USA > New Hampshire > Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. I > Part 34
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It is related of the celebrated Hannah Dustin. who was captured by the Indians at Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1697, and escaped by killing her captors, ten in number, that in her lonely wander- ings down the Merrimack, from the mouth of the Contoocook in Concord, New Hampshire, the first house she reached was the home of this ancestor of Mrs. Eddy.
Ancient manuscripts quaintly relate, "Between 1752 and 1756 died John Lovewell at the great age of one hundred and twenty years, the oldest person who ever deceased in New Hampshire."
Mrs. Eddy's great-great-grandfather, the illus- trious Captain John Lovewell, son of the former, is famed in colonial song and story for his valor and patriotism. The safety of the entire New Hampshire colony was menaced by the rapine and butchery of the cruel savages. In the crisis, when others had failed and all efforts resulted only in disaster, Captain Lovewell organized a brave com- pany, went forth into the wilderness, met and de- feated the enemy, and bestowed lasting peace upon the struggling colony. The peace was, however, dearly bought, for the intrepid warrior sacrificed his life for his country's welfare. The grateful com- monwealth of Massachusetts bestowed upon him and his brave band of heroes the town of Pem- broke (now in New Hampshire). and hither Cap- tain Joseph Baker brought his bride Hannah, the fair daughter of the well loved Captain Lovewell, who inherited her father's broad acres in the val- ley of the Merrimack.
Hannah Lovewell Baker, Mrs. Eddy's great- grandmother was a worthy daughter of her heroic sire. A tribute to her character is quoted from the "History of Pembroke," page 59: "These were times that tried men's souls. They were led to de- velop those strong and sterling qualities of char- acter, which made conspicuous the nobilities of their manhood and patriotism. Nor were the women behind the men in the display of those qualities. We give an illustration. It is said that Hannah, the daughter of the brave Captain John Lovewell, and wife of Captain Joseph Baker, was washing by a spring or stream, when an alarm was given of the pres- ence of Indians in the neighborhood. The men on their way to a place of safety, found her at work. and urged her to flee for shelter. But she was resolute and persistent. Having work in hand, she would not move until she had finished, Indian or no Indian. The men in their hurry to reach the fort left her. Telling there the story, a rescuing party was sent after her, and found her leisurely coming to the garrison with her basket of clean clothes."
We have already transcribed the written records of the historic Baker family in New Hampshire. The brief sketch herein given is an eloquent witness to a race of men who were lovers of liberty, heroic defenders of their homes and native land. They were of that class of sturdy, self-reliant men whose self-sacrificing labors gave birth to these United States of America, and whose indomitable energy and strict integrity established and have preserved those inalienable rights which have found a glorious expression in the free school, the free ballot, the . free press and the free church. Both sides of Mrs. Eddy's family were founders of local churches. Her mother's father was Deacon Nathaniel Ambrose, and through his generosity and labors was founded the North Congregational Church of Pembroke, New Hampshire, known as Deacon Ambrose's Church. The historian also tells us that so largely was the Baker family interested in founding the Methodist Church of that town that "with propriety it might have been called the Baker Meeting House."
High on the hills of Bow. above the mists of the winsome valley of the Merrimack, somewhat apart from the dusty highway, in a home where family prayers began each day's activities, where a mother's love was radiant as the summer sun- shine, gentle as the falling dew that bathes the roses of June, was born the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. She was the last welcomed member in this family of three sons and three daughters. The Baker homestead
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was a favorite resort for leaders in church and state. The clergy found here a cordial welcome, and teachers and scholars, governors and at least one president of the United States, were wont to fre- quent it. From birth Mary Baker was different from other children. It was her joy to be in the mother's presence, and the slightest wish of her loved one called forth immediate obedience. She was as shy and retiring as the fawn of the wood- land, as meek and modest as the arbutus of spring, as pure and chaste as the blue skies of New Hamp- shire. So little tainted was the child with the things of earth, so true and loving. so kind and gentle, that a well-known minister of the Gospel said of her that "she was sanctified before she had birth." Yet she was always doubting her own goodness, and praying for deliverance from the bondage of sin.
