existence and cultivation here of a litigious s^^irit. Nor
is it weakened, when we learn that Mr. Wildes' suc-
cessor to the solitary honors of the Topsfield Bar, —
though sprung from the loins and brought up at the
feet of a New-England " Gamaliel," — has yet found it
convenient to eke out his legal profits by occasional
drafts on Hovey's Plain, or by now and then with-
drawing the deposits from the peat meadows. ^"^
But appearances are often deceptive. I apprehend
that a careful study of the history of Topsfield, from
the earliest times to the present hour, would fail to
confirm this pleasing notion of its peaceful tendencies.
The habit of contending much at law, was indeed a
common fault among the towns and people of New-
England in former days. It is certainly to l^e regret-
ted, if our little hamlet have retained the practice,
long after its neighbors had abandoned it as discre-
ditable and unprofitable — still more, if its fair repu-
tation, as a community, has been made to suffer by
49
the contemptible quarrels and malignant pertinacity
of any of its members.
Topsfield has, if I mistake not, long enjoyed, among
its inland neighbors, a considerable reputation, in the
department of vocal music. It has certainly produced
a large share of musical talent, and has, I believe,
long abounded in good voices, — particularly in those
which are adapted to basso parts. As in most small
places, where the means of culture are scanty, the sing-
ing here has been more remarkable for strength and
accuracy, than for delicacy. In their execution, the
choir of Topsfield — ^I speak of it, historically, and as I
remember it — seldom failed to show power- — but were
not always careful to acquire that "temperance," which
alone can give it "smoothness."
This allusion to a delightful art, cannot fail to re-
vive, in many minds, the name and image of Jacob
Kimball. He was the son of a sensible and worthy
man, and belonged to a family, more than usually in-
telligent. Having graduated at Harvard College, he
studied law, and commenced the practice in Amherst,
N. H. But, unfortunately, he was con\T.\dal, and spright-
ly, and a fine singer. These attractions made him popu-
lar. He was drawn into the vortex of social amuse-
ment, and, alas ! of social indulgence also. Having no
appetite for the dry details of law and business, he
soon abandoned his profession, and became a school-
master and a music-teacher. In the latter capacity he
was widely-known, and he also enjoyed some celebrity
as a composer. I would willingly prolong a theme, which
4
50
miglit be made both amusing and instructive. But I
must forbear. Those frailties, wliicli sullied, and per-
haps shortened a career, that might have been so bright,
cannot, even no\y, be recalled without a sigh. May they
never be recalled without profit.
Among the minor changes in matters of custom and
taste, which he who travels through a New England
book of records cannot fail to notice, is the gradual
but entire fading out of those small aristocratic dis-
tinctions, which were so carefully cherished in the ear-
lier periods of the Commonw^ealth. Our forefathers
exhibited the singular combination of sturdy republi-
cans and good loyalists, while their notions of demo-
cratic equality seem to have been drawn rather from
imperious Rome, than from easy and elegant Athens.
But the aristocratic element, pre^dously weakened, could
not sur\dve the shock of the Revolution. The glory
of IVIisters, and Captains, and Ensigns, and Cor})orals,
declined, and these once important ej)ithets no longer
appear. I need not suggest how many pregnant pages
of our unwritten history are involved in this simple
and silent alteration.
In the baptismal and obituary registers, we see the
e^^.dence of no slight mutation in the province of
Taste. Until within a period quite recent, we find no
person encumbered by more than a single praenomen,
— and this, with scarce an exception, was some good
old Scripture name. Here and there, indeed, was one
from the same revered source, which to some may
sound a little hard. Such were Ammi Ruhamah, and
51
Zorobal)el, Trypliena, and Trypliosa. But if these of-
fend our fastidious tastes, we shall find ample amends,
while, with delighted eye we read, and with ra^ashed
ear repeat, such appellations as the following: — "Ale-
thina Philena ;" " Arethusa Elisabeth ;" " Abby Atossa ;"
"Ithamar Evander;" "Wesley De-La-Fletcher;" "Eliza
Anne Adelaide," and " Alonzo Augustine."
