USA > New Hampshire > Carroll County > Wolfeborough > History of Wolfeborough (New Hampshire) > Part 20
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In November, 1773, when Governor Wentworth was establish- ing his country home in the town, and appearances indicated speedy and permanent prosperity, the grantors voted a donation of thirty pounds, lawful money, towards building a meeting- house forty feet long and thirty feet wide, and appointed Col. Henry Rust and Dr. A. R. Cutter a committee to attend to the matter.
At the annual town meeting held March 30, 1774, the subject
254
255
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
of building a meeting-house was brought forward for considera- tion, but the town declined to vote any money for the purpose, a wise conclusion, as it was in no condition to engage in an under- taking requiring so great an outlay ; nor would it be strange if even then some of the more sagacious of the citizens could hear the mutterings of the war-clouds so soon to burst upon them. During the twelve succeeding years neither the Masonian nor the town proprietors took any further action in relation to the matter.
At the annual town meeting held March 13, 1786, the question again came up, and after deliberation, Cols. Henry Rust and William Cotton were appointed a committee to confer with the Masonian proprietors and endeavor to obtain a more desirable lot of land for "public uses" than the one which had been selected for that purpose. The committee was successful in its mission, and through the generosity of Mr. Cabbott the proprietor of the Wentworth Farm, an exchange of land was effected and a de- sirable location obtained in proprietary lot numbered eighteen, which was situated on the northerly side of the highway leading from the "Mills" to the College Road and originally drawn by Daniel Rindge. At the same meeting it was also voted that if the committee were successful in securing a proper lot for public uses, a tax of one hundred dollars, to be worked out under the direction of the highway surveyors, should be assesed on the in- habitants of the town "for the purpose of clearing a place and building a meeting-house." This tax was assessed on seventy dif- ferent persons and properties, and varied, with the exception of that on the Cabbott-Wentworth Farm, which was eighty-four and a quarter days, from one and three-fourths to sixteen days. It was worked out in the year 1787.
One of the duties of Rust and Cotton, the committee chosen in 1786, was to confer with the Masonian proprietors and ascer- tain to what extent they were willing to aid in building a meeting- house and settling a minister.
256
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
It has already been noticed that in 1773 they had offered to give for these purposes thirty pounds in cash. On account of the prevailing scarcity of money, even among the more wealthy, how- ever, they now wished to donate, instead of the cash, the following articles : twenty-five thousand four-penny nails, fifteen thousand six-penny nails, ten thousand ten-penny nails, three thousand twenty-penny nails, thirty gallons of West India rum, one quintal of fish, fifty pounds of sugar, fifty pounds of coffee, eight pounds of tea, and two hundred feet of glass, eight by ten. On the ninth day of November, 1786, the town voted to accept the offer made by the proprietors as their proportion in full for building a meet- ing-house, and appointed Col. Henry Rust, Matthew S. Parker, and Ebenezer Meder a committee to receive, transport, and store the articles donated until the town should otherwise direct.
Joshua Haines, Samuel Tibbetts, Matthew S. Parker, William Cotton, and Andrew Wiggin were appointed a committee to draw a plan for the meeting-house, and contract for lumber for frame and covering for the same. It was also voted to clear four acres of the lot on which it was proposed to set it.
At the annual town meeting of March, 1787, a plan of a meet- ing-house was presented for examination, but was not accepted , and Matthew S. Parker was instructed to draw one like the meeting-house in Middleton "with such amendments as he shall think for the best." The plan drawn by Parker was for a two-story building fifty-two feet long and forty-two feet wide, with a porch twelve feet long and ten feet wide.
Notwithstanding the votes passed by the citizens of Wolfe- borough in 1786 and the early part of 1787, the work requisite for building the meeting-house had progressed very slowly, and at the close of 1787 this only had been done-the clearing of a por- tion of the lot and the erecting of the frame. One reason of the delay is apparent from the following letter addressed to one of the Masonian proprietors :-
257
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
"Wolfborough, February, 1788.
