USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Lebanon > Historical recollections : a discourse, delivered at Lebanon, N.H. on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1830 : embracing the leading events in the civil and ecclesiastical history of said town to the close of Rev. Isaiah Potter's ministry > Part 1
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Go 974.202 L49c 1770957
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01096 3970
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HISTORICAL, RECOLLECTIONS.
1
DISCOURSE,
DELIVERED AT LEBANON, N. H.
ON
THANKSGIVING DAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1830 :
EMBRACING THE LEADING EVENTS IN THE
CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
Of said down,
TO THE CLOSE OF REV. ISAIAH POTTER'S MINISTRY.
BY PHINEHAS COOKE, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Lebanon.
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CHURCH.
CONCORD : PRINTED BY ASA M'FARLAND 1831.
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1.70957
HISTORICAL RECOLLECTIONS. 1 MR. COOKE'S
THANKSGIVING SERMON.
LEBANON, N. H. NOVEMBER 25, 1830.
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Coole, Phinehas, 1781-1353. F 842525 .1 Historical recollections; a discourse deli- vered at Lebanon, N. H., on Thanksgiving day, November 25, 1830, embracing the leading events in the civil and ecclesiastica 1 history of grid town, to the close of Rev. Isaiah Potter's ministry ... Concor!, 1831. 0.
BHILE FARD
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THANKSGIVING SERMON.
DEUTERONOMY, 8: 2.
" And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his command- menls or no."
THE usual way the pious mind pursues to strengthen its confidence in God, is to recall former dispensations of divine providence, and thence derive motives for future trust. Moses, in the chapter includ- ing the text, avails himself of this circumstance, to induce Israel to con- fide in God, and render obedience to his commands. They were at a stage in their journey, where the account of God's merciful dealings with them was calculated to elicit their devout gratitude. 'They had filled up their forty years in the wilderness, and stood on the bank of Jordan, a favorable land-mark where to record the first portion of their history, on their way to the promised land. To refresh their remem- brance, their leader recites some of the most interesting providences of God towards them and their fathers, that they mnight in future set their hope in God. This should be a leading object in all historical recollections. With this distinctly in view, let us trace the former dealings of God with the inhabitants of this town, and see if we do not find motives of renewed confidence in our heavenly Father, and oc- casion for sincere regret, that he has been served no better.
In doing this, I purpose to review our civil and ecclesiastical history in separate order. The charter granting civil immunities to this town is dated July 4, 1761, in the first year of the reign of George III. ; just fifteen years before the declaration of American Independence. The number of Grantees was sixty-two. The majority of these at the time resided at Mansfield, Connecticut, where several of the first proprie- tors' meetings were holden. Their first meeting is dated October 6, 1761, in which Mr. Nehemiah Estabrook presided as moderator, and Mr. John Salter was clerk. The date of the charter is the same with Plainfield, in this vicinity, two years earlier than Cornish, and three, than Claremont. This accounts for a committee appointed by the pro- prietors, September 1, 1762, composed of Capt. Nathaniel Ilall, Mr. John Hanks, and Mr. John Birchard, " to lay out a horse-road from the old fort No. 4, now Charlestown, to Lebanon." Sixty-eight years ago
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the country between this and Charlestown was not sufficiently open to admit the passage of a horse. How the wilderness has become a fruit- ful field, and the desert a fold, for flocks and herds !
The settlement in this town began near Connecticut river; and the first families with their effects came in boats from Charlestown .* Such enterprize, manifested in the settlement of new countries, I do not say is peculiar to Americans ; but I think no nation ha's ever discovered more bold and persevering marks of it, than are to be found in our own his- tory. Instead of scttling the place adjoining the one already occupi- ed, it was no uncommon thing at that day, for a few families to advance into the wilderness fifteen or twenty miles beyond any other settlement, and there commence the attack on the forest. This was in many re- spects the fact with the first settlers in Lebanon.
It was evidence of no small courage for a few families, at that day, to plant themselves in the woods, insulated and remote from neighbors, where savage beasts had not yielded their possession to the dark forest, and where savage men had not been driven from their lurking places. These perils of the wilderness were borne with that fortitude by the fathers, which it is not certain would be found in their children, should they be placed in similar circumstances.
