USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Wilton > An address delivered at the centennial celebration in Wilton, N.H., Sept. 25, 1839 > Part 5
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makers, including journeymen ; two cabinet makers; one hat three stores ; two taverns. -
PAUPERISM. The first pauper was a man by the name of Strat who received aid from the town before the Revolution. From time till 1830 there were but seven families - and these but in par who were supported by the town. Some other individuals, but v few in number, have occasionally received aid. In 1830, a farm the poor was purchased, and has since been carried on by the to. The products of this farm have been nearly sufficient in most years pay the wages of the overseer and family, and for the support of poor.
TEMPERANCE. Before the Revolution, although ardent spirits we occasionally used by most of the inhabitants of the town, intemp ance was almost unknown. During the war, the habits of camn gradually infected the country ; and although the town was never : intemperate one, ardent spirits were in common use. As the orchar grew up, a large number of cider-mills were erected, and large qua tities of cider were made to be consumed in the town. It becan also an important and profitable article of export. But within th last fifteen years, nearly all of the cider-mills have been suffered t fall into decay, little cider is made, and very few of the inhabitan are in the habit of drinking ardent spirits. It speaks well for th moral sense of the people, that this great change has been brough about easily and naturally, from the change of views and feelings il individual minds, and with little aid from foreign influence. A refor mation, of this unforced growth, wrought in the individual by the action of the individual mind and conscience, no one can doubt wil be permanent. The Wilton Temperance Society was organized about five years ago, and now consists of between 300 and 400 members.
MISSIONARIES. Lydia Brown went to the Sandwich Islands, in 1836. Amos Abbot and wife (her maiden name was Anstress Wil- son,) sailed for Bombay in May, 1834, and are employed as school teachers.
GRADUATES. Abiel Abbot, D. D. 1787; Rev. Jacob Abbot, 1792; William Abbot, Esq. 1797; John Stevens Abbot, 1801 ; Solomon K. Livermore, Esq. 1802 ; Ebenezer Rockwood, Esq., 1802; Samuel
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Greele, Esq. 1802; Samuel Abbot, Esq. 1808; Rev. Samuel Bar- rett, 1818; Rev. Warren Burton, 1821 ; Rev. Abiel A. Livermore, 1833. - The above were graduates of Harvard University. -- The fol- lowing graduated at Dartmouth College. Daniel Rockwood, Esq. 1811; Augustus Greele, Esq. 1813; Timothy Parkhurst, M. D. 1813 ; Abner Flint, Esq. ; David Morgan, Esq. 1835; Lubim Burton Rockwood, 1839. The graduates of Bowdoin College are, Joseph II. Abbot, Esq. 1822; Rev. Ephraim Peabody, 1827; Ezra Abbot, Esq. 1830; Abiel Abbot, 1831. Rufus Abbot, M. D. graduated at Yale College, 1834 ; Charles Abbot, Esq. at Amherst, 1835 ; Samuel Flint, Esq. at Middlebury ; Kev. John Keyes and Rev. Nathaniel Abbot Keyes were natives of Wilton, and after removing from the town, re- ceived a college education. Hermon Abbot, M. D. was two years in Harvard College, and Rev. Alvah Stecle, three years at Yale, but did not graduate ; Levi Abbot is in his last year at Yale. Whole number, twenty-nine. Of these, twelve studied or are studying divinity ; three are physicians ; six studied law, and the remainder have been employed in different occupations. Of several of the above, not now living, had we the materials we should be glad to make longer mention. We have received brief accounts of two of them, which we insert, thinking that they may be of interest to their fellow-townsinen.
Ebenezer Rockwood, Jr., son of Dr. E. Rockwood, and one of the most gifted of the sons of Wilton, was graduated at Harvard Univer- sity, A. D. 1802. While an undergraduate, he had a high reputation as a scholar and a young man of genius. He cominenced the prac- tice of law in Boston. Though unaided by that patronage, which arises from large acquaintance and powerful family connexions, his extraordinary talent for his profession soon brought him extensive business. Ile was considered among the ablest advocates of the Suffolk bar. His mind was deeply embued with christian princi- ples, and he felt a strong interest in the religious institutions of the country. He died in the spring of A. D. 1815. His early death blighted many fond hopes, and occasioned deep and lasting regret in the hearts of a large circle of friends, who admired him for his genius, and loved him for his virtues.
