History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 176

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

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I. Joshua Heywood, son of Deacon Nathaniel Hey- wood, who was prominent in the organization of the Northwest Parish and for some years a leading citizen. Joshua graduated at Dartmouth College in 1795, studied divinity, was ordained and installed at Dun- stable, Mass., June 5, 1799, Rev. John Bruce preach- ing the ordaining sermon. He continued pastor there until he died, November 11, 1814, aged fifty-one years. He was a large man, of dark complexion, and very much in the esteem of all who knew him.

2. Daniel Weston, son of Daniel and Mary Ilarts- horn Weston, born July 18, 1764; graduated at Har- vard 1797 ; studied divinity ; became minister at Gray, Me., where he died May 28, 1837.

3. Solomon Kittredge, son of Josiah Kittredge, graduated at Dartmouth; studied theology, and set- tled in the ministry in Indiana, where he died.

4. Charles B. Kittredge, brother to Solomon named above, graduated at Dartmouth ; studied divinity at Andover; settled in the ministry, first at Groton, Mass., and at Westborough, Mass., where he died Novem- ber 25, 1884, aged seventy-eight.

5. Darwin Adams, born 1801, son of Dr. Daniel Adams, graduated at Dartmouth in 1824 and at An- dover ; settled at Alstead, N. H., and at Stow, Mass .; now living at Groton, Mass.

6. James Woodbury Perkins, son of Captain Jo- seph Perkins, settled in Warner, N. H., and at Al- stead, N. H .; died in Wisconsin.

7. Henry Adams Kendall, son of Asa Kendall, graduated at Dartmonth ; settled in Dublin, N. H., 1840; dismissed in 1850; installed at East Concord, N. H., June 26, 1851 ; yet resides there, but without pastoral charge.

8. James C. Bryant graduated at Amherst College and at Andover Seminary, 1840 ; settled at Littleton, Mass., resigned to become a missionary to the Zulus in South Africa, where he died.

9. William O. Baldwin, son of Samuel Baldwin, born August 25, 1821 ; graduated at Amherst College; is settled in the State of New York.

10. George W. Stinson, son of William and Lois Stinson, did not pursue a collegiate course ; settled in the ministry in Illinois and died there.

Rev. William Shedd, a Congregational clergyman of distinction ; was a native of Mont Vernon, but left here in boyhood.

Charles Peabody, a Baptist, James Gilman Smith, a Methodist, and William G. Cambridge, an Univer" salist clergyman, were all natives of the town.

There has been but a single church formed in Mont Vernon. There were several Baptist families in former years in the South School District, who were

connected with the church in Milford, and there are Methodists and Baptists in the southerly and easterly sections of the town who attend and aid in support- ing their respective churches in Milford and Am- herst.

Educational .- Mont Vernon, prior to the close of 1803, was an integral part of Amherst. Whatever of schooling most of its adult inhabitants had received they had obtained from the school privileges provided by the mother-town, and used by them as a part of its its population. By the records we find that in 1762 it was voted " To keep a school in five divisions, the selectmen to divide ;" but as no appropriation was made, this was only a prophecy of what they would do years later. The first appropriation was made in 1771, when the town voted twenty pounds, lawful money, for school- ing, and that "the school be kept some part of the time in several parts of the town." Also voted that the people of the town " keep as many schools as they see fit, and each family that does keep a school shall be entitled to draw their proportion of the money above granted." The next year twenty-six pounds and two-thirds of a pound were voted. But little attention was paid to other than private instruction through the years of the Revolutionary War. In 1778 it was " Voted to keep a grammar school," and in that and the year following the names of two teachers appear as thus employed. . March 8, 1779, the town was di- vided into "squadrons " for schools, each to draw its proportion of the money appropriated. They made an appropriation this year, and gradually increased it each subsequent year.

In 1781 it was voted that "the schools be kept by each neighborhood classing together." In 1787 a grammar school in the Centre District was provided for, conditioned "that the district shall make up to the master in a private way what their proportion of the school money falls short of an adequate salary."

This year, at same meeting a committee, of whom Rev. John Bruce was one, was appointed "to examine the ability of schoolmasters and mistresses," and none should be employed in any district but those recommended by them. From 1787 to 1793 the an- nual appropriation for schools was one hundred and fifty pounds. In 1789 the town voted to " excuse such as had united for the support of an academy from the payment of any school tax, so long as they should sustain the proposed academy." The use of the town- house for school purposes was also granted them.

