USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume III > Part 29
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The manufacture of boots and shoes is, however, the leading industry of Rochester. Started in 1858 by the Wallace firm the company has grown to have two large brick factories and their tannery covers acres of ground. Many hundred workmen are employed in this industry. There are also two large shoe fac- tories at East Rochester, and several other buildings have been erected by private capital to carry on business in leather.
Another important industry is the manufacture of brick. Two yards have been in operation for more than a century, and at Gonic there are a dozen brick yards, with an annual output of over thirty million brick. There are also several small fac- tories for workers in wood.
The celebrities in the history of Rochester have been its natives, John P. Hale, Jacob H. Ela, Thomas C. Upham, and Daniel Lothrop, all of whom have been duly noticed in this history. Others worthy of mention are Dr. James Farrington
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and David Barker, members of congress, Isaac and Seth Adams, manufacturers of the celebrated printing presses, of which the former was the inventor, and Jonathan P. Cushing, president of Hampden Sidney College in Virginia. Rochester has supplied two governors for the State, Samuel D. Felker and Rolland H. Spaulding. Its first mayor was the Hon. Charles S. Whitehouse.
The annual Rochester Fair attracts great throngs of peo- ple. Four railroads connect the city with the world at large. It is a business and trading center for neighboring towns of New Hampshire and of Maine.
Laconia was incorporated as a township in 1855. It then included the portion north of the Winnepesaukee river and was set off from the town of Meredith. It had been known as Mere- dith Bridge. The portion of Laconia on the south and east sides of the river belonged before 1855 to the town of Gilford, which previous to 1813 was included within the limits of the old town of Gilmanton. The part of Laconia south of the river was cut off from Gilford and annexed to Laconia in 1874, and when the city charter was granted in 1893, Lakeport also was taken from Gilford to form a part of the new city. The popu- lation at the last census was a little above ten thousand, and the city is divided into six wards. The first mayor was Charles A. Busiel.
For a long time the place prospered financially because of its manufacture of cotton and woolen goods and hosiery. Since 1850 the leading industry has been that of the car shops, started under the name of the Ranlet Car Company. The Laconia Car Company was organized in 1898, and its products are well known throughout the nation. In the organization of the city government Laconia managed to do without any aldermen, judg- ing that a mayor and fourteen councilmen, a clerk, treasurer, solicitor, board of assessors, collector of taxes, superintendent of sewers and street commissioner, overseers of the poor, city physician and board of health were enough for a city of about six thousand inhabitants. The population increased to over ten thousand at the time of the last census, and probably now num- bers more than twelve thousand.
Laconia has two public libraries with ten thousand or more books, a hospital founded by a gift of ten thousand dollars from
FIRST FRAME HOUSE IN PEMIGEWASSET VALLEY Built about 1790
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Mrs. Rhoda C. Ladd, thirteen churches and buildings repre- senting a dozen fraternities. Its water supply is pumped from Lake Winnepesaukee and its sewer system was installed at an expense of $120,000. An electric railway connects the two ends of the city, Lakeport and Laconia, and extends to the Weirs. The last named place was known as a famous fishing place in the time of the redmen, and more recently the Methodists fished for men here at their annual camp meeting. There is fishing still of both sorts, but the methods have changed. A beautiful grove is filled with handsome cottages. Here are the headquarters of the New Hampshire Veterans' Association. The Weirs has become a great summer resort for many associations, religious, musical and patriotic.
Laconia has furnished two governors, Charles A. Busiel and Henry B. Quinby, both very actively engaged in the business enterprises of that city. Benjamin J. Cole did as much as any other to found and develop the business of Laconia.
The township of Franklin was incorporated in 1828, made up of slices cut from Andover, Salisbury, Sanbornton and North- field. It lies at the junction of the Winnepesaukee and Pemige- wasset rivers. The earliest village sprung up in the part of the town taken from Salisbury, about the garrison house of Philip Call, and was known as the "Lower Village." Here Captain Ebenezer Webster established the first tavern, where now are the buildings of the New Hampshire Orphans' Home.
Ebenezer Eastman was the first to build a mill on the falls of the Pemigewasset and to set up a store and tavern. Kendall O. Peabody began the manufacture of paper on the Winnepe- saukee after having set up a bakery. The Noyes Academy was founded in 1818 by the will of Joseph Noyes, who bequeathed ten thousand dollars and his farm to establish a school. This was succeeded by the "Instructors' School," directed by Benja- min M. Tyler.
