USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 28
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After the dedication Mr. Holman's heavy labors were rewarded. Levi F. Ranlet was made recording steward, with George Abbott and Moses K. Wilcomb stewards for Littleton. During his second vear Mr. Holman served as superintendent of schools. From the infant class in the Sunday-school at that time were three who afterwards went out as preachers, -Joseph E. Robins, Charles W. Millen, and Warren Applebee. A missionary appropriation for Mr. Holman's first year was made of $150 ; for the second, $100. The people generously gave him a donation of $200 the first year, and of $100 the second year. The Sunday-school
1 It was the first church bell in town, and after more than half a century continues with its sweet tones to call people to worship.
2 The church, as originally designed and built, was a somewhat close imitation of one at Worcester, Mass., and was regarded as architecturally one of the finest buildings in the State. In front leading to the entrance was a wide sweep of steps, buttressed on either hand by timbered walls surmounted by platforms that extended in front and around either side, breaking the effect of the sloping ground and giving the appearance of an extended and solid base to the structure. At the top of the steps, within a shallow but high recess or alcove, were two entrances. Supporting the entablature of the alcove were two fluted Doric columns. As seen from any point on the street the church was a most attractive structure. All this has been changed by so-called modern improvements. The building came into the control of utilitarians, and the beauty of the scheme of the architect gave way to the needs of a growing congregation who converted what was designed for a church into the double purpose of a church and chapel. In accomplishing these purposes all the beauty of the structure was lost excepting that of the fine belfry and spire, which at their best must be seen by excluding from view the main structure.
The interior, unlike the exterior, has been improved intwo respects. The original desk was an ornate and heavy structure, grained in imitation of dark mahogany; this was so displeasing to the eye that an attempt to cure the defect was in a measure successful, by changing its color to a light cherry. But the desk was not in harmony with the interior and was removed in two or three years. The other improvement was the removal of the old-fashioned singers' gallery from the south end and placing the choir behind the preacher's desk.
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collections taken monthly were as follows: June, 1851, 83 cents ; July, 68 ; September, 55; October, 49; November, 60; Decem- ber, 61; January, 1852, 41 ; February, 25; March, 48; August, 49. On June 14, 1851, a local preacher's license was granted Charles R. Holman, of West Littleton, and the next spring he was recommended to the travelling connection and admitted into the New Hampshire Conference.
In 1852 Dudley P. Leavitt was sent here. His whole claim was rated at $250, of which $50 was a grant of missionary aid. He was an able, scholarly man, and his pastorate a wise carrying forward of the work so successfully begun by Mr. Holman. The missionary committee had on it the following elect women : Mrs. Woolson, Mrs. Johnson, Miss Ranlet, and Mrs. Charlton. Thus the ladies were set publicly at work. In 1853 the sum of $10 missionary money was raised to make Mr. Ranlet a life member of the Conference Missionary Society. The same year Calvin J. Wallace was elected steward. Through it all, the name of Doug- las Robins appears alongside that of Ranlet and other busy ones. Mr. Leavitt was granted a donation the second year of his being here, but the results of it do not appear in the records.
Larned L. Eastman was sent here in 1854. His pastorate was a continuation of the success of his predecessors. The members of the Quarterly Conference for 1854 were Levi F. Ranlet, George Abbott, Moses K. Wilcomb, Abijah Allen, Calvin J. Wallace, and Amos Bailey as stewards, with Douglas Robins, Calvin J. Wallace, and James Gordon as class-leaders. The next year E. C. Kimball was made steward. Some people who had aided in building the church used their legal right in the church edifice, when not occu- pied by the Methodists, to put into it services quite foreign to the teachings of the New Testament, but their course came to an in- glorious collapse. Before Mr. Eastman's time was out in 1856, he reported to the Quarterly Conference the purchase of a seraphine, the first musical instrument owned by the church. He reported the Sunday-school as having nineteen officers and teachers, with one hundred and fifty pupils.
At the end of the second year of Mr. Eastman's pastorate (1856) the New Hampshire Conference held its session here, in accordance with an invitation extended by the society and ac- cepted by the conference the previous year. Bishop Osman C. Baker, so long identified with New Hampshire Methodism by his residence at Concord and in other ways, was assigned to preside. Richard S. Rust, later the veteran Corresponding Secretary of the Freedman's Aid Society, was elected secretary. The session
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presented the usual attractions of those great occasions, so that the young society of Methodists in Littleton obtained a glimpse of the great connectional interests of which they represented a part. The people of the town gladly threw open their homes to enter- tain the members of the conference and others present. Mr. Eastman succeeded admirably in the arduous and delicate duties of providing for the session. Only once had its session been as far north as this, - that of Lancaster in-1849.
