History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 208

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 208
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 208

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There are six buildings belonging to the Institution, the value of which is estimated by the trustees at about thirty thousand dollars. .

There are six courses of study,-the English and classical, the classical, the English, the scien- tific, the musical and the Commercial College course. All these are open to both sexes, and those who complete them are entitled to receive di- plomas. The classical course is unsurpassed in thor- oughness. The course in Latin and Greek includes the usual amount required for admission to college. Derivation, synonyms and the systematic analysis of words receive careful attention. French and German are taught by a lady who has spent several years in France and Germany. The natural sciences are taught according to the most approved methods, and the most important truths are illustrated by the use of apparatus. There is a good cabinet of minerals and fossils. The course in mathematics consists of four terms in arithmetic, four in algebra, two in ge- ometry and one in surveying. In the Commercial College are taught penmanship, commercial law, sin- gle and double-entry book-keeping, commission, joint-commission, freight and express business, polit- ical economy and banking. The course is systematic, thorough and practical.

The college bank is organized each term with a cash capital of four hundred thousand dollars, in which the books are kept and business is transacted as in legal national banks.

The merchandise emporium is a wholesale estab- lishment with an inventory of merchandise amonnt- ing to more than two hundred thousand dollars, where the books are kept according to the most ap-

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HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

proved methods for the jobbing business. The price of merchandise is regulated by a varying standard, allowing ample opportunity for the exercise of finan- cial ability.

There are six telegraph-offices in the rear of the hall, furnished with first-class apparatus. Telegraphy is taught wholly by sound.

Special attention is given to music, drawing, paint- ing and elocution.

Connected with the Institution are four libraries, containing about four thousand volumes of well-se- lected books, to all of which students have access free of charge.

As a large proportion of the students who have been connected with the Institution have been com- pelled to support themselves by their own exertions, it has been the constant aim of the trustees to fur- nish the best facilities for obtaining an education with the least possible expense.

Hence, the expenses of students have been less than at any other school of similar grade in the State.

The school is organized on the modern plan of most similar institutions, with two departments em- bracing both sexes under the same general govern- ment and instruction. A board ofthirty-six trustees, two-thirds of whom must be members of Free- Will Baptist Churches, exercise a general control and supervision of the affairs of the Institution; but the practical management, for the most part, devolves upon the executive committee, consisting of five members, usually residents of New Hampton.

The government of the students is entrusted to the faculty, consisting of the salaried teachers. The discipline is mild, but firm and decided. There are ten teachers connected with the Institution,-four fe- males and six males.

From the reorganization of the school in 1853 to 1868 there were frequent changes in the faculty. During those fifteen years there were eight different principals, but the present principal has had charge of the school during the last seventeen years.

The Institution has an endowment of about ten thousand dollars, which ought to be largely increased. It is hoped that the alumni will see that the school is properly and speedily endowed.

The trustees consider that the school is in as good a state, and is as worthy of patronage, as it has ever been, and it will be their constant endeavor to advance with the progressive spirit of the age.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

REV. A. B. MESERVEY.

Rev. Atwood Bond Meservey, son of William and Elvina (Bond) Meservey, was born at Appleton, Me.,

September 30, 1831. His father was a farmer and a member of the Baptist Church, and all the religious influences of Christian home-life were thrown around the early years of the children. After receiving the education given at district schools and several terms at High Schools and academies, Mr. Meservey made choice of medicine as his profession, and attended lectures in the school-year of 1852-53 at Bowdoin College. He, however, was actively engaged in re- ligious exercises, having joined the Free-Will Bap- tist Church at South Montville, Me., in 1850, and, after long and earnest consideration, he decided to be- come a clergyman, and, in 1855, came to New Hampton to prepare for college. He was graduated from the literary department in 1857, and then passed three years here in the study of theology, supplementing this by six months' attendance at Andover (Mass.) Theological Seminary, afterwards, iu 1862, attending lectures on physical geography and geology at Brown University. He may be justly called a self-educated man, as he earned the necessary money to defray his expenses while studying by teaching and preaching. In 1861 he was ordained pastor of the Free-Will Baptist Church at Meredith village. In the fall of 1862 he became convinced that a most useful field of Christian labor was presented to him in educational work, and commenced his long and valuable con- nection with New Hampton Institution, as pro- fessor of mathematics and natural sciences, and, from that time, he has been identified with the educational interests of the State. He went to Northwood, in 1867, as the principal of the seminary, and after a year's service in that capacity he returned to New Hampton and became principal of the school.

