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HOLLIS, NEW HAMPSHIRE SEVENTY YEARS AGO
& HENRY GILMAN LITTLE
OR
GASRES
R.FRE
O
R
公司
ONGHES
Hollis, Seventy Years Ago
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
-BY-
HENRY GILMAN LITTLE
-
47933.2'
GRINNELL, IOWA Ray & MacDonald, Printers 1894
COPYRIGHT, 1894 BY HENRY G. LITTLE 4 767
Dedicated to the Memory of Aly Mother
PREFACE.
This little book is a reprint of a series of let- ters published during the years 1891 and 1892 in The Hollis Times, then edited by Mr. J. C. Hildreth. As the writing of the letters was un- dertaken at the suggestion of Hollis friends, so the gathering of them into more permanent form is at the instance of various readers whose kindly appreciation of my modest efforts has been most grateful, though it has sometimes seemed to be in excess of their deserts.
Some extracts from a few of the many com- mendatory letters received have been inserted as an Appendix, to show how deep is the af- fection of the children of Hollis for the old
V
vi
PREFACE.
home and their interest in the manners and customs of her earlier days, as well as to fur- nish an explanation for this second appearance of the Letters before the public.
One shadow falls upon the final pages in the sorrowful tidings, which reach me while they are in press, of the death of my old and valued friend, Luther Prescott Hubbard, of Greenwich, Conn. But for his warm and persistent en- couragement, this book would not have been. May it help to preserve the memory of his true and worthy life.
HENRY GILMAN LITTLE.
GRINNELL, IOWA, October, 1894.
CONTENTS.
I.
PAGE. The Hollis Meeting-house. Pastor; Choir; Tith-
ing-men. Sabbath Customs II
II.
Deacons; Physicians; The Lawyer. Stores and "Taverns." Mechanics; Farmers 21
III.
New Hampshire Crops. A Hollis Home 27
IV.
Beaver Brook School District. One of the
Teachers 38
V.
Hollis Holidays 45
vii
viii
CONTENTS.
VI.
PAGE
Hollis Morals 53
VII.
Some of the Homes near the Center 61
VIII.
The Hubbard Family 68
IX.
The Tenney Home and Family. 75
X.
Families in the South part of Town. The
Worcesters .
88
XI.
Families in various parts of Town 98
XII.
The Family of Deacon Daniel Emerson; of Dea- con William Emerson. Hannah French. Bringing the Newspapers. Dancing Schools in Hollis IIO
ix
CONTENTS.
XIII. PAGE
The Eastman, Farley, Hardy, and other Families .. I21
XIV.
Stephen Farley and Family I32
XV.
Beaver Brook School District again
I 37
XVI.
Families in the North-West School District 145
XVII.
The Patch Corner District. Families in various
parts of Town 153
XVIII.
The Bradbury Family
162
XIX.
The Blood Family 170
XX.
Descendants of Hollis Families in the West 175
X
CONTENTS.
XXI.
PAGE
The Little Family 18I
XXII.
The North-East School District 187
XXIII.
Families North of the Center of Town 195
XXIV.
The Hillsborough County Fair. Anecdote of Rev. Mr. Hill 202
XXV.
Ralph Emerson and his Descendants.
Farewell 210
APPENDIX 221
INDEX 227
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
-
I.
The varied experiences of four score years have not at all dimmed the memory of my childhood's home, and to recall the scenes amid which my early days were passed, and the events which impressed my youthful mind is one of the delights of an old age passed in other and far different surroundings.
As in most New England towns, the meet- ing-house was the center of our village life. I remember it as a comparatively new building, for it was erected in 1804. Though a plain and unpretending structure, it was perhaps impos- ing from its very simplicity, and was a source of some pride to the citizens. The barn-like
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
interior was nearly filled with the old-fashioned high, square pews, but on either side of the center aisle, near the pulpit, extended the long free seats,-that on the east for the old ladies, that on the west for the men, while directly in front of the preacher was the deacons' seat. Galleries occupied three sides of the entire room, with a row of square pews against the wall, which were sold like those below. The singers' seats filled the south side, opposite the pulpit. The remaining seats in the gallery were free, and the men and boys occupying those on the west were separated by the whole width of the building from the women and girls sitting on the east side.
