USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Chester > History of Chester, New Hampshire, including Auburn : a supplement to the History of old Chester, published in 1869 > Part 4
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Auburn > History of Chester, New Hampshire, including Auburn : a supplement to the History of old Chester, published in 1869 > Part 4
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We fought then as we always must fight in the future, for what we conceive to be justice and righteousness. We fought then against a military autocracy which sought to impose its will on the rest of the world. We will always fight when we are threatened by an evil of that character. We are not a warlike people; we are devoted most earnestly to the principles of peace. But always we have held some things in higher value than mere peace; and those things have been justice and righteousness. May we always be wise and courageous in this respect.
Peace, itself, is not an objective. It is merely the accompaniment
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HISTORY OF CHESTER
of the accomplishment of justice and righteousness. If, in this world, we begin to seek peace alone, and forget justice and righteousness, then all of the progress which civilization has made in the past two thousand years will be lost. That progress has been possible, from the days of Christ to the present time, because there have been things of the heart and of the soul and of the spirit for which men were ready, if necessary, to lay down their lives.
We do not exalt Peace when we meet on such an occasion as this; but we do exalt justice and righteousness.
No men more than those who have served hope for a world-wide peace; but men who have served and made the sacrifices which service entails, know that always human progress has been made in the past, as it will be in the future, by human sacrifice. And good, red-blooded American men and women, such as those I see before me here today, are not going to permit themselves to be softened in fibre, or weakened in spirit, so that when some future challenge comes, they will be unready and unprepared for that challenge. Always, America must stand for those ideals which led us in 1776, in 1861, in 1898, and in 1917; ideals for which the Great Redeemer, Himself, mounted the Cross and died for all mankind. The ideal of Justice.
(Applause).
Mr. Joseph Viau of Boston then sang "There Is No Death." COL. HOSLEY.
"I now take great pleasure in presenting His Excellency Governor Albert O. Brown of Manchester."
GOVERNOR BROWN.
Veterans of Three Wars, Ladies and Gentlemen: One of the greatest privileges that comes to me is a visit to my old home town in this county. Next to that I may well esteem a visit to the County of Rockingham and my native town, and I am glad, in my personal capacity to be able to greet you today, citizens and neighbors and natives of the Town of Chester. But it is my high privilege to bring to you the greetings of the state upon this, your two hundredth birth- day. The state was one hundred years old when Chester was born, and now at the age of three hundred years she extends her greetings and her congratulations to one of her most beautiful and one of her older daughters. It is a fine thing to be so old and still be young, to be as strong as youth and as uncontrolled, and such is Chester. The state is especially mindful of the towns in the state as distinguished from the cities because it realizes the fact that its strength lies in the towns. There is a great steadying, conservative force, a force that is always exerted in favor of law and order and never in favor of mob violence under any circumstances whatever. I wanted to speak to you a few minutes along these lines, but the weather prevents. The cities in New Hampshire, like the cities everywhere, are recruited from the country. In this state, as is commonly known, politically the country controls, and it is my only regret in this connection that you did not pass the constitutional amendment which would have so apportioned the representatives that the towns of New Hampshire would not only have control of the House indefinitely but always, and you might have done it.
Well, if it does rain let me say that the present Governor and Council are all country bred; that the Justices of the Supreme Court
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CELEBRATION OF 200TH ANNIVERSARY
first saw the light in the country; that four of the five Justices of the Superior Court did; that seventy-five percent of the last House of Representatives were born on the hills, and that sixty percent of the last House came from the towns. You wont be able to keep up that ratio under the new apportionment. But that is another story, and I doubt if it and the other things along the same line I had in mind to say are especially appropriate for this occasion, but whatever else may happen it is unthinkable that a soldier should be forgotten, or a soldier's grave neglected. The work originally conducted by the comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, and for many years continued with the aid of their sons and the Veterans of the Spanish War, now mainly rests and long will rest with the brave men who fought against Ger- many and her allies. They will observe the traditions, cherish the memories and decorate the graves of all those soldiers who shall have gone before them; and when, if ever, in the process of time, there shall be too few veterans to perform these kind offices for the dead, other hands will take up the task and carry it on forever. Indeed, the state and to some extent the municipalities have already intervened to extend and supplement the less organized and less representative efforts of individuals and organizations to honor the men and women of the World War.
