History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield ...

Biographical Sketches. Sparhawk. Stickney. Swett. 209
ditionally reported to have taken the coffins in which some of the
witches were buried, in 1692, to Gallows Hill, he being then a
lad of about fifteen years. Dr. Emmerton has lately published
" A Genealogical Account of Henry Silsbee and some of his
descendants," which is or ought to be in the hands of the whole
family connedlion.
Sparhawk, Rev. Nathaniel, first minister of Lynnfield Parish,
settled in 1720. He died May 7, 1732, aged 38 years. See
Annals, 1731.
Stickney, Jeremiah C., a prominent lawyer in Lynn for forty
years, and first City Solicitor. He died August 3, 1869, aged
64. See Annals, 1869. A fac-simile of his signature follows.
Swett, Rev. William G., fourth minister of the Unitarian
society. He died January 15, 1843, aged 34. See Annals, 1843.
Mr. Swett was possessed of such rare and diversified
qualities
that to a superficial observer it might appear that in him were
assembled downright contradi6tory charafleristics. Out of the
pulpit, he was lively, overflowing with wit, and not
unfrequently
with jocularity. But in the pulpit, nothing approaching levity
was perceptible. His discourses were scholarly, pointed, and
delivered in a distin6l and finely modulated voice, without sensational
gush or misplaced fervor.
His style, indeed, was just such
as is appreciated by thoughtful minds ; and it is not wonderful
that so many of the more intelligent class of our people were
attra6ted that his church became so filled as to render it difficult
for new-comers to procure eligible sittings. He was notably
free from what were known as
transcendental and rationalistic
tendencies, and so little inclined to make prominent any peculiar
do6lrine, that even one of broad evangelical views, as
they are called, could seldom see anything to offend.
His sermons hardly ever exceeded twenty minutes in the
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