USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Goshen > History of Goshen, New Hampshire : settled, 1769, incorporated, 1791 > Part 20
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restitution of the fines collected, the combined sum of which had been far more than extinguished by court costs.] Mr. Brag- don closed his labors in the spring of 1873, going to Hillsboro and then to Haverhill, Mass., where he did outstanding work in the Riverside section of that city.
He was succeeded by Rev. George F. Pay, a partially blind Baptist minister from White Hills, Conn., who remained here until May, 1875, when he removed to West Plainfield. He was followed by Henry W. L. Thurston, a Congregational layman from Lebanon, who was ordained to the ministry while here. He and his family were much esteemed by the people of the community.
Following the established rotation, the next pastor was a Baptist, Rev. William Hurlin, so well known afterward as the secretary of the N. H. Baptist Convention. The happy com- bination of a consecrated personality and a charming family resident in the community was a source of great uplift. Attend- ance and interest were at a high point, membership numbering 70, with congregations of from 125 to 200 and a Sunday School of over 100. Mr. Hurlin closed his pastorate in September, 1878, removing to Antrim, where he resided until his death.
The union of the two churches ended with Mr. Hurlin's re- moval, the Congregationalists choosing to unite instead with the Methodists, who, under their very popular pastor, Rev. John Bowler, had completed the removal of the Christian chapel to the Village that year.
The Baptists, thus left by themselves, decided to keep their house open and maintain the Sunday School and prayer meet- ings, also have a sermon read by some member of the church. For the first four months of 1879 Addison Brainard of Birming- ham, Conn., carried on pastoral work here; then followed three years of great discouragement. Several members died and others moved away until the church numbered but 21. However, May 1, 1884, Daniel M. Cleveland, a kindly giant of a man, came to the field and with sincere solicitude began an upbuilding of interest. He was ordained here Oct. 21 of that year. Oct. 31, 1885, he tendered his resignation to accept the work of state
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evangelist, much to the sorrow of his parishioners, for the Lord had blessed his labors, and he had endeared himself to the people of the town. At his suggestion, and also by advice of the State Convention, it was voted to unite with the church at Newport.
Rev. Frank T. Latham was the first pastor in this connection. In the summer of 1888 he accepted a call to Medina, N. Y., and was followed in October by Rev. W. F. Grant, who remained three years. Rev. Joseph F. Fielden of Winchester, Mass., had a pastorate of four years duration.
June 29, 1896, Charles A. Tenney, a graduate of Newton Theological Seminary, and native of Des Moines, Iowa, was ordained at Newport. In November of his first year, he secured the services of a quartet of volunteer evangelists known as "Christian Crusaders," an organization evidently patterned after that of the Salvation Army, trumpets and tambourines be- ing a feature of the rousing Gospel songs. Capt. Keith, an elderly man, Lieutenants Rushton and Sherman, both young women, and big, young Cadet Brown - they were indeed zealous Crusaders, and many, both old and young, were con- verted by their testimony. Out of their labors came cleaner lives and additions to the church. A Y.P.S.C.E. was formed Jan. 6, 1897, with a membership of forty-one and continued in its training of young people for over thirty years. Mr. Tenney closed his pastorate in July, 1903. The following September the centennial anniversary of the founding of the church was ob- served by appropriate exercises, in connection with the annual meeting of the Newport Baptist Association.
Rev. J. H. Blackburn became pastor of the united churches in December, 1903, remaining nearly eleven years, with solid achievement as his reward. He went from Newport to Fairhaven, Vt., and later to other important pastorates in that state. He was succeeded in May, 1914, by Rev. Joseph Palmer of Salem, Mass., who came with a contagious optimism that disarmed the habitual critics. Rural ministry was given priority and his calling circuit extended far outside his prescribed parish, re- sulting in greatly increased attendance and interest. Special
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evangelistic services were held, with excellent results. During the First World War he was called to Y.M.C.A work at Fort Devens, Mass., where he won high praise for his devotion to the men during the epidemic of influenza which raged so fearfully in the summer and fall of 1918.
Rev. Roy H. Short was settled as pastor of the Newport and Goshen churches June 1, 1919, staying but a brief time, and was followed by Rev. Matthew Francis, whose pastorate ended in January, 1924.
