USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > Historical sketches of Peterborough, New Hampshire : portraying events and data contributing to the history of the town > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
Although this did not result in immediate action, its ultimate effect was that at the annual town meeting on March 9, 1909, it was voted on motion of Mr. Brennan "That the selectmen be instructed to have Vol. I of the town records treated with the silk process and securely bound, and- -- that the expense-be paid out of money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated."
Again, at the annual meeting of the society on Dec. 2, 1907, it was voted "That Mr. Brennan be appointed a committee to see that the matter of a suitable survey of the old cemeteries be brought before the citizens of the town at their annual town meeting."
Accordingly in March, 1908, at the town meeting it was voted, "That a survey and plan of the two old ceme- teries on the hill be prepared, that a copy of the inscriptions on all the gravestones be made and printed for permanent preservation and free distribution under the direction of a committee of three to be appointed by the moderator, and that a sum not exceeding $200. be raised and ap- propriated for the same." The com- mittee who carried into effect this motion were J. F. Brennan, E. W. Jones, and Wm. Moore. And the resulting illustrated pamphlet of 68 pages takes creditable rank among the society's publications.
The society's activity in local work is marked, first, by the publication in 1906 of blanks for collecting family history. These have been circulated from time to time, and are still ob- tainable. At present the society's file of those returned numbers one hundred fifteen.
In recent years, a suitable marker was placed beneath the portrait of Washington, the gift to the town of Catharine Putnam. In 1915, a native boulder with bronze tablet was set in place in the easterly part of the town to mark the site of the birthplace of Gen. James Miller.
At the organization meeting in 1902, Mr. Brennan submitted a plan, which was adopted by the society, regulating the manner and style of the publication of historical papers. It provides, also, for the re-publica- tion of any worthy historical article which should appear in the "Peter- borough Transcript." And up to date, the collected publications num- ber 248 double-column pages of uni- form size and type.
There are four re-published articles of historic interest: namely, "A Topographical and Historical Ac- count of Peterborough, N. H., 1822," by Rev. Elijah Dunbar, the last town minister; 'The First Presbyterian Church of Peterborough, 1856," copied from the first church manual; another, "Catharine Putnam," by Jane Lothrop Motley, read at the un- veiling of the tablet placed in Putnam Grove by the local D. A. R. chapter; and "Recollections of Peterborough Churches in the Early Forties of the Nineteenth Century," by Elias H Cheney.
300
Peterborough Historical Society Collections
All other papers seem to be more distinctly the individual work of the society, inasmuch as most of them were written by its members, or by invitation of the society for special occasions. They are as follows:
The "Survey," already mentioned, the work of Mr. Brennan, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Moore; one paper by Col. Chas. Scott, "A Sketch of the Fire Department and the Aquarius En- gine Company"; two papers by Hon. Ezra M. Smith, "Schoolhouses in Peterborough, and a Description of District No. 5," and his "Address at the Unveiling of the Catharine Put- nam Tablet"; three papers by Mr. J. F. Brennan, "The Peterborough Academy, 1836-1903," "What was the origin of the Name of Our Town?" and "Scraps of Early Military Hist- ory of Peterborough"; four papers by Hon. Jonathan Smith, "The Old Street Road in Peterborough"; "The Origin of the Name of the Town of Peterborough, N. H."; a series of articles entitled "Annals of Peter- borough," and his "Address at the Dedication of the Gen. James Miller · Tablet"; and one paper by F. B. Sanborn, "The Walkers of Peter- borough."
In addition to these there was pub- lished in 1913 in the name of the so- ciety the valuable work of 424 pages by Hon. Jonathan Smith on "Peter- borough, N. H., in the American Revolution."
