History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 166

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1520

USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 166
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 166

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Rev. Samuel Wood and the selectmen. It must be remembered that this committee supervised the whole town of Boscawen, including Webster. Rev. Mr. Price took a lively interest in all the educational affairs of the town, and his influence was deeply and widely felt among teachers and pupils. From this time there was a marked improvement in the schools. It was found that strength of nerve and muscle was not the only qualification needful for the teacher, and the absolute despotism of the ferule passed away.

The committee voted to visit the schools "the second Tuesday after their commencement and the Tuesday preceding their close, and to this end public notice shall be given the Sabbath before such visit."

The following is Mr. Price's report of the first visi- tation of the committee under the new law:

"1809, May 16, No. 1 .- Tnesday the committee, according to public notice, visited the school district No. 6, Little Hill, under the care of Miss Mary Gerrish,-32 children. Books, Spelling book, Preceptor, Geography, Grammar, Bible & Catechism.

" May 30, No. 7 .- Tuesday A.M. visited School at White Plain under the care of Miss Sally Pillsbury,-25 children. Books, Spelling book, Testament & Catechism. The scholars young, but ambitious and very observant of order.

"No. 3 .-- Same day A.M. visited School on Corser Hill under the care of Miss Phehe Thurston .- 50 children, 35 girls. Books, Columbian Orator, Geography, Testament, Catechism. Some writers, but none in Grammar.

"June 13, No. 9 .- Visited Long Pond School, under the care of Miss Mary Parker,-37 children. Books, Spelling B., one in Webster's 3d P. & one in the Bible. No Grammar, Geog'y or Catechism, or writers. A pleasant number of schollars who bave been under the disadvantages of poor instructors, a miserable government & want of books.

"Same day, P.M., No. 8 .- Visited Bashan School, under the care of Miss Abigail Allen,-13 children. Books, Spelling Bo., Webster's 3 P. & Catechiem. None in Grammar, Geog'y or writing; the School well- governed & the children ambitions. * *

* *

"We found in the several schnols 268 children, as yet not accomme- dated with suitable school-books; but generally well provided with capable Instructresses & under that order & tuition which promises much advantage to the children & great satisfaction to their Parents, & at once shews a very wise appropriation of property for the education of children under the sanction of law.

"ERENT PRICE, " Scribe."

In this report of summer schools, arithmetic does not appear in the list of text-books. " Mental arith- metic was not introduced until about 1830. Its in- troduction produced great excitement. Many of the parents opposed it on the ground that it would con- fuse the minds of the children and produce insanity."

Reports of two of the winter schools will be sub- joined, and then we will pass on to a later period,-

"Jan. 15, No. 3 .- Visited School Corser Hill, -61 children : 20 girls, Ist Class. 15 in Geog.

41 boys. Benjamin Gookin, Master.

2d C. 6 in Webster 3 P.

3d C. 12 in Preceptor.

4th C. 4 in Testament.

5th C. 11 in Spelling, 4 Syl. well.

6th C. 9 in 4 sylables.

1 in 2 sylables. 2 in letters.

" 20 writers, 10 in arithmetic & 3 in Grammar. School well arranged & governed.

" Feb. 14th, No. 6 .- Visited School Little IIill,-52 Schol. Well ar- ranged in a new and commodious School-house, under the care of Mr. Smith.

1 class. 3 in 2 sylables.

2 4 in 3 4

3 4 in Poetical lessons, Spell. B. well.

4 10 in Preceptor.

5 4 in Englishr Reader, well.

6 27 in Geog. ; some too fast, others slow. 17 parsed grammar.

33 Spelt in Dict'y-Girls better than boys. 4 in Arithmetic. 26 in writing.

"This School promises fair."

For many years Rev. Edward Buxton was a mem- ber of the superintending committee of the town and labored indefatigably for the improvement of the schools. He did much to secure a uniformity of text- books throughout the town. Under the direction of Mr. Price, select schools had been kept on Corser Hill, taught by students from Dartmouth College. Mr. Buxton revived this practice, and for a long series of years a flourishing school was held every autumn. These schools did not a little toward raising the standard of attainments among the scholars of Webster, putting within reach of many, advantages which otherwise they could not have enjoyed.

In many, if not all, of the districts of the town, some weeks of private school are often added to the term of public instruction. Some of the districts show their appreciation of a good teacher by securing the same one for several terms in succession.

In 1867 the town voted to raise one hundred and fifty dollars, in addition to the amount required by law, for educational purposes.

