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SMALLPOX
EPIDEMIC,
NEWBURY, MASS 1759-60
Robert
C. Chase
In
1994, when my aunt died in Newburyport, I fell heir to
the contents of an old safe that had been in the Chase
homestead for many years. Among the papers was a collection
of documents pertaining to the Merrill families, dating
back to the late 1600s. Most of these documents were little
more than promissory notes on scrap paper, folded, fragile
and faded with age. Others were military orders, church
records, town ordinances, tax receipts, letters, wills,
deeds and journals. All of these documents have since
been copied and transcribed, and together they provide
a narrative of what the lives of our Merrill forefathers
were like six, seven and eight generations ago.
Among
those documents was the journal of my gr-gr-gr-gr-grandfather,
Henry5 Merrill, the son of Henry4
Merrill and Priscilla Lowell, of Newbury, MA. Henry [Henry4,
John3, Abraham2, Nathaniel1]
was born 15 Oct 1751, in Newbury, and died there 03 Apr
1844. He married first 25 Nov 1773, Rebecca Moulton (1750-1823),
and second 10 Jan 1824, Hannah Chase (1763-1836). Subsequent
marriages between our Merrill and Chase lines have helped
to preserve what for our present generation is a family
treasure. Among the items in Henry Merrill's journal was
the following description of the smallpox epidemic that
ravaged that area of Newbury [now Newburyport], near Curson's
mill, in the fall and winter of 1759-60: A short account
of a distressing sickness occasioned by the small pox,
by Henry Merrill, Newbury, which prevailed in school district
No 1 in the road leading from the school house Now standing
on the Plains (so called) to Curson's mills in which there
were ten families out of which no one escaped death, and
out of the heads of seven of the families there was but
one left which was my father. John Merrill, an uncle of
mine, was the first which suffered by the disorder. Unknown
from whence it proceeded, it was called [the eruptive
fever] by the phisitions (physicians). Enoch Sawyer and
two sons, Edmund and Mikajah, the(y) suffered fever. It
was thought by my father to be the small pox by what he
had heard of it previous to that time and he consulting
with the phisitions and they ageing (arguing) with his
judgement concluded to call a council and did So and was
pronounced it to be the small pox.
From this source sixty four others contracted
the disorder (including the phisitions) out of which 24
died, all of which had ar(r)ived to the age of manhood.
Exclusive of the two named, those that died: John Merrill,
Anna Merrill, Margaret Merrill, Hannah Blake, David Merrill
and all of his family, his sons Stephen and Moses and
his grandchildren Moses and Lydia Davis, John Sawyer and
wife, Samuel Davis, Daniel Emery, John Woodman, Joseph
Mirick, Elephalet Sawyer, Benjamin Long, Peter Ordway,
Benjamin Ordway, James Ordway, Samuel Rogers, Mary Jackman,
Mary Moulton, Trustom (Tristram) Bartlett.
The
Selectmen, taking in consideration the ravages of this
disorder, inclosed this unhappy neighbourhood by fencing
acrost the Road and obliging them not to provide the necessities
of life for themselves but took the burden upon themselves
and also were obliged to send to Boston for the Physitions
and assistants on account of the scanty numbers which
were to be had (in) Newbury and the adjoining towns.
The
names of the Doctor(s) were Lowell and Lamson, but by
the extreme (magnitude) of the disorder by the Doctors
at that stage the patient(s) received no great benefit
from them but added (further) injury by being kept to
(their) rooms which was contrary to the course that ought
to be persued as it is thought since that time.
The
epidemic is briefly mentioned, without names, in Joshua
Coffin's "A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport
& West Newbury:" In November 1759, several cases
of smallpox were reported in the West parish, "near
the plains," and, before the disease could be stayed,
thirty-six persons, all but two of them adults, died.
John
J Currier's magnum opus, "History of Newbury, Massachusetts,
1635-1902", offers a few more corroborative details:
In November of this year [1759], the small-pox made its
appearance on "the plains,' so called, and was for
some time called the eruptive fever ... in July [1760],
the small-pox ceased in Newbury. During its continuance,
the selectmen fenced in the infected district, from the
schoolhouse to Emery's hill, and sent to Boston for physicians
and nurses, who as the custom then was, greatly aggravated
the disease, by shutting up the sick in small and heated
rooms. About eighty persons had the disorder, of whom
thirty-six, all adults but two, died.
