USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > Historical sketches of Peterborough, New Hampshire : portraying events and data contributing to the history of the town > Part 37
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all his own. As he contemplates the edifice and the memorials here to be gathered, his love for the domestic virtues will be strengthened, his sym- pathy enlarged, and his whole life raised into a higher and purer atmos- phere.
I need not say in this presence that this gift will be most fully appreciated. The opportunities it brings will widen and grow with the years, and as its work and its privileges are more keenly recognized so will the grati- tude of this people increase as time goes on. Its influence for good, both
directly and indirectly, will spread far beyond those now living. In fu- ture days to it will come the student of the past, and sitting at Clio's feet may read the magic scroll wherein she has written the story of the town in years gone by. And here may enter the lowliest toiler, and through photograph, etching and painting, and conscious of his ownership therein, can converse with the men and women of the past in a very garden of the gods.
[Published in The Peterborough TRANSCRIPT, February 5, 1931]
(Address at the laying of the corner stone of the Historical Building, Sep- tember 10, 1917, by Hon. Ezra M. Smith:)
The customs of any people are best understood when examined in con- nection with their surroundings. The greater our knowledge and the clearer our view is of what the people are and what they have to enjoy, the better are we prepared to study their customs, and the more correct will be our conclusions in regard to what those customs stood for and what they meant to them. We may look back one hundred-fifty years and read what our fathers and mothers enjoyed in the way of labor, recreation and amusement, and what provision was made for their children in the same direction. The response to that knowledge may be a smile playing upon our faces, and the thought of the heart as expressed in words may be, O, how foolish, degraded and un- civilized our ancesters were! One hundred-fifty years hence another generation may look back upon this generation, and as they read of our customs the same words of contempt may press their lips. I wish to refer briefly to some of the ancient customs in Peterborough as compared with some of the customs of today.
In 1738 Samuel Hayward and forty- eight others petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for a charter to locate a township of six miles square some where within the Massa- chusetts Province. They finally lo- cated in the valley of the Contoocook, and made the junction of the Con-
toocook and Nubanusit Rivers the center of the town. Afterwards the east and west boundary lines of the town were changed carrying the town three-quarters of a mile to the east. Sixty-three double lots were surveyed in different parts of the town, each double lot containing one hundred acres. Fifty acres of each lot was to be a settler's lot. One lot of fifty acres was for the first settled minister, fifty acres for the second settled min- ister, and fifty acres for the schools, and the balance was retained by the proprietors.
In 1738 an attempt was made to settle the township which was un- successful on account of the Indians. Another attempt was made in 1744 when a contract was made with Rev. William Johnson, a Presbyterian Min- ister, to settle the township with good families within three years. He re- mained with them a part of two years when they were again compelled to leave. No further move was made towards a settlement till 1749 when a permanent one was commenced. At this time Rev. John Harvey, a Presby- terian Minister, was settled here by the proprietors and remained with the settlers until after the town was in- corporated in 1760. He owned lot No. 57-119 situated on the east side of the Street Road, and Simeon T. Green now owns a part of the lot. He built a gun house adjoining his own house on the north, and June 4, 1754, the Proprietors voted. "That John Hill, Esq. be desired at the charge of the said Proprietors, to pur- chase a gun and send it to Peter- borough by Alexander Scott, and the
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said Scott be desired to deliver said gun to the Rev. Mr. Harvey, minister there, for his use so long as he con- tinues to be an inhabitant of said town." At the same meeting, they also voted, "That John Hill be de- sired, at the charge of said Propriety, to purchase half a barrel of gun- powder, one hundred weight of lead, and two hundred flints, and send them by Mr. Alexander Scott to said town, there to be for a town stock for the use of the settlers in case of a war."
They had no buildings except those made of logs until 1751 when a saw mill and grist mill were built on the spot formerly occupied by the Bell Mill and now used for a basket shop. From this time on the settlers com- menced to build frame dwellings in different parts of the town where they had settled in neighbor-hoods. In 1753 they had progressed to that extent, that the Proprietors gave each one of the then settlers fifty acres in the south-east part of the town. In addition to their own dwellings they built in common a meeting-house, east of where the old meeting house stood on the hill and a fort on the Richie hill, south west of where the Mary Morison brick house stands. These first settlers deprived of the luxuries and many of the comforts of life and compelled to bear the drudgery and hardship common to a pioneer's life in a new country must have some relaxation and amusement to break the strain that would other- wise crush them in life's struggle. These breathing places grew into habits and the habits as they were exemplified in the community formed the basis of and grew into, the ancient customs in Peterborough. There were no public halls in which to meet for pleasure and no public places where they could gather for amuse- ment. It was therefore necessary if they met at all to meet in some of their homes. These facts helped give direction to their actions and moulded and shaped their customs.
