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| The "Friendship", Derby Wharf, and the Custom House. 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:
| Salem 1630: Pioneer Village. Photo by Erik Smith. |
| Video: The Apostle of Temperance Produced by Erik Smith for Salem Access Television. |
September 1, 1863 Thomas Bateman, Joseph Bateman, Larrington
Bennett, Charles Brown, and Thomas Brown were mustered out of
service in the Civil War. Salem sent over 3000 men to fight for
the Union.
2004 The Salem Academy Charter School opened with eighty-eight
6th and 7th graders.
September 2, 1800 On board the “Astrea”, returning to Salem after
a long journey to Batavia, Nathaniel Bowditch learned of the
death of George Washington from an outbound U.S. ship. The death
had occurred in December 1799; this story illustrates the slow
pace at which news traveled by ship. Bowditch recorded his
reaction to the news:
We were informed of the melancholy news of the death of
our beloved Washington. Thus has finished the career of that
illustrious man, that great general, that consummate statesman,
that elegant writer, that real patriot, that friend of his
country and all mankind.
1936 Michael Joseph Harrington was born in Salem. He served in
the Massachusetts State Legislature as well as the U.S. House of
Representatives from 1969 to 1979.
1958 The Cruiser “U.S.S. Salem”, the third U.S. Navy ship with
that name, departed Nofolk for her last tour of duty, a response
to Lebanon’s request for assistance in a period of instability.
In 1994 the “Salem” was returned to her birthplace in Quincy
where she is now part of the U.S. Naval and Shipbuilding Museum.
September 3, 1639 Sarah Towne was born in Salem. At the age of
53 she was accused of witchcraft. Two of her sisters were hanged
on September 22, but she was released. She pressed charges for
the death of her sisters and her unlawful imprisonment, and she
won, receiving three gold sovereigns for each of her sisters.
The film, “Three Sovereigns for Sister Sarah”, is based on her
life.
1829 A public dinner was held at Hamilton Hall for Judge Joseph
Story. The caterer was John Remond.
2005 The “Friendship” left Salem for Gloucester to participate in
the annual Gloucester Schooner Race.
September 4, 1830 According to the book “Hawthorne’s Reading”,
which records all of the books Nathaniel Hawthorne checked out of
the Salem Athenaeum, on this day he checked out a London magazine
of which he was a regular reader, Gentleman’s Magazine, and the
5th Volume of Swift’s collected works.
1860 John Bertram’s bark “Guide”, Captain McMullan, master, was
wrecked off the East Coast of Africa on Ras Hoforn.
September 5, 1812 The “Friendship”, of which there is a modern
replica at Derby Wharf, was captured by “HMS Rosamond” in mid-
Atlantic waters on her way back to Salem from Archangel, Russia.
She was condemned as a war prize and sold.
1839 The Captain wrote in The Log of the Salem Whaling Barque
“Emerald”:
This day blowing a gale of wind from the South West and
rainy weather, this morning a disturbance arose between the 1st
Officer (Mr. Downes) and the steward, as the latter insulted the
former nd for which the Officer applied the string, the steward
defended himself with a Pestle of a Mortar and struck the Officer
once or twice on the head with it &c, &c, saw no Whales this day,
Ends with a strong breeze from the South East, also with the
Dryskin in the Blubber Room fatting.
September 6, 1628 John Endecott and 200 colonists arrived in
Salem.
1774 Essex County held what was called the Ipswich Convention, in
which all of the towns of the County met to discuss the growing
tensions with England. Among the representatives were Salem
delegates Richard Derby, Jr. and Timothy Pickering.
1841 David Pingree, Jr. was born. He would live most of his 91
years in the house at Essex Street, now called the Gardner
Pingree House, which would be given to the Essex Institute by his
heirs in 1933, less than a year after he died.
1837 The cornerstone ceremony for the new Salem City Hall was
held.
1857 Artist Phillip Little was born in Swampscott. He settled in
Salem in 1886. Not only was he an accomplished painter, he
served on the school board, the committee on military affairs,
and the board of health. Independently wealthy, he gave away
most of his work. Little also painted camouflage on warships for
the U.S. Navy.
September 7, 1643 The part of Salem known as Enon was established
as the Town of Wenham.
1768 A loyalist informer, who had warned customs officers that a
Salem vessel intended to elude paying duties, was taken to the
Common where he was tarred and feathered. He was paraded through
town and then encouraged to flee. (Osgood page 43)
1786 Elias Hasket Derby’s “Grand Turk” arrived in Canton, China,
the first Salem vessel to do so.
1807 The Bertram family arrived in Boston from the Island of
Jersey on the ship “Alert.” They had been headed for Baltimore,
but the leaky ship compelled the captain to cut short his
voyage. John Bertram, then 11 years old, was the only family
member who spoke English in addition to their native French.
