History of Bedford, New Hampshire, from 1737 : being statistics compiled on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, May 15, 1900, Part 6

Author: Bedford (N.H. : Town)
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Concord, N. H. : The Rumford Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1202

USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Bedford > History of Bedford, New Hampshire, from 1737 : being statistics compiled on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, May 15, 1900 > Part 6

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

means a stranger to such feelings as are yours to-day. It is my proudest boast that I am descended from a New England ancestry ; yes, sir, that the blood of the man who stood by the side of Miles Standish, on board the Pilgrim ship (I refer to the mate of the ship) flows through my veins. I trust I shall be pardoned for so boasting while moved by such associations as these.

The sentiment just proposed, Mr. President, reminds me of the debt of gratitude we owe our ancestors, and the obligation we are under to emulate their virtues, we and those who may come after us ; and who, sir, of all this assembly, does not respond to that? Who has not felt his heart beating with pride as he has listened to the eloquent portraitures of our ancestors, by the gentlemen on my right ? And who is not impressed with a deeper and more abiding sense of obligation, in the regard suggested, by the sentiment I have the honor to propose? If any, let him think of the privileges-civil, religious, literary-he enjoys as the result of the labors of those ancestors. Let him remember their steady perseverance amid diffi- culties which would have disheartened common men; let him remember their calm endurance, patient resignation, and triumphant faith, virtues which were never before more beautifully illustrated. Let him call to mind that such a band of adventurers, so heroic and high-minded, were landed upon no other shore. But, Mr. President, I must not anticipate what remains to be said by other gentlemen near me. I can only express the conviction, from what I have seen and heard to-day, that if the forms of those noble fathers and moth- ers are not here, much of their spirit remains. Believe me, sir, that, although their dust mingles with the clod of the valley, their influ- ence lives.

" The Pilgrim Spirit has not fled, It walks in noon's bright light- And it watches the bed of the glorious dead With the holy stars by night- And it watches the bed of the brave who have bled, And shall guard this ice-bound shore, Till the waves of the Bay, where the Mayflower lay, Shall foam and freeze no more,"

Be it ours to cherish them in grateful remembrance, to copy their virtues and emulate their example, that we may at last reap a like reward of glory with them.

The president then announced the fourth regular toast :

The Emigrants, and Guests of Bedford. We greet you welcome to our town, and our festive board. Pleasant and profitable to meet as relations, friends, and acquaintances. It is the first time and the last we shall ever meet on such an occasion in Bedford.

JOHN ATWOOD, EsQ., of Albany, New York, responded, and closed with a complimentary remark to his old neighbors of Bedford, which called out Rev. Mr. Savage.

Mr. SAVAGE addressed a few remarks to those represented by the gentleman who had just spoken-natives of Bedford-who, after a

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long absence, had come up to this centennial festival. They had not forgotten old Bedford. They revisited the scenes of their childhood.

" They all had run about these braes, And sat beneath this vine- And blessings on the golden days Of auld lang syne."

But great changes have taken place. The mountains, the hills, the valleys, were the same. But where were the men of other days? The speaker alluded to the fact that he had known their fathers. Many of them were living when he first came to preach in the town. He spoke of the venerable members of the Session, long since gone. He spoke of the length of his ministry in Bedford, about twenty-five years, and of himself as only the third settled min- ister since the foundation of the church, a hundred years ago,-a circumstance creditable to the people, to say nothing of the pastors. There was an interval of thirty years between Mr. Houston and Mr. McGregor. He said the more he had been led to investigate the history of Bedford, the more he was impressed with the idea that he had been laboring among a people that were nobly descended. The two Pattens, Matthew and Samuel; the two Walkers, James and Robert; Colonel Goffe, and others, who settled the town, lived long enough to put their names to the Association Test (it was here read), which, at the commencement of the Revolution, was circulated through the provinces for signers, thus enjoying the double privilege of being pioneers in the settlement of the country, and also of giving their influence to establish its independence.

