USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Centennial celebration of Manchester, N.H., June 13, 1810-1910 > Part 1
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Gc 974.202 M312mac 1770146
M. G.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01187 9415
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/centennialcelebr1810manc
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
OF
MANCHESTER, N. H.
JUNE 13, 1810-1910
BY THE
MANCHESTER ʻ
HISTORIC ASSOCIATION
"The key of Yesterday I threw away, And now, too late, Before To-morrow's close-locked gate Helpless I stand -- in vain to pray ! In vain to sorrow ! Only the key of Yesterday unlocks To-morrow !"
MANCHESTER, N. H. PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT
1910
ЦАМИИЭТИВО
Н М ЯЭтазнаКАМ
ЭТА120620 0800171-1
CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION
MANCHESTER, N. H.
JUNE 13, 1810 -- 1910
BY THE
MANCHESTER
HISTORIC ASSOCIATION
The key of yesterday Ithrew away,
"Before To morrow", close locked gete Helpless I stand z in vain to pray In vain to sorrow
Only the key of Yesterday unlocks Tomorrow
MANCHESTER/N. H. PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT
Where the First Town Meeting Was Held, September 20, 1751
HALL TAVERN
From a Painting by J. WARREN THYNG
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1770146
NUJAYLI ICLONE
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F 84256 .5
Manchester historic association, Manchester, N. II.
~Centennial celebration of Manchester, N. I., June 13. 1810-1910, by the Manchester historie association ... Manchester, N. H., Pub. by authority of the city govern- ment, 1910.
44 p. front., plates, ports. 24}cm.
1. Manchester, N. H .- Centennial celebrations, etc. I. Title.
18-22493
186612 Library of Congress
F44.M2MI24
PRODUCTION
THE RUEMELY PRESS MANCHESTER.N.H.
186612
INTRODUCTION
At the annual meeting of the Manchester Historic Association held in their rooms, No. 64 Hanover Street, January 5, 1910, G. Waldo Browne, Chairman of the Pub- lication Committee, referred to the fact that this was the centennial year of Manchester, it having received that name in exchange for its old title of Derryfield on June 13, 1810, by act of the legislature. It seemed eminently fit- ting, therefore, that either the city in its official capacity or the Association, should the municipal body not feel dis- posed to do so, observe with appropriate exercises that important anniversary. Mr. Browne then moved that a committee be chosen to confer with the city officials rela- tive to the matter at an adjourned meeting. The motion prevailed, and ex-Mayor Edgar J. Knowlton, G. Waldo Browne, Fred W. Lamb, President Isaac Huse and Secre- tary Frank W. Sargeant were chosen as a committee.
The committee thus elected presented the subject to the members of the city government, and though two thousand dollars had been appropriated for that purpose, that body did not think it advisable to undertake a cele- bration. Accordingly the Association voted unanimously to arrange for suitable exercises and a literary entertain- ment in the city hall on the evening of June 13. A special committee on the centennial celebration was then chosen, consisting of President Huse, William P. Farmer, Fred W. Lamb, Miss Mary Bell Willson and George Waldo Browne.
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CENTENNIAL OF MANCHESTER, N. H.
This committee immediately began work and, if hand- icapped in the want of funds, it was able to present what was unanimously consided a very successful order of enter- tainment. The hall was tastefully decorated with flags and butting, the decorations being in charge of William P. Far- mer. Back of the stage, forming a fine centre piece for the red, white and blue streamers, was a huge portrait of that stern old hero of two wars, Gen. John Stark, looking calmly down upon the representatives of the present Man- chester through the eyes of a century gone. The presid- ing officer's desk was draped with silk flags, and the walls were a mass of the national emblems festooning doors and windows with their beautiful and appropriate folds.
The Daily Mirror, in its account of the celebration, says: "With superb decorations, excellent speaking, good music and an entertaining way of setting out historical facts, the Manchester Historic Association conducted a meeting last evening in the city hall for the general public which will go on record as one of the most successful gath- erings of its kind ever held in Manchester. While the hall was filled, the exercises deserved a larger hall and the at- tendance of thousands." The weather was fair, as if nature was in sympathy with the work, and nothing oc- curred to mar the success of the event.
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From a Rare Painting by COL. JOHN B. BACHELDER
AMOSKEAG FALLS IN 1855
PROGRAM
SONG & 2.
