CHAPTER II.

THE COAST AND RIVER TOWNS.

A glance at the map of southern New England as it was in 1810 will reveal the fact that all of the largest towns in these states were at that time to be found either on the seacoast or on the largest of the navigable rivers, the Connecticut. Has this fact any significance? Were the occupations of the bulk of the inhabitants of these towns different from those of the inland towns? Had maritime industries, such as fishing, trading, and shipbuilding developed to such an extent as to lead to a clear-cut separation of occupations? Is it possible that there was in these towns a concentrated population who furnished a market for the products of inland farmers? If so, what effect did the existence of such a market have on the agricultural population? These are the questions confronting us in this chapter.

Four Groups of Commercial Towns.

For purposes of analysis we may divide the commercial towns into four groups: (1) The towns along the north shore of Massachusetts Bay from Boston to Newburyport; (2) those on the south coast of Massachusetts, on Narragansett Bay and in Connecticut along the shore of Long Island Sound, including all the ports from New Bedford to New York; (3) the towns on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket; and (4) the river towns of the Connecticut Valley.

(1) On Massachusetts Bay.

The most important of these groups of towns was the first mentioned. Here were seven towns, not including Boston, ranging in population from 4,600 to 12,000, making a total altogether of 46,000 people. Add to this 34,000 for Boston and 5,000 for Charlestown, (at that time practically a part of the larger city) and we have a total of 85,000 persons living on a narrow strip of sea-coast some 50 miles in extent. It might well be expected that a large proportion of this population was supported by some non-agricultural activity. As far as Boston and Charlestown were concerned, there seems to have been a thorough divorce from the soil. On the little peninsula on which these cities were built there were about 3,000 houses. Their inhabitants were

engaged in commerce with Europe and the West Indies, as well as with towns along the coast, and in a variety of manufactures. The importance of the commerce may be seen from the fact that for the years 1801-1810 the goods imported here had an average annual value of about $10,000,000. About 100,000 tons of shipping were owned in the city and the entries of foreign vessels alone amounted to 900 or 1,000 every year. Of the manufactures the distillation of rum seems to have been most important, 30 plants being devoted to that purpose. In 1796 rum was the principal export. Sugar was refined in eight plants, cordage made in eleven rope walks. Other manufactures were hats, plate-glass, tobacco, chocolate, sail cloth and paper. The shipbuilding business was active in Charlestown.1

The effect of this market for agricultural produce was evident enough to create considerable comment. Travelers were impressed with the density of population and with the evident prosperity of the farming towns nearby. Rochefoucauld says that the road from Marlborough to Boston (a distance of 27 miles) was almost a continuous village of handsome houses.2 President Dwight says: "From Weymouth (11 miles) the country may be considered as one continual village, raised up by the commerce of Boston and forming a kind of suburb to the capital. " Much evidence, also, is available concerning the stimulus which was given to improved agriculture. Dickinson, writing in 1812, says: "A market for all varieties of fruit and vegetables is found in Boston. Hence the surrounding country although not especially fertile is highly cultivated. "'4

Besides the encouragement of market gardening, an increased attention to cattle-raising was evident in one nearby town;5 a specialization in potatoes took place in another, and an increase in the price of land in a third. In general, however, it should be noticed that

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These facts come from Morse, Gazetteer, 1810; Dwight, Travels, I. 462; Kendall, Travels, II. 260; Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels, I. 479; Lambert, Travels, II. 344.

2 Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels, I. 400.

3 Travels, III. 110. Other evidence of the same nature is found in Harriott, Struggles Through Life, II. 33, 34, 36-37; Wansey, Journal, p. 48. American Husbandry (Anonymous). 2 vols. London. 1775. I. 60.

* Dickinson. Rodolphus. A Geographical and Statistical View of Massachusetts. Greenfield. 1813. p. 9.

5 Abington, seventeen miles from Boston. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., II. 7: 115. "Brookline, four miles distant. Papers of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. Contained in the Agricultural Repository and Journal. 10 vols. Boston. 1796-1826. Vol. II. Papers for 1807, p. 21.

