1
100
2
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/28828/archive/files/d8361659f42f6f7530acf6fed36d1de3.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=Ceax%7E9m58AqRQmggCljc04o3xw53ahj8khDJ8dC9r8maq4WZGqa8OKGsZaUFoArLbNS8KtSmlRhgOEIKX2meFE7ZlgluONULZcnLN6fSK6E-zxx-vhc-AhYJcg2TQmw8T1dyOjP8SN%7EsudaUUyAKFvLJtpEIU7r9oI4bYS7rkeKV0EBkxx-4ehCRguGjtj-8H3RVOVjcAioJvj-2l4phvJOkT%7EjmwxOmEvgAg%7EL%7ExcbiChzZBjAT6%7EvD-DZTfgbxyDDqkufq-%7EnM2bqbJjqukWRdmu9mkyKrZhax9zUKFo00a4HbyJts3T7%7EozmxZOrnqfyYHgbZgQTovGo86yqMCg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
b889a00812bd9e8ce9e5c886539f2024
PDF Text
Text
Seven Carpenter Street
Salem
According to available evidence, this house was built as the orphanage of the
Seamen's Orphan and Children's Friend Society in 1878, to the design of
Aaron Goldthwait, architect.
The Seaman's Orphan & Children's Friend Society was founded "to ameliorate
the condition of the fatherless and the widow" (per 1861 Salem Directory).
It had two predecessor organizations. One was The Seamen's Widow and
Orphan Association, formed in 1833. The other was the Salem Children's Friend
Society, organized in 1839 "for the purpose of rescuing from evil and improving
the condition of such children as are in indigent and suffering circumstances and
not otherwise provided for" (see 1842 Salem Directory, pp.123-4). Both were
originally focused on assisting the people of the seafaring East Parish of Salem,
in the Derby Street waterfront neighborhood. In 1839 the new Children's friend
Society's director was the tall, lanky, kindly Rev. Michael Carlton. For years
before the founding of any society, Mr. Carlton and his wife had been taking in
and caring for the orphaned children of seafaring families (see pp. 164-5,
Visitor's Guide To Salem, 1927).
Michael Carlton ( 1795-1865) was born at Blue Hill, Maine, on 26 October 1795,
died Salem 6 March 1865 (see The Perkins Family, EIHC 21 :59-60, 1884, and
The Old Ladies Home for information about Mr. Carlton). He became a Baptist
minister, and in 1822 accepted the call of a parish in Hopkinton. He came to
Salem and married Deborah Hunt, who soon died; and in 1833 he married
Hannah Perkins (1800-1883) with whom he had four children. For several years,
starting in 1837, he was pastor of the Seamen's Bethel Church on Herbert Street
in Salem; and he was a missionary all week long to the sailors along the
waterfront, notable as "the friend in need of the wretched and the poor," and
known to the wisecracking boys of the waterfront neighborhood as "Gospel
Tongs," plucking sinners from the flames.
Eventually, the Carltons' friends and admirers raised money to help the orphaned
children. The Society itself was made up of well-to-do merchants and their
wives, who shared their wealth with the families of mariners who had died ashore
or been lost at sea, leaving widows, fatherless children, and sometimes, orphans.
These seafaring men, employed by the merchants to sail their vessels, faced
�dangers from storms, mischance, disease, and enemies at sea and on land. Often
the sailors died in the service of the merchant, leaving little for the subsistence of
their families. This is where the ship-owning merchant families stepped in, to be
sure that no family in Salem would suffer from hunger or want.
In the early 1840s, Mr. and Mrs. Carlton resided on the north side of Chatter
Street in the handsome old Mason-Harraden house (now gone), and used a house
nearby as an orphanage. Beginning in 1844, the orphans and perhaps some
fatherless families evidently resided here in a house on the site of the present
house at 7 Carpenter Street.
Then, in May, 1844, Robert Brookhouse, a very wealthy self-made merchant,
donated to the Salem Seaman's Orphan & Children's Friend Society a piece of
land with a house and buildings and half of a well, fronting 3 8' 4" on Carpenter
Street and running back 100' (ED 345:6). Mr. Brookhouse had just purchased
the property for $1500 from the Salem Female Charitable Society (ED 344:187).
