USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Hampton Falls > History of Hampton Falls, N.H., Volume II > Part 1
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Gc 974.202 H193b v.2 1128652
FUL
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 01096 2295
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
490120.1250
1
HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofhampton00brow
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FRANKLIN BENJAMIN SANBORN. The sage of Concord-The most distinguished son of Hampton Falls.
HISTORY
OF
HAMPTON FALLS, N. H.
VOLUME II
CONTAINING THE CHURCH HISTORY AND MANY OTHER THINGS NOT PREVIOUSLY RECORDED
By HON. WARREN BROWN
THE RUMFORD PRESS CONCORD, N. H. 1918
1128652
TO THE READER.
When the history of Hampton Falls was published about all that was known of the parish church history was contained in the journals of the two first ministers, Rev. Messrs. Cotton and Whipple, which had fortunately been saved when the church records had been destroyed. This journal gave a pretty full account of the happenings in the church from the time of its organization, in 1712, until a little before Mr. Whipple's death in 1757. From that time until the dissolution of the church soon after 1830, all that was known was derived from the town records which were not full or complete, as there was not much recorded.
Soon after the history of Hampton Falls was published, Mrs. Abbot, wife of the late Sereno T. Abbot, for many years pastor of the line church, gave me a quantity of papers; among them was a copy of the parish church records during the entire time of its existence. This copy compared closely to that of the journals of the two ministers and there is every reason to believe that it is equally correct during the entire period of which it relates, and that he had obtained in other ways some things not in the one destroyed, and that it is more valuable than the orginal record. The town owes Mr. Abbot a debt of gratitude for having saved for us what was supposed to have been hopelessly lost.
I copied the record and filed it away, thinking that at some time it might be published. On showing it to my cousin, Mr. Frank B. Sanborn, he insisted that I take measures to have it published and offered to assist me in the work. His death soon after de- prived me of his help.
Having been the only person who had this knowledge, I had long felt it was my duty to place it before the public where it would be of great benefit to the present generation, and to those who are to come after. On laying the matter before the town it was voted to assist in its publication. The reason why towns should assist in the publication of their history is that the edition is usually small, and would be attended with so much expense that few could afford to buy. Works of this kind are of little value unless they can be obtained by all at a price they can afford
/
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HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS
to pay. The money the towns appropriate in this way has a lasting effect for many years after. The church history of a town is valuable in itself and often gives an insight into other matters which would be hard to get in any other way. I have inserted the names of those admitted to church membership, and the baptisms of Rev. Mr. Cotton and Rev. Mr. Whipple and have no doubt readers will there find some information which will be of interest. All that is recorded in the two ministers' journals will be found in the two volumes of the town history. There are some duplications of matters in the second volume; this has been carefully avoided as far as possible, and only allowed to make a connected narrative.
Rev. Mr. Bailey, who succeeded Mr. Whipple, does not appear to have kept any record. If he did it has been lost. During Mr. Wingate's ministry there were unhappy differences which con- tinued during his entire pastorate. This, together with the demoralization caused by the Revolutionary War, made the interest in vital religion sink to a low ebb.
Interest in religious matters improved under Rev. Dr. Lang- don. He, like many other learned men, was not much given to detail; he omitted to record many things which now would be of great interest. Rev. Mr. Abbot, who succeeded him, gathered and recorded much which should have been done by his prede- cessor. Church discipline was relaxed somewhat during Mr. Abbot's pastorate. He later became a Unitarian. He kept a very good record. The Baptists and others who had withdrawn made it difficult to raise his salary. After Mr. Abbot's resigna- tion there was little to be recorded.
As the church history of itself would not be enough for a volume I have continued the journal of current events, etc., such as was published in the history of Hampton Falls.
The past eighteen years have been eventful ones, and much has happened well worth recording. This, with some other things which have been collected, will be of interest to the reader. I have tried to give a correct picture of the town in my boyhood in the decade from 1840 to 1850, to give an account of the manners, customs, and methods of doing business which prevailed at that time, which was very different from anything we know at the present time. I have given a short sketch of the people who lived in nearly every house in the town. I have given the familiar
V
TO THE READER
names and titles by which they were spoken of without middle names as they were known at the time. Seventy years ago this town took a high rank among the towns of the state for temper- ance, morality, industry and intelligence and in all things which go to make up a desirable community. I have inserted a number of pictures of townsmen who were my contemporaries and valued friends. In looking over their pictures, I think one must be im- pressed that the town has retained its former good reputation. After twenty years of attention in gathering material relating to the history of the town, I think there is not much more that can be had than is recorded in the two volumes. If this second volume should meet as favorable reception from the public as did the first, I shall feel well compensated for the time and labor spent in its production.