February 10, 1791, an act of incorporation was granted for the Aurean Academy at Amherst. Twen- ty-six of the thirty-one grantees were of Amherst and five from other towns. Nathan Cleaves was the only grantee in the Second Parish. This school soon after went into operation. It had an existence of ten years, and ten preceptors, among whom were J. Hey- wood and Daniel Weston, from the Northwest Parish. In 1801 this academy was finally closed for lack of funds.

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At that time a law was in effect requiring that "in shire and half-shire towns a portion of the school money should be applied for the support of a Latin Grammar school," or a school in which that language might be taught, if desired. This will explain the following votes: April 13, 1801, "Voted that the grammar school be kept eight months in the First Parish and four months in the Second Parish this year."

March 2, 1803, seven hundred dollars was appro- priated for schools, three hundred dollars of which was to be used for the support of grammar schools, the Centre District of the First Parish to have two hundred dollars, and that of the Second Parish to have one hundred dollars; and it was provided that every person in town have liberty to send to the grammar school. These votes will explain the fact that for several years immediately preceding the incorporation of Mont Vernon a school of high character had been kept in the Centre District,-a select school, open to any in the parish. David Dodge and Ephraim P. Bradford were two of its teachers.

At the first annual meeting of the new town, March 13, 1804, it was voted to raise two hundred dollars for schooling and to choose a committee of twelve persons to class the town for the convenience of schooling. March 27th this committee presented their report, dividing the town into five school dis- tricts (classes) and defining their respective limits. May 7, 1804, accepted report of committee and voted to raise money to build new school-houses in three of the districts; voted to raise one thousand dollars for this purpose. March 12, 1805, appropriated three hundred dollars for schooling during the current year. This sum was raised each successive year from that until 1822, when it was increased to three hundred and fifty dollars. In 1830, there having been a small source of revenue (about thirty dollars) derived from the literary fund applied to schools, the town voted but three hundred dollars, which was the amount of appropriation until, in the year 1851, it was increased to four hundred dollars, in 1853 advanced to four hundred and fifty dollars, and in 1854 fixed at five hundred dollars, which, being augmented by the lit- erary fund, amounted to five hundred and sixty dol- lars, the average amount devoted to schools between 1854 and 1870.

In the latter year two hundred dollars additional school money was voted, and it has been continued annually, making for the last fifteen years an average of seven hundred and sixty dollars expended upon the district schools annually. Additional to this, since 1871 the town has given McCollom Institute four thousand two hundred dollars. With the de- eline of population has come a diminution of the number of pupils in our district schools. In 1859 the whole number was one hundred and forty-nine, and in 1860 one hundred and sixty-seven; for the years 1884 and 1885 it is less than one hundred of

total attendance. The school money has increased in the ratio that the number of those receiving its benefits have been diminished.

From 1803 to 1818 there is no record of any special superintendence of schools by an examining commit- tee. For ten years, inclusive, from 1818, a superin- tending committee, consisting of three persons, was chosen by the voters at the annual town-meeting. Below are the names of these, with the number of years they served : Dr. Daniel Adams, ten years; Jonathan S. Adams, nine years ; John Prentiss, one year; Ar- temas Wood, four years; Rev. E. Cheever, three years; A. F. Sawyer, three years. From 1827 to 1840-41 there is no trace of a superintending con- mittee. The Board of Selectmen made the appoint- ment from 1841 to 1877, since which the voters have done it at the March meeting for the choice of the town officers. The persons who held the office from 1841 to 1853 were Dr. Daniel Adams, Rev. Bezaleel Smith, Samuel Campbell, Dr. Samuel G. Dearborn and Rev. C. D. Herbert. Since 1852 the committee has consisted of one person only : 1853-56, Rev. Charles D. Herbert; 1857-59, Rev. Augustus Berry ; 1860-64, Charles J. Smith ; 1865-66, Charles A. Towle; 1867, Joshua V. Smith; 1868-72, Charles J. Smith; 1873-77, George W. Todd; 1878, J. W. Car- son; 1879, Charles J. Smith ; 1880, William H. Ray ; 1881-85, Charles J. Smith.

The conspicuous feature in the educational record of Mont Vernon since 1850 must be its academy, now known as McCollom Institute. For nearly every autumn from 1835 to 1850 there had been kept a select school, usually by a fresh graduate from one of the New England colleges.

