History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 207

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 207
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 207

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

James Gilman possesses unwearied industry, and through many long years he has been a worker, a producer and not a mere consumer. Early in life he learned the full import of the words, "Thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow." For twenty-four years he diligently worked eighteen hours a day. He holds the old-school principles, such doctrines as were established and current in the period of his manhood, for men rarely change their views and habits after they pass middle life. So- cially, he is plain and unpretending, has an active, keen, inquiring mind and a clear and retentive memory. He is a good conversationalist, and gives accurate and graphic descriptions of the times and manners of the people of his earlier years. Politi- cally, Mr. Gilman has ever remained true to those old Democratic ideas of Jefferson and Jackson, and has been wise enough not to be a lover of party

James Gilman

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MEREDITH.

political offices. Religiously, he holds to the Bible, and rests his hopes on it, and has been a consistent member of the Baptist Church for nearly half a century. Mr. Gilman has been through life a strong, representative man of the town, held in high esteem by its best citizens, and has the pleasant satisfaction of knowing that his children are occupying useful and honorable positions, doing credit to the good name of the family.

GEORGE GILMAN FOGG.

George Gilman Fogg was born at Meredith Centre, N. H., May 26, 1813, and died at Coucord, N. H., Oc- tober 5, 1881. He was the son of David and Hannah Gilman (Vickery) Fogg. His father was a native of Pittsfield, and his mother of Exeter. He was fitted for college at the New Hampton Institution and grad- uated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1839. He studied law with Judge Lovell, at Meredith, and at the Harvard Law School, and commenced the practice of his profession at Gilmanton Iron-Works in 1842.

In 1846 he was a member of the House of Repre- sentatives and took an active part in the election of John P. Hale as Senator. Up to this time a Demo- crat, he now became a prominent member of the Free-Soil party, as it was then constituted, so far as they were not affected by the question of slavery. During this session he was elected Secretary of State, holding the office for one year. This necessitated his removal to Concord, which was thenceforward his home.

Mr. Fogg was, practically, the founder of the Inde- pendent Democrat, a newspaper which exerted a great influence upon New Hampshire politics. It was started in Manchester May 1, 1845, but removed to Concord in June following. Mr. Fogg did not nom- inally assume control till February, 1846, but he con- tributed to its columns from the first. From this time

until 1861 this newspaper absorbed the best energies of his life. In 1856 he made a trip to Kansas as clerk of the Kansas Commission of the United States House of Representatives. He was law reporter of New Hampshire from 1855 to 1859. He was a dele- gate from New Hampshire to the convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and secretary of the Republican National Executive Committee in the campaign which followed. After the Republican party obtained control of the State he was also, for several years, State printer, that position, according to custom, being always given to prominent editors. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln minister for the United States to Switzerland, holding the of- fice until after the assassination of the President, in 1865. After his return from Europe he was ap- pointed, in 1867, United States Senator by Governor Smyth, to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Daniel Clark, who had been appointed judge of the United States District Court for New Hampshire.

He resumed editorial labor in 1867 (though not, as before, taking sole charge of the paper), finally sever- ing his official connection in 1872. From this time to his death he only wrote occasional articles for the press.

Mr. Fogg was a member of the New Hampshire Historical Society, succeeding Rev .. Dr. Bouton as corresponding secretary, trustee of Bates College, Maine, receiving from that institution the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He was stricken with par- alysis September 11, 1879, from which he only par- tially recovered, and which finally culminated in his death.

Mr. Fogg was never married. He left legacies to Dartmouth College, the school at New Hampton, the Unitarian Church in Concord, with which he was connected, the school district where he was born, and to various charitable institutions in Concord, in ad- dition to legacies to his kindred and friends. He had previously made a liberal gift to Bates College.

HISTORY OF NEW HAMPTON.

CHAPTER I.

Geographical-Original Grant-Incorporation of Town-Various Peti- tions-Documentary History-Congregational Church-New Hamp. ton Academy.

THE town of New Hampton lies in the northern part of the county, and is bounded as follows :

Northeast, by Centre Harbor; Southeast, by Me- redith; North and Northwest, by Grafton County ; Southwest, by Merrimack County.

The territory was granted to General Jonathan Moulton and others, proprietors of Moultonborough, January 24, 1765, and was called Moultonborough Addition. It was incorporated as a town November 27, 1777, and received its present name at that time at the request of General Moulton, in honor of his native town.

