History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 55

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1714

USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 55
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 55

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In 1873 the Epping Savings-Bank was incorporated. Its charter expires in 1893. The president of this institution is Joseph C. Borley, of Epping. and George S. Rundlett is treasurer. The following gentlemen are the board of trustees : James L. Rundlett, William R. Bunker, David Stickney, Dudley L. Harvey, Hosea B. Burnham, John H. Pike, James H. Bartlett, Alfred T. Rundlett, Benjamin W. Hoyt, John Leddy, of Epping, Joseph N. Cilley, of Nottingham, and Win- throp N. Dow, of Exeter. This bank has been care- fully and economically managed since its organiza- tion, and has proved a safe place for people to deposit

their surplus earnings. The amount of deposits now are nearly sixty thousand dollars.

Population of the town at different periods : 1767, 1410; 1773, 1648; 1775, 1569; 1786, 1347; 1790, 1233; 1800, 1131; 1820, 1558; 1830, 1268; . 1840, 1232; 1850, 1663; 1860, 1414; 1870, 1270; 1880, 1536.

The population of the town has varied from period to period since the Revolution. At that time it was the sixth or seventh town in number of its popula- tion in the State. Soon after the Revolution many of the young men with their families moved into neighboring towns where they could get farms cheap, and many went to the province of Maine. There was no very distant outlet for the population, as hap- pened later when so many of the Eastern people went West and settled. In 1850 the population by the census showed the largest number the town ever had, but that is due to the fact that a large number of men, and some with their families, were employed in the building of the Portsmouth and Concord Rail- road. This was a temporary population of the town, and soon the number fell back to its legitimate limit. In 1880 the number of inhabitants rose again up to 1536. This was owing in large degree to the exten- sive shoe manufactories which have been established,

which requires many men. In both departments of business the employés hecame permanent citizens, and the number is liable to increase rather than diminish in the future. There are other branches of business springing up, which will no doubt increase the number of inhabitants, such as the box-factory in the west part of the town, on the Lamprey River, now operated by Cyrus F. Low, where he uses up- wards of twelve hundred thousand feet of lumber annually in the manufacture of boxes for shoes. There is also another box manufactory of a similar character at the village, operated by Charles A. and Henry W. Miles, but at present less in extent.

Origin of the Name of the Town .- Col. Joseph L. Chester, LL.D., of London, England, a native of Con- necticut, but now lately deceased, the leading antiqua- rian of England, in reply to an inquiry of Hon. Benjamin F. Prescott, in January, 1876, in reference to the origin of the name of Epping, in the United States (and there is no other town of that name except Epping in Rock- ingham County), says, in a letter dated Feb. 12, 1876, " Epping is a nice little town in Essex, about seventeen miles from London. The parish is called Epping- Upland, and Epping is a market town in the parish. The town is in about the middle of the forest called ' Epping Forest,' but the town gives the name to the forest and not vice versa. Epping was originally a royal manor, and the forest a royal chase. It now belongs to the nation, and the forest is free to the public. We are very proud of having so large a bit of woods so near London, and the forest has al- ways been a great resort for holiday-makers. No

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doubt some of the early settlers of your place came | every thirty or forty years get a larger income than from Epping or its vicinity. Epping, according to they possibly could in any other way from such tracts writers on such subjects, is derived from Gippan, the of land. possession of Gippa, a man's name in the old Anglo- Saxon times,-i.e., Gippa's Forest, Epping Forest. The forest was probably the possession of one Gippa BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. at the period when there were no surnames."

Epping was formerly a part of Exeter, and was incorporated into its present limits Feb. 23, 1741. It contains nearly thirteen thousand acres. The surface of the town is uneven, but none of the hills are high. It is well supplied with streams of water. The largest of these is the Lamprey River, on which there have been several mills for grinding grain, sawing boards, shingles, and other varieties of lumber, as well as woolen-mills for the manufacture of cloth, knitting of stockings, and other fabrics. At the present time the power at the centre village is used for grist-mill, saw-mill, planing of Inmber, the manufacture of boxes from boards, and woolen manufactures and the card- ing of wools. The power on the same river in the westerly section of the town is now used in running a saw-mill, grist-mill, box-factory, and the manufac- ture of stockings and other woolen goods. The privilege on this stream just below the last named has been abandoned, although it is superior to either of the others, owing to its situation and the height of the fall. For more than a hundred years a grist- and a saw-mill stood here, and were patronized from far and near. There was also a shingle-mill and wheelwright-shop. At one time there was a manu- factory of rubber goods when that business first com- menced in this country. For some cause it was soon abandoned.