Enterprising citizens of the town had long cherished the hope that a higher institution of learning would one day crown that noble eminence on which their village reposed. The beauty of its scenery, the grand outlook, stretching away to the distant horizon, the pure, health-giving air and many other elements marked it as a most desirable locality for public education.

In June, 1850, an act of incorporation was obtained, and they named the projected school Appleton Academy.

A very opulent citizen of Boston bearing the name had often visited the place, having a mother and three sisters long resident here, and they hoped to win an endowment by this recognition. They did not consult him as to the name, and he did little for their institution. Its first board of trustees were eight citizens of the village, with Dr. Samuel G. Dearborn as secretary. Its first term was taught in the fall of 1850, in the hall over the district school, in which its sessions were held until the completion of its new building, in 1853.

Lucius B. Clough was its first principal, assisted by John Odronaux. The first is a most respectable lawyer in Manchester, and the last has long enjoyed

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wide celebrity for his ability as a public teacher of law and medicine in the city of New York. After this there was no school until the fall of 1851, when George Stevens, who had some two years before graduated at Dartmouth, commenced what proved to be the placing of the solid foundation of an institu- tion which, until then, was only an idea. He trans- lated that idea into a fact. He had entered college from Mont Vernon, to which place his parents had removed in 1844; had taught district and private schools in the place. He was among his kindred and friends, and most fully in sympathy with those who had undertaken the establishment of an academy here. He left Pittsfield (N. H.) Academy to assume the charge of this, and brought with him a dozen students from that vicinity who had learned his value as an instructor. He had for his assistants two ac- complished ladies, and the second year Rev. John Colby, a graduate of Dartmouth and a fine scholar, was his associate teacher. It was mainly through Mr. Stevens' influence that the fine academy building was erected in 1853. He drew the plan and per- suaded the trustees and citizens that all difficulties would vanish before well-directed and persistent en- deavor. The funds were but partially secured at its commencement, but when completed, it was but one year before it was free from debt. His enthusiastic devotion to his work brought success. During the fall term of 1853 one hundred and twenty-five pupils attended.

After two and one-half years' service, Mr. Stevens, in the winter of 1853-54, communicated to the trus- tees his fully-matured decision to complete his law studies and enter the legal profession. Removing to Lowell, Mass., he, in a short time, commenced prac- tice in that city, which he pursued successfully well- nigh thirty years. His death occurred June 6, 1884, aged fifty nine years.

As in the lives of individuals, so in the life of in- stitutions, sharp vicissitudes occur. The disappoint- ment and vexation of those who had hoped that Mr. Stevens would continue here for many years was not slight. The school was suspended for one term.

Rev. Fenner E. King, the third preceptor of this academy. a graduate of Wesleyan University, Middle- town, Conn., came in the fall of 1854 and remained one year with two lady assistants.

The fourth principal was Rev. Augustus Berry, a graduate of Amherst College, and for many years the esteemed pastor of the church in Pelham, N. H. He, with two lady assistants, had charge of the school five years, from 1855 to 1860. His administra- tion here was a successful one, and marked by the ability of many of his students who have since at- tained eminent success in varied callings.

The fifth principal was Rev. C. F. P. Bancroft, who came here immediately after graduating at Dart- month, and remained from August, 1860, four years. He was young, genial and enthusiastic, with conceded

ability and soundness in judgment. It was not a favorable period for large schools. The colossal Civil War, then raging, engrossed the public thought, and educational interests were in the background. The institution suffered no loss of prestige through his connection with it. When he commenced his work here the fund belonging to the institution was seven hundred dollars. Dr. Bancroft occupies a high rank as an educator, having for the last twelve years been at the head of the famous Phillips Academy, Andover. Heisidentified with this town by marriage ties, and has ever manifested a cordial interest in its prosperity.

The sixth principal was Rev. Charles A. Towle, a graduate of Dartmouth, whose connection with it continued two years from August, 1867. The school was fairly prosperous with him and two lady assist- ants at its head. He resigned to study for the ministry, and is now settled in Illinois. His suc- cessor was Dr. Joshua V. Smith, who remained two years, unfortunately to witness a decrease in num- bers. He was a graduate of Bowdoin and now a physician in Massachusetts.

There was a suspension of one year, until August, 1869, when Professor Lucien Hunt, a veteran teacher, came from Falmouth, Mass., to become its eighth principal, the number of pupils during his stay of one year ranging from twenty-five to forty.

