on the House floor could stop him. He was 80.

If another Rushmore commemorated work after leaving the White House, Adams would have the peak to himself with Taft, Hoover, and Carter candidates for the nearest ridge.

A new book, American Phoenix, details the roles of John Quincy and Louisa Adams in gaining the Russian alliance, an account owing much to Louisa’s diary.

An active diplomat in fact if not name, Louisa rivals the more celebrated Abigail for prolific and insightful accounts. Like mother, like daughter-in-law.

They all kept voluminous diaries, but after Adams’ Newburyport years none, not even his own, ever mention that flute.

At the time, Adams reported that the “fiddlers and flautists” went on “frolicks” to the homes of young women—Rebecca Cazneau, Sarah Wigglesworth, Elizabeth Coates, and a "Miss Fletcher.”

Serenades through the windows.

And so the sixth president of the United States was a street piper.

Only in Newburyport.

A page of flute music copied by John Quincy Adams when he was studying the flute during his student days at Harvard University (1786-87).




SOURCES:

American Phoenix: John Quincy and Louisa Adams, the War of 1812, and the Exile that Saved American Independence (2013), Jane Hampton Cook

John Quincy Adams (2012) and The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness (2009), Harlow Giles Unger

John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life (1997), Paul C. Nagel.

Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877 (2013), Brenda Wineapple. Long introduction makes a convincing case that JQA’s funeral was a landmark event in American history, his death a turning point in relations between the North and South.

Profiles in Courage (1955), John F. Kennedy. An account of JQA’s support of the Louisiana Purchase and Jefferson’s embargo against the wishes of New England Federalists, especially merchants, is the first of this book’s eight chapters.

For a richly detailed and most engaging biographical sketch of Theophilus Parsons and for a history of the Wolfe Tavern, see www.ancestoryarchives.blogspot.com and type the names into “search site.” Kind thanks to fellow As I See It columnist Melissa D. Berry for these leads.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Infant boat industry grew along the Merrimack

Melissa D Berry from Newburyport News


There is no doubt that the watercrafts forged along the magical waters of the Merrimack and Parker rivers could not be matched. In colonial New England, shipbuilding was an “ancient and useful art — one of the first practiced in the New World, where water carriage, for a long period, preceded land carriage” (Sketches of Shipbuilding Currier). Local legends of the shipbuilding trade include Currier, Hardy, Clark, Morrill, Lowell, Webster and more.

The Mass Bay Colony government offered incentives like land grants to build infrastructure, designed to attract the wealthiest, most desirable fellows around. Amesbury, once known as “Jamioca” for the large quantities of rum brought in from the West Indies, was given grant rights along the water covering “1000 acres, 90 feet above the sea” because it had “a constant and extensive water power” source.

William Osgood was granted the “liberty to make use of all the pine timber on condition of his building a saw mill.” It was at this mill that the first planks were flitched for shipbuilding. Robert Quimby received two land grants, but his marriage to Osgood’s daughter sent him floating on a sea of golden opportunity. Walter Taylor (1659) was awarded the right to cut timber on the Common for building vessels. Nathan Gould’s 1658 court deposition confirms that “heaps of boards” were abundant and mentions a vessel built by Mr. Greaves.

George Carr was given the “greatest Hand in ye river Merrimack,” known as Carr’s Island. Carr was a ship builder, and he ran a ferry across the Merrimack. S. L. Redford’s History of Amesbury asserts that historians rightfully credit Carr “as the one who fathered this infant boat industry,” not only in this area, “but along the entire New England coast.”

By 1749, shipbuilding and farming were “the principle branches of businesses and main stay of the people.” At that time, over 600 vessels had been built, many contracted for and sold to English merchants and foreign parties. The Alliance, a continental frigate, was built at Daniel Webster’s yard in Amesbury by William Hackett, “one of the most enterprising and scientific shipwrights; his services were required in many places on account of his superior knowledge in the art.”

Newbury’s early shipbuilding occurred along the Parker River. As town grants were issued, several “ship yards were scattered along the river bank from Pierce’s farm to Moggaridge’s point.” The ship Salamnder was built by Woodman (1675) at the foot of Woodman’s lane. The Johnson family (1695) had a shipyard at the bottom of Chandler’s Lane operated by three generations, and another shipwright was noted at Thorlas’s Bridge in 1723. Stephen Cross, along “with seventeen associate ship-builders from Newbury, went to Fort Oswego, on Lake Ontario, under contract to build vessels there for the government” (Journal 1750).


