at the corner of Federal and School Streets, was
erected. It is indicative of the habits of that time
that it was noted and has always been remembered
that the frame of the meeting-house was raised
without the utterance of an oath by the workmen
and without the occurrence of an accident. The
probable e.xplanation of so remarkable a fact is, that
no intoxicating liquors were drunk during the per-
formance. \\^hile Mr. Parsons was at Lyme, he and
Mr. Whitefield had formed a strong friendship, and by
the advice of the latter, Mr. Parsons was invited to
settle over the young society. In 1756 he was in-
stalled, and remained with the society until his death,
July 19, 1776. He was buried under the pulpit of
his church, by the side of his distinguished friend.
In the eastern corner of the church is erected a
cenotaph to the memory of Whitefield, who, in a min-
istry of eight years, preached more than ten thousand
sermons and crossed the Atlantic thirteen times. He
preached his first sermon in Newburyport, September
30, 1740, and September 30, 1870, he there died, and
was buried under the pulpit of the church in whose
welfare he had felt a lively interest. Mr. Whitefield
was born in Gloucester, England, where his mother
kept the Bell Inn, in 1714. From the school of his
native town he entered as servitor at Pembroke Col-
lege, Oxford, and was ordained for the ministry by
the Bishop of Gloucester. He preached in prisons
and the open fields, and multitudes followed to hear
him exhibit his persuasive eloquence. He first came
to America in 1738, making occasional visits after-
wards, as he could be spared from his labors at home,
until death cut short his career. Many years ago
some of the bones of Whitefield were stolen from the
cofiin and carried to England, but in 1849, many
years after, the pastor of the church received a box,
which, on being opened, was found to contain the
missing members.
Rev. John Lowell was a descendant of John Lowle,
a Welshman, who was one of the earliest settlers of
Newbury. He was born in Boston in 1702, and gradu-
ated at Harvard in 1721. In 1725 the First Church
of Newburyport was established by seceders from the
First Parish of Newbury, and in the following year,
on the 19th of January, Mr. Lowell was settled as its
pastor. He was a man of culture and refinement,
and to his example and influence was due much of
that elevation of character for which Newburyport
became distinguished. His library, large for those
days, his scholarly attainments, his wide knowledge,
together with a free and liberal use of his powers,
could not fail to stamp and give tone to the commu-
nity in which he lived. He died in 1767, leaving one
son, John Lowell, born in Newbury, June 17, 1748,
and a graduate of Harvard in 1760, who, besides many
other honors, received the appointment in 1801 of
justice of the United States Circuit Court for Maine,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Indeed, few men have been more distinguished, both
for their own attainments and for those transmitted
to their descendants, than the Rev. Mr. Lowell. Three
of his grandsons, sons of Judge John Lowell, main-
tained the reputation of the family. John Lowell,
born at Newburyport, October 6, 1769, graduated at
Harvard in 1786, and was admitted to the bar in 1789.
He received a degree of LL.D. from his alma mater
in 1814, and became distinguished as a writer on
politics, agriculture, theology and other topics. He
was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Gene-
ral Hospital, the Boston Athenseum and the Hospital
Life Insurance Company. Francis Cabot Lowell,
born in Newburyport, April 7, 1775, graduated at
Harvard in 1793, was influential in introducing the
cotton manufacture into the United States, and thecity
of Lowell, named for him, stands as a monument to his
memory. Charles Lowell, born in Boston, August 15,
1782, graduated at Harvard in 1800, and became the
well-known minister of the West Church in Cam-
bridge Street, Boston. Nor did this generation ex-
haust the energies of the family blood. John Low-
ell, son of Francis Cabot, and great-grandson of
Rev. John Lowell, of Newburyport, was born in Bos-
ton, May 11, 1799, and at his death, in 1836, be-
queathed the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars to maintain forever in Boston, his native
city, annual courses of free lectures on natural and
revealed religion, physics and chemistry, botany,
zoology, geology and mineralogy, philology, literature
and eloquence. This establishment, known as the
Lowell Institute, went into operation in the winter of
1839-40. James Russell Lowell the poet, son of Rev.
