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 PRESENT STATE 
 
 OF THE TOWS 01 
 
 ^EWRURYPORT 
 
 * 
 
 BY CALEB CUSHING. 
 
 Hie ar» sunt, hie foei, hie dii penates. 
 
 Cic. pro Domo tn$.- 
 
 i£efolmvi>vort 
 
 PBIOTF.B BT ♦ VT. i LLES". 
 
 For sale at (he Bookstore of C. Whipple, No. 4, State-Street, 
 and by the other Booksellers. 
 
 1826 
 
To 
 
 the Inhabitants of 
 HBWBTJR1TPROT, 
 
 these pages 
 
 are respectfully inscribed 
 fey their grateful fellow citizen, 
 
 C. CASHING. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE author of the ensuing account was led to project the compUatiom 
 •fit several years a;;o, by perusing, in the Town Records of N. wbury- 
 port, many facts and documents, which seemed to possess permanent 
 historical value. Other pu-suits distracted him from the work at the 
 time ; ami lie is compelled to plead them now, in extenuation of its una- 
 voidable imperfections. 
 
 The history of a smgle town must, of necessity; consist chiefl) of loca- 
 incidmts, and information of limited range. But however narrow the 
 Scope of auch a work, it ought, being wholly domestic in its nature, to 
 contain rattlers of interest to our*"lvz& at least, ami the author expects 
 nothing more from the result of us labor. — Vnd in reference to this 
 point, he wouid repeat the remarks, which he formerly made in an- 
 nouncing his design^ 
 
 The causes of the wealth *nd grandeur of nations are always consider- 
 ed with curio-si y, botli on account of their intrinsic importance, andiof 
 the splemlid scenes, by which they are accompanied. The pom p of w sj 
 and triamph, the deeds of distinguished patriots, a thousand diversified ^ 
 events, impart dignity and interest to the fate of a rni'htv people. But 
 the history of small and subordinate communities is less attractive be 
 cause the circumstances, which it c •mme-norates, are not in their nature 
 so grand or various, nor s (Capable of t v tk wing admiration. Hence we 
 seldom feel so lively a desire to know tlv particular events, which ele- 
 vate or depress to a n*, as we do io study the political state of iaiions. 
 Nay, we sometimes go farther, and neglect what is near, for the sak e 
 of what is remote ; and leave the concerns of the place in which we 
 dwel», to inquire into those wirh which we have no c> mexio i ; and are 
 more anxious to hear of the happin ss of foreig iers, than to beeonu as. 
 attainted with what may promote our own immediate prosperity. 
 
 It is apparent that, in pursuing such a course, we do ourselves injus- 
 tice. Towns are nothing hut elements of nations, and whatever affects 
 the latter affect* the former in the same degree. B -sides, the prosper. 
 OUS situation of all the lesser divisions of a state is ssential to the true 
 greatness of the state itself: and therefore, in examining the character 
 of towns, wp become insensibly led upwards to that of nations. And the 
 Several things, which tend to promote the well-being of petty com muni- 
 ties, are the same in nature, although not in extent, with those, which 
 give wea'ib to the most opulent empires. Commercial and raanufac* 
 
 * Newbu/yport £ierald ; January 8, 18*!2» 
 
▼1 
 
 tering industry, and sage laws, are as beneficial to towns as to wholes 
 couutries ; and in both, the ravages of war, the force of luxury, corrup- 
 tion, and profuseness are alike detrimental. 
 
 It should be considered, likewise, that the prosperity of a town, in 
 which we live, is ultimately connected with our happiness and pecuniary- 
 advancement. If the expenses of that town are large and its affairs m a 
 bad situation, we directly feel the pressure of those circumstances in our 
 own persons. And, on the contrary, if its municipal concerns are in a 
 good condition, ours will be the advantage of it. Our private interest 
 is also deeply concerned in the price of lands, and the profitableness of 
 labor, in the place of our abode, because, in proportion as they rise or 
 fall, must the value of our own property be exalted or depreciated.— 
 And if the industry of our town is flourishing, its population increasing, 
 its expenditures few and, light, and the demand for land or buildings con- 
 stant, we ourselves are instantly and permanently benefited. 
 
 And certainly if there waa nothing curious in the facts themselves, 
 and nothing which affected our personal interest, we should nevertheless 
 hsve a desire to know the situation of the place in which we were born, 
 or have been edueattd, or live. We must experience a pleasure in find- 
 ing it prosper, and pain in perceiving it decline. We must feel w at- 
 tachment to what is more emphatically our native land. Whatever 
 interest we may take in a country for the reason that it is our countryi 
 ought to work with greater strength, in attaching us to the home, where 
 we have enjoyed the pleasures of domestic life and of social endearment* 
 Besides, in many countries, and no where more remarkably than 
 here, the history of towns is a very important part of the history of the 
 ration, By towns, in their corporate capacity, were many of the most 
 heroic resolutions adopted, and many of the most daring enterprises un- 
 dertaken, which signalized our revolutionary struggle. These things 
 •an best be preserved from oblivion by the humble efforts of individuals 
 in the different towns, ^b/> will and can bestow their attention upon sub- 
 jects so simple and unpretending. 
 
 Such are the considerations, which have induced to this publication. 
 
 In issuing it from the press, the author would thus publicly declare his 
 
 obligations, ami offer his sincere thanks, to many persons, who have 
 
 kindly furnished him with various facts, and without whose aid he could 
 
 aot have accomplished his purpose. 
 
 Most of the statements in the work are copied from manuscript re- 
 cords of the town, of the several parishes, and of various corporations 
 and societies. Many things were obtained from verbal information, for 
 which no written or printed document co .Id be cited. And <he reader 
 will understand that, where no public authority for any fact is adduced, 
 h was derived etiher from manuscripts, or from communication with 
 %dividualg» 
 
TH 
 
 The author cannot flatter himself that he has given a complete a*« 
 •ouut of the town, its business, or its associations. Some of these, stick 
 as the fire-clubs and engine societies, he found it necessary to omit en- 
 irely ; and others he is conscious may be imperfectly described. But 
 the nature of the subject, requiring the collection of so many and such 
 various scattered particulars, will, if is hoped, be received in part for 
 his apoiog) , should any essential omissions be discovered. 
 
 During the progress of the work through the press, the author has 
 been gralifiedlo learn that persons in other parts of the county have 
 turned their attention to the subject of town-histories, and that materials 
 are fast cotn-clmg for a compete history of the nncimt and respectable 
 c ounty of Essex. The Essex Historical Society is capable of accom- 
 plishing much good in reference to such an object. 
 
 With these prefatory observations, he submits to his fellow-«itizensa 
 plain, unadorned narration of the fortunes of their town : — for which he 
 has adopted the most economical form of publication, in order to place 
 it uri thin the reach of all, who take interest in the subject. 
 
 JNewburypqrt. September 15, 1826. 
 
▼Ill 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Civil History, ----._ 1 
 
 Topography, ,. , - 32 
 
 Benevolent Associations, - 39 
 
 Religious Societies, - 44 
 
 Masonic Bodies, - _ 60 
 
 Education, --..„. 62 
 
 Literary Associations, - 69 
 
 Militia, ------- 72 
 
 Statistic*, 75 
 
 Distinguished Inhabitants, - 95 
 
 Concluding Remarks, - 103 
 
 * 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
 
 a HE town of Newburyport is distinguished 
 for the beauty of its appearance, and the regular- 
 ity with which it is laid out, on the gentle slope of the. 
 banks of the Merrimac. Commanding a great extent 
 of fertile country by means of that river, it rapidly 
 grew up into wealth and rank in the flourishing peri- 
 od of our commercial prosperity, no less remarkable 
 for the pious and industrious habits of its citizens, than 
 for its healthful and commodious situation. Although. 
 Its harbor was seriously injured by the sand-bar at the 
 mouth of the river, yet the spirit and enterprise of its 
 merchants seemed to compensate for this evil, so that 
 its wharves were crowded with shipping-, and its store- 
 houses filled with the merchandise of every quarter of 
 the world. The numerous forests of timber, through 
 which the river flowed, made ship-building a never 
 failing source of riches to the town, and a profitable art 
 for its inhabitants to exercise. 
 
 As a sea-port, every thing connected with navigation, 
 and all the numberless employments which commerce 
 creates, were carried to great perfection in it, and tend- 
 ed to give it increasing importance. But there was 
 one species of trade, for which the town was especially 
 fitted, namely, intercourse with the French West India 
 Islands. This intercourse was constant and profitable, 
 and not only furnished a market for the produce of the 
 country, but opened several other kinds of business, 
 such as that of distilling rum, and of a carrying trade 
 for English manufactures. 
 
 All these circumstances so much enlarged the popu^ 
 lation of the place where the town is now situated, that, 
 in the year 1764, it was separated from Newbury, of 
 which it then formed a part, and incorporated by the 
 name of New^euhyfoiit. In the troublesome period 
 
which ensued, the people of the town signalized their 
 patriotism and love of independence by consenting to 
 the non-importation agreement, declaring their abhor- 
 rence of the stamp-act, and other arbitrary measures 
 of the ministry, preparing the means of defence and 
 warfare, resolving to support the declaration of inde- 
 pendence with their lives and fortunes, and nobly keep- 
 ing this resolution inviolate. Few parts of the coun- 
 try voluntarily sacrificed more in proportion for the 
 , sake of freedom than did Newburyport, in submitting 
 lo have its staple business of ship-building broken up, 
 incurring large debts for the defence of the harbor, 
 weakening its population for the supply of the conti- 
 nental armies, and undergoing many other privations 
 and embarrassments attendant on a state of protracted 
 warfare. The citizens gained a little, and but a little, 
 by privateering: and to other respects, the town stood 
 almost still during the war and until the peace restor- 
 ed its commercial advantages. 
 
 The records of the town contain many documents, 
 which throw light on the sentiments and exertions of 
 its inhabitants during the eventful period ol the Revo- 
 lution. The existence of Newburyport, as a distinct 
 corporation, was but just commenced, when the disputes 
 between the metropolis and her colonies had reached 
 such a height, as to threaten a speedy issue in open 
 violence ; and although the colonists might not, in 1764, 
 have anticipated that they should be independent be- 
 fore the expiration of ten short years, yet observing 
 and discerning men must have perceived that this e- 
 vent was every day-becoming more and more proba- 
 ble, because both England and America were assuming 
 .too high a ground to admit of a peaceful continuance 
 of their eld relations. 
 
 Amen? the oldest papers preserved in the town 
 records is a copy of the instructions given to Dudley 
 Atkyns, ancestor of one of the most respected families 
 in Newbury, and the representative of Newburyport 
 in the General Court of the Province. These instruc- 
 tions, which were voted at a town-meeting holden Oc- 
 tober 21st 1765, plainly show the state of public feel- 
 ing at the time, and fcow early the spirit of resistance 
 
-ivris fostered in the bosom of every little municipal cor- 
 poration. A few weeks before, on occasion of the pas- 
 sing of the ever memorable stamp-act, it had been vot- 
 ed— • 
 
 "That" the late act of parliament called the stamp- 
 act is very grievous; and that this town, as much as in 
 them lies, will endeavor the repeal of the same in all 
 lawful ways : 
 
 "That it is the desire of the town that no man in it 
 will accept of trie office of distributing the stampt pa- 
 pers, as he regards the displeasure of the town; and 
 that they will deem the person accepting of such office 
 an enemy of his country.'" 
 
 The instructions above alluded to fully explain the 
 design of these votes, and the views by which the in- 
 habitants were actuated. After adverting to the right 
 of the people to instruct their representatives, and re- 
 marking upon the liberality of the English constitution, 
 the instructions proceed : 
 
 '■•We have the most loyal sentiments of our gracious 
 lung, and his illustrious family; we have the highest 
 reverence and esteem for that most august body, the 
 Parliament of Great Britain ; and we have an ardent 
 affection for our brethren at home ; we have always 
 regarded their interests as our own, and esteemed out 
 own prosper ity as necessarily united with theirs. 
 Hence it is that we have the greatest concern at s< 
 measures adopted by the late ministry, and some late 
 acts of parliament, which we apprehend in their ten- 
 dency "iil deprive us of some of onr essential and high- 
 prized liberties. The stamp-act, in a peculiar manner, 
 we esteem a grievance, as by it we are subjected to a 
 heavy tax, to which are annexed very severe penal- 
 ties ; and the recovery of forfeitures, incurred by the 
 breach of it, is in a manner, which the English consti- 
 tution abhors, that is, without a trial by jury, and in a 
 court of admiralty. That a people should be taxed at 
 the will of another, whether of one mao or many, with- 
 out their own consent, in person or by representative, 
 is rank slavery 
 
 * * * # * # * 
 
 " J That these measures are contrarv to the constitu- 
 
tiona] right of Briton?; cannot be denied ; and that the 
 British inhabitants of America are not in every respect 
 entitled to the privileges of Britons, even the patrons 
 ef ihe most arbitrary measures have never yet advanced. 
 a We have been full and explicit on this head, as it 
 tfeems to be the fundamental point in debate; but was 
 the tax in itself ever so constitutional, we cannot think 
 but at this time it would be very grievous and burden- 
 some. 
 
 " The embarrassments on our trade are great, and the 
 scarcity of cash arising therefrom is such, that by the 
 execution of the stamp-act, we should be drained in a 
 very little time of that medium: the consequence of 
 which is, that our commerce must stagnate, and our 
 laborers starve. 
 
 4; These, sir, are our sentiments on this occasion; 
 nor can we think Viat the distresses we have painted 
 
 are the creatures of our own imagination. 
 
 * * # * * * 
 
 w We therefore the freeholders and other inhabitants 
 oi this town, being legally assembled, take this oppor- 
 tunity to declare our just expectations from you, which 
 are, 
 
 " That you will, to the utmost of your ability, use 
 your influence in the General Assembly that the rights 
 and privileges of this Province may be preserved invi- 
 olate ; and that the sacred deposit, we have received 
 from our ancestors, may be. handed 4! own, without in- 
 fringement, to our posterity of the latest generations: 
 
 u That you endeavor that all measures, consistent 
 with our loyalty to the best of kings, may be taken to 
 prevent the execution of the above grievous innova- 
 tions; and that the repeal of the stamp-act may be ob- 
 tained by a most dutiful, and at the same time most 
 spirited, remonstrance against it. 
 
 u That you do not consent to any new or unprece- 
 dented grants, but endeavor that the greatest frugality 
 and economy may take place ia the distribution of the 
 public monies, remembering the great expense the 
 war has involved us in, and thcdebt incurred thereby, 
 which remains undischarged. 
 
 "That you will consult and promote such measures^ 
 
S3 may be necessary, in this difficult time, to prevent 
 the course of justice from being stayed, and the com- 
 merce ofthe Province standing still : 
 
 " That if occasion shall offer, you bear testimony in 
 behalf of this town against all seditions and mobhish in- 
 surrections, and express our abhorrence of all breach- 
 es ofthe peace ; and that you will readily concur in 
 any constitutional measures, that may be necessary to 
 secure the public tranquillity." 
 
 It appears that the town participated as a corpora- 
 tion in the universal rejoicings which followed the re- 
 peal of the stamp act. And although the confidence of 
 the country in the metropolis could not be fully restor- 
 ed ; yet the following document shows that it was not 
 quite extinguished. It is in answer to a circular from 
 Boston, proposing a non-importation agreement, — which 
 seemed to the town a little premature. The paper is 
 from the pen of John Lowell, and was adopted at a meet- 
 ing hblden March 10th, 1768. 
 
 44 The committee, &c. beg leave to report, that they 
 arc of opinion that the subjects therein contained de- 
 serve the most serious attention of this town in partic- - 
 ular, as well as ofthe public in general. 
 
 " This town has been in a great measure supported for 
 many years past by the building of ships, which have 
 been purchased mostly by the inhabitants, and for the 
 use of Great Britain. The manner in which we have 
 been paid for our ships has been mainly by British man- 
 ufactures. So that the importation and purchase of 
 these, and our staple business, if we may so express it 
 have been almost inseparably united. 
 
 " It is with the greatest difficulty, that a number of 
 people, who have for the most part of their lives been 
 used to a particular employment, can suddenly strike 
 into a new channel, and carry on a business to which 
 they have always been strangers. 
 
 " Hence, though we highly respect the town of Bos- 
 ton for its zealous attachment to the liberties of the 
 country, and are ready to assist them in all measures to 
 which prudence may direct, we cannot think it can con- 
 sist with the prudence and policy of this town to join in 
 *heir particular resolutions respecting- the importation 
 A 2 
 
and purchase of the enumerated articles of British man- 
 ufacture. 
 
 "And not only from this principle, but from one less 
 selfish, we cannot wish that the frequent and mutual in- 
 tercourse which has hitherto subsisted between Great 
 Britain and us should abate. Tis but of late date that 
 we regarded Great Britain with all the respectful af- 
 fection of a child to its parent; and though, by some 
 late measures, which we conceive to be highly mis- 
 judged, there seems to have arisen a cloud, which ob- 
 scures the true interests of the nation from the eyes of 
 those at helm, we cannot but expect, as well as impa- 
 tiently desire, that it will be soon removed, and a mu- 
 tual confidence be established on the firmest foundation. 
 
 " In the mean time, as jealousy, in a constitution like 
 the British, is the great preserving principle, we think 
 it necessary to be watchful against any encroachments 
 on our rights as Englishmen or freemen, and to be uni- 
 formly and resolutely determined that these shall not be 
 infringed, while our fortunes, or even our lives, con- 
 tinue."" 
 
 Happily for us the British ministry persisted in their 
 inlatuatedcourse of impolicy and inju-tice,in consequence 
 whereof, in the autumn of the same year (1768) the 
 merchants in the Province entered into the famous non- 
 importation agreement, by which they becanae mutually 
 bound not to import, nor to purchase if imported, any 
 British goods before January, 1776, or until the reve- 
 nue laws were repealed by Parliament. At a meeting 
 September 4th, 1769, the town approved of this agree- 
 ment, voted to further and maintain the same, and to 
 consider any person who should evade it an enemy of 
 his country, and chose a committee to carry it into ex- 
 ecution. At another meeting in the same month it was 
 voted to return thanks to the merchants and others of 
 Boston for their patriotic and noble spirit in their a- 
 <*reement respecting the non-importation of goods from 
 Great Britain. The next March also it was voted by 
 the town not to buy or use any foreign tea. And in the A- 
 pril following (Apl. 3, 1770,) a town-meeting was called, 
 in consequence of some suspicion that a wagon-load of tea 
 had been brought into town ? when the vote of March was 
 
repeated and a committee of ten was appointed to watch 
 over its enforcement. At the same meeting, a series 
 of resolutions were passed, which stated that this com* 
 mittee was chosen for the reason assigned ; and that un- 
 less the traders, violating the agreement^ should deliver 
 up their goods to be kept until the agreement was an- 
 nulled, and promise to abide by it in future, the com- 
 mittee were to publish their names as " enemies of 
 their country," and lay the whole before the town. 
 The merchants had agreed to permit goods to be taken 
 in exchange for ships ; but as it was feared that this 
 privilege had been abusively made a cover for other 
 transactions, the committee was instructed to prevent 
 such abuses, and to treat the guilty as importers. And 
 as the town thought it necessary to refrain entirely from 
 the use of foreign teas, the committee was directed to 
 prepare a paper for those to sign, who consented to re- 
 frain, and to lay before the town the names of the re- 
 cusants, as well as those who entered into but violated 
 the agreement. 
 
 At a town meeting, January 1st, 1773, it was 
 " Voted, that capt. Jonathan Greenleaf, cur represen- 
 tative, be acquainted that it is the desire and expecta- 
 tion of this town, that he will persevere with steadiness 
 and resolution in conjunction with his brethren in the 
 honorable House of Representatives, to use his utmost 
 endeavors to procure a full and complete redress of all 
 our public grievances - t and to do every thing in his 
 power in order that the present and succeeding gener- 
 ations may have the full enjoyment of those privileges 
 and advantages, which naturally and necessarily result 
 from our glorious constitution. This we esteem a mat- 
 ter of the highest concernment, and we recommend it 
 to him, to join with his brethren in the honorable House, 
 at the approaching session, if they shall think it proper, 
 to lay before lord Dartmouth, one of his majesty's 
 secretaries of state, in a decent, respectful address, a 
 full state of of our public grievances, and to intreat 
 his lordship's favor and influence in behalf of an injured 
 and oppressed people." — 
 
 In the course of this year, it appears that the corres- 
 pondence of the several towns began to grow more 
 
9 
 
 send more closa, as the impending danger increased'; and 
 meetings were holden repeatedly for the purpose of 
 confirming and strengthening the strict union, which ail 
 now saw to be necessary. The following letter to the 
 Boston Committee of Correspondence, adopted at a town 
 meeting held December 20th, 1775, speaks in the tone 
 of boldness and defiance, which was speedily followed 
 by an appeal to arms. 
 
 " It is with astonishment that wa reflect on the unre- 
 mitted efforts of the British ministry and Parliament to 
 fasten infamy and ruin upon these Colonies. They not 
 only claim a right to control and tax us at their pleasure, 
 but are practising every species of fraud, as well as vi- 
 olence, their deluded minds can suppose feasible, to 
 support and establish this absurd and injurious claim. A 
 fresh instance we have in the- plan lately adopted for 
 supplying the Colonies with tea. If the money thus un- 
 constitutionally taken from us, was to be expended for 
 our real benefit and advantage;, still it would be griev- 
 ous ; as the method of obtaining it is of a dangerous na- 
 ture and fatal tendency. But we lose all patience when 
 we consider that the industrious Americans are to be 
 stript oi their honest earnings to gratify the humors of 
 lawless and ambitious men, and to support in idleness 
 and luxury a parcel of worthless parasites, their crea- 
 tures and tools, who are swarming thick upon us, and 
 are already become a notorious burden to the commu- 
 nity. We are sorry that any, who call themselves A- 
 mericans, are hardy enough to justify such unrighteous 
 proceedings; they surely deserve the utmost contempt 
 and indignation of all honest men throughout the world : 
 for our part, we shall endeavor to treat them according 
 to their desert--. By the public prints we are favored 
 with the sentiments of several respectable towns m the 
 Province, expressed in a number of manly ? sensible, and 
 spirited resolves, with respect to the evils immediate^- 
 Ty before us. We are under great obligations to our 
 worthy friends and brethren, who have nobly stood 
 forth, in this important cause : we assure them, thatj 
 should they need our assistance on any emergency, wa 
 determine most readily to exert cur utmost abilities in 
 every manly and laudable way our wisdom may dictate 
 
for the salvation of our country, even at the hazard of 
 our lives ; and trusting through the favor of a kind 
 providence we shall be able to frustrate all the designs 
 of our enemies. 1 ' 
 
 When Ihe Provincial Congress assembled at Phila- 
 delphia in ! 774, the town made the following repre- 
 sentation of its circumstances and wishes, It was voted 
 
 " That this tovvncontiding entirely in the wisdom and 
 firmness of the general Congress of deputies from the 
 several Colonies in America, which is to meet in Sept. 
 next at Philadelphia, is determined and now resolves to 
 abide by, and to the utmost of their power fully comply 
 with, the final determination of said Congress, let the 
 sacrifice be ever so great. 
 
 » That although this town, by their vote the afore- 
 said day, is willing to stop all trade for the sake of ob- 
 taining more speedy and effectual relief, notwithstand- 
 ing, as it may seem more expedient to the Congress, 
 that some trades and branches of commerce may be en- 
 tirely stopped, and others permitted ; or that certain ex- 
 ceptions or non-importation agreements may be made, 
 which all the provinces should equally or proportion- 
 ally partake of; unless an immediate prejudice to the 
 common cause is the consequence, this town would de- 
 she the favor of the delegates chosen by this Province 
 to attend the Congress; that our trade and commerce 
 mav be preserved in the same state and with the same 
 indigencies as that of the other provinces. And the 
 town would beg leave to acquaint them, that the 
 chief branches of its business are importations from 
 Great-Britain, a large trade to the French West -In- 
 dia Islands ; distilleries,, which are numerous ; and ship- 
 building ; and it" any exceptions are made in the im- 
 portations into this Province, or any particular towns 
 thereof, that this town may have the same indigencies.''* 
 
 But however anxious the inhabitants of the town 
 might be to preserve their commerce from complete an- 
 nihilation, it is manifest that their love of liberty was the 
 paramount motive, which influenced their actions. The 
 following instructions, given to Jonathan Greenleaf, the 
 representative of the town in the General Court of 
 1774, exhibit a spirit which cannot be mistaken 
 
10 
 
 ft The town of Newburyport have again chosen yotf 
 for their representative id the General Assembly, and 
 though they apprehend your opportunity of acting in 
 that capacity may be very short, they do however re- 
 pose in you an important trust. 
 
 "Since the dissolution of the late'Genera! Assembly* 
 great and surprising innovations have been attempted 
 to be made in the constitution of this Province. The 
 bills, that have passed the British Parliament, for their 
 better regulating, as they absurdly express it, the civil 
 government, and for the impartial administration of 
 justice among us, are of such a nature as to alarm, not 
 only the inhabitants of this Province, but all the British' 
 American Colonies. We should come short of our duty, 
 if on this occasion we failed to express our utter abhor- 
 rence at the principles, on which those bills have been 
 constructed, as- well as the tenor of them, and -the mode 
 in which they are attempted to be carried into execu- 
 tion. If the Parliament of Great Britain have a right- 
 ful authority to make these statutes, it i^ evident that 
 we hold our estates, our liberties, and even our lives at' 
 their arbitrary will and pleasure ; than which nothing 
 can be more absurd and chimerical. These bills, which 
 are designed to annihilate our constitution established' 
 by charter, and to deprive us of those privileges, which 
 are founded on the still higher principles of natural 
 right and justice, have been passed, without our having 
 so much as- a hearing on this occasion, by persons direct- 
 ly interested in the execution of them^ as they are man- 
 ifestly calculated to increase their power and authority, 
 and proportionably to lessen our weight and importance: 
 and should they proceed on this plan, and we be so in- 
 fatuated as to acquiesce, they will exalt themselves to 
 absolute tyrants^ and reduce us to a state of the most 
 ignominious and abject slaver}'. The pernicious nature- 
 and tendency of these acts must be obvious to all, who 
 consider the enormous powers they are designed to v 
 lodge in the hands of the governor: most of our civiP' 
 officers are to be entirely dependant on his will, both 
 for their appointment and continuance in office. This 
 circumstance, considering the manner in which our ju- 
 ries are to be appointed, leaves the subject no assutauc; 
 
1.1 
 
 that he shall have a fair and impartial determmaten in 
 every cause relating 1 to life, liberty or property, unless 
 it happens to consist with the views and inclination of 
 the governor : which is surely a most hazardous situa- 
 tion, especially as the governor no.w depends entirely 
 on the crown tor his appointment and support, and must 
 therefore be ever ready to execute the purposes of the 
 ministry. And in these unhappy circumstances we may 
 not, it these acts are of sufficient authority to prevent 
 it, assemble together, even in the most quiet and or- 
 derly manner, to devise means to procure a redress of 
 our grievances ; and, if we should, our so doing, it seems, 
 is to be deemed seditious, and perhaps treasonable. 
 The methods taken by the promoters of these bills to 
 ejnforce them shew that they were themselves so sensi- 
 ble of the odious nature of them, as that they were not 
 trusted to their own authority, or to a conviction of 
 their being just and right, for the execution of. them ; 
 but armed ships and armed men are the arguments to 
 compel our obedience ; and the more than implicit lan- 
 guage, that these utter, is, that we must submit or die. 
 But God grant that neither of these may be our unhap- 
 py fate. We design not madly to brave our own de- 
 struction, and we do not thirst for the blood of others ; 
 byt reason and religion demand of us that we guard our 
 invaluable rights at the risque of both. 
 
 cl We would, therefore, now direct and instruct you 
 to do nothing that shall in the least degree imply a 
 submission to these acts; that you do in no way what- 
 ever acknowledge the authority of those persons, who 
 are cruelly and perfidiously assisting to destroy their 
 country,by assuming the character of counsellors of tins 
 province,. not being appointed thereto but in an arbi- 
 trary and unconstitutional manner. 
 
 " We doubt not your brethren will conduct with re- 
 gard to this and every other matter, with a!) becoming 
 resolution and integrity : and we have as little doubt, 
 that this wiil procure the dissolution of the House; and 
 .if it should, we hereby authorize you to represent this 
 town in a convention to be formed of the members 
 thereof, or any congress of deputies appointed by the 
 .several towns in this Province ; therein to deliberate 
 
12 
 
 and devise such measures, as may conduce to relieve 
 -us under our present difficulties and embarrassments, 
 and to secure and establish our just rights and privile- 
 ges on the most solid and permanent foundation. " 
 
 About this time it was that the affairs of the town 
 -were committed to the safeguard of a Committee of 
 Safety, — a name which ought to be ever dear to the 
 freemen of New England. The records of the town 
 for the two ensuing years abound with the doings of this 
 Committee, and with the preparations of arms and am- 
 munition for an obstinate contest. At length in May 5 
 1778 occurs the memorable vote 
 
 "That if the honorable Congress should, for the safe- 
 ty of the United Colonies, declare them independent of 
 the kingdom of Great-Britain, this town will, with their 
 lives and fortunes, support them in the measure." 
 