As Mary Baker grew older, in so far as her strength would permit, for she was a frail child, she became the helper and the friend of all. To her tender care the father entrusted the neglected nestlings and the motherless lambs, and under her gentle ministration they grew well and strong. With her less fortunate playmates she gladly shared her childish treasures and even her wardrobe, so for- getful of self, so thoughtful of others, so rare and radiant was the spirit of this child.
She was gifted with unusual and extraordinary mental powers. Her father believed that her brain was too large for her body, and so kept her much out of school, but she seemed to gain knowledge intuitively. A private tutor declared that she had mastered studies, which, as a matter of fact, she had never entered upon, so quick was she in compre- hension. She was blessed with a marvelously re- tentive memory. No more than a second reading of a long poem was needed in order that she might Tepeat it entire. On returning from church she was able to recall the leading points of the sermon, which she pondered throughout the week. At ten years of age she was a reader of philosophical works which puzzled her elders. The son of Rev. Enoch Corser, A. M .. who was a neighbor friend, has written of her, "She was about fifteen when I first knew her. She and my father used to con- verse on deep subjects frequently, too deep for me. She was always pure and good, and she stands out in my mind as my father's brightest pupil."
In 1836 Mark Baker moved his family from Bow to Sanbornton, New Hampshire, to give them wider educational advantages. Mary Baker became a pupil in the Sanbornton Academy. Among her teachers were Professor Ira Sanborn, author of Sanborn's Grammar, Rev. Enoch Corser, A. Al., Sarah J. Bowdell Lane, and her scholarly and dis- tinguished brother, Albert Baker, Esq., a foremost member of the New Hampshire bar. At ten years of age she was as familiar with Lindley Murray's grammar as she was with the Westminster Cate- chism, and the latter she read every Sunday. Her favorite studies were natural philosophy, logic and moral science. In addition she received lessons from her brother Albert in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. She was happy in readmig the great . masterpieces. The Bible, Milton. Shakespeare, Mrs. Hemans, and Young's "Night Thoughts," were help- ful in forming her clear and forceful style of writ- ing and speaking. At an early age she evinced marked literary ability. In childhood her thought naturally expressed itself in poetry, and verses flowed from her pen with all the sparkle and free- <1om of mountain streams. Her modesty and re- Inciance to appear before the public caused her
to write under different noms des plume. At six- teen years of age she was a regular contributor to public press and magazine. Her writings were of such a high order of merit that selections ap- pear in a volume of Prose and Poetry from well known New England authors, published in 1850, twenty-five years before the publication of her text- book of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." During her residence in the south she wrote frequently for southern maga- zines, and on her return to the north, so widely and favorably known had she become as an author of merit, that her compositions were eagerly sought "by leading magazines both north and south. Those who study her writings are impressed .by the thorough familiarity with the best in literature, which is therein displayed.
Mrs. Eddy early allied herself with the moral forces arrayed for the public good. The "National Encyclopedia of American Biography" says of this religious reformer: "Iler spiritual ideal is in- separable from her life, and reflects the true di- vinity, not in creeds and codes, but facts and quali- ties inherent in her own noble character. Her life is one of noiseless charities, of gentleness and tenderness of indefatigable toil and unparalleled self-immolation ; yet she unsparingly rebukes sin in all its forms and phases."
Her brother Albert was one of the earliest temperance workers and orators of New Hampshire. He gave the first address and drew up the first temperance pledge in the state. Mrs. Eddy signed it, and when in Lynn, Massachusetts, while a mem- ber of the Good Templars, reformed many drunk- ards, and saved the Women's Branch of the Temple of Honor from being a complete wreck, in one year adding to its number seventy-five members. When the civil war broke out she rendered loyal service in behalf of the brave soldiers. ller effective labors were recognized by General Benjamin F. Butler, and his aide-de-camp wrote : "The General be- lieves that with the aid of such women the war would soon be over."
