USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 24
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poration of banks. There was a great demand for " more money," and the advocates of inflation sought to gain their end through the multiplication of these institutions. Mr. Goodall uniformly opposed granting such charters, and but once during his long legislative service did he deviate from this rule. For some un- known reason he cast his vote in favor of incorporating a bank at Walpole. Perhaps Guy Ely, Peter Bonney, or Ephraim Curtis, who had powerful friends in that town, persuaded him into a be- lief that the claims of Walpole constituted an exceptional case, and the public welfare was to be promoted by granting this charter.
It is somewhat surprising, in examining his political record, to find how little change the lapse of nearly a hundred years has wrought in the character of the questions affecting party interests which came before the legislature. In 1804 the proprietors of the " New Hampshire Gazette," a newspaper published at Ports- mouth, submitted a proposal to the legislature, offering to print the Laws and Journals of the House and Senate at a price forty- five per cent less than the sum the State was paying to a favored newspaper organ for that work. When the question came before the House, a motion was made that the proposition be accepted. This motion precipitated a political debate, and when the vote was taken our representative stood with his party against the sinister scheme of the Democratic-Republicans to cheapen the public print- ing. Among the more important political questions upon which he was called to act was the amendment to the Federal Constitu- tion providing that the candidates for President and Vice-Presi- dent should be separately voted for. A motion was made to postpone action on the measure to the next session of the legis- lature. He voted for postponement. The motion prevailed. This action was taken at the November session, 1803. At the June session the following year his party was in a minority, and when the question of adoption again came up it was approved by a decisive majority, Mr. Goodall voting with the Federalists in the negative. In 1805 he was chairman of a committee to con- sider amending or recasting the laws of the State in relation to the taxation of non-residents. This brief review covers but a small part of his legislative activities during the six consecutive years of his service, but it is sufficient to give a general idea of their character and his relations to the industrial and political legislation of that period.
During the session of 1809 his health was such as to debar him from taking an active part in the business of the House. When
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he returned, in 1815, after an absence of six years, he found but few of the associates of former years among the members. John Langdon, Samuel and John Bell, and George Sullivan, the leaders of the House during his early service, were absent from its de- liberations. They had been succeeded in the leadership by Thomas W. Thompson, Matthew Harvey, Henry Hubbard, John F. Parrott, Richard H. Ayer, and Benning M. Bean. The list is not large, but it contains the names of five persons who held seats in the United States Senate, four members of the national House of Rep- resentatives, and three Governors of the State. With some of these Mr. Goodall was perhaps not to be classed in intellectual ability or accomplishments, but in sound judgment and a knowl- edge of the needs of the people he was their equal, and with them occupied an important position in the House.
As showing the development of the committee system now em- ployed in the dispatch of the business of the legislature, it will be seen that the old was gradually giving way to a more systematic method. On the first day of the session it was voted, "That Messrs. Goodall, Prescott, and Sawyer, with such as the Senate may join, be a committee to take into consideration the petition of Boswell Stevens and others, praying to be incorporated into a religious society, and all petitions for the incorporation of religious societies which may be presented the present session ; and that they report on said petitions." He was also a member of a joint standing committee, of which Mr. Parrott was chairman, on "all petitions and memorials which may relate to the Judicial depart- ment." Similar standing committees were created on change of names, printers' accounts, and the accounts of sheriffs, but the larger share of the business was referred as formerly. There are no published reports of the debates in existence covering his term of service, but it is known that it was not the practice of Mr. Goodall to engage in the general discussion of questions pending before the House. He spoke frequently in defence of reports emanating from the various committees on which he served, and on such occasions his remarks were brief and to the point. It is a tradition that he engaged in the discussion of the question as to the power of the Legislature, under the Constitution, to authorize private corporations to take land without purchase. He held the view that such legislation was unconstitutional, and contended that even if it were not, it was both unjust and unwise to undertake, through the arm of the law, to deprive a person of his property without his consent. With the termination of the session his legislative career ended, and his party passed from power. Dur-
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ing the years that remained to him, he did not attempt to conceal the disappointment he felt over the fact that a perverse people had departed from the paths of political righteousness.
