USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 31
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He was married, January 28, 1863, at Kirby, Vt., to Miss Lizzie P. Browne. They had five children.
On account of ill health Mr. Granger sustained a superannuated relation to the Vermont Conference from 1868 to 1871, devoting his time to farming, preaching, and the study of medicine. In 1871 he was transferred from the Vermont to the New England Conference, and in 1875 joined the New Hampshire Conference.
Mr. Granger's ministerial appointments in Vermont were as fol- lows : 1862, at Lyndon and Kirby ; in 1863, at Northfield Falls ; 1865, Royalton ; 1866, Cornish ; 1867, Waitsfield. As before men- tioned, in 1868 he retired from the effective ministry until his transfer to the New England Conference in 1871, when he was stationed at Blanford, Mass., where he remained two years. In 1873 he was ordained elder by Bishop I. W. Wiley at Lynn, Mass., and appointed to South Deerfield, Mass., from which place, after two years of faithful service, he was transferred to the New Hamp- shire Conference and stationed at Greenland. Here he labored with zeal and fidelity two years, and was then appointed to Little- ton, where he remained two years. His next appointment was Lisbon, where he closed his earthly ministry after one year of earnest work. True, he received one more earthly appointment, at Gilmanton, but to this he never went. A sudden cold, contracted when packing his goods, brought on typhoid pneumonia which ter- minated fatally, April 23, 1880. In the impressive words of his Presiding Elder at his funeral :
" His appointment at Gilmanton stood eleven days, when the Great Bishop, to whom we all reverently and submissively bow, cancelled it, and gave him one more transfer, the most fortunate and desirable of all, to the larger conference above, the City of the New Jerusalem."
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The Presiding Elder of his district thus sums up his char- acteristics : -
(1) " As a preacher he was fluent, instructive, and somewhat philo- sophical. (2) As a pastor, he was thoughtful, familiar, and polite. (3) As a reformer, he was active, but was more radical in practice than in profession. (4) As a husband and father, he was proud of his family, jealous of their reputation, and solicitous of their welfare. (5) As a friend, he was hospitable, social, ardent, and true. He died well ; not only sustained himself, but he sustained. He calmly, cheerfully submitted, and exhorted his family to do the same. Not a doubt or a fear annoyed him. His faith was clear, steady, and strong. Once more our holy Christianity is vindicated. He is added to the long list of witnesses who have proved 'this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.' Let us cherish his memory and imitate his virtues."
The Rev. George Asbury MeLaughlin, who followed Mr. Granger at this station, was born at Nashua, October 13, 1851. He was a. son of the Rev. John Mclaughlin of the Methodist persuasion who died at Charleston, S. C., in 1857 at the early age of thirty-four years. Springing from such stock, it is not strange that his widowed mother should have directed his education along lines calculated especially to fit him for the Methodist ministry. He was a student for a time at Exeter and afterward at Tilton Seminary and was graduated with the class of 1868. Among his classmates were A. S. Batchellor of this town and the Rev. M. V. B. Knox and the Rev. H. H. Haynes, who have presided over churches here, -one as pastor of the Methodist Church, the other as rector of All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church. He entered Wesleyan University in 1869 and was graduated in 1873. He ranked well for scholarship through his course. During the years he was occupied in acquiring an education, he in part made his way by teaching. In 1875 he married Mary E. Henshaw, of Middletown, Conn. Having pursued the conference course in theology, he was ordained a deacon at Dover in 1877 by Bishop Peck and as elder at Plymouth in 1877 by Bishop Foster. His as- signments have been : Franklin Falls, 1875-76, followed by those at Whitefield, Littleton, Haverhill, Mass. (Wesley Church), La- conia, Exeter ; supernumerary, 1891-1900 ; supply, 1901. While sustaining a supernumerary relation he was engaged as an evan- gelist with headquarters in Chicago. He was also editor of the ." Christian Witness " during this period, and engaged in general literary work; among his published works is a "Commentary on John."
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He is a man of fine physique, handsome features, and persuasive voice. As may be judged from his long continuance in evangeli- cal work, he is a fluent and eloquent preacher who reaches the hearts of his auditors.
