USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Goshen > History of Goshen, New Hampshire : settled, 1769, incorporated, 1791 > Part 22
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By 1825 this old schoolhouse had become outgrown and a much larger building, of brick construction, was built on the site of the present structure. This faced to the west as does the present one, with a little entry and coat-closet in the southwest corner and the master's desk at that end. Across the opposite side tiers of wooden desks were placed in a modern manner.
One hundred scholars, many of them man-and-woman grown, was an average attendance during the short terms afforded them. On winter Sabbaths the school-house was frequently used for divine worship and often so well filled that men would be standing in the aisles. Sometime in the 1840's a Mrs. Ord
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preached here, arousing a considerable stir by her militant atti- tude and doctrines.
In 1857 the population-trend had shown a discouraging dip and the brick schoolhouse was taken down and the present wooden building, of somewhat smaller dimensions, put up to replace it. Modern facilities have been provided in recent years with oil-heating, electric-lights and a pressure water-system from a nearby well. A very convenient kitchenette and cafeteria-com- bination was prepared by volunteer help in 1947 and has been of indispensable aid in the furtherance of the school hot-lunch program.
Somewhat prior to the Civil War, Fred Little was a very popu- lar teacher at the Village, being remembered as a master of sarcasm as well as of verbs and tables. In 1859-60 he was instru- mental in getting a "select school" organized under the able guidance of his sister, Miss Little, a tall, strong person, "with hair as black as coal," the description of one of her pupils, H. H. Sholes. This Select School was held in the vestry of the then-new Baptist church.
In 1888 three teachers, all of exceptional talent in both edu- cational subjects and discipline, were teaching simultaneously in town; they were, Miss Stella M. Baker, Miss Dora M. Pike and Miss Cora F. Sabine of Lempster. Erastus Boyce of Sunapee finished one term of school that had become difficult for the previous teacher. In fact, Sunapee also furnished Lawyer George Dodge, for a winter term for older scholars at the Corners, in 1895, and George H. Gould, 1899, at the Village. One of the best teachers of the writer's boyhood was Miss Mary F. Under- wood, a native of Goshen and a woman of sterling character, who came to teach at the Corners after having devoted her life- time to teaching in various New Hampshire communities.
"The Line Schoolhouse" was so styled because built upon the boundary-line between Goshen and Newport. The initiative was evidently taken by Newport, but the building was erected jointly by the two towns in the year 1811. Here scholars from "the River," as Mill Village was commonly known, mingled with those from adjoining Newport farms, particularly those
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from the Silsby neighborhood. Miss Nancy Baker, later Mrs. Charles Brown of Newport, taught in 1831 one of the last terms of school in this house. Concurrently with the building of the "Red Schoolhouse" in the Emerson district, 1835, it stood vacant for some time, being finally moved a short distance and re- modeled into the dwelling long occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Watson Winter and their daughter with an injured palate, Ida.
The large boys of the school had acquired a habit of "throw- ing out" unpopular teachers. One winter three masters had been thus served and in desperation the school-committee hired Lemuel P. Cooper of Croydon to complete the term, merely giving notice that school would re-open upon the following Monday. Lemuel P. Cooper was then a young man, standing six feet three inches in height and the champion wrestler of the county. At one time he was strongly supported for governor by the Labor Reform party.
Monday morning came and a boy was chopping wood in front of the schoolhouse when a tall stranger approached and spoke. "School keeping now?"
The boy replied that it was. "We've thrown out three masters and a new one is coming today - we don't know who," he ex- plained.
"Well now, that is a joke. Going to throw out the new mas- ter?" the young stranger inquired guilelessly.
If they didn't like him they should and might anyway; they had a plan, the boy hinted. So the two talked on and the stranger decided to stop and see the fun.
Scholars began to gather and still the new master had not appeared. Talk about him and the "plan" ran freely, in which the newcomer joined. At one minute of the school-hour the tall stranger sauntered up to the teacher's desk, then turned quickly and whipping out a formidable ruler, banged it onto the desk before him and thundered out, "Come to order! I am your master!"
It was Cooper and, needless to say, a more peaceful term of school was never taught.
