USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Northfield > History of Northfield, New Hampshire 1780-1905: In Two Parts with Many Biographical Sketches and. > Part 7
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POND SCHOOLHOUSE.
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EDUCATIONAL.
Up to this period they very generally boarded around; and the men made shoes or ran pewter spoons during the long evenings to compensate for board or to earn a little extra cash. The wo- men were expected to take along, as a part of their baggage, a spinning wheel and bundle of "rolls" or a quantity of yarn to weave into cloth in some friendly family, filling up the vacant moments by assisting the children of the family seated around the open fire with their evening tasks. These teachers were edu- cated by Rev. Martin Reuter, Rev. William Patrick of Canter- bury and Rev. Liba Conant, the new minister.
Prof. Dyer H. Sanborn established a school at Sanbornton Square, where some desiring privileges in advance of the district schools were enrolled in 1841, and we find the names of Adino B. Hall, James Henry, Frank and Laroy Cofran, Jeremiah Hana- ford, Benjamin A. Rogers, Henry B. Tibbetts and Sarah or Sally Rogers. This was Professor Sanborn's last term there, as he es- tablished a school at Sanbornton Bridge the same year, known far and near as the "Old Academy." It was a celebrated school. He was a model educator and the female departments, under Miss Jewett, Emily and Julia Sargent, two lovely sisters from New London, furnished many finely educated lady teachers for Northfield. Since this time female teachers have been largely employed.
The coming of the New Hampshire Conference Seminary, which will be noted elsewhere, marks an epoch in the educational history of the town.
SUPERINTENDENTS.
In 1823 and '24 superintendents were first employed. Rev. Liba Conant was chosen and voted the sum of one dollar for each school. Rev. Martin Ruter also had charge one or more years. In 1826 "Mr. Conant was allowed the amount of his taxes for visiting the schools, the other two members of the Committee being expressly directed not to visit except in cases of diffi- culty."
In 1833-'35 the town voted to dispense with the inspection of the schools, while in 1837 it was arranged that a "Committee be allowed to visit schools so far as the individual districts should vote to that effect, the pay to come from the school money of the district visited."
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
This matter seems to have been settled finally and a long list of educated superintendents are given, among whom are Dr. Hoyt, Asa P. Cate, Alfred Gile, Revs. Enoch Corser and Mar- cellus Herrick, James N. Forrest, Solon F. Hill and many others. Mrs. Lucy R. H. Cross was in charge from 1879 to 1888, when the district system was abolished by act of the Legislature, and a board of education, consisting of three, placed in charge. She had filled the position eight years and was the first woman to hold that office. Since the adoption of the new plan one or more women have been continuously in the service and their presence there has been beneficial and entirely satisfactory.
Before leaving the subject I wish to refer to some ancient cus- toms long followed, even in well-conducted schoolrooms. It was an unwritten law that the larger boys, in return for chopping the term's wood for the huge fireplace, should be allowed to sell the ashes at the close of the term and invest the proceeds in New England rum to be divided among the children, and a half holi- day or evening was given them. Some of the good Christian mothers deplored this custom and Mrs. Benjamin Winslow, being present once when backlog, forestick and all the betwixt and be- tween came rolling from the rocks in the big fireplace, said, nearly suffocated with the smoke that filled the room, "I'd think they 'd better buy shovel and tongs than rum with the ashes." A neighbor, also a visitor, present, spoke up and said: "Let 'um have their rum; let 'um have it. It does 'um's much good as salt does sheep once in a while," and the shovel and tongs were not forthcoming that term.
In another case Mr. S., who sent an apprentice boy to school, concluding it was not wise to have the boy present when the "treat" went round, decided to go himself and claim the boy's share. The youngster was more than willing since a promised flogging must take place before he could stand in line for his treat. How great was the man's surprise, however, when good Master Gleason stood before him with stick in hand, with the re- mark: "You must take Jake's whipping if you take his rum," which he proceeded at once to administer. The old fellow always declared it was all right and cheap enough.
It was quite the custom for the femals teachers to instruct the girls in sewing or knitting, and one overworked mother
NEW HAMPSHIRE CONFERENCE SEMINARY AND FEMALE COLLEGE,
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EDUCATIONAL.
could see no reason why a man should not do the same. Accord- ingly, a well-started stocking was sent along in the dinner pail which, after the lessons were learned, was duly brought forth much to the teacher's dismay, who invariably directed the little girl, when applied to for orders as to what should be done next, to "narrer." The next answer was the same, as was the next and the next. The work went home that night to "stay" nar- rowed to a peak half way to the heel.