That his intellectual qualities and force of character were fully appreciated by his fellow-citizens there can be no doubt. But the attribute which most endeared him to the people was of the heart rather than of the head. His charity was limited only by the amount of his income. He was not wealthy, but industry and prudence were personal characteristics which brought the inevi- table reward, and when he retired from active life, and had made provision for his own and wife's maintenance, he reserved the remainder of his possessions, and devoted the entire income to alleviating the distressed and in sending the Gospel of the Master into unfrequented regions. For many years he gave for benevo- lent and religious purposes a larger sum than any other person in the county. He was the counsellor of the unfortunate, the friend of the poor, and an exemplar to all as a citizen, a public servant, and a Christian.
His personal appearance was striking. He hardly reached mid- dle height, was broad-shouldered and deep-chested. His head was large and square ; his features somewhat irregular, but strong and in keeping with his character; his eyes were gray and penetrating, and surmounted by heavy, shaggy brows. His movements were slow and deliberate ; his deportment courteous and kindly. His honesty was an aggressive quality ; he knew his rights and was insistent in their maintenance. This characteristic was so strong that it sometimes led his unthinking associates to believe him wanting in the crowning quality of the Christian character, for- giveness of an injury.
Many incidents and anecdotes connected with his history still survive, but they are calculated to mislead rather than to enable us to form a correct impression of his character, and while they might give an idea of the abounding fondness of his sons for play- ing practical jokes, it is deemed best that they be omitted from this record.
He survived until the spring of 1830, preaching occasionally, but much of his time was given to charitable work and his duties as a magistrate. His life was eventful, cast in a heroic age ; he played his part well and died lamented.
The elections held during the remainder of this decade pos- sessed no salient features. The relative strength of political par- ties remained the same during the period, with the exception of the closing year. The largest Federal vote was 120, cast in 1816 ;
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the smallest, none for governor, and 66 for county officers in 1820. The highest vote cast by the Democratic-Republican party, excepting that of 1820, was 37 in 1816, and for governor, 104 in 1820, while its vote for county officers at the same election was but 40. Its average strength in these years was less than 30. The close of the war inaugurated what has since been termed " the era of good feeling." In State and nation political feeling was dormant, and in many sections it had ceased to exist. The Federal party was in its decadence, but nowhere, probably, did it manifest more vitality than in Littleton. Here its strength, down to 1820, was as four to one, but its vigor was more apparent than real, owing to the strength and character of the leaders who gave to it a share of their strong personality. Such a condition could not be long maintained, and the end was one of utter collapse. Not a vote was cast by this party for governor in 1820, and thereafter its former membership acted on personal rather than political grounds, until the disintegrating elements were united in the Whig organ- ization in 1828.
As representatives to the General Court, Guy Ely followed Dea- con Rankin, and continued to be re-elected, with the exception of 1815, until 1819, when William Brackett was chosen for that and the following year.
Mr. Ely was a strong partisan, a man of fine intelligence, ear- nest in every cause that engaged his attention. He served in the legislature during five terms, in which he stanchly stood by his party on every question that bore its label. The town had never accepted the privilege extended by the laws of the State for the maintenance of religious worship, but had on the other hand reso- lutely opposed every attempt that had been made looking to such action. Yet Mr. Ely was a vigorous and persistent opponent of the Toleration Act. It is evident that his action on this question was not governed entirely by party considerations, as the tendency of public opinion at the time was such that it was very clear that his personal and party interests were to be served by giving his vote for this important measure. Possibly he failed to interpret correctly the handwriting on the wall, but it is more probable that he preferred to stand by his convictions than to yield to the de- mands of expediency. His action on this measure was not in accord with the known sentiment of the people, and was an im- portant factor in terminating his legislative career. His successor, William Brackett, entertained the same views, and when the Tol- eration bill came down from the Senate he voted against it on all stages of its progress through the House.
