USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Walpole > A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 60
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In June 1930 the New Hampshire Horse Association was formed with plans for maps showing various marked saddle routes, a horse auto to transport horses and horse shows.
In 1933 the Walpole Associates were incorporated to further recrea- tional activities with President Oliver Hubbard, Vice President Reginald Cahalane, Treasurer Dana Knowlton, Secretary Donald Macnaughtan, Director Austin Hubbard.
In May 1933 a Young Men's Sporting & Outing Club was formed for target shooting, etc. The officers were President Lyle Jeffrey, Vice Presi- dent Elliot Woodward, Secretary-Treasurer David Holt. In June 1936 the Peep O'Day Gun Club was organized, with a new field house on the Drewsville Road in 1937.
In September 1935 the North Walpole Social Club was formed for social, physical and mental betterment of the young men of the town, the club room to be open evenings to members only, for library, bridge, etc. The first club house burned, was replaced in 1940.
In 1936 Walpole people were attending the Townsend Club meetings at Bellows Falls.
In March 1934 the Hooper Chapter of Future Farmers of America was organized. In 1938 the out-of-school young men organized the Agricul- tural Enthusiasts of Walpole and met for discussion of agricultural sub- jects.
In February 1945 the women of North Walpole formed a Community Club with President Mrs. Amy Godsoe, Vice President Miss Mary Lind- strom, Secretary Mrs. Kathryn K. Cray, Treasurer Miss Alice Kennedy, Advisory Board Mrs. Julia Costin, Mrs. Marion Reardon, Mrs. Margaret Lindstrom. The purpose was "to create interest in civic affairs of the village and to raise a fund to be used for those who have seen service in the armed forces."
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1962
First Prospect Hill Meetinghouse
Chapter VII CHURCH HISTORY
E ARLY MEETINGS of the settlers, for both business and worship, were held at the fort of Benjamin Bellows, Esq. At the March meeting in 1761 it was voted "That the Inhabitants meet at the Fort or nearby on Lord's Day" and "That Benjamin Bellows Esq provide seats and other conveniences for said purpose." In the fall it was voted "to meet at the house of Mr. Ephraim Baldwin the Lord's Day and chose . . . a commit- tee to see Things Properly Fixed for to meet in." It was also voted at the same meeting "to pay for fixing a Place to meet in and to be for the use of the Town."
This first "meeting house was located just in front of John W. Hay- ward's wood house (#39) and the pulpit was over where now is a well of the purest water to be found in town" (AH 33)-at the head of North Main Street, west side.
Apparently the meeting house, "raised" in 1761, was not ready for occupancy until late in 1764, since meetings in 1763 and 1764 were held at the houses of Mr. Asa Baldwin and Mr. Jeremiah Phelps, respectively, when more money was raised for the construction. Even then the building was not complete, and for the next twenty years there were recurring votes in regard to finishing the meeting house.
In 1769 it was voted "that those men that have paid toward building
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the meeting house and have the pews Finish the walls of the meeting house up as far as the girt of said house and that the highest payer toward building the meeting house with adding what he hath paid on real estate since the rate was laid on each man according to his estate being added. The highest payer take the first choice and so on till all the pews is taken up." In 1770 the Plan of the Pews was accepted and the drawing took place in April.
In 1772 £4 was appropriated to build the body seats (more votes later about finishing "workmanlike") and £3 to hang the doors and "sett the glass in two windows and other necessaries."
In 1773 James Russell, maltster, was allowed "12 shillings for sweeping the meeting house for two years past" and again in 1776. (He lived nearby, to the south.)
By 1783 there was agitation to finish the meeting house or build else- where. In 1785 £300 was appropriated to finish the meeting house, but later reconsidered. Late the same year it was voted to build a new meet- ing house on land of Thomas Sparhawk opposite Mr. Baldwin's but this also was reconsidered.
It was again voted to finish "where it now stands" and the Proprietors of the pews to give up their rights in the pews, or the amount of money they would bring, to raise funds for the finishing; also to build a porch at the west end, a porch and steeple at the east end, a tier of pews around the galleries upon the wall and twelve pews "where the seats now are and that the Six Front Pews be reserved for Elderly People. .. . "
However, at the March 1786 meeting it was voted to build a new meeting house near the house of Antipas Harrington (on Prospect Hill) who with John Jenison gave four acres of land for the purpose. Col. John Bellows, Capt. John Jenison, Lt. Aaron Allen, Lt. Amasa Allen and Lt. Isaac Bundy were elected a committee to "Draw a Plan for the New Meet- ing House and Provide Stuff for and Build said House and sell the pews" to raise money for construction.