The town has no wild scenery, but the surface is undulating and pleasing to the eye, and with its numerous streams and wooded hills and valleys it is considered one of the finest towns in Rockingham County. The soil generally is good and well suited to the products raised in the State. The principal occupation of the inhabitants is that of farming, and as much skill is displayed by them as is seen any- where else in the State in the cultivation of their lands.

The products are hay, oats, wheat, rye, barley, corn, potatoes, beans, apples, pears, etc. For the last twenty-five years large quantities of excellent apples, principally of winter varieties, have been raised. which have found a ready market in Boston and other places, owing to their superior flavor and fine texture. Much lumber has been cut in this town within the past few years, and wood, which have been sold in towns and cities in our own and other States. Almost all varieties of growth grow rapidly and luxu- riantly here, and many more acres are covered with forest than there were fifty years ago, though the size is by no means so large or valuable. The tendency among all farmers now is to allow the poorer places to come into growth, wherever it may be, and thus in

BENJAMIN F. PRESCOTT.

Hon. Benjamin F. Prescott, whose portrait is here- with given, was born in Epping, Feb. 26, 1833. His parents were Nathan Gove Prescott and Betsey Hills Richards. His father was the fourth generation upon the homestead now owned and occupied by ex-Gov- ernor Prescott, while his mother was a native and resident of Nottingham. His father died in 1866, but his mother still resides with her son upon the homestead, which has been in the family for about one hundred and thirty years. The subject of this sketch inherited a vigorous constitution, and passed his boyhood upon the farm, doing every variety of work which a New Hampshire farmer's son is called upon to do. He attended the district school until his age would admit of his leaving home to pursue his studies in the higher seminaries of learning. In 1847 he was sent to Pembroke Academy (N. H.), and re- mained there portions of the time till 1850, when he entered Phillips' Academy, in Exeter. Here he pur- sued a classical course of study until the autumn of 1853, when he entered the sophomore class in Dart- mouth College. He graduated from this college in 1856. He taught winters while in college, and some months after graduation. He then read law, and was admitted to practice in all the courts of the State. He opened an office in Concord, N. H., and entered upon his profession, but relinquished it in 1861 to become associate editor of the Independent Democrat, the leading anti-slavery paper of the State. ; He remained thus associated till 1865, when his con- nection with the paper closed.

For a short period he was a special agent of the United States Treasury Department for New England, but was removed because he opposed the policy of Andrew Johnson and fearlessly proclaimed his oppo- sition. In the years 1872, 1873, 1875, and 1876 he was elected Secretary of State, and in March, 1877, was elected Governor, and was re-elected in March, 1878. He was elected a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Chicago in 1880, and was selected chair- man of the New Hampshire delegation. For fifteen years previous to 1877 he was secretary of the Repub- lican State Committee, and was largely instrumental in perfecting the organization of the State which se- cured the most important triumphs of the party. His administration was conceded to be one of the most successful the State has ever had. He took a lively interest in all matters pertaining to its welfare and advancement, and allowed no opportunity to escape when he was able to render assistance to the people.

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HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

He is deeply interested in agriculture and all matters which build up the influence and power of his State. He was married in 1869 to Miss Mary Little Noyes, of Concord, N. H., a lady of fine accomplishments and cultivated manners. They have one son, who takes the name of his father, and was born June 16, 1879. | While occupying the executive chair Governor Pres- cott responded to the great variety of calls made upon him, and on all occasions acquitted himself in a man- ner acceptable to the people. He has historical taste, and is a member of the New Hampshire Historical So- ciety, and was for many years vice-president of the same. He is also a fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. He has also given great attention to art, and the one hundred and seventy-five portraits and marble busts in the State-House in Concord, Dartmouth College, Phillips' Exeter Academy, Pem- broke Academy, the State Normal School, and the New Hampshire Historical Society attest the interest he feels in preserving the faces of those who occupy a prominent place in the history of the State and the institutions connected with it. He has also done much to advance the educational interests of the State, and is at the present time a trustee of Dartmouth College, and also trustee of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.

