USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > History of Lancaster, New Hampshire > Part 46
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District No. 9 .- This district comprises what is known as the Gore. In this district the Leavitts, Wentworths, Moultons, Smiths, and Mardens received their education. For many years much ... of
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EDUCATION.
the territory of this district was a wilderness, but it is now mostly reclaimed, as is most of the land of the entire town.
District No. 10 .- This district was taken from the territory of No. 8. This district was settled by David Emerson, Elder Lewis, the Taylors, Bullards, and Straws. When the first schoolhouse was built in this district, the modern ideas of comfort and economy had advanced so far as to displace the fireplace by stoves. Fireplaces were no longer considered essential in schoolhouses, and stoves had become popular. This district lies in the extreme southwestern cor- ner of the town. In early times this section of the town was a famous resort of game. On one side of it lies that beautiful sheet of water known as Martin Meadow pond, frequented by deer in great abundance; and on its banks the otter had his slides. Southerly lies Cherry mountain, just beyond a dense forest, in which the shaggy bear was accustomed to roam in quest of his food; and here, too, was to be found the sable, making his nightly raids upon the squirrels and harmless birds. The hunters and settlers need not go far for game. Now all this is changed, and this district is a quiet rural section, dotted with farms and much frequented, as affording fine views of the surrounding mountains.
District No. II .- This district was taken from No. 5, and embraces on the east the farms of Orange Wilder, Richard East- man, and Ezra Darby; on the west the farms of Joseph Howe, Dan- iel Stebbins, and John W. Hodgdon. The first schoolhouse was located on the old road south of the Darby place. For some years Judge J. W. Weeks was the teacher in this old house. When the present road to Whitefield was laid out lower down the mountain, a new schoolhouse was built on the west side of the road, which remained in use until 1895, when it was abandoned and another one built on the north side of the road over Stebbins's hill. The farms on the old road high up against the western side of Mt. Prospect, where Twombly and Swan lived, have been abandoned and become grazing fields. This district is now a populous one, and a good school has been sustained for a number of years.
District No. 12 .- This district was taken from No. I, in 1833, in consequence of a large increase of pupils in the village. Instead of enlarging the schoolhouse, a new district was made out of that portion lying south of Dr. J. E. Stickney's place, now occupied by Kent & Roberts's store and south of the river. A schoolhouse was built on top of the high sandbank on the Jefferson road, on what is now the triangular park on Portland street, cornering on Pleasant street. The house was a small one, and soon became too small to meet the demands upon it, and an addition was put on. This dis- trict took in the Parson Willard place on the west, and what is now Elm street, and on the north side, as far as stated, including the
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
Reuben Stephenson place (where the Richardson block and Eagle block stand), and all Middle street to where George R. Bush now lives on the east road to the western boundary of district No. 5. This district was united to No. I, in 1869, to form Union School District, No. I.
District No. 13 .- For some years this district was known by this number, and had an existence as a district; but it never had a schoolhouse. It embraced that section known as Page hill. It is now annexed to No. 3, of which it was virtually a part from 1794.
District No. 14 .- This has been described in connection with No. 2. It was set off in 1841. It embraces the farms where once lived Capt. John Weeks, Edward Spaulding, John McIntire, and William Moore, a brother of Coffin Moore. It has a schoolhouse on the north side of the road leading from South Lancaster to the village over Stebbins's hill.
District No. 15 .- As late as 1844 this district was a wilder- ness known as the Great Rock district. Its schoolhouse is at the forks of the roads which lead to the extreme east part of the town, and the road to Lost Nation, in Northumberland. The settlement and growth of this district was chiefly due to the building of mills about 1848, on Great brook, by John Hubbard Spaulding. These mills are now known as Whipple's mills. It is now a highly prosperous section of the town, containing good farms and good citizens. The school now numbers about twenty-five children.
The Town System .- Until 1885 the old district prevailed. With changes in the school laws of the state, and the reforms in the administration of the department of public instruction, the present town system was put into practice in Lancaster. There is much difference of opinion as to its advantages over the former system. It has secured uniformity of text-books and better supervision than under the district system. It is also true that better teachers are now employed than before, and newer methods have been intro- duced in instructions now given. The town district has a board of education, consisting of three members. The town board for the year 1896, are James E. McIntire, Gilbert A. Marshall, and J. S. Peavy. The number of schoolhouses in the town district is 10; teachers employed, 10.
UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT, NO. I.
THE UNION OF DISTRICTS NOS. I AND 12-THE GRADED SCHOOL-GRADED SCHOOL BUILDING-RELATION OF THE GRADED SCHOOL WITH LANCAS- TER ACADEMY-THE LANCASTER HIGH SCHOOL.
