USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Goshen > History of Goshen, New Hampshire : settled, 1769, incorporated, 1791 > Part 21
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Within three years operations ceased. Today the ragged walls of the old mine overhang its pit of dark, stagnant water wherein sunken logs and branches from the cliff-top hang treacherously upon each other.
At the mouth of the abondoned mine the barrels of graphite shed hoops, rotted, fell to pieces, scattering their contents about.
About 1885 Thomas W. Peirce, of the Sunset Route, came to Goshen in the interests of the defunct Sunapee Mining and Manufacturing Company, of which it seems evident he had become chief owner.
Lovell Baker had passed away, and his daughter, Sadie, who featured in a smallpox epidemic, had grown to womanhood and married Cyrus M. Clough later a resident of Walpole, but then ably farming the old Baker home- stead below the "lead mine." In a letter dated Oct. 17, 1920, Mr. Clough described the incident.
"Mr. Peirce gave me an order to pick up all the lead there was in the old shanty, to put it in new barrels and ship same to Robert Webb, Mystic Wharf, Boston, without any expense to said Webb except moving, which he paid me. I did as directed, finding eleven and one-half gross tons," he wrote. "Sometime after this I saw Webb and he told me that he cleaned up $1,200.00 on the deal."
241
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
Smallpox at the Lead Mine
Business under the new corporation, the Sunapee Mining and Manu- facturing Company, was proceeding briskly when smallpox suddenly scat- tered the workmen, and, for a time, put an end to mining operations.
The manner of its appearance had little of either drama or tragedy, yet the total sum of the homely incidents connected therewith make up a story worth the telling. It was in this wise:
The Civil War was at its height, testing whether the Union should en- dure. Goshen, be it said, contributed thirty-seven young men to the Union army, and, strangely enough, three to the Southern Confederacy. Among that greater number in the northern battalions was Henry Whitaker, who, pro- bably in the late fall of 1864, came home on furlough.
If you enjoy tracing out each thread that ordinarily ties up the web of a man's life, because in petty detail this or that which he has done makes or mars his destiny, you will cheerfully overlook the maze of half-irrelevant incidents here, such as the fact that Mrs. Lovell Baker, up at the lead mine, and Mrs. William Tandy, down in Mill Village by the grist-mill, were sisters, Susan and Sarah Dorcas Whitaker, respectively. Mrs. Tandy, my Great-aunt Sarah, died within compartively recent years in the home of her niece, Jane, Mrs. Nathan Brown. She was a woman of great strength of character. That she was admired by her brother, Phil, and her sister, Susan, is attested by the fact that each named a child for her. There are, consequently, three Sarahs in this narrative, great-aunt Sarah (Whitaker) Tandy, a niece, whom after the breaking up of her brother's family she legally adopted, changing the little girl's name to Sarah Tandy, and Sadie Baker.
Very naturally Private Whitaker came, on his furlough, to the "mill house," as it was known for years, the original of the present exceedingly-attractive "Greyholme;" it was the only home he knew. Shortly he came down with smallpox, that one-time scourge of army-camps. "It is now a comparatively rare and mild disorder in civilized countries, thanks to Jenner's discovery of the protective power of vaccination," says an authority. "An attack is ushered in by chills, rise of temperature, headaches, vomiting, and violent pains in the loins. Smallpox has an incubation period of twenty-four hours to twelve days."
Proper steps were taken at once for the isolation and care of the patient, as well as vaccination of the other members of the household, with the result that the young soldier promptly recovered and none of the family experienced a touch of the malady, save his young sister, Sarah Tandy, who developed a mild case of varioloid. The story would have ended happily here, but for some paper-dolls that amused the small patient in her con- valescence and were lain away and forgotten during the period of disinfec- tion and cleaning that ensued at the miller's house.