Their church life was different from ours. We enter our churches made attractive by beauty, made comfort- able by heat from the furnace or stoves and made brilliant by elec- tricity. About one hour a day is as long as most of us can endure such comfort on the ordinary Sabbath. In our six places of worship not one fourth of the inhabitants of the town
can be found at the morning service unless on some special occasion. The custom of our ancestors was to meet in a rude structure over the east hill for two long services each Sunday. Rough planks served them for seats and later they had large square pews to separate the families from each other. No painted walls or frescoed ceilings greeted their eyes. The sweet tones of no organ summoned them to worship. The heat from no stove or furnace ever warmed them even in the coldest weather, and for seventy years no stove found its way inside either of those churches on the hill. Is it any wonder that under such training they became strong, healthy and in- dependent? We would not follow those customs if we could, and we could not if we would.
Deprived of public schools for their children they had private schools in their different neighborhoods where very limited instruction was imparted. The minister was the principal edu- cator in the town and as he went from house to house on his accustomed visits he was expected to catechise the children, and that was as much a part of his work as to preach on the Sab- bath.
Perhaps in no direction did the ancient customs differ more widely from the present than in that con- nected with the marriage ceremony. Today a notice may be filed with the town clerk of intention of marriage, and after five days the parties may obtain a license from the clerk and proceed with the ceremony. It is reported that the first intention of marriage published in this town was in 1749 when William Richie agreed with Alexander Robbe, the considera- tion being half a pint of rum, that he would publish his intention of marri- age. He fulfilled his agreement by nailing the publishment to a beech tree on the east hill near where the church afterwards stood.
In 1751 Alexander Robbe made the first oral announcement of an inten- tion of marriage by publicly declaring that his brother, John Robbe, intend- ed to marry Elizabeth Creighton of Townsend, and further stated that if any man had any objection let him speak now or forever hold his tongue. This form of oral announcement was the custom for many years.
On the day of the wedding the se- lected friends of the groom both male
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and female reported at his house and he with them proceeded towards the home of the bride. When about half way they usually met the se- lected male friends of the bride and here each party selected their swiftest champion, to run to the home of the bride for the bottle. The victor re- turned to the party with the bottle, gave a toast, then he drank to the health of the groom, passed the bottle round and they then continued their march to the home of the bride. At each house they passed they were saluted by the firing of muskets and they answered the salute by firing pistols. After arriving at the home of the bride, the groom was stationed upon the floor, in the room where they were to be married. The bride came in escorted by her father, who delivered her to the groom and the marriage ceremony was performed, similar to the ordinary ceremony of today. The friends remained during the balance of the day and the even- ing was spent in a social manner with amusements and sports of various kinds. As the closing scene, the female friends of the bride took charge of her, changed her robe of day for the robe of night and retired her for the night, and the male friends of the groom performed the same ceremony for him. The company then departed for their homes. In- stead of the wedding trip and the honey moon, now the custom for the newly wedded pair, they commenced at once the daily work for life, which the New England pioneer had to face with all its hardships and privations.
When death came to one of their number and the strong man fell, the sound of the axe ceased and the people repaired to the house of mourning. They watched by the body of their neighbor through the dark hours of the night, and it was the custom for the oldest and most respected person present with the Bible in hand, to read from time to time and give divine consolation and hope. At the funeral, after the prayer had been offered and the friends had taken the last look of the deceased and the coffin closed, the rum was passed round, first to the minister, then to the mourners, then to the bearers and last to the whole assembly. All followed to the grave and then returned to the house to partake again of the cheering liquid to be followed by a bountiful supper.
There was no store in town before 1771, and no post office till 1795. Mr. Balch carried the mail on horseback once a week over the route from Brattleboro to Portsmouth established under the Federal Constitution in 1789. It was carried in this manner for many years. The nearest place for them to obtain their supplies was Townsend, but some of them annually carried the produce of their farms and the articles manufactured by their hands to Boston, to sell or exchange for the necessaries of life which they could not produce at home.
The women did their part in obtain- ing these supplies and establishing their homes on these hills and in these valleys. In 1756 Samuel Miller pur- chased about four hundred acres of land in the north-east part of the town, and the record says that it was paid for from the proceeds of linen, thread and other articles manufac- tured by his thrifty and industrious wife. She was the grandmother of Gen. James Miller. Another instance was that of the wife of Major Robert Wilson, who raised funds for the edu- cation of her son James, who was afterwards the Hon. James Wilson. She made butter, and manufactured linen in its various forms. She would put these articles upon a pack-horse, and taking another saddle horse would ride to Boston leading the pack animal by the bridle. She would there dis- pose of her load and carry the money to her son at Phillips Academy and later at Harvard College. These journeys were made twice each year and marked trees guided her on these trips.