In 1869, after much discussion of the matter, districts Nos. I and 12 were united under the name of Union School District, No. I, for the purpose of maintaining a graded school. The old schoolhouse
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EDUCATION.
on the brow of the hill south of Isreals river was sold and the pro- ceeds applied to school purposes. The school was conducted in the old house in No. I until the present graded school building was erected in 1870. A graded school was then organized, and has steadily grown in numbers and usefulness. The records of the district for 1869 are missing; but from those of the next few years we glean the facts that more room was a grave question that caused concern to those who took an interest in the school. An effort was made to buy the old court-house, standing where the pres- ent one now does, of the county for school purposes; but the county authorities refused to sell it. It was finally decided to build a suit- able house, and the present graded school building was the result. It was finished in 1870. An arrangement was entered into between the Union district and the Lancaster academy, by which the more , advanced pupils of the district might take advantage of the higher course of study offered by the academy, the district paying for the same, a rate of tuition about that usually charged in high schools. This arrangement, with several modifications at different times, remained in force until the present year. At an adjourned annual school-meeting, May 29, 1895, the district voted "to establish and maintain a high school, in which the higher English branches and the Latin, Greek, and modern languages shall be taught." This action enjoined upon the board of education the necessity of organizing an independent high school as well as to retain the graded school here- tofore in existence.
In the early period of the existence of Union District, No. I, a prudential committee, of from one to three members, had the super- vision of the school. This was later changed to a board of educa- tion, which at present consists of six members.
In 1894 an effort was made to secure more room to accom- modate the rapidly growing grades below the high school. At first it was aimed to meet this demand by the enlargement of the present graded school building, but no vote was secured. Afterward a move was made to build a primary schoolhouse. This, too, failed to receive the support of the voters of the district. The matter of more room was agitated for two years, when, after several votes to build two primary schoolhouses were voted down, a vote was passed to build a high school building, to cost, when fully equipped, not over $35,000. Later, at a special school meeting, it was voted to rescind that vote.
At the annual school meeting, March 7, 1894, Mrs. K. B. Fletcher was elected a member of the board of education, and enjoys the distinction of being the first woman to serve in that capacity in Lan- caster. Since then Mrs. Mary R. Kent was appointed to serve out a part of the term for which Hon. C. B. Jordan was elected in 1895.
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
She was reelected at the annual meeting in 1896; and at that time Mrs. Lizzie D. Buckley was elected. All these women have been teachers, and have experience coupled with a profound interest in matters of education, and have proven that women are valuable members of school boards.
The school, graded and high, is now thoroughly organized with a force of nine teachers engaged for the next school year. A new course of study has been arranged by the board of educa- tion, and many needed reforms effected, by which the school is fully up to the rank of the best high and graded schools of the state.
There were enrolled in all grades of the school last year, 398 pupils. There was expended for the same year on the school, $4,936.53. The school revenue, including appropriation for build- ing, for the ensuing year, is $15,329.17.
The board of education, elected at the last annual school-meeting, is as follows:
For the term of three years, Rev. A. N. Somers, president; Mr. John L. Moore, secretary and treasurer.
For two years, Mrs. Mary R. Kent and Dr. E. F. Stockwell.
For one year, Mrs. Lizzie D. Buckley and Mr. Charles A. Howe.
LANCASTER ACADEMY.
Lancaster academy is one among the oldest institutions of sec- ondary education in the northern part of the state. It was chartered by a special act of the legislature, December 24, 1828, in which William Lovejoy, John W. Weeks, Jared W. Williams, Richard East- man, William Farrar, Thomas Carlisle, Samuel Pearson, Reuben Stephenson, and Adino N. Brackett are named as incorporators. These were among the most representative men of the town at the time. The state granted certain lands as an endowment; and the act of its incorporation made $10,000 the limit which might be held in real estate and personal property. The academy was or- ganized February 2, 1829, with William Lovejoy, president; John W. Weeks, treasurer; Jared W. Williams, secretary, and the above- named incorporators with them as trustees. This board of trustees was made, perpetual. The academy occupied the old court-house on the corner of Main and Bridge streets, from its opening until 1830, when a new court-house was built on the site of the pres- ent one; the old one ceasing to be used as a court-house, re- verted to the original owners of the land on which it stood, the land having been given to the county in 1804, to be used for a site for a court-house, to revert to the donors in event of its ceasing to be so used. The old building was given to the academy, and was moved upon the lot now occupied by the present acad-
417
EDUCATION.
emy and the Unitarian church, which had formerly been the site of the little "Old Red Gun House" of the Regiment. The building was enlarged by the addition of twelve feet on the front, which afforded dressing-, recitation-, and apparatus-rooms, and surmounted by a tower in which hung the little old bell that had served the court-house, by being mounted on a tripod in front of the building. The same bell now does service on the graded school building (see chapter on the court-houses). The work on the building was done by Richard Eastman, one of the trustees, who was a carpenter.
