USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 38
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Cambridge City Cemetery, Mass., where his dust now lies. His children were Lucy Ann, Jeremiah Eames, Sarah Maria, Andrew Erarts, Lois Adeline, and Caroline Susan."
Another son of Littleton who early resolved to enter the minis- try, but whose lines were cast in more pleasant places than were those of Andrew Rankin, Jr., was John Gile, Jr., who was born in the month of January, 1817, at the home of his parents, John and Lydia, located on the Lancaster Road about two miles west of Lit- tleton Village, and for many years known, especially to the people of northern New Hampshire and Vermont who were accustomed to market their farm products at Portland, as the " Gile Tavern."
Mr. Gile received his first lessons, preparatory to a collegiate course, from Harry Hibbard at Waterford, Vt., in the summer of 1831, and at the neighboring town of Concord in the autumn of the same year. In 1832 he was placed at a school at New Hampton, conducted under the auspices of the Baptist denomina- tion of Christians, and of which his father was a benefactor. He remained there until 1835, when he entered Union College at Schenectady, N. Y., and graduated from that institution in 1839. He studied theology with Rev. James Brownlee, of Staten Island, N. Y.
He had from early age, agreeably to the wishes of his parents, entertained a fixed purpose of making the Christian ministry his life work, and upon leaving college lost no time in availing him- self of the highest facilities in preparing himself for his work.
In 1843 he was called to the charge of a parish at the town of Setauket, on Long Island ; and thus, in the period of twelve years from the close of the winter school in the Farr District, he had graduated with honors from one of the most conservative colleges in the country, completed his preparatory studies for the ministry, and had been called to the charge of an opulent parish, two or three hours distant from the cities of Brooklyn and New York ; and there he remained in charge till the day of his disappearance.
" In the month of September, 1849, a friend of Mr. Gile, living in the city of New York, and knowing his fondness for aquatic sports, presented him with a small sail-boat, which was delivered by vessel at a wharf about three miles from the parsonage. On the 29th day of that month Mr. Gile took his wife and child with him in his carriage and drove to the place where the boat was, having previously with his own hands provided it with mast and sail. Then, kissing his wife and child 'Good-morning,' he told them to drive home and he would take the boat round by water, and they should see who would get home first. When they re-
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turned to the parsonage, no husband, no father was there to greet them, and no boat in sight. A look up and down the beach was taken, no boat was to be seen, and the disappointment was very great. An hour passed, and yet no boat to be seen. Disap- pointment deepened into anxiety. Another hour passed and yet no boat. The neighbors were informed, and a hurried look was made by telescope up and down the coast and over the water, but no boat to be seen. Anxiety deepened into consternation. Horsemen cantered up and down the beach and out upon the highlands, with telescope in hand, gazing upon the distant coast and dangerous places of navigation, as boatmen searched the sea, but all to no effect. Not a piece of the boat could be found, not a word of tidings from the missing man.
" The shades of evening approached. The parish was alarmed ; the people gathered upon the streets in groups, discussing the one absorbing question, ' What has become of Mr. Gile ? Is it possible that he has been wrecked ? What more can we do ?'
" All night long beacon lights were kept burning, and when the succeeding day had dawned the search was renewed in every direction upon land and sea, but yet no trace of the boat or its individual occupant could be found. It is certain that he started down the coast towards the parsonage with his toy, for a woman, occupying a house near the beach, had her attention called to a small sail-boat coming down the shore with unusual rapidity for so small a craft. She saw a man step out upon the beach and place rocks in his boat as for ballast, resume his place standing by the mast, with sail to the breeze, and move rapidly away in the direction of the parsonage.
" This is the end. Since that hour it is not known that human eyes have rested upon the manly form of John Gile." 1
Mention was made of the loss of Mr. Gile in the pulpits of New York, and rewards were published in the papers for the recovery of his body or any information whatever as to the immediate cause of his loss, but no word of information was ever received.
The funeral services were held at the church where he had presided on the Sunday preceding his loss, and subsequently a creditable memorial stone was placed to his memory in the parish cemetery.
His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Worcester at Littleton a few weeks after his disappearance, from the text (Gen. v. 24), " And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him.".
