|
This page is a part of the Lynn & Nahant town site. Not for Commercial use. All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
To help transcribe or submit information, please e-mail Shaun Cook. |
|
BIOGRAPHIES, pgs.
439-471 |
|
ALONZO LEWIS. |
The following is intended simply as a sketch of the life of Alonzo Lewis. A more complete biography has been written by an appreciative friend - James R. Newhall - his successor in his historical labors. That biography appears in the last edition of the History of Lynn. The reader of this sketch will discover the ground of the writer's presumption in attempting to recall events, and to revive reminiscences that will carry many now living back to the days of their childhood, and enable them to live over again scenes which, however brief in their duration, mankind cherish as the dearest treasures garnered in the storehouse of memory. The chief value of this record will be, that it is based upon the writer's personal knowledge of the man, and runs back to that period when, as children in school, we sustain to the teacher the nearest, and often the dearest, relation found beyond the domestic circle.
The writer's recollection of Mr. Lewis dates back to the year 1833, soon after Mr. Lewis took charge of the grammar school in Ward Four. He had just published a new edition of his poems, and the writer remembers with what pride and satisfaction he received, as a member of the first class, a copy from the hands of the author. As a teacher, Mr. Lewis stood high, as the current testimony of those times shows, as well as the reports of school committees through a series of years. Though not a collegiate, he had more learning than a half-dozen often met with laying claim to that distinction. But he had a higher qualification for this responsible trust than even this. He was a man of fine sensibilities; and in those times, when flogging in school was the common order of things, he never indulged in it as a pastime. Often disgusted with what seemed to him the too frequent occasions for corporal punishment, he would announce to his pupils a determination to try the milder expedients of persuasion, and an appeal to their sense of right. This would be followed by the abolition of all the terrifying emblems of authority. Accordingly, straps, sticks and rulers were burnt, or banished from the school-room until some exigency arose, some example of insubordination, or mutterings of threatened rebellion, when chronological difficulties stood in the way of a settlement by a lecture on ethics, or a reference to a court of arbitration. Then there was no time to take up the purely psychological aspects of the question at issue, or dilate upon the transcendent attractions of moral esthetics, and so a return to the old routine seemed inevitable.
While Mr. Lewis had, doubtless, a love for his profession beyond that of most men, it must have been equally true that he found much that was irksome and repulsive in the daily tasks set before him. His nervous, poetical temperament was keenly alive to the jarring discords of the school-room; and the drudgery inevitable in a school such as he taught, must have been like heavy chains about his feet. Let us glance for a moment at a school-room in those days. A hundred pupils, more or less, ranging in age from eight to sixteen years, confined in a close, unpainted, ill-ventilated apartment, not large enough for one-half that number. Eight or ten are crowded upon a bench extending from the side of the building to the single aisle in the center, affording an excellent chance to skulk, to pinch one another, pull hair and carry on a miscellaneous conversation upon the current news of the day. Goose-quills are to be made into pens for those who write, and pens are to be mended. There is but little classification of pupils, for the mixed-up condition of things admits of nothing more. A score or more of recitations, including the jerky and spasmodic efforts of the small boy reading his short sentences, and the most advanced learners struggling with the mysteries of algebraic symbols, and all between these extremes are to be heard each day. And all this without the aid of any assistant to lighten his labors. It is not to be supposed that a man of his sensitive nature could remain unmoved amid the petty annoyances too trifling to be noticed, but too aggravating to be borne without a struggle. It is still less likely that he could preserve the "soul's calm sunshine," when some juvenile rebel tore down the barriers of order, and possibly of decency, by ommitting an offence too heinous to be winked out of sight.
Poetry and fiction furnish us with some examples of men who have reached sublime heights of self-control and serene equanimity of temper. Blow high or blow low; let the weather be of any sort ever known in moral meteorology, no matter, there they are. But these, for the most part, never kept school. Most of the romance writers were, and are, too wise to include a case like that, and so Mr. Lewis, tried beyond human endurance, would occasionally flog a boy. The writer does not wish to lay any stress upon the fact that he was taught and thrashed by the most talented man in town - the teaching largely predominating over the thrashings. The problem has been suggested to his mind, but with no attempt at solution, whether the scales would n't have turned the other way had the teacher, looking down the vista of time, foreseen his pupil at work upon this record, walking with a feeble gait, and at an immeasurable distance behind his master in his endeavors to revive and keep alive something worthy to make part of the history of Lynn. He has nothing, to complain of in the administration of Mr. Lewis, and only regrets that, as he had an early "call" to go to "work," he could not remain to reap the benefits of a tuition such as a teacher so gifted as his could impart.