Charles Lowell, is too well-known to be mentioned
here. John Amory Lowell, of Boston, son of John,
the founder of the hospital, graduated at Harvard in
1815, and became one of Boston's most distinguished
merchants. Nor was the family blood exhausted in
this generation. John Lowell, son of John Amory
Lowell, a Harvard graduate of 1843, and, until his
recent resignation, judge of the United States Dis-
trict Court, and Charles Russell Lowell, a graduate
of Harvard in 1864, who, from a captaincy of the
1756
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
Sixth Cavalry, in 1860, rose to be brigadier-general in
1864, and died soon after from wounds received at
Cedar Creek, in Virginia, have borne ample testimony
to the jnirity and vigor of the blood which flowed in
the veins of Rev. John Lowell, of Newburyport.
Dudley Atkins Tyng, though a member of the bar,
is believed to have neither studied nor practiced law
in Esse.K County, and may therefore be more prop-
erly mentioned in this narrative than in the chapter
on the Bench and Bar. He was born in Newbury-
port, September 3, 1760, and grew into manhood
while the Kevolution was going on. He was the fifth
child of Dudley Atkins, who died at the age of
thirty-seven. He received his early education at
Dummer Academy, and by the liberality of Tristram
Dalton, Jonathan Jackson, Nathaniel Tracy and
John Tracy was enabled to reap the advantages of a
college education. He owed his name to his grand-
mother, JIary, daughter of Governor Joseph Dudley^
who married his grandfather, Joseph Atkins, an offi-
cer in the British navy, who settled in Newbury, and
died in 1773, at the age of ninety-three. He gradu-
ated from Harvard in 1781, and in bis senior year while
the war was in progress, when the government ob-
tained from the British commander then in posses-
sion of Penobscot Bay permission to send Dr. Wil-
liams, Professor of Astronomy at Harvard, to that
bay for the purpose of observing a total eclipse of
the sun, expected in October, 1780, the professor se-
lected John Davis, of Plymouth, and Dudley Atkins,
members of the graduating class, as his assistants in
the expedition.
After leaving college he became teacher in the
family of Mrs. Selden, sister of Judge Mercer, one
of the judges of the highest court in Virginia, and
a'so entered his name in the office of the judge for
the study of law. He was admitted to practice in
Virginia, and on his return to Newburyport was ad-
mitted to the bar of Esses County in 1791. About
the time of his return an event occurred which, for
a time at least, imposed a check to his career in his
chosen profession. Mrs. Winslow, of Tyngsborough,
Massachusetts, sister of James Tyng, then recently
deceased, and the last male heir to a considerable
landed estate in that town, feeling a pride in the
continuance of the property, in at least the family
name, selected him, a distant relative, as its possessor,
and bequeathed to him a thousand acres of land on
the condition, (which he accepted) that he would add
Tyng to his name. After a few years of unsuccessful
experiment on his fivrm he returned to Newburyport,
and was appointed by Washington, in 1795, collector
01" that port. In 1803 he was removed from ollice by
Jefferson, and at once took up his residence in Bos-
ton with the determination of pursuing his profes-
sion. Not long after his arrival in Boston, Ephraim
Williams, the firat reporter of the decisions of the
Supreme Judicial Court, resigned his office, and Mr.
Tyng was appointed in his place. His exactness and
thoroughness as a reporter have always been recog-
nized by members of the bar. His Reports cover
the period from September, 1804, to March, 1822, and
are contained in seventeen volumes. In the summer
of 1822 he returned to Newburyport, and as a gradu-
ate of Duramcr Academy, he organized an associa-
tion of its alumni, and gave hot a little of his time
and thought in his declining years to the institution
where his early instruction was acquired. In 1823
he received a degree of LL.D. from his alma mater.
He married, about 1792, Sarah, eldest daughter of
Stephen Higginson, and had a number of children,
among whom were Rev. Stephen Higginson Tyng, a
graduate of Harvard in 1817, who died in New York
in 1885, at the age of eighty-five, and Dr. Atkins, of
Newburyport, who resumed the old family name.
