History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 40

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

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tion of Burgoyne proved that this feeling was founded in reason and a just appreciation of the situation.

There were of course not a few other persons in Exeter whose services were called into requisition in some way by the state authorities.

John Rice, Esq. (we append the title, because it was not common, though much valued, in those days), whose house was where the parsonage of the first parish now is, furnished board and a place of meeting for the Com- mittee of Safety in the earlier part of the war.

John Ward Gilman, who lived in the old house on the north side of Water Street near string bridge, now owned by the electric company, manu- factured for the newly-formed state a seal, the impression of which, no doubt, is found upon the commissions of the period. The device was certainly more appropriate than the ship on the stocks, which for some unknown reason was subsequently adopted, and is retained on the present seal. It consisted of the fasces, the emblem of authority, on one side of which was a pine tree and on the other a fish, in allusion to two of the chief sources of the early pros- perity of the colony. An appropriate inscription surrounded the whole.

Theodore Carlton, who appears to have opened a tavern during the war, had some of Colonel Poor's soldiers quartered there for a time. Men enlisted for the army in a time of actual hostilities are proverbially not the quietest of lodgers, and it is not strange that Mr. Carlton found that his premises sustained some damage. A committee reported thereon that there were "42 squares of glass broke, 2 stairs broke, 6 doors gone, several others broke, and plaistering broke down in several rooms."

Capt. Eliphalet Ladd, the father of William Ladd. the "apostle of peace," had occasional business with the committee and the Legislature. He was a man of untiring energy, and did not suffer the war to check his enterprise. He was engaged in trade on a considerable scale, and built ships and planned voyages in spite of the enemy's cruisers. He met with heavy losses, but on the whole was thought to have increased his property during the Revolution.

We cannot better close these too meagre and desultory notices of our town and its people at the heroic period when our independence was achieved than by an outline of the most impressive occurrence that Exeter witnessed during the eventful year of 1776.

When the dispute with Britain was begun, it was with no general expecta- tion that it would result in a severance between the colonies and the mother- country. The provincials professed perfect loyalty, and assumed self-govern- ment only during "the present unhappy and unnatural contest with Great Britain." But as the struggle went on the popular ideas became modified, and the public came at length to comprehend that it was idle to expect to reunite ties which the sword had sundered.

A few sagacious minds had foreseen this from the outset. It is due to the able leaders of the popular movement in New Hampshire that it should be generally known that they contemplated the assumption of independence, and suggested it in an eloquent official letter from their Convention of Delegates to the Continental Congress as early as the 23d of May, 1775. This is the first allusion to the subject in any known communication from an organized body in the country.

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As the sentiment of the whole people became gradually ripe for the final step of separation from Britain, movements were made in the Colonial Legis- latures looking to that result. In New Hampshire a committee of both houses reported on the 15th of June, 1776, instructions to "our Delegates in the Continental Congress to join with the other colonies in declaring the Thirteen United Colonies a Free and Independent State, solemnly pledging our faith and honor that we will, on our parts, support the measure with our Lives and Fortunes."

From this time forward there was impatience in the breast of every true friend of liberty to blot out the very memory of subjection, to make way for the new and glorious career that was opening for the infant nation. The action of Congress was waited for anxiously, longingly, eagerly. At length the wished-for moment arrived. An express dashed into the Village of Exeter bearing a letter addressed to the Convention of New Hampshire, and authen- ticated by the manly signature of John Hancock. The Legislature had adjourned, but the president was here, perhaps waiting for the important missive. It was determined that the contents of the letter, containing the glad tidings of the Declaration of Independence, should be forthwith pub- licly read. The honor of pronouncing for the first time in New Hampshire the impressive periods of that unequaled production was appropriately devolved upon John Taylor Gilman. No firing of cannon or ringing of bells was needed to give éclat to the occasion; the general joy was too sincere and heartfelt to find expression in noisy demonstrations. Meshech Weare, presi- dent of the state, Matthew Thornton, who was himself soon to set his hand to the instrument, General Folsom, and Col. Pierse Long and Ebenezer Thompson, all members of the Committee of Safety, and tried and true patriots, were present.