REV. JOSIAH HOWE STEARNS.

In the "Genealogies and History of Watertown, Mass.," by Henry Bond, M.D., the Stearns family oc- cupies more than one-eighth of the entire volume of 1094 pages.

In said book is a picture of the family coat of arms, thus described : " Arms, or a chevron between three crosses, flory sable; crest, a cock starling proper."

" A coat of arms similar to this formerly belonged to the occupants of the old Stearns homestead, in Watertown. It is the same as that borne by families of the name of Sterne in the counties of Bucks, Cam- bridge, Hertford, and Norfolk, England; the same also as that borne by Richard Sterne, Archbishop of York, who was descended from the Sternes of Not- tinghamshire."

" The name in Europe is spelt variously by fami- lies bearing the same coat of arms, and probably of the same family line."

" It is probable that all the families of the name of Stearns in the United States are descended from three early immigrants,-Isaac and Charles, who settled in Watertown, or Nathaniel, who settled in Dedham."

Isaac Stearns came to America in 1630, in the same ship, as is supposed, with Governor Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall, and settled in Watertown. He was admitted freeman, May 18, 1631, the earliest date of any such admission, after which he was much in public office.

The births of only three of his children are found

in the town records, and some were born before he left England, as the parish register of Nayland re- cords those of two daughters at least.

His son, John Stearns, was one of the first settlers of Billerica. He married Sarah, only daughter of Isaac and Sarah Mixer, of Watertown.

Their son, Lieut. John Stearns, whose birth was the first on the Billerica records, was a man much respected and having a large influence. He married Elizabeth Bigelow, danghter of John and Mary War- ren Bigelow, of Watertown.

Their son, John Stearns, of Billerica, married Esther Johnson, descendant of Edward Johnson, of Woburn, author of the history of New England en- titled "Wonder-working Providence of Sion's Saviour in New England."

One of their sons, Hon. Isaac Stearns, of Billerica, was a soldier in the French war, a representative and senator in the State Legislature, and highly respected as a soldier, a civil magistrate, a legislator, and a Christian. He was grandfather of Hon. Onslow Stearns, who was Governor of New Hampshire, 1869 and 1870.

Another son of the said John Stearns, Rev. Josiah Stearns, of Epping, was born in Billerica, Mass., Jan. 20, 1732. At the usual age he was sent to school, where he soon discovered such powers of mind, dili- gence in application, and sobriety of conduct as attracted the especial notice of his instructor, and induced him to urge upon his parents the expediency of giving him a liberal education. At the age of fif- teen he entered Harvard College, and was graduated at nineteen. He at once felt specially desirous to preach the gospel, and having been solemnly dedica- ted to this work by his pious parents, he commenced his theological studies immediately after leaving the university. At the age of twenty-one years he began to preach with great acceptance, and the eyes of many in different places were soon fixed upon him as their intended pastor. But not feeling prepared to take the charge of a parish at that early age, he declined preaching as a candidate for a time and followed teaching, while he engaged in occasional ministerial labors and in the further prosecution of his theologi- cal studies. At length he decided to enter on the momentous duties of a parochial charge whenever God pointed the way to him, and after receiving sev- eral calls he decided to accept that from the Congre- gational Church in Epping, where he was ordained and installed at the age of twenty-six years.

