USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Acworth > History of Acworth, with the proceedings of the centennial anniversary, genealogical records, and register of farms > Part 6
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ean, the Dickey brothers, (Capt. James, Adam and Benjamin,) and their cousin Lieut. James Diekey, James Wallace, Capt. Joseph Gregg, John and Jacob Hayward, the Lancaster brothers (Moses, Joshua and Ebenezer), the Grout brothers, Mr. Stebbins, Hugh Henry, the Silsby brothers, the Slader brothers, the McClure brothers, the Bailey's, Lemuel Lincoln, Daniel Nurse, James Warner, Elisha Parks and Larned Thayer. A large number of others who settled on the East side, of whom I, at this early period, had less knowledge, also distinguished themselves at a later period of the town's his- tory, and their memory equally claims our honorable regard to-day. But I must confine my remarks to those early pioneers of these forests and their immediate posterity and associates.
The points included in the resolution, you will perceive, are their courage, firmness and perseverance. If they approached these rugged hills, as it is supposed they did, from the plains and meadows on the banks of the Con- necticut River in Charlestown, it will be easily seen that these traits must have been fully developed in their attempts to make farms among these mountains. Think of the amount of hard labor required to turn these heavily timbered acres into fruitful fields, to level the forest, to clear the ground, to sow the grain, to erect houses and barns, to grade the roads, to build the bridges and the mills, to fence the farms, to furnish the school and meeting-houses, and at the same time feed and clothe their families. Yet all this was done within the first generation of thirty years from the set- tlement of the town, and it required firmness, courage and perseverance, for many were the dangers encountered, the obstacles met and surmounted, the discouragements experienced and overcome ; but these mien were equal to any emergency. Let me refer to a few incidents in illustration of this re- mark. It used to be related that when there was but one man in town and when he in his lonely toil was accustomed for a whole week at a time to hear no human voice, as he, one Saturday night, was just stooping down at his favorite spring for a draught of cool water before commencing his evening's walk to Charlestown to pass the Sabbath, where he attended church with his friends, suddenly there broke forth a voice from the tree above him, like to the human voice, uttering, " Who ! Who ! Who ! Who !" He sprang to his feet and instinctively replied, "Bill Keyes. Don't you know me ? Come down here and let us get better acquainted." This last remark was accompanied by the discharge of his gun, and the speedy descent of the owl at his feet. Here was courage and decision.
At a somewhat later period, when the settlers could count their neighbors, but wild beasts had not yet all retreated before the march of civilization, a man, being in the south-west part of the town, returning home alone at a later hour in the evening than was safe, was confronted by a bear in his path who, rising upon his hind legs, embraced the man with his fore paws, and was just opening his mouth to devour his prey, when he suddenly recoiled from the fatal plunge of the jack-knife, which entered his heart and drew his
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life's blood, laying him dead at the feet of his antagonist, who hastened to his home in the county without further molestation.
Another event :- On the very day I was born occurred the last great wolf hunt in these regions, in which my father participated. The wolf had mo- lested the sheep-folds on both sides of the river, and found the best mutton- chops back on the hills ; consequently the western part of Acworth was sadly annoyed. The wolf had become old in crime, and was too wary to be caged or entrapped. A hunt was resolved upon by the people on both sides of the river, which was at the time bridged over by ice. The day was agreed upon-the signals were given-the horns were sounded-the ring was formed-the march commenced. Her wolfship was this time encircled. Not liking the administration of affairs in Vermont, where she was at the time residing, she retired in disgust to New Hampshire ; but she soon found that that too, was becoming an uncomfortable place of sojourn. She re- turned again to her Green Mountain retreats, but found them now infested by dogs, guns and men. She again recrossed the river in hopes to find a den of safety among the granite rocks of New Hampshire, but again she was sent back by the thickening ranks which were now concentrating on the mead- ows in Charlestown. Here the fierce, infuriated animal ran backward and forwards, attempting to break the ring, but was repulsed at every point. At length Col. Hunt, a Revolutionary officer, being mounted, rode forth and by a well aimed fire brought the animal to the ground, to the great joy of every weary hunter. The men of Acworth having dined to their satisfaction on wolf steak returned to their homes in the midst of one of the severest snow storms of the season. Here was a display of firmness, courage, and persist- ency, undisputed and successful.