SCHOOL APPARATUS.
Until 1875 the schoolrooms of the town were entirely devoid of any of the modern helps or any maps, etc. In 1880, our "Cen- tennial Year," through the generosity of former pupils a copy of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary was placed in every school. The names of the donors accompanied each gift. The one at the Centre enrolled 100 names and Oak Hill, 115. John C. Tebbetts furnished one for No. 8 and the Curry family one for No. 4 (Rand District). Hon. John H. Goodale gave each room, in memory of his talented wife, Celestia S. Mooney, a former pupil and teacher, sets of writing tablets.
The next year, 1881, was a "red letter year" for the schools. Mr. John Mooney and John E. Forrest had left each a bequest for educational purposes and Dea. G. S. Abbott, with Messrs. Cass and Goodale, their executors, presented to the schools outline maps, dissected maps of New England, clocks, thermometers, globes, sinks, pitchers and basins, etc., numeral frames and other helps. Later, President Quimby offered prizes of tuition for ex- cellence in certain branches, and Mr. Charles Chase of Boston furnished valuable literature on temperance, morals, manners, cruelty to animals, etc.
NEW HAMPSHIRE CONFERENCE SEMINARY AND FEMALE COLLEGE. (See cut.)
The New Hampshire Methodist Conference originally included that portion of Vermont lying east of the Green Mountains. In 1844 this portion was set off by itself. Their Conference Sem- inary was at Newbury and the division left New Hampshire with- out one. At the next session of the Conference, held at Winches- ter, July, 1844, a committee of five was chosen to consider the pro-
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
priety of establishing an institution and to select the most suit- able place.
William D. Cass, J. Spaulding, John W. Mowry, Samuel Kelley and M. Newhall were chosen as that committee. Propositions were at once received from Newmarket, Plymouth and Northfield, and a committee of nine was chosen to consider these and other offers that might be received.
This committee was also authorized in behalf of the Con- ference to enter into any arrangement necessary for the estab- lishment of a school to be under the patronage of the New Hamp- shire Conference, provided, "they do not involve it in pecuniary liabilities." Revs. Cass, Morey, Newhall, Kelley, Elisha Adams, L. D. Burrows, O. C. Baker, J. Stevens and Eleazar Smith were chosen.
The following year a report was made to the Conference that Plymonth had been selected as the location on certain conditions, with reference to the transfer of the "Old Academy" property there. Plymouth people failed to meet the conditions and the school was located at Northfield, the conditions being promptly met.
Among the prominent men of the town and the adjacent village of Sanbornton Bridge who were greatly interested were Hon. Asa P. Cate, Col. James Cofran, Hon. Samuel Tilton and Rev. W. D. Cass. The latter was chosen to solicit funds. Calls for money were promptly met and the building was commenced in April and the school opened for the fall term in 1845.
There were no plans, contract or specifications, save that the house should be 70 feet long, 40 feet wide and two stories in height. Warren L. Hill made, and Colonel Cofran burned, the brick for it in the yard north of the Granite Mill. Darius Dock- ham was employed to do the woodwork and Isaac Bodwell to lay the brick.
The institution was incorporated at its opening under the name of the New Hampshire Conference Seminary. Rev. and Mrs. J. A. Adams and Dyer H. Sanborn, with Charles P. Ticknor, as teacher of penmanship, constituted the faculty for two terms.
Mr. Chellis Sargent erected a commodious boarding house on an adjoining lot where the students were charged for board, wash- ing and lodging $1.25 per week and private families received them for $1.33. Tuition was only $3 for common English and $3.50
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EDUCATIONAL.
for other branches. Rev. Richard S. Rust, with Miss Caroline Lane as preceptress, succeeded Mr. Adams in 1846. Prof. Dyer H. Sanborn, a popular educator and author of a work on English grammar and a treatise on normal teaching, was then conducting a prosperous school in the "Old Academy" across the river. He was asked to become one of the faculty and promptly accepted the offer. Other teachers were added as needed. Dr. Rust being chosen state commissioner of schools, to succeed Prof. Charles B. Haddock of Dartmouth College, gave prominence to the Sem- inary and brought a large number of advanced students. He held this office until his retirement from the school.
John C. Clark succeeded him as principal. James E. Latimer became associated with him in 1851. President Clark retired in 1852, leaving him at the head, which position he retained until 1854, and was then succeeded by Rev. Calvin S. Harrington, who had been his able assistant for two years.