He died in Newburyport, August 1, 1839.
There are others among the representative men of
the Revolutionary period who might be mentioned, if
the space allotted to this narrative permitted.
Enough, however, has been said to illustrate the pa-
triotic spirit which actuated the people of Newbury-
port in the trying times of the war, and the energy
and liberality with which it was exhibited.
CHAPTER CXLIV.
NEWBURYPORT— ( Continued).
SECOXD PERIOD.
From Iha Unohidon to (he Close of Hie War of 1812.
After the close of the war the old industries and
trade of the town at once revived. The activity
which once characterized it had not died ; it had, by
the nece.'-sities of the time, been drawn into new chan-
nels, where it lost none of its vigor. As the necessi-
ties disappeared and these new channels were closed,
it resumed its wonted course in the ordinary pursuits
of peace. Like the ship after a storm, whose tattered
sails and broken spars must be first repaired before
the voyage can be successfuly piir.sued, there was
much in the condition of the town's municipal affairs
to be examined and readjusted before the ])eople
could with an easy mind enter into the race for per-
sonal gain. The debts of the war must be paid or
secured ; the schools must be once more carefully
supervised and improved; long-neglected streets must
be renovated, and all those interests which, during the
seven years of war, had been overlooked, must once
more claim aid and support. With these at last
properly cared for, Newburyport entered again on a
career of prosperity and wealth. The fisheries, for-
eign trade and ship-building rapidly grew, while the
business of distilleries, which had never very much
languished, largely increased in volume. So far as
the fisheries are concerned, they cannot be said to
NEWBURYPORT.
1757
have been at any time identified with Newburyport,
though at times one of its chief pursuits. In the first
quarter of the present century there were employed
in the district of Newburyport probably about forty
vessels in the cod fishery and seventy-five in the
mackerel fishery. The latter fishery had its begin-
ning after the War of 1812. The fur seal and whale
fisheries, both at one time carried on with varied suc-
cess, have been long since abandoned. At the present
time the fishery business has entirely disappeared,
Messrs. Boardman and Sanborn having been the last
to be engaged in it. The trade with foreign ports seems
to have reached its maximum at the very beginning
of this century. The stimulus given to business by the
return of peace carried the navigation of the town
before 1789 up to 99 vessels of 11,607 tons; in 1796
to 19,752 tons, and in 1806 to 29,713 tons. Of this
amount, 25,291 was the amount of registered tonnage
engaged in foreign trade. At the same time the
duties on imports received in the district amounted
to nearly $200,000. In 1805 there belonged to New-
buryport alone, 41 ships, 62 brigs, 2 snows, 2 barques
and 66 schooners.
There is no industry so thoroughly identified with
Newburyport, and so creditable to its people, as that
of ship-building. There are certain occupations and
enterprises which seem indigenons to certain localities.
They can neither be transplanted to nev*' soils, nor be
replaced by those which belong to other localities. A
business to be successful must grow with the place, as
the boy and his trade, the farmer and his farm, the
merchant and his commerce. Nantucket has attempted
in vain to introduce the cod-fishery: Newburyport
and Plymouth have failed in their efforts to introduce
the whale-fishery. We see all along our seaboard to-
day, in ports which have languished with the decline
of their navigation, what we cannot help looking up-
on as unnatural efforts to transform them into manu-
facturing towns, and thus divert them from their true
destiny. It is perhaps, not too much to hope, that
when the process of centralization which, during the
last sixty or seventy years, has been drawing foreign
trade from the smaller outposts to Portland and Bos-
ton and New York shall cease, the full waters of
commerce will flow back to these depleted harbors,
and restore the level which, in the natural order of
things, must at last everywhere exist.
To Newburyport ship-building has always been an
indigenous growth. The river along its front, reach-
ing into the timber lands of New Hampshire, furnished
at the lowest cost the best materials for ships. The
ribs, planking, ceiling, beams and knees cut from oak
timber, were floated from the forests directly to the
building-yards, and enabled the builders to success-
fully compete with those in other less-favored places,
where more costly transportation was necessary.
