Abbie A Coffin

Abby/Abbie Ann Coffin, daughter of Enoch Coffin and Abigail Worth Coffin Enoch son of Hezekiah and Anna Hale
Hezekiah son of Eliphalet and Lydia Emery
Eliphalet son of  son of John and Hannah Cheney
John son of Stephen and Sarah Atkinson
Stephen son Tristram, JR and Judith Greenleaf
Tristram, Jr. son of Tristram, SR and Dionius Stevens
Abby was born September 2, 1839 in Newbury MA she lived to be 94 according to her obit, however the September article states the prior year she was 94 so someone had it wrong. If you do the math she was 95. She passed on March 16, 1934

Jacob Perkins Inventor & Genius

Jacob Perkins was born and bred in Newburyport, MA B: July 9 1766 D: July 11 1849 in London Son of Mathew Perkins and Jane Noyes Married November 11 1790 Hannah Greenleaf d.of Ebenezer Greenleaf and Hannah Titcomb Greenleaf  See The Jacob Perkins House 

Jacob Perkins Newburyport, MA building: 2nd floor by Dick Hancsom May, 2010

• Check your coin jar  
• Historic mint is restored, reopens this weekend
• Jacob Perkins Printing and Engraving Building
• From American Journal of Numismatics, Volume XXVII, Page 25
• Jacob Perkins, An Early New England Die Cutter.

One of the most ingenious of engravers and one of the earliest to attempt to engrave medallic dies, was Jacob Perkins, whose medal of Washington, bearing an urn and the inscription, "He Is in Glory, the World in Tears," is well known to collectors. He was born in Newburyport, Mass., July 9, 1766. His father was a tailor, and carried on his business in that quaint old town on the banks of the Merrimac, which at that time was a prosperous municipality and the home of many distinguished men. On its principal street stands the church where Whitfield lies buried, the well-known friend of the Wesleys and the Countess of Huntingdon, and to whose fervid sermons on his journeys through the colonies Franklin occasionally listened. Jacob's father had a numerous family, and brought them up in much of the strictness which characterized the period; but Jacob was somewhat disposed to resent the rigor of the parental rule, and it is related that on one occasion having been sent to his chamber for some trifling misdemeanor, his father repaired thither shortly after, determined to apply the rod of correction, but was astonished to find only an empty room; the boy had discovered some balls of the "listing" torn from his father's woolens, and, extemporizing a rope, had made his escape. Whether this ability of taking care of himself led to the immediate result of his leaving home, history does not relate, but soon after, at the age of fifteen, we find him at work as a goldsmith, and assuming a large share of the responsibility of the business. At the age of twenty-one he is said to have made his first attempt at gutting dies for striking coins. A letter from Mr. Matthew A. Stickney, in the Journal for September, 1868, (p 36), says that he "executed beautifully a silver pattern for the first coinage of United States dollars," an impression of which, obtained from a nephew of Mr. Perkins, is in the Stickney cabinet, who esteems it as among the choicest pieces in his possession, and who remarks that it was rejected because it bore the medallion head of Washington.

On the 11th of February, 1800, a Masonic procession was held in which the Grand Lodge, Samuel Dunn, Grand Master, and 1600 Brethren participated, many of them wearing a Medal struck for the occasion from dies cut by Jacob Perkins. The obverse has a bust of Washington to left, in uniform, and surrounded by a wreath of laurel. It bears the legend, "He Is in Glory, the World in Tears," which was suggested by the Hon. Dudley A. Tyng, who was at one time collector of the Port of Newburyport. The reverse has an inscription in four concentric lines and a skull and crossbones at the bottom.

 Washington funeral medal, c 1800 Private Collection Picture from American Silversmiths 

Advertised in the Providence Journal (Providence RI), 5 Feb 1800, by David Vinton offering the Washington funeral medals produced Perkins.
Eleven days later a civic procession marched through the streets of the same city, and another medal, having the same obverse, but a different reverse, with an urn, etc., the dies of which were also cut by Perkins, was worn. These medals were struck in a three-story wooden building which stood for many years in Market Place, Newburyport, and perhaps is still there; it was just below the Ocean Bank.