It was not a flower-strewn pathway over which Mrs. Eddy passed to her great discovery. The story of those eventful years suggests the poet's lines :
"The good are better made by ill, As odours crushed are sweeter still."
In the springtide of a noble womanhood she was claimed as the bride of a southern gentleman, Major George W. Glover, of Charleston, South Carolina. Major Glover was a successful archi- tect, in charge of large government contracts. Ile was a laster Mason, and was the soul of honor. While superintending his important interests in Wil- mington, North Carolina, he was strieken with a fatal fever, and the bride of a few months was left a widow.
Faithful and true were the noble-hearted Ma- sonie brethren of the south. They reverently per- formed the last sad rites for their departed brother, and tenderly cared for his stricken widow. No service was left undone, no detail forgotten. With all the chivalry of southern gentlemen, with all the historie devotion of true Masons, they satisfactorily adjusted all business affairs, provided for her needs, accompanied her to the railway station, a com- mittee journeyed with her to the north, and only bade her farewell when she was within the shelter of her father's home. Mrs. Eddy wrote tenderly of this trial hour in her Dedicatory Message to
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the church at Atlanta. "Did that midnight shadow, falling upon the bridal wreath, bring the recom- pense of human woe, which is the merciful design of divine Love, and so help to evolve that larger sympathy for suffering humanity which is emanci- pating it with the morning beams and noonday glory of Christian Science."
Four months after her return to the north, her only child was born, George Washington Glover. Into her night of sorrow there came this glad ray of sunshine. She loved her child as only a true mother loves, and gave to him her heart's de- votion. Her long continued illness necessitated the placing of the child in the hands of a nurse. Un- known to the invalid mother, the child was removed to the distant west. Through a false report he was led to believe that his mother was dead. At the breaking out of the civil war he served with distinction, and at its expiration he was appointed United States marshal of Dakota. Learning by a strange provi- dence of his mother, he returned to Boston with his family, and they were her welcome guests. Though he went back to the west to superintend his business enterprises, he has returned from time to time to find the mother's love unchanged.
Mrs. Eddy's second marriage was not so for- tunate as the first, and from it she was compelled to seek a legal separation, which was granted her. One motive of this union was to provide a home for her child. In this desire she inet with disap- pointment, as her husband was not willing to carry out her wishes in this respect. He has since ac- knowledge that his wife was a pure Christian woman, that he was wholly to blame for the separa- tion. and that if he had done as he ought he might have had a happy home.
Nor were these fiery trials the only ones through which she passed. The furnace of affliction spared not this gentle woman in the preparation for the mighty mission entrusted to her keeping. When most she needed her beloved brother Albert's pro- treting care, death parted them. Close were the ties which bound them. Theirs was a mutual love for the best in literature, and a common interest in profound philosophical and metaphysical subjects. Ilis manly strength was her strong support; her ver-atile and brilliant gifts were his delight. With a bright career before him, recognized as one of the ablest lawyers of New Hampshire, esteemed as a statesman of spotless integrity, beloved by his friends and honored by his foes, such was Albert Baker, and by none was his loss so deeply felt as by his sister Mary. Remembering her long life of devotion to the cause of her great Master, one is led to ask if this great sorrow may not have brought its teaching that "there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
In a peaceful spot in the village cemetery of Til- ton. New Hampshire, there is a simple shaft with the name of Abigail Baker, died November 21. 1849. What the world owes to the sainted mother buried there is little known. It was she who helped the child Mary to that undying love for the sacred Scriptures, and first inspired her with the faith that God is "a very present help in trouble." This mother was her refuge and strength, her shield and support. Yet in the hour when she seemed of miost help, she was taken from her. Jesus taught his disciples that his departure woukl bring to them the Comforter. Likewise the departure of the beloved earthly mother may have led the Discoverer of Christian Science to rely more closely upon God, the infinite Mother Love. Profoundly true
are Shakespeare's words when applied to Mary Baker Eddy: "Sweet are the uses of adversity."