The foundations of Christian work had been so solidly laid and so well built upon by the several previous pastors that condi- tions now seemed to warrant the reestablishment of a resident minister. The N. H. Baptist Convention expressed willingness to considerably augment its long-standing aid to the Goshen church and in May, 1924, Miss Ethel O. Lombard, a recent graduate of the Gordon School of Theology was called and preached her first sermon here. During the previous summer Miss Lombard had engaged in pastoral work at East Washing- ton. Possibly the novelty of a woman-preacher was an attraction to some, but if they came once they usually returned. Her musical ability, both vocal and instrumental, and her strong personality were assets of unquestioned value. Congregations averaged close to 100, and July 12, 1925, numbered 140. In late June, 1926, Miss Lombard was united in marriage with Dea. Arthur W. Nelson, Sr., of Goshen and Haverhill, Mass., con- tinuing her pastoral work until May 1 of the following year. A Christmas cantata, "The Nativity," was presented with deep effect.
In the succeeding period the services of Leland E. Brigham, assistant-director of the Sullivan County Y. M. C. A., now of Portsmouth, were of great value in work with the young people as well as in the pulpit. Charles B. Banner, a gifted layman living at North Newport, also supplied the pulpit most. ac- ceptably whenever need arose.
The effort of maintaining a resident pastor proved impracti- cal, however, and the previous connection with the Newport
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Baptist Church was renewed in October, 1929, under the pas- torate of Rev. Gabriel R. Guedj. Rev. C. W. Turner, now re- siding in Antrim, served from April, 1932, to June, 1937, with a fatherly consideration for his parishioners that denoted the true shepherd. Rev. Frank R. Doore of Foxboro, Mass., now deceased, came to the guidance of the church Jan. 2, 1938.
The present pastor of the Goshen and Newport churches, Rev. William F. Brown of Camden, Me., began his pastorate in Febru- ary, 1942. The church had patiently endeavored to prove itself a church-home for all, but in keeping with the policy of the conventions of the major denominations within the state, it was decided to broaden the scope of the local organization to include communicants of all evangelical faiths. New by-laws were therefore adopted and a new title, Goshen Community Church.
In the summer of 1944 an opportunity was presented where- by new pews and a pipe-organ were obtained from the Baptist church in Suncook, N. H., which was being razed. Owners of trucks volunteered their services and the cumbersome equipment was transported to Goshen. Although a gift, the cost of rebuild- ing the pipe-organ in the choir-loft of the local church amounted in the end to nearly $1000.00, a sum which was raised in large part through the resourcefulness and leadership of Mrs. Sarah MacDonald, as head of the ladies' circle. It is pronounced to be of excellent tone and gives distinction to the musical pro- gram.
Sunday morning services are held at 9:30, in order that the pastor can fill his Newport pulpit for the customary eleven o'clock service there. Sunday School is maintained, with Mrs. Doris Newman, superintendent, ably assisted by Mrs. Olive Mc- Clellan, primary department, Mrs. Annie Blanchard, intermedi- ate, and Mr. Harold E. Barker, teen-agers' group. Mr. Barker substitutes for the regular organist, Mrs. Helen Tenney, and for the pastor, during vacations.
August 26, 1951, the one-hundredth anniversary of the build- ing of the church edifice was commemorated by afternoon and evening services held with capacity audiences. Rev. Joseph Pal-
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mer of New York City, a former pastor, was guest speaker. Mes- sages from other former pastors were also read and an historical pageant, "The Triumphal Vision," written by Mrs. Doris New- man, was presented.
The following poem was written by her for the occasion:
CHURCH IN THE HILLS
This house of God has stood with stalwart grace
Through a century's storms of wind and rain,
And still it lifts its slender spire to sun and stars As proudly as when, in shining freshness,
It crowned the triumph of a young man's dream. It boasts no vaulted naves; the sunlight falls
In blessing on reverent heads, undimmed by jeweled panes.
This simple dignity befits those who worship here,
Who feel their holy partnership with God, and lift
Their faces often to the sky to read His plan for sun or shower,
People to whom God is no unsearchable Mystery, Who meet Him as they tend the herds and till the sod.
A country church is close to God. The strength of America lies In those who heed with simple faith, the vibrant call Of timeworn spires from hills and valleys green,
The watchtowers of the safety of our nation.