Two flights of steps, some ten in number, led from the floor up to the narrow pulpit on the north side of the room, and there the minister was carefully shut in by solid doors, like a pris- oner in the dock.
Everything about the meeting-house was se- verely plain. I can recall no attempt at orna- ment unless it be the mysterious painting upon the ceiling in the northwest corner. I never understood the design, but one of the worthy
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
sons of Hollis, Ralph A. Tenney, Esq., of Chi- cago, thus refers to it in an address made a few years ago: "Every Sabbath day, hot or cold, wet or dry, found us in the old square pews, with our best bibs and tuckers on, straightening out our faces for a good plump one-hour-and- a-half sermon, not one idea, word or syllable of which could we understand. To vary the monotony, we children would occasionally let our eyes wander up to the northwest corner of the ceiling of the church, where had been painted a very black thunder-cloud, the fumes of which we imagined we could smell. This painting was intended to represent the wrath of God on the unrepentant sinner's head. That was all the fun we had, but at that we did not dare to smile for fear of the tithing-man with his long pole."
At the time I refer to, the Rev. Eli Smith was pastor of the church. He was a fearless, energetic and able man, and a good, successful minister of the Gospel. During his long pas- torate of thirty-seven years he received more than four hundred members into the church. He was a Calvinist of the extreme type, and
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
preached the stern doctrines of that school with unflinching faithfulness. He taught us to believe in a personal devil, a frightful monster to our childish imaginations, going about as a roaring lion seeking to devour our quaking souls; and in the terrors of a veritable hell, with its eternal punishment for all the wicked. But he did not forget to set before us also the glo- ries of the Heavenly Land prepared for the righteous, and the blessed truth of a crucified Redeemer.
There was a large choir of good singers, led by Alpheus Eastman, a noted singer and teacher for many years of the village singing school.
Aunt Hannah Worcester was the chief sopra- no, but there was at the time a large amount of musical talent in the town upon which to draw for the service of song. Among the singers there were Sandersons, Pools, Goulds, Hales, Conants, Emersons, Farleys, Worcesters and Eastmans. There was also Taylor Wright, whom many must yet remember, and a good sprinkling of Hardys and other well-known families.
One notable event connected with the choir,
Behurt,zero
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
I well remember. It was rumored that Aunt Hannah Worcester was soon to be missed from her place in "the seats," that, in fact, she was going to be married. The good lady was a maiden of mature years who had served in the choir for perhaps a quarter of a century. She was one of those cordial, kindly souls, whom everybody loved, and it was felt that, in a sense, she belonged to the town. All insisted that the wedding must take place in the meeting- house. It was so decided. The day came and nearly the whole town was assembled in the church. The bride walked up the aisle lcaning upon the arm of her intended husband, Deacon Stephen Thurston, of Bedford, N. H. As they approached the pulpit the choir struck up an anthem, beginning with the words, growing more emphatic with each repetition, "I waited patiently, I waited patiently, I waited patiently for the Lord!" The smile which rippled through the house we boys did not then under- stand. Its meaning has dawned upon some of us since,
With minister, deacons, and choir, the con- gregation was not even yet ready for divine
16
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
service; there must be also four tithing-men, two above and two below, to keep the boys in order.
Hollis people were a church-going people; they had been trained to it from the earliest settlement of the town. They came from all directions, some in chaises, some in plain wag- ons, some, in winter, with oxen and sleds, many on foot. They came for two long services; there was a sermon in the morning and another in the afternoon. There were no Sabbath schools then, and only a short intermission at noon. No provision was made for warming the meeting-house, but the fervor of religious devotion defied even the rigor of a New Hamp- shire winter. It was, however, assisted by the comforting glow of half a hundred tiny foot- stoves, brought by the different families and filled with fresh coals at noon from the hospi- table fire-places of the neighboring homes. The meeting-house was provided with neither clock nor bell, but promptly at the moment good Mr. Smith walked up the aisle, his blessed wife, Anna Emerson Smith, at his side. The meeting begins. Before the long prayer a list
I7
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
of notes is generally read; often there are many of these, some asking prayers for the sick, some giving thanks for recovery from illness, others having reference to various blessings or afflic- tions. After the birth of every child a note is read from the pulpit, worded after this mod- est fashion: "A B and wife desire to return thanks to God for recent favors." The large families of those days made such acknowledg- ments numerous and frequent. It was custom- ary for the congregation to rise and stand dur- ing prayer, and, to furnish more room in the pews for this exercise, the seats were provided with hinges, by means of which they were turn- ed up against the back. The turning down of the seats at the close of the prayer was like the clatter of small artillery. The congregation now put up the leaning boards-narrow shelves extending around the pews in front of the wor- shippers, upon which they might rest their books or their elbows-and adjust themselves
' to give careful attention to the sermon. No one moves from his seat, save the watchful tithing-men, who sometimes walk softly about the aisles to quiet the wriggling or whispering
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
boys who threaten to disturb the attention of their elders. We boys looked with dread upon these mighty officers, and turned pale as they approached. Since they so promptly checked a gentle whisper or harmless giggle from one of ourselves, we ventured timidly to wonder why they seemed to take no notice of that man in the gallery (said by the neighbors to be a "little off" in his mind), when he called out right in sacred sermon time, "Be still a whis- pering, 'Feus Eastman!" or why they did not rebuke a certain prominent and wealthy citizen of the town for what looked to our astonished eyes an offence even more heinous than out- right laughter in meeting.