They were told they should make Salem their home, and they did.
1825 Nathaniel Hawthorne (at that point still Hathorne),
graduated from Bowdoin College.
September 8, 1799 Elias Hasket Derby, known in Salem as “King
Derby” died at the age of 60 in his newly built mansion near what
would become Town Hall. After his death, as his estate’s value
was calculated, it was determined that he was the first
millionaire in the United States. He accumulated his vast wealth
in the shipping company he inherited from his father. Derby
never went to sea.
September 9, 1687 The ship “John”, Captain James Thomas, arrived
in Salem from France. The passengers were Protestants, or
Huegonots, who were fleeing Catholic persecution.
1692 Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas
Hoar, and Mary Bradbury are tried and convicted of witchcraft.
They would be executed September 22.
1794 The last concert held in the Assembly House on Federal
Street was a show that featured a violin, a flute, and voice.
The building would be a private house until the 1950s when it was
donated to the Essex Institute.
1798 Captain Joseph Ropes brought the ship “Recovery” into
Mocha. She was the first ship in that part of the world to be
seen flying the American Stars and Stripes. She returned to
Salem with a cargo of coffee.
September 10, 1847 Sophia Peabody Hawthorne wrote to her Mother
"How glad you will be, dear mother, to hear that we are to have
the Mall Street house, and for $200!”
September 11, 1804 During construction of the Samuel McIntire
designed South Church on Chestnut Street, a gale blew down and
destroyed the steeple, which had to be rebuilt.
1849 The ship “Talma” cleared Salem for San Francisco, taking
passengers and equipment caught up in the California Gold Rush.
1882 President Arthur was in Marblehead on a visit with the
“U.S.S. Despatch”. He made an unscheduled trip to Salem. At the
door of the East India Marine Hall he was met by Postmaster J.
Frank Dalton, who gave the President an impromptu tour of Salem.
His son, Lt. Col. Arthur Treadwell Dalton is the namesake of the
section of Broad Street known as Dalton Parkway.
1944 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts granted the Charter of
Historic Salem, Incorporated.
September 12, 1712 Richard Derby was born in Salem. Richard
built up the company that his son Elias Hasket would use to
become the first millionaire in the United States.
1796 Captain John Felt, who had confronted British Regulars who’d
been dispatched from Boston to seize cannons and powder, died at
the age of 42. He was buried in the Broad Street Cemetery.
1936 Early American Industries were portrayed at the Pioneers’
Village, as it was then called, in Forest River Park. The
detailed description is available in the Salem History Room at
the Public Library.
September 13, 1814 Reverend Bentley wrote:
The weather stormy and comforting to the fearful. This
is to them a reprieve during the September storm. The Armed
Vessels have been stopped in the Potomac by our brave
Commanders. For those who calculate everything in pence, we are
told the loss at Washington cannot exceed 2 millions of dollars.
That we were alarmed and the enemy panic struck when the left
Washington. One does not even think of the heroism of some of
our modern declamers. Neither purse nor tongue now, and as to
fighting it is not in their bargain. It is useful to live a
short time in such a scene.
September 14, 1775 Benedict Arnold, sent from Cambridge by
General Washington, stopped in Salem on his way to Fort
Ticonderoga.
1849 Father Theobold Mathew, the Apostle of Temperance, visited
Salem. There is a statue celebration Father Mathew and his visit
on the corner of Hawthorne and Derby.
1853 Nathaniel Hawthorne, newly arrived in Liverpool, wrote:
I walked through St. James yesterday. It is a very
pretty place, dug out of the rock, having formerly, I believe,
been a stone quarry. It is now a deep and spacious valley, with
graves and monuments on its level and grassy floor, through which
run gravel paths, and where grows luxurious shrubbery. It was a
warm and sunny day, and the cemetery really had a most agreeable
aspect. I saw several gravesites of Americans, but what struck
me most was one line of an epitaph on an English woman-‘here
rests in pease a virtuous wife.”
1854 The Salem Normal School welcomed "young ladies who wish to
prepare themselves for teaching". Today that school is known as
Salem State College.
1891 George B. Loring died in Salem at the age of 73. Mr. Loring
represented this district in the U.S. House of Representatives as
well as the Massachusetts State House and Senate. A Harvard
graduate, he also served as the U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture
and Minister to Portugal. George Bailey Loring was buried in
Harmony Grove.
September 15, 1807 Reverend Bentley wrote about the death of a
slave who was the property of Salem’s John Deland. Jack’s wife
was the property of Hannah Crowninshield of Salem.
At Jack’s funeral I saw his Master Deland 79 years of
age. He tells me that he bought Jack in the year 1754 and that
he was then believed to be 11 years of age. Jack always insisted
that he was above 20 years of age but his Master says his stature
forbids it, so that we fix him at 65. It was the same way with
Micah Coombs. He appeared 90, but by his indenture was but said,
in Mr. Derby’s family, he was an hundred.