1 Written by Mrs. Gile.
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The Rev. Mr. Gile preached one sermon in his native town in the fall of 1847, - the only occasion on which his aged parents had an opportunity of listening to him in public discourse. The text was " Seed-time and harvest shall come."
Mr. Gile married, in 1839, Helen Maria Clute, a descendant of one of the Hollandish families which settled in New Amsterdam in the early part of the seventeenth century, and at about the same time that her husband's English ancestors settled at Massachusetts Bay.
In the house built by Prescott White in 1832, which was for many years the home of Marquis L. Goold, was born, on the 27th of January, 1839, Henry Burnham Mead, the son of Francis K. and Clara A. Burnham Mead. His parents were people of more than ordinary intelligence and character, who believed it their highest duty to educate their son, and thus enable him to make his way in the world fully equipped for usefulness. To this end they gave him all the educational advantages within their means. He took the course at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1859-1861, in 1862 entered Yale and was graduated with the class of 1866. He subsequently received the degree of A. M. from his Alma Mater. While in college, he was a diligent student and regardful of the rules of the institution. At his graduation his rank in scholarship entitled him to the honors of membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
His theological studies were pursued at Yale Theological Semi- nary, from which he was graduated in 1869. He was licensed to preach by the New Haven Central Association at Orange, Conn., June 10, 1868, and the two following years was acting pastor at Falls Village, Conn. ; licentiate at Andover, 1871, where he took a special course, and was ordained pastor over the church at Ferryville, Conn., June 7, 1871. His subsequent pastorates were at Westbrook, Me., 1871-1874; Borough Church, Stonington, Conn., 1880-1886 ; First Church, Stockbridge, Mass., 1886-1887 ; Union Church, Jacksonville, Fla., 1887-1888 ; Brookfield, Conn., 1889-1893 ; Scotland, Conn., 1893-1903.
His last pastorate was at Scotland. His decease occurred June 13, 1903. His sermons displayed the scholarship and knowledge of Bible history for which he was noted, and, without pretending to eloquence, claimed the attention of his audience and carried conviction to candid minds. He had pronounced literary tenden- cies and had been a frequent contributor to various journals. He wrote poetry, some of it of a high order of excellence, which has made the rounds of journalistic popularity. He had, however,
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an excess of modesty which prevented him from collecting and putting into a volume these emanations of his fancy. His only published work is " The Wonderful Counsellor," from the press of A. D. F. Randolph & Co. in 1893. It is a collection contain- ing all the known spoken words of Jesus Christ with marginal annotations, compiled for the special use of members of the Chris- tian Endeavor society. It was issued in a pocket edition, and has had a large sale, rendering his name familiar to thousands.
Mr. Mead married in 1871 Harriet E. Brown. They had four children, Charles Francis, Harry Brown, Paul Emerson, and Clara Burnham.
By entering the Congregational ministry, Nelson Farr Cobleigh furnished a strong illustration of the influence of heredity. He sprang from a line of deacons in that church that has continued for almost a century, and its creed and polity have become a family inheritance that so far has shown no tendency to disappear in the present generation.
Deacon Marshall D. Cobleigh lived nearly all his life on a farm near the Slate ledge in the Hastings neighborhood. His wife was a daughter of Deacon Noah Farr, and this son, Nelson Farr Cob- leigh, was born on the 12th of October, 1844. He attended the school in the Fitch District and one or more terms at a private school in the village. He then repaired to Kimball Union Acad- emy. From there he passed to Amherst College, and was gradu- ated with the class of 1868. As a student he was punctual in the discharge of every duty imposed by the government of the institutions which he attended. He was a serious-minded youth, not brilliant in the class-room, but thoroughly reliable, and in the habit of adhering to his task until he had mastered it. His col- lege career finished, he took the prescribed course at Union Theo- logical Seminary in New York, and was ordained to the ministry at Marshfield, Vt., August 16, 1871. Before ordination he had supplied the pulpit at Marshfield for more than a year. He was pastor at McIndoes Falls, Vt., for five years from September, 1877. In 1882 he removed to Washington Territory, and was located at Walla Walla for nine months, at which time he was appointed General Missionary for Eastern Washington and Ore- gon, with headquarters at Walla Walla. His jurisdiction ex- tended over a territory of magnificent distances, covering one hundred thousand square miles. His labors were arduous and incessant, but devotedly discharged in the face of what would to most others have been great discouragements, but which to him were added incentives to labor in the cause he had espoused. He
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had inherited a frail constitution, which, however, had been care- fully strengthened until he probably regarded his health as estab- lished on a firm foundation. The long journeys and privations incident to a thinly settled country at length broke his strength. From one of these tours he returned to his home, stricken with typhoid fever. From this malady his death ensued, and thus his earthly career was ended November 21, 1887.
