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 49
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 49
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"All true nobility rests upon the soil," and this idea, which lies at the foundation of society in England, had not fifty years ago become obsolete in New England, as alas, it seems likely to become in all America.
To be a land-owner, to build up a family mansion, to have an estate, with horses and cattle and sheep, to raise enought on one's own acres to supply liberally his needs-this was the independence to which all gentlemen of position aspired. The times have changed, and we with them, and men in high office and men in extensive business all find it convenient to make their houses in the large centers of business, and especially of railroad communications.
And now let us return to our original purpose, which is to draw a somewhat careful picture in detail of the actual condition of the good
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old town which has been mentioned, as it was a round half-century ago.
Who built and lived in these fine old houses, so evidently of a more prosperous time? What were the pursuits, the amusements, the religion, the politics, the social habits of this generation which has so recently, yet so completely, passed in grand procession across the stage of life? We dig as for gold among the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii for any relic that may throw light upon the manners and habits of a people of no kin to us, except through father Adam, and we study with keen delight the revelations of modern investigation about the site of Troy and the bracelets, perchance, of Priam's daughters. The mode of life, the dress, the equipage, the management of the household, the religious observances of fifty years ago, when our fathers and mothers bore the burdens of life, were almost as different from our own as from those of the buried cities, and surely it seems worth while in this centennial year to make some record of this recent past.
Walk with me once more in the pleasant summer twilight along the lovely street already slightly sketched, and let me tell you of the people who built and occupied the houses which were standing fifty years ago.
My blessed mother, born in this village in the year 1782, still survives in 1875, with memory and hearing and gift of speech perfect, as in earliest youth. The house on the right, as we face the west, is her birthplace. Her grandfather, the Rev. Ebenezer Flagg, occupied it for many years. He preached in this parish nearly sixty years, was born in 1704, graduated at Harvard in 1725 and died here in 1796. (I have at hand an extract from the Columbian Centinel of October 29. 1796.) With this venerable man, my mother lived until his death, when she was fourteen, and she has a distinct recollection of him and the traditions of his time. When we consider that she still lives, and that one more life of equal length with either would extend back ten years before the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, we feel as if the his- tory of the country need not be lost, if only the chroniclers be faithful to their duty.
We have his portrait, showing a venerable face with blue eyes, a shaven chin and a full, white wig, with bands across the breast. The inscription on the back made at the time is as follows: "The likeness of the Rev. Ebenezer Flagg, taken in June, A.D., 1792, he being in the 88th year of his age, by Mr. Mitchell." My mother remembers well when it was painted. The artist was not a resident of the town, but "came along" and was employed by friends of "grandfather" to paint it. She says that he sat by the open window in his study, and the wind blew his bands up, and the artist said he would paint one of them turned up as we see it now, and the trivial circumstance is clearly remembered after more than four-score years. We have still his old mahogany chairs and the tripod mahogany table on which his sermons were written and many of his manuscript sermons on very small paper, closely written, as if paper were scarce in those days, and with many abbreviations. The records show that Moses Hale, the former minister in 1736, conveyed to Mr. Flagg the land and a house. This house was replaced by a new one by Mr. Flagg and still stands as the "L" of the present dwelling. It was moved back by John Bell when he built the present handsome front in 1806. (Again altered by a more recent purchaser, Dr. Arthur L. Emerson in 1900. )
Mr. Bell occupied it from 1806 till his death in 1836. He was one of a family most distinguished in the modern history of the State in
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all the departments of public life, political, judicial and military. His wife was the daughter of Dr. Isaac Thom, of Londonderry, an edu- cated and accomplished lady, who lived in the old mansion until 1862. (They had ten children, and the eldest two daughters fifty years ago were ornaments of the society which we are trying to describe, "of the ages of about 19 and 21.) Mr. Bell was a member of the Executive Council five years and was elected Governor of the State in 1828.