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The abandonment of the Line Schoolhouse came about through the increase of new families in the Village and a conse- quent demand for more central facilities. The new schoolhouse, built by the town of Goshen, was placed above the present li- brary, on the old Province Road. The steep south bank sloped from beneath it so that its lower side rose upon a four-foot wall. It is believed that a side-road came up the hill from the east here, from the Stearns and Smith, or Sholes, places; evidences of grading can still be made out.
Two masters are remembered, "Si." Straw and Nathaniel Gunnison. Mr. Gunnison was keeping one winter when a heavy snowstorm blew in from the northeast. Only sixteen boys, all men-grown, got to school the following day and when the "breaking out" gang came pulling up the hill with sixteen yoke of oxen attached to a long wood-shod sled with plows at its sides, Mr. Gunnison dismissed the school and caught up his cap and mittens, saying, "We can earn more on the road than here today." The lurching sled was promptly filled with boys who clung in groups to the sled-stakes for support. Several times the young master, by suddenly pulling out a stake, would let a group over into the snow to shouts of laughter from the rest. At length Jonathan Ingalls, from whom the story came, saw his opportunity when Mr. Gunnison's attention was momentarily diverted and, pulling with all his strength upon the master's stake, succeeded in loosening it and over went the master, back- wards. Mr. Gunnison, though a young man, weighed nearly 250 pounds and made much ado about being unable to extricate himself from the snow-bank until his boys had gathered around to help.
In 1844 the schoolhouse, which must still have been new, was moved to its present position on the main street and a combined entry and woodshed added to the end next to the road. This addition tended somewhat to relieve the crowded conditions previously existing, when the daily supply of wood had to be piled within the school-room. It was still no small problem to provide seating for the eighty-five pupils commonly attending. Boards were placed across the aisles from seat to seat, over
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which the master stepped in his rounds of inspection; when the time came for practice in penmanship - and there were real penmen in those days - still more ingenuity was needed. The roof was later raised to a sharper pitch and in 1900 the built-in desks, "scarred with many a jackknife's carved initial," were removed and modern iron-framed desks installed.
Within recent years individual chairs and desks of still more modern design have been introduced and the required space was provided by the inclusion of the narrow entry and wood- shed within the schoolroom. In 1937 a new woodshed was built at the west end by L. Y. Bowlby and an entry added. A bank of windows placed along the north side of the school-room by one superintendent was later brought back to the south side. Oil- heat is now used and with electric-lighting provides a measure of comfort and convenience undreamed by early civic-planners.
Last of the schoolhouses to be built was that in District No. 5, about 1841. It is believed that the Gunnisons were largely instrumental in the formation of the district and the erection of the schoolhouse, partly as an accommodation to families on the nearby farms, but basically an attempt to escape contam- ination from the low morality then prevailing in North Goshen. Stagnant communities have a tendency to develop putridity of life and thought, as evidenced at the Isles of Shoals in a previ- ous century. There is no doubt that some measure of escape was realized. The doorway of the schoolhouse first stood to the south, but was later changed to the west end. A double row of seats, or benches, originally ran down the length of each wall, with the girls sitting upon one side and on the opposite side, facing them, the boys. Woe be to the erring maiden whom the teacher made to sit over on the boys' side!
Statistics printed in succeeding town reports show that in 1921 the new District Superintendent, Mr. W. H. S. Ellingwood, deemed Number Five to be "overcrowded." In the school-year of 1927-28 the number of pupils stood at fourteen, with twenty- eight at the Village, the only other school maintained in town; but the following year enrollment had increased to twenty-five,
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Miss Lillian Burgess, teacher. Pupils at the Village numbered nineteen, making a total of forty-four, a figure that had been averaged for some years.
The sudden decrease in grade scholars at Number Five is as difficult to reconcile as to explain. The fact remains that in 1929 the schoolhouse was closed and the few pupils remaining in the district were transported to the Village, bringing at- tendance there to 23. The Corners school was at the same time reopened, though with but six pupils. This is believed to mark the lowest point in number of pupils in the town's history.
Since 1950 enrollment in the public schools has progressively increased, posing, as one of many contributing factors, new problems in housing and provision for teachers' salaries.
This problem has been approached by the towns of Lempster and Goshen with the formation in June, 1954, of a co-operative school district. The measure has the approval of the State De- partment of Education and will be given close supervision. A feature which should make for success is the near balance in both property valuation and number of pupils in the two towns, Goshen holding a slight lead. Topographically, too, the situation is favorable for transportation of pupils, cost of which is cur- rently $2,400 for Goshen and $2,154 for Lempster, with a prob- able combined increase to $5,000 with completion of the new plant.