-Doris Nelson Newman
CHAPTER XIX
The Pierce Graphite Mine
W ELL up on the western slope of Sunapee Mountain, above the old Lovell Baker place in Goshen, a deep, narrow gash scars the mountainside. You may come upon it suddenly, through the spruces, and get a bad fright from gazing down into a thirty-foot chasm, where all seemed solid ground but a mo- ment before.
It is known locally as the old "lead mine," abandoned these ninety years, though of great value in the life of the town during the period of its operation.
The deposit is actually plumbago, or graphite, but with towns- people the old name still prevails.
Of this mineral Jackson's Final Report on the Geology and Mineralogy of N. H. (1844) states:
"The beds of plumbago are never large and only employ the farmers during those intervals in agricultural labor when hands can be spared from other work. The most extensive and profitable plumbago mine is wrought in Goshen by Mr. Henry D. Pierce of Hillsborough, who operates in the way above alluded to, and finds the business profitable. He sells about twenty tons of the ground mineral per annum, at prices varying from three to five cents per pound." This would have been a transaction of around $1,600.00.
"It is used for the manufacture of melting-pots employed by copper founders," the above authority continues, a statement amplified by the first Geological Survey of N. H., (1840) which says, "Mr. Pierce supplies a large quantity of plumbago to the manufacturers of crucibles in Taunton, Mass."
"The Goshen mines are situated on the side of Sunapee Mountain, one- and-a-half miles southeast from Mr. Trow's house." This is again Jackson. "The bed is included in mica slate and is accompanied by radiated black tourmaline. Its course is N. E. and S. W. and it dips to the S. E. seventy- four degrees. It is also accompanied by cross-veins of a very fine and pure foliated plumbago suitable for pencils."
"Plumbago is found in Goshen, Antrim, Bristol, Nelson, Hancock, Chester, Mt. Monadnock, Sutton, Barrington, Bradford, Troy, Walpole, Washington, Hillsborough, Keene, Orford and elsewhere," stated C. H. Hitchcock, state geologist, in 1878. "It is not equal in quality to that obtained at Ticonderoga and other Laurentian districts, but sells readily for a second quality article,
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and is useful for the manufacture of crucibles. The most extensive mine is at Goshen, formerly owned by President Pierce. The amount raised and sold annually has varied greatly. In 1849 the yield was twenty tons. A few years later the product was greater, and the locality is capable of furnishing a larger supply should it be called for. * * * All our mica schists show the mineral, but it is apt to be impure."
This period of the Pierce's ownership makes a bright para- graph in Goshen annals, though it is true that the President's time and energies were largely absorbed elsewhere by affairs of national importance. Possibly it has assumed a magnified per- sonal interest owing to the fact that the writer's father, Hial F. Nelson, saw President Pierce during one of his later trips to Goshen. The unexpected visit found Lovell Baker working that day at the Village, and Father, who had hired out with Mr. Baker for the season, was at once dispatched to tell him of the arrival of his distinguished guest, with the result that Mr. Baker hurried home immediately, leaving Father to finish the work upon which he had been engaged. The visit had to do more, it seemed, with cattle pastured on the mountain than with the lead-mine. It is indeed probable that the mine was no longer in the possession of the President and was at the time inactive, for somewhat later, two men came to Goshen to look over the prop- erty. Four local men were hired to bail the water out of the pit, Father among them. They started bailing at six o'clock in the morning and at eleven had the shaft sufficiently cleared of water. Mr. Nelson said the vein of graphite was cut squarely across by the shaft and was eight or ten inches in diameter, nearly round and apparently of the purest quality. Other eyewitnesses have claimed the vein to be twelve or fourteen inches through.
Even had there been no graphite mine in Goshen for him to visit, the resi- dents of this section would still have had a lively sense of proprietorship in the Fourteenth President of the United States, Franklin Pierce. The fact of his birth and rearing in the neighboring town of Hillsborough forever assures that.
It was fitting that the state of New Hampshire should do him justice- though somewhat tardily, be it said-with the erection in 1914 of a bronze statue upon the capitol grounds at Concord. A brilliant group of speakers there testified to his ability and integrity, unanimous in their judgment that to save the Union was his sole ambition. As he said upon the solemn occasion of his inauguration, "With the Union my best and dearest earthly hopes are entwined."
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"Oft and repeatedly he had been told of the deprivations of the Revolu- tion and of the baptism of fire and blood, and learned at his father's knee patriotism and a love of the Government under which he lived," said Gov. Samuel D. Felker. It was natural, then, that as with Webster, the preserva- tion of the Union was of the highest importance.
