USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Centennial celebration of Manchester, N.H., June 13, 1810-1910 > Part 2
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In the midst of this anxious era, during which the number of the inhabitants slowly grew less rather than more, war again stepped in to turn the minds of the people into a channel that must become the trend of all purpose, the defence of home and country. Had I the time, I could show to you that the opening gun of the Revolution was
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fired in this vicinity, and the British had barely begun their retreat from Lexington before John Stark had left his mill at Amoskeag and started towards the seat of war. Every able-bodied man in Derryfield, save two, immediately joined the rush to the front. Twenty-three of her sons fought under Capt. John Moore, the Knight of Old Derryfield, and with others from this vicinity stood behind the rail fence and grass breast works on Bunker Hill, upon that memorable 17th of June, when the invading host awoke to the realization that it had no slight task on hand. They tell us not one of the men from Derryfield fell in that terrific fight, but, when the smoke of battle had cleared, it was found that ninety-six of the red-coats lay on the field, mute witnesses of their unerring skill earned in border warfare.
June 1, 1776, every man in Derryfield, able to perform military duty, save those already at the front, signed the declaration of fidelity demanded by the Committee of Safety. Not a Tory here. Those then in the army were Col. John Stark, Col. John Moore, James McCalley, Capt. Alexander McMurphy, Capt. Nathaniel Martin, Nathaniel and Benjamin Baker, Sergt. Theopholis Griffin, and Lieut. Ephraim Stevens. Stark was with his regiment on that ill-advised campaign into Canada, and was at the head of a division under Sullivan at Trenton and Princeton. As it had been at Bunker Hill, it was the men from the Merri- mack valley who bore the brunt of the battle, who, more than others deserved the credit of the glory of the day. The sons of Old Derryfield were under the command of Sergt. Ephraim Stevens, and a mere handful of sixteen, following border tactics, captured sixty Hessians. General Sullivan, in reporting the results of the battle to the Com- mittee of Safety, frankly said: "Believe me, the Yankees took Trenton before the other troops knew anything of the matter."
The crowning glory of Old Derryfield remained to be won at Bennington, when her favorite son, placing love of
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country above personal wrongs, led his New Hampshire comrades to the proudest victory of that long and trying struggle for independence, a victory that brought hope to bosoms of despair, that raised permanently the standard of triumph against foreign oppression, and paved the way to freedom in America. So through all the vicissitudes of those trying years, whether at the front or amid the arduous duties at home, helping to sustain the war, Old Derryfield was never faithless to her trust. I have not the time to even mention the names of more than a trio of her heroes: Major John Webster, who was among the first in the field, among the last to lay aside his sword, was always foremost in the fray. Samuel Stark, a brother of General John Stark, who became honorably distinguished as "Uncle Sam," the first, to my knowledge, to bear the appellation since figuratively applied to the head of our government. Capt. Ephraim Webster, the boy sharpshooter of Benning- ton, and young scout of Old Ti, who in later years became the peace maker of the Onandagas of the Mohawk Valley, doing valiant service to the cause of the Americans, and who sleeps to-night honored by a monument raised to his memory by the Empire State.
"But after years the tale shall tell In words of light revealed; Who bravely fought-who nobly fell, And many a well-earned field, Outspread beneath the west'ring sun, Shall live with ancient Sparta's name, And Trenton's fight, and Bennington Be linked with old Platea's fame."
The war over and liberty an assured fact, we find her sons quickly falling into the ranks of peaceful duties. The men who had stood shoulder to shoulder in the brunt of battle now felt less of bitterness in times of peace. Religious differences softened, and personal demands assumed more conservative ends. Comrades at last came to see that the interest of one was the common good of
COHAS BROOK
BLODGET HOUSE
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all. Henceforth we see a gradual breaking down of bar- riers, old forms and 'customs changing with the new order of affairs. At the beginning of the Revolution, Derry- field had 285 inhabitants, consisting of 140 free males, 142 free females, and three slaves. At the close of its career, less than six hundreds.
