USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Sullivan > A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I > Part 8
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HOLT, RUSSELL T., died,
HUBBARD HENRY E.,
SPAULDING, MILAN D.,
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
Yonder stands a beautiful shaft; the first in this state to be publicly dedicated to the memory of the soldiers by a municipality. It is an honor of which Sullivan may justly feel proud. Those were great principles for which the dear boys offered their lives ; and how many they were !
But constant dangers threaten even a peaceful state. We must remember that it is only by eternal vigilance that the results of the war can be preserved. Our heroes strug- gled long to redeem the land of their sires. We must pre- serve the fruits of their victory, as a sacred trust, for the millions yet to be, that, ages to come, every one of their graves will still be a sacred place, a sacred symbol of our country's glory, the freedom of our people, and the rights of man.
NINTH SENTIMENT :
OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS - Though absent in body, they are present in the precious memories and tender associations which connect us with the past.
The response to this sentiment was to have been the sacred song entitled " Remembered," on page 254, in C. M. Wyman's collection called " The Palm." Time did not per- mit the rendering of this fine melody, both the music and the words of which were appropriate. The words are : -
Fading away like the stars of the morning, Losing their light in the glorious sun ; So let me steal away, gently and lovingly, Only remembered by what I have done. CHORUS :
Ever remembered, forever remembered, Ever remembered while the years are rolling on ; Ever remembered, forever remembered, Only remembered by what I have done.
So, in the harvest, if others may gather Sheaves from the fields that in spring I have sown ; Who plowed or sowed matters not to the reaper; I'm Only remembered by what I have done.
Fading away like the stars of the morning, So let my name be unhonored, unknown; Here, or up yonder, I must be remembered- Only remembered by what I have done.
11
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
TENTH SENTIMENT:
OUR COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS-The success of this celebration is largely due to their unstinted efforts and the labors of the committees who have aided them in this enterprise. They merit, as they will surely receive, the silent thanks of all the sons and daughters of Sullivan who have lived to see this day.
Frederick Almon Wilson, Esq., had been asked by his associates on the committee to represent them in a reply to this sentiment. Owing to the lateness of the hour, a large portion of the company already having retired, Mr. Wilson felt that it was best not to say the words which he had in- tended to offer at that time. As he had a memorandum of them, we gladly give his address as it would have been delivered.
ADDRESS OF F. A. WILSON, ESQ.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN - Years ago, John Van Buren attended a Sunday-school convention and he was invited to make a speech. Being a good deal of a wag, he thought he would take a religious subject for his theme, so he took for his text, Jacob and Esau. He had not proceeded very far in his address before he got things very much mixed. At that moment, a friend of his on the plat- form, touching his arm, said, "John, John, for heaven's sake stop, for you are getting the hair on the wrong person." Ladies and Gentlemen : They have put the speech on the wrong person at this time, but it will be a pleasure to per- form a duty which I have been asked to fulfil at this hour. In behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, I desire to acknowledge with gratitude all the services which have been rendered here to-day. We wish to thank all who have taken any part in the exercises of this Centennial Day. We are grateful to the President of the Day for the able and impar- tial manner in which he has presided and for the perfect order and decorum which he has preserved.
We return our sincere thanks to the Orator for his mas- terly production, reciting the historical and interesting inci- dents in the history of this town from its incorporation. This
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
is not the first time that he has favored our people with an address. He still likes to call us his fellow-townsmen.
The authoress of the poem for the day receives our heartfelt thanks. She was formerly one of our valued school- teachers-a lady of a fine mind and decision of character. We desire to give an expression of our gratitude to all who have responded to the sentiments which have been read. The excellent lady who prepared a poem in memory of our foremothers and our honored former townsman who pre- pared a poem dedicated to the memory of the soldiers de- serve our affectionate remembrance for favoring us with such acceptable contributions in their advanced years.
We appreciate the efforts which our past clergymen and other professional men have made to be present, and we thank them and the minister of this town for their part in these exercises. The East Sullivan Brass Band, the Good- now Orchestra and the Hubbard Quartette have proved that Sullivan has musical talent of which she may be proud. The pleasure which the musicians and singers have given has elicited both praise and thanks. We thank all the members of the various committees for their faithful and united work, and for the loving harmony that has characterized every part of their labors. We extend our thanks, in particular, to the school children who displayed their good taste in decorating the Town Hall. We are grateful to our own people of this town for their generosity in contributing from their means, in money, food, labor, and in various ways, for this object. To the former residents of this town we express our hearts' deepest gratitude for their liberal contributions towards de- fraying the expenses of this Centennial Celebration.