For many years this academy was an important institution of learning for a large section of country. Students attended it from Colebrook, Maidstone, Lunenburg, St. Johnsbury, Whitefield, Little- ton, Bath, and Haverhill. Its classes were large, and it enjoyed the labors of many very able teachers. From the time of its opening until within thirty years, it had a patronage sufficient to enable it to run as an independent school; but since the public schools have developed rapidly and are better organized and equipped with good teachers and appliances at the public cost, academies, and all other private schools, not amply endowed, have gradually fallen into de- cay, and are no longer able to compete with the free public schools offering equally as good advantages. Lancaster academy, having a very small endowment, suffered quite as badly as the average academy in New Hampshire for lack of patronage.
In 1844 the records show ninety-three students, paying tuition at the rate of $3.50 a term, and the trustees advertising that good board could be had in private houses from $1 to $1.50 per week. Daniel C. Pinkham was then preceptor.
At the close of the fall term of the school that year was held a notable exhibition, in accordance with a rule of the academy, at the old meeting-house on the hill, it being the last public service of any kind held in that building before it was moved to its present loca- tion on Main street. Preceptor Pinkham said of that event years afterward : "The belfry of the house was dilapidated, the windows and doors all broken down, the pews were badly damaged, and in every respect the house was entirely unfit for occupancy. By board- ing up the windows and doors, putting a stove into the body of the house, and running the pipe through a window, we made it-not comfortable, but tenantable. By the indulgence of the audience, we succeeded in going through with our performance to the satis- faction of the school and the public." This exhibition was an elab- orate affair, judging from the following programme furnished me by the late Judge B. F. Whidden a few months before his death; and as it was a typical performance, in which the boys and girls of the school were required to take part, I reproduce it here for the benefit of the interested ones of the present generation and those to come.
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
These exhibitions took place at the end of the fall term from the opening of the academy down to about the time of the late Civil War, when other interests took their place. Also in the earliest days of the school the students were required to visit the old meet- ing-house on Sundays and listen to the sermons, and on Monday morning make a report of them as a part of their school duties.
EXHIBITION !
AT THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE IN
LANCASTER,
Tuesday Evening Nov. 26 1844. Commencing at 5 o'clock, precisely, when will be performed the following pieces.
PRAYER.
Salutatory,
H. C. Harriman.
DIALOGUE .- THE ARCHERS.
Prince John, De Bracy,
J. I. Williams. E. Sawyer. Herbert,
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Locksley,
H. O. Kent. W. R. Joyslin.
OUR SCHOOL-(Orig.)
W. H. SMITH.
MUSIC.
RICHELIEU. A DRAMA.
Louis King of France
Richelieu
Henri de La Mothe
Chavigni
Latemas Richelieu's Party,
Norman
Count de Blenanu
Cinq Mars
Fontrailles
Soldiers, Robbers and attendants.
MUSIC.
ORATION-Orig.
J. H. BALCH.
THE OMNIBUS.
A FARCE.
Leger,
E. Brown. Farrier's Boy,
Pat Rooney,
E. W. Porter. Julia Leger,
Mr. Dobbs,
Wm. Meserve. Mrs. Dobbs, Ladies, &c.
B. F. Hunking. Miss Harriet Blanchard. Miss Rachael Bullard.
DECLAMATION .- Orig.
B. F. HUNKING.
MUSIC.
THE REVENGE.
A TRAGEDY.
Alonzo, Spanish General Zanga, Captive Moor,
J. H. Balch. A. B. Davis. E. W. Porter. Parsons.
Don Alvarez, a Courtier,
Jarius T. Bullard.
Miss Mary Pinkham.
Carlos, Alonzo's friend, Manuel, Attendant,
Leonora, his Daughter, Isabella, Moor's Mistress, Miss Mary Page.
MUSIC.
Wm. Meserve. Hanson. J. T. Bullard.
E. Brown. J. H. Spaulding. Wm. Stockwell. E. R. Derby. Curtis Bean. Parsons. Wm. H. Farrar. J. G. Stephenson.
Duke of Orleans
Philip the woodsman
Anne Queen of France Madam de Beaumonte Pauline de Beaumonte Mad'lle de Hauteford Louise
Miss Mary Page. Miss Andalusia Gould. Miss Caroline Perry. Miss Mary Pinkham. Miss Rachael Bullard.