It is not surprising, then, that under the extreme trials which are the lot, in some degree, of every teacher - but which in those days were experienced in a much higher degree - Mr. Lewis was not always serene. He had certain constitutional traits and peculiarities of temperament, for which he was no more responsible than for the color of his hair, or the size of his foot. These, to some extent, doubtless, tinged the stream of his existence; but, for the most part, they were only ripples upon its surface, disturbing its even flow for a while, but no more determining its course or measuring its volume than the drift-wood floating on the river gauges the value of the commerce it bears to the sea.
But even those who are disposed to take the most rose-colored view of this picture of early times, will hardly claim that the atmosphere of such a school-room was ethereal enough, whether considered as a material medium or a moral force, to float the delicate music from a poet's lyre, or inspire the imagination to ascend Alpine heights of song. But when the arduous and often tormenting labor of the day was over, Mr. Lewis did refresh his tired spirits as he listened to the music of the sea he loved so well, or, as a night watcher and worshiper among the "templed hills," caught "glimpses that made him less forlorn" and melted earth's heaviest fetters in the crucible of a poet's fancy. Health and manly vigor and high hopes of the future were his invincible allies, inspiring him with courage to work and wait; and so he girded himself and went forward. In spite of the drudgery of his daily toil, these were, doubtless, the happiest days of his life.
Mr. Lewis left his profession as teacher in 1835, having taught in our public schools some twelve years. He first taught (in 1823) the grammar school in Ward Five, afterward one of the same grade in Ward Three, and lastly the school in Ward Four. It is a remarkable fact that during these years of arduous school labor he did a large part of the literary work of his life. His first volume of poems appeared in 1823. This volume contained some of his juvenile productions, a few of them written as early as 1810. Six editions of his poems, with revisions and additions, were subsequently published, and gained for their author a wide reputation.
Mr. Lewis must have been one of the most industrious of men. As one looks at the literary work which he had accomplished even at this early age, and this, too, in spite of the exacting demands and harassing cares of a most exhausting profession, he will find an illustration of the truth of Buffon's definition of genius - ability to work. In 1829 he published the first edition of the History of Lynn in numbers, a work costing him years of patient investigation, the explorer where none had been before him, a pioneer cutting out a path for those who should come after. The inexperienced in a task like this know nothing of the difficulties to be encountered. Delving among old records, hunting up almost forgotten manuscripts without indexes or references to guide his way, with only an obscure hint or an uncertain clew to follow, which costs days or weeks of labor, ending often in a fruitless search - these are a few of the obstacles to be met with by one who attempts for the first time to tell the story of the past, and record the experiences of generations who have left behind them only the scattered remnants of their history.
This work, which passed through two editions, was the chief literary labor of his life. During all this time, and subsequently, he wrote for the press. He was the first editor of the Record, a paper first published in 1830. Owing to a misunderstanding concerning the policy to be pursued in the management of the paper, Mr. Lewis resigned his editorial charge at the close of the first six weeks.
Lynn owes a debt to Mr. Lewis which she can never repay. To him more than to any other man she is indebted for her growth and prosperity. One looking only at the surface of things might call in question the soundness of this estimate of Mr. Lewis' work and influence. This work did not show itself at once in spacious factories or extensive warehouses, or magnificent public buildings - but it made all these things possible, and led the way to their realization. It was his gifted pen that first called the attention of strangers to the unrivaled beauty of her shores, and the grandeur of her scenery, and invested Nature's wondrous handiwork with unfading charms. Caves and grottoes, secluded glen and silvery lake, reflecting the glories of the rising sun or mirroring by moonlight the grand amphitheater of pine-clad hills, calling to mind Whittier's magnificent picture -
"When the young archer, Morn, shall
break
His arrows on the mountain
pines,
And, golden-sandaled, walk the lake"-
all these were set forth in the poet's melodious verse, or immortalized by his descriptions in prose that rivaled in genius the finest productions of the writers of romance. To him, mainly, is she indebted for the lighthouse on her coast, and for the protection of her beaches. No work of public improvement escaped his notice. It seems almost wonderful that a man of his poetical genius, given, as many suppose, to reveries and abstractions, should be so constantly engaged in the solution of the most practical questions of every-day experience. In this respect he had a rare combination, which is the highest evidence of his genius. Like Benjamin Franklin, a smoky chimney, or a bungling shoe that pinched the foot of the wearer, did not escape his notice, and he went to work for a remedy. In a Directory which he published, he presented a diagram showing how lasts could be made that recognized the anatomy of the human foot, instead of the old barbarous methods that gave more than ample room where it was least required, and cramped the toes and distorted the foot by contracting the space where it was most needed; and all this in obedience to an idiotic fashion. At the present time the best English, French and American shoes conform substantially to the plan suggested by Mr. Lewis.
