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 4
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The meeting house was all tattered and torn, without a steeple, without a bell, and almost without a covering, and might have remained so for an age, or till it rotted down, if it had not been for the people of God, who with their own money and hands, by divine aid, put it in a better condition. The roads were full of stones, and in some places of mire, but now for almost six miles, from the north corner of At- kinson to the west corner of Sandown near Chester, they are paved underneath with stone and covered with gravel. The buildings, which were mostly old and shattered, are now re- paired or replaced for new ones, and many new and hand- some houses are reared up where there were none before. The fences, reeling and decaying, are turned into stone wall, of which, perhaps, there be more than any other town in the State. The swamps which were full of useless bushes and hummocks, are now leveled and replenished with luxurious grass.
IV. OCCUPATIONS.
It would be expected in a town so far from the seashore, and where the soil is so hard and rich that the people would be chiefly farmers ; so they are, much to their credit, as good as any in the state. And a farmer, when he is honest and be- nevolent, loving his God supremely and his neighbor as him- self, is as much a gentleman as any that can be found.
There are some other things done, however, besides farm- ing. There are five blacksmith shops, two corn mills, one sawmill, three full stores of goods, besides other smaller ones ; a number of shoemakers, one large tannery, with a bark mill going by water. Several carpenters, wagon makers and wheelwrights ; one hatter's shop with several workman; and
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a great abundance of hats are made by the young women and' boys, of palm flag leaf brought from the south.
V. EDUCATION.
There is a laudable spirit and some exertions, to promote the education of the rising generation, though not exactly of the right kind. Whoever has anything to do with the edu- cation of children, ought to consider full well what kind of beings they are. They must not think them the creatures of a day only, nor of a hundred years, but of eternity ; as moral beings dependent on the power and will of God, and of course bound to love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength-and, if they fall short of this, they must be lost forever, if they do not repent of their offences, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remissions of their sins and the salvations of their souls.
Now a parent that believes these things will not see it to any kind of use to learn how to shuffle the feet or to make a stiff and awkward bow, under the action of being polite, when in reality it is no improvement to the mind or manners, but has a contrary effect upon both and makes them proud and unmannerly, instead of making them humble, modest and polite.
It would be very desirable to see a young scholar from the manners school, so called, able to take off his hat and lay it down in some suitable place, if he is not afraid of losing it, while he is conversing with a gentleman in his own house.
Every wise parent will know, that to make any one polite he must improve his temper and understanding, by cultiva- ting a kind and benevolent disposition towards all men, and by studying the ways of God, exhibiting in his works of creation, and providence and grace, and as revealed in his holy word; and he will say let the child learn nothing but what will be useful to him and others, in time or in eternity ; nothing-nothing else but this. This is the education, and the only education which a person ought to learn and teach
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his children ; and I am happy to find that this kind of edu- cation is more thought of than formerly in this place, as ap- pears by more attention to Sabbath school and Bible class in- structions. Of those who were born or brought up in this town, thirteen have received a liberal education.
AT HARVARD COLLEGE.
James True, son of Rev. Henry True, graduated 1780. He was sometimes a preacher, and became deranged and died 6 Jan., 1795, aged 35 years.
Ezekiel Little graduated 1784; twenty years a school- master in Boston ; made an Arithmetic ; and now lives in At- kinson, aged 72 in 1835.
Jabez Kimball, graduated in 1797; was one year a tutor ; studied law and practiced at Haverhill, and died there 19 March, 1805, aged 33.
Abner Rohers graduated 1800 ; was an attorney at law in Charlestown, Mass., and died 29 February, 1814, aged 37.
Robert Rogers graduated 1802; was merchant in France sometime, but now in Boston.
AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
Henry True, son of Rev. Henry True, graduated 1796; was sometime a minister of the Gospel in Union, Me., where he now resides.
Benjamin Dudley Emerson, son of Col. Benjamin Emerson, graduated 1805 ; was sometime a schoolmaster in Newbury- port and in Boston. He is the author of the National spell- ing book and reader ; his younger brother Frederick is author of the North American Arithmetic.