The "pattern silver dollar" referred to in the above extract can hardlybe classed as a pattern coin. An "impression from the die" would be a better designation, for it appears that Mr. Perkins cut only one die—the obverse. Only one of these impressions is known, which was offered in the sale of the Stickney collection by Mr. Henry Chapman in 1907, where it was described as follows:

"(1793) Dollar. Bust of Washington in military costume facing left, on a plain field surrounded by concentric bands of various designs; in the outer one at the top in incused letters is the word 'Washington.' Struck on a thin silver planchet, the reverse being the same design as obverse incused. Silver. Extremely fine and perfect. Size 2 6. Unique and unpublished, unknown to everyone—not even in Baker's 'Medallic Portraits of Washington, 1885.' It is wrapped in a piece of old paper and inscribed in Mr. Stickney's handwriting—$10 Pattern dollar, 1793, by Jacob Perkins of Newburyport, given me by his nephew—very rare.'"
Ad from  Tuesday, April 24, 1810 Paper: Poulson's American Daily Advertiser Philadelphia, PA

Perkins Mint on Fruit Street, 1890s. Photograph by Noyes Studios. Courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center   Tribute as posted in the Commissioner of Patents Annual Report 

JACOB PERKINS. This eminent inventor died during the past year. The following tribute to his memory is entitled to a place here, inasmuch Mr. P. took out seventeen American patents — the first one in 1799, for nail making machinery. "A simple and unostentatious notice of the demise of this remarkable man, is all the tribute that the public press has yet paid to his memory. The merits of our ingenious countryman deserves more. He has passed quietly away from the scene of his labors ; but he has left his mark upon the age. He was descended from one of the oldest families of that ancient portion of the State of Massachusetts, the county of Essex — a region of stubborn soil, but rich in its production of men. Matthew Perkins, his father, was a native of Ipswich, and his ancestor was one of the first settlers of that town. Matthew Perkins removed to Newburyport early in life, and here Jacob Perkins was . born, July 9th, 1766. He received such education as the common schools of that day furnished, and nothing more. What they were in 1770 may be guessed. At the age of twelve he was put apprentice to a goldsmith of Newburyport, of the name of Davis.
Elias Davis JR born June 11 1782 son of Elias Davis SR and Phoebe Woodman Elias Davis Sr was son of Job Davis and Thomasina Greenleaf Elias JR married Joanna Coffin on November 1 1831

His master died three years afterwards; and Perkins at fifteen, was left with the management of the business. This was the age of gold beads, which our grandmothers still hold in fond remembrance — and who wonders ? The young goldsmith gained great reputation for the skill and honesty with which he transformed the old Portuguese joes, then in circulation, into these showy ornaments for the female bosom.

Shoe- buckles were another article in great vogue ; and Perkins, whose inventive powers had begun to expand during his apprenticeship, turned his attention to the manufacturing of them. He discovered a new method of plating, by which he could undersell the imported buckles. This was a profitable branch of business, till the revolutions of fashion drove shoe-buckles out of the market. Nothing could be done with strings, and Perkins put his head-work upon other matters.
Machinery of all sorts was then in a very rude state, and a clever artisan was scarcely to be found. It was regarded as a great achievement to effect a rude copy of some imported machine. Under the old confederation, the State of Massachusetts established a mint for striking copper coin; but it was not so easy to find a mechanic equal to the task of making a die. Perkins was but twenty-one years of age when he was employed by the government for this purpose; and the old Massachusetts cents, stamped with the Indian and the eagle, now to be seen only in collections of curiosities, are the work of his skill. He next displayed his ingenuity in nail machinery, and at die age of twenty-four invented a machine which cut and headed nails at one operation.

 In 1795 Perkins setup a nail-manufacturing company at the falls in Amesbury that used water power to drive the machinery. Today the shaft that was connected to the water wheel can still be seen. Photo by Wayne Chase

This was first put in operation at Newburyport, and afterwards at Amesbury, on the Merrimac, where the manufacture of nails has been carried on for more than half a century. Perkins would have realized a great fortune from this invention, had. his knowledge of the world and the tricks of trade been in any way equal to his . mechanical skill. Others, however, made a great gain from his loss: and he turned his attention to various other branches of the mechanic arts, in several, of which he made essential improvements, as fire engines, hydraulic machines, &c. One of the most important of his inventions was in the engraving of bank bills. Forty years ago counterfeiting was carried on with an audacity and a success which would seem incredible at the present time. The ease with which the clumsy engravings of the bank bills of the day were imitated, was a temptation to every knave who could scratch copper; and counterfeits flooded the country, to the serious detriment of trade. Perkins invented the stereotype check-plate, which no art of counterfeiting could match ; and a security was thus given to bank paper which it had never before known. 

