USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > History of Lancaster, New Hampshire > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
Seth Savage was chairman of this convention ; William R. Joyslin, secretary. The secretaries of the permanent organization were B. B. Ockington and O. M. Twitchell. Some eight resolutions were passed against slavery and its extension, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, sectionalism, armed invasion of Missouri and Kansas, the national administration, endorsing the action of New Hampshire's representatives in congress relative to the election of speaker, and other measures.
The first Republican town caucus was held Jan. 26, 1856, John H. White, chairman; Henry O. Kent, secretary.
Delegates to County Convention .- B. F. Whidden, S. W. Cooper, Charles Plaisted, and Seth Savage.
234
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
Delegates to State Convention .- J. Benton, S. W. Cooper, W. R. Stockwell, J. M. Whipple, and D. A. Bowe.
At the March election Ichabod Goodwin, Whig, received for gov- ernor but four votes; John S. Wells, Democrat, one hundred and three votes; Governor Metcalf, American or Republican, two hun- dred and sixty-one votes. The only Democrat that received any favor at the hands of Lancaster was William Burns, one of the best citizens of the town. He was elected state senator by a good ma- jority in the 12th District, and was reelected the following year.
At the November election the fight was between the new Repub- lican party and the Democrats, destined to be the two parties of im- portance in the country for many a year to come. The Republican electors each received three hundred and one votes, while the Buchanan or Democratic electors, only received one hundred and thirty-six each. The tide had now turned. The Whigs and Free Soilers had united forces against the old Democratic party. There was not perfect harmony between these two wings of the new party. Still some lingering relics of the old strifes of the past lurked in them.
Among the Independent Democrats, or Free Soilers, were such men as John H. White, Edwin F. Eastman, Edmund Brown, Samuel H. LeGro, George A. Cossitt, and others. Jacob Benton, as we have said, was the dominant leader of the Whig contingent of the new party. His associates were Royal Joyslin, William D. Spauld- ing, Richard P. Kent, Horace Whitcomb, Turner Stephenson, and other younger men. The leading Democrats were James M. Rix, George C. Williams, James W. Weeks, William Burns, William Heywood, A. J. Marshall, and J. A. Smith, with a considerable fol- lowing of younger men.
The Republican party, as the champion of the anti-slavery senti- ment, now rapidly growing more popular and powerful every day, gathered to its support many young men of activity in Lancaster. They formed a semi-military company known by the name of " Wide Awakes," under Henry O. Kent as captain who had served as assistant clerk of the lower house of the legislature in 1855-'56, and who later was chief clerk of the house in 1857-'59, and Ossian Ray as lieutenant. This band did much to arouse interest in the new party. Their opponents tried to ridicule them into oblivion by casting reproaches upon their youthful ages; but their tin horns were blown even more lustily; they sang patriotic songs, and marched in uniforms and with flying banners to no little advantage to their party.
On December 20, 1856, a Republican club was organized in Lan- caster, with Benjamin F. Whidden, president. The vice-presidents were Jacob Benton, Edmund Brown, Albro L. Robinson, Charles
235
POLITICAL HISTORY.
Plaisted, and Thomas S. Hodgdon. Henry O. Kent, corresponding secretary ; William A. White, recording secretary. Executive com- mittee : Oliver Nutter, David B. Allison, Samuel F. Spaulding, Robert Sawyer, James S. Brackett, and Chapin C. Brooks. This club was an active body in the local campaigns, and did much to develop the phenomenal strength of the new party.
The March meeting of 1857 saw the two parties, Democrat and Republican, squarely arrayed against each other in their first local contest. The candidates for governor that election were John S. Wells, one of the most prominent Democrats in the state, and Wil- liam Haile, Republican, a manufacturer new to politics. Haile re- ceived two hundred and eighty-one votes, and Wells one hundred and thirty-seven. Haile was elected. He was again his party's candidate in 1858, and elected again. He received in Lancaster two hundred and ninety-eight votes, while Asa P. Cate, Democrat, only received one hundred and sixteen. The new party gained the balance of power in town, and for some years held an even vote on almost all important offices. In the contest of 1859, the Republican vote numbered two hundred and ninety-four for governor ; the Democrats secured one hundred and twenty-eight for Mr. Cate. George C. Williams, recently a Democrat, was sent to the legisla- ture as colleague of Seth Savage, Republican.