Abner Emerson, brother of the preceding, graduated 1805; was for a number of years alienated in mind. He died at Charlestown, Mass., in December, 1836, aged 51.
Thomas Williams graduated 1815 ; is a physician at Can- andaigua, New York. M. D. at Dartmouth College.
.
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Henry True Kelly, son of Rev. John Kelly, graduated in 1819 ; is a minister at Madison, Geauga County, Ohio.
Jonathan K. Little graduated 1823; was in the study of medicine and died young.
John Kelly, son of Rev. John Kelly, grad. at Williams col- lage in 1825 ; studied medicine at the Medical college in Fair- field, Herkimer County, New York.
Francis Welch graduated at Union college, Schenectady, N. Y., 1832, and was ordained the minister of Brenthood in December, 1833.
In Hampstead there are seven school districts-four on the great road, two on the east, and one on the north.
There are three elegant brick school houses, and the other four are of wood. Besides these primary schools, there have been some attempts to maintain a select high school. And some young gentlemen and ladies have repaired to the Acad- emies for instructions in morals, and in the arts and sciences, for a small portion of time, not expecting to become profes- sional characters.
VI. MORALS AND RELIGION.
If all the people in Hampstead would cease to speak pro- fanely, would keep the sabbath day holy to the Lord, would dispense entirely with the use of ardent spirits, would not in- volve themselves in debt more than they can pay, would not oblige their neighbors to borrow their own goods of them, but would do to others in all things as they would that others would do to them, then there would be more sound morality than there can now be found. I do not say this because I think the people of this town, in general, are more immoral than those of other towns ; because I am fully persuaded that we have been losers in many of the changes which have taken place within a few years past.
We hope, however, that there is a change coming on for the better. There is an increasing desire that professors of religion may live more up to their professions ; that good books
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should be read ; that public worship should be more regarded ; that the Sabbath school should be promoted ; that drinking ardent spirits should be avoided-these are harbingers of a better moral feeling.
The church which at first contained 68 members now con- tains 81. The number seven years ago was 110; but death has removed a number since that time. Six have been sus- pended, and several have been dismissed to other churches. Three of them were recently recommended to unite with a newly formed church in Illinois ; so that they are now reduced to a low state. Only one member remains in the church when the present minister was ordained, 42 years since, and he is ninety-two years old. Other indications of better days are the following : there is a female Charitable Society, which affords some help to the home mission or Bible Society. This Society some years since, made the minister a life member, of the New Hampshire Bible Society, by the donation of $30 ; and others made him a life member of the Tract Society, by a donation of $20 ; and likewise of the N. H. Branch of the American Ed- ucation Society, by the donation of $30.
There is a Foreign Mission Association of the Western Rockingham Auxiliary Society, and a Tract Society which has contributed liberally the present year. There is a Sab- bath school library which affords much improvement to the minds of the rising generation. There is also a social library of valuable books, which was established in the year 1796. One hundred and fifty-four persons have been committed to the communion of the church by the present minister, and two hundred and sixty in all have been baptized.
VII. MORTALITY.
This is the end of all men,-the end of all their secular en- joyments, possessions, pleasures, hopes, and desires, for the world ; and the living, or more properly the dying, ought to lay it to heart.
The greatest number of persons who were known to die in
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one year was 30, in the year 1756, when a mortal fever pre- vailed. In 1758 only eight died ; in 1786, 1805 and 1807 only five each year died ; in 1761 four died; in 1746, 1751 and 1783 only one died each year.