At the September meetings, since 1907, the society has usually been entertained by some of its members; frequently by Mrs. C. F. Bass, also by Miss Morison, Mr. and Mrs. Batchelder, Mr. and Mrs. L. C. Cor- nish, and Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Adams. On these occasions, by invitation of the society different speakers have delivered historical addresses. On one, the distinguished Franklin Ben- jamin Sanborn, "the sage of Con- cord," gave an address on "The Walkers of Peterborough." Other speakers have been Rev. J. L. Seward of Keene on "The Wilsons of Peter- borough"; Hon. J. F. Brennan on "Historical Researches in Ireland"; Samuel Eliot Morison, Ph.D., of Cambridge, on "New England One Hundred Years Ago"; on two oc- casions, Rev. L. C. Cornish, of Cam- bridge, on "The Settlement of Hing- ham," and "The Story of the Isles of Shoals, the One Island of New Hamp-
shire"; and on three occasions, the Hon. Jonathan Smith on "The Early Proprietors of Peterborough," "The Robbes, Whites, and Scotts of Peter- borough in the Revolutionary War," and "Peterborough in the Revolu- tionary War."
From time to time, at annual meetings especially, a permanent home for the society frequently came under discussion. But it was not until 1913 that a building committee was formally elected, consisting of Mr. Jno. Smith, Mrs. Bass, Miss Morison, Mr. Robert P. Bass, and Mr. H. F. Nichols. And finally on Sept. 13, 1915, this committee reported that a site had been selected in the Phoenix yard. Plans for the proposed build- ing were exhibited, and a generous proposal of gift was made by Mrs. Bass. The entire report was accept- ed, and the committee continued in office.
Thus passes in rapid sequence this brief review of fifteen years. The period is becoming history, and a new era is beginning for the Peterborough Historical Society. Let us trust that it is marked by a consciousness of high ideals, which shall bear evidence in loyalty of purpose, and nobility of achievement.
(NOTE: The corner stone of the Hist- orical Building was laid at 5 o'clock in the afternoon of September 10, 1917. Mr. M. L. Morrison, president of the society, presided and Mr. James F. Brennan, historiographer, spoke fittingly of the occasion. The copper box was duly sealed and set. Contents: a file of the society's pub- lications, 248 pages. A copy of a map of Peterborough dated 1819. Historical sketch read by Mrs. Jennie H. Field. Autographed cards of about 60 members. Peterborough town re- port of 1917. Invoice of the town of Peterborough for 1916. Photograph of old town hall built in 1861. Photo- graph of all the churches in town, the fire station and the school house. Photograph of
Town House and Historical Building in various stages of construction. Picture of general view of the village. Coins of the United States of the current year: 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25g, and 50¢. Peterborough TRANSCRIPT of September 6, 1917. Manchester Union, Boston Herald, Boston Globe, Boston Post, Boston Journal of September 10, 1917.
301
Corner Stone Addresses
Original and corrected constitution of the society. List of town officers for 1917. July 1, 1917, statements of the First National Bank of Peter-
borough and Peterborough Savings Bank.)
[Published in The Peterborough TRANSCRIPT January 29, 1931]
CORNER STONE ADDRESSES
(Address at the laying of the corner stone of the Historical Building, Sep- tember 10, 1917, by Hon. Mortier L. Morrison, President of the Society.)
The building of which we lay the cornerstone today is an important in- cident in the history of Peterborough. All nature is in sympathy with our observance, for no clouded sky sheds tears of gentle rain upon the cere- monies of the hour. Fervent grati- tude for an enterprise so finely con- ceived and for a structure to be so generously bestowed fills every heart. Let our first and most earnest words voice our thanksgiving for this ex- pression of a liberal and philanthropic spirit which includes within its bounty the hopes and welfare of the whole town. The edifice and the uses to which it is designed will serve pur- poses that touch the common lot, and will inspire the people with the thoughts and feelings of the higher and better life. And not least of all, both in its outward form and inward adornment it will place upon them visions of beauty, which the humble, the well-to-do, and the favorite of fortune may equally share and look upon with a sense of personal owner- ship.