After due time had elapsed and the lifting of quarantine, Mrs. Lovell Baker made her sister a visit, taking along her small daughter, Sadie. The two girls, who were about of an age, were soon deep in make-believe house- keeping, assisted by a bevy of well-intended paper-dolls that must have been brought out thoughtlessly. Alas! Smallpox still lingered among the play- things and little Sadie Baker came down with the dread disease.
242
THE PIERCE GRAPHITE MINE
Some of the lead mine employees were boarding at Mr. Baker's and they hastily departed. One of these workmen was a young man, Henry Spaulding, son of Solyman Spaulding, (the name is correctly spelled), who must have lived in the old Spaulding neighborhood on Lempster Mountain, almost over the Washington line.
Well did I remember an evening in the time of sugar plum blossoms, in early May, a party of us were pushing across-lots to get over onto the Pollard brook in Lempster, "suckering," when in the failing light we caught a gleam of gravestones above an old wall to our left. Upon investigation it proved to be a Spaulding burial-plot, grown in chokecherry bushes higher than one's head. I have since wondered if young Henry Spaulding's grave was there with the rest.
Henry could have had no real fear of the disease, for he even ventured to stand in the doorway of the little girl's sickroom, "to see how a smallpox patient really looked," he is purported to have said whimsically. It is not probable, though, that the nature of her ailment was at once determined, its onset being so much like that of a severe cold. This latter explanation is rather borne out, too, by the fact that, being temporarily out of a job, he went visiting an uncle over near the Connecticut River. At any rate, he developed smallpox in a severe form and was taken home. Hiram Gregg, just home from the army and somewhat experienced in the care of smallpox, was engaged to nurse him. Despite the best of care, however, young Spauld- ing died.
He was a very promising young man and the only surviving child of his parents, to whom the blow of his untimely death came with such a shock as to cause his mother's death.
Sadie Baker completely recovered and spring came before work was re- sumed at the mine.
Closing of the Mine and the Goshen Cannon
With the election of Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire to the presidency in 1852, the Democrats buried their opponents, the Whigs, under a land- slide of votes, from which the latter never rallied.
It may have been in this campaign that the ardent Goshen Democrats purchased a cannon. Just when it appeared cannot be definitely stated. The iron cannon-barrel was cast in Claremont and mounted by the local patriots upon a stout pair of wheels with a reinforced axle. It was crude, but, be it remembered, such were the cannons of the Revolution and the War of 1812.
Naturally, it was an object of great pride to the men and boys of the town, even though it came near causing a serious accident once before its final climax. During extended firing a "flare back" occurred just as the gunner was inserting the rammer to wad the charge down. The long hardwood-rammer was blown from the hill behind the Town Hall over onto the meadow now owned by Edith Pike and the gunner, Charles Put- ney, escaped with only slight burns. Nathan Maxfield, who was "thumbing" the priming-hole, or vent, also received burns.
During the presidential campaign of 1860, along with the possession of
243
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
the cannon, the Democrats erected a lofty flagpole at Mill Village, on the knoll between the present Town Hall and the Baptist church, which was brand-new then. The flagpole was spliced to extend its length and its base was surrounded by stone posts sunk deep into the ground, being further braced by three or four heavy poles spiked to its middle and extending off at some distance on every side. The whole was surmounted by a ball of bright new tin fashioned by the local tinsmith.
The above description was given some years ago by the late Hollis H. Sholes, born 1850, who remembered also the Democratic rally which ac- companied the raising of the flag. It was the shining new ball that attracted his boyish admiration as he came down the brook road with his parents, Hiram and Lois (Dolloff) Sholes; they caught sight of it gleaming over the ridge to the north. The speechmaking made little impression. Hon. Virgil Chase, a prominent Democrat, was president of the day, and there seemed quite a crowd of people, both men and women.
But 1864 furnished the most lurid activities, after all. The Civil War was at its height. Excitement in the election became intense. Also, the graphite mine on the mountain was in operation, with extra men in its employ to give color to a celebration which was staged in Mill Village that fall. Delegations came in from Newport, Unity and surrounding towns.