Finally, let us not forget our indebtedness to the Over- ruling Power for giving to us a fair and pleasant day for this festival which we shall all ever remember.
As the light began to fade, the Rev. J. L. Seward moved that "this assembly adjourn one hundred years." The
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
motion prevailed, and the Rev. T. S. Norton then pronounced the following
BENEDICTON.
Father in Heaven, bless to all our hearts the exercises of this day. May the sons and daughters of Sullivan be true to all the virtues in the lives of their forefathers ; may they reverence Thee and Thy word, and unto Thee, the Father, Son, and Spirit, be all power and glory forever. Amen.
Thus closed the exercises of one of the most joyous festivals ever held in Sullivan. The large number of aged residents of the town who were able to be present was noted by many. In addition to those already named on a former page as being present, were others, who, not understanding the invitation of the chairman, or preferring to remain with friends, were not observed upon the platform. Included among the number were the widow of Oliver Wilder, aged seventy-eight, and the widow of Asa Leland, aged seventy- three, and perhaps other Sullivan persons, not recognized by the editor, who were advanced in the seventies.
Prof. Joel Williston Wright, of the University Medical College in New York City, was invited to attend the centen- nial festivities, but did not receive the invitation in time to respond before the celebration. His letter, with which we conclude our account of the day, will explain.
GOSHEN, ORANGE Co., N. Y., October 1, 1887.
Mr. F. A. Wilson :
DEAR SIR-In consequence of my habit of spending several weeks in the woods every fall, your favor of September 13th only reached me yesterday. With assurance of my appreciation of the courtesy implied in your note, and with best wishes for the success of the centennial celebration, I am,
Very truly yours,
J. W. WRIGHT.
To KEENE
.
EUGENE MARSTON
W/M. CHAPIN
GEO. MASON
To KEENE
JOE GORMAN
C.H. WYMAN
FOUR CORNERS
PARSONAGE
SCHOOL Na 2
JEWETT
CEMETERY
SOLDIERS MONUMENT
t
1ST CONG. CHURCH
GROVE
000
SILVER SPRING
JEWETT HOMESTEAD
ALSO THE POST OFFICE
TOWN HALL
OF HISTORIC INTEREST MASONIAN MONUMENT FORMER N.E. COR OF KEENE
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF
SULLIVAN
SITE OF FIRST MEETING HOUSE OF HISTORIC INTEREST3
TO EAST SULLIVAN
JOSEPH A REED
To STODDARD
CENTER.
EL JEWETT
To GILSUM
CHAPTER II. NATURAL HISTORY.
I. SITUATION AND EXTENT.
THE town of Sullivan is a little north-east of the geograph- ical centre of Cheshire County. It is one of the twenty-three municipalities (twenty-two towns and one city) which compose that county, in the southwestern part of New Hampshire. This town was incorporated, Sept. 27, 1787, and named for Gen. John Sullivan of Revolutionary fame, then the chief executive of the state, who was called the President of New Hampshire. Fur- ther particulars with respect to him and to the first settlement and incorporation of the town will be found in the following chapter.
Sullivan is bounded upon the north by Gilsum (about 3 miles) and Stoddard (425 rods, more or less) ; on the east by Stoddard (about 2 miles), Nelson (a little more than 2 and a half miles), and Roxbury (about 200 rods) ; on the south by Nelson (45 and a half rods, or about that), Roxbury (not quite 2 miles), and Keene (about 480 rods) ; and on the west by Keene (435 rods), and Gilsum (about 3 and a third miles.) The distances by which Sullivan is bounded by these several towns have been given differently by different surveyors, no one of whom accords with the boundary distances as specified in the charter and the amendment to it, as recorded in the following chapter. It will be observed that there are six angles in the bounding perimeter of Sullivan, besides one reentrant angle, making a seven-sided figure, or irregular heptagon, of the town- ship. The angles at the extremities of the eastern boundary line are right angles, so also, before 1874, was the north-western angle. The angle on the northern bound, at the corners of Gilsum and Stoddard, is an obtuse angle of 170 degrees, making a nearly straight line. The south-west corner of the town is also
2
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
an obtuse angle of about 121 degrees. The angle formed by the Keene and Roxbury lines, near the Concord Road, is an acute angle of about 46 degrees. The reentrant angle, made by the intrusion of Roxbury, is an obtuse angle of 93 degrees. It is an interesting fact that each of the five towns bounding Sullivan adjoins it upon two sides. The village of Sullivan is about six miles north-east of the post-office at Keene, the county seat of Cheshire County. The village of East Sullivan is between six. and seven miles from the same place and from 42 to 45 miles south-west of Concord, the capital of the state, on the so-called Concord Road, which leads from Keene, through East Sullivan, Munsonville, South Stoddard, North Antrim, Hillsborough Bridge, Henniker, and Hopkinton to Concord.
