USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Dunstable > History of the town of Dunstable, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to the year of Our Lord 1873 > Part 15
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On the 16th of March, 1833, Venus Pitman, a woman of color, died. She is supposed to have been the last represent- ative of those persons once held as slaves in Dunstable. The town cast forty-seven votes in favor of and none against the third article of the Bill of Rights.
the house on the easterly side of the Common. He married Mary, daughter of Henry Blood, and had issue. I. Mary Ann, born Nov. 8, 1821. 2. Josiah Cummings, born Aug. 9, 1817. 3. Jasper Pope, born June 4, 1819. 4. Dexter Putnam, born April 14, 1824. 5. Henry Oratius, born Jan. 7, 1828. Josiah C. Proctor, Esq., has taken great interest in the preparation of this history. He visited Dunstable, Eng., for the purpose of obtaining all the information possible in respect to the early settlers of his native town, and was most cordially enter- tained by citizens of the mother town. He married, first, Miss Clarissa E. Proctor, and second, Miss Emily C. Biden, of Rochester, N. Y.
179
DISMISSAL OF MR. GOODMAN.
1835]
On the 28th of May, Mr. William Taylor Wright, son of George and Elizabeth (Taylor) Wright, and born Feb. 25, 1813, was drowned while bathing in the Merrimack River. He swam out to a point in the stream where he supposed he might rest with his head above the water ; but the river being swollen he could not touch the bottom, and so, in his bewilderment, was lost.
The town, in 1834, voted to appropriate $100 for a singing school, and chose Henry Parkhurst, Capt. George Wright, and Cyrus Taylor a committee to superintend the same. It also voted to surrender the burial-place in the vicinity of the house of Mr. Abraham Blood. This cemetery, in the western part of the town, has many graves and one or more tombs contain- ing members of the Blood family, but no inscriptions, except of recent date.
The town gave the collectors eight mills per dollar for col- lecting the taxes. Temple Kendall was the town clerk.
Both the town and church sustained a serious loss this year in the removal of Dr. Hezekiah Eldredge and his wife to Pem- broke, N. H.
Deacon Joseph Swallow was chosen superintendent of the Sabbath school, which was in a flourishing condition.
The morning of Jan. 4, 1835, is said to have been the coldest ever recollected in this region. The mercury fell from 18º to 40° below zero, and ranged very low for the six mornings following ; but the dwelling-houses and barns of Dunstable were so well built as to render the people and their stock of cattle comfortable.
The town gave forty-four votes for Edward Everett (Whig), and twenty-six votes for Marcus Morton (Democrat), for gov- ernor.
On the 25th of August the Rev. Mr. Goodman, at his own desire, was dismissed from the pastorate of the Evangelical Church. He was an esteemed and faithful minister, but his salary was hardly adequate to his support. In his communi- cation to the church, Aug. 17, 1835, relative to his dismission, he truly said, "No minister of the gospel can tell how much evil he prevents, though he may not see much positive good
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HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1841
effected by a preached gospel and pastoral duties." He resides at Lake George, N. Y.
The church and society raised this year $150 for the pur- pose of founding a scholarship in Oberlin Institute, Ohio. This was done mainly through the efforts of the Rev. John Spaulding, who had in 1828 married Miss Olive C. B. Kendall, of this town, and who had been assisted by the church in ob- taining his education.
On the 8th of October the church extended a call to the Rev. Dana Goodsell, who had for some time been supplying the pulpit. He declined to settle as pastor, but continued his labors here until August, 1836.
The town expended in the year last named $350 for public schools and $400 for repairing highways. It also voted to repair the bridge over Unquetenasset Brook.
On the 15th of March, 1837, the Rev. Levi Brigham was ordained pastor of the Evangelical Church. Henry Parkhurst was the town clerk. The town chose the year ensuing the Rev. Levi Brigham, Josiah Cummings, Esq., and Peter Kendall for the school committee. It voted not to choose tithing-men, and elected Mial Davis "to repair the fence around the bury- ing-ground at the old meeting-house place." It gave sixty-two votes for Edward Everett and sixty-five for Marcus Morton as governor.
Mrs. Catharine (Parker) Roby was struck by lightning June 17, 1838, and died in consequence on the 21st of June following. She had hurried home from church, and was standing opposite to a looking-glass, with a silver comb in her hair, when the accident occurred.
Peter Kendall was, in 1839, chosen town clerk.