Hampton Falls,
March 1st, 1918.
WARREN BROWN.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction .
List of Illustrations
ix
The History of the Church in Hampton Falls
1
The Meeting House.
7
The Baptist Church
67
The First Congregational Society.
71
Universalist Society
75
Extracts from the Church and Town Records 118
Extracts from Weare Papers . 147
A List of Persons Taxed in Hampton Falls in 1776 . 148
Facsimile of Advertisement of First Horse Show in America 152
Fire Record .
153
Drownings
157
Mail Service.
159
Rural Free Delivery .
161 163 171 180
Extracts from Warren Brown's Journal .
Conditions in the Town in the Decade from 1840 to 1850 233 237 277 288
Lafayette Road . 291
Esquire Philbrick's Theory
Town Officers and Representatives Since 1900
292 294
Physicians, Natives of this Town
Rev. Sereno T. Abbott, Sketch
296 297 Charles Treadwell, Sketch 299 An Ancient Saddle . 301 Joseph Mayo, Sketch. 302 Rev. Lysander Dickerman, Sketch 303 305 Franklin Benjamin Sanborn, Sketch Biographical Sketches
Hon. Warren Brown.
Illustration (Hon. Warren Brown)
Sarah Gertrude (Norris) Brown
Illustration (Sarah Gertrude (Norris) Brown)
Charles P. Akerman .
Mary Dodge Aiken
Mary Dodge White.
Moses Emery Batchelder
Samuel Batchelder 322
Arthur Warren Brown
.
.
.
.
. .
323
313 315 316 318 317 319 320 320 321
Town Library Building
From Town Records.
Facsimile of Program of Exhibition at Union School, February 24, 1851 Short Notes of the People Who Lived in the Town between 1840 and 1850 Applecrest Farm
viii
CONTENTS
Biographical Sketches
PAGE
Charles Rufus Brown.
324
George Cyrus Brown . 325
Harry Benson Brown 326
Morrill Marston Coffin
327
Joseph Blake Cram
328
William Everett Cram
329
George Janvrin Curtis
330
Dr. William Waldo Curtis
331
Charles Nealey Dodge
332
Horace A. Godfrey
333
John H. Gove.
334
Frank S. Green .
337 338
Charles A. Hardy
339
George Clifford Healey
340
Bertram Thompson Janvrin .
341
Edwin Janvrin .
342
John F. Jones.
343
Henry Harrison Knight .
344
Levi Edwin Lane
345
George F. Merrill .
346
Gen. Charles A. Nason
347
Edwin Prescott .
348
Warren James Prescott
350
Nathan Henry Robie
351
Frank B. Sanborn .
352
George Berry Sanborn
353
John Chandler Sanborn
354
Hon. John Newell Sanborn
355
Roscoe Franklin Swain
356
Enoch J. Tilton
357
Emmons Brown Towle
358
Charles F. Wadleigh .
359
Benjamin Franklin Weare.
360
Dr. Francis Edward Clarke
361
Harriett Elizabeth Abbott Clark
362
George Moulton 364
Invoice of Town
365
Index of Names 383
Index of Subjects
397
Jerome A. Hardy.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Frank Benjamin Sanborn Frontispiece and 352
Facsimile of Advertisement of First Horse Show in America . 152
Order of Exercises of Exhibition at the Union School February 24, 1851 237 Hon. Warren Brown 316 317 Sarah Gertrude (Norris) Brown
Charles P. Akerman .
319
Mary Dodge Aiken
320 320 321
Moses Emery Batchelder
Samuel Batchelder
Arthur Warren Brown
Charles Rufus Brown
George Cyrus Brown
Henry Benson Brown
Morrill Marston Coffin.
Joseph Blake Cram
George Janvrin Curtis .
Dr. William Waldo Curtis
Charles Nealey Dodge
Horace A. Godfrey
John H. Gove
Frank S. Green .
Charles A. Hardy
Jerome A. Hardy
George Clifford Healey
Bertram Thompson Janvrin .
Edwin Janvrin
John F. Jones.
Henry Harrison Knight
Levi Edwin Lane
George F. Merrill
Gen. Charles A. Nason.