Mr. Meservey has shown himself to be unusually well fitted for the labors devolving upon him of maintaining a high standard of scholarship among the students, of impressing a spirit of integrity, purity and elevated purpose upon their minds, coupled with an energy and thoroughness which would insure valuable practical results ; and under his guidance and unremitting exertions the school has taken a high rank. He has given himself without reserva- tion to this end, and with his characteristic zeal has sown lavishly the seed which has brought forth as bountiful fruit. As an instructor he has made sim- plicity and thoroughness the prime objects of his attention, and with an enthusiasm that was conveyed to his pupils, he carried them over all obstacles, mak- ing himself at the same time at once their instructor, counselor and friend. The graduates of the "Insti- tution" under his management are scattered over the whole land, and recall with pleasure the days of their sojourn at New Hampton, and the friendly and inspiring memories of school and principal. Many of them are filling responsible positions of honor and trust, doing credit to themselves and to their teachers, and gratefully confess their indebtedness for the stations they are occupying to the kind and faithful

A. D. Meservey.

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NEW HAMPTON.

perseverance, fatherly sympathy and religious care of Professor Mcservey.

The school has been conducted under great disad- vantages. No rich endowment fund has given its wealth to lighten the care of management, and it has been a struggle, always continuing and never ending, to bring about the desired result of yearly advanc- ing its efficiency and strength ; but Professor Meser- vey has the satisfaction of knowing that each succes- sive graduation day has added to the reputation of the school and to the solidity of its foundation. The "business college " is conceded to be the best in the State, while every department is doing excellent labor.

He has been an educator in other ways,-in the pulpit, on the lecture platform, and last, not least, as an author. A serial contributed to the Congregation- alist, and since published in book-form by D. Lothrop & Co., under the title of "Through Struggle to Vic- tory," is an earnest plea for aid to needy students

preparing for the Christian ministry. In 1875 he published " Meservey's Book-Keeping," which has met with favor, being now in use in over five hundred schools in various towns and cities of New England, and in over ninety academies and seminaries. He has just issued from the press "First Lessons in Political Economy." These works present the sim- plicity, earnestness and directness so characteristic of the author.

Mr. Meservey received the degree of A.M. from Brown University, and that of Ph.D. from Bates College. Republican in politics, he represented New Hampton in the State Legislature in 1867.

Mr. Meservey married, first, in 1861, Miss Lizzie Bean, of Candia (they had one child, Lizzie) ; second, in 1869, Miss Loanna Sherburne Mead, of Northwood ; (their only child, John Edwin, died in infancy); third, in 1883, Miss Clara Bell Fall, of Great Falls (she was the valued lady principal of the "Institution " for three years ; they have one child, Arthur Bond).

Lelkes

HISTORY OF TILTON

BY J. J. DEARBORN, M.D.

CHAPTER I.

ON the 28th of October, 1748, a petition containing sixty names was addressed to His Majesty, King George the Second, asking for a tract of land in this vicinity. Before granted, it was found that the land desired came within the Masonian claim. These sixty petitioners then addressed the Masonian pro- pcietors for the tract of land, which they granted, with the proviso that they (the grantors) should name twenty other grantees. The petitioners ac- cepted their proposal, and the land was granted on the 31st of December, 1748. It was substantially the same ground covered in the act of incorporation of Sanbornton, March 1, 1770.

It is a singular fact, but nevertheless true, that the first settlement of Sanbornton occurred within the present town of Tilton. From Rev. M. T. Runnels' "History of Sanbornton" (vol. i, p. 44) we obtain the following information : That the first settlement was on the farm now occupied by Andrew Philbrick, just above East Tilton, on the Laconia road; that the town was settled in 1765-66 by John Sanborn, David Dustin, Andrew Rowen and others. It is equally certain that Daniel Fifield and Samuel Shep- pard moved to the town in 1764; the three first settlers being Moses Danforth, who settled near Little Bay, Andrew Rowen, at East Tilton, and Solo- mon Copp, they coming here early in the spring of 1764.

