USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 30
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1 This custom was continued in town till 1837, when some citizen, with what seems to be inexplicable rudeness, moved, just at the point in the proceedings when Rev. Drury Fairbank was about to offer the usual opening prayer, that this cere- mony be omitted. The vote prevailed, and the custom has never been revived in this town.
Mrs. ELISHA HINES.
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regard for the requirements of parliamentary and statute law, with decency and in order.
Elisha Hinds was esteemed a good lawyer by his contemporaries, and an excellent business man. He had quite an extensive prac- tice, confined largely to office work. It was at that time a custom much observed, for village lawyers, when a case came on for trial, to employ some one of the distinguished advocates who rode from court to court for that purpose, to argue the case to the jury while they put in the evidence. Mr. Hinds was one of this numerous class of practitioners, and for this reason never became a graceful or fluent speaker.
In the trial of his cases he made the opening statement and presented the evidence. In this he was precise, methodical, and clear. He was a very laborious man, committing all his transac- tions to writing in the minutest detail.1 He was a safe counsellor, and his advice was much sought, not only by his fellow-citizens in this town, but by business men from far and near. He had ac- cumulated a considerable property, but trusting to the fact that there had been a constant advance in the value of real estate, he invested all his available resources in that class of property, and borrowed funds for still larger purchases, and by 1830 had become "land poor." The result was disastrous. He was compelled finally to part with his holdings on a falling market, and, while not impov- erished, he felt that he had forfeited the respect of the community for judgment as a sound business man and safe adviser, and in 1832 removed to Hinsdale, where he took the practice of his brother Abraham, then recently deceased.2 He remained there but a short time, and wishing better facilities for the education of his children, he, after several removals, made his home at Amherst, Mass., and subsequently at Troy and Brooklyn, N. Y. His re- moval was generally regarded as a great loss to the community. Most of the lands on the south side of the river were at that time either owned by him, or under his control as executor of the estate
1 The record of the births of his children is entered on the town books with the most minute statement of the time of day at which the event transpired.
2 One important factor in Mr. Hinds's financial embarrassment was the operation of a rule of law, now well understood, that charges an administrator with the losses if he assumes to continue the particular line of business of his decedent instead of im- mediately disposing of it. Mr. Hinds, in his undertaking of the administration of the extensive and complex estate of Major Curtis, an old-time all-round country mer- chant, made the mistake of attempting to change trades, expecting that inasmuch as he had been a successful lawyer he must necessarily succeed as a nierchant in making money for the estate. In this undertaking, for reasons stated in the text, he encoun- tered disaster for his own estate, as he was charged with the full value of the Curtis estate when he took charge of it, and under the rule stated was also charged with its shrinkage under his continuation of the business.
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of Ephraim Curtis. Soon after his departure these lands passed to William Brackett and Ebenezer and Cyrus Eastman.
The elections following that of 1829 were uneventful for several years. The storm had been succeeded by a calm which in turn was broken by the brief but exciting episode of the Anti-Masonic crusade. This disturbing element in our politics, though it raged with great violence in Vermont and some other States, never reached the acute stage in New Hampshire. This faction had some adherents in this town from the start in 1828. And while it increased in numbers as the years went by, it remained without a guiding hand and accomplished nothing. In 1831 it somewhat disturbed the current of events, but the Whigs kept their ranks well closed and sent Comfort Day to the Legislature. The presi- dential election of 1832 was the turning-point in its short career everywhere. It was then that General Rankin, forsaking the Whigs, assumed the direction of the Anti-Masonic contingent, and attempted to dictate terms to his old associates. The eccen- tric action of the General on this occasion long remained the unsolved riddle of our local political history. Many years after, when the event was forgotten by most people, Dr. Burns, the General's old-time associate, spoke of the incident witli feelings of undisguised sorrow. He could not understand how the Gen- eral could have been so disloyal to political principles for which he had contended all his life, as well as to his Scotch inheritance of common sense, as to start in mad pursuit of this political will-o'-the-wisp.