The cannon was much in evidence, placed this time on the ridge back of the old tannery. After a while someone suggested setting up a mark at a distance and loading the cannon with cobblestones to see if they could hit it. More experienced heads would have realized the folly of this course, but unfortunately there were none about, and the overstrained cannon exploded with a deafening roar.
The heavy breech with its customary knob was thrown violently back- ward into the ground. Among the spectators was Charles Cutts, a very versatile carpenter and cabinet-maker. He was struck in the hip by a small fragment of iron and fell groaning to the ground. The blow, however, was soon found to have been a glancing one and he was carried to his home, which was but a few rods below, now occupied by E. F. Lewis. Mr. Cutts was confined to the house for but a few days and completely recovered. Strange as it may seem, considering the crowd of men and boys that were milling about that evening, this was the only casualty, though a group of Newport delegates, who were leaning on the rail of the bridge near the present Village store, had an exceedingly narrow escape. A piece of the cannon-barrel, weighing between one and two hundred pounds, drove into the stream beneath them with a resounding splash; had its course been a few feet higher fatalities must have resulted. The wheels upon which the gun had been inounted carromed off down the hill and thus ended the old cannon.
One more episode happened that memorable evening, which so stirred the spectators as to carry it on to us, years afterward.
Among the influential stockholders of the Sunapee Mining and Manufac- turing Company was Luther Roby of Concord. Mr. Roby sent his youthful son, Edward, to Goshen to help at the mine, possibly in the capacity of time- keeper. The mine superintendent was a man by the name of Pratt, nearly six feet in height, black-haired, and of quick, resolute action.
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THE PIERCE GRAPHITE MINE
The mine employees and their foreman were in the crowd that night when two local young men, Hiram Gregg, a returned Union soldier, and Darwin ("Foggy") Wright engaged in such a heated argument that Gregg, who was sitting in a wagon, jumped from it upon young Wright and the two immediately began pummeling each other.
It is evident that Gregg went down, for the Wrights were large men, and young Ed. Roby, thinking to part the fighters, tried to pull Wright away, whereon John Wright, Darwin's brother, struck Roby in the face, cutting his lip so that blood flowed - not the first time, by any means, that a peace-maker has drawn the temporary illwill of everybody! Friends of both contestants began hastening to the scene and a riot seemed imminent.
At this juncture, Pratt, the superintendent, realizing young Roby's peri- lous position, charged into the crowd about his protegé, roaring like an angry bull, pushing right and left with unsparing fists. So overwhelming was the very ferocity of his attack that in a twinkling the fight was over.
And now in conclusion: before 1867 operations had ceased at the mine, never to be resumed, although during World War I, with its consequent restriction of shipping and transportation, there arose briefly a renewed interest in local sources of graphite.
CHAPTER XX
Schools and Schoolhouses
T r THE following old records are of interest, as gleaned from town books:
"January 15, 1795, paid Lydia Brainard £1 16 shilling L.M. for teaching school in Goshen in 1794.
Sept. 5, 1795, paid Mehitable Parmenter Eight Dollars for teaching school in Goshen.
Feb. 25, 1795, Elijah Woodward received one pound and thirteen shillings in full of all demands against said town, except one Due bill of twelve shil- lings.
April 2', 1794, John Wheeler rec'd. Eight shillings in full of his accompt. The following School Tax Bills committed to the several School Col- lectors to collect:
October ye 8th., 1798 Dolls. Cents. 9 62
To Hezekiah Emerson Bill of Parker Tandy Bill of Benjamin Rand Bill of 7 2
6 42
(These sums were collected, paid in full and receipts given).
Dec. 10, 1798, Paid Ruth Morse, by Micah Morse, $1.62 for teaching school.
Feb. 28, 1799, Paid Wealthy Hurd $13.35 for teaching school.
Nov. 28, 1800, Paid Wealthy Hurd $1.06 for teaching school.
