USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > New Boston > History of New Boston, New Hampshire > Part 8
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
99
that simplicity ; we may have seen the descendants of that people, electioneering and voting for themselves ; but let us remember that our boasted progress has culminated in the harvest of cor- ruption, treason, and rebellion, which the nation is now reaping.
The patriarchs of the town were peace-makers; litigation was scarcely known among them ; a resort to legal tribunals was a violation of public opinion ; no lawyer ever resided here, and had one attempted it, he would have starved, if he had leaned on the law for his bread. Lawyers grew fat in all the neighboring towns, but this was the abode of peace, not of liti- gation. I remember that, in later years, one uneasy, unlucky wight, after resisting all offers of compromise, prosecuted his neighbor, in due form of law, and so great was the excitement, that almost the entire population turned out as defendants. The poor plaintiff was crushed under the pressure of numbers, and the verdict of the community was, " served him right!" There were, undoubedly, troubles, disputes, and trespasses among neighbors ; and there were, I presume, the usual local magistrates in the town, but I never saw nor heard of a justice court, or a jury trial, until after I had grown to manhood, and had removed to other scenes. Conciliation was first aimed at, and, if that failed, then arbitration or compromise, or the friend- ly offices of neighbors, uniformly succeeded in healing the worst feuds and most troublesome animosities.
It might be supposed that a population, such as I have de- scribed, would repress with a strong hand the natural and or- dinary love of social mirth, frolic, and amusement. The dispo- sition to taboo the joyous and mirthful exhibitions of our na- tures, I suspect, belonged more to the Puritan than to the Scotch character. Be that as it may, I know there was no restraint among this people against any enjoyment, pleasure, or amuse- ment, which innocence might sanction, or virtue approve. We had our dances, and such dances ! none of your new, patent, improved cotillions, quadrilles, and waltzes ; but jigs, and long reels, and short reels, and square reels, and Hie Betty Martin ! and then we had our sleigh-rides, apple-parings, corn-huskings, and all manner of sports, such as were approved and partici- pated in by " the old folks at home." Our mothers always knew that " we were out." We were at home by ten o'clock, sound, hearty, and happy. There is no young life so innocent,
100
so full of joy, no pleasures so full of vigor and benefit, as the life and pleasures of the young people of a moral and religious farming community. Cultivate and refine us as much as you will, - give us the overflowing cup of the gay, fashionable world to the fill, - still, when we grow old, and look back for a time of unalloyed enjoyment, those only find it who have luxuriated in the untainted social life of the sons and daughters of such a laboring population. The dissipated ballroom, the drinking and gambling saloons, and all kindred resorts for pleasure, leave a sting in the memory that neither time nor eternity can heal.
The old folks, too, were not without their social enjoyments. They had their tea-parties and dinner-parties, their winter evening sociables, with the fruit and wine of their orchards, and the nuts of their forests. The men, especially the younger men, as the custom was, had their social assemblies and so- cial drinks, and sometimes, though rarely, there were com- plaints of excess and disorder. But, to the praise of our fathers it may be said, that they loved and maintained order and sobriety. It was a deep disgrace to be suspected of intem- perance. There was not in the town, what we now call a rum- hole, or gambling-shop. I remember but two men who were called drunkards, and never saw but one of those. All gam- bling was prohibited by the sternest repression, and many now recollect how thoroughly the one suspected rendezvous was cleansed out by the wise strategy of the town officers. All licentiousness was pursued with deep disgrace, and was scarcely heard of. Judge Lynch once held his court here, and an offending citizen, convicted on sight, was put upon a rail, and carried outside the limits of the town, and warned never to re- turn, under a penalty which he dared not incur. But the crowning evidence in favor of our fathers, was the fact that real poverty was scarcely known in the town. There might have been one or two helpless invalids supported as paupers, but it was the pride of every neighborhood to feed, clothe, and comfort their own poor. How many precious memories cluster around those ministering angels, our mothers and sisters, as we see them, in our backward vision, visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted, supplying the wants of the poor, and giving to the widow and orphan the blessed assurance of being preserved from the deep mortification of becoming town paupers. How
101
rich the legacy of these recollections! How proud may we be to-day of such a legacy !
