USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Hampstead > A memorial of the town of Hampstead, New Hampshire : historic and genealogic sketches. Proceedings of the centennial celebration, July 4th, 1849. Proceedings of the 150th anniversary of the town's incorporation, July 4th, 1899, Volume I > Part 13
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The customs of our ancestors, in their work on the Sabbath day, can but illustrate the never-tiring power of progress, and interest the present generation.
A century and a half ago, or more, before the common use of bells, a drum was beat from some central place, or a horn sent its echoes over the still country, to warn the people from absenting themselves from meeting on the Lord's day, or pay the penalty, which was sometimes a half bushel of corn or the equivalent of it.
The services commencing by nine o'clock in the morning and continuing six or eight hours, and sometimes until after sunset. The hours of reading and explaining the Bible, the long prayer, and the longer sermon, the hymns, lined out by the deacon in couplets, the sinners' confessions, and trials before the congregation, the gossip and dissensions caused by the " seating of the meeting house " at town meeting which was decreed to be according to the age, importance, and social standing of the people. The escorting of the minister by the sexton to the meeting house, his huge periwig, with massive powdered rolls, hanging down over his shoulders, his clothing of the finest broadcloth, with elaborately ruffled shirt bosom and bands, his black silk stockings, and bright silver shoe buckles, almost concealed by a long black flowing robe, warn- ing the people that they must be plainly attired, or be called before a magistrate and fined.
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The long distance through the dense forests, guided only by marked trees, along the bridle paths, that the fathers, mothers, and all the children (excepting infants ) must travel, generally walking, except a few families, who mounted the faithful family horse, as wagons and other vehicles were un- known.
A general order was passed, " that a good stack of powder and ammunition, should be kept under the pulpit." We have read of boys saying it was kept there, because it was the dry- est place in town, but those faithful worshippers had lived through scenes in the Indian wars, even fought like demons to defend their homes, and their storehouse was valued by them.
Such are some of the inconveniences, illustrating the ur- gent need of a parish by themselves. Every family, who formed the nucleus of the new parish, came from Essex Coun- ty, Mass., and nine-tenths of their parents from Newbury.
By order of the General Court, in 1641, a catechism for the use of the children, was prepared by " that eminent di- vine " Rev. James Noyes, who was accorded to be one of the greatest worthies of the age, the teacher of the emigrant church at Newbury. He and his colleague, taught them the one hundred questions and answers of his catechism. He taught them to revere and love their Bibles, so that to them, the lessons from their Bibles were as a message from the throne of God.
In after years, it was their oracle, the sole authority for their faith, and the supreme rule for their practice. Their family life was regulated by its precepts, and their civil gov- ernment was founded upon its law.
With these principles deeply implanted in their breasts, next to the building of their simple homes, their interest centered in their place of worship. They had outgrown the small log house as their numbers increased, and as the surety of being formed into an independent parish dawned upon them they laid plans to establish a permanent place for wor- ship and public uses.
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The preparation of substantial timber was being carried on from 1745 to 1747, and between then and January, 1749, they had laid the foundation for their new meeting-house, and although the floors were only partially in place, the building not clapboarded or the windows glassed, the doors not made or hung, nor was it plastered for several years, it was occupied for meetings, and they were content to work as their God prospered them. Their house was literally founded on a rock, on an eminence overlooking the surrounding country. There it has stood, the most historic place in our midst, for a century and a half, proclaiming the solid character and ster- ling worth of our ancestors.
The deed of the land upon which the house stands was given by Capt. George Little, on consideration of his " always having a place for a pew in the meeting-house at the right hand of the fore door in the house."
For about ninety years it was the meeting-house and town house combined, until the Congregational Church removed to a new place of their own in 1837, as other religious de- nominations claimed the meeting-house part of the time. Since then it has been generally known as Hampstead town house. The old pews and pulpit were removed in 1852, and the lower part fitted for a more convenient town hall, for which the town appropriated $600 of the proceeds from the sale of the parsonage farm, which is now the farm of Mr. Charles Rundlett.
