USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Milford > Celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Milford, New Hampshire, June 26, 1894 : including the proceedings of the committee, addresses, poem, and other exercises of the occasion > Part 5
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But while genius is apt to seek the multitude it is frequently born in solitude. Goethe says: "Talent is perfected in solitude." An ancient philosopher has said : "That the first thing necessary for a per- fectly happy man is that he should be born a citizen of some famous city." Many are not thus privileged, if it is a privilege. Cicero, who has
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been doomed to an immortality, in this world, and who was the greatest of great orators, was born far back in the country, more than seventy miles from Rome, afterwards the theatre of his matchless career. "Shakespeare, towering above . all the poets of ancient and of modern times, as fresh to-day as he was three hundred years ago, the greatest miracle of intellect that perhaps has ever adorned the world," first saw heaven's light, at an almost unknown spot, called Stratford-on-Avon, now world-renowned as the place of his birth. Cromwell, who arrested the power of the House of Stuart, and changed the whole course of Eng- lish history, was bred to peaceful occupations, and lived for the most part in the country until forty years of age, but was buried with regal pomp among the ancient Kings of England. Washington and Lincoln, true students of nature, and noble sons of God, beginning life amidst rurul scenes and ending with the adoration of their country. A vast majority of the men and women who have made our country, who have fought our battles and won position and fame, have been blessed with a child- hood in the rural district, thus obtaining natural force and power.
That the mind and body are more or less affected by the climate, atmosphere and scenery that surround early life, is an undoubted fact ; and while education begins in the cradle and the nursery, it does not end in the university. Life is a constant school. A large majority of active men and women acquire their vigor of mind from the unprinted literature to be found in forest, sky, street and field, as well as the count- ing room and business. "Nature educates, life educates, society edu- cates. Outward circumstances, inward experiences, and social influences, make up a large part of human culture." The country town and the populous city each possess special charms and marked advantages. The one supplements the other. Both are essential to the development of a great nation.
The history of Milford, beginning but a few years after the United States had achieved independence, covers a hundred years of the most marvellous developments known to man. Ten such decades the world has never before seen. A comparison between then and now, reveals a most startling revolution in opinion, methods of thinking, and ways of living. Such an assemblage of new inventions, such an array of newly discovered facts, physical, moral and scientific, inspire the belief that there is scarcely no end to the possible accomplishments of the human race. The imperial and majestic power of man never was so obvious as now. Never before did human destiny"give promise of such splendid fruition.
One hundred years ago! Who can paint the wrongs that were then tolerated ? Millions of manacled slaves all through the civilized world ; the tortures of the Press-gang; the ghastly flogging of soldiers and sailors ; men aud women hung for stealing bread to defeat starvation ; debtors incarcerated in prison when overcome with the weight of obli- gations innocently and honestly incurred; women executed as witches ; men burned at the stake by the command of tyrants ; paupers sold at
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auction to the lowest bidder; taxes mercilessly imposed, to support creeds and crime.
What a transition the century has witnessed ! Then they relied on the zeal of the Parson to warm the church. Now the warmth of the church inspires the pastor. Then they employed a beadle to wake the sleeping congregations; now those who put them to sleep are expected to wake them again. Then they walked, carrying their shoes in their hands until in sight of the church door. Now they go by steam and electricity, in carriages, cars and bicycles. Then there was heard on every hand the injunction "he that hath ears to hear let him hear." Now the spirit of the age says, "he that hath brains to think let him think." Mental indolence, like physical, is regarded as a criminal neg- lect of the most magnificent opportunities of life. At the clubs, in the taverns, with the newspapers, the wits, the great men of action, the men of art, literature, science, and learning, with those in the so-called hum- bler walks of life, in the factory and the mine, the schools and universi- ties, the churches and society, in law and justice, morals and manners, there has been complete, thorough and radical improvement. In gov- ernment itself, which is the highest aspiration of worldly struggles, the progress has been marked and universal.
And the chief interest of this glorious anniversary is not so much the past as the present. Not what our fathers were, but what we are. Not what they did as what we are doing. The adornments of the occa- sion are not relics of history, but the living sons and daughters of Milford, its cultivated citizens, its men and women of education, enlightenment and character : " here are to be found its true interest, its chief strength, its real power." These are the trophies of its centennial year.
