USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 46
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Allusion has previously been made to the fact that political meetings addressed by noted speakers from abroad was not a com- mon method of campaigning in olden times, but the awakening of the people caused by the Know-nothing episode and the Kansas- Nebraska legislation introduced them, and they have since been regarded as a necessary adjunct to a properly conducted campaign.
HENRY W. ROWELL.
HENRY H. METCALF.
FRANCIS A. EASTMAN.
EDWIN A. CHARLTON.
ARTHUR W. EMERSON.
EDITORS.
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Political Annals.
Such meetings were frequently held in the Vermont towns of Waterford, Concord, and Lunenburg. It often happened that some of the speakers as well as a considerable share of the audi- ence came from this side of the Connecticut River. During his Congressional campaigns Harry Hibbard canvassed his district pretty thoroughly. He made it a point to hold a meeting in this town. When he had closed his Congressional career, and when his vote in favor of the Kansas-Nebraska bill had become a subject of frequent and bitter attack, he addressed a meeting here in defence of his position and vote on that question. Like all his intellectual efforts, his argument on this occasion was a masterpiece of forensic eloquence and forceful reasoning. His friends considered the answer to his critics complete and unan- swerable. 3 There was, however, among his large audience a young man of peculiar and unattractive appearance from Beth- lehem who thought otherwise, and he proclaimed his purpose to reply to Mr. Hibbard's speech, which he did in the same hall soon after. The hall on this occasion was filled to its utmost capacity, and Simeon Bolles surprised all present by the ability with which he analyzed and met the arguments of the veteran advocate. It seems, like the historical speech of William Gerard Hamilton, to have been the product of an intellectual fire that was not rekindled. Mr. Bolles afterward became a minister of the Free Baptist denomination, but never again approached in originality, vigor, or eloquence the speech he delivered on this occasion.1
In 1856 the Know-nothing excitement had subsided, and ques- tions relating to the extension of slavery into the Territories became the principal political issue. Governor Metcalf was op- posed for re-election by John S. Wells, the Democratic candidate. Mr. Wells made a canvass of the State, and was the first and for a long time the only candidate for that position to address a public meeting in this town.2 This meeting was held in Granite Hall, which was filled with a large audience, and was addressed by Mr. Wells and Walter Harriman, both eloquent speakers. In the evening of the same day the supporters of Governor Metcalf filled the hall with another large and enthusiastic audience, while William H. Gove, of Weare, ignoring the Roman Catholic, dis- cussed the question of slavery. The same party held another
1 He was the author of a brief but interesting history of Bethlehem. This booklet was printed by Eli B. Wallace, Woodsville, N. H., in 1883.
2 Messrs. Harriman and Sinclair were the only others. They held one of their joint debates here in 1867.
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History of Littleton.
very large meeting on March 5, in which Judge Thomas Russel and John L. Swift, of Boston, two of the most celebrated stump speakers in New England, set forth the question of the hour. The presidential campaign that followed was eminently a campaign of political oratory, and among Republicans enthusiasm was wrought to the highest pitch. On September 12 they held a mass meeting of the voters of the Fifth Councillor District, which brought together the largest audience ever assembled in this town, - some eight or ten thousand being present. Nearly every town in the district was represented with a numerous delegation. The meet- ing was held in the Bonney lot, lying between the school-house in District Fifteen and the head of Meadow Street, where speaking was heard from two stands. As delegation after delegation arrived, it was met at the depot by the marshal, and, led by the Concord and Laconia brass bands, marched to the grounds. Ban- ners and flags inscribed with mottoes decorated the procession ; the streets were lined with an equally enthusiastic multitude who cheered the procession on its way. At the place of meeting Captain Abbott called the crowd to order, and Jacob Benton, of Lancaster, was chosen presiding officer. Prayer was offered by the Rev. E. Irvin Carpenter. The meeting was addressed by the president of the day, by Hon. B. W. Bonney, of New York (the grounds on which the meeting was held were a portion of his paternal inheritance), Hon. Joel Eastman of Conway, Professor Bailey of Yale College, C. Woodman and S. P. Hanscom of Bos- ton, Henry A. Bellows, and Congressmen Cragin, Rollins, and Tappan. A spectacular incident of the day was the presentation to the audience of a young colored girl recently purchased from slavery by Charles Sumner. Whether or not these meetings made any converts to the cause is a matter of doubt, but it is certain that they served to confirm the wavering and to arouse the party to great enthusiasm.