In the winter of 1762, four men hazarded the undertaking to reside in the western part of the town. Their names were Levi Hyde, Sam- uel Estabrook, William Dana ; the name of the other not ascertained. During a severe snow storm, Mr. Dana came near perishing, while ab- sent from his companions to feed their oxen at a place called Beaver Meadow. It is said a man came to them from the north during the winter, having deserted from the British garrison.
The next year several families came in from Connecticut. Mr. Wil- liam Downer with his wife and eight children arrived here July 11, 1763, and were the first family that came to the place. In the autumn of that year, Oliver Davidson, Elijah Dewey and James Jones, arrived with their families. All these spent the following winter, and no lives were lost. It is evident a merciful providence shielded these men, women and children from the wintry blasts, and deep snows of those days, when they were so poorly provided with comfortable habitations.
The two following years several families more came from Mansfield, Lebanon, and other towns in Connecticut. Those who arrived be- tween the years 1761 and 1766, may properly be considered the first settlers. Besides those already named, we find the following : Na-
* To this place, for some time the first settlers were obliged to go for their milling. And on one occasion, owing to the mills not being in order, they were obliged to go to Montague, Mass., a distance of 90 miles. The voyage (for the man went by water) was performed in twenty-one days. Ilis family, and oth- crs, as might well be expected, anxious for his return, began to conclude he was drowned. At length the canoe arrived, freighted with a cargo most welcome to the whole colony.
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thanicl Porter, Asa Kilburn, Samuel Meacham, Joseph Dana, Jona- than Dana, Huckin Storrs, Silas Waterman, Jedediah Hibbard, Charles Hill, John Wheatley, Jesse Cooke, Zahmore Aspinwall, Joseph Wood, James Hartshorn, and Nathaniel Storrs.
The first town meeting, of which any record remains, was Septem- ber 12, 1765, in which John Wheatley presided. Were I to single out an individual, to whom this town, in its early days, was specially indebt- ed for his exertions in its behalf, I would name John Wheatley, Esq. He was the first town clerk ; for nearly twenty years, the first civil magistrate ; the first school-master, and the first representative under the present constitution of New Hampshire. To all his acknowledged qualifications for civil life, was added piety, and such religious gifts as made him a suitable person to lead in the meetings of the Church, in the absence of the minister. He was the first man who fixed his hab- itation amidst the lofty pines on this plain, where has since risen this pleasant and flourishing village.
During this year the grave yard in the west part of the town was laid out, on land belonging to Mr. Charles Hill. It is said to be the old- est north of Charlestown. The first adult buried in it, was Mr. Oli- ver Davidson ; the first young man, Mr. Ezra Perkins. Previously to the interment of these, two or three children are said to have died in town. What a multitude since have been gathered to the congrega- tion of the dead ? Our fathers, where are they ? The places partic- ularly appropriated for the dead, now in town, are five. The town iy said never to have been visited with an epidemick. The annual num- ber of deaths have probably been one to eighty-five, or ninety inhab- itants.
The first school regularly organized was in 1768. It was kept in a log school-house, east of the present residence of Capt. Joseph Wood, in what is now district No. 3. In 1775 there were four school districts. Now there are sixteen, and the average number of scholars attending during the last winter (1830) was 615.
About the year 1770, the families in town were numbered, and found to be forty-two, containing one hundred and ninety-five souls. This num- bering was made to ascertain the relative distance of each family from the spot contemplated as the site of a meeting-house. The first house of worship was erected in 1772, and stood a little west of the old grave yard. Some years after, it was removed, and rebuilded on the hill near Elihu Hyde's, that it might be more central to the increased popula- fion. It was here occupied until the one now standing on the common was built, in the year 1792.
In March, 1771, the town voted to give a portion of their territory adjoining Hanover, containing 1.140 acres, to Dr. Eleazer Whoclock',
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school, should such school be established. This land is still the prop- erty of Dartmouth College, and is called the College Grant. At that time it was the intention of the venerable founder of Dartmouth Col- lege to form a parish, including the above grant and College plain, by the name of Dresden, which in fact was the name given to it for a number of years. For some reason no incorporation was obtained, and the plan failed.
