History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 20

Author: Hazlett, Charles A
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 1390

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Portsmouth Building and Loan Association .- John W. 'Emery, president ; John Pender, secretary and treasurer.

NEWSPAPERS

The New Hampshire Gasette .- This is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. The first number appeared October 7, 1756, and the imprint reads, "Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Printed by Daniel Fowle, where this paper may be had at one dollar per annum, or an equivalent in Bills of Credit, computing a dollar this year at Four Pounds old Tenor."

Daniel Fowle, who was the first printer in New Hampshire, was born at Charlestown, Mass., and began business near the head of King (now State) Street, in Boston, in 1740. In 1754 he was arrested by order of the House of Representatives, on suspicion of having printed a pamphlet entitled "The Monster of Monsters, by Tom Thumb, Esq.," which contained severe animad- versions on some of the members. He was cast into jail, but subsequently suffered to depart without trial. Unable to obtain satisfaction for the illegal imprisonment, and disgusted with the provincial government of Massachu- setts, Fowle accepted an invitation from several prominent gentlemen of this state to remove to Portsmouth, and the result was the issue of his first number of the New Hampshire Gazette on the date above mentioned.

This number, of which a fac-simile was produced at the centennial anni- versary of the introduction of the art of printing into New Hampshire, cele- brated in Portsmouth, October 6, 1856, was 17x10 inches, and was published

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in this size until the beginning of the year 1757, when it was enlarged, and in July of that year, and occasionally after, was doubled in size in its issue. In 1797 it was permanently enlarged. But little is known of the location of the office. The paper did not give that information. The first issues were from an office in an old wooden building at the corner of Pleasant, Washing- ton, and Howard streets, removed a few years since, to be succeeded by the brick dwelling-house built on the site by Mr. John E. Colcord. In 1767 we find it published by Daniel and Robert Fowle, "near State House, in the Street leading to the Ferry," now Market Street, and perhaps this was the first removal from the Pleasant Street location, which was until then near the center of business of the town. An ancient deed of land at corner of Pleasant and Richmond streets would lead us to infer that Fowle had this site as late as 1772 for his office. In any event the office has been frequently removed, having been in Congress Street, on the site of the present Franklin Building, on Daniel Street, and on Pleasant Street opposite to the locality where for the past twenty-one years it has been published. But the fact remains certain that if the office of publication changed, the weekly appearance of the paper has never ceased for more than a century and a half of its existence.

Fowle published the Gazette, either alone or with his partner, until 1785, when he sold the paper to two of his apprentices, John Melcher and George Terry Osborne. Fowle died in 1787. The publication up to 1785 was as fol- lows: By Daniel Fowle, from 1756 to 1764, when Robert Fowle became interested in the paper, and continued until 1773. Benjamin Dearborn was publisher in 1776, but two years after, Mr. Fowle resumed the publication, and was succeeded by Mercher & Osborn, in 1785. Mr. Osborn shortly after retired, but Mr. Melcher continued until 1802, when he sold to Nathaniel S. and Washington Peirce, who changed the politics of the Gazette from federal to republican. Mr. Melcher was the first state printer,-an office continued to the publishers of the Gazette down to 1814. N. S. and W. Peirce, in connection with Benjamin Hill and Samuel Gardner, published the paper for little more than seven years, when it was sold to William Weeks, who came to Portsmouth from Rutland, Me., and conducted the paper up to 1813. He was followed by Gideon Beck and David C. Foster, whose firm of Beck & Foster was dissolved by the death of Mr. Foster in 1823. From this time to 1834, Mr. Beck was the publisher. Then Albert Greenleaf was admitted as partner, and in 1838 Mr. Beck retired. After this Thomas B. Laighton, formerly a prominent politician of Portsmouth, but who afterwards spent his declining years at Appledore, Isles of Shoals, was for a year or more interested with Abner Greenleaf, Jr., as the imprint informs us, and subsequently from late in 1839, and Mr. Greenleaf alone conducted the paper down to 1841. Then Samuel W. Mores, a practical printer, with Joel C. Virgin acting as editor, and George Greenleaf, published the paper until 1844, when Abner Greenleaf (Sr.) is named as editor. Then appears "A. Greenleaf & Son." For the succeeding two years the paper was owned and managed by certain prominent democrats, who gave no sign of editorship or proprietorship. In 1847, William Pickering Hill, a son of ex-Governor Isaac Hill, came from Concord, where he had been interested in the Patriot, and purchased the Gazette, and also an opposition democratic paper called the Republican Union,