The building of vessels on the Merrimac was prob-
ably carried on at a date much earlier than any date
which positive evidence can fix. On the 5th of
January, 1680, the town of Newbury voted "To grant
the petition of Benjamin Rolfe, Doctor John Dole and
Richard Dole, for four or five rods on the flats from
Watts' cellar spring to Ensign Greenleaf's, for a place
to build a wharf, and a place to build vessels upon,
provided they come not within ten or twelve feet of
the spring, and make up said wharf within three
years." Here seems to be tangible evidence that as
early as 1680 ship-building was carried on on the
river. According to Mr. John J. Currier, from whose
valuable pamphlet, entitled an "Historical Sketch of
Ship-Building on the Merrimac River," the writer
has freely drawn, Watts' cellar was near the spot
where the market-house now stands. In 1698, Ezra
Cottle " began to build ships where Mr. Johnson did,"
just below Chandler's Lane (now Federal Street). Mr.
Johnson seems to have been engaged in the business
in 1695. Between 1681 and 1714 one hundred and
thirty vessels were built on the river, one hundred of
which were built in Newbury. The industry was
recognized by the town as so important that it was
fostered as one of its most valuable interests. For
many years most of the building-yards were the
property of the town, and leased for longer or shorter
terms, in whole or in part, according to the wishes of
the lessees. In 1711 a building-yard near Watts'
cellar was let to Colonel Partridge, Mr. Clement and
Mr. Hodges. In 1734 other leases are recorded, either
made by the town or by the " Proprietors," who owned
a strip along the river, intersected by the landing
places and the building-yards belonging to the town.
Mr. Currier states that in 1723 there was a ship-yard
at Thurlo's Bridge over the Parker River, and that
ships were built there that year. In the middle
of the last century Gideon Woodwell built fifty-two
ves-'els on the lower side of Water Street, near the foot
of Marlboro' Street. Farther up the river Samuel
Mnggaridge was engaged in ship-building in 1730,
and it is said that in 1766, two years after the incor-
poration of Newburyport, seventy-two vessels were on
the stocks, between Pierce's farm and Moggaridge's
Point.
Mr. Currier says, "All the vessels built at this period
were doubtless duly registered, but no trace of them
can be found among the colonial records at the State-
House in Boston ; and the papers and documents at
the Custom-House in Newburyport do not extend
further back then the year 1789, so that information
in regard to them can be obtained from neither of
these sources." It would be interesting to know some-
thing of the size, ownership and general construction
of these vessels. It is worthy of remark, however, that
many of them were built for merchants in England,
and when completed they sailed from Newbury load-
ed with timber and agricultural products. The " Jew's
Rafts," so called, were built in Moggaridge's yard for
a Mr. Levi, a Jew. An English paper of 1770 an-
nounces the arrival of one of them as follows :
"The ' Xewbury,' Capt. Rose, from Xewbury in New England, JieB at
1758
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUxVTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
the Orclianl House, Blackwell. Tlio ubovo is a raft of timber in the
form of u sliip, which came from Newbury to soundiugsjin twenty »ix
days, anil is wortliy the attention of the curious."
Among the leading builders before the Revolution,
were Ralph Cross, who was born in Ipswich in 170G,and
was the father of Stephen and Ralph Cross, already
mentioned in this narrative ; and William Gerrish, |
a descendant of William Gerrish, an early settler of
Newbury. At a later day, during the Revolution, the
construction of privateers was largely carried on,
and in 1777 asixteen-gun ship, called the "Neptune."
wiis built, and when leaving port capsized and sank
in sixteen fathoms of water. After the Revolution
Elias Jackman established a yard and carried it on
thirty years, and Orlando B. Merrill, who in 1798 built
the brig "Pickering," fourteen guns, for the United
States. In the same year William Bartlett, William
Coombs, Dudley A. Tyng, Moses Brown, W. P.
Johnson, Nicholas Johnson, William Farris, Ebenezer
Stocker and Samuel A. Otis, Jr., and other citizens
built and loaned to the government the ship " Merri-
mack," of about three hundred and fifty tons burden,
which was commanded by Capt. Moses Brown, and
during her five years' service captured a number of
French vessels and recaptured many English and
American prizes. She was built by Major Cross, under
the direction of William Hackett, in seventy-five days.
