USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > New Boston > History of New Boston, New Hampshire > Part 12
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fifty dollars. At length the town voted to divide the income according to poll and estate tax ; every man saying which church he wished to sustain. And when at length a Univer- salist society was organized, they were allowed to have their proportion. Henceforward the income of the fund was divided between the three societies, in proportion to polls and estates of their respective adherents, until 1861, when the selectmen refused to make the annual division of the income of the minis- terial fund, except the interest on nine hundred dollars, affirm- ing that the rest of the fund had been lost by being absorbed in other funds of the town, so that evidences of the fund could be found only for nine hundred dollars ; and they affirmed that, according to decisions of the courts in similar cases, there was no law to oblige the town to pay it, and that to pay it was contrary to law, and would render it impossible to collect the taxes. At the annual meeting in 1862, the town, by a very large majority, instructed the selectmen to divide the income of the fund, as in former years ; but they refused to obey instruc- tions, and none has been made, except on the nine hundred dollars which had not been absorbed. It is evident that certain men, who were not nursed at the breasts of New Boston moth- ers, and who have a chronic hatred of ministers and churches, had secretly sought to effect this at an earlier period than 1861. The town has never sanctioned, by vote, the repudiation, nor does any honest man deny that the income of the whole fund ought to be paid, though they may question if it can be legally done, under existing circumstances. The Presbyterian and Baptist societies have been embarrassed by this action ; but the descendants of the noble men who so highly prized the worship of God in his sanctuary, and realized the benefits of the gospel to the community, will prove equal to the exi- gency, and will not show themselves the degenerate sons of a godly ancestry.
What remains of the school fund yields an income of some fifteen dollars annually ; the greater portion of it having been absorbed like the ministerial fund.
JAMES CROMBIE, ESQ.
Mr. Crombie was born 1811, the third son of William Crom- bic, Esq., who removed from New Boston to Otsego, N. Y., about 1816, having at that time a wife, three sons, and five daughters, his wife being Betsey Fairfield, of New Boston. In 1827, Mr. Crombie removed his family from Otsego to Oswego county, then a frontier region, where his son James for some years relied upon him as his teacher in mathematics and higher English branches, subsequently fitting himself for college at Binghampton, Cazenovia, and Homer. But, in 1834, impaired health forbade the idea of a college course, and he turned his attention to the study of law, and was admitted to practice as attorney at Albany, and as solicitor in chancery at New York city, in October, 1837, and as counsellor at Rochester in 1841. He commenced the practice of law at Greene, Chenango county, in 1837, subsequently removing to Fulton, Oswego county, where he remained until 1850. After travelling in California for a while, in search of health, he purchased a plantation in Virginia. But having no sympathy with the institution of slavery, having partially recovered his health, and seeing the gathering storm, Mr. Crombie left the "sacred soil " of the Old Dominion, and resumed the practice of law in New York city, in 1854, where he now resides.
At Greene, Chenango county, N. Y., Esquire Crombie was married to Miss C. Mary Beckwith, and has two sons, James F. and Charles B.
JE Bufford's Littt.
lamas lombro
RESPONSE OF JAMES CROMBIE, ESQ.
THE PEOPLE OF NEW BOSTON. - Never safer than when they emulate the patriot- ism and godliness of the men and women who converted this wilderness into a fruitful field.
MR. PRESIDENT. -
When called upon to respond to the sentiment just proposed, it occurred to me that, had you known how early in life I left New Boston, and what had been my history and the natural tendencies of my education since, you would have entertain- ed serious doubts as to my fitness for the task. It was my lot to leave New Boston in infancy, and to receive my education in a new section of the State of New York, under circum- stances and influences naturally calculated to crop out young American ideas and habits. In maturer life, I sojourned awhile among the golden mountains and ravines of California, at a time when godliness was exotic. Still later, I resided in Virginia, at a period when patriotism meant nothing more than attachment to the sacred soil and the divine institution of slavery. . And, finally, I became a resident of the city of New York, when corporation financiers, and the democracy of the rah- ble, reigned triumphant. Knowing this history, you must have had unbounded confidence in natal and ante-natal influences, and in the power of parental instruction and example, to form the character, or you would have selected some other person for this subject, and this occasion. You have not, however, been mistaken in your estimate of the power of these influences in my case, however much you may have misjudged as to my capacity to do justice to the fervor of the patriotism and god- liness of the men and women who settled New Boston.