He was a close and thorough student. He studied the Scriptures in their original languages with unre- mitting diligence. So intimate was his knowledge of them that he could readily cite the chapter and verse where almost any text was to be found. The late Dr. Thayer, of Kingston, mentioning this fact, added, " The Bible especially was his library." Still he had a small library of choice works, and his thirst for knowledge led him " to borrow of friends one volume

J. H. Arcane

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at a time, and when he had read it through its con- he regularly met them on Saturday afternoon in his meeting-house, whither they flocked from all parts of according to the order of the Assembly's Catechism. tents were his own." He was eminently a man of prayer. "The place of his retirement witnessed the |the town to be religiously instructed by their pastor, fervent outpourings of his soul, frequently for two hours at a time." He was an ardent friend of liberty, and he sacrificed most of his worldly interest in sup- port of the American cause (Alden's Epitaph). He was a member of the first " Provincial Congress," in which he regarded himself as fully committed to the risk of his personal safety. Returning therefrom he called his children around him, told them of the stand he had taken, and added, " If the cause shall prevail it will be a great benefit to the country, but if it shall fail, your poor old father's head will soon be a button for a halter."

Some of his sons were in the field during a great part of the Revolutionary contest. He had held a negro as property ; but, though he had given the boy advantages for mental and moral improvement with his own children, he felt the inconsistency of holding a fellow-being in legal bondage while thus struggling for national independence, and pronounced him hence- forth free, whereupon Peter, in company with his mas- ter's sons, shouldered his musket and did good service in the common cause as a freeman. Mr. Stearns was tall in person and interesting in his pulpit perform- ances. He held the untiring attention of his audi- ence, which not unfrequently filled the seats and aisles of his meeting-house, while in pleasant weather a number stood around the doors and windows.

The following anecdote illustrates the dignity and influence of his character. He happened to pass through a room where a party of military officers were engaged in very free and profane conversation. The individual who was speaking at the time sud- denly stopped and seemed abashed. His comrades rallied him on his timidity as soon as Mr. Stearns disappeared ; and the officer's immediate reply was, " Parson Stearns would awe the devil."

Of his published discourses, one was preached at an ordination, two on the occasion of a national fast, being especially designed to move the people aright during the Revolutionary war, one on " Early Piety," with a brief memoir of Samuel Lawrence; two were on 1 John iv. 8: "God is love," preached in Exeter, and published after his death at the request made to him in his last sickness by Hon. John Phillips, for the use of the members of the Academy. In a letter referred to in the Congregational Quarterly, January; 1868, page 3, Dr. Abbott, a former preceptor of Phillips' Exeter Academy, calls " Rev. Mr. Stearns, of Epping, the friend and favorite preacher of Dr. Phillips,"

Mr. Stearns was also intimately acquainted with Hon. Samuel Phillips, the founder of Phillips' Acad- emy at Andover, Mass., and he was one of the first trustees of that corporation, which now includes the theological seminary. He was deeply interested in the early training of the children of his parish, and

In the Essex Journal and New Hampshire Packet of Aug. 27, 1788, is the following biographical notice, written, it is said, by Dr. Tappan, of Newbury, Mass., afterwards Professor of Divinity in Harvard Univer- sity : " Mr. Hoyt,-The Rev. Mr. Stearns, whose death was announced in your last, sustained a character too great and too good to be passed over in silence. The God of nature had imbued him with singular abilities, which by the aid of erudition fitted him for extensive usefulness. His assiduous application to the work of the ministry was truly worthy of imitation."

In him shone an assemblage of virtues and graces which rarely meet in the same person. He had a lively faney, a penetrating judgment, a correct taste, and a mind as expanded as the heavens. His conversation was ever seasonable, grave, pathetic, and instructive. His publie discourses were replete with good sense, with important truths in a clear and instructive light, and received the approbation of the best judges. He despised pageantry without the appearance of affectation. He trusted to nothing mortal, pitied but envied not such as had their por- tion in this life. His advice in council was often sought and ever approved. He had a constitutional firmness, and was capable of the most dispassionate reasoning. He repudiated errors, ancient and modern, and rejoiced to the last in his faithful adherence to the doctrines of grace. Elevated by the purer senti- ments, he ever possessed a mind calm and serene. God, who is all-wise in counsel, was pleased to try his faith and patience in the furnace of affliction. He died in the fifty-seventh year of his age, after a lingering and painful sickness.