The largest vessel constructed on land was “The County’s Wonder,” built on Rowley Common under the direction of Capt. Nathaniel Perley. This massive vessel weighed over 90 tons, and 100 yoked oxen were used to draw her down to the river.

In spite of these early achievements, it was not all smooth sailing in the nautical world. The Records and Files of the Quarterly Court reveals nefarious activity ranging from disorderly conduct to debt collection. For example, Walter Taylor was fined for “using cursing speeches” (EC 3:148) on his apprentices Hoyt and Johnson. Samuel Fowler was convicted for “breech of the Sabbath by travel” (EC 6:23). The Osgood, Ring, Hardy and Carr lines were infamously notable in local witchery cases as well.

Ben Franklin (1650-1727) great uncle to Ben Franklin, hired Benjamin Cocker and John Rolfe to repair his sloop, the Benjamin and Katherine. Initially, the sloop’s leaks could not be mended, creating one hull of a problem! Despite this lack of buoyancy, Ben shacked up on board for 14 days as pressure from the pier to pay up made waves, causing a heated dispute over payment. In an attempt at an amicable resolution, Stephen Greenleaf and Nathaniel Clark acted as mediators for both parties at the home of John Hale, but the “gentlemen’s agreement” forged that day would not last. Although the sloop was restored, an attachment was ordered on her for payment past due.

The matter eventually ended up in court, and local folks came forward to testify, including John March, who never received payment for “seven weeks diet and use of his home” (EC 9:93). Leaving a trail of debenture, Franklin sailed out of the Merrimack before his next court date, but his debtees were no dinghies — they capsized Franklin in Boston Harbor. The matter finally settled, Franklin made good in copper and coin (EC 9:249). Records shown below

Last but not least, the biggest catch in local maritime tales is certainly Amesbury’s “Granny Hoyt,” who met her maker when she tried to fire up the hearth by blowing gunpowder from her husband’s ship horn, causing a great explosion and coining the expression, “Quick as Granny Hoyt’s powder-horn.”

Benjamin Franklin case: September 1683 and In November the case was found in favor for plaintiff.





 December 1683



June 1684



Women of the 19th Century


“Eminent Women 1884.” Lithograph (post D K Fennell) by Eugene L’Africain. Nora Perry is standing middle right in the light dress. The other women: Mary A. Livermore, Sara Jewett, Grace A. Oliver, Helen Hunt, Lucy Larcom, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Louise Chandler Moulton, Louisa M. Alcott, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Julia Ward Howe.


 Miss Alcott taken about 1862

Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott and Abigail "Abba" Ma name was spelled Alcocke in English history. About 1616 a coat-of-arms was granted to Thomas Alcocke of Silbertoft, in the county of Leicester. The device represents three cocks, emblematic of watchfulness; and the motto is Semper Vigilans.
The first of the name appearing in English history is John Alcocke of Beverley, Yorkshire, of whom Fuller gives an account in his Worthies of England.
Thomas and George Alcocke were the first of the name among the settlers in New England. The name is frequently found in the records of Dorchester and Roxbury, and has passed through successive changes to its present form.
The name of Bronson came from Mr. Alcott's maternal grandfather, the sturdy Capt. Amos Bronson of Plymouth, Conn. "His ancestors on both sides had been substantial people of respectable position in England, and were connected with the founders and governors of the chief New England colonies. At the time of Mr. Alcott's birth they had become simple farmers, reaping a scanty living from their small farms in Connecticut."
Amos Bronson Alcott, the father of Louisa, was born Nov. 29, 1799, at the foot of Spindle Hill, in the region called New Connecticut. He has himself given in simple verse the story of his quaint rustic life in his boyhood, and Louisa has reproduced it in her story of "Eli's Education" (in the Spinning-Wheel Stories), which gives a very true account of his youthful life and adventures. He derived his refined, gentle nature from his mother, who had faith in her son, and who lived to see him the accomplished scholar he had vowed to become in his boyhood. Although brought up in these rustic surroundings, his manners were always those of a true gentleman. The name of the little mountain town afterward became Wolcott, and Louisa 13 records in her journal a pilgrimage made thither in after years.
Louisa Alcott's mother was a daughter of Col. Joseph May of Boston. This family is so well known that it is hardly necessary to repeat its genealogy here. She was a sister of Samuel J. May, for many years pastor of the Unitarian church at Syracuse, who was so tenderly beloved by men of all religious persuasions in his home, and so widely known and respected for his courage and zeal in the Antislavery cause, as well as for his many philanthropic labors.