But the happiest memories, and most delightful associations, are those suggested by the occasion. We, who have wandered from our native soil, and spent more or less of our lives among strangers, have come home to celebrate the one hundredth birthday of our venerable homestead. We come, not like the prodigal, because we have been starving on husks, nor because we have squandered our patrimony in riotous living, but be- cause our fathers and our brethren have invited us to come, and because the dear recollections of our old home, of the dear companions of our childhood and youth, of the many happy hours, days, and years we have spent here, all combined, have drawn us with cords, laying hold of our hearts, and whose strength neither time nor distance has weakened. And we are met, on our return, not by the older brothers, grumbling and begrudging the fatted calf, but are welcomed by them to a feast of fat things. We rejoice together with you ; we gather up the precious memories of the past and hallow them ; we call up the many and manly virtues of our fathers, and pay to them the tribute of our most hearty admiration. From the depths of our hearts spring up the bright pictures of the departed dead, whom we seem to hear say to us, " Children, do ye abide in the principles and virtues of your fathers ?" What is our answer ? Standing here, the representatives of that race ; stand- ing here over their graves; standing here upon the birthday of the town, and the birthday of our nation, what do we say ? Are we their legitimate children, or do we belie our origin ? Shall our fathers, looking down upon the scenes of this noble life, disown us, and our mother cast us off? No! no! A thousand times, no ! We are not bastards ! We come here to-day to testify our love for our home and our ancestors. If we have erred and strayed, we have come back to confess our wanderings ; if we have neglected or forgotten their counsels, we will now recall and adopt them into our lives ; if we have dishonored their graves, we will rebuild their sepulchres ; if we have forsaken their God, we will destroy our idols, and come back to the altar where they worshipped. We lift up a stand- ard here to-day, and pledge our loyalty to our fathers, to our country, and our God.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
IN the grant of the town by the " Great and General Court," of Massachusetts Bay, it is provided that the proprietors, with- in three years from the date of the grant, " shall settle a Learned and Orthodox minister, and build and finish a convenient meet- Ing-house for the public worship of God. And for the encour- agement of some godly man to settle in the township, they further provide that one sixty-third part of the township shall be given him in his right at his settlement, and another sixty- third part shall be set apart in perpetuity towards his annual support."
Agreeably to these provisions, a meeting-house was erected by the proprietors, in the northeast part of the town, around which clustered sixty dwelling-houses, each eighteen feet square, together with a saw and grain mill. The proprietors agreed, March 30, 1738 (old style), with "Joseph Fitch, of Bedford, millwright, and Zachariah Emery, of Acton, husbandman, and Samuel Fellows, of Chelmsford, housewright, all in the county of Middlesex," " to erect a Meeting-House of the following di- mensions, viz. : Forty-five feet long, and thirty-five feet wide, and twenty-two feet between the cell (sill) and plate, to frame a Tower or steple at one end thereof, ten foot square, and forty foot high," and to finish the house " in a good, workmanlike manner, on or before the fifteenth day of November, which will be the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty ; " for which they agree to pay " four hundred and nine pounds, in Bills of Credit of the old tennor." The proprietors, in a peti- tion to the general court of Massachusetts Bay, on " the last Wednesday of May, 1740," say that they "have erected a house for the public worship of God, sixty dwelling-houses, a saw-mill, cleared woods, and been at other charges, in the whole amounting to upwards of three thousand pounds." Yet, it
104
would appear that the meeting-house was never finished inside, the contractors failing to fulfil their engagement ; nor is it cer- tain that meetings for the worship of God were ever held in it. It seems pretty evident that soon after the erection and comple- tion of the exterior of the house, it was consumed by fire, together with many of the dwelling-houses in its vicinity. There is a tradition that the fire was set by Indians, then in the region ; but it is most reasonable to conclude that, during the summer of 1740, the fire was accidentally conveyed to it by clearing the lands in the neighborhood. But its history is in- volved in mystery ; there is no record relating to it, beyond the fact of its erection and partial completion ; and a like mystery shrouds the fate of a village of some sixty houses. And why this spot should be selected for a village and a meeting-house, being near the line of Goffstown, does not clearly appear. A meeting-house here would not accommodate the town, and this, it is presumed, the proprietors discovered, and the house was never rebuilt, and