When I first came here I was surprised to see so many aged people and now there are many more young persons in pro- portion to the aged. Since I came here in 1792, 474 persons have died, which on an average is only about 11 annually. Among these were 69 of the age of eighty or upwards ; 21 have died of ninety years old or more. John Atwood died 1 Jan., 1812, aged ninety-seven years and seven months. He was born in Haverhill, Mass. The widow, Sarah George, died 24 January, 1830, aged ninety-seven years and five months. She was born in Concord, N. H. Her father was Jacob Shute, of French origin, and one of the first settlers of that town. He died in Concord in February, 1794, aged ninety-four, and her brother John died at the same place in February, 1829, aged ninety-six. Deacon Job Kent is the only man now alive above ninety years old, and the only one left of the church when the present minister was ordained. He was ninety-two years old the last day of March, 1835. He has been a man of steady habits, moderate temper, diligent in labor, and inclined to a milk diet, and avoiding intemperance.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
And if I may be allowed to give advice to towns, I would say, let men of such temperaments and integrity be employed in civil and public affairs, instead of the profane, dishonest lovers of rum, and of honors which they do not deserve. And would it not be a prudent and benevolent measure for towns to avoid employing young men, new comers, in public affairs unless they are professional men, nor even then unless they come with good credentials. I make these remarks because I have seen so much loss to the community, and so much in- jury done to young and inexperienced persons in public em- ployment, while they were scarcely fit to manage their own
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private concerns, and especially when they love to sip at the alcoholic tap.
Alas ! the human mind is sufficiently weak and deranged at any time without the fumes of alcoholic poisons. Let such men never have anything to do but to repent of their sins and to live a sober life ; for why should a wild beast lead our children to his den ?
When the vilest men are exalted, the wicked walk on every side ; but when the righteous bear rule the people rejoice.
HAMPSTEAD, May, 1835.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE REV'D JOHN KELLY, THE SECOND MINISTER OF HAMPSTEAD, N. H., FORTY-FOUR YEARS.
My ancestor John Kelly came from Newbury, in England, and became one of the first settlers in Newbury, in New Eng- land, a mile south of Newburyport, about the year 1635.
I was in the sixth generation, and was the son of John and Elizabeth Kelly in West Amesbury, ten miles west of the original settler, on Feb. 22, 1763.
I was the third of eleven children.
My parents were of the good old Puritan Congregational stamp.
When I was five or six years old I had a desire to be a min- ister, but when I was ten or twelve years of age I had a kind of dread of being 21, for fear I should not have wisdom enough to act like a man ; and though I had an early desire to become a learned man, yet I thought it as almost impossi- ble for me to learn to read ; but I was soon thought by others to be a very forward scholar ; and some said he would do for a minister if he had a voice.
At a very early age I had some serious thoughts; but it was my lot to live in the vicinity of some very ignorant and wicked boys, whose parents were not like the Patriarch, who devoted their sons to God eight days after they were born, and commanded them to keep the ways of the Lord. That wicked company was a great damage to me ; and even now at the age of eighty-one it makes me shudder to think there are still such wieked boys to be found in the land who insult good men and blaspheme God! Oh ! How dreadful will be their doom if they do not repent and turn from their evil ways !
(46)
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After a time I went into other company, and being a long- time under deep conviction on account of the deep depravity of my heart and the exceeding wickedness of my life I cried for mercy through Christ, and thought I obtained mercy of the Lord. This was when I was twenty-three years of age. Then I thought my feet were brought out of the horrible pit and miry clay, and set upon a rock, and a new song was put into my mouth, even praise to God and the Lamb.
Then I thought of that text, " Great peace have they that love thy law !" And I thought of the new Heavens and the new earth for it seemed to become new with the glory of the Lord shining about me. Even when I was passing through a rough piece of land-every hill top and stone, and tree and shrub seemed to reflect the divine glory.
I thought now I shall be able by the grace of God to over- come the word sin, death and the grave; and I was more determined to preach the gospel.
But I soon found that I had not so soon attained, nor was I yet perfect. There was a warfare still to be carried on against inward and outward enemies, and I knew not how to be quali- fied to preach the gospel which I loved and which I knew ought not to be committed to ignorant men, who knew not the use of language, nor whereat they affirmed.
My father affirmed of my views but utterly refused to do anything more than to give me an article worth about twenty- five dollars.
It was so ordered, however, that I had by the good Provi- dence of God a better English education than was usual at my age ; and being employed at school keeping, I entered Dartmouth College in September, 1707, and was allowed so much time to teach a school and study out of College, recit- ing my lessons to the Rev'd Mr. Merrill of Plaistow, and the Rev'd David Tappan of West Newbury, and obtain their rec- ommendation, and in doing this, I found no difficulty in re- taining my standing in my Class.
