USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 28
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" A short distance from Littleton, the road passes over a considerable rise,1 and here I had a most delightful view of the mountains; better by far than at Crawford's, and the best but one which is in Vermont. There had been a considerable snow, but the day seemed warm at Little- ton, and the snow melting off from the houses, I set off without thought, with my common dress and a thin cloak ; no one told me better and I came near being frozen. I felt the difference of climate sensibly very shortly after leaving Littleton, which increased to a degree of intensity before I arrived at Crawford's. The snow, also, became deeper - be- tween three and four feet. Mr. Crawford informed me the snow had fell about three days previous, and having been no wind at the time, it was still resting on the evergreens and presented the most magnificent scenery in nature. For more than half way, the country is uninter- rupted by farms, and is one dark, impenetrable forest of spruce, inter- mixed with hemlock and fir. On these trees the snow represented every figure to be found in art or nature.
" After a while it cleared away, and accompanied by the elder Mr. Crawford in another sleigh, after putting on a cloth coat of Mr. Craw- ford's, I returned to Littleton. As usual at places of public resort, there is a book kept at Crawford's in which most of the visitors write their names, and anything ' the've mind to.' I merely wrote my name, and referred to the Black Book for the rest.
" I had a very pleasant ride to Littleton, being amused the whole way by the humor and ludicrous jokes of the driver and Mr. Crawford, the former calling the latter his boy, and ordering him to keep behind ; the wind, however, had destroyed and put to flight the whole of my snowy kingdom of beasts, birds, etc., etc.
" Littleton appears to be in another world after coming from the region of the snowy mountains. It is a delightful spot on the Ammo- noosuck River, which runs through it, and is also bounded by the Con- necticut. It stands in the richest scenery. It has a social library, a post-office, tavern, a store, and is the residence of several professional men ; and, though a small population, it contains some of the choice spirits. In my haste to visit the White Mountains, I never stopped to look at Littleton."
1 Bethlehem Street.
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History of Littleton.
In the early days of our history, the destruction of buildings by fire was a frequent occurrence. The huge fireplace, the rude chim- ney and buildings of wood, many of them unplastered, rendered them an easy prey to the flames. The only appliances for extin- guishing fire were buckets, which were often passed through a long line of excited men, women, and children, reaching from a stream to the burning building ; and when it reached its destination but a small part of the water which started remained. Under such cir- cumstances a fire once started ended in the destruction of the building. If the record were complete, it would probably show that fire had at some time destroyed at least one building on nearly every farm in town. Those on the Ammonoosuc meadows seem to have been the most successful in escaping the elements.
The first schoolhouse in the village, at the corner of Pleasant and Cross Streets, was burned about 1835. The origin of the fire was a mystery, and gave occasion to much conjecture. A party of Indians were encamped near the village at the time, and many thought they had set the fire in retaliation for some real or fancied wrong. Capt. James Dow, on viewing the smouldering ruins, re- marked with an air of great wisdom, that "everything indicated that it was the work of the natives. Things looked very much like the work the Indians did on the frontier during the War of 1812;" and this statement was accepted as a solution of the mat- ter. The old Wheeler Tavern stand on the G. W. Richardson farm, then owned by Samuel F. Hammond, was burned in 1817. In 1823 five of the farm buildings of James Fletcher on the John Lyster place, and the log cabin of John Hunter on Mt. Misery, were destroyed by fire. At the Fletcher house the women placed a lot of flax in front of the fireplace to dry. A whiff of wind blew some of its strands into the blaze, and the house was so soon enveloped in flame that the family made their escape with only such wearing apparel as they carried on their persons. All their household effects were lost. In 1826 the buildings of Obedialı Carpenter, in the same neighborhood, were burned.
Enoch Hazeltine built in 1828 a chair factory just above the grist-mill. It was not fully completed and in operation until the last months of 1829, and in the winter following an over-heated stove set the mill on fire, and it was consumed. In the attempt to extinguish this fire and save the stock, Mrs. John Bowman and Mrs. Aaron Brackett are said to have done the most efficient work. They were self-possessed, vigilant, and energetic beyond others, and saved a considerable amount of finished stock.