At a meeting April 24 the meeting house plan exhibited by the com- mittee was accepted, a plan of paying for the pews in installments adopted and the pews sold, 61 on the lower floor and 27 in the gallery. Later it was voted to make pews where the body seats were proposed. In May a committee was elected "to provide dinner for the Persons who shall be appointed to raise the meeting house." In September it was voted to build a steeple, but in 1789 voted to build a dome instead of a steeple. (Judge Bellows wrote of the old church being denuded of its graceful spire.)
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Construction continued in 1788, 1789, 1790 when there was some finan- cial difficulty between the town and the building committee. In 1792 £60 was appropriated to complete and paint the outside straw color.
Alexander Watkins was elected to take care of the meeting house, to sweep the floor and take care of the doors. Later John Knapp was elected to the same responsibility. In 1791 Asa Gage and Nicanor Townsley was elected to keep dogs out of the meeting house on Sabbath Days and there was an article in the warrant "To see if the Town will come into any method to Prevent Sheep Lying around the New Meeting House." This problem was not immediately solved, nor was that of trespassing neat stock.
The church was called "The Church in Walpole" and the members subscribed to the following covenant which was renewed after the church records were burned in 1771 (the following is all in the same handwriting evidently Fessenden's):
"We whose names are hereafter subscribed inhabitants of Walpole in New Hampshire, do now incorporate ourselves into a Church State, renewing our Covenant with God the Father, and with the Son, and with the Holy Ghost, and with one another, admiring the exceeding riches of that grace which admits us to so high a privilege as to con- federate with God, we chearfully lay hold of the covenant, depending on divine assist- ance to enable us to continue steadfast therein.
"First We profess our hearty belief of the divinity of the Christian Religion as con- tained in the holy Scriptures, and engage to make that form of sound words our only rule of faith, worship and none in opposition to, an exclusive of the new found in- ventions of men.
"2dly We promise (divine grace assisting) to honour each divine person in the Chris- tian Trinity, into whose name we were baptized according the directions and injunc- tions of Scripture, and therefore profess our faith in God the Father, and choose the God of all grace to be our God. We also profess our faith in the only begotten Son of God, the only Mediator, Saviour, and Head of the Church; and choose him to be our Prophet, Priest and King. We believe in the eternal Spirit, and choose him to be our sanctifier, and Conforter; and under the influence of principles we resolve to live sober, righteous, and godly lives in this present world, walking in all the command- ments and observing all the influence of the gospel as God shall make our duty known to us.
"3dly We promise (Devine grace helping us) to walk in communion with the church of Christ in this place so long as God shall continue us joining in the respective parts of publick worship, and in the use of both the sacraments of the gospel, viz baptism and the Lord's Supper.
"4 We engage to worship God in our families, to offer our infant son to him in baptism, to bring up our children and servants all under our care in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Instructing them in the principles of the Christian religion, until they are trained up to a meekness for recognizing their baptismal covenant, and taking the solemn bonds upon themselves. Lastly in the name of the Lord our right- eousness and strength, We engage to walk in wisdom towards them without the Church
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and in charity towards them within, watchfully avoiding contentions and sinful stum- bling blocks, and submitting to the holy discipline of Christ's kingdom. (in that view of it which is exhibited in Cambridge platform according to the custom of the congre- gational Churches in New England) not devulging private faults irregularly, bearing with the weak, admonishing and confering the disorderly, and forgiving the penitent thus endeavouring our mutual edification-These things we promise and engage before God angels and men, praying the God of peace to prepare and strengthen us to do his will, in every good works, working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight; to whom be glory in the church of Jesus Christ-Amen-
"Signed Thos. Fessenden Pastor Elect,
Paul Denison
Coll. Benj™ Bellows
John Marcy
John Graves
Lemuel Holmes
John Pamele
Sam1 Trott
Wm. Smeed
John Kilburn Jun"
Jona™ Hall
Timothy Delano Nath1 Hovey
James Bundy
Joseph Barrnett .
members in the former pastors day signed afterwards with the Chh's consent The wives of the following were of the Church-Of Coll. Bellows, John Graves, James Bundy, Joseph Barrett, John Pamele, Wm. Smeed, Dan1 Denison, Lemuel Holmes, Sam1 Trott, and John Kilburn Jr. Numb 25"
"The members were very strict in the observance of the Sabbath and the Sanctuary." None were to have their children baptized by a mere owning of their covenant, but if they had the same privilege in another church where they had owned their covenant and brought testimonials to that effect, and so long as they gave evidence of their being conscientious in their scruples and were endeavoring to remove them, they might be admitted. All residing in Walpole had to bring their membership within one year or give satisfactory reason for neglect.