From 1861 to 1872 division and conflict existed within the domi- nant party, entailing important consequences. In the latter year a large and influential section, acting at first as independent, or "lib- eral " Republicans, with others of like mind, perfected a state organ- ization, and in November sustained a joint electoral ticket, with the Democrats for Greeley and Brown, running a complete state and congressional ticket at the March election of 1873, and formally uniting with the Democracy on a common platform and ticket in March, 1874.
As the movement involved state and national politics, it is con- sidered here no farther than to refer to local candidates and results.
In 1861 was one of the hottest contests in the March meeting ever seen in town. Moody P. Marshall and Henry O. Kent were the Republican nominees for representatives, but a third Republican candidate was run. After two full days balloting there was no choice, and the town was unrepresented in the legislature.
The candidates for governor were Nathaniel S. Berry, the old Free Soil leader, Republican, who received two hundred and ninety- five votes, and Gen. George Stark, descendant of the Revolutionary hero, Democrat, who received one hundred and thirty-nine votes.
In 1862 the contest was intensified by discussion of the issues of the great Civil War then in progress. Governor Berry was again the candidate with two hundred and eighty-six votes to one hundred
236
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
and nine for General Stark. Paul J. Wheeler of Newport, who ran as a " War Democrat," received twenty-five votes.
The Republican nominees for representatives were again Messrs. Marshall and Kent, and they were elected, there being but thirty-two Republican votes in opposition.
The campaign of 1863 saw three state tickets, headed respectively by Joseph A. Gilmore (superintendent Concord railroad), Repub- lican, ex-Judge Ira A. Eastman, late of the supreme bench, Demo- crat, and Walter Harriman (afterward colonel, and brigadier-general of volunteers), "War Democrat." Gilmore had two hundred and ninety-eight votes, Eastman, one hundred and twenty-five, Harri- man, two.
Moody P. Marshall and Samuel H. LeGro, Republicans, were chosen representatives by the usual party majority.
In 1864.Governor Gilmore was again the Republican candidate with three hundred and four votes, and Edward W. Harrington of Manchester, Democrat, with one hundred and twenty-three votes.
Samuel H. LeGro and Dr. James D. Folsom, Republicans, were elected representatives by the usual majorities.
In 1865 Frederick Smyth and Edward W. Harrington, both of Manchester, were respectively the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial nominees, each polling the regulation party strength.
Ossian Ray and Edward Spaulding were the Republican nomi- nees for the legislature, but William F. Smith, also a Republican,. was run, and William F. Smith and Edward Spaulding were elected.
In 1866 Governor Smyth was the Republican nominee, with three hundred and six votes, and John G. Sinclair, the Democratic nom- inee, with one hundred and thirty-three votes.
After two days' balloting for representatives the town voted not to send.
In 1867 there was a bitter contest for governor throughout the state between Walter Harriman and John G. Sinclair. In Lancas- ter Harriman had three hundred and twenty-three votes, and Sin- clair, one hundred and forty-two votes.
Benjamin F. Whidden and Charles Plaisted, Republicans, were elected to the legislature. Jacob Benton was the nominee of the Republicans for congress, and Ossian Ray for the state senate.
In 1868 Harriman received three hundred and sixteen votes for governor, and John G. Sinclair, two hundred and two votes.
A successful effort was made by the Republicans to unite the party on representatives, and Henry O. Kent and Ossian Ray were nominated. Both were voted for on one and the same ballot, in- geniously arranged like this
237
POLITICAL HISTORY.
HENRY O. KENT.
OSSIAN RAY.
so that by turning the ballot from right to left, or left to right, would bring the name of the particular friend of any Republican voter on top.
The candidates received the full party vote and were elected.
At the presidential election in November the Grant electors re- ceived three hundred and fifty votes, and the Democratic electors, one hundred and fifty.
In 1869, Onslow Stearns, Republican, superintendent of the Northern railroad, received three hundred and twenty-nine votes, and Gen. John Bedell of Bath, one hundred and fifty-three votes.
Henry O. Kent and Ossian Ray were again representatives as before. Dr. John W. Barney of Lancaster, Democrat, was state sen- ator, and Josiah H. Benton, Jr., of Lancaster, assistant clerk of the house.
The town had great weight and influence in the legislatures of 1868 and 1869. The former year, Colonel Kent was chairman of the committee on railroads, and Mr. Ray, chairman of the commit- tee on elections. In 1869 Mr. Ray was chairman of the judiciary committee, and Colonel Kent chairman of the finance committee.