A word is due in this connection to the musical culture of Webster. Deacon Enoch Little taught the first singing-school not far from the beginning of this century, in the house now owned by Heury L. Dodge. He said of himself, "I knew but little ahout music, but I guess I knew more at that time than any other man in town." He was leader of the choir, which numhered about sixty persons. His son Enoch was afterwards a successful teacher and leader.

Twenty-five or thirty years ago Webster numbered among its musicians many of rare excellence and sweetuess of voice. Notable among these were Mrs. F. B. Sawyer, Mrs. George Little, Mrs. Moses Trus- sell, E. W. Burbank, all of whom have joined the choir above. Others who have taken deep interest in music, or have been 'teachers of singing-schools, are J. P. Farmer, now of Glyndon, Minn .; D. E. Bur- bank, now of Norwich, Vt .; C. C. Coffin, Esq., of Boston ; J. L. Gerrish, H. F. Pearson, J. B. Chase and Mrs. H. H. Gerrish.

CHAPTER III. WEBSTER-(Continued).

Biographical-List of Town Officers from 1860 to 1885.

Biographical .-- The following biographical sketches are prepared, to a great extent, from Mr. Coffin's his- tory, with his permission.

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WEBSTER.

ABRAHAM BURBANK, eldest son of David Bur- bank, and grandson of Captain Moses Burbank, one of the early settlers of Boscawen, was one of the prominent business men of Webster. He was born November 16, 1781; learned the trade of blacksmith of his father, and carried on blacksmithing with .Jesse Little, on Little Hill. He was an adept in making axes, giving them a shape much liked by the wood- choppers at the beginning of the century, and of such keen temper that "Abe Burbank's axes" were widely known and had a ready sale.

With his son, Friend L. Burbank, he became pro- prietor of the mills on Blackwater River, of a mill on Knight's Meadow Brook and of one on Pond Brook. At one time nearly every mill in Boscawen was em- ployed in sawing his lumber, which was sent down the Merrimack River to Lowell and Boston. He was greatly respected by his fellow-citizens and was re- peatedly elected to represent them in the Legislature. He was a cheerful supporter of religious and chari- table organizations, and alive to all interests affecting the public welfare. He died in 1836, aged seventy- five years, an active. energetic, honored citizen to the last year of his life.

REV. EDWARD BUXTON, the youngest son of Cap- tain Benjamin and Hannah (Flint) Buxton, was born in New Boston, N. H., August 17, 1803. His early educational advantages were very limited. The dis- trict school, a little study of Latin with his beloved old pastor, Rev. E. P. Bradford, a term at Frances- town Academy, another at Exeter (Phillips) Academy comprised the whole of his opportunities of school. But up to the very end of his long life he was a close student. He was a good Greek and Latin scholar, and late in life he engaged with much zest in the study of Hebrew. A young lady who was visiting in his family, on going into his study one Monday morning, found him seated at his table with pencil and paper before him, deeply engaged in study. He said he was trying to see if he could construct a table of logarithms if he had none to refer to, and that he thought he could do it. He added, half apologeti- cally, that he allowed himself to be idle on Monday and to indulge in recreation a little after the labors of the Sabbath. She declared she was afraid of a man who found his recreation in the construction of logarithmic tables.

His father said of him, in his early childhood: "Edward must be my minister;" but a habit of stam- mering developed itself, which was greatly aggrava- ted by a fright received in early life; and though he himself desired to carry out his father's wish, the impediment in his speech seemed to interpose an insuperable obstacle. He turned his attention to the study of medicine; but a severe illness cut short his studies just before the completion of his last course of lectures. About this time he fell in with Barber's "Grammar of Elocution," which gave him valuable hints in regard to the training of the voice, and lie

became convinced that he could, in time, entirely overcome his impediment. He succeeded so fully that, in later life, he was remarkable for his clear enunciation and for perfect control of his voice.

He took charge of the academy in Greenland, N. H., when he read and talked theology with his friend, Rev. Samuel Wallace Clark, pastor of the Congregational Church in that place. He assisted in pastoral duties, and, in the absence of the pastor, conducted Sabbath services. He was sometimes called to supply vacant pulpits in adjoining towns, and, almost unconsciously, found himself performing ministerial duties. In 1836 he was ordained as an evangelist, and preached in Rochester, N. H., and afterwards in Lancaster, Dalton and Whitefield. In 1837 he received a call from the church in Webster, and was installed December 13th of that year. The celebration of the forty-fifth anniversary of his in- stallment occurred December 13, 1882. At this time he ceased from active påstoral duty, but was not dis- missed until the installment of his successor, Rev. C. E. Gordon, October 4, 1883. He died May 27, 1885, aged eighty-one years.