Mr. Cobleigh was of medium height, of rather slim physique, but of dignified carriage and mien. His pale face was illumined by dark kindly eyes that indicated a compassionate and thoughtful soul. In appearance and conduct, in faith and works, he was a minister of the school that once governed New England, - not the unyielding theologians of an early day, but the fathers of the people who came into influence and power when the rigorous rule of the sectarians had been relaxed for a milder sway. He was eminently successful in each of his pastorates. They were attended by spiritual awakenings, unity of spirit, and generous gifts for the improvement of the material affairs of the parish. When he went to Marshfield, he found the church few in numbers and destitute of everything, but faith, that is deemed essential in a religious
organization. He remained there seven years, in which the material conditions of the town were practically unchanged, but in that time the membership was quadrupled, unified, and turned into an instrument of personal and public good that wrought a spiritual revolution in the town. A church was built, well furnished, equipped with a bell, and the entire cost liquidated. At McIndoes Falls events had operated to divide the society, and neglect had wrought its work. He infused a new spirit of hope, and the old feeling of brotherly love gradually came back to a united membership. The debts of the church were paid, the house of worship repaired and much improved, and in his last two years of service was the largest average attendance. In a note he char- acteristically says that " wherever he had worked, his people had been very kind to him." The same results followed his career on the Pacific slope, where the people not only respected him for his manliness, but loved him for his many Christian virtues. His untimely death carried sorrow to many a home, not only in his native town but in those where he had endeared himself by self- denying labor for the church he loved and for which he gave his life.
The last and youngest of the natives of the town to enter the ministry of the Congregational denomination is Charles Dunklee Milliken, a son of the minister whose fortune it was to preside
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over the church in this town for a longer time than any other pastor who has held the position. The son was born October 12, 1863; educated in our schools and at St. Johnsbury Academy, and was graduated from Dartmouth College in the class of 1887. The ministry was not his first choice as a life work. He developed a natural inclination to a business life, and was thus engaged for two years after his graduation from Dartmouth. Deepening religious convictions and a quickened sense of duty at length led him to prepare for the profession which had been adorned by his father. In 1892 he entered Yale Theological Seminary, was licensed to preach by the Hartford Central Association April 6, 1891, and sub- sequently ordained as pastor of the Pilgrim Church, Canaan, Conn.
A few years after the condition of his health became such that it was deemed wise that he should seek a milder climate. He accordingly removed to California in 1897, and now has a pas- torate at Cupertino near Los Angeles in that State.
Mr. Milliken is now in the prime of life, with a disposition to make his future helpful to his fellow-men, and the ability to aid the cause of the Church of Christ and advance his kingdom on earth. In native endowment and scholarly acquirements he much resembles his revered father, while his social qualities are an in- heritance from his mother, - a woman of many accomplishments, whose Christian influence is still felt in this community.
The town has given a large delegation of her sons to the min- istry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Early conditions, both educational and ecclesiastical, were such that a call to this profes- sion must have been as emphatic and unmistakable as was that of Saul of Tarsus to have persuaded young men to leave the plough and workshop and surmount the difficulties that lay along the pathway to the ministry in the early years of the last century. Some who heard the voice would not be denied. Of such Dr. Cobleigh, Dr. Robins, and the Rev. W. C. Knapp rose to eminence as clergymen and as educators. They were preceded, however, by two men of different attainments.