Oct. 30, 1800, Paid Ruth Lane $12.66 for teaching school in South District. March 10, 1796, Voted Nathan Willey, Ezekiel Challis, Ephraim Gunnison,
a Committee to divide the town into school districts. Voted to have the school houses built by the 20th day of October next.
May 3, 1796, Voted to appoint a Committee to appropriate the money raised to build school houses. Apointed Edward Dame, Benjamin Willey, George Lear. (Town Clerk's records, Vol. 1, p. 18)
Goshen, January the 18th., 1797.
We, the subscribers, do certify that we have rec'd. of those Persons whose names are here underwritten the sums which is annexed to each one's names, which money is over and above their proportion of what the town of Goshen voted to raise at their annual Meeting in March, 1796, for the purpose of building School Houses, which sum we have laid out on a school house in the South District in said Goshen:
John Thompson 2 32 William Story 3 43
Reuben Willey 2 92
Calvin Bingham 4 45
Daniel Martin* 7 56
Alvin Roundy 2 41
Nathan Willey 6
16
Micah Morse 1 85
James Philbrick 1 35
Nat. Beckwith I 61
*Marston?
245
246
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES
Daniel Gunnison
4
12
John Calef 4 40
Allen Willey
7
57 Ezekiel Chellis
4 05
Silas Smith
5
18
Nat. Bachelor
4 07
Hezekiah Emerson
5
36
Benjamin Willey
5
96
Nathan Willey
Committee to build
Calvin Bingham
said House.
Hezekiah Emerson
(This was at the Four Corners; the names were once familiar in the neigh- borhood and it is evident that the sums given were by private subscription).
March 9, 1797, Voted 80 dollars for schooling.
March 14, 1799, Voted to raise $55.00 to lay out on schools, including what the Law obliges the town to raise.
March 12, 1801, Voted to raise $50.00 for schools.
April 14, 1801, Voted to appoint William Cutts, Allen Willey, Stephen Bartlett, Parker Tandy and Abner Colby a committee to divide the town in- to districts for schools.
Report of the Committee:
Beginning on Unity line at the N.W. corner of James Peasley's Lot thence East on the Range line to the N.W. corner of the 43 Lot, thence South East to Ezekiel Chellis, thence Easterly to N.W. corner of Micah Morse land, thence East to the mountain - to form the South District.
Beginning at the N. W. corner of Christopher Sholes' lot, thence South- easterly on the Range line to the Northeast corner of Asa Baker's lot, thence North to Parker Tandy's N. W. corner Easterly on the Range line to George Lear's N. E. corner, thence Southeasterly to the road by the brook East of Daniel Sherburne's,, Junr., thence Easterly to the Mountain - to form the Center District.
The above is humbly submitted by your Committee, William Cutts, chair- man.
Voted to accept the doings of the Committee.
Voted to raise $250.00 to build and repair school houses.
Nov. 8, 1802, Voted the present Selectmen be a Committee invested with power to adjust the money that has been laid out on School Houses and to build as many Houses as they judge necessary and make such alterations as they find expedient for the benefit of the Inhabitants and finish them as far as the money will go that has been raised.
Nov. 27, 1802, Voted that the School Houses be Vendued off at Cash price. Voted Micah Morse to be Vendue Master.
George Ayer bid off the Northeast School house for $125.00.
Nathaniel Sherburne bid off the other at $134.00.
Voted to raise $40.00 to build School House.
Goshen, December the 5th., 1802.
We, the subscribers, have picked upon the following places for the School Houses in said Town; that in the N. E. District to stand by Edward Dame's where the old one did stand. And that in the Middle District to
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
be set a few rods North of the pound the East side of the Road, where we have put a stake and stones.
Benjamin Willey Edward Dame Selectmen of Goshen William Story
March 31, 1803, Voted to appoint an agent to recover our proportion of the school money from the towns that this town was taken off from ( and if the Selectmen of those Towns refuse to pay our proportion) then to prosecute them to final judgment.
Chose Hezekiah Emerson Agent.
Vol. 7, p. 67, Town Clerk's Records.