Mr. Buxton was a man of singular simplicity and sincerity of character, of uniform kindness of heart and of ready sympathy. The testimony of those who knew him best was that he lived habitually above the world. He was a faithful pastor, thor- oughly devoted to his work, patient and self-denying in labor, availing himself of all means in his power for doing good. His sermons combined the doctrinal and practical elements, and were clear and forcible in style, with but little of mere rhetorical orna- ment.

He watched over the schools of the town with a fatherly solicitude, and, when he was superintending committee, knew the name of every child in town. In the earlier years of his pastorate many of the young people of the town were, at different times, members of his family and under his private tuition.

He inherited from his mother a love for music, amounting almost to a passion, which continued till his death. When he was a young man he played the violin; but, after entering the ministry, he laid it aside, fearing it might lessen his chances of useful- ness. In his old age he took it up again, playing with much skill, but confining himself almost exclu- sively to sacred music. When flesh and heart began to fail under the pressure of disease, he often resorted to his violin, for the sake of the spiritual stimulus which it afforded him; for, in his hands, it was a sacred instrument, and his spirit, perhaps uncon- sciously to himself, plumed her wings for a heaven- ward flight as he played.

A letter read on the occasion of his forty-fifth anni- versary, speaks of him on this wise :

" Tho more I reflect on the history of his life, so far as I know it, the more I feel that he has been, in many ways, a remarkable man. His purity of motive, his loftiness of purpose, his singleness of aim, his patient persistence in striving against obstacles, his constant determina"

688

HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

tion to make the most of himself in body and soul, and his consequent scholarly attainments, all the result of his owu unaided efforts, these things reveal a nature of more than ordinary firmness and evenness of fibre."

Mr. Buxton was married, first, June 12, 1838, to Miss Elizabeth McFarland, of Concord, who died Sep- tember 11, 1842 ; second, September 27, 1843, to Miss Lois Jewett, of Gilford, who died November 20, 1870; third, December 29, 1871, to Mrs. Louisa F. Pillsbury, of Londonderry (formerly of Webster), who survives him.

CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN was born in Bos- cawen July 26, 1823, and was the youngest child of Thomas and Hannah (Kilburn) Coffin. His education, beyond the advantages of the district school, was ob- tained at the academy on Boscawen Plain and at the Blanchard Academy, Pembroke, N. H., where he re- mained only one term. But he was a lover of books, and read all that came in his way. In the westerly part of the town (now Webster) was a circulating library of one hundred and fifty well-worn volumes, gathered about 1816. Among these were sundry books of history and travels, which the boy devoured eagerly and which may have had no small part in giving di- rection to his literary tastes and labors in after-years. His great ambition was to go to college, but ill health rendered this impracticable. During the winter of 1842, more for pastime than from any plan for the future, he studied land surveying and the rudiments of civil engineering. He afterwards joined the engi- neers' corps in the preliminary survey of the Northern Railroad in 1845, and was employed upon its construc- tion in 1846 ; also in the preliminary survey of the Concord and Portsmouth road, and later on the Con- cord and Claremont.

He was married, February 18, 1846, to Miss Sallie R. Farmer, of Webster, sister of Professor M. G. Farmer. He purchased a farm in Webster, but his health failed and he decided to turn to other pursuits. In 1849 he constructed a telegraph line between Harvard Obser- vatory and Boston, by which uniform time was given to railroads leading out of Boston. In 1851 he had charge of the construction of the telegraphic fire- alarm in Boston, under the care of Professor Farmer, and gave the first alarm ever given by that system April 29, 1852.

Before that time his fugitive contributions to the newspapers of the day had been received with much favor, and some of them had been republished in " Littell's Living Age." His tastes led him towards journalism. From 1854 to 1860 he was employed on several of the newspapers in Boston,-the Journal, Atlas, Traveler, Bee aud Transcript, and during the winter of 1860-61 was night editor of the Journal. The Southern States were then seceding; the Peace Congress was in session, and Mr. Coffin saw, what all men did not see, that a conflict of arms was approach- ing. He was then a resident of Malden, and the morning after the surrender of Sumter took measures for the calling of a public meeting of the citizens of

that town to sustain the President,-one of the first of the meetings held throughout the country. Upon the breaking out of the war Mr. Coffin became a cor- respondent of the Journal, writing over the signature of "Carleton."