The building of a modern school with four classrooms - two grades to each room - with cafeteria and activities-room, has been guaranteed by the issuance of a $58,000 bond issue. Initial plans suggested placing the new school at the Goshen- Lempster town-line on Route 10, utilizing the "baseball park," so-called; but, owing to the danger of flooding from the en- circling South Branch, this was finally decided to be imprac- ticable. A site satisfactory to all, save that it is about two miles within the town of Lempster, has been donated by the late Mrs. Charles A. Cragin and heirs, to carry out the expressed wish of Mr. Cragin. The accepted location is a high upland with plenty of space for all activities and ideal in every sense.
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The Goshen-Lempster Cooperative School District operates upon a 1955-56 budget of $36,601.63. Teacher's salaries average slightly above $3,000, working under the supervision of Ralph H. Meacham, Superintendent of Union No. 5.
Members of the school board, 1955-56:
John H. Newman, Goshen Horace M. Cragin, Lempster Stanley H. Williamson, Goshen James R. Melville, Lempster Harry A. Warburton, Jr., Goshen
CHAPTER XXI
Mail Service
TN 1823 a mail-stage was passing through this town three times a week, carrying parcels, newspapers and passengers. The route originated at Windsor, Vt., and went through to Boston (N. H. Gazeteer), although divided into sections of easy driving distances, the local division comprising the fifteen-mile trip from Newport to Washington. It is assumed that this arrangement was soon ended and in succeeding years only one mail a week found its way into town. At some period, perhaps this (1845?) the Goshen stage made connections at Marlow.
By 1858 the mail-stage was arriving twice a week, driven by one Ed. Hall. Somewhat later three mails a week were again resumed and only carried from Goshen Corners to Newport. Mr. John Lewis was one of the early drivers on this route, be- ing succeeded after some changing about, by James Trow who carried the mail until advancing years obliged his retirement around 1874. Meantime the route had been extended to Wash- ington, as in earlier days. Again came many brief attempts at mail-carrying by various parties until in July, 1877, Charles Trow of Washington secured the contract and maintained it for nearly forty years. His daily run of thirty miles was made in all kinds of weather, sometimes bringing the letter-pouch over the mountain on snowshoes as far as the Corner postoffice, where a team would be obtained with which to complete his trip to Newport. A severe snowstorm on Monday, Feb. 2, 1901, completely blocked the stage line to Washington all day Tues- day. On Wednesday Mr. Trow started out early with a gang of four shovelers and was able to reach the Goshen line at sun- set. He turned back at this point and on Thursday managed to get through to Newport, although the snow was still drifting badly, making progress difficult. He drove a pair of light horses that had become accustomed to jog at an even pace up-grade and down - "shacking" was a local term - walking them only on
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the steepest hills. He was a man of slender build, with face tan- ned and seamed by exposure to the weather. Under this arrange- ment mail was changed twice a day at both of the postoffices in town, Goshen (at the Corners) and Mill Village. Mr. Trow's long years of service ended in the winter of 1915-16? when, over- taken by illness while on the road, he fell from his sleigh. His plight was soon discovered by a passing teamster who took him home, where he partially recovered. Lenly Y. Bowlby of Goshen, who had married a grand-niece of Mr. Trow's, Miss Inez Trow, was hired to fill out his term, however.
The automobile age had meanwhile arrived and Mr. Bowlby introduced a Ford for the through mail-service. He was suc- ceeded by Allison R. Norton. William E. Howe next secured the mail-carrying contract, being followed by his son, Harry Howe.
The present carrier of the mails on Star Route 1, Charles Stark Newton, was first engaged as substitute driver for the then contractor, William B. Dandrow, in 1933. July 1, 1937, the mail- contract was awarded to Mr. Newton and renewed in 1947. His daily schedule of fifty miles comprises a trip to the Rosenthal place, near the Washington town-line, with return to the Goshen postoffice* at 10:00 A.M., from whence the collected mail is taken to Newport. A return mail arrives at 12:00 noon, and Mr. Newton then drives to East Lempster, leaving mail at roadside-boxes. With his return to Goshen, he again goes in to the Newport office at 3:00 P.M., returning at 5:00. He drives a Plymouth station-wagon and enjoys a reputation for reliability and courteous service.