These four committees largely shape legislation. Important schemes for railway development were pending, and as the outcome of the work of the sessions, the Concord & Montreal railroad was extended north from Littleton in 1869, reaching Lancaster in Octo- ber, 1870, and the Grand Trunk a year later. A new court-house at Lancaster was secured by vote of the delegation, and important changes in the statutes were considered and determined, em- bracing the application of the election laws to contested cases.
In 1870 the Temperance party and the Labor Reform party were organized in the state. The Labor Reform people held meetings Feb. 28, 1870, addressed by John G. Crawford, who came to Lan- caster from Michigan in 1869, and who now resides in Manchester, and March 2 by Mr. Hayward of Worcester, Mass.
Lancaster politics were unsettled and there were four candidates for governor; Governor Stearns had two hundred and thirty-five votes, John Bedel one hundred and twenty-seven votes, Samuel Flint of Lyme, Labor Reform, seventy-two votes, and Lorenzo Bar- rows, Prohibitionist, fifty-three votes.
There was no choice of representative this year by reason of existing causes and this quadrangular gubernatorial contest.
238
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
The campaign of 1871 was a critical one in the state, and Lancas- ter was affected by the peculiar features of the contest.
Rev. James Pike of Newmarket, a Methodist clergyman and former presiding elder, late colonel 16th N. H. V., and member of congress, was the Republican gubernatorial nominee with two hun- dred and fifty-seven votes, James A. Weston, ex-mayor of Man- chester, Democrat, one hundred and ninety-six votes, while Lemuel P. Cooper of Croydon, Labor Reform, and Albert G. Corning, Pro- hibitionist, had between them and a Mr. Walker, not a regular nominee, twenty-one votes.
No candidate had a majority of the popular vote and the election going to the legislature, Weston was elected, the first Democrat to be governor since Nathaniel B. Baker in 1854.
A union between Democrats and a portion of the Republicans elected James LeGro, a former Republican, and Benjamin F. Hunk- ing, Democrat, representatives, and so close was the house of rep- resentatives, that this delegation held the balance of power, electing William H. Gove, of Weare, speaker, and aiding to so fill the sena- torial vacancies in convention, as to make James A. Weston gov- ernor.
In 1872 Governor Weston received two hundred and thirty-nine votes for governor, and Ezekiel A. Straw, of Manchester, the Repub- lican nominee, two hundred and ninety-nine votes, while thirty votes were divided between Lemuel P. Cooper, Labor Reform, and John. Blackmer, Temperance candidates.
John W. Spaulding and Seneca B. Congdon, Republicans, were elected representatives.
The " Liberal Republican " party was this year organized in state and nation, the national convention being holden at Cincinnati, where Horace Greeley, the great editor, and ex-Gov. B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, were selected as candidates for president and vice-president.
Henry O. Kent was a delegate at large to this convention, mem- ber of the national committee, and chairman of the state committee, acting with Hon. John G. Sinclair, chairman of the Democratic state committee, in the management of the joint campaign, after the na- tional Democracy had endorsed the Cincinnati candidates, and a joint state electoral ticket had been nominated in separate state con- ventions of the Democratic and Liberal Republican parties.
Grant and Colfax was the Republican national ticket nominated in the national convention at Philadelphia to which Ossian Ray was a delegate at large.
Mr. Greeley was the guest of Henry O. Kent at Lancaster, August 12, 1872, and then addressed a great concourse from the porch of the Lancaster House. A mass meeting was organized in the
HORACE GREELEY IN LANCASTER, 1872.
239
POLITICAL HISTORY.
Lancaster House grounds, William Burns, chairman, addressed by Hon. J. R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, and other distinguished leaders.
At the November election the Grant electoral ticket had three hundred and four votes, and the Greeley ticket, two hundred and fifty-four.
In 1873 the Liberal Republicans held a state convention, placing a full state and local ticket in the field. Samuel K. Mason, a law- yer of Bristol, was the nominee for governor. The old parties had the same candidates as before, Governor Straw polling two hundred and seventy votes, ex-Governor Weston, one hundred and ninety- two votes, Blackmer, fifty votes, and Mason, forty-six votes.
John W. Spaulding and Seneca B. Congdon were again elected representatives by the Republicans.