By an act passed December 7, 1797, the northeast part of the town was set off and incorporated as a town by the name of Centre Harbor, which name was given in consequence of its containing within its bounds the centre one of the three principal harbors on the north side of the lake, said harbor having borne that name for some years prior to the incor- poration of the town.

In 1784 the following persons petitioned the Governor and Council for the appointment of Benn- ing Moulton as a justice of the peace :

"Ebenezer Chamberlain, Ephraim Chamberlain, John Pain, James towl, Ezekiel Morse, Jamea Quimby, Hosea Sturturvaot, Josiah Towl, Amos Pain, Richard Paio, Daill page, Israel Glines, Enoch Cate, Abel Morse, Moses Kelsa, Joseph Senter, Ephraim Moore, Daniel Chamber- lain, Benja Huckina, Elisha Smith, James harran, Ezra Hacket, Levi Drew, Daniel Sawyer, Thomas Harran, John harran, Elisha Cumings, John Smith, Benjamin Smith, John Harper, Isaac Cummings, Elisha Cumings iunr, Nathaniel Cominga, John Leavitt, thomas Woodman, Jonathan James, William Plaisted Juner, Joseph Smith, James Huckins, William Plasted, Samuel Plaiated, deniel Veesay, Andrew Neele, Epheram hacket, John Boynton, Sam1 Colcord, William Boya- too, Richard Boynton, Nicholaa Smith, Jeremiah Ward, Onesiphorus Flanders, Samell dollof, john dollof, David Dolsar, John Smith, John fuller, zadock Sanhorn, Benia Sauboro, Joseph Sanhorn, Zadock San- born Jr., Ehener Ingalls, oliver smith Blake, Moses Carter, Daniel Harper, oliver Lyford, James Harper, Mark blacke (his X mark), Abr. Drake Jun, John Hutchins, Robard Smith, Joseph Smith funer, Abra- ham Drake, Benja Smith Junr, Daniel Ward, simeon Walton, Willice much, Jonathan Dow."

The following is the vote of the town relative to setting off the northeast part, 1796 :

"At a publick Town meeting Holden in New Hampton the Sixth Day of March, A. D. 1796, voted that the N. E. part of New Hampton be set off as far as Measley pond, thence to Meaaley pond Brook, thence up the middel of Số Brook to Long pond, theace up the middel of long pond to the Inlet at the Head of Sd pond, thence N. thirty-five Degrees W. to New Holderness-

" A true Copy-

" Attest. AHIMAAZ BLANCHARD, T. Clerk."

The territory named was set off and became a por- tion of Centre Harbor December 7, 1797.

The following is a soldier's order :

"NEWHAMPTON, August 29, 1792.

" To the Treasurer of the State of New Hampshire :

" Sir, Pleas to Pay to John Nicholl or hie order what Ever is due to me, I, John Smith, having been a Soldier in the 1st N. Hampshire Regt, it being for value Received.

" Witness my hand.

"attest.

" JN. B. EASTHAM.

" DANIEL KELLY."

" JOHN SMITH.

Congregational Church .- The first reference on the town records to ecclesiastical affairs is under date of March 20, 1800, when it was voted "to settle Mr. Hebard as a gospel minister ;" yeas, 73; nays, 45. At the same meeting it was voted to choose a com- mittee of nine men to make arrangements for his settlement. At an adjourned meeting in May fol- lowing, the committee reported that if Salmon He- bard be settled as minister, he shall have one hun- dred acres of land off the northwesterly end of the minister lot (so called), exclusive of six acres to be round about the meeting-house for the accommoda- tion of said town as common and burying-ground. He was also to have fifty acres more as "compensa- tion to him as a settlement for the erected buildings, etc." It was agreed that the new minister should have one hundred and fifty dollars per year, and it was also agreed that he should have two or three Sabbaths a year to visit his friends.

Rev. Salmon Hebard was ordained June 25, 1800. In 1801 the church had one hundred and thirty-five members. After a number of years the membership began to decrease, and in about the year 1820 meet- ings were discontinued; In 1833 it consisted of twelve members.

October 7, 1842, the church met at the residence of Rufus G. Lewis, the following being present : Rufus

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NEW HAMPTON.

