History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 172

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168

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Twenty thousand dollars of taxes were remitted to the town by the State Legislature for damages done. Other towns shared in the losses by the flood. Per- manent marks were left in the hills and valleys of the terrible deluge of 1869.

Many misfortunes have, from time to time, fallen upon the inhabitants. The Daniels defalcation sunk from eighty thousand to one hundred thousand dol- lars. The Milford Bank robbery cost the people of the town some ten thousand dollars. The Pine Valley Company failure lost its owners some sixty thousand dollars, besides bad debts to grocers and traders by operatives.

Casualties .- At the raising of the house of John Dale, one of the early settlers of the town, a man was instantly killed by an iron bar falling accident- ally on his head from the hands of a man above him on the frame.

The terrible accident and loss of life which oc- curred at the raising of the Second Church have already been related elsewhere. Three were killed, and almost all more or less wounded of the more than fifty men who were on the frame when it fell. Some died afterwards and others bore the marks of their injuries to the grave.

CHAPTER XIII. WILTON-(Continued).

FESTIVALS, CELEBRATIONS, CENTENNIALS. ETC.

WITH all the gravity and seriousness of the New England Puritan, there was always mingled no little of dry wit and a social, festive spirit.

He had his joke, and too often also his pipe and his mug. The huskings, the raisings, the wood-haul- ings and bees, the quiltings, the weddings, the balls, the sleigh-rides, the wrestling and hunting-matches,

the trainings and musters testify to the hilarious side of the pioneer character. Many of these are now only known in tradition. New customs have sprung up in the place of the old ones. "New wine has been put into new bottles." The old-fashioned sleigh-ride, when a large part of the inhabitants took a fine winter day to make an excursion to a neighboring town and take dinner, perhaps have a dance and return home in the evening by moonlight, is among the things that were. If they go now, it is by railroad. Balls and weddings are permanent institutions. Of old there were no festivals like our modern Sunday- school excursions, and the picnic was not known to the fathers. Bees, quiltings, huskings and raisings and other neighborhood gatherings have chiefly gone. Wood-haulings for the parson or a decayed brother are superseded by donations and surprise-parties. The "Willing Workers " and the "Cheerful Workers," the church " Benevolent Sewing Circles " and "Soci- ables," have stepped in to occupy the place once filled by more boisterous entertainments.

Children have more festivities than of old and go earlier into society. Lodges, granges, societies, ex- cursions are multiplying on every hand. The passion of resorting to cities, and giving up the farm for the shop, the exchange, the bank, and the professions, is due chiefly to two things, viz .: the desire to make money faster than the country farming or mechanic life will allow, and then the eagerness to have more society life. These are the sirens that bewitch our day. Besides, as communities have grown larger, they have split up into cliques and coteries, and the old hearty neighborliness has been exchanged for fashion and gilt-edged snobbery. Wealth, not man- hood or high character, is the open sesame to genteel society, so reputed.

The farmer's frock, the mechanic's apron or the house-wife's home-spun dress have no more any beauty that man or woman should desire them.

Service is still a long way behind show, as a key to open the chief places at feasts and the high seats in the synogagues. But even if society has grown more exclusive, it has, strange paradox ! grown more phil- anthropic. The humanities and amenities flourish apace. A world of good is being done to the less fortunate of our race.

If men and women have hardened into greater selfishness and exclusiveness on one side of their nature, they have softened into wider sympathy and helpfulness on the other side. Never probably did wealth feel its responsibility more to society, or dis- tribute its means with a more generous hand than now, be it to schools, colleges, libraries, churches, missions, philanthropies, hospitals, asylums or to the humbler and more private charities of society.

As good a specimen of the ancient sleigh-ride as could be selected is that which escorted Rev. Thomas Beede and his bride on their wedding-trip from Har- vard to Wilton. He was married to Miss Nancy

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Kimball, of Harvard, Mass., January 20, 1805. A number of their friends after the ceremony accom- panied them as far as Amherst, N. H., where they stopped at the hotel. Here they met a large party from Wilton, who had come down to meet their min- ister and his new wife, and both companies dined together. They then separated, the Harvard friends returning to Massachusetts, and the Wilton company taking Mr. and Mrs. Beede to their new home in New Hampshire.