Abigail May Alcott

Mrs. Alcott's mother was Dorothy Sewall, a descendant of that family already distinguished in the annals of the Massachusetts colony, and which has lost nothing of its reputation for ability and virtue in its latest representatives. Below  Dorothy Sewall


Mrs. Alcott inherited in large measure the traits which distinguished her family. She was a woman of large stature, fine physique, and overflowing life. Her temper was as quick and warm as her affections, but she was full of broad unselfish generosity. Her untiring energies were constantly employed, not only for the benefit of her family, but for all 14 around her. She had a fine mind, and if she did not have large opportunities for scholastic instruction, she always enjoyed the benefit of intellectual society and converse with noble minds. She loved expression in writing, and her letters are full of wit and humor, keen criticism, and noble moral sentiments. Marriage with an idealist, who had no means of support, brought her many trials and privations. She bore them heroically, never wavering in affection for her husband or in devotion to her children. If the quick, impatient temper sometimes relieved itself in hasty speech, the action was always large and unselfish.
Photos from Concord Library Amos Bronson Alcott on steps of Concord School of Philosophy & Louisa May Alcott, seated, pen in hand


It will be apparent from Louisa's life that she inherited the traits of both her parents, and that the uncommon powers of mind and heart that distinguished her were not accidental, but the accumulated result of the lives of generations of strong and noble men and women.
The family removed to Boston in 1834, and Mr. Alcott opened his famous school in Masonic Temple. Louisa was too young to attend the school except as an occasional visitor; but she found plenty of interest and amusement for herself in playing on the Common, making friends with every child she met, and on one occasion 18 falling into the Frog Pond. She has given a very lively picture of this period of her life in "Poppy's Pranks," that vivacious young person being a picture of herself, not at all exaggerated.
The family lived successively in Front Street, Cottage Place, and Beach Street during the six succeeding years in Boston. They occasionally passed some weeks at Scituate during the summer, which the children heartily enjoyed.


Mrs. Hawthorne (pic above) gives a little anecdote which shows how the child's heart was blossoming in this family sunshine: "One morning in Front Street, at the breakfast table, Louisa suddenly broke silence, with a sunny smile saying, 'I love everybody in dis whole world.'"
Two children were born during this residence in Boston. Elizabeth was named for Mr. Alcott's assistant in his school,–Miss E. P. Peabody, since so widely known and beloved by all friends of education. A boy was born only to die. The little body was laid reverently away in the lot of Colonel May in the old burial-ground on the Common, and the children were taught to speak with tenderness of their "baby brother."
When Louisa was about seven years old she made a visit to friends in Providence. Miss C. writes of her: "She is a beautiful little girl to look upon, and I love her affectionate manners. I think she is more like her mother than either of the others." As is usually the case, Louisa's journal, which she began at this early age, speaks more fully of her struggles and difficulties than of the bright, sunny moods which made her attractive. A 19 little letter carefully printed and sent home during this visit is preserved. In it she says she is not happy; and she did have one trying experience there, to which she refers in "My Boys." Seeing some poor children who she thought were hungry, she took food from the house without asking permission, and carried it to them, and was afterward very much astonished and grieved at being reprimanded instead of praised for the deed. Miss C. says: "She has had several spells of feeling sad; but a walk or a talk soon dispels all gloom. She was half moody when she wrote her letter; but now she is gay as a lark. She loves to play out of doors, and sometimes she is not inclined to stay in when it is unpleasant." In her sketches of "My Boys" she describes two of her companions here, not forgetting the kindness of the one and the mischievousness of the other.
Although the family were quite comfortable during the time of Mr. Alcott's teaching in Boston, yet the children wearied of their extremely simple diet of plain boiled rice without sugar, and graham meal without butter or molasses. An old friend who could not eat the bountiful rations provided for her at the United States Hotel, used to save her piece of pie or cake for the Alcott children. Louisa often took it home to the others in a bandbox which she brought for the purpose.
This friend was absent in Europe many years, and returned to find the name of Louisa Alcott famous. When she met the authoress on the street she was eagerly greeted. "Why, I did not think you would remember me!" said the old lady. 20 "Do you think I shall ever forget that bandbox?" was the instant reply.