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and the Gazette was then enlarged. He also started a daily Gazette, but his efforts were not successful, and he retired after a loss of no little amount of money during his management. Mr. Hill was succeeded by Gideon H. Rundlett, who was an able and fearless writer, and as far as a political paper was desired he supplied the need. He was followed by Edward N. Fuller, formerly of Manchester, who took the paper in 1852, and remained until 1858, when he removed to Newark, N. J. He attempted to publish a daily Gazette, which was a reputable paper, but the enterprise was not appreciated, and it was given up. In 1858, Mr. Fuller was succeeded by Amos S. Alexander, Esq., a lawyer from the interior of the state, who held an office under the administra- tion, but was not always in the line of service acceptable to the party managers. He gave way to Samuel Gray, a native of Portsmouth, and a practical printer, in February, 1859. In September, 1861, Mr. Gray sold out to Frank W. Miller, who had started with others the Daily Chronicle in 1852, and the Gazette establishment became united with the Chronicle office. The New Hampshire Gazette was then removed from the office in Daniel Street oppo- site the old custom-house to its present location in Exchange Building in Pleasant Street, and its time-honored name appeared at the head of the weekly paper published at the Chronicle office. Many of its former subscribers continued to take the paper, which now became transformed from a political organ to a newspaper, and its circulation began to increase.

In 1868, Mr. George W. Marston became a partner with Mr. Miller, and the paper was published by Frank W. Miller & Company. Mr. Miller sold his interest in October, 1870, to Mr. Washington Freeman, who owned one- half of the paper. Mr. Marston disposed of his interest in June, 1877, to William H. Hackett, who, with Mr. Freeman, published the paper under the name of the "Chronicle and Gazette Publishing Company." In June, 1882, Mr. Hackett disposed of his interest to Mr. Charles W. Gardner, a practical printer of Portsmouth. During the proprietorship of Mr. F. W. Miller and his successors there have been in the editorial chair Messrs. Tobias Ham Miller, Jacob H. Thompson (afterwards connected with the editorial department of the New York Times), and Israel P. Miller. After Mr. Marston purchased an interest in the paper it advocated the principles of the republican party, but it has of late aimed to excel in serving its readers with general and local news rather than with abstract dissertion upon political topics. During the lifetime of the Gazette many newspapers have come and gone in Portsmouth, among the last to cease publication being Miller's Weekly, a temperance journal, which stopped soon after the decease of its founder and owner, the late Frank W. Miller, the American Ballot and Post.

The Daily Chronicle, which was started by Messrs. F. W. Miller, Thomas M. Miller, and Samuel Gray in 1852, under the firm of Miller & Gray, has been in turn owned by this firm, F. W. Miller & Company, Marston & Free- man, by the Chronicle and Gazette Publishing Company and F. W. Hartford since March 1, 1898, who also publishes the Herald, an evening paper. Since its establishment the local news of Portsmouth has been carefully produced by the papers, a feature which is appreciated by the many natives of the "City by the Sea," who go to live beyond its borders, and yet cherish a desire for news from home.

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The States and Union .- The first number of the States and Union news- paper was issued on January 2, 1863, by Mr. Joshua L. Foster, because (as he announced in his salutatory) of "the indispensable necessity of a sound and thoroughly democratic journal in this section of the state." The old Gazette presses and material were purchased for the new enterprise, and the paper was issued from the office which had for many years been occupied by the Gazette, No. 31 Daniel Street. At the commencement of the second volume Mr. George W. Guppy's name appeared as publisher in connection with Mr. Foster. The paper was decidedly outspoken and fearless, and because of its views upon the conduct of the war it was mobbed on April 10, 1865, everything contained within the office-type, presses, material and machinery of every description-being destroyed and thrown into the street. After this the type was set and press-work for the paper done for a few weeks in Manchester, until new material and presses could be procured and brought to Portsmouth, when work was resumed in the office, and the paper has been issued regularly ever since.