Concord's ex-mayor and former postmaster, the Honorable Henry Robinson, who has long known Mrs. Eddy, has eloquently written of her: "From infancy her life has been a marked one. Even in girlhood she was far in advance of others of her age. One of the favorite pictures in her home is that of Jesus, the youth, debating with the wise men, and as she stood for a moment near it, the thought came to the writer's mind-how much like the Great Master."
In childhood's sunny hours, mysterious voices called her as they did the child Samuel. Their meaning was not then revealed. To the higher voice she has listened, and with loyal obedience has given earnest heed.
When four or five years of age she attended school. A childish game was played by the little ones at this time, in which they separated them- selves into groups and confided to each other their hopes and expectations. When it was Mary's turn to answer, she would say decisively, "I shall write u book" and no amount of disapproval from her school mates, who thought this a very stupid am- bition, could make her change this decision. At an early age she wrote verses which express thought that are akin to the teaching of Christian Science.
- When the hour arrived in which she was to unite with the Christian Church, her loving, Christ- like nature rejected the rigid Calvinistic doctrine of foreordination and election. So disturbed was she at the direful fate to which her own brothers and sisters were relentlessly consigned that she was thrown into a fever. Her mother turned her thoughts to God in prayer, and the answer came in a great peace and calm. She had heen healed through no earthly agency. Perfect love had cast out fear and God was found a present help.
Though reasoned with by pastor and deacons, the youthful applicant for church membership con- tinued steadfast in her conviction of the loving- kindness of God. When brought before a church meeting and questioned as to hier attitude, she replied, "I can only answer in the words of the Psalmist, 'Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' " With tears in their eyes, pastor, deacons and church members, despite her strict adherence to her convictions, unanimously welcomed her into the church coven- ant.
Mrs. Eddy's brother Albert was an earnest stu- dent of metaphysics, and she shared his researches and investigations. The material philosophy of the age did not satisfy those advanced thinkers, and together they were working their way out of the old toward the new. With a hope to improve her own health, Mrs. Eddy studied Homoeopathy. She was deeply impressed by the fact that the higher the attenuation the better seemed the results. She saw that the less there was of the material medicine the better the healing. She found that patients were cured with unmedicated tablets, or with a tea- spoonful of water given every hour; even though devoid of the drug. Her aversion to the dissecting room prevented her from obtaining an expert knowledge of surgery and from completing her course, but her experiments in Homeopathy were valuable in directing her attention to the proposition that all causation is mental.
While Mrs. Eddy was an inmate of Dr. Vail's Ilydropathic Institute in New Hampshire. in the
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year 1862, a patient, therein considered incurable, left the institute, and a few weeks later returned apparently well. He said he had been healed by one P. P. Quimby, of Portland, Maine. This inci- dent led Mrs. Eddy to visit Portland and receive treatment from Mr. Quimby. His methods seemed at first to bring relief, but he failed to heal the case. She found him to be a magnetic practitioner. In response to a question as to how manipulation could benefit the sick, he replied substantially : "Because it conveys electricity to them." He was not an educated man, and could give no intelligent explanation of his cures. There is absolutely no room for skepticism as to the author of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." In all history there is not one fact more indisputably at- tested, not one more certainly verified. than the fact that the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science is also the sole author of its text-book.
History records that Mrs. Eddy's sincere de- sire has been to make the healing ministry of Christ Jesus and his church available for present human needs. From earliest childhood she was a clevout student of the Bible, and pondered earnestly the Master's mighty works and his command to his followers to heal the sick. In the life-giving words and healing Gospel of the great Physician, she sought long and prayerfully for the balm where- with he cured diseases and overcame death.
God surely meant that the search of this faith -- ful disciple should be richly rewarded. Mrs. Eddy thus speaks of her discovery of Christian Science in her book, "Retrospection and Introspection":
"It was in Massachusetts, in February, 1866, that I discovered the Science of Divine Metaphysical Healing, which I afterwards named Christian Science. The discovery came to pass in this way. During twenty years prior to my discovery, I had been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained the scientific certainty that all causation was mind, and every effect a mental phenomenon. My immediate recovery from the effects of an injury caused by an accident, an injury that neither medicine nor surgery could reach, was the falling apple that led me to the discovery.