The number of inhabitants in 1840 had risen to 603, and the valuation of the town to $191,314.
Mr. Jonathan Woodward died Dec. 24, at the advanced age of 101 years, 7 months, and 13 days. His wife Sarah died Feb. 28, 1829, aged 86 years.
For the proposed amendment of the Constitution the town gave two votes in favor and eighty in opposition. In 1841 it appropriated $ 350 for the public schools, and sent Peter Kendall
181
ADDITION TO THE CENTRAL CEMETERY.
1848]
representative. It gave seventy-five votes for Marcus Morton and sixty-one for John Davis as governor. The Rev. Levi Brigham was elected a trustee of Pepperell Academy. It appears the next year that the town was entirely out of debt, and the rate of taxation was low. In 1843 Henry Parkhurst was chosen "to get the school district library." This was an appropriation from the State. For Marcus Morton seventy- four votes were thrown, and for George N. Briggs fifty-nine, as governor.
In 1844 the town appropriated $350 for the support of public schools, which were taught mostly by young ladies ; and it cast seventy-five votes for George S. Boutwell, of Groton, and seventy-three votes for Amos Abbott, as representative to Congress. Mr. John Cummings died Jan. 30, 1845, aged sixty- three years, and was buried in the Central Cemetery. Though not a member of the church, he honored it by a donation of $500. This was the only donation of any considerable amount the church had until then received.
"The town appropriated $400 for the use of public schools in 1845 ; and it chose Peter Kendall, John Kendall, and Benja- min French selectmen. It gave Isaac Davis, of Worcester, sixty-six votes, and George N. Briggs, of Pittsfield, forty-eight votes, for governor. Mr. John Hayward said, in the meagre account of Dunstable in his Gazetteer of Massachusetts, pub- lished in 1846, " The soil is sandy, and generally unproductive of other crops than hops and rye." This is manifestly incor- rect, the land being well adapted to the growth of all the cereals, and as good as that of any other town in this section of Mid- dlesex County.
The sum of $400 was, in 1847, appropriated for public schools, and it was voted to build a town-tomb ; but this vote was reconsidered. John Kendall was the moderator of the annual March meeting.
In 1848 the amount appropriated for public schools was raised to $500. Warren Wilson was chosen town clerk, and the town voted " to pay for powder, and for sharpening stone tools used on the highways." It voted, also, "to purchase two acres of land of Deacon Thomas Parker, to be added to
182
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1850
the old burying-ground on the south side." This was the Central Cemetery, which, having been for many years almost the only place of interment, had become so crowded with graves that a space more ample was demanded.
The Worcester and Nashua Railroad, which enters the town from Pepperell, and passes along its western border near the Nashua River into Nashua, was opened on the 18th of De- cember ; but as it is remote from the centre, and leads to Boston by a circuitous route, it has been of but little service to the place. It has no station in the town.
The Rev. Levi Brigham, Miles Spaulding, and Daniel Swal- low were the school committee in 1849, and the schools are said to have been in excellent condition ; the roads were also kept in good repair. The town voted "not to buy the new meeting-house for a town-house."
The population in 1850 was 590, - a decrease of sixteen for the last ten years.
The names of the men then liable to do military duty are as follows : -
GEORGE C. BLODGETT.
STEPHEN MOORE.
JAMES BENNETT.
EBENEZER MARBLE.
LEONARD S. BUTTERFIELD.
JOHN W. JEWETT.
ASA T. BUTTERFIELD.
JESSE JOHNSON.
CHARLES BALDWIN.
GILMAN ROBY.
JOHN B. CHENEY.
GEORGE PARKHURST.
THOMAS F. CHENEY.
CHARLES E. WESTON.
AMOS LARKIN.
JAMES SPAULDING.
ISAAC P. CUMMINGS.
HIRAM SPAULDING.
WILLIAM H. DUREN. ·
OLIVER TAYLOR.
JOSHUA T. DAVIS.
SAMUEL TAYLOR.
GEORGE W. FLETCHER.
KIMBALL UPTON.
BENJAMIN FRENCH. THOMAS FREDERICK.
NOYES R. SCOTT.
JOEL GILSON, Jr.
SAMUEL WOODS.
WILLIAM GILSON.
HENRY V. WARREN.
ANDREW T. KENDALL.
ISAAC O. TAYLOR.
HENRY HALE. Z. P. PROCTOR.