In 1874 General Luther McCutchins of New London, a well- known farmer, was nominated for governor by the Republicans. The Democrats and Liberal Republicans held state conventions at Concord on the same day, and through a committee of conference united upon a common platform and candidate, ex-Governor Wes- ton. Mr. Blackmer was again the Prohibition nominee. The union between Democrats and Liberal Republicans consolidating votes was successful; Governor Weston being elected by a ma- jority of 1,465. The vote of Lancaster was McCutchins, two hun- dred and sixty-nine; Weston, two hundred and sixty-three; Black- mer, twenty.
George S. Stockwell and Edward Savage, nominees of the Demo- cratic-Republican party, were elected representatives.
It was the policy of the party thus formed to place as nominees on its ticket men whose antecedents were of both the former parties. In accordance with this policy, Hiram Roberts of Farmington (Dem- . ocrat) was in 1875 nominated for governor, and Henry O. Kent of Lancaster (Liberal Republican) was nominated for congress in the third district. Person C. Cheney of Manchester was the Republican candidate for governor, and Nathaniel White of Concord the Pro- hibition candidate. Col. Henry W. Blair of Plymouth was Repub- lican nominee for congress in the third district.
The canvass was a very heated one. Cheney and Blair were elected. In Lancaster the gubernatorial vote was Cheney, three hundred and thirteen; Roberts, two hundred and ninety-three, and a small vote for White.
Colonel Kent was defeated by a small majority and plurality, run- ning ahead of his ticket particularly in Coös county and Lancaster. He ran again in 1877, against Colonel Blair, and in 1878 against Major Evarts W. Farr, the latter being the first biennial election in the state, at each test running largely ahead of his ticket and espe- cially in his home county and town.
240
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
John E. Dimmick and James McCarten, Republicans, were elected representatives by a strict party vote.
The year 1876 was noted for political feeling and fervor. Gov- ernor Cheney was the Republican candidate for governor, with three hundred and twenty-nine votes. Capt. Daniel Marcy, of Ports- mouth, a retired sea captain and former member of congress, was the Democratic candidate with three hundred votes, while Asa Ken- dall, Prohibitionist, had fourteen votes.
Dimmick and McCarten were again elected representatives.
In November the Hayes electors received three hundred and twenty-nine votes, the Tilden electors two hundred and ninety-six votes, and there were sixteen scattering.
Although William Clough, Francis Kellum, James W. Weeks, Samuel H. LeGro, and other Democrats had been elected select- men at times since 1861, it was not until 1877 that the town offices generally, were filled by Democrats.
Benjamin F. Prescott of Epping was in 1877 Republican candi- date for governor with three hundred and six votes, while Daniel Marcy, Democrat, had three hundred and fourteen, and there were twenty-nine scattering.
George S. Stockwell and Francis Kellum, Democrats, were elected representatives.
The congressional vote was contested in a spirited manner by Col. Henry O. Kent, Democrat, and Col. Henry W. Blair, Republican .. Lancaster gave Blair two hundred and seventy-six votes, and Kent three hundred and fifty-eight, with sixteen returned as scattering.
The election of 1878 was the first held under the new constitu- tion which provided for biennial elections. A constitutional con- vention had been called in 1876, and framed the fourth constitution of the state. The late Hons. William Burns and Jacob Benton were the delegates from Lancaster to that convention.
The ticket was a compromise one representing both parties. Mr. Burns had been his party's candidate for congress in 1859, 1861, and 1863, in the old Third district, always carrying a large vote, but failing of election by small majorities. Hon. Jacob Benton had been the successful Republican candidate for congress in 1867 and 1869.
This new order of things, with no state election in March and a November election every two years, was not calculated to lessen political agitation, but rather to increase it. It gave more time for organization and the selection of candidates. Much interest was felt in the November election under the new constitution. The Republi- can candidate for governor was Gen. Natt Head, who received two hundred and twenty-eight votes in Lancaster, to three hundred and twenty-two for Frank A. Mckean, Democrat. Asa S. Kendall was
241
POLITICAL HISTORY.
again the Prohibition party candidate, but no votes are recorded to his credit. Warren G. Brown of Whitefield, candidate of the new Greenback party, received ninety-nine votes. His entire vote in the state was 6,407. That party had an organization here, having met on Feb. 27, 1878. The leading men were: L. F. Moore, Zeb Twitchell, A. R. Tinkham, D. C. Pinkham, J. G. Crawford, D. A. Nevers, and George W. Garland. It cast a decreasing vote in the state for about six years, when it passed from the arena.