There was hardly any mechanical science in which Perkins did not exercise his inquiring and inventive spirit. The town of Newburyport enjoyed the benefit of his skill in every way in which he could contribute to the public welfare or amusement. During the war of 1812 his ingenuity was employed in constructing machinery for boring out old honeycombed cannon, and in perfecting the science of gunnery. He was a skillful pyrotechnist, and the Newburyport fireworks of that day were thought to be unrivaled in the United States. The boys, we remember, looked up to him as a second Faust or Cornelius Agrippa; and the writer of this article has not forgotten the delight and amazement with which he learned from Jacob Perkins the mystery of compounding serpents and rockets.

 

About this time a person named Redheffer made pretensions to a discovery of the perpetual motion. He was traversing the United States with a machine exhibiting his discovery. Certain weights moved the wheels, and when they had run down, certain other weights restored the first. The experiment seemed perfect, for the machine continued to move without cessation; and Redheffer was trumpeted to the world as the man who had solved the great problem. Perkins gave the machine an examination, and his knowledge of the powers of mechanism enabled him to perceive at once that the visible appliances were inadequate to the results. He saw that a hidden power existed somewhere, and his skilful calculations detected the corner of the machine from which it proceeded. " Pass a saw through that post," said he, " and your perpetual motion will stop." The imposter refused to put his machine to such a test: and for a sufficient reason. It was afterwards discovered that a cord passed through this post into the cellar, where an individual was stationed to restore the weights at every revolution. The studies, labors, and ingenuity of Perkins were employed on so great a variety of subjects, that the task of specifying and describing them must be left to one fully acquainted with the history of the mechanic arts in the United States. He discovered a method of softening and hardening steel at pleasure, by which the process of engraving on that metal was facilitated in a most essential degree. He instituted a series of experiments by which he demonstrated the compressibility of water, a problem which for centuries had baffled the ingenuity of natural philosophers. In connection with this discovery, Perkins also invented the bathometer, an instrument for measuring the depth of the sea by the pressure of the water; and the pleometer, to measure a ship's rate of sailing.

Perkins continued to reside in his birth place till 1816, when he removed from Newburyport to Boston, and subsequently to Philadelphia. His attention was now occupied by steam machinery, which was beginning to acquire importance in the United States. His researches led to the invention of a new method of generating steam, by suddenly letting a small quantity of water into a heated vessel.

After a short residence in Philadelphia, he removed to London, where his experiments with high pressure steam, and other exhibitions which he gave of his inventive powers, at once brought him into general notice. His uncommon mechanical genius was highly appreciated; and his steam-gun was for some time the wonder of the British metropolis. This gun he invented in the United States, and took out a patent for it in 1810. It attracted the notice of the British government in 1823, and Perkins made experiments with it before the Duke of Wellington and a numerous party of officers. At a distance of thirty-five yards he shattered iron targets to pieces, and sent his balls through eleven planks, one inch thick each, and placed an inch apart from one another. This gun was a very ingenious piece of workmanship, and could discharge about one thousand balls per minute.  Perkins continued in London during the remainder of his life. He never became rich. He lacked one quality to secure success in the world—financial thrift. Everybody but himself profited by his inventions. He was, in fact, too much in love with the excitement of the chase to look very strongly at the pecuniary value of the game. He died in London, July 30th, 1849. The name he leaves behind him is that of the American inventor. It is one which he deserves, and which is his true glory. He was entirely self-educated in science, and the great powers of his mind expanded by their innate force. For half a century from the hour of his birth he lived in the town of Newburyport. Here he grew up, acquired his knowledge, applied his genius to action, perfected his inventive powers, and gained all his early reputation. At the present day, when books are in the hands of every man, woman, and child, and the rudiments of scientific knowledge are presented to us in thousands of students' manuals, cyclopaedias, periodicals, public lectures, &c, we can form no adequate notion of the obstacles which lay in the way of a young man beginning his scientific pursuits at the time when Perkins was a youth. Imagine the state of popular science in 1787, and some faint notion may be obtained of the difficulties which the young artist was compelled to encounter in the preliminary steps of every undertaking. The exact sciences were but slightly regarded, even by those who made pretensions to complete learning in those days; and a great proficient in the mechanic arts could only hope to be considered in the light of a clever carpenter or blacksmith. Men did not dream of such fame as that of Watt and Arkwright. It is much to the honor of his townsmen that Perkins was from his earliest days, held in the highest esteem by them. They fully appreciated his genius, and were proud to honor him. In the latter years of his life, when far removed from the land of his birth, his thoughts and feelings always turned homeward, and he never ceased to express the hope of returning to lay his bones in his native soil. His wish has not been gratified, but his memory will remain for ever connected with the spot." 