Additional mail service is supplied by Rural Delivery, Route 2, originating at Newport and proceeding by way of East Unity to our Village and thence on the Brook Road to Edgemont. From Edgemont the carrier returns to Newport over East Mountain.
*The post office at the Corners was discontinued July, 1931, having been many years under the postmastership of George F. Crane. By petition, the title Mill Village was soon discarded in order to regain the use of the "Goshen" postmark.
CHAPTER XXII Captain John W. Gunnison, Explorer of the West
F ROM the mountain-encircled uplands of his native town, which were always "beautiful" to him, as he once wrote, John Williams Gunnison traveled far, to place his name upon vaster reaches in the far West, then largely unmapped and little known.
It is most fortunate that a comprehensive biography has just been published, John Williams Gunnison, by Dr. Nolie Mumey, Denver, Colo., 1955, which brings much hitherto-inaccessible data to light. Writing of Gunnison's explorations, this authority says:
"Captain Gunnison's expedition of 1853 has been regarded as a great achievement in the annals of Western History. It gave to future generations a connecting link between east and west. He traveled over the westward route which led through mountain wilderness and over rough terrain of unbroken trails, making a careful survey of the country and its resources. His trail, through the region known today as Colorado and Utah, is well marked by memorials and monuments which perpetuate his name. Two towns, a national forest, a canyon, a mountain peak, an island, a pass, a valley, and a butte all bear his name. The large, wide, turbulent river, which was named for Captain Gunnison, runs through a rich valley in Colorado; its water goes through a tunnel that likewise bears his name and irrigates land in the Uncompahgre Valley of Colorado. The name of Gunnison is forever engraved on the maps of the West, and serves to remind us of the westward journey made one hundred years ago by brave, fearless men through a rugged country."
John Williams Gunnison was born in Goshen, Nov. 11, 1812, the eldest son of Samuel (Capt. Samuel2 of Fishersfield, Capt. Samuel' the pioneer) and Elizabeth (Williams) Gunnison. His future must have been influenced, not only by family-heritage,
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but by the activities and conversation incident to the War of 1812.
In 1830, at the age of eighteen, he attended one term at Hop- kinton Academy, thirty-five miles from his home, and then, to relieve his family from further expense for his education, taught the village school in Hopkinton as well as a school in Newbury, where he had many relatives. All this time he was pursuing ad- vanced studies with a view to preparation for entrance at West Point Military Academy.
A pleasing picture of this period was given in 1881, in the Lawrence (Kans.) Daily Tribune, by its editor, Hon. L. D. Bailey, at one time an Associate Justice of Kansas. He wrote, in commenting upon a copy of the Gunnison, Colo., News Demo- crat:
"It carries us back in imagination to a little log schoolhouse in a cozy nook of the Sunapee mountains in New Hampshire in the winter of 1836* - by the way, the first log building we ever saw in that State. There was an old fashioned spelling school in that little log schoolhouse that evening, and it was a good one, unusually interesting on account of the teacher whose name was Gunnison. He was about our own age - a mere boy of seventeen, we should judge, rather short, finely formed, with fresh, ruddy complexion, brown hair and as handsome as a picture. We think we never saw a young man more prepossessing than he was. And he was the idol of his pupils and of the whole neighborhood. The fame of his school keeping had gone out into all the region round about, and had drawn the writer hereof, and a number of other lads to undertake a long walk just to see him and his school.
"We shall never forget that spelling school so long as we remember any- thing. Nor shall we ever forget that young teacher's face and form, a model of manly beauty.
'He had a smile of Heaven upon his face
Which limners give to the beloved disciple. How all loved that gracious boy.'
"His school was near its close. He was born in the town of Goshen, a few miles from that log schoolhouse on the opposite side of the Sunapee Mountain. ... Soon after we saw him at spelling school, we heard that he had gone to West Point .... "
On Dec. 24, 1832, John W. Gunnison made application to Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, for an appointment to West
*As Dr. Mumey points out, the date, 1836, is manifestly incorrect, for Gunnison en- tered West Point in 1833. Bailey's account, "soon after we saw him . we heard that he had gone to West Point," would indicate the date to have been 1832; he evi- dently had a youthful appearance. Bailey seems by his statement to have been a native of Newbury, N. H.