 During the continuance of the war, the records bear 
 witness to the exertions of the town to comply with the 
 public requisition in the supply of money, arms, ammu- 
 nition and soldiers for the defence of the country an'd 
 the vindication of its liberties. Some of these votes 
 may serve as instructive memorials to us, of the exer- 
 tions of our fathers to procure the privileges which we 
 enjoy. 
 
 " Voted to give twenty pounds bounty for any one 
 who shall enlist in the continental army for three years 
 or during the war." 
 
 u Voted to further the raising of one sixth part of 
 the able bodied men in the town, pursuant to a resolve 
 of the General Court, to join the army instantly, and 
 serve till Nov. next ; voted, to give each man 11. 10s. 
 per month in addition to the state and continental wa- 
 ges 5 voted to advance 50 dollars to each man enlisting^ 
 and voted to remonstrate with the General Court on 
 the hardship of raising a sixth." 
 
 4t Voted to give nine pounds per month including 
 state and continental wages, and six pounds per month 
 advance, to any who will enlist as a guard to Burgoyne's 
 troops." 
 
 " Voted, to raise money to hire seventeen men to 
 serve in the continental army nine months ; — also, to 
 raise money to hire thirteen men to serve at Hudson'.* 
 river eight months." 
 
o 
 
 « Voted, to raise nineteen men to serve at Providence, 
 and eleven as guards at Prospect Kill. 5 ' 
 
 " Voted to give 100 shillings per month to each man 
 who shall enlist wilhin twenty-four hours, 50 shilling!? 
 nt enlistment; also to provide a wagon to transport the 
 soldiers' baggage to Tiverton/ 5 
 
 w Voted, to give 300/. per month in addition to regu- 
 lar pay, and 450L advance, to each one enlisting to 
 serve for the town three months ; that a subscrip- 
 tion paper he carried around to raise money ; that 
 the town be taxed seventy-five thousand £. to be 
 paid before the 1st September next; that the inhabitant* 
 he earnestly requested to aid the town upon this emer- 
 gency by paying their proportion in advance, &c. and 
 all the money so raised go to procure, equip, &c. the 
 tow.n's proportion of the militia required by the resolve 
 of Genera! Court dated June. 8th, 1780.*' 
 
 A committee was chosen to devise a plan for raising 
 this town's quota ol troops, to serve l three years 1 or 
 c during the war.' And a committee was chosen to 
 procure enlistments, and c pay them such a bounty as 
 they shall think reasonable.' And as an encouragement 
 to enlist, the town engaged to pay their wages, if <• the 
 public' did not, in silver at Gs 8ci per ounce, or in Li 'Is 
 of credit equivalent thereto according to the current 
 rate ot exchange among merchants. It was voted, also, 
 to raise at thousand pounds silver for that purpose, and 
 afterwards another thousand; and that two thousand 
 pounds silver or gold be hired by the treasurer. 
 
 The selectmen were ordered to write to Oliver Phelps, 
 esq. representing that it was impracticable for the town 
 to furnish its quota of beef for the army, and oflering to 
 pay a sum of money in lieu thereof. It was voted, that 
 the town be arranged by the assessors l into 43 classes, 
 according to property and numbers,'' and that each 
 class ' procure a man' upon 'notice, or be liable to a 
 draft from the commanding officer;' and that each class 
 advance immediately money enough to hire its quota 
 of men to serve in the continental army according to a 
 resolve of General Court. 
 
 Indeed it i- only necessary to examine slightly the 
 totvn lecordo of the New England towns to find iu~rode au- 
 
- 14 
 
 thority for Mr. Webster's appropriate panegyric oa 
 their patriotism. 
 
 <■' My heart beat*, I trust, as responsive as any one's 
 to a soldier's claim for honor and renown. It has ever 
 been my opinion, however, that while celebrating the 
 military achievements of our countrymen in the revolu- 
 tionary contest, we have not always done equal justice 
 to the merits and the sufferings of those who sustained, 
 on their properly* or on their means of subsistence, 
 the great burden of the war. Any one, who has 
 had occasion to be acquainted with the records of 'the 
 New England towns, knows well how to estimate those 
 merits and those sufferings. Nobler records of patriot- 
 ism exist no where. No where can there be found 
 higher proofs of a spirit, that was ready to hazard alJ, 
 to pledge all, to sacrifice all, in the cause of the coun- 
 try. Instances were not uufrequent, in which small 
 freeholders parted with their last hoof, and the last 
 measure of corn from their granaries, to supply provi- 
 sion for the troops, and hire service for the ranks. The 
 voice of Otis and of Adams in Faneuil Hall found its 
 full and true echo in the little councils of the interior 
 towns; and if within the continental Congress, patriot- 
 ism shone more conspicuously, it did not there exist 
 more truly, nor burn more fervently; it did not render 
 the day more anxious or the night more sleepless: it 
 sent up no more ardent prayer to , God for succor; and 
 it put forth in no greater degree the fullness of its ef- 
 fort and the energy of its whole soul and spirit in the 
 common cause, than it did in the small assemblies of the 
 towns." — 
 
 The following memorial adopted at a meeting in May, 
 1785, affords further illustration of these remarks. 
 
 '» To the hcaorable, &c. of Massachusetts in Gen- 
 eral Court assembled, the petition of the town of New- 
 bury port humbly shews, 
 
 "That in the years 1775 and 1776 the said town, |n 
 order to guard and defend .themselves and the neighbor- 
 ing towns from the apprehended invasions and attacks 
 cf the enemy then infesting the sea-coasts, and making 
 depredations on the maritime town* of the State, pre- 
 
 "Debates i:i Muss, Conv, p. 2i». 
 
15 ' 
 
 puted and sunk a number of piers in (he channel of 
 Merrimac river, near the mouth thereof; they have 
 also built a fort on the Salisbury side of said river an'i a- 
 nolher fort on Plum Island near the entrance of the 
 harbor; (hey constructed a floating- battery, built a 
 barge, and made a number ofgun carriage? ; — the whole 
 expense whereof amounted to the sum of two thousand 
 four hundred and thirty-three pound?, 8 shillings and 
 2 1-2 pence, as by the accounts, supported by proper 
 vouchers, and ready to be herewith exhibited, will 
 appear. 
 
 " That said works were probably the means of pre- 
 venting the enemy from entering 1 the harbor, and spread- 
 ing destruction through this part of the State; and at 
 the same time rendered it a sale asyltim for vessels be- 
 longing to Boston then in the power of the engmy, and 
 for those belonging to Marhlehead, Cape Ann, and oth- 
 er exposed maritime towns. And of this opinion, it 
 seems, was the respectable committee sent from the 
 General Court to take a view of our situation and har- 
 bor; as well as of the works aforesaid; for «pon their 
 report the General Court manifested their approbation 
 of the said works, -as* prudent, and necessary for the 
 public safety, and made provision for supplying \ha said 
 Fort on Plum Island, with guns, ammunition, and stores, 
 and maintaining a garrison there for a considerable 
 time. The town, being thus favored with the counte- 
 nance and approbation of the General Court in these 
 proceedings, fully depended that their expenses above 
 mentioned would be seasonably reimbursed. They ac- 
 cordingly exhibited their accounts, which were never 
 objected to, as unreasonable or improper, as your peti- 
 tioners have understood. Nevertheless, a number of 
 accidents, which, to avoid being tedious, they forbear 
 to particularize, have hitherto prevented their obtain- 
 ing a settlement, and receiving the satisfactory restitu- 
 tion, which they apprehend themselves justly entitled 
 to. This they consider as a misfortune, especially as 
 the expenses of a like nature incurred by the other 
 towns have long since been discharged by order of the 
 General Court, towards which your petitioners have 
 contributed no small share. 
 
16 
 
 " And as your petitioners are still laboring under a." 
 very heavy debt contracted for the general service and. 
 defence of the country during the late war, and in ad- 
 dition thereto have been paying interest tor the whole 
 sum above mentioned, and are still paying interest for 
 the same, they pray that your honors will be pleased 
 as soon a* possible to take the premises into your wise 
 consideration, and order the aforementioned sum to be 
 paid them out of the public treasury, and thus far re- 
 lieve them under their distresses. 
 
 Signed by the selectmen, »» by order and in behalf of 
 the town of Newburyport." 
 
 Another subject concerning- which important facts 
 appear on the records, is the formation of the consti- 
 tution of Massachusetts. In October, 1776, it was voted 
 that the Council and Mouse in their respective capaci- 
 ties, and not in one body tC should enact such a consti- 
 tuiion for this State, as they shall think fit for the' well* 
 beinof of the country; and that it previously be made 
 public for the perusal and approbation of the people." 
 
 And here may be. noted the remarkable singularity in 
 the domestic situation of the countr} 7 at this time. The 
 State was ruled by a legislative body substantially like 
 that of the Province, which maintained its authority by 
 reliance on the good sense and rectitude of the commu- 
 nity, rather than by any coercive power which it was 
 capable of exercising-, or which it would have been suf- 
 fered to exercise, if it had possessed the inclination and 
 capacity. It was entirely dependant upon the towns, 
 every one of which was considered and treated as a dis- 
 tinct republic. At that peiiod, the General Court was 
 Father the congress of these little confederate corpora- 
 tions, than the legislature of an individual common- 
 wealth. When the General Court desired to ascertain 
 the sense of the people, it was usual to propose the 
 subject for discussion in the town meetings. Such was 
 the case, for example, when it was determined to resist 
 England^ and continually during- the war in raising 
 soldiers and supplies for the continental army. 
 
 So it wa«, also, in respect to the State constitution. A 
 coovention, assembled in 1777-8, proposed a skeich of 
 •ne to the people, which was so much beneath the 
 
17 
 
 wants and pretensions of the country, that many princi- 
 pal men oppose;! it with great zeal and success. The 
 opposition seems !o have been most decided in Newbu- 
 ryport. At a meeting held March 26tb, 1773, the fol- 
 lowing vote occurs : 
 
 " Voted, that this town are of opinion, that the mode 
 of representation contained in the constitution lately 
 proposed by the convention of this State is unequal an i 
 unjust, as thereby all the inhabitants of this State are 
 not equally represented, and that some other parts of 
 the same constitution are not founded on the true prin- 
 ciples of government ; and that a convention of the sev- 
 eral towns of this county, by their delegates, will have 
 a probable tendency to reform the same, agreeably to 
 the natural rights of mankind and the true principles of 
 government. 
 
 " Voted, that the selectmen he desired, in behalf and 
 in the name of the town, to write circular letters to the 
 several towns within the county, proposing a conven- 
 tion of those towns, by their delegates, to be holden at 
 such time and place as the selectmen shall think prop- 
 er : in said circular letters to propose to each of the 
 towns aforesaid, to send the like number of delegates 
 to said convention, as the same towns have by law right 
 to send representatives to the General Court.'" 
 
 Accordingly the mo«t eminent citizen- of this ancient 
 and leading county assembled at Ipswich and instituted 
 an elaborate examination of the intended constitution, 
 which was printed, with the title of the Essex Result. 
 The effect of this pamphlet, which is attributed to the 
 mighty mind of Theophilus Parsons, then resident in 
 Newburyport, was perfectly decisive of the question. 
 This town unanimously voted to reject the proposed 
 form? of government} and suggested the expediency of 
 calling a new convention for the sole purpose of fram- 
 ing a constitution mote worthy of Massachusetts. 
 
 This convention it was, which formed our constitution. 
 It has frequently been said that this instrument was the 
 fruit of compromise. Manifest proof of this exists in the 
 records of Newburyport. The vote accepting the con- 
 s' iiut ion, after criticising various parts of the constitu- 
 tion, and proposing amendment?, concludes as follows: 
 B 4 
 
15 
 
 " The town then voted that their former delegates, 
 be desired to attend the convention at their adjourn- 
 ment, on the first Wednesday in June next, and use 
 their endeavors to obtain the several alterations and 
 amendments aforesaid, especially the four first mention- 
 ed, as far as they may find it prudent. But if this can- 
 not be effected, yet considering- that, from variety of 
 opinions generally formed on matters of an interesting 
 nature, by means of prejudices arising from education, 
 and influence of interests, and various other causes, it is 
 not to be expected that a form of government should 
 ever be devised that will be agreeable to all the mem- 
 bers of the community, and that consequently mutual 
 concessions must be made ; considering further the ne- 
 cessity of a speedy establishment of a form of govern- 
 ment for this State, and that provision is made by the 
 one now proposed for a revision of the same at a future 
 period ; and esteeming it in general a wise and good 
 one ; the town do voie and declare their approbation of 
 the same in its present form." 
 
 These extracts on the subject of our revolutionary 
 history cannot be more appropriately concluded than 
 with the address written by Theophilus Parsons and de- 
 livered to Gen. Washington in October, 1789, and the 
 answer of the President. 
 
 To the President of the United States. 
 Sir : 
 
 4; When, by the unanimous suffrages of your coun- 
 Irymen, you were called to preside over thoir public 
 councils, the citizens of the town o£» Newburyport par- 
 ticipated in the geneml joy, that arose from anticipating 
 an administration, conducted by the man, to whose wis- 
 dom and valor the} owed their liberties. 
 
 t» Pleasing were the reflections, that he, who, by the 
 blessing of heaven, had given them their independence, 
 would again relinquish the felicities oi domestic retire- 
 ment, to" teach them its just value. 
 
 "Thoy have seen you victorious leave the field, fol- 
 lowed by the applauses of a grateful country ; and (hey 
 now see you entwining the olive with the laurel, and 
 in peace, giving security to a people, whom in war 
 you covered wilhgloiy. 
 
IS 
 
 ' ; At the present moment they indulge themselves in 
 sentiments of joy, resulting- from a principle, perhaps 
 less elevated, but exceedingly dear to their hearts ; — 
 from a gratification of their affection, in beholding per- 
 sonally among them the iriend, the benefactor, and the 
 father of their country. 
 
 « They cannot hope, sir, to exhibit any peculiar 
 marks of attachment to your person; for, could they ex- 
 press their feelings of the most ardent and sincere Grat- 
 itude, they would only repeat the sentiments, which arc 
 deeply impressed upon the hearts of ail their fellow 
 citizens: but in justice to themselves they beg leave 
 to assure you that, in no part of the United States, are 
 those sentiments of gratitude and affection more cordial 
 and animated, than in the town, which at this time is 
 honored with your presence. 
 
 " Long, sir, may you continue the ornament and sup- 
 port of these States; and may the period be late, when 
 you shall be called to receive a reward, adequate tc 
 your virtues, which it is not in the power of your coun- 
 try to bestow."' 
 
 " To the citizens of the town of Newburyport, 
 **■ Gentlemen : 
 
 " The demonstrations of respect and affection, which 
 you are pleased to pay to an individual, whose highest 
 pretension is to rank as your fellow citizen, are of a na- 
 ture too distinguished, not to claim the warmest return 
 that gratitude can make, 
 
 " My endeavors to be useful to my country have been 
 no more than the result of conscious duty: — regards 
 like yours would reward services of the highest estima- 
 tion and sacrifice. Yet it is due to my feelings that I 
 should tell you those regards are received with esteem 
 and replied to with sincerity. 
 
 "In visiting the town of Newburyport 1 have obeyed 
 a favorite inclination, and 1 am much gratified hv the 
 mdulgence. In expressing a sincere wish for its pros- 
 perity, and the happiness of its inhabitants, I do justice 
 to my own sentiments and their merit." 
 
 ">igned, G. Washington;" 
 
 The prosperity of Newburyport continued steadily 
 to increase after the constitution ol the United States 
 
20 
 
 •Was established, and the country tranquillized. Its in- 
 habitants firmly supported Washington in his determi- 
 nation to maintain, if possible, a strict neutrality during- 
 the wars consequent on the French revolution. Of hir 
 famous proclamation of neutrality in 1793, that muc'i 
 disputed but most wise and salutary measure, they ex- 
 pressed the following opinion as a corporation : 
 
 " Voted unanimously, That in the opinion of this 
 town, the neutrality ot the United States, during the 
 war now waged by the several belligerent powers in 
 Europe, is consistent with the honor and good faith of 
 our government, and not repugnant to any treaties ex- 
 isting between the United States, and any of those pow- 
 trs. 
 
 " Voted unanimously* That in the opinion of this town, 
 a strict and uniform adherence to that neutrality is of 
 the utmost importance, to the best interests and happi- 
 ness of our country, 
 
 " Voted unanimously., That in the opinion of this town, 
 the late proclamation of the President, declaring that 
 neutrality, was ;i constitutional and wise measure, re- 
 sulting from his ardent affection for his fellow-citizens, 
 his knowledge of, and vigilant attention to, their just 
 rights and true interest, 
 
 "Voted unanimously, That in -the opinion ofthis town, 
 any infraction of the laws of neutrality, by any of the 
 citizens of the United States fitting out, or being in- 
 terested in armed vessels, to cruise against the citizen* 
 or subjects of fither of the belligerent powers, or per- 
 sonally engaging in such cruise, will naturally tend to 
 injure essentially the agricultural, manuiacturing, and 
 commercial interests of this country." 
 
 And in 1794, when the violence of the belligerents, 
 and especially the extravagant maritime pretensions of 
 Great Britain, led them into many aggre c sions on our neu- 
 ttal rights; and this induced Congress to provide an 
 embargo for the temporary protection of our commerce, 
 the inhabitants of the town passed a vote approving oh 
 the measure, and declaring their opinion that it ought 
 to be continued as long as the public exigencies re- 
 quire I it. 
 
 In the fall of 1793, a transient gloom was thrown 
 
2T 
 
 tver the town by the introduction of the emall-pex 
 soion^ ifs Inhabitants. Only about twenty persons died of 
 it, owing to the vigilance and precaution used to check 
 its oro^ress. But the consternation occasioned at that 
 time by the presence of this fatal and loathsome mala- 
 dy can hardly be realized now, when vaccination has 
 almost relieved us from the dread of it* recurrence. It 
 produced lor a shod peiiod injurious effects upon the 
 commerce of the town, by deterrTng person- from resort- 
 ing to it lor the purpose of tfade ; but the alarm soon 
 subsided, and business resumed it's wonted activity. 
 
 But the affliction occasioned by the appearance of 
 the yellow fever in the town in the summer of 1796, was 
 more extensive and of longer duration, l.ven before the 
 di-covery of the admirable effect- of vaccination, the 
 use of inoculation could disarm the smn!!-pox of a por- 
 tion of its terrors: and it could be escaped by sfiunning 
 all intercourse witfi the infected. But a destructive' 
 malignant fever could not be so easily controlled. Tbir- 
 ty ? eight persons died of the disease* in Newburyport, in 
 a single season ; and its ravages were stayed only by 
 the approach of cool autumnal weather. Whether i! was 
 imported from abroad, or engendered in the precinct's ol 
 the town, was then, as it is in like cases now, a matter 
 of dispute and uncertainty. But certain it is that the 
 disease has in almost every instance been quite limited 
 in range ; and ha ; commenced its progress in some dense- 
 ly inhabited spot, where tocal causes rendered the air 
 impure, and susceptible of infection. And ii is equally 
 certain that m lignant fevers are every year ceasing to 
 be so widely destructive, as tlie progress. of improve- 
 ment indexes the n icrpal authorities to pay more ex- 
 act attention to the ct< imliness ci; sea-pOrts. To its 
 airy situation, the neatness - d openness of its streets, 
 and the enforcement of local health laws, far more than 
 to quarant ne regulation*, Newbury; ort may probably 
 attribute its long exemption from infectious di-tempers. 
 During tlie ciiiTerences with the French directory, in 
 which our government was involved in 1798, the in- 
 habitants of Newburvport warmly supported the nation. 
 At a town-meeting hoiden April 30th 1793, a committee 
 consisting of Benjamin Greenleaf, Charles Jackson, 
 
Theophilus Parsons, Samuel A. Otis, jr. and Jonathan 
 Boardman prepared the following ad.lress to President 
 Adams under the direction of the town. 
 
 " To the President of the United States, 
 "Sir: 
 
 The inhabitants of the town of Newburvport, fully 
 impressed with the present important crisis of public 
 affairs, are prompted no less by a sense of duty than by 
 their o.vn feelings, to express those sentiments which 
 the occision so naturally inspires in the breast of every 
 American. From the long experience of your conduct 
 in the many pubiic offices to which you have been call- 
 ed by your own country, they feel the most perfect con- 
 fidence in your wisdom, integrity ''and ^patriotism ; and 
 they with cheerfulness declare their entire, approbation 
 of you$ attempt to adjust all existing disputes with the 
 French Republic by an amicable negociation ; of that 
 spirit of conciliation which dictated your instructions to 
 our ministers; and of the principles of justice on which 
 they wore founded. The^' learn with equal indignation 
 and astonishment that tiii- spirit of conciliation has been 
 repelled with contempt, that these principles of justice 
 have been disregarded, and that a heavy tribute, with 
 humiliating concessions on our part, has been propos- 
 ed tu us in a manner arbitrary and unfriendly, as the 
 price at which we must purchase the. right of being 
 S^eard. The inhabitants of this town duly rppreciate 
 the blessings of peace and neutrality, but they will nev- 
 er complain at the loss of those blessings, when con- 
 strained to sacrifice them to the honor, the dignity and 
 the essential interests of their country. They consid- 
 er the present interesting state of public affairs as a 
 solemn appeal to the hearts oi" all independent Amerir 
 cans, and a call on them to come forward with unanimi- 
 ty and firmness, in support of the government and the 
 men of their choice, to resist with becoming dignity 
 any vain attempt to derogate from our common sove- 
 reignty, or to degrade our national character from the 
 rank it now jusily holds among nations, to convince the 
 world that we are alike uninfluenced by corruption and 
 by fear, and that we will not be a divided people, the 
 
23 
 
 .miserable slaves of a foreign power, or the despicable 
 tools oi foreign influence. 
 
 "Impressed with these sentiment?, and relying with 
 full confidence on the wisdom and patriotism of every 
 branch oi gorernmont, they take this occasion solemnly 
 to pledge their lives and fortunes to support the measures 
 judged Leeessary by the President and Congress, to 
 preserve and secure the happiness, the dignity, and the 
 essential interests of the United States.'' 
 
 To which tne following reply was made by the 
 Piesident : — 
 
 To the Inhabitants of JVewburyport. 
 * 4 Gentlemen : 
 
 The address Of the inhabitants of (he ancient, popu> 
 lous and wealthy town ot TCewburyport, passed without 
 a dissentient voice, .it a ■ ite meeting, as certified by 
 your, selectmen, and 'presented to me by your repre- 
 sentative in Congress, Mr. Bartlett, does me great hon- 
 or. 
 
 The astonishment and iudignation, you express at 
 (he ccntempt with vvhich a spirit of conciliation has 
 been replied to ;your resolution never to complain at the 
 loss of the blessings of peace and neutrality, when con- 
 strained to sacrifice them to the honor, ciignity and es- 
 sential interests of your country ; to resist with becom- 
 ing dignity, any vain attempt to derogate from our com- 
 mon sovereignty, or to degrade our national character 
 from the rank it now justly holds among nations ; to 
 convince. the world that you are alike uninfluenced by 
 corruption and by fear; that you are not a divided peo* 
 pie, the miserable slaves of foreign influence, do ecpial 
 honor to your hearts and judgment: 
 
 lour reliance, with lull confidence, on the wisdom 
 and patriotism of every branch of the government, and 
 the solemn pledge of your lives and tonun.es, .to sup- 
 port the. measures of the legislature and administra- 
 tion, to preserve and secure the happiness, dignity, and 
 .essential interests of the United States, are ail the as- 
 surances which the best of governments could desire 
 iron} the best of citizens. 
 
 John Adam's, 
 Philadelphia, May 8, 1798, 
 
"24 
 
 A number of the inhabitant? also subscribed about the 
 same time, for the construction and equipment of a ship 
 of twenty guns for the use of the nation, which, in the 
 infancy of our navy, was a service of considerable im- 
 portance. The following document explains the views 
 of these patriotic citizens. 
 
 " -Newburyport, June 1, 1798. 
 « Sir : 
 
 A number of the inhabitants of this town have agreed 
 to build and equip a ship of three hundred and fifty-five 
 tons burthen, to be mounted with 20 six pound cannon, 
 and to offer her to the governmenrof the United States 
 for their use. They have also voted that they will not 
 accept of any further or other compensation from *the 
 government than an interest of six per cent per annum 
 on the net cost of the ship and equipments, and a final 
 reimbursement, at the convenience of government, of 
 the said net cost ; and they have appointed us a com- 
 mittee to inform you of their intentions, and to request 
 you to promote a provision whereby they may be ena- 
 bled to carry their designs into execution by the coun- 
 tenance of government, so tar as the same shall appear 
 necessary. As we indulge a hope that this intention of 
 the citizens of Newburyport wiil lead to proportionate 
 exertions in larger and wealthier towns, we beg leave 
 to suggest the convenience that any piovi-ion, which 
 maybe thought proper and applicable to the c <se ? might 
 be general. The inhabitants of this town, at the pres- 
 ent moment, are animated v<ith the paost zealous reso- 
 lution to support and defend, with their lives and prop- 
 erty, th e o-nvcroment of their counlry, as well against the 
 open attacks of foreign enemies, as the insidious at- 
 tempts of domestic traitor-. '1 'hey heartily wish their 
 abili ies extended beyond their present ofi'er, but the 
 immense ravages which have been committed on their 
 property by sea, and the great proportion of the rem- 
 nant v.°t at risk, forbid their farther indulgence of their 
 inclinations, l! may be that nder a late act of gov- 
 ernment authorizing the Exec itjve to purchase s ; ags 
 of war, the proposal may be closed without legislative 
 aid. If such should be your opinion, we wish y> n to^ay 
 the plan before the Executive^ and we shall be the mvic 
 
25 
 
 gratified in this way, as the whole business may proba- 
 bly be thus considerably expedited. The materials are 
 already in forwardness, and provisional contracts will 
 be entered into, so that probably, in ninety days from 
 our receiving assurances that government patronizes 
 our design, the ship may be afloat. The best calculations 
 we have been able to make of the whole expense, re- 
 duce it below thirty thousand dollars, and if the utmost 
 attention to economy and despatch can effect any thing, 
 the cost will finally fall considerably within that sum. 
 
 Among the good effects of the present proposal, we 
 have contemplated that, in this way, government may 
 at this period, when so many calls for money exist, pro- 
 cure the means of defence, without actual advances, per- 
 haps with more promptitude, and undoubtedly with con- 
 siderably less expense, than in the common mode oi 
 contracts. (Signed by) 
 
 William Bartlett, ^ 
 
 William Coombs, i 
 
 Dudley A. Tyng, I £j 
 
 Moses Brown, I 3 
 
 Wm. P. Johnson, > S 
 
 Nicholas Johnson, 1 ~ 
 
 William Faris, 1 ? 
 
 Ebenezer Stocker, I 
 
 Sam. A. Otis, Jr. ' 
 
 Hon. Bailey Bartlett. 
 
 This ship was built under the direction of William 
 Hacket as master-builder and superintendant. The 
 work was despatched with so much rapidity that only 
 seventy five working days were consumed incompleting 
 her. Her keel was laid July 9th and she was launched 
 into the Merrimac, whose name she bore, October 
 12th 1798, and was manned and sent to sea with all pos- 
 sible expedition, under the command of capt. Moses 
 Brown. But in consequence chiefly of her being con- 
 structed of unseasoned timber she ran only about five 
 years, and was then sold for the merchants' service ; 
 soon after which she was wrecked upon cape Cod. 
 
 After the short lived war with France was over, and 
 peace restored, the commercial prosperity of Newbury- 
 c 
 
26 
 
 port continued to increase with renewed vigor. For 
 the period of ten years next ensuing, its wealth and 
 population were augmented to a degree, of which few 
 examples can be found even in this country, where the 
 growth of towns is often so rapid as to leave little space 
 between their infancy and their maturity. In 1800, the 
 population of the town was 5,946 ; in 1810 it had become 
 7,639. In 1802 its whole rateable estate was estimated 
 at only g3,754,920; but in 1810 it amounted to g7,069,- 
 000 dollars. This period was one of feverish excite- 
 ment in business and politics. Mercantile industry was 
 stimulated, in a manner the most unprecedented, by the 
 peculiar situation of this country, combined witb the 
 local advantages of the town. The happy effects of 
 the neutral policy of Washington were now strikingly 
 manifested ; and for several years, wbilst every other 
 maritime State was involved in the most embittered 
 warfare, America, a neutral nation at amity with all 
 mankind, was reaping a rich harvest of wealth from 
 the carrying trade of Europe and her colonies. During 
 the lapse of twenty years, indeed, from 1792 to 1812, 
 the full benefit of this trade was enjoyed by the United 
 States alone. Almost every flag but hers was swept 
 from the ocean by the wars engendered by the French 
 revolution. We had, in fact, as a nation, a kind of mo- 
 nopoly of this lucrative ocsupation. 
 