It would appear that the Society was actually conveying the lot fronting 76' on
Carpenter Street, although the deed mentions only one of the lots (the southern
one, fronting 38' 4", with the house thereon).
The Salem Female Charitable Society, whose purpose was to help the poor and
unfo1tunate, had purchased a house and land in 1808 from housewright Solomon
Chaplin in 1808; that lot fronted 38' 4" on what is now Carpenter Street (ED
185:87). Mr. Chaplin had evidently built the house c.1806 after buying the land
from David Lord (ED 180:25). In 1823 the Society purchased the lot to the
north, also fronting 38' 4" on the street, from William Treadwell (ED 233: 109).
Gifford Court was not formally laid out (over part of the northerly lot) until the
late 1870s.
The 1851 atlas shows this site as occupied by the building of the "Seamen's
Orphan Asylum."
In 1870 the old orphanage was managed by Azubah Kilpatrick, 35, a native of
Maine, assisted by Emma Bruce, 18, also of Maine, and with the help of a servant,
Ellen Marr, 19. In the orphanage were 15 children (six boys) aged four to eleven,
all of them born in Massachusetts (1870 census, ward four, house 253). The 1874
atlas shows the old Chaplin house (sold 1808 to the Female Society) in situ,
numbered 9 Carpenter Street, owned by the "Children's Friend Society," with a
shed or barn attached to it at the rear. Gifford Court did not exist as a forma·l
roadway at that time, but its site was probably used as a passage-way.
�Salem, in the 1870s, was engaged in manufacturing. Factory managers and
capitalists tended to build their new, grand houses along Lafayette Street (these
houses may still be seen, south of Roslyn Street). For the workers, the factory
managers built more and more tenements near the mills of Stage Point. The
Naumkeag Steam Cotton had built a huge factory there in the 1840s; and a second,
larger, factory building had been added in 1859, and a third in 1865; and by 1879
the mills employed 1200 people and produced annually 14,700,000 yards of cloth.
Shoe-manufacturing also burgeoned, and by 1880 Salem had 40 shoe factories
employing 600-plus operatives. In the 1870s, French-Canadian families began
coming to work in Salem's mills and factories. More factories and more people
required more tenements and buildings, more roads, and more storage areas.
In 1878, the Society voted to build a new and much larger orphanage on the site
of the old one. Many donations were made toward the project, including $5,000
from Mrs. Hemenway. John C. Osgood headed up the building committee, and
working plans for the new building were drafted by Aaron Goldthwait.
The old house was removed and work on the new building commenced on April
16. The frame was raised on May 10, the roof and walls were on by May 25, and
plastering was under way by June 27. C.H. Flint and company were excavators
and masons. The stone work was done Mr. Merrill. R.B. Gifford won the
general contract for carpentry (executed by the men at Ashby & Rowell),
plumbing (by F.P. Goss), slating (by George Fowler), roofing (by J.D. & J.W.
Eaton), and stair-building (by Henry Conant). Charles B. Brown won the
contract for painting and tiling, while Frothingham & Fifield set the furnaces.
Mr. Osgood superintended all the work.
The building was completed and furnished by October, and was dedicated in an
impressive ceremony on the 24th. Many people and institutions had made special
memorial donations and gifts, which were displayed throughout the downstairs
rooms. The upstairs rooms were used as dormitories, and were equipped with
iron bedsteads and white counterpanes. A play-room, hospital, nursery, bath, and
rooms for matron and assistants. Downstairs were the administrative offices,
dining room, etc. The dedication event included choirs, speeches, and a public
inspection of the new building, which was thoroughly described in the
newspapers of the time (see appended articles from the Oct. 26, 1878, Salem
Observer, and the Oct. 28 Salem Register).
�In the spring of 1880, when the census was taken, the Home was occupied by ·
many children, as well as by the matron, Margaret H. Barrows, 34, a native of
Maine. She was assisted by a staff who resided here too: her sister Abby
Barrows, 30, Assistant Matron, nurse Mary Homer, 26, also of Maine, and
servants Alice Havener, 23 (of Maine), Mary Nichols, 21 (of Mass.), and Dora
Beton, 30 (of Nova Scotia). The Home took in small boys and girls, but not older
boys; and no child was over 13. The older girls were Caroline Measly, 13 (b.