CHARLES N. WOODWARD.
JACOB PARKHURST, Jr.
JAMES C. WOODWARD.
JONATHAN H. WOODWARD.
ISAAC N. WOODS.
DAVID F. RIDEAUT.
JOTHAM ROBBINS.
SUMNER PARKER.
ANDREW SPAULDING.
JASPER P. PROCTOR, 2d. ALBERT L. PARKHURST. DANIEL PAGE.
GEORGE P. WRIGHT.
1853]
EMPLOYMENT OF TEACHERS.
183
THOMAS H. PARKHURST.
WALTER PARKHURST.
JEFFERSON ROBBINS.
WILLIAM H. WOODS.
WILLIAM SIMMONS.
BENJAMIN P. RICE.
PETER SWALLOW.
JAMES M. SWALLOW.
ALPHEUS SWALLOW.
GEORGE WOODS.
DANIEL SWALLOW.
FREEMAN W. MARSHALL.
FREEMAN ROBBINS.
Total, 61.
The town voted, at one of its meetings, " to sell the old town standard at auction," and also to receive Ira Hall and Webb and Bowker, with their estates, from Groton. Warren Wilson was the town clerk. Of the votes thrown by the town for governor, George N. Briggs had sixty, and George S. Bout- well seventy. The Rev. Levi Brigham was dismissed, at his own request, March 21, from the pastorate of the Evangelical Church. He was an able pastor and of great service to the town from an educational point of view. His successor, the Rev. Darwin Adams (Dartmouth College, 1824), son of the celebrated school-book maker, Daniel Adams, M. D., was in- stalled on the 5th of September following, the Rev. Jacob Burnap, of Merrimack, preaching the sermon. The meeting- house, having been enlarged and repaired, was rededicated in connection with the other services. Miss Lucy Fletcher gave the church a pulpit, Dr. Daniel Adams presented to it a clock, and Mrs. Spaulding a set of chairs for the communion table. The salary of Mr. Adams was $500 per annum. Isaac N. Wright was chosen town clerk in 1851, and $450 were ex- pended for schools.
The town gave fifty-two votes for Henry Wilson and forty- nine for Tappan Wentworth, as representatives to Congress in 1852.
The Rev. Darwin Adams, Chiles Kendall, and Dr. Adonijah W. Howe were the school committee. Joel M. Oliver broke one of his legs through an imperfection in the highway, for which the town was subjected to some expense. Isaac Kendall represented the town in 1853 in the Constitutional Convention, having been chosen over Henry Parkhurst by sixty-one against fifty-six votes. The town committee, instead of the district school committees, were directed to employ the
.
184
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1856
teachers for the schools. This was a decided improvement on the old system, in which the committee-man usually selected a relative, whether good or bad, to teach the children of his district. The town voted in 1854 to sell the town buildings, now owned by Libni Parker, and they were bought by Liberty C. Raymond for the sum of $1,500, which was about $1,000 less than the cost.
In the autumn of the year 1855 Mr. Samuel Gilson, engi- neer, was killed by an explosion of the boiler of an engine on the Worcester and Nashua Railway. The accident occurred near the house of Mr. Newton Wright, in the western part of the town.
Abijah Davis and E. G. Spaulding were chosen tithing-men in 1856, and it was voted to print one hundred and fifty copies of the selectmen's report ; but the report was reconsidered.
According to the map of Middlesex County, published this year by Henry F. Walling, it appears that the following heads of families were then living west of Salmon Brook, in Dunsta- ble, viz. : -
A. BLOOD, near Nashua River.
VARNUM WOODS, near Nashua River.
WILLARD ROBBINS, on Unquetenasset Brook.
ISAAC N. WRIGHT, now Freeman L. Robbins's place.
JOTHAM ROBBINS.
HORACE LOVERING.
DAVID RIDEAUT.
DAVID F. RIDEAUT, son of the former.
NOAH BLOOD, deceased.
REBECCA PROCTOR, daughter of Ebenezer Proctor. ISAAC N. WOODS.
JOEL JILSON.
Mrs. RHODA FLETCHER, widow of Dea. Mark Fletcher. J. M. SWALLOW.
FRANCIS FLETCHER, deceased.
JAMES BENNETT, son of Jonathan Bennett, Esq.
DANIEL SWALLOW.
J. PARKHURST, Jr.
A. SWALLOW.
E. WESTON.
T. PARKER. THOMAS F. CHENEY.
185
FAMILIES BY MAP OF 1856.