I thank God, that neither education, nor residence, nor travel in other and different States, nor the habits and institu- tions of other people, have made me forget the place of my
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birth, nor the virtues, principles, and piety that made our fore- fathers so preeminent. I can appreciate their love of country, their earnestness and constancy of purpose, their industry, in- telligence, and godliness, and the powerful influence that their character, customs, and example have exerted, not only on their own posterity, but upon the nation ; for wherever I have been, - in the settlements of the West, in the cities and on the planta- tions of the South, and in the States that border the Pacific, - their posterity as travellers, settlers, teachers, and ministers, have carried with them the knowledge, refinement, literature, customs, and ideas of our fathers.
Churches and school-houses of New England architecture, as well as ministers and teachers of New England ideas, are to be found in every city and State of the Union, or rather were to be found, before the present rebellion rendered certain localities dangerous ground for the expression of New England ideas.
How eminently fitted to produce such a race of men and women, were these Eastern States ! An eminent writer has well said, that the character, civilization, and institutions of a people are mainly determined by their soil, food, and climate, and the general aspect of the country they inhabit. Had our forefathers found on these shores the rich alluvial soil of the South and West, producing, with little labor, far more than their wants demanded, and a malarious, enervating climate, what a change it would have made in their destiny, and that of their race ! How different would have been their energy, character, and in- stitutions, and their influence upon their own and succeed- ing ages! Fortunately, however, they found these hills and mountains covered with rocks and forests, almost defying the energy of man. They saw at a glance what years of toil and patience it would require to settle and subdue so rugged a region. The very effort necessary to form a resolution to set- tle and cultivate it, tended to give them purpose and energy of character. How much more the execution of such a resolution ! Again, they found a soil by no means productive, after all the toil and privation of settlement. They must have seen that it would return hardly an adequate compensation for the toil of cultivation. The climate, too, was cold and bracing, -long winters consumed all that the summers produced.
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With such a soil and climate, and such a rugged, hilly coun- try, they had to add patience to toil, and godliness to patience, to render life endurable ; and God gave them grace equal to the severity of their condition.
Their very condition of toil and hardship made them thought- ful, carnest, sober, and godly men. They had no time to trifle. The realities and necessities of life were upon them, demanding constant prudence, forecast, and effort. With such cares, re- sponsibilities, and duties upon them, to meet the exigences of their life, it is no wonder they prayerfully considered and prop- erly valued all that pertains to the life to come. But when these hills and mountains were cleared and cultivated, and cov- ered with waving grain and green grass, how changed the scene became ! Mountains and hills of every possible contour lifting their heads above the clouds, and stretching their green slopes to the valleys and rivers below, ravines and undula- tions affording constant changes of sunlight and shade ; stream- lets gushing out from hillside and dell, and winding their way down to the rivers that gladdened and fertilized the valleys ; prospects of surpassing beauty and grandeur met them, which- ever way they turned. How could they help loving such a country, after having bestowed so much of energy and life upon it ? The inhabitants of hilly and mountainous countries are proverbially patriotic the world over - especially where the soil is not over productive. The beauty and grandeur of the scenery, and the toil and cost of settlement and cultivation, con- spire to render them so.
But the patriotism of our fathers was of no narrow, sectional kind. It embraced the whole nation.
Was any Southern city visited with plague ; was any portion of the nation suffering from flood or famine ; was any part igno- rant, and without the means of education and improvement, - our fathers were ever ready, with sympathy and material aid, to assist and alleviate. They never inculcated sectional sym- pathies and interests, nor the doctrine of the right of disintegra- tion and secession.
But it is said, in certain quarters, that the principles and ideas they taught, and the institutions they founded, have become dangerous to the peace and welfare of other portions of
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the nation ; that they have become like bombshells thrown into a highly-ignitable city, destructive and consuming. It has also been said that their ideas, principles, and institutions were more belligerent, and more to be feared, in a time of peace, than we, their descendants, in a time of war; that we were preëmi- mently a people of progressive and disturbing ideas and isms, which we would be ready to abandon on the battle-field.
Well, the time has come to test the truth or fallacy of these charges. Already, we find one portion of the country has had quite enough of our ideas, and of our warlike spirit on the battle-field, and are appealing to another portion to assist in turning us out, and confining us to these our native hills, here to droop and die. We can afford to bide our time ; for, whether in or out of the Union ; whether we are confined to these hills, or have free range over this broad continent, one nation and one people, time will prove that the principles of liberty, the patriotism and godliness which our fathers fostered and ripened amid the free air of these hills, are as imperishable as their race. Allow me, in conclusion, to extend the sentiment pro- posed : -
The people of New Boston AND THE WORLD, never safer than when they emulate the patriotism and godliness of the men and women who converted this wilderness into a faithful field.