1. "Cradle Song" W. Taubert "Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes" Old English Song
PUPILS OF WEBSTER-STREET SCHOOL Under Direction of Master John Gault
INTRODUCTORY
PRESIDENT ISAAC HUSE
ADDRESS "The Honor of Old Derryfield"
GEORGE WALDO BROWNE
SONG "The Hymns of the Old Church Choir" HARLAND DAVIS
ORATION
"Manchester: Then and Now"
HON. EDWIN F. JONES
POEM .
"A Tribute to This Day"
NELLIE M. BROWNE
SONG, "The Spacious Firmament on High," From Creation
PUPILS OF WEBSTER-STREET SCHOOL Under Direction of Master John Gault
ADDRESS .
"The Ideal City"
REV. WILLIAM H. MORRISON
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МАЈORY
OFFICERS FOR 1910
PRESIDENT ISAAC HUSE
JOHN DOWST
VICE-PRESIDENTS COL. GEORGE C. GILMORE
TREASURER HARRY T. LORD
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY G. WALDO BROWNE
RECORDING SECRETARY FRANK W. SARGEANT
LIBRARIAN FRED W. LAMB
HISTORIOGRAPHER FRANK M. FRISSELLE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
DR. C. B. STURTEVANT J. G. ELLINWOOD
W. P. FARMER CAPT. DAVID PERKINS G. WALDO BROWNE
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
G. WALDO BROWNE C. B. SPOFFORD
W. E. DODGE E. J. KNOWLTON MISS MARY B. WILLSON
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION ISAAC HUSE W. P. FARMER
FRED W. LAMB G. WALDO BROWNE
MISS MARY BELL WILLSON
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MOT OCH 28821970
CENTENNIAL OF MANCHESTER, N. H.
НА 937 997И 25 ЗАМКУТИЯВ
....
AMOSKEAG FALLS
"'Tis said that Power is the soul of our river, Plunging down from the gulfs and glooms,
Of its mountain valleys to fall in splendor, Or drive the belts of the myriad looms."
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HALL, SHOWING DECORATIONS
Centennial of Manchester, N. H.
JUNE 13, 1810-1910
Previous to the opening of the exercises, Miss Sylvia W. Lamb rendered selections upon the piano, and promptly at eight o'clock, on the evening of June 13, President Huse called the gathering to order, when the program was opened by an invocation by Rev. Burton W. Lockhart, D. D. The invocation by Dr. Lockhart was followed with songs by the pupils of the Webster-Street school, under the direction of the master, Mr. John Gault:
I. "Cradle Song," W. Taubert.
2. "Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes," Old English Song.
The President then introduced Mr. Fred W. . Lamb, Librarian, who read the following letters:
MILFORD, N. H., June 11, 1910. Mr. I. Huse, Manchester:
MY DEAR MR. HUSE,-I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation to be present on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of your beautiful city.
I regret that my previous engagements are such as to forbid me the pleasure.
Trusting you may have a pleasant and profitable meeting, and thank- ing you for your kind and thoughtful invitation, I remain,
Most truly yours,
C. C. SHAW.
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 8, 1910.
To the Manchester Historic Association:
I have received your invitation to attend the exercises in commemora- tion of the Hundredth Anniversary of Manchester, to be held in city hall,
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CENTENNIAL OF MANCHESTER, N. H,
June 13, 1910, with sincere gratification, and only regret that I am unable to be present on that interesting and historic occasion.
No city in America is a more wonderful demonstration of the innate force of the social, economic and political institutions of our country, and of the wisdom and sturdy virtues of its founders and builders. She is our most cosmopolitan city, with the exception of New York; and it will be found difficult to specify a race, creed or nationality, or a single problem of modern civilization, which is not to be found in our dear Queen City, enthroned on the banks and hills of the Merrimack, beautiful for situation and the pride of the incomparable Old Granite State.
The past is secure. Let us address ourselves to the duties before us so that, as we venerate the Fathers, we, with them, may be honorably remembered on the recurrence of this anniversary at the end of the cen- tury to come.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
HENRY W. BLAIR.
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
HENRY B. QUINBY, GOVERNOR
CONCORD, N. H., June 11, 1910.
Mr. Fred W. Lamb, Manchester:
DEAR SIR,-Your kind invitation for the 13th is received, but, I regret to say, my engagements will prevent my being present.
Very truly,
HENRY B. QUINBY.
TOWN HALL, MANCHESTER, ENG.
JUNE 2, 1910.