1856]
ALPHEUS SWALLOW. Has a family of ten boys. JOHN SWALLOW. S. PARKHURST. E. PARKHURST.
CHARLES BALDWIN. H. PARKHURST.
E. P. SANDERSON.
I. P. SANDERSON.
CLEMENT MARSHALL.
T. H. PARKHURST.
D. and E. G. CHAPMAN.
SUMNER WOODS.
S. A. LAWRENCE. Mrs. SPAULDING.
J. GILSON.
I. N. KEMP.
CLARK PARKER.
IRA HALL.
A. BOWERS.
JOEL KEYES. Deceased.
M. A. BENNETT.
I. W. KEMP.
Mrs. JOHN CUMMINGS. ISAAC N. WOODS.
There were, according to the same plan, then living on the easterly side of Salmon Brook : -
LIBERTY C. RAYMOND, at the Centre. House built by Edmund Page. ASA WOODS,
I. B. HALL,
MILES BLOOD, 60
J. CUMMINGS,
66
66
JASPER POPE PROCTOR,
ZEPHANIAH P. PROCTOR,
W. KENDALL, וי 66
WILLIAM DUNN,
A. PARKHURST, 66 66
L. WHITCOMB,
66
J. C. WOODWARD,
REUBEN WRIGHT, 66
66 JAMES WOODWARD,
CHARLES N. WOODWARD, "
66 B. PARKHURST,
A. PARKHURST.
A. FARNSWORTH, near the line of Nashua, N. H.
I86
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1856
D. W. GARLAND.
WILLIAM FRENCH (of Boston).
EBEN'R STEDMAN, house once occupied by Paul Thorndike.
E. SWALLOW.
J. KENDALL.
CHILES KENDALL, Deacon, and son of Jonas, son of Jacob, son of John, the first settler, 1726.
GILMAN ROBY.
I. TAYLOR.
JACOB PARKHURST.
Rev. DARWIN ADAMS, now James Bennett's Place. House built by Rev. Levi Brigham.
A. JEWETT.
JAMES BLODGETT.
NATH'L C. KENDALL, son of Benjamin and Sybil (Cummings) Kendall. M. DAVIS.
L. BROOKS [Estabrooks ].
BENJAMIN FRENCH, grandson of Ebenr. French.
I. P. CUMMINGS.
J. BURNAP.
J. H. KATELEY.
L. WALTON.
GEORGE WRIGHT, the old David Taylor place.
JOSIAH T. CUMMINGS, son of Capt. Josiah Cummings.
LEONARD BUTTERFIELD, near an old garrison house. LEONARD S. BUTTERFIELD, west of Meeting-House Hill.
ASA BUTTERFIELD,
JOHN BLODGETT.
C. GILSON. KIMBALL UPTON.
J. BLODGETT.
D. RICHARDSON.
Z. PROCTOR.
C. TAYLOR.
HENRY PARKHURST, now John A. Parkhurst and brother. PETER KENDALL, deceased.
ZEBULON BLODGETT, very old house.
SAMUEL S. TAYLOR, the old Steel Place.
A. SPAULDING.
ALLEN CUMMINGS, son of James Cummings. AMOS CARKIN, Forest Hill. EBEN'R GILSON, ALVAH GILSON, 66
187
VOTES FOR GOVERNOR.
1859]
There were then a hotel and a bowling-saloon, owned by Peter Kendall, at the mineral spring, now covered by the waters of Massapoag Pond. The two store-keepers were William Dunn and Liberty C. Raymond.
In 1857 Lawrence Brooks was paid for playing the seraphine in the Evangelical Church. James T. Burnap, Andrew Spaul- ding, and Thomas H. Parkhurst were the school committee for that year, and $500 were set apart for the support of public schools. On Sunday, the 10th of May, the Rev. Darwin Adams preached a centennial discourse, it being one hundred years from the organization of the church in the town of Dunstable ; but the discourse was never printed. Mr. Thomas F. Cheney was employed to bring the mail from Tyngsborough from July I, one year. Captain Amaziah Swallow died Oct. 6, aged seventy years, and Mr. Josiah Spaulding, aged ninety-three, on the 18th of November. Both of them had served the town in various public offices, and were highly respected. On the 22d of September the Rev. Darwin Adams* was, after a faithful and affectionate ministry of about seven years, dismissed, and the Rev. John Whitney, of Waltham, then supplied the pulpit until November, 1858.