The state is engaged with the United States and the State of Maine in the erection of a memorial bridge at Portsmouth, a difficult and costly, but wholly useful and proper undertaking. It lias provided for a memorial tablet of attractive design and finish to bear the names of all those who perished in the World War, and when completed it is to occupy a most prominent position in the Hall of Flags in the State House at Concord. It has compiled and possesses a roll of honor in the form of a practically complete list of those who entered the military or naval service of their country in the World War. This is in the office of the Adjutant General in Concord.
Many towns have done something and some have done much to preserve the names and the fame of their local soldiers. Among the towns I think Exeter is conspicuous. She has set up a monument, a statue from the artistic and very capable hands of Daniel Chester French, and it has already taken its place as one of the finest war memorials in existence. And now Chester in her own good time erects a beautiful tablet of bronze to perpetuate the memories of those of her children who at the call of duty left their homes to protect their country's integrity and honor on foreign fields. It is a fitting and gracious thing to do. I thank you.
(Applause).
BOSTON FUSILIERS PRESENT AT THE DEDICATION :
Major James W. H. Myrick,
Capt. Arthur F. Dow.
Capt. Charles R. Tuckett,
Capt. Martin C. S. Devizia,
Capt. George F. Urling, Secretary.
Capt. Frank Keezer, Lieut. Thos. F. McCarthy,
Lieut. John Daniel,
Lieut. R. W. Sears (American).
Sergt. J. Harry Hartley (Globe).
Sergt. Charles J. Meissoner.
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HISTORY OF CHESTER BI-CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
Dinner was served in the anniversary tent and Stevens Memorial Hall to several hundred who were attending the celebration. Following a band concert in front of the Chester Inn the company assembled in the tent, the chief feature of the after- noon being the bi-centennial address by Honorable George Cochrane Hazelton of Washington, D. C.
Here in his native town, surrounded by life-long friends, the distinguished orator delivered on this most notable occasion in the history of Chester, his final message to the world. A week later while resting among the scenes of his childhood he entered into that peace which "passeth understanding."
The meeting was called to order by President Chase, who requested Rev. Morris W. Morse of Moscow, Idaho, a native son, to offer prayer.
REV. MR. MORSE.
"Let us look to God in prayer. Our Father and our God. Thou Who art from everlasting to everlasting the Eternal Father. Thou who dost love us with an everlasting love, Whose mercy has dealt with us so gently, so kindly. Thou Who hast led us higher, and Who didst lead our fathers and our grandfathers. Even from the earliest remembrance Thou hast loved us to this day. Thou art God and beside Thee there is no Saviour. We thank Thee, Oh Father, for all the mercies Thou hast shown unto us and unto this community. Thou hast led us and Thou hast helped us and granted us so many of the blessings of heaven, so many of the good things of this earth, and hast placed before us such hopes for the life to come. We thank Thee for these people, for the powers with which Thou hast endowed us and made it possible for us to cherish friendships, to be able to recognize the face of a friend, and to express to one another the kindly feelings of our hearts. Oh Father, what praise can we render unto Thee for the help Thou hast given to this community in all of the days of the past. In every time of trouble, every time of perplexity, doubt or fear, Thou hast been, Oh God, near at hand, ready to comfort, ready to save. And we thank Thee that Thou art the same yesterday, today and forever; that as the fathers trusted in Thee in the past so it is possible for us to trust in Thee in the present. And so God we trust in Thee unto the very end. Let Thy blessing be upon this company gathered here this afternoon. Wilt Thou bless our fellowship, one with another, and may we through our association one with another be encouraged to praise every- where the higher and better things.