Next to the old parsonage is a large, square house built by Amos Kent in 1799. He was a graduate of Harvard and married a daughter of Hon. Joshua Atherton, of Amherst, in the fall of the year his house was built. He was by profession a lawyer, and his wife was a sister of Hon. Charles H. Atherton, Member of Congress, who was the father of Hon. Charles G. Atherton, a United States Senator from New Hampshire.
My mother relates a touching incident in the history of Mr. Kent's family. He was returning from Amherst with a pair of horses in a sleigh, having with him his wife and perhaps others, with his sister Jane, a young lady of great beauty and sprightliness. As they were crossing the Merrimac River on the ice, the young lady was singing a gay song, "Be Gone, Dull Care," when suddenly the horses broke through the ice and the party were thrown into the water, and poor Jane was taken out dead. It was supposed that she was disabled by a kick from one of the horses, so that she could not make exertions to save herself. Mrs. Kent was a highly accomplished woman, and did much to give tone to the society of the place, which, we shall see, was as select in that good old town as in any modern metropolis. There were three daughters and five sons in the family. Two of the sons were lost at sea, in youth. The others are still living; two of them in Louisiana, prosperous as planters, and one in his native State. Of the daughters, who were all ladies of high culture, and one of whom is still living, it is enough for my purpose to say that one of them in the ad- ministration of President Pierce filled with dignity and grace the position of Lady of the White House ,the wife of the President being prevented by bereavement and illness from appearing at public re- ceptions.
Nearly opposite is a fine old gambrel-roofed house, in modern times occupied as a hotel. Its style of architecture, so grand and fine and spacious, has gone nearly out of use and has given place to a feeble substitute under the false names of French and mansard roofs. This house, which may yet stand for a century longer, was built by my mother's grandfather, Col. John Webster, in 1761. He was a man of importance in town and State affairs, and was an active patriot in the Revolution. He was muster master and at times advanced his own money for bounties to the soldiers. A few incidents illustrating the customs of the times, though of earlier date than our half-century, may not be out of place in this sketch.
Col. Webster's first wife having died in 1760, he, in nowise dis- couraged, built his new house, and in November, 1762, married the widow Sarah Smith, of Hampton. He went to Hampton, a distance of about thirty miles, and brought his new wife home on horseback, that being the common mode of travelling at that time. Each brought from Hampton as a riding whip a willow stick, which they carefully planted on their arrival home near the street by their house. These twigs grew into very large trees and are well remembered by many now living. The Colonel's first wife had seven children, the second wife brought with her two Smith children, and four more blessed their last
SARAH H. (PARKHURST) WATSON Born 28 Aug., 1820. Died 26 Oct., 1924. Photographed 14 Oct., 1924.
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marriage, to some of whom we may again refer as we continue our walk up the street and our notes on the old houses which we pass.
We have not yet done with the old Webster house. Fifty years ago, Dr. Benjamin Kittredge owned and occupied it. He was the oldest of eight sons, all of whom were physicians, that profession be- ing hereditary in the Kittredge family. His first wife was a daughter of Colonel Webster. They had one son, who was also a physician, and lived a half-mile south on the Derry road, and he had a wife and sons and daughters who contributed much to the social life of the village within our half-century.
Old Doctor Kittredge, as he was usually called to distinguish him from his son, though he was but 62 when he died in 1830, married for his second wife the widow Graham, whose daughter by her first hus- band was an agreeable young lady in "Chester Society" at the period of which we write. His second wife was sister of his son's wife, and the indiscriminate use of "aunt" and "cousin" in the two families was a source of much perplexity to strangers. Indeed it is not easy to define the precise relationship which existed among the children of the two marriages.
Mrs. Graham, in her widowhood, was noted for her energy and activity even in those stirring times. Living with her brothers, who were all sportsmen, she learned the use of firearms when a girl, and would go with her dog and gun to the woods of an autumn day and bring home at night as many gray squirrels and partridges as the best of them. She kept a fine saddle-horse, of which it was said she her- self took care, and made a fine figure as she dashed through the street.