 JNewburyport, as already intimated, was well adapt- 
 ed to participate largely in this trade and on a favora- 
 ble footing. The town was not the seat of any exten- 
 sive manufacture, which might give it commercial ac- 
 tivity, and build it up, as Manchester does Liverpool; 
 nor could it boast of being, like New Orleans or New 
 York, the depot of a vast interior region devoted to ag- 
 riculture. But having direct access, by means of the 
 river Merrimac, to a country well wooded with ship- 
 timber, its thrifiy inhabitants needed but a small capi- 
 tal to enable them to fit out a vessel, and transport the 
 productions ol the southern States or of the West Indies 
 to Europe. Their industry was thus liberally reward- 
 ed with a speedy incfease, in this hardy and enterpris- 
 ing employment. 
 But these days, .so serviceable to the country, were 
 
ft7 
 
 not destined to be of long duration. The great belli 
 gerent powers, engaged in combats injurious to their 
 own commercial prosperity, soon began to regard, with 
 envy and jealousy, the fast rising fortunes of America. 
 They were chagrined to see us taking advantage, hon- 
 estly enough and most successfully, of their own folly 
 and imprudence. They began by occasional aggres- 
 sions upon our mercantile marine, desisting from time 
 to time when our remonstrances against their violence 
 became more determined. The sums of money, which 
 they piratically plundered from the nation before 1806, 
 were immense, and the losses, which the merchants of 
 this town thereby sustained, must have seriously affect- 
 ed its prosperity but for the extraordinary extent and 
 profitableness of our trade. But at length the two great 
 warring states of Europe, England and France, with their 
 respective allies, seemed to conspire in their attacks 
 upon our commerce ; and our government deemed it 
 necessary, for the protection of our property, to com- 
 mence that series of restrictive measures, which termi- 
 nated in the late war with great Britain. 
 
 Thus it was that the development of our national en- 
 ergies, and of the prosperity of the town, so wonder- 
 fully and so unnaturally hastened before, now under- 
 went a sudden check. 
 
 But in addition to the evils arising to us from the cu- 
 pidity of the European belligerents, and the restrictive 
 and retaliatory measure* into which this country was 
 consequently driven, Newburyport was doomed to suf- 
 fer by a peculiar misfortune. This was the great fire of 
 1811, which desolated the busiest portion of the town, 
 by its destructive ravages ; — and whose effects still meet 
 the eye, in the depopulation of streets formerly tilled 
 with dwelling-houses and shops. 
 
 This conflagration commenced in a stable in Mechan- 
 ic Row, near the Market square, and of course in the 
 centre of the portion of the town devoted to trade and 
 business. The stable was at the time unoccupied ; and 
 when the fire was discovered, was found to be com- 
 pletely enveloped in flames. This was at half past 
 nine o'clock in the evening of the thirty first day of 
 May, 1811. The tire quickly extended to Market 
 
fquare on the one hand, and to State street on the other. 
 and soon spread in various directions, with a degree ot 
 celerity and fury, which haffled alt exertions to stop its 
 progress. The tire continued to rage until ahout two 
 o'clock in the morning, soon alter which its violence 
 diminished ; and by sunrise it had in a great measure 
 subsided, after having swept away every thing on a tract 
 of land of sixteen and a half acres, leaving there only a 
 mass of deplorable ruins. No part of the town was 
 more compactly built than this ; none contained so large 
 a proportion ot valuable buildings*, merchandize, and 
 other property. Indeed the compactness of the build- 
 ings, which were chiefly constructed of wood, served 
 constantly to feed the flames with combustible material, 
 so that for a time the destruction of the whole town 
 was seriously apprehended. It was estimated that near- 
 ly 250 buildings were consumed, most of which were 
 stores and dwelling-houses. This number included near- 
 ly all the shops in town for the sale of dry goods ; four 
 printing offices ; the custom-house ; the post-office ; two 
 insurance offices ; four book-stores ; and one meeting 
 house ; and the dwellings of more than ninety families. 
 
 The scene presented by this conflagration was truly 
 terrible. It is described by an eye-witness in the en- 
 suing words : 
 
 " At the commencement of the fire, it was a bright 
 moon light night, and the evening was cool and pleas- 
 ant. But the moon gradually became obscured and at 
 length disappeared in the thick cloud of smoke, which 
 ihrouded the atmosphere. — The glare of light through- 
 out the town was intense, and the heat that of a sultry 
 summer noon. The streets were thronged with those, 
 whose dwellings were consumed, conveying the re- 
 mains of their property to places of safety. The in- 
 cessant crash of falling buildings, the roaring of chim- 
 neys like distant thunder, the flames ascending in curl- 
 ing volumes from a vast extent of ruins, the air filled 
 with a shower of fire, and the feathered throng flutter- 
 ing over their wonted retreats, and dropping into the 
 flames; the looing of the cows, and the confused noise 
 of exertion and distress, united to impress the mind 
 with the most awful sensations." 
 
29 
 
 The unprecedented rapidity, with which the flames 
 spread themselves over the town, may be inferred from 
 the following circumstance. Many persons had, soon 
 after the fire began, carried their goods and furniture 
 seemingly to a secure distance, and deposited them in 
 the meeting-house of the Baptist Society in Liberty- 
 street. But the fire at length reached this place, and 
 consumed the church and its contents, which, being ac- 
 cumulated there, greatly increased the flames. 
 
 Nothing was more remarkable during the heartrend- 
 ing scene of this destructive conflagration, than the 
 spectacle which State-street exhibited on one occasion. 
 Two large brick buildings, four stores in height, stood 
 upon the western side of this street, and opposed a bar- 
 rier to the destructive element, which it was hoped 
 for a time would there be arrested in its course. But a 
 sudden change of wind threw the flames directly upon 
 these immense piles, which were speedily involved in 
 the general calamity. The opposite buildings being 
 now on fire, and the wind blowing with great force, the 
 flames ascended high on either side, and meeting in the 
 ajr, extended in a continual sheet of fire across the 
 spacious street. The impression made by this tremen- 
 dous scene upon the mind of the author of these pages, 
 then a youthful spectator of it, will never be effaced 
 from his recollection. It was sublime beyond conception. 
 The beholder could look through a long vista of over- 
 arching blaze, whose extreme brilliancy dazzled and fa- 
 tigued, while it irresistibly attracted, the straining eye. 
 
 The sufferings of the families, whose dwellings and 
 property were Consumed, immediately excited the 
 sympathy of the libera! and charitable. Meetings were 
 held in many of the large towns in various parts of the 
 country ; and generous donations were received from 
 different quarters, for the relief of the inhabitants. The 
 citizens of Boston collected upwards of twenty-four 
 thousand dollars, which, with characteristic libera 'ity, 
 they presented to the sufferers by the tire. By these 
 means, the losses of the poorer class were very much, 
 lightened ; and the extent of the calamity was diminish- 
 ed. But the injury to the town, and to very many in- 
 c2 
 
30 
 
 dividuals, by the absolute destruction of property, was 
 still very seiious ; and ite effects must long continue to 
 be felt. 
 
 This misfortune befell the town at a time when the 
 restrictive system had produced a complete stagnation of 
 its commerce, and its inhabitants were deprived of bu- 
 siness. Soon afterwards the war ensued ; and on the 
 restoration of peace in 181&, the neutral advantages of 
 the nation had ceased to exist. The people of Europe, 
 who had formerly looked with so much jealousy on our 
 prosperous trade, when they were sinking under the 
 exhaustion of protracted warfare, now enjoyed the ben- 
 efit of peace. Business, of course, was speedily divert- 
 ed into new channels, and Newburyport has never yet 
 regained its pristine elevation in population and wealth. 
 The consideraiion of the causes, which produced or ac- 
 celerated its decline, will form the subject of another 
 portion of these pages ; and is only mentioned here a* 
 in the course of narrative. 
 
 Of the civil history of the town during the last twen- 
 ty years, and the part taken by its inhabitants in the 
 political affairs of the period, it would not become the 
 author to speak at length. These incidents are too re- 
 cent to have become, as yet, the subject of history. — 
 The nation w T as divided, upon the topics discussed in 
 the public acts of the town, at the time in question; 
 and tic, individuals interested in them still remain up- 
 on the stage of life. The peculiar misfortunes of the 
 town occasioned a susceptibility in the breasts of its 
 inhabitants, and an irritation of feeling, in regard to 
 political subjects, which is no longer experienced. The 
 views of public affairs, entertained by the majority of 
 this town and of Massachusetts, were not in unison with 
 the measures, which the executive of the country was 
 compelled, by the injustice of the European belliger- 
 ents, to. pursue. —The voice of the nation, however, 
 approved at that time, and has sanctioned since, the. 
 course of our government. The expediency or inex- 
 pediency of that course would not constitute a suitable 
 matter for discussion in this place. And the addresses, 
 resolutions, and other public acts of the town, during 
 fchose days of exasperation, cpuU not be introduced 
 
34 
 
 here without some expression of opinion upon their 
 purport, which w^ould necessarily be invidious and mis- 
 placed. 
 
 The recent annals of the town furnish no events, for 
 the pen of the historian to record. In the peaceful and 
 tranquil pursuit of the objects of honest industry, its in- 
 habitants are seeking to restore it to its former stand- 
 ing in commerce. Success attend their efforts ! " The 
 external situation of the town is unrivalled in beauty; 
 the sides of the river continually increase in populoas- 
 ness ; the bar was no obstacle to the acquisition of 
 wealth in former times and therefore need not be now ; 
 our mechanics are as faithful and intelligent as they 
 used to be, when they gained so much celebrity for 
 the ship building and naval equipments of the river 
 Merrrmac ; we can manage distilleries or fisheries with 
 as much skill as our neighbors; we can purchase lum- 
 ber as cheaply and export it in as good bottoms as can 
 any part of the commonwealth ; nor will our merchants 
 or mariners yield to those of any other seaport in up- 
 rightness, enterprise, or information. If all these 
 tfcings are true, — and that they are so who <:an deny 1 
 — there is no reason whatever why we should think our 
 future prospects more discouraging than the rest of the, 
 maritime towns of equal size in New England."* 
 
 * Oration delivered in Newburyport July 4ih. 182L , 
 
 i 
 
32 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 Neweuryport, as incorporated, was compressed with- 
 in very narrow limits, lying contiguous to the Merri- 
 mac on one side, and being surrounded on the other 
 three sides by the then town of Newbury, The ma- 
 terial section of the. act of incorporation is in the fol- 
 lowing words, namely : — 
 
 " Anno Regni Regis Georgii Tertii Quarto. 
 
 An Act for erecting part of the town of Newbury in- 
 to a new town by the name of Newburyport. 
 
 Whereas the town of Newbury is very large, and the 
 inhabitants of that part of it who dwell by the water side 
 there, as it is commonly called, are mostly merchants, 
 traders, and artificers, and the inhabitants of the other 
 parts of the town are chiefly husbandmen, by means 
 whereof many dimculties and disputes hare arisen in 
 managing their public affairs : 
 
 Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and House of 
 Representatives, that that part of the said town of New- 
 bury and the inhabitants thereof included within the 
 following line, namely, beginning at Mdrrimac river 
 against the northeasterly end of the town way com- 
 monly called Cottle's lane (South-street) and running 
 as the said lane doth on the eastwardly side of it to 
 the highway commonly called the High-ctreet, and so 
 westwardly as the said highway runs on the northward- 
 ly side thereof, till it comes to a highway known by 
 the name of Fish-street, (State-street) and thence 
 southwestwardly as the way goes and on the eastward- 
 ly side thereof leading by Benjamin Moody's, to a place 
 called the West Indies, until it intersects a straight line 
 drawn from the southwardly side of the highway against 
 Cottle's lane as aforesaid to a rock in the great pasture 
 
aear the dividing line between the third and filth par- 
 ishes there, and so as the said straight line goes until it 
 comes to the dividing line aforesaid, from thence as the 
 said dividing line runs by the said fifth parish down to 
 Merrimac river, and thence along said river to the place 
 first mentioned, — be and hereby are constituted an:i 
 made a separate and distinct town by the name of 
 Newbury port, vested and endowed with all the powers 
 privileges, and immunities, that the inhabitants of any of 
 the towns within this Province do or ought by law to 
 enjoy."' 
 
 The space comprehended within these limits con- 
 tains but 647 acres, and constitutes the smallest town in 
 the commonwealth. Add to this that a considerable 
 portion of the territory lies in common, or is unoccupi- 
 ed- by houses, and the denscness of the. population in the 
 occupied portion of it, will be still more manifest. 
 
 This tract of land was first laid out in 1644, five years 
 after the incorporation of Newbury. In 1642 the town 
 of Newbury » well weighing the straights they were in 
 for want of plough ground, remoteness of the common, 
 and scarcity of fencing stuff,' granted authority to 
 THfbmas Parker, James Noyes, John Woodbridge, Ed- 
 ward Raw sod, John Cutting, Edward Woodman, John 
 Lowlc (Lowell) and John Clark, to lay out a 4 new town, r 
 which was accordingly done January 11th 1644. This 
 'new town' included ail the inhabited part of Newbury- 
 port, extending south westerly to a line running nearly 
 parallel with the river ' through the pine-swamp.' 
 
 A considerable tract of land within the limits of thio 
 town, namely, the water lots, was then and long contin- 
 ued to be in common and undivided. In 1707 the pro- 
 prietors voted to divide these water lots, and the com- 
 mittee appointed for the purpose completed their task 
 in 1711. They wore divided into 225 lots, ' by the 
 same rule as the 6000 acres in the upper woods were 
 laid out,' assigning to each commoner his rateable pro- 
 portion, and leaving suitable public landing places. — 
 Since that time, and mostly subsequent to the incorpora- 
 tion of Newburyport, fifteen lar^e wharves, and a number 
 of small ones have been constructed upon these water- 
 lots. 
 
34 
 
 The location of the town presented facilities for lad- 
 ing out. the streets with regularity, which have not been 
 disregarded. The populous part of the town forms a par- 
 allelogram covering the declivity beside the Merrimac, of 
 which the long sides are Water-street next the river, 
 and High-street on the summit of the ridge. The oth- 
 er main streets unite these nearly at right angles, and 
 are generally wide, and constructed with great neatness 
 and convenience. And these again are intersected by 
 other small streets of similar construction. 
 
 The principal public buildings in Newburyport 
 are, a brick court-house, one half of which is the 
 property of the county* and the other half of the 
 town ; a stone gaol, erected in 1825 ; a brick market- 
 house, built in 1823; a town-hall ; four brick school- 
 houses and seven churches. Of the churches and 
 schools a more particular account will be given in the 
 sequel. 
 
 Of the public improvements connected with the town 
 the most expensive is the Newburyport Turnpike. — 
 This was begun in 1803 and completed in 1806. — 
 Tt proceeds in a straight line from the head of State- 
 street in Newburyport to Maiden bridge, and makes the 
 distance only thirty-two miles to Boston, more than five 
 miles less than the main post road. Immense labor 
 was employed in the construction of this road, hi filling 
 up deep vallies, and digging away hill*, so as to pre- 
 serve the direct course to Boston. In the first twenty 
 miles all the angles together increase the distance only 
 eighty-three feet: — so successful were the projectors in 
 the accomplishment of their purpose- The whole cost 
 of this turnpike was 420,000 dollars, and the orig- 
 inal proprietors have received a very scanty income 
 from their investments in the stock. — Taste and the 
 exigencies of business carry most travellers through Ips- 
 wich and Salem, and away from the turnpike, which 
 would probably have been more valuable and useful, 
 had it been so directed as to take those towns in its 
 course. But alth'ough less useful than it might be if it 
 ran otherwise, it is a monument of the enterprise an/1 
 perseverance of its projectors. 
 
OK 
 
 OJ 
 
 The local advantages of Newburyport as a place of 
 business are derived from its contiguity to the Merri- 
 mac. This name, handed down from the aboriginal in- 
 habitants of the country, signifies a sturgeon. The riv- 
 er is formed by the junction of the Pemigewasset and 
 Winipisiogee, in New Hampshire. The Winipisiogee 
 flows from the lake of that name, and unites with the 
 Pemigewasset at Sanbornton, after which the confluent 
 stream bears the name of Merrimac. The Pemigewas- 
 set arises in the White Mountains, and in its long de- 
 scent among the highlands receives accessions from 
 many tributary rivulets. From its soure the Pemige- 
 wasset flows south about fifty miles to the junction; and 
 from thence the Merrimac runs about ninety miles, first 
 in a southerly and afterwards in an easterly direction to 
 the sea. 
 
 In "its course the Merrimac passes over many falls. Of 
 these the most remarkable, either for beauty or height, 
 
 are the Hookset, the Amoskeag, and the Patucket 
 
 Around each of these, navigable canals have been con- 
 structed. The canal at Patucket fall is the site of the 
 great manufacturing establishments, which have given 
 such sudden rise to the eastern part of Chelmsford, now 
 the town of Lowell. Between this place and Haverhill, 
 the head of the navigation of the river, there are sev- 
 eral other falls and rapids. A number of citizens of 
 Newburyport and others, several years ago, obtained 
 permission from the legislature to construct a canal 
 around these remaining obstructions in the Merrimac, 
 for the purpose of enabling heavy goods to be convey- 
 ed by water the whole extent of the river from the sea, 
 and thus increasing the commerce of Newburyport ; but 
 they have never yet been able to procure funds tor the 
 contemplated enterprise. As it is, the trade of the in- 
 terior, which should naturally be conducted by the riv- 
 er to Newburyport, is diverted from thence to Boston by 
 Middlesex canal. 
 
 Several bridges have been thrown across this river 
 at different places. Of these the Essex Merrimac 
 Bridge, between Newbury and Salisbury, about three 
 miles above Newburyport, first erected in 1792, is the 
 
3C 
 
 most deserving of notice. It consists in fact of tw* 
 bridges, resting upon an island in the midst of the riv- 
 er. The bridge on the Newbury side is hung upon 
 chains ; and the bank of the river and of the island at 
 this point being high and precipitous, the plan of the 
 bridge is a y/ery happy effort to overcome the natural 
 difficulties of the location. The engineer under whose 
 direction it was built was Mr. Timothy Palmer, a citi- 
 zen of Newburyport, who died there in 1821, to whose 
 taste and enterprise much of the regularity and beauty 
 of its streets are to be attributed. 
 
 The direct course from Boston to Portsmouth and 
 Portland lies through Newburyport. But in conse- 
 quence of the Essex Merrimac bridge being upwards of 
 two miles above Newburyport on the river, the travel- 
 ler on the great eastern post road is obliged to deflect 
 to the westward at Newburyport, and pass up the riv- 
 er to cross the bridge. To remedy this inconvenience, 
 a new bridge is now constructing near the ferry over 
 the Merrimac from Newburyport to Salisbury, which 
 will considerably diminish the distance to Portsmouth. 
 
 The mean breadth of the Merrimac at Newburyport, 
 may be estimated at about eighty rods. The harbor 
 ito capacious, safe, and commodious, but difficult of en- 
 trance, the mouth of the river being obstructed by a 
 bar. This bar consists of loose shifting sand, and the 
 channel over it is narrow and terminated on each side 
 by dangerous shoals. The greatest depth of water up- 
 on it, at high tides, is about fourteen feet. It ; is prob- 
 ably formed by the current of the river, in its progress 
 out, meeting the drift of the sea and opposing winds, 
 and by that means forming a bank of loose sand, which 
 the strength of the tide is insufficient to force out.''*— 
 It extends across before the mouth of the river from 
 Salisbury beach to Plum island. This island is about 
 eight miles long, and not more than live hundred paces 
 in width, stretching along the shore, from which it is 
 separated by a narrow river, which empties itself into 
 Ipswich bay. It consists of yellow sand, thrown up by 
 the wind into fantastic hillocks, and bearing scarcely 
 
 * BIuat'3 Coast Pilot, page 150. 
 

 37 
 
 a% vegetation except thickets of juniper and the plum,* 
 from which it derives its Dame ; a very small part of it 
 being capable of cultivation. Two light-houses stand 
 upon the northerly end of the island, containing fixed 
 lights, but the light houses themselves being ?o con- 
 structed as to be moveable, on account of the constant 
 shifting of the bar and of the channel of the river. 
 
 As the dangerous character of this island not unfre- 
 quently subjected seamen to much suffering upon the 
 coast, and sometimes to shipwreck, permanent provision 
 has repeatedly been made for their succor and relief. — 
 Many years ago the Marine Society erected huts to pro- 
 tect them from the storms ; which, however, owing to 
 the cooperation of various causes, were before long to- 
 tally destroyed. Since then the Merrimac Humane So- 
 ciety took precautions for a time, to maintain shel- 
 ter constantly on the shore for the distressed mari- 
 ner. Partly to aid in the same benevolent object, a 
 bridge and turnpike have been constructed from New- 
 buryport to Plum Island ; in order that immediate re- 
 lief may be afforded to such persons as unfortunately 
 chance to be cast upon the isiand by tempestuous weather. 
 
 The great inconvenience sustained by the public in 
 general, and by Newburyport especiallv, in consequence 
 of the obstructions at the mouth of the Merrimac, has 
 directed much speculation to the question whether they 
 may be removed.— A chimerical idea has been enter- 
 tained by some, of deepening the sea on the bar by a 
 kind of plough to be propelled by a steam-boat. But 
 as well might it be attempted to plough a permanent 
 furrow in the sea itself; for the bar consisting of quick- 
 sands, if it could be removed in the method above men- 
 tioned, it would be of no avail ; because the sand would 
 be instantly washed in, by the action of the wind and 
 waves, and fill up the chancel anew. 
 
 * Primus Httoralis of Big-. Some other plants of interesting botani- 
 al character, are to be found on Plum island, such are the Hudaonia to- 
 mentosa, whose yellow flowers, and tufted downy appearance, give a pe- 
 culiar aspect to the sandy waste;— the Convallaria stellata, found in 
 great perfection ;— the Lathyrus maritimus ot Big., with large showy, 
 purple flowers, and bright green leaves;— and especially the Arenariat 
 pephideg, whose fleshy glaucous stems are clustered into green little tints, 
 *h»ch .rising as they do from the naked 8ands,resetnble oases in the desei;, 
 
 D 
 
38 
 
 An application was made to Congress the last session 
 for an appropriation for the purpose of surveying the 
 harbor and mouth of the river, and ascertaining wheth- 
 er any improvements of the navigation are practicable. 
 A sum of money was accordingly granted ; and the 
 question will probably now be definitively settled by a 
 practised engineer Much confidence is reposed by ma- 
 ny in the good effect of narrowing and straightening the 
 channel of the river by a breakwater, so as to carry 
 the whole body of its waters, concentrated in a smaller 
 compass and with greater intensity than it now flows, 
 against the bar; which, it is thought, may be driven fur- 
 ther out to sea, and thus the water be deepened. 
 
 The course of the river at its entrance into the sea 
 is continually changing. — In the lapse of a few years 
 the hifts tli breadth of the channel. The land is 
 
 i) i kg on the Salisbury shore, and yielding place 
 to the tvater at the adjacent extremity of Plum Island. 
 te f a fort formerly built on this island for the 
 protection of the harbor is now on the Salisbury side. 
 A tradition exists fhat, at the first settlement of the 
 • try, the present channel might have been forded 
 over; and that the main passage of the river into the 
 vas f!«en at Ipswich bar. 
 rbe chief natural curiosity near Newburyport is a 
 e*s of limestone pits, about two miles south of the 
 known by the name of the Devil's Den. These 
 w formerly^ wrought to advantage, but have long 
 since be n ibandoned. The excavations are still re- 
 garded '•'■(> i crest, on account of a number of miner- 
 als to be fourkl there, some of which are of rare occur- 
 rence. The limestone rock is intersected with strata 
 of serpentine, of various shades, from the light green 
 to the darkest variety, ••! a fine grain, and susceptible 
 c r ;Ue most b jaut'ful polish The serpentine again is 
 frequently traversed by thin veins of asbestos of a short 
 but very delicate and glossy tibre. Tremolite, also, 
 is found there Li abundance ; with iron pyrites, some- 
 times of a larg- «ize ; and occasionally garnets; 
 a~>o cine; more common minerals. — The excavations, 
 b iog superficial, are not otherwise particularly r«- 
 markable. 
 
3$ 
 
 BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 The charitable associations in Newburyport are nu- 
 merous ; and of necessity only a portion of them can be 
 described in the limits of these pages. The following' 
 are among- the most importaat and most notorious. 
 
 THE MARINE, SOCIETY 
 
 Of Newburyport was incorporated in 1777. The idea 
 of the association was borrowed from a similar society 
 in Boston, chartered by Gov. Shirley in 1754, and anoth- 
 er in Salem, both for the same general purposes. In 
 November 1772 the following persons, namely, Thom- 
 as Jones, William Wyer, Benjamin Rogers, Samuel New- 
 hall, Michael Hodge, and Edward Wigglesworth, institut- 
 ed the society at Newburyport, each person contribut- 
 ing a guinea to commence a charitable fund for unfortu- 
 nate members, and inviting others to join on the same 
 condition. They were incorporated in 1777, and have 
 continued in being ever since, always maintaining a high 
 character for respectability, and for liberal charities. 
 
 The principal ends of the Society, which is compost- 
 ed entirely of past or present ship masters, are two: — 
 To improve the knowledge of the coast by the several 
 members, upon their arrival from sea, communicating 
 their observations inwards and outwards of the variation 
 of the needle, soundings, courses, distances, and other 
 remarkable things, in writing, to be lodged with the So- 
 ciety, for the greater security of navigation ; — And to' 
 raise a common fund, for the relief of the members and 
 their families in poverty, or other adverse accidents of 
 life, to which mariners are particularly subject. 
 
 For the support and protection of any shipmaster*' 
 
40 
 
 who hare met with accidents at sea, such as shipwfeck- 
 capture, or the like, it is customary for the Society, if, 
 the party desire it, to examine into the circumstances of 
 the case, and if his conduct should appear to them satis- 
 factory, to give him a certificate of their approbation. 
 
 Conscious of the difficulties attending an approach to 
 the port, occasioned by the bar, the Society early took 
 measures for facilitating the navigation of the river. — 
 In 1783 they erected two beacons on Plum island to 
 serve as landmarks for the guidance of vessels during 
 the day ; and made provission for the support of lights 
 in the night ; which they maintained, assisted by the 
 merchants, until light-houses were afterwards erected 
 at the expense of the government. At the same 
 time they established a system of signals, by which to 
 make known the quality of any vessel, which might ap-* 
 pear standing towards the mouth of the river. 
 
 In 1787 the Society first caused two small houses to 
 he erected on Plum island, to receive shipwrecked mar- 
 iners, and shelter them from the inclemencies of the 
 weather until they could have further aid, — as already 
 mentioned in another part of this work. — The Society, 
 even then, found it difficult to keep the huts from being 
 destroyed by malicious or mischievous persons. 
 
 The Society have occasionally ordered survej's to be 
 made, to ascertain the situation of ledges or other hin- 
 drances to navigation. 
 
 . In 1800 its funds amounted to $5565 ; in 1820 to $11- 
 522 ;— notwithstanding its many liberal donations to indi- 
 gent members or their families. 
 
 THE MERR1MAC HUMANE SOCIETY 
 
 Was instituted in 1802. The first meeting was holder*. 
 August 10th ot that year, at which byelaws were adopt- 
 ed ; and the Society was organized by the choice of its 
 officers the following month. It was continued by vol- 
 untary association until 1804, when an act of incorpo- 
 ration was obtained, authorizing the Society to hold 
 property of the annual amount of one thousand dollars. 
 The end and design of the association are declared in the 
 act to be 4 for the recovery of persons, who meet witk 
 
41 
 
 such accidents as produce in them the appearance of 
 death, nnd for promoting the cause of.humanity, by pur- 
 suing such means, from time to time, as shall have for, 
 their object the preservation of hurpan life and the al~ 
 levation of its miseries.' 
 
 These humane and charitable purposes have been 
 promoted by the Society in various ways. The vicini- 
 ty of the river, and of a dangerous shore upon the sea- 
 coast, have afforded it frequent occasion to be of use in 
 accidents occasioned by water. The society procured 
 a life-boat; grappling irons to take up the bodies of any 
 person who should de drowned ; and fumigators, inflators, 
 and an electrical machine, to be used in restoring sus- 
 pended animation. These are deposited in convenient 
 places to be accessible as occasion requires. Tins Soci- 
 ety imitated the Marine Society by erecting huts upon 
 Plum island and on Salisbury beach for the resort of dis- 
 tressed mariners ; and deposited in them necessaries for 
 their immediate relief. But malicious persons, or oth i 
 ers in idle sport, continued wantonly to injure and de- 
 face the huts, and thjjs defeated the benevolent views of 
 the Society, so that in 1325 only one of lb".m was stand- 
 ing, and the Society determined not to er::t any more. 
 The Society have also made it an object to take honor- 
 able notice of any signal effort made use of by individ- 
 uals to rescue persons from drowning, by the bes^ow- 
 ment of medals, or small precuniary rewards, as a testi- 
 mony of applause. 
 
 The funds of the Society were obtained by subscrip- 
 tion, and by collections made at the annual meetings 
 
 In 1316 the Society subscribed two thousand dollars of 
 its funds for the use of the Massachusetts Hospital for 
 the Insane. 
 