In this way I found myself with few books, poorly clothed
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but with two dollars more money than when I entered Col- lege two years before !
Thus I proceeded two years more always teaching a school in every time of vacation without losing a day, not receiving any charitable aid, and only a part of my elothing from my good mother.
After four years I took my degree, with some of the best scholars, and in the largest class that had been educated at Dartmouth College, August 24, 1791.
I then owed only twenty dollars for which my father was surety, and I paid it to the owners in a year exactly.
And to the honor of my good father I will say it, that thirty years after I left College he gave me my full portion with the other children in his last Will, and were it not for this, I must have now been a beggar ! in all probability ; as will appear from my after history.
Soon after I left College I went to Wells in Maine to teach a school and to study Theology with Dr. Moses Hem- menway, an eminent scholar and Divine. While I was there one of my Classmates, son of Thomas Parsons Esq., proprie- tor of Parsonfield, induced his father to invite me by letter to become his minister, stating that in case I settled there, I should have four hundred acres of land as the first minister of the town, and four hundred as a parsonage, and I intended to go, but never promised being taken up some other way.
After I had continued at Wells six months, I came home to my father's house, and was licensed to preach by the Hav- erhill Association, and delivered my first sermon in the Par- ish where I was born, and in the church where I had been a member about three years, April 8, 1792. I was soon urged by a friend to come to Hampstead to preach, it being the first time I had entered into a pulpit alone, and so feeble that I could hardly draw on my boot, and knowing that Hampstead had the name of being a difficult people. I was quite un- popular ; and understood afterwards that some one said if the people hired me the money would be thrown away, and I was
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told, too, that one of the neighboring ministers said Mr. Kelly would not do for Hampstead.
While ignorant of these unpleasant things, I preached in several places where I was invited, and Hampstead employed others, but not finding the right preacher, a few friends of mine urged me to come again and preach as a candidate, but limited the time to only two days, for fear some one would repeat the other complaint, that the money would all be thrown away! But as I went upon the principle never to break open a door to get in, nor to get out, it was not an easy task to obtain my eonsent, to come again to Hampstead. So it is the same principle that I was not willing to leave Hamp- stead, after I had been here more than forty years, and they said to me as Israel of old said to Samuel the Prophet, when they desired a King, " We have nothing against you."
But a few urged me to come in, and a few urged me to go out, or in other words, they broke open the door and I came in without a dissenting voiee ; and I have gone out because a few have broken open the door, no one openly contributing, but seeking for names by subseription such as they could get, good or bad, they obtained but fifteen, and one of them was foreed, and when they called a vote to settle another before the old one was dismissed they could obtain only ten in the church. But to return to my settlement, soon after I came again to Hampstead, one man desired me to preach that ser- mon over again which was so unpopular at first, and the man who had complained altered his opinion, and a eall was ex- tended to me to settle here in the ministry, offering me some little help to stock the parsonage, fifteen cords of wood, the parsonage house and lands, and two hundred dollars in money annually, so long as I should carry on the work of the min- istry in the place,-the whole amounting in value to three hundred dollars. Another minister said I could not live up- on it. Another said I would go away and leave the people. But I would not do this, because I would not break open a door to get out nor in.
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One man in town who did not pay a minister tax, said the people would not pay me what they had promised.
No man out of town advised me to settle upon so small a salary, and but one woman. A minister in Newburyport had heard of my proposed salary and asked a scholar of my ac- quaintance " What kind of a man is Kelly?" He answered, " A Reasoner," to which he replied " Well he will have need to Reason in Temperance if he settles on that salary."
Another man, however, though an infidel, knowing the good people of Hampstead, said to me " I should think you would settle here for the people are such fools, that as they will not be easy without a minister, and they like you better than any man they have had among them."