We thank Thee for him who is to deliver to us the message of the afternoon. We thank Thee for the life Thou hast enabled him to live, for the powers with which Thou hast endowed him, and that he is able to be with us this afternoon to speak forth the words Thou hast given to him. And do Thou lead us all the way
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CELEBRATION OF 200TH ANNIVERSARY
we have to go. Help us to press forward to Jesus Christ, becom- ing ever more and more like Him, that we may exert a better, purer, more helpful influence in the position in life Thou dost give us to occupy ; that we may let our light shine before men, so that not we ourselves shall be gratified but that Thy great name may be praised. Oh Father, do Thou lead us, help us, and do for us better than we know how to ask or even think, and unto Thy Holy Name shall be given the honor and praise forever and ever, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, Amen.
PRESIDENT CHASE.
It is a great pleasure to extend to you a cordial welcome on this joyous occasion and I trust that the atmospheric conditions will not dampen the ardor of the anticipations in which you may have indulged.
I must also express my appreciation of the great honor conferred in being selected to preside over the exercises of this celebration, an honor which I esteem more highly than any which it has been my lot to receive.
The descendant of no less than eight of the early settlers of the town I yield to no one in pride of being a native of Chester.
We are assembled today to commemorate the fact that two hundred years ago his Majesty George the First, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc., issued a Royal Charter to certain persons, principally residents of Hampton and Portsmouth for a tract of land, which received the name of Chester. Of the one hundred and seventeen named in the charter hardly a score ever settled upon the tract and few of their descendants are now residents.
Although nearly a hundred years had elapsed since the first settle- ment in the state, the section covered by the grant was a trackless wilderness with a mere handful of settlers and nearly another hundred years was to elapse before wheeled vehicles were common upon the rough highways that had been constructed. The stone "horse-block" set up by Jacob Chase 170 years ago still exists, a potent reminder of the change in the mode of travel that has come about. The circle of stones that made the foundation of the "ancient mill" of Isaac Hills has vanished, but the old "pound" on the Auburn road, well along in its second century, stands with open gate in readiness to receive the live stock that no longer roams our streets.
Reduced in area by the creation of other towns and still further reduced in population by the trend city-ward common to farming communities, with few descendants of the prominent families of a century ago now residents of the town, the present home-folks have worked loyally to give a hearty and fitting welcome to those who are now visiting the homes of their ancestors.
As these pilgrims gaze upon the historic localities and learn from the address which is to follow of the labors and achievements of our forebears let them cherish with pride the heritage the past gives to them.
Considering the old town as one of the units that make up our state there is no better illustration of the thought I wish to convey than a few lines by Whittier, written about his native state but no less applicable to our own.
"Rough, bleak and hard, our little State Is scant of soil, of limits strait ;
Her yellow sands are sands alone,
Her only mines are ice and stone !
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HISTORY OF CHESTER
"Yet, on her rocks, and on her sands, And wintry hill, the school-house stands, And what her rugged soil denies, The harvest of the mind supplies.
"The riches of the Commonwealth Are free, strong minds, and hearts of health And more to her than gold or grain, The cunning hand and cultured brain."
No argument is needed to substantiate the assertion that the school-houses on the wintry hills of Chester have done their part in creating and developing an influence that has been felt wherever the natives or descendants of the town have made their abode.
Speaking for those who have labored zealously to perfect this celebration I would say that we are pleased to see you, and trust that the three days you spend here will be red-letter ones in your calendar of remembrance and that as you go hence to your homes you can join with heart and soul in the poet's invocation,
"Home of my fathers, O never may a son of thine,- Where'er his wandering steps incline,- Forget the sky that bent above His boyhood, like a dream of love."
(Applause)
Introducing the Hon. George C. Hazelton, President Chase said: "The historic address will be given by a loyal and dis- tinguished son of Chester. Although a non-resident for more than three-score years he has returned yearly to draw strength and inspiration from the invigorating air of the hill-top where he first saw the light of day, and to cheer with his presence those who are fortunate enough to be favored with his acquaintance.
"Far advanced in years but still young in heart and mind it truly can be said of him in the words of the poet Whittier,
the shadow on the dial Ran back and left him always young.'
"The Honorable George C. Hazelton needs no introduction to a Chester audience. Rise and greet him with the veneration that is his due."
(Great Applause)
Mr. President, Friends, Relatives and Ladies and Gentlemen :- I thank this audience for this cordial greeting. It may enable me to go on with greater strength and power than otherwise.