Portrait of John Williams Gunnison by Bonnie Ritchie
....
Reproduced from Dr. Mumey's book. with author's permission.
Old Gunnison Home, with parents on doorstep, in Goshen, New Hampshire
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Monument to Capt. Gunnison's mem- ory in the Four Corners Cemetery, Goshen.
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Stairway in Capt. Gunnison's boyhood home. Note simplicity of detail.
Fireplace in Capt. Gunnison's Boyhood Home
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Point. He was five feet nine inches in height, of light complex- ion,* slim, active and energetic. The accompanying letter of recommendation was signed by nine men, four of whom were of outstanding caliber; Matthew Harvey, Governor of N. H., 1830- 31; Franklin Pierce, who was to be elected President in 1852; Benjamin Pierce of Hillsborough, the president's father, and Governor 1827-28; and Samuel Dinsmoor of Keene, then Gov- ernor (1831-34). Horace Chase, Matthew Harvey's law-partner, but previously of Unity and Goshen, was also one of the signers and the assumption is not unwarranted that his good offices had been expended in obtaining the stellar list of sponsors.
The Principal of Hopkinton Academy, too, Mr. E. L. Colby, added his recommendation, stating that Mr. Gunnison had pursued under his direction "the study of the Latin and Greek languages ... having read very thoroughly Cicero's Select Ora- tions, and the Aenid of Virgil and is well versed in the elements of Philosophy and Chemistry."
Gunnison's petition was favorably received and in the spring of 1853 he received his appointment as a cadet. June 15 he arrived at West Point and, with the beginning of the term, at once plunged into the career which he had chosen, determined, in his own words, "to accomplish the greatest amount in the least possible time."
His zeal was greater than his strength, however. He was taken ill and was confined to the hospital for a time. Trouble with his eyes developed, also, causing him great concern. Writing to his parents in 1835, he philosophized; "But it is of no use to com- plain; ambition is frequently unfortunate, and I have perhaps brought this on myself by too close application. In addition to studies, I have averaged nearly one thousand pages a week of extra reading for some time."+
Leave of absence was obtained and after visiting friends, he was able to resume his studies in September, 1835, graduating in June, 1837, second in his class of fifty.
Although immediately offered a commission as Second Lieu-
*Records of the War Dept., National Archives, Washington, D. C.
+Typescript mss. written at Goshen, 1860, by Andrew G. Booth, a nephew of Capt. Gunnison. Courtesy of Miss Genevieve D. O'Neill, a granddaughter of Capt. Gunnison. (Mumey) .
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tenant in the Army, he did not accept until he had returned to Goshen to confer with his parents. It is evident that his mother was not wholly resigned to the prospect of her son's career as a professional soldier. He wrote her afterward, rather wistfully it seems, "I think you acquiesced in my choosing to enter the service."
With his devotion renewed amidst the familiar scenes of his boyhood, Gunnison now faced his duty unflinchingly. Proceed- ing under orders to Old Point Comfort, Va., he was detailed for active duty in Florida, Nov. 4, 1837, where, under the command of Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor, he assisted in subduing the Semi- nole Indians. Upon completion of this campaign, he was assigned to a similar task, the oft-regretted removal of the Cherokee Na- tion in Georgia to the Indian Territory now the state of Okla- homa.
Gunnison's service in the Everglades had seriously impaired his health and he sought and received a transfer to the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In this new field he was stationed for some time at St. Mary's, Georgia, engaged in improvements on the St. John's River. During the summer of 1840 he made a flying visit home, and, on his return, took his brother Andrew with him, as a clerk in his office. From St. Mary's he wrote, Apr. 4, 1841, informing his parents of pending transfer to Washing- ton, a change much to his liking, as he felt that "another sum- mer in so enervating a climate is not desirable." There was another matter, too, he wrote, that concerned them all, and himself, deeply. "With much like military promptitude," he had determined to marry before leaving for the North, if cir- cumstances permitted.
The young lady of his choice was Miss Martha A. Delony of St. Mary's. They were married on April 15, 1841, and went north, stopping in Washington a few days, where he received orders to proceed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to commence a sur- vey there. Three children were born to them: Maria D., Eliza- beth and Delony. Gunnison was a devoted father and husband and his family ties were happy and without incident .*
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