The silver wedding of the Hon. Charles H. Burns was celebrated January 19, 1881. A large number of invitations were sent out and a great host of friends and neighbors responded to the call. Many eminent persons were present from abroad, including the Governor, Nathaniel Head, and wife. Many costly and beautiful gifts were bestowed on the honored couple, and music, dancing and speeches made a lively and enjoyable evening. The only pall upon the festive occasion was the breaking out of a terrible conflagration, elsewhere recorded, a few hours later in the same night, which laid a large part of the business portion of the village in ashes, destroyed Masonic Hall, the Public Library, stores, shops, offices and dwellings to the amount, probably, of fifty thou- sand dollars or more of total loss. The cause of the fire was unknown.

Several other silver and golden weddings have occurred in the town, as the new customs have come in, of which a more particular account will be given hereafter in a fuller history of the town of Wilton, soon to be published.

As good a specimen of the old-time Fourth of July celebrations as can be found is the following, which occurred during Mr. Monroe's administration. The account is taken from the Farmers' Cabinet, pub- lished at Amherst :

"The Anniversary of American Independence was celebrated in Wil- ton on the 4th inst. No previous arrangements having been made, a company of gentlemen in that and from the adjoining towns assembled for the purpose of doing honor to the day which gave birth to a nation's freedom-and independence to these United States.

" After having heard the Declaration of Independence read, Maj. A. Wilson was chosen toast-master, who, after having made a short, but pertinent address, produced the following toasts, in which all parties appeared to participate :

" TOASTS.

" 1. The Day we celebrate-May it be handed down from father to son to the latest posterity.

" 2. James Monroe,-

" C'olumbia guide with upright skill refin'd, To check the rage, and eure the public mind ; The North he visits, in the common cause, That he may guard their rights with equal laws.

"3. James Madison-O ye immortal powers that guard the just, watch over him in retirement ; soften his repose-in fond remembrance cherish his virtues and show mankind that goodness is your care !

" 4. New Hampshire-Like her own native mountains-though storms and tempests have thundered on her brow, faction lies prostrate at her feel : She stands unmoved and glories in her height.

" 5. Win. Plumer-Discord and her Advocates may attempt to sub- vert-but he has the power to save, and the constancy to preserve.

" 6. Our Union-May it be perpetuated till the moon shall cease to give her light, and the bright sun himself be extinguished ; yea, till the

globe shall be annihilated, and, like the meteor's transitory gleam, be lost in chaotic darkness.

"7. The Soldier of '76-Remember, this anniversary was purchased, as it were, with the price of his blood ; then let us cherish his age, supply his wants, and follow his example, in loving his country.

"8. The Star-spangled Banner-

" Before the stars and stripes shall ever cease to wave, Land must turn to sea and sea into a grave.

"9. The Patriots of South America-May they be reinforced by the God of Armies, that the Republic in the North may greet her sister in the South.

VOLUNTEERS.

"By A. Wilson, Esq .- The President of the [' States. The profound statesman ; we delight to honor great and good men. May his tour through the Union have a happy influence on the people.

"By Lt. John Stevens-The Government of the U. S. Firm as Atlas, when storms and tempests thunder on its brow and oceans break their billows at its feet.

" By Capt. Benj. Hutchinson, of Milford-The Militia. May they in time of peace prepare for war.

"By Deacon Jacob Putman-May the partition wall between Federal- ists and Republicans be thrown down and all unite like brethren.

" By Mr. Oliver Whiting .- The Rev. Clergy. May they cease to preach politics, and know nothing among their people, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

"By C'apt. F. Whitney .- The people of Wilton. May that noble spirit of peace, unanimity and independence, which shines so conspicuous in their character, be as permanent and lasting as it is pure and honorable.

" By Mr. Israel Herrick .- The fair daughters of Columbia, being the weaker vessel, may they be ' united to a man,' whereby they may be pro tected.