I think I must tell that story of peppery Mr. Daniel Merrill, for it made a great impression on my boyish mind.
It seems that during the war of 1812, in Hol- lis as elsewhere, the people were deeply stirred in respect to the questions involved and the policy of our government, and took there, as elsewhere, diverse views, according to individ- ual temperaments, associations and habits of thought; still, they were, in the main, united
19
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
in a determined hostility toward England and a vigorous support of the war. In one of Rev. Eli Smith's pulpit discourses mention was made of a party growing up in the nation which demanded peace on easy terms (to England), or peace at any price. To the warm patriot- ism and warlike temper of worthy Mr. Merrill the reverend gentleman (although well known far and near as an earnest supporter of the war) seemed to allude to these luke-warm, weak-kneed Americans in a tone savoring too much of sympathy or too little of that stern denunciation which he deemed fit. At any rate his hot blood took fire, and he vowed in vigorous terms that from that day forth never should any coin of his go to swell the weekly collection in that church. Perhaps, in the lapse of time, the regular and persistent passing of the deacon's hat before his face had roused in his heart a growing irritation, till at last the inner turmoil must perforce have vent. I remember well the horror with which I saw the blow he struck at Deacon Burge's bell- crowned hat-years after the war had closed- a blow which made the pennies, fourpences,
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
ha'pennies, ninepences and pistareens ring, while he exclaimed loudly, "Keep that hat out of my pew!"
At the close of the afternoon service all hast- en home to partake of a plentiful dinner of baked beans and brown bread, delicious with the sweet, mellow flavor, imparted only by the long, slow baking of twenty-four hours in the great brick oven.
Dinner over, the children are gathered to re- cite the Assembly catechism, and no one is ex- cused from this exercise; even the little one just beginning to talk must repeat the ponder- ous words of theological wisdom after the pa- rent. Our Sabbath did not, as in some portions of New England, begin and end with the going down of the sun, making Saturday evening sa- cred time, while the Sunday twilight was free to sport and neighborly gossip. In the even- ing of our Sabbath all who do not live at too great a distance, repair to the Center school- house for the meeting of prayer and confer- ence. This ends the exercises of a Sabbath of long ago.
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
II.
Our Hollis church had five excellent Dea- cons. Usually it was either Deacon Burge or Deacon Jewett who led the conference meet- ing, in the absence of the pastor. Deacon Burge was one of the every-day Christians, a man in whom every one had confidence, and being of a gentle, quiet, placid disposition, I have heard it said that he was not much dis- turbed when a wayfaring man whom he had arrested for traveling on the Sabbath, and lodged in his own house, was found, when Mon- day morning dawned, to have escaped through his chamber window in the night, taking his bedclothes with him. Deacon Jewett was of a more nervous and ardent temperament, equally earnest in his Christian character, but less pa- tient and calm than Deacon Burge. Of the five I knew Deacon Hardy best. I often watch- ed the flying sparks from his blacksmith's forge or the busy blows from his strong arm. He had always a kind word for the boys. He was
.