It may be well if we seriously take thought of the difficulties confronting that previous generation, when Franklin Pierce took the oath of office on March 4, 1853, with a dissolution of the Union openly advocated.
The compromises with the South, which both Daniel Webster and Franklin Pierce advocated, destroyed their popularity at home and left a reproach which the lapse of time has hardly effaced, yet as Judge Aldrich pointed out in his dedicatory address, quoting Gen. Gilman Marston. "Beyond all question he honestly believed that the Union would be destroyed if we went to war about it; and I believed that it would be destroyed if we didn't go to war about it. He was as honest and sincere in his convictions as I was in mine, and I want to say to you, right here, that if the South had had a little more money and a few more men, Franklin Pierce would have been right and I should have been wrong."
"But for slavery," said Senator Bainbridge Wadleigh, "and the questions growing out of it, his administration would have passed into history as one of the most successful in our national life."
The mine was first owned by Gen. Benjamin Pierce, father of the President. General Pierce, who at the age of seventeen left the plow to enlist in the Army of the Revolution in 1775, was a vigorous patriot and citizen, serving his state in many important offices, as commander in chief of the militia, and was twice elected Governor. The mine was purchased by him from Samuel and Sarah White of Goshen. It was included in a tract of twenty-five acres which had been taken out of Lot 50, as laid out by the town of Fishersfield. This transaction, exact date un- known, was followed by the purchase, Oct. 15, 1835, of the remaining portion of Lot 50, with Benjamin and Henry D. Pierce named as co-owners (See original Pierce deeds, recently deposited with the N. H. Historical Society). It is known that about 1828, Henry D. Pierce bought of John G. Dickey and Jotham Moore an ore-mill which was put into use at the Goshen mine and this date has been accepted as marking the beginning of active operations by the Pierces. The mill was operated by means of a horse-propelled sweep. The crushed graphite result- ing from this process was sorted in a shed at the mouth of the mine, then barreled and carted over Washington Mountain to Hillsborough, where it was re-shipped by railroad to Boston.
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Henry D. Pierce was expert at sorting and grading the mineral, performing that duty personally. It is remembered that Harvey Boyden teamed to and from Goshen for Mr. Pierce.
That full ownership of the mine-property was finally vested in the President is shown by a series of transfers, evidently quit- claim in tenor, the first, dated Jan. 15, 1844, being from Col. Benjamin K. Pierce of the U. S. Army, to Franklin Pierce, giving deed to various pieces of real estate in Hillsborough and Wash- ington; "also the White place at Goshen, containing about 25 acres." Feb. 12, 1853, Henry D. Pierce also deeded to his brother, Franklin Pierce "of Concord," who was about to be sworn into the highest office in the land, his claim to the same twenty-five acre tract containing the graphite-mine, meaning as he noted, "to convey all my interests in all real estate situate in said town of Goshen of which my father died seized." Allusion was made to his "late brother, Charles D."
In 1827, Joseph Dixon was making crucibles at Salem, Mass., from graphite obtained in New Hampshire. "His first introduction to graphite," said Elbert Hubbard, "was through an old farmer in New Hampshire who brought him a sample of the mineral and tried to interest him in working the mine which was purported to be on the old farmer's property. Unhappily, the vein of graphite discovered by the New Hampshire man produced only a few hundred pounds. But this was enough to fire the zeal and curiosity of Joseph Dixon, and to start him in his line of experiments." The company he founded has grown to huge proportions in Jersey City, N. J.
"The quality was so far superior to the Dutch Black-Lead Pots, that the melting-pot business was completely revolutionized and the Dixon Graphite, (Plumbago or Blacklead), crucibles became the standard," a company official says. "Mr. Dixon afterwards saw specimens of graphite that had been brought from Ceylon as curiosities, by captains in the East India Trade; and finding them so much better than the New Hampshire plum- bago, he procured a shipment, (1829), which was the first importation of Ceylon Graphite into the United States."
The identity of the "old New Hampshire farmer" is undoubtedly forever lost
"You reach for a lead-pencil and you make use of another of Dixon's inventions," Hubbard said "for let it be known that the lead-pencil is a little like the guinea-pig, for the guinea-pig isn't a pig and it isn't from Guinea. The modern lead-pencil isn't made from lead or from anything that con- tains even a chemical trace of lead. True, they were once made of composi- tions of lead, first being made from straight lead bars.