G. Lewis, A. B. Sanborn, Noah Mason and Timothy Merriek, of the New Hampton Church ; and Rev. Daniel O. Morton and Chester Stone, of Bristol. At this meeting the church was formally dissolved. The records of the church elosed with a list of nineteen members who had received letters of recommendation to the church in Bristol, May 4, 1842, and of one other member to the same church, May 6, 1843.

A literary institution, ealled the New Hampton Academy, established here, was incorporated June 27, 1821. The management of the institution was placed in the hands of three trustees, and so contin- ued until 1826. In June of that year the name of the institution was changed by law to "The Academ- ieal and Theological Institution in New Hampton," and the number of trustees increased to eleven, five of whom were to be appointed by the proprietors and five by the Baptist Convention. The principal of the school was also to be one of the trustees. By an aet of the Legislature, approved July 6, 1849, the control of the academy passed into the hands of the Baptist Convention, which was empowered to appoint all of the eleven trustees. This institution was re- moved to Vermont about 1852.

CHAPTER II.

NEW HAMPTON-(Continued). NEW HAMPTON INSTITUTION.

THE history of the New Hampton Institution naturally divides itself into three periods, the bound- aries of which are sharply defined.

The beginning of the first period is set forth in the following characteristie announcement:

" NEW HAMPTON ACADEMY.

" The public are informed that the first term of this Seminary for the Instruction of youug gentlemen and ladies, will commence on Monday, the 17th day of September next, at the new and elegant building on the town common, within six rode of the meeting-house.

"Mr. George Richardson, who graduated at Dartmouth College at the last commencement, and is now Preceptor of Moore's School, at Han- over, is engaged as Preceptor. Said Richardson is highly recommended by Prof. Adams, of Dartmouth College, as a man of good moral charac- ter and respectable literary acquirements, and has given general satis- faction as a public teacher.

"Tuition, $3.00 per quarter. Board, from $1.00 to $1.38 per week. " New Hampton, July 19, 1821.

"WILLIAM B. KELLEY, ) Trustees of " NAT'L NONRIB, " said Academy."

It is a matter of surprise, in the retrospeet, how there ever happened to be a New Hampton Institu- tion, and how it so early acquired and has so long maintained its widely-extended reputation. "The new and elegant building " was only a two-story frame building, twenty-four by thirty-two, and at the open- ing of the first term had but one room ready for occupation. Without libraries, philosophical ap- paratus or even blaek-boards, it was furnished with plain, unpainted seats and desks of pine, like the

distriet sehool-house of thirty years ago, and was heated from an open fire-place. The little building stood on the town common in a country with such a sparse population that searce a dozen buildings of any kind could be found within a radius of half a mile, and was surrounded by a community who quite gene- rally entertained the notion that education spoiled people for work, and that learning was an aristoerat- ical luxury; and yet with all these drawbacks, the New Hampton Institution has been, from the first, remarkably successful, having had a much wider patronage than has been usual in schools of a similar grade, and having maintained an exception- ally good reputation during its whole history.

The original movement for the ereetion of an acad- emy building grew out of a combination of eireum- stances. There was at the time an unusual interest in educational matters manifested in different parts of the State. The journals of the Legislature show that academies were springing up on every side, and to locate an academy in a community was regarded as a popular thing to do, and as a probable source of material prosperity. John K. Simpson, Esq., a native of the town and a successful Boston merchant, did mueh to intensify this feeling. Keenly alive to the interests of his native town, and with little sympathy for the prejudice against education then entertained by Free-Will Baptists, with whom he was connected, he was an early, if not the foremost, leader in the enterprise. At Quarterly Meetings and elsewhere he spoke earnestly upon the subject, and undoubtedly promised a liberal contribution from his own purse. What other eauses conspired to bring about the re- sult we may not know, but the faet remains that on the 17th day of September, 1821, the door of the academy was opened, and sinee that time, with the exception of a few months, a school has been regu- larly maintained.

At first the academy was little in advance of the common school. Few, if any, of the students had mastered more than the rudiments of an English education. Fully one-third of the fifty or sixty who sat in Preceptor Richardson's school-room were Bos- ton lads, who, to come here, had to submit to the hardship of a two-days' journey by stage-coach, and to exchange the comforts of their eity homes for the rough fare of poor country farmers.

There were four terms of twelve weeks each. All the students remained in the school-room for six hours daily, and the green-hide was the last resort in enforcing discipline. Mr. Richardson remained until 1825, when he was succeeded by Bezaleel Smith, who was recently an orthodox minister in West Hartford, Vt.