Report.
We, the Committee chosen to divide the town into Districts for the benefit of Schooling - the divisions are as follows:
Beginning at Daniel Sherburne Jr.'s South East corner of his land, then South to the Mountain. Then from said corner on the East and North lines to his Northwest corner; from thence straight to the S. E. corner of James Libbey's land, then by his East line straight to Wendell line, the East District to contain all East of this line.
Beginning at John Tukesbury's S.W. corner, then straight to John Calef's S.E. corner of his South lot on the south and west lines to the N.W. corner, then on the south and west lines of his Colby lot to the Road, then westerly on said road and so on straight to Unity line - all south to contain the South District.
Then from Joseph Cochran's Southwest corner of his land North by his West line to Dr. Lathrop's land, then by Lathrop's South and Westerly line, and Arthur Humphrey's and Ezekiel Tandy's to Newport line:
The Middle District to contain all between these two lines drawn across the town.
The South District to contain all South and West of said lines.
The Northwest District to contain all North and West of said lines.
Stephen Bartlett
John Currier Committee
Hezekiah Emerson
Daniel True
Goshen, March 12, 1804.
Agreeable to adjournment the Inhabitants met and voted to accept the report and establish the Districts for schools.
1806. School Money divided as follows:
South District to have,
$41.28
Middle District to have,
32.91
East District to have,
20.12
Mill District to have, 5.46
Orders given -
Sally Evans, $23.34 Abigail Greeley, $4.34
John Stoddard 15.00
Samuel Chase, for his son's teaching in Middle Dist., 20.00
Jonathan Ambross, in East Dist., 16.12
Nancy Newton, in Mill Dist., 9.46
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SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES
John Calef, boarding Master and load of wood for South Dist.,
1.08
Daniel - board 8 weeks and going for teacher,
10.67
Feb. 11, 1808, Lydia Willey, teaching N. E. District,
8.33
Abigail Greeley, teaching 5 months in North Dist., Mary Stevens, 5 mos. in South Dist.,
20.00
Feb. 13 - Samuel Dodge, in N.E. Dist., Caleb Bartlett, in South Dist.,
11.70
School Money for the year 1808.
South District to have
$104.68
Middle District to have
72.12
East District to have
45.94
Mill District to have
10.16
$234.90
Polls and ratable estates in School District No. 1 in Goshen, Feb. 25, 1828.
Daniel Lakeman
Daniel L. Stearns
Reuben Kidder
Sherburne Lakeman
Charles Brooks
Arrouet Gunnison
John Baker
Seth Chellis
Richard Baker
Samuel Baker
Samuel Humphrey
Zebulon Baker
John McCrillis
James A. Gordon
James Philbrick
John McCrillis, Jr.
Henry Chandler
Joseph Philbrick
Jonathan McCrillis
William Chellis
Hiram Tandy
Zadoc Lewis
Levi Trow
Seth Lewis
Royal Booth
Ozem McCrillis
Olivet Willey
Mark Peasley
Luther Barnes
Reuben Willey
John Lewis
Luther Reed
Lauren Willey
Nathaniel O. Way
James Randell
Merrill Willey
Isaac C. Sargent
Ira Weston, M.D.
John Thompson
Micajah Peasley
Levi Underwood
Samuel Thompson
Jonathan Putney
John Cutts, Jr.
Joshua Thompson
Lovell Baker
James Baker
Peter C. Gregg
Samuel White
Lemuel McCumber
Joseph Fletcher
David Baker
Calvin Bingham
Josiah Fletcher
Leonard Bradford
William Story
Elias Smith
Parker Richardson and John Gunnison, for the Arrouet Gunnison farm.
John Parker's Heirs.
Widow Eunice Willey
Widow Hannah Parker
Nathan Willey's Heirs.
John Cutter, for Samuel Chellis farm.
T. M. Fuller, for mountain land.
(Assessments were listed against the above names, but were deemed im- material for this work and therefore omitted).
