USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 57
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 57
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 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155
He resided here until 1814, when he went back to Fitzwilliam, where he died in 1829.
Dr. Charles W. Whitney, the third physi- cian, was born in Rindge, November 15, 1791, the son of Dr. Isaiah Whitney. In 1811 he commenced the study of medicine under the tutelage of his father. In 1813 spent six months in study and practice at Boston, and in December of same year commenced practice in Marlborough, Mass. Left Marlborough in
the spring of 1815, and, in October, started for Vermont to look up a place among the Green Mountains ; but not liking the appearance of the land or the people, he retraced his steps home- ward ; on arriving at the hotel here, he was invited by the proprietor to locate, which he decided to do after a few days' consideration He boarded three years at Colonel D. W. Far- rar's ; built his house in 1818 ; married Mary, daughter of Samuel Griffin, of Fitzwilliam, and continued in active practice until feeble health and advanced years compelled him to relinquish it.
Dr. Luke Miller succeeded Dr. Whitney, locating here in 1847, and practiced about six years. After leaving Troy he practiced in Winchendon and Fitzwilliam, and afterwards moved West, where he died some few years since.
Dr. A. M. Caverly was the fifth physician. Born in London, November 28, 1817; grad- uated at Philadelphia College of Medicine, 1845. Located here in 1853 and practiced until 1863, when he moved to Pittsford, Vt., where he died a few years ago. While here he compiled and published a history of Troy, up to 1855.
Dr. Daniel Farrar, the sixth physician, was born in Troy, May 29, 1836. He commenced practice in his native town some time in 1863. Not being physically strong, he could not endure the rides over this hilly country and gave up the practice some time in 1865. He after- wards practiced in Leominster, Mass., where he resided until his death.
He was succeeded by Dr. Daniel B. Wood- ward, who practiced until about 1868, when he removed to Ellenburgh, N. Y., where he now resides.
The eighth physician was Dr. Benjamin HI. Hartwell. Born in Acton, Mass., February 27, 1845; graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, March, 1868. Com- menced practice in Troy the May following and remained until March, 1869. He removed
23
354
HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
to Ayer, Mass., where he has since resided, a highly-respected and successful physician.
Dr. John Dodge came next from Springfield, Vt., but remained only a few months.
Dr. Carl G. Metcalf was the tenth physician. Born in East Unity, N. H., April 21, 1846 ; studied medicine with Dr. Butler, of Lemp- ster, and Swett, of Newport, graduating at Albany Medical College in December, 1869. Commenced practiced in Troy in February, 1870, remaining until April, 1872, when he removed to Middleton, Mass., where he was located three years. Failing health re- quired a year's rest, and in 1876 he located in Marlborough, Mass., where he resided until his death, November 1, 1884. He married, in August, 1872, Abbie A., daughter of Rev. Levi Brigham.
The next physician to settle here was Dr. M. S. Ferguson, but he remained but a short time.
The twelfth physician was Dr. Benjamin E. Harriman, son of ex-Governor Walter Harri- man. Born in Concord, October 20, 1854. He studied medicine with Dr. A. H. Crosby, of Concord ; attended lectures at the University of Vermont and Bellevue Hospital College, New York, and graduated at Dartmouth Medical College in November, 1877. He opened an office in Manchester, in the December following. Broke down in health in June, 1878, and passed the winter in Florida. He located in Troy in October, 1879, and once more attempted to prae- tice, but the labors of a country practice so wore upon him that he again succumbed and returned home the last of the following February, and passed peacefully away May 23, 1880. In April, 1879, he married Jessie B., danghter of Isaac W. Farmer, of Manchester.
Dr. M. T. Stone was born in West Bosca- wen, N. H., July 28, 1854; studied medicine with Dr. F. A. Stillings, of Concord, and graduated at Dartmouth Medical College in No- vember 1879. Located in Troy in February, 1880; married, January 26, 1882, Cora M., daughter of Charles W. Whitney.