The purpose of history, it has been said, is to find the clue to the imme- diate and transcendental motives which have spurred on the men of the past to their labors; to describe their vicissitudes and anxieties; their strug- gles and illusions as they pursued their work; and to discover how and why the men of one generation have often satisfied the passions which drove them to action, and yet have effected some lasting transformation of society. Such is the inspiration of the historian's task, and to such a work, limited to the local field, this Society is organized, and this building is solemnly dedicated.
Man and his dwelling place are the two chief objects of study, and his- tory is only an attempt to learn through past events the laws which
have governed and controlled the actions of men in years gone by. One great lesson it teaches is that the world is built on moral foundations; that in the long run it is well with the good, and that in the long run it is il! with the bad. It is often said that all human action is based on selfishness, on what will best promote man's per- sonal advantage; but what distin- guishes a higher from a lower order of man is not the pursuit of self in- terest, but of self forgetfulness and self sacrifice. Right, this is the es- sence of true nobility and has marked the actions of the benefactors of the race from the beginning of time. It is in this debatable ground-of low mo- tives and noble emotions, in the un- ending struggle, ever failing, yet ever renewed-to carry justice and right- eousness into the administration of human society, in the establishment of states, in the overthrow of tyrannies and change of creeds, in the world of ideas and in the character and deeds of great actors on the world's stage, that the true interest and usefulness of history are found. Our industrial growth, our mechanical civilization, the increase of material comforts, all are interesting, but they are not the most interesting, nor so profitable of study as the inducements and the actions of very human men and wom- en and the resulting events through which they have been wrought out.
It is the voice forever sounding across the centuries. The laws of right and wrong, opinions, manners, customs and creeds change, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity. The address of history is less to the understanding than to the higher emotions. In its perusal we learn to sympathize with what is good and abhor what is mean and evil. In the anomalies of fortune which it re- cords we feel the mysteries of our mortal existence, and in the study of those illustrious natures which have shaped the fortunes of the world we are lifted out of the littleness which clings to the common lot of life, and
302
Peterborough Historical Society Collections
our minds and hearts are tuned to a higher and nobler key. The study of local history aids the community in precisely the same way and more directly than the study of general his- tory affects the people as a whole. The state is but the town writ large. The story of a nation's development, its settlement, its progress in wealth and culture, its civilization, its ad- vance in art, economics and invention; the steps it has taken to improve the health and promote the welfare of the people are simply what its munici- palities have done in these different lines of public effort. The same law of growth which governs the indivi- dual holds with towns and states. To know a man you must know his ancestors, his opinions, his environ- ment and his struggles with it, and the measures of selfishness or self- denial, of courage or cowardice with which he did his work and lived his life. And so to find the secret of great social or political reforms we need to go, not to the State Capital, but out among the people of the towns forming the Commonwealth, and there study the thoughts and aspirations of the men and women composing it. These things may seem small and insignificant and yet great revolutions and social movements never succeed until the ideas they involve, perhaps emanating from the brain of an in- dividual dwelling in the lonely valley of some town like this, have become a part of the hopes and desires of some person, or groups of persons acting from immediate motives. Our Re- public is built out of the towns and villages of which it is formed, and so in the last analysis everything centers in the individual, and the source of history is at the hearthstone. We sometimes say this one or that brought about a given reform. In a certain sense it may be so, but not in its largest or truest meaning. The great statesman does not originate these changes though he may get them en- acted into law. It is he who knows the opinions and circumstances of the common people in their homes, who sees and feels the difficulties of their lot and can sift and weigh their de- sires and ambitions to have them en- grafted into law. The origin of his reform is in the individuals composing the towns of the state or nation. The stateman studies the past to learn how far he can go in legislation, what
of the common desires is practical and can be safely enacted into statute, always taking into account the human element, which varies with every per- son and which will either defeat the hoped-for result or carry it far beyond the goal of his dreams. And so local history is the original source of all history. It is the fountain whence flows all changes which mark the common life of society. Its study therefore is of very great importance if we would seek out and write the secrets it may reveal and know the real cause of that progress which is ever taking place in our Western world.