MY DEAR SIR,-Your interesting letter of the 18th May, informing me that one hundred years ago your town adopted the name of Manchester in the hope that it would attain a position of importance in manufac- tures and population, has given me great pleasure and I trust that your Centenary proceedings will prove a great success.
Your expressions of goodwill towards us are much appreciated and reciprocated.
I am, yours faithfully, CHARLES BEHRENS, Lord Mayor.
Isaac Huse, Esq., President Manchester Historical Association. Manches- ter, New Hampshire.
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CENTENNIAL OF MANCHESTER, N. H.
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT HUSE
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- One hundred years ago to-day, the name of our city (then a town) was changed from Derryfield to Manchester. We meet to-night to cele- brate the event, and the audience before me testifies that all of us are not so absorbed in business or pleasure but that we are mindful of the past and of those who have gone before us.
This celebration had its inception in the minds of the officers and members of the Manchester Historic Associ- ation, and in their efforts to fittingly note the event they have had the sympathy and assistance of many others. A literary and musical program will be presented this evening by some of our public school children and prominent men, who will portray the virtues of our fathers and show us the wonderful changes which have taken place in one hun- dred years.
Just a few words about our Association are fitting. It was organized fifteen years ago by those who realized the extreme value of well kept records of the past. Almost all who then entered into the association were those who had ancestry in this or neighboring towns. It was founded in memory of their fathers, and will continue to exist, to care for the records and memorials of you, who are here present, if you and your children have the same filial regard that has been shown by those who were the organ- izers and supporters of this Association.
One hundred years ago the inhabitants of this Derry- field were either the descendants of the English Puritans of Massachusetts, or were the children of the Scotch-Irish who settled in what is now Derry and Londonderry. These two races have now become one, and we cannot tell one from another, except by the surname. Within the last half-century other, and many peoples and races have come to us and, in the course of events, these, too, will be as one.
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CENTENNIAL OF MANCHESTER, N. H.
We have such a firm belief in the efficacy of American institutions, that we firmly believe the celebration of the next centennial of Manchester will be just as patriotically observed. We deem it safe to prophesy that, if the friends and citizens of Manchester will take due interest in our Association, it will, in the future, care for the records of our present time, that will, all too soon, be in the past.
It may have seemed to the citizens of 1810 a wild pre- diction of Samuel Blodget, when he said that the falls of the Merrimack would cause a rude hamlet to become a city like the Manchester of England. We, here, this evening, are fully aware that he had the eye of a seer. Manchester has developed by leaps and bounds.
The speakers of the evening will show you in forceful and vivid language the olden times and the changes to the present, but it will be perfectly proper for me to call your attention to one thing. We are not to listen to descrip- tions of scenes and places in foreign lands, but of the very spot where we go about our daily tasks. Some in this room had ancestors who were directly concerned in the changing of the name from Derryfield to Manchester. Many others had fathers who saw the changing of barren pine plains to a hustling city.
The roads that we drive over were laid out by our fathers; over these the troops marched to Bunker Hill, and to recruit the armies of new-born states in years that fol- lowed; the waters of the Merrimack roared and foamed over the same rocks that we see; the Uncanoonucs were then the same watch towers in the west; Lake Massabesic lay then, as now, in the snug recesses of the Auburn and Manchester woods; the Cohas wound its way through woods and meadows to the Merrimack; over all, the bright and sunny sky of June, and the bitter winds of winter. In and about these scenes we see, in imagination, the ox teams winding their slow way winter and summer over the same roads that we travel in carriage and automobile; the blazing fires of the huge fireplaces have disappeared, and in their
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OLD DERRYFIELD MEETING HOUSE
OLD SCHOOL HOUSE IN DERRYFIELD
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CENTENNIAL OF MANCHESTER, N. H.
places we have the unpoetic stove and furnace; the spin- ning-wheel and the loom were in the corner where now stands the piano; the tallow candle was used where now we use the electric light.
If we can picture in our minds the times of long ago, we shall doubly enjoy the addresses which will follow.
I now, with pleasure, introduce the first speaker of the evening. He is well known to you as the author of numer- ous literary works. He has been the editor of all the pub- lications of the Association, and a large part of its success has been due to him.
Mr. George Waldo Browne will address you on the subject, "In Honor of Old Derryfield."