SAMUEL ABBOT, Esq. He died January 2, 1839, being burnt in `a starch factory, carried on by him, in Jaffrey, N. H. He was a graduate of Harvard College in 1SOS, studied law, and practised first
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in Dunstable, N. H., and afterwards in Ipswich, Mass. He then gave up the practice of his profession and removed to Wilton. His inves- tigations led him to believe that starch might be obtained in greater abundance and at a cheaper rate from potatoes than from any other substance, and in connection with his brother, Ezra Abbot, he en- tered into the business of manufacturing potato-starch, for which he invented the machinery. He was the first to open a branch of busi- ness which has since been carried on extensively in various parts of the country, and has given an additional value to the agricultural products of the districts where it is done. He was a man of a very philosophical and highly cultivated mind. There is scarcely a branch of science, of literature, or any department of morals or the- ology with which he was not apparently as familiar as if it had been the particular study of his life. Ile was always ready, with personal exertions and his purse, to help forward any good enterprise. His unambitious career was bright with a daily usefulness. His life bore witness that the finest minds may find as large a sphere of useful- ness in the retirements of the country as among the crowd of a city. Few have been more beloved and respected when living, or more widely mourned when dead. A manuscript memoir of Mr. Abbot, by Rev. A. A. Livermore, may be found in the Wilton Ministerial Library.
FAMILY RECORDS. It was intended to give a brief account of the descendants of the first settlers. But we have been able to obtain no accounts of this kind with the exception of the following.
JOHN BURTON and wife moved from Middleton, Mass. to Wilton about 1760. He had three sons, the eldest, Jolin, was the deacon of the church. Jonathan, the second son, was a very prominent and useful man in the town; was selectman sixteen years ; was repre- sentative to the General Court in 1796, and justice of the peace. He was a soldier at Louisburg, and served several times in the revolutionary army, in which he held the rank of lieutenant, and some time after the Revolution, was appointed captain, and then major in the militia. The descendants of John Burton, the first settler, were quite numerous, and are to be found scattered abroad in at least eight different states of the Union.
THOMAS RUSSELL came to Wilton from Andover Mass. in June, 1770, with four small children. The whole number of his descend-
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ants has been 221. The number now living is 197. The number residing in Wilton, 23.
ASHBY MORGAN was born at New Salem, N. H. March 27, 1749,
brought up in Pelham, commenced working on his farm, which was · in a state of nature, in June, 1770 ; removed his family in 1772. The whole number of his descendants, 151; deathis, 45; now living in Wilton, 28.
BARACHIAS ABBOT removed from Andover September 6, 1786. Whole number of descendants, 55; now living, 40; living in Wil- ton, 10.
REV. JONATHAN LIVERMORE. Whole number of descendants, 34 ; now living, 25; in Wilton, 15.
Major ABIEL ABBOT settled in Wilton in 1764. He was, during his life, one of the influential, active, and useful citizens of the town. He was ten times elected selectman, and filled various other offices of trust. Jeremiah Abbot, his brother, came the same year. And Wil- liam Abbot, another brother, settled here in 1772. He was also, during the whole of his life, a prominent man in town affairs. The descendants of the three brothers are very numerous. Many remain in Wilton - many settled in Maine - and others are found scattered in almost every state of the Union.
AMUSEMENTS. Wrestling was practised on all occasions of public meeting, raisings, &c until about 1815, when the custom died away. Shooting matches, once common, were discontinued about the same time. Hunting matches, in which two captains choose sides, each side being composed of ten or twelve young men, and their object being to see which side shall bring in, on an appointed day, the largest amount of game, have been occasionally continued to the present day. These matches have usually taken place about election time, or in the au- tumn, and have been occasions of great interest and excitement to those engaged in them. Sleigh-rides are frequent in the winter. Formerly, when the ministers were married, immense parties com- posed of nearly all who could command a sleigh, went out in proces- sion to meet the newly wedded pair. When Mr. Beede was married, such a party met him on his return, to welcome him and his bride to
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her new home, at a tavern in Amherst, ten miles from Wilton. There have been no balls or dancing schools since 1829. Games at cards were never common. Public lectures, the formation of libraries and practical education generally, have changed the tastes and greatly improved the moral condition and usages of society.
WILD ANIMALS. Deer were killed in the east part of the town as late as 1775. Bears and wolves were trapped and killed as late as 1787. Within the memory of persons now living, men have been treed by bears. This happened to Abiel Abbot, one of the first settlers, who being in the woods, unarmed, and pursued by one, was obliged to take to a tree. The bear sat and watched him, till wearied with the delay and annoyed by a small dog which Mr. A. had with him, he finally left him. In the winter, the wolves came down from the mountains for food, and it was no unusual thing for parties to go out in pursuit of them. Wild turkeys were shot as late as 1797. Two moose have been killed within the borders of the town, - one on the farm now owned by Ephraim Brown, and one near Mason, killed by a man of the name of Blood. Two extensive meadows were flowed by the Beaver ; one on the farm owned by Oliver Whiting, and another on the farm of John Dale. Their dams are yet to be seen. Salmon were caught in the Souhegan about one hundred rods below its junc- tion with Stony Brook, as late as 1773-4.