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XVII.
ANNALS. 1810-1820.
T "HE manufacturing industries of the town continued to be of the most primitive character during the first half-century of its history. Such as existed during the decade from 1810 to 1820 were developed through a process of evolution. The old grist-mill at Rankin's had given way to a better, and the saw-mill had been enlarged and otherwise improved to such an extent that David Rankin had become a manufacturer of lumber instead of a mere sawyer of custom work. A new mill, large for the time, had been built at South Littleton by Michael Fitzgerald for Moses Little. This, too, was designed to manufacture for the market rather than for local business.
In each section of the town towered the stately white pine. These grew in clusters of from four or five to many times that number on nearly every lot in the township. On meadow and mountain side their green tassels waved high in air above their neighbors of the forest. In the early years when the business of the settlers was almost wholly agricultural, these magnificent trees were deemed cumberers of the ground, and many were girdled, and when decay had wrought its perfect work, the skeleton was given to the flames, and soon the soil that had fed and maintained the giant was sending forth corn in its season or giving pasturage to the flocks of the pioneer. This timber soon became sufficiently valuable to repay the farmer for cutting and delivering it on the banks of the Connecticut River. The manufacturers who operated mills at the fall below Hanover and at Walpole began to purchase or bond the standing trees to be cut at such time as they desired to place the product on the market. Mills Olcutt, of Hanover, and John Bellows, of Walpole, were among those who were heavy purchasers of pine in this and other towns in the valley. The mills at Rankin's Brook and on the Ammonoosuc cut the huge logs into twelve or sixteen feet lengths, and these were sawed into plank or boards, many being three or four feet in width. This product was carted to the landing below the present village of Woodsville, from whence it was rafted with the current to markets
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in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The mill proprietor was satis- fied when he received eight dollars per thousand feet for his lumber delivered at the landing, and when the price reached ten dollars, as sometimes happened, the tide of prosperity was at the flood. Some of the pines growing near the river bore the sign manual which indicated that they had been reserved by some one in au- thority 1 to mast the battle ships of the royal navy. But Fate had decreed that they should float the flag of the infant republic and contest with the Cross of St. George for the supremacy of the western seas. The best of these marked trees were floated to the numerous shipyards on the lower Connecticut and on the Sound, and were used for masts for merchantmen and privateers in the War of 1812-15. Had the manufacturers of those days been gifted with a glimpse into the future, it is probable that much of this timber would have been reserved to swell the revenues of their heirs.
A new industry at this period was that of distilling potato whiskey. Stills were owned in several sections of the town, and for some years did a profitable business. The product was crude and biting. An old gentleman, who may be accepted as an au- thority on this point, once remarked that a man had better walk to Bath and pay a threepence for a drink of New England rum than to accept a glass of the distilled juice of the potato as a gift at his own fireside. Nevertheless there seems to have been a de- mand for this liquor until about 1830, when the last still in this town was abandoned. This was the joint property of two brothers, enterprising and useful citizens, one of whom worthily wore the title of a church deacon and the other that of colonel of militia.
An industry that for the first time assumed the proportions of a manufacturing enterprise in 1811, was potash making. The early settlers gathered the ashes from the ground which had been burned over for clearing purposes, leached and boiled the lye until it formed a crude black salt. This they transported in winter to the nearest market, where it was exchanged for what may justly be termed the luxuries of pioneer life, -a few groceries such as spices and tea, and tools which were to be used in adding a finish to rude furniture, buildings, and agricultural implements. The margin of profit between the crude and refined salt was consider- able; and this fact led Roby, Curtis, & Co., in 1811, to erect a building for making the refined salts. The factory was built on the site of the carriage shop of N. W. Ranlet & Son. It was a large building. The upper portion was used for the storage of
1 Probably Coleman, Deputy Surveyor of the Province.
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ashes, and from it huge leaches extended to the floor below, where two kettles, each capable of holding several barrels of lye, were ready for the liquor. It was also furnished with refining vats. The building ceased to be used for this purpose early in the thir- ties, and was left to that slow process of decay which distinguished the substantial structures of those days, with their immense tim- bers of pine, from the more fragile wooden buildings of the present time. For thirty years it was unused save as a hiding-place for boys, but when it was torn down to give place to a living industry, its frame timbers were as sound as when first put in place.