Was it not, probably, meant as a sort of mock
compensation for the departed prefixes of ante-revolu-
tionary times, that our iminediate fathers bestowed so
many other and higher titles ? My elders and co-
evals here may well smile, as they recall the jocular
solemnity with which those titles were used by the
whole community. Lest mistakes should hereafter
arise in regard to a matter so important, I think it
proper to inform my younger auditors, and through
them, posterity, that King Perkins, Governor Averell,
and Colonel Cree, long sustained their high civil and
military dignities, without the burden of one official
care. Li the obituary and marriage record, I have
noticed the nuptials of a — " Prince," and the death
of a — " Csesar." Though obscurity shrouds the names
and deeds of these chieftains, I am inclined to think
that they were of African origin. With "Madam"
Dexter died, I believe, the last Topsfield lady who
bore that honorable appellation, — and I am not aware
that any one has succeeded to the respectable
title, so long and so gracefully worn by " Gentleman
John."
It would be a work of deep interest and of high
52
advantage, to trace genealogically, and topograpliically,
and (may I add ?) locomotively also, tlie history of
those families which first settled the town. And
by this, I mean — to follow them through all their
wanderings, and to pursue them in their minutest
ramifications, ^^lat a picture of progress, of growth,
of vast results fi'om small Ijeginnings, would such a
labor unfold ! But a work like this is one of time,
of patience, of persevering industry, and of consider-
able expense. It is a singular fact — and one not alto-
gether creditable to the town, — that the little which
has been done in this way for Toj^sfield names, has
been accomj^lished by individuals, who are not resi-
dents of the place.
From the scanty materials within my reach, I have
gathered a few facts of this description, some of which
I will present. You will perceive that I am, l)y com-
pulsion, limited to those families whose history has
been more or less investigated.
The earliest recorded name among the Topsfield
settlers, is that of Zacheus Gould. This appears in a
petition to Ipswich in 1644, for aid to make a village
about his farm. Zacheus Gould is represented by his
descendant. Rev. Daniel Gould, as ha\'ing come from
Great Messingham. This is a town in the county of
Lincoln. It seems far more probaljle that he was
from Messing in Essex. He is supposed to have come
to America in 1638, and to have settled here in 1643.
His original grant of several hundred acres was in
what is now the western part of Topsfield. By subse-
53
qiient purchase lie added largely to tliis, until his do-
main had swelled to nearly three thousand acres. This
large tract lying partly in Boxford, descended to his only
son, John, — who was, for many years, a prominent per-
son in the town. He often represented his fellow-citi-
zens in the General Court, and, for a long time, com-
manded tlie military company — when such an office was
no sinecure. I have already given you a touch of his
quality, as displayed in the time of Andros. This rural
magnate divided his noble fiirm among his five
sons. Of them, John, and afterwards, Joseph, succeeded
to his offices and honors, both ci^dl and military.
Another John — son of Zacheus, and grandson of John
the Patriarch, became a man noted and useful. He re-
presented the town at the breaking out of the Revolu-
tion, and continued in that responsible station until
1778, when he died on his post, at Watertown, of the
small-pox. His brother Zacheus was also an exceed-
ingly capable, useful, and benevolent man. Of the last
named John's two sons, one is yet well remembered
here as " good Deacon John." The other was Captain
Benjamin Gould. He held commissions in the militia,
and afterwards in the Continental Army. He saw his
first service on the day of Lexington Fight, and to his
latest hour, an honorable scar bore testimony to his
bravery on that occasion. On the 17th of June he was
one of the reinforcement so unaccountably delayed, and
which reached the Hill too late to save the Redoubt, and
in time only to join with its gallant defenders in their
retreat. ^^^^ At the time when Col. Wade, of IpsTvich,
then at West Point, received that note from Washing-
ton, which apprized him of Arnold's defection, and
54
charged him to maintain the fortress at all hazards, Cap-
tain Gould commanded a company in his regiment. In
the events which preceded and compelled the surrender
of Burgoyne, he bore his share. But let me tell the
story of Captain Gould's Bevolutionary services in his
own language. It was recorded by a filial pen, in words,
which have been read, and felt, and admired l»y thou-
sands, — and which will continue to he read, till poetry
and patriotism shall no longer touch the heart. His
little grandson sits upon the veteran's knee, and begs
that he will tell him that story of "the wars."
" Come, Grandfather, show how you carried your gun,
To the field, where America's freedom was won,
Or bore your old sword, which you say was new then.
When you rose to command and led forward your men ]
And say how you felt, with the balls whizzing by.
When the wounded fell round you, to bleed and to die !"