He begged leave to be somewhat personal and to speak of him- self, or rather of his ancestry, in connection with Bedford. He had found in the historical researches he had been obliged to make, facts that very much deepened the interest he felt in the place where he had so long labored. The town was one of those granted for ser- vices in the Narragansett, or King Philip's war. His first American ancestor, Major Thomas Savage, commanded the Massachusetts forces in that war. He found the name of his son, as one of the grantees on the proprietors' records, and of his grandson, Habijah Savage, on the town records, among the non-resident taxpayers, as late as 1760 or '70. He concluded with commending the friends who had united with us on this occasion to the favor of God, and with the hope that all might be prepared to meet in "the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

The president then announced the fifth regular toast :

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

The changes of one hundred years. The woolen and linen wheels for the cotton mills and spinning jennies are not more wonderful than the horse's two days' journey to Boston, with wooden panniers, with a tub of butter on either side, or both, filled with linen cloth and thread, to the steam engine and the telegraph wires.

The president, to show the result of the changes, related an anec- dote of Hon. Matthew Patten, first judge of probate of Hillsborough county under the constitution, representative to the general court in November 27, 1756, going to Londonderry to know when the general court would sit. On the 30th, he set out for Portsmouth, went as far as Alexander McMurphy's, in Londonderry, and received the account that the general court had adjourned till Tuesday, the 14th of December next.

To exhibit the contrast between the past and the present more strikingly, the president said he had a note, received that morning from Washington city. It was a telegraphic communication from his brother, Judge Woodbury. The following is a copy of the des- patch which the president read :

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 22d, 1850, 9 o'clock a. m. P. P. WOODBURY, EsQ. :

Dear Sir: We have no news here this morning except fair weather, warm disputes about the Galphin claim, and wrangling over the compromise report. The supreme court expects to adjourn the first of June.

Truly yours, LEVI WOODBURY.

To the fifth sentiment REV. C. W. WALLACE responded as follows :

Mr. President : I wish to express my gratitude to you for calling upon me to respond to this sentiment. Ministers are sometimes accused of wandering from the text. With the theme before me I shall be exposed to no such liability. The field is so broad I can scarcely pass beyond it. A century! What changes, how many, how great, have transpired within the period of its passing years ! One hundred years ago, and had we assembled on this spot, how unlike the present had been the prospect around us! These hill- sides, now clad in all the freshness of spring, and giving such prom- ise of reward to the toil of the husbandman, were then covered with the primeval forest. There roamed the wild bear and bounded the timid deer, and fresh behind him was the trail of the Indian, as he retreated before the march of civilization. Then, highways were mere bridle paths. The timber of yonder sanctuary, now forsaken because of its age, was then growing in the forest, and the multi- tudes who have since worshiped God within its walls, were then mostly unborn.

THE ROCK ON WHICH THE FIRST GRAIN WAS THRASHED.

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From this spot where we are now assembled, the trees had been then probably removed, a few patches and narrow fields had been reclaimed. All the rest, these hills, these valleys, now fresh in the promise of a speedy harvest, all was then an unbroken wilderness. How changed ! If we cast our eyes over a wider circuit, we behold changes greater far, and vastly more important, than these. Our admirable system of common schools, though established by our Puritan fathers when they first landed on these shores, have really gone into practical operation in most parts of the country within the last one hundred years. Owing to the sparseness and paucity of the population, the means of education were extremely limited at the time of which we speak. The district schoolhouse, with its ses- sion of a few weeks in the year, stood at an inconvenient distance from many of the people. The academy was a rare curiosity, stand- ing in some remote village, resorted to by a few only of the hardy sons and ruddy daughters of that day, while the college withheld its more than golden blessings from all except a very limited number of the sons of wealth. Now, how changed ! The schoolhouse stands beside every church, and at every cross-road. The high school is found in every village, and the college opens its treasures to all who have energy to dig in its hidden mines. A hundred years have wit- nessed an amazing advance in the mechanic arts. Then the plough was a rude machine, furnished at a greater cost, and worked by double the strength required for the same purpose at the present day. Then the strength of woman's foot turned the wheel, the skill of her fingers the thread, and the power of her arm drove the shuttle ; now the river is turned from its bed and made to spin and weave in making its passage to the sea. Then upon the saddle and pillion our grandfathers and grandmothers jogged lovingly along ; but all these have passed away, and the chaise and coach, and cush- ioned railcar have taken their place. The mechanic, what has he not done? He has made fire and water and the winds of heaven perform the work of man. He has leveled mountains and leaped rivers. The old world he has laid alongside the new, and the heathen nations he has brought to our doors. He is the pen of a ready writer to the author and historian, and the gift of tongues to the missionary of the cross.

