History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 167

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 167
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 167

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He began giving concerts in 1846, the first one being in Fisherville (now Penacook). His musical entertainments were full of variety, for he possessed a rare gift of improvising and an extensive acquaint- ance with popular music, old and new, and a voice of great sweetness and pathos. He excelled as a ballad- singer, and knew how to unlock the fountain of tears as well as to touch the springs of laughter.

"Ever ready to respond with voice and instrument to the calls of charity and patriotism, cheering the patient ou his bed of suffering or teaching a Sabbath-school song to children, he made friends everywhere ; and many a wayfarer was aided by his helping hand or cheered by his buoyant sympathy.

" He was appointed fife-major of the Twenty-first New Hampshire Regiment by Colonel Joseph L. Pillsbury, receiving the honorary com- mission at the hands of Governor N. B. Baker."

Although music was his special delight, Major Lit- tle was a man of varied tastes and culture, a poet as well as a musician.

He died suddenly in West Concord, December 27, 1880. Few carry with them "beneath the low green tent" more blessings of the poor or more heartfelt love of friends than did Alfred Little.

ARTHUR LITTLE, D.D., was the son of Simeon B. and Harriet (Boyd) Little, and was born in Webster May 24, 1837. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm where he acquired that invaluable and yet indefi- nable development of mind and body which the boys of well-ordered New England homes gain from nature

and domestic surroundings. He prepared for college at the Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1860. He studied theology at Andover and Princeton. Before the completion of his studies, he received the appoint- ment of chaplain of the First Vermont Heavy Artil- lery, and was ordained for this office at Webster, March 16, 1863. He was mustered out of service July 7, 1865. In October of the same year, he was settled over the Presbyterian Church in Bedford, N. H., where he remained three years. He then received a call to Fond du Lac, Wis., where he was settled over the First Congregational Church in November, 1868. In 1878 he was called to the pastorate of the New England Church in Chicago, where he still remains. He was elected moderator of the National Congregational Council, in Concord, N. H., in 1883, and performed the duties of that office with great acceptance.

Dr. Little is a man of genial temperament and pos- - sesses rare tact in winning the esteem of all classes. He is a good speaker, having something of the strength and depth of voice which many will remember as hav- ing belonged to his father. His sermons are charac- terized by earnestness and practicality. His style is clear and vigorous. He married, August 15, 1863, Miss Laura E. Frost, of Thetford, Vt., who died in January, 1883.

DEACON ENOCH LITTLE (2d) was the son of Deacon Enoch Little and the grandson of Enoch Little, one of the early settlers of Webster. He was educated at Pem- broke Academy and taught school in Boscawen and other towns. He gave much attention to music and was a member of the Martin Luther Musical Society, of the Central Musical Society, and of the Bos- ton Academy of Music. He did much to cultivate taste for sacred music in his native town, a having been, for a long time, leader of the choir in the Congregational Church, as well as a successful teacher of singing-schools. He took great interest, also, in the advancement of agriculture and of sheep- husbandry.

He was a man of vigorous mind, of strong convic- tions, a diligent student of the Bible, a constant at- tendant upon church services, and for thirty years an officer of the church. From early life he was an ac- tive member of the Sabbath-school, both as teacher and pupil. He was ever ready to give to objects of benevolence and was a strong pillar in the church. He died in the full hope of Christian immortality, honored and respected by all, October 13, 1875.

EPHRAIM LITTLE was the son of Richard and Pris- cilla (Plumer) Little, and was born in Webster, April 14, 1820. He was married, December 22, 1847, to Jane G. Farmer, sister of Professor M. G. Farmer, He purchased the farm on Pleasant Street, now owned by Plumer Kilburn, and built a house on it, where he resided until the feebleness of his wife's health made a change of residence desirable, when he sold his farm. Mrs. Little died June 27, 1867. He

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afterwards purchased the farm formerly owned by Nathan Pearson, near the Blackwater, where he lived until his death, April 23, 1885.

Mr. Little was a man of quiet tastes, but intelligent and thoroughly informed on all subjects of current in- terest. He was for some years a member of the super- intending committeee of schools. He also held the position of secretary and treasurer of the Merrimack County Mutual Fire Insurance Company from its organization until his death.

Rarely have we met with one who realized more fully, in his life and character, David's description of a citizen of Zion, in Psalm xv. His unselfish kind- ness and ready sympathy won for him the sincere love and respect of all who knew him.