Hannah Greenleaf Perkins

                                                      

Loftus Perkins grandson of Jacob and Hannah

 

In 1880, Loftus Perkins installed a triple expansion steam engine
Loftus son of Angier March Perkins (21 August 1799 – 22 April 1881) was a U.S. engineer who worked most of his career in the UK and was instrumental in developing the new technologies of central heating.

• Old Newbury Historical Society 
• House Stories: Jacob Perkins from Brick and Tree
• Jacob Perkins by Minor Descent
• Lateral Science 
• Genealogy of Greenleaf Family
• Historic mint is restored, reopens this weekend by By Katie Farrell Lovett
• House Stories – Jacob Perkins House – 16-18 Fruit Street, Part III
• DICK HANSCOM VISITS THE NEWBURYPORT JACOB PERKINS BUILDING
• Perking Building Restoration in Newburyport
• History of Newburyport, Mass: 1764-1905, Volume 1 By John James Currier
• Petition of Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, in Essex County, and State of Massachusetts, for a Renewal of His Patent Right to a Nail Cutting Machine: June 15, 1813.
• The History and Present State of the Town of Newburyport By Cushing Caleb
• The Patentee's Manual: Containing a List of Patents Granted by the United States By William Elliot
• New Scientist Jun 29, 1978 
• Jacob Perkins, his inventions, his times, & his contemporaries
• Reminiscences of a Newburyport Nonagenarian By Sarah Smith Emery
• Historical Collections By John Warner Barber

Theophilus Parsons Last years before death

Theophilus Parsons (B: February 24, 1750, Byfield, MA – October 30, 1813, age 63, Pearl Street, Boston, Suffolk, MA) married to Elizabeth Greenleaf (B: 1765, Newburyport, MA - 1829, Boston, Suffolk, MA) D/o Hon. Benjamin Greenleaf & Elizabeth Chauncy

Parson's son, Dr. Theophilus Parsons born May 17, 1797 Newburyport MA Picture from Rob Mallett (#47985449) Find a Grave

Home built by Theophilus Parsons in 1789 on the corner of Green and Harris Streets. Courtesy of Joe Callahan. Clipper Heritage Trail See more on Parsons
Memoir of Theophilus Parsons: Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

 

 

New York Times November 1884

Newburyport Woolen Company

From Towle Manufacturing Company, History of Newburyport & Scholfield Wool-Carding Machines

An industry inaugurated by Newburyport capital was located at the falls in Byfield. This was the Newburyport Woolen Company, established in 1794, the first company incorporated for that business in the state, and by some authorities named as the first woolen manufactory in America. The carding and other machines for its equipment were built by Standring, Guppy, & Armstrong, in Newburyport, being set up in "Lord" Timothy Dexter's stable; and were the first made in this country.

From Currier History of Newburyport Volume 2
January 29, 1794, Benjamin Greenleaf, Philip Aubin, William Bartlet, Richard Bartlet, Offin Boardman, jr., Moses Brown, David Coffin, William Coombs, John Coombs, Mark Fitz, Abel Greenleaf, John Greenleaf, Andrew Frothingham, Michael Hodge, Nicholas Johnson, Nathaniel Knapp, Peter Le Breton, Joseph Moulton, Theophilus Parsons, Ebenezer Wheelwright, Edward Wigglesworth and others were incorporated by the name of "The Proprietors of the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory."'

The company purchased about six acres of land, with a water privilege on the Parker river, in Byfield parish, Newbury, and erected a factory there, which was supplied with suitable machinery made by the Schofield Brothers and by Messrs. Guppy & Armstrong in Newburyport. It is said that the company was the first one incorporated for the manufacture of woolen goods in the United States.' The broadcloths, cassimeres, serges and blankets made there were sold by William Bartlet at his store in Newburyport. The business, however, was not financially successful, and Mr. Bartlet bought out the dissatisfied stockholders in 1803. Next year, he sold the property to John Lees, an Englishman, who converted it into a factory for the manufacture of cotton cloth.