Two fires that occurred - one in 1836, the other the following
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year-are memorable on account of the melancholy loss of life which resulted. In 1830 Levi Sanborn and his son, David Page Sanborn, built a small wooden house on the lot where the house of Cyrus Young now stands. In 1836 they sold to John Farr, Esq., who was making extensive alterations and repairs, and before these were finished the building, on the night of the 16th of December, was consumed by fire, and his young daughter, Caroline Ely, perished in the flames. Mr. Farr soon built on the lot the brick house still in existence. The catastrophe of 1837 was the destruc- tion of the buildings of Oliver P. Day on the farm next east of the Taylor Morse place. This tragedy occurred in May. Mr. Day was at work in the field, and Mrs. Day went on an errand to a neighbor, leaving two young children in the house. She was absent but a short time, and on her return, as she came in sight of her home, was horrified to see flames leaping from the windows. It was impossible to rescue the children, so completely was the house wrapped in flame when she reached the scene of the holocaust. This disaster was caused by a brush fire in a field some distance from the dwelling. An unseen trail of fire had run in the dry grass and communicated its fatal flame to the house.
The most important business event of these years, and perhaps in that of the history of the town, was the building by a stock company of the woollen factory. The project had been agitated for some years, when in 1839 Truman Stevens, Henry A. Bellows, Cyrus Eastman, Capt. Isaac Abbott, and others entered upon the work, and by the close of the year had the building finished and two sets of machinery in operation early in 1840. This event, so propitious for the town, was financially disastrous to many who invested in the enterprise, but its history belongs to another time.
The period was one of transition. The establishment of stage lines, post-offices, the building of roads, and the use of carriages put the people within easy reach of each other, and largely in- creased intercommunication. The result was a marked change in many ways from the provincial life of the people in the interior and border towns. Old barriers were down, and something of the fashions and habits of the dwellers in the seaboard cities began to prevail in this remote section. In the twenties but little of this transformation was visible. The food, clothing, furniture, and amusements of the people were those of a muchli earlier time. There were few or no distinctions among the people other than those which character and worth must always establish in a democ- racy. Thus we find recorded in the report of the transactions of an agricultural fair held at Lancaster in October, 1822, the fact
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History of Littleton.
that " Widow Persis Everett received a premium of three dollars for the best piece of fulled cloth," and " Major John W. Weeks one of five dollars for the best suit of clothes of domestic manufacture worn." Mrs. Everett was the widow of Judge Everett,1 and Major Weeks was the most popular and influential citizen and politician in the northern part of the State. Here were two persons of the highest respectability and prominence in the county, the woman exhibiting as of her own handiwork not what purported to be a bit of art or fancy work, but a piece of fulled cloth, " all wool and a yard wide," which she had spun and woven on the old hand loom, and the man presenting for examination on his person a suit of clothes which was doubtless the product of his own meadow farm. There had been grown the wool, there it had been spun, woven, dyed, cut, and made into the suit which received the premium at the fair. Surely the contrast between the days of old and the present is great, and this incident illustrates one of the most pronounced phases.
What was true of Lancaster at that time was also true of all the towns in this north country. Soon after, varying perhaps a few years according to the progress and wealth of the community, the change from the primitive conditions had so far advanced in the thirties as to be apparent to the most casual observer. The itin- erant tailors and shoemakers were then seldom seen on their annual rounds from house to house, and their successors, the " merchant tailor " and " customs shoemaker," were opening shops for the manufacture of stylish suits and foot wear in nearly every village. The hatter soon followed, and before 1840 a revo- lution in the production of wearing apparel had been wrought, and while many families still practised the old methods, the bulk of men's wear was manufactured in village shops instead of beside the kitchen fire. In our village Elijah Sabine Woolson in 1832 set up a tailoring establishment, where Mr. Choate is now in trade. The first shoe-shop was that of Webster B. Merrill, and stood where now is Thayer's Hotel croquet ground. About the same time Prescott White built a hatter's shop on the site of the Cottage Hotel, and a dwelling, which he. sold to the late Marquis L. Goold, and which was for many years the residence of that gentleman. Jeremialı Young succeeded to the business of Mr. White about 1837.