Sir,-As the time draws near for our annual town meeting, when the business respecting the meeting-house will come on the carpet, and but a small part of those articles which were voted by the proprietors for the encouragement thereof have been received, we have thought proper to write you respecting the matter, and desire that such preparation may be made for procuring the re- mainder, that we, as a committee, may have it in our power to lay before the town at their next meeting the situation thereof, which we sincerely wish may be on the encouraging hand, other- wise, we are apprehensive of its being the cause of stagnating our plan for a meeting-house greatly, especially as we have now got the frame raised and were in great expection of having the nails ready for boarding it early in the spring or summer en- suing. We shall be exceeding obliged if you will take the trouble of starting the affair from its present stagnated situation ; other- wise, gratify us with a line respecting the matter prior to our annual meeting, which will come on the last Tuesday in March next, that we may give an account of our stewardship. Your compliance will much oblige
Your most obedient Humble Servants,
Matthew S. Parker, For the meeting-house committee."
At the annual town meeting held in March, 1788, Col. William Cotton, Andrew Wiggin, and Ebenezer Meder were chosen a meeting-house committee, and the town voted to sell the pews of the still unconstructed building to provide means for finishing it. Subsequently the following notice was posted :-
258
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
"PUBLICK AUCTION
On Thursday, the 8th day of May next, will be sold at publick vendue to the highest bidder at the dwelling-house of Matthew S. Parker in Wolfborough, the pews to be built in the meeting- house as drawn and numbered in a plan which will be seen at the above time and place, as well as the conditions of said sale.
Also at the same time and place will be exposed to sale to the lowest bidder the lumber to be procured for completing the out- side of said meeting-house; viz, eight thousand merchantable pine boards, four thousand good laying clapboards, and twenty thousand good laying shingles, all to be delivered at the meeting- house on or before the first day of June next.
Wolfborough, April 24, 1788. (Signed by the committee)"
It may be interesting to know that the important business which followed this announcement was transacted at the mill house, then the residence of Matthew S. Parker, the cellar of which may still be seen near the garden of R. M. Flanders in Wolfeborough Falls. William Cotton was appointed vendue- master and Matthew S. Parker, clerk of the sale. The following were some of the conditions: Any dispute on any matter was to be decided by a major vote of the company present ; no bid of less than one shilling was to be accepted ; all purchasers of pews were required to give to the meeting-house committee an obligation to pay the amount of their purchases either in neat stock or pro- duce, at their own option, the stock to be delivered by the first day of the following October, and the produce by the first day of December. The several purchasers gave notes to the committee for the amount of their purchases, which were subsequently can- celed by various methods of payment.
Here follows an account of the sale :-
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
259
Number of pew 29
Purchaser
Price
Manner of paying
Isaiah Horne
£6:15
neat stock
3I
Thomas Piper
7:3
labor, lumber -- furnished (pillars)
2I
Reuben Libbey
6: 3
labor
22
Andrew Wiggin
4:3
labor in business
30
John Martin
6: 5
cash, lumber, produce, nails, (Merrill)
32
William Triggs
5:II
lumber, Libbey
23
Levi Tibbetts
4:5
Libbey
26 James Connor
4: 6
labor, lumber
25 Andrew Lucas
4:4
labor, Merrill
28 I
William Fullerton
4:4
9:
Libbey
20
Captain Joseph Lary Col. Henry Rust
9: I
labor, lumber, hauling stores
6 James Connor
8: 3
labor, lumber, Libbey, (Rogers, Merrill)
I5
Matthew S. Parker.
5:4
lumber
I6 James Lucas, Jr.
5:13
labor, Merrill
5
William Lucas 6: 2
labor, Libbey
2 Jonathan Hersey
8:10
labor, lumber
II
William Rogers
7: I
sundries, supplies, Mer- rill labor, cash labor in business
3
William Cotton 6
I3 David Piper
5: I
labor, lumber
I8 Henry Rust, Jr. 5:5
8 John Martin 4:II
lumber, produce
9 John Swazey
5:9
lumber, Libbey
I2
Benjamin Horne 5:4 labor, Libbey
I7 Jonathan Hersey
7:10
labor, lumber
14 James Fullerton 5: II
labor, lumber, Libbey
4 John Fullerton 4: 6 labor, lumber, Libbey
7 Joshua Haines 5:2 neat stock, cash
24 Jacob Smith
4:3 labor, Moses Varney, Merrill
27
Jonathan Hersey
5:
lumber, labor
19
Samuel Tibbitts, Sen. 7:10
260
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
At this stage of the proceedings William Rogers proposed to take the job of finishing the meeting-house by contract, and, agreeable to a vote of a majority of the company present, the matter of contracting for the lumber was postponed. The bar- gain between Rogers and the meeting-house committee failed of consummation, however, and another meeting was held at Parker's on the 26th of May, to contract for the lumber neces- sary to finish the outside of the meeting-house. The amount re- quired, it was estimated, would be ten thousand feet of pine boards, four and a half thousand clapboards, and twenty-two thousand shingles, to be delivered at the meeting-house lot by the middle of the following June. The lumber was divided into small lots so that the purchasers of pews could pay for them in that commodity if they so chose.