The paper is at present published by Col. True L. Norris as the weekly edition of the Portsmouth Times and has a wide circulation throughout New Hampshire and Western Maine.

The Daily Evening Times .- On March 16, 1868, the Daily Evening Times began to be issued from the same establishment, with Joshua L. Foster as editor and proprietor, George W. Guppy as publisher, and William M. Thayer as local editor, and the paper has been regularly issued ever since. In May, 1870, Mr. Foster sold the establishment to Messrs. Thayer & Guppy, and their connection continued till November, 1873, when Mr. Guppy bought his partner's interest, and was sole editor and proprietor until December 15, 1879, when he sold out to Mr. Alpheus A. Hanscom, who was formerly publisher of the Maine Democrat, at Saco, Me., and for the fifteen years immediately previous to his purchase of Mr. Guppy was one of the proprietors and editors of the Union Democrat and Manchester Daily Union, at Manchester, N. H.

In the fall of 1877 Mr. Hanscom sold the Times to the late Charles A. Sinclair who conducted it with True L. Norris as manager and editor until March, 1893, when Mr. Norris bought the property and has remained the owner up to the present time.

The Portsmouth Journal .- The original title of the "Journal" was "The Oracle of the Day." It was established by Charles Pierce, June 3, 1793, and published semi-weekly until January, 1798, when it was enlarged and became a weekly, the editor giving as a reason for the change that the public demand was for "one very large paper per week in the room of two." The "very large" paper measured 12x19 inches. The Oracle started and was conducted in the interest of the federal republican party. January 4, 1800, on the week that the paper was in deep mourning for the death of Washington, its name was changed to The United States Oracle of the Day. Mr. Pierce sold out July 4, 1801, to William Treadwell & Co., on account of "the impaired state of his health" and "the excessive fatigue attendant in the publication of a newspaper." In October of that year the name of the paper became United States Oracle and Portsmouth Advertiser. The publishing firm became Wil- liam & Daniel Treadwell, December 1I, 1802. The name Portsmouth Oracle

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was adopted October 22, 1803; and Daniel Treadwell left the firm just two years afterwards. Charles Turell became the publisher September 25, 1813.

In January, 1821, the paper was purchased by Nathaniel A. Haven, Jr., who changed its name to The Portsmouth Journal of Literature and Politics. The name and the plain style of the heading was always retained. Charles Turell published it until February 7, 1824, when the publication was assumed by Harrison Gray & Co., Mr. Turell continuing to print it. It was made a six-column paper in January, 1823. November 20, 1724, the publishers were H. Gray and E. L. Childs.

Mr. Haven conducted the Journal four years. He was a gentleman of the best literary ability and attainments, and gave to the paper a high standing in the community.

Miller & Brewster purchased the Journal July 2, 1825, and thereafter edited and published it at No. 3 Ladd Street, where it continued to be pub- lished until January, 1870, when the office was removed to State Street.

October 20, 1827, the Journal absorbed the Rockingham Gazette, published at Exeter by Francis Grant; and June 1, 1833, it also included the State Herald, a Portsmouth paper, these names appearing at the head of the paper until August 13, 1836. T. H. Miller retired from the firm April 26, 1834. The paper was enlarged in June, 1838, again in January, 1853, and again February 29, 1868.

Lewis W. Brewster became connected with the publication of the paper in January, 1856, in the firm of Charles W. Brewster & Son. The senior partner died August 4, 1868. The Journal ceased publication in May, 1903.

FIRES

As late as 1855 there were three independent fire societies : the United, instituted in 1761 ; the Federal in 1789 and the Mechanics in 1811. The last two retain their organizations and hold regular meetings. Portsmouth has suffered severely from fires. On December 24, 1802, 132 buildings were destroyed; December 26, 1806, 14 buildings and on December 22, 1813, 241 buildings covering 15 acres with a loss of $300,000.

The present fire department consists of four steam fire engines, one auto combination chemical, one hook and ladder truck, one supply wagon valued with the buildings and fire alarm system at $60,000. The annual appropria- tion is $20,000. Eighty officers and firemen including six permanent drivers and engineers are on the roll of the fire department.