Previous to December, 1775, warnings for town meet- ings and other public gatherings were opened with the dec- laration "In his Majestie's name," which was now succeeded by the new term "In the name of America." At a special town meeting, October 23, 1776, the designation "State of New Hampshire" was used for the first time, this following "Colony," which had earlier succeeded "Province." On November 20, 1776, for the first time we find, "In the name and virtue of the Younighted States of America."
During the regime of Old Derryfield, the first steps were taken towards the separation of church and state. During these years the first definite action was taken towards the establishment of schools, and on Christmas day, 1781, it was voted to hire a schoolmaster "nine months this year comeing." In 1793, classed with Litchfield, Derry- field sent its first representative to the state legislature, Major John Webster, a hero of the Revolution. In 1792, the gore of land called Henrysburgh was annexed to the town. In 1795, the first schoolhouse was built by private subscription, on the Bluffs near the Falls of Amos- skeag. This building was bought by the town at a vote March 5, 1798, and two other houses were ordered to be built. A social library had already been established, the second in the state, and at last the cause of education had gained a firm foothold.
The critical historian, without looking below the sur- face, stops to descant upon their lack of homely virtues; delights to dwell upen their religious dissensions, their inappreciation of education; how they sought to throw pro- tection about the slippery eel, and scorned to encourage progression; pictures to us in vivid language the brawls of
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boatmen and quarrels of greedy fishermen. No doubt they were men of rough exterior, men carrying still, in their minds and hearts, the influence of conflict, the strug- gle of border warfare, the fury of stubborn yet honest natures. The task before them was the same as has been performed by the vanguard of civilization in all ages. Theirs to clear the forest beneath whose shade they had pitched their tent; theirs to break the root-bound sod of the primeval wilderness; theirs to meet and overcome obstacles that must have deterred less determined spirits; theirs the will and the power to build better than they knew. One generation of such men is worth more to the upbuilding of the human race than half a dozen reared in affluence and trained in idleness.
With the broadening of educational interests, industry received a marked impetus. The pioneer in this respect was the Hon. Samuel Blodget, who more than any other man foresaw the future possibilities of the power of the Merrimack. The valley of the river far up into the state, even into Vermont, if sparsely settled promised a rich har- vest of trade to the centers which could draw it. Better ways of communication became a necessity. Turnpikes under the control of corporations were then the main arte- ries of business. Moved by slow going ox teams over these priced highways, the movement of produce and mer- chandise became both expensive and tedious. In this dilemma Judge Blodget saw that the Merrimack river could be made to become the great maritime road for the trans- portation of goods. Though a man then in his seventieth year, he entered upon the herculean task of making the river navigable. To do this the bed of the stream had not only got to be made clear, but the rapids must be sur- mounted. This the majority believed to be impossible. The most formidable obstruction was at the Falls of Amos- keag, and here Judge Blodget, confident of his ultimate success, began upon the morning of May 2, 1793, the mightiest task ever undertaken in this country by a single
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andividual at that time. Then followed fourteen years of earnest work; fourteen years of expenditure of what was, for the times, large sums of money; fourteen years of intense anxiety; fourteen years of the persecution of enemies and the faith of friends; fourteen years filled with vexatious disappointments and hardships; fourteen years, any one of which must have discouraged a less sanguine person than the stalwart projector of this great work; four- teen years of sacrifice to the upbuilding of the public good; fourteen years-and then another May morning, 1807, when the conqueror rode in triumph through the canal of his construction, amid the plaudits of a vast concourse of peo- ple who had gathered to witness this trial. At last Old Namaske had been conquered by man.
From the day of Judge Blodget's triumph, the entire history of Old Derryfield was changed. Already the first cotton mill had been erected across the river, and the hum of factory wheels was lending its subdued melody to the deeper tone of old Amoskeag. Marvelous changes were already springing into action. The old ways were ban- ished, even as one race had been dispersed to make room for another. Old customs must yield to new; old slow moving methods to the advanced movements of progress. The songs of an idle river and the music of the mighty anthems of the forests were supplanted by the voices of their conquerors.