 It has been customary for the Society, until within a 
 few years, to attend the delivery of an anniversary dis- 
 course. The persons, who have officiated on these oc- 
 casions, are Dr Bass, Rev. Joseph Dana, Daniel A. 
 White, Rev. Samuel Gary, Rev. Samuel Spring, Michael 
 Hodge jun. Dr Enoch Toppan, Ebenezer Mosely, Sam- 
 uel L. Knapp, Rev. John Andrews, Rev. Daniel Dau-.j, 
 Rev. James Morss, William B. Banister, Leverett Sallon- 
 srtali, and Rev. George Otis. The last address was in IU (.Q, 
 
 »4 
 
42 
 
 THE FEMALE CHARITABLE SOCIETY, 
 
 Was instituted June 8th, 1803. Its object is to make 
 regular provision for the maintenance of female or- 
 phans ; for their instruction in the principles of know- 
 ledge, virtue, and religion ; and for their being employ- 
 ed in such manner as mny prepare them for future use- 
 fulness. — The associates, consisting entirely ot" ladies, 
 were incorporated by act of March 15lh, 1805. From 
 an account published by the Society in 1822 it appears 
 that the original number of subscriber? was 127, who 
 laid the foundations of a fund, which at that time amount- 
 ed to §1510. T.his was obtained by donations, subscrip- 
 tions, and collections at the anniversary meetings of the 
 Society. The Society had received into its asylum, 
 previous to 1 822, forty orphan females, whose, charac- 
 ter and deportment after leaving the institution have 
 been very honorable to its managers. The children 
 now under the care of the Society are thirteen ia 
 Bumber.* 
 
 THE MERRIMAC BIBLE SOCIETY 
 
 Was instituted by voluntary association, December 20lh 
 1809, and incorporated by the legislature the ensuing 
 February. Their object is to raise a fund to be appro- 
 priated in procuring bibles of the common version, for 
 distribution among those persons, in this commonwealth 
 or elsewhere, who are destitute of the scriptures and 
 cannot easily be supplied without such aid ; and to dis- 
 tribute the bi.ble in other languages when deemed expe- 
 dient. This Society have diligently performed the du- 
 ties which they undertook, in proportion to the extent 
 of their means, by distributing copies of the bible with- 
 in the sphere of their knowledge and influence. 
 
 In 1817 the society voted unanimously to become aux- 
 iliary to the American Bible Society. It is customary 
 for the society to have an annual meeting, at which a 
 discourse is delivered, and reports made of the progress 
 and condition of the institution. 
 
 * For afuM account of the nature and objects of the Society, see the 
 |ra«t »bov«i mentioned and Rev. S, P. Wilbams' Sermon, May 21 1*3* 
 
*3 
 
 THE HOWARD BENEVOLENT SOCIETY 
 
 Was formed February 13tb, 1818. The present num- 
 bor of annual subscribers is 228, besides 26 life subscri- 
 bers. The object of" the Society is to afford relief to 
 the indigent in sickness or other distressed circumstan- 
 ces. 
 
 i 
 
 THE INSTITUTION FOR SAVINGS 
 
 Is a society of the most useful and laudable character, 
 being established solely for the encouragement of thrift, 
 industry, and economy among the laboring clases. Its 
 design is to assist those, who are desirous of saving their 
 money, but have not acquired sufficient to purchase 
 bank stock or other public stocks, and who have not the 
 knowledge or means requisite to enable them to employ 
 their savings to advantage themselves, without the risk 
 of loss. The trustees receive deposits as low in amount 
 as one dollar, and pay an interest of five per cent to the 
 depositors. The trustees receive no pay or emolument 
 themselves ; but every five years the surplus income 
 of the funds, if any, after deducting necessary expenses, 
 is also to be divided. Depositors may either receive, 
 their dividends semiannually, or suffer them to remain 
 with the trustees and accumulate. This institution was 
 incorporated in 1820. 
 
 THE MARINE BIBLE SOCIETY 
 
 Was instituted in 1822. Its object is the distribution 
 of the scriptures among seamen alone. A plan is now 
 on foot for uniting this association with the Merrimac 
 Bible Society, which will probably be successful. 
 
 There are other benevolent associations, which, be- 
 ing auxiliary to larger bodies abroad, it is unnecessary 
 to enumerate. And in addition to tho^e alreadv men- 
 tioned, a class of associations exists, whose useful but un- 
 obtrusive charity is entitled to the greatest respect. — 
 They are the several parish-societies, consiHing of 
 females, who assiduously watch over the welfare ot the 
 industrious poor in their respective congregations, an«i 
 aid them in sickness and want. 
 
44 
 
 &BZ.I&XOUS SOCIETIES, 
 
 There are seven religious societies in Newburyport, 
 aamely, three of the congregational, two of the presby- 
 terian, one of the episcopalian, and one of the bap- 
 tist denomination : of each of which a separate account 
 will be given in the order of time in which they were 
 incorporated. 
 
 THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 Is the oldest religious society in Newburyport. The 
 founders of it experienced some opposition from over- 
 zealous persons of the congregational form of worship 
 in' the neighborhood; but at length, in 1711, they 
 erected a building, called, in honor of the reigning prin- 
 cess, Queen Anne's Chapel. It stood on what is called 
 the Plains in Newbury, on a spot now used as a 
 burying ground, about three miles frjom the present 
 chnrch. 
 
 The members of the society immediately* sent to 
 England for a pastor ; and the Rev. Mr. Lampton was 
 appointed to officiate in their church, as a missionary, 
 by the English Society for Propagating the Gospel. Mr. 
 Lampton came here in 1711 and remained until 1714. 
 
 He was succeeded by the Rev. Henry Lucas, a mis- 
 sionary from the same Society, who arrived in 1715. 
 He continued to officiate until 1720, when he died. M e 
 is reputed to have been a very active and faithful preach- 
 er ; and highly useful to the cau«e of his church. 
 
 His parishioners remained without any regular cler- 
 gyman until 1722, when the Rev. Matthias Plant ar- 
 rived as missionary to Ne-vbury, and minister of the 
 episcopal church. It increased very considerably un*. 
 
45 
 
 tier his ministrations ; so that difficulties at length arose 
 between his and the neigboring parishes on account ct" 
 taxes ; which the latter claimed of the episcopalians 
 within their limits. Mr. Plant applied to governor Shute 
 for relief; and he promptly gave them a grant of immu- 
 nity from taxation by the other parishes. This instru- 
 ment is in the following words : — 
 
 " Boston, 27th July, 1722. Whereas upon in/orma- 
 tion from the Rev. Matthias Plant, minister of the church 
 of England, Newbury, that several persons of that and 
 the adjoining towns have professed themselves members 
 of the said church, and accordingly have entered their 
 names in their register-book; and that the Rt. Rev. the 
 Bp. of London hath settled a minister amongst them, and 
 that there is a very considerable congregation ; 1 do 
 therefore order, that the persons, who have already de- 
 clared, or shall hereafter declare, for the said establish- 
 ed church, be peaceably allowed in their proceedings 
 and must not be taxed or imposed upon for the support 
 and maintenance of any other public worship in the said 
 town or towns, wherein they shall inhabit : Ot" which 
 all persons concerned are to take notice accordingly. 
 " Given under my hand, Samuel Shute. 
 
 *' To his majesty's justices of the peace for ) 
 the county of Essex, or any one ot them. ^ 
 w Attested, that this is the true form of the original, 
 signed and granted by his excellency S. Shute, governor of 
 New England, for the protection of the members of the 
 church of England, in Newbury, and for such persons 
 as shall enter their names into thp rpgiptor-book. 
 
 Matthias Plant.'* 
 In 1738 a new church was commenced on the spot 
 occupied by the present building, and conpleted in 1742, 
 which received the name of St. Paul's Church. Mr. 
 Plant was invited to preach there ; which he did at first 
 every other Sunday. But. soon afterwards the members 
 of St. Paul's Church and he had a misunderstanding, in 
 consequence of their desiring a younger minister; — and 
 Mr. Plant ceased to officiate there for three years. — At 
 length, however, their differences were accommodated, 
 and Mr. Plant was inducted into the church in 1751. — 
 He agreed to accept as an associate of Mr. Edward Bmi % 
 
46 
 
 and to surrender to him a portion oi the salary which 
 he received from England. 
 
 Mr. Bass immediately went to London and was ordain- 
 ed by Dr. Sherlock, then bishop of London. He return- 
 ed in 1752 and commenced his pastoral labors as minis- 
 ter of St. Paul's. 
 In 1753 Mr. Plant died, in the 62d year of his age j 
 'after which Mr. Bass took charge of both parishes, con- 
 tinuing to officiate twice in each month, for some time, 
 in the Chapel. But in 1766, the Chapel having be- 
 come much decayed, and most of the worshippers resid- 
 ing nearer to the other church, it was agreed that all 
 should assemble at St. Paul's. 
 
 Mr. Bass officiated as rector of this church fifty one 
 veans. He was born at Dorchester in this State, Novem- 
 ber 23d 1726, and graduated at Harvard College in 
 ;744. From this period until he received his roaster's 
 
 degree he was engaged in the instruction of a school 
 
 From 1747 until 1751 he resided at the College, attend- 
 ing to the study of theology, and occasionally supplying 
 vacant pulpits in the congregational churches. He was 
 ordained in 1752, and entered upon the charge of St. 
 Paul's Church the same year, as already stated. In 1789 
 the university of Pennsylvania conferred on him the de- 
 gree of docter in divinity. In 1796 he was unanimously 
 elected, at a convention of the protestant episcopal 
 church of Massachusetts, to be their bishop ; and was 
 consecrated in Christ-Church May 7th 1797, by the bish- 
 ops of Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. He 
 was afterwards ©looted bishop of the episcopal churches 
 in Rhode Island and New Hampshire. He died in this 
 town September 10th 1803, in the 76th year of his age. 
 He lived universally esteemed as ' a sound divine, a crit- 
 ical scholar, an accomplished gentleman, and an exam- 
 plary christian.' — He was remarkable in private life 
 for his urbanity and serenity of temper, and his dis- 
 charge of all the duties incumbent on him in his sever- 
 al social relations ; and as a clergyman and diocesan was 
 eminent for his faithful attention to all his official func- 
 tions, by which he gained the affection of his people, 
 and the veneration of the community. 
 
 His society suffered from various and opposite cause* 
 
47 
 
 faring the revolution ; but when peace was restored, it 
 recovered from its embarrasments. A new chucrch 
 was erected in 1800, upon the site of the old one, in 
 which the society now worship. During the time oc- 
 cupied in its erection, Irom April to October, they as- 
 sembled in the church belonging to the second Presby- 
 terian Society. In token ot gratitude for this favor, 
 the episcopal church presented to that society a hand- 
 some piece of plate. 
 
 Bishop Bass, was succeeded by tbe present incumbent, 
 the Rev. James Morss, who became rector of the church 
 in November 1803. Priest's order were conferred on 
 him in June 1804, by bishop Moore of New York.* 
 
 THE FIRST RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 
 
 In Newburyport was formed in 1725, out of the First 
 Parish in Newbury. The following is a copy of the 
 act of incorporation as found in the records of the 
 Society. 
 
 " At a Greate and Genaral Court or Assembley of hi« 
 Majesties Prouince,of the Massachusetts Bay New-Eng- 
 land, Held Nouember 3, 1726, Samuel Thaxter, Esq. 
 from the Comity, of both Houses on the Petition of sev- 
 aral Inhabitants of Newbury first Parish, Gauo in the 
 following Report, viz. : 
 
 " Pursuant td an order of the Genaral Court at thair 
 Session in Nouember 1725, in answer to the Petition of 
 the westerly part of the old Parish in Newbury order- 
 ing us the subscriburs to view the scituation of the Pe- 
 ticioners as well as the other part of the first Parish in 
 Newbury, Espesially where the middle diuiding Line is 
 Proposed and to hear the parties therein, Conferred 
 and make Report thereon : 
 
 In obediance to the said o#der upon the first day of 
 Decembsr Curnt we Repaired to Newbury and hauing 
 Notified the Persons Concernd, we Vewd the seuarall 
 parts of the old Presinct and the Land of the new pro- 
 posed Parish and Report a* follows, That the Lane call- 
 
 * This account is derived from a printed Sermon delivered bj Rev, 
 m. Moras in St. Paul's Church, Jan. 6tb, 1*11. 
 
4$ 
 
 -ed Chandlers Lane shall be the diuiding Line betwee* 
 the old and new Parishes, and to continue as the old or 
 first Parish has alredy granted on the nineteenth of 
 June 1722. But in as much as eight families that live 
 near the said line and on the south side there of, viz. 
 Edward Sargant, Jams Crocker. Isaac Hall, Joseph 
 Srvazey, Stephen Presson, William Allen, John Green- 
 life, jun. and Isaac Miricke have desired to be set to the 
 New Parish, and som of them have been at charge in 
 building the New Meeting House, the Comity are hum- 
 bly of opinion that the said eight families with their e9r 
 tats adjoyning shall be set or the new Parish during the 
 Courts pleasure. Also where as there is a considrable 
 number of families on the Northerly Side of the New 
 Meeting House, that have entred thair decents against 
 being joined to the New Parish, the Comity are of 
 opinion that thay be joined to the New Parish, Pro- 
 vided the said Parish do accomodate them with sutabel 
 Pews, or Seats for thair reception, without thair being 
 at any Charge therefor. December 8, 1725 : William 
 Rogers, Daniel Epes, Samuel Thaxter, Thomas Choat, 
 Spencer Phips. 
 
 "In Counsel read and ordered that this Report be ac- 
 cepted, and that the Land within the Bounds in the said 
 Report Discribed, be sett of a distinct and seprate Pre- 
 cinct, and that the lnhabitance thereof be vested with 
 the powers and Priuileges that the Inhabitants of other 
 -Precincts are Vested with : 
 
 « In the House of Representatives Read and Concurd. 
 Consented to 1 : William Dimmer." 
 
 The Society were organized pursuant to this act in 
 the winter of 1725-6, and made choice of Rev. John 
 Lowell, (originally spelt Lowle,) for their pastor.— 
 He was ordained January 19th, 172G. The parish vote 
 fixing his salary was in the following words: 
 
 " Voted that whereas we have made choice of and 
 called the Rev. Mr. John Lowell to settle with us in 
 the work of the ministry, for his encouragement to un- 
 der take and ' ingage there in, we will pay him one 
 hundred and thirty pounds per year in bills of credit 
 or such other current passable money as shall be equiv- 
 alent to one hundred and thirty pouudi of silver at six- 
 
4$ 
 
 teen shillings per ounce, in case he shall settle with us 
 in the ministry, and that we will add twenty pounds to 
 his salary after two years from the date hereof, of like 
 money, to be paid annually, so long as he the said Mr. 
 John Lowell shall continue in the work of the ministry 
 among us." 
 
 " Voted, also, that we will provide a parsonage house, 
 or give him two hundred pounds, in bills of credit, to 
 enable him to provide a house for himself, on condition 
 of his settling and continuing with us as above said, to 
 be at his charge." 
 
 In May 1727, it was voted to purchase a bell weigh- 
 ing four hundred pounds. — And in the same year it ap- 
 pears that the practice of ringing a bell at nine o'clock 
 in 4he evening was commenced. 
 
 In the parish records of this Society, votes are con- 
 tinually occurring in respect to the schools, which were 
 isnder the direction of the precinct. Some curious no- 
 tices are to be met with concerning their first establish- 
 ment in what afterwards became Newburyport. — Thus 
 it was voted in 1730 that 
 
 " Those scholars that do go to school to the school- 
 master shall pay a groat a week ; and what that shall 
 want to pay the school-master, the parish will make up, 
 with wkat is raised in general." 
 
 And at the same time it was voted that 
 
 M The place where the school house shall stand shall 
 be by Frog Pond, near two thirds of the way between 
 Fish street and Queen street." 
 
 Inl730, it was also voted, that 
 
 "The school master shall have sixty pounds a year, 
 with what is raised in the town in the general ; and 
 that no children be sent to the school-master but what 
 can read well in a psalter." 
 
 In April 1733, occurs the following record of the 
 mode of paying the taxes : 
 
 " Voted, that the contribution shall be continued for 
 this present year, and every man to write on the money 
 he shall give in contribution, and all the money he 
 shall give to be deducted out of his rate. 
 
 " Voted, that what money is given in to the coitribu> 
 
60 
 
 tion box, that is not written upon, i? given to Mr. Johi 
 Lowell for this present year." 
 
 Mr. Lowell died in 1767, deeply lamented by his pa- 
 rishioners, whose affection and respect he had secured 
 by faithful devotion to their service lor forty-two years. 
 He was generous and hospitable in disposition, pecu- 
 liarly amiable in all the social and. domestic relations, 
 and distinguished as a sound scholar and exemplary di- 
 vine. The tolerant and catholic spirit which he dis- 
 played on doctrinal points gave him the reputation of 
 inclining a little more to liberality of tenets than was 
 usual among the clergy of his time, who still retained 
 much of the rigid faith of their ancestors.* idis family 
 wne of Welch extraction originally, and fixed them- 
 selves at Newbury soon after its settlement. From 
 thence the branch of it, to which he belonged, removed 
 to boston, where he was born. His only child was John 
 Lowell, afterwards eminent as a lawyer, statesman, and 
 judge. 
 
 In January, 1768, the church and parish voted to in- 
 vite the Rev. Thomas Cary to become their minister. 
 It was voted to give Mr. Car) 
 
 " One hundred pounds a year, as salary, and also tha 
 free contribution and use of the parsonage land," and 
 that in case he accepted the call, he should be furnished 
 with a suitable parsonage house. 
 
 in July, 1788, Mr. Cary became disabled from regu- 
 larly discharging his pastoral duties by a paralytic af- 
 fection. In consequence of this an arrangement wag 
 amicably made between him and the parish to their 
 mutual satisfaction, by which, although his ministerial 
 relation to them continued, yet they were released from, 
 the payment of any salary, and he from the performance 
 of parochial duties, except so far as the same should be. 
 voluntary. 
 
 Soon afterwards the Rev. John Andrews was invited 
 to settle as a colleague with Mr. Cary; with a settle- 
 ment salary of one hundred and fifty-six pounds. He ac- 
 cepted the invitation and was ordained December 10th. 
 1788. 
 
 * Mr. Tucker's Funeral Sermon, 
 
51 
 
 It fs mentioned in ihe newspaper of the day, that No- 
 vember 6th. 1796, the church organ, built by Dr Josiah 
 Leavitt of Boston, was put up in the meeting-house of 
 thi« Society. 
 
 The meeting-house in which the Society worshipped, 
 situated near the centre of what is now Market square 
 was abandoned, in 1801, and the new one erected in 
 Pleasant-screet. The old one had long been very much 
 decayed. In 1784 the Proprietors \oted ' To give the 
 house as frugal a repair as will keep the weather from 
 totally destroying it.' The Society continued to assem- 
 ble in the old house, however, until September 26th. 
 1801, when discourses were delivered there for the last 
 time by Mr. Andrews, in the morning, and by Mr. Cary, 
 in the afternoon. The new church was dedicated the 
 ensuing Thursday. 
 
 Mr. Cary died November 24th 1808. He was bom 
 in Charlestown in this State, October 18th. 1745, and 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1761. He was highly 
 esteemed for his sound devotion, his judicious and in- 
 structive pulpit discourses, and his faithful discharge of 
 all his ministerial functions ; which were unhappily in- 
 terrupted by disease at the prime of his life and mental 
 faculties. 
 
 Since the decease of Mr. Cary his colleague has con- 
 tinued to be pastor of the Society. He is the only cler- 
 gyman in Newburyport of the Unitarian persuasion; in 
 which class of christians his Society are ranked. 
 
 THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SOCIETY 
 
 Dates its origin to the year 1744. It consisted of per- 
 sons who separated, about that time, from the first and 
 third churches in Newbury, that is, Mr. Toppan's and 
 Mr. Lowell's. They erected a house of worship in 
 High street, in which they remained until 1756; when 
 the present church in Federal street was built. 
 
 The formation of the church took place in conse- 
 quence of the preaching of Mr. Whitfield, who produc- 
 ed so deep and extensive an ardor on the subjec of re- 
 ligion during his residence in New-England. What ev- 
 er may be thought of the peculiar opinion* of Mr. 
 
5S - 
 
 Whitfield, certain it is that his eloquence as a preacfier 
 was unrivalled ; and his zeal for the cause he taught of 
 the highest character. The fruits of his ministration 
 here were great and striking ; and the establishment of 
 the Society under consideration afforded proof of the 
 permanency of its effects.* 
 
 This Society first worshipped under Mr. Joseph Ad- 
 ams ; but in 1756 they were incorporated and settled 
 the Rev. Jonathan Parsons, who continued their pastor 
 until his death in 1776. He was born in West Spring- 
 field and graduated at Yale college in 1749. In 1750 
 he took charge of a church in Lyme; but his sentiments 
 being changed by the preaching of Tennent and Whit- 
 field, he was invited, on the recommendation of the lat- 
 ter, to remove to Newbury, lie was a faithful pastor, 
 a scholar of various learning, and a correct and ea- 
 sy writer, as his printed writings attest. 
 
 In 1743 the church began to be associated with oth- 
 ers in Presbytery ; and regularly commissioners at- 
 tended it ; but it did not formally adopt the constitution of 
 the Presbyterian church in the United States until 1802, 
 In 1772 Mr. Parsons became disabled by illness ; and 
 application was made to the Rev. John Murray of Booth- 
 bay to become his colleague. This call was repeatedly 
 renewed ; but owing to various causes was not success- 
 ful until 1781. 
 
 Mr. Murray continued pastor of the Society until his 
 death in 1793. He was born in 1742 in the county of 
 Antrim in Ireland ; — and was educated in the university 
 of Edinburgh. He came to America in 1761, and was 
 settled in Philadelphia, and afterwards at Boothbay for 
 thirteen years. He was a popular and zealous preach- 
 er ; dignified in his manners; and exceedingly endeared 
 to his people as a clergyman and a man. He had been 
 deposed by the Philadelphia Presbytery, but was after- 
 wards restored by another Presbytery, for the gross in- 
 formality, if not injustice, of the original sentence. 
 
 He was succeeded by Rev. Daniel Dana, who was or- 
 dained in 1794, and continued in the pastoral charge of 
 
 * His remans are interred under the church of this Society. 
 
53 
 
 the Society until 1820, when he became president of 
 Dartmouth college. 
 
 Dr Dana was succeeded by the present pastor, the 
 Rev. Samuel P. Williams, who was installed February 
 8th 1821. 
 
 In 1794 a part of this Society seceded on account of 
 the settlement of Dr Dana, and formed the Second Pres- 
 byterian Society. But it is remarkable that the latter 
 has now called c him whom their fathers refused', and 
 that through them he is restored to the scenes of hie 
 early usefulness. 
 
 In the year 1791 a part of the Society separ- 
 ated and formed the Fourth Religious Society, and 
 settled the Rev. Charles VV. Milton, as heieafter 
 stated. In 1798 the differences between them and 
 the parent congregation were amicably adjusted.* 
 
 * Historical account of the First Presbyterian Church, by Rer. 
 Samuel P- Williams. 
 
 The following is the original agreement for the establishment 
 of this church as given in Mr. Williams' discourse. 
 
 4< We, the subscribing brethren, who were members of the 
 first church in Newbury, and have thought it our duty to with 
 draw therefrom, do also look upon it our duty to enter into a 
 church estate, specially as we apprehend this may be for the glo- 
 ry of Gou and the interest of the Redeemer's kingdom, as well 
 as for our own mutual edification and comfort. 
 
 We do, therefore, as we trust, in the fear of God, mutually 
 covenant and agree to walk together as a church of Christ ao 
 ording to the rules and order of the gospel. 
 
 In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and. 
 seals, this 3d day of Jan. A. D. 1746. 
 
 Charles Pierce Benjamin Pierce 
 
 Moses Bradstreet Daniel Noyes 
 
 Edward Presbury Mager Goodwin 
 
 John Brown Thomas Pike 
 
 Richard Hall Daniel Wells 
 
 Benjamin Knight Joseph Hidden 
 
 William Brown Nathaniel Atkinson, jr, 
 
 Jonathau Plume r Daniel Goodwin 
 
 Silvanus Plum<. r Samuel Hall 
 Gutting PeUingell. 
 
 ■ 5 
 
54 
 
 THE THIRD RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 
 
 is distinguished, in the early records, by the name of 
 the proprietors and other persons attending public 
 worship at the north meeting house in Newburyport^ 
 and subsequently as the north congregational Society. 
 They separated from the First Religious Society by 
 amicable agreement in 1767; and the church of the 
 latter, in token of harmony of feeling/ voluntarily con- 
 sented that the new church should have a portion of the 
 church plate according to their respective numbers. 
 
 They immediately erected a meet-house in Titcomb- 
 street, and at their first meeting, holden October 3d 
 1763, invited the Rev. Christopher B. Marsh to be their 
 minister. He was ordained in the same month, and con- 
 tinued to be pastor of the Society until December 1773. 
 He was the son of Daniel Marsh of Boston, and sustain- 
 ed a high character, as a scholar and a clergyman. But 
 unhappily he died prematurely, in the prime of his life 
 and usefulness, at the age of 30. 
 
 The Society remained without any settled clergy- 
 man until 1777, the pulpit being supplied during that 
 time by occasional application to various individuals.—. 
 In 1777 the Society concurred unanimously with the 
 church in giving an invitation to Rev. Samuel Spring 
 to become their pastor. He consented and was ordain- 
 ed in August 1777. 
 
 Dr Spring was born in Northbridge in this state Feb- 
 ruary 27th. 1746. His father was an opulent farmer, 
 and gave him the benefit of a public education at Nas- 
 sau Hall, New-Jersey, where he graduated in 1771. — 
 He spent eight months there as a theological student 
 under the instruction of the celebrated Dr Witherspoon, 
 and completed his course under Drs Hopkins, Bellamy, 
 and West. In 1774 he was licensed to preach ; and in 
 1775, having joined the continental army as chaplain, 
 he followed gen. Arnold as a member of the volunteer 
 corps, which made the disastrous expedition to Canada. 
 The energy of his character was fully developed in this 
 calamitous enterprise, which was attended with the 
 most extreme hardship, and entirely failed of success. — - 
 His example and exhortations were eminently useful in 
 
55 
 
 encouraging the troops, and enabling them to sustain 
 the manifold hardships of a winter's march through 
 pathless forests. 
 
 At the close of 1776 he left the army, and began to 
 preach in this town at the beginning of the next year. 
 He continued to discharge his pastoral duties with un- 
 common zeal until within a iew weeks of his death, 
 which happened March 4th. 1819. 
 
 Whatever difference of opinion there may be in re- 
 spect to the peculiar political anJ religious tenets of 
 Dr Spring, all must admit that he supported them with 
 great ardor and ability. His decision of character and 
 '.ntensity of purpose necessarily gave him considerable 
 influence among those of his religious persuasion. Sev- 
 eral institutions may trace their establishment in no 
 small degree to his exertions. Among these are Greene- 
 ville College in Tennessee, the Massachusetts Mission- 
 ary Society, and the Foreign Mission. And there is no 
 individual, to whose influence the Theological Semina- 
 ry at Andover is more indebted for its being than Dr 
 Spring. 
 
 Subsequent to the great fire in Newburyport, he dis- 
 tinguished himself by undertaking a journey to the 
 southern part of the United States to collect contribu- 
 tions for the sufferers by that event. 
 
 Beside a number of occasion •! sermons, he published 
 a Dialogue on Duty and a volume of Disquisitions.* 
 
 Dr Spring was succeeded by the present pastor, the 
 Rev. Luther F. Dimtnick, who was ordained December 
 8th 1819. He, as well as each of his predecessors, was 
 called and settled by a unanimous vote of the Society. 
 
 The meeting-house of this congregation being very 
 much decayed, they determined, in May last, to con- 
 struct a new church, on the site of the old one, which 
 will soon be completed. 
 
 THE FOURTH RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 
 
 Was incorporated in 1794. The meeting-house, in 
 which they worship, in Temple-street, was commenc- 
 ed June 15th 1793, and completed the same year. 
 
 '* Dr Woods Sermon on the death of Dr Spring, 
 
5S 
 
 The church originated in an association of individu- 
 als, chiefly members of the First Presbyterian Society, 
 who separated therefrom in 1791 to attend the minis- 
 try of the Rev. Charles W. Milton. They first met 
 and worshipped in the house in Milk-street, now occu- 
 pied by Mr. Jonathan Mors?, a part of which was then 
 fitted up as a meeting-house. 
 
 Mr. Milton was born in England and educated on the 
 foundation of the countess of Huntington. After preach- 
 ing as a missionary at St. John's in New-Brunsvvic, he 
 came to this country ; and his preaching proving ac- 
 ceptable to a considerable body of persons in this town, 
 gave rise, as before stated, to the establishment of the 
 Fourth Religious Society. He still continues pastor 
 of it. 
 
 In 1301 the Society had become so numerous, that it 
 was found necessary to enlarge the meeting-house. 
 
 The church government of the Society is agreeable, 
 in most respects, to the congregational form ; and they 
 are usually classed in that order of christians. But they 
 do not consider themselves subject to any ecclesiastical 
 council, and are therefore denominated an independent 
 Society. 
 
 THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN SOCIETY 
 
 Was formed in 1795, by the association of a number of 
 persons for attending the ministry of the Rev. John 
 Boddily. They voluntarily supported Mr. Boddily for 
 sixteen months, paying him at the rate of three hundred 
 and forty dollars per annum, and meeting for worship 
 in the old town-house. In June 1 796 they commenced 
 building a meeting-house in Harris street, which was 
 completed in that year. 
 