In 1832 James Gordon settled with his wife on the farm since occupied by Aaron Edmands, on Mann's Hill, and from that time forward for many years meetings were held in their home. He was class-leader most of those years, and ministers of other de- nominations besides the Methodists preached there. When the church was organized in the village, he and others in that neigh- borhood formally joined the new enterprise. The class for 1856 contains the following names : James Gordon, leader, Sarah Gor- don, Jane Gordon, George Abbott, Ann Abbott, Oliver F. Nurse, Ruth Nurse, Frederic A. Bartlett, Clarissa Bartlett, Ahijah Allen, Elias Bacon, Laonia Town, Mary W. Annis, Richard Jones, Susanna Jones, Martha Goodwin, Olive Goodwin, Catherine Clark, Sarah A. Bartlett, all residents of Mann's Hill. Many who joined other churches were converted in that consecrated house. Mr. Gordon died at South Littleton in 1888.
For the year 1856 J. P. Stinchfield was appointed here. He stayed one year. On June 19, 1856, Damon Judd was recom- mended to the travelling connection. At the next Quarterly Con- ference there was a committee of three appointed "to see where the singing school be kept, see to the fires, etc."
Following Mr. Stinchifield, George N. Bryant was sent here. He remained the two years then allowed by the Discipline. A good donation was given him, some conversions marked his pas- torate, and the various interests of the charge were well sustained.
In 1859 Bethlehem was again joined with Littleton, and L. P. Cushman was the preacher. Considerable ingathering oc- curred, for he was able to report in March that he had received thirty-three on probation and six into full connection ; among these were Joseph E. Robins, Charles W. Millen, Warren Apple- bee, and Hugh Montgomery. The following year Bethlehem was again separated from this place. The sum of $60 was granted to aid the charge, subject to the disposal of the conference.
In 1860 Hugh Montgomery came into this town, like Daniel Wise, from Canada, afoot and alone, in search of work. He found work, and also a chance to labor for the Master. After being
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here a short time he called a prayer-meeting at Deacon Cobleigh's house at which several of the young people about there were con- verted, and the religious life of others renewed, - among them Joseph E. Robins and Deacon Cobleigh's daughter, now Mrs. R. M. Cole, a missionary in Turkey. Mr. Montgomery also held meet- ings with much success in the Jackman and Walker Hill neighbor- hoods. After he was received into the church, he felt called to the ministry, and attended the school in this village. He was granted a local preacher's license in June, 1861. From here he went to Newbury Seminary, where he remained three years, being received into the conference in 1867. He was for many years very earnest in temperance work in Massachusetts. He was the author of several published books. He died in Marblehead, Mass., May 14, 1898.
At the conference session of 1856 ringing resolutions on slavery were adopted, urging its destruction and pledging concurrence in any right measures to that end. The next year they boldly declared that the time of compromise was past. From the local papers of this date it appears that the burning questions of the hour raised some heat in the church and congregation here. From Landaff, where he was stationed in 1862, Mr. Cushman was the Democratic Representative in the Legislature. Each of the two years of Mr. Cushman's pastorate this charge was asked to contribute $50 toward the seminary at Sanbornton Bridge, now Tilton. The Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., was patronized by the churches of this conference, which in turn received many benefits from that oldest Methodist college. The New England Education Society, designed to aid young men preparing for the ministry, was also given favors and returned them. In 1860 Rev. F. A. Hewes, who was the preacher at this place and Bath in 1846, died, a man of deep devotion and success- ful work. The same year this church voted in favor of lay repre- sentation in the Annual Conference. The name of Daniel E. Wells, M.D., appears in the records as a steward from Franconia, and for several years he and others reported for that place. A class was formed there of which Dr. Wells was leader. He and his estimable wife were earnest workers. Their house was open to meetings, which were continued as long as they remained in that town. The ministers on this station used to go there occa- sionally to hold meetings. After the removal of Dr. Wells the class seems to have been absorbed by the local churches of other denominations. ' Calvin J. Wallace was appointed a committee to procure furniture for the use of the parsonage. No house was yet
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owned, but the furnishings were used in whatever house the preacher lived. The women worked in this duty of course.