SCHOOLS.
The facilities for educating their children were not equal to the desires of the first settlers ; but such as they had, they im- proved. Until the town was incorporated, all instruction was given by teachers employed by individuals, while those who were able sent their children for a few months to Londonderry, or other places where schools existed. In 1769, the town* erected a small building near the meeting-house, known as thie " Session-House," which was often used for schools. Here we find a Mr. Donovan teaching, in 1776, five months, though as carly as 1773 the town voted to raise twenty-four pounds, and " that the selectmen divide it as they think proper." Accord- ingly, a man was employed to teach for a few months in differ- ent parts of the town. The following year the same amount was raised, and divided equally among five districts, the people voluntarily arranging themselves into so many districts. As carly as 1788, the town voted to " lire a grammar-school master for a year, as cheap as they can, and that said school-master shall pass an examination ; that the Rev. Mr. Solomon Moor, Jonathan Gove, and William Clark, Esq., be a committee to examine the grammar-school master, to see if he is qualified for the office, as to the languages, figures, and mathematics." Also, it was voted to " divide the town into five districts, and that the grammar-master shall keep equally in the said five." This division was made so as to accommodate the scattered population as best it might. In 1792, the town was redistricted by a committee composed of Ninian Clark, Mathew Fairfield, Solomon Dodge, James Caldwell, and John Cochran, as follows :
DISTRICT NO. 1.
David Henderson, John McMillen, Jr ..
John Parrot, Samuel Cree,
Daniel Redington, Henry Spaulding.
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DISTRICT NO. 2.
David Caldwell,
Matthew Caldwell,
Joseph Leach,
Samuel Abbott,
David Stevens,
Elisha Wilkins.
DISTRICT No. 3.
Alexander Willson, James Willson, Thomas Willson,
Peter Cochran, Jr., Samuel Boyd.
DISTRICT NO. 4.
William Woodbury,
James Walker,
James Smith,
Robert Willson,
Robert Walker,
William Patterson,
Samuel Brown,
Oliver Sheppel,
DISTRICT NO. 5.
John Livingston,
Jacob Bennett,
Deacon John Smith,
Thomas Smith, Jr.,
William White,
David Thompson, James Adams, William Dodge, James Gregg.
DISTRICT NO. 6.
Josiah Morgan,
Jacob Dodge,
David Stinson,
Simon Dodge,
Daniel Dane,
Samuel Patch,
William Clark,
John Whipple.
Ninian Clark,
DISTRICT NO. 7.
Thomas Stark,
Isaac Peabody,
Daniel Dodge,
Elijah Cochran,
Robert Cochran,
Widow Waugh,
Jesse Cristy, Jr.,
Nathaniel Bootman,
John Cochran,
Joseph Mckenzie,
Nathaniel Dodge,
Deacon Jesse Cristy.
DISTRICT NO. 8. William McMillen, Peter Cochran,
Matthew Fairfield, Moses Cristy,
James Caldwell, Robert Campbell, Josiah Warren, Allen Moor,
Thomas Cochran, Alexander Mc Collom, James Willson, Jr.,
Thomas Grifen, Jonathan Grifen, John Gordon, Samuel Willson,
Joseph Beard, James Carnes, Ephraim Clark,
· Elias Dickey, Aaron Howe, Samuel Willson, Jr.
Samuel Smith, Thomas Smith, Robert Balch, John Burns, Nehemiah Dodge,
Livermore Langdall, David Starrett, Jacob Ober, Joseph Andrews,
James Crombie, Samuel Stickney, William Johnson, IIezekiah Austin, Widow Martha Jacks, Jolın Henry,
Ebenezer Clark, Thomas Cristy,
Joseph Haselton,
Joseph Leach, Jr.,
John Davis,
John Jordan, William Beard,
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John Cristy, James McMillen, Robert Patterson, Jr.,
John McMillen, Arthur Dennis, Dudley Curtis,
David MeLaughlen, Lemuel Marden, Widow Cristy.
DISTRICT NO. 9.
Daniel Kelso,
Joseph Lamson,
James Dodge,
Robert Boyd,
Joshua Jones,
John Lamson,
Jacob Fairfield,
Enoch Dodge, Archibald Mc Allister.
DISTRICT No. 10.