nothing was done respecting another for ten or twelve years. Yet it is believed that occasional preaching was enjoyed during this period, and the inhabitants occasionally returned to the towns whence they had come to partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The settlers expressed a strong desire for public worship in the latter part of 1757; but the proprietors informed them that " Preaching could not begin until May, 1758," and the settlers were desired "to aid in the salary." The number of inhabitants in town, September 25, 1756, was only fifty-nine ; twenty-six men, eleven women, nine boys, and thirteen girls. November 11, 1756, at a meeting in Boston, the proprietors " voted John Hill, Esq., James Halsey, and Robert Jenkins be a committee to fix on a proper place, in or near the centre of the town, for the public worship of God, and also for a public Burying-Place, as they shall think most suitable for the whole community ; (fixed on Lot No. 81.") Lot No. 81, it is thought, must have included a part of " Bux- ton Hill," and that on the western part of that hill it was pro- posed to erect the second meeting-house. But this location did not satisfy the settlers ; for November 28, 1758, Thomas Cochran is authorized " to convene the settlers, and select a proper place near the centre of the town (old limits) for a house of worship
105
and burying-ground ; (supposed to be about Lot 79.") But there was not the desired unanimity among the settlers, and, August 30, 31, 1759, a committee of the proprietors held a conference at Chelmsford, with Messrs. Cochran, McAllister, Ferson, Walker, and Carson, respecting " raising money to pay for past preaching and the erection of a meeting-house, but no decisive action was taken. During the summer of 1760, the Rev. Mr. Burbeen preached several Sabbaths ; also the Rev. Mr. Brown, for whose services compensation was made by the proprietors. April 20, 1762, a committee of the proprietors met Robert Boyes, Esq., James Caldwell, and John McAllister, at Dunstable, and there it was voted " to build a meeting-house on or near Lot 79, fifty feet long, and forty feet wide, with all convenient speed." June 9, of the same year, the proprietors met at New Boston, and, after voting to pay twenty-one dollars for past preaching, also voted again to build a meeting-house. Still the contention continued as to location ; and, September 14, 1762, at Dunstable, it was "voted unanimously that Ma- thew Patten, Esq., Capt. John Chamberlin, and Samuel Patten, or any two of them, be desired and impowered to fix a spot in the most convenient place in said New Boston, to build a Meet- ing-House, or place for public worship thereon, at the cost of the Proprietors, and are desired to report as soon as possible. And the subscribers being present at the above vote, signified our consent of said vote, and oblige ourselves to abide by the determination of said committee, or any two of them, as wit- ness our hands for selves and constituence." This was signed by James Halsey, for himself and twelve others, for whom he was authorized to act; John Hill, Robert Jenkins, Robert Boyes, Thomas Cochran, James Caldwell, for self and six otli- ers ; William Moor, John McAllister, George Cristy, James Hunter, Thomas Wilson, and Allen Moor.
The following is the report of the committee : -
TO THE PROPRIETORS OF NEW BOSTON : -
GENTLEMEN : - Pursuant to the vote and desire at the meeting held at Dunstable, in the Province of New Hampshire, the 14th of Sept., 1762, -
We, the subscribers, have attended the business therein mentioned, at said meeting, desiring us to choose a proper place to build a meeting-house in New Boston ; we viewed the place or premises, heard the reasonings of the Propri- 14
106
etors and inhabitants of said town, and do report to the said Propriety, that the Lot No. 79, in the second Division, and near the centre of said Lot, on the south side of Piscataquog River, south of a Red Oak tree, marked with letter C, near the grave of a child buried there, is the most proper place or spot to build a Meeting-house on in town, according to our judgment.
MATTHEW PATTEN, JOHN CHAMBERLIN, Committee.
SAMUEL PATTEN,
Witness our hand, July 24, 1763.
This report was accepted by the proprietors, at a meeting held at Dunstable, September 28, 1763, at which "were present James Halsey, John Hill, Esq., Robert Jenkins, Robert Boyes, Esq., Thomas Corkrin, Col. Joseph Williams, Esq., John McAl- lister, Allen Moor, William Moor, Robert Clark, George Christy, Abraham Corkrin, and James Hunter." At their meeting in Dunstable, April 24, 1764, it was also voted by the proprie- tors, "That the Committee already appointed for building said meeting-house be desired to agree with some suitable person for building said house as soon as may be." That committee was the " standing committee " of the proprietors, consisting of James Halsey, John Hill, Robert Boyes, Thomas Cochran, and James Caldwell. At the same time this committee were author- ized to sell any unappropriated lands belonging to the proprie- tors, " either in the old town or in the new addition, of lands for building the Meeting-house "; while direct taxes were as- sessed " on each proprietor's right or rights," for the same purpose.
