Native Americans in early America worked hard to plant and harvest tobacco, melons, corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, artichokes, and nuts, because they lacked domesticated animals to help with the hard labor. Native animals in the New England area consisted of deer, crows, black bears, beaver, otters, bobcats, mink and turkeys.

The Pilgrim leaders at the time were William Bradford of Austerfield, England (whose grandfather and uncles were farmers) and William Brewster of Scrooby, a poor farming town in England. The three remaining Pilgrim leaders were John Carver, Edward Winslow and Miles Stanish, none of which had any farming experience.

When the Pilgrims arrived in America they had found farming land that the Native Americans had cleared before the majority of them died from disease. In April 1621 the Pilgrims started farming. By 1767 the people of Beverly had brought over domesticated animals from Europe to help in the field. In 1767 there were a total of 164 horses, 143 oxen, 741 cows, 1099 sheep, and 37 swine. Some of these animals helped the farmers harvest 586¾ tons of English hay, 367¼ tons of meadow hay and 10,728 bushels of grain. Almost 20 years later, there were still the same number of horses but oxen increased to 164, and cows and sheep both decreased in population (639 cows and 900 sheep). The swine population increased to 260. 1

Farming as a profession in Beverly grew from the years 1681 to 1760, and decreased rapidly from the years 1761 to 1840 . By 1860 there was only one farm in Essex county that was over 500 acres, while the majority of farmland was around 20 to 50 acres. Other counties in Massachusetts had more farms sized 50 to 100 acres. In the 1880, Essex county ranked third in the state for the highest value of farms including the structures on the property. Massachusetts in 1909 accounted for 0.7% of the nation’s gross value of farm products, and by 1919 it dropped to 0.5%. By 1920 the average size of all farms in Massachusetts was less than 80 acres while surrounding states were averaging 80 to 120 acres of farmland.

Raymond farm, which was located in Beverly Massachusetts, was behind present day Henry’s Market in North Beverly. The farm was established in 1654 after the King of England gave the Raymond’s a land grant of two hundred acres to start a farm. 2

Grown on the farm were corn, beans, spinach, and celery. There were also orchards. The Raymond’s possessed dairy cows and a stable that housed horses, hogs, and chickens. There were 60 acres on the farm used for farming and another 101 acres that the Raymond house and stable were on. McKay Street separated the farm land from the barn and Balch Street separated the barn from the stable. Sixty acres of farmland was sold to the Campenelli’s who built homes on the land while the remaining part of the farm stayed in the family until 1968.

The last owners were John William Raymond and Clinton R. Raymond. John William owned and operated the Raymond farm until the day he died; afterwards Clinton became the owner of the land around 1956. Clinton R. Raymond was the last owner of the farm because in 1968 all the remaining Raymond farmland was sold so that more houses could be built. The Raymond house, which was located at 120 Balch Street and built in the 18th century, was located on land that was not originally Raymond land. The Raymond house was located on land that was given to Captain William Trask, which was passed onto John Rayment (Rayment later became Raymond).

Beverly, Massachusetts started off as a farming town, then it evolved to become a center of maritime activity. As the years passed farming became less and less a part of life in Beverly. The land here was not rich in minerals to begin with and it was also very rocky. The farming season was not long compared to Southern regions, so it made more sense for farming to take place in the South, especially after transportation between the two regions became more reliable and faster. Farming began here to sustain life, but as years progressed there was no longer the need to farm in Beverly, so it became obsolete.

---

Notes

1. Edwin M Stone. History of Beverly (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1843), 199

2. Myrtle Sillen, interviewed by Bill Raymond, 19 October 2003, Beverly, MA.

---

 

Works Cited

Jones, Douglass Lamar. Village and Seaport: Migration and Society in Eighteenth Century Massachusetts. Hanover: University for Tufts University, 1981.

Russell, Howard S. A Long Deep Furrow: Three Centuries of Farming in New England. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1976.

Sillen, Myrtle. Interviewed by Bill Raymond, 19 October 2003. Beverly MA.

Stone, Edwin M. History of Beverly, Massachusetts. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1843.