The political situation in March, 1856, was indeed chaotic. It is true that the clouds that lowered when the storm of Know- nothingism swept over the North were lifting, but party lines were broken, and disorganized multitudes were endeavoring to get to- gether under the same captain and a common party name. Local leaders seem to have been at a loss for a party designation ; there was no trouble about principles and issues, - all were agreed as to these, - but there had been no convention or other authori- tative promulgation of a name under which the masses who were enlisted under the banner of " No more slave territory " could mus- ter. In the preliminary campaign the " People's Journal" called
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the opponents of the National Administration, the People's Party, and the State ticket printed at the head of its columns was the Peo- ple's Ticket. The caucus held in January elected Col. L. A. Russell, Col. S. H. Rowell, Edmund Carleton, and Josiah Kilburn delegates to the State Convention of the People's Party to be holden in Con- cord for the nomination of candidates for governor and railroad commissioner. When the caucuses were held in March for the nomination of town officers, the call was directed to " The Republi- cans of Littleton." In Franconia the call was broader, and was ad- dressed " To all opponents of the National Administration." The Know-nothings were discredited, but in Lisbon they had the cour- age of their convictions, and requested "the members of the American Party " to meet in caucus. The National Convention held at Philadelphia which nominated Fremont for the Presidency formally christened the aggregation which made him a candidate " The Republican Party."
The remarkable change that had been wrought in a few years is shown by the vote of this year (1856). The Whigs had lost their position as the dominant party of the town, and at this election cast only 14 votes for their candidate for governor. The Free-soilers, whose principles had been espoused by the supporters of Governor Metcalf now cast 195 votes, but met defeat, as the Democrats elected their entire ticket by an average plurality of nearly 50 votes. John Sargent, and Nathan Kinne, a prosper- ous farmer near the Monroe Line, were elected Representatives, receiving 242 and 232 votes respectively. Their opponents were Philip H. Paddleford and Abijah Allen, Jr., and received, the the former 205 and the latter 159 votes.
The Democrats were intrenched in their position, and were not dislodged until 1858, when Wesley Alexander and Samuel Taylor Morse, Republican candidates for Representatives, defeated Calvin F. Cate and John C. Quimby, their Democratic opponents, by a majority of 23. The Democrats in 1857 re-elected Mr. Sargent and Mr. Kinne Representatives, James J. Barret Town Clerk, and Allen Day, Calvin J. Wallace, and Luther B. Towne, Select- men. When the duty of appointing a deputy-sheriff for Littleton arose, the position was conferred on Ora O. Kelsea, of Lisbon, a young politician, enterprising and skilful. The leading Republi- cans in the county believed that Littleton could be made a Repub- lican town, and in their anxiety to achieve this result deemed it wise to select Mr. Kelsea for this position. But, as the sequel shows, the importation of a Lisbon man for deputy-sheriff did more harm than good to their cause. In 1859 and 1860 the Democratic
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History of Littleton.
candidates for Representatives, Messrs. Cate and Quimby, were elected, their opponents in the latter year being Henry W. Rowell and Alden Moffett, both strong men. It was many years before the Republicans were successful in securing a majority here.
Largely in the State and wholly in the town, campaigning previous to 1844 had been conducted by personal effort. There had been no attempt at organization. The campaign club and executive committee were unknown, or at least untried, politi- cal machinery. The first attempt at organization of this kind was formed during the presidential campaign of 1844 by the Whigs, and was christened the Clay Club. The original records of the association are brief, and contain the preamble, the consti- tution, and proceedings 1 of only two meetings. The constitution provides for the following officers : a President, fifteen Vice-Presi- dents, a Secretary, and Executive Committee of three members. Franklin Tilton was elected President, William J. Bellows Secre- tary, and Henry A. Bellows, Truman Stevens, and Josiah Kilburn appointed a committee to select the fifteen gentlemen who were to serve as Vice-Presidents, evidently a work requiring some care. It will be observed that no provision is made for Treasurer, and we may therefore safely infer that in that campaign money was not regarded as of any importance as a " vote-getter." The trifling sum required for " legitimate expenses " was quickly collected by passing around the hat at one of the meetings of the club. These meetings were held in Brackett's Hall.