These are traditionary incidents, yet I have myself known some pretty tall things of some individuals of these carly generations. I have seen them ploughing above the clouds, as Gen. Joseph Hooker fought the rebels on Lookout mountain. In a bright autumnal morning I have seen the teams turning the furrow upon the hill side at an elevation much above the dense fogs that lay upon the Connecticut River. I have seen them breaking the roads through a snow drift that was twenty-two feet deep on the 2nd day of April. I have heard in my boyhood days one of this generation boast that he could eat his way through pumpkin pies from his house to Col. Duncan's, a mile and a half. Another that he could raise a barrel of cider to his mouth and drink from the bung. All these marvels would indicate a strong, hardy race of men. But their strength and courage were not limited to muscular and digestire feats. Next to their labors and toils in getting their farms, and erecting their houses, came the necessity of getting a wife. And this- as every one knows who has tried it-requires courage on his part to begin the negotiation, and firmness and perseverance to complete the contract, and on her part the same courage is required to yield assent to the proposals, and firmness and perseverance to abide by her own decisions. And yet they did
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it in every case where it was attempted and persisted in, and I never heard of divorce in these generations. They stood fast to their integrity. They ad- hered to the marriage union, and their houses were filled with the blessed fruits thereof.
Having commenced their career on correct principles, they persevered in sustaining them. The name selected by the proprietors of Aeworth being a contraction of the compound word Add-worth, became the motto of the set- tlers. A worthy race originally, they went on adding to their worth in every department-to their wealth,-to their estates if not to their bank deposits,- to their intelligence, and the education of their children, who in the con- mon schools, made very good scholars. If the letters, written by the youth of these early days, could be collected and examined to-day, I think very few words would be found mis-spelled, and few sentences of false grammar. They would compare well with the compositions of the present day.
Acworth was early distinguished for raising up good school-teachers, and the first generation sent a fair proportion of their sons to college, among whom were Theophilus Wilson, Samuel Woodbury, and Jonathan Silsby, brilliant lights while they shone, but alas ! destined too soon to be extin- guished, being cut off in the very morning of their career.
By union of sentiment, they added to their strength. They tolerated no loafers, and of course had no paupers, and no meddlers. They were a body politie in themselves. They had no leaders. The people led. There was no ring-none to form a clique and say, as did the seven tailors of London, in their petition to Parliament, " We, the people of England." There were no three, five, or ten men, who without being authorized, dared to say, " We, the people of Acworth." It was one of the virtues of the fathers of the town, that they put down all who aspired to lead. They would not even allow a lawyer to put up his shingle here, and the first one who did so, was ordered to leave town before the next Saturday night. This policy gave them a strength and energy which could not be resisted. In every common enter- prise all took hold of the work, and it was a common remark that whatever Acworth undertook had to go. In all lawsuits in which the town was con- cerned, they were successful. Other towns attempted to throw their paupers on Acworth, but never succeeded. And this spirit of co-operation, I think, continues among their descendants. I see it at this celebration-in the ad- mirable arrangements for this festal day. The people combined, and there- fore it has been a success, and surely no better policy can be pursued. They added to their healthfulness and beauty. I know of no prevailing sickness in town, till the spotted fever appeared in 1812-13. Free from dissipation, regular, sober, and temperate in their habits, they ate well, and slept well, retired early, and rose early, and seldom had to call in a physician. The doc. tor could scarcely get a living among them. Their good health gave spright- liness and beauty to their descendants. The pioneer females were a fine race of women, who plied the distaff and wrought at the loom, producing the
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home-spun cloth with which they were clad, and the daughters they raised up at the same occupation were celebrated for their beauty. The clear atmos- phere of these hills, and the bracing climate, even in the hottest season of the year, gave them a fair complexion and rosy cheeks, and tints of beauty far surpassing what modern cosmetics can produce. Every woman you met you pronounced the handsomest woman in town, and every family contained daughters handsomer than their mothers. You will not wonder I thought so when I tell you what a handsome thing they did for me while in college, when their " Sewing-Circle " sent me fifty years ago, by their good pastor, a handsome purse, well filled, to pay my college bills. As I look around here to-day I see (dim as my vision is), that this same quality of beauty still lingers in the grand-daughters that grace this assembly. May the same arti- cle never be wanting here.
