USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens > Part 12
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Before organization, in March, 1828, Dev. Duncan Dunbar was invited to preach to this body of Baptist friends, and as a result of a few Sundays' stay three were baptized on profession of their faith.
October 21, 1829, Brother Elijah Foster was ordained. On the same day the present church edifice was dedicated. The Rev. Elijah Foster continued pastor of the church till the spring of 1831, when he received and accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Salisbury and Ames- bury, Mass.
In December, 1832, Rev. Noah Hooper was elected pastor, and remained until July, 1833, when he was dismissed to become pastor of the Baptist Church of Sanbornton, N. H. At the same meeting of the dismissal of Rev. Mr. Hooper it was also voted to call Rev. Gibbon Williams to the pastorate. He remained with the church until the summer of 1835, when he accepted the call of the church at Chester.
In November, 1835, Brother Benjamin Brierly was ordained to the work of the ministry and settled as pastor of the church. His stay was nearly two years.
In June, 1838, Brother Lucien Hayden, of Hamilton Theological Sem- inary, was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry, and remained three years.
The successor of Rev. Mr. Hayden was Rev. A. M. Swain, who came to the pastorate of the church in November, 1842, and remained until May, 1844.
In September, 1844, Rev. Oliver Ayer became pastor of the church. He officiated six years and eight months.
Rev. I. D. Hill followed as pastor, coming to the work June 1, 1851, and remaining a little more than two years.
Rev. John Cookson succeeded him March 16, 1854. During his pastorate of one year alterations and improvements in the house of worship to the amount of $550 were made.
Brother Warren C. Clapp, a licentiate of the Franklindale Church, New York, accepted a call from the church, and was ordained as its pastor May 27. 1856. He remained six years.
In August, 1862, Rev. L. D. Hill was again called to the pastorate cf this church from Thomaston, Me., and officiated four years.
Deacon John Gould, for thirty-five years an office-bearer in the church, and one of its first deacons, a man greatly loved, died.
In May, 1867, Rev. Alden Sherwin, of Brattleborough, Vt., accepted a unanimous call to the pastorate of the church, remaining until October, 1868.
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In September, 1869, Rev. William T. Chase commenced pastoral labors with the church. After four years and two months he was dismissed to the pastorate of the Baptist Church at Lewiston, Me.
In February, 1874, Rev. A. Bryant was chosen to the pastorate, whose stay extended over a period of a year and two months.
On the 30th of September, 1875, Brother Charles A. Towns was or- dained to the work of the ministry, and was settled as pastor of the church. He was dismissed May, 1881.
Rev. Robert L. Colwell became pastor in October, 1881, and served several years: following him have been a number of able pastors, and the church has prospered.
During the first fifty years of its existence there have been added to the church 662 members, 411 of whom were baptized into its fellowship, and the remainder by letter and experience.
The year following the organization of the church the Sunday school work was taken up, and has been engaged in ever since that time.
Roman Catholic Church. Mass was first said in this town in the winter of 1826, by Rev. Virgil H. Barber, S. J. Among the prominent pioneer Catholics in Dover were William Ashcroft, John Burns, Francis G. O'Neill, Philip F. Scanlan and William McDevitt.
Services were first held in the courthouse. May 17, 1828, the corner- stone of the first Catholic Church was laid, and was completed and accepted in June, 1829. It cost $2,800. The church was consecrated September 26, 1830, by Rt. Rev. Dr. Dominick Fenwick, of Boston. . The rapid growth of the church demanded a more commodious church edifice, and in 1872 the present building was completed.
The first regular pastor of the church was Rev. Father French, in 1827. who remained two years after the erection of the first church edifice, and was succeeded by Rev. Father Lee, M. D., D. D. He remained three years, and was followed by Rev. Father McNamee, M. D., D. D. He officiated until 1839, and was succeeded by Rev. Father Conovan, who stayed until 1855. Father McShane came next, succeeded by Father Brady. Next came Father Niccolo, who was followed by Father Drummond, assisted by the Rev. Father Blodgett, a convert, who was given full charge of the parish before he had been here a year on account of the feebleness of Father Drummond.