Bancroft, the well-known author of American history, left a testimonial of the overruling power of Deity in shaping the destiny of the human race:
*"At the foot of every page in the annals of nations," he says, '"may be written 'God reigns'"; that, if you will but listen reverently, *"you may hear the receding centuries as they roll into the dim dis- tances of departed time, perpetually chanting 'Te Deum laudamus,'" -Let God be praised.
*From Oration, delivered before the New York Historical Society, at its semi-centennial celebration, November 20, 1854.
John M. Halster,
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CELEBRATION OF 200TH ANNIVERSARY
With a reverent ear to these echoing voices, we have come from far and near, like faithful pilgrims to a hallowed shrine, to greet the dawn of the third century in the life and history of our good old adopted or native town of Chester, to commemorate her natal day as it takes its date in the royal grant of 1722, a grant of imperial dimensions and a fit precedent in area and exterior lines for the District of Columbia, the seat of our National Government; to trace the lines of its progressive life from the background in the woods to the meridian heights of civilization; to these fields, walled in by vanished hands with rocks that wear the moss of ages, happy homes and glistening spires of civilization.
Tennyson once said (and he was the best prophet, as well as poet, among England's lyric poets) :
"Yet I doubt not thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widen'd with the process of the suns."
In the light of that sentiment, it is my purpose to trace in successive periods of time the line of progression of our civilization.
When the star of Empire first cast its light upon our shores, all the territory now embraced in the New England States was one vast forest-reserve, stretching in stately grandeur from the mountains to the sea, and interspersed with rivers, streams, and jeweled lakes, held for ages in the solitude of Nature, awaiting the approach of Freedom with her scepter of love to work out her Heaven-born mission in the new world. It takes the long-distance-vision to reach the scene where, over two hundred years ago, the stern old Britishers felled the first tree and started the infant colony into being in this primeval wilder- ness, dense as night and old as the stars. Following the plan of Nature, the first sign of life to break the silence of the woods was when the tribes of the animal kingdom took dominion as tenants in common and for life. They came in two of a kind: the feathered tribes under the lead of the eagle's wing, songsters and mutes, to house their young broods under the canopy of green leaves, to while their leisure-hours away in neighborly flights from tree to tree; and some clothed in fur to burrow in the ground or roam the woods for prey, unrestrained by the fear of man.
Then, long before Columbus passed the Azores into an unknown sea, the Red Man came-an unproductive race, chancing his existence upon the menu furnished by Nature from her forests, streams and lakes, preempting his title from the hand of Nature, the original owner of the soil,- and held priority of ownership and occupancy against the world.
But he had the power of organizing tribal and confederate gov- ernments, with king and council, and under the lead of the Pennacook Tribe established his capitol where Concord now stands and built his village-homes along the banks of the Merrimack. He had one attribute far above the ancients, believers in myths; for in his templed woods he reverenced a Great Spirit, his Deity-to him, the source of all power in the universe.
He leaves a monumental memory in the names he gave, in his voweled language, to our mountains, cities, rivers and lakes. And he lives in the volumes of American History, and in bronze and marble, by the hand of Art. And in Poetry, if you want a just conception of the Indian race, of his life and habits beyond the grave's democracy, you will find it in the poem Whittier wrote at the Indian grave by the
*From "Locksley Hall."
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HISTORY OF CHESTER
Crystal Lake and read to summer guests on Hampton beach "where sea-winds blew."
In the treatment of the inferior races, two policies have prevailed : In the Dred Scott decision, *Taney said that the negro has no rights that the white man is bound to respect. England and Spain said the same thing as to the Indian tribes in North and South America; and it was that policy of England that visited upon our fathers the horrors that they suffered. Mr. Evarts once said, perhaps facetiously, that, "when the Pilgrim fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, they first fell down on their own knees, and then on the aborig-i-nes." That policy of England was what produced the war under Philip that came so near, as early as 1674, to sweeping the entire settlement from New England. And you see in that policy of England the tragedy that characterized the end. They shot King Philip; they murdered the queen; and, on a warship, under the guard of English soldiers, they took the boy that was left, regarding him perhaps as a crown prince to restore the dynasty, and shipped him down to Bermuda and sold him into slavery, and put the money into the exchequer of England. That is a part of the history.
