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| The Tomb of General Arthur Forrester Devereux. Photo by Erik Smith. |
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| Copyright 2007/2008/2009, Erik K. Smith, Salem, Massachusetts |
| The inspiration for this website is Tom Sito, who has been emailing me Daily Histories for over 10 years now |
The majority of the research done to create this website was possible thanks to
the Salem Public Library. If you would like to learn more about any of these
topics, please visit the Sources page where you can find links to books
available there.
the Salem Public Library. If you would like to learn more about any of these
topics, please visit the Sources page where you can find links to books
available there.
It happened on this day in
Salem, Massachusetts:
Salem, Massachusetts:
| The "Friendship". Photo by Erik Smith. |
| Video: The Nathaniel Hawthorne Statue Produced by Erik Smith for Salem Access Television. |
June 25, 1811 The Salem ship Rebecca was captured by Danes. She
had on board a cargo of cotton and logwood.
1834 St. Peter’s Church was consecrated.
1913 The Ropes Memorial opened on Essex Street. It is now part
of the Peabody Essex Museum and open to the public. It’s
gardens, behind the house, are painstakingly maintained and open
for free every day.
1914 A Fire started at a tannery in Blubber Hollow. It quickly
spread and consumed much of the City of Salem. It burned for 13
hours, consumed 1600 houses and 41 factories. Two people died,
and 250 acres were charred.
1914 Harold Taylor Nevin Smith proposed to Ruth Harris in Salem.
They are the paternal grandparents of the author of this website,
Erik K. Smith. Harold was one of the founders of Salem Oil &
Grease, a manufacturer of chemicals used in leather tanning.
1992 The Custom House Eagle returned to its perch after a two
year absence while it was restored and studied. The eagle was
carved by Salem’s Joseph True in 1826.
1994 The new National Park Service Visitor Center opened in part
of the Salem Armory. The plan was for the Peabody Essex Museum
to develop the other half, but it was instead demolished.
June 26, 1779 The Massachusetts Board of War made preparations to
drive the British from Penobscot, Maine. This issued the follow
orders:
To engage or employ such armed vessels, State or
National, as could be prepared and procured to sail in 6 days, to
charter, or if necessary, to impress in the harbors of Boston,
Salem, Beverly and Newburyport, a number of private armed
vessels, belonging to individuals competent, when joined with the
others, for the enterprise; to promise the owners a fair
compensation for all losses and damages they might sustain; to
give seamen the pay and rations of those in the continental
service; and to procure the necessary outfits and provisions as
quickly as possible.
1833 Captain Nathaniel West played host to President Andrew
Jackson.
1857 Salem’s second Mayor, Stephen C. Phillips, was killed in the
burning of the steamer Montreal on the St. Lawrence River. He
had served as Mayor 1838 to 1842 as well as a representative to
the Massachusetts General Court and the State Senate and the U.S.
Congress.
June 27, 1833 President Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren
visited the East India Musuem.
1842 This was the original date scheduled for the wedding of
Nathaniel Hawthorne to Sophia Peabody. It was called off because
she was ill, and Nathaniel fell into a deep depression. They
would be married two weeks later.
1848 Captain John Bertram married his third wife, Mary Ann Ropes.
1976 Derby Day was celebrated at Derby Wharf. It was hosted by
Derby Street Concerned Citizens, the National Park Service, and
the Cultural Arts Commission.
June 28, 1698 A fire broke out in a warehouse on present day
Essex Street and spread to several houses, destroying them all.
The spread of the fire was halted by blowing up the house that
had been built by Major William Hathorne in the mid 1600s.
1833 According to her book “When I Lived In Salem”, Caroline
Howard King wrote that she and her friend Lucy Saltonstall
brought scissors to the East India Museum and cut out the page
containing the names of President Andrew Jackson and Martin Van
Buren. The two 11 year olds considered the Democrat to be a
“dreadful President.” The Whig Party was accused of the theft.