The immediate result of this defection was the temporary de- moralization of the Whigs. The Democrats were but slightly af- fected by it. At the Whig caucuses in 1832, an attempt was made to secure harmony by the selection of a compromise candidate for representative, but without avail, and the contest was transferred to town meeting, where an effort was made to unite on Comfort Day, who, though a member of the Masonic fraternity, had re- ceived the votes of a united party at the two preceding elections, and, as he was conservative and without enemies, it was hoped, rather than expected, that he might receive sufficient support to ensure his election.
The campaign was animated. The Democrats, encouraged by the hope of success through the division in the ranks of the Whigs, nominated Alexander Albee for Representative. He, too, was a Freemason and had the support of William Brackett and some others who, while not considered partisans, had usually acted with the Whigs, though not in sympathy with all their purposes. The
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contest resulted in the election of Mr. Albee by a majority of twenty-four. The law requiring a statement of the vote for Repre- sentative to be entered by the clerk in the records had not then been enacted, but Job Pingree, the town clerk, regarded the vote of such importance that he made this entry in the records, the first giving the vote for that office. "Thomas Bickford 1 vote, William Berkley 1, Comfort Day 22, John Gile 25, David Rankin 38, and Alexan- der Albee 111." It is not difficult to analyze the vote. Those given to Mr. Bickford and Mr. Berkley were cast, one by Comfort Day, the other by Mr. Albee. Thomas Bickford was in accord with William Brackett, and before the next election had followed him into the Democratic party. William Berkley was an elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a Democrat from the begin- ning of the agitation for the passage of the toleration act. Comfort Day received the support of the conservative and Masonic Whigs, while John Gile was another compromise candidate whose friends hoped he might ultimately receive the vote of a united party and an election. General Rankin's vote includes that of all the ultra anti-Masons and those of a few personal friends. Mr. Albee's votc represents the Democratic strength re-enforced by a few who abandoned the Whigs on account of the attitude of that party in regard to the anti-Masonic movement. The extent of the demoral- ization of the Whigs is shown by the fact that with a voting strength of about 150 they gave Ichabod Bartlett, their party can- didate for governor, but 39 votes, while Samuel Dinsmore, the candidate of the Democrats, received 138, the largest number they had cast up to that time.
The Whigs were not long recovering from their discomfiture. In 1833 they made an alliance with the anti-Masons. Sylvanus Balch was their candidate for Representative and was elected by a considerable majority. The political situation was not such as to encourage the Whigs to great political activity for other than local candidates. General Jackson had entered his second term, to which he had been elected the preceding November by an overwhelming vote, and their party was in a hopeless minority in the State. General Rankin soon returned to the embraces of his first love, but estrangement and wandering had cooled the ardor of both and they never again gave each other their entire confi- dence. The leadership of the Whig party passed to Henry A. Bellows, who directed its fortunes with wisdom and success until his removal from town in 1850, a few months before that party, distracted and divided by dissensions growing out of the agitation of the slavery question and the rivalry of its great chieftains, was
VOL I .- 20
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reduced to a mere faction and finally merged in the Republican party of the present.