It was during this year (1825) that the first im- portant ehange in the management of the school oe- eurred. At that time the Baptist denomination was without an academy in New England. Mr. Simpson, who, after removing to Boston, had become connected

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HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

with the Baptists, proposed that the proposition be made to the Baptists of New Hampshire to take the school under their patronage. The trustees, having learned by experience the difficulties attending the maintenance of a school dependent so largely upon local patronage, were quite ready to receive assistance from abroad. Mr. Simpson, with a prophetic shrewd- ness little less than wonderful, stated that " the Free- Will Baptists are not prepared to enter this enterprise now, but they will be in about twenty-five years "-a prophecy whose literal fulfillment came only twenty- seven years later. Accordingly, the proposition was made that the Baptists assume control of the school, " with the right to appoint one-half of the trustees, besides the Principal, who should be a Baptist and President of the Board." At a Baptist State Conven- tion this proposition was accepted and Rev. B. F. Farnsworth, then editor of the Christian Watchman, was chosen principal.

The school, by virtue of an amended charter, now became known as " The New Hampton Academical and Theological Institution," and at once commenced a vigorous growth. The patronage of the Baptists immediately secured a large attendance of students from every New England State, besides occasional representations from New York, New Jersey, Penn- sylvania and the Canadas. The slender accommoda- tions were soon filled to overflowing, and new build- ings became necessary. In 1826 a new building, for recitations, was added, and in 1829 a large brick block of three stories was erected for dormitories.

During the same year (1829) the people at the " Vil- lage," aroused to action by the success attending the school at the "Centre," erected a school building and opened what soon became known as the " Female De- partment." Previous to this time the attendance had been largely confined to males, but afterwards the two sexes were quite equally divided. Under the careof Pro- fessor Farnsworth and of Rev. E. B. Smith, D.D., who succeeded him as principal in 1832, the school rapidly improved in the extent and thoroughness of its course of study, and was annually attended by more than three hundred different students. The female depart- ment, under the care of Miss Martha Hazeltine and of Miss Sarah Sleeper, who followed her as principal in 1839, justly held an advanced position among the female seminaries of that day. It is not too much to say that these ladies did here what their cotempora- ries, Miss Lyon and Miss Banister, were doing at Mount Holyoke. They impressed all the pupils with whom they came in contact with their own earnest, self- sacrificing spirit, and awakened in them a high opinion of the mission and dignity of true womanhood. They made their department a place of thorough and faith- ful instruction, and of earnest, painstaking study. As a result, many of their pupils hecame missionaries, and not less than one hundred of them became suc- cessful teachers in female seminaries.

In 1829 a Theological Department was opened,

which, for twenty-three years, had an annual average attendance of twenty-five.

The three literary societies-the "Literary Adel- phi," founded in 1827, the "Social Fraternity," in 1830, and the "Ladies' Literary and Missionary Asso- ciation," in 1833-added largely to the interest felt in the school, and, by means of their libraries, read- ing-rooms and weekly meetings, afforded an ample field for valuable discipline and public display, of which their members were always ready to avail themselves.

The death of its first patron, Mr. Simpson, in 1837, and the financial disturbances of that year, put an end to the liberal plans that were entertained for the future enlargement of the school.

From 1837 to 1852 there seems to have been but little change. The attendance of pupils averaged over three hundred annually, and teachers were not want- ing to maintain the credit of the Institution. But . financial embarrassments, for a long time a source of difficulty, at last compelled the trustees to consent to the removal of the school to Fairfax, Vt.

It has been estimated that during this period not less than seven thousand five hundred different students were connected with the Institution.