MANUFACTURES .- The principal manufac- turing industry is the Troy Blanket-Mills.
In 1836 Luke Harris built a factory for the manufacture of woolen cloth on the site of the present box-factory, and which he ran until 1841.
In 1851 Thomas Goodall, a native of York- shire, England, came to Troy and engaged in the manufacture of woolen cloth in the same mill, and afterwards of horse-blankets.
The present company of Troy Blanket-Mills was formed in November, 1865, by J. H. Elliot, R. H. Porter and B. Ripley, of Keene, who bought of Goodall the old mill, now used as a box-shop, and all the other real estate and privileges owned by him.
The mill at that time contained two sets of cards, two hand-jacks, nine looms and but one or two sewing-machines, the blankets being carried to the houses about town and made up there.
The present brick mill was erected in 1869, and contained three sets of cards, jacks and looms. It was enlarged in 1877, and the ma- chinery of the old mill moved to it and the old mill abandoned. The mill was further enlarged in 1880, and now contains ten sets of cards, seven self-operating jaeks, with fourteen hundred spindles and sixty looms, besides printing machinery and sewing-machines.
About one hundred and ten hands are regu- larly employed, with a fortnightly pay-roll of about twelve hundred dollars.
The present average production is ten bales, or five hundred blankets daily.
The manufacture of wooden-ware has been an important industry for more than one hundred years, as one Thomas Clark commenced the manufacture of mortars, spools, plates, bowls and trays in 1779.
The business is carried on at the present time by E. Buttrick & Co. and C. D. Farrar.
In 1845 Edwin Buttrick became a partner with S. Goddard, and built their present shop. They were in company until the death of the
355
TROY.
latter, after which Mr. Buttrick conducted the business alone for a number of years.
The present firm consists of E. Buttrick and A. C. Dort, the latter becoming a partner in 1866.
They give employment to twenty hands, and manufacture about twelve hundred cords of pine yearly into tubs and pails. Charles D. Farrar gives employment to eighteen men, and manufactures about one thousand cords of pine yearly, making all kinds of pails and buckets, holding from five to seventy pounds.
In 1801 Aldrich & Barnard commenced the manufacture of scythes at the North End. In 1816 they were succeeded by Amos Sibley. In 1826 he built a new shop, the one now owned by Farrar. This shop was used as a peg-mill, and afterwards converted into a pail- shop.
Mr. Sibley continued in business until 1844. In 1856 he sold his scythe-factory to Whit- comb & Forristall, who made it into a pail- shop. This building was afterwards used as a pottery, and is now a store-house for the blanket- mills. The peg-mill became the property of D. W. Farrar, and for a number of years re- mained vacant. Mr. C. D. Farrar commenced manufacturing here in 1873.
The manufacture of all kinds of locked cor- ner packing-boxes is carried on by O. C. Whit- comb in the old building formerly occupied by Troy Blanket-Mills ; he has done business here since 1883, giving employment to about twenty hands, the value of the yearly production being about twenty thousand dollars. The tannery is owned and run by R. M. Silsby.
In 1782 or 1783, Jason Winch came here from Framingham and built a tannery on the site now occupied, and carried on the business for a few years, but, being unfortunate in it, he closed up the business and left town.
In 1815 Lyman Wright purchased the tan- nery. He soon built a new one, which stood nearly over the stream, and a little lower down than the present one. Some years after he
moved it farther up-stream and toward the north, putting an addition on the east end, which is the principal part of the tannery of the present day.
The business was afterwards carried on by Wright & Foster and Francis Foster.
In 1869 the tannery passed into the hands of W. G. & R. M. Silsby. The former re- tired from the firm about two years ago.
The capacity of the tannery is about fifteen hands, but at present only seven are employed in the manufacture of wax upper leather. George S. Colburn, of West Gardner, Mass., manufactures chair-stock, hubs, etc., on East Hill, employing from three to six hands.