Lindsey Wallace is still remembered by some old residents, though more than eighty years have passed since he was a resident of the town. The family for a hundred years have had their repre- sentatives here and in the surrounding towns of Bethlehem, Fran- conia, Landaff, Lisbon, and Dalton. It has always stood high for probity and ability, and has been prominent in the Methodist and Free Baptist denominations. Of this class may be mentioned such men of the family as Phineas, Jonas, and Luther of Beth- lehem, David H. of Franconia, George of Dalton, and Calvin J.
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and Amos P. of this town. Lindsey about the time he attained his majority went to Berwick, Me., where he continued to reside until in old age he made his home with his sons in Rochester. He was ordained as a local Methodist preacher, and in that capacity supplied pulpits in Eastern Maine for a number of years. He was a very devout man, and more noted as a preacher for his persuasive than for his reasoning powers. He was a constant attendant on the devotional meetings of his church, and his services in this respect were highly regarded. He made no claim to the possession of a high order of ability, but his kind- ness, sincerity, and efforts to serve his Lord and Master endeared him to the people among whom he spent his life. He preached in this town and in Dalton on several occasions some sixty years ago, and those who heard and knew him always spoke of him with great respect, both as a man and as a Christian.
The most distinguished son of the town who joined the minis- terial ranks was Nelson Ebenezer Cobleigh, born November 24, 1814. He was the son of Erastus and grandson of John, who lived at the North End of the town. The Cobleigh family has filled a considerable space in the town's history. They were strong men who were factors in the community. The early man- hood of Nelson E. Cobleigh was spent in efforts to secure an education, in which he displayed the same energy and persever- ance that characterized his after life.
He began his preparatory studies in Newbury, Vt., in the spring of 1838, where he evinced a strong desire for scholastic acquire- ments. In 1839 he entered Welseyan University, Middletown, Conn., where for four years he struggled against poverty, working his way through college, graduating in 1843 with the first honors of his class. In 1844 he joined the New England Conference, and commenced that earnest life-work of the ministry. For nine years he labored assiduously and successfully in the active ministry. In consequence of his wife's failing health he resigned the ministry in 1853, and removed from Boston to the State of Illinois to ac- cept the chair of professor of ancient languages in M'Kendree College. The following year he was elected to the same pro- fessorship in Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis. In 1857 he was recalled to Lebanon, Ill., by an election to the presidency of M'Kendree College, and entered upon the duties of the office early in 1858. In this position those sterling qualities of mind and heart found wider scope to display the true elements of a Christian manhood, which he so fully professed. His unwearied watchful- ness, energy, and fine executive abilities soon brought the college
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from a condition of chaos and financial bankruptcy to a state of order and success. In the fall of 1863 he was called to the editorship of " Zion's Herald," Boston, Mass. In this depart- ment of effort he devoted himself with unusual zeal and success, preaching, lecturing, writing, " in labors more abundant than they all." In 1867 he relinquished his place as editor because of failing health, the result of overwork, in a sharp and vigorous climate. After a brief rest he sought what his broken down nervous system demanded, - a milder region. The trustees of the East Tennessee Wesleyan University at Athens, Tenn., pro- posed and elected him as president of their institution. In this sit- uation he labored as his growing strength would permit, and under his fostering hand the university grew and prospered. As an edu- cator, Dr. Cobleigh had few equals. At the General Conference of 1872 he was elected to the editorial chair of the "Methodist Advocate," Atlanta, Ga., in which office he labored with marked zeal and ability up to the very period of his death. Dr. Cob- leigh was loved and honored by his brethren in the ministry. His wisdom, firmness, mildness, and broad Christian charity gave® him peculiar fitness to be a representative man, and as such he was a member of the General Conferences of 1864, 1868, and 1872. He was in the truest and highest sense a great and good man. His mind was of a peculiar type, possessing great power and penetration, thoroughly trained and disciplined. He was an intellectual giant, possessed of a simple but mighty Christian faith ; his piety was deep and uniform. Having devoted himself fully to God, the church, and humanity, he labored with equal cheerfulness and zeal in every position to which duty called him. When appreciated and honored, he betrayed no vanity ; when neglected, maligned, or persecuted, he manifested no resentment. He was ever modest and unassuming, wise and sagacious in all that lie said. In his manner and spirit there was the gentleness of the lamb, but in the defence of truth and maintenance of prin- ciple the bravery of the lion. As a preacher, he was earnest and logical, pathetic and powerful ; as a writer, pure and simple, ver- satile and graceful ; as a friend, kind and generous, sympathetic and faithful -none could know him intimately but to respect and admire, revere and love him. In the church to which he be- longed he was a strong pillar. His earnest, devoted piety, his meekness of spirit, his purity of character, his devotion to prin- ciple, his adherence to what he believed right, his zeal for right- eousness, and his ability as an ambassador of God, disarmed his opponents of much sharp criticism, and caused his enemies to
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REV. N. E. COBLEIGH, D.D., LL.D.