The north end was losing its prominence as a business centre. The failure and departure of Samuel Learned,1 Jr., was a blow from which the settlement never entirely recovered. In 1811 the young lawyer, Joseph E. Dow, who had, in 1807, opened a law office in the dwelling which then stood upon the G. W. Fuller place, failed to build up a remunerative practice, and seeking a more promising field for his professional activity, located at Franconia, then the scene of great activity. The building of the blast furnace for the manufacture of pig-iron and the erection of the foundry had given that town a business impetus which promised, beyond any other in this section of the State, a rapid and continuing growth of pros- perity. That the promise of success, both to the young lawyer and the town, were not to end in full fruition, is a matter of history.
The life of Mr. Dow has been briefly sketched by the graphic pen of Hon. A. S. Batchellor.2 His connection with the town was brief, covering a period of only four years. He was graduated from Dartmouth, and was a useful citizen, serving his associates worthily as moderator of their town meetings and as a member of the Board of School Inspectors, - an office then new to our laws, the duties of which were analogous to those discharged by the superintending committees of a more recent date. His law prac- tice was not large nor important in character, and was principally confined to conveyancing and the discharge of magisterial duties. In fact the Littleton of those years was not a promising field for an inexperienced lawyer. There were few litigants then resident in town, and these were accustomed to employ such able prac- titioners as Alden Sprague of Haverhill and Moses P. Payson and James I. Swan of Bath, and to these their business continued to be intrusted until the advent of Henry A. Bellows, ten years after the close of this period.
1 The orthography of this name has been given without the "e," but an exam- ination of an original signature gives it as "Leonard."
2 See Proceedings of the Grafton and Coos Counties Bar Association, vol. ii. p. 416.
JOSEPH EMERSON DOW. First Resident Lawyer
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Mr. Dow remained at Franconia until 1830, when he removed to Thornton, where he resided until 1847, at which time he re- turned to Franconia. In each of these places of residence his legal knowledge and clerical ability rendered him useful to his fellow-citizens in both a public and private capacity. While at Franconia he held the position of Selectman eight years and that of Town Clerk for the same length of time. At Thornton he served as clerk and as postmaster. It is not probable that he sought any of these offices, but that the public, recognizing his manifest qualifications to fill them with ability, called him into their ser- vice. He sprang from a distinguished lineage. His father was General Moses Dow, of Haverhill, who was in the service of the people during nearly all the years of his mature life, and his mother, Phebe (Emerson) Dow, was a woman of great native re- finement and ability. The father once declined an election to Congress tendered him by the General Court. It would seem that from his parents Mr. Dow inherited some of the most pronounced traits of his character. He was a refined, scholarly, unambitious man, wanting in the practical qualities, and possibly also in the desires, which lead to the accumulation of wealth or the possession of political honors. Tried by the judgment of this strenuous age, the verdict as to the achievements of his life would be that it was a failure. And such it undoubtedly was, if the value of life is to be determined by the acquisition of worldly possessions, for this man felt the pinch of want and perhaps the bitterness of the real- ization of wasted opportunities by which poverty might have been averted. But his mental and moral traits were such that he could never have felt the pangs of envy or known the corroding influ- ences of avarice. His journey from early manhood to age was serene and uneventful, and was passed in the discharge of innu- merable acts of kindness and the performance of humble but use- ful public duties. Were the moralist to cast the account and ascertain the balance of joy and sorrow, success and failure, hope and fruition, benefits conferred and benefits received, unselfish de- votion to the public welfare, or greed of self-interest which go to fill the measure of every life, it is likely that the verdict in regard to Joseph Emerson Dow would be reversed and his life pronounced an unqualified success.
