Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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cause of his ability was promoted to command all the troops of Massa- chusetts Bay. The Reverend Thomas Franklin Waters relates of the hardships and losses sustained by this old town in the long: struggle with the Indians. Many a story of the Narragansett campaign was told about the fire- sides of Ipswich two hundred and fifty years ago. The restoration of the Stuart Charles the Second brought thirty years of uncertainty for the colo- nies. The colonists were a part of the traditions of the Long Parlia- ment and friendly to the men who deposed the Stuarts. The political conception of Mass- achusetts was based on the idea that the charter left no right to the crown other than those actually re- served. Charles the Second sent his Commissioners to New England to enforce all laws, and their presence was at once resented. The colonists deemed the Commissioner’s actions unwarranted intrusions on their po- litical sovereignty. It is said that all persons took the liberty to abuse Edward Randolph, agent of the king, and the demand made that Massachusetts surrender its charter was seriously debated in the colony. On December 20, 1686, Sir Ed- mund Andros arrived in Boston ac- companied by one hundred soldiers and supported by the English fri- gate, “The Rose,” with his commis- sion as royal governor of the Mass- achusetts Bay and all of New Eng- land. Andros demanded the church- es to open their doors to the Church of England out of which the found- ers had fled. He claimed all land for the King of England and finally ordered the levying of taxes for the maintenance of his own govern- ment. The following year, August of 1687, the warrants were executed levying a tax, not in itself exces- sive, and ordering the towns to ap- point a collector, who, with the selectmen, should assess each town’s quota. The Rev. Washington Choate, in an address delivered nearly fifty years ago on the Andros Remon- strance has this to say of the most important period in the town’s his- torv, “Out from the century and a half which lies between the settle- ment of Agawam under the leader- ship of John Winthrop, the son of Massachusetts’ first governor, and that dividing line of colonial and national life the War of the Revo- lution, there arises before us one decade in which occurred the event which calls for the loval remem- brance of each successive genera- tion.” The General Court, at the time of the Restoration of Charles the II, had reasserted the rights of the Massachusetts Colony under its Charter, — those essential privilieges of a democracy within the limits of a Puritan commonwealth, the rights of the freemen to select their own governor, judges, and representa- tives, and to assess and collect taxes by their own officers. 24

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The early records of Ipswich dis- close the active interest of the founders in the public schools. In the founding of a Puritan common- wealth sometimes called a “Bible Commonwealth,” the settlers were determined that their posterity should secure all the benefits of ed- ucation and from the beginning learning and religion were united. Intelligence and virtue were the re- sults. The grammar school, early es- tablished, had for its teacher the renowned Ezekiel Cheever, after- wards called to the Boston Latin School. The funds of the grammar school since appropriated to the Manning School were greatly bene- fited by the bequest of Little Neck. The colonial records of seven- teenth century Ipswich revealed many of the hardships of the found- ers of our Commonwealth. The first houses were probablv made of logs, the roofs were thatched, and many a pitiful story is learned of their destruction in the early years by fire. Tn a self-supporting community such as colonial Ipswich, the many necessities of life were oroduced within the town itself. The virgin soil, redeemed by extreme toil, yielded the staple crops of which corn was the most important. The sawmill came into early use as did the hemp-mill and the malt-kiln, and upon the banks of the Ipswich river were found many pioneer in- dustries. From the beginning an ex- tensive fishing industry gave many a livelihood. Fishing stages were maintained at Jeffries Neck and as far as the Isle of Shoals. We have many records of the so- cial life of Colonial Ipswich, and while the Puritans are often pic- tured as cold and austere, the story of a young man, found guilty of making love to his neighbor’: daughter without her parent’s con- sent and fined five pounds, is suffi- cient proof of the human weakness of the times. The visitor to Ipswich in 1685 also tells of the lively circu- lation of news and his trip to Row- ley to witness a football game in which the players were barefooted. In a brief sketch of colonial Ips- wich it is possible to mention only a few events which are of great im- portance, and a few of those men whose lives have left a profound in- fluence and impression. The early military records tell of the part played by the men of Ips- wich in disarming the Sagamore of the Merrimac and the beginning of the long military record of Denison, son-in-law of Governor Dudley and later a Major-General of the colony. William Hubbard, minister of the church at Ipswich, has left valuable narratives of King Phillin’s War. Hubbard was a member of the first class to graduate from Harvard, and is described — “for many years the most eminent minister in Essex County and superior to all his con- temporaries as a writer.” The terrible destruction to life and property during King Phillip’s War has been recorded by Mr. Hub- bard, and the part plaved bv the town of Ipsv ich is worthy of note. There were several men from Ips- wich killed at Bloodv Brook in the ambuscade laid by the Indians. Major Samuel Appleton of Ips- wich early took the field and be- 23

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The Ipswich town meeting was held August 23rd, 1687, but on the night before some twelve or four- teen men, including the Rev. John Wise, met at the house of John Ap- pleton, town clerk, and resolved that the act of levying taxes in the manner specified by the Andros warrant abridged their liberties and agreed not to commit the town to this method of the said “Sir Ed- mund and his council.” The town meeting held the next day unani- mously voted not to concur in the demands of Governor Andros. The leader in this Remonstrance was the Reverend John Wise of Chebacco parish. The importance of the position taken by Wise and his associates can be understood, for in 1687 Ipswich was second only to Boston in population, wealth, and influence . The penalty of leadership fell upon Wise, and he and five others were soon arrested, carried to the old stone jail in Boston, denied the writ of Habeas Corpus, tried by a packed jury, and found guilty of contempt and misdemeanor. Exces- sive fines were imposed, and Mr. Wise was suspended from the Min- istry. Thus it was from Ipswich that the first open resistance to the Brit- ish crown was offered, and of that historic occasion, two hundred and forty-seven years ago this summer, Ipswich rightfully deserves the honor of the birthplace of Ameri- can Independence. The freemen of Ipswich, with their charter rights abrogated, stood upon the same principle as John Hampden when he resisted the taxation of Charles the First, and John Wise made affirmation of his rights as an Englishman pro- tected by Magna Charta. Rufus Choate, a son of Ipswich, in his oration delivered one hun- dred years ago at the two hun- dredth anniversary of the Incorpo- ration of Ipswich has this to say of John Wise and Ipswich: “These men may justly claim a distin- guished rank among the patriots of America. You, their townsmen, may well be proud of them, prouder still, but more grateful than proud, that a full town meeting of the free- men of Ipswich adopted unani- mously that declaration of right, and refused to collect or pay the tax which would have made them slaves. The principle of that vote was precisely the same on which Samuel Adams, Hancock, and War- ren resisted the Stamp Act — the principle, that if any po wer but the people can tax the people, there is an end of liberty.” We hold the heritage of the Puri- tan fathers in high esteem. It is to the virtues of the early settlers that we owe the bed rock of char- acter on which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was founded. The town of Ipswich was settled by men and women who sought the light of a Power higher than their own, and in the hearts of those who landed on these shores three hundred years ago, come germs of creative life that were not crushed but cher- ished. And in the words of John Greenleaf Whittier: “The great eventful Present hides the Past; but through the din 26