Most of these facts, as well as various other interesting memo- randa for the Centennial Celebration have been kindly communicated by Harvey Spalding, Esq.
We have been favored with a letter from Dr. Abiel Abbot, now in the 75th year of his age, and the oldest man born in Wilton now liv- ing, giving an account of the early customs of the town. The pic- ture he gives, is at the same time so minute and so vivid, that we pub- lish it entire.
MY DEAR SIR, - As I have so good an opportunity to send to you, I will not neglect it; and it being Sunday evening, I will say a word abont Sunday of olden times. On Saturday evening the work of the week was finished. My father, after washing, and putting on a skillet of water, would get his razor and soap, sit down by the fire and take off his beard; after which he would take his Bible, sometimes some other book. My mother after washing the potatoes, &c, and pre- paring for Sunday food, used to make hasty pudding for supper, which
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was eaten in milk, or if that was wanting, with butter and molasses. The little children were put to bed; early in the evening, my father read a chapter in the Bible and offered a prayer, soon after which the younger part of the family and the hired help went to bed; in- deed, the family every night went to their rest soon after supper, especially in the summer. Saturday night and Sunday and Sunday night, a perfect stillness, no play going on, no laughing. Those of us who were old enough, took the Testament, or learned the Cate- chism or a hymn; and read in the Testament or Primer to father or mother, in the morning. For breakfast, when we had milk sufficient, we had bread and milk ; when this failed, bean and corn porridge was the substitute. Sometime after the Revolutionary War, for Sunday morning tea and toast were often used. As we lived at a distance from meeting, those who walked set out pretty soon after 9 o'clock, and those who rode on horseback were obliged to start soon after them ; the roads and pole bridges were very bad, and the horses always carried double, and often a child in the mother's lap, and sometimes another on the pommel of the saddle before the father. All went to meeting, except some one to keep the house and take care of the children, who could not take care of themselves. The one that staid at home, was instructed when to put the pudding, pork and vegeta- bles into the pot for supper after meeting. Those who went to meet- ing used to put into their pockets for dinner some short-cake, or dough-nuts and cheese. We used to get home from meeting at 4 o'clock, often much later. Immediately, the women set the table, and the men took care of the horses, and in the winter, the other cattle, &c. In the short days, it would often be sundown before, or very soon after, we got home. 'The sled with oxen was often used for meeting when the snow was deep, or by those who did not keep a horse. After supper, the children and younger part of the family were called together and read in the Testament and Primer, and if there was time, said their Catechism (the Assembly's) and some short hymns and prayers. Soon after this, in the Summer, before my father read in the Bible and offered prayer, the cows were brought from the pasture and milked. No work was performed except what was deemed absolutely necessary ; the dishes for breakfast and supper were left unwashed till Monday. Every person in the town able to go to meeting, went; if any were absent, it was noticed, and it was sup- posed that sickness was the reason. If any one was absent three or four Sundays, the tything man would make him a visit ; thiis, however,
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was a rare case. The Sabbath was not unpleasant to me; early habit, I suppose, rendered the restraint by no means irksome. I do not recollect feeling gloomy, or disposed to play, or wishing Sunday was gone or would not come .- I don't think of any thing more to say about Sunday, except that the meeting-house was well filled.
Now what more shall I say? A word about schools. These were poor enougli. We used to read, spell, write and cipher, after a sort. Our teachers were not taught. The Primer, Dilworth's Spelling Book, and the Bible or Testament were the books. No arithmetic; the ciphering was from the master's manuscript. My father became sensible that the schools were useless, and in the winter of 1782 hired Mr. John Abbot, who was then a sophomore in college, to teach a month or five weeks in his vacation, and invited the district to send their children gratis. This gave a new complexion to the school in the South District ; and for a number of years after, qualified teachers were employed about eight weeks in the winter, usually scholars from college. Soon after the improvement in the South District, some of the other districts followed in the same course. To this impulse, I think, we may impute the advance of Wilton before the neighbor- ing towns in education, good morals and sound theology. I venerate my father and mother, more than for any thing else, for their anxiety and sacrifices to give their children the best education, literary and religious, in their power. And it gives me, as I have no doubt it did them, and must you and all the rest of their descendants, the highest satisfaction, that their desires were so well gratified and their labors successful. Their children, grand-children, and so on to the twen- tieth generation, will have reason to bless the memory of parents of such true worth.