Edwin Prescott . .
Warren James Prescott
Nathan Henry Robie .
Frank Benjamin Sanborn
George Berry Sanborn.
John Chandler Sanborn
354 355 356 357
Enoch J. Tilton .
.
Emmons Brown Toole
358
Charles F. Wadleigh .
359 360
Benjamin Franklin Weare
. 361
Harriett Elizabeth Abbott Clarke.
362
George Moulton
.
364
.
342 343 344 345 346 347 348 350 351 352 353
Hon. John Newell Sanborn
Roscoe Franklin Swain.
322 323 324 325 326 327 328 330 331 332 333 334 337 338 339 340 341
Mary Dodge White
.
.
Dr. Francis Edward Clarke
HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS.
THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN HAMPTON FALLS.
The history of the church in Hampton Falls cannot be intelli- gently written or properly understood, without going back to the church founded at Hampton in 1638.
What is now known as Hampton Falls was then a part of Hamp- ton, and so continued for about seventy years. Our people, who were a church going people, attended meeting there, and were taxed on their polls and estates for the support of preaching and the build- ing of meeting houses, three different meeting houses having been built, before a meeting house was built on the Falls side. The first five ministers settled over the church in the old town were as much our ministers as theirs, and it is apparent why we should take an interest in the Hampton church. A tablet erected within a few years, near the site of the log meeting house and near where the Hampton Academy formerly stood, says three meeting houses were built there. The common about them was known as the meeting house green.
This church, like all others organized in those early days in this state, was Congregational in form, and strictly Puritanic in character. Mr. Frank B. Sanborn, in his history of New Hamp- shire, complains of the activity of the colony of Massachusetts Bay in forcing their strict notions on the people of this state. These churches were the foundation of what has since been known as New England Congregationalism. They were also known as the Standing Order. Being dissenters from the established Church of England, the forms and ceremonies of that church were obnoxious to them; instead of kneeling they stood during prayers; hence the name. Since my remembrance the Congre- gational church was spoken of by that name to distinguish it from those of other denominations which had come into existence in later years. They called their places of worship meeting houses, instead of churches. They did not dedicate their meeting houses. They did not observe Christmas. The Congregationalists were
2
2
HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS
among the last to celebrate Christmas. As late as 1854, when I was a student at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., no attention was paid to the day, not even a half holiday being granted. Thus it will be seen that it was intended that the customs and practices of the church should be as different as possible from that of the Episcopal form. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe took up her resi- dence in Andover in 1852. She shocked the people by the nature of entertainments held at her house, such as charades, tableaux, and, on one occasion, there was a Christmas tree.
The Rev. Stephen Batchelder, the first minister at Hampton, was born in England in 1561. The place of his birth is unknown. He was educated at Oxford University where he took orders in the established church, but soon he became a dissenter. His conduct became very obnoxious to the bishop and rulers of that church, and he was said to have suffered much persecution at their hands. About 1630 he, with his followers, removed to Holland where he gathered a church with the intention of soon emigrating to America. They were known by the name of the "Company of the Plough." After making the arrangements, by some misunderstanding or double dealing of the shipmaster, their departure was prevented. The company returned to Eng- land.
On the 9th of March, 1632, Mr. Batchelder and his company sailed from London on the William and Francis, and landed in Boston on the 5th of June, with Christopher Hussey, his son-in- law, and others. They continued their church relations, and to which others were soon added. As this church had not been organized by permission of the General Court, or Governor and Council, he was enjoined from continuing his church work, except to those who had come with him from England. He removed to Ipswich, where he had a grant of land. Soon after he was in Newbury. He came to Hampton with his followers, in 1639, and founded the Hampton church.
From the fact of having had a previous organization of several years before coming here, the Hampton church claims to be the oldest in the state. The Dover church, organized in 1635, was the first ever organized in the state. Mr. Batchelder was pastor, and associated with him was Rev. Timothy Dalton, with the title of teacher. This condition continued for about two years, when difficulties and troubles arose. Mr. Batchelder was enjoined
3
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN HAMPTON FALLS
from his ministerial office and suspended from his membership of the church. Some time after he was restored to membership, but never to his ministerial office. He remained in the country for a number of years but never had another pastoral settlement. He returned to England about 1655, and died at Hackney, near London, 1660, in the one hundredth year of his age. He was nearly eighty years old when he came to Hampton. He gave the first bell ever in the town to the church. He was granted a house lot and a farm of two hundred acres near the Massachusetts line. It was in Seabrook, and bounded on the south by the Rocks Road. Before leaving Hampton he conveyed this farm back to the town, but we find no record of this transaction.