Mr. Dow married Abigail, daughter of Hon. Jonathan Arnold, a member of the Continental Congress from Rhode Island, and a sister of Governor Arnold of that State. They had five children, four sons and a daughter, one of whom, Moses Arnold Dow, achieved distinction as a publisher and won a measure of worldly
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success denied his father. Joseph E. Dow died at Franconia in 1857.
The departure of Mr. Dow was soon followed by the advent of Elisha Hinds, a young lawyer who settled at Ammonoosuc village. He was a graduate of Williams, read law with Christopher Gore, the legal preceptor of Daniel Webster, and located here in 1813. The following year he married Susannah Learned, daughter of Samuel Learned, Jr., and granddaughter of Capt. Nathan Caswell. Soon after the marriage he built the house on the south side of the river now owned and occupied by Otis G. Hale. Here, too, he opened the first law office in the village, and a few years later the first village post-office was established within its walls. This building, still standing, though somewhat changed, is the best pre- served relic of those early days still in existence.
As early as 1805 William Brackett had purchased the farm on the meadows now owned by Frank McIntire, and built the house on the west side of the highway, which is still standing and occu- pied as a dwelling. On the opposite side of the road he erected a large and quite imposing store. This was a building of two stories, and, like the house, was painted red. Generally the build- ings of that period were unpainted, and were left in their natural color, - a cold gray which time toned, variegated, and softened into shades which are now much affected for country houses. The old store was abandoned for purposes of trade before 1840, and was some years after razed to the ground. Mr. Brackett successfully competed with Roby, Curtis, & Co. for a share of the trade of this and surrounding towns. He began his commercial career as a clerk under Major Curtis, in the old red store, and soon evinced a genius for traffic, combining the sagacity which accurately fore- casts the developments of the future with a mastery of the details of the complicated business system then prevalent with its long credits, its stringency of cash, and a necessity of knowing the value in a remote market of the products of the farm which he was ultimately to accept in payment for his merchandise.
There is little in common between the methods of conducting a mercantile business now and then. In those years the principal market for the purchase of goods was at Portland, though Ports- mouth, Newburyport, and Boston were sometimes preferred. For many years the tradesman made an annual visit to market for the purchase of his stock. He received from the city merchant the same accommodation by the way of credit which he extended to his own customers, usually giving notes payable at such time, within a year, as was mutually agreeable.
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The trip to market was generally made in early winter or as soon as good sleighing was assured. The time was not a mat- ter of personal convenience or choice, but of business necessity. Freighting was almost wholly confined to the winter months, as the highways were so ill constructed and poorly kept that a paying freight could not be transported over them. It was the custom then, and for many subsequent years, for the prosperous farmer to make at least one journey to market on his own account, with a span of horses hitchied to the double sleigh, that is still remem- bered by elderly people. This sleigh had long runners, a box- like body some two feet in height, a floor that extended beyond the tail-board a sufficient distance to furnish a standing-place for the driver. It was painted a Venetian red, and was loaded with a year's surplus product of beef, pork, grass-seed, pearlash, and not infrequently a supply of potato whiskey, with oats for the horses and bean-porridge for the driver. The outfit was then commonly called a " pod-team." A cavalcade was formed of neighbors who were to make the journey, and the trip to market was underway. Before proceeding far it was joined by travellers from other towns, and frequently more than a hundred teams composed the caravan. As it glided over the crisp snow, winding through forest and clear- ing, over hill and through valley, the long line of red sleighs pre- sented a picturesque scene contrasting vividly with the towering banks of virgin snow which lined the narrow track worn by the sleighs.
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