Tom Dobbs,
O. G. Stephenson.
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EDUCATION.
ORATION .- Orig.
J. H. SPAULDING.
MUSIC. To conclude with the Comedy of COLLEGE LIFE !
Dramatised by the late Judge Nelson Cross of Boston, Mass.
Frank Webber, 1
Clemons.
Capt. Power,
Charley O'Malley
Students.
J. G. Stephenson. J. H. Balch. A. B. Davis. E. Brown.
Lord Beaumond, Sir Geo. Dashwood, Mansfield,
Curtis Bean.
Harry Nesbit,
Cecil Cavendish,
Clemons. Wm. Meserve.
Telford, E. Brown.
Ist Jib, 2d Jib,
White.
Serv't of Sir Geo., O. G. Stephenson.
Mickey Free, Servt.
E. W. Porter.
Miss Lucy Dashwood, Parsons.
Dr. Mooney, The Purser.
Miss Maccan (alias Webber), J. G. Stephenson.
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NOTE .- The Archers was from Scott's "Ivanhoe,"-the passage of arms at Ashby. J. I. Williams, son of Gov. J. W. Williams of Lancaster, still resides here, and is a civil engineer and surveyor. Edmund Sawyer, a son of Robert Sawyer of Lancaster, for some years a tailor in Lancaster, died in New York, 1856. Henry O. Kent, son of the late R. P. Kent of Lancaster, has had a varied and successful career as journalist, statesman and financier. He is now officially connected with the Lancaster Sav- ings bank and the Lancaster Trust Company. W. R. Joyslin, son of a Lancaster merchant and now a Congregational minister at Centreville, Mass. W. H. Smith (Uncle Bill) of Lancaster. Retired from business cares, and spends his summers in Lan- caster, and the winters with his son in Washington, D. C. Edmund Brown was of Lan- caster, now deceased. J. Hubbard Spaulding of Lancaster. He was connected with the Tip-Top House, on Mt. Washington, and wrote and published " Historical Relics of the White Mountains and a concise White Mountain Guide " in 1856. William Stockwell, a grandson of Emmons Stockwell, one of the first settlers of the town, went to Califor- nia soon after the discovery of gold there in 1849, and died there, or on the way there. Edwin R. Derby of Lancaster, a brother of Capt. John Derby, was a bookseller in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; died 1896. W. H. Farrar, a son of Deacon William Farrar of Lancaster, became a lawyer. He went to Oregon at an early date, was in Washington, D. C., dur- ing the war, and died in Providence Hospital there soon after the close of the war. John G. Stephenson, son of Reuben Stephenson of Lancaster, went to Indiana. With Senator H. S. Lane, he accompanied President Lincoln to Washington at the time of his inauguration in 1861. He was made librarian of congress, and had for an assistant the present incumbent of that office, A. R. Spofford. He died at Washington about ten years ago. J. T. Bullard, a son of Reverend Bullard, minister of the M. E. church in Lancaster. Miss Rachel Bullard was his sister. Mary Page was a descendant of Capt. David Page, one of the first settlers of the town. She married Thomas Shepherd Hall, and now lives in New York. Andalusia Gould was a Lancaster lady. Caroline Perry was a daughter of Rev. David Perry, at the time minister of the Congregational church in Lancaster. Mary Pinkham was a daughter of Elder Daniel Pinkham of Lancaster, now wife of Martin L. Burbank of Shelburne. J. H. Balch, a son of a Lancaster farmer, went to Louisiana as a teacher, and died there. E. W. Porter of Lancaster was many years with the fire department of Portland, Me. O. G. Stevenson, a brother of J. G., already mentioned, went to Ohio in 1854, and later to Marshall, Ill., where he still resides. Harriet Blanchard was a daughter of Hebar Blanchard of Lancaster ; was sec- ond wife of Edmund Brown, now deceased. B. F. Hunking of Lancaster, died a few years since. Albert Bradley Davis became an actor of note, and was for many years manager of McVicker's theatre in Chicago, Ill.
In 1862 the present academy building was erected at a cost of $2,350. Gilman Colby had the contract at that figure. The old building was sold for $70. A few years previous to this time a sum of $18,000 had been paid by the Atlantic & St. Lawrence railroad
C. Bean.
Melville, Officers.
Curtis, O. G. Stephenson. Clemons.
Moore,
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
in default of a contract to build its road through Lancaster. This sum of money, after repaying certain persons for their time and expenses they had been to in securing the promise of the road through the town, was at first invested in building the old Lancaster House. When the hotel was sold, the proceeds were turned over to the academy.