The first frame house in town was erected by Ser- geant John Sanborn in 1765, some three-fourths of a mile north of Tilton village, on land now owned by F. A. Morgan, on the road leading from the village to Sanbornton Square. The first settlement at Tin Corner was made in 1764-65. The first store within the bounds of Tilton was built by a Mr. Duncan, from Concord, as early as 1789. It stood on the corner now occupied by the town hall.

The first permanent saw-mill within the present town was known as the old Morrison or Darling privilege, it being the first west of the present railroad station, and was built previous to January 5, 1775; and there must have been a grist-mill in con- nection with the saw-mill as early as 1766.

In the granting of most of the townships in this State by Massachusetts, or the Masonian proprietors,

a territory equal to six miles square, and frequently larger, was granted to actual settlers under conditions named in their charters. As their population increased, the towns became incorporated under State laws. The residents were economical, thrifty and energetic ; their land gave abundant crops, and, for a time, they were content ; but, as their children reached maturity, population and wealth increased, they became pos- sessed with the idea that the old town contained too much territory. The business had changed from where, in times past, it had developed, one portion of the town having grown with greater rapidity than the rest, and soon the effort was made to incorporate a new town. In many instances a new town was made from two or more older towns; while in other instances a new town was incorporated from the original township.

Formation of the Town of Tilton .- The first ac- tion taken in regard to the formation of the town of Tiltou was a petition presented to the General Court in 1850. In 1860 two special town-meetings were held in the old town of Sanbornton, to act on the division of the town, but nothing came from it. A special town-meeting was held May 18, 1869, to act on an article relative to the division of the town, one hundred and fifty voting to dismiss the article and one hundred and five voting in its favor. The men at the helm were energetic, conrageons and de- termined on the formation of a new town, and this proved the final and decisive action. Sanbornton appointed Herman T. Hale as agent, authorizing him to employ such counsel as was necessary to op- pose the division of the town.

As first proposed, it was intended to make the di- vision on the fourth range line, with a southern de- tour at the east end, thereby giving Mosquito bridge to Sanbornton; but by the act approved June 30, 1869, third range line was adopted, with a northern detour, thereby assigning the bridge to this town.

ACT OF INCORPORATION.

" AN ACT to constitute the Town of Tilton from a Part of the Territory of the Town of Sanbornton.

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Convened :

" Section 1. That all that part of Sanbornton lying within the following lines and boundaries, to wit : Beginning at the centre of the Winnipi- seogee River, at the southwest corner of said Sanbornton, on the line of the town of Franklin ; thence northerly, on the line between said Frank-

876

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TILTON.

liv and said Sanboroton, to the north side of the third range of lots in said Sanborntou ; thence easterly, on the north side of said range line, to the highway leading from Union Bridge to Laconia, across the Bay Bridge; thence on the north line of said highway to the Sanbornton town line, on the northerly side of said Bay Bridge ; thenco on said San- bornton towu line, dowu the Winvipiseogee River to the place of begin- Ding,-he, and the same hereby is, severed from the Town of Saubornton and made a body politic and corporate by the name of Tilton.

" Section 2. All real and personal property, including all debts, claims and demauds of every kind now owned by sud due to the town of San- bornton, all school and other funds belonging to said towu, and the pro- portiou of the literary fand, which, until a new apportionment of State taxes, shall be payable to said towns, shall be divided between them in the proportion of $4.50 to Sanborutou and $5.50 to Tilton. And if said towas cannot agree upon the division of any such property, the County Commissioners for the County of Belknap, for the time being, upon the request of either town, may make divison of the same, or assign the same, or any part thereof, to either of said towne, and may ordor the town to which such property may be assigned, to pay over such sums of money to the other town as in their opinion is equitable, according to the fore- going proportiou, and may fix the time of payment.