But it is not for me to tell this story. It belongs to another era. I have already gone beyond the limit allowed me and must close. Had I a choice, I could not ask for a more fitting climax for my remarks.
Not only did Judge Blodget spend his ample fortune in the construction of his canal, but he prepared for further improvements and upbuilding at the falls. He instructed his son, Benjamin, to build a bridge from the west bank of the Merrimack over the rapids to Amoskeag Island, noted then as a fishing resort, and in only a few years became the site of one of the pioneer cotton mills in Manchester.
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He further anticipated the coming industries by purchasing a large area of land in Hooksett, having clay beds, with the idea of making brick with which to build manufac- tories. Nor was this dream unfulfilled, though he did not realize any profit from it. These same clay beds were later purchased by the Hon. Richard H. Ayer, and when the time came for them to be used the brick were made there that were utilized in constructing not only mills but busi- ness blocks and dwellings in the new town.
The history of Old Derryfield belongs to that of heroic days. Take from her, if you will, the glory of the years of industry that have followed, but you cannot dim the lustre of patriotism that brightens her memory. You cannot efface from her record the bravery of border wars, the heroism of the Horicon, the daring of Mount Abra- ham, the awakening of Bunker Hill, the spirit of Trenton, the history of Bennington, any more than you can despoil her of the glory of the conquest of Amoskeag.
The men and women of that period were typical of their times and surroundings, with the hardy courage to make the stand against the dangers of their day; with the will and the power to crush the foe that lay in wait for them; with the wisdom and the spirit to stamp these sand dunes with the seal of the coming metropolis. This was the legacy they left us, as we must leave our legacy to those who follow to-morrow.
"Needs there be praise of the love written record, The name and the epitaph graved on the stone?
The things we have lived for, let them be our story,
We, ourselves, but remembered for what we have done."
Following this address a slight change was made in the order of the program, and the pupils of the Webster-Street school gave a beautiful rendering of "The Spacious Firma- ment on High," from Creation.
The President then introduced Edwin F. Jones, Esq., as a well-known orator, a successful lawyer and a former schoolmate, who delivered the following oration on "Man- chester; Then and Now."
GEN. JOHN STARK
HON. SAMUEL, BLODGET
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MANCHESTER -- THEN AND NOW
We meet here to-night to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the naming of the municipality of Man- chester. The simple change of the name Derryfield to Manchester may seem a small thing to celebrate, but it marks an epoch in the life of our community and furnishes an appropriate occasion for our people to pause a bit in the daily routine of existence; to turn from the thoughts and labors of our work-a-day lives and spend a little while in contemplating the past; to consider what manner of men and women they were who have gone before us, what they did when they occupied the place where we now make our homes, and how we compare with them in purpose and achievement.
To the man who sees only the practical side of things, and to whom money getting seems the chief aim in life, such a celebration may appear trivial. But we must remember that human nature has an æsthetic side which needs developing, that there is another view of existence beside the utilitarian one. Knowledge is a good thing of itself, without regard to its practical application, and what- ever adds to a man's knowledge adds to his power to carry on properly the activities of life. To increase that power is the main purpose of education, and no part of the cur- riculum of the schools is more important than the study of history, and the history of no part of the world is more interesting and instructive than that of the community in which one lives, and so far as such occasions as this tend to foster an interest in the growth of the home community and to increase the knowledge of the local events and peo- ple of bygone days, they justify the time and labor involved in promoting them.
I shall recur no further into the past than the single century which closes tonight. The story of Indian life at this seat of tribal government, of the bold and hardy con- duct of the first settlers in the wilderness, of the deeds of
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the Rangers which lend a romantic flavor to the tales of the Indian wars, of the heroic struggles of the Revolution when Derryfield sent so large a proportion of its able- bodied men to fight in the cause of liberty and popular government,-these things have no place in my remarks. My task is to try to picture the town which, one hundred years ago to-day, was re-baptized, and to draw the contrast which the present condition of the same territory affords. "Then and Now" is my theme.