The Above is from "Towle Book" A Newburyport philanthropist, Timothy Dexter, contributed the use of his stable. There, beginning in December 1793, the Scholfields built a 24-inch, single-cylinder, wool-carding machine. They completed it early in 1794, the first Scholfield wool-carding machine in America. The group was so impressed that they organized the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory. Arthur was hired as overseer of the carding and John as overseer of the weaving and also as company agent for the purchase of raw wool. A site was chosen on the Parker River in Byfield Parish, Newbury, where a building 100 feet long, about half as wide, and three stories high was constructed. To the new factory were moved the first carding machine, two double-carding machines, as well as spinning, weaving and fulling machines. The carding machines were built by Messrs. Standring, Armstrong, and Guppy, under the Scholfields' immediate direction. All the machinery with the exception of the looms was run by water-power; the weaving was done by hand. The enterprise was in full operation by 1795.

John and Arthur Scholfield (and John's 11-year-old son, James) worked at the Byfield factory for several years. During a wool-buying trip to Connecticut in 1798, John observed a valuable water-power site at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River, in the town (i.e., township) of Montville, Connecticut. Here, the brothers decided, would be a good place to set up their own mill, and on April 19, 1799, they signed a 14-year lease for the water site, a dwelling house, a shop, and 17 acres of land. As soon as arrangements could be completed, Arthur, John, and the latter's family left for Montville.

The Scholfields quite probably did not take any of the textile machinery from the Byfield factory with them to Connecticut—first because the machines were built while the brothers were under hire and so were the property of the sponsors, and second because their knowledge of how to build the machines would have made it unnecessary to incur the inconvenience and expense of transporting machines the hundred odd miles to Montville. However, John Scholfield's sons reported that they had taken a carding engine with them when they moved to Connecticut in 1799 and had later transferred it to a factory in Stonington. The sons claimed that the frame, cylinders, and lags of the machine were made of mahogany and that it had originally been imported from England. However, it would have been most uncommon for a textile machine, even an English one, to have been constructed of mahogany; and having built successful carding machines, the men at Byfield would have found it unnecessary to attempt the virtually impossible feat of importing an English one. If it ever existed and was taken to Connecticut, therefore, this machine was probably not a carding machine manufactured by the Scholfields. It is more probable that the first Scholfield carding machine remained in the Byfield mill as the property of the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory.

Some Old Inns of Newburyport

Boston Gazette Monday January 2 1771
"William Lambert, from Yorkshire in England, begs Leave to inform the Publick that he has taken the Inn at Newburyort, formerly occupied by Mr. Choate, which is now completely repaired, and new furnished with convenient Furniture, and the greatest variety of excellent LIQUORS. He has also provided commodious Stabling for Horses and every Accommodation for Travellers and others. He humbly intreats Custom and will strive by his good Entertainment to merit the Publick Favour, at the Sign of the Wentworth Arms, near the Ferry, in Newburyport.

Six months later we find that Robert Calder (Pic above) from London, who writes himself down as " late servant to his excellency Governor Wentworth," has purchased William Lambert's lease and offers, in addition to the attractions of his predecessor's advertisement "best Entertainement with diligent attendance." Not for nothing had he bent to the imperious will of Governor Wentworth, it would appear.

Major Ezra Lunt was another of the late eighteenth century innkeepers in Newbury, adding the calling of publican quite easily to that of publisher, stagecoach proprietor and veteran of the Continental army. His inn was on the northwesterly side of Federal street, near the corner of Water street.

The splurge par excellence in the innkeeping way was made, however, by the enterprising landlord who advertised at the SIGN OF THE AMERICAN EAGLE in the summer of 1799. Under this patriotic headline "Samuel Richardson Informs his friends and the public in general that he has removed from Union Hall into that spacious and convenient building lately occupied by Captain Ebenezer Stocker, East Corner of the Ferryway Wharf, — which he has opened for public Entertainment and will make every exertion to gratify and please those who may visit his House. Every favor will be gratefully acknowledged, Good accommodation for a few Boarders: likewise Stabling for Horses."

It is interesting in this connection to note that the Newburyport selectmen had fixed by law the price of these various items of service. So, because the landlords could not underbid in price they overbade in attractions. The law placed "Dinners at taverns, for I travellers, of boiled or roast meat, with other articles equivalent, exclusive of wine at 1/16. Supper and breakfast 1/ each. Lodging 4/. Keeping a horse for one night, or for twenty-four hours, with English hay 2/—."