Widow MeLaughlen,
Robert Patterson,
Rev. Solomon Moor,
Elisha Dodge,
Noah Dodge,
Gideon Dodge.
DISTRICT NO. 11.
Lieut. James Ferson,
John Richards,
William Blair,
James Ferson, Jr.,
Nehemiah Dodge,
Zadoch Read,
William Coleman,
Francis Dodge,
Andrew Walker,
Jonathan Gove,
John Hogg,
Philemon Perkins,
William Livingston,
Abner Hogg,
Lelsley Gregg,
Solomon Dodge,
William Hogg,
Samuel George,
Robert Hogg,
James Kenedy,
John Mc Caye.
Subsequently, changes took place, and new districts were formed, until the number became eighteen, and so continued until 1856, when two districts near the centre united, building a commodious house in the lower village, and grading the scholars. Other districts have built new houses, or repaired old ones, while some yet remain to the disgrace of the town, and the injury of the rising generation. The amount of money raised by the town annually has been usually something more than the law requires, in addition to the income from the "school fund," most of which has been lost to the purposes for which it was intended.
Great benefit has been derived from "tuition " schools, taught in the autumn or spring, and not unfrequently both. These have usually been well attended, and instructed by com- petent teachers. " The hall over the long store in the upper
William Kelso, Alexander Kelso, Ephraim JJones, Dr. MeMillen,
William McNeill,
Jacob Hooper, William Camiel, Samuel Waters, John Cochran, Jr., Ammi Dodge, James Cochran, John Kennedy, Capt. John Me Laughlen, Capt. Benjamin Dodge, Deacon Robert White,
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village, and the town hall in the lower, have witnessed many minds struggling to unfold themselves by searchings for knowl- edge, and their success is proof of the value of such schools to a community. Rev. Solomon Moor interested himself much in the success of schools, and encouraged many a lad to study, who otherwise would have grown up in ignorance ; and Rev. Mr. Bradford was unwearied in efforts to stimulate the children of the town to excel as scholars, fitting not a few for college, and more to become teachers, and to enter successfully upon honorable paths of activity. That New Boston has not fallen in the rear of sister towns is evident from the number and character of the teachers she has reared, and the intelligent men she has sent forth into other communities. Such has been the benefit of her schools, that she may well foster them in the future, nor feel that money expended in rearing convenient and tasteful school-houses, and in paying competent and faith- ful teachers, will fail to return the most satisfactory dividends. Of the character and advantages of her schools, we will let one of her worthy sons testify in the following paper.
REV. JOSEPH ADDISON GOODHUE.
Mr. Goodhue was born May 27, 1824, the son of Joseph A. Goodhue, a notice of whose family may be found among the biographical sketches. Until sixteen he diligently combined labor and study at home, from which time until twenty he taught several district and select schools, and prepared himself to enter the sophomore class in Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1848. After teaching Kingston Academy one year, he entered the Newton Theological Institution, whenee he graduated in 1852, and was shortly after ordained pastor of the Central Baptist Church in Norwich, Conn., whence, after two years, he was called to a professorship in the Connecticut Literary Institute, at Suffield, which he soon resigned, and accepted a call from the South Baptist Church in Boston, where he remained about two years. In July, 1859, he was installed pastor of the First Baptist Church in Framingham ; and August 1, 1862, he was called to the North Baptist Church in Cam- bridge, his present field of labor.
Mr. Goodhue married Miss Abby, daughter of Rev. George Leonard, of Portland, Me., December 8, 1852, and they have had two children : George H., born April 15, 1855 ; and Addie J., born July 15, 1857. His son George died January 25, 1864, a child of much promise, whose early removal has caused great grief. In 1859, Mr. Goodhue published a work called " The Cru- cible," a treatise on " the Tests of a Regenerate State ; " in which the author " attracts and charms the reader, not by ornaments and glowing periods, but by clearly presenting the mighty theme in its own colors." Rev. Dr. J. N. Brown, of the " Baptist Fam- ily Magazine," pronounces this work " an invaluable book. It
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treats the most difficult, delicate, yet momentous points of ex- perimental religion, with a singular depth of penetration, sound- ness of judgment, and seriousness of spirit. Its analysis is admirable, and the precision and terseness of the language give it all the value, without the pretension, of a work of strict sci- ence. It is truly a work of spiritual pathology. Such a book as this does not appear once in a century. It makes and marks an era."
JH Bufford's Lith.
J. A. Goodhão.
RESPONSE OF MR. GOODHUE.