The members looked after "the misdoings of each other with assidu- ous care and concern, as will appear by the following transactions of the church. It appears that one Isaac Johnson was in the habit of taking too much 'for the stomach's sake', and James Bundy felt disturbed. The trans- action reads thus: 'Nov. 18, 1769, James Bundy complained of Isaac John- son for intemperate drinking-supported. Voted that he be suspended from spiritual privileges until he makes satisfaction.' He appeared, made confession, and was restored to fellowship. Another occasion, Oct. 11, 1770, Nathan Bundy complained of Isaac Stowell: 'As guilty of falsehood and theft, wherein, he also himself, was an accomplice-Voted to suspend both till it appears which is criminal. They afterwards made satisfaction and are restored'." (AH)
Dec. 2, 1787, Deacons Brown and Farnham were elected "a committee
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to enquire of Jonathan Hall jun why he absents himself from publick worship and the Lord's Table." April 10 the committee reported that he said "his circumstances were the cause of his absence and sometimes his family was a hindrance-But he had no objection against the Chh or Pastor etc." The report was voted not satisfactory, and that Deacon Farn- ham acquaint him with this vote. At the same time it was voted that every Sacramental Lecture be a standing church meeting. June 4, 1788 Parson Fessenden sent Mr. Hall an official admonition for neglect of duty as to public worship and attendance on the Lord's Supper. "Every mem- ber of the church who committed any irregularities inconsistent with its discipline, whatever its nature, or whether male or female, was required to make open confession at the preparatory lecture before communion." (AH 132)
One of the many baptisms recorded by Thos. Fessenden in the Church records is "June 14, 1778, Barnabas, negro child belonging to Thos. Sparhawk esq."
Provision was made for the Lord's Table by assessments, in 1768 one shilling per "pole", in 1772 "such as neglected to pay their church tax to be suspended." In 1777 Col. Benjamin Bellows was to make the provi- sion, in 1778 voted "a peck of wheat or money equivilent per pole," Isaac Bundy and Jonathan Hall jun, the collectors. In 1779 two dollars per pole was to clear up arrearages and provide more vessels, and in 1787 an additional contribution for a table cloth.
The first mention of music "is found in the old church records, where Thomas Sparhawk was chosen to set the psalms in 1771. According to tradition the 'setting' of the psalms devolved upon the deacons, but sometimes deacons would be chosen who had no musical cultivation, when some other person was selected who had a musical ear. The setting consisted in reading one verse of a stanza by the deacon, and then giving the key or pitch of the tune to be sung, which was called 'deaconing the psalm'. In 1779 Roger and Eben Farnham were chosen to 'set' the psalms. Church music for hymns and psalms was in its infancy at that time .. . but a little later Billings, Swan and Reed published tunes for lyric verse, many of which were called 'fugue', the different parts of the score of which follow in succession-the bass leading off in repeating the verse. One of those old tunes is so arranged that when a portion of a certain stanza is sung, ending in 'and bow before the Lord,' a most ludicrous effect is produced, thus; 'and bow,wow,wow before the Lord.'" (AH 153)
In 1798 and 1801 no money was appropriated for singing as asked in the town warrant, but in 1803 voted $26 to Walter McCoye "as an en-
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couragement to him to instruct the singers and attend to the singing on Sunday for the year ensuing." In 1807 there was talk of buying a "set of organs" and in 1808 Gen. Amasa Allen gave such an instrument to the town .. The selectmen were instructed in 1810 to obtain an organist. It appears by the records that Miss Alexander served in that capacity. The organ was placed in the gallery facing the pulpit. The installation ap- parently ruined the value of the pew behind the organ, the town paying the owners $32 and taking the pew.