Passing two or three modern houses, we come to one of more ancient date, though, like others to which we have alluded, shorn some- what of the proportions of fifty years ago. It then had upon each side a wing of a single story, which had been recently added by its occu- pant, Hon. Samuel Bell. He was a graduate of Dartmouth and from time to time held most of the positions of honor which the State could bestow. He was by profession a lawyer, was Speaker of the House of Representatives, President of the Senate, Justice of the Superior Court, Governor for four years and Senator in Congress twelve years. The family was of Scotch-Irish origin, from Londonderry in Ireland, and have been distinguished always for their well-balanced heads and clear common sense and for the industrious and temperate habits which mark their race. The two Governors were tall, stately, dignified men, and the male descendants have generally preservd these characteristics.
They have been careful observers and students in their several professions, rising always to the foremost rank, somewhat reserved and never familiar in their intercourse, and popular in the general sense, not because they sought position, but because their high quali- fications commanded it. A brief mention of the sons of "Senator Bell," as he was called to distinguish him from "Governor Bell," his brother, will show an array of honorable names such as cannot be equaled in the history of the State. The father came to Chester in 1812, and fifty years ago the four sons of his first marriage were from nineteen to twenty-seven years of age, and so belonged to the golden age of our little town. Samuel D., the oldest son, was a lawyer of eminence, Country Solicitor, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, then of the Superior Court, of which for fifteen years he was Chief Justice till he resigned in 1864. He was also a Commissioner to Re- vise the Statutes of New Hampshire and author of two books of law precedents. He was also eminent as an antiquarian, and was an in-
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dustrious student in various departments. And it may be added that one of his sons is now a Representative in Congress from New Hamp- shire.
The next of the sons of the "Senator" was John, a graduate of Union College, who studied medicine in Boston and afterwards in Paris, was a Professor of Anatomy in the University of Vermont, and editor of the Medical and Surgical Journal. He is remembered as a most accomplished gentleman and scholar, but died in 1830, at the age of thirty years. Going abroad for education was in those days an occurrence rarely heard of in a country town, and the return of young Dr. Bell was much talked of, and I remember going with other little boys down the street to meet the stage to see if he had come, and, sure enough, there he was on top of the stage, with a beautiful, brown spaniel riding by his side.
The next son was James, born in 1804, a graduate of Bowdoin, a lawyer of large practice and great eminence in his own State, and a Senator in Congress at the time of his death in 1857.
Doctor Luther V. Bell, the fourth son, who was born in 1806, was a graduate of Bowdoin, and a physician and surgeon, and was well known as Superintendent of the McLean Asylum for Insane. The de- gree of LL.D. was conferred on him in 1855. He went out as surgeon of the IIth Massachusetts Volunteers, was Medical Director and Bri- gade Surgeon in Hooker's division, and died in the service in 1862.
It was while most of these young men were at home that the three large elm trees in front of Mr. Noyes' house and garden were set out. One of them cracked and was filled with some sort of wax. and another had a line tied to the top of it to make it grow straight. This was not far from the year 1823. The trees are now perhaps two and one-half feet in diameter. When set they were so small that two or three of them could be carried by one person.
The four sons of the Senator's second marriage, which occurred about 1828, belonged to a later generation than that of which I write. Two of them were lawyers, and two physicians, three, if not all, graduates of colleges, and three of them served in the army on the Union side. Louis, the youngest, was Colonel of the N. H. Volunteers, and was killed while gallantly leading one of the divisions in the suc- cessful assault on Fort Fisher, January 15, 1865. He was brevetted Brigadier-General for his distinguished military service.
A little further up the street and on the same side we see a large and respectable mansion, which long ago was the home of "Senator Bell," and where, in 1826, his son, afterwards Chief Justice, began his married life, and where the older set of children had their home. The only daughter among the eight sons was born in 1802, and was an ornament to the select circle of Chester society.