HENRY LITTLE, D.D., son of Jesse and Martha (Gerrish) Little, was born in Webster, March 23, 1800. At the age of fifteen he united with the Con- gregational Church, and from that time was an ac- tive Christian. When he was nineteen, lie taught school in Boscawen, where fourteen of his scholars be- came Christians. He visited from house to house, and helped twelve men to begin family worship.

He fitted for college with Rev. Dr. Wood of Bos- cawen, at Salisbury Academy and at Hanover. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1826, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1829, and was at once ordained as an evangelist in Park Street Church, Boston, with fifteen other home and foreign mission- aries. While a senior at Andover, Dr. Porter gave him the credit of bringing twenty from the two classes below him in college to the seminary. This fact led to his being chosen agent for the American Education Society, a position which he filled for two years in New England and the West.

In June, 1831, he accepted a call from the Presby- terian Church in Oxford, Ohio, where, in less than two years, two hundred and ninety-seven were added to its membership. In 1833 he was appointed secre- tary and agent of the American Home Missionary Society, having the whole country west of the Alle- ghanies for his field, in which his labors were crowned with success. He was pastor of a church for two years in Madison, Ind., during which time sixty were added to the church. His main life-work was that of home missions ; but he was an earnest Sabbath- school worker, and was active in promoting the cause of general education. He is said to have been the originator of the first graded school in Indiana.

An article in the Independent of May 9, 1867, by Rev. Dr. Tuttle, of Wabash College, sets forth the labors of Dr. Little :

"Go where he will, he meets those who owa everything to him as God's instrument-those who have been encouraged by him, those who have caught the best impulses of life from him, and uow, in this year, 1867, this blessed man has preached fourteen times in eight days, in one pulpit, preaching the gospel in such a cheerful light that his bearers ex- claim, -' Would to God we could love it as he does !' "

He died February 25, 1883. He married, Septem- ber 19, 1831, Miss Susan Morton Smith, of Hatfield, Mass.

Of his eight children, four are sons, all of whom are in the gospel ministry.

JACOB LITTLE, D.D., son of Jesse and Martha (Ger- rish) Little, was born in Webster, May 1, 1795. At the age of eleven years he became a Christian and united with the Congregational Church. He fitted for college with Samuel Wood, D.D., and at Meriden Academy, graduated at Dartmouth in 1822, and at Andover in 1825. He was ordained as an evangelist at Goffstown, N. H., and first preached six months at Hoosick, N. Y. In 1826 he went to Ohio and spent a year in home missionary work in Belpre and neigh- boring towns.

In 1827 he was settled over the Congregational Church in Granville, Ohio, where he remained until 1864. An unhappy quarrel had divided the church, but, with consummate tact, Mr. Little brought the dif- ferent factions together, and became pastor of the re- united organization. He was an indefatigable worker, exceedingly systematic, not at all bound by conven- tional rules or methods, but eminently successful in attaining results. His parish was six miles square, but he regularly visited every family belonging to his congregation, organizing Conference and prayer-meet- ings, as well as Bible classes in every district, which were conducted with astonishing efficiency. He had, also, the rare faculty of setting everybody at work. He soon became known as "the plain preacher," the man who dared to speak boldly in condemnation of vice.

His New Year's sermons were always reviews of the year, and proved him to have a genius for sta- tistics, as will be shown by an extract from the one for 1849:

" This township has 411 families and 1376 adults. It has 37 drinking families, 119 drinking adults, 21 drunkards, and during the past year has consumed 4153 gallons of intoxicating liquors. The families having no altar are 219; reading no religions papers, 223; children between six and twenty-one attending no Sabbath-school, 179; adults who visit> work or journey on the Sabbath, 183 ; neglect public worship, 113; can- not read, 22 ; use profane language, 189 ; use tobacco, 364 ; play cards 83 ; attend balls, 40; supposed to be impenitent, 777. The sending of 150 persons to Botany Bay would blot from our history most of the above number."

During Dr. Little's pastorate at Granville there were added to his church one thousand and forty-one members, of whom six hundred and sixty-four were received upon profession of their faith. In these years he preached about five thousand sermons, and more than one thousand persons are supposed to have been led to a religious life through his ministry.