The selectmen of 1858 were Thomas Parkhurst, Benjamin French, and Andrew Spaulding, the latter serving as moderator at the annual meeting in March. It was voted this year, "to improve the burying-ground by setting out shade trees." This was sadly needed, and though the spot is beautiful, it is hoped some further decorations will be made. The dwellings of the dead must never be forgotten ; the cemetery should be ren- dered one of the most charming places of the town.
In 1859 Dunstable gave four votes for and thirteen against the amendment of the Constitution, and for governor it cast forty-three votes in favor of Nathaniel P. Banks, thirty-six in
* The Rev. Darwin Adams resides in Groton. In a recent letter to me he says, "There was nothing very interesting that occurred during my ministry in Dunstable, excepting that the meeting-house was enlarged, repaired, and very much improved. My installation and the rededication of the house took place the same day, Sept. 5, 1850. At that time there was quite a respectable congre- gation in attendance on the Sabbath, but deaths and removals have reduced the number until it has become quite small."
188
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1861
favor of Benjamin F. Butler, also four in favor of George N. Briggs.
The Rev. William C. Jackson (Dartmouth College, 1831), of Lincoln, was installed over the church, Nov. 2, 1859, with a salary of $500 per annum and the use of a parsonage, built at a cost of about $1,000 ; and in April following, Joseph Swallow was chosen a deacon.
The number of inhabitants in 1860 was four hundred and eighty-seven, of whom two hundred and forty-three were males and two hundred and forty-four females ; eleven were over eighty and one was over ninety years old. None were colored, nor was any one insane, idiotic, deaf and dumb, or convicted of a crime. This is a strong argument in favor of rural life. There were eighty farmers, four merchants, and five school-teachers, four of whom were females There were in all one hundred and twenty-two dwelling-houses and one hundred and twelve families. Jonas C. Kendall was chosen one of the school committee for three years. James T. Burnap was chosen town clerk, and $500 were appropri- ated for the use of the public schools. Thomas F. Cheney received fifty dollars for carrying the mail to and from Tyngs- borough for one year, ending on the first day of July.
The selectmen for 1861 were Isaac Kendall, James M. Swallow, and Ashur G. Jewett .. The town gave forty-five votes for John A. Andrew and the same number for Isaac Davis as governor. Mr. Jonas Kendall, of Chicopee, presented a silver communion service and a baptismal basin to the church. The men appointed for jurors were James Spaulding, Allen Cummings, James T. Burnap, Benjamin French, Libni Parker, Samuel S. Taylor, Andrew Spaulding, and A. G. Jewett.
Levi M. Nutting, aged sixteen years, and son of Narcene and Philinda Nutting, was drowned while bathing in Salmon Brook at Cheney's Bridge on the 30th of June of this year. While such painful accidents are soon forgotten in a large city, they for a long time dwell in the memories of the people of a rural village, where casualties much less frequently occur.
189
1864] OLD MEETING-HOUSE DESTROYED BY FIRE.
The Dunstable Cornet Band was organized Sept. 15, with Hiram Spaulding as leader, treasurer, and collector. It has attained an enviable reputation for skill in its musical perform- ances as well as for the gentlemanly bearing of its members. Its services are in good demand on public occasions in all the neighboring towns.
On the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, the town, alive to the interests of the Union, manifested great activity in the enlistment and support of the soldiers. In this patriotic effort to sustain the government, the ladies bore a conspicuous part. Volunteers came forward at the call of the country, and as many as sixty-four soldiers from Dunstable shared in the privations and battles of the war.
Notwithstanding the pressure of the times, the town raised, in 1862, $400 for the support of public schools, and for the first time voted to have the annual report of the school com- mittee, at a cost of $Io, printed. It was voted, also, to remove the old school-house. July 26 it was voted to borrow, if needed, $500 for the volunteers. James T. Burnap was the town clerk. In 1863 it voted to put up guide-posts through- out the town, for which it paid about $50. J. C. Woodward was chosen town clerk, and Andrew Spaulding one of the school committee for three years. The school report was printed at a cost of $20. In the year following, Samuel S. Spaulding was appointed to take charge of the liquor agency, at a salary of $ 12.50 for six months, and $45 were advanced for the fixtures. James C. Woodward was chosen town clerk, and Freeman L. Robbins one of the school committee. $52.08 were paid for guide-posts. The sum of $500 was appropri- ated for schools, and it was voted " to sell the rubbish on the Common." John A. Andrew had fifty-eight and Henry W. Paine seventy votes from the town for governor.