Owing to the above grant, but especially to the contiguity of the two places, there has ever been an endeared connection between this town and the seat of learning in its neighorhood. Many of our sons * have availed themselves of a public education, and some have reflected hon- or on their Alma Mater.
The days now came on in the history of this town, and of our coun- try, which emphatically tried men's souls. The colonies were assailed with war-war with one of the most powerful nations on the globe. This direful calamity, though it first fell on the more vulnerable points of the nation, soon reached, in its various bearings, every family in the land. The firing at the battle of Bunker Hill was literally heard in this, and the adjoining towns. Never did air become the vehicle of greater alarm. Over hills and mountains, through valleys and plains, the hollow murmur creeps, to tell the children of the Pilgrims their lib- erties must be purchased with their blood.
With peculiar weight did these trials fall on the new settlements. They were compelled to exchange the axe for the fire-arms, the plough- share for the sword, before the land had yielded scarcely a competency for themselves and their families. The names of Luther Wheatley, Ed- ward Slapp, Eleazer Mather Porter, David Millington, and Capt. Joseph Estabrook are mentioned as those who lost their lives by going into the war. Luther Wheatley was mortally wounded in the battle near Still- water, September 19, 1777, and died the 30th of the same month, aged 17. In remembering all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, it will be profitable to reflect that the present peace and prosperity of this town is connected with the loss of some of its first citizens, whose deaths helped to purchase the freedom we now enjoy.
At the close of the war, the people of this and several other towns lying near the river, were perplexed awhile with their political relations. In 1778, a pamphlet was read in town meeting, containing the Consti- tntion of Vermont ; whereupon it was voted unanimously to accept their government, and come under its jurisdiction. This connection did not last long, and was first broken off by our sister State. In 1780,
* About forty are enrolled on the catalogue ending with the class of 1829 .- Among the first educated, we find the names of Experience Estabrook, Ezekiel Colburn, Elijah Dewey, Samuel Wood, D. D. and Walter Harris, D. D.
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" the town agreed to govern themselves according to the laws of Con- necticut, in those acts which refer to the peace and good order of towns." Here is seen a trait of character truly estimable. In those days, when there was no ruler in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes, our fathers, instead of abandoning themselves to disorder and misrule, made what provision they could to maintain the peace of society. It was this moral principle-this disposition to self- government, which laid the foundation for our national compact. The sons of the Pilgrims, by birth, education and religion, were fitted for a republican government. For such a blessing they looked many years previous to the revolution. To obtain it, they fought and bled ; and to be prepared for its enjoyment, they suppressed the riot-stirring elements of passion in their own breasts. They united, at this time, with the in- habitants of Dresden, in appointing a Committee of Safety, to whose au- thority all disorderly persons were to be amenable. Mr. Bezaleel Woodward and Mr. Simeon Dewey, of the last named place, and Dea. Nehemiah Estabrook, of Lebanon, were the first committee of this kind. This committee was not deficient in power, for it was ab- solute. They could depute any man at a moment's warning, and clothe him with all the authority of high Bailiff, and send him to appre- hend whom they pleased. When the prisoner was tried, and the de- cision passed, there was no appeal. Notwithstanding, they were poorly furnished with the means of punishment. No publick prison then to receive their convicts. They might indeed be, and proba- bly were, a terror to evil-doers, but were quite deficient in the usual implements of justice, to reward the wicked according to their works.
In March, 1778, "the Committee of Safety, and the Selectmen, were authorized and instructed by the town to exert their influence to suppress tippling-houses." More than fifty years ago our fathers dis- covered a foresight highly creditable to them, that the free use of ar- dent spirit was injurious and destructive to the welfare and peace of society. At that day the whole town might be considered a Temperance Society. Their vote clearly implied it. Their doings, it is presumed, excited no alarm that a union was designed between Church and State. During the last half century, the people in our country have freely indulged the opposite course, until intemperance has slain its thousands, and tens of thousands. Of late, a happy re-action has commenced, and the wise, the good and the patriotic, are uniting to redeem the land from this terrible scourge. That true wisdom has ad- vanced with the age of the world, is yet to be proved. In the year 1779, soon after the burning of Royalton, Vt. by the Indians, the in- habitants of this town were much alarmed for fear the savages were about to attack Newbury, in the same State. Soldiers were raised,
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and sent north in scouting parties, while others were considered minule men, ready for any exigency that might occur. This alarm was of short duration, and was the last before peace was declared between us and Great Britain.
