USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume II > Part 42
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A chapter would not suffice to do justice to all the excellent phil- anthropie organizations managed by Concord women, but brief men- tion must be made of the Concord Female Charitable society, founded in 1812 by Mrs. Elizabeth McFarland, wife of the third minister of the Old North church. This seems to preserve more of the historic flavor and old-time customs than anything else in Concord. Its annual meeting and supper, once the great event of the winter, is now but one out of a multitude of social occasions ; but whoever misses the reading of that ancient constitution and the sight of the dear, white- capped old ladies gathered from far and near, and fails to partake of the super-excellent supper, the pride of generations of Concord house- wives, ought to know that he has lost a great deal.
Another honored organization is the Concord Female Benevolent society, founded by the ladies of the Unitarian church in 1835. Its purpose is similar to that of the Female Charitable society, whose management was confined to members of the evangelical churches. Mrs. Sampson Bullard was the first directress and Miss Mary Ann Downing (1825-1903), during forty years of her noble and useful life, was the president. The Seamen's Friends society was founded in 1832 by Mrs. Ezra Carter and her sister, Miss Selina Clark (Mrs. George Minot). These ladies had come from Portsmouth, and the needs of the seafaring men appealed especially to them. This society has done great service during its long existence. Mrs. Minot, who has been ever active in its welfare, is the only one of the original members now living. The Union Missionary society, founded in 1866, at the home of Mrs. Benjamin E. Badger, unites women of various churches in spreading the Christian religion among pagan races. The first president was Miss Mary Hamilton (Mrs. Chase of Lawrence, Mass.). Mention of many helpful organizations connected with indi- vidual churches, also of secret societies, must be omitted here.
Other excellent clubs and societies, which, like bills in the legis- lature, can be read by their titles only, arc: The Fortnightly, the Bible Fortnightly, the Schiller, the Dante, the Clio, the Concordia, the Flower Mission, the Charity Circle, the Ramabai Circle (for women in India), the Rumford Chapter of the D. A. R., the District
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Nursing association, the Equal Suffrage association, and the W. C. T. U. The good work of the latter society has been described in another chapter. The leading spirit of the Suffrage association has been Mrs. Armenia S. White, ever an active and fearless champion of temperance, anti slavery, and other reforms. The purport of many of the foregoing organizations is indicated by their titles. Many of the men's societies, like the Y. M. C. A., have woman's auxiliaries, which render valuable help.
Mention has previously been made on page 574 of Concord men and women who have engaged in literary work. Although Concord cannot claim a famous author, yet books have been issued by noted firms, and articles have appeared in leading magazines and reviews, bearing signatures of people who now dwell among us or who once walked our streets. The following names can be added to the previ- ous list. Of former residents, Miss Emma E. Brown and Miss Clara M. Fowler, natives of Concord, but now living in Boston, passed their early life in this town. Miss Brown has published several books of biography and narrative poems, beside magazine articles ; Miss Fowler is the author of brilliant letters of travel. Reverend and Mrs. Bradley Gilman, now of Springfield, Mass., lived here from 1886 to 1892. Mr. Gilman has written several successful juvenile books, also collections of short stories ; Mrs. Gilman has done critical and biographical work. Edith Carpenter (Mrs. Bond Valentine Thomas), who died in New York city in 1901, was the author of two novels, a historical study, and one play.
For many years the meeting of the Old Charitable society occurred on the first Tuesday in January. Another important event about that time was the annual musical convention, conducted from 1864 to 1886 by John Holmes Morey and Benjamin B. Davis,-the former a leading teacher of the piano, and the latter, the last of the old- time singing masters. These conventions were held either in the old Eagle or the old Phenix hall, wherein banks of seats were built up from the stage to accommodate the chorus singers, who came from all parts of the state. Noted conductors and soloists were brought from Boston. The pianist was usually Mrs. Martha Dana Shepard of Ash- land. The convention lasted four days, and grand concerts of clas- sical music were given on Thursday and Friday evenings. Wednes- day afternoon was devoted to the entertainment of the children, and Henry Clay Barnabec, then in the dawn of his career, was a prime favorite as a humorous singer. These conventions did much to stimulate the musical taste, not only of Concord, but of the state. In later years their place has been supplied by symphony concerts under the leadership of Henri G. Blaisdell, the violinist, whose ability
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as a conductor is known beyond the borders of New Hampshire, and by festivals under the auspices of the Concord Choral Union and Oratorio society (pp. 576, 577).