Father Blodgett was one of the most able and enterprising priests that ever presided over this parish. It was through him that the New Hampshire House property and the new Catholic cemetery was secured, and, had he lived, he would have erected upon this property one of the finest churches in the state. Father Blodgett died May 15, 1881, and was the first priest to be buried in Dover. Rev. Father Murphy succeeded, and was soon given 7
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full charge of the parish, as Father Drummond became demented, and died in October, 1882.
Father Murphy improved the New Hampshire House property by erecting on it one of the finest parochial schools in the county; he also remodeled the main building of the hotel for a nunnery. The present church was improved at once, at an expense of thousands of dollars. New steam-heating apparatus was put in, and the church was frescoed by one of the best artists in that busi- ness. The parsonage was remodeled and extended under the supervision of Father Murphy. Since his death various other improvements have been made.
St. Thomas' Church. The first account of services in the vicinity of Dover in accordance with the doctrine and ritual of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America is to be found in the report of Rev. Henry Blackwaller to a convention held at Hopkinton, Wednesday, September 8, 1830. Therein he reports a flourishing parish by the name of St. Paul's Church, Great Falls, Somersworth. In the spring of 1831, Mr. Blackwaller removed to Salmon Falls to take charge of an Episcopal Church (Christ Church) just then established there. In the Convention journal of 1832, Mr. Blackaller reports that since the month of February, 1832, "he has held occasional services in the increasingly populous village of Dover." Friday evening, February 15, 1832, he reports "that our venerable prelate (the late Right Rev. Alexander V. Griswold) preached in the Congregational place of wor- ship in Dover on the doctrines of the church before a numerous and respec- table audience, with much apparent interest to all present." He adds that a church of our order is much desired by several respectable families in Dover. and expresses a belief in its ultimate establishment and success. The per- manent establishment of this church in Dover is not due entirely or chiefly, however. to the efforts of Mr. Blackwaller, but rather to the venerable rector of St. John's Church, Charlestown, Mass., the Rev. Thomas R. Lambert, D. D., who in 1839, being chaplain in the navy, began the regular services of the church in what was then Belknap School, a wooden building, then situated on Church street, since moved to Third street, and occupied for business purposes. September 2, 1839, gentlemen interested in the forma- tion of a church met in this schoolhouse and entered into an association for this purpose. The signers of the original articles of association were Asa A. Tufts, Richard Steele, Caleb Duxbury, Thomas C. Oakes, William Wil- liamson, Thomas Hough, Stephen Hardy, William Johnson, Daniel Hallam, Samuel H. Parker, Sanborn B. Carter, Thomas R. Lambert, Charles Hus- band, Edward Husband, Thomas Hampton, James Duxbury, Charles W. Woodman, John Duxbury. The church was called St. Thomas' Church.
December 1, 1839, Rev. William Horton, before rector of Trinity Church, Saco, became rector of St. Thomas' Church, Dover. In 1840 a lot of land was bought on what is now the corner of Central and St. Thomas
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street, then a part of the Atkinson estate. A church building was erected and finished January, 1841, at the cost of $5,800. The first service was held in the new church January 17, 1841. The church was consecrated by Bishop Griswold, March 17, 1841. August, 1841, the parish consisted of sixty families and forty communicants. Rev. Mr. Horton resigned his rectorship November 10, 1847. The Rev. Thomas G. Salter became rector December 12, 1847. In 1860 gas was put into the church, and the church bell was hung. July 1, 1861, Mr. Salter resigned his rectorship, and September I, 1861, Rev. Edward M. Gushee became the rector. During our late Civil war Mr. Gushee was chaplain of the Ninth New Hampshire Regiment, and in his absence Rev. Charles Wingate officiated as rector. Mr. Gushee resigned in April, 1864. December 1, 1864, the Rev. John W. Clark became rector. Mr. Clark resigned September 16, 1866. February 3, 1867, Rev. George G. Field was chosen rector. Mr. Field resigned August 16, 1868. Rev John B. Richmond became rector November 8, 1868. During the rectorship of Mr. Richmond the church building was altered inside and out, and its seating capacity increased. Mr. Richmond resigned April 29, 1876, and was succeeded by the Rev. Ithamar W. Beard, who was chosen rector, and entered upon his duties November 5, 1876, and served to November, 1898. During his pastorate the beautiful house of worship was built on Hale street. At present the number of families in the parish is about 150; the number of communicants, 106; the Sunday school, 150 teachers and pupils. The parish has been subject to the usual changes incident to a manufacturing town. It ranks perhaps third or fourth in order among the parishes of this church in New Hampshire.
