Historical Collections of the Topsfield Historical Society
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/historicalcollec11unse Rev. Daniel Breck. 1748-1845. Ordained over the church in Topsfield, Nov. 17, 1779; dismissed May 26, 1788. From an oil portrait in the possession of Judge Charles H, Breck. THE HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE TOPSFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOL. XI 1906 TOPSFIELD, MASS. Published by the Society 1906 GEORGE FRANCIS DOW Editor THE MERRILL PRESS £o^0ft CONTENTS. THE NEWBURYPORT AND BOSTON TURNPIKE, BY H. FOLANS- BEE LONG, --------- THE WILDES FAMILY OF ESSEX CO., MASS., BY WALTER DAVIS, JR., --------- I 7 1 1 LETTER FROM DR. NEHEMIAH CLEAVELAND, 8 5 , 77 ESSEX REGISTRY OF DEEDS AT TOPSFIELD, - 78 - - - - LETTER OF REV. JEREMIAH HOBART, 1 686, 79 LOCALITIES AND PLACE NAMES IN TOPSFIELD, BY J. PORTER GOULD, --------- 81 - - - - CAPT. JOHN GOULD’S PETITION IN 1 694, 100 EARLY RECORDS OF THE TOWN OF TOPSFIELD, TRANSCRIBED BY H. FOLLANSBEE LONG, - - 101 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF NEHEMIAH KNEELAND, PIONEER OF TOPSFIELD, MAINE, ------ i73 NECROLOGY: MRS. ELLEN A. (HOOD) WELCH, - 176 ALBERT WEBSTER, ------- 176 HARRIET E. TODD, ------- 177 IRA PERLEY LONG, ------- 178 JOHN AVERELL GOULD, ----- 179 SARAH PERKINS DWINELL, - 180 TOPSFIELD VITAL STATISTICS, 1905, - - - - - 181 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, 1905, ------ 184 BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTED, 1905, 184 THE NEWBURYPORT AND BOSTON TURNPIKE. BY H. FOLLANSBEE LONG. At the beginning of the 19th century, commerce was mak- ing rapid strides in Massachusetts. Better communication between the inland towns was needed, and the first step towards a closer relation was the building of toll bridges over the large rivers, thus doing away with the slow, dan- gerous, and expensive system of ferries. Soon after came the demand for better roads. As the towns were not able to expend the large amounts of capital required to con- struct such roads, and as the cost was greater than any sin- gle individual cared to assume, a corporation for each en- terprise was created by legislative authority. Frequently the “ turnpikes ” proved themselves to be poor investments for capital, and to the promoters and to those who contrib- uted funds and labor, must be given credit for a great deal of courage, a large degree of public spirit, or a misplaced confidence in the soundness of their investments. Without doubt, however, some of the earlier turnpikes turned out to be paying investments, as they opened up a large part of the country not before in direct communication with the centres of trade. This probably accounts for the increase of road-building, for in less than ten years after the first turnpike was chartered (1796) forty-two companies were created and empowered to build roads in Massachusetts proper, or in Maine, then a part of the State. The con- struction of these roads and the ease of communication over them were such an improvement over the old “town ways,” that the people not only willingly paid toll to be allowed travelling privileges, but in a great many instances ( 1 ) 2 NEWBURYPORT AND BOSTON TURNPIKE. gave assistance by grants of land and by requiring the Uni- ted States mail to be carried over them. The first turnpike corporation in Massachusetts was chartered in 1796 and was formed for the purpose of build- ing a road from the town of Western, now Warren, to Palmer. The Act sets forth that no good highway existed and that the towns could not afford to build a proper road. The company was given the right to charge travellers, in exchange for performing a work which was apparently re- garded as a public necessity. On the State records, the first seventeen turnpikes are known only by numbers, first, second, third, etc. Afterwards they were given names in- dicating the localities through which they passed. The books of these corporations were at all times open to the inspection of the Governor and Council, and the Legisla- ture. The Legislature could dissolve any corporation, so formed, after twenty years, if it was shown that the in- come of the road had compensated the corporation for its expenditures together with twelve per cent interest. It is very doubtful if there was case where this power was ex- ercised. The usual width of the roads was four rods or sixty-six feet. It is interesting to note that the subject of wide tires, as road inprovers, was then considered, and tolls were only half as great for vehicles having tires six inches or more wide, while with tires three and one-half inches wide and carrying a load of forty-five hundred pounds a toll three times the regular sum was demanded. In general, the phraseology of all the petitions for turn- pike roads was the same, namely, the great expense of keep- ing ordinary roads in good repair, and the relief it would be to taxation if those who wished better roads should themselves pay the cost of building and maintaining them. But when Micajah Sawyer, William Coombs, Nicholas Pike, Arnold Welles, William Bartlett, John Pettingill, William Smith, John Codman, and James Prince petitioned the “Great and General Court” for a turnpike road to be laid out between Newburyport and Chelsea Bridge, said company to be known as the Newburyport Turnpike Cor- poration, they based their claim upon an entirely different reason—“ the advantage of connecting our own town with NEWBURYPORT AND BOSTON TURNPIKE. 