USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Orford > Centennial celebration of the town of Orford, N.H. : containing the oration, poems and speeches delivered on Thursday, September 7, 1865 : with some additional matters relating to the history of the place > Part 1
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Go 974.202 Or14 1159753
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00056 0729
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/centennialcelebr00mann
With, hond ricard. Torre. Wie There.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
OF THE
TOWN OF ORFORD, N. H.,
CONTAINING THE
ORATION, POEMS AND SPEECHES,
DELIVERED ON
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1865,
WITH SOME ADDITIONAL MATTERS RELATING TO THE HISTORY OF THE PLACE.
HENRY A. GAGE, PRINTER. Manchester, N. H.
PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS.
1159753
At the annual meeting of the legal voters of Orford, holden at the Town House, on Tuesday, the 8th day of March, 1864, the subject of celebrating the One Hundreth Anniversary of the settlement of the town was considered at length, and it was
Voted, That a committee of three be chosen, with full authority to make such arrangements, and adopt such measures in behalf of the citizens of the town, as in their opinion would be most appropriate to the occasion.
Henry H. Howard, Henry S. Perrin, and Arthur Mars- ton, were appointed that committee.
At a subsequent, adjourned meeting, March 14, 1865, it was
Voted, That a sum of money, not exceeding five hun- dred dollars, be placed at the disposal of the committee to be expended in defraying the expenses of the proposed celebration.
At subsequent meetings of the Committee of Arrange- ments, the following appointments were made :
President of the day-Gen. Gilman Marston, of Exeter, N. H.
Chief Marshal-Maj. Frederic M. Edgell, of Orford, who selected for his assistants, the following gentlemen, viz : Col. John Haselton, Capt. Henry Dayton, Capt. Asel B. Griggs, Ira M. Clark, Esq., and Messrs. D. E Willard and William Caverly.
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Rev. Joel Mann, of New Haven, Conn., was invited to deliver the oration, and accepted the invitation.
Rev. William S. Palmer, of Wells River, Vt., was appointed chaplain.
E. B. Hale, Esq., was appointed to read the charter of the town.
William Howard, Esq., was appointed Toast Master.
The following Committees were appointed : COMMITTEE FOR ARRANGING TABLES, &C.
D. P. Wheeler and Lady,
Miss Francena Mann,
Wm. Howard
Ira M. Clark
66
D. T. Hale 66
Henry A. Dame 66
Albert Newcomb
66
Arthur Marston
66
Miss Martha J. Perrin, Samuel Stone and Lady,
Miss Clara Haselton,
Albert Page and Lady,
Parker Wright
66
D. E. Willard 66
A. B. Palmer 66
Miss Susan E Wheeler,
Mrs. S. A. Bugbee,
John Richardson and Lady,
D. G. Marston
A. Soule
Mrs. Mary Wilcox,
Edward Ford and Lady,
Miss Annette Edgell,
Miss Cornelia Demick, F. L. Demick and Lady, John Rogers 66 Chas. H. Riley and Sister, Miss Martha A. Howard, Miss Amelia Chandler,
Frank Niles 66
Eben Woodbury
P. C. Kenyon
66
Nath'l Sargent
66
Stevens Chandler
66
Miss Emma Mann,
Miss Julia Mann,
Miss Celista Page,
Miss Julia Lock, Miss Maria Lock, A. B. Ball and Lady, Hezekiah Fuller and Lady, Miss Edna Fuller, Gilbert Jeffers and Lady, Henry Loomis Willis Bugbee 66 H. M. Smith
Alexander Pierce
66
Miss Sarah A. Richardson, Nathaniel Russell and Lady, Misses Dame, Royal Beal and Lady,
Miss Maria Davis,
Miss Elvira Williams,
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COMMITTEE FOR PROCURING LUMBER AND BUILDING SEATS, TABLES, &C.