Among the ministers assigned to Littleton, as a preacher and administrator the Rev. George Mitchell Curl has attained promi- nence. He was born in Elkhart, Ind., October 6, 1848, and when sixteen years of age, being then a resident of Iowa, enlisted in a regiment from that State serving in the War for the suppression of the Rebellion and gained a creditable record in the service. The war ended, he resumed his studies and entered Carroll College, Ia., which he left at the close of his sophomore year, and in 1870-71 was employed in teaching at Des Moines. Having decided to enter the ministry, he took the conference course and was ordained deacon in 1874 and elder in 1876.
Mr. Curl joined the Northwest Iowa Conference in 1873, and his first appointment was to Sioux Falls in that year. Subse- quently he was at Lake City, West Side, and in 1877 came to this State, where he supplied at New Ipswich three years and Antrim two years. In 1881 he joined this conference and was continued at Antrim; from thence he came to this town, where he remained two years (1882-83). His succeeding appointments have been at Claremont, Great. Falls, St. Johnsbury (Vermont Conference), Baker Memorial, Concord, and in 1895 he was appointed Presid- ing Elder of the Concord District. After a year he went to Law- rence (Garden Street). In 1900 he became Presiding Elder of the Manchester District, and in 1903-04 held the same position in the Concord District.
The Rev. Mr. Curl is a strong man in all respects, a good executive, and an excellent preacher. His mind is active, his memory retentive, his thought good, his expression vigorous. He aims at the mark and hits it. . He knows God and men and is in favor with both. He was a man before he became a preacher, and " is a workman that needeth not to be ashamed."
The pastor of this church in 1895 was Rev. Martin Van Buren Knox, who was born at Schroon Lake, N. Y., October 4, 1841, Possessing an alert, investigating mind, he early sought to acquire a thorough education. Having mastered what was attainable in the common schools of those days, he obtained the pecuniary means of securing a higher education by teaching and was thus engaged when war was begun by the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Young Knox was among the first in his section to enlist for the contest. He joined the Twenty-second Regiment
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New York Volunteer Infantry, a three months' organization. When his term expired, he again enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment of Volunteers from his native State and was mustered as a Corporal in Company E. Having been dis- charged, he was promoted and mustered as Second Lieutenant in the Twenty-third Regiment United States Colored Infantry in March, 1864. He was successively promoted First Lieutenant and Captain in the same regiment. While on duty in Texas, he was prostrated by sunstroke from the effects of which he has never entirely recovered. After a service of nearly four years he was honorably discharged in August, 1865. His military career was not void of hazard to life and limb, as he participated in the engagements at Suffolk, Bottom's Bridge, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna Bridge, Cold Harbor, siege of Petersburg, and the Mine. At the last-named engagement he was temporarily disabled by a bullet which would most likely have terminated his career had it not been warded off by the contents of his pocket. As it was, he was required to pass several weeks in the hospital before returning to duty.
After the war his studies were resumed at the Fort Edward Institute, New York, the Biblical Institute at Concord, the Seni- mary at Tilton, and in 1868 he entered Wesleyan University, but ill health compelled him to abandon this course before the end of his freshman year. But he did not relinquish the much desired object and finally obtained liis bachelor's degree at Baker Uni- versity, Kansas, in 1873. He then became Professor of Natural Sciences from 1873 to 1877, and obtained his A.M. in 1875. For a year and a half he supplied pulpits near Boston while he took a special course at Boston University, and that institution conferred upon him the degree of A.M. in 1879 and that of Ph.D. in 1882.
In the years between the time he relinquished the course at Wesleyan University and 1879, except the time devoted to his professorship, he supplied pulpits at Warner, East Tilton, and at Barton, St. Johnsbury, Fairlee, and Thetford in Vermont, the Meridian Street Church, East Boston, and Brookline, Mass. He was appointed to Claremont in 1879, where he remained two and a half years ; in 1882 he was sent for a three years' service to Lebanon, and in 1885 was appointed to this church.
In all these years he has been a diligent student and volumi- nous writer on natural science, theology, and temperance, - topics in which he is, both naturally and professionally, interested. Among these contributions may be mentioned " Calamites," " List of Kansas Mammalia," " Additions to Kansas Mammalia," " Cli-
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mate and Brains," all published in the " Proceedings of the Kansas Academy of Sciences." Two papers published in the " Alumni Proceedings of Boston University " were entitled " Religious Life of the Anglo-Saxon Race " and " World Preparation for the Ad- vent of Christianity." While at Claremont he prepared a history of Methodism in that town. More recent works from his pen are " A Winter in India and Malaysia," a volume of three hundred and six pages ; " Aboriginal Tribes of India," a pamphlet ; and a paper in the "Methodist Review " entitled " Turanian Blood in the Anglo-Saxon Race." In 1892 he was appointed President of the Red River Valley University at Wahpeton, N. D. His fond- ness for literary pursuits led him a few years after to resign this position, and he has since devoted his time to study and the literary art.