The porch and steeple, which rises to the height of one hundred feet or more, were built by Col. Thomas Reed and Abner Rogers, in 1792, who subscribed for two pews in the meeting-house, in part payment for their work. The wooden weather vane was made by Stephen Colby of Haverhill, Mass., while he was serving apprenticeship with Daniel Nich- ols, the pioneer of the Nichols family in the town. The vane was replaced by the one now seen in 1882. The bell, that rings from the town hall tower, was a gift from Thomas Huse of West Newbury, in 1809, and bore the inscription,
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" The living to the church I call, And to the grave I summons all."
But upon the scenes that have found voice in that historic house, upon the work of our fathers, and the results attained there, from January 19, 1749, when they gathered and lis- tened to the words of the welcome Charter.
The sun rose on a brighter day to those hardy settlers, who that day became inhabitants of the new town of Hampstead, who had anxiously waited three years for the Governor and his Majesty's Council to answer their petition to be incorpo- rated into a township.
How proudly they set themselves into working order for the upbuilding of the town! The first warrants for town purposes were emblems of the faithful labors of the freehold- ers of Hampstead. The germs of morality, of good citizen- ship, and of freedom, shone from every act, as they enacted their simple laws.
We read that Rev. Mr. Parker, who lived a short time at the late Abner Chandler homestead, with a Mr. Phillips from Exeter, and other neighboring ministers, supplied as their teachers of the Gospel, until Rev. Henry True was ordained, June 24, 1752.
As the 150th anniversary of the organization of the Con- gregational Church occurs in 1902, and as we anticipate the observance of that event by an appropriate memorial, we will pass over the many interesting phases of the church, which all these years has wielded such a power of good in our town.
Cotton Mather said that " the Puritans came to this coun- try on account of the low state of learning in the old coun- try," and while, after they came to America, they did what they could, under the conditions of the times, to elevate edu- cation, the advantages of a majority of our ancestors were necessarily limited. It was imperative that they learn to read their Bibles, but they realized the need of better educa- tional facilities for their children than they could enjoy.
The first law passed in New Hampshire, after its separation
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from Massachusetts, was one relating to the establishment of schools in every township which had fifty householders. In every township that had one hundred householders there should be established a grammar school, in which Latin and Greek should be taught. Therefore our town carried that law into effect as soon as the organization for town purposes was well perfected, under the new charter, by " voting to hire a schoolmaster six months in ye year, in ye summer season."
The history of Education, by the late Caleb Moulton, in 1876, and the "Decadel Year Book " of our High school, in 1884, and High school catalogues, faithfully record the progress and results of our system of schools, established by the founders of the town.
There was a marked increase the first few years in the population, industries, and cultivation of the soil. Joshua Corliss, who founded his home on the west of the road, nearly opposite the home of George Bragg; Thomas Arnold, where Wm. Keazer resides ; Ebenezer Hoyt, on " Hoyt's Cor- ner," so called, later the home of Samuel Dexter, son of Lord Timothy Dexter; Gen. Jacob Bailey, near the home of Mr. Frank Rowe ; Benjamin Pillsbury, east of the Angly pond ; John, Nathaniel, Joshua and Abel Merrill, owned tracts of land on the farm of the late Washington Noyes ; Capt. Hez- ekiah Hutchens, where Edward F. Noyes now resides ; Asa Currier and Dr. John Bond, near the home of the late Ezekiel Currier; Rev. Henry True, where the late Francis Merrick house was burned, and later at Mr. Frank Sawyer's home- stead ; Thomas Wadleigh, at " Wadleigh Corner," so called ; Joseph Noyes, at the old Noyes place burned in September, 1797 ; Joseph Merrick, a short distance south from the resi- dence of Henry Noyes ; Wm. George, at " old George place ;" John Muzzey, Edmund Moors, Jeremiah Allen, Benjamin Hale, Daniel Nichols, at the "old Nichols' place," near " Kent's farm ;" and probably others came, before 1760, and lent their aid and support to the growth and prosperity of the town.
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Their homes, their church and their schools founded, the prospect before our fathers must have been one of content- ment and prosperity, but a mightier obligation had been in- stilled in their breasts, they had been taught by their ances- tors to be alive to the protection of those sacred institutions.
The period from the first settlement of our town until the close of the war of 1812 was one of war and preparations for war, with intervals of a few years of outward peace.