But it was not the various questions affecting the material interests of the town that alone engaged the attention of Mr. Lewis. He was one of the first to engage in the anti-slavery movement, just then beginning to assume a special significance under the organizing hand of Garrison. Even before this his protest found utterance in the following language: "The political system of our nation is probably the best which was ever devised by man for the common good; but it practically embraces one evil too obvious to be disregarded. While it advances the principle that all men have by nature the same civil rights, it retains, with strange inconsistency, one-sixth of the whole population in a state of abject bodily and mental servitude. On its own principles, our government has no right to enslave any portion of its subjects; and I am constrained in the name of God and truth to say that they must be free. Christianity and political expediency both demand their emancipation, nor will they always remain unheard. * * * * Where are the ministers of our holy religion that their prayers are not preferred for the liberation and enlightenment of men with souls as immortal as their own? Where are the Senators and Representatives of our free States that their voices are not heard in behalf of this most injured race? "
In the following sentence he gives wider scope to his benevolent impulses: "I trust the time will come when on the annals of our country will be inscribed the abolition of slavery - when the inhuman custom of war shall be viewed with abhorrence - when humanity shall no longer be outraged by the exhibition of capital punishment - when the one great principle of LOVE shall pervade all classes - when the poor shall be furnished with employment and ample remuneration - when men shall unite their exertions for the promotion of those plans which embrace the welfare of the whole - that the unqualified approbation of Heaven may be secured to our country, and that glory may dwell in our land.' "
Mr. Lewis' practice was consistent with his precepts. He was among the first to organize an antislavery society in town, and one of the sixteen who assembled in Boston at the second anti-slavery meeting called by Garrison. He was one of those who organized the first temperance society in town, and assisted in establishing the first Sunday School in Lynn. The following extract from a letter written by Mr. Garrison to Mr. Lewis illustrates the state of the anti-slavery movement in the "day of small things," and shows how closely the latter was identified with it in its earliest stages. The date of the letter is March 12, 1831. After alluding to the general aspect of the cause, Mr. Garrison writes -
"Do any of the good people of Lynn wish to hear a couple of addresses on slavery? If a hall can easily and gratuitously be obtained, and if as many will attend as honored friend Lundy with their presence, (twenty according to one of your correspondents,) it will give me pleasure to address them on Saturday and Sunday evenings next, (19th and 20th inst.,) at 7 o'clock. I will cheerfully pay for lighting the hall, etc. The first lecture will be a defence of the doctrine of immediate abolition, and a reply to the popular objections of the day. The other will be an examination of the merits of the American Colonization Society. I am willing to give you a little trouble because I know you will gladly incur it, but you must not be put to the expense of a farthing in procuring a place. On this condition alone can I consent to come."
But he not only had a deep sympathy with Mr. Garrison in his great work; he had also a high appreciation of his intellectual talents and his moral fitness for the grand movement which was soon to rock the nation on the stormy waves of conflicting opinion, and finally break the fetters of the slave by the shock of battle. The following sonnet shows how accurately he took the measure of the slave's great champion, whose self-sacrificing life, just closed by a triumphing death, built for him a monument more enduring than brass:
TO WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
Thy God has cast thee
in a noble mould,
And poured thy fabric full of
living soul,
That fills, informs, and animates the whole,
As if we saw a vision form
unroll;
And
thou goest forward with Ithurial's spear
To combat with the evils of the
world;
And thy
keen polished shafts on high are hurled
To fill Oppression with a
dreadful fear,
And drive him from his hold in Freedom's land,
Where he has marshaled forth a
mail-clad band,
Armed with the scourge of torture. Like a knight,
Who battled for the Cross in
days of old.
With truth thy shield, go forward, and be bold,
And may God aid thee in the
glorious fight.
MR. LEWIS AS A POET.