Last week's history is archived here.
Bennett, Charles Brown, and Thomas Brown were mustered out of
service in the Civil War. Salem sent over 3000 men to fight for
the Union.
2004 The Salem Academy Charter School opened with eighty-eight
6th and 7th graders.
September 2, 1800 On board the “Astrea”, returning to Salem after
a long journey to Batavia, Nathaniel Bowditch learned of the
death of George Washington from an outbound U.S. ship. The death
had occurred in December 1799; this story illustrates the slow
pace at which news traveled by ship. Bowditch recorded his
reaction to the news:
We were informed of the melancholy news of the death of
our beloved Washington. Thus has finished the career of that
illustrious man, that great general, that consummate statesman,
that elegant writer, that real patriot, that friend of his
country and all mankind.
1936 Michael Joseph Harrington was born in Salem. He served in
the Massachusetts State Legislature as well as the U.S. House of
Representatives from 1969 to 1979.
1958 The Cruiser “U.S.S. Salem”, the third U.S. Navy ship with
that name, departed Nofolk for her last tour of duty, a response
to Lebanon’s request for assistance in a period of instability.
In 1994 the “Salem” was returned to her birthplace in Quincy
where she is now part of the U.S. Naval and Shipbuilding Museum.
September 3, 1639 Sarah Towne was born in Salem. At the age of
53 she was accused of witchcraft. Two of her sisters were hanged
on September 22, but she was released. She pressed charges for
the death of her sisters and her unlawful imprisonment, and she
won, receiving three gold sovereigns for each of her sisters.
The film, “Three Sovereigns for Sister Sarah”, is based on her
life.
1829 A public dinner was held at Hamilton Hall for Judge Joseph
Story. The caterer was John Remond.
2005 The “Friendship” left Salem for Gloucester to participate in
the annual Gloucester Schooner Race.
September 4, 1830 According to the book “Hawthorne’s Reading”,
which records all of the books Nathaniel Hawthorne checked out of
the Salem Athenaeum, on this day he checked out a London magazine
of which he was a regular reader, Gentleman’s Magazine, and the
5th Volume of Swift’s collected works.
1860 John Bertram’s bark “Guide”, Captain McMullan, master, was
wrecked off the East Coast of Africa on Ras Hoforn.
September 5, 1812 The “Friendship”, of which there is a modern
replica at Derby Wharf, was captured by “HMS Rosamond” in mid-
Atlantic waters on her way back to Salem from Archangel, Russia.
She was condemned as a war prize and sold.
1839 The Captain wrote in The Log of the Salem Whaling Barque
“Emerald”:
This day blowing a gale of wind from the South West and
rainy weather, this morning a disturbance arose between the 1st
Officer (Mr. Downes) and the steward, as the latter insulted the
former nd for which the Officer applied the string, the steward
defended himself with a Pestle of a Mortar and struck the Officer
once or twice on the head with it &c, &c, saw no Whales this day,
Ends with a strong breeze from the South East, also with the
Dryskin in the Blubber Room fatting.
September 6, 1628 John Endecott and 200 colonists arrived in
Salem.
1774 Essex County held what was called the Ipswich Convention, in
which all of the towns of the County met to discuss the growing
tensions with England. Among the representatives were Salem
delegates Richard Derby, Jr. and Timothy Pickering.
1841 David Pingree, Jr. was born. He would live most of his 91
years in the house at Essex Street, now called the Gardner
Pingree House, which would be given to the Essex Institute by his
heirs in 1933, less than a year after he died.
1837 The cornerstone ceremony for the new Salem City Hall was
held.
1857 Artist Phillip Little was born in Swampscott. He settled in
Salem in 1886. Not only was he an accomplished painter, he
served on the school board, the committee on military affairs,
and the board of health. Independently wealthy, he gave away
most of his work. Little also painted camouflage on warships for
the U.S. Navy.
September 7, 1643 The part of Salem known as Enon was established
as the Town of Wenham.
1768 A loyalist informer, who had warned customs officers that a
Salem vessel intended to elude paying duties, was taken to the
Common where he was tarred and feathered. He was paraded through
town and then encouraged to flee. (Osgood page 43)
1786 Elias Hasket Derby’s “Grand Turk” arrived in Canton, China,
the first Salem vessel to do so.
1807 The Bertram family arrived in Boston from the Island of
Jersey on the ship “Alert.” They had been headed for Baltimore,
but the leaky ship compelled the captain to cut short his
voyage. John Bertram, then 11 years old, was the only family
member who spoke English in addition to their native French.
They were told they should make Salem their home, and they did.
1825 Nathaniel Hawthorne (at that point still Hathorne),
graduated from Bowdoin College.