In its new building the academy has had a prosperous career up to within the last few years, when its patronage has been drawn from it through the improved condition of the public schools. In 1878 the academy observed its semi-centennial in an interesting manner. The former teachers, students, and officers assembled, and in speech, song, and banquet revived old memories and associations. Inter- esting speeches, too long to reproduce here, were made by Hon. B. F. Whidden, D. C. Pinkham, a former preceptor, Judge James W. Weeks, and Col. Henry O. Kent. These speeches were pub- lished in the Independent Gazette, June 12 and 19. They were full of reminiscences and anecdotes relating to the olden times of the academy.
In 1881 an arrangement was entered into between the trustees of the academy and the board of education of Union school dis- trict, No. I, by which the advanced pupils of that district might have the benefit of the instruction and graduation offered by the academy, by the payment of three and a third dollars per capita per term, the minimum sum of such tuition not to be less than two hun- dred and twenty-five dollars a year. This gave the students of both the same advantages on the same conditions with respect to scholar- ship. This contract was made for one year, with the understanding that it could be extended or annulled, as experience might warrant.
This arrangement has continued in force, with some modifica- tions, down to the present time. By a vote of Union district, No. I, at its annual meeting (adjourned session) May 29, 1895, the board of education was instructed to organize and maintain a high school. This action will necessarily terminate the relation between the two schools as here described.
The present board of trustees of the academy are Hon. James W. Weeks, president and treasurer; Hon. B. F. Whidden (deceased), Col. H. O. Kent, Geo. S. Stockwell, Edward Spaulding, Jared I. Williams, Hon. Everett Fletcher, Hon. Joseph D. Howe; Hon. E. Fletcher, acting secretary.
The preceptors have been Nathaniel Wilson, Walter P. Flanders, William H. Hadley, Moses Johnson, Ezra E. Adams, George Bars- tow, Harry Hibbard, Benjamin F. Whidden, John H. Wakefield, Elihu T. Rowe, Moses H. White, Thomas L. Wakefield, Daniel C. Pinkham, Truman Ricard, Samuel A. Lord, S. E. Cummings, Adino J. Burbank, David R. Lang, Daniel A. Bowe, Sylvester Marsh, Har-
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CATHOLIC CHURCH AND RECTORY.
ISADORE H. NOISSIEU.
METHODIST CHURCH.
UNITARIAN CHURCH.
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THE CHURCHES.
lan W. Page, William A. Odell, Lyman Walker, A. W. Tenney, O. C. Palmer, J. C. Irish, S. A. Jones, A. K. Whitcomb, Jonathan Smith, William W. Holman, William W. Morrill, G. C. Fisher, Rich- ard Sanborn, - Rolfe, J. W. Armington, W. A. Burbeck, Thos. Macomber, Isaac L. Rogers, F. B. Spaulding, and D. T. Timber- lake.
The legislature of 1897 passed an act authorizing the acceptance by Union school district of the academy property-conditioned for the maintenance of school buildings on the old academy site and the designation of "Lancaster Academy and High School" for both. The act was ratified and the Academy and High School are now merged as one.
CHAPTER X.
THE CHURCHES.
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH-THE UNITARIAN CHURCH-THE METH- ODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH-THE BAPTIST CHURCH-THE ROMAN CATHO- LIC CHURCH-THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH-OTHER SECTS THAT HAVE PREACHED IN LANCASTER.
HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. BY REV. GEO. H. TILTON, PASTOR.
It was customary a century ago in New England for each town to provide for the preaching. of the gospel within its own limits. The early settlers of Lancaster were strong men, who did their own thinking and had the courage of their convictions. It could not be expected that they would agree perfectly respecting the doctrines of religion. But as the town was new and the citizens few in number, they could sustain only one church, for which an appropriation was made at each annual town-meeting. For the first few years, however, the neighboring towns of Guildhall and Northumberland cooperated with Lancaster in paying the preacher's salary, and he gave them a proportionate share of his time. Although several ministers preached in these towns each for a brief period, we know little of their history except that they were paid largely in produce raised on the farms.
As early as 1786 the town of Lancaster voted " that thirty-two dollars be assessed to hire preaching the ensuing summer, and that Major Jonas Wilder, Edwards Bucknam, and Lieut. Emmons Stock- well be a committee to hire a minister." Money must have been scarce in those days, as we read that the Rev. Lathrop Thompson in 1787 preached six Sundays for five bushels of wheat per day. On the 18th of August, 1788, a meeting of the freeholders and other
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