On the sixth day of July the committee contracted with Reuben Libbey to do the work necessary to complete the outside of the meeting-house. Here follows a portion of the contract, which gives some idea as to the structure of the building.
Libbey agrees "to underpin the frame of the meeting-house outside and inside with good suitable rocks, the outside to be done in as strong and decent a manner as the rocks will admit of; to build and completely finish the outside of a porch over the front door twelve feet long and ten feet wide of the same height as the house with a hip roof, and to have three doors, one on each side and one in the end directly opposite the front door of the house ; also to put in the window frames and sashes and properly glaze the whole house, being sixteen windows in the lower story and sixteen in the upper story of twenty-four squares of eight by ten glass and one in the pulpit of the same size and two in each gable end and one in the porch of twelve squares each ; to finish the whole outside of the house as to boarding, clap-boarding and shingling, with suitable weather-boards and cant-boards over the lower windows and around the sills and a proper hat-case over the front door in the porch ; the other doors to have only proper
261
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
cant-boards, the front door in the porch and the two end doors in the house to be double, four-paneled, two-leaved, the two side doors in the porch to be plain double doors well-nailed, the whole to be hung with substantial iron hinges."
The committee were to pay Libbey eighty-one pounds and twelve shillings in neat stock and produce as expressed in the securities given by the purchasers of the pews, which securities he agreed to take. They also agreed to furnish all the material necessary to complete the job, the lumber to be delivered at the meeting-house, and the other material at Ebenezer Meder's house by the twentieth day of the coming August. Twenty-five lots of lumber were delivered at about the following prices : boards, three and a half dollars a thousand feet ; clap-boards, six dollars ; shingles, one and a half dollars. All the lumber was to be of first quality pine. Of course the clapboards and shingles were rived and shaved. The contract required the completion of the job by the first day of December.
July 16, 1789, the places for twenty-three pews in the gallery were sold at prices averaging one and a half pounds. Reuben Libbey purchased nine; Ebenezer Meder, Thomas Piper, An- drew Lucas, Samuel Tibbetts, and John Horne, two each ; John Shorey, David Piper, John Piper, and Andrew Wiggin, one each.
During 1789 and most of 1790 very little was done towards completing the meeting-house. Two town-meetings were held in it, however.
September 1, 1790, the meeting-house committee made a con- tract with Jesse and Eliphalet Merrill, of Stratham, to proceed with the finishing of the house. The Merrills agreed to lay a planed floor over the whole house, to case the windows in the lower story, and to finish thirty-two pews. The committee was to furnish all the material for the job delivered on the spot, and pay the Merrills thirty-four pounds in neat stock. As they laid the under floor and set the six pillars supporting the gallery, the whole bill amounted to thirty-five pounds and seven shillings.
262
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
The job was completed by the middle of October, and they were paid in some manner by fourteen individuals.
At the annual meeting of 1791, it was voted that Stephen W. Horne lay out any balance due on the labor-tax on the meeting- house, and if any further outlay should be needed to secure the building from accident, that he be authorized to call on the town for assistance.
At the annual town-meeting, which had been adjourned to the second Tuesday in June, the accounts of the meeting-house committee were read and approved, and the committee thanked for their faithful services. It seems to have been expected that from this time the selectmen of the town should have general oversight of the meeting-house business.
It was voted that the "privileges" for four pews on the ground floor of the house be sold at public auction, and that the money resulting from such a sale be used in "aiding to build a pulpit" as soon as suitable lumber for constructing one could be pro- cured, also, that the selectmen should assess a tax for finishing the pulpit.
The "privileges" for pews were sold June thirtieth, James Wig- gin purchasing two and Reuben Libbey and Samuel Tibbetts, Jr. one each. The proceeds of the sale amounted to thirteen and a half pounds. The purchasers were required to seasonably con- struct the pews. George Freeze, an out-of-town man, built the pulpit, receiving for his labor nine pounds, eight shillings and his board. At a town-meeting held September 5, 1791, it was voted to build a canopy over the pulpit "as soon as may be," and that a sum sufficient for the purpose be raised on poll and estate.