The news had spread with the speed of lightning through the town. The farmer dropped his scythe in the swath, the mechanic left his saw in the kerf, and even the good wife forsook her spinning-wheel, while all gathered to hear the words which they felt were to give them freedom and a country. But perhaps there was no one of the audience whose heart was thrilled more deeply by the immortal Declaration than Col. Nicholas Gilman, the father of him who read it. He had put his whole life and energy into the cause of his country ; he foresaw that nothing but formal separation from the parent state would prevent his dearest hopes from going down in darkness; he welcomed the words which rent the brightest jewel from Britain's crown with joy and thankfulness unutterable. The reader, from filial as well as patriotic sensibility, shared his emotion, and there were pauses when the rush of feeling o'ermastered speech. Exeter has witnessed many returns of the anniversary of our national birthday, and has listened to the utterances of lips touched with the living coal of eloquence; but the first reading of the Declaration of Independence, on the 18th of July, 1776, enchained the attention with a sig- nificance and power which have never since been paralleled.

For some years after the close of the Revolutionary war the people were hardly reconciled to the situation. The times were hard, money was scarce, and the acquisition of independence had not freed them, as many fancied it would do, from the restraints of law. Complaints were rife among the people

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because the Legislature of the state would not authorize the issue of paper money, which many believed was the panacea for their fiscal troubles. At length the discontent became so intensified that it took an organized forni among the people of several interior towns in Rockingham County, and on the morning of September 20, 1786, the rumor reached Exeter that a body of men were about to enter the town to obtain in one way or another "a redress of grievances." During the forenoon a great number of persons, attracted by the report, came into town from the neighboring places, not for the purpose of joining in any illegal demonstration, but to witness what was about to take place. The Legislature was in session in the meeting-house, which stood nearly on the site of the present lower church, while the Supreme Court was sitting in the court-house, which was on the opposite side of the street, occupying about the center of what is now the entrance to Court Street. Between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon the expected assemblage made its appearance, coming down Front Street. It had been formed into the sem- blance of a military array at Kingston, and consisted of about two hundred persons or a little more, about one-half of them on foot and provided with fire-arms or swords, and the residue following in the rear on horseback and carrying clubs and whips. They halted near the residence of the late Nathaniel Gilman, on Front Street, and asked civily for water. They then marched down the street, and passing over the great bridge turned and came back as far as the courthouse, which they surrounded, under the mistaken belief that the Legislature was in session there. Judge Samuel Livermore, who was upon the bench, sternly ordered that the business should proceed without pause, and forbade any one to look from the windows.

The mob in a few minutes became aware of their mistake, and attempted to surround the meeting-house. The spectators who were packed somewhat densely in and about the yard of the church yielded only inch by inch, and it was an hour or more before the riotous assemblage reached the building. They then placed guards at the doors and windows, and announced in sub- stance that they meant to keep the members of the General Court in durance until they passed a law for the emission of paper money, which should be a legal tender for debts and taxes. One member only is reported to have escaped from the building, and he got out of a window. John Sullivan, the president of the state, was present in the meeting-house,-a man of resolution and a soldier. He made his appearance before the excited crowd, and said to them that they "need not expect to frighten him, for he had smelt powder before." In allusion to the demand which some of them had made for justice he said, "You ask for justice, and justice you shall have." It was noticeable that he did not advise the crowd to disperse, however ; he undoubtedly felt that it was better to crush the insurrection in the bud.

It presently grew towards evening, and the good citizens of Exeter began to think it was time that a little pressure should be applied to the insurgents. Agreeably to a suggestion of Col. Nathaniel Gilman, a drum was beaten a little way off as if a body of soldiers were approaching, while he himself with his stentorian voice cried out something about "Hackett's artillery." The mob waited for nothing further, but incontinently took to their heels, and did not pause till they had reached the outskirts of the village. They passed

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the night near where the passenger depot of the railroad formerly stood. No sooner was the village relieved from their presence than effectual steps were taken to suppress the rising. The Legislature having given the proper authority, the president at once sent orders into the neighboring towns to assemble the militia. A volunteer company of the principal citizens of Exeter was immediately enrolled under the command of Nicholas Gilman, who had served in the Revolutionary army, and was afterwards a senator of the United States.