The gathering clouds and lightning flashes of discontent among the French, Indians, or British, who sought to usurp the liberty of the colonies, aroused the inhabitants to im- mediate action.
Many of the fathers who had been active in the settlement of the town fought in defence of the Colonies. In every battle, at Crown Point, Louisburg, and on the Plains of Abra- ham, Hampstead was represented by some of her thirty-three or more soldiers, who served during the years from 1745 to 1762. Capt. Samuel Watts, Col. Jacob Bailey, who after- wards became the famous Revolutionary General, Capt. John Hazen, and Ensign Otho Stevens, who was killed at the battle of Oswego, especially distinguished themselves in the French and Indian wars.
In 1774, when the Provincial Congress adopted a plan for organizing the militia, maintaining it, and calling it out when circumstances should render it necessary, it provided that " one-quarter of the number should be in readiness to muster at the shortest notice."
It is a pleasant remembrance to know that in Hampstead every man except one, eligible as a soldier, signed the as- sociation test, which was a pledge, which read: " We hereby solemnly engage and promise that we will to the utmost of our power, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, with arms, oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and armies against the United Colonies."
When the signal " to arms " came they sent their propor- tion willingly. In 1777 there were one hundred and forty-one
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men between the ages of sixteen and fifty eligible for the calls.
During the years from 1775 to 1781 one hundred and forty- two men proved their faithfulness to American principles, serving from eleven days to three years in the army, several enlisting over and over as calls came.
Hampstead ranked among the first towns in the state, by the promptness with which Capt. Hezekiah Hutchens gath- ered sixty-one men at the " old Hutchens' home," thirty-five of them from this town, in a few hour's notice, to march to Bunker Hill in June, 1775, when New Hampshire men consti- tuted nearly two-thirds of all the men and officers in that battle. Hutchens' company were among the first heroes in the Rev- olutionary war. Fearless and brave they faced the disciplined troops of Great Britain. They were plain, honest men, handled plain firelocks, carried their powder in ox horns, and their bul- lets in their pockets. They were ununiformed, many of them coatless and otherwise destitute, but with hearts loyal to the American cause, they opposed the armed hosts of Britain.
When the British again invaded our shores in 1812, as a sequel to the Revolutionary troubles, thirty-eight or more men from Hampstead went to the defense of American liber- ty. No lack of patriotism is recorded, no act of cowardice or desertion reported. Each man was ready to carry out his promise, from 1774 to the surrender of Cornwallis, Oct. 19, 1781, or long after the peace treaty was signed and America had started out to sustain an independent form of govern- ment.
Then followed a period of depression and distress in every township. Hampstead men came back to their homes to find nearly all of their life work swept from them; poverty stared them in the face. Their church, schools and industries were nearly, if not quite, suspended.
They had won their cause, and with undaunted courage and a firm tread they set themselves at work to fulfil their part in the Government towards a haven of prosperity. It was in
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those years that Hampstead welcomed such men as the Ord- ways with their thrift and enterprise, in establishing a thriv- ing business in the manufacture of poplar and palm leaf hats, etc. The Gordons, with their extensive tannery ; the Welchs who established the mills for making cloths, grist mill and bark mills at Island pond. The Kellys, Smiths, Bucks, Shannons, Garlands, Bricketts, Putnams, Ayers, Sanborns, Stickneys, Marbles, Sawyers, Bartletts, and others who lent a powerful, and often a guiding hand to bring, as the years rolled on, an era of prosperity, until the century mark was reached.
The memories of July 4th, 1849, are fresh in the thoughts of many who are with us today. The celebration of the 100th anniversary was the day of days in the life's history of those who gathered in this grove to renew pleasant associations, and to review the faithful work of those at rest in the silent graves.
The treaty of peace with Mexico had been welcomed less than two years before ; the two heroes, William Stickney and Benj. Arnold, had returned, and the people doubtless believed the days of war were over in our fair America and made it a celebration of gladness.
A peace, as of a benediction, must have settled over the hearts of all present as they listened to these words, spoken by Hampstead's honored son, "where swept the tide of war, now all is calm, and fresh, and still. The roll of musketry, and the clash of arms are hushed, and the pillow of repose is pressed in quiet."