In 1840, Mr. Alcott's school having proved unsuccessful, the family removed to Concord, Mass., and took a cottage which is described in "Little Women" as "Meg's first home," although Anna never lived there after her marriage. It was a pleasant house, with a garden full of trees, and best of all a large barn, in which the children could have free range and act out all the plays with which their little heads were teeming. Of course it was a delightful change from the city for the children, and here they passed two very happy years, for they were too young to understand the cares which pressed upon the hearts of their parents. Life was full of interest. One cold morning they found in the garden a little half-starved bird; and having warmed and fed it, Louisa was inspired to write a pretty poem to "The Robin." The fond mother was so delighted that she said to her, "You will grow up a Shakspeare!" From the lessons of her father she had formed the habit of writing freely, but this is the first recorded instance of her attempting to express her feelings in verse. From the influences of such parentage as I have described, the family life in which Louisa was brought up became wholly unique. Louisa May Alcott Her Life, Letters, and Journals by Louisa May Alcott Editor: Ednah D. Cheney
Article From Saturday, May 1, 1880 Paper: Jackson Citizen Patriot (Jackson, MI)


Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (1844–1911) daughter of Austin Phelps and Elizabeth [Wooster] Stuart Phelps

A Great Article Before bra-burning feminists, there was Andover author Elizabeth Stuart Phelps by Jennifer Tarbox Andover Historical Society
Most girls living in the mid-19th century were raised to be homemakers. Duties included caring for their husbands and children, cleaning the house and preparing meals. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, daughter of distinguished Professor Austin Phelps, chairman of Rhetoric and Homiletics at the Andover Theological Seminary, led a much different lifestyle than most women during this time period.
Elizabeth was born Mary Gray Phelps on Aug. 31, 1844 and was the eldest child and only daughter in her family. Her mother passed away from birth complications when Mary was 8 and from then on she decided to take her mother's name, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. (Mrs. Phelps was an author in her own right, completing the Kitty Brown books under the pen name H. Trusta.) The Phelps family resided on 189 Main St. on Andover Hill.
Phelps' father encouraged her studies, particularly her writing. Her first piece of work was published in "Youths' Companion" when she was just 13 years old. Growing up, Phelps attended Abbot Female Seminary and later Mrs. Edwards School in Andover, conducted by a faculty wife. Throughout her life, she authored 57 books, including fiction for children, poetry, and numerous essays on women's issues.
At the age of 19 Phelps left school and did reform work, which encompassed teaching the children from factory families employed by the Smith and Dove Manufacturing Co. She also worked with tenement dwellers, which helped inspire her lifelong commitment to improving conditions for the working class.
In 1869, when Phelps was 24, her first book was published, in which she offered a comforting view of the afterlife to women who had lost loved ones in the Civil War. This debut novel, The Gates Ajar, brought her literary fame overnight. In 1886, another book, The Madonna of the Tubs, was published, adding to her growing reputation. A later novella, Loveliness, espoused animal rights. In 1896 Phelps published her autobiography, Chapters from a Life, which had been serialized in McClure's Magazine.
Phelps was also known for challenging the notion that a woman's place was in the home, believing that women's intellectual potential disappeared in domestic pursuits. She had many radical ideas, such as believing it was a woman's right to keep her own name after marriage and believing that women could be financially independent through equal rights, including equal pay. She was also involved in clothing reform for women, urging them in 1874 to burn their corsets.
When Phelps was 44 years old she shocked family and friends by marrying Herbert Dickinson Ward, her editor's son and a journalist who was 17 years younger. Phelps had known Ward since his childhood. The two were married by Elizabeth's brother, the Rev. Lawrence Phelps, at her Gloucester cottage. Unfortunately, their marriage was an unhappy one. Dickinson was a wanderer and more interested in his mineral collection and going to yachting parties with his young friends than being around his famous wife.
In 1911 Phelps became gravely ill, and died on Jan. 28 of that year. She carefully planned her funeral in advance, which was held on Feb. 1, 1911 at First Baptist Church in Newton Center. Her brother Lawrence conducted the service and her ashes were buried at a Newton Cemetery.
Her last novel, Comrades, was published posthumously.