Concord of late years has been fortunate in having several gifted musical artists among her residents. In the seventies Dr. C. A. Guilmette, a learned and accomplished man, whose baritone voice was once famous in Europe, dwelt here and took an active part in musical circles. We are occasionally privileged to hear the beautiful soprano voice of Mrs. George Morrill Kimball, who, as Miss Louise Gage, was considered the finest choir singer in Boston. Milo Bene- dict, a pupil of Liszt, is a pianist with the touch of genius. Miss Jennie Dorothy Hoyle, the gifted violinist, lived here during 1895- '96, and may be said to have begun her concert career in Concord.
A word must be written about some of the Concord houses asso- ciated with noted people. The Walker parsonage at the North end and the Countess of Rumford house have already been mentioned. The fine old mansion, 24 South Spring street, now occupied by W. A. Stone, Jr., was for many years the home of William A. Kent, a courtly gentleman whose name is noted in the social annals of the town. In 1789, when a young man, he came to Concord from Charlestown, Mass., because his only sister had married Reverend Israel Evans. His home, originally located on Pleasant street, was the abode of hospitality. Lafayette was entertained there in 1825, Daniel Webster was a frequent guest, and in the north parlor, Sep- tember 30, 1829, Ralph Waldo Emerson married his first wife, the beautiful Ellen Tucker, step-daughter of Colonel Kent. It must always be a matter of pride to our city that Emerson, the greatest name in American literature, filled the pulpit of the Unitarian church for a few months during the year 1828.
Emerson and Count Rumford are not the only famous men who married their first wives in Concord. In 1818 S. F. B. Morse, who later gained world-wide fame as the inventor of the electric tele- graph, came to Concord bearing letters of introduction from his father, Rev. Dr. Jedediah Morse, pastor of the First Congregational church in Charlestown, Mass., to Dr. McFarland. Mr. Morse estab- lished himself here as a portrait painter. His inventive ability had even then begun to display itself, for there is record that the town purchased a fire engine of his design. Deacon Asa McFarland, in his " Recollections," quaintly says of him that he treated the town to three great surprises : First, by painting portraits of the inhabitants that could be recognized at sight; second, by courting and carrying off the prettiest girl in town; third, by bestowing the largest mar- riage fee on record up to that time. The young lady in question,
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traditions of whose beauty and charm of manner have been handed down even to this generation, was Miss Lucretia Pickering Walker, great-granddaughter of the first minister. Her home was on the south corner of Main and Franklin streets, in the house still stand- ing, though greatly changed, built by her father, Charles Walker. She was married in the north parlor of this house.
The name of President Pierce is associated with several houses in town. At one time he lived at 18 Montgomery street, in the house since occupied by the George Minot family. When elected to the presidency he was occupying the house on the south corner of Main and Thorndike streets, so long the home of Dr. Eames, rector of St. Paul's church. After his return from Washington he dwelt in the stately residence, 52 South Main street, where Joseph Wentworth (1818-1901) afterwards lived for thirty years. In this house Frank- lin Pierce died, October 8, 1869. President Pierce, at one time, con- templated building on a large plan. He bought the fine estate where the Odd Fellows' Home is now located, built a substantial stone wall and gateways, part of which remain, but he went no further; and Mount Vernon, on a smaller scale, and the deer park will forever re- main unrealized.
Concord has been honored by the official visits of eight presidents : Monroe, July 18, 1817; Jackson, June 28, 1833; Polk, July 1, 1847; Pierce, October 2, 1856; Grant, August 25, 1869; Hayes, August 22, 1877 ; Harrison, August 15, 1889; Roosevelt, August 28, 1902. Three others who subsequently became president have also visited the town. Van Buren, then secretary of state, accom- panied Jackson, and Buchanan came with Polk in a similar capacity. Lincoln passed through the town March 1, 1860, and made a stirring speech in Phenix hall, but few at that time had any conception of the part he was to play during the next five years. This incident of Jackson's visit may be worth recalling: The late Mrs. Robert E. Pecker, who died in 1887, was in 1833 living with her first husband, John Estabrook, in the house, 172 North Main street, subsequently occupied for forty years by Governor Onslow Stearns. She used to tell this story. President Jackson was entertained at the chief tav- ern, then known as the Eagle Coffee House. The resources of the tavern were hardly adequate to the occasion ; in fact, no room was suitably furnished for such a guest ; so they sent to Mrs. Estabrook and borrowed her best bed, a substantial mahogany, which was checr- fully loaned for the occasion.