They added to their population. Their households increased, not always by twins,-but not very far between. The schools were full. In every dis- trict you would find an average of four or five to each family, an example worthy of imitation in every generation.
They added to their religion. Always a sober, Sabbath-keeping, church- going people, I remember the old meeting-house, then the only place of public worship in town, had seldom a vacant seat. And such a choir of singers, forty stalwart men on the bass, and other parts in proportion. The old fugue tunes of that day made the arches of the old house ring again. All were present at an early hour. The common was black with the gathering throng. The minister, Rev. John Kimball, issuing from his boarding-house, for he was a single man-would march up through the ranks, raising his hat, and bowing on either side. When he entered the house it was the signal for all to follow. In cold weather there being no means of warming the house, the lesson was soon said ; the prayer, always the same, and so often repeated that every boy knew it by heart, contained one peculiar phrase, which in these recent times might not have seemed perfectly loyal, " Say to the North give up and to the South keep not back." I could not then un- derstand, and I am not confident that I do now understand, what that meant, but I suppose it was not political preaching. The change of heart referred to in the Gospel, I never heard preached by him. But under his successor many added to their religion, and a large proportion of the adult population were members of the church.
It was in these later days that the young men were inspired to form an association called the " Moral Society," meeting once a month, for addresses and discussions on moral and religious topics, and every Sabbath noon, to hear religious reading by some one previously appointed. These meetings exerted a most salutary influence upon the youth, and was the pioneer to an extensive revival, bringing several of the young men into the church, and some of them into the Christian ministry.
Thus I have, as I trust, established the points contained in the resolution,
NEW YORK ,BLIC LIBRARY .
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATION
PHOTOGRAPHED BY BOGARDUS
KNAPP ENG.MFG & UTH.CO 71 BWAY. N. Y.
yours Truly John Queatt your
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REMARKS BY REV. DR. ORCUTT.
of courage, firmness and persistency in the character of the early settlers, and that these traits have descended in each generation to the present. In these respects Acworth is Acworth still. Some have said here to-day, old Acworth, I say young Acworth for she is good for another century, and still another, as long as her hills shall endure. Instead of the fathers shall be the children, improved, refined, perfected, consummated in every noble trait and virtue.
And as her sons shall revisit her in coming centuries, walk about her walls, and survey her bulwarks, and tell her towers, they may look up and say, as I am constrained to say, to-day, " Peace . be within thy borders, and plenty within thy dwellings," and the grace of that God, who watched over the fathers, and was the Guardian of their children, rest also in each genera- tion in the hearts of their children's children, even unto the remotest periods of time.
The second sentiment was responded to by Rev. John Orcutt, D. D., of New York City, as follows :
" Our Ancestral Mothers-The spinning-wheel was their piano-forte, the cradle their melodeon, their sons and their daughters the best musical production extant."
Mr. President :- I am aware it is expected of men in my profession, when called to address public assemblies, that they will stick to their text. Of this I have no disposition to complain. As a general rule it is right and proper. But inasmuch as the text announced for me on this rare and inter- esting occasion is not one of my own choosing, nor the place one of my own making, I feel that I must be allowed a little latitude in what I have to say. The memories, so full of mingled joy and sadness, which are called up, as I stand among my friends and fellow-townsmen, and which made me long to look once more upon the spot that gave me birth, are too numerous and press- ing to be entirely ignored or suppressed.