Webster Corey turns pail-handles at his shop on West Hill.
The wheelwright business is conducted by Winthrop Knights at the North End.
At different times, various enterprises have been carried on, with varying degrees of success, for longer or shorter periods.
In 1812 Constant Weaver built a pottery, the first in town, and for many years this was an important industry, and earthen-ware of different kinds has been made here until about three years ago, when, owing to the competition of large establishments, the business was aban- doned.
In 1831 B. F. Grosvenor commenced making fur hats in the house now occupied by J. S. Bliss.
The business was afterwards carried on by E. P. Kimball, who served an apprenticeship under Grosvenor. Mr. Kimball carried on the business of tinsmith in the same house for a number of years, and at one time had ten ped- lars. on the road.
MISCELLANEOUS .- Troy is situated ten miles southeast of Keene, on the Cheshire Railroad.
The surface is very hilly and uneven ; the highest point is Gap Mountain, situated in the easterly part, and separated from Monadnock by quite a deep ravine.
The broken surface affords almost every va-
356
HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
riety of soil, and there are some well-cultivated and productive farms.
There are some quite extensive meadows in the eastern, and also in the western, part.
The South Branch of the Ashuelot passes through the centre of the town. This rises from Rockwood Pond, in Fitzwilliam, flowing north, and receives many tributarics. The principal is the Ward Brook, which drains the westerly slopes of Monadnock and Gap Moun- tains. The greatest natural curiosity is, prob- ably, the falls in this brook. Within about one-half mile from the village the waters of this stream descend, within a few rods, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet, so that in high water this cataract presents quite a sublime spectacle.
The air is dry and pure, and the scenery is magnificent, and is the nearest point to the grand old Monadnock Mountain.
We have two hotels,-the Monadnock, C. W. Abbott, proprietor, and the Kimball House, Charles Haskell, proprietor.
The two stores are kept by E. P. Kimball & Son, and C. W. Whitney, and H. C. Newton deals in Yankee notions.
In 1872 Mr. Newton commenced the pub- lication of the Home Companion, which was issued quarterly until 1876, monthly until July, 1885, and since, semi-monthly.
REPRESENTATIVES .- The following gentle- men have served as Representatives for the years named :
1816-17. Daniel W: Farrar.
1818. Sylvester P. Flint. 1819. Daniel W. Farrar. 1820-22. Daniel Cutting. 1823. Daniel W. Farrar. 1824. Daniel Cutting. 1825. Daniel W. Farrar. 1826. Rev. Ezekiel Rich. 1827-28. Daniel Cutting. 1829-31. Daniel W. Farrar. 1832-33. Lyman Wright.
1834-35. Chester Lyman.
1836-37. Daniel Cutting. 1838-39. Jonathan Clark. 1840-42. Abel Baker.
1843-44. John W. Bellows. 1845. Jeremiah Pomeroy.
1846-47. Thomas Wright.
1848-49. John W. Bellows.
1850-51. Brown Nurse.
1852-53. Jotham H. Holt.
1854. Aldin Egleston.
1855-56. Lyman Wright.
1857-58. Joseph M. Forristall.
1859-60. Edwin Buttrick.
1861-62. A. M. Caverly. 1863-64. David W. Farrar.
1865-66. Edmund Bemis. 1867-68. Elisha H. Tolman.
1869-70. Augustus Hodgkins.
1870-71. Charles W. Whitney.
1873-74. George W. Brown.
1875-76. William N. Watson. 1877-78. William G. Silsby.
1879-81. Asa C. Dort.
1883. Charles W. Brown. 1885. Edwin Buttrick.
.
HISTORY OF HINSDALE.
BY HON. J. M. STEBBINS.
CHAPTER I.
Geographical-The Squakheags-Initial Events-First Set- tlements-Charter of the Town-First Town-Meeting- Officers Elected - Indian Troubles - Captain Ebenezer Hinsdale-Early Ecclesiastical History-Congregational Church-Universalist Church-Methodist Church-Bap- tist Church-St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church.