This is not our only cause of congratulation. We are holding our family reunion, not in a dilapidated old homestead grown up and dis- figured with briers and bushes, with the moss covered bucket that hangs in the well, tumbling to pieces, with the latch-string broken or gone, with open doors creaking on rusty hinges, with bare walls and empty larder, with mould and decay everywhere visible, but rather in a com- modious and beautiful spot, surrounded with every sign and equipment of modern civilization. We are welcomed to a model town, with physi- cal comfort and spiritual grace. Its picture to-day is one of thrift, enter- prise and beauty. Its farms were never greener; its shops never more attractive ; its quarries of immaculate granite never more promising ;; its printing press never brighter or more active ; its schools and churches never more prosperous; its citizens never more enthusiastic and intelli- gent ; and its charming homes never more numerous and elegant; and so, with loyalty and filial reverence we say, "Let the dead past bury its dead," we are for the living present and for Milford as she is and will be.
" And green forever be the graves, And bright the flowing sod,
Where first the child's glad spirit loves Its country and its God."
John W Hutchison F. O. E.B.O.M. 26-184
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JOHN W. HUTCHINSON.
President Wallace :- One of the most remarkable and interesting productions of the town was the celebrated Hutchinson family of sing- ers, whose songs have delighted and instructed thousands and whose fame was not confined to this country, all of whom have passed away except one, John W. Hutchinson, the sole survivor of the family, who will favor us with an original song appropriate to the occasion.
"HOME OF MY BOYHOOD."
" O, home of my boyhood, my own native home, I love it the better wherever I roam."
COUNTRYMEN, CITIZENS, NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS :
We have reason to congratulate each other that we are privileged, under these favorable auspices, to assemble to celebrate an event like this-the establishment of the municipality, our town government.
More than a hundred years ago, our fathers settled in this beautiful valley of the Souhegan, fertilized from the waters that coursed along among these surrounding hills, by brooks and rivulets that are tributary to our beloved stream, gently flowing and flooding its banks, paying tribute by enriching its meadows and plains and insuring temporal bless- ings.
" Friends we all loved dwelt by these banks, And made their margins dear."
Blessed associations and thrilling memories of every event cluster about the century just past. One who for more than three-fourths of this time has personally taken cognizance of the eventful periods, finds his mind thrilled as memory presents to his view the scenes so connected with the locality. It fills my soul with gratitude, though mingled with sadness, that I have lived so much in this eventful century.
"Where are the friends of my youth ?" Many are lost in the grave's unconscious womb-yet fond memory brings to light the many pleasurable days with our associates ; the family circle, the common pub- lic school, so dear to every Yankee that it makes him revolt at every attempt to interrere with the plan of our fathers. The church in its primitive excellence, founded and established by the common demand of our spiritual and social nature, a factor in our relations in the body politic, and of consolation under affliction, linking the best of this tran- sitory existence to the real and the eternal, where the great majority re- side. "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." Music, the church's handmaid, plays an important part in its perpetuity.
I ought to say a word in regard to the building of the Baptist - now Methodist - church. I have been en rapport with the three gener- ations extending back more than a century. Our ancestors built well and conscientiously. " Uncle " Jesse -my father - and Andrew Hutch- inson, two brothers, worked on the building, with my grandfather, An-
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drew Leavitt, acting as master carpenter. Grandfather Leavitt was a soldier of the Revolution. He fought at the battle of Bunker Hill, and was one of the 300 who kept the British at bay. Afterward, he was detailed to build anew the waste places caused by the burning of Charles- town. This patriot received an honorable discharge at the end of seven years of conflict. He earnestly and honestly labored with these two brothers, for he could handle his kit of tools like an expert, and erected the Baptist Church - as he had previously aided in building the Con- gregational Church - later converted into a hall for town purposes-on the hill just by the north bank of our stream, subsequently removed to its present site. Grandfather Hutchinson was a member of this church, and served as clerk of the society.