Reviewing the period treated in this chapter, we are forcibly reminded of the meagre part the town had taken in the wider theatre of State and county affairs. For half a century our citizens appear to have been devoted to their own business, so much so, in fact, that they rarely manifested an interest in events beyond their own borders except on occasions when they con- sidered that the State or county had burdened them with exces- sive taxation. Then their interest was immediate and forceful. They seem to have cared much for the principles by which the administration of all governmental affairs should be guided, and little as to who should act as their agents in their administration. There is no record or memory tending to show that at any time for a period of more than fifty years from the date of the first charter any resident of the town had been a candidate for any State or county office, or had even sought such nomination. These positions had been monopolized by residents of Haverhill, Lancas- ter, Landaff, Bath, and, for a brief period, Lisbon, in this northern section of the old county of Grafton ; by Hanover and Orford and the towns constituting the southern tier with Holderness, Plymouth, and Campton along its eastern border, who, through all these years, asserted a sort of paternal guardianship over the inhabitants of this large but rather thinly peopled territory. At one time, in the early days, this condition was undoubtedly due to the ability and experience of such men as the Livermores, Johnston, Page, Bell, Freeman, Payne, Woodward, the Manns, and the able men who constituted the Faculty of Dartmouth College, while Lancas- ter had half a score of men who had enjoyed the pleasures and emoluments of public office and were every way qualified satisfac- torily to serve the public. At a later period, when these condi- tions no longer prevailed, this assumption of continuing title to the offices was treated by the favored class as something that passed like an entailed estate, a heritage to their towns. That the claim was long acquiesced in was not from a want of material in the less favored towns, but rather for the reason, among others, that being a long-continued practice it had grown into a habit, and largely from a want of ambition on the part of those who would naturally be selected for such positions. Such men in this town as David Goodall, David Rankin, Timothy A. Edson, Peter Bonney, Guy Ely, and others were well qualified to fill these offices. Colonel Edson, while a resident of Haverhill, had served a full term of five years as sheriff of the county, and David Rankin, who possessed an
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ambition for military preferment, attained the rank of Brigadier- General of Militia. He was also influential in county politics. But the principal reason for the preponderance of three of these towns was the fact that they were county seats. The shire town then was of much greater importance than at present. It was the home of the leading lawyers, financiers, and business men of the county. Terms of court held in each twice each year were lengthy, often extending over a period of six or seven weeks. On these occasions lawyers and prominent men gathered from all the towns. The great advocates of the State, the Websters, Bells, Mason, Woodbury, and Bartlett, all politicians as well as jurists, came in the ordinary practice of their profession and joined at intervals of leisure in party counsels. Thus it was that the shire town became the centre from which radiated political influ- ence. So it came about quite naturally that they received the larger part of the rewards. Peter Carleton of Landaff, Moses P. Payson of Bath, Dan. Young of Lisbon, and Caleb Keith of Went- worth had in various ways shown their power and received con- sideration at the hands of the men in authority.
While a Representative in the Legislature, Nathaniel Rix, Jr., by skill in the management of political affairs as well as by his ability and industry, commended himself to his associates and attained great influence in this county. In the readjustment of political lines in 1828 he became the leader of the Jackson forces in this section, and in 1832 was elected a member of the Gov- ernor's Council and was re-elected the succeeding year. Mr. Rix was the first resident of Littleton to be elected to an important State office. Upon the occasion of his second election this town honored him with a nearly unanimous vote. In 1835 he was
elected Register of Deeds, and to this position he was four times re-elected. After the termination of his services as register and two terms as Representative in the Legislature for Haverhill, he retired from political life, having passed more than a quarter of a century in the public service, for a longer period and in more im- portant positions than any other citizen of the town could boast.
In 1835 the Whigs had so far recovered from the depressing influences of the anti-Masonic period that they gave the entire ticket nearly their full strength. Joseph Healey, their candidate for governor, had 96 votes, while Governor Badger, who received substantially all the votes cast in 1834,1 received but 92. Sylvanus Balch was for a third time elected Representative.
1 All but 3 votes, Simeon B. Johnson was the Democratic candidate for Repre- sentative, and three of his townsmen gave him their votes for governor.
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History of Littleton.
The election of 1836 was warmly contested. The Democrats nominated Moses P. Little, a son of Hon. Moses and grandson of the Colonel, who founded the town, as a candidate for Representa- tive. Mr. Little had been a resident of the town but a year, and this fact was used against him by his Whig opponents and by some of the members of his own party who desired to see Alexan- der Albee receive the nomination. The Whig candidate was Capt. Isaac Abbott, an old and influential resident. The captain was successful by a vote of 106 to 99 cast for Mr. Little.1
A singular feature of the political history of the time was the lack of interest by the Whigs in political affairs save in isolated localities where they were in a majority. Discouraged by the over- whelming majority of the Democrats, they substantially abandoned opposition and disbanded their organization. Their attitude of inertia continued until 1838 when, under the stimulus of the attacks upon Van Buren's administration, Gen. James Wilson accepted the Whig nomination for governor and made a canvass of the State which aroused his partisans to action. The discord- ant, indifferent, and discontented Whigs united in harmony and made a contest for the political control of the State.2