7 Hingham, twelve miles. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels, I. 482.

this improvement was limited to a narrow area, perhaps within a 20mile radius from the city, and at times towns well within this limit were found to be in a backward condition. For instance, a writer says of Needham: "The town in general would admit of more settlements. Much of the land is yet uncultivated; and perhaps a third more inhabitants than the present number might be supported by a more extensive cultivation of the soil." And yet this town was only 13 miles distant from the city and had the advantage of water transport on the Charles River. The influence of the market in concentrating population in the towns in the immediate vicinity is noticeable.3

In 1810, Salem was the sixth commercial city in the United States and was said to have a per capita wealth larger than that of any other city. Its population was over 12,600. Its imports averaged $3,000,000 for the years 1801-1810 and it had 40,000 tons of shipping. Besides the Asiatic trade which made this port famous, its fleet engaged in the trade to the West Indies and in the fisheries. The prosperity of this city was reflected in the large population of its agricultural neighbors, the towns of Danvers and Beverly.5

Newburyport sustained a population of over 7,600 on exactly one square mile of land, by means of its extensive commerce and its fishing, ship-building and rum-distilling industries. It had 160 vessels in the European and West India trade and 54 more in the Banks fisheries. The latter alone carried crews aggregating nearly 500 men. The rural town which benefited by this market was Newbury, a few miles farther up on the Merrimac River. It had practically no village settlement and, aside from a few fishing enterprises, its inhabitants were all engaged in farming. They culti

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1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., II. 1:180.

2 Water transportation brought a region at a much greater distance within reach of the Boston market. This was Barnstable County which sent onions, flaxseed, corn and firewood thither. A fleet of 30 coasting vessels was said to have been regularly employed in carrying the latter product alone at this time. Mass. Hist. Coll. I. 3:14.

Roxbury, 2,765; Dedham; 2,172; Dorchester, 2,930; Cambridge, 2,323. These were all towns of relatively small area.

4 Sources for Salem are Morse, Gazetteer, 1810; Dwight, Travels, I. 408, 412. La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt estimated the fleet belonging to this port at 150 vessels, of which 100 were in foreign trade, 20 in the coasting trade, and 30 in the fisheries (ca. 1796). Travels, I. 474-475.

Populations 3,127 and 4,609 respectively in 1810.

6 These facts are from Morse, Gazetteer, 1810; Dwight, Travels, I. 400-401; Chastellux, Travels, II. 249; and Kendall, Travels, II. 29.

vated their land thoroughly and grew large crops.1 The population of this town grew rapidly, showing an increase of 25 per cent in the decade 1800-1810.2

In Lynn the shoe manufacture seems to have been the chief industry of the rapidly growing population, although probably a considerable number were employed in the fisheries of Marblehead.3 This town and Gloucester were celebrated for their fishing fleets. The former had 100 fishing vessels and 40 merchantmen, employing together in their crews some 1,100 men. The Gloucester fleets employed about half that number."

President Dwight sums up the fishing industry of these and other towns in Essex County as follows:

"Salem, Newburyport, Gloucester, Marblehead, Beverly, Haverhill, and Manchester are commercial and fishing towns; and contained together, in 1800, 33,620 inhabitants. (In 1810, 40,517.) To these may be added from Ipswich, Amesbury, Salisbury, Bradford, &c., enough to make the number 40,000; a greater number than are employed in this business in any county of the United States; if we except the cities of Philadelphia and New York. The commerce of this county is very great; and the fish caught and exported by its inhabitants, are more, it is believed, than one-half of all, which are exported from the Union. Its wealth is proportionally great

The surface of this county is generally pleasant; the soil in most places pretty good; and the agriculture creditable to the inhabitants. The farmers are, accordingly, in good thrift."

(2) The Ports Along Long Island Sound.

In the second general region of commercial activity, the northern shore of Long Island Sound, the principal points of concentration of

The answers returned in 1807 to the questionnaire of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture showed this town to be far in advance of others in regions farther inland. Its farmers ploughed the land destined for grain crops twice instead of once, as was usual elsewhere; and they applied fertilizers more liberally. The results were average crops which were considered high in those days. Their corn yielded 40 bushels per acre; their potatoes 200 bushels; barley, 25 bushels; rye, 20 bushels; and wheat, 10 to 18 bushels. Papers for 1807, in Vol. p. 15.

II.,

2 From 4,076 to 5,176.

3 The shoe industry we have already considered. See p. 273.

4 Morse, Gazetteer, 1810; Dwight, Travels, I. 421; Kendall, Travels, III. 28; Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels, I. 477.