1840 The Eastern Railroad began service to Newburyport.
June 29, 1669 The first jail keeper, Benjamin Felton, was
appointed to the new jail, located in the meeting house where
Rockafellas is now in the Daniel Low Building.
1770 Eastern Circuit lawyer John Adams stayed overnight in Salem
on his way to Falmouth, Maine.
1773 According to Joseph Felt, lightning wreaked havoc on the
town this day. It struck and killed a cow as well as hitting a
brig and schooner in the harbor, a sloop at a wharf, a store at
Derby Wharf, and a large elm tree.
1798 According to Reverend Bentley, lightning struck the ship
Martha, owned by Captain Derby, killing Daniel Edde and Reuben
Murray.
1854 The brig "Vincennes" returned home as the last vessel from
Salem to trade with Havana, Cuba.
1975 The City of Salem dedicated its newly built Dr. J. Robert
Shaugnessy Rehabilitation Hospital and Dr. Israel Kaplan Public
Health Center to replace the Chronic Disease Hospital at Salem
Willows.
June 30, 1704 Salem born John Lambert had been convicted of
piracy and was hanged in Boston on this day.
1847 Clarissa Bertram, the second wife of Captain John Bertram,
died during childbirth, as had his first wife.
1871 The locomotive “Ossipee” was travelling from Marblehead to
Salem on the Eastern Railroad. It jumped the tracks about a mile
east of the Forest River Station. The locomotive plunged into
the swamp and pulled the baggage car to the bank. It then
flipped end over end and also landed in the swamp. There were
two attendants in the car. One survived but a boy named Bartlett
was killed. (Eastern Railroad, Bradlee)
1976 A new fountain was unveiled at Town House Square. It
featured bronzes meant to pay tribute to Hawthorne’s story “A
Rill From The Town Pump”, but it was not very well received by
citizens.
1994 A reproduction 17th century shallop arrived at Pioneer
Village on a journey up the coast from Plymouth.
July 1, 1774 Ezekial Russell began publishing the “Salem Gazette
and Newburyport Advertiser”. It lasted several months.
1812 The 32 ton fishing schooner “Fame” received her privateer’s
commission and left Salem, the town’s first privateer of the War
of 1812.
1823 Joseph B. F. Osgood was born in Salem. He served as Mayor
in 1865 as well as both the Massachusetts House and Senate and as
a First District Judge.
1857 Nathaniel Hawthorne resigned his post as Consul from his
office in Liverpool, England.
1934 Augustus Neal Rantoul died in Santa Barbara, California. He
was one of the sons of Robert S. Rantoul, who was an early Salem
mayor and longtime President of the Essex Institute. Augustus
was an architect whose firm in Boston was Andrews, Jaques &
Rantoul. He was born and lived for many years at his father’s
home at 17 Winter Street in Salem.
1993 The first Salem Police Department Mountain Bike Patrol hit
the streets.
1997 Salem’s own Jeff Juden, pitching for the Montreal Expos,
beat Roger Clemens and the Blue Jays 2-1 at a game in Toronto.
July 2, 1630 Henry Winthrop, the son of Governor John Winthrop,
drowned crossing the North River in newly named Salem. This
event, and the generally poor condition of the pioneers,
influenced Winthrop’s decision to re-establish the capital of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony to Boston.
1792 Salem’s first bank, the Essex Bank, opened for business on
Central Street.
1835 Daniel King of Danvers sold a sheep pasture to The New Salem
Aqueduct Company for $350.
July 3, 1632 According to James Duncan Phillips’ “Salem in the
Seventeenth Century”, The Massachusetts General Court paid
Richard Waterman a bounty of forty shillings for killing a wolf
in Salem.
1798 The “Frienship”, of which there is a replica today at Derby
Wharf, returned from her first voyage. She had gone to Batavia
and returned with a cargo of sugar and coffee which she would end
up taking to Hamburg, Germany in September that year.