Union Street had been built before, and two or three dwellings erected there. The building of the woollen factory also caused quite an addition to the residential portion of the village at this time. In 1837 Harriet Martineau, while on a visit to this country,
1 She was the grandmother of Col. Edward E. Cross.
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came to the White Mountains by the way of Conway and returned through the Connecticut valley. In an account of the trip1 she has given a pleasing pen picture of incidents and persons which is reproduced. She journeyed by stage with several companions. She writes : -
" We passed the town of Bethlehem, consisting, as far as we could see, of one house and two barns. It was no more than six o'clock when we reached Littleton ; so, when we had chosen our rooms, out of a number equally tempting from their cleanliness and air of comfort, we walked out to see what the place looked like. Our attention was caught by the endeavours of a woman to milk a restless cow, and we inadvertently stood still to see how she would manage. When she at last succeeded in making the animal stand, she offered us milk. We never refused kindness which might lead to acquaintanceship ; so we accepted her offer and followed her guidance into her house, to obtain a basin to drink out of. It was a good interior. Two pretty girls, nicely dressed, sat, during the dusk, by a blazing fire. Their talkative father 2 was delighted to get hold of some new listeners. He sat down upon the side of the bed, as if in preparation for a long chat, and entered at large into the history of his affairs. He told us how he went down to Boston to take service, and got money enough to settle himself inde- pendently in this place ; and how much better he liked having a house of his own than working for any amount of money in a less independent way. He told us how Littleton flourishes by the lumber trade, wood being cut from the hills around, and sent floating down the stream for [twenty] five miles, till it reaches the Connecticut, with whose current it proceeds to Hartford. Twenty years ago there was one store and a tavern in the place ; now it is a wide-spreading village on the side of a large hill, which is stripped of its forest. The woods on the other bank of the river are yet untouched. Scarcely a field is to be seen under til- lage, and the axe seems almost the only tool in use.
" We were admirably cared for at Gibb's house at Littleton, and we enjoyed our comforts exceedingly. It appeared that good manners are much regarded in the house, some of the family being as anxious to teach them to strangers as to practise them themselves. In the morn- ing one of my American friends and I, being disposed to take our breakfast at convenient leisure, sat down to table when all was ready, our companions (who could make more haste) not having appeared. A young lady 3 stood at the side table to administer the steaming coffee and tea. After waiting sometime my companion modestly observed, - " ' I should like a cup of coffee, if you please.'
1 See " Retrospect of Western Travel," by Harriet Martineau, vol. ii. pp. 87-93.
2 John Palmer; and his house was that lately owned and occupied by Albro Rob- inson on Union Street, and now by Noble Donaghy.
3 Jane Gibb.
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History of Littleton.
" There was no appearance of the observation having taken effect, so my friend spoke again : -
" ' Will you be so good as to give me a cup of coffee ?'
" No answer. After a third appeal, the young lady burst out with,
"'Never saw such manners : To sit down to table before the other folks come.'
" I hope she was pacified by seeing that our friends, when they at length appeared, did not resent our not having waited for them."
The late Richard P. Kent of Lancaster left in manuscript an account of the appearance of the village as he saw it in June, 1825. He had been employed in a store in Lisbon for a year, and was on his way at the time to engage as a clerk in the store of Royal Joyslin, at Lancaster. The journey was made in a stage, "a two- horse wagon, without springs or baggage rack ; the driver, that old veteran, Elijah Pingree; the weather clear and intensely hot. Our first stop was at Littleton village, then a place of about a dozen houses, some mills, and one store, the latter kept by Major Aaron Brackett,1 the only tavern, the old two-story house near the bridge crossing the Ammonoosuc, so long occupied as a public house and afterwards as a private residence by Mr. John Bow- man. We took dinner at the old Williams tavern at North Littleton."