The relations of pastor and teacher, which existed here, appear to have been unknown anywhere else. One reason for this may have been that the men were well advanced in years, the parish extended over a large area, and was too much for one man to look after. At that time Portsmouth was the nearest church. Their work was divided in the following manner: in the morning the pastor preached; in the afternoon the teacher; in the morning the pastor offered the prayer which preceded the sermon, the teacher the closing prayer; in the afternoon the order was re- versed; the teacher pronounced the benediction at the close of the morning service, the pastor at the close in the afternoon; at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, one part by the pastor, the other by the teacher, the order being reversed at each communion. Baptisms were performed by each in the same manner. The re- lations between pastor and teacher were not harmonious; the differences were not in doctrine, but in practice. Those who came with Mr. Batchelder from England adhered to him, the remainder, which were much the more numerous, adhering to Mr. Dalton. Mr. Batchelder appears to have been a man of great force of character, restive under authority, and the governing powers. This caused him to be in trouble nearly all his life. His descendants are very numerous; there are not less than one hun- dred at the present time in Hampton Falls who are his lineal descendants.
The Rev. Timothy Dalton, the teacher, was born in England in 1577, graduated from Cambridge in 1613, came to this country in 1637, and settled at Dedham, Mass., where he remained for a year and a half, when he removed to Hampton, and became asso-
4
HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS
ciated with Mr. Batchelder in the church work with the title of teacher. His connection with Mr. Batchelder continued for two or three years, until Mr. Batchelder's removal. After this he continued the pastoral work alone, until 1647. In 1647, Rev. John Wheelwright was associated with him in the pastoral work, until 1656. After this his associate was Rev. Seaborn Cotton, until his death in 1661.
In the earlier period of Mr. Dalton's ministry he did not receive any stated salary, but received several grants of land, among them a farm of three hundred acres at Sagamore Hill, in Hampton Falls, which embraced the farms occupied by William H. Brown, Nath Batchelder, Fred P. Sanborn, and a part of the farm of Warren Brown. The tract of woodland, now known as the "Farm, " received its name because it was a part of Mr. Dalton's farm. Mr. Dalton had no children, at his decease. He gave his farm to Nathaniel Batchelder, Manuel Hilliard and Jasper Blake, supposed to have been connections or kinsmen of either Mr. or Mrs. Dalton. Manuel Hilliard was a seaman, and was lost at the wreck of Rivermouth in 1657, which event has been made memorable by Whittier in a poem of that name. Some of the land left Nathaniel Batchelder has remained in possession of his descendents until the present time. Mr. Dalton was inducted into the work of the ministry in England, and came to this coun- try that he might worship God in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience. He was about eighty-four years old at the time of his death.
The Rev. John Wheelwright, who was settled in 1647 as col- league of Mr. Dalton, was born in England about 1570. He was educated at Cambridge University. Oliver Cromwell, with whom he often engaged in athletic contests, was one of his classmates. He came to this country in 1635, and located at Mount Wollas- ton, with the intention of founding a church there. He preached a sermon which the magistrates considered to be seditious. For this he was disfranchised and banished from the colony. He later attempted to found a church at Exeter, but was prevented on account of his previous troubles in Massachusetts. He re- moved to Wells, Maine. After this his dishabilities were re- moved; he came to Hampton where he remained eight or nine years. There is little recorded of his work in Hampton. While here he had several grants of land. Among other tracts was the
5
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN HAMPTON FALLS
farm which had previously been given Rev. Stephen Batchelder, which he afterward sold to John Cass, who was an ancestor of Gen. Lewis Cass of Michigan. He was grantee in the famous Wheelwright deed, in which the Sagamores granted to him all the land between the Merrimac and Piscataqua rivers, which deed is now considered to have been a forgery. He did, however, obtain a grant from the Indians around Squanscot Falls, which is the present town of Exeter. Hepreached at different times at Exeter, Wells, Maine, and Salisbury, Mass., where he died November 5, 1679. At that time he was the oldest minister in the colony. He was inclined to be disputatious, and from this cause was constantly in trouble wherever located. The courts decided that the sermon he preached at Mount Wollaston was not seditious, and was the cause of his dishabilities being removed, which allowed him to come to Hampton in 1647.