1812 Reverend Bentley wrote:
Several Privateers have sailed from Salem and four from
Marblehead. The spirit increases and a little success would
cover American seas with them. The best provided privateer
sailed from Salem this evening with 70 men.
1863 At the Battle of Gettysburg, Salem’s Arthur Forrester
Devereux watched a hole opening in front of General Lewis
Armistead’s brigade during Pickett’s Charge. The Federals on
that section of the fence fell back, without an order for
retreat. Lieutenant Colonel Devereux convinced General Hancock
to let him reinforce the line with the Tammany Regiment. They
repulsed the charge, killing General Armistead and capturing four
Confederate banners. He grew up at 17 Winter Street. General
Devereux is buried in the Broad Street Cemetery.
1902 The “U.S.S. Hartford”, a sloop-of-war launched in 1858 and
in service until she sank in 1956, visited Salem Harbor.
1910 President William Howard Taft attended the 40th Anniversary
celebration of Reverend J.P. Franks as Rector of the Grace Church.
July 4, 1746 A dinner was held for Sir William Pepperrell to
celebrate his successful Siege of Louisburg in the War of
Austrian Succession, or King George’s War.
1793 The Marine Society of Salem organized the first celebration
of Independence Day in Salem.
1804 Nathaniel Hawthorne was born. His parents, Nathaniel and
Betsy Hathorne, lived at 27 Union Street. The home where the
author was born was later moved to the House of Seven Gables
Settlement site on Derby Street. He added the “w” to his name
later in life in deference to his ancestors whom he believed
spelled it that way when they lived in England.
1807 The Salem Mechanic Light Infantry participated in its first
parade.
1814 The Essex Guards participated in their first parade.
1898 The steamer “Surf City” got caught in a squall as it tried
to make its way from the pier at the Willows to Beverly. It went
aground, and all the passengers on the upper deck were thrown
into the water as hail rained down on the ship. Eight people
died.
1918 The first “U.S.S. Haraden”, named for Captain Jonathan
Haraden, commander of the Tyrannicide, was launched in Newport
News, Virginia. The ship, named for an American patriot who had
great success against the British Navy, would later be sent to
England as part of the 1940 Lend/Lease program.
1976 The Salem Cultural Arts Commission dedicated the Bandstand
in Salem Common to Mr. Jean M. Missud, Conductor of the Salem
Cadet Band. M. Missud lived from 1878 to 1941. The replica of
the McIntire Arch on the Common was also dedicated.
Last week's history is archived here.
had on board a cargo of cotton and logwood.
1834 St. Peter’s Church was consecrated.
1913 The Ropes Memorial opened on Essex Street. It is now part
of the Peabody Essex Museum and open to the public. It’s
gardens, behind the house, are painstakingly maintained and open
for free every day.
1914 A Fire started at a tannery in Blubber Hollow. It quickly
spread and consumed much of the City of Salem. It burned for 13
hours, consumed 1600 houses and 41 factories. Two people died,
and 250 acres were charred.
1914 Harold Taylor Nevin Smith proposed to Ruth Harris in Salem.
They are the paternal grandparents of the author of this website,
Erik K. Smith. Harold was one of the founders of Salem Oil &
Grease, a manufacturer of chemicals used in leather tanning.
1992 The Custom House Eagle returned to its perch after a two
year absence while it was restored and studied. The eagle was
carved by Salem’s Joseph True in 1826.
1994 The new National Park Service Visitor Center opened in part
of the Salem Armory. The plan was for the Peabody Essex Museum
to develop the other half, but it was instead demolished.
June 26, 1779 The Massachusetts Board of War made preparations to
drive the British from Penobscot, Maine. This issued the follow
orders:
To engage or employ such armed vessels, State or
National, as could be prepared and procured to sail in 6 days, to
charter, or if necessary, to impress in the harbors of Boston,
Salem, Beverly and Newburyport, a number of private armed
vessels, belonging to individuals competent, when joined with the
others, for the enterprise; to promise the owners a fair
compensation for all losses and damages they might sustain; to
give seamen the pay and rations of those in the continental
service; and to procure the necessary outfits and provisions as
quickly as possible.