In the early days marriages were sometimes jovial affairs, attended by the friends of the principals from far and near. Such incidents were an exception. As a rule they were conducted with a simplicity in harmony with the surroundings as well as the char- acter of the early settlers of the town. Church weddings were unknown until within a recent period. The old meeting-house was used as a place of public religious worship for a score of years, but a marriage ceremony was never celebrated within its walls. The ceremony was usually regarded as a personal affair, and the contracting parties visited the parson, or a justice of the peace, unattended, and the nuptial knot was quietly tied according to the formulary prescribed in the "Justice and Sheriff." Sometimes the occasion was more ceremonious, and the clergyman and friends were then bidden to the home of the bride, where rites were per- formed without deviation from the usual form. A double wedding, notable in our annals, was celebrated at the old Curtis mansion, but recently moved from its ancient foundations to make way for
1 The firm had about this time succeeded Ephraim Curtis, and consisted of Wil- liam, Cephas, and Aaron Brackett, brothers. Cephas never resided in this town, but was often a co-partner with his brothers in their business enterprises.
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Annals.
the Kilburn Block. The contracting parties were George Wash- ington Ely and Miss Mary Sprague Redington, Richard Peabody Kent of Lancaster and Miss Emily Mann Oakes of this town. The event took place on the 5th of June, 1832. The Rev. Drury Fairbank was the officiating clergyman ; Mrs. Henry Oakes, the hostess; and the guests were Edmund Burke, Henry A. and William J. Bellows, Miss Eliza Bellows, George and Henry C. Redington, Miss Caroline W. Ely, Lewis Mann, John C. and A. Kent, and Charles B. Allen, then but a lad. Surely Fortuna smiled upon all this group, except the two young ladies who were numbered among the guests. The bridegrooms, then on the threshold of their ca- reers, became widely known as successful business men, respected by all. They lived long and useful lives, and were each blessed with children who trod in their footsteps and honored their names : Edmund Burke early achieved a national reputation as a journalist, publicist, and lawyer ; Henry A. Bellows rose to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; William J. Bellows was a successful member of the Bar, and now is the Nestor of the business men of the town; the Redington brothers were long identified with the business interests of the town, and added much to its prosperity.
It is singular that it should have been the fortune of the young ladies present soon to end their lives under well-nigh tragic circum- stances. Miss Ely married the following September Samuel W. Burkley, son of the Elder, who was a merchant doing business in Livingstone County, Kentucky, whither he took his bride. The summer of 1833 is memorable on account of the cholera epidemic which swept over the Southern States. It reached the home of the Burkleys in its devastating course, and on the 17th of June the young wife perished, and the succeeding day the husband followed her to their final abode. Miss Bellows became the bride of Calvin Ainsworth, Jr., in June, 1836, and the following Febru- ary terminated her earthly journey. The contrasts of life are many, but it is seldom tliat it has been reserved to a small number of friends who chanced to assemble under such circumstances, to illustrate so strongly the lights and shadows of life.
The men who established the religious, educational, and business interests of the town, grown aged and their work finished, were, one by one, gathered to their fathers. James Williams died in 1822, Douglas Robins in 1824, Ephraim Curtis in 1825, Joseph Hatch, the pioneer, in January, 1830, Rev. David Goodall in March of that year, Ebenezer Pingree in 1833, Peter Bonney and Moses Carter in 1836, and Jonas Lewis in 1837. This list includes the
VOL. I .- 19
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first postmaster, the first village merchant,1 the first resident minister, and the first tanner ; while Douglas Robins, Joseph Hatch, and Moses Carter, all pioneers, left a numerous progeny, and descendants of theirs continue to be numbered among our citizens.
1 Timothy Kitteridge was in trade at the village for two or three years. His stock was small, and he did not make a success of his venture. Mr. Curtis is fairly entitled to the credit of having been the first merchant, as the term was then used as distinguished from shopkeeper,
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Political Annals.