Besides his pastoral labors, he was a frequent and a valuable contributor to the religious press. The

"From Marietta to Evansville, from Cleveland to La Porte, this man has gone, planting churches, building up waste places, enconraging home missionaries, searching ont the scattered sheep, holding protracted meetings, everywhere welcomed, honored and loved. Thirty-six years has he been at this work, until he has publicly addressed more audiences, visited more churches, worked directly in more revivals in Ohio and In- diana, talked to more people, seen mora changes in communities and per- sons than any other man that can be named.

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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

academy for young men and the seminary for young women in Granville both owed their existence and much of their prosperity to his efforts, and of the lat- ter he was a trustee. At different times he was a trustee of Western Reserve, Central and Marietta Colleges.

In 1864 he resigned his pastorate at Granville and removed to Warsaw, Ind., where he lived until 1874, preaching occasionally. Thence he removed to the home of his son, Rev. Charles Little, in Wabash, Ind., where he died December 17, 1876, aged eighty- one years.

He married, first, Lucy Gerrish, of Canterbury, N. H., June 1, 1826, who died October 5, 1834; sec- ond, Ann Dorothy Thompson, March 23, 1836. His three sons are all in the gospel ministry.

SIMEON BARTLETT LITTLE was born in Webster December 16, 1797, and was the son of Benjamin Little, Esq. His education was acquired at the com- mon school. In early life he was a news-carrier, sup- plying the people of Hopkinton, Boscawen, Salis- bury and Andover with the Concord Gazette. Be- sides carrying papers, he executed errands. By this means he acquired his first money.

Mr. Little was a born leader, and was recognized as such by his fellow-citizens without any effort of his own. He was selectman ten years, two years a member of the legislature and a delegate to the con- vention for the revision of the Constitution. Be- tween the years 1839-1858, inclusive, with but two exceptions, he was elected moderator at the annual town-meeting. He was endowed with a judicial mind, and held through the active years of life a magis- trate's commission. He was administrator of between thirty and forty estates and was concerned in the set- tlement of nearly as many more. He received near- ly twenty appointments as guardian for minors or insane persons, and held a large amount of funds in trust. His business as a conveyancer of deeds was very large,-nearly one thousand. Men who wished to make their last wills and testaments called upon him for counsel, and he wrote a large number. He was for about fifteen years president or director of the Granite Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and, for fifteen years or more, director and secretary of the same. In speaking of the part he had taken in public life, he once said,-"I have been elected more times to some responsible office in town by ballot, from 1828 to 1860, than there are years, and I can say what many cannot,-that I never, directly or indirectly, solicited a nomination or vote." He was one of the leading men of the church and religious society. He was a frequent contributor to the press, writing on a great variety of subjects and always in a clear, vigorous, incisive style. Mentally and physi- cally, he was sturdy and honest. He was naturally conservative, a Puritan of the eighteenth century and opposed to all innovation ; but those, even, who opposed him politically, ever acknowledged his integrity, the

honesty of his intentions and his sterling worth. He died December 29, 1874. His first marriage was September 16, 1824, to Miss Harriet Boyd, of An trim, N. H., who died October 3, 1850. His second marriage was to Miss Phebe Kilburn, of Webster, October 20, 1851, who survives him.

REV. EBENEZER PRICE, first pastor of the Congre- gational Church in Webster, was born in Newbury- port, Mass., September 14, 1771. He began his preparation for college at the age of seventeen in Moore's Charity School in Hanover, entered Dart- mouth College in 1789, and graduated in 1793. He studied theology with Rev. Elisha Thayer, D.D., of Kingston. He was first settled in Belfast, Me., in 1796, where he remained for six years. He was married in 1799 to Lucy Farrar, of Hanover, N. H.

It will be remembered that the first meeting-house in Webster was built in 1791. At that time there was no organization, either of church or society. The town owned the frame of the meeting-house, and individuals owned the pews. In this state of affairs Mr. Price was invited by the citizens of the town to labor among them, and his preaching was followed by manifest increase of religious interest. The Westerly Religious Society was organized in January, 1804, and a church of eight members was formed in September following, when Mr. Price was installed pastor. The whole number added to the church during his pastorate of thirty-three years was two hundred and sixty-two. The greatest number added in any one year was sixty in 1838. The great- est number on the church rolls at any one period was one hundred and ninety-eight. After his dismissal, May 10, 1837, he continued to reside in town, and be- came superintendent of the Sabbath-school, which position he held for eleven years.