The time now approached in the history of this town, and of New Hampshire, when a Constitution of government was to be formed, con- sonant to the principles of civil and religious freedom, for which they had, in common with their fellow-citizens, bore the mighty struggle in the war for independence. At the time the charter for this town was obtained, John Wentworth was Provincial Governor. The British government was dissolved in 1775, and the people formed a Provincial Convention, of which Matthew Thornton was President. In 1776, a temporary Constitution was framed, to continue during the war with Great Britain. Under this Constitution, Meshech Weare was annu- ally elected President. A new and permanent Constitution took place in 1783, in the formation of which, this town, with the rest of the State, was invited to participate. Their first representative to the State Convention, as has been observed, was John Wheatley, Esq. The inhabitants of this town, with others at that day, were exceeding jealous of their rights, lest the government about to be organized should not guaranty their dear-bought liberties. This is discoverable in the instructions given their representative ; and on one occasion in recalling him.
There is no period in the history of the American Republic, or of the individual States, more critical than when they were about to form for themselves civil government. While fighting their common foe, they had the strongest motives for union. That variety of elements which composes society, will in such a case be drawn together, as with the force of chemical attraction. But when the common enemy is subdued, and a plan must be devised how they can best protect and enjoy their dear- bought blessings, there appears what a celebrated statesman calls " the wilderness of free minds." To bring these minds to unite in a form of government, while they had such loose and undefined notions of legis- lation, required vastly more skill than to govern them in the ranks of an army. He, who allaved the storm of war, was pleased to hush into peace the mixed elements of society, and control the mass of mind, by the influence of patriotism, virtue, and religion. In a few years, the world, for the first time beheld the sublime spectacle of an extensive community, governing themselves by the gentle reins of a representative Republic. To behold America governing herself, was a more astonishing sight than to see her conquer her enemies. To an European statesman, the ease and promptitude with which this infant nation formed for themselves a free and efficient government,
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and the happiness they so soon enjoyed beneath its protection, was a phenomenon never before seen in the science of legislation. No doubt many eyes from abroad were looking for the destruction of a people by anarchy and intestine commotion, who could not be sub- dued by arms. But the power that conquered, saved. The men who bought peace at so dear a rate, knew how to enjoy it ; while all the glory is due to Him who rules the destiny of nations ; causing the wrath of man to praise him, and restraining the residue.
II. As proposed, let us now trace the ecclesiastical history of the town.
In Dec. 1762, before the purchasers came to the place, they ap- pointed a committee to treat with proprietors of townships adjoining, to unite with them, to make provision for the preaching of the gospel. Soon after, they voted a tax on each proprietor for the same purpose. Here is a movement in the first owners of Lebanon that deserves cem- mendation. Behold a company of men in Connecticut, having pur- chased a township in New Hampshire, and about to commence its settlement, planning how they can have the gospel. And this, before a single farm is cleared, or framed house erected. Like their puritan fathers, they must have the gospel in the wilderness. And where could they more need it ? Their fathers' Ged was their God ; the religion of their fathers, their religion-Provision must be early made to adore the former, and enjoy the consolations of the latter. What has diminished the value of the gospel so much in view of some of their descendants ?
The first inhabitants did not come hero merely to advance their worldly interests. Higher motives seem to be mixed with the enter- prize. Had they been assured that they would not have enjoyed the institutions of religion for a course of years, it is probable that many of them would not have left the sanctuary of their fathers at the time they did. In their emigration, one object was to extend the limits of the Church. The pious part imbibed a portion of the spirit of the FOUNDER of the neighboring College, who came about the same time from the same section of country ;* and whose leading object, it is well known, was to extend the boundaries of the Redeemer's kingdom Occasionally, in the first years of their pilgrimage, they heard the gospel from the lips of that good man, whose voice at the time, in the region around, reminds us of him, " who cried in the wilderness, prepare ve the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
The prosperity of this town is more indebted to the regard for re- ligion manifested by the fathers, than perhaps some of their descend-
* Lebanon, Conn.