Now for something else. For breakfast in olden times, were bread and milk, as soon as the cows were milked, for all the family. When milk failed, bean porridge with corn. About 9 o'clock there was a baiting or luncheon, of bread and cheese or fried pork and potatoes. For dinner a good Indian pudding, often in it blue-berries and suet ; pork and beef, through the winter and spring ; potatoes, turnips, cab- bage, &c. At four or five o'clock, P. M., in the summer, some bread and cheese, or the like. For supper, bread and milk. When milk failed, milk-porridge, hasty-pudding and molasses, bread and mo- lasses, bread and beer, &c. When there was company to entertain, chocolate for breakfast, no coffee. Pewter basins or porringers, and sometimes wooden bowls were used when spoons were required.
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Trenchers or wooden plates were used at dinner; when a friend dined, pewter plates were used by father and mother and the friend. You probably remember the pewter platters and plates usually stand- ing on the shelves. None but pewter spoons. The cup for beer was pewter. After which came the brown inug. If a neighbor came in for any purpose, he was asked to drink beer or cider. When women visited their neighbors, they went early in the afternoon, carried their work, and returned home before sundown to take care of milking the cows, &c. Their entertainment was commonly short- cake baked by the fire, and tea, except in the early part of the Revo- lutionary War. For the visit, they often put on a clean chequered apron and handkerchief and short loose gown.
In the winter, several of the neighbors would meet for a social evening, and would have a supper. There were no select par- ties ; all were neighbors in the Scripture sense. The maid and boy in the family, the same as the children in all respects. I do not recollect ever hearing a profane word in my father's family from any of his hired men, nor at school at Wilton or Andover acade- my. I do not think that profane language was used by any in the town till after the Revolutionary War. Industry and economy were the order of the times. I do not remember seeing my father or mother angry; they were sometimes displeased no doubt. My father in the winter used to go to Salem or Marblehead to market with shook-hogshead staves, ryc, pork, butter, &c., and procure salt, molasses, tea, rum, &c., for the year, as there were no traders in the new towns. Rum was not used except in haying and harvest, and on particular occasions of hard service and exposure, such as washing sheep, burning large pieces of wood, &c. Intoxication was very rare; I do not remember more than one man being intoxicated. Rum was commonly used at raising buildings; half a gill was a good dram. After raising a building, if finished before night, the amuse- ments were wrestling, goal, coits, &c. Goal was the favorite play with boys the day after thanksgiving, and election days, which were all the holidays, I remember. Good humor and cheerfulness always pre- vailed in our family, and it was generally so I believe. Enough for the present. Faithfully yours,
ABIEL ABBOT.
We venture to add to the interesting statements contained in the foregoing letter, one fact within our knowledge, relating to a religious custom of former times. It was the habit of the early inhabitants of
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this town to have their children baptized in the church the Sunday after they were born, whatever the season of the year or the state of the weather; and accordingly, the writer of the above sketch was himself, before he was a week old, carried three miles, in the month of December, to be baptized in the meeting-house, in which there was no fire! What would our ancestors, could they revisit the earth, say of some of their descendants, who cannot be prevailed on to bring their offspring, even from the nearest distance, to the holy font, at any age, or in any season ?
The following extract from a letter, just received from S. K. Liver. more, Esq., we are happy to insert here.
DEAR SIR, -'That I may contribute, if it be as the poor widow's mite, to the benefits proposed by the Celebration, I will furnish one anecdote, illustrative of the energy of the early settlers in Wilton, and the hardships they endured, which may serve to reprove the ef- feminacy and self-indulgence of the present day.
One,* who was long since gathered to his fathers, told me that in a severe winter, when the highways were blocked with snow, he sev- eral times travelled on snow-shoes about seven miles, bought a bushel of corn and carried it on his back to mill and thence home.
It is well to perpetuate the knowledge of facts like this, that suc- ceeding generations may more fully appreciate the virtues, and trials, and labors of those, by whose instrumentality they are in possession of their present advantages, and may guard against that degeneracy, by which, if not resisted, they will unavoidably be divested of them. It is earnestly to be desired that the scenes and events brought to view by the exercises of the late Celebration, may be indelibly impressed upon the minds of the present and future generations, and that they will thereby be stimulated to a course of conduct, which will mani- fest that they truly honor the memory of their ancestors
The following are such stanzas as can be recovered from the poem, referred to in the Address, on the fall of the Meeting-house frame.