1833 Captain Nathaniel West played host to President Andrew
Jackson.
1857 Salem’s second Mayor, Stephen C. Phillips, was killed in the
burning of the steamer Montreal on the St. Lawrence River. He
had served as Mayor 1838 to 1842 as well as a representative to
the Massachusetts General Court and the State Senate and the U.S.
Congress.
June 27, 1833 President Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren
visited the East India Musuem.
1842 This was the original date scheduled for the wedding of
Nathaniel Hawthorne to Sophia Peabody. It was called off because
she was ill, and Nathaniel fell into a deep depression. They
would be married two weeks later.
1848 Captain John Bertram married his third wife, Mary Ann Ropes.
1976 Derby Day was celebrated at Derby Wharf. It was hosted by
Derby Street Concerned Citizens, the National Park Service, and
the Cultural Arts Commission.
June 28, 1698 A fire broke out in a warehouse on present day
Essex Street and spread to several houses, destroying them all.
The spread of the fire was halted by blowing up the house that
had been built by Major William Hathorne in the mid 1600s.
1833 According to her book “When I Lived In Salem”, Caroline
Howard King wrote that she and her friend Lucy Saltonstall
brought scissors to the East India Museum and cut out the page
containing the names of President Andrew Jackson and Martin Van
Buren. The two 11 year olds considered the Democrat to be a
“dreadful President.” The Whig Party was accused of the theft.
1840 The Eastern Railroad began service to Newburyport.
June 29, 1669 The first jail keeper, Benjamin Felton, was
appointed to the new jail, located in the meeting house where
Rockafellas is now in the Daniel Low Building.
1770 Eastern Circuit lawyer John Adams stayed overnight in Salem
on his way to Falmouth, Maine.
1773 According to Joseph Felt, lightning wreaked havoc on the
town this day. It struck and killed a cow as well as hitting a
brig and schooner in the harbor, a sloop at a wharf, a store at
Derby Wharf, and a large elm tree.
1798 According to Reverend Bentley, lightning struck the ship
Martha, owned by Captain Derby, killing Daniel Edde and Reuben
Murray.
1854 The brig "Vincennes" returned home as the last vessel from
Salem to trade with Havana, Cuba.
1975 The City of Salem dedicated its newly built Dr. J. Robert
Shaugnessy Rehabilitation Hospital and Dr. Israel Kaplan Public
Health Center to replace the Chronic Disease Hospital at Salem
Willows.
June 30, 1704 Salem born John Lambert had been convicted of
piracy and was hanged in Boston on this day.
1847 Clarissa Bertram, the second wife of Captain John Bertram,
died during childbirth, as had his first wife.
1871 The locomotive “Ossipee” was travelling from Marblehead to
Salem on the Eastern Railroad. It jumped the tracks about a mile
east of the Forest River Station. The locomotive plunged into
the swamp and pulled the baggage car to the bank. It then
flipped end over end and also landed in the swamp. There were
two attendants in the car. One survived but a boy named Bartlett
was killed. (Eastern Railroad, Bradlee)
1976 A new fountain was unveiled at Town House Square. It
featured bronzes meant to pay tribute to Hawthorne’s story “A
Rill From The Town Pump”, but it was not very well received by
citizens.
1994 A reproduction 17th century shallop arrived at Pioneer
Village on a journey up the coast from Plymouth.
July 1, 1774 Ezekial Russell began publishing the “Salem Gazette
and Newburyport Advertiser”. It lasted several months.
1812 The 32 ton fishing schooner “Fame” received her privateer’s
commission and left Salem, the town’s first privateer of the War
of 1812.
1823 Joseph B. F. Osgood was born in Salem. He served as Mayor
in 1865 as well as both the Massachusetts House and Senate and as
a First District Judge.
1857 Nathaniel Hawthorne resigned his post as Consul from his
office in Liverpool, England.