US Department of Agriculture. United States Census Non-Population Schedule. Washington, D.C., 1860.

US Department of Agriculture. United States Census Non-Population Schedule. Washington, D.C., 1880.

US Department of Agriculture. United States Census Non-Population Schedule. Washington, D.C., 1920.

The City of Beverly shows patterns of settlement and development in its landscape, following a similar pattern in most New England towns. In this narrative, the settlement and development of Beverly will be traced through the years 1628 to 1920 using primary documents.

What triggered the start of the migration and then later settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was the social unrest of the English Church. A group of Englishmen wanted to simply and purify the religion and break away from English Church, thus earning the label Puritan. Most of the first settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony belonged to the Puritan faith. The first real settlement of Beverly occurred in what was then called Salem. (Salem once included part of present-day Beverly). The town of Beverly was founded in 1628. The original settlers were Roger Conant, John Balch, John and William Woodberry. All migrated from Devonshire, England with the exception of John Balch who was from Somersetshire, England.

Like many New England towns Beverly started off as what is known as a “nuclear village”. An ordinance of the Massachusetts General Court of 1635 stated that no house was to be above a half a mile away from the meeting house, (unless it was a mill house or a farmhouse of those who already had dwellings in the main town ). 1 This was also used as a form of defense for the township. Beverly had what were known as infields and outfields. Each proprietor was granted an area for plow land, for tillage, meadows for haying, and pasture for grazing. Beverly, like most early American towns, had a common where the livestock could feed . It was most likely a three cornered or “wedge” common .

Between the years 1680 to 1760 New England underwent a transformation from nuclear village to range township. This was due in part to the segregation of the Puritan Church into two separate churches. Typically, the highly educated went to the Unitarian Church and the everyday person went to the Congrational Church. People started to move away from the main area, expanding the town living space. In a sense, this marked the start of Beverly’s neighborhoods.

There are now twelve main neighborhoods in Beverly. They are Goat Hill, Fish Flake Hill, Downtown, Gloucester Crossing, Ryal Side, The Cove, Montserrat, Beverly Farms, Pride’s Crossing, North Beverly, and Centerville.

Between 1770 to 1840 there was not much movement in Beverly and residents were mostly native born. But this pattern of migration or settlement would soon change due to both a flood of immigration in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, and the railroad.

Around the years 1835 to 1845 European nations such as Ireland, Italy and Russia were facing economic and social unrest. Many flocked to North America. Beverly had its share of immigration, mostly from Ireland, Sweden, Italy, and Russia. Many settled around the Rantoul Street area, Goat Hill (Irish), Downtown, and later Gloucester Crossing. 2 Around this time, Beverly started to expand industrially.

In 1844 the Boston and Maine opened northern bound tracks for Newburyport. They began to lay the tracks to Beverly in 1847, due to many complaints from North Shore bound Bostonians. Beverly began to see to new types of migration due to the railroad. One was the daily commuter who could live farther away from work. And the other was the wealthy Boston socialites that could leave their stuffy Boston houses and summer in Beverly’s Gold Coast, Beverly Farms.The wives and children could stay all summer and the father could commute to Boston to work or take care of the family’s affairs. This new flocking to the coast gave immigrants new jobs. Some Irish and Italian workers workedas gardners and servants in the estates. This could not have been possible without the railroad. ButBeverly greatest settlement was still to occur.

In 1903 the United Shoe Machinery Company opened it doors and created what we know as Beverly today.  This company opened many new job opportunities in the City of Beverly. In the Rantoul Street census of 1910, seven years after the opening of the Shoe, about 35% to 40% of adult residents of Rantoul Street worked there. 3 Ten years later, in the Rantoul Street census of 1920, about 45% to 48% of adults worked at the United Shoe Machine Company and about 40% of them were children of immigrants. 4 The Shoe provided a public school for the worker’s children (the McKay School) which remained in operation until 2000. The Shoe also gave Beverly a Recreation Club, which is now called Beverly Golf and Tennis. The Shoe closed in the 1970s and later became the Cummings Center which now holds many new businesses.