THE SCHOOLS OF NEW BOSTON. - They have been to the intellect of her youth what the sun and rain have been to her soil.
MR. PRESIDENT, -
Prominent among the indexes of the character of any people is the provision which they are accustomed to make for the mental culture of their children and youth. The history of no township can be an honorable one in which, next to the village church, the school-house does not occupy a conspicuous place. Were there no reminiscences to be cherished at these centen- nial festivities, of the school and the school-master, thie spelling- book and reader, the arithmetic and grammar, meagre enough would be the occasion. But, as one of the sons of New Boston, I am proud to-day that such reminiscences are not wanting. They have been engraven on the tablets of a thousand youth- ful memories in such a manner that neither the cares nor thie business nor the conflicts of subsequent life ever have been or will be able to efface them. The scenes of the district-school have been among our liveliest memories, and their story has often been recounted by many a native of these hills and val- leys far away in other towns and states, and even in other lands.
If there is any one feature in the past history of this munici- pal incorporation which we shall celebrate to-day with a licartier, livelier, and more spontaneous enthusiasm than we shall the rest, it must be that of our common schools. The recollection of these, more than anything else, will quicken again in our veins our youthful blood. It is with a right good relish that we come home from various parts, (for we have no home on earth but the place in which we were born, and where we first learned to read and write and spell our mother-tongue), to glory with our other brethren over those primitive, simple, and yet invaluable institutions in which our young ideas were first taught how to get their range and shoot.
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The conviction of the worth of these institutions is deeply- wrought into the fibres of our souls ; so deeply that no subse- quent acquaintance with similar institutions, of however supe- rior character they may have claimed to be, could possibly eradicate it. We, therefore, who received our first training in the common schools of New Boston, are prepared to hear any amount of eulogium heaped upon them. Our feelings will justify the application of epithets to them in the superlative, yea, (for I must coin a word), in the superlativest degree. When we were enjoying the advantages of those places of learning, we believed them to be the very best in the whole world. And this very faith which we had in them was calculated actually to make them so to us. It is a wise provision of nature which which leads the child to believe, for the time, in the superlative excellence of the institutions under which he was reared ; just as he naturally believes that his parents are the wisest and best beings in all the world; such faith will cause teachers and educational advantages of a very inferior quality to become of incalculable worth, while a corresponding distrust of those of a far superior grade will reduce their benefit to the lowest degree.
This is one evil attendant upon making constant changes and professed improvements in our systems of education. It weakens the confidence of the young in the opportunities they have, and impairs the earnestness of their application, on which more depends than on the excellence of their advantages. This is an evil attendant upon education in the academy, the college, and the schools for the professions. By the time the youth arrives at these he has outgrown the period of implicit faith which belongs to childhood, and begins to reason, to elect, and doubt, which impairs the concentration of his powers and his conse- quent improvement.
We have never had such faith in any other literary institu- tions as we once had in the common schools of our native town. And the effects of once having had such faith have by no means been effaced from our minds, any more than we have outgrown our early reverence for those who gave us our birth and nurtured our tender childhood ; while to-day those early sentiments are revived with all their youthful freshness and vigor. And hence we feel just like giving full sway to our early attachment,
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and declaring it as our present deliberate conviction that the district schools of our native town were, without any qualifica- tion, the very best in all the world.
Nor is this a matter of the feelings only, or of personal pride. These schools were as a matter of fact to us the best in all the world. We, the sons of New Boston, owe to them all we have been or are, or expect to be. And why should we not eulogize them here to-day ? It is folly to speculate as to what might have been the effect upon us if our lot had been cast elsewhere in our childhood, and we had enjoyed superior opportunities, and facilities for an early education. It was not so to be. It was appointed that the most important part of the literary cul- ture and mental training that some, and all that most of us should ever have to prepare us for the conflict of life should be had in the schools of this goodly town. If these had not fur- nished it, we should have had none at all. The other advan- tages, which some of us have enjoyed in addition to these, would have been of no avail whatever without these to precede. And as we look back upon them to-day, we are more deeply im- pressed than ever with the fact that they performed for us a great and good work. I feel proud of my native town, when I think of the position and influence to which many to whom she gave their birth have attained, at home and abroad, and remem- ber that their entire.preparation for their stations of usefulness and honor was received at her hands. And I am not less deeply affected with a sense of gratitude, when I think of the many in- stances in which she laid in her common schools the foundations on which have subsequently been erected superstructures that have been no disgrace to the literary and professional world.
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