From Monday, December 30, 1895 Boston Journal  Volume: LXII   Issue: 20520 Page: 5



Louisa Chandler age 20
Louise Chandler Moulton (1835 -1908) daughter of Lucius L. Chandler married Louisa Rebecca Clark
In few lives have these possibilities been more fully realized than in that of Louise Chandler Moulton, poet and friend, and lover of the beautiful. Poet born and poet made, she developed her natural lyric gift into a rare mastery of poetic art. She wore her singing-robes with an unconscious grace, and found in her power of song the determining influence which colored and shaped her life. Her lyrics were the spontaneous expression, the natural out-pouring, of a lofty and beautiful spirit. Her poetic instinct radiated in her ardent and generous sympathies, her exquisite interpretations of sentiment and feeling; it informed all her creative work with a subtle charm pervasive as the fragrance of a rose. Her artistic impulse was, indeed, the very mainspring of her life; it expressed itself not only in the specific forms of lyrics and of prose romance, but in her varied range of friendships and in her intense and discriminating love of literature.
Her life as well as her art expressed her gift of song. She was a poet not only in singing, but no less in living. Her friendships were singularly wide and eclectic, determined always from the inner vision. They were the friendships of mutual recognition and of sympathetic-3- ministry. Her tenderness of feeling responded to every human need. Others might turn away from the unattractive; to her the simple fact that kindness was needed was a claim which she could not deny.
This was the more striking from the fact that from her early girlhood her gifts, her culture, and her personal charm won recognition in the most brilliant circles. To be as unconsciously gracious to peasant as to prince was in her very nature. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, alluding to Mrs. Moulton's social prestige in London, wrote:
"... It is pleasant to feel that she owes this result quite as much to her qualities of character as to her gifts of intellect. There never lived, perhaps, a more thoroughly open-hearted and generous woman; and the poorest and least gifted applicant might always seek her as successfully as the most famous and influential."
This symmetry of character, a certain fine balance of the gifts of mind and heart, was the natural outcome, it may be, of a worthy ancestry. So far as is known, the Chandlers lived originally in Hampshire, England, where, in the sixteenth century, arms were granted to them. Many of these Chandlers were men-4- distinguished in their day. In 1887 was commemorated at Philadelphia the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival in this country of one of the first Chandlers known to have immigrated. This was a follower of Fox, who fled from persecution, and settled in Pennsylvania. A group of ten English Puritans settled long before the Revolution in what was afterward the township of Pomfret, Connecticut: and from one of these was descended Lucius Chandler, the father of Louise. The Chandler family throughout gave evidence of decided intellectual ability, and this was strengthened by marriages with other sound Puritan stock. Through her paternal grandmother Mrs. Moulton was descended from the Rev. Aaron Cleveland, of literary reputation in the late eighteenth century, and of account in his day as a wit. This relationship linked her in remote cousinship with Edmund Clarence Stedman, a tie which both cherished. The two poets congratulated themselves on a common great-grandmother who was a classical scholar, famed for her familiarity with Greek.
Lucius L. Chandler married Louisa Rebecca Clark, also of good English ancestry. Mrs. Chandler has been described by Harriet Prescott Spofford as "a gentle, gracious-5- woman, a noted beauty in her youth, but singularly free from the vanity and selfishness of most noted beauties." The only surviving child of this marriage was born at Pomfret on April 10, 1835, and was christened Ellen Louise. Mr. Chandler's farm lay on the edge of the quiet Connecticut town, the landscape pleasantly diversified by adjacent hills and forests, and the modest, comfortable home was surrounded by flowers and trees.

Louisa Rebecca Chandler

A winsome little sprite seems Ellen Louise to have been, revealing, even in her earliest years, a quaint touch of her father's courtly dignity combined with her mother's refinement and unerring sense of the amenities of life. Mrs. Chandler's fastidious taste and a certain innate instinct for the fitness of things, invested her always with a personal elegance that surrounded her like an atmosphere. A picture lived in her daughter's memory of her arriving one day, in a bonnet with pink roses, to visit the school; and of her own childish thought that no other little girl had so pretty a mother as her own.
Edmund Clarence Stedman, who had just left Yale College and who, at the beginning of his literary career, was editing a country paper in Connecticut, greeted Miss Chandler's book with the ardent praise of youth and friendship; but these warm phrases of approval were also the almost unanimous expression of all the reviewers of the day.