THE town of Hinsdale lies in the southwestern part of Cheshire County, and is bounded as follows : On the north by Chesterfield, on the east by Winchester, on the south by Massachu- setts, and on the west by the Connecticut River, which separates it from Vermont.
The Connecticut River, about midway between the north and south lines of Hinsdale, abruptly changes its southerly course and for a. mile or more runs to the northeast, passing around Cooper's Point and Clary's Island, when it again changes its course to the southeast, and runs a half a mile in that direction to the mouth of the Ashuelot, and at Pomeroy's Island resumes its southerly course. The waters in this great bend of the Connecticut and at the mouth of the Ashnelot were known to the Indians as Sqnakheag-the spearing-place, or a place for spearing salmon. The name was also applied to the territory in the towns of Hinsdale and Vernon, Vt. The Squakheags were a numerous and powerful tribe, whose principal villages were on the plains and bluffs near the great bend in the river. They fortified Cooper's Point, the bluff sometimes called Fort Hill, to which place they resorted when pressed or threatened by enemies, and from this hill could be seen the meadows and streams for a long distance above and below, from which they
gathered their supplies of corn and salmon. The remains of the fort, and of their villages and granaries still exist, and the relics of the tribe, with their tools and weapons, are often found.
Nawellet, a chief of the tribe, in 1687, granted to the proprietors of the town of Northfield, Mass., a tract of land which includes the territory within the limits of Hinsdale. The title to all land in Hinsdale is derived from grants from Nawellet and the town or pro- prietors of Northfield.
As early as 1723 a highway two rods wide had been laid from Northfield to the Ashuelot, and this had been extended before 1740 to Merry's Meadow. The travel and transportation between Northfield and Fort Dummer, on the east side of the Connecticut, crossing the river above the mouth of Broad Brook, had made a passable roadway which led to settlements earlier on the east than on the west side of the river.
Merry's Meadow, at the north of Fort Hill, took its name from Cornelius Merry, to whom the town of Northfield granted eleven acres of land .at the south end of the meadow. The remainder of these meadow-lands was after- wards granted to eleven persons. Among these were Daniel Shattuck, Peter Evans and Robert Cooper, who afterwards built houses on their lands. The other grantees of these meadow-lands may have improved their lots, but are not known to have settled in the town. The first organization in the town was that of these proprietors, in 1736.
Daniel Shattuck is supposed to have built, in 1737, the first house in the town. This was a
357
358
HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
large log house, heavily timbered, and stood by a brook in Merry's Meadow, on the farm lately of John Stearns. Another log house was soon built on the other side of the brook and the two buildings were connected by a plank palisade and surrounded by pickets. The place was long known as Fort Shattuck. The same year Robert Cooper built a log house just south of Merry's Meadow. In 1741, John Evans, of Northfield, built a house a mile south of the Ashuelot, near the burial-ground on the E. Stebbins farm. Evans' house was fortified and served as a place of refuge for the few settlers on the west side of the river, and in 1742, Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale built a fort and grist-mill on Ash Swamp Brook, north of Merry's Meadow. At this time Josiah Sartwell and Orlando Bridgman were living in houses built by them on the west side of the river above Hinsdale Fort; and Joseph Stebbins and Benoni Wright, south of the great bend. In 1745 all these settlers, except Colonel Hinsdale, had been driven from their homes by Indians; but in 1750 they had all returned to their farms and others came with them. Thomas Taylor had built a house a half a mile south of the Ashuelot, and Deacon Peter Evans, Jr., just below Merry's Meadow.
Until 1740 Northfield claimed all the terri- tory of Hinsdale and Vernon as far north as Fort Hinsdale; but a line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was run in 1741, by which a tract of land four miles and one hun- dred and ninty-seven rods in width was cut off from Northfield. But this did not invalidate the title of the settlers or proprietors of the lands. Grants afterwards made by Northfield of lands lying north of the Ashuelot, " above the line of the Massachusetts government," were held to be good.
