On this page
-
Text (1)
-
332 IiOWELL AND ITS OPERATIVES.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Two Hundred Years Ago, The Fawtuckets, A...
of tiie Locks and Canals on Merrimaek _Hiver" for the sum of 60000 dollars . Within three years , the farms at the place ,
em-, bracing * over four hundred acres of land , were bought at the average price of 100 dollars per acre . Total paid for water power
and land was 100 , 000 dollars . A new joint stock company was formed It was , incorporated and among its in proprietors 1822 as the is the tc Merrimaek name of Daniel Manufacturing Webster .
, Company , " , with a capital of 600 , 000 dollars , and Kirk Booth employed as agent and treasurer . The foundation of the first mill
was laid in the same vear , and the first cloth was made in the next . The machinery for the first two factories was made at Waltham ,
which also furnished other material for the new enterprise . In 1823 the Merrimaek Company paid to the Waltham Company 75000
dol-, lars for their patterns and patent rights , and to release Paul Moody , their agent , from his contract in their service . As far as the fame
of Lowell extends , it deserves to be known that " the modest town of Waltham , with its fifteen hundred inhabitants , furnished to its
now flourishing daughter , Lowell , her first skilful artisans , faithful has overseers characterised , respectabl her e / 7 _operatives , and , above all the morale which
The company at Chelmsford _, in 1822 , appointed Messrs . Jackson and Boott a committee to build a suitable church ; it was voted
that it should be built of stone , and not to exceed a cost of , 9 , 000 dollars . Mr . Boottwho was an Episcopalian , was desirous of
trying the experiment , whether that service could be sustained . The church was called St . Anne , and consecrated to God by
Bishop Griswold . On the first Sunday in March , 1824 , Rev . Theodore Edsonwho had been invested with the order of priest ,
, preached his first sermon . The experiment was a success . * ' Father Edson " still lives and officiates in the same church , which stands
geographically and spiritually in the heart of Lowell . Under its shadow is a handsome stone edifice , whichuntil a few years since ,
, was occupied as the parsonage . At the time this church was built liberal grants of land were made by the stockholders for different
religious societies . In 1825 , five hundred dollars were appropriated for a library . In 1826 , when the State Legislature was
ready to incorporate the new manufacturing village as a township , it only remained to select a name . Mr . Boott , on meeting Mr .
Appleton remarked , that the question was narrowed down to two —Lowell or Derby . Mr . Appleton replied , " then Lowell by all
means , " and Lowell it was . The same gentleman , in the pamphlet from which I have quotedwrites : — " There was a particular
, _piopriety in giving it that name , not only from Mr . Francis C . Lowell who established the system which gave birth to the place ,
but also from the interest taken by the family . His son of the same name was for some time treasurer of the Merrimaek Company .
Mr . John A . Lowell , his nephew , succeeded Mr . Jackson as trea-
332 Iiowell And Its Operatives.
332 _IiOWELL AND ITS OPERATIVES .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1863, page 332, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071863/page/44/
-