Here we were nurtured in the tenets of the Baptist persuasion. For years, our family formed the principal part of the choir, and here Grand- father Leavitt, with father and mother, listened to the first concert of the Hutchinson family - tribe of Jesse, thirteen sons and daughters - given in the building they had so recently helped to erect. Solomon K. Livermore, Esq., a worthy citizen, volunteered and gave a very fine dis- course on music. The concert was a success, and compliments were most profuse.
It was on the farm we disciplined our voices, and learned to chant songs of freedom and of praise to the God of our fathers. We em- braced, as we thought, a religion that welcomed all the race of man to a common plane of brotherhood; our hearts beat in sympathy for the oppressed of all nations, and our souls were fired with indignation by the wrongs of four millions of bondmen. So we sang through the land in their behalf -
"Pity kind gentlemen, friends of humanity, Cold is the world to the cries of God's poor ; Give us our freedom, ye friends of christianity, Give us our rights, for we ask nothing more."
As members of the quartette, Judson, John, Asa and Abby, the four youngest of the family, we early trained our voices to sing with spirit and understanding, and soon moved the hearts of the public and won its plaudits. Here we commenced our original style of concerts, and after entertaining the people in the vicinity, ventured to the larger cities, Boston and elsewhere.
There came to our village in 1843 some radicals - William Lloyd Garrison and H. P. Rogers, with others. Among them were Parker Pillsbury, Stephen Foster, Abby Kelley and Fred Douglass, all laboring in the cause of freedom to remove from our escutcheon the stains of slavery. They held an anti-slavery meeting in the Congregational church. This, with similar meetings, aroused attention and sympathy for the down-trodden. The sentiments promulgated were in accord with our own, and so we joined the army of the Lord, to battle against the mighty. Most of our townsfolk enjoyed the music, though some would deride. But we heeded not their opposition, for the "God bless you" that came from a true abolitionist outweighed and tipped the beam of
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the scoffer or scornful, so we blessed them in return. All of the reform" ers mentioned frequently visited and were entertained at our house.
It might be profitable, if time would allow, to recite the names of hundreds of men and women, some few of whom survived the wreck of time and rounded out 100 years. We must recall Mrs. Towne, whose lights were not shadowed by cares and sorrows. Still the moment of demise came and her soul was wafted to the realms of eternal light. At our last call this centenarian held in her embrace the new family Bible just presented by Sister Abby and acknowledged the testimonial in sweet accented sentences, after which we sang : -
" My sister I wish you well ;
When our Lord calls, I trust we shall be mentioned in the promised land."
With her "amen," we breathed one more strain : - "We are almost home, to join the Angel band,"
A veteran of the Revolution, Col. Joshua Burnham, resided near my father's house. He presented my brother, who bore his name, his silk sash, which he once wore on parade when it was reviewed by General Washington. This is cherished as an heirloom. I remember some titled comrades once visiting him in his humble cot. They said one was of Washington's staff. He was an honored pensioner, and passed away at the age of 95. His epitaph reads thus : -
"Soldier of the Revolution, zealous in his country's cause. Faithful to the Constitution and obedient to its laws."
So the periods of time have marked the demise of the dear ones, the memory of whose virtues will be cherished by all succeeding generations. Patriots who toiled and in their country's cause bled nobly, and their deeds, as they deserve, received proud recompense.
Some names of our acquaintances we delight to mention, prominent among them : The Peabodys, Buxtons, Stimpson, Pearsons, Burns, Aver- ill, Bartlett, Ramsdell, Moore, Crosbys, Chase, Mills. The several tribes of Hutchinson, numbering at one time more than a hundred souls, all claiming kinship through somewhat remote scions with the family tree of 270 years' growth in America, were found scattered up and down in the valleys and on the hills on either side of the river Nearly all were agriculturalists. With the culture of cereals and vegetables, we, with most of the farming communities, obtained a large revenue from hop raising, The gathering of the crop was most pleasing, associated with aid from the men and women of our neighborhoods, who gathered in groups about the hop boxes, vieing with each other in their efforts to fill the largest heap of the cleanest picked into the box. The odor from the hops was most vivifying; love stories were told, or songs were sung, while all looked forward to the pay day. How solicitous were the pro- prietors as the inspector, Stephen Peabody, rode up the lane, and cutting a hole in the closely packed bag, took therefrom a handful of hops, and brought it in contact with his nose. Everything depended on the smell, for first or second would be the grade according to his whim. Opinions
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varied, but the ready cash that came in the sale of the article was judi- ciously appropriated for the comfort of the families. The wives some- times received the long-promised calico dress, and the children some shoes. Economy was a cardinal virtue for old and young in those days, for there was an established principle to pay one's debts.