Mr. Lewis began to write verse at an early age. That he wrote well, the high praise he received from competent judges fully proves. In a notice of his poetical writings, the Sheffield Iris, (Eng.,) edited by the poet James Montgomery, alluded to a volume of his "poems," just then published, in the following complimentary terms:
"In many of the moral and, religious effusions of our American brethren there is an expressed weariness of life and a longing to be rid of its cares and woes, which we cannot but reprehend, inasmuch as these things in the hands of Providence are elements of that salutary discipline which is no doubt intended to perfect our education for immortality. In the poems of Mr. Lewis we rejoice to see the manifestations of a healthier and more comprehensive spirit. * * * * Many passages of exceeding beauty will be found in the poem of Love as well as in the minor pieces which are appended, the majority of them being characterized by high moral views, with great sweetness of versification. Of these a specimen will be found in our Poet's Corner, which, if carefully read, cannot but prompt the wish that the exquisite little volume from which it was taken may have as extensive a circulation in the old country as in the new.
The Norwich (Eng.) Gazette published the following high commendation:
"We think our readers will agree with us, that this is as mellifluous verse as ever Campbell or Rogers wrote."
The poem alluded to by the Sheffield Iris opens as follows:
A purer theme than ever
mortal sung,
A
sweeter word hangs on my trembling tongue;
Angels have listened to its voice divine,
And seraphs
bowed before its holy shrine.
O, thou, fair Truth,
whose form arrayed in light,
Glows by thy throne
of heaven forever bright,
Send thy pure rays
into thy poet's heart,
And holy
strength to my glad mind impart;
That I may trace the origin of
Love,
And teach mankind to seek her fount above.
The following lines from the same poem present a fine picture of a starry night -
Benignant Power, how
fair thy works appear!
How full thy glories in each burning sphere:
The Northern Harp with strings
of twinkling gold,
Pours forth its constant harmony
untold;
There
his bright lamp Arcturus holds on high,
Filling with light the chambers
of the sky;
While in a shining group the gentle band
Of sister Pleiads hold each
others' hand,
And dance all night along the spangled plain,
To the rich music of the
heavenly strain.
Though humor was not a marked trait in his writings, Mr.
Lewis could write humorously, as his "Ode to the Sea Serpent" shows.
The poetry of Mr. Lewis reveals no intimate knowledge of the world, nor a deep insight into the manifold workings of human nature. He has written none of those immortal lines that haunt the memory, and are transmitted from age to age, the imperishable dower that genius bequeaths to the sons of men. He was a student of nature rather than of character. He loved the music of the sea, as its gentle ripples in the sheltered harbor played beneath the windows of his cottage, or as its stormy waves broke in fury on the beach a few rods distant, sounding their everlasting dirges in the watches of the night. And he loved the solitude of the woods. The waving of the pines, and the sighing of the winds beneath the "fretted vault" of heaven were to him grander than swinging censers and the sublimest strains of cathedral anthem. He was a great admirer of Wordsworth, to whom he alludes in one of his finest stanzas -
Thou, fit to stand
where Shakspeare stood of old,
And see the secrets of the Muse unfold;
To lie reclined
upon the hallowed sod,
And be the priest of Nature and of God.
But meritorious as some of Mr. Lewis' poetical productions are, he holds a higher rank as a writer of prose. His style is always easy and graceful, and often elegant; while some of his descriptions manifest a high degree of literary art. Passages can be found in the introduction to his History that are scarcely excelled by any modern writer. This is the more remarkable in view of the fact that he must have written under the pressure of circumstances that gave him little leisure for that pruning and careful revision found so essential even to those most skilled in the art of expression. His writings abound in classical allusions, and his frequent reference to the great masters of English speech show the wide extent of his erudition.
Mr. Lewis was born in
Lynn, on the 28th of August, 1794, and died January 21, 1861, at the age of
sixty-seven.
|
WILLIAM D. THOMPSON. |
William Diamond
Thompson was born in 1787 in the rocky town
of Marblehead. He moved to Lynn about ten years later, where he lived until his
death, in 1875. Mr. Thompson was what might be called an original character; but
his originality did not run in those eccentric channels that often call for a
large amount of charity and patience in following their windings. On the
contrary, Mr. Thompson was always genial, always hopeful, and just as ready to
say "good morning" to a boy as to a
full-grown man. Soon after coming to Lynn he worked a while at the "old craft," and then learned the art of cutting shoes.