He had two wives: the first, Sarah Abbot, being the mother of six children; the .second, Sarah Ruggles, also the mother of six children, among whom was Rev. Samuel Stearns, pastor of the Con- gregational Church in Bedford, Mass., who was grad- uated from Harvard, and whose five sons-four of them graduates of the same university-have been eminent as preachers and educators.

William, the youngest son of Rev. Josiah Stearns, was born Nov. 23, 1773. According to the custom iu those days of binding apprentices from the ages of fourteen to twenty-one years, he was legally bound to Henry Ranlet, a printer of Exeter. Hon. John Phillips soon became so much interested in the boy that he offered to fit him for college. William was anxious to accept the offer, but Mr. Ranlet utterly refused to relinquish his legal claim to his services. The boy saw no way but to accept the situation, and apply himself diligently to the duties of his appren- ticeship.

Soon after he became twenty-one, with a partner le published The American Herald of Liberty, a paper

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HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

that was commenced by Mr. Ranlet in 1785.1 Mr. Stearns also brought out some other publications, and "in 1795 or 1796 he was engaged in printing, and also binding, the first edition of the New Testa- ment ever issued in this State." 2 Probably but few copies of this edition were distributed, as the office was burned shortly after, and many parts of the Tes- taments were found in the street the morning fol- lowing the fire.

A few years later Mr. Stearns removed to Epping, where he purchased a small farm, opened a store, and was appointed the first postmaster of the town. He held the offices of selectman and town clerk for many years, and represented the town in the Legislature several times. He was also justice of the peace, and his writings were noted for accuracy.

He was twice married, his second wife being Abigail Richards, daughter of Lemuel Howe, of Templeton, Mass. Her genealogy may be found in the family memorial, beginning with John Alden, of " Mayflower" fame. Their children were: 1, William Ruggles, who died unmarried; 2, Josiah Howe ; 3, Mary Elizabeth ; 4, Samuel Richards, who died in childhood.

The second, Rev. Josiah Howe Stearns, born Oct. 1, 1812, was graduated from Dartmouth College and Andover Theological Seminary. He married Eliza Kilby, daughter of John Kilby, Esq., of Dennysville, Me., where he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Congregational Church Nov. 6, 1844. Their children were: 1, Abby Thayer, married Frank W. Spaulding, M.D., a graduate of Bowdoin College and the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York, now a practicing physician in Epping. 2. William Charnock, who died in childhood. After the death of Mrs. Stearns, notwithstanding the mutual attachment between him and his people, the Congrega- tional Church in Epping, his native town, having been without regular preaching for two years, Mr. Stearns became its acting pastor, June 16, 1857, in which ca- pacity he has served until the present time.

It is a singular coincidence that while his grand- father, during his ministry to the same people, preached the sermons referred to above in the inter- ests of the nation during the Revolutionary struggle from the text, "Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord, saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Ben- jamin, my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine hand" (Judges xxi. 26, 27, 28), that the present minister during the war of the Rebellion was

requested by Company A of the Eleventh Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers to preach to them on the Sabbath before they left home, Aug. 24, 1862, and he complied, taking for his text, " And he said, My presence shall go with thee." (Exodus xxxiii. 14.)

Another connecting link between the ministry of the two exists in the fact that one of the last infants whom the grandfather baptized was received to full fellowship in the church eighty-six years later, in her old age, by the grandson.

Including the New Testament with what Paul says of the Old (2 Tim. iii. 16), Mr. Stearns believes that " all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," and that the best rule for public discourse is to take different classes of texts, containing the great variety of Scripture teach- ings, in the proportion in which they stand in the Bible, because God must know better than man in what proportion they are needed. Then he sees that following this rule is conductive to long pastorates, that thereby the minister may be duly active in the cause of temperance and every other genuine reform, and not be chargeable with dwarfing attention to any one subject. That his ministrations of the Word will be most productive of true converts, making stable Bible Christians, with broad views and gen- erous aspirations, building up themselves on their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost (Jude 20), to be established in every good word and work (2 Thess. ii. 17).

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History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 55

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1714

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1714