The part of Franklin taken from the town of Northfield was returned to that town in 1830 and after possession of twenty- six years was ceded again to Franklin. New mills gradually sprung up, and teams conveyed the products of the manufactur- ing town to distant places. The manufactures included palm- leaf hats, stockings, paper, cloths, tubs, barrels and Bibles, the
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last printed by Peabody & Daniel. The incoming of the North- ern Railroad gave a new impetus to manufactures and trade and opened a new route to Vermont, some of whose troops for the Mexican War passed through Franklin. The paper and pulp industry has grown to large proportions. The hosiery business and the making of needles and knitting machines seemed to grow up spontaneously. Thus the growth of industries and popula- tion called for a city charter, which was granted in 1893, the first mayor being the Hon. Frank N. Parsons. The population at the last census was a little over six thousand and probably has reached from eight to ten thousand at this time.
Franklin boasts of some great names in the past. Not only Daniel Webster and his equally able brother Ezekiel had law offices here, but also Senator Thomas W. Thompson, Parker Noyes, Judge George W. Nesmith here practiced law. The last named had as students in his office Senator Austin F. Pike, Con- gressman Mason W. Tappan, Judge Stephen G. Nash of the Massachusetts Superior Court and Hon. Daniel Barnard, who was attorney-general, president of the State Senate and member of the governor's council. Congressman Warren F. Daniell and Judge Isaac N. Blodgett of the New Hampshire Supreme Court practiced law in Franklin. The city has two libraries, good hotels including the Webster House, a church for each of all the lead- ing denominations, its own newspapers, banks, fine High School building and all the institutions needed to make a prosperous city. The surrounding scenery makes it an attractive place of residence.
Keene was chartered as a city in 1874 and at the time of the last census had a population of about ten thousand. The first mayor was Horatio Colony. Keene is remarkable for its five extensive public parks. Its water works are owned by the municipality. Its public institutions are the Thayer Library, the Elliot Hospital, the Invalids' Home and the State Normal School. The leading papers of Cheshire county are the Sentinel and the Cheshire Republican.
Keene is noted for its manufactures in woodenware. Fac- tories turn out chairs, furniture, pails, and tubs. Shops of the Boston and Maine Railroad are here. Other manufactories in- clude a pottery, glue works, granite cutting plant, shoe shops,
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door, sash and blind factory. The annual output of all Keene's industries is estimated to be worth three million dollars.
The prominent citizens of Keene in the past have been the governors Samuel Dinsmoor, father and son, Governor Samuel W. Hale, Congressman Salma Hale, Judge Joel Parker, Gen. James Reed, Hon. James Wilson and his son, James Wilson Jr., and William E. Chamberlain, who contributed much to the pros- perity of the city
Berlin is built on the upper Androscoggin river, where there is a fall of two hundred feet in a mile. The neighboring forests of spruce and pine made it an ideal spot for the developing of the pulp and paper industry. Great paper mills have been erected by the International Paper Company, and a city of from twelve to fifteen thousand people has grown up with great rapidity, the youngest and the farthest north in New Hamp- shire. Government reservations and forestry legally directed will perpetuate and enlarge the city. The Grand Trunk Rail- road offers facilities for transportation.
The city of Concord is described in the chapter on the Capital, in the fourth volume of this history.
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APPENDIX A
Appendix A THE CONSTITUTION-1784.
CONTAININING A BILL OF RIGHTS, AND FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
Agreed upon by the delegates of the people of the state of New Hamp- shire in convention held at Concord on the first Tuesday of June, 1783; sub- mitted to and approved of by the people of said state, and established by their delegates in convention October 31, 1783. (This constitution "took place" on the first Wednesday of June, 1784.)
PART I.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS.
I. All men are born equally free and independent ; therefore, all gov- ernment of right originates from the people, is founded in consent, and in- stituted for the general good.
II. All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights, among which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness.
III. When men enter into a state of society they surrender up some of their natural rights to that society in order to insure the protection of others ; and without such an equivalent the surrender is void.
IV. Among the natural rights some are in their very nature unalienable, because no equivalent can be given or received for them. Of this kind are the rights of conscience.
V. Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience and reason; and no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty, or estate for wor- shiping God in the manne. and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, or for his religious profession, sentiments, or persuasion, provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or disturb others in their re- ligious worship.
VI. As morality and piety, rightly grounded on evangelical principles, will give the best and greatest security to government, and will lay in the hearts of men the strongest obligations to due subjection, and as the knowl- edge of these is most likely to be propagated through a society by the insti- tation of the public worship of the Deity, and of public instruction in morality and religion, therefore, to promote those important purposes the people of this state have a right to impower, and do hereby fully impower the legis- lature to authorize from time to time the several towns, parishes, bodies corporate, or religious societies within this state to make adequate provision at their own expense for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality ;
Provided, notwithstanding, that the several towns, parishes, bodies cor- porate, or religious societies shall at all times have the exclusive right of electing their own public teachers and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance. And no person of any one particular religious sect or denomination shall ever be compelled to pay towards the support of the. teacher or teachers of another persuasion, sect, or denomination.