By the next morning the Village of Exeter was a scene of no small excite- ment and military display. A large body of troops, horse and foot, were assembled, and, under the direction of the president and the immediate com- mand of Gen. Joseph Cilley, they marched with military music to meet the force of the insurgents, the armed portion of whom were drawn up on the ridge beyond little river, on the Kingston road.

The Government column, with the Exeter Volunteer Company holding the post of honor in the front. moved to within the distance of some forty rods from the opposing party, when General Cilley, at the head of a small number of horsemen, dashed forward and across the stream, and by a coup de main seized and made prisoners of the leaders of the insurgents. The remainder broke and fled, but were pursued, and quite a number of them captured.

Joseph French, of Hampstead, James Cochran, of Pembroke, and John McKean, of Londonderry, were the principal persons engaged in the riotous demonstration. Some of the prisoners were indicted, others were brought to a court-martial, and still others were dealt with by ecclesiastical authority, but while all were pretty thoroughly frightened and very penitent, none of them were severely punished. The spirit of organized resistance to law and order received on this occasion a timely and effectual check, and the state authorities and people of Exeter are entitled to no little credit for their judicious and spirited conduct. In the afternoon of March 20, 1754, a troop of about thirty men, on horseback and carrying axes, made their appearance in Exeter. They came from Canterbury, Contoocook, and the vicinity, and their purpose was probably pretty well understood in Exeter and throughout the province.

Two trading Indians of the St. Francis tribe in Canada, Sabastis and Plausawa by name, had rendered themselves very obnoxious to the people of Canterbury and Contoocook the preceding summer. Sabastis had been for- merly concerned in spiriting away two blacks owned by inhabitants of Canter- bury, and both Indians not only proclaimed the opinion that there was no harm in stealing negroes, but threatened and even offered violence to the wife of a white settler. They indulged in boasts of former deeds of blood- shed and robbery, and in threats of committing others, until the people were so alarmed and incensed that they sternly warned them to depart. The Indians would have done well to heed the admonition, but in complete infatua- tion they still lingered in the neighborhood, and abated not a jot of their blustering. Peter Bowen and one Morrill, with whom they were staying, at length undoubtedly concerted a plan to take their lives. Bowen, who was a rough and violent man, procured a gallon of rum from Rumford and treated the Indians to it freely, until they became intoxicated. Meantime his con-

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federates took the opportunity to draw the charges from the Indians' guns, and then enticed them into the woods, where Bowen slew them almost with- out resistance.

Yet so great was the dread and hatred of the Indians which prevailed throughout the province, and so favorably was the story related for the mur- derers, that when Bowen and Morrill were indicted for murder and imprisoned in Portsmouth jail to await their trial, the public sentiment was aroused most strongly in their behalf. Their trial was fixed for March 21, 1754, and the cavalcade which appeared in Exeter on the preceding day, as already men- tioned, was composed of persons who were determined to rescue the accused persons from imprisonment.

A few of the people of Exeter are said to have joined the lawless band, but their names have not survived to our time. The party, thus reinforced, rode through mud and snow that night to Portsmouth, beat down the doors of the jail, knocked off the irons from Morrill and Bowen, and set them free. Rewards were offered by the governor for the rearrest of the prisoners, but they were never retaken, though they were at their homes again as usual soon after. Their course was justified by the popular voice, and it was not thought expedient to molest them or their rescuers. In no very long time the incidents would have been generally forgotten but for a song which some village poetaster composed on the occasion, and which preserved the memory of the transaction, being afterwards commonly sung at the huskings in Exeter.