With respect to latitude and longitude, the meridian of 72° IO/ west from Greenwich is very near the north-east corner of Sullivan, while the meridian of 72° 15/ passes through the westerly side of the town. The meridian of 4º 50/ east from Washington crosses the town, which is also traversed by the forty-third parallel of north latitude. This parallel is just north of Mr. Burpee's house, south of the Levi F. Mason house, and a few rods north of the houses of Q. B. Nash, the Hubbards, and Allan M. Nims. In the latitude of Sullivan, a degree of longi- tude bears the proportion to a degree of latitude of about 14 to 19. There are in Sullivan about five minutes of longitude and about four minutes of latitude, although the length of the town, from north to south, is greater than the width, from east to west.
The perimeter of the town is nearly a trapezium, closely approaching a trapezoid, with a trapezoidal piece cut from the south-east corner. The greatest width is a little more than four and a third miles. The greatest length is not quite five miles. The town probably contains about twenty square miles of terri- tory. It was formerly estimated to contain about 12,212 acres, which is likely to be more accurate than a later estimate which places the number of acres at 15,666. These observations about the shape and size of the town have disregarded the little corner, north and west of the Ashuelot River, annexed to Gilsum in 1874. This corner contains about six acres. The Ashuelot now bounds the town, upon the north-west corner, for the dis-
79
DISTRICTS AND VILLAGES.
tance of 87 rods, the river itself being in Sullivan throughout that distance.
II. DISTRICTS AND VILLAGES.
The town of Sullivan is divided into six districts for civic purposes. For school purposes, the second and sixth districts were united many years ago, making five school districts. By a more recent law of the state the whole town is now a single, union district for school purposes, although the old lines are still retained for the details of the work. A detailed description of the boundaries of these districts will be given in the six chapters devoted to FAMILY HISTORIES. For our present purpose, the following general account will suffice :
District No. I is wholly composed of territory taken from Packersfield (now Nelson) at the formation of Sullivan. It has often been called Packer's Quarter, and sometimes Mason Quarter. It contains East Sullivan village. It was originally bounded north by the south lines of the Wilson, Holt, and Ellis farms, and Otter River ; on the east by Nelson ; on the south by Nelson and Roxbury ; and on the west by the Patent Line, elsewhere described in this book. Subsequently, a few acres at the south-west corner were added to District No. 4. The farm of Mason A. Nims has, more recently, been annexed to No. 2.
District No. 2 is in the centre of the township and consists of territory taken from Packersfield, Stoddard, Gilsum, and Keene, at the formation of Sullivan. It is bounded north by the north line of the farm of J. N. Nims; east by Spaulding Brook ; south by District No. I and the north line of the farm of Allan M. Nims; west by the highway leading past the resi- dences of J. B. Seward, Miss Helen A. Peabody, and J. N. Nims. It is called the Centre District, or " middle of the town," and contains the village of Sullivan. For school purposes, No. 6 is attached to it.
District No. 3 is the north-east part of the town and composed of territory taken from Stoddard and Packersfield. It is some- times called the East Part. It is bounded north by Stoddard, east by Stoddard and Nelson, south by District No. I, and west by Spaulding Brook and Great Brook.
District No. 4, usually called the South Part, is the south- west corner of the town and consists of land taken from Keene,
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
with the addition of a few acres from the south-west corner of the Packersfield section. It is bounded north by the Roswell Osgood farm and the north line of the farm of Allan M. Nims, east by District No. I and Roxbury, south and west by Keene.
District No. 5, known as the North Part, is the north-west corner of the town. Its territory once belonged to Gilsum. It is bounded north and west by Gilsum, cast by District No. 3, and south by District No. 2 and the north line of the lot upon which Mr. Marston's farm is situated, continued to the Gilsum line.
District No. 6, known as the West Part, is bounded north by District No. 5, east by Districts 2 and 4, south by District No. 4, and west by Gilsum. For school purposes it is attached to No. 2. The districts were sometimes called wards.