IN HONOR OF OLD DERRYFIELD
Mr. President, Members of the Manchester Historic Association, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The history of our little commonwealth naturally divides itself into three parts: The period of the pioneer; the period of the patriot; the period of the manufacturer. The story of the first begins among the traditions of a debatable ground, when the drumbeats of Namaske kept ceaseless time to the subdued melody of the aged forest and the stealthy tread of moccasined feet; the story of the second period begins amid the tangled records of a name- less territory, where the shadow of the Amerind lingered and the gaunt wolf still lurked; the third begins with the roll and rumble of the factory wheel and is woven in the fabric of mill and mart. The first is a tale that is told, a romance that loses itself on the borderland of history; the last merges in the realities of to-day. Mine is the task to speak briefly of the interval between, known by the euphonious name of "Old Derryfield."
Among some of the races of the earth it has been the custom to take on new names at different periods to denote the action of the existing phase of life. These changes
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are always made with wonderful fidelity to the spirit of the contemporary interval. It has been something like this with our good old township. Originally its furious rapids, then treble the volume and violence of to-day, wrung from the dusky browed beholders the gutteral exclamation Kaskonshadi, "place of broken waters!" Upon closer asso- ciation and better acquaintance with its resources, they came to know it as Namasket, "great place for fish." In the twilight of tradition, the whites came and named the country "Nutfield." Anon a rival people penetrating hither called it "Tyng's Township," in honor of the veteran leader of the snow-shoe scouts. Falling from the grace of these godfathers, it became known by the derisive epithet of "Old Harry's Town." Outliving this inglorious title, and becoming the heart of a new township, it was chris- tened "Derryfield," on closer association called "Old Derryfield." Still the end was not reached and, entering upon a career of greater prosperity, it took on the more pretentious, if borrowed, patronymic of Manchester.
The term "Old Derryfield" does not imply either pity or ridicule, as one might at first think. Incorporated Sep- tember 3, 1751, disbarred June 13, 1810, it was less than three-score years of age, and had barely laid the founda- tion for civic usefulness, when called upon to surrender its title. The name is not applied with tenderness, as we might address one who is frail and deserving of sympathy, for the sturdy, uncompromising character of her people has become an example. What then is meant by this sug- gestive prefix? I think it must be reverence-reverence for the loyal women and patriotic men who hewed out of the dark background of their environments the window of freedom to let in the light of progress and prosperity in which we stand to-day.
In as few words as possible, I am to tell you of some of the deeds they performed; some of the duties that fell to their fortune; some of the milestones they set along the pathway of human events. In the few minutes given me, I cannot do justice to them or their work.
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The three-score years of Old Derryfield cover the most momentous events in the history of our town, state and country. They cover the period of the French and Indian War, which, after a century of conflict, brought peace and freedom from a foe that had never slept; they cover the seven years and more that tried men's souls and won the independence of the thirteen colonies; they cover the time of the anxious awakening of the colonists to the possibilities of religious faith, educational advantages and industrial reward; they mark the beginning of progress and development of the resources of the Merrimack valley, and have founded the story that is to follow mine.
The charter of Old Derryfield contained about thirty- five square miles of territory made up of a corner of Ches- ter, a slice of Londonderry and three miles of sand dunes facetiously styled "Old Harry's Town," the loaf leavened with the hitherto ungranted privileges of Amoskeag Falls. The inhabitants then numbered less than three hundred, and were mainly located at the mouth of the Cohas brook, around the Falls, the vicinity of Massabesicand the section now known to us as "The Centre."
If few in numbers, these inhabitants were about evenly divided into distinct factions. One consisted of Scotch- Irish, so called, the vanguard of whom had come to fish at the falls as early as 1719, and a little later had pushed this way as settlers. Following closely upon their heels were the descendants of colonists who had come to New Eng- land nearly a hundred years before, from western England, and who had settled at the falls of Cohas and Amoskeag, by virtue of a grant made by Massachusetts to Capt. Wil- liam Tyng's snow-shoe men, in April, 1735. Difference in the source of their rights as settlers; difference in religious sentiments; in racial characteristics; difference in the teach- ings of home and family and all that was dear to them, made these two parties intense rivals. This rivalry not only disturbed the peace but hindered progress.