Mass.), Nellie Patterson, 13 (b. Scotland), Clara Wentworth, 12 (b. Maine), Mary
Cunningham, 12 (b. Mass.), Nellie Davenport, 12 (b. Mass.), Ella Wentworth, 11
(b. Mass.), Eva Brown, 11 (b. Mass.), Lydia Cresol, 10 (b. Mass.), and Mary
Campbell, 12 (b. Mass.). The 9-year-olds were Carrie Wentw01ih, Winnie
Smith, Jessie Parson (born in Mass. of Scottish parents; three younger sisters here
too), Florence Cunningham, Alice Measly, and Sadie Davenp01i. Jennie Parson
was the lone 8-year-old. The 7-year-olds were Mary Parson, Carrie Atkins,
Emma Sanborn, Mary Allen, Annie Todd, Emma Terrill, Harry McNeil, Daisy
Rowell. Six year-olds were Lizzie Ring, Robbie Thompson (b. Mass.), Fannie
Taylor (b. Mass.). The fives were Jemima Parson (b. Mass.), tvfabel Sanborn (b.
Mass.), Sadie Todd, Mary Hamilton, Han-y Welch, Mary Anderson, Hattie
Coolidge. The littlest ones were Rudolph Nyburg, 4, and Carl Nyburg, 3, both
born in Sweden, Frank Coolidge, 3 (b. Mass.), Emma Ring, 4 (b. Mass.), Emma
Wentworth (b. Mass.), Proctor McNeil, 3 (b. Mass.), George Welch, 4 (b. Mass.),
and Henry Morris, two (b. Mass.). For reference, see 1880 census, house 215.
Presumably the Home continued to serve a like number of children for many
years more. On 2 March 1887 Sidney W. Winslow of Beverly for $1,010 sold to
the Seamen's Orphan and Children's Friend Society a parcel of land in the rear of
a Federal Street; and on this newly acquired land, probably in the summer of
1887, the Society built a hospital, which is now the house at 12 Gifford Court.
By that time, Salem's seafaring days were done, but widows and offspring were
still in need of suppmi. The Society still operated the orphanage, but its main
purpose was to support marginal seafaring families in their own homes.
In 1890, evidently soon after the construction of the hospital here, the all-volunteer
society was headed by Mrs. E.M. Proctor, who had the assistance of two vice
presidents, a treasurer, a secretai-y, and more than a dozen volunteer "managers,"
who were responsible for monitoring the needs of various children and families.
The medical advisors were Dr. Frank S. Atwood, of Federal Street, and Dr. C.A.
Carlton. The matron was still Miss Margaret Barrows, now 44, assisted by her
�sister; and the Society helped about 60 children from infants to those aged 18 years
(per Salem Directory, 1890-1 ).
During these years, Salem kept building infrastructure; and new businesses arose,
and established businesses expanded. Retail stores prospered, and machinists,
carpenters, millwrights, and other specialists all thrived. After withstanding the
pressures of the new industrial city for about 50 years, Salem's rivers began to
disappear. The once-broad North River was filled from both shores, and became a
canal along Bridge Street above the North Bridge. The large and beautiful Mill
Pond, which occupied the whole area between the present Jefferson Avenue, Canal
Street, and Loring A venue, finalJy vanished beneath streets, storage areas, junkyards, rail-yards, and parking lots. The South River, too, with its epicenter at
Central Street (that's why there was a Custom House there in 1805) disappeared
under the pavement of Riley Plaza and New Derby Street, and its old wharves
(even the mighty Union Wharf, formerly Long Wharf, at the foot of Union Street)
were joined together with much in-fill and tmned into coal-yards and lumberyards. Only a canal was left, running in from Derby and Central Wharves to
Lafayette Street.
In 1900 (per census), the orphanage was run by Margaret Barrows, 54, assisted
by Miss Hatch, 25, Katie Cameron, 30, Mary Cobb, 27, Martha Thompson, 25,
and Margaret Merithew, 17, with servants Nellie Evans, 27, and Tira Wentworth,
32. There were 48 "inmates," ranging in age from one to 17.
By the eve of World War One, Salem was a bustling, polyglot city that supported
large department stores and large factories of every description. Its politics were
lively, and its economy was strong.