As early as 1920 Beverly was becoming a suburban community. Those who didn’t work at the United Shoe commuted to Boston which is about 30 to 45 minutes away.

The settlement of Beverly like most cities and towns in the United States was diverse and unique. Through its beginnings as a small Puritan village to a small city, Beverly has developed and settled quite like many surrounding towns. One can still see signs of the earliest settlement in original buildings such as the Balch House or by stumbling upon a stone wall or an old gravestone while walking through town or in the woods. Looking at an old Beverly High School yearbook one can see diversity in the names of the students. But all in all Beverly’s pattern of development and settlement could be characterized by the effects of the church, the factory, vacation homes, and suburbanization.

---

Notes

1. Lenney, Christopher. Sightseeing. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2003.

2. “Beverly’s Neighborhoods.” The Beverly Citizen. December 13, 1996. Pg 4-15.

3. U.S. Census of 1910. Rantoul Street, Beverly Ma. 1910

4. U.S. Census of 1920. Rantoul Street, Beverly Ma. 1920.

---

 

Works Cited

“Beverly’s Neighborhoods.” The Beverly Citizen. December 13, 1996. Pg 4-15.

Garland, Joseph. The North Shore, Boston’s Gold Coast. Beverly, MA.: Commonwealth, 1981.

Lenney, Christopher. Sightseeing. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2003.

U.S. Census of 1910. Rantoul Street, Beverly Ma. 1910.

U.S. Census of 1920. Rantoul Street, Beverly Ma. 1920.

Since Beverly’s settlement in 1630, many changes in the natural landscape have occurred. A primary reason for many of these environmental alterations is the constant change in Beverly’s economy and industry. In order to explain the effects of Beverly’s economic development on the natural landscape, the focus of this research has been on the land once owned by John Balch, as designated in the “Old Planter’s Grant” . These estimated 200 acres are located in somewhat scattered areas in what is now the city of Beverly. Balch’s homestead was in the area of the current Balch and McKay Streets, where the “Balch House” still stands today.

The original 200-plus acres owned by John Balch in 1635 have gone through many different owners and have been divided throughout the years. Most of the land eventually became residential, especially in the North Beverly area. 1 However, previous to the development of these homes, most of the land saw some industry or was at least seriously altered in some way.

The most easily charted, and obviously altered piece of Balch land is the area surrounding the current Balch House. When John Balch built his house, the waters of the Bass River were nearly lapping at his doorstep. This was an ideal situation for the “Old Planter”, because in the early days of the Beverly, or Naumkeag settlement (the original name of the Beverly, Salem and Wenham area), this river was a vital source of transportation. 2 Trying to picture the Bass River flowing through the now Balch Park can be difficult. Consider the small stream that flows behind Beverly High School and seemingly ends at the corner of Cabot and Herrick Streets. Now picture the Shoe Pond, which is located behind the Balch property. To follow the last leg of the river, visualize the body of water across the street from the Cummings property, behind Stop and Shop. These are the remains of the Bass River.

Other than the obvious building of new roads, the division and changes in the river are a result of Beverly’s economic growth. When the Old Planters arrived in Beverly in the 1630s, the Shoe Pond was just another part of the Bass River. This changed in 1647, when John Friend erected a corn mill on a piece of Balch’s property. He was granted permission by the town elders to dam the Bass River in order to create power for his mill. The Shoe Pond appeared as a result. The corn mill was eventually bought by Lawrence Leach, who operated it until is death in 1662. Friend’s mill was located in the area of the current Mill Street, hence the name. 3

A missing piece to the Bass River puzzle, is when exactly, and why, was the land where Balch Park currently resides, reclaimed? By comparing original maps of the area, it is clear that this section of the river was filled in sometime before 1884. There are several possible reasons for the owner of the Balch homestead at this time to make the decision to reclaim a portion of the river. For one, transportation in Beverly must have changed since the settlement of the area for the river to no longer be a vital source for the landowner. When John Balch built his house along the shores of the Bass River, it was considered a prime location because of this need. To no longer need the use of the river, one would assume that the construction of roads was taking place in Beverly. Therefore, the land owner must have decided that since the use of the river was not a necessity, and it would be more advantageous for him to reclaim the land where he could possibly raise more cattle or grow more produce. However, no matter what the exact reason was for the reclaiming of this section of the Bass River, the decision to do so has changed an important feature of Beverly’s original face, and also indicates a substantial development of the town’s land.