He manufactured shoes for a time in a small way, and afterward engaged in
cutting shoes for his brother-in-law, Joseph B. Breed. In 1827 or '28 he
obtained a position in the factory of Nathan Breed, and for many years, till
near the time of his death, he was manager of Mr. Breed's large business. Mr.
Thompson was an admirable salesman. He could tell more stories and sell more
shoes in the same length of time than almost
any man living in these parts.
These were the days when slavery was in full blast, and when our shoe business, which at first was confined entirely to New England, had extended to the South until that section became our chief customer. Mr. Thompson was a stalwart abolitionist from the first. He had an instinctive hatred of slavery, and was one of the small number ready to welcome Garrison and his few coworkers at the very start of their great mission. His home was ever open to welcome the great champion, and it was not many years before Lynn became known as the "hot-bed" of abolitionism. As a matter of course, Southern dealers came on here once or twice a year to purchase shoes; and as might be supposed, these dealers had little sympathy with abolition views. It was a performance worth studying to see Mr. Thompson handle one of these customers. First he would tell a story, called out by some remark, or by something that was passing in the street. Then, as if it were an incident of the occasion, he would call attention to a particular style of shoe as just the thing for the Southern market. Then, as if making a casual remark, he "could say - "Here's something we've got up specially for your section; extra wide, sevens to elevens." (Most folks called these nigger shoes.) So he would lead his customer on, going from one thing to another by an easy transition, many of the topics brought forward not having apparently the remotest bearing upon any style of shoes then known. But they all did have an important bearing. His customer concluded he was the man to trade with, and in spite of his abolitionism - for Mr. Thompson took no pains to conceal his views - the most fiery defender of slavery from the South was often seen in the salesroom cracking jokes with Mr. Thompson, as though he had known him from his youth up.
It was amusing to hear Mr. Thompson talk Marblehead. As he was a Marbleheader himself, he claimed a large liberty in this direction. He was pretty sure to imitate some of the peculiarities of speech that used to prevail in that ancient town whenever any of its inhabitants, workmen or binders, happened to be present. Brief notes, written on paper as miscellaneous in its size, quality and shape as their contents were miscellaneous in their character, were sent by workmen and binders living in Marblehead. These notes were usually called "dockets." One day the expressman called and handed Mr. Thompson a budget of these "dockets." The writer happened to be present. Mr. Thompson took one and began to read aloud so that all present might hear - "Mr. Thompson, I want another set of lasts; four can't work on one set." He read this as Dickens read his Wellerisms, broadening the vowels and rendering every part with scrupulous faithfulness. He then took up another. "Here's a fellow who thinks he makes 'French.' I told him to make the edges a little thinner, and he wants a rise in his price." This allusion to " French" will be quite clear to the old " jours," but to the uninitiated an explanation will be needed. About this time, the style called "French" shoes came into fashion, so called from their supposed resemblance to the imported article. The uppers were usually of light French kid, (when it was not American,) sometimes of white satin, and occasionally of other light and delicate material. The soles were cut from the best of light leather, and in "rounding on" were" feather-edged" down to the "grain," so that the edge, when finished, was about as thick as a ten-cent piece. Some of these native productions imitated the French article. Some of them did n't. A wag remarked that some of these shoes furnished a sufficient reason for a declaration of war on the part of France.
Mr. Thompson was popular with the workmen. He was very liberal in furnishing "findings" for them, such as rosin, paste-flour, bees-wax - for making channel-wax, as well as for binders' use. There was a good deal of difference in the practice of manufacturers in this particular, some of them supplying little or none of these things, while others furnished all that were needed. In this list, pasteflour held the first rank. A prominent manufacturer told the writer the following story - plus the names: "Uncle Somebody worked for a boss who found paste-flour. Uncle used a good deal of paste-flour. It was hinted that it. was not all used for adhesive purposes, but was made to serve as the staff of life. Not to put too fine a point upon it, he had it made into cakes. The boss got wind of this. He also got wind of the fact that Uncle expected company when an unusual quantity of past-flour would be needed. Uncle called for a supply "of flour and the boss had some already - nicely mixed with pulverized rosin. The rosin, not acting in the least like baking-powders or yeast when baked, made a compound such as was never seen on sea or land. Bread being the main article in an old times bill of fare, and good bread being the chief delight of a thrifty housewife, especially when company was to judge of its quality, this unlooked- for result came upon Uncle's family circle like a domestic Waterloo."