Again this territory became debatable ground, and
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here was fought through the bitter animosities of mis- guided leaders the boundary war between the colonies of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Claiming a strip of country three miles along the eastern bank of the Merri- mack River, the lower province, in April, 1735, granted this tract to some of its soldiers in the Indian wars, and this band of men who enjoyed the distinction of being Captain Tyng's snow-shoe scouts undertook its settlement. Then followed six years of earnest contention. Their rights disputed by the Scotch, who thought to hold it by a title from New Hampshire, for six years the struggle waxed and waned. The Massachusetts men built the first meeting- house in the Merrimack valley above Lowell, they erected a saw-mill, they cleared their lots in the wilderness, they builded homes, they defended their common interests stubbornly, until in May, 1741, the courts decided against them or, rather, the courts that had granted them these homesteads proved unable to sustain their jurisdic- tion. Despoiled of their homes, the handful of dis- appointed planters departed, except those who paid for the privileges they had already dearly earned.
With the annulment of the grant of Tyng Township, the Londonderry colonists failing to hold their title here, Old Harry's Town became no man's land, without govern- ment, without civil protection. Hither came from near-by and far away adventurous spirits to fish in the waters of Amoskeag, aggressive, non-compromising, the foremost the victor, the last the vanquished in many a hotly contested quarrel for individual supremacy. A decade of this lawless condition, and order was brought out of chaos by the incor- poration, September 3, 1751, of the township of Derryfield, which should have been christened Amoskeag for once and always.
Almost before the officers of the new township had become acquainted with their recent power, news of another outbreak upon the part of the French and Indians awoke the province to the fact that their safety was again in
From a Painting by CHAPPELL
FALL OF WOLFE
Showing Col. William Stark, One of Four Supporting the Dying Commander
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jeopardy. Though the base of action this time was removed from the Merrimack valley, it was the men from this vicinity,and largely from Old Derryfield, who led in the seven years of conflict. In anticipation of this strug- gle, a body of men had been trained in the tactics of forest warfare, and scarcely had the alarm been given when Rogers' Rangers were found in the thick of the fight. Foremost among these was that tutor of woodcraft, John Goffe, already the hero of two wars. Side by side with Rogers, the chieftain, who might have claimed his home here, were the Stark brothers, William, John and Archi- bald; Samuel Blodget, of Louisburg fame, whose life-story is more closely connected with that of our own his- tory than any other, was there to give his history of the battle of Lake George. There, too, were Samuel Moore, Major John Moore, the Knight of Old Derryfield, from Goffe's Falls, both tried and true; Nathaniel and John Martin, valiant defenders of home and country. Nor can we forget gallant John Pollard, or cease to remember the martyr, John McKeen, who died at the torture stake. And this list, all of whom were from Old Derryfield, com- prises only a small portion of the heroes who shouldered their queen's arm muskets and went with Rogers to stem the tide of French invasion upon the shore of the storied Horicon. Ay, remove this sturdy band of patriots from the war-roll of that stirring period, and the banner of King George, in spite of his trained soldiery, the flower of the Old World army, would have been trampled under the feet of Montcalm and his dusky allies, and New England would have been New France.
The victory secured at home, Col. William Stark, a son of Old Derryfield, and captain of the Rangers, was sent at the head of the New Hampshire regiment to aid Abercrombie in the second reduction of that stronghold of French power, Louisburg. Successful there, the New England warriors of the wilderness, whom General Wolfe thought proper to distinguish as the Royal Americans,
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were added to the British forces in their campaign against the Rock of the St. Lawrence, Quebec. In close associ- ation with the commander, throughout that arduous and desperate attack, Colonel Stark and his brave comrades were among those who climbed to deathless glory upon the Plains of Abraham. Our own Stark was one of the four to bear the dying conqueror away from the storm of leaden hail, and who stood by him as he rallied at the cry: "They run!" "Who run?" demanded Wolfe, rallying. "The French!" "Then I die content," declared the sink- ing warrior.
With less than fifty men fit for military duties, Derry- field had more than half that number in active service throughout that sanguinary struggle, and every man a hero. What town can show so proud a record? Not one in all the provinces to equal it.
I need not dwell upon the decade that followed-ten years and more of the marshalling of civil forces, the framing of laws to govern them in peaceful pursuits, the difference of opinions that always predominated in spite of honest purpose. You cannot wonder if these battle- scarred, war-trained veterans stood stubbornly each for what he believed to be his unalienable rights, even if he erred at times in judgment, until those years were stamped with uncompromising discord, but never darkened with disloyalty to truth, home and God. Natures so dissimilar could not be assimilated in one generation. Religious thought had not yet been chastened with the rod of reason; education had not awakened to the broader path of enlight- enment. But out of this furnace of bitter experience was to come a more conservative people.
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