John Haselton,
J. K. Avery,
Levi D. Corliss,
A. Brock,
Parker Wright,
John H. Phelps,
Carlos Mann,
George Lamprey,
Charles Riley,
Daniel T. Hale,
John Rogers,
Thomas K. Hale,
Frank Trussell,
Ira Gordon.
COMMITTEE ON DECORATIONS.
Leonard Wilcox,
Albert Demick,
Henry I. Cushman,
Scheller Hosford,
Peleg Cushman, John Howard,
Augustus Conant,
John Haselton, Jr.,
Atherton Wales,
Edward Dayton,
Thomas J. Fifield,
S. W. Hale,
A. B. Palmer,
. COMMITTEE FOR FURNISHING WATER, ICE, &C.J. Levi D. Corliss, Willis Bugbee,
COMMITTEE FOR DISTRIBUTING TICKETS.
Charles W. Pierce, Nathaniel R. Sargent.
COMMITTEE FOR TAKING TICKETS AT ENTRANCE OF PAVILLION.
Isaac Willard, Edward Whitford.
COMMITTEE FOR ARRANGING SINGING.
Charles W. Pierce, B. F. Trussell, Nathaniel R. Sargent.
COMMITTEE FOR PROCURING POWDER AND MANAGING GUN. George W. Fifield.
The following gentlemen were appointed Vice Presidents of the day :
Hon. D. E. Wheeler, New York.
A. S. Wheeler, Esq., Boston. A. A. Dame, Esq.,
Henry A. Dame, Esq.,
6.6
Hon. Chas. B. Hall,
James Learned, Esq., Orford. Mr. Asa B. Palmer,
" John J. Cushman,
Mr. Elliott Johnson, 6.6
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S. Marston, Esq., Hartford, Ct. A. S. Riley, Esq., Dr. D. Dayton, South Bend, Ind Mr. John Richardson, Rev. B. M. Tillotson, Manch'r. S. M. Wilcox, Washington.
Mr. A. Hale, Jr., Cambridge- port, Mass.
T. M. Dewey, Esq., Westfield, Mass.
Theo. S. Dame, Esq., Boston. J. T. Dame, Esq., Clinton, Ms. Capt. Jerem'h Marston, Orford.
" John Bickford,
Alden Ford, 66
Daniel T. Hale,
Dea. Stephen Cushman,
Hazen Carr,
Capt. E. N. Strong,
Jesse Carr,
Maj. D. P. Wheeler,
Stevens Chandler,
Stedman Willard, Esq.,
" Parker Wright,
Dr. Willard Hosford,
Eben Gage,
Capt. James Dayton,
Clark Lovejoy,
Col. Philip Turner,
Nathan Grimes, 66
John Rogers, Esq.,
"" Benjamin Trussell,
Mr. Carlos Mann,
" Benjamin H. Niles, ,
The preparations were completed, and all things were ready on the morning of the 7th of September.
The day was ushered in by the ringing of bells and dis- charge of artillery, and was all that could be desired. The sky was unclouded, the atmosphere bland and invigorating, a gentle shower the day before laid the dust which for weeks had been intolerable, giving a brighter hue of green to the grand old Elms and Maples which adorn the Streets, and all nature seemed attired as if for a gala day.
From an early hour in the morning crowds came pour- ing in from every direction, and by the time the procession was ready to move, the streets were thronged with joyous and smiling countenances.
The route of the procession was ornamented by Flags and Streamers. The great National Flag spanned the street, bearing for a motto the words dear to every return- ing son and daughter, " Welcome Home."
Orford.
" William Tallman, 66 Dr. D. G. Marston, 66
Ira M. Clark, Esq., Mr. J. N. Sawyer, 66
Abijah Stone,
Aaron Hale,
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The procession was formed at nine o'clock in the follow- ing order : Chief Marshal, Bradford Brass Band, President of the Day and Orator, Chaplain, Reader of the Charter and Toast Master, Vice Presidents, Rev. Clergy, Specially Invited Guests, Committee of Arrangements, Selectmen of Orford, Singers, Citizens of Orford, Children, Citizens of Other Towns.