But after all as Hampstead had been almost eleven years without a settled minister, and had extended calls to five men who had given negative answers on account of the want of money and the fear of infidels, which abounded here more than any town in the state at that time ; and as there was no dissent- ing voice or vote against me, and as I intended to be a minis- ter from a child ; and thought I had a call to preach the gos- pel; and was impressed with what the apostle said, " I am sent for the defence of the gospel," I concluded that my death, if not my life, might be the means of salvation to this people, and therefore I gave my answer in the affirmative, and was or- dained by a council of ten churches, Dec. 5, 1792.
Dr. Hemmenway preached the sermon from Philippians 3 : 6. Soon after my ordination I found it needful to try my strength against infidelity. One man at a lecture charged me with preaching false doctrine, because I said no man is per- fect, and that we may be ascertained of a thing by faith as well as by sight,-sight or feeling. I asked him of a number of things that he had never seen, if he were not sure of them, notwithstanding ; to all which he replied in the negative. I asked him if he was not sure he was born of a woman, to which he answered " Yes." I asked him then if he remembered any- thing of the event ? He then denied what he had granted.
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I then asked him how he would show it was uncertain ? He being so puzzled with error that he hardly knew what to say, but he said he might have been born of another woman. Ah! of another woman besides your mother-this would not make you a motherless child. That was the end of his argument to the end of his life. Thirty years.
Another infidel told me that he did not hold to such a God as I did. I then asked him what was his idea of a God ? He said he was the essence of all the universe. What then is the universe composed of ? He said " it was composed of air, earth, fire and water." Well then, I said to him, "Your God by your own showing is inferior to yourself, for you have a mind superior to all these elements, and call yourself a man of sense, but this you cannot say of your God." This settled the infidel to the day of his death. (N. B. These men first denied in- fant baptism and then turned infidels.)
These events took place in the beginning of my ministry. And when I had been here about ten years, another enemy ap- peared with a double Phalanks. The Freewillers and Metho- dists, with a full determination to overthrow the Orthodox minister of Hampstead, if stranger and noise would do it. It then became necessary to put out the distinguishing doctrines in a clear and positive manner, which led the friends of truth to say, " that these newcomers made the standing minister a better preacher."
After this time I went on for more than thirty years with- out much trouble from without. In the whole course of my ministry I have preached about three thousand written ser- mons and many unwritten ones, in town and out of town. I have also taught the children and youth abundantly. I have attended five hundred and three funerals in town, and about half as many out of town. I have united two thousand per- sons in marriage in town and out of town, lacking only six couples, or twelve persons.
We have had several small revivals so as to keep the num- ber of church members equal to the number when I was or-
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dained ; and, in the four first months of 1828, fifty-two per- sons were added to the church, which then consisted of one hundred and ten members. When I was desired to leave in 1835, another revival was begun, and some who had attended my enquiry meetings were awakened again. But a few said I must be released, which put me in mind of what the Prophet Micah said " A man's enemies are the men of his own house." Micah 7 : 6. It seemed hard when, that when God had given me the victory over my enemies, my friends should rise up against me, and especially as I had done more for Hampstead than any man could or would do for them. Since I have be- come a minister, I have attended thirty ordaining or other Councils, have preached one ordination sermon, given six charges which were published. I have preached one sermon each year to the Female Charitable Society, and another every year to the Sabbath school. I have published three funeral sermons, one of Mrs. Sarah Morse, one of Hon. John Calef, one of Dr. William Cogswell. I have published twice " A number of reasons against becoming a Universalist." Six lec- tures to the Laymen who had slandered the clergymen of New England because they did not approve of the war with Great Britain in 1812. Ten numbers in a bound paper com- plaining of the Baptists for offering a spurious communion to their denomination. Two reports of the state of religion at the General Association, first at Keene, 1815, and the other at Rindge, 1827, and one pastoral letter at Concord, 1831. In the year 1813 I went to Connecticut and to Massachusetts as a delegate to the General Association. I preached the Missionary sermon at Dover, 1810, and the Association ser- mon of N. H. at Pembroke, in 1822. I was made a member of the New Hampshire Bible, Tract, and Education Societies by the liberality of gentlemen and ladies in Hampstead, and by my own self a member of the New Hampshire Missionary Society.
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