USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Amherst > Celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of Amherst, New Hampshire June 17, 1910, including the proceedings of the committee, addresses and other exercises of the occasion > Part 7
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cautiously up to the pond, and the very first cast brought a fine fish, and soon I had a half dozen beauties. When I returned to the house with my catch and asked to have them cooked for breakfast faithful John asked, "Where'd you ketch them?" "In the brook," I answered wickedly. The next day, as I observed John eyeing me with an air of reproach my conscience pricked me, and I confessed that I had not caught my fish in the brook at all, but in the pond. "I knowed you did," said John, "I put
WILLIAM G. DAVID)
'em thar." Ah! what wonder that one should love a place where they almost put the trout on your very hook!
Time has brought its changes, but the spirit of the place still lingers. To those from a different world, from other states, there is something indescribably charming about old New Eng- land, about New Hampshire, of which Amherst is so happily typ- ical. 1 happen to live in a country where nature smiles upon the husbandman, where if one but scratches the soil abundant crops spring forth, and hence I doff my hat to the sturdy men - my forebears and yours - who dug not merely a living, but compe- tence from these rocks, and sont forth to other states their sons and daughters, to show other people how to live and to work, and to lead them and govern them.
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One hundred and fifty years ago there was no David in Am- herst. It was not until 1825, when a young man from Albany married a daughter of Amherst, that the name had its beginning here. My grandfather this was, Barnabus Bradt David, and I used to hear him say that he borrowed a hundred dollars of my grandmother when he started in business, and she would inter- jeet, "Yes, and you never paid it back." He engaged in the manufacture of whips, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Samuel B. Melendy. The partnership was unusual in that there were no articles, no written agreement, simply a verbal under- standing that they would share equally. The business prospered and before many years there were stores or agencies in most of the cities, and there began to be profits. When my grandfather bought of Robert Means, who built it, the house in which he ever afterwards lived, now the home of his daughter, Mrs. G. W. Nichols, Uncle Samuel evened things up by buying his house on the square, now occupied by his daughters. When one partner bought a carriage and horses, the other did the same thing. When a boy or girl from one family went away to school, or college, there was usually one of about the same age in the other family to do the same. And so for sixty years or so this partnership of faith continued, and when, the partners both dead, the affairs of the firm came to be settled there wasn't much of anything to settle; each had had his share.
But it is of my grandmother rather that I think I ought to talk, for she was of Amherst, Elizabeth Welch Melendy by uamie. Her father, when he married Abigail Badger of Reading in 1780, was recorded as of Amherst, N. H. He was a sou of W. M. Mc- londy, who married Hepsibah Emerson of Reading in 1753. This Hepsibah, my grandmother's grandmother, was a daughter of Nathaniel Emerson, who made his will in 1776, and died a year later. This will is so curiously illustrative of the manners and customs of Revolutionary times in rural New England and in- cidentally of the precise and prudent character of the said Na- thaniel, that I will perhaps be pardoned if I read a little of it.
I give and bequeath to my dear and well beloved wife, Hepsibah Emerson. all my within door movables or household stuff, excepting what I shall otherwise dispose of. These I give to my wife to be hers and at her own disposal. Also my will is that my wife shall have the improvement of the two lower rooms in the eastwardly half of my dwelling house, which I now improve, and also the cellar under the same; also the well and sufficient yard room about the house for pass- ing and repassing, laying wood, etc., also a small piece of land for a garden spot ; these privileges I give imto my wife so long as she shall remain my widow; also my will is, and I do hereby order that my son John shall find unto and provide for my wife, his mother, yearly and every year so long as she shall remain my widow, 7 bushels of Ind. meal and 3 bushels of rye meal, 80 lbs. of good well fed pork and 60 pounds of good well fed beef ; half a bushel of salt, one barrel of cider, half a bushel of malt, half a bushel of beans and turnips, potatoes and apples what she shall need for her own eating ; also two pounds of sheep wool ; yearly so long as she shall remain my widow. I also hereby will that my son, John Emerson, shall provide my wife with one cow and keep her winter and summer with and as he does his own, and drive said cow to and from pasture daily in the summer sea- son while she remains iny widow ; also my will is that my said son John shall pro - vide for my wife, his mother, 8 cords of wood ent fit for the fire and corded in the yard near the door yearly and every year while she shall remain my widow and also for the term of her said widowhood pay her yearly 12 shillings ; also my will is that my said son John shall provide my wife, his mother, with a horse to carry her to and from God's house of Publie worship when and so often as she shall be able and disposed to go and also at other times as there shall be occasion: I also give anto my said wife one eyder barrell and two brine tabs.