As already intimated, he had an inexhaustible fund of stories and reminiscences. One day a workman from Marblehead entered the factory; as he had put in an appearance a few days before, Mr. Thompson said - "How's this? You were here a day or two ago." "Well, I had a chance to come over." "Ah, how's that Joe?" "Well, you see Tom Roundey was going to walk over, and I came over with him."The rarity of such a "chance" as this made Mr. Thompson smile audibly.
A Quaker, well-known in the neighborhood, called one day and inquired of Nathan - as Mr. Breed was usually called - if he did n't want a basket of good apples. The price being satisfactory, Nathan told him that he might leave a basket. Mr. Thompson said he would have a basket of the same kind. In due time the apples were brought. The Quaker pointed to one, and with special emphasis, remarked - "That basket, Nathan, is thine; the other, William, is thine." Mr. Thompson mused within himself, "Of course these two baskets of apples are just alike - same kind, the same price. I'll send Nathan's basket down to my house; "and they were delivered accordingly. A short time after, the Quaker made his appearance again in Nathan's factory. Nathan was present; so was Mr. Thompson. "How did thee like thy apples, Nathan?" asked the Quaker. "Poor things; poor things!" said Nathan, in his crisp and emphatic manner. Mr. Thompson poised himself for the occasion - "Mine were excellent, excellent!" As the case was sufficiently elucidated, no further comment was made.
During the anti-Masonic controversy of 1830, and the few years following, Mr. Thompson was known as a stanch anti-Mason. In short, he was never anything but stanch in the support of any opinion he saw reason to hold.
Mr. Thompson was also one of the earliest among the temperance reformers. In all the earlier stages of the movement, through the years preceding the Washingtonian reform, he was a thorough, consistent temperance man, who never preached beyond his practice; and he was among the very first that stood on the total abstinence platform. Skeptics might assail the soundness of his philosopny, but they never attempted to cast doubt on the sincerity of his convictions, or the consistency of his practice.
As might have been expected, Mr. Thompson entered the Washingtonian movement with his whole soul. He combined the zeal of the new convert with the steadfastness of the veteran. The few aged men now living among us, whose life took on a new meaning from the date of that great moral upheaval, remember, and will never forget, the friend whose counsel and money were never wanting when poverty and the besetments of a drunkard's appetite stood in their path like an Apollyon ready to slay and devour them.
Though outspoken in his denunciation of those who he believed were wilfully following the wrong, and setting snares for the feet of the young and unwary, there was no tinge of the cynic in his nature, and no moroseness nor misanthropy in his character. He took a cheerful view of things, and his general philosophy smoothed his way over the rough places of life. He believed there was no evil in the world except what man made for himself.
In the few last years of his life, when too old to attend to business, he would be seen, on pleasant days, about the railroad station, or in some favorite stopping-place, ready to tell, with a clear recollection, anything that happened in Lynn, or vicinity, during the last fifty or seventy-five years. He could begin with the "embargo," and what Marblehead people thought of it; of the war of 1812, when a good many people from that town moved over to Lynn; of the hard times of the war, and of the years following; and what they did n't have for breakfast in those days; what relation the Saugus Newhalls were to the Pudding-Hill Newhalls; or any other event of public or local importance that might be brought to his mind.
|
HENRY A. BREED. |
One of
our best known, and in some respects most
remarkable men, was born in 1798, being the
son of Thomas A. and Hannah N. Breed.
In April, 1800, his family removed to Salem; later, in 1811, to Mount Vernon, N. H. ; and again, in 1812, returned to Lynn, residing at the Lynn Hotel. Here an old merchant boarder became interested in him, and when peace returned, in 1815, procured him a situation in the employ of Skinner & Hurd, of Charlestown, then considered one of the very foremost grocery houses in the country. Here Mr. Breed remained till his majority, and then, April 21, 1819, he returned to Lynn and opened a grocery of his own.
At this early period he had conceived the idea, as the purpose of his life, "to see what he could do for his native town." He at once engaged in all the reformatory enterprises that could be suggested. One of the first of these was the effort to have a stove placed in the Old Tunnel Church. Against much opposition this was done, and, of course, highly approved of afterward. This was in 1819. It was followed by a movement for setting shade-trees along most of the streets, to which he largely contributed. The old Lynn Mechanics Bank, first started in 1814, had thus far only a very imperfect system of business; this Mr. Breed undertook the correction of, and gave it the first regular and satisfactory form it had ever had. At this time neither mutual insurance nor savings banks were known in the town; he set himself to create both, taking the agency of the Mutual Company, and writing the first policy of insurance ever made in the place. To develop the capacity of Lynn he also began the erection of dwellings, and other buildings, selling them to the people on very favorable terms; and in sixteen years he had thus increased the number of habitable structures in Lynn by the number of four hundred and sixteen.