1934 Augustus Neal Rantoul died in Santa Barbara, California. He
was one of the sons of Robert S. Rantoul, who was an early Salem
mayor and longtime President of the Essex Institute. Augustus
was an architect whose firm in Boston was Andrews, Jaques &
Rantoul. He was born and lived for many years at his father’s
home at 17 Winter Street in Salem.
1993 The first Salem Police Department Mountain Bike Patrol hit
the streets.
1997 Salem’s own Jeff Juden, pitching for the Montreal Expos,
beat Roger Clemens and the Blue Jays 2-1 at a game in Toronto.
July 2, 1630 Henry Winthrop, the son of Governor John Winthrop,
drowned crossing the North River in newly named Salem. This
event, and the generally poor condition of the pioneers,
influenced Winthrop’s decision to re-establish the capital of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony to Boston.
1792 Salem’s first bank, the Essex Bank, opened for business on
Central Street.
1835 Daniel King of Danvers sold a sheep pasture to The New Salem
Aqueduct Company for $350.
July 3, 1632 According to James Duncan Phillips’ “Salem in the
Seventeenth Century”, The Massachusetts General Court paid
Richard Waterman a bounty of forty shillings for killing a wolf
in Salem.
1798 The “Frienship”, of which there is a replica today at Derby
Wharf, returned from her first voyage. She had gone to Batavia
and returned with a cargo of sugar and coffee which she would end
up taking to Hamburg, Germany in September that year.
1812 Reverend Bentley wrote:
Several Privateers have sailed from Salem and four from
Marblehead. The spirit increases and a little success would
cover American seas with them. The best provided privateer
sailed from Salem this evening with 70 men.
1863 At the Battle of Gettysburg, Salem’s Arthur Forrester
Devereux watched a hole opening in front of General Lewis
Armistead’s brigade during Pickett’s Charge. The Federals on
that section of the fence fell back, without an order for
retreat. Lieutenant Colonel Devereux convinced General Hancock
to let him reinforce the line with the Tammany Regiment. They
repulsed the charge, killing General Armistead and capturing four
Confederate banners. He grew up at 17 Winter Street. General
Devereux is buried in the Broad Street Cemetery.
1902 The “U.S.S. Hartford”, a sloop-of-war launched in 1858 and
in service until she sank in 1956, visited Salem Harbor.
1910 President William Howard Taft attended the 40th Anniversary
celebration of Reverend J.P. Franks as Rector of the Grace Church.
July 4, 1746 A dinner was held for Sir William Pepperrell to
celebrate his successful Siege of Louisburg in the War of
Austrian Succession, or King George’s War.
1793 The Marine Society of Salem organized the first celebration
of Independence Day in Salem.
1804 Nathaniel Hawthorne was born. His parents, Nathaniel and
Betsy Hathorne, lived at 27 Union Street. The home where the
author was born was later moved to the House of Seven Gables
Settlement site on Derby Street. He added the “w” to his name
later in life in deference to his ancestors whom he believed
spelled it that way when they lived in England.
1807 The Salem Mechanic Light Infantry participated in its first
parade.
1814 The Essex Guards participated in their first parade.
1898 The steamer “Surf City” got caught in a squall as it tried
to make its way from the pier at the Willows to Beverly. It went
aground, and all the passengers on the upper deck were thrown
into the water as hail rained down on the ship. Eight people
died.
1918 The first “U.S.S. Haraden”, named for Captain Jonathan
Haraden, commander of the Tyrannicide, was launched in Newport
News, Virginia. The ship, named for an American patriot who had
great success against the British Navy, would later be sent to
England as part of the 1940 Lend/Lease program.
1976 The Salem Cultural Arts Commission dedicated the Bandstand
in Salem Common to Mr. Jean M. Missud, Conductor of the Salem
Cadet Band. M. Missud lived from 1878 to 1941. The replica of
the McIntire Arch on the Common was also dedicated.
Last week's history is archived here.
| Pioneer Village. Photo by Erik Smith. |