Sixteen years afterwards an occurrence of a very different character aroused the attention of the town. News was brought that George Whitefield, a preacher of world-wide celebrity, was to address the people of Exeter. It may easily be supposed that none would willingly lose the opportunity of hear- ing his eloquent voice. So, although the time appointed was the forenoon of Saturday (September 29, 1770), almost the entire population thronged to the church where he was to officiate. The building was not capable of con- taining the crowd, and Mr. Whitefield determined to address them in the open air a course he was often compelled to adopt. It is said that he at first essayed to speak from the meeting-house steps, but the sun shining in his face, he crossed to the other side of the street, where some boards laid across two barrels or hogsheads furnished him a stand, from which he preached to his out-door congregation a discourse nearly two hours in length, from 2 Corin- thians xiii, 5. This was the last sermon which that eloquent and devoted minister delivered. He went in the afternoon to Newburyport, Mass., where, the very next morning, he breathed his last. So that Exeter witnessed the closing effort in the career of one of the most distinguished divines of the world, whose name will be held in honor and reverence so long as zeal, piety, and self-denial shall be known and appreciated.

Within six years after the death of the earnest and eloquent Whitefield an immense change had taken place in the opinions, feelings, and situation of the American colonists. From remonstrances and petitions against the exactions of the mother-country they had proceeded to open and armed resistance, and at length to the decisive step of declaring themselves inde- pendent of the British crown. In June, 1776, the Legislature of New Hamp- shire instructed her delegates in Congress to join with those of the other

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colonies in such a measure, and on Thursday, the 18th day of July following, the Declaration of the thirteen United Colonies of North America, authenti- cated by the bold signature of John Hancock, reached Exeter by express, hav- ing been fourteen days on the road from Philadelphia.

In 1789 Exeter saw another sight not soon to be forgotten by its citizens. The war was happily concluded, independence won, and, the insufficiency of the old confederation becoming apparent, a new form of government had been established. Washington, the savior of his country, had been elected its first Chief Magistrate, and after the new administration was fairly launched had set forth on a tour through the northern states. It was known that he was to leave Portsmouth on the 4th day of November, 1789, for Exeter, and the good people made their preparations to meet him with a cavalcade of citizens to escort him into town. But they mistook the hour of his departure from Portsmouth, or forgot his rigid habits of punctuality, for before the volunteers were in the saddle Washington made his appearance. He arrived here before 10 o'clock in the forenoon, accompanied by his secretaries, Colonel Lear and Major Jackson, and a single servant. Washington rode in an open carriage, and is said to have worn a drab surtout and military hat. The street was lined with spectators as he drove up to the door of the residence of Col. Samuel Folsom, who, as was not unusual among the leading men of that day, kept a public-house. It was the same dwelling now occupied by Hon. John Scammon on the easterly corner of Court Square and Water Street.

It is unnecessary to say that the whole population gathered eagerly to catch a glimpse of the distinguished visitor. Col. Nicholas Gilman, who had been an officer of the staff under the commander-in-chief at Yorktown, and other officers of the Revolution and principal citizens, paid their respects to Washington, and did the honors of the town. They invited him to remain and partake of a public dinner, which his arrangements compelled him reluc- tantly, as his diary informs us, to decline. He, however, accepted a breakfast or collation at the public-house, on which occasion a young lady related to Colonel Folsom waited on him at table. His quick eye discovered that she was not a servant, and tradition informs us that he called her to him, addressed her a few pleasant words, and kissed her.

The hour or two of his stay in Exeter were soon over, and he again resumed his journey by Kingston towards Haverhill, Mass. He was accom- panied a part of the distance by some of the gentlemen of the town. When he reached the top of Great Hill he called on his driver to stop, and casting his eyes back over the wide and charming landscape he remarked in admiring tones upon its beauty, and with this pleasant word at parting he bade our town adieu.

Annexation of Massachusetts .- Two hundred and sixty-two inhabitants of Exeter petitioned in 1739 to be annexed to Massachusetts. Their names are on record.