Further up and on the other side of the street, covered with shade- trees, stands the only three-story house in the town. It was built in the year 1800, by Daniel French, a lawyer, who came to Chester the year before to take the office and business of Hon. Arthur Livermore, who was appointed Judge of the Superior Court. Mr. French was Attorney- General of the State from 1812 until 1815, when he resigned, and con- tinued in extensive practice of his profession till his death in 1840. He was postmaster of the town from 1807 till 1839, when he resigned and his son succeeded him. In this mansion, all his eleven children, ex- cept the eldest, were born. They all lived at the homestead until one son in 1825, just fifty years ago, died at the age of nineteen. The three other sons were all educated to the profession of law. The eldest, Benjamin Brown French, held many positions of trust and honor,
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was Clerk of the House of Representatives in Congress and Grand Master of Masons. One of the others was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in New Hampshire, and is in practice still in Boston. ("One of the others," refers to the author of this sketch.)
Across the way and a little beyond is one of the finest dwellings in the town (the present Orcutt house), a large square house with a high roof, formerly ornamented as the fashion then was with a railing. A handsome stable, now somewhat modernized, stands back on the rear line of the house, and a courtyard paved with granite slabs extends to the street. The house was built in 1787 by Tappan Webster, son of the colonel of whom mention has been made. He was engaged in trade and did a large business, and seems to have been an enterprising man in various ways.
There was then no lawyer in town, and Mr. Webster induced a young man from Canada by the name of Porter to come and assist in collecting his debts. He was a handsome and agreeable young gentle- man and he and Mrs. Webster became so much enamoured of each other as to elope together and flee to his home in Canada. The lady was then twenty-six years of age, and left three young daughters, two of whom grew up in Chester, and are well remembered by a lady now living.
The husband thus suddenly bereft obtained a divorce and en- deavored to retrieve his fortune by a second marriage, but his new wife was more attached to her home than to her husband and when he had failed in business and thought it necessary to move to the city of Washington, she refused to accompany him and he went alone. By some means, of which history does not inform us, a second divorce was decreed and Mr. Webster again married in Washington, where he died. What is remarkable is that his three wives were all living at the same time.
The paved courtyard was not the work of the builder of the house. Lord Timothy Dexter as he was called, owned and occupied the place for a while. He was a rich and eccentric man, who is said to have blundered into his fortune. At one time, some wag advised him to ship a cargo of warming-pans to the West Indies as it was said that market was very poorly supplied with the article. He did so, and they were found so useful as ladles to dip syrup of sugar-cane that he made a large profit on his venture. He is the same man who wrote a small book entitled a Pickel for the Knowing Ones, without any punctuation, but with some pages of "stops and marks" at the close for each reader to use according to his taste. The tradition is that he kept his coffin in his front entry for many years, and once got his servants and others to carry it, in procession, that he might see how his funeral would look. He offered to pave Chester street if the people would call it Dexter street, but the offer was not accepted. The only other fact about him preserved by tradition in Chester is that he was cowhided by Judge Livermore for some insult offered the Judge as he was riding past on horseback. He at once dismounted and proceeded to execute judgment upon him without mercy. Dexter afterwards lived in New- buryport, where the writer has seen his house surrounded with life- sized carved wooden images of Washington and other distinguished persons.
Next beyond, and very near, is the house occupied by Chief Justice Wm. Merchant Richardson from the time he moved to Chester in 1819 till his death in 1838. It was built in 1788 by Wm. Hicks, who was a goldsmith, and married a daughter of Colonel Webster. Judge Richardson was a graduate of Harvard and was not only a profound
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lawyer, but a man of high scientific and literary culture. He was a representative in Congress from Massachusetts from 1811 to 1815, when he resigned and removed to Portsmouth, N. H. He was ap- pointed Chief Justice of the Superior Court in 1816. He fills so large a space in the judicial history of New Hampshire that anything which relates to his personal history should be interesting.