The charter of Hinsdale, including land on both sides of the Connecticut, was granted September 3, 1753.
The first meeting was held September 25th. Orlando Bridgman was appointed chairman by
the charter ; Daniel Shattuck, John Evans and Benoni Wright were chosen selectmen ; Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale, clerk ; John Evans, treas- urer; Caleb Howe, constable ; Joseph Stebbins, Jr., Thomas Taylor, surveyors ; Peter Evans, tythingman ; Josiah Willard, Hinsdale, Bridg- man, Howe and Stebbins committee to lot out land ; Aaron Cooper, field-driver. Of these, Bridgman, Howe, Stebbins, Wright and Wil- lard lived in Vernon, then a part of Hinsdale, subject to the jurisdiction of New Hampshire. The names above given were the founders of the town. Most, if not all, were early settlers of Northfield, whose ancestors had settled in Southern Massachusetts or in Connecticut a hundred years before.
Most prominent of all the founders of the church and town was Colonel Ebenezer Hins- dale, from whom the town takes it name. In February, 1704, a band of Indians and French- men fell upon the settlement at Deerfield, and after putting to death nearly fifty of the settlers, the remaining one hundred and fifty were hur- ried off on a long march to Canada. Among the captives were the Rev. John Williams, the redeemed captive, and Mary Hinsdale, the mother of Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale, who was born in 1706, on her return from captivity. He was educated at Harvard College, ordained in Boston, but never settled in the ministry. At an early age he was appointed chaplain at Fort Dummer, and in 1742 he built the fort which bore his name, and a grist-mill on the east side of the river, where he lived the greater part of his life. He was the owner of large estates both in Hinsdale and Deerfield. It was to him the first settlers first applied for aid in the times of peril. It was through him they appealed to the authorities and to distant settle- ments for assistance. In 1775 he applied to Governor Wentworth for aid, hostile attacks by Indians having been frequent on his fort and upon the settlers around him, stating " that they were loath to tarry here merely to be killed," and the year following he called on the Goy-
359
HINSDALE.
ernor of Massachusetts for help, as the New Hampshire force had been withdrawn, and eighteen of the small number of settlers had that season been killed-yet he remained at his post.
He was a brave and kind-hearted officer, and active in the affairs of the church and town. His wife was a daughter of Rev. John Wil- liams, of Deerfield, Mass., and they were both members of the church in that town. He con- fessed to that church in 1750, "to the sin of intemperate drinking," and the confession " was received without objection." He died soon after the settlement of the first minister in Hinsdale, and was buried at the old burial- ground above Fort Hill. The inscription on the tablet upon his grave is as follows :
" Underneath Deposited is the body of Col. Eben- ezer Hinsdale, who, for his supernatural endowments, extensive learning and usefulness, not only in private life, but in various important public offices, he sus- tained, was far known and admired. After a long ill- ness he died Jan. 6, 1763, in the 57th year of his age. Here also lies buried the body of Mrs. Mary Beals, the mother to Col. Ebenezer Hinsdale, who was born on her Return from captivity in Canada, with whom she lived a widow at the time of his death, which is thought to have brought on hers, ye morning after, when she died, Anno .Etatis, '83; her husbands were Lieut. Mahnman Hinsdale and Mr. George Beals. By the first she had two sons, Samuel and John. After this [whose] only child, Mrs. Abigail Hinsdale, died at Hinsdale, Aug. 10, 1739, Anno Etatis [4], was interred at Deerfield. Her still surviving partner, Mrs. Abigail Hinsdale, daughter of the Rev. John Wil- liams, of Deerfield, and worthy relict of Col. Ebenezer Hinsdale, now mourning the absence of these dear deceased relatives, has caused their names and des- tinies to be recorded together on this stone June 2, 1764."