1 By an error the name of Mr. Little was omitted from the genealogy of the family in the third volume and is here given.
Moses Parsons, born 14 Feb., 1796; died 9 Nov., 1865. Married 19 April, 1832, Jane W. Russell. Their children are :
I. Emily F., born L., 8 May, 1835.
II. Moses, born L., 1 Dec., 1837. Killed by Indians 13 June, 1866, near Fort Mohave, Arizona.
III. Horace F., born 8 Oct., 1845.
IV. Jennie Russell, born 19 April, 1856. Married 30 Nov., 1875, Francis W. Jones.
Emily F. married 28 May, 1864, Maj. Charles E. Compton. They have three children.
Horace F. married 20 June, 1869, Meribah Underwood. Live in Buffalo, N. Y. Three children. [Little Genealogy.
3 The extent of this indifference is shown by the vote cast in the State in 1837. The vote for governor was :
Scattering . 1,156
George Sullivan 458
Joseplı Healey, Whig 557
Isaac Hill, Dem.
22,561 In this town it was :
Isaac Hill 104
All the votes cast.
The vote of 1838 in the State for governor was :
Scattering . 198
James Wilson, Jr., Whig 25,625
Isaac Hill, Dem 28,695
In the town it was :
James Wilson, Jr. 171
Isaac Hill
145
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Political Annals.
The opposition vote in this town during this period was rela- tively large for the reason that, being in a majority and desiring the choice of a member of their party as Representative to the Legislature, they invariably put forth sufficient effort to bring to the polls votes to secure the desired result.
In the awakening of 1838 the largest vote ever cast, up to that time, was brought out, Captain Abbott receiving 177 votes and Moses P. Little 154, the full strength of each party.
The closing year of the period was one of great political activity. The anti-Democratic vote was consolidated with the Whig party with the exception of three votes which were cast by antislavery men, who had begun the agitation of that momentous question as early as 1835, but had not expressed their convictions through the ballot box until this election. Henry A. Bellows and William Brackett were the candidates of the Whigs and Democrats re- spectively, and the Abolitionists cast their votes for Edmund Car- leton. This was a strong ticket, both partles putting forward the best they possessed for this campaign. The result, as a matter of course, was the election of Mr. Bellows by a vote of 192 to 140 cast for Mr. Brackett and 3 for Mr. Carleton and 2 scattering. The vote for governor gave James Wilson 200, John Page 149, and Joseph Low 3 votes. The ballots for members of Congress and county officers did not vary materially from the vote for governor.
Quite an increase in the vote of the town will be noted. This was in some degree owing to a larger interest in politics, but more to the growth of the industries at the village. The town was feel- ing for the first time the ripple of the Free-Soil movement, which was soon to break in mighty waves against the wall of established institutions and level them with the dust of mother earth.
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History of Littleton.
XX.
ANNALS. 18440-1860.
L IFE in Littleton for more than half a century was uneventful. Its current flowed along with calm serenity, undisturbed by storms without or dissensions within. Hard work on the farm, in the woods, or in the saw-mill filled up the unvarying routine. Its intellectual conflicts were few, and, aside from those of a polit- ical nature, were confined for many years to flashes of wit and sarcasm resulting from the professional rivalry that long con- tinued between Dr. Ainsworth and Dr. Burns. The memory of these has not entirely perished, but still puts forth a scintillation when some of the elders fall into a reminiscent mood. When Dr. Adams Moore entered upon the scene, his keen sense of humor, mingled with a remnant of Irish wit transmitted from an ancestry beyond the seas, served to soften the asperities of his elders in the profession and put them upon a more companionable footing, so far as social amenities governed their relations. Dr. Moore was a member of the unorganized social club that usually held its meetings at the Brick Store, and his stories concerning the old physicians, their feuds and sharp wordy encounters, with bits of character sketches interwoven in a style peculiar to the doctor's quaint humor, formed the piece de resistance of many a winter evening's entertainment in the old store.