In Washingtonian times we espoused the temperance reform. With this great reform came the giving up of the hop culture, so we sang "Plow up your hops " at a grand Convention held on Fourth of July. Cider making was much diminished. It was said one farmer in South Milford was so carried away by the excitement that he cut down all of his cider apple trees. The order of the Sons of Temperance was first organized in our hall, and Milford, for years, was the banner temperance town, so acknowledged by the state. Again, we raised our voices against this traffic, and the song was :-
" King Alcohol has many forms By which he catches men ; He is a beast of many horns, And ever thus has been."
There's rum and gin and beer and wine,
And brandy of logwood hue,
And these, with other fiends combined, Will make any man look blue.
He says, be merry, For here's your cherry, And port end sherry, And Tom and Jerry, And spirits of every hue,
O, are not these a fiendish crew, As ever mortal knew ?
The sequel to these excitements established sober homes. We held many temperance meetings and concerts, under the auspices of the State Temperance Committee or Associations.
How proud we, a band of fourteen boys, were to play our martial music as we marched at the head of the parade on training and muster days, each blowing with might his own air into his favorite instrument. The Kings, Halls, Turner, Buxton, Goss, French, were names of some of these musicians, members of the band. I delight to number with them Major Phineas Stimpson, who was the fifer and drummer. His occupa- tion was as a boot and shoemaker, and he whistled and hummed at every stitch he drew in his shoe. He was a lover of the art of music, and taught the rudiments in those early days - a worthy citizen. He served as undertaker for years.
Mr. Richardson directed the Baptist choir for a period, but resigned in favor of Brother Joshua, who served as chorister for the choir for twenty-five years. He had, as co-workers, his brothers, and so famous was the singing that the Congregational Society engaged brother Judson, and he, with Asa and myself, led the singing for a season. Jesse was then leading a choir in Lynn.
How well I remember the singing of three ladies who aided us. They were students in the female seminary, coming from adjoining
Benton. Jesse.
Hale.
DEARBORN MALE QUARTETTE.
Edmund.
Who sang "How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood." Sons of the late Dr. Thomas Benton Dearborn and Kate Hutchinson Dearborn. Grandsons of the late Judson J. Hutchinson of the original "Hutchinson Family."
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towns, and our hearts and souls were kindled with a flame of sacred love, and we worshiped at these shrines, and the associations ripened into harmony. Their names were Sarah French, Jane R. Freuch and Try- phenia Tupper. Jane is still living in Milford. At last, we unitedly re- solved to make propositions for engagement, and on Saturday night, each repaired to the home of his sweetheart, and asked the question, " Will you be mine ?" The answers were to be announced at our meet- ing the following day, but as the course of true love never does run smooth, the order was put in abeyance, and we were obliged to abide on probation : -
" Better, some adviser said, To always court and never wed."
Our family erected a building near the stone bridge, opposite the Baptist Church, and dedicated a hall, naming it Liberty Hall. Here meetings were held. Free discussions were permitted. We sang of freedom, as we could not sing in our old Baptist Church. Some said we would wreck our prospects of fame and fortune. What cared we, as long as we were in the way of duty? The very atmosphere was perme- ated with the pro-slavery spirit. It had captivated the whole nation, church, and state.
The United States suffered from the stigna of slavery in every nook and corner. The anti-slavery people were persecuted, mobbed, and driven from halls and churches where they attempted to speak. The fugitive slave law was enacted, compelling all citizens to become watch dogs to hunt down the runaways escaping from the tyrant's grasp en route towards the North Star of freedom.