Mr. D. A. Anderson, a graduate of Dartmouth and now a teacher in New Jersey, was the ninth princi- pal, remaining two years, from 1870 to 1872. The school was not altogether unprosperous during his connection with it.

Early in the year 1871, George W. McCollom, then of New York City, offered to the trustees, as a per- manent endowment, the sum of ten thousand dollars, provided they would cause the name to be changed from Appleton Academy to that of McCollom Insti- tute, and provided further that the town of Mont Vernon should, for five successive years, raise and pay to the institution the sum of three hundred dollars, being an aggregate amount of fifteen hun- dred dollars. The conditions were complied with, and now for fourteen years the school has enjoyed the income from this valuable endowment. Mr. McCollom was a native of New Boston, but came with his parents to Mont Vernon to reside in early life. He married the eldest daughter of Asa and Mary A. A. Stevens, of this town. She died in New York in 1865, and her husband's donation was in- tended as a grateful memorial of her. A marble tablet placed by him in the hall of the institute bears this inscription :

"Endowed by George W. McCollom, in memory of his wife, Mary Ann S. McCollom."

Mr. McCollom died in New York September 4, 1878.

In 1872, Hon. George W. Todd, of Rindge, N. H., became the tenth principal, a man of untiring zeal,

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

great executive ability and large experience. He at once associated with him as elassical teacher Rev. Charles P. Mills, an accomplished scholar, a graduate of Amherst, and now in the ministry at Newbury- port, Mass.

Mr. Todd held the office of principal six years, re- tiring in 1878. His later assistants were Messrs. F. A. Eldridge and G. W. Putnam, graduates, respect- ively, at Harvard and Dartmouth. Mr. Todd re- moved from town in 1879, and died suddenly at Norridgewoek, Me., April 15, 1884, when he was in charge of the High School in that town.

William H. Ray, a graduate of Dartmouth, suc- ceeded Mr. Todd, as the eleventh principal of this institution. He remained here three years, vacating his position here to accept a more lucrative one in Yonkers, N. Y. Professor Lucien Hunt, the eighth principal, succeeded Mr. Ray in 1881, and contin- ued at the head of the institute two years, when he resigned. Mr. Arthur V. Goss, a graduate of Dart- mouth, was his assistant here.

Hiram Q. Ward, from St. Johnsbury, Vt., a gradu- ate of Dartmouth, was principal from 1883 to 1884. His success not being marked, he was not re-engaged. In August, 1884, Mr. Cassius S. Campbell, of Dart- mouth College (1858), was engaged for five years, and his diligent and energetic supervision promises bright future for the school.

The endowment of the school is respectable, but more would be acceptable. There is a library of some twelve hundred volumes, extensive and val- uable apparatus for the illustration of physical science and an invested cash fund of thirteen thou- sand dollars.

For fourteen years past the town of Mont Ver- non has raised each year three hundred dollars, and given it to the institute for the tuition of its resident youth, if their attendance is in such num- bers as to absorb it; otherwise any balance goes into the general fund of the school. Thus it is used by the town as a High School. The entire number of students who have been enrolled as members of this academy during the thirty-five years it has existed is about fifteen hundred. Its foundations were laid in an earnest desire to elevate the standard of intel- lectual and moral culture in the community around it. Its Christian character has ever been upheld and pronounced, and it has been an ally to the church near which it stands. Every three years its alumni gather for a triennial reunion,-occasions which bring together hundreds whose presence testify their at- tachment and gratitude for the strength and help it has given them for the conflicts of life.

dollars; and Hon. George Stevens, of Lowell, five hundred dollars.

Poor Farm .- From the incorporation of the town until 1837 it was the practice to sell to the lowest bidder the board for the current year of such poor persons as were wholly unable to maintain themselves at the annual meeting. Such as required only partial support from the town were to be provided for by the selectmen according to their discretion.

In the year 1837 a farm was bought in Lynde- borough, about three miles from Mont Vernon village, by the town, and occupied by its poor until 1846, when it was sold and another bought, a half-mile southeast from Mont Vernon village, and occupied as a pau- per farm until 1870, when the farm and contents were sold in compliance with the vote of the town.

Post-Office .- Mont Vernon was not made a post town until 1823. Letters for its inhabitants were distributed from Amherst. Appended are the names of the several postmasters, with the year of their appointment : Porter Kimball, 1823; Daniel W. Baker, 1829; Jesse K. Smith, 1832; Daniel R. Baker, 1835; Franklin O. Kittredge, 1842; Thomas H. Richardson, 1849; Dan- iel R. Baker, 1853; Nathaniel Bruce, 1861 ; Alonzo S. Bruce, 1873; John M. Fox, 1885.