In 1861 George S. Barnes was sent here. His work was not marked by any great change. It was reported in August, 1861, that North Lisbon was given back to the Lisbon charge, as its location demanded. When it was joined to Littleton does not appear. The last six months of his year Mr. Barnes served, without leaving the State, as Chaplain of the Seventeenth Regi- ment of New Hampshire Volunteers.
After Mr. Barnes's pastorate Silas E. Quimby was sent. He retained his place in the Newbury Seminary till the end of the school year in August. Increased congregations and Sunday- school attested success. A missionary society was formed in the Sunday-school, and named the Wallace Union Society, in honor of the faithful superintendent, C. J. Wallace. At the end of the next year Mr. Quimby accepted a professorship again at Newbury Seminary.
In Mr. Quimby's pastorate Stillman Batchellor died. He was a member of the Methodist Church at Bethlehem long before the full organization in Littleton, having been a steward in 1828-1829, and a trustee in 1830, when, with four others, he superintended the building of a church at Bethlehem. As the church at Little- ton was built, he gradually became identified with this project, being early one of the trustees. In 1858 he finally changed his membership to this place, after which time he and his family were regular attendants. He materially aided the new church at the outset in building, and onward till his death. His official rela- tions as trustee or steward were of great worth ; his sterling piety, which did not yield to obstacles of spiritual or material import, was always marked, and his liberality in money, time, and labor aided in giving the substantial success which attended the church from the first. His home was on what is now known as the Gless- ner place, about half-way between Bethlehem and Littleton. He was a soldier in 1812, a devoted patriot, a Jeffersonian Democrat, and an ardent Free-soiler throughout the anti-slavery struggle.
The conference was helping in those years to support the Bib- lical Institute at Concord, this town doing its share and reap- ing its due amount of harvest in the improvement of its ministers. This school was transferred to Boston in 1867. . The men whose names show they were bearing the responsibilities of official posi- tion here constantly were those who began the project, - Levi F. Ranlet, George Abbott. Calvin J. Wallace, E. C. Kimball, Doug- las Robins, Moses K. Wilcomb, Abijah Allen, and others. The war
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made its changes in the membership and audience. Thus the books say, for October 3, 1862, that a new recording steward had to be appointed, as the former one, C. H. Applebee, had gone to the war. In the Quarterly Conference of January 23, 1863, a local preacher's license was granted Charles W. Millen. On May 9, the same year, an exhorter's license was given Joseph E. Robins. In the autumn of that year the name of Comings M. Barnes ap- peared as a local preacher. In February, 1864, Warren Applebee was recommended by the Quarterly Conference, after examination in doctrine and discipline, to the Annual Conference on trial. The same vote was passed in the case of Comings M. Barnes at the same time, and he was also recommended to the local deacon's ordination.
In 1864 Hiram L. Kelsey was appointed to this station. During those terrible years of the war the conference took strong ground for the support of the country and other claims on patriotic Chris- tian duty. Its members were sent to the front in the Christian Commission work ; its pulpit utterances were full of enthusiastic patriotism. This church had its share of internal bitterness re- garding the issues involved. It was a time when voters went armed with revolvers to the polls. In January, 1864, Rev. Mr. Kelsey and Messrs. Ranlet and Palmer were made a committee on repairing the church building. On August 7, that year, a local preacher's license was granted Joseph E. Robins.
Mr. Kelsey was here one year, and following him came Truman Carter. By this time what was only one circuit at the beginning of the century had become eighteen or twenty stations, all the children of the mother circuit at Landaff. This year an assess- ment of $25 for the Tilton Seminary was laid upon this charge. Mr. Carter reported to the fourth Quarterly Conference, January 5, 1867, that a gracious revival had occurred, from which he had received thirty on probation and had baptized twenty-nine. At the same time a parsonage committee was appointed, consisting of Ezra Hale, Douglas Robins, and Elisha Smith, with instruc- tions to buy or build at their discretion. From almost the be- ginning of this church George Abbott was the chorister, till this year, when he passed its responsibilities into other hands.
At the end of Mr. Carter's pastorate in 1867, Alfred E. Drew was stationed here. The salary had increased from Mr. Leavitt's $250 to $600 for Mr. Drew's first year and $700 for his second year. In 1868 Joseph E. Robins and Charles W. Millen were ad- mitted into the Annual Conference. On February 17 of that year it was reported to the Quarterly Conference that a pipe organ,
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G
2
REV. GEO. BEEBE.