And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly, and as good subjects of the state, shall be equally under the protection of the
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law; and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.
And nothing herein shall be understood to affect any former contracts made for the support of the ministry; but all such contracts shall remain and be in the same state as if this constitution had not been made.
VII. The people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of gov- erning themselves as a free, soeverign, and independent state, and do, and forever hereafter shall exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right pertaining thereto which is not, or may not hereafter be by them ex- pressly delegated to the United States of America in Congress assembled.
VIII. All power residing originally in and being derived from the peo- ple, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them.
IX. No office or place whatsoever in government shall be hereditary, the abilities and integrity requisite in all not being transmissible to posterity or relations.
X. Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolu- ment of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old or establish a new government. The doctrine of non- resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
XI. All elections ought to be free, and every inhabitant of the state, having the proper qualifications, has equal right to elect and be elected into office.
XII. Every member of the community has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property; he is therefore bound to contribute his share in the expense of such protection, and to yield his personal service when necessary, or an equivalent. But no part of a man's property shall be taken from him, or applied to public uses without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people. Nor are the inhabi- tants of this state controllable by any other laws than those to which they or their representative body have given their consent.
XIII. No person who is conscientiously scrupulous about the lawful- ness of bearing arms shall be compelled thereto, provided he will pay an equivalent.
XIV. Every subject of this state is entitled to a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all injuries he may receive in his person, property, or character, to obtain right and justice freely, without being obliged to purchase it, completely, and without any denial, promptly, and without delay, conformably to the laws.
XV. No subject shall be held to answer for any crime or offense until the same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally described to him, or be compelled to accuse or furnish evidence against himself. And every sub- ject shall have a right to produce all proofs that may be favorable to him- self, to meet the witnesses against him face to face, and to be fully heard in his defence by himself and counsel. And no subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled, or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land.
XVI. No subject shall be liable to be tried, after an acquittal, for the same crime or offence. Nor shall the legislature make any law that shall subject any person to a capital punishment, excepting for the government of the army and navy, and the militia in actual service, without trial by jury.
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XVII. In criminal prosecutions the trial of facts in the vicinity where they happen is so essential to the security of the life, liberty and estate of the citizen that no crime or offence ought to be tried in any other county than that in which it is committed, except in cases of general insurrection in any particular county, when it shall appear to the judges of the superior court that an impartial trial cannot be had in the county where the offence may be committed; and upon their report the Assembly shall think proper to direct the trial in the nearest county in which an impartial trial can be obtained.
XVIII. All penalties ought to be proportioned to the nature of the offence. No wise legislature will affix the same punishment to the crimes of theft, forgery, and the like which they do to those of murder and treason ; where the same undistinguishing severity is exerted against all offences the people are led to forget the real distinction in the crimes themselves, and to commit the most flagrant with as little compunction as they do those of the lightest dye; for the same reason a multitude of sanguinary laws is both impolitic and unjust, the true design of all punishments being to reform, not to exterminate mankind.
XIX. Every subject hath a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his house, his papers, and all his pos- sessions. All warrants, therefore, are contrary to this right if the cause or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or affirmation, and if the order in the warrant to a civil officer to make search in suspected places, or to arrest one or more suspected persons, or to seize their property, be not accompanied with a special designation of the persons or objects of search, arrest and seizure; and no warrant ought to be issued but in cases, and with the formalities prescribed by the laws.
XX. In all controversies concerning property, and in all suits between two or more persons, except in cases in which it has been heretofore other- wise used and practiced, the parties have a right to a trial by jury; and this method of procedure shall be held sacred, unless, in causes arising on the high seas, and such as relate to mariners' wages, the legislature shall think it necessary hereafter to alter it.
XXI. In order to reap the fullest advantage of the inestimable privilege of the trial by jury, great care ought to be taken that none but qualified per- sons should be appointed to serve; and such ought to be fully compensated for their travel, time, and attendance.
XXII. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state; it ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved.
XXIII. Retrospective laws are highly injurious, oppressive, and unjust. No such laws, therefore, should be made, either for the decision of civil causes or the punishment of offences.
XXIV. A well-regulated militia is the proper, natural and sure defence of a state.
XXV. Standing armies are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be raised or kept up without the consent of the legislature.
XXVI. In all cases and at all times the military ought to be under strict subordination and governed by the civil power.
XXVII. No soldier in time of peace shall be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; and in time of war such quarters ought not to be made but by the civil magistrate, in a manner ordained by the legislature.
XXVIII. No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duty shall be established, fixed, laid, or levied under any pretext whatsoever without the consent of the people, or their representatives in the legislature, or authority derived from that body.