Agitation for the purchase of a bell for the meeting house began in 1795, with final acquisition of a Revere bell weighing 936 pounds in 1798. It was voted in 1800 that the bell be rung on week days at noon and nine o'clock and on Sundays at 9:30 A.M .; 10:30 A.M., in the inter- mission one hour before meeting began, at a suitable time to call the people to meeting and at 9:00 P.M. When the meeting house was moved to the village, the bell and the organ were also moved. However, March 11, 1828, it was voted that the bell be moved to the meeting house on the hill. The organ remained in the meeting house in the village until 1843 when the selectmen were instructed to lease, lend or sell it.
In 1845 it was voted that only the town bell be rung at the expense of the town, but through the years it was usually customary to have the Unitarian bell and the bell at Drewsville rung also at noon and at nine P.M.
In 1818 there began to be agitation for moving the meeting house to the village, which again broke out in 1819 and in 1824. In 1825 at town meetings in March and September articles for moving were dismissed, but on October 27 a vote resulted in a majority of 17 for removal on condi- tion that ... (31) individuals give sufficient security ... that the house be moved within one year. "Whereupon 153 legal voters living in the south and easterly parts of the town signed and published in the local newspapers a spirited protest" which went unheeded. According to George Aldrich writing in the History of Cheshire County "The osten- sible plea set forth was, by moving, the people would be better accom- modated; but the real purpose was to secure a place for Unitarian wor- ship, the sentiments of which had obtained a strong foothold in the village. ... The removal was attended with much ill feeling, and it is said one man was crazed by the act."
The last town meeting on the hill was held March 14, 1826. A meeting on April 15 was held at School #1, and the next annual meeting at the meeting house set up in the village. It continued as a meeting house until 1843 when the selectmen were instructed to settle with an agent
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of the church. In 1844 a committee was chosen to change the meeting house belonging to the town to a form and position to meet the needs of the town, and the pew holders were to be bought out. Thenceforth it was known as the Town House or the Town Hall.
When the meeting house stood at the very summit of Prospect Street (so wrote Judge Josiah G. Bellows) every Sunday all the inhabitants of the town flocked there to worship. "They made a day's outing of it. It must have been cold in our winter months for the building was entirely without means of supplying any artificial heat. I have no doubts that the sermons were warm enough but even the minister of that day could not preach over three hours on a stretch. That was not an unusual length then and in the intermissions the people who had the price of a mug of flip were wont to adjourn to the warmer precincts of the adjoining tavern (now 1962 Hooper Golf Club), while their more impecunious brethren had to get warm as best they could by gymnastic exertions, and stay their empty stomachs with frozen hunks of bread and cheese. . ..
"I like to think of the old Town Church. I never saw it for it was almost a thing of the past before I was born. As it has so often been described to me the main church was in what is now the lower Town Hall, which then extended over the entire lower floor; and what is now the upper hall was then a great gallery running around three sides of the auditorium with the large arched window which still remains at the south end of the hall back of the stage. Then it occupied the north end and under it was placed the great high square pulpit from which the minister preached his sermons. The lower floor was divided into large square pews which were filled mainly by the magnates of the town, while the large gallery afforded only plain settees for its occupants." Before the days of the organ there was "a small orchestra in which the great bass viol pre- dominated the singing. Sermons were long and meaty. There was no claptrap to attract the hearers, no pretty stories or gospel hymns, but the soundest and clearest logic where, if the premises were correct, the conclusions were certain."
When Walpole was settled, all worshipped together and supported by taxation the Town Church. Gradually Baptist churches were formed in neighboring towns and one by one Walpole men asked to be excused from paying the minister's tax because they were of the Baptist faith (1780's on). In Drewsville Samuel Nichols erected a Baptist chapel, but it long ago ceased to be used for any religious purpose. Also in Drews- ville Col. Thomas C. Drew and others formed an Episcopal Society (1817), in time building the stone church on the east side of the Common. In March Hollow and in Christian Hollow those of the Church of Saints in Christ (Christian) established their own church (approx. 1823).
But also within the Town supported church there were divisions, a three-way difference, at least, in beliefs-Universalism, Unitarianism, and orthodox Congregationalism. The moving of the meeting house from the hill to the village was the signal for these differences to break out into the open and probably the town never witnessed so much turmoil and angry
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feeling. Over the next fifteen years the changes in affiliation and names of religious groups are confusing and difficult to sort out from the existing records.