REV. DUDLEY P. LEAVITT. REV. SULLIVAN HOLMAN. REV. MARTIN V. B. KNOX, D.D. REV. CHARLES M. HOWARD. PASTORS M E. CHURCH.
REV. HIRAM L. KELSEY.
REV. LEWIS P. CUSHMAN.
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costing $750, had been placed in the church, and that the gallery had been lowered at a cost of $142. In Mr. Drew's pastorate a parsonage was bought on South Street, of James J. Barrett, for $1,600. The subscription list shows faithful paying of personal indebtedness to the Lord. The house was not very commodious or near to the church, but a good venture for the Society. It had seven rooms, horse-barn, and wood-house, with a small plat of ground and a fine stream of water from the hillside, brought into the kitchen by a lead pipe. The residence of the preachers before this purchase had been here and there about the village, as each could find a house to suit him. Eastman, Cushman, and others lived on Pleasant Street. Mr. Drew, upon the purchase of the parsonage, was its first occupant. In this the succeeding preach- ers lived till it was sold in 1886. In 1869 the New Hampshire Conference was held at Lisbon, and many from here attended its various sessions. James M. Bean was sent here that year from the Lisbon Conference. In May, Charles Cowen, once stationed here, died at his residence in Lyman. His memory is fragrant. He " was highly valued as a citizen, a Christian, and a minister. In all these relations he was without reproach." Mr. Bean re- mained about one year.
Following him, came John Currier in 1870. Some money was raised for Sunday-school purposes, and a committee, consisting of George Abbott, George Gile, and J. C. Nourse, was appointed on the camp-meeting to be held at Bath. Asa Phillips, one of the hard workers for the church, died September 18, 1870, and Ezra Hale in October, 1871. Both these men were greatly missed, and yet the result of their sacrifices remains to bless the community. Douglas Robins was elected to the Laymen's Electoral Conference held in connection with the Annual Conference at Bristol in 1872. On May 18 of that year a committee on vestry was appointed, con- sisting of Moses K. Wilcomb, George Gile, and Charles H. Applebee.
George Beebe was sent here in 1872. His children still reside among us.
Mr. Ranlet, who did so much to build the church, was born at Meredith, N. H., moving to this town in 1839, and died in great peace at Plymouth, N. H., November, 1873. Awhile after coming here he and his family became identified with Methodism, and he was an official representative for this place when it was only a small section of contiguous circuits. As this village was likely to become a separate station, much opposition arose from the exist- ing church, and no doubt helped to create a determination on the
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History of Littleton.
part of Mr. Ranlet and others to erect a house of worship of their own denomination. He encountered many difficulties, but suc- ceeded nobly, as we have seen. After it was built and dedicated, some of those who aided by taking pews tried to turn the enter- prise toward Universalism, while others claimed its use for Spirit- ualism and other notions. But gradually the Methodists prevailed, and after a-season they were left in undisturbed control. Accu- sations of various kinds were made against Mr. Ranlet's business methods in the construction of the church, but his accounts were placed in the hands of John Sargent, a skilful accountant and a man of sterling integrity, for auditing and found to be correct. He was left with quite a debt on his hands at the end, owing to the failure of some to take pews who had signed an agreement to do so. As the work was finished, he rejoiced in the victory won. Important official church trusts were given him; his house was the home of the preachers; his hand was always open to meet the needs of the struggling society. Mrs. Ranlet, who died also at Plymouth, nine years later than her husband, was also a willing, devoted worker, always sustaining her husband in his consecration to the cause. The town honored him by sending him as a Free-soiler to the Legislature. Methodism in general stood almost a unit for the freedom of the blacks.1
Probably before 1868 a Ladies' Society had been formed, which has since been continued under one name and another. When the vestry was built, this society paid toward it $126.41, besides much more for its furnishings. It raised money and did work in various ways, its objective usually being parsonage demands.
In 1874 a new feature was introduced into the conference minutes, the Presiding Elders' Reports, in which is preserved much valuable historical material which could not otherwise be retained. Had such reports been made during the whole course of our conferences, invaluable history would have been preserved which is now forever lost. Thus Mr. Beebe is reported only in that place as having raised and expended $600 in church repairs.