At this first biennial election Jared I. Williams and William Clough, Democrats, were elected representatives. Mr. Williams, like Mr. Kellum, who was representative in 1877, was a Catholic, and held his seat in the house while the constitution prohibited Catholics from holding that office. Whatever was said about the matter was in undertones, as the people of the state were heartily ashamed of the sectarian exclusion of a growing class of good citi- zens; but it was not until 1889 that the last vestige of that intoler- ance was expunged from the constitution although it had been a dead letter for many years. The toleration act of seventy years before was only a half-way measure; it left the state a Protestant, Christian institution. The Catholic and Jew, no matter how good a citizen he was, or how much taxes he paid, was not allowed to parti- cipate in the affairs of state. He was not a party to self-govern- ment. He had a Protestant, Christian guardian appointed for him, known as the state of New Hampshire. This lingering relic of the barbarous Middle Ages has finally passed away, and every intelli- gent citizen is proud of the fact. The good sense of the commu- nity, and its political practices in Lancaster were an age in advance of the constitution of the state; and there was no valid ground for sectarian prejudice against that particular sect. The fact is that no man was excluded from full participation in the action of any party and emoluments of office, in Lancaster, on the ground that he was a Catholic. Lancaster has never had occasion to be ashamed of her Catholic population, or to distrust them. They are good citizens, law-abiding and patriotic. When the call came for soldiers to defend the constitution and flag in 1861, the most devout of that sect were among the volunteers from Lancaster. They have never
demanded anything at the hands of their neighbors on the ground of their peculiar faith. They participate in all the civil and political affairs of the town and state as citizens, their children are educated in the public schools, and they mingle with their Protestant neigh- bors socially, and nobody stops to think of sectarian differences; long may it be before any change for the worse takes place.
Major Evarts W. Farr, congressman from this district, died in the late autumn of 1880. A vacancy thus occurring, a special election was ordered and held. Ossian Ray of Lancaster at once entered
17
242
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
the field as a candidate for the Republican nomination. Hons. Ira Colby, Levi W. Barton, and Chester Pike were also candidates. The convention was at West Lebanon, and Mr. Ray was nominated over all opposition on his forty-fifth birthday, viz., December 13, 1880. His majority in the election following to fill out the unex- pired term of Major Farr from then till March, 1881, and to suc- ceed himself for two years thereafterwards, was more than 5,000 over Jewett D. Hosley, of Lebanon, the Democratic candidate. He was re-elected in 1882. In his election Coös county gave him its first Republican majority, although Abraham Lincoln had carried the county by a plurality. In congress Mr. Ray was on the com- mittee of invalid pensions and of claims. He was largely instru- mental in securing a term of the federal court at Concord, and also in procuring an appropriation of $200,000 for a court-house and post-office building at Concord; also for $200,000 for a post-office at Manchester. He was active in reducing letter postage, abolishing duty on sugar, and in protecting all our own industries.
In this campaign of 1880, Charles H. Bell was the Republican candidate for governor, Frank Jones of the Democratic party, War- ren G. Brown was again brought forward by the Greenback party, and George D. Dodge by the Temperance party. Bell carried three hundred and fifty votes in Lancaster, and Jones only one less. There were this year only two votes cast for other candidates, and they are recorded as " scattering."
The vote on presidential electors stood : Garfield electors, three hundred and fifty-two, and Hancock electors, three hundred and forty-eight.
The Democratic party this year named Frank Smith and Mat- thew Monahan as their candidates. The Republicans put for- ward Chester B. Jordan and James Monahan. After a hot contest Jordan defeated Smith by one vote. In the June session of 1881, Mr. Jordan was elected speaker of the house, a position he filled with dignity and ease. Mr. Jordan was destined to become an important factor, not only in town but state politics; and if indi- cations are to be depended upon he will carry off the highest honors his state can confer upon one of its citizens. He will appear again upon the scene.
The campaign of 1882 was an exciting time in Lancaster, as it was throughout the state. The candidates for governor were Samuel W. Hale, Republican; Martin Van Buren Edgerly, Demo- crat. The Greenback and Temperance parties had candidates, but they are not mentioned in the returns in this town. Hale received three hundred and fourteen votes, and Edgerly three hundred and eighteen, while twenty votes were recorded as scattering.
The Democratic party brought forward Col. Henry O. Kent
243
POLITICAL HISTORY.
and Judge William S. Ladd as candidates for representatives, and elected them by fair-sized majorities. Hon. Irving W. Drew, one of Lancaster's ablest lawyers, was this year elected to the state senate by a good majority as a Democrat.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.