NQRT HH 
vated men. They appreciated the importance of edu- 
cation for their children. In 1642 the town voted for 
a free school. In 1651 a Latin school was begun to 
prepare the youth of the town for college. Thirty- 
cight young men were, in the course of fifty years from 
that time, graduated from ‘‘Cambridge College.’ 
The religious communities of Essex and Gloucester 
were more strongly welded by the intermarriage of 
luey Wise, the daughter of the Rev. John Wise of Essex 
to Rev. John White, Gloucester’s first colonial pastor. 
The first road opened between Manchester and Hs- 
sex was in 1750, a public road built through the woods. 
In 1762, plans were formed for a public conveyance 
between Boston and Ipswich. The mail had been ear- 
ried on horseback previously. Six days were utilized 
going and coming. In the above year a curricle or stag 
chair drawn by two horses started its trips between 
Portsmouth and Boston. It took five days to go and 
come. The fare was $3.10. What a transition in the 
mode of travel on the North Shore today! 
Satie O Ren 
BREEZE 9 
town, as during that year it received its incorporation 
as Essex. 
In 1817, a new road was opened between Manches- 
ter and Essex. Certain names stand out in the history 
of every town and distinguished them. In the instance 
of Essex, that of Rufus Choate has become one of na- 
tional repute. His publie career as a statesman and 
orator made him one of the most successful advocates 
ol the Essex bar. He served Massachusetts in the legis- 
lature and senate. In 1832, he was elected a congress- 
man. He declined re-election in 1834 and devoted him- 
self to law, becoming one of the most eminent lawyers 
of the Suffolk bar. He was a regent of the Smithsonian 
Institute in 1847, and attorney general of Massachusetts 
in 1853. In failing health, he set sail June 29, 1859, for 
Hngland in hope of recovering his health. Death over- 
took him at Halifax, N. 8., July 13. 
In 1820, the Essex Canal Company was incorporated 
-- opening up Essex River to Fox Creek (a branch of 
the Ipswich River). This opened up to transportation 
Cut used Courtesy of Geo. K. Knowlton, Pub, of Post Cards, P. O. Box 65, Lssex 
SHIPYARD OF ARTHUR D. STORY, ESSEX.—STEAMER ROLLIN E. MASON. 
Dr. Ebenezer Davis was the first physician in Che- 
bacco (Essex). A few years later he removed to Squam 
parish, Gloucester. 
Essex colonists helped to found Marietta, Ohio. 
Maj. Andrew Story left Essex with a company of sixty 
men and marched to Ohio to protect the new settlers 
from the Indians. He had to start months in advance of 
other settlers who were emigrating from Hamilton, 
Sulem and Beverly. Some of the wagons, which were 
long, painted red and covered with canvas, were drawn 
by oxen. Some of them bore the inscription: For 
Marietta on the Ohio.’’ They were eight weeks in per- 
forming their journey. Thus Essex and her neighboring 
towns helped build up Ohio, now one of the country’s 
most influential states. Ohioans on the North Shore 
should find greater pleasure and interest in these locali- 
ties, when they contemplate the arduous and primitive 
wode of travel which had to be adopted, the hardships, 
perils and tragedies which interrupted the journey of 
these western emigrant-pioneers from the North Shore. 
October 30, 1789, the settlers of Essex helped wel- 
come George Washington to Ipswich while on his 
northern tour. The year 1800 was a notable one for the 
ship-timber and lumber from the shores of the Merrimac 
through Plum island and across Ipswich river to Essex. 
The government established Essex’ first postoffice 
in 1821. 
Thomas Marshall Burnham, Boston’s famous anti- 
quarian, was a native of Essex. In 1825, he settled in 
Boston dealing in furniture and second-hand books. He 
prospered. ‘‘Burnham’s antiquarian bookstore,’’ in 
Cornhill, Boston, became generally known as the first 
and largest establishment of its kind in the country. 
It was the rendezvous of famous antiquarians, authors 
and scholars generally. The idea was an original one 
with this son of Essex and he amassed a fortune. 
Ropes and lines used in the early maritime pur- 
suits of Gloucester, Boston, Marblehead and Beverly 
were made in Essex prior and after 1820. Hemp, cotton 
warp and yarn were woven here into mackerel and other 
fishing lines as late as 1868, and then cod lines were 
made. Boat-building went out of vogue here in 1835. 
Vessel-building grew in greatest importance during and 
aiter the 1860’s. Ship-builders previously had their 
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