On my way here I was led to reflect on the singular power there some- times is in a name. What but a name has caused this large gathering of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, the old and the young, many of whom have come from remote parts of the country ? What, I ask, has brought us together, but the name of Acworth ? And yet it is not merely the name for there is an Acworth in Georgia, and Acworth is a family name in England, but it has no attractions for us in either of these directions. The magic power that influenced us, is the creature of circumstances. It was Acworth, New Hampshire-the place of our nativity, the home of our childhood that brought us thither. We are together by a common tie, and a common interest, and ready, I trust, to rejoice in each other's prosperity, and to do what we can to promote each other's welfare. And as I stand again on these familiar hights, and the eye of the mind with the rapidity of thought passes over the different localities of the town, noting " Coffin IIill," and " Keyes Hollow," "Grout Hill," and "Clark's Hollow,"
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" Gates' Hill," and "Park's Hollow," "Derry Hill," and the " Finlay District," the scriptural inquiry is forced upon me, "Our fathers, where are they ?" Where are the active men of the town some of us knew so well, forty or fifty years ago? I cannot refrain from naming a few of those whose forms and features are as distinct in mind as if I had seen them but yesterday. Next to my own beloved father, I would name the Rev. Phinchas Cooke, for whom I ever felt the deepest reverence ; Dr. Carleton, Dr. Parker, Nathaniel Grout, Daniel Robinson, Gawin Gilmore, Ithiel Silsby, Edward Woodbury, Jacob Hayward, David Montgomery, Capt. James Dickey, Col. Duncan, Hugh Finlay, Robert McClure, Samuel McClure, Dea. Henry Silsby, Supply Reed, Dea. Edward Slader, William Grout, Col. Grout, Nathaniel Merrill, Joseph Hemphill, Robert Clark, George Clark, Isaac Campbell, John Currier, Capt. William Orcutt, Icha- bod Orcutt, Samuel Clark, James Young, John Woodbury, Thomas Davis, and many others that might be mentioned, equally worthy and no less es- teemed. Where are they? All gone to their graves. "They rest from their labors and their works do follow them." We love to think of their character and worth, while we mourn their loss. Whatever may be said of their imperfections, or faults, no town was ever settled by a more intelligent, industrious, energetic, patriotic, virtuous class of men than they. Ours was a paternal ancestry, of which we have no reason to be ashamed-rather one of which we may well boast. But this is a digression.
Of our " Ancestral Mothers " I was to speak. Would that I had time and ability to do justice to them. As much as may be said in praise of our paternal ancestors, less should not be said in favor of our maternal ancestry, for it must be admitted that without our fore-mothers, our fore-fathers would not have been of much use to us !
Some one said to the first Napoleon, "what France needs is mothers." There was much force in the remark. As in a finished painting, it is the back-ground which gives character and effect to the picture, so in social life- in the family kingdom, though the fathers are most conspicuous, being seen in the fore-ground of the picture, as the bolder strokes of the pencil, the forming, dissecting, controlling power, which gives character to the individ- ual, and to the state, is behind the throne, in the quiet sanctuary of home. It is in the mother.
Our ancestral mothers are before us on this occasion, as musicians. "The spinning-wheel was their piano-forte." The spinning wheel is among the objeets of my earliest recollections. I remember well what was called the great-wheel, and the little-wheel, and the music they produced. I can boast of a mother who was a most skillful performer on that instrument-espe- cially the little-wheel. She could play to the tune of ten knots an hour of the finest linen thread, for which she repeatedly obtained a premium. My sisters, too, were good players on the spinning-wheel. So were mothers and sisters, generally, for it was a useful and necessary employment. It de-
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volved on them to manufacture clothing for the family, and they did their work well. There was little of the " shoddy " in their productions. It was useful in a two-fold sense. It not only furnished the requisite raiment, but it tended to health. In those days modern gymnastics were entirely un- necessary. Every house was a gymnasium, in which the spinning-wheel, the loom, the hatchel, the kneading-trough, and the wash-tub, afforded abundant facilities for all needful gymnastic exercises. Practising on these instruments made women of nerve and vigor, and great physical endurance.
But another instrument of music in those days is to be noticed. " The cradle was their melodeon." Whatever may be said of the quality of the music from this source, it cannot be doubted the melodies produced were va- rious and plentiful. As evidence of this I will cite a few cases.