In those days the women had no clock in their houses to inform them of the time of day. The sun was their only guide to tell them the noon hour. A notch was cut on the inside window stool of the window in the house in the room facing the south in such a place that when the sun shining through the window cast a shadow in the notch it was twelve o'clock noon. For any other hour of the day they were obliged to guess the time of day from the distance the shadow was from the notch in either direction. I have seen one of those old ยท time markers in my grandmother's home.
The time allotted me will not ad- mit of a description of their husking parties, apple parings, log rollings, moving buildings, house raisings,
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quilting parties with supper and social time in the evening, wool pulling and the different processes of its manufacture into yarn and cloth, the several methods of treating flax so as to separate the tow from the fibre, the spinning of the fibre into linen thread and using the tow for coarser fabrics, and the various other customs which prevailed at that time. Today as we read the history of their lives and study into their customs we find one golden thread running through their lives and giving color to their customs, and that was the thread of industry. I wish to leave with you my thought of those noble women, who first set- tled and had their homes on these hills and through these valleys, and I know of no better way to do it, than by applying to them the words of another
written for another occasion more than twenty five hundred years ago, which were as follows: "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the mer- chants' ships. She bringeth her food from afar. She considereth a field and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her chil- dren arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."
[Published in The Peterborough TRANSCRIPT, February 12, 1931]
OLD PETERBOROUGH IN ENGLAND
Written by Mrs. Jennie Hadley Field and read before the Peterborough Historical Society, September 8, 1919
It seems fitting that there should be gathered together in service of the Historical Society in Peterborough, New Hampshire, some of the inter- esting facts available in regard to the history, customs, and romance of Old Peterborough in England.
The history of the place goes back to the period following the Roman occupation of Britain, when the in- vading tribes from Europe had firmly established themselves in four king- doms, known as Northumbria, Mer- cia, Anglia, and Essex. Although the Romans, on account of strife at home, had been forced to abandon the land which they attempted to colonize and to civilize, they never quite lost interest in its fortunes. Certain it is toward the close of the 6th Century (597) that Pope Gregory sent over to Britain Augustine, a monk of the Benedictine order, with a band of forty others, to convert to Christian- ity the fierce Anglo-Saxons, some of whom would put up for sale in the market-place at Rome their own chil- dren as slaves. These zealous mis- sionaries went forward persistently, aiming always to convert a king or a man high in authority.
A notable conversion was that of the King of Kent, who had married a Christian princess from France. She, together with some relics of Christian- ity hidden away since the early Roman days, was of great assistance in spreading the faith. Other con- versions followed so that in less than an hundred years afterward several monasteries had been established, and the great council at Whitby on the northeastern coast had been held with delegates from all parts of the coun- try. This meeting is significant in Anglo-Saxon history, for it brought the hostile tribes together in the com- mon observance of Easter Day, and gave them a common interest in mat- ters religious under the leadership of the Church at Rome.
On the whole the conversion of England to Christianity was peaceful, and was carried forward systematic-
ally in keeping with the great system of the Roman Church and the prin- ciples of European feudalism. And when Ethelbert, King of Kent, per- mitted Augustine and his monks to establish themselves in his capital at Canterbury, where two of the prin- cipal monasteries of England arose and where Augustine became Arch- bishop of Canterbury, he planted for all time on English soil the Roman Catholic faith.
A little more than half a century after this followed the conversion of Penda, King of Mercia, and his three sons and two daughters. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the oldest source book of English his- tory, a monastery was founded at Peterborough in 655 by Paeda, the eldest son of this king, and was dedi- cated "to the glory of Christ and honor of Saint Peter." The place is in the southeastern part of England, on the border of the Fens, and near the river Nene. It was called then in Anglo-Saxon Medeshamstede, or the homestead in the meadows. Previous to this time so far as is known there is no record whatsoever of a single habitation.
For the sake of precision, it may be well to give the location of Peter- borough in present-day terms. It is now a municipal city and parliamen- tary borough, chiefly in Northampton- shire. It is an important railway centre, 37 miles northeast of North- ampton, and 76 miles northwest of London. It is a regularly laid out city, with endowed grammer schools, the usual city institutions, charitable and otherwise, and a corn exchange in Italian style of architecture. It has a considerable trade in corn, coal, timber, bricks and malt, and exten- sive manufactures of agricultural im- plements. The part of the Borough known as New England is the seat of an engineering plant and extensive locomotive' works. Its almost phe- nomenal growth has come about since 1845 through the developent of its railway system. An hundred years
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ago its population was barely 3,000; fifty years ago hardly 15,000; and to- day it is nearly 50,000. In all there are four different systems of railway communication centered here, in con- nection with which are several local lines besides.