On the bank of the river now known as the Irwell, in that part of England called Lancashire, the ancient Roman had a camp or "castrum" named "Mancunium." The Saxon records show that about the year 923, King Edward sent a number of his Mercian troops to repair and garrison the fortress at "Manig-ceaster." The place was mentioned in the Doomsday Book as one of four in Western Lancashire. It is known that woolen manufac- turing was carried on there in the 13th century, and in the reign of Henry VI, in the year 1552, laws were passed by parliament, regulating the length of "Manchester cotton," which, notwithstanding their name, were probably woolen goods. In 1850, the cloth manufacturers of Manchester ranked among the first in England in extent and impor- tance and its people were described as "the most industri- ous in the northern part of the kingdom." The inade- quate supply of cotton goods, along the middle of the 18th century, stimulated efforts for increasing the means of production; and the machines successively invented by Arkwright, Hargreaves and others, furnished the means, and the efficiency of these machines was greatly heightened by the perfection of Watts' steam engine. In 1783, Man- chester, with Salford on the other side of the river, which bears the same relation to old Manchester, as West Man- chester now bears to this side of the Merrimack river, although it has always had a separate borough government, had a population of 39,000, mainly given over to the manu- facture of cloth. This was the Manchester which Samuel
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Blodget prophesied would be equalled by Old Derryfield when the power of the Amoskeag Falls was properly har- nessed to the uses of the spindle and loom. In a certain sense, the prophesy has been literally fulfilled. Our Man- chester is "the Manchester of America," and it is, to-day, larger and more prosperous than was the original Manches- ter when Judge Blodget returned from England in 1787. Our municipality has progressed farther in the last hun- dred years than did the English Manchester in thirteen centuries of known history.
In 1810, the Town of Derryfield consisted of that part of our present city which lies east of the Merrimack river. Amoskeag was then a part of Goffstown, and what we call West Manchester, then the little village of Piscataquog, was a part of Bedford. And it was not until 1853 that the territory west of the river was annexed to Manchester. This town of Derryfield was inhabited by a population of 615, according to the census of 1810, farmers, lumbermen, boatmen and their families. A very few persons resident here may have been working in a small mill on the Goffs- town side of the river, near the falls. By the Blodget canal, it was possible to pass a boat around the falls. In this community life was prosaic and uneventful. Neither great riches nor dire poverty existed here. The people were vigorous and independent; they had to work hard to extract a living from the unwilling soil. They gave some little attention to education, maintaining schools in five school districts, but there, probably, was not a college educated man in the town; there was no doctor, lawyer or settled minister. The people were more orthodox in their belief than in their conduct. Amusements were scarce. A barn raising or husking bee brought the young folks together. Wrestling was a favorite sport and at times the friendly bouts developed into free fights. Rum, West Indian or New England, was the prime accessory at all gatherings, whether at dance or wedding or funeral. It was a democratic community where every man was as good
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as his neighbor, and oftentimes, in his own opinion, a little better. It was a typical frontier settlement, in that state which follows the complete expulsion of the native savages and sees the beginnings of a real civilized existence.
The men of Derryfield were a homogeneous lot. They were the first or second generation following the hardy set- tlers who made New Hampshire, who, with wives and chil- dren, pushed out into the wilderness, climbed the lofty hills and dotted their slopes with happy homes, and, by their industry planted the fair valleys of the Merrimack and Connecticut, and builded here a commonwealth where freedom dwelt; where they could worship God after the dictates of their own consciences and were asked to call no man master. The fathers of the men of Derryfield-and some of them as well,-had assisted prominently in over- throwing kingly rule in America, to the end that the rule of the people might have full sway. In the town meeting, all local matters were argued and decided, and Derryfield had an equal opportunity with Litchfield to be represented every other year in the legislature of the state.