Upon the formation of the Granite Mutual Fire Insurance Company he was elected secretary. In 1859 he went to Boston to live with his eldest son, Ebenezer Sewall Price. He died in Boston, Febru- ary 19, 1864, aged ninety-two years.

Father Price was a perfect gentleman and noted for his dignified courtesy. He was fond of riding on horseback, and sat upon his old black horse with a stately grace not often seen at this day.

He took a lively interest in all benevolent or phil- anthropie movements. He was a faithful minister, an exemplary Christian, respected even by the irre- ligious, and greatly beloved by those who could appre- ciate godliness of life and character.

He was twice chosen to represent the town in the Legislature. In 1830 he collected materials for a chronological history of the town, which was pub- lished by private subscription in 1823.

"His sermons preached at the funeral of Deacon Benjamin Sweatt and upon the death of Rev. Dr. Wood, were published by request. He was the anthor of the letter to HIon. Daniel Webster, which elicited his reply to his New Hampshire neighbors.

" Ilis relations to the church and society, and especially to his succes- sor in the ministry, Rev. Edward Buxton, were always fraternal and

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helpful. As a pastor he was ever mindful of the wants of his people, sympathizing with them in their bereavements and afflictione, and enter- ing as heartily into all their joys. lle was so mindful of all classes that in his public prayers, the aged, the middle-aged, the young, the youth, the infauts were all remembered. His desire to leave nothing undone, to neglect no class, to fill the full measure of his responsibility, not in- frequently made his prayera aod sermons of nndne length, occupying from fifty to seventy minutes.

"In this respect he did not stand alone. In the ministry at that period brevity was the exception, length the rnle. At the beginning of the century people expected a service to occupy at least two hours. During the short days of winter those who lived farthest from meeting some- times saw the sun disappear behind the Warner hills before they reached home. Nor were they restless under a sermon that occupied an hour in the delivery. They expected a long sermon, and would have found fanit with the brevity of the sermons of the present day.

"His last years were marked by serede peace and composure. He was ao attendaut at Monot Vernon Church, in Boston, and listened with de- light to the preaching of Rev. Dr. Kirk, who looked upon him as a father in the ministry. Hiainfluence never can be measured, for nuder his preaching such men as Euoch Corser, Jacob and Heory Little were ded to enter the ministry, and through their instrumentality thousanda have been brought to a religious life."

On being asked by his son how he felt in regard to death, he answered, "Oh! that was all fixed years and years ago. I committed myself into the hands of my Maker: He has taken care of me hitherto, and I have no fears for the future."

He was buried in Webster, almost under the shadow of the old meeting-house where he began his labors, and among the graves of his old people.

There are many other citizens of Webster, in the past and in the present, who deserve record here. Every shade of character, every variety of talent has been developed on the hillsides of this quiet country town. Poetry, romance and tragedy, written and un- written, have been lived in these valleys. Neither is the history of Webster without its comic side. It has had its full share of odd characters, whose names and sayings have come down to us by tradition.

James Corser was one of these men,-an eccentric genius, fond of puzzling answers. His neighbors on either side bore the names of Knight and Day. Mr. Corser was asked where he lived, and answered, "In Twilight." Being asked still further where Twilight was, he replied, "Between Knight and Day."

Obadiah Elkins was a man whose natural oddities may have been intensified by disappointed love in his youth. It is not strange, then, that his stream of domestic bliss did not always flow smoothly. But, unlike most aggrieved or aggrieving husbands, he usually left his better-half in peaceable possession of the fireside, and sought another spot whereon to build his cabin and and set up his individual house- hold gods. By the time this was accomplished the quarrel would be over, and he would take his wife to the new honse and begin over again. At last, having built, so tradition runs, twenty-eight houses, he grew tired of moving, and resolved to build a house for his sole possession. This was not an im- possible thing, for he was a man of slender propor- tions, while his wife was a woman of majestic stature. So he built a house of hut one room, with one door,

so narrow that only himself could enter, and here he could retire to dwell in peace nntil the storm of feminine wrath should hlow over, or his own fit of sulks should clear away.

Once he made his way to Pillsbury's mill-pond, resolved to commit suicide; but after holding his head under water for a while, he waded back to shore to take up the burden of life again, complain- ing that he "couldn't hold his breath long enough to drown."