During the entire war he was an indefatigable cor- respondent, ever on the alert, noted for his prompt- ness and for his lively narrative, and for his vivid description of the scenery of war. During the twelve days of the Gettysburg campaign he rode between two hundred aud fifty and three hundred miles in the saddle, nine hundred miles in the cars, was on the battle-field three days and nights, and wrote a full and elaborate account, which was republished in many papers throughout the country, and translated and copied by the press of Berlin and Paris. When General Sherman reached the sea-coast Mr. Coffin hastened south, and the information that the flag of the Union once more floated over Sumter was given to the world through the Journal, and was telegraph- ed over the country before any paper in New York had possession of the intelligence. His letters were regularly read by more than a fourth of a million of people.

Upon the breaking out of the war between Austria on the one side and Prussia and Italy on the other, Mr. Coffin, accompanied by Mrs. Coffin, sailed for Europe, but Austria having been crippled by the single battle of Konigratz, a truce was declared. Mr. Coffin remained abroad, however, writing a series of letters on current events. He was absent two years and five months, traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, and made the acquaintance of many of the public men in the countries visited.

Mr. Coffin's published books are "My Days and Nights on the Battle-field," "Following the Flag," " Winning his Way," "Four Years of Fighting," "Our New Way Round the World," "The Seat of Empire," "Caleb Krinkle," "The Boys of '76," "Story of Liberty," "Old Times in the Colonies," "Building the Nation," "Life of Garfield," " History of Boscawen and Webster," and he has in preparation a volume on the battle-fields of the war.

He has given many addresses before teachers' asso- ciations, and a course of lectures before the Lowell Institute. During the winter of 1878-79 a movement was made by the Western grangers to bring about a radical change in the patent laws. Mr. Coffin appeared before the committee of Congress and presented an address so convincing that the committee ordered its publication. He also appeared before the committee on labor and made an argument on the " Forces of Na- ture as Affecting Society," which won high encomiums from the committee, and which was ordered to be printed. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on Mr. Coffin in 1870 by Amherst College.

He is a resident of Boston, and was a member of the Legislature for 1884 and '85, and served on the committees on education, civil service, the liquor law

689

WEBSTER.

and the special committee for a metropolitan police for the city of Boston.

Mr. Coffin possesses, in an eminent degree, the re- spect and confidence not only of the citizens of Boston, but of thousands throughout the land who know him through his books.

MOSES GERRISH FARMER, eldest child of Colonel John and Sally (Gerrish) Farmer, was born in Webster (then Boscawen) February 9, 1820. In early life he attended the district school and the academy on Boscawen Plain. He entered the Phillips Academy, in Andover, Mass., in 1837, and in 1840 he entered Dartmouth College, where he remained three years, and then was obliged to leave on account of ill health. (The degree of A.M. was conferred on him by the faculty of Dartmouth in 1853.) After leaving college he became preceptor of Elliott (Me.) Academy, and was married in that town, December 25, 1844, to Miss Hannah T. Shapleigh, of Berwick, Me. After this he taught in Dover, N. H., until 1847, when he turned his attention wholly to scientific pursuits, which were much more congenial to his tastes than school-teaching.

He began his experiments in electricity in 1845, inventing at that time an electro-magnetic engine. In 1846 he constructed a small electro-magnetic engine, also a small railroad track, and exhibited the same in various towns and cities, lecturing upon the subject of electro-magnetism and its applications, showing also how it could be adapted to the use of torpedoes and submarine blasting. His first lecture was given in Dover, and one of his experiments was made with a miniature ship placed in a wash-bowl of water. The ship was blown up by electricity, and, coming down, struck on the top of the lecturer's head. This was, perhaps, the reason why the experi- ment was never repeated before another audience; but the circumstance is often recalled now as ships may so quickly be turned into kindling-wood by the torpedoes which he uses at the present day.

