"Map of Beverly in the 17th Century"
Our delight undiminished, we share Lydia 148/22's love of home, manifested here in her appreciation of the Beverly Homestead itself. In keeping with the times, the buildings would be unpainted, thatched from Longham Brook with a house of two rooms, upper and lower.
She locates the Beverly Homestead using Perley's "Beverly in 1700 No. 5" map showing the Philip Moody House and mentions that the Association visited the site in 1931. Then the road was uneven but paved and the site appeared lonely and deserted for there were no dwellings within sight. However, she saw Dodge's Row with it's ancient cemetery, as silent witness of an extended family living nearby in colonial times.Turning to Philip and Martha's immediate neighborhood, Perley finds only the John Conant and Joseph Dodge houses on what was then called the "Highway" or Chebacco Road, and says it only came to be Dodge's Row after 1777, when the Coadies were long gone. To the south, his map shows a Corning, a Patch, a Stone and a Hull house at the crossroads a mile away. The text of his essay cites an 1846 letter referring to some early Grover St. residents as the Codies, Larcoms, Coles and Grovers. Follow the highway to the northeast from the Beverly Homestead at Grover St. to find their Wenham Woodlot and the village where were the Edwards brothers, grantors of deeds.
Inexplictably, Lydia doesn't mention their neighbors, the Woodens or the Dikes next door. It's they that would know best, the comings and goings, the ways of the Coadie family's days. Living within shouting distance, the proximity of the two dwellings makes people familiar, if not close. All in all, if useful in emergencies and independent of livelihood, neighbors are lucky. Maybe young Joseph 3 was inspired to become a cooper while watching Benjamin Dike make barrels. It must have been heart-wrenching for Martha when Mr. Dike died in February 1722/23, leaving Ann with three children plus a new baby as the Coadies left for Hopkinton.
In our research, we had the good fortune to find Samuel W. Balch's "Map of Beverly in the 17th Century" which complements Perely's maps. The Beverly Homestead itself was situated where "Coles" appears in the street name. Balch shows, on the road going west to the 2nd Meetinghouse from the Beverly Homestead, 3 Conant houses and their mill on Alewife Brook, with 2 Balchs, a Woodberry, and a Jones at the western fork of the road.
So we see that Deacon Lott Conant, with his sons and their families made his home here on this part of Roger's "Old Planter's Grant". Roger, who died in 1679, was the original leader of the Naumkeag settlement that became Salem and thenceforth pioneered Beverly. The Conants were true pioneers and better neighbors couldn't be had.
To the south, Balch's map shows, less than a mile down Cole's Lane, the Cole, Elliot and Grover houses, with Corning's Windmill and house, 2 Larcum houses, a Morgan house and a Dodge house near the Bald Hill crossroads of six highways. It may be there too, that John 2 met Alice Morgan, who became his wife.
Concerning the "Beverly Home of Philip and Martha," suffice to say the Beverly Homestead was on the edge of a three square mile neighborhood including 40 families, the minimum required for the formation of a 2nd Parish, which was granted in 1715. Lydia accuratly sensed " the passing to and fro," the "friendly converse," and "the blessings of a happy family companionship" in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the maps themselves distort our view by stopping at the Wenham line. What of John 2 could we find there?|
SECTION VII
As we have elsewhere noted Philip and his growing family lived for
some twenty-five years in the Beverly home purchased by him in 1698. Five
of their six children were born in that home and John(1) the eldest was but
three years of age at the time of its purchase. And when the family
removed from here, Mary the youngest of the children was in her thirteenth
year. That this home was a comfortable and pleasant place in which to live
may reasonably be surmised by the notation concerning it as given in the
deed(2) of purchase by Philip. By these brief notations we learn there was
land to the amount of six acres on which were “timber trees,” and also “fruit
trees,” and besides the “dwelling-house” there were “out-housing” and “fencing.”
That this “dwelling-house” was of substantial construction may be judged
by certain observations concerning it(3), made by the late Mr. Sidney Perley
(antiquarian and local historian elsewhere quoted), who suggests it may have
been built by Lt. John Dodge, who as he judged, was owner of this property
at the time (1686) it was sold to Thomas Edwards, of Ipswich “yeoman” from
whom it was purchased by Philip some twelve years later. In the comments
made in connection with his account of Beverly in 1700, Mr. Perley goes on
to say that this house was conveyed to Josiah Woodbery (also named a “yeo-
man”) in 1734, and adds “how much longer it stood is unknown to this writer”(3).
It would seem by these facts that this was a well-constructed house since it
Concerning the Beverly Home of Philip and Martha — 19 —
|
|
By the description in the deed concerning this property we learn that it bordered on “the Townhigbway,” a road leading into the adjoining town of Wenham. And as indicated by the late Sidney Perley, in his map of this part of Beverly at 1700(5), the house probably stood at a point where this road connected with one known as “Dodge Row,” presumably because a number of this early Beverly family lived along this line, and probably at the above date (6). That there were other family homes as near as those on Dodge Row is indicated by the Perley map; for there are marked on this map a half-dozen or so names of early Beverly(7) families who at that time had homes in this district; by the map measurements these homes seem within a mile or less of Philip’s home. Moreover there are indications that a number of families came to live on this “Townhighway” during the years that Philip and his family lived there. Accordingly it may be judged that during these years this part of Beverly was far from presenting the lonely aspect which characterizes it(8) at the present time. And we may easily surmise that along the road then called the “Townhighway” (now and for the past hundred or more years known as Grover Street) there was much passing to and fro, not only between Beverly and Wenham, but between the homes of the several families of this district, and between these and the centre of Beverly where, some two miles away, were the shops and the one church attended by all who were residents of the Township of Beverly. That to and from the home of Philip and Martha with its six growing children there was often much passing in friendly converse we may easily believe. Also from the various indications concerning Philip and Martha we may judge that this home for the most part, during the twenty-five years of their dwelling therein, had brought to them and their children the blessing of a happy family companionship(9).
TEXTUAL NOTES TO SECTION VII
— 20 —
|
— 21 —
|