Her cost was ?4(),170, and at the end of five years she
was sold in Boston for $21,154, when, with her name
changed to the " Monticello " she was soon after wreck-
ed on Cape Cod.
In 1799 the ship " Warren," eighteen guns, was built
in Mr. Webster's yard in Salisbury, under the direc-
tion of Nicholas Johnson, of Newburyport, by contract
with the United States, and commanded by Capt.
Timothy Newman, of Newburyport. In 1810, the year
after the embargo, which was so disastrous to shipping
interests, was repealed, there were built on the Mer-
rimac River twenty-one ships, thirteen brigs, one
schooner and seven small craft, with a combined ton-
nage of twelve thousand tons. In 1813, during the
War of 1812, the United States sloop-of-war," Wasp,"
was built by Orlando B. Merrill, and about the same
time two gun-boats were built by Stephen Cofiin, in
Newbury.
Among the later builders have been Joseph Coffin,
Elisha Briggs, Stephen Button, Jonathan and Thomas
Merrill, Joseph Jackman, William Currier, James L.
Townsend, George E. Currier, Charles H. Currier,
John Currier, John W. S. Colby, Enoch P. Lunt,
Stephen Jackman, Jr., George W. Jackman, Jr.,
Eben Maiison, Fillmore & McQuillen, Atkinson &
Fillmore, Donald McKay, Joseph Pickett, W. B. Coffin,
and Cyrus Burnham. The following vessels have been
built in Newburyport since the Revolution, most of
which are either enrolled or registered in the New-
buryport Custom-House.
Tons. . Tons.
1781. Brignikernia 108 1783. Schooner Hibernia 78
:Uope (15 I 17s4. BrigSuccess 147
Tons.
178^1. .Ship Thomas 2iO
IT84. Brig Vulture 172
1785. " Sally 137
176.'). Sloop Washington 07
1785. Schooner Fanny. 148
1780. " Two Brothers.. 62
17.80. " Abigail 73
1787. " Success 38
1788. •' Polly 44
1788. " Betsey 21
1789. Sloop Nancy 83
1789. Ship Industry 2O0
1789. Schooner Hannah 82
1789. Schooner Pilgrim 58
1790. Brig Olive Brauch 140
1790. Brig Mary 208
1791. Schooner Martha 33
1791. Ship Mary 163
1791. " Henry 262
1791. Schooner Martha 33
1792. " Dove 28
1792. Erig Nymph 35
1792. Sloop Three Brothers.... 77
1792. Brig Nancy 84
1792. Schooner Nymph 97
1792. Brig Sally 122
1792. Schooner Sally 89
1793. Schooner Stork 70
179.^. Brig Minerva...; 143
1793. " Union 146
1793. Ship Peggy 213
1794. Brig Minerva 160
1794. Brig Peter 178
1794. " Wm. and Mary 92
1794. Schooner Mary 130
1796. " Three Sisters.. 69
1795. Brig Minerva 115
1795. Schooner Harmony 89
1796. Brig Friendship 155
1795. " Harriet 119
1795. Schooner Three Sisters.. 99
1796. Ship Wm. and Henry.... 251
1796. Schooner Sally 74
1796. Ship Commerce 173
1796. BngMary 135
1796. Schooner Bee 76
1799. " Alexander 84
1799. Brig Mary 134
1800. Ship Angeline 238
180O. Brig Salem 137
1800. " Amazon 110
1800. Schooner Cyrus Ill
ISOl. " Triton 108
18(11. Sloop Mary 85
1801. Brig Jefferaon 138
ISnl. " Triton 43
18ol. Sloop Mary 85
1803. Brig Mac 143
1804. Schooner Ann 76
1S04, Ship Ango 270
1804. Brig Geo. Washington... 132
1805. Schooner Eleanor 103
1805. " Rebecca 108
1806. Brig Unity 176
1806. ShipBoaz 304
1807. Brig Adeline 133
1807. Bark Circle 145
1807. Sloop John 73
1809. Schooner Alexander 47
1811. Brig St. Paul 206
1811. " Juno 196
1813. Schooner Traveller 77
1813. " Little Duck... 42
1813. " Mink 32
1813. '• Lark 41
1814. " Union 38
Tons.