If would appear that there were but two facts which made our old town at all notable. One was Amoskeag Falls, with their fisheries and possibilities; the other was that General John Stark still lived and had his home here. The old hero, after his eminent services in the Revolution, refused public office except in his town, devoted his time to farming and to his lumbering interests, accumulated a com- fortable property, and, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, was enjoying a happy and serene old age.
At the Derryfield town meeting, held March 13, 1810, the following vote was passed: "Voted Thomas Stickney, John G. Moore & Amos Weston be a Committee to peti- tion the General Court to have the name of the Town of Derryfield altered to that of Manchester." Thomas Stick- ney was the grandson of Judge Samuel Blodget, who in his lifetime had been the most active inhabitant of the terri- tory now known as Manchester, in the developing of its
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resources and establishing industries. Judge Blodget lived both in Amoskeag and on this side of the river. He spent his fortune, which for the time was quite considerable, on his project for a boat canal around Amoskeag Falls and had died a few years before, still full of hope for the future of his enterprise and seeing with accurate eye the oppor- tunities for a larger community where then existed a few sandy farms, a goodly lot of pine forests and a most excel- lent fishing place. He was the pioneer in the industrial and business life of Manchester, and greater recognition should be accorded his achievements and influence than they have yet received from the people of the city whose godfather he was. Amos Weston was, I believe, the grand- father of the late Governor James A. Weston, and John G. Moor was a leading member of a family which was very prominent in the early days, with numerous descendants still living here.
The petition of the town was duly presented to the legislature, and on June 13, 1810, John Langdon, as gov- ernor, affixed his signature to an engrossed bill, reading as follows:
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ten
An Act to Alter the Name of the Town of Derryfield in the County of Hillsborough, in said State to the Name of Manchester.
WHEREAS the inhabitants of the town of Derryfield in the County of Hillsborough, have petitioned this legislature to have the name of said town altered to that of Manchester; therefore,
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
That said town of Derryfield shall forever hereafter be called and known by the name of Manchester, any law, usage or custom to the con- trary notwithstanding.
On this bill are the following endorsements, showing the rapid progress of the bill:
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In the House of Representatives, June 13th, 1810.
The foregoing bill having had three several readings passed to be enacted.
Sent up for concurrence.
(Signed) CHARLES CUTTS, Speaker.
In the Senate June 12th, 1810.
This bill having been read a third time was enacted.
(Signed) WILLIAM PLUMMER, President.
Goodly signatures were those on this name certificate of Manchester. Charles Cutts, a Harvard graduate, law- yer, twice United States senator to fill vacancies, and serv- ing eleven years as secretary of the federal senate. Wil- liam Plummer, liberally educated, lawyer, speaker of the state house of representatives, governor four times, United States senator, and the one presidential elector in 1820 who refused to cast his vote for James Monroe, on the ground that no man but Washington ought to be honored by receiving the unanimous vote of the electoral college as president.
And John Langdon, merchant, patriot, member of the Continental Congress, member of the convention that framed the National Constitution, president of the state under the first constitution and governor several times under the amended one, United States senator and first president pro tem of the senate, offered the post of secre- tary of the navy in 1811 and the nomination for vice-pres- ident on the ticket with Madison in 1812, but declining both these honors.
But those official sponsors, could they gaze on our city at the close of one hundred years since they signed that act, might well say that the name then given was truly prophetic and that no ironical criticism of the choice of names can justly be made.
Let us look a little at this newly christened town of Manchester. There were 113 resident and 17 non-resident tax payers carried on the tax list of 1810. The largest tax paid was by Isaac Huse, and his tax was $16.30. Besides
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the farms, horses, cattle, timber land and one or two small grist and saw mills, $1,350 money at interest were men- tioned in the inventory, of which $700 belonged to General Stark, the rest being divided among three other men, who, with the general, I suppose, were the local representatives of the wealthy bond holding class of the day.
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