The Democrats first availed themselves of the use of the campaign club in 1852. Their organization was known as the Granite Club. Franklin J. Eastman was its presiding officer, and George S.
1 The preamble to the constitution of this club declares what were to be the purposes of the organization and some of the methods by which they were to be attained. As it differs materially from those with which the present generation is familiar, it is given in full : -
" We the undersigned, inhabitants of Littleton and Whigs to all intents and pur- poses, feeling a deep interest in the advancement of the great principles of the Whig party and believing that this can be done in no way more readily than by united effort, do hereby form ourselves into a club for that purpose. And while we keep this great object in view, we shall not forget to assemble ourselves together as often as may be to discuss the important political questions of the day, to communicate to each other in a frank and cordial manner any information tending to promote our common object, to awaken, if possible, the fickle and wavering to enthusiastic and determined action, and to render pleasant as well as useful by introducing a few sweeteners of political strife in the shape of Whig songs, which contributed so much to the enjoyment and served to swell the triumph of the Whigs in 1840. Moreover, heartily concurring in the late nomination of the Hon. Henry Clay as a candidate for the next President and the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen as Vice-President, we pledge ourselves to give them our cordial support."
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Political Annals.
Woolson its Secretary. It had the full quota of Vice-Presidents, and beside nearly every Democrat of prominence in the State was at some time before the conclusion of the campaign elected an honorary member.
These years were filled with change in the manufacturing, ecclesiastical, and political life of the town, but in none of these was this change more marked than in the personnel, - the men who had been, or were to be, important factors in its devel- opment. In the church the Worcesters had departed. E. Irvin Carpenter had taken their place, to be followed in turn by the Rev. Charles E. Milliken. The Methodist Society had built a fine house of worship, and several clergymen had come and gone. In the legal profession Calvin Ainsworth, Jr., William Burns, and Henry A. Bellows had taken up their residence elsewhere, and Charles W. Rand, Harry Bingham, George A. Bingham, William J. Bellows, John Farr, and Edward D. Rand had succeeded them, and long remained the legal advisers and political leaders of this section of our State. All of those who became citizens of other towns pros- pered in their professions and were highly honored in political life. Their record constitutes a part of our history in which all may feel a just pride.
Calvin Ainsworth, son of Dr. Calvin and Susannah (Howe) Ainsworth, was born in Littleton August 22, 1807. He was educated in the schools of this town and at the academies at Concord, Vt., and Meriden. When twenty-two years old he entered the law office of Jonathan D. Stoddard at Waterford, Vt. Remaining but a few months, he returned to Littleton and became a student in the office of Henry A. Bellows. He was admitted to the bar at Plymouth, November term, in 1835. The following year he married Eliza, daughter of Joseph Bellows of Walpole, but at the time of her marriage a member of the family of her brother Henry A. Bellows. She died in less than a year after their marriage, and in 1846 he was united in marriage to Letitia (Stinson) White, of Concord. He opened an office in Littleton, where he remained until 1842, when he went to Con- cord and was for a time a member of the law firm of Perley & Ainsworth. In 1854 he removed to Madison, Wis., where he practised his profession until his death in July, 1873.
Mr. Ainsworth possessed qualities of mind and business habits that particularly recommended him to his fellow-citizens for po- sitions involving the settlement of estates and other positions of trust. He held several offices, but not for a long time, as for some unknown reason he was given to resigning such positions
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History of Littleton.
and refusing to accept others when tendered. It is probable that he found their restraints irksome. He was Register of Probate for Merrimack County ; the first Police Justice of the city of Concord ; Police Justice of Madison, Wis .; and one of the Com- missioners to compile the statutes of this State.