"Section 3. All taxes assessed since March last upon the polls and estate of persone residing in Said town of Tilton, as hereby constituted, and all non-resident taxes assessed since March last iu said town, shall be collected by the collector, to whom the same has been committed for that purpose ; and after deducting therefrom the State and county taxes, shall be by him paid over to said towu of Tilton, io the same meuner iu which he is directed to pay the same to the town of Sauboruton before this di- visiva thereof; and the treasurer of the town of Tilton, when daly chosen and qualified, shall have the same power to issue an extent against euch collector for any neglect to comply with the provisions of this Act that he would have if such collector had been chosen by said town of Tilton.

" Section 4. All debts and liabilities heretofore incurred by said town of Sanbornton, and all municipal expenses of said towu since the first day of March last, shall be paid by the aforesaid towns in the same proportion as hereiubefore prescribed for the division of property.

" Section 5. All paupers now supported by, and ia actual receipt of as- eistance from, said Sauhorutou, shall be supported by the towne of San- borutou aud Tilton, each contributing in the same proportion as here- iabefore mentioned for the division of property, until such time as either of said towns shall call for a division of said paupers ; and if said towns do not agree upon a division, the aforesaid conoty commissioners, for the time being, shall, upon the request of either of said towns, determine and assigo to each of them its proportion of said paupers, upou the same basis, as near as practicable, as that prescribed for a division of the towu property, and determine which of said paupers shall be supported by each of said towue.

" Section 6. In all assessment of State and conuty taxes, until the Leg- islature shall otherwise order, Saubornton, as constituted after thie divi- sion thereof, ehall pay $3.15 and Tilton $2.94 ; and the State and county treasurers shall issue their respective warrants accordingly.

"Section 7. Jeremiah C. Tilton, Alexander H. Tilton, Addison B. Wyatt, or any two of them, may call the first meeting of said town of Tiltou by postiog up a warrant for that parpose, as the law direct. At Which meeting either of said persons may preside until a moderator be chosen, and at sach meeting all necessary town officers may be chosen, "Section 8. This act shall take effect from aud after its passage.

" SAMUEL M. WHEELER,

" Speaker of the House of Representatives. "JOHN Y. MUGRIUGE, President of the Senate.

" Approved June 30, 1869.

" ONSLOW STEARNS, Governor."

From Rev. M. T. Runnels' most valuable " History of Sanbornton " (p. 259) we gather the following sta- tistics :

" According to the provisions of this Act, as we learn from the San- boruton town records, Tilton's portion of the cash in the treasury was $414.02 ; Sanbornton's, 8338.75, total,-$752.77. Debt in rates : Tilton's portion, 11-20, 848,369,20 ; Saubornton'e 9-20, $39,574.80 (bat in reality, Tilton assumed $17 less, $48,352.20, and Sanbornton $17 more, 839,- 591.80, that sum ($17) being paid by Tilton to Sanbornton in order to distribute the rates between the towns without charging), -total, $87,944. Whole amount of school and parsonago fund, $5707,-filton's portion, (11-20), $1166.35 ; Sanbornton'e, (9-20), $2590,65. Railroad stock,

thirty-eight shares and $30 in scrip, equaling $3830,-Tiltou'e portion, $2106.50 ; Sanborntou'e, $1723.50, but Tilton takes for its portion twenty- one shares and $30 in scrip, and pays Saohoraton $1.35, and Sauboruton takes seventeen shares for its portion, the ecrip ouly selling for about ten cents ou a dollar. Amount of taxes assessed in Sanbornton for 1869 (before division) $17,297.60,-Saubornton'e portion, $9886.10; Tilton's, 87321.50. Whole amount of real and personal estate sold. $4750.07 ; ex- penses, $141.78, balance, $4608.29, of which received by the town of Tilton, $2534.55."

The name "Tilton " was adopted by the citizens of the proposed new town at the suggestion of Hon. Charles E. Tilton (the fourth generation in line of de- scent from the original settler), its wealthiest citizen, whose magnificent gifts to and pride of his native vil- lage has done much to render this place one of the most beautiful and attractive in the country.

The name is not in honor of himself individually, but for his ancestry.