The prattler had stirred in the veteran's breast,
The embers of fire that had long been at rest ;
The blood of his youth rushed anew through his veins ;
The veteran returned to his weary campaigns ;
His perilous battles at once fighting o'er,
While the soul of nineteen lit the eye of four-score.
" I carried my musket, as one that must be
But loosed from the hold of the dead or the free.
And fearless I lifted my good, trusty sword,
In the hand of a mortal, the strength of the Lord :
In battle, my vital flame, freely I felt.
Should go, but the chains of my country to melt."
" I sprinkled my blood upon Lexington's sod,
And Charlestown's green height to the war drum I trod,
From the fort on the Hudson our guns I depressed,
The proud coming sail of the foe to arrest ;
I stood at Still-water, the Lakes and White Plains,
And offered for Freedom, to empty my veins."
55
This good and brave man long survived tlie stii'-
ring and trying scenes of his youth and manhood.
He lived to see his children prosperous and honored.
The cradle of his declining age was gently rocked by
hands of affection, until, on his ninetieth birth-day,
he fell asleep. ^^^\
Major Joseph Gould, who must be still remembered
by some of the li^ang, was another grandson of the
stiff old patriarch John. He is said to have been a
man of 'moderate intellect, but brave as forty hons.
On the ever memorable and ever glorious 19th of
April, the news from Lexington, spreading like wild-
fii'e in every dii'ection, reached this place at about 10
o'clock in the forenoon. The farmers were busy in
their fields ; — but there was no hesitation. The plough
was stayed in mid-furrow — and within an hour, many
were on their way to the scene of conflict. Joseph
Gould commanded one of the Topsfield companies.
When and where, exactly, they came up Tvdth the re-
treating enemy, I do not know. Somewhere, they
found them, and from behind a low wall or dyke,
began their murderous fu^e. But their heroic Captain
disdained such shelter. He thought it, perhaps, un-
dignified for an officer to lie down. So he stood bolt
upright — gave his orders — faced the enemy and the
bullets, and, as good luck Avould have it, came off
unhurt.
You must very generally remember the Rev. Daniel
Gould, — his triennial ^dsits to this, his birth-place, — and
his pathetic farewell sermons, begun, when he seemed
56
quite an old man — l^ut continued and repeated from
year to year, until tliey used to excite anything but
tears. This worthy man, who was a great grand-son
of the oldest John Gould, and a lineal possessor of
the original homestead, has left a manuscript history
of the Gould family in Topsfield. It contains some
valuable information, ]jut is more remarkable for its
pious spirit, than it is for statistic accuracy or com-
pleteness. At the close, he gives a brief sketch of
what he considers the characteristic qualities of the
Gould race. As many of the name now here have,
perhaps, never seen this document, they may be pleased
to hear themselves described by this learned " clerk," this
" Clansman born — this kinsman true."
Having, in the course of his narrative, mentioned
one of the Zacheuses — a favorite name among them, he
says, " I know little of him, except that he was a man
very much set in his way," which, adds the old gentle-
man, '•'■is peculiarly characteristic of the family P "I
would observe," he says, "generally, that the Gould
family are as steady a set of people as are any where
to be found, and are good and peaceable members of
society. They have been, in all their generations, in-
dependent farmers, and live l)y their industry, without
troubling or disturbing others. They are warm and
steady friends, and kind and benevolent to all men.
They are not greatly enterprizing, but live in a state
of mediocrity., nor are they much given to literature or
reading. It is not so hard to appease as to provoke
them They content themselves with their own piivate
affairs, highly esteeming their own ways, customs, and
57
liabits; witliout looking mucli beyond themselves to be
benefited by tlie improvements or vain philosopliy of
others. Tliey are deliberate in laying their plans, and
not hasty in the execution of them. In a word, impli-
cit trust and confidence may be placed in them; for
they despise truckling, fraud, and deceit. Honesty,
justice, and truth, are the characteristics of the fiimily."
From a very early period in the history of this town,
the Peabody name has been identified with it. Thanks
to the spii'it of family pride or of antiquarian curiosity,
great pains have recently been taken to dig out the
roots and follow out the branches of the old Peabody
tree. Old, it may well be called, since it has already
attained to a growth of nearly \>\no thousand years.
Boadie, it seems, was the primeval name. He was a
gallant British Chieftain, who came to the rescue of his
Queen Boadicea, when "l)leediug from the Roman
rods." Frojn the disastrous battle in which she lost her
crown and life, he fled to the Camljrian mountains.