September 8, 1799 Elias Hasket Derby, known in Salem as “King
Derby” died at the age of 60 in his newly built mansion near what
would become Town Hall. After his death, as his estate’s value
was calculated, it was determined that he was the first
millionaire in the United States. He accumulated his vast wealth
in the shipping company he inherited from his father. Derby
never went to sea.
September 9, 1687 The ship “John”, Captain James Thomas, arrived
in Salem from France. The passengers were Protestants, or
Huegonots, who were fleeing Catholic persecution.
1692 Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas
Hoar, and Mary Bradbury are tried and convicted of witchcraft.
They would be executed September 22.
1794 The last concert held in the Assembly House on Federal
Street was a show that featured a violin, a flute, and voice.
The building would be a private house until the 1950s when it was
donated to the Essex Institute.
1798 Captain Joseph Ropes brought the ship “Recovery” into
Mocha. She was the first ship in that part of the world to be
seen flying the American Stars and Stripes. She returned to
Salem with a cargo of coffee.
September 10, 1847 Sophia Peabody Hawthorne wrote to her Mother
"How glad you will be, dear mother, to hear that we are to have
the Mall Street house, and for $200!”
September 11, 1804 During construction of the Samuel McIntire
designed South Church on Chestnut Street, a gale blew down and
destroyed the steeple, which had to be rebuilt.
1849 The ship “Talma” cleared Salem for San Francisco, taking
passengers and equipment caught up in the California Gold Rush.
1882 President Arthur was in Marblehead on a visit with the
“U.S.S. Despatch”. He made an unscheduled trip to Salem. At the
door of the East India Marine Hall he was met by Postmaster J.
Frank Dalton, who gave the President an impromptu tour of Salem.
His son, Lt. Col. Arthur Treadwell Dalton is the namesake of the
section of Broad Street known as Dalton Parkway.
1944 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts granted the Charter of
Historic Salem, Incorporated.
September 12, 1712 Richard Derby was born in Salem. Richard
built up the company that his son Elias Hasket would use to
become the first millionaire in the United States.
1796 Captain John Felt, who had confronted British Regulars who’d
been dispatched from Boston to seize cannons and powder, died at
the age of 42. He was buried in the Broad Street Cemetery.
1936 Early American Industries were portrayed at the Pioneers’
Village, as it was then called, in Forest River Park. The
detailed description is available in the Salem History Room at
the Public Library.
September 13, 1814 Reverend Bentley wrote:
The weather stormy and comforting to the fearful. This
is to them a reprieve during the September storm. The Armed
Vessels have been stopped in the Potomac by our brave
Commanders. For those who calculate everything in pence, we are
told the loss at Washington cannot exceed 2 millions of dollars.
That we were alarmed and the enemy panic struck when the left
Washington. One does not even think of the heroism of some of
our modern declamers. Neither purse nor tongue now, and as to
fighting it is not in their bargain. It is useful to live a
short time in such a scene.
September 14, 1775 Benedict Arnold, sent from Cambridge by
General Washington, stopped in Salem on his way to Fort
Ticonderoga.
1849 Father Theobold Mathew, the Apostle of Temperance, visited
Salem. There is a statue celebration Father Mathew and his visit
on the corner of Hawthorne and Derby.
1853 Nathaniel Hawthorne, newly arrived in Liverpool, wrote:
I walked through St. James yesterday. It is a very
pretty place, dug out of the rock, having formerly, I believe,
been a stone quarry. It is now a deep and spacious valley, with
graves and monuments on its level and grassy floor, through which
run gravel paths, and where grows luxurious shrubbery. It was a
warm and sunny day, and the cemetery really had a most agreeable
aspect. I saw several gravesites of Americans, but what struck
me most was one line of an epitaph on an English woman-‘here
rests in pease a virtuous wife.”
1854 The Salem Normal School welcomed "young ladies who wish to
prepare themselves for teaching". Today that school is known as
Salem State College.
1891 George B. Loring died in Salem at the age of 73. Mr. Loring
represented this district in the U.S. House of Representatives as
well as the Massachusetts State House and Senate. A Harvard
graduate, he also served as the U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture
and Minister to Portugal. George Bailey Loring was buried in
Harmony Grove.
September 15, 1807 Reverend Bentley wrote about the death of a
slave who was the property of Salem’s John Deland. Jack’s wife
was the property of Hannah Crowninshield of Salem.
At Jack’s funeral I saw his Master Deland 79 years of
age. He tells me that he bought Jack in the year 1754 and that
he was then believed to be 11 years of age. Jack always insisted
that he was above 20 years of age but his Master says his stature
forbids it, so that we fix him at 65. It was the same way with
Micah Coombs. He appeared 90, but by his indenture was but said,
in Mr. Derby’s family, he was an hundred.
Last week's history is archived here.
| The Salem Athenaeum. Photo by Erik Smith. |