But in 1836 he found that the unsettled state of public affairs would not further admit of operations on as generous a scale as he had proposed. The final result was that he became bankrupt for the sum of $900,000. Considering the causes that led to this indebtedness, and its very existence at such a time and among such a people, this failure must stand as a very remarkable case. It involved many others in its consequences; Nahant Bank went down for $150,000, and the Union Insurance Company for $50,000, Mr. Breed owning a fifth interest in each of these companies.
Thus, in the sixteen years business, he had lost the sum of $42,000; but he claims, no doubt with reason, that in that time he had created here $750,000 of new value, which was equal to the whole town valuation for taxable purposes, when he came home in 1819.
After this, and a great variety of minor services in which he sought to benefit his native place, and doubtless did so, and after he had gone through with the painful "Eastern Land Speculation," losing some $200,000 thereby, a company of Boston merchants invited him to take charge of a new enterprise, which was the building of a new city and naval station at Brunswick, Ga. He went thither with a large force, opened a heavy trade in lumber, and during his stay of three years completed all, or most, of the company's design, which included a canal from the Altamaha to the Turtle river, a railroad from Brunswick to Tallahassee, or more than two hundred miles, a saw mill with $75,000 capital, and a hotel costing $50,000, as well as many lesser things.
During this time he was always engaged in settling up the ruins of his earlier misfortune. It was no small nor pleasant work. Six years were expired before a termination was at last afforded him, and then only by the United States bankrupt law.
Mr. Breed then resolved on trying the standard business of Lynn, and accordingly commenced the shoe business, locating himself in the old Lynn Hotel building. A variable fortune attended this effort; he had good success for a time, but ultimately failed, yet with enough saved to settle in full with all the workmen employed.
By this time the memorable year of 1849 had arrived, and he was solicited by Boston parties to go into business in California. Having agreed, he arrived in San Francisco December 1st, when things were in their lowest condition. He had been made consignee of three ships' cargoes, and more than one strong man was ready to bid him welcome. By the courtesy and assistance of the late Thomas O. Larkin, he was introduced to General Valejo, at Benicia, after consulting with whom, both returned to San Francisco and formed a partnership for general merchandise and land business. Mr. Larkin furnishing $100,000 capital. This firm showed great enterprise; they built stores, planked the streets, constructed wharves, and dug canals. The town of Sutterville owes its origin to them. But they soon met their reverses. Six large fires consumed their property to an estimated value of several millions; and, though Mr. Breed considers his realized profits in California worth more than $500,000, his losses ran up to above $1,000,000, and he found it advisable to relinquish further effort in that direction.
On the 30th of May, 1857, Mr. Breed returned to Lynn with so little left him as only to reckon himself a poor man. For a time he looked to his horticultural skill, in which he held always a high rank, for his daily living. But in 1858 the territory now called the "Highlands" began to attract notice, and he again adventured in the development and sale of lands. His movements in this cost him almost $10,000, rewarded only by the present discovery that the land would not sell. He was forced to leave it idle, where it lay for more than ten years.
Meantime the business of quartz milling was becoming of interest to the merchants of Boston, and Mr. Breed was invited to undertake the manufacture and management of a new machine for that purpose. He took hold of the affair, and formed a company with $150,000, which pursued the work for two years, and made $20,000. With this success he again started in Lynn in 1864, and formed a home company with $200,000, for the same business, to which was incidentally added the preparation of raw-bone fertilizers. It was this business that led to the erection of the large mill at the corner of Western avenue and Federal street. He went on successfully in this for a time, till 1866, but his old misfortune seemed to find him out, the company failed, and all the stock was lost, the building included.
In 1868 he again gave his attention to his Highland property, the popularity of which had considerably advanced. Since then he has made extensive improvements therein, laying out streets, investigating titles and erecting buildings, by which the taxable value of the premises has been greatly increased; yet, at the present time, he intimates that he is more than likely to meet reverses that may undermine his entire possession.