In 1874 George W. Ruland was sent here. That year the Sun- day-school was formed into a Missionary Society under the Dis- cipline rules. The Young People's Society cleared $100 in a fair, the money being used for the new vestry. This was finally erected as it now stands on the north end of the church, the horse-sheds having been removed. The cost was about $1,100. It was opened
1 In the church in this place was a strong conservative element, with Elder Berkley at its head, that by no means gave countenance to the Garrison school of Abolitionists.
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for service Watch night, December 31, 1875, at which time John Currier, a former pastor, preached. The sum of $440 was also raised for repairs on the church and for old claims. On the 15th of February, 1875, the license of Charles J. Fowler as local preacher was renewed, he having been received in that capacity by letter. Union meetings were held under the direction of Rev. D. J. Potter, and were attended with some success. On October 2, 1875, Douglas Robins died, a man whose wise and persistent efforts to build up Methodism are shown by the official records of committees and various meetings for business. He was a native of this town, his family before him being Methodists, and attend- ants on that service whenever held in town. He was an active and persistent helper of Mr. Ranlet in building the church. For many years he sang in the choir. He was a class-leader, having charge of a class in that part of the town where he lived, on the well-known Robins farm. He was for years Justice of the Peace, marrying many couples and executing many legal papers. In 1861-1862 he was sent to the Legislature as Representative on the Democratic ticket. One of his last acts before his death was to pledge $50 towards the new vestry. A little more than a year later, his consort, Betsey F., also died. She was a strong, hope- ful Christian, and, like her husband, full of good works for the cause they loved. In February, 1877, the widow of Rev. Charles Cowen died at Lyman. Her life was full of noble deeds and heroic sacrifice for Christ, and of gospel triumphs. The same year, in March, Rev. George Beebe died in great peace at Bethlehem. During Mr. Ruland's pastorate the society bought a lot in the circle of cottage spaces at the Weirs Camp-meeting ground, and on it erected a small cottage, costing about $500. The lot is twenty by forty feet. When a camp-meeting was started at Bath, this church took part in it, and has also liberally patronized the one near Groveton. During 1875-1876 Mrs. George Gile did valu- able service as President of the Ladies' Aid Society. Following her, Mrs. Moses K. Wilcomb, Mrs. John W. Bickford, Mrs. George M. Curl, Mrs. Richard Stevens, and others have served. On Febru- ary 8, 1877, Cornelius N. Krook was licensed as a local preacher.
In 1877 N. M. D. Granger was appointed here. Ill health, which soon after his leaving here resulted in his death, made him physically unable to do as much work as his eager spirit longed to do. Throughout the autumn and winter of 1878 he was prostrated with severe sickness. The church was painted dur- ing his pastorate. In a Quarterly Conference, May 27, 1877, Alexander McIntire was approved as Sunday-school superinten-
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dent, the first record in this church of a disciplinary requirement now made every year. The Reform Club was permitted to hold a meeting Sunday night once a month in the church. In the beginning of the summer of 1877 it was voted to have but one preaching service a Sunday for a quarter ; then in September the Quarterly Conference voted to continue the same indefinitely, which custom has prevailed to the present. The pastor's salary had formerly been raised by subscription, and now, to facilitate this plan, the charge was divided into three sections with a col- lection in each, but, this method not working well, it was shortly abandoned. In September, 1878, a Sunday-school Teachers' Meeting was organized, and a few months later about two hundred new books were added to the library.
George A. Mclaughlin was stationed here in 1879. A large ingathering of souls was one result of his pastorate. He found the communicants, including probationers, to number one hundred and forty-one and left one hundred and sixty-two. A meeting of the pew-holders and of the society was called February 2, 1880, to take into consideration the project of repairing the church. The pew-holders generally surrendered the pews held by them, as so much toward remodelling the interior of the edifice. New pews were put in, a new furnace was placed under the house, it was beautifully frescoed, and other repairs done. During these repairs services were held part of the time in Union Hall. Mr. R. D. Rounsevel put in an elegant black walnut set of pulpit furniture in memory of his wife. By these various improvements the inside of the church was made very attractive. Ira Parker ably assisted the pastor in raising the money and conducting the changes, which altogether cost about $4,000. The Ladies' Society paid over $400 toward these improvements. April 20, 1880, it was voted not to rent the church for other purposes than religious services. At the same date a local preacher's license was granted E. C. Langford. Alexander Palmer was elected to the Lay Elec- toral College in 1880.
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