As a field of historical effort our town affords happy illustration. One cannot fall into greater error than to think because its history and the brief genealogies of some of its families were written out forty years ago, that the last word has been spoken in this fertile field. Dr. Smith scratched the surface merely, but he suggested more avenues of study and research than he covered. Some lines of in- vestigation it may be worth while to mention. There still exist in town many stately mansions, colonial or semi-colonial in architecture, the construction of which dates back to the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th. If some of them have been remodeled it is an additional inter- esting fact in their story and simply marks a step in evolution into their present form. Every one of them has a history, some of them a dramatic history. Their tales should be told: why and by whom they were placed where they stand; the scenes they have witnessed, and the details of the drama of life occurring within their walls. Very many of them were inhabited by men who had a large and influential part in town affairs, and who raised large families, now scattered far and wide. What manner of men were these sturdy citizens of the early days? What were their idiosyncrasies of manner or temper, their opinions on the great questions of Church and State which were agi- tated in their day? What became of their descendants? Where did they go and what have they done? To follow out these inquiries would bring the local student in touch with many of the town's absent children and serve to strengthen or revive anew the attachments of these emigrants for their ancestral home.
303
Corner Stone Addresses
There is the public library. Its fame is established and conceded and its story has been written out, yet much remains to be told. How little we know of the personality and labors of that saintly man, in whose brain the thought was born, and of the character and public spirit of those practical, far-sighted men who sus- tained Dr. Abbott in his enterprise and gave it permanent life. The struggles of the institution through its earlier years, the political and economic situation under which it came into being and its mighty in- fluence upon the people of the town are still unwritten history.
One of our Churches has twice changed its faith and theological con- nections, and yet how very few are familiar with the details and the causes which led to the evolution. The Mormon movement in 1842 out of which grew a Church of more than one hundred members, followed by a large migration to Salt Lake City, has never had its romance fully told; the fact that Brigham Young was a visitor here during the excitement; of what he did and his influence on the revival but little, if anything, has been print- ed. The history of the town from 1739 to 1749; who were here during those years, where they lived and what they did; where the Church was situated which proprietors John Hill and John Fowle wrote the Masonian proprietors in 1748 that they had already built; where the forty dwelling houses were which they said they had already constructed, and who com- posed the thirty families which they claimed were settled in the town in 1744? All this is unknown. The theme is endless. The history of the educational movement here, a descrip- tion of the different public and more important private buildings past and present, the linen industry, the early methods of agriculture and the tools with which the industry was carried on for the first one hundred and fifty years, the geology and botany of the town, the anti-slavery agitation in the days preceding the great Rebel- lion, how the people aligned them- selves with it, what they said and did to help or retard the movement, and their meetings for discussion; the social life of the town during the Civil War, how the people faced the tre- mendous problems of that day and what they did to sustain the cause:
these are still untold stories. Quite as important as all this is the character, the personality and the labors of that long line of able men and women, who with their descendants here and else- where have made their marks, borne the public burdens, made their record and left their names and a long list of worthy deeds: all this should be permanently preserved.
Sons and citizens of the town have sat in Congress and helped enact laws for the whole nation; filled the Gov- ernor's chair and shaped the destinies of the State; presided in the highest Courts of the Commonwealth and interpreted the law for the people, and in distant States have founded and endowed schools, colleges, and church- es. No community of its size in New Hampshire has a more brilliant record for achievement, or has furnished a longer line of strong, able and influ- ential men, whose labors have been most effective for the general welfare. And yet how little the people of the day know or appreciate the story in all its length, breadth and fulness! The narrative should be made as familiar as household words and our growing boys and girls be taught the romantic tale. And yet how differ- ent it is! Who of them, for instance, can name the five men, either born or resident here a portion of their lives, who have filled the Governor's chair? Can any of them name the street on which. within a distance of a half a mile from each other and in the space of fifty years, were born and reared five men who served in the National House of Representatives? Are they told the site of the first Tavern and the scenes there witnessed during the Revolution and before? Are they given the names of the men who signed the town's Declaration of Independ- ence in 1776? Can they state the latitude and longitude of the town? The elevation of many of its most sightly hills? The list of wild animals the settler found here and of those which still survive? Are they in- structed in the patriotism, public spirit and achievements in all lines of activity of the men and women who once walked these streets and lived in the homes scattered over its hills and through its valleys? I would that a text book were prepared on our local history and faithfully taught in our local schools to the boys and girls that they might know the past
304
Peterborough Historical Society Collections
and present of the historic town in which they dwell. Could this So- ciety do a more useful work than to prepare such a volume and get its study incorporated into the educa- tional system of the town?