It would seem that this committee contracted with Ebenezer Beard to build the house, as September 30, 1766, at a meeting of proprietors at Dunstable, " at the house of Thomas Harrod, taverner," it was voted, "That John Hill, Esq., and Robert Jenkins, be a committee to treat with and agree with Mr. Ebenezer Beard, about the building and finishing the meeting- house and settling his accounts so far as is already done, and pass receipts with said Beard, as to what he has already done to the meeting-house, and what he has already received to- wards it." And the same committee were instructed, in the following April, again to settle with him. There seems to have been much delay in completing his contract, and the
107
proprietors, becoming impatient, instructed Thomas Cochran and James Caldwell to hire workmen to finish the meeting- house, provided Beard did not finish said house by the first of July next (1767). It is, however, intimated that Beard was not to finish the whole of the interior of the house, -only the lower story, with the pulpit, and seats for the singers. It would seem that Beard completed his contract since the proprietors voted, September 15, 1767, " to give Ebenezer Beard one hun- dred acres of land in the New Addition above what they had contracted to give, since said Beard complained that he had a hard bargain." And this was confirmed September 6, 1768, and Thomas Cochran was authorized to give him a deed of said one hundred acres of land, "when it shall appear to said Thomas Cochran, that Ebenezer Beard has finished his work, according to his agreement, on the meeting-house." Lot No. 16 in " New Addition," was selected, and Mr. Beard was set- tled with and paid in full, agreeably to contract; and the pro- prietors " resign their interest in the gallery to the inhabitants of the town, provided they will join with the resident propri- etors in finishing the gallery and the meeting-house to the sat- isfaction of said residents." And, after assigning to each orig- inal proprietor one-half of a pew on the ground floor, the pro- prietors seem to leave the meeting-house to be finished and cared for by the town. And it will be observed that this brings us into the year 1768, twenty-eight years since the erection of the first meeting-house on " the Plains," in the northeast part of the town. Meantime, the town has received its charter of Incorporation from " George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc., through his "trusty and well-beloved BenningWent- worth, Esq., our Governor and Commander-in-Chief, and of our Council for said Province of New Hampshire ;" and the inhabitants have greatly increased and improved in their ma- terial interests and comforts. Nor have they been indifferent respecting a house of worship and the stated ministrations of the word. But they have earnestly sought for a habitation for their God, and longed for his courts. They have had such preaching in their private houses as they could obtain, and have thanked God and taken courage during the long period
108
of "hope deferred." Thus the Rev. Mr. Hancock preached. for them some weeks in 1762, and every year more or less of money was raised and appropriated for preaching, and various attempts were made to obtain some one to break to them the bread of life. October 3, 1763, the town voted " that Nathan- iel Cochran make application in behalf of the town at a meet- ing of ministers at Hollis for some preaching." March 4, 1765, the town voted " to have Rev. Mr. Huston preach five or six Sabbath days." Other ministers were heard at different times with great satisfaction. And thus piety was kept alive, and the children were brought to the altar of baptism, and the Sabbath was kept holy, and their longing desires for the gospel were, in a measure, gratified. But how great the joy felt at the sight of a meeting-house on their own soil and within their own limits, it is now difficult for us to conceive. It is said that not a few wept for joy of it, and a day for thanksgiving to God was observed by the town when their temple could be used for worship, and much prayer was offered that He would enable them to secure the settlement of a minister among them. They lingered long about the courts of the Lord's house, counting the dust and the stones and the wood Sacred. It was an imposing structure for those days. It was " fifty feet long and forty feet wide and twenty-two feet stud," with a front door five feet wide towards the south, another towards the west, and another towards the east, while the pul- pit was on the north side, with square pews all around by the walls of the house, with a broad alley in the centre, and square pews on either side, and an alley between them and the pews on the sides, while the pulpit was of ample dimensions and im- posing height, with its mysterious sounding-board above, and the minister's pew on the west side of the pulpit, close by the stairs which led to it. The singers' seats were on a large scale on the south side of the house in the gallery, though, until they were finished, the town voted " to give the teached singers two seats on the west side of the broad alley." Thus in 1768 the meet- ing-house was so far finished as to be considered a comfortable and appropriate house for worship, though, it was not entirely completed until as late as 1786. Yet the house began to be used for worship as early as 1767, the year in which the Rev. Solomon Moor began his labors.