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
an earnest, solemn man, as deacons were ex- pected to be in those days, but we did not fear and shun him. As several of us little fellows were walking to conference meeting one bright Sabbath evening, we fell in with Deacon Hardy on his way thither also. Some one remarked upon the beauty of the night, and how well I remember his solemn answer: "Yes, it is a beautiful night, indeed, but there is a great storm of wrath gathering, which will fall upon the heads of all the impenitent!" Did he think, I wonder, that that short sermon would be fresh in the mind of one of his hearers sev- enty years after? Of Deacon Farley and Dea- con Woods I knew less, as they lived in re- mote parts of the town.
The ministers, the doctors and the lawyers were the great men of a New England town. Boys of my time were taught to take off their hats and bow respectfully to all men whom they met on the street, while girls dropped their modest courtesies. But for the profes- sional dignitaries our obeisance were most marked and deferential. Our physicians were Noah Hardy, William Hale and Oliver Scrip-
23
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
ture, and the first two were natives of Hollis. They all spent their lives in the practice of medicine at fifty cents a visit, if the distance was not above a mile, and all died in Hollis. To the children they were beings of wonderful and mysterious learning and power. When
they visited our homes we gathered shyly around watching for chance glimpses into the awful depths of the fascinating saddle-bags. From thence, we knew, came the dreaded tooth- pullers, the lancets, the pill-boxes, and the bottles with mixtures of varying degrees of disagreeableness; Life and Death themselves seemed to be shut up in those marvelous sad- dle-bags. Dr. Hardy and Dr. Scripture died childless, but Dr. Hale reared a large family.
The one Hollis lawyer the children all fear- ed. We had somehow gotten the notion that "Squire Mark," as he was called, was the man who sent people to jail. But we had no reason to fear Benjamin Mark Farley, Esq. He was a good man, a grand man, a safe, able lawyer, with few equals at the bar. He gave sound counsel, which often kept the Hollis people out of lawsuits.
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
Perhaps next after the professional men stood the merchants or storekeepers. One of these was Ambrose Gould, who for many years was to be found in the store on the corner, where his sign announced "English and West India Goods" for sale. His goods were all brought from Boston, and generally with ox teams. His sales from the barrel of rum were quite as free and open as those of codfish or sugar. Along with his mercantile duties he united those of postmaster. I recall that he removed after a time to Hardscrabble. £ An-
other store or shop was kept in the northeast room of the present parsonage by Mrs. Emer- son, widow of Rev. Daniel Emerson. So care- fully did the prudent woman manage her small business, that from its profits she was able to bring up her family of four sons and one daugh- ter. Two of the sons were college graduates, and have recently died -- Benjamin at Nashua, and Rev. Joseph Emerson at Andover. Mrs. Cutter, wife of Dr. Benoni Cutter, who lived a little south of Mrs. Emerson, was also left a widow with six children, and she also must ex- ercise the closest economy in bringing up her
25
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
family. As some of the goods in Mrs. Emer- son's store were marked ninepence ( 1212 cts. ), it was solemnly agreed between the two wid- ows that the half-cent should belong to each regularly in turn. One other store I remem- ber, which was opened by Joseph Patch, two miles north of town.
The principal tavern was kept by Nehemiah Woods, in the house south of the present High School building. Dr. Scripture succeeded him at the same place. Later on, Mr. B. G. Cutter opened a store and tavern in the Price house. Each of them kept an open bar and sold liquors to travelers and townsmen without the slight- est detriment to his standing in the community. Tavern signs also hung before the residences of Noah Hardy and William Hale.
Blacksmithing seems to have been an impor- tant business in Hollis. I remember several shops. Dea. Enos Hardy carried on one a lit- tle north of the village; Charles Eastman, one near Dea. Jewett's, at the Pool Corner; James Parker, one at Patch's Corner. There were also shops at Fog End, and I think at Brim- stone,
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
Mr. Josiah Conant was a cabinet-maker, and Nathan Thayer was the painter. Capt. Page Farley was the only tanner; Isaac Farley and Elias Conant were wheelwrights; Benjamin Messer one of the carpenters; Abijah Gould repaired clocks and watches for the villagers; Samuel Quaid was our harness-maker; Thomas Cummings and Sewell Butterfield were shoe- makers.
But by far the larger part of our population was engaged in farming. A great variety of crops was cultivated, each farmer striving to supply the needs of his own family from his own land. The rye and the corn for their bread, and the vegetables for summer and winter, grew upon their own acres, as did the wool and flax for their clothing.
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
III.