We sang the song dedicated to Fred Douglass by brother Jesse :
" I'll be free ! I'll be free ! and none shall confine With fetters and bonds this free spirit of mine ! From my youth I have vowed in my God to rely, And despite the oppressor, gain freedom or die. Though my back is all torn by the merciless rod, Yet firm is my trust in the right arm of God, In His strength I'll go forth, and forever will be
'Mong the hills of the North, where the bondmen are free."
We were driven from the cities of Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Washington, and threatened with mobs in New York and Boston. In the latter city, Burns, the fugitive, was remanded back to slavery. The poor Whig party, by its mouthpiece, Daniel Webster, had fully suc- cumbed to this element. The South became en rapport with the democ- racy, and the Free Soil Party was filling its ranks with the best of the scattered fragments of the once proud though compromising Whig party which at last was reduced to the makeshift of such nominees as Bell and Everett, they receiving but three thousand votes in the canvass. So we sang : -
" Edward Everett oped his mouth For the votes of the South, But his wishy-washy speech was so rotten That it struck to his spine And he took a bee-line Lodged in State Street, behind a bag of cotton,"
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But Freemont was not elected, and time sped on. The opposition and excitement were at a white heat. Buchanan, the president, was bewildered, and the fire eaters were in danger of wrecking the ship of state. Lincoln, the Republican candidate, was nominated amid the storm of dissolving party strife; the campaign was vigorously prosecuted, and victory crowned the efforts of the new party. Lincoln was inaugu- rated, surrounded by the bitterest of traitors who had dogged his steps from Springfield, Illinois, to the Capitol -all the time in danger of as- sassination, and only by the timely announcement of the obligation rest- ing upon him to return the fugitives, was he rendered comparatively safe and enabled to take the oath of office.
Then followed the Rebellion - four years of war; first to save the Union, next to emancipate the slave. Milford, like all other loyal towns and cities north of Mason and Dixon's line, was aroused to action, and all, both Republicans and Democrats, vied with one another in volun- teering in this glorious warfare.
Some years previous to this, I was discussing with my friend, Oliver Lull, in his office, the vexing question of slavery. He spoke in pacific terms of the rights of the South. I said to him, "I suppose in keeping with your Democratic proclivities, if war was inevitable, you, sir, would be inclined to favor your Southern allies, and draw your sword in defence of their rights as against the North."
I can never forget the reply, as, raising himself to his full height from his seat, he answered, " No, never! I would be a volunteer in the armies of the North, and fight for Liberty and Union." And for thirty years his widow has been clad in the habiliments of mourning for a brave husband, soldier, and patriot, who sacrificed his life in defence of his country. Col. Lull's memory will long be cherished for his bravery, and all who fought under him will honor his name. The lines of Bryant, written for Lincoln, I will dedicate to Milford's noble son: -
" Thy task is done, the bond are free, We bear thee to an honored grave, Whose proudest monument shall be The broken fetters of the slave.
Pure was thy life, its bloody close Hath placed thee with the sons of light, Amid the noble host of those Who perished in the cause of right."
To return for a moment, to scenes in old Milford. In those old times, farmers contracted with their help during haying time for a supply of New England rum. Some could hold more, some less. A pint a day was considered a moderate supply.
All surplus funds from the avails of the Hutchinson's public con- certs abroad, we brought home to Milford, and they were loaned at small interest to our citizens. Thus, many local enterprises were inaugu- rated ; houses were built on Hay's hill on funds borrowed from the Hutchinsons. We purchased the old neglected store once occupied by Abial Lovejoy. He kept a grocery and dry goods store, and furnished
METHODIST CHURCH. As it was before it was remedelled.
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cod fish and crackers and rum and gin for the militia, which companies, on training days, rendezvoused in the old hall. The building was re- paired at an expense of $4,000 for stores, tenements, and a new, capa- cious hall above, dedicated on one Fourth of July to freedom.
I purchased of Dr. Fuller this estate, on which now stands our town hall, the library, and banquet hall, the bank building, the brick school- house, and numerous stores and dwellings. These lots were sold to par_ ties, and utilized as you see. Our family were present, and sang at the laying at the corner stone of the Town Hall.
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