The children, numbering some four hundred, each bear- ing a miniature National Flag, under the particular direc- tion of Mr. D. E. Willard, was a very pleasant feature of the procession. Next came a division under the especial direction of Col. John Haselton, preceeded by a company admirably disguised as Indians, followed by a Pioneer in the costume of olden times, with knapsack, gun and axe. Next came a neat log cabin, its busy inmates engaged in the various household duties in vogue a century ago. Next came a vehicle with farming and various other imple- ments of ancient date, with those of the present most approved patterns; then a fine representation of the various trades and professions, followed by horseback riders, male and female, contrasting the old with the new. This part of the procession was both very attractive and suggestive, and added much to the interest of the occasion.
The procession moved though the principal street to the Academy grounds, where a spacious stand for the officers, speakers, &c., with seats for the accommodation of about two thousand persons, had been erected.
The assembly being called to order by the Marshal, he introduced Gen. Gilman Marston, President of the Day, who made a brief and eloquent address. The Order of Exercises was as follows :
Music by the Band.
Invocation and Reading of Scriptures by Rev. William S. Palmer, Prayer by Rev. William S. Palmer.
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ORIGINAL HYMN.
BY HENRY J. CUSHMAN.
God of our Fathers ! at Thy throne We humbly bow : and earnest pray That Thou, Almighty One, alone May'st guide us through this festal day.
O Thou, who did'st our Fathers lead "Mid storms and tempests without fear, Through forest shade and lonely mead, To this loved spot, to us so dear.
Make us to feel thy goodness, Lord ! Help us to consecrate this place Anew to Thee, with one accord, As worthy sons of noble race.
A century has passed away, Since here first rose the prayer on high-
" Give us our daily bread this day"- From truthful hearts, not wont to sigh.
Their prayers and labors Thou didst crown With bounteous blessings. Oh ! how rare- A quiet home-a pleasant town, With site so grand, and sky so fair.
We bless Thee for thy mercies past To those who here have chanced to dwell, Through all these years, which fly so fast, Crowned with such goodness-who can tell !
Continue, Lord, to bless this place ; Bless us, who here have known thy love; And take us when we've run our race, To our eternal home above.
ADDRESS.
Our country, more dear to us now than ever, since it has come out triumphantly from the bloody ordeal of civil war, is distinguished from all others by the rapid increase of its population, the resources of prosperity, and the un- tiring energy of its inhabitants. The oblivious past has often been reviewed to show how wonderously changes and improvements have succeeded each other. These improve- ments are seen in husbandry, in mechanical operations, in . education, in science, in locomotion, in everything that relates to the elevation and happiness of the nation.
We have come together to-day to contemplate this sur- prising progress in a single locality,-to look over the large space that intervenes between the present and the time when the towering forest, the growth of ages, began to yield to the power of the human arm; and the home of the roaming red man became the home of the cultivator of the soil and the reverent worshiper of God. Divine wisdom, beneficence, and providential care shine out from the scenes of the past; and this centennial survey of them can hardly fail to impress us with His paternal kindness towards those, whose privations and labors have prepared for us so many privileges and enjoyments. It is fit that we should "remember the days of old," and the things "our fathers have told us, what works God did in their days ;" that we may tell it to the generation following, that they may set their hope in him ; praise him for his
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mighty works; and trust him for all that is embosomed in the future.
With filial reverence and love, I must needs begin with John Mann, Esq., my much respected father, and with his ever faithful and exemplary companion, whose maiden name was Lydia Porter, who were the first permanent set- tlers here. And if I show some pride of parentage, and something of egotism also, I hope that in the largeness of your candor and kindness you will pardon me; consider- ing, too, how you have provoked me to it.