The Tracy house, which had accommodated Washington, became briefly the Sun Hotel, early in the eighteenth century, its proprietor, Jacob Coburn, informing the public (May 5, 1807), under a sign which quite effectively reflected the features of Old Sol, " that he has opened a spacious HOTEL in State street, Newburyport, the former mansion of the late Honorable Nathaniel Tracy Esq., and where Mr. James Prince last resided. Having at considerable pains and expense put the above in a situation suited to accommodate gentlemen he assures them with confidence that they will find every convenience and an unremitting attention to ensure the favor of the Traveller. Good horses and carriages to be had at all hours."  ad on L from Currier Old Newburyport

The dwelling-house of the eccentric "Lord" Timothy Dexter also descended temporarily to tavern uses, heralded by the following genial announcement: "The subscriber of Weare N. H. acquaints the public that he has taken the noted house on High Street, Newburyport, known by the name of Dexter House (where the Lion and the Lamb lie down together in peace and where the first characters in the land are known to make their stay) which he opened on the 20th ult. as a house of Entertainment for the weary traveller who may sojourn thither, and for the conviviality of the jovial citizens of the town who may wish to spend a social hour freed from the cares of busy life; and he respectfully solicits their company, fully persuaded that he shall be enabled to afford them satisfaction. Country people are informed that he will entertain them as reasonably and with as good cheer, both for man and beast, as any regular Innkeeper between M'Gregor's Bridge and Newburyport, having commodious and convenient stables with good attendance. He flatters himself they will call and see William Caldwell." This advertisement might have been written yesterday, so modern is its tone and so little archaic its spelling. Yet its date is April, 1810.

Prince Stetson, formerly of the Wolfe Tavern, returned to Newburyport in 1823 and assumed charge of the Washington hotel on the corner of State and Temple streets. He had the honor of serving Lafayette when the Marquis visited the town in 1824, and took the spacious apartments in the Tracy house which Washington had occupied during his visit in 1789. The landlord's son, Charles, then a lad of thirteen, had the honor of acting as valet de chambre to the liberty-lover who had done so much for America in her hour of need. From Newburyport Herald  May 31 1825

A tavern which is constantly mentioned in John Quincy Adams's account of his young manhood days in Newburyport is Sawyer's on the Bradford road at or near Brown's springs, and within the present limits of the town of West Newbury.

Picture by Southworth & Hawes

One interesting entry in the diary of this law student is that of May 21, 1788. "I walked," he says, "with Pickman in the evening to Sawyer's where we drank tea and made it almost ten o'clock before we got home. I then went up with my flute to Stacy's lodgings, our general headquarters. About a quarter before twelve Stacy, Thompson, Putnam with a couple of young lads by the name of Greenough and myself sallied forth upon a scheme of serenading. We paraded round town till almost four in the morning."

The charming home of Mrs. Harriett Prescott Spofford, near Newburyport's picturesque chain bridge, was once a tavern, also. It was then close to the public highway and its landlord, Ebenezer Pearson, was therefore not exempt from suspicion when Major Elijah P. Goodridge of Bangor, Maine, told, December 19, 1816, of having been assaulted about nine o'clock the previous evening, very near its doors, and robbed of a large sum of money. From Miner Descent

Pearson proved to be only one of the many who were subsequently accused, however, and, when Daniel Webster took the matter in hand he made Goodridge so contradict himself on the witness-stand that verdicts of " not guilty" were brought in for all the defendants. The whole thing appears to have emanated from the brain of the Major who, in order to escape financial trouble and at the same time account for the loss of his personal property, devised the scheme of a robbery and carried it into effect, firing with his own hand the pistol of the "assailant." Picture below Harriet  P  Spofford

One Newburyport tavern-keeper was a good deal more permanently embarrassed by the cleverness of one of his guests, as we shall see from the following papers on file at the State House in Boston and having to do with the escape of Bridget Phillips, who had been sent to Newburyport for safe keeping during the siege of Boston: "To the Honorable Provincial Congress at Watertown, June 22, 1775
"The petition of Bridget Philips humbly showeth that she hath lately arrived from Ireland and is desirous of going to her husband now in Boston. She therefore prays the Honorable Congress that they would give her a permit to go into the town of Boston & your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray. BRIDGET PHILIPS."