His widow married Colonel Benjamin Hall, and Colonel Benjamin Silliman, of Fairfield, Conn., was her third husband. She survived them all, and was buried by the side of her first husband in 1787.
At a town-meeting held March 12, 1754, it was voted that Daniel Shattuck's house be the place of meeting on the Lord's day. The set-
tlers, or most of them, maintained their rela- tions to the church of Mr. Hubbard, in North- field, but held religious meetings at Hinsdale at the place above named, and afterwards at or near the homestead of the late Mr. Ide, south of Merry's Meadow, that location being conve- nient for the settlers on the west side of the Connecticut River.
In 1754 the town voted to raise £46 48. 6d. to defray the charges for preaching and other town expenses, and to tax lands to provide for the building of a meeting-house and the settle- ment of a minister; and a committee, of which Colonel Hinsdale was a member, was appointed to select a site for a meeting-house. But it was years before a minister was settled. Four years later the town voted " to complete the outside of a meeting-house and lay the under floor and hire preaching."
In 1763, Orlando Bridgman, Peter Evans and Thomas Taylor were dismissed from the church in Northfield " to lie in the foundations of the church in Hinsdale." These men were fight- ing Christians ; each of them had more than once engaged in deadly conflicts with the In- dians. Captain Bridgman was a private in his youth in a company sent out from Northampton. He was afterwards a settler and soldier at North- field ; then third officer at Fort Dummer, and subsequently built the fort which bore his name in the north part of Vernon.
Taylor was a shoemaker and a captain. In 1748, in passing from Northfield to Fort Dum- mer, when near Fort Hinsdale, he was sur- prised by a large band of French and Indians. After a desperate conflict he was captured and taken to Canada. On his release and return the General Court of Massachusetts awarded him fifty pounds for his bravery in that action. There are many legends of his daring adven- tures.
Peter Evans was also a soldier. When a mere boy we find he joined a scouting-party that went from Northfield in pursuit of Indians. He was chosen a tythingman at the first town-
360
HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
meeting and was the first deacon of the church. It was probably at his log house that the first church was organized. At his fireside it was decided to call Rev. Bunker Gay to be the first pastor of the church ; and it was at or near his house, which stood under the bluff on which that pastor lived for more than fifty years afterward, where the congregations used to meet for wor- ship before and for years after the church was organized. It was upon this Peter that the little church at first mainly depended. These four foundation-stones, of which this Peter was by no means the least, are now represented by four church organizations and edifices in the town.
In 1763, Mr. Gay, a graduate of Harvard in 1760, became pastor of the church, at a salary of forty-five pounds a year and a yearly increase of one pound a year till it amounted to fifty pounds a year, and one hundred pounds as a settlement and thirty cords of wood yearly.
They settled a minister, but the building of a house of worship made little progress, partly because the people were poor and partly because the settlers on both sides of the river were liv- ing in the fear of again being driven away from their farms by the Indians as they had been be- fore.
A young pastor of a congregation of frontier settlers threatened by savages, and struggling in peril and poverty for homes and subsistence in the wilderness, is not likely to succeed if he is merely a fine preacher or profound scholar. In that position something besides preaching is nec- essary for success. Even Jonathan Edwards failed in his ministry over a more promising congregation. The preaching of Mr. Gay is said to have been acceptable to his people. Some of his sermons were published, but he was more The old meeting-house erected on the sum- mit of what was known as Meeting-House Hill, on the road leading from Hinsdale village to Merry's Meadow, was given to Daniel H. Rip- ley to be used in rebuilding his factory in the village, which burned down in 1840. The fac- tory was again destroyed by fire and was re- celebrated for the many quaint epitaphs attrib- uted to him than for his sermons. He was no- tably social and hospitable and a welcome and frequent visitor among his people, who were widely scattered. He is described as a thrifty parson, " passing rich on fifty pounds a year ;" but he could not have done so on his salary. placed by the mills now owned by Haile, Frost
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.