Two vice-presidents have lived for a short time in town. William W. Estabrook, brother of John Estabrook, just mentioned, kept a dry goods store locally known as the "Great Eight," from its number
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in Stickney's block ; and it was in this store, about 1835, that Levi P. Morton served as clerk for a year or two. Henry Wilson attended the Concord Literary institute in 1837, and boarded in the family of Joseph Grover.
The house which furnished the bed for Jackson's visit afterwards entertained, under Governor Stearns's ownership, two presidents,- Grant and Hayes,-who spent the night under its roof. A large evening reception was given to President and Mrs. Grant in this honse. The Hayes visit was particularly notable, for the president was accompanied by Mrs. Hayes, their sons, Vice-President Wheeler, Secretary Evarts, Attorney-General Devens, and other officials. A banquet was held at the Eagle hotel during the day, and a brilliant reception was given the presidential party at the opera house in the evening. Another notable guest at the Stearns house was General William T. Sherman, then in the height of his fame, soon after the close of the Civil War.
So many other famous people, some of them more distinguished than the presidents, have visited Concord, that Major Henry McFar- land well says, in his " Reminiscences of Sixty Years," that it would seem to be necessary only to take up one's stand on Main street to see the whole world go by. Probably no visit ever aroused more enthusiasm than that of Lafayette, in 1825, when the surviving Rev- olutionary soldiers held a reunion and a dinner under the state house elms. In 1866, on August 30, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase visited his niece, Mrs. J. Prentiss Tucker, in the house afterwards occupied by Bishop Niles, then standing opposite the court house. The recep- tion given by Mr. and Mrs. Tucker in honor of their distinguished relative was an event of that social season.
Perhaps this chapter may fittingly close by mention of the oldest person who ever lived in town. Mrs. Jonathan Tenney, born in New- bury, Vt., December 8, 1795, died at West Concord, December 18, 1898, aged one hundred and three years and ten days. Her maiden name was Lydia Crane, and she was one of the ten children of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Crane of Bradford, Vt. The first fifty years of her life were passed in Vermont, but the last fifty were spent in Concord, at the pleasant homestead in District No. 4, on the hill back of the Kilburn Abbott place, Long Pond road. Mrs. Tenney was married in November, 1816, and went to live in Corinth, Vt. That was the famons cold year in which there was a frost every month. No corn ripened, consequently people had to do without Indian meal, a great deprivation in those days. Mrs. Tenncy said they were obliged to use English grains, wheat, and barley. Mrs. Tenney's husband was a brother of Reverend Asa I'. Tenney, long known as Priest Tenney,
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of West Concord. Of Mrs. Tenney's nine children, all preceded her to the other world except her second son, Daniel, with whom she spent her last days. Her eldest son, Jonathan, is well remembered as principal for many years of Pembroke and Boscawen academies. Till the very end of life, Mrs. Tenney's physical vigor was remark- able. At the time Dr. Bouton's history was finished (1855), "Aunt" Lydia Elliot was living at the Borough at the age of one hundred and two. Without doubt Mrs. Elliot and Mrs. Tenney are the oldest people who have ever lived in Concord.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE ROLFE AND RUMFORD ASYLUM.
JOSEPH B. WALKER.
One of the most opulent and influential of Concord's earliest citi- zens was Colonel Benjamin Rolfe. He was born in Newbury, Mass., in 1710, and graduated at Harvard college in 1727. He came to Coneord soon after its settlement, and from 1731 to 1770 was clerk of the proprietary. In 1737 he was made a clerk of the Massachu- setts and New Hampshire boundary commission, appointed to deter- mine the line between the two provinces. He was for many years town clerk of Rumford and Concord, a colonel of the provincial mil- itia, and a representative in the general assembly. He possessed large business capacity, and was ever active, not only in his own affairs but in those of his town and provinee as well.