There his posterity lived and became the terror of the
lowlands. Thus it was, that the term Pea, which means
"mountain," was prefixed to Boadie, which means
"man." There was a Peabody, it seems, among the
Knights of the Round Table, for the name was first
registered, with due heraldic honors, by command of
King Arthur himself.
But leaving camps and courts, and dropping down
through a few centuries of time, we find ourselves at a
small place in Hertfordshire, about seventeen miles from
London, and called St. Albans. A young man, now
58
just of age, is about leaving his birtli-place and country
for a distant land. He has called on the Minister and
obtained a certificate of good character, and the Justices
of the Peace have borne similar attestation. The parting
scene is soon over — and next we find him embarked in
the ship Planter, Captain Trarice, and bound for New-
England. This was in 1635. Three yeai-s afterwards
this young adventurer — whose name is Francis Pabody,
is li^dng at Hampton, now in the S. E. corner of New
Hampshire. ^'"^ After spending a few years in that
place, where he makes himself, at once, active and use-
ful, he removes, finally, to Topsfield, and this place con-
tinues to be his residence fi'om 1657 to 1698, the year
of his death.
At the period when the business transactions of this
town l:)egin to ap2:)ear on record, Lieut. Francis Pabody
was evidently the first man in the place, for capacity
and influence. And such he continued to be, until the
infirmities of age, we may presume, withdrew him from
the acti\aties of life. He owned much land in Tops-
field, in Boxford, and in Kowley. The first mill in
this place was set up by him, on the stream which
flows by the spot where he lived. His wife was a
daughter of Eeginald Foster, whose family, Mr. Endi-
cott, in his genealogy of the Peabodys, informs us, is
"honoral^ly mentioned" by Sir "Walter Scott, in Mar-
mion and the Lay. What was the exact connection of
our Reginald and his daughter Mary, with those moss-
troopers of the Border, who rode so hard and so fruit-
lessly in the chase of Young Lochinvar, does not
appear.
59
Of tlieii' large family, tliree sons settled in Boxford,
and two remained in Topsfield. From these five pa-
triarchs, liave come, it is said, all tlie Peabodys in
this country. Among those of this name who have
devoted themselves to the sacred oflice, the Rev. Oliver
Peabody, who died at Natick, almost a hundred years
ago, is honorably distinguished. Those t^\dn Peabodys,
now alas! no more — William Ohver Bourne and Oliver
William Bourne, twins, not in age only, but in genius
and virtue, learning and piety, will long be remem-
bered with admiration and regret. The Rev. Da^id Pea-
body of this town, whom you well knew, and who died
while a Professor in the College at Hanover, deserves
honoral)le mention. A kinsman of his, also of Tops-
field, is at this moment, laboring, a devoted missionary
in the ancient land of Cyrus. The Rev. Andrew P.
Peabody of Portsmouth, and Rev. Ephraim Peabody of
Boston, are too well and favorably known to require
that I should more than allude to them. Professor
Silliman, of Yale College, is descended on one side
from a Peabody.
Like the Goulds, the Peabody name has abounded
in bi'ave and patriotic spirits. Among them we find
a general, three colonels, seven captains, five lieuten-
ants, and one cornet. Many of these served in the
French and the Revolutionary wars. One of tliem fell
with Wolfe and Montcalm, on the plains of Al^raham.
Another assisted at the capture of Ticonderoga and of
Louisburg, and in the siege of Boston. Another was
among the most gallant of the combatants on Bunker
Hill. Another commanded a company in the Conti-
60
nental army, and sent his sons to the war as fast as
they became able. One more, Nathaniel Peabody, of
Atkinson, N. H., commanded a regiment in the war of
the Revolution, and subsequently represented his state
in the Continental Congress.
In medicine and law, the reputation of the name
rests more, perhaps, on the quality, than on the num-
ber of practitioners. In commerce, too, this family
may 1:>oast of at least one eminent example— one archi-
tect of a princely fortune. I need not name him.
The Perkinses, a name more fi-equent here than any
other, are descended in distinct lines, from two indivi-
duals, — John and "William, who were probably cousins.
John Perkins came, it is suj^posed, fi'om Newent,
England, where he was born in 1590. He was a
fellow passenger in the ship Lyon, with the great
Roger Williams, and arrived at Boston in 1631. Two
years afterward, he settled in Ipswich. The island at
the mouth of our river, long called Perkins', l)ut now
Giddings' Island, 1)elonged to him. His house was
near Manning's Neck, and close to the river. This
patriarch represented Ipswich in the General Court,
and was e^adently a man of mark in that highly
respectable community. Thomas Perkins was his second
son, and, at the age of fifteen, came with his father,
from old England. He settled, early, in Topsfield,
where, in 1660, he had become a large proprietor.