XXIX. The power of suspending the laws, or the execution of them,
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ought never to be exercised but by the legislature, or by authority derived therefrom, to be exercised in such particular cases only as the legislature shall expressly provide for.
XXX. The freedom of deliberation, speech, and debate in either house of the legislature is so essential to the rights of the people that it cannot be the foundation of any action, complaint, or prosecution in any other court or place whatsoever.
XXXI. The legislature ought frequently to assemble for the redress of grievances, for correcting, strengthening, and confirming the laws, and for making new ones, as the common good may require.
XXXII. The people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble and consult upon the common good, give instructions to their Representatives, and to request of the legislative body, by way of petition or remonstrance, redress of the wrongs done them and of the grievances they suffer.
XXXIII. No magistrate or court of law shall demand excessive bail or sureties, impose excessive fines, or inflict cruel or unusual punishments.
XXXIV. No person can in any case be subjected to law martial, or to any pains or penalties by virtue of that law, except those employed in the army or navy, and except the militia in actual service, but by authority of the legislature.
XXXV. It is essential to the preservation of the rights of every indi- vidual, his life, liberty, property, and character, that there be an impartial interpretation of the laws and administration of justice. It is the right of every citizen to be tried by judges as impartial as the lot of humanity will admit.
It is therefore not only the best policy, but for the security of the rights of the people, that the judges of the supreme (or superior) judicial court should hold their offices so long as they behave well; and that they should have honorable salaries, ascertained and established by standing laws.
XXXVI. Economy being a most essential virtue in all states, especially in a young one, no pension shall be granted but in consideration of actual services, and such pensions ought to be granted with great caution by the legislature and never for more than one year at a time.
XXXVII. In the government of this state the three essential powers thereof, to wit, the legislative, executive, and judicial ought to be kept as separate from and independent of each other as the nature of a free govern- ment will admit, or as is consistent with that chain of connection that binds the whole fabric of the constitution in one indissoluble bond of unity and amity.
XXXVIII. A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the constitution, and a constant adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, industry, frugality, and all the social virtues are indispensably necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and good government; the people ought, therefore, to have a particular regard to all those principles in the choice of their officers and representatives; and they have a right to require of their lawgivers and magistrates an exact and constant observance of them in the formation and execution of the laws necessary for the good administration of government.
PART II.
THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
The people inhabiting the territory formerly called the Province of New Hampshire do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other to form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent body politic, or state, by the name of the State of New Hampshire.
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THE GENERAL COURT.
The supreme legislative power within this state shall be vested in the Senate and House of Representatives, each of which shall have a negative on the other. The Senate and House shall assemble every year on the first Wednesday of June, and at such other times as they may judge necessary ; and shall dissolve and be dissolved seven days next preceding the said first Wednesday of June; and shall be styled THE GENERAL COURT OF NEW HAMP- SHIRE. The General Court shall forever have full power and authority to erect and constitute judicatories and courts of record or other courts, to be holden in the name of the state for the hearing, trying, and determining all manner of crimes, offences, pleas, processes, plaints, actions, causes, matters, and things whatsoever arising or happening within this state, or between or concerning persons inhabiting or residing or brought within the same whether the same be criminal or civil, or whether the crimes be capital or not capital, and whether the said pleas be real, personal, or mixed, and for the awarding and issuing execution thereon. To which courts and judica- tories are hereby given and granted full power and authority from time to time to administer oaths or affirmations for the better discovery of truth in any matter in controversy or depending before them.
And, farther, full power and authority are hereby given and granted to the said General Court from time to time to make, ordain, and establish all manner of wholesome and reasonable orders, laws, statutes, ordinances, directions, and instructions, either with penalties or without, so as the same be not repugnant or contrary to this constitution, as they may judge for the benefit and welfare of this state, and for the governing and ordering thereof, and of the subjects of the same, for the necessary support and defence of the government thereof; and to name and settle annually, or provide by fixed laws for the naming and settling all civil officers within this state, such officers excepted, the election and appointment of whom are hereafter in this form of government otherwise provided for; and to set forth the several duties, powers, and limits of the several civil and military officers of this state, and the forms of such oaths or affirmations as shall be respectively ad- ministered unto them for the execution of their several offices and places, so as the same be not repugnant or contrary to this constitution; and also to impose fines, mulcts, imprisonments, and other punishments; and to propose and levy proportional and reasonable assessments, rates, and taxes upon all the inhabitants of and residents within the said state, and upon all estates within the same, to be issued and disposed of by warrant under the hand of the President of this state and for the time being, with the advice and con- sent of the Council, for the public service in the necessary defence and sup- port of the government of this state, and the protection and preservation of the subjects thereof, according to such acts as are or shall be in force within the same.
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