The gallery floor was laid and the meeting-house nearly com- pleted in the autumn of 1792, six years from the time the plan for building it was first projected. It was framed by Samuel Tibbetts, the outside finished by Reuben Libbey, and the inside by Jesse and Eliphalet Merrill and others. It cost, chiefly in
263
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
labor, material, and produce, probably more than twelve hundred dollars.
The interior of the meeting-house was constructed in the fol- lowing manner. From the porch, situated on the south side of the main building, a wide door opened into a broad aisle that extended to the pulpit opposite. At the west end of the meeting- house were double doors that opened directly into it. Around the walls, except where were the entrances and the pulpit, was a row of pews raised eight inches from the floor. Inside these was an aisle three and a half feet wide, which separated the wall- pews from the pit-pews on the other side. The latter were raised four inches from the floor. With two exceptions (for these a de- duction in price was made) each wall-pew had the whole or part of a window within its limits. The pews were square with seats on three sides. They were finished with top-rails and short balusters, and closed with doors. The pulpit, over which a canopy was sus- pended, had an elevation of eight feet from the ground floor, and was ascended by a banistered stairway. In front of it was the deacon's seat.
A stairway led from the porch to the galleries. On the outer side of these, next to the walls of the house, were placed twenty- four pews. On the incline from these to the inner edge of the galleries were seats-free, except those directly in front of the pulpit, which were intended for the orchestra. The walls of the house were plastered and whitewashed. No arrangements were made for heating.
No further work was done in the meeting-house until 1802, when one hundred and fifty dollars were expended under the supervision of Selectman Richard Rust. He purchased ten thousand feet of lumber for fifty-one dollars, twenty thousand nails for twenty-seven dollars, paid Deering Stoddard for wages and board for thirty-nine days forty dollars, John Lucas, Jr. for twenty-eight days work twenty-three dollars, for rum three dollars, and for incidentals one dollar, reserving for the superin-
264
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
tending of the job five dollars. This did not entirely finish the meeting-house, but the town declined to furnish any more money for the purpose. It was probably never completely finished or formally dedicated, although from the time of Mr. Allen's ordi- nation occupied many years for religious worship. In 1819 Paul H. Varney repaired it at a cost of about eighty dollars. Some absolutely unavoidable repairs were made from time to time until 1840, when it was reduced in height, its pulpit and pews taken out, and the building removed to another part of the lot and converted into a town-house.
When the meeting-house was first built, the ten acre lot on which it was set adjoined the highway that ran near the shore of Lake Wentworth. Afterwards a road was opened from Center Wolfeborough, which divided the lot into two parts, about three- fourths of it falling on the south side of the new highway. This portion was subsequently sold by the town. On that part of the lot remaining on the north side of the road, the town-house was set. In 1875 it was repaired somewhat, and used for town meetings until 1890, when, the Brewster Memorial Hall having been erected, the people of Wolfeborough bade a final farewell to the old town-house where many a fierce political battle had been fought and many an aged citizen fallen a victim to the in- clemencies of March. In 1890 it was sold for sixty-two and a half dollars to Greenlief B. Clark, who removed the material, and of it constructed a stable, which stands in the rear of the shoe- factories, and is used as a shelter for the teams of the operatives.
In 1806 the town voted that one acre of the lot for "public uses" be set apart for a burying-ground, and in this are interred the remains of the town minister and his wife and those of probably one or two scores of other persons. It is still fenced, but seldom used for interment. On the remaining acre is a grove of thrifty pines.
Soon after the meeting-house was built, it was greatly en- dangered by a brush fire that caught near it. The town voted
265
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
a reward to the person who discovered and watched the fire, and at once took measures to have the grounds freed from rub- bish and brush, paying extra wages for the work. In 1811 and again in 1827 the house was struck by lightning.
At the time of locating the meeting-house lot the town was sparsely occupied by farmers, and there was little to indicate the centers of the subsequently more populous districts. As the house was intended for the accommodation of the whole town, a central location was selected, which, so long as farming re- mained the almost sole occupation of the inhabitants, was quite satisfactory. When, however, other kinds of business were in- troduced, hamlets and villages sprang up, and in these, churches built, so that the town meeting-house was gradually abandoned as a general resort for worshippers.
CHAPTER XX.