The Library in Mrs. Moulton’s Boston Home,
28 Rutland Square

The twentieth century reader may smile at Mr. Stedman's youthful distrust of the "strong-minded woman," but his remarks are interesting. Of "This, That, and the Other," he wrote:
"'This, That, and the Other,' is a collection of prose sketches and verse from the pen of a young lady fast rising into a literary reputation; a reputation which, though it is achieved in no 'Uncle Tom' or 'Fanny Fern' mode, is no less sure than that of Mrs. Stowe, or Sara Payson Willis, and will be more substantial, in that the works on which it is founded are more classic and in better taste.... Miss Chandler is a native of Pomfret in this state, and every denizen of Connecticut should be proud of her talents. She is beautiful and interesting; her manners are in marked distinction from the forwardness of the strong-minded woman of the day...."
Epes Sargent, in the Boston Transcript, said:
"... The ladies have invaded the field of fiction and carried off its most substantial triumphs. Mrs. Stowe, Fanny Fern, and now another name, if the portents do not deceive us, is about to be added—that of Miss Chandler, who although the youngest of the band (she is not yet nineteen), is overflowing with genius and promise. Such tales as those of 'Silence Adams,' 'A Husking Party at Ryefield,' 'Agnes Lee,' and 'Only an Old Maid,' reveal the pathos, the beauty, the power, the depth and earnestness of emotion that Ellen Louise has the art of transfusing into the humblest and most commonplace details.... But Ellen Louise must not be deceived by injudicious admiration. Her style, purified, chastened and subdued, would lose none of its attractiveness. She gives evidence of too noble a habit of thought to desire the success which comes of the hasty plaudits of the hour." The book reviewing of 1853 was apparently not unlike the spelling of George Eliot's poor Mr. Tulliver,—"a matter of private judgment." For although the stories of Ellen Louise were singularly sweet and winsome in their tone, with an unusual grasp of sentiment and glow of fancy for so youthful and inexperienced a writer, they could yet hardly claim to rank with the work of Mrs. Stowe. The leading papers of that day united, however, in an absolute chorus of praise for the young author, who is pronounced "charming," and "overflowing with talent"; the "refinement and delicacy" of her work, her "rare maturity of thought and style," and a myriad other literary virtues were discerned and celebrated to the extent that the resources of the language of the country would allow.  
Louise Chandler Moulton Poet and Friend by Lilian Whiting

Helen Hiscock Backus
Helen Hiscock Backus (1865-1906) (Pic above) daughter of Luther Harris Hiscock (1824 -1867) and Lucy Bridgman Hiscock (1828 -1861) passed from this life on the eighth day of January. Her years covered a half century full of significance, and she herself helped to give it meaning. She served her times with a rare "energy of human fellowship." Her service was unselfish and untiring; it had many activities, to which she generously gave of her leisure, her quiet and her strength, as well as of the powers of her mind. She was the wisest of counselors. It was no careless, conciliatory advice that she gave to you. She put her full mind at your service; she sought the truth for you eagerly, and inspired your entire trust in her loyalty and sincerity. She would have been a force in the world, no doubt, if no woman's college had existed; but her education went far to set free her power, and brought her into relations which used it for the highest good. One of these relations was with the Association of Collegiate Alumnae. It called upon some of her best gifts — her natural leadership, her instinct for order and organization, and her farseeing judgment.
Her attendance on committees was punctual, unfailing, absolutely to be relied on. Her service itself was beyond value. A subject brought to her consideration and discussed in her even, dispassionate voice, was viewed from all sides, with utter absence of prejudice or eccentricity, with perfect sanity and clarity. The drudgery as well as the honors of public service she accepted with unselfishness and humility.
Mrs. Backus was for several years the president of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae. As a presiding officer, she combined dignity and gentleness. Her presence of mind, her self-command and her control of an assembly were not only evidence of her power of intellect, but of a great inward peace. The unruffled surface had deeps below. Her relation to younger officers of the association was charming — so helpful and heartening. Her loyalty and sympathy were enough, it seemed, to inspirit a small meeting, and her presence to lend it significance.
The intellectual stimulus derived from her in the association was that which she carried everywhere. Truly, her friendship made "daylight in the understanding." Happy were those who knew her still better; who passed beyond her reserve, and knew her heart as well as her intellect. None but the beautiful old Scripture word loving-kindness will express the inmost quality of her nature. Those who knew her reserved voice should have known it also in its depths of feeling. Those in sorrow touched a chord in her whose response was angelic.
Her large life was many sided; but she was best revealed in the tie of simple friendship. While many will remember with admiration her brilliant gifts and intellectual achievements, her friends will hold sacred a quiet memory of love and trust and kindness. From Representative of the Federation of Women's Clubs, Connecticut M. M. Abbott From Varsity Students n the Victorian Era