Judge Ainsworth was a studious lawyer and exceptionally well read in case and statute law. He was not an advocate, he was wanting in self-assurance, and possessed too little of the aggres- siveness and freedom of speech which characterized the old doc- tor, to make a success in this department of the profession. But in drawing pleadings and other work necessary in the preparation of cases for trial he was painstaking and proficient.
He possessed a genial, kindly personality, and won friends in every walk of life. He seems to have been wanting in the ambi- tion of the self-seeker, and never to have contested for worldly riches but was content to discharge, in an unobtrusive manner, all the duties imposed by kindliness and good citizenship, and in this chosen field his life was crowned with an abundant harvest.
William Burns was a citizen of Littleton less than three years. He was the son of Dr. Robert Burns, once a Member of Congress from this district. He was born in Hebron, April 25, 1821; fitted for college at the New Hampton Institute ; entered Dartmouth College in 1837, and was graduated in regular course in 1841. In the autumn of that year he entered the office of Leonard Wilcox at Orford. He continued his legal studies at the Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar on his graduation in 1843, and located in Littleton. Soon after John S. Wells left Lancas- ter, Mr. Burns removed to that town, and succeeded to much of his legal business. His success at the bar was assured from the first. He was a sound lawyer, but his principal professional triumphs were won as an advocate. His manner was dignified, earnest, and impressive; he presented his case to the jury with logical precision. He was regarded as one of the most persuasive and eloquent advocates in the State. For nearly forty years he ranked among the leaders of our bar. Mr. Burns stood high in the councils of the Democratic party. He was a delegate to the National Convention of that party held at Charleston in June, 1860 ; three times its candidate for Congress ; solicitor for Coos County from 1848 to 1853; a delegate to the constitutional con- vention of 1876, and Senator from this district for two terms, 1857 and 1858. His services were always in demand during a campaign as a political speaker.
He married, in April, 1843, Miss Clementine E. Hayes, of Orford.
MyBuns
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Political Annals.
He died at Plymouth, April 2, 1885. It is a rather singular cir- cumstance that his birth, marriage, and death should have occurred in this month.
Few men who have been residents of Littleton have been more respected as a gentleman, a lawyer, and man of affairs than William Burns.
The Bellows family has long been distinguished in the annals of the State. Perhaps no other has maintained through so many generations its mental and physical vigor, its moral fibre, and gen- eral family characteristics as have the descendants of Benjamin Bellows, who founded Walpole in 1752. While it may have pro- duced no individual of commanding genius, yet many members have enacted important parts in affairs of state, in the church, at the bar, and in vast business enterprises. At a time when the militia had not fallen into desuetude and when its honors were highly prized, each generation of the family had its General or Colonel and its numerous minor commissions in the service. Thomas Bellows was for thirty-two years High Sheriff of Cheshire County. Several of its members served in the Governor's Coun- cil, and public positions in county and town seem to have long been regarded as the property of the family to pass as an in- heritance. There seems to have been an unusual tendency among them to gravitate to the Unitarian ministry, and at ho time during the last century has it been without its represen- tative in that profession. Some of them rose to eminence, and one, Rev. Henry W. Bellows, was among the most distinguished clergymen of the country, one of the creators of the Sanitary Commission, which accomplished so much toward preserving the health or alleviating the sufferings of our soldiers during the Civil War. At least two, Abel and John, were numbered among the prominent merchants of Boston in their day ; in fact, nearly every profession and walk in life has been adorned by some member of the family.
Henry Adams Bellows, who shares with his cousin, Rev. Henry Whiting Bellows, the distinction of having won the highest in- tellectual honors of any member of the family, was born in Wal- pole, Oct. 25, 1803. He was the son of Joseph and Mary (Adams) Bellows, and of the fourth generation in descent from Benjamin, who was the founder of the family in this State. His childhood was passed in Walpole and the neighboring town of Rockingham on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River. His education was acquired in the schools of these towns and in the Academy at Windsor, Vt. He was a studious and an omnivorous
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History of Littleton.