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ants imagine. It is the will of heaven, that every enterprize, sanc- tioned and sustained by the spirit of the gospel, shall be successful. The prayers of pious parents cause the balmy dews of heaven to fall round the dwellings of their children, long after the lips which utter- ed them are shut up in death.
The Church was organized, Sept. 27, 1768, in the presence of Rev. Bulkley Olcott, of Charlestown, and Rev. James Wellman, of Cornish. It was founded on the plan of the pedo-baptist Churches of New England. In the preamble to their Covenant, they express themselves as follows : " As God, through the mediation of his Son, has erected for himself a Church and visible Kingdom on earth, collected from such ruins of the apostacy, as return and four him, and desire to pay a grateful remembrance to his SON, AS THEIR CRUCIFIED SAVIOUR; so we, sinful dust and ashes, desire to subscribe with our hands unto the Lord, and give up ourselves in an cverlusting covenant to God. We esteem it an unspeakable privilege, that sinful dust and ashes may thus come and covenant with the great GOD, and be acknowledged by him as his Church on earth." At the close of this, follow several articles, very similar to those which the Church now observe. They are subscribed by Joseph Dana, John Wheatley, Azariah Bliss, John Slapp, Jonathan Dana and Zaccheus Downer.
June 24, 1772, a short time previous to the settlement of Mr. Pot- ter, a Confession of Faith was adopted, embracing the various doc- trines, as received by the evangelical Churches of New England. These articles, the same in substance to those the Church now have, it will be seen are Calvinistic, or orthodox. 'The meaning of the lat- ter word is " sound in opinion and doctrine, not heretical." Doc- trines like these, the founders of the Church were not ashamed to acknowledge, whatever may be the opinion of some of their descend- ants.
The Church, with the town, now began to look for a pastor. Sev- eral ministers were employed previous to Mr. Potter. We find the names of Niles, Treadway and Wales. To the latter they gave a call to settle, but he did not incline to accept.
The Rev. Isaiah Potter, after two seasons of probation, was con- stituted the Pastor of this Church and people, August 25, 1772. He was ordained in the open air, on a stage erected for the purpose, on land adjoining Connecticut river, the west side of the road, near " Bayley's Ferry." The Sermon on the occasion was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Olcott, of Charlestown. By those present, the services were said to have been solemn and interesting. At the close, the newly constituted pastor affectionately addressed his flock, especially
the younger part, exhorting them not to have any vain amusements, dancing and the like, for such recreations would be quite unsuitable with the religious services they had just witnessed. This, while it shows the spirituality of your first pastor, manifests that sense of pro- priety which the sober minded, both ministers and lay brethren, have ever exhibited. Men of reflection, laying no claims to piety, readily see a most obvious incongruity in following religious scenes with thoughtless merriment. However incompatible such things are, the enemy of all good influences the thoughtless and the gay, to get up balls on the eve of ordinations, and during revivals of religion, that with a kind of maniac desperation he may shew his dislike to every thing holy.
At a Church meeting, October 29, 1772, Joseph Dana was elected an officer in the Church, and was their first deacon. The first time the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered, was November 15, 1772. Thus in nine years from the first settlement of the town, a Church was organized, a minister settled, and the ordinances of the gospel enjoyed.
" Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ?" once inquired the un- believing Jews. For the faithful in Christ, such a table is furnished, not only with temporal, but with spiritual food. At an early day it was spread for the little band in this place. Our fathers at their first arri- val seem to have adopted the resolution of the Psalmist-" Surely 1 will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up unto my bed ; I will not give sleep to mine cyes, nor slumber to my eye-lids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo we heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood." Enclosed in the dark shades of the forest, they were seen By few cyes, except those of angels. In company with their altar and their God, they resembled the " Pilgrim Fathers," when they first en- joyed the holy ordinances in this western wilderness.
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