But the departure of the Baptists was not to close the New Hampton School history ; it merely opened the way for the fulfillment of Mr. Simpson's predic- tion. The Free-Will Baptists were now ready for the enterprise. Defeated in several attempts to maintain unendowed schools, the generous offers that came from New Hampton aroused them to make another effort, and a variety of events conspired to make the movement successful. Here was a small community which had grown up around the academy, all of whose associations and business plans hinged, more or less, upon the culture, life and material activity to which the school gave rise; here were ample school buildings which, to devote to mechanic arts, seemed a profanation, while to allow them to fall down in ruins was a sight not to be endured; here still re- mained the prestige of the name " New Hampton," which would be a power in a thousand New England homes ; here was, very nearly, the numerical and geographical centre of the Free-Will Baptist denom- ination ; here were the libraries of the two societies who, after a somewhat bitter canvass, had decided by a decisive vote to remain in New Hampton, and here was the man, Colonel R. G. Lewis, with brain quick to conceive, with liberal heart, and hands prompt to do, who felt the burden of a mission to give a tithe of the means a kind Providence had given him, for the benefit of those among whom he lived. What could be more natural than a proposition to the Free-Will Baptists to come in and occupy the abandoned ground, and a prompt acceptance of the proposition by them?

A new charter, with the name of the "New Hamp- ton Literary and Biblical Institution," was approved January 5, 1853, and the corporation organized

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NEW HAMPTON.

twenty days after. The charter contains the names of the following gentlemen: Ebenezer Fisk, Levi Carter, Rufus G. Lewis, Henry Y. Simpson, Russell Cox, Dana Woodman, Thomas Perkins, Benjamin Magoon, David B. Plummer, Benjamin J. Cole, Smith Swain, Daniel Smith and William Moore.

It was voted that all the departments should be located at the "Village." The old school buildings were purchased at once and the work of removing those at the "Centre" commenced. The library belonging to the ladies' literary society, the cabinets of curiosities, the philosophical apparatus and the chapel bell wereremoved to Fairfax. The remainder of the school property passed into the hands of the new corporation by purchase.

The Female Department was opened in the "Old Seminary " in April, 1853, with Mrs. C. P. Stanton as principal, assisted by four lady teachers, with fifty- seven students in attendance. Three weeks later, the Male Department was reopened in what is now Commercial Hall, formerly the "Chapel" at the " Centre," with Professor Benjamin Stanton prin- cipal and Rev. I. D. Stewart assistant. Mr. A. P. Shattuck was teacher of penmanship in both depart- ments. There were forty-one students present.

The school rapidly increased in numbers, and the average aggregate attendance for the next five years was seven hundred and thirty-five annually.

In 1853 the old "Brick " at the "Centre " was taken down and the materials used in the erection of " Randall Hall," and a wooden building of two stories, immediately in the rear of it, was added for a board- ing-house. About the same time the building known as the "Lodge " was opened for a female boarding- house. In 1858 the trustees purchased the building formerly owned by Miss Sleeper, and now known as the " Centre House." The old village church, which for some years had been used as a chapel, was taken down in 1859, and the materials employed in the erection of "Chapel Hall." During the same year the " Old Seminary " ceased to be used and was soon after removed.

In 1854 the Biblical School was transferred to New Hampton from Whitestown, N. Y. This de- partment, under the instruction of Rev. J. J. Butler, D.D., and Rev. J. Fullonton, D.D., occupied a por- tion of the Institution buildings, but was entirely dis- tinct from the other departments of the school, being under the control of the Free-Will Baptist Education Society. It was afterwards, in 1870, removed to Lew- iston, Me., having had an average annual attendance of about twenty.

The aggregate attendance in all the departments of the Institution since its reorganization has been about six hundred annually.

The school is located in New Hampton village, near the geographical centre of the State, and is acces- sible daily from almost every part of New England. It is seven miles from Ashland Station, on the Boston,

Concord and Montreal Railroad ; five miles from Bristol Station, on the Northern Railroad, and thirteen miles from Center Harbor, on the Winnipesaukee.

The air, water and drainage are good; the scenery is beautiful; the climate is healthful. There was one period of twelve successive years in which there was not a single death of any student connected with the Institution. The buildings are pleasantly situated, and their internal arrangements are neat and commo- dious. Chapel Hall has a brick front fifty feet in length, three stories high, with a wing extending in the rear seventy feet, two stories high. This building is used for a chapel, recitation-rooms, laboratories, cabinet, library, etc. It contains sixteen, large, well- ventilated rooms. Randall Hall is a brick building one hundred feet long and three stories high. The whole of the upper floor is occupied by the Commer- cial College. The remainder of the building is used for libraries and dormitories for gentlemen students.

In the Ladies' Department it is the aim to combine the influence of family life with the literary advan- tages of the Institution. Instead of one large dormi- tory, the young ladies are accommodated in several smaller ones, thus enabling students to mingle more freely with each other and with their teachers.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 207

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