"Joseph Dixon was one of the first to discard lead entirely and use graphite instead. This followed, very naturally, from the fact that in using
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graphite Dixon got his hands and face thoroughly well blacked. To utilize the black, then, was the next thing-true Yankee that he was! * * * Dixon made his lead-pencils and then went out peddling them among the people. It was a peddling age. Today the consumption of lead-pencils in America is about two hundred millions a year, that is to say, we use two lead-pencils to a person.
"In the way of graphite lubricants, too, twenty-seven different forms are supplied. Graphite for the use of electrical workers and manufacturing electrical supplies has become a very important business. Graphite is also used in electrotyping and for polishing and dyeing, and for paint and metal structure work.
"In short, it has the qualities somewhat of mineral-oil, and also partakes of the elementst of anthracite coal. It is anthracite with a college education. The same substance of which Nature makes asbestos is distributed in degree, through graphite. It is found in very thin layers between the strata of rocks. A graphite deposit six inches through is deemed well worth taking."
The Sunapee Mining and Manufacturing Company
President Pierce sold the old graphite mine in 1864. But it must have been some comfort that there were men by the same name, though entirely unrelated, it is said, among the new owners, and there is a slight divergence in the spelling of the two family names.
Indeed, one of these men, Thomas W. Peirce of Texas, was president and owner of the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio R. R. Doubtless the name was then pronounced "purce." The names of the new owners are given in the charter of the most ambitious development of the mine, ap- proved July 12, 1864, recorded at the State House in Concord and copied herewith:
An Act to incorporate the Sunapee Mining and Manufacturing Company. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened.
Section 1. That Andrew Peirce, Jr., James M. Howe, Robert L. Clarke, James A. Dupee, R. L. Denney, Thomas W. Peirce, Edmund F. Cutts, George Bacon, Richard L. Brownell, Calvin Hale and Clement March, their asso- ciates, successors and assigns, be and hereby are made a body politic and corporate, by the name of the Sunapee Mining and Manufacturing Company, and by that name may sue and be sued, etc. * * * incident to corporation of a similar nature.
Section 2. Said corporation is authorized to carry on the business of mining plumbago, and other minerals, in the town of Goshen in this state, and of manufacturing the same into such articles, and for such uses and pur- poses as it may desire, and to take, hold and convey real estate and personal property, not exceeding in value at any one time the sum of $150,000.00, and the same to manage, improve and dispose of at pleasure.
Section 3, dealing with the calling of meetings of the corporation, and Section 4, which gave the legislature authority to at any time alter, amend, or repeal the incorporation, are uninteresting to the general public, save for the signatures of J. A. Gilmore, who was then Governor of the state,
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William E. Chandler, Speaker of the House, and Charles H. Bell, President of the Senate.
Although holdings to the value of $150,000.00 were authorized, an actual working capital of $92,000.00 was raised, this upon the authority of Hon. Kirk D. Pierce of Hillsborough, who said that a purchase price of thirty thousand dollars was to have been paid President Pierce, the owner, though it is doubtful if the President ever received more than a very small propor- tion of this amount. The reason for this assertion was not made quite clear through Mr. Pierce's reticence. That the ambitious plans of the new corpora- tion failed to materialize in all their scope is evident from the testimony of men who remembered the episode. But why they failed, and the minute details connected therewith, are lacking, although importations from Ceylon and elsewhere were no doubt a contributing cause. The sum seems quite ade- quate and yet we know that a few miles of road-building today would exhaust a larger reservoir.
The company commenced operations at once, putting seven or eight men at work, as well as teams, blasting and carting away waste rock.
This was necessitated by the condition of the shaft which, following the vein of graphite, with its seventy-four-degree dip to the southeast, led into the bosom of the mountain and had become over deep. It was inclined, moreover, to fill with water and the first activity of the new company was to cut a great ditch out northerly, down through solid rock, to drain the shaft and make mining operations easier and less hazardous. It also allowed the use of a tramway in the removal of debris.
Thus the vein of graphite was again exposed, but if hopes had been en- tertained that its course would vary enough to make its extraction less expensive, these hopes were frustrated. It still plunged downward and again a pit was sunk upon it.
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