On June 25, 1914, in the morning, in Blubber Hollow (on Boston Street opposite
the end of Bridge Street), not far from this neighborhood, a fire started in one of
Salem's fire-prone wooden tanneries. This fire soon consumed that building and
raced out of control, for the west wind was high and the season had been dry. The
next building caught fire, and the next, and out of Blubber Hollow the fire roared
easterly, a monstrous front of flame and smoke, wiping out the houses of Boston
Street, Essex Street, and upper Broad Street, and then sweeping through Hathorne,
Winthrop, Endicott, and other residential streets. Men and machines could not stop
it: the enormous fire crossed over into South Salem and destroyed the
neighborhoods west of Lafayette Street, then devoured the mansions of 1101ihern
Lafayette Street itself, and raged onward into the tenement district. Despite the
combined efforts of heroic fire crews from many towns and cities, the fire
�overwhelmed everything in its path: it smashed into the large factory buildings of
the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company (Congress Street), which exploded in an
inferno; and it rolled down Lafayette Street and across the water to Derby Street.
There, just beyond Union Street, after a 13-hour rampage, the monster died, having
consumed 250 acres, 1600 houses, and 41 factories, and having left three dead and
thousands homeless. Some people were insured, some were not; all received much
support and generous donations from all over the country and the world. The
Salem Fire was one of the greatest urban disasters in the history of the United
States, and the people of Salem would take years to recover from it. Eventually,
they did, and many of the former houses and businesses were rebuilt; and several
urban-renewal projects (including Hawthorne Boulevard, which involved
removing old houses and widening old streets) were put into effect.
By the 1920s, Salem was once again a thriving city; and its tercentenary in 1926
was a time of great celebration.
Eventually the organization's name was changed to the N01th Shore Children's
Friend Society. On 13 March 1951, the Society sold all of its property on
Carpenter Street and Gifford Court to two men, Louis P. Dandelen and Alexander
Turkowski, both of Salem (ED 3810:381). The new owners subdivided the
property.
At about that time, the arrival of suburban shopping malls and the relocation of
manufacturing businesses took their toll on Salem, as they have with many other
cities. More than most, Salem has navigated its way forward into the present with
success, trading on its share of notoriety arising from the witch trials, but also from
its history as a great seaport and as the home of Derby, Pickering, Bowditch,
Mcintire, Bentley, Story, and Hawthorne. Most of all, it remains a city where the
homes of the old-time residents and their families are honored as a large part of
what makes Salem different from any other place.
--Robe1t Booth for Historic Salem Inc., 14 Aug. 2002
�I
{
I
1::
.
~
t
'I
I
. ·--1--- :
i
�I
i
I
"- t·· .... ·'
. I
I
---! ..
~
��J.
.,---c-,:-· -.
-.~.
.
Btn
• I
I
--1-
"
i
_.__ ~~tJ~ -~:-·(·t. ;=F~ ;
..... '·
.1
'·
--::;--
·: .•.
1 ·
!
= I·
1
. -1··. l,.
t "
:
':.,
-i."f
i'/-.t}fHi ·
'
. ' - _.,·{.
\...' --,..!'--
.
J
!-...!..·~·
I
-~.!
.-1
,,
'.
•
:
·-··---
! ;
'
;
J
�Historic Salem, Inc.
llouse History & Plaque Program
If interested in commissioning a written history of your Salem house and having a plaque
to identify its construction date and early owner(s), please fill in the blanks b1~Jow.
NAME-•
p ,.:.l1 t/1 s I
c f2_ <D c_ K <: K
,
Fr:<. Q
..S'
E
~
~3 A ~ \<'.Cf
f
I
NAME OF OWNER (if different from above):
CONTACT: tel. home ?41-11
STREET ADDRESS:
')
?I
tel. work')fj-,JJJ-7..S.J©l-mail _ _ _ __
C, fl i'<. p ~ ,vr f.·~
S TR...f: ~
DATE PURCHASED & FROM WHOM:
;7,/oivl t 't 't? -6:._ cu........>-R..-7 Ca~,111 ...,T'lf"'-'-r...