" A well-served field-piece and a band of music resounded the senti- ments of freemen to the distant hills, and was by them echoed back to the convivial multitude, who at an early hour retired to their several homes in harmony and friendship."

The centennial celebration of the town, in 1839, is narrated elsewhere. The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, which will occur in 1889, will be ob- served, it is to be hoped, in a manner and with a spirit appropriate to the occasion.

CHAPTER XIV.

WILTON-( Continued).

MILITARY AFFAIRS.

FIVE wars have called on our people to supply men and means-the French and Indian, 1755, the Revolutionary War, 1775-83, that of 1812-15, Mexi- ean War of 1846-48 and the Civil Rebellion, 1861-65.

I. The French and Indian Wars .- These were prolonged and revived from time to time from 1755 to 1773. The terror of these wars was that the In- dians were readily seized upon as allies of the French and officered by their European masters and em- ployed to carry havoc through New England and New York. They laid in wait as the settlers left their block-houses to go out to their fields for their day's work, or made night hideous as they dashed into some lone settlement with their terrible war- whoop, firing the houses, tomahawking and scalping the men and carrying the women and children into a captivity often worse than death. These incursions of the savages kept the whole country in a state of

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feverish alarm and terror and suspended all regular business. The pioneers, after great sacrifices, were often obliged to abandon their improvements, made at great cost, and take refuge in the cities or in the fortified towns to escape their barbarities. It was a guerrilla warfare of the most terrible character.

Nor were the early settlers of New England alto- gether innocent in the matter. They regarded the Indians as the children of the devil, and their ex- termination as in some measure a religious duty. They superstitiously believed that in ridding them from the land they were doing the same sort of ser- vice to God that Joshua and the Israelites did in driving out and slaughtering the Canaanites.

But, as elsewhere said, Wilton bore but a small part in the Indian warfare. No tribe permanently occu- pied her territory. But few of her sons were engaged in the proper French and Indian Wars.

Among the troops that were raised to reinforce the army after the battle of Lake George, September, 1755, in Captain James Todd's company, is found the name of Ephraim Butterfield; time of enlistment, September 22; time of discharge, December 13, 1755.

In the campaign of 1757, in the roll of Captain Richard's Emery's company, we find the name of Henry Parker, Jr., and Josiah Parker, whose father settled on lot No. 5, in the seventh range. He was massacred at Fort William Henry when captured by the French and Indians.

In the campaign of 1758, in the roll of Captain Nehemiah Lovewell's company, is found the name of James Mann, one of the earliest setlers in the south- west part of Wilton ; also Philip Putnam, Ephraim Butterfield and Alexander Milliken. They were out about six months in the service.

The above enlistments are all we find recorded in the old documents as belonging to Wilton. But the following petition will show painful apprehensions of the inhabitants at an earlier period, and the measures they took to insure their safety against these fierce children of the wilderness :

PETITION FOR PROTECTION AGAINST INDIANS.

"To His Excellency, Benning Wentworth, Esq., Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Province of New Ilampshire: The petition of the inhabitants of Salem Canada, in said Province, Humbly shews,-That your petitioners live in a place greatly exposed to the In- dians and have not men sufficient for to Defend us. That tho' there be but few of us, yet we have laid out our estates to begin in this place ; so that we shall be extremely hurt if we must now move off, for we have, by the Blessing of God on our labors, a fine crop of corn on the ground ; and tho' we have a Garrison in the town, Built by Order of Maj. Lovell, yet we have nobody empowered so much as to set a watch among us nor men to keep it. We would pray your Excellency that we may have some assistance from the Government in sending us some sol- diers to Guard and Defend us, as in your wisdom you shall think proper. Though we are but newly added to this Government, yet we pray your Excellency not to disregard us, but to assist us, that we may keep our estates and do service for the government hereafter. And your Peti- tioners, as in duty Bound, will ever pray.

" John Cram, Jr., Joseph Cram, John Cram, Samuel Leman, David Stevenson, John Stevenson, John Dale, Jonathan Cram, Benjamin Cram, Ephraim Putnam, Abraham Leman.

" Salem Canada, June 26th, 1744."