XIX. POLITICAL ANNALS. 1820-1840.
T 'HE calm which characterized the politics of the nation during the years immediately following the close of the War of 1812 continued without a ruffle until near the end of Monroe's second administration. The presidential election of 1824 devel- oped the first disturbing elements in a long series of events which engendered lasting animosities, reconstructed parties, and gave birth to political issues which were to endure for a generation. The controversy between the friends of Adams, Jackson, Clay, and Crawford did not at first awaken much interest in this town. When, however, in the course of events these personal interests were mingled with other events affecting the local welfare, the people began to take part in the contest, and when the campaign of 1828 was fairly under way, party lines were once more formed and have remained in order of battle, under many captains and various names, contending now for one cause and again for another, with interest and zeal sometimes verging on passion, from that day to the present.
Originally the contest between Adams and Jackson was largely personal. They belonged to the same party, professed the same principles, and their following differed in no essential particulars so far as their declared purposes were concerned. But this har- mony was more apparent than real. Beneath the surface was a deep-seated divergence which required but a slight force to develop into fierce conflict. As the contest of 1828 drew near, these dif- ferences were brought out in many ways. Personal ambitions, sectional interests, ancient party traditions, and hero worship each contributed its share in the work of party disintegration. But there were other and fundamental causes which were the principal agencies in bringing about a new order of things. Adams repre- sented the culture, wealth, conservatism, and dormant Federalism of the East. Jackson sprang from a people inured to hardship and poverty, and his life had been passed among the rude pioneers
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of the Southwest, who valued, above all else, personal liberty and equality, and who to a certain degree resented the restraints im- posed by law. While there were no organic differences among the people of the country in respect to their devotion to its institutions, it was impossible that they should not be influenced by their environ- ment. Accordingly, with rare exceptions, the old Federalists were found among the most vigorous supporters of Adams, while the Jeffersonians of earlier days were equally zealous friends of Jack- son. Environment, too, was largely instrumental in determining the attitude of the people in respect to the extension of the charter of the national bank, the tariff, internal improvements, and minor issues which then engaged the attention of the country. Changed industrial and commercial conditions wrought startling political transformations in different sections of the country. Thus Massa- chusetts, while her interests were largely involved in the commerce of the seas, was a low-tariff or free-trade State, and regarded a protective tariff as inimical to her interests for the reason that it imposed restraints upon her shipping. When, however, she had become a manufacturing commonwealth as early as 1830, her atti- tude at once changed and the dominant sentiment favored high protection. At the same time the people of South Carolina reversed their former position in reference to this feature of national politics, and under the leadership of Calhoun pronounced in favor of free-trade.
In the State, as in the nation, the period preceding the close of the administration of the second Adams was devoid of pronounced differences of opinion among the masses concerning principles of government. The " era of good feeling " had resulted in bringing personal politics to the front, and faction soon became the only quickening element in State politics. It had long been the prac- tice of members of the Legislature at their June session to meet in caucus and place in nomination a candidate for governor to be voted for at the annual election in March following. As might be expected, the action of the caucus seldom gave entire satisfaction to the various elements of the party, but as a rule, the discontent resulted in no more serious trouble than the publication in the newspapers of a series of letters protesting, for many reasons, against the action of the majority. The elections in 1820, 1821, and 1822 were nearly unanimous ratifications of the action of the legislative caucus, its candidate, Samuel Bell, receiving nearly all the votes cast for governor, something more than 22,000, while the small number of votes for other persons might well be classed as scattering. The legislative candidate of 1823 was
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Political Annals.
Samuel Dinsmore, and the disaffected element was unusually large and mainly confined to the counties of Rockingham and Strafford. The protestants against the action of the legislative caucus were actuated more by a spirit of rebellion against the system than by any objection to the character or qualifications of the candidate. Through the machinery of councillor, senatorial and county con- ventions, Levi Woodbury was placed in nomination to contest with Dinsmore for the governorship. The contest was acrimoni- ous in the extreme and brought out a large vote, increasing the total of previous years by six thousand. Woodbury was elected, receiving large majorities in the disaffected counties, while the counties of Grafton and Coos remained true to the rule of regu- larity and gave the bulk of their votes to Dinsmore. The fol- lowing year the contest was renewed with David L. Morril as the regular, or legislative candidate. The regulars were this time successful.
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