On the 8th of October the old church in the Centre, which had been the innocent cause of so many controversies, was reduced to ashes. It was never supplied either with an organ or with a bell. In front of the pulpit on the gallery was the inscription, " Finished in 1793." The old line of sheds for the horses and the stone horse-block now standing in the wall on
190
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1865
the side of the Common are the only memorials that remain of this ancient church edifice.
THE OLD CHURCH, BURNED IN 1864.
The only ministers who preached in it permanently after the division of the society were the Revs. Hiram Beckwith, Russell Streeter, Josiah Gilman, and William Hooper, all of whom were popular preachers. The pulpit was occasionally supplied by the Rev. Hosea Ballou, the Rev. Adin Ballou, the Rev. Thomas Whittemore, and other clergymen of liberal sen- timents, but I do not find on the parish records when or how long they occupied the pulpit, or the compensation they received.
By the State report the town had, in 1865, five hundred and thirty-three inhabitants, of whom two hundred and seventy were males and two hundred and sixty-three females. Nine were over eighty, and three were over ninety years old. There were only five persons of foreign birth in town. There were three blacksmith shops, employing three hands; value of work done, $1,500. Four saw-mills, which turned out 360,000 feet of lumber for market, valued at $36,000 ; also, shingles, lathes, etc., valued at $2,100. It sent eight hundred and two cords of fire-wood and bark to market, valued at $1,800,
191
DEATH OF HENRY PARKHURST, ESQ.
1865]
2,400 bushels of charcoal valued at $172. Farms, ninety, equalling 9,940 acres ; value, with buildings, $252,305. Acres improved, 5,310; hands employed, one hundred and four. Unimproved land, 2,995 acres ; unimprovable, 310; woodland, 1,325, valued at $48,045. Corn (Indian), one hundred and seventy-five acres, bushels, 4,970, value, $4,970 ; wheat, one acre, bushels, nine, value, $13 ; rye, sixty-five acres, bushels, four hundred and eighty-six, value; $486; barley, fourteen acres, bushels, two hundred and nineteen, value, $164; buck- wheat, seventeen acres, bushels, one hundred and thirty-one, value, $78 ; oats, eighty-nine acres, bushels, 1,017, value, $610 ; potatoes, seventy-six acres, bushels, 4,853, value, $2,189 ; Eng- lish mowing, nine hundred and forty-two acres, tons, seven hundred and twenty, value, $12,960; meadow and swale, seven hundred and eighty-eight acres, tons, five hundred and seventy-four, value, $4,532 ; apple-trees, 1,540, value, $762 ; nuts and berries, value, $26 ; sheep, 157, value, $1,053 ; wool, six hundred and seventy-three pounds, value, $370 ; horses, one hundred and thirteen, value, $7,645 ; oxen over four years, eighty-two, steers under four, fifty-nine, value of both, $7,152; milch cows, three hundred and ninety-two, heifers, one hun- dred and twenty-two, value of both, $13,242 ; gallons milk sold, 62,058, value, $8,998 ; butter sold, 9,341 pounds, value, $2,335 ; cheese, 3,630, $459 ; beef, dressed, 19,765 pounds, value, $1,383 ; pork, dressed, 46,204, value, $5,313 ; mutton, dressed, 175, value, $21 ; veal, dressed, 1,435, value, $114 ; swine, sixty-five, value, $964 ; poultry, value, sold, $572 ; eggs, sold, value, $640 ; honey, three hundred pounds, value, $60 ; other articles, value, sold, $300 ; cloth made in family, seventy- six yards, value, $76.
The allowance for collecting the taxes this year was one and one fourth cents per dollar ; for the liquor agency, $49.17, and for the public schools of which there were five, $500. The sum of twenty cents per hour was paid for working on the highways.
Henry Parkhurst, Esq., an active and useful citizen, died on the 4th of September, aged seventy-two years. He was often chosen moderator of the town-meetings, and served the town
192
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1855
in many other public capacities. A view of the house, built by his father, Leonard Parkhurst, about 1812, in which both Leonard and Henry lived, and now occupied by Messrs. Albert L. and John A. Parkhurst, is here given.
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