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respect and honor him. Thus, like Moses, with "eye undimmed and strength unabated," he ceased at once to work and live.
The Robins family has been closely identified with Methodism in Littleton. Among the early converts to its faith was Joseph Robins, Jr., whose father was a Universalist who could give a reason for the faith that was in him. The son was educated in the common schools and at Concord, Vt., Academy, then under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Hall, one of the most noted educators of his time. Young Robins had decided to enter the ministry, and after pursuing the required course of study was licensed to preach by the Maine Conference at Gorham in 1829. He was stationed at Atkinson, where his health completely failed, and he returned to this town. Here he lived the remainder of his days, pursuing the life of a husbandman and preaching occasionally in this and adjoining towns. He was a man of the highest integrity, and respected in all the walks of life ; his usefulness was limited, but not destroyed, by ill health, which clung to him until the end.
William Carter Knapp is descended from a family that was the fifth to move into the town of Lyman. On the mother's side his family was among the early settlers of his native town. He was born in Littleton March 10, 1833. His father, was Capt. Amasa Knapp of the old State militia ; his mother Sarah, daughter of Thomas Carter of the West End of the town ; both were of the Methodist denomination. William C. Knapp was graduated from the Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., attended the Garrett Biblical Institute, but did not finish the course, and was a teacher of note, superintendent of schools, president of Grand Prairie Seminary, and professor of natural science, Hedding College, and a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, all in Illinois, and was distinguished in each of these callings. Some years since he retired from professional life, and has since resided at Normal, Ill. He has lectured with success upon Astronomy and other subjects in Natural Science. He is a man of fine ability and acquirements, and a clear and eloquent preacher of the Gos- pel. His first wife was a daughter of the late Joel Bronson, of this town.
In 1859 a general revival occurred in this town in which many persons were converted who not only strengthened the churches but added much to the religious and moral upbuilding of the com- munity. Among those who were converted at this time were three young men, sons of farmers, whose ancestors had settled in the town in the closing years of the eighteenth century ; they were Joseph E. Robins, Charles W. Millen, and Warren C. Applebee.
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The parents of each had attended the Methodist Church from the time of its dedication in 1850.
The eldest of these young men was Mr. Applebee, born in 1842. His father was " well-to-do," but thought a young man could en- gage in no better business than that of agriculture, and that about all the education required was reading, writing, and enough mathematics to enable one to cast interest at the legal rate. The young man thought otherwise, and his mother, being of the same opinion, gave him substantial assistance in his efforts to obtain an education and prepare for the ministry. He acquired an aca- demic education at Northfield Seminary, at St. Johnsbury, Vt., Academy, and Newbury, Vt., Conference Seminary. During this time he taught school each winter, and continued the same voca- tion after he had begun his theological studies at Boston Univer- sity. He was ordained a deacon in 1866, and an elder in 1868. From 1865 to 1878 he was connected with the New Hampshire Conference. After a year occupied in study at Boston University,1 he joined the East Maine Conference, and continued under its jurisdiction until 1883, when he became a member of the New England Southern, and was stationed at Chatham one year and Provincetown two years. In 1886, at his own request, he was lo- cated in Maine, and subsequently was engaged in his calling in Kansas, Indiana, and perhaps other sections of the West. He resides in Massachusetts, having retired from the itinerant work of his profession. As a preacher he is by nature specially con- servative. He travels the well-known paths of the old-time oratory of some of his predecessors, seldom venturing upon new methods. In speech or doctrine his pronouncements are sometimes startling ; he is not a man to awaken enthusiasm, but commends himself to the members of his congregation with plain statements of doctrine and discipline.
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