In Seventeen Hundred Seventy-Three, September, seventh day, In Wilton did Almighty God, His anger there display.
* Mr. Amos Holt.
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A very great collection met, The meeting-house to raise, Wherein to speak God's holy word, Also to sing his praise.
God did their labor prosper and Erecting of the frame, Until it was almost complete, And joyful they became.
They thought the worst was past and gone And they were bold and brave ; Poor souls, they did but little think, They were so near the grave !
All of a sudden broke a beam, And let down fifty-three ; Full twenty-seven feet they fell, A shocking sight to see ! :
Much timber with these men did fall, And edged tools likewise ; .
* All in a heap together lay, With groans and bitter cries.
Some lay fast bleeding on the ground, All bathed in crimson gore, Crying to Jesus, strong to save, His mercy to implore.
Some lay with broken shoulder bones, And some with broken arms, Others lay senseless on the ground With divers other harms.
One in an instant then did pass Through death's dark shadowy way, Who now is in the realms of wo, Or in eternal day. 9
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Two more in a few minutes' space Did bid this world adieu, Who are forsaken of their God, Or with his chosen few.
The rest is wanting.
We have endeavored to make the preceding notices of the his- tory and condition of the town as brief as possible. If they should seem to any one too minute and extended, we would say that we have thought that many things of little interest now, because familiarly known, might be of much interest to those who shall follow us. The aged men are passing away ; the traditions of the early times are fast fading into oblivion ; we shall soon be in our graves, and the history of the first century of Wilton would, before long, be a blank to our chil- dren, unless the facts relating to it were gathered up from individual memories and scattered papers, in which alone they are to be found, and preserved in some more permanent form.
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PROCEEDINGS
AT THE
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION,
IN
WILTON, N. II.
THE Committee of Arrangements, in the performance of the du- ties assigned to them by the town, held several meetings in the course of the summer ; - Jonathan Livermore in the Chair, and Timothy Parkhurst, Secretary. At these meetings the following sub-commit- tees and officers were chosen.
Committee to collect materials for the history of Wilton, and to invite Rev. Ephraim Peabody to deliver the Address ; - Jonathan Livermore, Timothy Parkhurst, Abel Fiske, and Abiel Abbot.
Committee to erect the Pavilion ; - Josiah Parker, Caleb Putnam, and Joseph Gray, Jr.
Committee to provide the Dinner ; - Joseph Newell, Abram Whit- temore, and Elijah Stockwell.
Committee to prepare the Toasts ; Timothy Abbot, Eliphalet Put- nam, Zebediah Abbot, Abiel Abbot, Harvey Spalding, and Daniel Batchelder.
Committee to procure the Singing; - Timothy Parkhurst, Zebe- diah Abbot, L. B. Rockwood, Timothy Abbot, Samuel Spalding, James Hutchinson, 3d, and Joseph Wilson.
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OFFICERS FOR THE DAY.
President, EZRA ABBOT.
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Vice Presidents,
ABRAM WHIT TEMORE, TIMOTHY PARKHURST,
JONATHAN LIVERMORE, TIMOTHY ABBOT,
JONATHAN BURTON, DANIEL BATCHELDER,
OLIVER WHITING. Chief Marshal,
JONATHAN PARKHURST.
Assistant Marshals,
SAMUEL KING,
CALVIN GRAY,
DAVID WILSON,
OLIVER BARRETT,
HERMON PETTENGILL, MOSES SPALDING
Toast Masters,
ELIPHALET PUTNAM,
ZEBEDIAH ABBOT.
The morning of the Celebration dawned auspiciously, and was ush- ered in with the ringing of the bell and a salute of one hundred guns. The sun rose upon a cloudless sky. The day was calm and clear and mild. Everything conspired to render it one of the finest mornings of early autumn ; and many were they who rose betimes and hailed it with joyous anticipations. Emigrants to other towns and to the dis- tant cities and villages of other states, had come back to revisit once more the scenes of their youth, and to celebrate with friends and former associates this grand jubilee of their native town. And now the sons and daughters of Wilton, resident and emigrant, togeth- er with numerous guests from abroad, -leaving behind them for a while the cares of professional life, the din of machinery, the business of the farm, the workshop, or the counting-room, - might be seen thronging the roads that ascend from all quarters to the Common. As they approached, the first thing to catch all eyes was a fancy flag, in its semi-circular wreath of evergreen, hovering in the air midway be- tween the two churches on the hill, and appearing to have no support till, on arriving near it, the cord which upheld it was seen stretched from belfry to belfry, and on the flag itself appeared the inscription,
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