1S14. Schooner Peace 30
1814. " Crocodile 40
1814. BrigHesper 167
1815. Schooner Frances 72
1816. " Dolphin 80
1810. " Caleb 84
1816. " Four Sisters... 115
1817. 'â– Now Packet... 76
1817. " Eagle 97
1817. " Governor 68
1817. " Lady Brooks.. 109
1817. " Pickerel 41
1817. " Angler. 64
1817. 'â– William 35
1817. " Dispatch 118
1817. 'â– Hornet 38
1818. " Perch 43
1818. Brig William 138
1818. Schooner Success 58
1818. " Driver 53
1818. " Sea Serpent... 65
1818. " Chae. Sydney.. 103
1818. " Teazer. 61
1819. " Franklin 45
1819. " John Howard 54
1819. " John 41
1819. " Peacock 41
1819. " Peacock 51
1819. Brig Hannah 154
1820. " Ohio 129
1820. Schooner Robert 17
1820. " Oscar 54
182.3. Brig Rapid 233
1825. Schooner Sarah Atkins.. 66
1825. " Enterprise 47
1825. Brig Patron 177
1827. Schooner Harriet 55
1828. " Essex 50
1828. " Maize 72
1828. " John 24
1828. " Francis 60
1829. " Bounty 60
1830. " Globe 48
1830. " Hurkasee 74
1831. " Triton 66
1832. " Fame 48
1832. " Mechunii: 48
1833. " Gli.l.' 74
1835. " Regiil^it.ir 4r.
1835. " Wavn-n 46
1836.- " Sea Flower.... 64
1837. " Asia 69
1837. " Unicorn 6S
1837. •' Eienza 66
1837. " Equator. 64
1838. " Angola 30
1838. " Harriet 23
1815. " Alert 21
1845. Brig Merrimac 148
1840. " Ansonia 199
1840. BrigLanerk 299
1847. Schooner Factory Girl... 20
1847. •' HannahGrant 104
1847. Ship Joshua Mansion... 646
1848. Schooner Margaret Ann 100
1849. " Alice 21
1849. " Antelope 75
1850. " Pearl 31
1850. " America .30
1860. Ship Arab .525
1861. " Inez 700
1851. Bark Falcon 610
1851. " Hosper .392
1851. Ship Victory 6711
1851. " Huzzar 725
1851. Schooner Gen. Gushing.. 98
NEWB UR YPORT.
1759
Tous.
1851. Schooner Mary Felker.. 109
1851. " Herald 94
1852. " Arctic 115
1852. " AbbyTals 22
1862. " CaroliaoKuight 121
1852. " Lydia
1S52. " Huntress
1852. " Flash
1852. •• Golden West.. 144
1852. Ship Jirah Perry
1862. Bark Flash
1852. Schooner Rival
1832. Ship Parthenia
1852. •' Eusaell Sturgis '
1852. « Ariadne
1852. Ship Howadjt
1853. Schooner Golden Eagle..
1863. " Tekoa
185.3. Ship Highflyer 1196
1853. Bark Naiad Queen
1863. Ship Guiding Star
1863. " Constitution 1188
1853. " .loliTi N. Cnahing... 033
1853. â– ' J.,1.. /M)..A 1073
1853. 'â– I . I _ 14U
1853. Sri, I 1 .,,.;. .. 122
1853. Sl,i|. \.i ,hi 900
1853. SiboiMif-r Au:.Air, 129
18.53. Ship Whistler 820
1834. " Star King 1170
1854. " Black Prince 1060
1864. Schooner Flying Cloud.. 40
1854. Ship Sonora 708
1854. " Troubadour 1200
1S54. " ir.iTlii,;..- 598
1854. ■• - ..h.ii, .11". Mill, 1245