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South Danvers Observer Vol 5 Num 3 PDF

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Volume 5, Number 3 Spring 2011 The South Danvers Observer “The Greatest Anxiety”: South Danvers on the Eve of the Civil War The South Danvers Observer is published quarterly. Written by Nancy Barthelemy, Archivist Published by the Peabody Institute Library —It has been said that history South Danvers Center around $25,000. By 1860, the Inside this issue: often repeats itself. a decade before the Civil War debt had doubled and by 1862 South Danvers 2 In many ways that is true, had almost quadrupled. especially with regard to the to the town. Especially because Local businesses struggled Horse Railroad issues South Danvers faced in its separation from Danvers in to stay afloat. Notices of 1860, issues that are all to 1855 created a need for new ‘insolvency’ or bankruptcy South Danvers 3 familiar to our country 150 years taxpayers. appeared more frequently in and the Lynn later. The problems can be seen But in 1857, the country the town’s newspaper, the Shoeworkers in our daily newspapers—the endured an economic panic, South Danvers Wizard. More Strike ongoing repercussions from a which caused stock prices to stores became ‘cash stores’, financial meltdown; growing plummet by half and forced refusing to sell on credit. South Danvers’ 4 concerns over immigration; and thousands of businesses to These anxieties about the Entertainments the increasing threat of war. declare bankruptcy. It wasn’t long economy and the need to find in 1860 Like many towns in Essex before South Danvers felt the work affected people’s views County, South Danvers’ effects. In 1856 and 1857, just on immigration, on the labor population had risen dramatically after its separation from Danvers, struggles in Lynn and on the “We are in the midst of in the previous twenty years. In the town’s debt wasn’t much growing threat of war. a financial panic. 1840, the population of both the more than its operating budget of North and South Parishes of Everybody says it is the Danvers (which included the most severe and present day Danvers and destructive we have Peabody) was 5020. Twenty ever experienced. years later the population for People shake their both towns was 11,664. A little heads and talk Insolvency more than half of that population despairingly and look Notice lived in South Danvers (6560), gloomily on the future. . South drawn there by its . . Although we cannot Danvers manufacturers, manufacturers see the end, we know Wizard that were the cause for a growing the end will come. Let Dec. 4, 1861 number of immigrants to choose us look beyond it then South Danvers as home. By to a brighter future.” 1860, almost 10% of the town’s population were immigrants. From the Dec. 19, 1860 Under normal circumstances, South Danvers Wizard such an increase in potential workers would have been a boon Page 2 The South Danvers Horse Railroad From The South Danvers Wizard January 23, 1861 —The question posed on July 11, coaches seldom held more than five 1860 was simple enough. passengers at a time. Why the need Why didn’t South Danvers, an for something larger? In one letter, ancient and yet up and coming Moses Shackley and Henry Merrill town, not have the convenience of went so far as to insinuate that their a Horse Railroad? services to the town had been so That all too innocent inquiry invaluable that the investors and The Stagecoach in stirred up emotions and exposed new owners of the Horse Railroad South Danvers Square in 1848 the undercurrent of anxiety which should reward them by buying them and the Omnibus below, in 1854 existed in many of the residents. out. Ridicule came swiftly. Between July of 1860 and Railroads required steam through 1861, there were nearly two power, not horse power. The dozen letters to the editor and Omnibus could drop people off opinion articles printed in the South anywhere along its route; the Danvers Wizard regarding the switch Horse Railroad would abandon from the Omnibus to the Horse customers at designated stops Railroad. rather than deliver them to their In the end, though, progress, and desired locations. The owners of the recognition of the convenience the Ommibuses, Moses Shackley of the Horse Railroad outweighed and Henry M. Merrill, had invested most of the objections. The Horse heavily in the business in 1853. Railroad opened April 2, 1862 and Moreover, they ran their coaches remained in operation until the every half hour and sometimes as electric trolley was introduced into often as every fifteen minutes. Peabody in 1891. Didn’t they deserve better than to have the town push for such a change? And, according to the owners of the Omnibuses, their THE SOUTH DANVERS HORSE RAILROAD Through Lynn to Boston in one hour without change of cars “We like to ride in a railway car, Whether drawn by steam or horsepower, For a two forty gait we will always hurrah, Which will take us to town in one hour. The crack of the whip and the