 They were then incorporated by the legislature ac 
 cording to the provisions of the act governing the other 
 Religious Societies in the town. 
 
 The first meeting of the Society was holden May 3d 
 1797, at which it was voted to give Mr. Boddily a call 
 as stated pastor of the Society, and to pay him a yearly 
 salary of five hundred dollars. It was voted to collect 
 the salary by public contribution to be paid in equal 
 
57 
 • 
 proportions on the first Lord's day of every month, each 
 person contributing to mark his name on his money, and 
 to be credited for the same towards his tax by the col- 
 lector. The invitation to Mr. Boddily was give with- 
 out a single dissenting voice, and he was publicly instal- 
 led as minister of the church and Society June 28th 
 1797. 
 
 Mr. Boddily died November 4th 1802, aged 47. He 
 was born in England, and educated at the countess of 
 Huntington's College. After prpaching at VVestbury in 
 Wiltshire, and Wallingford in Westmoreland, he emi- 
 grated to this country, and soon formed a congregation 
 in Newburyport. 
 
 In April 1803, immediately after the death of Mr. 
 Boddily, the Society invited the Rev. John Giles to be- 
 come their pastor. He accepted the invitation and was 
 installed July 20th of the same year. He continued to 
 be pastor of the Society upwards of twenty one years, 
 dying September 28th 1824 aged 66. 
 
 Mr. Giles was born and educated in England. He 
 commenced the ministry at the age of 19, and was for 
 nine years pastor of a dissenting church in Wellington, 
 Somersetshire. Feeling 4 a strong partiality to the 
 free constitution and republican principles' of our govern- 
 ment, he left the congregation in Wellington, designing 
 to make this country his home. He yielded, however, 
 to the solicitations of his friends in Exeter to take charge 
 of a church there for a time ; after which, in 1798, he 
 came to America. On his arrival here, he preached 
 first in Trumbull in Connecticut and afterwards in Eliz- 
 abethtown in New Jersey. He declined an invitation 
 unanimously given him by a society in Elizabethtown to 
 become their pastor ; and returning to Trumbull, was 
 their minister for abeut two years: — From whence, at 
 the invitation of the First Presbyterian Society, he re- 
 moved to Newburyport.* 
 
 In August 1824 the Rev. William Ford was ordained 
 as a colleague with Mr. Giles ; and continued minister 
 of the Society until February 1826, when he resigned 
 the pastoral charge on account of his health. 
 
 * Rev, S. P Williams' Funeral Sermon October 1$24 - 
 
58 
 
 In March 1826 the Society invited the Rev. Dr Dan- 
 iel Dana, formerly of Nevvburyport and then of London- 
 derry, to become their pastor. He was accordingly set- 
 tled, to remain in the pastoral relation to the Society 
 so long as should be mutually acceptable to the parties, 
 the party desiring a charge to assign reasons satisfacto- 
 ry to the Presbytery or a proper council. 
 
 In 1822 this Society adopted the practise, which they 
 still follow, of collecting all their parochial taxes by an 
 assessment on the pews of the church. A portion of 
 the parish tax, in the other Societies in Newburyport, 
 is assessed on property. 
 
 THE FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY 
 
 In Newbury and Newburyport, was incorporated in 
 February 1811. Many years previous to that time, so 
 far back indeed as 1804, a number of persons of the 
 baptist persuasion met and were formed into a church. 
 The first meeting for public worship was July 22d 1804, 
 when Mr. Joshua Chase of Newbury officiated. He 
 preached for the church until June 1805, when he was 
 ordained as an evangelist,. and went elsewhere. 
 
 The members of the Society assembled at two sepa- 
 rate places in Newbury until December, 1805, m when 
 they united, and had but one place of worship, and that 
 in Newburyport. 
 
 In August 1805 they invited the Rev. John Peake of 
 Barnstable to be their pastor; and he acceded to the 
 invitation. 
 
 In 1809 a brick meeting-house was erected in Lrber- 
 ty street for the use cf the Society. This building 
 was untortunately consumed in the great fire ; and a 
 new one was constructed in 1812 in Congress-street. — 
 The funds for the construction of it were obtained fey 
 the zeal and indefatigable exertions of the Rev. Mr. 
 Peake, in procuring donations from the benevolent and 
 charitable in various parts of the United States. 
 
 In 1818 Mr. Peake, at his request, was unwillingly 
 granted a dismission from the pastoral care of the Soci- 
 ety. He i< now settled as the minister of a baptist So- 
 cietv in Hvannis. 
 
59 
 
 He was succeeded by the Rev. Hosea Wheeler. — 
 Mr. Wheeler was' born at Dunbarton, N. H. March 3th 
 1791. He was graduated at Dartmouth College, which 
 he entered in 1807. In 1817 he joined the baptist 
 church and in 1818 was ordained as pastor of the Bap- 
 tist Society in Newhuryport. In May 1822 he received 
 an invitation to become minister of a baptist church at 
 Eastport ; and in consequence soon afterwards asked and 
 received a reluctant dismission from the Society in 
 New bury port. He died at Eastport in January 1823. 
 
 In 1822 the Rev. Josiah Houghton, formrly minister 
 of a church in Readfield in Maine, began to preach for 
 the Society and became their pastor in the spring of 
 the ensuing year ; and they still continue under hif 
 charge. 
 
6§ 
 
 MASONIC BODIES. 
 
 Newburyport has long been known by its zeal fo? 
 the order of free masonry. The prosperity and' re- 
 spectability of the fraternity in this place are mainly at- 
 tributable, in the first instance, to the exertions of Dr 
 John B. Svvett, who settled in the town about the close 
 of the revolutionary war. He was distinguished as an 
 ardent mason, not less than for his genius, his education 
 and science, his generous feelings and his social habits. 
 It is said he was initiated into the mysteries of the Illu- 
 minati in Germany ; but however this may be, cer- 
 tain it is, that he gave the weight of his character and 
 influence to the establishment of masonry in Newbury- 
 port, and succeeded in a remarkable manner. The in- 
 troduction of the higher degrees is owing, in a consider- 
 able measure, to his efforts. Since then the best names 
 in this community may be found in the masonic order. 
 
 St. John s Lodge is the oldest in town. Its charter 
 is dated 1766 ; but there are no records of its meetings 
 until 1781. The masters have been Nathaniel Tracy, 
 John Tracy, Stephen Hooper, Michael Hodge, Gilman 
 White, Seth Sweetser, Edward Little, Dr Jonathan G. 
 Johnson, Nathan Chase, Dr Richard S. Spofford, Dr 
 Dean Robinson, John Andrews jr. and Thomas B. White. 
 
 St. Peter's Lodge, was chartered under the lament- 
 ed general Warren, then Provincial Grand Master, 
 March 12th 1772. 
 
 The masters have been John Brooks, Jonathan 
 Boardman, William Greenough, Edward Rand, Moses 
 Greenleaf, Jonathan Gage, Joshua Greenleaf, Stephen 
 Howard, Abraham Perkins, David Coffin, Amos Toppan, 
 Edward Dorr, Eleazer Johnson, Benjamin Whitmore s 
 

 £»noch Piumroer Jr. Joseph George, and Francis 
 Some r by. 
 
 St. Mark's Lodge was chartered in \Si -."A . 
 crated July 11th 1804. It is now the largest Lodg 
 the town, consisting of 113 members., lis masters "have 
 been William Weed, William Francis, William Chase, 
 John Moody, William Knapp, John Cook jr. Wiliiam 
 Currier, and Ebenezer Bradbury. 
 
 A Chapter, called King Cyrus 9 Royal Arch Chapter, 
 *.vas instituted in Newburyport in 1790. The first offi- 
 cers were H. Duplessis, Jonathan Boardman, Jonathan 
 Gage, andDr John B. Swett. The grand masters pre- 
 Pious to 1G0O have been H. Duplessis. Dr J. B. Swett, 
 Dudley A. Tyng, Joshua Greenleaf. In 1708 the 
 Grand Chapter of the Northern States was established. 
 
 A Council of Select Masters was organized in May 
 V322. ~ J 
 
 The Encampment of Knights Templars was duly or- 
 lized in 1795. A number of knights had previously 
 d conferred the degrees j but there was then no 
 body acknowledged as a General Encampment 
 Ihe New-England Slates. The principal members 
 at that time were Dr Swett, Dudley A. Tyno-, Jonathan 
 Gage, Joshua Greenleaf, Nathaniel Knapp, William Wy- 
 er. , one I Cutler. Thev were afterwards joined 
 
 by Abraham Perkins, Samuel Mulliken, Cliarles Jack- 
 son, Jacob Perkins, William Woarl, Edward Dorr and 
 ers; and uniting with Encampments from various 
 ;> 7 .ace3 in Massachusetts and Rhode-Island, established a 
 'mipment for the two States, under the juris- 
 ion oi the General Grand Encampment of the Unit- 
 ed SI IPs. They were organized by a charter from 
 thai body, and have regularly held their meetings to 
 the present time. 
 
 A Consistory has recently been established at New- 
 buryport, in which all the higher degrees of mabonry 
 are conferred. 
 
 An association of the masonic bodies has fitted up a 
 Blasonic Hall in Newboryport, in a style of uncommon 
 taste, elegance, and liberality, with appropriate furn5- 
 lureaad ornaments, of the greatest beauty. 
 
 F 
 
6S 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 THE expenditures of the town of Newburyport for 
 ihe advancement of public education have never ceased 
 to be fully in proportion to its pecuniary means. — 
 Without bringing into view the noble public donations, 
 ivhich some of its citizens have bestowed upon literary 
 institutions abroad, the assertion can be established by 
 reference mereiy to the ordinary charges of the public 
 and private schools taught in town. 
 
 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
 
 For males in Newburyport are four, one grammar 
 school and three writing schools. 
 
 The grammar school, in common with other schools 
 of the same kind in other parts of the state, has suffer- 
 ed much by the establishment of academies. When all 
 classes, the rich as well as the poor, depended upon it 
 for the classical instruction of their children, it was an 
 object of more general solicitude, and its character stood 
 higher, than when they looked to another place for the 
 primary edu ation of youth. — But efforts are now mak- 
 ing to incren^e its usefulness, from which better things 
 arc got id ited. 
 
 Of the three writing schools, one has for several years 
 been taught according to the system of mutual instruc- 
 tion ; and the others have recently been conformed more 
 or less completely to the sume plan. The centre and 
 the south school houses were purposely erected with 
 a view to that system; and contain every convenience 
 for giving it a fair and full trial. 
 
 By an act of the legislature passed the present year, 
 
03 
 
 it was made the duty of the school committee of each 
 town to render an account of the state of public and 
 private primary instruction. From the returns of the 
 school committee of Newburyport, it appears that the 
 sum annually paid for the instruction merely of the plib- 
 lic schools is §2939. The number o4 children attending 
 the public schools is 559 males, and 510 females, in all 
 1069. Besides those, 33 private schools are taught ia 
 town, containing 10 pupils of both sexes, the cost of 
 whose tuition is $4526. 
 
 These calculations were made independently o[ the 
 Newburyport Academy, which, being placed in New- 
 bury, was comprehended in the school returns of the 
 latter town. 
 
 Other institutions for education deserve notice ; of 
 which the following are the most important. 
 
 THE NEWBURYPOUT ACADEMY, 
 
 Although situated in the town of Newbury, owes its or- 
 igin and support chiefly to citizens of Newburyport. \t 
 was incorporated in 1807. It is now fn a prosperous 
 condition, the male apartment, under the instruction of 
 Mr. Alfred VV. Pike, being full, and containing about for*' 
 tv pupils. 
 
 THE PUTXAM SCHOOL, 
 
 For tRe endowment of which a large legacy was re- 
 cently left to the town by the late Mr. Oliver Putnam, a 
 native and formerly a citizen of N ewburvport, promises 
 to have the most important influence upon our system 
 of public education. 
 
 Oliver Putnam was born at Newburyport in 1778 
 
 His father was a mechanic, and was able to give him 
 nothing but a common school education. But his nat- 
 ural talents were of the first order; and having attained 
 independence at an early age by successful commercial 
 speculations, he devoted himself to the assiduous culti- 
 vation of his intellect. His constitution was unfortu- 
 nately feeble ; which prevented his becoming fixed in 
 any particular occupation; and compelled him, for the ad- 
 vantages of a change of climate, to travel in various 
 parts of Europe and America, Had it been- otherwise, 
 
;&e independence and integrity of his character, his 
 sound judgment, his profound practical knowledge, his 
 unimpeachable morals, and his intimate acquaintance 
 with the science of politics and political economy, 
 would soon have fastened upon him the the public eye, 
 and raised him to posts of honor and distinction. But 
 his ill health forbad, and confined the benefit of his su- 
 perior qualities to the circle of his acquaintance. 
 
 During the latter half of his life, he mads Boston his 
 place of abode, although passing much of his time on a 
 farm belonging to him in Bampstead, where he 
 died, July 1 ith 1828. He was never married. By his 
 will, which is dated July 11th 1825, and was proved af 
 the Probate Court in the county of Suffolk, August 14th 
 1326, after making liberal provision for his kindred, 
 who are all collateral, he makes the devise above men- 
 tioned in the following terms : 
 
 4 To the said executors* 1 bequeath and devise in trust 
 the residue of my property, real and personal, to ac- 
 cumulate by the addition of the income or interest as 
 received to the principal, till my nephews arrive of age ? 
 and then to be disposed of as follows.- 
 
 The will then provides for the payment of a legacy 
 to each of his three nephews ; and concludes thus : 
 
 1 These three legacies to my nephews are to be with 
 out interest, and to be void should they not live to ar« 
 live at twenty one years. 
 
 i The residue of my property I give and bequeath fm 
 the establishment and support of a free English schoo/ 
 in Newburyport, for the instruction of youth wherever 
 they may belong, and the executors will, if at the final 
 payment of the foregoing legacies it should amount to 
 fifty thousand dollars, pay it over as hereafter pro 
 ed ; but if, at that time, it should not amount to thai 
 cum, the executors will retain it to accumulate till it 
 does, and then pay it over to Trustees for that purpose 
 to be appointed by the Selectmen of Newburyport. — ■ 
 After the appointment of the first Trustees, vacancies 
 in their board to be filled by nomination from them, sub- 
 
 * Messrs Aaron Baldwin of Boston, and Edwafkl S. Rand and Caleb 
 Cashing of Newburyport, arc named executors in the will. The two 
 first having declined acting, tke trust kaa devolved upon th« author of 
 diis account 
 
65 
 
 ject to the approval of said Selectmen, who besides are 
 always and at all times to have and exercise the right 
 of visitation, for the purpose of looking to the security 
 of the funds, and that the interest or income of them is 
 applied according to the bequest. In the selection of 
 Trustees, no reference is to be had to their places of 
 residence, but only to their qualification for the trust. 
 
 ' The Trustees are to invest the principal in good and 
 sufficient securities, bearing interest or producing in- 
 come to the satisfaction of the said Selectmen, to be 
 and remain a permanent fund, the interest or income 
 only of which to be applied to the establishment and 
 support of the school. The youth to be instructed in 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic, and particularly in the 
 English language, and in those branches of knowledge 
 nec.essary to the correct management of the ordinary af- 
 fairs of life, whether public or private, but not in the 
 dead languages. The monitorial system of instruction 
 to be introduced and used, so far as it may be found on 
 experience that it can be done with advantage.' 
 
 Such are the provisions of the will in regard to this 
 munificent foundation. Should the institution be estab- 
 lished under favorable auspices, it cannot fail to prove 
 a signal public blessing.' The beautiful and salubrious 
 situation of Newburs'port, — its freedom from the evils of 
 too close proximity to any city united with the easy 
 communication between it and the great capitals of the 
 country, — and (ho economy of living among its inhabi- 
 tants, present a body of striking advantages for the loca- 
 tion of a seminary of education. And the school, 
 which the wise and benevolent testator contemplated, is 
 evidently one peculiarly necessary in the present limes, 
 when men are acquiring increased conviction of the su- 
 perior value of practical educatiou, over that handed 
 down to us from a iess intelligent age. 
 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS 
 
 Were established under the care of the Sabbath School 
 and Tract Society. This Society was originally de- 
 signed for the distribution of religious tracts; I ut now 
 discharges the additional duty of. superintending the 
 f6 
 
Sunday schools. These were commenced in i$17. and 
 were composed of children of both sexes from all the 
 religious societies in town, to the number of about six 
 hundred. It has been regularly continued ever since 
 during the summer months ; and the average number at- 
 tending has been four hundred. The whole number in- 
 structed in the school, from 1317 to 1825, was 124!}, 
 namely, 528 males, 721 females. Other schools in the 
 -vicinity of the town are under superintendance of the 
 fame Society, making the whole number who have re- 
 ceived their instruction, in all the schools, about 1600. 
 
 DUMMER ACADEMY 
 
 Although it is not strictly speaking embraced within 
 the scope of this work, yet is located so near to New- 
 buryport that an account of it may not be deemed mis- 
 placed here. 
 
 It was founded by the munificence of William Dum- 
 mer, at his country seat in the parish of By tie Id in the 
 town of Newbury, about four miles from Newburyport. 
 
 The name of Dummer is among the oldest and most 
 respectable in Massachusetts. Richard Dummer was one 
 of the fathers of the Colony. He emigrated in 1635 and 
 was chosen a member of the court of assistants, in which 
 he served for several years : — after which he retired to 
 his estate in Newbury, and greatly contributed by his 
 wealth and liberality to the growth of By field parUh.-^- 
 His farm descended in his family to William Dummer, 
 who was appointed lieutenant governor of the Province 
 in 1716. In 1730 he retired from this office and soon 
 afterwards from all public employments, living to a 
 good old age in the enjoyment of the respect of his co- 
 temporaries. He filled the governor's chair at two 
 several periods, seven years in all, and his administra- 
 tion was esteemed eminently wise and just. 
 
 At his decease he de.vHed all his estate in Newbury, 
 consisting in part of the origin il Dummer farm, 1o 
 Charles Chauacey, Thomas Foxcraft and Nathaniel 
 Dummer, for the erection of a school-house and the en- 
 dowment of a free grammar school upon the farm.— 
 The school was established there accordingly in 1763. 
 By the will the election of a preceptor was vested in 
 
$7 
 1 
 
 the minister of BySeld parish for the time being and a 
 committee of the parish chosen for that purpose ; and 
 he was immoveable by the government of Harvard col- 
 lege. In H82 Dr Chauncey, being the sole .surviving 
 executor of the will, deemed it necessary to obtain an 
 act of the legislature appointing perpetual trustees to 
 receive and manage the fund and superintend the insti- 
 tution. The first board of trustees were Jeremiah Pow- 
 ell Benjamin Greenleaf, Jonathan Greenleaf, Rev. Jo- 
 seph Willard, Pres. of Harvard College, Rev. Charles 
 Chauncev, Rev. Moses Parsons, Rev. John Tucker, Rer. 
 Thomas Car/, Samuel Moody, the Preceptor, William 
 Powell, Dr Micajah Sawyer, Dummec Jewel*, Samuel 
 Osgood, Nathaniel Tracy, an 1 Richard Dummer.— . 
 They were incorporated by the name of the Trustees 
 o/ Dummer Academy ; and they and their successors 
 have had the direction of the Academy to the present 
 
 ' ^'s a classical grammar school Dummer Academy has 
 deservedly held a high rank; and many celebrated per- 
 sons in church and state have commenced their public 
 education in its rural seclusion. At the present time, 
 its Trustees have thought that the Academy might be 
 of greater service to the public, if converted into a 
 school of practical and agricultural instruction, than as 
 a school for instruction in the languages. Applications 
 have repeatedly been made to the legislature for aid in 
 such a laudable enterprise ; but although all men admit 
 that the exigencies of society require an institution of 
 this kind and to Dummer farm presents the greatest 
 facilities for its establishment, yet a too cautious policy 
 has induced the legislature to refuse the assistance 
 praved for. Some little jealousy, too, seemed to betray 
 itself in certain quarters, towards an institution situated 
 so near ' the hem of the state,' as its location was rath- 
 er scornfully described by the opponents of the plan. 
 * The first preceptor of the Academy was Samuel 
 Moody, who continued to have charge of it until 1739. 
 He attained great celebrity for his talents as a teacher 
 and the originality of his character. When the act in- 
 corporating the trustees of the Academy was passed, a 
 section was inserted securing to him ail the rights \iQ 
 
68 
 
 
 
 enjoyed under the original foundation, and making him 
 in fact independent of the Trustees. Under his care the 
 Academy was for a long time the most flourishing in 
 the country ; — and the respectability, in after life, of ma- 
 ny oi' his pupils has perpetuated the name of master 
 Moody* 
 
 Since then the instructers have been 
 
 Rev. Isaac Smith, elected in 1790, 
 Dr Benjamin Allen, 1809, 
 
 Rev. Abiel Abbott, 1811, 
 
 Hon. Samuel Adams, 1819, 
 
 Mr. Nehemiah Cieavelandj 182-1, 
 
 Trho is the present preceptor. 
 
MTTBRAXMT ASSOCXA^SOM & 
 
 THE JVEWBURYPORT ATHEjYJEUM 
 
 Was incorporated in 1310. The object of the founders, 
 is declared in the act of* incorporation, was to establish 
 • a repository for valuable and rare productions in the 
 various arts, sciences, and polite literature, and {or col 
 iecting the most important tracts, pamphlets, an:! doc 
 aments, illustrative of the natural and civil history o; 
 our country, of the genius, policy, and laws of the g 
 eral and str.te governments, and of the manners, cus 
 toms, and interests of the American people.'' — The r 
 prietors laid the foundations of a respectable library 
 which has received occasional additions by dbnatioi 
 purchase. — But institutions of this kind are best fitted 
 for a numerous and wealthy community, because in any 
 others, the accumulation of valuable books arast be toe 
 expensive to proceed with much rapidity by means of 
 the intrinsic resources of the inhabitants. — For this rea 
 son the present state of the Athenreum probably is noi 
 equal to the plan or expectations of its founders. 
 
 THE FRAjXKLLY LIBRARY 
 
 Was instituted in 1812, by an association of respectable 
 mechanics, whose chief object at that time was to raise 
 a joint fund for the purchase of Ree's Cyclopaedia. — 
 Upon this foundation a library was begun, which has 
 gradually increased. The association is a praiseworthy 
 instance of the cultivation of a taste for knowledge 
 among a class of men, whose . weight and value in the 
 community a>;e daily rising in publir estimation, 
 
 
THE NEWBUFLYPORT DEBATING SOClET'F 
 
 Was originally instituted January 5th 1321, by a num- 
 ber of gentlemen desirous to improve in declamation 
 and extemporaneous discussion. At the first meeting 
 suitable regulations for the conduct of the Society were 
 adopted, and they continued to meet weekly for the 
 purposes of" their institution. 
 
 In Apri» 1821 the numbers and respectability of the 
 Society having much increased, it was found necessary 
 to adopt a new set of bye laws, more complete and sys- 
 tematic in their nature. 
 
 This year the Society as a body commenced the 
 practice of celebrating the anniversary of American in- 
 dependence, which they have continued until now, with 
 but one yearns intermission. Their meetings were sus- 
 pended July 4th, until the next autumn. 
 
 The Society continued to meet through the winter 
 and spring of 1821-2, and until the close of January 
 -3, when it was dissolved, for the purpose of estab- 
 lishing a new one of a more popular and public de- 
 scription. The new Society consisted not merely of 
 persons desirous to engage in its regular exercises, but 
 of a large number of others, who joined as auditors only. 
 In December 1824, in consequence of the dispersion 
 of some of the active members of the Society, and oth- 
 er causes, it was dissolved, ; and a new ono formed of a 
 private nature, similar to the original Society ; which 
 having undergone occasional changes in its constitution 
 and members, now exists. 
 
 The Society has chosen, for orators on the fourth of 
 July, 
 
 Caleb dishing, in 1821, 
 
 Robert Cross, in . 1822, 
 
 George C. Wilde, in 1823, 
 
 NehemiahCleaveland, in 1824, 
 John Merrill, in 1826. 
 
 This Society has proved of eminent advantage to ma- 
 ny persons, who have participated in its exercises ; aid 
 its example is sufficient to demonstrate the utility of 
 such institutions, when properly conducted. The pop- 
 ular character of our government renders the accom* 
 
71 
 
 plishment of extemporaneous oratory peculiarly valua- 
 ble, not only to professional men, but to all, who feel 
 a lively interest, and take a prominent part, in the pro- 
 gress of national, state, or municipal affairs. — And a well 
 regulated debating society is an excellent school of in- 
 struction and experience in this important qualification. 
 
 THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 
 
 Was formed in 1818. It consists of physicians, who 
 united for the purpose of promoting regularity in the 
 practice of their profession, and communicating medical 
 information, and in other respects aiding the cause of 
 medical science. 
 
 THE NEWBURYPORT UjVjVEAJV SOCIETY 
 
 Was instituted in 1820, by a number of gentlemen, 
 whose object was to promote the study of natural his- 
 tory and antiquities, by making a collection of minerals, 
 and other curiosities. — Their design has proved so far 
 successful, that they possess a cabinet of considerable 
 value, which is gradually acquiring new specimen^, 
 chiefly by donations. 
 
MILITIA, 
 
 IN 1810 the town of Newbu.yport contained a fall 
 regiment of militia ; but in consequence of the reduc . 
 lion of the population, the citizens were reorganized in 
 1817 into a battalion, commanded by a lieutenant col- 
 onel. For this purpose the town is divided into three 
 ward-*, each ward furnishing a company of infantry. In 
 addition to these bodies, thera are two volunteer com- 
 panies, the Newburyport Artillery Company, and the 
 Washington Light Infantry Company ; all which together 
 pose the organized militia of Newburyport. 
 The Nnwburyport Artillery Company is nearly cce_ 
 Tal with our national independence, and one of the old. 
 est military corps in the Commonwealth. It was form- ' 
 to ih winter of 1777-8 and in July 1778 marched 
 S3 volunteers in the expedition to Rhode Island, where 
 they remained in service until the unsuccessful termina- 
 tion of that enterprise. 
 
 Its first officers were Thomas Thomas, captain j Ba- 
 ttel Coates, captain lieutenant, 'hen so called; and Mi- 
 chael Hodge first, and Samuel Newhall second, lieuten- 
 ant. The company consisted of about eighty men, and 
 were armed with i.mskets and two four pounders, one 
 of brass and one of iron, which they received from the 
 State in Boston en their march. These pieces were ex- 
 changed in 1793 for two beautiful six pounder?, which 
 they still piv c sess. In 1735 Michael Hodge was elected 
 captain, Benaiah Tiicomb captain lieutenant, and Will- 
 iam Cross and Enoch Gieenleaf lieutenants. 
 
 In 1791 a regiment was ordered to be formed of the 
 artillery of the county of Es^ex, and at a meeting of the 
 officers at Ipswich, captain Hodge was elected colonel. 
 But before- this -organization could ba fully completed, 
 
73 
 
 a different arrangement of the Artillery Companies in 
 the south part of the county was concluded upon ; and 
 the Company remained, uutil 1794, not attached to any 
 regimental corps. 
 
 In 1792 the company was newly organized, and Wil- 
 liam Cross was elected captain, and Enoch Greenleaf 
 and Samuel Brown lieutenants. 
 
 In 1794 a battalion was formed of this and another 
 company at Amesbury, and captain Cross was promoted 
 to its command. This organization has continued to 
 the present time. 
 
 In 1801 the Company, at an expense to themselves of 
 about $600, erected a handsome and spacious gun-house. 
 
 After the disbandment of the sea-fencibles, a volun- 
 teer Company formed during the last war, the gun- 
 house erected for their accommodation was assigned by 
 the Quarter Master General to the Artillery Company. 
 The old gun-house has since been refitted by the town 
 for public military uses 
 
 In 1820 the Company furnished themselves with ser- 
 viceable camp equipage, and have since annually per- 
 formed tours of camp duty through the various towns 
 of the brigade. 
 
 In 1824 they participated in the military honors rend- 
 ered La layette. 
 
 The gentlemen, who have successively held the office 
 of captain, since the year 1794, are Enoch Greenleaf, 
 Jonathan Stickney, Benjamin Somerby, Thomas Burrill, 
 James Totter, Joseph Hoyt, Richard Hunnewell, Jere- 
 miah Batchelder, Samuel Coffin, Ebenezer Bradbury, 
 and Enoch Fierce, who *s the present commander.* 
 
 The Washington Light Infantry Company, was rais- 
 ed in 1800, by virtue of a resolve of the General Court 
 passed that year. On the 15th of April they made 
 choice of Abraham Perkins, Nicholas Tracy, and Charles 
 Jackson for th^ir commissioned officers. Their first 
 public appearance took place July 24th 1800, which 
 day has since then been observed as the Company's an- 
 niversary. The gentlemen, who have held the commis- 
 
 * rhe author, is indebted to maj. Ebenezei Bradbury for the above 
 account of the Artihery Companv. 
 
 G 
 
74 
 
 sion of captain in the company down to the present time, 
 are Abraham Perkins, Samuel W. Thompson, Nicholas 
 Johnson jr., Paul Titcomb, Charles H Balch, £leazer 
 Johnson jr., Philip Johnson jr., Jeremiah P. Toppan, and 
 "Wiiiiam B. Tiicomb. 
 
 in 1824 during the war, the Company performed 
 guard duty at the barracks on Plum Island as volun- 
 teers. 
 