Mrs. Eddy did not retain for personal advan- tage this spiritual under standing of God-the cura- tive principle of sickness and sin-through whom all the healing in Christian Science is wrought. She spent the next three years after her licaling in retirement, studying the Bible and finding therein the principle and rule of her own healing. She then tested this pathological system in every pos- sible way, and gladly revealed the divine way to students who at length spread the good tidings. Eager that the world might farther and more freely possess the sacred discovery entrusted to her keep- ing, in 1875, after long years of profound study of the Bible, she sent forth on its mission of love the text-book of Christian Science, "Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures."
Thus Mrs. Eddy, in the latter half of the ninc- teenth century, discovered the Science of Christianity which she named Christian Science. She healed the first case in this century by Christian Science. She taught the first student in Christian Science Mind-healing. She was the author and publisher of the first books on this subject; obtained the first charter for the first Christian Science Church, originated its form of government and was its pastor; and donated to this church the land on which in 1894 was crected the first church edifice of this denomination in Boston; obtained the first
and only charter for a Metaphysical medical college -was its first and only president; was editor and proprietor of the first Christian Science periodical, and has established all its succeeding periodicals ; organized the first Christian Scientist Associati 12 and gave it the Christian Science Journal; founded the Board of Lectureship: planned and established the Christian Science Publication Committees in this and foreigh lands; inaugurated the denominational form of Sunday services, Sunday school, and the entire system of teaching and practicing Christian Science. (Sce "Miscellaneous Writings," page
382.)
In ISS9 Mrs. Eddy closed the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, notwithstanding that hundreds of applicants were awaiting admission, and retired to Concord, New Hampshire. Her purpose in doing this was to secure seclusion and time in which to revise Science and Health, and further extend her field of labor. Later she established a Board of Education, based on the College, which board is now in active operation.
Forty eventful years have passed since Mary Baker Eddy made her great discovery of Christian Science. Its garnered harvests include more than a million persons healed of sickness and advancing spirituality. Forty years ago there was but one Christian Scientist. To-day it has representatives in every state and territory of America, and in seventy-five foreign countries. Her first church was organized in 1879. To-day (1906) it has more than a thousand worshipping congregations in this and foreign lands. The text-book of the denomination has reached its four hundredth edition of one thou- sand copies, and Mrs. Eddy's writings have a circulation approaching one million copies. The Publishing House in Boston distributes more than five million pages of printed literature each month. and there were published during the past twelve months three times as many copies of "Science and Health" as were sold during the first twelve years. of its history.
The Mother Church in Boston, The First Church of Christ. Scientist, was built in 1894, at a cost of more than $200,000. To this church Mrs. Eddy gave the land, valued at $20,000. The church edifice became entirely inadequate to accommodate the throng of worshippers. and in 1906 the magnificent extension to The Mother Church of Christ, Scien- tist, was completed, which seats over five thousand persons, and two million dollars were already paid for it. Both structures were not only dedicated frec of debt. but in each case. before the day of dedication, the treasurer requested that no more contributions be forwarded. as sufficient funds were already in hand to meet all obligations.
This religion is confined to no state or nation. Its churches and members are to be found through- out the United States and in Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Australia, China, India. South Africa, South America, the Bahamas, Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippine Islands, the Republic of Mexico, Alaska, and in many of the English colonics. Beautiful and commodious edifices for worship are owned and occupied by this rapidly growing de- nomination in nearly all the large cities of the United States and Canada. Chicago has six large churches, with five handsome edifices. The city of Greater New York has nine churches and five church buildings, two of which are distinguished. Concord, New Hampshire, has a strong organization and a beautiful granite church, a gift from Mrs. Eddy, which cost. over two hundred thousand dol-
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