Washington Street Free-Will Baptist Church. The church was organ- ized in the Central street vestry, February 4, 1840. The first covenant was signed by thirteen persons, as follows: William Burr, Enoch Mack, Tobias Scruton, Jonathan C. Gilman, Asa H. Littlefield, M. D. L. Stevens, E. B. Chamberlain, Alfred Scruton, Lucy Y. Foss, Eunice Colbath, Elance Fuller, Chloe Holt, Mary Willard.
Of these none is now living. The first settled pastor was Rev. J. B. Davis. He entered upon his pastorate November 1, 1840, and remained but one year.
The subsequent pastors have been as follows: Rev. A. K. Moulton, settled in 1841, remained one year; Rev. R. Dunn, settled in 1843, remained one year; Rev. Elias Hutchins, settled in 1845, remained thirteen years; Rev. Charles E. Blake, settled in 1866, remained but one year; Rev. Willet Vary, settled in 1859, closed his labors in 1866; Rev. I. D. Stewart, settled in 1867, remained until 1874; Rev. G. C. Waterman, began his pastorate in 1874, and closed in 1879. The Rev. Frank K. Chase began his pastorate in October, 1879, and served until 1892. Since then four pastors have served, and the church is prosperous.
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Three hundred and thirty-six converts have been baptized by the pastors. The whole number connected with the church to date is about seven hundred and ten. The church has always been forward in all benevolent work, has been actively engaged in the Sunday school work, and has enjoyed the presence and counsel of many noble men and women. Upon all great moral questions she has spoken with no uncertain voice.
The services were held at first in the Central street vestry. When that became crowded they were removed to what was then known as the "Bel- knap schoolhouse," standing in the rear of the First Parish Church. After that the services were held for a time in the old courthouse. The first house of worship owned by the society was the building on Washington street now known as the Odd Fellows building.
This was dedicated September 21, 1843. During the pastorate of Rev. I. D. Stewart the society sold out its interest in this building, and crected its brick church on Washington street. This was dedicated October 28, 1809.
On the morning of Tuesday, May 2, 1882, a fire broke out in a small brush factory near the church. The fire soon spread to the church itself, and in a painfully short time the church was a mass of smouldering ruins. In the afternoon a heavy wind blew the northern gable over. The bricks fell upon the audience room floor, crushing it like an eggshell.
A number of persons were standing in the vestry, and five of them were buried beneath the ruins. Four of these were taken out alive. The fifth, Judge John R. Varney, was not missed until late at night. A midnight search was made, and he was found crushed and dead under the bricks and broken timbers.
At an informal meeting of the society, held on Wednesday evening, in the chapel of the First Parish, it was decided to accept the offer of the Belknap Church, which was then without a pastor and not holding regular services. The first service in this church was held Sunday, May 7th. The rebuilding of the church, much improved, was completed in 1882.
Belknap Congregational Church. This church was the result of public worship begun in the town hall by Rev. Benjamin F. Parsons, after his resig- nation of the First Church, from which he was dismissed September 3, 1856. A Sabbath school was organized July 6, 1856, with forty-five scholars. A society was organized July 7, 1856, and the church September 3, 1856, with forty-four members. The corner-stone of the house of worship was laid July 4, 1859, and the house was dedicated December 29, 1859. Rev. Mr. Parsons was dismissed, on his resignation, October 24, 1861. His successors in service have been Charles H. Pratt, James B. Thornton (began December, 1861), E. A. Spence, Ezra Haskell (began in 1862), Charles C. Watson (installed July 11, 1867), J. W. Savage, Frank Haley. Isaiah P. Smith, James De Buchananne, from 1877 to 1882; Ezra Haskell, 1889-1895; R. K.
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Jones, 1895-96. The church was closed until 1910, when services were resumed.
The Advent Christian Church was organized May 4, 1881, by a body of Christians who had worshiped in houses and halls since 1843, having been literally without a resting place during that period. They erected a house of worship in 1881-82, on the corner of St. Thomas and Atkinson streets, which was dedicated April 16, 1882. Since then five able ministers have served as pastors.
At a meeting of the society and its friends in the spring of 1881, George E. Durgin, John Brooks, and William H. Vicery were appointed to contract for the building of a house of worship.