 In July 1807 the Company received President Mon- 
 roe, and escorted him into the town. 
 
 In August 1817 the regiment of which the Company 
 formed a part, and v\\{\\ it the Company, being dis- 
 banded, a new charter was obtained January following, 
 and the company was reorganized, by the choice of 
 Charles H. Balch, Eleazer Johnson jr., and Philip John- 
 son jr. as officers. 
 
 This Company, with the Artillery, escorted General 
 La Fayette into the town, on the occasion of his pub- 
 lic reception and entertainment, August 31st 1824. 
 
13 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 UNDER this head will be placed a variety of stated 
 merits of a miscellaneous character, chiefly as to the pop- 
 ulation, wealth, public expenditures, commerce, manu- 
 factures, and business condition of the town. 
 
 POPULATION, 
 
 The following table, collected from various sources, 
 contains a view of the progressive increase of the pop- 
 ulation of Newburyport until 1810, and its subsequent 
 diminution. 
 
 Years. Inhab. Houses. 
 
 1764 2,882 357 
 
 1790 4,837 616 
 
 1800 5,946 806 
 
 1810 7,634 
 
 1820 6,789 
 
 At the last Census in 1820 Newburyport contained 
 
 Families. Widows. Males. Females. 
 
 1196 380 3085 3704 
 
 PROPERTY. 
 
 The following table exhibits an account of all the 
 property owned or possessed in Newburyport, as rated 
 by the town-assessors, for the several years enumerated. 
 
 Person. Estate. Real <$• Person. 
 2506720 3754920 
 2605900 3966650 
 
 4152633 6318033 
 
 Yrars. 
 
 Real Estate. 
 
 1802 
 
 1248200 
 
 1803 
 
 1360750 
 
 1804 
 
 
 1805 
 
 
 1806 
 
 2165400 
 
1& 
 
 1807 
 
 2420200 
 
 4307900 
 
 672810® 
 
 1808 
 
 2318700 
 
 4175500 
 
 6494200 
 
 1809 
 
 2584300 
 
 4442200 
 
 7026500 
 
 1810 
 
 2825100 
 
 4243900 
 
 7069000 
 
 1811 
 
 2810400 
 
 4271100 
 
 7081500 
 
 1812 
 
 2635900 
 
 3438700 
 
 6074600 
 
 1813 
 
 1940300 
 
 2799700 
 
 4740000 
 
 1814 
 
 1671300 
 
 2478700 
 
 4151000 
 
 1815 
 
 1 500400 
 
 2352800 
 
 3853200 
 
 1816 
 
 1373000 
 
 2111600 
 
 348 1600 
 
 1817 
 
 1269600 
 
 1869600 
 
 3139200 
 
 1818 
 
 1249300 
 
 1910000 
 
 3159300 
 
 1819 
 
 1251000 
 
 1793900 
 
 3014900 
 
 1820 
 
 1707600 
 
 1154000 
 
 2861600 
 
 1821 
 
 1612000 
 
 1031700 
 
 2643700 
 
 1822 
 
 1549500 
 
 1040400 
 
 2589900 
 
 1823 
 
 1492600 
 
 1056700 
 
 2549300 
 
 1821 
 
 1347300 
 
 1058000 
 
 2405300 
 
 1825 
 
 1324100 
 
 1018500 
 
 23 42600 
 
 1826 
 
 1419200 
 
 1003600 
 
 2422800 
 
 TOWJV EXPENSES. 
 
 The following table contains a summary view of the 
 
 expenses of the town for the municipal year ending 
 March 1825. 
 
 Repairing the Highways, including $1329 fof 
 work by men from the Work-House and 
 
 Town team*, g35l8 
 
 Grammar School Master, 600 
 
 West Lancasterian ditto, 600 
 
 South do. do. 550 
 
 North Writing do. 450 
 
 Three Mistresses of Female Grammar Schools, 225 
 
 Five Mistresses of small schools, 250 
 
 Mistress of the African School, 53 
 
 Rewards for Lancasterian Scholars, 73 
 
 Wood for Schools, 69 
 Repairing and altering School houses, and sundries 
 
 for Schools, 266 
 
 Assessor!!, 258 
 
 Treasurer and Collector, 311 
 

 
 Overseers of the Poor, 200 
 
 Town-Clerk, 54 
 
 Police Officer, 10 
 
 Constable, 60 
 
 Sextons 81 
 
 Engines, Pumps, and Fire implements, 97 
 
 Market-House, 151 
 
 Vi-it of General La Fayette, 775 
 Repairing Hospital and expenses arising from 
 
 Sarortl Pox, 256 
 
 Malt, ln5 
 
 Maintenance and support of the Poor, 2»>o'7 
 Interest on the town debt, deducting income of 
 
 the market-house, *3Q 
 
 Incidental charges, 331 
 
 L2460 
 
 MONOPOLY ACT. 
 
 Many ajtemptg were made during the revolutionary 
 war to lix the price of labor and commodities by leg- 
 islative provisions. All these endeavors, of course, 
 proved entirely futile. In 1 7T7_the selectmen of New- 
 buryport, pursuant to an act of the general court k to pre- 
 vent monopoly and oppression 1 tix«'d the prices of things 
 for this town. The following table contains an abstract, 
 in alphabetical order, of their regulations. 
 
 Articles. Priee». Qwn. 
 
 /. s. d. 
 
 Beef, best fresh stall fed 4 lb. 
 
 do. do. gr sa <\o. 3 lb. 
 
 Baited (bbl 240 lbs*) 3 14 bbl, 
 
 Beans 6 bush. 
 
 Blubber, refined 1 10 bbl. 
 
 Boards' good white p. merch. 2 5 M. 
 
 Buiter, 10 lb- 
 
 Calf-skin*, raw 6 lb. 
 
 Chaise-hire, 3 1-2 mii e 
 
 Charcoal. ■ 6 bush. 
 
 Cb ese, best American, 6 bush* 
 
 Co •■(- ilate do do. I 8 bush 
 
 Cletb cotton and linen yd. wide ' ,; u ' 
 g7* 
 
7* 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Cloth tow yd. wide 
 
 best American woolen 
 Cocoa, best, 
 Cod-fish, fresh, 
 Coffee, good 
 Cotton by the bag*, 
 Eggs, 
 
 Flax, good merchantable, 
 Flour, southern 
 
 Massachusetts, 
 Hay, best English, 
 Hides, raw, 
 
 tanned 
 Hogshead, good, 44 inc. long, 
 Horse-hire, 
 Indian corn or meal 
 Iron, bloomery, 
 refined, 
 Labor, viz. 
 Carpenters, 
 Caulkers, 
 Bay laborers, not found 
 
 found 
 Joiners, 
 Masons, 
 
 Barbers once shaving, 
 Coopers find, and set. hhd. hoop. 
 
 bbl. do. 
 Curriers, leather 
 
 calf skin? : 
 Teamsters 2 ox. and 1 horse 
 Truckage hhd. 1-2 mile, 
 bbl. do. do. 
 Milk, 
 
 Mutton, lamb or veal, 
 Oats, 
 
 Oil, liver, by the bbl. 
 Peas, 
 Pork, fresh best, 
 
 salted (bbl. 220 lbs.) 
 Potatoes best from Is. 2d. io 
 
 Prices. 
 
 €fc<iau 
 
 1 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 yd. 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 y«i- 
 
 6 10 
 
 
 
 cwt 
 
 
 t 
 
 lb. 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 lb. 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 lb. 
 
 
 6 
 
 doz„ 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 lb. 
 
 1 10 
 
 
 cwt. 
 
 1 5 
 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 cwt 
 
 
 3 
 
 lb. 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 lb. 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 each 
 
 
 4 1-2 mile 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 bush. 
 
 1 10 
 
 
 
 cwt. 
 
 2 10 
 
 
 
 cwt 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 day 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 day 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 day 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 day 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 day 
 
 6 
 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 day 
 
 
 2 1-2 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 hide 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 piece 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 day 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 qt 
 
 
 4 
 
 lb. 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 busb. 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 gal. 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 bush. 
 
 
 5 
 
 lb. 
 
 4 12 
 
 
 
 bbl. 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 bush.. 
 
•'?$. 
 
 Prices. Quas. 
 
 1 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 6 
 
 8 gal 
 
 7 
 
 8 gal. 
 
 9 
 
 At 
 
 qt. 
 
 3 
 
 10 gal, 
 
 4 
 
 6 gal. 
 
 5 
 
 busls 
 
 10 
 
 do 
 
 12 
 
 do 
 
 11 
 
 M 
 
 8 
 
 pair 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 2 10 
 
 M. 
 
 6 
 
 pair 
 
 2 14 
 
 cwt. 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 8 lb. 
 
 
 7 1-2 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Rum, W. I. by the hhd. includ. hhd, 
 
 gallon, 
 
 quart, 
 N. V . by the hhd. exclud hhd. 
 
 gallon 
 Rye or rye -meal good, 
 Salt, good imported, 
 
 domestic manufac. 
 Shingles, good shipping, 
 Shoes, best men's neat's leather 
 Shoeing a horse all around, 
 Staves, red oak hhd 
 Stockings, best men's woolen 
 Sugar, best, Muscov. the hhd. 
 by the cwt. 
 
 ib. 
 
 Tallow, good tried, 
 Taverns, viz. 
 
 Horse, keep. vv. Eng. hay 24 h. 
 or night, 
 
 Dinner boiled and roast, without 
 wine, 
 
 Supper or breakfast, 
 
 Lodging, 
 Tobacco raised in this state, 
 Wheat, good raerch. 
 Wood, good Eastern, 
 Wool, good sheep's 
 Turkies, poultry, and ducks, 
 
 The foregoing are the highest prices, which were 
 never to he exceeded The regulations further pro- 
 vided that n i imported goods, except hemp and warlike 
 or military stores, should be sold at an advance of more 
 than £250 on £100 prime co*t in Europe. And to en- 
 force this rule, every seiler by wholesale was required 
 to deliver the buyer a bill of parcels with the sterling- 
 cost an I his advance thereon, under penalty of a forfeit- 
 ure of the whole value for his neglect No retailer 
 was permitted to make an advance of more than twenty 
 per cent, on the wholesale price ; and he was to deliver 
 a bill of parcels if requested. 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 lb. 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 bush. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 cord. 
 
 2 
 
 
 5 
 
 lb. 
 
so 
 
 BANKING AND INSURANCE. 
 
 Insurance, in this town, is now conducted either by 
 private individuals, or by agents of Boston insurance 
 Companies. There have been three incorporated com- 
 panies in tliH town, namely, the Merrimac Marine, the 
 Union, and the Phenix Insurance Companies. These 
 were all dissolved at successive periods; and the low- 
 ness of premiums has rendered it unprofitable for any 
 incorporated office to transact business in this town alone. 
 
 There are two banks, the Newburyport, and Me- 
 chanics. 
 
 The Newburyport Bank was incorporated in 1812, 
 with a capital of §300,000, reduced in 1814 to $210,- 
 000) at which it now remains. 
 
 This Bank is the successor of the Merrimac Bank, 
 incorporated in 1725, which commenced business with 
 a capital of '$70,000 In 1799 the Newburyport Bank 
 w;«s incorporated. In 1800 it was dissolved and its stock 
 was united with that of the Merrimac Bank. The stock 
 of the Merrimac Bank paid in, amounted in 1801 to 
 $225,000. In. 1803 a new bank was incorporated by 
 the name of the Newburvport Bank with a capital of 
 $300,000. In 1805 the charter of the Merrimac Bank 
 expired; and the stock of the Newburyport Bank was 
 increased $2)0, 000, the stockholders of Merrimac Bank 
 having a right to subscribe this sum in the stock of the 
 Newburypoi't. By this operation, the capital of the 
 Newburyport Bank, in 1805. was $550,000. Its char- 
 ter expired in 1812, at which time the present bank 
 was incorporated. 
 
 The Mechanics Bavk was incorporated in 1812, with 
 a capital of $200,000. It has not undergone any legal 
 changes asa corporaiion, and now transacts banking busi- 
 ness upon the same capital. 
 
 In connexion with the subject of Banking, the press 
 for bank bills of the stereotype s'eel plate, established 
 in N>wburyport, deserves to be mentioned. Bank-noies 
 have become a univ^rai substitute for specie in this 
 country as the circulating medium of traffic. Hence it is 
 of the greatest importance t) prevent, if possible, the 
 counterfeiting of bills. Long experience has demon- 
 
81 
 
 Strated that Mr. Jacob Perkins, improvements in the" 
 art of engraving afford the best specific of this kind, 
 which has yet been discovered ; and lenve nothing to 
 be desired but that all banks sho;ild he compelled to use 
 the steel plate, if they are so regardless of the public 
 good as not to do it voluntarily. 
 
 The printing pre»s for these bills is in the hands of 
 Mr. Abraham Perkins, brother of Air. Jacob Perkins, 
 and the agent of that great artist for the New England 
 States. The peculiar advantages of the plate contain- 
 ing his improvements are many and evident. One is 
 the exact similarity of all the hills. A copperplate, af- 
 ter yielding six or seven thousand impressions, becomes 
 worn down and must he retouched with the graver: — 
 Which of course makes a difference in the appearance 
 of the bills. The steel plate, on the contrary, affords 
 an immense number of prints before the lines on the 
 plate are worn, or the impression changed. Another 
 advantage possessed by the steel plate is the quantity 
 and delicacy of their work, and the endless multiplied 
 of minute letters graven upon them, which it is idle 
 for the forger to think of imitating with success. The 
 check letter on the back of Perkins 1 bills, as well as 
 the beautiful lathe-work on their face, are likewise pe- 
 culiarities, which have seldom or never been skilfully 
 counterfeited. In short, these and other excellencies 
 of the stereotype bills are such as to baffle the art of 
 counterfeiters, who readily succeed in forging bills dif- 
 ficult to be distinguished from the best of any other de- 
 scription. The quantity of work on Perkins' bills im- 
 parts to them a certain heaviness of appearance, which 
 som- 1 persons have appeared to think a ground of objec- 
 tion. But nothing, certainly, is more ide and ridiculous 
 than to prefer a mere pretty bill to a safe one. In 
 truth, however, there are few plates, which give a more 
 neat, finished, and graceful impression, than tii<>se 
 which come from the graver of Murray and Fairman.* 
 
 Mr. Perkins prints bills for about seventy banks, 
 
 * New buryport Herald for May 28di 1822. 
 
82 
 SHIP BUILDING, 
 
 As Newburyport possesses no site with water powers^ 
 it doe? not afford facilities lor the establishment of those 
 manufactories, which require the application of a great 
 moving force to complicated machinery. It has local 
 advantages for two manufactures, however, which have, 
 in time past, been the source of much wealth to its in- 
 habitants. These are the distillation of rum, and ship- 
 building; to which the citizens, in their memorial to 
 congress in 1774, attributed a prominent rank in the 
 enumeration of their business. 
 
 Ship-Building has long been known as a staple man- 
 ufacture of the towns on the Merrimac. The river 
 was distinguished, at an early period, for producing 
 good timber, skilful and industrious carpenters, and 
 staunch vessels.* Old inhabitants of the town can re- 
 member when there have been a hundred vessels build- 
 ing at one time along the bank of the river on the 
 Newbury side below the bridge. Formerly there were 
 several ship yards in the town of Newburyport. The 
 landing-place in Market square was long used for that 
 purpose, and called the middle ship-yard. But the in- 
 crease of the commerce of the town subsequent to 1800 
 produced a change in this respect; and all the piinci- 
 pal ship-yards are now in Newbury and Salisbury. 
 
 The historian Douglas, while he reflects upon the 
 ship builders of Newbury to the advantage of those of 
 Boston, admits that better vessels were built here than 
 at any other place in the country It may be inferred 
 from his account, however, that when the carpenters of 
 the Merrimac slighted their work, it was owing less to 
 themselves than to the cupidity of the foreign merchants 
 who dealt with them They built a large number of 
 vessels for the British market; and oftentimes were 
 compelled to empoy materials of less excellence, to 
 meet the illiberality of a griping contractor abroad. — 
 In illustration of this Douglas relates the following an- 
 ecdote. «■ As contracts (he says) are generally to be 
 paid in goods, they build accordingly. Thus a note*? 
 
 * Douglas' Summary, vol. I, page 456. 
 
83 
 
 builder (1751) T. W. jocosely said that he had built for 
 ■ a calico- ship. '* 
 
 The Boston and Hancock continental frigates were 
 built here ; anil the Merimac and Wasp, sloops of war. 
 The government of the Uuited States, in establishing 
 ship-yards at various places along the coast, have hard- 
 ly done justice to the Merrimac, in passing over a situ- 
 ation, where ships of war of the smaller class could be 
 constructed to great advantage. 
 
 The number of vessels built on the Merrimac has 
 greatly diminished within the last fifteen or twenty 
 years. But facilities for carrying on this business may 
 still be found here, to greater extent than at most other 
 places in the State. Many large lorests of tlie noblest 
 oak over-shadow the sides of the Merrimac ; the me- 
 chanics upon its banks have lost none of their ex- 
 cellence in the art of ship-building; and the cheapness 
 of rent and of the means of subsistance there enables 
 them to aflord labor at a moderate compensation, and 
 would there tore lessen the cost of building and of na- 
 val equipments. 
 
 Nothing is wanted to restore the naval business of the 
 town to its tormer vigor but to have this manufacture of 
 ships carried on by a company with adequate capital — > 
 They might import, themselves, the iron, hemp, sail- 
 cloth, copper and other articles used in building, and 
 thus save the freight upon those commodities And by 
 carrying on the business systematically and economi- 
 cally, it would seem that they could not but succeed. 
 
 There is hardly any single object, which would more 
 decidedly tend to renovate the prosperity of the town, 
 than ship-building carried on extensively. There is no 
 species of manufacture, which would be more benefi- 
 cial to all the industrious classes of the community. 
 It has been estimated that when a vessel built in New- 
 England is wholly fitted for sea, two thirds of her cost 
 are a clear profit to the country the other third being 
 iron, cordage, and other imported articles. The ship 
 manufactory employs and supports more than thirty 
 two distint trades ; while it is a business eminently 
 
 * Douglas* Summary, vol. II, page 69. 
 
64 
 
 healthful in all its branches, manly, and admirably cal- 
 culated to no rish a race of aciive and hardy yeo- 
 manry.* 
 
 DISTILLERIES. 
 
 The close intercourse of this town with the West In- 
 dia i-iands gave it early advantages in the importation 
 of molasses and the distillation of rum. The quantity 
 of ttiis commodity manufactured in the town has varied 
 exceedingly at different perio Is ; although less for the 
 last ten or fifteen years. In 1820, when the census was 
 taken, it was calculated that four distiileiies in the 
 town consumed 3000 hogsheads of molasses annually. — 
 Oi the rum produced, ii was supposed that about one 
 fifth was exported to foreign countries, and the rest 
 deposed of in the United States. There may be about 
 3600 hogsheads distilled the present year. 
 
 In the year 1790 there were ten distilleries in the 
 
 to»vn ; and in 1808 there were eight; — but although the 
 
 'number of distilleries now is .iimimshed, the quantity of 
 
 rum produced is not probably much, it" any, less than it 
 
 was at the former periods. 
 
 MARITIME COMMERCE. 
 
 The trade of Newburyport has at some periods been 
 very large, and although much diminished now, is still 
 quite considerable. 
 
 The following table exhibits the amount of tonnage 
 belonging to Newburyport at the several years specifi- 
 ed. 
 
 1789 99 vessels 11607 tons 
 
 1796 Registered 16179 
 
 Enrolled 3573 
 
 1806 Registered 25291 
 
 Enrolled 4422 
 
 19752 do. 
 
 29713 do. 
 
 * Two or three of the above remarks are in the Newburyport tleraid, 
 Aug 20,1*22. 
 
85 
 
 1816 Registered 16331 
 
 Enrolled 7i70 
 
 1826 * Registered 7503 
 
 Enrolled 12991 
 
 23501 tons 
 
 20494 do. 
 
 The duties on imports have been 
 
 in 1792 $ 74248 
 
 1802 200895 
 
 1812 46191 
 
 1822 58451 
 
 1826 49966 
 
 The value of merchandize imported 
 . in 1821 was $193119 
 
 1826 166811 
 
 The value of domestic merchandize exported was 
 in 1791 $685121 
 
 1806 543576 
 
 1817 253652 
 
 1826 190720 
 
 In November 1790 there were owned in Newbury 
 port 6 ships, 45 brigs, 39 schooners, 28 sloops, in all 
 11,870 tons. 
 
 In November 1805 there belonged to Newburyport 
 41 ships, 62 brigs, 2 snows, 2 barques, and 66 schooners, 
 besides sloops not enumerated. 
 
 From these data, the reader can judge of the progres- 
 sive changes in the maritime commerce of the town It 
 would be found, by comparing its shipping in 1805 with 
 that of other seaports in the country, that no where was 
 industry more lively and enterprising than here, in the 
 days of our commercial prosperity. 
 
 FISHERIES. 
 
 The fishing vessels belonging to this District are not 
 owned in the town of Newburyport alone, butii portion 
 of them in the vicinity. 
 
 * Where the year 1826 is meuioned it lucaus the year ending Jane 
 30th ISitf. 
 
 H 
 
86 
 
 In 1806 the number of vessels belonging to the Dis- 
 trict employed in the Labrador fishing was 45, and 10 
 or 15 more in the Bay fishery. These vessels averag- 
 ed i2 men each, and caught in the season 5000 quintals 
 of fish each. The mackerel fishery was then very 
 small. 
 
 The latter branch of our fisheries was not commenc- 
 ed, to any extent, until since the late war. 
 
 The first vessel fitted out in this District to carry on 
 the mackerel fishing for the season was in 1815. But 
 in 1819 the number of vessels so employed amounted to 
 abot 30, and the quantity of mackerel caught to about 
 15000 barrels. 
 
 The number of vessels employed in the year 1825 
 was 75, and the quantity of mackerel caught amounted 
 to 24000 barrels. 
 
 The average quantity of fish taken in the cod-fishery, 
 by vessels belonging to this District, for the last ten 
 years, has been about 20,000 quintals, averaging about 
 $50000 in value. This business probably employs 300 
 men. 
 
 The sum paid in this District for bounties for the 
 year 1825 was $14998. 
 
 It has been already stated that the amount of register- 
 ed tonnage belonging to this town at present was 7503, 
 of enrolled 12991 tons. At former periods the case 
 was reversed, and the tonnage registered was much 
 greater than the tonnage enrolled. 
 
 From this it appears that the coasting and fishing bu- 
 siness of the town has much increased within a few 
 years, and in proportion as the foreign commerce has 
 diminished. 
 
 The fishing business has proved highly beneficial to 
 the south part of the town and the contiguous parts of 
 Newbury, where it is chiefly carried on. This fact is 
 apparent from the evidently improved appearance and 
 increasing prosperity of that quarter. 
 
 Much as we have cause to lament the diminution of 
 our foreign trade, still the prosperity of our fisheries 
 and of the coastwise trade is a subject of much gratula- 
 lion. No maritime occupation is more healthful and 
 maDly, or better calculated to nourish a race of hardy 
 
37 
 
 mariners, than our fisheries. There id no business, 
 which is more purely a profit on labor than this ; and it 
 is, therefore, peculiarly deserving encouragement as a 
 branch of domestic industry. 
 
 The coasting trade of the United States is constantly 
 increasing; and even now employs a much greater ton- 
 nage than the foreign. The subjoined remaks are ap- 
 plicable to the fisheries as well as to our domestic ma- 
 rine commerce.* 
 
 »* Navigation in the coasting trade, in respect to its 
 influence in exciting to production in the different di- 
 visions of industry, operates with double the effect that 
 our navigation in foreign trade does, because ourforeign 
 navigation divides its influence, employing one half of 
 it at home to the encouragement of home industry, and 
 carrying the other half abroad to the equal encourage- 
 ment of foreign industry. Whereas the coast- wise nav- 
 igation, though it divides its influence between the places 
 it connects in intercourse, yet employs the whole of it 
 at home, to the encouragement of home production. — 
 Our inland and coast-wise trade is beyond comparison 
 ^more important to national interests than our foreign 
 commerce. It employs more tons of navigation than 
 the foreign ; and the vessels it employs make several 
 interchanges of merchandise, while the vessels employed 
 in the foreign trade are making but one. It employs 
 more capital, in proportion as the amount of goods to be , 
 exchanged by it is greater; and the capital employed 
 affords equal profit in proportion to its amount. The 
 home market for the surplus products of our various in- 
 dustry, with the exception of two or three articles of 
 southern produce, is probably of four times the extent 
 of the foreign market." 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 In the year 1825 there were 10 manufactories of fur 
 and plated hats of different qualities in Newburyport 
 and its vicinity. Their whole capital was estimated 
 at $17,500 and they employed in all 65 persons. 
 
 * Practical Principles of Political Economy, page 32 
 
BS 
 
 It is calculated that 90 persons are employed in th<* 
 town in the manufacture of shoes and boot?, and that the 
 ralue of their products amounts annually to $50,000. 
 
 Laird's Beer, Porter and Ale, are well known in 
 the United Slates. Mr. Laird emigrated to this country 
 
 from Scotland, and commenced brewing here in 1785. 
 
 The gradual increase of the business obliged him to en- 
 large his works at successive periods, first in 1789, and 
 afterwards in 1793. The present works were erected 
 in 1793 and are capable of producing upwards of 5000 
 barrels annually. It is of the first quality and of estab- 
 lished reputation. 
 
 In New burj near to the bounds of Newburyport there 
 are extensive Cordage manufactoiies They were 
 five in number in 1803—1805, employing from 40 to 50 
 hands, and producing annually fron/200 to 300 tons of 
 cordage, valued at about $70,000. For the last five 
 years the number of manufactories has been six, the 
 number of persons employed 25 to 35, the quantity of 
 cordage manufactured from 130 to 160 tons, valued at 
 $30,000 In addition to thi* about $8,000 worth of 
 white lines and cord have been majmfaciured annually 
 lie last three years, employing about 15 workmen. 
 
 There is a large w iol-pulling and morocco dressing 
 establishment in Newbury port, at which about 10000 
 skins are dressed annually. 
 
 The Eastern Stage Company runs a line of stage 
 coaches, including the mail coach, from Boston through 
 Newburyport to Portsmouth, be-Me several bye-routes. 
 This line employes 287 horses, seventy of which are 
 kept in Newburyport. It has 35 coaches and 1 2 ch;ii*es. 
 This line is celebrated, throughout the United States, 
 for the excellency of its horses, drivers and coaches ; 
 and for the rapidity, safety, and regularity of its move- 
 ments. All the coaches are constructed in Newbury- 
 port. In the ^tage yard them are 25 artisans employed 
 chiefly in the various branches of carriage making and 
 the subsidiary trades, who manufacture 20 coaches year- 
 ly, beside chaises. There is also another chaise manu- 
 factory in Newburyport. 
 
 The manufacture of gold and silver has been carri- 
 ed on to some extent in this town for several years, 
 
8® 
 
 larticularly in the articles of necklaces, thimbles, an# 
 poons. Thirty hands are usually engaged in this busi* 
 iess, who produce goods to the amount of 40 or 50,000 
 dollars. 
 
 Some beautiful specimens of the latter articles made 
 at the establishment of the Messrs Bradbury far the or- 
 der of the Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Agricul- 
 tural Society, and distributed at Northampton last au- 
 tumn in premiums, were much admired, 
 
 They have recently succeeded in the establishment 
 of a manufactory of thimbles by machinery on an im- 
 proved and original method. The mode they have in- 
 vented combines durability in the commodity with fa- 
 cility of execution. They now manufacture them for 
 exportation as well as domestic consumption. 
 
 "The number of shops for the retail of dry goods now 
 kept in Newburyport is about twenty two, having an 
 aggregate capital which has been estimated at about 
 §80,000. The amount of capital thus invested in this 
 town previous to the war was very much greater ; bu^ 
 has diminished with the general decrease of business. 
 
 It is said that in 1766 there were but three shops 
 r or En lish goods in Newburyport. These belonged to 
 John Harris, Tristram Dalton, and Patrick Tracy. 
 
 The tanning business is carried on successfully in the 
 vicinity of Newburyport, particularly in the town of 
 Newbury, where there are four tanneries which tan an- 
 nually 900 hides, and 400 skins. Beside this, there is 
 an cxlensiye tannery in West Newbury and several in 
 Salisbury. 
 
 The manufacture of combs is a very considerable 
 branch of industry in West Newbury. In the manufac- 
 ture of shell-combs thirty person-? are employed, who 
 make in each year 56,000 dozen of shell-combs of vari- 
 ous sizes valued at $140,000. In the manufacture of 
 horn-combs, an hundred persons are employed, who 
 make annually 43,000 dozen horn-combs, valued at $43,- 
 000:— In all $183,000. 
 
 Chaises are manufactured extensively in Wes-t New- 
 bury and Newbury. In Belleville in the town of New bu- 
 ry about 100 ch uses are made yearlv amounting to<213- 
 ')00 in vaiue. From sixty to seventy chaises are made 
 h8 
 
90 
 
 in West Newbury. There are also two large hat man- 
 ufactories in Belleville. About fifty persons are employ- 
 ed in West Newbury .in the manufacture of shoes. 
 