Schools were established in all of these districts, at their formations respectively, in the early history of the town, and, excepting in No. 6, these schools have all been continuously sustained to the present time. An account of these schools, as well as of the church organizations, public buildings, civic socie- ties, industries, roads, cemeteries, and other objects of interest in the town, will be found in subsequent chapters of this work.
There are two villages in the town. Sullivan, sometimes called Sullivan Centre, or the Four Corners, or simply the Corner, or "the middle of the town," was once a place of much more importance than it is today. There have been four church buildings there, the first church of the first religious organiza- tion, upon the hill to the north-east of Mr. Jewett's house ; the second edifice of the same religious society, which was in the north part of the old common and just back of the site of the town hall; the present church building of the same society; and the building, removed long ago, which was used by the Baptists as a place of worship. The town hall was largely built of materials from the second meetinghouse and stands in front of the site of it. In times past, there have been here two shoe- making shops; two stores, the first of which occupied three situations and the second two ; three schoolhouses, the first used later for an armory ; and a blacksmith shop, which stood in two different places. These stores and industries have all disap- peared. If we take as the limits of the village the houses of
.
81
PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL FEATURES.
J. B. Seward, C. F. Jewett, and the sites of the old Joseph Ellis and Hosea Foster houses, there have been within these limits twelve dwellings, not reckoning those which were only removed to be replaced by others. Eight still remain. The old Joseph Ellis, Simeon Ellis, and Hosea Foster houses, and the one in which Mrs. T. ( Boynton) Kingsbury lived are the four which have been removed. The J. B. Seward and Chapin houses and the parsonage replace former dwellings. Sullivan post office, at the house of Mr. Marston, is near this village.
East Sullivan, the other village, in the south-east part of the town, owes its importance to mills and a former tannery. The first mill, which in years past was owned and operated by Na- thaniel Mason and others, especially by Caleb Goodnow, is now operated by Thomas A. Hastings. It was once a saw and grist mill and bolting mill, now a saw mill only. Leslie H. Goodnow has built a mill here, which is used for the manufacture of chair stock and crib and cradle stock. Lyman Davis has a black- smith shop in this place, formerly operated by Lewis H. Smith. There was formerly a tannery here which did a good business. There have been two stores here, but none now. These, and all other industries connected with the town, are fully described in another part of this work. There is a building at East Sullivan, owned by a company, which is used as a hall and for the services of the Union Evangelical Congregational society. The build- ing is known as Union Hall. Nearly opposite this hall is the district schoolhouse. The East Sullivan post office is at the residence of L. H. Goodnow, at present. If we extend the village limits far enough to include the houses of Henry Davis, A. N. Holt, D. W. Rugg, Q. B. Nash, and the house built by D. W. Rugg which was burned, we find that 20 dwellings have been erected within these limits, not reckoning any which were replaced by others. All are still standing except the house of Mr. Rugg which was destroyed by fire. Seven of these dwell- ings have been comfortably fitted for two families.
III. PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL FEATURES.
There are two ponds in Sullivan. One of these, in the north-east part of the town, was originally called the Snow-shoe Pond, with fitting propriety, as may be seen by a view of it from the hill north of Mr. Fifield's, or from the hill west of the late
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
F. A. Wilson's. It is now called Bolster Pond, from the family which settled the farm south of it. It is surrounded by the lands formerly owned by Harrison Rugg, A. F. Nims, the Esteys, Martin Rugg, and F. A. Wilson. It is fairly well stocked with perches, pickerel, and pouts. A large part of its surface is covered with lily pads, and no pond ever produced more fragrant white lilies. A huge rock rises from the surface of the pond, near the centre of it. The promontory which makes the snow-shoe shape becomes an island during high water and, at the present time, nearly or quite all of the year. It is in the north-east part of the pond. Many years ago, Capt. Samuel Seward built a dam at the mouth of the pond to flow his meadow when he wished.
The other pond is called Chapman Pond. It is in the sixth and seventh lots of the ninth range of the old Gilsum lay-out, and is surrounded by land which formerly belonged to the old C. W. Rawson, Seth Nims, and F. B. Nims farms. It derives its name from John Chapman, the first settler of the farm which originally included nearly all of this pond. Some kinds of small fish are found in the pond, which was once stocked with trout. Certain rascals undertook to exterminate the trout by putting pickerel into the pond, but the attempt was not altogether suc- cessful. A few rods from one of the shores, a large rock rises considerably above the dark, glassy surface of the pond. The Bolster Pond and the Chapman Pond are both small bodies of water ; the former being perhaps 100 rods long by 100 rods in width, in certain places, while the latter is only about 60 rods in width by 80 in length.