109
REV. SOLOMON MOOR.
He was born in Newtown, Limavady, in Ireland, 1736, the same year the Grant of New Boston was obtained. He grad- uated at the University of Glasgow in 1758, and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Londonderry, Ireland, July 26, 1762, and was ordained in 1766 as a minister at large. This was done with a view of coming to America to labor wherever in the providence of God a field of usefulness might be opened. Accordingly he sailed for Halifax, where lie arrived in October, 1766. After remaining there a few weeks, he proceeded to Bos- ton, Massachusetts, and preached for the first time in America in that city, in the pulpit of Rev. Mr. Moorhead. The next Sabbath he preached at Londonderry for the Rev. Mr. Mc- Gregor; and February, 1767, he came to New Boston, to which place he was recommended by letters of commendation from Rev. William Davidson, the pastor of the First Church in Lon- donderry. It should be remembered that a large proportion of the first settlers of New Boston came from Londonderry, and they naturally maintained much intercourse with the churches whence they came, and enjoyed the sympathy and paternal care of the pastors. It is evident that they had solicited the aid of Rev. Mr. Davidson in obtaining a minister. Hence Mr. Moor was encouraged to visit New Boston, and spend at least a few months with the scattered population of that town. And Mr. Moor seemed adapted to that people, both by birth and educa- tion. He had no prejudices to overcome, but gained ready ac- cess to their confidence ; and with great unaminity the inhabi- tants presented him the following call, August 25, 1767 : "We, the inhabitants of the town of New Boston, as sensible of the repeated instances of the goodness of our kind Benefactor, par- ticularly in smiling upon our new settlement so that from a very small, in a few years are increased to a considerable num- ber, and the wilderness, by God's kind influences, is in many places amongst us become a fruitful field, affording us a com- fortable sustenance; we acknowledge that we are not proprietors of our estates in the sight of God, but stewards, and therefore they are to be improved for his honor, the spreading and estab- lishment of his interest; and being destitute of a fixed pastor,
110
and having longing and earnest inclinations to have one established amongst us, that we may have the gospel mysteries unfolded and. ordinances administered amongst us, the appointed means in God's house below, that we and our seed may be disciplined and trained up for his house in glory above; as the kind providence of God has opened such a door by, sir, your coming amongst us, we are led cheerfully to embrace the happy opportunity, being well assured, reverend sir, by unexceptional credentials as to your ministerial abilities to preach the gospel, and likewise as to your exemplary life, which gives force to what is preached, as also the suitableness and agreeableness of what you preach to our capacities, we, earnestly imploring direction from the Be- ing that alone can effectually direct us in such a weighty and soul-concerning matter, we, with hearts full of well-guided affec- tion, do, in the most hearty manner, invite, call, and intreat you, the Rev. Solomon Moor, to undertake the office of a pastor amongst us, and the charge of our souls forced upon your ac- cepting this our call, as we hope the Lord will move and incline you so to do, we in a most solemn manner promise you all du- tiful respect, encouragement, and obedience in the Lord ; further, as the laborer is worthy of his hire, and he that serves at the altar should live by it, as we have nothing but what we have received, we are willing to improve part of our portions in this life that we may be made partakers of everlasting por- tion in the life to come, by the blessing of God, under your ministry, and for your encouragement and temporal reward, we promise you yearly forty pounds sterling per annum for the first five years after your instalment, and after that the addi- tion of five pounds more sterling. August the 25, 1767. Sub- scribed by John Smith, Matthew Caldwell, William Caldwell, Jesse Christy, Thomas Cochran, James Ferson, Alexander Mc- Collom, William Clark, James Cochran, William Gray, Abra- ham Cochran, James Wilson, George Cristy, Alexander Wil- son, James Hunter, Alexander Graham, Samuel McAllister, Thomas McColom, Ninian Clark, Peter Cochran, Reuben Smith, Hardry Ferson, John Blair, John Cochran, Jr., Thomas Coch- ran, Jr., Allen Moor, William McNeil, Jr., Thomas Quigely, William Kelsey, John Cochran, William Boyes, Paul Ferson,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.