Military .- The people of Mont Vernon believing that the War of 1812 was just and necessary, ar- dently favored its prosecution, and quite a number en- listed for permanent service. Captain James T. Trevitt, commanding a company in Colonel Steel's regiment, was for sixty days at Portsmouth, expecting an attack from a British fleet cruising near by. This company was made up of men drafted for special service. Dr. John Trevitt was a surgeon who con- tinued permanently in the service after the conclusion of peace, and died in 1821 at Augusta, Ga., at his post of duty. Dr. Rogers Smith was an assistant surgeon on the frontier. In the days of "militia musters" Mont Vernon was always well represented. For thirty years a first-class company of infantry was sustained here under the old militia law.

In the late Civil War this town was represented by nearly forty citizen soldiers.

None of those who enlisted from this town were lost in battle, but seven died of disease contracted in the service. Subjoined is this list:

James C. Towne, Henry N. McQuestion, William 11. Upton, Charles Robinson, Nathan Kendall, George W. Brown and John Alexander.

Wmn. H. Ireland lost his life by drowning.

George N. Bruce went to the war a lieutenant and returned a lieutenant-colonel.

C. F. Stinson went out a private and came home a captain.

Beside the endowment fund of Mr. McCollom, other friends have remembered the school. Among the larger donations Hon. Samuel Appleton, of Boston, gave George A. Marden was quartermaster of Berdan's regiment of sharpshooters. about one thousand volumes of books for a library ; llon. William Appleton, five hundred dollars ; There has been since its incorporation but one Messrs. William H. and A. Conant, fifteen hundred | territorial change in Mont Vernon. Through the per-

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sistent efforts of a few individuals, and against the remonstrance of the large majority of its citizens, a tract exceeding one thousand acres of land was an- nexed from Lyndeborough to Mont Vernon at the winter session of the Legislature of 1852. There were fourteen families added to the population of Mont Vernon by this change.

Mont Vernon is unquestionably a place favorable to health. Epidemics are of rare occurrence. The most notable instance of the prevalence of any malig- nant epidemic was in January and February, 1812, when the terrible disease known as spotted fever visited certain sections of this county. It attacked several familes here and proved fatal to some ten or twelve persons, nearly all adults.

The salubrity of the breezes which fan these hills is attested by the fact that over two hundred persons, who either were resident in the town in 1820 or who have lived here for the term of twenty-five years since, have reached the age of eighty years.

Physicians .- The entire number of physicians who have been in practice here is twelve, viz .: Henry Codman, Zephaniah Kittredge,1 Rogers Smith, John Ramsey, David Adams, Jesse K. Smith, Daniel F. Hale, Samuel G. Dearborn, Alfred A. Gerrish, Maurice E. Jones, Sylvanus Bunton, Frederic Chand- ler.

Four of the above were natives of the town, viz. Drs. Kittridge, Codman and the two Smiths. :

Physicians who were natives of the town other than the foregoing, and places of residence,-

Drs. Stephen Carlton, Acworth, N. H. ; John Peabody, Salem, Mass. ; Stephen Peabody, Orange, Vt. ; Nathan W. Cleaves, Antrim, N. H. ; Na- than Cleaves, murdered in Mexico ; Ingalls Kittridge, Beverly, Mass. ; Josiah Kittridge, Pembroke and Nashua, N. H .; Charles M. Kittridge, Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, N. Y. ; Luther Smith, Hillsborough Bridge, N. H. ; Norman Smith, Croton, Mo. ; Ira Weston, Bradford and Wind- ham, N. II. ; William Trevitt, Columbus, O. ; John Trevitt, United States Army ; Daniel L. Adams, Ridgefield, Conn. ; Henry Trevitt, Wil- ton, N. II. ; Irving W. Boardman.

Lawyers .- Two lawyers were located here many years since,-Aaron G. Sawyer and Andrew Wallace.

Representatives .- The following is a list of repre- sentatives sent to the Legislature from Mont Ver- non :

William Bradford, three years, 1804-06 ; voted not to send in 1807. John Batchelder, three years, 1808-10.

Benjamin Durant, five years, 1811-15. Andrew Wallace, one year, 1816. Ezekiel Upton, five years, 1817-21.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 176

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