Report of Committee on Schools.
To the town of Goshen -
Your Committee appointed at the last town meeting to take into con- sideration the present state of the several school districts in town and to suggest such alterations (if any) as may appear to them expedient - ask leave to report as follows, viz:
Jonathan Wetherbee
Thaddeus M. Fuller
21.67
36.00
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
That in District No. 1 it is not expedient in their opinion to propose any alteration at present.
In District No. 2, your committee recommends that Vinal Gunnison be disannexed and annexed to District No. 3, and that William Lang, John Cain and Henry Campbell be annexed to District No. 2. In other respects District No. 2 to remain as it is at present.
They further report that the following inhabitants, viz: Currier Maxfield, John Beck, Henry Beck, William Cutts, Samuel Cutts, Nathan Cutts and Arial Cutts, Joel Dame, Edward Dame, Benjamin Messer, William Cross, Luther Webber, Samuel Sischo, Stephen Sischo, James Libby, Tobias Lear, Joseph Lear, Margaret Rand, John Cutts, Walker Lear, Nathan Putney, Jacob Morrill, Nathan Gould, Vinal Gunnison, should compose District No. 3 (North Goshen)
And that Alfred Abel, Benjamin Hudson, Sewell Ingalls, Moody Gilman, Oliver Booth, Virgil Chase, Moses True, Samuel Smart, John Currier, Wil- liam Smith, Daniel Emerson, Robert S. Cammet, Lyman Chapin, Levi Sholes, Silas Duncklee, Zachariah Jones, Wilson S. Pike, William W. Pike, Ezekiel Tandy, Isaac Hutchins, James Rogers, Samuel C. Burnham and Caleb Fuller, compose District No. 4 (Mill Village),
All of which is respectfully submitted,
Ira Weston for the Committee.
(Date presumed 1829-30)
Residents in School District No .5, in 1843.
Walker Lear Ezekiel Tandy
Wid. Mary Libby
Hylands Dodge William Tandy James Rogers
Wid. Lydia Cain
William W. Pike
Ebenezer H. Adams
Samuel Stevens, Jr. Zachariah Jones
William Lang
George Kennerson
The first schoolhouses, like the settlers' dwellings, were built of logs, later to be replaced by frame structures. It is said that the first school in the "Middle," or Center, district was held in Daniel Sherburne's barn, an arrangement obviously possible only in warm weather, when heating was unnecessary and the barn emptied of its usual contents; this was purportedly some years prior to the incorporation of Goshen. The vote of 1802, to build a schoolhouse near the pound at the Center, had been forgotten in the lapsing century and information, orally given, concerned only what must be termed the third site, in a small field directly east of the present Newman house. Here scholars from the far and near neighborhood, as well as from the No. 5 district, congregated in all kinds of weather, coming afoot for distances of upwards of two miles. Grandmother Charity Tandy Farr recalled that, after a fresh fall of snow, her older brothers
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SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES
would go ahead to break a path for her to follow on the way to school. In 1846, after a schoolhouse had been built in No. 5 district, the old building in the field was demolished and the red schoolhouse, now occupied as a dwelling by Robert Scran- ton, was erected, being located still farther to the east.
At North Goshen the schoolhouse was frequently used for town-meetings, date of first structure unknown. The "new" building mentioned in 1802 was forty years later moved a few rods to the east, which placed it directly across the Province Road from the little cemetery. Extensive repairs were made at this time and here it contributed to the education of youth for the ensuing century; was taken down and removed in recent years.
"To Goshen Corners I did go, Where the wind was fresh and cooling. And the good people there I found Believed in thorough schooling."
So wrote John Towne of Newport, Jan. 1, 1888, describing his teaching experiences of a much earlier date.
The old, original building stood just across the highway from the present schoolhouse at the Corners, a small, low-eaved cabin, with a large fire-place built into one side. Near the fire-place stood the door and the teacher's desk, with rough, cross-legged benches ranged around against the other walls.
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