In 1856 the large number of enrolled students made better ac- commodations necessary and plans for a new building were form- ulated. At the close of the summer term the old building was torn down and another begun. The main edifice was constructed after the style of the old one with an added story, which furnished a large audience room or hall. East and west wings, three stories in height, were added, and dormitories and boarding facilities were thus furnished under the same roof.
A new charter with power to confer degrees was granted by the Legislature December 2, 1852. It was reported by Rev. Os- mon C. Baker and the trustees voted to accept it January 15, 1853, and new courses of study were prepared.
The College was united financially with the Seminary with the same board of trustees. Separate records were kept for some- time; but later the title became "The New Hampshire Con- ference Seminary and Female College." Rev. Dr. Harrington be- came president and Mrs. Eliza Chase Harrington, who had been the talented and efficient preceptress previous to her mar- riage, was placed at the head of the Female College. Professor Dixon, a former graduate and teacher, was retained as professor of mathematics with other specialists at the head of the various departments, and it was justly claimed that no university or col- lege had a better faculty. In 1857, 360 students were enrolled.
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
I wish it were my duty to suitably eulogize those noble men and women who left such potent impressions for good on the girls and boys of Northfield,-that large army of teachers who, in our public schools, passed on the grand ideas of life and conduct that were so faithfully taught and lived within its walls. November 7, 1862, the building was destroyed by fire and the site abandoned.
The annual catalogues since then furnish all needed informa- tion. The school was a prominent factor in the life of Northfield for 17 years and its removal a great sorrow.
The Seminary and Female College has bestowed its honors on the following young men and women, natives or residents of Northfield :
Lucian Hunt, A. M., 1847; Luther C. Bean, M. D., 1847; George H. Clark, 1848; La Fayette Cate, M. D., 1850; Joseph Gile, A. M., 1853; Augustus B. Clark, 1854; Darius S. Dearborn, 1855; Rev. Charles H. Hanaford, 1856; Abram Brown, A. B., 1862; Lucien Knowles, 1863; John C. Tibbetts, 1867; Edward W. Cross, 1876; Frank W. Shaw, 1880; Alfred C. Wyatt, 1880; Charles W. Adams, 1880; Samuel W. Forrest, 1884; Charles F. Sanborn, M. D., 1889; Ernest Leavitt, 1889; Alvin B. Leavitt, 1892; Harry Muzzey, 1895; Ray W. Firth, 1895; Fred Gardiner, 1903; Roger Hill, 1904; Leon T. Powers, 1904.
Martha D. Rand, 1847; Mary Y. Glidden, 1849; Cyminthia Foss, 1852; Omma O. Howard, 1852; Julia M. Whitcher, 1853; Electa A. Clark, 1855; Mary J. Smith, 1856; Nancy Simonds, 1856; Lizzie A. Chase, 1859; Annie M. Brown, 1860; Sophie T. Curry, 1860; Josie B. Curry, 1860; Lucy R. Hill, 1860; Mattie A. Smith, 1860; Augusta M. Peabody, 1861; Dora L. Haines, 1863; Hester A. R. Simonds, 1863; Augusta Simonds, 1865; Hannah Curry, 1867; Viola R. Kimball, 1867; Kate Scribner, 1867; Anna Buzzell, 1869; Lizzie Herrick, 1869; Annie Chase, 1870; Laura Chase, 1871; Abbie M. Sargent, 1871; Lucie K. Gile, 1872; Clara E. Smart, 1872; Myra A. Tilton, 1876; Helen L. Gerrish, 1878; Mary E. Adams, 1879; Bessie H. Morrill, 1880; Georgia A. Page, 1881; Kate Forrest, 1881; Josie Lang, 1883; Lizzie Page, 1885; Eva G. Hill, 1889; Josephine Emery, 1890; Mary Emery, 1890; Anna Gould, 1890; Ina M. Stevens, 1890; Georgia Bullock, 1892; Florence Hill, 1892; Bernice M. Buell, 1893; Evelyn Hill, 1897; Laura M. Gardiner, 1898; Pearl M.
UNION GRADED SCHOOL.
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EDUCATIONAL.
Hill, 1899; Mary A. Perthel, 1903; Ada L. Nelson, 1904; Flor- ence Shaw, 1905; Grace Crockett, 1905.
Many others, not completing courses, have had their lives deep- ened and broadened by longer or shorter terms of study and thus fitted for success. It has ever enjoyed a liberal patronage from Christian parents of every denomination and merited it, too, by a large and experienced board of instructors. Its high standard of scholarship, its excellent methods and its superior moral influ- ence have borne abundant fruit in its long list of authors, bankers, doctors, college professors, lawyers, judges and clergymen.
UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT. (See picture of Graded School.)
Union district was formed by the union of Nos. 2 and 28 in Tilton and No. 10 in Northfield. The first officers were appointed by the selectmen April 16, 1872. They were Messrs. Balcom and Garmon, A. S. Ballantyne and Samuel Tilton. There being a question as to the legality of the union a special act of the Legis- lature was granted. Pending this act a meeting was held May 28, 1872, at the schoolhouse in District No. 28. Charles F. Hill was chosen clerk and W. S. Clark, Charles C. Rogers and Frank- lin J. Eastman, a committee to select a site, put in a foundation and superintend the erection of a new schoolhouse.
A plan by Arthur Smith for a building costing $4,400 was ac- cepted and a sum of money, not exceeding $5,000, was raised to cover expense of building and site; $3,000 of this was to be raised by taxation and the balance to be borrowed at a low rate of in- terest. A half acre of land on the Northfield side of the river was donated by Mr. Eastman and work began.
In March, 1873, the building committee, having completed their duty, submitted the following report :
Cost of house, $4,947.35; cost of well and pump, $183.38; total, $5,130.73.
After the act of incorporation was granted, the legal voters met September 4, 1872, and chose a board of education as follows : Rev. Marcellus A. Herrick, Rev. Theodore C. Pratt, Rev. John B. Robinson.
Three schools were at once established and the first teachers employed were Miss Sargent and Miss Lizzie A. Chase, the latter
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
remaining until 1880. From time to time new rooms were added and new teachers supplied until the schools numbered six and the possibilities of the house were exhausted. In 1900 it was de- cided to erect a new building. A. J. Pillsbury, Sidney Taylor and Arthur T. Cass were chosen a committee on finance; Lewis Hoyt, Frank Hill, E. G. Morrison, on construction. William Butterworth was architect and Daniel Page, builder.
The appearance of the building was highly satisfactory and the committee reported a cost of $25,000. It was first occupied for the winter term of 1901 and its capacity and arrangement have proved eminently satisfactory.
TEACHERS.
Mr. George Clough of Warner, now of Boston, was the first male principal, followed by D. W. C. Durgin, Messrs. Smith, Rivard, Hulse and Seymour, the present principal, with six as- sistants. The female teachers have been largely graduates and trained in normal work. Mr. O. G. Morrison, Dr. C. L. True and Mrs. Charles Crockett constitute the present board.
By a law passed in 1898 graduates of this and the other town schools may continue their studies free of tuition at Tilton Sem- inary, the town paying $40 per capita. The Seminary thus be- comes once more one of our institutions, taking the place of a high school.
,
1
TILTON SEMINARY,
.
CHAPTER IV.
TRANSPORTATION.
STAGES.
The first settlers of Northfield traveled on horseback for many years and heavy loads were moved from place to place in ox carts and on sleds in winter. Wheels came into use as soon as the roads were made suitable for them, and thus was established one of the most lucrative trades of our early settlers. Every black- smith's shop had a wheelwright's contingent. At first, wagon bodies were placed directly on the axles and were not found to be greatly conducive to comfort. This was followed by the thorough- brace, and every year added something to the comfort of the traveler, either in vehicle or road. I need not pursue the subject further. The post-rider early made his advent, and though he only passed through the town to Gilmanton by a single route, he was the important precursor of the present rural delivery man with his pouches bursting-full of tidings, good or ill, for nearly every inhabitant. It cost a dime, at least, and often more, to send a greeting to one's friends or to receive theirs in return.
The year 1815 was long remembered, as it saw the first stage line established in the town. Peter Smart of Concord, who later married a Canterbury woman (see Smart genealogy), drove into town with a gorgeously painted stagecoach, cracking his long whip over the backs of two spirited horses. Mr. Ezekiel Moore, the post-rider, ceased his trips and mail bags were safely tucked away under the stage driver's seat. The stage was a move in the right direction and was often patronized for pleasure trips. Half a score could be crowded inside and the seats on the top were still more desirable. Peter Smart's yarns as he rattled along the main road and the consequent bursts of laughter made his passage the one event of the day. The children of the two schools on its route used to stop their play on its approach, line up by the roadside and make their "curtchy" as though it were
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
the king's coach, and when the number of horses was increased to four, it was almost as good as going to the circus. Other drivers went along this line as Mr. Smart was needed for more difficult routes. The Winslows boarded the relay horses, as did Mr. Morrison at the Centre and the number of bundles passed out to the inhabitants along the route showed the coach to be something of a pedler's cart and a delivery wagon combined. Verbal messages were delivered and startling events chronicled, and what an old stage driver did not know was of little account. It made its last trip when the Boston, Concord & Montreal Rail- road was opened to Sanbornton Bridge, May 22, 1848, and was sincerely mourned.