II. The Revolutionary War .- We have already seen, in the account of the public spirit and patriotism of the citizens in resenting the unjust laws of taxation and stamp dnties in 1774, the preparation of the town to enter heartily into the final struggle for inde- pendence. In fact, the Wilton declaration of virtual independence of Great Britain takes precedence in point of time of the famous Mecklenberg articles of North Carolina.

Many of the town records of that period have, un- fortunately, perished either by neglect or fire. We are told in the centennial address and appendix that " nearly every able-bodied man belonging to Wilton was out in the war, and every man in the town either did service personally or hired another to fill his place for a longer or shorter period." At the battles of Bunker Hill, Bennington, White Plains, Saratoga and others Wilton was honorably represented. Twen- ty-two out of its sparse population were killed or died in camp or hospital in the war. The whole number enlisted was thirty-four known, and many others whose names are not recorded.

Among the names of those who were in the war, and in many instances several of the same name, are Abbot, Ballard, Barker, Burton, Cram, Fry, Gray, Greele, Hawkins, Hazleton, Holden, Holt, Honey, How, Hutchinson, Lewis, Martin, Parker, Perry, Pettengill, Peirce, Putnam, Reddington, Russell, Sawyer, Wilkins.

Wilton paid at one time £396 10s., and at another time £293 9s., as bounties to the soldiers. When the Continental currency depreciated in value, in order that the soldiers should get their dues, they were paid, each, for three months' service, a bounty in cattle, twenty head to a man, estimated at eight dollars a head. The sum paid instead of the cattle was twelve dollars in the depreciated money. Besides the regu- lar pay by the government and the bounty by the town, the town also paid for the clothing. In 1777, Ichabod Perry enlisted during the war. Isaac Fry served through the war, and at its close was honored with the brevet rank of major and a letter of com- mendation from General Washington.

Nor did the women and children at home bear a less honorable or patriotic part while their husbands, sons, brothers or fathers were absent in the service of their country. It fell to their lot to carry on the work at home, not only in-doors, but on the farms, and to provide means to support their households and help pay the heavy taxes and bounties for the public service. We cannot be so forgetful of the . heroism displayed in those days that tried not only men's, but women's souls, as to pass by unremem- bered and unmentioned the soldiers' families at home, their labors, dangers, anxieties and sufferings.

III. War of 1812 .- The soldiers from Wilton in the War of 1812 were Lieutenant Abiel Wilson, Jr., Privates Timothy MeIntyre, Oliver Wilkins and Aaron Wilkins. They were on the northern frontier.

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

McIntire was slain in battle in 1814 ; the others were out during the war. Aaron Wilkins was out about two years.

At the first call for troops to defend Portsmouth, August, 1814, Aaron Wilkins, John Currier, Aaron Holden and Samuel Holt went from the South Com- pany, and Abner Flint, James Wilson, Emery Foster and Abner Shattnek from the North Company. They were out about ten weeks.

At the second call, Seth P. Tyler, Benjamin N. Fisk, Joel Severence and Timothy B. Abbot from the South Company, and Ensign Putnam Wilson, Eliab Tapley, Ambrose L. Farnum and Asa Fletcher from the North Company. They were out about seven weeks. Foster died at Londonderry when on his way home.

Those in the first call were in Captain Timothy Putnam's company, Colonel Fisk's regiment.

Those in the last call were in Captain William Gregg's company, Colonel John Steele's regiment.

The town gave to those in the first call a bounty of ten dollars each, and to those in the last call a bounty of six dollars each.

The custom of annual trainings and musters was ob- served by Wilton, as by the other towns in New Hamp- shire, and a more minute history will be given here- after in the fuller annals of the town in regard to the State militia.

IV. The Mexican War .- It is not known that any soldiers from Wilton were out in this contest. The popular impression in the North that this war was waged in the interest of the extension of slavery by the politicians of the South prevented any ex- tensive enthusiasm for it among the masses of the Northern people.

V. The Civil War of 1861-65 .- In this great confliet Wilton did its honorable part by men and money. The votes of the town were earnest and patriotic in maintaining the Union, while the mothers, wives, daughters and sisters at home bravely and faithfully did their part to assist those in the field by sending them clothing, food, medicines and home comforts of every description, and by keeping up the home farms and households.