It was built from the plans and under the direction of George Brown, the architect, at a cost of $5,000 -- Jacob Emery, contractor and builder. The seats are free and the church is supported by free-will offerings.
CHAPTER IX HISTORY OF DOVER (V)
THE VARIOUS FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
The various forms of government under which the people of Dover have lived have been progressive. During the first decade, 1623 to 1633, it does not appear that Edward Hilton and his associates were governed by any except the Common Law of England and such formal agreements they were under to those with whom they had dealings, in the way of trade, in England. Being a small community, they had no need for a formal code of by-laws. They conducted business just as they would have done in England.
When Edward Hilton secured his grant, March 12, 1629-30, renewing and confirming what he had obtained and occupied for seven years, under the Thomson grant of 1622, there appears to have been quite a number of Bristol men, in England, names not known, who became financially interested with Hilton in his endeavor to increase the number of settlers. These Bristol men appointed Capt. Thomas Wiggin as their agent to act for them in con- junction with Hilton, and Captain Wiggin came over in 1631 and spent a year with Hilton, prospecting, and he made up his mind it was a good place to bring a colony for an enlargement of the settlement Hilton had already made. He returned to England in 1632 and spent another year in doing missionary work among his well-to-do acquiantances to induce them to emigrate and take possession of the grand opportunities which Hilton's plan- tation presented on the Pascataqua in New England. When he had perfected his arrangements, he brought over a shipload, in the ship James, and they landed at Salem, Mass., October 10, 1633. The number was about thirty- ships were small in those days-"some of whom were of good estate and some account for religion," that is to say, they were Puritans. The report says they had been eight weeks between Gravesend and Salem. They took ship imme- diately for Hilton Point on the Pascataqua, Captain Wiggin writing from that place to friends in England in November. They at once commenced the settlement on Dover Neck, cutting "Ilight street" from Pomeroy Cove to the top of Huckleberry Hill. Captain Wiggin, acting as Governor, granted house lots along the street, as he had been given authority to do. About that time, it is said, the Bristol company (land speculators) sold their interests to
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the Puritan lords, Say and Brook, George Willys and William Whiting (another group of land speculators). These men continued Captain Wiggin in authority, as Governor, or agent, or business manager, with authority to issue land grants, and be chief ruler among the people. He held this position until 1637.
In the autumn of 1637 the people formed a "combination" for govern- ment, and Rev. George Burdett was placed at the head. Up to that time it does not appear the settlement had any special rules of law, or by-laws, more than the laws in force in England and Captain Wiggin's dictum of what to do and what not to do. Simple fact appears to be that Captain Wiggin withdrew to his plantation on the east side of Great Bay, as Hilton had withdrawn to his big land estate at what is now Newfields, and the rest of the settlers deemed it necessary to make a formal organization to maintain order and keep peace and harmony. As was perfectly natural, they chose their minister, Mr. Burdett, for the head officer, whatever you may be pleased to call him. He served one year. His successor was Capt. John Underhill, who became Governor and commander of the militia in November or Decem- ber, 1638. He continued in office until March or April, 1640, but remained commander of the militia until 1642. Thomas Roberts succeeded Captain Underhill as Governor and "president of the court," and served two years, until the town came under formal control of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1642, in accordance with the vote of the townsmen in town meeting, held in October, 1641. In 1642 Dover became a town in Norfolk County, Mass., and so remained nearly forty years, when New Hampshire was brought into existence as a province separate from Massachusetts, so far as courts and local laws were concerned.
That the people of Dover had a combination for government under their minister, Rev. George Burdett, has been shown by a letter of that person dated November 29, 1638, wherein also it appears that he had held the power as chief ruler for the preceding year in such a combination. Whether this combination had dissolved, or whether a new one might be considered more binding, or the old one was not sufficiently formal, a new one was entered into on October 29, 1640. This document is the oldest extant record in Dover history. It is as follows :
"Whereas sundry mischiefs and inconveniences have befaln and more and greater may in regard of want of civill government his Gratious Matte haveing hiteherto setled no order for us to our knowldge:
"Wee whose names are underwritten being Inhabitants upon the River Pascataquack have voluntarily agreed to combine ourselves into a body politique that wee may the more comfortably enjoy the benefit of his Matles Lawes together with all such Orders as shallbee concluded by a major part
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of the Freemen of our Society in case they bee not repugnant to the Lawes of England and administered in the behalfe of his Majesty.