loud hi-yah, Is certain to make a man laugh, It reminds us of Flora, the queen of the turf, In her two twenty-two and a half. But before a man rides in a car or a coach, He will always examine his clothes, And if he’s in want of a Vest or a Coat, Down to CRESSEY & HALE he goes. A splendid assortment of Boots and Shoes, May always be found at their store; If you wish for a bargain, no time should you lose, But drive downtown to one thirty four Main Street, South Danvers. From the South Danvers Wizard The Horse Railroad in January 16, 1861 Downtown Peabody in 1870 Page 3 South Danvers and the Lynn Shoeworkers Strike —In a time when the rights of workers and unions’ ability to bargain for its members are making national newspapers, it is interesting to remember that the largest strike for workers’ rights before the Civil War began in the city of Lynn. Like South Danvers, Lynn had been hard hit by the Panic of 1857. Many From the Feb. shoeworkers in Lynn lost their jobs. 29th, 1860 Consequently, the demand for leather in South Danvers South Danvers fell. When conditions Wizard began to improve, though, manufacturers refused to hire the shoeworkers back at their old rates. Instead, they offered them much lower wages. For working sixteen hours a day for six days a week, a man earned $3 and a woman only $1. As worker unrest grew, they demanded a return to the older wages, Of course, how Lynn and other but the factory owners refused. Over shoeworking communities fared 3,000 shoeworkers chose Feb. 22, affected the price of leather and 1860, George Washington’s birthday, to therefore, South Danvers. “When I heard there was a walk out. Others cities and towns throughout strike in Lynn a week ago Not long after, on March 7th, during Massachusetts followed Lynn’s among the shoeworkers I was an enormous blizzard, more than 5,000 example. Shoeworkers from attracted by a curiosity to see men and 1,000 women marched Newburyport, Haverhill, Marblehead how the discontented through the streets of Lynn to demand and Natick walked out in protest. cordwainers would make battle better pay. Local grocers and other businesses with capital. . . .I found the South Danvers watched the strike sent food to the strikers in support of square filled with a dense with great interest. Some hoped that their protest. throng that looked as if it might the workers would never be allowed to On March 17th, 10,000 shoe have been transported from return, thereby opening up jobs to those workers marched from Lynn, Salem, Dublin or Cork, except that it in South Danvers. Others blamed the Marblehead and other Essex County was less ragged than the great ‘dirty Irish’ for being behind the towns in the largest demonstration for unwashed of those cities are movement. They saw them as nothing labor before the Civil War. Police from reported to be, so more than rabble rousers. And some Boston as well as the militia were unmistakably Irish were the believed the workers’ cause to be just. called in to prevent violence. Police faces of the great majority.” were also used to insure that strikers “Our opinion of the whole didn’t interfere with shoes being From the March 7, 1860 demonstration is that it was shipped out of state. South Danvers Wizard ridiculous, and considering the plea The strike soon came to the of poverty which is put forth by the attention of the new president, strikers, wickedly extravagant, since Abraham Lincoln. While he spoke in the money spent for music alone support of the workers, factory would have given a hundred families owners refused to budge. Unable to that day a good dinner. . . .all such endure ongoing weeks without an demonstrations deserve our income, most workers returned to their jobs by the end of March. contempt . . . The strike ended completely in From the March 7, 1860 April 1860. South Danvers Wizard South Danvers’ Entertainments in 1860 From The South Danvers Wizard Jan. 18, 1860 From The South Danvers Wizard Feb. 6, 1861 From The South Danvers Wizard Sept. 11, 1861 From The South Danvers Wizard Dec. 21, 1859 From The South Danvers Wizard Feb. 13, 1861 From The South Danvers Wizard Jan. 18, 1860 Works consulted for this newsletter: From The South Danvers Wizard ∗ Salem Gazette, 1781 to 1849 March 27, 1861 ∗ Essex Register, 1807-1827 ∗ New England Chronicle, 1775-1782 ∗ Boston News-Letter, 1704-1776 From The South Danvers Wizard ∗ Boston Evening Post, 1735-1775 Dec. 21, 1859 ∗ Boston Gazette, 1719-1820 ∗ Essex Gazette, 1768-1775 ∗ Peabody Press, 1868 to 1895 ∗ Peabody Progress, 1910 ∗ Peabody Enterprise, 1912-1930 ∗ South Danvers Wizard, 1859-1868 ∗ Vital Records to 1855, Danvers ∗ History of the Town of Danvers From Its Earliest Settlement to 1848 by J. W. Hanson ∗ Federal Census, 1790-1930 ∗ The Street Railway Journal, v. 7, 1891. From The South Danvers Wizard ∗ libcom.org/history From The South Danvers Wizard July 31, 1861 July 10, 1861 For more articles and information, go to: www.peabodylibrary.org/history/index.html

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.