Unfortunately,
the outbreak can also be laid on our Merrill doorstep,
as detailed in Samuel Merrill's definitive work "A
Merrill Memorial," published in 1928:
"JOHN4 MERRILL [John3, Abraham2]
was born 13 Jan 1717/18, in Newbury, MA, and died there
in November 1759. An epidemic of smallpox visited Newbury
in the winter of 1759/60, and caused more than thirty
deaths. According to tradition, John Merrill contracted
the disease by wearing a cap which he found on the bank
of the Merrimack [river], and his was the first death.
All the victims of the epidemic are buried together in
Sawyer's Hill cemetery, Newburyport."
In
1746, John4 Merrill married Anne Ordway, the
daughter of Peter and Jemima Ordway of Newbury. John was
the uncle of Henry5 Merrill which may have
prompted him to pen this record of the epidemic. John
and Anne had five children. The youngest daughter, Anna,
born in 1757, was probably the Anna Merrill mentioned
in Henry's list of victims. The next name, Margaret Merrill,
was probably John's stepmother, Margaret Lowell, who married
John3 Merrill in 1729, as his second wife.
The
tragic reference to David Merrill "and all his family,"
probably refers to Henry's great uncle David3
[Abraham2] who was born 20 Feb 1677/78, in
Newbury. His death during the epidemic can be inferred
from the fact that administration on his estate was granted
07 Mar 1760. David was a joiner. He married 18 Dec 1706
Mary Morse, daughter of Deacon Benjamin and Ruth (Sawyer)
Morse, of Newbury, who was born 15 May 1686 and died 10
Aug 1755. The reference to David's sons refers to Stephen4
who was born 24 Feb 1709/10, and Moses4 born
17 Feb 1713/14. The "Merrill Memorial" lists
their deaths "before 04 Jan 1762" which appears
to be the date their father's estate was proved. Moses'
share of his father's estate was given to his "legal
representatives," presumably for the benefit of his
surviving children.
David
Merrill's son Eliphalet4 was born 07 Oct 1717,
in Newbury, and married 10 Jul 1735 [or 1739] Lydia Clough
of Amesbury. Their daughter, Lydia5, was born
20 Feb 1740 and married Moses Davis 17 Nov 1759, in Newbury.
Hoyt lists Moses Davis, born 16 Dec 1737 [son of Benjamin
and Ruth (Brown) Davis, of Newbury], whose brother, Benjamin,
was granted administration of his estate 12 May 1760.
The reference to David's grandchildren, therefore, probably
refers to the young married couple struck down in the
blush of youth.
While
most of the victims were supposedly "buried together
in Sawyer's Hill cemetery," the cemetery inscriptions
assembled by Mrs. Anna Bartlett Boyton in The Essex Institute
Historical Collections [volume 53], 1907, include only
three of the victims mentioned in Henry Merrill's account,
and no mention of a common grave site:
Here lies
buried the body of Mr Benjamin Long Jr
who departed this life Jenry
2nd 1760, aged 38 years
Here lies buried the body
of Mr Daniel Emery
who departed this life Jany
24th 1760
in the 26 year of his age
In memory of Mr Tristram
Bartlet
who decest Janry ye 3rd
1760 in ye 30th year of his age
Son of Samuel and Judith
(Coffin) Bartlett;
born 13 Sept 1730
If
anyone has additional information regarding the smallpox
epidemic of 1759-60 that ravaged this part of Newbury[port],
or the many victims, I would like to hear from them. The
area itself, along Curson's Mill road, is just north of
what is now the intersection of I-95 and Route 113, in
Newburyport, and adjacent to the Maudsley State Park,
which used to encompass what was once the old Merrill-Chase
homestead.
Submitted
by: Robert C. Chase
E-mail: Treborchas@AOL.com
04 Feb 2000
If
you have further information on Newbury and would like
to share it with others, please contact
me.
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