In answer to this petition the following resolution was adopted June 24, 1775: — "Resolved, that General Ward do not suffer or permit Bridget Phillips, wife to an officer under General Gage, to go into Boston, nor any other person whatever, without leave first obtained of this Congress, or some future house of representatives; and that an express be forthwith sent to the committee of safety for the town of Newburyport, to order them to take the most affectual measures to prevent the said Bridget from going out of this province, or to Boston." The lady got the better of the law-makers, however, as the following letter shows: —"Newburyport, 26th July, 1775. "Sir: —
"We received some time since a Resolve of the late Congress ordering that Bridget Phillips (who called herself the wife of a Captain Phillips in Gen. Gage's Army) should not leave the Province & that the Committee here be desired to attend to her. Upon the receipt of it we applied to the Tavern Keeper, at whose house she was, to keep an eye upon her movements & to inform us should she take any suspicious steps, at the same time informing her that she must not leave the Province. This she judged to be very harsh but appeared for a month past so to acquiesce in it as to elude any suspicion in us that she would take pains for her escape. Upon the arrival of the New General at Cambridge she seemed to flatter herself, her case might be more tenderly considered by them & that upon application they would permit her to go to her husband. This she mentioned to several of the committee but was told she must not go to Cambridge without consent of a majority of them. However that she never asked & the 18th Inst, she took place in a Chaise with Capt. John Blake (formerly of Boston) from hence to Salem, giving out that she was going to Head Quarters at Cambridge. The Tavern Keeper (Mr. Greenleaf) supposing it not beyond the limits by the Order & from a faulty Inattention never gave the Committee notice. It was not for a day or two known by us that she was gone. Upon enquiry we find that she hired a Chaise & Boy at Salem & in company with Benjamin Jenks (who is said to belong to Casco Bay) she went the next day to Haverhill & the next to Portsmouth & by the assistance of this Jenks procured herself to be put on board the Scarborough Man of War there. This Intelligence was bro't us by the said Mr. Greenleaf whom we sent in pursuit of her.
"As she was a Woman & appeared of Some Fashion we did not think it expedient to put her under close Confinement neither did we suppose by the Order it was intended.
She left here two Trunks supposed to contain valuable apparrell which might prevent in Mr. Greenleaf the apprehention of her intending to go off. We judged it proper to give you this information & as she wrote for her Trunks to be sent to Boston we beg your Order about the delivery of 'em. Upon this occasion give us leave to remark what we hinted formerly to the Committee of War at Cambridge the ease with which an escape may at any time be made to the stationed ship at Portsmh as things are now ordered. We are respectfully

"Your obedt servnts "JONA. TITCOMB. "p. order of the Committee. "To the Honb. James Warren, Esq., (pic above) speaker of the House of Representatives, to be communicated."

The result of all this was that, though Bridget did not get her trunks, Landlord Greenleaf was made pretty uncomfortable,— and what was of far greater importance,— the seaport towns were given leave to do whatever might seem to them wise in the way of preventing other such escapes.

The privileges of tavern-keeping were so great that often a man with every right to whatever his house might earn was made exceedingly uncomfortable by his rivals. Such was the case with the host of the Boynton Tavern on the road between Newburyport and Rowley. In March, 1811, the other landlords of Byfield protested against Boynton's tavern, stating that while it had been established for some time they doubted whether its continued existence was necessary. "The influence of this tavern is pernicious to the morals, the peace and comfort of some families in the vicinity," declares the protest; after which it goes on to allege that " the undersigned are credibly informed that people are there at very unreasonable hours in the night" and that " even the holy Sabbath is profaned by persons who there pass the Sacred hours in an idle and dissolute manner." Whereupon the petitioners humbly prayed "that the license of Mr. Boynton may not be renewed."

Somehow, though, the tavern lived on, and once it was even able to add to its capacity, thereby bestowing the name of Adding upon the latest scion of the family. Another child of this eccentric landlord had been called Tearing because tavern-repairs were in that stage of development at his birth. Verily, some of those old time publicans were men of decided originality.
Poore Tavern Newbury MA from David Allen Lambert

From September 2, 1854 Front page Newburyport Herald William Lambert's son

Taproom Furnishings of an Old Ordinary from Stage-coach and Tavern Days, by Alice Morse Earle

Skipper Lunt, Seaman
Mary Caroline Crawford on Old Inns in Newburyport,  
News Bank,
J J Currier History of Ould Newbury