Mrs. James Miller, who with her husband settled in the south part of the town, was the mother of sixteen children, thirteen of whom grew to be men and women, and she lived to the age of ninety-two years.
Mrs. Samuel King, who resided in the same school district, was the mother of fourteen children, all of whom lived to an adult age.
Mrs. Col. Duncan who was a model step-mother to eight children of her husband by a former wife, had eleven children of her own, and is still with us in good health at the advanced age of ninety-four years, being the oldest person in town. From these cases, it appears that the melodies of the cradle were not few or far between.
But I will not omit to state one other case of interest. Mrs. Lieut. John Rodgers, one of the first settlers of Acworth, and maternal ancestor of many present, was called to dress a deceased neighbor in the habiliments of the grave. This kind office was hardly completed when she was summoned by another neighbor to assume the duties of a midwife. This office she also performed, thus clothing one of her neighbors for the grave, and another for life, on the same night. The infant born that night is Capt. James Wallace who is still among us, hale and hearty, at the age of eighty-two years.
Such were the characters of our ancient mothers ; and the fact should not be overlooked, or forgotten, that with all their other good qualities, they were scrupulously religious. They respected the Sabbath, " not forsaking the as- sembling of themselves together " on that holy day for sincere and devout worship. Though sometimes obliged to either walk a long distance or ride on horseback behind their husbands with one, two or more children in their arms, they made it a matter of duty to go to meeting, and this may be re- garded as the crowning excellence of their character and worth.
It is no small pleasure and honor to look upon the vast concourse of peo- ple assembled on this occasion, and feel that you are one of them, as the de- scendants of such an ancestry, and who will hesitate to pronounce it " the best musical production extant."
Let us not forget, my fellow-townsmen, how much we owe to our maternal training. Let us ever be thankful that we were raised on these delightful
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hills, in this pure air, and under the tuition and watchful care of Christian mothers.
And if the youth present will bear with me in a word of exhortation, I would say to them, do not be in haste to leave these rural scenes, and peace- ful homes, in pursuit of a fortune, or to improve your condition. If you do, the chances are ten to one that you will reap the fruit of disappointment. It has fallen to my lot to visit many parts of the country, and to see social life in the city and great thoroughfares of business, and of pleasure, and I can most sincerely say, if I had children to leave in this world, I would much prefer to leave them on these Acworth hills, amid this virtuous and prosper- ous community, than mingling in the public marts, exposed to the uncertain- ties and surrounded by the temptations of city life. It was a scriptural commendation of Uzziah, that " he loved husbandry."
Never leave the farm, or the workshop, merely for a more honorable, a more hopeful, or a more happy vocation. Be content to till the soil, to be a good farmer, a skillful mechanic, or an honest merchant, where you are, un- less duty calls you elsewhere.
The spot where our noble ancestry chose to dwell, and toil and die, is a good place for their offspring. Be content with your lot, seek first the king- dom of God, live to do good, and your reward is sure. Be satisfied with the home of your ancestral mothers, to live where they lived, to die in sight of their honored sepulchres, and to be buried by their side. And may the blessing of their God, and our God, and our father's God, ever be with, and save us all for Christ's sake.
Hymns of " olden time " and fugue tunes, were now sung by the choir, and remarks were made by Rev. Davis Brainerd of Lyme, Ct., who when fresh from the Divinity School, spent a few months in pastoral labor among these hills. The following toast was then introduced, and was responded to by Dr. William Grout, of Loraine County, Ohio :
" The Soldiers of the Revolutionary War-Though their forms have left us, their deeds still live and their memory shall be forever cherished."
Mr. President, and Fellow-Citizens :- Permit me to preface my response by saying, that it affords me unspeakable pleasure to be with you here to- day. to mingle in this gathering, and participate in the festivities of this oc- casion. After an absence from most of you of more than forty years, I still feel an undying attachment to the land of my birth, to the home of my childhood. My heart swells with emotion on being again permitted to tread this soil, and breathe once more the air that sweeps over these my native hills, where first I drew the breath of life, and learned to tempt its untried paths. But, above all, that which is the greatest source of joy to me on this occasion is the privilege of greeting once more in the flesh, of behold-
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