THE EARLY MINISTRY-NEW ENGLAND CUSTOM-ANDREW COL- LINS-JOHN ALLEN-BENJAMIN RANDALL-ISAAC TOWN- SEND-EBENEZER ALLEN-HIS CALL TO BE TOWN MINIS- TER-HIS REPLY-CONTROVERSY-PROTEST AGAINST THE ORDINATION OF TOWNSEND-PROTEST AGAINST THE ORDI- NATION OF ALLEN-ORDINATION OF TOWNSEND-ORDINA- TION OF ALLEN-THE SERMON-THE CHARGE-THE RIGHT-HAND OF FELLOWSHIP-THE ENTERTAINMENT-A SOMEWHAT SPIRITUOUS AS WELL AS SPIRITUAL GATHER- ING.
O NE of the matters which early claimed the attention of the settlers in New England territory was the preaching of the Gospel. Sometimes the minister accompanied the first settlers ; he at least, if circumstances were favorable, followed in a few years. The difficulties met in securing settlers for Wolfeborough and the paucity of their number at first prevented any attempts at settling a minister or of making any provision for preaching.
Episcopal clergymen perhaps sometimes visited Governor Wentworth's Farm, and there held religious services before 1774, but the first action of the town on record touching the matter of providing preaching was taken August 25, 1774, when it was voted to raise six pounds, six shillings to hire a minister for six weeks, at twenty-one shillings a week. There is no evidence, however, that the vote became effective.
At the annual town-meeting held March 20, 1775, the town voted to raise fifteen pounds to "hire preaching," but on account of the unsettled condition of the country no results followed this vote. Four years after, at the annual meeting, Ebenezer Meder, Lieut. Jonathan Lary, and Matthew S. Parker were chosen a 266
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HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
committee "to hire a minister to preach four months the ensuing summer on as reasonable terms as they can," a condition being "that he preach one-third part of the time on the northeast side of Smith's Pond." It is not probable that the committee ac- complished anything, as the war was then in full blast.
In the spring of 1781 Andrew Collins came to the town, and made an engagement with the selectmen to preach and keep school. The terms were as follows: Collins was to preach the Gospel and keep school where the selectmen should direct, pro- vided the place be "accommodated and convenient," for one year from that date (May 17, 1781), if not sooner dismissed ; the selectmen were to board and lodge Collins, and pay him eight dollars per month. The fitting of a room for a school and religious meetings was not very expensive, as will be shown by the following letter :-
To the Honorable Gentlemen, the Selectmen of the town of Wolfborough, chosen for accommodating necessary con- veniences for said town in A. D. 1781 :-
Before you, the said Selectmen, is herein laid the accompt for providing the necessary articles for the accommodating of a school in said town, by John Lucas, viz :
To 119 feet of boards $ .45
To making a Preaching Desk
.55
To making one Writing Table
.82
To' four benches
.55
To one Water Bucket
.25
To one hundred nails
.40
$3.02
Gentlemen, the above-mentioned school accommodations are all provided according to your order given, and the humble re- quest of your affectionate well-wisher,
Andrew Collins, S. M.,
Under the direction of the Selectmen.
Wolfborough, May 22, 1781."
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HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
Here is Mr. Collins bill :-
"The Selectmen of the town of Wolfborough
to Andrew Collins Dr.
To Preaching and Keeping School from May 17th 1781 to August 7th 1781-two and 2-3 months at eight dollars per month
£6: 4: 0
To 12 weeks board at Mr. Meder's at one dollar per week 3:12: 4
£9:16: 4
At the close of Mr. Collins' engagement he immediately made a contract with the selectmen "to keep school until the 17th day of May next, teaching reading, writing, and arithmetick, at six silver dollars per month." It seems, however, that matters did not run smoothly, as in November following, a town-meet- ing was held for the purpose of ascertaining if the people wished to retain the services of Mr. Collins. At a first meeting they voted seventeen to thirteen, and at a second meeting twelve to nine to hire him, but it is evident that he soon left the town.
A special tax of seventeen pounds had been assessed on the inhabitants of the southwest portion of the town, the locality to which Mr. Collins had confined his labors. In the spring of 1782 the people voted to withdraw this list and substitute an- other of less amount, since so large a sum as that assessed was not necessary on account of his having left town. In the tax- list, against the name of Moses Varney, a Quaker, was written "for schooling only," signifying that he did not purpose to com- mit himself to a compulsory method of supporting preachers.
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