With a few exceptions I think my grandmother's ancestry was undistinguished for the qualities of popular acclaim -no gov- eruors, warriors, judges, so far as I know. They were almost
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without exception plain, industrious, God-fearing men and women, farmers, sailors, merchants, mechanies, with here and there a lit- Hle outcropping of art of literature of theology. But to such as they, were and to an equally Puritan-descended mother, I feel that I owe whatever of character and fortitude I may possess.
I see these vanished figures of the past in the light of my grand- mother's eyes - and they seem so good to me that I cannot let this occasion pass without a small word of tribute to her blessed mem- ory. My grandmother's long life of nearly ninety years was a life of service - a service of home, of church, of husband and chil- dren, of grandchildren and of all who by any ties of blood or stress of fortune claimed her aid and sympathy. I never heard that she entertained any aspirations toward any form of so-called new womanhood. The old was good enough for her and took all her time and strength. Although always deeply interested in the world's affairs, she was content to have the voting, as well as the fighting, done by her husband, her four sons, and her seven grandsons, all of which twelve votes I think she properly con- trolled, because she had been so potent in forming and influencing the characters of those who cast them. Of her four sons, two, one of them my father, and the other with us here today, served their country in the Civil War.
To me the best thing of the many good things about Amherst was my grandmother. It is a pleasure to recall her lovely face, her unsparing devotion, and her clear, calm mind, which shed its natural and ever-wholesome influence upon those about her. If other Amherst grandmothers were like her, and I doubt not there were many such, we need go no furthr to understand the all-per- vading influence of New England, of New Hampshire, of Amherst, upon American life and character.
Address of Charles P. Spofford.
The professions of medicine and clergy have usually been recognized among the first in the settlement of all communitis. So it was in the beginning of Amherst. The brief time, extended me in the exercises of today preclude other than a limited biography or sketch of two of its ear- liest citizens.
Dr. Nathaniel Henchman and Rey'd. Jeremiah Barnard. The former my great grandfather and the latter my moth- er's great uncle.
Each bore in their respective calling positions of promi- nence which made their names forever associated with the early history of the town and which after the lapse of more than a century, time has not effaced.
Their descendants, so far as has come to my know- ledge, are few; so this brief address must necessarily be abstracted from authoritive history, or family records which fortunately are well preserved.
The name Henchman, is an old, and distinguished one in Massachusetts history; during the Colonial and Revo.u- tionary periods, and many pages could be written concern- ing their ancestors and their prominence during these days.
The first mentioned of the name; is that, of Daniel Henchman whose name is recorded as early as March, 1660, when he was employed at a salary of Forty Pounds to as- sist Mr. Woodmacy in the "Grammar School" to teach the children to write. (See N. R. Hist. & Genealog. Reg. vol. 37 p. 64.)
Later he was one of the Committee to lay out the new plantations at Quinsigamond Pond (Now known as Wor- cester) and to settle its affairs.
He was made Freeman in 1672 and was in command of the troops which terminated King ' Phillip's War. He is said to have received grants of land near Worcester and died there October 15, 1685.
He was twice married, and was the father of nine chil- dren, six of whom were sons.
The third of these was Nathaniel, who married Anna Green in 1694, to this marriage was born Nathaniel in 1700. He graduated at Harvard, in 1717. Was ordained minister at Lynn, Mass., in 1720 and served continuonsly until his death in 1761. He married Deborah Wayne in 1727, and of his children, Nathaniel was born April 1, 1728, and graduated at Harvard in 1747.
He became a physician and settled in Lynn Mass., where he married Margaret Mansfield in 1751. To this union were born three daughters and Dr. Nathaniel Henchman, the sub- ject of these remarks. You will pardon me at this point to add
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something relating to the other distinguished members of the family before I enter upon the immediate reference to Dr. Henchman of this town.