One night, when the moon was at its full, a passer- by found Mr. Elkins busy with a burning-glass, try- ing, as he said, " to light a fire by moonlight," adding that he "had often done it with sunlight, and did not know but he could with the moon."

James Fellows was another man of pronounced in- dividuality, whose words and actions ran in diametri- cally opposite directions, and who must always be interpreted by the law of contrariety. No man ever was a kinder neighbor than he; neither was there ever a man who could be more surly and gruff. At one time a neighbor was in want of hay. He went to beg Mr. Fellows to sell him some, knowing that he had an abundance in his barn, but met with a flat refusal. He urged the matter, bnt Mr. Fellows de- manded gruffly, "what he was hanging about there for ?" and ordered him off. The would-be purchaser obeyed, and turned reluctantly homeward ; but before he had reached the road, Mr. Fellows called out imperiously, " What are you going away for ? Come back ! I've got hay enough ! Why, I'll give you five hundred !"

David Heath was a living illustration of the gro- tesque in speech, look and manner. He earned the sobriquet of Jester by his fondness for jokes. In those days hoop-poles were an article of commerce, and Mr. Heath was more solicitous about securing his desired complement of hoop-poles than regardful of bounda- ries between his own and his neighbors' wood-lots. At last Captain Little Burbank, tired of a commerce so unprofitable to himself, said to Mr. Heath,“ If you will agree never to cut any more poles on my land I'll give you a pig." "All right," was the answer, " I'll prom- ise." In due time Captain Abraham Burbank, hear- ing of his brother's success, resolved to make a bar- gain for himself with the Jester, and offered him a sheep if he would resign all claims to hoop-timber on his land thenceforth and forever. "Ah-h-h!" he re- plied, shaking his gray head, "t'won't do to sell all out, Captain Burbank."

Moses Jackman was drafted for military service dur- ing the war of 1812, but when he presented himself for examination he was, to all appearance, blind. Various expedients were resorted to by the examin- ing surgeons to ascertain whether his blindness was real, but his eyes slowed no symptoms of seeing. He was retained for further trial. While the matter was pending he astonished those about him by exclaim- ing, as a mouse appeared upon the scene, "Oh! see

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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

that mouse." " What ! do you see him ?" asked some- one. "No," was the quick reply; "but I smell him." At last a plank was laid over the edge of a boat, and he was placed upon it and ordered to walk over it. He obeyed and walked off the end into the water. Whereupon he was adjudged stone-blind and sent home. A guide went with him, but after they had gone a few miles Mr. Jackman said he "thought he could find the way now," and nothing more was ever heard of his blindness.

TOWN OFFICERS FROM 1860 TO 1885.

1860 .- Simeon B. Little, moderator ; David E. Burbank, clerk ; Na- than Pearson, Jeremiah S. Webber, Albert Runnels, selectmien.

1861 .- Simeon B. Little, moderator ; David E. Burbank, clerk ; Jere- miah S. Webber, Albert Ruonels, George Little, selectmen ; Albert Rua- nele, representative.

1862 .- Simeon B. Little, moderator ; David E. Burbank, clerk ; George Little, William D. Call, David A. Macurdy, selectmeo.1

1863 .- Simeon B. Little, moderator ; Atherton Swestt, clerk ; George Little, William D. Call, John C. Pearson, selectmen ; Jeremiah S. Webber, representative.

1864 .- Simeon B. Little, moderator ; Atherton Sweatt, clerk ; William D. Call, Joha C. Pearson, Hiram G. Stone, selectmen ; George Little, representative.

1865 .- Simeon B. Little, moderator ; Atherton Sweatt, clerk ; John C. Pearson, Hiranı G. Stone, Henry H. Gerrish, selectmeo ; George Little - representative.

1866 .- Simeon B. Little, moderator ; Atberton Sweatt, clerk ; Hirani G. Stone, Henry H. Gerrish, Sherman Little, selectmen ; oo represeuta- tive.

1867 .- Joseph L. Couch, moderator; Atherton Sweatt, clerk ; John Colby, John Sanborn, D. C. Ilubbard, selectmen ; Willian D. Call, rep- resentative.

1868 .- David A. Macurdy, moderator ; Atherton Sweatt, clerk ; Sher_ man Little, William W. Austin, Atherton Sweatt, selectoren ; William D. Call, representative.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 167

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