Of the thirty-one men who had been guarantors in the amount of $10,000 for the prompt moving of the meeting house, only one's name appears in the list of members of the Town Church up to that time. However thirteen of the wives of the guarantors were members. Can it be that the ladies as well as the business men in the village brought pressure to bring the meeting house to a location more convenient for them?
Guarantors:
Macy Adams
John Carlisle
Sam'l Mead
Dexter Anderson
Jonathan Cutler
Walton Mead
Abel Bellows
Lovell Farr
William Mitchell
Hubbard Bellows
William Gage
Eben'r Morse
Josiah Bellows
David Gilbert
Isaac Redington
Josiah Bellows his agent
Sam'l Grant
Stephen Rice
Thomas Bellows
Elizah Kilburn
Charles Stratton
David Bisco
Jacob N. Knapp
Frederick Vose
Leonard Bisco
Christopher Lincoln
George Watkins
David Brooks
David Mead
Nath'l Holland
David Stone
On January 31, 1826, about three months after the action to move the meeting house, a group of 63 declared to the Town (Clerk's Records) that they were no longer of the religious persuasion of the Rev. Pliny Dickin- son. Curiously, only one of these is previously recorded as a member of the Town Church and only six of the wives were members. This group included not only a Deacon of the Town Church but some of those then or later associated with the orthodox Congregational, Universalist and Christian Churches. This was probably an endeavor to remove from town obligation the payment of the preacher and not necessarily a matter of concerted religious belief.
The dissenters to the moving of the meeting house, including a variety of religious opinion, other than the Unitarians who continued to occupy the meeting house after it was moved to the village, organized a new society called, according to Aldrich, "The Independent Congregational Society". They built a church on the old site on the hill, completing it in 1826.
Mr. Dickinson had apparently continued to preach to some extent in the old meeting house until 1829. At least he kept the church records for the Town Church until that date when he went to "the Hill Society".
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Aldrich says a man named Thayer preached in the village but no other record of him is found. Dickinson also preached in the new meeting house on the hill part of the time until 1831. A salary was paid to him by the Town through 1827. He was dismissed on April 13, 1831 and the Congregational Church of Walpole (Monadnock Assoc.) was formed with a renewal of covenant on the same date. Eight men signed the Con- fession of Faith, they all having been, before 1825, members of the Town Church. This group, which met at the home of Apollos Gilmore, had been a part of the "Independent Congregational Society".
Signers: Thomas Sparhawk James Howland Jonas Hosmore Thomas Seaver
Nathan Bundy Luther Knowlton
Phillip Bundy
George Kilburn
On July 4, 1831 a meeting of the contributors to Orthodox preaching was called. It was voted to join with the Congregational Church of Walpole, as established in April, and give a call to Edwin Jennison to be their minister. A similar action by the Congregational Church in Walpole in June had made possible this joint call to Mr. Jennison, a sturdy orthodox Congregationalist, who started his pastorate on August 31,1831.
On October 15, 1832 a Committee of Council reported in favor of building a new meeting house to be located in the village. Once again those living outside the village were more interested in the meeting house on the hill and hence the Independent Congregational Society. Their reluctance to move was demonstrated in failure to contribute to- ward the building of the new church, east of the common, which was completed in 1833. Only nine local contributors appear in the record.
On November 20, 1832 a new religious society, The First Congrega- tional Society, was formed, probably from those who had been supporting orthodox preaching. This produced actually or in effect the First Con- gregational Church and Society of Walpole which Aldrich says was formed on that date by six signers.
In 1836 the Independent Congregational Society, which had been established in 1826 was dissolved and the First Universalist Society in Walpole was formed from those left over after the departure of the Con- gregationalists to the village. Rev. Daniel Ackley supplied the desk for some two years, followed by Rev. Charles Woodhouse and others occa- sionally for some ten or twelve years. Preaching was finally suspended and for many years the building on the hill stood empty and dilapidated. In
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THE CHURCH IN WALPOLE
Leavitt /76/-1764
Fort
or
Asd Baldwin
1764 No.Main
Dickinson says "raised" in 1761
Fessenden /767-1813
1792 Prospect
Dickinson 1805-1825
INDEPENDANT CONG'L. SOCIETY
TOWN CONGREGATION + CHURCH OF W.
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