Daniel Henchman, his great uncle, was one of the first printers and publishers in America. To .quote no less authority than Hon. Wm. H. Whetmore (for many years the City Registar of Boston) who said, "Mr. Henchman was the most eminent and progressive of any in that colony during the Revolutionary Period. His shop was at the south- west corner of Cornhill and State street, where he publishe.l and printed the first Bible and the first Testament printed :n the English Language in America. He was also the first to engage in the manufacture of paper in America, being associated with Gillam Phillips, Benjamin Fanuil (the father of Peter Fanuil) Thomas Hancock and Henry Deering. This firm, or partnership, having received from the Massa- chusetts General Court exclusive right for making paper in the Province. Gen. Henry Knox, Washington's first Secretary of War, also served his time in Henchman's shop. His daughter, Lydia Henchman, married Thomas Hancock, a nephew of John Hancock; who later inherited his ostate, they dying without children.
Daniel Henchman was for those days a wealthy mm and gave largely of his fortune to the old South Chur li, and llarvard College ( Vol. 6, N. E. G. R.) and lived to enjoy the shade of the old Ehm on Boston Common which his grandfather Daniel set out, July 3, 1070 Ile died in Boston, February 25. 1761.
To resume the Dr. Nathaniel Henchman of Amherst it will be observed, he was of the fifth generation and the fourth to bear that name in succession. He was born in . Lynn, Mass., 1762, probably studied medicine with his father, and after graduation at Harvard settled in the prac- tice of his profession in this town, !783.
He married Anna, daughter of Ephraim and Macy ( Merriam) Crosby, of Billerica. Mass .. a descendant of the notable family who were among the first settlers of that town, and who survived him many years. She was born March 6, 1760, and died here November 27. 1836. He died May 27, 1800.
Their children were four daughters and one son.
(1) Anna born September 9, 1782. Married Hon. Jedediah Kilburn Smith, a prominent official who filled the office of Representative to the Legislature, Member of the Governor's Council, Postmaster, and finally Member of Congress.
(2) Mary, born September 5, 1784. Died unmarried June 26, 1871.
(3) Sarah, born March 13, 1788. Married Joseph George of this town.
(+) Betsey, born April 20, 1700. Married Charles Pol-
ter, January 25. 1824, by Rev'd. Nathan Lord.
This latter being my grandmother whose family Bible with its family records is in my possession. Chas. Porter followed the sea, and married a lady in South Carolina (so it is said) but no trace of the family is known.
1
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Kilburn Smith Porter was born in Amherst, February 19, 1820, and is the oldest living descendant of the family residing at the present writing in Lawrence, Mass.
Elizabeth Porter was born in Amherst, June 19, 1826, married John F. Willey and died at Laconia, N. H.
Emeline Barnard Porter, born in Amherst January 4 1831, married Benjamin Spofford of Manchester and died February 19, 1860.
The only son of Dr. Nathaniel Henchman was Dr. Na- thaniel, born in Amherst, November 19, 1786. He was a stu- dent at Dartmouth Medical College. First settled in New Jersey, enlisted in the War of 1812 as a surgeon, and died
CHARLES B. SPOFFORD
at Woodsville, Mississippi, September 5, 1819. In yonder church yard, a large slate stone bears this record; "Erected by maternal affection to the memory of Dr. Nathaniel Henchman;" with the following record "In him, died the fifth of the same name, and the fourth of men to follow a public literary profession."
Such, my friends, finishes the story of this illustrious family.
It is noticeable that successive generations take the names of Daniel and Nathaniel, while the females were usually christened for aunts with a middle or a sur-name of their marriage. Similar names were familiar with those of
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the related family of Rev'd. Jeremiah Barnard of whom we shall now speak.
REV. JEREMIAH BARNARD, the second ordained minister of your town was a son of Robert Barnard of Bolton, Mass., where he was born, February 28, 1750. He was graduated at Harvard College, 1773, and married Deborah Henchman, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Henchman of Lynn, Mass., October 15, 1777, and a sister of Dr. Nathaniel Henchman of Amherst.
In March, 1780, at the request of Rev'd. Daniel Wil- kins "Owing to infirmities and needed assistance," Mr. Barnard was ordained as his colleague, the Town voting 180 Pounds Lawful Money as settlement, and an annual salary of 80 Pounds until the expiration of the War with Great Britain should cease; when it should be augmented to 50 Pounds.