He is the Dea. Thomas Perkins, sen., of the Topsfield
records, where we find honoral)le mention of his name.
His wife was daughter of old Zacheus Gould, thus
61
blending witli that ancient and lionorable name, all
tlie Perkinses here of Thomas' line. His house stood
near where Thomas Perkins now lives — hard by the
Newburyport Tm^npike. He died in 1686. Dea. Thos.
Perkins' second son was named EKsha, and his wife
was Katharine Towne. Thomas, their eldest son, with
Mary Wildes, his wife, removed in IT 19 to Arundel,
in Maine. Of this place, — afterwards called Kenne-
bunk Port — he was one of the principal inhabitants.
For a minute and interestino; account of the Perkins
family, now numerous in that j^lace, the readers of
Bradbury's History of the Town are indebted to
Horatio N. Perkins, Esq., of Boston : — a direct de-
scendant, through the al)ove-named Captain Thomas of
Kennebunk, from Dea. Thomas Perkins of Topsfield ; — â–
and one, who has done, I believe, more than any or
all others of his lineage, to rescue from obli\don the
name and virtues of his ancestry.
John, a house-carpenter, was the third son of Dea.
Thomas. Of his five sons, Moses was the youngest,
and married Anna Cummins-s. The humble cottao^e in
which he lived and reared a numerous family, has
been converted into a repository for fuel, and still
stands by the road-side, on the River Hill, just below
the mansion, which was built by his greatly prospered
son. The life and character of Capt. Thomas Perkins
are too well known to need description here. The
ambitious spirit which drew or drove the young cooper
from his father's workshop, to encounter the hardships
and hazards of the sea; his subsequent thrift and en-
terprize; his long association with Captain Peabody;
62
his retirement from active business, and his protracted
sojourn on tlie hill-side where he was born; the quiet
hal)its of the secluded old bachelor, and the frugal,
simple life of the seemingly unconscious millionaire, —
are all fresh in the memory of many who now hear
me.
We cannot claim, as of To^^sfield origin, that great
mechanician, to whose ingenious and useful discove-
ries and inventions, Europe as well as America, paid
the triljute of a willing admiration. Yet it may be
interesting in this connection to learn, that Jacob
Perkins, formerly of Newburyport, and late of Lon-
don, was directly descended from the same John Per-
kins of Ipswich, to whom so many of the Topsfield
Perkinses have now been traced.
But there was another Perkins even more distin-
guished than Dea. Thomas, in the early annals of the
town. The Rev. Wm. Perkins was a native of Lon-
don, and was born in 1607. In 1633 we find him
associated with the illustrious John Winthrop, jun.,
and eleven others, the first settlers of Ipswich. The
following year he removed to Roxbury, where he
married Elisabeth Wooton. In 1640 he revisited his
native country. Soon after his return, we find him
representing Weymouth in the General Court, acting
as leader of a military company, — and one of the An-
cient and Honoralole Artillery Company. From 1650 to
1655, he was preaching to the inhabitants of Glou-
cester. From that place he came to Topsfield. Here,
after having preached a few years, he spent the re-
63
maiucler of Lis life iu tlie calm pursuits of husband-
ry. Among the early settlers of tlie town, Mr. Wil-
liam Perkins was, probably, the most accomplished
person. He was a scholar and a man of business, —
a farmer, a clergyman, a soldier, and a legislator. In
each of these relations, — so unlike, and, according to
present notions, so incompatible, — he bore himself, so
far as we can learn, with ability and discretion. His
children appear to have been all well married ; and
their social position, in those days of aristocratic dis-
tinctions and manners, must have been on the top-
most level, — since one of his daughters married a son
of Gov. Bradstreet, and one of his sons, a daughter
of Major-General Denison.
A written, and it is supposed an autograph account
of the births and baptisms of his children, their mar-
riage, &c., has been preserved. This interesting docu-
ment is interspersed with ejaculatory expressions, which
Ijreathe a spirit of humble piety as well as of paternal
affection. He died in 1682. This useful and good
man transmitted to his sons a large portion of his
own willingness and capacity for public lousiness — if