In 1848, Mr. Smith, president of the Portland Line of telegraph, and Mr. L. L. Sadler, superintendent of the Boston and New York Line, were one day talking over the possibilities of the telegraph system and the uses to which it could be applied, and Mr. Smith suggested that an alarm of fire might be given by it. They agreed that Mr. Farmer could devise the machinery necessary to do it, if any one could. They laid the matter before him, and, at the end of a week, he had constructed the first machine in the world for giving an alarm of fire by electricity, con- sisting of the striking part of an old clock and a miniature electrical machine. The matter was dropped at that time, but Mr. Farmer continued his investigations, and, in 1851, he was summoned to Boston to superintend the construction of the tele- graphic fire-alarm. Great difficulties were to be over- come, and fresh inventions were needed at every step until, on April 29, 1852, the first alarm was given,

and for the next three or four years Mr. Farmer was untiring in his labors and watchings. During the first fifteen months after it went into operation he spent forty-three nights in the fire-alarm office in Boston, considering it unsafe to leave it long enongh to return to his home in Salem. In 1859 he gener- ously gave the system to the city, waiving all his rights under the patent law.

His investigations have been unceasing in the de- partments of electro-metallurgy, multiplex telegraphy and the electric light, and his inventions are mani- fold.

In October, 1872, Mr. Farmer accepted the pro- fessorship of electrical science at the United States Naval Torpedo Station, established in 1869 at New- port, R. I., for the instruction of the officers of the navy in electricity and chemistry as applied to the arts of war; and since his counection with the de- partment the station has been supplied with the best known magneto-electric machines and appliances to be found in this or any other country.

" He stands in the foremost ranks of scientific men ; and it may, per- haps, be truthfully said that, as an electrician, he is without a peer on this side of the Atlantic, while among the scientists of Great Britain, France and Germany, his opinions are quoted as authority. His reputa- tion is world-wide and his inventions are everywhere known. He is often called, as an electrical expert, in the United States courts, where his statements are never questioned.

" An eminent electrician said of him recently, -' Mr. Farmer has un- doubtedly done more real and lasting good to the world through his aban- doned inventions than throngh those which he has perfected, for the former are seed-thoughts, scattered over the world, which many will gather up, and from them reap a harvest after his life-work is over.'

" Unlike many scientists of the day, whose speculations lead them to doubt the existence of a Deity and of a Divine revelation, Prof. Farmer sees in all the works and laws of nature a Divine mind. Each new dis- covery to him is one of God's thoughts, and with him religion and science go hand-in-hand."

HEZEKIAH FELLOWS was born in Salisbury, De- cember 22, 1782, but settled in Webster and engaged in trade on Corser Hill with his brother Moses. For many years he was a prominent citizen of the town, and a man of too much individuality to be unnoticed or easily forgotten. From 1816 until 1855, he was town clerk, losing his office when the Know-Nothing or Native American party rose to its brief eminence. He was in the Legislature in 1820, '24, '25.

He was a man of remarkable independence of character, which manifested itself in dress and manner, as well as in opinion. His integrity was unimpeachable. Everybody trusted him. In trade he was strictly honest and impartial. He always ad- hered to the old currency, marking his prices in shil- lings and pence. His face would sometimes relax into the semblance of an amused smile at the puzzled look of some customer better versed in the new arithmetic than the old.

Under an apparent gruffness was hidden a kindly heart and a love for children. Perhaps his most marked characteristic was his shrewd, strong common- sense.

In 1817 he presented the Congregational Church

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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

and Society with a large Bible, which was used in their pulpit for many years. He was a constant attendant at church, occupying the pew nearest the pulpit on the right hand.

" Prior to 1835 it was the custom of town clerks to make public an- nouncement of those intending marriage, which was done by Esquire Fel- lows, after the benediction, at the close of the afternoon service. The congregation waited to hear the 'crying,' as it was termed, and possibly allowed the publishing of the bans to usurp the place of the sermon in their minds, as they smiled aud nodded one to another."

He died October 10, 1861, honored and respected by all.

MAJOR ALFRED LITTLE was born in Webster, June 3, 1823, and was the son of Henry and Susan Little. He became crippled in early life through severe ill- ness, and was obliged ever afterwards to use crutches.

He was noted from childhood for his musical talent and for his correct ear, which had much to do with shaping his career in after life. In 1840 he began to work in the melodeon and seraphine shop of Charles Austin, in Concord, N. H. He soon became tuner of these instruments, and succeeded to a great degree in overcoming the slowness of speech and reedy quality of tone, which had been serious defects in them. He invented and manufactured for his own use an or- chestral melodeon, an instrument of considerable power, and yet of remarkable sweetness, unsurpassed for its versatility of musical effects, its inimitable tremolo and its power of dynamical expression. He attained wonderful skill in the manipulation of this instrument, and, as a player of the round-keyed melodeon, was without a peer in the world.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 166

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1520

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1520