Dr. Knox is a man of large physique and dark complexion ; of a genial, fraternal spirit; in temperament vigorous and impres- sive ; in scholarship broad but not profound ; in mind versatile but not analytical ; a great lover of books, especially history and science ; a radical in temperance, an earnest advocate of woman's suffrage, and a great friend of the poor. He is very fond of out- door life and an expert fisherman. He has travelled extensively, making, among other journeys, a trip around the world, and his services are in demand as a lecturer on prehistoric man and other scientific and historical subjects. He is a social being, fond of good companionship; he keeps in touch with the people in public matters.
It would not be doing justice to the wholesome influence that . was wrought through the ministry of Dr. Knox were we to omit to mention the work accomplished by his talented and cultivated wife. She not only presides over the household with efficiency and grace, but shares with her husband the labors and burdens of the ministry in its various departments. A graceful and forceful writer, an eloquent speaker, she pleads the cause of temperance and woman's rights, and preaches religion " pure and undefiled " with the ardor of a prophet and the skill of an accomplished dialectician. She has been an untiring worker for every good cause, and an aid to the Doctor, whose beneficent influence has received just appreciation in every community in which their lot has been cast.
Rev. Perez Mason Frost was appointed pastor of this church in April, 1888, and he was successively reappointed in 1889 and 1890. He was a Methodist by right of inheritance as well as con- viction, being the son of Rev. Pickering Frost of the Vermont
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Conference. The son was born at Derby, Vt., in 1840. He was educated at the Wesleyan Seminary at Springfield, Vt., and in 1872 began the study of theology. His first assignment was as supply under the jurisdiction of the Vermont Conference at Athens in that State, 1872-73 ; by appointment at Proctorsville, 1874-75; then successively he was stationed at Putney, West Fairlee, and Windsor. Under the New Hampshire Conference, his appointments were at Nashua, 1884 ; Lebanon, Littleton, 1888- 90; Haverhill, Mass. (First Church), 1891-93; Newport, 1894 ; supernumerary from 1895 until his death, in 1899, which occurred at his home in Haverhill, Mass. In these last years his health was much broken, and his only ministerial labor was at Groveland, near his home, where he served as supply for several months.
He was a man of great good sense, thoughtful and earnest as a preacher, and all his pastoral work was faithfully discharged with an eye single to the great work he had early in life been commissioned to perform. The church and its cause had no more zealous servant than it found in Mr. Frost.
Following Mr. Frost came the Rev. Roscoe Sanderson, a man of many accomplishments and one who in his ministry was both loved and respected in an unusual degree. Born in Maine, his · ministry was begun there as a member of the Western Conference of that State in 1864. While under its jurisdiction he held appointments at Bath, Augusta, Lewiston, and Portland, and was a trustee of Wesleyan Seminary and Female College. In 1890 he joined the New Hampshire Conference and was appointed to Plymouth, Penacook, Littleton, Tilton, Claremont, and Suncook He is a trustee of the Conference Seminary at Tilton, and has had other official relations with that institution. The Rev. Mr. Sander- son is a man of fine personal presence and dignified bearing. Con- servative in thought, studious in habit, and careful in expression, his opinions are deliberately formed and tenaciously held. He is a stanch Methodist, a great admirer of the spirit and work of the fathers. His life is devoted to the interests of his church as he understands them, leaving outside matters to others. As a man, a citizen, and a preacher, he commands the respect of all.