Let
none those marks efface, For they appeal from Tyranny to God."}
Now, that race, you remember, had another policy, and that was ours; and I am happy to speak of it here to-day to the credit of this government. In 1831, the question arose between the Cherokee Indian tribe of Georgia and the State of Georgia, and it came under the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court and John Marshall delivered his opinion, and he said that from time immemorial the Indians were the lords of the soil and were limited only in that title and possession by treaty and treaty's stipulation and just laws of the United States. If that policy had prevailed from the beginning, the fathers and the mothers would not have rocked the cradles under the fear of death and desolation.
The White Man followed the Indian-and turned the forests into farms and homes and towns and cities. Where tepees had been, now stood the school house and the church.
But I shall not follow, here, this change in any detail.
Rather shall I come at once to another period in the history of this town and country. It is when the first convention was held in Portsmouth, I think it was, which was not ratified by the people, but was called and looked towards the creation of States. It was the beginning of that period of independence when Bartlett and Thornton and Sullivan and that class of men came onto the stage of government to formulate the new civilization.
In 1774, when the population was 1000 in this territory, the period of independence began; in 1774 and 1775, the Continental Congresses were formed; and, in 1784,- following the war for independence- we passed a Constitution in this State at Concord which was the forecast of the Constitution of the United States. It was a wonderful instrument : it contained all the guarantees of free government and free worship, and was in perfect harmony with our great Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton and John Hancock of Boston, of
*Dred Scott v. Sandford, 19 How., 382.
+From "Sonnet to Chillon" by Lord Byron.
#See The Cherokee Nation v. The State of Georgia, 5 Peters, I.
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CELEBRATION OF 200TH ANNIVERSARY
two different religions, had joined hands in making the Declaration of Independence.
Then, in 1787, the Constitution of the United States was framed; and that Constitution, as I said, was forecast by the Constitution of this State of 1784. Then, July 21, 1788, the State ratified the national Constitution.
Now, Washington had read this Constitution of ours of 1784, and the strength of its sentiment in favor of the new government led him to believe that New Hampshire would be the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. And so he stationed at Portsmouth his chief of staff to receive the news of the action of that convention, and, if favorable, to send it by relays of messengers on fast horses to the States which were holding off, New York and Virginia.
With Langdon in the chair, and from this town Joseph Blanchard, and delegates from the surrounding towns, by a vote of 57 to 46,* that convention ratified the Constitution of the United States; they set the orb of free government in motion and wound up the machine.
The State of New Hampshire was the bright particular star that went to the field of blue on that day and made our starry banner the emblem of the free!
And, after this Constitution, we come to the Constitution of the State, of 1792.
Well, Chester, all the time, plays a part in what I am talking about. Under that Constitution of 1792, we organized a judiciary ; the church took on strength; the schools, the institutions of education, began to revive. When the judiciary was organized, this town held two of the judges of the Superior Court of the State that settled the judicial policy of the State, and furnished the first decisions the reports of which are in the law libraries in this country. The chief justice was Richardson, a man of great ability, a man of excessive learning, a man schooled in the languages, a jurist; and in his office, in this town, the opinion in the Dartmouth College case was written, the case causa celebra-one of the most important cases in the history of our jurisprudence. That case involved the question whether the Dart- mouth College charter by England was a contract to be protected within a provision of our National Constitution. That court, composed of Richardson and Samuel Bell and Levi Woodbury of Bedford, two Whigs and a Democrat, made an adverse decision, but they agreed upon a state of facts that would take the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, where Webster again argued the case and Sullivan argued on the other side, and the Supreme Court,t again by Chief Justice Marshall, established the Dartmouth College institution as a constitutional right and a contract that could not be impaired. Well, of course, when this was going on here, Webster came on here, Jeremiah Mason and Smith and the strong lawyers of this country; and Chester was the seat at that time. Her population ranged at 2200 and more; and at that time Exeter became very jealous of Chester, fearing that the county seat at Exeter might be removed to Chester. And she sent her sharpest men to Concord to the Legislature to prevent it. So, you have some idea of Chester at that time.
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