HELPFUL INFO ABOUT
THE BUILDING (append copies if necessary):
-.:1/z . .2-J ..,,(J~ cA:-rt. ~
f/?i_.
~
~o-:;rn <:.:_ _.
/li!H:.NY ,:'::,
r7
.>"?'!
<::J.-..-..c-/
.....,
cY__c>-nu ca/
L£Je-o
dZs;:...,--.,
62
o.,.,
,
C(..7?'1 (.¥~,....,..., ~ ~
A..A
CJ7- pA C*>-.
= 7 't:.._ /
~cc~~
-:-7'.. /'
:n::::r-z.u.c~y
~:/ /.
p
'T
a.,,.
09·('./~
r
J? _,,.6e/a~-v c
./.71,~-0''""'
/;;£-..
-
~~.
!d"'-12..e .,.-...'. u~ .Ad•~ ~_.,.'-'«.-;I /,_;hi!...£wJ ~ 'f oct:?~
/;~/cxzy c;r-Md ~ov~Y:..o~ ,!XcJ ~ yO~t f' 0>-7.
(f?
}'
G.tl~<-? C...-rr
·
·\ ~
,P ~
The fee for a professionaIJy prepared history and sign is $350. Please send a check for
that amount, made out to Historic Salem, Inc., with this form, to
-------(address)
The purpose of this program is to raise people's awareness of Salem's pre-1914
architecture and history and those who helped to make it. The final report on your house
will have narrative and documentarv sections. The narrative identifies the house's earlv
"'
.
.
residents and the events of their lives, and relates them to the larger events occurring in
Salem and beyond. It is keyed to primary and secondary sources so that you may be
assured of accuracy. Appended are copies of deeds, atlases, and (sometimes) inventories
of furnishings. The plaque is produced by Historic Salem Inc., which will suggest its
wording, subject to your approval.
'.A
.. /)
rl,
_. / " Gvt U<!- ' / .r
?76"">1
/ ( C.
A{oec..~y _t>
///<.:rz c7
~:
U (De~
)lo~;z7
@c~
f./?Ckl 2"--zpo----:?/
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Carpenter Street
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
7 Carpenter Street, Salem, MA 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Built as the Orphanage of the Seamen’s Orphans & Children’s Friend Society 1878
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Historic Salem, Inc.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Historic Salem, Inc. house histories
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem, Inc., Salem Historical Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1878, 2002
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robert Booth
Language
A language of the resource
English
1878
2002
7
Aaron
Carpenter
Goldthwait
History
House
Massachusetts
Salem
Street
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/28828/archive/files/e993d813aa89528047ad5d2450f2967b.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=dUb3HpovE42XYfb%7E03G1PhPmeF4HsPsj4b3wSak7voCgzY5njpBeAXGrRb0crMI2LSxbmhQ-m2J7sqx29wszF9VmNCsXzba8m8NkDQ4rRmZsd2HqakPQDrmoR64xh3kInH0nQERfiFXKeqoyjXONt6JPFThfFfX1agzi1Mt5qNyKUbexiqlvEXA%7EoVN1juKvyl-DyaERaOr%7ETFAPyPo2nrhPtukE0bxmQOJuSrtoNMeGUkJnxPOUBD6cqcv-T-XAPZEpj-2D31hDV9l1QQq0CMO90YAoF9sl7UaPaMdnIZn9C4DSsUzBJqbg95tyfsHjBy00N6oPZLpsOV9TiiwRBw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
2b6cb8aabd1d81b7b45dc7b698d04bae
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hardy Street
Historic Salem, Inc. House History
A resource made available by Historic Salem, Inc. detailing the history of Salem's houses.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
14 Hardy Street, Salem, Massachusetts 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Joel Goldthwait, Baker 1807
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Historic Salem, Inc.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Historic Salem, Inc. house histories
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem, Inc., Salem Historical Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1807, 1977
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robert Booth
Language
A language of the resource
English
14
1807
1977
Baker
Booth
Goldthwait
Hardy
Joel
Massachusetts
Robert
Salem
Street