His mother was Sarah Merchant, of Boston, who was born in 1747, and died at Pelham, N. H., in 1841. He was named for her brother, the same William Merchant, who is mentioned in the history of the times as one of the "four youths" who were engaged in a fray with some British soldiers on the 5th of March, 1770, the "Boston Massacre." He received a bayonet scratch under his arm, and seems to have been a youth of spirit, as his sister well recollected and in- formed her descendants that he was also one of the Boston Tea- Party, and came home disguised as an Indian that night. His portrait by Copley, painted in 1755, and kept by his sister more than fifty years hanging over the fireplace in Pelham, is still preserved and is described in Perkins' history of Copley. William Merchant died un- married in Barbadoes at the age of about forty. The father of the judge was a well-educated farmer and a soldier in the Revolution. Tradition says that he met his future wife at the Rev. Mr. Davis' in Dracut, where she was boarding as a young girl of fifteen, and he was studying Latin with the same reverend gentleman.
In all that has been said so far, we have alluded to the occupants of eight houses and these houses are all now standing and in good repair, well painted, and likely to stand another half century. They are all on a single street, within half a mile. If we count up the offices held by persons who were living there fifty years ago, either held by them at that time, or before or afterwards, we find two governors of the State ,two Senators in Congress, two Chief Justices of the high- est State Court, two Judges of the Superior Court and Court of Com- mon Pleas and one Attorney-General. (Afterwards may be added an Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury and a third Gover- nor Bell.)
Five of the families named had living at that time thirty-seven children, twenty girls and seventeen boys, of what the traders call "assorted sizes," but most of them between fifteen and twenty-five, and when we add to this number of young people others belonging to fami- lies of less distinction, it will be seen that material existed for society, both young and old, of the highest order.
Five miles to the south were the two villages, Upper and Lower Londonderry, which also contained several families of education and refinement, with whom we associated in a somewhat stately and formal way, the two towns regarding each other as in some degree rivals and perhaps inferiors, but still respectable enough to be received into good society.
(The rest of the article is devoted to descriptions of the religion and manners and customs of the people of Chester that are interesting, but too long for insertion here, except the following brief extracts.)
All the families had standard English works and bought as many new books as they could afford and our small libraries, with "Clarissa Harlowe" and "Sir Charles Grandison" for novels ,and Rollin and Mitford for histories, were faithfully read. The Columbian Centinel for Boston news, and the Patriot and Statesman for home politics, were regularly perused. The Chester Social Library was formed in 1793, and kept along till recent days. The Atheneum was formed about 1824. It subscribed for the North American, and one or two other home re-
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views, and for four foreign quarterlies, and some others from time to time. The Association was limited to a few families and the magazines were passed in turn from house to house. Literature was deemed es- sential to good society, and we were not without our native poets as well as prose writers.
One of the great wants of those days, as of all other days in New England to this present time, was rational amusement for the people. The Puritan idea prohibited dancing and card playing and everything like theatricals, yet our young people danced at home, and occasionally attended a ball, and their parents played whist under protest always of the religious people of the town. For the laboring class there were no amusements, except out-door plays in summer, and skating and sliding in winter. Hunting and fishing were practised by most of the boys and sometimes by gentlemen; and large fishing parties at Massa- besic, when whole families attended, are among our pleasant recollec- tions. Puritanism made a great mistake in discontinuing holidays and amusements for the people.
The amusements of the boys and girls in those winter days, be- sides house games, were skating and sliding down hill, and parties of young men and maidens often spent a moonlight evening in what is called "coasting." In addition to the sleds of all dimensions we often, when there was a crust on the snow, procured long boards and crowd- ing on as many as could sit, and holding onto the girls closely to keep them from slipping off, away we went at lightning speed down the steep hill in "the lane" and far along the level land below. The sleigh rides were still more social, because each young man could in some sort select his companion. Everybody had horses and sleighs and plenty of buffalo robes, and whether in single sleighs or crowded into a double one, the old, old story of youth and maiden was ever repeated and ever new. Sleigh rides to Derry, sleigh rides to Massabesic Pond by day or night were always in order, sometimes to a hall, often to an informal dance of our own. These were among our winter amuse- ments.
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