After glancing at the progress of philanthropy, and adverting to the subject of war, slavery, benevolent and religious institutions, and civil government, the speaker alluded to some changes that were not improvements, and proceeded to speak of the physical deterioration observable at the present day. In this respect, he said :

The women of the present day are feeble representatives of the past, and each generation seems to become weaker. I have been told that my grandmother, of precious memory-and well do I remember her when, at the age of threescore and ten, she moved with a firm step through the house, the windows shaking at the tread

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

of her foot-I have been told that when at the age of eighteen or twenty, she would take a load of linen thread, of her own manufac- ture, and start from Londonderry, her native town, and travel to Boston, a distance of forty miles, and back, in three days. Mr. President, there are other changes, more recent, to which I might advert. I stand amid the sepulchres of my fathers, I behold the faces of those who were the companions of my youth and the solace of my riper years; many friends have I found in this world, but none truer than the companions of my boyhood, whose names were the first written, and will be the last to fade from the tablet of my memory.

The earth may perish, the heavens like a vesture may be changed, the sun may grow dim with age; but the God of our fath- ers is our God, we come to the same throne of grace, sprinkled with the same atoning blood, and drink at the same unfailing fountains, and seek the same eternal heaven.

The president then announced the sixth regular toast :

The Orator of the Day. If our houses and Barnes appear as well a century to come as they do to-day, posterity will have no reason to be ashamed of their inheritance.

HON. ISAAC O. BARNES spoke briefly on the subject of education. The president then announced the seventh regular toast :

England, Scotland, and Ireland, our mother countries ; their united blood produces the best of stock, defying the world for competition.

REV. JAMES T. WOODBURY, of Acton, Mass., spoke very amusingly in responding to this sentiment :

I know not, exactly, why I am called upon to support this senti- ment, except that your committee of arrangements have somehow got an impression from my long and intimate acquaintance with the people of Bedford, and my love and respect for them, that I am a native of the town. Well, whether native or not, I am so much pleased with the proceedings here to-day that I have not the least objection to being considered such, though perhaps you may have. I am much of the mind of the honest Irishman, who, on being asked how he liked America, replied, " Indeed, sir, I like it entirely, and I have concluded, on the whole, to make it my native country." Good blood, good blood, in old Bedford; no better in the world. Just such as you might expect from such an origin, and from such a mixture. If one sort of blood is any better than another, I think, from the specimens of the stock that we have seen here to-day, we may prove yours as good as the best. You have feasted us richly, mind and body; we have had eloquent prose, good poetry, viands, and music, beauty, literature, and religion. Your fathers ! no better men ever lived than your fathers. You never need be ashamed of them ; only see to it that they never need be ashamed of you. Who loved their God, or who loved their country, any better than they! Are the colonies oppressed, taxed without being represented; they put in the mild, respectful, but decided remonstrance. Is this course

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persisted in by the king and parliament, and the blood of their broth- ers shed at Lexington and Concord,-they fly to arms, they take the field in open resistance, they get the news the same day, they are up all the next night, baking bread, mending and making clothes, and start before light the very next morning for the seat of war. They rendezvous at Medford, the headquarters of their friend and neigh- bor with whom they had fought in the old French war, twenty years before-General John Stark. And at the next encounter with the redcoats, on Bunker Hill, the 17th June, they are there, behind the rail fence; and there they could stand fire from British men-of-war in Mystic river, and the battery on Copp's Hill, not discharging a musket till they could see the white of every man's eye, and then, my life for it, they shot down their full share of the thousand and fifteen British killed and wounded that day. Bedford was well rep- resented at Bunker Hill, not in building the monument, but in fight- ing the battle. And the secret of the indomitable courage of our Revolutionary fathers was this: They were men of God, men of prayer ; they went into battle, like "The Ironsides" of the great Oliver, in 1649, from off their knees, and so they conquered. They were Presbyterians, stiff sort of men, but we are determined to love them none the less for that. They loved their God and their coun- try, they loved the Bible and the sanctuary, the Sabbath and Sab- bath school. And, on that rainy Sabbath in 1818, when the first Sabbath school was organized in Bedford in that old square school- house that stood yonder, no wonder old Lieut. John Orr-Hon. John Orr-was there; it was just like him to be there. The same set of feelings that led him to Bennington battle, where he was shot down and made a cripple for life, led him to that schoolhouse that rainy Sabbath to organize a Sabbath school-love of God and love of God's word, and love of country. A lame old man, but not lame enough or old enough to stay at home from meeting a rainy Sab- bath. Religion, religion in its best form, was the grand leading characteristic of the fathers and mothers of Bedford; may it be of their posterity. He was there, and not as a silent spectator ; he stood up and warmly exhorted those then children, mere little boys and girls, to study the Bible and obey the Bible. Now, John Orr, we hope, is in heaven, but these then little children are the fathers and mothers in Israel, eminent ministers of the gospel, lawyers, phy- sicians, merchants, and statesmen. And these men were not pecu- liar to Bedford, they were the Puritans of New England. We will ever thank God that such men lived, and that he sifted the king- doms of the earth, and the best of them, too, that he might with such seed plant this land.