In 1764, or thereabouts, he erected on the west bank of the Merri- mack, at the Eleven Lots, the house now occupied by the Rolfe and Rumford asylum.1 For that time and this locality, it was an elegant mansion, and the best, doubtless, in central New Hampshire. Soon after its completion, wearied of his bachelor life, he married Sarah, eldest daughter of the town minister, Reverend Timothy Walker, and set up therein his household gods. At the time of their mar- riage he was some sixty years of age, while the age of his wife was about thirty. They had lived together but a few years when Col- onel Rolfe died, leaving to his widow and their only son, Paul, the largest landed estate in Concord.
A year or two before the death of Colonel Rolfe there had come to Concord from Woburn, Mass., a young man to teach the town school. His name was Benjamin Thompson, and he was not quite twenty years old. He possessed a fine person, a good address, and a mind unusually well stored with scientific and general knowledge. He formed a pleasant acquaintance with Mrs. Rolfe, which, after her husband's death, ere long developed into a strong mutual attachment and culminated in their marriage. Thereupon Mr. Thompson moved into the house of his wife and became the protector of her child and the manager of her estate. Not long afterwards he formed an ac- quaintanee with the provincial governor, John Wentworth. Similar
1 Diary of Reverend T. Walker for 1764.
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tastes and characteristics deepened this into a mutual friendship. Possibly Mr. Thompson's brilliant qualities, backed as they were by the social position and large fortune of his wife, may have suggested to the astute governor that he was a man whose influence was likely to become important, and should, if possible, be secured to the royal cause. Certain it is that both he and Mrs. Thompson found hearty welcome to the court circles of the provincial capital, and received there marked attentions.
It cannot be surprising to any one conversant with the condition of public sentiment at that time that this growing intimacy should have been noticed with jealousy by ardent friends of liberty, for the rumblings of the Revolution were now distinctly heard. Their sus- picions as to Mr. Thompson's loyalty to the Amer- ican cause were aroused. Nor did his appoint- ment by the governor to a military position, over older and more experi- enced persons who had long waited for it, in any degree allay them. It created, also, an envy which ripened into per- sonal dislike, and made him very unpop- ular.
Benjamin Rolfe and Countess Rumford House.
The dislike thus engendered increased from time to time, and to such an extent that a few years later (October, 1774), he was driven by an intolerant patriotism from his home and country to foreign lands, leaving behind him his wife, his stepson, Paul Rolfe, and his infant daughter, Sarah, subsequently known in this country and in Europe as the Countess of Rumford.
Abroad he rose, with a rapidity rarely equaled, to the companion- ship of savants and an association with kings. In 1784 he was knighted in England, becoming Sir Benjamin Thompson. Having subsequently entered the service of Charles Theodore, the Elector of Bavaria, he was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1791, with the titular designation of Rumford, since which time he has everywhere been known as Count Rumford. But it is unimportant to the present purpose to trace further his well-known history.
These incidents account for the double name of Rolfe and Rum- ford given by its founder, the late Countess of Rumford, to this institution. The germinal idea of it may, doubtless, be found in a circumstance which occurred about one hundred years ago at Munich, in Bavaria, where Count Rumford, then in the service of the reign- ing Elector, was living with his daughter.
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One of the most important enterprises which the Count had origi- nated and carried to full success in that city was the establishment of an institution known as the House of Industry. Through its efforts large numbers of idle beggars had been converted to indus- trious and self-supporting citizens. It became very popular, and excited much interest in all Europe.
To pay her respects to her father on his forty-fourth birthday, the Countess called upon him on the 26th of March, 1797, accompanied by a dozen boys and girls from this House of Industry. An account of this call and its sequences may be gained from the following ex- tracts of a correspondence resulting therefrom, to be found in full in Dr. George E. Ellis's " Life of Count Rumford." 1
In a letter dated Munich, December 17, 1797, to his lifelong friend, Colonel Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn, Mass., Count Rumford says :
In March last my Daughter, desirous of celebrating my birth-day in a manner which she thoughit would be pleasing to me, went pri- vately to the House of Industry, and, choosing out half a dozen of the most industrious of the little Boys of 8 and 10 years of age, and as many Girls, dressed them new, from hand to foot, in the uniform of that public Establishment at her own expense, and, dressing her- self in White, early in the morning of my birth-day, led them into my room and presented them to me when I was at breakfast.