Do you ask the good of it all? What particular end the knowledge of our local history serves? The answer is ready and conclusive. First of all, it would stimulate the pride of old and young in the town. Its people will become attached to it in propor- tion as they know its past and pres- ent. They will see its relation to the State and glory in the part it has borne in the history of our Common- wealth. When they know the record it has made they will love to talk of local scenes with which they are familiar and the spots where that record was enacted. Men are more interested in places they have visited than in those they have never seen. When they know the detailed his- tory of these old homes, of the men and women who have lived in them, and of whay they did, there will be found a story in which the children will be proud to share and will want to claim a part in the inheritance which is all their own. Things which seem commonplace will have an added interest, and as they wander over the town thinking of its topographical and scenic effects, handling the tools, the dress, and reflecting upon the customs of the earlier days, when they wander through the rooms of our old mansions, redolent with interesting traditions, and recall the tragedies of human life there enacted in the past, the births that have gladdened and the deaths that have saddened; where each step is on a memory, how their emotions will be kindled and their spiritual vision enlarged, and how happy and proud they will be in the thought that they are the heirs of it all! Not only does the contemplation of these things increase our love and pride in the town of our birth or adop- tion; it stimulates the patriotic spirit. Who of us are not made better citizens by the study of what this community did in the Revolution and Civil War, and made more loyal to the town from its action in those great crises? Ac- quaintance with the local events of those periods will enlarge our vision and make all who study them more willing and ready to labor and sacri- fice in the town's behalf.
Filled with this pride and loyalty our young people will be less inclined to seek homes elsewhere; on the con- trary they would find here that field and opportunity for endeavor equal to that that exists anywhere else.
And so today we lay the corner- stone of the building which is to be consecrated to this useful work. It means vastly more than the mere ad- dition of another to our public build- ings, for it opens avenues to that higher culture which enlarges the mental and moral vision of a people. As a center of historical record and study it will speak less to the under- standing than to the nobler emotions of the heart. From its collections the earnest inquirer may learn to sympathize with the men of the past and to hate what is low and base. They will tell us of the hard toil, the self-denial and aspirations of the men and women of the earlier days. In studying the letters, papers, and his- toric memorials here to be treasured, the student will feel the mystery of his mortal existence and rejoice in the companionship of the noble souls, who in past times laid the founda- tions of the industrial and intellec- tual development of the town; shaped its destinies and made it what it is. Through the records of their fidelity to right and justice here to be treas- ured he will learn how it is that all that is best in our municipal life has been attained, and thus escaping the littleness of the common lot will his spirit be attuned to a higher and nobler key. The story the building and its contents will tell will be indeed a divine poem in which every event of the town's history is a canto and every man and woman a line. In its halls all who listen may hear its strains as they come echoing down through the years, mingled with the discords of warring cannon and dying men; but the devout inquirer will catch above the jarring notes a divine melody running through . the song, which will speak of hope and happier days yet to come. By the knowledge thus coming to him will all his nobler powers be harmoniously expanded into an endless growth in wisdom and refinement, through which the human race finds its ideal. It will reveal to him how full of beauty the world is and that all those things which are truest and best and which contribute the most to human enjoyment are
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.