 In 1824 the number of licensed shops was fifty four, 
 besides five public inns. There are now in Newbury- 
 port six apothecaries' shops; six for the sale of hard- 
 ware or crockery ; ten jewellers' or watch makers' ; five 
 booksellers' and stationers, of whom two are book-bind- 
 ers; three printing offices; seven practising lawyers; 
 seven physicians ; and two circulating libraries. 
 
 Of trades and arts exercised in the town, among oth- 
 ers, are one maker of mathematical instruments, forty- 
 five house joiners, eighteen block makers, thirty five 
 cabinet makers, thirty four painters, six tin men, thirty 
 masons, eleven bakers, twenty brickmakers in the town 
 and vicinity, nine caulkers, ten riggers, twenty sail- 
 makers, five tallow-chandlers and thirty eight black- 
 smiths: Including, in the foregoing computation, jour- 
 neymen and apprentices, as well as master workmen. 
 
 The manufacture of tobacco is entitled to attention. 
 It employs more than forty hands. They manufacture 
 the amount of five tons of snuff, and three millions five 
 hundred thousand cigars annually. 
 
 These details might be extended further; but they 
 will, as now made, furnish some idea of the present 
 state of the business and trade of Newburyport. The 
 author has introduced the mention of two or thiee staple 
 manufactures of the immediate neighborhood, without, 
 of course, pretending to make a full relation of them — 
 Had his plan permitted, he might have given an account 
 of the costly and extensive erections and the flourishing 
 manufactures at the falls on Powow river in Amesbury. 
 aud Salisbury, which would show that village to be em- 
 ulous of the growth of Lowell, Somer.«worth, and Dov- 
 er. But this must be reserved for another occasion.* 
 
 NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 A newspaper was first establ^hed in Newburyport in 
 1773, bv Isaiah Thomas, and Henry W Tinges— Mr. 
 
 * TU»- author has made some collections towards an accunt of SaHs- 
 burv , his native town, and of Amcsburv ; — which he hopes ere long to 
 He able to complete. 
 
91 
 
 Thomas then printed a weekly paper in Boston^ where 
 he resided ; and of course provided the foreign, news 
 for both journals, the paper published here being- under 
 the direct care of Mr. Tinges. It was entitled The 
 Essex Journal and Merrimac Packet ; or the Massa- 
 chusetts and Nrw Hampshire General Advertiser. It 
 was printed on paper about the size of large foolscap.— 
 No greater proof need be had of the advancement of 
 the useful arts in this country than to compare one of 
 these papers with the beautiful and finished newspapers 
 of the pe«ent day In front of the Merrimac Packet arc 
 two engravings, one a ghostly representation of the 
 Massachusetts Indian, the other a ship of war in full sail, 
 Tney are quite amusing specimens of the art. 
 
 The printing office of Thomas and Tinges stood in 
 King (Federal) street, opposite the church of the First 
 Pivshyterian Society. The price of the paper was < -six 
 shillings and eight pence lawful money ;' which, say the 
 printers, is L as cheap as any newspaper in the four 
 quarters of the globe.' The first number contains the 
 subjoined advertisement ■ 
 
 ' PRINTING, 
 Those ladies and gentlemen, who are desirous of 
 seeing the curious art of printing, are hereby informed 
 that on Monday next the printing office vil! be opened 
 for their reception, and the printers ready to wait on 
 all, who will do the honor of their company. 
 
 December 4th 1773.' 
 In the nineteenth number occurs this advertisement : 
 
 'STAGE rOACH, 
 That constantly plys between Ne vbury-port and 
 Boston, sets out with four horses every Monday morning 
 at 7 o'clock from Newhury-port. and arrives at Boston 
 th-^ same day : — Leaves Boston every Thursday morn- 
 ing and reaches *\ewbury-p<>rt the same day. * * * 
 
 It is hooped this frery expensive undertaking will meet 
 with encouragement from all Ladies and Genflemen, as 
 they may depend on the punctual perform mce, 
 Of the Pabltt's most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 EZRA UJ\T.' 
 In les^ th in a vear after the commencement of the 
 paper. '.:. nomas retinqtrfched it, and Ez a Lunt be- 
 came joint publisher with Tinges. 
 
92 
 
 la 1777 the title of the paper was changed to that of 
 The Essex Journal and New Hampshire Packet, and it 
 was published on Friday by John M^call and H. W. 
 Tinges. 
 
 In 1776 we find Mr Mycall sole proprietor of the pa- 
 per ; soon after which the price was raised to eight shil- 
 lings ; and the priming office removed to Water street 
 a little below the Ferry-way. 
 
 It would appear, by an advertisement in this pa- 
 per July 12th 1776 that an Insurance office was then 
 tirst opened in Newhuryport 
 
 The following item of intelligence possesses perma- 
 nent interest, it appears in the Essex Journal July 26th 
 1776. 
 
 4 BOSTON, July 25 — Thursday last, pursuant to the 
 order of the honorable council, was proclaimed from 
 the balcony of the State House in this town, the Declar- 
 ation of the American CO.V<r/?E53., absolving the Unit- 
 ed Colonies from their allegiance to the Bri'i-h Crown, 
 an 1 declaring them Free and Independent States. There 
 were present on the occasion, in the Council Chamber, 
 the Committee of Council, a number of the honorable 
 house of Representatives, the Magistrates, Ministers, Se- 
 lectmen, and other gentlemen ol Boston and the neigh- 
 bouring town* ; also the commission, and other officers 
 of the Continental regiments, stationed here, two of 
 which were under Arms in King Street, formed into 
 three lines on the North side, and in thirteen divisions ; 
 likewise a detatchment from the Massachusetts regi- 
 ment of Artillery, with two pieces of Cannon on their 
 right wing. At one o'clock the Declaration was pro- 
 claimed bv Col. Thomas Crafts, which was received 
 with great joy, expressed by three huzzaes from a great 
 Concourse of people, assembled on the occasion, after 
 which, on a -ignal given, thirteen pieces of cannon were 
 £r 3 d from the fort on Fort-Hill, those at Dorchester 
 neck, the Cattle, Nantasket, and Point AHerton, also 
 discharged their Cannon : Then the detachment of Ar- 
 tillery discharged t ! ieir cannon thirteen times, which 
 was followed by the two regiments giving their fire 
 from the thirteen divisi his in succession. These firings 
 corresponded to the number of the American State* 
 
93 
 
 United. The ceremony was closed with a proper col- 
 lation to the gentlemen in the council chamber", during 
 which, the following 1 toasts were given by the President 
 «■ of the council, and heartily pledged by the company, 
 viz. 
 
 Prosperity and perpetuity to the United States of 
 America. 
 
 The American Congress. 
 
 The General Court of the State of the Massachusets 
 Bay. 
 
 General Washington, and success to the Arms of the 
 United States. 
 
 The downfall of Tyrants and Tyranny. 
 
 The universal prevalence of civil and religious Lib- 
 erty. 
 
 The fiends of the United States, in all quarters of 
 the Globe, 
 
 The bells in town were rung on the occasion, and un- 
 dissembled Festivity cheered and brightened every 
 Face. 
 
 On the same evening the King's Arms, and every 
 other Sign with any resemblance of it, whether Lvon 
 and Crown, Pestle and Mortar and Crown, Heart and 
 Crown &c. together with every *ign that belonged to a 
 torv, was taken down, and the latter made a general con- 
 flagration of in King-Street.' 
 
 The preceding notices are introduced, as regarding 
 the original establishment of a newspaper in the town. 
 It is not material to follow minutely the changes which 
 successively took place in the form of its publication, 
 previous to 1793. 
 
 Two newspapers are now published here, The Nevv- 
 buryport Herald, and The Free Press. 
 
 The Herald is the successor of the Impartial Herald, 
 first established in 1793. It is now published semi- 
 weekly, on Tuesday and Friday, by Mr. Ephraim W 
 Allen. 
 
 The Free Press was recently established, and is pub- 
 lished every Thursday by Mr. William L. Garrison. 
 
 An excellent and commodious reading-room for news- 
 papers is kept by Mr. John Porter, contiguous to the 
 •ffice of the Comnoooweajth Insurance Company.-—- 
 
94 
 
 There is also a reading-room at the private insurance 
 office of Mr. Samuel Tenney. 
 
 The following newspapers were established at dif- 
 ferent periods, but were soon discontinued. 
 
 The Morning Star in 1794 by Tucker and Robinson: 
 The Political Gazette in 1796 by Barrett and Far- 
 ley : — 
 
 The Merrimac Gazette in 1803 by Caleb Cross: — 
 The Political Calendar in 1805 by Caleb Cross :— - 
 The Merrimac Magazine in 1805 by W &J. Gilman r 
 The Repertory in 1804 by John Parke, which paper 
 was the parent of the Boston Repertory : 
 
 The Merrimac Miscellany in 1805 by William B. Al- 
 len : — 
 
 The Newburyport Gazette in 1806, by Benjamin 
 Edes :— 
 
 The Statesman in 1809, by Joseph Gleason : — 
 , The Independent Whig in 1810, by Nathaniel H. 
 Wright : — 
 
 The Northern Chronicler in 1824, by Heman Ladd : 
 
 And the Essex Courant in 1825, by Isaac Knapp, 3d. 
 
\n 
 
 SISTINGtTISHED INHABITANTS* 
 
 Newburyport has just cause to regard, with honest 
 pride, the many distinguished individuals, whose birth 
 or residence in the town have added so much to its re- 
 spectability. To do justice to her eminent sons by a 
 complete biography of them would far transcend the 
 limits and plan of this work. A short notice of some 
 among them is all, which the place and occasion will 
 warrant. 
 
 The clergymen, whose virtues and piety were dii- 
 played in the discharge of their pastoral functions here, 
 have been commemorated already, in giving an account 
 of their respective parishes ; and they need not, of 
 course, be again enumerated. 
 
 Delicacy forbids that the author should attempt the 
 task, otherwise most grateful, of de?crk ing the charac- 
 ter of living inhabitants of the t< wn, His brief sketch- 
 es will be confined to those, who have either ceased to 
 reside among us, or whose names are consecrated by 
 death. 
 
 Theophilus Bradbury was descended from Thomas 
 Bradbury, a magistrate in 1650, and one of the first set- 
 tlers of Salisbury. He was born in Newbury in 1739, 
 and graduated at Harvard College in 1757. After stud- 
 ying law in Boston he commenced the practice of it in 
 Portland, (then called Falmouth) in 1761. 
 
 Whilst in Falmouth he attained the reputation of aa 
 able advocate and a faithful, upright, and learned coun- 
 sellor. And during this period Theophilus Parsons pur- 
 sued the study of law in his office. 
 
 In 1775 Portland was burnt by com. Mowat* an! soon 
 afterwards, in 1779, Mr; Bradbury removed to Newbu- 
 ryport, his native town. He was at that time very 
 falsely suspected of being uufriendly to the cause of the 
 
96 
 
 country ; merely because his house in Falmouth escaped 
 the conflagration. 
 
 In Newburyport he gradually rose to distinction in 
 his profession and in public life. Beside man) other 
 important offices to which he was elected, he was a 
 member of Congress under Washington's administration. 
 
 In 1797 he was appointed a justice of the Supreme 
 Court, in which office he continued until 1803: — soon 
 after which he died.* 
 
 One of his son«, the late George Bradbury of Portland, 
 represented the district of Cumberland in Congress. 
 
 Stephen and Ralph Cross were among the most ac- 
 tive and influential citizens of Newburyport. The for- 
 mer was born in '31, the latter in '38. They were 
 both brought up shipwrights in the building yard of 
 their father, Ralph Cross, opposite the bottom of Lime 
 Street. • Stephen was one of a number of his trade, who 
 went from this place to construct a flotilla on the lakes 
 in '56. He and his associates were made prisoners at 
 the fall of fort Oswego and carried to Quebec and 
 thence to France. On his return he formed a copart- 
 nership with his brother Ralph. The business of the 
 firm was extensive. In addition to their shipbuilding, 
 the partners were engaged in trade at home and abroad 
 and at the commencement of the Revolution were fast 
 becoming affluent. From the number of men in their 
 employment, few citizens had better opportunities of 
 conciliating general confidence. And the records of the 
 town, which show the active part, which they took in 
 its concerns, prove that these opportunities were not 
 neglected. Stephen was the first selectman chosen * by 
 the town alter its separation from Newbury. Both 
 brothers entered into the cause of the revolution with 
 spirit and determination. Both were members of the 
 committee of safety and correspondence. Many of their 
 letters show an intensity of interest in public concerns 
 almost inconceivable at the present day. They speak 
 of the commonwealth as men now speak of the affairs 
 of their own households. Stephen was chosen one of 
 the delegates of the town to the first Provincial Con- 
 
 His dwelling is now owned and occupied by JYU\ Robert Jenkins. 
 
S7 
 
 gress. Several were elected, but he and the well 
 known Jonathan Greenleaf, whose friend and coadjutor 
 he was during his whole life, were the only two, who 
 accepted their appointments. He was a member of 
 this body during most of the war, and of the General 
 Court, that succeeded, foi many yrars afterward. At the 
 commencement of the revolution Ralph was a captain 
 in the militia, commissioned by the royal Governor. — 
 His commission is dated in 1772. He afterwards accept- 
 ed one from the Provincial Congress, and signalized him- 
 self by his zeal and assiduity in training his men. In 
 1777 he joined the northern army as Lt. Colonel of the 
 regiment raised in this quarter, commanded by Col. 
 Johnson ot Andover. His battalion formed part of two 
 regiments ordered in September to advance against the 
 gaprison at Ticonderoga with the intent of taking pos- 
 session of it. The. enemy being re in farced, the regi- 
 ments were compelled to retreat and joined the camp 
 at Stillwater on the fourth of October. The fourth 
 day following occurred the memorable battle, which oc- 
 casioned Burgoyne.'s surrender. This was one of the 
 first detachments of militia engaged in the action. — 
 The brothers, with others, contracted with the 
 State, anil built the frigates Hancock, Boston, and Pro 
 lector, and several other vessels of war. The former 
 was built in the yard of Jonathan Greenleal, between 
 Bartlet and Johnson's wharves, the two last at the yard 
 of Stephen Cross, now occupied by Titeomb and Lunt 
 as a mast yard. 
 
 At the close of the war Stephen was appointed 
 superiuiendant of the excise, and afterwards col- 
 lector of the customs for the port of INewburyport. 
 Some imputation of mismanagement, together probably 
 with his political sentiments, caused him to be remov- 
 ed from the last office. Whatever it was, it did not di- 
 minish the confidence of his fellow citizens ; for he was 
 the y^ar after his removal elected a member of the 
 Genera) Court, and soon after received the appointment 
 o' postmaster. In the last office he continued till he di- 
 ed in 1809. 
 
 Ralph also filled various honorable offices. He was 
 for six years, from 1790 to 1796, brigadier gener- 
 I 
 
98 
 
 al of (he Brigade <o which the corps of Newbury 
 port were attached. He was a commissioner of 
 bankruptcy under the bankrupt law, and in 1802 was 
 appointed collector of the customs. He continued in 
 this office, performing its duties at a period of unusual 
 difficulty with faithfulness and resolution, till his de- 
 cease in 1800* 
 
 Tristram Daiton was born in Newbury in June 
 1738. In 1755 he was graduated at Harvard college. 
 After pursuing the study of law for a time in Salem, he 
 married a daughter of Robert Hooper of Marblehead, 
 and entered into business with his father as a merchant 
 in Newburyport. For many years he continued active- 
 ly engaged in commercial persuits ; after which he was 
 called to fill some of the most responsible offices in the 
 State. He was a representative from Newburyport, 
 speaker of the House of Representatives and a member 
 of the Senate of Massachusetts, and lastly member of the 
 Senate of the United States. When his term of office in 
 Congress expired, he soid his estate in Essex and re- 
 moved to Washington. He entered into speculations 
 there, which, provwg unfortunate, reduced him from 
 affluence to poverty. He was appointed surveyor of 
 Boston and Charlestown in 1815, and continued in the 
 dicharge of his official duties until his death in 181 7.T 
 
 The Greenleafs have always been a family of great 
 consideration in Newburyport. Three brothers of that 
 name emigrated here from Europe. Benjamin, son of 
 one of these emigrants, died i' Newburyport at an ad- 
 vanced age in 1783, having been a representative in 
 the legislature, and otherwise repeatedly honored with 
 marks of the public confidence. 
 
 Jonathan Greenleaf, nephew of the preceding, was 
 distinguished for his natural talents, persuasive diction, 
 fc conciliating manners,' and * peculiar tact' in public life. 
 He died in Newburyport, his native place, in 1807, at 
 the age of eighty four. He filled the office of represen- 
 tative from this town in the General Court for many 
 years ; where he displayed his characteristic acuteness 
 
 *The author is indebted for this account to a descendant of Ralph Cross. 
 f Knapp's Biograph. Sketches 315.— His house now belorgs to and is 
 ojwupied by Moses Brown esqr. 
 
99 
 
 and practical good sense, in the important duties of the 
 trying crisis of the revolution. 
 
 Benjamin Greenleaf, cousin of Jonathan, and another 
 nephew of the first named Benjamin, was born at this 
 place in March 1732 and died here in January 1799. — 
 He resided some time in Kittery ; and returned here in 
 1761. He held various important offices in the service 
 of his native town, of the county, and of the common- 
 wealth. He was member of the Executive Council of 
 Massachusetts during the revolutionary war. He was 
 also a member of the Senate after the adoption of the 
 constitution; a chief justice of the court of Common. 
 Pleas ; and for a long period Judge of Probate for the 
 county of Essex. 
 
 Stephen Hooper was the son of Stephen Hooper, a 
 merchant of distinction in Newburyport, where the sub- 
 ject of this article was born in 1785: — Soon after which 
 time his lather removed to Newbury. He was fitted 
 for college at Dummer Academy and graduated at Cam- 
 bridge in 1303. After studying law for the stated peri- 
 od, he was admitted to the bar, and opened an office in 
 Newburyport. 
 
 Whilst yet a student at law he represented Newbury 
 in the General Court at the age of 25 ; and six years af- 
 terwards he was elected a member of the Senate from 
 the district of Essex. In these situations, although 
 wanting in business-talents and industry, he was distin- 
 guished as an eloquent debater. 
 
 In 1818 he removed to Boston ; and devoted himself 
 to the practise of his profession. During his residence 
 there he was for several years an alderman of the city. 
 He died in 1825, aged 40.* 
 
 Jonathan Jackson was one of the eminent patriots of 
 Essex during the revolution and the early period of our 
 constitutional history. He wrote some of the best po- 
 litical tracts of the day, — was a member of Congress, 
 and held several offices of responsibility and honor. — 
 He was born in Boston ; but settled here as a merchant 
 early in life, and spent the most efficient part of it in 
 the town. Several years before his death he removed 
 
 * Boston Monthly Mag. vol, I. 
 
100 
 
 back to Boston.* He was the near friend of the subject 
 of the next article. 
 
 John Lowell, son of John Lowell, minister of the 
 First Religious Society in Newlmryport, was born in 
 the part of Newbury, which afterwards became New- 
 buryport, in 17 43. He was graduated at Harvard col- 
 lege ; and adopting the law for his profession^ he settled 
 in his native town and speedily rose 'o distinction. In 
 1776 he removed to Boston ; and became representative 
 in the General Court, and a member uf \he convention 
 for framing the constitution of the State. 
 
 In 1781 he was chosen member ct Congress; in 
 1782 he was appointed judge of the admiralty Court 
 of Appeals ; and on the establishment of the federal 
 government was made district judge of the United 
 States for Massachuseits. This office he filled until 
 1801, when he was made chief justice of the new Cir- 
 c'uit Court for the eastern circuit. He died in 1802, 
 He was eminent for his judgment, integrity, and elo- 
 quence as an advocate and legislator ; for his impartial- 
 ity, acuteness, and decision as a judge : and tor his 
 zeal in the cause of scientific and other useful institu- 
 tions. He was eighteen years member of the corpora- 
 tion of Harvard College ; and was one of the founders 
 of the American Academy.? 
 
 The poet Robert Treat Paine studied law in New- 
 buryport under the direction of Parsons ; and whilst he 
 resided here, pronounced his celebrated Eulogy pu 
 Washington, which, with some defects of ta«te, i* nev- 
 ertheless a very brilliant and powerful composition. 
 
 Timothy Palmer has been mentioned in mother part 
 of this work. He was born in Boxford. His merit as 
 a civil engineer was very distinguished. Besides con- 
 structing the Essex Merrimac bridge, he was much em- 
 ployed in similar business at the south, and in particu- 
 lar built a bridge across the Schuylkill at Philadelphia. 
 
 * His mansion house afterwards passed into the hands of Mr. Timo- 
 thy Dexter, notorious for his eccentricity, and is now used as a public 
 inn. 
 
 "J" His dwelling is now owned by Mr. Elaazer Johnson. The house in 
 which he is aid to have been born, now belongs to, and is occupied by 
 John Fitz esq. 
 
101 
 
 Tkeophilus Parsons, a name identified with the his- 
 tory of our law, laid the foundations of his eminence in 
 Newburyport. Born in Newbury in February 1750, 
 he received the rudiments of his education at Dum- 
 mer Academy, undar the celebrated master Moody. — 
 His father, the Rev. Moses Parsons, was minister of By- 
 field parish in Newbury. He was graduated at Harvard 
 college in 1769, and afterwards studied law in Falmouth, 
 now Portland, and while there taught the grammar 
 school in that town, He practised law there a few 
 years ; but the conflagration of the town by the British 
 in 1775 obliged him to return to his father's house, 
 where he met judge Trowbridge, and received the 
 most valuable instructions from that eminent jurist — 
 Pie soon resumed the practise of his profession in this 
 town, and rapidly rose to unrivalled reputation as a law- 
 yer. 
 
 In 1777 he wrote the famous Essex Result, and in 1779 
 was an active member of the Convention, which framed 
 the State constitution. 
 
 In 1789 he was a member of the convention for con- 
 sidering the present constitution of the United States, 
 and was peculiarly instrumental in procuring its adop- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1801, he was appointed attorney general of the 
 United States, but declined accepting his commission. 
 
 In i800, he removed to Boston. In 1806, he was ap- 
 pointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of Massa- 
 chusetts, and his profound legal opinions have mainly 
 contributed to settle the principles of our expository 
 law 
 
 He died in Boston October 13th 18l3, with reputa- 
 tion as a judge and a lawyer unequalled in Massachu- 
 setts.-? 
 
 Nicholas Pike, son of Rev. James Pike, was born in 
 Somers worth in 1743. He was graduated at Harvard 
 college in 1766, and taught a grammar school, first in 
 York, afterwards in Newburypoit. In 1788, he publish- 
 ed his System of Arithmetic, which still deservedly sus- 
 
 *Kna[>p's Biog. Sketches p. 37 :— C. J. Parker's Charge, Mass. Hep. 
 His house now belongs to Dr Oliver Prescott. 
 
 i9 
 
102 
 
 tains high reputation. lie was long' a disiinguised act- 
 ing magistrate in Newburyport, where he died in De* 
 cembnr 1819.* 
 
 The life and character of Oliver Putnam have already 
 been sketched.! 
 
 Micajah Sawyer, a physician of eminence, was born 
 at Newbury in 1737, and was graduated at Har- 
 vard college in 1756. He was much distinguished in 
 the practise of his profession and as a citizen ; and died 
 at an advanced age in 1815. 
 
 John Barnard Swett was highly distinguished as ft 
 physician, scholar, and gentleman. He was born in this 
 town and graduated at Harvard college in 1771 ; and af- 
 terwards travelled in various parts, whence he returned 
 with a mind richly stored with professional and classi- 
 cal learning. He established himself in Newburvport 
 in 1780. He died in 1796, at the age of 45, falling a 
 sacrifice to his fidelity in the exercise of his profession 
 during the calamitous period, when the yellow fever 
 prevailed in Newburvport. 
 
 George Thacher, a justice tf the Supreme Court of 
 Massachusetts, removed from Eiddeford to Newbury- 
 port in 1820, on the separation of Maine from Massa- 
 chusetts*. He resided here until a short time before his 
 death, r^hich took place at Biddeford in 1824. He was 
 born at Yarmouth in 1754 and was educated at Har- 
 vard college. He practised law for many years ia 
 Maine with great reputation and success. 
 
 He was a member of Congress for a long period, 
 from 1788 until his appointment to the Supreme Courf $ 
 in which he held a seat for more than twenty years 
 previous to his decease. 
 
 Among the first settlers of Newbury was William 
 Titcomb, who emigrated from Newbury in England in 
 1635. His grandson col. Moses Titcomb was distin- 
 guished in the expedition against Louisbnrg in 1745j 
 and afterwards commanded a regiment at Crown Point 
 in 1755, where he was killed while reconnoitring the 
 enemies' post. Another of the descendants of William 
 Titcomb, captain Michael Titcomb, belonged to Wash- 
 
 * Sew Harop. Collec. II U8. t A » f » 0t P a £ e 63 - 
 
103 
 
 ington's body guard. Two other?. Enoch Titcomb and 
 Jonathan Titcomb, deserve separate notice. 
 
 Enoch Titcomb was bred to mercantile pursuits, but 
 as he advanced in life attained rank, as an upright ju- 
 dicious public servant. He was an ardent whig; and 
 served as a brigade major at Rhode Island, among the 
 troops commanded by general Sullivan. Afterwards he 
 held different town offices for many years. At the age 
 of forty he became a member of the legislature, and 
 continued in office, either as representative or senator, 
 until the infirmities of age obliged him to retire into 
 private life. He was also for a long time a justice of 
 the peace and a notary public. Without possessing 
 brilliant talents, he was yet estimable for his piety, in- 
 tegrity, and good sense. He died in 1814, aged G2. 
 
 • Jonathan Titcomb was distinguished as an ardent and 
 zealous whig during the revolution. He commanded a 
 regiment of militia under general Sullivan upon the 
 Rhode Island expedition, and afterwards became a brig- 
 adier general. In 1774-75 he was a member of the 
 Committee of Safety, and belonged to the first General 
 Court after the British evacuated Boston. 
 
 Subsequently he represented the town in General 
 Court for several years ; and was chosen to the Con- 
 vention for framing the constitution of the Stale. 
 
 He was appointed by Washington the first naval of- 
 ficer in this District, which place he held from 1789 
 to 1812. 
 
 He died in 1817, at the advanced age of 89. 
 Nathaniel Tracy was a merchant of liberal educa- 
 tion, who graduated at Harvard college in 1769. He 
 afterwards transacted business upon an extensive scale 
 in this, his native town, and was distinguished for his 
 patriotism, liberality of character, refinement of man- 
 ners, and hospitality.* 
 
 Beside these men, who, by reason of their profes- 
 sion, their situation, or the offices they held, rightly 
 are esteemed public property, many others might; be 
 mentioned, highly distinguished for their private virtues. 
 
 * Hi3 raansioa-house now belongs to and is occupied by James. 
 Prince esq. 
 
104 
 
 William Coombs, ami others will long be gratefully re- 
 membered by their fellow citizens, for that digaity of 
 character as men and as merchants, which exalted the 
 name and the fortunes of Newburyport in the nation. 
 
 Newburyport has proved, but too frequently, the 
 nursery of talented men, who have emigrated elsewhere 
 for the enjoyment of more liberal rewards than its means 
 afford. Of the many individuals, whose fortunes illus- 
 trate this remark, King, Perkins, Jackson, White, Knapp, 
 and Pierpont are living examples. Three of these 
 have attained reputation so pre-eminent as to sanction 
 the introduction of a snort account of their lives in this 
 place. 
 
 Charles Jackson, the son of Jonathan Jackson, was 
 h^rn in Newburyport in 1775. He was graduated at 
 Cambridge in 1793; and after studying the science of 
 law under Parsons, went into practise in Newburyport. 
 His eminent natural qualifications for success in his pro- 
 fession, and his untiring industry and devotedness in the 
 discharge of its duties, drew to him the public confidence 
 at an early age. He quickly rose to the front ranks of 
 the bar, and became second only to his great master in 
 iorensic distinction. Shortly before the latter was 
 raised to the bench, he removed to Boston, and suppli- 
 ed, as no other person could do, the vacancy in prac- 
 tise left by his withdrawal from the profession. 
 
 He continued sedulously engaged in the highest and 
 best legal business of the State until 1813, when, upon 
 the death of Theodore Sedgwick, he was appointed to 
 be a justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 To ascribe to him the highest character in this new 
 station would only be to repeat the unanimous voice of 
 the bar and the public. His were not merely the ordi- 
 nary points of judicial excellence. Industry, — impar- 
 tiality, — patience, — acuteness,- -juridical erudition, were 
 qualities, which he exhibited in no common degree.— 
 But the depth, clearness, and comprehension of his 
 views were still more remarkable. His earnest devot- 
 edness to the functions cf his station affected his health 
 so seriously, that, in 1823, he went abroad to regain it, 
 resigning his office. In England he was honored with 
 
105 
 
 (be respect and confidence of lord Stowell, and oiher 
 eminent jurists. 
 