During this period differences arose regarding his sup- port, and separate churches were organized. One at Mount Vernon, the other at Milford. both of which towns were then a part of Amherst.
He remained, however, over the original society until his colleague was selectd in the person of Rev'd Nathan Lord January 29, 1816, who remained here, until his election as President of Dartmouth College in 1828.
From an Historical Discourse by Rev. Josiah G. Davis on the Hundredth Anniversary of the Congregational Meet - ing House, given in 1874, we abstract the following, regard- ing Mr. Barnard: "There was little in his preaching to disturb the prevailing sentiments of the times, which appear to have been gambling, dancing, and convivial entertain- ments. He was said to have been an amiable man and made his house attractive to the young people, and contributed to the good order and social culture of the community. In this respect we might infer that he was a pioneer. He lived to the advanced age of 85 yars and died January 15, 1835. while his wife, Deborah Henchman, died October 12, 1833 age 80 years.
Several known publications attest his prominence as a public speaker. Among them being the Ordination Sermon of Rev'd John Tappan at Claremont in 1796. A Discourse before Benevolent Lodge A. F. and A. M. on St. John's Day, June 24, 1805, and also the charge to his colleague, Rev'd. Nathan Lord, January 29, 1816.
Rev'd. Jeremiah Barnard married Deborah Henchman October 15 1777. They had eight children, all daughters ex- cepting two.
Robert "Mansfield" Barnard, who died at Watertown, Mass., October 13, 1863, and John "Henchman" Barnard, who died young.
Of the daughters. Betsey, the oldest. married Robert M. King and died at Rockdale, Towa, January 14. 1872, at the age of 92. Polly married David S. Eaton, who died in Dor. chester, Mass., August 17, 1860. Nancy married Hugh H. Clark November 8, 1808, and died at Amherst December I, 1813. Lucretia, born July 26, 1796, married Timothy Dan- forth of Amherst January HI, 1838, she being his third wife.
Such, my friends, is the brief, but I trust, a comprehen-
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sive sketch so far as my time is permitted of these two notable families. Your consideration of its details will pos- sibly be consdered by many as uninteresting, for I am aware that such is usually so considered unless it refers to ones own family. To them I only speak as from the past in . honor of their memory and while several generations have come and gone and they left posterity doubtless as numer- pus, it is for us today that they left a heritage of honor and good citizenship, which future generations will cherish, and that we today have done our duty in their memory.
Dedication of the Granite Marker.
Preliminary Remarks by Rev. C. E. White, Secretary. -
Friends :- The occasion of this 150th anniversary will probably be most vividly impressed upon your minds as the day when the heavens poured down rain in exasperating profusion. This feature of the day was not in any sense planned by the committee in charge. But upon us present here today we are sure there are other finer im- pressions you will treasure, of the hold our old town has on the affec- tions of all its sons and daughters.
The committee, however, did not deem its full task done unless it should leave, as a result of this celebration, something which should impress the coming generations with a definite, ever visible reminder of this occasion and of the heroic labor of those who settled this town.
The committee has accordingly secured at a cost of $60.00 a gran- ite marker, weighing half a ton, and placed the same on the site of the first meeting house, where those who come after us shall be able to read this simple but splendid record :
HERE WAS ERECTED THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSE IN AMHERST, MAY 16, 1739 : IN 1771 GIVEN TO THE COUNTY FOR ITS COURT-HOUSE ; REMOVED TO THE PLAIN IN 1789. AND THERE BURNED. THIS STONE PLACED JUNE 17. 1910
There at the junction of the roads, near the Rogers place, this marker stands, and thither should we all occasionally wend our way to pay our reverent homage to those early men who built this town in righteousness.
--
Dedicatory Address by Dr. Richardson.
This marker directs attention to that ancient meeting house. In thought, as we dedicate it, we stand on holy ground. We see those sturdy men and women in the attitude of worship. We hear the
REV. CYRUS RICHARDSON, D. D.
voice of the reverend minister as he reads the scripture, offers the prayer, and preaches the sermon. That house of God was the cen- tre of life and activity. From it shone the light which illumined the pathway of its worshipers.