ARCHITECTURE

Like all our older seaboard towns, Portsmouth has a dual life and a dual architecture. There is the old life, with its social and colonial importance, its magnates, of more than local influence, and, as a consequence of this, there is the old architecture in dwellings and churches, which represents the best of a vigorous period. On the other hand there is the new life, with its modern interests and activity.

It is customary to call the old work colonial. This is a wide-reaching term,

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which embraces every building erected between the days of the early settle- ment and the first quarter of the present century. Grouped under one head, we find the wide-spread one-story building with big pitched roof, the two- storied house with gambrel roof, and the square house, two or three stories high, with low pitched roof. All these dwellings, and the churches and public buildings which accompanied them, are termed colonial. So the word "colonial" is made to cover a multitude of architectural sins. Up to the eighteenth century this country was in too primitive a condition to demand any real architecture, and houses like the Jackson house or the New Castle Jaffrey house have little claim to be classed as under any particular style. This is by no means to say that these simple little homesteads have no archi- tectural interest or value. They are frank, straightforward expressions of needs met. They are sincere, unpretentious, honest, simple. Later, better education and more means made houses on a larger scale possible; but the good taste and refinement, which seemed instinctively to avoid what was pre- tentious and extravagant, still guided and guarded them. With the nine- teenth century the fine appreciation of what was good began gradually to disappear. Riches meant extravagance and display, ostentation took the place of beauty, and for many years vulgarity seemed supreme. When they built in wood, they showed architectural intelligence and skill in the way they adapted the old examples to the new material. On the whole, however, they but varied the harmony of the old tune.

The New Englander, having no ample farm lands, and neither occasion nor wish to isolate himself, but having instead the distinct need of community life, selected the compact square plan of the English townsman, suited for a small lot rather than for a many-acred estate; and in doing this, he showed great ability and taste in making the most of a small piece of land. Our Portsmouth houses are the result of these aims. All are houses of town people. Some belong to the civic authorities, some to ministers, some to doctors, and some like the Ladd house, belonging to ship-owners, who built so as to command their wharves and be in easy touch with their business.

The very early houses do not rank as exponents of any architectural style; but they have more than an antiquarian interest. The rooms are well proportioned, although low. The big kitchen with its wide fireplace and crane and the oven adjoining, the sunny parlor with its outlook on garden or on orchard, are not without a distinct architectural charm. Simple require- ments, simply and directly met,-they have truth, which is, after all, the keynote of good architecture.

Between 1730 and 1800 most of the best houses were built. Nearly all of these were of the same general type,-the square plan, two stories and a gambrel roof.

One of the latest, as well as one of the best, is the Governor Langdon house on Pleasant Street, a well-designed house, well placed on the land and flanked in dignified manner by its small guard-houses. The Ladd house on Market Street, to which reference has already been made, built in 1763, differs from the others of this time in being three stories, the first of this type, and is an unusually complete example ; for it has a well-designed exterior with good detail, a good setting on the street overlooking the harbor, and a

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well-laid-out garden, terraced up from the house, and filled with flowers, shrubs and fruit trees, an exceeding spot.

Moreover, the hall is quite exceptional in size and in detail of stairs and finish. One cannot well enumerate all the good houses of this prolific time. Many are lost, some have fallen into evil hands or evil ways; but the greater number are still in existence, and in most cases occupied by those whose fami- lies built them. With the nineteenth century we pass the days which can be called colonial, but much of the work done in the first two decades is still classed architecturally under that name. The work of this time is not as a whole as good as that of the earlier period; but it is still genuine, spontaneous work.

The square three storied house is the typical one; and the ornament, while somewhat more delicate, is not as vigorous as that which enriched the former work; but in many cases, as in the interior woodwork of the Pierce house, shows the intelligence and artistic ability of the builder.

In these houses the ornament is almost exclusively such as can be pro- duced with chisel and gouge,-simple mechanical patterns, within the ability of any skilled carpenter. There is no carving and no ornament of papier- maché. One questions whether it was a special providence or accident which saved the academy (designed by Charles Bulfinch) from being quite ruined when it was remodelled, and each one wonders whether the Athenaeum will escape destruction or renovation.

Perhaps we may accept these as indications that a better time is coming, and that those in power are beginning to appreciate that they have a true treasure, which once destroyed, can never be replaced.