 In 1824 he returned to this country, and has now re- 
 fumed the practise of his profession in Boston as counsel, 
 
 Rufus King was born at Scarborough in Maine. 
 He received his first degree at Harvard college in 
 1777 ; and immediately began the study of law in New- 
 buryport under the care of Theophilus Parsons. On 
 completing his studies, he was admitted to the ba'r in 
 Essex County, and opened an office in this town. 
 
 His great talents speedily raised him to distinction in 
 fcis profession and in politics. A few years after com- 
 mencing practice, he was chosen to represent the town 
 in the General Court of Massachusetts ; soon after 
 which he was elected a member of Congress under the 
 />ld confederation. 
 
 Thenceforth his progress to eminence was rapid and 
 sure. He soon removed to the state of New York ; and 
 received continual marks of public confidence. With- 
 out attempting to give an accurate and detailed account 
 of the various stations he filled, it is sufficient to say 
 that, after a distinguished career in Congress, he wns in 
 1796 appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of 
 St. James by general Washington. 
 
 Mr. King acted in this capacity until 1803. Although 
 a change in the administration had, in the mean time, 
 taken place at home, his conduct was nevertheless such 
 as in a great measure to gain the approbation of both 
 parties He discussed in a full and satisfactory manner 
 all the questions of maritime law, in which America was 
 inteiested. To the subject of impressment he paid 
 particular attention, and made great progress in secur- 
 ing an arrangement, which would have contributed es- 
 sentially to the protection of our seamen. 
 
 Mr. King, after his return, continued attached to the 
 federal party. But although opposed to the measures 
 oi Mr. Madison, yet, like Samuel Dexter, he supported 
 the government during the war. 
 
 After the restoration of peace, he received the suf- 
 frages of the legislature of New York for the office of 
 senator in Congress. He remained in the station until 
 
106 
 
 1825, when he was a second time appointed minister to 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Having resigned this office on acccount of his de- 
 clining health, he has lately returned to America, be- 
 ing succeeded by Albert Gallatin. 
 
 Jacob Perkins was born at Newburyport July 9th 
 1766. His father, Matthew Perkins, was a lineal de- 
 scendant of one of the first settlers of Ipswich and lived 
 to the advanced age of ninety. After receiving a com- 
 mon school education, he became apprentice to a gold- 
 smith; and soon displayed those extraordinary inventive 
 powers in mechanics, which, have elevated him to dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 At the age of twenty one, he was employed, when 
 others artists had tailed, to make dies for the copper 
 coinage of Massachusetts undpr the old confederation. 
 
 At twenty four he invented the nail machine, which 
 cut and headed nails at one operation. 
 
 His mechanical genius was now fully developed ; and 
 for twenty years and upwards, he continued to multiply 
 useful inventions in the arts with a facility truly aston- 
 ishing. His ingenuity in making a plate tor bank notes 
 incapable of being counterfeited, and in discovering 
 the art of softening and hardening steel at pleasure, was 
 particularly useful to the public. The latter discovery 
 opened a wide field for the labors of the engraver and 
 led to many happy results. 
 
 It would be endless to recount the great number of 
 useful or ingenious invent ions, uhich he was constantly 
 producing during the latter part of bis residence in 
 in America His talents found, tor a time, a wider field 
 for their display in Philadelphia, whither he removed 
 from Newburyport. Alter residing there several 
 years, he crossed the Atlantic, an ' i ' ow exercising 
 his genius in Eogtarid, — the great th afi for the exhi- 
 bition and encouragement of abilities iuie his. Besides 
 many things of merely philosophical interest, which he 
 has there been teaching to the teachers of ihe world, 
 he has also made some signal improvements in the 
 steam-engine, the great mechanical agent of modern 
 times. His inventions in the aits of engraving and in 
 calico-printings among other things, have been success- 
 
407 
 
 fully put in operation ; — while his genius, and his 
 banity of deportment and simplicity of character are 
 procuring 1 hi n the admiration and esteem of the wisest 
 men and greatest nobles of Britain. 
 
 Among the many persons, who, attracted by the fame 
 of Parsons in jurisprudence, came to Newburyport to 
 study law under his* direction, John Qwncy Adams was 
 one. He was endeared to the inhabitants at that time 
 by his promising talents and social excellences in youth, 
 as he has been since admired in manhood for the noble 
 qualities of ripened age. On a recent occasion he spoke 
 feelingly of Newburyport as 4 a town, from which long 
 absence had not obliterated many of the most pleasing 
 recollections of his youth associated with it .' The tem- 
 porary residence of such a man here for the purposes of 
 education, is too proud a circumstance in the history 
 of the town to have been overlooked. 
 
 The contemplation of the lives and characters of the 
 many eminent persons, whose permanent or temporary 
 residence in Newburyport reflects honor upon the town, 
 should serve to stimulate and quicken a praiseworthy 
 ambition in the breasts of those, who come after them. 
 One thing in particular connected with this point de- 
 serves attention, as equally to the credit of the individ- 
 uals and of the town.. In selecting persons for public 
 confidence, the citizens, on the one hand, have, in sever- 
 al signal instances, manifested indifference alike to the 
 age and station of the party, looking only to his absolute 
 qualifications. And among the most eminent inhabitants 
 of the town, it is remarkable, on the other hand, how 
 large a proportion of them have been distinguished 
 early in life.— .Lowell, Parsons, King. Jackson, Perkins, 
 and (if we may be permitted to claim any share in his 
 fame) Adams, by their industry, useful talents, devotion 
 to business, and precocious manliness of character, 
 obtained either professional distinction, or public hon- 
 ors, or both, even in their very youth. Is it not proba- 
 ble that the candor and discrimination displayed by the 
 town in the illustrious cases above mentioned entitle it 
 to the credit of some portion of the eminence of those 
 individuals ? Had their merit been suffered to pass un- 
 noticed, — had they been condemned for their youth 
 
10* 
 
 aione — their subsequent rise might have been long. re- 
 tarded. Nay it might, perhaps, have been prevented 
 forever. Had they pined away in neglect in early life, 
 who can say how different would have been their fu- 
 ture fate? Besides, the mere fact of their being so soon 
 the objects of public confidence gave them the benefit 
 of experience and practical knowledge at a period of 
 life, when hope wis high, and the pulse heat freely and 
 confidently in the ardor of juvenile feelings and pur- 
 posts. Thus they acquired a start in the race, an im- 
 petus at the commencement of their career, of which 
 they may long have enjoyed the advantage. It was the 
 quaint saying of a great writer that there were some 
 men, whose abilities were born with them, some men, 
 who achieved abilities; and a third set, upon whom 
 abilities were thrust* How fortunate are they, in 
 whom, as in the individuals in question, these three 
 conditions of ability meet ! For it need* hardly be 
 added here, that, in after life, they continued to 
 prove that the public confidence was not misplaced; — 
 and their country found cause of rejoicing in their early 
 advancement. May their fame be a light in the path of 
 rising generations 1 
 
 * Tomline's Life of Pitt, vol. 1, p. 2lfy 
 
101 
 
 ^CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 THE chief aim of the author, in this work, is narra- 
 tive, and not speculation. But, in approaching the con- 
 clusion of it, he craves indulgence for a few remarks 
 connected with a topic most interesting to him and to 
 his fellow citizens, namely, the condition and prospects 
 of the town. He claims no authority for his reflections 
 upon this subject ; and submits them only as the solitary 
 opinions of an individual, having but limited means of 
 observation. 
 
 The rise of Newburyport to wealth and consequence 
 Was extremely rapid. This elevation was not capable 
 of being ascribed entirely, or for the greater part, to 
 intrinsive, local, or peculiar sources of prosperity. As 
 observed in a previous chapter, we had not the extra- 
 ordinary advantage, which New Orleans and New York 
 possess, of being the natural depot ol an immense interi- 
 or country of unexampled fertility and richness. There 
 were no inexhaustible coal mines wrought in the towa 
 or its vicinity, as at Birmingham or Manchester, to fa* 
 cilitate the establishment of manufactories. Nor had. 
 we, within our narrow six hundred acres of territory, 
 the waterfalls of the Patucket or the Powow, to be sub- 
 jected, by human art, to the noblest objects of human 
 convenience, industry, and happiness. Our peculiar lo- 
 cal advantages extended but little beyond the single 
 business of ship-building. 
 
 From what, then, sprung the prosperous energies and 
 the speedy increase of the town, in its best days ? — 
 They arose, it is believed, mainly, from the address, en- 
 terprise, and good fortune of its citizens, in seizing upon 
 the propitious opportunities afforded by the situation of 
 the United States. Newburyport rose with the com- 
 mercial rise of the county, and with that alone Kept 
 
 K 
 
11© 
 
 «ren pace. True it is, that the town stood somewhat 
 m advance, in the celerity of its progress, of the nation 
 at large ; and this advancement, it is repeated, we must 
 attribute to the character of its inhabitants, — which their 
 staple manufacture contributed to develope. Their 
 success was in maritime commerce, and in the arts sub- 
 sidiary to, and dependant upon, maritime commerce 
 
 And their skill in ship-buiUling, created by their local 
 advantage for that manufacture, empowered them the 
 more easily to gain the start of other places in marine 
 trade. For this business had enabled them to accumu- 
 late some capital. It made it easy, also, with a very 
 small expense of outfit, to obtain a bottom for the trans- 
 portation of goods. And by placing the means of for- 
 eign commerce constantly before the eyes of the peo- 
 ple, in the shape of their staple product, it naturally 
 tempted them the more to adventure in maritime spec- 
 ulations. 
 
 Thus matters stood, so long as the wonderful com- 
 mercial prosperity of this country lasted. During this 
 period, when the neutral po-ition of America was so 
 extraordinary, so unparalleled in the history of com- 
 merce, our citizens pushed their advantage to the ut- 
 most. The profits of commerce were immense. We 
 had the carrying trade of the whole universe, almost, 
 In our hands. Our proximity to the European colonies 
 in America co-operated, with other things, to fill the 
 horn of our abundance to overflowing. The industri- 
 ous mechanic of the Merrimac found a demand for his 
 manufacture : — the enterprising merchant could obtain 
 his vessel on easy terms, and in a very short period she 
 would earn her whole original cost. All the depart- 
 ments of industry connected with the ocean were thus 
 stimulated to the highest degree, and universal pros- 
 perity and the easy acquisition of a competence, were 
 the natural result. 
 
 France and England soon became jealous of this our 
 rapid approach to the very empire of the seas and the 
 monopoly ot marine commerce. Previous to this, how* 
 ever, our trade to the French isiands had begun to de- 
 cline. The business was overdone by competition.— 
 Their markets became drugged with our produce, as, 
 
11! 
 
 indeed, they have continued to be ever since. They 
 began to be more directly supplied with foreign manu- 
 factures, thereby diminishing the profits of our com 
 merce with Europe. And no slight injury was sustain- 
 ed by our commerce, in consequence of the disorders in 
 the West Indies occasioned by the French revolution. 
 
 But the deadly blow to our commercial prosperity 
 was more directly struck by the insolence and cupidity 
 of the great belligerents of Europe. Without entering 
 into the broad question whether the system of restric- 
 tions on our commerce adopted by the government 
 was or was not vindicated by the issue, thus much may 
 be confidently affirmed : our government was forced in- 
 to it by the injustice of foreign powers. It was a choice 
 of evils. England, — France, — Holland, — Naples, — Den- 
 mark, — were committing the most flagitious depreda* 
 tions upon the property ol our citizens. They were 
 heapng insult upon insult, and injury upon injury. — 
 They wefe sweeping our ships from the ocean with 
 fearful rapacity, and profligate disregard of every law, 
 divine or human. This it was, which drove our gov- 
 ernment into that series of restrictive measures, finally 
 terminated in war. During that calamitous period, our 
 seamen were thrown out of employment ; our traders 
 lost their customers ; the farmers, who had looked to us 
 for foreign commodities, and of whom we had pur- 
 chased lumber, and provisions, left our market, — and 
 our merchants were compelled to sit down idly and see 
 their ships rotting in the docks.* True it is that, had 
 the uncalculating enterprise of our capitalists been left to 
 itself, their ships and property would have been cap- 
 tured or confiscated abroad; and the millions of our for- 
 eign claims would have been swelled incalculably ; but^ 
 in either alternative, the loss must have been, as it was., 
 deplorable. 
 
 In the midst of all these misfortunes came the fire of 
 1811, which destroyed a great amount of our property, 
 and diverted too much of what remained from more 
 profitable channels into the form of buildings. But a 
 conflagration, destructive as it may be of property, is 
 
 *Newburyport Herald, June 13th 1323; 
 
112 
 
 not of a nature to produce any permanent injury to the 
 prosperity of a town. The skill, the talents, the indus- 
 try, which reared the piles, devoured by the flames, are 
 capable of soon repairing the damage by a little added 
 exertions. Of course, the tire could have had but par- 
 tial influence, in producing the decline of Newbury- 
 port. The genuine difficulty to be 'solved, the ques- 
 tion really needing an answer, is, why Newburyport 
 did not resume its prosperity, and continue to rise, when 
 all the temporary causes of misfortune alluded to had 
 ceased to operate. We shall not find the explanation of 
 this point in the fire of 1811, nor in the embargo, nor in 
 the war. It is to be sought further. New-York and 
 Boston have grown as rapidly since the pressure of 
 those restrictions on commerce was taken off, as they 
 did before. But various circumstances contributed to 
 retard the increase of Newburyport, as is usual m simi- 
 lar cases. 
 
 Some of these were local. Thus the bar is undoubt- 
 edly some impediment to our prosperity, — because it 
 confines our navigation to vessels of the smaller class ; 
 and, contrary to what was customary twenty years ago, 
 the present exigencies of foreign trade require the use 
 of large vessels. The falls and rapids in the Merri- 
 mac are also a local difficulty. They deprive us of the 
 benefit of supplying with heavy goods the inhabitants of 
 the interior along the river, above the actual head of 
 navigation. The business of these person* is diverted, 
 by means of the Middlesex canal, from Newburyport, 
 its natural resort, to Boston. This disadvantage might 
 be remedied, in a great degree, by the completion of 
 the long talked of canal around the remaining obstruc- 
 tions in the bed of the Merrimac. 
 
 Every small sea-port competes, to great disadvantage, 
 with any large one near to it. The greatest market! 
 will inevitably tend to swallow up others in its vicinity 1 . 
 This law of trade has undoubtedly operated to the seri- 
 ous injury of Newburyport. Like other sea-ports of the 
 second class in Massachusetts bay, it has withered un~ 
 der the influence of Boston. There are but few excep- 
 tions to this remark, and those exceptions confirm the 
 lule. Thus New-Bedford and Nantucket are sustained 
 
113 . 
 
 by their possession of the wfyale- fishery, Salem', alsc* 
 had its advantage in the East India trade, so long as that 
 continue ,1 peculiarly lucrative, But the bad effects of 
 'the vicinity of Boston are constantly and seriously expe- 
 rienced here, m leading the importer to make sales of 
 largj cargoes,- or h^avy goods, almost universally in 
 Boston ; and the retailer to resort there for his supplies. 
 Within the la-t fifteen years, m.my other towns along 
 the sea-coast of New England have entered into com- 
 petition with this, in what formerly constituted a very 
 important part of its business, namely, the exportation 
 of lumber and fish, -dad the carriage of the products of 
 the West Indies to a market. The competition has, 
 of course, in all cases diminished the profits. And i'ort- 
 land and other places La Maine can export lumber at less 
 cha'rge than ourselves, and therefore to greater advan- 
 tage. 
 
 All these different causes have their influence. But 
 the most efficient and comprehensive reason ol the de- 
 cline of the town is, in truth, the immense alteration of 
 the general condition of business during the last fifteen 
 years. The whole of Europe, with the exception of 
 its extreme eastern regions, is in a state of peace, Wo 
 are no longer the carriers for its many nations. The 
 sphere of our commercial ehterprizs is wonderfully 
 narrowed. Our capital is now driven into new channels, 
 and the entire circle of the relations of business and trade 
 has undergone a radical revolution. Foieign commerce 
 now requires a larger capital than formerly, and the 
 profits on it are less, We are beginning to perceive 
 and appreciate the importance of encouraging and pr De- 
 tecting domestic industry^ for the mrrst substantial rea- 
 sons ; and if we did not, (he impossibility of employing* 
 all the resources of the country in commerce would 
 force open our eyes- to see the necessity of investing a 
 portion of ii in manufactures. Here, ihen, we lose our 
 population, whilst ether towns :ain it Boston, for in- 
 stance, by reason of the irnme lSe accumulation of wealth 
 in th^ hands oi its inhabitants, becomes, by the laws of 
 political econo :y,a permanent market as well lor domes= 
 tjc, manufactures and proJucts. as for imported aiticle^ 
 Amesbury, Lowell, Doyer, are the site of f as* maoufaoi 
 kO 
 
114 
 
 factories, and thither our mechanics and traders emi- 
 grate, following the concentration of capital, wherever 
 it takes place. Bit we, on the other hand) have neither 
 natural sites tor manufactories, nor that immense accu- 
 mulation of riches, which should secure to us, at present, 
 the means of successful competition with any of those 
 places, to which the recent revolutions in the conduct 
 of business have imparted such great accession of wealth 
 or population. 
 
 If these remarks are entitled to any weight, they may 
 serve to reconcile us to the dimunition of population and 
 of taxable property, which a comparison of the state of 
 the town in 1310 and 1820 exhibits, by showing that it 
 was inevitable. No efforts of our own could have pre- 
 vented it. Some injudicious kinds of trade were, it is 
 true, entered upon by the citizens on the restoration of 
 peace, whose unprofitableness ere long was discovered 
 and caused them to be abandoned. And had the canal 
 been constructed when it was originally projected, it 
 ' would have undoubtedly enlarged our trade, and might 
 also have been used advantageously for the location of 
 manufactories. But these things were not the great 
 causes of the check in our prosperity. For after all, the 
 present condition of the town is by no means a state of 
 decline. It has not now the riches, the population, or 
 the business, which it once possessed. But it is no worse 
 off than many other seaports on the New- England coast 
 ■of the *ame general description. And its actual state is 
 not so much a state of decline, as of slow and gradual, 
 but sure, consolidation and advancement. We Amer- 
 icans, and ^specially we New-Engianders, are an enter- 
 prising, restless, impatient race. We are not content 
 with living, or living well with long contin led industry, 
 as in the old countries. We are ambitious to make 
 large fortunes, and to make them quickly, and as it 
 were exte-npore. Our national and individual energies 
 have been evoked by a sort of unnatural and hot-bed 
 process of developement. And while the inhabitants of 
 Newburyport have, in a most remarkable m inner, at a 
 former period, been thus hurried on to prosperity, they 
 inn theiess easily aocommoda'e themselves to a station- 
 ary condition, or one of mere simple well-being. 
 
115 
 
 But the author feels admonished that these remarks 
 have been pursued at sufficient length. It is more 
 grateful to inquire how the town might be. enabled to 
 regain its ancient standing. But there U no royal road, 
 no convenient short cut, to- national wealth or public 
 prosperity. If is pleasing- to reflect, as stated in a pre- 
 ceding chapter, that while some occupations are in a less 
 thriving state than formerly, yet others are much im- 
 proved. The fisheries and the coast-wise trade of the 
 town, departments of industry every way preferable, in 
 respect to questions of political economy, over foreign 
 commerce, have steadily gained upon the latter, in 
 profitableness and in amount of tonnage. To be speedi- 
 ly restored to its oid prosperity, some great revolution 
 must take place, either in external affairs, or in the in- 
 ternal resources of the town. Such a revolution in for- 
 eign affairs is a most improbable event. Bat the crea- 
 tion of. sites for manufactories in the place, or the es- 
 tablishment here of any species of manufacture which 
 do not require the application of water-power, would 
 produce a revolution in the internal resources of New- 
 buryport. Whether such a thing is practicable or not 
 is too wide an inquiry to be pertinent or otherwise prop- 
 er in this connexion. But the facility and usefulness of 
 extending the manufacture of vessels are too prominent 
 and obvious to pass unnoticed, in any consideration of 
 the means of stimulating our domestic industry by ade- 
 quate rewards. 
 
 It deserves, also, to be mentioned here, that Newbu- 
 ry port possesses uncommon advantages for annuitants 
 and for all persons living upon small capital or upon 
 fixed incomes. It unites the benefits of to.vn and coun- 
 try. Its population, being considerable and compact, is 
 suited for social intercourse, and for all the purposes of 
 the concentration of mankind into (owns. It possesses 
 the means of easy and direct communication to the sea, 
 to the interior, and to the remotest pans of the United 
 States, east, west, or south. It is but five hours ride 
 from the capital of ,NTe.v England. Living is remarka- 
 bly cheap, because being the market-town of a consid- 
 erable agricultural district, and lying contiguous to the 
 ocean, there is> Jiardly an article of taste or necessity 
 
lie 
 
 «e j^ice H enhanced to the inhabitants by lafrd-c 
 Fiage. la ad dition to this ?j the lowness of rents removes 
 the greatest Ham- or expense which is incurred in Bos- 
 ton, and ether towns in similar situation. So that for. 
 the retired man of business, or for persons living upon 
 salary, to whom ease, respectability, and economy are. 
 primary objects, few places are more deserving of re- 
 commendation than Newbury port. 
 
 The moral and pious character of the inhabitant-: 
 their simple and unpretending manners^ the neatness and 
 salubrity of the toAm, and the excellence of school aad 
 religious education within itself or in its immediate vi- 
 cinity, are topics, in relation to which merited praise 
 Could be bestowed upon the town. But if the author 
 dwelt on them he might subject himself to the imputa- 
 tion of partiality ; and he therefore abstain^. 
 
 The true policy of communities, whether large or 
 small, like the best interest of individual?, is to cultivate 
 industry, economy, regularity, temperance, and the high- 
 er principles of virtue, and to obey the dictates of pure 
 religion. Without this policy, all advantages of locality, 
 or circumstances, or fortune, and ail the accumulated 
 blessings of the richest soil, the healthiest climate, and 
 the most transcendant bounties of nature, are utterly un* 
 availing to confer prosperity upon a nation, a state, or a 
 town. And with this policy, every thing else is easy of 
 accomplishment. The most sterile soil may be convert- 
 ed into agarden, and the wilderness caused c to bloom as 
 a rose.' Commerc \ t e arts, literature, may he made to 
 pour forth their gold 1 -) streams of pienty, and comfort, 
 and refinement, to enrich the land. For there is a se* 
 cret of public welfare, which political economy does 
 not teach. It lies at the foundation of every prosper- 
 ous community, and it is capable of retrieving the most 
 adverse fortunes. Tnough it be not learned in tne 
 schools, the • i t e of empires and the destinies- of man- 
 kind i opress it visibly upon the face, of the universe. — ■ 
 It is, unwavering >be.'i?nce to tKe lessons of morality 
 and piety. Be this the noble aim, hen, of all our ac» 
 tioo* 
 
 To conclude, let us repeat the words of one of the 
 
117 
 
 greatest men and purest patriots, whom this or any oth 
 er country has known : 
 
 1 Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from 
 the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe ; 
 too high minded to endure the degradations of the oth- 
 ers; possessing a chosen country, with room enough Tor 
 oar descendants to the thousandth and thousandth gener- 
 ation ; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the 
 use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own 
 industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citi- 
 zens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and 
 their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, 
 professed indeed and practised in various forms, yet all 
 of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, grati- 
 tude, and the love of man ; acknowledging; and adoring 
 an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations 
 proves that it delights in the happiness of man here 
 and his greater happiness hereafter : with all these 
 blessings what more is necessary to make us a bappy 
 and prosperous people V 
 
118 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TOWN OFFICERS FOR 1826. 
 
 Selectmen, Messrs. Asa W. Wildes, Samuel S. Plum- 
 per, Whittingham Gilman, Green Sanborn, John Cook, ji> 
 
 Town Clerk, John Fitz. 
 
 Assessors, Messrs. Samuel Cutler, John bloody, Jo- 
 seph Brown, jr. 
 
 Overseers of the Poor, Messrs. Philip Johnson, jr. Ed- 
 mund Bartlet, Joseph Brown, jr. Offin Boardman, John 
 Moody. 
 
 Treasurer <$> Collector, John Porter* 
 
 School Committee, Messrs. Nathan Noyes, Ebenezer 
 Shillaber, Nathaniel Bradstreet, Stephen W, Marston, 
 Caleb Cushing, John Fitz, John Coffin. Henry Johnson, 
 Asa W. Wildes. 
 
 Fire-wards, Messrs. Abraham Williams, George Jenk- 
 ins, Joshua Greenleaf, Moses Kent, Isaac Knap, William 
 Davis, Eleazer Johnson, Zebedee Cook, William Cross, 
 Edmund Bartlet, Nathaniel Marsh, Joseph Hale, Philip 
 Coombs, Eliphalet Brown, Offin Boardman, Wiiliam 
 Hervey, Jeremiah Brown, Pardon Brockway, John 
 Chickering, Eleazer Johnson, jr. William Cook, Philip 
 Johnson, jr., Nathan Follansbee, Ebenezer Bradbury, 
 Isaac Knap, jr. 
 
 Surveyors of Lumber, Messrs, John Stickney, Moody 
 Pearson, Jacob Stickney, Amos Pearson, Ohadiah Mor- 
 ton, John Flanders, Moses Coffin, Amos Pearson, jr t 
 Tristram Coffin, jr. JohnCarr, Joshua Hill«, John Coop- 
 er, Tristram Coffin, 3rd. Edward Toppan, William Her- 
 vey, Zebedee Cook, John Mood), Thomas Hervey, Jer- 
 emiah Brown, Jonathan Pearson, William Alexander, 
 George T. Granger, Moses Somerby, Joseph Hoyt, Ab- 
 ner Toppan, 
 
 Fence Viewers, Messrs. Amos Pearson, Daniel Somer- 
 by, Moses Kent. 
 
 FishwavJeus, Messrs. Offin Boardman, John Cook, 
 Robert Cross. 
 
 Cullers of Hoops and Staves, Messrs. John Lewis, jr. 
 Samuel Bradbury, William Davis, Thomas Patten, jr. 
 
119 
 
 Cullers of Fish, Messrs. John Mace, Pardon Brockwaj.. 
 
 Field Drivers, Moses Somerby, Charles Toppan. 
 
 Hogreeves, Messrs. Daniel C. Johnson, William P. 
 Lunt, William Randall. 
 
 Tythingmen, Messrs. Edward Woodbury, Stephen Til- 
 ton, William Hervey, Stephen Frothingham, Ohadiah 
 Horton, Enoch Smith, Ehenezer Stone, Charles 11. 
 Balch, Tristram Chase, Charles Whipple, Daniel Foster, 
 Nathaniel Bayley, Ezekiel Birtlet, William Carr. 
 
 Police Officer, Gilman White. 
 
 JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 
 
 Samuel S. Wilde, 
 James Pcince, 
 Jonathan Gage, 
 Ehenezer Moseley, 
 Josiali Smith, 
 William Bartlet, 
 Moses Brown, 
 Isaac Adams, 
 Samuel Tenney, 
 Andrew Frothingham, 
 Ed wad S R*od, 
 Solomon H. Currier, 
 Ebenezer Shillaber, 
 
 Oliver Prescott, 
 W r illiam Woart, - 
 William B. Banister, 
 John Fitz, 
 William Cross, 
 John Pettiiigell, 
 JohnGreenleaf, 
 Tiiomas M. Clark, 
 Asa W. Wildes, 
 Stephen W. Marston, 
 John Porter, 
 John Cook, jr. 
 Caleb Cashing, 
 
 NOTARIES PUBLIC. 
 
 John Fitz, 
 John Porter, 
 Daniel Foster, 
 
 Samuel Tenney. 
 William Woart, - 
 
 CUSTOM HOUStk 
 
 Collector, James Prince, 
 Surveyor, William Cross. 
 Naval Officer, Thomas Carter, 
 Deputy Collector, Solomon H, Currier. 
 
 POSTMASTER. 
 
 Hoses Lord. 
 
120 
 
 MEMBERS OF GENERAL COURT, 
 
 Senate, Caleb dishing", 
 Representatives, John Coffin, 
 Robert Cross. 
 
 CLERGYMEN. 
 
 Rev. James Morss, 
 
 Samuel P. Williams, 
 Charles W. Milton, 
 Josiah Houghton. 
 
 John Andrews, D.D. 
 Luther F. Dimniick, 
 Daniel Dana, D. D. 
 
 PHYSICIANS. 
 
 Oliver Prescolt, 
 Francis Vergnies, 
 Jonathan G. Johnson, 
 Samuel Wyman, 
 
 Nathan Noyes. 
 Nathaniel Bradstreet, 
 Richard S. Spofford, 
 John Bricke^t, 
 
 LAWYERS. 
 
 Ebenezer Moseley, 
 Stephen VV. Mars ton, 
 Ebenezer Shillaber, 
 Robert Cross. 
 
 Jacob Gerrish, 
 Asa W. Wildes 
 Caleb Cushiug, 
 
 *» 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 2, line 27 for ten read twelve; p. 8, 1. 6 for 1775 reaa 1774 ; 
 p. 36, I. 7. The £haitt-bridge was built under the direction of Dr John 
 Templeman, formerly of iioston. I he first bridge in 1792 wag built bg 
 Mr. Palmer, p. 98, 1. 7 for 1800 read 1811. 
 
 RD 1.8 OS 
 
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