I was so much affected by this proof of her affection for me, and by the lively pleasure that she enjoyed in it, that I resolved that it should not be forgotten : and immediately formed a scheme for per- petuating the remembrance of it, and often renewing the pleasure the recollection of it must afford her. I made her a present of 2000 Dollars American three per cent Stock, on the express condition that she should appropriate it in her Will, as a capital for clothing every year, forever, on her birth-day, twelve poor and industrious Children, namely, 6 Girls and 6 Boys, each of them to be furnished with a complete suit of new clothing, to the value of five Dollars, made up in the same form and colours as the uniforms of the poor children she had clothed on my birth-day.
To complete this arrangement it was necessary to determine who should be the objects of this charitable foundation, and it gave me much satisfaction to find that my Daughter did not hesitate a mo- ment in making her option. She immediately expressed her wishes that it might be the poor children of the Town where she was born,- a spot which will ever be very dear to her, and where she is anxious to be remembered with kindness and affection.
Though the inhabitants of the Town of Concord are too rich, and have, fortunately, too small a number of objects of charity, to stand in need of such a donation as that which my Daughter is desirous of their accepting at her hands, yet, as the object she has principally in view-the encouragement of Industry among the children of the most
1 Ellis's " Life of Rumford," pp. 287-298.
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indigent classes of Society-must meet the approbation of all good and wise men, she cannot help flattering herself that the Town of Concord will do her the favour and the honour to accept of this dona- tion for the purpose stipulated, and that either the Selectmen of the Town, or the Overseers of the Poor, for the time being, will take the trouble, annually, of seeing that the conditions of it are fulfilled.
What I have to request of you, my Dear Sir, is, that you would mention this matter to some of the principle Inhabitants of Concord, and endeavour to obtain their approbation of the scheme and a prom- ise of their support of it, and their assistance in carrying it into exe- cution. As soon as I shall be informed by you that our Plan meets with their approbation, my Daughter will make an application to them in a more direct and formal manner; and I hereby engage to be her surety for the punctual performance of all that she may promise in the progress of this business.
In compliance with this request of his friend, Colonel Baldwin addressed the following communication to the selectmen of Concord :
WOBURN 24th September 1798.
GENTLEMEN, -Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count of Rumford, and his daughter, the Countess of Rumford, now at Munich, in Bavaria, have made provision for the establishment of a fund of two thousand dollars, three per cent Stock of the United States, the income whereof is to be appropriated to clothe annually in the uniform of the House of Industry at Munich, on the 23d of October, forever, twelve poor and industrious children of the town of Concord, being the place of his daughter's birth, a spot dear to her, and where she is anxious to be remembered with kindness and affection.
The Count seems well apprised of the flourishing state of your town, that it is above the need of his assistance. Yet, as the encour- agement of industry seems a principal object with him, they hope that the scheme will meet your approbation. In a letter which I received from the Count, dated the 17th December, 1797, wherein the plan of this institution was proposed is a paragraph to the follow- ing effect :
" Though the inhabitants of it are fulfilled."
There is also in the same letter a closing paragraph, which is as follows, namely :
" What I have to request this business."
I hope the foregoing scetches will be sufficient to give you the out- lines of this plan. I have had conversation with several gentlemen of the town of Concord upon the same business who will perhaps be able to give further information respecting the matter; particularly I beg leave to refer you to the Hon. Judge Walker, to whom I have communicated the contents of the letter which I have received upon this subject from the Count.
When I contemplate the many, the very many, important improve- ments, institutions and establishments the Count has made which go directly to meliorate the condition of mankind, I am lcd, with grate- ful pleasure, to bless his name, and glory in our country which gave
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him birth. And I should rest in full confidence that your proceed- ings and report in this concern will be such as will aid his usefulness and extend his benevolence in the world.
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