About 1837 the people at the village enlarged the intellectual pleasures of the community by organizing a lyceum, or debating club. No detailed account of its deliberations has come down to this generation. A fragment of one of its debates has been preserved among the papers of Dr. Moore. The question for discussion, though not formulated in the doctor's minutes, seems to have been whether a standing army was essential to the main- tenance of the Republic. Henry A. Bellows led for the affirmative and Dr. Moore for the negative of this question. This subject was slightly mixed with the politics of the day, and the disputants fol- lowed their political inclinations in the choice of sides. It is only from the references made by the doctor in the debate that we
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have any suggestions as to the line of argument pursued by Mr. Bellows. From this it appears that his contention was that a standing army is necessary to protect the frontier from Indians and the seacoast from depredations by an enemy in time of war. It was also the best guaranty for the preservation of peace with foreign nations. An unprotected nation was much more likely to be attacked than one in a position to defend itself. The militia was not adequate for this purpose, and he cited its action at Monmouth and in other battles of the Revolution in support of his position. The doctor, in reply, claimed that a " standing army was dangerous to the Republic. The framers of the Con- stitution were aware of the evil. They had seen it while under the Colonial Government, and the allowance of regular troops in time of peace had always been reluctantly conceded by patriotic statesmen." He said " they had none of the local ties and endear- ments of the militiamen, and were most always the obsequious servants of the Government and ever ready to come to the aid of an ambitious and daring usurper." He claimed that the militia was ample for the defence of the country. " They are," he said, " the people ever ready to defend their property, their families, and their liberty." In answer to the charge of inefficiency, he urged their services at Lexington, Bunker Hill, and Bennington ; their quelling the mob at Exeter, and their suppression of Shays' Rebel- lion. The membership of the association indicates that its edu- cational character must have been above the average. Beside Mr. Bellows and Dr. Moore, Calvin Ainsworth, Jr., and Dr. Burns were frequent participants in its debates ; and Edmund Carleton, the Rev. Mr. Fairbank, and the Rev. Mr. Worcester were among the occasional disputants. The lyceum maintained its organiza- tion through several years, and was not abandoned until 1847, or perhaps a year later.
Another source of amusement, as well as of instruction, was found in the justice courts, then more common than they have been in recent years. The justices of the peace who usually presided at these hearings were either Simeon B. Johnson, Otis Batchelder, or Marquis L. Goold. All sorts of causes, both civil and criminal, were heard by these magistrates, and the wit and wisdom that fell from the lips of the Court, attorneys, and not infrequently from the witnesses, entertained and instructed as many persons as could be packed in the crowded court-room. The attorneys who practised in these courts in the early days when Elisha Hinds was the only local lawyer, and David Goodall or Guy Ely served as magistrate, included such men as Joseph
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History of Littleton.
Bell and Alden Sprague, of Haverhill ; Moses B. Payson and James I. Swan, of Bath ; Richard C. Everett and Turner Ste- phenson, of Lancaster ; and Charles Davis, of Waterford, Vt. Those of a later time, when Henry A. Bellows was legal guide of the town, beside some of those mentioned whose practice extended through more than one generation, were Ira Goodall, Andrew S. Woods, and Harry Hibbard, of Bath; Jared W. Williams and John S. Wells, of Lancaster, and occasionally the persuasive eloquence of Thomas Bartlett, of Lyndon, Vt., was heard in these courts. After the departure of Mr. Hinds, Mr. Bellows, Calvin Ainsworth, Jr., and Edmund Carleton were for some years the only resident practitioners. In 1843 William Burns established an office, but remained scarcely two years, when he removed to Lancaster, and was soon succeeded here by Harry Bingham. These men constitute no mean array of legal talent and forensic ability. At a time when eloquence was regarded as of much greater con- sequence than it is at the present time, and when cases involving small sums were contested with as much strenuous pertinacity as were those in which thousands were at stake, it is not strange that, in a society which received its intellectual stimulus from the pulpit and the bar, men should abandon mill and forge and shop to witness the contests between some of these great legal lights, and that the audience, on such occasions, should be limited only by the capacity of the temporary court-room.1
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