But to return to matters historic. The selection of a site for a monastery frequently presents interesting fea- tures. In the beginning of these in- stitutions, the worthy monks depend- ed entirely upon their on labor for the few material comforts of life that were theirs. Hence, the water supply was of importance as was also that of fish. Medes, or fertile lands, were likewise necessary for agricultural pur- poses. By way of explanation the term monastery was applied strictly to the enclosure, or dwelling-place, for the monks, and minster, of the same Latin origin, to the church at- tached to the Monastery. Hence, while some of the English cathedrals are rightfully called minsters today, others have no claim to the distinc- tion, inasmuch as they have never been attached to a monastery. An abbey was a monastery of the first rank, governed by an abbot, and always included a church, or minster. During the period when monasticism was at its height the abbeys rapidly became training schools for the clergy, institutions of learning, hospitals, and alms houses.
From the very foundation, Medes- hamstede seemed destined to make history. During the building of the walls of the religious house, dwellings were erected for the workmen. As time went on, and the requirements of the inmates developed, a consider- able population gathered together, all employed in the service of the abbey. This condition lasted for centuries, and the history of the monastery and the cathedral church is the history of Peterborough.
One of the most valuable sources of information on the subject is Gun- ton's History, "Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard," London, 1686. It has this title-page: "The History of the Church of Peterburgh: Wherein the Most remarkable Things concern- ing that Place, from the First Foun- dation thereof: With other Passages of History, not unworthy Publick View are represented. By Symon
Gunton, late Prebendary of the Church.
Illustrated with Sculptures.
And set forth by Symon Patrick, D.D. now Dean of the same."
The first church must have been substantially built, for Gunton says that Paeda "in the Foundation where- of-laid such Stones as that Eight Yoke of Oxen could scarce draw one of them." That the church was a fact, however, was proved in 1887 when excavations were made during re- pairs of the present cathedral. Parts of the old stone wall were discovered, pieces of crumbling cement, a plaster floor, with the remains of burnt wood and reddened stone. Additional proof, possibly, that the superstruc- ture was wood, since it belonged to the Saxon period.
But in 870 when the fierce North- men, or Danes, swept down into Eng- land this church, the monastery, altars, library, and all the "appendent buildings" were utterly destroyed by fire, "which continued for fifteen days together." Even the aged ab- bot was slain with eighty-four of his monks.
For "ninety and six years" the monastery in the meadows was a deso- late waste of ashes. And throughout the whole realm indeed monastery building suffered a decided check from the inroads of the Danes and the influence of their greedy kings. Then followed the impulse to restoration under the approval of Edgar, King of Mercia, and Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. And Medeshamstede was rebuilt exactly like the first model, but with the name of the place changed to Burgh, and the dedication to St. Peter alone. The king himself was present at the ceremonies, and issued a charter of privileges and possessions. In the midst of the as- sembly some monks came forward bearing sacred documents that had been hidden away during all the years of the Danish invasion. And for the first time King Edgar learned that he had a second Rome in his own king- dom. For one of the privileges grant- ed to this abbey alone was that if any person desired to make a pilgrimage to Rome and could not, either on ac- count of distance or other obstacle, he could pay his vows here, and re- ceive the apostolic blessing. This privilege the king immediately re- confirmed, and as the old Peterbor-
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ough book says, "in those days this monastery was of so high account, that what person soever came thither to pray, whether King, Lord, Bishop or Abbot, he put off his shoes at the gate of the monastery, and entered barefoot." The old charters of both kings are in the appendix of the book, and like all legal documents of the time are written in Latin. As the years passed instead of being called Burgh, and the Burgh of St. Peter, the place was called Peterburgh.
Then followed a century and a half of prosperity. Extensive lands were added, and all the country round about was subject to the abbey: Forests were cut down, and the soil cultivated. In short, an English country village grew up about the monastery. To be sure, during this period the Norman Conquest in 1066 had brought great changes into the civil life of England. The Normans were great conquerors and great builders. Wherever they went they impressed up their subjects their personal power, and the castle and the cathedral stood side by side. Imagine then what it must have meant to these peaceful villagers who had known only the protection of the abbey close to have frowning down upon them the towers of a Norman castle! Parts of this were in existence late into the 18th century, and an historic mound remains today.
In 1116, misfortune again befell the Fenland town when a conflagra- tion swept through it, caused by an accident in the monastery bakery, and the church was again reduced to ashes.
Immediately John of Sais, the Norman abbot, set about rebuilding, and the first foundation stones were laid on the eighth of March, 1118. This was the beginning of the minster now known as Peterborough Cathe- dral. The
structure is distinctly Norman both in its plan of a Latin cross and its style of architecture. Information is somewhat scanty in regard to its completion, but work began according to the custom at the east, and it is said to have been eighty years before the western wall was reached. This period stands for but little, however, in regard to the real building of the cathedral in its won- derful complexity and intricacy of detail. It is not within the range of this paper to attempt any descrip-
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