The Great Meadow Reservoir has been created by con- structing a dam across Otter River, at the mouth of what was once called Great Meadow, which was owned by several individ- uals in former times, and surrounded mostly by the old Ellis and Buxton farms. This meadow was so situated as to include the point which forms the north-west corner of Nelson, the south- west corner of Stoddard, and the eastern side of Sullivan. The Otter River, usually called the Branch (that is of the Ashuelot), wound tortuously through it, somewhat like the letter S, at one place very nearly recurving upon itself. The whole meadow is
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PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL FEATURES.
now, as a rule, overflowed to the depth of several feet. The water is sometimes nearly drawn off in the summer. Pickerel and other small fish, once found in the Branch, are still caught in the reservoir.
The brooks and rivers of Sullivan, as a rule, flow in a south- erly direction. The largest is the Ashuelot River, which forms the north-western boundary of the town for a short distance, at the present time. It is the largest river in Cheshire County, excepting the Connecticut. It has its source in a pond in the town of Washington and flows in a southerly and south-westerly direction, through Marlow and Gilsum, skirting the north-western corner of Sullivan, and through Surry, Keene, Swanzey, Win- chester, and Hinsdale, in which latter town it empties into the Connecticut River. The Hemenway Brook, which is one of two streams in town of any consequence flowing in a northerly direction, is also the only one which flows directly into the Ashuelot. It drains some of the slopes of the Bearden and Boynton Mountains. It flows through the farms of H. C. Raw- son and L. R. Wheeler, and past the old Hemenway place in Gilsum, forming beautiful cascades as it leaps down the ledges towards the river.
The waters of the other brooks of Sullivan find their way to the Ashuelot through the Otter River. The Ferry Brook drains the westerly side of the town. It rises in the Bearden Moun- tain, flows southerly, is crossed by three roads in Sullivan and by the last of these three, as well as two more, in Keene, and empties into the Otter River west of the house where P. Eveleth once lived. It drains the western slopes of Hubbard Hill and Nims Hill.
The Hubbard Brook rises west of Mr. Marston's house, flows in a southerly direction, east of the old cemetery, near which it is crossed by the highway leading past the same, then flows in a south-easterly course, to the south of J. B. Seward's, where it is crossed by the old road to Keene and continues in the same direction, to the east of the house of Allan M. Nims, below which it is crossed by the road leading to the Hubbard Brothers, from which point it flows more south-easterly, between the Houghton Ledge and Frost Hill, crosses the town line and
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
empties into the Otter River in Roxbury, where the brook is crossed by the Concord Road, near the little house owned by E. Kingsbury.
Otter River is the most considerable stream which can be regarded as flowing through the town, for the Ashuelot barely touches it. This river is the outlet of the Centre Pond of Stod- dard, augmented by the Taylor Brook, which is the outlet of Taylor Pond, and by several other streams in Sullivan. It enters the town in the Great Meadow (now covered by the waters of a reservoir, as we have just seen). Just here it receives its first Sullivan tributary. This is a watercourse hav- ing its rise in the northern part of the old Hastings farm, near the northern line of the town. It begins as a small brook, known as the Seward Brook, from old farms through which it flows for a large part of its course. Its direction is south, through the former Hastings, D. Seward, B. Keith, and Capt. Seward farms, to the Bolster Pond. The watercourse continues, with the out- let of this pond, known as the Bolster Brook, in a south-easterly direction, to its junction with the river, at the aforementioned reservoir. Leaving the Great Meadow, now overflowed, the Otter River continues in a south-westerly direction to a point near the road which passes George Kingsbury's. Here it receives its second important Sullivan tributary. This water- course is a brook formed of two smaller ones. One of the latter, known as the Great Brook, rises in a bog pond in the so-called Perham lot, north of Mr. Fifield's, near the north line of the town. This brook flows in a south-westerly, then southerly direction. It is eventually joined by another brook, called the Chapman Brook, which is the outlet of the pond of that name. This latter brook flows easterly, then south-easterly. The union of these two streams forms what is known as the Spaulding Brook, which flows southerly, being crossed by two highways (and another disused), and empties into the Otter River near Mr. Kingsbury's. The river then flows southerly for a mile or more. A short distance above the mill of T. A. Hastings, it receives its third important Sullivan tributary. This is the Nel- son Brook (which has also been called the Branch, being one fork of the Otter River which is a branch of the Ashuelot). This brook is the outlet of the large pond at Munsonville known
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