In twelve years how changed the scene! History repeats itself. From the race of the grandfathers of 1776 came the patriotism of 1861, which would not allow our constitution to be violated and the union of states to be ruptured.
When two millions of men took the field to enforce that unity and preserve the nation as a whole, Hampstead's one hundred and ten men, the fathers, brothers and friends, with the blood of a noble ancestry in their veins, won for themselves a record which their descendants will cherish for centuries to come. Liv- ing voices of those veterans can today tell to the sons and daugh-
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ters of Eastman, Corson, Grover, Little, Martin, Shannon, Morse, Frost, Davis, McDuffee, Brickett, Arnold, Hoyt, Ta- bor, Johnson, Stevens, Currier, and others of their brave com- rades, the story of their long and weary marches, of the priva- tions they endured, and of their companions " who came not home again," and they will hold the remembrance forever " In memoriam."
Each year has wrought its change in the homes of our people. One by one the fathers and mothers have been borne to their rest, and as we read from the tombstones the names and dates placed thereon in sacred memory, and say " He or she was a parent or ancestor of mine," and as we recall the noble deeds and the faithful work they performed, the self sacrifices they made that the sons and daughters, who fill their places in life's great battle, might enjoy better advantages and reap the har- vest of their labors, an inspiration steals over us to so live :
That when our beauteous spirit shall flee, From its realm of loving and giving, Our stainless monument shall be The lives that were blest by our living.
Modern inventions have been utilized, machinery of all kinds have come into use to simplify labor ; the various uses for electricity have been discovered ; the telegraph, telephone, cable, and numberless other improvements have rapidly suc- ceeded one another in the thirty-three years since the civil war.
The churches have gained in numbers and influence by the building of the Methodist church at West Hampstead, which was dedicated June 25, 1884, and the church at the East Vil- lage, Apr. 28, 1897.
The schools have been more liberally endowed, and new school rooms taken the places of the old buildings of the past generations in each district of the town. The residences of our people have been improved and beautified by generally a contented and happy family.
The building of our public library (which was dedicated May 18, 1897), through the helpful endowments of our re-
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spected townsman, Nelson Ordway, has given an impetus and thirst for progressive thought and ideas to all classes of our people who can but reverence the founder, and each succeed- ing generation bless him for his benefactions.
One year ago the outburst of patriotism again swept over our land; the deadly war with Spain, "the war for humanity's sake," while the triumphs of victory were quickly won, the shadow still settles over the nation.
Industry was a prominent trait of the ancestors in all New England towns, and next to their piety, their national pride, and high sense of honor, were their most striking character- istics ; and while the whole American nation, stands by those traits, we know it is equally true of the Hampstead son or daughter, who has ever gone from our town to higher fields of usefulness, whether as employer or employed, in the city, or country, in the pulpit, in the school room, in the halls of Legislation, in the professions, on the prairies, or in the log- ging camps, on the farms, in the factories, or employed at mechanical trades, or fighting his country's battles in the wilderness, our inherited characteristics are tracable in his in- domitable courage, in his persistency, in his love of justice and equal rights, and his inflexible determination to come out ahead, at any and all honorable cost.
As we stand on the threshold of a new century, a hope shines over all. We look forward to a clear bright line, trust- ing that it may be a century of peace, that it shall not ask of us any of those ministrations which war demands. A hope that fifty years hence, when the children and grandchildren of the schoolboys of today, may gather in this grove to do honor to a longer line of ancestry, that the Hampstead of today may have given place to a Hampstead, that in population, culture, arts, and refinement, which embellish and adorn civi- lized life, will be vastly in advance of our position now.
A hope that they may search deeper into the history, legends and personal acts of the town builders, preserving with zeal and enthusiasm the ancient landmarks, whether they be that
SPEAKERS STAND, BRICKETT'S GROVE, JULY 4, 1899.
6681
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giant of strength, the " Royal Oak," or noble elms that have stood as a guard over our beautiful town all the years since its early settlement, the old meeting-house, the early homes, or the relics, rescued from the public or private life of the fathers.
Holding all as sacred as the old tombstones, and burnishi every link that binds them to the ancestral chain until it shines, and feel that our ancestors, the pioneers of Hampstead, chose for their inheritance the most goodly land and the most wise precepts.