In the history of Hanover, Plymouth County, Mass., there is an extended genealogy of the Mann family, that being among the first settlers of the town. It states that Richard Mann, a planter, came in the May Flower with the Pilgrims, a young man in the family of Elder Brewster. The posterity of Richard spread in Plymouth and Norfolk counties, and many of their descendents are now resident there. One of Richard's descendents was the Rev. Sam- uel Mann, the first minister of Wrentham, Mass., and my revered father was his great grandson. Nathaniel, a son of Rev. Samuel Mann, came to what is now Mansfield, Conn., when it was a wilderness, being the first settler there in about 1720, and the town was called after his name. Having in after time purchased a farm in Hebron, Conn., he removed there for life, and there my parents were brought up.
Of there early life I need not speak; but with their married life the history of this town is intimately and in- seperably connected. Here they commenced a course of heroic unfaltering labors to which the social and religious condition of this town is far more indebted than its present inhabitants are aware of. They were married in Hebron, in the Episcopal Church, by the Rev. Samuel Peters, D. D., its first rector, and uncle by marriage of my father, on the Sabbath day, Feb. 17, 1765.
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Nuptial scenes and honeymoons have greatly changed their fashions since those days. Splendid wedding gifts of much intrinsic value, enamelled cards in embossed enve- lopes, tied with an emblamatic silken knot, and wedding tours to cities and fashionable watering places, were things not known or dreamed of as the beginning of matrimonial felicity. The wedding tour of our youthful, parental ad- venturers was performed hither, through deep dark forests, across unbridged streams, where civilization had not fright- ened the wild beasts from their lair with its felling blows.
The elder John Mann, my grandfather, of Hebron, Ct., finding that the original proprietors of this town were of- fering these distant, uninhabited lands for sale, selected and purchased one lot of fifty acres, at the lower end of this village, for which he paid one dollar an acre; and this he gave to my father as his patrimony. For this Eldorado he started on the 16th of October, 1765, my mother on horse- back where the road was such that it was practicable to ride, with a wardrobe by no means ample for a bride. My father rode with her a part of the way, carrying a knap- sack, and some tools for coopering, and an axe, which in such hands wrought wonderous changes.
On the day of their departure from Hebron for the wilds of Coos, the people of the village assembled to take an af- fectionate leave of these pioneer emigrants. With many tears and prayers they bade them farewell, scarcely expect- ing ever to see them again. Indeed, it was a greater, a far more hazardous undertaking than now to go to Califor- nia or Oregon. /
The Rev. Grant Powers, my classmate in college, in his " Historical Sketches " of the Coos country, says that "at Charlestown, N. H., Mr. Mann purchased a bushel of oats for his horse, and some bread and cheese for himself and wife, and set forward-Mann on foot ; wife, oats, bread and cheese, and some clothing, on horseback."
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From Charlestown to Orford, a distance of 60 miles, there was no road, only a foot path with marked trees in- stead of guide boards. The path was frequently hedged across with fallen trees; and when they came to such an obstruction which could not be passed around, the young bride was dismounted, the articles of lading taken off, and the horse made to leap the windfall. This was many times repeated. In one instance the impatient animal did not wait to be unladen, and leaped the trunk of a large tree, throwing the fair rider and all the luggage in a promiscu- ous heap upon the ground. Through a kind Providence no limbs were broken and no joints dislocated. All things being readjusted the journey was soon resumed.
In Claremont two young men had made some clearing. In Cornish there was but one family, that of Moses Chase. In Plainfield there was one family, Francis Smith. In Lebanon there were three families, Charles Hill, son, and son-in-law, Mr. Pinnick. In Hanover there was one fam- ily, Col. Edmund Freeman, and several young men making settlements. In Lyme there were three families, all by the name of Sloan. These afforded stopping places for rest and refreshment at night. New comers in the solitary wilderness were kindly welcomed and treated hospitably to the scanty fare.