WARREN H. SMITH. (See portrait.)
WARREN H. SMITH began life as a farmer boy on his mother's farm. After his school days were over he began doing winter jobs on wood and lumber lots and soon drifted into a considerable business in this and other lines as a teamster. He married, November 8, 1844, Eliza- beth G. Glines (see Smith gen.) and had two sons. Mrs. Smith was one of Northfield's most estimable daughters, scholarly, refined and a true home-maker. She had been a teacher, was a fine singer, a social leader in the church and a queen in her home.
Mr. Smith farmed for one year at the foot of Bean Hill, where his father and others of his family had started in life. He was energetic and tireless. The routine, the hard labor and slow returns of a farmer's life were not equal to his ambitions. The coming, a few years later, of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad and its con- struction offered an opening which he at once took advantage of.
He was less than 30 years of age when his first contract was under- taken. He began work three miles below Sanbornton Bridge, at the Winslow crossing, and constructed in all, first and last, 64 miles of the Boston, Concord & Montreal road. Some of these were only gradings, some track laying, others both, and several included bridge and trestle work, and others included all these and many things be- sides. He, at the outset, removed his family to the Clough house, near the Holmes bridge and mill, where a large force of men were cared for, making strenuous days for the busy wife and her force of assistants. He purchased a home in the village and removed there in 1847.
Larger contracts were now undertaken, for his reputation as an ex- peditious and thorough builder was at its height. Jobs far and near were offered and often two separate jobs were in progress at the same time. He went in 1849 to a five-mile contract for the Manchester &
1
WARREN H. SMITH.
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TRANSPORTATION.
Lawrence Railroad and also carried the Passumpsic road to St. Johns- bury from Wells River in 1850.
In 1853 he went to Connecticut for similar work on the Fishkill & Providence road with Thomas Clough and Joseph Rand as his trusted assistants. A contract in Tennessee was promptly despatched the following year. Then came 11 miles on the Suncook Valley Railroad and 15 on the Sugar River route; 25 miles from Cohasset to Duxbury, Mass .; 38 on the Montpelier & Wells River Railroad and nine and a half miles on the road through Franconia Notch. Nearly all these contracts included grading, track laying, masonry, bridges and trestles, and required large forces of men. This activity was in full force in 1877, when he undertook 10 miles of narrow-gauge road from Profile House to Bethlehem, which he completed in one year, notwithstanding there was a mile of heavy grading.
As one would suppose with so large a force of men and teams, every day was a day of adventure and hairbreadth escapes, although alcoholic liquors were never furnished and the exacting labor was accomplished on cold water and coffee.
Mr. Smith removed his family to the ancestral home on Bay Hill in 1874, and the farm became the rendezvous of his big teams of oxen and horses. A string of a dozen or two, going and coming, was no unusual sight.
The pay for these extreme labors was sometimes paid in part, some- times entirely, in railroad stock, which did not always prove a bo- nanza-a gold brick rather than a gold mine.
In 1867, while constructing the wooden bridge across the Pemige- wasset River at Hill, he came near losing his life by falling with the structure nearly 40 feet to the rocks below. A space between two boulders, large enough to bear up the timbers, which formed an arch above him, alone saved him from instant death.
He recalls with great pleasure a scrimmage with the State of Ver- mont while building the bridge at Wells River, as the coming of his line into the state was greatly deplored by a rival line. In some of the encounters, stones, brickbats, spades and hoes were the missiles, and injunctions were issued and courts convened. Mr. Smith was victorious, however, after tiresome delays and expensive litigation, and the result was the settlement forever of the boundary line be- tween New Hampshire and Vermont, viz .: high-water mark on the Vermont shore.
He was, until past middle life, too busy to attend much to local affairs, town business or politics. He has been allied with the Re- publican party since its formation and was a delegate to the Consti- tutional Convention in 1880.
The death of his wife, October 10, 1898, the loss of the ancestral home by fire in 1904, coupled with the almost entire loss of hearing, are some of the misfortunes which attend the decline of his strenuous life.
6
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
RAILROADS.
The Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad was chartered De- cember 27, 1844, and the first contracts let in 1846. The first survey through the town was not followed in the construction. After crossing Kendegeda Brook on the plains, the proposed route bore to the east, and depots were located in the vicinity of Bay Street and the Granite Mills. This did not please the prominent men who desired a station in the village.
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