The rugged New Hampshire land, with its thin and stony soil, was never favorable to farm- ing. "What do you raise in this barren coun- try?" exclaimed a visitor. "We raise men," was the prompt reply, which has become his- toric. Let the annals of the one little country town of Hollis bear witness to its truth. From the poor, little, unproductive farms of that hill country she has sent forth to the world the product of which it stood most in need. She never raised any other crop to boast of, but she may well be proud of her men.
There could not be much wealth in such a village. Judged by standards of to-day, all were poor; but judged by the truest and best standard, I think all were rich, for we were all busy, contented and happy.
Many a Hollis home was more luxurious than mine and many were poorer; yet there were none of the villagers with whom we could not meet upon equal terms, and there were
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
none who did not seem to feel that the interest of one was the interest of all, and that each had his responsible share in our common village life.
Would that such safe and happy conditions might return to our uneasy land!
Perhaps the home into which I was born was below rather than above the average of Hollis homes in material comforts, still it is a fairly representative one. My father's comfortable frame house of seven rooms stood upon one side of his rough little farm of sixty-two acres, and fronted a quiet lane leading to the main road. Some of the frame dwellings in town were shingled from top to bottom, and so dur- able were such buildings that I have known in New England those which have stood for a century and a half without reshingling. Our house, however, was not so defended from the weather. The five rooms on the ground floor were made warm with plaster, and all but one had its fire-place; but in the chambers where we children slept there were only the bare rafters above our heads, and sometimes the wild winter winds would drive the snow under the
29
HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
shingles of the roof to sift down as a downy coverlet upon our beds.
The large kitchen was living and working room for the whole family. The great fire- place with the roomy brick oven occupied near- ly one side of the room. It had big, iron fire- dogs and was provided with a crane and nu- merous pot-hooks, for all the cooking was done before the open fire or in the great oven. Joints of meat were hung by cords before the fire with dripping-pan beneath, while one of the children was charged with the duty of con- stantly turning the meat with stick or poker, that it might roast evenly. Across the chim- ney, above the high mantel, hung festoons of dried apples, and thick rings of dried pumpkin hung upon a long pole. A plain chest of draw- ers stood on one side, and my mother had, be- sides, one nicely finished bureau, which in after years made the long journey to the west. The old-fashioned dresser with its open shelves oc- cupied a recess in the wall. It held the dishes in daily use, a few wooden trenchers, but more of the pewter plates and dishes, polished and shining as silver, and the necessary crockery,
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
the big glass salt-cellar always placed in the center of the table, with a little nice cut glass- ware. A china cupboard in the parlor held my mother's choicest pieces of china and glass, too precious for frequent use. The indispen- sable spinning wheels for flax and wool were also a part of our kitchen furniture. There were a rocking chair or two, a few tables and com- mon chairs with home-made bottoms of flag or rushes or strips of bark, to complete the simple furnishing.
At first, I recollect, we had no clock, but measured the hours by means of my mother's "noon mark" on the kitchen window sill and the ancient sun-dial which stood on one corner of the well curb near the house. Later a tall clock found its way into the kitchen.
Our kitchen floor never had a carpet, but once a week it was freshly covered with clean, shining, white sand from the river bank. Some- times the sand was spread in graceful waves or curves by the skillful drawing of a broom across it. It was an inviting, cheerful room, that old kitchen. It had the charm which many a state- ly drawing-room lacks, with all its artistic fur-
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HOLLIS SEVENTY YEARS AGO.
niture and costly ornaments-the charm of homely comfort and daily, happy living. It was here that the family life went on. Here our meals were cooked and eaten; our clothing spun from our own wool and flax, and woven and sewed into shape. Here lessons were stud- ied and our few books and the one weekly news- paper were read. Here annually came the vil- lage shoemaker, with bench and tools, and spent many a busy day cutting and making up -from leather prepared at the village tannery, or bought in great sheets at one of the larger towns-the various sizes of boots and shoes which the family required. How many useful industries were carried on in that dear old room, and what good times we had there in spite of all the hard work! Never were any bowls of hot bread and milk so delicious as those which, night and morning, satisfied our childish hunger, and we never grumbled that our elders were allowed more varied fare. How attractive was the long dinner table when we rushed in with keen appetites from school or work, and how satisfying was the hearty meal of beef or mutton or pork, with potatoes
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