3 the capital of the state by an “air line”—the shortest possi- ble route. As a matter of fact none of this road was laid out in Newburyport, but was built in the town of Newbury, but now a part of Newburyport. While the plans for its construction did not assume definite form until 1800, the subject of such a road was agitated some time before. March 8, 1803, Caleb Strong, then Governor of Massachu- setts, approved the charter of the corporation. This was the first road of its kind to be chartered in eastern Massa- chusetts. The Salem turnpike, chartered about the same time, was the first to be opened. The critics maintained that it was a much wiser plan, to build the road from New- buryport to Salem, thus connecting with the turnpike which was to be built from there to Boston. The proposed road was to start from the head of State street, in what is now Newburyport, and run in as nearly a straight line as possible, to Chelsea Bridge. We may all agree with the words of the corporation’s first president after being told of the proposed route, when he said, —“A herculean un- dertaking.” The engineer was instructed to point the telescope of his transit South 24° West, and to follow that course as directly as possible to Chelsea Bridge. As the road stands today, in the distance of thirty-two miles it deviates only eighty-three feet from a straight line, and most of this deviation is at the ledges in Saugus, near the Lynnfield woods, where a great deal of heavy blasting was necessitated, in order to get through at all. The cost of the road was nearly half a million dollars ; far greater than any public improvement in New England up to that time. It surely was a wonderful piece of work,—“ a monument,” says Caleb Cushing, “ of the enterprise and perseverance of its projectors.” Even at the time when this road was in process of construction, successful experiments were being made with locomotives. Possibly the builders of railroads, one hundred years from now, when they are su- perseded by airships, may be looked upon in much the same way that we now look upon the promotors of the old turn- pikes. The stock of the corporation consisted of one thousand shares, more than half of which, or five hundred and ninety- 4 NEWBURYPORT AND BOSTON TURNPIKE. eight shares, was held in Boston. Newburyport men held two hundred and ten shares, James Prince having ninety- eight and Captain Israel Young, thirty shares while Nico- las Pike, William Bartlett, Jonathan Gage, and Micajah Sawyer held ten shares each. “ Lord ” Timothy Dexter, “ the Wonder of the East,” strange to say was not inter- ested in this enterprise. Perhaps his holdings in the Essex Merrimack Bridge, which was more than one-half of the original number of shares, satisfied his desires in this line of public improvement. One hundred and forty shares of the turnpike stock were held in Gloucester, nine in Danvers, seven in Cambridge, and five in York, Me. With the exception of Danvers, the citizens living in the towns through which the road was to pass took no stock in the road, either actually or metaphorically. The first meeting of the corporation was held in Boston, April 14, 1808, notification of the meeting appearing in the New England Palladium, a paper published in Boston, and also in the Newburyport Herald. On April 20, 1808, the di- ” rectors met and chose the following officers : — “ Judge William Tudor, of Boston, President; Gorham Parsons and James Prince, Vice Presidents, and Enoch Sawyer, Treas- urer, all of Newburyport. During the summer, the di- rectors, with their engineer, travelled on foot three times over the entire distance. “ Rocky heights, bogs, briars, thickets, and all the unpleasant obstacles of an unfre- quented tract of country, rendered these pedestrian jour- neys slow and fatiguing.” The survey required three week’s time, the expense being about two hundred and fifty dollars, including five dollars paid Michael Hodge for making a plan of the road. Theophilus Parsons was paid two hun- dred and fifty dollars for legal services, such as drafting the papers, looking after the legislators, and influencing the Justices of the Court. The settlement of the land damages was not an easy matter for those who derided the scheme were not averse to plundering its promoters.