When they came to a stream that was too deep for wad- ing, it was necessary to go up till a place was found for safe crossing, and this with steep banks and tangled under- brush, must have been attended with much peril. The whole of this fatiguing and hazardous journey of about two hundred miles, was performed in eight days, averag- ing twenty-five miles in a day. They arrived here October 24, 1765. What sinkings of heart there may have been in their trials on the way, we know not; but we, who have heard from their lips the story of their adventures and perils, know that there was in them true courage and
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indomitable perseverance. God made them capable of do- ing and bearing great things, and he sustained them through their privations and hardships. The love and hope which animated their hearts are ever strong incen- tives and sustainers.
We have arrived now at the point which we this day commemorate, viz : The advent of the first residents here, and the settlement of this goodly town, which a gentleman is said to have styled, " The paradise of Connecticut riv- er." Rome, long the mistress of the world, is said to have been founded by Romulus and his twin brother Remus, suckled by a wolf; and long did it retain its wolfish char- acter. But Orford was founded by a Mann of the Puritan stock, a man of pure and noble aims, and of greatly useful life. Then began here material improvement and chris- tian civilization. Then nature began to yield to human power. Then was commenced the development of her great resources, and the disclosure of her latent beauties. God had placed his own granite bulwarks high and strong around as if for protection, human skill and diligence has made a rich landscape of a gloomy wilderness. The home of the savage has become the home of an intelligent, culti- vated, christian people, happy in the enjoyment of social, literary and religious privileges.
Nearly forty years ago I received from my oldest broth- er, Major Mann, a written statement of many facts, in which he remarks, " When our parents arrived in Orford, there were Mr. Daniel Cross and wife, who had come in June preceding and some time afterward removed. They were living in a small log hut, covered with barks of trees, a floor of split logs hewed a little, near the bank of the river, having no chimney or hearth. Mr. Cross admitted the new comers into his cabin, agreeing to be equal in cut- ting wood and keeping a fire in the middle which would accommodate both. For a partition between them, blan-
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kets were hung up, so that now they were comfortably sit- uated. When an augur was needed to make a bedstead, it was only to step nine miles through the woods to a Mr. John Chamberlain's, in Thetford, and borrow of him, who was the only person then living in that town. When the bedsteads and two or three chair frames were put together, it was only to step through the nine mile woods to return the augur. This labor and fatigue," he says, " was consid- ered as nothing."
As there was no land cleared, nor grain raised in the town as yet, Mr. Mann, understanding the business of coopering, worked in the evenings making pails and tubs. As soon as the river was frozen sufficiently, he piled them on a hand-sled, and drew them to Newbury, Vt., and there exchanged them for corn with the three families of John- ston, Bailey, and Hazen, who had been there three years, had cleared land and raised corn. This distance on the river was about twenty miles. The corn, with or without roasting, was pounded in large mortars, which were made of hardwood logs, excavated at one end by burning deep enough to hold from three to eight quarts. The finest part of this grain was made into cakes, the coarser part, called hominy, was boiled and eaten with milk, Mr. Cross having a cow. This was truly a patriarchal diet, and our modern Sarahs were fully competent to the preparation of it. The endless combination which the art of cookery now makes of everything eatable, together with foreign condiments, and leaves of Chinese shrubbery for decoction, had not then weakened the strength, relaxed the sinews, and made miserable dispeptics of our ancestral race. Mr., Powers says, " Mrs. Mann, after they were settled in their own tent, went to the river and brought all the water they used in a three pint basin, with the exception of washing days." What would our young lasses think of beginning house-keeping in that way ?
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" The more heavy articles of furniture and provisions were conveyed up the river in a small log canoe, the dis- tance being about two hundred miles as the river ran." But how that water craft was gotten past the several falls, must have been by a sort of hydraulic strategy of which I am not informed. All such work as civil engineering was hidden in the distant future.