"And this wee have mutually promised and concluded to do and so to continue till his Excellent Mate shall give other Order concerning us. In Witness whereof wee have hereto set our hands the two and twentieth day of October in the sixteenth yeare of the reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles by the grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith &c. Annoq Dom. 1640.
"John Follet, Robert Nanney, William Jones, Phillip Swaddon, Richard Pinckhame, Bartholomew Hunt, William Bowden, John Wastill, John Heard, John Hall, Abel Camond, Henry Beck, Robert Huggins, Thom. Larkham, Richard Waldern, William Waldern, William Storer, William Furbur. Tho. Layton, Tho. Roberts, Bartholomew Smith, Samuel Haines, John Underhill, Peter Garland, John Dam, Steven Teddar, John Ugroufe, Thomas Canning, John Phillips, Tho: Dunstar, Fran : Champernoon, Hansed Knollyes, Edward Colcord, Henry Lahorn, Edward Starr, James Nute, Anthony Emery, Richard Laham, William Pomfret, John Cross, George Webb, James Rawlins.
"This is a true copy compared with ye Originall by mee
"EDW. CANFIELD.
[INDORSED.]
"The Combination for Government by ye people at Pascataq 1640 Rec'd abt. 13th FFebr. 82-3."
This combination appears to have embraced all the important names in Dover. We miss those of Edward Hilton and Thomas Wiggin, but both those persons had removed outside the limits of the patent. On the roll is the name of Underhill, the commander of the military forces, although he was still continuing his machinations for union with Massachusetts; Knollys and Larkham, the two clergymen, of university education, soon to be at the head of rival factions; William Walderne and William Pomfrett, suc- cessively recorders; Edward Colcord, an unpleasantly active citizen, to whom Hubbard gives an apocryphal governorship; Roberts, president of the court; Emery, a wealthy landowner, ancestor of judges; Starbuck, an elder in the Dover church; Hall, whose beautful farm on the Great Bay became the foundation of the great modern properties of his descendants, the March and Peirce families; Rawlins, whose picturesque lands on the Piscataqua are still held by descendants of his name, and whose posterity numbers judges and senators: Champernoon, in whose veins flowed the blood of the Plantage- nets, and no less honored in being the kinsman of Gilbert and Raleigh; Richard Walderne, many years a Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, and commander of the soldiers of New Hampshire in years of Indian war-
.
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fare. Of the whole at least fifteen are still represented on Dover soil by descendants of their own name.
From the date of this combination there has been an uninterrupted gov- ernment, town and city, to the year 1913, 273 years. That combination was purely democratic. It originated with the people and by the people and for the people. It began with the first element of native rights, that of estab- lishing a government by the popular voice, and without consent of king or lord. At this time the interests of the lords, Say and Brook, had ceased; by what arrangement with the settlers is not recorded. When those high- rank Englishmen bought the interests of the British company which sent over Capt. Thomas Wiggin in 1631 to investigate the locality here, they were purposing to come here themselves and put their time and their money into building up a colony that would rival and surpass John Winthrop's colony at Massachusetts Bay, which had been located at Boston in 1630. In antici- pation thereof they sent over their proposals for a form of government. They would have two classes only take part and have power in public affairs. These two they called, the one class "gentlemen," the other class "freeholders." They, themselves, were coming here to live and, with such others as they should select, were to be the upper class called gentlemen, from whom alone the magistrates could be chosen, and, moreover, these gentlemen were to be an hereditary upper house in the government, pre- cisely like the English House of Peers. The Dover sentiment positively refused to accept the hereditary proposal. They would have no House of Peers. The result was that not long after this proposition was rejected the noble lords, Say and Brook, dropped out of New England history, and the settlers in this town thereupon established a simple democracy. The Dover of today, with its city form of government, is in spirit the Northam of 1640.
Although in the year following, namely 1641, the people consented to come under the general government of Massachusetts, and did so come in 1642, they did so upon two conditions. One was that the people here should have their own courts; the other was that they would not consent to the Massachusetts law that none but church members should have the right to vote. In this way Dover people preserved the right of local self-govern- ment and nurtured that spirit which has always characterized our people.
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