The president then announced the eighth regular toast :

Our Posterity. May this day be remembered one hundred years hence by our descendants who shall then be on the stage of action.

Responded to by DR. LEONARD FRENCH, of Fitchburg, Mass .:

He alluded to the fact that Bedford was the native place of him-

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

self and his parents, and long the residence of his grandparents, of one of whom, on the maternal side, it was also the place of nativity. His address was short, but the very fact that his connections of the same name constitute a large proportion of our population gave interest to his remarks.

The president then announced the ninth regular toast :

The Scotch-Irish. They left the north of Ireland, braved the dangers of the ocean and came to these western wilds to enjoy their religion and lib- erty. May their offspring appreciate such noble virtues, and cherish them as a rich legacy handed down from their forefathers.

JOHN AIKEN, EsQ., of Andover, Mass., responded to this sentiment :

I cannot so far trespass on the patience of the good people here assembled as to make a speech at this late hour, and yet I cannot refuse to answer to my name when called. With great pleasure I heard, Mr. President, of your proposal to celebrate this anniversary, and with great pleasure have I come up hither to unite with you in commemorating the virtues of our honored ancestors. And yet, this is not an unmingled pleasure. An absence of thirty years has made me a stranger in my native town, where I once knew every man, woman, and child. The men whom in my youth I respected and revered are gone, all gone, with one or two exceptions, and the young men of that day are the old men of the present. Of the boys of my own age but few remain, and they as well as myself so changed that we scarcely recognize each other. Yet, sad as these changes are, I rejoice to be here, that I may unite with you in testi- fying our respect for our venerated ancestors. Our friend who has addressed us to-day has uttered in our hearing many names which we delight to honor, and I will not attempt to repeat what has been so much better said by him. This, however, I will say, that we are largely indebted to the character of our grandmothers, many of whom were large-hearted, noble women of rare energy, intelligence, and worth.

Some three years ago it was my good fortune, Mr. President, to visit the home of my ancestors, in the north of Ireland. Belfast is a flourishing and beautiful city, the center of the linen trade, and surrounded by a country of surpassing beauty. The soil is fertile and highly cultivated, and clothed through nearly the whole year with a freshness of verdure which in our climate we can see only for a single month. And then the fields are small, containing from one half acre to three or four acres each, and all surrounded by green hedges. Lands for cultivation there rent for £3, that is $15, per acre annually. Of course, farms must be small and very productive to justify such a rent. But, you will ask, how did the people look ? They were a fine-looking, intelligent people, in general, well and comfortably clothed, and dwelling in neat, commodious, and tasteful habitations. In most respects they strongly resemble their brethren

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the Scotch, and like them are Protestants, and generally Presby- terians. The superiority of this portion of the island over other por- tions, of equal natural fertility, but under a Catholic population, is most marked and striking. I took occasion, while at Belfast, to look into the business directory of that and the neighboring counties, and was gratified to find there many of the familiar names of my own native town. But I will not trespass further, and end as I began, in giving utterance to my cherished and profound veneration for the character of my ancestors, the Scotch-Irish.

The president then announced the tenth regular toast:

'Brown Bread. May the hale yeomanry of old Bedford never despise the hearty and substantial food of their ancestors.