There were four men in the First New Hampshire Regiment, nine in the Second Regiment, one in the Third Regiment, seven in the Fourth Regiment, ten in the Fifth Regiment, two in the Seventh Regiment, fifteen in the Eighth Regiment, three in the Ninth Regiment, two in the Eleventh Regiment, one in the Thirteenth Regiment, twenty-one in the Sixteenth Regiment, two in the First Regiment Cavalry, five in the First Regiment Heavy Artillery, and fifteen in the Lafayette Artillery,-in all, eighty-seven. These are independent of those who may have enlisted in military organizations in other States from Wilton.

The town was generous in paying bounties, and the nation has since been munificent in giving pen- sions to those wounded, sick or crippled by the war,

and to their families. The sublime spectacle of a great nation, rising at the emergency to maintain the Union and destroy slavery, is one of the greatest events in the history of the world, and cannot fail to have its moral and political effect upon all future generations of the American republic.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOSEPH NEWELL.

Joseph Newell was born in Reading, Mass., in the year 1794. His father died soon after, so that he had no recollection of him. His mother married, for her second husband, John Cofran, of Charlestown, Mass., where the family were brought up, consisting of two sons and two daughters.

After leaving school Joseph was placed in a store, and afterwards went into the West India goods busi- ness in Charlestown Square under the firm-name of Newell and Thompson, where they did an extensive business with the country towns of Vermont and New Hampshire, which in those days was done by the slow process of teaming, the products of the country to be exchanged for goods of various kinds.

It was in 1823 when he was obliged to make a change, on account of ill-health, to a climate free from east winds and salt air, that his stepfather, John Cofran, who had been obliged to take a place in Wil- ton, New Hampshire, for debt, advised his son to go to this place as an experiment and see how it might agree with him. He had married Lavina Hopkins, daughter of Colonel Samuel Hopkins, of Wilming- ton, Mass., the year previous, and with his young wife he started for New Hampshire, never once think- ing that his stay would be more than temporary ; but his health became so much improved by the pure air and fine scenery that he concluded to remain for a time, and commenced business in the middle of Wil- ton. At that time all the business of the town een- tred there, and the country store was the grand ren- dezvous for all the town people, not only to exchange their products but their sentiments and opinions on all important questions of the day that might come up, and as one can imagine they were many, and then, as now, in political times were of the same vast importance to the different contending parties, ever watchful for their country's good. The hall over the store was the caucus room ; adjoining was a large. Free-Masons' hall; the post-office was connected with the store; therefore, one may readily see the many attractions of the central store of one of those old New England towns, where not only the affairs of the town but those of the State and nation as well were discussed oftentimes in a most exciting manner.

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WILTON.

At this period New Hampshire seemed to have taken a life lease of the Democratic party. It was the law, if not the gospel, of both town and State for many long years, while the struggling minority were ever working to free themselves from the bondage of the dominant party, occasionally encouraged but only to be defeated.

Joseph Newell was always one of the stanch, hope- ful opposition-a Webster Whig from the start. In this he was decided and fearless, but annually on town-meeting day was obliged to succumb to the will of the majority. It will be seen that he occupied a barren field for political promotion, although his tastes were not of that kind.

He clung to the old party to which he belonged while it lasted with the tenacity of life, but when the dissolving elements set in he took to what he consid- ered the next best landing, the Republican party, al- though with many regrets and fond lingerings for the past old battle-ground. In 1865 and 1866 he was elected to the State Senate, which was the only polit- ical office he ever held ; and, perhaps, here I cannot better illustrate a point in his character than by an extract taken from the Nashua Telegraph :

" The late Hon. Joseph Newell, of Willon, was a positive man. lle had a mind of his own, as the saying is, and trusted in his own judg- ment. Apropos, it is related of him that when in the Senate counsel desired to argue a pending measure. " You may argue it all day, if you like," said Mr. Newell, "my mind is made up !" And it turned out that it was made up against the counsel."

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 172

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168