Upon the retirement of the Rev. Mr. Knox the Rev. Charles Monroe Howard was appointed to the church in this town. The son of a Methodist minister of renown in this jurisdiction, he was disinclined to follow in the professional footsteps of his father ; but upon the completion of his academical studies at Exeter Academy, he was persuaded to change his mind in this respect, and took the theological course at Boston in 1883-86, and was ordained
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deacon in 1888 and elder in 1890. His ministerial career was brief, covering but twelve years, with six appointments ; but in these years he gave an ample test of his quality as a man, as a preacher of the word, and as a Christian that placed him high in the ranks of his denomination. He resided here four of these years, and it is no disparagement to his brethren who preceded and followed him to declare that in all the qualities that combine to make the ideal clergyman he has had no superior, possibly no equal, in the Methodist Society. He bore in his personal appear- ance and demonstrated by every act that in very truth he held a divine commission to lead his flock heavenward. His manner was benign and modest to the degree of self-effacement ; he was delicate in health, sensitive in spirit, plain but saintly in personal appearance. His mind was clear, well balanced, analytical ; his style calm, earnest, and scholarly ; he always had a point to make and made it ; his nature was deep, conscientious, and persistent. He was an independent thinker and in a quiet way was remark- ably successful in leading others to adopt his conclusions. He was a quiet, positive Christian gentleman of the highest order. His ministry in Littleton was a great success, and no preacher in this town ever won a larger circle of loyal friends.
After leaving this town he was appointed to one of the churches of his denomination in Lawrence, where his health broke down. He then went to Bethlehem, where he strove against impending fate to continue the work of the Master, but finally was persuaded to try a radical change of climate, his family and friends hoping for possible benefit from such a course, and went to California, where he passed away on Tuesday, March 17, 1903. When the intelligence of his death reached this town, arrangements were at once made for a memorial service which was held at the Metho- dist meeting-house on Sunday, March 22. The Rev. T. E. Cramer spoke for the church ; the Rev. O. S. Baketel, Presiding Elder, for the conference ; the Rev. E. C. Langford, as a personal friend, and the Rev. Mr. Chutter for the community. The ceremony was largely attended and very impressive, and in every way worthy of the knightly soul it commemorated.
The Rev. Thomas Whiteside came to this church upon the departure of the Rev. Mr. Howard. He was a young man of dig- nified address and scholarly attainments. Born in Ireland, he acquired a liberal education and early manifested a purpose to enter the ministry. Joining the New Hampshire Conference, he was sent to Antrim in 1889 as supply and appointed to the same station the two following years. He was then successively located
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at Exeter and Franklin Falls, before being assigned to this town in April, 1898, where he remained until 1900. He was then sent to Portsmouth, where he still remains and is highly appreciated by his people. One who knows him well thus describes him : " He is every inch a minister, dignified, studious, careful, and earnest. He has fine qualities of head and heart. While not lacking in social qualities, the instincts of the scholar are especially noticeable. He makes friends slowly, but holds them tenaciously. He is ever on the alert to advance the interests of the kingdom and is a most conscientious worker in the cause he loves. He has a record for good works in the lives of men."
As a sermonizer his chief characteristic is that he believes his hearers are entitled to his best thought after laborious and intel- ligent investigation of the subject he may discuss, rather than to a mélange of possibly high-sounding but indifferent platitudes. Accordingly his sermons are well and carefully reasoned out, and presented in plain but appropriate language and logical form, and are instructive if not always soothing to the mind wearied by worldly cares and business vexations.
The present pastor of the society, the Rev, Thomas Edmund Cramer, came here in 1900 and is the first to remain longer than four years. He was born in Johnstown, Pa., October 4, 1864, the son of a Methodist minister, and grandson of a Methodist class leader. After graduating from the high school of his native city, he passed two years (1886-88) at Alleghany College, Meadville, Pa., and the two following years in Ohio Wes- leyan University, Delaware, Ohio, graduating in 1890. He then took the theological course at Boston University, and having com- pleted this. took a special course at the Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, N. J. He was ordained deacon in 1892, and elder, April, 1896. For three years ending in 1894 he was assistant pastor of St. John's Church, South Boston, when he joined the conference of this State and was located at Hillsborough Bridge and East Deering in 1894-96; Hillsborough Bridge, 1897; Somersworth, 1898-99; then in this town. In 1901-2 he was granted leave of absence for special study, October to April, the Rev. Silas E. Quimby supplying during his absence.
The Rev. Mr. Cramer has held the position of assistant secre- tary of the New Hampshire Conference since 1894; was Secretary of the New Hampshire Conference Epworth League in 1894-95, and president of the Manchester District Epworth League in 1896-97. He has not been an extensive writer or publisher, but has contributed articles to various denominational publications,
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among them sermons entitled " Abundant Life in Christ," Homi- letic Review, February, 1897 ; " A Personal Message and a Per- sonal Response," Home Review, 1898; " Christ's Coming," Zion's Herald, December 19, 1900, and " The Secret of an Earnest Life," Zion's Herald, July 22, 1903.