Response by HON. C. E. POTTER, of Manchester :

Ladies and Gentlemen : I know not why I should have been called upon by the president to respond to this sentiment, unless it be that he thought from my somewhat healthy appearance I was fond of that most sweet and nourishing food, brown bread. [ Presi- dent : That is the very reason why I called upon the gentleman ; his size and build show that he was bred upon brown bread. ] Well, Mr. President, I plead guilty to the allegation, and have yet to learn that it is food unpalatable or unhealthy. In fact, Mr. President, brown bread was the very staff of life to our forefathers. It was their dependence in the time of scarcity. At all times its common use gave them the healthy cheek and the strong nerve. Dyspepsia and gout were unknown to them. This fact was owing to their simple and healthy food. The loaf of brown bread and that other homely but healthy New England dish, the pot of baked beans, were upon every table; and were they oftener seen at the present time upon our tables, there would be less of dyspepsia, gout, and other prevalent diseases of the day. The gentleman from Manchester, who has preceded me (Rev. Mr. Wallace), has remarked upon the difference in health betwixt our forefathers and their posterity ; there is a marked difference, especially in the health of the females. Need we wonder at the fact? We are learning to consider the homely but healthy fashions and fare of our forefathers as old- fashioned and vulgar. Different fashions and habits bring different tastes. This is true of our food, strikingly so as to bread. The wheaten loaf has taken the place, in some places exclusively, of the loaf of brown bread. Now, it is well known that prisoners and others have subsisted for months upon brown bread and water, and it is stated as a fact, by men who have tried the experiment, that a dog will die in forty days if kept upon flour bread and water. If flour bread and water will kill a dog in forty days, can we wonder at the ill health of the people of the present time, who partake so often and so freely of the wheaten loaf? The fact is, Mr. President, our females are learning to forget how to make the substantial, healthy, brown loaf and other homely fare of our ancestors, and while thus learning are becoming acquainted with modern luxuries 5

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

of the table, and their sure accompaniment, ill health. To them in an especial manner would I commend your sentiment: "The loaf of brown bread. May the hale yeomanry of old Bedford never despise the hearty and substantial food of their ancestors." But, Mr. Presi- dent, I need not further descant upon the loaf of brown bread; its virtues are becoming world-renowned. Famished Ireland has learned its virtues, through the generous sympathies of America, and the inimitable pen of Carlyle has introduced its sweets to the people of England and the Continent. But, Mr. President, whence comes corn bread ? It is well for us on this occasion, and on this ground, to make this inquiry. Corn bread was the gift of the Indians to our ancestors. Indian corn is still the distinctive name of that maize found in extensive culture and use among the natives of this coun- try. The receivers of that gift have become the lords of the soil, but where are the givers ? These questions, upon this occasion, and on this ground, are replete with interest. A century has passed since the incorporation of this town. What changes in the country and in the men of this country has a century brought about! Here we see a most striking feature in the progress of civilization. Savage life falls before it like stubble before the raging fire. This very town, whose centennial birthday we now celebrate, but little more than a hundred years since was the home of the Indian. Here they found plenty. The moose, the deer, the bear, the beaver, and the otter frequented the banks of the adjacent rivers; the trout, the shad, and the salmon filled their clear waters, and the wild Indian, as free as wild, sported his birch canoe upon their surface. In short, this neighborhood was the very paradise of the Indian. This was the home of Passaconnaway, or the Child of the Bear, brave and generous, the enemy and the friend of the English. Here, too, ruled Wonalanset, his son, the mild pupil of Eliot. The fierce war- rior, whose character was so changed by Christianity that he was called " W unnelanshonat," or "one breathing soft words," and who, rather than join with the Indians, his countrymen, in a war against the English, retired to Canada with his family and friends. Here, too, was the home of his successor, the fiercer warrior, John Hog- kins, or Kancamagus, the grandson of the renowned Passaconnaway, the destroyer of Cocheco and the avenger of his people's wrongs upon Major Waldron. Here the powerful Bashaba held his court and ruled the neighboring nations with as despotic sway as the mod- ern czar, while myriads of his subjects in war and in peace looked upon his face with fear and trembling.

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History of Bedford, New Hampshire, from 1737 : being statistics compiled on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, May 15, 1900, Part 6

Author: Bedford (N.H. : Town) Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Concord, N. H. : The Rumford Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1202

Author: Bedford (N.H. : Town)
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Concord, N. H. : The Rumford Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1202