Such is a very rapid sketch of the long career of one of the most remarkable of the business men of Lynn. At the age of eighty-two he is still among us in full health and vigor, with memory stocked with the notable things of the past, and a library of reference to the local historian. One of the most unselfish of men, he has never been lax in his efforts, so early commenced, for the good of his native place; yet it is not pleasant to have to add that none of these enterprises seem to have resulted in much good to him, though always well for others. As an example may be mentioned his founding the Lynn Mechanics Institute, about 1845, that built the block known as Exchange Hall, and was to provide a most worthy class of facilities for free education. Like so many more of his plans, it missed its specific mark but ripened into profit in a different way.
Mr. Breed was one of the original members and founders of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, surrounded by a circle of genial spirits, of whom he is now almost a sole survivor. In similar associations he has always found his great delight, and today realizes that his books and his garden have yielded him a surer return of happiness than the absorbing pursuits of mankind that have so much drawn him away from their full enjoyment.
|
JOHN B. ALLEY. |
John Bassett Alley
was born in Lynn in 1817. He had only the
small advantages of the public schools, and at the early age of fourteen years
was apprenticed to Pelatiah Purinton to learn the shoemaker's trade. Mr.
Purinton, a worthy member of the Society of Friends, had many apprentices, but
declared that John was the best of them all, and he made a practical
recognition of his faithful service by giving his apprentice his time when he
was nineteen years old. Mr. Alley early developed those traits which
marked his future life - industry, perseverance, a thirst for knowledge, and
great business capacity. His love of reading ran in the direction of history and
biography, and especially those branches relating to the political history of
America, and the career of our public men.
At an early age he had laid up an unusual store of information, and an
extraordinary memory, especially of dates, placed at his command whatever his industry had gathered.
Having obtained his freedom ha at once embarked in business. and sought a market for his venture in the West, then beginning that marvelous development hitherto without parallel in the world. His journey - part of it on the Mississippi - was beset with difficulties and dangers, but despite youth and inexperience, his first effort was a success. He now entered the shoe business, and soon after established himself in Boston as a dealer in shoe stock, and more especially sole leather. He soon became noted for those business qualities which marked his subsequent life. His intimate acquaintance with the principles of trade, and the soundness of his judgment, brought their sure results. His success as a merchant was soon manifest, and he took his place among the leading business men of the State.
From youth Mr. Alley showed an interest in the anti-slavery movement, and throughout his whole life has maintained a steady, consistent course in all his acts and utterances touching this, the greatest question of the time. He cast his first vote at a presidential election for the candidates of the Liberty Party. He was one of the organizers of the Free Soil Party, and was a candidate for presidential elector in 1848.
He early turned his attention to public affairs, and in the year 1850 - when the city government was established - was a member of the Board of Aldermen. In 1851 he was one of the Governor's Council, and in 1852 a member of the State Senate. He was chosen a member of the State Constitutional Convention held in 1853.
In 1858 he was chosen Representative to Congress, the first and only native of Lynn who has held that high position. He served eight years, through the Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congress. He was a member of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads through his entire term of service; was made Chairman of the Committee in the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congress, and did very efficient work in behalf of those important interests. He was also a member of the Committee on the Bankrupt Law. In 1866 he was a delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalists' Convention.
Mr. Alley has twice visited Europe; the first time in 1860, as the representative of important mercantile interests, and again in 1869, making the acquaintance of prominent men in political and commercial circles.
For the last fourteen years Mr. Alley has held no public office; but his unabated interest in public affairs has divided his attention with the demands of an extensive business, and the pleasing duties of a large hospitality; his fine mansion, near the seashore, being the stopping place of many distinguished guests.
Mr. Alley's career as a public man and a prominent merchant has brought him in intimate relations with nearly all the leading statesmen of the country, and with the foremost business men in commercial circles. Few men have a wider and more exact knowledge of the questions relating to the development of our material resources. The great railroad enterprises of the last twenty years engaged his special attention, and his large knowledge and practical judgment have made him an authority on these and kindred questions.
Few men are better
qualified than he to furnish a book of reminiscences of the events of the last
fifty years. His extensive acquaintance with public men, and his large business
experience, combined with a memory unusually tenacious, place at his command
materials too valuable to be lost. Especially minute is his
knowledge of the social and industrial progress of our city; and a volume such
as he could write would be an invaluable contribution to our local history.
This site may be freely linked to but not duplicated in
any fashion without my permission.
© 2006 Copyright by Shaun
Cook