CHAPTER XXVIII EXETER-(Continued )

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

First Congregational Church .- The little colony which accompanied or followed John Wheelwright to the Falls of Squamscott in 1638, was essen- tially a religious one. It was composed in great part of those who had been members of his flock in England, and of those who had suffered for adhering to his theological opinions in Massachusetts. It is not strange, therefore, that a church was gathered within a few months after their arrival here. From the records of the church at Boston we learn that on the 30th of December, 1638, "dismission was granted to our brethren, Mr. John Wheel- wright, Richard Morris, Richard Bulgar, Philemon Pormont, Christopher Marshall, Isaac Grosse, George Wayte, Thomas Wardhall and William Ward- hall unto the church at the Falls of Pascataquack, if they be rightly gathered and ordered." It is probable that they all became members of the first church of Exeter, and that an equal or larger number of Wheelwright's former English parishioners were also connected with it.

Of the thirty-four persons who signed the "combination" with Wheel- wright in 1639, we know from the preamble of the instrument itself that a part were brethren of the church, and the others inhabitants simply. It has been stated, upon what authority we know not, that the church was formed of eight members, comprising Wheelwright and those who, as his adherents, had been dismissed from the church in Boston; but this is apparently erron- eous. As no records are in existence to afford the information, the number of those who composed the original church can probably never be ascertained, but there is reason to believe that among them were at least one-half of the signers of the combination. It is evident from the terms of the mode of government adopted by the settlers, and from their laws and ordinances, that the religious element was the controlling one in their little community.

Mr. Wheelwright remained in Exeter, as is supposed, until 1643, when all the settlements in New Hampshire having passed under the authority of Massachusetts, from which colony he had been banished. he removed with a few connections and intimate friends to Wells in Maine. It is probable that he did this from an apprehension that he might be subjected to further annoy- ance if he continued within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, without having made his peace with the authorities of that colony. There is some reason to believe that Mr. Wheelwright's removal was not expected to be permanent. There are votes upon the town records which indicate that the inhabitants understood that he might return to Exeter. And before he had been very long

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at Wells, too, he took the first steps towards a reconciliation with the authori- ties of Massachusetts, which resulted in the reversal of the sentence of banish- ment against him.

.When it became evident that Mr. Wheelwright was not to return, the people of Exeter made an attempt to call the aged Stephen Bachiler, who had been dismissed from Hampton for irregular conduct, to become their minister. This failed as did the settlements of several other ministers.

But the wishes of the people were at length gratified; for at a town- meeting on the 30th of May, 1650, it was unanimously agreed between Rev. Samuel Dudley and the town of Exeter "that Mr. Dudley is forthwith, as soon as comfortable subsistence can be made by the town for him and his family in the house which was purchased of Mr. Wheelwright, that then the said Mr. Dudley is to come and inhabit Exeter, and to be a minister of God's word unto us until such time as God shall be pleased to make way for the gathering of a church, and then to be ordained our pastor or teacher accord- ing to the ordinance of God." The town agreed to fit up the Wheelwright house, and to fence in a yard and garden, and to allow forty pounds a year towards the maintenance of Mr. Dudley and his family, with the use and sole improvement of the house and lands and meadow bought of Mr. Wheel- wright, during the time he, Mr. Dudley, should continue to be their minister. The town also agreed that "what cost Mr. Dudley should bestow about the said house and lands in the time of his improvement, the town is to allow unto him or his so much as the said house and lands are bettered by it at the time of the said Mr. Dudley's leaving it, either by death or some more than ordinary call of God other ways." And it was further stipulated "that the old cow-house which was Mr. Wheelwright's shall by the town be fitted up fit for the setting of cattle in, and that the aforesaid pay of forty pounds a year is to be made in good pay every half year in corn and English com- modities at a price current as they go generally in the country at the time or times of payment." The agreement with Mr. Dudley took effect immediately, and he undoubtedly entered upon the discharge of his ministerial functions at once. Indeed, there is reason to believe that he had been serving the town in the same capacity before that time. We learn, moreover, from the agree- ment that the church that had been gathered and maintained during Mr. Wheelwright's stay in Exeter had failed to preserve its organization for the seven years when it was without a pastor.

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History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 40

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