In 1758 a state-house was, by direction of the General Assembly, built in this town ; there for a number of years Dr. Haven, of the South Parish, and Dr. Langdon, of the North Parish, alternately officiated as chaplains. On the 20th of April, 1761, Mr. John Stavers commenced running a stage from this town to Boston. drawn by two horses and sufficiently wide to carry three pas- sengers, leaving here on Monday and returning to this town on Friday, and the fare about three dollars.

Independence and Peace .- In the year 1783 the articles of peace were cele- brated in this town with great enthusiasm and display. Bells were rung, salutes fired, and the North Church crowded for a religious service, at which Dr. Haven and Mr. Buckminster both offered prayers, which were spoken of as most eloquent and pathetic, a prayer in those days not unfrequently having all the preparation, characteristics, and effects of a most studied and brilliant orator.

Visit of Washington .- In 1789 the President, George Washington, visited Portsmouth, and was received most heartily by the whole population. Full and glowing as our accounts are of this interesting event in our history, we can still depend only upon the imagination to fill out the picture of the enthu- siastic oration, and the spontaneous gratitude and respect which were paid to this illustrious general and statesman.

In 1838 Edward Everett read to a Portsmouth audience from the diary of President Washington, his own account of his visit to Portsmouth from October 31 to November 4, 1789, as it appears printed in full in the first series

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of the Rambles. Washington wrote in detail of his attendance at the church services ; his fishing trip down the harbor; his calls on Governor Langdon and Mrs. Lear, the mother of his secretary and comments on the ladies at the ball. At the time of his visit, Portsmouth with its population of 4,720, was one of the large towns of the country. A decade later by the census of the United States of 1800 with a population of 5,339 it ranked the twelfth town or city in the United States and practically among the first ten for Hart- ford had only eight and Albany ten more inhabitants.

Visit of Lafayette .- On the 21st day of September, 1824, General Lafayette was given a hearty reception by the inhabitants of Portsmouth. He was escorted to the residence of Governor Langdon by a procession of military, the trades and school children. He attended a reception and ball in the evening. His autograph letter of acknowledgment of the invitation to the town is framed and hung in the public library. Lafayette's first visit to Portsmouth was in September, 1782.

In 1817, President Monroe visited Portsmouth and in 1847 President Polk.

The fore-runner of the "Old Home Week," was the return of the sons and daughters of Portsmouth on July 4, 1853, and repeated in 1873, 1883 and 1910.

The dedication exercises of the Thomas Bailey Aldrich Memorial on June 30, 1908, at Music Hall, brought a large gathering of authors and friends to the city. Addresses were made by Mark Twain, Gov. Curtis Guild, Hamilton W. Mabie, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Richard Watson Gilder. Thomas Nelson Page, William D. Howells and P. Dunn.

An average of 2,500 visitors pay admission fees to the memorial build- ings each year since they were open to the public.

The public reception to Lieut. A. W. Greeley, U. S. A., and his comrades, and the naval officers of the Arctic Relief Association, August I to 4, 1884, was a notable occasion.

Shillings and Pence .- As recent as seventy years ago prices of goods in stores were given in shillings and pence-seven and sixpence, two and four pence, etc., and not in dollars and cents. The shilling of that date, in Ports- mouth and throughout New England, was never represented by a coin; it was an inconvenient nondescript, one-sixth of a dollar, or sixteen and two thirds cents. That meant seventeen cents, when you paid a shilling in a store, and sixteen cents when you received a shilling in change. In this remarkable monetary system, too, an astonishing arithmetical feat was ac- complished ; four was exactly one-half of six. The four pence was six and one quarter cents; the six pence was twelve and one-half cents-not half of a shilling, but exactly half of a quarter-dollar. There were plenty of four pences and sixpences, or what were called and passed for such, in circulation, but these were all Spanish or Mexican coins, the madeo being called a four pence, and the real a sixpence. These coins were driven from circulation, by the government, by the announcement that after a certain date they would not be accepted at the postoffices and custom houses. First class mechanics were paid nine shillings to "ten-and six" per day.

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History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 20

Author: Hazlett, Charles A Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Number of Pages: 1390

Author: Hazlett, Charles A
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 1390