reader of English literature. He studied law with William C. Bradley, an eminent practitioner of Westminster, and was admit- ted to the bar at Newfane, Vt., in 1826. He then opened an office in his native town, where he met with fair success. Several young men among his acquaintances located in this town, and they per- suaded him to remove hither in 1828, where he soon acquired an extensive practice. Elisha Hinds was, at the time, the only lawyer resident here. The unsettled titles to lands in some of the sur- rounding towns, notably in Bethlehem, Landaff, and Lisbon, were a fruitful source of litigation, and Mr. Bellows was retained in many of these suits. So successful was he that he soon wrested his share of the business in this section from such strong lawyers as Jonathan Smith, Ira Goodall, and Andrew S. Woods, of Bath, which had been the seat of the legal business in the Ammonoosuc valley
for a score of years. While a resident of Littleton his energy and ability were not devoted entirely to his profession. He was largely instrumental in the establishment of the woollen factory, and aided in securing the charter and in other preliminary work incident to the organization of the White Mountain Railroad Company. A Unitarian, he assisted materially in building the first house of worship in the village, which was to be occupied almost exclusively by the Congregational society. A society to which he was much devoted was the Village Lyceum, an institu- tion that, under ordinary circumstances, would have nothing more than a passing interest in the community, but which he moulded into an instrument of considerable political power. It maintained its organization for more than a dozen years.
Mr. Bellows was tenacious of his political opinions. Early in- fluences as well as his intellectual tendencies led him to adopt the Hamiltonian theories of government. He began his somewhat active political career at the time when the Whig party was in process of formation, and soon became one of its most approved leaders in this section of the State. Political meetings for the discussion of the questions of the hour were seldom held here until the campaign of 1844. At that time Mr. Bellows became a frequent speaker at these meetings held in this and neighboring towns in Vermont as well as our own State. His style of address was calculated to instruct rather than to amuse his audience, . though they were sometimes enlivened with the quaint humor which was characteristic of his conversation and legal arguments. He was moderator for five terms and served for several years in the modest position of Fire Ward, giving to that office all the atten- tion and ability a much higher public service could have exacted.
HENRY A. BELLOWS. Chief Justice.
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In 1839 he represented this town in the Legislature. The House of Representatives of that year was notable for the large number of able men included in its membership. Among those eminent at the bar or in political life were Daniel M. Christie, Charles H. Atherton, Moses Norris, Jr., Ira Perley, John S. Wells, George W. Nesmith, George Y. Sawyer, Josiah Quincy, Thomas M. Edwards, and Albert Baker, the last named the leader of the majority on the floor of the House. Few legislatures in our State have assembled so many men of equal ability. Among these Mr. Bellows, though with- out previous legislative experience, occupied a prominent position. He served on the joint committee on Library and was among the most active in the minority of the House. The published proceed- ings are so meagre that they afford a slight idea of the part he took in the debates. The House journal, as usual, furnishes no informa- tion beyond a mere skeleton of the work done; motions made, and votes recorded under a call of the roll constitute the sum total of its story. The newspapers are little better; they give the names of those participating in the debates, and sometimes a brief abstract of the points made by the speakers. From these sources we learn that Ira Perley and Mr. Bellows were the most frequent advocates of the Whig cause ; Mr. Bellows, in particular, speaking upon nearly every political question before the House. He was no time- server, no. was he anxious to learn what effect the position of his party in regard to any new issue might have on its fortunes. The agitation in regard to the question of slavery, the right of peti- tion, and the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia were forced upon the attention of politicians, many of whom shirked the responsibility imposed by refusing to go on record when the roll was called. The Whig leaders were divided on these questions, but Mr. Bellows was an earnest advocate of the right of petition and of the contention of the Abolitionists that Congress had the constitutional power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. In fact, he had much sympathy for the men who went out from his party to join that of the abolitionists, and always kept in touch with them, and used his utmost endeavors to persuade such men as Enoch Hazeltine and Jonathan Lovejoy that the best way by which they could accomplish all their constitutional purposes was by adhering to the Whig party and ultimately bend- ing that organization to their purposes. He was never satisfied with their political position so long as they remained without the pale of the Whig party, and never omitted an opportunity to win them back to their old allegiance.
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