I have heard my father say that soon after their arrival here, on a morning after a pleasant day, they found a great depth of snow on the ground, which became two feet deep, and in a few days after, there fell as much more. They began to think that if this was to be the style of win- ter in their new home, they might be buried alive before the spring. Fortunately wood was close at hand and enough of it. A team to draw it was quite unnecessary. He had built a log cabin on a little rise of ground near the river ; and the melting of such a mass of snow in the Spring, so swelled the river that one morning they found themselves entirely surrounded with water. He took his wife in his arms, and carried her to a place which it had not reached.
The labor of felling such a forest as nature had reared in this valley may be imagined from the fact which I have heard my father state, that the pine trees were, on an av- erage, two hundred feet high, and of enormous size, as was plainly seen from the decaying stumps, which in my boy- hood I helped to eradicate. Truly this was no delightful Arcadia, with grassy hills, and bleating flocks, and piping shepherds of which the Mantuan bard has so sweetly sung ; but instead, there was the interminable forest, the prowl- ing wolf, and the timid deer.
John Mann, Jr., was the first child born in this town of the Anglo-American stock. Our family series thus begun, continued to increase until it numbered fifteen children, myself being the thirteenth. Truly, if other mothers have
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done well, my mother excelled by adding thus much to the sober, industrious, thriving population of the place. She was a woman of great energy, ever ready to do good, and extensively known as given to hospitality, so much so, that her house was sometimes spoken of as "A free tav- ern."
It is fitting that I should do honor to her on this occa- sion, and say that such mothers are worthy to be held in perpetual remembrance. They form and give the charac- ter to society. They build the State and furnish the pol- ished stones which ornament and strengthen the political edifice. It is of vast importance that the beginning of things in a community be such as they should be-that the foundations be of good materials, and be firmly laid, for on this the stability and safety of the structure greatly de- pend. If the early settlers in a town be skeptical contem- ners of religion, given to intemperance and other vicious practices, succeeding generations will show the blighting, degrading effects of such a moral virus. Their unsightly buildings, their slovenly unproductive farms, their want of churches and school-houses, proclaim to passers by the quality of the people. But, if the first settlers be such as were those who pitched their tents here-who revered re- ligion, and exemplified it in their lives ; who were ready to give and labor to establish and cherish the institutions of the gospel and of education, the result for long periods are the elevation of character, good order, domestic com- fort, and general prosperity. Titles of nobility do not con- stitute personal greatness. "True nobility is in the soul." And true greatness is there if anywhere.
Sir Fowell Buxton remarked, "The longer I live, the more certain I am, that the great difference between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy, invincible determination, a purpose once fixed, and then, ' Death or Victory.' That quality will do anything
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that can be done in this world, and no talents, no circum- stances, no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man without it."
It should be mentioned and recorded, that Jonathan Sawyer, Edward Sawyer and Israel Morey came to Orford soon after my parents, and were also from the same part of Connecticut. These estimable citizens helped to convert a lone wilderness into a fruitful field ; and to form, by their co-operation, an enterprising and virtuous little colony. Their names occur frequently in the records, showing that they, with my father, sustained various offices in the town, and thus contributed to its good regulation and general welfare. Their descendents are now a portion of your es- teemed citizens, and maintain the industrious habits and exemplary lives of their ancestors.
We come now to the chartering and organization of the town.
The Charter bears date Sept. 25, 1761, and was given by George the Third, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c .; and incorporates it by the name it now bears, and endows its inhabitants with " the privileges and immunities of other towns in the Province of New Hampshire." As a royal favor, which I believe was never so highly prized as to be practically enjoyed, it was granted, that " As soon as there shall be fifty families resident and settled, they shall have the liberty of holding two Fairs annually ;" also, " a market may be opened and kept one or more days in each week, as may be thought most advantageous to the inhab- itants." Surely you should be thankful for this expression of royal regard for your welfare; but I believe that ever since we became, by the grace of God; an independent na- tion, the people here have enjoyed the privilege of selling and buying provisions when and where they pleased, and have their market circulate on wheels for their convenience
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