Nathaniel Tilton, the patriarch of this family, re- moved to that part of Sanbornton now Tilton be- tween 1768 and 1771, settling on the farm now owned by Charles W. Colby, nearly a mile north of Tilton village. His name was very prominent in the early history of the first church, of which he was deacon for more than thirty-nine years. He died Feb. 11, 1814.

His son Jeremiah (Colonel) built the original hotel on the site of the Dexter House and occupied the same (see Copp mill). He served in the Revolutionary War six months and was a colonel in the State militia, a justice of the peace, and, in all respects, may be regarded as among the prime founders of this thriving village. He died April 10, 1822, aged sixty years.

His son Samuel, born August 20, 1789, commenced his business career at his father's trip-hammer shop, then occupied the hotel, adding another story to the original building; a man of great business energy and sagacity and always remained at the Bridge village. He accomplished much for its prosperity and was a "living spirit" in the affairs of the town at large for many years. Besides other offices, he was elected Re- presentative five times (1826-29 and 1835); was sheriff, justice of the peace and United States marshal under President Pierce, having previously been chosen one of the State electors for President of the United States in 1848 and delegate to the Baltimore Conven- tion in 1852. As a friend, he was honest, firm and unwavering, and no falsehood or pretense whatever had the least influence in detaching him from those in whom he confided. The records of the schools, seminary and houses of religious worship in his native village will all bear witness that no man among us gave more freely or abundantly than he did towards their establishment; always conservative and patri- otic in his feelings, a strong friend of the Union and a most decided and outspoken opponent of all kinds of radicalism.1 He died November 12, 1861. For an account of his son, Hon. Charles Elliott Tilton, the reader is referred to his biographical sketch.

1 Runnels' "History of Sanbornton," vol. ii. pp. 800. See notes.

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HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The Memorial Arch of Tilton, considered as a work of art in its solid and massive completeness, or in the light of the purpose for which it was designed (commemoration of a family name), and erected from the resources of an individual, stands emphatically solitary and alone.

For ages monuments have been chiseled with virtues that once inspired the dust beneath them. Cenotaphs have kept from forgetfulness the memory of the unsepulchred dead, and obelisks in hiero- glyphics are preserved from an older age as reminders of the common desire not to be forgotten. History itself is antedated in discovered symbols honoring the dead among the ruins of forgotten cities.

All these visible tokens are manifestations of that longing for immortality common to the human heart. An impression has gone abroad that the Arch of Tilton is a fac-simile of that of Titus. Such is not the fact, except that the relative proportions are pre- served.

The arch on the Sacred Way was built by Ves- pasian on the return of his son Titus from the capture and destruction of Jerusalem.

It illustrated his triumph in that its inscription bore his name, while profuse carvings, representing Jewish captives bearing the consecrated utensils of the temple, were literal interpretations of actual events. All this is replaced in its American counter- part by the severest simplicity consistent with archi- tectural taste.

The two columns in that of Titus apparently spring from a foundation level with the face of the earth, and are built of marble.

These rise from a cut granite platform approached by five courses of easy steps on all sides, the whole resting on a sub-foundation of solid stone and cement seven feet in depth, in the form of a parallelogram, forty feet by seventy. It is superior in size to the one which for eighteen hundred years has recalled the destruction of that most magnificent temple, the in- human atrocities of a Roman soldiery and the un- paralleled sufferings of the chosen people of God. That emphasizes the glory of potentates, which comes of carnage, slaughter and sanguinary violence ; this is the product of peace and prosperity, and an- nounces the blessings of good-will and the liberality of a citizen in the ranks of the people.

Its height is fifty-five feet and its width forty feet. Eight hewn stones makethe entire covering, weighing one hundred and thirty thousand pounds. It is most thoroughly constructed, was two years in building and completed without accident.

Its location is on a mound-shaped hill, one hundred and fifty feet above the river, which gently flows at its base. Marl, hard-pan and rock make the elevation, and nothing but an earthquake can disturb the founda- tion.

The view from the baseof the arch is as if one stood in the centre of a vast amphitheatre adorned with every

variety of landscape. Within a boundary from Kearsarge and Rugged Mountains in the east to the hills of Meredith in the north, circumscribed by the horizon that marks the highlands to Ossipee and Gilford Mountains in the east and south, the prospect is unobstructed.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 208

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