He married, September 5, 1894, Jenny C., daughter of Rev. G. F. Love, of New Brunswick, N. J. They have one child, Martha, born at Hillsborough Bridge, January 5, 1896. Beside the official positions of an ecclesiastical character referred to, he was clerk in the post-office at Johnstown, Pa., from 1880 to 1886, and for a time after graduation, assistant postmaster in the same office in 1890-91.
The Rev. Mr. Cramer is a man of reserved spirit and quiet manners, devoted to his family, his friends, and his church ; pos- sessing an occult vein of humor not generally recognized. His written sermons are thoughtful, systematic, and scholarly ; he is energetically persistent in his work, and succeeds in bringing things to pass. His church rather than the general public is best qualified to estimate liis work. His administrative capacity is large ; when he was first placed over the society, it was encumbered with a large debt which under his pastorate has been discharged.
A Sunday-school was the first organization to follow the estab- lishment of the church in 1848. It has been successful from the start, and its prosperity has kept well in line with that of the church. Its early records have disappeared, and the faulty mem- ory of man is our only reliance for much of the brief account of its history that follows.
The school was organized by the Rev. Sullivan Holman while the church worshipped in the old Granite Hall connected with the Granite House. The first superintendent was Levi F. Ranlet. During the first few months the membership was something like thirty pupils with five or six teachers, among whom are recalled the pastor who taught a Bible class of adults; Laura Sargent, Mrs. Prusia Jackson, Calvin J. Wallace, and for a time Nancy M. Abbott, a sister of the late George Abbott; she was also a member of the first choir. After the society took possession of its church, the school received a new impetus and was not long in doubling its membership. About 1853 Mr. Ranlet resigned the superintendence.
Calvin J. Wallace became his successor and continued to hold the position many years. Under his super- vision it increased in numbers, and it is probable that by 1860 its membership average was near its maximum. The school was held in the body of the church at the time, and not infrequently
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the classes were compelled to occupy pews that were inconven- iently near each other.
In 1867 Charles H. Applebee was chosen superintendent and continued in office by successive elections for three years. The records are fairly complete from 1877 to the present time, and show that Mrs. Charles Taylor was superintendent from 1877 to 1881, when she was succeeded by Mr. Applebee, who in turn was succeeded the following year by A. E. Joslyn. Numerous changes were made from 1883, when J. S. Brownlow held the position, to 1894, the occupants being George W. Cowen, George C. Austin, C. W. Williams, two terms ; Henry O. Jackson, two terms ; R. C. Langford, Mrs. J. E. Robins, Mrs. Ira Parker, two terms ; Dr. George F. Abbott, Mrs. L. H. Parker, six terms ; A. W. Buffington, E. C. Langford, two terms, and John T. Lytle in 1903. The school started with a small library at a time when books were few in the town and those difficult to obtain by the general reader, and the Sunday-school library was the only available source of supply of reading matter for many boys and girls. Obviously it was com- paratively of greater importance in those early days than now when books are a drug in the market. The collection has been constantly increased, and at present they constitute a creditable Sunday-school library.
There have been several young people's societies connected with the church during its history, but all have been merged in the Epworth League, which is not a mere local auxiliary organization, but covers the land with hosts of eager workers in the cause of Methodism. The local chapter was established in February, 1891, when it was officered as follows : Charles H. Stoddard, president ; Wilfred O. Smith, secretary ; and Ethel Aldrich, treasurer. The members who have held the position of president since have been : Wilfred O. Smith, 1891-92; Stephen Mann, 1893; W. O. Smith, 1894; Elmer L. Winslow, one term in 1895 ; Mrs. Jennie Bedell, four terms, 1895-96 ; Eben W. Cole, two terms, 1897-98; Alice Eastman, the same, 1898-99; E. W. Cole again, 1899; E. C. Langford, a term in 1900; G. C. Cass, a term in the same year ; and Alice Eastman, two terms in 1901; A. W. Buffington, two terms; G. A. Veazie, two terms ; A. M. Higgins, one term, and Mrs. S. C. Cass, the present incumbent.
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