To duty firm To conscience true, Honor tried and pressed, In God's dear sight High work, we do.
At the conclusion of the address Miss Manora Jenness of Charlton, Mass., sang " Memories of the Past " (Mankeville). The first lines ;
" In the old village school house that stood on the green, Barefooted I played when a boy, And the old familiar faces as I recall the names, Now fill my heart with ecstacy and joy."
Miss Jenness' singing was especially pleasing and in response to the wish, she sang,
" When the dew begins to fall " etc. (Turner.)
An original anniversary poem was recited by Rev. William Tenny Bartley of Salem, N. H.
ANNIVERSARY POEM.
Slowly the years elapse, and slowly the centuries marching Pass with their steps majestic o'er nations, and cities, and peo- ples. 2 Slowly from Time's great bell peal the notes that register cycles And, after fifty years silence, anew the hour is sounded.
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Homeward again from afar, the elans are returning with gladness, Back to their Hampstead-ham-stede-their homestead they joy- fully journey.
Thou who with light all-illuming surroundest thy dwelling celes- tial,
Visit in merey thy children, and bless us assembled before Thee. Strengthen each tenderest tie that binds us in love to this village ; Hallow this day as a season of union fraternal and friendship. Not yet have two centuries finished their flight
Since Hampstead first greeted the colonists' sight. Till then in the forests that girted it about
The cry of the beast and the Indian's shout
And the song of the birds filled the arch of the wood,
Where the oak and the pine in companionship stood. But the strenuous Saxon is never at rest ;
Over seas and through forests he gallantly pressed ; Green woods he beheld, and the Lake of the Isle, And the waves which at sunset in rosy rays smile. The tall waving trees and the ripples, sun-kissed, Were a sight his heart had no strengtli to resist. So the axes flashed bright and the clearings were made And to solid foundations of homesteads were laid ; And where the tall pines in their verdure had grown The plow ran its furrows and gardens were sown. Not great were the treasures in gold that were brought From the home over seas by the fathers who sought To build a new Hampstead ; but better than gold Was the fear of the Lord, which was riches untold. Their statutes were His, and they worshipped His name With hearts full of faith that no sorrow could tame, And early a temple their piety reared For the praise of the God whom they loved and revered. Not blind were their eyes to the value of school ; The pedagogue early established his rule, And reading and writing to dullards he brought, And (aided by flogging) orthography taught.
And since to our fantasy given the rein, We assert to be true what we only are fain
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To believe, let us further with fancy take flight, And ask what occurred on the highways at night.
No glare of the arc, neither rumble of cars, No sound but the frog, and no light but the stars- For what were the evenings in Hampstead more meet Than a slow promenade on the elm-shaded street ?
'Twas solus cum sola, for then as today, They spoke their devotion in Jacob's old way, When he labored for years for the hand of a maid, And just as Priscilla by Alden was prayed, When his plea for a friend she had scornfully spurned, And he blissfully saw that his love was returned. Since Antony basely deserted the fray, Because his sweet siren was sailing away ; Since the judge in his judgment was shaken and stirred By graceful Maud Muller, 'tis safely inferred That Cupid was here with his bow and his darts, And pierced with his arrows the flintiest of hearts.
But tale of love or sportive song, Or daily toil, or cares that throng- They are all fleeting and at last The pall of death is o'er them cast. As leaves we fade, we pass away, How few recall that ancient day, When fifty years ago, our sires Renewed about their altar fires The memories of days gone by ; On few of us the sun will shine In nineteen hundred forty-nine.
The solemn course of nature's law Confirms the words the fathers saw, (They are now sleeping neath the sod) In Hampstead's ancient house of God. Depicted on the church bell old Which with its peals it clearly tolled- " The living to the church I call, And to the grave I summons all ; "
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And still at times those notes resound And tell the truth to all around.
All thanks to God, the grave begins, Not ends the day, the dying wins (If true his earthly life) a home Beneath the skies cerulean dome. Should wasting fire sweep this place And every human mark efface ; Should time's relentless tooth invade, In ruin every wall be laid- We fear not lest oblivion fall ; The saints this soil beloved recall, Her glorious dead have gone before, And Hampstead lives forevermore.
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