When we pass out of an age we do not cut aloof from it. We con- serve all that is good in it. Its life blood goes into our veins. "0th- er men labored, and we have entered into their labors." We are deeply indebted to the heroic achievements of our early ancestors. Certain principles inculcated in that ancient structure which we now mark abide for our good. They have come down to us as a choice inheritance. What are they? First is the spirit of freedom which has dominated New England life, and through it, has dominated the
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life of our whole country. Practically those early settlers said, "We will not be fettered, either in religion or in government. Neither popes nor kings shall dictate our beliefs and our worship. We are free." That spirit is today in the air everywhere. Men the world over are saying : "We will not be bound : we will claim our rights." Second is the spirit of sacrifice. The worshipers in that ancient meetinghouse faced perils, and endured hardships, and stood fear- lessly at posts of duty. Life was strenuous, winsome graces were lacking ; but rugged virtues shone with added lustre. This mark- er will help to perpetuate in thought their heroic deeds. Third is the doctrine of accountability to God. Though those early settlers feared neither king nor bishops, they did fear Jehovah. His word was supreme. Their watchcry was, "Thus saith the Lord."
That doctrine made them fearless. "If God be for us, who can be against us." It made them serious. If God looks down upon us frivolities are out of place. And so we today dedicate this marker to the glory of that old meeting-house in which worshipped those men and women whose names we honor and whose virtues we do well to emulate.
Dedicatory prayer by Rev. Daniel Merriman, D. D., of Boston.
REV. CHARLES ERNEST WHITE
Present Minister of the Congregational Church
ANNIVERSARY SERMON.
Delivered June 19, 1910, in Amherst, N. H., by Rev. Charles Ernest White, in View of the One Hundred and Fiftieth A. niversary Exercises of the Town.
2 Thess. 2 : 15-"So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which we were taught, whether by word or epistle of ours."
There is nothing in. the chronology of this church to call for a special sermon today. The next year of note to this church is 1916,
KEV NATHAN LORD
when one hundred and seventy-five years will have elapsed since its organization. It is not one of those anniversaries that onght to be observed with unusual ceremonies. There is no chronologi- cal compulsion; it is in a sense a task of my own setting.
And yet there appears to be an urgent obligation, after all, both to the past and to the present, to those of long ago and to those who remain unto this day. When we have passed through, so recently, a celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anni-
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versary of the birth of our town, and when in our congregation this morning we find and welcome so many, to whom this church, both past and present, is most dear, and whose memories clinging about it are among the most precious they treasure,- in the presence of such compulsions, the occupant of this historic pulpit must take account of the occasion in some significant effort.
Something of the spirit in which this task is undertaken is gained from the passage from which the text comes. The apostle Paul in writing to the Thessalonians in this second letter, is dis- enssing the question of God's chosen people. They, he would have his readers understand, are not simply the migratory Hebrew, who wandered over the hills and plains of those Eastern lands.
REV. SILAS AIKEN
They are, he would insist, men of every land who bow the knee, not to Baal or the Baal-spirit, but who bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. They, too, Thessalonians, are a chosen people, - chosen to a life, sanctified, made sacred, by the Spirit of God, and the knowledge and experience of truth. The possession of those two things lead on to the obtaining of the glory of this same Lord, the splendor and honor of the most High. And this is the noblest experience of an individual or a nation.
Because of the great value of these all too frequently unappro- priated privileges, there is a pressing summons to steadfastness in aim and activity. "So then, brethren," he writes, "stand fast," do not be moved by the flood of adverse influences that may shr-
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round you or catch you in its flood. Hold your ground." And one great help in enabling them so to stand he declares is "to hold the traditions which they were taught." These "traditions" are not like our conception of the word. a mingling of what is true and what others think ought to be true, the true and the near- trne, the true and the supposedly true. The word has its root- thought in the idea of things handed down, delivered over, specifically conveyed from one person or generation to another. These things so handed down are the cardinal truths of the Gospel, the prime principles of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
This, yon will observe, is not the mere respect of the things of the past, not the hush at the mention of the days and men and
REV. JOSIAN G, DAVIS
institutions gone by. It is the recalling of the essential facts that have come down to us from the past, and that with the emphasis less upon reverence, than restoration, of them; to rehabilitate these cardinal qualities in our lives today, holding fast that which is good, not simply because it is ancient but because it bears the imprint of sterling truth from the hand of the Highest.
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