Rev. Seaborn Cotton succeeded Mr. Wheelwright as Mr. Dal- ton's colleague in 1656 and continued until Mr. Dalton's death in 1661. He was the son of Rev. John Cotton, minister of the first church in Boston. He was born during the passage of his parents from England. He was baptized on the second day after his arrival, September 6, 1633. From the circumstance of his birth, he was generally known by the name of Seaborn. He graduated from Harvard in 1651, where his name appears upon the catalogue as Margena. He was settled at Hampton and ordained over the church in 1660. His salary, fixed November, 1667, was eighty pounds per year, one half payable in provisions at current prices. November 24, 1679, it was voted to cover his house with short shingles, to make it tight and convenient, for the better protection of his books, and make a cellar with what speed they could.
About this time Gov. Cranfield issued an order which caused a great deal of consternation-that all clergymen should administer the sacrament and baptism, according to the practice of the Church of England, to any who might apply. There was no execution of this order in Hampton. All the preceding ministers of Hamp- ton had been granted farms, but as there was no convenient land left Mr. Cotton was granted a farm at Hogpen Plains, in Kensing- ton, of two hundred acres, which farm is that now owned by Warren Lamprey. He died April 19, 1686, at the age of fifty-two years.
At his death the Hampton church was without a pastor for the
6
HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS
first time in forty-eight years. He was succeeded by his son, John Cotton, who preached for a number of years as a supply be- fore he was ordained. He was ordained November 19, 1696, ten years and four months after his father's death. Being so long without a pastor, the church had decreased somewhat in member- ship. After a pastorate of thirteen years and four months, and a ministry of more than twenty years, Mr. Cotton was suddenly removed from his people by death, at the age of fifty-one years, ten months and nineteen days. During his ministry two hundred and fifteen were admitted to the church, four hundred and eighty- seven were baptized. The sacrament was administered seven times a year, being omitted from December 1 to March 1, on ac- count of the cold weather. His salary was fixed at eighty-five pounds per year. Wheat was to be secured at five shillings per bushel; Indian corn at three shillings, malt and rye at four shil- lings, pork at three. pence per pound, beef at two pence per pound-all to be merchantable and good. He was to receive thirty cords of wood, at five shillings per cord; one half was to be of oak. The selectmen were to look after and keep account of the wood.
There does not appear to have been any records by the first ministers. If any were kept they have been lost, and little is known of them except what can be gathered from the town record. Very little church record appears before 1700. In the grant for most of the New Hampshire towns a lot was set apart on which to set a meeting house which must be built within a certain time or the grant became invalidated. This did not occur at Hampton because the church was organized before coming here.
THE MEETING HOUSE ..
The first we find in relation to a meeting house in Hampton Falls was in 1667, when liberty was given the Falls people to build a house of shelter and relief for use on the Lord's day, and at other times when needed. This house appears to have been located upon what is now the town common, near the old pound. This house appears to have been used for holding social religious meet- ings, and on Sabbaths when it was impossible to cross the cause- way by reason of the high water. It was the forerunner of the meeting house built forty years later.
At a town meeting held at Hampton April 30, 1706, it was voted to repair the walls of the meeting house, earth all the clay walls, and daub them, and wash them over with white lime; mend the glass windows, and cause shetts to be made; to shingle it anew, and lay the floor over the beams, and to make a rate to pay the same. Nathaniel Weare, Joseph Cass and John Gove, and twelve others, enter their dissent, not because they were opposed to the repair of the meeting house, but because they were en- gaged in building a meeting house on the Falls side, at their own expense, and at the same time rated for the repairs of the meeting house at the old town, December 3, 1709. A petition of the inhabitants of the south part of Hampton, to the Coun- cil and General Assembly at Portsmouth, was read, setting forth the great distance from the place of worship, and the impossibility of crossing the causeway at times, by reason of the high tides, and that they had been at the expense of build- ing a meeting house, and supporting preaching, and at the same time were rated for the support of preaching at the old town, that we and the old town rates be raised together, and maintain two churches; and that our rates on this side of the river, be raised and applied to the support of preaching and support of the church here. After a hearing it was voted that the rates be raised to- gether, and those on the west side of the river be raised, and applied and used in the new parish. This was accepted, and a church organized and a minister employed. The rates were raised to- gether, until the death of Mr. Cotton in 1726, when it was dis-
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