When John Balch passed away, his numerous acres of land were handed down to his three sons, Benjamin, John and Freeborn. After the two youngest sons died unexpectedly, Benjamin received their shares of the land, thus gaining nearly all the original acres, except what was allotted to his father’s second wife. 4

When Benjamin Balch died, he passed the family land onto his four sons, one grandson, and William Dodge Jr., who had married into the family. To his son Samuel, he conveyed sixty acres, to John he gave sixty-two, Benjamin Jr. was allotted twenty-five, and Freeborn was given fifty-one acres, some of which are located in current Wenham. His grandson, another Benjamin, was given fifty acres, and William Dodge Jr. was allotted seventeen acres. 5 This system of land inheritance continuously divided the Balch land throughout subsequent generations. Along with the division of land by inheritance, John Balch’s original piece of the “Old Planter’s Grant” was also sold to numerous people and associations.

One of the first significant sales of Balch land came when Benjamin Balch’s grandson (another Benjamin), sold nine and three quarters acres of land to James Taylor Jr., and six acres to William Prince. Prince’s land was located on the corner of Cabot and Dodge Streets, and was eventually sold to Simeon Baker, who opened a tavern that was to become well known among travelers and frequenters of the Beverly area. 6

Besides the introduction of small businesses on the original Balch land, acres were also sold for the building of two churches in Beverly, the Second Parish and another church in North Beverly. 7 Although the building of churches is not a true portrayal of economic change in Beverly, it does indicate that if there were sizeable acres of fertile land up for sale, the agricultural based economy of Beverly was changing.

Clearly, as John Balch’s original land was continuously divided, it’s former use as agricultural land was diminished. Instead of grassy fields, swamps, rivers and other natural attributes, the Balch land was becoming cluttered with new businesses and homes. This model of generational land division can be applied to all of New England and the United States. It is only natural to pass land down to younger generations, and along the way pieces will eventually be sold outside the family. Instead of sprawling fields and woodlands, land becomes more varied, as a result of the different interests of the individual landowners. Thus, continuous stretches of similar land growth are no more, or are at least more difficult to detect.

Figure 6: Modern-Day Bass River

---

Notes

1. The Balch House Associates and Beverly Historical Society and Museum (BHA and BHSM), BHA and BHSM Online, 25 September 2003, http://members.tripod.com/BALCHNews/our.htm (25 September 2003).

2. Edwin M. Stone, History of Beverly: Civil and Ecclesiastical, From its Settlement in 1630 to 1842 (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1843), 4, 13.

3. Calvin P. Pierce, Ryal Side From Early Days of Salem Colony (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1931), 76.

4. Alice Gertrude Lapham, The Old Planters of Beverly in Massachusetts and the Thousand Acre Grant of 1635 (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1930), 93.

5. Lapham, 94.

6. Lapham, 90.

7. Lapham, 91.

---

Works Cited

Balch House Associates and Beverly Historical Society and Museum (BHA and BHSM). BHA and BHSM Online, 25 September 2003,
http://members.tripod.com/BALCHNews/our.htm (25 September 2003).

Lapham, Alice Gertrude. The Old Planters of Beverly in Massachusetts and the
Thousand Acre Grant of 1635. Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1930.

Pierce, Calvin P. Ryal Side From Early Days of Salem Colony. Cambridge: The
Riverside Press, 1931.

Raymond, Robert. Beverly, “Massachusetts Maps,” Sept. 2003,
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~raymondfamily/
BeverlyMaps/BeverlyMaps.html (25 Sept.2003)

Stone, Edwin M. History of Beverly: Civil and Ecclesiastical, From its Settlement in 1630 to 1842. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1843.